Mary Jane - The first post

I say first cause I'm sure there will be more! :-D

While sitting around, I was reading my trade paperback "Son of the Green Goblin" and came across a few pages that I just have to share.

At the end of the day, I love Mary Jane Watson-Parker. Not because she is an attractive woman, not because she is sassy although it doesn't hurt, not because she is a model or an actress or any of that.

I love her because she is rarely paralyzed with fear. I love her because she is a fighter. I love her because, with no powers to her name except sheer determination, she has walked into the fray multiple times and managed to turn the tide, save herself and others and even her husband on occasion. I love her because she is a fast thinker, I love her because she is loyal and I love her because she fights with herself. Because she'll do what it takes to protect the people she loves, be it putting herself in physical danger or simply coming up with a fast story.

I love her because she isn't a crying, begging, damsel in distress...

And I love her because she is willing to walk into the demon's lair to try make things right.

There is no argument that the character is troubled - Mary Jane has a fear of commitment that could rival Superman's decades long 'will I, won't I' with Lois. She spent years hiding all of her feelings and worries deep within herself. She spent years running from caring and being cared about. She has hurts that she will never be able to let go of completely. Maybe that is why she understands the burden Peter carries when it comes to Gwyn - there are some things that even time and distance can't undo completely.

Despite all her flaws, this image, for me is Mary Jane. While everyone else around her is flipping out and in a state of panic, Mary Jane is busy getting the situation under control. Making a crack or two much like her webhead lover, she is taking care of business. Without super powers, without SHEILD training - just a redhead and a fire ax. It is a glorious thing.

I love the 'little guy'. The average Joe or Josephine who saves the day through sheer will, determination, and smarts. I'm not talking about the Bat family - sure I adore them but they all, including Bruce before he got started, had years of intensive training. I'm talking about someone with no prior interest, training, or preparation carrying the day because they have to. Because, to paraphrase the words of John McClain, they are that guy.

I find that fascinating and utterly irresistible. I think, if we were confronted with such an impossible situation, that we would all like to think that we would take action and not give in to a fear response. That we would all be brave for ourselves, for those around us, and for our loved ones. It's not easy to do though, not easy at all. This is one of the reasons why I have a lot of love for Mary Jane.

MegaCon!

 

Oh con season. Have I mentioned how much I love it? Granted, with my current state of affairs I don't attend that many but I love the hell out of the ones I attend! And there is always a thrill, for me anyway, about attending a convention for the first time.

This past week I attended MegaCon for the first time. It was interesting - I would compare it to Heroes if Heroes were larger. Perhaps what Heroes will be in a few years. I confess that I wasn't able to give it my usual all - staying off-site and a week of Disney leading up to the con while trying to get all the collectable cards at the Magic Kingdom... I was a touch worn out by the time Friday rolled around.

My experience was good overall. Parking was a mess for us all three days but I assume better parking could be had if I was more familiar with the area. Either way, there were an abundance of bicycle petty cabs - I just wish I had realized ahead of time. The petty cabs are great but they only take cash. Unfortunately only one member of our group is in the habit of carrying cash and it wasn't me. So we took the cabs once or twice, at any rate my Oracle wheelchair is great for carrying other props but can't fit easily in the back of a petty cab.

Once we got inside the convention center, I have to admit that I got turned around as it quite large and with several events going on at once, MegaCon signs weren't everywhere. However a convention center employee was able to direct us - and was extremely jovial by the way - and cosplayers and signs soon appeared in our sights. I have to admit that the line to get my pass on Friday turned my stomach at first with it's length. My fears of an epically long wait were soon calmed though - the staff kept the line moving at a very reasonable pace and we were through very quickly. In addition, the line was tucked to the side but still in one of the main areas so I got to spot and chat with con-buddies. As a side note, there is something really funny about hearing someone yell your name while you are in the Batgirl getup, turn and be greeted by "I thought I knew those ears!", referring to the bat ears on the cowl!

So the line was good - I am not a fan of the wristband badge. I don't think it is a cosplayer's friend but oh well. I do wish con staff had told us where to get maps and programs - I don't think I was told until the last day. I just kinda read off my friends', which isn't a big deal for me since I rarely attend panels. I'm mostly there to shop and socialize.

The artist's alley/dealer room was huge by the way. There was a tardis, the astromech builders, the 501st, Gotham City FX... Everywhere I turned there was something new it seemed. It goes without saying that I went by the Love and Capes booth a number of times and I got to talk to Thom about the recent blog post and he approved my Amazonia cosplay. Always a good feeling!

The cosplay was great, and I'm not talking about mine! There was at least one truly awesome Iron Man suit, a lot of amazing DC costumes and the Wonder Twins. One of the great things about cons this size is that MegaCon is large enough to draw out amazing cosplayers but small enough where you can usually get a chance to talk about how it was accomplished. Unless, of course, you are like me and get surprisingly shy. And then you ask about a tenth of the questions you want, if that!

Despite my shyness I did work up the guts to head over to the Hero Initiative booth for a little while, partially because I'd seen it posted on the Superhero Costuming Forums. I am extremely glad I did that - not only did I get pictures with a Nightwing and Batgirl, I got to give George Perez a chaste smooch! *fangirl swoon*

The con staff themselves were nice as well, at least the ones I spoke with, and didn't take me to task for a rule I wasn't aware I was breaking. This seems to have been a bit of a theme for the trip! Luckily for me, genuine apologies and immediate attempts to correct my blunders paired with the graciousness of those in charge seemed to carry me through.

All in all, this was a really fun con. I am not sure if I will be able to attend again next year but I will definitely try. I like adding more cons to circuit and no longer being in commuting distance to Heroes, Steller, and WTH cons makes me sad!

Love and Capes!

All right... Hands up who knew it was only a matter of time before I did a post on my sweetheart comic "Love and Capes"? At least I made it out of my first month without mentioning it!

For those who haven't heard me sing it's praises loudly, let me give you a little background on it. It is published by IDW and both written and drawn by Thom Zahler, who is a very sweet and sincere man. I have had the pleasure of chatting with him at several conventions.

