Isn’t the whole thing with transgenderism about being accepted as the person you really are? If you identify as male and no one even has the thought of questioning that, isn’t that the ultimate goal?
Any hero could be transgender even at this very moment, but no one cares because they all accept them for who they are.
In the context of Overwatch, why would something like this ever be brought up? What’s the point other than to sensationalize it and turn it into a token gimmick?
Bit worrying that despite there being so many human characters in the game and so many characters with different playstyles and personalities, you still can’t connect to any of them unless they bring up past trauma.
oh definitely, i liked the qunari take a lot! the writers did a good job of writing trans inclusivity to be an authentic extension of existing qun beliefs. great example, it’s been so long since i’ve touched dragon age outside of listening to sarcastic femhawke clips on repeat for hours at a time
to be a little clearer about my feelings on Pelagos, i felt positively about the character himself in that i felt he recounted a really good, really accessible trans story that was believable and felt like a realistic take on trans experiences by the writer. i actually deleted that portion of my comment because i thought maybe it was too out there for what i responding to, and because clarifying my problems with him could risk getting me in a back-and-forth about WoW lore of all things, but to summarize it i basically felt like he was good, but the Kyrians seemed detached from the concept or importance of identity in literally every other respect in a way that hadn’t been satisfactorily addressed in-universe up to that point.
like, it was weird to me that in an afterlife where every one of WoW’s incredibly varied, diverse races and cultures were homogenized into Blue Humans, where memories of a past life were seen as burdensome and unpalatable, trans acceptance would stand pretty much alone in an acceptable form of self-identification and comfort than, say, forcing a 25,000 year old draenei into a body without hooves and a tail and horns, etc.
to me, it opened the door to deep structural critique of the kyrians that we hadn’t seen up to that point, in an expansion where, frankly, blizzard’s idea of an afterlife was already pretty grim.
and i know i’m rambling and i apologize, but just to close up: I guess this is a more out there criticism on my part, but there was something a little…i don’t know, disturbing in a way not really addressed in-universe about Pelagos enduring the agony of untreated dysphoria for his entire life only to find solace and comfort in death, when myself and so many trans people struggle with the idealization of death when dysphoria, left untreated, can be so horribly uncomfortable and miserable to deal with. i hope that makes sense. to me, the Qun take on gender was really comforting and it fit seamlessly into the existing beliefs of the Qunari, but with the Kyrians it felt a little…out of place, i guess.
ESO has a character casually remark on the possibilities of transition in-universe via magic or alchemy, and while you can imagine something like that is present in WoW, outside of transmorphic tinctures as a kind of flavor item we don’t really have any set-in-stone path to transition or emotional reprieve for people like Pelagos before they die, which was maybe just a little too dark for me at the time with in a character that was otherwise meant to be seen as encouraging. and…obviously it would preferable to die and have my gender identity respected, but as a player, it felt so awkward next to the sheer amount of depersonalization going on in the shadowlands
again sorry for the novel, i tried to trim it down but it feels like this sort of conversation really suffers without lots of nuance
They didn’t PC Culture anything in WoT. I know that accusation gets tossed around, but it’s not remotely accurate. The world is 3000 years post apocalypse following a utopian society, there is no description of most ethnicities in terms of skin tone (there are a few exceptions) and the entire original work is on gender roles and societal behavior about them…
Not important to you, because you’ve likely never had to feel marginalized or set aside based on those issues. What is important to you personally is not the same as rather something is important as a whole.
Yep, and you’ll notice the people who have posted identifying as transgender have said they don’t want representation for representation’s sake. Doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be appreciated if it was done well.
Quoting a small part, but read and agree with your post. I Think that Blizz was attempting to just subvert stereotypes. The Angelic and “Good” looking people were probably the most screwed up, erasing individuality and identity. The “Evil” looking people were incredibly nuanced, honorable and decent. The Pretty Nature people were somewhat cold and uncaring, taking survival of the fittest and natural selection to dangerous extremes and the supposedly corrupted vampires were probably the most heroic in ideal, actively helping people be better. They were ham fisted and I think kind of failed in general, but I can see the roadmap. Kind of like how I feel the Starwars Prequels had a great roadmap for subverting the idea of trusting prophecy but then failed the delivery.
I mean I have to ask what was convenient about either Tracer or Soldier reveals? I believe Tracer was sometime around holiday either 2016 or 2017 and Soldier was a year or so after that but it was not like Overwatch had a need for revealing a gay character at either instance. The other thing is that it was not even really awkward in either circumstance. In both cases it was just a nonchalant thing that was just casually done especially in Tracer’s case where it got no extra noteworthiness next to Torbs family and Reapers lack of one.
Daryl Sweet’s artwork is questionable and authors get very little influence in the covers. The Guide Books are referred to as the Big Book of Bad Art. The D20 System was made by another company.
Look at the actual books. The only thing ever said about Two Rivers folk is dark eyes and dark hair. Absolutely nothing about skin complexion other than that Rand is fairer than them. Nothing written by Jordan or Sanderson specifies any specific skin tone for Perrin or Egwene or Nynaeve.
