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quetzalpapalotl · 1 year

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The only IDW I’ve read is MTMTE/LL, and I want to read more, specifically about Optimus. I only know him from Prime, and there, he’s the Superman-like hero, can do no harm kind of guy; I was hoping to see a different take on him. Where do I start for comics that focus on him?

Hello! So glad to have this question! I looove IDW1 Optimus and it's my interest to spread that, lol. When it comes to IDW1 Optimus, many writers have different takes on him, but John Barber is really the one that defines the character, or at least it is if you're interested in OP because of my blog. So the short answer is to read the exRID and Optimus Prime ongoings.

That being said, MTMTE is a far more self-contained story than the rest of the entries in the continuity. Barber's stuff not only gets a lot of crossovers and side stories, but Barber is known for being continuity-obsessed (same), and his Optimus is very much written as a reconciliation of all the interpretations of the character in the comics, taking even the negative implications others ignored and dealing with them face-on. The reading is definitively enriched by context.... but also I'm not gonna ask you to read all of IDW1 because a lot of those comics are... boring at best tbh, and I understand reading comics just for lore is not everyone's idea of a good time, haha.

So I prepared for you a Optimus-focused reading order for IDW1 with little explanations for each entry. Because Optimus is such an important character, his path crosses with many plotlines, so I tried to make it so you would be able to get a full, mostly-coherent story, while also keeping the focus on him. Just keep the following in mind: I am biased. This skips most, if not all, of phase 1 (comics published from 2005 to 2011) because I personally judged it not worth it in an attempt to lower the number of comics (so many). This also skips all the series and crossovers where Optimus doesn't feature prominently (so none of the Windblade series or things like Revolutionaries) so you will lack context for some stuff but I think you should be able to pull through. Finally, there will be issues of exrid/OP where Optimus doesn't show up, but it's all part of the storyline, and also Barber writes about Optimus not only as a person but as an ideal, his influence speaks even in his abscence.

Stormbringer by Simon Furman

An ancient evil awakes, Optimus deals with it while remembering the events that led to Cybertron dying. Nothing to write home about, you can skip it, but it's a quick read and it will give you a taste of how Furman writes Optimus (I'm skipping everything else by Furman btw), which was a heavy influence on JRo (from Marvel) and Barber. You can skip it if you want.

The Transformers (2009 ongoing) by Mike Costa

This is a big jump, so for context: previously the Decepticons did a full scale invasion of Earth as well as almost wiping out the Autobots thanks to intel from a traitor. Eventually the Autobots managed to come on top and defeat the Decepticons. Now the Autobots are stranded on Earth, humans have a terrible opinion of Cybertronians and Optimus wants to make reparations. This series presents a lot of interesting stuff that Barber will expand on. Unfortunately, Costa was (by his own admission) not invested in writing Transformers and it shows, particulary, he doesn't understand Optimus' appeal enough to make something interesting with it, but it was still an influence on Barber. There is some good stuff, but I'm afraid to bore you before getting to the actual good stuff. So you can skip it or come back to read it later.

Chaos Theory by James Roberts

These are issues #22 and #23 from the Costa ongoing, in case you decide to skip it. This is the one thing in phase 1 that you must read. We get a more complex take on Optimus, a look into his relationship with Megatron and their past. It introduces JRo's not-at-all controversial idea of making Orion Pax a cop (if only there was a writer that would later deal with the implications of that).

Autocracy by Chris Metzen & Flint Dille

A radically different take on Orion from JRo, this series is set in the past and shows us a bitter Orion who sees no good sides anywhere in the events that lead to the fall of Zeta Prime. Look, I like this in retrospective, but I don't think it's good on its own, feels very edgy for edge's sake (I have a lot to say about this, actually). Still a dear friend likes it so maybe you will. Either way, Barber will later write an arc that feels like a direct response to this that's one of my favorite parts of OP's character so it's worth a read at some point.

The Death of Optimus Prime by James Robers & John Barber

A single issue that serves as a prologue for the sister ongoings. after using the matrix to save the day at the end of Costa's ongoing, Optimus awakens to a rejuvenated Cybertron. The neutrals come back home and Optimus wonders about his place in peacetime.

Robots in Disguise #1-9 by John Barber Robots in Disguise annual

We see how Bumblebee and co. try to deal with an unstable peace on Cybertron. OP only shows up in issue 6, but since you will eventually have to read all of exRID, may as well read the beginning. Also Arcee shows up, and she will be as important for the themes as Optimus himself, so again, might as well.

More Than Meets the Eye #9-11 by James Roberts More than Meets the Eye #36 Spotlight: Orion Pax

It will do good to revisit Mtmte's Shadowplay arc as we see more of Orion's backstory and his relationship with Senator Shockwave. It may be a long jump, but since we're not focused on Mtmte itself, might as well complete JRo's stuff and read issue #36, where Team Rodimus travels back in time, in that issue we see what Orion is doing after angering Sentinel with no Senator to protect him, now under the guide of Zeta. All of this important for OP's character and for Cybertron's political backstory. Then in Spotlight: Orion Pax, we see Orion working under Zeta-now-Prime and his perspective on current issues.

Monstrosity and Primacy by Chris Metzen & Flint Dille

Following Autocracy, these two series shows us Optimus struggling with his newly-adquired Primacy. Suffer from a lot of the same issues as Autocracy, but in my opinion they're less pointlessly edgy. They don't have as much relevance, however, so you can skip them if it feels like too much.

Robots in Disguise #10-22 by Jonh Barber

We're back to the main series. Again, Orion only shows up in issues #10 and #19, but the same as above applies. Also this will lead up to...

Dark Cybertron by John Barber and James Roberts

A crossover event between the two ongoings, which honestly fits much more better on exRID than it does on Mtmte. It consists of 12 issues, of which #1 and #12 were published on their own, and the rest were published as More than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise alternatively, but you can find it all compiled in one volume. Orion has some important moments here, including retaking the name Optimus Prime (but was that really such a good idea?).

