***READY PLAYER ONE - SPOILERS INSIDE***

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Ag Since 83
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In reply to TCTTS • 1:09p, 3/29/18
AG
Possible explanation that wasn't explained well: In the book there are different types of places with different rules. Some are original Halliday worlds, and then there are add ons made by others. My guess is that zone was Halliday hard coded and they couldn't edit it very easily. In the book, when Wade creates a fake identity and manipulates IOI into indenturing him so he can hack them from the inside, he is just working a real world tech support job. He manages to have a bomb delivered in the Oasis to destroy the force field from within though.

As for IOI, they are just the world's biggest Internet Service Provider (and 2nd biggest company, as said in the movie), and hellbent on controlling every aspect of the Oasis because it's essentially running the economy.

I still think the movie was a lot of fun, but I wish we'd gotten more of the first act of the book. Jumping into the first challenge so quickly hurt the movie I think.
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FL_Ag1998
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In reply to TCTTS • 1:17p, 3/29/18
AG
Thanks!
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wangus12
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In reply to TCTTS • 1:20p, 3/29/18
AG
Yeah the whole forced labor thing was off. In the book, the indentured servants basically work as tech support for IOI (which is the biggest internet/energy provider on the planet). The premise is still the same in that IOI charges you living expenses and what not and that you never are able to pay off your debt. They did have "collection teams" that would go out and apprehend people with tons of debt and they did work separately from the actual police force I believe.
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Brian Earl Spilner
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In reply to TCTTS • 2:04p, 3/29/18
AG
Quote:
- Why would anything in the Oasis require hard labor? IOI's camp of endentured servants or whatever they were made no sense to me. Can't IOI just write some code or whatever that instantly does the work that Art3mis and all those prisoners were doing? The rules of the Oasis were never made clear for us non book readers. Similarly, but less important - how did Aech build her warehouse? Did she "physically" construct it inside the Oasis via her avatar, or is it made by just doing some code in the real world? Overall, I never understood what the limits of the Oasis were in terms of what could be created/manipulated by the users.
I saw it sort of like grinding for gold or gear in WoW.
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TCTTS
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In reply to Brian Earl Spilner • 2:05p, 3/29/18
AG
Ha, I have no idea what this sentence means.
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BigBrother
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In reply to TCTTS • 2:22p, 3/29/18
AG
TCTTS said:
Ha, I have no idea what this sentence means.
There are literally real life people who play the World of Warcraft game and acquire gold. They will then sell that gold to people for real currency.
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Cinco Ranch Aggie
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3:47p, 3/29/18
AG
I have not read the book, but this movie looked appealing enough to get me into the theater today. I was very much entertained, although at times it felt like a Transformers movie, where there was so much going on that it was impossible to catch all of it. Guess I'll have to see it several more times.

My favorite parts were The Shining - that was so well done I was wondering if they had just optically inserted their characters over Jack Nicholson; the Alien chestburster; and Mechagodzilla. It was also awesome to get much of the music from The Shining, and the theme from the Godzilla movies that accompanied the Mechagodzilla scenes.

But my one biggest question - given that this is set in Columbus, Ohio, are they still dotting the i at the Horseshoe?

Fun popcorn movie.
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MaroonStain
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In reply to MonkeyKnifeFighter • 4:02p, 3/29/18
AG
MonkeyKnifeFighter said:
Is this what ASOI&F book-readers feel like when they watch GoT? (not to derail or bog down the thread)


Not speaking for all GoT people but yes, Seasons 7 & 8 were midnite to 6, Rosie Odonnell naked laughable with glimpses of how seasons 1-6 were.
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wangus12
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In reply to MaroonStain • 4:10p, 3/29/18
AG
You haven't even seen season 8
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DB Coach
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7:29p, 3/29/18
AG
Just got out of the movie. My first reaction is that I thoroughly enjoyed it! It did not stay true to the book, obviously, but I think what they did do, worked very well. I went in with that in mind, tempered by the ho-hum attitude here, and was absolutely surprised by how much I liked it. I took a friend of mine who had not read the book, and he loved it...especially all the 80s references (I told him then he really needs to read the book!).

I swear I heard the trailer version of Take on Me at some point in the movie, I think when Artemis and Parzival went on a date. I didn't like how they changed the challenges for the keys, and didn't flesh out more of the backstory, but it did work for me in the grand scheme of things. I thought they did a good job of giving important details early on, but I could see where it would be hard to hear it or keep track of them for those that don't know what to listen for.
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dlp3719
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7:42p, 3/29/18
AG
I have not read the book but largely liked the movie.

