#I don't. it actually does nothing for me. you know what does? women in armor with ponytails. zwei ish and w outis are the hottest ids

[firestorm09890]

a lot of people are critical of Carmilla Don's design and I sort of understand why, it doesn't look like her at all, but I also think it is fitting

This is the big season EGO. Even before we saw Bloodfiend Don in Murder on the WARP Express, we knew this Canto was going to be cataclysmic for Don's silly attitude, so it makes sense that her attitude in the EGO would match. But we do know how Bloodfiend Don behaves, and it's very much the serious, intimidating vampire we see here. Bloodfiend Don isn't like the Don we know.

Her bangs being different is a little weird, I'll give you that, but her eyes aren't as drastically different as people are making them out to be- they're just half-lidded, which is an expression we've never seen on her before. I don't know about the long hair- did Carmilla traditionally have long hair? If not I've got nothing except that it might be to make her look more regal

But this is Project Moon. I believe this was done with intent because they generally don't make design decisions purely to appeal to the traditional gacha audience

[clavissionary-position]

What Emma Would Do

Ignore me. This is just me working through my own thoughts and feelings on this. Also I'm an idiot.

***BIG EDIT: I misread and misinterpreted. Azel was nearly drugged and SA'd, so his reaction, however cruel, makes complete sense to me. If he was real I couldn't apologize to him enough.

Moving @/caffedrine's billion-dollar comments up here.

My original, misguided post is below the cut if you're interested.

I have to ask myself what Emma would do. Within reason. And only within the scope of this fictional game, because I'm not about to touch this topic as it exists in the real world. That's for people much smarter than me.

But for the game, my dismissing of Azel as a cruel misogynist without seeing his circumstances and worldview shuts down the conversation the same way it does when Azel dismisses a woman as a slut without seeing her circumstances and worldview.

(Did he actually use the word 'slut' or did google just translate 痴女 like that for me... I should double-check... edit: oh my bad, he calls her a "female molester", which... I can't say he's wrong considering she tried to give him an aphrodisiac...? The word also means "stupid woman", so he could very well have meant it that way too, especially for some reasons I get into later in the post.)

Soooo, he didn't actually call her a slut. I'm an idiot 😌 I'm sorry, Azel. Dunno if any of my points below mean anything, but I'll leave it here anyway:

The running theme in Ikepri is to look beyond the beast and see the human inside. To meet them halfway. To see their heart. And that heart is always so very terribly scarred. All these guys have gone through their own traumas and come out the other end behaving in ways designed to be armor, to protect themselves from any further pain.

I can only speculate about Azel this early in his story arc, but being showered with the same adoration and reverence that people only show a god, day in and day out, probably fucks with your mentality a bit if you are still only human at the end of the day. Having women try to seduce you only because you're The Living God, well, we saw what that kind of shallow treatment did to Silvio. Women see you as an object and so women become objects to you. You want to be loved, but you don't want to be hurt.

That might only be scratching the surface with Azel, though. He's also clearly jaded from listening to the same old interpersonal problems people have when in relationships. Love is actual trash to him, not even worth a single penny. It's trash because the very people who follow him prove it to him on a daily basis, I imagine.

Yet that's still not the full picture. I mean, we obviously won't have the full picture until his main route drops, but there's another key factor to consider with Azel.

He quotes Pascal in Licht's sequel. "Man is only a reed, the weakest thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed." The full quote goes onto say:

"All our dignity consists, then, in thought. This is the basis on which we must raise ourselves, and not space and time, which we would not know how to fill. Let us make it our task, then, to think well: here is the principle of morality.”

(Did I read the entire context of the quote? HA! What do you take me for? A scholar or something?)

Free will and independent thought is arguably the most important thing to Azel. He has no respect for the sheep who flock to him for direction (though he'll happily take their money and tributes). Even with the dancer who tried to seduce him in the prologue, when he tells her to lick up the food she dropped after he tripped her, he presents it as a choice. Nevermind that the staggeringly unequal power dynamics at play made it so this was nothing short of coercion in the end; there was no way the dancer was in a position to stand up for herself and say no, even if that's exactly what Azel wanted. But from his perspective, defiance would have been welcome. That's why he phrased it as a choice. That she started licking up the food only solidified in Azel's mind that this woman is an unthinking reed without dignity. If you're going to act like trash, he'll treat you like trash... maybe that was part of his thinking.

On a slightly different note, I think another reason he hates the idea of love so much is because love makes people lose their ability to reason, to think. I believe he outright says as much, iirc.

In the end, I don't know from where exactly Azel's fury and cruelty comes from. It could be all of these things, it might be something else entirely. All I can think is, you can't be 'God' everyday and not be scarred by humans.

In conclusion, I can't excuse Azel's behavior. I don't excuse it. But I think Emma would try to understand the why of it, like she does in any other route. The other running theme in Ikepri is that, as a certain someone would put it, the essence of all people is love. It's their environment that twists them. Somewhere in Azel is the purest kind of love. A kind that would make any god look away in shame. That's what I want to believe in, anyhow.

Also, I need stress that I was SO wrong about whether he actually called the dancer a slut or not. Google fucked me over by translating it that way! Ah, Azel, I'm so sorry!

[opal-tea]

part??? 5? of my sketch dump.

this was more of just something I wanted to do because I always draw the same two characters from this series over and over again. So here are some design/character notes for various characters in Hawksong and Snakecharm. Now, this is by no means the end-all, be-all of how I may draw them in the future. I just wanted to get some very basic ideas down because I personally really benefit from visual guides, and this was a GREAT way to visualize some things regarding these characters. This is also the reason most of them are generally shaped/posed the same way. I literally just took the same general body and then copy and pasted it. It made it very easy to get on with the more important things like eye shape and so on. These are really just thumbnails, proto-sketches if you will. Nothing serious, nothing fancy, but I thought y'all would like to see them. Anyway. Details under the cut.

Danica Shardae: nothing much to say here. I really do think she should have been allowed to say fuck at least once. Also some comparisons on how avian fashion might look different from Falcon fashion. I know typically Falcons wear a blouse that's loose in the chest area but tight around the waist and forearms. I don't think it would be outside the realm of possibility to think avians would wear something similar, but would likely be more conservative looking. And tbh, there's only so many ways a person with wings could conceivably wear a shirt so. You know.

Zane Cobriana: lol. I think his skintone is the one I'm most unsure about but i definitely think he's got a very goth hairstyle like that.

Nacola Shardae: Danica's emotionally distant mother. A constant thorn in Zane's side. I can't say I have ever cared very much for her, but i really liked this description of her in hawksong where she's wearing this lovely ethereal silk outfit. had to draw it.

Andreios: everyone's most beloved Boy. this is about how I've always pictured him looking tbh. Underrated, no doubt.

Erica Silvermead: I had a very different image of her in my head, if you followed me on deviantART back in the day, you may remember a couple images I've drawn of her. I think her dark eyes are a really great touch tbh. I think that lamellar armor would also be lightweight enough to allow for flying with relative ease. I'd imagine there's definitely some type of weight training involved though. Her hair is short because having long hair at all is probably not very advantageous on a battlefield so keeping it short would be a good option besides wearing it up.

