#But that's a distraction from the main point

[demilypyro]

I’ve gathered that Surge kinda hates Sonic a lot and the reasons why. But what about Kit and Tails? Kit doesn’t seem to have the same anger that Surge is capable of. Is there still a rivalry between those two?

Oh, Kit has ISSUES. His reasons for hating Tails are a bit more complicated than Surge's reasons for hating Sonic, but they're pretty interesting in a messed up way.

So obviously Kit knows he's based on Tails. He's not stupid, and he's seen Starline's dev logs. Their first meeting was in issue 50, and Kit's mission was to distract Tails while Surge fought Sonic. Kit didn't know what to do without Surge, and Tails managed to calm him down and get in close, but Kit erupted when he mentioned Sonic.

After this, Tails stalled him until his water ran out, outsmarting him handily. In Kit's mind, this defeat positioned him as inferior to Tails, and it made Tails a liar, who acted nice just to trick him.

After Surge and Sonic's initial fight, Surge was presumed dead, and Kit didn't take that well. His obsession with being useful to Surge transferred into wanting to be useful to Sonic, regardless of his own wellbeing.

When Kit found out that Surge *was* alive, it was at the worst possible time, right after Sonic and Tails had teamed up to defeat her, making Kit think that they had lied to him.

All of this compounded with Kit's lack of self-worth, feelings of inferiority toward Tails, and need for someone to support, causing Kit to genuinely hate Tails from this point on.

After this, Kit is consistently gunning for Tails, wanting to take him out, take revenge for lying to him, and prove he's the better sidekick. Fighting Tails becomes one of his main motivations.

Though less outwardly aggressive, in a way, Kitsunami is even more unstable than Surge. Kit places a ton of value on his role of being "the smart one" and being useful, and he sees Tails as a better version of him, someone who is more smart and more useful than him, which needles his already awful self-worth. There's an obvious parallel with Surge and Sonic, but in a way it's even worse, since while Surge just wants to prove she's better, for Kit it comes from this NEED to be useful to someone.

Dude's messed up.

[idontevenlikedragonage]

Thing I really enjoy about DA:TV - Rook

Full disclosure: I feel that the issues people have with Rook as a protagonist are very much a product of our time and culture, as well as the expectations created for the game in the past decade.

We live in a moment when all most heroes and protagonists are morally grey, unwilling, disillusioned, and detached. Being genuine, trying to do the right thing, and perhaps even being uncompromising about your values is seen as cringe.

So yeah, Veilguard came out at a point in my life when I felt like I was watching movies with the same main character and playing characters with the same sort of snarky attitude.

I’m genuinely so into a Rook who is just uncompromisingly a kind person—someone who asks how the characters are doing and helps people not just with fetch quests but with their personal lives. A lot of it is personal preference, but my favorite Veilguard moment was finding out Bellara is writing a book (and helping with it) and having drinks with Taash. Let me roleplay a hero that characters actually, genuinely like and want to spend time with. Show me the little things.

I guess the big payoff of Rook is the finale of the game. There are several lead-up conversations with Solas about leadership, and the contrast between the two is repeatedly emphasized. Solas thinks removing distractions from the team’s lives would help achieve a goal, but Rook genuinely cares. The companions willingly follow Rook out of respect and care, not out of necessity. The game wouldn’t work with a different protagonist but that’s a separate discussion.

Rook is my special little treat that I play in these tiring times.

[wanderingwolfwitcher]

Eskel's viper eyes looked the crimson haired Sorceress over appreciatively as she did the same of him when she arrived to join him at the inn courtyard. When she moved in closer, he nodded at her words, holding on to Scorpion's reins as the Axii Sign continued to sooth the war horse. Then, his medallion went wild as she summoned forth her magic, a golden gateway portal to Kaer Morhen... everyone around the courtyard and the road stopping where they were to behold it. Whispering with fear and amazement to one another alike, not often getting to glimpse such magic for themselves. When she started forward to enter the gate, he did the same, leading Scoprion on through it, the three of them departing the town as one, in an instant. Teleporting several kingdom's distance away to the Blue Mountains of Kaedwen, to Kaer Morhen Valley, in an instant. The sensation uncomfortable, but familiar, had never bothered him as much as it did Geralt. When the magical portal deposited the three of them in the familiar courtyard, it closed back up as if it had never been, the humming of his medallion ceasing. He took a moment to take in his surroundings again... it had been too long since he'd been back to the valley. He breathed in the welcome, familiar Blue Mountains air, savoring it. It was good to be home... even if it involved bringing her here with him again, unpleasant memories... it had been here Deidre had maimed him, this very courtyard. And there were the unwelcome prospects of their hunt for the book. A matter she swiftly returned them to at once, eager to be reunited with the Necronomicon. He nodded, deep, calm voice speaking up as he patted the horse, undoing the Axii Sign on him at last.

