#the duality of this man is such a deep thing you guys; it really fuckin is

[constellationcrowned]

((It makes me sad that (especially coming from Roui) the severity of Kariom's duty is greatly diminished in both severity and importance. He's not just a star-reader he was chosen by the King to decipher them for all Tsourai. When he calls himself a savior it isn't entirely out of pride or hubris; he's telling the truth. It's a duty that can (and will, and has) potentially destroy him, even kill him, but one that he can't back down from or falter in because if Kariom makes a mistake?? Even one??? It's, to his understanding, completely over and he wouldn't be able to handle it. He cannot disappoint them, nor can he abandon them, and to fail in the slightest would be doing just that. It would be detrimental to the people that he loves and that, to say nothing of wider consequences, is unfathomable.))

[spellcastersjudgement]

Jaden nd bastion for that domestic ask thing? >:3c

THE OTP YES i have so many feelings and everyone needs to hear me sob over the nerd baby and his superhero 

also that icon is the content i look for on this hellsite well done 

who is the big spoon/little spoon Jaden is the little spoon!! he prefers being the big spoon tbh he likes curling up against bastions fuckin ripped back but jaden always falls asleep first because he has to get this twelve hours or else he will be a grumpy boy but bastion?? bastion stays up all night drinking coffee and doing god knows what bc he’s the type of guy thats like ‘hey jaden im gonna go read a bit before i got to bed’ and then he fuckin stays up all night because he has no self control lmao so when it’s like 3am and he’s finally put down his book or finished dicking around on the computer he finally gets in bed and he doesnt want to wake up his husband (yes theyre married in my mind ok im love them) so he just lays down and pulls the human kuriboh to his chest and falls asleep 

what is their favorite non-sexual activity the standard answer is Card Games but besides dool masters they like to go on drives and look at stars and talk abt whatever. bastion is a chemical engineer and jaden’s his professional duelist trophy husband so they dont get to be together as much as they want bc jaden’s tournament schedule so when they’re together they gotta make it count u know so bastion will pick jaden up from the airport and they’ll just start driving out of the city talking about DM or what bastion’s been up to or whatever’s going through jaden’s mind (an enigma lmao) and then when there are no more streetlights to make it difficult to see the stars they’ll pull over and lay on the hood and cuddle and keep talking. it’s like 4am before they finally go home and since they’re going to sleep at the same time jaden finally gets his chance to be the big spoon 

who uses all the hot water in the morning getting jaden to shower is a fucking struggle he’s like a cat. living in the slifer dorm made him accustomed to being a generally gross person in general so he lives off dry shampoo and body spray so he doesn’t smell like hassleberry after a workout so that leaves bastion to take all of the water because he showers every morning after his run and insists on h is hair being perfect and well taken care of. like the guy has at least five different hair care products in the shower at all times while jaden, even though he’s dumb thick rich, buys that 3-in-1 crap he and syrus used to make stretch for a month back in college. jaden is also known to stick his kuriboh hair under the sink and shake it out like a dog because he is a gross boy that usually gets up about ten minutes before he has to leave so there’s no time for an actual shower and we’ve gotten away from the actual question but the tldr is bastion stands under the hot water he’s got one of those mirrors to shave in the shower while he’s doing his deep conditioning treatment and has a pore strip on his nose for beautiful ™ skin 

what they order from take out this one ties in a lot to my sageshipping BrOTP headcanons (on god there needs to be a brotp ask so i can scream to the world my love for bastion/alexis friendship) but the bit of background is that bastion and alexis would always order from this indian place that was open real late at night when they were in grad school together (no delivery at duel academy cause its an island u know) so it has a special place in his heart. jaden is a wimp when it comes to spice but since bastion loves it they order it anyway and the people that deliver the food know to make it wimpy baby spicy for jaden so he doesn’t end up sweating half his body weight up and crapping out lava four hours later 

