Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

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johnnythewolf
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by johnnythewolf »

Meta wrote:
johnnythewolf wrote:Except Fenix hasn't been retconned out of existence; last time I checked, he's still mentioned in SC2's online manual (i.e. Braxis's description). Blizzard may have been indeed minimizing his role (which wasn't much to being with) but ultimately chose not to mention him in-game because he wasn't needed by the Terran-centric plot.
Yeah, Blizzard seemed to minimize the roles of nearly everyone who died in SC1 and whose legacy didn't extend past BW. But I don't think these are retcons unless they downright state that these characters never existed in the first place, or if you develop your (surviving) characters in a direction that specifically doesn't need Fenix or Duke, for example.
"Minimizing", I think not. He was one of the many victims of the Brood War, and there's really no reason why Raynor should care more about him than any of his other dead war buddies. Yeah, he vowed revenge, but I think it had more to do with Kerrigan's backstab than the death of some alien guy he's been with for only a few months. It's not as if Raynor isn't already used to see people around him die; remember his first time on Char and Aiur?

Let's face it: Fenix had more or less the importance and depth of Chief of Security Generic Redshirt in Star Trek. In Brood War, Artanis was pretty much the only Protoss to give a rat's ass about him - another hint that he was indeed the original Executor - and I suspect it had more to do with the two having been friends for centuries.
It'd have been cool to feature an anti-Zerg dominion billboard with Duke's photo and a message saying "we will never forget" or something like that.
I'm so not seeing that happening, as Duke had the reputation of being an asshole, no matter side he was with, and he did a truly terrible job at keeping the Sector safe.
A stranger omission is the UED: you'd think that a massive army of quasi-Nazi Terran invaders that, for a while, overran both the Zerg and the Dominion would have had a bigger legacy, or at least be mentioned by the Koprulu citizens.
With Kerrigan now being the undisputed ruler of the entire Swarm after pretty much single-handely wiping out the whole UED fleet, you'd think that people would regard her as a bigger threat than some invaders from far away whose lasting impact on the sector was minimal at best.

That and Blizzard openly admitted the UED was clumsily handled anyway.
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by Meta »

johnnythewolf wrote: "Minimizing", I think not. He was one of the many victims of the Brood War, and there's really no reason why Raynor should care more about him than any of his other dead war buddies. Yeah, he vowed revenge, but I think it had more to do with Kerrigan's backstab than the death of some alien guy he's been with for only a few months. It's not as if Raynor isn't already used to see people around him die; remember his first time on Char and Aiur?

Let's face it: Fenix had more or less the importance and depth of Chief of Security Generic Redshirt in Star Trek. In Brood War, Artanis was pretty much the only Protoss to give a rat's ass about him - another hint that he was indeed the original Executor - and I suspect it had more to do with the two having been friends for centuries.
You're right, minimizing is not the proper term. "Completely ommited" suits it much better, along with Aldaris, Stukov, Dugalle, Duke, Duran and Razsagal. None of these were even mentioned in the SC:BW summary on the official site, as far as I know.

The only one I think was a minor character amongst these is Duke: his influence doesn't really go past much of the Terran campaign in SC. And hell, I don't even know if I'd call Razsagal a character, as she was more of a plot device than anyone else in SC and BW.

No "hint" that Artanis was an Executor could go past the blatant STATEMENT that he was a Praetor. The Executor in there was the player character, whose identity was merged with Artanis', but it doesn't stop it from being a retcon, unless one can accumulate both ranks, which goes against what the game depicted.
I'm so not seeing that happening, as Duke had the reputation of being an asshole, no matter side he was with, and he did a truly terrible job at keeping the Sector safe.
Mengsk could have used propaganda, which is usually what dictators excel at. Except when confronted with a crappy Confederate advisor in a press interview: in these situations they just forget how to lie and manipulate (which is what they do everyday) and leave in anger.
That and Blizzard openly admitted the UED was clumsily handled anyway.
That I can agree with. ;)
johnnythewolf
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by johnnythewolf »

Meta wrote:You're right, minimizing is not the proper term. "Completely ommited" suits it much better, along with Aldaris, Stukov, Dugalle, Duke, Duran and Razsagal. None of these were even mentioned in the SC:BW summary on the official site, as far as I know.
Duke and Raszagal are mentioned in-game.
No "hint" that Artanis was an Executor could go past the blatant STATEMENT that he was a Praetor. The Executor in there was the player character, whose identity was merged with Artanis', but it doesn't stop it from being a retcon, unless one can accumulate both ranks, which goes against what the game depicted.
He got promoted/reassigned. Remember that, in SC1, the player-character was called in to replace Tassadar as the Executor. Unless there can be several Executors at once, it's safe to assume that it was only a temporary title.
Mengsk could have used propaganda, which is usually what dictators excel at. Except when confronted with a crappy Confederate advisor in a press interview: in these situations they just forget how to lie and manipulate (which is what they do everyday) and leave in anger.
All the propaganda in the world couldn't change the fact that Edmund Duke was already a well-known pain in the ass prior to his defection to the Sons of Korhal. Even Mengsk acknowledged this when he asked Raynor to go rescue him.

Also, good propaganda takes time to come up with; Mengsk got cocky and thought he could just lie without getting challenged by the medias. Turned out he was wrong.
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by Meta »

johnnythewolf wrote: He got promoted/reassigned. Remember that, in SC1, the player-character was called in to replace Tassadar as the Executor. Unless there can be several Executors at once, it's safe to assume that it was only a temporary title.
His promotion doesn't happen during the Protoss campaign in BW since they keep calling you, the player, as the Executor up to the last mission. From what the game shows (transmissions from Aldaris, mostly) there seems to be only one Executor at a time.

This is a very minor issue anyway, but it still doesn't stop this from being a retcon.

And there are plenty of these in Blizzard's Starcraft and Warcraft universes. Starcraft Legacy has a good compendium on these.
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Re: Ret-Conning Greatly Weakens SC2 Story

Post by johnnythewolf »

Meta wrote:
johnnythewolf wrote: He got promoted/reassigned. Remember that, in SC1, the player-character was called in to replace Tassadar as the Executor. Unless there can be several Executors at once, it's safe to assume that it was only a temporary title.
His promotion doesn't happen during the Protoss campaign in BW since they keep calling you, the player, as the Executor up to the last mission. From what the game shows (transmissions from Aldaris, mostly) there seems to be only one Executor at a time.
Of course, it doesn't happen on-screen, as the BW Executor appears to be an entirely different character: he doesn't seem to have any connection with Fenix, and most of the time he is treated as a mere extra; you'd think that the original Executor would be considered as a goddamn hero by then. Even the opening screen refers to the character as the "Executor of the remaining forces".

It's possible that, following the Overmind's demise, Artanis renounced his title and the position was given to a different templar.

Heck, even BW Cerebrate is apparently NOT the one who's been tasked to watch over Kerrigan.
Starcraft Legacy has a good compendium on these.
It might be a godsend for nitpickers, but it feels more like a review or an essay than an analysis. Not exactly the most reliable source...
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