A god-like character I tend to like are ones who tried to help people for centuries, and either came to a conclusion that his helping either made things worst, or grew cynical about helping people due to a variety of reasons. I mainly like it because you have a god-like being that has a proper reason why they don't help or save people.
I like Galactus. He’s not really cynical about helping people, he’s just so old that his perspective on the bigger picture eclipses everyone else’s. Like yeah, if you’re a human and you live for 80 years Galactus seems like the worst thing ever, because he’s coming to destroy you and your planet. However, if you’re Galactus, and you’re literally older than than the universe and have watched the birth and death of countless civilizations and galaxies, and have been the last living thing in the universe as it slowly starves to death as entropy increases to maximum and all the stars go out as it approaches heat death, your perspective on what is right would naturally align more with what resolves the long-term problem rather than worrying about the inevitable short-term death of most mortal life forms. Who from your perspective die in an eye link anyway. Galactus isn’t just a dick for no reason, he serves a vital function in the universe. He doesn’t want to destroy your planet, he’s just been given a choice, eat planets so that Galactus can go on and reverse entropy at the end of everything, or starve to death and allow everyone everywhere to die as the fire goes out forever. And how much can any one planet really mean, when measured against the multiversal totality? When it comes to things beyond his normal duties, he’s generally willing to help where he can. Whenever a Godlike entity threatens the multiverse Galactus is right there on the front lines, whenever his herald leads him away from certain worlds he’s willing to follow, to allow someone with a closer link to mortality to judge which planets are worth saving. He’s just burdened with more power than any mortal, and with great power comes great responsibility, even if you don’t like it. He’s a utilitarian god. An objective net-positive for the marvel multiverse as a whole, yet a monster when measured against any more simplistic deontological model. He’s the opposite of Captain America, where Steve refused to trade lives, Galan is forced to choose which lives to save and which to trade away each and every day, because nobody else has the power to make that choice, and if he doesn’t choose _everyone_ will die instead. He’s honestly a very tragic figure, all things told. And I wish they’d given him more angst when he figured out he could become the Lifebringer instead, since it meant a lot of those deaths were unnecessary. - Of course eventually he does turn back, but he didn’t know that at the time.
That's actually similar to the origin of The Watcher's people! They helped alien civilizations by giving them technology they didn't have the maturity to handle...you can guess what happened! Now, they only watch!
That's why I like the Gods of Destruction from Dragon Ball as while Beerus is capable of defeating most of the series villains, he wasn't around to stop the likes of Kid Buu cause he was sleeping & the Destruction he could cause means it is unlikely that Shin or any of the Supreme Kais would seek his help as they have no real authority over him! Beerus does occasionally intervene in Super, like ordering Whis to rewind time to reverse Frieza's Destruction of Earth cause Beerus himself enjoys Earth's cuisine & as a lesson to Goku! Sure, he had Whis resurrect Frieza after the Tournament of Power, but that was mainly to honor Goku's agreement that Frieza would be revived if he helped their universe win the tournament (preventing himself from being erased in the process) & possibly as a way to motivate Vegeta & Goku! Beerus also used Hakai to destroy Zamasu, thus preventing him from stealing Goku's body & preventing Gowasu's death! Sure, the Supreme Kais & Kais occasionally intervene to ensure life flourishes, but they usually prefer a hands-off approach, especially when they have mortals they can count on to defeat entities such as Moro, Buu, & Dabura or just play the role of mentor for the heroes like King Kai & Elder Kai! I also understand why the Angels have laws that prevent them from interfering without the approval of a God of Destruction (Whis & Vados are shown to perform actions under the order of Beerus & Champa without being eradicated) as there job is to train candidates & keep their God of Destruction in check should they go overboard, yet don't directly intervene using their full power as it would negatively effect mortal growth (mind you Merus was resurrected thanks to Shin putting in a good word, though he was turned mortal as he chose to embrace his mortal identity as a Galactic Patrolman) given the fact all Angels can utilize Ultra Instinct without transforming! Whis however was still able to assist Goku & Vegeta by holding off Broly momentarily (which could be viewed as him checking out a new potential GoD candidate as he wasn't fighting him seriously & bowed out when Gogeta showed up)!"
This is why I prefer the Doctor's classic series backstory over the Time War stuff in New Doctor Who. The Doctor took one look at the Time Lords' non-interference policy, said "Screw you. I'm doing what's right", stole a Tardis, and left Gallifrey.
@@daelen.cclark Well, yes. In the grand scheme of the Doctor’s life it’s just another thing that happened. But if you started with the New Series, then the Time War is his backstory; since you learn that the Doctor is the last of the Time Lords before you learn who the Time Lords were or why the Doctor was considered a renegade among them.
