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Episode 256: Tarqueer is here! Happy Pride!
34 Plays55 minutes ago
Hello, Podwalkers, and welcome back to another episode of the Goblin Lore Podcast! Happy Pride Month y'all! Today we are here to discuss the Queerness that appears to be inherent on the plane of Tarkir. This was initially sparked by seeing I Write Robots post on Felothar! Coupled with Jay Annelli's thread updating some of the demographics (and a great response mentioning Trans of Tarqueer) this seemed like a great time discuss some elements of queer representation in Magic.
Also check out The Truth of Names for some fantastic Magic storytelling: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/truth-names-2015-01-28
We also finally have a Linktree with all of our discounts/resources
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As promised, we keep Mental Health Links available every episode. But For general Mental Health the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has great resources for people struggling with mental health concerns as well as their families. We also want to draw attention to this article on stigma from NAMI's site.
If you’re thinking about suicide or just need someone to talk to right now, you can get support from any of the resources below.
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988
- Veteran's can Press 1 at anytime to be taken to the Veteran's Line
- Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741-741
- International suicide hotlines: A comprehensive resource list for people outside the US.
- IMAlive: Click Chat Now to access a live online network of volunteers through instant messaging.
- TrevorLifeline, TrevorChat, and TrevorText (LGBTQ+ crisis support): 1-866-488-7386, or text “Trevor” to 1-202-304-1200
- Trans Lifeline (US): (877) 565-8860
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Opening and closing music by Wintergatan (@wintergatan). Logo art by Steven Raffael (@SteveRaffle)
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Host Introductions
00:00:00
Speaker
are
00:00:08
Speaker
are are
00:00:29
Speaker
Hello, podcasters and walkers people. This is Hobbs Q introducing himself in the first 10 seconds of an episode. Not for any reason. but No, no.
00:00:39
Speaker
yeah You screwed up our like our intro line already. It shows how often and you've you know we've we've been together to record. However, I did that in the in the service of of trying to get my name out very quickly. Yeah. Because that's what I was going to do. i was like, I'll just start with my actual name.
00:01:01
Speaker
And then from there, I'll be Hobbs Q pronouns he, him. And then we're we're not 10 minutes into an episode before we introduce ourselves. yeah Who would do that? Wait. Oh, if you don't know, this is the Goblin Lore podcast. Welcome to another episode of it.
00:01:20
Speaker
Yeah. Got all four hosts on the mic tonight. tonight? Callie's here. Callie's Hobbs is here. There's two other people here.
00:01:38
Speaker
i'm Alex, found on the Discord and nowhere else on social media. Pronouns he, him. I'm Taya, pronouns she, her, they, them, and Taya transcends on Blue Sky or on the Discord, which you all should join because it's a great community.
00:01:56
Speaker
Yeah, like the Discord is really nice. Everybody go join it right now. Turn off this episode. Wait, no, no, no, don't actually turn off the episode. We've been wanting record this one for quite a while. awesome Before we get to the episode, happy Pride.
Pride Month and New Legends Discussion
00:02:08
Speaker
It is Pride Month, and that is going to be Influence Our Episode, but we want to make sure that we're saying that.
00:02:13
Speaker
And we're going to do an opening question, which is, ah ah with all the new legends that have come out recently... who are you most excited to build or who, who out there is what, who you're, you're hoping to build around.
00:02:28
Speaker
um And I'm going to let Alex and Taya go first, because this is a chance to let final fantasy shine. There are so many of them. um Yes. Very, very many final fantasies.
00:02:42
Speaker
You sure you're just not stalling for time like usual hops. no, what? What? No. Yeah. maybe Maybe a little bit. like still and Making someone else answer the question so you can stall for time is a time honored tradition.
00:03:00
Speaker
So in, uh, in that spirit, I suppose I, I will go as the person who proposed the question and had an answer right away. So I really want to build a deck around Tara Herald of Hope, the, the, the final fantasy, um,
00:03:17
Speaker
In the recent Final Fantasy Commander cards, Terra is a red, white, black face card of of the red, white, black deck that's ah built around Final Fantasy VI, both because I really like the card mechanically. She's a with two abilities. The first at the beginning of combat on your turn, you mill two cards, and then Terra gains flying.
00:03:40
Speaker
And then whenever Terra deals combat damage to a player, you can pay two when you do return a creature with power three or less from your graveyard to the battlefield tap. So very similar to Alesha. Not exactly Alesha. The deck looked like a lot of fun on Elder Dragon Social Club.
