#bart going through the entire spectrum of emotion

[speedsterly]

Kon chill, you're going to scare the femboy

[sebeth]

Young Justice: The Return (Animation)

In an earlier post, I wrote my thoughts on the upcoming return of the Young Justice comic book. Now it’s time for the cartoon series.

I’ve tried to avoid most interviews but I have seen the promo images and watched the two trailers repeatedly.  I like to go in as spoiler-free as possible when watching/reading media but I only have so much self-control.

Let’s start with the main plot –

There will be a time jump between season 2 and 3 – we’re just not sure of the exact length.  

The formation of the Outsiders, along with the rescue of Terra, will be the main arc of season three.

Dick reunites with Conner and Artemis in the beginning of the season for “one last mission”.  Black Lightning accompanies the trio to Markovia to shut down the metahuman trafficking ring.  Why?  Besides the fact that human trafficking is bad.  Black Lightning has no previous connection to Young Justice but he has long-standing connections to Batman.

Has Batman already formed the Outsiders minus Geo-Force and Halo?  We briefly see Batman, Katana, and Metamorpho jump from a plane and later brawl with Deathstroke.  Batman formed the group in the comics - it would make sense for him to be behind the group’s organization in the cartoons.  A covert group for more adult missions he wouldn’t want the Young Justice children to participate in.

I’m guessing the Markovia mission reveals the metahuman trafficking ring is way more extensive than previously thought – leading Dick to reunite with - and resume leadership – of Young Justice.

The Light and the Reach experimenting with metahuman activation began in season two.  Per Wonder Woman, the Justice League “have confirmation that on multiple worlds, earth’s metahumans are being deployed by the enemy as weapons of mass destruction.”

Wonder Woman’s comment suggests the abducted metahumans are being subjected to brainwashing along with experimentation.  I highly doubt the newly activated metahumans would rampage across the universe without mind control directing their actions.

The “multiple worlds” comment ties together Bart’s “we have a mission in space” with the glimpses of the New Gods, Superboy’s brawl with Lobo, and Dick and Conner fighting Sensei/Silver Monkey on a foreign world.

New Genesis might be one of the world’s affected by the “metahumans of mass destruction”, Lobo could have been hired by the Light, and Sensei/Silver Monkey is guarding one of Ra’s Al Ghul’s headquarters.

On to the characters:

First up, the Outsiders –

Geo-Force, Katana, Halo, Metamorpho, Black Lightning

Terra

The Markov Royal Family

As I said above, I’m fairly confident Batman has already formed the Outsiders before the beginning of the season.  Possibly as a true “covert” group – as in without the Justice League’s knowledge or permission.

Young Justice was told they were a “covert” group by the Justice League but mostly it was a “training wheels” type group – smaller missions while being trained by the more experienced heroes.  They did covert missions but were still in the press and public’s eyes.

The Outsiders will be the true covert group – sticking to the shadows, away from the press, down and dirty missions, etc.

As for the individual Outsiders:

Geo-Force - Brion is an adorable big brother.  Noble, protective, eager to find his sister and stop the bad guys.  Visually his powers should be awesome – they are similar to Terra’s.

Terra – Not a member of the Outsiders but I wanted to include her with Brion.  The big question: will Terra be a villain?  I’m guessing “yes”.  Comic cannon dooms her to this fate.  I do believe it will be the result of the Light’s brainwashing instead of the general “evil” nature.  Possibly making her a tragic villain.  Will Deathstroke be involved with Terra’s brainwashing?  Comic cannon says “yes”.  Could Batman, Metamorpho, and Katana storm the island looking for Terra?  Is that why the Outsiders end up fighting Deathstroke?

Black Lightning – Jeff appears serious and mature.  Love his visual design.  Can’t wait to see him in costume.

Metamorpho – We only have a visual impression.  Very nice. I wonder if we’ll see Sapphire or Simon Stagg?  Rex will be the one who gives Deathstroke the most trouble in the upcoming fight.

Katana – Not much to go on yet except visually.  Katana’s design reminds me of a more adult version of her DC Girls attire.  Excited to see her in action.

Halo – Will be entirely different from the comics.  She is a person of color and possibly Muslim?  Let’s skip all the drama and hatred over the race change.  Please?!  She’s seems to be a new character.  I highly doubt her name is going to be “Violet Harper”.  For those unfamiliar with Halo, she wasn’t a great character.  Apologies to Halo fans.  Violet was a sociopath who was murdered by the 100, a criminal organization.  Aurakle, an alien entity, merged with Violet’s deceased body.  The “resurrection” caused amnesia.  It gets more complicated from there.  Let’s agree to start fresh and give the new Halo a chance.  Halo’s powers are light-based – different colors have different effects.  Halo’s colors were the same ones used by every color Lantern corps.  However, Halo predated the emotional spectrum Lantern corps by twenty years.  I’m betting Halo receives her powers in the cartoon due to the Light’s genetic manipulation. The one thing I would like to see carry over from the comic books is the maternal/big sister role Katana has in Halo’s life.

