Jude You?

Yes I would.

Woof.

Geekwood: Ianto Jones

Fans of the Dr. Who spin-off series Torchwood would for certain remember him for his endearing good looks and charming personality.  While clearly John Barrowman's Captain Jack Harness would be the hot hunk for many gay men out there, my vote still goes to the man known to us as Ianto Jones.  Played by Gareth David-Lloyd, Ianto Jones was at first just the guy who makes tea for the members of Torchwood.  But as the episodes began to gain momentum, so did his role in the story.

He looked soooo young and innocent when he was first introduced.

Like myself, Ianto had heterosexual relationships in the past before he finally found the man who made him feel special.  While things may have started far more casual in the beginning, the feelings he had for Captain Jack slowly deepened into something far more important and genuine.

Flirtations with the boss.

Alas, it was in the Children of Earth story arc where Ianto's fate would finally be revealed.  In what seemed like a cosmic act of irony, Captain Jack's willingness in the past to sacrifice 12 children to the aliens known only as the 456 comes back to haunt him with the man who has won his heart paying the price.  Ianto Jones dies in Captain Jack's arms as the aliens release a fatal virus in the Thames House.

I just knew it... I just knew he was going to die.
The hands said it all!

Ianto showed a loyalty towards both his lover and his team in more ways than one.   While the fan following was strong enough for him to return in other spin-off installments of Torchwood (such as in a comic which explores Ianto living as an alternate reality, or in the Torchwood audio drama books which also have a greater exploration of the chemistry he shared with the group's immortal leader), his passing is a painfully beautiful reminder of how fleeting and precious each and every moment of time actually is. 

Didn't like the art much here.  They all look wrong.

In one of the audio books, Ianto watched over a comatose Captain Jack and considered his role in the life of a man whose timeline was greater than anything Ianto could ever hope to match.   He ends up speaking of his thoughts aloud, sharing his insecurities of being so insignificant in the life of someone who was literally immortal:

I wish I could meet you at a convention someday.
And yes, keep the fuzz.  It works!

"But let's be honest, Jack. I'm… nothing more than a blip in time for you, Jack. 

Every day, I grow a little older. But you're immortal. 

You've already lived a thousand lifetimes. 

How could you watch me grow old and die? 

How can I watch you live and never age a day?"

But Jack awakes from his coma and eventually promises him, 

"You will never be just a blip in time, Ianto Jones."

ADORABLE.  And the bears are cute too.

Now, I know many are probably out there wondering why would I feature such a dorky looking guy for this week's geekwood entry.  The guy doesn't look like a hunk.  He clearly fails to deliver a good set of abs.  Some would even consider his receding hairline a huge reduction on any hotness scale.  But for me, Ianto embodies a bisexual man who truly deserves to be recognized and remembered.  His loyalty and compassion were balanced well against his desire to remain logical and structured.  He was an example of strength and fortitude, yet had a sensitive and empathetic side which most men would be too afraid to show.  He is smart, attractive, and charming and dresses very well for someone who might have to square off against some alien monstrosity any time of the day.

Here he is all older, more rugged, and still damn fashionable.

And lastly, he knows "the lots of things one can do with a stopwatch."


You can't beat that, eh?





While there are many people who wish Ianto would come back, and others have even considered their own ways of how it can happen, I am one of those who feel his death should be left alone and respected for the impact is has made both in the show and to the viewers.   Too often, the death of pivotal characters is too easily retconned or rewritten for the sake of ratings or sales.  I would rather Ianto's story remains as it currently is, with any further exploration done instead through flashbacks or other similar devices.





But yes, it would be nice if Ianto Jones somehow still does appear in Torchwood's later incarnations (be it the BBC or the American spin-off).   I wouldn't mind it too much if he reemerges as some kind of Virtual Intelligence Butler in the computers, sort of like a ghost in the machine, that retains all of the original Ianto's memories but knows he isn't the same being... or even just as flashes of his time in Captain Jack's life whenever Jack turns a tad introspective over how things have changed so quickly.

Oh to have my own Virtual Ianto on my laptop!

For those who want to see more of Gareth David-Lloyd, be happy to know he had a recent Sherlock Holmes movie by the masters of rip-offs The Asylum where he plays the role of Dr. Watson.   

I actually find him hotter than Jude Law.

He also is the frontman of a progressive metal band named Blue Gillespie.  

I definitely know of people who'd love to see more skin.
For now, at least we get some armpit teasing!

So here's hoping the writers find a way to get our lovable man back on the show.  Ianto Jones, if only that "stopwatch" meant you were actually just hiding your secret Gallifreyan identity.  And yes, here's hoping that in real life, we are all never just blips of time in someone else's life.