Kel: Thanks to my friend @simply-yelly2, I was able to refresh myself on the part in Snakecharm where Erica attempts to recall her original appearance as Kel. What she changed into was a woman with medium skin, dusky blonde hair, and amethyst colored eyes. The concept of forcechange and the idea that Falcons who forcechange eventually just forget how they look originally honestly makes me lose my mind.

Kel before the... the atrocities: about how you'd imagine a shm'Ahnmik woman to look. I wanted her features to look a little sharper in comparison to how she looks post-Snakecharm. I know Falcons tend to have sharper features so..

Araceli: I went pretty much exactly by how she's described in Snakecharm. I can't believe I'm saying this but she really does look like Elsa a little bit lol. Tbh her appearance is borderline unnerving to me. Her eyes are so intensely blue they're almost neon, it's scary. I didn't draw wings or feathers but I think she'd look very over-the-top if I did draw them. I know I got a little memey with the captions but her character design is actually very very cool. I love lethal women.

Anyway that's all I have right now. Not done posting, but this was one of the main things I wanted to post. I think I started working on this last year, just never got around to posting it because I had problems with my laptop. Better late than never though I suppose.

[canonically47]

reviewwwwwwwwwwwww

hi anon ur on time as always!!

disventure camp all stars episode 5 spoilers!

(but you knew that)

i was wrong on... so many theories, but that's fine! i actually think this might be my favorite episode of the season so far and i couldn't really tell you why, i think stuff is just finally being put into motion

it's annoying as hell to see my favorite alliance be exposed by one of my favorite characters, WHO AM I SUPPOSED TO ROOT FOR?? jk it's the villains' alliance because three of my favs are on there. miriam is craftyyy though

i audibly giggled at some stuff yul said but "thunder thighs"?? THUNDER THIGHS?????????? oh my god i need this twink obliterated. get in the grinder i will turn you into a burger patty

riya was pretty fun this episode. i have to admit i'm disappointed grett wasn't the one to vote yul but i think it's too early in her arc for her to stand up against him anyways. it's definitely being built up, but it's not the time yet. it's also in-character for riya to do that, and letting connor take the fall instead of herself? god how does connor even stand her? i love evil women i have turned a new leaf i support women's rights AND wrongs riya kiss me let's have a PASSIONATE make out session

tomden friendship has become one of my favorite dynamics, and while i'm still unsure if i like tom, aiden definitely has some good moments in this episode as always

i wonder if tom and jake will EVER make up like this is just so complicated atp.. tom admitting he's been ignoring jake and that hesitation he showed in the confessional - oh my god pleaseee talk to each other pleaseeeee

ellie lying to gabby :( please don't miscommunicate lovelies you're the only good couple left to see on the show

fiore being scared to lose :( my sweet little girl :( she's a manipulative bitch but she's still just an eight-year-old girl :( i love her sooo much :( please go forth baby you can do it :(((

i am so curious as to how ally's arc will play going forward, i wonder if tess will have a role in it too. i'm definitely excited to see the next few episodes

speaking of the next few episodes, EMILY AND YUL??? SNEAKING OUT????? i think a cheating plotline is too far-fetched, going against the chat here lol, but i wonder if emily could be helping yul cheat in the game. she seemed nervous to leave kristal, trevor and derek, i don't think she would've been as nervous to leave for her secret lover rather than a contestant she is secretely helping. then again, since yellow team just lost last episode, i don't know what she could be helping him with. THEN AGAIN, THEN AGAIN, what if yul texted her BECAUSE he was angry with her for not helping? idk man i'm just happy to be here

brushing past the fact that alec barely had any lines, fiore and ellie were in the trenches, aiden did almost nothing, and james still isn't here, even though my top five were pretty useless this episode, i kinda liked it. the plot advances really nicely, paving the way for a grett comeback at yul arc that i am sooo sure will happen, fiore's revenge on her team, ally's comeback and her possibly making merge - though how much plot armor will magenta team get? jake still has to make up with tom, fiore with alec, so only ashley could be voted out, but how? i wonder if they'd want her to make merge this time or not?? - ellie and gabby fighting, tess and ally reuniting, just... a lot of good stuff all around that i am excited to see. i hope the villains can pull through, because if yul and riya could work together, NOBODY would be safe. and i am also curious about grett's fate... she is the lesser evil among every villain, and i am excited for her story!!!

solid episode i'll give it a 9/10 which i think might be the second highest rating i would give an episode (the first episode gets a 10/10 just because it's so fun!!)

[baratrongirl]

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

B - I don't have a lot for Ace Attorney because most of its ships are very obvious. I did however discover a fondness for the very rarepair Maya Fey/Simon Blackquill after reading a fic about them. She is a spirit medium who is going to become the leader of her village, and is also obsessed with the TV series The Steel Samurai. He is a raging weeaboo and/or British man with Japanese ancestry who wields a spirit katana and wants to be a samurai. They are even the same age! They are absolutely perfect together!

K - Urgh, see, this is the thing that Ace Attorney is very bad at. The games are good at showing 50-75% of a character development arc and then giving up. Like, AA4 is all about Klavier Gavin receiving trauma after trauma, and you'd expect him to need some time to process everything that's happened to him - yet he pops up in AA5 as if nothing has happened at all. Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth both have development, but even then you don't see the trauma being processed. In fact, the way Phoenix flips back to his old self in AA5 ignores all of the changes that happened to him in AA4, and seems false.

I actually think one of the best development arcs I've ever seen in a game/game series is Martin Septim in TES IV: Oblivion. He goes from being the priest of a town attacked by Daedra (TES version of demons) to the Emperor of Tamriel, willing to give his life to stop the Daedric invasion. Each time you return to Cloud Ruler Temple on the main quest, he's a little more resigned to his fate. He goes from giving an awkward speech to the Blades where he says, "I know you all want me to be Emperor, but this is very new to me" to leading a major battle dressed in the Emperor's heavy armor. When did he learn to fight in heavy armor? Before that, he's only worn priest's robes. A lot is happening to him behind the player's back, and it gives him life.

W - I agree with you about hating soulmates and Hanahaki Disease, unless those tropes are subverted. I am quite fond of the idea of "soulmates" which simply means that the person will be very important to you - not necessarily your one and only partner, but perhaps your best friend forever. And I find it interesting when people write Hanahaki Disease as a chronic illness which affects people who love too easily and deeply. I've often felt that I'm a person who does that, and it's brought me emotional pain. Why not have physical pain to go with it?

The tropes I REALLY hate though are "Pair the Spares" and "Everyone is Gay".

Ace Attorney has a juggernaut F/F ship of FranMaya which is Miles Edgeworth's adoptive/foster sister Franziska Von Karma paired with Phoenix Wright's best friend Maya Fey. But there are plenty of other options for both of those women, both F/F and M/F. I feel they get paired together despite their wildly different personalities and interests simply because Phoenix and Miles do, and I really dislike that. I don't even hate the ship! But I LOATHE the idea that they are together BECAUSE of their brother/best friend's relationship.