"No need for us to put away Scorpion in the stables, I suppose, we won't be staying too long. Can graze down here in the meantime. The armory and libraries are within the great hall. Let's head up there. The books will remain in the library after you have consulted them. They are my property, and dealing with one cursed book and its cult are headache enough. Not risking the Cult of Azathoth getting their hands on another. Especially not the Malleus Bestiarum or the Naturom Demonto."

The Witcher was firm on the matter, his tone brooking no argument, as at last he stepped back from the horse and made for the nearby stairs up towards the main keep, along with Sabrina. He took in the surroundings all the way, wishing he could remain at the keep for awhile... but, if they succeeded, they could always return here at some point. Reaching the top of the stairs, he opened the pair of great double doors into the main hall, stepping in out of the cold and the snow. Once she was in, he closed it behind them, looking around the vast, familiar interior and starting to cast his Igni Signs upon the various ready candles and fireplaces, bringing forth come illumination and warmth alike over the place. There was no place like home alright... the desolate hall bringing memories of the times it had once been full of Witchers. He was tempted to fetch a bottle of White Gull, head up a tower and call it a day. Instead, he looked over towards the armory section... he would have to stock up a good deal for the hunt ahead, and get some food into them before they set out, stock up their fresh supplies. But first thing was first... or he wasn't liable to hear the end of it from her. The dusty old, sizable library. At least the one up here... he certainly wasn't about to show her the one on the lower levels, much less their old laboratories. What she needed was topside anyways... he wasn't about to let the ambitious Sorceress go snooping out the school's many forbidden secrets. Hopefully how distracted she was over the Necronomicon would work in his favor, here. Starting forward, he led her down to it, viper eyes looking among the many tomes on the assorted shelves and bookcases. Memory returning of the times he had studied in the library, as a student. As well as updating the codex over the course of his adventures.

"Here you are. Take your pick, red. And handle them with care. Many of these books are older than both of us put together."

@fallesto

Sabrina moved swiftly through the room, collecting her few possessions and placing them into her leather satchel. She had always liked to travel light, especially when on missions such as these. The less that could be lost or stolen, the better. As she moved through the doorway, the cold morning air hit her, a stark contrast from the warmth of the room. She didn’t bother with a cloak, instead, she let the chill wake her up fully, invigorating her for the day ahead. Her eyes scanned the horizon, searching for any signs of trouble. The world had changed so much since she had last been out on the hunt, but she knew it was all for the greater good. As she made her way down the stairs, she could feel the eyes of the inn patrons boring into her back, whispering about the powerful sorceress who had brought the monster slayer into their midst. She ignored them, her thoughts solely on the book that had been stolen from her. The loss was a heavy burden she couldn’t shake off, and she knew that until she had it back, she wouldn’t rest.

The courtyard was quiet, the dirty ground cold under her bare feet. Eskel was already there, his horse Scorpion saddled and ready. The creature was a magnificent beast, a symbol of his strength and valor. She had to admit, seeing him again, looking so much like the man she had once knew, it brought back memories that she had buried deep. Memories of battles fought side by side, of laughter shared in quiet moments between missions. But she pushed them aside, focusing instead on the task at hand. They had a long journey ahead and no time to waste on nostalgia.

“Let us depart.”

