I genuinely think the aesthetics 2005-2015 were some of the “safest” ever. It’s really crazy in such a booming era of the new “endless blockbuster season” that things looked so very plain on screen. Visually things were just so “safe” visually on screen.

I’m gonna need to see some solid culinary excellence before we start letting everyone cook. A time to charge is not culinary excellence, it’s barely fundamentals.

Exactly. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the dude is bummed out pretty major. We are all not feeling super jazzed about the future, but that’s not excuse to just say “This thing that has defined my artistic expression/professional experience is now bad”. It’s kinda of a cop out to me. Again, I feel for him, I feel for anyone who does artsy stuff right now, but yeah it’s a bit lame to just say “No more cause America voted bad”.

“Cooking” would be a banned word. It means nothing.

I read that one too, really glad I broke out of the orbit of that nonsense. Yeah, it’s all slimeball literature. It’s not poorly written sadly so can’t even dunk it for that or anything like that, however it’s all gross. The whole genre is like “elevated manosphere” stuff. There is some real thought and some basic philosophy infused in these books but most of them are all about understanding philosophy for personal gain or accumulation of power. Which is why I hate it the most, in that if were written in a less slime-y way it could offer something of worth to people, but instead it’s just how to push others down so you can stand taller

Yeah. I read it junior year in college. I was in my peak young man hustle-grind mindset. I was lifting weights, reading 50 laws of power, and other dudebro stuff. I would say from my very limited understanding of Marx is that there is a lot of stuff in the book about understanding material and immaterial power dynamics/relationships and leveraging them for personal gain. Or to give you the mindset to see others doing the same thing

IE: Alan Moore was right all along (what a shock).

people need to stop making Gandalf coded wizards and make Moore coded wizards

What’s sad is that it almost seems like his immediate instinct is that he has to phone in and fake that optimism because that’s the limits of the genre he’s working in. Personally I hope he does some soul searching and realizes that a cynical turn for his voice is entirely acceptable and not necessarily a decline.

Agreed. I’m not pro-being cynical, but I am pro-whatever voice is. If your voice is cynical, then be cynical, but be authentically so. Be authentic and execute on the authenticity well.

Honestly i would hope that any artist of any type would take that feeling and incorporate it in their work in some capacity. I don’t believe that all art needs to come from tragedy or something terrible, but if one is a writer, one should be able to write when things aren’t great.

I think this shows a lack of conviction in one’s form of expression. I do think being bummed out about the political condition is a valid response, but it seems kind of whack to me too.

People slept on Lost Planet 2 co-op. That shit was bonkers

Nah man. Let him know this is the way. No always online. No microtransactions in EVERYTHING. We need to go back

Personally, I don’t like Ava as a character because the narrative gives her zero options/opportunities to grow. She is a victim of a story that doesn’t give her (or anyone else) any depth or complexity. Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand that she is a teenager and teen characters tend to act as teens do which is fine to me. Even a zany world like Borderlands kids are gonna be irksome and immature, that I totally get and actually kinda dig.

The reason I don’t like her is the same reason I don’t like the majority of BL3, she is full of narrative potential that doesn’t really go anywhere. Ava doesn’t go much beyond teen siren. She remains two dimensional in the same way that the rest of the cast remains two dimensional. Though I suppose it is worth noting that some of the cast is one dimensional when they don’t have to be.

She is annoying yes, but I don’t think she is in any way a worse character than anyone else in the game. I think she unfortunately, is a girl and gamers hate girls existing or speaking or thinking or being. I think the whole cast (except for maybe Wainwright) has the same issues that she does but because she is a girl people latched onto her.

Borderlands 3’d base game narratives and characters never really clicked for me. I do think the stories and characters in the DLCs are much better mostly because they are slightly smaller and scale and scope. The game doesn’t need to be super deep or radical, but games stories should have some nuaince even if they are trying to a loony tune.

It’s so strange/refreshing to see an MMO without 29258 batrillion icons on the screen.

Also support the homies in a Palestine. Be a big communism builder.

I still think game could have been mid/okay-ish to even decent if it was just a co-op hero shooter rather than a PVP thing. Like somewhere between a Destiny and a Borderlands. Also being PvE would have been one of the things it could have done to distinguish itself rather than just being yet another hero-shooter map control cart-pushing game.

I genuinely kinda liked the look and visual design. Honestly with i think co-op PVE could have been a big play for them.

It’s why I feel Midnighter and Apollo’s relationship works, which adds depth to their characters

Agreed! It’s a bit of a shame the two of them were born out of what I would call a low-point in Wildstorm’s edgy history but they are objectively a interesting couple. Yes they are “What if Batman and Superman… but gay?”, which is reductive and lame but there are much more than that. They are two people who have complex and nuanced feelings for each other and their relationship has WAYYYYY more depth that most of the mainstays of the genre. Which is crazy because If I recall Midnighter correctly we was like the precursor to Billy Butch creatively speaking. Which is an odd thing to think about.