Anyway, I first met Thom at either my first or second Heroes con, down in the Charlotte NC. I honestly can't remember which. What I do remember was that Thom gave me a couple of his comics as they were doing a promo where first 100 or so women who came by the booth got free issues. To my eternal and utter shame... I slid them into my bag and completely forgot about them. In my defense, I was still growing my geekery then.

The next year, I remembered him and the comic as the art is very striking (in a good way) and I felt bad about having forgotten about the comics he gave me. So out of guilt I bought a few issues and settled down at the booth I was working with Dan Johnson (a charming gentleman who does writing for graphic novels and Dennis the Menace, check him out sometime!).

I can honestly say I didn't stay in my chair long. I read the first issue, literally stood up, told Dan I would be right back and scurried over back over to Thom's booth. I needed *all* the Love and Capes and I wasn't going to take the chance, however slight, that they would be bought out before the end of the day. After probably scaring poor Thom a bit, I can be a little intense when I'm going fangirl and I was dressed up so that doesn't help!, I devoured the rest of the comics at my booth between helping our own guests.

Later that night I very literally pushed them at my husband who was tired and didn't want to do any reading. I was insistent - he needed to read these and if he would just read the first issue, I would leave him alone. Like me, he couldn't stop at just one. He had to have the rest.

I now own multiple copies of most of the issues - just in case anything happens to them and so I can lend them out. I even have them in multiple formats, single issues, trades and all the digital issues that IDW will sell me. I really wish that they would put more on there! It's not entirely uncommon to see me whip out my phone or iPad and let someone read the first couple of issues then and there. And lest you think my husband and I are alone in our addictions, it works the same way with everyone else. If I can get someone to read the first issue or two, I have usually turned them into another Cape-head - it happened fairly recently when I was asking people for their opinion on my Amazonia cosplay actually.

The main two characters are Mark, a sweet superhero with a sense of humor who is not above telling a white lie and very bad at buying presents and his love interest Abby. She is a book store owner, a bad liar and a great actress. Her sister Charlotte works for her at Abby's Books and Coffee - ABC get it? - and is in on Mark's secret identity. Remember the bit about Abby being a bad liar? ;-)

So what is it about Love and Capes that is so addicting? I honestly don't know, I wish I could just say that it is because of this or that but I can't point to one *single* thing. What I can do is point out *several* things. The first is that it is just fresh. These are new characters and the heroes play a delightful and loving homage to well-known and well-loved comic archetypes.

Abby also has a practical side...

The second is that the characters are finding themselves in situations that the average, every-day person can relate to. Ok, my date from OkCupid has never turned out to be super-criminal that my sister's caped boyfriend was tracking down . For one thing, I don't have a sister. Although if I did, I'd want a sister like Abigail and a brother-in-law like Mark. I do relate to being all psyched up to finally go out with this guy and then realizing that he is the last person in the world I want to spend time with. I think I would have rather had Charlotte's date than mine honestly - at least her guy made conversation whereas mine drank his dinner. (No offense to my actual brother-in-law or the wonderful man I met and dated for awhile off OkCupid after the loser!)

The third is the quiet, simple way three things are handled in this comics - sex in general, homosexuality and religion. I know, the last two are taboo subjects. The first one: I have to say how much I love the banter between Mark and Abby and a later couple (not gonna spoil it!). It becomes very clear that they are... quite attracted to each other. But it doesn't require Abby to be lounging around all the time in mini-skirts or plunging necklines. Sure she has them and yes she does wear them. But she also bums around in sweats and often dresses rather modestly. Particularly after a solid commitment is made between them, it very clear to any adult that Mark and Abby are enjoying the physical side of their relationship very much indeed. Yet the banter is veiled and everything but kisses happen off-camera so I would feel comfortable letting a kid read this title. While I don't demand this in my comics, or even want it in all of them, it is a major plus in my mind when a title pulls it off.

Their banter does more 'obvious' but I wanted to pull all the images from the first issue exclusively to avoid too many spoilers!

The last two are handled so... matter-of-factly. I wouldn't say discreetly. More that there isn't a big deal made because there doesn't need to be one. I don't know Zahler's personal views on these topics and I won't presume to know. What I do know is that one of Abby's employees is a young gay man and there just isn't much made of it. We find out the young man's sexuality at a wedding when a female character tries to flirt with him and is introduced to his partner. At a later point, while discussing high school, Abby comments that his having to deal with his coming out puts her own high school angst in perspective. So far, as far I can tell, no one in the comic has stated a view for or against - it simply... is, without a lot of questioning or protesting. I like that.

Religion is handled in much the same way. Abby sometimes wears a cross but a lot of times she doesn't. We know she is religious because a mention is made of having to get to her folks in time for Mass. It simply isn't a huge plot point but exists quietly and steadily throughout, peeking out here and there to add flavor to the characters. Again, I have no idea the creator's personal viewpoints or affiliations and will not presume to guess. However I will say that, as a religious geek myself though not Christian, it is wonderful to see characters with a definite religious inclination of some variety where it doesn't take over the story or consume to the character. She is Abby, a character who happens to be religious as opposed to a religious character who happens to be Abby.

This is, by far, not a definitive list of reasons why I love and adore Love and Capes. However, I think it is a pretty good starting post! We all know I'll write about it again so let's call this a to be continued at a later date! ;-)

End of issue one... <3

 

The Women of Fandom

Geeky women.

We are amazing. Not to toot our horn too much, let's face it. We have been, in our unique quiet and not-so-quiet ways, invading the 'boy's club' of comics, video games and RPGs of all varieties. We come in all shapes and sizes, all flavors of fandom. We demand more from comic creators and game designers and have the strength of will to stick it out.

It isn't always easy being a geek female either. It's a lot more common now, with 'geek chic' currently trending and with more and more young woman proudly and loudly wearing their fandoms on their sleeves. And front and center on their shirts (I'm wearing Gir as I type this by the way and yes, I do still have a hug in me...). And on their bags. And jewelry. And tattoos... Have I mentioned that I think we're amazing? ;-)

I grew up without a lot of geekery in my life though, hindsight being 20-20 and all that, there were so many signs. I honestly can't count the number of times I slipped into comic book shops as a middle and high schooler, with my Mom tagging along behind. I kept flipping through the long boxes. In theory I was trying to find the Masters of the Universe comics (I never found any if you are wondering) but I used to look through them all. I had one Spider-Man comic that my Dad got me when I kept asking him for Spider-Man stories. Sadly, it wasn't a great issue and the employees of the stores never took any time to sit with me and help me comics that would appeal to a kid who knew she liked something about this stuff but didn't have a clue where to start.