With a flick of her wrist, a burst of golden light shot out from her hand and grew into an archway that hummed with arcane energy. The air around it crackled and the very fabric of reality seemed to stretch and bend. Sabrina stepped closer to the shimmering gate, her eyes narrowed in concentration. The portal grew wider, the edges becoming more defined as the energy pulsed and danced around her. A cold wind picked up, whipping her hair around her face as she whispered the incantation that would transport them to Kaer Morhen with this portal. With a final, decisive gesture, she stepped through the archway. The sensation was like being submerged in a pool of icy water, the very air around her turning liquid and then solid again in the space of a heartbeat. The world around her swirled and shifted, the colors bleeding into one another until she could no longer tell where she ended and the magic began. It was a moment of pure, unbridled wonder that made her stomach flutter and her head spin. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, it was over.

“Gather what you need now Eskel, and we can go and deal with this.”

The courtyard of Kaer Morhen greeted her, much as she remembered it. The towering stones, the cold, stark beauty of the place that had once been a bastion of power and knowledge. It was now a silent sentinel, a relic of a bygone age, but it still held a certain allure that she hadn’t been able to resist. The air was thinner up here, and the smell of dust and decay hung heavy, a reminder that nothing lasts forever. The ground underfoot were the same ones she had stepped on so many years ago, and she couldn’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu as she made her way across the open space, as she stretched and looked around, knowing that he would no doubt, not be all too pleased she was here after all this time, but it was necessary. 

[distant--shadow]

Okay, I have three (3) thoughts about the state of cr's talkback shows atm and I've decided to write them in your ask box. Feel free to ignore:

I think the quality of the questions in the fireside chat was strongly linked to 4sd and, mainly, the tower of inquiry. As much as I like the idea of having a section where evergreen questions can be asked, they really lean towards the “what if the world was made of pudding?” genre of questions and I think that - combined with the attention that gets drawn to the questions by the Jenga game and the milque-toast-ness of the other questions on 4sd - has encouraged the fandom to discuss and focus on those questions more than we used to.

I also really miss the fact that talk machina had a presenter (who, for the sake of clarity, was fired for obvious reasons and I’m not, in any way, advocating for him to come back). The fact that both the presenter of 4sd and order of questions in the tower of inquiry and deep dive sections are random, means that whether the cast elaborate on their answers is up to chance. I feel like, with the cast being more detached from the fanbase than they used to (for good reason) there really should be someone on screen who knows what questions were answered in the past and can guide the conversation so that they don’t spend 10 minutes discussing “think about this AU” questions and then only give in-depth character analysis a single sentence before being distracted by a joke or running out of time. To be clear, this isn’t a criticism of the cast at all, you can’t both give really good, in-depth answers to questions while also coming up with your own follow-up questions and staying engaged in and shaping the discussion as a whole. I’d say Dani is the obvious pick for a presenter but I think her interests are more in the shippy/fanon side (which is fine, I’m not trying to police how anyone interacts with the show) so I’d prefer her questions to be interjections rather than the whole thing.

This campaign has had a significant percentage of it’s talkback shows taken up by overlap with other stuff (party splits, vox machina and the mighty nein getting their own eps, overlap with calamity and downfall etc.) and, in an ideal world, I’d want them to do separate that stuff out and do extra shows about that, rather than letting it eat into valuable question answering time for bells hells.

All this to say: if cr wants to make a talkback show specifically tailored to me, I'm down with them flying me out to America so I can host my new talkback show called “AU? No thank you!” where we exclusively talk about bells hells and all hypotheticals are banned. Nobody but me would enjoy it but I'm the main character of my story so...

appreciate you engaging and putting your thoughts out there via my inbox!

I agree with most of this, I can respect what they were trying with 4sd but yeah it did not deliver the meat that talks did, and I would love to have a simple discussion show like that back (at one point I would have suggested dani as host too, but if anything these fireside and 4sd eps have proven that she is way too fanon-brained/shipping inclined and I personally, can't stand when she interjects without being asked for an answer (though correcting lore is a different case and pretty much always appreciated))

I can deal with a little amount of what if the world was pudding type questions, but ultimately yeah, it does come across as "so what if we got a different story than the one you chose to give us?" there are cases when yeah maybe it wasn't as conscious as a decision or another factor where yeah, I would like to know the alternative, but i agree with ya there.

