It could have been, but it wasn’t. Not every story with gay people in it has to be about them being gay.
And this is exactly what the story showed us. It showed that Tracer leaps into action because she can’t sit idle when people need help. It showed that she felt guilt over Mondatta’s death, despite it not being her fault. It showed that she wanted to help the omnics despite not being asked to (or even wanted).
Yes, it failed to deliver. But adding more references to Tracer’s orientation would not have fixed any of those problems.
Wanting all stories with gay characters to emphasize the gayness of the characters is going backwards, not forwards. The comic not using Tracer’s sexuality as an important plot point is just the same as Bastet not using Soldier 76’s sexuality as an important plot point. The relationship exists to show off characterization while the sexuality is not what’s important. Tracer is in a relationship with a person who supports her in her heroic endeavours and sympathizes with her while also letting her know that things going badly aren’t her fault. Soldier 76 was in a relationship with someone ~30 years ago, but had to break it off so he could lead Overwatch, leading to him being alone while his friends Ana and Reyes got to lead families with their spouses.
LGBTQ+ characters can have stories that aren’t about them being LGBTQ+. It is insulting to suggest that not focusing on it is a flaw of a story that contains them. To me, that suggests that an LGBTQ+ character is only allowed to exist in a story where their sexuality is core to story. I find that suggestion incredibly offensive.
Yes, it was in the first two issues. Then it fell short of the last three issues with bad pacing, sphaghetti plot threads. Although we did see more of how Tracer felt guilt over Mondatta, and shame for not being able to help more than she could. But it was hard to read her reaction to Lady’s death, and her personality fell flat when she saw the group of omnics being left behind by Kace, or even Iggy being held at gunpoint. Her final dash to take the bullet for Iggy showed no personality or connection, it just looked like it was Tracer doing heroey things because she’s Tracer. I agree. This is a flaw of the story.
Again, I agree on this. It was a flubbed story that missed a lot of opportunities that it actively created for itself. I feel like I may have actually given it too much credit with how I analyzed chapter 2 as setting up the differences between Omnics and Humans in relation to Tracer not sacrificing herself for Mondatta, as not only was it never explicitly addressed, but with how many other plot threads were more explicitly set up with no payoff, I may have just created a plot point that didn’t mean to exist in the first place. Which, if true, severely dampens what I thought was interesting about chapter 2’s setup in the first place.
But Tracer’s sexuality has nothing to do with any of the aforementioned flaws. Needing a story with a lesbian character to be about how she is a lesbian character is not an appropriate solution.
Everything exists in context. Sexuality isn’t a switch that turns on when you see the love of your life and turns off in all other situations. It is something you grow up with, something that affects how other people treat you, and affects how you see yourself. The communities you join and friends you make get influenced by it. It’s part of your “character”, who you are, and not ever a distant and cleanly divided concept from the rest of you.
Story-wise, I was expecting more Emily. The compelling relationship in Dragons was there from the outset. Meanwhile, Emily was a kiss, not a person. That hasn’t exactly changed. If you are here writing that Emily is interchangeable with a man, her character isn’t there yet.
But I did mention that a sexuality swap would affect the series even where it doesn’t change the story, by effectively making LGBTQ+ a Where’s Waldo in the background panels. It’s important that the hero, the MC, of this story is a lesbian. Representation matters because in the real world people get really messed up when they feel like they don’t belong and aren’t the MC in their own lives, and/or where they are persecuted for being the “wrong” sexuality.
I didn’t think this series was worth the breath on this subject because it has so many problems I can’t really read the intent of any of it. I agreed with your OP, and my first post was a list of qualifications in response to someone suggesting that the chosen writer didn’t have any.
But you deliberately ignored the other qualifications in my post so that you could make an argument against using queer creators to depict queer characters. That’s what started this conversation. Your rejection of diverse voices is in direct opposition to the author who originally wrote many of the characters and moments we love talking about: gamasutra___com/view/news/367109/OpEd_Game_development_in_a_time_of_upheaval.php
…games at their best can serve as a potent vessel to ask important questions of the real world we inhabit. Just as in recent weeks, the Black Lives Matter movement and a greater examination of powerful social, cultural, and political issues have seized our attention. It has reaffirmed to me that as the creators of entertainment that people around the world invest their time, emotions, and appreciation into, we as game makers have a significant part to play in this important discussion.
The entertainment we consume affects and shapes how we see the world around us and the people who live within it. We have more ability than ever to tap into the tremendous inspiration of the world around us. Moving forward, in service of a global audience of gamers, we want to be proactive in embracing a wide variety of new and diverse stories, while also giving greater visibility and voice to people who can authentically tell these stories. This will help us make more nuanced, interesting, and relatable characters and worlds, and provide a platform for new creative expressions by previously underrepresented groups.
