#because he can visibly see michael’s life also improving with jack there. because michael will make accomodations for jack that he wont for

[quietwingsinthesky]

Prompt: the archangelcule celebrating Jack's birthday 🙏

Lucifer runs himself ragged all week getting the party set up (and despite the fact that he’s done this for Jack every time he needs it since he came back into Michael’s life, it still leaves Michael surprised and wondering what happened to the boy who only knew how to bite the hand that fed when Michael abandoned him, when did he learn to be gentle and reliable, why did Michael waste all this time not seeing him?) to the point that he looks like he might fall asleep in front of the birthday cake before Raphael nudges him with their elbow, and he wakes up to sing.

They sing quietly — loud noises hurt Jack’s ears, one of many little oddities, but they rearrange their lives around his needs: no vacuuming unless he’s out of the house and no yelling from room to room — while Jack looks like he’s about to jump right out of his seat with how much he wants to blow out the candles. Gabriel scoops him up in one arm after, lets Jack’s tiny hand curl around the handle of the (dull!) cake knife while his lays over it to guide him, and helps him to cut pieces for them all himself.

(birthday 3 sentence ficathon! come toss a prompt!)

[aurorapillar]

Title: if a spark can start inside your heart     Fandom: Mary Poppins Returns Characters: Jack the Lamplighter, Georgie Banks, Annabel Banks, John Banks, Michael Banks Summary: The night of the Spring Fair, the Banks children are full of questions following Mary Poppins' departure and Jack finds himself the one responsible for answering them.

As much as he disliked the word, in Jack’s opinion it was quite frankly impossible for a fair not to be fun; when surrounded by the colorful attractions and joyful sounds even the most sensible of adults couldn’t fully keep their inner child suppressed. Their eyes would light up and for a moment in time, they’d forget their worries and just enjoy life, the way many of them hadn’t in years.

Fair’s didn’t last forever though and eventually people began to make their way home, returning once more to a world of cares and strife; Leeries were no exception, even after a day of fun there were still lamps to be lit, but their memories were much longer than others, so it was with a spring in their step and a song in their heart that they went about their route that night. Not of course that that was unusual for Leeries, they were a cheerful group by nature, despite the hardships of their lives; it just so happened that on the current night that cheer had been lit a little brighter.

Jack, in particular, seemed to shine with happiness that evening, not that he fully realized it himself; for all his talk about being your own light and shining for the world to see, he never noticed just how much he lit up the lives of people around him. Sure, he knew he was pretty good at cheering people up and that he was genuinely pretty well-liked by the people by the people who knew him, but there were lots of little things here and there he missed. Like how he could have a first conversation with someone and they’d walk away feeling like they’d just had a chat with a longtime friend, or how the people he waved and said hello to on his morning route tended to have better days then if he hadn’t, or the way people tended to instinctively trust him; all of those were things only visible from an outside perspective, not that it likely would have changed much if Jack had known, though it surely would have surprised him.

It really didn’t matter in the long run though and so Jack rode his route that night oblivious to the effect he had on others as he called greetings to the few others out so late, and by the time he reached Cherry Tree Lane his good mood hadn’t dimmed in the slightest; in fact if anything it had increased thanks to the Park Keeper actually giving him a nod in response to his greeting when he passed, rather than just ignoring him like he usually did. It still wasn’t a smile, which Jack was determined to one day get from the man, but it was an improvement.

Bringing his bike to a stop outside of number 17, Jack unstrapped his ladder and leaned it up against the lampost; however before he could climb up it, the front door of the Bankes house swung open and a blond blur most commonly known as Georgie came rushing out.

“Jack, you’re here!” The young boy called, taking the stairs two at a time as he ran to meet the Leerie at the base of his ladder

“'Ello Georgie, it’s a bit late for you to still be up and about innit?” Jack greeted, smiling at the young boy. It wasn’t altogether unusual for the Banks children to be awake when he came around to the light the lamps, there had been plenty of times they had waved to him from their window, but usually it was pretty clear that they were in the middle of getting ready for bed when they did so. On the current night though Georgie, as well as his siblings who Jack now noticed had followed him out, were all still fully dressed and very clearly not up in the nursery.

“Mary Poppins left today…” John began

“And Georgie was worried that you might have left too..” Annabel continued

“So we decided to stay up and make sure you weren’t gone.” John finished, looking a little embarrassed that they had been worried now that it was obvious Jack hadn’t gone anywhere.

“I see,” Jack said, nodding in understanding. It wasn’t too surprising they had been worried if you thought about it, Mary Poppins didn’t say goodbye when she left or explain why she was going usually; it was a course of action he didn’t really agree with, but he could understand why she did it at least, goodbyes could be hard after all. Even though she loved them, she could never stay with the children for very long, there were too many others who needed her; taking the time to say goodbye just made it harder to go, even if not doing so was rough on the children and hard for them to understand. It could make them that other people they cared about would leave as well

Jack supposed he had been lucky when it came to that, he hadn’t met Mary Poppins as one of her charges (though there had certainly been times during his childhood he could have used a nanny like her), but instead as an apprentice to Bert. Working with Bert meant he’d already heard tales of Mary Poppins long before meeting her and therefore it had not been as big of a shock when one day she was suddenly gone; it also didn’t hurt that Bert had an uncanny ability to find her and get involved whenever she was around, which meant Jack had been lucky enough to encounter her more times than the average person. The children hadn’t had his life experiences though.