I will also say that yes, I do think the shape of the questions selected is in part to match the more laid back and goofy vibes of 4sd, the evergreen questions and such really are not a good choice and absolutely there wa sso much going on during this campaign that reaaaallly broke up the momentum (momentum which still managed to feel oppressive), but i would say I do also think an amount of it is just how modern fandom is, to sound like an old guy yelling at a cloud. so many things come into play here, parasocial stuff, attention spans, isolation and selfishness, populatiry contests within fandoms and how that births popular works/notions from fanon being perceived as canon law, etc etc.

as I keep saying, I want people to make, I want people to have fun, but it's a yeowch from me when that feeds back into the source material, or at least spin offs of it. I do think it is a case of both parties being somewhat guilty, ask baby questions get baby answers, if people engage with fanservice and it gets views then they're gonna cater to that because they need eyes on them to exist as a company. I'm really not the person to be doing the write ups about this, but i do think it's important to share my opinions on my most beloved piece of media, in some ways especially because I create so much "content" for it.

I've pretty much always felt like an outsider within fandom space, and whether that's because of what I want out of it, what I want to see for my favourite characters, or my behaviour, or my work - I don't know, but i do know that for years of watching this show I kept well away from the fandom space or even sharing my drawings caus I didn't want it to hinder my experience and enjoyment of watching, and when the stuff I've been trying to avoid is seeping it's way into the actual shows then yeah, it is something I wanna speak out on.

[kindaorangey]

so jimmy kaga-ricci has attachment and trust issues, and if you trace that back to his grief for joan (who, as a reminder, was the main person to advocate for jimmy when he came out as trans and as such was a massive part of his support system before she died) then it really really makes sense why jimmy has so much trouble appreciating the people in his life who are there long-term.

he's impulsive by nature, though he tends to hide that well, and when it comes to fleeting connections he seems to throw himself into them (think: the way he apparently acts towards magnet at the BRITS party) but becomes flighty and distracted once someone becomes a more insistent presence in his life (again, when magnet approaches him at the house party, jimmy is almost immediately bored and disconnected from the interaction)

and nowhere is that clearer than with lister and rowan. jimmy acknowledges all the signs throughout the book that both lister and rowan are struggling, and he always moves on from it almost immediately, either thinking he doesn't have time for it or wouldn't know what to say. the one time he does try to comfort rowan, rowan shrugs him off and tells him to go away, because this is clearly a pattern with jimmy - neither of them are used to jimmy being the one to support rowan. their relationship is not reciprocal in terms of emotional openness and support. the same goes for jimmy and lister.

and i think even though jimmy clearly relies on them both, that refusal to nurture his relationships to either bandmate or actually pay attention to anyone's issues but himself - it's solipsistic, it's individualistic - it's indicative of not wanting to get too attached to someone for fear of losing them. just like he lost joan. the same is true with his relationship to piero - he thinks about him constantly but doesn't actually call or visit all that often, and ends up catastrophising over piero's inevitable death more than he actually speaks to him cough ocd cough.

i don't have a wider point here, i just think it's interesting to interpret jimmy's self-absorption in the context of his grief for joan. <3

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

I know it's a controversial topic, so apologies and feel free to just disregard if you don't want to talk about it, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the way that Louis has chosen to present his fatherhood. I'm like you, I think it's important as fans to accept that this is how Louis is choosing to present himself (even if you don't believe him), so I don't mean the choice to do so, but more the specific ways he's chosen to do so.

The thing that I've sometimes struggled with and that makes me wonder is that the trend/dominant cultural idea, especially for celebrities, seems to have solidly moved toward not showing children's faces, keeping them out of the spotlight, a focus on maintaining their privacy, etc (as I've seen a lot of people point out, Bear is only one year younger and we've never even seen his face), but the specific way that Louis chose to present himself as a father seems to go against that trend (bringing him to the LA show in view of fans, including him in the photos that Louis' family posts, and obviously including him in the documentary). Maybe I'm in the minority, but it has always seemed to me like the former, private approach was a clear alternative, and one that at least I would find a more compelling presentation of fatherhood. Louis could have chosen not to do the things I mentioned and in one or multiple interviews, mention the ways that Freddie's early life was made public to an almost excruciating degree and say that he wants to try to protect him from the spotlight and public scrutiny as much as he can. But Louis didn't choose to do that, and did choose to go the route he did, and I don't have any real theory or explanation for that choice but I do find it interesting, especially because it's not the current norm and because he is so otherwise focused on privacy.

