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The way his friends keep insisting he'll know when to marry a woman (rather that it's complicated but he ought to) but he. just. doesn't.

Company in the context of Sondheim being a closeted gay man who didn't come out until he was around 40 and hadn't been in a romantic relationship until he was 60 makes me soooooooo insane

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Yeah, were we not paying attention to Cassida Preven? There are those who matter and those who don't, anyone?

The gods have many lovely relationships with mortals pre and post-divergence, aaaaaand whatever promises they make or relationships they attempt to form are not just complicated but nearly destroyed (dare I say, betrayed?) by their ultimate loyalty to the Betrayers and their own survival? And even moreso their loyalty to the demand that they hold ultimate control over the sources of divine power on Exandria forever?

The Divine Gate wasn't enough. If the Divine Gate was enough, the Arch Heart and the Matron wouldn't have had to hold the line on their other siblings to keep them from shattering the gate and bringing a second Calamity to Exandria. And they both feared the failure of their ability to hold that line enough that they both independently reached out to Bell's Hells to ask them to do something to keep a second Calamity from happening.

What kept the Divine Gate from failing was the actions of two gods and Bell's Hells coming up with another option. You may not like the option, or how it was presented to the gods, but let's not pretend that the Divine Gate itself would have lasted forever without those interventions when that explicitly contradicts what is stated by the story.

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“but my girlfriend said she’d break up with me if I started hrt…” FUCKING LEAVE HER THEN!!

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catch me getting killed at work by the same shit that took out Gandalf

I don't think they're supposed to do that

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Marisha really had her characters learning the lesson from this one too. Like, oh I met like 25 or so immortals this campaign and their lives are all in ruins. I think I'll just uhhh not do that. Grant me life and growth by granting me death and decay please thank you.

Imogen chose to stay alive because she met Laudna and Laudna chose to grow old and die because she fell in love with Imogen. It really doesn't get more poetic than that.

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not prep, not goth, but some other third thing.

God the spike in Exandrian teenagers who get the effects of regular puberty and become convinced they are reincarnations of the gods. That's just what being a teenager is like. Convinced that at any moment your destiny is going to come knocking. Where's the support group for people who thought they were gods but turned out to be sorcerers or even bards. "idk man I got in a rap battle at lunch and the other kid just fucking died. What was I supposed to think."

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it was an honour being in the trenches with all of you ('-')7

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"There are those who matter and those who don't."

>>>

"I was cruel to you before ... Everyone is worth saving."

Great swings this campaign. It's amazing what is possible when power is temporary.

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We did it gang. The critical role.

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AAAH! AAAH! AAAH! AAAH! AAAH! AAAH! AAAH! AAAH!

(but fr loving the fight mechanics Mr. Mercer, plus everyone's doin a decent job tracking everything. CR3 continuing to be a masterful showcase of the humble STR save.)

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my mom's in a pokemon go battle right now in the other room saying a whole shonen protagonist speech

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What I loved about the Substance was that it took impossible body standards imposed on women seriously. It didn't treat me like a kid throwing a temper tantrum about not being sexy. It didn't try to tell me "everyone is beautiful" and "every body is a beach body" in a pitiable voice that makes it all worse. There's no one singing to me about how "I cannot see my own beauty", as if validation from men will ever be enough to cover the black hole in my stomach drilled by years of self-loathing, binging-purging cycles and appetite-suppression pills. It haven't stopped for a second to congratulate itself for platitudes.

The substance threw an ice bucket on my head, grabbed me by the shoulders, dragged me to the mirror and told me "look at what violence you're inflicting on yourself!". It showed me a perfect body, the carrot on the stick, and then it hit it with a sledgehammer in white neon light. Is it worth it? Aren't you mad? Look at how he eats shrimp and doesn't wash his hands - is this the person you want to be liked by? Is this what you deserve for being human, really?

I've seen this movie on Friday and it's been stuck in my head ever since. I haven't looked in the mirror the same again. Somehow this made me kinder to myself.

I've seen reviewers say that this movie counts as "male gaze" and "violence against women" but I think they don't see the forest from the trees here.

