Sexualized Saturdays: If It Looks Like a Duck, and Quacks Like a Duck, Is It Stereotyping to Call It a Duck?

(via inverse)

Cheers, love! The cavalry’s queer!

If you haven’t already heard, Blizzard Entertainment revealed to the world last month in their holiday comic Reflections that Lena “Tracer” Oxton, the mascot character for its acclaimed multiplayer game Overwatch, was a lesbian. Given how omnipresent she is in the game’s marketing, it was awesome to see this first step for queer representation within the game’s universe.

Within the statement that followed the comic’s release, in which they clarified that Tracer’s particular flavor of LGBTQ-ness was the L, Blizzard also confirmed that Tracer would not be the only character in Overwatch who identified somewhere within the alphabet soup of non-hetero sexualities. This, of course, led to immediate speculation about who else in Overwatch was queer.

My guess? All of them. We flock together. It is known. (via visitantlit)

In these discussions, Aleksandra “Zarya” Zaryanova is a frequently heard name. Indeed, Zarya’s bulky build, pink hair, and overall aesthetic seem to fit the common idea of what a butch lesbian looks like. That, however, is exactly where the discussion becomes tricky.

Dom Reviews: Overwatch

I’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of video games recently. I always enjoy the medium, and I tend to have a couple go-to comfort games that I’ll play repeatedly. But in the last month or so, I wanted to try and expand my horizons. If you frequent sites like Tumblr or Reddit, you may have heard of a nice little game by the name of Overwatch. Spoiler alert: it’s a good one.

In Brightest Day: Warcraft—An Introduction

So I made a huge mistake a couple weeks ago. In a fit of weakness, I updated World of Warcraft and began several new characters. And now, my soul belongs to the devil that is Blizzard Entertainment.

In reality, I should have started World of Warcraft back up a year ago, if only for this blog. You see, some of the major characters in the Warcraft universe have experienced unimaginable trauma. It is at the heart of this trauma that most of Warcraft‘s stories play out. And let me tell you, there are some amazing stories in the Warcraft universe. Almost too many.

Honestly, I don’t know if I could touch on all the important disabilities, both physical and mental, that have pushed the Warcraft universe to where it is today. I definitely can’t do it in one post. So I figured I would divide the problems up and focus on the major problems of all the current races in World of Warcraft.

Let me just get this out of the way; all the major characters of Warcraft suffer from the same problem. They all suffer from dangerous doses of pride and vanity. While that in of itself is a disorder, the reasoning for their pride and vanity is their disorders. Whether the character has an actual, medically recognized disorder or something like a personality quirk, it all leads to eventual downfalls.

As we move further into this, I want the readers to start considering what they would’ve done in the situations I present. For example, my first article will dive into the collapse of humanity during Warcraft III. Specifically, I will look at Prince Arthas Menethil’s shift from living as the heir to the throne of Lordaeron, to destroying his kingdom and turning his subjects into undead, to his transformation into the powerful Lich King.

In Warcraft III, Arthas is convinced that, to save his people from a curse of undeath that has begun to crop up, he must slaughter an entire city to prevent any spreading of said curse. This snowballs into a life of pure evil.

Finally, if you are a Warcraft fan, sound off in the comment section. This is a really deep lore-filled story, and I would very much like anyone who wants to mention anything to speak up.

Until Wednesday, then.