Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
I just went to the gym!
I couldn't do any intensive cardio or the like, but I'm still sweating! I should be back tomorrow, and then if they're open on Sunday I'll sneak in a pre-NYR rush session.
Also I hate sports.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Anonymouswizard
I just went to the gym!
Hooray!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Anonymouswizard
I couldn't do any intensive cardio or the like
Good! You don't want to jump straight in to intensive cardio. Build that up! Though if you really want, there's some beginner HIIT routines you could do.
They suck.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Anonymouswizard
Also I hate sports.
As one should.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
I just realized, a few days too late, that I could have said "Merry Boxing Eve" as a joke on Christmas.
Eh. Better late than never, I guess; I'll try to remember for next year.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
My next year's resolution for 2024 is to drink less caffeine. :smile:
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
I have no random thoughts as of this time, however, about half a week ago this thought popped into my head, sef-quoting from elsewhere
Quote:
You get a cliche isekai background like getting hit by a truck, stabbed durung a mugging gone wrong, or tripping in front of a train or some ****...
When you die, a cosmic entity who you recognize as someone from the Marvel Multiverse says that there is a newly created lifeform on Earth 616 that is in need of a soul but doesn't have one due to some cosmic glitch so you're in luck: If you agree to take the place of that newly born entity's soul they'll be absolutely sure that all of your memories, essence, consciousness, emotions, and so on transfer over, IE, that you will still be you after your reincarnation.
You agree... and wake up as a newly born symbiote in a lab somewhere shortly after there's an attack by some Z-List villains and you can escape.. In terms of strength and abilities, you're roughly on par with the black suit prior to it bonding with Spider-Man(or Deadpool, if you accept Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars as canon.)
What do you do?
And it's frustrating because there's no easy solution to this one, no "best answer."
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rater202
I have no random thoughts as of this time, however, about half a week ago this thought popped into my head, sef-quoting from elsewhere
And it's frustrating because there's no easy solution to this one, no "best answer."
There's very rarely a best answer, that's what makes an interesting question. The issue here is that the question just isn't very interesting and kind of relies on having more knowledge of Marvel than your average person does. Like why aren't these guys robbing banks, I thought that was what eighth rate supervillains did? Are there really enough labs experimenting on symbiotes that they're lower down the prestige list than knocking over a corner shop?
Well I suppose in New York there might be one in every other apartment...
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
enderlord99
I just realized, a few days too late, that I could have said "Merry Boxing Eve" as a joke on Christmas.
Eh. Better late than never, I guess; I'll try to remember for next year.
Yeah, I like that myself, I'll try to remember it for next year too.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Anonymouswizard
Are there really enough labs experimenting on symbiotes that they're lower down the prestige list than knocking over a corner shop?
Well I suppose in New York there might be one in every other apartment...
Ignoring the fact that it's a plot device meant to facilitate one's escape from captivity...
Two active corporations—the Life Foundation and Alchemaz—and Weapon Plus division(IE, clandestine military organization sponsored jointly by multiple US and Canadian military and government bodies) currently, plus a third corporation was doing so in the past before it went horribly wrong.
Something of a cultural meme among certain criminal types is that a symbiote will automatically make you an A-lister. Additionally, corporations and military research outposts tend to have expensive equipment that say, a mad scientists might want for their own research, and Alxhemax and the Life Foundation's respective focuses might be of interest to aspiring supervillains even if they're not after symbiotes.
Also keep in mind that "Z-List" doesn't mean "random thug." It has more to do with prestige and reputation than skill.
The Shocker, for example, has the skills and talent to be an A-Lister, but he's typically considered a C-Lister mostly because he doesn't care. He just wants money.
So a Z-List villain would be someone like The Hood, who wants to be a big-shot crime lord but who is mostly just a joke, or Silvermane who is literally just an aged mob boss who should have died ages ago who thinks he's still relevant in a world where Supervillains exist when really the main reason he's still around is because none of the proper villains are interested in his rackets.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rater202
I have no random thoughts as of this time, however, about half a week ago this thought popped into my head, sef-quoting from elsewhereAnd it's frustrating because there's no easy solution to this one, no "best answer."
Well if its Marvel, there is a huge probability that I'm in New York.
