# The Big Bang Theory [02/05/2015] - "The Troll Manifestation"



## ScubaCat (Jun 26, 2003)

And the troll was --SPOILER-- Stephen Hawking.  That was a fun twist.

Sheldon: Professor Hawking?
Professor Hawking: Oh, brother, you should see the look on your faces.
Leonard: You really didn't like our paper?
Professor Hawking: I like your paper very much. The premise is intriguing.
Sheldon: Then why are you attacking us?
Professor Hawking: If you were sitting in a chair for 40 years, you'd get bored, too. Anyway, got to go. I promised to help the neighbor kid with his math homework. Ciao.​


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## loubob57 (Mar 19, 2001)

I knew the troll was going to be somebody famous. I was thinking Buzz Aldrin or Leonard Nimoy. But Hawking makes more sense.


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## markp99 (Mar 21, 2002)

loubob57 said:


> I knew the troll was going to be somebody famous. I was thinking Buzz Aldrin or Leonard Nimoy. But Hawking makes more sense.


Glad it was not Kripke or Wheaton. I think they've worn out those antagonist plotlines.

Img spoiler breaker


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## ScubaCat (Jun 26, 2003)

I was sure it was Kripke and was surprised Sheldon didn't consider that possibility.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

ScubaCat said:


> I was sure it was Kripke and was surprised Sheldon didn't consider that possibility.


That was my thought as well.

Oh, Stephen Hawking, you're such a scamp!

By the way, as one who has been critical of BBT on occasion (cough), I must say this episode was pure gold!


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## ScubaCat (Jun 26, 2003)

Spoilerizing the following BBT news because it deals with a cameo appearance in an upcoming episode.



Spoiler



"EW first reported (Nathan) Fillion will make a cameo appearance on The Big Bang Theory on the Feb. 19th episode when Raj and Leonard spot the mega star sitting in a restaurant. The two will ponder the viability of the discovery  can it really be Nathan Fillion and should they ask for a photo?"


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## alpacaboy (Oct 29, 2004)

ScubaCat said:


> Spoilerizing the following BBT news because it deals with a cameo appearance in an upcoming episode.
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Spoiler



It's hot in here. It must be Nathan.
Or maybe that works better with someone else.


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

ScubaCat said:


> Spoilerizing the following BBT news because it deals with a cameo appearance in an upcoming episode.
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Spoiler



Mega-star?


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

A FB friend spoiled last night's reveal for me by posting a photo of the cast with Dr. Hawking. So I guess I knew who the troll was.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

ScubaCat said:


> Spoilerizing the following BBT news because it deals with a cameo appearance in an upcoming episode.
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Spoiler



Nathan Fillion is a mega star? I'm not even sure I know who he is?


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

Steveknj said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> Nathan Fillion is a mega star? I'm not even sure I know who he is?





Spoiler



He was the captain on Firefly - a very big deal for the boys!


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## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

Steveknj said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> Nathan Fillion is a mega star? I'm not even sure I know who he is?





Spoiler



He is best known for playing Capt. Malcolm Reynolds on _Firefly_ and in the movie _Serenity_. He currently plays Richard Castle on ABC's _Castle_. He's also known for playing:
- the evil preacher Caleb during the final season of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_
- Joey Buchanan on ABC's soap opera _One Life To Live_
- a recurring role on ABC's sitcom _Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place_


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## ireland967 (Feb 27, 2003)

pdhenry said:


> A FB friend spoiled last night's reveal for me by posting a photo of the cast with Dr. Hawking. So I guess I knew who the troll was.


Hawking posted it to his own FB midday yesterday.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

LoadStar said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> Mega-star?





Steveknj said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> Nathan Fillion is a mega star? I'm not even sure I know who he is?





Spoiler



Fillion is a mega-star in sci-fi circles, and thus would be considered a mega-star by Leonard and Raj.


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## Maui (Apr 22, 2000)

I guessed who it may be about half way through the episode when they started discussing the troll and "What have they done?". I thought it would be someone famous and Hawking was the first that came to mind. 

