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Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?

It’s been busy times, I haven’t finished consuming any new media to talk about! I’m slowly watching the newest episodes of Voltron, a show that’s beautifully animated but often narratively bland. I’m debating watching season 4 of Star Wars Rebels after feeling burned by a rather dull season 3 (well, more like a debate of when I’ll watch it. I mean it’s Star Wars so of course I’ll watch it eventually because I am a whipped dog).

I’m wrapping up Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer novel, which is great and his Stormlight Archive series is pretty much my favorite of his many series.

I’ve also been playing through A Night in the Woods, and the writing is so damn GOOD. I love this game. For anyone looking for a story driven adventure game about disaffected 20 somethings living in a small town, with some weird supernatural stuff here and there, I can’t recommend it enough. If you like Life is Strange, you’ll almost certainly like A Night in the Woods.

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  • Not Real

    You can’t just cut Eijiro off like that! No matter how you slice it, your head will probably be first on the chopping block. Just be like the rest of the troops, and show your fighting spear-it.

    • AGV

      Those puns are sharp

      • Major Tom

        A cutting wit is needed.

        • LordBolanderFace

          to be the PUNisher, one must always have a weaPUN within easy reach.

      • Kid Chaos

        I think he gets the point. šŸ˜Ž

    • Xinef

      Do keep in mind Honou-ko’s armor and swords are cutting-edge technology!

      This makes him a cut above the rest, so some privileges come with it!

      • jwkovell

        One half of this pun is more true than you know… >_> … <_<

        • Xinef

          … so, Honou-ko’s armor is so sharp, he can kill with each plate of his armor?

          I KNEW IT!

  • clogboy

    This season of Voltron should’ve been an epic game changer. So much happened in only six episodes, and you could finish it in the course of one evening. Instead, it’s a time waster for when you’re under the weather and seriously couldn’t bring yourself to do anything more engaging.
    Like Stories: The Path of Destinies (free on PS Plus this month). It’s a bit like Bastio (or so I’m told): it is a narrative based, fast paced action RPG where you get to make some decisions, and each combination of decisions leads to a new failure (you can fail in 25 different ways), but it will help unlock one of four truths. Once you have all four truths, you can unlock the one true ending. Sadly there’s only one good ending, while the game holds potential for so much more. But the gameplay and graphics are good, and the narrative is captivating and funny. It’s an ideal game for those gamers who want to explore several different story paths that a game has to offer. It feels like a groundhog day in Azeroth, if WoW was made by TellTale.

    • Arkone Axon

      Uh… it WAS an epic game changer. No spoilers here for those who haven’t watched them, but there was a LOT going on there… looking forward to the next installment.

      • clogboy

        Plot wise it was… in terms of style it left a lot to be desired IMO. Could’ve been more exciting (visually/editing).

        • Arkone Axon

          I don’t know. The duels Lothor was fighting were certainly impressive. To be honest, the only part I disliked was seeing the quartermaster get taken out so quickly. It would have been awesome to watch everyone be shocked at the realization of just how powerful organizational skills can be. It’s like Jean Martinet, the French Lieutenant-Colonel who developed organized training methods (including marching in formation with bayonetted weapons) and the depot system. Which meant that the French army had highly trained and disciplined troops who were also well fed and equipped.

          • clogboy

            What I dislike most (about a mostly good show) is this mandatory Voltron transformation sequence. It gets old after a while. And the soundtrack could be better for me. But storywise, some things are set up poorly or left unhandled IMO, and there isn’t always a buildup to what should be a significant plot point. An episode is largely self containing, but also has stuff carrying over to the next episode, and I don’t feel like they end it with the cliffhanger they used to. It feels a bit messy without an adequate pay-off.
            I love the animation team, Korra was done right in spite of lack of support from Nick, and I hoped Voltron would feel as rewarding and well written. While it has the potential, it really feels like a second rate rip-off (at least some seasons) while it could and should be so much more. And I hate to say this because for the most part it is a good show. But it’s obvious that it can be better, and it hurts me to see that it isn’t living up to its full potential.

          • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

            I’m still not fully caught up on Voltron, but it is a bummer how bland the soundtrack is. It doesn’t add much to the emotional or dramatic scenes, as it’s mostly just electronic noise. I like the mid part of the opening theme where it goes into the tense strings segment, but that’s about the only piece of music I dig in the show. Compared with Korra’s soundtrack, which is EXCELLENT; epic, sweeping, and emotional on every level, Voltron is a huge letdown. I would’ve loved for them to really try and capture the feel or the original series’ 80’s orchestral hits combined with synth percussion, and it’s just a huge disservice to the reboot to not have the classic theme music, which still has to be one of the most heroic and uplifting cartoon themes of all time.

            The show itself tends to fumble its dramatic buildups, with ambiguous stakes and invincible good guys (does it ever feel like anyone is really in danger?), but I think if the soundtrack had just been stronger, it could’ve carried a lot of the show’s emotional weight and improved the viewing experience immensely. Never underestimate the power of a good soundtrack!

          • clogboy

            Wholeheartedly agreed. And storywise it did become more interesting when more ambiguous motivations got involved, when in-fighting occurs, and when each side has two stories (bad Altean and good Galra characters for instance). It breaks with naivity and never gets too preachy; it has some complex characters, while others only exist for comic relief, and some (like Pidge) are driven by one motivation and never divert from it, no matter the odds. And in those instances it’s nice to see the pay-off, and it is even better when it has some other dramatic, unforeseen and unintended effects that further the story as a whole. It is in those moments that the show really shines, and I want more of that.

          • Arkone Axon

            The mandatory transformation sequence does indeed get wearisome… but at least it’s not EVERY SINGLE EPISODE like with the original. The original series was very formulaic. I especially appreciate how “getting in lions,” “combining into Voltron,” and “use Blazing Sword for the finishing move” isn’t in every episode… or even in the majority of episodes. When Voltron shows up, it’s always presented as a big deal.

