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rogueslayer452++ It's been announced that the last book of James S.A. Corey's The Expanse series is going to be called Leviathan Falls. A perfect bookend title, truly. This is the ninth and last book of the entire series, which will be released sometime in 2021. I know fans are excited for this, and it makes me hope that the show continues on long enough to adapt the entirety of the series.
++ Tatiana Maslany has been cast to be She-Hulk for Disney+. Honestly? Fantastic casting. I love Tatiana, she's incredibly talented (obviously, if you've seen her in Orphan Black you know). I'm just happy she's getting more recognition in general.
++ The trailer dropped for Hogwarts: Legacy, the first open world RPG video game for the Harry Potter franchise that will be released in 2021.
I know that it's been claimed that JKR isn't involved with the game, but the reality is that she still profits off of anything Wizarding World related, whether she was involved in the production of something or not. It's a delicate time right now concerning Joke Karen and her public bigoted antics, with many fans questioning whether or not they should even engage or buy anything HP-related anymore as to not support her, that debate has been going on for a long while now, even more so in recent months. It's a complicated situation where neither I, nor anyone else, can tell people what to do in that regard. With that being said, an RPG game centered around Harry Potter is something many fans have been wanting for years, and it's kind of amazing that we're finally getting it now. Hell, I remember thinking that Pottermore was going to be that and was sourly disappointed when it wasn't. Because let's be honest, the Wizarding World in itself is massive and the possibilities are endless with exploring that world and everything else in between.
So yeah, the trailer certainly looks good and interesting, though I'll have to wait to see footage of actual gameplay since cinematic trailers for video games are often quite different and may not actually reflect the final product itself. So we shall see if it lives up to the hype.
++ Tatiana Maslany has been cast to be She-Hulk for Disney+. Honestly? Fantastic casting. I love Tatiana, she's incredibly talented (obviously, if you've seen her in Orphan Black you know). I'm just happy she's getting more recognition in general.
++ The trailer dropped for Hogwarts: Legacy, the first open world RPG video game for the Harry Potter franchise that will be released in 2021.
I know that it's been claimed that JKR isn't involved with the game, but the reality is that she still profits off of anything Wizarding World related, whether she was involved in the production of something or not. It's a delicate time right now concerning Joke Karen and her public bigoted antics, with many fans questioning whether or not they should even engage or buy anything HP-related anymore as to not support her, that debate has been going on for a long while now, even more so in recent months. It's a complicated situation where neither I, nor anyone else, can tell people what to do in that regard. With that being said, an RPG game centered around Harry Potter is something many fans have been wanting for years, and it's kind of amazing that we're finally getting it now. Hell, I remember thinking that Pottermore was going to be that and was sourly disappointed when it wasn't. Because let's be honest, the Wizarding World in itself is massive and the possibilities are endless with exploring that world and everything else in between.
So yeah, the trailer certainly looks good and interesting, though I'll have to wait to see footage of actual gameplay since cinematic trailers for video games are often quite different and may not actually reflect the final product itself. So we shall see if it lives up to the hype.
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Date: 2020-09-19 11:53 am (UTC)Tatiana Maslany was so good in Orphan Black! I don't know if I'll be watching this (I also won't be renewing my subscription so nope if it comes out after that), but I hope she gets that recognition too.
God, the JK / Legacy shitshow on twitter was honestly a mess. Half the people telling the other half how horrible a human they are if they're gonna buy it, the other half telling the first half to go fff themselves. Crazy. It's a complicated thing. I won't have a PS5 so I don't have to make this decision, but damn, as you say people have been waiting for this game their entire lives, and Harry Potter has been such an important thing in so many people's lives, lifesaving often. I saw somebody saying it was "time to let go" of Harry Potter, and even I found myself thinking 'nope, can't'. What a mess.
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Date: 2020-09-19 12:10 pm (UTC)LOL I usually just go with Just Kidding. It's so sad that she keeps going on that road...
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Date: 2020-09-19 02:35 pm (UTC)I've mostly seen her in Perry Mason, but Tatiana was fantastic in it! I'm excited about the casting.
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Date: 2020-09-19 04:55 pm (UTC)I haven't seen the new Perry Mason series so I didn't know that she was in it, but she's just utterly wonderful and I'm glad she's getting this amazing opportunity.
