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b0ynumber2 · 2 years

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Creamy Heart Soup for our Out-Of-This-World companion?

Characters Involved: Miitopia Link, LOZ1&2 Link (Hyrule), Minish Cap Link (Minish), BOTW Link (Wild/Champion) Rating: G Word Count: 1.3k Author's Note: hello again! havent written a fic in forever but decided to write out a fic based on one of my recent posts regarding miitopia and loz. this fic has my own interpretations of each link and is not associated with any pre-existing link meets aus! hyrule is also technically based off tv show link personality wise, but i toned down his sass a bit. this little au doesn't really have a set plot, its just a group of links adventuring so far. (fic can be found on ao3 under the same name)

The encounter was random, to say the least.

It started out with Hyrule, Minish and Wild sitting by the bonfire, chatting and toasting whatever was available right above the fire, to help with the lack of food they’ve eaten the whole day. They gobbled up the surprisingly not poisonous food and before long, they all agreed to call it a night.

At the midst of the dark night, a dark, blood red portal tore through the sky, revealing a panicked traveller screaming their lungs out as they fell through, hitting the ground face first with a loud THUNK!

Startled and concerned, the three adventurers awoke from their slumber and immediately ran over to the stranger’s whereabouts. From their perspective, the stranger seemed to be sporting a golden armour, their helmet rocking sharp horns and flaps, while their torso was covered by the stranger’s cape. For such gear, it was rather unfortunate that they had landed face first, but it wasn’t the time to worry about that. Hyrule called over his companions to help roll the body over to see if the person was alive at all. With their combined efforts, they managed to successfully get a look at the front profile of the stranger.

“Uugh…” The warrior groaned, which surprised the others. At least the stranger was alive, but their helmet was dented due to the fall, making it kind of unpleasant to look at. After what seemed like forever, the stranger looked around, sitting up.

“What is this place?” They asked.

“We’re in Hyrule, at least an unfamiliar version of it.. Here, let me take you back to camp.” Hyrule replied, holding his hand out to the stranger. The other accepted the help, holding onto Hyrule’s hand and getting up. Hyrule insisted they didn’t let go, just in case they fell over again. They had no choice but to oblige, especially in their slightly lightheaded state.

They sat down on the ground, Hyrule busy with taking the stranger’s armour off as Minish set the fire alight again. Wild seemed to be rummaging through his bag, likely for a potion or some ingredients. The stranger was sat beside the brunette of the team of three, helping him out with the armour removal.

“Say, what’s your name?” Hyrule asked, putting his new companion’s helmet down. The other noticed the dent and silently winced at the sight before looking back at Hyrule.

“Uhm, Link..” They replied.

The three stopped their current activity and glanced at each other, wide eyed, before looking back at the fourth Link. Now that their helmet was off, the similarities in facial features were there. However, there was something very oddly different about this person, yet none of them could point their finger as to what..

“.. Is there something wrong?” Link asked, confused by everyone else’s expressions. Hyrule snapped back into reality, shaking his head. “No, no! It’s just.. We all sorta have the same names so…” Hyrule awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, “Do you have any nicknames you go by or..?”

Link nodded, “They’re only used in battle, but my teammates usually call me Warrior or Elf, since they’re my main two jobs..”

Hyrule seemed pensive, struggling to choose which one of the two sounded cooler.

“.. Elf.” another voice chimed in, interrupting Hyrule’s train of thought, “We’ll call you Elf. We already met a Warrior.” Hyrule glanced at the source of the voice and noticed Minish sitting next to him, softly smiling at their new teammate. Elf gave the two of them a thumbs up, “I’m cool with that! What about you guys?” “Hm? What about us?” Hyrule asked, slightly confused.

“.. Your names. I don’t know what to call any of you.”

“Oh! Yeah yeah! Right–” Hyrule cleared his throat, “I go by Traveller- Not very knighted but I’m pretty good in a fight, saved a princess and all that jazz, no big deal. The little guy next to me is Minish–” “Hey!” Minish interrupted angrily, to which Hyrule simply ignored, “He doesn’t talk much, but he knows more than what meets the eye.”

Contrary to his behaviour just a second ago, Minish smirked at the small praise.

“And finally, we have Champion– Speaking of which, where is he?” Hyrule chimed, turning his head to see where the last of three was. A sharp whistle from nearby shot everyone’s ears, leading them to face the other side of the bonfire, where Wild was. He seemed to be cooking something..

“That’s him alright.. Unlike Minish and I, he doesn’t talk at all, but we just.. know what he’s trying to say. He’s also scarily good in battles, you should train with us some time!” Hyrule said, smiling at Elf. Elf glanced at all three of them, nodding to themself. Not before long, he went over to where Wild was, scanning the food on the pot right above the fire.

“.. What dish is that?” They asked, maybe hoping that the recipe was nearby. The silent cook pointed at a recipe in the book next to him, which seemed to be a cookbook. A win for the new companion. Elf skimmed through it, only being familiar with very few ingredients. This made them slightly nervous, but considering all the weird foods they’ve had during their travels back in their homeland… Whatever this dish was most likely won’t poison him.

The other two observed the pot as well, seeing as there was nothing else to do (And perhaps try convincing Champion to give them some food too since they’ve been pretty decent companions). After a short while, Hyrule chimed, “Seems pretty ready to me, chef.” Wild took a closer look at the pot before nodding in agreement. He lifted the pot off its holder, letting it cool on the ground for a few minutes. Elf watched in anticipation, the smell of the dish teasing his nose and taste buds..

“Looks like we aren’t the only ones that want the food.” Hyrule commented snarkily, chuckling.

“Unlike us though, the food is made for them..” Minish replied, lightly nudging his taller companion. Hyrule pouted, clearly not that upset, but he just felt like being dramatic.

Wild pulled out four wooden bowls out his bag and laid them out, pouring even portions of the stew in each. He handed one bowl to each of his companions as well as saving one for himself.

“Oho! Don’t mind if I do..” Hyrule chimed, drinking the stew right away without blowing on it first, slightly burning his tongue. Minish giggled at the scene, waiting for his own bowl to cool down a bit before digging right in.

Elf looked down at their bowl, admiring the beautiful display of it. Its light pink hue along with what seemed to be multiple types of fruit and vegetables mixed in complementing the colour made it too pretty to eat. However, they were starving, and the dish was made specifically for them, it’d be a shame for it to go to waste..

They took a deep breath and blew on their stew before taking a small sip, to ensure they weren’t going to suffer any major burns. Their eyes instantly lit up as the stew entered their mouth, they just wanted to.. shoot up in the air because of how good this tasted! It wasn’t like anything they’ve had before, but they’d be willing to get seconds if there was any more left. Wild seemed to notice the excited expression on Elf’s face and let out a satisfied smile of his own.

Before they knew it, Elf finished their dish in no time, which wasn’t too surprising knowing how fast they’d eat back at the inn.. But everyone else seemed to take their time. They didn’t mind, of course. It was best to have a moment of reflection before he settled in. It was weird.. Falling into here out of nowhere. But they’ve already found a team they felt safe with, one that clearly cares deeply for them.. They couldn’t help but smile at that thought.

And with how seemingly skilled and knowledged everyone was, Elf felt a sense of something. Perhaps, a sense of a new adventure arising.

#legend of zelda #loz #the legend of zelda #loz fic #minish cap #breath of the wild #miitopia #miitopia fic #ao3 fanfic #ao3fic

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rinisbowen · 3 years

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so... the new popsugar article (in the source link) truly was sending me haha. but- it’s clear that the writer of the article hasn’t watched the show in its entirety, and certainly not season 2 given the main things it seems to accurately identify from season 2 is that ricky and nini did break up, the nini music thing from the finale, and the fact that lily exists...

for those who need a breakdown, i wanted to do one, especially since some people aren’t able to see all the slides evidently? idek what’s up with that. i’m going to exclude the new characters (even though i know some people can’t see maddox and jet’s, there’s nothing new there that wasn’t in the announcement).

let’s go through it piece by piece shall we. (with of course my thoughts on the stuff they’re claiming)

nini:

her piece says essentially that yes she’s returning, and also that she’s confirmed to “have solo performances this season”. they note that she and ricky are reconciling and “slowly becom[ing] friends” (i mean i guess), and then get into the music stuff. while they say that nini was “gearing up to launch a music career”, following season 2 i think that’s a bit of an overstatement. i haven’t gotten into this in another post yet, but i think that arc will be over by the time we’re midway through the season, and i highly doubt she’s going to have any sort of actual ‘music career’. this is based on my own analysis though, so on surface level, it’s not a bad call.

something i did think was weird was this though, was the last sentence. “Fans hope to see Nini take off in the music sphere this season, and they're definitely interested in knowing where her dating life will take her.” i’m not gonna lie, i’m very much not under the impression that nini’s dating life is the thing fans are very interested in right now. like even people who really like nini’s character are probably way more invested in the potential with the music arc than they are her ‘dating life’.

if nini dates someone this season i will personally be caught off guard, unless it happens at the end. her plot this season can’t be romantic, because tim is clearly not willing to let nini’s independence arc actually rest until she does it single. i do think this is quite dumb, but that’s another post. moral of the story, i think nini’s not on a romantic journey this time around. also i highly doubt that’s what fans want from her this season anyway.

