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infinite-xerath · 3 years

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Runeterra Retcons 4: Varus

Unlike the other Champions I’ve covered, Varus’s history is surprisingly straightforward. He was released all the way back in 2012 and, as far as I can recall, was the first Champion to ever receive any sort of major promotional material in the form of a short comic. He’s very straight-forward in both concept and design: a man willing to sell his soul, his very humanity, for revenge on the people who took everything from him. Given that this was before Kalista was added to the game, Varus had little choice but take matters into his own hands by bargaining with a vaguely-defined Eldritch being who would give him the power he needed in exchanged for taking over his body.

Original lore here

Varus’s lore is a very traditional revenge story, albeit with a slightly interesting twist in that he is the maker of his own tragedy. Varus opted to place his duty over the well-being of family and, in the process, was unable to even TRY to protect them while his village was being reduced to burning rubble. Out of grief and rage Varus turned to bargaining with the very entity he fought so hard to keep confined now that he no longer has anything to lose.

I and many others liked Varus’s story, and to be honest, Riot could have honestly just kept him more-or-less the same when they updated him post-retcon. Just remove the mention of the League and maybe better-define what the black flames were, and you’d be good. In fact, Riot technically did the former, as his second lore is basically identical save for removing any mention of the League of Legends.

Now, it’s at this point that things start to get a little more complicated. Now, if you want a more comprehensive breakdown of the Darkin and their history, I advise you go check out the part centered around Aatrox and his long and convoluted history, but tldr: the Darkin were a race of beings of whom only five remained, and it was later confirmed with Rhaast that they’re specifically a race of living weapons with the ability to possess whoever wields them. Now, while Varus was specifically possessed by an ominous black flame called Pallas, many drew parallels between him and the other Darkin characters, especially since Varus’s also seemed to be alive.

Given that the flames were never really elaborated on or given a proper origin story, Riot decided that it would probably be best to just go ahead and retcon Varus into being a Darkin as well, and nobody had any real qualms with this. It was a common fan theory for years, so why not? Just change the story a bit so that the flames were actually just a Darkin bow all along and boom, you’ve pretty-much done all you needed to properly fit Varus into the new post-reboot Runeterra.

Well, apparently Riot did not feel this way, as it was with Varus’s 2017 retcon that they decided to finally give fans a proper origin story for who and what the Darkin were. That origin story goes a little something like this.

Alright, so Varus is now an alien. They decided to make Varus himself the Darkin, rather than the man who would later claim the bow. OK, that’s fine. I mean, the whole alien thing is kinda weird and still very vaguely explained, but again, my full thoughts on the history of the Darkin as a whole can be seen in the Aatrox analysis. What I think is most important here is that Riot made an attempt, however sloppy, to explain who and what the Darkin were and finally give context to why Aatrox and Rhaast are such big threats to the world.

Now, it’s the next change that got a lot of controversy around it. Rather than just change the name of the Ionian guard who let Varus possess him, the guy who lost his family to the Noxian invasion, Riot decided to replace him with a pair of entirely new characters: Valmar and Kai, a duo of gay Ionian hunters.

Now, I’m just gonna get this out of the way: I’ve got no real qualms about gay relationships in media. Hell, we have a few LGBT Champions in the game already, and even some in the broader expanse of the world. My main gripe comes from the introduction of Valmar and Kai themselves, and how they’re just sort of these… Nothing characters. I mean, in the first lore, we knew who Varus was. We may not have known him well, but we could at least get a general sense of his character: he was proud of his skill, committed to the duty given to him even at the risk of his family, but ultimately succumbed to grief and rage when his decision caused him to lose everything he held dear. Varus was a good man warped by the loss of his home and loved ones, and that made him a fairly compelling character.

Valmar and Kai are… Two gay hunters. That’s it. That’s literally all we know about them from the bio alone. I mean, yes, Riot released a comic to further expand on these characters, but if your answer to the questions raised in your story are “go and read this extra supplementary material for context,” that’s… A problem.

On the topic of supplementary material, Riot also released a music video about Varus. It’s… OK. I personally don’t care much for the song but the visuals alone are really well-done. It’s supposed to detail the conflict between Valmar, Kai and Varus, but most of the context behind it is explained in the comic and short story.