Considering the other times that Linkara has gone on diatribes about this or that writer having a history of being "anti-religious" by pointing out THESE EXACT FLAWS and more about religion and theology in general makes me wonder about him and his internal consistency. I almost want to pair the two diatribes in Linkara vs Linkara setup. Take all of the points that he mentions here about why the Watcher is a bad deity and apply that same thinking to the idea of ANY omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient deity. Would Linkara have changed his attitude on this if the Watcher had a "mysterious will"? The very logical inconsistencies he points out right here are the biggest arguments against the idea of a benevolent deity existing at all. He's basically flagging "the problem of excessive evil."
12:43 spider-simp, spider-simp, is only strong around hi~s pimp, Captain A, Makes his play, helping spidey on his way. look out, here comes the spider-simp.
Kudos for the Observer clip. Yeah, I can see why Kirk kicks their asses on a regular basis. At least Q likes to just screw around just to have fun and experiment.
I always thought it'd be interesting to have Our Watcher acting as sort of a sort of a Santa Claus figure he acts in small ways to help people out, unable to be of help on the big stuff because its either so far out of his league, or because the Watchers Creedo say no interfering on the big stuff, but he's kept on because he discovers that watching from an on the ground looking up POV gets details you don't get to see from the observatories on the moon
SPOILERS FOR THE LATEST EPISODE OF WHAT IF or at the very least that whole non interferance clause thrown back in someone's face and them being punched around kind of like how Lewis wanted to do but Ultron actually could.
@@matthewjarek3026 Yeah I know but when Ultron was laying into the Watcher reminded me of this episode and wondered if anyone else caught that and saw your post so wanted to make the joke there.
You know, I think you COULD make a group of people who do nothing but watch and catalog history interesting. You could argue it's a "waste" of extraordinary power, but the truth is a LOT of big, important events that should probably be recorded for various reasons are immensely dangerous. You know, war journalism and documenting the falls of empires that a future generation wouldn't make the same mistakes. But instead of a vow of "non-intervention", perhaps a general policy of "avoid drawing attention". If the group took a highly active role, they'd be seen as enemy sympathizers or even a direct threat in a conflict, jeopardizing their role as historians and guardians of knowledge. With this in mind, they could do the whole "mysterious beings who use their powers passively until absolutely necessary" bit without looking like "superior being" snobs.
That’s exactly what the timelords reason for doing nothing was. The Time Capsules were originally used by historians to observe historical events for which there was no record, and they were sworn to non-interference. In fact, the majority of timelords refused to even leave Gallifrey, only renegades like the Doctor or Master reality went out and messed with history.
You know, there could be a good story here. Maybe Uatu is doing several minor transgressions to help the heroes around the world. A gentle nudge here, a hint there, and it all adds up to him helping one a Santa Clause scale.
"Why do these super beings never help out humans", because the have no reason to "When you notice an insect on the ground, do you stop to consider it a fool? The life of an insect is so beneath you that it would be a waste of your time to even consider judging it. That would be an accurate summation of my feelings towards you humans." - Father, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
I will do devil’s advocate on uatu’s behalf: he is a watcher, yes. He does intervene occasionally for big events, but (i am goin by marvel alliance game and one more story i cant remember the name of) he can not intervene whenever he wants because he is supposed to watch as his race does or they restrict his powers
Quite a few of these team-up stories were tangential. One with Spidey and Dracula didn't even have them meet; Drac just benefited unseen from Spidey's actions while he observed him, half-impressed, half-disdainful. One ultimately non-canon one with Doc Savage had them each fighting the same villain in different eras, with Spidey able to avoid the manly mistake that Doc couldn't. There was one that was labeled with Spidey and Reed, but due to mind-games the baddie was playing, Spidey himself didn't really appear. In other words, this concept ran out of steam long before they finally cancelled all these team-up books around 1986.
Personally I get the sentiment they were going for, that Uatu's Christmas tradition is to do a help humans to reaffirm his choice to intervene and the sentiment of someone like him showing compassion to mere humans isn't a bad one, just poorly executed! I also imagine the Watchers and other god-like beings like them have their own version of the Prime Directive from Star Trek, possibly due to recognizing how theirs intervention could do more harm than good or that even with their god-like power they aren't omnipotent! Basically someone like Uatu would find themselves in a situation similar to Superman, that their are just too many problems or people in trouble to solve, though he does what he can and combats threats both big and small! Ultimately I like the idea of Uatu having a Christmas tradition of helping other heroes help humans in small ways like he did here, as it shows how different he is from his fellow Watchers and I like the idea of god-like beings having compassion for those less powerful than them that they violate their species' principles of non-intervention! I also like to think that there was a point a Watcher got too involved or past interventions backfired too many times! There are many Star Trek stories where the Prime Directive is framed as a moral dilemma as the directive exists to avoid contaminating an existing culture or negatively impacting pre-warp civilizations! In many ways, the Federation has such advanced technology that to a civilization unfamiliar with it that it would be indistinguishable from magic to them, so to some they would appear to be god-like beings! Actions have consequences and the path to Hell is pathed with good intentions! Sure there are plenty of times it is ignored or violating it is either unavoidable and/or justified, but it does serve an important function! Ultimately this is a decent premise with a flawed story and the theme does fit with the Christmas spirit!