ricky:

his has very little worth discussing i’ll be honest, but it has two main points. “While he isn't necessarily Nini's love interest anymore, that doesn't mean the two can't be friends.” is the first thing they mention of note, like essentially sorta incorporating the fact that ricky and nini broke up, and that they probably will have some sort of friendship going forward. that would make a lot of sense considering the fact they’re literally childhood best friends. it would make less sense for them to not be friends.

the other thing they say about ricky, is that he’s kind of a theatre kid now essentially, having played two leads so far, and that “he'll most likely be cast in another huge role” for Frozen. which i think huge is a bit of an overstatement, i don’t think it’s a bad guess to think he’ll get another decent sized part.

ej:

they start by calling this boy, “everyone's favorite theater-jock” and i find that endearing, though also pretty hilarious as a descriptor. they talk about how he’s sort of gotten a “bad rap” for not showing his “softer, more emotional side.” but then go on to say viewers see that he’s a good person deep down in season 2. i mean, to be fair i think we do see more of his actual emotions instead of the surface in season 2, 2b especially, but their next line is “If he were as self-centered as we'd originally thought, he wouldn't have bought Gina a plane ticket so she wouldn't have to miss their show.”

i think it’s odd they act like his redemption arc happened in season 2. that event they describe very much happened in season 1, and for me personally, when i watched that finale, despite seeing it as a dissatisfying end to his redemption arc for me, i knew based on other disney shows that that was in fact his ‘redeeming selfless act’ that basically absolves the character of all past misdeeds. it’s just the formula, and i was (and am) inclined to just take it at surface value despite my individual feelings about it. ej actually kinda took a turn in 2b that i hadn’t exactly anticipated, and like- he’s well past redeemed at that point. but i still think it’s weird they act like he wasn’t redeemed until season 2.

but then after they say he’s probably going to get more character development, there’s the most laughable part of this whole article... and the part that makes it so clear they haven’t actually watched the second season...

ej’s part ends with: “We'll likely see more character development as season three progresses, and we may even see some more onscreen sparks between him and Nini.” and like- that doesn’t sound like a very convincing take. while i don’t doubt they could put him and nini in closer proximity this season maybe as friends, if they wanted ej and nini to reunite, they would’ve spoken more than once in season 2, i’d call that a fact. (technically they spoke twice, but only one of those conversations was one on one). they could’ve made the school thing a bigger deal last season, and that could’ve driven the two of them having a friendship, but they didn’t, and given they’re not even really properly friends right now, i highly doubt they’re going to be having “sparks”.

gina:

gina’s is weird, because even for season 1 standards, it’s kinda an odd description for her character. the author says they’re excited to watch her get more character development, which of course, but gina did a LOT of growth in season 2... i don’t think that she needs the development that i assume they’re referencing in terms of her being a ‘mean girl’ in season 1. what i do personally disagree with is their saying she “comes off as super reserved” when we first meet her. standoffish, yes, but not necessarily reserved, i know i didn’t read her that way when i watched the first season. this is followed by the, we come to learn that she’s the way she is because “she's used to moving around and not having a permanent home” aspect. a little bit of an oversimplification of the situation, but i’ll take it.

and then there’s the kicker. just like in ej’s they have a season 1 based relationship assumption, and i’ve already seen a lot of ricky and gina shippers grasp onto it despite the uncredible source... “In season three, Gina will likely strengthen her roots at East High and her connection with Ricky, who seems to be the person she most trusts.”

strengthening her roots at east high was her progression in season 2, and while i suppose in season 3 they could still choose to strengthen her connection with ricky in some form, as of 2b the person gina has begun to confide in is ej or ashlyn, rather than ricky. this is a very season 1 based prediction for me, and i’m sure anyone who’s read the whole article would agree that this isn’t a solid source to be using to somehow prove your endgame.

ashlyn:

this one was accurate in its characterization of ashlyn, but the content in it was all very season 1 for me. like these lines here in particular. “At the end of season two, Ashlyn finally comes out of her shell. No longer just "EJ's cousin," she's now a confident teen in her own right. That's especially apparent when she kisses Big Red.”

that all happened in season 1. does ashlyn come out of her shell in season 2? yes. but this whole kissing big red thing and the not being ej’s cousin was season 1, when she performed “wondering” as miss darbus.

they do call ashlyn “an incredibly kind and determined student” with “passion for singing and performing”, which is all lovely, but when they talk about more opportunity for her to shine in the next season, i can’t help but think about her actual role in season 2... rather than what she might do at summer camp in season 3.

kourtney:

this is a season 1 based article, and kourtney’s slide is another that proves it. they say that she’s “back as Nini's partner in crime”, and like sure, but even as they note that kourtney’s involved with the theater, they use it in an as nini’s friend way instead of kourtney’s actual story from season 2. this one’s very short as well... and i mean there’s plenty they could’ve said about her.

carlos:

carlos’s slide is definitely interesting... i’m admittedly quite confused though.

they say “he may not be serving as Miss Jenn's right-hand man this season”, and sure... i mean he’s kinda been her number 1 student this whole time, and he wouldn’t be filling that for the musical this season since miss jenn won’t be in charge of the musical. but i mean calling it “the Wildcats’ production of frozen” when they say he’ll be involved is like... how they’ve been referring to it in the article, but is it really their production considering it’s a whole camp?

but my biggest confusion is that the “best showrunner East High has ever seen” as carlos’s goal is simply not... a thing. he perhaps likes to have authority and everything, but he’s neither a ‘showrunner’ in any capacity that we’ve seen, nor does he seem to have aspirations of such. he proved in season 1 that he’s not really a capable authority figure, and gina is easily able to undermine him in season 2, adding to this fact.

if we’re going to see anyone stepping into that type of role in the future (not this season bc it’s camp), it’ll probably be nini not carlos just based on her arc in season 2. maybe ej if they want to lean into his original synopsis that says he’s kinda a producor type??? not carlos though at least for me.

at least the “his friends will continue to encourage him along the way” thing is true. like- “in a heartbeat” anyone?

miss jenn:

miss jenn’s slide is absolutely hilarious to me i’m ngl. i’m just gonna drop the lines here because i find it amusing. (minus the last sentence just saying she’s returning)

“I have one word for Miss Jenn: legendary. I mean, who else would put on the best production of "Beauty and the Beast" ever done by a high school just to take down her ex-boyfriend, who just happens to be the drama teacher at East High's rival school, North High?”

but yeah. the BEST production of it ever done by a high school... alright. i mean i guess? i mean i’m pretty sure north high’s was canonically better, but that’s not actually important. i just find this description amusing. like- the content of this article is based on vague internet research and not season 2′s actual content which is... fine but also funny.

lily:

as another piece of evidence that they’ve never seen season 2, lily’s slide is literally just saying that she’s coming back for camp, not to “let the sweetheart act fool you”, which yes. and then to say that she “does not come to play” when it comes to acting. besides the glaring missing information here, like- they may as well have added the ricky thing or the harness? the thing that also shows it’s not based on having seen the show, is the fact it says “with the rest of her fellow Wildcats”. while lily was at east in episode 2, she was at north high this season. i anticipate her transferring back, especially given she’s now a series regular, but... still...

#hsmtmts season 3 #hsmtmts #high school musical: the musical: the series #high school musical the musical the series #//talking about the popsugar article bc why not//#//also i'm not tagging by characters or anything for my tagging system bc it's not accurate haha

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tea-at-221 · 4 years

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The TJLC Debacle: 3 years out from S4 and counting; the copyright mini-theory; so much salt I’m bloated; but in the end, there is peace (I love you Johnlockers)

Ugh, don't even talk to me about Mary.

Don't even talk to me about the way Mofftiss have said they're sick of responding to fans on the subject of Johnlock. Of how they've said they're "not telling anyone else what to think or write about them" (as if they could stop us; as if they even own Sherlock themselves. Do keep reading, because this point becomes much more relevant and in-jokey later on). Don't even mention how they've bitched and whined incessantly because--god forbid--fans got *really really* into their show and emotionally invested.

They're so eager to discount all the beautiful little moments they wrote as accidents. And Arwel, who planted all those props, continually demonstrates that he's on their side (a not-very in-depth-analysis of his Instagram account and the way he interacted with fans towards the beginning of the pandemic showed as much, but I think maybe he’s grown a bit wiser and quieter since at least in terms of Johnlock and all things elephant-related. I don’t know for sure because I stopped looking.)

Anyway--they'd actually prefer for us to celebrate our own intelligence, is I suppose a charitable way of looking at it: our ability to make connections between things in the show; our metas on symbolism; our insightful fanfic; etc., and denounce them as the bad writers that they ultimately are.

More under the cut.

(This post may be of interest to you especially if you came to the fandom a bit later: multiple links to things of relevance/quotes/explanations appear both within and at the end of this entry.)

Because what makes a writer good?

Well, an ability to make people feel an emotional connection to their work, for one. I know this is just my own perspective, but if not for Johnlock, all my emotion about the show would evaporate. There wouldn't be much else there. Other people might get something, but I wouldn’t. Is some of the writing witty and entertaining regardless of any inferred/implied Johnlock? Yeah but, eh, a lot of shows have some good writing and I just don’t give a damn about them.

