...So it's a mystery flame, huh?
Best posts made by Riddler
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RE: Chapter 1077: Should Have Noticed Sooner
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RE: Yamato Character Discussion
I've got a question for y'all. Since Yamato basically introduced himself by asking Luffy to join his crew, we have all always judged him according to the standards we hold for a new crewmember. Interactions with the crew, dream, tragic backstory, loveability etc. Basically, we judged him like we would judge a main character. And from the reactions to him not joining after all, I've noticed a sort of consensus that people quite like the character, but weren't so hot on him becoming a full-fledged crewmember and are thus more or less relieved he won't be (for now) (of course, there is an even bigger consensus that the execution for this plot development was really lacking).
So, my question is: does your judgment of Yamato as a character change now that we have to reconsider him not as a crewmember and main character, but as a secondary, more or less arc-centric (time will tell) character? Because, to me, if I forget about all my qualms I had about him joining the crew, forget about all that stuff and just look at him like I would at any other secondary character in the story? Then he might just be one of my absolute favorite non-main characters in the whole series!
I just found Yamato immensely likable and fun. He was a real scene-stealer during the raid, got his own little flashback, even got to fight the main villain for a bit. It's a character with a lot of potential and I find myself wanting to see more of him in the future. That's not something I can say for a lot of characters in One Piece. Don't get me wrong, there are literally dozens of characters in One Piece I really love - that's one of Oda's gifts as a writer, he just knows how to make you fall in love with his creations - and I'm always happy when we get to see them again in the story. But I don't often find myself bummed out at the end of an arc because I want to see more of a particular character.
And that's how I feel about Yamato right now. I'm not per se bummed that he didn't join the crew - as I said in the spoiler chapter thread, I don't really need more crewmembers after Jinbe - but I wouldn't have minded him tagging along for a while, like Law or Vivi did. And as much as I didn't like how Oda executed things in the current chapter, I think the fact that I feel like this about a character that was only introduced really late in the arc, and also that it is totally believable and rings true that Luffy would allow him to join the crew when Yamato feels ready to, that seems to me like a big success on Oda's part.
I've read some people state that now in retrospect, all the time spent on Yamato during the raid was a waste of time because he didn't even join, and I just can't agree with that. Were Wyper's scenes in Skypiea a waste of time? Or Kyros's fight against Diamante in Dressrosa? Or Bartolomeo or Cavendish's fights? Or Bege's scenes in Whole Cake Island? I get it, secondary characters also take away screentime from the main characters and the cast of the raid was already bloated to begin with. But if Oda has a really good idea for a character, should he just scrap that character to save time? Especially if its a character like Yamato that a ton of fans really fell in love with?
Plus, we all figure that a lot of the established secondary characters will play some part in the final war, and if that's the case, Yamato is almost guaranteed to play a particularly big part. While there are a ton of characters in One Piece, there is a surprisingly small set of characters that hold "almost-main character" status for me. Law is in that category, for example. Vivi, too, I guess (don't get me wrong, she'll always be a crewmember to me, but it doesn't feel quite right to give her the same status as the regular main characters). And that's the group where I would put Yamato now - almost Strawhat-level.
That might not be all that satisfying for those who really wanted to see Yamato join - more like a consolation prize than anything, probably. I'm just saying that I don't see his character as a waste of time at all.
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RE: Season 1 General Discussion
I have a huge smile on my face right now I just watched a review of the series by a German reviewer of films and tv shows on Youtube, who had never watched or read One Piece before watching the Live Action series. He described how much joy he felt while watching the episodes, and how much he enjoyed Luffy's wide eyed sense of adventure, how touching he found Nami's backstory etc.
He pretty much echoed how I felt when I fell in love with One Piece when I first watched the anime. Then I scrolled down to the comments and was hit by a wave of positivity. Super fans who have been reading the manga for decades! People who watched the anime as a kid and felt really nostalgic after watching the series! People who were completely unfamiliar with One Piece that binged the LA version and are now excited to check out the manga or anime!
Wow!
