do you have a favourite portrayal of a character in the gotg game!! who is it and why <3

Oh I think they're all great honestly!!! Part of why I love the game so much is that genuinely, the whole team + supporting characters are written with such obvious love of the source material and equal attention between them all. When I see comments of people saying who their favorite character was from the game and the answer always being different from each person I'm like!! That's how it SHOULD be!!! They're the Guardians of the Galaxy (plural) the focus shouldn't all fall on a singular character like most other GotG media usually ends up as 😭

The two (sorry I can't pick just one) whom I think benefit the most from the game though are Drax and Gamora because they're almost always sidelined both in-and-out of universe by most of the various writers (especially as of late) and in turn the viewers/readers. I've been told plenty of times that they're the most boring members of the "main" team, BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY! The amount of love the game versions get (by the few who've played it at least) proves that 🥺

I've never really liked 616 Drax shifting to being a complete clown during the 90s and such (and even less so when the MCU followed along 💀) So I appreciate the game taking a bit of his seriousness from the DnA run and just making him struggle with nuance and context clues in a less exaggerated way (autistic Drax I still believe in u) and I feel the focus put on him and how losing his original family + the aftermath deeply affected him hits pretty hard here because it's treated very seriously and shown in depth, especially with how his family (wife) gets actual focus. I cannot tell you anything about Yvette in comparison to Hovat, who actually seemed to have had a personality lol (AND she was on their village's council like omg imagine having more to you than just being The Housewife) Though I will say I flip and flop on my thoughts about Heather being disconnected from Drax's life in this universe... The TLDR is that I think his arc here specifically works stronger when he has to come to terms with losing his entire family and accepting the life he currently has with the Guardians. BUT!!! I very much appreciate that Heather is still confirmed to exist within this universe, even if that means her dad issues would have to be dealt with in a different context if we ever get to see her.

Also? Shoutout to the writers actually bringing up the intense paranoia that always kneecapped 616 Drax but having that be a turning point in his backstory here, with that conversation he has with Peter where he talks about how he was becoming so paranoid of everyone being a chitauri/Thanos conspirator to the point of literally turning into an obsessed maniac like Thanos, and realizing that he desperately needed to turn his life around, it's so ough.

Out of the already many great conversations throughout the game, I think the ones with him are the most poignant. My favorite scene in the whole game is Drax and Pete's little moment on Knowhere... makes me go wahhh

(l also love that out of everyone on the team, it's his headspace that we quite literally get to go into. You KNOW that if this was any other media it'd be going into Rocket or Groot's head and likely treated as a joke.)

And oh my god, Gamora...

I find it so extremely refreshing that her role in the plot doesn't revolve purely around the men in her life, and instead, it's nearly exclusively her connection with other women. Or in the most direct obstacle she has to deal with, being how she starts projecting to the millionth degree on Nikki's situation for reminding her of what happened to her and Nebula. I find that infinitely more fascinating as a reading of her character rather than just dating drama or her arc getting completely overtaken by a man's instead.

And especially in her friendship with Mantis, who, despite having all these futures she's constantly seeing and having to navigate, still makes time to do her best to help her 🥺 From saving her life and being the one who put her on the path to healing on Lamentis, to getting her to join the Guardians and still checking in on her when she's able 😭 Friendship between women can be so powerful... u love to see it (🏳️‍🌈)

I also find it nice that there's this emphasis on her recovering mentally, and the comparison between Thanos essentially teaching her to just Deal with the shit in her life through very simplistic meditation versus the priests of Pama actually teaching her something to help soothe the mind :^( and that she still has moments of relapsing essentially. I find that to be a realistic take on recovery because that's just part of the journey since healing is not linear... and I think it's very sweet that she finds comfort in collecting something ---girly--- like dolls. Love to see a person reclaim a part of their childhood that they weren't allowed to experience. And how she's allowed to make BAD JOKES?? Imagine a woman being written to have multiple dimensions, crazy and absolutely unthinkable, I know.

