My wallet is relieved as I'll most certainly pass on any and all figures from this film. Phase 4 so far has gotten me to purchase Scarlet Witch (for the head sculpt mainly) and Vision (because he looks close enough to the Infinity War version and I want a (slight) upgrade. My stance on holding to IW/EG figures and characters is working so far. I'm definitely picking up the 3rd party black order though...
It's difficult to describe what I'm trying to describe, the DCEU movies just have a certain look and feel to them, and this has that. And I hate the way those movies look, they just look off.
Well, the land along the shoreline in those scenes was rather barren - maybe that's the reason. Snyder's settings were often quite desolate & colorless.
The actors look like they are going with the cardboard Captain Marvel acting. Some interesting cinematography using scale, but pass for me. That leaked plot line seems to still hold true.
"We were here to protect, but only for a certain thing. Protect what you love." What?
"We love them and what do you do when you love someone? You very selectively protect them against one specific threat that most generations will never experience and NOTHING else."
That's like my dad saying "I love you son, therefore I will protect you from one single pitbull that lives in Australia in the event that it ever somehow makes its way to our front yard." Gee thanks Dad...
"We love them and what do you do when you love someone? You very selectively protect them against one specific threat that most generations will never experience and NOTHING else."
That's like my dad saying "I love you son, therefore I will protect you from one single pitbull that lives in Australia in the event that it ever somehow makes its way to our front yard."
Unless there’s some big surprise reveal about their prime directive that dialogue made about as much sense as that asian entertainment reporter who talked about representation lol
This looks terrible. Long gone are the days where fancy visuals are enough to get me into the theater. There wasn't a single character that I found endearing or interesting. GOTG I liked everybody from the first preview.
In your opinion. Obviously the trailers have focused more on the group as a whole than any individual member, and IMO given their size (what, twice as many members as the GoTG?) I think that's understandable. Even so, Angelina's character & Ikaris have piqued my interest, as well as the Celestial connection.
And you should know by now that I never hope for any movie to suck but this actually looks like it will be worse than a bad movie, it will be a bland movie. Might I be proven wrong? Sure. But for the life of me I can't think of a single movie that had two bland trailers with zero charisma stars that I ended up loving or even liking. Not a single one.
Whereas there have been many movies that have missed the mark but I still appreciated due to the appeal of the characters or at the very least a distinct artistic vision that I could hang my hat on. As of now Eternals appears to have neither. And if the dialogue in the trailer is any indication it won't even be competent blandness (like say Ant-Man or something,) no it will just be awkward cringe bland. Ugh.
I agree with Khev. This trailer seemed very generic and uninteresting to me. The humor at the end was also incredibly bad. But probably the funniest moment in the whole film since that is what they highlighted to get people excited for the movie.
Having said that, Marvel Studios hasn't let me down yet. I don't expect this to be great or anything, but I will expect it to be a good, fun movie since Feige knows what he's doing.
Very curious to see how they handle Black Knight. Was a favorite of mine as a kid.
And you should know by now that I never hope for any movie to suck but this actually looks like it will be worse than a bad movie, it will be a bland movie. Might I be proven wrong? Sure. But for the life of me I can't think of a single movie that had two bland trailers with zero charisma stars that I ended up loving or even liking. Not a single one.
Whereas there have been many movies that have missed the mark but I still appreciated due to the appeal of the characters or at the very least a distinct artistic vision that I could hang my hat on. As of now Eternals appears to have neither. And if the dialogue in the trailer is any indication it won't even be competent blandness (like say Ant-Man or something,) no it will just be awkward cringe bland. Ugh.
Sorry, I think I just reached my limit on people rushing to conclusions/trashing entire movies based on trailers. Yours just happened to be the straw that broke the camel's back lol...
And I think Angelina still has plenty of charisma, but maybe that's just me...
Well the point of a trailer is to give you a sense of what to expect from a movie. Typically they oversell and under-deliver. Here, I'm hoping they do the opposite.
The problem with expanding the MCU is that nothing becomes special anymore. New characters don't automatically garner interest. This looks generic. About characters most have no clue about, nor will likely care. And also will most likely have no impact of importance on the established heroes fans have come to like. It's just like in comic books. The core character books will always sell well. Spider-Man, any Avenger related character, X-Men titles... This is why the Eternals have only ever been limited series books or low numbered series. Not enough marvel fans/readers ever cared.