00:03:55
Speaker
Yeah. And but it that that is a deck like I once had Alesha, the original. I can't remember her suffix on that. original version. The first one, Who Smiles at Death?
00:04:06
Speaker
Smiles at Death, thank you. So I had an Unless You Smiles at Death deck I built a while ago. I love that sort of combat, brings, you know, graveyard right to the battlefield. I love self-mill things, especially like these colors don't self-mill as much. I mean, black does, but you tend not to get as much of that in red and white.
00:04:25
Speaker
So I really like the idea of this deck. My Elisha deck was a goblin deck, in fact. I can't remember. might be able find the list somewhere, but i remember I remember I also built it as like a red-black. I don't think I had any white in the deck.
00:04:38
Speaker
because her her color identity was just red to cast, but then it's black or white for Alesha's activation. She's definitely going into my Alesha deck. Yes. I think a good card both in that deck or as a commander of a deck like that.
00:04:53
Speaker
um So i'm just I'm excited to try to try to build this kind of this version of that. and i really liked Final Fantasy VI as Tay and I talked in a recent episode talking about the commander decks and some of the the emotional things that got card representation in these decks.
00:05:12
Speaker
I really liked six. And so Tara, I think would be a fun commander to have both mechanically and just flavorfully
Building Decks Around Characters
00:05:19
Speaker
as a character. I really liked her. yes so Well, um,
00:05:25
Speaker
You know, tying into what our topic will be, I would say Felithar, but I already built her. I had her in Minneapolis. and ah You did. I mean, that was a ton of fun to play against, too, I will say.
00:05:38
Speaker
You hadn't modded a ton of it. I mean, I know that you... Well, you'd added some decent amount. I don't remember. know mana base was still rough. Yeah.
00:05:49
Speaker
The mana base was still pretty rough because I didn't have the land, all the lands I wanted to put into it, but I had swapped out quite a few of the, the usual bad cards they put in pre-con to the ones that were on a different play. The pre-con had like this life gain sub theme and I, I dropped the life gain cards for, uh, defender synergy stuff.
00:06:14
Speaker
Um, But yeah, it was a ah lot of fun. And I'm looking forward to putting the the negative 9,999 card in that for the combo with um ah the toughness and power enchantment.
00:06:31
Speaker
Yes. To answer tonight's question, though, because I was already getting far enough off topic. I'm also picking one from the commander deck, and that's Yashulta's Knight Blessed. I ah don't have an Esper commander deck right now.
00:06:45
Speaker
And this one is, uh, it's one in Esper for a 2-4 Cat Warlock. so we already got, we already got a ah a creature type line, which is right up my alley.
00:06:56
Speaker
ah she's dressed fantastically. is This is her Shadowbringers outfit. She looks amazing. Um... she's ah She's got Vigilance, and at the beginning of each end step, if a player lost four more life this turn, you draw cards. That's every turn. So if people take damage on combat on other turns, you get to draw cards.
00:07:17
Speaker
And whenever you cast a non-creature spell with mana value three or greater, you shelter this two damage to each opponent, and you gain two life. So ah it's it's kind of a mix of...
00:07:29
Speaker
um higher CMC cards and ah just dishing damage on other turns. So it seemed like I don't have a life loss matters deck. I mean, to other than the point that life loss always matters, but not one that's specifically around, you know, trying to lose a specific amount of life. So I figured this would be time to finally build an Esper deck.
00:07:51
Speaker
Uh, yeah. it's not going to be a typical control shell Esper deck. It's going to be more, a lot of damage throwing around type effects.
00:08:02
Speaker
Uh, you know control's not really my thing. I'm more of an aggro player and I want to play into that. Uh, you know, the damage dealing ability. And then, uh, sadly there aren't many goad cards in these colors because goad would be awesome with this commander.
00:08:22
Speaker
um but I'll see what I can do with it. I'm going to start with the pre-con and upgrade it from there. Nice. And if I recall correctly, you're saying you you really like Yishult as a character from... Yeah, she's my favorite character from the game too, so it fits right I'm definitely looking forward to it.
00:08:42
Speaker
Bratia, the backup commander for the deck, is another... um one of my favorite characters. I do have to say, i am really bummed that we did not get full art commanders this time around like we have for the last few commander sets.
00:08:58
Speaker
Oh, yeah. It's kind of weird too, right? Yeah. It's going to have them full art with this awesome art that these cards have on them. but Oh, yeah.
