- Joined
- Jul 30, 2017
I still think of that video of Cosmo getting BTFO at the Nintendo World Championships. John got a 15 second time handicap because Cosmo completed the previous 3 levels faster than he did, which puts into context just how pathetic Cosmo's failure was. I can see how that humiliating fiasco weighed on him and caused him to turn troon.
I haven't played SMM in ages and am hardly an expert platformer, but I just had a go at the level that ruined Cosmo. The jumps near the beginning that Cosmo choked so hard on were incredibly easy.
Indeed. Troon drama is ruining speedrunning, and that's bad. Speedrunning can still be really entertaining--AGDQ 2018 itself, of all things, has some good examples of that. I looked at a few runs at AGDQ 2018 and enjoyed quite a few of them. The B2W2 run was a highlight even though Trev didn't get the manip at the beginning (which is reliant on randomness that was basically out of the player's hands), and the Superstar Saga run was honestly eyepopping and had some really cool execution. Both runs were commentated very well, too. I'd like to see more of that and less of the bullshit we saw with Orcastraw's self-aggrandizement and Cosmo's attention whoring.
Unfortunately the people running GDQ are bent on making the stream as anodyne as possible and promoting these troon runners even if they're morally bankrupt, clearly opportunistic, or just plain unskilled. And oddly enough, I think Cosmo is in a unique position to fix that by dint of his transgenderism. Cosmo clearly has (or had) immense skill and acumen. He didn't have to become so vain and self-centred when he transitioned. He could have retained a good position in speedrunning--if not as a speedrunner (per Apollo Legend, he developed hand problems) then certainly as a bit of an "elder statesman," a knowledgeable figure, which to his credit he has become to a (small) extent--but he chose to let his drive for attention and obsession with all things gender colour his behaviour. If he drops the ridiculous attention whoring BS, he can not only put his career back on track but inspire more trans people to try their hand at speedrunning without having to be turned off by the toxicity of the ambassadors of their demographic in the speedrun community. And who knows, maybe we'll see another great pioneer who happens to be transgender.
There's so much good that Cosmo can still do and so much rot that he can still prevent. He doesn't have to be like this. He can be a better person, even while retaining his troon identity. His recent conduct is turning off fans, making speedrunning into a mockery, and ultimately hurting him. Nobody benefits except for careerist troons using his malaise to build their own social hierarchies, who in turn reinforce Cosmo's descent. That, I think, is the saddest part of Cosmo's story.
I haven't played SMM in ages and am hardly an expert platformer, but I just had a go at the level that ruined Cosmo. The jumps near the beginning that Cosmo choked so hard on were incredibly easy.
Indeed. Troon drama is ruining speedrunning, and that's bad. Speedrunning can still be really entertaining--AGDQ 2018 itself, of all things, has some good examples of that. I looked at a few runs at AGDQ 2018 and enjoyed quite a few of them. The B2W2 run was a highlight even though Trev didn't get the manip at the beginning (which is reliant on randomness that was basically out of the player's hands), and the Superstar Saga run was honestly eyepopping and had some really cool execution. Both runs were commentated very well, too. I'd like to see more of that and less of the bullshit we saw with Orcastraw's self-aggrandizement and Cosmo's attention whoring.
Unfortunately the people running GDQ are bent on making the stream as anodyne as possible and promoting these troon runners even if they're morally bankrupt, clearly opportunistic, or just plain unskilled. And oddly enough, I think Cosmo is in a unique position to fix that by dint of his transgenderism. Cosmo clearly has (or had) immense skill and acumen. He didn't have to become so vain and self-centred when he transitioned. He could have retained a good position in speedrunning--if not as a speedrunner (per Apollo Legend, he developed hand problems) then certainly as a bit of an "elder statesman," a knowledgeable figure, which to his credit he has become to a (small) extent--but he chose to let his drive for attention and obsession with all things gender colour his behaviour. If he drops the ridiculous attention whoring BS, he can not only put his career back on track but inspire more trans people to try their hand at speedrunning without having to be turned off by the toxicity of the ambassadors of their demographic in the speedrun community. And who knows, maybe we'll see another great pioneer who happens to be transgender.
There's so much good that Cosmo can still do and so much rot that he can still prevent. He doesn't have to be like this. He can be a better person, even while retaining his troon identity. His recent conduct is turning off fans, making speedrunning into a mockery, and ultimately hurting him. Nobody benefits except for careerist troons using his malaise to build their own social hierarchies, who in turn reinforce Cosmo's descent. That, I think, is the saddest part of Cosmo's story.
