Pens + more FMA
Oct. 30th, 2015 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkI finally watched another Pens game in real-time. At first accidentally, then I decided to take advantage of the fact that 7pm Eastern games now start at midnight here instead of 1am, at least for a short while. Every time after I skate/play hockey myself I get a new appreciation for what these guys are doing on the ice, it's a beautiful sport. Plus, the golden jerseys are pretty.
It was an entertaining game too :) Some nice goals – one even on the PP, good job. Zatkoff made 50 saves in his first NHL game since 2014. Many shots were not high quality, but it's still bad that the Pens gave up so many. Something definitely has to be done about the defense. Tanger is currently not playing that well, which is worrying. The whole team got sloppy when they had a 2 goal lead, that's why they nearly lost it twice.
Overall a big reason why the team is currently winning is the goaltending – Flower is, as always, the best. Hopefully they'll get the rest figured out eventually. In the meantime I want them to play entertaining games and to win enough so people don't start panicking. I like the way this article put it: Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have spent the better part of a decade being the most prolific players in the league; few players have come close to the dominance exhibited by Crosby and Malkin in that timeframe. I’m not ready to suggest that their careers amounted to nothing if they don’t win another Stanley Cup together. Let's enjoy what we see now.
Pens' Halloween costumes: Kuni & Duper & their wives as Marty McFly and Doc Brown and minions, Tanger & his wive in Corpse Bride.
The Pens hired Gonch as part of their coaching staff, which made me happy, I hope he'll do well. I'm curious what they'll do with Sprong: he hasn't been that good the last few days and they don't have that many forward spots available. We'll find out soon.
I watched episode 8 of FMA:Brotherhood, the fight at the laboratory, to have a basis for comparison between FMA and FMA:B. The animation is pretty much identical, which is a relief. They cut out a lot: here Ed is beaten by Envy right after defeating the guard, Envy and Lust then blow up the building and carry Ed out, Ed now knows that they call him a sacrifice and Al and Ross heard Envy call Ed a resource. Efficient, but there's so much good stuff missing!
I then read the episode descriptions on Wikipedia of the FMA:B episodes covering what I already saw on FMA. It appears that there are several changes that are maybe not that important to the plot, but do change characters' histories with each other and relationships, which is kind of important to the story. FMA only has 50 episodes, so I think I might just finish watching that and then watch all of FMA:B later.
FMA episodes 25-34:
HUGHES! :((( Father, husband, Roy's good friend and confidante, important mentor to the Elrics. He was careless here, first presenting his theories to the Fuhrer (did he seriously trust him 100%, even after already agreeing to help Roy replace him?), then confronting Douglass/Sloth on his own. No good reason for it – was he that confident? Admittedly he is very good, but still.
I didn't know Roy was looking into taboo alchemy after his failed suicide attempt(s) after Ishbala, but it's not surprising. Hughes' matter-of-fact stating that he'll support Roy becoming Fuhrer is great. I'm a bit surprised Hawkeye said Roy isn't rational when it comes to the Elric brothers, I don't remember much of that, only that he was maybe unusually lenient. Roy is smart and ambitious, this will be exciting. Picking one's team is important.
At least we get a reminder that not all Ishbalans agree with Scar and that he is an unusually violent mass murderer, tragic backstory or not, good. His/his brother's alchemical symbols look a bit different than the arrays we've seen so far, different alchemy tradition?
I find Winry a bit annoying when she gets over-excited, but I respect her pride on her worksmanship, and of course she wants that to be appreciated. Ed can't properly give her that because for him automail is just something temporary. Winry also worries that Ed will die if his automail isn't good enough, a heavy burden. She's their mechanic, not a fighter, so she can't help them in battles – being support is hard.
Izumi is great! Violent, but not cruel, and extremely good at what she does. Actually she explains a lot about the Elrics ^^
I really like her relationship with the boys. Teacher, but also a kind of mother figure, and she definitely sees them as her kids. They're scared of her, but they love her and they know she loves them. I'm pretty sure besides anger she also feels a bit guilty that she didn't teach the boys better so they wouldn't attempt human transmutation.
