#kinda taking the top three and the bottom three ships into consideration with a few lil extras because i can

[sbg-incorrect-quotes]

Happy Valentines Day everyone!!!!

I hope everyone has a good day today, whether that is celebrating with your partner(s), celebrating with your friends, or just treating yourself to a fun lil treat!

I hope yall also enjoy the lineup of posts I have today!

[dgcatanisiri]

Tried to make a brief summary of the issues of Mass Effect Andromeda’s handling of queer men and how it relates to why we’re (broad use here) upset with the Legendary Edition failing to provide better representation than the originals, and it kinda turned in to what amounts to an open letter for BioWare.

So, what the heck, here it is.

A little personal background. I spent my high school life completely in the closet. After graduating, I had a new computer and the opportunity to play a new game. The game chosen was BioWare’s Jade Empire. Still a fairly recent release, and I was a big fan of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, also by BioWare. So, being a young gay man, still uncomfortable and uncertain of who I was, I was very excited when I got to play this game that would allow me to play a gay romance, a romance that featured two men. I burned through two playthroughs of the game within less than a week, enjoying that rush of acknowledgement that yes, gay guys could be the hero. It was a massive affirmation for me at the time, something that said that my sexuality was not going to prevent me from being the hero, which legitimately was a message that I felt like most media was giving me to that point, because gay men barely appeared in anything other than guest roles for an episode or two on a TV show, but certainly not in video games. That game, that experience... I’ve said for years that it had cemented me as a BioWare fan for life.

If I say that now, it is a statement with a few caveats.

The history of the failure of Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 to provide any male/male romances is well documented. I was excited, very eager to romance Kaidan Alenko in Mass Effect 3. But even then, I noticed that there were things that were lacking in the romance. It was noticeable, for instance, that the basic dialogue between male Shepard and female Shepard was unchanged, if either was starting a new romance with Kaidan. The thing that always felt... WRONG about that was that if I’d had the option to begin a romance with him in the first game, I would have. Yet there’s not even a bit of dialogue that even references that inability, no comment of “I didn’t think you were available,” or anything of the sort, nothing to say that, say, Shepard was interested in Kaidan at the time, but didn’t believe he’d be receptive, didn’t want to damage their friendship, something of the sort. There was even a cut in the romance scene, where female Shepard will sit in Kaidan’s lap before being lifted up and carried to the bed, but with male Shepard and Kaidan, just fades to black. And then in the Citadel DLC, while all the other pairings walked in to the casino arm in arm, male Shepard and Kaidan are leaving plenty of room between them. There’s also the absence of any cuddling as they return to the Normandy.

To say nothing of the lack of Steve Cortez during the story segments of Citadel – he is not part of the big team entrance to the apartment, just spontaneously appears in the lounge room. He doesn’t participate in the briefings, and he is not a casino date, despite being part of the assembled team. Cortez also suffers from the fact that his romance spends so much time on how he needs to move on from the death of his husband, Shepard can come across as predatory towards him, trying to push him out of his grief and his pants. Due to the lateness of his arrival in the story, in game three, as opposed to game one or two, there is significantly less time to establish him as a person – beyond his past as a pilot and the death of his husband, we gain almost no concept of his personality or personal history.

I bring all of this up to help set the stage of what was expected when Mass Effect Andromeda was nearing release. Mass Effect had been full of problems of representation of queer men specifically (not that they were perfect on the count of female/female relationships either, because there’s plenty to talk about there, but as I’m not a lesbian or bisexual woman, I don’t feel comfortable talking about their experiences for them). While there were flaws, Dragon Age, what is often considered Mass Effect’s sister franchise, HAD managed to provide male/male romances in every iteration of that franchise.

In fact, considering that Dragon Age’s most recent installment, Dragon Age Inquisition, had been put out with a lot of fanfare about the first gay male companion, who was considered rather popular in the fandom, and the game itself receiving the Game of the Year award that year, indicating that, if there was any risk in the business sense of providing representation of queer men, it was negligible at most in the bottom line of that game, the attitude of a lot of gay men in the lead up to Andromeda’s release was some variation of “okay, Mass Effect has been flawed, but BioWare’s learned from their past mistakes, and they’re coming off the heels of a hugely successful game that had a gay character whose gayness was front and center in his storyline... We can expect that things will be fine, and we don’t have to worry.” That was the dominant attitude I found in a lot of my queer-oriented spaces.

But we started getting uncomfortable as the developers remained cagey about romance options in Andromeda – there were Twitter responses to “we’re concerned about Mass Effect’s history of gay representation, we would like to know about the options” that came out as “we checked and yep! They’re there!” These responses came across as flippant and even tone-deaf – the reason that the question was being asked was because of prior failures to be included, and not simply a desire to get all the details before launch.

As the trailers started coming out, the questions continued from the fans, and the response from the developers... continued to be uncomfortable. When asked directly for a listing of romances prior to release, the response was that the developers wanted players to learn as they played, that “the fun is in experiencing it!” This was a specific response when it was learned that the romance options could be flirted with regardless of orientation, but they would shut it down. Despite the fact that the trailers DID include content from certain romances – specifically, the male Ryder/Cora and male Ryder/Peebee romances.

This was uncomfortable for a lot of queer players like myself because it spoke to a lack of consideration of what it is like to be queer. In many places, it is a serious question of safety to even put yourself out there to find a partner, to flirt with someone openly unless you are already certain that there is a chance for a positive response. There are places where a queer person flirting with the wrong person can get them harassed, assaulted, even killed for doing so. Even in the safety of a virtual construct of video games, these are honed instincts that queer people have developed. And no matter how many times we would say this to the developers, no one seemed to understand. Likewise, the fact that the trailers felt free to show off heterosexual romances, but not queer ones felt... questionable.

Then, finally, firm details started coming out, and... There were problems. Early data-mining said that there was an even split of romances between orientations. But there was a bit of discomfort around the reveal that the gay characters, Suvi and Gil, were limited to the ship, rather than being companions who would accompany Ryder on missions. There is a history of companions being given more involved storylines and involvement than secondary characters. It also didn’t help the disappointment from queer people who’d been eager for Cora or Liam as romances, who were firmly established as straight (Cora herself had a popular lesbian following).