00:09:10
Speaker
Especially with... but Yeah, with with that art, I mean, just all the other art great art that they're doing with the crossover stuff, working with artists from Square Enix, some of the original artists for these games. Yeah, and Yashulta is also a Magali art, or magli which is my favorite artist. So, um you know, that's just another win on top of it.
00:09:31
Speaker
But yeah, i I'm bummed that these did not come in the full treatment. We've gotten the last several Commander decks. Well, i'm i'm I'm going to pick a card that is very anti-Hobbs, very out of my normal style of play.
00:09:49
Speaker
um So this one just really struck me when I was... because I didn't know and a lot, you know as we've said, about Final Fantasy. um So this one kind of just struck me as I was going through the the list and and want to learn a lot more about it.
00:10:00
Speaker
It is called Vivi Ornatiere. um it's a legendary creature wizard. Yes, like wizards are okay. Of course you would pick the most broken card in the entire set, Hobbs.
00:10:14
Speaker
This is very I was shocked that you would think that this would be the card that I would choose. Really? yeah is it card? A broken is it card? A storm it card? Is it card? That sounds nothing like you. Right, so that's what I'm saying. I knew you both would be very proud of me and very surprised.
00:10:32
Speaker
um But no, like this card is everything that I, this card was enough to get me to actually download a Final Fantasy game. How sorry far have you got?
00:10:45
Speaker
Oh, like not at all. I downloaded it. i asked itz for I got through. i realized that the the the characters that you could name, um I was like, oh, I'm so used to just giving my characters like their own names, not thinking about the fact that those names were,
00:11:01
Speaker
ah You know, I'm used to video games where I just would name my own characters. And then realizing that I was... i was like, wait, that character looks familiar from a magic card. Oh, i just changed its name to Hobbes. Or I just changed its name to, like, Breaches. No, um and then... ah But...
00:11:18
Speaker
This card is everything I want. i mean, whenever you cast a non-creature spell, put a plus one, plus one on Vivi, and it deals the damage to each opponent. So it's like half a gutter snipe for just casting spells and get plus one, plus one counters.
00:11:34
Speaker
Then for zero, well, and it doesn't even tap, which is kind of cool. ah You add X mana in any combination of red and or blue, where X is Vivi's power. Activate only during your turn. Oh, darn.
00:11:48
Speaker
And only once each turn. I actually, so. Oh, no, there's no way to flicker Vivi in blue, is there? that's a non tap And that non-tap ability, right? Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:00
Speaker
Yeah. A string of extra turns. Yeah. Yeah. No, there that this is very difficult card to have any payoff. That's why I i want it so badly.
00:12:11
Speaker
um Actually, the card that I really want to play with it is Glamdring. So it's kind of funny that it's another Universe Beyond card ah just because I really like that card. Yeah. ah Let's it give plus X plus O and first strike to your creature that is equal to the number of incident sorceries in your graveyard.
00:12:31
Speaker
but Yeah. Which I guess would make this a lot more like bigger. Yeah. yeah And then every time you're casting like one of these things, you could also be just it seems nice.
00:12:45
Speaker
It seems nice. That's all I'm saying. That's good.
00:12:53
Speaker
i've i've been I've been wanting to ask, and I'm like, I know you're busy, so you probably haven't gotten super far. but um I have not. I basically got through the initial, um like, you're going to a play.
00:13:06
Speaker
Ah, okay. that that That was, like, where I got, and then I, like, paused, and that's that's as far as I've made Yeah. um But I am excited. I actually do want to play it. But like yeah, this card being previewed did 100% make me want to be like, oh, yeah, I i would play that.
00:13:21
Speaker
ah Like, in a heartbeat. So, yeah. Did you find your full art version? I know you were hunting for one. I did get a full art. i So i procured a full art version.
00:13:34
Speaker
um And I also have a regular, just ah just a regular version um coming. though So just the... um The the the like regular art version. So I have one of i have one of each coming now.
00:13:47
Speaker
Yes. um It is going in i mean I don't know if I will actually build a whole other separate deck. I should have done a little bit better and looked for ones I may actually build a deck. This kind of slots into either just... This is actually probably going to get tested in CEDH, the Karkashima deck.
00:14:07
Speaker
and Duh. And it would also go into Breaches and Malcolm pretty... Yeah. Yeah. because Yeah. That deck needs help. It does.
00:14:18
Speaker
it does. It has a very... yeah Thank you. Thank you, Taya. It's good to hear that because, you know, i I oftentimes worry that it doesn't get the respect that it deserves. So...
00:14:32
Speaker
so Let's talk what we're actually here for now that we've got. Did you get all the Final Fantasy out of your system? Because we're going away for at least a little bit.