I like her husband too. It's not easy for him to stay back when she feels like she has to fight, especially since she's sick, but he does his best to support her and be there for her. (She doesn't make it easy either, sparring like that with her illness is likely a bad idea.)
I like that Izumi thinks equivalent exchange pertaining to all aspects of life is bullshit. How do you even assess value, or who – Ed you can't seriously think your arm and your brother's soul have the same value? (tbf he did offer all his limbs and his heart.)
So every time a human transmutation is attempted – or is it attempted resurrections only? – a homunculus is born. So there must be one for Trisha Elric… no wonder Ed doesn't want to think about it, we don't even know yet what he did with the remains. People who've seen the Gate can transmute without a circle – can Al? He was there, even if he forgot.
There must be something else to creating homunculi. Who determines their "roles" and assigns them the sins? (What would happen if there were more than seven at the same time?) If Envy hadn't gotten to the new Wrath and gotten him hooked on pseudo-philosopher's stones, could he have grown up human? Could he have grown up human if Izumi hadn't given him back to the Gate?
Ed yes you're a State Alchemist but did you have to rub it in like this? Otoh Izumi if you want the boys to help you maybe explain a bit more first. I wonder what a State Alchemist's position in the military command structure is: below a Lt. Col, and iirc below a major, but surely not every soldier can command them.
Why does Ed stay a State Alchemist at this point? It's convenient because of access to the library and because of expenses, but I'm pretty sure they don't really urgently need that anymore, at least not right now.
I wonder what Izumi and her teacher Dante disagree on. Dante also attempted human transmutation once – does no teacher think to warn their students?!
Greed wants eternal life and wants to know how to do a blood seal. His physical homunculus body is at least as close to indestructible as Al's is, so do homunculi die a natural death eventually? That would surprise me. Or do they have more natural weaknesses that are bigger than the huge Achilles' heel of a blood seal? He should at least know about the concept of blood seals: Al told Martha (though Martha didn't have many opportunities to tell Greed), and Lab 5 could also bind souls to armor, though we don't know who exactly did it. Tucker was at lab 5, he should know that not only the Elric brothers can do that.
I'm weak for loyalty so I became unexpectedly fond of Greed's group of outlaws. Martha is the only one who survived (and the traitors.)
If I get this right, at their last meeting Greed got Ed to fight him so that Ed would kill him, learn to kill, and later be able to kill the other homunculi? Great plan.
You can kill a homunculus near the remains of the body someone tried to resurrect during their creation? That's gonna be a bitch to figure out. Are there even bones remaining of Izumi's baby to weaken Wrath? And how are they going to figure out which bones they need, and wouldn't the homunculi have tried to destroy the bones?
Pause for now, I have to get some work done, and maybe a nap first. At least I managed to cook today, points to me.
Tomorrow is Halloween, I'm curious how much of that I'll notice here. At my parents' place a handful of groups would come and ask for candy, between three and eight depending on the year I'd say, but that was a house. This is an apartment so someone would have to let the kids into the house in the first place. Someone might, I better stock up on candy just in case. (Mm, candy.)
I'm more excited about Halloween because the Trick or Treat exchange goes live – stories! I'm also impatiently waiting for my Yuletide assignment. Soon.
Edit: Got it! I like it! Now, canon review :)
It was an entertaining game too :) Some nice goals – one even on the PP, good job. Zatkoff made 50 saves in his first NHL game since 2014. Many shots were not high quality, but it's still bad that the Pens gave up so many. Something definitely has to be done about the defense. Tanger is currently not playing that well, which is worrying. The whole team got sloppy when they had a 2 goal lead, that's why they nearly lost it twice.