Which series was the worst about using the Prime Directive as a crutch like that? To my knowledge, Kirk at least had little patience for it when it got in the way of doing the right thing (granted, I've only seen "The Man Trap" and part of "Charlie X", but I've heard stuff from my mom and I've read some Star Trek novels)
VOYAGER! Janeway constantly uses the Prime Directive whenever it suits her, allowing people for flimsy justifications. SF Debris talks about it in his reviews of Voyager, so you can look at those for information.
I don't know if it was mentioned but I'm sure it was many years later but the watcher first appeared in fantastic four #13. Not fantastic four 48 like you mentioned. Little nitpick I know and a few years to late. Lol.
well, the Time Lords at least have had a bad experience that scared them off interfering with inferior races, and if they didn't stop, then the Doctor wouldn't have gotten bored and become the time-traveling hero we know him as today.
You mentioned the "What If" series (of which I own two collections of actually) do you ever plan on reviewing them? I don't know if there were any truly bad ones, but there was some questionable writing in some, mainly when they tried to fit three stories into one comic and only ever resolved ONE of them
I suppose we don't try to make ants lives better. The same accusation that advanced beings don't help can be leveled at us. At least they're not using us as cattle.
Except we kind of do, since conservation organizations and animal rights laws do exist, even for insects (particularly their use on film sets and the like).
Linkara-AtopTheFourthWall wow, awesome. Congrats on getting married. We're not really knocking conservation out of the park though. Humanity is responsible for many, many extinct species. We're trying in earnest here and there but it's spotty and I feel that if we were to scale our civilization up to the might of the time lords a similar rot and disinterest would set in. That's the reason I like superheroes too. They're not paralyzed by choice or the inertia of the systems of society, industry and progress.
I don't see this commented on, so I'm going to go ahead and say it. The Watcher's first appearance is not Fantastic Four 48, but FF 13, from which you actually show art this episode. Sorry to be that guy.
Linkara what you hate is how the Prime Directive from Star Trek New Generation so forth is treated. It would be wrong to stop a planet exploding despitebeing kind peaceful beings living because we can not know consequences.
how many times have we stuck our noses into an undeveloped culture, even for all the right reasons, and completely screwed them over? yeah, if there was a supreme being that could help us, i'd rather he not unless it was deflecting an asteroid or something like that.
We can't even help ourselves, we could solve some of our problems if we just were willing to through the use of science of all kind or just by trusting each other in the end our biggest enemy is ourselves, even if they tried to help us we would either say they are wrong or that they try to use us.
Thomas Jenkins Really? You'd rather a race like the Watchers didn't interfer by showing us the wonders of the universe and the idiotic nature of our internal struggling and any flawed ideas we hold that they have seen cause suffering and strife countless times?
absolutely not. go through history and look at all the times a "superior" group of people have attempted to "civilize" the native people. it usually ends in widespread death and destruction.
Thomas Jenkins Because you were dealing with a group of superstitious idiots that *thought* they were advanced trying to guide another group of people that were less technologically advanced. We are talking us finding someone at a caveman level...But even more so, since *they* wouldn't be accidentally spreading some new disease to us; and they (using the Watcher example) have had longer than there has been life on our planet as a stable, peaceful society.
Aahh, what a nostalgic feeling... i've read this as a child... good times. So i had to dislike this. Sorry. Spiderman is miserable by default, and he is only happy when he helps someone; so Uatu did it for him, not her. And He has all the reasons to care for Spidey, he saved the universe from Thanos. Plus the art is exceptional. Kudos for the 'Evangelion' reference. Merry Christmas.
Except Spidey was already happy at the beginning of the story, because Christmas! All Uatu did was take him away from his party to remind him that bad stuff happens even during Holidays. Thanks Uatu! So pretty much all other points Linkara made about Uatu helping out if he really wanted to make Spidey happy are valid.
One quick question though what are your thoughts on something like Athena, Heremes, and Hades giving Perseus their magical items (The Shield Aeigis, the winged sandals, and the helmet of invisibility respectively)? Essentially giving the hero the tools they need along with some protection but when you get down to it the hero still has to slay the monster themselves?
Let me get this straight: the old Russian beatnik guy has only had minimal contact with his granddaughter for a few years, and is saddened by this--and it turns out they LIVE IN THE SAME CITY? Okay, she's in Brooklyn Heights, and I think Aunt May's supposed to live in Queens (I don't know enough about NYC geography to know whether Queens is a district/neighborhood of NYC or considered a separate town on its own), but COME ON, that's hardly an insurmountable distance. When my dad was in the Navy and he was overseas one Christmas, he called us from Singapore! Chekov could see his granddaughter again with just a bus or subway ride or two! If the writer was clever, he could've said that it was Elizabeth's increasing drug use that led to communications dropping off, and this red flag was why Chekov was worried, but written this way it makes Chekov looks like a self-pitying whiner who doesn't realize he's perfectly capable of solving this problem himself. Unless Elizabeth and her mother had their own reasons for not wanting to keep in touch with the old dinosaur. (Endless beat poetry recitals, I'm guessing.) What I'm getting at is this whole story is bullshit.