Honestly, Varus’s retcon is kind of baffling. I mean, he didn’t receive a visual rework, his kit remained pretty-much the same as it’s always been, and he doesn’t even have any new voice lines in-game to indicate that he’s three different guys all stuck in one body. In fact, people who play him in-game without reading the lore probably wouldn’t ever be able to guess as much. Riot went to so much effort promoting Varus’s lore update with a music video, a new bio, a new color story, and a three-part comic, but they really haven’t changed anything about him in the game itself. They put more effort into him than they do for most ACTUAL Champion VGU’s. So… Why?

Admittedly, this is where I’m going to delve a bit into conspiracy theory territory, but I genuinely believe this is a case of Riot trying to push League’s first openly queer relationship. Seriously, Valmar and Kai are the first time a character in League has been confirmed gay IN THE LORE ITSELF and not just through a random tweet. Now, the word “pandering” gets thrown around a lot these days, and I don’t really like to use it, but it really does feel like Valmar and Kai were added JUST to have a confirmed gay couple in the lore.

The fact that they’re not even acknowledged IN THE GAME ITSELF really makes the whole thing feel like an attempt to just appeal to the LGBT crowd, though I’ve seen plenty of people in that community react… Less than positively to the portrayal. I mean, two gay guys are literally trying to hold back a corruptive, even influence with the power of love. I don’t wanna delve too much into the political side of things here, but that’s honestly about as cliché and stereotypical as you can get. Fans in general were extremely displeased that the man they knew as Varus, this genuinely tragic figure from the original lore, was replaced by two guys who’s only defining character trait is how much they apparently love each other.

Apparently, these complaints came through loud and clear, as Riot would update Varus one final time after deciding to retcon the whole alien plotline. So, let’s have a look at how his current, canon bio handles him.

Alright, well… Riot heard the complaints, but whether or not they fixed him is another matter. It seems like they tried to give Varus back his original origin story, basically making the archer we new from his first bio Shuriman. The problem is that there’s significantly less context for him now; we don’t know anything about his family, we don’t know why the temple he’s guarding is so important, and the story never even explicitly states that his family died!

I guess it’s implied because the Ascended acknowledged his “sacrifice,” though him being rewarded by becoming a demigod doesn’t quite have the same impact as exchanging his life and soul for a shot at revenge. On top of that, Varus seems pretty quick to give up on the whole “sacred duty” thing, despite the story claiming that being the thing he “he held above all else.” It all feels like a botched effort to mix his original bio with the new Ascended lore that Riot tied in with the Darkin.

Then, of course, there’s Valmar and Kai, who are… Still just gay hunters. They haven’t been expanded on at all. They helped drive the Noxians off from their home, Kai was apparently wounded, and Valmar decides that dipping his lover in an ominous pool of evil to save his life is a bad idea. Seriously, the bio states that they “inadvertently” freed Varus, but there was nothing accidental about it! There was no bargain, they weren’t tricked, it was literally just one guy making a stupid decision that got him fused with his lover and an ancient evil being.

Also, can we address the fact that Varus still wants to avenge the destruction of his race? Who does he want to avenge? The other Ascended? The Ascended who literally warred with each other for centuries? The same Ascended that HE FOUGHT AGAINST during the civil war for control of Shurima? Did Riot just… Forget that he’s not an alien anymore in that brief paragraph? They stated earlier that he was a cruel, merciless killer who just went to slaughter whoever he was told to slaughter, so for some reason I don’t feel like he’d care all that much about his “race” being felled. Oh, and there’s also still the unnamed warrior queen, who I THINK is meant to be a precious Aspect of the Sun? It’s never really stated in the bio itself.

Alright, enough ranting. Varus’s current lore suffers from one major fault: it is trying way too hard to tell several stories all at once. It tells the story of Varus as a human, Varus as an Ascended, Varus as a Darkin, the “story” of Valmar and Kai, and how they got fused with Varus. The writers tried way too hard to cram everything into a single bio and, as a result, nothing is elaborated on. Nothing is really explained, we don’t get to know the characters who are involved in the gestalt entities now known as Varus, and reason for his current existence AS a gestalt entity are just kinda silly, if we’re being honest.

So, how can we fix this? I admit: this was a tough one. There were a lot of different directions I could go when rewriting Varus’s lore, but I decided to take the Kayn approach, where the human host in the focus of the bio. Originally, I did have a whole bio written out for Varus and how he became an Ascendant, but I ultimately realized that I was going to run into the same issue Riot did: trying to cram way too much into a single character overview. So, instead, I chose to focus in more on the story of Valmar and Kai, and how the Darkin Bow was freed after ages of confinement. Without any further ado, please enjoy.