Robots in Disguise #28-34 by John Barber

After Dark Cybertron, Barber leaves most of the stuff on Cybertron to Mairghread Scott and takes us back to Earth. Optimus is now at the center on this series and will remain there. Here we start to see his struggles in trying to maintain peace, which will only get more complicated.

The Transformers #35-#38 (2014 ongoing, exRID) by John Barder

This is the same series as Robots in Disguise, expect they reduced the name to just The Transformers to avoid confusion with the comics for the Robots in Disguise 2015 cartoon. That's why we refer to the whole thing as exRID.

Punishment by John Barber

A miniseries where Optimus returns to Cybertron and tries to track down a Decepticon serial killer. Here Barber lays down some themes he will keep revisiting fot the rest of his work. Optimus faces some questions and we see how his self doubt is really taking a toll on him.

This is the first part of the Redemption of the Dinobots trilogy, followed by Redemption and Salvation set later in the continuity. Those two don't feature Optimus and so aren't on this list. However I want to say that they showcase the best of Barber's work when not restrained by editorial mandates, so I do recommend them.

Combiner Wars by John Barber & Mairghread Scott

A crossover similar to Dark Cybertron published across two series, this time between exRID and Windblade. Strascream schemes so Camminus will be indebted to him, Windblade and Optimus use OP's Prime clout to try to diminish his influence (this will surely not become an habit for OP). As questionable as that is, Prowl thinks is not enough and takes matters into his own hands. I think it does a good enough job depiste all the To Sell Toys mandates and either way, it will influence what's to come and we get to see the reason for Prowl and OP falling out

The Transformers #42-#55 (exRID) by John Barber

We continue with the Earth plot. Optimus keeps struggling with peace and makes more questionable decisions. Should he leave Earth alone or is he obligated to protect it? How do you protect that which doesn't want yout help?

Titans Return

A sort of crossover, it opens with a one-shot which is followed by exRID #56-57, and then Mtmte #56-57. For our purposes, you don't have to read the MTMTE chapters, but if you did while on your own MTMTE read you may want to revisit them now with context.

Revolution by John Barber and Cullen Bunn (+others)

Okay, this is where we start with the Hasbroverse crossovers. A six issue series (from 0 to 5) backed up by one shots from every individual series featured. This isn't impossible to follow, but it does drag because it features a buch of characters and plotlines a Transformers-only reader won't care about and the writing isn't great. It does feature some "WTF, Optimus" moments (as in, on purpose), Optimus learns humans are not so defenseless and it is kinda relevant, so you may still want to read it. If you do, make sure to also read the Till All Are One: Revolution one shot (and might as well add the The Transformers one because Thundercraker is in it and he's great, and again, the Mtmte one so you can read it with context this time).

Optimus Prime #1-8 by John Barber

We start phase 3 with an arc that's a favorite of mine. Optimus plays with fire to get Earth to join the Council of Worls for its own good. We also get flashbacks of Orion working under Zeta pre Autocracy and pre Spotlight. Barber recontextualizes Autocracy!Orion, deals with the cop thing in ways JRo didn't dare and explores why me made the choices he did without trying to wash his hands.

Transformers Annual 2017 by John Barber

I don't know why this isn't labeled as an Optimus Prime annual, but whatever, it takes place after issue #8. Optimus and Pyra Magna have talk.

Optimus Prime #9-10 by John Barber

We get what I think is one of the most touching issues followed by learning more about the history of Cybertron.

First Strike by Mairghread Scott and David A. Rodriguez (+others)

More crossover fun! I honestly can't tell you how easy this is to follow without having read Revolutionaries (not featured on this guide). Again it's kinda relevant, some of this is a consequence of Optimus actions, leads to Unicron being awoken, and it does have some key Optimus moments, this time by Scott rather than Barber, if you want to see what she does with him. It has the tie-in comics, Optimus Prime: First Strike and Transformers: First Strike by John Barber (the laters follow the former, despite having different names) which don't feature OP a lot.

Optimus Prime #11-14 by John Barber

We see what Optimus' followers get up to while OP is busy in First Strike and then what follows after that event.

Optimus Prime annual by John Barber

Thundercraker tries to make a movie about Starscream (who is in jail after confessing to all his crimes in the Till All Are One annual), it's great.

Optimus Prime #15-21 by John Barber

Barber starts to pay off things he has been building up since exRID as Unicron approaches.

This is the recommended order for what remains (all by Jonh Barber)

Unicron #0 Optimus Prime #22 Unicron #1-4 Optimus Prime #23-24 Unicron #5-#6 and finally Optimus Prime #25

Unicron is here to make Cybertronians face their legacy. Optimus arc comes to an end. OP #25 is my favorite comic issue. I hope you manage to get there, and if you do, let me know what you think!

I hope this was helpful. If you get confused by lacking context, it may help to check the continuity notes section of whatever issue you just read in TFWiki's page for it. And as always, feel free to as me more questions!

#transformers #optimus prime #idw1 #yeah i think i earned maintagging this time #quetzal rambles tf

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dashalbrundezimmer · 10 days

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ringturm // köln agnesviertel

architects: gerling baukunst architekturgesellschaft

completion: 1973

i am always fascinated by the simple, heptagonal tower block on ebertplatz and it is a dominant landmark in our neighbourhood next to the agnes church. after renovation work in 2011, it now only houses flats. the view from these, especially from the higher floors, will be phenomenal.

der siebeneckige schlichte hochhausturm am ebertplatz fasziniert mich immer wieder mit seiner eleganz und ist bei uns im veedel eine dominante wegmarke neben der agneskirche. nach umbauten 2011 ist er inzwischen ein reines wohngebäude. die aussicht aus diesen, vor allen in den höheren stockwerken muss phänomenal sein

film: agfa pax 400

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sylvan-librarian · 9 months

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Nissa’s Pilgrimage Part 2: Duels of the Dual Origins

Time for another deranged essay about Nissa. Last time, I wrote about my own attachment to the character (which hopefully explains why the hell I’d go to the trouble of writing an entire essay series about her), but this piece discusses a more practical matter: why was Nissa written into the world of Magic The Gathering in the first place, and what role does she play within the game’s larger narrative? That matter is a little complicated because it involves extensive rewrites and retcons on the part of the story team at Wizards of the Coast.

