Random MetaBanter – Random Banter no. 236 (now with Flowers!)

[Rater202]

The fact that Shin's clones, who were explicitly created using the nerves and stemcells in Shin's teeth as genesock, also have identical Magnekyo suggests to me that Shin was Gene modded rather than having the eyes implanted surgically.

Ad since we know that his extra eyes are functional(due to them moving, being a focus for his powers, and the eyes on Danzo's arm—which was Shin's donated) that supports the idea to a degree.

...Actually, the thought occurs to me: Danzou's Sharingarm was believed to be Shisui's. So maybe Shin was spliced with Shisui's cells and chakra, which included Mangekyo Chakra, but since Shin isn't Shisui he gained his own unique powers?

There's even a thematic similarity between Shin's power and Shisui's: Shisui had one power that was "look at someone and give them an irresistible command" which is thematically similar to "look at a tool and gain complete telekinetic control of it."

[Lord Raziere]

The fact that Shin's clones, who were explicitly created using the nerves and stemcells in Shin's teeth as genestock, also have identical Magnekyo suggests to me that Shin was Gene modded rather than having the eyes implanted surgically.

Ad since we know that his extra eyes are functional(due to them moving, being a focus for his powers, and the eyes on Danzo's arm—which was Shin's donated) that supports the idea to a degree.

...Actually, the thought occurs to me: Danzou's Sharingarm was believed to be Shisuis. So maybe Shin was spliced with Shinsui's cells and chakra, but since Shin isn't Shisui he gained his own unique powers?

I dunno, the Rinnegan is able to see through other eyes without genes and those are shown having rinnegan appearance, this could just be a case where Shin was modified to have a similar ability, and the sympathetic connection could be established through some spilling of blood or something like with jashin techniques, summoning or the Edo tensei. two of which Orochimaru knows. and Ketsuryugan is able to seemingly make people turn into exploding human puppets with a ketsuryugan appearance in their eyes just by injecting chakra by skin contact. it could just be that Shin is just incredibly powerful-given that he also has a space-time jutsu which no other uchiha other than Sasuke can do- and can establish a lot of chakra based/sympathetic connections like that.

[Rater202]

A for why Orochimaru didn't enhance himself with what he had... He might not have been even remotely ethical about his experiments, but he was a man of science.

You don't experiment on yourself if you can help it.

Also... those hundred or so test subjects that all died and turned to trees when he grafted them with Hashirama Cells.

"perfect the process and make sure it's safe for me" or "you know what, this method is tried and true so I'll stick with that."

...And yes, this means that Senko's kind of a bad scientist.

[Lord Raziere]

Huh.

Now that I think about it, Orochimaru DOES kind of avoid most of the problems mad scientists like him tend to run into: he has prepared backups for himself, he makes sure to recruit people that will only loyal be to him because they have no one else, the only time he gets backstabbed is when Sasuke who has ulterior motives for joining him in the first place and isn't like all his other recruits does it, he made sure that his own zombies won't be able to disobey him at the cost of not having their full combat power, he wasn't foiled by a bunch of pre-teen kids, and was so close to the immortality that Kabuto obtained it just by taking Orcohimaru's old notes and taking a few risks with them that paid off until they didn't, and he is still alive despite repeatedly turning into a giant snake, defying all known narrative laws about turning into giant snakes and how that never helps. also he managed to tick off Naruto to the point of fighting him in four tails state and get away with it.

[LaZodiac]

Gonna be honest, everything I've ever seen or heard about GoT made me feel like it was overrated. I did not get the hype.

There's a Halloween episode of the Simpsons where one of the skits is "Sideshow Bob finally kills Bart only to find that his life is empty without a nemesis."

After getting away with the murder, he becomes a professor of literature at a prestigious university... But most of his students are just taking his class as required and are phoning it in.

He's marking a bunch of essays he considers "drivel" and asks out loud "What is this 'Game of Thrones' they're referencing" and I'm gonna be honest that's a mood.

The big draw of Game of Thrones is that for a lot of people, it was their first time experiencing some hard-fantasy style drama, so it lit a fire up most people's asses. There are certainly better works, but this was a good case of "right place, right time, and right new audience".

It's kinda like how Gundam Wing caused Gundam to skyrocket in the west... because a ton of teenage girls were big into it. The lack of quality doesn't matter, what matters is a ton of people saw it, had their first experience with it, and thus want more of it.

That's an odd form of enjoyment.

That may be so, but the fact is it IS impressive, and thus enjoyable to think about from that sort of standpoint.

