Of all the stories that emerged from this year's Twitchcon streamer convention, the most surreal news is Megan Thee Stallion twerking onstage with Master Chief.
If you want to see the Halo Infinite star take some much-needed time to battle The Banished, you can watch it below. I'm here for that, but like a lot of twerking videos, it ended up making me think of postmodernism.
Meg the Stallion twerking on Master Chief has to be in the top 5 moments in Twitchcon history pic.twitter.com/1v8lLFYTmfOctober 9, 2022
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Seeing a mainstream cosplayer's funky new moves so readily embraced by a huge voice in pop culture feels surreal, and it's not the first time this week I've had this reaction to video game news.
character flaws
As surreal as it sounds, dancing Master Chief cosplayers are nothing new. There's a fundamental joy in watching an emotionally constipated super-soldier make a move like he's in a Final Fantasy 14 disco. 'Nonsense. Somehow, seeing John-117's imposing frame get the groove on from him fills a hole in my soul that I didn't know I had.
There has always been a great deal of joy among fans taking characters in wacky and unexpected directions. After all, when Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons shared a launch day, fans began to imagine combinations of the two games, which even the developers accepted:
However, going from a fandom meme to a full-on performance with a world-famous artist is definitely a step forward. For the most part, fans reacted positively, unlike the response to Chris Pratt's performance in the first Super Mario Bros. trailer. Brooklyn accent leaves a haunting aftertaste.
What Master Chief and Mario have in common is their relatively new place in the distorting rays of the pop culture spotlight. As video games have become more entrenched in pop culture, we've seen characters twist and contort to fit more common molds. While that's not a bad thing by default, seeing beloved characters change in this way can be shocking.
In the case of Master Chief, we've come to know him through the narrow lens of the Halo games, as a defender of humanity. It's fun to watch him twerk on stage with Stallion or recreate memes, but it forces me to see him in a larger context than just the sci-fi super soldier. He is less and less the Master Chief of Halo and more and more the Master Chief, as seen in the Halo games.
My reaction to Mario is even stronger. At the heart of this is Mario's long history; he's been jumping on Goombas since before I was born. And while they appear in a wider range of games and genres, along with a wider range of characters than Master Chief, they've always been in the context of Nintendo's games, a company that strictly controls tone and standards. Each new Mario stage was consistent with the previous one. Pratt's voice feels like a leap in comparison, and now I have to recontextualize a character who has felt pretty much the same my entire life. If Mario is not himself, who is he?
However, Jack Black as Bowser is perfect. no notes