#I watched one video on the history of her design and the - controversy I guess? of her character and fell in love | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hyperfixatinglove · 2 years

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Hii!!! 1, 6, 10 and 13 for the meta asks!😁😁

1. how did you discover your f/o’s content?

I think I discovered it through yt? I watch a lot of gaming videos so sometimes yt just recommends random games to me and I think wat//ch dogs was one of them. I vaguely also knew abt the graphics etc controversy because I sometimes watch top x number videos about games.

I wasn't interested in Aiden's source at the time (this must've been around 2015 or something idk I have the worst memory with dates / years) and wasn't for long time. Suddenly his game just became interesting to me and I hyperfixated on it big time. The rest is history or something.

6. if your f/o is from a series, which episode/movie/game/book of their source content is your favorite?

First game obviously.

He's also in Legion (2nd sequel) as DLC character but his design is so far off what I imagine Older!Aiden to be AND Jackson is so wildly different to what I imagined him to be at 26??

Does this look like the same person to you??? I get that ppl don't stay the same (Jacks is 8 in 1) but?? this??

Also the downgrade of Aiden just...

I'm going to say it; that beard does NOT fit him.

Aside from.. superficial stuff like this, the way his dialogue is written is far too generic (at least in main game or something? I can't shake the feeling his dialogue is off somehow even when his VA did reprise the role or I don't like change this badly lmao) and doesn't FEEL like HIM at all. Also him working WITH Dedsec as whole when in Chicago he explicitly refused is bit, wtf moment for me (yes I'm aware that both San Francisco and London Dedsec are different from Chicago!Dedsec and his mind can change but?? still??) Also I can't see Aiden tolerating Wrench at all. He didn't as DLC reveals so anyway.

Also the whole "he's in coma and his mind is this Silent Hill-esque hellscape bc he never moved on from Lena's death in last 10+ years for majority of DLC" plot is just.. I'm letting out the biggest most annoyed sigh. (Him digging his own grave in the coma dream was kinda neat as it's sad tho)

All in all his inclusion felt like poor attempt at some sort of pandering or something. No effort.

Also he's mentioned to be homeless in Legion?? When in books he has safe room in house he rents to elderly?? He has his container safe houses?? He can just steal money and rent some place??

The only thing I kinda give to Legion is canonically him & Jacks & Nicky had no contact for years. Also the fact that Jacks is bitter and angry at Aiden bc he aggravated his PTSD and other shit.

I did like his short cameo in 2, where he's stuck in cell and 2's protagonist helps him out a little so he escapes by himself (and he's explicitly there to shut down human trafficking operations).

I'm kinda iffy but kinda love how he's famous in both 2 and Legion and his name and nickname Fox is known widely in hacker circles as sorta celebrity / legend type. I love it bc it's cute & makes for sorta interesting narrative but also I'm iffy bc I want him to be able to be under radar so he doesn't have to move all the damn time but he did become famous at the very end of 1 so I guess I gotta deal.

10. if you could change one thing about your f/o’s source content, would you? what would you change?

Either have the game explore more deeply how and why Aiden acts and thinks the way he does OR Clara survives

If we don't talk about story things, I'd change the gameplay from all the damn car chases to heavily feature ´hacking and potential gunfight / sneaking opportunities

13. do you have a favorite line your f/o has ever said

Favorite line I didn't mention earlier?

"You're not the first woman to tell me that" after Clara said she'd "open his world" in reference to her phone she gives Aiden that has some Dedsec stuff that makes it easier for him to hack stuff or smth. (Clara's observation of Aiden's intimidation being "very textbook" is my favorite line of hers)

Also the lines where he wonders did he get Bedbug killed are obviously my favorite because FOR ONCE Aiden actually stops to think about larger consequences of his own actions also he sounds pretty panicked there.

#vigilante #letters of love #thank you!#I try not to feel obligated to answer with ushio every time you send asks bc ur ygo mutual-#morbid tw

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qforqazaq · 5 years

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Ninety One – Men Emes

Okaaaay, people, here comes a long-awaited comeback from Ninety One that screamed, no, shouted so much culturally significant meta at me I could barely handle it. Ironically, when I was watching reactions to this MV, most people were so bloody oblivious to anything that was happening on the screen that I was painfully restraining myself not to slam my head on the table, but then remembered "oh, right, that's why I'm running this blog in the first place."

Okay, let's start with the video, shall we?

The opening scene is obviously with Alem because if 91's song doesn't start with Alem there's something definitely wrong with it.

Anyway, we have Alem looking like a mo-fo mafia boss, a Kazakh Don, if you like, in an office that's practically littered with KZ references. First, your eyes might catch those weird looking symbols on the desk, which are actually Orkhon-Yenisei runes - a script of Old Turkic tribes aka one of the direct ancestors of Kazakhs - that I was going to talk about for ages, but didn't have a good excuse to. So thank you Ninety One for bringing that up, I can unleash my inner linguistics nerd upon people regarding the subject in a separate post. The runes are actually read from right-to-left (because that's how it works) as "l" and "r", although I'm not sure of their implied meaning here. My theory that means just that: "left" and "right", for whatever deep reason.

So, while you're admiring Alem's outfit and hairstyle as he's showing off his results of perfecting The Stare™ (I had a theory his stares are so intent because his contact lenses keep drying up and it's his attempts not to blink much when cameras are on), you notice not only that Samsung is the main sponsor of this production (is it surprising?), but also that there's a picture of random people on the background, and a funny-looking statue next to the window. Except for that is not a picture of random people, that is actually a photo of the leaders of the Kazakh national movement/autonomy against Communists in the 1910s - Alash Orda, which I'm probably going to elaborate on in another post. For now, I'll just say that these were the writers, poets, social and political activists, the Kazakh Intelligentsia™, who were later prosecuted and repressed by the Soviet regime. Very important addition to the set if you ask me, and very deliberately chosen.

As for the funny-looking statue, that is a miniature "Balbal" of Kültegin or Kül Tigin, who was the General of the Second Turkic Khanate of the same Old Turkic people who used to write in the aforementioned Orkhon-Yenisei runic script. We can talk about it later on, for now, I can only say that 10 seconds into the video and my inner history nerd was screaming very much delightedly at these references. Didn't expect that much meta in such a short amount of time, eh? And we didn't even mention how cigars are allowed now, along with the whiskey-looking tea in a tumbler.

Anyway, then we are abruptly cut to AZ and, shortly after, ZAQ with an eagle. And no, it's not just a "lol, look, a bird", that's the Golden Eagle, a species that was trained and used for eagle hunting by the Kazakh nomads for centuries. Which is why we have it on our flag too. Btw, extra kudos to ZAQ for delivering his lines while having an eagle on his arm without its hood. I would have been more than slightly concerned if I were him.

If you don't know much about that aspect of nomadic life in Central Asia, I recommend watching the critically acclaimed documentary film The Eagle Huntress about Aisholpan - a 13 y.o. Kazakh girl from Mongolia being the first female mastering the art. FYI, it is narrated by Daisey Ridley aka Rey from Star Wars. Watch it.

The scene is black and white, and AZ and ZAQ are wearing suits which look very agreeable.

Then, we have the bridge that is delivered by very blond Bala, which isn't the best look on him in my opinion, but he's wearing a suit too, which is always a good idea. Bala, you must know, has perfected his camera acting and now successfully flirting with it without so much as breaking a sweat. Good job Juz, you know what you're doing.

Now, when we're done sharing niceties, can we, please, focus on the background - which is, of course, all lofty and fiery - specifically, on those symbols carved on the wall? And what are they? Yes, you guessed right: the Orkhon-Yenisei runes, yay. FYI, it says "QAZAQ", in its very palindromic fashion - the meaning here, I assume, is quite self-explanatory.

In one of the cuts we see that Bala is actually there with a dog. And, guess what, it's not just a dog, it's actually a Tazy - the Kazakh national hunting breed, of which, quite frankly, I did not know anything before researching for this MV. See, even I'm being educated here, I feel so enlightened.

After that, we have the chorus, and all five of them are first standing and then walking like a bloody band of gangsters, all suited and effortlessly cool, as if towards an important tét-a-tét with a competing band. My immediate association was Crows: Zero (I'm sure, my fellow Japanese weeboos get what I mean) - lots of shonen swag and badassery. I approve.

In the meanwhile, Bala is showing off his moves, again, very at ease, chill and relaxed.

Chorus moves to the second part of the song with another rap verse from ZAQ. Do you remember that set in the previous black-and-white scene with the rappers? This one is that same set i.e. a carcass and insides of a Yurt - a traditional nomadic portable house used by Kazakhs for centuries. We see ZAQ sitting in what looks like a Khan's throne with battle spears and fur skins of wild animals. And no, nobody is trying to offend animal rights activists and humanists, just trying to showcase the culture here, alright? As you've noticed hunting has always had cultural significance for Kazakhs, and, well, it's survival in the bloody Eurasian steppes we're talking about here, with windy -50°C in the winters you've got to wear something to protect from freezing over, you know.

ZAQ delivers his lines in his usual very efficient fashion, and we cut to Ace walking over to the race track, very stylishly so that it might as well be a car commercial, to a parked Ford Mustang (and, yay, we've got a budget for a nice car now!) that's drifting its tires out in the shots in-between. Did I mention Ace's wearing a suit? I'm telling you, a car commercial.

I have a feeling that a Mustang was chosen deliberately, a subtle shoutout to horses as another culturally significant symbol and animal for Kazakhs. They could've gone for a Ferrari for the sheer visual effect of it, but I suppose Samsung is generous, but not that much.

And then, we have a chorus with a dance break. Interestingly, despite the numerous cuts and camera angles, and even blinding background lights that obscure the view, I did not mind how the dance was shot. The choreography itself is nothing short of cool: very laid-back, effortless, with easy open moves and a masterfully feigned nonchalance. I know I'm using cool and effortless a lot, but what can I do, they are the keywords for this MV. I like those claps btw, remind me of hilarious dances in Kazakh weddings lol. Very ironic. In either case, my compliments to Asiya for her work, bravo.

While you're still getting over the choreography, you're introduced to AZ casually lying among many ladies in night gowns, and yes, we now are allowing this too along with cigars and whiskey-looking teas in tumblers. Don't get me wrong, AZ is wearing a modest pair of black silk shirt with black trousers (can't say the same about his wild tricoloured mess of hair), and evidently still can't take his hands off his nose (he does keep rubbing it), but the whole scene, the wide shot of it, looks so unapologetically hedonistic that it might as well be a Gucci Guilty commercial. Well, Ninety One definitely went all Gucci in this MV, so associations are unsurprising. Scrumptious.

The only cultural reference we've got here is the neon rune "r" on the background when AZ is sitting up.

Then, it goes back to the chorus with the guys standing with more fire in the background. There are other cuts from previous scene including the one with Alem throwing off 10000 Tenge bills with that photo on the back while staring into the camera.

Conclusion? A+ to the production team, especially set designers, Bibotta for the styling, and Yerbolat for knowing what looks good and what doesn't.

All and all, it was a good MV, a good break from artificially colourful secluded studio sets.

Now let's move to the music.

The song starts with, what I thought, those weird sounds from some Japanese instruments, but upon hearing the chorus my immediate reaction was "wait, is it a hip-hop beat from the early 2000s?"

Honestly, it isn't a very pop song. It screams hip-hop, and I dare say, this song was meant to be performed by the rappers only, which was somewhat proven true given that AZ and ZAQ were both writers and composers of Men Emes. Its hip-hop nature shows even in the structure: there are no vocal verses, only a bridge and a chorus performed by the vocalists, and everything else is just rap. And oh my, that's some rap, indeed.

First, can we just address, that once again the rappers of 91 managed to sneak up another controversial line bordering with vulgarity? I am talking about the first two lines of AZ's rap here, those who don't know what I am talking about, ask me about it later. The audacity though, huh. In either case, that got an incredulous chuckle out of me upon realisation. Congratulations, boys, mischief's managed.

AZ was his extravagant self in general, wouldn't say he brought a lot of literary value in this track, to be honest. Well, especially compared to ZAQ (and it is always difficult to compete with ZAQ's lyrics), who's just unleashed the study of "how many words and rhymes with "u" and "ü" sounds I can shove into one rap verse while making it sound intelligible and meaningful." And did so successfully, I must say. Personally was always astonished how masterfully he manages to use the vowel harmony - one of the linguistic traits of the Kazakh language - weaving syllables to the whole other level of wordplay. Lyrically, all cultural references in the MV seem justified, given how ZAQ is lamenting over how "his nation is moving with a snail speed" and such. With this, he is brushing the socio-political problems in the country, it seems. And it is very promising, as in this country high profile artists don't risk doing that.

(Btw, a mention of Surtur was another delightful nod to my inner nerd who loves Norse Mythology, and a reference to Cthulhu was rather amusing. Lovecraft wouldn't've minded.)

I had many problems with voices in this track. For some reason, I couldn't recognise half of them. I only clearly heard Bala, Ace's voice became obvious only when he moved to an octave higher, and I didn't even realise it was Alem singing in the beginning. Was very shocked to know that it was ZAQ, not AZ, rapping with that higher voice in the second part before switching to his usual old school style. We're trying different things, I see, though I wouldn't mind them toning down their tuner game a bit. I know who's singing what now only thanks to the MV.

To sum up, it's a very different 91 song. Not that it's very astounding in its originality with blending different genres in one as you'd expect, but it's probably refreshing to hear something bold, audacious, yet simple, very hip-hopesque circa 2001 from them. It seems they're deliberately trying to diversify their audience throwing a track like that. Which isn't bad at all, I rather enjoyed it. (By the way, those drums in the bridge section sounded almost tribal. Just saying.)

Despite the MV and song screaming "WEALTH", "SWAG", "COOL" and "SUAVE", I do not actually think it was only about showing off. Well, of course, a part of the message was a la "look what I've got in the end, despite all your judgement" with "you're not me" and all that. However, I think it was also targeting and mocking the spoiled kids of corrupt government officials or just corrupt rich "bosses" in general who always act as if rules and law are not made for them. "Yeah, you're cool, but not the coolest, might be rich, but not the richest, and even good-looking but not really. Don't be so full of yourself, you're not the centre of the universe" kind of message. And that imagery of Alem as a mafia boss in his office is juxtaposed with all those cultural artifacts hinting on what is actually more important and valuable, especially with the Kazakh cultural leaders of the 20th century watching from the picture on the wall. And Alem throws those bills as if saying "yes, I'm doing that, but it's just money, so what." Even AZ looks somewhat lost and empty-eyed lying there among girls when he's not trying to convince you how envious you should be right now.

Probably it's me reading too much into this, I don't know, but the MV only amplified the feeling that you've got to read between the lines, it isn't all about bragging.

For now I'll give the MV 9 out of 10, and the song is a solid 7.

Peace out ✌️

#qazaq #qazaqstan #kazakh #kazakhstan #q-pop #qazaq pop #ninety one #mv #kazakh language #ace #alem #bala #kazakh music #zaq #az #juz entertainment #91 ninety one #91 #men emes

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musicrunsthroughmysoul · 4 years

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I’m feeling a bit like I’m falling apart today. Which also implies that I ever felt fully put together in the first place. I mean, at least at the beginning of the year I felt like I was getting my shit together, and now this...and now more than ever it feels like I have nothing but to simply fall apart. You know? I don’t know if that’s how the trauma of this pandemic can be described, but. Meh. I don’t even feel like analyzing that.