Overall a big reason why the team is currently winning is the goaltending – Flower is, as always, the best. Hopefully they'll get the rest figured out eventually. In the meantime I want them to play entertaining games and to win enough so people don't start panicking. I like the way this article put it: Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have spent the better part of a decade being the most prolific players in the league; few players have come close to the dominance exhibited by Crosby and Malkin in that timeframe. I’m not ready to suggest that their careers amounted to nothing if they don’t win another Stanley Cup together. Let's enjoy what we see now.
Pens' Halloween costumes: Kuni & Duper & their wives as Marty McFly and Doc Brown and minions, Tanger & his wive in Corpse Bride.
The Pens hired Gonch as part of their coaching staff, which made me happy, I hope he'll do well. I'm curious what they'll do with Sprong: he hasn't been that good the last few days and they don't have that many forward spots available. We'll find out soon.
I watched episode 8 of FMA:Brotherhood, the fight at the laboratory, to have a basis for comparison between FMA and FMA:B. The animation is pretty much identical, which is a relief. They cut out a lot: here Ed is beaten by Envy right after defeating the guard, Envy and Lust then blow up the building and carry Ed out, Ed now knows that they call him a sacrifice and Al and Ross heard Envy call Ed a resource. Efficient, but there's so much good stuff missing!
I then read the episode descriptions on Wikipedia of the FMA:B episodes covering what I already saw on FMA. It appears that there are several changes that are maybe not that important to the plot, but do change characters' histories with each other and relationships, which is kind of important to the story. FMA only has 50 episodes, so I think I might just finish watching that and then watch all of FMA:B later.
FMA episodes 25-34:
HUGHES! :((( Father, husband, Roy's good friend and confidante, important mentor to the Elrics. He was careless here, first presenting his theories to the Fuhrer (did he seriously trust him 100%, even after already agreeing to help Roy replace him?), then confronting Douglass/Sloth on his own. No good reason for it – was he that confident? Admittedly he is very good, but still.
I didn't know Roy was looking into taboo alchemy after his failed suicide attempt(s) after Ishbala, but it's not surprising. Hughes' matter-of-fact stating that he'll support Roy becoming Fuhrer is great. I'm a bit surprised Hawkeye said Roy isn't rational when it comes to the Elric brothers, I don't remember much of that, only that he was maybe unusually lenient. Roy is smart and ambitious, this will be exciting. Picking one's team is important.
At least we get a reminder that not all Ishbalans agree with Scar and that he is an unusually violent mass murderer, tragic backstory or not, good. His/his brother's alchemical symbols look a bit different than the arrays we've seen so far, different alchemy tradition?
I find Winry a bit annoying when she gets over-excited, but I respect her pride on her worksmanship, and of course she wants that to be appreciated. Ed can't properly give her that because for him automail is just something temporary. Winry also worries that Ed will die if his automail isn't good enough, a heavy burden. She's their mechanic, not a fighter, so she can't help them in battles – being support is hard.
Izumi is great! Violent, but not cruel, and extremely good at what she does. Actually she explains a lot about the Elrics ^^
I really like her relationship with the boys. Teacher, but also a kind of mother figure, and she definitely sees them as her kids. They're scared of her, but they love her and they know she loves them. I'm pretty sure besides anger she also feels a bit guilty that she didn't teach the boys better so they wouldn't attempt human transmutation.
I like her husband too. It's not easy for him to stay back when she feels like she has to fight, especially since she's sick, but he does his best to support her and be there for her. (She doesn't make it easy either, sparring like that with her illness is likely a bad idea.)
I like that Izumi thinks equivalent exchange pertaining to all aspects of life is bullshit. How do you even assess value, or who – Ed you can't seriously think your arm and your brother's soul have the same value? (tbf he did offer all his limbs and his heart.)
So every time a human transmutation is attempted – or is it attempted resurrections only? – a homunculus is born. So there must be one for Trisha Elric… no wonder Ed doesn't want to think about it, we don't even know yet what he did with the remains. People who've seen the Gate can transmute without a circle – can Al? He was there, even if he forgot.
