On Leonard and Monster Camp

[The Dapper Dragon]

Look, I adore this game. I got it yesterday, and already have 12 hours in. It's an amazingly written, hilarious game. But holy ♥♥♥♥, everything around Zoe needs to stop in Monster Camp.

Yes, this is another 'stop pandering/Leonard is awful' post. I'm prepared to deal with the simpletons who's understanding of tolerance is "Anything I don't agree with is a nazi and horrible." Them to whom a nuanced take is akin to a Unicorn farting Nuclear Fallout. Somehow impossible, but terrifying.

Zoe is great. Adorable, and the metaphor for trans is, while sliiiightly worrying if I wanted to overanalyze it, a well written and unique take.

But you are not Scott, devs. You do not need good boy points. You can stop using her to tell us how much better you are than anyone who disagrees with you. Thus, where Leonard shows up.

Leonard is a hate sink. A one note ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. This is good. Having objectively despicable characters is fun, and having him be a Kappa is both ironic (in the real sense, not the Liam sense), and a magnificent pun, as they are literal rectal vampires (Edit: Thank you steam for making any medical term of the back end of the digestion track a 'swear'). He is also a strawman that exists for his writers to show how horrible everyone who disagrees with them totally are.

His thinking every woman who games is a fake gamer girl? Fine. Those people do exist, and they're hilarious. But here's the thing, fake gamer girls DO exist. Everyone knows the meme, the woman holding an Xbox controller saying how much she loves Nintendo? Or the camgirls that infest Twitch, having the camera pointed directly down their shirt while a small clip of Overwatch plays in the corner? Still, they play this scene well, showing Leonard doesn't give a ♥♥♥♥ about the distinction. But...

His referencing of the Ghostbusters remake being hated because it was 'women' rather than just a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ movie, for example, has no place here. The whole scene about him hating change? Not only does it come off as cringy and uncomfortable, with an almost intentional misunderstanding of that viewpoint, but it even sucks the joy out of Zoe, having her gripe at you for helping her because it wasn't in a way she approved of. So, as a player, you're ♥♥♥♥ on for helping her, even in the success, because...? Because around her, the devs felt the need to show how woke they are, even if you're trying to support them. This isn't the place for that.

I'm not going to sit here and say having more options is bad, or whine about being able to select pronouns. I find it a bit dumb, but it's harmless, and it makes others happy, so go for it. But Leonard and everything around him reads like baby's first woke take, and it wasn't needed. He was a great hate sink being an elitist, tryhard ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, without needing to try to shove your strawman into his headbowl.

TL;DR: Please try to keep your strawmen out of monster camp, or, ideally, make them into literal murder scarecrows, so we can at least have a fun pun to chew on while we click past their dialog.

[baronfel124]

Ghostbusters 2016 was better than Ghostbusters 2, and you just proved how non-strawman Leonard was. So good job?

[YSR715]

no, Zoe is trans like its 100% a thing

also I just talked to the devs like a few days ago about this and Polly

lol nope

also i like how you're whining about how he's transphobic as a strawman while whining about pronouns

also what about camp? he's not in it

[Lady Dormouse]

Originally posted by baronfel124:

Ghostbusters 2016 was better than Ghostbusters 2, and you just proved how non-strawman Leonard was. So good job?

Agreed.

Leonard is that guy if you are a woman you too easily run into online. The number of guys online who are just like him are legion.

Thank goodness there are legions of guys who are the antithesis of Leonard. Otherwise it would, nuke the entire web from orbit, just to be safe.

[Lady Dormouse]

Originally posted by YSR715:

no, Zoe is trans like its 100% a thing

also I just talked to the devs like a few days ago about this and Polly

lol nope

also i like how you're whining about how he's transphobic as a strawman while whining about pronouns

also what about camp? he's not in it

Agreed.

Zoe is trans representation write large.

As a trans woman she resonates with me and brings me so much joy. So much pure joy.

Thank you, both baronfel124 and YSR715, for laying out so clearly. =)

[YSR715]

also op Zoe isn't in camp

we do however have a nonbinary ro in Milo

[YSR715]

Originally posted by Lady Dormouse:

Originally posted by YSR715:

no, Zoe is trans like its 100% a thing

also I just talked to the devs like a few days ago about this and Polly

lol nope

also i like how you're whining about how he's transphobic as a strawman while whining about pronouns

also what about camp? he's not in it

Agreed.

Zoe is trans representation write large.

As a trans woman she resonates with me and brings me so much joy. So much pure joy.

Thank you, both baronfel124 and YSR715, for laying out so clearly. =)

yeah she's the best, it helps a couple of the devs seem to be trans too

[Lady Dormouse]

Originally posted by YSR715:

Originally posted by Lady Dormouse:

Agreed.

Zoe is trans representation write large.

As a trans woman she resonates with me and brings me so much joy. So much pure joy.

Thank you, both baronfel124 and YSR715, for laying out so clearly. =)

yeah she's the best, it helps a couple of the devs seem to be trans too

I'm totally into her because aside from her being an awesome and fun character...

1. My name is Zoe.

2. I am also trans. =)

[Lady Dormouse]

Originally posted by YSR715:

also op Zoe isn't in camp

we do however have a nonbinary ro in Milo

That's cool.

[The Dapper Dragon]

S...So did y'all not even *try* to read the post? Can anyone point me to where I had a single negative thing to say about Zoe? (Excepting the one instance of her.)

And thank y'all for proving my point that nuance is not allowed. So, because I don't *personally* like the choose your own pronoun approach to characters, but am glad it's in for those who do like it, I'm suddenly transphobic? Logic, evidently...

[YSR715]

Originally posted by TDChangeling:

S...So did y'all not even *try* to read the post? Can anyone point me to where I had a single negative thing to say about Zoe? (Excepting the one instance of her.)

And thank y'all for proving my point that nuance is not allowed. So, because I don't *personally* like the choose your own pronoun approach to characters, but am glad it's in for those who do like it, I'm suddenly transphobic? Logic, evidently...

sorry, its ok, and i don't know what you want the devs to do?

like they're not going to rewrite him, he's design to be a hate sink foil to zoe

its there game and the devs can do whatever they want with it,

[AliceInDystopialand]

Everything to do with Leonard was extremely entertaining so honestly, I hope they keep it up

[Lady Dormouse]

Originally posted by AliceInDystopialand:

Everything to do with Leonard was extremely entertaining so honestly, I hope they keep it up

Agreed.

Also, that's an awesome user name! =)

[YSR715]

Originally posted by Lady Dormouse:

Originally posted by AliceInDystopialand:

Everything to do with Leonard was extremely entertaining so honestly, I hope they keep it up

Agreed.

Also, that's an awesome user name! =)

tbh leonard is fun to make suffer

[Lady Dormouse]

Originally posted by YSR715:

Originally posted by Lady Dormouse:

Agreed.

Also, that's an awesome user name! =)

tbh leonard is fun to make suffer

So very true.