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kartakyber · 3 years

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thinking about disney's raya and the last dragon... a bunch of people have talked about this already but it just pisses me off how that film was originally gonna be directed by 2 white men and the script was written by 1 white woman.... and it wasnt until a few months later that they hired adele lim and qui nguyen to "retouch" the script

... why the hell were asian people Not the first people you contacted to write the script? why were they the after thought?

the current directors arent even asian

none of Disney's animated films that feature a non-white lead were headed by people who are part of the culture that those films are supposed to represent. i mean, taika waititi wrote the original script for moana, and then they didnt even go with that one. the final script was written by white people

then you have awkwafina voicing the secondary lead and she's not even southeast asian. i know whether or not it's ok for asian people to play characters of different asian ethnicities is a debate... but if you're gonna do a movie that's based on ~*The Entirety of SouthEast Asia Lumped Together*~, and you're also not gonna be accurate to the aesthetics of traditional southeast asian dress, the very least you can do is give opportunities to southeast asian voice actors by having the entire voice cast be southeast asian. like awkwafina is doing well for herself does she actually Need this role

and ok on the topic of asian people playing other asian ethnicities. im not gonna hold it against asian actors for taking those roles because roles for asian people are limited and they gotta do what they gotta do, i get it. but the thing is "white people can play american, british, australian, etc., etc." isnt the same thing because the homogenization of white people and "white culture" is the fault of white people. they fucking did that to themselves. if they think it's a problem then they go ahead and fix that

whereas the view that asian people are the same and interchangeable is a result of white people not bothering to learn the differences. like i dont think the solution here is "because white people do it, i think asian people should take the roles that couldve gone to other asian people who could more accurately portray the role", it should be "write more asian characters/stories so that we dont feel like we have to fight and clamber over each other for them"

it's just really weird for like, for instance, a japanese actor being frustrated that they cant play a korean character because that limits their roles.... as if getting that role wouldnt be taking away a job that a korean actor, whose options are just as limited, couldve gotten? it's a messed up way of thinking.

this got long but im just so frustrated! like i cant say im surprised. it's disney. but this film was in development in 2018 and why are we still here, why is this still a thing thats happening

like im sure the film itself will be entertaining, pretty much every disney animated feature film is at the very least a fun little kids' romp, im not saying the movie is gonna unwatchable garbage. i am happy for Kelly Marie Tran because disney owes her after the mess that was star wars. and I'm happy for the SEA kids who will get to see people who look like them in a disney film.

but disney is rich. they can afford to do better and we deserve better

#ok this blog is strictly star wars and will stay that way i am just really angry right now let me rant lol #and it’s disney and also has KMT in it so it’s at least semi-related. Also maybe this will be helpful for ppl who are unaware of these issu #disney #raya and the last dragon #kyber.txt #Long post

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mostthingskenobi · 6 years

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Hellooo! So, I have a question for you I've been wondering about for ages now... What do you imagine Obi-Wan and Satines first kiss in the clone wars series would've been like if they'd done it? Would Satine kiss Obi-Wan or would he kiss her? And what would the situation be for them to finally do it? If you're not sure then maybe some ideas? Btw I love your blog and hope you'll stay much longer. I'm sorry about what's happened to you. I hope you're getting better because you're just amazing

Hello there, my friend! This ask gave me a jolt of pure joy!! What a fun and pleasant thing to think about… and I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that I’ve given this quite a bit of thought. So here’s what I imagine (I’ll try not to be too wordy and take up too much of your time… who am I kidding…. this is going to be the longest thing I’ve ever written):

OBI-WAN AND SATINE’S CLONE WARS KISS THAT NEVER HAPPENED BUT SHOULD HAVE… **QUIETLY SOBS IN THE CORNER**

OK, to start, I understand why Obi-Wan and Satine never kiss in the Clone Wars. George Lucas believed that Kenobi was the embodiment of the perfect Jedi, even to Obi-Wan’s own detriment. It’s why Lucas never allowed Obi-Wan to kiss Satine, or respond to her dying “I love you.” It’s why Obi-Wan didn’t fight Maul during The Lawless, and George Lucas certainly shot down Dave Filoni’s idea that Korkie was Obi-Wan and Satine’s child. Obi-Wan Kenobi was a pure Jedi Knight.

My problem with that: it’s boring.

It’s not boring that Obi-Wan is pure, it’s boring that he never slips. As a writer, I believe it’s more interesting when a character’s standards are challenged and they are forced to break their status quo. It’s more gratifying for the audience to see a character change and grow, to struggle, give in to temptation, relent, and ultimately succeed (Luke Skywalker anyone???). This is ESPECIALLY important when you brutalize a character. Star Wars is very hard on Obi-Wan Kenobi and he receives very little validation. For the audience’s sake, Obi-Wan Kenobi deserves just one moment where he follows his heart FOR HIMSELF.

