The Mandalorian

[Polysorbate80]

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[jgsugden]

...
Tell them to hurry, Legos massively increase in price after selling out.

There are Chinese knock offs that are available for a much lower cost, usually.  They often continue to produce and sell "limited edition" sets long after they escalate in price in the US.

[Raguel]

Just watched ep 2 the other day and I'm glad I'm not the only one weirded out by Baby Yoda's dietary habits. Of course I was also upset over the "no droids allowed" in ANH.

[Hawkbit]

I didn't watch it yet, but apparently a bunch of folks are super pissed about that episode and are writing a bunch of letters to Disney. 

[BobtheSomething]

I didn't watch it yet, but apparently a bunch of folks are super pissed about that episode and are writing a bunch of letters to Disney. 

If they had stopped at two incidents, it probably would have been fine.  At the fourth one, with the Mando still just standing there impassively while BY does something clearly wrong, it loses all humor.  If he did something like this in an IVF clinic, people would be howling for justice, and the show makes it clear the context is pretty much the same.

[jgsugden]

As the show is likely to pick up before the frog lady is delivered, there is still a chance we see 'a twist'.

Edit: So no twist, but acknowledged.  The episode was pretty good.  Not quite up to snuff with the best of season one, but I enjoyed it and it dealt with some interesting lore questions we've discussed before.  This is still one of my favorite series of all time, even though we are only 11 episodes into it.

Corvus is an interesting name in Star Wars lore ...

[eldaec]

You can argue it was good or bad writing to have Rey kill chewbacca, you cannot argue it was OK to have Rey kill chewbacca and then reverse the decision in the next scene.

Same applies to baby yoda's appetite for caviar.

[jgsugden]

You can argue it was good or bad writing to have Rey kill chewbacca, you cannot argue it was OK to have Rey kill chewbacca and then reverse the decision in the next scene.

Same applies to baby yoda's appetite for caviar.

So we/they cannot argue that is OK for BY to eat; and then reverse the eating, or say it was not ok for him to eat?  That is not what they did, in the end. 

He ate.  It was messed up.  He seemed to not understand the consequences of what he was doing at the time.  Very reasonable for a kid that seems to be acting with a mix of traits of between a 1 year old and a 4 year old (human).

The episode followed up, but didn't reverse anything like I thought there was a chance it might. 

Some people that think this may be foreshadowing that BY is not necessarily a lock for the Jedi path.  That he has a dark side due to some choking and other minor twisted acts.  We'll see.  It does seem in line for us to have Favreau give us something 'cute' and then have it fall into darkness.  That is the core story of Star Wars, after all.  Little Anny grows into Vader.

[Threash]

Apparently plenty of people noticed and didn't like it, they are going with it's no different than us eating eggs because they were unfertilized. Which really does not work for me, but whatever. This weeks episode was much better, and Katee Sackhoff looks better than ever. Had to remind myself that she's not really too young to play Bo Katan, she just looks that way.

[Samwise]

I'm on the side of "if your species has mastered space travel but can't figure out how to put a padlock on your valuables, your Darwin award is long overdue."

[eldaec]

Arguing about comparisons with chicken eggs is weird, that is a moral debate about whether BY was in the right. Of course he wasn't don't be daft.

But preschool kids are generally considered to be below the age of responsibility and looking after one in this environment should inevitably result worse things than this. It was the very first time BY acted like a character and not a prop.

A good character doing something in-character but bad is not bad writing.

[Samwise]

He's basically a wild animal.  Like most toddlers.  When Mando tells him sternly "now don't eat any more of those" and then turns his back I was yelling at my screen WHAT THE FUCK HE'S A FUCKING BABY WHY IS HE UNSUPERVISED WITH THE SNACKS IN THE FIRST PLACE AND WHY DO YOU THINK TALKING TO HIM WILL HELP

[jgsugden]

Did you think Mando was actually prepared to be a parental figure?  He fucked up, the kid did something disgusting, and it offends a lot of people, especially anyone that has ever struggled with fertility issues. 

I think a lot of the people are most offended are people that have experience with fertility struggles, and they see someone carelessly destroying a Mom's chance to have kids when a father figure is negligent and a kid is allowed to run amuck.  The eating part of it is just injury on insult.  If Baby Yoda had just played with the eggs like balls and popped them I think the reaction from the really offended would have equally strong (but obviously couched in other terminology).

[Gimfain]

I liked the start of the episode but adding an alien that can't communicate in regular fashion with a protagonist that rarely speaks and a toddler removes all interesting banter which is needed when the monster just ain't interesting. The sheriff was monster of the week episode done right.

[eldaec]

There has been almost no interesting dialog in any episode.

Aside from Cara, the client, and maybe the people in the prison break episode you could have shot the whole thing as a silent movie and not lost much of anything.

[Teleku]

I fall on the side of people who were creeped out about him eating the eggs.  I mean, obviously they thought it was just some funny gag, but the amount of people who were put off by it shows a really weird disconnect.  My theory is that one of the lead writers/producers is a vegan who wanted to draw the parallel to eating eggs and eating human fetuses, heh.  But again, whatever, just a weird thing.  Episode 2 I'll agree was probably the worst of the bunch just because it was disjointed and everything was extremely by the books and cliche.  That doesn't mean it was BAD, just at the bottom end of a very well produced TV show.

Now, just watched Episode 3, and holy crap!  Spoilers in case people haven't seen, and also a lot of stuff revealed if you've seen any of the clone wars.

[Sky]

Jesus Fucking Christ

[jgsugden]

There has been almost no interesting dialog in any episode.

