The Democrats won back the House, gained subpoena power, and can now serve as an actual check on 45. This is very very good.
So even if it wasn’t the “blue wave” a lot of people were hoping for, I want you to remember that the GOP no longer will hold as much power as they did. Lots of women were voted into office, LGBT+ candidates were voted into office, more POC were voted into office, two more Muslim women were voted into office, Florida voted to restore voting rights to over one million felons who have completed their terms of sentence, and Massachusetts voted to protect transgender rights. I know there was more but this is what stood out to me.
And right after I finished writing that I learned the GOP supermajority in NC is over and our Governor’s veto powers can now be sustained. And the Dems now hold a 5-2 majority on the state supreme court which means something might actually get done about our horrific gerrymandering and I totally just started crying. I think my anxiety just dropped about sixty pegs.
Despite the gerrymandering and very blatant voter suppression (i see you, Kemp), we did take steps in the right direction today. So take some deep breaths, take the next few days to yourself and get re-centered, and then keep going. Lean on your friends, treat yourself to something nice, come back with a vengeance. We’re in for a long fight.
George Buzinkai passed away yesterday. Buzinkai was a member of the Homestuck Music Team, and scored several animations with songs like Explore
Showtime
Endless Climb
And, most importantly, Doctor, the most popular and remixed track in Homestuck, and the unofficial theme of the series
Buzinkai was one of the most important people to Homestuck’s success, right up there with Toby Fox and Hussie himself. He had been working on a video game
i’ve seen a lot of people (including me) make the mistake of assuming buzinkai was a man, so let it be known that all of this iconic homestuck music was in fact made by a trans woman. rest in peace.
Oh listen, I like Ashe. I don’t want to give the impression I don’t. She’s a fun, silly villain, and she and Bob make me think of a trope in like… 90′s animes of the ineffectual rival characters. That’s fun! I like fun! I think there’s a lot of cool stuff you could do with her, and I like her backstory. I would have liked her to maybe not be nearly identical to Sombra and Widowmaker, and to maybe have some wrinkles, but I still ENJOY her!
She is also the 4th American character, and as I said, the third white female character in a row. Overwatch has a lot of diversity in it, and that is awesome! Blizzard has offered us a lot of nationalities, as you mentioned. It’s probably not possible to cover EVERYBODY because there are so many cultures out there, and realistically at some point they’re going to stop putting out new playable characters. Which is why it would be nice, before that happens, for them to have say… a black female character (Sorry, Orisa doesn’t count), maybe a middle eastern male character, maybe a native american character (since we’re not 100% sure what Fareeha’s dad’s ethnicity is, and she’s primarily repping Egypt), etc. etc.
The world is a big place, they can’t possibly get everyone without the game being completely overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Which is why it would be nice to keep branching out, you know? I still love Overwatch, and I’m more mad at Blizzard’s writing team for not being able to keep track of their shit than I am at Ashe. They’re still trying to do more than almost ANY other game studio, and while they don’t always nail it, they still gave us Ana, Zarya, Mei, Orisa and Moira, whose character designs are AMAZING (a-mei-zing, even). But you have to understand that there are a lot of people out there who see the “three white women in a row” and get sad, because they still have absolutely nothing. I’m a white lady, I can live without more white lady characters in Overwatch. I’m good. I have a huge variety I can work with here. I’m a Canadian white lady, and I’m not going to pester Overwatch for a white Canadian lady because I feel under-represented.
Blizzard is doing a good job. They could be doing a BETTER job, but they’re still doing a good job. Being a bit critical isn’t me saying I don’t like Overwatch. I’ll probably always like Overwatch. But it’s important to give direct criticism on how to make things better, or they don’t get better. Every male character in Overwatch has a unique facial design and overall look. A lot of female characters you can just overlay and more or less have the same one. There are way more white characters than any other ethnicity. These are ways that Blizzard can branch out and make something that really means something to a lot of people. I want to see them do more of that.
I can still like Ashe and sympathize with people who are upset, and listen to WHY they’re upset. Nothing wrong with that.
Gamerpyrope 