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Weekend Discussion - September 18, 2021

It's Saturday night, and you know what that means; it's time for Weekend Discussion!
Dennis White
Dennis White
2

Good evening, folks. It's Saturday night, which means it's time for an edition of Weekend Discussion. Let's dive in.

No rainy days over my God of War hype

It's a beautiful Saturday here in Chicago and I figured I'd talk a bit about some of the drama from last week's God of War Ragnarok reveal during Playstation Showcase and why I'm happy to see support for a new character despite the naysayers. 

We might be nearing a social media Ragnarok thanks to the absurd backlash over Angrboða

While the Thor design has been getting a ton of mainstream attention, there's also been some scathing and frankly racist discourse popping up over the design of Angrboða or Angrboda, also known as "The Mother of Monsters" in Norse lore. She's considered the homegirl of our co-protagonist, Loki, aka BOY in those stories.

I was very happy and suprised to see a Black woman becoming part of this world; a world that frankly the majority of me and my Black gamer friends have pretty much accepted as being very White. It's kind of ironic considering Kratos has been voiced by two Black men for over 15 years now. Christopher Judge (Stargate - SG1) and Terrence C. Carson (Living Single) respectfully. It's nice that we are finally getting more diversity in crucial roles to the story. Well, I at least hope her role is crucial.

Given the source material, I think there's going to be a ton of fun to be had with this character and her interactions with Atreus. We might even get moments of her teaching him some new abilities. One thing that has to be pointed out and has been praised by the majority of the Black women in the industry I follow is the level of intricate hair detail applied to her. Each portion of her hair seems individually rendered and unique which is impressive and shows that the Santa Monica Studios team is putting a ton of effort into getting every aspect of this character right. There is truly some new ground being broken here and it kind of sheds a light on missed opportunities to include more Black and Brown faces in other games.

Also, for those of you that don't know, Laya DeLeon Hayes is already a teen legend in plenty of family households as the voice of Doc McStuffins on the Disney Jr show so this may be a great opportunitiy to bond with your lil ones. Okay, maybe not during the brutally violent action scenes but ya know... the other stuff.

Despite this backlash from the internet, which is loud and wrong once again, there are some encouraging comments from members of the Sony Santa Monica Studios team. Matt Sophos, a writer for God of War Ragnarok, ventured to Twitter to address things directly.

Matt goes on to bring up the fact that there's been creative liberties taken with characters in the original 2018 game like giving a dwarf a Texan accent or making another a grey toned germaphobe. But he also brings up that they are making their own story and there is no outside pressure to be more politically correct or "woke".

The God of War Ragnarok team are crafting the narrative that they want and doing so in a way independent of reliance on Norse mythology as the only source of inspiration. I think that is what makes me excited to see where the end of this saga takes us. If you've got an opinion on the situation, join the discussion in the comments below. I'd love to hear what you all think.

And now...stare directly into the chaos known as the Internet

Not gonna lie, this does make me a lil hungry. 

Someone understands this Sentinel costs almost as much as a small child. 

The Met Gala was a source of breath taking fashion, Nicki Minaj hot takes, and weird neon babies.

Big Facts

Since Football is back, I gotta toss this one in because the internet always has reciepts.

Nicki Minaj has been gettin grilled on social media for the terrible vaccine takes but she also put her cousin's friend on blast low key.

Lastly, I wanna show some love to the Game Devs of Color Expo which is running next week from Sept 24-27th and you can still get tickets! Show them support and look out for some of the projects and panels coming from this talented group of individuals. 

Weekend Vibes

Summer is starting to fade into the sunset as we head into a new fall, which is my favorite time of year to be honest. Here's some of what I've been crusing to this weekend while I can still roll the windows down.

Community Manager
Community Manager

Denny is the current Social Media & Community Lead for Shacknews. He loves to be part of the conversation with readers and the gaming community as a whole. Denny is very passionate about making the game industry and associated media spaces more inclusive. He's also a huge fan of fighting games, hosting live tournament events with some fun color commentary. When he’s not gaming, you can find him diving into the discount comics bin or enjoying a horror movie with the lights off. He’s also been a content creator on Twitch since 2015 and has spoken live at Twitchcon, C2E2, and several other events along with providing D&I consulting for up and coming brands in gaming. 

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  • Shacknews legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
    reply
    September 18, 2021 5:42 PM

    Dennis White posted a new article, Weekend Discussion - September 18, 2021

    • CrustaR legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      September 18, 2021 6:56 PM

      That deathloop screenshot reminds me of the burger in the RE:2 remake. I always wonder if that guy ever ate that burger.

    • AxeMan808 moderator legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      September 19, 2021 2:34 AM

      1> Reminds me of Idris Elba Heimdall. Oh, and Idris Elba Bond Theory. Why they hate Stringer still?
      2_ Wackbot spotted.
      3) Never gonna open him up with Neutral like that.
      4| Hey. We're not happy about the Falcons either.

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