Posts made by Coin

@arkandel said in Good TV:

@coin That AND THE GLASSES THING which I'll never get over. I'm getting help.

At least the glasses thing has some studies backing it. A rando alien looking exactly like a white male is just ridiculous.

@arkandel said in Good TV:

@greenflashlight said in Good TV:

I often wonder if racists ever know what they're implying when they argue that the most moral man on Earth can't be black.

I can't say, but Superman falls within the Starfire clause; he's a freakin' alien. Humans on his earth should be happy he doesn't have tentacles for fingers and bug eyes, let alone the pigmentation of his skin.

@groth said in Good TV:

@arkandel

If you ignore his previous visual incarnations for a moment and just go with 'A human form alien thats powered by the light of a yellow sun', wouldnt his most natural skin color be Blue(blue is what remains if you remove yellow from light) or atleast heavily tan/dark skinned?

Ironically, or perhaps deliberately, Icon, the Dakotaverse's analogue for Superman, is a character who isn't human-seeming in his natural form, but takes the shape of the nearest human specimen: a black man. So not only do they manage to make a black version of the general Superman archetype; they manage to do it without one of the dumbest issues that Superman originally has (re: he's an alien from another planet that is essentially a white human man).

@groth said in Good TV:

@coin said in Good TV:

@groth said in Good TV:

@greenflashlight

But even if you go with original version, why couldnt Maria Stark be african american and Tony mixed?

She could. In fact, in Ultimate Marvel she's Latina. However: if Tony were obviously mixed, his experience and the level of privilege he moves in within the society he was raised in would be different.

Being rich and white and being rich and black (even mixed, even if your father is alabaster) is still very different in the U.S.

What does the audience know about being rich of any color? The rich playboy part of Tony is a fantasy written by people who dont live that life for people who dont live that life. Any resemblence to the realities of inheriting a massive company are accidental.

International audience in particular who are becoming an ever larger portion of total profit would have zero clue.

That's entirely your opinion. There's a whole other school of thought wherein accurate representation of social issues -- even in fantastical allegories -- are an important part of building a narrative and telling a story that resonates (and it doesn't need to resonate with everyone; I have no idea what being black is like, but I still enjoyed Black Panther; I'm sure black people experienced it on a whole other level despite none of them knowing what it's like to live in a ridiculously advanced secret African nation).

That it wouldn't be important to you in no way diminishes its importance to others.

@groth said in Good TV:

@greenflashlight

But even if you go with original version, why couldnt Maria Stark be african american and Tony mixed?

She could. In fact, in Ultimate Marvel she's Latina. However: if Tony were obviously mixed, his experience and the level of privilege he moves in within the society he was raised in would be different.

Being rich and white and being rich and black (even mixed, even if your father is alabaster) is still very different in the U.S.

@arkandel said in Good TV:

@wizz said in Good TV:

I haven't read the books, so I didn't realize that was a studio change! Huh. It certainly adds a ton more depth to her character that wouldn't have really been there otherwise, and gives us that fun moment I mentioned, so...wow, props to Netflix, and screw the haters!

Sometimes hating on casting choices is just borderline (?) racist because it makes no sense. The example I have in mind is Starfire being played by a black woman, there was so much bitching before the show started.

I mean technically speaking she should be orange, but otherwise who cares? She's not from Earth!

It crosses the "borderline" limit when you look back and see how much cultural and visual coding went into Starfire over the years in comic books and how much African-American style, fashion, and natural physical traits are present in her character design. Coding is important in storytelling, especially in visual mediums.

@wizz said in Good TV:

@arkandel said in Good TV:

She was addressing Alina's race in an interview - since she was described as a blonde white woman in the books but mixed race in the show - and attributed the lack of diversity to her own shortcomings as a young author when she first wrote the books.

I haven't read the books, so I didn't realize that was a studio change! Huh. It certainly adds a ton more depth to her character that wouldn't have really been there otherwise, and gives us that fun moment I mentioned, so...wow, props to Netflix, and screw the haters!

