#badgorblin

[tyrantisterror]

badgorblin replied to your post “If you’re not on twitter, I want you to know that one of the trending...”

The post trending on Twitter is a screenshot of a Tumblr post... We Are Number One

Those poor bastards at Twitter aren’t prepared for this level of shitty discourse.

[daemonologic]

the one truth. courtesy of @badgorblin creator of my pfp

[bogleech]

Is mortasheen still, like, a thing happening? (sorry if this comes off as rude... :p just a big fan of all your stuff and mortasheen in particular really seems cool to me)

Yes but any release schedule is totally out of my hands! My end of the work on it wrapped up almost four years ago, though I’m making improvements to the art here and there while I wait to hear final news

[prokopetz]

What ttrpg would be best for playing as members of a conspiracy/secret society? Thanks!

Too vague a question to provide a useful answer, I’m afraid. Tabletop RPGs where the player characters are members of a secret society is one of the most popular genres – outside of fantasy dungeon crawlers, anyway, and even some of those qualify! – and which one would be “best” depends on what sort of setting, tone, etc. you’re shooting for. Do you have any specifics in mind?

(Seriously, the sky’s the limit here. Want an Ancient Roman film noir game about a secret police force doing black ops for the Senate in the waning days of the Republic? There’s an RPG for that. Intellectual property enforcement officers in a gonzo transhuman future where “sapient city” is a valid starting character concept? That too. Weird recursive X-Files type premise where the player characters are all members of different government conspiracies who’ve pooled their resources to form their own little conspiracy-within-a-conspiracy, and also everyone has psychic powers, with rules explicitly structured to give mechanical advantage to characters whose players are actually psychic? Yep. It’s a pretty diverse genre.)

[tyrantisterror]

Could you make like a top five or so best movies for a Kaiju film newb like me to dip their feet into? Thanks a lot!

Ooo, that’s a difficult but fun task!  I’ll try my best!

For clarity, this is not a Top 5 Best Kaiju Movies list or even a TT’s Top 5 Personal Favorite Kaiju Movies List.  This is a list specifically focused on introducing someone to kaiju, under the presumption they have very little if any understanding of the genre going in.  As you specified, it’s for newbies - which means some of the best kaiju movies aren’t going to be on it, because a lot of the really good ones are far better experienced once you know the genre well.  It’s hard to enjoy Avengers if you haven’t seen Iron Man, after all.

I’d also recommend watching them in the order I’m listing, because my goal is to give you a good entry point while also preparing you for the fun, weird shit that makes kaiju movies so special, and that’s going to take some progress.

First Intro to Kaiju Marathon Film - Kong Skull Island

I want to start you off with something close in tone to modern blockbuster sci-fi action movies, and while I’m spoiled for choices in this regards, I feel Kong Skull Island is your best bet.  More than any other modern kaiju film, it puts an emphasis on how its monsters are characters, with the main plotline being focused on humanity coming to understand the titular monster, King Kong, as being far more complex than simple obstacle to be overcome.  It’s also got a lot of weird monster shit in it, and honestly feels more like a typical Godzilla movie than a typical Kong movie, to its benefit.  Plus it’s PRETTY GOOD and very fun.

Runners Up for this category: Pacific Rim (a better film than Kong Skull Island, but while it’s a great gateway to kaiju cinema, it means so much more if you come into it with an understanding of the movies and TV shows that inspired it - I would put off watching it until you’ve watched a LOT of kaiju movies just so your first experience is all the more impactful), Rampage (gets down most of the same positives as Kong Skull Island, but is less ambitious.  Still a hell of a lot of fun and not a bad entry point into the genre.)