I disagree about the current norm - I think there are a wide range of approaches to parenting and privacy among celebrities (as wide as there are among normal people). Just look at Little Mix - Leighanne doesn't show her children's faces and Perrie does. I don't think this requires any explanation any more than the variation in the way people I know show their kids on social media - people have different views and approaches.

[endlesscolddreams]

This brings many interesting points.

Nationalism, like realism, brings much of a survival part and questions of power, but the real difference is that realism focuses on power in terms of material capabilities and strategic interests, while nationalism sees power in terms of cultural unity, historical continuity, and emotional bonds. But realism is not an isolated thing; I’d say constructivism might complement realism in explaining why nations like Hungary and Poland emphasise values such as courage and loyalty in their identities… That said, I'd have to make a really deep reflection on that even if I find myself in agreement with what was said.

I’ll have to say that the Anglo-Saxon view emphasised pragmatism and self-interest, which is mostly the basis of most Anglo-American foreign policies, but even the Greeks and Chinese contributed to the realism, so I wouldn’t be so far-fetched as saying it is a direct correlation.

I still don’t think that the British influence over the U.S. shaped the Cold War so much as you think… I do know that the Great Game is still a major factor of resentment here and that the British efforts were crucial in shaping the policies and outcomes of the Cold War era, but the Cold War was mostly a game of interests and challenges, and the main point was to change completely the players, reducing the former powers into an afterthought. I like to think that America acted much like a son stabbing the father to get into power, that Britain did think he had the game under control, but America inherited some of that cunning and took over, changing it into something they can control themselves. As I see and read, the British didn’t truly retain control, and the Americans asserted their own strategies in a gradual way, so maybe my metaphor is too abrupt for what happened, but you get the idea.

England and France are mirrors but are also opposites in a way. There’s a reason their people would escape towards each other. I think the main difference stems from how they see life and react to it. French cultural identity is deeply rooted in philosophy and literature, and the French do have a much more tinted way of seeing things; they are idealistic, they indulge in all the distractions to not dwell on the depressing parts of life (which they are well aware of but cope with like this), and the British culture tends to value understatement, moderation, and adaptability. They are much more pragmatic and adaptable in a way, but I wouldn’t say they cope better, just differently. They both have pragmatic and idealistic phases depending on context.

Ultimately they both work towards different goals: Britain is more focused on a balance-of-power strategy; they don’t compromise their own interests, and the French are more interested in projecting universal values, sometimes at the expense of pragmatic considerations. I’m speaking of the more nationalistic agenda, the French grandeur, and such. I just think that the French are conditioned by their traditions (and that the counteraction to the revolution is this self-critique) and the British are more willing to overlook such constraints as long as they get what they want.

Not quite a conspiracy but we can work towards it xD

Britain in the Cold War

These past few days, while searching for material to write my fanfic (FrUK/UKFr), I have spent time reading about British foreign relations in the 20th century. I read from a basic and perhaps unreliable source, English Wikipedia (or rather, quite a few Wikipedia pages). However, from the way it is written, it is clear that the people who wrote the wiki pages I read are British. So, if there are any mistakes, please let me know. Please note that you should not take what I write here as fact. I just write everything based on my memory and bias. You should always fact check everything you read before you use these things for your purposes.

When I read about Britain, I learned that during the Cold War, the country that hated the Reds (as well as the Soviet Union) the most was not America but Britain. Britain was terribly anti-Soviet, and also had a more ferocious arms race than any other country in Europe when fighting the communist wave. The reason Britain maintained close relations with the United States was because the British leaders during the Cold War were extremely anti-communist and needed American weapons to fight the Soviets. They hated the Reds so much that they became paranoid, and at that time, only America could counter the Soviets. From Churchill to Margaret Thatcher, it was the same.

Meanwhile, France actually did not hate the Reds that much. From 1960 onwards (I don’t remember the exact time frame), France began to re-establish contact with the Soviet Union and recognized the People’s Republic of China. The EEC established by France was actually a declaration that Europe was not under the control of the two factions in the Cold War.

