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Games, Comics, Superheroes, . . .
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#21
Requests for Skins and Meshes / Re: Issue 57: FX recolouring
Last post by Jimaras8 - August 20, 2025, 08:57:14 AMHello guys!!! I hope i find you all well and relaxed. I know i ve been MIA for some time but i have some persistent health issues that don't allow me to participate as much as i would want to. I have however worked slowly towards polishing and tweaking the latest version of MA just not on the pace that i would have wanted. So, today i come bearing GIFTS 
!!!!
Here are both the latest version of MA 2.5 with a new character named Force (an iron man villain turned hero), new powers for mr sinister, Clea, Spider-man, Jubilee, Beast and some others, lots of new custom-made FX and tweaks for powers and FX. In addition as i see the old sites slowly coming down i wanted to upload my entire library of meshes for perservation. If sickalice or anyone else want to move the link to a megathread, be my guest. I have some meshes from the old yahoo groups which i think will be useful. Thank you all for your patience and please download the latest version. Its a work of love from both Benton and ME and the more the file is shared, the more it will be preserved for new and old friends
https://www.mediafire.com/file/636j7flegn008vb/MA.rar/file
https://www.mediafire.com/file/lfg0roaq006qc8k/Meshes_Library.rar/file
!!!!Here are both the latest version of MA 2.5 with a new character named Force (an iron man villain turned hero), new powers for mr sinister, Clea, Spider-man, Jubilee, Beast and some others, lots of new custom-made FX and tweaks for powers and FX. In addition as i see the old sites slowly coming down i wanted to upload my entire library of meshes for perservation. If sickalice or anyone else want to move the link to a megathread, be my guest. I have some meshes from the old yahoo groups which i think will be useful. Thank you all for your patience and please download the latest version. Its a work of love from both Benton and ME and the more the file is shared, the more it will be preserved for new and old friends
https://www.mediafire.com/file/636j7flegn008vb/MA.rar/file
https://www.mediafire.com/file/lfg0roaq006qc8k/Meshes_Library.rar/file
#22
General Discussion / Re: Randy Ripoff is gone.
Last post by Figure Fan - August 19, 2025, 04:11:04 PMThank you for letting us know, Nyte. He was so young. After I found out about MJB, I started a list of usernames with contact details and websites (and real names if they're public) so I can periodically check in on people. Makes me feel a little better somehow.
#23
General Discussion / Re: Randy Ripoff is gone.
Last post by stumpy - August 19, 2025, 04:09:55 PMJeez. 
I remember meeting Randy in Chicago (at Pizzeria Due?) at an FR get-together many moons ago. Very smart guy, with a great sense of fun. It's sad to hear of his passing.
I remember meeting Randy in Chicago (at Pizzeria Due?) at an FR get-together many moons ago. Very smart guy, with a great sense of fun. It's sad to hear of his passing. #24
Film, Television, Video and Music Discussion / Re: Fantastic Four: First Step...
Last post by BentonGrey - August 19, 2025, 04:04:17 PMThat's a great review, 'Mato, and I think you're basically spot-on. I'll post some specific responses to a few of your points later, but here's my own review. I think we assessed it pretty similarly. It's a great FF film, and a very strong superhero film in general. I think you're rating is about right. Being a teacher, I tend to think in grades, haha, and I'd give it a solid A.
Spoiler
Recently, I saw Fantastic Four: First Steps, and I thought I'd share some thoughts for anyone interested. Now, let me preface this by saying two things. First, the Fantastic Four are some of my favorite Marvel characters; I love their classic stories. You're hard-pressed to find a better distillation of the amazing creativity and imagination Stan Lee and Jack Kirby poured into the nascent Marvel Universe than their run on the Fantastic Four's book. Second, for years I have said that we are too far down the rabbit hole of the culture wars to get a classic, comic-faithful Fantastic Four. It seemed to me inevitable that we'd get some stupid reinvention that tried to "update" them to the moment, providing something that completely misses the point of the team, like the last film. Yet, when I saw the trailers for this movie, I thought that maybe, just maybe, I was wrong.