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Date: 2020-09-19 04:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-19 05:32 pm (UTC)There's been a lot of complicated feelings and opinions on this matter. And I, personally, hate it whenever I see someone say, "it's time to let HP go" or more aggressively "go read another book/find another franchise", because I feel like those are the kind of people who love acting morally superior in not only taking pride in disliking HP in general but also in telling people what they should or shouldn't like. Yes, everything that's been revealed about JKR (ironically, by her own volition) is horrible and downright despicable, and it's creating a lot of mixed emotions and reactions from everyone, especially those who hold the HP series close to their hearts. Telling people to "get over" something isn't helping.
At the end of the day, this is a very complicated issue and it's not as easy as, "just dismiss this series you love so much and give her nothing" nor is it "just ignore her and enjoy what you like" either. It's a very, very gray area that we're still trying to figure out how to go about it and how to properly combat this issue. At this point, it's all personal discretion.
(Plus, Twitter is not the greatest place for constructive discussions on this matter, it's just Reactionary Land to an extreme and it's just so messy over there in general.)
I feel bad for the game developers and everyone else who worked on the game, because yeah, JKR is an awful person and they're caught in the middle of all this mess and it's unfair to them.
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Date: 2020-09-19 06:01 pm (UTC)Glad to have Tatiana Maslany back on the screen! Not sure it can live up to her Orphan Black roles, of course, but I hear her performance in Perry Mason was top notch so hopefully she's still giving it her all.
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Date: 2020-09-19 06:05 pm (UTC)The man who painted our house is a fan of the show (and so is his wife, whom he says isn't usually into scifi) but thought the books got duller as it went on, though.
Agreement with all you said about you know what.
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Date: 2020-09-20 10:58 am (UTC)There will be a game in the Harry Potter-Universe? I always wanted to have such a game before J.K.Rowling showed her true self... damn, that is so hard. I don't want to support her but a game in the univere and an open-world … that sounds awesome.
:|
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Date: 2020-09-20 04:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-20 05:00 pm (UTC)I have no doubt that she'll be fantastic. :)
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Date: 2020-09-21 01:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-21 03:32 pm (UTC)The news about Tatiana made me the happiest! :D But gods, the man tears! I read a tweet about a guy saying that she wasn't muscular enough. Because, obviously, CGI is NEVER involved when it comes to the Hulk, huh? I mean, look at Edward Norton!! SO BUFFED. Ugh, I can't with those comments.
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Date: 2020-09-21 04:39 pm (UTC)I haven't seen anything negative about Tatiana's casting the corners of the Internet I go to, thankfully, but I have no doubt that there will be whining from those who will try to claim that she's not muscular enough to play the character. Ugh, people will find any excuse to just be bitter for no reason.
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Date: 2020-09-21 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-21 10:00 pm (UTC)I think the problem is there's no divorcing JKR from HP at a fundamental level- like yeah, you can say she wasn't involved, but she and her estate are gonna have those IP rights for a long time, and it's still her thing. It'd be like divorcing Tolkien from LOTR, or Mickey Mouse from Disney- you can move them away in any number of directions, but it's always linked to them.
Which isn't to say you can't retool something for a better intent, or even one that runs contrary to the original authorial intent- but I think it's an easier problem to approach once you get past the JKR=/=HP, but JKR~HP instead. Cause it looks like a neat game, assuming it is a proper open world RPG in the HP world. But I'll hold judgement on that.
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Date: 2020-09-22 12:48 am (UTC)I do feel bad for whoever the developers were, to finally release the trailer now of all the times. I've heard whispers that at least one of them is actually quite critical of JKR's views, too, although who knows if (a) that really was him/his daughter (I think?) and (b) if he was covering his own butt or being earnest. I'm definitely hesitant to purchase it even if it is feasible for me to and even if they really are against JKR's words, unfortunately. At least without knowing how much JKR gets. If she gets the smallest of fractions of it, I'd be more at ease than if she gets 50% of the profits.
It's a complicated situation where neither I, nor anyone else, can tell people what to do in that regard.