This movie, good or bad, I feel will not do well. Same with Shang Chi. If Black Widow failed, how in the world do they expect these 2 to do well? Because of PC culture? Diverseness?
I think what we're all seeing firsthand is just how important the Russo Bros were to the success of the MCU vs. Kevin Feige. Remember Feige did *not* want them to make Civil War, which set up Infinity War, which culminated in EG, all thanks to the Russos every step of the way. It was them who lectured Feige that "you can't give people vanilla ice cream all the time, even if they like vanilla ice cream." Because before the Russos came along there already was a lot of blandness in the MCU. TIH, IM2, IM3, Thor: TDW (some might say TFA though I'd obviously disagree) with Whedon's Avengers homerun and IM1 being the true standouts.
Looks like post-EG might be reverting back to that alternate MCU that Feige would have given us along along without the Russos.
Even when I was into comics as a young kid until I was 15, I didn't read everything. If I recall:
Spider-Man
Superman (mostly post-Crisis)
Green Arrow
Batman (Not a lot)
Elf Quest
TMNT (Eastman & Laird's original run)
Cerberus
...tried a couple of new titles here and there like DP7, some old Fantastic Four, Teen Titans, G.I. Joe, picked up Punisher now and then ... the odd horror comic ... probably some things I'm forgetting, it was decades ago and I kept none of it.
Those first 7 titles were the only ones I remember following for any length of time. There was also some Justice League comic set in the future that I can't remember at all ...
... stands to reason I won't be into *all* of the MCU.
I thought Hulk was really good personally. And despite its faults would not say that Iron Man 3 was bland. But YMMV. I acknowledge that the Russos were quite good and gave the whole franchise of films a nice shot in the arm, though.
True IM3 did a nice job of keeping you on your toes due to all the twists and turns (to a fault for many I know.) So maybe not bland but polarizing in a bad way whereas the Russos made exciting entertainment that also wasn't bland but had much more universal appeal.
Even when I was into comics as a young kid until I was 15, I didn't read everything. If I recall:
Spider-Man
Superman (mostly post-Crisis)
Green Arrow
Batman (Not a lot)
Elf Quest
TMNT (Eastman & Laird's original run)
Cerberus
...tried a couple of new titles here and there like DP7, some old Fantastic Four, Teen Titans, G.I. Joe, picked up Punisher now and then ... the odd horror comic ... probably some things I'm forgetting, it was decades ago and I kept none of it.
Those first 7 titles were the only ones I remember following for any length of time. There was also some Justice League comic set in the future that I can't remember at all ...
... stands to reason I won't be into *all* of the MCU.
I followed quite a few when I discovered uh, ways of obtaining them through the net... When I created a proper pull list I again branched out a bit as well. My interests and favourites fluctuated with the years. However I still circled a specific sellection of titles and characters, I didn't read anything and everything. From what I remember, my journey went like this:
If we excuse EuroComics and Disney, then the Ultimate line was my first contact with proper US superheroes. Mostly Spider-Man, but also F4, Ultimates and X-Men when I'd find those titles. For the longest time, that was all I could find. Batman I engaged with due to all the other media, less so his comics. I honestly never found any of his near me. At some point I found some random stuff from the Morrison era. But between all the movies, games and the internet to keep up, I considered myself a Batfan. Punisher, Hellboy, Constantine and the such I was aware of due to the movies. The 90s Spider-Man cartoon introduced me to Doctor Strange, Doom, Iron Man and others from an early enough age. Oh, I had a bunch of old Marvel Conans too.
The first comics I bought off the net were a collection of first-print Infinity Gauntlet & Infinity War. I was bummed Infinity Crusade wasn't included and I want to get them too one day, but the prices have gone up. They got me to really like Thanos and Adam Warlock, and the weird Abstract side of Marvel where Cosmic & Magic meet.