“Not to worry, I’m not going anywhere.” He assured them with a kind smile, and whatever worry had remained even after seeing him seemed to slip away and their frames relaxed; at least until Georgie, who was never one to hold back when he had a question, piped up again.

“Why did she leave?” He asked, sounding oh so young, that it made Jack’s heartache.

“It’s what she does.“ He said, not really knowing how else to say, “There are other families out there who need her.” It was more complicated than that in some ways, but he didn’t know how to explain it when he didn’t even fully understand himself.  

“She could have at least told us she was leaving, she didn’t even say goodbye!” Annabel complained, her brothers nodding in agreement from their place beside her, and Jack let out a sad sigh

“Some people 'ave a 'ard time with goodbyes.” He told them. “Mary usually lets people know 'ow long she’s going to stay for though, surely she said something.”

“She said….that she’d stay until the door opened.” John slowly replied, “But there are lots of doors, what did she even mean?”

“The front door!” Georgie suddenly exclaimed, “It blew open for us when we got home, remember! And it was after that we noticed Mary Poppins was gone!”

“But the front door opened and closed plenty of times while she was here.” Annabel pointed out

“Ah, but that was the first time it opened since you came 'ome.” Jack reminded her, “Though I’d say there’s more to it than that, there’s often more than one meaning to things when it comes to Mary Poppins. What else 'appened today?”

There was a thoughtful silence as the children went over the days events in their heads, and Jack took advantage of it to climb his ladder and work on getting the lamp lit, just because it was the last stop on his route didn’t mean it would do for him to let it remain dark for too long.

“Well…” Annabel began after a few minutes of thought and another few seconds of blinking in surprise at the realization that Jack was no longer standing in front of them, but instead above them, having been deep enough in thought that she missed his movement. “We all went flying on balloons, you already know that though. “ She’d seen him up there with them, along with a good portion of the neighborhood as well; interestingly enough, now that she was thinking back to it, she realized that he’d spent most of the time side by side with their aunt.

Jane had said that they were just friends, but she couldn’t help but wonder if it was possible that he might end up as their uncle someday; personally, she thought it would be wonderful to have him as part of the family. She supposed that was a thought for another day though.

“We returned to the house and got everything unpacked,” John pondered out loud, “But that happened after she left, so it can’t be that.”

“Father and Aunt Jane remembered that everything they did with Mary Poppins as children really happened.” Georgie offered, and Annabel thought she saw a twinkle in Jack’s eyes as he climbed back down his ladder and turned to face them,

“Ah, there you go.” He told them, “There’s the other door.”

An expression of confusion was mirrored on the faces of all three children as they stared up at Jack, trying to figure out what he meant.

“How can something like that be a door?” John questioned, his voice doubtful, almost like he thought Jack was messing with them.

“When people grow up a lot of the time they become sensible,” Jack began, taking his ladder down and strapping it back onto his bike; he had a feeling he’d be on Cherry Tree Lane for a while longer, which was fine since he’d finished his route, but it was better to get things put away immediately rather than risk forgetting them. A Leerie without his ladder would have a hard job after all.  

“Now there’s nothing wrong with bein' sensible in and of itself, a little bit of sense can go a long way, but a lot of folks take it too far. They get older and 'ave responsibilities, and suddenly they think they don’t 'ave time for fun anymore, that there are too many important things they need to do instead; and then all the magic and joy of childhood just doesn’t seem to fit into their new logical world, so they lock it away.”

He paused, checking to see if children seemed to be following him thus far; the three of them looked thoughtful, though still rather uncertain as to what any of it had to do with open doors.

“If they're lucky though, then someone or something who acts as a key will come along, and then that room in their 'eart where they’ve shut away all the non-sensible things and dismissed as part of their imagination, suddenly it’s not locked anymore. And then the door to that room….”

“Can open!” The kids cried in unison, as they finally caught on to what Jack was trying to say.

“So then Mary Poppins left because we got our house back and father and Aunt Jane remembered?” Annabel asked, just to clarify, and Jack nodded.

“Exactly...well that’s what I assume at least.” He admitted, it wasn’t like Mary had ever stopped and told him what her plans were, but he could infer things based on what he knew. “Mary doesn’t usually show up just to 'elp the kids.”

The Banks children nodded in understanding, it made sense to them, and Jack wasn’t the type to lie. Suddenly John’s eyes widened in realization as he thought of something,

“Father remembered because of the balloons, and there were lots of other adults up there as well. I bet they remember what it’s like to be a child now too!” It was an exciting prospect for the children, they’d had a marvelous time with Mary Poppins and Jack, and already in the short time since their father and Aunt Jane had remembered what it was like to be a child, it was clear that there was a lightness to them that hadn’t been there before. They could only imagine how wonderful it would be if the rest of the adults they knew also had that happen.

Jack, however, winced at their excitement; he too thought that it would be wonderful if all the adults remembered what had happened, but unfortunately, he knew better.

“I’m afraid by tomorrow the other adults will 'ave all forgotten about what 'appened today, or dismissed it as a dream.”

“What!” The children’s outburst at the new bit of information was louder then it was really polite for them to be at such a late hour, but also understandable given the circumstances. Of course not all the residents of number 17 Cherry Tree Lane seemed to agree with the reasonableness of such an outburst, as after a few moments the front door opened and Michael Banks stepped out, a stern expression on his face.