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RE: Chapter 1066: The Will of Ohara
@Bugs said in Chapter 1066: The Will of Ohara:
On the other other other other other hand, Saul’s status doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a pretty dull chapter. Daz is right, it’s not fun to read an entire info drop (which I should point out didn’t have anything truly groundbreaking besides Saul and the books, which was a chekhov’s gun waiting to be fired so not that much one) with almost no fun antics or character’s discovering things for themselves (Robin’s tears don’t move me; I would get it if the reveal was Robin actually seeing Saul, which would at least take some of the sting off the retcon).
I hate to go all "The Dude" on you, but that's not a fact, it's just, like, your opinion, man. It's a bit of a pet peeve of mine; I find it annoying when people claim their opinion as fact to elevate it to a level where people can't really disagree without automatically being wrong (can't argue with a fact, right?), especially when we are talking about a topic that is super subjective, like if a chapter was a fun read or not. Clearly, plenty of people have enjoyed reading it, some have even been moved to tears by it...
Other people have already pointed why comparing Saul to other flashback characters doesn't really work out, because the other Strawhats all have at least some people left. Robin is the only one who had to watch everybody she ever cared about die - and then she had to live alone for 20 years, with everybody she ever met along the way betraying her. That's a super harsh fate, and one of the many friends she lost that day being revealed to still be alive doesn't really change any of that. She still had to watch everybody else die, including her mother who she never really got to know, and then had to live a really shitty life for two decades. That's why I'm happy for her, she deserves at least a small happy end.
The only other main character who even comes close when it comes to tragedy is Brook, who also had to watch everybody he cared about die and then spent several decades all alone, but at least he wasn't a little kid when it happened. And if you think about it, Brook learning that Laboon is still alive is very similar to Robin learning that Saul is still alive. The only difference is in how the reveal was presented to us, the reader - we obviously never thought Laboon was dead, while we thought Saul was a goner ever since Enies Lobby.
While I'm just as annoyed as everybody else when Oda milks a "death" for all its emotion only to then later reveal that, nah, the character was alive all along, this one feels differently to me. And I think the main difference is the reason for Saul's "revival". When Oda usually brings a character back from the dead, like Pell or Conis' dad, for example, it's just done to provide the arc with a happy ending where everybody can be joyful and nobody has to mourn their dead. There are no reasons beyond that, it doesn't really matter for the story if Pell is still alive or not. Things are different with Saul. While this reveal does make Robin more happy, that's not its only or even main purpose from a story-telling point of view. It figures into Vegapunk's past, it will very likely impact the plot of the Elbaf arc, it will change how we view Kuzan's character in the future.* It's important for the plot and didn't just happen because Oda can't bring himself to kill a character for good.
*On a small footnote, this is very similar to Igaram being revealed to be still alive after Robin apparently murdered him in cold blood in Whiskey Peak, which is "this character is actually still alive"-reveal nobody ever actually talks or complains about. This one was really important in order to make Robin a character we can actually accept as a sympathetic person. If Igaram had stayed dead, Robin would have been responsible for the death of a person that was very close to Vivi, after all. Things are very similar in Saul's case: now Kuzan actually isn't a coldblooded killer (no pun intended) anymore from Robin's point of view, which might be important in the future.
@ARTEMlS said in Chapter 1066: The Will of Ohara:
It's not just you. I also expected the ancient history to be some mystery story, that is, an actual well-written mystery story with everything that belongs to such a story. Including red herrings.
First of all, despite lots of fantasy stories trying to tell us, archeology is more than just learning the ancient language and then just translating perfectly tailor-made texts which tell basically everything absolutely accurately. No, that's just not how the human nature works. People lie - be it sugar-coating or outright blatant false claims. Therefore, historical sources cannot and never should be taken at face value. A big part of evaluating historical discoveries is interpretation. Two different archeologists can e.g. both syntactically flawlessly translate an ancient text, yet come to two absolutely different interpretations and conclusions.
There should be some actual hurdles and obstacles in Robin's way for her to overcome. That's where some red herrings come in - be it due to Robin making some false conclusions on her own or someone else actively providing false information and doing historical revisionism. There's so much potential for the latter. Like one of the Gorosei just doesn't believe that it's possible to completely eradicate everything, therefore he instead started an operation to provide whoever tries to research the ancient times with as much as erroneous material as possible, trying to mislead them for years, decades or even centuries. Even going as far as creating fake poneglyphs.
