#REVERSE MICROAGRESSION

[badpoetryboi]

“alright, so your girlfriend is missing—”“boyfriend, actually” TOOK ME OUT

[luci-j]

Since I talked about Gideon and Pyko, I wanted to back up and talk about Dartha a little bit.

I had a lot of ideas for her, including a Lassorian but bigger, but there was something amusing about her being her like, some lady in yoga pants. She is that lady at Starbucks who is being passive aggressive to the barista. She is in a Hobby Lobby bickering over prices. She is the worst and a kind of worst people tend to recognize.

I have a background in management, and at her base, she's based on toxic management. She knows just the right words to not cross certain lines, but her contempt for those who helped make her money is palpable. She works microagressions and mean humor.

So why dolls? Her concept was reverse-engineered. I pictured her as a Z-List villain from some forgotten back issue of Rocket Raccoon comics, like some little old lady with an army of robot dolls. And then the thought was "what would that translate to in the 2020s"? So a maniac with an obsession for dolls was born! Also, in my real life, I'm a doll collector, and that can be an insane world to be a part of.

She has no sad backstory; her family was supportive and successful, she has no trauma to speak of. She's just a bully who is creative, smart, and capable, and finds treating living beings like playthings *fun*. At her core Dartha is like most bullies -- pretty spineless! So her true form is based on a banana slug. This is based on a real mascot for a college, the Banana slugs.

Dartha was originally supposed to meet her end, but she was well recieved, I had fun with her, she was well received, and after an afternoon of watching "Bluey" with my nieces, specifically some Muffin-heavy episodes, I realized there's things worse than death. Namely, being cared for by a small and enthusiastic child. It's everything someone like her deserves.

[ro-presents-under-the-nola-stars]

IN DEPTH TRIGGER WARNINGS

A broken down, full list of triggers for this story. Some of the content will be explicit, many will be referenced. If anything is missed, feel free to let me know.

domestic violence (such as punching, slapping, choking, hair pulling, throwing objections, choking/strangulation, biting, forced alcohol consumption, forcible sexual assault, ignoring reversal of consent, unwanted breeding, kicking/stomping, denial of medical care, setting fire to belongings/clothing or to their person (hair), heavy manipulation, intimidation, threatening to kill partner, threatening to harm self, threats to family members, diminishing of abilities and undermining achievements, degrading/insults, mild poisoning, cutting). stalking, breaking and entering, violation of a court order, grooming of a minor, abuse of a minor, ephebophilia, illegal age gap, gang related murders (direct hits, drive by shootings etc), gun violence (random shootings over games/sports, school related shootings, etc), fighting, drug usage, underage drinking, underage drug usage, serial murders and case details (such as torture, pedophilia, drowning, person hunting, stabbing, arson, cannibalism, ennucliation, etc). hate crimes.

lust (such as thoughts, intentions). mild, public displays of sexuality or sensuality (such as provocative dancing, making out, groping. and general PDA). explicit sexual content (such as vaginal fingering, cunnilingus, fellatio to a strap on, penetrative sex via strap on, scissoring/tribbing, masturbation, squirting and clit play), kinks (kinda but not exactly*) (breeding kink, praise kink, mild exhibitionism, overstimulation kink, roleplaying, marking, usage of aphrodisiacs, tantric sex -- *these things are not engaged with thru the lens of "kink" but they are technically there if u squint/think about it)

pregnancy & child birth (incl. pregnancy complications, miscarriages, birthing complications, near death experiences), serious and/or terminal illnesses (such as cancer, dementia, heart disease, sickle cell anemia, etc.) disability (such as deafness/HoH, epilepsy, paralyisis, dyslexia, etc). mental health (anxiety, depression, postpartum depression, PTSD, bipolar disorders, etc). neurodivergence (such as autism, ADHD, etc).

profanity & crude language (such as the usage of slurs in ways not intending harm, like reclamation). racism (such as racial profiling, racial harassment incl. the usage of slurs with harmful intent, racially motivated police neglect, microagressions, harmful stereotypes, hostile environments bcus of race, racially motivated medical malpractice). queerphobia (such as lesbophobia (both internalized and experienced), biphobia, transphobia (both internalized and experienced, misgendering, specific discrimination against nonbinary/gender conforming individuals), youth conversion therapy, slurs with harmful intent, threats), misogyny & sexism (such as slut shaming, promotion of rape culture, victim blaming, sexist language & insults, undermining achievements on account of womanhood), ableism, (discrimination against various disabilities & lack of accessible spaces), religion (such as religious blasphemy, discrimination on account of religious/spiritual practices, usage of religion to justify discrimination and hate). character suicide, abandonment of a legal aged child.