“I know I said you three could stay up to wait for Jack,, but that doesn’t mean you should be noisy.” He scolded, “Besides, it’s quite late, now that you’ve seen Jack hasn’t gone anywhere the three of you really should be getting to bed.”

Even though he’d remembered what it was like to be a child, it hadn’t changed the fact that he was a father and had a responsibility to take care of his kids; which meant making sure they got to bed at a decent hour.

“But dad, we can’t go to bed yet.” John complained, rather desperately “Jack needs to explain!”

“Explain?” Michael questioned, a confused expression on his face since he’d missed the conversation up that point.

“Jack said the adults will forget what happened today.” Annabel told him, making a valiant effort to keep the worry out of her voice, but not managing to entirely succeed. Jack wasn’t really sure how much of the alarm on Michael's face after hearing that was due to his daughter being upset and how much was due to the prospect of forgetting, but his expression was clearly worried.

“Forget? But we’ve only just remembered!” He exclaimed, sounding even more upset then his children had been.

“I think you and Jane should be fine.” Jack quickly interjected, trying to reassure him. “From what I’ve 'eard the two of you went on some grand adventures with Mary Poppins yourself, and now that you’ve remembered they were real, it’ll be 'arder for you to forget. Plus you’ve got the children to help you remember.”

Micheal looked rather relieved by Jack's assurances, but the children were not entirely satisfied.

“Why will the rest of the adults forget than?” Demanded Georgie, “Is it because they didn’t have Mary Poppins for a nanny?”

Jack hesitated, not entirely sure what to say.

“I don’t know.” He finally admitted, hating that he didn’t have an answer to give them. “All I know is that while people who’ve spent time with Mary may forget the magic once, they rarely do twice.” The children didn’t look particularly satisfied with his answer, then again neither was he, but they seemed to realize it was the best they were going to get.

“What about you?” John asked suddenly, and Jack’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion

“Me?”

“You weren’t at all surprised by anything Mary Poppins did, so obviously you never forgot. Was she your nanny too?” Jack shook his head,

“No, she was never my nanny.”

“Then how come you’ve never forgotten?”

“Well…” The simple answer would be that he was a Leerie, which while not the whole reason, was a large part of it. Leeries had a magic of their own, which made it rather hard to forget that magic existed; there were rules about talking about that though, so he wouldn’t be able to explain why being a Leerie made a difference to them and that wouldn’t do. He was no Mary Poppins, if someone genuinely wanted to know something and he could explain, he usually did his best to. Which meant he’d have to come up with a different answer. “When I was younger I was apprenticed to a Chimney Sweep.” He told them, or it the children’s case reminded since he’d mentioned it in passing before back when Mary Poppins had first arrived.

“His name was Bert and ‘e was a good friend of Mary Poppins, still is.” At the sound of Bert’s name he noticed Michael’s eyes widen in surprise, it seemed he remembered the Chimney Sweep that had often watched out for him and his sister. That was good, Bert had always been fond of the two of them, it would have been a shame if they’d forgotten him. “He was always right lucky when it came to bein’ around when she turned up, so I got to meet ‘er several times. That’s made it rather ‘ard to forget.”

There was more to it than that really, like how Bert had taught him much more than just how to sweep chimneys or how their relationship had evolved to become more like a father and son than a teacher and apprentice; or how he was fairly certain that Mary had been far more than just a friend to Bert despite them never saying as much, and how that and his connection to Bert had resulted in a much closer relationship with the nanny than most people got to have. That information was rather personal, and as friendly as Jack was, he’d never been the type of person who could easily blurt out the things he held close to his heart; someday maybe, if they specifically asked he’d tell them more, but not on the current night.

Luckily the children seemed satisfied with his answer, though he was sure once they’d had time to think they’d probably come up with more questions; that was just the way children were, always hungry for knowledge. It was a pity so many people lost that trait as they got older.

“Now,” Jack said, suddenly clapping his hands together and making the children jump. “While I’d be more than ‘appy to stand ‘ere talking you all night, as I recall your father wanted you in bed and it wouldn’t be nice to ignore him.”

“Jack’s right.” Michael agreed, giving the lamplighter a grateful smile, “I’ve already let you stay up far longer than I should have, but it’s time for the three of you to be getting to sleep.” Unlike earlier, none of the Banks children argued with their father about being sent to bed, though it was clear to see that they would much rather not go; still, they obeyed regardless, waving goodbye to Jack as they headed inside. Their father turned to follow them but paused before entering the house and turned back to face the lamplighter,

“If you’re free sometime, I’d love to hear what Bert is up to these days. He was always kind to us as children.” He told Jack, before smiling mischievously, “And I’m sure Jane would love to hear about it as well.”

Jack grinned,

“I would be delighted to.”

[nerdmars]

The 2018 Grammys, which was held in New York City for the first time in 15 years to celebrate their 60th year, featured powerful performances from a host of artists and bands, including U2 (who performed outside, with the Statue of Liberty visible behind them), as well as Lady Gaga, Elton John (with Miley Cyrus), Sting, Kesha, and more.

Bruno brought down the house with a joyfully chromatic and high-energy performance of “Finesse,” evoking his beloved spirits of ’90s music and his own remarkable onstage moves. A songwriter and musician who has long honored his roots, his acceptance speeches were remarkable for their gracious recognition of those musical heroes who shaped his life.

