#justice for Susan Ivanova

[therighthandofvengeance]

my soul bleeds and the blood steadily, silently, disturbingly, slowly, swallows me whole. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

[meldanya44]

Okay. So. I am watching this show for the first time and this level of obliviousness that the bisexual character immediately got fridged is infuriating.

Like, I get it's the 90s but honestly this might have well have been written under the Hays code.

And it's honestly giving "oh hey Dumbledore was gay" vibes -- why even bother saying anything at all?

Why are you not bothering to reflect on what killing the queer immediately after implying they're queer implies ?

Happy bi visibility day from JMS 

[autumnslance]

I saw you replied to my fear post, thank you for that. I’ve been trying to make an OC that is both a main and a character for writing like Aeryn is for you. My next question is can I take a canon character like Aerith, Rinoa, or Yuna for example as a base and then work to make them my own OC? I’ve been really into FF7 and the Atelier series, Aerith is the perfect candidate to be an Alchemist! Are any of your OCs inspired by your favorite characters in other series?

You're welcome! And I think that taking an existing character as inspiration is a good way to start with making an OC. I've done it a few times in some tabletop games, but also often don't consciously, only realizing there are similarities to characters I've loved after the fact.

In a tabletop game, I made a character initially inspired by a dancer character from one of the Lunar games, but the game didn't go anywhere (as often happens). I held onto that base concept, and then years later found a Pathfinder game the concept worked in perfectly, also letting me revise the character greatly.

My WoW paladin, Alynore, was inspired by characters like Susan Ivanova from Babylon 5, Paksenarrion from Elizabeth Moon's Deed of Paksenarrion novel series, and a little of Sleepy from The Black Company novel series. They're all dedicated military women, leaders, queer (1 bisexual, 2 asexual), no-nonsense, and value dedication, justice, and even kindness in their own ways.

I also took the idea of some favorite twin characters from a show who were taken in by their noble father, but ran away a few years later. I did a "what if a trusted member of the household was discovered to have let them run away, and now was charged with finding them?" and turned that into an OC in another game.

Aeryn maybe has some other Final Fantasy heroines in her makeup, but as I'd played through XIV twice before, I noted how the game treats what I call "Assumed Default WoL." They can't account for every permutation of the player character; even games like Dragon Age, or Mass Effect, or Baldur's Gate can't account for every version of their player heroes. But there are baseline assumptions, and so I baked that into the concept when I came up with Aeryn. An adventurous altruist, a determinator, a little bit of a gremlin--especially as time goes on and "this is my life now" really sets in (and WoL's dialogue options include a few more unhinged possibilities in some places). I looked at the influences and inspirations, said "OK, I know why they adventure, why does this girl?" In Aeryn's case, I started simple: I knew her brother was 1.0 WoL and never returned, so she was looking.

That was it. A lot of the rest of the details came later.

It's OK--and I often recommend--leaving a lot of backstory details loose and vague to start. I did the same with Dark Autumn, with C'oretta, Iyna, and various past characters in WoW and others. It let me add, change, shuffle, and write things in later. Sometimes even retcon and rework things.

Don't be afraid of that, especially when using other characters as starting points. Use the broad strokes summaries of their story and adjust it to fit in the new setting you're importing them to; goodness knows FF itself does this all the time (look at the Ivalice raid and Bozja story and related characters from Tactics and XII!). And then change things as needed, especially as you get ideas and interactions that feel "right" for the character and yourself, the stories you want to tell.

And maybe later you want to change them again (you come up with something new, lore drops make you want to play around with a different thing, etc), or make up AUs, or other characters to tell other stories. Play around, experiment, and remember nothing is set in stone.

[tea42]

Ten Fandoms, Ten Characters

Thanks to @plisuu and @transfenris-truther for the tag! Tagging @sandraugiga @sulky-valkyrie @barbex and anyone else who wouls like to share!

1. Justice (in particular the merged person of Anders & Justice)- Dragon Age

2. Spock- Star Trek TOS

3. Susan Ivanova- Babylon 5

4. Spike- BtVS

5. Death- Terry Pratchett’s Discworld

6. Mara Jade- Star Wars

7. Amos Burton - The Expanse (I’m very far behind though)

8. Gerald Tarrant - Coldfire Trilogy

9. Garak - Star Trek DS9

10. Rock Lee- Naruto

[3-inch-sam]

Tagged by @systemadministratorclu thanks dude!

10 favorite characters from 10 different things

1. Edgar Teglee - Psychonauts

2. Princess Entrapta - SPOP

3. Samantha Carter - SG-1

4. Sam Flynn - Tron

5. Peggy Carter - Marvel

6. Blue Beetle/Jaime Reyes - Young Justice (TV series)

7. Space Core - Portal 2

8. Ethan Winters - Resident Evil

9. Atrus - Myst

10. Susan Ivanova - Babylon 5

Tagging: @itsybitsybatsyspider @blue-hail @styrofoam-molars @suchacommotion @fjordivae and anyone else who wants to hop on!! no pressure to actually go through with it 💜💜 love y'all

[quinntamsin]

By the Holodom of Olympus, SPOILERS AHEAD

CW - Sexual Assault, Gore, Harsh Language!