If it was because I was a girl or because my Mom was hovering behind me, I'll never know but I do know that no one actually talked to me in a comic book shop and tried to help me figure out what I would like until I was at college. By that point, I'd kept poking at my geeky-ness, trying to figure it out. After the first Spider-Man movie (don't judge me too harshly, I was in high school then) I started dying my hair red for the first time. After the second, I turned to the Internet and became to track down every Spider-Man fact I could find. Through the course of that, I was introduced to Oracle though I don't remember exactly how. Gradually my web - bad pun! - of knowledge began to spread. So when I walked into a comic book shop in college, I had at least a vague idea of what I wanted. I wanted Spider-Man and Mary Jane and back issues of Birds of Prey.

I do remember, with distinct frustration, one of the employees looking over my comics and, in so many words, that he was pleasantly surprised by my choices. I felt more than a touch of patronization in his voice and couldn't help but wonder if he would have said the same thing to a male customer in his early twenties. My experience is, thankfully, not universal to geeky women but it isn't all that unusual either from what I have gathered.

I also won't forget my very first time cosplaying at Heroes Con - I was so very excited and I had a great time. It was amazing and I'm very thankful that I happened to run into Jeremy Dale at Free Comic Book Day to be told about it. (Check him out by the way:Yay fun stuff! ). I did have one truly weird experience that con though... I was wandering around artist's alley, where I can usually be found. A gentleman came up, made sure that I was indeed cosplaying (I get that a lot in my Mary Jane outfit) and then asked if I had been dragged here by my boyfriend, with a touch of sympathy in his voice. My response was more or less to blink in confusion and explain that no, I had dragged my boyfriend there. While his positive response to seeing a geek woman at a convention of her own free will was nice, the shock on his face did made me rather uncomfortable. There has also been a time or two when I had to pretty much jump up and down to get noticed at various branches of large scale video game stores.

Being a geeky female also means that sometimes you get followed around by very very... enthusiastic males. It is a bit off-putting at best and downright creepy or scary at worst.

http://creepyvans.info/creepy/just-a-creepy-guy.html

Not that it is all bad in the slightest. Once I got my feet under me, thank you Google, reading comics I was able to start talking and asking questions about the characters. And, thankfully, I had been just enough of a Star Wars and Indiana Jones geek as a kid without realizing it that I had some common ground. The trick was, and still is to a certain extent, showing that I'm here because I'm a 'real geek' not a bit of arm candy who doesn't know or care about anything going on.

It has always been easier with the women though and I'm not gonna lie. I'm not going to say that geek women are perfect and we all flock together like dice carrying doves. Things can be tense between female geeks, I think a lot of us have had the situations where we had to prove ourselves and our 'right' to be there. It can create stress. But despite that, it is always easier on me to start chatting with another woman at a con. We have certain shared experiences that make it easy to bond over. Never identical, each woman's story is her own not to should too corny. She may have never been teased at work for her comics but she may relate to my story of getting dumped over being too geeky. I haven't dealt with anyone ripping into my costume for not sewing it myself but I can completely relate to having to tell kids that no, really women read comics too.

I won't say that I become bosom buddies with every fellow female fan I meet. But I will say that it is wonderful to pass the time chatting with a woman who gets why I am there, in the comic shop or at the convention. And why, even when the creepers are creeping, I am not going to leave.

Geeky women.

We aren't perfect. But we are pretty amazing, if I do say so myself.

The Ray

Why I'm excited about The Ray... This is going to be a fun one.

First: Lucien spends most of the first issue naked. Not as in having sex. As in "oh G-d my clothes keep burning off, I gotta hold a guitar in front of my junk". I admit - it's nice to have some fan service thrown my way every once in awhile considering the overwhelming amount of female character designs who seem to be geared towards the teenage male. See I'm all for adult humor in comics aimed at adults. I just get tired of so rarely seeing the shoe on the other foot when it comes to how the genders are drawn and costumed. Panels after the jump that are not *entirely* work safe though all bits are covered.

Cosplay - Make love, not rage

A note on cosplay....

Many of us probably know that cosplay is high up there in my geeky addictions. I get a positive thrill from dressing up and running around 'on stage'. Now I am still quite new in my cosplay and there are so many people that have helped me in my, so far!, short experience with it. I'm not entirely sure it would be possible to name them all.

That is possibly the best part about cosplay - the sheer community factor of it. I've know complete strangers to be life-savers, giving out spirit gum, coming to aid unasked with heavy or difficult props - even bodily supporting each other to help get into that last great pose for that truly amazing special photo. I will, personally, never forget how embarrassed I was when I asked people to make this photo come true. And how thrilled I was when they agreed!

The only thing that frustrates me about cosplayers - and I accept that I'm going to make some people angry when I say this - are the ones who take it to such a level that they feel the need to be condescending or insulting to others. Part of me takes this view because, as someone who studied backstage theatre, I amazed at the snideness people can have regarding a hobby. I'm all for taking this hobby seriously - remember I'm the woman who won't get out of the Oracle wheelchair except make it easier on the people who actually need them. As a side note - it is really funny to watch people do a spit take when I do have to stand up...

I just don't get the contempt I see from certain players. I don't get the anger when I see cosplayers mocking those who take a different approach on a character, be it altering color scheme, time period, gender or something else. I don't understand because how many times have the comic creaters themselves explored what the characters would be like if X, Y, or Z conditions were changed? It seems far more in the spirit of the comics and, in particular cases, the characters themselves to explore different avenues.

In most cases though, I can write those off. I find my temper flaring when certain attacks are used as the words chosen are frequently quite insulting in regard to weight, gender, and other factors - attacks that seem totally out of character for the icons they want to embody. My temper usually grows hot regarding those factors though and I try to remind myself of the words spoken by a dear friend of mine, small minds wearing the outfits of great ones.