To take it a step further, Harriet and Brandon were both creative consultants on the show and Harriet is DEEPLY protective or her and her husband’s work. So much so that when another company tried to rush a WoT production for movie rights she went after them viciously.
Ultimately, the actual books have no conflict with the show and the 2nd and 3rd most important authority on the books have given their approval. No issues found.
blizzard really suffers from the post-red wedding reaction video era of “subversion of expectations is inherently good writing”
that really was my biggest problem with pelagos, yeah: i couldn’t get through it all without thinking that a more consistent reflection of horrible Kyrian values would have been to magically erase his dysphoria and stick him in the wrong body, which…obviously they can’t do, because that’s a GREAT way to (justifiably) get the worst PR disaster of your life. but with better writing around pelagos, it’d feel a lot more sensible and internally well-structured as a smaller part of the shadowlands’ worldbuilding. and that’s more or less where my fear comes in, that blizzard is sometimes actually pretty good at representing believable experiences but very bad at applying them to a larger body of writing
but i do regret using it as an example only because you have to get into the weeds of wow lore and even then i think on an interpersonal level he’s handled pretty well, whereas there are countless examples of well-intentioned trans rep in media that just, uh, doesn’t hit at all. like sure i have all these hyperspecific nerd reasons to think pelagos contributed negatively to the overall worldbuilding of the shadowlands and the whole “solace in the afterlife” thing has weird vibes for me, but i appreciate that he has an approachable wholesome story that i think could help build a better frame of understanding of trans issues for your average politically uninvolved but progressive-leaning person, and…that’s way, way more important at the end of the day
…plus he’s a trans guy and that’s like a unicorn in media lol
For enough money I can agree with anything people tell me to agree with as well.
Also the books very clearly stated they were all Manetheren descendants and isolated. This does not lead to diverse skin colors. The series also very clearly points out the characters that ARE black.
In a series that is built around ethnic diversity in disparate nations, and a driving force of the books being the ability to recognize people by their appearance there isn’t a lot of support for every little village between here and there being a melting pot.
The series HAD strong characters of different races already. Changes like that felt super forced I’m sorry.
This would be great if either of them were hurting for money, neither are. You do realize aside from being Jordan’s Widow Harriet is one of the most respected and high paid editors in the entire industry. She discovered Jordan. Sanderson got a boost from WoT but ultimately his own star is brighter than his WoT involvement. And again, Harriet already has a history of NOT going after the paycheck (For instance, Jordan had planned 3 sequal novels centered on Mat. She pulled the plug on those being written).
Actually, it does. You’re looking too small. In the Age of Legends everything was utopia, or a facsimile of such. There would be all backgrounds everywhere essentially. Then the Apocalypse Happens. The various pockets of humanity would not be mono-culture. Since then only 3000 years have passed in total. That’s not enough time for a culture to slide mono ethnicity. Further, if we start with a mix of all peoples, guess which genetics take dominance?
Those appearances were almost NEVER based on genetics. The exception is the Aiel and the Domani. (Aiel were somehow desert nomad gingers and Domani are Indian I think… Copper skinned). But the rest? No, Every country was a hodge podge of things that made sense internally but didn’t apply to individual places. Cairhienin, for example, are French Japanese. When they talk about signifiers of certain people it’s very rarely physical. It’s usually dress or custom (Domani Veils, Cairhienin shaved forheads, Shienaran top-knots, etc).
I get you don’t like it, but it’s your opinion talking, not something the books themselves actually push. You read the book and defaulted to people like you, understandable.
Wheel of time being “diverse”/lots of mixed race characters was actually realistic… You clearly didn’t pay attention at all. After the ultra-modern, progressive civilization fell what else did you expect?
This basically explained what I said much better. God forbid we have realism in media lol
3000 years is MANY times over what it takes for mono ethnicity to happen in a place as small as the Two Rivers. Hell that’s the majority of written history in the real world.
Also if “all the two rivers people are dark skinned and dark eyed” then why was Mat cast as a very much white guy? For that matter why are half the people in the Winespring Inn white?
I don’t care what color you make them, but be consistent, diversity for the same of diversity doesn’t belong there.
Did you actually fully watch the WoT series on Amazon? You’re asking questions that the show pretty much already answered non-verbally.
Omg it is not 100% realistic, the ‘diversity’ was basically to showcase the mixing of people from an ultra-modern progressive future after an apocalypse. It is just a TV show, they can’t make everything 100% accurate to real life genetics.
But having different ethnicities/mixed ethnicities painted the impression of something that is logical, rational and not pandering at all.
This is something that people just dont understand. Most of this forced representation is mostly in bad faith to garner attention and nothing else plus alot of people avoid criticizing it just to not be labelled “homophobic”. I loved how overwatch revealed its characters like we first came to know more about both the characters before their sexuality being revealed unlike other reveals where they just slap the lgbtq sticker and advertise it as such.