Only part I did not care for was the crowd backing away from Sorrento just because he was holding a pistol. Then he opens the truck and he is so moved by wade watts holding the egg that he drops the gun. Then the police show up. It didn't feel right. I wanted the crowd to devour him.
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KidDoc
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10:55p, 3/29/18
AG
I've read this book twice and listened to it twice so I'm a huge fan. Of course I'm a nerd born in the early 70's and grew up with my Atari systems, D&D, and John Hughes movies- that is just so it is clear where my complaint is coming from. Overall I enjoyed the movie but it really seems like they fundamentally missed the mark with the challenges.

All of the challenges in the book where distinct callbacks to obscure 80's nerd trivia. From the Tomb of Horrors module from D&D in challenge one, to Wargame replay, Rush 2112, Holy Grail and too many others to list it was all an homage to Cline's loves of his childhood, and therefore of my childhood. In the movie the challenges were all about Halliday's failings in his life and his past. I prefer the book version especially for key 1 since only Artemis & Parcival found it for a long period of time and it had nothing to do with an obscure phrase Halliday said at an office party.

Anyhow it was a fun flick and I'll watch it again but I really think they changed the whole spirit of the hunt.
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MW03
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12:01a, 3/30/18
AG
Book reader. Enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as the book. It felt like a good adaptation, but missed a couple of places. Especially in exposition between Parzival and Art3mis. It felt like I blinked and they were in love.

I wish they had kept some of the darker elements from the book, too. Sorento was too generic. The change to the indents seemed like an unnecessary change. Would have been funny to see the character miserable in a forced labor desk job inside this virtual getaway like how 95% of the audience feels about their own jobs.

Still I enjoyed it. Watching the shining sequence was the absolute highlight showing off what the Oasis was capable of. Overall, glad I saw it. Different enough that i was able to enjoy it with comparing it too much.

7.5/10.
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MBAR
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In reply to TCTTS • 12:12a, 3/30/18
AG
TCTTS said:
This was Spielberg aiming straight for the junior high demographic. And that's totally fine, but man, it got super cheesy at times and featured some pretty bland/bad dialogue. I absolutely loved the race sequence early on, and The Shining sequence was the highlight for sure, but overall I just didn't connect with this movie at all. So much of what motivated these characters felt lazy and underdeveloped. Not to mention, Ben Mendelsohn's character was the most stock/cliche corporate bad guy ever, and even though I really liked Lena Waithe's charcter in the Oasis, her acting was distractingly bad in the real world.

I don't know, there were a lot of details to like, and I enjoyed big chunks of the movie, but as someone who didn't read the book, the real world portrayed on screen left me scratching my head quite a bit and basically shrugging my shoulders at the state of affairs in the end.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I'm terms of Spielberg movies released in the last few months, give me The Post over this all day long.
What? You think the Junior high demographic has even seen the Shining or knows what an Atari is? Also I could not disagree more about Lena Waithe.

LOL You and I are never going to see eye to eye on a movie I guess.

I didn't think the movie was great. As a throwback to 80s movies, its pretty damn clear to me how much better movies are today. The villian was cartoonishly evil and I get that was the point but I just don't dig it that much. But it was visually stunning and was basically 100% nostalgia and fan service which I really liked.

Good watch for me.
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TCTTS
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In reply to MBAR • 12:43a, 3/30/18
AG
I should have been more clear. My junior high comment had nothing to do with the references and everything to do with the underdeveloped story telling. In terms of the romance, the stakes, and the motivations, it was all serviceable, bare minimum effort in each of those departments. Again, I had fun for the most and enjoyed the ride, but in the end it just wasn't anything that resonated with me at all.
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MBAR
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In reply to TCTTS • 12:46a, 3/30/18
AG
TCTTS said:
I should have been more clear. My junior high comment had nothing to do with the references and everything to do with the underdeveloped story telling. In terms of the romance, the stakes, and the motivations, it was all serviceable, bare minimum effort in each of those departments. Again, I had fun for the most and enjoyed the ride, but in the end it just wasn't anything that resonated with me at all.
Oh, well on that end I'll agree completely but I don't think that junior high students are any worse at accepting that as regular people. Adults consume lots of crap film making but I know what you mean now and I don't disagree.
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Philip J Fry
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In reply to TCTTS • 1:04a, 3/30/18
AG
TCTTS said:
Couple of questions that are still bugging me:

- Why would anything in the Oasis require hard labor? IOI's camp of endentured servants or whatever they were made no sense to me. Can't IOI just write some code or whatever that instantly does the work that Art3mis and all those prisoners were doing? The rules of the Oasis were never made clear for us non book readers. Similarly, but less important - how did Aech build her warehouse? Did she "physically" construct it inside the Oasis via her avatar, or is it made by just doing some code in the real world? Overall, I never understood what the limits of the Oasis were in terms of what could be created/manipulated by the users.

