homoregalis

[homoregalis]

Inherently, when you look at the origins of the character, a major theme is not just fighting the wrongs of the world she is introduced to, but over-coming her own ingrained prejudices. A) if you take William Moulton Marston’s original vision, as he designed with his wife and their partner, then he considered women superior. Not equals, superior. Marston’s premise is that women are inherently better. And that’s false. People are equals one of another. And B) Themyscira is inherently sexist. It’s touched on time and time again in the comics, over years. The use of phrases like “man’s world” abdicates the responsibility of all members of society. It stereotypes and ignores that people are individuals, and by ascribing traits to their identities, you are inherently oppressing their right to be an individual. A major theme, time and again, is that that Themyscira, while in many ways a better place than our world, isn’t perfect, that it has its own flaws and failings. The fact that they do not permit men on the island is a reflection of that. Wonder Woman is time and again punished by her people for having the temerity to treat men as equals when she receives such treatment in turn. These are people who help to save the Amazons, as equals with a daughter of Themyscira, but where many in “man’s world” are willing to embrace Wonder Woman, the people of Themyscira don’t. And these principles are not new. They’re decades old. There is an inherent sexism that Wonder Woman herself overcomes in her own behaviour. An inherent set of assumptions she corrects internally. And that’s even seen in the 2017 Wonder Woman movie, with Patty Jenkins at the helm, when Steve tells Diana she can’t do something. Diana reacts as though the statement stems from her being female, instead of from Steve’s concern for the geopolitical consideration. And it isn’t the only culture clash. They made a point in that movie of showing Diana’s own prejudices. Because she does have prejudices. What makes her Wonder Woman is the will and strength to fight those, to over come them, and to grow. That’s why she is so exceptional. Inherently, Superman and Batman are, in their identities and expressions, men. And she just accused both of them of being inclined to take advantage of other people on account of that. It’s sexist. It’s part of who she is to over come that. It’s a broad generalization, and anyone who has a problem with that part of Diana’s character and upbringing being examined and critiqued is failing to see the entire point of her character. The point of her character is to over-come our assumptions, to look at people for the content of their characters and not their race, gender, or creed, and to love everyone you can, and to fight those who would seek to do harm. Bruce and Clark have every right to be offended, just as Wonder Woman would if Bruce or Clark made a sexist remark. What Diana said was sexist. But, importantly, she realized that. She was aware of her assumptions, and recognized they were incorrect. That’s why she’s a hero. Anyone can be strong, or fast. But she is uniquely gifted at being compassionate, empathetic, and fair minded.

[homoregalis]

After a rough day

Sometimes, the best part of the day is the ones you make for yourself. Like trawling the Clois tag. Thank you, all, for having sound enough head on your shoulders to know that The Man Of Steel needs someone to remind him of his (Smallville) roots.

[homoregalis]

Fandom Questions

Rules: Choose any three fandoms and answer the questions. Then tag some friends.  (tagging folks never jived with me)

I choose:  

Mass Effects 1-3.

Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Harry Potter (Books to mix it up!)

The first character you loved:

Wrex.

Kallo.

Hermione.

The character you never expected to love so much:

Legion.

Cora.

Nevile.

The character you relate the most:

Garrus.

Vetra.

Hermione.

The character you’d slap:

Dalatrass Linron.

Drack/Morda.

Dumbledore. Seriously, after year four, if he’d not been an idiot, so much pain could have been avoided.

Three favorite characters (these are in order of preference):

Wrex, Grunt, Legion. (Sorry everyone else! I love all my spacefriends!)

Kallo, Vetra, Cora. (Not as sorry. Liam, Jaal, Peebee, and especially Gil can bite me. They might have redeeming traits, but seriously!)

Harry, Hermione, Arthur Weasley

A character you liked at first but not so much anymore:

Jacob.

Drack.

Dumbledore. Maybe Cho Chang, but I feel like Rowling intentionally sabotaged her character, so...

A character you did not like at first, but they’ve grown on you:

Kaiden.

Cora. At least, after she saw the Asari knocked from their pedestal.

Slughorn.

3 OTPs:

Garrus X FemShep (with Krogan babies! Especially Grunt. He’s Shepards most beautiful baby!). Tali X M!Shep

Vetra X F!Ryder, or an asexual Kallo X F!Ryder. Haven’t done a M!Ryder playthrough yet.

Harry X Hermione! For now, and Forever

[homoregalis]

So, I really like some of these elements, but others seem less that ideal. Like, everyone shouldn’t be Bisexual, because it essentially erases the reality of having a spectrum of sexuality, and fetishizes things. I would love a way, say, for Avitus Rix to be Male!Ryder romance-able, and Tiran Kandros to be Fem!Ryder romance-able. That way you have characters who are Bi, Straight, and Gay characters for the Turians. Kallo as an Asexual romance option would be amazing, as it would fit with the canon of Salarians not really having sexual attraction per-se. This would work well with Peebee being romance-able by everyone, given Asari lore, and with Gil and Suvi representing Homosexual Humans, Liam and Cora representing Hetrosexual Humans, and Reyes being Bi-Sexual. Jaal is the questionable one there, but given the demonstration of families being much more social constructs among Angara, some what like traditional Human tribes, rather than strict biological relationships, there is fertile ground there for multitudinous relationship structures, and a chance for Bioware to tackle, say, poly-amorous relationships in future. There are also issues like, for example, the Quarian Ark being delayed. Given the timeline, and the fact there aren’t enough Quarians to really afford A) Building an Ark, and B) putting people on that ark, the mention of a Quarian Ark was always dubious, but more vitally, the delay would have significantly increased the chance that the Ark never left the milky way. Remember, the events of Mass Effect 2 are extremely contemporaneous with the Andromeda Initiative first-wave. Individual Quarians are prohibitively maintenance heavy because they NEED their enviro-suits, even around each other. And six months after Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 happens. The Quarian ark was likely scrapped and used to help build the crucible, and then the Quarians had their home world back - assuming that Shepard either mediates the situation as a paragon, or chooses animal over synthetic as a renegade, meaning that a Quarian survival is more canon likely. Additionally, Bioware seems to hew towards the “good guy” endings being the canon endings. That said Bioware’s stats say 36% of players saved both, with 27% just saving Quarians and 37% just Geth, but that does make for a justifiable decision, along with the 64%+ who played paragon, for saving both, and for a 63% chance of Quarians getting a homeworld. Similarly, the Drell are literally endangered (and would probably survive best just about anywhere other than the Hanar home-world, like, say the Sahara. I was Earth-born Drell, dammit!) and are unlikely to embark upon the adventure in any great numbers, and with the plan being to populate this new galaxy, Drell would mean seats which can’t contribute to a meaningfully genetically diverse population in Andromeda. I Also feel a lot of these ideas are perfect for a follow-on game. I don’t know that, with its reasonably constrained story line, that Andromeda needs real story DLC, but Andromeda 2 could surely introduce a fair few things listed up there. And, looking toward a sequel: I feel like, perhaps having the next game being about more of that second-thaw establishing-a-real-society stuff, so you see these real towns spring up on places like Prodromos. And giving them meaningful economies like, you may see Prodromos having a more pronounced military effort with some ground-based production of military hardware, or you see more science leaning production in the form of a research facility that’s really digging its teeth into Andromeda now that they aren’t constrained by the tight quarters aboard the Nexus. And, speaking of the Nexus, seeing it finished, and having one of the four massive sections coming off the main ring being a ship-yard, so that you see the first real starships being built, and you don’t just have the shuttles and heavy-lifters, but also the first real military vessels and trade-ships. Like, they have 100,000-ish people, across a handful of worlds, and all the Angara to trade with, so they should be steaming away like no-one’s business. I’d also really, really love for Meridian to be a massive, multi-cultural planet, with it slowly populating as they want to get things right on Meridian, and not just be building out hab-units, but real buildings, and needing to understand Meridian on its own terms before they can even dream of that, so that at first it’s almost a garden world that people visit, like a get-away from the difficulty of building society. And, on the Planet front, it would be brilliant to see Ryder-1 slowly changing, to maybe visit it, and see it’s changing world being used for research and to train military as more people are brought out of stasis. I also love the idea of Ryder helping the other Pathfinders, and it would be great if those Pathfinders perhaps join Ryder’s crew as they all work together to really push outside of the Heleus cluster and start probing space, because there is an entire Kett Empire out there. So you have these leadership individuals who also are really skilled pooling their skills to try and understand what the real threats of Andromeda look like. It could be great. It would be like the Kaiden/Ashley choice in Mass Effect 1, but for more crew members. - We never see who replaces Avitus Rix as pathfinder, so maybe you loose the Turian Pathfinder if he rejects the role, and instead Ryder kind of becomes the Pathfinder for the Turians as well as the Humans, as the natural affinity between Turians and Humans push the two toward each other but that leads to the Turians kinda focusing on their service-to-the-greater-cause mindset and the loose their voice in this formative period in a new galaxy, but if you do convince Avitus to become pathfinder he joins your crew and brings a very pragmatic attitude to the table, and how you face your challenges has an impact on whether he acts more like the spectre he once was or the Pathfinder you made him. - If you stand by Sarissa Theris, you have her join the squad, and she could be a very powerful biotic, and whether you outed her changes whether she tries to be open and do things cleanly, or whether she favours a more ruthless approach, and so you have this character that kind of reflects the battle Avitus has with himself, and who shows you those two paths depending on that small choice in ME:A, with the decision to reveal her forcing her to change the way she works to regain trust, and covering up for her leading her to double down and feel vindicated. If you support the Asari choosing a new pathfinder, then you should get Vederia Damali, the next in line, and while not a particularly gifted biotic, she could be a very good tech specialist, kinda being a bit of a tali character, who is a little wet behind the ears, but who also has received Cora’s training (like she does in ME:A lore if made pathfinder) and is now a significantly more skilled soldier, but not a biotic commando. - If you rescue Zevin Raeka, you should get this very influential Salarian who is a bit of a fire-brand, very smart, but also very courageous and a little bit gun-ho. She should also have this element where, between her milky-way fame and role as a dalatrass, she felt very constrained back home, and joined the initiative so she could live her life for herself. With Kallo still as pilot, she could potentially be found to kinda-romance him, as this very out-going sweet Salarian Woman and this kinda awkward, but also fun, sensative Salarian Guy. It would be nice if Ryder could romance either one of them, but if let be, they find each other rather like Tali and Garrus. If Raeka is permitted to die though, they you get Lumont Hayjer, who is much more by-the-book, but is a capable strategist. He isn’t as ruthless as a covered up Sarissa, nor as pragmatic as Avitus, but he is frank and tries to find a balanced solution. Where Raeka is very emotionally driven, Lumont would be much more like a stereotypical STG officer, stating facts honestly, and clearly defining between fact and opinion. He could also conflict with Kallo, being an older Salarian and a younger Salarian who would have had similar responsibilities as captain/pilot. Along side that would be changes in other parts of the crew. So, while Kallo would stay on, and Suvi would because she and Kallo are really close, and she can be just as knee-deep in discovery on the tempest as in a lab, others might drift away or change role: - Liam, with his slight discomfort as a member of the pathfinder team, and also his tendency to not quite follow protocol, would perhaps not be ideal for the Andromeda 2 crew, but makes an excellent member of the APEX leadership, using his HUSTL skills to great effect (maybe freeing up Tiran Kandros for another promotion to Pathfinder as the Turian Meritocracy recognizes his work and skill in a difficult time on the Nexus?) This would allow contact with him, but perhaps shift someone who is decidedly a destabilizing element away from the most important crew in Nexus space (he ignores protocol without the captain’s permission, and if reprimanded struggles to understand Ryder’s position according to in-game fluff) - Cora, while looking to eventually settle down, comes to terms with her position after being rejected as pathfinder by Alec Ryder. She’s very grounded and stable, and given that stability, along side her hero-worship of Asari being rocked and her general arc in Andromeda, would make a very good core team member moving forward, with a well rounded character. She could be very professional, but also a little more personal having found herself a bit more in the first game. -Vetra, being a life-long drifter, would probably have found, for the first time, a degree of stability on the Tempest. It’s a hodge-podge crew, but her skills are useful, being a scrounger with a under-handed mind, bringing a much-needed element of outside-the-box thinking the the table, along with her tremendous logistic skill. With Sid finally independent, and no longer tying Vetra down, and Vetra finally realizing she can be her own person at last, without letting anyone down, I feel the Tempest is a good home for her. - Jaal is tricky. He has a very solid argument for staying with the Tempest, as a natural born explorer, and in finding somewhere right for him there. He also has gained a lot of respect in the resistance though (although it is suddenly less important post-Archon) and is in a Prime position to lead his people back to unity as one of the Moshae’s most cherished student, and having effectively destroyed the moral-currency of the Roekaar, and being a former ally of Akksul. My gut instinct says he is not ready yet to take on that kind of role, and needs further growth as an individual, and perhaps the Moshae would be a more natural leader for the time-being. So I would see Jaal staying aboard.

