#this isn't necessarily a dig at those shows or segments i just feel like it's coming to a head

[sentimental-boy]

i feel like we're going to see the death of "silly comedian asks serious expert silly questions" type shows within the next 10 years because you can only repeat that formula so many times before it gets old and also all of the experts will be familiar with the format

[welcometoteyvat]

rant ahead lmao

i believe your gripes are completely valid because i have the same gripes. it feels like their storytelling (for the entire game) is all over the place. the high cloud quintet is literally something i’ve never chanced upon in the game. i only know it via fandom. this is similar to how that pyro butterfly lady is the crimson witch. only those who dig deep enough into the game will find out about it, and just like genshin, such “information” spreads quickly in the community.

HOWEVER, what genshin does better than star rail is that its main story DOES NOT rely on these snippets to tell its story. do i need to know she was the crimson witch when what happened to her happened? no. not at all. she was there for X purpose in the main storyline and therefore she did what she had to do and left. her being crimson witch was to add depth to her character which the main story had no space to do so.

stair rail, on the other hand, EXPECTS you to find out all these little tidbits, which to me is too time consuming and annoying. why split the story into its separate segments if i need to know them in order to understand the main story?? that’s just poor storytelling imho.

i think you’ll like this video. i agree with it. i get that the funeral for fox character was supposed to be emotional, but this video is right that we know NOTHING about this character. from my own personal experience, the funeral was so boring and honestly irritating because i. don’t. care. in fact, i didn’t even know she was with us throughout the quest so when she had her background voicelines i was always so confused????

i feel the hype around the characters is because the designs of each character have given people a desire to seek more about said characters, and there is abundance information. but this shouldn’t be something to expect of the players.

give me a reason to care that’s not just aesthetics, please.

video will be sent in next ask.

video: https://youtu.be/vaPL0UZK_HQ?si=puvssJPBLc2H57vk

ok thank you for validating me LMAO i was constantly wondering "where is the ancient dead people lore" (hcq) during the entire quest chain, which unfortunately contained very little of what fandom promised me (character depth). apparently i've not be reading enough books and pamphlets you can collect since the lore is concentrated there and in limited character's character stories

tbh I think the reveal that La Signora was the Crimson Witch was also really bad lol, for the same reason that the video argues DH IL's transformation is unimpactful. like "omg wow alternate identity revealed!" but it doesn't really have any impact on the conflict of the story we're currently looking at. they could've just switched it, or not even given her a transformation, instead just showing an extended duel with us and making it visible that she was tired and out of power before she dies, and I don't really know if anything would've changed. same with dan heng IL, I'd probably get more out of it if I read the hcq book from that one opera performer, but ehh there wasn't enough visibly shown leadup, like you said.

I guess the difference between genshin world lore (things in artifacts, weapons, books, world quests etc) and star rail lore is that genshin's is either about the past or future, but not necessarily about the present characters? thinking about the pale flame lore, which gave everyone the fatui crumbs before scara and la signora's stories were introducted in the main storyline, the enkanomiya quests about the vishaps and ancient history of teyvat, and the narzissenkreuz quests that also connect to that + khaenriah + a host of other world lore things. I guess it's nice that reading through all the materials isn't "mandatory" because it's either about the ancient past, dead npcs (so many of the artifact sets) or foreshadowing for important elements in the future that will still get introduced in the main story. I will be biased and agree w you, star rail's lore crumbs are rather :\ storytelling. like I would be fine if the hidden nuggets of lore were about >npcs >lore that happened but is not directly relevant to a character's main arc >foreshadowing for future events/story. but instead it's more like mandatory background reading that is crucial to understand a character's stories, instead of enriching your knowledge of them? anyways yeah

now abt tingyun. I agree that the funeral was really ???????????? i agree w you and the video lol. playing it, I was mostly in disbelief that we're assuming tingyun is legitimately dead even though she's still playable (no dead playables in genshin moment). I also think the thing with the 3 npcs we had to talk to was bullshit because. like the video said, we could've spent time with tingyun (maybe visiting the npcs we collected things from) BEFORE she died and maybe it would have given us more emotional impact. the way they retroactively show how kind and generous she was really put me off, we could've seen this all in person instead of hearing it from other people...... bruh also the way everyone got together in that cutscene when i dont think any of them were really shown to have a deep connection w her is so ..... >_> the emotional impact did not hit whatsoever

but I'm gonna level with you I think they made her role as our guide pretty clear and the implication that she was traveling with us was also pretty clear. no shade though

about the rest of the video: oh he put things into words that I could not articulate JSDKLFJDSKL. not really any thoughts but i agree that a lot of the characters (qingque, xueyi especially) could have just been cut T_T i like both of their designs and personalities based on other material in game but their main quest participation was Not It rip. also agree about the characters being vehicles for exposition and not having their personalities shine through. I'd argue maybe you can tell somewhat of what they're like (jing yuan, fu xuan, yanqing to some extent) but man there's just too much lore explaining for them to really show what they do on a normal schedule it's so .......... also because fanart and fanfic makes them seem so fun im standing here looking at the main plot like >_> <_< what was that. i'm sure it gets better inside their own companion quests, which I haven't done, but that shouldn't be the only place the character gets to really shine lmao

I agree that their design makes people more willing to invest but god I'm so sorry hsr designs really aren't my thing, the color palettes are just incredibly bad JDKSFLJDSKLGHKDJ the only thing holding up the story are the plot and personalities of chars and neither of those were delivered ...