When the trope is subverted, and FranMaya get together years before WrightWorth, then I like the ship much more. Though I still feel that both characters have plenty of other interesting ships available to them.

"Everyone is Gay" bothers me when it's literally everyone being GAY as in exclusively same-sex relationships. Especially as three characters are about as close to canon bisexual as it's possible to be! Others have strongly headcanoned sexualities which are part of fanon (e.g. Miles Edgeworth being homoromantic demisexual and Kristoph Gavin being aromantic homosexual). But other characters are more flexible, e.g. I've seen Ema Skye written as lesbian, bi, straight, asexual, aromantic and acearo!

By all means, make everyone queer. But recognise that a trans woman might date a man, that a lot of bisexuals end up in relationships with people of different gender, that heteroromantic asexuals are still queer, and that acearo people likely don't want partners at all. And all of that is okay.

[monpalace]

👊 🙊 💕 for the loz ask game!

loz ask game here!

👊🏽 — Favorite Zelda Villain/Boss?

i feel like it's obvious but my fav villain of all time is ganon(dorf) and am super partial to the spirit tracks bosses, but if i had to rank them and only pick five (excluding ganondorf), it'd be:

goht from majora's mask, twinrova (separate and together) in ocarina of time and majora's mask, the demon train from spirit tracks, queen gibdo from tears of the kingdom, and cole from spirit tracks

i haven't played minish cap and know nothing about him, but i love vaati

🙊 — Unpopular Zelda Opinions?

i don't think i have any unpopular opinions other than spirit tracks really does deserve more attention because it really flips the franchise's gameplay and lore on its head.

not only does it show us a more technologically advanced hyrule (ignoring tears), but it gives us so many concepts like the world follow wind waker, different races and relationships like anouki or alfonzo.

it's also super cute with their moments! like when zelda gets scared about a rat even though she's a ghost (that even translates when she's in the phantom armor), or any time lokomo is on screen, or the bond that you can see between alfonzo and link that speaks more of a father and his son/two brothers rather than a train conductor and the kid he mentors.

then again i haven't touched the game in several years and refuse to until i either find or get another copy, so maybe don't listen to me lmao

also, the usual hyrule warriors deserves to have its own, actual zelda-like game as opposed go what it is

(and that, as good as they were, the aoc/botw/totk trilogy really don't need anything else to happen. i love them as much as the next person, but it's been five years and i'm ready for a new era)

💕 — Who's your biggest Zelda crush(es)?

link, unsurprisingly 😭 i've always been more partial to warriors, time/mask, and spirit (in that order) since i've been playing their games since i was really young, but i've recently come around to sky and twilight

for all the shit i give her, i really do love zelda. i'm just really in love with the mean lesbian and toxic yuri genre and she just fit that character for me

malon, cremia, and their variants because i very much am weak to strong women

back when i was young and botw dropped i was literally dating riju. the delusions were strong with me (they still are, but she's like my daughter now or smth)

vaati and fierce deity as well, but i don't think they need elaboration

[the-firebird69]

Robert Downey Jr. surprises Hall H to announce his return to the MCU as ...

I'm taking over you rhealm. And I'm using this kind of asinine attitude. It would be you Joey fettering me actor I mean this is fake stuff they're not really praising you and when you go there and stuff they want your stuff you're a f****** idiot I know you're stupid and stuff but really your head is small.

Zues Hera

You've always been a runt and you caused a lot of trouble lately and I know what it is. You leave them alone advertise it and people will cream you now you're saying that I'm gone you little piece of s*** so I'm going to tell people about it and you can die just like the rest you're such a s*** and a jerk ed his bike around you you pile loser here to hide a 50-cent invention. It's nothing really it's enough to get you out there and that's what he was doing here and I know about it and your s*** head and your people never do anything and that's what he was saying so straight to stupid. You're bothering us right now with your talk about the show and he's right it's a stupid show and he acts on your movie is dumb and who cares someone believes you're a good guy in a movie every year actually a retard

Justin

It doesn't make any sense he says here it does I believe in people like my act this is the act doesn't matter it's not a real act people know where they're watching it or they think he's a fake person doing this they don't believe you're really iron Man and these people that show know who You are so I feel like they think I act is good. So you're missing the point you don't get it it's not abnormal for you the ACT you're doing reveals your armor and it reveals that it's a real suit and people go to the movie and they say it's not a bad iron Man and stuff and there's a bunch of fags but yeah I guess I'm not explaining to you. Have to explain something like this to someone it's ridiculous it's a fake act are you going to the show and you're competitor cuz that's where they are.

I swear to get something they're not really there compliment to me and stuff it's sort of is in Hollywood I really don't want to continue this act either and I want you are the neighborhood forever and stuff like that he says I shouldn't be here in a stupid s*** hole in the first place and if this is your place what a joke you are this place and it's not a place for poor people and some place for people like Garth who clean toilets and stuff. I guess I wasn't clear and I'm telling you to leave. I'm telling you to leave. Joey fetterman you get your ass out of here or your dead meat you better wife holding here to threaten me you had a rifle in here to threaten me from Tommy f now you're gone it's going to be dead shortly and I hit another jackass that we did shortly he will be dead shortly and I'm going to take your stuff and probably that's why it's time to take your area and nobody tells me where to go pal no one. I haven't heard anybody tell me where to go and people are actually powerful ask me now you people are pions in your world and you don't want any help and you need it and you're about to die and I don't respect that. A lot of your women want you to back off because they actually need me and they know it especially unfortunately they need you because you know how to get things put together but you owe me money and I'm going to go after it and start for you and lawsuits now it's because of your mouth I guess you can't handle it so s*** this guy can't handle it tough s***.

Joey federman and Zeus Hera

we're starting the lawsuit today. And we're suing John renal art already and this guy added to it will help he is a huge moron and private he's a pervert and we do know how to handle that and meaning that we know it's a suit for going after you for a few things BG one of them is still inventions stealing inventions moron and the other is for using them in a way that is deleterious to our son in Acts of war and we are going by the war act and we are going to bring suit using that in international Court you have no right to talk to our son that way and he says I don't care so much because he's a slimeball in a massive homo and that's the way he talks he's a low life like Trump you get Trump up there and he's just sassy people. So we are going to take you apart and he says Trump doesn't like you and Camilla doesn't like you there's two groups that hate you so what are you trying to do to those two groups and we know what it is so he's an idiot and Lois is an idiot she's at the dry cleaners trying to get him up to his and he doesn't want to go there it's simply too far and the guy doesn't get anything right ever he's a gifted piece of s*** and our son did all the work on the evike hasn't gotten anything but a pain so we're going after you and we're going to sue you. Is a group of people that are suing and it's for something other than a product it's because of what you're doing and it is treason it is a lawsuit that has a criminal side a lot of people want you dead BG for what you do and we're going to take advantage of your attitude and say we're pretending with them to try and get them in trouble it means you're going to die Joey AKA Jose Gaspar

Bitol and Goddess Wife

Olympus

[muchadoaboutnot]

⚔️

So far the second day was... Interesting. At least that's what Leto thought, again she could hear the mouth breather behind her. She had been trying to walk side by side with Samson a few times, but right now she could tell how he felt about her it wasn't the best idea. So she led him towards a building the Blacksmiths used.

