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Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
Have you ever loved something, only to realize it’s a commercial flop or just obscure? What’s something that deserves more light than it got?
I think The Good Place is one of the best things to ever happen to tv. I know it's not some secret piece of tv that nobody knows about, but it hit the right notes in my soul that I don't think people are singing its praises loud enough, even a decade on from its release.
CreamyJalapenoSauce figured it out? CreamyJalapenoSauce? This is a real low point. Yeah, this one hurts.
I just suddenly had this calm feeling, like the air inside my lungs was the same as the air outside my body. It was peaceful. You know the feeling when you think a jalapeño popper is gonna be too hot, but you bite into it anyway and it's actually the perfect temperature?
Totally agreed. My favourite get-to-know-you question is this: "if you had the very specific super power that meant you could make everybody into the world love a piece of media in exactly the way you do, for exactly the reasons you do, what piece of media would you pick and why?"
My answer is The Good Place, with a bullet. It's about trying to be better every day and treat people well, and it's hilarious and good natured.
Look I'm not saying that it isn't well rated, but too many people dismiss "Avatar: The Last Airbender" as a cartoon or a childrens show when it is in fact a masterpiece.
Idk, everyone I speak to about it agrees that it's incredible. Doesn't seem underrated. I've been wanting to rewatch it.
Right you're talking about the people who HAVE seen it. It isn't rated lowly, it is dismissed by too many people. Like I said originally...
i simply do not hear enough people talking about Outer Wilds, i know it released in the same year as the AA game by Obsidian - Outer Worlds, the title of which is different by whole two letters, which provided a very good distraction but
AAAAA
Outer Wilds is a lighting in a bottle video game that the majority of those who have played it wish they could experience for the first time again. it's a stunning piece of art that makes you cry and you're not even sure what exactly just happened. but there's always a point where it all just hits you - and all you can do is cry
it doesn't handhold you, in fact it doesn't give you any objectives at all, you're lead through the entire game by sheer curiosity alone - and oh boy will that curiosity make you zoom across the space back and forth until you get to the bottom of it. when you utter your first "oh what's that? i'm going to check it out" it'll have you, you might not realise it yet but you're now primed for adventure
this is the only game i'm not afraid to overhype. i watched that game sit in my library, for over a year, and in that time i hyped it up in my head to unreachable levels, to the point where eventually i was close to afraid of playing it because how could it possibly meet that standard i've envisioned? and you know what? it was better than i've ever imagined. it waited for me to be ready to sit down and play it, and then it delivered and experience that i'll forever treasure
maybe it won't hit that exact sweet spot for you as it did for me, but bloody hell can i assure you you'll never forget it - even though you'll wish you did, to play it for the first time again
oh and if any of my vague praise made you interested - rule #1 of Outer Wilds Club: don't talk about Outer Wilds. don't look up anything about it, you want to experience it as blind as you possibly can, some people even go as far as buying their friends a copy so they never have to look at the steam page screenshots
I want to like this game, but the twist that's the whole point of the story gives me anxiety.
If I could just roast marshmallows, crash the model ship, listen to the music of the planets and explore without pressure, it would be one of my favorite games of all time.
Tour de Pharmacy
It's a mockumentary about the Tour de France, but everyone's been kicked out for doping.
There are only 5 competitors left, Andy Sandberg, John Cena, Daveed Diggs, Orlando Bloom, and Freddie Highmore.
They've got the actual Lance Armstrong doing a "hidden informant" bit.
Each of the racers has a wacky backstory. Hijinks ensue. It's a great time.
Not the best movie ever, but I had an absolute blast with it.
"People dope... yeah.... You know this is a sport with literally hundreds of dollars on the line and dozens of fans... STAKES ARE MEDIUM!"
Better off Ted. I dont think it is underrated, but it definitely seems to be not well known and only got a couple of seasons. It's the first time I got mad at Netflix canceling a show I loved.
It's an excellent show.
But don't be mad at Netflix. It aired on ABC, and they cancelled it (presumably because it had lower ratings than the network's other comedies). Netflix just picked up streaming rights after the fact.