*Takes a shot of Ouzo and sighs.* Blood of Zeus is one of those animes that has a lot of good going for it. But at the same time has a lot of predictable as shit tropes. First, anyone who has -any- basic knowledge of the Olympians will see the portrayal of Zeus in this serious as more than a little problematic. Let’s not ignore the way how it treats the philandering asshole as somewhat nice and romanticizes his relationship with Electra. Or once again Hera is woman scorned bad guy. This is all entirely, fucking predictable. If Hera wasn’t voice by the one and only Claudia Christian aka Bablyon Five’s Susan Ivanova I would have ignored her entirely as a villain.

Overall, this is a story that creates a unique idea. It plays with the gigantomachy and recreates the giants as eldritch abominations. And to be honest more than a few sites have explain the bakground of this series as fast and loose. But that’s every single -bloody fucking- Olympian infused series since time imemorial. Hercules the Series readily had Zeus killed by his wife and portrayed Apollo as a lover of poisons and assassination.

The truth is the Olympians are children, as they are portrayed, and Zeus is rapist. How te story in this is treated is at times, painful, and at other times its okay. Blood of Zeus is at its best when we aren’t seeing Heron as lost child and Zeus as a father figure. Hell, the fact that Zeus dies just before finally acting like a shitty father is poetic justice into itself. But Heron’s story is solid when it’s about his pain and anguish. Of how HIS father abandoned him and basically -ruined- the life of his mother for the sake of it. Of how HERA unjustly once again takes out her hatred on the victims of her Husbands abuse. If anything Zeus death in this series is made all the more vivid when Hera reaches out and he explodes in godly thunder.

Now ignoring -all of this nonsense- the demon cult AND the more abusive lets kill all the women story of Seraphim is interesting. If anything, this series really just takes the concept of the Olympians as King Abusers to a new level. Unlike Seis Manos or Powerhouses other work, Castlevania, this series feels a little less lived in. The sad nihilism of Dracula is just not her. This is all about the fucked up pain of a godly family who -cannot get over manipulating itself-.

Harsh critique aside, as a fun watch it’s enjoyable. It’s no One Piece or Owl House, but for an action Anime it’s less irritating to watch than most -of Evangelion-. I really do hope it get’s a second season because Powerhouse has shown that their cynical horror action series are -best- when the present story is extended. I can only hope that characters like Alexia and Evios are giving more screen time. That we see -MORE- of the fucked up lives of the Olympians and more of the awesome caring pretty boy who is Apollo.

For that though we’l have to see. Personally I’m hyped for more mexicanime in Seis Manos than this. But I’m only jumping on this band wagon if Hera gets’ a redemption arc like she did in Xena!

[the-dubstep-strawberry]

Top 10 Female Characters

Rules: Name your top 10 favorite female characters from 10 different fandoms and then tag 10 people.

Tagged by @pchberrytea​, with many thanks!

Okay, this is going to be good. Let’s see here... this is not and could never be an exhaustive list, but here are ten of my faves off the top of my head. (Warning, may contain *spoilers* for their respective franchises.)

1. Commander Susan Ivanova (Babylon 5)

Second-in-command of the Babylon 5 station. Suffers no fools whatsoever, especially not gladly. Proudly Jewish, Russian and bi. I love everything about her, not least the fact that she’s played by the gorgeous and talented Claudia Christian. Perennial fave of mine. Needs more GIFs of her, there are never enough.

2. Judge Cassandra Anderson (Dredd)

Played by the magnificent Olivia Thirlby, newbie Judge Cassandra Anderson demonstrates to her badass boss that you can be strong, capable and compassionate and that there is no true justice without mercy. Reads minds, kicks ass, passes the Bechdel Test. Even capable of rescuing herself. What more could you ask for?

3. Jill Valentine (Resident Evil)

My zombie-killing heart belongs to Jill Valentine. She was the star of one of my very first favorite games and I just adore her. Strong, smart, just, compassionate and lovely in every way. I will incidentally ship her and Carlos for all eternity (Chris Redfield who?)

4. Morticia Addams

Bewitchingly beautiful, morbidly lovely, full of style and grace. Adored and worshipped by her husband, Morticia is a woman of many talents. She fences, paints, writes, plays the violin, tends to a conservatory of carnivorous plants, makes black the new black, harnesses the forces of darkness, crushes the whole “being a mom” thing, and dances like nothing you’ve ever seen. 100% iconic.