[runbeyonddreams]

A "Tussle" over Tina Fey

An old college classmate posted the latest Tina Fey sketch about sheet cake. She obviously thought it was brilliant.

The following is our FB convo. It was a reminder as to why we were more like frenemies in college than actual friends. Not even sure why I'm still connected to her on FB...

_____

ME:

I get why this was funny. I laughed a bit until she said this,

“In conclusion, I really want to say, to encourage all good sane Americans to treat these rallies this weekend like the opening of a thoughtful movie with two female leads; Don’t show up. Let these morons scream into the empty air."

Whether she meant to or not, her privilege is showing and her lack of fully understanding the importance of intersectionality is glaring.

If all good Americans could actually benefit from just not showing up, that WOULD BE F*CKING fantastic. Eating cake is WAY more fun for real.

But, there are plenty good sane Americans who stand to lose A LOT more than a financially secure white lady, if they decide to just sit out and not protest, not push back, not make their voices heard.

HER:

I don't think she meant it, the whole segment is about being ironic; she's eating a freaking cake. It's slapping you in the face with sacrasm and ironic self-awareness. She's making fun of herself and her privilege in her upper middle white class collegiate sweatshirt, etc. She knows shes a white privileged woman. Now, does being ironic (as an intelligent comedian) also have to be criticized as "tone deaf" and showing her privelege? I just don't think so. After all--while she's making fun of folks "not showing up" to those movies she's talking about (that she probably wrote and or produced) I'm sure she actually would LOVE for people to show up to them. She's being ironic. I don't doubt for a second that she's sympathetic to intersectionality.

I'm going to guess you think my response shows my privelege and lack of understanding when it comes to intersectionality...? Wink wink?

Ultimately, like most male comedians do in the face of fear, sadness and darkness, she was trying to find a way to bring levity to a sad chapter. I personally think that the uproar is more misogynistic than anything.

Anyway. We should be fighting Nazis together (which I'm sure we both are) not dissecting Tina freaking Fey. I'm gonna get back to Donald Trump, who occupies most of my god damn time these days.

ME:

My side eye to Tina Fey is because this isn't a one off for her. I also didn't appreciate her previous comments regarding the white washing of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and the unsettling episode of Kimmy Schmidt where she made fun of Asians in a really racist way. She can get away with just blowing over her missteps as "hey, I was just joking" because of her privilege. Plain and simple. There's a demographic of people who are just so over being told "lighten up, I didn't mean it, it was just a joke, stop being so serious" about all the little things that hurt and degrade.

I still own her book. I will still try and watch Kimmy Schmidt. I still kinda love Mean Girls. But, I admire her less and less the more missteps she takes. I keep hoping she'll figure it out.

If you were to see my side of my news feed there is a definite difference between those who revered this Tina sketch as unflawed and brilliant, those who are too tired of micro aggressions to truly take her to task, and those who are extremely outraged and hurt by the unapologetic trivial comparison between deciding to attend a movie opening and taking part in a civil rights protest.

If you were trying to make a joke "wink wink" about me possibly judging you, it fell flat. I'm pretty sure I never mentioned any judgment of you in my comment. I didn't really give YOU much thought when I wrote the comment. Does it say more about you than me that you feel the need to defend yourself somehow? If I DID feel that you don't fully understand my stance or the importance of intersectionality, would it even matter to you? Is that what white fragility looks like? Wink wink.

Also, for those who dissect Tina Fey, it does not necessarily mean it is taking time away from fighting Nazis and the mindset of 45 & his supporters.

It's recognizing that it is important, especially now, to understand how carelessly discarded seeds grow into invasive destructive weeds.

HER:

Ah, the winks were a bad idea, I told myself!

ME:

Yep.

HER:

I think it's really weird I just had a tussle with you over Tina Fey--you are someone who clearly has the same viewpoints of me on almost everything regarding women, minorities, politics, etc. I'm not exactly sure what happened here other than we seem to not really know much about the other anymore. Sad.

ME:

How is this a tussle? I let you know exactly why I had a different reaction to her sketch than you did. You defended her, explained why you think she's still brilliant, then said you had better things to do than further dissect the impact of Tina Fey's words/actions. Totally fair. You most likely haven't been hurt by any of the things she has said for laughs. I understand that. And honestly, I'm not judging you for that. That's not within your control.

Then you casually brushed off me POSSIBLY judging you, and challenging your choice to put Fey on a pedestal (once again, nope, wasn't doing that bc I get why the sketch is otherwise hilarious) as a thinly veiled joke (?) to maybe make sure someone you barely know doesn't think less of you for thinking differently.

Not a tussle.

Just reality.

This is my reality whenever I point out the hurtful flaws of high profile celebrity "heroes", or anyone.

I've honestly had to explain my pov on various occasions similar to this one, with very similar people to you, and not once has anyone ever said, "ohhhhh... I see I might be missing something. I'll make a point to be more aware of that going forward. I'll dig deeper and peel back another layer. I'll take a moment to really learn why this is causing so much dialogue."

Nope.

And you know what? I keep trying. Keep hoping that someone will. So I keep trying.

But yeah, maybe I'll just scream into a sheet cake while attempting to shove the whole thing in my mouth.

It would definitely be more fun.