I'm sorry, I think all of this stuff can be really interesting if that is what the story is all about, but as much as I love Robin and find all scenes of her uncovering the secrets of the past fascinating, the story isn't called "Nico Robin: Raider of the Lost Poneglyph" for a reason. Even if some readers seem to suddenly have a problem with this, the focus of the story is still on Luffy and his quest to become Pirate King and find the One Piece, and how he gets closer and closer to his goal, both geographically and regarding his position in the pirate world. Robin's storyline of uncovering the history of the Void Century is exciting and obviously important to the lore of the story, but it's still a secondary plot line at the end of day. Introducing fake poneglyphs that contain false information just seems overly complicated and sort of cumbersome. Do we really want plot lines of Robin going "Damn it, that Poneglyph I read in Skypiea actually was a total lie created by an evil forger/spy from the WG, now I have to rethink my whole theory on the Void Century!". That just seems kinda annoying and also like a very convenient way to me for the author to introduce some retcons to his established mythology
Or how about Black Maria being such a history revisionist - for whatever reason? That also would have given us a battle with some emotional stakes and opportunities for some proper inner conflict for Robin during the battle, but nah...
But that battle did have emotional stakes and inner conflict, those were just centered on her relationship to the crew in general and to Sanji specifically instead of her role as an archeologist. And where does Black Maria being a history revisionist even come from? That's just a case of being pissed at the author because he didn't make your headcanon come true.
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RE: Chapter 1090: Kizaru
@electricmastro said in Chapter 1090: Kizaru:
So is Bonney closer to becoming a Straw Hat after getting over Vegapunk and continually hanging out with the Straw Hats like Sanji?
Do you honestly think she is going to become a Strawhat? What makes her special enough to be a main character?
Personally, I've felt pretty much since the timeskip that we were done with gaining new crewmembers. It just felt wrong to me to add a member now who completely missed the Strawhat's and Luffy's lowest point in the series. Jinbei is a special case, as though he joined pretty late in the game, he was introduced pre-timeskip, palyed a special part in helping Luffy get over his grief, and has joined the crew on several adventures before he finally joined.
But there hasn't been a single new character introduced Post-TS who ended up actually joining the crew. In retrospect, one could say that Pre-TS was mainly about building the Strawhat crew, as new members were joining pretty much every single arc. Post-TS, on the other hand, has been about actually becoming the Pirate King - everything Luffy has done in the New World has furthered that goal in retrospect (making alliances, building a grand fleet, taking down direct obstacles to the throne like the Emperors, finding the Road porneglyphs that lead to the One Piece etc.)
Imo Oda also partially didn't let Jinbei join for so long because he wanted to keep the discussion going on who else might join the crew - after all, if Jinbei was still promised to join, who says others couldn't also still join as well? But now that's done and over with and most promising new crewmember since entering the New World, Yamato, didn't actually end up joining either, it couldn't have been made more clear to me that that's it.
I mean, maybe you'll have some characters joining at the end of the series, like some epilogue-thing, but not for the actual series imo.
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RE: Official Wano Thread
It will be a while before I can really form my final verdict on Wano as a whole, but right now I think I would deem it flawed, but good. There were some weird decisions during the raid, particularly towards the end, no doubt about it. But generally, I enjoyed the heck out of it. I'm binge reading Act 3 right now (I'm in the middle of volume 100 right now - Vol. 101 has been released over here only recently), and it's honestly a ton of fun so far.
Stuff like Luffy seemingly running up stairs to reach Kaido for countless chapters is a complete non-issue now. The chapters just fly by and honestly, a lot of set-up happens during these couple of chapters. It provides the Scabbards with an opportunity to fight Kaido on their own and some of the Strawhats to meet their match-ups. The Ice Oni stuff also doesn't bother me at all anymore, as its purpose is much clearer now: it's main purpose is to provide Chopper with a great moment since he won't get a fight this arc, and also to build-up Queen as a cruel villain that needs to get his ass kicked asap.