NATO actually originated from a separate treaty between Britain and France, the Dunkirk Treaty of 1947. Later, the new treaty gradually added Benelux, gradually expanding it. After this military alliance expanded, Britain worked with the United States to turn this alliance into NATO aka the anti-red stronghold, adding the United States and Canada to this alliance. That is, the information that the United States established NATO that websites often talk about is actually a fake fact, the United States was actually the one who joined later, not the one who presided. The predecessor of NATO was not to fight the reds, but it became an anti-red outpost because of Britain's will. Considering the starting point as well as the time when the alliance was transformed into NATO, the presiding one was Britain. Later, France wanted to separate from the Cold War situation, so France withdrew from the military command for 43 years.

Actually, the anti-red wave in Britain is not a difficult phenomenon to understand. Britain has Adam Smith as the father of capitalism, the industrial revolution as the premise for the means of production and the creation of the working class, the utilitarianism that people are selfish, Britain itself is an empire... that is, capitalism is closely linked to British identity. All the stereotypes that characterize Britain today started from capitalism and the glory that Britain once had was also from capitalism. I always feel strange that when people think of Britain, they think of royalty, court culture, and aristocracy, but in fact, those are things that Britain is heavily influenced by the continent (mainly from France) and are not unique to Britain. What is truly a prominent feature of Britain is utilitarianism and capitalism, which no one really cares about.

The British leaders in NATO once said "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down" 🫠 Yes, you guys are right, after WW2 the British were not only anti-Red but also hated the Germans. They were one of the countries that most fiercely opposed the annexation of East and West Germany after the Cold War.

Actually, at first, Britain had the same idea as France. That is, after WW2 ended, Britain considered leading Europe with France to counter both America and the Soviet Union (still, every scenario is anti-Soviet). That is, we almost had an EEC/EU in which the leaders were not France - Germany but Britain - France. But the problem here is that at that time, Britain was bankrupt, had given up all of their colonies, Canada had exempted Britain from paying its debts, but Britain was still deeply in debt. In addition, America was eyeing the markets of former British colonies, trying to push Britain out of the Middle East so that America could get in. In the end, Britain could not bear the cost, so it let America take over all of Britain’s market share and heritage. Or it can be said that Britain went home to retire, from now on, all the family matters were handed over to his son (and if Britain did not hand it over, it would be impossible because if he did not, America would strangle the old man =)))))))) ). France saw that Britain siding with America was not good, there was no longer any pride of the former empire (and what the hell is this pride, Britain even owed their colonies and the colonies had to forgive the debt). So France said: "If you don't do it, I will." France turned to shake hands with Germany to establish the EEC.

But talking about this, it leads to another. The establishment of the EEC by France with Germany was a consequence of Britain's previous actions. It was not without reason that France abandoned Britain and went with Germany. The thing is, before the peak of the Entente Cordiale, these two countries had been at peace with each other for nearly 100 years (since 1815, after Napoleon, there had been no more wars) and during that time, the two countries became increasingly closer to each other, colonial disputes were all negotiations, not fighting anymore. But the problem here is that in this relationship, Britain was the dominant party and had greater influence. There was even a time when France had to withdraw from a territory only at Britain's request, because "Fashoda was a diplomatic victory for the British because Paris realised that in the long run it needed friendship with London, especially in the case of a war between France and Germany.". Yep, that's it, Germany was the subject that Britain used as a condition for negotiating with France. "Either you listen to me and I will fight the Germans with you, or you defy me and I will let you fight the Germans yourself."

With Germany's growing power, Britain always had a conciliatory attitude, "forbearance is better than forgiveness". The brutality of WW1 left the British with a fear of war, so in the period between WW1 and WW2, Britain actually always had a policy of concessions to Germany, while France hated Germany so much that France triggered everything that had Germany in it, always demanding to attack Germany. Just imagine the British-French team at that time, one wanted to bomb the neighbor while the other tried every way to stop his friend, making peace with the neighbor. Britain even tried to ease the Versailles Treaty so that Germany would pay less compensation, as well as telling France to let Germany occupy Czechoslovakia "to satisfy their own needs". Many people also said that actually letting Germany attack Poland at the beginning of WW2 was Britain's intention, using Poland as a scapegoat for Germany. As mentioned above, in the Anglo-French relationship at that time, England actually had the upper hand, and most decisions from the Anglo-French team at that time had to have England's consent.