“First off,” he began upon accepting the Grammy for Best Album, “to the other nominees in this category — Lorde, Kung Fu Kenny, Jay-Z, Gambino — you guys are the reason why I’m in the studio pulling my hair out, man, because I know you’re gonna only come with top-shelf artistry and music. Thank you guys for blessing the world with your music.”

Then, in another show of genuine gratitude for his own musical heroes, he urged the producers first to let him finish (“Don’t cut me off, Grammys, please!”), before relating a story of being a 15-year old in Hawaii entertaining big crowds of tourists. With no false humility, and to much laughter he said, “I’ll be honest; I was incredible at 15.”

But, as he explained, it was all about the timeless power of those songs he chose to perform then, songs which inspired him to become an artist and have sustained him to this day:

“Later in life.” he said, “I found out that those songs were written either by Babyface, Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis or Teddy Riley. And with those songs, I remember seeing it first-hand: people dancing that had never met each other from two sides of the globe, people toasting each other, celebrating together. All I wanted to do with this album was that.”

By that, Bruno means capturing the spirit of genuine joy in the studio – and in the writing of the song – something which, as all songwriters know, cannot be faked.

“Those songs,” he said of the classic ’90s records on which he was raised, “were written with nothing but joy and for one reason and one reason only: love. And hopefully I could feel that again, and see everybody dancing and everybody moving. I’d like to dedicate this award to them. They are my heroes, they are my teachers. They laid the foundation. This album wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for these guys that had written these songs. Sure, I had to sprinkle a little Mars sauce on them. This is for them.”

His love of ’90s hip-hop and gratitude for those artists who made it has been a constant through the few interviews he gave about 24 K Magic.

“Obviously, you hear these ’90s influences in the whole album,” he said to Beats 1. “That’s because of West Coast Hip-Hop. That’s because of Dr. Dre and DJ Quik and Suga Free. This is what we grew up on. It was at a time when it was okay to party. It was okay to be flashy.”

To capture that celebratory vibe in the studio and inject it directly into the heart of his tracks, he brought together two teams of writer-producers, and like Michael Jackson in the studio, showed exactly the dynamics and groove he required by dancing. Merging his own songwriting-production team the Smeezingtons (Bruno, Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy and Philip Lawrence) with old friends the Stereotypes (Ray Charles “Charm” McCullough II, Jeremy Reeves, Ray Romulus and Jonathan Yip) he crafted this joyful, dimensional album.

Even after completing the writing and production of a song, as he had with Song of the Year winner “That’s What I Like,” he’d invite his pals to focus completely on the groove, shifting and fine-tuning it until it had that precise ingredient of danceable joy that Bruno wanted.

“Bruno would have the general outline of the song,” said Jonathan Yip of The Stereotypes, “and said ‘I need to get that bounce.’”

As Charm explained, “That’s What I Like” has a slow tempo, but is in danceable double-time, so that “you bounce twice to it. We love slower tempos. You can body-roll to it. We didn’t change the tempo at all, but we added those in between beats, which made it modern. These days the drums lead.”

As musical joy can be captured but not contrived, Bruno and the gang made the recording process, and the studio set-up itself, as conducive as possible to musical fun. “We were like kids on a playground,” said Yip, “with all these instruments laying around. It took all of us. None of us could have done it by ourselves. Everything we did we did together. It’s the result of friends having a great time in the studio.”

To get the party started, Bruno played everyone the songs he had already recorded.”It was very nostalgic,” said Yip, “and heavily drenched with ’90s influence, which is my favorite era. [Bruno] said he wanted to make an album that people could dance to, with music that made him feel like when he was back at school dances. He told us he wanted something with the New Jack Swing feel, so we started vibing out until we all felt we had something.

To connect with the authentic sound they wanted, Bruno and his engineer Charles Moniz filled the studio with those instruments used back in the day.

“We were all transported back,” said Ray Romulus. “They got the actual keyboards from the era we all loved. Bruno’s no less hands-on than MJ. He’ll be dancing, and then the next second he’s on the keyboard. To me, he is almost the reincarnation of Michael Jackson, and he made us feel like Quincy.”

As Moniz recalled, Bruno was always receptive to any ideas about how to improve the music, never clinging to ideas that went nowhere. “He has the ability to look at his own work objectively,” Moniz said, “and that plays a huge role in it all. If you’re trying to get people on the dance floor, but the song doesn’t make you want to dance, you’re going to have to make some changes. He’s never afraid to make changes and no idea is ever too precious.”

The lyrics came from Bruno. “All that about the Cadillacs and champagne,” Romulus said, “that’s how Bruno is. He’s giving you a day in the life.”

In the end, Bruno said to Beats 1, it’s all about the music. All this attention on him and his own life is fine. But without the authentic joy of music at the center of everything, none of it matters.

“I hope that my music does the talking,” he said. “I just want to do music. I don’t want to be known for any …. scandals or controversy. I want to be the guy that brings joy to your life through his music. That’s it. And I want to go home.

In addition to winning the three major awards, Bruno also received Grammys for Best R&B Song, for “That’s What I Like,” given to all of its songwriters, Bruno, Christopher Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy, Philip Lawrence, Ray Charles McCullough II, Jeremy Reeves, Ray Romulus & Jonathan Yip. He also won for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Album.