That discomfort increased when it came out further that, ACTUALLY, Jaal would not be available for Male Ryder. This caused a lot of upset. Now it was a case where there was NO M/M squadmate romance option. This on top of the group of fans who were uncomfortable with the idea that, in a sci-fi series, gay men couldn’t romance an alien, while this had become a staple of the series, considering Liara, the character from a species described as equivalent to Star Trek green-skinned Orion girls, had been available for straight men and lesbian/bi women from ME1, and straight women got in on the act with Garrus and Thane in ME2, on top of straight men also getting Tali.

This got worse when the achievement listing for the game was released and there was an achievement for “romancing three different characters.” Meaning that it was absolutely impossible for a gay man to play the game and get this achievement without playing a sexuality other than his own.

This is why I led with my experience with Jade Empire, why it was so affirming to me. Because to hear all this, ten years later, to see what had been so affirming to me a decade prior be functionally dismissed, be shown to take a secondary position at best... It hurt.

And the game proper did not help that feeling at all.

So first we meet Gil Brodie. Engineer of the Tempest. One of the first things we learn about him is that he has a close friendship with a woman named Jill. And then he immediately tells us that one) she is a fertility specialist, and two) she “says [he’s] part of the problem” because he won’t have kids the natural way. This is immediately setting off red flags to me – I can think of plenty of my friendships where we give one another grief for various things, but I would never think of introducing any of them to someone else with that fact. So my reflexive thought in this situation is “what kind of a friend is this really?”

And then, as the game goes on... This is the only thing that Gil’s conversations involve, the prospect of having kids. We do not learn much more about him, just have him talking about considering the idea. The lock-in for his romance requires Ryder to meet Jill, who Gil again says that she will talk his ear off about his “civic duty” to reproduce, a fact that makes those earlier red flags wave higher and more furiously, because who DOES that to a total stranger? And this is passed off as being “charming.” This leads to the culmination of the romance, where Gil says that Jill has decided she wants to get pregnant and she wants Gil to be the dad.

There’s... A LOT going on here, so let me work through this. First, one of the few things Gil says as a bit of establishing his character is that he is impulsive, that he joined the Andromeda Initiative, the journey from the Milky Way galaxy to the Andromeda galaxy without really thinking through what it would mean, that it was a one-way journey with no way to back out once he’d gotten there. So this is already saying to me that this is not a person who really SHOULD be a parent, at least at this point in his life.

We also get a couple of emails from him in-game that paint him as putting in thirty-six hour workdays into the engines on the Tempest, that he cares about and puts a lot of time into those engines. So when I think about him as a father, I see him having to give up something he’s deeply passionate about to do it, because the Tempest is certainly no place to raise a child – they can’t exactly put a playpen in the cargo hold, for example.

This would be one of the first things that I would think of as a discussion element, but... it’s not there. All that we get is a couple of casual comments about how Gil should know that bringing a child into the world is a big thing, something that shouldn’t be done lightly. But this is framed as Ryder questioning Gil’s fitness to be a parent at all, rather than questioning if he’s thinking this through and having considered this enough to be ready to take on this responsibility, or if it’s even something that he even wants.

Because that’s the other big thing here – this is not Gil’s idea. This is not something that he makes clear is his desire. No, it’s Jill who has decided that she wants to get pregnant and use Gil’s sperm. For all that he matters in this whole thing, he might as well be a turkey baster. He’s basically an accessory in his own story, because he goes in to this with all the passion of a math equation: “The Andromeda Initiative is a colonization effort. Therefore, the idea is to have babies. Therefore, I should find some way to reproduce.” This isn’t him having a passion or desire to have kids, just it being “something you do.”

This is, genuinely, a failure to understand the character who was being written. Gil’s writing reeks of having been written by someone who does not know what they are talking about. There is an element to the gay experience that is not innate but learned. When we realize that having children is not a thing that will just happen, that if we want this to happen, it will require a lot of additional steps, there are many who will simply say “this isn’t for me, this is more work than I’m willing to put in to for this.”

Now, Gil could have been someone who had decided it was worth it, but that butts up against the idea of him being impulsive, that he doesn’t think things through. There is no time given to focusing on the reason he decides this is the right choice for him, to the point that many players felt that this was not Gil’s decision but something that Jill was pushing, that she expected him to jump on her command. Because we have so little of Gil, as a character and an individual, but plenty of him talking up her, this “friendship” feels toxic to many.

Just about everyone I have ever spoken with about Gil is deeply uncomfortable that literally, the only way that he will not have a child at this point is if a romanced Ryder stops him – if I am playing a game where I don’t romance him, I actively just stop interacting with him at a certain point so that this never comes up, because this does not come across as happy. It comes across as forcing a gay man into a heteronormative experience to satisfy some traditional idea of “man and woman, raising kids.”

And, as the cherry on top, if you do tell Gil that you’re not comfortable having kids – a very real thing, whether gay or straight – then, unlike other romances, Gil and Ryder do not share a kiss at the finale of the game. And, during the last conversations on Meridian, the only thing Gil even brings up is Jill being pregnant, whether or not it’s his child.

This is what “representation of gay men” amounted to in Mass Effect Andromeda. A homophobic story that was about a gay experience written by someone who is not a part of this community and does not know or understand the experience personally, going through the motions of development when really, all that is cared about is the end result. To say that most of the gay men I know who have played this game find this homophobic is to undersell the point.

It doesn’t help that, of all the Tempest romances, Gil also clocks in with the least amount of romance exclusive material – a few flirts, the romance lock in and scene, and being able to stop Gil from having kids. Other than that, his friendship and his romance are virtually identical.

Speaking of, the romance scene consists of a make out session that fades to black, before coming back in with Ryder and Gil, shot from about shoulders up, briefly wrapping up their conversation that preceded the fade to black. This is noteworthy when the heterosexual romances between Ryder and their human love interests, as well as Peebee and Jaal, the former having a similar body model to naked human women, just blue, and Jaal, who is naked at other points in the game, have much more involved romance scenes – Cora’s in specific received special attention.

All of this, individually, may have just been reflective of time crunch and other external pressures – we all understand the realities of game development, that for all the ambitions that go in, when the deadlines are nearing, something has to give. But taken collectively... The kindest question is to ask why all of the “give” happened in regards to the gay man?