what is the most trivial thing they fight over oh god they dont fight a lot because they love and appreciate each other’s eccentricities but if they’re going to fight its going to be over who’s doing the driving. they both love cars, bastion likes taking it apart and modifying them and whatnot and jaden likes the aesthetique (though his aesthetique is painting flames on a corolla jaden u lil shit smh) and they both like to go fast so when they go out they bitch abt who gets to drive. bastion tells jaden he doesnt appreciate the feel of the machine and jaden says bastion drives like a fucking old man so they end up settling the matter with rousing game of rock paper scissors 

who does most of the cleaning NEITHER OH MY GOD theyre both total slobs. bastion’s desk and home office is covered in his notebooks and duel monster cards, his walls covered with god knows what (formulas, dates, to-do lists, grocery lists) the guy just grabs the sharpie and starts writing because he’s afraid of forgetting something if he doesnt get it down right then. jaden lives in filth he has three day old bowls of cereal at his desk and uses used napkins as tissues he is certifiably NASTY. anyway they hire a housekeeper to make sure the entire house doesnt fall into disarray and she’s like their surrogate mother making sure they eat more than takeout and coffee and making sure the house smells nice. they call her Mama Cheryl (good middle aged mom name) and she’s the embarrassing mom at jadens local tournaments the kind that prints out huge pictures of his face and wears shirts with Neos on them and cheers for her boy v loudly. again we’re away from the question but i have a lot of headcanons abt this i’ll probs put in my dissertation lol 

what has a season pass in their DVR hmmm this is an interesting one…i like to think jaden loves crime shows because they’re heroes and he likes watching the good guys ™ win in the end. his favorite show is psych (which u all should watch its hilarious) but since that ended a while ago he’s been in to criminal minds and SVU because he likes watching the really diabolical criminals get caught. bastion never knew his mans was into such dark stuff until he opened the season pass thingy and got quite the heart attack because he thought jaden was all butterflies and flowers and funny stuff but bastion had to learn the duality of man the hard way. bastion doesn’t watch television that much but his guilty pleasure is vikings on the history channel and stuff on the discovery channel because he loves learning what a nerd 

who controls the netflix queue jaden is the one that likes to watch netflix the most but i wouldnt say he’s in control per se. they’re usually down for watching what each other likes but in the end jaden will sometimes end up superseding bastion because dammit bas we are not watching a documentary about the dead sea scrolls you dont even believe in god and bastions like fine youre cute we can watch Castle (even though thats not on netflix but i wish it were) 

who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working jaden. jaden all the way. bastion brings up a a wikihow article about how to fix the hvac system and he’s like I CAN FIX THIS and jadens like ily babe but you work with chemicals not with this kind of thing ur gonna break it like the time u tried to fix the sink and fuckin clogged the shit out of it we are calling Cheryl and Cheryl’s like jaden im a housekeeper call someone who actually does this for a living. anyway while theyre waiting for the professionals to get there bastion tries to demonstrate he knows what he’s doing he is smort by writing the steps and shit on the wall and jadens like youre so cute but no dont touch the heating system. he has to distract his lil nerd by asking him about what deck he should use for his next tournament or what the probability of drawing three polymerizations on the first turn is and bastion loves talking about math so jaden keeps asking questions until the system is fixed (he doesnt remember much of bastions mathematical explanations but bastion looks so cute with his eyes all bright and shiny talking about statistics) 

who leaves their stuff around BOTH they are slobs. jadens a bit worse if we’re being honest because while bastion leaves his papers and cards around schmaden schmuki leaves his underwear and food and cups in the living room and is prone to stripping off his clothes for one reason or another and just laying on the couch watching ESPN with his goddamn pants on the floor and saying they were constricting his knees or some shit when bastion asks why he feels the need to be half naked all the time. bastion had his own room in college so he doesnt quite understand why jadens comfortable just answering the door with a trail of clothing behind him because most people that dont know him assume he’s been getting bizzay but nah he just be Like That