Nissa Revane was introduced as a character in a video game first: Duels of the Planeswalkers, which was released on the Xbox 360 (an ancient relic of a bygone era) in June of 2009, a few months before Nissa’s initial appearance as card in the first Zendikar set, which hit shelves in October 2009. According to the Voice for Vorthos panel at Pax Prime 2015, the designers of Duels of the Planeswalkers needed a face character for their black/green elf deck, centered around the way elves were presented in Lorwyn (read: racists). Since no existing planeswalker fit the mold, the design team, according to Jeremy Jarvis, created this “kind of a villainous, you know, hardcore, staunch xenophobic person that would run this elf deck. That was the need for her; that’s how she was created. She was visually meant to be slightly off-putting; it’s why she doesn’t have eyebrows and her eyes are just these solid green orbs.” This was Nissa’s introduction, and it was how she was presented in Magic’s overarching lore from her introduction in 2009 all the way to Magic Origins in 2015. After some cursory digging through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, I found Nissa’s original blurb on Magic’s website, circa 2011:

Her planar travels have taken her to other places where elves thrive or even rule, such as the sunny world of Lorwyn. There she met elves who fully embraced their role as the pinnacle of nature, using both life magic and its shadow to assert their primacy.

Yikes.

Further insights into Nissa’s original personality can be found in the 2010 novel Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum, which recounts Nissa’s journey to Eye of Ugin with Sorin Markov and the vampire Anowon and Nissa’s subsequent release of the Eldrazi Titans. In this particular scene, for example, Nissa explains to her vampire companions that all “‘elves receive power from the land. We do not need to cut and hack and burn as humans do.’ She looked from Sorin to Anowon. ‘You are all, human and vampire, suckers of life. You are the same in our eyes.’” Later on, we get Nissa’s thoughts on goblins. Despite her previous protestations, she starts to warm up to her vampire ally Anowon, who thus far has been nabbing goblins every few days in order to feed on them; Nissa rationalizes his actions this way: “He was a vampire after all—a merciless vampire. He could not be trusted. On the other hand, he had conducted himself fairly, and who could blame him for feeding on the goblins, who were, after all, barely lifeforms. They were not children of the forest, but rather opportunists of the stone and dell.”

…barely lifeforms.

Yikes again.

Needless to say, there was little to like about Nissa’s original presentation in Magic fiction. Aside from how poorly written she is in Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum (on top of being xenophobic, she is also presented as belligerently naive and an incompetent leader), there is simply nothing fascinating about a stupid racist. Many other villains in Magic’s lore are beloved and have countless fans of their own: Bolas, the Phyrexian Praetors, and even Nissa’s mortal enemies, the Eldrazi Titans themselves, are fun to like, depending on personal preference. Their villainy is so overblown and impossible that it’s easy to suspend our disbelief and just enjoy the fictional mayhem for what it is. However, in our current cultural climate where stupid racists have spent the last decade driving the world closer and closer to hell, the original Nissa’s brand of villainy just isn’t very fun to engage with

However, Nissa’s presentation in Magic’s lore did a complete 180 between 2014 and 2015, retconning nearly all of her villainy and transforming her blatant, remorseless xenophobia into a simple distrust of outsiders and a desperation to protect her home. Her motivations of seeing “elves at the pinnacle of nature” was completely erased from her background entirely, replacing it with a respect for all life, and her magic, which was previously tied to summoning and buffing elves and elves only, became inexorably tied to the land and its leylines.

Readers wouldn't receive the full retcon of Nissa’s backstory until “Nissa’s Origin: Home” was released in the summer of 2015, but we did get a glimpse of who Nissa would eventually become in the 2014 story “Nissa, Worldwaker,” a piece of webfiction revealed in tandem with her card of the same name during the preview season for the 2015 Core Set. It’s interesting to note that at this time in Nissa’s development, the story team appears to keep Nissa’s old self largely intact; instead of simply erasing the rough edges of her backstory like the Magic Origins retcon would, it seemed at the time like “Nissa, Worldwaker” was supposed to be the beginning of Nissa’s redemption arc. For example, look at the opening blurb at the very beginning of the story:

The elf Planeswalker Nissa Revane has led a difficult life. She's been exiled from her tribe, the Joraga, on more than one occasion, and becoming a Planeswalker set her even further apart. She traveled to different worlds, seeking to understand the nature of elves' responsibility toward nature, but she always returned to her home plane of Zendikar. Whatever peace she managed to find for herself came to an end with the rising of the monstrous Eldrazi. These vast, interplanar beings, devourers of entire worlds, had been imprisoned on Zendikar millennia before. Desperate to save her world, Nissa broke the lock that kept the Eldrazi on Zendikar. Her hope was that the Eldrazi, freed of their confines, would travel out into the Multiverse. Their threat would spread, but Zendikar would be saved. It didn't work. At least one of the three Eldrazi titans remains on Zendikar, threatening all life on the plane with annihilation. Nissa stayed to fight the Eldrazi, but she fears it's hopeless. To defeat the monstrosities that assault the plane, all of Zendikar would have to fight as one…

Notice that while the story is clearly setting Nissa on a new path, it doesn’t deny what her character was previously, nor does it deny that the events that took place in Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum did in fact happen the way they were originally reported. In “Nissa, Worldwaker,” we are presented with a Nissa a few years after she naively set the Eldrazi free, broken by her endless fight with Ulamog’s brood and wracked with tremendous guilt from the actions she took at the Eye of Ugin.

The story opens with Nissa getting rescued by a human man named Hamadi after Ulamog completely annihilates Nissa’s Joraga clan down to, apparently, Nissa herself. Her first reaction upon waking up in her savior’s tent shows that much of her old xenophobia still remains: “‘Where am I?’ Nissa said. Mistrust everyone. Even though the human saved her, the old Joraga instincts remained. She felt vulnerable, naked under the furs, and she knew her full power was a long way from returning.” Nissa and Hamadi later talk about this with each other: how nearly all the civilizations of Zendikar were isolated and separated from each other, and it took the rise of the Eldrazi to bring them together.

