TLDR: We’ve outgrown Overwatch’s Original intent and forcing that story doesn’t have a
reason to work.
So I finally got around to watching EndGame and yikes. That was uh… a giant waste of my
time.
I don’t mean to be #edgy. But it just wasn’t a good movie. But I knew it wouldn’t be since it was
announced. So I wasn’t surprised. Just exhausted. And I realized it was largely because of the
forced narrative that I was so entirely over.
Prior to EndGame, there was the epic disappointment that was Game of Thrones. The pop TV series that took the world by the horns, just to dig its own grave. Another series I was expecting to end poorly. I had stopped watching because season 3 had some writing issues I was really getting exhausted of. But I returned for the Night Fight just to be completely disappointed.
One of the things I love about Overwatch is the lore and world that it is set in. There is a care to
the animations, voice acting, music, and environment that I think is some of the top of its field.
But I was really disappointed with Sigmas discussion despite loving what was placed in lore and game.
I fear that in the long run, this world is going to take a nose dive and it will be to the fatal flaw
that seems to be the trend for popular stories going mainstream: Forcing a narrative you’ve
outgrown.
Let’s Discuss.
A History of Success: Avatar the Last Airbender
I want to give an example of a series done good imo. Avatar the Last Airbender is one of the
most complete, wholly strong piece of storytelling that really stands the test of time. It has strong world building. Explicit themes. And Character driven narrative.
A large part of that stems from it’s episodic nature. But a large part comes from the outline of the story not being the sole focus of the tale. This allows the characters to grow and develop
organically and it allows for deeper relationships and meaningful interactions. This not only is
seen in the way characters act, but in the details of the story itself. Avatar has a lot of action but
the purpose of action is to tell a story.
The different benders have different forms of bending unique to them beyond just the element
they wield. There is a big difference between how Zuko fights, compared to his sister who is
also a firebender- Azula. And How Zuko fights evolves over time.
You also see where each benders’ fighting tells you something about them.
Katara, we witness- grows from being unable to lift water consistently, to fighting a master
bender head on. And what she does at this stage, largely differs from her assassination attempt
to avenge her mother. Younger Katara is less refined, and more aggressive. She is very heavyhanded in her bending, using large amounts of water to chuck at her opponent. Her attempt at revenge, utilizes quiet, more striking methods. She uses less water, and is more precise.
Katara’s evolution comes through her actions, her fighting, her emotions, and her environment,
Who she is around Toph is different than who she is around Zuko.
Avatar allows the characters to grow and develop in ways that make sense for their characters.
A strong example of this is seen in Katara. Katara is very motherly, but we see her be spoiled
and spiteful. Her mother is a point of hurt for her and she gets very defensive to the point of
doing actions that are fairly deplorable.
Katara isn’t deplorable because we can understand her plight. We know where her triggers are, and how she acts makes sense. Because they fully explore her character as she goes through different episodes.
When she goes to avenge her Mother, We go through Katara’s emotional, mental, and physical
struggles. We see her sleepless and exhausted. We see her struggle with her past as her guilt
eats her for not saving her mother, and her present by having to rely on Zuko whom she doesn’t like or trust. And we see her lash out not to just her target of kill, but even her friends and own brother.
“Then you didn’t love her like I did.” Katara telling her brother that he must not have loved their
mother was incredibly dark and harsh. But it didn’t make her friends, or the audience not believe it was something she could do. Because the writing supported such in the past.
Katara letting the man live was planned. But the main focus of the story was Katara’s growth. It
makes it believable.
Endgame- Forcing Character over Plot
I didn’t have high hopes for this film. I knew that there was no way they would properly do
characters justice let alone a comprehensible storyline.
And I don’t mean in a nitpicky, pedantic, “Why isn’t this called the Revengers instead of
Avengers? After all they aren’t doing this for justice. That’s a big sin. Ding!” or “It took ant man
forever to get used to the suit and now everyone can just use the suits totally fine? That’s a big
sin. Ding!” way. I mean in a-
You took years to develop this narrative, why did you toss it out for stuff that could have been
done in a manner that made actual sense?
One of the biggest issues I have with this film is Tony. Which was something I could have told
you when they announced that they were going to follow a Civil War timeline.
Tony= Jesus and we will MAKE IT SO.
It’s like, they got this outline and then did whatever it took to bend the logic of the world to
forcibly hit these two points because
We. Got. To. Wrap. This. Up.