[Form]

It's kinda like how Gundam Wing caused Gundam to skyrocket in the west... because a ton of teenage girls were big into it. The lack of quality doesn't matter, what matters is a ton of people saw it, had their first experience with it, and thus want more of it.

I remember being disappointed by Gundam Wing's English dubbing. Then again, the English voice actor work of almost any anime dub I've ever seen tends to be subpar. It's often as if they're just reading lines from a piece of paper with as little emotion as possible.

[Rater202]

...So I only ever watched G Gundam.



Gotta say, gave me a radically skewed idea of what the franchise was about.

...The dub is so bad and yet I can't help but get pumped.

I also watched SD but does that even really count with how radically different it is from literally the rest of the franchise?

[Lord Raziere]

I've watched Gundam Seed first, then Seed Destiny, Gundam 00, tried watching Turn A but have yet to get past first episode, watched.....about I think the first half of Iron-Blooded Orphans? and then watched G Gundam after all that.

and yeah, I feel for anyone who starts with G Gundam as their first gundam then watches something else and sees a grey vs. grey war series unfold before their eyes, quite a tone difference. Me, coming from normal gundam, I was not prepared for the campy goofy mecha designs in G and found them funny.

I'd watch more gundam, but I'm not really sure what to try next and if I can even watch them all online. I can watch old Lupin III episodes fine so....eighties anime being eighties is not a problem for me. maybe I'll watch the original UC stuff, see what the original gundam nonsense is all about.

[LaZodiac]

I remember being disappointed by Gundam Wing's English dubbing. Then again, the English voice actor work of almost any anime dub I've ever seen tends to be subpar. It's often as if they're just reading lines from a piece of paper with as little emotion as possible.

Wing's dub is a little flat at times, but given the characters in question it kinda works, sorta?

...So I only ever watched G Gundam.



Gotta say, gave me a radically skewed idea of what the franchise was about.

...The dub is so bad and yet I can't help but get pumped.

I also watched SD but does that even really count with how radically different it is from literally the rest of the franchise?

You take that back monster G Gundam's dub is superlative. It captures the spirit entirely and I love it and it's amazing. Sometimes worse things are better!

Ironically; while mechanically speaking G Gundam is VERY different from other Gundam series, it still manages to hit every basic thing Gundam does, so it isn't as off from the rest of the series as you'd think.

I've watched Gundam Seed first, then Seed Destiny, Gundam 00, tried watching Turn A but have yet to get past first episode, watched.....about I think the first half of Iron-Blooded Orphans? and then watched G Gundam after all that.

and yeah, I feel for anyone who starts with G Gundam as their first gundam then watches something else and sees a grey vs. grey war series unfold before their eyes, quite a tone difference. Me, coming from normal gundam, I was not prepared for the campy goofy mecha designs in G and found them funny.

I'd watch more gundam, but I'm not really sure what to try next and if I can even watch them all online. I can watch old Lupin III episodes fine so....eighties anime being eighties is not a problem for me. maybe I'll watch the original UC stuff, see what the original gundam nonsense is all about.

I also had the misfortune of watching Seed first, but damnit the op is too good it's not fair.

Someone I know is doing a sort of short form essay on what does and doesn't work about each Gundam series, and if it's a good place to start watching. You can find them here: https://www.youtube.com/user/ZorakGoesOn/videos

[Anonymouswizard]

Meanwhile I've never watched more than an episode or two of any Gundam. At a certain point my brain starts screaming :if you've got the technology to do that, you can probably make a better conventional vehicle'.

I mean, I can get past that with a decent story, so I guess maybe I've just seen the bad Gundams? I don't know, I struggle to get engaged by mecha shows. I remember watching the first half or so of Knights of Sidonnia, but can't remember why.

[Rater202]

You take that back monster G Gundam's dub is superlative. It captures the spirit entirely and I love it and it's amazing. Sometimes worse things are better!

I understand that, but lookig back at it some of the deliveries are abit... Odd.

And the dialog is a bit clunky...

Maybe it would be better to say it's the localization that's a bit bad? Like, in the clip I linked "Who, who is this creature?" sounds wrong. He knows who i is. It's Jahal, an Egyptian Gundamn fighter who died and was mummified becuase G Gundamn wasn't good about cultural sensitivity.

What he doesn't know is what he is.

"What is this monster" or "What's the deal with this man" or something along those lines would make more sense.