Then, Nissa listens as Hamadi begins to tell her about the destruction of his home and his people, and it’s here we begin to see Nissa’s transformation; as she listens to Hamadi’s stories,

a growing ache welled up within her body and lodged itself in her throat. She was responsible for all of it, all his loss and all of Zendikar's devastation. Hamadi had pulled her, a Joraga elf, from certain death. He had risked his life and had saved hers. And she was the cause. Dark memories started to crawl into Nissa's mind from all the worst places. All her failures, her foolish choices, her selfishness and arrogance, poured into her gut like a lead weight. She became tangled in the web of her past that was filled with the bodies of a thousand innocents who had fallen to the Eldrazi. She could have saved them all.

This is the most important section of “Nissa, Worldwaker” for the character’s burgeoning growth, but this story also shows readers something else: the transformation of Nissa’s magic. Nissa’s first card, Nissa Revane was a planeswalker that cared only for elves, and all of her story appearances have shown this narratively. However, with Nissa, Worldwaker, we are given a card with a completely altered skill set. In this card, Nissa animates lands into creatures that fight for the player and untaps lands to symbolize how her deep connection to the land can generate a near endless amount of mana. While I assume the primary reason for this shift in Nissa’s skillset was due to the team’s desire to explore a new design space, the story, “Nissa, Worldwaker” also tries to explain this shift narratively; by rejecting her former tribalism and xenophobia and embracing all life on Zendikar, Nissa unlocks the might and the loyalty of the land itself. This is driven home by Hamadi revealing that the nickname he has been calling Nissa throughout the story, “Shaya,” means Worldwaker.

While this created an interesting setup for future Nissa stories, Magic’s story team clearly decided that Nissa’s previous way of life (read: racism) made her unsuitable to be a hero of Magic the Gathering, so they instead opted to retcon her entire backstory as a part of making her one the iconic five planeswalkers for their Magic Origins initiative. At the time, Wizards of the Coast announced that they would be getting rid of the yearly standard set release model they had been using - two three-set blocks and a core set per year - opting instead for three two set blocks per year and no core set at all. Forecasting deeper, more focused storytelling, Magic Origins was marketed as being the “final'' core set while also introducing revised backstories of five planeswalkers who would be the focus of Magic storytelling for the foreseeable future: Gideon Jura, Jace Beleren, Liliana Vess, Chandra Nalaar, and Nissa Revane.

While a handful of the other stories in the Magic Origins arc simply revised certain elements to make these characters more palatable to readers - Chandra’s for example - Nissa’s revised backstory, “Nissa’s Origin: Home,” reworked the character from the ground up, completely erasing from the narrative much of her characterization in Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum and elsewhere, and even bringing into question the canonicity of the redemption arc forecasted the previous year in “Nissa, Worldwaker.”

In the original canon, Nissa embraced the xenophobia and tribalism of the austere Joraga tribe, and she was only truly ostracized when she became a planeswalker. In the new canon, Nissa spent her childhood being ostracized by the Joraga because she and her mother were the last of the animists.

Nissa constantly has nightmares, and the Joraga clan believes that these nightmares are a curse the world of Zendikar has placed on the animists because of some unknown crime. Numa, the chief of the Joraga, tells Nissa’s mother one night after Nissa wakes up screaming and startles the village: “‘Your people angered Zendikar and they paid the price. There is a reason that you are the last of the animists.’” Nissa overhears this, and being young at the time and not knowing any better, she runs away to avoid causing any more trouble for her family.

This sets Nissa on her hero’s journey, where she comes to embrace her burgeoning animist powers, learns that her dreams are not a curse from Zendikar but instead a plea for help, and experiences her first major failure (of many). She journeys to the Akoum mountain range for the first time and finds the mountain where the Eldrazi Titans are imprisoned. Not understanding enough about the threat she is facing, she attempts to reach her consciousness through the mountain and is met with the oppressive, impenetrable, alien mind of Emrakul, the greatest of the Eldrazi Titans. The trauma of realizing she is no match at all for this creature causes her planeswalker spark to ignite and she ends up on Lorwyn.

Here again is where Nissa’s story diverges dramatically from her original background. Originally, Nissa was fascinated by Lorwyn’s fascist elves; as mentioned earlier, we are told that there “she met elves who fully embraced their role as the pinnacle of nature, using both life magic and its shadow to assert their primacy.” In the revised origin from “Home,” Nissa does, in fact, meet Lorwyn’s elves, but she is absolutely horrified by their way of life. After she finds Dwynen’s tribe slaughtering innocent, helpless boggarts simply because they are ugly, she exclaims, “‘There is so much evil … So much darkness already. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it all. It’s horrible. It’s awful.’ Tears welled in her eyes as she thought of her precious Zendikar. ‘Yet you insist on adding more.’” Obviously, this does not go over well with a bunch of elf supremacists, and she is forced to planeswalk back to Zendikar before she gets executed.

And here is where Nissa’s two origins largely converge. Strangely enough, despite Nissa’s characterization as belligerently naive, incompetent, and wildly prejudiced during the events of Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum, nothing in this novel has been officially retconned as of yet. In fact, other than a few flashbacks to show personal growth, Nissa’s life during this time wasn’t addressed in a meaningful way until late 2022 in Magic The Gathering: The Visual Guide. In the small blurb we get about Nissa, we are told:

Joined by the vampire planeswalker Sorin Markov, Nissa journeyed to the Eye of Ugin, the magical control center of the Hedron Network. Nissa’s distrust of vampires ran deep, and she betrayed Sorin by destroying the central hedron—rather than helping him repair it—in the hope that Sorin was lying and the Eldrazi would leave once they were freed. The truth was far worse.