What makes a writer good?

Not making promises to the reader/viewer that they'll never keep. Plot holes, leading dialogue ("There’s stuff you wanted to say...but didn’t say it.” “Yeah”) never followed through on, puns that are apparently, I suppose, unintentional (e.g. "'Previous' commander?" "I meant 'ex'").

Uh, not writing continual gay jokes that aren't actually pointing toward the inference that people are making them because there's actually something going on there under the surface. (How about just don't make those jokes ever.)

Not being, apparently, oblivious (? questionable) to the queerbaiting they're engaging in *as they’re writing it.*

Acting like their LGBT audience is in the wrong/the bad guy, instead of choosing to remain respectful in the face of dissent. Instead it's just, "we never wrote it that way" / "We never played it that way."

A lot of those other mildly witty shows don’t actually blatantly drag their most passionate fans face-down through the mud the writers themselves created. Imagine that.

I'm not even a fan of Martin Freeman anymore, for the way he handled the whole thing (getting angry, the comments he made about how the fans made Sherlock “not fun anymore”...apparently Martin’s packing up his crayons and going home?)...no offense to anyone who is still a fan of his. I don’t make it a habit to drag him. I do to some degree understand his frustration with having the whole situation taken out on him--he’s just an actor in the show--but I simply wish he’d remained as cool and professional about it as Benedict Cumberbatch instead of pointing at the fans. You’re pointing in the wrong direction, mate.

What also irks me at the end of the day is this: the subsection of people who legitimately responded badly to the TJLC/S4 debacle and went above and beyond to harass the writers and actors/actresses on social media are *few and far between*, but we've been lumped in with them by what feels like...everyone, Martin included. TJLCers/Johnlockers (not the same group, but often treated as such) have been made to look like a bunch of rambunctious, immature, demanding children time and time and again in the wake of S4.

They'd rather, what, suggest John was so in love with Mary? THAT was the relationship they wanted to uphold in that show as so significant and...what, a demonstration of how honorable it is to respect your heterosexual relationship despite, you know...ANYTHING?

Yeah sorry, I don’t believe in that. John’s text-based affair, whether a disappointment for some as to his supposed character, was a very human reaction and I kinda sorta feel like I would have reacted MUCH more strongly than that had I been John. But nope. He stayed with Mary and was *ashamed* of his wandering eye. Ashamed that maybe he wanted to be admired by someone. I can’t think of a scene, off the top of my head, where Mary ever interacted with John without belittling him in some way--if not with words, then with consistently patronizing glances.

The message here is that heterosexuality is not just acceptable, but VALUABLE, however it manifests--but god forbid anyone see a queer subtext. (Why are lgbt+ writers some of the very WORST offenders where this is concerned? And they defend it! Is this childhood nostalgia/Stockholm Syndrome of the very fondest variety or what? Gay angst is all they got if they got anything at all, so it’s still good enough as far as “representation” goes?)

They really want to tell the story of John as so emotionally/mentally fucked up that he surrounds himself with unstable people time and again. They never give any reason *why* he might do that (which they could have done even soooo subtly), or delve into his past--just, apparently it's okay to assume that Sherlock's comment about "she's like that because you chose her" is exactly that.

No. Sherlock and Mary are NOT the same. Not...*remotely*!

Mary is underhanded and evil. She lies. She manipulates. She schemes. Her “love” is based on selfishness, and her assumption that John is a simpleton and hers to mold. She's in it for herself.

Sherlock hides. He prevaricates. He feels. He loves John. He does fucked up things in the name of love, but always for the benefit of those he loves. When he screws up, which he obviously does, it’s painful to us as the audience because we see that it is painful for him when he recognizes and regrets it.

I have never seen Mary regret anything. Those crocodile tears at Christmas? More manipulation. Inconsistent with anything else we were shown about her as a character.

To even think for a SECOND that people could ship Mary and John and mentally condemn John for cheating on Mary AFTER SHE SHOT HIS BEST FRIEND...as if marriage is the be-all-end-all free pass in which every sin must be forgiven until the end of time...as if John broke any covenant with his wife beyond those she broke from the very moment she walked into his life *with an entire fake past.* Is just. Well. It's asking us to accept gaslighting as healthy, loving, normal, *preferable* behavior, so...given the source that message is coming from, it's all a bit meta.

THAT. Is insanity. Maybe Mofftiss are the sociopaths.

How these men could write characters they themselves understand so little (or tell us they understand so little because their emotional maturity has yet to surpass that of the average three-year-old’s), I will never know. I can only imagine that they have absorbed, by osmosis over their lives, real and nuanced human behavior...then churned it back out again in their writing unaware, a bit like psychopaths who teach themselves what "normal" people do so that they can pass as psychologically sound in regular society.

Remember, we *are* talking about men who do these sorts of things:

Moffat says that Sherlock is celibate and that people who claim he's misogynistic when he does things like make Irene Adler imply she's attracted to the detective (even though she's a lesbian) are, ironically, "deeply offensive" (despite lines like "look at us both" in Battersea. We aren't your therapists, Moffat--we don't care what you meant, we care what you said, and what you *said* was clear. *Implying* it does not let you off the hook).

Gatiss has proclaimed that "I find flirting with the homoeroticism in Sherlock much more interesting" than the idea of ever making a show addressing LGBT issues. (That link is to a reddit forum, and I can't find the original interview anymore, but I assure you I had seen the actual article myself ages back and can't find it online again now along with some of the Martin quotes I wanted to link to. And nevermind what Gatiss has done with LGBT shows/issues since--my focus here is on what he has said, versus what he and Moffat have since claimed regarding their queerbaiting.)

Here’s a transcript of this screenshot:

"...many people come up and say they didn't realise." Despite this lack of public awareness, being part of the gay community is clearly important to Gatiss: "The older I get the more I want to give something back. I mean, I keep meaning to do something." When asked if he'd be interested in making a series about gay issues his response was enlightening:

"No, I don't think I'd make a kind of gay programme. It's much more interesting when it's not about a single issue. And equally, I find flirting with the homoeroticism in Sherlock much more interesting. Of course this reflects the grand picture of everyone's strange make-up; there are good gay people and bad gay people. I wouldn't like to make an issue film around the culture of being gay."

Instead Gatiss' interest seems to lie in making a drama where sexuality is, if not mundane, part of the wider framework: "I'd quite like to do something about a quite happy, ordinary gay person who's just incidentally gay. For example, a three-part thriller for ITV where the lead character just happens to be gay; when they finally go home, say 45 minutes in, and they had a same sex partner. That to me would be genuinely progressive. It wouldn't be a three-part gay thriller for ITV. It would be that this character just happened to be gay."

--End article quote.

And instead, who is canonically gay in the series? Well, Irene Adler. The innkeepers at the Cross Keys. And perhaps most notably, the *villains*, because that's a helpful trope: Moriarty and Eurus are, in S4, both implied to be at least bisexual.

Any character should be able to be any sexuality, this is true. But can we have some main characters, the good guys, give some good representation? Can't we start making that the standard, rather than the villains and the background characters? Because so far, that is the exception and not the rule.

Writers need to be aware of the damage they are perpetuating. We are not quite in a world yet where any character should be able to be any sexuality but isn't, yet we have no problem with saying the villain is LGBT+ or looks different/functions differently than much of the viewing audience.

"Male friendship is important and valid, not everything has to be gay"--this is a popular point with casual heterosexual viewers (and, to my chagrin, some of my LGBT+ friends) who don't fully grasp what "queerbaiting" is, often even when it's pointed out to them.

The lens of heterosexuality is real. My first time through watching BBC Sherlock, I didn't see the Johnlock at all. I had to look for it and read about it. When I saw it, the lens was lifted for me, and it changed my life and the way I view things forever (and for the best).

But back to my point about how little Mofftiss seem to understand their own story/most ardent fans, and then on to my other theory: in S4 it must be that they dropped their “psychopaths emulating empathy” act and indulged in their own "insane wish fulfillment" by doing away with all of the meaning, continuity, and sense. Right?

So, here’s the alternate theory. One which is not, please remember, in their defense.

Remember that S4 is what Mofftiss are *happy* to have us believe is what they'd do with these characters, given the chance to do whatever they wanted. I repeat, in Moffat’s own words: “Insane wish fulfillment.”

Okay I get it, this pasta has been over-salted.

Without further delay: MY COPYRIGHT RESEARCH THEORY THAT EVEN I DON'T PUT MUCH STOCK IN AND WHICH DOESN’T MAKE UP FOR THEIR CRUELTY EVEN IF TRUE

Part of me also raises an eyebrow at S4 as perhaps an example of the effect of the Conan Doyle estate on any modern production in the US. While it’s true that all of Sherlock is part of public domain in the UK and has been for quite a long time, Gatiss and Moffat still talk about it being partially under copyright. Specifically, the last 10 stories. I’m supposing that this means that because Sherlock airs internationally, or due to whatever contract the BBC has with the Doyle estate, they are still limited by the copyright as to what they can “publish”.