            Still, you’re right. You can love something and still want to see it even better.

            (Also, the cliffhanger is because the next season is apparently coming out later this year. We don’t have to wait all year, thankfully)

  • Major Tom

    So is this going to be Cho vs Honou-ko? Cuz Cho was in the Senshin mob and Honou-ko is in the Wataro mob and…

    • Kid Chaos

      Nope, itā€™s going to be Yorikiro v. Honou-Ko. Not exactly Batman v. Superman, but it will certainly be better-written…and directed…and acted… šŸ˜Ž

      • Nos Rin aka CTCO

        T-T
        I waited so fucking long for a Justice League film and……. SIGH!!!!!!

        • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

          Don’t worry! I’m sure in a few years they’ll reboot the DC cinematic universe! After all, they reboot the comic DC universe on bi-yearly basis.

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            one can only hope.
            I absolutely loved the 2000’s justice league cartoon growing up and most of their animated stuff is great! I love Justice League Doom a heck of a lot and I hear the graphic novel it is based on, Tower of Babel, is much better, so I totally got to read that someday.

          • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

            Yeah, I’m a big fan of the DC animated universe, super excited for that upcoming season 3 of Young Justice. I also quite like the hilariously contrived melodrama of the Arrowverse, even though I’ve fallen off it in the past couple years (too much too keep track of and not terribly smart writing). I think I have a man crush on Stephen Amell, though.

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            I have not watched ANY of the live action marvel or dc TV series outside i think the first 3 seasons of agents of shield.
            I want to eventually of course but, there’s so much and I have my games, anime, books, sigh. and so many movies.
            I just finished an average anime that I actually really enjoyed despite it’s several flaws, especially the bonus episode, holy cow it was hilarious!
            I think I’m freaking terrible at critiquing things cause I often find myself enjoying things even I admit are “subpar” sometimes I just like fun stuff sometimes lol.
            I’ve heard that french cartoon, oh what is it called, Dofus? or something. no that’s the game. Wakfu and all it’s material are not that great but I love it so much, but others find it too childish. eh. to each their own. RWBY to i’ve heard less then stellar things about but to be honest I just loved Mounty Oum for his great combat scenes.
            Hmmm
            But ya, can’t wait for season 3 of young justice.
            Maybe… Maybe… *painful memories come surging back* *cries uncontrollably* WHY WALLY WHY!!!!! T-T
            I would totally be okay with a bullshit resurrection story to bring him back. >_>

          • Tiffany Miller

            i just hope if they do they keep Gail Gidot as wonder woman.

          • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

            For sure she is the undisputed bright spot in the mire that is the DCCU. She is the only reason I will ‘maybe’ watch the Justice League movie some day.

          • Tiffany Miller

            Still need to see it too but few people I know who saw it liked it. And if they added cyborg why not raven? Im sick of magical characters not getting screen time..

    • Jonathan B

      I approve of this analysis. I predict Honou-ko will end up becoming a farmer.

  • Xinef

    Ah, darkened silhouettes, so that we can’t see if he’s only killing enemy soldiers, or if he is indiscriminately killing everything in his path, Wataro soldiers included :3

    • Leandro Toniut

      It does look like he’s cutting two men coming in opposite directions, so I’d say both.

      • Turul

        Either that, or Senshin soldiers realised he was a major threat and tried to surround him and take him down quickly.

        • Xinef

          … if so, it would prove how genre unsavvy those soldiers aĢ¶rĢ¶eĢ¶ were…

    • Brandenfascher

      Eijiro: “Honou-ko, those were our soldiers! How can you backstab our own soldiers unaware and call it ‘skilled fighting’?”
      Honou-ko: “……. N-No they’re not! They’re enemy soldiers! They’re only red because of all the blood. See?” *spreads blood around frantically behind his back with his foot*
      Eijiro: “…”

      • Xinef

        Honou-ko: “And it wasn’t backstabbing! This one was facing in my direction when I stabbed him, and that other one I stabbed in the groin, not backside!”

  • LordBolanderFace

    Smoke screen? Pffft. Honou-ko only disappears in the finest of blood screens!

  • Tim ā€œAzur3flameā€ Eldred

    Honou-ko dual-wielding? I have no previous memory of this, but it will DEFINITELY make an interesting match for Yori. Assuming Yori is in fact the one who gets to fight him. I just don’t see Cho being an effective opponent and I am anxious to see what Ken can do with his new, sharp, lighter sword. That smokescreen…. is he skilled enough to identify ally vs enemy, or is he just saying “kill ’em all, let Kami sort it out” while carving through the chaos? This page definitely raises more questions than it answers. Like what is Nataku doing on horseback griping while everyone else joins the fray?

  • Sunwu

    We’ve just been introduced
    I do not know you well
    But when the battle started
    Something drew me to yourside
    So many men and guns
    Are in eachothers arms
    It made me think we might be
    Similarlly occupied….

  • Arkone Axon

    Uh… bear in mind that Zoe Quinn has been proven to have been a liar about… well, pretty much everything. Her claims have been disproven (a lot), and even her book has… well, her own mother left a review of the book where she called her own child a liar: https://twitter.com/mombot/status/907772616030642176

    (For the record: “Mombot” is a Japanese woman who was attacked by anti-GG people for supporting GG, then agreed to be bait in a trap to prove that the anti-GG people were at least as guilty of harassment and doxxing as the GG folks. Which got a few people fired: https://medium.com/@mombot/zachattack-how-i-tricked-anti-harassment-advocates-into-doxing-me-4d9f055e2738 )

    Basically, here’s what Gamergate actually was (emphasis on WAS, because it was years ago and they keep bringing it up as a bogeyman and scapegoat. “Gamergate got Trump elected! Aaaah!”), using Widgets instead of games:

    Widget customers (i.e. people who pay good money in order to purchase Widgets) discovered to their consternation that a majority of Widget magazines and Widget critics were in fact providing false information regarding the quality of their Widgets, duping customers into purchasing crappy and inferior Widgets instead of what they were expecting to receive (for a particular example, look into a Widget called “Kane and Lynch” and how a critic was fired for providing an “average” review for a Widget that customers deemed awful, but was produced by a Widget development company that had paid for many pages of advertisement and expected an “excellent” review).