00:14:44
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely not. But yeah for this episode, for this evening, yes.
Inclusive Representation in Magic
00:14:49
Speaker
For the purposes of this episode. Absolutely. Okay. Okay.
00:14:55
Speaker
Well, we are here because we are here today to discuss. No, um, ah a little while ago when we were, that we've actually been talking about doing this episode for quite a while.
00:15:07
Speaker
Um, we, this was, uh, Based off of... So there was a ah Twitter thread. I first saw somebody mention that Felithar was trans. So this was Hen.
00:15:20
Speaker
I write robots. Had posted after the Legends of Tarkir. Because this is what's been happening. i think we've talked about this before. That the um like the the the Legends article comes out and oftentimes gives us a lot more information.
00:15:35
Speaker
And what we learned was that a trans woman and a descendant of the former Khan Raehan... Felathar was a formidable warrior in Dramoka's brood. Separated from her unit by a sun sinking, she found herself in an underground fortress near a still-standing Kintree.
00:15:49
Speaker
But that first sentence just points out straight out that she is a trans woman. And we have a trans woman in the Abzan. um And and like i was like, that's pretty sweet. like I love when they're reaching some of this stuff into the... um and we We have a trans woman that's not dead in magic.
00:16:09
Speaker
Right. Right. Yes, we do also have a trans woman who's not dead. yeah That's also a good, good point, too. ah Or, yeah. And around that same time. So ah Jay, Jay and Nelly, the you know writer writer for Wizards and um somebody who's done a lot of the lore based, posted that he was going to do an updated version of his past Twitter threads for some demographic updates and pointed out that, well, on top of that, we also know that eshka Eshky Dragonclaw has a wife.
00:16:43
Speaker
um So that one was revealed. So we know that that she is at least ah she is queer. um That Felithar is a trans woman. Yereni uses they, them ah pronouns.
00:16:57
Speaker
And also... Beitor uses they, them, but Beitor is also ah very interesting that they are also pleuristic being because they are literally the amalgamation of like all the Abzan spirits, but they are a being being. The spirit dragon is pleuristic and also uses they, them, and we.
00:17:18
Speaker
So we got kind of this update and... This also, somebody had responded to him with Khans of Tarkir, more like Trans of Tarkir. ah Because it turns out that Tarkir, probably of all the planes we've had so far, has the best pride.
00:17:36
Speaker
Like, 100% best pride is on Tarkir. They do have the best parade, for sure. So let's talk about why that is that people are, are, are checking in and don't know a ton about the history of Tarkir.
00:17:51
Speaker
Um, this is not like, yeah, let's, let's talk about that. So, I mean, we can, we can go back to the original Tarkir and we get the first intentionally trans woman in magic for Alesha. Uh, you know, the, uh, um, we got a short story about her.
00:18:12
Speaker
Um, that talked about her claiming her name. And I think it's called the truth. The names, if I can remember correctly, I should know this because I've read it like every year, but ah so we got our first, you know, like intentionally trans character. Everybody, a lot of people consider Zantia the first trans character in magic because she was genderless and assumed the ah ah gender identity of a woman, but she wasn't intentionally trans.
00:18:41
Speaker
written as trans that's kind of a later ah reading of her character um which she actually was surprisingly good representation for a character written in a 2000 ish yeah it was like the very very early early yeah um but uh so we got alesha you know we got an actual so queer story um we had just gotten the first queer characters on cards the previous year in theros but we didn't get a story we just had one piece of flavor text on on the um monument of k and t i forget what the card is actually called it's just a like 08 defender or something like that it's a really defenders of meletus yeah that sounds about right uh
00:19:33
Speaker
It's not a good card. It's, but that was like our first time we get any reference at all to queer people in magic. And then a year later we get a Lesha and we get an actual queer story in magic.
00:19:48
Speaker
So. ah very well written. Well, I'll leave it. Yeah. And I will link the, um the story because it is one that is worth rereading. And we've seen,
00:20:01
Speaker
References back to Alesha. There's been other takes on Alesha. Yeah. Card form. But she's been very dead. She's been dead for over 1100 years. yeah Yeah. No. Yeah. She's dead.
00:20:13
Speaker
Yeah. ah So we haven't had a um modern trans woman in magic until this set when we got Felithar.
00:20:25
Speaker
um which they didn't really include anything in the story at all about her being trans, even though she was a minor character in the set story. ah So I didn't learn about it until Jace Thread.