Oh, absolutely! And I want to make it clear that I'm only talking about my personal boundaries, which I'm honestly still grappling with. I am listening to a Harry Potter podcast and thoroughly enjoy it, but it helps big time that the hosts have also spoken out against JK Rowling and have tried to unpack some of the more concerning elements of the books, beyond JK Rowling's stances. So I guess in that sense, the nostalgia feels "safe"?
Back to the game, I definitely don't think there's anything inherently wrong with playing it, especially if it's something you've been looking forward to. JKR doesn't get that power. I just think it's a matter of how you decide to approach this very complicated matter.
(I'm such a Hufflepuff. LOL.)
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Date: 2020-09-24 07:58 pm (UTC)A friend asked me if I wanted the new Harry Potter LEGO minifigs and I just couldn't do it. She gets money based on how well things sell (I mean they likely pay her up front but if they think things will sell less she'd get less for the licensing fee I think) and I just couldn't give her money.
My brother said I'm going to love the game, it's like the perfect one fans have been wanting and now... I just feel so torn about it.
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Date: 2020-09-24 08:45 pm (UTC)And it's okay to feel torn about it, many fans are very conflicted, as I am as well, on how to pursue things going forward with their consumption of anything HP-related. Again, it's a personal decision and one that isn't easily made. Mostly, I just feel bad for the game developers and everyone else who worked on the RPG, it's not their fault the author turned out to be a horrible human being.
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Date: 2020-09-24 08:53 pm (UTC)And yeah, exactly. I know why some are trying to ignore it through memes as a coping mechanism, but at the end of the day we have to acknowledge that no matter what, JKR is still associated with anything HP-related because she created the story, she wrote the books. It is her intellectual property and there's no getting around that. And I agree, it'll be easier to deal with once people do acknowledge that very fact so we can move onto figuring out how to approach things going forward.
Cause it looks like a neat game, assuming it is a proper open world RPG in the HP world. But I'll hold judgement on that.
I'm in the same boat with that, as well, because we can only judge based on the cinematics they release but we need actual gameplay to determine whether or not it'll be worth it.
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Date: 2020-09-24 09:46 pm (UTC)That could be a number of things, to be honest. There are a lot of games that are promised to be one thing, but then the end result turns out to not be the case.
Is this one more of a sandbox/God Game? From the trailer it definitely looks like it follows some timeline, but perhaps not quite as stringent as the other game.
I'm not entirely sure, clearly there is a timeline since it's set in the 1800s and supposedly it's about you making a "change" in what's to come in the future, so I'm not entirely certain what that means. I really want it to be where you can truly explore the Wizarding World as a whole, where there are no specific points and where you can literally just do whatever. I want it to be something like Skyrim or Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild where there is a main story, but you can just venture off that path and do all sorts of side quests. IDK the exact intention of the game, so we'll see what happens with it.
I do feel bad for whoever the developers were, to finally release the trailer now of all the times.
Yeah, that's my takeaway from this whole thing, I feel incredibly bad for the developers and everyone else who worked on the game because, video games aren't easy to create, RPG or otherwise. And imagine putting all that time and hard work only for people to be questioning whether they want to buy it or not, really does suck. It's not their fault that JKR has revealed herself to be a horrible human being.
As I've said before, as a whole it's a complicated situation where I don't think there is one right answer. People will say, "if you still read/watch/buy anything HP you're an awful person who doesn't care about [name marginalized group here]", which is oversimplifying the entire situation. Some people have already made up their minds, and that's good. Others are still deciding or on the fence, and they're allowed to do that. Not everyone is going to be the same in what they decide to do, because it is a personal decision. I'm just really tired of seeing people shame or put down others for not following in their own moral actions.
I still enjoy the characters and the world, since I've come to the conclusion that most of my enjoyment of the series mostly comes from my involvement in the fandom and less with canon, but I'm also still debating on what to do in the future.
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Date: 2020-09-25 12:01 pm (UTC)That could be a number of things, to be honest. There are a lot of games that are promised to be one thing, but then the end result turns out to not be the case.
Good point. Look at the nightmare that was Spore.
I'm not entirely sure, clearly there is a timeline since it's set in the 1800s and supposedly it's about you making a "change" in what's to come in the future, so I'm not entirely certain what that means. I really want it to be where you can truly explore the Wizarding World as a whole, where there are no specific points and where you can literally just do whatever
Me too. That would be so much fun. I would also love a Founders era game along those same lines.