At least I got The Black Tones’ “The Devil and His Grandmother” b/w “Where Do We Go Now” single today. Like I suspected, it’s addressed from Seattle, so when I feel like I can muster up my righteous anger I’ll probably email the Ten Club and ask them ‘Why the fuck did it cost over $6 for you to send this to me when I live in almost THE NEIGHBORING FUCKING CITY? YOU ASSHATS, I COULD’VE PICKED IT UP IN PERSON FOR LESS THAN IT COST TO SEND IT TO MY HOUSE, WHAT THE FUUUUUCK.’ But seeing the single and realizing that the record’s design is definitely the coolest (and cover-wise, funniest) single that I own now really put a smile on my face so I appreciate that, and I love The Black Tones. ❤

Also I’m reading the dictionary today. Literally. I’ve had many adults in my life (older adults...I’m an adult, too, I guess?) tell me about the instances where they just read the dictionary, either for fun or because malevolent, older adults in their life subjected them to read it for homework. (I think my grandfather told me that story. I think he had to read it as homework over the summer, too. I guess it helped him though since he was a history/English teacher at one point in his life. Oh yeah! A love of language and history runs in my family. I hope with me at least, though, that such love also recognizes and carries with it a responsibility to instigate change. Positive change. You know...you all know my cause. LOL “Language matters, the end”? ‘That you?’ ‘Yeah, that me.’) I haven’t made it too far yet since I’m here writing this now, but so far it’s kind of boring as I realize that I already know most of the words and what they mean. I don’t know, I was hoping for a surprise like, ‘Oh yeah, you’re as dumb as you think you are! Get ready to learn a bunch of new things!’ but it’s like, Well, actually...actually, being a writer prepared me quite well for this task even if my writing doesn’t often employ my full vocabulary. So yeah, I tend to write pretty simply, but the breadth of my knowledge isn’t actually as simple as I thought and as I assume most people think? I don’t know, it’s like...first impressions.

But in other news, I had to unfollow Benmont last night. And this was RIGHT after he posted something that I squealed about. So why would I unfollow him almost immediately after seeing something that made me happy? Well...trigger warning: sexual harassment, victim blaming/victim shaming

His post was about appearing on “We Are Hear” which is the organization (? channel? network?) that hosted Donita Sparks’ Q&A and which I liked quite a bit, and with some sort of morbid curiosity I checked the comments on his post - this was on IG - and guess who commented on it. I don’t know that you all will be able to guess, so I’ll just tell you: Ry*n *d*ms. Seeing his comment appear on Benmont’s post, especially as supportive as it was, legit made my blood run cold. Now, I know Benmont doesn’t have any control over who follows him/likes his stuff/comments/etc. unless he blocks them, and I don’t know that he’s unfriendly enough to block anyone. (For real, for real.) But especially considering Benmont did not speak out in support of *d*ms’ victims, ESPECIALLY since many of them were in the music industry or were aspiring to be, seeing *d*ms supportive comment on Benmont’s post just put the worst, worst taste in my mouth. (I think it was the salt, actually. From my tears. Of utter disappointment. Yep!) As a MAN especially, and as someone who worked with *d*ms, Benmont had a responsibility to speak out against *d*ms’ actions and support the women disparaged by *d*ms’ actions. But he never fucking did. And now I’ve found that Benmont might still be supportive of this piece of shit, or at least that *d*ms is still supportive of him so there’s an undeniable association there? Fuck that. And fuck him, and fuck them.

I’m trying not think of my disappointment too much, honestly. Besides my almost immediate reaction to just unfollow Benmont, afterward I was so disgusted and trying to minimize my anger that I had to watch Alice Bag’s workout video to her song “Spark” which was the best decision I could’ve made actually because it made me smile again and made me cry to see HER in such a good mood. (But I felt embarrassed to even watch it at that point because I was laying in bed which is, um, the exact opposite of what one should be doing when engaging with a workout video? You know? So embarrassed/guilty...yeah, I felt that.) But at that point it was enough just to see Alice and hear her song again and to see her dancing to it that lifted my spirits a little bit. The effect of my music moms always overpowers the darkness! :’)

Also, I was going to put this in the tags but I decided recently that having long as shit tags is annoying as fuck so here we go: I know I should be taking action, too, by the way. I should let Benmont know that he had a responsibility to say something but he didn’t and now it’s too late if he’s letting a piece of shit interact with him again, and publicly. But I don’t have the mental capacity to do that right now, which I’m sorry for. But I believe women and victims and survivors. Men who knowingly don’t hold their fellow men accountable for their despicable actions are complicit. And I don’t care who I’m saying that about. Because I know full well that I must be saying that about any and every man I’ve ever met or held to some sort of esteem. (That’s what people, mostly women, mean when they say “Men are trash.”) At this point, I could deign to be surprised. I’d like to tell men: “SURPRISE ME, MOTHERFUCKERS! Surprise me with your empathy and support, and THAT’S A THREAT!” Or “Do something new, do something good, be someone good. Just do the right thing even if you suffer for it, because I can guarantee that victims and survivors suffered a shit ton more than you ever will.”

Like a woman (a victim of sexual harassment) on Twitter said: victims have everything to lose when they come forward. They have absolutely EVERYTHING to lose. Well EXCUSE ME for thinking the world shouldn’t be like that. Perpetrators should be the ones losing. But society - this capitalist, patriarchal, white supremacist society - says that’s controversial. Well I say FUCK THAT. DO SOMETHING NEW. DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR FUCK’S SAKE.

#personal post

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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15 Strangest Legend of Zelda Unsolved Mysteries and Urban Legends

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The Legend of Zelda‘s 35th anniversary didn’t get much of a celebration (or even an acknowledgment) from Nintendo, but that hasn’t stopped fans from thinking back on the incredible history of one of gaming’s greatest franchises.

Take a long enough trip down memory lane, though, and you’ll find that the Zelda franchise is filled with uncharted detours into urban legends, conspiracy theories, and unsolved mysteries that prove even one of the most famous and discussed series in video game history can still leave us with unanswered questions and the sometimes even more bizarre answers to those formerly unanswered questions.

From dungeons with unfortunate designs to mysterious manors tucked away in snowy mountains, these are some of the great urban legends and mysteries in the history of The Legend of Zelda.

15. The Legend of Zelda’s “Swastika” Dungeon

The earliest controversy in The Legend of Zelda’s 35-year history occurred when some players claimed the game’s third dungeon was designed to resemble a swastika. Years later, more detailed renders of the dungeon’s map inspired a new generation of fans to ask questions about Nintendo’s design decisions. Some even suggested that the design was intentionally implemented for nefarious purposes.

There’s actually a reasonable explanation for this one, though. It turns out the map is actually designed to resemble a Manji: a Buddhist symbol that represents good fortune. If I had to speculate, I’d guess that because the two symbols are actually fairly distinct (they even face different ways) Nintendo probably didn’t feel the need to change the dungeon’s design for the game’s Western ports.

Interestingly, though, Nintendo did make some changes to the original Legend of Zelda for the purposes of localization. Most notably, the Book of Magic was originally referred to as the Bible in the Famicom version of the game.

14. How Breath of the Wild Fits Into the Zelda Timeline

For as infamously confusing as The Legend of Zelda timeline is, Nintendo has actually published an official chart that (somewhat) helps explain how every major game relates to each other. However, you will notice that Breath of the Wild is conspicuously absent from that chronological chart.

To be fair, Nintendo has addressed the game’s absence by stating that they didn’t want to limit people’s imaginations by assigning BOTW a clear place on the timeline. Furthermore, it’s generally accepted that the game takes place many years after any other Zelda title. That’s fine, but there are many clues in Breath of the Wild that seem to strongly suggest it does have a more definitive place in the Zelda timeline that Nintendo has just revealed quite yet.

What’s even more bizarre is that there are pieces of evidence in BOTW that support the possibility that the game could conceivably take place in one of the series’ multiple timelines or even all of them. Did Nintendo just throw up their hands and decide to ignore the timelines altogether, or is there an explanation that helps all of this make a little more sense?

13. Beating the Running Man in Ocarina of Time

The surest way to convince gamers they can do something is to tell them that they can’t. There are few better examples of this phenomenon than the lingering idea that you can beat the Running Man during Ocarina of Time’s race sequence.

To be fair, the fact that Ocarina of Time players consistently got this close to beating Running Man made it easy to buy into years worth of fan theories, photos, and even videos that claimed it was indeed possible to win that race. However, the vast majority of those methods turned out to be doctored or, at the very least, heavily exaggerated.

Technically, it is possible to “beat” Running Man using emulators and ROM hacks, but if you’re wondering if there’s some hidden way to do it on the original N64 cartridge hidden somewhere in the game’s code, the answer is “no.”

12. The Mystery of Twilight Princess’ Snowpeak Ruins

Along with being one of Twilight Princess’ best dungeons, Snowpeak Ruins has to be considered one of the most mysterious major locations in any Zelda game.

While Snowpeak Ruins is presented to the player as the home of a Yeti couple, it’s pretty clear they are not the mansion’s original owners. However, it’s never explicitly stated what the house’s origins are. The same could be said of a number of Zelda locales, but Snowpeak’s large suits of armor, blend of military and residential concepts, hostile location, strange paintings, and defensive structures feel so out of place in the Zelda universe that you’d almost suspect that it was somehow transported here from another world.

That doesn’t actually seem to be the case, but the fact that the game features subtle hints at the mansion’s origins without actually expanding on them has left fans wondering whether there is an official explanation for the Ruins’ lore and what it could be.

11. The Rumor that Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link Didn’t Start as a Zelda Game

Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link has long been considered one of the oddest entries into the Zelda franchise, but one urban legend suggests that the game wasn’t originally intended to be a Zelda title at all.

Basically, there are some fans who suspect that Zelda 2 is the Super Mario Bros. 2 of The Legend of Zelda franchise. In other words, they believe that the game was actually based on a completely different project that Nintendo simply converted into a Zelda game at some point in development. Given just how different the game is from what came before and after, it’s certainly easy enough to buy into the idea that the project didn’t start off as a Zelda title.

However, Shigeru Miyamoto himself shot down that theory in a 2003 interview in which he stated that the sequel’s differences were “his idea” and that the project was simply developed by “another team and different people to those that made the first game.” That said, it’s worth noting that he referred to the idea as “sort of a failure” and that he sees “A link to the Past as the real sequel to Legend of Zelda.”

10. Ganondorf’s Mysterious Armor in Twilight Princess HD

While the HD version of Twilight Princess is fairly faithful to the original, it does feature a few subtle design differences that have long confused fans. The mysteriously altered symbols in Snowpeak Ruins and some murals found near the end of the game are certainly worthy of further discussion, but no design difference has provoked more debate than Ganondorf’s new armor.

If you take a close look at Ganondorf’s armor in Twilight Princess HD, you’ll find that it features a few “mural-like” images emblazoned in gold. One of those images seems to showcase a hero that resembles Link facing off against a giant bird. It actually closely resembles a scene from The Wind Waker, but that wouldn’t necessarily make sense considering the respective timelines of those two titles.

In lieu of an official explanation, the most likely answer here is that someone at Nintendo imported some leftover assets from a time when Twilight Princess was reportedly intended to be a direct Wind Waker sequel. That or someone at Nintendo thought it looked cool and didn’t let the “lore” stop them from putting it in the game.

9. Nintendo’s “Abandoned” Wind Waker Remake

In 2005, Electronic Gaming Monthly shocked the world by revealing that Nintendo was designing a remake of The Wind Waker in the visual style of The Twilight Princess. This reveal was a dream come true for fans who desperately wanted Wind Waker to feature the more “realistic” visuals Nintendo had previously teased.

It turns out the screenshot was just one of EGM’s famous April Fools’ pranks. However, it caught so many people by surprise that EGM ended up running a series of letters from angry, confused, and hopeful fans who were more than ready to believe that the remake was real.

Even after EGM confirmed the whole thing was a joke, some fans continued to speculate that Nintendo was working to “fix” Wind Waker. The rumors only really started to die down when more people gradually got over Wind Waker‘s visuals and came to recognize it as one of the best Zelda games ever.

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9. The Recurring Hand in the Toilet

Drop by Majora’s Mask Stock Pot Inn after midnight, and you’ll find a hand sticking out of a toilet that asks you for a piece of paper. Give it one of a few available paper items, and the hand will reward you with a piece of heart.

It’s a bizarre moment made that much stranger by the fact that the hand appears again in Oracle of Ages and Skyward Sword. While the owner of the hand is named in Skyward Sword (Phoeni), the hand is only referred to as “???” in the other games.

While Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that the hand was inspired by old ghost stories involving a hand coming out of the toilet to grab the occupant (it’s your classic Ghoulies scenario), it’s still not entirely clear whether these are three different hands or if they share some kind of strange lore connection.

7. The Fate of Navi and The Missing Link

At the end of Ocarina of Time, we watch Navi fly through a window in the Temple of Time. Considering how despised the character generally was, few questioned the moment and were honestly just happy to see her go.

However, it’s never been entirely clear why Navi left at that moment, where she went, and what ultimately happened to her. Navi is referenced at the beginning of Majora’s Mask, but that game doesn’t shed any light on what happened to her or where she went. Navi does appear in the North American version of Hyrule Warriors, but considering that her name was removed in other versions of the game, it’s been suggested that her inclusion was a mistake or something that Nintendo eventually decided to change/ignore.

Interestingly, there’s a popular Zelda fan game called The Missing Link which tells the story of what happened to Navi between Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. Obviously, though, that’s about as unofficial as Zelda lore gets.

6. Zelda and Link Are Somehow Related

At the beginning of A Link to the Past, we watch as Link’s uncle says “Zelda is your…” shortly before dying. In the Japanese version of the game, Link’s uncle says “Y-you are the princess’…” before passing away. Both of those lines have led fans to believe that Link’s uncle was about to tell him that Zelda is either Link’s sister or mom.

While the GBA version of the game clarifies the matter by having Link’s uncle say “You must rescue Princess Zelda. Our people are fated to,” some still insist that the two are somehow related across at least some of the series’ timelines. There have even been a couple of references to Zelda’s brother over the years (though we never get to see him in any of the games).

Funny enough, there have been manga adaptations of The Legend of Zelda which actually “revealed” that Zelda is Link’s mom. However, those adaptations have been officially dismissed as non-canonical and unofficially dismissed as incredibly weird.

5. The Mystery of Link’s Parents

Before we get off the subject of Link’s family, we’ve got to take a moment to talk about the enduring mystery of Link’s parents.

It’s easy enough to ignore the manga idea that Zelda is Link’s mom (in any timeline), but unless you just accept that Link is almost always an orphan (thus fulfilling one of the great RPG character obligations) you’ve probably wondered who Link’s parents are. Well, Link’s father is referenced in Breath of the Wild and in some supplementary material, but the only game that refers to Link’s mom is Ocarina of Time. Again, she appears in the manga adaptations a few times across the various timelines, but Nintendo almost never directly talks about her.

