#mg77blog

[masterge77]

Whether you like the show or not, there’s no denying the impact that Steven Universe had on western animation, but if there’s one thing about the show that I felt was largely ignored by the writers, it was this:

One thing about Steven Universe I always liked is how it was set in an alternate history, right down to the geography being different. Asides from the map pictured, you had states with different names, like Pensylvania being "Keystone State" (which is actually PA's nickname) or Delaware and Maryland being a single state called "Delmarva", as well as implications like Kansas being where movies are made rather than in California, or the dollar bill having a different design and such. It’s heavily implied that this was caused by the Gems trying to terraform the planet, or the effects of the Gem Rebellion War 6000 years ago.

What annoys me is that the series did almost NOTHING with it! At most we just see Gem structures like the Galaxy Warp and the Kindergarten, but with a world map like this where the geography is completely different from our own world, as well as some of the things being stated and established (like there being 39 US states rather than 50), you could go in so many directions. You could have entire spin-off series separate from the main story that explore this world in detail, and yet the writers refused to stray away from Beach City and the Gem ruins for whatever reason.

You just can’t establish something like this and then sleep on it like it means nothing, you have to follow up on it beyond showing stuff about ancient aliens and telling us that Kansas is where movies are made. You can go in all sorts of directions, show how different this world is from our own, show how the Gem’s effects on the planet affected the development of human civilization. Go beyond the base!

And it annoys me because I’m someone who loves alternate history stories, it’s one of my favorite tropes in fiction, and most of the time it’s just limited to time travel related stuff (see Biff’s future in Back to the Future 2) or the occasional steampunk Britain/France setting, or “What if the Nazis won World War II” kind of stuff. Then you have THIS WORLD MAP from Steven Universe, and I get sad because it just feels like wasted potential.

How the heck do you avoid potential world-building like this? You literally see more of the Gem Homeworld than the alternate history Earth, and while it’s cool that you get to see this advanced alien empire’s capital world, you have a problem when the planet the series is set on 90% of the time is underdeveloped in comparison to this alien empire.

Point in case: Show, don’t tell!

[masterge77]

In light of recent events as China has been in the news very frequently the past few days, I would like to give out a notice to everyone: Do NOT use the term “Xinjiang” to refer to the current genocide against Uyghur Muslims in China. Use the term “East Turkestan” or “Uyghurstan” instead to refer to the eastern province. We don’t refer to Tibet as “Xizang” so we shouldn’t do the same for the Uyghur homeland.

If you use “Xinjiang”, you are showing support for the Chinese government as that’s the term they WANT you to use to refer to what they consider THEIR territory. If you really show support for the Uyghur people, use the name they have for their homeland instead.

You could also use some of the historical names of the land such as “Altishahr”, “Khotan”, “High Tartary”, “East Chagatay”, “Kashgaria”, or “Serindia”, but “East Turkestan” and “Uyghurstan” are preferred.

[masterge77]

The reason why American Comic Books are dying

With the whole New Warriors debacle being in the news lately, everyone’s talking about how Marvel has gone too far and how the Comic Book industry is going extinct, but you want to know why the American Comic Book industry is dying? Getting woke and going broke is part of it, but it was actually declining even BEFORE that.

The death of the American Comic Book industry was caused by a number of factors, but what really killed comic books was NOT them going woke and relying on extreme leftist ideals like Marvel has the past few years, but the fact that the industry was too conservative with their style and structure of doing things, unwilling to adapt to the ever-changing climate of entertainment.

They refused to branch out beyond superheroes even after the Comics Code Authority eased up on their restrictions, and it affected the industry so greatly that the entire market crashed in the 90's, a crash that was not only worse than the one the video game market had in 1983, but whose effects are still felt to this day.

For the longest time, comic books were the "nerd" medium from the 60's to the 80's, but by the 90's, things were changing. Video games were becoming more prominent, film-making technology became better and film and television shows could be more dynamic with better visuals and writing.

