Yo dawg I heard you like commentary, so I added some commentary to your commentary
it's dawned on me (Smutley, plz confirm) that maybe about 5% of this document was in any way relevant to the characters in Revolution 60.
This book does it's very best to explain everything in the game except the characters themselves. This could be poor design, or just bad writing, but I personally feel it's because Wu doesn't understand humans or emotions or why she should care about others. She's much more interested in motorcycles and sexy checkerboard dresses.
We learn of Alex Grantham, another male character with no actual character model who I'm 94% sure is not involved in the plot in any fashion.
Alex, as far as I can remember, isn't even mentioned in-game. He's literally nothing but a single page blurb without a model. Chase Wu get's a single line of reference dialog, so there's at least one man that the characters discuss. That's another thing. Wu can't draw men. Period. Either it's because her team couldn't figure out how to make more character models or because she hates being reminded of men that much.
This picture right here?
This includes the ONLY male character model in both the book and the game that isn't Fifth Column (and they don't count since they are just generic bad guys and could be anything). If you count the artwork we've seen, it's the only other male character she's drawn that isn't Exploding Terminator MLK.
We get a bit of info about the Fifth Column Troops, which essentially details they are disposable, and gives no real information about them as antagonists beyond the fact that they're empty shells.
Yeah, Fifth Column was set up as vat-grown super soldiers with brains shrunk down to only be able to accept orders and feel hate. They are also all male because men are bad and it's easy to recycle Luchador character models by changing the textures. This already makes them a whole lot better than Chessboard operatives because they've managed to hold the entire world hostage in a really short time without a poor-mans GLADoS fucking up.
It explains that they also use deployable cover in the form of laser-walls and impractical energy chainguns before getting into Fifth Column Vehicles, the overpowering majority of which will not be seen in the game and indeed, are not colored or textured.
This is probably my favorite part. Wu doesn't understand what made the Mass Effect codex so interesting, which was it was built in to the game and unlocked as new things were discovered. It allowed the player to learn as much about the universe as they wanted without limiting their enjoyment of the game. Wu's Lethologica is supplemental, true, but it offers
nothing for the player because it doesn't expand on the world, it just expands on all the cool things Wu thought up over a four year period. Why do we need to learn about SAM trucks in a game set on a fucking space ship? Because Frank was an employee and did pretty much 100% of the vehicle models for the game so put it in the book!
edit: wait, hold on. If Frank really did bankroll the project, would that mean he actually paid to work on it, or that Brianna was just shuffling money around and playing Game Studio like little kids play house?
Afterwards it has an article on gravitic technology that Wu openly stole from another sci-fi setting, before it gets into Chessboard's equipment for operatives.
This is Wu's
modus operandi, anything she feels is cool gets stolen. Chessboard = Resident Evil + Portal. Graviton Bike Riding Sideways On Walls = Ultraviolet. Death Lotus = Death Star. Deadly Laser Grid Dodging = Resident Evil. N313 = Metal Gear. And that's just off the top of my head, there are a dozen more examples, if not more.
This is.. interesting. It shows that Wu really doesn't get how to use propaganda pieces properly, as well as the fact that she really doesn't put in effort to her work. 3 bucks for some random pictures and a FAQ? Not worth it.
Apparently Wu didn't write the companion book, she only acted as some kind of creative director along with Frank, and the whole thing was put together by GSX co-founder Amanda Stenquist-Warner. I don't know how much work Amanda did exactly, but if it's anything like the rest of the project Wu's gigantic shadow hovered over her demanding unending changes. I'd also like to mention, yet again, that Wu met Amanda on Craigslist which makes me laugh every time.