Movie wise:
I really found myself loving this movie, which was a surprised to me. But I believe that I found myself loving the characters and how they were shown on screen. I also loved the pacing of the movie. I never felt like there was a moment that had over stayed it's stay. The story it's self was interesting enough for me to keep wanting to watch as well. And no, it's not a film, it's a fun movie. It's not trying to be the next Heat or The Sting.
It's a powerful film IMO. There was a lot to love from the experience and it's one of my all-time favorite stop motion films ever.
Kubo was really good. Only reason it isn't better known is because it wasn't a major studio. If they slapped a Pixar logo on it, it would've been huge.
Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Some of best science-fiction literature ever penned.
However, the author, while a superb writer, is an asshole.
A lot of the classic scifi authors were assholes one way or another it seems. Frank Herbert was homophobic.
Not so much underrated as it was rated well, but mostly because it didn’t really do well in theaters. Annihilation (2018) which is based on the novel of the same name is often overlooked when talking about great scifi movies. The book is great too.
Bryan Fuller's TV opus, primarily Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies, although the first two seasons of Hannibal are really excellent writing and storytelling. All his work deals with death, but each has something slightly different to say about it.
Foundation on Apple TV is a visually beautiful show and follows the books generally well with a few caveats.
I haven't read the books, so I can't comment on that, but wow, Lee Pace kills it as Day.
And shout out to Jared Harris for being in this and The Expanse
As a fan of the books, I was initially pretty upset with some of the changes, but I'm glad I stuck with it. The show is it's own thing that goes to some fascinating places.
Better Off Ted I feel is reasonably well known and did manage to get an unexpected second season. I feel like a chunk of its potential audience had already left Television for streaming even back when it first aired.
They were mentioned in a post on Lemmy. Decided to take a listen and they are amazing!
They have a story spanning three albums: The Protomen, Act II: The Father of Death, and Act III: The City Made Us.
Found them browsing for new music and fell in love. The albums are all stories and wonderfully done.
Cloud Atlas is my usual mention.
Favourite movie and it's usually a fairly even split between people like myself who love it and people who think it's garbage.
Not much middle ground
Norsemen was a great series but I understand why people didn’t get into it or even tried it. The humor is very special and maybe takes a little time to settle. It all feels like the cast didn’t know what’s going on and was making it up on the go, which is part of the fun.
Another one: Minesweeper. I feel like most people never understood how this game even works and just clicked randomly until something exploded. It’s actually purely logical! In the classic Windows version there is unfortunately always a high chance to encounter fields that can’t be solved by logic. This is what Mineswifter solves. If you want something more complex, there is the Hexcells series. Get the last one, Infinite, as it has a puzzle generator integrated.
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, it was made by alumni of Interplay. The developers also made Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, which probably is why it gets overshadowed.
Anyways gameplay is effected by build, equipment, and even race because of course it is this is a game made by Fallout 2 devs. If that sounds interesting but not convincing go watch Mandaloregaming, Warlockracy, or Ssethtzeentach for better reasons, though if you aren't familiar with any or all of the YouTubers I mentioned I ordered it by least to most batshit.
Also if any Eastern Europeans try to say "Oh this was a big game when I was in school" yes I'm aware I know about how your bootleggers charged by the disk resulting in everyone having Fallout 1, 2, and Arcanum. Sadly the game didnt do nearly as well here in the US in my experience.
What if we took a British-style police procedural and made it not just a comedy, but a full-blown parody/spoof. And also it was created by Charlie Brooker, of Black Mirror fame.
Packed with wall-to-wall sight gags, terrible puns, and blink-and-you'll-miss-it jokes.
There are three seasons, each two 45-minute episodes.
Links (for those outside the US or EU): Season 1, Season 2, Season 3.
The Shadow (1994) is delightful. It's fun, atmospheric, and does a great job of capturing the quaint charm of old timey pulp storytelling in a more modern action movie. It's just a treat, and I honestly can't believe it bombed, and as far as I know, never even got a cult following.