00:20:40
Speaker
Yeah. And it was in that article, right? Yeah. And that's where I think that's where it it becomes kind of the interesting. I was like, i was like, we had... Sorry, I was thinking that we we had some references back to Alesha on Tarkir from a supplemental set.
00:20:57
Speaker
Yeah, was it Foundation she got a new card? No, Death Greeters Champion. yeah We did get Death Greeters Champion later, yeah. that that was But we don't know where they fit in timeline-wise other than they like...
00:21:12
Speaker
had basically like learned on ah you know, like that it was like the tradition of the clan, um, from militia, but yeah, sorry. I was just trying to think of how little representation station that we've had.
00:21:24
Speaker
um But yeah, and once again, as you said, Taya, it wasn't like in the story. It was yeah in this supplemental article. So and I had already planned on building the Felithar deck before that supplemental article came out because I've always liked Buttfight synergy and magic. i played um I played Assault Formation when that was legal and standard. I played Hide Alert when that was legal and standard, which was like the last time I even played standard in that... ah guilds of ravnica or not guild but the uh ravica allegiance uh whatever block that was um two set block before war but um that one that was when i had a high high alert and arcades uh which i thought was a lot of fun but it wasn't a very good deck
00:22:15
Speaker
uh, anyways, but so I'd already planned on building that deck. And then when I see the story or the the article come out, the legends of Tarkir that talks about her being trans, I'm like, Oh great. I already have, I already have the deck built for deck scheduled to be built for the second trans character.
00:22:32
Speaker
I guess I should build a Zantia deck at some point, just have the full set. Uh, For the trans that for but for trans women. Yeah, for the trans women.
00:22:45
Speaker
Yeah. Not that there's a huge amount of trans. I just meant that there's also very little trans man representation. No, we've got one. have guy from Yuma. Yuma, yeah.
00:22:59
Speaker
ah Who is a transplant.
00:23:05
Speaker
Wait, oh God. Yeah. Wow, that was really good. We could just end the episode. I can't claim somebody Somebody posted that online a while ago, and I just remember reading it, so I can't claim that. I don't care if you claim it or not. like i i did I had not heard that one. and Yeah, and new he moved from New Capena to Thunder Junction. He's a transplant, and he has a plant.
00:23:28
Speaker
Yeah, he has a plant. That's why I was... That was ah what I was thinking. Yeah. ah so um So we've been getting all this queer representation on Tarkir, which um might be... I think it makes it even more queer than Innistrad. We've gotten a bit on Innistrad, too. We have... Yeah....Pondra's short-term girlfriend, ah Adeline, and we have ah Helen, Alinda...
00:24:02
Speaker
yeah yes the two names i can't never pronounce right uh yes helena and alana helena and alana yeah the the two the two girls on hearts on fire yes um but so innistrad has had some good queer rep uh And yeah, but Tarkir really seems to take pride seriously, even though we know that there's a canonical pride parade on Ravnica. We have the card with ah the floats with Chandra and Nyssa on them from the pride secret layer. Yes.
00:24:40
Speaker
Well, I also have the wedding. I can say Ravnica, Ravnica, you know, we yeah. but But in general, i think this has been the most at once from a set.
00:24:52
Speaker
to where there was yeah this particularly a standard set too because a lot of this tends to when when it shows up it's a lot of it's showing up in supplemental things the you know queer representation actually looking at collective voyage again I actually think that might be um
00:25:14
Speaker
Chandra's home plane uh just from the filigree in the background It's hard to tell exactly what plane it's on, though, just from that picture. oh yeah. And that, I guess, would make some sense from the story point, because weren't they there for... I mean, they they were there recently in the story.
00:25:33
Speaker
Yeah. It's funny, though, that part came out when they were separated, when they weren't actually dating, so that was... Oh, That's that's right. yeah chandre Chandra had some other stuff going on people who were decidedly male.
00:25:49
Speaker
Yeah. Um... It's a bummer we didn't get another Pride Secret Lair. This one's like three years old at this point, so it would have been nice to have a new one.
00:26:00
Speaker
yeah It would have been. um i know that they did the like the the big thing has been the... um ah they They are doing ah another very good representation layer. ah But yes, it would have been nice to kind of have yeah there's so the Pride one.
00:26:15
Speaker
There's some dice that I gotta to figure out how to get this year. The Pride dice do look very good. Oh, I haven't seen those yet, but... um So back to the topic, Tarkir has definitely gotten, um for a set, for a plane where we only have, um,
00:26:33
Speaker
you know, we have one block and then one set. We've got a fair amount of queer representation there. And it's just part of how things are in that plane. They're not, it's not questioned by anybody. And um obviously we have two, two trans women that both rose to the position of con within their clans.
