There wasn't a single alien, outside of Groot, that looked impressive. They were just people with funny skin colors and goofy haircuts, and if having goofy hairstyles is enough to make an alien then i think most members of the national french soccer team is a suspect.
I grew up watching the original Star Trek where Klingons and Romulans were merely humans with funny ears and eyebrows. I am also a classic Dr Who fan where everyone in the universe was human with a British accent. I liked Farscape where quite a lot of the alien life forms were basically Muppets. And I like the TV show Supernatural, where 'Dragons' are merely super strong human beings that unaccountably breath fire and demons are just smoke monsters that can turn your eyes black (or red now apparently) and don't have horns or tails or even scaly skin anymore. So I can forgive quite a lot as far as originality of alien life. My bar for "Worst" is quite high as you can see.
But I respect that not everyone sees it that way.
And thats funny because both classic DW and Farscape have more imaginative alien designs than GOTG.
But is not that the reason why i was dissapointed by the movie as a big fan of Marvel's cosmic stuff.
1) The Nova Corps who went from Marvel's version of the Green Lantern Corps to incompetent space cops with no powers. Just read this to get the idea. http://hero.wikia.com/wiki/Nova_Corps
2) What the hell the Kree-Xandar war was even about?
3) Drax and Gamora not nearly as badass as in the comics. MCU Black Widow is flarking Wonder Woman compared to Gamora.
4) Ronan being reduced to a hammy cartoon villain. I also like Doug Walker's description, that he's such a dramatic character compared to the heroes that it should be interpreted as humorous.
5) The Collector is just a quirky dealer with no hint of him being one of the elders of the universe.
Kudos to Gunn for showing the Celestials and Adam Warlock's cocoon though.
I still think the Thor movies are the weakest entries in the MCU.
2) What the hell the Kree-Xandar war was even about?
I can't speak to the other points, but I can forgive this point because (a) it isn't really 'Necessary' to the story line to know what it was all about in order to enjoy the movie. Certainly they could have gone the route of the Green Lantern movie and front loaded a BUNCH of back story, but then it might have failed as badly as GL did and for the same reasons. I am glad they just let it go because again it wasn't relevant to the plot, merely that there was a war and Ronan was pissed because of the outcome.
3) Drax and Gamora not nearly as badass as in the comics. MCU Black Widow is flarking Wonder Woman compared to Gamora.
Not having read any of the comics, I thought that Drax and Gamora were quite Bad-ass. If they were toned down, I see it as more of what they did in X-men where they muted most of the mutants' powers and abilities so that they could focus more on the story line. But again equally, I Haven't read the comics, so maybe I don't get what was lost. Maybe I am not understanding. But if there were a team that could out Avengers the Avengers floating around the galaxy, that might take the edge off of what is set to be a movie extravaganza. I don't think they want to steal from their primary meal ticket just yet, certainly not with a franchise that at the time of writing was a relative unknown quantity. Just saying...
4) Ronan being reduced to a hammy cartoon villain. I also like Doug Walker's description, that he's such a dramatic character compared to the heroes that it should be interpreted as humorous.
This I get, but I did read somewhere that he was less 'The villain of the piece' and more sort of a plot device to act as a backdrop for the heroes. In that I think he did a very good job. Not knowing the character well, maybe this is a (major) disservice to him? But the deed is done. To stretch the analogy (and again compare it to X-men), Sabertooth was horribly reduced to 'The Muscle' in the original X-men, and 'Toad' was made to be comic relief. But given the context of the movie, I like the story told and don't really fault them for making choices that facilitated that end.
Also, keep in mind that Thanos is going to be the Major Villain in 'Infinity war' and thus bridge the gap between the franchises. They may have chosen to tone Ronan down appropriately such that Thanos wouldn't have to be Galactus in order to be his boss. And they may equally have toned him down because of who he was facing (see my above comments about power vs story line).
5) The Collector is just a quirky dealer with no hint of him being one of the elders of the universe.
Again, I don't think this was 'Necessary' for the general public to know. True fans will know of course, but again he isn't even a 'Major' player in the story. Throwing him in at all was more of a bone than anything. I saw it as cool and something I could 'Geek' to my friends about while the rest of the world just thought he was some 'Collector guy'.