(This is all rhetorical, of course. If it isn’t obvious by the fact that I run an Obi-Wan Kenobi blog, Instagram, and AO3 account, let me say that I love Obi-Wan just as he is. Though as a storyteller, I may have changed a few plot points on his timeline.)

That being said, there are 2 places I can picture a kiss between Obi-Wan and Satine.

THE SLOW BURN

The first scenario is a slow burn that builds through the Mandalorian Arc in season 2. I imagine Obi-Wan would be doing his best to ignore his feelings for Satine and keep things “strictly professional.” But after the multiple assassination attempts made by Death Watch, and the Duchess wrongly being accused of murder, I would say Kenobi’s guard on his feelings would gradually begin to drop. Satine is one of the few characters Obi-Wan reaches out and physically touches in The Clone Wars, and he touches her a lot. To me, that indicates a certain level of familiarity that is not present between Kenobi and other characters.

I don’t think Satine would make the first move. I think she would encourage it subtly, but she would not kiss Obi-Wan first and here’s why:

1. She cannot be the one to break the Jedi Code. If Satine forces Obi-Wan to betray his oath before he’s ready, then she is the villain, the temptress, the distraction. She has no wish to change him or undermine his achievements. I wrote this in my first piece of fan fiction, A Jedi’s Resolve, and I still think it’s true of Satine:

“How could I ask you to give up the Order that you loved so much?… Don’t you see that you are a paradox? I loved you as you were, and forcing you to leave the Jedi would have made you a different man.”

2. Satine already told Obi-Wan her feelings in Voyage of Temptation. She laid her heart bare. If something is going to happen between them, it needs to be because Obi-Wan wants her enough to break his Code. He needs to want her in a “we’re soul mates and the Force will not let us be apart” sort of way, not be tempted to break his Jedi vow for lust.

I know this sounds all boring and moralistic, but as discussed earlier, Obi-Wan is a pure knight, and, in my opinion, this is how he would stay in character and kiss Satine. The act has to tie back to honor.

How would it happen? Well, Obi-Wan would have to be pushed to his limit by, let’s say, the pain of losing Satine again… or by not getting to tell her how he feels before she returns to Mandalore… or by overwhelming memories of their young love… Once he’s at his limit, they need to conveniently end up alone together where they can finally say what needs to be said without the risk of being overheard. I’m building up to this in my fic The Jedi and His Duchess. Or if you want something short and sweet, A Jedi’s Resolve is a one-off I needed to write to give myself closure. These fics detail exactly how I think this situation would unfold.

As much as I love this scenario, Star Wars would never go for it in canon. It’s too hypocritical to give Obi-Wan a love interest, especially when they portray Anakin’s love for Padme as a betrayal.

HOWEVER!!!! There is a line, I think it’s in the episode Corruption, where Satine reveals to Padme that Obi-Wan has told her all about Padme’s adventurous spirit. This implies that Obitine has remained in touch during the Clone Wars.

THE ULTIMATE TEMPTATION

The second scenario would take place during The Lawless. I have serious issues with this episode, for many reasons. I cannot watch it without sobbing… because I’m a huge emotional baby. BUT I also feel like the episode is extremely rushed. Maul spends an excruciating amount of time building up his underground crime syndicate and spends all of 10 minutes exacting revenge on Obi-Wan.

As an audience member, I’m far more fascinated by the interpersonal relationships: the conflict between Maul and Obi-Wan, the love between Satine and Obi-Wan, the betrayal between Maul and Sidious. This is more interesting than 2 full episodes of crime mongering. And I’m sorry, but Satine dies in Obi-Wan’s arms and like 5 seconds later cracks a joke with Bo-Katan. WTF, Kenobi?

What we should have gotten:

1. Much more time spent between Obi-Wan, Maul, and Satine, like at least 2 episodes.

2. Obi-Wan needed to tell Satine something while she lay dying. This woman died for him, lost her home, her planet, her family, her life’s work for this Jedi. She was used as a means to an end. The least Obi-Wan could have done was kiss her properly when he rescued her or said he loved her while he held her in his arms. She died not knowing how he felt about her. (I’m suddenly feeling inspired to write a ficlet of Obi-Wan rescuing Satine properly 0_0 )

3. A moment of real Dark Side temptation for Obi-Wan. It didn’t have to be as extreme as my series, The Dark Side of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but there should have been something more significant in that moment. Or at least more visible grieving into the next episode arc. Obi-Wan gets over Satine really fast and it really pisses me off. He’s such a perfect Jedi that it almost makes him seem heartless. I’ll say it again: GRATIFY YOUR AUDIENCE!!

OK, sorry… this is a little less about a kissing scenario and a little more about asking for a moment where Obi-Wan reveals his feelings to Satine… But that’s OK… right??????