Stares in GoT
Tony literally regresses in one line over what was an entire plot of one of his films. “I told you!
We needed a suit EVERYWHERE!”
What? Tony… you literally had a whole crisis over what was the validity of your weaponry. You
had a whole movie about capping the power in the world.
They emphasize that Tony is the only one who can make time travel work, but the end has
Bruce sending back Cap with no problems, all on his own.
Is Shuri the only smart person in Wakanda?
Why go to Tony, who you know has a daughter in this time, to go do something that if not done
right could have him risk everything when you have. Other. Options?
And it’s because of the narrative they wanted to force. It’s not just about plot, but about making
Tony as sympathetic as possible while also as grand as possible while also a pseudo “chosen
one”
Despite this entire line of story not even needing him.
There was no reason to fight to get the stones into the truck, especially as Tony just… used his
hands to address the giant war around him. There was no reason, that Captain Marvel, who
seems to handle the stones’ power just fine, to snap her fingers instead of needing Tony to die
over being the “Savior.”
Captain Marvel was their powerhouse, and she… took out the ship…. Why wouldn’t you have
her just… end things?
It’s not just that Tony had to die. It’s how they had to bend the world to ensure how he died.
We go against the arc of his character built for the last 3 movies. We kill his motivation for the
last 3 movies. And we have to ensure he not only dies but dies saving the galaxy. And what I mean is:
Tony had an arc defined around learning the value of seeing things smaller. He used to amass
wealth and fame from large scale business then learned where it hurt smaller people. He
learned how he was hurting his friends. He learned how he scared not only other, but himself.
And he learned the value of saving and protecting one life and the despair that could come from losing it (Spider-Man).
And then in the movie itself, we have him talk with his dad and learn the value of time.
So Why Force him to die in a way that goes against all. Of. That?
He just remembered the value of time. He just had a moment of understanding what it means to be a father. These are small scale aspects of life. And we forget that because we need to force
tony into dying for the galaxy.
But- just spitballing here- You could have had an equally emotionally charged moment of death,
had Tony sacrifice himself to Spider-Man prior to Captain Marvel arriving, and kept his arc
intact. Having Peter safe, Tony looks at him as says “I’m not losing you again, kid” or “I plan to
keep both my kids alive this time” or something not only emphasizes his lesson of family, small
scale life lessons, strengthens Peter’s bond with Tony, Allows Peter a way into Pepper’s life
later, and doesn’t break Tony’s entire cinematic arc.
”Game of Thrones- Forcing Plot over Character
It’s fair to say that the ending of Game of Thrones was… not well received. But I do feel a lot
comes from nitpicking or not fully taking into consideration the whole of the story in relation to its ending.
A lot of hate is given to Dany’s arc, her ultimate death, and how she briefly turned into Super
Hitler. The Hitler that FLIES.
But tbh, I think that was fairly expected back in season 3 if you had any eyeballs to how the
women in the series were treated.
No, I’m going to say that the aspects that went wrong largely followed Jon Snow, but were most
obvious with Tyrion.
Tyrion was a spiteful, prideful, hateful little man in the beginning of the series. He was conniving,
tactless, and near vile as a person. He explicitly said that he would gladly die if it meant that
others would suffer for it. Even death was a price worth paying if it meant being petty.
Here’s the thing. Peter Dinklage is very good. He is a good actor. And it meant that people
started to look at the good for Tyrion and becoming a fan favorite. And Fan Favorites… have to stay palatable.
The largest deviation from this disconnect imo is Tyrion’s relationship with his girlfriend, Shae.
Because Peter Dinklage was allowed to be charming and charismatic with her, the actors
formed what looked like a fairly strong, stable relationship. Which deviated from the books. So
when Tyrion was supposed to kill her in a fit of rage, the writer’s were at a loss.
So they took the plot point, and kept it despite it no longer making any sense.
By this time, they had let Tyrion evolve more into an audience insert. Tyrion was less spiteful,
and more kind. How can we get him to full-blown kill her instead of just waiting or not doing it at
all? And How do we do it, while keeping Tyrion sympathetic?
The show bends itself around ensuring that Tyrion doesn’t reveal his spiteful, cruel nature ever again despite that being his. Whole. Point.
And it goes so far as to ensure that he is safe from being vilified even at the very end.
