unfridged

Welcome back everyone! Unfridged has been away for a long time now, so there’s plenty of great internet reading to catch up on. Let’s get started:

• First off, a great piece on video game diversity. It’s called “no one is coming to take away your shitty toys,” which is pretty much all you need to know about it.  [Midnight Resistance]
• I would have been all over these IAmElemental action figures growing up. They’re so wonderful!
• Teen Vogue talks about growing up in fantasy worlds, discovering self-worth, and finding queer love in Tamora Pierce books.
• Dungeons & Dragons turns forty this year, and everyone is lining up to talk about how important it is! First the New York Times discusses how the game influenced the storytelling of a generation of writers, and the New Yorker published a piece on a more personal experience. (I’m choosing to ignore the fact that the author categorically denies that women play the game. Dude. No.)
• In other D&D news, the Mary Sue talks about the game’s new focus on sexuality and gender diversity with lead game designers Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford.
• RITA SKEETER (or, you know, J.K. Rowling) WROTE A THING. AND IT IS GLORIOUS. Best recap of a World Cup ever. [Today Books]
• What’s that you say? You’d love to see an 80s-tastic Dazzler music video? Complete with mutant special effects and derby girls? I live to serve.
• Dorkly has a list of ten conversations that would have radically changed Harry Potter. Just call it Harry Potter and the Healthy Communication.
• Bitch tackles the ever-present problem of convention harassment, with some interesting survey data.
• If you’ve never stopped to consider the racial implications of having your few characters of colour act as sidekicks, then this is a must-read (I mean, everyone should read it, especially because it uses James Bond as an example, but you know). [The Nerds of Color]
• Still doing amazing in-depth writing on video game sexism, Polygon presents real examples of the abhorrent conditions women working in games face, drawing parallels and conclusions, and making me really sad.
• On the surface, Autostraddle’s piece on anime web series RWBY is just a review of one show, but the criticisms levelled against it—the show’s paper thin characterization and dependance on pernicious female stereotypes, for starters—apply to much of our media.
• Hey you know Emily Graslie? That awesome person who does a YouTube show called the Brain Scoop? Well you totally should and, what a coincidence, Cosmopolitan has a great interview with her.
• Presented without comment: “46 times Captain Janeway was outta control sassy.” [Buzzfeed]
• This wonderful thing is happening: In Sussex, horses were mysteriously getting their mane and tails braided at night. No one could figure out why this was happening, until the police realized that all the reports were coming in during white witchcraft festivals. Yes. You read that right. White witches are going around in the dead of night making ponies prettier. The world is a glorious place. [Horsemart]