[rosetyler42]

@lovelylivelyv YES! THANK YOU! That's part of my argument with the "Drac said he'd never leave Mavis to travel the world with Ericka, leaves for a year. *Agatha Harkness Wink* What a hypocrite" meme. I mean, to be fair, Drac does have his moments of hypocrisy. But Mavis does too. And she's ALOT less aware of them than Drac is. AND, not only THAT, but in the end of HT1, alternate openings for HT2 and in some of the art done on the film, Mavis left with Johnny for a while to go traveling. And yet she's worried about Drac leaving? I know it's different when it's basically a long vacation vs a permanent thing (which is what Mavis was worried about) and it's a way of playing with amatonormativity and putting romantic relationships first, but still. In addition to the fact the guy's been running a hotel for years and has earned the chance to get out and see the world for a while and it's a show of trust for him to leave them to rebuild the hotel without him there to nitpick...it's not like Mavis didn't do the EXACT same things.

To a CERTAIN extent, that reversal/parallel is kind of the POINT of HT3, where now she's the protective/possessive one trying to get in the way of Drac and Ericka's romance, much like he was trying to get in the way of her and Johnny's to protect her and keep her from leaving in HT1. But coming on the heels of HT2, it does paint her as a bit of a hypocrite. HOWEVER, at least in HT3, she does ultimately realize she was wrong and try to make amends. Which...doesn't really happen in HT2.

Note: The reason she moves to California is Johnny's family is there and thus they'd have a support structure there (not much of one, as we see, but it exists.) She did have an understandable REASON to pick Santa Cruz, that doesn'r really bother me. It's the moving away from the only family Dennis has known to a place where not only does he not know anyone, but both he and her would be subject to microagressions + bullying, just because she wanted to compensate for her upbringing against humans and wanted to fit in with them that bother me.

Just watched hotel Transylvania 2 and it was good up until Denise got his fangs. It undermined the whole arc of accepting him as a human. Kinda like in my hero academia Miro lost his quirk while saving Eri, however he later returns with his quirk that was restored by the person he sacrificed it to save. The sacrifice means less because it was only temporary and could be seen as taking advantage of Eris gratitude

[walkingstackofbooks]

DS9 2x05 Melora thoughts (rewatching; spoilers for future episodes possibly included) Admittedly, I'm Not Looking Forward To This, iirc it's pretty cringe... welp let's go

Ughhhh the "she's extraordinary" type of ableism, not a good start... And just Julian being weirdly into her from a medical pov, are these the same writers who wrote Geordie being creepily into Leah without ever meeting her?I

t is very, very good that she's allowed to be angry about microagressions though. She's not particularly likeable but that's not a bad thing, and he's allowed to explain herself to Sisko and to us. Evenif not intentional, I think this is a good way to challenge viewers and make us sit in some discomfort if that makes sense?

I get where you're coming from, Melora, but surely you must understand that working as a team is something important for all Starfleet personnel to have to do?

Not a fan of Julian just going into her room, and I don't know how to feel about the way he's taking to her - it kind of feels intrusive but it is also genuinely friendly and also very normal, he is just treating her like anyone else (that he has a crush on) (he has a crush on everyone though right?)

I can't say I'm a fan of the romance subplot, but I think that's because it feels rushed - which is honestly any Star Trek romance with a one-off character. She clearly likes getting to know him too, I do not think he's taking advantage in any way?

I LOVE her "I can't eat this Julian" *proceeds to rant in Klingon*. She played him well, she knew exactly what she was doing. 👌👌 She'd get on well with Jadzia

Ooh, interesting to hear Julian's backstory pre-augment-reveal. It really does mesh.

("I heard the ball go past me and I realised I wasn't good enough to play tennis properly" ...or you realised you wouldn't be able to disguise how good you were?)

She's so graceful :3 It is sweet they both get to laugh at how clumsy Julian is, I actually really like this scene and the role-reversal. It's obvious, but nice?

Honestly the real villain of this is Cardassion architecture. But also sucks that Starfleet have been here a year and it's not accessible yet? Some future utopia...

I really hope that information was told before she started the treatment, seems pretty important to only be telling her now?! I'm guessing for dramatic effect?

Yeah, I'm okay with them getting together actually, it's less creepy than I remember. If it wasn't a quick-one-shot-romance I don't think there'd be anything wrong with Julian being her doctor - he's everyone's doctor on the station. It's just more noticeable because her plot centres so heavily around having medical needs and the romance is side-by-side the treatment.

I know it's 'cause they have to fit it in an episode, but Julian's far too prone to rushing into medical treatment too quickly when he's excited to try it out. I don't think he's pressuring her exactly, I just wish we saw more of the explanations because it feels like everything is far too quick. A decision like this shouldn't be made straight away!

Ohh, at least he's checking in - "If you're not certain..." "I am." *doubt* "Tell me exactly what you're feeling." And it seems like the gravity thing *was* discussed pre-treatment I guess.

Hmmmm this feels very "disabled people need to be fixed and can't have independence if they're not able-bodied" idk...

