darcyme

[darcyme]

“You’ll be kissing the flagstone soon.”

i’m so good at the drinking games bUT that dice game is too much for my one functioning braincell

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[darcyme]

Why I don't feel disappointed by Vi's arc, but you might

I usually have pretty strong and polarizing opinions when it comes to my takes on Arcane, but this is one where I wanna open up the discussion a bit more and invite people to my perspective, and it's fine if you don't see it this way.

I think there are two primary reasons why people feel disappointed by the arc of s2 Vi. The first, being that Vi had stronger voiced concerns about the state of Zaun in the first season. The second, being that she spent the whole show wanting to be with her sister and she didn't end up getting that.

Why I actually feel fulfilled in Vi's arc has to do with these two points, and I invite you to sit with what I have to say next.

Both of these parts of Vi have to do with her fatal flaw: her neglect of self.

We know two things based on what the creators have said about the show: the theme of Arcane is the cycle of violence, and the entire show was written together, instead of season 2 being written after season 1 production. From this, I can then ask: what do the creators want to tell their audience about this message, knowing they wrote it all out together, knowing the events of season 2 were very purposeful, using Vi as a conduit for that message?

If violence is a cycle, can one person defy it? No, of course not. At the start of Vi's arc, she wants to be a person that breaks it, though. She wants to change things in Zaun, wants a better life for her sister. As season 1 continues on, she wants to pick up where she left off with Powder without truly processing the gravity of the years between them. She thinks she can hold the world on her shoulders and fix any problem that comes her way. She thinks she can use her fists to make progress, thinks she can physically reach out and create change, but it only contributes to the cycle. And that's not because she's morally in the wrong when she does so, but she doesn't grasp yet that her fists can't fix everything. Vander tries to tell her as such in act 1, and it's a lesson that goes beyond just the literal application.

Vi's tendency to try and fix everything around her leads to her neglect of self. Inevitably, when you try to change things you have no control over, it leaves wounds. It leaves a person feeling like something is deeply wrong with them. And we watch Vi go down this spiral. I actually find myself really brokenhearted watching Vi in the first 2 acts, because I think she represents a lot of us: we see pain and devastation around us, but we don't know what the right thing to do is. We try different tactics and try to fix things and are left wondering why things feel worse than how they started.

I think that's something a lot of viewers could benefit to reflect on: I think in watching a show with strong political messaging, we yearn for a message that tells us the answers to these big problems. Truthfully, most of us don't have a fucking clue what we're doing. We want change but don't know how to see it through. That includes the writers. This isn't a show about the solution to political strife. It's about the cycle of violence. It's about not knowing how to change something that's been continuous throughout history in some form.

If we put ourselves in Vi's shoes, it would eventually take a toll on us to try and change something that isn't within our ability to change. Vi can't fix the problems in Zaun. Vi can't change the way time and distance and pain has warped her sister into someone else. In season 2 act 1, she's still trying to take responsibility for things that are outside of her control. She blames herself for the way Jinx has changed and has to tell herself that the only way to fix it is to end the cycle with her own fists. She teams up with Caitlyn because she's convinced herself it's the only way she can help. She sees how violence has devastated not only Zaun but innocents in Piltover as well, and she feels responsible for it.

BUT SHE IS NOT AT FAULT. And she cannot fix it any more than she could have created it.

Perhaps people may feel Vi's arc is lacking because they wanted to see more of her involvement in the revolution of Zaun. They wanted to see her be able to change the situation with her sister and for them to live happily together. But because of the circumstances surrounding both, for Vi to do so, she would inevitably lean into her fatal flaw. She cannot do either of those things without neglecting herself. That's not who she is.

The whole point of a character arc is for someone to be a changed person from beginning to end. If Vi starts out as someone passionate about enacting change to the point of self-destruction, what would a resolution for a character like that look like?

Vi needs to choose herself. Vi needs to release herself of the responsibility of changing the world. She can't do it. There are ways to contribute to positive change that don't involve putting the world on your shoulders, and Vi has yet to put herself first in any situation. Vi choosing love is how she does it.

Amanda Overton, one of the main writers that contributed to Vi's character and the Caitlyn and Vi dynamic and relationship, said about Vi: "If she has no one left to protect, she would fall in love". If Vi finally lets go of this crutch of hers to protect, to fight, to take responsibility for things that aren't her burden to bear, she would fall in love. She would finally be able to choose something for herself.