Also, that the author was pretty new really explains the other minor thing I found kinda cheesy, how pretty much all of the on-screen recurring characters have a romantic pairing or two. It felt so Young Adult Novel, haha!

Even in the books, a lot of the tropes that are cheesy get turned on their heads eventually. Some don't. She's pretty good at walking a fine line between the two.

@jibberthehut said in Good TV:

Binged it, it's lovely, the costumes are gorgeous. It did however leave me confused and realizing that you probably need to have a basic understanding of the world it's set in, as it lacks some worldbuilding. They seem to expect that you'll have understanding of different races/peoples of the setting.

That said, I enjoyed it. I'll give it another watch and having never read the series, I'd probably give the books a go just so that I can better understand the world as a whole.

@groth said in Good TV:

@jibberthehut
Its basically faux Russia, faux Yuan(Mongol) China and faux Netherlands.

More specifically:

Ravka is heavily influenced and inspired by Tsarist Russia of the early 1800s.

Novyi Zem was inspired by the American colonies and Australia, with other influences.

Kerch was inspired by the Dutch Republic of the 18th century, with some influence from New York (New Amsterdam), Las Vegas, and Victorian London.

Shu Han is based on Mongolia and China. The name is taken from one of the Chinese states of Three Kingdoms period.

Fjerda is based on Scandinavia.

The Wandering Isle is based on Ireland.

@arkandel

I've read the first two books (which only feature half the cast of the show; the Crows are from a whole different duology in the same setting).

I liked the show. There are a lot of changes (the addition of a whole cast of characters will do that) but the story beats from the first book are all hit and the production value is pretty good. I found some of the acting a little stiff (but I am more prone to putting those responsibilities on the directors rather than the actors, usually) but other performances were stellar.

All in all, I liked it. I'll probably read the rest of the books in the setting before the next season comes out.

@ganymede said in Good TV:

@greenflashlight said in Good TV:

I just realized She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is a failed TV show because at no point did Catra get the zoomies.

It really didn't fail at all. It's just one of those shows that would have been up for Emmys all over the place if it wasn't localized to Netflix.

@arkandel said in Are there any high fantasy MU*s?:

Not to advocate for this specific setting but The Traitor Son novels by Miles Cameron reversed the trope of man versus nature very well.

Typically the fires of industry threaten the natural balance, forests are chopped down and magic fades from the world. In these books nature is a badass not too fond of humans and their cities, so civilization is shrinking; gryphons attack settlements, exotic creatures are pushing desperate communities back behind their walls, and humankind may well be an endangered species.

This could make for an interesting setting to base a game (or campaign ) on.

Question.

Did the humans perhaps expand aggressively into nature, threatening the natural balance, chopping down forests, and that's why nature's like, "lulz no"?

@sunny said in Battling FOMO (any game):

I induced my own meltdown at one point by going, "what happens if I stop reaching out to people?"

...not pretty, do not recommend. Ego still recovering. DO NOT DO. Danger, Will Robinson, DANGER.

Eh. I ask myself that question all the time.

Allegedly, according to credible sources, people don't ask me for RP because I'm intimidating. This is poppycock, I am as insecure as anyone else. >:/

@greenflashlight said in Battling FOMO (any game):

@l-b-heuschkel said in Battling FOMO (any game):

This. And it's a problem we obviously cannot magically fix for everyone because ultimately, a lot of the time the problem is with the player, not the game. But we can still try to make it easier for the players with anxieties (hi, I'm one of us too), by creating an environment less optimised for hungry brain weasels.

I've been doing what I can to combat this on an interpersonal level (not in myself because I'll probably never get over it, but for others) by dropping occasional random reminders that I like the person I'm talking to and I enjoy their company. It comes off as awkward as it sounds, but I don't care, I'm tired of worrying more about sounding smooth than being genuine.