I’m so very sorry, Anon!!!! This is the longest thing I’ve ever written and I’m afraid I may not even have answered your question!!! This is probably way more than you bargained for. I apologize for rambling on and on. But thank you for the lovely ask. I honestly really appreciated thinking about something other than my own awful life :) Thank you for your kind words! And thank you so much for following my blog!!!!!!! It warms my heart that you enjoy my stuff. Please keep in touch!!

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admanofchaosvr · 7 years

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From Other Suns Beta: First Try VR! in blog form

So, I still have a full roster of games and videos planned for the youtube channel, but sometimes that feels limiting. I occasionally want to play new games, but feel that A) I'd have to push my production schedule back to make room for more titles and/or B) I feel I need to do videos on new releases right away while they are still in the public eye.

Well, we all have only so much time and can only work so fast. So I figured, since I'm expanding my online presence, I can use my new outlets in social media to have my cake and eat it too! I can blog about some of these new games and experiences without taking away too much time from my video making schedule.

So, for those unfamiliar with “First Try VR!” (gasp!), these will not be full-game reviews. “First Try!” is me giving you my first impressions, be it a game, an app or the like. I'll maybe play anywhere from 30 minutes, to 2 hours, however long it takes for me to feel I have a good sampling of the software, enabling me to report back to you, the reader/viewer.

Last night I saw a new title in the Oculus Store called "From Other Suns." Currently, it is in free open beta until October 1st, 2017. I'll get download virtually anything if it's free (lame joke, had to be done). But the way it’s promoted, it sounds like it’ll be a good title.

Upon first launching it, I was placed alone in a very tron-esque blue room where absolutely nothing happened. I poked around, thinking I was thrown into an escape room of some sort. Turns out the tutorial glitched out. Very forgivable, considering it's in beta. That's why we are here. I’m a bit embarrassed how long it took to realize this.

I relaunched it. It worked fine. I went through the tutorial and jumped into the main game. The game boasts a fun looking multiplayer mode, but that wasn’t working. I played through in the single player campaign.

The story is you are testing a ship’s new faster-than-light engine and have gone further into space than ever before. Success, it worked. But the thing is, you don’t have the fuel use it again when going home to Earth. The player will be captaining the ship, making several smaller jumps to stations, refueling and taking missions along the way. But it turns out some evil alien invaders are following you, so you can’t stay in any one place for too long.

You start in the ship. I found the ship to be sectioned off into a few different rooms, each having its own function, like med bay, tactical, shields, etc.

I was glad to see that there are NPC's on board, working on whatever room they are in. However, I was disappointed by how "non-VR" they behaved. I’m going to make another article on this concept later. But for now, let’s just say that some things that work in non-VR games that break the immersion in VR games. In this case, it was the lifeless feel of the crew. They looked human, but feel robotic. They don’t look at you. The don’t talk to you. They don’t acknowledge you in any way. They are strictly a game mechanic and strongly remind me that I’m playing a game.

Although I want to dwell on that, it was the rest of the game that I really enjoyed. The game and story has a unique mix of qualities from both Star Trek and Star Wars. First, it begins as a tale of a crew boldly going where no one has gone before. Next you're something of a mercenary being hired out for dangerous missions, like clearing out space pirates or renegade robots.

I genuinely enjoyed the missions, even if the gameplay was a bit simple. It plays like a typical VR FPS (virtual reality first person shooter). You really feel like a Star Trek landing party, using teleporters to board other vessels. But you’re also like a bounty hunter, sneaking around corners to get the upper hand on pirates.

This is the first game I’ve played in a while that supports using the joysticks for locomotion (another topic I need to make an article on). This type of motion feels a little awkward at first, but it is far more practical for gameplay than VR teleporting. But I give them points that players can chose the locomotion options.

When it comes to the actual combat, you’ll find dodging to be pretty hard, so taking cover is important. You can either sneak up on patrols or just go in blasters a-blazing. I found sneaking more fun and more realistic.

But, there really isn’t much variation in the combat. Each mission you’ll be given a goal of how many pirates/bots are on-board to be eliminated. The pirates seem to operate all the same, while the bots have more variations (ball bots, humanoid bots, humanoid bots with extra arms) and behave differently. The only other mechanic needed to win is the occasional card key to get to the next area. Ok, and you can root around for some loot like health items. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a terminal listing all the ship-related items on board (fuel, missiles, etc), which you can try to hack and take the stuff for yourself.

I did really enjoy all the different types of blasters located in each level. Rapid lasers, fireballs, fire beams, nanite guns and a bunch others. Each gun has it’s own stats, so you may later find a blaster you already have, but fires with more damage. So it’s good to keep an eye out. But it is a little unsettling seeing the pirates in agony. I think that needs to be dialed back a notch. Let’s just say I won’t be using the fire type weapons again anytime soon.