For years, the Darkin Bow has remained confined within the Ionian city of Pallas. The bow’s true nature has long been lost to time, though legends say it holds the spirit of an ancient god from a vast desert land. Others claim that the bow itself is something much older and viler than history itself dares to remember. Whatever the truth may be, the people have Pallas have guarded the bow for generations, choosing only their most skilled warriors from the task. Among them, none seemed better-suited for the task than Kai and Valmar.

Kai and Valmar were inseparable since they were children. Kai, a prodigy marksman, was known for his sense of humor and fierce resolve. Though infamous for his pranks, Kai would never hesitate to step in and defend someone in need, no matter how poorly the odds stood in his favor. By contrast, Valmar had trained in the ways of swordsmanship since he was old enough to grip a blade. Diligent and studious, Valmar was what many considered a model samurai in the making, yet he was also unendingly curious about the world and the many wonders it held.

At a glance, Kai and Valmar seemed near-total opposites, yet the two formed an unbreakable bond from the day they met. Kai would often accompany Valmar to explore the surrounding wilderness, only for Valmar to shelter Kai whenever one of his pranks went awry. As each boy matured, mastering the bow and blade respectively, their bond became something deeper than simple friendship. Valmar was a part of Kai, and Kai a part of Valmar. Neither was complete without the other, and so it came as little surprise that when Valmar was chosen to guard the Temple of the Bow, Kai soon followed.

Together, Valmar and Kai drove off many would-be thieves seeking to claim the cursed weapon’s power as their own. The two fought as one, each arrow from Kai’s bow in perfect sync with every swing of Valmar’s blade. Eventually, they came to be known as the Locust and Mantis, for the whirring of Kai’s arrows and the elegance of Valmar’s blade. It was believed that none could stand up to their combined might… Until the Noxians came.

From their post at the temple, Valmar and Kai watched in horror as the invaders stormed their home, setting fires and killing anyone who dared to stand in their way. For the first time, two warriors found themselves at odds; Kai wished to help defend the people of Pallas, but Valmar insisted on protecting the temple. In the end, neither had much choice in the matter, for the Noxians soon had them cornered on the temple steps.

Valmar and Kai fought for hours, their combined might slowly waning against the invaders’ onslaught. Kai’s strength was the first to give out, yet before death could reach him, Valmar stepped in the way to shield his partner from the blow of a Noxian axe. Kai watched in horror as Valmar fell to the ground, lifeless. Enraged, Kai fired all the arrows he had left before taking up Valmar’s sword, slaying the Noxian forces assaulting the temple. Even still, he knew it would not be long before more came, seeking to claim the forbidden bow.

In that moment, Kai heard a voice calling to him from within the temple. It promised him vengeance and the strength to fight back. Driven by rage and grief, the wounded archer let the voice guide him inside, just as more Noxian invaders began their ascent up the temple’s stairs. It was there, in the darkness, that Kai at last set eyes upon the cursed weapon he and Valmar spent years protecting: a bow thrumming with unearthly power. Kai hesitated for only a moment before grasping the bow, letting its power wash over him.

Kai’s mind was filled with images and thoughts not his own: a vast desert empire, a man made a god, betrayal, war, and finally, imprisonment. These were the memories of Varus, an Ascended being who devoted his life to serving Shurima, only to be abandoned in his time of need. His bitterness and hatred had summoned the Darkin Bow, granting Varus the opportunity to seek revenge on those who had wronged him. In the end, Varus was sealed within the bow, becoming one with it… And now, he would become one with Kai as well.

As Varus’s memories filled Kai’s mind, the Darkin’s power corrupted his body. Varus prepared to usurp Kai’s form entirely, but to his surprise, the Ionian’s drive for vengeance matched his own. Kai was prepared to give anything to avenge Valmar, his fallen half, yet he would do so with his own hands rather than entrust the task to a fallen god.

Even as their minds fought, the archers’ new, fused body moved on pure instinct. One by one, the Noxian forces in Pallas were felled by crimson arrows born of pure malice. Seeing the corpses of his kinsmen and the ruins of his home only fueled Kai’s rage, which in-turn empowered the Darkin in his grasp. Finally, the two archers came to an agreement as the Noxians fled: Varus would lend Kai his strength, in exchange for the Ionian’s body once Kai’s vengeance was complete.