I'm fairly certain she doesn't die? But I will be PISSED if she does.

Oooh, I was worried she was going to save the day by forcing herself to her limits within gravity, or not be able to save them and be like "if only my legs worked like a high-gravity humanoid". But no, she changed the fight to be on her terms! Nice!

"Maybe independence isn't all it's cracked up to be. I kind of like how it feels to depend on someone for a change." This is actually such a good ending though??

So it was a bit bumpy at times, but not NEARLY as bad as I thought it would be. Honestly, I like them as a couple. Most of my complaints come from it being a lots-of-time-needed-plot being squished into one episode - can you imagine how good this could have been over a few episodes with a regular character, and romance only starting *after* the self-acceptance?

[bisexualhobi]

212 mass shootings this year, the most recent one at an elementary school. Those babies, 7 to 10 years old and a couple of teachers got mutilated. Some were so bad they were unrecognizable and had to use their relative's dna to identify them. 10 years since sandy hook, another elementary school shooting and nothings changed. In fact, texas just made it easier to buy military grade weapons.

The supreme court overturning roe vs wade, which is controlling women's bodies and in the future could reverse legalization of gay marriage, interracial marriage, banning contraception, the list goes on and on.

A state just passed something where they say life begins at conception, which means no abortions. It's illegal, yet we have a baby formula shortage and babies are in the hospital malnourished because they literally cannot be fed. What happened when everyone went out in the streets to protest against police brutality and having to shout "black lives matter" and to literally fight to stop black people from being killed just because of skin color? What did they do? Nothing! Pro life my fucking ass.

So what does the president do? Invite a kpop group? Are we serious right now? Asian americans HAVE been attacked and HAVE been victims of hate crimes and microagressions and it only sky rocketed when covid hit. A man who watched asian p*rn went to a restaurant and killed asian women. Fetishization is huge (and really disgusting) and will literally get you killed. If the president wants to address it, that's great! But why are bringing a non asian american group here to talk about hate crimes? Yes, bts have had a shit ton of racist shit thrown at them. But they dont live here. They will never be victims of hate crimes. They get to go back to their country where they live such a privileged life and are the majority (asian). They dont have to worry about it and they wont experience it. Get asian americans to do it. If you want a celeb, get, idk, fucking eric nam to do it then (lmfaooo?????). They have to live here every single day and endure microaggressions and worry about being victims of hate crimes because of the amount of racism and fetishization towards them. Have a group of asian americans stand up there with the president and talk about this if he really wants to make an impact, not a kpop group who probably wont even serve their own country when it's mandated. Idk. Im very angry and upset these days and it probably shows in this post.

yeah you sound very angry and it's 100% valid. you are right to be upset and i can't begin to imagine what it's like because i don't live in the US and i'm not a minority where i live. I'm really sorry and i sympathize with you though.

as the previous asked said the bright side here is at least this will spark a conversation and at least bts with their enormous popularity will give a platform to this discussion. but do not forget to hold the government and the people in charge accountable and don't let your love for bts blind you either, hold them and hybe accountable too! those are my two cents, as a person who is neither asian nor an immigrant nor a US resident.

[boatcats]

Thanks, @hsavinien for tagging me!

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favourite authors!

Favourite Opening Line:

Before they had horses, they walked, barely speaking to each other. Mercy. TOG (Nicky and Joe early days fic).

I like that this starts in media res and that it sets the mood and the time period for the story.

Patterns:

My opening lines have gotten shorter with time. I also tried to somewhat imitate the style of the original work (with varying degrees of success). I’m not including my Tumblr fic on here so that skews the sample. In reverse chrono order: 

Nicky woke slowly. Nowhere to Be. TOG.

Joe cried himself to sleep after. Pendulum. TOG.

It was just starting to rain when Nile made it back to the house.  Peace. TOG (and technically also probably the only fic in the Nonviolent Communication fandom).

Nile had been told she had a lot of emotional intelligence. The Old Guard Holiday Special. TOG.

"Nile, you're with Nicky," Andy had told her. Healing Is a Verb like Trust. TOG.

"Lie down in case you faint," Archie said, arranging himself cross-legged on the ground and taking Lymond's arm into his lap with practiced practicality. Ithaca. Lymond Chronicles.

Perhaps it was the wind that woke her, a winter storm rattling their bedroom windows and sending sleet in waves against the glass. And the Firmament. Lymond Chronicles.

The wake of the battle was tightly controlled chaos. In the Aftermath. Queen’s Thief.

Cassian Andor learned to hide early in life. A Set of Instructions for Love and Grief. Star Wars. 

Cassian was glad that Edvald Tlithe ran a safehouse for rebels on Coruscant. Microagressions: A Star Wars Story or  Inter(planetary)sectionality. Star Wars.