    This concerned some of the Widget developers greatly, along with the Widget magazines. Despite having a low reputation as a “niche hobby,” Widgets had become a multi-billion dollar industry and many of the wealthiest Widget developers had gotten that far by regularly cheating customers. But the customers were very cross about being unable to trust “professional” reviews to determine whether or not to spend anywhere from $20 to $100 (counting for all the extras not always included with Widgets offered by the more unscrupulous companies) on a product, and that they felt they had every right to expect fair value for their hard earned money.

    But then came a twist! It turned out that a developer of a particularly poor quality Widget had made some back room deals to gain glowing reviews for her product for a contest. Since the person who originally blew the whistle was a former lover of the developer in question, the accusation was particular vitriolic.

    This… was the golden opportunity the unscrupulous developers and journalists had been waiting for. “SEXISM!” they screamed at the top of their lungs. “THIS IS ALL JUST SEXISM!”

    “No, we’re just complaining about the corrupt state of the Widget industry,” complained the customers. But to no avail. The developers and journalists had their opportunity and ran with it.

    “SEXISM! Remember, any time someone complains about Widgets, they’re just being sexists! All Widget customers are sexists and misogynists who live in their parents’ basements and should be mocked and ridiculed! Also, they’re extremely entitled because they paid money for our products and complain when it’s not what they thought they were buying!”

    Meanwhile… the Widget industry remains fairly corrupt and some of the latest Widgets have proven to be so bad that they resulted in boycotts. On the positive side, there are many new Widgets being produced by more honest developers and relying on consumer based reviews rather than paid critics.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      You’re linking to someone who admits to being a 4chan troll. This kind of disinformation is exactly what Quinn describes in the book. Is this the person you believe proved Zoe Quinn to be a liar? Have you read her book?

      • Arkone Axon

        No, I have not. I also have not read the research papers of Andrew Wakefield, nor have I watched the film “Vaxxed.” I didn’t think it was necessary to do so before dismissing the anti-vaccination movement as a bunch of malarky.

        And the person I believe proved Zoe Quinn to be a liar was… her own mother, in the archived Amazon review I also linked. But if you’d like further examples… here’s an attorney who not only describes having been lied about when Quinn spoke to congress, but also being doxxed – the very thing Quinn claimed to be a victim of:

        http://www.crimeandfederalism.com/2015/04/zoe-quinn-lied-about-me-in-front-of-congress.html
        (Yes I’m aware that the website is rather… alt-right. But it’s a rather serious allegation, and if someone can disprove it I’ll retract the claim)

        Here is a review by someone who did read the book and considers it to be lies (warning: he’s a lot less polite than I am): https://medium.com/@infiltrator7n/crash-override-zoe-quinns-magnum-opus-of-lies-be6958b97e19

        And here is a rather well balanced and fair minded description of what happened regarding Zoe Quinn (including her derailing of a game development contest meant to encourage female game developers in order to promote her own rival contest):
        http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/quinnspiracy

        And this here is a link to Steam and the only game Zoe Quinn has ever actually produced. http://store.steampowered.com/app/270170/Depression_Quest/

        This is not exactly a Roberta Williams here. (Roberta Williams = co-founder of Sierra and the creator of the graphical adventure genre)

        • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

          The alt-right is rebranded neo nazism. Your ‘well balanced and fair minded description of what happened’ is an entry on a publicly editable page about internet memes. I know Quinn only made one game because she says so in her book. I didn’t realize her lack of prolific game creation was a reason not to treat her as a human being or dismiss her account of what happened.

          She’s literally just some girl who got into game development as a creative outlet and made one small indie game about her battle with depression. She tried to break up with a physically abusive boyfriend, who then wrote a slanderous ‘manifesto’ made up of half truths and outright lies, and posted it on reddit and 4chan, preaching that she’d cheated on him with five separate guys. Those two sites in no way monitor their content and and the anti-feminist online crowd that visits them was and is always ready for a nice centralized target to harass.

          There is literally nothing in our legal system to help people whose lives are doxxed online. All her personal accounts were hacked, her personal information was shared everywhere, and everyone she’d ever known became targets of harassment in her wake. Phil Fish’s freakout is totally understandable when you consider he was getting slammed with hundreds of threatening and hateful messages just because he spoke out against those same attacks against Quinn.

          We’re talking about people just deciding she was the epitome of evil feminism, despite the fact that she was literally no one of significance. She was not an outspoken feminist before she was targeted. She was not some hot shot game designer. She had one modest indie game under her belt, and she was a woman who had been called out be an angry ex boyfriend online, and has, in the years since, been hounded by hundreds of thousands of hate messages and death threats. That is Gamergate.

          All these ‘internet sleuths’ and accusers you’re linking are ideologically opposed to gender equality. And none of them know Quinn personally. In the book, she says her mom died of Hepatitis C when she was an early teen, so the claims about her mom’s amazon review of her book are either false (which is easy to believe since it’s just an amazon review), or Quinn is lying about her childhood, which I suppose is possible, but doesn’t seem like a necessary lie when telling her life story. And also you’d think if her mom was leaving a review of the book, she’d point out “Wow, she says I died in the book but I’m totally alive.”

          I’m not saying you can’t read all these arguments against this woman, but you owe it to yourself, if you’re going to take an interest in the subject, to read the book written by the victim here. Most victims don’t publish books, or start organizations to help others who have been victims of online harassment, which is what she now does, since her old life was completely derailed and destroyed by this hate fueled movement.