I know for some reason symbiotes like chocolate, but I'd probably have to eat rats at first, the real challenge is finding someone to bond to. And the available options change drastically depending on how narrative we're assuming the universe is. If there is no narrative, I have millions of potential people to bond with but are understandably limited by all the reasonable assumptions and problems of real life and common sense which makes this harder to do in the first place. If there is a narrative however, it means my actual target(s) available are whatever the plot decides will create drama for either Spiderman or Venom, probably Spiderman since he's the more popular hero. And since the narrative loooooves torturing Peter, my actual only available target is probably someone like Mary Jane, we already got a Gwenom after all. I could try to bond with someone else of course but there is good chance I'm being forced towards someone Spiderman cares about, the real trick is figuring out how to communicate that I don't intend any harm and want this to be as temporary as possible so I can find a better host that isn't involved with Spiderman, mostly because Peter's life is something you don't want to be within a few miles of for long. everyone he cares about tends to get hurt so I'd probably have to do a weird mix of not intending any harm but being enough of a jerk that I won't fall into a get saved category, but not TOO much of a jerk as to get shunted into outright villain because its all downhill from there. of course, Gwenpool comics suggest thinking narratively might not be an entirely bad idea, given how accurate she is, what she knows and what power is gained from her awareness.
of course I'm just saying all this is because Spiderman is what I know, its possible I'm apart one of a million other stories happening that has nothing to do with him and I just somehow find myself in some unfamiliar adventure involving something else.
So I guess the general thing I'd do to start is assess my current situation, see where I am, try to guess what people are at my location and what stories I could potentially be apart of, try to find vermin and such to eat, and seek an opportunity to bond to someone I'd be comfortable with. investigative, scout type stuff.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lord Raziere
I know for some reason symbiotes like chocolate
Phenylethylamine. Symbiotes don't typically need to eat, if they're healthy, but feeding on a host's hormones and neurotransmitters can help them grow stronger and maintain their health and for a while the venom symbiote had a sickness, roughly equiviicable to a vitamin deficiency, that would be treated with phenylethylamine.
Phenylethylamine is commonly found in human brains and in chocolate and despite threats to the contrary, Eddie Brock didn't actually want to eat people's brains if he could help it so he'd binge on chocolate so the symbiote could get its fix.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Ah.
Well if I get sick as a symbiote I know to find the nearest convenience store so I don't eat brains then :P and if the clerk tries to stop me from like eating chocolate bars, hey free temporary host. random store clerk gets a symbiote trying to stop them from eating chocolate, that sounds like a superhero origin.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Yeah.
And I mean, I know what I'd do in that situation, or at least what I'd prefer, but actually being able to pull it off from those starting parameters is a differant question entirely.
Like, I would want to try and get to a point where I either don't need a host because I don't like the idea of sharing thoughts or agency but I also don't like the idea of turning a person or creature into a meat puppet.
to get to a point where I don't need a host, I'd need either the powers of the Agents of the Cosmos—an order of good-aligned symbiotes based on Klyntar who were basically Space Knights—or gain the traits of a symbiote dragon. Or both.
Given that the Agents of the Cosmos were effectively wiped out in the lead-up to Venomized and Klyntar just flat out isn't there anymore given that it was just a cage for Knull, my best bets would be to either bond to someone who was bonded to an Agent of the Cosmos of Dragon derived dragon and copy the data from their codex, or eat the codex to the same... but in order for codex consumption power-ups to be fully permanent rather than a temporary boost followed by a smaller boost to raw power, you kind of have to eat the full doex... which means totality assimilaing the biomass of the host like Alex Mercer from Prototype, barring some kind of cheat and I'm not sure that the cheats I used in my fanfics would actually work in canon.
My best-case scenario would probably be finding Kamala Khan, given that she's level-headed enough to listen assuming I have some means of talking to her and generally friendly enough to consider it... And also she's been bonded to two symbiotes, one of whom was an Agent of the Cosmos and one of whom was an offshoot of a Symbiote Dragon. The Agent of the Cosmos was modified with Haze Mancer's tech as well, meaning that it bonds faster and adapts at an absurd rate—years of evolution in days—so if I can copy that data and replicate it I could just get what I need and GTHO much faster but sharing a body with a teenage girl for potentially months if I can't quickly copy the hyper-adaption trait would be incredibly awkward.