5. Ellen Ripley (Alien, Aliens et al)

World’s best space mom and cat-lover. Wasn’t trained for any of this, but since nobody else was capable of saving the day, she stepped up and made the Alien Queen her bitch. Interplanetary problem? Call Ripley. She’ll kill it with fire. (The franchise did her wrong and we all know it, but she will always be the best.)

6. Rose DeWitt Bukater (Titanic)

A bit of a spoiled brat, I know, but my favorite poor little rich girl was born into an incredibly restrictive lifestyle that she never asked for, or wanted. The hell with table manners and tea parties and privilege - Rose wanted to be free to ride horses, fly planes, and do whatever the hell she pleased, instead of being married off to a jerk-ass millionaire against her wishes to save her mother’s sinking social status. Ironically, the only person for whom traveling on the Titanic was a literal lifeline. Faking her death and starting over so she could live the life she actually wanted is just #goals. (And so, incidentally, is her wardrobe.)

7. Empress Emily Kaldwin (Dishonored)

Empress, assassin, heir to her mother’s throne, and the product of a doomed love affair - Emily is a fascinating young woman, passionate in every way, trying to walk the line between the call of duty and the lure of adventure. Although I usually play as Corvo, who is Getting Way Too Old For This Shit, I love a good playthrough of Dishonored 2 and seeing all the cool stuff that our favorite Lord Protector taught his badass not-so-secret daughter to do in defense of the realm - and herself. We learn along with Emily that her caring and dutiful mother had something of a wild, romantic streak (she hated her own iconic hairdo because she preferred having her hair loose and flowing, and would much rather have been off in a rowboat for a picnic with her beloved bodyguard than sitting through tedious matters of state), and as we get a good look at the young woman who now has to fight for control of her own damn Empire, we can kind of see where she got that passionate, rebellious streak from.

8. Sansa Stark (Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire)

So you thought Sansa was a spoiled princess who only cared about dresses and sewing and boys? Well, she was at first. Unfortunately she was in for a very rude awakening, and since she isn’t a trained killer like her little sister, Sansa is forced to make etiquette her armor and play politics in order to survive. She endures (amongst other things) forced marriage, political imprisonment, the deaths of most of her family and friends, her own aunt attempting to murder her, a fucking zombie apocalypse in her own back yard, and having to put up with some very creepy bullshit from an older guy who had a crush on her mom (eww). Frankly, giving her a kingdom of her own to rule after all that was the least they could do. Long live the Queen in the North.

9. Edith Pelham (née Crawley), Marchioness of Hexham (Downton Abbey)

Poor Edith! She’s always getting kicked around by her big sister, ignored or taken for granted by her parents, and being disappointed by suitors, who have an unfortunate habit of dying, running away, already being married - and in at least one instance, all three. Fortunately, she learns how to hold her own in the high society “scandal and quiet female rebellion” stakes. Over the course of the series, she eventually finds her own voice and vocation, and ends up bagging the best husband of them all... and she was cemented as my forever-fave when she finally snapped and told Mary what she really thought of her. Good for you, Edith.

10. Mothra (Mothra, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Mothra, Rebirth of Mothra trilogy, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, et al)

No list of my favorite female characters would be complete without the Queen of the Monsters! Sometimes she’s on Godzilla’s team, and sometimes she has to show him who’s boss, but no matter how and where she appears, Mothra never fails to steal the show. A literal goddess. Last on this list only because she’s 10/10.

Tagging: @avaleon​​, @itsmesaberaltered​​, @falsenostalgia-sundries​​, @ladynyxeris​​, ​@tess-etc​​, @solesurvivorkat​​, @scorpio-skies​​​, @pchberrytea​, @theartofblossoming​ and @sharonaw​​​!

[gretchensinister]

I was tagged by @ksclaw

Rules: list your ten favorite characters from 10 different things and tag ten people

1. Rachel (Animorphs)

2. Sophie Hatter (Howl’s Moving Castle-book)

3. Susan Ivanova (Babylon 5)

4. Batman (Batman the Animated Series and other 90’s early 00’s animated series ONLY)

5. Kozmotis Pitchiner (cohesive mass fanon interpretation circa 2012-2013, based on a character from the Guardians of Childhood book series)

6. Chrestomanci (the one in the dressing gowns) (The Chronicles of Chrestomanci)

7. Breq (Ancillary Justice and sequels)

8. Jareth (Labyrinth)

9.  Christopher Carrion (Abarat)

10. Jasper (Steven Universe)

My head is too empty to tag, but if anyone wants to do this they should :)

[neth-dugan]

Nine Worlds - Sunday

Saturday found [HERE]

I woke up on Sunday not feeling really tired, but also really sad that it would be the last day. And on Sunday stuff ends earlier too which is also a bummer. I get why, some have to leave in the evening but it’s still sad. This was also the day when I had the most panels to sit on. 