While it’s likely this is just one of those things that Nintendo doesn’t have an answer to, the fact that Link’s parents are referred to at all in the games has only opened the doors for speculation regarding who they are in the timelines and the potential significance of their nearly constant absence.

4. Thawing Zora’s Domain in Ocarina of Time

As “Adult Link” in Ocarina of Time, you’re expected to set some things right that have gone wrong over the years. For instance, beating Forest Temple drives away enemies from Kokiri Forest. When you beat Fire Temple, Gorons return to their city. Given all of that, you would suspect that beating Water Temple will eventually unfreeze Zora’s Domain.

However, that’s not what happens. In fact, nothing you do seems to allow you to remove the ice in this area as Adult Link. That idea has given rise to a number of fan theories and straight-up lies regarding how to begin the thawing process, but to this day, nobody has found a way to do it without hacking the game.

Many have said that you’re just supposed to “assume” everything eventually works out, but it’s certainly bizarre that the area isn’t affected by your actions in the same way other key environments clearly are.

3. The Time Paradox of The Song of Storms

There’s a great scene in Ocarina of Time when Adult Link learns the Song of Storms from a man who can’t get it out of his head after he learned it from a child. To make a long story short, we eventually learn that child was Link who played the song in the past after learning it as an adult.

It’s a fun idea that doesn’t make a lot of sense. While Majora’s Mask eventually sees Link speak with the song’s composer, that plot point still doesn’t entirely explain what happens in Ocarina of Time and what Nintendo’s proposed explanation for this apparent paradox is.

The two most popular theories for this mystery involve a Primer-like explanation involving paradoxes and alternate timelines or the far more likely explanation that the logic of this moment was simply overlooked or disregarded when Ocarina’s story was written.

2. The Royal Origins of Tetra’s Pirates

It’s hardly a spoiler that Wind Waker’s Tetra is actually Princess Zelda, but that revelation opened some potential plot holes that fans have been trying to close for years. None of those plot holes are bigger or more fascinating than the origin of Tetra’s band of pirates.

We’re initially told that the pirates used to serve Tetra’s mother and later followed Tetra. It’s a simple enough explanation that becomes much more complicated when Link finds a photo in the sunken Hyrule Castle that shows an older Princess Zelda with a group of nobles that bear a striking resemblance to Tetra’s pirates.

Again, the simplest explanation at this point seems to be that the pirates are also descended from royalty, but the game never really makes that clear. Furthermore, the pirates eventually mock Tetra for actually being a princess, which either means they never found out they’re also descended from nobles, didn’t care about their heritage, or perhaps are just the descendants of pirates who have always aided the Zelda family.

1. Finding the Triforce in Ocarina of Time

No Zelda urban legend is more famous or more fascinating than the long-running belief that it’s possible to find and acquire the Triforce in Ocarina of Time.

In 1999, a user on the old Hyrule: The Legend of Zelda forums named Almandoz claimed they had found a way to acquire the Triforce in Ocarina of Time. After sharing some images and walkthroughs that they said verified their findings, the user later admitted that they made the whole thing up as part of an elaborate attempt to show how easy it was to exploit fan bases with these kinds of claims.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The actual motivations and identity of the poster remain a mystery to this day. What’s interesting, though, is that the legend of the Triforce never really died even after the whole thing was confirmed to be faked. Many elements of the original story remain entrenched in Zelda urban legend culture, and the idea that you can somehow acquire the Triforce in Ocarina of Time remains surprisingly strong to this day.

The post 15 Strangest Legend of Zelda Unsolved Mysteries and Urban Legends appeared first on Den of Geek.

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kerahlekung · 4 years

Text

Najib Swears At Holy Mosque Again...

Najib Swears At Holy Mosque Again....

The Last Time He Did That,

He Lost The Entire Government....

In front of a thousand curious people watching at Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru, Najib Razak performed his drama – taking a “sumpah laknat”, or swearing in the face of divine retribution to deny former elite police commando Azilah Hadri’s statutory declaration (SD) that he (then deputy prime minister) gave the order to kill Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu. Putting a sombre expression, the ex-premier declared – “Today on December 20, 2019, in accordance with the 23rd of Rabiulawal in the year 1441 Hijri, I, Najib Tun Haji Abdul Razak swear that I have never hired anyone to kill a Mongolian citizen named Altantuya Shariibuu. Indeed, I have never met or known of an individual of that name before. For if I lie, may God strike me and curse me greatly for this sin.” If the people at the mosque were waiting to see if the God would unleash thunder and lightning from the sky to strike Najib for lying again, they were disappointed. Taking a “sumpah laknat” (a religious Islamic oath), also known as “mubahalah” in Arabic, is supposed to be a serious curse. But punishment in the form of thunder and lightning has not been proven. However, to a desperado like Najib Razak, who might face the gallows for ordering “shoot to kill” a pregnant woman suspected of carrying his own child due to sexual relationship with the Mongolian beauty, performing a “curse swear” provides the easiest way out. Potentially 6-million UMNO and PAS Malay-Muslims could have been conned by his religious oath today (20 December). As far as Najib is concerned, the “sumpah (swear)” is another tool to hoodwink gullible and simple-minded Malay folks. It was like school kids, who would swear they didn’t steal another kid’s colour pencil, and upon finding nothing disastrous happened to them, would steal and swear again. If invoking God’s name through curse is foolproof, lawyers and judges would be jobless ages ago.

youtube

Najib Sumpah Laknat - Oath Swearing - Mosque

Malaysia is perhaps the only country where scandal-plagued Malay-Muslim politicians love to play “sumpah” when cornered and trapped in serious allegations. One wonders why Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not perform the same ritual like Najib Razak when the future Saudi king was accused of giving an order to kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. As the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Saudi Arabia provides the best place for a Muslim to prove his / her innocence by simply performing “mubahalah” (sumpah laknat). Yet, despite economic boycotts from many countries due to the gruesome murder of Khashoggi, where his body was cut into pieces, the crown prince hadn’t thought of performing a similar stunt like Najib. Actually, the clever Najib knew nothing life threatening will happen to him even if he performs the swearing ritual a thousand times more. The cheap drama was designed to just scam the 6-million Malay folks, mostly still believe in bomoh (shaman) and black magic. After all, “sumpah laknat” is not officially recognised in Malaysia’s Shariah laws. In the past, there were numerous cases of controversial figures who had taken the “sumpah laknat” route, but nothing happens to either the accuser or the accused. In 2011, the infamous “Datuk T” trio of Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik, Shazryl Eskay Abdullah and Shuib Lazim said they were ready to take a “sumpah laknat” to prove their allegation against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Shazryl Eskay had then recited the oath at a mosque in Sentul in April 2011 that he was in the same room along with Anwar Ibrahim when Anwar was having sex with a prostitute and caught in a sex video. Mr Anwar plunged into sex scandal again in 2008, when his ex-aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan took the “sumpah laknat” at a mosque, describing how he was sodomised by his boss.

In a press conference in May 2013, Saiful claimed he had performed the oath again in Mecca, one of the holiest sites for Muslims. Yet, not a single human being has ever been harmed by the God in the entire curse swearing melodrama. Not only were there no divine retribution lightning, Anwar Ibrahim is now closer to become the 8th Prime Minister of Malaysia. Not all the “sumpah laknat” stunts were performed to prove one’s innocence or to prove one’s accusation is true though. In an apparent desperate attempt to attract voters’ attention, UMNO Youth Chief Wannabe Syed Rosli Syed Harman Jamalullail took a similar “sumpah laknat” oath before the Quran / Koran – if he wins the Youth Chief post, he won’t engage in corruption or abuse of power. The God, however, was not impressed with Syed Rosli’s oath. He eventually lost to incumbent Khairy Jamaluddin in the 2013 UMNO Youth Chief contest. Interestingly, Khairy would plunge into a controversy RM100 million corruption scandal three years later in 2016, involving the Youth and Sports Ministry which he led from 2013 to 2018. Last year, UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi swore to God that he did not beg for a meeting with the newly installed Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. However, Mahathir’s loyalist Khairuddin Abu Hassan accused Zahid of being a liar and was challenged to “sumpah laknat” in a mosque. Of course, the Java-immigrant was too chicken to accept the challenge. At the end of the day, no crooks, villains, murderers or animals were harmed by divine retribution during – or even after – the making of any “sumpah laknat” ceremony. That alone speaks volumes about the effectiveness of engaging in such time-wasting activity. Perhaps Najib Razak should pay more attention to karma or retribution in a different manner.

Najib meets Trumph

As admitted by Najib, this was the third time he has sworn the oath concerning Altantuya. The first time he took the “sumpah” was in 2007 and again in 2008. What the disgraced serial liar probably didn’t realise was the start of his downfall right after he lied that he had never met the Mongolian woman, let alone had sex or gave the order to kill her. Sure, he successfully pressured his predecessor, “sleeping beauty” Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, to resign after the disastrous results of the 2008 General Election, marking the first time since the 1969 election that the Barisan Nasional coalition did not win a two-thirds supermajority in the Malaysian Parliament. The ruling coalition under Badawi won only 51.39% popular vote. However, Najib Razak, who took over the premiership on 3 April, 2009, unexpectedly did worse than Abdullah Badawi in the subsequent 2013 General Election. Under his leadership, for the first time in the history of the country, the Barisan Nasional won less of the popular vote than the opposition. Najib’s government only won 47.38% of the popular vote while the now-defunct opposition Pakatan Rakyat took 50.87%. Five years later, despite splashing billions of dollars bribing the people through BR1M, Najib lost the entire government in the May 2018 General Election. Yes, after 61 years since independence in 1957, the once invincible and mighty Barisan Nasional coalition lost its power under the pink lips Najib Razak. Could this be the divine retribution for the lies he made twice at the holy mosques? Yes, about 10 years after Najib lied in the mosque about Altantuya, the Barisan Nasional ruling government slowly but surely started to lose its shine. Najib was destined to become a prime minister because that was the only way he would become more arrogant and corrupt, and eventually fell, allowing killer Azilah to expose him as the despicable man who gave the order to “shoot and explode” a pregnant woman. Desperate to save his own pathetic life, he would do anything, including undertaking the “sumpah laknat”. Still, Mr. Najib should be careful what he wishes for, not that he has any other choice. The curse could come back to haunt him as he had made a mockery of the Islamic religious oath. If his previous two oaths had made him powerless, imagine what would happen to him after his third “sumpah”. - FT

Sumpah! Demi Allah! I’m not lying!...

Thursday was a monumental day in the United States. A decision to impeach the US President Donald Trump was made by Congress. They debated and finally voted to impeach him for abusing power and obstructing Congress. They made the decision based on investigations and evidence. Trump maintains innocence but a trial will begin in January 2020. In Malaysia, a trial is already going on against former Prime Minister Najib Razak and his alleged 1MDB corruption scandal. The trial is going how a trial should be and Najib is currently entering his defence. He was happy that he had to go to trial because he said that it would be an opportunity to clear his name. Then the sumpah laknat starts. What is sumpah laknat? It is when a Muslim goes to a mosque and swears on the Quran. If he or she is lying, then the invitation is for God to smite you with extreme curses. Apparently, it is so powerful that in Malaysia, it ends all arguments and disputes. We’ve seen many people doing the sumpah laknat publicly every time they are accused of wrongdoing or immoral activities. And once they do that, all accusations are supposed to stop because if no wrath comes from God, then obviously they are innocent. And who can question God’s decision, right?

So, Najib decided last week that he would go to a mosque this Friday (today) and after Friday prayers, he shall commence with his sumpah laknat saying that he is not involved in the 1MDB scandal. This is in addition to him also denying that he was involved in the murder of the Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006. Lots of denying he has to do. I guess this is supposed to solve everything then. Why waste time and money on a trial now? Who cares about rational investigation and evidence? Who cares if there are actual witnesses and black and white documentation? All that can be disregarded because… hey! sumpah laknat! What more do you want? But here’s the thing. Wrongdoing will always be wrong whether there is a sumpah laknat or not. It’s just like lying. You can lie without swearing and it is still a lie. You can get away with it, of course. But it’s still a lie. If you break the law, you will need to face justice. Just like in a religion, if you commit sin, you will face the consequences. Take for example this hypothetical situation. A wife decides to cheat on her husband and commit adultery. She denies every allegation and accusation. She swears to God and promises that she didn’t do anything wrong. Yes, similar to a sumpah laknat. But then, investigations exposes actual evidence of the adulterous actions and the wife becomes an ex-wife. So much for the sumpah and swearing. Does the swearing to God actually stop a person from lying if he or she has already decided to lie? Of course not. Many human beings are wired to think that they can be smart enough to get away with anything. They might even think that they can outsmart and manipulate religion and God with their sumpah laknat and swearing on holy books.

What they are doing is making a mockery of the religion and that in its own is a tremendous wrongdoing. And at the end of the day, evidence should count and contribute towards justice. As human beings in this world, we have a responsibility to protect society from abuse and this is even mentioned in many religious teachings. That’s why we have the justice system in the form of the judiciary. Let the trial go on and we should rubbish the sumpah laknat as a publicity stunt. Think about it. If we can rely on the sumpah laknat to prove innocence, then we can definitely rely on a more systematic method like the courts to prove innocence or guilt. Sure, we can argue that the justice system isn’t perfect. But I would rather rely on an imperfect system (that can be fought to be improved) than just blind swearing in a mosque. So for Najib, he can sumpah all he wants and make as much noise as he wants to. Malu apa bossku? Right? But he cannot be absolved of the allegations and accusations just like that. He will still have to go to court. So it is for Trump as well. He can scream and tweet all he wants, but his impeachment will happen anyway. And if Najib really believes in his sumpah laknat, he should video tape it today and then submit it as his defence in court. Why not, right? Malu apa bossku? - Zan Azlee

Selepas Najib bersumpah laknat

dan perlu kes Altantuya dibuka semula...

Semalam Najib Razak melakukan sumpah laknat Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur bagi menafikan tuduhan yang terkandung dalam Akaun Bersumpah atau SD Azilah Hadri yang mengaitkannya dengan pembunuhan Altantuya Sharibuu. Lafaz sumpah beliau adalah:-

Walaupun telah melakukan sumpah, dari segi undang-undang negara, ia tidak bermakna Najib telah bersih dan suci sepenuhnya daripada pembunuhan itu. Ia juga tidak bermakna SD Azilah itu sebagai palsu dan tidak benar dan beliau dianggap telah melakukan fitnah terhadap Najib. Selain kebenaran yang sebenar-benarnya hanyalah milik Allah, dengan tindakan berani Najib melakukan sumpah laknat ini, keperluan untuk membuka semula kes perbicaraan Altantuya dengan sendirinya menjadi lebih tinggi. Pihak kerajaan melalui Jabatan Peguam Negara kini tidak ada pilihan lain selain perlu mengarahkan kes tersebut dibicarakan semula. Malah, kalau boleh, perbicaraan mesti diadakan dalam kadar yang segera kerana kes ini dianggap membawa kepentingan yang tinggi kepada orang awam, rakyat serta negara seluruhnya. Perbicaraan semula itu bukan saja selaras dengan kehendak rakyat yang mahu tahu kebenaran kes pembunuhan Altantuya, malah sebenarnya sesuai juga dengan keinginan Azilah dan Najib sendiri. Apabila Azilah membuat SD yang mendakwa Najib telah mengarahkannya membunuh Altantuya, beliau tentulah melakukannya dengan niat serta tujuan agar perbicaraan dapat dibuka semula dan sekaligus membuka ruang kepada pembebasannya daripada pembebasannya daripada hukuman gantung yang diterimanya sebelum ini. Begitu juga apabila Najib sedia melakukan sumpah laknat menafikan dakwaan Azilah itu, beliau sebenarnya berbuat demikian agar perbicaraan dapat dibuka semula. Bermakna, baik Azilah mahu pun Najib, kedua-duanya memang mahukan perbicaraan semula diadakan.