Uatu is a terrible character. Except for his early appearances in the Fantastic Four, I groan every time I see him and his fellow Watchers. On a lighter note, the art in this issue was actually pretty good.
Readers of the IDW MLP comics (or at least people who watched Silver Quill's review) will remember an issue of their take on the Team Up idea, the Friends Forever series, where, once again, the godlike member of the "team" has no actual part in the plot... You know what, screw it. I know I just said Silver Quill already reviewed it, but hey Linkara! Let's see what you think of Friends Forever #14!
Indirectly! ... Indirectly! Maybe if indirectly means appearing to someone, giving them a magic orb to set them on a mission, then using fuckin magic to save some crackhead!
Yes, but at the end of the Second Doctor's era, he was summoned before the Time Lords, who were putting him on trial for intervening in the affairs of other worlds. So they forced him to regenerate (beginning the Third Doctor's era) and marooned him on Earth. While he was still able to use the TARDIS' technology, he couldn't use it to travel to other worlds.
Jake Bryant The Prime directive is a fuzzy thing, as it has been told as various things over the years. Its best incarnation was (paraphrased): "No direct interference with internal politics of non-Federation worlds." The stupidest was the version most used, as it was violated by nearly every story (paraphrased again): "No contact or actions that could interfer with any race not yet able to contact the Federation."
His any of spider-man villains tried hitting peter in the crutch since he always swings around New York with his legs spread apart? to anyone who is reading this comment please check out my patreon account www.patreon.com/user?u=591757&ty=h if you want to support me and get rewards for it^^
A god-like character I tend to like are ones who tried to help people for centuries, and either came to a conclusion that his helping either made things worst, or grew cynical about helping people due to a variety of reasons. I mainly like it because you have a god-like being that has a proper reason why they don't help or save people.
Yeah, that kinda approach actually makes them characters instead of, you know, an unoriginal character archetype.
I like Galactus. He’s not really cynical about helping people, he’s just so old that his perspective on the bigger picture eclipses everyone else’s.
Like yeah, if you’re a human and you live for 80 years Galactus seems like the worst thing ever, because he’s coming to destroy you and your planet. However, if you’re Galactus, and you’re literally older than than the universe and have watched the birth and death of countless civilizations and galaxies, and have been the last living thing in the universe as it slowly starves to death as entropy increases to maximum and all the stars go out as it approaches heat death, your perspective on what is right would naturally align more with what resolves the long-term problem rather than worrying about the inevitable short-term death of most mortal life forms. Who from your perspective die in an eye link anyway.
Galactus isn’t just a dick for no reason, he serves a vital function in the universe. He doesn’t want to destroy your planet, he’s just been given a choice, eat planets so that Galactus can go on and reverse entropy at the end of everything, or starve to death and allow everyone everywhere to die as the fire goes out forever. And how much can any one planet really mean, when measured against the multiversal totality?
When it comes to things beyond his normal duties, he’s generally willing to help where he can. Whenever a Godlike entity threatens the multiverse Galactus is right there on the front lines, whenever his herald leads him away from certain worlds he’s willing to follow, to allow someone with a closer link to mortality to judge which planets are worth saving. He’s just burdened with more power than any mortal, and with great power comes great responsibility, even if you don’t like it.
He’s a utilitarian god. An objective net-positive for the marvel multiverse as a whole, yet a monster when measured against any more simplistic deontological model. He’s the opposite of Captain America, where Steve refused to trade lives, Galan is forced to choose which lives to save and which to trade away each and every day, because nobody else has the power to make that choice, and if he doesn’t choose _everyone_ will die instead.
He’s honestly a very tragic figure, all things told. And I wish they’d given him more angst when he figured out he could become the Lifebringer instead, since it meant a lot of those deaths were unnecessary. - Of course eventually he does turn back, but he didn’t know that at the time.
That's actually similar to the origin of The Watcher's people! They helped alien civilizations by giving them technology they didn't have the maturity to handle...you can guess what happened! Now, they only watch!