Then I got into the "Chronological Packs", through all those useful sites. The ones I remember starting were Spider-Man and X-Men. I started to read all the stuff around the Civil War and Dark Reign eras, which might be why I'm still partial to that period. Maybe it's why I'm such a Starkfan as well, since that's the time when he started the journey to the forefront. OzBolts made me read the OG T-Bolts and I followed that title to the bitter end. Oh, I also discovered Moon Knight with the 2006 run. Hudlin's run, as much as I'm ashamed to admit it, was my first introduction to Black Panther. Johns got me into Green Lantern and I've loved it ever since, although nowadays I don't much care to follow it. Morrison's run fizzled out and the current one is... yeah.
At some point I just begun to look into the wide DC & Marvel Us. I tried whatever I could find. I can't say that tons of titles stuck with me. Mostly the things I liked as a kid from secondary sources, I got into them properly through their actual titles. I'm one of the few people who've read the majority of Iron Man titles and still love the Fraction run. It started a few of the problems to be found in Post-RDJ Tony, and it didn't live up to what it promised, but it's probably the only run that felt like it starred a billionaire supergenius. It felt techno. It reminds me of Tron Legacy that I dearly love as well, so there's that too.
Around the time of peak Deadpool mania I got into him. Hard. I spent 50 euros on a small 2.5" figure of him. And, of course, it was ruined so I bought it again... I searched random newspaper shops for books of his (I found a couple, actually), I bought TPBs at the malls, the whole thing. I stopped caring around the time DP2 rolled around, but I followed the guy for around a decade.
When I started entering my t(w)eens I got into Vertigo, WildStorm and from then on I branched out to all sorts of comics from all over the place. Specifically 2000AD deserves a mention, as I grew to love a lot of the strips. Classics, then-current titles, I checked out whatever was interesting.
So, at this point, I've read a lot of stuff. But less than half I'd say have stuck with me. So, having read all that, what the Hell do I even "keep" or still chase? The way I see it, the more you carry with you, the less importance it all has. You're meant to filter them, year by year, until you're left with a few specific interests. And that goes for all media. There was a period where I was a diehard Whovian. Now I don't much care, but I'm glad I have the figures. They represent a key point in time.But something like Fallout, that I used to play, doesn't interest me at all, so I never felt the need to buy any merch. It's about what sticks.
I have accounts in old forums that I've lost the use of, but I can see the post history still. I went through phases depending on what I was reading. Capes, then Cosmic, then Magic and Horror, then Espionage and around that time I stopped my cape journey. The question here is what remains. I've trimmed more than half of the comics in my Hard Drives. If I'm being completely honest, I even threw away a bunch of single comics. Some were unfinished series that I didn't intend to buy the rest of, others were like 10 issues of a series and/or character I didn't care for anymore and had no nostalgic attachment to, so I put them to the trash too. If I held on to everything, I'd never finish this collection and I'd need to spend about 150K. We're not talking about just figures here, but also the Omnibuses I need to get. And that's not getting into Vidya, Anime, Manga and whatever else. I did the same trimming there too. And I needed to because I have a pretty big backlog. See, I didn't get to buy all the games I wanted, so a lot I just rented. Which means that I still haven't built my ideal Game Library. But if I run amock I'll need to hunt 500 titles, so, yeah, it needed trimming...
So, the way I broke it all down, comics-wise, was:
Spider-Man is from my early years due to all the media I was exposed to. I'll never go deep into the line, but I want a Raimi-Man. Ock & Osborn being my two favourite rogues of his, and tied with other corners of the MU, I'm game for them too. Miguel was my favourite Spider growing up (a kid in the building randomly had a 2099 toy, and I also randomly got another figure in a lot off eBay, so I'm attached to him), so I need one too. The only variant I'd buy would be a SpOck as I followed that series religiously and it's just a cool design. No Venom, no Carnage, nothing. I outgrew symbiotes long ago, and I like my 1/6ths with cloth or at least armour. Too much pleather, no human sculpts, they're deal-breakers for me. I'll get the Omnibuses of the Ultimate, Lee, Ditko, Superior, 2099 and that'll be it. Straczynski, Conway and the such might tempt me, but this is where I stand with the Spider-Verse. No Spider-Clones, no Symbiotes, no Rogues that interest me. That's it.