I thought it was a great episode overall. I thought the girls stole the show last night.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

pdhenry said:


> A FB friend spoiled last night's reveal for me by posting a photo of the cast with Dr. Hawking. So I guess I knew who the troll was.


And he's still a friend?


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

I'm surprised they didn't somehow revisit that the inspiration for Leonard's idea started with a discussion with Penny. 

Could you imagine Sheldon having to share credit on a published paper with her?


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## jamesl (Jul 12, 2012)

waynomo said:


> I'm surprised they didn't somehow revisit that the inspiration for Leonard's idea started with a discussion with Penny.
> 
> Could you imagine Sheldon having to share credit on a published paper with her?


ha ha ha ha ha

now that would be a funny episode


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

waynomo said:


> I'm surprised they didn't somehow revisit that the inspiration for Leonard's idea started with a discussion with Penny.
> 
> Could you imagine Sheldon having to share credit on a published paper with her?


Heh. Except she didn't contribute anything. He just had his breakthrough when he was trying (and failing) to explain it in simple terms that he thought (wrongly) she would understand.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

Spoiler



I'll be in my bunk...


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## 59er (Mar 27, 2008)

Maui said:


> I guessed who it may be about half way through the episode when they started discussing the troll and "What have they done?". I thought it would be someone famous and Hawking was the first that came to mind.
> 
> I thought it was a great episode overall. I thought the girls stole the show last night.


I said to my husband, "It's going to be Stephen Hawking" about 15 seconds before the reveal.


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## verdugan (Sep 9, 2003)

This has to be a record for spoilers in a thread.

I agree with Rob. This was a really good episode.

Bernadette's pageant video was funny.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

LoadStar said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Spoiler



No wonder, there's not one show listed that I've ever watched. But is he a mega star? A star, yeah, mega star? Hardly. Yeah, I know, nitpicking again!


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

I thought for a moment that they said that Angie wrote Little House fan fiction.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Steveknj said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> No wonder, there's not one show listed that I've ever watched. But is he a mega star? A star, yeah, mega star? Hardly. Yeah, I know, nitpicking again!





Spoiler



You may need to stop watching BBT if you aren't geeky enough to recognize Nathan Fillion. (Damn, I actually heard my coworker in my head saying "He's dreamy" because she always does when his name is mentioned.)


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

TonyD79 said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> You may need to stop watching BBT if you aren't geeky enough to recognize Nathan Fillion. (Damn, I actually heard my coworker in my head saying "He's dreamy" because she always does when his name is mentioned.)





Spoiler



Since when do you have to be geeky to watch TBBT? I'm sure it's popularity is due to only geeks watching 

BTW, I'm geeky, but not comic book / Sci Fi geeky


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## Ereth (Jun 16, 2000)

Steve,

It doesn't matter if you think anybody is a "mega-star" or not, what matters if if the characters on the show do. And they do. Trust me.



Spoiler



If I had a choice of two competing events, and Brad Pitt were to be at one and Nathan Fillion were at the other, I'd go to the Nathan Fillion event in a heartbeat. And lets go one further.. if there were two competing events and one had Harrison Ford and the other had Nathan Fillion, that would be a VERY hard choice, but I think I'd likely end up at Nathan Fillion's event. I would have to think about it for a while, though.

Remember, it doesn't matter what you think of the person, the show is about THEIR world. And there was an episode a few years ago where they got all freaked out over Summer Glau, who was ALSO on Firefly. The fact that you weren't a Firefly fan surely didn't interfere with that episode, so you'll probably be fine. There have also been many Star Trek guests and even if you aren't a Trek fan, you can appreciate how the boys react.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Penny looks like she's coming off a ten day binge in this photo...



ireland967 said:


>


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## Howie (May 3, 2004)

I guessed Hawking before it was revealed. I think I just remembered that he'd been on there before, at least his "voice" had.