          • Arkone Axon

            Okay, a couple of things.

            1: I’m Jewish. My grandfather was a founding member of the Israeli Defense Force. I’ve dealt with anti-semitism… I’ve also dealt with the repurposing of the word “Nazi” to mean anyone that the accuser disagrees with. I am constantly seeing anti-semitic commentary and statements from people on BOTH sides of the aisle. Yes, that includes progressives – who refer to Israel as a “racist apartheid fascist state” and then accuse them of committing genocide (and when pressed, they say that the term includes “cultural genocide.” Which is oh so insulting to the Kurds and other peoples experiencing actual physical “systematic murder of the population” genocide throughout the world). Translation: plenty of anti-semites on both sides. And often by people who then call the other side the nazis.

            What does that all mean? It means that if I discounted everyone who had any involvement with nazis… there wouldn’t be very many people left. And yes, I am aware that there are a lot of skinheads and neo nazis in the alt-right. But I shared those links because they were literally the only ones willing to upload that guy’s account. I get the impression you didn’t actually click on them, or you would have read the bit where the attorney states: “Zoe Quinn posted my home address as well as pictures taken outside of my home to her more than 30,000 Twitter followers. The “best GG journalism” article Quinn references was a full dox of me provided by Daily Kos intern and Something Awful “goon” Margaret Pless.”

            Again: Zoe Quinn made someone else the victim of doxxing.

            2: There are legal recourses against doxxing.

            https://patch.com/massachusetts/malden/what-is-doxing-yes-it-is-illegal

            In fact, when “antifa” began to dox people suspected of being alt-right and media outlets began to praise such internet vigilantes, it was pointed out that what these people are doing is in fact highly illegal:
            https://www.wired.com/story/free-speech-issue-antifa-data-mining/
            (which has indeed led to violence: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/us/middlebury-college-charles-murray-bell-curve-protest.html?_r=1

            And that wasn’t even the “alt-right” guy who went to the hospital, that was a liberal professor attempting to defend him against a violent assault by masked assailants. A female liberal professor, if her gender matters)

            3: What you just said there about “people just deciding she was the epitome of evil feminism” is literally what I described in my initial post. About how gamergate was about a bunch of consumers protesting unethical journalism regarding the products they were paying good money for. And how the developers and journalist outlets realized they could dismiss any and all criticism by claiming that all the GG people were solely dedicated to making every female gamer (i.e. 50% of the people playing video games) turn off the consoles and PCs and go into the kitchen to make sandwiches. Let me turn it around on you: Have you spoken to anyone claiming to be with gamergate? Have you gotten their side of it?

            4: She was not “some girl who made an indie game.” She stands accused of defrauding and sabotaging an organization specifically set up to promote female game developers: http://www.thefineyoungcapitalists.com

            During which she doxxed them as well:
            http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/the-fine-young-capitalists-game-jam

            This was a deal set up to encourage female game developers, with the profits from the developed games to be donated to charity.

            5: Not every book about being a victim was written by an actual victim. She is not the first con artist to make a name for herself by claiming victimhood. I previously mentioned Andrew Wakefield. He too claims to be a victim. He claims that the medical vaccination industry destroyed his career in order to silence him because he was warning people about the dangers of vaccinations. He is not a victim – he is someone who was lying about vaccines in order to make money at the cost of innocent children: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wakefield

            Please note: I have said nothing unpleasant or hateful about women. I have said nothing about feminism. I have only commented on one subject, and only the one subject: whether or not this particular individual was telling the truth in their book, or whether they are in fact a scammer who is far more accustomed to being abusive than to suffering from abuse, and is guilty of repeatedly committing the same illegal activities they claim to be the victim of. Please bear that in mind when you respond.

          • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

            Man, if your go-to source of information is publicly editable sites that reference annonymous 4chan and reddit users who claim to have unveiled Quinn-enacted conspiracies, I doubt anything’s going to convince you otherwise. There are plenty of established publications that have done in depth reporting on this, each with their own investigative reporters, all saavy enough to know what the internet is and how it shapes our lives. If you dismiss all of them as having been duped by some girl, then I guess she is truly an evil mastermind. Or maybe she’s telling the truth.

            https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/style/2014/10/29/threatening-video-gaming-industry-movement-grows-arlington-game-developer-forced-flee-her-home/BRHwDSGjMsSnHquH9jYQIJ/story.html

            https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/how-zoe-quinn-took-online-trolls-trying-destroy-her-ncna813401

            https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/10/14/the-only-guide-to-gamergate-you-will-ever-need-to-read/?utm_term=.36bb1fbe836f

            And as for doxxing, Quinn’s book points out how bad it is to do so against your harassers. And if it did happen, then it was at a time when all of her online accounts were being hacked and used as weapons against everyone in her life, so any actions she took online are highly suspect during that period. Your decision that she is as bad as Andrew Wakefield, an anti-science advocate, is nonsense. Zoe Quinn is not anti-science, and her career wasn’t destroyed by shadowy CEOs, but by anonymous online hate groups. Also if you’re going to link to Andrew Wakefield’s Wiki entry, you might as well link to Quinn’s as well, which says nothing about widget conspiracies or fraud perpetrated against other female game developers.

            I haven’t spoken to any Gamergaters because I don’t visit alt-right sites and forum threads. If you are a self ascribed Gamergater, then I’m not convinced by the links you provided. Where are the established publications telling the Gamergater’s side of the story about Zoe Quinn’s attempts to tarnish other female game developers? Why have no major publications asserted the claims of these anonymous reddit and 4chan users? They certainly investigated them. And what has Zoe Quinn gained from lying about all of this? Alienation from the industry she loves?

            I’m also not accusing you of hating women, I’m just suggesting that you’re assertion that Zoe Quinn is a liar is dubious, and you should consider reading her book, as it lays out an all too believable narrative about nebulous internet hate being focused aggressively on an individual. She’s hardly the only case.