Early on Christmas morning, Enjolras woke to snow - large flakes spun lazily down outside the window, and the air in the bedroom had a chill and a metallic smell to it that suggested the snow had been falling for some time. Let’s Go Back to Bed. Les Mis.

"The object of my affection," Combeferre began, leaving his seat to take a turn about the room, "The object. The object of my affection. My affections - ah." Upon Viewing the Matter Objectively. Les Mis & Pride and Prejudice crossover.

It was eleven o’clock on a rainy Paris night – eleven o'clock exactly, and the night was so rainy that the city and its environs seemed swallowed up in wind and water. My Friends Are My Republic. Les Mis. My first published fic --ah!

If any of these fics seem interesting, feel free to hit me up on AO3.

Tagging @stripedroseandsketchpads @erinaceina-blog @notasapleasure @robertawickham @spacesweepers @emjee And YOU, dear reader, if you wanna!

[hathsinners]

og skam s4 was painful and not in the good way. sana deserved so so much better than friends that said they didnt like her anymore and never apologised for that. they never tried to understand her. i think thats why im still hopeful with skam france. theyve gone so hard on the girls microagressions that i cant see them brushing it under the carpet anymore like in og. jamila talked about her friends not trying to understand her so the girls will definitely have to eventually, i hope

Hi! Exactly. Sana is my favourite character that’s why I loved season 4 and tried to enjoy it as well as I could, but it was truly awful on several levels. It never sat well with me the fact that neither the girls nor Isak ever apologised to Sana, she never get closure when we saw how much she loved her friends and how affected she was by them shrugging her off. That’s why I’m rooting for Skamfr S4 as well, because as you said they really made the micro aggressions clear, there are no doubts left that the girls are have been failing Imane from the start. I do hope Jamila speech was a foreshadowing to what is going to happen but in reverse and with Imane having her happy ending at the end!

[mordcore]

i think they/we are actually well aware of microagressions being a vehicle for racism, but people who don't want to be racist, already don't perceive themselves as racist so by reverse logic if ur not racist the things you say can't be racist.

it's because of a very black-and-white kindergarten understanding of racism. if "a racist" is nothing short of a literal nazi and you* are not that then you can't be racist. right?

but if "a racist" is a broader category then you might be in there actually and that's uncomfortable because you know being "a racist" is bad.

i have an even better idea though: if you don't make it about what you are but about individual actions, then you could take criticism and do less racisms without your ego getting in the way, that would be cool right?

*= general you, directed at fellow white people

I think for a lot of white people, when you call them out on their casual racism (microagressions and non-overt things), they see it as a case of hurt feelings from your point of view as opposed to a discussion of harmful practices that aid the vehicle of racism. So in response, they take it as a personal attack, rather than a learning experience, and go on the defensive by bringing up a time that you made them upset as leverage. Or they defend their actions by doubling down on the behavior at hand and dismissing your criticism as over sensitivity and emphasizing their “harmless” intent. And I think that is one of the reasons why it’s so hard to address casual and interpersonal racism with the general white population (and also other poc tbh).

[zippers]

just discovered that if you have more than three pronouns in your bio, my gut reaction is to assume you're a transphobic troll. 2013 tumblr was a rough place. i think i committed a "reverse microagression" against this oblivious trans kid by thinking they are a conservative in disguise.

[samtheflamingomain]

the fractured but decent

I just finished the new South Park game, The Fractured But Whole, so naturally, I want to pick apart every detail and review it in disgusting depth.

It might seem unfair to compare it to Stick of Truth, but I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of that.

Obviously, I'm a huge SP fanboy, and had been following the release of the game months beforehand. I watched an interview with Matt and Trey, and they gave a lot of insight into the game, how it would be different from SoT, and how it would be similar. That too will play into my analysis.

Obviously, spoilers ahead.

Let's divide this up for clarity. I'll go through general gameplay, plot, side quests and collectibles, mechanics/UI, and general thoughts, in that order.

Gameplay is a vague term so let's subdivide that: combat, powers, effects and exploration.

Combat is decent. I prefer the system set up in SoT, but the new system has its pros. I like the grid, moving around, and how your stats effect where you can move on the battleground. For example, Clyde has such a high "movement" stat that he can move almost anywhere on the grid.

But it can also get frustrating and confusing. Sometimes there's so many players on the board that moving becomes impossible. Sometimes you're stuck with combat buddies that can't attack, and sometimes it's unclear as to what the board will look like after your turn. For example, knockbacks and moves that change your location aren't always obvious as to how they’ll play out.

Finally, "inspection mode". It's meant to be used to get details on your friends and foes in battle, like their class, their health, and, most confusingly, their status effects and durations thereof. I never used it, and I think it just served to make combat more confusing.

Powers, I'll admit, kinda suck. Once you reach a point in the game where, for some back-assward reason, you unlock ALL POSSIBLE POWERS, it becomes a game of making a goddamn spreadsheet to weigh the pros and cons of more than 15 powers to decide which 4 you can have active in combat. Now, they give us a bit of help by allowing you to switch powers and buddies before a battle, but taking 20 minutes to pick your best powers beforehand is tedious, but also, unfortunately, necessary.

