JohnnyChimpo

But could they get out of paying on the technicality that the Iron Throne has been destroyed and therefore nobody sits on it?

3 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Some were, but I can’t recall which ones. The ones I did see had Bran at quite short odds, but there were about 5 other main characters with similar odds

I kind of took it that they almost "duped" Grey Worm. They sent Jon back to the Nights Watch - and I was immediately thinking; "Sure whats left of the Nights Watch?" Without a Wall to man anymore, is there even a Nights Watch left? The editing around that was kind of weird, because at first I thought Jon was going to have to go back to the bottom of the rung of whatever is left of a Nights Watch, eat some humble pie for a while. However, when he got there, it almost appeared like he was back to being The Lord Commander of the Nights Watch again. Then we get the shot of him leading the Wildlings north - was this an escort mission or was he fucking off with them? I like that it was a little ambiguous; but having said that I would have liked it to just be a touch clearer on what was happening. 

Speaking of Wildlings north of the wall - didnt they get given "The Gift" as an area for them to live in, land to farm etc?

Also, was the only reason Bran told Jon his true lineage was so Jon would fuck up his relationship with Dany and pave the way for Bran to be King? He surely saw all this coming, right?

It's just another word to describe a fanbase really. 

10 minutes ago, Chest Rockwell said:

It is obviously a big enough problem to bring you out of retirement to complain about it anyway 😉

I was overdue a return anyway.

I used to be fairly active in this thread many moons ago, so I popped back to gauge the overall mood. 

I see the two extremes of the discussion going on around the show at then moment, as someone who is kind of middle of the road I wanted to try and discuss it with others - and you cant have a discussion on Twitter!

For all the complaints - some of which I can see and others not - its completely unfair for people to think the Mad Queen turn has come from nowhere. That's something that the ground work has been well and truly laid for. 

Essentially everywhere Dany has been, she has taken it by force; only everyone was ok with it cause she was normally taking it from oppressive rulers. There has always been a question mark over her about how she would handle things when she got to Westeros. "The Gods flip and coin" and all that. Her banging on about her destiny, proclaiming many times that she will burn "insert city here" to the ground, showing no mercy for the Tarlys, being a general bitch to Sansa cause the North doesnt want to kneel etc has all been foreshadowing to her spitting her dummy out when things stopped going her way. Sprinkle on top of that her losing half her armies, 2 of her Dragons and then Jorah and Missandei - to top it off find out that the guy she is been shagging is actually her nephew and has a better claim to the throne anyway, and its a pretty straight line to Mad Queen. 

On a side note, I think most are being blind to the levels of disappointment at the show - its not just basement dwelling, anorak virgins complaining, same way its not just sheeple fanbois loving it. There is a middle ground. Most of the people I work with are just regular, casual TV viewers and they've all noticed a considerable drop in quality this season. Even the cast don't seem that fond of it this season from various interviews. 

Quote

It’s only since a girl saved the day 2 episodes ago that it was decided that the writers can’t write for shit. Places like IMDB are at fault too for allowing them to rate something a day before it airs, it’s fucking stupid.

And like you say, it happens with everything now. Everything is either the greatest thing ever made or it’s complete dogshite, there is no “it was alright” anymore.

Pardon the cliche, but it’s clearly just a load of basement dwelling gobshites with nothing better to do than complain about it because it hasn’t played out exactly as they had pictured it doing so. I saw one comment earlier about how this person “deserved better” and so & so “deserved better”, and it just brought back memories that tweet about the Women’s Wrestlemania Battle Royale and how everyone in the match “deserved better”

That's just not true though. People started to turn on the writing last season, but the show had enough good credit in the bank that most people would turn a blind eye and/or give benefit of the doubt. I'm sure there are some out there who are annoyed that a girl killed The Knight King, but the majority have had grumbles since way before then. 

The reason there is so much fixed feelings on it is because people think the show runners are just fed up of Game of Thrones and just wanting to get it finished with in the quickest, easiest way and move onto the next thing. The show has been filled with lazy writing for the last two seasons, miraculous last second saves of a character who just had to be doomed and a real lack of attention to detail. Considering it was a show that excelled at not relying on lazy writing, miraculous last second saves and having great attention to detail then its understandable why people are annoyed/feeling dissatisfied from a narrative point of view. It still looks spectacular, but its feeling hollow for a lot of people. 

I think this was always going to be the way once they moved past the source material though. No matter how good or bad it was going to be, there was always going to be that section of the fanbase thinking "I wonder what George would have done?" 

I'm in the "its alright" camp. Visually its still stunning, but the structure and writing leave a lot to be desired. 

Well yeah, the flip side of the theory is that being forced to kill Jon, when actually face to face with him, is what snaps her out of being nobody and back into being Arya Stark. It depends on whether you want to go with the happy or the tragic ending; and this being Game of Thrones n'all.