Now on borrowed time, Kai has but one objective: to find and kill everyone he holds responsible for the destruction of his home and the death of his partner. To Varus, however, the destruction of Noxus is but the first step toward a much larger goal: revenge against the gods who betrayed him, and the world that sealed him away…

So, that’s my take on Varus’s lore. Now, the first thing you’ll probably notice is that I only have one of the lovers being possessed. Frankly, I felt that this was probably the best direction to go with; Riot still hasn’t updated Varus in any meaningful way to include Valmar and Kai in any of his voice lines, and something tells me that, being owned by a certain Chinese company, they probably never will. Given the circumstances, I figured it was probably best to give him a backstory more befitting of his in-game voice lines, which still portray Varus as a man on borrowed time who’s giving what little he has left in pursuit of vengeance.

Even so, I decided to try my hand at fleshing out Valmar and Kai. The first thing I did was change them from random hunters to trained soldiers tasked with guarding the temple. This not only harkens back to Varus’s original lore, but it also gives them more of a reason to stand their ground against the Noxian invaders. I also wanted to flesh out their personalities a little more, because I’ll be completely honest: I legitimately couldn’t remember which one was which even after skimming back through the comic. I forgot that Kai was the one who was injured in the original story, not Valmar, but quite frankly it matters so little given how poorly their characters are fleshed out.

Now, as for Varus himself… Well, like I said: I did have a whole bio written out for him that ties into the new Darkin lore I introduced in my Aatrox analysis, but I decided to focus the story more on Valmar and Kai and only have that backstory briefly alluded to. A tad disappointing, I know, but hey, it’s still more than what we learned about Rhaast from Kayn’s bio.

So, that was Varus, the Arrow of Retribution, otherwise known as Riot’s botched attempt at LGBT representation. He’s a far cry from what he started out as, and yet, hilariously, he’s really not on account of them still not updating anything about him in-game. In that respect, the Varus you play as in League isn’t really even the same character(s) presented in the lore. While I still firmly believe that his backstory never needed to be changed so drastically in the first place, I least wanted to present the potential that this direction held, and how badly the opportunity was squandered.

Oh well. At least the music video still looks nice.

#Runeterra Retcons #Varus #League of Legends

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dgcatanisiri · 5 years

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Huh. Look at that. N7 Day.

I’d be more enthusiastic about this celebration, the celebration of a franchise that I love, if I felt more like it loved me, as a queer man.

Like, yes, absolutely, I love this franchise, these games. I regularly replay them, even in the midst of trying to dig through my stack of unplayed games that has gotten so large, I legitimately dub it “the Stack of the Unplayed.” I’ve named that thing. And I will still set that aside to go exploring in the familiar corners of the Mass Effect universe. Hell, MShenko is near the top of my ‘I will go down with this ship’ listings, if not in the top spot, and I can play a game where it’s canon, which is incredible to me, since almost all my other ships are non-canon AND rarepair.

But this series has, in action, if not word, said that it doesn’t love me. It says that I’m not someone it cares about.

Because ME1 and ME2 had no same-sex male romances. Because despite that changing in ME3, those romances are still short-changed. Because Andromeda was a homophobic mess, REMAINS one, despite promises of changes - sure, we got bi!Jaal out of it, which I will be forever pleased about, but Gil and Reyes are still short-changed on content, to say nothing of Gil’s HORRIFIC mess of a storyline.

Because this franchise PUSHES the female love interests so oppressively - Liara is canonically the most important person in Shepard’s life, getting repeated moments of emotional intimacy, on top of the melding in ME1 being a required plot point, even as the game establishes the meld as a vital component of asari mating. Cora gets a lovingly detailed nude love scene with Ryder, while Gil and Ryder undress offscreen in a pan without even a shot of their bare chests. Peebee’s zero g scene is nothing short of a prelude to sex, and when turning her down, there’s no real way to say ‘no, I’m not interested,’ to not say “I’m not attracted to you that way,” the options are VERY sugar-coated and dancing around the idea of Ryder not being physically attracted to her. To say nothing of how multiple minor female characters express attraction towards the male PC, but not male characters.* It’s repeatedly emphasized that EVERYONE loves the asari, no matter their sexual orientation - even Cora, who says she’s not attracted to them... We’re still talking about someone who appropriated their culture, speaks more like she is an asari than a human. At no point does the franchise even acknowledge the WORD “gay.” At no point is it possible for Shepard or Ryder to say “I’m only attracted to men.” Hell, Shepard’s relationship with Kaidan or Steve in ME3 (again, the only game in the trilogy with M/M romances) is framed in a way that makes it seem that Shepard romancing them is out of his normal. And hell, even James Vega - who MANY in the gay community wanted to see as a romance option for male Shepard - got hit with a bat of “no homo, bro!” in the Citadel DLC, as if to staunchly declare to the gays that he isn’t “for us.”