The end result with Gil honestly feels like he was written in response to the bad faith arguments that had come up in the period after the name for the game was revealed and it was made clear that the game would follow a colonization effort. There were a contingent of people who said that “there shouldn’t be gay people coming along, a colonization effort needs to reproduce.” This is a bad faith argument from homophobes, trying to justify why they don’t want gay people in “their” games. In answering their question, the question they only “ask” in order to explain why they don’t want to have gay people in the game without saying that, it comes across as catering the gay content for a heterosexual audience. It should go without saying that this is a bad position to take.

So, that’s Gil. What about Reyes? Well, Reyes himself is bound to a single planet, which, again, points to a minimizing of how much content he will even get, since his content can only be accessed on this single planet. Likewise, Reyes, as a character, is someone who falls in to several old, tired tropes with regards to bisexual men – he is a shady, untrustworthy character, in this instance literally a criminal, meant to be evocative of the “dashing rogue” archetype. This is a characterization that has often been BioWare’s go-to with regards to bisexual men, because we see this archetype drawn on in Jade Empire’s Sky, Dragon Age Origins’ Zevran, Dragon Age 2’s Anders, and even elements exist in Dragon Age Inquisition’s Dorian (even if he is a gay man). It’s a well that BioWare has frequently tapped when it comes to a romance option for queer men, to the point that it starts to feel like BioWare in general believes that this IS what queer men are.

There’s also the questionable portrayal of Reyes that leads to a description of the trope “the depraved bisexual,” an explicitly bisexual character who uses sex and sexuality as a manipulative tool, that they treat others as simply there to be their toys. Over in Dragon Age Inquisition, one of the romance options was specifically NOT made bisexual in order to avoid this trope, but Reyes himself seems to be a candidate for that trope all the same.

All this, and, again, the romance options for gay men were unequal to those for everyone else. This prompted the campaign #MakeJaalBi – Jaal was, notably, the character initially assumed to be the bisexual male companion, and on release, his romance was heterosexual exclusive. But datamining revealed that there was code for him to be romanced by male Ryder. Indeed, on release, it was noteworthy that Jaal could not even be flirted with by male Ryder. Liam had a distinct turndown for male Ryder, a couple of them, depending on when Ryder flirts with him. Jaal had no such turndown.

And this worked. BioWare released the patch for Andromeda that gave Jaal a bisexual romance. However, this was the only change that Mass Effect Andromeda received in regards to the issues of the romances before support for the game ended. While it was seen as an improvement, it was also questioned why this was the only change, when... Well, I spent the better part of two pages outlining the problems of Gil’s portrayal.

(I feel I would be remiss to not mention there was also a character, Hainley Abrams, who would, upon interacting with her, proceed to deadname herself to Ryder, as if that is the only way to establish that a transgender person is trans. This was also changed in a patch after the trans community complained, and, in conjunction with the above, led more than a few people to wonder if the Andromeda script had been looked over by any queer sensitivity readers, given the earlier issues with Gil. This does go out of the scope of everything else in this discussion, but it is worth mentioning.)

When Mac Walters says players will talk about how Shepard is each of theirs, that every individual player approaches Shepard as being “their” Shepard, he isn’t wrong. He says the characters, and the relationships we have with the characters is the heart and soul of the series, he isn’t wrong. And yet... When I play the trilogy, my heart and soul are being torn apart, because I do not get to see myself in the trilogy. I am not there in this story, at least for two thirds of the way. And in that third that I am there, I feel like I am cared about less than my counterparts who are heterosexual.

The idea that “making” characters available for same sex romance changes them is like saying that there is some inherent difference in a person because of their sexualities. While it’s true that the experiences of queer people does offer different perspectives on matters, it does not fundamentally alter the person, the individual that we are. It does not change our heart and soul. Restoring the bisexuality of characters like Jack, Jacob, Ashley, Thane, or Tali is not changing who they are. Making Kaidan bisexual in ME3 did not change who he was, and restoring a romance between him and male Shepard in ME1 would not change him either.

Every game has some cut content surrounding queer content specifically, and a great deal of that content is specifically for gay players like myself. I said at the beginning that I once thought of myself as a BioWare fan for life, but that now comes with caveats. The caveats are pretty simple – while the games produced by BioWare once felt affirming, now they feel like they’re only grudgingly allowing me to be there. That if I must be there, I should just take the scraps I’m given and be content with that, rather than being treated as an equal.

I like to think that this is not the message that the people at BioWare wish to impart to their players. I like to believe BioWare’s statements of wanting to be an inclusive and welcoming environment for their players, regardless of gender, race, sexuality, orientation, whatever identity and label one chooses. But based on the experience of the last four games, of the Legendary Edition perpetuating the homophobia of over a decade ago... I have a hard time believing that.

BioWare games once made me feel like I was equal to the straight heroes across my media. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that way about their games anymore. Not when, after having the opportunity to restore the bisexuality of Kaidan – of multiple characters, really – in the Legendary Edition, I am still being told that offering representation for people like me is something that only comes grudgingly.

And if that’s what I see now... What does it say about what the future of the franchise will offer? If every game in this series involves fighting for content that, in particular, heterosexual players will see offered as the rule, what motivates me to want to continue to be invested and involved in this franchise?

[unforth]

Are there issues with svsss and consent (Just things I’ve heard I wanna know before I read it invade it’s rly not my thing lmfao) or are they more “issues” like in mdzs?

Hmm...okay, so I read SVSSS a bit ago, and pretty quickly, but the answer is basically...yes there are consent issues but I honestly think they’re actually more mild than in MDZS? But it’s also a little complicated, and some of them are different issues...

(spoilers under the read more)

Okay. So, on an overarching plot level, I can think of three potential things that might lead people to say there are consent issues related to the main ship, Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe. Note that I haven’t really seen any posts on this topic so I don’t, like, know what issues people single out? I’m pretty much just guessing.

1. Shen Qingqiu is an advanced cultivator and a teacher. Luo Binghe is considerably younger, and his student. This, obviously, could be seen as problematic. However, I personally didn’t feel it was (even though I’m personally sensitive to this dynamic and generally uncomfortable with it) for a few reasons:

a. Shen Qingqiu has absolutely no idea that Luo Binghe is crushing on him when they’re young. He’s as clueless as can be. (I’ll explain why when I get to “thing two that might make people think it’s problematic”). Like, to a reader who knows where things are going, it’s pretty darn obvious, but Shen Qingqiu is entirely fixated on a belief that Luo Binghe is developing a relationship with another disciple named Ning Yingying, and while he’s occasionally confused, like, “huh why did that happen?” he really is absolutely clueless. 

b. Then, for plot reasons, they’re separated for five years...and when Luo Binghe returns, Shen Qingqiu thinks Luo Binghe hates him (for  plot reasons), and then they’re separated AGAIN for another five years (or maybe it was 3? something like that) and only then does Shen Qingqiu finally realize he’s massively misunderstood literally everything. So...they haven’t had a student/teacher dynamic for about a decade by the time they actually start having a relationship.

c. While their apparent age difference is pretty big, their actual age difference isn’t, because...