Well, turns out, I was, and I have rarely been so pleased to be mistaken. Simply put, this is a very good movie and an excellent adaptation of the Fantastic Four, far and away the best on film, not that there is that much competition. It's not perfect, but it has no major flaws and many strengths. Most importantly, just like with Gunn's Superman, this film succeeds because its creators seem to be folks who finally understand the FF. From the very beginning, Fantastic Four stories have been about two things: the team as a family and the wonder of exploring the aptly named Marvel universe.
And this film delivers on both scores, firmly and clearly focusing on the Four, not just as a team, but as a family, complete with family dinner every week, sharing each other's joys and sorrows, and loving and supporting one another through both. And, just like Gunn's Superman, this film benefits greatly from arriving in an era where audiences are used to the marvelous, and it presents a universe that is full of wonder (and danger) in the finest tradition of the comics. From the delightfully absurd foes of the Four that we meet in the montages, like communist super apes and the Mole Man and his moloids (yes, this film actually gives us a pretty much straight version of the Mole Man, which is incredible, another in the long line of things I never thought I'd see), to the planet munching menace of the god-like Galactus, the film is stuffed with the fantastic. And, crucially, it doesn't waste any time trying to convince you that these things could exist; it simply presents them and trusts that you'll accept them.
The film is full of visual wonder and delivers on spectacle, especially during the set pieces that take our heroes to Galactus's ship or see the giant planet-eater strolling through New York. Yet, one of the best things about the film is found, not in those big moments, but in the simple world design. The film has a delightful retro-futuristic aesthetic that is really well realized and is also part of the imaginative work of the movie, presenting us with a world remade by the presence of our heroes, an alternative past, hopeful, optimistic, and improved in seemingly every way. It is both nostalgic and forward-looking, an interesting combination.
In terms of the Four themselves, they're all reasonably well represented, with no one being particularly out of character and everyone being recognizable and presented as likable, sympathetic figures. In a very pleasant surprise, the movie avoids the easy, lazy characterization shortcuts of comics and film (Reed as a cold fish, disconnected from his family, Johnny as an idiot man-child, etc), instead giving us versions of the characters that are unusually nuanced and warmly human.
Sue is the mother and heart of the team, as she always has been, holding them together and keeping them sane, but she's also a woman struggling with what being an actual mother in such conditions might mean. Vanessa Kirby does a solid job with Sue's struggles, though some of her delivery can be a bit cheesy. Johnny and Reed, who are the easiest to get wrong, are both particularly impressive.
Joseph Quinn's Johnny Storm is basically perfect: young, immature, and hot-headedly impulsive, yet not completely defined by those qualities. He is also a loving brother and a man with hidden depths. Pedro Pascal, for his part, plays his Reed Richards with his usual intensity and skill, delivering a nuanced, emotional performance as the smartest man in the world, and thus, the man upon whose shoulders the weight of that world rests. His Mr. Fantastic is really great, balancing that pressure and drive, while not losing the love of his family that defines the character, even at his most distracted.
The weakest of the characters is, ironically, the one that is easiest to get right, the biggest, boldest, most clearly drawn of the Four in the comics, Ben Grimm. Now, don't get me wrong, he's still the weakest out of a strong field, so it's still a good portrayal, just not as good as it should be. The Thing is written and played too subtly, and if there is anything 'the bashful, blue-eyed idol of millions' ain't, it's subtle. Ebon Moss-Bachrach captures some of Ben's loneliness and insecurity, but he loses his bombastic nature in the process. The comic Thing is lonely and insecure, but he hides those qualities underneath a mask of larger-than-life machismo.
A perfect example is the film's treatment of the Thing's catchphrase, "It's clobberin' time!" The film makes this phrase a product of an in-universe cartoon, a pop-culture exaggeration of Ben, and one he rejects. This gives them a symbol to connect to his arc, as he finally delivers the line during the climax, but doing so has a cost to his broader characterization. Nonetheless, it's still a fairly good portrayal overall, and compared to the ill-fated assassin-Thing of the previous movie, this one feels like it is channeled directly from the imagination of Jack Kirby.