Most importantly, Japan decided to bring Anime and Manga to the west with widespread success. There were new avenues of entertainment available for nerds to consume after so long of being limited to superheroes and Star Trek reruns, and they came out right when the comic book industry crashed in the 90's. Although independent comic companies like Image and Dark Horse sprang up in the 90's, it was when Japanese Manga was just beginning to be translated into English in the late 90's that would be the sign of death for Comic books. 

An alternative to the tiresome superhero stories was now available to them, made by more independent artists, and the immense popularity of series like Dragon Ball and Naruto in the west cemented the idea that anime was here to stay. The internet also allowed for webcomics to come into play, allowing for more independent artists to put out their works and tell their own stories.

People wanted more variety with their entertainment, and the other mediums such as television, movies, video games and the internet were able to provide that variety rather than everyone being stuck with people wearing tights and fighting goofy villains all the time. However, comic books refused to adapt, they refused to change, choosing to remain permanently stuck in the 90's, and everyone moved to the medium's competition in pop-culture because the competition was providing better media.

TL;DR: Comic books got into steep competition with other mediums, was unwilling to compete, and ended up suffering. Even if DC is doing better than Marvel, I feel it's too late for the industry to turn around, and highly doubt this medium will survive past this decade.

[masterge77]

So about the recent controversy regarding the Adult Swim bumper, the one that a Karen complained about for being “Satanic” due to it’s surreal content. You know, this one:

I really wish that parents would actually watch over their kids and be responsible for what they watch on TV or YouTube, rather than having television or the internet babysit them.

Remember those weird “Kids videos” from years back that featured Spider-Man and Elsa (collectively known as Elsagate)? Look at the controversy they caused, and yet those videos are still on the site and the YouTube Kids app... and the Karens remain completely silent. But show them this and they completely lose their minds.

Yeah, let’s completely forget the block is called ADULT Swim for a reason, let’s completely ignore the warning messages they put before every single show, and complain about a very petty problem regarding one of the network’s many surreal bumpers.

Seriously people, if you’re going to have children or already have them, do yourself a favor and parent your damn kids!

[masterge77]

Final Fantasy games in a nutshell:

Final Fantasy: Dungeons and Dragons Final Fantasy II: EXP? Where we’re going, we don’t need EXP! Final Fantasy III: Dungeons and Dragons: Second Edition Final Fantasy IV: Darth Vader adopts a magical girl Final Fantasy V: Dungeons and Dragons: The Lost Levels Final Fantasy VI: Hope you like the smell of onions Final Fantasy VII: Captain Planet: The Anime Final Fantasy VIII: The high school AU Final Fantasy IX: Dungeons and Dragons: Third Edition Final Fantasy X: The Hawaiian Basketball Association vs. the Church of Scientology Final Fantasy X-2: Charlie’s Angels Final Fantasy XI: World of Warcraft Final Fantasy XII: Lord of the Rings meets the Star Wars Prequels starring Aladdin Final Fantasy XIII: *insert joke about hallways here* Final Fantasy XIII-2 and XIII-3: The second and third seasons of an anime series nobody wanted Final Fantasy vs. XIII: ERROR: GAME NOT FOUND Final Fantasy XIV: World of Warcraft but next-gen Final Fantasy XV: The Backstreet Boys RPG Final Fantasy VII Remake: Sephiroth’s weird self-insert FFVII fan-fiction

[masterge77]

People on Twitter are Harassing and Impersonating me

A bunch of people on Twitter calling themselves the "Wolf Pack" have decided to steal my Twitter icon and have decided to continuously spam and harass me for reasons they will not give. They claim they made my icon and that they're the original Masterge77, when in reality they are trying to spam and harass me.

https://twitter.com/Masterge77/status/1242842265103499265

I've reported and blocked many of their accounts. They even invited me to their Discord server... and then banned me from it. I have no idea why they are doing this, they also think my icon is a wolf (must be the markings which leads them to think that my fursona is Amaterasu from Okami, even though Monty's markings were based on a kitsune mask). They're also all claiming I stole THEIR icon and that THEY made the pic that I have been using since June of 2019. I am going to be posting this journal as a warning to anyone who is on Twitter or Discord and sees someone with my icon. If you see someone with my icon, and their account isn't named "Masterge77" "Roboweasel77" or "Foxburst the Vulpiroid" (all handles I use on various sites), it's one of the Wolf Pack impersonators.