Or, I think Arya may kill Jon Snow, using Needle, the sword Jon gave her in Season 1. The Faceless Men worship the one true God, Death, and they may view Jon being alive when he should be dead as an imbalance in the universe and to get Arya to prove that she truly is nobody, send her on a mission to restore the balance.

It would be very Game of Thrones to give us a moment of happiness like Jon taking back Winterfell, and then snatch it away with something like him being murdered by his favourite little sister.

I'm currently trying to balance my life around giving Rise of the Tomb Raider and Fallout 4 equal amounts of time. Two amazing games in the space of a week. I don't know what to do with myself. 

Thanks for the pointers guys. Group hug.

Hey everyone, bit of a bump here but looking for some advice. I've recently started wanting to get into Batman comics. The only comic I've ever read is The Walking Dead, but having recently ploughed through Arkham Asylum, Arkham City and now playing Arkham Knight, I've wanted to go and read a bit more about these characters.

I've heard stuff like "The Killing Joke" and "Long Halloween" are great reading. What would be a good jumping off point for a new reader? I don't really want to go all the way back to 1939 and start from issue one, unless I really have to.

Also, if someone could explain how the comics work, are they all one big continuation since issue one? Or have they been rebooted several times since then?

Thanks for any advice.

I'm pretty sure that Jon Snow will come back from the dead somehow. 

Everything going on at The Wall centres around Jon. There is nobody left to root for, get behind, be invested in at The Wall in the fight against The White Walkers without Jon. That storyline is too big to just be passed off. Or the show runners are somehow going to try and get us all to be #TeamWhiteWalkers from now on seen as there is barely anyone likeable left in Westeros. 

This would be arguably the biggest character death since Eddard. Rob and Obyern were shocks, but they weren't main characters like Jon and Eddard. Despite what they say about "nobody is safe", I've always felt, since about Season 2 that in fact, Daenerys, Tyrion and Jon were safe. 

Its very un-Game of Thrones of them to leave us with an actual cliffhanger at the end of a season. Normally episode 10 is a wrap up/set up for the following season with episode 9 being the big climactic one. I think it a big bait and switch on their behalf, or they are finally going to reveal a huge plot twist. 

I've post in previous Game of Thrones threads that I always had a feeling that Jon Snow wasn't really Ned's son and he actually had royal blood somehow, but I used to always flip flop on how you could fit that in. Now I feel they can fit it all together. I have only read the first book, so this is not book knowledge, its just speculation based on stuff that has already been known/discussed in the show. So, the theory goes; Jon Snow is actually the bastard son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. When Ned rescued Lyanna during Robert's Rebellion, he found that she had given birth to Rhaegar's child. We know that she made Ned promise her something, something so secret Ned never revealed it to anyone. I reckon she made Ned promise to keep the boy safe. Ned, seeing/knowing how Robert, Tywin and The Mountain were brutally killing all the Targaryens, including children, knew they only way to keep the boy safe was the claim him as his own. 

I predict that the Nights Watch will put Jon Snow on a funeral pyre to burn his body, but he won't burn because he is a Targaryen, similar to the way Daenerys didn't burn in the tent way back in Season 1. Milisandre, who has conveniently made her way back to the wall, will realise that Jon has royal blood and use religious mumbo jumbo from the Lord of Light to bring Jon back to life - the tracks for which were laid by the Brotherhood without Banners all those years ago. 

I posted a theory in one of the previous seasons threads, in which I speculated that Jon Snow was somehow of royal blood and was never really Ned's bastard. I'm not an up to date book reader either (I'm half way through the first book at the moment), but I've felt this way about Jon for a long time.

Way back in episode 2 of seasons 1 Ned and Jon come to a cross roads when Jon is heading to The Wall and Ned to Kings Landing. They have a little embrace and Ned tells him that when he returned, he would tell him who his mother was. Ned also got really defensive/dismissive when King Robert was asking about the whore who mothered Jon. Ned can never tell Jon what happened now, and it would have seemed that the plot point would have died there. But in my experience, threads like this are left for a reason, and there surely must be more to it. 

My thinking always hinged on the only way we would ever know is if somehow Jon Snow and Melisandre's paths ever crossed, because she has an ability to sense royal blood. Those paths have crossed, and she seems pretty keen on Lord Snow for whatever reason. I reckon there is practically no chance now that Jon is really Ned's bastard. 

Daniel Bryan came across as a right sneaky git in that interview.

No

I think its a fair opinion to have to think Adnan did it. No other theory really stacks up. Sure, there is loads of reasonable doubt, and based on what we have heard so far, I don't think there was anywhere near enough evidence to put someone in prison for their whole life, but I reckon he probably did it. 

Also, he doesnt quite have an appeal hearing in January. Koenig mentions that in the last podcast. Its like; an appeal against an denied appeal hearing, or something. Either way, Koenig reckons his chances are pretty slim. 