On to the Young Justice newbies:

Spoiler – I’m excited – I love Stephanie.  She had a brief cameo in Season Two.  How and why did she join the team? Is she involved with Tim?  Will this cause friction with Cassie?  I hope not as I would love to see Steph and Cassie bond. Cassie is very exuberant in the cartoon and Steph has the same approach to life – I would love to see the two become close friends.

Arrowette – A surprise choice since we already have Artemis, Roy, and clone Roy in the series.  Glad to see her as she was a prominent member/supporting character in the comic book series.  Will she develop a close friendship with Cassie and Bart?  Those were her two besties in the comics.

Thirteen/Traci 13 – Another surprise choice. Traci can easily step into the void Zatana left when she joined the Justice League.  Will Traci have a romance with Blue Beetle?  They were a cute couple in the pre-New 52 era.

Oracle – Not a true new character but Barbara has clearly been through some changes since season two. Will we see a Killing Joke flashback? Or did Babs become Oracle in a different way?

Static – Like Oracle, Static is a returning character but with an upgrade.  The writers seem to love electricity this season – we have Static, Black Lighting, and Live Wire also makes an appearance in the trailer.

Notable absences:

Miss Martian – I won’t miss M’gann if she’s absent this season.  She started out cute in season one, became creepy with the Conner-molding, and became worse in season two with the unrepentant mind-frying and toying with Lagoon Boy.  So no thank you unless Miss Martian has learned from her mistakes and expresses honest regret over her actions. Feeling bad for mind-frying Kaldur does not count as honest regret.  M’ganns the easiest case for a “hero goes bad” if the show writers wanted to go that route.

Aqualad, Lagoon Boy, Aquaman, etc – Atlantis has had zero representation in either trailer.  Did something happen to Atlantis during the time jump?  Will that be one of the mysteries during the season?

Miscellaneous thoughts on the upcoming season:

We are all but guaranteed a fourth and fifth season of Young Justice.  We know it’s going to be one of the heavyweights of the DC Universe streaming service so I don’t want various plotlines rushed.

Season Three will have 26 episodes.  The majority will focus on the Outsiders and the metahuman trafficking ring alongside a “mission in space”.    That leaves room for some “done in one” episodes or time for the development of various subplots.

The two big questions on fan’s minds: Will we see the return of Wally West or the debut of the Red Hood?

I would bet Wally’s return will be near the end of the season.  The writers will want a “wow” ending for the season finale and that would be it.

As for Red Hood…I feel it’s a strong possibility.  I don’t think the writers would have had Jason’s memorial hologram if they didn’t have any intention of using the Red Hood.

The writers could have Red Hood’s debut be similar to Jason’s appearance in the Teen Titans comics:  Jason attacks Tim, and leaves the “Jason Todd/Red Hood Was Here” message on the walls.  I’m not sure if the writers want to redo the entire “Under The Red Hood” storyline.  At this point, it’s been done in the comic books, an animated movie, and a video game – most fans are familiar with the details by this point.  Jason’s attack on Tim would allow Dick to fill in the rest of the team on the details of Jason’s resurrection.  Dick has been keeping his distance from the team as indicated by his “one last mission” line.  Dick’s distance would easily explain why the rest of the team is unaware of Jason’s return. Tim wouldn’t explain “Gotham business” to his teammates – he’s much more introverted and was way more intent on respecting Batman-imposed boundaries than Dick.

A developing friendship between Arsenal-Roy and Jason is a must.  Not only because of the “Outlaws” comic book but because it’s a natural development between two traumatized boys prone to lashing out.

What I Don’t Want:

A Conner-M’gann relationship – The pairing started cute but is now toxic.  Creepy molding combined with mind manipulation = abuse.

No Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Starfire, Cyborg, or Raven.  At least not this season.  We have multiple new characters debuting this season, new characters who didn’t receive much focus last season, and a possibly debuting Red Hood. The seating capacity is full – no new debuts until season four.

I’ve rambled enough for now – so excited for January!

[flauntpage]

We’ve Gone Too Far

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  I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a little while now.

Six years ago, in 2011, each of the four major sports teams in Philly were perhaps the most antiquated in their respective leagues.