AIs AND SUPERINTELLIGENCES - ARE THEY REALLY COMING FOR US?

...bonus points if you recognise this movie that wasn’t mentioned in the talk.

A good portion of this was on the history of computing, which was interesting, From pre-electronics to Ada Lovelace to Alan Turing to Siri.

I wish I remembered more. it went through a few modern computers that had passed various landmarks such as chess and go and the like. And then the ‘scary’ bit that sci-fi doesn’t tend to cover so much. If an AI comes about there is a good chance it’ll focus on one task and obsess over it, and do so in a way that human brains don’t get  and can’t really combat. Like, they could focus so much on one menial thing that they take over the planet to make the perfect paperclips.

To me, a question at this point is does this count as an AI? If it can’t reason its way that destroying the world to make a paperclip is a tad much is it a true AI or just a very very smart and resourceful paperclip making software. 

It’s not like I’d expect AIs to think in the same way humans do, but some ability to reason and set their own goals or change their minds would seem to be a part of it. And endlessly striving towards perfecting one goal originally programmed into them by a human that they can’t break free of? Not sure that counts. I know even humans can be very goal orientated, and some of us can focus very intently on things and that is our thing. But the way the speaker was talking about it sounded different. I don’t know. Would be interesting to stick people from different fields in a room and have a chat about it.

A thing I found interesting in all this talk of AIs going way too OTT to fulfil an imperative, and AIs taking over for whatever reason... there was no mention of texts where humans wilfully submit. Which, granted, there aren’t a lot. I had to run off after this for my own panel but I made sure I told the speaker about Travellers. It isn’t the main plot of the story or anything but worth checking out for how they do the AI thing.

OUR LAST, BEST HOPE FOR SCIENCE FICTION:25 YEARS OF BABYLON 5

It’s been twenty five years since the B5 pilot, and it’s still one of the best science fictions hows out there, and one with far too little recognition. Last year, @knittedace and I kept saying we need to do a B5 panel this year. Needed to do one. Turns out we weren’t the only ones an a bunch of us submitted a proposal for one, and the Nine Worlds content folk shoved us into an e-mail group together and let us figure it out. Which is amazing, but also daunting because there is so much to talk about for this show. @knittedace decided she’d rather be in the audience but still, so much fun.

One of our panelists cosplayed as Londo last year and offered to do so again for this panel. Someone, at some point, suggested he remain in character for the panel, and so it began. Ambassador Mollari moderating it which a bottle of his favourite tipple on hand, and Centauri woman on hand to keep him in line, a Bajoran Starfleet officer trying to bridge rifts and a human along for the ride.

...the Bajoran Starfleet officer (me) praying to Susan Ivanova

Funnily enough, the night before this I was approached by a guy who was going to be on my Star Trek panel. It turns out he has a Psi Cop uniform and wondered if I wanted him to turn up in it. I said yes please, that would be fantastic. And when he turned up? It was a very good uniform, and as an impromptu thing I asked if he wouldn’t mind staying in character for the session. He said yes and it was so good.

...the Corps is mother, the Corps is father.

People noticed coming in that he was there, and what he was doing, and I think a few were rather tickled by it. Before the panel proper started I did warn them all that we had him there, and as such we all needed to send him nasty thoughts in 5, 4, 3, 2...1. And he played along. There was a fair bit of this going on through the panel at different bits and I don’t know how it looked to others, but sitting on stage it felt great.

We did a quick stop tour about a lot of things. The fantastic women of B5, and how they’re all different from each other. How characters grow and change and have depth, and in fact there is a lot of change in B5. We talked a fair bit about how it shows the rise of racism and how insidious it can be. How it can sneak up on you. And how we need to learn from that. How it did well regarding diversity, especially given its time and how it made Ivanova bi and treated same gender marriage as a simple fact of life in the time period of the show.

One line I remember fondly coming from Londo was “Behold Minbari Jesus - his name is Jeff”. Which made me laugh inside a fair bit.

We talked a lot about our favourite moments. I couldn’t choose. I was stuck between this moment, this moment, and the War Without End two parter. Londo stepped out of character and the real person talked about this amazing scene between Londo and G’Kar that you can see here and I’ll never do justice describing. 

We also talked about Michael O’Hare. It turns out not everybody knew his story, so here is a link to JMS himself talking about it. But in short, he wasn’t well and had some mental health issues going on in the first season to the point where he had to leave at the end. Nobody on the cast knew, they thought he was just odd or short tempered but had no idea. JMS got him as much support as he could on set, ready to pull the plug when he needed to. Which he did at the end of the season. O’Hare told JMS that when he died, he could tell the world what had happened. And so JMS did. 