[segadores-y-soldados]

Blizzard’s shitshow of a timeline

Alright, settle in kids, because this is gonna be a long one - I had to rant about this to @starsherit earlier today and fuck, maybe no one’s gonna want to dive into this mess, but fuck it, I’m frustrated by the maddeningly slow progress Blizzard’s Overwatch development team has put forward on this.

fucking LONGASS RANT under the cut, you’ve been warned.

Let’s start at the very fucking beginning.

Not that Omnic Crisis shit.

The fucking Overwatch “Cinematic Trailer” - aka the video that introduced Overwatch to the world.

This video was uploaded by “Play Overwatch,” Overwatch’s official Youtube Channel, on November 7, 2014 - almost a full year and a half before the game was actually released (May 23, 2016).

As most of you know, in the trailer, the characters Reaper and Widowmaker attempt to steal an item call the Gauntlet of Doomfist while Winston and Tracer attempt to stop them.  Some kids and Pixar magic help save the day and prevent the “bad guys” from making off with the loot.  We were shown a few key things: Widowmaker’s infrared ability, Tracer’s temporal stuff, Winston’s rage, Reaper’s Death Blossom, etc.

But this was fairly early on in the public aspects of Overwatch’s development so there are numerous inconsistencies: the one most frequently pointed out is Reaper’s skintone, which is extremely pale and not the same as his “grey” skintone that eventually made it to the final game (I don’t want to talk too much about Blizzard’s inconsistencies with his whole visible cosmetics because that’s a related but a whole separate issue and I’m trying to focus on timeline, storytelling, and world-building stuff here).

Another thing which I have NEVER seen pointed out

Is that Reaper actually uses a pipe bomb launcher at two points in the short.

The first:

And yes, It shoots exactly what you think it does.

And the second:

That seems really familiar doesn’t it?

Only problem is that the “final version” of Reaper doesn’t have this ability at all -

Junkrat does.

So what happened?

Well, as with most things that occur over a year and half, things change.  It was a video game early on in its stages of relatively public development.  It’s pretty well-known that Blizzard changed a lot of mechanics, made a ton of new characters, changed designs, etc.  It happens - it’s all part of the process of creation and design.  I don’t think anyone is faulting Blizzard for trying to make a very unique team-based game with a bunch of very unique characters.

The problem however, is that Blizzard and the Overwatch team have been very clear that they wanted the game design to come first, and the story design to come second.

You know what other series this has been a major issue for?

The Legend of Zelda.

I’ve talked about this issue frequently, under different usernames, with different people, for different fandoms, for different series - there is no one “right way” to make a game, just as there is no one “right way” to develop a story.  There is nothing wrong with wanting to prioritize gameplay, design, and development and make a story that fits those aspects later.  It can work.  But it does mean that if you aren’t careful, you will get problems poking through the cracks where you’ve glued them together.

And boy, does Overwatch have a lot of those.

For example, take this article:

https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/blog/19809396/

For those of you who can’t read it at the moment, it’s a long, “in-universe” article written by a editorialist for Overwatch’s fictional “Atlas News syndicate” about John “Jack” Morrison and his personal history - from a kid in Indiana, to supersoldier, to Omnic Crisis hero, to Overwatch’s commander, to the potential vigilante Soldier: 76.  It is where, essentially, most of the “meat” of Morrison’s and Reyes’ backstories are laid out for players and fans.

It was also posted on July 6, 2015, again, almost a full year before the game itself was put out on the street.

And it is FILLED with problems.

Problem 1:

["Even I had my doubts about whether Overwatch would succeed," UN Under-Secretary-General Gabrielle Adawe, one of Overwatch's key architects, said shortly after the end of the Omnic Crisis. "But Morrison never gave up hope. He didn't just meet our expectations for what Overwatch and its agents could achieve; he shattered them."

The UN rewarded Morrison for his contributions by making him Overwatch's first official commander. Reyes was passed over in the process, and it created a rift between the two men that would lead to tragic consequences.]

Jack Morrison is made Strike-Commander of Overwatch “shortly after the end of the Omnic Crisis.”  In the Soldier: 76 trailer (posted by Blizzard to their Youtube channel on July 7, 2015, a day after this ARG news article), Soldier confirms this description of his Overwatch career by saying “I led Overwatch for twenty years.”

So let’s start the timeline:

From that same ARG article:

[When [Jack Morrison] died under mysterious circumstances six years ago, I felt as if a part of my childhood died with him.]

[That Morrison was buried here six years ago. All that's left is the shadow of the hero we once knew.]

Source 1: The Explosion at the Swiss Base occurred roughly “six years ago” from the article’s posting “in-universe.”

New Source:

https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/blog/20130523

This article, also written “in-universe,” describes the Museum Heist attempt.  It expresses concerns and doubts about what a “Recalled Overwatch” can possibly hope to achieve in the world, after the public already said they didn’t want it.  This matches with the information given in the Soldier: 76 origins trailer, the Recall animated short, and the “Cinematic Teaser” (posted May 2, 2016 - narrated by Winston).

This article gives “the meat” of Overwatch’s total lore, describing the rise and fall of the organization, and even events that occurred after that.  It does not give a direct amount of years since “the fall,” but it more or less matches the other information other sources provide.

New Source:

https://twitter.com/to_grok/status/826487157430874112

A twitter conversation between user to_grok and Michael Chu, Overwatch’s lead writer, on both the Fall of Overwatch and Reaper’s biography (aka why I’m writing this mess).

