signal boost – Page 2 – Bikini Armor Battle Damage

March 12, 2015

Monte Cool Games: We, the undersigned, DEMAND immediate removal of “Thunder Plains” and all related content from all Monte Cook Games publications current and future, and request an immediate public apology for harm done, regardless of supposed intent fro

Monte Cool Games: We, the undersigned, DEMAND immediate removal of “Thunder Plains” and all related content from all Monte Cook Games publications current and future, and request an immediate public apology for harm done, regardless of supposed intent fro

While not a bikini armor issue, this is a very important one which relates to the same core problem – complete disrespect for a group of people’s humanity.

In this case it is a case of Monte Cook Games (probably the most influential independent studio in pen-and-paper roleplaying) refusing to respect Native Americans and treat them as people rather than as a racist fantasy trope. In summary:

Monte Cook Games have been asked to remove from publication a small part of one of their settings, literally just a few very non-essential pages among hundreds on a project that went well over goal on Kickstarter.
Their response has been to insist that unless they can keep the (offensive) concept and be given approval on their own terms, they’re not interested in discussion – as in block anyone who mentions it not interested.
Monte Cook Games is an independent yet hugely influential publisher – Monte Cook himself was a major voice in creating Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition and was almost involved in the most recent edition too. A large part of a generation of role players look to him as a hero and his team includes other industry giants.

It’s appalling that a studio with this much autonomy and influence would choose to perpetuate these dehumanizing tropes and stereotypes then further belittle the people who suffer for it.

As such starshineexx has created the linked petition and we encourage everyone to help out by lending their voices to this cause and let an influential studio know that this just is not acceptable.

– wincenworks

Edit: More information on why this is important in an excellent article here.

March 12, 2015

Monte Cool Games: We, the undersigned, DEMAND immediate removal of “Thunder Plains” and all related content from all Monte Cook Games publications current and future, and request an immediate public apology for harm done, regardless of supposed intent fro

While not a bikini armor issue, this is a very important one which relates to the same core problem – complete disrespect for a group of people’s humanity.

Monte Cook Games have been asked to remove from publication a small part of one of their settings, literally just a few very non-essential pages among hundreds on a project that went well over goal on Kickstarter.
Their response has been to insist that unless they can keep the (offensive) concept and be given approval on their own terms, they’re not interested in discussion – as in block anyone who mentions it not interested.
Monte Cook Games is an independent yet hugely influential publisher – Monte Cook himself was a major voice in creating Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition and was almost involved in the most recent edition too. A large part of a generation of role players look to him as a hero and his team includes other industry giants.

It’s appalling that a studio with this much autonomy and influence would choose to perpetuate these dehumanizing tropes and stereotypes then further belittle the people who suffer for it.

As such starshineexx has created the linked petition and we encourage everyone to help out by lending their voices to this cause and let an influential studio know that this just is not acceptable.

– wincenworks

Edit: More information on why this is important in an excellent article here.

November 26, 2014

Signal Boost: Capes and Whips

Fellow blogger and critic of male gazey media, capesandwhips, has been really suffering financially due to circumstances beyond their control.

A full explanation is up on their main blog – however the long story short is that due to a combination of disability, bureaucracy and plain bad luck they are in desperate need of about $200 before the close of the month.

If you’re able to help and live in the US, it’d be really cool if you could donate some funds via their Venmo (most economic and efficient method):

https://venmo.com/capesandwhips

If you’re not in the US, or can’t use Venmo for any reason, they’re also able to accept PayPal payments: ittousagi@hotmail com

https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/send-money-online

Any help that can be offered at all would be greatly appreciated and directly contribute to keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table.

Finally, if you like what they do and you’d like to help support their writing they have a Patreon page. Payments are made monthly for each article published, but when you pledge you can set a monthly ceiling to avoid unexpected expense.

http://www.patreon.com/capesandwhips

– wincenworks

September 14, 2013

Petition to Marvel for more superheroines

E submitted:

I know this is a bit off-topic for your website, but I thought it would appeal to your fanbase. It is a petition to Marvel for more female-based comics, particularly asking for solo stories (preventing the inclusion of women by just giving male MC’s a girlfriend) and non-objectifying storylines. At submission, there were only 300 signatures, and I think there are way more fans out there who would like to see non-sexist superheroines.

I hesitated to publish this link for some time now (there are 4000+ signatures at the moment), because frankly, I don’t endorse this particular petition.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a noble cause, BUT since the topic (women in comics) is not only broad, but particularly delicate and controversial, the petition concerning it should be created with care, thought and meticulous research.
And what I see under this link is just general statements put haphazardly with the dreaded “strong female character” phrase and this fanart that, despite best intentions, conveys status quo of all superheroines sharing the same cartoonishly thin body and similar face.

The petition is poorly worded, full of generalizations and needlessly judgmental statements.
If I personally were to sign a petition for such big, broad feminist cause, I would expect much better execution out of it.

But in the end, I’ll let the readers decide whether or not they should sign it.

~~~

As we’re on the subject of petitioning mainstream comic publishers, I’d encourage readers to take a look at THIS ONE that asks DC to stop their distasteful ‘draw suicidal Harley Quinn’ art contest.
I wouldn’t go as far as to cry ‘sexualization!’ at the script they’re asking to be drawn, but neither did DC have to specifically ask for Harley to be naked in the infamous bathtub panel (many contestants would depict her as such either way), nor did the page need to be about suicide jokes at all.
The script provided is taken out of context, described poorly, doesn’t suit the character and sounds awfully triggering (and unfunny, if you asked me). Not to mention it came out during Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.
It’s not a good material for an open-for-everyone art contest, so let’s make DC know we don’t want it to continue.