that's better

A lot of the time lately I've been like "whelp I'm never getting any fucking better at this" and then I start having decent runs like this one and then this one, so maybe there's some hope. I dunno. (gfycat, gfycat)

in other news, i fixed my controller. the scuf controllers are kind of famous for starting to have paddle issues, and the left paddle on mine has been acting up for a bit, and it's out of warranty, yeh? so i started taking it apart because I was pretty sure I could fix it, but then I found this goddamn thing which thankfully one of the people on the widowtracer discord was able to find, it's a "5LH" (Line-Head) bolt, a single-manufacturer Japanese-only tamper-resist bolt (see bottom of page 18) and you get the tool to use with it when you order bolts, apparently? Or you can order them separately? I'm not sure, my Japanese isn't good enough.

so anyway, i said fuck that and IT'S A FLATBLADE SCREW NOW MOTHERFUCKERS and I got the controller opened and the paddle fixed and now see above. VICTORY OVER TAMPER-RESISTANCE!

(Took about half an hour of very careful xacto sawblade work, if you're wondering. Also the controller is a scuf infinity4ps pro for ps4. I really like them a lot but they're not as well made in some ways as they should be for the price.)

the fucking hamster

The Fucking Hamster.

I've been letting this ruminate all day, hoping my initial incredibly negative reaction would smooth itself out, but... jfc... as someone in this in large part for the lore, as a fan writer/creator who has put hundreds if not thousands of hours into works trying to make sense of the Overwatch universe... I feel incredibly discouraged right now.

Four novel-length works. Two novella length. Two collections of short stories, all kind of AU-ish, sure, but building on the ideas and concepts and tone and drama and everything that's been thrown around. Two legit professional editors coming to me and saying, 'hey, you really ought to file the serial numbers off this shit and try to sell it, it's actually good,' and now...

...a bloody hamster in a battle hamsterball.

Shatters the tone. Really does. Shatters the world - I can stretch suspension of belief pretty fuckin' far, but I don't know how to paper over this.

I mean, introducing more light characters? Great! I'm all for it! But... for those of us doing all this fan creative stuff... goddamn, it feels like a "ha ha fuck you" from the creative team.

Yeah, I don't have to write it. I don't have to include it, and I most certainly won't be. But... christ.

Frankly, it's kind of embarrassing. "Oh, you're doing all this serious writing in that game world with the hamster? lol, why?"

It feels like lore fans are being given notice: "Yeah, all that backstory and tragedy? That's cool, but we'll break the world for a cheap gag, so for fuck's sake don't actually get invested in it."

And hey, it's their world. If that's how they want to play it, so be it.

But honestly, I really feel kind of kicked.

(Adopted and slightly expanded from tweets I made to PlayOverwatch)