That's why I like the Gods of Destruction from Dragon Ball as while Beerus is capable of defeating most of the series villains, he wasn't around to stop the likes of Kid Buu cause he was sleeping & the Destruction he could cause means it is unlikely that Shin or any of the Supreme Kais would seek his help as they have no real authority over him! Beerus does occasionally intervene in Super, like ordering Whis to rewind time to reverse Frieza's Destruction of Earth cause Beerus himself enjoys Earth's cuisine & as a lesson to Goku! Sure, he had Whis resurrect Frieza after the Tournament of Power, but that was mainly to honor Goku's agreement that Frieza would be revived if he helped their universe win the tournament (preventing himself from being erased in the process) & possibly as a way to motivate Vegeta & Goku! Beerus also used Hakai to destroy Zamasu, thus preventing him from stealing Goku's body & preventing Gowasu's death! Sure, the Supreme Kais & Kais occasionally intervene to ensure life flourishes, but they usually prefer a hands-off approach, especially when they have mortals they can count on to defeat entities such as Moro, Buu, & Dabura or just play the role of mentor for the heroes like King Kai & Elder Kai! I also understand why the Angels have laws that prevent them from interfering without the approval of a God of Destruction (Whis & Vados are shown to perform actions under the order of Beerus & Champa without being eradicated) as there job is to train candidates & keep their God of Destruction in check should they go overboard, yet don't directly intervene using their full power as it would negatively effect mortal growth (mind you Merus was resurrected thanks to Shin putting in a good word, though he was turned mortal as he chose to embrace his mortal identity as a Galactic Patrolman) given the fact all Angels can utilize Ultra Instinct without transforming! Whis however was still able to assist Goku & Vegeta by holding off Broly momentarily (which could be viewed as him checking out a new potential GoD candidate as he wasn't fighting him seriously & bowed out when Gogeta showed up)!"
This is why I prefer the Doctor's classic series backstory over the Time War stuff in New Doctor Who. The Doctor took one look at the Time Lords' non-interference policy, said "Screw you. I'm doing what's right", stole a Tardis, and left Gallifrey.
Wasn’t the time war stuff just another thing that happened in his life as opposed to a backstory?
@@daelen.cclark Well, yes. In the grand scheme of the Doctor’s life it’s just another thing that happened. But if you started with the New Series, then the Time War is his backstory; since you learn that the Doctor is the last of the Time Lords before you learn who the Time Lords were or why the Doctor was considered a renegade among them.
This is basically the same problem with miraculous life saving.
"God was looking after me..." but apparently was fine letting all those kids die.
Considering the other times that Linkara has gone on diatribes about this or that writer having a history of being "anti-religious" by pointing out THESE EXACT FLAWS and more about religion and theology in general makes me wonder about him and his internal consistency. I almost want to pair the two diatribes in Linkara vs Linkara setup. Take all of the points that he mentions here about why the Watcher is a bad deity and apply that same thinking to the idea of ANY omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient deity. Would Linkara have changed his attitude on this if the Watcher had a "mysterious will"? The very logical inconsistencies he points out right here are the biggest arguments against the idea of a benevolent deity existing at all. He's basically flagging "the problem of excessive evil."
"I don't think you're the person I should be talking to about this"
14:15 joke's on you! The Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon made the Spider-Signal work!
Well, the Watchers accidentally destroyed an entire world through their advanced sciences. After that trauma, they swore it off lest it happen again.
Same with the Time Lords, actually.
STEVE ROGERS (Cap) lived in Brooklyn Heights during this era, which is how he ran into Spidey!
12:43 spider-simp, spider-simp, is only strong around hi~s pimp,
Captain A, Makes his play, helping spidey on his way. look out, here comes the spider-simp.
Kudos for the Observer clip. Yeah, I can see why Kirk kicks their asses on a regular basis. At least Q likes to just screw around just to have fun and experiment.
I always thought it'd be interesting to have Our Watcher acting as sort of a sort of a Santa Claus figure he acts in small ways to help people out, unable to be of help on the big stuff because its either so far out of his league, or because the Watchers Creedo say no interfering on the big stuff, but he's kept on because he discovers that watching from an on the ground looking up POV gets details you don't get to see from the observatories on the moon
Omg that's my new favorite color Purporange.
Since an animated What if...? series has been announced on Disney+ maybe we'll get an animated Marvel Team-Up series as well.
SPOILERS FOR THE LATEST EPISODE OF WHAT IF
or at the very least that whole non interferance clause thrown back in someone's face and them being punched around kind of like how Lewis wanted to do but Ultron actually could.
@@DianaGohan I literally just finished watching that episode. It was awesome!
@@matthewjarek3026 Yeah I know but when Ultron was laying into the Watcher reminded me of this episode and wondered if anyone else caught that and saw your post so wanted to make the joke there.
@@DianaGohan Thanks.
How much better would a Snowflame Christmas special have been? "IT'S RAINING COCAINE!"
A Snowflame/Scarface crossover....Say Hello to my little Snowflame
Funny to see this review now considering the (confusing) events that happened in Original Sin.