- Peebee is probably trickiest. If she romances Ryder, she would totally stay. But short of that, even though she no longer flits around as though staying in any one place too long will trap her forever, she is naturally an explorer, and if Ryder’s path doesn’t align with where Peebee feels she should go, I think she would follow her own path, just without burning bridges for once. So, if the story takes Ryder where Peebee would naturally go, then she stays, if not, she should go, regardless of romance. It would also be interesting to see something done with saving/not-saving the remnant do-dad on that lave-world. My gut says she should go her own way, but not because she’s running, but instead because she has grown, and now knows she has a home to go back to in the crew of the Tempest, where-ever they are. - Drack should probably go. He has been feeling old, and EVERYONE is saying that the Krogan need someone like him to help their people appreciate some of its history. I don’t think he should take over for Morda, but I feel he should be an important voice among the Krogan, calling Morda on some of her shit. It would be nice to have a Krogan team-mate though. Despite Vega’s attempts, Mass Effect 3 felt lacking until the Citadel DLC let you have your Krogan baby and your Krogan uncle with you. It would be good to say, have the Krogan effectively decide to have a Pathfinder, and that Pathfinder choose to follow you. Maybe model them on a young, idealistic Wrex. A Krogan who feels that the clans are doing things wrong, and particularly that Morda wants to make the Krogan like they were during the Rebellions, all military power and reasources, but that she’s squandering the Krogan’s rich heritage. Such a Krogan “Pathfinder” could also be at odds with Drack, who would likely be in favour of the Martial Krogan, even if that was in the galactic context as an ally to the Nexus. - Gil is having a baby and insists on being there to her raise that baby. If Ryder romanced Gil, they can talk, but Gil would probably stay with the child, which might strain the relationship if Ryder was anti-kid/co-parenting/was against fertility treatment when talking with Jill. This would mean needing a new Engineer, but that could be solved by either having the Salarian Pathfinder fill that roll (Raeka is a brilliant scientist, and by all evidence would be more than able to do engineering with Kallo’s help, and Hayjer was a ship’s captain, and almost certainly has a strong understanding of space-flight engineering) or by having a new non-team crew member. Having a new non-team crew member would also be another way to get a Krogan on board, even if they aren’t a member of your squad, and could highlight Salarian-Krogan relations by getting along (or not) with Kallo. - Perry the Pyjak (Hey, I named him Perry in my headcanon) should be adopted by Cora, as she’s a little more laid-back now, and likes to cultivate and grow things, and caring for Perry would fit that really well. - Space Hamtaro is staying in the captain’s quarters! - Lexi. She’s another difficult one. I feel like, with her crush on Drack, she would have a great little arc if her relationship with the old man served to help her empathize with her medicine more, and to see it less clinically, and she’d be great as a Krogan fertility doctor, even though it’s a hard, soul-crushing job. She’s also an excellent ship’s doctor though, and I think that’s where she would stay. She fits in, despite her quirkiness, around Ryder and the rest, and Ryder and her get along well. She definitely, no matter what though, needs to stay in contact with Drack, be it via over-heard conversations where she’s worrying about him, or with the Nexus colony next to New-Tuchunka. Is that everyone? Wait, no, it isn’t! Most important of all: - Your Twin. I think the twin aspect is really neat. And it would be amazing to see your twin’s powers effected by which gender you chose. Sarah is shown to be a science nerd with an affinity for Protheans, so she could either be Combat/Biotics (alluding to the Protheans and elements zero and the like) or Combat/Tech because of her scienciness. Scott, being a career soldier could lean either towards a very strong combat angle, or toward the tech/combat angle suggesting a more skilled/specialist approach. So, all told, with my hopes for ME:A2, that would be:

- Your Twin, Cora, Vetra, Jaal, Salarian Pathfinder, Asari Pathfinder for sure, with an optional Turian Pathfinder, maybe Peebee, and also maybe a Krogan “Pathfinder” for a max of 9 team members, which I think would work well. you have some room for Ryder’s relationships with team-members who have moved on to help her out on missions, and you get to add a little new blood while honouring the choices you made in ME:A, which I think would be good. It would require actually creating maybe 11ish companions (doubling down on the pathfinders because of your choices) but that’s close to what ME2 had, so it isn’t like they haven’t done that before. It also allows you to have some strong large-scale plug-and-play elements that shape individual player’s games without having to harp on nuances. This started as looking at some of people’s desires for DLC, and became a sequel wish-list. Ooops.

since I’m still fairly confident we are eventually getting a DLC or expansion or sequel to Andromeda, I really hope for the following

More content with your twin because i loved my useless baby brother who overslept most of the drama

Have them be my mission control person, wheeze and snicker at all my stupid ass and snarky comments

Something to do with Dad or Mum Ryder because I refuse to believe Dad Ryder is dead because they were SO VAGUE ABOUT IT WHEN I ASKED ABOUT IT also Mum Ryder seems cool

More stuff involving SAM’s personality because I do love my little AI brother

Stuff about the ‘benefactor’ because I read the books and the mission in Andromeda made me like MORE PLEASE

More subtle nods at the Reapers and what happened 600 years ago in the Milky Way just because it makes me make a lot of noise

bisexual Tiran because I love him almost as much as I love Garrus and they gave me Garrus when we asked for him so there’s no excuse not to give us Tiran

bisexual Kallo because I love my pilot and am sad he’s not at least filtrable, like shoot me down, it’s okay, just let me tell you I love you

bisexual male quarian (seriously he’s been on my wishlist since ME2 and Kal’Reegar)

also a bisexual female drell if possible

or another male drell who is also bisexual

more content for the following romances that got shafted: Gil, Suvi, Vetra, Reyes

more casual romance options, and I mean real casual romances, like one night stands kind of deal, not these weird cheating style romances we got in the actual game

more flirt options with people who can’t necessarily be romanced just because I like telling people I think they’re amazing and dateable

More outposts 

actually getting to explore Meridian 

Getting to go back to Habitat 7 / Ryder-1

Finding a homeworld for the turians/quarians because they don’t have a dextro friendly planet and it’s causing me a lot of anxiety

Helping the other pathfinders find a homeworld because so far I feel like Ryder is the only one doing anything TBH

[homoregalis]

And then the Angara's expectation that they would be permitted their weapons on the Nexus. Seriously, if I write a full play-through-based-Fanfic, the Angaran ambassador is getting a god-damn ear-full for that. Like, you marched me through your city, at gun point, and threatened me. I get that you didn’t have a good first-contact experience with the Kett. You know what? Neither did we.