It was an open and airy building, the paraphernalia the Smiths used was neat but at the same time looked chaotic. But then again what did Leto know about blacksmithing? She admired the work they did but the actual process she only knew so much.

"Do you think giving me armor is a good idea? Same with a sword, because I'll need that also."

His voice pulls her back, her eyes distracted by some of the sizzling air with how hot it was inside.

"It's not like you're getting a full set of armor, just standard-issued Inquisition armor. So a cuirass, a gorget... Some leathers, you know... Nothing special, why are you... You know what, why are you the way you are?"

At her point-blank question, Samson doesn't know how to respond, instead, she's just met with a dumbfounded expression on his face before his eyebrows slowly lower and he's glaring.

"Excuse me?"

"You're excused."

If he could strangle this woman, Samson might consider it. Instead, he could only lift one of his hands up to his mouth and cover it, closing his eyes gently he felt the pulse of his head.

"Hawke. Please."

Leto did give in, she could see it wasn't funny but he was in actual pain at this point. So she dropped her attitude.

"You need armor for training, the sword thing... You might only have that when you're actually training, but yes, I don't see why giving you armor would be a bad thing. Do you think it's based on trust I do this? It's not. You just need it for your job. Perhaps trust will come later, but for now, a lot of the things I do is because it's what needs to be to perform."

When she's actually serious with him, Samson opens his eyes and drags his hand down his mouth and part of his neck before dropping it to his side.

"Perform. Right. Like a trained animal."

Leto gave him a look, sort of staring into his gaze and they regarded each other. She noted they did that a lot and it struck her because not a lot of people liked to keep eye contact. Not the same way he did with her. But then again she always remembered his eyes, especially in Lowtown when she was running around with her companion.

"If you don't like this deal, then we can end it.

"No... No, I'm fine. Let's do this."

After that, they step into the Smith building. There are a few women and men working, she can hear one of them talking about the undercroft where the Inquisitor has her own armor made. But she goes straight to a journeyman she's talked to before and has repaird her shoulders on her own mantle.

"Orion."

Leto greets the youth, his face is covered in dirt but he smiles all the same at her.

Samson watches the interaction with little interest, just slightly annoyed that he has to be here because if the armor is just a standard issue then any of the damn sets should be of use to him. Long as it fit it didn't matter.

As she's chatting with him Samson can feel eyes on him of course, the kid also glances at him and at one point Leto stops and introduces Samson. They each give each other a polite hello and that's it.

"Did you want any modifications?" The kid asks and that snaps Samson's head into paying attention.

Leto answers for them both before he can open his mouth, however. "Oh? Why not, what can you do to even modify it?" She's curious because her mage armor is different and comes with places to put runes for example.

"Wait a minute. The standard stuff is fine, I don't need anything else." He puts his two cents in now, causing both Leto and Orion to look at him.

Leto is the first to speak, "Well why not? Wouldn't you like that? Orion does good work, he's repaired my armor before even."

Feeling on the spot Samson just wants to pick up the damn armor and leave, instead, he has a stubborn look on his face. "No offense, but I don't want faulty armor especially working with real steel."

The Journeyman Smith is the first to respond now, an angry tone in his voice. "You think I'd sabotage your armor?"

"Yeah."

The deadpan response is met with silence on the kid's part because he's too stunned, Leto however reacts quickly and with her right hand, she covers Samson's face. Her palm shoved into his nose and pushed him away. A warning look on her face.

Samson in like slaps her hand away, "What's wrong with you, woman?"

She ignores him to apologize to Orion instead and just asks for a set of armor, which the kid does give them and immediately she shoves it into Samson's arms and they leave the whole building. Both of her hands are planted firmly on Samson's lower back and she's escorting him out.

Funnily enough, he lets her simply because he's sort of amused at the situation now. Even when they're out of earshot and slowly walking up the stone staircase to the ramparts he's got a lazy sort of smirk on his features.

"Why would you say that?" Is the first thing she asks him.

"Why not? Listen, Hawke, I don't think you understand that you might be okay with me. But the rest of Skyhold? Fat fucking chance so of course I'm going to be wary. Modified armor? For what? For training? That's asking for something bad to happen and I'm well aware of a lot of people wanting something bad to happen to me." Samson explains, his steps slow and they stand in front of each other. "Call me paranoid, I could care less. But if I'm up here I'm going to look out for myself."

She could not fault him now, she understood completely and wished she never said anything about the modified armor. Therefore her eyes flickered from his to the armor in his arms, the familiar Inquisition seal stamped onto parts of it.

"You're right." Is the only response she gives him.

And as much as he wants to be pleased with himself he sort of just feels tired. "Suppose we go back to the tower and I put this away, it is nice to not share with other people, so... Thanks."

At his sentiment, she nods but otherwise, they're a silent pair walking back to the tower.

The rest of the morning is spent in the tower because Samson goes into his room and doesn't appear until past noon. It annoyed her because she did want to eat lunch, but she figured he was sleeping if it was that long. Part of her worried if he was in a lot of pain, or if something was wrong with him. He seemed like the type to mask something majorly wrong. But as it was when Samson did appear from his room he just looked groggy and sat in the chair opposite of her at the small table in the foyer.

"So... I'm guessing you were tired and just slept... Clearly." She states.

The man just rubs his eyes so hard he can see different colors behind his eyelids before answering.

"I didn't want to... But I was so full still I had to lay down and slept like a log after that." When he pulls his hands away from his face she can see the red in his eyes. "I'll be honest I want to go do stuff, do what I don't know. But between a migraine that's lasted three days now and the new activity I..." He trails off. Feeling himself going mute. The voice in his head asks him why he's saying all this to her? Why would she care? He should just keep to himself.

But then Leto looks interested in what he has to say, sitting up and paying attention to him. It makes him recoil in his gut.

"And?" She tries to prompt him but he waves her off.

"Never mind."

Not put out in the least, Leto leans back in her chair and stretches her legs out in front of her. "Well... We missed Lunch. Usually, I'd just go somewhere else to eat but I don't think that's a good idea yet."

"Why?"

Leto sort of eyes Samson before sighing.

"Skyhold has its own Tavern: Herald's Rest. But I don't think we should go there yet."

At the mention of a tavern Samson actually perks up and even though he gets what she's saying, he almost feels like begging. The thought of drinking a pint, or two, or three, or more sounds really fucking good about now.

"I mean-"

"Oh no, no you're not going to wheedle your way into getting piss drunk, I know what's going to happen. Another time, like when it's been longer than just two days."

"You don't even know what I was going to say, you cut me off before that." Samson protests but Leto only gives him a hard look.

"You've done this before, I remember."

At her words now he's confused and just stares at her, trying to think of a time he's ever dealt with her in a manner he had to beg.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He finally says.

"After I came back from the Deep Roads years ago, I remember meeting you, again, and you asked for coin and then just talked to me a little bit about what was going on. I sat and listened when I could have just told you to fuck off and give you nothing."