In essence, we are told that the basic events of Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum did in fact happen largely the way we were told they did. Without being instructed otherwise, we can really only assume that the Nissa in the modern canon was probably less incompetent, hateful, and racially prejudiced than what the novel told us.

But why was Nissa changed so drastically, and what does this mean for us readers and players? The answer to the first question can be found in the Voice for Vorthos panel at PAX Prime 2015. Kimberly Kreines, one of the Magic Story Team’s lead writers at the time, explained:

We want her values to reflect the way we as a company are evolving as well and we want to set ourselves up for the best success with this character moving forward, and so the parts of her personality we chose to preserve, we carefully thought about that, and where we see her evolution going next is, you know, we’re happy with where we are with her right now, and excited, really excited, for the potential of all of these characters.

In other words, Nissa’s shift from a racial supremacist to a shy cinnamon roll was part of a larger shift in the evolution of the Magic Story Team’s values. It’s important to note that Nissa was not the only character whose sharp edges got polished down during the Magic Origins stories. Chandra, for example, had been presented previously as selfish to a fault, not really caring who gets hurt by collateral damage. Jace gets transformed from a mind mage who is more than happy to destroy the minds of basically anyone who gets in his way to someone who only destroys the minds of those who he believes deserves it.

Seen in this context, one can see that the changing culture at Wizards of the Coast pushed their creative minds to ensure that the main characters of their world were more heroic (or at least less terrible) than they had been previously. You can definitely view this through a cynical lens and argue that the protagonists of Magic stories from 2015 and beyond have suffered extreme ‘Disneyfication,’ in that they are now more palatable to a wider audience than the morally gray (at best) way they were presented previously. And the relative backlash at the time reveals that is certainly what many Vorthoses believed. For example, a 2017 article from Hipsters of the Coast argued that Nissa’s change may have been worth it in the end, but that many Vorthoses also had “their confidence shaken” by these abrupt changes to existing lore.

Fast-forward to 2023, however: Magic’s player base is larger than ever, and many of these new players came into the game in a post-Magic Origins world. Nissa’s original story has almost been forgotten. These days, Nissa is mostly known for her relationship with Chandra (more on that later), how she and Chandra’s relationship has been mishandled and botched throughout the years and then, finally, given the respect and honor it deserves (definitely more on that later), and for being a green menace during the both War of the Spark standard season and in the early days of the Pioneer format.

To conclude on a more personal note, I came into Magic the Gathering in 2014, and I fell in love with Nissa’s cards and Nissa’s character during the Magic Origins and Battle for Zendikar stories, so the dramatic shift in Nissa’s character portrayal did not bother me then and still does not today. While an argument can certainly be leveraged against Wizards of the Coast for, at times, sacrificing story quality in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience, I can’t say I see that in the Magic Origins changes to the game’s main cast of characters. From my point of view, Nissa as a complex character - a genuinely good person who has made terrible mistakes then learned from them - is much more interesting and relatable than a Nissa who is a genuinely terrible person (racist) that gets a chance at redemption (realizing that non-elves are people).

If you stuck through this meandering, long-winded nonsense, thanks! I hope you learned something or at the very least found something to enjoy about it. Next time, I will be talking about Nissa during the early days of the Gatewatch story arc, so I hope you are prepared for a lot of…

See you next time!

References

Annelli, J. (2022). Magic The Gathering The Visual Guide. DK Publishing

Byrne, L. (2017), Retcons of Revane, Part II

Lee, A. (2014) Nissa, Worldwaker

Magic Story Team (2015). Nissa’s Origin: Home

Magic Story Team (2015). Voice for Vorthos Panel at PAX Prime 2015

Wintermute, R. B. (2010). Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum. Wizards of the Coast

#magic the gathering #nissa revane #vorthos #gatewatch #essay

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coveredinmetaldust · 8 months

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USB-Pot February, 2011 Copper, Brass, Bronze, USB stick and old mouse parts

During my time at MassART, they had an annual a cross critique with the Main College of Art. Students would prepares an object based on a theme, and we meet up to critique them all. In 2011, our theme was vessels: an object which is designated to hold something.

My vessel was a teapot with a USB stick inside it. The teapot is a very traditional metalsmithing object, one which use to be a sort of rite of passage for amateur silversmiths. I wanted to use this language to create something with a bit more of a modern twist to it, so I scaled it down and wired up a 256mb USB flashdrive to a USB cord. Now instead of holding liquid, this vessel holds information.

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Here's some more old work. I think I got the USB drive from PAX 2010. Wizards of the Coast had a booth and they gave away these rubber bracelets with USB drives in them. They had something like, 256mb capacity and came pre-loaded with an executable for Duels of the Planeswalkers.

Anyway, here's a WIP photo I found of it. (Courtesy of my shitty flip phone.)

#metalsmithing #metalsmith #old work #handmade #art jewelry #wmvmetals #teapot #silversmith #metal working

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ultrace · 7 months

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PAX Swag on eBay

What do you get for that gamer in your life that has everything? Or for yourself when you have considerably less? Well, I have at least a possible suggestion. Have you considered a box of PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) swag?

As of a few minutes ago, I now have four auctions up, one for each year in which my wife and I attended (2009 - 2012). What you get is essentially at least one of everything that we picked up at the con, from lanyards, badges and hotel room keys to stickers, cards and, in each year, much more impressive items. Patches, metal cars, resin statuettes, tie bars, magnet sets, The One Ring and much more can be yours for a quite reasonable price. Take a time machine back to the height of the Seventh Generation of video gaming and relive those glory days -- or just add a little more completeness to your memorabilia collection.

If this sounds intriguing -- and let's be honest, of course it does -- why not hop on over to eBay and find out what's up? All the goods are authentic and have been well cared for, and you know I mean it when I say it. Plus, you get that warm feeling in helping me to acquire money to do things like <checks notes> go to school and better myself! Here are the links to each of the listings:

PAX 2009 swag box

PAX 2010 swag box

PAX 2011 swag box

PAX 2012 swag box

And, if you're not so much into video game merch but you read this far anyway, have you considered fabricating a career in banking? Who hasn't? I've got your back. I'm also auctioning off 15 years worth of pins and years-of-service cubes from my time at Wells Fargo. Everything you need to feel like you spent a decade and a half moldering away in a cubicle, except for the wrinkles and gray hair. Check it out!