Also, they aren't very interesting or varied. Most powers involve a punch or hit, but there's like 8 of them that are basically the same. A lot don't make sense for their class, while others are completely useless. Finally, fuck all the healing powers. If you've got Kyle on your team, he's 50% a healer, so you have 2 (very weak) moves to use to deal damage. The healing items are much more effective, at least in my opinion.

Effects. What I mean by that is "Might", stats, and "artifacts". This is a lot of convoluted spreadsheet math again. There's hundreds of items that you can stick in your stats to improve your "Might". This is very hard to explain and even harder to balance.

Say you have six slots. There's more than 100 things that can go in those slots. Some of them improve your health stat, but eliminate your ability to move. Some of them downgrade your buddies' health while increasing your damage dealt. There's a total of (I think) 12 stats that can be affected by these "artifacts". Each one is assigned a number, and adding up all these numbers gives you your "Might" - which I still don't understand what, if anything, this means.

Exploration. Very little has changed since SoT in this department except there's fewer fast-travel locations, a slightly bigger map, and more (and better) puzzles throughout the world. One of my gripes would be the uselessness of many locations - a good 50% of the buildings or locations are only relevant once, and there's no need to revisit them later. (Canada, Mephesto's, the strip club, the Italian restaurant, City Wok, and U-Stor-It just to name a few).

But like I said, the puzzles are quite good, and actually challenging at times. Sometimes it involves spotting something a buddy can knock over, or noticing a little pinwheel that can get you on top of buildings. With the addition of the fart powers (reverse, pause, summon self and shift night/day), these puzzles are more complex and often have multiple steps involved.

Alright, onto the plot. I think it's much better than SoT. It starts out similar, with one faction of kids against the other, then brought together to fight a bigger foe. But they did this in a better, funnier, and ultimately more effective way, in my opinion.

For example, what seems like a silly side-quest leads to Stan (from the other faction) helping your faction, which then leads to both groups joining once they discover something bigger going on.

Now, this "bigger thing" is pretty confusing, especially at first. There's a lot of parts that don't seem to match up. The mayor is apparently failing the city, the cops are working for a racist slime monster (literally), and the sixth-graders are hoarding cats. It eventually comes together: the town is falling apart due to the main foe putting cat urine into the city's drugs and alcohol in order to cause chaos to usurp the mayor's seat. A lot of random groups get involved, like the sixth graders and Butters, to try and capitalize on the situation.

Which brings me to the second half of the game, where, in my opinion, a lot of comedic gold is made without it relying too much on nostalgia and throwbacks to the show. Mitch Conner, the main bad guy, is a joke I've never found particularly funny in the show, but in the game, it was easily one of the smartest moves they made.

"Mitch" (Cartman's hand puppet) kidnaps your parents in order to get you to help him win the mayoral race. As soon as this is revealed, all the characters react as they should: by blaming Cartman. No matter how much he insists "Mitch" is acting on his own, independent of himself, everyone turns on Cartman and he goes into hiding.

This, to me, is a much better way of bringing the plot together than in SoT, where the main villain's (Clyde’s) motivation is not very clear or believable. When we see "Mitch's" motivation for becoming mayor (to make every day Christmas), it's so absurd and Cartman-like that it works incredibly well.

And probably the funniest part of the game, right at the end, is when suddenly Mitch Conner takes over Kyle's hand. It makes no sense, but after the entire problem being blamed on Cartman, it takes a hilarious turn, suggesting that maybe Cartman really wasn't really behind everything after all.

And finally, the last battle. There's a bit of bullshit about going forward and back in time, but it ultimately leads to a hilarious battle where the characters fight themselves from the past - when they were still "playing" Stick of Truth. SuperCraig fights Thief Craig, Human Kite Kyle fights High Jew Elf Kyle and et cetera. There was also a great throwaway line from Wendy: "Hey, now I finally get to play Stick of Truth!"

Onto side quests and collectibles. I've stuck these together because they're pretty much the same. There's only maybe 8 side quests, and almost all of them are just "collect X and return to character Y". There's a lot to be desired in that department, in my opinion, but there is some good stuff in the "filling out your character sheet" plotline. Like the farting-flying-unicorn minigame where you help Kanye West's mother reach heaven so you can meet Jesus and choose your religion. Or when you have to learn about microagressions from PC Principal to choose your race.

As for the collectibles themselves, they're a bit much. Collect Yaoi, toilets, artifacts, costumes, Memberberries, Coonstagram followers, character sheets, cats. But that's up to you to care which achievements you pursue.

Now, mechanics and UI. This is the one category I will unapologetically shit on till the cows come home, with the exception of the phone menu, which is actually a very smart way to organize the massive amount of UI in place.