[puissantveil]

Live Reaction to MK1 Story Mode part 5

can't wait to be 100% disappointed by their portrayal of Kitana

aaaand there our ladies go

More of those straw hats, i see

Something's bothering Mileena, I can tell.

omg Kitana is adorable

I want someone to compare the asses of the royal women side by side. I should probably be ashamed of this, but I'm not.

omg Kit's smiling <3

Really good facial expression on Sindel, I have yet to see a crappy facial expression but they'll probably give one to Kitana

Sindel has the nicest fucking eyelashes, like damn girl, what supplements do you take for those?

Kitana's got that wholesome smile again; Mileena looks relaxed, but also kinda bored

So the afterlife is turning into a tree? I wonder how it feels to be a sapient tree after being a mortal; it seems it's not considered a punishment.

"You seem nervous, young man." Wait, I know exactly where this is - awwww man, they kept their clothes on.

bro I saw him look off to the side at Kitana

Nice throwback, but it just isn't the same when Sindel does it.

Don't be shitty, Sindel. See, Kitana's not being shitty, why can't you? (This has nothing to do with being a cop constable btw, Sindel is rubbing Li Mei's failure in her face)

Damn, that was a quick change of voice.

HOLY SHIT DID SINDEL JUST SAY "fight"? that's sooooooo fucking good I am shook

awww, Li Mei, that face. She is visibly upset.

Mileena's still looking to the side at someone or something, and I can't tell who or what it is.

That tag on Reiko's armor is probably a talisman. Alternatively, he wants everyone to know what an awesome deal he got at the thrift store.

Fuck this guy, he has a girl's name and he looks like a pro wrestler. Actually, he'd be a lot more fun if he was a pro wrestler.

Shao Kahn adopted him and made him into a killing machine? Reminds me of a certain princess from the previous timeline.

Speaking of Kitana, she's stopped smiling.

Reiko's eyes are a really odd color. Kind of yellow, yellow-green, and light blue at the same time?

lol Reiko your moves look like shit...okay, that last spin kick wasn't bad.

I was not expecting that voice. I like that it's not a generic villain voice, but IMO it doesn't fit.

Thoughts on the whole shebang so far:

Great chemistry between Johnny/Kenshi and Raiden/Kung Lao.

So far my favorite part is all the facial expressions. They have genuine artistic merit IMO.

To say Outworld is multicultural is an understatement. It's not just China and Japan anymore, at bare minimum I saw Thailand and South Africa too.

Sindel is fucking dope, oh my god.

please let Kitana say stuff okay, she's been a good girl carrying Mileena's purse around for her

Reiko didn't appeal all that much to me as a character, and worse, he makes the manbun look like shit.

[finisnihil]

If you have trouble telling if an instance of fanservice is harmful/exploitative, here's some good questions to ask yourself:

・Is the character a minor or designed/written in some way to emulate a minor? (Note: This doesn't apply to a character who is short or a character with a "cutesy" style. Adults can be short and dress cutesy and a lot of people jump to infantilize not just characters but real life people for this shit too. Dont do that.)

・Does the character have depth and characterization/purpose to the story outside their sexualization? This is also called the sexy lamp test. If the character can be replaced with a sexy lamp and nothing in the story and other characters is impacted, they only exist to be fanservice.

・Is the fanservice inserted in scenes where it's inappropriate? Does a woman's breasts squeak like a dog toy when she's hugging a male lead during a moment in the story where the tone is supposed to be emotional and heavy? This isn't necessarily harmful but it is annoying and cripples the story.

・Does the fanservice disproportionately affect one group of characters more than the others? Usually this is a female v. male character issue. For example, if all the female characters are in bikini armor while the male characters are in actual functional gear that's bad fanservice and it plays into harmful depictions of women. Also it's one thing if one or two female characters are sexualized in a story it's another if it's like half the cast or more. Once again, the difference has to be significantly disproportionate.

・The fanservice sexualizes cultural wear that those of that culture have said is not to be sexualized. Kimonos are an example of this, where they're supposed to be modest and not revealing. Even if Japanese media like anime depicts a character in a kimono in an inappropriate way you'd be seen a disrespectful for wearing it that way yourself. (I am not Japanese myself so if I've gotten anything about that wrong please correct me)

・Is the fanservice rooted in racism/treating a POC character as exotic?

・Is the fanservice gotten from rape?

I also suggest this video by the artist Lavendertowne, where she breaks down this topic as well and in depths that's hard to cover in a Tumblr post.

Like I said in the tags of the original post, fanservice isn't inherently bad. It's nuetral. I mean, not all fan service is even sexual in nature. Stuff like having a cameo of Sailor Moon dolls in Hunter X Hunter because the creators are married is fanservice because it's an easter egg that services fans of Sailor Moon that also watch Hunter X Hunter and vice versa. Sexual fanservice is also fine so long as it's not exploitative/harmful and at a certain point some criticism of female characters being sexualized just circles back around into misogyny. You have to know what fanservice is bad and what makes it bad before you call it out; don't just target any woman that shows skin or has a bigger chest.

A lot of our morals are caused by reacting to something that disgusts us/makes us uncomfortable and we form our logic around defending that digust. Fanservice is only one way this manifests which is why it's important in discussions like these to step back and reevaluate if your morals are being based in that knee-jerk response or actual logic that supports why it is harmful to others or yourself.

Be critical but don't be in bad faith.

Some of y'all have got to step back and relearn the difference between fanservice and bad fanservice i'm so serious.

[fangirleaconmigo]

As I watched Blood Origin I took notes. They are silly and disjointed bullet points and here they are:

(My full review is HERE)

Ep One

Shit, that's intense. My bard is having a bad time.

Hi Minnie Driver!

Wait. Why would Geralt hate that? (were they saying he'd hate an elf being the first witcher? V confused. Why would he hate that?)

So Fjall was too slutty to be a bodyguard.

Glad pretty girl didn’t get punished for helping the little girl.

Hmmm the princess doesn’t want to just be a baby factory. Word. I get it.

Michelle Yeoh!!!!

Wow the princess really flat out murdered her brother.

Girl, you don’t get a nation when you kill their king it’s not that simple.

MICHELLE YEOH I hope we get to see more of that.

Ep 2

Is she talking to her hammer? I love her already.

Fjall and Éile are they tied by destiny? How?

I juuuuuuuuust realized that sellswords don’t sell swords in the literal sense. I don't know why I thought that. This is all making a lot more sense.

I like the failed romance in the beginning. Hey folks, even if you fall in love with a brother murdering evil chick, life goes on. Second chances, etc. etc.

If they kill off Scían this fast I’m gonna be annoyed

Oh Hi Avallac'h. Avallac'h is like ummmmmm I’m regretting this shit (he is just a babby)

Merwyn is determined to survive, I like that. I like that in my evil women.

Eredin has a knife to a hotties throat saying 'you fucked me'(gaygayhomosexualgay?)

Oooooohhhhh

Actual real gay

Nice

Yes. Welcome to the family Eredin.

Brother Death called Fjall Square jaw-all the flirting! (Fjall is very flirt-withable imo)

Holy fuck Éile burning folks. That's hardcore, girl. Good thing that you ran away.