Hanya dengan adanya perbicaraan semula serta memanggil kembali semua saksi-saksi yang relevan seperti Abdul Razak Baginda, bekas ketua pengawal peribadi Najib, DSP Musa Safri dan lain-lainnya, maka barulah dapat diketahui siapa sebenarnya yang mengarahkan pembunuhan Altantuya itu. Apabila diketahui siapa yang mengarahkan pembunuhan itu, itulah sebesar-besar pesalah atau keparat yang sebenarnya. Selama ini hanya diketahui Azilah Hadri dan Sirul yang melakukan pembunuhan itu, tetapi kerana kedua-duanya tiada motif yang jelas membunuh Altantuya, siapa yang mengarahkan mereka masih lagi misteri. Apa lagi ketika menjatuhkan hukuman gantung terhadap Azilah dan Sirul, hakim telah mengatakan motif pembunuhan tidak penting diketahui, walaupun ia adalah relevan. Melalui perbicaraan semula nanti akan turut membolehkan kita mengetahui sama ada SD Azilah yang mengaitkan Najib dalam pembunuhan itu sebagai palsu atau sebaliknya. Juga akan diketahui kenapa tiba-tiba SD itu muncul dan mungkinkah ada sesiapa mengarahkan Azilah berbuat demikian. Bahkan, dengan perbicaraan semula juga akan diketahui kebenaran tentang sumpah laknat yang dilafazkan Najib semalam dan lebih daripada itu, dengan kehendak Allah, tidak mustahil laknat akan turut menyusul kepada sesiapa yang berbohong dan pelaku sebenar yang menyebabkan kematian Altantuya. -ShahbudinHusin.

Laknat Allah dan Redha Allah...

Kata wala'un PAS, Najib telah melakukan sumpah laknat... Kalau dia bohong, sudah tentu Allah sudah melaknat dia... Sekarang Najib sihat wal afiat, tak nampak pun dia dilaknat Allah, maknanya sumpahnya betul. Soalan untuk wala'un : Kamu tahu ke laknat Allah tu macam mana...? Kamu ingat laknat Allah maksudnya Najib akan terpukang serta-merta dan tubuhnya terus bertukar jadi babi...? Atau tubuhnya akan terbakar...? Atau dia jadi bisu, atau matanya akan buta, atau mulut jadi herok...? Atau macam mana...? Begitu juga dengan redha Allah... Wala'un PAS kata, biar pun kalah dalam pilihanraya tak apa, asalkan Allah redha.... Mana kau tahu Allah redha atau tak redha...? Kalau kalah pilihanraya itu bermakna Allah redha, calon PAS ramai yang menang di Terengganu, Kelantan dan Kedah, apakah Allah tidak meredhai mereka...? Kalau menang pilihanraya bermakna Allah redha, nescaya Amanah lah yang paling diredhai Allah, sebab pertama kali bertanding terus dapat jadi menteri... Bukan...! Firmanallahu ta'ala dalam Surah At-Taubah ayat 100, maksudnya : "Dan orang-orang yang terawal - yang mula-mula (berhijrah dan memberi bantuan) dari golongan "Muhajirin" dan "Ansar" dan orang-orang yang menurut mereka dengan kebaikan, Allah redha akan mereka dan mereka pula redha akan Dia, serta Allah menyediakan untuk mereka syurga-syurga yang mengalir di bawahnya beberapa sungai, mereka kekal di dalamnya selama-lamanya; itulah kemenangan yang besar." Para ulamak mentafsirkan 'Allah meredhai mereka' itu maksudnya semua sahabat nabi akan masuk syurga.... Itu makna redha.... Bukannya panjat pokok atas bukit untuk gantung bendera PAS, oooh kita mencari redha Allah... kepala hotak kau. Begitu juga dengan laknat Allah, kita tak tahu macam mana... Itu perkara ghaib, itu urusan Allah.... Kita tidak tahu bentuk pelaknatan itu, dan kita tidak tahu laknat itu berlaku di dunia atau di akhirat. Sekian dimaklongkan.... Jom sarapan orang putih, pisang rebus dan ubi kayu rebus cicah nyor. - Awang

cheers.

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thewadapan · 5 years

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Are You Happy: one year later

Today marks the first anniversary of Are You Happy, a dumb web series I made in a terrible bit of animation software. In celebration, I’m... un-unlisting the series and writing a post to pat myself on the back. Huh.

Normally I wouldn’t bother with this kind of thing, but I think my own general appraisal of this series has shifted somewhat since I put it out into the world. I’ve yet to receive any feedback of any kind from the internet at large, but a few friends of mine have ended up watching it at various points - the last of whom suggested that I should “totally” make the videos public. Well, fine, now I totally have.

I’ve rewatched the series a handful of times since its release and have come to the conclusion that it’s a pretty mixed bag. I’ve come to like many of the individual episodes a lot more, but as a whole the series doesn’t come together for me. In this post, I’m gonna build on what I wrote in the original commentary by briefly shooting through the episodes one by one.

As the first episode of the series, “I Hate You” is pretty much just me getting to grips with the program. I like the way Chris storms out, gets as far as the elevator before he starts feeling bad, and comes back - only to find that, naturally, Samir also left. Back towards the tail end of secondary school, my friends and I got in the habit of just hanging around in classrooms outside of classes - the teachers weren’t technically supposed to let us do that, I think, but they did. I figure that’s what Chris and Samir are doing here - just standing about in a quiet spot. Chris does something annoying, Samir slaps him... business as usual for these two.

Anyway, I showed that first episode to one of my friends, and he helped me out with “The Meaning of Life” by offering a Genghis Khan quote and sitting around as I made it. Plotagon has relatively few options for direct interaction between characters, and I immediately pegged the “slap” action as the funniest of these. It’s even funnier when combined with a sharp cut and a scare chord.

Back in school, we had these two acronyms: WALT and WILF. These stood for “What Are (We) Learning Today” and “What I’m Looking For” and were used by our teachers to lay out the objectives for each class. I guess it seemed funny to me to go completely in the opposite direction for “What are we Learning Today?” - it’s the student who has to try and poke the teacher into giving the class any kind of information whatsoever - but the execution’s poor. This episode is funnier if you imagine the five preceding minutes of silence, during which Mr. Hernandez is having a completely undetectable internal meltdown.

I knew that the stuff I was making would be quote-unquote “in continuity” - but I wasn’t particularly expecting it to “have continuity”. That changed with “Why Nobody Likes You”, which establishes that Lizzie and Chris are friends of a sort. I like to imagine that Lizzie is one of just two people Chris ever talks to (the other being Samir), and that the only reason they interact at all is because they happen to be the only people catching their particular bus. They really have nothing in common, and struggle to hold an actual conversation - although I figure that’s mostly Chris’s fault.

A fair bit of time has probably passed in-universe between the first and second times Mr. Hernandez and Santa meet on-screen. In “A Bad Teacher”, Santa seems a little more chill - rather than sitting at a distance on the bench, he’s standing. Perhaps Mr. Hernandez just treated him to a coffee, or something, and they’ve just exited the shop. Whatever. I’ve suffered my fair share of bad teachers, and one of the things they all have in common is that they’re completely oblivious to the fact that they’re bad. It’s like... bad students exist, but if (as a teacher) you honestly think your entire class consists of bad students, that’s the point where you should realise that you’re the problem. I think that tendency to place the blame on the students is the kind of thing that leads to whole-class detentions, which are a hallmark of bad teachers.

I’d originally pegged “White-Hat Hacking” as my least-favourite episode - for reasons outside of my control, it’s the first to break the one-minute mark - but upon subsequent rewatches I’ve come to feel more positively about it. Jessica’s line about V for Vendetta and zip bombs always takes me off guard, and I like the way Detective Raymond describes himself as “the smartest and most controversial detective”. It’s also funny to me going back to the source file and seeing a ton of lines marked “JESSICA (flirty)” and a single line marked “JESSICA (surprised)”.

My opinion on “The Faculty Bathroom” hasn’t really changed. As far as self-contained concepts in this series go, “insecure teacher talks to himself while on a smoke break, then dies in a fire” is easily the strongest.

Of all the episodes, I think “Nobody to Talk To” is probably the most forgettable. It opens with Chris, who’s lamenting the destruction of the school (mostly because it means he's even more bored than usual). There’s a medal hanging above his bedside table - I like to think that he bought it himself, only to find that he couldn’t think of something to get inscribed on it. Maybe it just says “CHRIS”. Anyway, the rest of the episode is a soliloquy from Lizzie - I’m not sure how exactly the idea of her being a well-connected anarchist came about, and the way that aspect of her character is introduced here feels a little jarring in retrospect. Still, I guess this episode does slightly redeem itself with a surprise appearance from Detective Raymond.

I’m gonna have to take a few paragraphs to talk about “Ever Get Tired of Movies?” - there’s a lot that I failed to cover in the original commentary. In terms of sound design, it’s probably one of the most ambitious episodes - all the sound effects come from the TV, so there’s nothing in the way of ambient music - but I’m not convinced that having the movie drown out the dialogue at the beginning was a good choice. I still love that Katia and Philippe’s colour schemes each match those of their sides of the room; I didn’t design the characters that way!

In the last commentary, I mistakenly said that I’d forgotten to use Ms. Green - when in fact, I’d used her as the reporter in this episode. I repurposed Plotagon’s “convention booth” scene as the newsroom, which works surprisingly well - combined with Ms. Green’s dialogue, which was intended to sound entirely unlike that of an actual reporter, the overall effect is one of a really incompetent production team on the show. This is entirely accurate: the production team consists of me.

Katia and Philippe have an odd role in the narrative - they’re basically an atomic unit from a completely different story. Of the teens in the series, Philippe is the only one who’s happy with where his life is; Katia is suffering from existential boredom. I think, in showing a failure in communication between these two, the episode fails to properly communicate what’s going on to the audience: Philippe is usually content just to do the same stuff over and over - watching movies, as it may be - but that doesn’t mean that he dislikes new things, only that he’s not the sort to actively seek them out. So the conflict is that Katia is doing the same stuff because she wants Philippe to be happy, while Philippe is fully expecting Katia to be pushing for new things - which she finally does here, when she suggests breaking Lizzie out of jail. Another aspect of this dynamic which I think is unclear is the fact that Philippe’s happy to do pretty much anything - including literal crime - but draws the line at taking off his sunglasses. Katia’s presumably been trying to get him to do so for months; her narrativist instincts are telling her that he must be hiding something. I figure he’s not - he just really likes his sunglasses.

Anyway, enough of that. “The Easy Way” is another fairly-forgettable plot-centric episode - but I like the way it handles the third and final appearance of Santa, who at first glance seems to have no reason to be at the office. The reveal that the whole thing’s been a distraction for the breakout is probably the closest the series comes to ever having a plot twist - I think it sits very well in the series as a whole, which (for technical reasons) never shows the big, important moments on-screen. I’m pretty proud of Santa’s monologue, which I wrote myself as a bookend to his opening quote, and the little glimpses of his history given within. I also like the moment towards the middle of the episode, where Detective Raymond - having been left to his own devices - wonders aloud “how can one man be so based”, right after threatening a teenager with torture and right before getting duped by a homeless man in a Santa suit.

Getting four characters into a single scene was a real challenge, let me tell ya, but I think “The Agenda (Part 1)” pulls it off decently enough. It offers some decent closure for the minor characters: Katia and Philippe get their adventure; Jessica’s mad hacks keep the cops off their backs. I think Lizzie’s “true power of love” realisation is a sincere one, but she won’t get her closure until a little later. Her expression upon seeing Chris again strikes me as similarly sincere. By this point, I’m banking on the audience having forgotten about Samir - so Lizzie’s actual goal here should come as something of a surprise.

In “The Agenda (Part 2)”, the penultimate episode, the series comes full circle. There isn’t really much to say about this one; the way Chris and Samir make up is pretty much the same as the way they fell out in the first place. Lizzie is just a facilitator here - she’s still planning to leave, but this time has decided that she doesn’t want to leave Chris entirely on his own.

Finally, in “The Agenda (Part III)”, we end up back at the bus stop, where Lizzie talks to Literally The Devil - who turns out to be a much better conversational partner than Chris ever was. This episode tries to strike a balance between jokes and introspection, but I don’t really think that it properly achieves either. Still, Lizzie’s shift to optimistic nihilism here feels like a good conclusion to her arc within the series.

It’s obvious that I was writing Are You Happy by the seat of my pants. While this lead to a pretty unpredictable plot, it lead to fairly poor economy of narrative. Although many of the characters get rudimentary arcs of their own, there isn’t a clear throughline which connects them all - I didn’t know what I wanted to say with this series, and so it ended up saying pretty much nothing.

On the other hand, this is just fifteen minutes of content - and I think it packs a lot of individually-quite-good snippets into that runtime. Usually, when I’m writing something, I hit a point where it starts to be a chore; that wasn’t really the case with Are You Happy, thanks to the fast turnaround provided by Plotagon and - perhaps more importantly - the fact that I didn’t need to worry about writing full descriptive prose.

Plotagon provided a huge amount of great background music - seeing as I didn’t go into detail in the last commentary, here’s a breakdown of which pieces I used:

“cruising rap battle” is something of a leitmotif for Chris, appearing during “I Hate You”, “The Agenda (Part 2)” and his scene in “Nobody to Talk To”

Lizzie, meanwhile, has “hideout”, which appears during “Why Nobody Likes You”, her scene in “Nobody to Talk To”, and the final scene in “The Agenda (Part 1)”

Santa naturally has “jingle bells” for all three of his appearances

I guess you could say that “happy music (care free)” from “What are we Learning Today?” is technically a Mr. Hernandez song, but I’d consider this to be more true of “sentimental” which plays throughout “The Faculty Bathroom”

Detective Raymond’s theme is “Detective Noir background”, which appears during the endings of “White-Hat Hacking” and “Nobody to Talk To”

Jessica gets two songs - “pirate ditty” and “suspenseful”, appearing in “White-Hat Hacking” and “The Easy Way” respectively

Katia and Philippe technically get “zombie theme” and “news intro” in “Ever Get Tired of Movies?”, but that’s just the stuff that plays from the TV - it’s not until “The Agenda (Part 1)” that they get “anticipating”, which I consider to be theirs

Fitting neatly with the vague stabs at liminality present in “The Agenda (Part III)”, Literally The Devil gets “muzak”: elevator music

Other bits of music include “lounge” in the actual elevator in “I Hate You” and “french bistro” for the cafe in “The Meaning of Life”

Upon booting up Plotagon, I was greeted with the disconcerting news that it’s being discontinued on desktop at the end of next month - ostensibly so the developers can focus on mobile platforms, although I can’t help but notice that this announcement was shortly followed by a flash sale on their “Plotagon Studio” subscription service for desktop: just $49.99 monthly, or $499.99 annually! Yeah, uhh, I’m good. This is pretty disappointing, but not entirely surprising - I’ve always kinda felt like the software was about to disappear in a poof of smoke, and now it kinda has.