What I am really fabblergasted by is the hostility I have seen on a handful of occasions when one cosplayer turns to another and asks how they accomplished a particular effect.

This simply boggles me. To be clear, I realize that we owe each other nothing, there is no contract between us all. Yet the few individuals I have seen doing this have been rather rude about it. I could understand a polite "sorry man, I worked really hard on this and I just don't want to give out how I did it". Not a snide "figure it out yourself man". And, while others may have had a different experience, I have never experienced or witnessed a polite denial. Just the two extremes of people being incredibly willing to help and a handful of people who seem to feel their costumes elavate them over others.

The vast majority of cosplayers I have met are not profressional costumers. I understand and support guarding a trade secret and count myself fortunate that my best friend is a professional costumer. I have drawn on her knowledge many times and likely will continue to do so in the future.

While others disagree with me, and they are more than free to do so, I draw a line between professional costuming and cosplaying. I also draw a line between what cosplays I wear for fun and what costumes I wear when I'm being paid for the appearance - I will wear a costume out and about for fun and play that I wouldn't consider wearing for a paying event unless the people I was working with knew ahead of time the quality/style of the costume.

Now, for me, a costumer is someone who makes their living making and selling costumes and a cosplayer is anyone who assembles their costumes as a hobby. This is a similar difference to the one I saw in historical reenacting. One may make their own garb - the favored term, at least at the time and location when I was doing it - and may make garb for friends but that didn't make one a sulter. That title was reserved for those who set up shop selling their wares.

Now... All that said... There are people I have run into at events who set up booths and sell merchandise for a living that I do not regard as professionals, either because of the quality of the merchandise they sell or because of their customer service or other factors entirely. There are also the amateur prop makers and costumers who are amateur solely because they have no wish to be professional but whose work is positively-breath taking.

Yet while the lines can blur, I do still see there as being a difference and regard costumer as a profession, not a hobby. I do not draw this difference to insult those who are not making a living off their efforts - many, many, many people in historical reenacting, ren fairs, and cosplay could make their creations professionally if they wanted to. I draw this line to give respect to those who do - because it is a hell of a lot harder to make a stock of ball gowns, corsets, and costumes in various materials and sizes and figure what will sell and what won't than it is to create one every now and again for a friend who makes their tastes clearly known. Costumers attached to a theatre don't have it any easier - theatre hours are hell for everyone and theatre companies everywhere are making intense budget cuts. The theatre costumer doesn't have the option of charging more to make a better creation, they have to create amazing out of nothing.

I draw this line to pay respect to a profession that, in my humble opinion, is frequently overlooked and undervalued. So, for me anyway, remember... love your fellow cosplayer. Love to your fellow geeks.

PvP isn't my thing. I don't play Halo, I haven't tried Call of Duty. The idea of getting on a game and fighting with my friends or strangers online just doesn't appeal to me.

PvP, at the end of the day, just isn't nice enough for me - I'm not cutthroat enough with other people. I'm the sort of player who doesn't want to attack anyone too below me, who is still learning, who is having lag issues, so on and so forth. I'm incredibly blood-thirsty when it comes to the NPC hordes but when it comes to other players.... Not really. I tend to take the golden rule to a gaming extreme. I don't want to be afk snipsnipe when I'm having equipment issues or still trying to figure out how things work so I'm too sweet and end up just creating chances for people to kill me. Good times...

I think a lot of the sour taste in my mouth, and my 'head shot as you would wish to be head shotted', in regards to PvP came from Galaxies and their PvP zones and guild wars. Oh those annoyed me to no end. When Galaxies introduced war torn PvP zones, I missed the memo regarding their location and bounderies. My little tailor (a non-combat class so level one with no fighting abilities) was out checking her harvesters. I hit auto zone, put her on the right path and move away to grab something.

When I came back, she was about to enter a PvP zone. The warning text popped up on the screen as I crossed in -  not before or at a particular distance away, as I entered - so I turned myself around. Sadly, speeders do not stop or turn on a dime and before I could make it out I was dead and my speeder was destroyed. I liked that speeder.

I'm the little guy...

While replacing the speeder wasn't a big deal in the end, it was incredibly frustrating to me that the fighting in those sectors was so blood-thirsty that people rejoiced at taking down a level one tailor. Yes... Congrats. You took out a player with no ability to fight back. Truly your ability causes men and women alike to swoon. To be fair, in SWG, it didn't matter if you took down a level 90 or a level 1. You got the same number of points. Maybe that is what really annoyed me about it - that a game that won't give me a tutorial because they want us to talk to each other to encourage community had 90s mowing down 1s because it is just so much easier than taking on a fair fight.

It didn't help that SWG had this thing where guilds could decide that they were feuding. And when that happened, any member of said guilds could pick each other off without the ability to refuse the duel. That, again, annoyed the hell out of me. I loved playing my non-com but this meant that I really couldn't unless I could muster up a group of folks to travel with her at all times. Not exactly the most fun thing in the world, sitting around a cantina while an entertainer provides new cosmetics and buffs.

I much preferred the way PvP worked in Lord of the Rings Online. Which was a really fun game before it went free to play. Not to insult them for doing it but by the time LoTRO went free to pay it was so radically different from the game I bought that I just lost interest. That said, I do have a lifetime membership so I may go back at some point.

Anyway, not to go off on a tangent, PvP in LoTRO was simply not something that you could stumble into. At least not when I left and I highly doubt they have changed it. You very deliberately selected a fast travel to a specific map that you could only get to from this travel point.

Once out there, there were more quests and reward tokens and special horses that you could only get from successful PvP combat. These items could be used anywhere in game, with a few possible exceptions, but they all had to be earned in this zone. Of course it also got into my good graces because it functioned well within the concept of the story - you didn't have elves fighting against elves. Free people characters (elves, humans, hobbits, dwarves) played fought against player controlled monsters (orcs, spiders, and all fun nasties).

And it does have to be said... A part of me avoids PvP because I admit that I am not the most gracious loser in the world when it comes to player v. player combat - I want to win but I'm just not interested enough to build up the required skill set. Not the best combination in the world!