Winterberry and lilac CREEPY but revenge cool. Also, LILAC AND GOOSEBERRIES

Uh oh is Balor giving her those kids. That's rude.

I assume true sacrifice comes from within means Balor has to kill someone he cares about. If I was that girl with him I'd be pretty worried right now.

Eredin done in by the most obvious “spy” who literally ran right into him. He’s dickmatized or something. Himbo?

DONT TOUCH EILE YOU FUCKERS

Ep 3

Yesss love Meldof YET AGAIN

Poison a sheep and feed it to it, yes reference to the books.

Wow, girl (Zacare I looked it up) is throwing that “not really family” in his (Syndril, I looked it up) face fast ain't she. Found family gets lost fast when shit gets real.

Solryth? Is this empress chick talking to the brother she killed??? Girl? Do you think he wants to hear from your ass??? He's in the great beyond cursing your name.

Awww Fjall being protective

Even if you fell into a bucket of tits you’d come up holding a cock (is Meldof calling him gay?)

Ooooo no secret entrance?!?! Damn you Fjall. Just full of piss and vinegar barreling forward with nothing but guts and good cleavage.

Awwwww I love that the mage sees him as he is.

Éile sings

Such pretty voice Fjall is down bad.

As he should be, as am I.

Girl, he is not gonna let you be the first witcher. Not after you sang that. Please be real.

I love an 'end of the world about to die shag and party' episode.

We gettin a witcher, folks.

Ugh I hope Scían doesn’t betray them. I think she’s just getting them a way in tho.

Empress really thinks she’s gonna hit it again with Fjall? THIS CHICK. LMAOOOO She just has no concept of her actions having consequences does she.

She looks hella cool in her fancy armor tho.

She’s actually quite good at this. Making deals. Knowing what people want and offering it to them.

Yeah he’s gonna kill Fenrik I knew that from when he killed the kids

Ep 4

Avalac'h is a sad lil loser boy pobrecito

Eredin thinks he won’t risk Fenrik? You a dummy hunny

I woulda given Avallac'h more time rather than run back to Balor. I mean he's just a babby, he's gonna be badass folks.

Oh no he's hulking out. Look out empress girl.

“You’re a monster”

UH OH BETA RUN GRL BETTA RUN he kills those things now.

Why are his eyes black? Potions make eyes black?

OH YOU DUMMIES YOU THINK SCÍAN CANT TAKE TWO OF YOU?? FOOLS

Damn, lark. Éile really broke down the difference between a feminist and a girlboss to Miss Empress then stuck her. That was a clever way around making her badass but not 100% a murderer.

Balor killed that soldier for zero reason. This is just not a good person.

WOOPS HULK BOY Sun's gettin real low.

Wow Éile is pregnant? I thought that witchers were sterile. Maybe that's a thing the mages did.

I already knew Ciri was her descendant because people on twitter were shitting their pants because the actress is Black. I mean, don't they know how genes work? You can get a blondie in that span of time? Its centuries? And her child's already gonna be half Fjall, so idk, people cannot be normal about Black women I cannot fathom it.

And there's Mr. Joey again, we always love to see him.

The end. That was fun. Might watch again.

[griffintail]

I literally just had a thought-and I'm not sure which I like more. Techno brining either Phil's kid or his kid to the nether with him (probably when they're a little older) and a piglin gives them a courting gift. And they don't understand but techno goes protective. I just-the lost ones series has been so much angst lately man. You don't have to write this but at least it's a cute thought 🥰

Courting Gifts

Pairings: Parental! Technoblade x F! Reader

Warnings: None :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Techno had taken (Y/N) into the Nether a few times before but it was simply to cross from one portal to another. He never had a reason to interact with the life there, other than striders when he taught her how to ride one and ghasts when they were attacked by the vicious things. They never had a reason to interact with the piglins.

So, when Techno was running out of a few things and he had a few bits of gold hoarded away, he decided to trade with the piglins.

“Hey, I need to go trading but the village is too far out. So, I’m going to the Nether to trade with piglins, want to come along?” Techno asked (Y/N) as he came outside to see the young adult laying in the snow but her head on Steve.

“Sure! I’ve never seen you trade with piglins.” She got up and pet Steve before she left the bear’s side.

“I never have much of a reason to, I usually plan a village trip ahead.” He said as he went in with her behind him. “But, with the you know what Athena, I used a few more supplies than I should have.”

“Ah, right.” She nodded.

She was truly a girl of wisdom and Techno had thought the name proper for her when he formed the Syndicate with her and Phil. They both went to grab their gear for a Nether trip and Techno quizzed her before they left.

“What do we need for a Nether trip?”

“Crossbow for ghasts,” she patted the crossbow on her back, “gold as a sign of peace,” she held up her arms to show her gold bracers, “and a couple of fire resistance potions just in case. And of course, the normal armor and sword.”

“Correct.” He nodded. “I’ll deal with all the trading today, come on.”

Both father and daughter walked to and into the portal, capes flowing behind them and crowns glinting. (Y/N) walked beside Techno as he led the way to a bastion hold.

“Piglins like the good things in life,” Techno told her as he showed her the gold he had taken. “They’ll give you almost anything for a bit of gold.”

“So would you.” She joked with him and he snorted.

“You’ve been hanging out with Tommy too much.”

She grinned as she looked around as Techno went up to one of the piglin traders. Around, she took in the black stoned building with a couple of gold inlays in its stone foundations. They must like their gold even more than her father did. She supposed that’s why gold armor was a sign of peace.

Following her father around to a few traders, she quickly found out that Techno could communicate through their snorts and such while she didn’t understand it at all. She didn’t understand the bartering either though. Techno seemed to get some decent items with just one bit of gold but what seemed like nothing at all for more gold.

“How does their trading work?” She asked him as he moved onto a new trader.

“It’s mostly how greedy they are. Sometimes I can talk down their prices, sometimes I can’t.” He shrugged. “I don’t trade with the greedier ones unless I really need something.”

“How greedy were they?”

“They weren’t bad, you should see the ones that want to trade with ender pearls.”

“Would they trade with me?”

“Eh, some of them might try to trade with you to get a steal. Some of them might be kind and actually, barter with you.”

“Huh, do you mind if I sit and write some of this down?”

Techno chuckled lightly. (Y/N) loved to take notes of things she learned and documented findings she had never seen in the many books they both read.

“Ok, just stay in my sight.” He nodded.

She nodded before leaving his side to go sit on a black stone bench. Carefully putting her crown next to her, she pulled out her journal and ink before writing down what Techno had told her. As she was documenting, she saw a small hand going for her crown in the corner of her eye.

“Hey!” She grabbed the crown and pulled it to her to see a small piglin. “That’s not yours.”

The child shrunk, giving small snorts. Shit, they were adorable.

“You shouldn’t take something that isn’t yours.” She told them, putting the crown on her head before digging through her bag and finding one bit of gold. “But here.”

They perked up at the offering of gold before happily taking it. She smiled as they climbed onto the bench next to her, playing with the gold in their hands before trying to look at her journal, making snorts.

“This is my journal; I was writing down what my dad told me.” She explained even though she doubted the child could understand her. “I’m documenting things no one has ever written down.”

