#Age of Reflection

[autoacafiles]

[jakeperalta]

the thing is I already know that men and society at large hate women. I know that young men in particular increasingly skew right and towards misogyny (I've read the articles, although all I really need to do is spend any time on any part of the internet to see the evidence). but then every so often something like this happens where it still somehow surprises me. like my god.. they really hate us this much.

[curioscurio]

I'm rewatching Steven Universe and I will never forgive Fandom for what it did to her

[papanowo]

i think dan should get to be a little weird too. as a treat

[an-established-butt-dent]

I will never tire of the way he looks at his Vhenan in that last scene.

Solas being an absolute mess of a man, blight stained lips and post battle sweat on his brow and yet he has never been hotter.

We need to collectively thank Bioware for their service.

[housederiva]

[potatobugz]

i cant stop thinking about alpha sleeper. i cant. he haunts me. help me

[kittykatninja321]

My less popular opinion (and what I believe to be implied by the art in Lost Days) is that rather than waking up in a fully grown body Jason didn’t actually complete his puberty until after his Lazarus pit dip while he was on his murder tour. Imagine you’re tied up in a basement in Berlin getting interrogated by a teenager and his voice is cracking the entire time and if you laugh he’s going to shoot you

[doctorsiren]

paint it over

[lurukifennecfox]

Danny slamming open the door(in Phantom form): Jay i think i've just been adopted by your grandparents!

Red Hood having no memories of the GZ and thus no point of reference as to wtf is happening and who is this glowing teenager: ...???

[felassan]

"Tattoos are just as customizable alongside options for scars and paint. Tattoos, scars, and paint are very culturally relevant to some lineages, BioWare tells me, with unique tattoos for elves, for example. You can add tattoos to Rook's face, body, arms, and legs, and you can adjust things like intensity, too." [source]

lookin again at the various concept art and art pieces from DA over time that show vallaslin on places other than the face, like these ones - 👁️

[autoacafiles]

The Ages of Cybertron

Age of the Firstforged

Matrix Bearer - Prima

Age of Darkness

Matrix Bearer - Unknown

Age of New Beginnings

Matrix Bearer - Knight Convoy

Age of Innovation

Matrix Bearer - Tesla Convoy

Age of Battle

Matrix Bearer - Battle Convoy

Age of Understanding

Matrix Bearer - Cobalt Convoy

Age of Reflection

Matrix Bearer - Rhetoric Convoy

Age of Discovery

Matrix Bearer - Focus Convoy

Age of Expansion

Matrix Bearer - Arch Convoy

Age of Invasion

Matrix Bearer - Ginrai Convoy

Age of Balance

Matrix Bearer - Guard Convoy

Age of Heroes

Matrix Bearer - Star Convoy

[vaguely-concerned]

you ever think about how the horrific thing dorian almost had done to him... is exactly the thing iron bull went to the reeducators to beg them to do to him. yeah. me either. for ten years straight now. what the fuck. wanna be my narrative foil dude. we could fuck about it if you're game and single

[ofcrowsanddragons]

Rookanis and Romance Archetypes

I have longer thoughts that I should probably write out, but here's where I'm at with Lucanis and Rook as a romance (I Love Them).

First of all, when you're looking at the capital-R Romance genre (not to be confused with the Romanticism movement, because we WILL be here all day), one of the most important bits of analysis to start with is determining what the "fantasy" might be and who it's for. Judgement-free. Occasionally, a friend will approach me about a book, boggled that all their friends like it, and we'll play this game. "What's the fantasy" is important, because otherwise we get bogged down with judgements like "Don't women know that a love interest like this would be bad for them?"

Yes, usually. Take the older stereotypical bodice ripper where the love interest kidnaps the heroine and carries her away to have his way with her. In this fantasy, the heroine is perceived as beautiful and irresistible and doesn't have to cross the social boundary of Having Desire. Another version of this is more common today (in the books that people will admit to reading), and that's the fantasy where the heroine has desire, but the love interest is uniquely capable of intuiting it and returning it.

Coming back to Veilguard:

Lucanis/Rook is flipped in-game, as far as romance archetypes go. For all that Rook is the protagonist of the game at large, you get hints in early game flirting scenes that this romance isn't going to go the way you might be expecting. When it comes down to it, Rook is the love interest, and Lucanis is the hero (i.e., the character referred to more commonly as the heroine).

In the romance arc, of the two of them, Lucanis is the one with the Disney/musical theatre "I want" song. The fantasy is for someone to see him as he is and to reach out for him where he's at. This feels impossible at the beginning! He's newly an abomination, he's a killer, and he feels that there's something deeply wrong with him as a human being—that there always has been.

His fantasy becomes that as he works through his current family issues, his dangerous supernatural malady*, and his sometimes panicked response to the pressure of saving the world, there's half a chance that there might be someone who will wait for him at the end of it. And when he gets to the point where he can face the Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known, there will still be someone who looks at him and sees something better than what he sees in himself.

The fantasy for the player is an uncommon one, for the romance genre: it's the fantasy of being capable of being that person to someone else. Rook can be capable of handling anything life throws at them. Rook doesn't need to be afraid of any kind of violence. More importantly, Rook can be worthy of that kind of trust.

Next time, I argue that Neve/Lucanis and Rook/Lucanis are both illustrations of healing in a positive direction, but in different ways.

*Don't @ me over this. Being fused together the way they are is dangerous for both Spite and Lucanis

[hoppips]

a succession of wolves

[timethehobo]

When you look after the dead, the dead will look after you.