JRT: being told to put down the scanner or die at gunpoint on aya.

[homoregalis]

This, this man, is what makes America great. Its what built the most prosperous economy the world had ever seen, and America shaming people like this and turning their back on them is why we’re suffering. Look at the skill, the dexterity he has. You line up a hundred office workers making 40K a year, and see how many can look at a strawberry, decide its ripeness, pick it single handedly, and do that all in one go to an entire bush. There is an art, a skill there. Unskilled labour isn’t labour without skill. It’s labour that doesn’t require outside knowledge to start going. I knew people at UPS who could see a jam on a conveyor belt and figure out exactly which box it was they needed to pull to get things going. I’ve seen short order cooks who could tell when a burger was ready to flip because the thousands they’d made before meant they could look at the bubbling at the edge of the burger as it fried, and listen to its hisses and sizzles and tell how done it was. The working class in this country, be they born here or migrants seeking a better lot than they can get back home, need the respect and the pay to be full members of society. That man has cultivated a skill, has honed a simple, but delicate art through repetition in the same way that a musician does.

WORD.

[homoregalis]

Little Mass Effect Canon Problems - Part One

OG Mass Effect:

It’s always bugged me that a bigger deal isn’t made of the size of humanity’s fleet at first contact. Like, the Turians had stellar empire, and the Asari and Salarians were both fairly advanced stellar races when they bumped into each other. The Quarians seemed to have a small number of worlds, mostly behind the Perseus Veil. But Humanity had a single major planet and a few outposts, but were able to force the Turians to full mobilization with that fleet. Why doesn’t anyone seemingly ask “Why?” Why don’t we have canon fluff explaining the disquiet other races felt at Humanity’s default stance, particularly given what were not a militaristic society like the Turians. There is a great scene in Star Trek: DS9 where the Ferengi bartender from the station is stuck with mostly human federation forces in a planetary siege, pinned down by the Dominion. Quark points out that humans, deprived of their niceties, are as dangerous as the fiercest Klingon. I feel like the Mass Effect universe has the opportunity for that. For someone, over the three core games, to say “Frankly, you Humans terrify the rest of the Galaxy. You’ve got all the fighting tenacity of a Krogan, with half as many organs, and twice as much self restraint. You guys could probably steam role any one of the council races on their own given reason enough and a handful of years to build your fleets. We’re all worried that, if we push you too hard, too fast, that the Krogan rebellions and the Rachni wars will look quaint, and with your genetic diversity, your capacity for science, your tactical and strategic knack, frankly, there is no armada we could array or bio-weapon we could concoct that your couldn’t counter, either by neutralizing it, or building a bigger, deadlier version to point at us.

Particularly if Wrex becomes the leader of the steadily uniting Krogan, I wish there was more examination of the Krogan-Human relationship. Humans, not being on the galactic stage during the Rebellions, and having a rocky-first contact, as well as being the most morally encumbered species by default (the Turians, Asari, and Salarians all respected the Batarian right to practice slavery when the Batarians had relations with the council, and other elements point to broader trends of humanity being more morally sensitive) I feel like Humans would have been quick to see Wrex, especially after having served with Shepard, as an individual worth interacting with. And I feel like the Krogan would have been more relaxed towards Humans, against who they couldn’t reasonably hold a grudge (their main racism seems focused against the Turians for deploying the genophage, and the Salarians for designing it.) and it feels like we’re cheated out of Humanity being a potential place for more level-headed Krogan to interact with and touch base with. Combined with Humanity’s tremendous history of war, and some other elements, I feel like there would logically be a degree of respect for the plucky new-comers among the Krogan, even if tempered by a resentment that Humanity isn’t being constrained in the way the Krogan were in their own minds. This failure to acknowledge the timeline is really obvious in Andromeda, where the Krogan treat humans as an extension of the Salarians, Turians, and also where humans like Ryder never call the Krogan on their bullshit and point out that, if they wanted to, the Krogan could be ground into dust under the Human heel, and that it was a Human project, not a citadel project that saw some of the most aspirational Krogan given a chance in an entirely new galaxy, and that the Human ark can’t help the fuck-ups of the Nexus, or of it’s very non-human command team. Seriously, Ryder should have straight punched Drack and told him she saved the Salarian Pathfinder, the only surviving pathfinder, and not one random group of hostages over another, and that it wasn’t humanity that sterilized his people, so perhaps he should get over it, grow up, and try making something of his people, because they responsible for their own futures, regardless of the actions of others.

It would be interesting to finally get a read on what a Krogan lifespan looks like. Drack is portrayed as being an old man, as a veteran of the Krogan rebellions, where as Wrex, also a veteran of the same-said, seems to be old, but no-where near his last legs, still being by far and away one of the fiercest warriors in Andromeda or the Milky Way. Drack has extensive prosthetic as a result of combat injuries (I reckon he’s old and bad-ass, but no-where near Wrex or Grunt’s level, which might explain the missteps leading to injury) It feels like Wrex probably has another 300-400 years in the tank before he’d really be in old age, where as it is suggested that Drack is well with-in “pushing it” territory. Additionally, with 600 years to work, the Milky Way races (who, as far as I’m concerned survived, and did so via a paragon method - Control or Synthesis. I prefer control - as the general tenor of Garrus’s dad when talking to Ryder’s dad suggests that Shepard isn’t reviled, and so is likely not renegade, and no mention is made of the old council dying, suggesting that the 5th fleet was indeed sacrificed) must have developed significant technological changes, including much more advanced drives mimicking, at least, the Reapers, who can move from intergalactic darkspace into the galaxy in less than a year, so where are they, and what are they doing about the folks who left 600 years ago to explore a new, and presumably much easier to now reach, galaxy?

Mass Effect: Bae

Why didn’t the initiative take QECs with connections alive back in the Milky Way? Like, as far as anyone knows (and the science points) Quantum Entanglement has no maximum range. While, notionally, you need to send some kind of instruction to decode the message sent via entanglement (instructions whose transmission is notionally limited to light-speed, although evidently no in the ME universe) the ME universe has established that QECs communicate over distances not communicable over via sub-space or such. So why didn’t they take a high-bandwidth life line? Why did the Quarians invest in an Arc? They already live in the Migrant Fleet, surely, given their means, it would be a profligate waste (never mind that the size of the Arcs is ridiculously huge for the 20,000 or so individuals they supposedly carry if the Quarian fleet is any reference.) for them to build an arc, instead of retro-fitting a ship for the purpose.

What idiot let Sloane Kelly into the Initiative, or for the matter, Dr. Kennedy, both of whom exhibit severely problematic behaviour patterns. Kelly had a history of violent insubordination, and Dr. Kennedy had professed libertarian views, which are kind of at odds with the basic premise of the Initiative, which would require a very controlling and interventionist government for quite a while as they set things up. Why the hell didn’t the Initiative take any kind of warship, and why wasn’t a significant portion of the Nexus designed to work like a ship-yard. Very few of the races involved had easy introductions to the galactic stage. the Krogans were uplifted to defeat the Rachni, the Turians were given significant powers for defeating the Krogan, the Salarians and the Asari had no particular problems, but both had to deal with the Rachni and the Krogan, and Humanity got into a war with the Turians on day-freaking-one, and no-one said “hey, lets take a few big, ugly freaking ships in case there is life in the Heleus cluster of Andromeda and it turns out not to be friendly.”

Why did they think that the Galactic equivalent of a bull in a China shop was a good place to set up the ming-vases that are fledgling colonies. The Heleus cluster exists around a massive freaking black hole, by all account being such a concentration of planets due to the black hole. Black holes are Bad! They spew radiation! They’re practically gamma-ray factories! Gamma-rays are bad!

Why the hell doesn’t !PlayerRyder tell the Initiative that “Hey, there are really those reaper things, and they’re fucking up the Milky Way, so not only will we have to fight a galactic war against the Kett, we’ll also have to make sure we’re ready if the eldritch space-computers come to eat us. Just FYI.”

Why doesn’t anyone point out the the Angarans who are being stroppy that the Initiative arrived in Heleus less than a year ago, and already they’re more trouble for the Kett than the Angara have been after DECADES of fighting. And that’s while they’re busy feuding amongst their selves, and without any of the serious military capability from back home. Like, if the initiative wanted to destroy the Angara, it would be child’s play, because we can do everything the Angara do as warfighters, better. Also, why the hell don’t the Angara have any kind of war-fleet? They’ve been fighting the Kett for decades, and they’re FTL space capable, but the idea of a warship is too big for them, so they only have little shuttles?

Also, something really important: There are several Angaran (the mayor/governor of Aya, in particular) who say to Ryder “I thought you were all like the exiles” while ignoring entirely the fact that the Roekarr and Resistance are fundamentally at odds. Why doesn’t anyone call them on their bullshit? Guess that’s it for now. Some serious complaining about things that, to me, make no sense in the Canon.

[homoregalis]

Fallout: Andromeda. What would a post apocalyptic Mass Effect be like? I guess we’ll never find out, because they didn’t have the courage to make that game.