Why would Tyrion have issues with Dany killing people out of spite? He literally did that. Why
would Jon and Tyrion have issues with Dany killing people in rage? Jon literally did that on a
personal level to a child? Tyrion’s family tried and searched for the starks to do the same. Why
would Tyrion have a conscious for any of this despite him being
Constantly wrong- the whitewalkers did exist unlike what he told dany
Gave Dany bad advice- Dany was able to win her battles easily
Has said he trusted her ideals- why would her being pretty be an issue when plenty of
other pretty women have existed in his life?
He has killed the woman he loved- why would he lead Jon to Kill her when Tyrion has a
history of killing women and being just fine with it?
Nothing supports Tyrions motives. His entire arc was changed to the detriment of his character.
He doesn’t grow. He doesn’t change. He just… falls back. He doesn’t DO anything except
apparently forget the one thing he was supposed to be- which was smart and a strategist. The
core of who he was tossed aside to give Dany bad advice, hate her, and remain sympathetic.
Where the Avengers bend the characters to the plot, Game of Thrones bend the plot to the
characters.
Overwatch
Obviously, there isn’t the same amount of lore for Overwatch as these other series. But I
actually find the platform of the game to be a unique experience and one I quite like overall. But I am hesitant to push forward because of the issues that I think will occur from a forced narrative that really isn’t needed.
Overwatch is stapling itself into archetypes and that’s not inherently bad. But those archetypes
are stapled into the characters and not necessarily the plot. This concerns me.
It concerns me because there is no real reason to have the narrative they give in interviews and
implications when the story itself doesn’t seem to lend itself to it.
Again, I’m not trying to be Edgy™ by saying that I don’t think Overwatch is Good™.
I think that like Game of Thrones, they have certain plot points they seem to have intents for
forcing despite it not lending itself naturally. And Like End Game, they have certain Characteristics and development they insist on pushing despite it not being organic.
The largest example of this imo is the aspects of Talon Vs Overwatch.
We seem intent on Keeping Talon #Evil and Overwatch Good™. But as far as what we actually
know-
Current Talon is different than Old Talon
Doomfist has only hopes for making humanity better
Moira doesn’t seem to do things to others without a good intent and their permission
Talon doesn’t discriminate between humans and omnics
Talon doesn’t seem motivated by money, fame, or power Talon allows its members freedom and security
What exactly is wrong with that?
The things against it… aren’t confirmed as to why. Why was Widow Taken?
Why does she stay?
Why is Widow Hostile to Ana but not Moira?
Why does widow only kill who Is needed (she killed mondatta and tried to volskya, but
didn’t bother with Tracer).
Why does Moira hold no ill will to Overwatch?
Why does Reaper have more anger to Overwatch, but not Moira?
Why wasn’t overwatch omnic friendly? Why did overwatch not help genji when he was just
going through his changes?
By trying to be, “Complex” for the bad guys, and keeping the good guys as simple as possible,
you make it seem like Overwatch is a bunch of yes Men and that the bad guys actually kind of
have a point.
Which means they aren’t really bad guys.
I mean, sombra isn’t even concerned with daily strife’s. She’s over here big mad about a
looming threat to everyone… and she’s on the side of the “Bad Guys.”
I’m concerned that through future Lore, we will start to come across more sigma “implications.”
Where Jeff is saying that Talon has “taken” him, despite the fact that he was in a facility with no
help, being treated like a lab rat. Talon taking him out, and finding a way to make him mostly
stable, and free to be outside seems…
Pretty Good? Kind even? His interactions aren’t finished but he seems cordial with Moira and
Reaper. Not angry or crazy.
Like, how hard do you have to spin that Talon is evil when they free a brilliant person, stabilize
him, give him control of his body and condition, and ensure that he feels safe and okay in his
own skin?
That’s a pretty far stretch.
Mei is one of the sweetest characters in Overwatch and while she feels a bit uneasy with Moira, Moira is cordial and respectful. It doesn’t seem like Mei has any issues.
And while in-game interactions aren’t cannon, they do reveal personality. Character. I don’t
except to hear “Too Slow! Ha ha ha!” in a cheery voice from hanzo. I would be a bit thrown if
Mercy said “Only through Conflict do we evolve!” every time she gets a damage boost assist.
If they want to keep this narrative of Good vs Evil, Talon needs to start showing genuinely evil
stuff. Which means committing to a plot which we haven’t had set up. And it has to fit what we
already know about Talon characters. But each voice line, every cinematic just hasn’t building
up to such imo. And as it stands, it would take a whole lot of time to make such a narrative this
late in the game.
