Random Thoughts on Iron Fist Season Two

Iron Fist season two reminded me of how we used to make fun of the “Most Improved” award in high-school sports. My friends and I would joke, “Most improved just means that you used to suck.” The first season of Iron Fist was easily the worst show in the Marvel Netflix universe, but the sophomore season is worth watching. It’s not among the best Marvel Netflix shows and it still has the same core problem that the first season had, but numerous improvements have taken Iron Fist from “used to suck” to “reasonably enjoyable.”

Here’s a breakdown of Iron Fist season two in the traditional RPadTV binary style. Be sure to summon your chi and make a spoiler shield fist.

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Pokemusings Pokemon Go Edition: Stupid Trainers Am Stupid

If you’ve been playing Pokemon Go for a long time then you’ve surely encountered stupid Pokemon Go trainers. Most of the time they’re harmless — village idiots that can easily be ignored. However, when they complain loudly, stupid Pokemon Go trainers can be a genuine nuissance.

Recently, I had to suffer the presence of a stupid Pokemon Go trainer. As part of the Celebi quest, two of the tasks required trainers to evolve an Eevee into an Espeon and an Umbreon. This requires walking Eevee for 10 kilometers and evolving it during the day (Espeon) or night (Umbreon). The important thing is that you have to evolve Eevee while it’s still your buddy. This particular trainer didn’t do that.

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RPadTV Invitational Miami 2018 (Man City, Medianoche)

The first ever IRL RPadTV Invitational was this past weekend. It featured copious amounts of Johnny Walker Blue, a thrilling victory by Manchester City, medianachos medianoches, a silly amount of Pokemon Go, and so much more. It was one of the best weekends I’ve had in years and even better than I was expecting, all thanks to you RPadholics.

You’d think that seeing Man City live for the first time, watching my second-favorite player Bernardo Silva (the second-best Silva on the team!) score two goals, and experiencing a come-from-behind victory over the evil Bayern Munich would’ve been the highlights of the trip, but they weren’t. The game was phenomenal, don’t get me wrong, but my favorite part of the trip was spending time with RPadholics Iceman, Tokz, and BSUkenyan. As far as I know, this was the first time that more than two of us have met up…and it was frickin’ awesome!

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Pokemusings Pokemon Go Edition: Splitting Into Teams For Raids

There’s a person in my local Pokemon Go community that complains — loudly and annoyingly — whenever people split into teams for raids. She doesn’t understand why people take the time to set up private raids based on teams. The reasons have been explained to her multiple times by multiple people. Hopefully, you don’t have to suffer similar idiocy in your Pokemon Go community…but just in case you do, here’s some explanation ammo.

It’s All About Bonus Balls

After a successful raid, bonus premiere balls are awarded (partially discussed here). There are three ways to acquire bonus balls. The team that controls the gym gets extra balls. Players that inflict the most damage on a raid boss gets extra balls. And the team that does the most damage gets extra balls. The bonus balls can be anywhere from one to three, depending on the percentage of damage dealt to the raid boss.

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Pokemusings Pokemon Go Edition: Recommended Teams & Bonus Balls

Pokemon Go recommends some truly questionable teams for battles and raids. The suggestions are especially problematic for the latter. The game seems to favor survivability over damage output, which…isn’t the best. Recently, I’ve done a few four-person raids against Latios and have seen fellow trainers achieve suboptimal results thanks to Pokemon Go’s team recommendations.

One trainer I bumped into was perfectly happy with his recommended team, which was full of steel pokemon. He was content to battle Latios with a team full of Aggrons and Steelix. Those pokemon are great for enduring a battle and saving some healing items, but they’re poor at damaging Latios. In fact, I wouldn’t even put them in the top 20 pokemon to use against Latios.

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10 Thoughts on Avengers Infinity War

Avengers Infinity War is a brilliant movie…if you’ve been keeping up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) for the last decade. If you’re one of those nerds moviegoers then you’ll be enthralled by the film’s action, snappy dialogue, and complexity. If not then you’ll find it to be a strange and confusing mess. Since you’re reading this article then you probably fall into the former category. With your geekdom established, I humbly present you with 10 thoughts on Avengers Infinity War.

[If you don’t want spoilers then stop reading now.]

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Pokemusings Pokemon Go Edition: Ignoring EPS and Overvaluing CP

Pokemon Go is a game full of numbers and stats. Many players overlook important numbers and place too much of an emphasis on certain stats. Two of the most common mistakes I’ve seen from dedicated players (that aren’t quite hardcore trainers) are ignoring energy person second (EPS) and overvaluing combat points (CP). The former is often ignored in favor of damage per second (DPS), while the latter can obscure the value of certain pokemon in some trainers’ eyes.

The Value of EPS

Ignoring EPS is a mistake many Pokemon Go trainers make when choosing a quick move for their pokemon. Some trainers look at the DPS number and assume that the move with the higher DPS is superior, simply because it does more damage. For many pokemon, the point of the fast move isn’t to inflict damage, but to generate energy.

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Pokemusings Pokemon Go Edition: Accounts and Levels

When Pokemon Go players look for raid help on Discord or Facebook Messenger, two of the most common responses are variations of:

On my way with 4 accounts.

and

I can help. Level 35.

Neither response is terribly helpful. While it’s nice to know the number of players that can help out and what their levels are, there’s more useful information. The person with four accounts could have four level 25s, which isn’t the best help for raids. The level 35 players could be a trainer that doesn’t bother to level up his or her Pokemon. Maybe the players on the way don’t have the right counters or they always use Pokemon Go’s recommended raid counters (which are rarely optimal). You’d be better served raiding with four high-level players that understand the Pokemon Go metagame than nine casual players that simply follow in-game recommendations.

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Fatburger Impossible Burger Review (Plant-Based Hamburger)

The Fatburger Impossible Burger recently made its debut at all of the company’s US franchises. The new offering is the result of a partnership between Fatburger and Impossible Foods. If you’re not familiar with the Impossible Burger, it uses a plant-based patty that’s a healthier and far more environmentally-friendly alternative to beef. My friend and I recently tried the Fatburger Impossible Burger and were mostly impressed, save for one major shortcoming. Before I get to that, here are the TLDR bullet points for those of you with short attention spans.

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Nintendo’s Genyo Takeda to Receive Liftetime Achievement Award

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced that Nintendo’s Genyo Takeda will receive its Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2018 DICE Awards. Currently a Special Corporate Advisor at Nintendo, Genyo Takeda has been with the company since the early ’70s. He’s considered Nintendo’s first game designer. A pioneer in both videogame software and hardware, his achievements include:

  • Creating the first battery save system for console cartridges (The Legend of Zelda)
  • Designing the first successful analog controller for consoles (Nintendo 64)
  • Leading the hardware teams for the Nintendo 64, GameCube, and Wii consoles
  • Creator of the Punch-Out!! games for arcade, NES, and SNES
  • Director, designer, and writer for StarTropics

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