There is a ship vs ship mechanic in the game. While this was in the beta, it wasn’t very prominent or useful. It really feels like it wants to be a simplified version of the VR game “Star Trek: Bridge Crew”. From your ship’s bridge, you can control a few different functions of your vessel. From the captain’s terminal, you can control everything. Set new destinations, command crew mates to repair damaged rooms on the ship, take calls on your space skype, etc. I suspect in the full game, you can find yourself being attacked, but that never happened once. That is, unless you count me turning the ship around to try pursuing the evil aliens pursuers. I got roasted. Maybe that’s their idea of the kobayashi maru? Who’s to say.

You can still attack other ships and salvage the parts if you really want to, but that feels kinda wrong when every populated ship is asking for your help. I mean, I did attack a ship that I had just saved from pirates… but I just wanted to see if I could. If it makes you feel better, I lost that battle too.

I will give credit to the characters on the space phone. They were animated and well voice acted. Not mind blowing or anything, but having anyone to “talk” to in a VR game is a big boost to the immersion. Some of these NPCs calling out for help, I did want to help them, and that’s a good thing for any game.

But I have to talk about the inventory system. I feel like this is something that is great on paper, but just awkward to use. You have two inventories, one for weapons, one for other items. On either hand these are opened by holding one of the A, B, X or Y buttons. You open the holographic storage with one hand, and reach into it with the other. Sounds good, right?

After an hour or two, it never felt natural. I kept trying to open with one hand, and reach in with the same hand. Frankly, I wish you could use it one handed! To use it as designed in combat means you have to stop shooting to do anything. That’s tricky if you wanna switch blasters mid-battle if you need to get a healing item. Worse yet, the open inventory menu is tracking the motion of the hand opening it. I was regularly unable to coordinate myself. Everything always felt an inch out of reach. I think it would be ideal if the storage was tracking the headset position instead, and that either hand can reach in at a time.

I think I missed out on a lot in this game. I’m under the impression that playing with people is what really makes this shine. Sadly, as I said, the option was there, it just didn’t do anything when I tried it.

It’s funny to think, if this was a game released on a non-vr platform, this would be a pretty bland game. A very simple space shooter with lots of rinse, lather and repeat. But as a title in our new industry of VR, it is totally something we need. While there are things I want to see improved, it takes on far more life because it’s a VR game.

It even gave me a nice buzz of nostalgia when I played it. The shooting and exploring parts of the game reminded me a lot of “Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire” on Nintendo 64. I was excited to explore and battle with my trusty blaster at my side. And that musical score during missions was perfection! I know I’m making a lot of these comparisons, but the orchestra was soooooo the kind of thing you’d expect from Star Wars.

So, from what I played, there is a balance of good and bad traits at this time in the beta version. How I wanted to conclude this was as a “Pros and Cons” kinda thing. But each thing I wrote sounded like it had a mirror opposite. Two sides to the same coin. For every bit of potential, there was something holding it back. Let’s try it this way...

The story sounds like it will develop as I get closer to Earth. There may be more story after I reach Earth in the full version. But as it is right now, the beta opens with the story in the intro, and completely stops after that. Ok, the robots-going-rogue epidemic might be leading somewhere.

This original IP borrows elements from classic sci-fi in a way that just works.

The missions are fun. I enjoyed the exploring of the maps. They had good designs and a smooth layout. However, the current missions are very repetitive. They are all the same mission, only the enemies change.

I really liked the level design on the missions. And the graphics as a whole were nearly top notch. But I am surprised that my shiny, new, experimental ship has such a dingy, grungy look to it.

The characters that call your ship are well made, animated and voiced. You can’t help but want to help them. However, I can’t overlook the very artificial crew on the player’s ship. I’m not asking for a Lone Echo quality of characters. But in VR, it is critical to flesh out all NPCs more than this.

The joystick for locomotion is the best way to play this game, but even the sound of your own footsteps don’t fool your perception. You can’t help but feel your floating or sliding around the floor. This can be resolved using the non-VR technique in other FPS games. Allow the camera/headset to bob around as you move around.

It was good on paper, but the player’s inventory is a huge chore. It needs to be heavily reworked.

All things considered, I’m looking forward to the full release. But I wouldn’t pay more than $30 for it. If this game got all the polish it deserved, I’d rate it for a higher retail value.

Hmm, maybe I should make that my rating system? “How much this game should be.” It certainly be a fresh change from the typical “A+” system or giving out stars.

What do you think? How did you like the beta? Any thoughts or ideas? How about having a hypothetical retail price as a rating system? Please be sure to leave a comment. Be sure to follow me here, and especially subscribe to my youtube channel for my best content!

https://www.youtube.com/user/admanofchaos

Take care and see ya later!

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