It amazes me what that man went through, that he was determined to keep the show going, keep all the people working on it employed and tell that story even though it was hard and there had been offers to stop production. It makes me sad that he felt the stigma around mental health to the point where he couldn’t be open about it, or that he wasn’t able to receive better treatment whilst working. We do know that he did get treatment and he eventually got better as he appeared in season three for two episodes and you can visibly tell he looks better.

Babylon 5 has had a lot of deaths in its cast over the years. A lot, especially considering it wasn’t even made that long ago. In the group we’d decided we were definitely going to do a moment of silence in the memory of those now beyond the rim. And though I think we were going to do it at the end, it felt right to do it after talking about O’Hare, as he is one of those deaths. He died of reasons unrelated to his mental illness, for those wondering. 

...two of those now lost to us. 

Despite that sombre note, we had a fantastic panel and had a great time. Our resident Psi Cop took the microphone around the audience for us instead of one of the tech volunteers (who usually do it). We had a few people in Star Trek costumes, myself included, and we did mention Star Trek and DS9. All without being mean, hostile or falling into that trap of ‘we must be rivals and look down on DS9′ thing you see in some B5 groups. 

I’d declared there would be none of this on the group chat before, all agreed, and at least one person mentioned to me after that they were glad this didn’t happen. So yay.

Also, at the end I declared one side of the room purple, and one side green. The room was decently full and even if one side didn’t go back as far, I don’t think there was a massive difference in numbers. So after checking it was okay with everyone, we had a shouting contest and whichever side won, won for their team.

Purple won. Even if I weren’t on the panel, I still think this would be a up on events this year.

FAT REPRESENTATION IN GEEK CULTURE, PART TWO (SECOND BREAKFAST)

A sequel to a pane a couple years back that I wasn’t at, this was amazing. It was, in large, a big group therapy session on living life when you’re big. How you’re treated and dismissed and harassed and ridiculed. How people will justify it as being ‘concerned for your health’ which is a a bunch of bull. The ignorance and also how the way we grow up and society leads to self loathing and the like. The need for body positivity and how some parts of the fashion world are starting to cater to us.

It was pretty freeing. Nine worlds in general is pretty great about size. I’ve never felt shamed for being large. Never felt out of place for it or looked at the wrong way. But this space especially was really great. 

There are things you don’t get if you aren’t fat. The way people can look at you when you eat, the way you’re sometimes scared to eat your fill, the way being your body is seen as itself an imposition on the space of others just by existing or sitting down. The way you’re always so conscious of that. Of that person who jumps out of their seat next to you the minute they can to go sit somewhere else. Anywhere else. 

So this? I loved this.

...now, if people designing clothes for us fat folk would realise that me being fat does not mean I have big boobs. Or that some of us carry in the stomach a ton. And design for that. And get models for that. 

If they do this again next year? I am going back. That is for sure. 

SUBVERTING BRO CULTURE AND FANWORKS

Whilst waiting for this to start, being the only panelist in the room for a while and not wanting to stare ate folks, I struck up a conversation around B5 and Star Trek, I think. I know B5 was in there at least. But, y’know, nerd convention. To be expected.

I was asked to be on this pretty late, had the least prep out of the four I sat on or ran, and mostly agreed for the Check, Please! content that would likely pop up. There was a lot of sports fandom stuff which I don’t know so well, but also a lot of things that work fandom wide. And culture wide. And another panelist knew a lot about a game I know nothing of, but themselves knew nothing of Check, Please! It was kinda amusing, but still worked some how I think.

It occurred to me, that maybe one of the reasons you get so many coffee shop AUs (and similar) is to take these characters doing dangerous things in very bro culture places and put them into a different place. A less bro place, a safer place. I’m still fed up of the things but I do wonder if that’s the case, and that makes me think of them better.

If you look at fandom, at some of the popular tropes or tendencies you see a lot of this. Characters in a very masculine environment, and fandom deconstructing that somehow. Either by complete AUs or by building families or what have you.

There was a lot of real life sports situations, sports fandoms and real life bro culture at college. How some places are trying to dismantle this but especially in universities with the constant turnover of students etc it takes real effort and framework. 

Oh, also, lots of good things said about Brooklyn Nine Nine. Which. Yes. That show is so good and subverts so many stereotypes and it doesn’t have the ‘chase you endlessly’ guy ‘win’ the girl, but eventually realise they need to back off. And Terry. And Jake who starts off not the best, though still better than most, and just gets better and better. And. And. Good show on subverting bro culture, that one. Also lots of talk of Black Sails, but I know nothing of this sadly. One of its actors turned up and was on a panel I think? Don’t know which actor or which panel though, but that is awesome. I’d so do that in their position too.

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY - SQUEE AND MOAN

Some time last year before the show aired, a bunch of nerds decided we would likely want to talk about this show at Nine Worlds and all submitted the idea of ‘Star Trek: Discovery. Something. We’ll figure it out later’. And then much like my B5 group, we were all thrown in together to figure it out. It seems like my title was kept but honestly? It wasn’t a ton of moan. The panelists were all fans, something I warned the room of ahead of time.