who remembers to buy the milk jaden do because he drinks milk in his coffee. bastion drinks it black so if theres no milk its like eh whatever but jaden is a mess without his caffeine and he hates how bitter and gross it is when theres no milk in it so even if jaden’s not the one going to the grocery store he’ll write it on the wall so bastion will remember it because his mans dont check his texts that often but anything on that wall he fuckin remembers and jaden doesnt understand why he be Like That 

who remembers anniversaries both! they are dumb thick in love with each other and they like to plan little things to do for the anniversary of their first date, when they made it official, their wedding, etc. jaden is much more extravagant and will do something like jump on the bed until bastion wakes up and then drag him out for breakfast and get atticus to sing a really off-key renditions of classic love songs and bastion blushes so hard and its so cute it should be criminal lmao. bastion will get jaden a cute little gift like one of those pictures where the artist takes a photo and paints it so they can hang it on their wall. or bastion will fine tune his duel disk or get him a new card for his deck. they are in big gay love and i love them so much 

thanks for this ask on god i just wrote 1800 words of tutorship feels i have a problem lol 

[segadores-y-soldados]

Reaper and Soldier: American Cultural References

Alright, I know the title is a fuckin turn off for some people but I’m tired and so bad at essay titles, guys, you don’t even know, fuck I’d show ya’ll my college essays if they didn’t immediately reveal who I am but the titles were BAD.

So after a few people mentioned that the Reaper References post was helpful (and I saw your comments, I’m coming back to them, I promise), and after thinking about it a bit more this morning, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try and explain some of the more...oddball American cultural references going on in these skins.  Please note that I’m not trying to be rude by not discussing the Mariachi or Blanco skins, but rather that I consider those to be out of my field of depth and would rather focus on the skins I do know more about.

This will have mild shipping discussions for Reaper76 but it’s mainly from an analytical perspective.  In my opinion, with Blizzard being what it is, these are primarily coincidences or a way of demonstrating the two characters’ shared interest in American pop and literary culture.

Since this is kinda turning into a mini series, have these as well:

Reaper Art Assets

Reaper References

A LOT MORE under the cut, fair warning, this one is LONG.

Name and Design Comparisons

In the Reaper References post, I talked about how the name “Gabriel Reyes” could potentially have been derived from California’s Spanish history, such as by being references to the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel or the El Camino Real.  John “Jack” Morrison has some interesting possible name references as well.

John of course, is another Biblical name, derived from the Greek Iohannes, which in turn is derived from the Hebrew Yohanan, meaning “graced by God.”  “John” as a unique English name is due primarily to the Biblical figures John the Baptist and the Apostle John.  So both characters feature religious or spiritually derived given names.

Jack is actually a nickname for John.  Which like, makes no sense to me either, but this is from the language that made “Dick” a nickname out of “Richard” so we can all be lost on this one together.  The term “jack” features a MASSIVE variety of uses and meanings in English, including but not limited to things like “jack of all trades,” “jumping jacks,” “a jack” (the card), etc.  “The Encyclopædia Britannica article on the history of the word "jack" linked it directly to the common name: "Jack, a word with a great variety of meanings and applications, all traceable to the common use of the word as a by-name of a man."”

Morrison is an interesting one because it too is religiously or spiritual derived.  One etymological hypothesis links it to Scottish or Gaelic roots as “son of Maurice,” with Maurice being the English version of the name Mauritius.  Saint Mauritius is the patron saint of the Holy Roman Emperors, but more importantly, Saint Mauritius is the patron saint of soldiers.

“Maurice became a soldier in the Roman army. He was gradually promoted until he became the leader of the Theban legion, formed of 6600 soldiers.”

Mauritius ascended to martyrdom when he and his troops refused to engage in sacrificial offerings to the Roman gods, and Mauritius and his troops were killed for their refusal.

This, of course, has a number of parallels to the lore that Blizzard has provided around Jack Morrison.  How much of it is intentional is debatable, but considering the Soldier: 76 concept and character has existed for like fifteen years, I’m willing to bet it’s pretty deliberate.