There's this extremely specific theme in relation to Gamora across media that's been rattling around in my brain since first playing the game. When near the end during the revisit to Knowhere, she's about to completely lose it when Peter tries talking -for- her on what she's so upset about before immediately shooting him down, and she explains what happened between her and Nebula and she starts crying. It really struck me right then that she's never given a moment to cry elsewhere (or in the 616's case, the quite literal inability to.) aside from her shedding a Single Manly Tear (Original Sin) or a single moment out of legit fear (MCU 💀) because she's a hashtag Strong Independant Woman who can't be vulnerable etc etc. But for her to cry in front of the people she's come to care about, It gives her a moment of true vulnerability that I don't think she's allowed ever in most other media.

That and all of the above hits hard and is what makes me genuinely believe that the writers cared about her in the narrative and tried to do right by her when every other bit of media really hasn't nor cared to the majority of the time since the 90s :'^/ Brings a tear to my eye that she's allowed to just... exist in the narrative on her own merits and not on what she can provide to someone else's story.

i love violence <3 8, 13!

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

ok this isn't entirely the answer to this question, but while i'm choosing violence

i just really don't give a fuck about star wars rebels, tbh, and no amount of "this is the best thing ever/best piece of star wars media ever" is gonna make me watch it. and like, i liked the clone wars show fine, mandalorian is fine, but i don't think dave filoni is the end-all be-all of star wars or anything.

13. worst blorboficiation

peter parker, jesus FUCKING christ. this was a problem with adaptations prior to the mcu, but it has especially been a problem with the mcu. he's not your uwu little sweet nerd "oh mr stark i don't feel so good :(" peter parker is an angry, feral little bitch, and i hate seeing the truth slipping away more and more with every passing year.

choose violence ask game!

Pinned Down

18, 24? <3

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

THE EIDOS GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY GAME!! i love it so much, it's the perfect blend of movie and comic characterizations that manages to still feel like the characters we know and love while also being a story that can stand on it's own and be enjoyable even if you have zero background knowledge of the guardians. to any and all of my followers please for the love of god if you haven't played it and own a gaming console or pc give it a try it's always on sale and i want a sequel.

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

there are so. many. rapid fire –– james gunn's obvious favoritism, iw writers' & russo brother's treatment of the guardians, treatment of mantis in vol 2 and gamora in vol 3, q*ebula, brian michael bendis, 616 starmora, starkat (they have shooters apparently?? in 2023???), people who defend the current comic run and it's characterization of gamora. i think that covers it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! hope adam fucked it up just as much the third time round <3

TYYY !!! 🧡 he sure did. Next time he shows up they need to let him commit more atrocities for my enjoyment.

hey did you watch the gotg christmas special? it's mcu so it's how you'd expect it to be but there are cute peter quill & mantis moments & it's overall pretty heartwarming at times.

Making Peter & Mantis siblings was like shooting me in the dead btw

here’s some xandarian practice with one of @gotg2008 ‘s posts :D

since you said to send some questions i would like to know your opinion on adam warlock and his relationship with the guardians? (comic or game or mcu wise) but overall your opinion on adam ♥

happy to talk about adam!!! i love him!!! i think (and i’m not the first person to say this recently but it’s worth repeating) that some people take him VERY seriously which is a mistake because he’s just so goddamn weird. he’s a weird philosophical space wizard guy. glam rock space jesus as it were. taking him as the Serious Character is a disservice.

in terms of his relationship with the guardians, i wish more was done with it! outside of annihilation: conquest and gotg2008 he’s just been kind of…. floating around? a huge deal was made about his return in the duggan run but then nothing really happened with it. would’ve loved to have seen him show up in ewing’s run (he did everyone else well, i think he would’ve done adam justice too!) but that run was also pretty overcrowded already.