Celebrity Appearances while Roleplaying with my Partner

Role playing games has been a major hobby of mine ever since I first had my chance encounter on a school bus that ended in a fiery end.  Mind you, I am not referring to those atrocities they call MMORPGs which while I do accept are Massively Multiplayer Online gamers, they are not actual role playing games.  Role playing games are about crafting stories interactively with a set of players that shape the ongoing story and move the plot further.  MMORPGs are all about repeatable grinding instances where your "quests" don't really change the game world at all, since later on they can be repeated either with a different group, or done again by another group in their own way.  Yes I know I'm being geek elitist again (sort of like how I refuse to see those existing Toycons, Otakons, et al as real conventions since they are actually just over-glorified tiangges made to look fandom-related thanks to the overwhelming presence of cosplayers) but considering how much I love and respect my hobbies, I have to hold them up well with higher standards.

As I mentioned in my other blog, gaming has thankfully been rich and present in my life.  My partner has broken his gaming geek hymen and enjoys the hobby a lot!  In return, I have been doing my best to keep the game much more entertaining for him and one of the ways I do so is by making sure he has a hot supporting character present for him to interact with.  This has of course amused him (and at some times gotten him "pikon") at the fact that I make sure these characters one way or another try to flirt with him.  I'm sure that many of you would agree that if you were given a chance to interact with these characters' you would relish the chance to do "anything you want" with them.

The first game my partner ever got to play in was a Vampire: the Requiem game which had elements of Hunter: the Vigil as part of its narrative.  Being Rocky's first game, I sort of thought he'd be able to connect with the game more by playing a character closer to his personality.  Playing a gay comic store owner in the game allowed him the familiar comfort of being surrounded by geeky surroundings.

In this game, I had an unexpected character show up, supposedly in a desperate bid to catch up on the latest comics he had long missed, but later on attempt to seduce him.  It was revealed later in the game that some demon had possessed his body to use it as a tool to win Rocky's character over to his side and win the war against Heaven.    The character was:

If this man walked up to you, and asked you to do whatever you want with him
in exchange for your soul, what would you say?

The second time I gave Rocky a celebrity npc was when we were playing Changeling: The Lost.  In this game, I had his character have an ex-boyfriend who was still deeply enamored by him.


Unfortunately, Rocky's character had long moved on and the poor guy pined over a long ended passionate affair.  If you were in his shoes, would you have turned this guy down?

And yes, there WAS a scene just like this.

The third time a celebrity npc appeared was when we were playing AEON Trinity, a science fiction game where Rocky was playing a hacker who happened upon a government secret Acceptable Intelligence program.  The program was hungry for information and sought to understand human nature.  At one point, the program assumed a 3d solid light projection and asked Rocky to help him understand the biological impulses of sexual arousal.  Rocky opted to delay the session for another time (well, the world was on the verge of an alien invasion, so I guess he had a good reason to).  I wonder though how many of you out there would have done the same to him:

"Can you teach me what it means to get 'off?' "

Currently, we are playing Weapon of the Gods.  This game is pretty much like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Hero having a baby with Final Fantasy 7.  Gravity defying action, epic romances and incredible feats of martial arts dot the game.  Rocky plays the Dragon Minister who has fallen from the Emperor's good grace and in his travels to redeem himself, he has gained a young man seeking to prove himself.  I decided to give a certain celebrity another chance and be part of the game.  This time, his presentation was filled with double meaning statements ("How swift thy sword sifu.  Perhaps you can one day let me hold it and teach me to use it to your satisfaction?")   So far, the unspoken bromance hasn't gone overboard, but the players are all loving the subtle flirtation going on.

See, he CAN defy gravity.

Finally, we are going through a dark gem of a game called the Giovanni Chronicles, which is part of the Dark Ages Vampire line.  Here Rocky's character was among a group of people who were invited to a banquet by some nobleman, only later to learn that they have been drawn into a conspiracy of monsters and death.  I have yet to include a celebrity npc in this game, since the game does need a heavy dose of drama and emotional impact.  Such an npc might make the game feel less serious.  However, if I do ever add such a personality, I already have a short list of actors to choose from.  I wonder which one though would you guys think would be best:

Wearing ONLY this.

At least he'd have a bigger role than he did in Riverworld.

Guiltily, he ALREADY has appeared in another game.
But that was for another player.

Hmmm but he's already dressed for the second book of the game!

Ah so many choices.... who to pick I wonder.

P.S.
To those who thought this was about a different kind of roleplaying... my apologies.
Whether or not that happens between me and my partner is between us alone to know.  At least for now.