Women in Storytelling- A Tool when Organic
It’s no secret that one of my most disliked characters in Overwatch is Mercy.
Imo she’s bland, basic, unseasoned chicken and annoying because of it. Honey traps remove conflict and it’s bizarre in a hero who was part of a private police/ military force. Mercy is like… Final Season Tyrion with no growth. And its funny. Her one voice line they added that I like is one I see a lot of hate for.
“Someone call the waaahmbulance”
I am here for mercy having spunk. Have some character beyond the heal lady. And I think they
really aren’t utilizing her and moira to tell a narrative that would be stronger than the one they are trying to force with Jack and Reaper.
Avatar the Last Airbender has a lot of women in it who were allowed to grow and change
organically. Compare this to its successor and failure- the Legend of Korra.
Korra had plot points and ideas for women that they insisted on forcing instead of allowing to
happen naturally. “Korra Is strong but fails” “Asami is pretty but like, also smart” and they keep telling the audience this, instead of showing it.
Avatar’s finale ends a bit underwhelming with Aangs fight with Ozai. But it’s major strength
came with the fight between Zuko and Katara vs Azula.
By not forcing the fight to end with Zuko defeating his sister, you allow all three a satisfying arc.
Azula still loses to her brother and faces the despair of defeat. Zuko learns the meaning of
relying and protecting others. And Katara rises above her hate to help the person who hurt her
deeply.
This fight is one that gives a satisfying ending without forcing a narrative onto the man.
And I don’t mean that in a… Let’s go Feminism! Way. But as in… you set up these women. Use
them. Don’t go out of your way to create a Strong, Female™ just to toss them aside when it
doesn’t make sense.
Dany rose to power because of her own strength and her own prowess. She already was a
leader who was beloved and followed based on her own merit. She already was in a point of her
life where she didn’t want power, and she learned to embrace it and make it work.
So why force the narrative to Bran when Dany was already there?
Why establish how special Captain Marvel is, demonstrate her power, explain how she is
special and then not use her? Why only Show Scarlet Witch at the very end, and not have her at
the final moments? Why wouldn’t they have asked for Valkyries help at all?
Why force this narrative of Steve and Tony when it isn’t needed? The people who had the most
development that was organic was basically Thor, and Nebula. Everything else was
superfluous.
Overwatch has one of the largest rosters of women in any video game. And for some reason,
they rather focus on Jack and Reyes despite the WHOLE POINT OF MOIRA’S CHARACTER
EXISTENCE being to serve as a Counter Coin to Mercy.
WHY WOULDN’T YOU WANT THAT TO BE THE CRUX AND CENTERPOINT OF THE
STORY?
In fact, all the perspectives of Overwatch would be great if told through the women and it came
because just like Game of Thrones and End Game, they made strong female characters™ who don’t need no man. But it means NOTHING if you don’t use them.
A Narrative of Mercy vs Moira
Brig vs Pharah
Symm vs Lucio
Rein Vs Orisa
Tracer vs Widow
Sombra all by herself.
All of these provide an insight to both sides of the “good or evil” nonsense to allow the
players/viewers a good look into the workings of the world and plot.
But this doesn’t work if you:
Force the characters against their growth
Force the plot
Or don’t utilize your creations to the fullest extent for the sake of some overarching
narrative
And you especially have no need to make every woman some disappointed in men, stereotype
either. The Legend of Korra is a good example of how just having women isn’t enough. You
don’t get “diversity points” if you don’t utilize the story. Forcing Korra into situations and
contrivances doesn’t move her story forward.
She doesn’t grow, relationships aren’t built. She’s
just boring and in the end a waste of time. And ultimately inferior to her predecessor.
Strong Female Characters being Useless Makes Men Stupid
When you force women down, it just emphasizes where men are useless. Kind of rooted in
History where it took WARS to get women into the workforce, and showed that… umm… more
people doing things… gets things done? Wymyn can do a thing?
But if you set up women to do a thing… and arbitrarily discount them… you just force men to be idiots.
How is it that Tyrion, missed the signs of Dany being #SuperHitler? He’s supposed to be the
smart one. How is it that Captain Marvel just… didn’t try snapping her fingers? Why didn’t
Tony… suggest it? He’s supposed to be the smart one.