00:26:53
Speaker
And in different clans, which is nice. Yeah. In different clans. um So we get ah ah variety of, ah representation there.
00:27:06
Speaker
And yeah And then just like you said, we have, we also have some non-binary representation. we have some lesbian representation. We have some plural representation.
00:27:18
Speaker
yeah It was just, it was just awesome to see all like from this plane, because I mean, and I, and I wonder if there is something about the setting of Tarkir that makes it better for this. And I don't know enough.
00:27:32
Speaker
Um, You know, I don't know, like, well, I'd say, you know, from thinking like, from if I think it's like a cultural component, but you know, this, this plane does seem very ripe for this kind of representation.
00:27:44
Speaker
It it does, you know, it's, oh, like that Dunstan Dragon's play map. Thanks for sending me the link.
00:27:57
Speaker
Yeah. and And I wonder, and wonder if some of it is, you know, cultural in universe and some of it is more cultural outside of the fiction too, where so the Alesha just was, it was a good time in place, maybe based on people who were in and the culture that was going on. And then going back to Tarkir, they had a conversation and said, well, we need to, this was a big deal with the first Tarkir block. Let's make sure we have some representation.
00:28:25
Speaker
we through this again Yeah, and it it could be, right? Like that it was so, it it was very well received because of good story writing. Huh, it's amazing how that seems to impact things, right? Because I mean, I think that, you know, otherwise people would not have known about Alesha.
00:28:41
Speaker
It's not like that necessarily would have known this fact, but yeah, like that that is what we know about it. And so it's just... Yeah. Yeah. but it And it's nice, as Tay has been saying, too, with Alesha was great.
00:28:54
Speaker
Awesome. like Like, fantastic. But also, Alesha was in the set that was a thousand years in the past. And therefore, no one who was alive in that set was ever going to show up in Modern Magic Story. Except for for Ugin, of course. Yeah.
00:29:14
Speaker
Much to Hobb's chagrin, Vivian did survive Fate Reforged. yeah And so did Sarkhan.
00:29:26
Speaker
yeah you know We all have roles to play. we all have roles to play but Much to other people's chagrin, maybe for Sarkhan.
00:29:38
Speaker
But yeah, no, i just think that it's, yeah, I just think this has been nice to, I i was very glad to see the the the level of representation. And with it with it being pride, i you know I think we always talk about, in general, wanting more queer representation within magic. Like, it's just, it is something that I think us as hosts,
00:29:57
Speaker
You know, it's an area that can be. And I think this is where I like those Legends articles, even though it may not make it into the main story. I would love to see more of it, obviously, in the main storyline, which we haven't always gotten.
00:30:08
Speaker
Yeah. But at the same time, you know, getting it is is is nice. and And in ah in ah and a little bit of fairness, too, as we talked about, yeah when we talked about the Tarkir story, there was too much story smashed into too small of a space.
00:30:26
Speaker
Yeah. Because of the way they structure their sets these days. Yeah, it would have been, you know, if they had stuck it into the story, it might have just been like, oh, you know,
00:30:38
Speaker
hey, look at this trans woman, she's here. you know, because it would have been like one sentence in a story. Yeah. um whats still that's That's part of why it's important to have more representation because then you can have it in different places and in different ways with different kinds of people.
00:30:55
Speaker
And that makes people more well, represents a more well-rounded version of humanity, which is what actually exists. Yeah. I do kind of, the Abzan story was good, but after I found out that Felithar was trans, I really wish we had gotten a story about her instead site for a side story.
00:31:16
Speaker
Yep. Yeah. I'm not going to, I'm not going to slight the Abzan story we did get. It was good. ah But I would have liked some more Felithar.
Pride Events and Community Impact
00:31:27
Speaker
yeah. ah yeah um i bet they're having a pretty cool pride parade uh in tarkir and the uh just i wonder i wonder if they swap who hosted every year which which of the cons gets to yeah host yeah um i just found out about something really interesting so like you know thinking because i was thinking about this i was curious i didn't know for both of you i didn't know if there was like if you had good um like if you had plans when it comes to
00:31:59
Speaker
ah when it comes to pride this year for yourselves. But um I just learned about pride for Minneapolis. There's actually a second event called people's pride that I guess, I think this might be like the second year of it.
00:32:17
Speaker
And the, the idea is, is ah it's an alternate to pride that, that is specifically trying to divest from corporations and, and police being at pride.