[homoregalis]

The love people have for this scene always bugged me. It’s part of the notion that western cultural norms aren’t as valid or equal as others. A prime example of this is seen in Men who, for cultural reasons, refuse to shake a woman’s hand, and women refuse to have their hands shaken. In a western country in the modern world, where women are notionally equal to men (ignoring practical implementation for a moment) the western ideal is ignored to accommodate the foreign ideal. It is said to be rude to offer to shake a woman’s hand if she is from this cultural background or appears so, despite the fact it is equally rude not to treat her equally as you would anyone else. Imagine if you will, this scene altered. Imagine that Fem!Ryder and Liam had walked down, and that Jaal had met with them both, but instead of looking to Ryder for interaction had ignored her, and focused on the larger, more muscular gender of the human species, the one with the lower voice. And imagine that Jaal sought Liam’s approval first. We know that the Angara exhibit sexual dimorphism that is incredibly similar to humans (mostly because it is a convenient short hand for our species to recognize in our media), so let’s pretend for a moment that the Angara had a sexist culture that made women less empowered than men. Lets just pretend. And that Jaal had applied that standard to the first humans he met, that he had, instead of insisting here on an Angaran hand-shake, had instead insisted on Angaran social order. People would show it as being chauvinistic and misogynistic. Jaal, on meeting the first of a new species, in a first contact situation, doesn’t ask for guidance and explain their own method, trying to embrace both. He forces Ryder to be subservient to the Angaran way. Maybe it’s just me, I can’t stand the Angara. They’re too damn full of their selves. They don’t merely embrace their own culture, they assert that others are inferior. Jaal is just Javik, but without the acknowledgment of chauvinism and arrogance. Javik gets called out on his bullshit, but I’ve yet to see Jaal called out on his. There is a conversation between Liam and Jaal, where Jaal asks Liam about his home, and Liam is evasive, saying it brings back less than great memories. Jaal then asserts that emotional openness is superior, that there was love and hate and fighting and friendship in his family. But no-one ever calls Jaal or the Angara out on the fact that their culture gives them a pass to act in a hateful way, much more than Milky Way cultures do. That their openness, much as it might be good, is equally bad. The Angaran envoy to the Nexus is another prime example, in refusing to allow his guards weapons to be confiscated, when on Aya, which isn’t the only home capable of supporting the Angaran people like the Nexus is for the Milky Way races (yes, the colonies are getting going, but they’re still reliant on the Nexus to an extent) Ryder is escorted through the street by a squad of soldier, held at gun point, with the slightest deviation met with threat of death. The Angara are hypocrites. in many ways, the worst in the game.

“I hope I don’t regret this.”

 "Me too.“

[homoregalis]

This is absolutely brilliant. I never thought about it quite like this. Maybe because Petunia always seemed largely as bad as Vernon to me, especially her tendency to hide when faced with a real ‘threat’ like Hagrid or Arthur Weasley, despite her happiness to abuse Harry. It struck me as being particularly prototypical of an abuser. (One of the few elements of Vernon’s character I can appreciate at least is that he almost always interposes himself between harm and his family.)

Least-favourite HP character, aside from Snape?

Hmmm … maybe Petunia Dursley?

I mean, don’t get it twisted—both Petunia and Vernon are obviously horrible, for more or less the same reasons. If I dislike Petunia more than I dislike Vernon, it’s by a very small margin—like, a 1% margin. But I’ve been thinking a bit on this lately, and when I think about the books and then compare them to fandom trends, it makes me realize both something about the characters themselves, as well as how fandom perceives characters, and especially how fandom tends to perceive female abusers vs. male abusers in terms of how guilty they are of the act, as well as how likely it is that they can be (or should be) redeemed.

To be more specific—I think it’s obvious to see why Vernon is often perceived as the main instigator behind Harry’s abuse, as well as The Definite Worst™ of the two. He’s the one that creates the most bluster, the one that is the loudest, the one that takes action more often than not. He’s loud, he’s aggressive, he’s in-your-face. He definitely scares Harry for a time (though it’s worth it to note that Harry is wary of Petunia, too, but more on that in a minute). On top of all of this, he’s a man, and society has conditioned us to see men as more likely to be abusers, whereas we’re conditioned to see women more as nurturers / victims. This is the exact reason why female abusers are so often unreported. (Additionally, taking it back to fiction from a real world context, you’re more likely to see male abusers portrayed than female—and in fandom, particularly since many fic writers and the like are women, you’re more likely to see male characters who either a.) are abusers, or b.) could be abusers focused on, while female abusers are likely to be ignored / toned down / redeemed. We see this even in Pokémon fandom; although Lusamine abuses her children more on-screen, versus Ghetsis’ surprise reveal as an abuser at the end of BW, Ghetsis is the one who is seen as irredeemable while so many people clamor for a happy ending for Lusamine. I’m not saying Ghetsis should be redeemed, mind you; I’m saying they’re both vile, but only one of them is consistently excused by fandom, and gee, I wonder why?)

However, although it’s easy to see why Vernon is often unquestionably interpreted as the worse of the two / Petunia is often seen as the one who can be redeemed, what I’ve actually come to realize is that not only is their abuse equally as bad (e.g. Vernon is not the only one who gets physical with Harry; Petunia threw a soapy frying pan at Harry’s head in the beginning of Chamber of Secrets because he babbled nonsense “spells” at Dudley to scare him; she then made him pull weeds in the garden despite how hot it was and how physically taxing that can be as further punishment), but that it could be interpreted that a lot of Vernon’s blustering and outright action is a direct result of what he thinks Petunia wants, i.e., she’s actually the one in control, and his horrid behavior feeds off hers.

There are two things that make me think this. The first is the very first chapter of Philosopher’s Stone, which is largely from Vernon’s point of view. Vernon goes about his day noticing the strange happenings around the city: all the owls, the people in cloaks, whispers about the Potters, et cetera. He grows increasingly unnerved by this, not only because he likes ordinary things and dislikes magic, but specifically because he knows that Petunia will be upset:

He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking … no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn’t such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn’t even sure his nephew was called Harry. He’d never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn’t blame her—if he’d had a sister like that … but all the same, those people in cloaks …

And lo and behold, he’s right:

Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters …

Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He’d have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. “Er—Petunia, dear—you haven’t heard from your sister lately, have you?”

As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn’t have a sister.

“No,” she said sharply. “Why?”

“Funny stuff on the news,” Mr. Dursley mumbled. “Owls … shooting stars … and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today …”

“So?” snapped Mrs. Dursley.

“Well, I just thought … maybe … it was something to do with … you know … her crowd.”

Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he’d heard the name “Potter.” He decided he didn’t dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, “Their son—he’d be about Dudley’s age now, wouldn’t he?”

“I suppose so,” said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.

“What’s his name again? Howard, isn’t it?”

“Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me.”

“Oh, yes,” said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. “Yes, I quite agree.”

All throughout that scene, what we’re presented with is a Vernon who is afraid to talk to Petunia about this, and a Petunia who is very harsh, direct, and angry. This is not to say that Vernon likes magic, of course; it’s made quite plain all throughout the chapter that he thinks the people in cloaks are vagabonds, that he thinks they are hooligans who need to get jobs, et cetera. He’s not any more fond of magic or strangeness than Petunia herself is. However, despite Vernon’s own aversion to such things (and the disdain he has for those things in his own head), it’s pretty evident that between the two of them here, when it’s just the two of them, the one who is actually dominant and in control of the situation is Petunia. Vernon didn’t call her earlier in the day, despite hearing things about a “Harry Potter,” because he was afraid of upsetting her. And later that evening, when he feels he can no longer put the conversation off, he mumbles, he has a lot of hesitation in his speech, he chickens out of mentioning the fact that he heard about the Potters earlier in the day, and his heart sinks as he agrees with her that Harry’s name is “nasty” and “common.” Vernon is afraid of Petunia’s reaction in this scene, not the other way around.

The other thing that makes me think that Vernon overcompensates for Petunia’s own feelings on the matter comes from Order of the Phoenix, after Petunia receives the Howler. Here’s the scene in full:

“Hang on,” said Uncle Vernon, looking from his wife to Harry and back again, apparently dazed and confused by the unprecedented understanding that seemed to have sprung up between them. “Hang on. This Lord Voldything’s back, you say.”

“Yes.”

“The one who murdered your parents.”

“Yes.”

“And now he’s sending dismembers after you?”

“Looks like it,“ said Harry.

“I see,” said Uncle Vernon, looking from his white-faced wife to Harry and hitching up his trousers. He seemed to be swelling, his great purple face stretching before Harry’s eyes. “Well, that settles it,” he said, his shirt front straining as he inflated himself, “you can get out of this house, boy!”

“What?” said Harry.

“You heard me—OUT!” Uncle Vernon bellowed, and even Aunt Petunia and Dudley jumped. “OUT! OUT! I should’ve done this years ago! Owls treating the place like a rest home, puddings exploding, half the lounge destroyed, Dudley’s tail, Marge bobbing around on the ceiling and that flying Ford Anglia—OUT! OUT! You’ve had it! You’re history! You’re not staying here if some loony’s after you, you’re not endangering my wife and son, you’re not bringing trouble down on us, if you’re going the same way as your useless parents, I’ve had it! OUT!”

Harry stood rooted to the spot. The letters from the Ministry, Mr. Weasley and Sirius were all crushed in his left hand. Don’t leave the house again, whatever you do. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR AUNT AND UNCLE’S HOUSE.

“You heard me!” said Uncle Vernon, bending forwards now, his massive purple face coming so close to Harry’s, he actually felt flecks of spit hit his face. “Get going! You were all keen to leave half an hour ago! I’m right behind you! Get out and never darken our doorstep again! Why we ever kept you in the first place, I don’t know, Marge was right, it should have been the orphanage. We were too damn soft for our own good, thought we could squash it out of you, thought we could turn you normal, but you’ve been rotten from the beginning and I’ve had enough—OWLS!”

