I didn't much care for Isabella, but I'm biased. In my one playthrough of DA2 (I need to play it again some time), I didn't get her influence up enough (It was something incredibly small, like five points behind), and she left me . Screw her. Everyone else stayed by my side. That said, I really didn't hate DAII like some did. I only played it once, so perhaps its may flaws would become glaring upon later playthroughs, but I thought it had some fantastic ideas buried in somewhat lackluster execution. I particularly enjoyed the diverse ways in which your companions can respond to you, and the wide range of things that can happen to you ( like the many different things that can happen to your sibling based on seemingly insignificant factors)
For a very brief moment I thought that might happen in the Plagueis novel with Palps. His lack of interest in the woman flirting and the way Doriana is noted as being attractive...
One does not "explain" Triclops, or any part of the Glove of Darth Vader. One can only experience it.
IIRC, Triclops was retconned as the likely product of a secret science experiment designed to produce life. Palpatine may still have been involved to some degree, but I doubt it was... physical.
Good -- all the more reason why Ederlathh is the only legitimate blood heir of His Imperial Majesty! Well actually.... it's already canon. Vadey/Palps 4EVA!
Evasive Action: Recruitment, one of the old TOS Hyperspace webstrips that came out just around ROTS. It has the Emperor, Vader, AND a young Tremayne -- what more could one want? edit: also a Wookiee Jedi iirc. Although he may have been in Evasive Action: Rendezvous. Not sure.
Oh, darn. All those furries look the same to me. Otters, walking carpets... whatever *notices this is the Diversity thread* oh ****.
Oh, I'm not just singling out Bioware. I'm pointing out that the media had to publicize it. I have no problem with homosexuality in games, comics, books, whatever. That's fine. For mist's sake, I have a collection of yaoi and I've read my fair share of slash, and I admit to writing some back in the day (No, I won't tell you who were paired)! By all means, bring it on! Bonus points if it's interspecies yaoi/yuri. Particularly if it shows up on its own accord and was not editorially mandated and then publicized in various news outlets, pointing it out like it was some giant neon sign. Homosexuality in franchise media is not a new thing by any stretch of the imagination. It's when the public press become involved to point out how "edgy" and "cool" it is, and how the company responsible for it is "looking out for equality," that's when it becomes politically correct. When the media has to point it out to the general populace that "Hey, look! This franchise embraces homosexuality!" and practically cram it down your throat, then there's a problem. If you don't snap to with the media mandate, then you're not with them, and thus, you're the "enemy." Nothing can just happen on its own accord, anymore. If it does, the editors pounce on it and publicize it. If it doesn't, then the editors demand it because the Powers that Be can't risk looking like the "enemy," or being left behind on the "latest trend." It's the same as with autism, these days. It's suddenly "cool" to either have it or know someone who does.
Ah OK I get what you mean. In this case though I'm not sure that's the case. The SGRA thread before launch received more than 50,000 posts and was the most posted in thread on the forums, since launch it has received over 11,000 posts, is still the most posted in thread on the forums and has been an extremely hot topic. In every Q&A they've posted the largest number of questions asked has always been when SGRA content is coming with over 25% of the questions asked pertaining to it. With this situation I think they were genuinely relieved to be able to post something about it after ten months of not saying anything official at all on the subject.
These days, things that we took for granted or weren't thought about quite as often have become "trendy" and publishers want to pounce on it quickly. It's sad, really. Before, being a nerd was a sign of being socially awkward and "weird." Nerds were only "cool" to other nerds. Nowadays, it's a fashion trend and it's annoying. The same with LBGT content; it's become a "trend." Developmental disorders have become a "trend." Even bullying is starting to take on a "trend" status. The more the public is made aware of it by the media, the more it becomes a "trend." It's "trendy" to have a homosexual female character with autism, who is bullied for being a nerd.
We've been over this line or criticism before; you could probably search this thread for the word "throat" and find at least two or three other instances of basically that same first sentence.. The counter argument to that, briefly, is that people's lives are never a "trend". You'd agree with that, I'd wager. If the media seizes on SGR and over-sensationalizes it, well, that's not a great thing, and if creators encourage that kind of thing purely for the attention it generates, well, that's not great either. But forward progress is forward progress; reacting to it cynically doesn't outweigh the inherent good of it, and focusing on the cynicism doesn't accomplish anything. Further, that you have to spell out your own particular definition of "political correctness" reinforces my own opinion that the term is essentially meaningless, and is used by anyone in any situation as a straw man for "this annoys me". Kinda like "hipster".
I suppose I... take an instrumentalist take on it. While the consistent commercialization of these trends feels exploitative and at times insulting, it can have its benefits in terms of greater awareness. I'll use positive and negative examples to illustrate. Negative example: Big Bang Theory. I know a lot of people love this show, but essentially it feels like a show geared more towards making fun of nerds than it is laughing with them. It's still popular among nerds for the inexplicable reason that it references things that they're familiar with, and for some reason they lap it up as if this abuse were acceptable because they're so starved of main stream recognition. Combine it with the extremely low bar (and low brow) they set for their humor, and the generic-ness of it all... yeah. Positive examples: Community, How I Met Your Mother, 30 Rock, etc. Now while some of these shows need to be put out to pasture, the point is that they often feature the same sort of "nerd" humor but the difference is that they're created by real people: people who aren't socially inept (well -- entirely so, at least) and who aren't completely oblivious to the real world. I think the characters in these shows act more plausible in that they're normal people who happen to be nerdy and therefore it comes out every so often. That's a better sort of recognition/validation, I should think. So while the negative examples are extremely frustrating and annoying, the positive examples only exist because studios felt that there was enough awareness and permeation in mainstream culture for these things to be viable. The difference, of course, is that the former is exploitative and the latter is lovingly created by people who actually partake in these things, but they're bankrolled by the same people. I feel the same is true about, say, homosexuality. There's a lot of media exploitation involved -- think of tropes like your hot lesbians or your stylish gay man. But there's also increasing awareness in general, which leads to increasing mainstream tolerance of homosexuality -- the more people aren't scared of it (remember, unknowns are scary), the less likely that inequitable legal regimes are to persist. !!
You want to watch a show that embraces the geek/nerd in the perfect manner? Look no further than NBC's Chuck. Sadly off the air now after five seasons, but one of my all time favorite shows and one that embraced geekiness in exactly the right manner. AdmiralNick22 does have a heart. And the relationship between Chuck & Sarah in that show still make this old admirals heart melt and brings a smile to his face. --Adm. Nick
