the best thing you can do is give people an alternative

So my dad bought Hogwarts Legacy (and yes, we've discussed that choice multiple times, but that's not the point of this post), and I've been watching him play when I've had the time because why the fuck not, right? I will say that the game is visually pleasing, and you can tell a lot of care went into making the object models, but that is where my praise for the game starts and ends. 

Near the beginning of the game, you meet a character named Natasi "Natty" Onai, a fellow fifth-year student who tells you about how she transferred to Hogwarts last year from Uagadou, the largest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. You then get the dialogue option to say, "Surely magic is weaker over there," Over there meaning in Uganda. That was the first "oh no…" moment I had while observing the game and the first of many indications that this game did not have as much diversity screening as it desperately needed. Understandably, giving the British player character a dialogue option to insinuate that magic is weaker in Africa left a bad taste in my mouth.

If (for some reason) you were seeking to defend the game, you could point out that the story takes place in the late 1800s (not that you can tell). However, considering the racially diverse population of students at Hogwarts and multiple openly queer characters, that excuse doesn't make much sense. It's like the game developers wanted the world to be diverse but didn't want to do any work making that diversity fit into their world convincingly.

As many people have pointed out, the main problem with the game is that the overarching plot is antisemitic. If (like me) you're not Jewish and don't know many Jewish people irl, the antisemitic elements of the game might not be immediately obvious to you, but that in itself is a huge problem. One of the most dangerous things about antisemitism is how pervasive and normalized it is.

The central conflict in the game is that goblins, who run the banks of the wizarding world (super mega giant antisemitic stereotype), are rebelling because wizards refuse to treat them as equals, WHICH IS A VERY VALID REASON TO CAUSE AN UPROAR. I don't think I need to explain why making an oppressed group fighting for equal rights the main antagonists of your story is a problem, but the game's writers clearly missed (or ignored) that fucking memo.

It is established in the first tutorial section of the game that the goblins are the "bad guys." However, there are some "good" goblins. These goblins are antiviolence and believe diplomacy is the proper way to achieve equal rights, even though we are given little to no indication that this diplomatic approach is making any headway. So yes, the game does go out of its way to imply that there is a correct way to advocate for your rights as a minority, which is to be complaisant and not do anything to disrupt the lives of your oppressors. I'm not joking. That seriously appears to be the narrative the game is pushing. 

At one point in the game, you interact with a goblin named Arn after he gets mugged by the "bad" goblins for not supporting their cause. He tells you that the "bad" goblins stole a cart filled with his paintings, but since most goblins are metalworkers or work at Gringotts (the bank), they "have no appreciation for art" and will probably just throw the paintings away. Firstly, metalworking is an art, and secondly, OH MY GOD, THE GAME REALLY JUST IMPLIED THAT THE OPPRESSED MINORITY GROUP IS UNCULTURED. It's hard to be more explicitly antisemitic/racist than that.

Again, there are queer characters in the game. However, who the fuck cares? If antisemitic rhetoric surrounds the queer representation, then it's fucking useless to the queer community. There are ways to implement goblins into a fantasy world without making them harmful antisemitic caricatures. However, Hogwarts Legacy (and the Harry Potter franchise at large) does not achieve that in the fucking slightest.

Hogwarts Legacy is a bad game. Not necessarily mechanically or visually, but ideologically. Ignoring the fact that JK Rowling is a massive fucking cunt, trying to reclaim her IP while she's still breathing was a bad idea from the start, and Portkey Games fumbled the ball so fucking severely by failing the Jewish community with the story they created. People are using the game to show their support for transphobia and antisemitism. That should come as a surprise to nobody. Whatever good intentions the people behind the game went in with, they have nothing to show for it.

If you want to buy the game and play it on your own time and never speak about it online because you love Harry Potter SO much, that's your own business, and you can justify that choice however you want in your head. But if you are a publicly online (especially if being an online content creator is your job) and you play the game, people will justifiably criticize you.

The cost of nostalgia and affection for a franchise should not be endangering the lives of Jewish and trans people. My suggestion to you if you long to relive the feelings you had when you were young and in love with the magic of Harry Potter is to read some fucking fanfiction. Better yet, go and write your own! But from the bottom of my heart, I am begging you, do not give this game your time or money.

i hope all the mean posts people are making about people playing the hp game are making people cry about it. feel bad bitch. you are defined by your actions and if you decide to give money to an astonishingly antisemitic game owned by a transphobe then i HOPE people being mean makes you feel like shit

reminder for everyone to stop treating the harry potter issue as one that is only about trans people, please do not forget to listen to and stand up for jewish voices speaking out against this franchise and its creator.

“Be gay do crime!!” “Eat the rich!!”

And you can’t even boycott the most famous TERF in the UK

HarperCollins Strike Update

For the full breakdown of what’s been going on since November, read here.

January 20, 2023

It’s been over FIFTY days. The strike is still ongoing. Harper has yet to even speak to the union.

Union members are still scraping on their second and third hustles (which most entry-level publishing people have) and donations to the strike fund. The union has set up a hardship fund (here’s the post about it on their official Instagram, for verification) so no more fiddling with checks or Venmo.

If you can donate, please do.

And whether you can or can’t, please do still share.

I literally sobbed seeing this scene because as someone who was bullied since I was a kid for being Black and/or autistic then being shamed into the closest for being Queer, this hits so hard.

Wanting to desperately be understood and loved and affirmed for yourself but being rejected for it countlessly.