The film's only real weakness is, perhaps, an inevitable one for an attempt to adapt the Galactus saga in a single movie. It does a remarkably good job, but ultimately, this story is a little too big for the space they've got. Now, unlike Superman, this movie doesn't feel overstuffed, and the whole feels well-paced and tightly scripted. However, it's delivering a lot of information and emotional freight in a few scenes with Galactus and the Silver Surfer. Interestingly, the change to the Surfer, from male to female, which annoyed me initially, proves to have a narrative purpose, as it streamlines the story.
In the original story and most retellings, Ben's girlfriend, the blind sculptress, Alicia Masters, befriends the Surfer and helps him reconnect with his lost humanity. That obviously adds another character and takes up more story time. By making the character female, they collapse all of that into the main cast, with Johnny playing Alicia's role. It makes for a more efficient story, and that efficiency is necessary, as Galactus requires a lot of plot to cram into one film.
While the filmmakers handle the challenge deftly, we really needed to spend a bit more time on Zen-la, the Surfer's homeworld, and see her life and feel the pathos of her story, before it was resolved. In the same way, we needed a bit more time with Galactus himself to fully abosrb the scope of his existence and the burden it represented.
Nonetheless, these are fairly minor weaknesses, all told. Ultimately, this is a strong and original Marvel film, definitely one of the best of the last several years, and, like Gunn's Superman, a hopeful and vibrant rebuttal to the doom and gloom that has seized our culture. Fantastic Four achieves the inspiration that Superman only manages to brush against. It presents us with a vision of a brighter world that might be, and it is a joyful and imaginative escape from our own dark horizons. That's one of the chief purposes of the fantastic and of the superheroic, and this film gets that. Go see it. It's worth it.
Well, turns out, I was, and I have rarely been so pleased to be mistaken. Simply put, this is a very good movie and an excellent adaptation of the Fantastic Four, far and away the best on film, not that there is that much competition. It's not perfect, but it has no major flaws and many strengths. Most importantly, just like with Gunn's Superman, this film succeeds because its creators seem to be folks who finally understand the FF. From the very beginning, Fantastic Four stories have been about two things: the team as a family and the wonder of exploring the aptly named Marvel universe.
And this film delivers on both scores, firmly and clearly focusing on the Four, not just as a team, but as a family, complete with family dinner every week, sharing each other's joys and sorrows, and loving and supporting one another through both. And, just like Gunn's Superman, this film benefits greatly from arriving in an era where audiences are used to the marvelous, and it presents a universe that is full of wonder (and danger) in the finest tradition of the comics. From the delightfully absurd foes of the Four that we meet in the montages, like communist super apes and the Mole Man and his moloids (yes, this film actually gives us a pretty much straight version of the Mole Man, which is incredible, another in the long line of things I never thought I'd see), to the planet munching menace of the god-like Galactus, the film is stuffed with the fantastic. And, crucially, it doesn't waste any time trying to convince you that these things could exist; it simply presents them and trusts that you'll accept them.
The film is full of visual wonder and delivers on spectacle, especially during the set pieces that take our heroes to Galactus's ship or see the giant planet-eater strolling through New York. Yet, one of the best things about the film is found, not in those big moments, but in the simple world design. The film has a delightful retro-futuristic aesthetic that is really well realized and is also part of the imaginative work of the movie, presenting us with a world remade by the presence of our heroes, an alternative past, hopeful, optimistic, and improved in seemingly every way. It is both nostalgic and forward-looking, an interesting combination.
In terms of the Four themselves, they're all reasonably well represented, with no one being particularly out of character and everyone being recognizable and presented as likable, sympathetic figures. In a very pleasant surprise, the movie avoids the easy, lazy characterization shortcuts of comics and film (Reed as a cold fish, disconnected from his family, Johnny as an idiot man-child, etc), instead giving us versions of the characters that are unusually nuanced and warmly human.