The Adventures of Brisco County Jr only got one season and has mostly passed into obscurity. Which is a shame because it's fun and can be a great little time capsule from the days when people thought the future might actually be something to be optimistic about.
Cabin Boy is not what you'd call... good. BUT it is still weirdly enjoyable. It's an experience. One other people should have. Whether they want it or not.
Advent Rising was so unsuccessful it helped kill the publisher, and it got terrible reviews. And yeah, the game feels like there are glaring omissions due to it being rushed out. But I absolutely love it. The powers are cool, the story is simple but works, and it definitely left me wanting more.
Also, Babylon 5 will always be underrated because it's not possible to rate it highly enough.
Don't Trust The B in Apt 23
One of my favorite super hero movies to this day is the original kick ass. Beats the pants of any marvel movie by miles. Not exactly a flop but criminally underrated.
Goodnight Punpun
It's a manga so if you are in the west it's already going to be obscure. It's also pretty messed up so it might not be for everyone, but if you are able to stomach it and read it, man is it amazing. It has very little anime bs that a lot of anime/manga suffer from; it's not a shonen, it's aimed at an older audience. It is very well written. The art is amazing. I could go on, but I think it's best enjoyed blind.
It's 13 volumes, but you can binge it in a day (not recommended). It has a lot of dialog so a lot more reading than most manga.
If you are not sure about the manga, read the first chapter. I think it sets the tone well for the rest of the series.
Like a lot of great things, I wish I could read the manga again for the first time.
certainly not an obscure videogame, but Prey (2017) is amazing, and for some reason it flopped. Also the DLC might be the best I’ve played, it’s a completely new kind of game
if you check the free epic games sometimes you might have it in your collection
It's not that obscure, but Perfect Blue (1997) has not left my mind since I first watched it.
It looks like a cutesy Zelda clone, but it's so much more than that. It's dark with extremely atmospheric music. It is a "knowledge-based" game, with metroidvania/Zelda aspects.
The puzzles are phenomenal, and I don't think it can ever be replicated.
The Quest For Glory series from Sierra. They ended up making 5 and you could import your character from the previous game with some save disks. You could pick between a fighter, a thief, or a magic user and grow from there. In the later games you could grow and be a paladin, a sorcerer (with a staff), or the lead to a thieves guild depending on your choices. In the last game you got to become a king and pick a love interest that you met from previous games. The 4th game had a hot vampire babe, so normally tried to marry her.
Pretty much everything "Weird Al" Yankovic and his band have ever done.
They've gained more recognition in recent years, but most people don't realize that his catalogue goes back to the mid-1970s. A lot of people are sleeping on his work, even today, because he's categorized as a "novelty artist".
The early stuff is rough, but from the mid-1980s on up is worth a listen even if you're not a fan.
Terriers - excellent 2010 caper-style dramedy series starring Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James, created by the screenwriter behind "Oceans Eleven". Relatable & endearing characters, compelling arcs, razor-sharp writing, wrapped in a noire detective plot set in sunny San Diego. Aired for just 13 eps on FX back in the day, only a couple of years before streaming platforms really hit big (and where it likely would have found its audience) and I've mourned "what could have been" ever since. Can't recommend it enough, despite the final ep having a bit of a "lady or the tiger" ending. I urge you to seek it out.
Freddy Got Fingered.
It's a practical joke disguised as a movie.
Though it has found a cult following since release, I don't think it's appreciated enough for how hilarious it is.
Joe Pera Talks With You
It's a treasure and it's hard to get people to watch it. I've watched the series all the way through at least four times, by now. It's sadly short, so not too hard to do.
Hyper Light Drifter for gaming.
Extol (Norway) for music, specifically the album "Burial".
So far I've loved every tv show Taika Waititi has been involved with, and many of them I've only found out when checking "ok, what else has he done" on wikipedia. Most recently, Reservation Dogs and Our Flag Means Death.
Also, I think there are many canadian tv shows that are really good and deserve a wider global audience: like Heated Rivalry, 19-2 (the original one in French) and Happily Married (C'est comme ça que je t'aime).
