Journal of Other Forum Analysis

[Potato]

Thanks, I was trying to find this and the phone one outside the car but could only find the car one bork made.

It's in the emote thread

[D3RANG3D]

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

nep-nep?

[Boredfrom]

If I was Brie Larson, I'd dump this shit. The MCU wastes her talent (she won an oscar!) by making her play a robot and she has to deal with the most annoying people on the internet

I imagine she wouldn’t have half the hate she does if she didn’t went into that rant about yts critics no understanding diversity. 

Sure just give Iman Vellani a Kamala movie
"but Marvels bombe-"
I DONT GIVE A SHIT

I'll say this- Marvel is so lucky that have Iman because every change they make to Kamala (both in this movie and her TV show) fucking sucks. Kamala is one of the most popular modern new characters and it seems like they're trying their hardest to make her bad

She is so popular that her AAA video game bombed, her Disney+ series bombed and her film bombed.
How is Miles Morales doing? 

[Potato]

Wow, just learned about another transphobic crime by CDPR thanks to a Kotaku article from back in June:

Cyberpunk 2077 launched as a broken game. But as someone who was going through the early work of gender transition during a world-stopping pandemic at the time, it somehow made sense that the big-budget, mega-popular video game everyone was so hyped about was also falling the fuck apart.

Amid the heat of the pandemic, most nights for me would end the same, especially before I started hormone therapy: I’d drink myself to sleep, usually waking up with the sun glaring through the window of my bathroom, where I’d ended up at some point in the evening. I would just lay there, staring at the ceiling before finally pulling myself up to look in the mirror, the pain of which was always a trial.

Peeling myself away from the mirror those mornings (which were often in actuality afternoons, or evenings), I’d mosey over to my computer to play a distracting video game. Cyberpunk’s disastrous launch state was alluring. I had enough of seeing the disaster of myself in the mirror, enough of seeing the disaster of the world outside, so why not go check out something else busted to make me feel a little better about this fucked-up world, and my place in it?

Playing Cyberpunk 2077 at launch was an experience in harmony with gender dysphoria, which for some trans people is a condition that can spontaneously ebb to the point that it feels like it was never present in the first place. It will lie to you, creating an illusion that the life you’re living is fine, is good enough. Gender dysphoria will shrink until it’s just rough edges of discomfort you can excuse away as something else. You just get used to it. Until you can’t.

Like a violent glitch that suddenly sends your car flying halfway across Night City and buries V into the side of a building, you’ll catch yourself in the mirror or notice something about your body and realize it’s not fine, and that some mixture of the software and hardware that is “you” is not playing well, is crashing to desktop again. Or in my case, the beer-bottle-littered floor.

Here, V awakens from a mission gone wrong to find out she’s not alone in her head. In Cyberpunk 2077, that additional mental construct is a messed-up former rockstar from whom the world has moved on, zealous in his perspectives on society and completely willing to risk his life for them. It was the kind of person I knew well; it was the kind of person I myself had been before coming out, having traveled the country and other parts of the world playing metal music in venue after venue, night after night.

That extra person, that construct, wanted to take over my brain and push me out, turning me into nothing more than a loud-ass walking stereotype. It was what I had to resist. Am I talking about the game or about how hard it was to finally come out and override my own faux construct? Probably both.

Whenever a friend would ask me what I thought of Cyberpunk 2077, I’d give some variation of the same answer: “It’s a broken game about a broken world where I’m a trans woman with the consciousness of a self-destructive male rockstar stuck in her head and she has to take pills to make him go away.” Anyone to whom I would’ve said this already knew I was trans and knew about my previous life as a touring metal guitarist. There’d usually be a collective moment of silence and an unvoiced, “oh…” in response.

The state of the game and the disastrous situation my V found herself in from the beginning mirrored my life…and then the Johnny Silverhand flashbacks only doubled down on the parallels.

