where's the gala?
Hello hello!
It's been a really busy month, partly because I took almost a week off work, and then we had public holidays on top of that, and three separate TTRPG cons as well as CAFKL? (I only went to CAFKL and one of the TTRPG events, although I am seriously considering going to the Jaya One one tomorrow if I have just the slightest bit of mana left.)
It's been a kind of dismal pride/Hellfire Gala month for me. I mean, for one, there is no Hellfire Gala because the mutants are mostly dead, and Krakoa is gone(1). And my current hyperfixation on Destroy All Humankind. They Can't Be Regenerated. means that I haven't been finishing any of the queer books I started(2). And despite my careful curation of my IG dashboard, I still encountered TERFy content thanks to acquaintances that I guess still support the Queen Terf. But of course, there's no time like than Pride Month for sharing your queerphobia with the world, right.
Reminds me again of that quote from Nimona (the movie):
"I don’t know what’s scarier. The fact that everyone in this kingdom wants to run a sword through my heart, or that sometimes I just want to let them."
CAFKL 2024
CAFKL remains my favourite con, and also the most dangerous for my wallet. There are DAYS and WEEKS of not being able to afford food this month, thanks to CAFKL. (Thankfully, I was lucky enough to have a publisher meeting in between one of the weeks, and a family dinner in another, so I had like one meal meal within the week and can subsist on stale kuih raya leftovers or a packet of RM2 nasi lemak a day for the rest of it. For a hobbit, this is a big thing T_T.)
ANYWAY, this CAFKL was extra fun because I wasn't alone, and I met a few acquaintances whose work I love, and saw a couple of TTRPG zines (so cool!), and there were not as many D&D stuff as last year (got la a few) but there were lots of Dungeon Meshi and Frieren stuff which was almost the same thing? I gave my minizines away the few times I remembered to do so, and an artist I admire DM-ed me saying they like my collages in one of them <3
My bad financial decisions from this day will haunt me til the end of September, probably. Maybe til the end of the year, because I have so many October birthdays to think about...
TTRPG Day @ Great Eastern Mall
So, June 1st is also International Tabletop Day, and this month there were/are events celebrating it on the 1st/2nd at Great Eastern Mall, 22nd/23rd at KLIA Gateway, and 29th/30th at Jaya One. KLIA2 was too far for me, although it is interesting to note that June 22nd is also Free RPG Day (kind of like Free Comic Book Day but for RPGs), although I don't know if any local game stores participate in it. I wish I could attend today, but alas, I shall be working. If I have mana left over, I might try to go tomorrow.
I did attend the one at Great Eastern Mall on the 2nd, and while it was a LOT at first, and I was overstimulated and a bit disassociated before I even got there (wish Pat was there!), being able to talk about TCGs with some of the people there really helped. Like, there was a dude who hadn't played D&D since the 2nd edition so he was reminiscing about THACO, and there were dudes who responded with the appropriate amount of horror when I told them I lost all my original Lorwyn cards, included the Jace Belerens. This will haunt me forever, like losing the majority of my X-Men trading cards.
(1)
The Krakoan era of X-Men is officially over. This month, I read the final issues of X-Men Forever and The Rise of the Powers of X/The Fall of the House of X, and Marvel's 2024 Pride issue, X-Men: Wedding Special.
All I can say is, the Krakoan era is up there with Claremont's era to me (and I'm saying this as a Claremontian X reader), and Kieron Gillen was definitely the right writer to end this story (some of the issues were too good, I was like "dude this is a superhero comic, can you not" because I was crying too much from the feels), and this wrapped up the whole X-Men story so well that... I don't really need more. Do I want more? Sure. Am I going to try reading the post-Krakoa, "from the ashes" stories? Yeah, at least all the issue ones. Am I looking forward to a new NYX series, and to read more of Gail Simone's Uncanny X-Men? Am I already utterly obsessed with the alt universe Ultimate X-Men by Peach Momoko, with HISAKO as the main character? Yes, yes, and yes.
But do I need more X-Men? Probably not. The fall of Krakoa kind of wrapped everything up so neatly, more comics would probably just knot things up again. But Marvel's corporate overlords gotta make money, right...
(2)
I finished ONE book this month. And that book is Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth, which is really enjoyable and relatable, and not at all queer. Sorry.
I'm currently reading Say A Little Prayer by Jenna Voris, which I started on because of the similarities to Saved!, one of my favourite teen movies. So far I think I will like it, but yes all the queerphobia depicted in the book was stressing me out, so I kept turning to my happy and kinda problematic webtoons after every few pages.
I guess I should've picked a happier book for my June reading, like a T.J. Klune or Cat Sebastian, or I should've picked a queer book with ttrpgs, like Christen Randall's The No-Girlfriend Rule, but it's a bit late for that now.
On the non-queer reading front, I know I already wrote about Destroy All Humankind. They Can't Be Regenerated. in the last newsletter, but I just read volume 14 last weekend, and between this and Twelfth Knight, I just need to rant. While the books are about gaming, this rant is more about Gaming While (Appearing) Female.
I think I mentioned in the last newsletter questioning the reality of the female characters just being accepted at the game store they frequent, with no guys creeping on them, or being too sexist.
But in Vol 14, we got to read Yakumo's back story, and how she became a shut-in due to extreme bullying at school. The reason she was being bullied? Being into "guy things", and not dressing up all girly. As an enby who experienced a lot of the same (except, okay, some of the "bullying" kind of went over my head until I look back on it, because neurospicy.) She was obsessed with Final Fantasy and Gundam Wing, and this in particular was triggering because my hyperfixation with zine culture and Gundam Wing at one point had my then-closest friend group shut me out completely, and made it so that no one talked to me for the rest of the year. (There was Joe, who did not give a shit, and I will always remember this.) This was in college, and I think the catalyst for my finally giving in to my 8+ year burnout. But, anyway.
Yakumo discovered MTG while she was a shut-in, because her dad introduced it to her, in hopes of getting her to be interested in the world again. And, you know what? I started really playing D&D and MTG after burning out of college and going home and mostly doing nothing but lie in my room all day and all night, except for the nights my brother's friends came over to game. (At the time, I lived with my brother and cousin.) I never really thought about how all of these connected until I saw it in Yakumo's story - this was when I started playing, but not why. I always wanted to, but was never allowed to join before (cuz "girl"), until this time when they wanted more "girls" in the group (so their girlfriends feel okay joining.) But ultimately, these games changed me the way it did Yakumo.
Then there's Twelfth Knight, with the protagonist (Viola) whose only play group was a bunch of sexist kids from school who shoot down all of her ideas, and never let her have a say at the table, ever. And when one of them agreed with her once, he expected to be reward with a date. And later on, it was revealed that when she started playing the MMORPG she's obsessed with, Twelfth Knight, she had played as a female and was bullied off the platform, so she had to create a male alias to continue playing.
Of course, fiction being fiction, both Yakumo and Viola eventually meet amazing people and form their own play group/found family. And I still live in the real world.
Unrelated, but I am enjoying Netflix's adaptation of Geek Girl and wish for a new season of Heartstopper like, NOW, and also wish that Lauren James' books (ANY of them) would get adapted because they are amazing and whyyyy don't more people read her??
Drink lots of water! Stay safe! Don't be financially irresponsible like me!