The fifth owl zoomed down the chimney so fast it actually hit the floor before zooming into the air again with a loud screech. Harry raised his hand to seize the letter, which was in a scarlet envelope, but it soared straight over his head, flying directly at Aunt Petunia, who let out a scream and ducked, her arms over her face. The owl dropped the red envelope on her head, turned, and flew straight back up the chimney.

Harry darted forwards to pick up the letter, but Aunt Petunia beat him to it.

“You can open it if you like,” said Harry, “but I’ll hear what it says anyway. That’s a Howler.”

“Let go of it, Petunia!” roared Uncle Vernon. “Don’t touch it, it could be dangerous!”

“It’s addressed to me,” said Aunt Petunia in a shaking voice. “It’s addressed to me, Vernon, look! Mrs. Petunia Dursley, The Kitchen, Number Four, Privet Drive—”

She caught her breath, horrified. The red envelope had begun to smoke.

“Open it!” Harry urged her. “Get it over with! It’ll happen anyway.”

“No.”

Aunt Petunia’s hand was trembling. She looked wildly around the kitchen as though looking for an escape route, but too late—the envelope burst into flames. Aunt Petunia screamed and dropped it.

An awful voice filled the kitchen, echoing in the confined space, issuing from the burning letter on the table.

“REMEMBER MY LAST, PETUNIA.”

Aunt Petunia looked as though she might faint. She sank into the chair beside Dudley, her face in her hands. The remains of the envelope smoldered into ash in the silence.

“What is this?” Uncle Vernon said hoarsely. “What—I don’t—Petunia?”

Aunt Petunia said nothing. Dudley was staring stupidly at his mother, his mouth hanging open. The silence spiraled horribly. Harry was watching his aunt, utterly bewildered, his head throbbing fit to burst.

“Petunia, dear?” said Uncle Vernon timidly. “P-Petunia?”

She raised her head. She was still trembling. She swallowed.

“The boy—the boy will have to stay, Vernon,” she said weakly.

“W-what?”

“He stays,” she said. She was not looking at Harry. She got to her feet again.

“He … but Petunia …”

“If we throw him out, the neighbors will talk,” she said. She was rapidly regaining her usual brisk, snappish manner, though she was still very pale. “They’ll ask awkward questions, they’ll want to know where he’s gone. We’ll have to keep him.”

Uncle Vernon was deflating like an old tire.

“But Petunia, dear—”

Aunt Petunia ignored him. She turned to Harry.

Prior to the Howler arriving, Vernon has absolutely no qualms about screaming at Harry. He “inflates,” he “bellows,” he screams in such a way that Harry feels flecks of spit hit his face (ew). It’s more than obvious—as it has been for the past four books prior to this one—that Vernon has absolutely no problem being loud, aggressive, and abusive to Harry.

But that changes when Petunia gets the Howler. Note that although Vernon “roars” at Petunia to drop the Howler, she doesn’t. She doesn’t even attempt to. Nor does she show any real reaction to the fact that he ordered her to drop it because it could be dangerous. Instead, she points out that it’s addressed to her—and this is, understandably, exciting for her (in an odd, frightening way), because she has always wanted to be part of the magical world despite the fact that she’s a muggle, hence her loathing of Lily. Regardless, Vernon yells at her to drop the letter—presumably using the same volume he was using when he was trying to kick Harry out of the house—but Petunia doesn’t react to that. She’s not scared of him.

Then the Howler explodes, Petunia gets her message, and Vernon goes hoarse. He stammers as he tries to ask her what that meant, what just happened—but she ignores his questions. She stays silent. And when Vernon asks after her again, the dialogue tag says that he does so timidly. This is not a word usually used to describe Vernon, and what’s really interesting here is that Petunia hasn’t actually done anything yet. Just like he did in the first chapter of Philosopher’s Stone, though, Vernon is cautious about upsetting her. Given that he’s asking this timidly, one could say that he’s afraid of upsetting her, especially since he has no idea what that Howler was on about. And then, when Petunia says that Harry has to stay, Vernon is still only able to stutter and sputter, weakly trying to counter what she’s saying, but unable to do so. It’s not that he agrees with the neighbors, but rather that Vernon cannot argue with Petunia, and never has been able to. Despite how aggressive and violent he is toward Harry, Vernon has never once shown that toward Petunia. Rather, what we’ve instead seen is that Petunia is harsh, angry, and snappy with Vernon in ways that he is not with her. (Of course, that chapter ends with Vernon screaming at Harry, “YOU HEARD YOUR AUNT, NOW GET TO BED,” but that just proves my point, tbh.)

What I’m getting at here is that while Vernon is clearly the one who instigates most of the abuse toward Harry in a way that is eye catching (e.g. he drags Harry to his cupboard, gets in his face and screams, et cetera), one interpretation of this could be that Vernon overcompensates because a.) Petunia is also of the opinion that Harry should be abused and mistreated, given that she hates him because he’s Lily’s son, and b.) having Harry there makes Petunia unhappy, which makes her angry, which stresses Vernon out / makes him angry, which he then takes out on Harry. It’s a vicious cycle; because Petunia lashes out at Vernon (and she does lash out at him when she’s upset—the first chapter of the first book shows this), Vernon in turn lashes out at Harry. And if nothing else, all three Dursleys use Harry as a punching bag for their emotional outlets (Dudley literally learned this from both of his parents), so if Vernon is feeling stressed or upset because Petunia is stressed or upset, then it’s very likely he’ll take it out on Harry, no doubt while complaining about Harry to Petunia, who will agree and feel relieved that Vernon agrees with her about how awful Harry is, regardless of whether or not Harry actually did anything wrong.

The point that I’m trying to make here is—over my many years in this fandom I’ve seen this tendency to treat Petunia as if she’s just going along with Vernon’s hatred and abuse of Harry, or to try and view Petunia as the one most likely to get fed up with the abuse and whisk Harry away somewhere to love him and treat him with care. I think, though, that this is an incorrect interpretation of her character brought about by the fact that a.) Vernon’s abuse is much more bombastic (particularly in the movies, because again, that soapy frying pan scene from the book has stuck with me since childhood), and b.) people are conditioned to see men as abusers more readily than women, who are stereotyped to be more nurturing and loving. Therefore, since Petunia is a woman, people more readily want to make her have a change of heart, wherein she sweeps Harry up in her arms and protects him from mean, nasty Vernon. The truth of the matter is that both Petunia and Vernon are horrid, but if we’re going to actually look at the power dynamics between the two, Petunia is actually the dominant one in their relationship, and a potential read of the situation could be that Vernon is worse than he might otherwise be (in terms of actual action, not attitude) because of Petunia—that he overcompensates because he thinks that’s what she wants. (Hence why he’s so confused and stammers so much when she says Harry has to stay. He thought she would also want Harry gone; the fact that she doesn’t is confusing to him, and reduces him to asking after her “timidly,” to “deflating,” to stammering and stuttering because he doesn’t know what to do.)

TL;DR:

If I had to pick a least favorite character after Snape, it would have to be Petunia and Vernon, but with Petunia disliked a little more than Vernon given the fact that I’m not at all fond of fandom’s tendency to try and excuse / sweep away her abuse / put her in leather pants. I can understand the feeling of wanting Harry to have one blood relative that’s not horrid to him (and after the majority of the series, he does have one—Dudley is the Dursley who is redeemed, as he should be), but Petunia Dursley is not, and would never be, that relative. 

[homoregalis]

Favorite thing about Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman:

She has fun doing it. They could have cast someone who was super serious. Like, DCEU is serious, but the actors all have fun with their characters. Its why the characters are better than the movies. And, if they’d chosen a super-serious actor for Wonder Woman, it wouldn’t have worked. But Ms. Gadot dances on set, and embraces the roll. There is a fun underneath it all, and that shows through in the character. Sometimes you need a serious actor for a serious roll, the Daniel Day Lewis sinking himself fifteen shades too deep into the part. Sometimes you need someone who is just happy to have the roll. Wonder Woman needed a happy actor, and they found one, and it’s great.

[homoregalis]

Ryder Appreciation! Q & A

So, I just finished for the semester, and it’s time to show some freaking Mass Effect love! I know I still have the 30 day challenge I started TWO FREAKING YEARS ago, and I really want to get to that, but I keep having a combination of life, computer crashes, and the like getting in the way. So, for the time, I’m going to answer some ME:A questions about my Ryder! Dunno where these came from, but I’ma answer all of them!

Ryder Character Questions:

1. Your favourite quote

- “I am Pathfinder. Rah bah bah bah!” in response to the Kett guy on Eos getting all lippy on the radio

2. Share a screenshot of your Ryder:

3. Full Name?

- Elizabeth Miriam Ryder

4. Origin/Meaning of the name

- Nothing particularly. Elizabeth and Miriam are both generic abrahamic names

5. How did you come up with the name and why did you chose it?

- Elizabeth is a name that works for anyone, to me at least. It can be high class or working class, royalty or the great unwashed masses, doesn’t matter, it sounds right. Miriam as a middle name was an aesthetic choice, as most last names like Ryder, that are so short, feel like they flow better off of a middle name to me.

6. Did Ellen or Alec chose the name for your Ryder? Or did your Ryder chose the name?

- Ellen. Alec named Scott. Ellen’s side of the family is of European-Canadian extraction, where as Alec is Asian-American having been born and raised on the continental side of the Sierra Nevadas, right in their foothills.