Sue is the mother and heart of the team, as she always has been, holding them together and keeping them sane, but she's also a woman struggling with what being an actual mother in such conditions might mean. Vanessa Kirby does a solid job with Sue's struggles, though some of her delivery can be a bit cheesy. Johnny and Reed, who are the easiest to get wrong, are both particularly impressive.
Joseph Quinn's Johnny Storm is basically perfect: young, immature, and hot-headedly impulsive, yet not completely defined by those qualities. He is also a loving brother and a man with hidden depths. Pedro Pascal, for his part, plays his Reed Richards with his usual intensity and skill, delivering a nuanced, emotional performance as the smartest man in the world, and thus, the man upon whose shoulders the weight of that world rests. His Mr. Fantastic is really great, balancing that pressure and drive, while not losing the love of his family that defines the character, even at his most distracted.
The weakest of the characters is, ironically, the one that is easiest to get right, the biggest, boldest, most clearly drawn of the Four in the comics, Ben Grimm. Now, don't get me wrong, he's still the weakest out of a strong field, so it's still a good portrayal, just not as good as it should be. The Thing is written and played too subtly, and if there is anything 'the bashful, blue-eyed idol of millions' ain't, it's subtle. Ebon Moss-Bachrach captures some of Ben's loneliness and insecurity, but he loses his bombastic nature in the process. The comic Thing is lonely and insecure, but he hides those qualities underneath a mask of larger-than-life machismo.
A perfect example is the film's treatment of the Thing's catchphrase, "It's clobberin' time!" The film makes this phrase a product of an in-universe cartoon, a pop-culture exaggeration of Ben, and one he rejects. This gives them a symbol to connect to his arc, as he finally delivers the line during the climax, but doing so has a cost to his broader characterization. Nonetheless, it's still a fairly good portrayal overall, and compared to the ill-fated assassin-Thing of the previous movie, this one feels like it is channeled directly from the imagination of Jack Kirby.
The film's only real weakness is, perhaps, an inevitable one for an attempt to adapt the Galactus saga in a single movie. It does a remarkably good job, but ultimately, this story is a little too big for the space they've got. Now, unlike Superman, this movie doesn't feel overstuffed, and the whole feels well-paced and tightly scripted. However, it's delivering a lot of information and emotional freight in a few scenes with Galactus and the Silver Surfer. Interestingly, the change to the Surfer, from male to female, which annoyed me initially, proves to have a narrative purpose, as it streamlines the story.
In the original story and most retellings, Ben's girlfriend, the blind sculptress, Alicia Masters, befriends the Surfer and helps him reconnect with his lost humanity. That obviously adds another character and takes up more story time. By making the character female, they collapse all of that into the main cast, with Johnny playing Alicia's role. It makes for a more efficient story, and that efficiency is necessary, as Galactus requires a lot of plot to cram into one film.
While the filmmakers handle the challenge deftly, we really needed to spend a bit more time on Zen-la, the Surfer's homeworld, and see her life and feel the pathos of her story, before it was resolved. In the same way, we needed a bit more time with Galactus himself to fully abosrb the scope of his existence and the burden it represented.
Nonetheless, these are fairly minor weaknesses, all told. Ultimately, this is a strong and original Marvel film, definitely one of the best of the last several years, and, like Gunn's Superman, a hopeful and vibrant rebuttal to the doom and gloom that has seized our culture. Fantastic Four achieves the inspiration that Superman only manages to brush against. It presents us with a vision of a brighter world that might be, and it is a joyful and imaginative escape from our own dark horizons. That's one of the chief purposes of the fantastic and of the superheroic, and this film gets that. Go see it. It's worth it.
#25
Mods / Re: Marvel Adventures Feedback
Last post by Jimaras8 - August 19, 2025, 01:33:52 PMHello guys!!! I hope i find you all well and relaxed. I know i ve been MIA for some time but i have some persistent health issues that don't allow me to participate as much as i would want to. I have however worked slowly towards polishing and tweaking the latest version of MA just not on the pace that i would have wanted. So, today i come bearing GIFTS !!!!
