This #AssassinsCreedValhalla announcement is taking me back to my highschool glory days of wild speculation about new AC games. And now that i'm Good At History™️ I can actually speak with a modicum of authority about this.
So, "Vikings" is rad, but a little nonspecific...
-B
There are two big question marks around the setting: When and Where.
The Viking age ran from ~800 to ~1100 and they went out from Scandinavia to approximately EVERYWHERE.
Vikings wandered in 800s England, 900s France, and even started chilling in the Mediterranean by the 1000s!
So the simple choice of WHEN this game takes place — forget years of decades, just the *Century* — defines entire plot arcs that could happen: From the conquest of England or the settling of Normandy to the discovery of Iceland and even the damn Reconquista!
That leaves room for ALL KINDS of wacky opportunities for exploration within and beyond the Viking "home base" of the North Sea.
Just the shape of the game map will have a huge impact on what kind of variety we'll see... because the 928th fjord will be sliiightly less satisfying.
Ideally, the later it's set and the larger the range, the more interesting the world will be.
Keep each part SMALL, but imagine starting with Denmark Sweden & Norway, then there's British Isles, pepper in some northern Europe from France to the Kievan Rus, and wrap with Iceland.
I'd much rather have a variety of locales across the viking world to show the diversity of Viking History than a life-sized Sweden and 10 square feet of France.
SO, that's my take, looking forward to the reveal, hopefully they'll take advantage of some really awesome history!
-B
Basically what I'm trying to say is "Iceland or I riot"
-B
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I've been listening through the hobbit audiobook and it's really helping me collect my thoughts on the problem I had with the movies, which is that all the characters are sort of reworked to be more sympathetic in ways that undercut the chaos of the original book -R
Thorin isn't Tiny Aragorn and his being a selfish dickhead in the leadup to the Five Armies isn't the result of a dragon-induced heel-turn, he was basically ALWAYS like that but never had any actual power or leverage to back it up -R
and Bilbo stealing the Arkenstone is contorted into very twisty knots to make it an act of heroic concern for his friend rather than a bit of petty fuck-you-ness after getting sent alone down a dragon tunnel for the fourth time -R
lovely day to remember that trans rights are human rights, trans people deserve dignity and autonomy over their choices, none of this is up for debate, and trying to scapegoat a vulnerable population to further a transparent agenda is ugly and embarrassing 😘 -R
there is something very funny about how TERFs are so dedicated to enforcing the gender binary that they've circled back to the pre-feminist "every single woman is weaker than every single man and it is her fate to be crushingly victimized and powerless forever" -R
"no no we're very feminist we believe" *checks notes* "women are weak and" *checks footnotes* "femininity is a curse" -R
I think the best evidence for "people don't really know what they want and creators shouldn't just give what they're asked for" is what dropping entire seasons of TV at once is doing to us -R
"I want to know what happens next NOW" is the kind of question that forms the backbone of a lasting fandom. Incremental buildup of narrative and speculation on future development reinforces fan spaces and builds communities that can and do outlast the series finale. -R
Dropping an entire season at once may give the instant gratification fans exactly what they're asking for, but it actively sabotages the possibility of fan discussion. Anyone who can't binge the whole thing right away will AVOID fan spaces due to the spoiler saturation -R
There's a pattern I've observed in fandom that makes me really sad, and it's that a media property will be absolutely beloved for being groundbreaking or exciting or just really fun, and then about a year or two later all that enthusiasm violently reverses into shame -R
Not quiet shame, either - loud, aggressive, must-be-on-the-Not-Cringe-Side-of-history shaming. And like any cycle of bullying, it becomes self-reinforcing - unabashedly enjoying it puts a target on your back from everyone trying to prove how cool and cynical they are -R
Joke's on the rest of you, I made the Star Wars Prequels 1/7th of my personality
-B
sometimes I wonder why Encanto's ending didn't quite give me the warm and fuzzies it was clearly designed to do and then I remember not a single human being apologized to Bruno -R
Which is kind of indicative of something I observed in the movie overall that just didn't quite gel with me – which was this feeling that the resolution was the family overall saying "don't worry, we loved and valued you this whole time" -R
which is nice, sure, but for me that wasn't a question. Mirabel's family can love her without being GOOD for her. Her primary grievance was being excluded, ignored, minimized and shoved in a closet out of everyone's way. "We love you" doesn't undo or even acknowledge that. -R