My husband isn't a PvPer either although he is a very gracious loser. He is the kinda guy who will get completely destroyed, laugh and offer genuine congratulations. Me, if it is a console game, I'm fuming. Ah, the joys of an Irish temper. He just doesn't like dealing with it. Me, I get annoyed and go off to slaughter some trolls.

Not me. But I kinda want this outfit even though I don't play WoW.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that PvP is bad by any means. I still engage in it from time to time. I had a number of friendly duels in LoTRO and SWG and I don't see any reason why that won't continue in SW:TOR. I never got far enough in DCU to get to any PvP honestly. I remember with particular fondness the PvP servers for Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time game. By the way, if anyone knows of an emulator for that game, let me know. I miss it so much but I can't get it to run on my newer computers without screwing up the cutscenes.

PvP is just not something you are going to see me running off to do. Unless, of course, someone has figured out how to make it appeal to me. In which case you might want to follow along and see what even has me in the fighting! :-)

SWG Vs. SW:TOR

New post time! A small compare and contrast of Star Wars Galaxies and Star Wars The Old Republic. First, a little holiday giggle.

Snagged this at: http://www.swtorstrategies.com/2010_12_01_archive.html

It's not a big secret that I positively adore Star Wars. It was, in fact, largely my first introduction to the world of things geek. I latched onto Star Wars as my only fandom for years until I got older and gained more exposure, primarily in college. So it is safe to say that I have special place in my heart for Star Wars, even if my opinion of Lucas himself waxes and wanes.

I won't lie - I didn't get to play SWG in it's heyday. I stared playing after they released the New Game Enhancements update that 'broke', at least according to popular opinion, the game. I first considered buying it as a way for me to go on dates with my long distance boyfriend (now my Gamer Husband!) without having to drive 3+ hours. That it *was* my favorite geekery and that I could run around as a Twi'lek in gorgeous dresses cinched the deal for me. I bought the special edition so that I could have have my own mini-chicken walker thing - I forget the exact transport model.

My first character was a Twi'lek entertainer. I enjoyed role-playing with her but our guild was primarily PvP so I didn't get a lot of chances to. Not their fault - I went with the same server as my then boyfriend since the whole idea was to use it to stay in touch and do things together. I was still learning what I wanted to do. A little later I made a tailor (also a Twi'lek) on a different server that was geared towards RP and had more fun with that when le bf was busy.

The entertainer character fell to the wayside a bit in favor of a Zabrak smuggler and I discovered the joy of combat in a MMO. Soon SWG had gone from being something I used to have a date night with my far away boyfriend to being something I did for my own entertainment. Of course we still had our date nights and even staged an in-game wedding between our characters. Yeah...we're that kind of sappy. XD

Sadly, my love affair with SWG was to be short-lived. All too soon, they decided to “fix” it again. A new system that was supposed to make entertainers a more playable class just frustrated me. In theory, it was awesome - customized stat buffs that required the entertainer player to actually be at their keyboard and not just AFK dancing. Maybe it was because I was still new to MMOs and game systems that I found it frustrating. Or maybe it was the way that the MMO was structured.

For those who didn't play, one of the big ideas behind SWG was that they would promote community by forcing us to rely on each other. You could only have two characters per server (this was expanded a little bit while I was playing) and most, if not all, crafting required you to use parts made by other professions. In addition to this, there were precious few tutorials. I'm not sure how they got information out to begin with but players were forced to ask each other how to do everything.

In theory, again, this is great. However it does open people up to a lot of cyber-mocking if they are having trouble understanding how to do something simple. Not the most fun thing in the world. It definitely made me always in a hurry to get my characters into a nice, friendly guild, not that this is a bad course of action in any MMO. Just that, as someone who was getting started in MMOs I had to weigh my desire to accomplish any given task vs. how friendly people would be. While I don't really consider this to be a negative thing, it wasn't a beginner friendly MMO - particularly back in the days when a force sensitive character didn't have the option to refuse PvP.

Of course SWG didn't start out with just anyone being force sensitive. You made your character, played through and were pretty much randomly picked to be force sensitive - from my understanding. I came in post-NGE and that changed a lot of things in terms of force sensitive characters. The big thing was that you could decide to be a force sensitive character from the start, nixing all the prestige that came with attaining force sensitive status in SWG. There was also no way, or incentive, to randomly kill the force sensitive characters. While this was good in my book (I'm a team player, not a competition player honestly) it upset a lot of players who liked that style. So I truly believe they shot themselves when they nerfed it.

Now SW:TOR is starting out with being able to select force sensitive characters. To be specific, you can be a Sith, a Sith Inquisitor, a Jedi Knight or a Jedi Consular. I have spent most of my time playing a Sith Inquisitor so far. It really is a testament to the game that I'm actually interested in playing a 'bad' character - all things being the same, my characters are usually at least lawful good and usually a few steps above that. This game just makes it *fun* to be bad!

In particular, I can get into my character's back story in my head. Unlike in SWG where you just showed up at this space station and everything was very much the same regardless of character or class, each class and allegiance has it's own separate intro. For Inquisitor, you are a former slave who has been plucked from bondage to see just how in tune with the force you really are. Interestingly, this is only class where you can play a Twi'lek as part of the Empire. Throughout early gameplay there are plenty of snips about how you are just an alien and your kind can't be taught, etc. It really makes me want to explore what sorts of dialogue you get when you a play Sith bloodline character instead of a Twi'lek or a human.

I can't say I'm surprised by my desire to explore the different combinations of class and species. It is Bioware after all! I'm even a little interested to see what happens with male characters instead of female, from what I've seen peeking over my husband's shoulder.

As far as character customization goes... I think SWG wins - so far anyway. The color palates you could pick from were huge and I find myself annoyed with the cosmetic options in SWTOR - I want to be able to do eyes and mouth separately, that sort of thing. Particularly for Twi'leks - for them make-up and markings are tied together. I can't pick the markings I want and then the make-up. I just have pick which make-up/marking combo they made that I like best and there aren't that many to pick from. Still, that is an easy fix and it wouldn't break any of the game play to add more cosmetic options so I can hope that they will include more options in a patch.