          • Arkone Axon

            I’m afraid I can’t look at the Boston Globe or the Washington Post ones. And I’m not about to pay for subscriptions. But… one of those had what appeared to be Brianna Wu, who is currently running for congress… and is unlikely to win, because she also known to be a liar and the local voters are all too aware of it (she bragged a couple months ago about saving a turtle that had been stuck crossing the road while people applauded. To which people in Boston replied, “no you didn’t. You did not save a turtle crossing the road in OCTOBER, when they’re hibernating.”

            https://twitter.com/Spacekatgal/status/925026259809292288

            But… as I keep pointing out, what you are saying jives with my own statements:

            “here are plenty of established publications that have done in depth reporting on this.”

            Yes. Established publications that have found it useful to push a specific narrative. Remember, Gamergate is all about sexism and misogyny – and ignore anyone who says differently, because that would interfere with the profit flow of dishonest companies in a multi-billion dollar industry. And Gamergate is also responsible for all kinds of things in the last few years, including swaying the 2016 election – and ignore anyone who suggests that the DNC ran a horribly flawed campaign or that Bernie Sanders supporters (call em Berniebros, since they’re all sexists too) might have been feeling too betrayed and disgusted to vote for Clinton, or that the handpicked Democratic nominee was too flawed to win against a pied piper candidate.

            Yes, I am specifically saying that the major publications have deliberately ignored the facts in order to push a narrative. They do it all the time. They did it in 2016 with the Keystone pipeline protests – completely ignored, to the point that many people didn’t even believe that a privately owned oil company was in fact digging pipe across the Sioux reservation and employing a combination of police officers from multiple districts as well as private contractors (i.e. mercenaries operating on domestic soil) against the protesters. They’ve done it this year when pushing the narrative that the Russian president unleashed a team of highly trained elite hackers to put a puppet in the white house. They did it prior to the latest administration when they buried the details regarding the incarceration and torture of Chelsea Manning and the exile of Edward Snowden. They’ve been doing it for decades – in the 1970s Americans lived in mortal terror of the Black Panthers rising up and murdering everyone, when the actual Black Panther activity consisted of… marching in peaceful demonstrations while openly exercising their rights under the second amendment. They’ve been doing it at LEAST since the Spanish-American War, which was started by a guy who wanted to create a interesting story to sell his newspapers (“You furnish the pictures. I’ll furnish the war.”). When our current POTUS dismissed CNN as “fake news,” it drew howls of outrage from… CNN, but everyone else just laughed and said, “yep! They’re just as bad as Fox, they just come at you from the other side.”

            I am not a self proscribed Gamergater… at least, I never thought of myself as one. I was actually rather critical of GG at first, and said that they needed to be more emphatic in distancing themselves from the violent kooks. But over time I’ve watched things develop and I’ve seen what’s happened, and… it’s been a smear job. With a lot to gain for those doing the smearing.

            What did Quinn have to gain from it? Answer: she went from making one free-to-play game (which qualifies more as an “interactive fiction e-book”) to having a book deal, public appeal, cash flow, and influence.

            Yes, I have seen nebulous internet hate focused aggressively on individuals. But I’ve also seen many examples of false claims of victimhood for personal gain. Again: you’re defending a book you read by someone you’ve never actually met, and refusing to talk to anyone representing the other side. And I’m telling you point blank: they’re not sexists. Many of them are women. They have been smeared with accusations of doing the same things that their accusers have done. I’m suggesting that you consider that a lot of times fiction gets pushed as nonfiction by people who have a lot to gain.

          • http://www.zapcomic.com/ Pascalle Lepas

            holy cow if you think she was being serious about people applauding the turtle thing. HOLY COW.

          • http://www.zapcomic.com/ Pascalle Lepas

            “Woman tells hyperbolic joke, is labelled liar by Internet Sleuths.”

          • animalia555

            The only thing I know is the court of public opinion is quick to convict and slow to forgive. This applies to anything really.

          • Arkone Axon

            So… you’re saying she’s Schrodinger’s Asshole?

            (I.e. a person who is joking or not based on the reactions of the people around them)

          • http://www.zapcomic.com/ Pascalle Lepas

            I’m saying you look ridiculous.

          • Arkone Axon

            Cool. I’m pleased as punch to receive such an eloquent and nuanced critique from an obvious master of comedy.

            “Woman tells outright lie, blocks people who point it out, gets defended by someone calling it a joke.”

          • http://www.zapcomic.com/ Pascalle Lepas

            I honestly hope this was something you just scrambled to use as an off-handed example and not a talking point for whatever movement is still going on. If it’s a talking point you’re being encouraged to push to further some cause, you’re being trolled.

            I’m not trying to insult you by saying that you look ridiculous using that as a talking point. I’m trying to let you know you have spinach in your teeth so you can clean it out before the photo. I have zero interest in arguing with you.

          • Arkone Axon
          • http://www.zapcomic.com/ Pascalle Lepas

            okay.

          • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

            Let’s reign this in back to Quinn, and what happened to her. If Quinn was somehow impeding ethical games journalism, where is the evidence? Reddit posts? Screengrabs of amazon reviews posted by anonymous forum users? If Gamergate is really about ethics in journalism, who is its spokesperson? MRA Lawyers? 4chan? If there really is a problem with ethics in games journalism, why doesn’t Gamergate come together and crowdfund a site or legitimate organization dedicated to stating their message clearly, and working to identify the specific problems and present good solutions?