The Doyle estate is known for being a pain in the ass when it comes to abiding by copyright law as everyone else knows and practices it. They’ve tried to argue, for example (in 2013 and, much more recently, with the advent of Enola Holmes), that because Holmes and Watson were not fully developed as their final selves until the conclusion of all 10 stories still under copyright, then perhaps the characters themselves should still be protected, basically, in full.

It’s true that certain elements of the remaining stories are still under copyright here in the US (Watson had more than one wife--uh huh, we have that to look forward to, Johnlockers; the Garridebs moment is still under copyright--yeah, I’m getting to that too; and Sherlock didn’t care much for dogs til later so that’s not allowed either, fuck off Redbeard), but the estate’s problem in 2013 seemed to be based around a fear that *gasp* some day--if not right now!--anyone could write a Sherlock Holmes story in any way they pleased, changing the characters however they wished to and giving those characters “multiple personalities.”

See the following excerpt from the Estate’s case:

“...at any given point in their fictional lives, the two men's characters depend on the Ten Stories. It is impossible to split the characters into public domain versions and complete versions.”

(Click for full transcript.)

Obviously, by this point, that’s been done in multiple iterations. So I dunno. Their argument was *more* than muddy to begin with--they just grasp at straws to stay in control, it seems.

But okay. Backing up: wasn’t there sort-of a Garridebs moment in S4?!?? you cry. Yep. But imagine this: the Conan Doyle estate taking Mofftiss to court to argue that they depicted the Garridebs moment--a moment still under copyright--in The Final Problem.

Did they, though? Did they really?

The fandom cried out about the ridiculousness--the utter disappointment--of that moment when it was shown. It was not what we would have expected/wanted. We didn’t see John injured, Sherlock reacting with tender outrage to the good doctor’s attacker.

Instead we saw some ludicrous BS that was as bad as the clown with the sword-gun-umbrella. More of that.

I think Martin probably found that it was easy to produce real tears when he thought about how fucking terrible the S4 scripts were.

Ahem. Yet, this all seems very Mofftiss-flavored in terms of humor.

I can all-too-easily imagine them saying, “HA. We’re going to show some of these supposedly copyrighted things--and if they take us to court, they’ll be laughed out of the room.” Could that explain some of the overall S4 fuckery?

Sherlock wasn’t supposed to like dogs til later stories, as previously mentioned-- is that why Redbeard pulled a “Cinderella’s carriage” and transformed into a pumpkin (Victor Trevor)? Hmm. Sigh.

It...doesn’t actually appear that the estate has any qualms about taking laughable stuff to court, I mean...*shrug.* They have the money to do it, and money is the name of the game, because you’ve got to pay for rights (cha-ching sounds).

Yep, it does seem that the estate is open to the copyrighted materials being made reality, but who knows for what price or with what caveats. The BBC isn’t, so far as I’ve ever heard, known for throwing money around. Early Doctor Who would be so much less entertaining if they’d had any sort of budget. (And in fact, more of the older episodes would exist, but apparently the BBC--in part to cut costs--reused some of their tapes.)

My bottom-line bitter is this: Mofftiss do like to amuse themselves. To please themselves and no one else, as they’ve shown time and again. Sure, they could do whatever they wanted with S4...and they did...but they were also cruel about it, and that’s what I’ll never forgive them--OR the BBC--for.

A lot of fans gave up after series 4. I was very nearly one of them. I was angry, like just about every other Johnlocker and/or TJLCer, but I was really truly heartbroken. I couldn’t look at fanfiction. My days were full of bitterness and I keenly felt the lack of the fandom outlet that had become so essential to my mental well-being. I didn't know how to overcome the disparity between TJLC and what the show actually was. I didn't know how to separate the things I loved so much from the shitty writers and the way the BBC handled things with their whole response letter (that atrocious, childish blanket response they sent to everyone who complained about S4, not just the Johnlockers/TJLCers. Related to your complaint or not, if you filed one post-S4, this was the response you got). I still boycott BBC shows/merchandise, just by the way.

I tried to link to the blanket response letter but the link didn’t want to work (it’s an old reddit post; I had difficulty finding a copy of the letter elsewhere though at one point it wasn’t so hard...Google is weird these days y’all...tell me it’s not just me) so here’s a screenshot:

Transcript:

“Thank you for contacting us about “Sherlock”.

The BBC and Hartswood Films have received feedback from some viewers who were disappointed there was not a romantic resolution to the relationship between Sherlcok and John in the finale of the latest season of “Sherlock”.

We are aware that the majority of this feedback uses the same text posted on websites and circulated on social media.

Through four series and thirteen episodes, Sherlock and John have never shown any romantic or sexual interest in each other. Furthermore, whenever the creators of “Sherlock” have been asked by fans if the relationship might develop in that direction, they have always made it clear that it would not.

Sherlock’s writers, cast and producers have long been firm and vocal supporters of LGBT rights.

The BBC does not accept the allegations leveled at “Sherlock” or its writers, and we wholeheartedly support the creative freedom of the writers to develop the story as they see fit.

We will of course register your disappointment.

Thank you for contacting us.

Kind Regards,

BBC Complaints Team

So how about that? *Did* they “register our disappointment”? We can actually check that. The BBC’s website has a monthly summary of complaints received. So what did they receive in January 2017, the month S4 aired?

Huh, what do you know. Sounds like that blanket response was exactly the “fuck you” it came across as.

But the show--the FANDOM--had filled a need in my life, and so I had to own that and make it mine, or just...let something in me die: something that felt like an actual vital organ. I had to decide that these characters mean something to me beyond what anyone else tells me they should. I had to accept my own perceptions as truth, as I do with everything else in my life. I had to overcome the idea of canon as law (BBC Sherlock isn't canon anyway; ACD is canon. BBC Sherlock is, in the end, badly written fanfiction--or--worse?--decent pre-slash fanfiction distorted by consistent lies and the hazing of the LGBT audience, topped with the dumpster fire of S4′s incoherent nonsense).

I had to take the good and throw away the bad, just like anyone else who chose to stay. The good bits of the show...dialogue, yes. Plot points, yes. These awful writers did write some good stuff sometimes.

They just broke all the unspoken rules of what not to do to your audience. And then did and said everything they could not to apologize, and to justify their own failings. Which, in the years since I began shipping queer ships beyond any others, I have unfortunately experienced more than once.

So, my vulnerability has been yeeted into the vacuum of broke-my-trustdom: no one can tell me what things should mean to me. I will decide.

I decide that all of the FUCKING AMAZING writing in the Sherlock fandom is a staple in my life that makes it worth living. And that that's okay. And takes precedence over anything the writers or anyone else associated with the show could ever say or do.

Johnlock can not be taken away. It doesn't belong to them. It never did, even if they brought us to it. It belongs to us. To the group of amazingly creative, brainy, empathetic, resourceful, vibrant, resilient people who make up this fandom.

So thank YOU, all of YOU, for giving me Sherlock, Johnlock, and TJLC.

I am SO SAD for those who never found a way to make peace with this fandom again. Let me just say that I understand that inability entirely.

I am fortunate that I found the ability in myself to cling to the joy (something it has taken my whole life to be able to do). I hope others will who haven’t yet but wish they could.

Let Mofftiss and whoever sides with them stay angry and bitter and vicious, always looking over their shoulders for anyone who dares to whisper about subtext.

I’m proud to be part of what they’re whispering so angrily about.

Thanks for sticking it out if you made it this far. I know this was very self-indulgent and rambly.

Articles of interest:

A Study in Queerbaiting (Or How Sherlock Got it All Wrong) by Marty Greyson

“We never played it like that.” - Martin on Johnlock

Henry Cavill on the Enola Holmes lawsuit

More on that--and by the way Sherlock isn’t allowed to like dogs

The way Sherlock creators told fans Sherlock & John aren’t gay is so rude

Especially for those new to the fandom who may not know the distinction between TJLC and Johnlockers and want to know more about TJLC's evolution/what it is/meta through the years

Moffat's view on asexuality, offensive to me in particular *as* an asexual person (same article where he claims he isn't misogynistic): "If he was asexual, there would be no tension in that, no fun in that – it's someone who abstains who's interesting."

Yet he says Sherlock isn't gay or straight and that he's trying to keep his brain pure which is a "very Victorian attitude"

(Nice historical research there, Moff--actually the Victorians were sex-positive).

Sherlock fans were robbed of the gay ending they deserved

Benedict Cumberbatch has lashed out at his Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman over his negative attitude towards fans

BBC complaints January 2017

Martin Freeman: 'Sherlock is gayest story ever'

From 2016: UNPOPULAR OPINION: "Sherlock" Isn't Sexist or Queerbaiting; It's Actually Trying to Stage a Revolution

Queer-baiting on the BBC's Sherlock: Addressing the Invalidation of Queer Identities through Online Fan Fiction Communities by Cassidy Sheehan

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ferusaurelius · 3 years

Text

Day Eighteen

For @the-wip-project #100DaysOfWriting Challenge

Prompt: What ideas came to you recently from daydreaming?

Well. Ideas? But not exactly the ideas you’d expect.

My day job occupies most of my thoughts, and since I’m (likely) on the spectrum, I’ve learned to cope by using my tendency to hyperfixate to tackle my professional challenges on multiple simultaneous channels.

