Friend Request

[Content Warning: Includes extensive discussion of fictional transphobia and queerphobia.] We’re not always positive on the relationships and characters we discuss on this show, but this week is a different matter altogether. I like to think we err on the side of constructive criticism on this show, never hating for the sake of hate, and this week isn’t about hate either. Or rather, it’s not about OUR hate: it’s about the hate that game developers have displayed for trans and queer folks like us. This week, we’re discussing Chihiro Fujisaki from Danganronpa, Bridget from Guilty Gear, Mai from BlazBlue, Naoto Kurogane from Persona, and Erica Anderson from Catherine. It’s a rough, sad ride. Have a relationship we absolutely need to discuss? Hit us up on Twitter! Jen is @jbu3 [https://twitter.com/jbu3], Colin is @SixTwoSixFour [https://twitter.com/sixtwosixfour], and the Scanline Media official account is @ScanlineMedia [https://twitter.com/ScanlineMedia]. We’re going to post episodes every Wednesday going forward! See you next week!

It turns out, the Tom Clancy series is pretty badly written! Marvel at the “relationship” of Sam and Sarah Fisher of the Splinter Cell series, a father-daughter duo where the woman’s role is simply to be a carrot on a stick to drive Sam forward. She isn’t treated as valuable in her own right, only as a motivation for Sam to do Spy Stuff. They’re not even consistent in her storyline and characterization. Bah, the hell with that. Let’s have some fun talking about Asagi Asagiri from Nippon Ichi, the character that transcends game and series to always be unhappy with her lot in life, and ready to mess up anyone standing between her and the spotlight. Have a relationship we absolutely need to discuss? Hit us up on Twitter! Jen is @jbu3 [https://twitter.com/jbu3], Colin is @SixTwoSixFour [https://twitter.com/sixtwosixfour], and the Scanline Media official account is @ScanlineMedia [https://twitter.com/ScanlineMedia]. We’re going to post episodes every Wednesday going forward! See you next week!

You know, in looking for sound clips for this week’s intro, I found out that Kratos spends less time angrily screaming the name of his enemies than I thought. He actually does a lot of stiff, really-pissed-but-handling-it normal talking, which I did NOT remember. Whatever, it’s still a travesty how utterly every God of War game since the first has misunderstood what that character was supposed to be. After bemoaning the bad direction he was taken in, we shift our focus to Marcus and Wrench of Watch_Dogs 2’s DedSec, and the surprisingly grounded friendship at the heart of that game’s charm. Have a relationship we absolutely need to discuss? Hit us up on Twitter! Jen is @jbu3 [https://twitter.com/jbu3], Colin is @SixTwoSixFour [https://twitter.com/sixtwosixfour], and the Scanline Media official account is @ScanlineMedia [https://twitter.com/ScanlineMedia]. We’re going to post episodes every Wednesday going forward! See you next week!

A horse is a horse; of course, of course. And no one can talk to a horse, of course. Except, of course, if the name of the horse is Wander’s noble steed Agro. Throughout Shadow of the Colossus, Agro is without friends or allies, set on a seemingly impossible task, and his only friend is a mare named Agro. That relationship keeps the game together. Compare that to Fire Emblem Fates, which is narratively unmade in part from its pursuit of the “offspring” hook that made Awakening so popular. Ties that bind, and those that destroy. We’ve got both this week. Have a relationship we absolutely need to discuss? Hit us up on Twitter! Jen is @jbu3 [https://twitter.com/jbu3], Colin is @SixTwoSixFour [https://twitter.com/sixtwosixfour], and the Scanline Media official account is @ScanlineMedia [https://twitter.com/ScanlineMedia]. We’re going to post episodes every Wednesday going forward! See you next week!

I thought about making that “Miles & Dick” instead of “Edgeworth & Gumshoe.” Then I was like “I should REALLY avoid putting ‘Dick’ in the title of an episode. Is he a Richard?” And then I realized even if he was no one calls him that so then no one would know what I was talking about. (And for the record, it turns out he isn’t. He’s just “Dick.”) Anyway. On this episode of Friend Request, we’re discussing Evie and Jacob Frye from Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate’s old London, and then we pop over to an alternate future’s Japan (or America because of some strange choices in localization) to check on Miles Edgeworth and Dick Gumshoe. Enjoy! Have a relationship we absolutely need to discuss? Hit us up on Twitter! Jen is @jbu3 [https://twitter.com/jbu3], Colin is @SixTwoSixFour [https://twitter.com/sixtwosixfour], and the Scanline Media official account is @ScanlineMedia [https://twitter.com/ScanlineMedia]. We’re going to post episodes every Wednesday going forward! See you next week!