Hi Jay. Not wanting to sound mean, but I really think it must be commented and that there's no softer way of doing that: the company's statement of Thunder Junction being an inhabitated plane prior to MoM is not a honest way of capitalizing on a sellable trope without touching its uncomfortable issues. It's even disrespectful. They have done it in a less flagrant way with Kaladesh and both Ixalan iterations, but now they've gotten too far with Thunder Junction. Colonialism is too big an issue to simply being put under the carpet as it never existed and we could just enjoy the sunny part of the history. I really hope Hasbro as a company acknowledges this and changes its way of dealing with the theme. Thanks for letting me pointing this.
Look, you caught me on a bad day, so I'm going to be as polite as possible but let's start with the foundation that this is not a complaint to direct at me. I have no control over any of this. Mark Rosewater exists and takes feedback on Tumblr.
But, let's talk about it, because I've seen some folks take this to extremes.
First off, I've seen a lot of well meaning folks speaking up on behalf of hypothetical indigenous americans, but I'd love to get takes from folks this actually impacts. I'd love for Wizards to post something about their work with cultural consultants, for sure. But the only actual thing I've seen so far is a great story from Magic's first indigenous american author. And when you're speaking on someone else's behalf, you tend to miss things. Like, Kaladesh is not the great representation of south asian culture that you might think when you jumped to it, and it's okay if you didn't know that, but it sort of proves the point that it's very difficult to actually protest on someone else's behalf. And I just haven't heard from anyone who has also mentioned they speak from authority or are impacted by this. That doesn't mean you're wrong, necessarily.
But here's the thing. Thunder Junction isn't history. It takes cues from the American West, sure, but it's a fake world. And sometimes it's okay for a fake world to ignore the bad things that happens in real life and create something more aspirational. Magic does this all the time. Magic doesn't have homophobia, but that isn't really realistic or representative of the real world, is it?
No one, and I mean literally no one, came to me and said that people of color needed to be ostracized and not allowed to work alongside the white people in the demon mob families of New Capenna. That racism was real, it was systemic, and it was violent. But did it need to be tackled in a fantasy crime drama based on america in the 20s? Should it have been? I don't think anyone would have enjoyed it as much. Sometimes it's just fun to play gangster.
Similarly, the colonization and manifest destiny that was the reality of the American West was tragic, but does that need to be our only depiction of indigenous peoples - being colonized? If they were erased completely from the narrative, that would be awful, but can't they just have fun being cool thunder slingers? The Atiin were developed with a consultant, and if you want answers ask Wizards to talk about it.
There's a reason the Oltec were depicted as being sealed off from the Immortal Sun drama that had happened on the surface. To have an aspirational mesoamerican culture that wasn't affected by the Dusk Legion and Azor and all that.
To put it in another perspective, does every period piece featuring black americans need to feature systemic racism to be respectful? Is Bridgerton disrespectful (I mean probably but not for that reason)?
The reason I've framed a lot of this as questions is because I don't necessarily think I know the right answer, especially not for a fantasy card game. I've worked with tribal governments in my emergency management career and spent a week on the Navajo Nation, and talked a lot about perspective on things, and I would not presume to know what the right answer to all of this is.
Edit: to be clear, Could it have been handled better? Probably. I will never deny that. But also it’s a complicated and fraught topic and I’d love to hear from the people wizards contracted who actually know what they’re talking about.
