Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 [SPOILERS]

[lord_khaine]

I don't think he ever did change species. At least, that's not what his diorama implied.

As to how he was able to charm all these different females while looking human ... well, where do you think Peter gets his pelvic sorcery from? Ego either has a buttload of natural charm or unnatural abilities that mess with their heads. Or possibly both. He is basically a demigod, after all.

It actually did, the real diorame he showed Peter later on, had him assume a different alien shape for each world he visited. The red jacket stayed on, so it was easy to miss though.

Maybe if you weren't such an "Americanist" you'd have appreciated it more.

By.. Americanist.. you mean someone not from America.. right?

[Eldan]

I just mean that the Big Emotional Speech (TM) is a very American trope. A lot of telling instead of showing of emotions.

[Silfir]

It's so utterly unnecessary to make this into an "American" thing. There are plenty of US-made movies that dodge the trope just fine. If you see it a lot in movies made by US studios, that has a lot to do with the fact that pretty much all of the big budget action flicks made in the first place are made by US studios.

The baseless generalizing bothered me and I'm not even American. Thoroughly unnecessary.

[Pex]

It's a comic book movie with sci-fi elements, a bit of humor, and a talking raccoon. Shakespeare it is not.

[Dienekes]

It's a comic book movie with sci-fi elements, a bit of humor, and a talking raccoon. Shakespeare it is not.

Amusingly, Old Shakey is probably the worst offender when it comes to stopping the action to have characters monologue about love, family, and their feelings.

He's just so stereotypically American like that.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Amusingly, Old Shakey is probably the worst offender when it comes to stopping the action to have characters monologue about love, family, and their feelings.

He's just so stereotypically American like that.

You, sir or madam, just won the thread.

H/T

GW

[Legato Endless]

Heh.

I'm a little puzzled that people talking about their inner world is bad writing now? Nonverbal acting is great and all, but if no one ever says what they feel, that's rather cutting oneself off at the neck when it comes to depicting psychological realism.

[Eldan]

Okay, okay, okay, calm down. I didn't mean it like that. It's a thing that shows up in a lot of American movies, is the only thing i wanted to say here.

Really, my problem with the people talking about their feelings was twofold: it got repetitive since they did it several times and the movie started to drag for me a bit towards the end anyway, and it didn't really seem reflected in what was happening. For all the talk of family, these people really didn't see all that familial with each other.

[Bohandas]

Okay, okay, okay, calm down. I didn't mean it like that. It's a thing that shows up in a lot of American movies, is the only thing i wanted to say here.

Really, my problem with the people talking about their feelings was twofold: it got repetitive since they did it several times and the movie started to drag for me a bit towards the end anyway, and it didn't really seem reflected in what was happening. For all the talk of family, these people really didn't see all that familial with each other.

I think the idea was that they were like a dysfunctional family. Certainly they reliably got along much better than Nebula and Gamora did at the beginning of the film or than Ego and Starlord did at the end.

[Bohandas]

I just realized something. I originally got the impression that Ego really did love Starlord's mom but just loved world domination more, but if that was the case, why not just take her with him if he didn't want to return to Earth until he'd remade it?

[Pex]

Okay, okay, okay, calm down. I didn't mean it like that. It's a thing that shows up in a lot of American movies, is the only thing i wanted to say here.

Really, my problem with the people talking about their feelings was twofold: it got repetitive since they did it several times and the movie started to drag for me a bit towards the end anyway, and it didn't really seem reflected in what was happening. For all the talk of family, these people really didn't see all that familial with each other.

That was the point.

Starlord wanted Daddy.
Rocky didn't want to be close to anyone, except Groot.
Gamora hated her sister.

They were so wrapped into themselves they didn't see they already had what they wanted. The only one who did was Drax, having dealt with his family issues the previous movie as well as not understanding subtlety. His personality flaw ironically allowed him to see the forest when the others were hiding behind trees.

[Kyberwulf]

There is a lot wrong with this movie.

I would say, she would probably have something to say about him going from port to port.

[Thialfi]

I just realized something. I originally got the impression that Ego really did love Starlord's mom but just loved world domination more, but if that was the case, why not just take her with him if he didn't want to return to Earth until he'd remade it?

What I understood was that Peter's mother was tempting him to give up his dream of conquering the universe to be with her. Where they were didn't so much matter, it was all about what he wanted to do when he was with her. What kind of being she made him want to be. These thoughts scared him, so he had to remove the temptation.

[Shamash]

What I understood was that Peter's mother was tempting him to give up his dream of conquering the universe to be with her. Where they were didn't so much matter, it was all about what he wanted to do when he was with her. What kind of being she made him want to be. These thoughts scared him, so he had to remove the temptation.

I wonder why he didn't just lived happily with her, waited for her natural death since he's an immortal and then continued with his crazy megalomaniacal plans later? Why not have both you are IMMORTAL!

Geez! Just as youth is wasted on the young immortality is wasted on the immortal.

[Leewei]

I wonder why he didn't just lived happily with her, waited for her natural death since he's an immortal and then continued with his crazy megalomaniacal plans later? Why not have both you are IMMORTAL!

Geez! Just as youth is wasted on the young immortality is wasted on the immortal.

I'd guess that Ego had been through all that before, and that the lingering heartache he felt afterward made him determined to become more shallow, and to treasure the experience rather than the woman.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I wonder why he didn't just lived happily with her, waited for her natural death since he's an immortal and then continued with his crazy megalomaniacal plans later? Why not have both you are IMMORTAL!

Because the longer he was with her, the less appealing a universe in which only he existed was starting to be. Effectively, her morals and outlook were starting to rub on him, and he got to the point where he had to choose viewpoints: universe unification, or allowing others to exist. Spending a few more decades with her would only make the temptation to abandon his outlook stronger.