Other odd points of comparison:

Gabriel Reyes = 12 letters

Jack Morrison = 12 letters (still works with John)

Again - how deliberate is this?  I have no fucking idea, but considering that both men are 6’ 1” (1.85 m) and they effectively swap outfits after the Fall of Overwatch (Reyes goes from simple jacket/sweatshirt and plain pants to long, dramatic overcoat; while Morrison goes from long dramatic overcoat to simple jacket and plain pants; both men wear masks after the Fall), like...I would not be surprised at this point?

Once upon a midnight dreary

“But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. Nothing further then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered— Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have flown before— On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.”

Then the bird said “Nevermore.””

So I’ll just be honest and say that I’ve never really liked Edgar Allen Poe, and other people will offer you better analyses of “The Raven,” but for our purposes, we just briefly need to cover the subject of the poem and some of its themes.  Basically, The Raven is about a man heartbroken over the implied death of his lover.  He is visited in the night by a mysterious Raven who only speaks one word - “nevermore.”  While the man is aware that the Raven probably only knows this word through conditioning from a human owner, he continues to ask the bird increasingly deep questions about love and the afterlife, despite being aware that the Raven will only ever give him one answer.  It’s a play on the futility of deeper thinking to solve grief, a discussion on the nature of grief itself, and also a partial satire by Poe on making “a commercially successful poem” - one with deliberate rhyming intended “to appeal to both critical and popular tastes.”

It is perhaps one of the most famous and well-known pieces of American literature in history.

The Raven character is frequently compared to both heavenly messengers, such as angels, and more “evil” figures such as the devil, offering both the duality of possible salvation or damnation, depending on how the reader chooses to interpret it.  In the last stanza, the man effectively gives up on deciding which aspect the bird represents to him, and lets the bird’s “shadow” both consume him and “lift him.”

So basically, Reaper’s Nevermore skin is fucking American literary NERDISM.

“This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing

To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;”

And

“And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;”

In the skin, Reaper’s eyes glow purple, as do the “eyes” on his shotguns.  Moveover, Reaper will occasionally say “Nevermore” upon killing someone with this skin selected, a reference to the single word the bird says and also represents.  The word “Nevermore” represents a true finality - something that shall never happen “anymore”.  This is the first Reaper skin to be steeped in American literary history and references.  

The second, which might surprise some people, is:

Pumpkin?  But Pumpkin is a Halloween-theme skin!

But Pumpkin is also a reference to the Headless Horseman from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” one of the oldest “American” folkstories and pieces of literature.  It’s true that the Headless Horseman character is himself derived from a number of European original sources, but the variation found in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” has worked itself into American folklore and cultural concepts so deeply that it continues to affect American ideas of death, ghosts, and - yes - Halloween today.

In the Irving version of the story, the main character Ichabod Crane rides through the woods of Sleepy Hollow after a night of heavy partying and drinking and sharing ghost stories.  The man is very superstitious, and is frightened when “a ghost” appears riding on a horse, carrying “his head” in his lap.  The Headless Horseman pursues Ichabod through the woods, and eventually throws his head at Ichabod’s face.  In the morning, Ichabod has mysteriously vanished from town, and the only traces found of him in the woods are his startled horse, a saddle, a hat, and a smashed Jack-o-lantern.

In almost all versions of the tale, the Headless Horseman either wears or carries a flaming Jack-o-lantern for his head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SsCHYW_I3s

This is the Disney version of the story that I remember seeing as a child.  From the Headless Horsemen, a number of other American “skeleton” or “death” figures have been derived, including characters like Jack Skellington, Skeletor, and well...Reaper.

This is also probably why “The Reaper” in Junkenstein’s Revenge had strange horse noises associated with his appearance:

http://juunkrat.tumblr.com/post/151882686536/the-reaper-comes-for-your-s-horse-noise

Since the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Halloween in general are associated with celebrating the fall harvest, Reaper has a number of voice lines exclusive to the skin talking about “harvesting”: “Harvest time” or “Time for the reapening.”