Likewise, Domon's speech about how Jahal and his Gundam keep not dying is a bit too... Technical considering he's seconds away from exploding with rage at the realization that Jahal is one of his traitorous brother's minions.

And both lines feel just a little wooden.

It's nostalgic and gets the point across, but on a technical level there's room for improvement.

[Lord Raziere]

I also had the misfortune of watching Seed first, but damnit the op is too good it's not fair.

Someone I know is doing a sort of short form essay on what does and doesn't work about each Gundam series, and if it's a good place to start watching. You can find them here: https://www.youtube.com/user/ZorakGoesOn/videos

I wouldn't count watching Seed as a misfortune, personally. I agree, first op is great. dun da-dun da-dun da-dun-dun, dun, do-da-dun, da-dun, da-dun-dun-dun......

[Rater202]

...So the discussion made me go back and look into G Gundamn again and now all I can think about is using the Ultimate Gundamn for ti's orignal purpose and trying to figure out how to solve the problem of "glitches out and decides it needs to kill all humans."

[Fyraltari]

...So the discussion made me go back and look into G Gundamn again and now all I can think about is using the Ultimate Gundamn for ti's orignal purpose and trying to figure out how to solve the problem of "glitches out and decides it needs to kill all humans."

Spoiler: Oh, that's easy, just install one of those :

Show

[Lord Raziere]

Yeah pretty much. the Ultimate Gundam's glitch was never really elaborated, it was just an excuse for it be evil, so the solution is probably whatever the G Gundam equivalent of consecrating it is. probably something involving punching it with determination and love while yelling an attack name.

[Rater202]

I don't drink. Partially because I have a family history of alcoholism and partly because I just don't like way it tastes.

And yet I find brewing, distilling, winemaking, and mixology as well as the grading and classification of distilled spirits to be fascinating and have memorized the recipes for several cocktails.

[Mystic Muse]

I don't drink. Partially because I have a family history of alcoholism and partly because I just don't like way it tastes.

And yet I find brewing, distilling, winemaking, and mixology as well as the grading and classification of distilled spirits to be fascinating and have memorized the recipes for several cocktails.

You might enjoy watching "How To Drink" on Youtube.

[factotum]

I don't drink. Partially because I have a family history of alcoholism and partly because I just don't like way it tastes.

And yet I find brewing, distilling, winemaking, and mixology as well as the grading and classification of distilled spirits to be fascinating and have memorized the recipes for several cocktails.

I live in a country where guns of any kind are rare and I've never owned one myself, nor had any desire to own one, yet I find them fascinating devices. It's amazing how much ingenuity goes into things that really only have one purpose--to kill as efficiently as possible.

[Rater202]

So my cousin's more or less recovered from the virus. But his baby has it now.

Turns out his wife has, against all advice, not been following quarantine guidelines while my cousin was quarantined. She has no symptoms but the baby tested positive.

[Anonymouswizard]

Had an eye appointment today, now booked in for my first surgery. It's not going to cure my eyes, but at least they won't get any worse

[Peelee]

Had an eye appointment today, now booked in for my first surgery. It's not going to cure my eyes, but at least they won't get any worse

What kind of surgery?

[Anonymouswizard]

What kind of surgery?

Collagen Cross linking. In short sand the eye, but vitamins in there, use light to stimulate collagen growth so it doesn't get more out of shape.

To answer question 2, apparently 2+ days of pain, three months recovery time.

[Peelee]

Collagen Cross linking. In short sand the eye, but vitamins in there, use light to stimulate collagen growth so it doesn't get more out of shape.

To answer question 2, apparently 2+ days of pain, three months recovery time.

Oof, cross linking is fun. Good luck!

[Bartmanhomer]

Collagen Cross linking. In short sand the eye, but vitamins in there, use light to stimulate collagen growth so it doesn't get more out of shape.

To answer question 2, apparently 2+ days of pain, three months recovery time.

Good luck with your eye surgery.

[Fyraltari]

Had an eye appointment today, now booked in for my first surgery. It's not going to cure my eyes, but at least they won't get any worse

Good luck, Anononymouswizard.

[Bartmanhomer]

Housing has been fixing the walls in the living room at my home since Monday and now they're fixing the walls in the bathrooms.

[Rater202]

Had an eye appointment today, now booked in for my first surgery. It's not going to cure my eyes, but at least they won't get any worse

Well wishes.

---

So... Can someone help me understand what the deal with ∀* Gundam is?