As an undergraduate in English, this tendency to default to multi-channel processing turned into eerily connected essays with unlikely juxtapositions as a source of meaning. It’s heavily artistic. I enjoy the process, but it’s not efficient? I had to learn over the years to document the whole thing or risk being unable to describe the path I’d taken to a particular conclusion.

Writing papers was fun.

From a practical standpoint, I actually rely on a continuously-updating web of contextual linkages to determine what is important in solving a problem.

The more a theme is repeated or reinforced, the more it registers to me as an essential or significant component of any proposed answer. The less something is repeated, the less its context is linked to another.

Yeah I know - It’s a miracle I can function at all.

Daydreaming, for me, is a helpful organizational technique in deciding which angle to pursue and in what order. It’s a nice opportunity to do some intuitive sorting without looking too closely at any one idea. It feels unforced.

My outlining method is heavily based on daydreaming!

I like to scratch out little character conversations and dialogues and see where they go. It helps me rapidly explore plot ideas and events without committing to them too heavily up front.

Most of ‘This will have no bearing on your evaluation.’ was the result of a passing daydream where my brain went ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if--’.

And then spun out a(n) (un)likely scenario where Nihlus accidentally tried to pick up his Spectre mentor in a bar.

Sorta by request and encouragement, and the sheer ‘voice-y-ness’ of the character renditions in that fic, I’ve been daydreaming more about what the relative training experience would be like post-induction ceremony.

Nihlus’s exasperation at the end of the original fic/vignette is real!

Part of me wants to find out what happened there and listen to him complain some more. Silly snarky Nihlus trying to recover his professionalism.

It doesn’t help that Saren is genuinely funny in a way that only Nihlus seems to catch...

Nihlus in the background on repeat like ‘stay professional.’

While internally losing his shit and trying very hard not to let his running mental commentary become an external liability.

#100daysofwriting #ferusaurelius #mass effect fanfiction #my writing #saren areterius #nihlus kryik #wip fic ideas

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cadomoisspokenfor · 3 years

Text

Legion Rewatch Notes,

Chapter 4:

Frizzytop

I theorized in episode 2 that David could see through the 4th wall, or at least into a different universe. At the start of this episode Oliver outright breaks the 4th wall. Perhaps powerful reality benders just have that capability. If David knows, and Oliver knows, then Farouk definitely knows.

“A great philosopher once wrote, ‘In times of peace, the war like man attacks himself.’ This is the route of all our problems.”

“We are the route of all our problems. Our confusion, our anger, our fear of things we don’t understand.”

If we carry those 2 quotes throughout the rest of the show, then no doubt the tragedies that happen later on are caused by a collective misunderstanding of each other. And a collective lashing out at that misunderstanding of each other.

“Violence, in other words, is ignorance.”

The most central theme of the show is empathy vs fear. I s’pose whenever there’s a conflict in the show we’re supposed to be asking whether the characters should answer with empathy or fear. Certain characters lives have revolved heavily around fear. And that informs their decision making quite a bit. This will all come up again at multiple points throughout the show.

Syd... probably can’t break the 4th wall. So maybe it’s most logical to interpret this as her inner monologue. Very Jessica Jones esque.

The same voice lines from when Syd was searching for David in episode 1 are played. I guess there go to whenever Davids lost (whether in the world or in his mind) is to transmit Syds voice calling his name in hopes he’ll hear it and come back.

Kerry can pick locks.

The concept of “bad mutants” is well established amongst the veteran summerland crew. Ptonomy’s caution about David is probably because he feels he has a selfish vibe, and that’s a well known red flag of “bad mutants.”

It should also be noted he’s partly afraid of him because he has so much trouble understanding him. His powers, which when used affectively are essentially the ability to understand where someone’s coming from, keep getting overrided by Davids.

It’s now to the point where Ptonomy is doubting his own ability to tell what’s real and what’s not real. He was pretty confident he’d always know somehow in episode 2. Now, not so much.

Ptonomy very early on is open to the idea that David both has powers and psychological issues. “He’s unstable. You try hearing voices for 10-15 years, self medicate with hard drugs and then get dumped in a looney bin.”

Ptonomy also determines that because of his instability combined with the fact he has powers, David is a bomb waiting to go off.

I suppose if we’re trying to figure out their logic with the whole “the combination of being mentally ill and having powers makes him dangerous”, and considering that their right now going over an incident where David robbed his therapist for drug money and then bashed the doctors head in when he came back, the direct concern is that David makes bad decisions and/or selfish decisions (at least), and if he were to make a bad decision regarding his powers a lot of innocent people could get very badly hurt. Or killed. Along with the worry that the voices in his head don’t exactly give him the most angelic of advice at times, and because of his powers he’s very capable of fulfilling their wills, so to speak.

Based on Olivers speech at the beginning of the episode though, it might be safe to say the overall message is instead of acting on fear they should act on empathy and help David overcome his problems instead of vilifying him for his mental illness.

Syd suggest Davids hiding his real memories behind a fake ones and Ptonomy says she going through a lot of effort just to convince herself Davids a good guy. I never really got what he meant, but I guess what he meant is that Syd’s trying to find a justifiable reason for why David would attack Dr Poole like he did when the obvious answer is just “He’s got violent tendencies.” I always just thought she was genuinely hypothesizing, ya know, trying to solve the case. Maybe she was and Ptonomy’s just mean.

“I was looking for the man I loved. Or did I just love the idea of him? The face he showed me?” Doubt springs up early. Why can none of the characters reconcile that a person can have both good and evil in them at the same time? That’s... all people, in fact.

When Kissinger ask if Amy knew David had powers Amy says, “I think so.” Amy potentially acted on fear as well, in regards to her and Davids childhood that is.

Kerry mostly only thinks of herself in relation to Cary.

Cary misses Kerry when she’s gone. Even besides the roles they fill for each other, they generally enjoy each others company. They’re quite literally as close as 2 people can be. Each one living for the sake of the other.

Davids once again surrounded by a crowd of people all yelling in his face. After they disappear though he recovers pretty fast. I guess he’s used to it.

Clockworks Podcast pointed out that the music Davids wincing at is sax heavy Jazz, which is (abstractly) the sound The Devil With Yellow Eyes makes whenever he appears. If my theory about David seeing through the 4th wall is correct, then maybe he’s actually hearing that sound whenever TDWYE is around. Alternatively, Farouk blast that in his head everytime to mess with him.

“Sorry... I forgot about your um... I had a similar- proclivity? Malady? I forget the word- what’s the word? I’ve been here a long time.”

If the previous paragraphs are right, Oliver’s probably implying he was also affected by a mental parasite at some point. It might’ve even been what stranded him in the astral plane.

From Davids perspective he skipped over the entire second half of Chapter 3.

Oliver is essentially explaining the plot of the show to David and the audience before it’s even been unfurled.

“You have an unquiet mind, so you war with yourself, like a dog trying to chew off its own tail.”

David’s still in a very pessimistic guilt ridden place at this point in the story. That’s probably the internal war Oliver’s talking about.

... why can’t Oliver leave the astral plane again? If he did have his own mental parasite, it seems long gone by now. If he just can’t find his way back, then how does he do it in Chapter 7?

Syd calls non-mutants “normals.”

“We were the ghost in a haunted house.” ~Syd, Chapter 4

“You think ghost like living in a haunted house?” ~Syd, Chapter 12

Why does Syd keep hallucinating The Angriest Boy? Or is that just visual metaphor?

Ptonomy’s a very, “Get the job done and look classy while doing it” sorta guy.

“To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.” ~Sun Tzu, Ptonomy

Is the above quote perhaps relevant to the shows message during other conflicts throughout the series? Could it be subtly implying all the characters should always look for non-violent ways to defeat their enemies? I.e. not just a classy line from Ptonomy, but a statement of themes within the show.

The food David, Philly, and Dr Poole are having in Philly’s memories is cherry pie.

In Philly’s memory David says, “I don’t keep a lot of stuff.” And Philly comments that there’s no evidence David had a past. At least among the things David owns at that point. I know Farouk edited a lot of Davids memories, but why did David himself get rid of so much physical stuff? Syd said the reason he broke into Dr Pooles that day was to destroy their taped conversations. What’s compelling him to erase himself from existence? Is it as simple as “Farouk”? It seems like on a deeper level David doesn’t want anyone to know too much about him. Everyone’s only allowed to know what he tells them. His way of feeling in control I guess.

Philly did the classic “I can fix him” when she started dating David.

Philly implies David going off his medication and keeping bad company is what caused the downfall of their relationship. And subsequently his life, probably.

Despite everything, Philly still feels sympathetic towards David.

“Whoever altered Davids memory-“ Ptonomy very early on humors the idea that Davids being acted on by a 3rd party.

The longer Kerry is away from Cary, the more antsy she is for a fight. She’s not supposed to have to sit through all this “boring stuff.”

Ptonomy left after he got the info on Pooles location from Philly. He probably wanted to get the rest of the information from the source. Ironically, they probably woulda gotten closer to the real answer if he’d just looked a bit longer.

Sys proudly says “Yes” when “Dr Poole” ask if she’s in love with David.