Here are both the latest version of MA 2.5 with a new character named Force (an iron man villain turned hero), new powers for mr sinister, Clea, Spider-man, Jubilee, Beast and some others, lots of new custom-made FX and tweaks for powers and FX. In addition as i see the old sites slowly coming down i wanted to upload my entire library of meshes for perservation. If sickalice or anyone else want to move the link to a megathread, be my guest. I have some meshes from the old yahoo groups which i think will be useful. Thank you all for your patience and please download the latest version. Its a work of love from both Benton and ME and the more the file is shared, the more it will be preserved for new and old friends
https://www.mediafire.com/file/636j7flegn008vb/MA.rar/file
https://www.mediafire.com/file/lfg0roaq006qc8k/Meshes_Library.rar/file
!!!! Here are both the latest version of MA 2.5 with a new character named Force (an iron man villain turned hero), new powers for mr sinister, Clea, Spider-man, Jubilee, Beast and some others, lots of new custom-made FX and tweaks for powers and FX. In addition as i see the old sites slowly coming down i wanted to upload my entire library of meshes for perservation. If sickalice or anyone else want to move the link to a megathread, be my guest. I have some meshes from the old yahoo groups which i think will be useful. Thank you all for your patience and please download the latest version. Its a work of love from both Benton and ME and the more the file is shared, the more it will be preserved for new and old friends
https://www.mediafire.com/file/636j7flegn008vb/MA.rar/file
https://www.mediafire.com/file/lfg0roaq006qc8k/Meshes_Library.rar/file
#26
Film, Television, Video and Music Discussion / Re: New Superman Movie
Last post by WyldFyre - August 19, 2025, 09:24:42 AMI believe I read somewhere that Gunn was a fan or student, don't really remember, of the golden age. He may have been trying to give a nod to the earliest Superman stories where Supes would terrorize and let criminals die with little or no remorse. I don't remember if he actually killed anyone. (I don't think so.) He definitely let a multitude perish saying things like "they got what they deserved". He also had a penchant for hurting mere mortals who were hurting others. There is definitely a domestic abuse story where he has no problem hurting the abuser.
I haven't watched the movie yet. (It was only in town here a week.) I look forward to seeing it soon. You all have given me some things to think about while watching though.
I haven't watched the movie yet. (It was only in town here a week.) I look forward to seeing it soon. You all have given me some things to think about while watching though.
#27
General Discussion / Re: Randy Ripoff is gone.
Last post by WyldFyre - August 19, 2025, 09:11:51 AMI only had a couple of interactions with him in the forums. He wasn't very active by the time I started asking questions. The mesh of his avatar was one of the first I remember downloading though.
I am truly saddened by his passing. Rest peacefully Armand.
I am truly saddened by his passing. Rest peacefully Armand.
#28
Film, Television, Video and Music Discussion / Re: New Superman Movie
Last post by stumpy - August 19, 2025, 08:05:04 AMThe cactus incident just doesn't work for me, in much the same way that the truck stop incident of Snyder's Man of Steel didn't. It's a gritty response that misunderstands the character. At least, in MoS, Kal hadn't yet decided to make a public life of superheroing at that time.
Ironically, that scene flies in the face of what this movie largely gets right: Superman represents our better angels. Superman isn't Superman because he's some rando with amazing powers punishing evil-doers. He's Superman because he uses his amazing (and easily abused) powers to do good every time. He may not be able to stop all of the bad things, but he isn't doing the bad things. But, the Superman who sees the best in everyone and tries to save the cute Kaiju isn't also the Superman who deliberately inflicts pain on someone and threatens his life because they had it coming.