Another thing that Galaxies had that SWTOR doesn't, so far, is a non-com class. I really miss my little entertainer, I really do. It was just fun! I had my own dances mapped out, when I special effects, etc. Granted, I didn't play her as often as my smuggler but I did really appreciate having the option. Plus I had an entire back story in my head about how my smuggler and entertainer worked together. It made me happy. :-)

Where SWTOR does have Galaxies beaten, hands down and all around, is questing. Oh my G-d is questing fun! I remember how we used to mockingly call quest hubs roller coasters. You showed up, grabbed a quest or two that sent you up and down the various landscape, came back and repeated the cycle ten or twenty times until you ran out of quests. And there really weren't enough quests for me - I'm a big quest player, I don't just want to randomly kill stuff. I want to kill stuff for a *purpose*. I want to feel like I'm accomplishing something other than getting a few XP per kill. Protecting a settlement or avenging someone or just recovering a trinket from bandits - I'm not horribly picky as long as I keep getting quests.

The conversations are another great aspect of SW:TOR. When you are talking to an NPC to pick up a quest, turn one in or anything else, you get options. Some options increase your light side points, some increase your dark side. Whenever you pick your selection, you get to hear your character speak and interact with the NPC, including gestures of frustration or flirting. If you are in a group and start a convo with an NPC the rest of the group has the option to join in the conversation or not. If others join in, everyone picks the dialogue option he/she want and the game 'rolls' for them. Everyone sees the winning character speaking. It's interesting and adds a new dynamic to group questing since you could end up with dark or light side points that you didn't want if you turn in a quest as a group. A truly nifty feature of this is that you don't have to physically be at the NPC to turn in a quest *and* interface with the NPC. As long as one member of the group is there, the rest of you can holocall in, which is quite fun in and of itself!

One area that I really can't speak to is space. Galaxies had great space combat, from what I understand. My primary interest in space was decorating my yacht. I just don't like flight combat much and never understood it or got the hang of it in Galaxies. To be honest, I also didn't try very hard since I didn't have much interest in it. I'm coaxing my husband to say a few words on the subject as he was a true space head in Galaxies and flight was one of the things that he was truly looking forward to in SW:TOR. In his own words:

“Comparing space combat in Galaxies and in SWTOR is akin to comparing apples and orangutans – they don’t have anything in common besides being in the Star Wars setting and being in space. The space combat system in SWTOR is reminiscent of the Star Wars Battlefront games – you get a space mission (protect or destroy), you pick the mission you want to go to, and you watch as your ship is mostly flown for you (you can dodge things, but can’t really change the direction of your vessel) while you shoot at other ships and asteroids. Think of it as a roller coaster with guns – you’re on rails making things explode. There’s no free-roaming the galaxy in your ship or looking at cool features of the space landscape – it’s mission-based and very much in the tradition of KOTOR, where you were a gunner on the Ebon Hawk.

Not to put too fine a point on it, I ache for the space combat system in Galaxies, sometimes. Even when SOE had changed everything about the ground game, space was somewhere familiar and comfortable, with minor changes made even through the CU and NGE. I could take up one of any number of vessels I had parked at any number of starports and go cruising, dogfight with Imperials, bandits, Black Sun, Hutt pilots... or just sit and watch nebulae seethe and crackle. I had total control over the gear in my ship and was perpetually tinkering with the configuration to see if I couldn’t get just a little more out of my chassis. In the end, space was the only thing keeping me subscribed to SWG, not the ground game that I’d had to adapt to repeatedly over the five years I played.

I’ll confess that I’d hoped for a successor to SWG’s space system in SWTOR, and that I was disappointed when I found out just how dissimilar the two were, but I at least didn’t go in expecting Bioware to have re-used SOE’s code and just slapped different skins on things. Bioware’s going their own way with SWTOR, playing to their tried-and-true strengths... space combat, from what I’ve seen so far, just doesn’t happen to be among them.”

So that is the opinion of The Gamer Husband! xD

In truth, I'm quite inclined to agree with him. And not just because he looks good taking down starfighters. It was a shame that SW:TOR doesn't have the same options as SWG. It was nice knowing that I could suggest it to friends and say that it had strong space and ground combat, even thought I never got into the former. And it was fun to decorate my ship and run around in his.

That said... I think Bioware is wise to play to their strengths right now. This is their first MMO and I have strong hopes that future patches and expansions will bring us good things. With luck, they will be giving us an expansion with better space and ship features!

In respect for the flyboys and flygals of Galaxies some great interiors of SWG ships:

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m?topic_id=293413

Babs - The New 52s. Contains Minor Spoilers (In that I talk about the comics that haven't been out long)

So... Given everything in the previous post, it is probably pretty easy to guess that I looked to the new 52s with dread once I heard that they were putting Babs back on her feet. I cussed the writers, went on geek-love fueled fan rants, and existed in a general state of 'murrr' regarding the topic.

Then they started to come out. I stuck to my guns at first and refused to read Flashpoint. Then, out of sheer boredom one day while sorting comics, I realized that the store where I volunteer had all three of the Flying Grayson Flashpoints. I was bored, had some down time, and I have always had a crush on Grayson. So I picked them up. And I was surprisingly pleased with the story. With hesitation, I signed myself up for a few titles before the 52s started coming out but still left Batgirl alone for a bit. Till finally, between the urging of friends and morbid curiosity, I broke down.

Now I'm not saying that all the 52s are great. Far from it. But I am saying that I have had to eat my words regarding the Batgirl title in almost all respects. I was pleased to see that they haven't ignored or written away her time as Oracle though they are teasing us by not being clear as to why she can walk again. They just keep referring to it as 'the miracle' (although Barbara does give us a bit of info as to how in the recent Batgirl 4). This could have been horribly corny but they have made it work by introducing the Mirror, a villain obsessed with 'correcting' miracles as he believes they shouldn't exist.