This is why I find her arc fulfilling. I feel like it's not an arc we really see a lot. It's not every day we have a character that starts out like the classic anime slash marvel protagonist, and instead of being the person that saves the world, they accept they're not a superhero and it's okay to choose love and personal happiness.

If it applies, and you're reading this, I want you to ask yourself: are you perhaps disappointed with her arc because you expected her to be the superhero? And would you be okay with accepting that she isn't and doesn't need to be? That it would be better for her to choose herself?

[darcyme]

i can't believe we could've had hoverboard sevika :'0 (link: https://x.com/chenalii/status/1861945995220951479/photo/1) side note: my hyperfixation is finally calming down lol

[darcyme]

HELP

[darcyme]

Eivor Week 2024!

Hello, all fans of Eivor Wolf-Kissed from Assassin's Creed Valhalla!

Feel creative these days and want to share your love for the protagonist of Ubisoft's 2020 Viking-themed adventure? Then celebrate with us Eivor Week starting August 4th, a full seven days where you are invited to write, draw, or take cool screenshots of our favorite Drengr! Any kind of art or writing is accepted, be it fanart, fanfic or meta!

Here are the prompts for each day:

Sunday August 4th: Identity

Monday August 5th: Family

Tuesday August 6st: Animal

Wednesday August 7th: Protector

Thursday August 8th: Love

Friday August 9th: Mythology

Saturday August 10th: Skald

I hope that many of you will join us in these creative endeavors!

[darcyme]

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores (2023, color)

[darcyme]

Here is a sapphic, turn-the-straight-girl, u-haul across continents kind of tumblr love story for you all.

It all started with Assassins Creed Valhalla and creating a tumblr page to dive into my lastest hyperfixation. I was watching a twitch stream one night (which I'd never done, mind you) and started chatting through the comments with the streamer and the other 3 people watching. We decided to make a discord server to make it easier to chat.

A day or so into the chat, one particular member made a slightly off colour joke that I thought was funny and I immediately jumped on it. She was a goat farmer so I dm'ed asking about her (at the time) 29 goats. She thought I was annoying as fuck 🤣

I persevered because I knew that we'd be friends and eventually won her over with my quick wit and Australian humour (it was actually because I was nice enough to listen to her problems LOL).

Once she realised I'm actually amazing 🤭😉, we just clicked. We talked about everything under the sun including my relationship of 9 years that I thought was still going strong and her relationship that she'd been wanting out of for some time. She knew that I was untouchable in terms of a romantic interest so she let herself have the type of friend she'd always wanted - reliable and kind.

Fast forward a year later after talking every day, video chatting weekly and navigating some hard situations together, I made the 24 hr journey to the States to meet this person that had become such a close friend in person.

The moment I got into the car with her and her Mum was probably one of the most defining moments in my story. I felt like I'd known them my entire life. This wasn't some physical stranger on the opposite side of the world, this was my best friend and her Mom picking me up from the airport - it felt like we'd done it a million times.

We quickly realised that the pull between us was magnetic and we danced around a physical boyndary that we did not want to cross. I was obviously so very confused. I returned to Aus with a massive question mark over my head. It turned out that my relationship had been dying a slow and painful death for quite some time and I had needed this experience to lift my veil of denial and give me a kick in the ass. We took the time to end our relationships (both of almost 10 years) in a way we felt comfortable with and trying to do the best by our exes.

Living on opposite sides of the world mixed in with a chronic illness, a farm full of animals and our general anxiety 😅, we faced some tough decisions.

It's been 7 months since I moved to the United States.

5 months since we got married.

So here we are, best friends and wives 🧜‍♀️🧜‍♀️ (possibly mermaids in a past life if she got her way 🤣🤦‍♀️)

Never in a million years did I think I'd find myself in the queer community but look at this crazy curve ball life threw my way. A baby pansexual who married a woman she met on the internet. It doesn't *always* end in murder 🤣

[darcyme]

Read the news today, I decided to translate this poem I learned in grade 5. It is called "Emily, con..." The poem was in Vietnamese. It was about Norman Morrison, a man who self-immolated in front of the pentagon in protest of the Vietnam war.

