CryoSteel

Agreed. I really enjoyed the first three episodes. If the rest of the season maintains this level of storytelling, I think we're in for a real treat.

And this is why I don't like to pick and choose when it comes to WeET. Everything looks fantastic.

The theater is where I usually fail. At least for movies. I go far too often to avoid trailers. I have no excuse when it comes to shows. I just have no willpower whatsoever. 😅

A fair point, but it's practically impossible to avoid them, I feel like.

I've managed to -- somehow -- stay completely in the dark on this one. Don't think I've even seen a single trailer. I guess, at this point, I just go in completely blind when I watch this tomorrow after work. 😆

Going for my Stage 2 Manta Lab award, @extantsrevenge:

The finish on that artwork looks superb as well. Simple, but effective.

Once we know more about the movie, I do think this line-up will make a lot more sense. We're doing a bunch of speculating on virtually no information. Because we're fans and what else would we do? 😂 Maybe they end up crossing paths with the Intelligencia? Something like that could possibly make a bunch of soldiers and assassins appealing. I think Bucky is intended to be the "Rick Flag" of the group, so to speak -- the stable one that keeps the disparate personalities in line. I'm honestly thrilled that he'll get the chance to shine (away from Steve and Sam). I do find it interesting that the only one shown with a shield is Taskmaster (Red Guardian and U. S. Agent don't have one in the above image). Not sure if that means anything or not. This team so needs to play ultimate frisbee though. 🤣

Oh, is that the FAC Star Trek: Beyond FS in the upper left corner? 😍 You're making me want to track one down.

Without knowing what the set-up for the movie is, the only one I'm not sold on is Red Guardian. I would have traded him out for Mordo. But I actually think the line-up has a lot of potential (since this is literally like a bunch of soldiers and assassins). Don't want to risk anyone with "legitimate" superpowers (like a Hulk or magic user)? Need people who know how to kill because facing down an absolute badass?

Being Team Full Slip, I don't collect lenticulars as religiously as some, so the options are a little more limited. I prefer (as evidenced by my favorites below) a depth lenticular to a transitional. I think I'm going to end up joining @cypheria078's hype train. I'm rather fond of my HDzeta Tomb Raider. Love the colors, love how sharp it is, and love Alicia Vikander. So, in summary, win-win-win. 😄 I also have a special place in my heart for my Novamedia Dredd. We'll call that one the runner-up.

That's quite the assumption.

Feels about par for the course, but I saw WeET, I clicked the OC bubble. That A2 looking like the superior slip here though. Totally has nothing to do with having Spider-Gwen on it.

I was very confused for a couple of seconds (thought I misclicked something at first) until I verified with the confirmation PM, but I think that's a great idea. Might get more people to talk about these releases. Kind of disappointed with this release though, like a few others have already mentioned, so I ended up just selecting the FS.

ROFL. Did they really make the Thunderbolts a black ops team?

Well, I guess if the MCU is off the table, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse also works.

Got my Dune OC today.

I'm a little behind in photos, but the most recent GB pick-ups. Okay, maybe a lot a bit? I think a couple of these are from July-ish. 😅

I would actually really like if they play into an angle where the Avengers, as a team, aren't a thing right now. Could be why the Thunderbolts get put together. You could totally "merge" those two teams for purposes of the MCU. I think US Agent, Yelena, Abomination, Taskmaster, and Ghost are all strong candidates. I've seen Bucky tossed around as well, but I think he fits better elsewhere. I saw something where one of the writers said Armor Wars is still happening. I'm thinking Agatha (for story reasons) and Daredevil (for popularity reasons) got pushed up instead. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a Phase 6 D23 announcement.

If Thunderbolts is any indication, it wouldn't surprise me if we get multiple teams. You could have Avengers, Midnight Sons, Thunderbolts, Young Avengers, West Coast Avengers, etc. I don't think trying to duplicate Endgame and manage such a large roster is the way to go.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think any of the MCU movies are bad. I just don't think Endgame and No Way Home hold up. Since I've already kind of mentioned why on the latter, I'll focus on the former. In the case of Endgame, they tried to make everything fan service. Some of it works. Most of it doesn't. I have character-related issues with Thor (PTSD feels too much like a joke) and Hulk (so much character development... off-screen). Past Thanos isn't nearly as compelling either. The final battle was just kind of... all over the place. This graphic is missing Thunderbolts. Moving past Phase 5, thanks to the three announced Phase 6 movies, I think we might have a better sense of some things now.

Like, if you really wanted to introduce Clea there, couldn't she have appealed to Wong (as the Sorcerer Supreme) instead? Part of me wonders how much the pandemic played a role in this. Movies and shows got shuffled around (No Way Home and Multiverse of Madness, for example), some plotlines apparently got the axe (a virus storyline in The Falcon & the Winter Soldier), etc. If not for that, would this be a better constructed, more cohesive phase? I actually think No Way Home is a bottom-tier MCU movie. Once you throw the nostalgia aside, for me, it doesn't hold up (a paper-thin plot that relies on characters making incredibly dumb decisions). If you want more controversial opinions, I think Endgame is a bottom-tier MCU movie too. Eternals has its moments, but probably should have been split into two movies (with one of them focusing entirely on the distant past). On the whole, Shang-Chi aside, I think I've actually enjoyed some of the TV shows (WandaVision, Loki, Ms. Marvel, and Moon Knight) more than the Phase 4 movies. I don't know that I'm super hopeful for most of the upcoming entries either.

Tried to put some thoughts together, but I haven't watched this one since my initial viewing in theaters. Multiverse of Madness, like Love & Thunder, is a movie that needed to slow down and let its scenes breathe more. From everything I've heard, I think I would have preferred Derrickson's version of Doctor Strange 2 with Nightmare. Things I enjoyed: Cumberbatch and Olsen. Fantastic performances. More inventive uses of magic (though falling short of Infinity War, IMO). Black Bolt! After the travesty that was Inhumans, getting Anson Mount back was a pleasant surprise. Those death scenes. Cloak of the Damned! Cliffhanger ending. Things I disliked: Cliffhanger ending being ruined twenty seconds later. Was there actual character development in this movie? Why was this movie called Multiverse of Madness? We only really spent time in two or three. Some cheesy dialogue. 616 Mordo being discarded and reduced to a throwaway line of dialogue.

Just finished watching Love & Thunder. Thought it was okay. I think its biggest flaws are 1) that it fails to blend its many elements (including the humor and more serious moments) nearly as cohesively as Ragnarok and 2) it doesn't allow its scenes to properly breath. In terms of my overall rankings, at best, it's probably going to be middle-of-the-road. IMO, for Phase 4, Shang-Chi is still the movie to beat. Some general thoughts and a couple more specific items (all under spoiler tags just to be on the safe side):