In the Mass Effect universe, these games have portrayed being gay as more of an aberration. As an oddity. As something that the game - as something the characters and the societies around them - don’t consider an option until it’s actively said by the player that it is one. Even then, it’s very much in a grudging admission from the game’s narrative - sure, you may have chosen to romance a male character, but the relationships and interactions with the female characters who are potential romances take more precedence, happen more often in the space of the plot.

I love these games. But I do not feel like they love me in return. I want, I hope that this will, with time and further expansion of this universe, with future games, even with that tease of a remaster, get better - the least that can be done, if that remaster goes forward is Kaidan as a romance from ME1. That in successive comic series, there will be more same-sex relationships, in original characters, in background portrayals, things of that nature. That in ME5, which I’m still hopeful will come, even if it takes five, ten years, will give mlm players better options that are respectful, that have plot significance, without having to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to add this back into the game.

But until that happens... I find it hard to be eagerly excited about N7 Day.

EDIT: This post now has an addendum that evolved into another rant.

* = And I am fully aware of the issues of their portrayal of wlw being oriented with the male gaze, written more as straight male fantasies or written with the male PC in mind when the characters are bisexual (re: Peebee riding a non-existent dick), or the issues of the female PC in general. I’m not downplaying or dismissing that, I was just focusing on my experiences as a mlm.

#mass effect #n7 day #bioware critical #another angry queer rant #dg rambles

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smiggleninja · 7 years

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A very unfocused and generic rant about queer things in Australia RN

I rarely post about political/opinion stuff, not because I don't have strong opinions, but mainly because I'm scared of debate (I'm just real bad at it) but I'm literally having trouble concentrating on my day so here we go. I'm not going to go into why the plebiscite is a terrible idea here, there are plenty of people out there explaining it much better than I could, so I recommend looking up those. Eg, Hannah Gadsby's latest post.

Also cw, mentions of mental illness, homelessness and suicide (purely in the form of statistics, not personal experience). I also apologise if anyone is offended by my use of the word "queer" - I use it in terms of being inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, asexual, intersex, pansexual, non-binary, and any other such sexual orientation and gender indentity. I also consider it a reclamation kind of thing, but I totally understand why some may take issue with it.

Now.

There are many people who think that waaay too much airtime and debate time etc is being given to the issue of same sex marriage - and I am inclined to agree. Same sex marriage needs to happen, I don't want to diminish the importance of that. Going back to the AIDS crisis when partners were not allowed to visit their dying loved ones in hospital because they weren’t “family”, to now where it complicates adoption, housing, insurance, and all kinds of other such issues, as well as simply giving us the same legitimacy in the eyes of the law as heterosexual marriages, it would be completely disrespectful of me to say that legalising same sex marriage is not of cultural and historical significance. (And btw the term "same sex marriage", as opposed to "gay" marriage, is vital because not all same sex-attracted people are gay).

However, with the incredibly frustrating length of time that it's taking to get it done, the emphasis on "fair debate" (I could write a whole other status-essay on why that is bullshit) and the cowardice of certain political leaders, I'm concerned that the more this specific issue gets thrown back and forth, the more people will think that same sex marriage is the ONLY queer issue worth discussing or that is important. I'm referring to both straight people and gay people within my own community who I would've thought would be much more open-minded and considerate. Once we get same sex marriage there are other things that have often gone ignored that need to be addressed. There are many other letters in this beautiful rainbow, after all.

Issues such as - why is mental illness and being queer so often intertwined?

Why do 16% of queer people attempt suicide before the age of 27? Why do 35% of trans people attempt in their lifetime? 35!! Why do such a disproportionate amount of homeless people ID as queer? (40% according to my last google search. I don’t know the statistics of non-homeless people who ID as queer but it certainly nowhere near that.)

Why am I still uncomfortable holding my boyfriend’s hand in public after being with him for over three and a half years? Just the other day an extremely drunk man stumbling right out the front of our house asked us ‘Are you poofters?’ as we approached before going off on some unintelligible tirade. I have countless similar anecdotes that I may get into another time in other posts because it’s all being brought up lately.

