An examination of Gender Expression in Sonic Forces (2017) and Pokemon Sword/Shield (2019)

Written by Daniel – Character customization in video games is a huge part of how we immerse ourselves into these fantastical worlds. The avatars we choose to make, and the ways in which we customize them are how we express ourselves to other players, but also how we choose to perform for our own entertainment, and interact with the game in and of itself. The greater customization of characters in video games offers greater opportunities for expression, and better opportunities for unique game play experiences. Here I’ll be looking  at two games in particular, the acclaimed Pokemon Sword/Shield and the critically iffy Sonic Forces, claiming that Sonic Forces has the superior character customization on offer.    

Pokemon Sword/Shield is a huge game for Nintendo and has been widely praised by critics and Pokemon fans alike, and the character customization is a wonderful thing. From the off, we have eight base characters to select from and then, in the game itself you can travel to clothes shops and hairdressers to make changes to your base character and express yourself as you desire… to an extent. Across the game, you find different shops selling different items. It is over the duration of your travels that you’ll gradually be able to change your character as to how you want them to present. By the end, the player has access to an incredibly extensive variety of options. This extensive variety in which you can customize your avatar is important in Sword/Shield, more so than any past Pokemon game because of the games (constantly connected) multiplayer ‘Wild Zones’ in which you will bump into other players. As such, the most immediate ways in which you the player will engage with others in these zones will be through how you dress, and what you communicate through your character’s unique style. Despite all the options available to the player, there is a fundamental problem…

Protecting Earth-Chan: Anthropomorphism of Astronomical Objects in Fan Art and Cosplay

Written by Daniel – In this post I’ll be looking at how fan artists and cosplayers have gone about creating and recreating characters; Earth-Chan (Planet Earth), Oppy (The Opportunity Mars Rover), and Black Hole-Chan (First Photographed Black Hole). This post will delve into the history of how anthropomorphic fan interpretive characters have evolved alongside scientific discoveries, and asking how are they getting people to engage with environmental sciences and astronomy, or even if they can…

These characters are the creation of anime and manga fans. This is immediately indicated in the consistent style the characters have been drawn in between different artists (mimicking the traditional style of Japanese comics and animation). Furthermore the lexis ‘chan’ is a Japanese title meaning ‘child’ or ‘small’ in English. It is a common title used in anime and manga, particularly of the ‘school-girl’ or ‘maid’ genres, the common usage of the title has subsequently resulted in western audiences incorporating the term within their own fan art and sub-cultural lexicon. (Artists are credited throughout, a full list is included at the end of the article).

From a galaxy far, far away: A Thought Piece on Everyday-Cosplay

Written by Daniel – The clothing brand ‘Her Universe’ have announced a new line of Star Wars themed clothing called ‘Sisters of the Force’ to be unveiled at Star Wars Celebration 2019. Founded by Ashley Eckstein (voice of Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars: Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels) nearly a decade ago, one of the companies first line of clothing was a Star Wars series of apparel. This featured many conventional t-shirts and dresses with Star Wars iconography, but it also contained a few more unique pieces, which at first glance appeared to be replications of costumes from the films and TV animated series. But, on closer inspection had subtle differences designed for everyday wear, such clothing has become known as ‘Everyday-Cosplay’ or ‘Casual Cosplay’.

Her Universe – Padmé Lakeside Dress

Her Universe – Sabine Wren

Her Universe – Rose Tico

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a PhD student specialising in cosplay, in particular looking how we can use costumes to explore our own identities and communicate with those around us. But, what is everyday-cosplay, and how does it differ from cosplay? Where cosplay is the costumed performance of a character (from popular media), everyday-cosplay is typical the act of wearing clothes which evoke a popular character. It’s not uncommon to find lists of clothing on ‘Pinterest’ featuring collections of clothes (often from numerous different brands) which compose an outfit evocative of a character. For example, ‘Disneybound’ have produced numerous ‘Pintrest’ collages of clothing one could wear, so that the individual may evoke some of their favourite characters through their everyday clothing. 