Wells Fargo Employee Memorabilia collection

#PAX #Wells Fargo #swag #2010s games

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brennacedria · 1 month

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I miss PAX from 2008-2012ish.

Well, 2008-2011. 2012 was wonderful, but I knew when I was there it would be my last, that it had just grown beyond what I could handle.

#Bren does life #nostalgia

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wild-ride-to-headcanons · 1 year

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Hi, I’m on around 30 minutes of sleep at the moment, and I think it’s time to give team Prime their height, and vehicle modes, and a rough idea on their age and what they did before the war. (This includes all team Prime through the entire show dead or alive.)

Ok before I begin, just to let people know, I haven’t put much thought into this and am very tired but can’t see to sleep until I get this out. If you want to see more then check out my post I did on the Rescue bots. Also some of the heights that I find will be slightly added onto or rounded up, if deemed necessary.

Let’s Roll on, shall we!

Optimus Prime: the big guy himself, second oldest on the team. He is of course an old Peterbilt, I based him of a peterbilt 379. It’s difficult for me to find his height on this because I could add the trailer making him tall or just the truck. As just the truck he’d be short close to 10 or 11 feet, which obviously doesn’t fit the Prime. (Though it’d be funny). With the trailer he’d be around 50 feet which is a better size for him, but the trailer is not apart of his body which is why I’m hesitant to use its length. Though I guess we could use some G1 magic.

Ratchet: the good old doctor of doom (dramatic Megatron go brrr) he’s obviously the oldest of the team, mostly likely an elder by cybertronian standards. I’d say he’s a type 3 ambulance, making him around 23 feet. Not Prime big, but a decent size.

Arcee: before UltraMagnus and Wheeljack showed up, she was the third oldest on the team (not much older than Bulk tho). Unfortunately for her she’s the smallest. I chose a fast motorcycle for her, a dodge tomahawk, the fastest motorcycle in the world (according to google). Now onto her size, I’m sorry but she’s around 10 feet tall😭.

Bulkhead: the wrecker himself! Good old Bulk is 4th in age at the start of the series but at the end, he’s forced to 6th place for age. So we can go the jeep route like Prime did, making him around 20 feet tall. Though we could go the animated route and make him some sort of armored vehicle, likely military. If he went that route I’d say he’s around, 25 ft, I know not much bigger.

Bumblebee: Ah the good old scout, the youngest of the bots throughout the whole series. He probably has the most iconic vehicles mode of all the bots, making him easy to pick for. I looked it up and they said in one of the movies he was a slightly modified 2011 Camaro SS. This would make Bee around 16 feet tall.

Wheeljack: Ah yes Jackie, best friend of Bulk, tormentor of Ratchet. When he joins the team full time, head around the third oldest (a bit older than Magnus) as for his vehicle form, that was slightly tricky to pick. Idk what car he his, so imma choose a new one or similar one. Ok, so the 2017 Ford GT does look close to his car in the show. This would make him around 17 feet, so around Bee’s height.

SmokeScreen: the good old rookie, he’s the second youngest on the team (only slightly older than bee). He be a speedy boi, so he need a fast car. I was going to pick the fastest car in the world but, another fit his alt in the show. That would be the Hennessy Venom F5, this would make him around (technically 15) but I’m going to add a couple feet making him around 20 ft.

UltraMagnus: this rule dude was easy to decide for, when he joins he’d the 4th oldest on the team. As for his alt mode, he chose what Prime had before the upgrade. He’d be around 53 ft.

Cliffjumper: poor boi, he deserves much better. When he was alive he was between Bull and Arcee’s age. His alt mode was a 1964 Pontiac GTO. This alt would’ve made him around 18 feet tall.

Yay finally done with all that stuff, let’s get into what they were before the war.

Optimus: he was of course Orion Pax before the war, a simple data clerk.

Ratchet: he was a doctor, though less experienced than he is now.

Magnus: he was in the Elite guard.

Arcee: idk about her, she’s difficult to tell. Maybe a racer or was in the entertainment business (I know stranger for this Arcee, but it’s clear that she’s very war torn, so she could have changed a bit.)

Jackie: he was most definitely and scientists/ engineer before the war.

Bulk: he said it himself, he was in construction.

Cliff: now we don’t get a lot about him, but I think it’s be a funny nod to his first VA (DWAYNE THE ROCK JHONSON!) that he was either a wrestler or an actor, or perhaps both.

SmokeScreen: was still in the Academy to become an Elite guardsman.

Bee: like Smokey, he was still in school, though I’d say he was around a high school senior before the war broke out.

Now that all for now, I might make a post about the human either together or separately. Also I plan on making Jasper a lot more lively than it is in the show.

#transformers #tfp #transformers prime #tfp au #tf au #tfp autobots #tfp arcee #tfp wheeljack #tfp optimus prime #tfp ratchet #tfp bumblebee #tfp smokescreen #tfp ultra magnus #tfp cliffjumper

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fallout-boiiiiii · 1 year

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Wave four post hiatus

Truant Wave (2011)

New one! This one is all tans and browns with a highlight of lime green. I kept this with all brown, tan, and white except for a few spots. The quarters have a tan gingham to keep a simple background I can paint the green geometric shape from the album art on. The eye stays have a lime green alien print to add a pop of color and pattern. I intend to replace the laces to make them lime green, and also in lime paint the PS initial logo on the heels. It says to paint the limited track list across the four side stripes but I probably wouldn’t do so when making the actual shoes, for I fear it would be too busy. Two lace charms, one for each shoe, a silver hand mirror to represent vanity (Porcelain, Cute Girls) and a stack of money to represent greed (As Long As I Know I’m Getting Paid, Love, Selfish Love)

Soul Punk (2011)

Soul Punk doesn’t change a ton. Pictured is a better paint design for the geometric graphic that will go on the quarters. It won’t include the words as pictured, it’s just there to show the dimension with three different colors, like the Truant Wave shape. A Soul Punk logo will be embroidered onto one heel. It will actually have to be embroidered since the heels are glitter- no painting over that, so I’m doing it only for one. If I can sew teddy fabric over the tongues on the Folies I can embroider one heel. Lace charms: one will get a silver cursive P and the other a matching S. The S shoe will also get a silver devil charm, simple, like the emoji, representative of the “sins” expressed within the album. (Adultery, Excessive Drinking, Greed, Sex, Vanity, Spite, etc.)