It never really comes up again, but Kerry and Cary are physically linked. Maybe even psychologically. When one of them gets hurt, or even exerts their body a lot, the other can feel it, even if their own body doesn’t take on the actual damage. This is still true even if they’re miles apart.

Syds definitely portrayed as the hero at the end of this scene.

“All those years of practice-“ A part of David always knew he had powers. I wonder, did he practice a little in secret? Or is he saying he was at Summerland for years? That doesn’t really add up. But then... what does he mean by years?

Lenny encourages David to get angry so that his powers will strengthen enough for them to overpower the astral plane. Sort of... cheating his way out. David will later achieve more feats of strength through honing his emotions. Like many heroes, his level of power is intrinsically linked to his emotional state.

Very directly here, Davids violence is caused by ignorance. He doesn’t know Syd switched bodies with Walter and is trying to escape.

#legion fx

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xenodile · 5 years

Text

A while back I mentioned I had it in me to give a long sorta discourse-y post about Blizzard Entertainment, well here it is.

Blizzard, as a company, suffers primarily from 2 major issues:

1) It’s totally creatively bankrupt

2) It is actively racist/homophobic.

The two issues are closely linked but it’s caught in a “chicken or the egg” situation. Are they so racist because they have no original ideas and racial stereotypes are easy to use, or are they so lacking in creativity because they’re racist at their core and don’t care about coming up with better ideas?

I’ve been playing Blizzard games for just about half my life now.

I started with WoW back in 2004, which then got me into Warcraft 3, Starcraft, Diablo 3, Overwatch, etc.

I’m going to start with Warcraft since it is Blizzard’s biggest and longest-running IP.

Warcraft is built on insensitive racist caricatures and recycled ideas. The humans in Warcraft are all predominantly white and themed after medieval Britain. Dwarves and gnomes, the other human-like races, are also white, with Dwarves being modeled after Ireland/Scotland and gnomes being a joke race that never get taken seriously ever.

I don’t think Warcraft had any black people in it at all until World of Warcraft because the inability to make a black person would have set off some red flags.

Every non-white ethnicity is instead represented as non-human, monstrous races.

Caribbean/African nationalities are all blanket covered by the trolls, lanky tusked cannibals that practice bastardized Hollywood voodoo, worship loa, speak with stereotypical Jamaican accents, and wear wooden masks, lead by their high king Rastakhan.

First Nation/Native Americans are covered by the Tauren, hulking cow people that carve totems, wear eagle feathers, and worship the Earth Mother.

The Chinese are literally just bipedal panda bears. They’re always fat, love to drink, and all know kung fu.

Mongolians and Huns are represented by the centaur, who are consistently described in universe as “the bastard children of a demigod” and are stupid, smelly, and barbarous, to the point of having a cloud of swarming flies baked into their character models.

At least until Blizzard forgot about the centaur and replaced them with the Yaungol, subtle I know, a variant of Tauren that are based on yaks instead of cows, but just as rapacious and violent as the aforementioned centaur.

Orcs were originally Always Chaotic Evil savages stolen wholesale from Tolkien and Warhammer, but after Blizzard retconned them to justify having playable Good Orcs, they were modeled to somewhat evoke South American nations and Australian aborigines, living in mud/clay buildings, having brown(ish) skin, and wearing face paints. At least until Blizzard decided to make orcs always evil again and threw that idea out the window in favor of being bloodthirsty savages all the time.

Inuit people are depicted as fat, mono-gendered walrus people called tuskarr.

And I’d like to give special mention to the Draenei, Warcraft’s stand-ins for Eastern European Jews/Romani. Sporting comedic slavic accents, the Draenei are the exiled members of an alien species that goes on to become the primary antagonist and source of all problems in the Warcraft timeline. They even had their own clumsy version of the Holocaust at the hands of the orcs and evil members of their own race.

That’s right! The “good” Draenei, that suffered the from their Fantasy Holocaust and talk with funny accents, make up only 10% of their race! The remaining 90% of their race are literal demons and the source of all evil in the universe.

And in an alternate universe, those good Draenei turn into an ethnic cleansing facist empire if they’re not actively oppressed! I wish I was making this up!

The unifying trend here is that all of these “other” races, with the exception of the draenei, are uniformly depicted as being stupid and primitive. Despite being culturally older than the humans, dwarves, and gnomes, they are consistently shown as being afraid or intimidated of the superior technology of the humans and their human-like allies, and easily cowed when their “primitive” idols and gods are defeated.

In addition to this, humans have been the de facto heroes of Warcraft since its inception. Human protagonists are always core to the plot and have the most agency.

Meanwhile, non-human characters are not allowed to be anything other than a stereotypical example of whatever culture they’re a parody of. Tauren can’t be anything other than a mystical Native American that helps the hero go on a spirit journey to learn something. Trolls can’t be anything besides the wily and savage fighter that the hero is never sure they can really trust. Draenei are not allowed to be relevant at all unless they’re fighting against their evil counterparts or dying heroically.

In addition to that, I cannot think of a single canonically gay character in the Warcraft franchise. Not a one.

This is what brings me to Overwatch. The very first thing I ever heard about Overwatch was “It has an LGBT+ cast”. Before I even heard what the gameplay was, the fact that it had a “progressive” cast was a selling point.

And then it took Blizzard, what, a year and a half of the game being out for them to actually follow up and say which character is gay?

Think about it. Everyone that liked Overwatch touted it as being this inclusive win for LGBT representation yet for the longest time, none of the characters were actually LGBT. The community did Blizzard’s work for them and just made up who they wanted to be gay and/or trans, until Blizzard finally settled on Tracer and 76.

It also dips slightly in Warcraft’s niche of “foreign nationalities can’t stop reminding you how foreign they are”. Every non-American character cannot STOP peppering words or phrases of their home language into their english dialogue.

When I directly compare it to its most obvious competitor, Team Fortress 2, which also sported a multi-ethnic cast, I can’t ignore how much of Overwatch’s roster uses their ethnicity as the core of their personality.

When I look at Overwatch, I can’t help but see it as insincere. I’ve seen Blizzard blatantly and shamelessly turn non-white cultures into literal monsters for the past 15 years, and I’m supposed to just believe that they suddenly turned over a new leaf?

Their second biggest IP, Starcraft, has a grand total of 3 black named characters, and they are respectively:

An eldritch monster in disguise that promptly changes to a white guy disguise

A mentally disturbed assassin with a caribbean accent and plays with voodoo dolls that becomes totally irrelevant after his personal story arc ends.

A stereotypical General Army Man that dies in the first set of missions of Heart of the Swarm.

So yeah. For as much as I love Warcraft, and Blizzard games as a whole, the whole thing is undeniably built on a core of American/European ethnocentrism, with Overwatch being what I can only call a marketing experiment.

#Long post

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tellywoodtrash · 7 years

Note

Do you think this new 'raaz' of the Oberois is going to act as another barrier in Shivika wedding? When do you think this Billu will finally get married properly and when will Shivika finally do 'it'? Am I the only one who thinks that this has been stretched unnecessarily since June?

Hi anon!

You’re not the only one exhausted with this wedding stuff. Like, this shit has been going on for so long, I feel like I’m being held hostage in the wedding from hell at this point. And I’m pretty sure this is going to stretch on till mid October-ish.

At this point, I’m not 100% sure about anything, seeing as we don’t yet know the nature of the secret. All we know is that there’s a financial aspect involved, Pinky needed money and inadvertently managed to invite trouble unnecessarily. Dadi and Shakti tried to cover it up, but they seem resigned to the fact that it WILL eventually come out; they just don’t want it to happen NOW, when the family is finally in a sorta good place. Is it related to Shivaay? Is it perhaps linked to the Oberois and Anika’s past??? Is this the same thing that Svetlana is trying to get to??

I think either way, based on how yesterday’s episode ended, Pinky is going to use it as a Hail Mary last ditch effort to try and break Shivaay and Anika up. Maybe this time, it’ll be hurtful to Anika (did the Oberois pull a Baazigar type move and usurp the empire from Anika’s parents, perhaps? Are they somehow responsible for her horrible childhood?) Maybe Pinky’s hoping that Anika will want to dissociate herself from the Oberois after learning the truth and leave Shivaay. Because nothing she tries is going to work on Shivaay, adamant as he is to not hear a single word against Anika. So Anika is the one to be targeted. But it’s not really going to work. Shivaay and Anika are in a space where they’re stronger than ever and Pinky’s going to fail this time as well.

If the wedding *is* threatened, it might be something like the remarriage episodes in IPK1, where there’ll be suspense if either party (whoever is hurt) will even want to marry the other, but it’ll be a happy ending anyway (because True Love™ conquers all.) But yeah, I have a feeling that the wedding might not be the huge, fancy affair as currently planned; it’ll just be a small ceremony with the rituals to symbolize their commitment to each other.

I’m more interested to know if this secret will impact Om and in turn, Rikara. Because this would be a good segue into the “vanvaas” plot that’s been foreshadowed since the start of the show. Maybe “the secret” is so horrible, that it prompts Shivaay to finally break all ties with the Oberoi name and empire, and leave. (Because “Anika mera guroor hai, aur Anika pe vaar = mere guroor ki chot pohunchaana…”) I’ve always had the feeling that Rudra might leave with Shivaay, being the Lakshman to Shivika’s Ram-Sita jodi, while Om, as Bharat has to step up to take charge of the empire in Shivaay’s stead. What will this mean for Om and by extension, Gauri? If Shivika and Rudra leave, he’ll be left all alone (spoiler alert: sources suggest Gauri’s about to leave Om shortly, maybe by next week) and he’ll perhaps finally, FINALLY be in the headspace to process his thoughts and feelings re: Gauri and her place in his life, and have a concrete answer for her.