7. What pronouns does your Ryder use?

- Elizabeth has never cared much, but uses traditionally feminine pronouns.

8. Gender identity

- Female, although she doesn’t ascribe any particular meaning to that. She does what she wants, and by definition it’s feminine because she’s female, as far as she’s concerned.

9. Sexuality

- Bisexual, with a preference for female partners.

10. Date and Place of Birth

- 21st April, 2161 in Hong Kong.

11. Manner of Birth (Was Alec there? How long did it take? Were there any complications?)

- Unsurprisingly, Alec was off doing something or other and generally being a distant, if loving, individual. The births were reasonably easy, although Scott required careful rotation to stop him getting tangled in his umbilical

12. First Words?

- “No!” Turns out Ryder developed a distaste for celery at an early age, and wasn’t afraid to tell anyone about it.

13. Is your Ryder the older or younger sibling?

- (In line with ME:A canon) Older, by a few minutes. Although if you asked Scott he’d just say they were twins.

14. Does your Ryder have siblings? (CanonTwin and more)

- Just her and her “little” brother Scott.

15. Zodiac Sign?

- Taurus the bull, in the Year of the rooster.

16. Does your Ryder have a catchphrase?

- Only if cursing under your breath counts. That and, well, she’ll mutter “Funtastic” when she gets frustrating news too, I suppose.

17. Dominant Hand? Or is your Ryder ambidextrous?

- She’s fairly capable of a lot of things with both hands, like shooting or using scissors or the like, but is definitely right-hand dominant, and favours her right hand, particularly for fine tasks, like writing..

18. What does their autograph look like?

- “E. Rsquiggle” is probably the best description.

19. Describe your Ryders handwriting:

- A sloppy pseudo-cursive. She links her letters, but isn’t super consistent, and will not infrequently capitalize words in odd places, especially on words that start with “h”.

20. Height

- 5′ 9″, or about 175 cm.

21. Weight

- 170-185 pounds, or about 77-84 Kg

22. Bloodtype

- A-negative, from her mother’s side.

23. Any birthmarks that stand out?

- she has a couple of noticeable moles, one larger on her right hip, and another just above her right butt-cheek. Both feel consistent with the surrounding skin, and both are quite round in shape, looking like little more than spots of brown skin.

24. Hair (Length, Colour, Does your Ryder change it on different occasions? Describe it, share some screenshots or if you’re an artist maybe draw your Ryder with different hairstyles?)

- She tends to wear it relatively short, especially when on some kind of off-world assignment, but does grow it out in her down time, with it always ending up in a pony tail tied at the base of her skull. Elizabeth thinks it’s really pretty when it’s braided while long, but can only wear it braided if someone does it for her. Her hair is a black colour.

25. Eye Colour

- Green-Brown, leaning towards brown.

26. Do they look like their parents? Are there more resemblances with Ellen, Alec or a completely different relative?

- Scott inherited Ellen’s more Caucasian look. Elizabeth takes after her father, with his Asian ancestry clear in her features.

27. Do they like the way they look? Would they change anything about them if they had the chance? What would they change and why?

- Elizabeth is fairly comfortable with her body. She occasionally wishes she was a little taller, and had a slightly more curvaceous back-side, but generally she rocks what she’s got, and is damn happy to do so.

28. Any scars? How did they get them?

- She has the visible remnant of a well-healed scar on the left side of her face, from damage she got in a fire-fight with Batarian raiders, and a small scar on her lower lip from where a particularly feral street cat swatted at her as a girl.

The burn scar in evidence. The lip scar requires much... closer inspection.

29. Somatotype?

- She doesn’t know or care, and neither do I?

30. Do they wear make up? Are they good at it? Do they apply it for routine or because they have fun doing it?

- Elizabeth will wear a light foundation, and lipstick when on a date, but generally avoids make up else-wise. She’ll rock the messy make-up look for a night at the clubs with the girls though. Day to day, she doesn’t care to wear make up.

An atypical night out, no eyeliner in sight.

31. What’s your Ryders diet like? Did they listen to Lexis advice?

- Growing up with a busy mother and an absentee/distant father, the Ryder twins learned to appreciate Hong Kong’s street food, and often found their selves eating to-go from local restaurants, leading to a healthy life-long obsession with Chinese cuisine. Ryder eats plenty of veggies, usually stir-fried just enough to char at the edges, but be crisp and fresh else-wise, by choice. Lexi was preaching to the choir.

32. Favourite food and is it still available in Andromeda?

- She loves Mapo Dofu, and while soybeans and tofu were a few of the first food crops to be planted, the szechuan pepper is pretty far down the list. She also really likes Char Siu Bao, but they’re hard to come by too. Scallion Pancakes though are on the menu, much to her relief.

33. Weird food combinations they like?

- Mayo on her hot dogs.

34. How is their relationship with food? Do they enjoy cooking and eating or do they just see it as necessary for survival?

- Elizabeth loves cooking, and finds it tremendously cathartic. She also tends to stress eat though, and tries to be mindful of that. But she loves food, and all the attendant cultural and social elements that accompany a good meal.

35. Fitness (Any exercises? Yoga? Working out?)

- Kicking Kett ass, and a good general exercise regime. She enjoys boxing, and spends a lot of time with the punching bag, as well as the exercise bike where she can watch old tv shows.

36. Does your Ryder take any medications?

- She has medication for migraines and and inhaler as needed for asthma.

37. Any allergies?

- She has worse than usual seasonal allergies, and reacts roughly to furry animals when she first meets them. She’s also been chock-full of allergy meds since arriving in Andromeda, with her allergies going into over-drive around all these alien lifeforms.

38. Is your Ryder neuroatypical? How do they deal with it? Did the events in Andromeda affect their mental health in any way? Does your Ryder use stimming methods?

- Elizabeth has ADD/ADHD and suffers from dyslexia. She has a tendency to pace, and to play with her hands, such as touching her finger tips to her thumb in sequence repeatedly, when she’s having an off day.

39. Wardrobe (What clothes does your Ryder prefer? Did they take any clothes with personal history with them to Andromeda?)

- Elizabeth is decidedly a t-shirt/tank top and shorts girl, and took a decent selection of nice every-day cloths with her (well, as nice as luggage space for Andromeda allowed) as well as a pair of high-heels, a nice dress for polite company, and a couple of all purpose skirts She’s not a big bra person, although she has a couple for dressing up, with matching bottoms. She generally favours boyshorts. She also has the Andromeda issued wardrobe of socks (knee length in her case), shoes, trousers, long sleeve shirts and jackets, which keep her covered for the elements, and round out her wardrobe.

40. Any Accessoires they always take with them?

- Elizabeth has a 4,000 year old Asari family heirloom ring, given to her by a close Asari colleague when she got into the Andromeda initiative, so that her Asari friend knew that some part of her family had made it to another galaxy. Elizabeth wears it on a length of paracord around her neck at all times.

41. Stuff they always carry with them? (Nail File, Earbuds, Gum etc)

- A Flashlight. As a child, Elizabeth was particularly uncomfortable in the dark, and Ellen got her a a little pocket flash light so she would always have a light with her. Elizabeth kept it up, although these days her flashlight has a crenelated bezel that could crack a Turian’s face plate.

42. Any piercings/tattoos? When and why did they get them?

- Elizabeth used to have three eye-brow piercings above her right eye, but never wears jewelry on assignments, and so hasn’t worn them in years. She also has a mosaic of inter-connected tattoos on her left shoulder and upper arm, part of an eventual sleeve, documenting major firsts, like the first time she left Earth, the first Prothean dig she joined, and most recently, being one of the first humans to leave the milky way, which she got before they left, figuring they’ll either make it, or die trying, and that no-one would know her hubris if they failed.

43. What’s their hygiene like? Do they shower after every mission?

- Ryder showers daily and does all the usual hygiene maintenance, but otherwise doesn’t go the extra mile. If she’s feeling lazy on a weekend, she’ll just stay in and not worry about showering and all that, but other wise, keeps clean enough.

44. Scent?

- Pretty generic. A little musky when she’s been sweating her skin off doing something, and back when she helped secure digs, she’d often smell of that weired burned-metal/steak smell of hard vacuum, or dusty from spending time in the archaeology labs chatting with her fellow nerds. Out in Andromeda, she’s finding it a nightmare to not have a slight smell of stale sweat everywhere she goes with the long hours she’s spending in her envirosuit, often days at a time.

45. Do they use any perfume/cologne?

- Occasionally a light perfume for more formal occasions, usually something lightly floral, but otherwise, she’s a speed-stick and go kinda gal.

46. Voice?

- A light, pleasant contralto, with a tendency to speak a little sing-songy, her words a little lyrical.

47. Accents/Dialects?

- Her English is generally neutral, the result of spending her early life in Hong Kong, and later in Canada and else where. There are clear hints though of the lingering Hong Kong accent with its subtle British notes. Her Cantonese is clearly from Hong Kong though, and her French sounds mostly Parisian, although it’s clear there’s an outside influence, the result of it being her second language (after her joint mother-tongues of English and Cantonese)

48. Impediments?

- Elizabeth suffers from intermittent stuttering, although a life-time of experience with it has made it much less common in her speech, and it only surfaces as much any more when she’s upset or angry.

49. Are they good at singing?

- Her voice is sweet, but mediocre, although she can just about hold a tune. Much more a sing-along voice than an opera voice.

50. Describe their laughter:

- Elizabeth’s laughter is usually loud and full. Outside of that it could be a snigger, a bark, a chortle, a giggle, a snort, or just about anything, although she tends more towards bursts of full-on belly laughter.

51. Languages?

- English, Cantonese, and French.