00:32:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's nice. i um I avoid the main Pride Parade in Seattle. It's just too big and there's too many people, but I am going to try to go to Trans Pride, which is very similar. Trans Pride doesn't have all the corporate sponsors and doesn't have...
00:32:46
Speaker
you know, a big, like a police presence or anything. So it is kind of more of that. It's still a community focused pride event. It's, it's much, much, much, much smaller than the regular pride event, which gets like half a million people a year in Seattle.
00:33:00
Speaker
ah So, um, yeah, I'm, I'm hoping to go to that. Uh, I am very interested in the pride commander event they have in the last week of June. um,
00:33:13
Speaker
I don't know what I would do with another chromatic lantern that I wouldn't play because and don't play all the ones I already have. but um It does so sound like a fun event. I don't know who I would build as my partner commander, so maybe I'd build uh, Felithar and Alesha, uh, Breaches and Malcolm.
00:33:37
Speaker
Yeah. Um, they're, they're platonic life partners. That's true. We have established that on the show. Yeah. So, yeah. Um,
00:33:49
Speaker
but And that is just for for some context, if you haven't seen the article too, that the there is a going to be ah a Pride event week July 27th to 29th at local stores where you – a commander event where all – All legends have partner.
00:34:07
Speaker
Yes. You'll be playing. It's a classic commander with a twist. Every commander has partner. I think they did this last year, right? I think so, yeah. i remember because i I think I made the joke about there about the but about doing Breaches of Malcolm because that was shortly after we yeah had done it. Oh, um so that's why but that's why. But yeah, I think it's a really cool if they're making this kind of a yearly event. I do think that that is a cool thing to have. Alesha and Felithar would just be good partners anyways because Alesha can bring back just about any card in the deck.
00:34:40
Speaker
yeah so it's like yeah Yeah, you're already there. Yeah. I just need to add her to the command zone. That's pretty much it Oh, darn. Yeah. well that That opens up red for you, too, doesn't it? Yeah, does. um I don't know if I'd completely overhaul my deck for one event, but...
00:35:01
Speaker
um just getting Lesha into the deck would be fun to get back some of my walls. So that's, yeah, I was just thinking like it was, um i'm I'm, I'm, I don't know what we're to be doing that weekend, but I think one of the two events, i think this is the year i'm really hoping that we might be able to take the girls to, um ah to pride because we haven't had a chance through the last couple of years. So they haven't been yet.
00:35:24
Speaker
So that would be really cool. Yeah. I'm hoping they do something at magic on about it. They mentioned the, the, you know like ah play area that they're having ah at MagicCon, but it doesn't say that they're having any Pride-specific events. ah Yeah, the Gathering Ground is what they call their play area for yes well we do know and this is important i mean think it's just for representation that that that that the birds of paradise was given space back yes after not having it in chicago yeah they got yeah i'm glad that wizards reconsidered that terrible terrible idea um and hopefully they keep that going now after
00:36:20
Speaker
Uh, they got enough bad attention for dropping it in Chicago. their announcement does say that they're already planning something for gathering grounds for Atlanta. So at least we'll know that there is one there.
00:36:33
Speaker
um and it does show that I think that the pressure does work. Yeah. You know, I think this is continues to be the thing, you know, they're like, I, I've thought about this when it comes to things like, uh, you know, even thinking about, um, you know, in the past when it's been about, ah like, um,
00:36:49
Speaker
Then when there's been discussion about, you know, like there is that like if companies are marketing to you, it is because they think that they will make more money marketing to you. Then they think they will make by not right. Yeah. Wizards isn't necessarily good at doing the thing that will make them the most money, though, as we saw with the secret layer sales today. ah It is true.
00:37:11
Speaker
They could have made much more money than they did if they had just not done the limited print run. You know, that is actually, that is very, very fair, right? they that They do not always do. But I mean, but I'm just saying in general, like a company pressure does work.
00:37:27
Speaker
um Like, unless your target ah target ah has just like completely shelled up in his. What from being a store with one of the largest pride, uh,
00:37:41
Speaker
um merchandise selections to having ah one item this year, a sweatshirt with ah pride slogan only on the strings of the shirt.
00:37:53
Speaker
It is just, it is wild for Target. Yeah. Especially when they were, you know, i mean the other part with Target, you know, if if you want to think about it that way is the fact that it was, um you know, like,
00:38:05
Speaker
and ah they they They were kind of the the the piece for a lot of this, given that, well, just even for a lot of representation because of being located in Minneapolis and and in the aftermath of George Floyd.
