Okay look I know things are bad but here's the thing: when I was a queer closeted teen back in the late 90s, none of the video games I was playing had queer content. None of them. The best I had was small moments like this, from Final Fantasy VIII:
Zell, on his knees, thanking Squall for rescuing him. Canon's pretty clear that Squall ends up with Rinoa, but just for a second, I could imagine Zell and Squall together. (To the point that I went on my parents' dial-up AOL internet late one night and found my first fanfic, Zell/Squall slash, shoutout to bishonenink.) I could imagine a world with people like me, and it was wonderful, even if it was me reading way more into the text than was actually there. And fic is great, and imagination is powerful, and I made it through and love my queer self and everything.
But never, in my wildest dreams, did I imagine something like this would not only be canon but shown on screen:
Or this:
People like me, on screen, in love and showing it.
It's not that fanfic is bad - it's incredible, and I love it. And shipping characters in non-canon relationships is great, too. And I know that just representation isn't enough, and plotlines matter, and there's so much more that needs to be done, and things are bad.
But I wish I could show my closeted queer teen self those two images, or the dozens more from games like Dragon Age or The Last of Us or others, so he could see how much the world has changed in twenty-five years. And I'm so glad my kids are going to get to play these games one day, even if they're not queer.
Just some pride month encouragement for my younger self.
Community of Mass Effect, I invoke you to show you this video:
It's an amazing channel that produces Mass Effect ranking lists, it's 100% worth the watch. Hilarious and all, but this video makes me think about one thing:
What if the fanfic community used AI Voices for podfics?
What are your thoughts on this? Feel free to share your thoughts.
Holiday gift art for my pal @bluu-spectre Of his Shepard and Kaidan made into a custom design for printing on clothes! :) He loves these two together so much, and I'm just happy I made their armor look okay LMAO. Happy holidays blue!
Image ID in Alt text!
(please don't repost or use this, and leave my description; thanks! reblogs welcomed!)