Aside from Cara, the client, and maybe the people in the prison break episode you could have shot the whole thing as a silent movie and not lost much of anything.

The two primary influences are samurai movies and westerns, so.... yeah.  To be expected.  The conveyance of a character with limited speaking and no facial expression ... hard stuff to pull off.  I think they have.

[eldaec]

I don't have a problem with it.


Anyway, episode was good. I'm glad they addressed this mandalorian being nothing like the other Mandalorians, and I'm glad they did so efficiently.

Only slightly odd thing was how much better Bo's gang looked in their armour than main character does. They really have settled into the visual effects better in this season.

[Threash]

Their jetpacks were also a lot smaller but way faster.

[eldaec]

Sure, but you'd expect Bo to able to get her hands on better tech than random guys.

After all, strange women lying in caves handing out jetpacks is no basis for a system of government.

[jgsugden]

They tried to match her look to the animated version.  They also have quite a variety in the look of the Mandalorians we've seen.

[eldaec]

And they did very well. Both matching the animated Bo, and making it look good.

Main character is way too reflective and uniform. He looks like a miniature painted by someone who doesn't know how to use metallic paint. Someone here mentioned their better half referred to him as 'tin foil Boba fett'. That was exactly right.

[MahrinSkel]

And they did very well. Both matching the animated Bo, and making it look good.

Main character is way too reflective and uniform. He looks like a miniature painted by someone who doesn't know how to use metallic paint. Someone here mentioned their better half referred to him as 'tin foil Boba fett'. That was exactly right.

I think they wanted to show off that their "virtual set" tech makes the reflections look right in a way that green screens don't.

--Dave

[jgsugden]

They originally had a far more 'Boba Fett' look in mind, but that was just the starting point.  The intent was always for him to acquire the heavier armor that makes him look more like a knight.

Also, remember that he has higher quality Beskar Steel armor while many others have armor crafter of cheaper materials like Durasteel.  Beskar is not always available, and the armor he had on day one gets destroyed quickly while his current armor has proven quite durable.

[HaemishM]

Put me in the boat of "kind of understand why people's tits are bent out of shape about Baby Yoda eating the eggs, but think they are really reading too much into it." I've liked all 3 episodes so far, and I see that they are firmly leaning into adding the Rebels and Clone Wars stories into the Mandolorian narrative arc. Having not watched either of those shows, I don't have a problem with it, I just want them to not get sidetracked by trying to finish writing stories they didn't have a chance to on other series.

[Threash]

I wasn't bent out of shape about it. I just didn't think it worked, it was bad writing to make the plight of the frog lady whom you are clearly meant to sympathize with and root for into a big joke.

[MrHat]

Also, remember that he has higher quality Beskar Steel armor while many others have armor crafter of cheaper materials like Durasteel.  Beskar is not always available, and the armor he had on day one gets destroyed quickly while his current armor has proven quite durable.

The proof of that


Shit's great.  I'm super entertained.

[eldaec]

Yeah, tbh I think that was just because main character is super awesome.

But it is all good. None of it changes the fact that main character looks mediocre compared with Starbuck's gang. All the visual stuff has been better this time around. I'm happy just putting it down to people being better at their thing.

[jgsugden]

... None of it changes the fact that main character looks mediocre compared with Starbuck's gang...

I still disagree with this assessment.  I think his shiny armor is distinct, and designed as it is for a reason.  The only reason Starbuck's looks as it does is to match the look from Clone Wars / Rebels.  It is not because they had improvements in mind. 

[Tale]

I thought Baby Yoda slurping up frog caviar was goddamn hilarious.

Baby Yoda has a record from season 1.

[HaemishM]

Exactly. Baby Yoda did what he's done all along. If he can shove it in his mouth, he tries to eat it, like most children. His instinctual connection to the Force doesn't mean he can understand it, or that without training, it will override his desire for a full belly. Fuck's sake, the little bugger almost got them killed by chomping down on Cthulhu spider babies.

[Cyrrex]

If you cannot be simultaneously a little disgusted by the egg eating while also seeing how hilarious and adorable it was....well, glad I am not that kind of person, your life must be extremely boring.  It was totally on brand.

[jgsugden]

If you cannot be simultaneously a little disgusted by the egg eating while also seeing how hilarious and adorable it was....well, glad I am not that kind of person, your life must be extremely boring.  It was totally on brand.

The people most offended seem to be people that struggled with infertility (at least those are the most vocal on the show forums). 

Try to put yourself into the mind frame of a person that desperately want to bring 'their' kid into the world, only to be told their body (or their partner's body) is not capable without help, and with help it will be difficult.  Until tht point in their life, it was a basic assumption on their part that they would have 'their own' kids. 

Despite the challenges, they sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into the process, go through dozens of procedures  to test, extract eggs, implant ... and spend weeks and months stressing out on whether this attempt will work or not.  In the end, some people get lucky and get that biological child they always wanted.  Others go through all of that and eventually give up, either because the body just can't do it or they've used up every cent they can must and gone so far in debt they'll never actually recover.  And then they see a tv show with a mom that talks about this being the last chance she has to have kids - and Baby Yoda eats those chances for comedic effect. 

For many of those people, and for some others, this is akin to making cancer jokes or laughing at people that lost everything (including family) in a flood, hurricane, etc...

[Cyrrex]

Bull.  Literally everyone in the world has a story they can use similar to that.  Most of the best humor is based in some form of darkness, and the .001% of the population that actually can relate to the problem everyone is in an uproar over can stop trying to ruin the planet for the rest of us who are able to distinguish reality from pretend space frog fetus munching.