[Michael Chu: No, Overwatch was disbanded around five years ago.]

Chu confirms that this particular aspect of the timeline has not changed.

Alright so, let’s crunch some numbers:

Reinhardt: age 61 in-game - born in the year 2016; Ana Amari: age 60 in-game - born in the year 2017.

2016 + 61 = 2077; 2017+ 60 = 2077

The “current point” when the majority of Overwatch’s gameplay, shorts, comics, and events occur roughly between 2076-2078, centering around the revelation of Jack Morrison’s “un-death” about 5 - 6 years ago, which is when the Swiss Base was destroyed and Overwatch was disbanded.

Let’s use the ARG article’s number and roll back 6 years:

2077 -  6 = 2071

[2071 - the year that Overwatch was disbanded and the year that the Swiss Base explosion occurred.]

Now let’s figure out when the Omnic Crisis ended, and supposedly when Jack was made Overwatch’s commander:

2071 - 20 years = 2051

[2051 - the year the Omnic Crisis was ended, Morrison became Strike-Commander, Overwatch moved from being a task force into being a global organization for peace]

Time since the end of the Omnic Crisis and Overwatch was officially made a global organization for peace: 26 years.

AND NOW WE COME TO PROBLEM 2:

From Article 1:

[According to Overwatch's former agents, this outcome was inevitable. "After Morrison's promotion to strike commander, his relationship with Reyes changed," Dr. Angela Ziegler, medical director of Overwatch, stated during a UN committee hearing. "The tension became more pronounced as time went on. I tried to mend things. We all did. Sometimes when the closest bonds break, all you can do is pray you stay out of the cross fire."]

Angela, oh Angela.

Angela’s in-game age: 37 years old.

Time since the end of the Omnic Crisis to the “present” game: 26 years:

Angela’s age at the end of the Omnic Crisis: 11 years old.

Now -

This seems like a real fucking contradiction to the story being developed, doesn’t it?

New Source: Mercy’s “official biography” from the Play Overwatch website:

[Ziegler rose to become the head of surgery at a prominent Swiss hospital before pioneering a breakthrough in the field of applied nanobiology that radically improved the treatment of life-threatening illnesses and injuries. It was this expertise that attracted the attention of Overwatch.]

I would be fucking shocked if an 11 year old could do this.

Other noteworthy aspects: since Jesse McCree is also 37 years old in-game, the same age as Angela, he too is 11 years old at the end of the Omnic Crisis.

Which means we have several contradictions going on:

1. Jack Morrison was made Strike-Commander 26 years ago, when Angela and Jesse were children and apparently somehow “a part of Overwatch” so they could witness this “transformation” between Morrison and Reyes.

2. Jack Morrison was made Strike-Commander 26 years ago and Angela and Jesse were not actually present for this event (because they were children) and therefore Angela’s quote from the article is impossible.

3. Jack Morrison was not actually made Strike-Commander 26 years ago, but instead was made Strike-Commander after Angela and Jesse join, making Angela’s quote possible but therefore making the entire timeline inaccurate.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Things change during game development, I completely understand that.  The problem is that when you post multiple, contradicting “official sources” without having a clear understanding of your own story, you are going to run into - and even create - some problems.

The contradictions continue past this - as many people have pointed out, Chu and the Overwatch development team have retconned Genji’s backstory and the “lore aspects” of Tracer’s chronal accelerator, so they’re definitely open to changing parts of their story to make things fit better - even things that were “consistent” upon release like the chronal accelerator.

Which is why it is weird that Chu states that the wording in Reaper’s biography is intentional.

Because as I’ve already pointed out, Reaper is not at all the character he was originally shown to be in November 2014, and we have a number of other sources saying that his gameplay mechanics changed a lot during development time (at one point, his consumption of soul globes was going to prevent Mercy from being able to revive teammates).

Hypothetically, the Overwatch team could make a backstory that fits the description - it is entirely possible that Reyes became something along the lines of Reaper in SEP, or that he gained his Reaper abilities through unethical experiments at Blackwatch, or that - in order to give Overwatch plausible deniability - he conducted his Blackwatch missions under the guise of “Reaper,” pretending to be a mercenary instead of an agent of peace.

And he could actually just have been a double agent the whole time.

The last one is particularly frustrating for people who are fans of making Reaper a more complicated, complex character, because it does seem like “the easy way out” for the Overwatch team to take in order to avoid addressing the deeper questions that Overwatch’s attempts at a lore bring to the surface: was Reyes fucked over by Overwatch and the U.N.?  Is he actually a “ruthless mercenary” or is he searching for answers on his own?  Why does he blame Morrison and Overwatch for “becoming what he is?”

And yup -

Here’s another goddamn contradiction:

New Source: Old Soldiers Comic:

Transcript:

[Ana *removes Reaper’s mask*: What happened to you…?

Reaper *emphasis is from the comic, not me*: He did this to me, Ana.  They left me to become this thing.

Ana: Gabriel…

Reaper: They left you to die.  They left me to suffer… … Never forget that.]

Alright, so let’s try to break this problem down into different parts:

Part 1: Reaper has been Reaper for “decades.”

See, the above hypotheses could be explanations for Reaper’s inconsistencies in his biography, except for the fact that Old Soldiers, which is more recent than his Play Overwatch bio, states through Reaper himself that he “blames” two group - “him” and “them,” most likely Morrison and, with some easy inference, either Overwatch or Blackwatch.