in terms of what we do get: his friendship with phyla in a:c was very sweet, and i wish it hadn’t lost significance as 2008 went on. her believing she could bring adam back leading to her death is genuinely so very sad

his relationship with gamora is fantastic, obviously they have so much history already and have been part of a team together before (read the infinity watch!!!), and i love that their closeness is shown by her sticking with him throughout the run. also her comments that she used to find his comments “annoying” but now they’re “weirdly hot”. she speaks for us all i think 🫡

he and peter are a both strong leaders and butt heads a lot, i enjoy that immensely. peter has a manipulative streak and will make decisions for everyone without consultation so i like that adam will stand up to him and hasn’t got time for his bullshit facade while still respecting him. they have different ideas on how to handle situations and although adam can be a bit of a loose canon in terms of following instructions (i mean that goes for everyone really but adam has no qualms about arguing and storming off when he doesn’t like the answer he’s given) they both ultimately want what is best for the group and the galaxy. they’re literally the team parents. also whatever the fuck this was.

<3

gotg2008 was my first experience with adam so him turning into magus was such a twist for me the first time i read it and i remember clearly how upset I was when he had to be killed. one of the most incredibly memorable gotg moments for sure.

in terms of his adaptations, i liked both of them! mcu adam was fun and was very reminiscent of his early comics. they did tone him down, i guess to not go full on cosmic entity space guy straightaway. i do think he should have been introduced earlier because i don’t understand how you can have any plan for him not involving thanos and the infinity gems but it is what it is. i also just like will poulter as an actor anyways so i was happy with his casting, i think he can do drama and comedy really well (and Adam is so WEIRD it needs to be FUNNY sometimes ok???). loved it when he tried to join in on the group hug at the end. i’m not really planning on watching any more mcu so good luck to them i guess. i wish he could’ve interacted and built relationships with the team more but him fucking them up was funny (sorry rocket) and him dancing to rocket’s music at the end was cute.

i LOVED game adam. i loved that the entire game ultimately ended up being about him and the magus and the church and I loved that they dialled up his hamminess to eleven. it was genuinely hilarious to me i want to send a gift basket to the guy who decided he should talk in alliteration. i loved that he stole peter’s bedroom, and was also a loose canon and fucked off and did his own thing. he was just so memorable and ridiculous i couldn’t not like him. they really did the opposite of the mcu and leant right into the batshit cosmic entity thing. AND he had a huge bum <3

pick one or both, but your two lesbians: gamora, jyn erso, 13, 19, 26?

both, i'm totally gonna do both

gamora

13. your favorite friendship they have

the really underrated one, i think, is her friendship with drax. they've known each other since the infinity watch days! they have a lot in common that they bonded with each other about! i would really like... to see a writer eventually remember this.

19. the most random ship you've seen people have with them

i did see gamora/groot once and everyday i wish i hadn't </3

26. when do you think they were being "themselves" the most?

i think gamora is most herself when she has this purpose that's clear in front of her to protect others. whether that's being part of the infinity watch, whether that's watching over atleza, whether that's making the sacrifice play and getting herself burned up to protect the rest of the team.... she doesn't handle directionlessness well, and that's when she can fall back on a lot of her worst tendencies, but when that direction is in front of her? that's her peak potential. that's who she really is.

jyn erso

13. your favorite friendship they have

super underrated and very short-lived, but i will always love her connection with chirrut 🥺 because there's this sense of faith that jyn has that she hasn't entirely lost even if it's been massively tested, even through everything that's happened to her, instilled in her through her mother and has a physical manifestation of it through her always wearing the kyber crystal that her mother gave her right before she died... so it's so interesting to see her connect and bond with someone who has that similar sense of faith. i really wish that had gotten more screentime, and i wish fandom did more with it

19. the most random ship you've seen people have with them

i have seen people ship jyn/krennic and i fucking hate it lmfao. y'all, he killed her mother. he conscripted her father into the death star project and is the reason she got left behind. why in fuck's name would you ship this