And, even a Superman who has only been at it for a few years is going to have dealt with these issues, regardless of whether it's come up in an international context. Where do you draw the line when dealing with a non-superpowered bad guy who's likely to want to do bad things again? If it's okay to treat him like a pincushion and make him fear for his life, is it okay to break his arm? How about a tap to the forehead that puts him into a coma? And, again, where he draws the line matters in terms of what kind of Superman he's supposed to be, but the bigger problem isn't about where the line is drawn. As I said, they got much of that pretty much right for Superman, though not for that incident. The bigger problem is that Superman apparently hasn't thought about where to draw the line enough to deal with a basic question about it. And, his reaction to the question is so disturbingly immature that it's hard to believe he hasn't done something worse before.
Anyway, it's easy to get caught up thinking about one scene. But, my disappointment isn't really with the wrongheadedness of this or that scene. It's that the whole movie struck me as being dumbed down. And, I think that's largely the difference that bothered me. I had plenty of criticisms of Snyder's three Superman movies. But, I didn't often feel, "This scene I don't like was done that way because the writers thought the audience wasn't smart enough to follow a more nuanced or realistic portrayal." I felt that repeatedly in this movie. BTW, I understand that simplification is a necessary part of telling a story and maintaining the pace of the movie. But, the audience shouldn't notice it. I find things like that distracting, particularly with characters who are supposed to be smart. (And, uhh, "Luthoria"... Really?)
Once again, this is just me. I assume the movie has done fine commercially and that lots of people are enjoying it. Nothing wrong with that.
Spoiler
This scene is an example of getting it wrong, whether the rationale is that he's young (but not really that young, by superhero standards) or that the target of his ire deserved it, or whatever else. And, to be clear, dragging someone who isn't able to resist out into the desert and pushing them against a cactus is a violent, torturous act, especially when done by someone who then goes on to make it clear he's willing to do worse. I don't know what sort of guidelines the writers used when judging their proposed scenes. But, I would suggest that if it's something Tony Soprano might do to an antagonist, then maybe it isn't right for Superman.
And, even a Superman who has only been at it for a few years is going to have dealt with these issues, regardless of whether it's come up in an international context. Where do you draw the line when dealing with a non-superpowered bad guy who's likely to want to do bad things again? If it's okay to treat him like a pincushion and make him fear for his life, is it okay to break his arm? How about a tap to the forehead that puts him into a coma? And, again, where he draws the line matters in terms of what kind of Superman he's supposed to be, but the bigger problem isn't about where the line is drawn. As I said, they got much of that pretty much right for Superman, though not for that incident. The bigger problem is that Superman apparently hasn't thought about where to draw the line enough to deal with a basic question about it. And, his reaction to the question is so disturbingly immature that it's hard to believe he hasn't done something worse before.
Anyway, it's easy to get caught up thinking about one scene. But, my disappointment isn't really with the wrongheadedness of this or that scene. It's that the whole movie struck me as being dumbed down. And, I think that's largely the difference that bothered me. I had plenty of criticisms of Snyder's three Superman movies. But, I didn't often feel, "This scene I don't like was done that way because the writers thought the audience wasn't smart enough to follow a more nuanced or realistic portrayal." I felt that repeatedly in this movie. BTW, I understand that simplification is a necessary part of telling a story and maintaining the pace of the movie. But, the audience shouldn't notice it. I find things like that distracting, particularly with characters who are supposed to be smart. (And, uhh, "Luthoria"... Really?)
Once again, this is just me. I assume the movie has done fine commercially and that lots of people are enjoying it. Nothing wrong with that.
#29
Film, Television, Video and Music Discussion / Re: New Superman Movie
Last post by Epimethee - August 18, 2025, 11:10:55 PMHey, I'm happy you enjoyed it, Tomato! And... fully agree on the mid-air dangling wish-fulfillment part.
#30
General Discussion / Re: Randy Ripoff is gone.
Last post by Epimethee - August 18, 2025, 10:56:57 PMThanks for letting us know, Nyte. The old guard indeed... This community may not have been possible without him. Thanks for all the work and general zaniness you brought here, Randy. Thanks, Armand. 