Well, Hearst...

 

I'm enjoying Linus' Raw Rants, but if people can't get away with Bryan Danielson, they can't get away with Bradshaw IMHO.

But nobody ever calls Triple H "Hearst". Plenty of people call him Hunter. Same way plenty of people call JBL "Bradshaw". When JBL changed his character into JBL, he didn't change his name, he just added to it. Bradshaw is still a part of his name.

Bryan Danielson has never been called such on WWE television (as far as I'm aware), so its a stupid comparison. People will only call him Bryan Danielson instead of Daniel Bryan because they are either "den wans" or they want to appear more in the know. I don't think the same can be said for Bradshaw. Anyway, I think your splitting hairs and being a touch picky for the sake of it, which is kind of your thing, so I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. 

To be fair though, it IS the middle part of JBL. Calling him Bradshaw is surely acceptable? It's not like calling Ambrose 'Moxley' or something like that.

Yeah, calling him Bradshaw is completely acceptable. Its still his name. Its like someone calling Triple H "Hunter". 

King Pitcos, I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again; but you're amazing. Thank you for the effort you put into that response. You could have easily just said "Symths" and been done with it. So seriously, thanks for the effort. That's the Christmas shopping for him sorted anyway. 

Question on figures; where is the best place to get them? I'm not necessarily looking for customs or anything like that. My little God son has gotten into wrestling over the last while, and is putting together his Christmas list for Santa. He wants some wrestling figures, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, The Shield (wouldn't really matter to him if its in The Shield getup or their new solo attires) Daniel Bryan etc. Went to the local toy superstore and can only really find a million of the same one or two figures. John Cena we picked up no problem. But the rest of that mini list I just posted are nowhere to be seen. If I wanted a million Sheamus or Rey Mysterio figures, i'd be sorted, but none of the ones he wants. 

I know you guys shared some advice on the previous page about amazon and what not, but I'm not really sure you if guys are talking about customs and rare figures or not. I had a look on WWE Euroshop too, but didn't see any figures on there. 

Any tips?

Yeah, what Ian said. Also he didnt really say it in a cocky or arrogant way either. And fuck it, maybe is is that well conditioned? I've listening to the interview, but haven't seen Shamrock in over a decade, so I don't know what kind of shape he looks to be in, but for all I know, from a conditioning point of view, maybe he would still be in that top bracket. 

To be fair, didn't he say he was in the top 10% of MMA fighters and top 5 for pro wrestlers in terms of his conditioning. I don't think he meant that he would still be one of the best overall if he was still competing; just that if you were ranking them all soley on their conditioning. 

Yeah he's in the title picture now, but with the plans for the title from now until probably Wrestlemania not including him winning it, they need to stop putting him in title matches he won't win. Whether he gets pinned or not, all it takes is one too many failed shots and he comes across as a loser.

I don't know if that is necessarily the case though. Sure that happened with Ryback, but all Ryback really had going for him was this indestructible, unstoppable monster gimmick, and once he was stopped a few times and lost that aura he was fucked. Rybackhad one on one matches for the title, ones inside a Hell in a Cell, where there is nowhere left to hide, and he still couldn't get the job done. Its hard to paper over the cracks in those kind of scenarios.

Reigns in being put in (so far) multi man matches where he doesn't have to take the fall, where a variety of mitigating circumstances can come into play. Its easier to take a loss in that kind of environment and not take too much damage. Plus Reigns is different to Ryback in the sense that he is just cooler than him. Maybe its just me, but I get the feeling that people look at Reigns and they want to be that guy. I always thought it was lightning in a bottle with Ryback, right guy in the right place at the right time, but its been a bit more organic with Reigns, and therefore I think he could sustain a screwjob loss or two before finally overcoming the odds and getting his redemption.

Case in point would be someone like Daniel Bryan; he was screwed around immensely at Summerslam last year, but its didn't stop him being the most over act on the card. Sure, he has different qualities to Reigns and has the whole underdog thing going for him, and the YES movement etc. but he still remained over, and the crowd firmly in his corner in spite of him losing several title rematches and what not.

I'm not saying Reigns can definitely follow the same trajectory as Bryan, or that the fans would definitely be as loyal to him as they were to Bryan either. But at the same time, I don't think the fans would be as fickle with him as they were with Ryback either. There is no set formula, and just because Ryback went down the tubes a certain way, doesn't mean Reigns is destined to follow.

I agree with LaGoosh in that I think there is a good chance that Reigns won't even suffer another pinfall/submission loss between here and the new year. Maybe one in some big screwjob finish around Survivor Series or something, but I think he can handle not winning a multi man ladder match, and absorb a loss in a 4 way where he doesn't take the fall too.

Good stuff, I'lll have to check it out.

Hilarious in what way? Unintentionally?