PAX East: "A Quick Reminder"

The Penny Arcade Expo and the owners of the Penny Arcade brand:

• Slut-shames paid cosplayers 
• Tried to sell rape-culture merchandise, 
• Denied the existence of trans people, 
• Openly regretted having to pull their rape culture merchandise & 
• Covered up sexual assault among their Enforcers 

Women and minorities are already treated like an invasive species in conventions and nerd culture. If you know all of this, and still go to PAX, you are supporting everything wrong with what's supposed to be an open and inviting space. You are not just "part of the problem"... You ARE the problem. 

YOU ARE WHY THE VIDEO GAME CULTURE SUCKS.

END OF LINE

~A.H.

Gail Simone

It's not every day you see an otherwise respected, reasonable-thinking member of popular culture have a complete meltdown. Usually it's pretty gradual, with a celebrity only slowly dishing out the insanity over their careers until it reaches critical mass.


It's interesting when it happens all in one day. When someone who appears to be a sane and functioning member of society just throws out everything that made them beloved in the first place, usually it's because they said something on Twitter.


How strange, how sad, that Gail Simone of all people would be the next in line. It's not every day a talented writer and an ally of diversity in comics chooses to throw out the goodwill she's earned from her fans by being a complete jackass. The author of comics such as "The Movement" and "Secret Six" has, up until now, displayed the charm, the intelligence and the fierce talent comics need. And also the polite, good-natured sense of humour that an often all-too-serious medium could use more of. To see her fall this low is tragic.


She responded to an innocent question from someone concerned about what his place in the comics industry might mean to someone who might have a harder time breaking through. Her response equated to telling him to give up.


To respond with such venom, such contempt was uncharacteristic of her. Her fans(including myself) responded. At this point, a reasonable human being(like the one we thought Gail Simone was) might become introspective. They might try to understand the negative reaction, maybe take a look back at their decisions and ask themselves if they had made a mistake.


Gail Simone, in her wisdom, decided to be a stubborn, mean-spirited bully instead. And then complain that people are sending her mean letters.



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Lara Croft: Two Raider

The most popular thing I've made on Tumblr is an (admittedly flawed) series of pictures detailing the decline in imagination in character design for video games. At least in regards to the main protagonists, the people whose faces are on the cover. Many people chimed in. Some of them made some very shallow, idiotic responses, as is expected on the internet. There's been a lot of denial, and a lot of hand-wringing for the sexism and racism apparent in the industry today.

But I also heard from some people who made compelling arguments that there ARE still interesting and diverse character designs in video games. Yes, even in the main protagonists. These people weren't denying that things are bad, but I've been reminded that it's not all doom and gloom for this industry. So I can admit that that even though the original post is a misfire, at least I got it out of my system. And at least I was reminded of some interesting games I still need to try out one of these days.


But the one thing I do protest is this: the sheer number of people insisting to me that the new Lara Croft is “badass”. You know, the one who brutally murders and sets fire to hundreds of dudes, and regularly has to slaughter dangerous wildlife...

…but then immediately becomes a helpless, whimpering crybaby over a deer?

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PAX, MLP & My Beliefs

I gave up My Little Pony in 2012. It became apparent the show felt the handicapped were either mistakes that needed to be fixed/ignored, or the butt of tasteless jokes. I swore off being a brony. It hurt my soul to do it, because the show brought so much happiness into my life. But some things are more important than my happiness. You can’t stand by cruelty, just because it’s not aimed at you.


The show has only gotten more popular. Nobody else gave it up. Everyone I’ve ever talked to feels the same way about it. I’ve never heard anyone justify the behaviour of Hasbro, The Hub or show runner Jason Thiessen. It’s always: “Yeah, it sucks. It’s totally discriminatory and unfair, but what are you gonna do?” 

They say it as if they’re powerless. They justify it by saying that it still makes them happy. That it did a lot of good for them, so it’s okay. That the good it brings to their individual lives somehow outweighs the evil it brought down on an entire group of people.


The testimony of weak people does not impress me. This is also my problem with organized religion. If something you believe in does something monstrous, that doesn’t go away because it gave you a purpose. “So what if the Catholic Church molests children and then defends the attackers? It gets me out of the house, so that makes me a goody good-good!”


If you have to look the other way, you’re not in the presence of something good.


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