52. Did they enjoy their time in school? Were they a good student?

- Elizabeth would have hated school if it wasn’t for her brother Scott being there to make it bearable. They’re both quite smart, but Elizabeth never enjoyed the everyday grind, and was less outgoing than Scott, and so didn’t socialize as much. Having her brother there gave her someone to engage with who was smart enough to keep up, helped her socialize a lot more easily, and made school doable for Elizabeth. Grades wise, she did excellently on tests and papers, but often only did just enough on busy work, and so had good, but not stellar, grades.

53. Do they swear a lot?

- Frequently, yes.

54. Temperament:

- Although prone to anger and frustration, Elizabeth takes pains to be professional and rational in her work, and to give people the benefit of the doubt. She rants and raves in private, but with friends and loved ones takes the time to try and be supportive, and to have patience even when something is trying, not always with success. Professionally she channels her tendency towards anger into righteous indignation and a vengeful zeal to achieve in spite of those who cross her, if at all possible achieving at their expense in the process.

55. Is your Ryder religious? Did the events in Andromeda made your Ryder question their faith?

- Elizabeth says she was “born Atheist”, religion never being a major component of her family life, and she herself never seeing the need for a god in a universe where science, day by day, kept peeling back the boundaries of the unknown. Andromeda just emphasized that, with the speed with which the new mysteries were being solved using good, old fashion, mortal science. One of her favorite quotes is “Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?” by Douglas Adams.

56. Their opinion on politics/political party?

- Elizabeth understands and sympathizes with the Earth-first stances of some parties, believing that the Systems alliance is sometimes too eager to seek the approval of the council. At the same time, she believes that Humanity’s place is as a major member of the Galactic political scene, and that growing ties with other races is essential. She particularly supports growing ties with the Turians, who have been at times the worst critic of and best ally of the Human cause in turn. With many younger Turians, and a fair few veterans of the first contact war, seeming to support closer ties with humanity, who they see in many ways as a kindred species, particularly since Humanity attained a council seat for Commander Shepard’s heroic actions during the attack on the Citadel (to Ryder) only a few years ago, she feels that her instinct towards galactic integration being vindicated. She supports the tight interplanetary trade regulation that the Systems Alliance maintains, on the basis that Human industry such as Hahne-Kedar would get crushed by the likes of the Elkoss Combine or Elanus Risk Control if they had to compete in the Earth Market the same as they do interplanetarily. It would be impossible to establish the high-end market segment they have if they weren’t able to found their sales earnings in human space. Her view is to look at the suffering that globalized deregulation caused to people in the 21st century, and use that as a lesson for future trade and economic policy. Ryder is also generally in favor of greater recognition for member races of the Citadel accords in formal decision making processes, although she supports limiting executive functions to the most populace races out of a pragmatic desire to avoid grid-lock.

57. Morality?

- She tends towards idealism with a healthy leavening of cynicism. She believes that sometime the most virtuous act, the act that causes the least suffering to the innocent, and which most rapidly solves a problem, is the use of force. She supports Alliance military action in the Verge, and proportionate response against Batarian forces and anti-slavery raids into Batarian space, as well as the expansion of the fleet to make it clear to Arahot that Humanity can and will crush them if pressed. So, she’s in the “speak softly, and carry a big stick” school of morality. That you should seek idealistic goals, but do so with an eye towards realism and pragmatism.

58. Assuming the Renegade and Paragon alignment still existed in Andromeda, how would your Ryder react? What would your Ryder chose?

- Broadly Paragon, with a dash of Renegade. Likely more Renegade than Shepard in ME1 or ME3, and about as Renegade as ME2, on account of having to deal with a broader range of galactic society, not just its best and brightest.

59. Etiquette:

- Elizabeth tends to be polite and formal with strangers, but is usually quick to ease up on formality after meeting someone, although the manners never quite go away, even when shit-talking her closest friends.

60. Attitude:

- She has little patience for people who are disingenuous, callous, or generally incapable of pulling their head out their ass and showing common courtesy. Outside of that, she’s fairly laid back and polite.

61. Outlook on life (pre and post andromeda)

- Generally positive. She sees Human space, and the council now that they’ve gone through the shock of Saran’s attack, as moving in the right direction, and she sees the broad appeal of the Andromeda Initiative to be enheartening. Since arriving in Andromeda, she’s felt affirmed in her positivity with the general goodness of people, although she’s angry that the shittiest people seem to gravitate at the top.

62. Any vices?

- Plenty ;) rich food, good quality rum, and Merino wool are just some of the more public.

63. Virtues?

- A very strong sense of right and wrong, and a tendency to give people the benfit of the doubt, as long as they aren’t just trying to save their own skin.

64. Do they live after a specific motto/philosophy?

- Not really?

65. Priorities in life and job:

- Surviving in Andromeda, getting a date with Vetra, and settling down somewhere with a view.

66. What motivates your Ryder?

- A hunger for new horizons and a chance to spread life beyond the paltry borders of our little galaxy.

67. Self Confidence?

- Miles of it, although, not with out doubt.

68. Self Control?

- Enough, although she does stress eat, and can like a drink too much.

69. Self Esteem?

- Lots, although she can feel that failures in her mission are her fault, even when they aren’t, and to take responsibility for things she didn’t have control over.

70. What would absolutely crush your Ryders confidence?

- Nothing, short maybe of getting her team killed.

71. Any quirks?

- I mean, yes. She’s a human, not a Geth. The most notable is that she has intermittent twitches around her eyes, especially her left.

72. Did your Ryder have any hobbies before Andromeda? Are they still able to maintain them on the Tempest? Did they found new things to do?

- Well, archaeology. She also enjoyed gaming, particularly racing and sports games that support split-screen multiplayer so she can thrash Scott.

73. Closet Hobbies

- Light BDSM.

74. Guilty Pleasures

- The occassional Cigarette, cheescake, ecchi manga.

75. Habits

- Always goes to the bathroom first thing after waking up, hates being awake until she’s had some caffeine so she bee-lines for tea, or caffeinated soda, or a caffeinated energy drink. Always hits the exercise bike up before bed to listen or watch something without just sitting on her ass.

76. Desires

- She’s beginning to want to settle down and start a family. Also, on the down-low, she wishes Drack would adopt her as another grand-daughter.

77. Wishes

- She’d like it if the initiative’s textiles equipment would get up and running fully so she could get some summer dresses.

78. Traumas

- Nothing especially. Her Mother’s death, her Father’s death, and her Brother’s injury are the big ones. Being treated a little as an outcast on account of only being part-Asian when she was young in Hong Kong, fitting neither into the local community, not the immigrant community.

79. Worries

- Plenty, but mostly transient.

80. Any nervous ticks? Do they bite their nails, chew their hair? Do they suffer from the shaky leg syndrome?

- Her legs bounce when she’s restless, and she looks around her surroundings a lot more when nervous. If she’s standing, she’ll bounce slightly, but noticeably, on the balls of her feet.

81. Soothers?

- A nice cool bed.

82. Soft Spots

- Kittens. When Turians do that thing with their mandibles. Anyone who cooks.

83. Accomplishments

- Becoming Human Pathfinder. Settling a bunch of colonies. Her work on archaeological digs, and coming the top end of her Alliance class are both points of pride for her.

84. What do they consider their greatest achievement?

- Eos.

85. What do they consider their greatest failure?

- Alec dying. She feels there must have been something more she could do.

86. Earliest Memory?

- Having noodles from a little bowl as a girl at dinner with her mother and brother.

87. Fondest Memory?

- Seeing space for the first time.

88. What are their dreams like?

- Elizabeth rarely dreams, but when she does, her dreams tend to be quite realistic. She does frequently suffer from fever dreams when sick though, and those are quite disorienting.

89. Happiest moment before their departure to Andromeda?

- When she first got deployed to secure a Prothean dig site. The two things that fascinated her as a child were space and the depth of history in the cultures around her, particularly in Hong Kong and, when she studied there, in Paris. She always knew space was going to become part of her life, but finding out she was going to get to reach out and see, first hand, the uncovering of a truly mysterious past in a Prothean ruin, discovering mind-boggling technological wonders that were 50,000 years old already, that really got to her.

90. Happiest moment in Andromeda:

-The first time she returned to Eos and saw it bustling after all the failures that came before.

91. Most valuable possession?

- SAM. She’s bonded with him in a way that’s impossible to describe, and already in the very short time she’s had him, she knows she’d find loosing him unbearable.

92. Do they collect anything?

- Misfit crew members and rocks. Elizabeth loved rocks as a kid, and found them fascinating, and she has ever since. She had to leave most of her collection behind, but smuggled a couple of the choicer small ones along. She didn’t know her father had a special rock until they arrived in Andromeda. Kinda made her feel a little closer to him.

93. Humour?

- Dry, dark, and cynical. The “worse”, often the better, as long as the joke is well crafted.

94. Likes

- I mean, lots of things? Misty rainy days are pretty far up there, as are cool sheets after a long day, and hot cocoa.

95. Dislikes

- Bad manners and disregard for basic niceness.

96. Favourite things in life:

- Perry the Pyjak, because he’s adorable! Also, Kallo and Suvi’s general dorkiness. And how much Drack is a total goober around his grand-daughter. And generally people having a soft and tender side with the ones they care for.

97. Profile:

- She’s an all rounder, and loves using her biotics to blink through things. *Whoosh-pop!*

98. Preferred Weapons:

- A Mattock assault rifle with scope for distance, as a compromise between accuracy, weight, rate of fire, and ammo capacity, giving her both a ranged precision weapon as well as an acceptable weapon for close to medium range engagements if pushed. For closer up, a modified Hurricane submachine gun, and for medium engagements a modified phalanx pistol that auto-fabs explosive charges, allowing her to put a lot of damage down range quickly.