The Phillies were in the midst of their historic run and were, as it turns out, the last team in Major League Baseball to have a sustained period of success and win the old-fashioned way (with good pitching and the three-run homer). They had fully gutted their farm system in an attempt to keep open their window of opportunity.

The Eagles were in the doldrums of the end of the Andy Reid era, which had stalled itself into a frustrating tailspin filled with the same predictable cock-ups that plagued Reid’s entire tenure here.

The Flyers had just signed Ilya Bryzgalov to a $51 million contract.

And the Sixers were still owned by Comcast, which seemed content to let the team play itself to an eight seed every year.

In this old school, stubborn town, our teams were a reflection of the city– resistant to change, archaic in their thinking, and the real-world equivalent of a government website designed in 1998. The Phillies were basically an animated GIF that said “Print!” in big green letters.

There was a groundswell, particularly from Phillies Twitter, of support for the local teams to embrace analytics or otherwise turn the page. Each team, perhaps reacting to their untenable existence and public outcry, swung the pendulum about as far forward as it could go.

The Eagles became the first to do so, in 2013 hiring Chip Kelly, who implemented what can loosely be defined as football and initiating a wave of sports science and nutrition advancements at the NovaCare Complex, ridding the place of Taco Tuesdays, Whiskey Wednesdays, Tortuga Thursdays and Fat Ass Fridays.

Then the Sixers followed suit, when Joshua Harris bought the team and hired Sam Hinkie, who undertook maybe the most progressive endeavor in NBA history with his tanking and a process that literally resulted in him writing a deranged yet brilliant 13-page manifesto as he rode off into the sunset, which was actually a home in Silicon Valley, where Hinkie has since shaved his head, grown a beard, and basically turned into Gavin Fucking Belson.

Then it was the Flyers, who oddly promoted failed GM Paul Holmgren to President and tapped Ron Hextall as their savior GM. Ironically, one of the most OB players of all-time, THE FLYERS FIGHTING GOALIE, was tasked with recreating the way the franchise did its business, by building through the draft and off-loading the downright idiotic contracts handed out by his predecessor and boss.

And then the Phillies came around, firing Ruben Amaro, bringing in Andy MacPhail and Matt Klentak as John Middleton Game of Throned his way into becoming the controlling owner, and embracing analytics, which are now a necessity for every team in baseball. Since then, the Phils have undertaken their own tank of sorts.

In a way, you can say that each of the teams – especially the Eagles and Sixers – became the most progressive in their respective sports. But how has it worked out?

The Sixers are obviously and clearly positioned to become a great team, with an infrastructure and business arm to match. If they can keep their young players healthy, it’s possible they can become the model for a successful sports franchise– winning team, premium facilities, excellent branding, a diverse business portfolio (e-sports, incubator), and a highly-profitable sales structure.

However, despite the fertile land in which their seed is being gestated, even they went too far. Old-timers in the city revolted. The league and other owners got squeamish about Hinkie, forced Harris’ hand to fire him, and the team brought in the league-approved Colangelos to run things. Bryan Colangelo will, undoubtedly, accelerate the process to some degree and return the team to some level of conventionality. But the fruits of Hinkie’s labor, developments in sports science, and investment in progressive business interests will remain. If we’re grading on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being OLD FASHIONED and 10 being JOAQUIN PHOENIX IN HER, the Sixers are sitting at a solid 8.

The results when it comes to the other teams are a bit less defined.

The Eagles realized that they swung the pendulum way too far. Like, off the meter into a binary simulation far. Kelly proved to be too much for the NFL. His emotional intelligence was nil, players accused him of being racist, pictures of Bart Simpsons turned out to NOT be the best way to signal plays, and, mostly, his offense was just flat-out predictable and bad in the NFL. Especially in a city like Philly, which is willing to let a mad scientist tinker with its basketball team but most definitely not the football team, Kelly was destined to fail. Of course, he didn’t have much more success in San Francisco. Actually, he didn’t have any success and now he’s on ESPN.

Jeffery Lurie acknowledged the error the only way he knew how: by turning the clock so far back that he rebuilt The Vet, undid the housing crisis, and made Judd Apatow relevant again.

Like the Sixers, the Eagles have kept vestiges of the more modern era– sports science and nutrition. But they are at no more on a 4 on our 10-point scale.

The Flyers made the welcomed change to stop trying to buy and bruise their way to a Stanley Cup every year and undertook a more measured approached. Thus far, the results are mixed at best. They do have a plethora of young talent, but they regressed in the second season under science project head coach Dave Hakstol. Their remaining core, which is now in its supposed prime, has won one playoff series in five years. And the biggest trump card they own, the second pick in the draft this year, was obtained through dumb luck. They are positioned to be good over the next few years, but they are one more missed playoffs from both Ron Hextall’s and certainly Dave Hakstol’s jobs being on the line. And then what?

