The Giant Beastcast: Episode 117

Steal my Sunshine!!!

Not just some things anime, EVERYTHING ANIME.

Since the addition of Dan, and later Abby, this has quickly become my favourite podcast. Really loving the dynamic of the East Crew lately!

I am pro Jeff's Gollum impression

A few corrections:

- Tencent didn't buy or invest in Bluehole (yet), the latter has denied such report. But it's quite likely Tencent will make a move to get an exclusive publishing right of PUBG for WeGame platform (As they did with Rocket League).

- Tencent starts by creating OICQ, a clone of ICQ. It got popular in China and Tencent grew to be an Internet giant. Nowadays, games and related entertainments are the primary way Tencent monetise its user base. So depending on your definition of Tencent, it might or might not be a game company.

Correction: Abby is a mouse. Dan is a parrot like Iago. Jeff is a bear like Winnie the Pooh. Alex and Vin are cat and dog respectively. And yes, I have thought of this before so you didn't have to.

I'd always gotten the impression that the Mordor developers don't really care about the lore or tone of the original work.

This is the middle of the spider-hot woman slider by the way.

Haven't listed to the podcast yet, but T1 > T2 by, like, an immeasurable amount. i.e. Dan is wrong again.

They said my name at the beginning!

So I'm 5 minutes in and early on Jeff mentioned welder's goggles for the eclipse, I was the guy that tweeted to him about those. What he said is not 100% accurate though, its welder's glass that you need. 13 or 14 works, and the green color allows the sun to be fairly visible but keeps you safe.

REAL TALK: video news is the worst. traditional anchor/talking head coverage feels like THE most obsolete/manipulative form of communication there is. at least text allows for easy/rapid comparison between sources- which is arguably the most important step in ingesting any current events coverage.

@redhotchilimist: Vinny cares not for spider-women.

Vinny's LotR humor is on point!

I had seen the shadow of war human Shelob before and thought it was extremely dumb then, but I hadn`t read their justification for it. Holy crap! Who do they think they are fooling with that explanation. Why even try to explain it if that`s what you`re going with. You will just seem like a total shill or completely insane.

I am not a big LOTR guy, so them changing the lore does not really bother me (though having a giant spider as an ally is way cooler than having a generic goth lady, so that`s a bummer), but them trying to justify it so poorly it just feels insulting. It reveals that the story writers apparently did the research on LOTR by drunkenly half watching the movies 17 years ago. Shelob the character that tries to eat Frodo (which would stop him from destroying the ring) and cares for nothing but herself is the "unsung hero" of LOTR...

And I agree with Vinny that LOTR and Game of Thrones/A song of ice and fire are kind of and apples and oranges thing because they are on completely opposite sides of the fantasy spectrum. I definitely prefer ASOIAF, but that has more to do with my personal taste than with it being better than LOTR.

Another great episode folks! Love everyone as always, but the first 30 minutes or so of this episode had a lot of talking on top of each other. Everyone was doing it some, but Abby especially was jumping in on other people's thoughts instead of waiting for a natural break to say what she wanted to say. Just a small comment and not super important, but its definitely more listenable when each person can finish their sentences. No biggy either way. Keep up the great work guys, you all do a wonderful job :).

So, Shelob is the daughter of a giant spider monster that may have been a Maiar, which are basically the angels and demons of LotR, and the same type of thing that Gandalf and Sauron are. So you can see someone making the argument that as a demi-god, she should be able to take the form of a person if she chose to (the reason Sauron and Gandalf and Saruman look like people (or an elf in Sauron's case) is because they chose to take that form).

It's pretty debatable, though, and it's pretty obvious they made her a woman in the video game so they could have a pretty lady giving you quests instead of a big scary spider.

Also, from when I read the quote by the producer of the game or whoever it was, I got the impression he was trying to say Shelob was the "hero" because she was manipulating Gollum into preventing Sauron from getting the ring, because she didn't think Frodo had the fortitude to actually succeed (and she turned out to be right). I also read him saying Gollum was a "hero" in the sense of a tragic or accidental hero, rather than being actually heroic. Gollum becomes the "hero" of the story because he accomplishes the necessary deed to defeat Sauron and end the war, even if it was accidental.

Dan and food.

Yup, it's one of those episodes.

It`s been a while since I read the books, but as far as I remember the stated reason for Shelob and Gollum cooperating is that Gollum will bring her food and there is nothing hinting at her having any deeper reasons for doing what she does. If I remember correctly she and Sauron were also on good terms, so I don`t know why she would want to help bring about his demise.

Edit: From the LOTR wikia:

"Sauron was known to be somewhat fond of [Shelob], and in a rare show of humor, was even known to refer to her as his cat. Like a pet cat, Sauron would sometimes give her food in the form of prisoners that he had no more use for or servants who had displeased him."