Yeah, that's my takeaway from this whole thing, I feel incredibly bad for the developers and everyone else who worked on the game because, video games aren't easy to create, RPG or otherwise. And imagine putting all that time and hard work only for people to be questioning whether they want to buy it or not, really does suck. It's not their fault that JKR has revealed herself to be a horrible human being.
Exactly. I can't even imagine. And for all we know, some of them are personally affected by this.
The thing I don't like is how dismissive some people are being. I saw a post on twitter that was to the effect of, "did anyone even like the books before the movies?" Um... yes? They were pretty much a raging success. I think the movies popularized them even more, but the movies also got so much hype because the books alone got so much hype.
I also don't think people realize how much the books and the fandom meant to a lot of us. It's fine if it was never your thing, but have a little empathy, maybe?
I still enjoy the characters and the world, since I've come to the conclusion that most of my enjoyment of the series mostly comes from my involvement in the fandom and less with canon,
I agree. Even my own theories had their own life, and there were always elements of fanon I preferred over canon. I loved the books very much, but my fandom involvement was a bit different. I think my biggest point of contention is how I view the books alone, but even then, I have my own interpretation of and takeaway from the text. It would definitely help if JKR had just said that one horrible thing and gone away, rather than continuing to be terrible, but I can read them for what I want. Maybe. I haven't tried to re-read them in quite a while.
t. Not everyone is going to be the same in what they decide to do, because it is a personal decision. I'm just really tired of seeing people shame or put down others for not following in their own moral actions.
Right?! I don't think there's any "right" way to respond to all of this. Okay, within reason, siding with her would be wrong. But I'm definitely speaking in the context of not being a terrible person who agrees with The Author.
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Date: 2020-09-25 12:06 pm (UTC)I saw that as well. Disgusting.
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Date: 2020-09-25 07:39 pm (UTC)Also the controversy surrounding No Man's Sky. That one was a doozy.
The thing I don't like is how dismissive some people are being.
The sad thing is, this happens every time something like this happens, like there's a big exposure of how terrible a person of something we loved turned out to be and you have people come out of the woodwork to act morally superior by putting down those who enjoyed said thing or person. From people going "I never liked HP anyway" to even those saying "read another book" if people are that torn up about it and it's just so...unnecessary and mean-spirited. I can understand the frustrations from those who tried warning people for years about JKR's various forms of bigotry, but even those can become mean-spirited by turning it around and going, "if you cared about [insert social issue] you wouldn't even bother with HP" which is, well, kind of lacking in critical thought because it's way more complicated and nuanced than that. But then, this is how reactionary culture is, they don't care about having a constructive discussion but just yelling and trying to say clever/witty things on social media to appear intellectual when they just are being idiots.
This is a very emotional and sensitive topic that there truly is no one right answer to the handle it, and people are allowed to feel however they want to about it. With that being said, compassion and empathy is needed, and not jumping to black-and-white mentalities.
I think my biggest point of contention is how I view the books alone, but even then, I have my own interpretation of and takeaway from the text.
Exactly. And, isn't that the point of rereading or revisiting something you once loved? Haven't we all gone and reread or rewatched something we loved growing up that was a huge influence on our lives and looked at it differently?
That is something we should view HP, and hell, that's precisely what fandom has been doing for years now. People have reread the books and pointed out the inconsistencies and flaws of the writing and the world, something that we probably didn't catch when we first read them, and fandom has done what it always does: by examining, reconstructing/deconstructing, and having different interpretations of it through transformative fanworks. To say that people cannot enjoy HP anymore because the author is a bad person and her views are reflected in her works is really undervaluing the importance of fandom.
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Date: 2020-09-29 12:55 pm (UTC)It's such a weird hill to choose to die on and she's harming not only the trans community (although that's the most important harm so I don't want to downplay that) but everyone else who depends on the franchise for employment. All she had to do was not tweet the hateful thoughts in her brain.
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Date: 2020-09-29 06:25 pm (UTC)Unrelated to that horribleness - you seem cool, want to be LJ friends?