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

TonyD79 said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> You may need to stop watching BBT if you aren't geeky enough to recognize Nathan Fillion. (Damn, I actually heard my coworker in my head saying "He's dreamy" because she always does when his name is mentioned.)





Spoiler



I only know him from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. But I did know that from the name.


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## Craigbob (Dec 2, 2006)

I LOL'd at Bernadette being from Yorba Linda. It's a town I've tended to frequent being it's the next town over from me.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

astrohip said:


> Penny looks like she's coming off a ten day binge in this photo...


Yes, but the real question is: What felonies did she commit (besides chopping her hair) during her ten-day bender?


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## teknikel (Jan 27, 2002)

Can't believe I haven't looked at one spoiler!


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## Donbadabon (Mar 5, 2002)

ireland967 said:


> Hawking posted it to his own FB midday yesterday.


This pic must be from his previous visit. Penny has hair, and I read that he filmed his scenes from his home in England.


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## replaytv (Feb 21, 2011)

waynomo said:


> I'm surprised they didn't somehow revisit that the inspiration for Leonard's idea started with a discussion with Penny.


I think all the talk of attempted coitus on the table spurred Leonards' mind into overdrive, so he looked 'outside the box', (or maybe he was looking into the box) ....Anyway....... So even though Pennys' brain didn't add anything to the theory, her loins did.

I think that is why Einstein was able to figure out so much about the universe. He had so many 'loins' spurring him on.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/13804030/...t/new-letters-shed-light-einsteins-love-life/



verdugan said:


> I agree with Rob. This was a really good episode.
> 
> Bernadette's pageant video was funny.


:up:
I loved the episode! 
Every segment on what the girls were ashamed of was great. But I am still waiting to hear the end of the 'Little House on the Prairie' . 
I was hoping the vanity card would tell, but he was only blabbering on about something after smoking some Maui Woowie, just imported from Denver.



astrohip said:


> Penny looks like she's coming off a ten day binge in this photo...


But I loved her hair. Oh, that is because she _has _hair in that old photo, but now she is neutered.



DevdogAZ said:


> Yes, but the real question is: What felonies did she commit (besides chopping her hair) during her ten-day bender?


She does look a little spacey, but her hair makes up for it.


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## TIVO_GUY_HERE (Jul 10, 2000)

I was thinking the same thing (without noticing Pennys hair), no reason for him to actually be on the set.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

JYoung said:


> I thought for a moment that they said that Angie wrote Little House fan fiction.


You mean Amy? What did they say? That WAS Little House era, wasn't it??


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## murgatroyd (Jan 6, 2002)

Ereth said:


> Steve,
> 
> It doesn't matter if you think anybody is a "mega-star" or not, what matters if if the characters on the show do. And they do. Trust me.
> 
> ...


Ah, but ....



Spoiler



... what if Harrison Ford was at an event where someone was going to interview him about his flying?


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

I often watch the guys, and find the girls to be afterthoughts. 

This episode was the opposite. The girls were hilarious. The guys were kinda dumb, with an obvious plot twist. But I'd rewatch the show in reruns just for the girls...


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## dbranco (Nov 20, 2003)

59er said:


> I said to my husband, "It's going to be Stephen Hawking" about 15 seconds before the reveal.


My husband and I try REALLY hard not to do this. Sometimes we fail. Hope you're still married.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

teknikel said:


> Can't believe I haven't looked at one spoiler!





Spoiler



But you know you want to.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

mattack said:


> You mean Amy? What did they say? That WAS Little House era, wasn't it??


No, I was talking about Angie, who I thought watched this show.


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## JustAllie (Jan 5, 2002)

astrohip said:


> Penny looks like she's coming off a ten day binge in this photo...


Yeah, but so does Stephen Hawking.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Oh, and today is the birthday of Laura Ingalls Wilder.


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## ct1 (Jun 27, 2003)

I was at an in-person event with Hawking. When he talked about his various cameo appearances (mainly Simpsons) his eyes lit up. It was pretty incredible..