While I haven't gotten to that part yet on my reread, I know that I enjoyed most of the fights during the arc. Aside from the final, somewhat lackluster clash, everything that happened on the rooftop fighting-wise was amazing, imo. Zoro's, Sanji's, Robin's, Law & Kid's and even Killer's fights were all really good overall. Jinbe's and Franky's fights were good, but too short. Nami vs. Ulti....would have been alright if Big Mom hadn't intervened in their fight. Good build-up both to their personal conflict and to Nami finally gaining Zeus as a permanent power-up, but the fight already wasted a lot of its initial potential when we didn't get an actual Nami & Usopp vs. the Dinobros fight. And then when Big Mom had to tenderize Ulti so that Nami could beat her....yeah. Big disappointment there, no sugarcoating it.
Anyway, regarding acts 1 and 2, I've watched both acts in the anime lately (Act 1 was aired over here earlier in the year and Act 2 is in the middle of airing right now) and am surprised how much I enjoy them now. I don't know if it's the anime adding details and extra scenes, but everything flows pretty well for me. Most notably, I remember feeling like all the Strawhats except for Luffy were totally underused to instead focus on the large cast of secondary characters, but watching the anime, I don't get this feeling at all, somehow. Most of the Strawhats are doing stuff in almost every scene, be it Chopper finding Big Mom and leading her to Udon, Sanji fighting Page-1, Nami, Robin and Brook sneaking into Orochi's party etc.
And while I guess it's somewhat of an unpopular opinion, I have to say I really like the Wano supporting characters. Momo and Kinemon really came into their own this arc. Tama and Hyogoro are really sympathetic, while Shinobu is a ton of fun. And the Scabbards...maybe there should have been less of them. But I do like them all in their own way, individually, they all have their own interesting little backstories. Honestly, I know that many readers were experiencing arc fatigue and just wanted the fighting to end, but in general, I wouldn't have minded seeing more from Kawamatsu and Denjiro in particular. Watching Act 2 again made me realize how much I enjoyed them initially.
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RE: One Piece Live-Adaptation Drama Announced
This trailer was amazing. I think I would actually give this a watch even if I wasn't a fan already. Seriously it actually looks really good. And I surprisingly don't care at all that they cut out Krieg and combine Baratie and Arlong arc into one arc. I hope they still find away to give Sanji his proper screentime and characterization.
Damn, I'm actually fucking hyped now.
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RE: Chapter 1066: The Will of Ohara
@ARTEMlS said in Chapter 1066: The Will of Ohara:
@Riddler said in Chapter 1066: The Will of Ohara:
But that battle did have emotional stakes and inner conflict, those were just centered on her relationship to the crew in general and to Sanji specifically instead of her role as an archeologist.
The problem is this inner conflict just did not work at all because Black Maria didn't provide anything for Robin to be emotionally challenged in any way. When she asked "Did I hit a nail?" I just thought: No! You did hit nothing. You completely missed the mark. It just doesn't work.
She confronted her with her fear of only being a burden to her crew, which was literally one of Robin's biggest fears and the reason she left the crew in Enies Lobby. How does this not provide a good emotional hook for the fight but Black Maria being a history revisionist does? Black Maria didn't miss the mark at all. The fact that Robin wasn't fazed by those remarks as much as Black Maria intended was meant to show how much Robin had grown since then, both regarding her feelings of self-worth and her trust that the Strawhats would ever abandon her.
Of course, Luffy is the protagonist. But that does not mean there cannot be more compelling and better thought-out sideplots for the other Strawhats than what we actually have here.
I mean, I guess it's all subjective in the end, but I do find Robin's sideplot plenty compelling as it is and the suggestion that Robin hasn't actually had to work to gain information just isn't true imo. The only reason she found anything out on Fishman Island and Wano was because she was actively looking for Poneglyphs and then confronted people who might know something. Heck, she was even criticized on here for "carelessly" asking Oden's Dad questions about Pluton's location.
One thing I wanted to also respond to from your previous post was your statement that there were no (or not enough) hurdles in Robin's quest to uncover the secrets of the Void Century. To which I want to say: traveling the Grandline and surviving is in itself the hurdle for all of the Strawhats. Be it Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Franky or Brook,* they can all reach their goals and dreams by generally traveling through the Grandline, fighting the strong enemies along the way, and surviving. Why is Robin the only one who needs some extra hurdles in her way?