            Here’s an interview between Totalbiscuit, who sides with the idea that ethics in games journalism is a real issue, and Stephen Totilo, lead editor for Kotaku. I find Totalbiscuit’s arguments here extremely weak, and Totilo easily points out their flaws. Keep in mind that Totalbiscuit doesn’t think of himself as a Gamergater spokesperson, he just believes there are legitimate issues to address, and two sides to the issue.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpmIrWqEUUU

            You admit that Quinn is a bit player in the industry, with only one small game. Why so much effort to expose her as a fraud when she’s such small potatoes? Her friends and family are extremely low priority targets. At least Anita Sarkeesian was outspoken about female representation in games, not that I think that’s a good reason to harass her, but at least I could understand why her critics thought she was attacking their favorite games.

            You even acknowledge that aggressive, focused hate campaigns happen online, but for whatever reason you’d rather take the word of anonymous posters and alt right lawyers over legitimate publications and the victim herself. That’s all there is to it, and I’m tired of arguing this. Feel free to respond if you want the last word.

          • Arkone Axon

            All right…

            Then I’ll say this as the last word:

            https://blogjob.com/oneangrygamer/2015/04/kotakus-editor-in-chief-finally-acknowledges-gamergates-fight-for-ethics/

            I do not take the word of legitimate publications because… they are not legitimate. They are known to be biased. Just as Fox News is known to be biased. Just as Breitbart is known to be biased. Again: Quinn was propped up by people who were making a LOT of money, who wanted to silence the whistleblowing about dishonest practices and presenting advertisements as reviews. By companies like… this:

            http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2018/02/03/electronic-arts-one-of-most-hated-companies/

    • http://www.zapcomic.com/ Pascalle Lepas

      Mombot is not a good source for anything.

    • Nos Rin aka CTCO

      is a widget like an ‘app?’ I recognize this term, I think I have a battery meter on my phone that is a widget.
      but, what IS a widget?

      • Arkone Axon

        It’s a term used in economics classes. When discussing theoretical businesses, they like to use “widgets” as the products. That way you don’t have to know anything about the market or whether there’s a particular demand for it, and you can get straight to the bare essentials of what they’re teaching. I used the term here because one of the claims made by the companies to discredit complaints is “our customers are SOOOO entitled! They’re complaining and being so ungrateful about a bunch of silly games!” As opposed to “Our customers are being SOOO demanding and expecting us to provide good value for the money they’re paying.”

        • Nos Rin aka CTCO

          ah, interesting. alright.

  • Purphoros

    I have danced with creatures worse than the devil…

  • Nos Rin aka CTCO

    OOOOOh!!!!
    Please tell me more about Brandon Sanderson if you have time! I recently bought Warbreaker and Mistborn on a whim not even realizing (for some reason) that they were by the same author.
    I don’t read nearly as much as I should, but I’m a big fan of Jim Butcher. I need to finish Skin Game so I can get on to his fantasy series Codex Alera.

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      How can I refuse! All of Sanderson’s books are well plotted out, with great characters, and intricate magic systems that follow very specific rules, making from some exciting and imaginative action scenes. He’s really, really good at writing action scenes. He also does a fantastic job of consistently raising stakes, and building tension, as well as subverting expectations on standard fantasy adventure tropes. His prose are easy to read and flow really well. Warbreaker is one of his earlier books, but I still like it quite a bit, and Mistborn is his breakout hit, and gets better every time I read it. Ha, I may be a fanboy, though, so take what I say with a grain of salt! I’ve already said his Stormlight Archive series is my favorite. And I love one of his less popular books, The Rithmatist, which is like a much better version of Harry Potter.

      And I dig Dresden Files, but, man, it’s been a long time waiting for the next book in that series. I think Butcher’s burnt out on it. I did read the Codex Alera books years ago, which he conceived of on a dare, combining pokemon with roman legion armies. It was mostly forgettable to me, but it wasn’t bad, although I recall the main character being painfully bland, and also an army of giant evil bugs. I also read the first book in his newest series, The Aeronaut’s Windlass, which was kind of disappointing because I thought it was going to be a naval warfare series, except with airships. Maybe it’ll turn into that, but the first book felt like a setup to a bigger story involving an army of giant evil bugs (Butcher seems a big fan of the giant evil bug trope), with characters that I can barely recall outside of a hardened sky captain and a snarky talking cat. Maybe I’ve just read too much fantasy to the point where something has to really break the mold to peak my excitement, I dunno.

      • animalia555

        Also are you aware he has annotations for some of his books online?

      • Nos Rin aka CTCO

        OMG thank you, I love that you read through comments and respond.
        Awesome I heard that Sanderson does good on magic.
        After reading through Dresden Files I just felt, YES, this is how magic should work, summoning up your will. So good.
        I just love when a story treats magic right, as a serious thing that takes skill and is not just some dues ex machina, all problem fixer, do whatever you need it to do, just power of bullshit.
        you don’t just snap your fingers and make a pizza appear, magic is not that kind of power. >_>
        So I am excited to see the concepts that Sanderson has.
        warbreaker struck me because of the colorful art on the cover and the concept of something to make issues for war or something. *barely read the synopsis, like once or twice. I almost didnt buy mistborn, but i said, eh, why not. “a hero set out to save the world… And he failed!” oh shit.
        If I can get my butt to read more I’m sure I will enjoy them. I struggle to take on new stories, maybe I’m worried I’ll like another author better lol.

        I heard about that bet. I’d like more info on it. From what I heard Someone bet Jim he couldn’t write a good story off a bad idea and he said he’d write a story off two bad ideas.
        :S hmm.
        I dont exactly see why those two were bad ideas, but I guess so kind of?
        My old Exalted Story Teller told me I would like the books so they’re my next read after dresden files.

        I dont think Jim was burnt out maybe busy but you’re probably right.
        I kind of like the earlier stories better then the later ones. I just really like the private eye angle but I mean, epic stories are good too.

        I have my own wizard private eye. :) sort of. more of a problem solver. He’s good at killing monsters. I’m bad at creative writing. >_>

        maybe you have read to-o..mu-ch… nah, no such thing lol. šŸ˜›
        But ya, maybe? the more you read the more it takes to impress you.
        I got that book too, I’ll read it after i read through codex alera.