Emily, come with me  When you grow up, you know the way, you won't get lost  “Where are we going, Dad?” To the Potomac  “What are we looking for, Dad?”  Nothing dear, only the Pentagon  O my child, round are your eyes O my child, gold are your strands  Don’t ask me much, yeah?  I'll take you out, you will be with Mom tonight  Washington  Twilight  O poor souls  Remain or lost  Blazing truth! Johnson! Your crimes weigh heavy  Humanity detests  The yellow demon of this Earth  You cannot borrow red blood Of Christ, and yellow of Buddha  McNamara Where are you hiding? In the graveyard  Of the pentagonal building  Each corner for a continent  You still hide your head  In flame Like an ostrich buried in scorching sand Look! Look at me now! It’s only me with my daughter in my arms  I am today And my daughter, Emily, you are forever!  I stand tall  With a great heart  Of a hundred million people  Of America To set fire to the horizon  A torch  Of justice.  All of you, a pack of devils In whose name?  You bring B-52s Napalm, mustard gas From the White House  From Guam  To Vietnam To assassinate peace and national freedom  To incinerate hospitals and schools  Kill the people who only know love Kill the children who only know school Kill the green fields of four seasons  And even kill the rivers of poetry and art! In whose name?  You bury our youth in coffins  O our strong and beautiful men  Who can turn nature into electricity and steel  For the happiness of the people!  In whose name?  You bring us to jungles Spiked pits, swamps of resistance  Villages turn hidden fortresses Night and days, heaven moves and Earth shakes… O Vietnam, how strange are you Children become heroes Wild bees become warriors Flowers and fruit become weapons! Die, die  All of you, a pack of devils Listen! My fellow Americans!  To the voices of pain, of eternal hatred Of a son. Of a person of the century Emily, my dear! It’s getting dark…  I cannot take you home anymore When the flame ignites Mom will come find you tonight  You will hug and kiss her  For me And tell her:  “Dad went in peace, please don’t cry.” Washington  Twilight  O poor souls  Remain or lost  It’s time, my heart burns bright  I set myself alight The blazing truth. 

[darcyme]

This really was the moment when we knew Kassandra was the best girl around tho

[darcyme]

"Assassin's Creed Valhalla now has 44 percent more players life-to-date than Assassin's Creed Origins and 19 percent more than Assassin's Creed Odyssey on a comparable basis, with materially higher revenue per player, leading to life-to-date net bookings up respectively +82 percent and +61 percent,” Ubisoft said.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/16/23725583/ubisoft-assassins-creed-investing

Remember when Reddit was awash with fanboys saying Mirage was a win for going back to its roots and I laughed and said they used word salad to dilute the fact Mirage WAS NOWHERE NEAR Valhalla levels (and why would it be? It's a Valhalla DLC that should have stayed one and the narrative director intentionally tried to turn it into a fanboy nostalgia game with subpar writing, recycled mechanics, and extremely linear and short gameplay that left everyone feeling short-changed)?

"Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which was said to be on par with past successful launches such as Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey currently stands at 5 million players (estimated $250m in revenue)."

https://insider-gaming.com/inside-ubisoft-from-low-morale-to-internal-tensions/

So first of all, I doubt that is better than Odyssey or even in line. I'm not even sure that is in line with Origins. Second, Valhalla had 20 MILLION players as of what, 2021? Revenue of what, a billion, by the end of 2021?

Maybe one day you'll all realize the trilogy was massively successful, and popular....fanboys, you've got to stop hating everything that's new because you think your nostalgia games are just, objectively, better.

Black Flag getting a remake before AC1 says a LOT about the reality of AC as a franchise. You know, the one you all called "pirate creed" and now pretend you loved it all this time.

Kind of like how you pretend you love Unity and Syndicate and you hated them into oblivion.

And Ubisoft, maybe the actual appeal of Valhalla was Eivor and not Basim. In fact, a lot of us hated him. You'll could have even gone the Hytham route and it would have been more appealing to Valhalla fans as a whole.

Another example ☝️

I love this bullshit from journalists. Mirage falls off the table and they try and save it with "well it is more liked by the community than Valhalla" UH, NO. Get off Reddit and look at actual data. The community is not just the fanboys who are chronically online complaining about the trilogy. Gaming journalists need better, more informed takes than this.

[darcyme]

I made this for some reason and decided not to use it..😛

[darcyme]

For @vikingnerd793 happy new year and thanks for being such a great friend 🥹

The baddies of Baldur’s Gate

[darcyme]

After eivor lost her eye

(It's going to be kind of an ongoing series for a while

Search the tag randivor vinland in my tumblr)

[darcyme]

They've gone to vinland together

(Search the tag randivor vinland for the rest of the art)

[darcyme]

If you like it, please give it a reblog!

[darcyme]

[darcyme]

My girl my dumbass Charon is so done with you even though yall just met lol