The opening moments of “Love Like Fire,” in which you first experience this figure now riding shotgun in your brain through Johnny’s memories of being backstage at a small club before going on, reminded me vividly of countless nights I’d lived through myself, and the way the game framed Johnny’s experience there was essentially how I’d felt for 30 years of my life: that I’m not me. That I’m just going through the motions—the script.

When Johnny says into the mic, “I’m here to say goodbye,” it reminded me of the last show I played before quitting tour life. And just as that night ended violently for Johnny, so did my own final show during that chapter. Full of rage about the music industry and my place in it, I threw my guitar against the wall. I’d quit a few short days later.

My departure meant the death of the band, an expensive, ambitious project. “So you’re just going to fucking burn this all down?” a bandmate asked me. Yeah. Like the Arasaka Towers, I did.

But in 2020 those memories were nearly four years old. I had come out as a woman, ready to start medical transition, and was living my life anew. And like Johnny glitching himself into existence to haunt V, so did my former life bedevil me. For the first year and a half of transition it was a trial to even touch a guitar. To do so would just summon my own Johnny Silverhand, interrupting me and fucking with my sense of reality and identity. And like V, I had a choice to make.

But every interaction with Johnny Silverhand made it too hard to ignore the obvious question I’d been wrestling with and would continue to wrestle with: Do I choose hostility or grace when faced with aspects of my life that make me uncomfortable? Do I learn to make peace with this unwanted “other” self, or do I tell him to fuck off? Do I give in and let this other identity take the wheel? Or do I just eat pills, take blockers, and see what happens?

nikudan
6/07/23 3:11pm
Wow. Thank you for sharing. There is something about this game. I have had two trans friends also talk to me about how it was special to them, though not for anything like the reason this article spoke of.

Skamanda
6/08/23 10:08am
I had the same sort of experience with my own gender dysphoria, the first time I played through Cyberpunk...

And I guess I’m about to start another playthrough...

How are these people so ignorant about what CDPR stands for, endless hatred and genocide? I don't think they even read the STAFF COMMUNICATION on ResetERA.com at all.

Gender dysphoria is absolutely debilitating and we must adapt society and even language to help those suffering from it, lest we be complicit in genocide.

Also having gender dysphoria is a lot like that time I played a buggy game.

Gender dysphoria is a made up mental health condition that exists so pharmaceutical companies can sell hormones. These people should be seeing psychotherapists, not general surgeons.

[Boredfrom]

Today in “not sure if trolling”:

I haven't seen it yet (fell asleep early last night after a family dinner) but the reactions I've seen have me completely hyped. I'm going to Disneyland in a couple of weeks, I'm hoping for some good Loki merch out of the Avengers Campus store.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/i-know-folks-are-down-on-marvel-but-loki-just-ended-with-some-of-the-best-character-arcs-i-seen-in-a-while-lite-spoilers.783848/

[ComeAgain]

The meltdowns, the ferocious spin. They are predictably not at all handling the MCU being in free fall. Then falling back on the usual “well the first Captain Marvel made so much money”, yes because it was the movie in between Infinity War and Endgame and people were still hanging on every word the movies were saying. That and “No Way Home set records!” yes because of the nostalgia of getting to see the Raimi era Spidey and two of the villains from his first two movies. Stark-Man isn’t the reason everyone saw that multiple times.

[Hap Shaughnessy]

She'd be a sick link tbh

See, this guy know what's up. I wonder how they are going to react to his post.

You mean Zelda or Link as a girl?

https://www.resetera.com/threads/hunter-schafer-euphoria-playing-princess-zelda-in-nintendo%E2%80%99s-live-action-the-legend-of-zelda-movie-would-be-so-cool.783617/page-3#post-114722300

User Banned (1 Month): Transphobic Commentary Across a Series of Posts; History of Innapropriate and Bigoted Commentary in Sensitive Threads

Link as a dude played by her if she was down for it

I think she'd work in either role tbh

[HaughtyFrank]

She should play Link instead

Edit: well I'm late to the party

Can't believe this has to be spelled out, but a trans woman playing a male character would be really bad optics.

Interesting, because Link being played by a cis woman wouldn't actually be too weird of a choice considering he's pretty androgynous to begin with, but I guess that's something where trans women aren't women then.