Batman I'll dive in deeper. I engaged with him longer and in more ways as time went on, and he's got a better hook than Spider-Man. The fact that I can theoretically build a scaled Batcave section excites me too. There are more characters from his verse I want anyhow. Batman himself has a few iterations I find appealing. From the BatFamily, Alfred, Damian, JPV Azrael and Terry are locks. Jay, **** & Babs are maybes. Kate, Tim, Steph, whatever else, I don't care for. From the Rogues it's Joker and Ras as locks. Bane, Freeze and Riddler are secondaries. Selina (I hope they make one from Arkham as she's perfect there), Ivy (if it's a Goth look exactly like in TNBA only; I don't care for green naked Ivy) and Talia could tempt me. Strange & Two-Face are "definitive maybes". If we count Deathstroke here (which is probably were I'd put him, as I probably won't branch out to the wider DCU) he's a definitive lock. His Arkham design was dissapointing though so I'm waiting for a better one. Maybe I could squeeze a Luthor there as I have no intention to get into Superman. I think Brainiac's cool, but then you dive in too deep and you're trying to gather cash for the New Gods... From Omnis and Absolutes there's a ton of stuff there, so I'll make up my mind as I go along. I can't say I still love Batman, especially compared with my utter favourites, but he's No.2 in my DC Corners, with No.1 being...
Green Lantern I plan to go all in. I love the concept, I love the looks and costumes, everything. Hal, Guy, Alan, John, Kyle, Sinestro, Carol, Atrocitus, whatever, I'll try to get them all. I'm actually kinda glad the DCEU flopped because I don't have to juggle such a license now. Omnis atm are the Johns run, some Brightest Day & Blackest Night Absolutes and an incomplete Silver Age run. Whatever, I'm a Lanternhead, I'll try to grab whatever they put.
Vertigo is where my biggest DC interests lie. Hellblazer, Sandman, Lucifer, Swamp-Thing, Transmetropolitan, tons of stuff that I want to grab figures of. The good thing is that the runs are concluded so it's easier to get them in collected formats. Vertigo was always magic oriented, so I'd squeeze a Doctor Fate and Starman in there. Maybe a Zatanna too. I want a Black Adam as well, but I don't know how he'd fit. I'll stick with the Big Shots, in any case. I outgrew Ennis years ago (never liked his style much in the first place), so no Preacher. No Shade and whatever obscure stuff. Just the main attractions.
From WildStorm I've gradually lost interest, but still maintain some favourites. Planetary, Authority, one or two WildC.A.T.S. runs, same with Gen13 and that's it. I doubt they'll ever get figures, maybe Midnighter and Apollo, Grifter too, but I have to list them. I've bought the Planetary Absolute already, so that's one down. It's a shame WC 3.0 doesn't have a collected edition yet though...
X-Men is the one that troubles me. I went through a period where I despised them. Part of it were the rabid fans, part of it were the stories. Still, I distanced myself from it all. Hickman pulled me back in, but he's been pushed out because the other hacks want to keep playing with the orgy island, having not understood the point of the story. So now I realise that I've only ever liked certain iterations, and most characters I "liked" due to their cool costumes and powers. The way I see it, I'd get the figures of the characters that I'd put in my ideal team, my random favourites, the best villains and the Summers/Greys. Which ranges from 10 to 15 characters, assuming the casting is accurate. From Omnis I'm sticking to the Claremont, Morrison, maybe Nicieza, Remender's X-Force, and Hickman runs, across all the titles and spinoffs. Maybe an odd thing here and there like Legacy, if it's ever collected, the Joe Kelly, Nicieza and Duggan Deadpool stuff too, but more or less I don't plan to go too nuts. I like the concept, and when the book's a Space Opera, but as my nostalgia decreases, so does my interest. I still want a representation of them, in some way, though. Xavier, Magneto, Cyclops, Jean, Cable, Stryfe, Deadpool, Rachel, Sinister, Apocalypse, Frost, Fantomex and Brand are locks. Magik and Storm depend on other figures (Magik on the Sorcerers and Storm on Black Panther).
The Street-Stuff I abandoned a long time ago, same with the majority of the Espionage ones. As it stands, Street-Wise I'll get Frank and Moon Knight and that's it. Whatever Omnis, them too. But I'm steering clear of things like Daredevil and the such. Good runs, but I'm only getting what I have some connection to.