00:38:16
Speaker
So, I mean, it's like they've gotten doubly hit by like pride related stuff as well as ah the DEI pieces. They just both have been really monumental colossal just screw ups from a company.
00:38:33
Speaker
So, yeah. So, um, yeah, they say go woke, go broke, but I think, uh, everything's shown that, you know, you make a lot more money if you're inclusive with your products.
00:38:45
Speaker
Like Costco, right? Like yeah the, the, the organizations that they, that have they've shown that have literally the organizations that did not do any of this have actually made money. Huh?
00:38:57
Speaker
Huh? Imagine like, yeah. So, you know, we will see what comes, but i I do think that it's important to realize that I think that, that by saying stuff about the birds of paradise, and I think even some of the, the, the, the VML related pieces that there was more representation and there was, um, that, that it did happen. Like changes did occur with that.
00:39:26
Speaker
So,
00:39:28
Speaker
Yeah, as was said on a gaming podcast related to so nothing like this, and they were talking about some decision that Sony made and then went back on, her or I should say made a compromise with the community when when people didn't like it.
00:39:42
Speaker
ah so so Somebody else felt just said, remember, it's always right to bully companies. Yeah. It's always right to deadname Twitter.
00:39:53
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. Like if the person who runs it is not going to respect their own child. Yeah. They don't get risk like, you know, as I'm not saying that. Yeah. Like I know I, I'm not trying, but it is like they have actively made it a part to deadname their child.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:40:11
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, uh, yeah. The, uh,
00:40:19
Speaker
Though, I just, I want to say, Lego, what are you doing? Come on, get get with the times. Seriously, so if people don't know, that is, yeah, we would as Taya discovered today, um they still have a very robust line that is related to Harry Potter.
00:40:34
Speaker
Yeah, and I'm sure I saw that last time I looked at the catalog, but just tried to, like, forget about it. But today, it made me, like, just with everything going on, it made me irrationally angry, or maybe rationally angry. I don't know.
00:40:47
Speaker
Yeah, I was like, I would say that that's pretty rational. yeah ah Because I was like, hmm, I want to send Lego a couple hundred dollars, and then I flip to a Harry Potter page in the book, and I'm just like, maybe I don't want to send Lego a couple hundred dollars.
00:41:06
Speaker
Yeah. um But, yeah, so ah i i did just see reading it at MagicCon, they're also they're doing the ah Pride commander event one week early, so I'll definitely ah i'll definitely slot in my new Alesha Alt ah or Reventive Light Altar that I just got into my Felathar deck for that.
00:41:37
Speaker
I don't know if I'll make any other changes, but I'm definitely going to put her in I'll just need to finagle the land base a little bit so I can actually cast her. but That minor detail.
00:41:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:51
Speaker
Awesome. Well, thank you all for coming out and we're back glad to be back and having recorded. And, you know, we're, we're actually, ah you know, I don't know if you all know this um next week. So if we record on Monday next week, next week is seven years of Goblin Lore podcast.
00:42:10
Speaker
Wow. Coming to you. So 250 plus episodes in seven years. And that's just, I just wanted to take a moment while I was actually thinking about it. Cause this may shock everybody listening that knows us. So those that don't know us, hopefully if you're learning quickly, uh,
00:42:31
Speaker
Yes, we're we're a little disorganized at times, um to say the least. And i completely forgot up until just now, ah or like earlier this week, that you know that we're we we have an episode. like that That's happening.
00:42:46
Speaker
Yeah. I genuinely had a thought not too long ago, like haven't really looked at when our upcoming like anniversaries and and episode milestones are.
00:42:57
Speaker
We're probably about to be surprised by one. And then I didn't put any more thought or effort into that. Yeah. Because why would you? Yeah. Yeah. Like that, that would be a surprise that.
00:43:07
Speaker
Yeah. So, yeah. So we will be, you know, we are hoping to, you know, we I guess we should really come up with ah an episode for next weekend. We should actually plan and we should probably record and make sure to record.
00:43:22
Speaker
Probably. I mean, that's, that sounds like a lot of should statements there. My friend. Yeah. Thank you, Alex. yeah
00:43:31
Speaker
thank you a like Just trying to help. And on that note, I'm going to bed. yeah Goblin Lore Podcast. Thank you for listening. We can be found both on Twitter and Blue Sky at GoblinLorePod.
00:43:46
Speaker
Check out our link tree for our Discord and our discounts. We appreciate you listening and welcome feedback via social media or Discord. Until next time, Podwalkers, remember that goblins, like snowflakes, are only dangerous in numbers.