The Flyers are maybe a 6 on our scale.

And then there’s the Phillies. Holy fuck there’s the Phillies. Baseball, more than any other sport, requires patience if you’re going to build through the draft. Like, maybe 20 years patience. More than the other three sports, it is very difficult to predict draft success and player development in baseball. It has only been two years since Klentak has had a chance to make his mark. But worse than the positively awful on-field product is the fact that the Phillies’ most recent batch of future stars look like anything but, and their minor league prospects are hardly wow-ing so far this season. Worse, and more applicable to this topic, the Phillies have the means to buy their way into respectability while at the same time allowing their prospects to develop. And yet, this season, the product that has been put on the field – a combination of homegrown talent, acquired assets, and free agents – is purely dreadful, looks disinterested, and is a basic affront to sports fandom. Ruben Amaro certainly “did it wrong,” but there are no signs thus far that Klentak, his Newtown’s Third Law mandate, is doing it any better. The Phillies are maybe a 6 on our scale right now, but at times they feel like a 9 stuck in a 2’s body.

So what’s my point here? In just the span of a few years, Philly teams went from stubbornly old-fashioned to radically progressive. What we’ve learned, though, is that perhaps the best version of sports falls somewhere in the middle. Look at recent champions. Theo Eptstein, largely credited for being the first to win with analytics, in Boston, has said that the Cubs’ success is as much about human intelligence as it is newfangled thinking, partly because the edge in SABR is gone and a marriage of human observation and data is best. The Warriors, arguably the most progressive on-court product in basketball and maybe the greatest team ever, lost to superstardom, effort and size last year. On no planet were the Cavs better, but LeBron’s will to win trumped the Warriors’ three-point formula, which was rendered utterly useless the moment Steph Curry needed to be an Alpha male late in Game 7 and dribbled away their season into nothingness.

We’ve seen both ends of the spectrum, from maddeningly old school to shockingly, uncomfortably forward-thinking. Neither is best. The answer, as it always seems to be, is somewhere in the middle.

  We’ve Gone Too Far published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[amtushinfosolutionspage]

We’ve Gone Too Far

I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a little while now.

Six years ago, in 2011, each of the four major sports teams in Philly were perhaps the most antiquated in their respective leagues.

The Phillies were in the midst of their historic run and were, as it turns out, the last team in Major League Baseball to have a sustained period of success and win the old-fashioned way (with good pitching and the three-run homer). They had fully gutted their farm system in an attempt to keep open their window of opportunity.

The Eagles were in the doldrums of the end of the Andy Reid era, which had stalled itself into a frustrating tailspin filled with the same predictable cock-ups that plagued Reid’s entire tenure here.

The Flyers had just signed Ilya Bryzgalov to a $51 million contract.

And the Sixers were still owned by Comcast, which seemed content to let the team play itself to an eight seed every year.

In this old school, stubborn town, our teams were a reflection of the city– resistant to change, archaic in their thinking, and the real-world equivalent of a government website designed in 1998. The Phillies were basically an animated GIF that said “Print!” in big green letters.

There was a groundswell, particularly from Phillies Twitter, of support for the local teams to embrace analytics or otherwise turn the page. Each team, perhaps reacting to their untenable existence and public outcry, swung the pendulum about as far forward as it could go.

The Eagles became the first to do so, in 2013 hiring Chip Kelly, who implemented what can loosely be defined as football and initiating a wave of sports science and nutrition advancements at the NovaCare Complex, ridding the place of Taco Tuesdays, Whiskey Wednesdays, Tortuga Thursdays and Fat Ass Fridays.

Then the Sixers followed suit, when Joshua Harris bought the team and hired Sam Hinkie, who undertook maybe the most progressive endeavor in NBA history with his tanking and a process that literally resulted in him writing a deranged yet brilliant 13-page manifesto as he rode off into the sunset, which was actually a home in Silicon Valley, where Hinkie has since shaved his head, grown a beard, and basically turned into Gavin Fucking Belson.

Then it was the Flyers, who oddly promoted failed GM Paul Holmgren to President and tapped Ron Hextall as their savior GM. Ironically, one of the most OB players of all-time, THE FLYERS FIGHTING GOALIE, was tasked with recreating the way the franchise did its business, by building through the draft and off-loading the downright idiotic contracts handed out by his predecessor and boss.

And then the Phillies came around, firing Ruben Amaro, bringing in Andy MacPhail and Matt Klentak as John Middleton Game of Throned his way into becoming the controlling owner, and embracing analytics, which are now a necessity for every team in baseball. Since then, the Phils have undertaken their own tank of sorts.