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## Turtleboy (Mar 24, 2001)

ct1 said:


> I was at an in-person event with Hawking. When he talked about his various cameo appearances (mainly Simpsons) his eyes lit up. It was pretty incredible..


My favorite is when Data was playing poker in the Holodeck with Hawking, Einstein, and Newton.


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## hummingbird_206 (Aug 23, 2007)

teknikel said:


> Can't believe I haven't looked at one spoiler!


+1. I was for sure the troll was Kripke or Leslie. Very happy that I was surprised by Hawking. Made me realize I don't want to see any other casting spoilers for this show.

I thought the entire ep was great. I almost always think the scenes with the girls are the best parts, but for this ep, it was all great!


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## hummingbird_206 (Aug 23, 2007)

Oh, and I was a little bit surprised that there wasn't an argument about whose name went first on the paper.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

hummingbird_206 said:


> Oh, and I was a little bit surprised that there wasn't an argument about whose name went first on the paper.


Considering that Sheldon is Sheldon, and that he did the math and wrote the paper by himself, I'd say Leonard knew better than even to try!


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## stellie93 (Feb 25, 2006)

This is all over my head, but I thought the idea was all Leonard and Sheldon basically did the grunt work to present it. Plus since he's smarter than Leonard, Leonard probably wouldn't have been sure enough of himself to present it without him. I thought Leonard was just skipping the endless arguing which would have ended up with Sheldon's name first--it's probably in the roommate agreement that any idea formulated in the apartment has Sheldon's name first.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

The difference between a cool idea and a scientific theory is the math. There's no way of knowing whether there's anything to the cool idea until you've done the math.

Leonard came up with a cool idea. Sheldon turned it into a scientific theory.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Leonard did do the initial math when explaining his idea to Sheldon but Sheldon took it farther.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Leonard hypothesized and Sheldon proved it. 

Actually, I was more surprised that Sheldon didn't try to put only his name on it. He was truly engaged with Leonard the whole episode.


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## teknikel (Jan 27, 2002)

My first thought was that it was Kripke but then I remembered, it's February! Still doing sweeps. sigh.


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## bobcarn (Nov 18, 2001)

JYoung said:


> Leonard did do the initial math when explaining his idea to Sheldon but Sheldon took it farther.


Yeah. It was a very good insight from Leonard, who then explained it to Sheldon with the preliminary math. I thought it was nice that they both just jumped together on it with no fuss.

And I didn't foresee Hawking. I thought it would just turn out to be some 12-year-old kid yanking their chain or something. I laughed my butt off when I saw it was him.

I laughed when Amy told Penny "Good luck finding it" and Penny had it up before she finished typing.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

teknikel said:


> My first thought was that it was Kripke but then I remembered, it's February! Still doing sweeps. sigh.


What difference if sweeps if they don't advertise the appearance? It had nothing to do with sweeps.


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## teknikel (Jan 27, 2002)

TonyD79 said:


> What difference if sweeps if they don't advertise the appearance? It had nothing to do with sweeps.


You're probably right. I didn't know it wasn't promoted so that wasn't a factor in my thinking.

And, promoted or not, I see it as, "It's just what broadcast networks do." They can't help themselves. Nov, Feb and May= Special Guest Star.

Why have sweeps at all in this day and age?

That wasn't the sole reason I came to that conclusion. Another was the length of time they went without revealing who it was made me think it would be some sort of guest star.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

teknikel said:


> You're probably right. I didn't know it wasn't promoted so that wasn't a factor in my thinking. And, promoted or not, I see it as, "It's just what broadcast networks do." They can't help themselves. Nov, Feb and May= Special Guest Star. Why have sweeps at all in this day and age? That wasn't the sole reason I came to that conclusion. Another was the length of time they went without revealing who it was made me think it would be some sort of guest star.


The joke would have little impact if it were revealed early. The build up is what made it pay off. BBT has pretty regularly had science and science fiction guest stars without fanfare about it or being sweeps oriented. And no "very special episodes."