Save Rock and Roll (2013)

First, I’d replace the laces to be a beige/light tan to pull the tan tones from the album art. One shoe would get a silver rock and roll hand sign lace charm (self explanatory) and the other would get a pin of a lit match (matches the quarters while calling back the fiery spirit of a previous design without deviating from the color scheme). The toe of one shoe would get a grayscale patch of a falcon. This calls back to the Youngblood Chronicles music video for the Phoenix, as well as harkens to the album’s spirit of freedom. The opposite toe will have the anti-music symbol from the YBC and “YBC” (self explanatory).

Pax Am Days (2013)

Pax Ams my beloved. Simple add ons to a simple design. On the heels of each shoe I’ll add the symbol pictured from the Youngblood Chronicles and on the tread of each shoe where there isn’t checkerboard I’ll write “Pax Am Days” in the Pax Am font pictured on the album. One shoe will feature a silver and black barbed wire pin.

American Beauty American Psycho (2015)

Also very simple customizations! Replace laces with a glittery light gold as pictured. One shoe will have the gold and blue firework pin as pictured. On the heels of each shoe will be embroidered “beauty” and “psycho” (which Vans can do for me if I pay extra)

M A N I A (2018)

Lace charms lace charms lace charms. One shoe will have the simple silver tile with a wave. The other will have the Rx symbol in silver (mania) and a purple heart. On the tread of both I’ll paint out “mania” with the correct spacing between letters (see above). I’ll also replicate the font pictured on the album. On one heel I’ll sew on a black FOB mania-era wave triangle patch. On the other I’ll paint the lyric “last blues we’re ever gonna have” from Bishop’s Knife Trick.

Llamania (2018)

New again! And I knew this one had to look insane without looking like a mess, so, hence patterns upon patterns. Llamania by “frosty and the nightmare making machine” vibe wise is sort of Mania’s even more mentally ill evil twin. It’s also unfinished scrapped songs from Mania, so my concept buzzword here was: scattered. We’re talking incomplete thoughts, harebrained, got a couple screws loose but in a really interesting way. The primary colors on both the album art and the shoe are purple and black, solidifying it’s presence as the darker twin to Mania. If Mania pictures the scary highs, Llamania pictures the scary lows. One shoe will have a silver llama charm, self explanatory. For the laces I chose a simple print, black and white polka dots, but alternating colors. This print is a Vans original. For the heels I want them black with a repeating, layered question mark print as pictured. Then for the quarters, I decided to keep them purple and have a repeating realistic eye pattern. Over top of the eyes I’m going to layer a glitch effect in shades of blues and purples.

Lake Effect Kid (2018)

I love this design. It’s probably my third favorite overall. Not adding terribly much here, one shoe will get a silver lace charm of Illinois with a heart in the middle. One toe will get the classic Fall Out Boy symbol patch and the other will get the lyric “I love you Chicago” from City in a Garden. Best part overall, possibly my favorite aspect of the entire design, chunky hot pink yarn laces. Reflecting the yarn tears of the boy on the album.

Believers Never Die: Volume Two

This says I’ll get each shoe black FOB lace locks but I’m unsure if I want to keep that idea. Other than that, the featured lace charms are a silver skeleton (self explanatory) and an ice cream cone. The ice cream lines up with several merch releases and promotional advertising in line with Dear Future Self and the Believers two ad campaign of stretching out summer. The old Folie era Fresh Only Bakery truck was repainted as a Dear Future Self ice cream truck where they (similarly to the Folie donut truck) handed out custom tshirts. Melting ice cream was featured on those shirts, on the single album art for DFS, and in the DFS music video. The custom shirts mention their goal to “stretch summer into fall”. Pete also appeared for a photo opt on the Stranger Things 3 Scoops Ahoy ice cream parlor set. There were also yellow DFS tshirts picturing melted ice cream released at Hot Topic. The attached design photo also says painted on the tongue but I think it means the toe because the tongue is obstructed by laces. Anyway, on one shoe it’ll have “drunk on cheap whiskey in an airport hotel” from Dear Future Self. The other shoe will have “no one ever thinks of you as much as I do” from Bob Dylan. Alternatively, these quotes could be moved to the heels. They’re a little wordy for the heels which was probably my original concern but I think they’ll look cleaner there, so I’ll either change the quotes to condense them or paint small!

#fall out boy #fob #fob shoes #custom shoes #custom #my shoes #my art

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tryst-art-archive · 1 year

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March 2011: PAX East 2011, pt. 2

(The absence of many cosplayer photos is because my shots of cosplayers are universally bad shots.)

Bonus college!Trystan attending the con below the cut.

Really giving us "dead inside" there, buddy.

#old art #art archive #me #PAX East #PAX East 2011 #10s #2011 #Age 20 #convention #gaming #event #crowds #Boston #BCEC #photography #cosplay #I'd tag the franchises but kdgjkdfghkjfd

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ironasss · 2 years

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VERY LONG POST THAT IS A CONNECTION BETWEEN MANY THINGS!

right, good omens stars michael sheen and david tennant. amazing, incredible. trivia: they were in the movies bright young things together in 2003 (dir. stephen fry) as well as james mcavoy and bill paterson.

As a furtherconnection(s), good omens has A nightingale sang in brekely square, sung by tori amos (who sang the song Graveyard, which nail gaiman used in the graveyard book).