The piglin gave little snorts as he pressed close to her to just stare at her journal and she chuckled, tickling the feather of her quill on the child’s nose making them give a little snort of what she assumed was laughter.

“You should go find your mom or dad kiddo. I don’t want to be responsible for you.”

She supposed he understood some of her words at least because the little piglin got up and wandered over to an older piglin, tugging on their pant leg. Chuckling softly, she turned back to her journal, writing down a few notes that the piglins probably understood a bit of common language as she now kept her crown on her head, despite it being annoying that it would fall forward. As she was scribbling away, even doodling a piglin, she looked up as a shadow came into a view.

It was the older piglin that the small one had gone to and she smiled up at them.

“Hello. Can I help you?” She asked.

The piglin gave a few snorts before holding a golden bracelet to her. She tilted her head, confused.

“Uh, I’m sorry. I don’t have any more gold for that.” She said carefully, hoping the piglin would understand.

They gave a few more snorts, still holding out the bracelet.

“Um…ok?” She said confused as she stood, putting her journal away then reaching for the bracelet only for an ender pearl to shatter in between the pair.

Technoblade then stood there, towering over the piglin and giving a mix of a growl and a snort as he had a hand on his sword. The piglin shrunk before scurrying off.

“What was that?!” (Y/N) exclaimed in shock.

“We’re leaving,” Techno said as he kept his tall posture while walking back towards the entrance.

“What? What just happened?” (Y/N) asked hurriedly as she followed after her father.

“Not now, back at home.” He said stiffly.

(Y/N) was very confused but she followed after him regardless. He’d tell her once they got where they needed to be. It took till they got to their portal before he stopped, relaxing his tall stance. (Y/N) realized now was he had been making himself appear tall and intimidating as he gave an angry huff.

“The nerve…”

“What was that?” She questioned.

“A piglin custom.”

“What custom? Dad, I don’t understand. All I know is you terrified that piglin.”

Techno groaned as he took off his mask so he could run a hand down his face. He stood there for a few moments before looking at her.

“It was a courting gift.”

“A what?” She said shocked.

“Piglins give gold jewelry to women they want to court. He wanted to court you.”

All (Y/N) could think was that piglin was lucky he wasn’t dead.

“Oh. Uh. What would have happened if…you didn’t come in?”

“They would have tried to court you! I was not letting that happen.” Techno shook his head as he went towards home now, (Y/N) following behind. “I was watching you as I traded though and was trading for ender pearls when I saw him trying to give you the courting gift.”

Techno had practically shoved all of his gold at the ender pearl trader before taking the ender pearls, immediately using one to separate his daughter from the piglin. He remembered the voices screaming simultaneously, but he was acting on his own instinct as a father.

“Oh, well, thank you?” She questioned.

“Yes, you are welcome. No boys, no nothing.” Techno told her as they stepped into the house. “You’re still too young.”

“Dad, I’m almost twenty.” She joked.

“No. Boys. No, nothing.” Techno pointed at her, looking deadly serious.

“Uhh.”

“What boys?” Phil asked as he came in having seen the pair come home.

She had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

[flunkyofmalcador]

This is for @relax-and-read-on and @incorrect-primarchs-quotes

I did a "Primarch sexual head canons" about seven years ago. I've had time to rethink some of them, so here we go. (It's not like I could find the original post at this point anyhow.)

Lion El'Jonson: The one true asexual of the bunch. I just cannot see him being interested in anyone. I've tried.

Fulgrim: He's metasexual. He has never met-a-sexuality he didn't like. He's an entire LGBTQ+ pride parade in power armor. In an open relationship with Ferrus Manus, but Ferrus doesn't take advantage of the arrangement except when they have threesomes. And hoo doggy do they have threesomes.

Jaghatai Khan: He's straight, but is kind of having thoughts about Sanguinius in the Siege of Terra. He has a lot of wives and kids back on Chogoris.

Perturabo: Dear Perturabo. He surrounds himself with automata and sleeps in a labyrinth which makes me think that he was sexually abused along the way. I also headcanon him as a deeply closeted trans woman, so closeted that even Pert doesn't know it and sadly, nothing may ever come of it. He is content with his own ministrations, and some fan writers have said he makes his own sex toys, which I think is likely. He could fall in love easily, which is another reason he stays remote from people.

Leman Russ: Speaking of doggy...I don't hate him, okay? and I have a lot of head canons and even some fic about him. He's married to Sigrun the Wolf-Queen. Like Luther and Kor Phaeron, she is one of those half-Astartes the Emperor could fashion. They have four kids together. Russ is open! and friendly! in his physical affections and he and the Queen have an open marriage because they are apart so often. He is absolutely magic in bed because his wolf-nose can sniff out what's turning his partner on or not. He knows what you want before you do.

Rogal Dorn: A typo in another writer's commentary about Dorn sending poetry to his lovers via astropathic choir made me think that he would actually be pretty good at polyamory. He has the 100% honesty required for it. Bisexual, but strongly prefers women. In my Daughters AU he and Perturabo finally break the ice and fall for each other hard.

Konrad Curze: In "Butcher's Nails" and other ADB works about the Night Lords, it's made pretty clear he's a necrophile. In "Butcher's Nails", Lorgar comments to Angron that a corpse-filled Dark Eldar ship "looks like Konrad's bedchamber". My brother in Christ, what were you doing in Konrad's bedchamber?

Sanguinius: GAY. Unfortunately, between being 700% gay and raised in a patriarchal desert society he's also quite the little misogynist. Had very little experience before he met Horus, and the two were inseparable immediately. Read my fic "Wings" for the whole story. After he and Horus break up, he transfers his affections to Jaghatai Khan. Khan's open to the idea.

Ferrus Manus: I have a really different headcanon from most people because I see him as a widower. His wife and kids died on Medusa and he only came back to life himself when Fulgrim walked into his lonely forge. He loves it when Fulgrim wears lingerie and as I said above, they enjoy a good threesome.

Angron: Spent his entire life being abused. He's not asexual at all but I think he knows he's too dangerous to try to have sex because he is NOT a rapist. I like the idea of him being one of Lotara's two husbands, but honestly I think Lotara is lovers with Kharn only.

Guilliman: His libido is sublimated as hell, but it's there. He's attentive to detail and has a plan when it comes to consummating it with a new lady (and his partners are ladies). He knows he has to get married and have kids at some point, but aargh, he's just so BUSY.

Mortarion: I don't know.

Magnus: Prospero is a world where polyamory is the norm and people have family webs, not family trees. He has several wives and husbands and kids. Definitely does the whole psychic sex thing; you know when he's coming home with loving on his mind because you've been having orgasms out of the blue for the past half hour. Magnus is the one primarch I want to marry, but for his intellect and love of the occult, which I share.

Horus Lupercal: Bisexual AF, and has gone through 3/4 of the Custodes and Sisters of Silence in the Palace before he meets Sanguinius. After that, he's monogamous until Davin. Post-Davin, he's fucking Erebus and you cannot convince me he wasn't banging Petronella Vivar either.

Lorgar: This boy is messed up. He covers his sexual dysfunctions in celibacy. It's Kor Phaeron's fault.