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Do you ever wonder how hysterical the events of hi fi rush must look like from an outsider company perspective. Company slowly replaces all its employees with robots, pushes worse products, announces better cost effective prosthetics that could revolutionize the medical industry only for. Most of the board to disappear suddenly overnight INCLUDING THE CEO, budget gone overnight, shit ton of property damage, and the biggest concert of the night being upstaged by a dude with a guitar made of trash and a cat WHO SHOWED UP IN A SHARK COSTUME. The PR people must be crying tbh, there is no way this doesn’t look like a hostile company takeover, bc the truth is so much weirder. ALSO THE CEO WAS PLANNING TO USE MIND CONTROL TO PUSH MORE PRODUCTS INTO THEIR CONSUMER BASE. Wild. I love this game, 10/10, i need a sequel ASAP so chai will be back on my screen sooner.
oh god it's so funny you sent this ask NOW because I recently started re-playing the game just because I loved it that much (and also I didn't do all the extra side stuff)
but yeah yeaaaah it's so funny imo, it really has that saturday morning cartoon where a ton of wild stuff happens and then the rest of the world is just!!!!!! okay :) HDHSGBFFDSD it'd be great to have a sequel but I'm honestly happy with it being a standalone game too
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i said this on my main blog but i have Opinions on sonetto's character growth already thru just the first 4 chapters so here are some of my thoughts.
first of all, despite everything we learn about her and vertin's history in chapter 3, sonetto treats her at the start of canon not even as an equal but as someone to be revered. this makes sense because vertin is the timekeeper, which is a highly respected position, but i think it goes beyond that. it seems like sonetto has barely interacted with vertin since what happened at the end of the flashbacks in chapter 3 - she acts like she barely knows her. to me that makes it feel like she hasn't been closely interacting with her in a while, probably since she became the timekeeper, which means that there's a chance this is one of their first times working together. at this point sonetto is still very focused on the official tasks at hand, trying to deal with the whole regulus thing, focusing on Doing Her Job. this is pre-her being appointed as vertin's assistant so it makes sense that they're working in conjunction with each other instead of sonetto helping her in such a close way.
however. in later chapter 1 and chapter 2, where we really start to see the proper story pick up, sonetto is becoming increasingly connected to the outside world. she befriends sotheby, the first person she's really connected with outside the foundation. the foundation has been her whole life for as long as she can remember, but now she's meeting Real People and making Real Friends. this, naturally, is a Big Deal - this is what starts to turn the gears in her brain that we see finish turning in ch3/ch4, where she goes to bat for vertin directly, going as far as to raise her voice on vertin's behalf. at this point in the story she's finally seeing what vertin wants Everyone to see - that there is so much more to life than serving the foundation.
and then!! sonetto, always following rules, always obeying instructions, is put in a position where the timekeeper Isn't There. she's gone, she's with the manus, and sonetto has to step up as the interim leader of the mission, since she is now the timekeeper's assistant. and she DOES!!! supported by her New Friends!!!! i personally think it would've been extremely difficult for her to make these decisions if she hadn't already been separated from vertin and met sotheby in the forest. already, her personal growth is being spurred on by being outside the foundation in a much freer context.
so not only does sonetto step up, but she makes several crucial decisions, including saving marian. this is a thing i think some people would brush off as just a "protect the peace of mankind" thing but it's more than that to me. right now sonetto is desperately trying to fix the Timekeeper Being Gone situation and she explicitly chooses to find marian, who she knew was being kept somewhere due to the traces of potion, even though there are objectively Bigger Problems. imo this isn't just her following the mantra the foundation promotes, it is also showing that she has already started to Really care about people outside of the main mission and goal at hand. she doesn't need to do that, she could just help the timekeeper get out, but she feels an obligation to not just the foundation's stated ideal of helping the people but to her own developing moral compass, her desire to protect people vertin considers important. that is crucial because we establish very early that vertin considers Everyone important, hence the photo wall and all the memorial stuff she shows regulus. so sonetto saves marian, jeopardizes her own safety, to follow her idea of what the foundation's motto should mean, instead of acting as if the mission is the only thing that matters. she's developing her own view of what protecting the peace means.
and then the end of chapter 2. sotheby, sonetto's first real friend outside the foundation walls, loses her caretaker, the person who was tasked with her safety. she is so far in over her head and instead of sticking with vertin, keeping her head down until the storm is done, and holding herself in place, she goes to comfort her. not for the first time, she leaves vertin's side - in this case the seat next to her at the table - and goes to the other side of the table to sit with sotheby and comfort her. this is representative of more than just her desire to comfort her friends - her leaving vertin's side at the table is a metaphor for her slowly peeling herself away from the rigid conformity the foundation has forced on everyone in it, choosing to stand on her own with the friends she has made in the Real World.