26. when do you think they were being "themselves" the most?

there's a complaint that occasionally goes around about rogue one surrounding how people think jyn's character development was "sudden", and i'm like... mmm. the person you meet at the beginning of the movie is so absurdly clearly a protective front just to help her get through the day, and as the story unfolds you see more pieces of the real her be allowed to surface again. she's the woman who'd jump out into the middle of a firefight to save a child. she's the woman who'd argue passionately in front of the entire rebel alliance to get them to see the truth. she's the one who'd lead with her heart to do what she thinks is the right thing. she cares so fucking much that her heart is bleeding with it, and even if everything in her life tells her not to have it, she still has that hope. that's her and that's the strength of her character!

character ask game

Sometimes I feel I don't truly get comics Gamora and I desperately want to. I don't think I'd be able to characterize her the way I'd be, say, her movie or game counterparts. So I'm planning on a reread: what comics do you think actually graps who she is and what she thinks like and how she acts?

I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED

So her intro storyline in Strange Tales/Warlock is very important and sets up a lot of her going forward. She gets to be emotional, form connections with Pip & Adam that'll be important going on, her dynamic with Thanos gets established, & her origin is told. Her personality is also allowed to shine! She's making bad jokes from the start :).

I think Avengers Annual #7 is also very important... it establishes Gamora's moral core. She makes the choice to stand against Thanos because she fundamentally disagrees with what he's going to do.

Warlock & the Infinity Watch. I know I don't shut up about this series but it is genuinely excellent, especially for Gamora. #8&9, obviously, but also #12 and the final few issues have some wonderful moments for her. Plus some of these issues have some internal narration so you get exactly what she's thinking.

Marvel Holiday Special.... very important for understanding her dynamic with Thanos.

The 90s Warlock series I actually liked more than I thought I did! It focuses more on her romantic love but is great for that.

Infinity Abyss is also another important one for her. Again, great moments between her and Thanos.

All the Nova tie-ins for Annihilation Conquest are excellent for Gamora. These are some truly underrated moments in her history.

GOTG2008. Even the first 3 issues will give one of the best Gamora moments.

Nova (2017) #4 makes me insane.

All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #3 is all about Gam! While this run fizzles out into utter shite by the end, this issue is actually really good!

Thanos (2019) is just so. one of her best modern appearances by a landslide and it's all told by Gamora.

Thanos: The Infinity Relativity brings Starlin back to Gamora & I always love how he writes her.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2020)! I initially didn't love Ewing's take on Gamora, but I've come to appreciate it to the point that he's one of my preferred writers for her.

There's also this reading guide that covers more of her appearances.

Can you recommend any blogs that post about the Guardians? It doesn't have to exclusively about them, I just want to follow some blogs that post about comics gotg at least once in a while

Definitely! Some of these blogs do talk about MCU GOTG but also about comic GOTG (& give very good metas on both, tbh).

@astromechs @rael-rider @adamwarlock @616phyla @gotg2008 @rakruined @phantastragoria

These definitely aren't all of them, just ones off the top of my head.

Hi! I want to begin reading the GOTG comic, so I was wondering if you could help this random anon, lol. Is there a better order to start or can I read the new run without previous context?

DO NOT READ THE NEW RUN PLEASE ANON

It's bad its so bad it's offensively bad the way women are written makes me wanna tear my hair out.