Espionage-wise it's the Fury and HYDRA stuff I was into, and the MCU ruined them, so I'm not expecting much in the way of figures. I'll get whatever Omnis exist and that's it. No Widows or Hills or whatever. I count the T-Bolts in this section, but I'll keep it contained to Osborn, Zemo and Moonstone at most. I wish we'd get stuff from Shield or Secret Warriors, but those ships have sailed. I'll stick with Steranko's Fury I suppose. A proper MODOK would be a dream come true, but they'll never make him. I usually add Iron Man here as well. I love the guy, but I can't keep buying armours. I would however buy a Tony-In-A-Suit or a comic based one like Extremis and Endo-Sym. He doesn't really have strong villains, so apart from hunting down an Iron Monger, my best bet is hoping Armour Wars brings back Hammer and introduces someone Zeke Stane in Ironheart or something. I want to get the Neon ones at some point and pose them in a hypothetical Tron shelf, but that's ways off.
From the Cosmis/Magic/Horror things, I've trimmed it to just the Sorcerers and Devils. I'll sneak in an Elsa there, if she's cast accurately, but that's it. No Blade, no Morbius, no Ghost Rider, no Werewolves, nothing. Dracula, alongside the Tomb Of Dracula Omnis, will represent all the monsters. Strange I'll try to get ahold of everything Omni-wise. Figure wise I'll try to grab as many Sorcerers as I can. I'll sneak in a Herc there, but beyond maybe a Loki, if Hiddleston gets a cool costume in the next seasons, I won't bother with the Thor stuff. I left Nova, GotG and the such behind long, long ago. In hindsight, Annihilation was really not that great. The minis ranged in quality and ruined the pace. The latter half was better, but you can't do an Epic Space Opera Battle starring guys in colourful and varied tights. I'll stick with characters like Thanos, Warlock, and Mephisto. I wish we'd get a Dormammu, but that's impossible.
And now we arive to the FF, which as time goes on, becomes the centrepiece of my Marvel interests and collections. Here I want to dive in fully. The F4, the Heralds, Namor, Annihilus, of course everything Doom related, and so on. Omnis are a definitive buy. Black Panther I've been soured on, but I did love the Priest run (I like him as an author in general) and my favourite team are the Illuminati, so he's needed. Same with Black Bolt. I've never been wowed by any Inhumans comics, but I'll need a Blackagar. Medusa, Crystal and Maximus are maybes. But here, this is the Big 2 Corner I've been waiting for.
Aaaaaaand that's just the Big 2. Lots of those are obviously pipe dreams. Even if they appear in movies they'll never get a figure. Then there's the risk of poor translation to the screen. And the more time goes on, the less I care so the lists will get small. But still. From the days when I had tons upon tons of TBs of comics, to bring it down to these is a big deal for me. Granted, I haven't mentioned 2000AD yet, or all the indies and everything else, but those have even fewer chances of making it.
Honestly, the more I trimmed and the more I tracked my journey I found that I had a "type". I liked Sci-Fi, tending towards Space Operas, and the super-smart types, with extra points if they were also some kind of leader. I left spies and pure warriors behind, and kept concentrating on the same types. In a way, I like that. It keeps things simpler.
So, what does my tirade have to do with the Eternals? Simple. I don't think it's a case of A/B/C/D-List. If a property/character/team has a cool hook and story, and you execute it well, you can sell it to the people. This paticular one isn't even that bad. It's got stakes, it's got powers and personalites spread through the characters, and it has lots of lore. The problem is that the execution is just "okay" at best. You can't go from characters you built up for a decade to a bunch of nobodies and expect people to care without giving them something unique. And as it stands it does all look generic. You can't really escape similarities, especially in such genres, but presentation and the charisma of the actors goes a long way. These guys just look like canon fodder. Random NPCs you'd find in a generic SyFy game.
Fo my part, I'm more "excited" about this than Shang-Chi. I didn't care for Black Widow or TF&TWS. As of now, I care only for the films that up the ante and go more and more cosmic. I can't return to boring Earth plotlines. Comics are different. You jump around all the time and there's no real progression. Here, with a definitive beginning, middle, and one day end, you need to follow a certain path.
Touche