- Also, why did IOI have basically the equivalent of a massive SWAT and survaleinec team in the real world? At first it was made clear that the company was formed solely to win the game. Like a competitive version of Apple meets a code breaking unit or whatever. But then all the sudden they were acting like an arm of the government and essentially performaing raids in the real world and straight up enslaving people. So then I figured they were also some kind of futuristic police force as well, which made no sense but I went with it, until the ACTUAL police showed up in the end. I still have no clue what IOI could and couldn't do and the movie did a terrible job of providing real world context in that sense.


Just go read the book.
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Philip J Fry
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1:07a, 3/30/18
AG
And the movie was a huge disappointment. Even with my low expectations going in.
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Brian Earl Spilner
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In reply to TCTTS • 8:55a, 3/30/18
AG
TCTTS said:
I should have been more clear. My junior high comment had nothing to do with the references and everything to do with the underdeveloped story telling. In terms of the romance, the stakes, and the motivations, it was all serviceable, bare minimum effort in each of those departments. Again, I had fun for the most and enjoyed the ride, but in the end it just wasn't anything that resonated with me at all.
I am betting this is what Spielberg meant when he said this was not a film but a "movie".
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nai06
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10:21a, 3/30/18
AG
I saw it last night with my wife who has not read the book while i have.

For her it was an okay movie but was lacking in the story development. She had a ton of questions that could only have been answered if your read the book. It really did a poor job setting up the whole story.


As a book reader I also was disappointed. I realize that it may be hard to secure rights to all the properties used in the book. But man there was so little of the book in the film. It was hard to follow as a book reader and I think that the plot was actually poorly organized at times. But, that is one of the difficulties with adapting a book.


As an aside, the more I read of Cline the more I think hes just not that strong of a writer and that shows in this screenplay. I've reread RP1 a few times and I find myself being more critical of it.
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BassCowboy33
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12:07p, 3/30/18
Everyone knew coming into this that the movie could only be made if it diverged pretty heavily from the book, which it did.

With that. I enjoyed the film more than the book. It got rid of the awful, awful dialogue from the book, as well as the preachy politics. Focusing more on the adventure was a great choice.

I really liked this and will probably see it again.

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Brian Earl Spilner
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1:20p, 3/30/18
AG
Think I may do viewing #2 tonight. I feel like there's a lot of easter eggs and background stuff I missed on the first viewing that I might catch this time around.

And hopefully no projector going out this time.
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Iowaggie
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In reply to Brian Earl Spilner • 1:40p, 3/30/18
AG
Brian Earl Spilner said:
Think I may do viewing #2 tonight. I feel like there's a lot of easter eggs and background stuff I missed on the first viewing that I might catch this time around.

And hopefully no projector going out this time.



I did not read the book and I enjoyed the movie for all the allusions to 80s and 90s tech pop culture, and as you mention I want to see again to catch motes of them.

Unlike what was mentioned near beginning of thread, I don't think middle schoolers will catch 85% of those references , but those raised in 80s and 90s will.
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wangus12
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2:29p, 3/30/18
AG
Quote:
As an aside, the more I read of Cline the more I think hes just not that strong of a writer and that shows in this screenplay. I've reread RP1 a few times and I find myself being more critical of it.
Same here. I am curious to see what he does with Ready Player Two which he is currently writing. Armada was very meh to me.

Going again to see it tonight and I'm looking forward to it.
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Rule Number 32
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4:17p, 3/30/18
AG
I am shocked that most of the readers of the book didnt like the movie.

Were there things that they changed that they could have left? sure! But in my opinion, they changed things that had to be changed, and most of the things they changed were for the better.

They also threw in some easter eggs for book readers. Did anyone notice the digital port wine stain on Art3mis during the last fight that she added to her avatar? Did anyone notice the tomb of horrors logo on the back of the van? These are things probably going unnoticed by anyone that didnt read it, but I thought they were fun tips of the hat.

I was wondering how they would handle the indentured servitude and assumed they would cut that out of the movie. I didnt mind that change for the most part. It made sense if you werent going to go into the background on all of that, and adding in that her dad died during IS makes sense to me.

Most of you who are complaining are nitpicking a ton of small details. They couldnt have put in 3 more challenges for the gates without going over 3 hours. They maybe could have expanded Og's role (I wish they had - he felt wasted) and they needed to make the stakes a little bigger by showing Wade prior to the first gate. But in my opinion, they did what they could and made a pretty kickass movie based on a more kickass book. I'll probably go back to see it in 3d at some point in time.

I loved it overall. What a ride and a fun movie.
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Brian Earl Spilner
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4:28p, 3/30/18
AG
When Iron Giant died.

