the amount of brotherly contempt in “the same blastoise” is very relatable
PLEASE listen to this
I have never understood the phrase “dripping with malice” until I heard griffin say “the same blastoise”
I know I’ve reblogged this before but if you haven’t heard it, *please* listen to it. This is one of my favorite MBMBAM clips and I reference it on the regular
transcription:
Justin McElroy: Griffin’s just sitting at the end, jugglin- fushigi-ing two glass balls in super tight pants. Just waiting for his kid delivery-
Griffin: Well they’d b-
Justin: Once they’ve bested his minions.
Griffin: They would be poke-balls. Also it’s not a kid delivery - there’s no fuckin’ guarantee that a kid that a kid that comes into the beginning of my crucible, makes it to the end of it, undefeated. [pause] In fact- I’veadfja- I’m ‘onna pack- I’m gonna stack this gym. With fuckin pros. It’s - it’s going to be. It’s gonna be brutal. It’s going to be a torture chamber.
Travis: Well- Well what’s the theme? What’s the theme? Is it going to be a bug theme…is it-
Griffin:[with extreme mockery] YEAH TRAVIS UH UH UH UH-YEAH TRAV. I’m gonna open up a bug-type pokemon gym. You idiot. Yeah, that’s what I want because I wanna give out- I wanna- I wanna shit out badges for every ham and egger that comes to my front door.
[Justin chuckles]
Griffin: Yeah that’s right Travis. [in a doofy voice] “Go Caterpie!” [back to normal] Yeah that’s me you fucking imbecile. [doofy voice] “Yeah-guh- uh, do your best Kakuna!” [normal] Ye-fu- What are you fucking talking- [imitating travis] “Yeah, a bug type gym”
Travis: Fire based? [travis and just talk over one another]
Griffin, slightly shouting: Yeah, yeah I’ll probably just- [slightly whispers] yeah that’s a good idea Justin, I’ll just do a fire type one, so that ONE KID with ONE BLASTOISE can FUCK UP MY WHOLE SHOP. Killed all of us with one blastoise, huh? Wow, shit, I shoulda.
Travis: Just do rock then. Just do rock-type.
Griffin: [with a monotone gravelly malice] tHe sAmE bLaStOisE.
Worked on this girl for 9 months. Now this new music video comes out and she’s immensely popular, arguably one of the most popular characters in the LoL universe.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad she’s a huge hit, it’s super exciting to see so many people love the character design and the gameplay, and know that I contributed directly and significantly to the behind-the-scenes engineering that makes it all work. It’s validating.
But it’s also so fucking melancholy to know I did so much work and put in so much time for such a shitty company, run by shitty people, and the reward I got for it was unemployment.
I threw a lot into this character. I cried at work. I started getting panic attacks, which I’ve never gotten before. I developed persistent heart palpitations from the daily overwhelming stress and had to go to the hospital (this is true, seriously.) I basically dropped all my friends outside of work. My manager (and his manager!) lied to me constantly to keep me working. They said I was doing a great job but to keep it up. Don’t worry, it’s going to turn out great, and it’ll all be worth it in the end – recognition, a raise, probably a promotion in short order. They promised me the world. When she was finally finished, I didn’t even get to go to the release party, they just walked me out.
I remember a quote from my last day, it sticks out in my mind: “I know you realize this is really hard for me,” my manager said. Yes, in the end, when he awkwardly informed me I didn’t have my dream job anymore – or any job at all – and then stared back at my shell-shocked face, my thousand-yard stare, the only thing he felt was sorry for himself.
She launched with no major bugs and was considered a technical success. Doesn’t matter. Get the fuck out.
I don’t know how I feel. A weird sensation of pride and intense bitterness. I did a good job; at least, I think I did. Unfortunately, internal validation is the only kind I’m going to get.
Everyone reposting KDA should see this. Riot has successfully distracted everyone into forgetting their culture of sexism,exploitation, and toxicity mere months after it was all revealed.
Look, I get it. Akali is EXTREMELY my type. It’s obvious how much love and care was put into her development. But it makes me furious to see all the free advertising that Riot is getting from people who I thought would know better.
And now? One of the people who is arguably responsible for all that free advertising? Who’s work is undoubtedly making Riot hundreds of thousands of dollars a day? Who was overworked to the point of near breaking? They get nothing. WORSE than the scant bit of credit that most devs can get in a big company like Riot. They got let go.
Fuck Riot Games.
One thing that I thought really sucked a lot is that the production company who made the KDA video isn’t even credited. They credit a lot of other people on their videos, usually, but the actual animators of the video are hidden; almost a lie by omission. At best it’s a honest mistake, at worst it’s sneakily trying to pass off the video as something made in-house when it’s not. :(