[Potato]

"Series of posts" seems to be coming into some prominence in their bullshit ban reasons hierarchy.

How does two posts, one which was baited, qualify as a series?

[Besticus Maximus]

it would be hard to look at, so they're right on that count

[Hap Shaughnessy]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-marvels-early-box-office-prediction-is-50-75mil-domestic-opening-presales-72-behind-quantumania.774407/page-53#post-114750152

how much of this low key latent misogyny btw?

[Polident]

It’s honestly hard to keep track of what’s kosher, err, halal. Some years ago Scarlett Johansson was planning a movie where she was set to play a trans woman. Big hissy fit and the entire project was scrapped. So, cis woman playing trans woman is bad. Cis woman playing trans man is bad. Trans woman playing cis woman is fine. Cis man playing trans woman is bad. But also cis woman playing cis man is fine, while cis man playing cis woman isn’t?

[HaughtyFrank]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-marvels-early-box-office-prediction-is-50-75mil-domestic-opening-presales-72-behind-quantumania.774407/page-53#post-114750152

how much of this low key latent misogyny btw?

Idk men are the only people who showed up to watch it apparently

[Hap Shaughnessy]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/deadline-the-marvels-hovers-around-6m-thursday-night-box-office.783836/page-5#post-114742460

Yuuuuuup. Hell this thread is already bringing in the "Marvel was crap all along" folks too.

You can't seriously lump in the chuds with the people who just don't like Marvel movies.

I used to love Marvel movies, but then the shtick got old, the movies started feeling like a conveyor belt product while other more interesting things started coming out.

Hell, The Boys, Gen V and Invincible have come out and made a lot of people look at the MCU with a different set of eyes.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/deadline-the-marvels-hovers-around-6m-thursday-night-box-office.783836/page-6#post-114746477

Cool, I' don't care for this song and dance. I guess it wouldn't be a Marvel thread without defensive gaslighting (for the record I'm NOT saying you're an incel if you don't like Marvel)

[Potato]

It’s honestly hard to keep track of what’s kosher, err, halal. Some years ago Scarlett Johansson was planning a movie where she was set to play a trans woman. Big hissy fit and the entire project was scrapped. So, cis woman playing trans woman is bad. Cis woman playing trans man is bad. Trans woman playing cis woman is fine. Cis man playing trans woman is bad. But also cis woman playing cis man is fine, while cis man playing cis woman isn’t?

It's almost like it's just a made up bunch of bullshit, right?

[Gameboy Nostalgia]

sorry transbians no one wants to see a 3 womyn led film. it does nothing for us real folx. Where the fuck are the hot men? 

edit: top page gadot

[Tucker's Law]

She should play Link instead

Edit: well I'm late to the party

Can't believe this has to be spelled out, but a trans woman playing a male character would be really bad optics.

Interesting, because Link being played by a cis woman wouldn't actually be too weird of a choice considering he's pretty androgynous to begin with, but I guess that's something where trans women aren't women then.

Women have portrayed Peter Pan without anyone having issue.

Princess Fuglygums is mad at being reminded they are not, nor ever will they ever be, a woman.

[Snoopy]

I feel bad for incels who like Marvel. Not only are they permanent virgins, they have to be friends with Jeff Marvel

[Gameboy Nostalgia]

It's been over 24 hours since the last ZeoVGM twitter update and I'm literally going to complain to the moderation for not keeping us informed.

[Nintex]

Ok let me say it.

Marvel is the Sonic of movie franchises.

They keep introducing new shitty friends nobody cares about, quality takes a nose dive and the makers lean into weird fetishes to keep their hardcore fans aroused.

[Hap Shaughnessy]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/deadline-the-marvels-hovers-around-6m-thursday-night-box-office.783836/page-7#post-114748658

You think the post-Endgame superheroes are more interesting than those from Phase 1?

You think they've adequately replaced the star talent of the likes of Chris Evans, RDJ, Mark Ruffalo etc?