My pitch for an adult Scooby Doo series I just came up with on my morning walk:

It would be a spiritual sequel to Mystery Incorporated set five years after the events of the show with the gang soon to be entering their 30’s and now having two decades of crime solving under their belt.

But even five years later the gang is still haunted by the events of the first series and their relationships with their parents, romantic partners or- in the case of Shaggy - their prospective dating partners. (Shaggy is learning he’s bisexual as well)

Then, after solving another mystery for the town and being featured on national television for solving their 500th mystery, their latest criminal is supernaturally assassinated in the middle of their trail on national television.

And, to the gang’s shock, they learn days before a mysterious package had been sent to her labeled “From the Gang’s biggest fan”.

Now under the national spotlight, it’s a race against time as the gang seeks to solve the greatest case of their lives to protect not only their reputations and save the lives of the very criminals they’ve put behind bars, but uncover what new supernatural threat has arisen.

And in the end of season 1 after catching the assassin but finding out they’re supernatural, they learn to their shock that without Nibiru (the main antagonist from the OG)’s supernatural interference and influence, the Earth has become home to diverse supernatural species and beings, many even more powerful then the Anunnaki.

And one of those very beings has declared themselves the biggest fan of the Scooby Gang and is causing chaos not only in the human word but the world of the supernatural as well.

So the gang, taken before the supernatural council, is now given charge of solving the mysteries for the supernatural world while answering to the council to discover who the mastermind behind the chaos is before they destroy the peace between worlds and even the world itself.

To expand on some things: While the central conflict and mystery is unraveling who the Number One Fan is and how they’re doing what they’re doing, the series would also be an examination on how the trauma from not only he original Mystery Incorporated series but the decades of mystery solving are starting to manifest in each individual member of the Scooby Gang’s lives.

- Unable to cope with the cognitive dissonance of comparing his new non-cursed parents with his memories of his previous two sets of parents, Freddy has his parents at an emotional distance they’re desperate to cross. This has led him to drop the preppy image and embrace more of the casual look from the early cartoon movies, though he keeps his ascot cuz it was a gift from Daphne at his lowest point. He also literally runs away everytime Daphne hints at marriage. Fred’s encounter with a therapist also will get him being diagnosed as autistic.

- While Daphne is flourishing as Mystery Incorporated’s Social Media Manager as well as a famous influencer for those of marginalized genders via embracing and reclaiming the word bimbo, Daphne is struggling with still feeling like a failure compared to her sisters and reeling from her family now being almost loving and present to the point of smothering, which triggers her childhood trauma. Also her internalized fatphobia from when her mother- in the previous timeline- tried to get her ahead in the fashion industry is being triggered BADLY by Freddy’s repeated running from the conversation of marriage.

- After the last timeline had them facing literally Nazis and fascists, Velma has dived headfirst into embracing her whole self- her Jewish heritage and her gender and sexuality. She’s now comfortable in her skin, being very genderfluid in the clothing she wears and loving her relationship with HDW. However her encounter with the supernatural and losing HDW in the last timeline has led Velma to secretly begin an obsessive study into the occult and supernatural so she and the gang will never be that vulnerable and unprepared again. She also keeps subconsciously ruining every apartment hunting trip she and HDW go on recently.

- Shaggy has had the most relationships out of all of the gang in the last five years and transforms the most- physically. After his latest girlfriend tried to get him caught in her health MLM scheme, neither she nor the gang calculated for Shaggy’s almost supernatural metabolism to work against her and all the product Shaggy unknowingly ate has caused him to become the biggest member of the group for once (think Ralph from Rise of the TMNT). Shaggy is now starting to have an identity crisis because while inwardly he’s still the same person he’s always been, his outsides look completely different and STILL he can’t keep a girlfriend for longer than a few months. He still wears his signature outfit but now from the big and tall section and from those trips gets a new friend that ends up turning his world- and who he thought he was attracted to- upside down.

- Scooby-Doo is now in a relationship from Nova from the first series and they’re expecting their first litter together. Scooby is panicking because the last time he was in a parental role, his nephew ended up committing a crime so heinous he’s been imprisoned and the gang refuses to even speak his name. However both Nova and Scooby-Doo look exactly like they did five years ago, even though both in dog years are geriatric and should be dead. It turns out that something happened when the new timeline was created and due to their Annuki heritage, both dogs have stopped aging. This leads Scooby not only to worry about what he and his new family will do if they outlive all the gang, but if their pups will even BE dogs when they’re born.

- IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

- The gang learned from their mistakes from season one of the original series and try to be very honest and open with each other over issues they’re having. Their relationship and communication as friends have become very healthy since the OG series.

- Outside of investigations, the gang will not split up. Facing off the Ultimate Evil with the Power of Friendship does something to a group bond- probably the trauma bonding.

Congrats to both Amphibia and The Owl House for being nominated at the Annie Awards!

There's something particularly insidious about making a 'diverse' show and marketing it as 'woke' bc of that diversity, and then putting the most dogshit, reactionary opinions in the characters mouths. smdh.

Okay, you can’t use Fred as the one to represent “awful, misogynistic, privileged white men” when that man was always a golden retriever of a human being.

In Mystery Incorporated, he cried because of how emotional he himself always is, he got instant PSTD in an episode where Daphane got kidnapped and for majority of the series, Daphane was just BEGGING for him to fuck her but he was oblivious and respected their friendship.

Shut up, Fred is a good boy.

the addams family 🤝 scooby doo : being adapted into mean spirited versions of themselves by writers that don’t understand the characters

I don't know if I'm crying or laughing 😂