*I left out Chopper because I'm honestly not even sure what his dream even is. Now this is a character who would benefit from some story focus!
@Alfiere said in Chapter 1066: The Will of Ohara:
@Marcotty How is disclosing a secret by finding the right key "bad writing"?
Again, Luffy had to actually go out of his way and walk several extra miles to get and keep Robin in his crew. And all this while knowing nothing of how crucial she actually (once) was to obtain the One Piece. He gained the key and deserved it, for being a decent person.If Kid and Law know of the burned man on Elbaf that knows ancient kingdom lore (and know what that entails), they would surely know of the Ohara scholar in Crocodile's entourage and work from there.
But they were likely too busy with their edgelord revenge plans and crucifying civilians habits, and they missed their chance, too bad for them.Also, the OP being basically hard locked for anyone that isn't the reincarnation of the guy who buried it in the first place is instead good writing? Because now all hints are pointing to that, ask Roger for reference.
Robin will still be crucial for Luffy's group in particular to reach their goal. The fact that there a few more ways to read the Poneglyphs doesn't change the fact that Robin is still a super important help. If there were only 5 people in the world who could read the Poneglyphs, each of these five people would still be a really vital asset to your crew.
I am confused about your second point. Isn't it the other way around? If Robin, a member of Luffy's crew, was the absolute only way to become Pirate King, wouldn't that in fact make Luffy more special? Like, "of course, it's the Chosen One who has the one person in his crew that can help you get the One Piece, everybody else can just go screw themselves, they have no chance." The fact that there are other ways that may give other crews like Kidd, Blackbeard or Law a chance actually makes Luffy less special...
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RE: Volume 105 Predictions/Discussion
@Gizmo said in Volume 105 Predictions/Discussion:
Okay, so Oda addressed that Tama is a Kurozumi, that Hiyori’s final line about burning was meant to address Orochi only, but leaves open the possibility of Kurozumi hatred in the future…
Given the discussions had here about that line When it came out, I’m glad Oda addressed the fact that discrimination might still exist on the Kurozumi, and that while Hiyori might have not meant the line to bear no ill will on the bloodline, it could still be interpreted like that for some of the folks out there.
I really appreciate Oda's thoughtful and mature response to the question. Ideally, he would have depicted that stuff in the story directly, but this at least shows he really put some thought into the situation and its implications. What Captain M said is also true, reading the ending of Wano in volume format will really be an improvement, since you get all these extra information inbetween chapters and Hiyori's statement about the Kurozumis will immediately be clarified and put into context.
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RE: One Piece Live-Adaptation Drama Announced
03:13 Aww Usopp and Nami holding hands! I always loved their relationship as the two "normal" people on the crew.
This honestly looks so good to me. Even if there will turn out to be some flaws, I'm honestly amazed that they seem to have managed to create an adaptation that actually captures the look and feel of the original East Blue saga so well. I hope so much that they will be rewarded for their efforts with a second season order!
Latest posts made by Riddler
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RE: Chapter 1109: Interception
That's actually one thing I do like about the anime. Massive pacing issues aside, you usually do get the impression of much longer traveling times between arcs (or in some cases like Alabasta, even inside arcs) than what comes across in the manga. The Post-Alabasta fillers are a perfect example of that - since the crew has multiple small scale adventures on different islands in the anime, it feels like at least a week or two pass between the end of Alabasta and the start of Jaya.
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RE: X-Men The Animated Series is being revived!
I have never seen the original show and thus have absolutely no nostalgia for this...and I still think this looks freaking awesome!
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RE: Late Night Talk Shows
I just love Jon Stewart so much I recently downloaded a torrent containing ALL of Jon Stewart's episodes of the Daily Show (I also downloaded all of the Colbert Report while I was at it) and am now slowly making my way through the whole show. I used to watch single clips back in the day on the official website, but it has become a bit of a mess to use and I think many clips/episodes aren't available anymore? At least they weren't last time I checked, which admittedly was a while ago.