[masterge77]

Why Mega Man ZX being re-released is a big deal

Ever since the Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection was announced, I’ve noticed Mega Man fans on Discord servers I’m on, on Twitter and even here on Tumblr (including those who are heavily into the Zero series) have been paying a lot more attention to the ZX side of the collection rather than the Zero side of things, even as popular as the Zero series is with fans.... and this is not only a good thing, it’s a huge deal. Mega Man Zero has always been more easily accessible than ZX, in the fact that the Zero games were re-released twice, first on the DS with the Zero Collection around 2009 or so, and again on the Wii U Virtual Console. Mega Man ZX, on the other hand, hasn’t seen the light of day since 2008, having only one sequel and under-performing, with ZX Advent ending on a cliffhanger.

I feel it’s only now with this announcement that people are finally showing the ZX series appreciation after over 12 years of being mostly ignored by the greater Mega Man fandom.

If anything, I’m glad the ZX series is finally getting the recognition it deserves, especially given how unique it is from the rest of the Mega Man franchise, even moreso than Legends. It’s set in a time when the term “Mega Man” had pretty much evolved past a term for a blue guy that fights evil robots, and presented a future where there was no segregation between humans and androids, which is rare for a sci-fi series because most of the time in fiction it’s man vs. machine.

You had an ensemble cast of characters, multiple in-universe factions beyond simply “good guys” and “bad guys”, a lore that managed to be standalone from the previous 3 series in the main timeline while still being connected to the Zero series (You didn’t even have to play the Zero series to understand what was going on), and there were enough plot elements to the world that were firmly established (or at least implied) that you could expand upon them or build off of them to create entirely new concepts, all while having them still fit the universe the games were set in.

That's something you don't really get with the Classic or X series Mega Man games, in which it's just one blue dude fighting off evil robots and mad scientists. That's the thing that made Mega Man ZX so unique in comparison to what came before it, how different and unique it was.

And that’s a big deal, because with the ZX games in particular being re-released, Capcom is introducing one of the most unique parts of the Mega Man franchise to a new generation of Mega Man fans, and they believe that if this collection is successful, then it’s possible that a third ZX game to conclude the series will be made, but who knows really.

[masterge77]

A brief list of things that have involved China in October 2019

- The National Basketball Association (NBA) team Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted his support for protesters in Hong Kong, saying “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”, which caused China to pull sponsorship for the team and almost called Morey to be fired.

- Blizzard Entertainment bans Hong Kong Hearthstone player Ng “Blitzchung” Wai Chung from playing after he won a tournament in Taiwan and called for the liberation of Hong Kong in a post-game interview, causing Blizzard to pull his prize money and ban him for a year. Naturally, the internet with it’s love of gaming took offense using the hashtag #BoycottBlizzard on Twitter to show their frustrations. This got to the point where fans started using Overwatch character Mei (who is ethnic Chinese) as a “pro-democracy symbol” in an attempt to get Blizzard’s games banned in China.

- A similar movement on Tumblr was started to get Mickey Mouse banned in China and make him a pro-democracy symbol for Hong Kong 

- Apple removes a Taiwan flag emoji from being seen in Hong Kong and Macau, and later removed an app in Hong Kong that allowed protesters to find police, both done to appease the Chinese government.

- South Park gets banned in China after airing an episode that is critical of Chinese censorship (unsurprisingly portraying Winnie the Pooh being brutally tortured as well). Matt Stone and Trey Parker, in typical South Park fashion, make a sarcastic apology on Twitter (which they are totally NOT sorry for).

- Dreamworks latest film “Abominable”, a Chinese-American co-production is banned in Vietnam over a map scene that portrays the “Nine Dash Line” that gives China complete control over the South China Sea and has enraged Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia for about 5 years or so. The film was also censored in Malaysia and boycotts are being carried out in the Philippines calling for the movie to be censored or banned.