2. Alright, so the basic premise of SVSSS is that a young man named Shen Yuan dies after reading a stag/harem novel, and then wakes up and discovers that he’s been transplanted into the novel he was reading...in the role of one of the villains. From that point forward, the older man “Shen Qingqiu” is actually Shen Yuan. Shen Yuan is still older than Luo Binghe, but less so...Luo Binghe is roughly 14 or 15 when the book starts, and Shen Yuan is probably 20 or 21. Now, that might be an awkward age difference if they started a relationship right away, but as I say above - years and years pass before anything happens. First, the story advances by about 4 years (give or take, it might be more even) before their first separation, and then ten more years pass before they get together. So at the point when Luo Binghe and Shen Yuan (in the body of Shen Qingqiu) actually get together, Luo Binghe is probably around 30 and Shen Yuan is probably around 36, which...that age difference is not significant between two adults, imo. 

Further, because Shen Yuan “knows” what happens in the novel, he also knows - it was a stag harem novel. So instead of seeing Luo Binghe’s behavior toward him and thinking, “oh no my student has a crush on me,” he spends ALL the time before the separation being like, “oh, Ning Yingying - she’s in his harem! Oh, that other character - also in his harem! Aw look, first meeting with a member of the harem! Oh oh look he’s talking to a harem member.” He has absolutely no fucking clue and it’s ridiculous.

However, all that said...Luo Binghe never actually finds out that Shen Yuan isn’t the same person as Shen Qingqiu, or that Shen Yuan is even in there. It’s clear in the extras that basically everyone who knew Shen Qingqiu figured out that something had changed and collectively decided... “well the change was for the better so uh let’s just not do anything about it okay?” Luo Binghe isn’t part of that conversation, so it could be argued that while Luo Binghe consented to be in a relationship with Shen Qingqiu, he never consented to be with Shen Yuan. It’s a weak argument, though, since Shen Yuan’s arrival is what derails the original harem plot of the “novel” and causes Luo Binghe to fall in love with Shen Qingqiu - so Luo Binghe never loved the original Shen Qingqiu, he always loved the Shen Yuan version of Shen Qingqiu. So...there is a minor consent issue here since Luo Binghe doesn’t know but it’s small.

3. Now, the third point also relates to the Shen Qingqiu/Shen Yuan divide. Shen Qingqiu BEFORE he becomes Shen Yuan is a nasty piece of work, and is highly abusive toward Luo Binghe. Early on, Shen Yuan is kinda...forced...to continue being abusive? Like, there’s this computer System that’s forcing Shen Yuan to “stay in character,” and he’ll literally die (again, for real and permanently this time) if he doesn’t do things at least somewhat like Shen Qingqiu would. But as soon as he “levels up” high enough that he is “allowed” to behave out of character compared to Shen Qingqiu, he stops being abusive and goes out of his way to help and support Luo Binghe. Now, despite that, I could see a case being made that the weird combination of “highly abusive toward” and then “nice” could be seen as manipulative and gaslighty, so that would open up another potential avenue for consent issues.

Now, on a specific “things that happen” event, all of the ACTUAL consent issues are in the other direction - Luo Binghe toward Shen Qingqiu. Cause Luo Binghe is...kinda a whiny bitch...and he is not very good at taking no for an answer. Like, at one point he literally kidnaps Shen Qingqiu and holds him prisoner. Actually wait, he does that at two separate points. And he always kinda...bullies...Shen Qingqiu in a way that pushes into Shen Qingqiu’s comfort zone.

Further, their first time is flat-out fuck or die (Luo Binghe is the top in the book and Shen Qingqiu is the bottom). That’s explicit, it’s not played as romantic, and Shen Qingqiu doesn’t enjoy it and doesn’t pretend to enjoy it. That’s not to say he’s unwilling - by that point it’s fairly clear he’d like to have sex with Luo Binghe in other circumstances, but it’s very rough and injures him pretty badly, there’s no prep, etc., so it’s not a good experience and it’s not treated as one, but Shen Qingqiu does volunteer because it’s important to him to prevent the “die” part. Luo Binghe feels bad afterwards. Reading it actually gave me more appreciation of MDZS because the scene made it clear that MXTX really does understand consent in ways that hadn’t been clear to me when I read the translation of MDZS.

In general...these two communicate for shit, and so things are never as clear cut as they should be. Also, at least for me personally, I never really fully “bought” that Shen Qingqiu was in love with Luo Binghe. Like, he’s affectionate and indulgent, but in romantic love? I dunno. So in that regard their being a thing always left me a little...unsure...maybe? But that’s a personal preference, and I’m sure there are others who felt differently, and it also might read differently in a different translation or in the original Chinese.

As an aside, there is a side ship which isn’t featured prominently in the novel but is significantly developed in the extras (like, a lot of the extras are literally about them, instead of the main ship). ngl...I wasn’t very interested in them so I didn’t read all their extras? So I couldn’t say for sure? But certainly, those two have some huge power level differences that I could see leading to consent issues, and also, one of them is also from “the real world” and transported in the “novel” (he’s the author) so that also adds a layer of complication.

Sorry if this is confusing...it’s not the easiest book to explain to someone unfamiliar with it. 

tl:dr, I personally didn’t think the consent issues were severe; the structural ones (ie, age difference and teacher/student) might LOOK severe on the surface but aren’t as the story is executed, and the “actual” consent issues (ie the fuck or die) are handled, at least in my opinion, better and more clearly than the ones in MDZS were.

Everyone else reading this...did I miss anything? I can’t think of anything else but my memory is so fucking shot that I can’t say I trust me as much as I’d like to.

