Manly Guys Doing Manly Things

Don't forget to update your driver's license photo.

Hah, same thing happened to me. I'm graduating this year and my student card had my picture from just before entering college. It's quite a different look.

Demigods and I Thought Everyone Could Do That.

I desperately want there to be a joke about how Kratos' beard is the source of his newfound self-control.

I'm not following the new game, are they actually trying to pull a redemption on Kratos?

Yeah, pretty much. The premise is that he's seen what the consequences of his actions are and wants to prevent his son from going down the same path even though said son is Loki, and therefore prophecised to bring about Ragnarok.

SAY WHAT

Only God of War I ever played was III, and it left me with the definitive impression of it being all style and no substance (I'm a fan of spectacle fighters, which tend to have deeper combat systems), as well as Kratos being an unrepentant monster who willfully slaughtered innocents with zero remorse (seriously, there's a minigame of putting a naked concubine inside a lever to hold a gate in place, and she's crushed to death after you go through) and doomed the world for his revenge. How'd they ever come back from that?

He's basically a nastier, meaner Paarthurnax.

For most of the series prior to this point, Kratos being a Villain Protagonist has been a recurring element. You're not supposed to like Kratos. He's a belligerent asshole who can't accept his own responsibility in the hands he's regularly dealt and reacts with violence and bloodshed.

They aren't subtle about it, either. Kratos can murder innocent civilians for HP refills. Literally dropkicking puppies is strongly encouraged by gameplay mechanics. Every single God of War game in the original trilogy-plus-bonus-episodes has a point somewhere in the game where you have to brutally murder an innocent person while they beg and plead for mercy before you can proceed. You are not supposed to like Kratos.

BUT

God of War III's ending, the culmination that everything in the original trilogy built up to, features Kratos recognizing that he is, in fact, the villain of his own story. He sees the devastation that his mindless vengeance quests have unleashed upon the world. Through one last great failure to act as a responsible human being, he gains insight into the personal failings that brought so much destruction to so many.

The game ends with Kratos foregoing the opportunity to set out upon yet another mindless adventure to claim revenge over a quasi-imagined slight, instead taking his own life to restore the Light of Hope to the world and end his own brutal campaigns of horror once and for all.

And then he somehow survived that and IV happened, which isn't a retcon; III has a stinger showing that his body was dragged away from where it fell at the top of Olympus.

Now, I haven't played IV, but from everything I've heard, a choice was made to build on Kratos's Character Development rather than erase it all to have him just stab folks in a blind rage some more.

And by all accounts, they did a damned good job of it. Is this game open-world? How is the replayability? I think I might get it.

Maybe I'll give it a shot. I can't use my reserves of petty resentment on something like this, I might need them later on.

Maybe I'll give this a shot, but hot damn, did I dislike the previous games.

Oh, funny thing, I looked back at the previous Overwatch comic, and I got an extra giggle - despite previous assertions, Gabe lists 5'10" on his license.

Tangentially related, now that I'm getting back into working out, this comic is so inspiring.

Rock climbing with Kratos.

Well, Coelasquid might not be able to make jokes about how Kratos is a bottomless pit of uncontainable rage anymore, but we still have plenty of room to make jokes about how bad he is at affection.

But the really big question is, is Kratos allowed to have bubble tea now?

#NotAllBishies

I kinda want to say that this means that Rock had a bishie boyfriend in the past that had a mutual breakup, one he's on good terms with.

Pretty sure that's a Call-Back to the bishounen arc.

Which I'd forgotten about but definitely appreciate the call back to.

Lately I've been thinking about that strip about cheetahs beveling, and what happens when you don't distract someone.

Only part of this week's episode is a call-back to the Bishie Arc. The other part is referring to something we've not seen yet, I reck'n.

Aside from the callback it's just jokes about a movie, as far as I gather.

@3443 More likely than not, yeah, but it's funny to imagine.

A bishie asks the commander for advice on starting a similar business as his but catering to a different clientelle.

Screw, marry, kill. MGDMT edition.