In fact, the entire concept of the Grim Reaper in American culture distantly stems from the Romans - not exactly Thanatos or Charon (both of whom were Greek), but Saturn, god of time and, well, harvesting.  Saturn was frequently depicted with the sickle or scythe, a tool that has carried over to other mythological figures like Father Time or the Grim Reaper, and Saturnalia was the Roman celebration of the harvest.  Much like Halloween, Saturnalia permitted role reversals, a shift in expectation, lots of partying, and both a respect and playful mockery of death.  Saturnalia is one of the possible sources for the origins of Halloween, combined with Gaelic, Scottish, and Irish roots and festivities - such as the dullahan and pumpkin/turnip-carving - and the Christian “All Saints Day”.  All of these aspects build into both the Grim Reaper and the Headless Horseman.

Again, this is not to say that the Headless Horseman is unique to American folklore mythology, nor that even skeletal figures are, but rather to acknowledge the prominence that these figures have taken on, especially as they relate to American Halloween.  Jack-o-lanterns (also not uniquely American) have become a popular symbol of the holiday.

And since we’re on the subject, here’s one of the myths of the origins of the Jack-o-lantern, from Irish roots:

“Many years later, the thief died, as all living things do. Of course, Jack's life had been too sinful for him to go to heaven; however, Satan had promised not to take his soul, and so he was barred from hell as well. Jack now had nowhere to go. He asked how he would see where to go, as he had no light, and Satan mockingly tossed him an ember from the flames of Hades, that would never burn out. Jack carved out one of his turnips (which were his favorite food), put the ember inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place. He became known as "Jack of the Lantern", or jack-o'-lantern.” - Wikipedia on the origins of Jack-o-lanterns

(Almost all uses of the word “jack” derive from the name “Jack”)

Which brings us to a certain immortal soldier.

The reference to immortality denoted by the skin’s very blatant name “Immortal” probably indicates something like vampirism or simply being undead (as death seems to be something that both Jack and Gabriel are like...physically incapable of doing).  The extra-pale skin and the “skeletal” white paint on his gloves also point to him being some sort of...undead spirit.  While I’m willing to say he’s probably some sort of vampire in this (like Symmetra...whose Halloween skin is a whole ‘nother can of worms), it’s not impossible, giving the Scottish/Gaelic/Irish origins of the name Morrison, that “Immortal 76” is also a reference to Jack-o-lanterns.  Just food for thought.

More significantly, and more blatantly, the design of the Immortal skin is almost dead-on (heh) another cultural reference, although this one is less literary and more...poppy:

Given the fact that the black stripes on Immortal 76’s jacket is about as dead-on (somebody stop me) as Soldier’s design can get, the comparisons seem obvious.  Even if the design was not deliberately influenced by Thriller, Michael Jackson’s outfit in the music video is so iconic that it’s pretty difficult to escape its influences, especially if you’re making a Halloween skin.

Soldier’s “sunken”/overly-make-upped eyes are also probably a reference to Jackson’s ghoulish appearance in the Thriller video, when he’s taken on a more haunting appearance:

Moveover, both Thriller and Junkenstein’s Revenge (both the in-game event and the comic) pay homage to “cheesy Halloween thriller movies,” featuring things such as a third-person narrator, a number of movie references, and the overall theme of “playing at” Halloween.  I would hypothesize that Thriller probably had some sort of direct influence on the Halloween event itself, such as featuring a few “human protagonists” against a “zombie horde,” the narration by Reinhardt, cheesy lines between characters, and the whole concept of:

“You’re fighting for your life inside a killer thriller!”

Thriller remains one of the “theme songs” of American Halloween; arguably, it is the theme song of Halloween, so it would be very strange if Immortal 76 was NOT an homage to the song and the music video.

Plus, it yields itself to one of the best puns in Overwatch: Michael Jack-morri-son.

(Please note that I’m not necessarily arguing that Soldier: 76 was the best character for this homage - honestly, the fact that Lucio HASN’T had a Michael Jackson reference yet is mind-boggling considering he is actually a “professional music and star.”  Maybe for a different event?)