Everyday-cosplay is a type of dress which goes beyond wearing a logo on a t-shirt. It implies a sense of creative expression among fan communities, but also a means of expressing ones-self. Cosplay is momentary, a performance which is ‘put on’ for an afternoon, or a photo-shoot, before the participant returns to their usual self. Every-day cosplay however implies a deep connection between the individual and the fictional character. The reasons for which will be many, including but not limited to the desire to try and be more like someone you admire, to express who you really are, or perhaps simply because you feel an affinity with the character, as if they are like you. Everyday-cosplay might be best seen as a form of adaptation, a means of re-imagining a character (or characters), to re-tell popular characters stories within a new medium, this new medium being the practicalities of real life. These adaptations, much in the same spirit to cosplay allow fans to get creative, to mix an match clothes, or even to design and produce their own clothing which evokes their favourite characters. We can just look on ‘Etsy’ to see a whole host of indie clothes manufacturers who have created their own everyday-cosplays for fellow fans to purchase. Such as: a Chewbacca dress by CrystalCottageCrafts, a Padmé Amidala running top by SundayMorningActive, or a Han Solo inspired skirt by RushHourCosplays.

“Doctor Who: The Pilot” vs. Heteronormativity

Written by Tom
Instead of giving a post summary, can I use this space to just point out that this might be the single most Fnord post title we’ve managed on this blog yet.

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[Previously: In Defence of Doctor Who Series 10 – Introduction]

So Steven Moffat had 13 episodes to fill after having basically concluded his era. What to do next? Well, he decided to set up the next one. Despite Series 10 being his and Capaldi’s last season, he wanted to eschew the idea of doing 13 episodes of mourning and instead make a new beginning. This was going to be 13 episodes featuring a new take on Doctor Who. This in turn made the first episode of Series 10 the one whose primary job it was to define what this take on Doctor Who was going to be (hence why it’s called ‘The Pilot’). More than anything else, this is the episode of Series 10 that most says “This is what Doctor Who is now, and this is what the show does”.

For the most part, the episode defines itself traditionally. Indeed, it keeps referring back to the very start of the programme with the Twelfth Doctor being linked to First Doctor a lot (and, indeed, guess who just so happens to turn up at the end of this season). The Doctor is cast as a university professor, putting him in the “Old man dispensing wisdom” role that would be familiar to anyone who’s watched the Hartnell era. The mystery of who’s in the vault gives the Twelfth Doctor a secretive edge, like he did back in ‘An Unearthly Child’. And, of course, we get the invocation of Susan whose photo is on his desk, Susan being the infamously problematic character would could only truly exist within the Hartnell years.

The plot itself is very traditional too, harking back to the RTD era. RTD season openers were always relatively breezy affairs, surrounding a relatively straightforward (if completely bonkers) mystery that could be trusted to entertainingly play in the background while the script did all the important stuff of setting up its season’s characters and story arcs. Cat nuns are growing diseased zombies in a basement; rhinos take a hospital to the moon; aliens have invented a diet pill that turns fat into adorable babies – as far as Doctor Who goes, this is all pretty standard, silly stuff. Certainly it’s much more standard than “A future Doctor has invited himself to his own death so that he can infiltrate the American government and end the oppressive regime of an alien race who you forget whenever you look away from them” or “A Doctor who’s scared of death because he’s aware of the oncoming Hybrid and an aged Davros discuss morality and politics” (to summarise my two favourite Moffat openers). The plot of ‘The Pilot’ – an alien puddle is eating university students – is definitely much more in the first camp than the second. Hell, it’s even more an example of Moffat writing a Russell T Davies opener than ‘The Eleventh Hour’ was, that being the starter of a series whose whole structure was “Like the standard Russell T Davies set-up, only different”. But there is one massive way that ‘The Pilot’ separates itself from the RTD era, and it changes the series in big fundamental ways.