The artifact menu is a mess. It's confusing and frustrating. Same with the powers menu. Very hard to navigate intelligently. Props to the crafting menu, which is rather straightforward. But outside of the phone, the simple act of pulling up the map, seeing your quests and seeing your progress on those quests is very much lacking.

It gets even worse when we get into combat UI. When it's your turn, you get to choose between your three powers and healing items. It's actually somewhat trial-and-error when you go for an attack. Which power is most effective, and from which position on the board? It's a good thing it's turn-based and not timed, because I often found myself spending a good minute or two testing out every possible move.

And I'd be amiss if I didn't talk buddies. There's waaaay too many, and it's pretty easy to see the best ones and never change them: Wendy, Tweek, Cartman and Clyde were my team for the entire game, because nearly all the others have massive, gaping flaws in their combat abilities. For example, Stan only has two good moves, and they're very situation-dependent. They only help if he's in a specific spot and the enemies are lined up perfectly. He, along with Kyle, Kenny and Jimmy, are pretty useless.

Finally, general thoughts. Obviously, no matter my gripes, it's a great game. It's got enough from the last game and enough from the show to make it work. I found it much funnier than the last game, but, and here's one of my biggest problems with it: it was very short.

This brings me back to when I watched Matt and Trey talk about the game pre-release. They specifically said that this game would be longer. It only took me 20 hours to finish the main plotline AND all the side quests and collectibles. The last game took me nearly 30 hours just to finish the main quest. 

Also, they said the combat would be harder. It’s definitely more confusing and convoluted, but overall, it was pretty damn easy, (and I played on the hardest setting), and I only died maybe three times.

Two of the three fart powers (summon self and switch night/day) are pretty useless; I would've liked more interesting uses for these powers, or, even better, different ones. Reverse time and pause time have great applications in nearly every aspect of gameplay, whereas the other two only get used once or twice in very specific circumstances.

Again, I only gripe because I love the show and the games; I wouldn't put this much thought into it if I didn't. There was a lot that I feel like they missed out on, but there was definitely a lot that they got right. Every building has something to offer, unlike SoT, and there's a lot more in the way of puzzles, characters and overall comedy.

I do hope there'll be another game, but I don't know how that would really happen. If they're going to stick to the RPG genre, well, the kids have only ever played Game of Thrones and superheroes in the show. I don't know that there's another way to do this sort of game.

But hey, as we all know, Matt and Trey are full of surprises.

Stay Greater.

[chantylay]

You seem to be adding things to the discussion that weren't part of it originally. No one said an individual POC coded character has to be some kind of saint and always a victim. What was said was that shit like using orcs as a metaphor for black people in america and having them all be violent thugs who formerly oppressed humans (Bright being the film I'm choosing to call out here) kinda makes them a bad metaphor for black people in America.

Of course individual characters should be individuals. You can have bad guys of color without being racist (just watch for when all of your bad guys are racially coded and your good guys are mostly white coded). And you can have wealthy influential characters be members of a minority group. Hell, more stories probably should do that. That's not what the OP was talking about though.

As a white person: being told I cant dance, cook, or jump doesnt really have the weight behind it to actually land as a microagression. POC being rude to white people as a category isnt going to escalate to the point of actual discrimination against me. They dont have the social clout to do so. If I got murdered by a POC and my race was a suspected factor in my death, cops would tear apart the neighborhood with the highest density of people sharing racial characteristics with my killer. If I shot a POC. I could cry that I was afraid and get a ridiculously light sentence. Like, priviledge is nothing to sneeze at and reverse racism has no bite. Like, I might have hurt feelings if someone called me a cracker but no damage would actually have been done. Affirmative action does not make white people a disadvantaged class, it's just there as a bandaid on a bullet hole solution to centuries of POC and women being excluded from education and employment.

Allegories for racism where the victims had power over or were a threat to the aggressors at any point don’t work as allegories for racism

[zorilleerrant]

how come you get blogs that are like

ableism is so terrible, look at all these microagressions

racism is bad and reverse racism isn’t real

here’s misogyny and here’s how to fix it

let’s fight homophobia, biphobia, aphobia, transphobia, etc.

people need to deal better with body image + fat positivity

classism is destroying the world

xenophobia and its derivatives are gross

we need to fight slutshaming and sex work exclusionism

but then they’re also like

people who have sex in a way I don’t like are terrible and deserve to be shamed out of all spaces in existence and also in real life

people who have thoughts they literally have no control over are terrible people for choosing to have those thoughts and should be locked up

people who like certain kinds of fiction are disgusting and there’s no excuse for them or the fiction they like to exist

[starrynight0612]

I agree with most of what you said. I do believe social interactions need to come naturally but I don’t see inviting other individuals from different races or cultures into your home as trying to be progressive. I see it more as taking the initiative to be open minded like you said towards other cultures. Not to say that there aren’t people who just focus on race to fill that token black or hispanic slot in their friendship circle (though I believe this is rare). Living in a predominantly white state I know that what stops many individuals here is skin color. I’ve had uncomfortable conversations with my friends about race where they admitted to believing black people were all similar to the movies (I kid you not when I tell you I did not graduate with one black person my senior year which was in 2013). To having to dispel a lot of stereotypes because I was the only one in my friend group who grew up in a diverse state. It’s hard to convince people to just give people of different ethnic backgrounds a chance when some people can’t even get past the color divide. 