After that, everyone knows what happened 🫠 After WW2 ended, Britain hated Germany so much. France, after WW2 and during the Cold War, felt that they could no longer trust Britain, so they turned to play with Germany. France's reason was that at this time, Germany still had half of their territory, and their army was prevented from redeveloping their military and waging war, so France thought that if they established the EEC with this guy, they would be able to control this guy 🫠 and as mentioned above, because the nature of the EEC was to be independent of both America and the Soviet Union, so when Britain applied to join the EEC, France said: "This is my territory, stop doing business with the Americans and I'll let you in 🤗". Britain was so upset that Britain cried (literally. The British Prime Minister was so upset that he cried after the negotiations to join the EEC). Because England couldn't give up the special relationship with America, if they did, they wouldn't have a source of weapons to fight the Soviets.

TL;DR: Britain hated the Soviet Union more than the US, so Britain's main focus in its relations with the US was to fight the Soviet Union (oh, Britain never expected that the US would never hate the Soviet Union the way Britain hated the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union was dying, the US sent experts to find ways to help the Soviet Union, while when the Soviet Union died, Britain celebrated). Britain was angry with the Franco-German relationship because Britain had neglected to defend against Germany, which led to Britain having to confront Germany in WW2. Not only that, the war with Germany made Britain bankrupt, in debt, and had to side with America in the Cold War instead of being self-sufficient. Because they couldn't be self-sufficient, Germany later took the position that should have been Britain's in the cooperative relationship with France.

[eastgaysian]

'is gortash brown actually based on some features of his appearance if you squint' you guys are . So close to cracking the code on how deeply fundamentally hostile the fantasy of dungeons and dragons is to people of color

[ssaltlicker]

Sidenote; I do think the isha plotline wasnt fleshed out enough and ended up taking a ton of time away from fleshing out the rest of the cast/storylines. Vander couldve easily been the one that restored jinx’ humanity. In fact he basically was, after he showed up isha just got pushed to the side.

Shes a cute character, but story-wise, that plotline was weak. Felt like fanservice and didnt really serve an overall purpose well. More time shouldve been given to vi and jinx from the beginning to let them work shit out; introducing a random kid to fill in was odd, especially because it meant vi and jinx barely interacted. I liked their reunion, but holy shit it was way too abrupt. And again, its because of isha.

Her whole part of the story severely detracts from what s2 was trying to do imo. And with her becoming irrelevant to the plot immediately kinda shows me that she was a late addition. Its sad. Shes a good character that got wasted, and in the process the story took a hit by trying to half-ass two huge storylines at the same time.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

WAIT WAIT WAIT CHERIK MPREG IS CANON

i cannot stress enough how canon cherik mpreg is, yes my friend

[hotvampireadjacent]

LMFAO Fox News bitching that Tim walz visited China repeatedly. American politics is insane. Not that they particularly need American tourists, but China is beautiful and not to mention the….. I would argue the most delicious food in the world. And this is coming from a Mexican I love Mexican food a lot.

[wildsaltair]

husband? husband???

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

hate when i see a youtube video that's like 'analyzing why [thing] is bad!' and you watch the video and they just say nothing for twenty minutes

[multishipper-baby]

hope this isnt weird but i've been having fun reading your eakwynn takes and i've become very interested in your vision for them !! so i also wanted to ask (if you haven't been asked this before): how are they when it comes to physical intimacy? what about verbal intimacy? which one does each of them prefer? (it can be something else that's not physical or verbal too)

Never feel bad for giving me more excuses to ramble about eakwynn. Getting asked about them is like opening Christmas presents to me!

Anyway- they're both very physical people. Eak cannot go one episode without pulling Towntrap around, and Owynn canonically both hugs Springtrap and fantasizes about hugging Fox, two guys he just met. Once they get comfortable with each other there is never a moment when they're not touching in some way. Not necessarily in the "making out literally everywhere" type of touching some teen couples have, but rather in a subtle way- like they're always holding hands or locking arms or leaning against each other in some way, but they save the more affectionate stuff like hugging or kissing for when they're alone. But yeah they very much prefer this one.

