This past weekend, I was able to pick up the Destiny Warlock Figurine by McFarlane Toys. As promised, these toys are made with high attention to detail and truly recreate the imagery of what is in the game. Snagging collectibles are so much fun because it allows you to appreciate your fandom in a new way with a memento to remind you about the fun and the experiences surrounding your thoughts of that game.
For myself, this Warlock is a bit more than just a figurine.
Quest for Self Projection
From the start of Destiny, my personal story had recently changed. This shortly after I had begun what I refer to as my “Geek Rebirth”. In the previous few years, I had stopped hiding my geekdom and full embraced the culture. Being “smart” and showing enthusiasm for such things had, as a society, become more mainstream. Thus, here I am starting up my 2nd blog site and had written for two others about video games.
With any good story, the characters have to be relatable. Even better would be a cast of characters in which each individual would be relatable in their own way or to a certain type of person or subculture. In Destiny, this was done with the different character classes and their associated Vanguards. Each class leaned on specific play styles, their associated lore established histories, and their Vanguards gave the classes personalities. Whatever YOUR personal style is, there’s a strong chance that some combination of the Character Class and Personality appealed to you.
With my new found pride in my Geekdom and quest for knowledge, it was in the Order of the Warlock that I found my place in the Tower.
It also helped that I am accustomed to playing as a support gunner, which the Warlock class fulfilled. So there’s a double dip of affinity!
Quest for Accomplishment
Each of the figurines comes with two weapons from the game. For the Warlock, the first weapon it came with is “Touch of Malice“.
For myself, this weapon represents a long term in-game quest to seek out these Calcified Fragments in order to craft the weapon. There are 50 in total, and the weapon quest requires the player to find 45 of them. While finding all 50 by one’s self is entirely possible, it would be incredibly unlikely given how well some of them were tucked away or hidden as parts of other quests and activities. Even with an array of wikis, guides, and some extremely helpful videos, the end product was on me to collect them.
The other was “Black Spindle“.
To obtain this weapon, you almost absolutely need to rally some WELL EQUIPPED friends while a particular story mission was the featured “Heroic” at that time. Dive in to the depths of Hive and Taken strongholds and not only clear them out, but do so within a time limit. Thankfully I was able rally a fireteam to do so, and I was able to obtain this weapon.
Quest for Fulfillment
Both of these weapons are arguably considered Weapons of Sorrow, but also critical weapons for completing the King’s Fall Raid within Destiny. As you progress in the game, the intrinsic perk of both Touch of Malice Black Spindle become boons for any Guardian diving in considering the massive amounts of sustained damage each deals in specific instances in the Raid. Additionally and in my opinion, these weapons are of little value outside the King’s Fall Raid as there are other exotic weapons that are more suitable or utilitarian in other activities. It is in this Raid that I found the most enjoyment of the game as it shown that metaphorical spotlight on what online gaming is known: Community Building and Social Interaction.
Both of these weapons are arguably considered Weapons of Sorrow, but also critical weapons for completing the King’s Fall Raid within Destiny.
Below is the “How To” guide of choice for King’s Fall just so you can get a quick taste of what it is like. Viewer beware: this video is almost an hour long!
In order to complete this activity, you need to have a group of six other players who are in constant communication with each other to coordinate each individual’s tasks and responsibilities. When going through these high intensity activities, frustration levels rise and tempers flare, but we all rejoice once victorious. Through this, I have actually made a few friends outside of the game space in which I still keep in contact with through other social media sites.
While completing any Raid, your Guardian continues to collect gear specific to that Raid. Typically I am a solo player, but Destiny is one of the few games that brings me out from my own personal comfort zone and in to the wilds. So much so that I was able to complete the set of Raid Armor from King’s Fall. From the time that King’s Fall was the final End Game until Wrath of The Machine came to be, the King’s Fall Raid Set was my standard armor load out regardless of activity. Sure it had Raid specific perks, but the other perks embedded within were sufficient for virtually everything else.
Plus, I really enjoyed the dark aesthetics!
When going through these high intensity activities, frustration levels rise and tempers flare, but we all rejoice once victorious.
Quest for Remembrance
Which brings me to my final point here. Each time I look at my toy doll figurine, I get just the tiniest bit of memory surfacing again. I remember desperately trying to keep up along the jumping puzzles. I remember sitting in front of my tv with my phone next to me as I would play-pause-play my way through the guide video to find all the Calcified Fragments, even the Scent of the Worm and the Agonarch Rune. I remember laughing along in chat as we mocked each other for our failures both in the game and in our personal lives (If you’ve never done it, I highly suggest standing at the edge of a difficult jump and waiting for a team member to fail the jump. As the fall in to the abyss, use the “Wave” emote! Hysterical!). I remember the cleansing exhale as “Black Spindle” popped on my quest rewards. I remember transitioning from Kinderguardian in the raid to actually becoming the Raid Leader and calling out commands to the other new comers.
These are the things that surface from my memory when I look at my Warlock.
Community Question
So what about you? Are there any mementos that you have that mean something more than the material that it is made of?
Videogame Crosstalk 