@runescryer I personally love 3.5 (its still my favorite edition), and while Pathfinder got a reputation for being an unwieldy chock-a-block of choices, I kinda dug it. Mind, you'll have to be firm on what you will/won't allow because there's just so much player-created content that got tossed in without being vetted. But the base concept of Pathfinder 1e is still awesome.
@ganymede I didn't say he was uninteresting. In fact, I say the exact opposite in the part you quoted. I said he's largely a walking husk, and he is. Its true that Legolas has fewer lines (hearing Orlando Bloom talk about it still makes me laugh), but he's still a more dynamic character. He does more.
Frodo, in large part, is literally just the Ringbearer. Things are done to and around him.
@kestrel I'm sorry, but Frodo is largely a walking husk throughout the movie. He's very much not dynamic or quoted. I won't say he's uninteresting, I don't know that there's an uninteresting character in Tolkien. Even his bit characters tended to have rich backstories. But he's the neutral mask you slip on so that you can be The One.
If you ever sit around with friends and ask each other who wants to be which character, let me know how many will say 'Frodo'. He's the character we know the least about in the entire trilogy. He's meant to be that way.
@ganymede I'm not saying that NONE of them having compelling main characters... but look at the top grossing franchises for the last 40-50 years.
Star Wars
Matrix
Harry Potter
Twilight
Lord of the Rings
Hunger Games
Transformers
Top grossing movie of all time Avatar.
These are movies that were successful NOT because of the main characters, but because of the cast around them.
There are also notable exceptions!
Alien (the franchise as a whole)
Marvel/DC anything
Disney/Pixar
Beverly Hills Cop
Crocodile Dundee
Rocky
Forrest Gump
And of course there are ensemble cast movies/franchises that have either a revolving main character or no true main character.
Anything by Mel Brooks
Jaws
Grease
Gremlins
Independence Day
But realistically, many of the most successful franchises have a boring, bland 'neutral mask' of a main character that makes it easier for the viewer to immerse themselves into that role, while the 'good' or 'interesting' lines go to the co-stars and surrounding cast.
@kestrel So... all his issues aside as a person, Joss Whedon is REALLY good at writing a compelling, interesting cast of characters. Including the main character.
And its not to say there aren't movies with interesting, quotable main characters. Its just.. they aren't the huge blockbuster movies anymore (with a few notable exceptions that are mostly animated/Disney films).
What sells, like with the Twilight series, is a wholly boring protagonist surrounded by interesting people and circumstances. It allows for reader-immersion and fantasy-fulfillment.
I mean, lets not kid ourselves. That has been the basic formula since... Star Wars. Bland, boring, maybe even slightly annoying main character surrounded by kick ass people and situations.
Luke is NOT the quoted character from Star Wars. We quote Han, Leia, Vader, Palpatine. Hell, Chewbacca gets quoted more than Luke. So does C3P0, who is arguably one of the most whiny bitches in A Galaxy Far, Far Away. Luke is... a mask. A skin we can step into and feel like we're The One (yes, Matrix was the same way) for a few hours.
I'm going to be scheduling an appointment for my old man. His last vet refused to accept that he had either broken or dislocated something near his wrist, and for the last couple months I've watched the poor guy limp around with a giant knot just above his paw. It affect his ability to retract the claws on that paw and His Heftiness can't enjoy stepping weight onto it. Got a good vet for him now, and some good pet insurance to help cover the costs... now its time to get him properly taken care of so he can stop limping about.
Edit to add photo
@tnp I'm aware. They use the story as the reason for why the Pontipee brothers go into town to kidnap all their girls. XD Milly herself is reading from it the night the menfolk all try to make up excuses for going into the house to see their respective ladyfriends! Its part of the reason why Milly gets so mad at him when they get back, he tries to pass the buck to her by saying it was really HER idea since she had the book.
...I may have watched the movie a bit too much. >.>
@tnp said in Dead Celebrities 2021 Edition:
Jane Powell, 92. Singer, dancer, MGM star. One of the few people who could keep up with Fred Astaire.
Goddammit. Royal Wedding and 7 Brides for 7 Brothers are two of my favorite musicals!
@ominous Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude. Tim Daly, Steven Weber, Tony Shaloub, AND Thomas Hayden Church??? Fuck Friends and Seinfeld!
@aria That is how you know that a Project Coordinator got the job by kissing butt rather than through any actual leadership skills or knowledge set. Because they don't understand what you mean, so clearly you are just trying to make them look bad despite it... really being bad to not have a priorities list or be able to explain your decision-making process and how both apply towards the overall goals of the project.
@aria Add to that the oddly high number of people that, once something is in 'beta' and being tested on actual people, they are loathe to pull it back and actually fix the mistakes that are noted by the participants. Its almost like they seem to think they will have failed if a new process or practice can't go straight from test groups to full implementation.
@greenflashlight Nah, there's nothing in particular making it a sad day, it just is.
@greenflashlight said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:
@kestrel said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:
Who doesn't want pictures of their brain to gawk at?
"So that's what the squishy gray traitor in my skull looks like."
You made me laugh on a sad day. Thank you.
@saosmash Goodwill gets all my stuff, whether its old stuff I no longer need or the plethora of new things that I forget to return. XD
@saosmash Goodwill LOVES me for this exact reason. I bring them stuff with tags still on it, still in boxes, still packaged. Just shrugging because of course I lost the receipt and the item is more than 30 days old because I can never remember to just take it back when I go again and yes I would love a receipt for this donation that I will inevitably lose within 5 minutes of getting home because I put it down SOMEWHERE because there was a smell in the apartment so I changed cat litter and took out the garbage and wiped down everything that might possibly be smelly only to realize two hours later someone across the hall is cooking something Godawful smelling and its affecting my sinuses, so I took some allergy meds just in case that would help and I sat down to handle some messenger and then my son came home from school so we talked about his day and popped some popcorn because he thought it would be fun for us to pile onto the floor and watch Ghostbusters... yeah. By the time the receipt even enters my mind again, I can't even remember actually putting it down anywhere, let alone where. XD
@wretched Duuuuuuuuuuuude, this happens SO MUCH. I binged LOKI in like 2 days and had to go back and re-watch stuff because people were talking about things I couldn't remember seeing.