I’m sure I’m only scraping the surface, and legalising same sex marriage will certainly be an excellent step toward tackling those issues, but our general cultural mindset about queer people needs to change.

Speaking of (and what I really wanted to get at) have the continued misunderstanding and sometimes complete lack of knowledge or awareness of trans people and people who are non-binary. That is another national conversation we need to start having so we can find the path to accepting and embracing these people the same way that many have embraced us gays. Hell, I’ve been lucky enough to be born cis, white, male, and into a loving and accepting family and I STILL get super anxious and self-conscious about my (frankly quite boring) sexual orientation, so I can’t even imagine what my friends tackling their gender identity and wider society’s resistance to it must be going through.

Genders that are not ‘male’ and ‘female’ have existed in many societies for centuries. We need to learn why correct pronouns are important, and how gender roles and stereotypes continue to shackle ALL of us (they can, of course, be liberating to some). As a cis man, I feel I can't comment much further on this but I welcome any trans or non-binary friends I have to chime in if they like.

Not to mention so many other issues that actually ARE so complex that they require debate after debate to come to a resolution. That is why we’re frustrated, because if the simple stuff is taking this damn long then how long will it take for the rest of it?

While I'm here, if I see the term "politically correct/incorrect" used as a way of negating respect for minorities, or as some bizarre form of riling up conservatives (I'm looking at you Mr Abbott) one more time I am going to scream.

Tl;dr – Don’t read comments sections of political videos because they will make you sit down for an hour and a half to write out your opinion so you can actually focus on your day instead crumbling into a pile of fury and exhaustion.

#queer #auspol #same sex marriage #plebiscite #LGBTQIA #australia #politics #cw suicide #cw mental illness #cw homelessness

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somewhere-inthemeadow · 7 years

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Hi, I just wanted to ask about Jughead. I thought he was only confirmed as asexual and the aromantic thing was to be kind of decided/expanded upon? If this isn't the case I apologize! I kind of feel as though Betty and Jughead came out of nowhere and Betty was literally head over heels for Archie one second and then this. So I think the show would make a lot of sense if they realized they misunderstood their relationship because I mean they're 15 who has hormones figured out? Have a great day!

hi anon. I hope you have a great day too. I’m gonna do a brief summary of the issue cause there’s a billion people who could explain it better than me, I can guarantee.

jughead has always been written as tho he is aroace, even in the original archie canon. in his own spinoff, jughead has come out as asexual (using that exact word) and the writer of the spinoff has confirmed that he has been writing jughead with aromantic leanings. So essentially the voice of god has deemed that jughead is aroace (Its also implied throughout the canon that jughead is touch-averse, but that’s another issue).

Its too early in the morning for me to find receipts for these, but if you want me to I definitely can, or like just google them, they are not that hard to find.

I have a lot of issues with riverdale in general, but I feel like bughead attacks me personally due to the I N T E N T I O N A L erasure of jughead’s aromanticism and asexuality that the writers have no plans on correcting themselves on in the future. This shows that they do not think aces are WORTHY enough to be written about, that we do not DESERVE to see ourselves on tv and that because we are aroace, we inherently cannot be part of decent arcs because of our aroaceness. And thus we end up with a jughead that feels like he has had something cut out of him as the writers rewrite his whole being and force him into situations he is super uncomfortable in.

To Sprouse’s credit (or this may just be me holding out hope for a character that I can connect with) jughead is still played, and kinda written, as though he is a confused aroace/aroace in denial. However, bughead seeks to erase any mention of the AROace part of his identity and that’s why a lot of the community is mad.

And let us not forget how DISRESPECTFUL the riverdale fandom is. They talk about jughead without know the damage his re-writing is doing to the ace and aro communities and how bughead personally invalidates us. And their bullshit ‘alternative universe’ is bullshit because as I have said before it goes to show how aphobic this fandom and show can be just so they can force a ship that was never meant to be onto a character that literally does not need one. There is romance between other characters in the show, you do not need to attack the A R O M A N T I C A S E X U A L and force him to fit your allo romance mould.

it also proves that IF JUGHEAD HAD BEEN ANY OTHER KIND OF QUEER WE WOULDN’T BE HAVING THESE DISCUSSIONS. people would accept jughead’s queerness and move on. how dare bughead shippers (or jarchie shippers for that matter) think they can talk over me, an aroace, about how I should be responding to a ship that personally invalidates ME! the sheer audacity you need to have to keep your hate ship going, knowing that seeing it being presented onstage is painful. What does it take you to understand that this ship tears something very important away from a character that represents a very underrepresented community and that by doing so tells us that we are not worthy of stories? that we are a lower class? and let us not forget the shippers that admit he is ace, but refuse to admit he is aro just so they can keep their ship afloat.