Kudos to Gunn for showing the Celestials and Adam Warlock's cocoon though.
I still think the Thor movies are the weakest entries in the MCU.
I'd agree that Thor has by far gotten the short end of the stick thus far. We will see how Ragnarok falls out though. I hope for big things from Phase 3.
KOBOLDS! Related to dragons, cute, great at parties!
( I cannot find the author of this again but it's the portrait of one of my current characters. )
Whats not to love?!
I thought kobolds where dog-like, not dragon-like? Hence the yips, growls, and dog like features.
As for my favorite, I like the idea of slides enough to wedge them into my own version of D&D I wrote this summer, despite telling myself I was going to tone down the ridiculous monsters.
KOBOLDS! Related to dragons, cute, great at parties!
( I cannot find the author of this again but it's the portrait of one of my current characters. )
Whats not to love?!
I thought kobolds where dog-like, not dragon-like? Hence the yips, growls, and dog like features.
As for my favorite, I like the idea of slides enough to wedge them into my own version of D&D I wrote this summer, despite telling myself I was going to tone down the ridiculous monsters.
In 1st edition, Kobolds were more dog-like. They were changed into reptiles in 2nd ed.
Western inspired Kobolds are lizard/dragon-like while Eastern inspired Kobolds exhibit more dog-like features.
"Eastern inspired"? Kobolds were loosely based on the creature from German folklore of the same name. Basically German house elvesl/goblins/gnomes, except the house is a mine/mountain (although there were also things like ship kobolds). The change from doggies to draggies was a DnD thing that happened between 2nd and 3rd edition. It has nothing to do with "western" or "eastern" anything. If any eastern media portrays them as dog-like it is more likely to be because of inspiration from 1st edition DnD than anything else, I'd say, because I don't think there was anything particulary dog-like about the original folklore critter, so DnD likely added that part.
Ah, I think I found where my misconception came from. Since many a JRPG were inspired by D&D they used the dog-like Kobolds and that became the norm I would assume. This would probably be why in things like Record of Lodoss War they use dog-like Kobolds as well as in many JRPGs.
My favourite D&D monsters were invariably the ones I made up, as my players were all cocky so and so's who thought they knew everything and how to beat everything cus they had read all the manuals.
But of course I invariably ran out of time planning adventures and/or never got around to writing anything down, so my monsters usually ended up being remarkably familiar to other people's monsters!
Cue my Hounds of Tindalos......
Excuse me DM, aren't the Hounds of Tindalos from Cthulhu?
Nope. Not these Hounds of Tindalos. These Hounds of Tindalos are my hounds. And my Hounds are from here, and they are here to kill you. Your dead.
In first edition there was an excessive number of goblinod races, with slightly increasing hp but minimal distingushing features:
Kobold Goblin Orc Hobgoblin Bugbear
The discription of kobolds was "dog-like" but the illustration in the 1st ed Monster Manual had a long muzzle and no discernible fur. This is probably what inspired the "reptilian" description in in 2nd edition, when they tried to inject more variety.
Clearly, there where no Japanese kobolds prior to 1st edition, so JRPGs take thier inspiration from there.
-Titans(They are like giants only more epic and awesome).
-Aboleths(evil ancient psychic fish).
There was a Forgotten Realms novel series (The Twilight Giants) where the main antagonist was a godlike Titan, Lanaxis. His parents were the gods Annam All-Father and Othea. He was the first Titan, and his brothers were the first Giants of their kind. http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Lanaxis There was also a Forgotten Realms novel series (The Abolethic Sovereignty) which specifically dealt with the threat of a city of Aboleths and their godlike progenitor awakening. During the time of the Spellplague in Faerun, the Abolethic Sovereignty was a major power player in the world.
I like many of the smaller races, like tasloi, xvarts and kobolds. I like the way they are portraid as kinda primitive and tribal like, ganging up on enemies and killing them with quite rudimentery weaponry etc. Would loved to have seen more variety though, meaning different classes added to them and not just standard 'fighters' with spears. Kobolds, though, get a decent amount of love (Deekin prolly helped here), but both tasloi and xvarts need their own NPC's!