Now, the most probable hypothesis, given all the information we know that is still somewhat consistent, is that Reaper is talking about some fall out related to the Swiss Base explosion, which he was caught in.  Prevailing fan theory says that some one - potentially Angela - or some group - potentially Talon or another anti-Overwatch organization - pulled his dying body out of the wreck and forced him to undergo experiments that transformed him into the Reaper.  If either of these theories are true, then his Play Overwatch biography is inaccurate and Chu is supporting the wrong timeline.

Part 2: the “Mercy botched Reaper” theory has largely been debunked.

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20747844983#post-16

Granted, it was debunked by Chu, but technically, no one can find the supposed interaction of “This wasn’t my intention for you.”/”You knew what you were going,” so while it may have existed at one point, it has all but disappeared.  It’s entirely possible that fans misinterpreted or misheard the current Mercy/Reaper interaction of “what happened to you?”/”you tell me, doc” as implying that Mercy botched saving Reaper.  However, Old Soldiers also supports Chu, in its own way: Reaper does not say anything about Mercy failing to save him - he only resents Morrison and possibly Overwatch.

However, as someone in that Blizzard forum post points out, Reaper does have an audio line of “Don’t forget, you’re the one responsible for this,” although I personally cannot recall if or when he says the line in-game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoKRFx5Sb5g#t=4m7s

(Note that the video is about the Mercy botches saving Reaper theory and some of it may be outdated or have been removed from the game)

Anyways, back to the main point: Old Soldiers certainly implies that whatever made Reaper Reaper occurred sometime during Overwatch, or sometime after it, which, once again, when we do the math, generally does not add up to “decades” - unless the idea that Overwatch had a hand in making him into Reaper is true, or that they left him in the hands of some group that made him into Reaper and then “returned” him to Overwatch.

Plausible, but again…

Part 3: What the fuck kinda halfassed character motivation is that?

I personally find it strange that Reaper would work for a group he’s hated for “decades,” even as a double-agent.  It’s not that it’s impossible or even totally unheard of - it just seems unnecessarily shoddy in developing his character and placing it into the larger, admittedly inconsistent world of Overwatch.

It’s like trying to fit an old square block into a peg hole.

It would just be easier for Chu and the writing team to be clear and state that - much like Genji and Tracer and possibly even Soldier: 76 and Mercy - Reaper’s biography and his timeline have undergone numerous changes from the very beginning of development, to the game’s release, and even after, through Old Soldiers and Infiltration and beyond.  We all know what Blizzard did with the First Strike comic - admitting that the story had changed from its initial conception and therefore they needed to pull it was disappointing, but it at least acknowledged that their development of Overwatch’s world had shifted and would need to be reorganized.  Hell, if you pay close attention to the wording of the cancellation, you’ll see that Liao - supposedly the sixth member of the Overwatch original team - is not even mentioned in the entire post:

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20752185714

I would be extremely...skeptical of Chu’s claims that the wording of Reaper’s biography is intentional - because we already know that Blizzard has retconned so much of the early Overwatch content and is putting the original lore through a massive overhaul.  So sure, maybe Reaper’s “decades” of work is going to be canon, but the fact remains that what is implied, right now, in the contradicting content that is out there, is that it is not.

Let me see if I can explain this:

From what is out there right now - Reaper blames Morrison, Overwatch, possibly some other group or people for his specific condition.  Ana - a character he worked with for his entire Overwatch career - is shocked by “what he had become.”  This is supported not only in Old Soldiers, but in their in-game interactions as well.

It would be extremely surprising if Reyes had been Reaper “the whole time” that Overwatch was around and Ana was completely unaware of his behavior, especially if the new fan theories that “Reaper” was his call sign are true.

From what Blizzard could eventually release - Reaper’s backstory could be changed to make it so that he was, in fact, Reaper for “decades,” that Reyes was turned into Reaper either during SEP or the Crisis or Overwatch eras - but that would involve scrubbing much of his current interactions with other characters, all of whom are surprised by “what he has become.”

“Oh but he was Reaper in secret” - what bullshit.  You think a globally-recognized hero, no matter how bitter he is, surrounded by the same people for nearly THIRTY YEARS, just sneaks off into the night to kill people and then comes back with literally no one noticing?

That makes Morrison and Amari both blind and incompetent.

The simplest conclusion is either:

1. Part of the “different direction” of First Strike will be reworking Reaper’s biography, and potentially changing a bunch of other information already out there and present in the game or

2. The “decades” line is just inaccurate.

Things change, even after a game is released.  Shit gets retconned all the damn time.  It happens.  Genji was not an Overwatch agent and then a cyborg.  Angela did not work for Overwatch at age 11.  The in-game map of Dorado’s location in Mexico is way different from the map in the Soldier: 76 origins trailer.  The photos of Junkrat and Roadhog in the bank are literally just their models from their “line up” pictures.  Reaper does not shoot bombs.  Liao seemingly does not exist anymore.  Tracer’s chronal accelerator can be removed.  Hanzo has a fucking undercut.  Torbjorn has eight children.  Symmetra now has her shield generator.  Roadhog has hook 2.1.

Things change.