I am yet to write down my full thoughts on bughead, but trust me when I say a lot of the issues I have with it comes from the sheerness thickheadness of the bughead shippers and how they love to keep that aphobia coming.

Of course, riverdale in general is a shit show. There’s a reason that its only pulling a two star rating on netflix. the writing is shit and makes no sense (anyone who has ever paid any attention to my liveblog will know how I feel about this). In ep 1 betty was meant to be head over heels, irrevocably in love with archie, in ep 3 she wouldn’t have blinked if you said his name. there was also something going on with veronica and archie, but that was literally never mentioned again. and after the betty/veronica kiss in ep 1, did they ever even discuss that again?? cause I can tell you if someone kissed me and I wasn’t aware they were going to, and do it so publicly and unexpectedly, I would be flipping my shit.

Its things like that that show that riverdale was written by people who don’t really know what they are doing. And its things like the queer-baiting beronica kiss that show that river was written by non-queer writers. the way the show has handled its queer rep has been bullshit. I mean kevin says in either ep 3 or 4 that he wishes moose would just stay in the closet?? What kind of self respecting queer person would push away and further closet someone who is obviously struggling with themselves?? and do we get to know more about the snake guy from the drive in episode?? I reckon we won’t. The show is not progressive for having a gay character, and they way the have handled him is bullshit to say the least.

And this doesn’t even begin to describe the show’s inability to deal with its own storylines. the writing is painful and I hate it but I keep holding out because jughead means a lot to me as an ace person. even without the consideration of queer rep, the plotlines in the show do not develop naturally or overlap with each other well enough to make this show any kind of Good. I mean, what was going on with the wolf masks in the fear ep?? I have written about this elsewhere but that makes no sense in writing or onstage?? This show has bitten off more than it can chew and I think it knows it.

Of course, it is reasonable that betty and jughead will break up in a few episodes, but to rectify the damage that bughead has caused, this breakup needs to be followed with jughead coming to terms with and being comfortable in his AROMANTIC ASEXUAL self. And the fandom but accept this and move on, or else continue to ship bughead in non-romantic ways.

I am all down for this kind of arc, but something tells me that the writers do not have the guts to do something so bold.

I could rant on 5eva about bughead and riverdale in general but I’m gonna stop because it is early and I want today to be a good day

#anon #replies #that one riverdale bughead ace dispute #I cannot believe you made me say aphobia #why would you do that #also like soz for the long post #i have a lot to say

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dgcatanisiri · 5 years

Text

So while I was looking over some of the fallout from that thread with Patrick Weekes on said message board, something occurred to me.

One of the things I tend to be critical of is the way that the BioWare writers seemed so... pleased with Dorian’s story, when it basically comes across as an after school special from the 90s about how homophobia is bad, reducing the gay person and their feelings on the situation to a prop in order to develop the straight person(s) in the room.

And I stopped to think... Gaider and Weekes, the writers I’ve seen most outspoken about the importance of that story... They are at least a decade older than I am, just entering my thirties. Their experiences as queer men, when they came of age, when they were growing up... were actually very different from mine.

My first genuine exposure to same-sex relationships is hard to pin down. There were some things that completely flew past me as a small child. I can look at things that I saw or read as a child and say ‘wow, that’s actually legitimately gay.’ Not even something as iconic like the kiss between Jadzia and Lenara in Star Trek Deep Space Nine but things like references to gay people in Animorphs, or some characters in the Trek novels who were novel exclusive and able to be said to be in same-sex relationships, all of this prior to my discovery of actual fanfic and the slash communities by around... oh, I think freshman year of high school or so, so 14/15. I just had these things kinda wash over me because it wasn’t until then that I really GOT the concept of homosexuality.

That puts us in the early 2000s. That’s when I call the start of my “coming of age” period. And for someone older than that, older than I was, old enough to be writing for games produced in that time frame (which, as Gaider was a writer for KOTOR, yeah, that’s a thing)... That coming of age period was coming into an entirely different atmosphere.

