I didn't say much about Pokemon go when it first came out because I was busy writing Dragon Hand. It was quite an explosion, Pokemon Go is everywhere, everybody is playing it, it's even causing real world controversy which is actually a welcome change in the news from the usual election coverage. The biggest problem seems to be that cemetaries are upset with people coming in to play and not respecting the graves. I remember in college people throwing tailgate parties in the cemetary on game day, and one local cemetary hosts haunted tours at Halloween, but god forbid Pokemon cause any disrespect.Where else do we find Ghastly? Seriously I get it, but on the other hand some are embracing it, like the Colonie Mall in Albany NY which actually made a real world poke gym around the analog to the virtual location, or the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY which has six poke stops that they drop lures at for patrons to play around. Sadly the wave seems to be wearing down, but I know exactly why, the same eight pokemon keep appearing. No matter where you go, it seems like half the time it's Rattata, Pidgey, Weedle, Spearow, Caterpie, Eevee, Venonat, and Zubat, in roughly that order. At first it's fun to catch these and evolve them, but then you get enough for your pokedex and you're like, okay enough where's my Squirtle and Pikachu? The game's algorithm needs to get adjusted so that when you've completed evolutions for your pokedex new pokemon should be rotated in. I know Squirtles, Bulbasaurs, and Paras are in my neighborhood, but then why do the basic ones show up so much more often? I've caught over fifty and half are not evolved, so if the unevolved ones could just show up more often, I'd be happy, but enough with birds, bugs and rats please.One last note on Pokemon, the Magikarp; I came across an Asian legend that when a fish swims upstream it seeks the Dragon Gate and becomes a dragon when it passes through, the Magikarp is that fish and the difficulty of evolving it into Gyrados is meant to represent the difficulty of that journey. OGs know how hard it was to evolve the Magikarp ~20 levels with only splash, so the 400 candy requirement is the new way of teaching patience. And for anyone wondering about candy, the original game had a rare item called rare candy that leveled up Pokemon and they decided to pay tribute to that.
Now on to something sad, cosplay shaming. Last week a girl known as Bella Sparkles cosplayed as Harley Quinn and a troll decided to caption the picture "when you eat the whole Suicide Squad" just because she was extra curvy. Many fans came out in support of her, some even going too far with death threats against the troll, which is bad, don't sink to their level. But this is a big deal to me because Bella was actually cute and while objectively I would say she wasn't skinny, she still carried herself well and looked good and she should be praised for her effort because she really did make a beautiful Harley in my opinion and I hate when cosplayers like her get crap like this. When I was a kid, my mom, my sister, and just about everybody else had me convinced no girl was going to like me because I was a nerd and being interested in video games and anime would me undateable, maybe even unlovable. Now that I have seen the new geek culture, I am aware that there are plenty of hot nerd girls and probably one for me out there. But in the meantime, I have really low self-esteem and confidence because for years I thought I was alone. I know the pain these cosplayers must feel when they get crap like that and I know that it can be so discouraging that it can make some of them crawl back where they came from, which is sad. It's not just an irrational fear either, not long ago I met a cosplayer who told me she used to do Black Cat but because guys kept trying to grab her, she decided to crossplay as a male character and hide her feminine features to keep guys attention off of her. People, mostly guys, need to understand how special these girls are that they actually take the time to look at our nerdy stuff, find a sexy character and have enough admiration to dress up as the character and they don't even get paid for it, in fact most of them spend a lot making the costumes and paying for admission to the cons. They deserve respect because if they don't get it, they will stop. I don't want that, I want the girls out there doing what they do. I know they don't do it for me, fine, do it for yourself, you should. Even when you do something for others, you should try as often to enjoy it yourself as well. I wrote 7th Moon for myself and I want fans to enjoy it, I don't like people telling me my book is crap and I shouldn't be writing. Cosplayers go through the same thing. When I sell my books at a con, I enjoy watching cosplayers go by, I especially enjoy the sexy ones, yes even the plus size ones, especially the plus size ones. They make me feel not alone, and I want to take this time to say to any such girls, you're not alone. Don't let the haters get you down, you do have fans, and you are beautiful in your own way and nobody has the right to take that away from you.
No comments:
Post a Comment