Overall, I think it’s my least favorite of the three novels, not because it’s bad but because it just doesn’t quite feel...finished. Like, it’s such an interesting idea, and MXTX does a masterful job of twisting tropes throughout it, and more than either of the other books, it improved my opinion of her as a writer, but it feels a little incomplete, like maybe it was more story than she was actually ready to write? Like...she had this idea and she wasn’t quite a good enough writer to see it through to it’s logical conclusion yet, but all the pieces were there, so the potential is through the rough but the execution is a little lacking. Especially, the ending felt a bit rushed/abrupt to me. Then again, I feel that way constantly so some of that was probably me, I like a lot of denouement at the end of a story. (My favorite is TGCF, with MDZS in second and SVSSS in a close third...purely as a novel I didn’t like MDZS all that much but some of that was probably a translation issue.)

ANYWAY.

I’ll stop now.

If, after all that, you’re interested in reading it, I read two translations:

1. This translation, hosted on Tumblr, is really good but still a work in progress (they’ve released like four chapters since I read it in October.) I thought it was excellent and really enjoyed it.

2. Since that one wasn’t finished, I read the rest and the extras here. It was also good, but not quite as good in my opinion.

Hope this helps!

[a-collection-of-villainous-aus]

Pirate Au 3

The drabbles do kinda follow on from each other and there's a refrence to drabble two in this one.

There is some Lizardhat in this but it's more friends with benefits.

505 is human in this

A few days had passed since Flug had been captured and still the Pirate King had not managed to draw a single word from him, that merman was nothing if not stubborn!

Black Hat had tried talking to him but he was lucky if he got so much as a passing glance!

Oh but if Demencia went close enough Flug would splash her, take notice that she was there…what if that blasted thing actually…no, no do not go down that line, sighing and lighting up a cigarette, his thoughts wandering over a black ocean dressed in glittering diamonds mirroring its twin up high where a moon watched over both, motherly and ever content with her darlings.

A long drag, smoky tendrils slipping past his lips, if their positions were exchanged he would have absolutely cursed, shouted and spat at his captor...but this merman actually dared to give him the silent treatment, why did it bother him so much, he was King of the seven seas and all the land when so desired…he should not let this one insignificant creature only heeded his first mate and not him get so under his skin.

Letting out an exasperated groan before taking another drag, it was not as if he had lungs to ruin, at least not ones that could become sick like the mere mortals of this universe, what did Flug look like under that ridiculous burlap sack, heh no doubt he’d had gone through some ghastly experience that left him absolutely hideous…

Or perhaps it was worn in company, shy maybe?

A peculiar form of comfort which he only lifted when he had a need to eat?

Ohhhh Black Hat you bloody idiot.

Being a demon he did not require food only dining because if there was one thing the old being had to admit was that human food was really quite delectable…and he’d been eating it, in front of Flug as the merman no doubt starved…yes that is a brilliant way to get him to like you isn’t it.

His internal monologue dripping with sarcasm at his actions, stubbing the cigarette out on his palm Black Hat growled in frustration, Fives would be in the galley making sure his next meal was prepared.

Taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself he started off, of course his treasure needed to eat!

Though considering whom this being was , he was not about to admit ever that it had completely slipped his mind that Flug actually needed food.

No, no he was far too proud for that, instead he’d lie; act nonchalant as if this had been the plan the whole time, yes that would be the best course of action.

Fist in palm, he would not have some merman who crashed onto HIS ship think him a fool.

Left shoulder beginning to ache he let out a snarl, that damned mark had been playing up just before this whole accursed incident, why didn’t he toss that merman back in the sea , let fate do as it pleased…something told him though, even if he’d done that, Flug would have somehow still ended up back on this vessel.

Claws digging in just enough to hurt, his chest tightened at the very thought of throwing him off his ship, to see an empty tank, it made him recoil, growling at himself he continued making his way to the galley grumbling

“I do not have soul mate, nor will I ever so stop bloody whining, if you tell me that fish man is my so called counterpart I will rip you off and eat you.”

The mark in truth had no real consciousness; it just made it easier to believe that his loneliness was at the fault of it, like a poison he could not cure his body from as well as any other unwanted emotion.

ELSEWHERE:

Specifically in Black Hat’s quarters a stocky man in a baggy blue shirt with a portion of his hair black and top a soft pale golden yellow (cause you know flower on top of 505’s head in non human version) was sitting cross legged beside Flug’s tank, he’d made sure not to light any lamps or candles in case the Captain saw them.

Either way Fives was glad to be sat here in not so pitch blackness, the merman’s tail had a myriad of colours and patterns in blue and pink, his pale skin lighting up softly making the land walker wonder if he had been made from the stars.

Flug was laying on the bottom of his aquarium, chewing on a fish his oh so considerate acquaintance had brought in, a few more kept under him to stop them floating off, sharp teeth biting through flesh as wisps of inky blood swirled around his mouth.

"I cudn't bear to think about ya not eatin', Capin' adn't asked any food for you..."

Fives was clearly a little nervous, sharp fangs made him a little uneasy, hands fidgeting, Flug's display was so pretty to look at though that it more than made up for his concern.

He’d love nothing more than to draw him, despite his lack of talent, he enjoyed putting colours to paper and this merman had many of them, pressing his hands on the glass, his eyes reflecting such a wonderful sight with child like wonder.

Flug did not flinch at all, his belly demanding food, sensing his company was of no threat he contently slipped another fish into his maw, still holding its end fins and much like a cartoon pulled it out the skeletal remains before rising to the surface and holding out his hand to pass Fives the remains, after all he did not want rubbish littering his tank.

“I assure you, it is greatly appreciated, I was half ready to jump out and eat whatever scraps that bastard left on his plate, One, does not gain favours by starving their captured…urgh pets.”

“You can talk!”

Fives gasped, clapping his thick hands together excitedly.

“He be speakin', Black ‘at , sayin' you can’t say nuthin!”

“Of course I can talk, you do not live three hundred years and not learn to speak land walker!”

The merman replied indignantly, folding his arms over the edge of his now home where his burlap sack also rested.

“Soooo, does he always get this cranky when someone does not give him the attention he thinks he deserves?”

Flug watched as Fives nodded and laughed

“He’s been grumblin’ about ya for days, grrr merman no talkin’, pissy fish!”

Flug couldn’t help but snigger at that, so he was annoying Captain Black Hat after all!

Good!

Tail swaying in delight at the thought of Hat being pissed at him, it was what the demon deserved.

“What did he think was going to happen? I would be oh, Captain Black Hat, take me in your arms, show me just how much of a man you are!”