However, I was also greeted with some good news: apparently, it turns out that I’d previously revisited the program all the way back on the 21st of September last year, to start work on a sequel to Are You Happy. Although I knew that I’d made vague plans to do so, I’d completely forgotten that I’d actually gone ahead and produced any new material! The sequel will likely share a portion of its cast with the original series, but based on what I’ve currently got it’ll probably end up dealing with pretty different themes.

With any luck, the application will continue to work offline past that date - but just in case it doesn’t, I’m going to try and accelerate production on the sequel. Don’t get your hopes up. If I can’t finish it, or I’m not happy with it, I’ll still try and put it out - but it’ll be more as a “bonus feature” than as a fully-fledged instalment in the continuity. More importantly, as is the case with everything made in Plotagon, I can’t promise it’ll be good - I can only promise that I’ll have fun making it.

#Plotagon #animation #web series #Are You Happy #The Wadapan #31/05/2019

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segadores-y-soldados · 7 years

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Soldier: 76 Fact Sheet, References, and Some Analyses

Alright, so this is a list of facts, ideas, and analyses based on: 1) current issues or hypothesized trajectories for history, 2) confirmed Soldier: 76 lore and personal history, and 3) confirmed Overwatch timeline stuff. Note that all of these can change since Blizzard basically says “fuck it” and changes their lore every three months. Some of these are analysis-based; stuff that is hypothesized/headcanon/food-for-thought status will be denoted as such. Some NSFW language and swearing is included. Also some political and social hypotheses and interpretations.

Main article: https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/blog/19809396/

Other resources:

Reaper Art Assets

Reaper References

Reaper and Soldier: American Cultural References

Here we go:

Indiana:

This is by no means an exhaustive list of stuff about Indiana, but these are basically quick soundbites for people who want a jumping off point.

Bloomington, Indiana currently has a population of about 90k in the city proper, and about 180k in the metropolitan area. It’s not a massive city by any means, but it’s not some small country town either.

Bloomington is a “college town”: it has the most populated public university in the state.

This means that just under half of the population is roughly young, college-educated adults and students.

“Bloomington is a regional economic center anchored by Indiana University and home to a diverse business community involved in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, technology, health care, and the arts. Bloomington's concentration of employment in the life sciences is six times greater than the U.S. average, and employment in the technology sector has grown by over 80 percent in recent years.” - Wikipedia

In heavy contrast to this, Indiana is currently the meth capital of the U.S. Indiana is also currently facing a massive heroin and HIV epidemic.

And I’m not talking that “glamorized Breaking Bad” shit.

Things could’ve stood a chance of improving before the U.S.’s new Vice President and former governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, royally fucked over many of the state’s social structures and services.

Read this: https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/53c313/mike_pence_says_his_role_model_for_vice_president/d7rxk07/

Read this too: http://www.idsnews.com/article/2017/01/indiana-opiod-problem

Let me reiterate: Mike Pence fucked up Indiana so hard there’s a fucking HIV epidemic in parts of the state. He bullied a female elected official out of office. He cut funding for fucking preschools. He destroyed Indiana’s energy system.

Now imagine being Jack Morrison, born probably in the next year to 7 years, living in the aftermath of this.

Watching business cut positions, watching people pursue higher education in your home city, but knowing that every other person in your school has a family member who got ruined by meth or HIV or struggled to make ends’ meet. Roughly 40% of the people in your home city are young adult students attending the largest public university in your state. The city is predominantly politically liberal. Your state is struggling. Your country elected the man who helped devastate it into the White House. You grow up in the aftermath of a Pence governorship and a Trump presidency.

“On the rare occasions when I cross paths with other living souls, they describe young Morrison in different ways. He was a rambunctious youth. A humble, salt-of-the-earth farmer's son. But these people all agree on one thing: Morrison was never destined to live out his days in the land of rolling plains and deep blue skies. At eighteen, Morrison packed his bags and joined the military. He had planned to serve a brief stint in the armed forces and then return home to the family farm, but his work ethic and courage caught the eye of the military brass.”

Military:

Canon: Jack Morrison joined the military at 18 years old and was eventually brought into the Supersoldier Enhancement Program.

There, he met Gabriel Reyes and the two became best friends.

Analysis: I have a hard time believing that Reyes would’ve been friends with Morrison if he’d been a huge jerk or ultra politically conservative.

Gabriel Reyes grew up in LA, which is by and large liberal within the metropolitan area.

This may be unknown to many people, but California is EXTREMELY CONSERVATIVE outside of the majority cities. Even within the majority cities, you are likely to encounter people who are NOT liberal on a regular basis. The odds of Gabriel having never met “a conservative individual” are literally less than zero.

However, the odds of Jack being “politically and/or social conservative” are also pretty damn low. Naive possibly, but Jack “being shocked” over crime, drug problems, gang violence, cultural differences, or urban lifestyle stuff is less likely than I think many in the fandom realize.

So it’s not exactly an age-old tale of “young, naive, wide-eyed man from the Midwest meets a hardened, sarcastic, street-smart man from the urban jungle,” although that is what Overwatch lore wants to portray it as. When you dig a little deeper, things get more complex.

Omnic Crisis:

Jack was probably the only member of the First Strike team to double as a medic. This is evidenced by him carrying Biotic Fields as both Soldier: 76 and Strike-Commander Morrison.

Ana’s Biotic Rifle was not invented until sometime later, after Angela Ziegler (Mercy) had joined Overwatch. We know this because of the released blueprints of the Biotic Rifle with notes by both Torbjörn and Angela (the blueprints are addressed to “J. Morrison” and “G. Reyes”), in which Angela expresses concerns about the “weaponization” of her biotechnology.

We also know from concept art and the first “Ana” comic that Ana functioned primarily as a regular sniper before the development of the Biotic Rifle.

This means that Jack probably performed most of the healing in the field and during battles for the majority of the Omnic Crisis.

Analysis: this may be one of the reasons why the United Nations considered Morrison to be the “heart and soul” of the First Strike team: “Leadership of Overwatch fell to Reyes, but Morrison would have a greater impact on the group in the long term. He brought out the best in the people around him and helped mold Overwatch's diverse (and sometimes conflicting) agents into a cohesive fighting force. In unity, they found the strength to defeat the robots and end the Omnic Crisis.”

Hypothesis: this may provide a lore-based reason for why Solder: 76 always announces the deployment of his Biotic Fields to his teammates in-game.

Overwatch:

Hypothesis/Speculation: I find it INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE that Gabriel Reyes would continue to work for an organization - more specifically, to under Jack Morrison - for another twenty years if he truly hated it. I take this bit of “canon lore” with a massive pinch of salt.

Timeline: It is very likely that the first major playable character hired by Jack after he became Strike-Commander is Mei-ling Zhou, probably for her breakthroughs in climatology.

Jack almost certainly approved of the “hiring” of other playable characters like Jesse McCree and Genji Shimada, even with all the problems and issues surrounding them.

Jack probably recruited Angela Ziegler (Mercy) to be the head of the medical sciences division at Overwatch.

Jack probably saved, rescued, or assisted Winston after his escape from the moon colony.

Jack almost certainly had a familial relationship with Fareeha Amari, given their in-game interactions and the Ana Origins video.

Jack and the other early members of Overwatch canonically participated in Halloween parties where they all dressed in costumes.

It is implied by the same Halloween comic that Gabriel Reyes designed the uniforms for Overwatch, probably including Jack’s Strike-Commander uniform.

Canon: Jack liked Old Western films.

Probable Canon: Jack has been to many different places around the globe - all the known Watchpoints, and likely all the U.N. Headquarters as well. As Strike-Commander of Overwatch, he may have spent a considerable amount of time in New York City, which is where the main U.N. Headquarters are located.

“Strike Commander Morrison envisioned a bright new future for humanity. Under his leadership, Overwatch served as a global peacekeeping force and an engine for innovation, making advances in scientific fields as varied as space exploration and medical research. But even as Overwatch grew in power, Morrison stayed dedicated to the people around him. He trained new agents, instilling in them Overwatch's noble goals and ideals. At Morrison's memorial service, Reinhardt Wilhelm, one of the group's original members, said, "He devoted everything he was to Overwatch. He was our moral compass. Our inspiration. Our friend."”

Analysis: Jack Morrison was dedicated to helping develop the betterment and progress of humanity through medicine, technology, and the sciences.

Contrary to what Reaper says in the “Old Soldiers” comic, Jack did not actually deliberately leave Ana in the field. In the “Ana” comic, Ana chooses to turn off her comms and chooses to continue pursuing the enemy sniper. The last thing Jack says to her is “Everyone, move! Ana, you too! Evac’s on its way! Wheels up in two! Now beat feet! Disengage, Ana! That’s an order -” (emphasis from comic).

Given all the controversies around Reaper and how long he has “existed,” it is important to point out that Gabriel/Reaper blames Jack for a very specific event, probably the event where he became Reaper (although when specifically this event occurs is...well, debatable, I guess). This is described in the Old Soldiers comic through direct dialogue from Reaper. Ana removes Reaper’s mask and asks “what happened to you…?” (probably about whatever his current appearance is), and Reaper replies: “He did this to me, Ana. They left me to become this thing. They left you to die. They left me to suffer… ...Never forget that.” (emphasis from comic itself).

Food for Thought: there is no mention of the promotion or anything related to it in the Old Soldiers comic, which implies that perhaps the decision was actually not as big an issue between Jack and Gabriel as stated (or as other people thought?). In fact, there’s no mention of the promotion in any of Jack or Gabriel’s lines, dialogue, or character interactions. At best, Gabriel throws some shade through lines like “Finally, some recognition.” but neither character actually mentions the issue directly, nor do any of the others.

Hypothesis: it is entirely possible that the “problems over the promotion” have been largely dropped from the “lore,” and Old Soldiers more closely represents “the new direction” Blizzard is moving towards with regards to the Jack-Gabriel rivalry, split, fall-out, fight, battle, whatever you want to call it.

Post-Fall/Soldier: 76:

Canon: Soldier considers “a part of himself” to have died in the Swiss Base explosion (Origin video). It is not stated what “part of him” that is - take it as you will.

Canon: Soldier does not consider himself a “vigilante”: “Truth is...I’m just a soldier.”

Canon: Soldier: 76 is canonically anti-corporation. This is evidenced by his personal investigation into LumériCo, as well as him breaking, entering, and vandalizing corporations and financial institutions in the U.S.: “A masked vigilante whom authorities have named "Soldier: 76" is considered the prime suspect in these incidents. In addition to bombing corporate offices and financial institutions in the United States, this individual has breached a number of former Overwatch bases. Soldier: 76 has stolen valuable technologies from these sites, including experimental weaponry, causing untold damages in the process.”

Analysis/Hypothesis: Given the current state of Indiana and U.S. national politics, the above bullet point is not particularly surprising.

Canon: Soldier: 76 is anti-gang or anti-crime-organization. Just...watch Hero again or something. But also consider that Soldier has the line “Reyes should’ve cleaned up the Deadlock Gang a long time ago,” said with mild frustration that the Deadlock Gang still exists.

Canon: Soldier: 76 does not want Overwatch restored. This is demonstrated by his Gibraltar lines, and his new interaction with Winston. He considers Winston’s actions “illegal” and “breaking the law” - “same as me.”

Canon: Soldier: 76 does have many memories of Gibraltar - “they weren’t all bad.”

Canon: Soldier: 76 feels “terrible” for all the scientists of Overwatch (Ecopoint Antarctica specifically). He has a new interaction with Mei, where he says that the frontlines of the battlefield are no place for a scientist. Mei teases him as a retort, saying, “I guess it’s a good thing I have you to watch my back.”

Analysis/Hypothesis: Mei recognizes who Soldier: 76 is and is referencing the fact that Jack hired her, and watched over her progress.

Canon: Soldier: 76 has numerous voicelines about activating a Biotic Field, all of which are directed at his teammates. He never activates a Biotic Field for himself (although as a Soldier main I can tell you that I absolutely activate Biotic Field for myself 95% of the time. The other 5% of the time is for the tank. On extremely rare occasions, I have activated Biotic Fields for friendly DPS or Defense units who stay close to me or ask for healing from me).

Canon: the worst “insults” that Soldier has ever said about Reaper is that he’s a “bad guy” and “kind of a jerk” (on the flipside, Reaper’s sitting at a solid “boy scout” as his only insult for Soldier).

Canon: Reaper addresses Soldier by the name of “Jack” in Old Soldiers. The only other character to do this is Ana (on the flipside, the only two characters to call Reaper by the name “Gabriel/Gabe” are Ana and Sombra).

Alternate (?) Canon - Junkenstein’s Revenge: Immortal: 76 “does not care for the nobility” but is siding with the lord of the castle to take down “a common foe - The Reaper.” He tells Hanzo that The Reaper is “the worst kind” of monster there is - “a wicked man.”

Alternate (?) Canon - Junkenstein’s Revenge: Immortal: 76’s faith is in science and alchemy as “the things that keep him alive.” In an interaction with McCree, McCree states that “pumping someone full of chemicals and electricity and whatnot” makes the individual “not a man, but a monster.” This is a reference to Junkenstein’s Monster, but also to Jack and Gabriel “in the main canon,” who were “pumped full of chemicals” in SEP.

Alternate (?) Canon - Junkenstein’s Revenge: Ana describes that Immortal: 76 “attracts strange companions” - “just as it has always been.” This is yet another reference to Jack assembling Overwatch’s diverse crew during its peacetime era.

Interpretation: While some of Soldier’s interactions can be seen as patronizing, I believe it’s more likely that he is strongly concerned for characters like D.Va, Tracer, and McCree. As shown with the Mei interaction, he comes across as gruff or harsh, but well-meaning. His other interactions with Ana and even Reaper to an extent show that Soldier is extremely tired, jaded, and possibly depressed from the wars he has waged - both physical and political/social - and that he likely does not want to see young people get drawn into similar situations.

Hopefully people keep finding these little essays and fact sheets useful. I’m less familiar with the Midwest than the West Coast, but I figured it was useful to throw down some pointers for people who may not know where to start. I also hope that condensing a lot of the “lore” around Jack Morrison/Soldier: 76 helps people get hone in on some key characteristics and ideas about him.

#soldier 76 #jack morrison #my essays #my writing #references #resources #I know people have liked the other ones #sorry this one gets so political #but I've seen people trying to make Jack into some ultra conservative asshole #or some bitter patronizing jackass #and it's frustrating to me because canonically #Jack isn't like that at all #the man helped lead the world to peace #he valued diversity and unique viewpoints above all else #he prioritized hiring doctors and scientists and visionaries before anything else #let the old man rest #let him be happy

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priyankagovender · 6 years

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If you’re unfamiliar with the controversy surrounding YouTube’s Liza Koshy and the 2018 Met Gala, don’t worry, I’m about to break it down for you.