Funny you mention Mexicans and black individuals. I’m Mexican-American and my best friend is Hatian. Prior to her all my best friends were white or hispanic and I was very nervous about meeting her family and she admitted being nervous to meeting mine. 10 years later and we realize our families have way more in common than they do differences. I get wanting to hang out with certain cultures because it is similar but I think we close ourselves off when we just try to hang out with what is most similar to us and yeah I can admit this isn’t just white individuals. Should hear my family speak about Dominicans (so much cringe). Cultural barriers are hard to break down but they can be enjoyable when you do. I understand some creole now and my dancing has gotten much better. She loves bachata music way more than I do and her IPod is filled with way more Latin music than mine. What I think separates POC from white individuals is our cultures are more likely to focus on the cultural aspect divide and white individuals focus more on the skin color divide. Approaching a black person doesn’t freak me out like it does for some white individuals I know. 

I agree that nitpicking isn’t constructive and there are perfectly reasonable explanations for things like if you come from a largely black town it would be unlikely to have friends of different skin colors as you mentioned. There’s no harm in just asking yourself though if you hear the question because you might realize it is racial bias. If it’s not then kudos for you and you can move on. Self-reflection as you said is important. 

I’ll have to disagree on the “Dear white people” and microagression parts. Do I think it’d be condescending for me to say “Dear black people”? Yup. But that’s because I am white and I inherently have more power than a black person because of my skin color. But when it’s reversed on me what I hear is a call to attention. To  open you ears and JUST LISTEN because getting the person in power to hear and understand is a lot harder than getting them to listen to me. I think people can take it too far with microagressions but I’ve heard so many rude comments related to my sexuality and gender that I know some think isn’t offensive. Like if my husband said get me a sandwich I’ll laugh because I know he doesn’t mean it that way. Then I’ll have a random stranger tell me that “Wow you’re beautiful for a Latina. 🙄

So i follow this mom on IG who talks about money saving tips and grocery shopping tips. You know, typical white mom stuff. What's been interesting though is that her family fosters children and recently they got a newborn who we can't see the face because privacy reasons but you can obviously tell he's black. Her family is Christian, conservative and southern and for the past few months I've been watching them fall in love with this baby. If it weren't for the baby I don't think she would have done what she did.

Today, she started a story series called "Dear White People" and went on to ask when was the last time you invited a black person into your home? It was such a simple question but a powerful one for her followers (majority white) because it actually gets you to think about your daily life and how you act. To not just listen but evaluate small ways you can change your behavior now and open your heart.

I flinched because I already knew she was going to get backlash and I didn't want her to get scared by her followers as she relies on them for income. I gave her my support and reminded her that us white individuals are only uncomfortable with that statement because we don't like to be reminded that we need to listen. She apologized to her followers of course, backlash in within a few minutes of posting telling her the negative connotation of her title, but I hope she sticks with it. She's in for a bumpy ride.

I don't think I've smiled this hard in weeks with everything happening. Celebrities are cool and all and they can use their platform for good but it's in the everyday people that we see the true impact of change. There's just something about seeing a late 30s southern mom say she wants to step out of her white bubble and acknowledges her privilege. Who always stays quiet on controversial issues but stepped out of her comfort zone for this because she's got a black baby in her house and I'm sure she's wondering, "What does his future look like?"

People change people.

So dear white people, when was the last time you had a POC in your house?

[duaneodavila]

Fantasy Reparations

Not that I’ve ever been a big fan of the Marshall Project, but that was before they started publishing fiction. But even fiction has its limits, grounded perhaps in something remotely connected to reality so that the parts that try to evoke emotions don’t invoke cringes and laughs instead. They blew it this time.

Three Strikes Didn’t Work. It’s Time to Pay Reparations

Heck of a clickbait title, but the subtitle will really grab you.

Black and brown men paid the price for supplying what the recreational drug market demanded: cocaine and weed.

I know these “good Samaritans” well. I defended quite a few of these great humanitarians, maybe even some the writer remembers from her days in the South Bronx. They were fun days, filled with tiny vials of crack and kids killing for the turf of a decent street corner spot or banging some old lady over the head for their fix.