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Rocagnante
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5:01p, 3/30/18
AG
Book reader here, but went in with expectations the movie would have a lot changes. Still enjoyed the movie. Watched with my daughter who wants to go into animation/CGI/visualization, so she was blown away (and enjoyed the story as well). Very cool CGI.

I may be the only one but I didn't like The Shining sequence. Looked great but was disjointed to me. Seemed like Spielberg lost a bet to Stephen King and was forced to fit in a movie reference. Perhaps I was biased because I was holding out hope for Holy Grail although I knew that was a long shot (at least they used the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch!).

Very salty over the lack of Rush. At least fit in the song! I dug up a 2112 shirt I haven't worn in a couple of years to wear to the movie and all I get is a bloody poster on the wall?!? (/end rant)

Liked the movie, but will wait until rental to watch again.
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FL_Ag1998
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5:37p, 3/30/18
AG
Just saw it.....give a 7 out of 10 at most.

Overall it was just kind of "meh".

I enjoyed the book, so I was disappointed that the movie was absolutely nothing like it. TCTTS and aTmLoki already did a good job of nailing down the flaws, but really, overall there just wasn't any real heart to the movie, the "villians" (i.e. the stakes the good guys were fighting for) honestly weren't that scary, and the movie did a disservice to the Halliday and Morrow characters.
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KidDoc
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In reply to Rocagnante • 5:43p, 3/30/18
AG
Fogburn95 said:
Book reader here, but went in with expectations the movie would have a lot changes. Still enjoyed the movie. Watched with my daughter who wants to go into animation/CGI/visualization, so she was blown away (and enjoyed the story as well). Very cool CGI.

I may be the only one but I didn't like The Shining sequence. Looked great but was disjointed to me. Seemed like Spielberg lost a bet to Stephen King and was forced to fit in a movie reference. Perhaps I was biased because I was holding out hope for Holy Grail although I knew that was a long shot (at least they used the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch!).

Very salty over the lack of Rush. At least fit in the song! I dug up a 2112 shirt I haven't worn in a couple of years to wear to the movie and all I get is a bloody poster on the wall?!? (/end rant)

Liked the movie, but will wait until rental to watch again.


Aech was wearing a Rush 2112 shirt also.
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Rocagnante
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In reply to KidDoc • 5:52p, 3/30/18
AG
Yes but it was partially hidden so I only give it a 1/2 reference and I rounded down.
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nai06
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5:55p, 3/30/18
AG
Something I've been thinking about since I watched the movie in regards to the gates. The original MS had something like 50 gates and 50 keys. I'm wondering if Cline dusted off some of those and used them in the movie.
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Rocagnante
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In reply to Brian Earl Spilner • 6:06p, 3/30/18
AG
Joust rider when armies charging each other.
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Cinco Ranch Aggie
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6:21p, 3/30/18
AG
Quote:
Very salty over the lack of Rush
Yeah, I noticed that too, especially given the prominence of one of Rush's songs (Tom Sawyer? it's been many years since I listened to that Moving Pictures album) in one of the trailers. But I did notice the shirt and the 2112 poster.
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Yoda
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7:47p, 3/30/18
AG
Took the whole family this afternoon. 3 kids, ages 14 to 8. Everyone had a ball. I have never read the book, so I had no expectations there to miss.



I'll agree with someone else that I kept waiting for that Delorean to fly. In my nerd brain, there were so many characters I was hoping to see pop up, so I'm sad to have not seen:
  • Gen 1 Optimus Prime
  • Silver mask Cobra Commander
  • Any Star Wars vehicles (Luke's speeder would have been great in the car race)
  • KITT
  • Jaws
  • M.A.S.K.
  • Last Starfighter
  • Predator
  • Sloth
  • Scott Howard, aka Teen Wolf
  • Daniel Larusso or Johnny Lawrence
  • Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man

References I appreciated:
  • Was it just me, or did Parzival wear Han Solo's blaster holster?
  • Missed KITT, but pretty sure they gave the Delorean his flashing red hood light
  • The Shining, as many have said. Wow.
  • T2 Iron Giant thumbs up nod
  • Alan Silverstein score and BTTF musical bits
  • Atari 2600
  • Rare Lex Luther Superman quote
  • The Bandit's Trans Am
  • Greatest American hero logo on earphones

Not sure if it was my theaters sound mix, but I never felt like the 80's music was blasted the way it should have been with that audio pushed front and center.

All in all, a darn fun flick that I look forward to seeing again at home with the pause button.
Do, or do not. There is no try.
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Rocagnante
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9:20p, 3/30/18
AG
When Parzival kicked Sorrento in the nuts he used a signature move of Guile from Street Fighter II.

I think. Looked like it. Right after he used a Ryu move.
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