        I just… play too many video games…. sigh……

        • Arkone Axon

          According to Jim Butcher himself, he wrote the first few Dresden Files books because his writing professor yelled at him to do a formulaic story, so he did – the first book in the series. He kept that up until about the fourth one (which is when the big overarching plot with enemies that don’t come out of the shadows until many books later begins)

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            formulatic story eh?
            the third book is still kind of my favorite. I think partially because of Micheal.

          • Arkone Axon

            YES! SO MUCH THIS!

            As awesome as Dresden is, it’s the other characters that really make it. Molly and Karen and Bob and Micheal and the rest. Micheal Carpenter is a perfect example for anyone playing a Paladin character in a game, when it comes to how to behave. :)

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            OMG I love micheal so damn much!!! he’s just, he’s just so… omg I just love him! It broke my heart when he got shot up. I was terrified. I miss seeing him in action.
            and when mouse got hit by a truck i rushed to the internet to see if he lived.
            and that demon in his head, I may have cried when she died. omg. I miss her.
            I really need to finish skin game. XD

          • Arkone Axon

            Oh yes. If you miss Lash, you DEFINITELY want to finish reading Skin Game. No spoilers, but… yeah.

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            O_O >_> AAAAARG!!!!
            sigh. ya.

          • Kid Chaos

            Speaking of Jim Butcher, is he going to continue the ā€œCinder Spiresā€ series? I read the first book, ā€œThe Aeronautā€™s Windlassā€, and I loved it! Unfortunately, there has been no word of a sequel. Sad face. šŸ˜”

      • Mark Orapello

        He’s not burned out. His dog died, he got divorced, he moved, his house pretty much became a small disaster area as the contractors proceeded to reeeaaaally miss a lot of deadlines and then he got married and went on a honeymoon. Word is he’s been trying, unsuccessfully, to write the next book for a while. The last word, from the author himself, is that he’ll be releasing Peace Talks 4-8 weeks after Brief Cases is released (an anthology story in the dresden universe about some of his smaller cases). I hesitate to say take that with a grain of salt, as his house still isn’t done, but he is trying and we can’t really ask for more then that as fans.

    • animalia555

      Read Mistborn before Warbreaker. Iā€™d tell you why but that would be a spoiler.

      • Nos Rin aka CTCO

        If there is a chronological order and more books in the series TELL ME NOW.
        I dont need plot reasons just give me a chronological order please.

        • animalia555

          His Cosmere is basically a shared universe that all of his books NOT SET ON EARTH are in. The connections arenā€™t always clear, as he wrote the books so that you DONā€™T have to be aware of the larger Cosmere connestions to enjoy them all. But being aware of the larger backstory between connected books can enhance enjoyment of the books. Think of Stephen Kingā€™s The Dark Tower only if the books were ALWAYS planned to be connected instead of retconned to be that way.

          • animalia555

            As for what is the earliest chronological (not by publication date) work in the Cosmere. Well thatā€™s the two graphic novels of White Sand. (There will eventually be three.) This is kind of interesting in that he was approached by a graphic novel and asked if he had any unpublished works that he thought might take well to a graphic novel adaptation. He chose White Sand and has been working with them on the adaptation.
            The next thing chronologically, and the first by publication date is Elantris. I suggest putting out the extra money online for the 10th Anniversary edition. Has it has some extra story added at the very end after the postscript, that wasnā€™t in the original version. You donā€™t really need to know all of this stuff to enjoy Mistborn or Warbreaker but if you want to get into the larger Cosmere as a whole it helps.

            That being said there are currently 6 books set on the same PLANET as Mistborn (Mistborn itself counting as one of them.)

            If you want more info either on the wider Cosmere or just on the world of Mistborn let me know.

          • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

            It is worth noting that there’s little reason to read in publication date order, since Sanderson intentionally writes each of his series as stand alone stories that don’t require any knowledge of his other books. There are small easter eggs, similar who Stephen King, but that’s about it. I didn’t realize his books were all meant to take place in the same universe until well after I’d read a good bit of his work.

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            hmmm interesting.

          • animalia555

            That being said the Mistborn books SHOULD be read in order. But as Mistborn is the first one you don’t have much to worry about.

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            ah, alright. ya. I got some books by Mercedes Lackey off ebay for pretty cheap cause I saw By the Sword at a thrift shop and missed my chance to buy it.
            and there’s a big chronological list in one of them so i was like, dammit. Now I gotta buy each and every one of these books and read them in chronological order….. sigh.
            i still miiight read by the sword out of order but there’s a long list of books before that.

          • animalia555

            After Mistborn proper comes the next book in the initial Mistborn trilogy The Well Of Ascension, followed by The Hero of Ages then there is a HUGE time jump to allow the world to advance technologically. Including a whole new cast as several generations have past.

    • Tiffany Miller

      if you like Jim Butcher read Illona Andrews as well the Kate Daniel’s series is really really good and Sanderson is an amazing writer but bit darker than Butcher is. He also was the one who wrote the last 3 wheel of time books

      • Nos Rin aka CTCO

        darker then butcher? oh dear. D: butcher got a little too dark for me at times. I shall still give his a read once I am done with codex alera.
        although there is also hitchhikers guide to the galaxy to get to.

        • Tiffany Miller

          Sandersons mistborn gets pretty dark not c.s Friedman level dark but close

          • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

            Nah, Sanderon is not as dark a butcher, I don’t think, at least in terms of literal prose. There’s certainly a lot of dark themes and quite a bit of fantasy violence, but Sanderson never even writes swear words in his books (well, he makes up swear words based on his fantasy worlds, but even his stories that take place on Earth don’t have any swearing). Butcher, at least in Dresden, loves swearing, and weird sex stuff, and descriptive violence. When I visualize Sanderson books, they’re always animated, but when I visual dresden, they’re live action!