Much like my Queer Dax panel last year, there were a fair few people in the room before start time. So we ended up having a pre-panel panel on Star Trek in general and the new Picard series specifically. I also recommended ‘A Stitch in Time’ by Andrew Robinson (Garak) and how you can get it as an eBook now. I know for a fact at least one person has since bought it. Muahahahaha.

Our friend the Psi Cop from earlier had now changed uniform to TOS movies uniform, now a proud Starfleet officer. A far better costume than my TNG uniform hoodie and pin. After asking permission to audio record it, he did so and so you can listen to the entire panel here. It’s about an hour long but I think interesting.

Honestly, I could’ve kept talking about it for ages. I had notes of what we’d agreed to talk about on e-mail, and which order of priority they sat at. Of course new stuff pops up and the flow of it means you may miss a thing or flip the order a bit but I find having that sort of thing really useful. I tweeted about it later and Doug Jones, Saru himself, liked it so yay. Someone on the cast knows a convention full of nerds in England love his work.

We talked about diversity, how like other Treks this one was made to fit the world we live in as it is made. How the tone of sci-fi has shifted and if that’s impacted things. Diversity and representation. Some things we didn’t think were so great. But generally it was a big ‘WE LOVE YOU’ fest.

It was also the last formal panel of Nine worlds. I think there were a two things in the slot after, but this was in the last major slot. It was an honour really.

FOOD AND DINNER AND REST OH MY

So I’d been separated rom @knittedace and @laalratty most of the day. I was also a bit tired and kinda wondering around the bar area when I came across @unwoundbobbin and proposed the four of us go to dinner if everyone was okay with it. But I did need to go to my room and rest a bit.

So I did, everyone was good with the idea, though it took the three of us a while to get back downstairs to meet up with @unwoundbobbin again. There was some Slash played but we went off to Wagamama’s for dinner where we had great food and good conversation. Me and @knittedace were out of costume at this point. 

It was sad. End of the con. But there was one formal thing left...

THE NOT THE END OF THE CON QUIZ

The quiz at the end of the convention. It is tradition, though it was also a new group of people doing it this year.

The four of us got a table, and found ourselves sharing with another two, and then another two people found their way to us later. Amusingly, at dinner there had been talk of which topics would be preferable to turn up. They turned up.

@knittedace and @laalratty got us most of our points, the everyone contributed and in a tough race every single point is essential. At one point @laalratty thought the giant spider in Harry Potter was called Aragorn and that was amusing but I’m not kidding. Those two were fantastic. And when we won? We won in large part thanks to them.

...me with my price of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers coaster. TRICERATOPS! I’m also slightly worried about the Riddler, looks like something may be afoot.

We got to go up and pick out our prizes, a few bits of ‘stuff’ per person. I saw Power Rangers and went ‘MINE!’ and so now I have MMPR coasters. It was all kindly donated by a con goer and quiz partaker who was apparently trying to clear out a lot of nerdy goods they have. Which seemed to have not been touched, packets not opened and the like. 

IT’S THE FINAL CON NIGHT.... *CRIES*

And that was it. The last official event of Nine Worlds. Our team drifted towards the bar, claimed a table for victory celebrations. Which mean @knittedace wearing an inflatable crown she’d chosen as a prize, and playing Slash.

A good portion hadn’t heard of slash before so we had to teach them. Some just wanted to watch rather than play - though some of them joined in. I think everyone was enjoying themselves in their own way and I was glad to have a big long hard game of Slash. I felt like I hadn’t been playing it nearly enough, as Nine Worlds is the only place I can.

I did manage to convert several people to it though. It should be noted, that it’s a home made deck and we don’t really play with any rules. It’s mostly card assisted crack fic creation. As the night went on some drifted away to bed, some others drifted towards us and joined in. It was fun.

Whilst this was going on, and as the bar slowly emptied, there was another group of people in the bar doing tarot reading. Me, @laalratty and @knittedace stopped there on the way to our room. Got our readings. Mine was done on this really awesome deck that was queer friendly and fat friendly and stuff. I loved the artwork. I don’t believe there’s any actual magic or power in it other that what we choose to place on it ourselves. But it was fun. And the person doing it was pretty awesome themselves, asks you questions and makes you think. Which is tarot at its best I think. Not the claiming to know what will come next.

As all this was going on, a group of nerds had gathered around a grand piano near the main lobby entrance. The lift that brought in people from the outside world, and a few people did arrive to find themselves being serenade with nerdy songs they didn’t understand. But it was great. They sang well, the piano player played well. The woman who did the BSL sessions was there and I think was signing at one point. 