Second Intro to Kaiju Marathon Film - Gamera: Guardian of the Universe

Backtracking a couple decades, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe is the first film in the 90′s Gamera trilogy, and probably my favorite of the 90′s kaiju flicks overall.  Its sequels are arguably smarter (and definitely more ambitious) films, but you’re looking for an entry point, and this is what you need for that.  It’s new enough to still be slick, while old enough to give you a feel for the man-in-suit action that defines the classic kaiju film - and has some of the best man-in-suit special effects of all time to boot.  The villain monster, Gyaos, is truly horrifying and nasty, and the hero monster Gamera is absolutely lovable.  The human cast is pretty good too, and it’s one of the best examples of a human hero with a supernatural connection to the main hero monster, which is a pretty standard (and deservedly so) trope for the genre.

Runners Up for this category: Godzilla 1985/The Return of Godzilla (a lot of the same good qualities along with a more somber/scary tone, but a bit harder to get a hold of), Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack (again, a lot of the same good qualities, including the same director as Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, but with a bit more complicated mythology, and a bit more dependence on you knowing a bit about Godzilla already beforehand)

Third Intro to Kaiju Marathon Film - Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla (1974)

Backing up a few decades more, our third film in the marathon is meant to dive into the fucking CRAZY shit that makes kaiju films so fun.  With robot kaiju doppelgangers, spies, space-apes masquerading as humans, a giant semi-organic version of those Shisa lion dog statues, and 1970′s Japanese jazz music, this movie will give you a sense of how goddamn weird a kaiju flick can get, all while having some of the best action in the series.  It kicks ass and will leave you baffled but entertained.

Runners Up for this category: Godzilla vs. Hedorah/Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster (even weirder than this film, but more divisive among fans in terms of quality), Godzilla: Final Wars (weirder still, dumber, and far more divisive, but also so fucking fun)

Fourth Intro to Kaiju Marathon Film - Ghidorah the 3 Headed Monster

This is possibly my favorite kaiju film of all time, and while part of my love for it is how it marks a colossal turning point in Godzilla’s character arc in the Showa movies (and thus isn’t quite as easy to appreciate divorced from the context of the movies that precede it), I still recommend it here because even taken on its own it’s a gem.  It’s a tight story that’s not quite as bizarre as Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla, but still plenty weird enough to entertain and delight the imagination.  Its got great human characters and great characterization for its monsters as well (they have arcs!  They develop!  It’s great!).  This is the reasonable standard by which kaiju movies should be judged - this is the solid A grade kaiju film.  Plus it gives you a good understanding of four of the most famous/important kaiju characters to exist - Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah - and so just for that it deserves to be viewed as a primer.

Runners Up for this category: Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (just as many good qualities as Ghidorah but sadly lacks Mothra), Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) (just as many good qualities as Ghidorah but sadly lacks King Ghidorah and Rodan), Gorgo (I may get hate for this but Gorgo is not only a kaiju film, but a very good metric to judge solo kaiju films - an A Grade for a kaiju movie with just one main monster)

Fifth Intro to Kaiju Marathon Film - Gojira/Godzilla (1954)

If you want to see what a completely straight-laced, horror-centric, utterly serious kaiju movie could be, you have to go with the original: the Japanese cut of the 1954 Godzilla movie.  It is a dark, somber, political, and legitimately unnerving film, with some great cinematography, marvelous acting, and an utterly gripping conflict at the heart of it.  It treats its central monster as a character while still mining the monster movie concept for all the horror and tragedy it could muster, and if you do a little research on it (such as learning that the opening scene of a fishing boat suddenly being hit with an unexpected explosion of radioactivity was based on a REAL incident where a fishing boat was caught in the crossfire of a secret US nuclear test on the Bikini atoll, or how Godzilla’s rampage is designed to recall the firebombings that were inflicted upon Japan in WW2) you’ll realize it was a very daring film for its time as well.  It is more than deserving of its status as a classic.

Runners Up for this category: Shin Godzilla (if black and white movies aren’t your thing, this has many of the same good qualities as Godzilla while being far more modern, though I think it is more effective in the context of the Godzilla movies that preceded it), Cloverfield (similarly serious and horrifying as Godzilla, but not quite as complex story-wise nor as good character-wise - plus the found footage style can put some people off)