Going Commando

So I brought this up briefly in the Reaper References post, but as far as I can tell, Reaper and Soldier are the only two characters who make references to a major American movie star: Arnold Schwarzenegger.  This is rather odd considering characters like Reinhardt and Mercy are geographically and culturally closer to Arnold’s home country of Austria; Reinhardt in particular shares a similar sense of bravado and battle-lust that Arnold has portrayed in many of his films (Kindergarten Cop Reinhardt when?).

But in any case:

The Commando 76 skin pays homage almost directly to the Arnold Schwarzenegger film by the same name, “Commando,” which itself is pretty much a reference to other movies of similar caliber and nature.

Like, we’re talking down to the facepaint and everything:

And the vest:

And Arnold’s entire fucking outfit, really:

Reaper, on the other hand, has the voice line “If it lives, I can kill it,” which is a reference to Arnold’s famous quote “If it bleeds, we can kill it” from Predator, a movie that also features Schwarzenegger in a military role.  I’m waiting for someone to get an “Hasta la vista, baby” line - bonus points to Blizzard if they give it to Mercy.

And since Soldier’s stupidly Americanized skins aren’t fucking deep enough in American pop culture, he had to be given this fucking abomination of a skin:

This is a reference to American stuntsman Evel Knievel, known for trying to do crazy jumps on his motorcycle while wearing a very...patriotic outfit.

Why the fuck they gave him the mustache is...I dunno.

Evel Knievel is one of these weird American icons that is difficult to explain.  America has a long and bizarre history of “doing daring feats,” such as dropping off of Niagara Falls in a barrel (seriously, I’ve read a book on Sam Patch and just like...the whole concept of bravado in American culture is something that’s difficult to try and explain.  I blame our revolution or something) all the way down to dumb shit like pranks and stuff like “Jackass” (ahaha, another Jack word).  Again, it’s not that other cultures don’t have this - many do - but it’s so bizarrely celebrated in the U.S., to the point where Knievel has been dead for ten years but his legacy is still very much active and impressive to many Americans.

Knievel is also the source of the line: “Bones heal, pain is temporary, but chicks dig scars.”  Which, of course, “Daredevil: 76” has a slightly different variation on the line: “Bones heal, pain is temporary, but scars look good.”

Now, trust me - the change in wordage is super tempting to read into, but it’s much more likely that Blizzard dropped the line about “chicks” because the term is slowly falling out of favor in North America.  It’s not really a fun way to describe women anymore (although arguably it never was?), and I’m more inclined to say that they probably modified the quote to reduce the aging, not-funny slang.

That said, if you wanna read into it, go ahead?

...why did they give him the mustache?

And since we’ve got the ball rolling on military/stunt stuff:

When Does the Rooster Crow?

So in the Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year event, Soldier got a new voiceline that says “The rooster crows at midnight.”  Despite being FUCKING HILARIOUS for the implied “the cock crows at midnight,” it’s actually another reference.

This time to M*A*S*H.

http://mash.wikia.com/wiki/The_Rooster_Crowed_at_Midnight

“In an otherwise empty mail bag, they find a package for B.J. Hunnicutt which turns out to be the novel The Rooster Crowed at Midnight which, according to the jacket blurb, was "another brain-teasing, spine-chilling whodunit from the prize-winning pen of Abigail Porterfield". The jacket blurb also described Abigail Porterfield as a 97-year old lady who had been residing in Sydney, Australia for the last 60 years.

The bored MASH staff soon pass the book around sometimes a chapter or a page at a time. For Hawkeye, getting to read the first chapter "just might be better than sex". For the impatient Winchester, "it certainly takes longer around here." The efforts of the MASH staff to identify the murderer take up much of the time in the episode.”

It’s actually a rather clever homage to both a military show and the Year of the Rooster, and is pretty much the only time a crossover between the two is applicable.

And hopefully people don’t take this the wrong way, but I wanna get a little bit into Chinese-American and Korean-American culture.