Anyway, Season 4 (which was Stewart's first season after Craig Kilborn left) is pretty rough to watch. Jon is already pretty likable, but it's a far cry from the clever and hilarious satire the show would become famous for later on. The humor is a lot broader and also feels a lot more mean-spirited, especially as it's not targeted at people who actually deserve it at all. It's still interesting to go back to the beginning and see how everything evolved.
I also bought The Daily Show: An oral history as a companion book while watching the show.
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RE: What Are You Watching? (Live-Action Edition)
@Nobodyman said in What Are You Watching? (Live-Action Edition):
Been watching Twin Peaks and, yeah, the show holds up really well. Episodes 7 to 9 of Season 2 are peak (haha) television.
I recently watched Twin Peaks for the first time, too. Probably one of the scariest (and yet, at times, most hilarious) shows I've ever seen. I actually got nightmares from watching certain episodes, in which I saw Bob creeping closer and closer to me...Fire Walk With Me is also really messed up.
I still have to check out the Return, though.
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RE: Arlong Park rereads One Piece post time skip (December 2023)
I like that you acknowledged Dellinger and Gladius as formidable (and in Dellinger's case, even kinda scary) enemies. The Doflamingo pirates are nowadays looked down upon as a villain group, but some of them had a pretty good showing. I haven't reread Dressrosa in a while, but I distinctly remember Dellinger mowing down one colliseum fighter after the other while barely breaking a sweat.
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RE: Marvel Movies Thread - Holy Shitballs
I have to shamefully admit that I disliked She-Hulk, too, when I first watched it. I wouldn't go so far and say I hated it, but it just didn't work me and I didn't feel like I was part of its target audience. But I rewatched it recently with a friend who hadn't seen it yet and surprisingly enjoyed it this time. It's still just sort of alright for me, but it's fun enough and is a nice change of pace from the usual MCU and superhero fare. I'm still not sure how I feel about its finale - on the one hand, I dig how it goes full meta and dares to make fun of the typical MCU clichès. On the other hand, it at the same just kinda lazily swipes away all the plot points and storylines set up throughout the season instead of actually resolving any of it. So, it weirdly feels like smart and lazy writing at the same time to me.
A show I've kinda soured on, on the other hand, is Ms. Marvel. It starts of with a lot of potential. It's tone and visual style in the first two episodes is really promising and fresh and I also find myself interest in Kamala's cultural background. Kamala and her family and friends are also all really likable. But from episode 3 on, it just feels like I'm watching a completely different show and none of the characters or storylines focused on from episode 3-5 is all that interesting or well-developed. I mean, the villains are easily the weakest the MCU has ever had; I couldn't make sense at all of their purpose and plot, nor did I really care. There is also some random organization introduced midway through the season who are the sworn enemies of the villain group (I guess), but then they don't really end up mattering at all and disappear from the show as abruptly as they were introduced. It's all very messy and really drags the show down for me.
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RE: Marvel Movies Thread - Holy Shitballs
I'm in for just recasting him instead of throwing all previous plans over board. Sure, the actor did a good job in the role, but I don't think anyone will blame Marvel for recasting him because of his legal issues, and the fact that his character is all about the multiverse and different variants, and that we've already multiple instances of variants of the same character looking completely different, really gives them an easy out here from a storytelling point of view. Sure, he played a big role in Ant-Man 3, but it's not like that many people really care about that movie or have even watched it, if we are being honest.
I would probably play it a little safe and at least replace him with an actor that looks somewhat similar. I honestly don't think casual viewers will even notice - I've actually started rewatching the MCU with someone who has never seen it before recently, and she honestly didn't even notice that Rhodey was played by a different actor in Iron Man 2 Even though Terrence Howard and Don Cheadle really look nothing alike. And anybody who cares strongly enough to really notice would probably know about the recasting in advance any way.
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RE: Arlong Park rereads One Piece post time skip (December 2023)
Maybe we should just have a general reread thread where everybody can post his or her thoughts on any arc, chapter or volume of One Piece they have just read again? We don't really have a thread to talk about old arcs in general, right?
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RE: Epic Rap Battles Of History Thread
How are they still improving after all these years?? This one was fantastic! Marx won with his brutal last verse imo. I hope this is a sign of things to come and we'll get more battles soon