You know, I think you COULD make a group of people who do nothing but watch and catalog history interesting. You could argue it's a "waste" of extraordinary power, but the truth is a LOT of big, important events that should probably be recorded for various reasons are immensely dangerous. You know, war journalism and documenting the falls of empires that a future generation wouldn't make the same mistakes. But instead of a vow of "non-intervention", perhaps a general policy of "avoid drawing attention". If the group took a highly active role, they'd be seen as enemy sympathizers or even a direct threat in a conflict, jeopardizing their role as historians and guardians of knowledge. With this in mind, they could do the whole "mysterious beings who use their powers passively until absolutely necessary" bit without looking like "superior being" snobs.
okay good writing advice
That’s exactly what the timelords reason for doing nothing was. The Time Capsules were originally used by historians to observe historical events for which there was no record, and they were sworn to non-interference. In fact, the majority of timelords refused to even leave Gallifrey, only renegades like the Doctor or Master reality went out and messed with history.
Anybody else notice that the front plate of the mobsters' car reads "R2D2"?
ha, saw the scifi logo on the star treck footage. I really miss the old scifi
The Watcher is just cosmetically bored. The Earth is his TV and the heroes are his buttons to press.
Did anyone notice that the car’s license plate has R2 D2 on it?
It'd be hilarious if Uatu was in Infinity War, but only made some vague gestures, showed a picture of a gemstone, and then disappeared.
Peter, get in the damn robot!
You know, there could be a good story here. Maybe Uatu is doing several minor transgressions to help the heroes around the world. A gentle nudge here, a hint there, and it all adds up to him helping one a Santa Clause scale.
0:33-1:37 reminds me of that one race in Stargate SG-1 who kept calling the Earth people Primitive to their faces.
M.T.KaiserSoze America, Britain and the rest of the colonial powers used to say that to other humans. Some still do.
Your joke about Spider-Man being Shinji Ikari must feel like prophecy what with recent Spider-verse events...
I like Shinji, so that comparison is interesting to me.
Wait what was Daredevil?
idk maybe daredevil is sasuke I mean he's just as emo
That moment when Linkara accidentally explains the Problem of Evil.
Wait, a threat like the Overmind?! The Zerg exist in the Marvel Universe?!
"Why do these super beings never help out humans", because the have no reason to
"When you notice an insect on the ground, do you stop to consider it a fool? The life of an insect is so beneath you that it would be a waste of your time to even consider judging it. That would be an accurate summation of my feelings towards you humans." - Father, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
The best reason to watch Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., is to see the Red Hulk punching the Watcher. Thanks General Ross.
Captain America in this story: Hi Peter. Bye Peter.
I will do devil’s advocate on uatu’s behalf: he is a watcher, yes. He does intervene occasionally for big events, but (i am goin by marvel alliance game and one more story i cant remember the name of) he can not intervene whenever he wants because he is supposed to watch as his race does or they restrict his powers
"Chekov is reunited with her granddaughter." Yes.
Christmas special in September.
So it's not just in England.
These videos are oooolldd... He's just re uploading them for syndication purposes. This video is from 2 years ago, I think?
The Watcher: The ANTI Santa
+Tareltonlives He is the Satan Clause to the Santa Christ!
Cap is from Brooklyn
"I don't think you're the person I'm supposed to be talking to about this"
I will never get tired of the Rod Serling impression
Mao Tse Tsung? No biggie. One druggie? SOUND THE ALARM!
Plus, given how his Spider-Sense works... he should have been able to detect her in danger.
Instead of watching the latest spiderman movie this holiday season, I'm reading this.
Quite a few of these team-up stories were tangential. One with Spidey and Dracula didn't even have them meet; Drac just benefited unseen from Spidey's actions while he observed him, half-impressed, half-disdainful. One ultimately non-canon one with Doc Savage had them each fighting the same villain in different eras, with Spidey able to avoid the manly mistake that Doc couldn't. There was one that was labeled with Spidey and Reed, but due to mind-games the baddie was playing, Spidey himself didn't really appear.
In other words, this concept ran out of steam long before they finally cancelled all these team-up books around 1986.
Personally I get the sentiment they were going for, that Uatu's Christmas tradition is to do a help humans to reaffirm his choice to intervene and the sentiment of someone like him showing compassion to mere humans isn't a bad one, just poorly executed!
I also imagine the Watchers and other god-like beings like them have their own version of the Prime Directive from Star Trek, possibly due to recognizing how theirs intervention could do more harm than good or that even with their god-like power they aren't omnipotent! Basically someone like Uatu would find themselves in a situation similar to Superman, that their are just too many problems or people in trouble to solve, though he does what he can and combats threats both big and small!
Ultimately I like the idea of Uatu having a Christmas tradition of helping other heroes help humans in small ways like he did here, as it shows how different he is from his fellow Watchers and I like the idea of god-like beings having compassion for those less powerful than them that they violate their species' principles of non-intervention! I also like to think that there was a point a Watcher got too involved or past interventions backfired too many times! There are many Star Trek stories where the Prime Directive is framed as a moral dilemma as the directive exists to avoid contaminating an existing culture or negatively impacting pre-warp civilizations! In many ways, the Federation has such advanced technology that to a civilization unfamiliar with it that it would be indistinguishable from magic to them, so to some they would appear to be god-like beings! Actions have consequences and the path to Hell is pathed with good intentions! Sure there are plenty of times it is ignored or violating it is either unavoidable and/or justified, but it does serve an important function!