            And I read through all of Wheel of Time purely because Sanderson took over the series. Indeed, the last three books are the best part of the series, but I would never recommend WoT to anyone, it’s such a convoluted slog to get through.

          • Tiffany Miller

            See I love wheel of time it’s a great series

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            dont know who is cs friedman. >_>
            and mistborn sounded like it would be dark.

          • Tiffany Miller

            She’s another fantasy writer but really dark like one of her main characters draws power by draining life from random people and she’s a main chaeacter…

          • Nos Rin aka CTCO

            yikes. D: why is everything so dark. why cant stories happen with people not dieing? only orcs should die.

          • TekServer

            You should check out “Grunts” by Mary Gentle. It’s a whole different perspective on Orcs.
            šŸ˜œ

          • Nos-Rin

            crazy how I stumbled across this and, just checked out that wiki. Ya. Pass!

  • animalia555

    I mentioned a while back that I wondered if there was a term for a Shogunā€™s wife. Well according to this https://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Atsu-hime (assuming Iā€™m reading it correctly) itā€™s Midaidokoro

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      That’s quite the mouthful!

  • animalia555

    @suburban_samurai Have you read JoJoā€™s Bizarre Adventure?

    • http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai

      no, I really want to though. There are so many great manga, but the only one I’m currently following is Attack on Titan, and, at this point, mostly out of a morbid curiosity to see what asinine thing it’ll do next. I really want to catch up on Berserk, and I have been slowly reading through Full Metal Alchemist, to see how the manga compares to the Brotherhood anime.

  • Nos Rin aka CTCO

    Oh and to answer your top question, I did once actually, ya.

    he’s not as good of a dancer as he claims to be.

  • Ladon

    ā€œBut youā€™re a skilled fighter, right?ā€ ā€œActually, thatā€™s a common mistakeā€ *cuts three soldiers in half in one swing* ā€œIā€™m actually just really strong.ā€ *beats several soldiers to death with another soldier* ā€œrediculously, rediculously strongā€ ā€œso… not a skilled fighter, then.ā€ ā€œThe distinction is hard to make.ā€

  • Mark Orapello

    Long time reader, rarely a commenter. Not because of a lack of love for the comic but because I typically avoid commenting unless I feel the need to critique and pretty much any criticism I might have leveled at the comic in the beginning has been not only met and answered but also thoroughly washed away by brilliant advancement in writing, narrative flow and artistic skill. I say all of this to let you know that I am a fan and that what I say isn’t from a place of dislike or disrespect.

    But one of the things I have rarely seen ever talked about well is Gamergate. Ignoring my own personal opinion about the movement, anyone who ever says ‘this one side is all there is’ about most movements fail to grasp the point of perspective and how different things can be. Sides aren’t always right, fair or even true but that doesn’t discount that there were sides. And when you’re talking about a movement that inflamed the internet for fricking months, the INTERNET in case the emphasis was missed for that word, trying to sum it up with the perspective from one victim of cyber harassment who could only have bad feelings about it is dismissive.

    I don’t want to talk about gamergate. I really, really don’t. But now I kind of have too so that people aren’t ignorant of at least some of the facts.

    Fact- There were many, many horrible people in the ‘gamergate’ side of things who said awful things.
    Fact- They were people on the internet, where the majority of most outrage comes from people saying horrible things. Like fans sending death threats to game developers for delays to make a game function.
    Fact- The actual reason there are people who still ‘defend’ gamergate is not because of sexism or hate but because they believed in the idea of gaming journalism without bribery, corruption and nepotism. Actual journalism.
    Fact- Gamergate failed. It was sunk not by logic or honest points but by a media who wanted people to believe that it was only about sexism and hate. Ultimately, it was abandoned by many sane people as a ‘tainted’ tag who knew it couldn’t be recovered because of such media coverage. Opinion Addendum-
    Some suggest conspiracy, but I think there are plenty of awful people in the world willing to say awful things whenever they get the chance that there need not be any such thing.
    Fact- Whether or not Zoe is innocent of what she is accused of is still hard to determine not matter what wiki says but what was said and done to her was awful and sickening. What she has done with the hand she was dealt is fricking inspiring.
    Fact- Whether or not Zoe is innocent of what she is accused of, she is hardly the only person accused of misconduct, and for a lot of, maybe even most (discounting of course the sexist and sickening comments), of the accusations there was faaaar more basis in fact. We are after all talking about an industry that only survives because of what amounts to legal bribery to game ‘journalists’, one decried by many of the journalists that leave the industry because of things like dignity.

    Zoe’s book isn’t likely to summarize Gamergate very well because its from the perspective of someone who was being harassed by monsters mascaraing as trolls using the tag to ‘justify’ what they said. Pretty much anyone who understands how personal perspective effects recounting of events can tell you that an unbiased walker down a side walk will have trouble giving accurate details to a slow, non-lethal and entirely boring fender bender they bore full, uninterrupted witness too. Asking the victim of such a hateful crime to summarize what was even happening in their life, nonetheless political and social changes and movements happening at the time and that were being used as a mask to cause said victim said crimes, isn’t likely to get anything accurate, not even her own emotional state. (That is not to say she was not hurt, scared, etc. Simply that no perspective, not even our own, can every with 100% accuracy recall everything of non-traumatic moments, non-the-less the traumatic kinds.)

    Finally I would ask not that you don’t speak of certain socio or geopolitical events but that, if you do, you either speak of them with full knowledge garnered through thorough research or speak of them with an admittance of ignorance on the full subject matter to avoid disseminating false information even mistakenly. Otherwise you’re likely to invite far more impassioned, often less reasoned, and sometimes hateful and disgusting commentary on what might otherwise have been an uneventful comic post.

  • Frank Royce Harr

    Eijio adapts. He also adapted to being advised by a war-monger. Not good.

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