and then, of course, sonetto goes back to the foundation, realizes people are fucking with vertin, and gets Mad. sonetto is notable for being extremely passive unless she's protecting the timekeeper, but this goes well beyond that. in this case she is not standing up for vertin against critters or the manus - she's standing up for her against the people she's listened to without exception for her entire life so far. and she's doing it for vertin, because vertin is not just her boss, she's her Friend, and sonetto Takes Care Of Her Friends. so for probably one of the first times in her entire life sonetto raises her voice at someone in charge of her. she shows resistance against the people who she thinks are hurting vertin, and who she thinks are hurting the rest of the friends she's made.
at the very end of chapter 4, sonetto seems like she wants to say something about everything that's happened, but chooses not to. i have a feeling that she's not making that choice because she doesn't value her contribution. i think she's making that choice because whatever she was going to say was something she thought constantine wouldn't like. and she's starting to understand the concept of going behind someone's back to do things that are really important.
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it's really funny to me as someone new to the fire emblem fandom (having played all of awakening and a little more than half of fates - both conquest and revelations) when i look up character pairings and their kids and are just met with people discussing nothing but stat growths, reclassing, and the best ways to pair the characters JUST to get high-stat kids with little regard to the actual pairings themselves. i get that it's pretty normal in this fandom (and for most games like this, i assume?) to be more focused on that kind of thing, but to me, the stats/gameplay are more of an afterthought. i just like pairing off characters based on the supports + vibes/dynamic and seeing what the kids will look and act like accordingly. of course i want my 2nd gen characters to be strong and fight well, but i also want to see them be a fitting child for the parents i paired together, ya know?
but idk, that's just my opinion lol [shrugs]
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do you rec god of war (from what you've played)? i've been looking for new rpgs to play but i feel like im 50/50 on this game
so for ragnarok, i haven't really played too much yet to have a real opinion, i've literally only played about 2 hours, and a lot of it has been cutscenes setting up the narrative (like a lot of cutscenes. i was surprised but i'm into it because i like my games with a juicy story. i have seen others complain about this though but i'm withholding judgement since i know i'm still early on and the game is clearly easing me into the story, and i haven't even gotten into the "open world" part yet) BUT that said i have enjoyed what i've played so far.
as for god of war, the first one from 2018, i haven't played it in a few years but i would still 100% recommend! i have some criticisms of that game but nothing major, just that i felt like the characterization of atreus was inconsistent and some aspects of his character arc felt shoehorned in (i can't really say specifics without spoilers)... however i can still excuse it as him just being a kid, and overall the game is really fun and i do still like the story and relationship between kratos and atreus, and all of that outweighs the mild criticism. the combat with the leviathan axe is literally my all-time favorite combat in any game, i love it so much. they did a really good job making both the axe and kratos himself feel very heavy and powerful.
also the character designs are really good. i've been losing my mind over thor in ragnarok so far, and i really like freya (who is in both games) and all of the valkyries. the regions you get to explore are fun, the "fish out of water" greek god dealing with norse gods is interesting, and i like that the core of the narrative in the first game is very mundane, despite everything else that happens. and with the sequel, it feels organic, like the 2018 game clearly set up ragnarok with the way it ended so i do feel confident in ragnarok even though i haven't played much.
i've never played any of the previous god of war games so i can't say anything about those, i went into the 2018 one pretty much blind and only knowing that kratos was the god of war, though i did eventually skim some wiki pages but even then i still have minimal knowledge of kratos' history. which honestly kind of adds to it, for me personally, at least. we know he's done terrible things, we get glimpses of it through kratos' memories, but it's in the past and now he's trying to be better.
so if any of that sounds interesting, you should check it out :-)
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