#ishqbaaz #ishqbaaaz #shivika #rikara #answered #tt answers

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tumblunni · 8 years

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and I’m just thinking about how much its a great template on how to make a small town feel like a real living world, and how to make you get to know characters organically, and such! there’s so much you can take influence from even in wildly different genres of game that dont share any of the same mechanics! So umm here’s my random post of thinking about things inspired by rune factory that I’d love to incorporate into my own games someday~! I think a lot of it could work best for my ‘cathedral tower’ game cos its about protecting a town of people, or my ‘zombie mum’ game cos it could have a lot of similar scavenging mechanics. HMMMM... This game just makes me so inspired!!!

* I really really REALLY like how you gain stat experience from doing various exploration activities around the world, and it translates into bonuses to your battle and/or farming skills. AND those battle and farming skills give bonuses to each other! Like.. walking, eating, taking a bath, throwing stuff, they all add small amounts to your hp or stamina bar. Which means you can farm more! And all the different types of farming and crafting activities, which you can do more of now, add vitality and accuracy and strength. And now you can battle more! And battling gives a very good growth curve of making you better at battling, there’s levels but there’s also great encouragement to try every weapon and magic in order to pump up your stats. Which is also great incentive to do crafting so you’ll actually be able to handle fighting with a low level weapon long enough to gain all the boosts. Which is a great incentive to farm and explore to get those ingredients in order to craft. Which is a great incentive to befriend the townsfolk, and level them up as your companions, and give them your leftover crafted items in order to equip them all good and make them more useful while raising friendship at the same time. aaaa everything links so well, its so well made! it means you can succeed in the game no matter which part of it you’re better at, and its easier to get into trying the stuff you maybe dont like as much. Except for the soil levelling system, thats annoyingly nonintuituive and non-tutorial’d compared to the rest...

* Anyway! Ideas for how it could be expanded even more to give you even more of a sense of progression! And also to make it less repetitive having to reexplore the same areas again and again looking for stuff that only spawns there. Eventually you’re gonna be stuck with a total lack of some early level item and you have to backtrack searching for where on earth it came from :P ANYWAY! The idea! Maybe you could level up your gathering skills with different forms of gathering? You kinda do have that with the mining/farming/etc, but it doesnt have any effect on what you gain, how fast you can gather, how much you gather, etc. It just gives you the battle stat boosts for gathering a lot. My idea was maybe like... if you have high level mining then maybe you have higher odds of finding rare rocks, getting more drops per rock, getting the rarer drops within the rare rocks, rocks respawning faster, etc. So it becomes less and less difficult the more powerful you get! And instead of lots of items being super limited to certain areas, technically every area contains the same rock items and its only your skill that determines what you get. With maybe just a little bit of a levelling curve, like if you enter a high level area earlier than you’re supposed to then its harder to mine a rock. Takes 50 swings instead of 5, or whatever. But this is also a reward for exploring there early, cos you get 50 chances to win a good item from that rock, instead of 5. (Provided you even have enough stamina to manage that!) And maybe high level rocks give more mining experience, or whatever. Aaaaand maybe there are indeed some area-exclusive drops, rather than necessarily everything scaling to your current level. But they wouldnt be as specific as in RF4, where I have to keep going back to this one haunted mansion thats the only damn place containing spiders so far! Like, have several areas at different levels throughout the game, so there’s always a new [item] hunting area thats relatively close to your level at all times. And maybe the higher level equivelant of like... the spider area, would give out bigger amounts of spider items and more exp and whatever. But you could still totally sit around grinding in the low level spider area and start getting higher level spidermeats if you do it enough, its just easier to grind at the later areas. So the level curve still works out! Man sorry this is a long confusing blabber cos i dunno how to explain this XD

* Alternative idea on how to make low level items still relatively available even when it becomes annoying to backtrack to those areas: Digimon World version! Alternative methods to acquire those items easily without gathering will appear as the game goes on. In DW1 the shops unlock in roughly this pattern. (Well, its a sandbox game so you can sequence break at some points and unlock shops in different orders, but yeah) Like around the time you’re 10 levels above [spider area], you get a merchant who sells those spider things. And by now you’ll be making a lot more profit so its way more feasable to just buy it all from them instead of backtracking to gather. Or maybe it could be part of a reward for befriending people? I thought in the cathedral game it would be good if you could set other characters to do work while you’re out adventuring, once youve earned their trust. So you could get an infinate source of those low level items through this method, and maybe get more appreciation for the characters when they’re being super helpful and all. And maybe you could set up various areas in your home base in order to change the low-level item that the npcs will farm. Like, set up a small pen full of tamed spiders that you can milk for cobwebs every day. And as the game goes on, you can upgrade your base and add more room for multiple item-farming areas at once.

* And also possibly have a small chance of characters randomly appearing each morning? Like, instead of necessarily having to backtrack around the town every single day to talk to everybody, once they’re a high enough friendship level they’ll randomly take the initiative themselves. And give you bonus gifts and sidequests and stuff, or maybe have a chance of doing a small favour for you. Like you wake up and a few squares of your farm are already watered or harvested, or one of your items has had its durability restored, or clues have been added on your map on how to find a new area. Or I dunno.. like... they cleaned your house or made you breakfast and you get a productivity boost from friendship joy. But yeah this randomness would be another way you could still receive old items without having to backtrack. Plus generally other anti-backtracking helpfulness! I think that as your level increases it should get easier to do your daily chores, so you have more time to do [insert whatever thing is currently plot important at this level]. Thats a big problem that makes it exhausting to continue playing farming games after a long time. Like.. the first time you run around the town giving people gifts its fun, but after doing a whole year of it it gets frustrating that it never gets easier or less required. Same for farming and backtrack-gathering, and even battling and exploring to some extent. if the way you do these things eventually started to get easier/change in how you do them, then they’d never get monotonous. Though that might just be a problem for me, I guess? I dunno if I’m weird but i find things more and more difficult the more I do them, routines are frustrating to me instead of easier. I have to find ways to always spice it up!

* Another idea of more ways to interact with characters beyond just giving gifts every day! Maybe have bonuses in certain areas every now and then? like, wake up one day and [character] is saying ‘the harvest in [area] is really good!’, and then if you go there you get a higher quantity of stuff, exp, and some cute friendship scenes with the charrie. Or maybe there’s too many [monster] in [area] and the harvest might actually become bad if you dont team up with [character] and exterminate them! And again, it’d become easier as you get higher levelled. At the beginning you’d pretty much be required to go for these events or else miss the chance, but later on if characters trust you a lot they could do it automatically on their own if you miss the event. So they continue gaining bonus exp even when you’re not travelling with them, you still gain (a slightly smaller amount of) the bonus item in your supply box, and really all you lost was a chance to raise more friendship points with them.

* Also maybe sometimes with regular quests/requests, a character could volunteer to help if they like you enough? Not for main story quests, with those you’d just have the character asking if they can join you for it. But with like... fred asks you for some chestnuts to make a cake for gerald, and mary calls you up to say ‘hey i heard about it, i had a big harvest of chestnuts today!’ And then you get friendship with all three of them, and save some time! And you can still refuse if you wanna do it yourself, that way you’d get bonus friendship with fred. cos like, he heard from mary that you said you wanted to handle the problem personally, and he was flattered. :3 (tho some characters would be different, maybe some would dislike it? i dunno)

* I really love that you can give cute hats to the batchelors and batchelorettes in RF4, and they wear them, and it is cute. This needs to be a thing in all games! I also like that the way its done is sorta easter eggy? Its not really explained as its own unique feaure, youre actually never told you can change party members’s equipment, which is a little bit annoying. But its also nice that its just like... “wow, the game’s much more open than I expected!” You can give gifts to characters and you wonder if you can give every single item, then HUH if you give them hats they actually wear them! And they can use all the same weapons you use! Awesome~ I also like that it seems like they have a chance of randomly wearing every hat you ever gave them? Whenever theyre in your party, they wear whatever equipment you last gave them, but when theyre wandering around the town they randomly wear their entire hat history. Thats so cute and makes them feel more alive! Itd be so neat if characters in these games could ‘remember’ stuff like that more often. Like I dunno... maybe the game logs down the first gift item you ever give each character, and then they bring it up during their final max-affection event. With different cute conversations depending on what it was! Like ‘omg wasnt it hilarious, I really hated it’ or ‘i cant believe you got my fave item on the first try!’ And then if its something of medium level like, maybe they say ‘i never really thought [item] was all that special, but ive become quite fond of it now it makes me remember you’. And i dunno, maybe at the ending the game could remember who you had in your party during every big story quest, and show a montage during the credits ^_^

#bunni plays rf4 #cathedral tower defense #random gamemaking ideas

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thejpfdude-blog · 7 years

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The Upcoming Fall 2017 Shows I’ll Be Watching

WHAT? Yes, I’m back! Long time no see. I’ve been busy with school, so unfortunately I have a huge list of episodes to watch (that let’s be honest, I’ll probably never get to).