99. Describe their fighting style:

- Again, a bit generalist. In open engagements, she tries to keep her distance and focus from target to target, methodically picking them off, and generally prefers to keep enemies as far away as possible just so she takes fewer hits. In enclosed spaces, or when pushed, she jumps from target to target, using her biotics to throw and yank enemies about, and to generate a barrier so she can close and use her biotics to “melee” opponents, nevermind blinking about the place to disorient the enemy.

100. Speciality:

- Controlled Biotic pulls. She can capture multiple objects, and keep them captured for a long time. While her other skills are decent, her throw especially being quite potent, her skill at capturing objects in a controlled biotic field is a cut above the rest.

101. Favourite Squadmates:

- Vetra and Drack. While she can tolerate the others, she actively enjoys Drack-and-Vetra’s company. She finds Cora preachy, and too serious, to the extent it interferes with her ability to do her job in ‘Liz’s opinion; She finds Liam obnoxious, although generally competent, despite a tendency to not plan ahead; She finds Peebee childish and trying, having little time for her facade of “mystery”; She finds Jaal’s attitude to be superior, his people to be even more prone to blind bigotry than most milky-way races, and their collective assertion that their emotional openness is somehow empowering to be little more than an excuse to emotionally degrade each other without long term consequence, and while it might not be fair to lump Jaal in with his people, his general adherence to defending their stances seems to be unthinking enough to ‘Liz that she feels he’s contributing to culture that is inherently unaccepting of genuine dissent and disagreement.

102. How do they handle the Nomad?

- Like a pro. Elizabeth had extensive experience driving off-road under various planetary conditions with the Alliance, and the act of driving appeals to some nerdy core of her personality that enjoys the precision of the act, the engineering, and the knee quivering power.

103. How do they maintain their sleeping pattern?

- These days, with SAM’s help, although Elizabeth has struggled to maintain regular sleep patterns since childhood, often relying on strict regiments of alarms to wake, and prescribed medicine to sleep.

104. Any traditions they value?

- Far to many to list. While Elizabeth is a forward facing and thinking woman, she recognizes the importance of the past, and is prone to cherishing the small things from it, like analogue time-pieces, and cooking over fire. Particularly important to her are manners, simple basic manners. She feel that in day-to-day life, they take no true effort, and signify a general respect for your fellow beings,

105. Culture?

- Most of Elizabeth’s culture comes from Ellen and Alec’s generally western Earth background, but an early childhood in Hong Kong definitely gave ‘Liz an element of awareness of Asian cultures and history, as well as informing her own worldview and mindset, and she embraces facets of Asian cultures generally, from appreciating the reverence for the natural world in Shinto and the search for inner peace of Buddhism, to things much more simple, like the slight bow that accompanies every “thank you” that passes her lips.

106. Eating Habits:

- Generally healthy, but sometimes too much. Elizabeth has struggled with Stress eating throughout her life.

107. Any pets?

- Just Perry the Pyjak. She had, with her brother, a cat and a dog as a child, the cat in Hong Kong, where a house-pet was more realistic, and a dog in Canada, where the larger suburban environments made walking and playing with a pooch doable.

108. Work Ethic:

- She avoids it when she can, but if something grabs her eye, or will clearly have a real world impact, she’ll work at it efficiently and well.

109. Does your Ryder have a criminal record?

- A couple public intoxication charges from college, an indecent exposure charge, and a few vandalism charges from graffiti as a teen.

110. Degrees?

- Two bachelors, one in Anthropology with emphases in the application of archaeological methods and xeno-anthropological principles, and one in Political Science, with focus on modern galactic relations.

111. Who is your Ryders best friend on the Tempest?

- Kallo.

She find him so easy to talk to, and so nice. To be honest, she has a bit of a crush. Besides, he’s just the best to hug! Most of all, he’s sensitive and patient. He’s the only crew member Elizabeth feel like she doesn’t need to be strong for. It was something about the way he was cheerful and joking from the get go, but always professional. She felt and instant fondness and connection.

112. Does your Ryder have any role models?

- Elizabeth has a fondness for those who pushed frontiers. She always admired Norgay and Hillary for refusing to say who reached the summit first. Also the early astronauts. To her, those kinds of people, often possessed of a surprising humility in contrast to the grandeur of their achievements, people who went to the unknown places to do the notionally undoable are the manifestation of the human spirit.

113. Any heroes and/or mentors?

- Not particularly, although she approves of Commander Shepard’s pioneering course as a Spectre, and her bright optimism in an often cynical galaxy. Elizabeth still remembers when the press photos first released of Shepard’s crew receiving commendations, and how it was so diverse, so different from what anyone suspected. Turian shoulder-to-shoulder with Humans and a Krogan, a Quarian helping the galaxy despite the tremendous mistreatment most received in galactic society, and the Willaim’s sisters, their family name no longer mud because of their forbears, accepting the highest Alliance and Citadel commendations for bravery on behalf of their fallen sister.

114. What is their reputation in Andromeda?

- Broadly positive. She has a reputation for helping those who need it, and not believing any problem is too small. She also has a reputation for crushing the life force out of you with her biotic powers, or burying a bullet in your head from behind a rock outcropping if you get in her way, or cause undue ruckus, or generally want a fight. She’s well brutal to those she considers threats, and the word is spreading.

115. Do they have a strong opinion on pineapples on pizza?

- They do not have a strong opinion, but they approve of people eating what they enjoy. Elizabeth herself rarely has pizzas with pineapple, but doesn’t mind.

116. Ever stole something?

- Nothing important. Strictly speaking she broke galactic law by ferreting away a small Prothean artifact from a dig, a small piece of a shattered and tremendously damaged base relief.

117. Is your Ryder the kind of person to play pranks? If yes, what did they do?

- Not really. Elizabeth more enjoys word play. Although she does occasionally enjoy getting a rise out of people, and can be a little gadflyish

118. Any “classic” movies they love?

- Apollo 13, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Blasto Movies because they’re like a comedy-action James Bond, and Star Wars Excluding episodes I, XIII, and XIX. Turns out that most galactic cinema is trash. the galaxy lost its shit when Star Wars was re-released for galactic showings, and Elizabeth remembers seeing it in London where it was being shown in the original English, in a theater packed with aliens in the city on business. She swears the Turian ambassador was in the back row.

119. Your Ryder once uploaded a video that went viral. What was it about?

- Biotic gymnastics. She did an Uneven bars set without any bars in full combat gear while on deployment near the verge. Gave her a decent reputation for biotic skill.

120. Describe your Ryder in one vine

- No.

121. What tropes fit your Ryder?

- She feels like a Pint-Sized Powerhouse next to Drack and Vetra, a Brainy Brunette, an Action Girl, a Magic Knight, with Mind Over Matter skills, a real One-Woman Army, who tends towards the cross road of Good Is Not Nice and Good Is Not Soft when someone gets on her bad side. Oh, and she totally has a Violently Protective Girlfriend...

Vetra, in a peaceful moment between murdering Kett and other sundry villains.

122. Favourite Song?

- Just one? Uh, Spirit in the sky by Norman Greenbaum?

123. Do they play music in the nomad?

- Not normally. I mean, in and around the colonies, sure, but out in the wilds? Why play music and ruin the breath-taking awesomeness of the unknown?

[homoregalis]

Too cute...

one holmes, one watson, ONE CLYDE

[homoregalis]

So if at times I seem overprotective of the system that we’ve built, if I worry that the resentments of others might disrupt it, I have good reason.

#what elementary did with it’s 100th episode was a testament to the kind of show is #to the kind of show #the kind of holmes adaptation - it has tried to be from the start #what they chose to do with their milestone episode is the epitome of all the ways it stands in stark contrast to any other adaptation #any other show not just any other sherlock adaptation but any other crime procedural would have pulled out the big guns #and dealt their lead/s a huge case and packed it full of guest stars or notable minor characters #for sherlock stories specifically no one could begrudge you for assuming moriarty would play a key role #but that has never been what drives elementary #the 100th episode offered all it’s emotional significance to what has always been the core of the show #that sherlock is better because of the people he surrounds himself with #that there is no true reward in playing the lone genius cut off from society/humanity #and his partnership with joan is the finest exemplar of that #yes the bit with marcus in the opening was nice #and gregson’s little speech at the end pulled at my heart strings #both because of it narrative significance and the subtext of it being written for the cast and crew’s dedication to the show bts #but it always comes back to this #one holmes #one watson #the single fact that elementary is fundamentally about sherlock valuing human connections and interpersonal relationships #over solving the puzzle #will forever set it apart from any other sherlock adaptation #and that might be a criticism for some #but it will forever be one of the key reasons that i cherish and adore it

[homoregalis]

Snippet from a very Elementary musical...

Sherlock:

Do you want to solve a murder?

Come on, there’s been an affray!

I know its only four,

but come out the door,

who needs sleep anyway?

Let’s go join the Captain,

and Marcus too,

let’s go while the blood’s not dry!

Do you want to solve a murder?

It's been so long since a murder

Joan: Go away Sherlock!

Sherlock: But someone died...

[homoregalis]

That little freaking dance though! #BestWonderWomanEver

Gal Gadot on the set of Batman v Superman

[homoregalis]

Well, you say that. Any author who has Diana calling Clark “Kal” is fundamentally missing crucial elements to both characters.

Reminder that Darwyn Cooke understood the Batman v. Superman (ahem, Wonder Woman) dynamic better than anyone.