We neared them to get to the lifts to our room, and as they did so I heard them sing this song. Which will always and forever make me think of Due South. Of new beginnings in endings. I think I said something long the lines of ‘OMG!’ when I realised what they were singing and surprised them. Oooops. But that song gives me many feels. I don’t know if anybody there knew of the Due South connection, but I hope so.

And with that, me, @knittedace and @laalratty went to the room. Went to bed. And Nine Worlds was over. Which makes that song being the last thing I heard at the convention fit pretty well, to be honest.

MISC STUFF

So, our room? Our room had the best number ever.

Yup, three asexuals got to the room, saw the 69 and giggled a lot. And found it amusing all through the convention. Didn’t tell anybody at the time as giving your room number to strangers is a bad idea. But we aren’t there now, so I can share.

They put three asexuals in a 69 room. Brilliant.

On a not so fun side, every night there was a disco I could hear it as I tried to get to sleep. On the fourth floor. I am not best pleased by that and really wish they’d turn the volume down. It’s annoying enough for me, but at least I know what is going on and understand it. Not everyone at the hotel is a convention goer. People have been telling Nine Worlds for years to please turn it down but it’d seem not.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THAT POLICE THING? THE FUTURE OF NINE WORLDS?

I’m going to do a separate post for that. I will link to that both HERE and on Thursday’s post once posted. 

[jeanjauthor]

A bit late, but...in the early 1970s when I was born, we had a subordinate-in-public Diana Prince / awesome (& feminine) Wonder Woman on television.  And The Bionic Woman. A little while later, we got Princess Leia in Star Wars, who was snarky and capable of helping to rescue herself, followed by LIeutenant Athena from the original Battlestar Galactica...and it was a big deal that a woman was allowed to be a pilot & an officer, so there’s that.

In the 1980s, we got more women in positions of power and authority, such as in Star Trek: The Next Generation...but they were still few and far between.  More than before, but...not many, and mostly confined to a few shows.  Then Star Trek: Deep Space Nine came out and we got even more women--and some were literally kick-ass, some were literally transgender (well, technically Dax was polygender, but Jadzia had no problems being genderfluid along with Dax, and Ezri adjusted to it).

And by the 1990s we had Buffy and Xena & Gabrielle, and the Charmed sisters, and oh my god, Star Trek: Voyager was captained by a woman. No apologies, no caveats, Captain Janeway was in charge, and Kate Mulgrew did a fan-damn-tastic job of portraying her as competent, intelligent, compassionate...so many things, including her ability to have both a tough side and a soft side. 

We had the women of Babylon 5, wherein Commander Susan Ivanova, when asked to identify her fleet and surrender said,  “...Who am I? I am Susan Ivanova. Commander. Daughter of Andrei and Sophie Ivanov. I am the right hand of vengeance, and the boot that is going to kick your sorry ass all the way back to Earth, sweetheart! I am Death Incarnate, and the last living thing that you are ever going to see. God sent me.”

We had Delenn, acted by the marvelous Mira Furlan, who channeled all her anger at the Yugoslavian government of her former homeland when she stood before the Grey Council, demanding that they fight alongside the humans and other races against the Shadows, and broke the Council...showing us that it was possible to confront governments of great and immovable, self-focused power, and get past their refusal to budge when action was needed.

We even had Elle from Legally Blonde who showed you could be beautiful, brainy, and decide to stop pursuing a guy who wasn’t worthy of you, because you’ve decided to pursue justice, which is.

I could go on and on, but...when stacked against all the other shows out there...it was all still a drop in the bucket.  We have come so far in my own lifetime, it’s breathtaking.  And yet...it’s still not quite enough.

As shown above, in the last few years alone, we have had a plethora of powerful females.  We still need many, many more.  We need so many more that the fuqbois who hate anything that isn’t mediocre-white-male-centric will end up choking on their own misogyny and die off...because it’s going to take 2 more generations, 4 to 5 decades of work, to get to that point.

And it starts with us.

Writers...

Get to work.

March 8, 2019

[theherocomplex]

Rules: list ten of your favourite characters from ten different fandoms and tag ten others.

I was tagged by @emmayame -- thank you! :D 

It was much harder than I anticipated to think of ten fandoms because I go so hard for my chosen ones that I have no emotional energy left over, heh. 

The Expanse: Bobbie Draper (it took me an embarrassingly long time to choose between her and Avasarala)

Mass Effect: Garrus Vakarian

Elfquest: Skywise 

The Adventure Zone: Magnus Burnsides (again, it took me an embarrassingly long time to decide between Magnus, Garyl, and Madame Director) 

Dragon Age: Fenris 

TMNT: Donnie 

Young Justice: Artemis 

Farscape: Pilot 

Kushiel’s Legacy: Joscelin Verreuil 

Babylon 5: Susan Ivanova

I tag: @dearophelia, @bloomingcnidarians, @black-rose4, @genginger, @meggannn. @ferociousqueak, @thoughtsappear, @thievinghippo, @thisonelikesaliens, and @todisturbtheuniverse! 