It reminded me a bit of the fact that the single most common reason to go from homophobia to acceptance of gay people is to talk to a gay person - and therefore, that something a lot of homophobes find themselves doing is, as they start to realise that there is nothing wrong with gay people, they immediately cut ties with them before they fully change their minds.

Grey Wolf

[Giggling Ghast]

Yes, I suspect Ego felt he would lose his resolve to remake the universe if he allowed his River Lily to come live with him.

A rather horrifying thought entered my head this morning. Ego used Mantis to help him sleep, but what if he had an ulterior purpose in initially saving and then raising her?

[Kantaki]

Yes, I suspect Ego felt he would lose his resolve to remake the universe if he allowed his River Lily to come live with him.

A rather horrifying thought entered my head this morning. Ego used Mantis to help him sleep, but what if he had an ulterior purpose in initially saving and then raising her?

Thanks. Now I have to scrub my brain.

[Rogar Demonblud]

AAARRRRRGGHHHH!!!!!

*headdesk headdesk headdesk*

Now that that's out of my system...

I went to Guardians last night. First, the theater having moved all start times to ~5:30 makes it tricky to get there after work. But I finally twigged to the priestess' name reference. Given my age, I previously heard 'Ayesha' and thought Haggard. Last night, I finally realized she's the entity also known as Her and Kismet.

[Vogie]

But there wasnt any remote controlled ships in Enders game?
Those ships had crew and everything. They were just commanded remotely, but there really isnt anything unusual in that.
(besides how sensible it is to keep your commander at a safe distrance from the fighting)

Spoiler: Evidently a spoiler...

Show

That is correct - However, they weren't referring to the humans. The Formic, or "Buggers", were a collection of Hiveminds. When Ender turned the Little Doctor towards their homeworld, it killed all but one of the hiveminds, which eliminated all of the Formic ships. The only one who had succeeded in that prior to Ender was Mazer Rackham, who had destroyed a hive queen accidentally, by disobeying orders, flying a poorly armed ship where he wasn't supposed to, and shooting down a ship, that just so happened to have a queen onboard. That queen was the hivemind of the entire brood that was trying to invade the earth at the time, so he basically made the entire Formic Armada braindead with a single strike.

[lord_khaine]

Yes, I suspect Ego felt he would lose his resolve to remake the universe if he allowed his River Lily to come live with him.

A rather horrifying thought entered my head this morning. Ego used Mantis to help him sleep, but what if he had an ulterior purpose in initially saving and then raising her?

I would almost envy the innocent of those able to get freaked out about such a minor thing

Honestly though, this seems extremely unlike. I dont think I-Cant-Wait-a-Week-To-Tell-How-I-Killed-Your-Mother-Ego has the patience for that sort of thing.
I also think she is far to valuable for him. Helping him fall asleep fullfills a unike purpose thats rather hard to replace. Unlike prospective mothers who he can find at any given planet he cares to visit.

Spoiler: Evidently a spoiler...

Ahh thats what they were talking about.

[Keltest]

I wonder why he didn't just lived happily with her, waited for her natural death since he's an immortal and then continued with his crazy megalomaniacal plans later? Why not have both you are IMMORTAL!

Geez! Just as youth is wasted on the young immortality is wasted on the immortal.

He did specifically say he couldn't handle watching her die.

[Giggling Ghast]

On the other hand, lord khaine, if her empathic abilities were that important to him, Mantis' usefulness would end when her lifespan ran out, so her progeny would potentially be useful to Ego even if they didn't inherit his abilities.

[Kyberwulf]

Yeah, like i said, Mantis is the very essence of a token asian character.

You could have taken her out of the movie and it wouldn't have changed a thing. MAYBE the end were she put him to sleep. That wasn't so much needed though.

[Giggling Ghast]

She alerts Gamora and Drax to the danger posed by Ego and buys the Guardians time, albeit only a little. She arguably contributed more than Drax, who was pure comedic relief.

Does every female heroine need to be an ass-kicker to be relevant?

[Dienekes]

Yeah, like i said, Mantis is the very essence of a token asian character.

You could have taken her out of the movie and it wouldn't have changed a thing. MAYBE the end were she put him to sleep. That wasn't so much needed though.

Couldn't any of the cast except Ego and Quill have been written out?

Mantis reveals Ego's plot and puts him to sleep. She does more than Gamora or Drax does.

[Kitten Champion]

Couldn't any of the cast except Ego and Quill have been written out?

Mantis reveals Ego's plot and puts him to sleep. She does more than Gamora or Drax does.

Mantis role in the plot is fairly perfunctory to get Mantis the character into the ensemble. The movie is primarily character-focused with very little plot that actually needs justifying once you break it down. Mantis' purpose is to help the writers explore these characters - Drax in particular, but she has some nice character scenes with Peter and Gamora as well - and provide the cast with a distinct voice for their interactions which are central to every Marvel movie. Similar to Nebula with Gamora, Yondu with Rocket, and both Gamora and Ego with Peter -- Groot's pretty much purely comic relief but his character has nowhere to go anyways.

So, yes, you could cut her from the plot easily but that's insignificant to the wider direction of the movie.

[Kyberwulf]

Yeah, except they cut away from her when she was about to do her big revel After Gamora already did the whole exploring and finding stuff out. She already told them what they already knew.

[Giggling Ghast]

Gamora only notices something is odd about Ego when Mantis nearly spills the beans to Drax. Her subsequent argument with Quill leads her out to the field, which is when Nebula attacks. That leads to the discovery of the boneyard, which she later reveals is Ego's children.

[Erys]

Yeah, except they cut away from her when she was about to do her big revel After Gamora already did the whole exploring and finding stuff out. She already told them what they already knew.

You might want to watch the movie again.

You have the order of events clearly confused...