Instead! Here's a fun reading list of the start of GOTG:

Annihilation: this is the true start of modern cosmic marvel and reintroduces characters like Star Lord, Gamora, Phyla Vell, Moondragon and Drax (all future members of GOTG). It's also just an utterly fantastic event story

Annihilation Conquest: the follow up to Annihilation, this has the Star Lord mini which features the proto GOTG and introduces Mantis, Rocket, Groot and Bug. Again it's another fantastic event story with a fun villain

Guardians of the Galaxy (2008): One of the team's best runs and the modern introduction. It works best if you have the added context of Annihilation and Conquest but you'll be able to get by reasonably well without them

Thanos Imperative: The end event for this era of cosmic marvel and this iteration of the GOTG

(Bonus) Nova (2007): I'd recommend this series like crazy it's one of Marvels most underrated books

There are ongoings from 2013 onwards however I'd have to recommend Guardians of the Galaxy (2020) by Al Ewing. It's the first GOTG to feel like a real continuation of GOTG2008 and Ewing manages to seamlessly blend that era of characterization with later... stuff by Bendis.

They do have an ongoing right now but it's just bad. I can't sugar-coat it it's just not an enjoyable time for anyone. I've seen it lambasted by both comic and MCU GOTG fans.... it's like apocalyptic if you're pissing off both

Where do you think Gamora has had her best writing?

anywhere but infinity war/endgame and gotg2019 lol. in all seriousness comics wise probably gotg2008 or gotg2020 (and i'm guessing infinity watch which i will get to i promise), and as far as movies go vol 2 gamora is peak gamora to me.

GOTG ASKS? SAY NO MORE

Gimme a sec and I'm gonna spam your askbox

Let's see uuuuhhh..........

Do you think Rich and Gam were in love during the Annihilation War? I know this is more of a matter of interpretation, cause it depends on the writer. In Annihilation itself, it seemed more... Physical? Like, a comfort during the chaos. They seemed to care about each other, but as friends and war companions. But then we have stuff like the Phalanx invasion and holy shit their relationship in those Nova issues with Select!Gamora is so fucking incredible. But THEN stuff like Nova 2017 and... sigh... Cates' Guardians is pretty much "they were in love". BUT THEN!!! Ewing's like they COULD have been in love and Gamora became in love with the IDEA of what they could have and aaaaaaahhhhh. In the end, I know it doesn't matter. I'm not that interested in what "being in love" means or anything. I'm just curious about what you think the nature of their relationship was during those 6 months we don't actually get to see 👀

I don't think they were in love during the height of the war, but the aftermath is a whole other story. Less life and death, more time spent together... they get close to the point that Richard wholly trusts her to help handle physical issues (which does end in war crimes but you know what no one is perfect).

Gamora, though... I don't think she started falling for Richard until she was a Guardian. Before that, there was always going to be her sense of guilt she gets when she's around him and Gamora's never going to be comfortable with that feeling. But from afar, I think her feelings would be able to develop a little further.

The Annihilation Conquest Nova stuff is a goldmine for their entire relationship. Much like Riderquilll, I think Richmora, no matter what, have this solid base of trauma bonding that breeds too much trust in people they realistically don't know. Gamora's always gonna believe in Rich. Rich is always gonna believe in Gamora. Any evidence that belief is unfounded (see: Gamora's war crimes) doesn't really phase this, IMO? Rich and hers moment at the end of the Nova tie-ins & how he speaks about her in GOTG2008 #1 really cement it for me.

Ewing has the best handle on their relationship. Which makes sense! He's one of the best writers Rich has had ever and he's one of Gamora's best modern writers.

Nova (2017) #4 really is THE Richmora issue though. It's exactly as nostalgic as it should be which works! Nostalgia is a detriment to both of these characters! Setting their relationship in an issue that just wallows in it is so so clever & especially with how it ends... the issues that they had never were resolved & so they damn them once more, because they just. don't talk.

Hate Cates run. Don't establish Rich as the man Gamora loves then have her hook up with the man Rich loves.

It also feels... they were put in a really interesting position by that point, because Infinity Wars had just happened. We know how the GOTG felt about her actions but IIRC, no writers has actually addressed what Rich thought. Going off GOTG2020, he clearly doesn't hate her for it but idk idk I think Gamora's endless faith in Rich being shook by Peter's death could've been dealt with better if they'd paired it with the idea that Rich's endless faith in her was shook by her, idk, killing Peter.