I WAS RAISED IN THE SOUTH BRONX in the late 1980s and ’90s. I came of age and into my consciousness while a generation of men of color were herded into the criminal justice system under the rigid, unyielding habitual offender laws — three-strikes laws — for nonviolent drug-related offenses.

Except New York never had a “three-strikes” law. That’s the sort of detail that you would think someone at the Marshall Project would realize, since the writer was obviously clueless. Or maybe she wasn’t, and is trying to pull one over on you on the way to her rom-com ending.

There are sound, strong even, rational arguments that the sentences imposed on crack dealers in New York, both state and federal courts, were grossly excessive. When ten years didn’t stem the problem, it was upped. Then raised again. Rinse and repeat. And it never worked, not because the sentences weren’t absurdly long enough, but because there were few options and way, way too much money to be made selling crack.

If you’re a young guy in the South Bronx with limited education, your job prospects were, ahem, poor. But there were these guys driving fancy cars, wearing shiny Rolexes, with gold chains that could weigh down a horse. They drank Cristal at night at clubs where women fell on them. It was a life many young men yearned for, and so they took that path. They knew very well what they were getting into, but the good life was worth it. Or at least that’s what they believed.

And whenever there is big money and good times at stake, people will fight for their piece of it. And they did. Some when they were forced to. Some because they wanted to be Tony Montana, enjoying the power of violence a little too much.

But what they were not was great humanitarians, helping out their brother man by supplying a desired pastime. Don’t pay for your crack and see how sweetly they tried to persuade you to honor your responsibilities. And if the only way to get the loot to cover your debt meant some random person get beaten or robbed, well, that was had to be done because you needed that next fix.

That’s not the story Juleyka Lantigua Williams tells, however, as it would never lead to the tear-jerking ending.

In my Bronx neighborhood, after fathers went upstate, mothers often had to work two jobs to keep families afloat, even in rent-controlled apartments. Or they had to do the unthinkable and apply for Section 8 and welfare to help care for an infant. Grandmas would arrive from the Caribbean to become the stay-at-home parent, do the cooking and cleaning, and keep their daughters from succumbing to their virtual widowhood.

It was hard on the family left behind, especially when “their men,” the spouses and fathers, spent every dime they ever made on the accouterments demanded of a big man on the street. There was no money left to feed their children, or for lawyers, when it was pissed away on trinkets. But the passive voice, “after fathers went upstate,” conceals why fathers went upstate. Even if they were sentenced to reasonable sentences, they would still go upstate. Because they were drug dealers.

And after drying your tears over the horrors perpetrated on drug dealers drinking champagne, we come to the fantasy payoff.

Today, the men who were taken from neighborhoods like mine are in their forties and fifties, having spent most of their lives in prison. Their families torn asunder, their children and siblings derailed, and their future — should they eventually be released — a total blank. The only way for states and the federal government to atone and begin to undo the damage is to commute their sentences, reverse their convictions, and pay these men reparations.

Does this romantic kiss at the end of this sad story not break your heart? Had the payoff been reducing sentences of life plus cancer to, say ten years, which would have been more the sufficient to serve the legitimate purpose of a sentence of incarceration, this might be a story with a nexus to reality. But that wouldn’t have made you cry, would it?

Commute their sentences. Reverse their convictions, and the coup de grâce, reparations. Reparations? It’s almost poetic, in a completely batshit crazy sort of way. If that doesn’t make you cry, nothing will.

I’ve spent a good deal of time of late trying to explain to young activists why they’re not helping to achieve viable reform by indulging in their psychotic delusions of denial, their fantasy versions of reality, their weeping over systemic horrors that aren’t quite systemic and weren’t entirely unjustified.

This post was a prime example of pushing a lie so ridiculous, so unfathomably laughable, as render its writer, and its publisher, a joke. Serious people have fought to get New York to enact an expungement statute to no avail. So instead, proffer a story so absurdly false, plus call for commutation, reversal of convictions and, ta da, reparations?

This didn’t appear at the Marshall Project by accident, but because the young and unduly passionate believe this insane nonsense, spout lies they want to believe and demand solutions that are so outrageous as to be off-the-charts offensive.

And someone like me, a criminal defense lawyer who is supposed to be on their team, refusing to indulge in their delusions and instead fighting for rational solutions based on reality, is the worst of the bad guys. After all, no one is worse than a traitor to the cause, even when the cause is a rom com fantasy.

I was informed yesterday by a woke young lawyer that maybe the problem is that I, “a middle aged white guy,” might not be “the best person to judge the validity of complaints about things like microagressions [sic]” when they’ve stymied effort to prevent cops from needlessly killing black guys in the streets.

Maybe he’s right, that the future of reform will rely on fantastical lies by narcissistic children. So why not reparations? Makes total sense as long as you believe in fantasies. And if you are down with delusions, at least you can take comfort in knowing that the Marshall Project suffers from delusions as well. After all, it’s our messiah, or so it says.

Fantasy Reparations republished via Simple Justice