Oh hey, on that topic, whoever you are, reading this? I probably don't know who you are on any game we've ever played, but I was grateful for that one time we played together and would like to do it again if meatlife would quit being a butt about scheduling. You're cool.

I try to do this too. Or I try to reach out to people who don't really reach out to me most of the time even though they say they enjoy RP with me when we do.

I dunno. I'm big on reciprocity and even though I try to set that need aside a lot, it wears you down.

@arkandel said in Battling FOMO (any game):

What certainly doesn't help is how that same kind of insecurity leads others to over-promote themselves. Seeing them openly brag about their amazing RP the day before and pat each other in the back over public channels when you have been sitting on your thumbs looking to do something - anything at all - can have that effect.

Yeah. Agreed.

Helen McCrory.

I want a Kill 6 Billion Demons MU.

<.<

@sunny said in Good TV:

@buttercup said in Good TV:

Also I think my love for Invincible has made me more content then I should be with my super hero fill of greatness!

I love Invincible SO MUCH. I can't really do gore so it gets rough at moments, but gosh, the characters and storytelling are so good it keeps me watching despite my hangups.

I love it so much. The comic books is one of my favorites (definitely my favorite Kirkman property) and I am so happy so far with the result. Also it is a HILARIOUSLY star-studded cast.

@wizz said in MUs That We Would Love To Make (But Won't):

I would love to make a King of the Monsters-style game, where the kaiju are the PCs and they have like, human cults/creepy corporations/both dedicated to them as game resources the players can use. We'd track collateral damage and how much cities have had to pay to rebuild, etc.

Totally goofy but fun.

A game idea I had was people playing spirits/ethereal beings/demons/angels/gods/faeries/whatever and you got to be ONE of those, and you were the patron for different people (PC you controlled) and they all worked in your Patron's interests (or against them, if you wanted to play some traitor storyline).

S'a great way to get rid of Conflict of Interest (your PCs are supposed to help each other -- they all work for the same Patron Being).

And you get to explore the relationship each "sub-PC" has to their Patron in whatever way you want. Patrons could control people via light possession, oaths, contracts, blackmail, sheer devotion and faith on their part, whatever made sense for the Patron.

@mietze said in A healthy game culture:

Shittalking people off game (discord, here, whatever other social platforms the kids are using these days).

Purposeful targeted exclusion can be super hard to spot (or prove, or defend oneself from the accusation).

Sometimes ooc commentary too. I mean there is a degree at which yes, most of the time people will feel like a line has been crossed, but there are some times when constant soft negativity or 'I'm not good enough/my sheet sucks/ect' doesn't cross the line overtly but can still be an enthusiasm killer (and honestly, almost everyone has episodes of that at least at some point).

I know I do. I try not to but it slips. Most of the bad/worst stuff I keep on lockdown, though.

@rucket said in A healthy game culture:

@lisse24 said in A healthy game culture:

So, we know mega-multi-sphere WoD games tend to have players that are are overly aggressive and PITA's to play with.

We also know that Kingsmouth had a generally positive culture and got there using various larp-like systems, intensive staff-intervention, and restrictive character policies.

We don't know if the Kingsmouth model is the only way to achieve that end, because the vast majority of WoD games that start go the mega-multi-sphere PRP route and there's not a lot that have tried to add in some of Kingsmouth's systems or philosophies.

There was a period of time when Miami was considering doing some of the Kingsmouth stuff for Vampire, but that was like a year and a half ago or so and I don't know if that is still being discussed.

Pretty sure Miami is dead in the water.

@tinuviel said in A healthy game culture:

I mildly object to the idea that a game can "bring out the worst" in people. People are the problem, not the game. The game is just an excuse people use to be toxic. It's the "what was she wearing" of our little community - along side the actual "what was she wearing."

Even FATAL doesn't bring out the worst in people. It just brings the worst people out, which is different.