That's all

    • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 months ago

      They used to be cool, mow they remind me of that show and mcu multiverse crap. There's no mystique to a nice portal anymore

      • SpiderFarmer [he/him]
        ·
        2 months ago

        I like how in Mercedes Lackey's books, portals are notoriously hard to manage and maintain. It basically drains you of all your power and then some. But otherwise portals have been kinda basic for me since Diablo II.

        • Ageroth@reddthat.com
          ·
          2 months ago

          This is the first time I've seen anyone reference Mercedes Lackey, one of my favorite authors of all time. Her system of magic got it all right as far as I'm concerned, fucking Harry Potter throwing spells around with zero effort beyond the right wrist flick and pronunciation

          • AmarkuntheGatherer@lemmygrad.ml
            ·
            2 months ago

            Nah man. Portals don't have hyper competent, 11D aliens that are actually a bit entitled. Do portals let you just erase your enemies?

            Unless you subscribe to the theory that it was just Sisko using 3% of his real power and glared the Jem'Hadar or of existence, in which case the wormhole was incidental.

            • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
              hexagon
              ·
              2 months ago

              This one does. There are other wormholes in trek that are just straight up portals. Unless you are of bajoran faith and calling it the celestial temple, it a portal with a twist. Every portal has a twist

      • blobjim [he/him]
        ·
        2 months ago

        portals have always been lame. A top tier lazy plot device.

        • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
          hexagon
          ·
          2 months ago

          I suppose you'd think it'd fine if it was called a wormhole or whatever? Also in what way are portals always lazy? They can be used for super convenient transportation and that can do it, but usually the portal goes to some weird fucking place that there is no way the protagonist could walk or drive to. Stargate is all about the availability of a portal and it's consequences, portals can be pretty cool.

          • blobjim [he/him]
            ·
            2 months ago

            If you're going to invent a made up technology, it should be one that increases the cool factor (things like "warp drives", spaceships, cyborgs, whatever) or or leads to interesting plot points or dilemmas (like time travel, but that's pretty overplayed as well). At least Stargate has a cool looking portal, but as far as I can remember, all it does is take them somewhere, and it doesn't even look cool when they arrive. Like Star Trek but without the cool spaceships.

            • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
              hexagon
              ·
              2 months ago

              City on the Edge of Forever, highest rated original series episode, portal.

            • buckykat [none/use name]
              ·
              2 months ago

              Stargate did a ton of interesting stuff with the gate. Also they get cool spaceships later on.

  • DamarcusArt@lemmygrad.ml
    ·
    2 months ago

    Alternate reality concepts too. I've always loved using ideas of alternate realities in my work, now people just think I'm ripping of drunk science man and teenager cartoon show.