A nightingale sang in berkely square is also the lyric to the song bright young things, which stephgen fry had the pet shop boys sing for the movie, although it ended up being left out.

neil tennant, singer for the pet shop boys, is actually where david tennant got his name, since david mcdonald was already taken in the guild of actors he wanted to join.

right so the book was based off the novel vile bodies, by evelyn waugh. michael sheens character, miles maitland(malpractice in the book), was based off of real life bright young person, stephen tennant. wow! another tennant!

stephen tennant had brothers, one of which was named david tennant, who we will call david pax tennant to avoid confusion. Right, so david pax tennant had four/five children(this is the inconsistency i was talking about) two of which were named david and georgia tennant.

actor david tennants wife is named georgia tennant.In addition, they met on doctor who, where she played his daughter. spooky, i know.

back to the book, evelyn waught also wrote a book called decline and fall, the movie of which had jack whitehall(who plays newton pulsifer).

david tennant and james mcavoy are both marvel, remember that. adria arjona(anathema device in good omens) is also marvel.

david arnold, who did the good omens soundtrack, also did the sherlock(bbc tv series) soundtrack. this of course stars bandersnatch custardwheel, and martin freeman.

bubblebath copperwire was ALSO in episode six of good omens, as satan. and then of course, both him and martin freeman are marvel, as well as tobey jones, a guest star in sherlock.

james mcavoy was in sherlock gnome, which good enough.

ok, bright young things, we remember that? stephen fry, the director of that, was in sherlock holmes: a game of shadows(2011), the sequel to sherlock holmes(2009). those movies had rdj(marvel), jude law(marvel), rachel mcadams(marvel), and jared harris(marvel).

stephen fry played mycroft, and jude law played watson. this is of course, RELEVENT, when you remember that in the movie Wilde(1999), they slept together. stephen fry ALSO slept with michael sheen in that movie.

james d'arcy(marvel) was an extra in that movie, and guess what? james d'arcy played sherlock in sherlock(2002), which had vincent d'onofrio(marvel) as moriarty. ian mckellan(marvel), was also in a sherlock, mr holmes(2015), i believe.

oh, and jude law was actually in a different sherlock as well, but that one doesnt matter. guy henry(who was in bright young things) was two different sherlocks. he was also in kenneth williams: fantaboulosa!(2006) with michael sheen.

ben kingsley(marvel) was in without a clue(1988).(i feel like im missing an important one, but i dont remember what)

ok so on the note of Shakespeare: first off, david tennant is in like eight. EIGHT.

first one we'll talk about is much ado about nothing. his has catherine tate, who! doctor who. doctor who also has matt smith(marvel), karen gillan(marvel) and guestars gemma chan(marvel), letitia wright(marvel), andrew garfield(marvel), michael sheen, ian mckellan(marvel), bill paterson(remember him?), nina sosanya(good omens,casanova which is totally relevant), fenella woolgar(bright young things), adrian scarborough(bright young things), stephen fry, toby jones(again, marvel!), mark gatiss(bright young things, good omens, and bbc sherlock. also im p sure hes gay). (speaking of gay, neil tennant of the pet shop boys is gay)Another doctor who thingy has hayley atwell(marvel) WHO.

was in brideshead revisited(2008), the book for which was written by evelyn waugh, and one of the characters for which was ALSO inspired by stephen tennant. that or evelyn waughs gay lover from college(literally the plot of brideshead revisted)(evelyn waugh was way cooler when he was gay. then he went conservative. then he died.)

(conservative unlike the (stephen) tennant family tree, a good amount of them were liberal scottish politicians, including one or two of the davids.)

back to much ado about nothing, another version had joss whedon(marvel) and clark gregg(marvel), which admittedly wasnt very good, shakespeare was not written for americans. the kenneth branaugh(marvel) version however, that was the best version ive seen.

its worth noting the david tennant one was like an actual stage production(a hilarious one), the other two were regular movies.

next one we will discuss: hamlet. everyones done hamlet. david tennant. michael sheen. good omens. kenneth branaugh. botany candycrush. jude law. ethan hawke(marvel). ian mckellan. its nearly ridiculous. oh god bright young things by the pet shop boys started playing as i was typing this

david tennant has also done richard ii. so has patrick stewart(marvel).richard iii is one that he has not done, but ian mckellan has. that version (1995) also had rdj. (they kissed lmaoooo)(not in the movie like outside of it)(magneto kissed iron man yes thats what im getting at). so has bonaparte cragglethatch.so has peter dinklage(marvel), and martin freeman. oh, and kenneth branaugh.

david skinny ass teeth(im sorry) also did as you like it, more shakespeare. so did, you guessed it, kenneth branaugh! and his version had alfred molina(marvel).

next we have romeo and juliet, yes david tennant did that, so did james mcavoy in gnomeo and juliet and sherlock gnome.paul rudd(marvel) also did that.

david tennant also did the comedy of errors, and thats the only one i know who did that ngl.he also did the merchant of venice. so did charlie cox(marvel).

i-need-a-more-exciting-way-of-saying-david-tennant-dear-god also did king lear.so did ian mckellan.

righty kenneth branaugh did henry v, which had christian bale(marvel and batman. batman might be relevent i havent decided weather i want to include it.)

he also did all is true, so did ian mckellan, and he did loves labour lost, and so did emily mortimer(bright young things)

shakespeaRe-Told: had james mcavoy, bill paterson, billie piper(rose tyler, i), and nina sosanya.

THE SANDMAN. the sandman(written by neil gaiman, ofc) had david tennant, james mcavoy, and michael sheen in the same episode, as well as georgia tennant.

the sandman also had lourdes faberes(pollution in good omens), and stephen fry in three episodes.

it also had bill paterson.

smaller connections, kinda:-stephen tennant(remember him? brother of david pax tennant?)'s mother had a cousin who was a lover of oscar wilde. I also have a family tree of this family written down, i dont know why.

peter o'toole, who was in bright young things, played casanova in the tv show casanova, the same person david tennant was playing. (they played the old and young versions)

Ill add more connections later probably,for now I'm watching doctor who.

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