...Also, her unique nature as an "Inhu-Mutant" means that her genome is a potentially volatile mixture of multiple terrestrial and extraterrestrial superhuman species and we don't know what her mutant power is, so it's entirely possible that it could backfire horribly if it turns out there's something in her genes that's a bad fit for symbiotes or her mutant power turns out to be heat or sound-based. Like, realistically it's probably gonna be cosmic energy constructs like in the MCU but that's not a chance I'd be willing to take if I'm actually there doing it, you know?
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Hm. well, in my head I thought the bonding would be more mutual in ideal circumstances, try to work something out once I could speak to them, y'know?
Though.....I wonder, is there any reason a symbiote can't puppet something like, a corpse? because if there isn't, find someone who has already died and start using their body, its not as if they're using it anymore. funeral surrounding its probably going to be angry about it though.
if that doesn't work and really worried about morality, then in a weird twisted way your best bet is to puppet a hero and try to speak to them in their mind. lemme explain:
-you go for a civvie, thats involving an innocent that you don't need to. heroes won't like that
-you go for a villain and just takeover their mind entirely because they're villain sure you have completely control but your stuck with a different problem in what will you do when you stop controlling them? that and from a heroes perspective, villains do this kind of controlling each other thing all the time so they'd assume I'm a villain or have magic or science thing to detect what person I'm puppeteering and assume I'm them. thus they will have no compunctions about stopping me from doing whatever. that and some heroes are so compassionate they want to save villains to.
-but if you go for a hero, and explain things in their mind, they won't be happy but they'll be more fine with it than if I try it with a civvie because heroes are self-sacrificing like that and intend to use themselves as a shield from anyone else having to deal with nonsense like this by dressing up in the costume and such. its why heroes willing to use the symbiote in the first place and such, its not just power or whatever influencing them, its this innate feeling of responsibility pushing them to take hits for everyone else- if they didn't get bonded by the symbiote, somebody else would and they'd have to fight whoever gets the symbiote instead probably. then they'd be forced to come up with a solution for me since I'd express to them that I want this arrangement with the hero to be temporary and such and know I'm not going to harm others because I went for them rather than anyone like a civilian.
alternatively, since The Doctor is proven canonical to the Marvel universe, find a random young woman who wants adventure, explain you what you want but also that you can help them get more adventure, buy a bag of jelly babies, travel to London, then explain things to The Doctor and he will probably be one of the most understanding people to explain this to, with a bonus of not solving anything with violence so he'll probably have a better solution than most, all the while coming with an offering of a doctor companion and jelly babies. how could he possibly resist?
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Peelee
Yes. And it is trivially easy to take in more calories than you burn in exercise, especially when starting out.
With luck we'll eventually be able to correct this biomedically, decades down the road. The holy grail for this would be if they could somehow implant electroplaque stacks* that would just constantly fire and would take up all the fat and sugar in your blood and use it to charge your smartphone
*probably along with a bunch of capacitors and voltage transformers and stuff to get the output consistently to the level where it needs to be
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lord Raziere
alternatively, since The Doctor is proven canonical to the Marvel universe, find a random young woman who wants adventure, explain you what you want but also that you can help them get more adventure, buy a bag of jelly babies, travel to London, then explain things to The Doctor and he will probably be one of the most understanding people to explain this to, with a bonus of not solving anything with violence so he'll probably have a better solution than most, all the while coming with an offering of a doctor companion and jelly babies. how could he possibly resist?
He typically off in his own little section of the Multiverse.
I think the only time he interacted with the main Marvel Universe was when he kidnapped Death's Head from the Transformers Universe and stranded him at the Fantastic Four's house...
...I need to look up the circumstances of that.
As for puppeting corpses... Mixed results. So far the only unambiguous cases have been Dark Carnage reanimated Cletus and Emil Gregg, in both cases calling the soul back to inhabit the reanimated corpse, and Flash Thomspon resurrecting himself when he was possessing a symbiote Dragon by having the dragon bond to his corpse.
So it does seem to specifically be a symbiote-dragon thing.
If it comes down to puppeting someone, honestly, I'd probably just go for Stevil because 1: I'd be able to get something out of it and 2: he's kind of due for some karma after somehow getting acquitted for stealing a nuclear bomb and trying to nuke New York City.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
More gyming, I've found the cardio that works for me at the moment (about 30 minutes of fast walking, I hope to build up to a slow jog over a year or two). Yes there are better exercises for my weight, but I like the treadmill (and exercise bike, but I'm too heavy for spinning). While I'm in control I actually have to press the buttons to change the speed, which is just enough to stop me from slowing down.