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## DancnDude (Feb 7, 2001)

Ironically, the pic in this thread of Hawking shows up in the thread list on tapatalk spoiling the surprise.


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## teknikel (Jan 27, 2002)

TonyD79 said:


> The joke would have little impact if it were revealed early. The build up is what made it pay off. BBT has pretty regularly had science and science fiction guest stars without fanfare about it or being sweeps oriented. And no "very special episodes."


The joke would have had much less impact if it was Kripke, Leslie or some unknown character and not a special guest star.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

teknikel said:


> The joke would have had much less impact if it was Kripke, Leslie or some unknown character and not a special guest star.


Of course. I was addressing your assertion that the length of the reveal meant it was a guest star. They would have delayed even if Kripke. The two factors are independent of each other.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

DancnDude said:


> Ironically, the pic in this thread of Hawking shows up in the thread list on tapatalk spoiling the surprise.


I'm not sure that is irony, but it does suck.

I'm not sure why Tapatalk keeps the picture even though it's no longer the last post. My guess is it's the last post with a picture.

ETA: Let's see if I can fix that by inserting another image. I was going to select a really hot picture of Penny, but then I didn't want to upset our overlord moderators.


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## teknikel (Jan 27, 2002)

TonyD79 said:


> Of course. I was addressing your assertion that the length of the reveal meant it was a guest star. They would have delayed even if Kripke. The two factors are independent of each other.


Look. for brevity, I didn't put my whole thought process into my initial statement. But this also was a part of it.

If it is Kripke et. al., then the joke is not as good. So I eliminated that group and went with guest star. Plus, it's February. Plus, who knows what else? Now, I didn't know it would be Hawking but he was a candidate.

This is the best guess of of how my brain worked it out. It may not be complete or or even logical but it is the best way I can explain it. It may not work for others.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

Using that picture didn't change anything on Tapatalk. I guess it uses the first image used. Nothing I could do about that.

It does suck. Although spoilers are allowed in episode threads it sucks that the images show up when browsing the thread topics.


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## markp99 (Mar 21, 2002)

waynomo said:


> Using that picture didn't change anything on Tapatalk. I guess it uses the first image used. Nothing I could do about that.
> 
> It does suck. Although spoilers are allowed in episode threads it sucks that the images show up when browsing the thread topics.


Inserted the image up-thread 

...to no avail. That image still appears for me on Tapatalk


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

markp99 said:


> Inserted the image up-thread
> 
> ...to no avail. That image still appears for me on Tapatalk


And since Tapatalk lists the posters username it looks like you posted the spoiler pic. Of course now once I post this it will look like it's me.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

The more I read about Tapatalk, the happier I am that I still use Forum Runner, even with its various problems.


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

DevdogAZ said:


> The more I read about Tapatalk, the happier I am that I still use Forum Runner, even with its various problems.


I have both, and I regularly try Tapatalk, only to go back to FR every time, warts and all.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

DevdogAZ said:


> The more I read about Tapatalk, the happier I am that I still use Forum Runner, even with its various problems.


I have very few problems with forum runner. If it ain't broke, I will continue to use it.


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## Ereth (Jun 16, 2000)

Question: what's wrong with just using the mobile browser? I read this forum just fine on either Safari or Chrome on my iPad.


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

Ereth said:


> Question: what's wrong with just using the mobile browser? I read this forum just fine on either Safari or Chrome on my iPad.


Using the apps is MUCH faster.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Ereth said:


> Question: what's wrong with just using the mobile browser? I read this forum just fine on either Safari or Chrome on my iPad.


As eddy said, the user experience with the apps is significantly better, and there's no zooming to read tiny print or trying to click on buttons that are easy to hit with a mouse on a 24" monitor, but are only a couple of pixels square on a 4.3" iPhone screen. And that doesn't even address the inadvertent clicks on threads or other things when you're trying to zoom or scroll.


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