Because the AIDS epidemic would have still been fresh for that generation. Like, I was... “lucky’s” an awkward word for the situation, but, for my introduction to AIDS, at least beyond the goofy portrayals from the “so you’re going through puberty, don’t have sex” videos from like fifth/sixth grade, was in my junior high Health teacher, taught by a very down to earth and (particularly for Kansas) open-minded woman (and, side note, she was SO MUCH BETTER at this than the course I had in high school that was a unit as part of PE class... Just needed to stop and have a teacher appreciation moment here). Additionally, I have a memory dislodging of hearing that one of the teachers at my school had specifically contributed to the AIDS Quilt. So the lessons we learned about AIDS were genuine, were inclusive, were kind.

And, looking back on it now, I can see how easily it would be for a teacher without that determination to NOT vilify people as victims of “god’s wrath” could have changed that. And that was the perspective that would have been imprinted on anyone who grew up in the days of the worst of the AIDS epidemic.

When I write stories that deal with coming of age narratives, I write to the version of me in high school, just out of high school, who needed to hear that he was okay, that he wasn’t broken for feeling how he did. For me, that story involves “being gay” as a part of who he is, but not EVERYTHING that he is. His existence as a queer person isn’t revolutionary, it’s him being more than that while still being queer.

But if you grew up in a time and environment that told you that you couldn’t be queer AT ALL, that you had to hide this fact away in the tightest closet in the deepest darkest parts of yourself... It is revolutionary to just exist. To openly, bluntly, proudly affirm your queerness. In the fact that Patrick Weekes has just recently stated openly an identification as non-binary, it’s a process that people from that time are STILL working through.

For me, it’s a facet. For that older group, it’s a revolutionary statement. To that older group, who are speaking to THEIR younger selves, they’re giving that message that they needed. And to those of us who don’t need it, who need a new and different one, we’re the ones who are privileged to be able to stand in the light and declare ourselves to the world and not have those wasted years, living lies.

And I say that not as a value statement but as a simple statement of fact. It’s a generation gap issue, and the queer community, as a whole, doesn’t have the tools to try and bridge it, since we LOST that generation, so we’re experiencing it now for what is, in effect, the first time.

Now. This isn’t me EXCUSING things. Like I’ve said, repeatedly, at length, I still genuinely need different stories, and I am not alone in that. That’s why there’s this group of us who do complain about Dorian, how he failed us. That yeah, they may be speaking to their younger selves in the name of trying to offer that life preserver to those who need it... But they’re telling those like me, those who need something different that, because we’re treading water, we don’t need the preserver like others do.

This is a generational issue. Yeah, there’s the kid who needs that story. But, speaking as the person who that story serves more as an anchor than a life preserver (can I beat this metaphor into the ground any more?), what I get out of stories like Dorian’s isn’t “you deserve to live openly.” It’s “you’re not free of homophobia, even in your fantasy.”

Like, here’s bits of a rant for another day, this was, in retrospect, a great deal of my problem with a character like Kurt Hummel from Glee - that character, yes, was unapologetically gay, but also presented in this fashion that framed him as “properly gay.” That if you weren’t like this, you weren’t REALLY gay. To me now, to me during the height of Glee mania, that message just infuriates me. But had I gotten that message from my media back in high school, when I was trying to come to terms with this part of myself that I had no idea how to handle, not having role models, that would have pushed me FURTHER INTO the closet.

And I mean it when I say that I don’t want to give the impression that this was the intended message with characters like Kurt, like Dorian. But where for this older generation of queer people, the message they want to send is “you deserve to live proudly and openly as who you are,” the message I get instead is “this is what being gay is all about.” In Kurt’s case, it was “fashion, glamour, being one of the girls!” In Dorian’s case, it’s “your family hates you, and dropping your lover for the country that hates you as well.” (Because I have ISSUES with Dorian’s unilateral decision to turn the relationship into a long distance one with no discussion).

And, you know, hey, from a certain point of view (...okay, yeah, still hate that phrase), it is a good thing, speaks to an advancement in society. But... Writer intent is the smallest part of the messages received by the audience. These writers intend for their messages to be empowering to the audience. But I don’t hear their intended message, just the one that I end up getting. The one that DISempowers me.

#dg rants #another angry queer rant #bioware critical #dorian critical #more of a 'societally and culturally' critical than either of those specifically #but i feel like the tags still apply so...

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