I believe that today there are few opportunities greater than delivering authenticity in our characters, which is an endeavor that has had special importance to me. As an Asian American who rarely saw characters who looked like me, I am keenly aware of the power of seeing yourself in the media you consume: an affirmational experience that for too many groups has been absent. Moving forward, my goal is to continue to tackle this issue, and find ways to continue to expand the viewpoints games can represent.
As we strive to represent diverse peoples from diverse backgrounds, we must do so responsibly and carefully. This means adding concrete new steps to our creative processes. It means that we seek out new voices and ensure that these voices can be heard. It means casting talent for our characters that authentically represent the backgrounds of our characters. It means that we should seek out expert opinions who will help us avoid stereotypes, and more importantly, highlight aspects of our characters that will ring true with the groups we hope to represent. If we are successful, we create well rounded characters that seem familiar and yet new and will speak to the diverse players who spend time in the worlds we create.
Diversity is not a checklist. It is not a set of rules and guidelines which inhibits our creativity. Rather, it represents an invaluable tool for greater originality. It is impossible for it to be a formula because we as people cannot be reduced to formulas. Well-rounded characters are a tapestry woven of the specificity of the culture they grew up in, the places they have lived, the occupations they have held, and moreover the series of events that molded and shaped them, just as we all are. Creating a character is a process of finding their human story and pairing it with the authenticity of experience. The more that we put into our characters, the more chances there are for people to identify with them. In Overwatch, as many characters identify with Tracer’s peppy, sassy attitude, or her heroic ideals, as with the fact that when her day is over, she returns to the apartment of her loving girlfriend. People enjoy the accessibility of Soldier: 76’s gameplay, perhaps identify with his military service, his terrible fashion sense (please see Grillmaster: 76) or the fact that he is gay, or perhaps all of these things.
To create inclusive characters is not to surrender the creative vision, and to say that embracing diversity means losing that agency or that it is a creative burden is simply untrue and must be rejected.
Always seek out new voices. This will enrich not just your writing but your own life. Always look for people who can more authentically depict a character. To take a thought from another Overwatch work, the goal isn’t perfection. Look instead to constantly grow and incorporate the perspectives of others, because we are complements to each other. Stories about marginalized identities are important not only as a counter to the weight of the world on people with those identities, but as stories with inherent value. They are worth your consideration.
The more diverce writers from different backgrounds they would have, the more diverce characters we will get.
TDLR what I got from HighFashion.
Authors they choose to novels are like that.
But still feel London Calling didn’t do justice. And looks like London Calling isn’t the only comic they have in their storage. Probably the new dog one is next.
it is often difficult to expose the family component of a protagonist. often in many compelling stories that have become cult (Sailor Moon, Inuyasha or Dragon ball) the families of the protagonists (or those who live with them) are not thoroughly explored on their “useful” function of the protagonist’s plot, nor do they add character relevant to the main adventures (examples: Goku’s wife who always stays at home or Usagi’s family who is never shown outside of the comic sketches, or Kagome’s family who is never emotionally involved).
in this specific case Emily, besides worrying, could not give much of herself, and the LC narrative did not have enough space even for the theme she wanted to deal with. in short, I do not consider at all a wasted opportunity in not exposing the character of Emily better, for the most part the main theme is the political and social situation of King’s Row.
Maybe the best approach would have been to better integrate the meatloaf of narrative plots that in 5 vol LC failed to blend effectively, including getting Emily involved. For example they have not involved her enough in Tracer’s cause as Lizzy, a completely new character with a less incisive character design than iggy, does. it would have been interesting to see some technological skills in emily, her background and consequently some details on the “home” maintenance of the time accelerator.
this is obviously my personal speculation, in any case I don’t think there was an intention in ignoring her presence in the life of a tracer. what should piss off the most about LC is tending Tracer a martyr in the final epilogue. it makes no sense and earns no greater interest in her story. it does not include any relevant meaning, and at times has “stolen” Morrison’s soldier philosophy. I thought it was a bit out of context for Tracer to talk about “duty” in a context that was dealing with social integration.
I don’t know how it sounds in Anglo-Saxon reading, but in the Italian translation (my language) her words seems to be an Overwatch veteran’s army more like Morrison than Tracer.
About that “plot thread dropping”, with the story on Wattpad, I created… of the hero I also created for Overwatch: Courier, since I rebooted it… I tried to match up to the London Calling Comic series, and fill that “plot gap”.
If nobody minds, I published the 8th part of the story, though I’m still working on it.
And the part where Courier rushes to the hospital to save Tracer, knowing that golden minutes are at stake… is like an example and “my attempt” of filling that plot gap.
If you are interested reading it, here:
Courier's Story - The Missing Racer (Overwatch)
(New part - A New Hero) https://www.wattpad.com/1011882680-the-missing-racer-overwatch-prologue-pt-8-a-new
(Read the story of Courier from the reboot) https://www.wattpad.com/989235332-the-missing-racer-overwatch-prologue-pt-6-the
(Read the story of Courier from the beginning) https://www.wattpad.com/story/170788043-the-missing-racer-overwatch