A hand to his forehead playing a blushing swooning character before both he and Fives were actually giggling about the idea of it…ya know despite the fact the merman did watch when Black Hat allowed himself to rest, he would sleep next to the glass to be as close as possible to him, yes Flug knew he should hate him, he did…but at the same time…laughter fading out as he lost himself to his thoughts.

(Leave a fish symbol in asks if you’d like a drabble on Flug watching black hat sleep

;3)

Fives certainly noted his actions, watching as the merman touched along his jaw, (read drabble 2 for reference) making Fives wonder what Flug was thinking of.

What had Black Hat done to suddenly make such a memory so distracting, it was clear he had not harmed him, which on its own was surprising enough, usually by now anyone who had been so disobedient as he would no longer be permitted to live.

Chewing on another fish, Flug remained quiet for a few moments.

“Demencia and he are together anyway, are they not?”

He asked, voice sounding distant.

A Thick brow rose as he scratched at his thin beard, oh so Flug didn’t like the Captain huh…heh yeah, sure and pigs were naturally born with wings there was a small smile on his soft features

“Sometimes but it ain’t nothin’ deep, why?”

Clearing his throat Flug shook his head

“I just ask, Demencia is not so terrible after all, she can take a swim with me when she pleases company in here would honestly be nice.”

“I heard she be pissin’ ya off?”

He was confused by Flugs response, Fives had been assuming these last few days from how Demmy talked about this merman that he didn’t like her in the slightest.

“Demencia has character, she can be a pain but she certainly keeps me entertained.”

They fell into silence again, after all Fives wasn’t one for talking much, he’d hoped to hear some fantastical stories that would be akin to fairy tales but it was obvious their guest was not quite so ready to open up to that extent.

Flug was aware that his current company was looking him over, admiring the display in artistic appreciation, it was pleasant not to stared at like an abomination…he had once tried to join that city of pearls and lights in the Seas, but sharp prongs, deep rich colours and fangs were not exactly welcomed, fearing that he might just up and eat one of them had resolved in him returning to his dark domain in the black Ocean depths.

Fives innocent wonder made him feel like he was a Unicorn, in the sense he felt magical and rare, something people wanted to see, the chef was adorable really.

----

MEANWHILE

Hat, started down the stairs calling out as he adjusted his jacket making sure it was on straight and he looked pristine

“Fives! Prepare something for…”

His voice trailed off as he entered the Galley with a large smile that fell immediately at finding Demencia, cheeks full of prisoner Five Zero Five’s cookies, (how that man managed to bake on this ship was still a mystery) a man whom he’d recruited to work on his vessel.

So.Where.Was.He.

Inhaling, fists clenched a growl leaving him as his eye turned crimson and black.

“Where is Five, Zero Five?”

He ground out between clenched fangs, oh he bloody well knew exactly where he was, but asked none the less, just in case there was a small possibility it was not with his merman.

“Absolutely not with the fish man.”

She returned stuffing another cookie in her mouth, so gooey, so good, no wonder Hat hired Fives.

“Think he said something about doing some midnight fishing, funny really he left with a bucket of fish.”

The demons expression turned deadpan, she wasn’t trying hard to cover up the fact that she was completely lying.

“Demencia my dear, do tell me the truth-“

His expression changing from sweet to livid

“-Before I tear out your spine and feed it to you!”

She only smiled and swallowed her mouthful of food.

“You convinced me gorgeous, he wanted to feed Fluggy, he didn’t like that you were starving him.”

Black Hat went still, so that idiot had realised before even he had…well of course he refused to ever admit that he’d forgotten that the merman actually needed food to survive.

“You know, if you let me blow your cannon I could help you calm down.”

“I…perhaps later, if you are feeling up to being watched over, by my personal guest.”

Thinking momentarily that would deter her he then internally face palmed, no wait this was Demencia he was thinking of, bloody woman was an unstoppable force, it wasn’t as if they hadn’t physically been together before though.

“Sounds like a date! Haven’t you got a chef you need to tear into pieces?”

The Pirate King exhaled and walked over, sitting on the table in front of her, feet resting on the seat she was on at either side of her hips, he was not quite prepared for Flug to see just how he was when furious, speaking plainly

“Better yet why not just do it here soil his precious Galley... also you realise, I do not love you.”

“Oh you idiot who said anything about love, I have no time for that crap, you’re just the hottest shit on this ship!”

Demencia scoffed, somewhat surprised Her Jefe had felt the need to mention love at all, eating another cookie, her hand on his knee a distinct swallowing sound with a smile, just because she was a woman, did not mean she could not enjoy sex without strings attached, she was happy with life as it was thank you!

“Why don’t we have a little wager, on the bag boy?”

“What kind?”

Hat asked; weary of what she might come up with.

“Oh nothing serious, if he’s cute you gotta tell him you messed up and actually forgot to feed him.”

Black Hat spluttered; she was more observant than he gave credit for sometimes that was for damn sure.

“And…if he is not?”

The demon enquired.

“If he’s not I will personally swab the deck myself with a toothbrush.”

He sighed, fine that wasn’t a half bad wager, he almost hoped it was a wreck under that sack Flug wore just to see Demencia actually do that and so he wouldn’t have to feel like a complete moron in having to admit he had not fed him simply because it had not occurred to him that he needed to.

“Alright, I accept your terms…now are you going to carry on?”

“Of course, are you going to mewl Flug again?”

“And if I do?”

“Oh nothing…I actually enjoy seeing you completely melt at the thought of ramming him, oh ho unless you want your merman to ram you!”

Black Hats first mate was grinning while working his clothing, she couldn’t help but smirk, King of the seven seas wanted tail he could not get, pfft at least not yet, Flugs level of stubborn was clearly him denying he had any feeling for this idiot In front of her.

“Just shut up and get on with it woman.”

“Oh, you’re so romantic.”

SOMETIME LATER

Black Hat had a shoulder leaning on a wall belonging to the outside of his Cabin, arms folded against his chest; he did feel calmer, though still envious, so the merman could speak hm?

The door creaked open slightly, obviously Fives was trying to sneak out and doing a poor job of it in his opinion, he kept in the shadows, watching him, listening to his soft thudding footsteps , hushed goodbyes and the light jostling of fish bones in that metal bucket, a wooden one would have been better if you were attempting to go unheard, but then again no one could say Fives was the brightest of the lot…and urgh he’d be smelling him in there for days now, not that it was pungent, more that it was a reminder that he had been letting Flug starve and not even realising it...and that he would talk to anyone but him.