The Met Gala is thought to be one of the most iconic fashion events of the year. Hosted annually at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vibrant personalities from all spheres of the entertainment industry come together to celebrate fashion in the form of a fundraiser.

Imagine a room filled with the most influential A-listers in the world. They are dressed head-to-toe in shimmering designer ensembles. The best of the fashion industry is thrust upon your favourite celebrities. You’re excited to watch the interviews that showcase their charming personalities. You’ve been dying to see what everyone is wearing. And then you go online, only to be bombarded by internet trolls.

The Controversy

Liza Koshy is a 22 year old YouTube supernova, who has time and time again proven herself as one of the most dynamic women of colour in the current entertainment scene.

She has challenged what it means to be a “traditional celebrity” by maintaining a successful YouTube channel which currently boasts over 14 million subscribers.

Her viral videos have allowed her to pierce the Hollywood veil, earning her roles in major movie productions, brand deals and various other exciting opportunities.

One of the above-mentioned opportunities presented itself at the 2018 Met Gala, where Liza Koshy was chosen by Vogue Magazine to interview celebrities as they arrived at the event.

What an amazing opportunity for this young star! Not only will she be meeting her idols at a prestigious event, she will also be representing Vogue, the most iconic fashion magazine in history.

So what’s the problem?

Ah, the internet. Home to both positive role models and negative commentators.

Many people took to twitter to voice their displeasure about Liza Koshy attending the event, and above that, interviewing “traditional celebrities”. They felt that because Ms Koshy made her start on YouTube, she should not be permitted to enter the Hollywood scene and work with well-known fashion brands such as Vogue.

Liza Koshy with Kris Jenner

To be perfectly honest, after reading through the plethora of negative comments, the resounding emotion I felt was confusion.

Confusion as to how anyone in this day and age felt that it is acceptable to leave malicious comments online.

Confusion as to how someone as successful and inspirational as Liza Koshy, still faces prejudice based on their claim to fame.

Confusion as to how the “YouTube vs Traditional Celebrity” argument is even valid/relevant in today’s society.

Indeed, I was very, very confused.

My face as I read the negative comments.

I tried to be diplomatic and understand the issue from the opposing point of view. But unfortunately, I just could not get on board with their argument. Here’s why:

The concept of a “traditional celebrity” is not relevant, nor is it valid. In an age where streaming sites are on par, if not exceeding traditional media outlets, it is impossible, and quite frankly a bit classist, to rank public figures according to their claim to fame. Liza Koshy, like many other creative influencers, have made their start on YouTube. However, they have built upon their success and infiltrated the music, film, art and book industry, making them every bit of a celebrity as other traditional house-hold names.

2. There is no justification for bullying, either online or in real life. Even though I tried to be diplomatic, there was no negotiating when it came to the concept of bullying. By leaving degrading comments about this young woman’s status, outfit, and whether or not you personally felt that she deserved to be there, is bullying plain and simple. There will be people who disagree with this and dismiss it as another characteristic of the current generation’s desire for “political correctness”. But honestly, if one cannot differentiate between what is morally acceptable and what is politically correct, they will most likely not be able to identify that this storm of negative comments was indeed cyberbullying.

Also very important to note: the point of me writing this article is by no means an attempt to defend Ms Koshy from this situation because I am fully aware that she can defend herself. My point is that she shouldn’t have to. And neither should anyone else. Because ideally, these particular type of comments should not be prominent.

Her Outfit:

Before we delve deeper into this, let us take a moment to appreciate just how stunning Liza looked at the Met Gala. It is clear that her inner beauty shone as brightly as her outfit because she handled every interview with charisma and an unfaltering sense of confidence, all the while looking like a Queen.

For the 2018 Met Gala, Liza Koshy was dressed by Anna Wintour, of Vogue. We can all agree that fashion is highly subjective. And thus it was no surprise when people expressed their dislike for Liza’s outfit. And guess what? That is perfectly okay! Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so long as that opinion is expressed in a respectful manner.

Personally, I quite liked Liza’s outfit! I am a big fan of anything with a Peter Pan collar! I felt that her outfit was simple, chic and fun, much like her personality. She pulled off the ensemble beautifully and looked sleek yet comfortable when fulfilling her interview duties.

Like I said before, it is perfectly okay for people not to like her outfit, so long as they are respectful in the way they voice that opinion.

What is NOT acceptable however, is shaming someone for the way they showcase their bodies. In this particular instance, Koshy faced criticism from people who felt that her outfit was too revealing. What is this? The 1950s?

Queen Koshy serving looks in her Vogue ensemble

It’s ridiculous that in this current climate of female empowerment, liberation and body positivity, that there are still people who offer unsought advice to someone regarding what they should do with their bodies.

No matter your opinion on her fashion choice, there is no denying that she looked like a confident, empowered woman in her outfit. She is bold, carefree, and completely entitled to dress her body in any way she sees fit.

She is clothed in strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future

All I see is a confident, talented young woman who is embracing every opportunity life has to offer. It is wonderful to see her signature sense of humour being appreciated on such a large platform, and I have no doubt that her future is filled with success.

-Pri

All text is subject to copyright (2018)

Images are not my own

Liza Koshy vs The Met Gala

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newsnigeria · 6 years

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Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/world-news/bear-hubris-suicidal/

When dealing with a bear, hubris is suicidal

[This analysis was written for the Unz Review]

Assuming mankind finds a way not to destroy itself in the near future and assuming that there will still be historians in the 22nd or 23rd centuries, I bet you that they will look at the AngloZionist Empire and see the four following characteristics as some of its core features: lies, willful ignorance, hypocrisy, and hysterics. To illustrate my point I will use the recent “Skripal nerve-gas assassination” story as it really encompasses all of these characteristics.

I won’t even bother debunking the official nonsense here as others have done a very good job of pointing out the idiocy of the official narrative. If you are truly capable of believing that “Putin” (that is the current collective designator for the Evil Empire of Mordor currently threatening all of western civilization) would order the murder of a man whom a Russian military court sentenced to only 13 years in jail (as opposed to life or death) and who was subsequently released as part of a swap with the USA, you can stop reading right now and go back to watching TV. I personally have neither the energy nor the inclination to even discuss such a self-evidently absurd theory. No, what I do want to do is use this story as a perfect illustration of the kind of society we now all live in looked at from a moral point of view. I realize that we live in a largely value-free society where moral norms have been replaced by ideological orthodoxy, but that is just one more reason for me to write about what is taking place precisely focusing on the moral dimensions of current events.

Lies and the unapologetic denial of reality:

In a 2015 article entitled “A society of sexually frustrated Pinocchios” I wrote the following:

I see a direct cause and effect relationship between the denial of moral reality and the denial of physical reality. I can’t prove that, of course, but here is my thesis: Almost from day one, the early western civilization began by, shall we say, taking liberties with the truth, which it could bend, adapt, massage and repackage to serve the ideological agenda of the day. It was not quite the full-blown and unapologetic relativism of the 19th century yet, but it was an important first step. With “principles” such as the end justifies the means and the wholesale violation of the Ten Commandants all “for the greater glory of God” the western civilization got cozy with the idea that there was no real, objective truth, only the subjective perception or even representation each person might have thereof. Fast forward another 10 centuries or so and we end up with the modern “Gayropa” (as Europe is now often referred to in Russia): not only has God been declared ‘dead’ and all notions of right and wrong dismissed as “cultural”, but even objective reality has now been rendered contingent upon political expediency and ideological imperatives.

I went on to quote George Orwell by reminding how he defined “doublethink” in his book 1984:

“To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which canceled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it (…) To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality“

and I concluded by saying that “The necessary corollary from this state of mind is that only appearances matter, not reality”.

This is exactly what we are observing; not only in the silly Skripal nerve-gas assassination story but also in all the rest of the Russophobic nonsense produced by the AngloZionist propaganda machine including the “Litvinenko polonium murder” and the “Yushchenko dioxin poisoning“. The fact that neither nerve-gas, nor polonium nor dioxin are in any way effective murder weapons does not matter in the least: a simple drive-by shooting, street-stabbing or, better, any “accident” is both easier to arrange and impossible to trace. Fancy assassination methods are used when access to the target is very hard or impossible (as was the case with Ibn al-Khattab, whose assassination the Russians were more than happy to take credit for; this might also have been the case with the death of Yasser Arafat). But the best way of murdering somebody is to simply make the body disappear, making any subsequent investigation almost impossible. Finally, you can always subcontract the assassination to somebody else like, for example, when the CIA tried and failed, to murder Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Fadlallah by subcontracting his bombing to its local “Christian” allies, killing over 80 innocent people in the process. There is plenty of common crime in the UK and to get somebody to rob and stab Skripal would have probably been the easiest version. That’s assuming that the Russians had any reason to want him dead, which they self-evidently didn’t.

But here is the important thing: every single criminal or intelligence specialist in the West understands all of the above. But that does not stop the Ziomedia from publishing articles like this one “A Brief History of Attempted Russian Assassinations by Poison” which also lists people poisoned by Russians:

Skripal by nerve gas

Litvinenko by polonium

Kara-Murza poisoned not once, but TWICE, by an unknown poison, he survived!

Markov poisoned by ricin and the Bulgarians with “speculated KGB assistance”

Khattab by sarin or a sarin-derivative

Yushchenko by dioxin

Perepilichny by “a rare, toxic flower, gelsemium” (I kid you not, check the article!)

Moskalenko by mercury

Politkovskaya who was shot, but who once felt “ill after drinking some tea that she believed contained poison”

The only possible conclusion from this list is this: there is some kind of secret lab in Russia where completely incompetent chemists try every poison known to man, not on rats or on mice, but on high profile AngloZionist-supported political activists, preferably before an important political event.

Right.

By the way, the gas allegedly used in the attack, “Novichok”, was manufactured in Uzbekistan and the cleanup of the factory producing it was made by, you guessed it, a US company. Just saying…

In any halfway honest and halfway educated society, those kind of articles should result in the idiot writing it being summarily fired for gross incompetence and the paper/journal posting it being discredited forever. But in our world, the clown who wrote that nonsense (Elias Groll, a Harvard graduate and – listen to this – a specialist of “cyberspace and its conflicts and controversies” (sic)) is a staff writer of the award-winning Foreign Policy magazine.

So what does it tell us, and future historians, when this kind of crap is written by a staff writer of an “award winning” media outlet? Does it not show that our society has now reached a stage in its decay (I can’t call that “development”) where lies become the norm? Not only are even grotesque and prima facie absurd lies accepted, they are expected (if only because they reinforce the current ideological Zeitgeist. The result? Our society is now packed with first, zombified ideological drones who actually believe any type of officially proclaimed of nonsense and, second, by cowards who lack the basic courage to denounce even that which they themselves know to be false.

Lies, however ridiculous and self-evidently stupid, have become the main ingredient of the modern political discourse. Everybody knows this and nobody cares. When challenged on this, the typical defense used is always the same: “you are the only person saying this – I sure ever heard this before!”.

Willful ignorance as a universal cop-out

We all know the type. You tell somebody that his/her theory makes absolutely no sense or is not supported by facts and the reply you get is some vaguely worded refusal to engage in an disputation. Initially, you might be tempted to believe that, indeed, your interlocutor is not too bright and not too well read, but eventually you realize that there is something very different happening: the modern man actually makes a very determined effort not to be capable of logical thought and not to be informed of the basic facts of the case. And what is true for specific individuals is even more true of our society as a whole. Let’s take one simple example: Operation Gladio:

“Gladio” is really an open secret by now. Excellent books and videos have been written about this and even the BBC has made a two and a half hour long video about it. There is even an entire website dedicated to the story of this huge, continent-wide, terrorist organization specializing in false flag operations. That’s right: a NATO-run terrorist network in western Europe involved in false flag massacres like the infamous Bologna train station bombing. No, not the Soviet KGB backing the Baader-Meinhof Red Army Faction or the Red Brigades in Italy. No, the USA and West European governments organizing, funding and operating a terrorist network directed at the people of Western, not Eastern, Europe. Yes, at their own people! In theory, everybody should know about this, the information is available everywhere, even on the hyper-politically correct Wikipedia. But, again, nobody cares.

The end of the Cold War was marked by a seemingly endless series of events which all provided a pretext for AngloZionist interventions (from the Markale massacres in Bosnia, to the Srebrenica “genocide”, to the Racak massacre Kosovo, to the “best” and biggest one of them all, 9/11 of course). Yet almost nobody wondered if the same people or, at least, the same kind of people who committed all the Gladio crimes might be involved. Quite the opposite: each one of these events was accompanied by a huge propaganda campaign mindlessly endorsing and even promoting the official narrative, even when it self-evidently made no sense whatsoever (like 2 aircraft burning down 3 steel towers). As for Gladio, it was conveniently “forgotten”.

There is a simple principle in psychology, including, and especially in criminal psychology which I would like to prominently restate here:

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior

Every criminalist knows that and this is why criminal investigators place so much importance on the “modus operandi”, i.e. the particular way or method a suspect or a criminal chooses in the course of the execution of his/her crimes. That is also something which everybody knows. So let’s summarize this in a simple thesis:

Western regimes have a long and well-established track record of regularly executing bloody false-flag operations in pursuit of political objectives, especially those providing them with a pretext to justify an illegal military aggression.

Frankly, I submit that the thesis above is really established not only by a preponderance of evidence but beyond a reasonable doubt. Right?

Maybe. But that is also completely irrelevant because nobody gives a damn! Not the reporters who lie for a living nor, even less so, the brainwashed zombies who read their nonsense and take it seriously. The CIA tried to kill Fidel Castro over 600 times – who cares?! All we know is that the good folks at Langley would never, ever, kill a Russian in the UK, out of respect for international law, probably…

That willful ignorance easily defeats history, facts or logic.

Here is a simple question a journalist could ask: “would the type of people who had no problems blowing up an large train station, or bringing down three buildings in downtown New York, have any hesitation in using a goofy method to try kill a useless Russian ex-spy if that could justify further hostile actions against a country which they desperately need to demonize to justify and preserve the current AngloZionist world order?”. The answer I think is self-evident. The question shall therefore not be asked. Instead, soy-boys from Foreign Policy mag will tell us about how the Russians use exotic flowers to kill high visibility opponents whose death would serve no conceivable political goal.

Hypocrisy as a core attribute of the modern man

Willful ignorance is important, of course, but it is not enough. For one thing, being ignorant, while useful to dismiss a fact-based and/or logical argument, is not something useful to establish your moral superiority or the legality of your actions. Empire requires much more than just obedience from its subject: what is also absolutely indispensable is a very strong sense of superiority which can be relied upon when committing a hostile action against the other guy. And nothing is as solid a foundation for a sense of superiority than the unapologetic reliance on brazen hypocrisy. Let’s take a fresh example: the latest US threats to attack Syria (again).

Irrespective of the fact that the USA themselves have certified Syria free of chemical weapons and irrespective of the fact that US officials are still saying that they have no evidence that the Syrian government was involved in any chemical attack on Khan Shaykhun, the USA is now preparing to strike Syria again in “response” to future chemical attacks! Yes, you read that right. The AngloZionists are now announcing their false flags in advance! In fact, by the time this analysis is published the attack will probably already have occurred. The “best” part of this all is that Nikki Haley has now announced to the UN Security Council that the US will act without any UN Security Councilapproval. What the USA is declaring is this: “we reserve the right to violate international law at any time and for any reason we deem sufficient”. In the very same statement, Nikki Haley also called the Syrian government an “outlaw regime”. This is not a joke, check it out for yourself. The reaction in “democratic” Europe: declaring that *Russia* (not the US) is a rogue state. QED.

