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Elizabeth Sandifer

Elizabeth Sandifer created Eruditorum Press. She’s not really sure why she did that, and she apologizes for the inconvenience. She currently writes Last War in Albion, a history of the magical war between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. She used to write TARDIS Eruditorum, a history of Britain told through the lens of a ropey sci-fi series. She also wrote Neoreaction a Basilisk, writes comics these days, and has ADHD so will probably just randomly write some other shit sooner or later. Support Elizabeth on Patreon.

5 Comments

  1. Froborr
    May 9, 2016 @ 6:55 pm

    Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

    I’ve been thinking about FFVI a lot lately, for reasons. One of the themes I am just beginning to explore in that series the association between magic, femininity, and the monstrous in FFVI, and reading this piece made me think about Kathryn Hemmann’s assertion that Terra’s Morph ability–in which she spins around, glows, loses her clothing, and becomes a magical powerhouse–marks her as essentially a magical girl. What’s interesting to me is when I put that thought, and this, together, and note that Terra never actually finishes her transformation sequence. She remains glowing, pink, and naked the entire time she’s morphed, and then returns back to her base state.

    In other words, it is in transition that the most powerful magic is found, which I think is a big part of the game’s other major use of magic, as a force of chaos and change that uproots an oppressive order. I think the game’s use of magic as something that is found in liminal states, something which transforms and is gained by transforming, is a big part of why it has endured so well.

    (Hemmann also talks about magic as a metaphor for the posthuman, and ties it to the debate in Japan over the legalization of oral contraceptives, which was raging at the time of the game’s development and release. It’s all aroudn a very interesting talk, but unfortunately AFAIK it’s not available anywhere online.)

    Reply

  2. Lauvd
    May 9, 2016 @ 9:36 pm

    Kefka Palazzo is totally what Vox Day’s idea of God is.

    Reply

    • H
      May 10, 2016 @ 11:16 pm

      The guy who built the Dragon’s Neck Coliseum because ‘humans are at their best when they’re at war’ has been nominated for Best Dramatic Presentation (Longform).

      Reply

  3. AndyRobot
    May 11, 2016 @ 4:57 am

    This was beautiful.

    That’s all I got. Thank you, Anna.

    Reply

  4. Peeeeeeet
    May 12, 2016 @ 9:10 pm

    Anna – you’ve probably seen this:

    http://resonancefrequency.net/2013/12/10/final-fantasy-xiii-is-queer-as-hell-part-one-lcie-as-a-trans-metaphor/

    … but anyway, it helped to articulate why I love XIII-series so much, despite its loudly documented flaws.

    Reply

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