Things which I am consuming
Jul. 6th, 2011 05:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crankyoldmanFor my brain! Since I seem to be playing/reading/watching things where there are fandoms, I figured I'd share some thoughts.
SNIPER WOLF. OMG. :<
Aside from Ocelot, all of my favorite bad guys have these FANTASTIC death scenes (...I'm sure Ocelot will get one in another game, he's already down one hand) which DRILL INTO MY SOUL. Which is actually par for the course for me (MY FAVORITES ALWAYS DIE OK). I don't even like villains exclusively (and in some cases not at all) I guess I always seem to latch onto characters who are too SOMETHING to live.
I think that Otacon can't just be entirely delusional about Wolf, though. I mean, I've known many a nerd guy that if you say hi to them you are suddenly their girlfriend (when I was younger and more awkward looking this was a mutual thing sometimes >.>). But Wolf is such a stunningly sexual woman that she probably threw him a couple bones (pun intended?) so to speak, considering how charmingly naive he seems compared to all the other dudes she's hanging around (and if I had to hang around with BLAH BLAH LIQUID I would find Otacon to be a breath of fresh air).
And as usual, when I do write fanfic for this (and I will, and I'll have to put MGS1 COMPLIANT ONLY because I have a feeling that that any ideas I have will get retconned in later ones and I kind of don't care but I also greatly dislike canon snobs leaving me reviews about HOW RONG I AM). Maybe something vaguely trippy supernatural involving Ocelot and Mantis and Wolf's ghosts or someshit because that totally sounds like the kind of thing I'd write. And Tetris. Or crossover with Portal (but Portal 1, as I haven't played the second yet). Or Ocelot knitting. I'm really quite dangerous when let loose on new fandoms, kids.
Also, Liquid can just go die in a damn fire, I really hated his boss fight. And him. I had to get some twitter codec help (because I apparently forgot how to use R1.... this is a common occurance with me and buttons in games that aren't part of the standard moves all the time, I get like amnesia about them).
He also sort of sticks out like this stupid spoiled thumb in the middle of a bunch of bad guys and good guys that are so deliciously human (and by bad and good, it's really shades of gray for everyone). I mean, even the goddamn cyborg ninja has more characterization to him!
Also LOL NASTASHA. YOU KNOW HOW TO PUT IT IN PERSPECTIVE. ILU.
And I've decided to ignore all the "save the girl" comments and inconsistencies (WOMEN ARE BETTER FOR WAR? RLY? THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS OK) with some of the dialogue because there's quite a wonderful set of ladies in this game and I get the feeling that they REALLY WANTED them to stand out on their own, but it's like they know 12-year old boys are playing this game and they have to make fun of girls or they might stop playing (which is silly)? I'm going to attribute this to an insecurity and it being made in the 90s, which is something I always keep in mind when playing games. There is so much they're doing right with the narrative that I'm willing to just forget some things that Snake says and move on.
But oh god, dudes need to stop jumping me in elevators, I really don't have the reflexes to take on several mooks.
Just to preface; it's really a bad thing when the first literary character you've deeply personally identified with since you were a preteen is a hyperactive who splits off half himself into another persona and gets up to all sorts of shenanigans (Lyra from His Dark Materials was the last one, if you want a good snapshot of me at 12 or so). Seriously, you remove a lot of the sci-fi dressings and there are quite a few things I relate to a little too well. He's got an intersectionality that hits on a lot of my issues. SO yeah.
Anyway, so Miles is about my age now, and ALL THE THINGS are happening. I'm been in a manic state reading this past two books because SERIOUSLY. I CANNOT END THERE. WTF IS GOING ON DID THAT REALLY HAPPEN -- if you follow me on twitter you have seen some of my moodswings in regards to this.
SO. MARK. THE WHOLE FAMILY. LOVE. CORDELIA YOU ARE FANTASTIC WITH YOUR SONS.
God, do these books really like to play with the nature vs. nurture thing a lot. Which I enjoy. In fact, aside from the sheer mass of wonderful characters I like that this takes a lot of issues that sci-fi typically glosses over in favor of COOL SPACESHIPS AND LASERS and not only confronts them, but DRAGS YOU THROUGH THEM. And I even like cool spaceships and lasers, but I like not having to read through five billion pages of descriptions about how beautiful the spaceship is (I can imagine very pretty spaceships quite well on my own, thank you).
This is largely why I like speculative fiction the actual speculative bits.
Anyway, so, still love Ivan a lot (THE GAZEBO. OH IVAN.), and Bel Thorne, actually. They are probably my favorite male (well, in Ivan's case, I suppose favorite non-female would be better) minor characters. I have a hard time choosing the female ones, actually. But even what Bel did with that whole crazy mission of Mark's, I still love him (actually, I probably love him more for that).Come on Miles, you could have slept with it once, don't be such a monosexual. You clearly inherited straightness from your mom.