Gollum is a somewhat sympathetic figure, but I think calling him a hero is really weird and the wrong term. If you end up doing something good accidentally while doing something bad does not make you a hero. Especially when that thing you ended up doing was the opposite of what you wanted to do. Gollum ended up destroying the ring, but he didn`t want to and he didn`t mean to do it.

Oh man that Millennial food item was so on point.

Jesus, Dan.

I always appreciate Royal Tenenbaums references

I'm way into their Terminator 2 version of the ending of Return of the King.

I also request that someone make fanart of Ganondalf.

Dan grew up a very solitary child huh?

Skis are not Machines, just like shoes/gloves aren't. Trust me, I'm a Mechanical Engineer.

Dan is clearly a dog, a big, dumb, friendly dog; like a golden retriever.

Alex is definitely a cat.

Abby is a flying squirrel.

Jeff is either a moose or an elk.

Vinny is an elephant.

I love Tolkien's work, I was able to turn a blind eye to most of the stupid in Shadow of Mordor because I loved the game, but this Shelob and Gollum hero thing is just really damn dumb.

As for Game of Thrones being "better" everyone is entitled to their opinion no matter how wrong it is.

I was hoping For a more in depth talk about Hellblade but may that's coming on a future podcast.

It's a shame everyone is getting hung up on the perma death thing & it not working rather than focusing on why it's mentioned in the first place.

It just feels like everyone is missing the point & just want this game to be another god war. But to each their own.

Ganondolf as: Gollum in: Dorf on Golf

Call me, Hollywood

Dan's safe. I've only ever thrown eggs at politicians.

EDIT - @ybbaaabby - 'Co' is the abbreviation of 'County' in Ireland. ;)

By golly I love Dan.

"Golem was the real hero in Lord of the Rings"

I don`t think this is fair. The guys have mentioned the things they liked about the game and thinks it does well like story and atmosphere. They also talk about things they think the game does poorly (or at least not as well) like combat and puzzles. The combat and puzzle elements had more of a focus this week, but last week they talked about the atmosphere and story. Other than Dan it also seems like they mostly like the game. Their criticisms are definitely not just based in them wanting it to be another God of War and while it might not have been your intention accusing them of that feels like you are trying to dismiss their opinion and tell them that they are wrong for not loving the game.

The best Sonic game continues to be Colors.

Great episode and love the eclipse talk - Thank you for the science!

Eggs are pretty bland on their own. Gotta put some hot sauce on there or make an omelette with a bunch of stuff in it to make eggs decent.

Episode 117 is the Master Chief number!!!

Sounds like a bunch of manchildren are in charge of the Shadow of War franchise. I guess that's why they turned the works into a revenge power fantasy. I'm not even a Tolkien purist either, but that take they read - holy balls.

The whole "pivoting to video" thing makes no sense to me. Like pretty much everyone else said on this episode, I absolutely hate consuming news through video, especially since 9 times out of 10, I'm on my phone. I understand something like Vice News where it's more general but when I'm looking for a specific news story, I'm looking for an article every single time. This kind of video content seems to only work on Facebook and Twitter, which at that point, what's the point of even having a website? This whole shift seems, to me at least, that it's purely a way to maximize ad revenue. It's easier to slap some pre-roll ads on a video than it is on a written article. It's a extremely shitty state of affairs and I think these companies who think this pivoting will save them or help them survive are going to be proven wrong.

A pretty cool ancient eclipse anecdote I've heard of is the Battle of the Eclipse in 585 BC. A battle between the Medes and Lydians was interrupted by a solar eclipse, resulting in both sides stopping the battle and negotiating peace, ending a war of six years. Heard about this on Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, fun eclipse of subject matter between two great podcasts.

How can Dan not know what sunny side eggs are? There was a whole thing about them in MGS4.

Ah, yes. Michael Keaton guano.

I thought they said they were making beast videos? Looking forward to that!

This sentiment varies week to week.

Runny eggs aren't my favorite. They taste fine, but they're just such a messy food, especially if you've got a beard. Just a little of that stuff gets out of hand and you've gotta go wash the whole thing.

A whole character, even. SUNNY was all about those eggs. Your story doesn't hold up, Dan!

Diving under my seat at Dan's take on the target audience for LotR versus GoT

As someone who actually really likes LoTR, I really really hate the Mordor series. They get everything wrong about the tone and the story, and it's embarrassing to see. It's terrible fanfiction.

Character creator slider

|Spider ----------------------------------||-Hot Lady|

What is the thumbs up image from? I know it's a famous moment but I've never seen it.

@alistercat: Terminator 2