This entire circus is only made possible by the fact that the western elites have all turned into “great supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies” (to use the wonderful words of Boris Johnson) and that absolutely nobody has the courage, or decency, to call all this what it really is: an obscene display of total hypocrisy and wholesale violation of all norms of international law. The French philosopher Alain Soral is quite right when he says that modern “journalists are either unemployed or prostitutes” (he spoke about the French media – un journaliste français c’est soit une pute soit un chômeur – but this fully applies to all the western media). Except that I would extend it to the entire Western Establishment.

I would further argue that foreign aggression and hypocrisy have become the two essential pillars for the survival of the AngloZionist empire: the first one being an economic and political imperative, the 2nd one being the prerequisite for the public justification of the first one. But sometimes even that is not enough, especially when the lies are self-evidently absurd. Then the final, quasi-miraculous element is always brought in: hysterics.

Hysteria as the highest form of (pseudo-)liberalism

I don’t particularly care for the distinction usually made between liberals and conservatives, at least not unless the context and these terms is carefully and accurately defined. I certainly don’t place myself on that continuum nor do find it analytically helpful.

The theoretical meaning of these concepts is, however, quite different from what is mostly understood under these labels, especially when people use them to identify themselves. That is to say that while I am not at all sure that those who think of themselves as, say, liberals are in any way truly liberal, I do think that people who would identify themselves as “liberals” often (mostly?) share a number of characteristics, the foremost of which is a very strong propensity to function at, and engage in, an hysterical mode of discourse and action.

The Google definition of hysteria is “exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people (…) whose symptoms include conversion of psychological stress into physical symptoms (somatization), selective amnesia, shallow volatile emotions, and overdramatic or attention-seeking behavior”. Is that not a perfect description of US politicians, especially the (putatively) “liberal” ones? Just think of the way US Democrats have capitalized on such (non-)issues as “Russian interference” (externally) or “gun control” (internally) and you will see that the so-called “liberals” never get off a high-emotional pitch. The best example of all, really, is their reaction to the election of Donald Trump instead of their cult-leader Hillary: it has been over a year since Trump has been elected and yet the liberal ziomedia and its consumers are still in full-blown hysteria mode (with “pussyhats”, “sky-screams” and all). In a conversation you can literally drown such a liberal with facts, statistics, expert testimonies, etc. and achieve absolutely no result whatsoever because the liberal lives in an ideological comfort zone which he/she is categorically unwilling and, in fact, unable, to abandon, even temporarily. This is what makes liberals such a *perfect* audience for false-flag operations: they simply won’t process the narrative presented to them in a logical manner but will immediately react to it in a strongly emotional manner, usually with the urge to immediately “do something”.

That “do something” is usually expressed in the application of violence (externally) and the imposition of bans/restrictions/regulations (internally). You can try to explain to that liberal that the very last thing the Russians would ever want to do is to use a stupid method to try to kill a person who is of absolutely no interest to them, or to explain to that liberal that the very last thing the Syrian government would ever do in the course of its successful liberation of its national territory from “good terrorists” would be to use chemical weapons of any kind – but you would never achieve anything: Trump must be impeached, the Russians sanctioned and the Syrians bombed, end of argument.

I am quite aware that there are a lot of self-described “conservatives” who have fully joined this chorus of hysterical liberals in all their demands, but these “conservatives” are not only acting out of character, they are simply caving in to the social pressure of the day, being the “great supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies” mentioned above. Again, I am not discussing real liberals or real conservatives here (regardless of what these terms really mean), I am talking about those who, for whatever reason, chose to place that label upon themselves even if they personally have only a very vague idea of what this label is supposed to mean.

So there we have it: an Empire built (and maintained) on lies, accepted on the basis ignorance, justified by hypocrisy and energized by hysterics. This is what the “Western world” stands for nowadays. And while there is definitely a vocal minority of “resisters” (from the Left and the Right – also two categories I don’t find analytically helpful – and from many other schools of political thought), the sad reality is that the vast majority of people around us accept this and see no reason to denounce it, nevermind doing something about it. That is why “they” got away with 9/11 and why “they” will continue to get away with future false-flags because the people lied to, realize, at least on some level, that they are being lied to and yet they simply don’t care. Truly, the Orwellian slogans of 1984 “war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength” perfectly fit our world. However, when dealing with the proverbial Russian bear, there is one lesson of history which western leaders really should never forget and which they should also turn into a slogan: when dealing with a bear, hubris is suicidal.

The Saker

#russia #u.k #U.S.A

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comic-watch · 6 years

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He’s Back! Mega Man turned 30 on December 17, 2017, and Capcom definitely kickstarted the celebration with the big announcement of Mega Man 11. While we wait for the game, we at Comic-Watch would like to discuss a brief history of the Blue Bomber and the road to Mega Man 11. Plus, other highly anticipated Mega Man products, cartoon series, and the movie adaptation all being released to celebrate the Super Fighting Robot’s 30th birthday!

What You Need to Know:

Mega Man is known as Rockman (ロックマン Rokkuman) in Japan was created back on December 17, 1987, by Capcom. The fathers of Mega man, developer Akira Kitamura, and designer Keiji Inafune created this mighty “Blue Bomber” for the NES (Family Computer) which became a massive hit in worldwide. It was not after the release of the 2nd game that the series became one of the most iconic characters in video game history.

For the past 30 years, the game had released multiple spin-offs, each one and everyone continuing the spirit of the original game but adding a twist to it. These series were, Mega Man X, Mega Man Legends, Mega Man Battle Network, Mega Man Zero, Mega Man Starforce and Mega Man ZX.

A lot of the younger generation wouldn’t have even played a Mega Man game much like most of the younger folks don’t even know what a walkman is. These days he retains his relevance as an easter egg or as a guest character featuring in games like Marvel vs Capcom, Tatsunoko vs Capcom, and even in Super Smash Bros. 4. Aside from video games, Mega Man has been popular in other media forms too. In Western television, he appeared in the late 80’s animated series “Captain N: The Game Master.” During the mid 90’s Ruby-Spears Production produced the popular Mega Man animated series (Admit, I know that catchy “Super Fighting Robot” theme song is playing in my head right now!.) Japan also had their fair share of animated adaptations with the 3 part OVA, which was also an educational way to teach kids a few things about Japanese culture, and also the popular Mega Man NT Warrior series.

But, I guess most of your readers why am I talking about a video game franchise on a website that focuses more on comic books? Well, Mega Man was also adapted in the comic book format too. Adaptation of the Blue Bomber was mostly dominant in Japanese manga format. Some of these mangas were so popular that even got a translated into English and released Internationally. A few popular ones were Hitoshi Ariga’s Mega Man Megamix books which are now published in English by Udon Entertainment, Mega Man NT Warrior by Ryo Takamisaki which was translated in English by Viz Media and Battle Story Rockman.EXE by Keijima Jun and Miho Asada. But Mega Man comics were not only published in Manga format, there were a lot of countries that produced their comic adaptation too. From the disturbingly strange Brazilian Mega Man comics and trust me you don’t want to know about this adaptation. To the former Dreamwave’s short-lived Mega Man series, which was good in its own way despite taking its own liberties with the story but sadly the company had to shut down before it could even release an issue 5 and after teasing a Mega Man X adaptation. And finally to the recent critically acclaimed Archie Comics adaptions written by Ian Flynn. Trust me the Archie adaptation was really well written, even with the major cross-over with Archie’s adaptation of Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog, the quality of the story was still great.

The Dark Times:

But before Mega Man 11 was revealed, fans were already losing hope with the franchise after Mega Man 10 was released and after co-creator, Keiji Inafune left Capcom back in 2010. Things spiraled down for the Blue Bomber’s franchise, 1st with the character being absent in Marvel vs Capcom 3 plus it’s expanded Ultimate version, then the online side-scrolling game Mega Man Universe was canceled on March 31, 2011. Then the last straw for the fans was the cancelation the highly anticipated Mega Man Legends 3 which was canceled on July 18, 2011, followed by Mega Man Online being canceled in March 2013. The worst part of these cancelations was how all games were still in production. The only thing that kept the franchise alive were other 3rd party merchandises like Kotobukiya’s Plastic Model Kits, Bandai D-Arts Figures, Udon’s Tribute Book and English Publication of Ariga’s mangas, Archie comics’ comic adaptation and the fans.

Capcom, however, did try to release a few Mega Man game after Inafune left the company. Back in 2012, they released the mobile game Mega Man Xover which was received poorly and ironically officially published a fan-made PC game, Street Fighter X Mega Man during both franchise’s 25th anniversary. Despite being developed by a fan, the game gained a favorable response from the fans.

Then on August 31, 2013, Keiji Inafune announced his company, Comcept’s Kickstarter project: Mighty No. 9.

Fans of the blue bomber got so excited that the co-creator of Mega Man is finally creating a spiritual successor. Kickstarter campaign was an unexpectedly a huge success and was able to meet the goal in a short span of 2 days. However, the production of the game was very controversial since the release of the game were delayed multiple times. When the game finally got a release, it was met with poor review and backlash from the fans. The game was poorly developed and felt incomplete. Aside from that, the gameplay did not capture the essence of the Mega Man franchise and also felt flat. Not only was that the issue but those who supported via Kickstarter had reported that the freebies and other exclusive items for backing up the project were either delayed or never arrived.

What You’ll Find Out:

On December 4, 2017, Capcom held a Mega Man 30th anniversary live stream to celebrate the iconic character’s 3rd decade in the gaming industry. With the announced the live stream, fans speculated that a potential game would be announced. But due to the countless of disappointments for the past 7 years, most fans had low expectations.

Capcom came prepared this time. First, they announced a new Mega Man X collection to be released for modern gaming consoles. After a few interview about Mega Man X series, Capcom then showed a video of 8-bit Mega Man running forward detailing the games released throughout the years. After watching the Blue Bomber passed 7 years of no new games and reaching Dr. Wily, He entered a room with the capsule displaying 2018. The super fighting robot reached out the capsule and we then see the future of the series.

Mega Man 11 is finally announced! After years of fans fearing that Capcom is no longer prioritizing one of their company’s mascot, the Blue Bomber is finally back! Aside from this fans are excited to see that the sequel is not another 8-bit sequel like 9 and 10 but a 3D side-scrolling game (but most people would consider this as 2.5D)

Game Informer is currently doing exclusive updates with the game highlighting the development during their time at Capcom Japan HQ. Aside from that, they had released their January 2018 issue with an awesome cover celebrating Mega Man 11’s announcement and the Blue Bomber’s anniversary.

But Mega Man 11 is not the only product we should be looking forward next year. I’ll list down the most anticipated Mega Man merchandises to be released next year.

Things To Come:

Now, it’s obvious that Mega Man 11, Mega Man X1 – X8 Ports (Collection) and Mega Man Legacy 1 & 2 for Switch is one of the highly anticipated games in 2018. But here are some of the few Mega Man related stuff we are looking forward in 2018, in celebration of the Blue Bomber’s 30th anniversary:

Mega Man Animated Series (Cartoon Network) Release Date: TBA – 2018

Back in 2015, it was announced that Man of Action (creator’s of Ben 10) was going to produce an all-new animated series based on the Blue Bomber for Cartoon Network. Some teasers were already shown this year and the series itself is scheduled to be released next year!

Mega Man Mastermix (Udon Entertainment) Release Date: January 24, 2018

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Next month, Hitoshi Ariga’s critically acclaimed manga based on Mega Man is getting released in an all-new colored re-mastered version from Udon Entertainment. The colors will be done by Josh Perez, well known for his work on IDW’s Transformer series.

You can pre-order the 1st issue at Udon’s Official Store. Also keep an eye on our review for this comic next month as well.

Nendoroid Zero Release Date: July 2018

Good Smile Co. is finally releasing a Nendoroid figure for X’s best friend, Zero and is one of the highly anticipated in the Mega Man Nendoroid series too!

Nendoroid Roll Release Date: TBA 2018

Zero is not the only one getting the Nendoroid treatment. Roll, Mega Man’s sister was announced to be released sometime next year sporting her new design. The figure was announced back in Tokyo Game Show 2017 and her design was one of the clues Capcom was teasing for the upcoming Mega Man 11 (which was not announced then.)

Mega Man Collector’s Plush (Pop Buddies) Release Date: TBA 2018

Pop Buddies announced that they will produce new Mega Man Plushies coming out next year. Aside from that, more designs are teased and will be announced at the Toy Fair in Nuremberg Germany in 2018.

There are more Mega Man related products that are coming out in 2018, like Bandai’s new Rockman X: Mega Missions 4 trading cards. But what everyone is asking now is the upcoming live-adaptation movie by FOX. Mid this year, the studio announced that they had found the directors for the movie. The recent biggest news, however, was Disney buying out FOX which also happened this month. After the Disney-Fox merger, the talks about the movie is still unknown as of the moment. But if ever it is still in the works it is interesting to know that Disney is now the movie rights holder of the Mega Man movie franchise.

At the end of the day, it’s good to see that Mega Man is getting back to the spotlight again and it’s good to know Capcom has big plans for the series again after a long hiatus. Here’s to hoping that Mega Man Legends 3 gets a revival and Archie comics will continue its comic book adaptation again soon!

For now, let’s all wish Mega Man a happy birthday and here’s to more of the Super Fighting Robot’s fight for everlasting peace!

#MegaMan turns 30 and is back in action! What are you looking forward the most for franchise? He’s Back! Mega Man turned 30 on December 17, 2017, and Capcom definitely kickstarted the celebration with the big announcement of Mega Man 11.

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 7 years

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Kado 12 (FINAL)

Shunina in 2D looks creepy as all get out…

I believe what zaShunina wants to get at is that we have reasoning and intelligence…which is half of what some people have feared about this show all along. The “humans are special” preach.

Gonno finally has a point of purpose, which is great.

I’m laughing. It really is Yandere zaShunina, LOL!

Funny thing zaShunina uses the words “way of living”. The characters that make up Shindo’s surname (真道) mean “true way”.

I have the feeling zaShunina can’t actually cry, and he’s faking it.

“…I’ve been meaning to punch you myself.” – In short, Kado really is just a shonen battle series in disguise.

zaShunina’s face makes me wanna cry. That’s the second time this season’s climaxes have attempted to bring me to tears…

Oh well, at least I got my broman-Huh? Shindo’s heart got torn out?! ewfefl/…

Hey, look. Origami bird in the anisotropic. I still want to know how to make one, dangit!

*wants to cry again* Shun-kun? You mean…Hanamori? This 16 year old is another Saraka?

*howling with laughter, but still at the brink of tears* Please, please stop making me ship Saraka and Shindo, since I never shipped them anyway. However, the biggest laugh this season was zaShunina’s many many expressions of rage, that probably beat out even that woman from the Emperor’s New Groove, LOL (Yzma).

Seeing old Hanamori – every single darned shot of him – makes me wanna cry. Plus, Yukika as a baby had a Takoyaki Cat bundle, haha.