Really the only annoyance is nowhere to take out my lens, which means either exercising without vision or not using the gym's showers. Which I haven't yet, but mainly because I keep forgetting my towel, thankfully my vision's not quite as bad as I've been claiming.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Anonymouswizard
More gyming, I've found the cardio that works for me at the moment (about 30 minutes of fast walking, I hope to build up to a slow jog over a year or two). Yes there are better exercises for my weight, but I like the treadmill (and exercise bike, but I'm too heavy for spinning). While I'm in control I actually have to press the buttons to change the speed, which is just enough to stop me from slowing down.
If you like that particular exercise more then I'd say that makes it the better choice. You're in it for the long haul after all and it'll be easier to stick with it that way.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Form
If you like that particular exercise more then I'd say that makes it the better choice. You're in it for the long haul after all and it'll be easier to stick with it that way.
Agreed. The main reason I picked using an exercise bike as my (at least initially) primary method of working out was that it's something I can easily do while watching movies or tv shows so I don't go insane with boredom in the first five minutes (I also considered a treadmill, but picked the bike mostly because I work out at home and the bike was smaller and quieter).
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Form
If you like that particular exercise more then I'd say that makes it the better choice. You're in it for the long haul after all and it'll be easier to stick with it that way.
Yeah, I'm just trying to head off the 'have you considered swimming' recommendations. I know what I like (leg-focused cardio) and I'm starting with that. I might, might add some weights in eventually, but it's not the kind of exercise I get excited by.
Because I had the weird thing today of dreading going to the gym until about an hour beforehand, at which point I started going '**** yeah I'm gonna exercise'. Humans are weird.
ETA: I'm listening to podcasts while exercising, any good ones I should check out?
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Hey everyone. I'm popular in the Starbucks community. Today I went to Starbucks near my house just to get a cup of hot coffee and a Marshmallow Dream Bar and a customer paid for the coffee and food for me. :smile:
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Anonymouswizard
Yeah, I'm just trying to head off the 'have you considered swimming' recommendations. I know what I like (leg-focused cardio) and I'm starting with that. I might, might add some weights in eventually, but it's not the kind of exercise I get excited by.
Because I had the weird thing today of dreading going to the gym until about an hour beforehand, at which point I started going '**** yeah I'm gonna exercise'. Humans are weird.
ETA: I'm listening to podcasts while exercising, any good ones I should check out?
There's Rotgrind by Narrative Declaration which has a podcast. It's basically a couple of folks playing a homebrew TTRPG and I've found it fun and funny.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Anonymouswizard
ETA: I'm listening to podcasts while exercising, any good ones I should check out?
If you want something light-hearted, I am quite fond of My dad wrote a porno. The basic concept is that one of the hosts learned that his father had self-published a series of erotic novels of... questionable quality, so after presumably dying a little inside, he decided to start a podcast with two of his friends where they read and discuss the books. I'm not usually very into MSTing stuff, but I really like this one for some reason, I think a big part of it is the hosts' chemistry. (Oh, and if anyone is feeling bad for the titular dad, he apparently loves the podcast and while he don't really understand why people think it's so funny, he's proud that the books have gotten so popular.)
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Anonymouswizard
ETA: I'm listening to podcasts while exercising, any good ones I should check out?
The Magnus Archives is a classic if you like creepypasta-esque horror, but I'd also like to suggest Disc Only which is unstructured mostly-comedy run by a group of Youtube LPers
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Batcathat
If you want something light-hearted, I am quite fond of My dad wrote a porno. The basic concept is that one of the hosts learned that his father had self-published a series of erotic novels of... questionable quality, so after presumably dying a little inside, he decided to start a podcast with two of his friends where they read and discuss the books. I'm not usually very into MSTing stuff, but I really like this one for some reason, I think a big part of it is the hosts' chemistry. (Oh, and if anyone is feeling bad for the titular dad, he apparently loves the podcast and while he don't really understand why people think it's so funny, he's proud that the books have gotten so popular.)
One of the best aspects is how the dad fully believes they are well-written and cannot be disabused of this notion. My wife and i used to put it on when we went to Louisiana. Went through I think book 3, can't remember why we stopped. Probably slipped our minds until now.
Spoiler
Show
We got up to her being a spy. I think I heard something about her eventually becoming president of the United States? Really should continue the series.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Spoiler
Show
Doesn't she get demoted to an intern position due to being kidnapped? Honestly sometimes the sex is the least bizarre part of the chapter. Especially when Spooner unveils a gadget.