The costume redesign actually makes sense for her since she is returning to the field, so to speak, after years of absence. It makes sense to me that, after being out so long, that she would both need and want a new suit. Slightly new color scheme, different style to reflect that Barbara is, in many ways, a different woman and is embarking on a new chapter in her life. I still object to her keeping the old name of 'Batgirl'. She is very much a woman now and became so much her own woman during her time with the Birds of Prey but I can see that she might want to use it out of sentimental reasons.

One thing that these new issues have touched on is a difficult issue for women - how much we can let the men in our lives protect us. Her father, Grayson, her physical therapist, everyone wants her to slow down. They are concerned about her and don't want to see her go back in the wheelchair.


And that is understandable. But I can only imagine how difficult it would be to hear that, particularly from Nightwing. After all, when he was a kid he could be rather patrionizing in urging her to leave the viligante work to the men-folk. I don't really fault him for that, being a young teen, who grew out of it - and he was being written in a different era after all! I don't really fault him for urging her to go more slowly now either. The former was out of ignorance, the latter is out of love and concern - she has *just* gotten back on her feet after all.

But I know first-hand how annoying it is to hear. I don't get angry with my male friends and loved ones for trying to protect me. But sometimes I really don't want an escort. Sometimes I really just want to be left alone and I can take care of myself, thank you very much. My bosom does not make me incapable of defending myself and, if anything, it sometimes seems that I'm a much better judge of "stranger danger" because I grew up being taught that I needed to keep my head up. Which is not to say that women are inherently better at spotting trouble than men, it's all individual. Just that it is frustrating to have an escort forced on you simply because you are female when you are entirely capable of managing it on your own. I can only imagine how much worse it is when you are as trained as Babs is.

I wouldn't say that men are being chauvinistic, in general anyway, when they do this. After all, many times I have offered - sometimes more insistently than others - to escort friends myself. As long they respect the wishes of the woman in question. And that is something where I want to give our current DC Gotham men credit. By issue three, Barabara is making it very clear that she needs to do this on her own and on her own timeline. Nightwing, at least, is being respectful of this. And the end of issue thing has some wonderful symbolism that could mean a return to their relationship in time. We all know how happy that would make this little Bat! XD

I find myself applauding how the writers are handling her transition back into the physical aspects of herohood.  She struggles with balancing the very real need not to push her body too far while so very eager to pick up with the rooftop activities that Killing Joke put a stop to - though let us never forget that Babs was never useless in her chair, nor did she spend much time away from crime fighting!

I must also note that they are not falling victim to the cliche of "oh I'm back in my costume, everything is better now - it's like nothing happened!". Throughout the first issue, she has a running dialogue with herself and, at the end, it becomes very clear that Barbara has at least one post-trauma trigger. Something that she is going to have to work through to get back to where she was.

Another interesting thing is noting where Barbara is pushing herself to grow emotionally now. She goes on a date and starts to let strangers into her life again. I do have to say that I'm NOT thrilled that this is coming about with her being out of the chair - this can reinforce a lot of negative stereotypes about those with mobility issues regarding relationships. But it is interesting nevertheless. I just wish that we got to see more of it while Babs was still Oracle.

Overall... I think I still prefer her as Oracle. Women, and our desirability, are more than simply the state of our bodies and she showed that so very nicely. That said... This Barbara Gordon deals with different issues and she is still a character that is very relatable. I'm looking forward to reading more of the coming comics and hope they keep up the good work!

And... because you know I'm a Grayson-fanatic... XD Bittersweet spoiler behind the cut!

Oracle! - Contains not entirely work safe pics

Time to talk Babs! She is a wonder that has been on my mind for awhile now. Most people who are familiar with my cosplay know that Barbara Gordon is probably my favorite character to play - and specifically when she is in her wheelchair. In a few weeks I'll be posing as her along with a Harley and an Ivy for a Gotham City Sirens drawing session. Should be tons of fun!

But why Babs, why as Oracle? At first I really didn't know why I was so drawn to her. I was introduced to her character through Nightwing while talking to other geeks. I became fascinated by the idea of a hero who can't run on the rooftops anymore. So I began to research more into her, doing google searchs and even pulling up a couple of fan fics that I can't even remember anymore. The more I learned, and continue to learn about her, the more fascinated I grow with her.

In her beginnings, she had trouble getting 'the boys' to take her seriously. And I can understand where they were coming from a bit - she didn't exactly have the normal hero backstory of "avenging dead family members" or "I have super awesome powers, I must use them to help humanity". She had dressed up for a party and happened to be in the right place at the right time to help 'save' Bruce Wayne from a kidnapping attempt. After that I guess fighting crime seemed like the hip thing for a young girl to be doing.

Still, regardless of how she got started, she did display ability and deterimination. And though it had to grate on her nerves to have her place in the world questioned because of her gender, she pushes through it though (something I'm sure I will get into more detail with later as I acquire more and more old comics!). All seems well and then Killing Joke happens. So now we have a young woman who fought to be accepted on the rooftops and she is bound to a wheelchair and fighting to still make a difference because it is what she does.
This is where we get into just why I'm so incredibly fascinated with Barbara Gordon and why Oracle is, ultimately, my favorite character to play. It's because the wheelchair and Joker don't stop her. Not to get too heavy on you but the last time I looked at the stats one in four American women have been molested or harassed at some point in their life. It's happened to me on multiple ocassions, it's happened to several of my friends, and it's rough no matter how 'minor' the harassment was.

One of the things that happens in The Killing Joke that I don't see a lot of male readers picking up on is the fact that Joker sexually violates Barbara. If he rapes her or not is up for debate, though I think he did or had someone else do it. What isn't up for debate are these:

Regardless of how much he touched her, stripping her naked and taking pictures against her will is sexual assault. It's not a happy, fun-time thing.

My point here isn't that Joker is an evil monster. Who did it and why is pretty irrelevant to my point. Because regardless of who did this to her and why, she didn't let it stop her. This is a big deal. Because in the media we women don't get to see a lot of strong women who go "F*ck you, you don't get to win. You don't have the power here." At least outside of Lifetime and I can't stand that junk. I want to see women like Barbara.
It helps to have role models when something like this has happened to you. Someone that you can pattern your behavior after, something that you can shoot for. Not to make yourself into copy of them, be they a real person or a fictional character, but something to guide your first shaky steps while your head is swimming from life's sucker punch to the gut. Someone that you can look at and go "they have been here too, look what happened to them and look at where they are now - it's going to be all right". When it comes to not letting the attacker win, I'd say Barbara takes the cake.