So... It is canonically the final series in the Gundam continuity... And every timeline culminates in it. Even if the timeline was created after ∀ Gundam

Is this a "someone screwed up a time-space experiment and now half a dozen different universes are superimposed on top of each other" situation or is it a "humanity keeps getting nuked back to the stone age" situation?

*apparently it's pronounced "Turn A" as in "turn the letter "A" upside down."

[tyckspoon]

Well wishes.

---

So... Can someone help me understand what the deal with ∀* Gundam is?

So... It is canonically the final series in the Gundam continuity... And every timeline culminates in it. Even if the timeline was created after ∀ Gundam

Is this a "someone screwed up a time-space experiment and now half a dozen different universes are superimposed on top of each other" situation or is it a "humanity keeps getting nuked back to the stone age" situation?

*apparently it's pronounced "Turn A" as in "turn the letter "A" upside down."

Spoiler

Show

It's just a cheap copout - Turn A is officially simply way, way, waaaaaaaayyyy in the future. All the other Gundams in the same universe merely happen before it, with enough time between them and Turn A for all of the signs of the other series to have been swallowed by time except for whatever miraculously well preserved artifacts they wished to include as Easter Eggs or more direct references.

[LaZodiac]

Well wishes.

---

So... Can someone help me understand what the deal with ∀* Gundam is?

So... It is canonically the final series in the Gundam continuity... And every timeline culminates in it. Even if the timeline was created after ∀ Gundam

Is this a "someone screwed up a time-space experiment and now half a dozen different universes are superimposed on top of each other" situation or is it a "humanity keeps getting nuked back to the stone age" situation?

*apparently it's pronounced "Turn A" as in "turn the letter "A" upside down."

Slight error; it's only meant to be the end point of the Universal Century, and all the other non UC stuff spins off it. But also that sort of stuff really doesn't matter in the long run, beyond Turn A being a direct sequel to the original UC (Universal Century) stuff.

On that note; the Turn A in the title is meant to be symbolic of the fact that it's turning things on its head. This is not a normal Gundam series, but it still has connections. One very big thing that relates to this is the design of the titular gundam itself; the head is an upside down stylized version of what a regular Gundam's head looks like, and it's entire torso looks like it is backwards from a regular gundam. Loren was supposed to be a girl, another thing leading into this, and the way the story goes leads to an actual end of war. The Gundam is used for genuinely peaceful things like laundry and transport. It is all a story meant to turn Gundam around in some way.

In universe it... certainly means something, but I don't think they mention it. It does lead to the villain dubbing his ultimate weapon of war the Turn X, "because no matter how you look at me, I'll always be me!"

[Rater202]

Slight error; it's only meant to be the end point of the Universal Century, and all the other non UC stuff spins off it. But also that sort of stuff really doesn't matter in the long run, beyond Turn A being a direct sequel to the original UC (Universal Century) stuff.

On that note; the Turn A in the title is meant to be symbolic of the fact that it's turning things on its head. This is not a normal Gundam series, but it still has connections. One very big thing that relates to this is the design of the titular gundam itself; the head is an upside down stylized version of what a regular Gundam's head looks like, and it's entire torso looks like it is backwards from a regular gundam. Loren was supposed to be a girl, another thing leading into this, and the way the story goes leads to an actual end of war. The Gundam is used for genuinely peaceful things like laundry and transport. It is all a story meant to turn Gundam around in some way.

In universe it... certainly means something, but I don't think they mention it. It does lead to the villain dubbing his ultimate weapon of war the Turn X, "because no matter how you look at me, I'll always be me!"

I was under th impression that there were allusions to G Gundam(via the presence of the Windmill Gundam and the Horse Gundam*) and the Wing series(In th memories of new character.) which both predate Turn A and respectively take place in the Future Century and After Colony timelines.

And an event that's described to have happened in the past of Turn A is depicted in Mobile Suit Gundam Double 00, which is not in either timeline.

I've been doing research ever since the Gundam discussion and I'm just trying to figure out if the implantation is "multiversal merge" or "they weren't separate timelines in the first place, it's just that the 'nuke everything back to the stone age' plot point has happened more than once."

*For anyone who never watched G Gundam, there was a horse-shaped Gundam piloted by an actual horse. Not a talking horse. Not a super intelligent horse. Not a horse person... Just a... Just a god damned regular horse.

---

Edit: Semi-Related, the thought just occurred to me that the Devil Gundam from G Gundam is literally cancer.

It grows rapidly, reproduces rapidly, spreahs rapidly, and mutates rapidly. Its a pain in the ass to kill, and just won't die unless you completly destroy it at the root.