Ultimately this is a decent premise with a flawed story and the theme does fit with the Christmas spirit!
The watchers did interfer once they gave an alien race a powerful energy source which they used to kill each other.
Which series was the worst about using the Prime Directive as a crutch like that? To my knowledge, Kirk at least had little patience for it when it got in the way of doing the right thing (granted, I've only seen "The Man Trap" and part of "Charlie X", but I've heard stuff from my mom and I've read some Star Trek novels)
VOYAGER! Janeway constantly uses the Prime Directive whenever it suits her, allowing people for flimsy justifications. SF Debris talks about it in his reviews of Voyager, so you can look at those for information.
10 years of the watcher and spidey team up
i feel bad for cap
I don't know if it was mentioned but I'm sure it was many years later but the watcher first appeared in fantastic four #13. Not fantastic four 48 like you mentioned. Little nitpick I know and a few years to late. Lol.
13:50 the license plate says R2D2
I caught that, too, when this video was first posted on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.
Alex Ramos Funny that both of those franchises are now part of the same company
I wonder how would the watcher feel about one more day
well, the Time Lords at least have had a bad experience that scared them off interfering with inferior races, and if they didn't stop, then the Doctor wouldn't have gotten bored and become the time-traveling hero we know him as today.
***** that was when he was President. the first time was boredom.
Still better Beatniks than the ones in the movie "The Beatniks"
13:00 I don't get it.
Anyone else hear Zapp Brannigan when linkara voices the Watcher?
This is nice
Spiderman is the best character EVER
+Travis Nicita one more day
+bloodstone ore To be fair, it's rare for a popular character to not be ruined by terrible writing at some point.
Logan Palmer force of habit to remind people of the shit
But in my opinion, Ms Marvel(Kamala Khan) is the more relatable character.
Most superheors have some terible stories but i agree spider-man is a great character
I love every episode!
The granddaughter is still alive.
You should review Original Sin.
Anomyn actually original sin was not that bad
Well now I know what the hell was going on at the beginning of Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe...
"Who thought Spider Man was Shinji Ikari?" Who didn't? He and Peter Parker are equally whiny and insufferable.
You mean just in this comic right?
You mentioned the "What If" series (of which I own two collections of actually) do you ever plan on reviewing them? I don't know if there were any truly bad ones, but there was some questionable writing in some, mainly when they tried to fit three stories into one comic and only ever resolved ONE of them
In a recent live show, he reviewed a "What If" story.
CaptainJZH
Woops, I've never seen any of the live shows :P
Shows he does at Cons
Their were a few especially the Wtah Duh specials? (But then those tried to be bad)
with your opinion of the watcher you should do original sin lol
This is a good episode. I mean all of these are good, but this one is too.
Mr Chekov, get back to your station. Mr. Sulu, engage
13:50. I had no idea R2 was a made droid.
7:27 what the hell?!
Mr Chekov, you're on report.
From here on out Linkara should read the lines of the Watcher with Stan Lee's voice, am i right?
You may say "rum" instead of "room", but do you say "ruff" instead of "roof"? That's what really cheeses my onions.
He's from Minnesota. Give him a break.
“Team-up”
ALL HAIL SNOW FLAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I suppose we don't try to make ants lives better. The same accusation that advanced beings don't help can be leveled at us. At least they're not using us as cattle.
Except we kind of do, since conservation organizations and animal rights laws do exist, even for insects (particularly their use on film sets and the like).
Linkara-AtopTheFourthWall wow, awesome. Congrats on getting married. We're not really knocking conservation out of the park though. Humanity is responsible for many, many extinct species. We're trying in earnest here and there but it's spotty and I feel that if we were to scale our civilization up to the might of the time lords a similar rot and disinterest would set in. That's the reason I like superheroes too. They're not paralyzed by choice or the inertia of the systems of society, industry and progress.
We should do something!
Should we do something?
We should do something!
I don't see this commented on, so I'm going to go ahead and say it. The Watcher's first appearance is not Fantastic Four 48, but FF 13, from which you actually show art this episode. Sorry to be that guy.
Linkara what you hate is how the Prime Directive from Star Trek New Generation so forth is treated. It would be wrong to stop a planet exploding despitebeing kind peaceful beings living because we can not know consequences.
Perhaps, but I DO know the consequences if we DON'T try to stop the planet exploding.
The planet explodes and lots of people die.
how many times have we stuck our noses into an undeveloped culture, even for all the right reasons, and completely screwed them over? yeah, if there was a supreme being that could help us, i'd rather he not unless it was deflecting an asteroid or something like that.