Slipping in through the partially open door, he’d arrived just in time to see the intricate patterns on his merman's tail die down, barely catching a glimpse of his intricate light show, even his soft glow on his torso had vanished before having a chance to really admire its beauty.

Flug's back was turned to him, which meant the Pirate King could not see his face as he pulled on the burlap sack, the merman heard a slight sound and cheerily started

“Oh Fives, did you forget some-“

Turning, he was now face to face with Black Hat who was mere inches away from him in the darkness where only the silver moon broke through the pitch black of the Pirate kings room, Flug whimpered softly, the sack was caught on an ear fin, trying desperately to pull the bag down his fin started tearing a little, a cry leaving him as Black Hat stared, he knew that look, a predator who wanted nothing more than to devour what was before them.

Hat, wanted to do nothing more than to rip that damn thing off him, look on that hidden face that his CHEF of all people had seen, now though after he and Demencia had used each other for their personal interests, to vent out his own need of this creature, the demon felt it was an undeserved privilege…no doubt Flug could smell her on him.

Reaching out, noticing how he flinched, Black, carefully unhooked the tie that was caught on him from his mask, helping to carefully pull the bag down, his palm brushing along his jaw line a soft gasp escaping Flug he pressed to it a little, there was a moment where Black Hat actually believed something shifted between them, his merman might speak, if only to say thank you, it was then of course he heard a faint sniffing sound and watched him move to the back of the tank, defensively pulling the bag down tighter as if it would keep him far, far away.

Sinking to the bottom of the tank once more in his curled up position, back to his captor as per usual.

This moment confirmed something for the King, the merman did harbour feelings of some other kind besides hate, the demon of course would not press the matter at this time, it seemed even his soul mark was whining at the sight of him trying to get so far away.

“Good Night, Acylius.”

He whispered softly.

Flug bristled, so he’d heard him tell Fives his first name, did it have to roll so beautifully off his tongue.

(I have another blind au in the works, coffee one I need to type up and perhaps even pieces of asylum au I have rped with a friend and have their permission to use.)

[worldupdatereviews2017-blog]

The Samsung Galaxy S8: Splendor Comes at a Rate

New Post has been published on https://worldupdatereviews.com/the-samsung-galaxy-s8-splendor-comes-at-a-rate/

The Samsung Galaxy S8: Splendor Comes at a Rate

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is, fingers down, the quickest, the first-class-looking phone you can buy, Android or in any other case. Its design is a meticulous marvel, curved glass and shrinking pinnacle and backside bezels taking into consideration tremendous amounts probably the greatest display space. However, it’s additionally very pricey and is derived with some downsides. Is it for you? Study on.

The display

The S8’s OLED display beats something else in the marketplace. The Pixel XL, which become formerly the excellent-searching telephone around, way to a vibrant OLED display, can’t healthy it in size — the smaller S8 has a bigger display screen than the Pixel XL. It does this by way of shrinking down the bezels on the top and bottom top-of-the-line the phone to next to not anything, even as the use of curved glass to get rid of any bezel at the facet. And Samsung’s OLED screen simply looks better than the Pixel’s display screen as well. Samsung says it’s the primary “Cellular HDR Top rate” telephone to be had. HDR, or excessive dynamic range, is the contemporary buzzword in video presentations, and usually manner that a display is in a position to reveal top-of-the-linef a greater variety of colors and brightness on the same time. In the exercise, this intended that after I played the identical film at the Pixel XL and S8+, facet by way of aspect, the S8+ turned into incredibly better at displaying the most effectivef excessive-evaluation scenes, along with a scene with a brilliant light shining thru a darkish room. Night time scenes had been easier to see, and in widespread, hues simply had more pop. The distinction was even extra stark while gambling a film on an iPhone 7 Plus, which nonetheless among the best old-college Lcd monitors.

One aspect to notice: via default, the S8 screen is surely set to 1080p resolution — you’ll want to jump into the settings to position the phone into its full excessive-decision glory, this means that a moderate overall performance hit at the telephone.

backside line: There isn’t a better smartphone screen to be had — and there may not be a better one till Samsung releases its subsequent Galaxy smartphone. Samsung really seems to have a lock on creating OLED monitors which can be without delay and manifestly among the finest a higher excellent than the oppositions.

The smartphone

The real phone itself feels excellent in hand, but the curved back and front glass additionally made me sense distinctly apprehensive even as using it on the subway or a sidewalk with out a case. In case you use it one-passed, you want to maintain a barely tighter grip on the telephone, although it’s lighter than its competitors. And, at least at the S8+ I examined, that tall screen meant it was a chunk among the best a reach for me to get to the pull-down display on the top top-of-the-line the telephone, where you manage pretty a great deal everything in Android. you could at least relaxation a bit less difficult about drops across the sink and/or bathroom — the cellphone is rated as water- and dirt-resistant, which means it could be dunked in approximately five ft top-of-the-line water for 30 minutes with out harm.

Samsung’s Android skin, TouchWiz, has calmed down extensively from in advance days, whilst it seemed so disturbing to place some daylight between itself and vanilla Android OS that it created a miles worse usual experience than only a clean install probably the greatest Android. Fortunately, those days are over — though, it’s still now not clear if Samsung will keep lagging at the back of in Android updates. The phone ships with Android 7.zero, but the latest version one of the best Android is 7.1.2 — which could probably be a safety difficulty, particularly If you’re downloading apps from anywhere other than Google Play or the Galaxy Apps store.

There’s nevertheless a few overlap among Samsung and Google’s offerings (as an example, Samsung has its very own web browser you may use, rather than Chrome), But for the most part, it’s a totally intuitive cell phone with a few capabilities that Google’s very own Pixel telephones could be smart to steal (the capacity to interchange among battery-saver and high overall performance mode on the fly, for instance). There are nonetheless moments, however, in which the anxiety between Samsung manifestly trying to have its personal OS and wanting to be on Android emerge as clean, consisting of its app search main you to a page that suggests you what different Galaxy customers like — which then takes you to a Google Play page to in reality buy it. It’s Samsung placing itself inside the process without tons benefit, besides to remind you which you’re using a Samsung cellphone.