Loki S2 finale just had some of the best performances the MCU has ever seen.

ZeoVGM alt?

[Gameboy Nostalgia]

Ask Tom Hiddleston in 20 years if his performance of Loki in the Marvel Franchise was actually cinema or a paycheck.

[Not an Alt Account]

He did not started his sentence with "factually incorrect", so probably not.

[ComeAgain]

Movie getting mid reviews? Bombing horrifically at the box office? Mash that blame the chuds button!

[Besticus Maximus]

anyone remember videogames websites? Great times, man

[Snoopy]

Is Tom Hiddleston reduced to doing superhero movies now? Jesus. Remember when he was making films with the likes of Jim Jarmusch and Tilda Swinton

[Hap Shaughnessy]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-marvels-early-box-office-prediction-is-50-75mil-domestic-opening-presales-72-behind-quantumania.774407/page-53#post-114740240

A B/B- CinemaScore could be in play here based on the PostTrack results with audiences giving it a 3.5.

What's also fascinating is women did not show up for this film compared to men, with a spilt 63% men vs. 45% women.

[Potato]

Ok let me say it.

Marvel is the Sonic of movie franchises.

They keep introducing new shitty friends nobody cares about, quality takes a nose dive and the makers lean into weird fetishes to keep their hardcore fans aroused.

[Potato]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-marvels-early-box-office-prediction-is-50-75mil-domestic-opening-presales-72-behind-quantumania.774407/page-53#post-114740240

A B/B- CinemaScore could be in play here based on the PostTrack results with audiences giving it a 3.5.

What's also fascinating is women did not show up for this film compared to men, with a spilt 63% men vs. 45% women.

[TylenolJones]

I think this is Zeo

That you don't need to have seen any prior films to understand 98%+ of the latest MCU film is pretty close to being a straight up inarguable fact. These are ultra mainstream films intended to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. If there's anything you need to know, the film is going to have explicit coverage of that thing prior to the point where that knowledge becomes relevant. The problem is that the MCU managed to successfully convince mainstream audiences that wouldn't otherwise do so to approach the films as a film enthusiast would approach any film they watch. Any artform is always constantly building on prior works. You get more out of any art as you become more familiar with the broader context it belongs in. The MCU isn't any different aside from being more overt.

And that's why all the 'fatigue' discourse matters. It's the social side of the filmgoing experience that people are generally thinking of when they feel like they can't watch the new film without having seen prior entries. While they may not need to have watched any prior content to understand the new film, they do need to have watched all that prior content to have a conversation about the new film because everyone is constantly also talking about how the new thing interacts with the old thing. Again, this is totally normal for an enthusiast conversation, but it's something that is largely absent in mainstream discussion. The MCU made that kind of conversation cool to the point where it became FOMO. That's a big fucking deal.

One of the main reasons not doing a big Avengers movie every few years was a mistake is because that sort of film gives audiences who haven't seen everything room to join conversations. If the first Iron Man is the only phase 1 film you had seen, you could have a meaningful conversation with someone who had only seen the first Captain America after watching the first Avengers together. Most of the people who watched Infinity War and Endgame hadn't seen most of the MCU and it didn't matter because the film did all the bringing together of various prior content for them.

A lot of people now feel like they can't watch the new film without seeing past films and shows because the structure of the MCU now makes it more difficult to engage in the social side of the films due to the lack of any particular film doing that work for you. In the past, I would know who Ms. Marvel is because there'd be some big film introducing her specifically to people who hadn't seen her solo show. As many people point out, Captain Marvel hasn't been seen in years. The Marvels may technically be a teamup film but a 90 minute film with only three major characters isn't going to be doing the work of the big Avengers film. Rather than being a major clarifying event, it's going to feel more like minor confusion.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-marvels-early-box-office-prediction-is-50-75mil-domestic-opening-presales-72-behind-quantumania.774407/page-53#post-114752084

Free tip to mods, build a bot that checks every post to see if they contain the words ‘inarguably fact’ and ‘marvel’ and if detected ban the user for 6 months.