In a way, you can say that each of the teams – especially the Eagles and Sixers – became the most progressive in their respective sports. But how has it worked out?

The Sixers are obviously and clearly positioned to become a great team, with an infrastructure and business arm to match. If they can keep their young players healthy, it’s possible they can become the model for a successful sports franchise– winning team, premium facilities, excellent branding, a diverse business portfolio (e-sports, incubator), and a highly-profitable sales structure.

However, despite the fertile land in which their seed is being gestated, even they went too far. Old-timers in the city revolted. The league and other owners got squeamish about Hinkie, forced Harris’ hand to fire him, and the team brought in the league-approved Colangelos to run things. Bryan Colangelo will, undoubtedly, accelerate the process to some degree and return the team to some level of conventionality. But the fruits of Hinkie’s labor, developments in sports science, and investment in progressive business interests will remain. If we’re grading on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being OLD FASHIONED and 10 being JOAQUIN PHOENIX IN HER, the Sixers are sitting at a solid 8.

The results when it comes to the other teams are a bit less defined.

The Eagles realized that they swung the pendulum way too far. Like, off the meter into a binary simulation far. Kelly proved to be too much for the NFL. His emotional intelligence was nil, players accused him of being racist, pictures of Bart Simpsons turned out to NOT be the best way to signal plays, and, mostly, his offense was just flat-out predictable and bad in the NFL. Especially in a city like Philly, which is willing to let a mad scientist tinker with its basketball team but most definitely not the football team, Kelly was destined to fail. Of course, he didn’t have much more success in San Francisco. Actually, he didn’t have any success and now he’s on ESPN.

Jeffery Lurie acknowledged the error the only way he knew how: by turning the clock so far back that he rebuilt The Vet, undid the housing crisis, and made Judd Apatow relevant again.

Like the Sixers, the Eagles have kept vestiges of the more modern era– sports science and nutrition. But they are at no more on a 4 on our 10-point scale.

The Flyers made the welcomed change to stop trying to buy and bruise their way to a Stanley Cup every year and undertook a more measured approached. Thus far, the results are mixed at best. They do have a plethora of young talent, but they regressed in the second season under science project head coach Dave Hakstol. Their remaining core, which is now in its supposed prime, has won one playoff series in five years. And the biggest trump card they own, the second pick in the draft this year, was obtained through dumb luck. They are positioned to be good over the next few years, but they are one more missed playoffs from both Ron Hextall’s and certainly Dave Hakstol’s jobs being on the line. And then what?

The Flyers are maybe a 6 on our scale.

And then there’s the Phillies. Holy fuck there’s the Phillies. Baseball, more than any other sport, requires patience if you’re going to build through the draft. Like, maybe 20 years patience. More than the other three sports, it is very difficult to predict draft success and player development in baseball. It has only been two years since Klentak has had a chance to make his mark. But worse than the positively awful on-field product is the fact that the Phillies’ most recent batch of future stars look like anything but, and their minor league prospects are hardly wow-ing so far this season. Worse, and more applicable to this topic, the Phillies have the means to buy their way into respectability while at the same time allowing their prospects to develop. And yet, this season, the product that has been put on the field – a combination of homegrown talent, acquired assets, and free agents – is purely dreadful, looks disinterested, and is a basic affront to sports fandom. Ruben Amaro certainly “did it wrong,” but there are no signs thus far that Klentak, his Newtown’s Third Law mandate, is doing it any better. The Phillies are maybe a 6 on our scale right now, but at times they feel like a 9 stuck in a 2’s body.

So what’s my point here? In just the span of a few years, Philly teams went from stubbornly old-fashioned to radically progressive. What we’ve learned, though, is that perhaps the best version of sports falls somewhere in the middle. Look at recent champions. Theo Eptstein, largely credited for being the first to win with analytics, in Boston, has said that the Cubs’ success is as much about human intelligence as it is newfangled thinking, partly because the edge in SABR is gone and a marriage of human observation and data is best. The Warriors, arguably the most progressive on-court product in basketball and maybe the greatest team ever, lost to superstardom, effort and size last year. On no planet were the Cavs better, but LeBron’s will to win trumped the Warriors’ three-point formula, which was rendered utterly useless the moment Steph Curry needed to be an Alpha male late in Game 7 and dribbled away their season into nothingness.

We’ve seen both ends of the spectrum, from maddeningly old school to shockingly, uncomfortably forward-thinking. Neither is best. The answer, as it always seems to be, is somewhere in the middle.

We’ve Gone Too Far published first on your-t1-blog-url