*White Parasite spoilers!* A-Ah! So “White Parasite” really was an omen for where this show would go! zaShunina got defeated by his own power, just like La Luna, but zaShunina basically gained the range of expressions of a human, unlike Luna, who was killed off early. Ah…that’s sad. I predicted exactly where this would go without having even seen the show. *end spoilers*

*as the titlecard appears* I-I don’t get it…but wait, there’s more. Keep watching, people.

Chotto ittekimasu means “Out for a little bit”, which isn’t quite the same as “back later”, but I’ll take it.

W-Wah? It’s over…? Well, suffice to say, I was amazed beyond my imagining, so that’s great on an entertainment level (plus I laughed way too hard at Kado). However, the fact I ended up predicting a show I hadn’t even seen yet means it will have to get marked down appropriately.

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu 1

Finally, we’ve gotten to one of the big attractions of the season – I’m a fan of Touken Ranbu, so while seeing my boys animated in Hanamaru was a treat, fall 2016 was a bottleneck in the commentaries. Katsugeki needs to go above and beyond to take one of the 4 slots open to normal-form shows (BnHA’s already taken one slot).

It may be bleak (it’s kinda murky, colours-wise), but it’s…beautiful!!! (My precious Kane-san has properly come to life!) The star effect with the blood is a nice touch.

My memory’s a lil’ rusty because I haven’t played TR for a few months, but the things in the box are koban.

This thing’s like Kado in that it would make a great movie. I envy the people who get to see this in the highest possible res on a big screen…(“My anime club should seriously screen this!” is what I’m saying.)

Interestingly, they’ve chosen Kane-san, so this doesn’t accurately depict a player’s normal route through the game. Either that or this saniwa doesn’t want to sacrifice their starter on this mission. I know how precious my first Kashuu was to me, but I broke him because I was being too reckless…

The saniwa in this is a girl, so the subber who called the saniwa “he” hasn’t looked into the promo material much.

TR’s party limit is six, so this saniwa’s a real noob. (Not that I can say anything – I haven’t passed the Kiwame map yet!)

So Konnosuke can function as Google, LOL. That’s new, I never thought of that pesky fox in that way.

I bet because the Saniwa knew these were swords under the same master, she saw the shipping potential, LOL. Or maybe it’s because the two work well as a pair…

This looks a lot like the starting movie that DMM put in about one year after I started on TR. I bet that’s specifically what they were aiming for, so that’s perfect.

Ooh! What a controversial choice, to put a representation of the saniwa into the show! I wonder why they did such a thing, though?

Judging by this lineup, I’d say Mutsu was this saniwa’s starter. (I’d really like to analyse this saniwa’s choices and drops, as a fellow TR player.) Then again, if I knew the name of the era, then I’d get a better sense of this player’s capability (and judge whether I can really call them a noob or not, LOL).

Dangit, Saniwa! You have Tsuru and Mikazuki (two swords I currently don’t have)! I’m jealous of you!

That’s real cute and nostalgic, to put the preview like a recollection. A fine choice indeed, ufotable.

Kunihiro says specifically he has to try his hardest to not fail, which is slightly different to what the subs say.

Interesting. The words Kane-san uses for “tense” are “[Kunihiro] puts too much energy into his shoulders”.

Well, it’s pretty safe to say this is a keeper between hype and an almost-perfect performance for what I’d expect from a TR adaption. I’m just wondering, if all my hype shows go to commentary…what will my final one be? I planned to watch 14 shows from this season, Amazon axed a few and I added a few more based on ANN so the fight for the final spot may easily be the hardest one in the history of this commentary.

Battle Girl High School 1

Yet another anime I have come to not because I genuinely am hyped for it, but because it’s the satisfaction of seeing “how the bad fall”, if you get what I mean. Also, it’s a magical girl show – it’s basically Hina Logi all over again.

Every magical girl show does that “prophetic dream” stuff, I swear. It’s why I avoid that trope like the plague as a beginning.

Notice the title’s ganbari is in katakana…which isn’t how it’s normally done, mind you.

I’m so darned confused already…so. Girls. Battles. High School. *<-shamelessly ripped from ads I saw around my streaming service) Suddenly, idols…then Irous…? The idols know the high school girls? Wah?

There are only adult dudes here, which means this is probably for adult or teenage dudes…no wonder I feel so desensitised to this, haha.

That…may have been the most uninspired magical girl transformation I have ever seen! Grah! If you’re going to do an anime on magical girls, at least bother with the transformations! Both the CGI and the idol performance are lackluster, too, but maybe that’s because I muted this show (to not have to deal with my normal gripes for anime girl voices).

The video’s panning so fast over these girls I can only barely make out each one’s face! I have very good eyesight, thank you very much!

I swear there’s at least one battle the staff of this show haven’t shown us, which would really inform us about the rest of the show if we did see it. Proper storytelling is a must in any show or any entertainment medium!

Bad CGI doesn’t look like “real danger” to me, lady.

By the by, Fortissimo (ff) means “loud”. Therefore if I mute the show, ff loses all purpose, so to speak.

Okay. Girls, battles, high school, idols, magical girls and now yuri subtext. This show can’t pick one thing and deal with it appropriately, and in the genre of “magical girl” where even the weakest effort is more balanced than some other genre shows, not balancing smaller aspects of the genre to achieve the right payoff is just sad.

A training scene would have probably eased us in better than what the show actually did…just sayin’. It’s boring, but getting the groundwork correct is necessary if you want to have people pay attention to your story. Plus, girls, please…don’t do the derpy run with arms stuck on the side of your chest. No real girl runs like that.

*checks up the show* Oh, it’s based on a smartphone game! That should explain the large cast!

Whoa! These eyecatches are a little TMI. BWH measurements are for the dudes who watch for PLOT, but dream job? Yeah, for a card game, TMI.

Lemme guess…these PC/shogi gals will recruit Subaru, Miki and Haruka. As much as I’d say I’d like to side with the PC and shogi girls though, I can’t feel a reason to like ‘em at all. They’re not characterised enough for me to care about them.

What’s up with the red on that replanting girl’s hair?

That cut between Ms President in Chinese library and the magical girl battle really confused me for a second there.

I don’t get how Urara’s microphone/staff works…

When I checked up this show earlier, it said Sugitan was the teacher in glasses here. It disappoints me that his name is saddled on to something so confusing.

Now that I squint at the eye designs, these guys are trying to be Love Live. Knowing how popular that is just makes this pale in comprison all the more, even though I actively dislike Love Live.

It’s an unsaid rule of battling that whoever strikes first loses. Just sayin’.

There’s no precedent for how well these girls performed in the past, so a flashback would’ve done well this ep.

I knew hooded person was a girl (there are no boys in this show), but I didn’t know what her intentions were. Even knowing what they were made it really obvious this show was subpar, because she has little to no intentions at all at the moment.

They introduce another girl to fill up an already full cast? Yeah, nah.

…Yeah, that’s a clean drop. The magical girl outfits are the only good looking things about this.

Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun 1

This is an odd choice for me, but I’m just waiting for shows (other than Katsugeki) to come on to the scene…Then again, I played soccer (because I was forced to do a sport at one point, and Detective Conan has a soccer aspect to it). I’m not up to snuff on soccer rules, but…*shrugs*

I think they’re trying to get a Sakamoto vibe going here. So far, it isn’t working…

LOL. “Team Aoyama”, indeed.

The chibi face thing is reminiscent of Royal Tutor. Royal Tutor’s style is more jarring, but it works in that show’s favour more.

So what glasses man is saying is that if Aoyama were Lady Macbeth, he’d hate himself too much…ouch.

The butt guy is weird…

The soccer ball “…” worked well. Yhe artstyle for this one is clean and fairly attractive too, which works in its favour. (However, unless you like dudes in soccer uniforms or that one guy in the OP with the abs, then…yeah, this ain’t hottie territory.)

“Richie Rich”? I’m not sure that was in the Japanese, but okay.

Miwa’s great, man. Best coach I think I’ll ever see in a show like this, and that’s ‘cos I haven’t seen many of these sports shows.

Wowee, keppeki has some nasty-looking kanji! Fun facts: The zai in Kaoru’s surname is the same as in zaibatsu, and bocchan is “young master” (as used by, say, a butler to a distinguished family’s child – it’s used to Suguro in Blue Exorcist, as he’s part of a high ranking religious family).

Umm…what’s the name of the guy who got rejected by his girlfriend Anya in YOI? Georgi! This rich kid who wants to steal away Aoyama looks like Georgi!

I…don’t think I’ve ever heard a person being called a “scrub” prior to this. Apparently, it’s old fashioned slang, which is why the word suits Takechi.

Zaizen = Kamina (Gurren Lagann)??? They certainly have the “hot blooded” bit down pat.

Yeah…Takechi. I’m with Aoyama on this one. I like abs, but not yours.

The CGI is bad, but more well integrated than, say, Battle Girl’s Irous...es? Irous? (I dunno about the plural on that.)

As I said before, I’m not up to scratch on soccer terms. So a nutmeg was a “through the legs” kick (apparently known in Japanese as “crotch punching”, LOL!) and a rabona is the crossing leg thing Aoyama did.

One touch. (Chorus in back: ONE PUNCH!)

Uh, I think the ab brandish and “treasure” emphasis was a Japanese pun, but I have the volume off so I can’t tell.

Marking.

That sky shot was be-a-u-ti-ful! That is, before the soccer cleat got in the way of it…

I have the feeling Aoyama came for the white uniform?...I dunno why, though. White is hard to keep clean.

D-Does the number 10 have any special significance? *checks it up* Yeah, it does.

Oh man, Takechi talks to his abs (as well as to his friends)? This guy is becoming the death knell for this show. I know it’s meant to be funny, but it’s even weirder than the butt guy, and that says something.

The…toilet? That was one joke that was absolutely not worth the payoff.

I don’t get this Hajime no Ippo style…or maybe, because this is a comedy manga, they’re making a homage to the Hajime no Ippo style as a parody. Ahh, that makes sense now!

I’m gonna drop this. Not because it’s bad, mind you – it’s because I get confused between soccer and football (I’m from a place where “soccer” and “football” are different things), plus I don’t get soccer injokes.

Youkai Apato 1

I call this “Youkai Apato” because its full name is too long to remember…haha. This is here because of Morose Mononokean, which didn’t do too badly last year. I thought Yushi was butt ugly, but hopefully something’ll make my stay worth it.

I’m not a person who wants to become a businessman, but hey, if you can sell me the businessman life (or the youkai life) with this show, I’ll be all set!

Who dis (dude with the long hair in OP that looks like Hase)? I want him, even though I mistook him for Hase at first.

The –sou in Kotobuki-sou means “villa” or something like that. That’s why the word for “summer house” isn’t “summer house” in katakana, but rather two kanji that represent a “separate villa”…I guess…?

Scratch the Morose Mononokean references, this is more Kamisama Kiss.

I’ve noticed Maeda Realty’s second last and third last kanji are kanji for “movement” and “not” respectively…so I find the Japanese name for it, however it’s pronounced, really ironic (because Yushi wants to move, so to speak, but moving house as a verb would be hikkosu in Japanese).

Reimei Isshiki seems to be an exclusive to this show, so hopefully this show will use its author character well (knew he’d be a speaking character judging from how he needed voice credits). By the by, based on how Yushi describes Isshiki, it seems this author’s a lot like the one for Goat’s Egg (Tokyo Ghoul).

*screams incoherently* Can’t I have my fantasy of Yushi not being a darned harem protag? The way he acts around Akine, I ain’t getting it, even though my fantasy is the truth!

What an adorable dango. It’s got a rice grain texture on it (normally dango don’t have that, as you can see here).

These round blue birds I keep seeing in this show are so cute!

I applaud whoever made the backgrounds for this show. Dang, they are good.

A bath in the basement doesn’t sound too good for ventilation purposes, but that’s just speaking out of practicality. This is anime, we can get people having baths in jacuzzis on rooftops for all we care…

The landlord kinda looks like the creatures from ep 1 of Flip Flappers! Yipes!

These birds are too gosh darn adorable! *fangirl screams*

The zombie really wasn’t much of a threat…

Ooh, there’s a guy I like (redhead in ED)! I want him, too! B-But long-haired Hase…I want…

Well, it seems like long-haired Hase’ll be here next ep, so I’ll keep the show for now. If it gets a lil’ too much with the stating the obvious, then it’ll go on the drop pile.

Isekai Shokudou 1

I just ate, so…I’m not gonna be drooling here, am I? Just by the name it sure seems I will be. Well, why am I here? It seems Re:Creators is not the only reverse isekai happening this season, and because Amazon, I have to settle with this instead.

The font around the titlecard seems to be katakana, just flipped/reflected for some characters.

Seishu is apparently another name for sake.

I love how they don’t need names - they just call each other the names of the food they’re eating.

Wait, if these guys come from fantasy worlds, then they have to pay with fantasy currency, right? That’s problematic…as anyone who’s stuck overseas with their home country’s money will tell you.

Oh gosh…the boob jiggle was completely unnecessary…

I presume the contents of the pot was more beef stew, but I can’t be sure until I’ve been shown it. Why do I always feel like there will be something more suspenseful or action-like in this? Because of the fight about what suits white rice best?...Yeah, that’s probably it.

What is “knight’s sauce”???

I thought Aletta was a centaur, like Himeno (of this season’s A Centaur’s Worries). Turns out she’s a demon…

I may not be an expert on food (I watch Masterchef for the drama, LOL), so I’ll need Google to find out what corn potage is…There’s a great description of corn potage here, if you’re not familiar with it.

If I could understand more about the chef, then maybe I’d be behind this show a bit more. There’s always the backstory of the chef involved in these shows, since cooking, like anime, is a personal experience.

What’s that on the right of the tomatoes?

The breakfast special is called “morning” in katakana, which…I’ve never heard of until now. I thought “baiking = buffet” was the weirdest Japanese food concept I’d ever come across, prior to this…

I think they’re trying to go the moe route with Aletta. Moe never worked on me, people. Remember that.

14 hours on one day? I guess that’s not so demanding for a full time job, but I was a bit alarmed by it for a second since I’ve only ever dealt with part time jobs, haha. Well, it’s like the chef said – it must be pretty rough for Aletta if she’s not used to it.

Gratuitous shower scene irks me a little. A show like this should focus on what it does best and not something more or something less. I mean, this time it makes sense in context, but fanservice ruined Izetta and Matoi for me previously…so this is a bad sign.

LOL, men’s body wash…or shampoo…or something. Couldn’t really read it.

Where did this outfit come from? Is there an existing staff member that’s the same size as Aletta?

I feel like they shouldn’t have cut out Aletta’s training day. That way, there would’ve been more love for Aletta – which is what the staff seem to want. Sure, it would’ve shoved some other things out of the way, but Aletta seems like a main character, so…

My instinct says this is a dish best binged and devoured with actual food, so let’s go with that. I’m quite open to dropping it though, because it has somewhat skewed priorities in a few places.

#simulcast commentary #seikaisuru kado #battle girl high school #katsugeki touken ranbu #keppeki danshi! aoyama-kun #isekai shokudou #youkai apato no yuuga na nichijou #Chesarka watches Kado #Chesarka watches Katsugeki

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