I also love the concept of doppelgangers but don't like the way they are implemented in the games (drops all equipment, attack enemies clad in steel with puny claws). Kinda the same with werewolves/wolfweres. Especially the latter is a super-interresing concept and still feels kinda 'fresh' in a way that it hasn't actually been done a thousand times. Humans transform into other beings in every book and tv-show ever written, but animals/monsters turning into humans much less so.
I believe that a common misconception is to think that all monsters from the Monster Manual have to be entire races. Why can't there be just one Unicorn ,or Pegasus, or minotaur? That would make them more interesting and less underrated.
I believe that a common misconception is to think that all monsters from the Monster Manual have to be entire races. Why can't there be just one Unicorn ,or Pegasus, or minotaur? That would make them more interesting and less underrated.
I believe that a common misconception is to think that all monsters from the Monster Manual have to be entire races. Why can't there be just one Unicorn ,or Pegasus, or minotaur? That would make them more interesting and less underrated.
Comments
But is not that the reason why i was dissapointed by the movie as a big fan of Marvel's cosmic stuff.
1) The Nova Corps who went from Marvel's version of the Green Lantern Corps to incompetent space cops with no powers. Just read this to get the idea. http://hero.wikia.com/wiki/Nova_Corps
2) What the hell the Kree-Xandar war was even about?
3) Drax and Gamora not nearly as badass as in the comics. MCU Black Widow is flarking Wonder Woman compared to Gamora.
4) Ronan being reduced to a hammy cartoon villain. I also like Doug Walker's description, that he's such a dramatic character compared to the heroes that it should be interpreted as humorous.
5) The Collector is just a quirky dealer with no hint of him being one of the elders of the universe.
Kudos to Gunn for showing the Celestials and Adam Warlock's cocoon though.
I still think the Thor movies are the weakest entries in the MCU.
Also, keep in mind that Thanos is going to be the Major Villain in 'Infinity war' and thus bridge the gap between the franchises. They may have chosen to tone Ronan down appropriately such that Thanos wouldn't have to be Galactus in order to be his boss. And they may equally have toned him down because of who he was facing (see my above comments about power vs story line). Again, I don't think this was 'Necessary' for the general public to know. True fans will know of course, but again he isn't even a 'Major' player in the story. Throwing him in at all was more of a bone than anything. I saw it as cool and something I could 'Geek' to my friends about while the rest of the world just thought he was some 'Collector guy'. I'd agree that Thor has by far gotten the short end of the stick thus far. We will see how Ragnarok falls out though. I hope for big things from Phase 3.
As for my favorite, I like the idea of slides enough to wedge them into my own version of D&D I wrote this summer, despite telling myself I was going to tone down the ridiculous monsters.
But of course I invariably ran out of time planning adventures and/or never got around to writing anything down, so my monsters usually ended up being remarkably familiar to other people's monsters!
Cue my Hounds of Tindalos......
Excuse me DM, aren't the Hounds of Tindalos from Cthulhu?
Nope. Not these Hounds of Tindalos. These Hounds of Tindalos are my hounds. And my Hounds are from here, and they are here to kill you. Your dead.
Happy times!
In first edition there was an excessive number of goblinod races, with slightly increasing hp but minimal distingushing features:
Kobold
Goblin
Orc
Hobgoblin
Bugbear
The discription of kobolds was "dog-like" but the illustration in the 1st ed Monster Manual had a long muzzle and no discernible fur. This is probably what inspired the "reptilian" description in in 2nd edition, when they tried to inject more variety.
Clearly, there where no Japanese kobolds prior to 1st edition, so JRPGs take thier inspiration from there.
There was also a Forgotten Realms novel series (The Abolethic Sovereignty) which specifically dealt with the threat of a city of Aboleths and their godlike progenitor awakening. During the time of the Spellplague in Faerun, the Abolethic Sovereignty was a major power player in the world.
I also love the concept of doppelgangers but don't like the way they are implemented in the games (drops all equipment, attack enemies clad in steel with puny claws). Kinda the same with werewolves/wolfweres. Especially the latter is a super-interresing concept and still feels kinda 'fresh' in a way that it hasn't actually been done a thousand times. Humans transform into other beings in every book and tv-show ever written, but animals/monsters turning into humans much less so.