There must be something else to creating homunculi. Who determines their "roles" and assigns them the sins? (What would happen if there were more than seven at the same time?) If Envy hadn't gotten to the new Wrath and gotten him hooked on pseudo-philosopher's stones, could he have grown up human? Could he have grown up human if Izumi hadn't given him back to the Gate?
Ed yes you're a State Alchemist but did you have to rub it in like this? Otoh Izumi if you want the boys to help you maybe explain a bit more first. I wonder what a State Alchemist's position in the military command structure is: below a Lt. Col, and iirc below a major, but surely not every soldier can command them.
Why does Ed stay a State Alchemist at this point? It's convenient because of access to the library and because of expenses, but I'm pretty sure they don't really urgently need that anymore, at least not right now.
I wonder what Izumi and her teacher Dante disagree on. Dante also attempted human transmutation once – does no teacher think to warn their students?!
Greed wants eternal life and wants to know how to do a blood seal. His physical homunculus body is at least as close to indestructible as Al's is, so do homunculi die a natural death eventually? That would surprise me. Or do they have more natural weaknesses that are bigger than the huge Achilles' heel of a blood seal? He should at least know about the concept of blood seals: Al told Martha (though Martha didn't have many opportunities to tell Greed), and Lab 5 could also bind souls to armor, though we don't know who exactly did it. Tucker was at lab 5, he should know that not only the Elric brothers can do that.
I'm weak for loyalty so I became unexpectedly fond of Greed's group of outlaws. Martha is the only one who survived (and the traitors.)
If I get this right, at their last meeting Greed got Ed to fight him so that Ed would kill him, learn to kill, and later be able to kill the other homunculi? Great plan.
You can kill a homunculus near the remains of the body someone tried to resurrect during their creation? That's gonna be a bitch to figure out. Are there even bones remaining of Izumi's baby to weaken Wrath? And how are they going to figure out which bones they need, and wouldn't the homunculi have tried to destroy the bones?
Pause for now, I have to get some work done, and maybe a nap first. At least I managed to cook today, points to me.
Tomorrow is Halloween, I'm curious how much of that I'll notice here. At my parents' place a handful of groups would come and ask for candy, between three and eight depending on the year I'd say, but that was a house. This is an apartment so someone would have to let the kids into the house in the first place. Someone might, I better stock up on candy just in case. (Mm, candy.)
I'm more excited about Halloween because the Trick or Treat exchange goes live – stories! I'm also impatiently waiting for my Yuletide assignment. Soon.
Edit: Got it! I like it! Now, canon review :)
no subject
Date: 2015-10-30 11:33 pm (UTC)Also, I think the reason Ed doesn't stop being a State Alchemist is that he signed up - and once you join an army, you can't exactly quit just because you get bored. There's more than just insult behind the phrase "Dog of the Military". Quite possibly he's now bound by a contract way stricter than you'd find in any civilian job.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-31 11:24 am (UTC)I used to always prefer manga over anime, but when I started FMA I was looking for something distracting and relaxing and watching makes that even easier than reading. I just saw that the manga has only a little over 100 chapters, which is less than I expected, I was afraid it'd take me ages to read. So that's definitely an option.
(Tips where to find good translation would be appreciated :) )
no subject
Date: 2015-10-31 12:21 pm (UTC)I think re: army that they make you sign on for x number of years, and you literally can't quit before then. If you try to, that's desertion. This is a horrible thing that happens to US servicemen all the time - they want to leave (for mental, physical, spiritual or family reasons), but keep getting sent back to war. And as their country is very militaristic and constantly fighting wars, I assume they're the hard-ass kind of organization that OWNS YOU until the end of your term of service. (Fun fact: sometimes there is fine print in your contract so they can get you back after your term is up on pain of desertion.)
no subject
Date: 2015-10-31 01:13 pm (UTC)