We can't even help ourselves, we could solve some of our problems if we just were willing to through the use of science of all kind or just by trusting each other in the end our biggest enemy is ourselves, even if they tried to help us we would either say they are wrong or that they try to use us.
Thomas Jenkins Really? You'd rather a race like the Watchers didn't interfer by showing us the wonders of the universe and the idiotic nature of our internal struggling and any flawed ideas we hold that they have seen cause suffering and strife countless times?
absolutely not. go through history and look at all the times a "superior" group of people have attempted to "civilize" the native people. it usually ends in widespread death and destruction.
Thomas Jenkins Because you were dealing with a group of superstitious idiots that *thought* they were advanced trying to guide another group of people that were less technologically advanced. We are talking us finding someone at a caveman level...But even more so, since *they* wouldn't be accidentally spreading some new disease to us; and they (using the Watcher example) have had longer than there has been life on our planet as a stable, peaceful society.
Aahh, what a nostalgic feeling... i've read this as a child... good times. So i had to dislike this. Sorry.
Spiderman is miserable by default, and he is only happy when he helps someone; so Uatu did it for him, not her. And He has all the reasons to care for Spidey, he saved the universe from Thanos. Plus the art is exceptional.
Kudos for the 'Evangelion' reference. Merry Christmas.
Except Spidey was already happy at the beginning of the story, because Christmas! All Uatu did was take him away from his party to remind him that bad stuff happens even during Holidays. Thanks Uatu! So pretty much all other points Linkara made about Uatu helping out if he really wanted to make Spidey happy are valid.
One quick question though what are your thoughts on something like Athena, Heremes, and Hades giving Perseus their magical items (The Shield Aeigis, the winged sandals, and the helmet of invisibility respectively)? Essentially giving the hero the tools they need along with some protection but when you get down to it the hero still has to slay the monster themselves?
Captain America is in the story now... deal with it.
Uatu can interfer because the other watchers can not interfer by preventing uatus interference kinda a broken system.
Let me get this straight: the old Russian beatnik guy has only had minimal contact with his granddaughter for a few years, and is saddened by this--and it turns out they LIVE IN THE SAME CITY? Okay, she's in Brooklyn Heights, and I think Aunt May's supposed to live in Queens (I don't know enough about NYC geography to know whether Queens is a district/neighborhood of NYC or considered a separate town on its own), but COME ON, that's hardly an insurmountable distance. When my dad was in the Navy and he was overseas one Christmas, he called us from Singapore! Chekov could see his granddaughter again with just a bus or subway ride or two! If the writer was clever, he could've said that it was Elizabeth's increasing drug use that led to communications dropping off, and this red flag was why Chekov was worried, but written this way it makes Chekov looks like a self-pitying whiner who doesn't realize he's perfectly capable of solving this problem himself. Unless Elizabeth and her mother had their own reasons for not wanting to keep in touch with the old dinosaur. (Endless beat poetry recitals, I'm guessing.)
What I'm getting at is this whole story is bullshit.
Uatu is a terrible character. Except for his early appearances in the Fantastic Four, I groan every time I see him and his fellow Watchers.
On a lighter note, the art in this issue was actually pretty good.
You must've LOVED original sin
I think the MCU’s “what if...” series is gonna do him correctly.
if peter is shinji does that make mary asuka and gwen rei?
Readers of the IDW MLP comics (or at least people who watched Silver Quill's review) will remember an issue of their take on the Team Up idea, the Friends Forever series, where, once again, the godlike member of the "team" has no actual part in the plot...
You know what, screw it. I know I just said Silver Quill already reviewed it, but hey Linkara! Let's see what you think of Friends Forever #14!
Indirectly! ... Indirectly! Maybe if indirectly means appearing to someone, giving them a magic orb to set them on a mission, then using fuckin magic to save some crackhead!
yes butte free wail
The docter doesnt
i mean does help
Yes, but at the end of the Second Doctor's era, he was summoned before the Time Lords, who were putting him on trial for intervening in the affairs of other worlds.
So they forced him to regenerate (beginning the Third Doctor's era) and marooned him on Earth. While he was still able to use the TARDIS' technology, he couldn't use it to travel to other worlds.
I pooped a little..
MrZerothejedi why
So you are against the Prime Directive?
read the Ruminations in the description box.
Ahh I see
Jake Bryant The Prime directive is a fuzzy thing, as it has been told as various things over the years. Its best incarnation was (paraphrased): "No direct interference with internal politics of non-Federation worlds." The stupidest was the version most used, as it was violated by nearly every story (paraphrased again): "No contact or actions that could interfer with any race not yet able to contact the Federation."
His any of spider-man villains tried hitting peter in the crutch since he always swings around New York with his legs spread apart?
to anyone who is reading this comment please check out my patreon account www.patreon.com/user?u=591757&ty=h if you want to support me and get rewards for it^^
Life hates Peter
😂Good summery!
Now, just replace the Watcher with Yahweh, and Linkara's rant perfectly details why "God" is useless.