The heart top-of-the-line the telephone are, the usage of the ultra-modern Snapdragon processor, that means that the phone itself feels snappier than the Pixel whilst opening apps. It also boasts a faster cellular modem than every other cell phone in the marketplace, which supposed — as a minimum on the LTE T-Cellular community I was checking out it on — that I got slightly quicker download and upload speeds than at the equal T-Cell network on my Pixel. (However handiest slightly, and velocity assessments — particularly top-of-the-line cell facts — are notoriously kinda squishy.)

The Camera

Is quite top! In quick checks in opposition to the Pixel and the iPhone 7 Plus, the S8+’s 12-megapixel rear Digicam appeared to take better photos in low mild; in any other case, the distinction in picture first-rate between the three became negligible — the essential variations in cell phone cameras specifically come into play from the software program and processing.

At this point, barring some revolution in how Digicam optics paintings, when you’re paying greater than $seven-hundred for a smartphone, you’re possibly going to get an excellent Camera as a way to take very good pix. nonetheless, to Samsung’s credit score, you may mess around with the settings a chunk greater in its Digicam app, in comparison to the Pixel or iPhone, and its native photo-modifying app is more complete-featured than Google or Apple’s as properly.

The Battery

Firstly, to address the primary question you possibly have approximately the brand new Samsung cell phone: No, it hasn’t stuck hearth. The S8 comes with a 3,000 mAh battery, and the S8+ comes with a 3,500 mAh battery. Each is decent-length batteries, But never astoundingly huge — the S8+’s battery is virtually smaller than remaining yr’s S7 Area three,seven-hundred mAh battery. It seems likely that Samsung becomes extraordinarily careful about battery length this time around, willing to keep a smaller battery in the region in alternate for a phone much less in all likelihood to head increase within the Night.

I found that an S8+ ought to run for twenty-four hours with regular use (i.E., texting, some internet surfing, playing the occasional game or podcast). Streaming a Netflix movie at full brightness with each video choice turned up manner high (you may play with a stunning amount of the finest settings for the Samsung’s display, along with how excessive you need the resolution to head) would drain approximately 15 percentage among the finest the battery per hour, which means an impressive six hours probably the greatest video playtime. In brief, while it’s in all likelihood Samsung ought to have positioned more battery in the phone, what’s in there’ll probably be greater than enough to get you thru the day.

The Sound

Samsung has a few very fancy verbiage claiming that it is able to deliver better sounding audio than other phones. I tried out a few FLACs (essentially, truly audio documents) with a few high-give up headphones at the S8+ versus the Pixel XL, and couldn’t virtually inform tons distinction — But maybe virtually tough-center audiophiles could. (Of direction, simply tough-center audiophiles can convince themselves something sounds higher if it expenses more, so.)

What does sound highly higher are the protected earbuds, a $ninety nine pair probably the greatest AKGs made particularly for the S8. In case you’re simply into headphones, you possibly have a nicer pair — But those have a terrific sound, a material twice so that they don’t tangle as effortlessly, and are a step above something else protected in Top class smartphones. (It also means, as ought to be stated, that the S8 has a three.5-mm audio jack, so that you don’t ought to go wireless If you don’t want to.) The outside speaker is satisfactory — it can get pretty loud — But sounds quite tinny. It’ll do for a speaker smartphone call, But you aren’t gonna use it to play music.

The S8 is the primary phone to use Bluetooth five.zero, which must theoretically be cool some day. There aren’t any patron objects out there presently using this general, which is meant to lessen quite a few the headaches related to Bluetooth pairing and amplify the range, so, for now, it’s truly fine to have. That stated, I did find that the S8 paired effortlessly with the Bluetooth 4.1 and four.2 wi-fi headphones — a lot simpler than my Pixel, even though not as seamlessly as what Apple can gain with its W1 chip found in Beats and AirPods. A nice bonus: the ability to pair two units the most effective wireless headphones to the equal smartphone. So If you’re caught on an extended flight looking a film for your smartphone with someone, or simply need to pay attention to the identical song, you’re set.

Bixby

It, uh, exists? I’ve yet to use a smartphone voice assistant that I really like, except for setting the occasional timer or once in a while responding to a textual content. Bixby, Samsung’s try to create its own Siri or Google Assistant, doesn’t exchange this, and is so far, at nice, a weird icon that pops up. Bixby is supposed to do 4 matters, simplest the most effective which I used to be able to attempt out. It creates a smart feed among the best information and personalised records, together with reminders you can set to be precipitated via time or area. It has something called Bixby Imaginative and prescient, which allows with the intention to use the Camera for visible search. It’ll, in some unspecified time in the future, permit for voice manipulate probably the greatest your phone — However doesn’t presently (Samsung says the feature is coming in spring). And it is also alleged to allow for manipulate top-of-the-line smart-domestic items in your home, However I wasn’t capable of do this out.

The clever feed, Bixby home, is presently a quite unimpressive glomming together the most effective stuff: your upcoming meetings and reminders approximately who you generally call at that point top-of-the-line day, a random GIF from Giphy, trending topics from Facebook, a Flipboard information Feed, and, uh, issues for your cell phone on the market from Samsung. Google and Apple do most among the finest this, However better.

Bixby Imaginative and prescient lets in for visual search, because of this you may both tap inside the Pinterest visual seek to show you things that sorta look like what you’re looking at, or factor it at things with honestly legible textual content — like a wine bottle or an e-book — and get facts on it and approaches you can purchase it. it can additionally scan QR codes, which is a slick, new technology that everyone loves the usage of.

The real bummer approximately the whole lot is, there’s a bodily button to deliver up Bixby — a button that you can’t reprogram, which rests without delay underneath the quantity controls. I might quick fix Bixby to at once open the telephone’s Digicam, But you currently can’t try this. C’est la Samsung.

Who ought to Get It

All top one of the best who’s limping alongside on a Galaxy S5 or S6 should take the plunge. You’re already in the Samsung atmosphere, and the improvements in performance and display size will make themselves straight away recognized. It’s a more difficult name if you have the S7 or S7 Edge — Each is preserving up pleasant, and that I’d advocate staying positioned except you honestly need to have the contemporary and greatest Samsung.

If you’re in the marketplace for a Top rate smartphone, you basically have 4 alternatives proper now: the iPhone 7, the Google Pixel, the LG G6, and the Samsung S8. The iPhone 7 and Pixel are Each due for refreshes later this year, so buying them now while they’re nevertheless at full Rate seems silly.