First the male gaze: it felt like a deconstruction, in the best way. Sue's butt was the least erotic thing ever put to screen. The soft porn dance studio was shot in a lifeless manner, I felt like my mom was reading the browse history. Personally, I'd never want to have Sue's job. Even the sexist dudes that watch the movie seem to "get it", that their overly sexual media diet looks embarassing under the microscope. The medium is the message, and the sound and visual cues are all there to make sex appeal look very unappealing and immature. There's nothing sexy in "Pump it up", it's catchy and fun and has sexual undertones, but not a hint of sensuality.

Then the violence against women: there is only one scene where a man attacks a woman, and I'll not spoil it, but i'll say it's so bizzare it feels too cartoony to count. The rest of the violence is all self-inflicted. Every step of the way. Women don't just suffer abuse under patriarchy from men, they self-inflict and reenforce the structures of their own suffering onto others. Elizabeth is a fitness coach actively making bank off of other women's fears, and in the process of telling everyone over x kg to skip lunch she's grown her own self-loathing too. It wasn't really the horny men watching the fitness show, isn't it? Sue is even worse, she goes on talk shows to tell women her looks come from being kind, a silly statement considering she injects herself daily with an old woman's spine liquid while loathing her for existing. Elizabeth and Sue are both victims and perpetuators of violence, and it's gruesome because it's not a silly feminine thing, it's all-encompassing and a matter of life and death. Without violence, what would be the message of the movie? "It kinda sucks to be a woman hating your body". Doesn't sting, isn't it? This is not chopping women and putting them in refrigerators to give the good guy a reason to kill the baddie, this has to be violent to show the depth of pain of the protagonist. It's necessary. And I like it, because crying and wallowing in pain is not the behaviour you want to see on screens, it feels lethargic and leads to the problem not being taken as seriously.

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This but like deadly serious cause I think it's a core part of the movie. If the relationship is just between Elizabeth and Sue, I think they actually can work it out, and show each other love and care, or at least work out a chore chart and respect the balance. But since its Elizabeth, Sue, and Patriarchy (and Patriarchy is constantly stirring up violence by rejecting, demeaning, harassing, objectifying, ignoring, running over, and pissing on them both) there really is no chance at peace for them. At not least while they're deeply, emotionally involved in the abusive, nightmare triangle.

Maybe that other Substance user used it to support herself in disinvesting her self-worth from misogynist demands and making one (1) friend or at the very least realized she needed to kick her gross boss to death instead of herself.

There's a lot I could say about The Subtance as an unflinching, gruesome close-up portrait of systemic misogyny, internalized sexism, self-hatred, and the brutality of fame, but more importantly, you know what I bet? I bet there is exactly one customer of The Subtance who is doing everything right. Week one, makes a living as a fitness influencer; week two, enjoys a lavish retirement funded by her other self's earnings. Week one, jogging, yoga, filming tiktoks, enjoying the vitality of youth; week two, Alaskan cruises, mahjong with the girls, enjoying unlimited free time and liberation from the crushing weight of the societal expectation to care what other people think of you. Keeps her other self on a nice air mattress with a quilt and always cooks a big recovery breakfast to be waiting for her when she switches. Walks out of that creepy alley every week whistling. Has no idea potential complications even exist. Every other user is living a psychedelic horror show of trauma, goop, and rage, and she's just at Barnes and Noble picking up the latest selection for book club. I know I'm alone in this, but I would happily watch that sequel.

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who would win? 1000 year-old mind control wizard or 3 insane women who are also proficient in wisdom saves

Ludinus Da'leth's nightmare blunt rotation

Also my three weed smoking girlfriends

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Anyone else feeling feral about Scanlan failing to save a second twin with his only reaction? He watched Vex fall out of the sky and eat a brutal Otohan Special™ from Ozo Cruth, and at the pivotal moment, his timing was off.

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"Ultimate suffering. Completely antithetical to everything I am. And the strangest part is that he just lets it happen." Round here we call that the Cassida Special.

More seriously, I really appreciate the way Robbie playing Dorian's resistance/resentment/skepticism towards the gods and their influence over Exandria. Tangentially related: POC, you ever been told you need to lend your support to oppressive structures because they are more stable than the alternative?