But yeah, hopefully I’ll be able to start writing TWiA posts again and start watching stuff on a weekly basis. To start that off, there’s this post: the annual “looking at what shows I’m watching this season post”.

A reminder of the usual thing I say in these posts:

I might watch some other shows that are good or drop some shows if they aren’t good, but that’s for the future.

Like always, I’m organizing these shows into three categories: Full Chance are shows I’m giving the whole season towards, Short Leash are shows I’m giving three or so episodes towards, and One Shot are shows I’m giving one episode towards. As we progress towards categories, expect less words for each anime as I lose interest in writing. Also a reminder that MAL links to the shows are on the titles for those interested.

Before we start, a general comment about next season: it’s honestly looking pretty bare for somebody like me who likes them slice-of-lifes/comedies/romances/moe shows. Other than the few shows I have on Full Chance, there’s nothing I have a shred of hope towards. Even some of the Full Chance shows are questionable to me to be honest. But hey, some shows could still be good, and I’ll go into more detail about that below. So with that let’s get started with this post, starting with...

Full Chance Shows

Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - The Animated Series: Well, I tried to watch the original show from 2003, but that was during my blue period. But apparently it’s okay, because this show’s actually a remake/sequel hybrid thing. What I got from the info given to me was that it will adapt some new content, but it’ll also remake some of the stories from the original series. So not a full-on sequel, but not also a full-on remake either. A little of both.

Oh I should probably say what this show is about. Well it’s kinda hard to describe. The best way I can put it is that it’s an adventure about a girl (who I thought was a guy) and her talking motorcycle traveling throughout the world, experiencing many distinct places. Sounds boring, right? But from the one episode I watched, it was actually super interesting. Now this show doesn’t offer much in terms of action, but it’s a nice relaxing watch that occasionally really makes you think. It’s also episodic, if that concerns you. I would definitely recommend watching this, or starting off with the original series. After all, you still have time to catch up.

Love Live! Sunshine!! S2: Who woulda thunk: not even six months ago, I shunned anything idol. But now, this is honestly tied with Shokugeki S3 as my most anticipated anime of the season.

I feel like I shouldn’t really describe this show: after all, if you don’t know what it’s about, you probably shouldn’t be watching anyway since it’s a second season of a spinoff series (though I honestly find the spinoff to be better than the original anime-wise). Just know it can be described in two words: SCHOOL and IDOLS.

I’m not expecting this show to be great - after all, I’ve never scored any Love Lives higher than a 6. But I’m still expecting some fun slice-of-lifey moments that’ll be even better now that we have the full cast of 9 members doing their thing. And honestly, that’s all I want in a show sometimes. I also honestly expect some more increased drama similar to how S2 of the original series contrasted with S1, but hopefully the slice-of-lifey moments make up for that. I’m also secretly hoping this isn’t the final season of the anime, but guess we’ll find out about that.

Mahoutsukai no Yome (The Ancient Magus’ Bride): So this show looks super interesting. Plot-wise it doesn’t really look like my type of show, but digging deeper it sounds pretty cool.

Basically the story is that we have our main girl Chise who has no hope in her life only to meet a magus who makes an offer to her to be his apprentice and his bride (wowzers).

Sounds pretty fantasy, which isn’t really my schtick. But apparently from sources, I’ve heard this show is actually quite the opposite: it’s more a darker fairytale-like slice-of-life with a evolving narrative, which I’m all about. Plus the PV was pretty hype, so that’s nice. There are prequel OVAs already out, but I haven’t had the time to watch them yet, and they aren’t too necessary to watch before watching the main series. Still, go watch them if you’re interested. I might do the same.

Osake wa Fuufu ni Natte kara: So this is one of the few times where I can say that I read the source material before the anime came out (hopefully I can say the same later when Kaguya Wants to Be Confessed To gets an anime...). The best way I can describe this show is Alcoholism: The Anime.

Well, not really, but it’s pretty much like that. The main character is a reserved office worker who likes drinking alcohol. Unfortunately she becomes cute when she does so (oh no the horror) so she only drinks the concoctions that her husband makes. Some cute stuff, and if the manga’s any indication it’ll be a nice short watch. Already confirmed to be a 5-minute short, which is good because honestly the manga doesn’t offer much other than an occasional “aw that’s cute I guess”. I’m not expecting much, because honestly the last few chapters were pretty eh for me. Plus I don’t know how well the manga’ll translate into anime. Well still somewhat excited for a nice little short.

Shokugeki no Soma S3: So, it has come. After season 2 my hype for this died down a little, and so I’m cautiously excited about this installment. All that I’ll say is that as long as the show is able to balance the intense food battles with the funny slice-of-life moments, it’ll be a pretty good bet to be a favorite of the season. Though I am a bit worried that manga readers say that this portion of the story is when the manga started getting a bit questionable, hence the lack of hype for the show from said audience. I’m not too confident on that front though - details and all that are a bit unclear because I didn’t want to go into too many spoilers. But anyway, excited for some more food porn.

Short Leash Shows

Animegataris: So the general gist of this show is that a new girl shows up and makes an anime research club in school, slowly getting more and more interested in the medium (boy I can relate). Though there is one thing that confuses me from the synopsis, and that’s this part: “while they stand against the student council's continuous efforts to disband their club, and they ignore the impending end of the world, they talk about anime...”. Uhh... yeah that seems like it was brushed under the rug... like what? That part makes this seem different from your typical high school show (a la Konobi). Interested to see what the whole deal is with that since nothing from the promotional images or the PV shows anything referencing that. Plus the fact that this is an anime original series means nobody knows what’s gonna happen. Though otherwise not too remarkable of a show, and I’m not expecting too much from this.

Blend S: Oh boy another CGDCT. My favorite.

In all seriousness, I do like this genre, but I don’t know about this one... Basically at first glance it looks kinda like a GochiUsa style show, but it’s a bit different from that. Yes, there are cute girls working in a cafe. But this is a bit different: the girls working there play out a role: for instance, we have the main character playing the sadist role. There’s also the classics such as the tsundere, the imouto, and so on. A bit like a maid cafe actually. I think what’ll make or break this show for me is whether or not the girls keep up their roles outside of work, or if there’ll be times shown when they aren’t so... typecast. Sorta similar to one of my favorite YouTube channels out there, Cow Chop, where they obviously play out a role during their videos, but we can see times where they’re actually genuine in videos like the Behind The Scenes or their podcast. Other info is kinda limited since like Animegataris, this is an anime original show. So I guess we’ll see how it plays out.

Boku no Kanojo ga Majimesugiru Sho-bitch na Ken (My Girlfriend is a Faithful Virgin Bitch): Uhh I can explain. So I’ve been told this show is basically similar to Seitokai Yakuindomo where it’s Sex Jokes: The Anime. Basically a guy confesses to the most popular girl in school in desperation, and she accepts. Only this girl is pretty deadpan, and in an effort to be the perfect girlfriend she “optimizes” her behavior, usually too far on the sexual scale to the dismay of MC. Comedy ensues, and so on. I’ve read some snippets of the manga, and it’s your standard “person does random stupid thing and MC responds”, AKA the boke and tsukkomi routine. I’m not sure how well that’ll go considering I’ve seen complaints that it’s just endless gags, which the recent Aho Girl showed me I’m not really about. But hey I’ll give this show a chance, because who knows?

Just Because!: Why am I watching this? Just Because!

I’m so sorry.

Ok, with that out of the way this show looks decently interesting. Guy comes back to school as third year right as graduation approaches. Apparently this causes four students’ lives to change in some way. Sure.

Looks to be drama-y, based on the PV I saw, but I don’t know too much about this show otherwise. One thing I can say is that those uniforms are comfy as heck, and I’m all about that. Though I’m not all about the character designs: the faces look a bit questionable. But I’m sure I’ll get used to it. It’s not Koi to Uso levels of bad.

Konohana Kitan: Oh boy another CGDCT, but with wolf girls. Wow.

Okay well this time I’m not being sarcastic. I’m not about the wolf girls, cat girls, whatever girls trend. Basically it’s your standard new girl comes to work at place, and slowly gets along with others. But apparently according to the synopsis it’s through “her simple cuteness“. No I’m not lying, go see the MAL page.

Well might as well give it a shot I suppose.

One Shot Shows

Juuni Taisen: Normally I wouldn’t usually watch these types of shows, but a friend of mine convinced me to give at least one episode to this one. Sort of a battle royale where 12 people who share names with the Chinese zodiac members fight for one wish. One interesting thing to note is that this was written by Nisioisin, the same guy who wrote the Monogatari series. So from that it has some good potential.

Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau: At this point I’m kinda getting tired, so I’ll just say this is a fantasy show. The PV looked super interesting though, which is the biggest reason why I’m giving this at least one episode.

RoboMasters the Animated Series: College students + RoboMasters competition = anime? Sure why not.

And that’s all for this post! Not as many shows as last season, but I think there are some potentially good ones in this batch, plus maybe some more that I haven’t listed here. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next post!

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