I haven’t been keeping up with whatever the modern incarnate of the character is,

Allowing her lasting happiness with Poison Ivy means something might lastingly change and the hogs can’t have that.

As a comic dork I always hated how comics treat relationships. Outside of some comics like Saga (which is a great read), most comic relationships traditional/atypical/gay/straight/committed/flings/whatever are treated more as plot devices rather than things that make a character interesting. Which is a shame because love and relationships when they mean something is what makes them cool. For good or bad, it’s just a good place for storytelling. There is nothing worse than seeing Ivy and Harley hinted at knowing that it will be dissolved in like next month’s issue. That sort of eternal tease of a relationship is just so wack to me.

Fuck man that’s part of the reason Mr.Freeze is a such a good character to me because that he is defined by the love his wife. Literally a wife-guy but the good platonic ideal of it. That’s just a cool character trait, like being motivated by love in a world of super-people and all that insanity really gives a wonderfully human. Which

Part of what I hate about lazy “multiverse” crossover gimmicks is they just about require default state or even Flanderized versions of such characters.

Exactly man. Fuckin’ exactly. A “multiverse” creates a boundless space for exploring what makes a character a character. What are their defining traits, what is their core identity, what are the things that make them who they are across all versions of themselves. What are the things they think are a part of them but happen to just be cicumstance. Would they be different if things were different? Would they always find a way to create the version of themselves we know?

Really plainly cool writing space if you ask me, but because that involves risk, they don’t really show characters or ideas explore outside of “What if Character X, but with a mild cosmetic change or different background”. Which is such a bummer because you can really do some cool stuff, you can explore the very idea of identity cross the infinite expanse of the multiverse.

Yeah I think about that all the time. Which is a shame to me, in the sense that it’s really reduces these comics’ respective histories to “whatever is poppin’ in the box office these”/“whatever our marketing plan for movie release for Quarter X” is. I’m not saying all these comics have super great histories but they do have rich and dense histories, which are worth respecting and reading.

I love comics and I think he is 420.69% correct. Fandom in comics specifically has utterly stagnated the medium. There are so many titles that can’t go forward or when they do they are reverted back to a status-quo. Indie comics are really the only things worth reading right now. The big publishers are just re-packaging nostalgia back to you and selling it a huge mark up.

I have always found the high cost of “FANDOM©®™” really off-putting. Getting “Official” merch or limited-editions, special editions, limited-release exclusives, all that sort of stuff to be really sad to be frank. I feel like that is all the “nerd culture©®™” is at the moment. Buying stuff, not enjoying stuff. Buying it and showing it off, not really engaging with it. It’s about having the most stuff and flexing it on other and being seen flexing it. Having all your figures and statues in the background of your webcam as you rant about X character not giving you a boner.

I really think the only way forward is the whatever the hell is going on in independent streams of creation. I think it’s infinitely better for culture for us to create things inspired by the things we love/loved rather than endless consuming whatever the market puts out. I really think supporting independent artists/creators/authors/makers of things that are rad is the only way to heal this utterly broken mess of a “culture”.

There are, of course, entirely benign fandoms, networks of cooperative individuals who quite like the same thing, can chat with others sharing the same pastime and, importantly, provide support for one another in difficult times. These healthy subcultures, however, are less likely to impact on society in the same way that the more strident and presumptuous fandoms have managed.

Yeah I think that sort of thing is probably the best way forward.

Buy indie games, buy indie comics, buy indie music, enjoy your werid-o shit you think only four other people know about, all that enjoy. Share it, promote it, create your own. Engage with the arts in a meaningful way.

Don’t be a fan, be someone who like a thing.

SF6 has some of the best new/original characters in a fighter entry in general if you ask me. I think in general the whole cast of new characters is really damn good. A lot of them are remix/modded versions of existing characters but in general I think they really nailed with creating new interesting characters.

It’s not often in an established fighter that I want to try the new folks rather than sticking with the arctypes I know and love. Kimberly is a bushinryu ninja so I rock with her, but I find myself really enjoying Jamie, Marisa, and Lily.

Personally I don’t care about “tiers” I rock characters who appeal to me and feel good to play. Jamie for example, while “low-tier” fuckin’ rules and has swag for days so when you get the win you know you played better. Which is a good feeling for me.

I genuinely dig the idea that new characters have that sort of “draw”/“appeal” that would break me away from my traditional picks. I think they’re doing something right from a design standpoint.

I do not however dig the stupid monetization of modern games and it’s a bummer that SF6 has the same issue as just about any other modern game.

Thematic content that is inaccessible to the incurious viewer may as well be an invitation for the clever clogs who picked it up to pat themselves on the back for all the influence it will have on The Discourse.

Good point and well said.

Stay safe Palestinian from Gaza. I pray there is a day you and your love ones don’t have to worry about this insanity and can just live your lives fully.