Refusing to stay at home and feel sorry for herself, she pushes on. Barbara figures out how to help transition the hero world into the modern age of hacking and information gathering. And the icing on the cake? The woman doesn't seem to lack for interested male company. Of course Grayson is my favorite but there are others. Tedd Kord flirts with her, she gets sent free food by a cute cook, it's really quite wonderful to see a woman being flirted with, being actively chased who isn't 'perfect'. During my brief time in the wheelchair for cosplay, my eyes have been significantly opened regarding how a person in a wheelchair is viewed. That has only increased my love and respect for Barbara as Oracle - but more on my cosplay experiences as her later! If you get me started on that, I don't tend to shut up for awhile. XD

In the end, for me, Babs seems to come into herself in this role. She is no longer a Bat sidekick, a knock-off of the Dark Knight but her own person. This woman doesn't just survive her assault, she makes into a chance to grow stronger and better. Neither the chair or the sexual assault define her. She isn't perfect and and her journey isn't done, yet that seems to add to her appeal rather than take away from it - I still get to watch her finish this trek. That's why I get so jazzed about Oracle.

Now... a freebie of my two favorite DC lovers that I found on Google ages ago. Cause I'm just mushy like that.  ;-)

Zomg! Our first blog post!

Oh how exciting, I've finally joined the rest of the geeky world and started a blog. ;-)

This is named "Oddments and Wonder" to reflect the wide variety of things at hold my interest and will be appearing here. Some will be wonders and some will just be odd. You find yourself questioning my sanity at times. I'm remarkably ok with that.

I'm going to open this up with the oddment that is currently on my mind. Aquaman.

I will freely admit that I, alas, grew up not reading comics. The downside of being female is that sometimes your introduction to the wonderful world of geek comes late. That is a topic for another post though. So I knew very little of Aquaman when DC started up their new 52s. Everything I knew could probably be put in a thimble and was gathered from TV shows and jokes at Arthur's expense. Talks to fish, is useless on land, etc.

So I'm sure you can understand my surprise when a friend at my local comic book shop told me that I needed to read the new Aquaman. I was more than a touch reluctant and scoffed a little more than I should have really. Luckily, he's a sweet guy. Putting my faith in him, I dutifully grabbed the last copy of Aquaman 1 on the shelf (the fact that it was the only comic left of that series left and we were sold out of issue one and two should have been a clue in retrospect) and slipped it into my hold box.

I didn't give it much thought over the next few days till I came in to pick up my weekly mana of comics. I thumbed through the issues and pulled out several, including Aquaman issue 1. During a lull in the activity at the shop, I sat down and pulled it out of it's plastic bag. I admit, I was curious to see what had my friend so excited.

Two pages in, I got it. The art is great. The writing made me laugh. Is this a ground-breaking, earth-shattering, going to change comics forever title? No, it isn't. But it is pretty amazing in that it takes Aquaman from a huge walking/swimming joke to a title that is a good, solid fun read. And that is pretty amazing if you think about what a huge joke the character has become.

If you are wondering how, and if you are I don't blame you in the slightest, I think a large part of it is that they completely and utterly own how mocked he is. So far the public's misinformation regarding him has been a clear part of each issue. The first issue starts with him definitively showing that he is far from useless on land (I'm trying not to spoil anything!) and nearby law enforcement comment on how they feel being upstaged by, of all things, Aquaman.

Despite the fact that it clearly bothers him, he hasn't fallen victim to a reoccurring hero flaw of feeling sorry for himself. Nor does he retreat into the ocean to get away from the people who ask what it's like to be nobody's favorite hero. It's rather fun to watch him dive into the fray despite insults and wisecracks being hurled at him and Mera. He, with slightly varying degrees on patience, simply corrects the wisecracks and misinformation. No, he doesn't talk to fish. It's not a orange shirt, it's scale armor. Mera is a touch less patient in her responses but still doesn't cross the line between a good woman whose patience is being pushed and a jerk. He largely allows it to roll off his back and when he can't, simply walks away. Which is, all and all, a great thing for kids to be reading.

And, speaking of being kid friendly, get ready for a delightful shocker...Mera is dressed! Not that I expected her to be prancing around in a G-string but let's face it. DC has fallen a little short of the mark when it comes to how they costume/draw their female characters lately and they have taken a lot of heat for it. The closest Mera comes to being undressed is when she is, in the privacy of their own home, wearing an oversized t-shirt in issue 2. And oversized t-shirt with sleeves down her elbows, neck actually at her neck so no cleavage, and the hem approximately mid-thigh - no panty shots. Her armor/superhero costume does show some cleavage but in my opinion not an excessive amount. It's a generous neckline, no denying that, but the shape of it reminds me of formal gowns through history so it feels right for her character. It's also helped by the fact that, other than this, she is completely covered. Sleeves go low on her wrists and the bodysuit covers her legs and feet entirely.

In fact, in comparsion between Mera of the new 52s to Mera as she is depicted in Crisis on Infinate Earths, the artists actually added more coverage by giving her sleeves - despite the low neckline, her shoulders are completely covered. In addition, all three issues have their female background characters fully and sensibly dressed. While I'm not not the harshest judge when it comes to this issue, it is something has been bugging me with the new 52s. Let me just say that it is positively delightful to read a solid new take on a much mocked character and not have it rely on exposing the female figure or sex appeal. While I am sure we will see passion between Mera and Arthur in the future, issue one did include a wonderful kiss between the two, I really hope they keep this ball rolling. It is just as fun to see Mera commenting on childhood mementos of Arthur's as it is to see him sweep her into his arms.

This is the only steamy moment so far.

If you haven't already given this title a shot, I would definitely call it worth the three bucks to grab the first issue and see if it appeals to you. If nothing else the scene where Arthur is trying to get some peaceful noms in a seafood restaurant is entertaining! 

Two scans of the scene after the break. :-)