I had to actually go buy Memory, but I look forward to it.
Because Netflix released like ALL THE STAR TREK on instant (maybe not DS9.... I'll have to check). And I know TNG is imperfect and silly at times but THIS IS MY CHILDHOOD. THIS IS BIG CONTRIBUTING FACTOR TO WHAT I LIKE AND WHO I AM.
Things I am noticing this time around:
- God I love Worf. I liked him before, but man, I really love that guy now.
- Haters gonna hate on Dr. Crusher, but I still adore her. And I'm glad she didn't hook up with Picard, much as I love him too.
- Riker is a lot less unlikeable now that I get sex jokes. Now he's freaking hilarious and quite a bit of fun and yeah, him and Troi are well-matched.
- Though I totally think Troi had a thing going with Tasha Yar before she died. Tasha sets off my gaydar something fierce.
- Luxanna is still my favorite Betazed, though.
- Also, Season 1 was really hilaribad in places, glad I watched it. THE LULZ. THE PLANET FULL OF ATTRACTIVE PEOPLE IN SKIMPY OUTFITS THAT WERE VERY TOUCHY OH GOD THE LULZ.
- Season 3 is amazing, and "The Offspring" still makes me cry.
- I kind of want to write about the captain of Enterprise C now, she was fucking badass and it's a shame she's only in one episode.
- Q!!!!!!!!!!
- SKANTS.
- "Shut up Wesley!" :D
- Geordie is also still awesome. Still sort of want to be him when I grow up (ANDROIDBOYFRIEND BEST FRIEND AND AN ENGINEER ON A STARSHIP FUCK YEAH).
- The attempts to kind of erase homosexuality are REALLY evident now. Oh Roddenberry, you wanted to utopia-ize everything else, why so afraid of buttsex? Come on. I know Riker would be a natural omnisexual.
- GUINAN.
- DIXON HILL AND HOW HOT CRUSHER LOOKED IN HER OUTFIT. YES.
So, it's largely been a warm fuzzy experience and while it is not the best Trek, it is still my favorite.
SNIPER WOLF. OMG. :<
Aside from Ocelot, all of my favorite bad guys have these FANTASTIC death scenes (...I'm sure Ocelot will get one in another game, he's already down one hand) which DRILL INTO MY SOUL. Which is actually par for the course for me (MY FAVORITES ALWAYS DIE OK). I don't even like villains exclusively (and in some cases not at all) I guess I always seem to latch onto characters who are too SOMETHING to live.
I think that Otacon can't just be entirely delusional about Wolf, though. I mean, I've known many a nerd guy that if you say hi to them you are suddenly their girlfriend (when I was younger and more awkward looking this was a mutual thing sometimes >.>). But Wolf is such a stunningly sexual woman that she probably threw him a couple bones (pun intended?) so to speak, considering how charmingly naive he seems compared to all the other dudes she's hanging around (and if I had to hang around with BLAH BLAH LIQUID I would find Otacon to be a breath of fresh air).
And as usual, when I do write fanfic for this (and I will, and I'll have to put MGS1 COMPLIANT ONLY because I have a feeling that that any ideas I have will get retconned in later ones and I kind of don't care but I also greatly dislike canon snobs leaving me reviews about HOW RONG I AM). Maybe something vaguely trippy supernatural involving Ocelot and Mantis and Wolf's ghosts or someshit because that totally sounds like the kind of thing I'd write. And Tetris. Or crossover with Portal (but Portal 1, as I haven't played the second yet). Or Ocelot knitting. I'm really quite dangerous when let loose on new fandoms, kids.
Also, Liquid can just go die in a damn fire, I really hated his boss fight. And him. I had to get some twitter codec help (because I apparently forgot how to use R1.... this is a common occurance with me and buttons in games that aren't part of the standard moves all the time, I get like amnesia about them).
He also sort of sticks out like this stupid spoiled thumb in the middle of a bunch of bad guys and good guys that are so deliciously human (and by bad and good, it's really shades of gray for everyone). I mean, even the goddamn cyborg ninja has more characterization to him!
Also LOL NASTASHA. YOU KNOW HOW TO PUT IT IN PERSPECTIVE. ILU.
And I've decided to ignore all the "save the girl" comments and inconsistencies (WOMEN ARE BETTER FOR WAR? RLY? THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS OK) with some of the dialogue because there's quite a wonderful set of ladies in this game and I get the feeling that they REALLY WANTED them to stand out on their own, but it's like they know 12-year old boys are playing this game and they have to make fun of girls or they might stop playing (which is silly)? I'm going to attribute this to an insecurity and it being made in the 90s, which is something I always keep in mind when playing games. There is so much they're doing right with the narrative that I'm willing to just forget some things that Snake says and move on.
But oh god, dudes need to stop jumping me in elevators, I really don't have the reflexes to take on several mooks.