[droidmom]

You keep posting about babylon 5 and i kinda want to wathc the show now, BUT WHAT IS IT ABOUT???? (I'm watching siren btw, and I still dont know how i feel about it and I'm on ep 6...)

i really can’t explain how amazing this show is without spoiling things or rambling for 5 years, but it’s a fucking masterpiece imo. 

basically it’s about the coexistence of humans and multiple alien races in the future. it takes place on a space station, babylon 5, so you get to see how everyone clashes or comes together to accomplish their goals. the characters are sooooo so realistic and relatable, the worldbuilding of their entire universe is phenomenal, there are really well-done philosophies and parallels to real-world problems that unfortunately are still relevant today (the show is from 25 years ago), and the plot was so intricately planned out that it founded arc storytelling. it will make you laugh, cry, and question your entire existence all within the span of 2 minutes. multiple times every episode. it’s just... so amazing?? and such an essential sci-fi series to check out tbh.

i highly recommend it! and especially since you already have such awesome taste in sci-fi, i think there’s a lot for you to love. (for example, susan ivanova is basically alicia washington but in space and also canonly bisexual.) 

again i really can’t do this show justice so pleaseeee check it out if you can and keep me updated on your thoughts! and on siren as well!!

[viewfromthepinnacle]

10 favourite characters

Rules: Name 10 of your favourite characters from different fandoms, then tag 10 people!

Jun Manjoume, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (ssssh don’t tell the bros)

James Tiberius Kirk, Star Trek (original series)

Shayera Hol / Hawkgirl, Justice League Animated/Unlimited

Tohru Adachi, Persona 4 (I HATE HIM)

Susan Ivanova, Babylon 5

Herakles Karpusi/Greece, Hetalia

I want to put someone in from Lord of the Rings but tbh my favourite “character” is more like the sort of overall feeling that’s created from having them all together in those situations and I can’t choose between them so ummmmm Lobelia Sackville-Baggins

Kazuichi Souda, Super Dangan Ronpa 2

Terezi Pyrope, Homestuck

Joseph Joestar, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

I went for the biggest fandoms since I have too many... I would be very interested to see what you think is the linking factor here!

Tagged by @jundeccentmil. (I have no-one else to tag yet...)

[theherocomplex]

About Me Meme!

I was tagged by the wonderful @stormcallart​! :D  Relationship Status: Single. Lipstick or Chapstick: Lipstick.  Last song I listened to: “The Light We Cast” from Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. Last movie I watched: Get Out (which deserves every bit of praise it gets -- I highly recommend this movie).  Top 3 TV shows: Parks and Recreation, The Expanse, Young Justice.  Top 3 Characters: Garrus Vakarian, Bobbie Draper, Myfanwy Thomas (from The Rook) Top three ships: To absolutely no one’s surprise -- Garrus Vakarian/Eliza Shepard, Fenris/Rhyssa Hawke, and Donnie/April O’Neil (though Zevran/Jennet Surana are right up there, along with Raph/Casey).  Gender: Female. Nickname: Bee!  StarSign: Capricorn. Height: 5′3. Birthday: January 14th. Hogwarts House: Slytherin.  Favorite color: Oxblood or grey. Favorite animal: Wolves.  Average hours of sleep: About six.  Cat or Dog person: I am currently an Orpheus person. :D  Favorite fictional characters: BOBBIE DRAPER, QUEEN OF SPACE. Garrus Vakarian, Delenn, Miranda Lawson, Zevran, Fenris, Myfanwy Thomas, Wally West, Artemis Crock, Donnie, Susan Ivanova, Nyreen Kandros, T.C. McQueen, Quintilius Rousse, the Beast, General Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, Beverly Crusher, Worf, Kyle Reese.  Number of blankets you sleep with: Two down comforters in the winter, some light coverlet thing from Ikea in the summer.  Favorite singer/band: Coheed & Cambria (with Fairport Convention, Sigur Ros, and the Byrds tying for second).   Dream Trip: Iceland, Ireland, Ghana, France -- really, I could list places forever.  Dream job: Cult fantasy and science fiction author (please oh please).  When was this blog created: I can’t remember, exactly, and I don’t know how to check, but about ten years ago? Current number of followers: 2,227.  What made you decide to get a Tumblr: I was part of an LJ community and all the other members started getting one, so I hopped on board so I could claim “theherocomplex”. And here we are! 

I tag: @bloomingcnidarians, @call-me-the-cooky-one, @snuffes, @onthespectrumwriting, @servantofclio, @thievinghippo, @ponacopuck, @tetrahedrals, @kleptotello, @probablylostrightnow, @cactuarkitty, @prideling, @kindervenom, and @bigassmagnet! <3