I will be astounded if Blizzard can make all these contradictions work for Reaper, but I suspect somewhere, much like his fucking pipe bomb launcher and his “Don’t forget, you’re the one responsible for this” line and his bloody skintone, something, somewhere, will be cut or changed or contradicted.  I suspect that it is entirely possible that we will see a comic or a short or some sort of lore where Reyes was “left behind by his team” and tortured into becoming Reaper and then returned to work as a double-agent - something that happened “decades” ago, as opposed to a comic or short or some sort of lore where Talon or another group pulls him from the wreck of the Swiss Base and makes him into something new only “six years” ago.

Something that is, unfortunately, “the easy way out” of developing Reaper as a more complicated, more complex character.

Of course, at the rate story-based content is released for Overwatch, it could be a long while before we see the results of this whole debate and discussion and mess.

...Maybe even decades?

It’s hard to say.

So I can already figure a lot of people who have come across are saying, “Aren’t you just being a disgruntled, delusional fan?  Is your interpretation of this so important that you’re unwilling to change in the face of new information?”

That’s not really the point of this - I have my interpretation and it is unfortunately built on piles and piles of already-released, already-contradicting information that Blizzard has put out.  While I am a fan of post-Fall Reaper and the idea that he was made after the Swiss Base explosion, my biggest gripe with Blizzard isn’t Reaper at all, but fucking the Overwatch timeline as a whole.  The Crisis ended thirty years ago?  Morrison was Overwatch commander for twenty years?  When are Angela and Jesse recruited?  When did Winston escape from the moon colony?  Did he make Athena, or is she possibly an Omnic God Program like some fans hypothesize?  Who fucking joins “Post-Recall” Overwatch and why?  Why DOES Hanzo have an undercut?  What is the fucking point of the Ilios map and why do I care about guarding some hole to the center of the earth?  What is Junkrat’s secret?  Will we ever see Roadhog’s face?  Will Brigitte ever become a playable character?  Are you guys gonna fucking hire Terry Crews or not?

Blizzard has SO MANY FUCKING PROBLEMS in their timeline that the Reaper “decades” thing is just one surface part of the iceberg.

It’s fine and dandy to put gameplay and game design before story - Overwatch’s gameplay is practically seamless and so fucking fluid that you don’t even really need a story - it’s got that Halo “Red vs Blue” or Team Fortress 2 type chaos built into it and that makes it fun, flexible, and fair for the vast majority of players.

But it would be great for Blizzard to recognize - beyond Genji and Tracer, beyond First Strike - that the problems poking through the glue holding disjointed gameplay and story together do have an impact on how their characters and lore are perceived in the long run.

Whether that comes down to complaints about the Sombra ARG, or the disappointing amount of skins for some characters over others, or the fact that half the maps seemingly have nothing to do with the world being built, or the fact that the comics are good but totally separated from one another, or the fact that the shorts are just enough to tease and not enough to really explore the world and characters -

Or even if comes down to Reaper being a “bad guy” for “decades.”

Reyes having been Reaper for “decades” and therefore having been “a bad guy all along” will be a massive disappointment for everyone who wants to see the complicated, complex, dark-skinned, Latino character get a good backstory and eventually a good redemption arc - but it will be disappointingly expected too.  The silver lining is that he’s still one of the funniest, funnest, wittiest, most sarcastic characters in the game, and no matter how many contradictions they build onto him, nothing will take away from shit like “I’m back in black,” “Welcome to the black hole,” “I’m a high-functioning psychopath,” “What kind of name is Doomfist anyways?”, and the fucking line of solid gold, “It’s in the refrigerator.”

Also

Sometimes being the “bad guy” is way more fun than being the hero.

I have no fucking clue who’s actually gonna read all of this but in summary:

To Chu, if you come across this: be very careful about overhyping things or vaguing information for your followers.  I don’t think any of us here want to see the First Strike cancellation repeat itself.  When you wrote Old Soldiers, were you thinking about Reaper’s biography and the word “decades”?  It would be very interesting to learn how Blizzard’s timeline for Overwatch has changed throughout development.

To everyone else, whoever reads this: be skeptical of claims made by Blizzard, individual members of their team, and by fellow fans, including me!  Like, holy shit, it’s crazy cool you got this far, but seriously, take a look, click those URLs, find that missing dialogue, do the math.  “Word of God” means very little in this day and age when content creators change their ideas and stories all the time for something new, something they think is better.

Thanks for reading, sorry if I rambled in places, and sorry if I didn’t end very strong.  I wanted to write more shitty fic shit this morning but got totally sidetracked by hunting down this problem and it just...I’m tired of seeing funny, interesting, unique, creative characters get reworked by their creators into something more “typical” so that they don’t have to deal with the heavy lifting of the problems that come with defying expectations.  Reflections was a great start - hell, having such a diverse cast of characters to begin with was a great start - but I look at things like the First Strike cancellation and the whole “we’re moving in a different direction,” and it just echoes other video game series that have done the same thing in the past.

The theme of Overwatch is that there are “limitless possibilities” - “anyone can be a hero.”  The world could always use more heroes.  So to turn that around and make the “stereotypical bad guy” into a tired, tried stereotype once again would be bitterly disappointing.  And at a time when people of all races, ages, genders, beliefs, and origins are facing harsh, real world struggles in the face of renewed evils, Overwatch provides an opportunity for fun, fairness, and optimism.  To use that platform to tell the same tired, tried story is just exhausting.