To Be Fair, It Also Bugs Me When Aliens Are Humanoid

Given the crowd I hang out with (online anyways), the following statements will come as a bit of a shock, and quite frankly, I would never dare put down these words as a forum post. Nonetheless, once in a while I must use this space to explore my own feelings about issues. This was partially the point of starting DLOG, and even though it may offend some, I must be brave and stand by my opinions.

I *$%*ing hate all of the Dungeons & Dragons, fantasy, swords and sorcery bull*$&%.

There. I said it. Now, allow me to elucidate.

These things, be it a Lord of the Rings book (where most of this originated) or the immensely popular World of Warcraft online game, supposedly fall under the banner of "fantasy". Fine. Good. I'm all about people stretching their imaginations to the limit, coming up with strange creatures and brave new worlds to inhabit them. The problem is that almost none of them seem to actually, you know, fantasize. Instead, there seems to be a solid template from which all of it stems.

Take orcs for examples. Those of you who sat through any one of the three Lord of the Rings movies got a good look at an orc - big, tough, scary and mean. They were a perfect enemy. Take a look at Wikipedia on the subject, and what you'll see is that, as I previously suggested, the orc originated in the Lord of the Rings universe. Then they showed up in Dungeons & Dragons, Warcraft, Warhammer, Earthdawn, Shadowrun, Magic: The Gathering, and Might and Magic, just to list what Wikipedia covers. Most of these are games, each, theoretically anyways, containing their own universe. It doesn't really talk about other media, such as the movies or countless novels that also "borrow" this breed of creature. Yet somehow, the orcs manage to slip their way into each one, along with humans, fairies, trolls, dragons, armor, horses, swords, etc.

And that's where you lose me. See, I read The Hobbit when I was a teenager. Problem was, it had been so distilled by all of the other fantasy crap that had been rolled out since it that all of it, from Gandalf the wizard to Smaug the dragon, seems cliche and trite. This is a tragedy, because now I know damned well that J.R.R. Tolkien invented a lot of this stuff, or at least was the first to use it in the fantasy setting that I'm talking about here. I never even tried to read the other books.

Now I understand that this has clearly become it's own genre, and that we're using the "fantasy" genre loosely at this point (although by "we", I'm counting at least most of the US). I just wish we could officially break from the genre. It's sad that I have a better chance of coming across something I would count as a "fantasy" story by looking to horror or science fiction. I want to see someone actually being creative, not creating the newest iteration of dragon fighting, sword bearing, Renaissance festival BS. I don't see where it's actually required at this point - I think we've covered it all. Twice.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go reinforce my windows in preparation of the inevitable twenty-sided die pelting that I must now face. Roll for intiative indeed.