Many people may not realize this, but in big cities, or hell even medium-sized cities and towns across the U.S. West Coast, Asian American individuals are ubiquitous.  I believe more people are familiar with the concept of Ellis Island in New York, which was a historic immigrations center almost everyone coming from Europe had to travel through, but the West Coast had “Angel Island,” a similar immigrations center that, quite frankly, was used to regulate how Asian immigrants entered the country during the 1900’s, many of them predominantly Chinese.  That said, even with “regulations,” Asian immigrants continued to enter the country and settled at various points along the West Coast, including in neighborhoods like San Francisco’s Chinatown and Los Angeles’ Koreatown.

“Since Koreatown has a Latino majority, it's not unusual to find Latino employees in restaurants and grocery stores speaking Korean with customers or Korean store owners engaging Latino customers in Spanish. An example of a cultural interchange between Koreans and Latinos in Koreatown is the popularity of Korean-inspired taco trucks in Los Angeles that feature classic Mexican food infused with Korean ingredients.” - Wikipedia on Koreatown

Inter-cultural exchanges here in California are fairly commonplace in major cities, and “multiculturalism” (or whatever you want to call it) is taught at schools across almost all grades.  In second grade, my class celebrated both Hanukkah and Chinese New Year - we learned the lion dance and ran around with paper dragons.  In third grade, we learned about St. Patrick’s Day.  In fourth grade, we studied the California Missions.

During Chinese and Lunar New Years, large “historically Asian” neighborhoods openly celebrate the festival, sometimes spanning two weeks or a few weekends.  San Francisco and Los Angeles in particular hold huge parades and have open markets of gifts and food for anyone to stop by and visit.

“The parade theme emphasizes ethnic diversity, Chinese culture and exposure to Chinese-American businesses. The parade continues to be a rich and diverse experience for Angelenos of all ages and ethnicities.

The day of the Lunar New Year is the most celebrated holiday of the year for nearly 1.5 million persons of Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese descent in Southern California. It is celebrated with colorful festivals, parades, and most importantly, large family gatherings. It is also a time when ancestors are fondly remembered and families give thanks for their blessings. Red packets of money (Lai see or Hung bao) and firecrackers add fun and excitement to the Chinese New Year celebration.”

http://www.lagoldendragonparade.com/

I understand that the Year of the Rooster event was not limited to set characters, and that all characters received sprays, voice lines, etc.  My point is that characters like Reaper and Soldier celebrating the event alongside characters like Mei and D.Va would not be unusual to them.  Gabriel in particular would probably be more familiar with the event, which it seems like he is based on his line “now those are some fireworks” and his firecracker spray, but Jack having the “folded hands” spray would not be particularly unusual either.

Regardless of how I feel about Blizzard’s writing abilities, I believe that their familiarity with Los Angeles and California culture at large (and the fact that many of their employers are Asian Americans or of Asian heritage) led them to the conclusion that, 60 years into the future, Chinese and Lunar New Year will be events largely celebrated across the globe, or at least globally recognized.  The events are already massive celebrations in Asia, parts of North America, and parts of Australia.

Please know, however, that I obviously don’t speak for all Asian Americans on this matter, just myself and a few friends who I’ve talked to about this.  I believe that, given context, the way the Year of the Rooster was approached was handled well.  Personally, I found the Year of the Rooster events to be fun, entertaining, and delightful.  They reminded me of the the spirit of fun that permeates San Francisco on the CNY weekends.

Sorry this got so long, but hopeful this was informative and helpful!  The short version is that Reaper and Soldier are fucking NERDS about American history, literature, and cultural references.  There are times when American culture gets bleak, or poppy, or downright weird, but Reaper and Soldier show an interesting variety of references to a number of American cultural aspects, from the bleakness of Poe, to the pop of Michael Jackson, to the weirdness of Knievel, to the love of celebration and diversity of cultures.

And I guess that also makes me a nerd because I find that to be FUCKING AWESOME.