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Date: 2020-09-29 07:08 pm (UTC)She's hurting so many people with her hateful rhetoric, but the problem is that she believes she's in the right. In her mind, she is just speaking out as a woman concerning woman issues and, anyone who is attacking her, is attacking a woman for voicing an opinion. And instead of actually doing research and doing some reflecting, she is going on the defensive and doubling down harder. Which, while I have no doubt that there are people who are sending her threats (and that's not right no matter the circumstances), that doesn't negate the issue. We can call out those people who are sending her hateful messages with gendered insults while also calling her out for spreading misinformation and perpetuating transphobic views. It's not mutually exclusive.
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Date: 2020-09-29 10:23 pm (UTC)The sad thing is that I totally fell for the PR claim, because I actually have accidentally liked unfortunate things before. But how many mistakes can a person make?? Then she outright said it... :/
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Date: 2020-09-30 12:30 pm (UTC)At this point she can't claim ignorance and she's clearly sharing these things on purpose. I think she has a lot of issues with gender, and self hatred and also hatred of men. None of this has to do with the trans community but she's decided that it's all the same thing and instead of going to therapy she's just ranting on Twitter and ruining her own legacy.
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Date: 2020-09-30 02:36 pm (UTC)She really thinks she's the little person standing against tyranny but is missing that due to her ability to reach millions, and donate to politics and enact horrible social change, she's the tyrant.
I emailed her when she wrote her manifesto and wrote that I was not surprised she could find supporters. If she took to Twitter saying black people were lazy and she wanted a return to slavery, or that women should not be allowed to work and should just make babies and cook their husband three meals a day, or anything that was equally as wrong, she'd have people emailing her their support. Just because someone says you're right doesn't make it so.
I fully think that anyone sending her death/rape threats or any kind of harm are in the wrong. You're right, I can condemn that behavior and also condemn her hate speech.
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Date: 2020-09-30 11:07 pm (UTC)Exactly, and it doesn't matter whether you have a popular or unpopular opinion, hateful or not, you ultimately will find people who share the same thoughts as you and say that you're right. The problem is that JKR had already chosen her side long before this publicly took off (her following certain individuals on Twitter, for example), she just cemented it further once the backlash blew up.
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Date: 2020-10-01 09:52 am (UTC)Thank you! Yeah, I totally thought it was reasonable to contend that she made an innocent mistake, as well as that she might not have known the implications of following the accounts she was. I know I have family members and friends who really don't seem to understand what they do on social media matters. Obviously at this point it's crystal clear that she knows exactly what she's doing, but at the time I was willing to say "maybe she's just being clueless."
Or even held ignorant opinions about things we didn't understand and with education and time grew to know better..
Oh, definitely. I've said and thought some things that make me cringe hard now, but the point is I learned and have tried to do better. It's funny because in my twenties I considered myself super progressive, but while I was in a lot of ways, I had some not so progressive views, or I simply didn't know things that seem stupid not to have known in retrospect. Yet I can understand why I honestly had no idea. The thing is though, I don't actually like people being marginalized and mistreated, so when I've learned better I've tried to do better. Which JK Rowling refuses to do.
I think you're also right that this might be coming from a place of self-hatred and gender issues. Everything she went through was terrible, but as you point out, it's not the fault of the trans community. As far as I can tell, her father and ex-husband were cisgender men. If anything, that should make her understand how men like that can make it harder for trans men and women. Why we need inclusive bathrooms.* How very few trans men and women use their identities to hurt people, and more often it's them being attacked. She should have empathy, rather than holding bias.
I wonder if she even has PR people anymore, because you'd think they would be pointing out that she's damaging her own legacy. But my guess is she's probably powerful enough to get new ones.
*And can I just say that public bathrooms are disgusting? I'm just relieved when I go into a bathroom and there's not what I hope is just water on the floor, no one trying to open the door, someone actually opening the door because the latch on the stall was funky, it isn't cold, someone hasn't either used heavy perfume or smoked or both, making me gag while I'm trying to do my thing... I don't give a rat's ass who is in the bathroom with me or who walks out of the bathroom. That's not what I'm thinking about.
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Date: 2020-10-02 08:18 pm (UTC)I'm not much of a gamer, but the trailer does look good. I'm definitely on the fence on buying HP things though. On the one hand: other people who probably need the paycheck get money from these things. On the other: I don't want to give her any money.