It’s one thing to have useless women being saved. It’s another to give them the tools,
resources, and ability to do a thing… and then not have them do a thing.
Compare this to Mass Effect. The story functions and flows fine even when playing Female
Shep, because her gender doesn’t make the story. Her actions do. Every bit of resourcefulness,
intellect, and leadership in John, goes into Jane.
And the members of your team are specialized despite gender. Not for it. Tali is a good tech
person. So is Legion. Liara is a smart doctor, so is Mordin. Relying on them regardless of their
background or gender is important and not meant to be discarded. If you don’t rely on Tali in
favor of Mordin… you could kill Mordin. That’s not his expertise. They don’t have the same
buildup.
It’s ridiculous that Iron Man with his billion contingencies in every other aspect of his life,
wouldn’t build a contingency for literal time travel. Who knows what thanos might have done?
While Nebula’s arc wasn’t really something Iron Man could have foreseen, it definitely stood to
reason to check and recheck things to ensure that everything was safe and okay.
Why would Captain America, with all his experience with Wakanda not enlist any of their help?
As far as the audience knows… literally nothing is happening in Wakanda that would be keeping
Okoye busy from such a major fight.
Did he just… not bother to check?
Iron Man would definitely know that captain Marvel is infinity stone connected. Why would he
not reach out or give her a fancy NEW pager in case of emergencies when he is clearly having
a crisis and trusts in her power?
Just… felt like dying I guess.
And it really wouldn’t matter if they weren’t following the same trend of GoT with
The Symbolism
Being Diverse only matters if those diverse people are used. This was grossly ignored with End Game where they Literally had to dump all the women into one scene because they had been incredibly underutilized for the entirety of the film.
And I understand the issues that many films go through when they make an OP hero. For
example, while readers of the Death of Superman know that Superman comes back OP as hell after he dies, the Justice League of the DCEU didn’t. Superman in two of those films is strong, but gets beat in 2 out of 3 films he is in. Batman V Superman made it seem like the two were not going to make it had wonder woman not stepped in to essentially take over.
So when you write wonder woman to be the OP hero, having the next film with them both in it
and having her need to rely on him makes no sense.
You wrote the Strong independent woman who don’t need no man… who suddenly need man?
So which is it? Was superman just… having fun getting tickled to death? Did he not know he
was OP as hell? Or was wonder woman just slacking off while he was dead?
The same happens with Overwatch in different ways.
Baptiste has immortality field. And while I get some things aren’t lore based like rez… it’s
certainly weird to make a tech reason for immortality that mercy seems unaware of.
It’s kind of weird to have McCree be so spiteful to Moira when she was the one who kept him
and Genji safe and secure. And Unlike with Mercy recovering Genji, As far as we know, Moira
would have been the one to care for Mccree and he came out far better than genji did.
Its super strange to write Widow being a strong woman when she’s out and about. But then say
It’s actually fake and she’s brainwashed but not really but Doomfist is manipulating her but he
also thinks that’s a stable way to go about things.
Sombras literal launch was around her sneakiness but lo and behold. She a dum dum.
Everyone knows. Her name. Her face. Her plans outside of talon.
But we’ll just say that doomfist knows? HOW DOES THAT MAKE HIM SMART? What is the
logic behind letting a criminal do as they please when they are hired to get a job done? Why
would he trust her again? In what way does trusting a dum dum not make doomfist a dum dum?
I am all for diversity. I am. But you can’t write diversity just to be diversity points.
As far as character execution, I love overwatch. Soldier and tracers coming out was nicely done. I love the heritage behind each hero.
But when it comes to the overall plot lore… It seems like fear of emphasizing anyone makes them fall to no one. And it doesn’t work well when you have interviews countering what the audience infers on their own.
There are natural points in overwatch that can be easily written with what you’ve gone out of
your way to establish. You don’t have to and you don’t have a reason to really force a narrative
especially when you’ve explicitly said that’s NOT what you want to do. I know I am an outlier
when it comes to my perspective of Talon. But I have this perspective through what I was given
and the design of overwatch being so open.
As lore continues, there’s no need to force heroes to be a certain way or do certain things.
Keep it natural. Keep it organic. And utilize what we already have.
I hope the future heroes don’t have the narrative pushed on us like Sigma. I just want some fun
times without contrivances holding the story from developing naturally.
Thanks for reading.