Verbal intimacy is more... Complicated. Since their relationship started out being antagonistic, they're both initially unwilling to open up to each other too much. Trying to get Owynn to talk about his feelings is already like pulling teeth without the whole messiness that came before their relationship, and Owynn's unwillingness to be honest with him made Eak respond in kind, which meant they were pretty stuck for a while. They kind of relied a lot on non verbal communication early on, because giving someone a gift or a hug in place of an apology was much easier for Owynn than actually saying the words "I'm sorry" out loud, but that can only get them so far, you know?

I think the main issue would be that there's an imbalance in how they see verbal intimacy: Owynn has been so closed off from everyone that to him, he's actually being too open with Eak! He's told Eak things about himself he's never told anyone else ever!! Meanwhile, Eak has two best friends that know basically everything about his life, so he notices really easily how often Owynn will want to avoid certain subjects, or evade difficult conversations, or bottle up his feelings- and it kind of pisses him off that Owynn is so insistent on pursuing him but still keeps him at arms length. It's very much like, dude, if you're so afraid of being vulnerable around me why are you even dating me!!!

It's kind of why I've always imagined eakwynn as the sort of ship where they break up and then later get back together, or they only last if they start dating later on rather than during the show or directly after it- I think Owynn is the type of guy who needs some time to mature and grow by himself before he can be a good partner. Get a job, experience more in life, make some friends hopefully. Eak is a patient guy, but he's not trusting enough to lower his defenses if he thinks Owynn isn't going to do the same for him, and he doesn't have enough emotional intelligence to make up for Owynn's utter lack of one. So better for him to wait until Owynn is at least somewhat capable of communicating to work on things lol. But they do work on things eventually!

But uhhhh yeah they're very good on the physical side, very not good on the verbal side 👍🏻

[ciderjacks]

argh. This comic writing is taking me way longer than usual. I keep editing things and it doesn’t feel right.

[robo-dino-puppies]

eyyyy look who tried to do some modding in veilguard :D

I love that Rook gets to wear this coat with the feathers but I hated the leather high-collared studded whatever-the-hell shirt thing that was going on underneath. so I tried to swap it with the "civilian" version but keep the feathers :D

the coat and pants clip like hell on my shortass elf, but still! (actually I checked and it clips on the civilians who wear it too... so that's not a me problem lmao)

anyway to elaborate: initially I tried to edit the textures to get rid of the weird shirt thing BUT the chevron stitched pieces are part of the model (BOOOOO) so despite changing their color/texture I couldn't get rid of them entirely. then I saw that swapping armor/character parts was a thing? …that I don't really understand, honestly, but there's a tutorial and I can follow steps. anyway, some civilians in Treviso wear the same coat with this low-cut shirt underneath except no feathers, and I wanted that BUT WITH THE FEATHERS. so. I did it! YAY GO ME!!! not super thrilled with the pants but I like the civilians' boots better too.

here was my initial check to see what it did to npcs that share the outfit:

and checking the color-changed version next to a civilian npc

coat and feather colors achieved! now to do the shirt and pants.

to elaborate more: so in the Rook and Ivenci versions, there are three meshes (? correct term idk?) that combine to make the whole ensemble: feathers, coat, and undershirt-belt-arms-pants-boots. can't just make the undershirt invisible bc there's no torso under there lol and it would also get rid of the arms and legs. in the civilian outfit there are two meshes: coat-and-belt and undershirt-torso-arms-pants-boots.

but like. they're basically the same? so I thought I should just be able to leave the feathers in place and replace the coat and undershirt! which worked! (after uhhhhhh several fails. yes I can follow a tutorial; that doesn't mean I can follow it on the first try because using the frosty editor feels approximately like me walking blindfolded through a convenience store knocking things off shelves. or something. idk what the hell I'm doing lol)

I hate wearing the same outfit as Ivenci tho. seriously considering putting Ivenci in something else and giving the random civilian npcs Ivenci's fit lmao. or just dress the civilians in some other civilian outfit? I wonder if I can do that...