Also I really should listen to the last two episodes.
As to the ones I haven't heard I'll pick one to try before I next leave for the gym.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
So from celebrating Christmas late because of a family issue, I got a new shirt, a new comfy blanket, the fifth volume of Usagi Yojimbo and Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077 and Devil May Cry 5, so good haul this year. only problem will be figuring out the computer space issue to play them, and finding something entertaining enough to be worth eating my chocolate truffles because I don't want to get chocolate on the pages of my new book. Merry Late Christmas everyone.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Beeftank
Huh, that seems odd. What else do you drink when having stuff with peanut butter?
Fruit juice, tea, soft drinks in general, or just plain ol' water.
To be honest, the answer to "what do you drink..." is pretty much always "tea" over here. With a full-on meal you
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Peelee
Then take more culture! Europeans developed lactose tolerance and you Britons just discard it? Milk itself isn't even really a drink and milkshakes are only for kids? Is this some sort of self-loathing thing?
Imean, I'd say that surely you guys at least cook with it, but then i remember y'alls national dishes are, like, beans on toast, meat pies, and a toad in a hole?
Our national dishes are fish and chips, chicken tikka masala, and roast beef (not all at the same time), thank you very much.
Like anonymouswizard says, we do put milk in tea, and get through a fair amount that way. We also have it on cereal. Some people put it in their coffee (I don't). And we eat a lot of cheese. Plus cream with puddings and on scones and so on. So we still consume plenty of dairy products, we just don't feel the need to drink the stuff neat.
I think there is also a legitimate query over what the nutritional benefit of the majority of milk sold actually is. Once it's been skimmed and homogenised, most of the actual nutrients are gone. You have to add calcium back to it before you can even make cheese with the stuff, and honestly, given what US food standards are like I'd be surprised if the stuff over there is any better for the most part. The idea that drinking a lot of milk is good for you is probably at least 80% marketing in the first place, but it's also probably hopelessly out of date, as most modern mass-market milk has all the nutritional value of sugary, slightly salty water. I try to consume unhomogenised milk for that reason (which tastes so much better), although I must admit it doesn't work as well in tea.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Aedilred
sugary, slightly salty water.
Or as it's known in the US 'water' :smalltongue:
I need to get more decent tea in, which I have without milk because this European has apparently unevolved lactose tolerance. Ideally I'd find a good, not too expensive loose leaf green tea, but that's so much harder than black tea.
Meanwhile one of my friends still doesn't get why I don't categories herbal infusions under 'tea' and another is crazy enough to consider green tea to be 'herbal tea'.
Re: Domino Quartz's Delightfully Quaint Random Banter Thread #248
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Aedilred
Fruit juice, tea, soft drinks in general, or just plain ol' water.
To be honest, the answer to "what do you drink..." is pretty much always "tea" over here. With a full-on meal you
Our national dishes are fish and chips, chicken tikka masala, and roast beef (not all at the same time), thank you very much.
Imean, do you really want another crack at English cooking, with a national dish being Indian and national drink being Chinese?
Yes, i know.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Aedilred
Like anonymouswizard says, we do put milk in tea, and get through a fair amount that way. We also have it on cereal. Some people put it in their coffee (I don't). And we eat a lot of cheese. Plus cream with puddings and on scones and so on. So we still consume plenty of dairy products, we just don't feel the need to drink the stuff neat.
It'd be jarring to hear, is the thing. For example, "you guys eat cheese? That's mostly a children's food".
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Aedilred
I think there is also a legitimate query over what the nutritional benefit of the majority of milk sold actually is. Once it's been skimmed and homogenised, most of the actual nutrients are gone.
Not really. Itdua good source of protein and magnesium, and also has repeatedly been shown to have significant benefits for muscle health, especially in adults (notably muscle repair) and elders (notably reduction in muscle loss).
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Aedilred
The idea that drinking a lot of milk is good for you is probably at least 80% marketing in the first place, but it's also probably hopelessly out of date, as most modern mass-market milk has all the nutritional value of sugary, slightly salty water.
Imean that just sounds silly. The bone claims were massively exaggerated, sure, but it's far from "sugary salty water" as far as nutritional value.
Now, if you want to talk about environmental impact of cattle farming, that's a whole 'nother thing, but that's also pretty tangential.