Just to preface; it's really a bad thing when the first literary character you've deeply personally identified with since you were a preteen is a hyperactive who splits off half himself into another persona and gets up to all sorts of shenanigans (Lyra from His Dark Materials was the last one, if you want a good snapshot of me at 12 or so). Seriously, you remove a lot of the sci-fi dressings and there are quite a few things I relate to a little too well. He's got an intersectionality that hits on a lot of my issues. SO yeah.
Anyway, so Miles is about my age now, and ALL THE THINGS are happening. I'm been in a manic state reading this past two books because SERIOUSLY. I CANNOT END THERE. WTF IS GOING ON DID THAT REALLY HAPPEN -- if you follow me on twitter you have seen some of my moodswings in regards to this.
SO. MARK. THE WHOLE FAMILY. LOVE. CORDELIA YOU ARE FANTASTIC WITH YOUR SONS.
God, do these books really like to play with the nature vs. nurture thing a lot. Which I enjoy. In fact, aside from the sheer mass of wonderful characters I like that this takes a lot of issues that sci-fi typically glosses over in favor of COOL SPACESHIPS AND LASERS and not only confronts them, but DRAGS YOU THROUGH THEM. And I even like cool spaceships and lasers, but I like not having to read through five billion pages of descriptions about how beautiful the spaceship is (I can imagine very pretty spaceships quite well on my own, thank you).
This is largely why I like speculative fiction the actual speculative bits.
Anyway, so, still love Ivan a lot (THE GAZEBO. OH IVAN.), and Bel Thorne, actually. They are probably my favorite male (well, in Ivan's case, I suppose favorite non-female would be better) minor characters. I have a hard time choosing the female ones, actually. But even what Bel did with that whole crazy mission of Mark's, I still love him (actually, I probably love him more for that).
I had to actually go buy Memory, but I look forward to it.
Because Netflix released like ALL THE STAR TREK on instant (maybe not DS9.... I'll have to check). And I know TNG is imperfect and silly at times but THIS IS MY CHILDHOOD. THIS IS BIG CONTRIBUTING FACTOR TO WHAT I LIKE AND WHO I AM.
Things I am noticing this time around:
- God I love Worf. I liked him before, but man, I really love that guy now.
- Haters gonna hate on Dr. Crusher, but I still adore her. And I'm glad she didn't hook up with Picard, much as I love him too.
- Riker is a lot less unlikeable now that I get sex jokes. Now he's freaking hilarious and quite a bit of fun and yeah, him and Troi are well-matched.
- Though I totally think Troi had a thing going with Tasha Yar before she died. Tasha sets off my gaydar something fierce.
- Luxanna is still my favorite Betazed, though.
- Also, Season 1 was really hilaribad in places, glad I watched it. THE LULZ. THE PLANET FULL OF ATTRACTIVE PEOPLE IN SKIMPY OUTFITS THAT WERE VERY TOUCHY OH GOD THE LULZ.
- Season 3 is amazing, and "The Offspring" still makes me cry.
- I kind of want to write about the captain of Enterprise C now, she was fucking badass and it's a shame she's only in one episode.
- Q!!!!!!!!!!
- SKANTS.
- "Shut up Wesley!" :D
- Geordie is also still awesome. Still sort of want to be him when I grow up (ANDROID
- The attempts to kind of erase homosexuality are REALLY evident now. Oh Roddenberry, you wanted to utopia-ize everything else, why so afraid of buttsex? Come on. I know Riker would be a natural omnisexual.
- GUINAN.
- DIXON HILL AND HOW HOT CRUSHER LOOKED IN HER OUTFIT. YES.
So, it's largely been a warm fuzzy experience and while it is not the best Trek, it is still my favorite.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-07 01:29 am (UTC)Yes, actually. The networks at the time didn't help, but Roddenberry for all his trying for race and gender was something of a homophobe, which was something that a lot of people working with him sometimes took issue with. And I remember that episode; it's problematic because the NORM is this gender-neutral homosexualish planet, and the fact that one of them wants to be a woman and get with Riker causes BAD THINGS. OMG THE EVIL GENDERQUEER PLANET, essentially.
It approached the issue all backwards, essentially, and played with a sort of hetero paranoia of androgyny and sexuality. It's like fictional Amazonian Matriarchies--they don't exist to show a healthy society run by women, they exist to show men's fears about women-ruled societies.
Alright, I may have written some articles in college about the technological and societal issues of Star Trek, not gonna lie. XD I wish I still had some of them. I've read so much Trek meta it's not even funny. >.>
(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-07 01:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-07 01:50 am (UTC)And selective progressivism isn't really that hard for me to believe, but then again I'm JUST cynical enough for that.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-07 01:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-07-07 02:00 am (UTC)Considering that even AFTER Roddenberry the only times we've seen openly LGBT goings on in Trek have been DS9's Mirrorverse, it takes more than one man in the group to discriminate.
GLBT Trek articles are really fascinating, actually. You should look some up!