Vulkan: Open and friendly like Russ. I don't know him very well because I can't stand Nick Kyle's writing and so my takeaways are all from fanfic! He and Russ compete to be the best huggers.

Corvus Corax: Totally married to Nasturi Ephrenia. Bisexual, but hasn't acted on it yet. Eventually will, probably with Vulcan.

The Twins: I am not ready for that conversation yet.

[cookingwithroxy]

You know, what really bothers me is this: There's no time spent to even explain HOW it might work in lore from those complaining that it 'doesn't exist!'

Heckers let's go through the checklist:

"Not having enough women?" I'm perfectly certain women exist in all the other elements of the Imperium, from guardsmen to the church to psychers. So that's only a 'not a thing' by the standard of 'these people who are wearing so much armor that you can't tell what they look like don't look the way I assume they do.'

"Barely any brown people?" and this was brought up earlier, race, AS WE PRESENTLY CONSIDER IT, no longer exists. You can have thousands of planets full of brown people, nobody will care about that.

"Having not a single hint of sexuality?" There's a literal god of sex and murder, there's a FUCKTON of sexuality in the setting. Just that it's not done by modern sensibilities because, you know. Far off future.

But the real one that needs to be addressed is: "Like if your argument is ‘the setting already has this’ then why are you so opposed to changes that could possibly add more diversity?"

If the setting already has these things (and it does) then it doesn't need changes. There's no reason for changes. And to be brutally honest, it doesn't really read like they WANT changes to 'improve" things, they want changes to make people angry.

Like, this is a setting where the only thing that could improve the entire goddamn universe would be if someone set off the big crunch and collapsed the entire universe and the warp down to component bits and reset everything from scratch.

The setting is pretty much hell with shiny armor.

And some people are only concerned in that the billions killed every day are not brown enough or don't have the right flag painted on them.

And really, that's the greatest issue of all. That people like nothing to see here do not want to play in the setting of 40k. they want the trappings of 40, painted with the politics of modern day. Because they cannot get their minds out of today, and have to imprint it on everything else.

Meanwhile, I'd love to just see if I could actually leverage something into the lore to open in new options!

[hangezoeenthusiast]

My L'Manberg

this little piece right here, what if we, as the reader, blew up manberg (l'manberg), in the place of wilbur, and wilbur took the place of philza. this is in honor of wilbur getting revived.

gn!reader

pronouns: they/them

warnings: explosions, yelling, death/dead body, cursing, angst, blood

(gif not mine! it’s on pinterest)

you were clapping for wilbur, in fact, most of the people was clapping for him. pogtopia and the rest defeated schlatt and his tyranny. finally schlatt's corrupt self wouldn't poison l'manberg, turned manberg.

wilbur gave his little speech about equality and peace and bla bla bla. then wilbur said something that was actually for importance, "it would be hypocritical if i lead this nation, so, i give the presidency to tommy, elected president tommyinnit, can you come up to the stage?"

tommy looked shocked, he didn't know that he would be leader of this nation. he came up onto the stage and hugged wilbur and thanked him for the opportunity.

"wow, in a million years i never thought that i would be president. well, thank you for the opportunity for this."

then he said something that blew everyone's minds for the second time, "i also cannot be president, i still have to get my discs back, and as i try to get cat and mellohi back from you dream, i can't handle a nation at the same time, so for the time being, i give the presidency to tubbo."

tubbo also looked shocked, not knowing that he was also a choice for the presidency of l'manberg. "holy shit guys, i never thought i would be pres, thank you tommy and wilbur for this opportunity, umm, so-"

you didn't hear anything else of tubbo's little speech. "how could they ignore me, i'm worthy to be president too." you thought to yourself. why would they complete forget that you were also a presidential candidate for l'manberg. you were one of the founder members of that nation. you, wilbur, tommy, tubbo, eret, even though he was a traitor, you guys found that wonderful nation. where men and women and just basically everyone could go and emancipate, right?

no, it wasn't like that anymore, l'manberg couldn't be restored to its former glory. nothing could be the same anymore. so you made the decision to blow the place to smithereens. you bargained with dream for 11 stacks of TnT.

"what do i get out of this if i give you this?"

"i'll give you all the op shit, the op armor, potions, weapons, and most of all, power, after all, don't you want to hold yourself in a higher position than tommy?"

he complied after you sweet talked him. he gave you 11 stacks of the TnT. so then you went to your little hiding place, hidden behind two blocks of stone. you pickaxed the stone, went inside, then placed it back.

"hmmm, should i, i mean, this is stupid. tommy shouldn't be president, i should, you khow what, no one should, everything we went through, everything that i went through, what's the point of this stupid nation, judgement and death passed on to everyone like a piece of cake at a birthday party, why should i let a hypocrite run this nation?" you contemplated.

it was confusing, you wanted to be president, but at the same time, you wanted this nation gone. meanwhile the other side was chaos. on the other side of the stone, the lyrical scribbles of the l'manberg anthem on signs, there was death. the badlanders and dream killing citizens of l'manberg. technoblade killing badlanders. but one person got away from this, it was the one and only wilbur soot.

he knew your little spot, he had found it on one of his daily strolls along l'manberg. he found the little seat you placed right in front of the button. right, the button, the one that would set his, your, nation up in flames and destruction.

so he went to the little spot, knowing he would find you there, since you were missing from the surface. "y/n, what are you doing here?" he asked you. he knew what you wanted to do. "why are you doing this y/n, we won manberg, no l'manberg back, why you want to destroy it?"

you were furious, why would he ask you a ridiculous question. "BECAUSE WILBUR, YOU AND TOMMY AND TUBBO ARE HYPOCRITES, YOU ALL DON'T DESERVE TO BE PRESIDENT, I DO, OR NO ONE DOES." you yelled at him. "i seriously was about to push this button, why did you stop me?" you groaned. you were about to push the button before he came into the hiding spot.

you heard people try to get to you and wilbur. "noo, they can't come in here." you retaliated.

"you don't know how close i was going to push this button, 7-8 times i think. you can't stop me wilbur." you blankly stated.

"no, y/n, don't do this."

those five measly words didn't stop you. you said one finally thing before l'manberg would be gone, "wilbur, are you familiar with the traitor of this nation, eret, well he said something, it was never meant to be." those words from eret, the ones that would be one of your final statements of your life.

you pressed the button and everything went haywire. the stone in front of you guys exploded, scratching your skin, making it bleed. wilbur trying to cover your body from the explosion. people being launched in the air. people getting killed from their enemies. people being in shock of the sudden explosion that occured in l'manberg. they finally got it back, now suddenly ripped to shreds.

"MY L'MANBERG WILBUR, MY UNFINISHED SYMPHONY FOREVER UNFINISHED, IF I CAN'T HAVE THIS NO ONE CAN." you saluted wilbur. signs of the lyrics smashed across the ground. blood shed everywhere. people looking at you with horror.

"KILL ME WILBUR, KILL ME." you demanded him. "NO I CAN'T, YOU'RE MY FRIEND." he answered. "FUCK THAT, KILL ME, DRIVE YOUR SWORD IN MY CHEST, COME ON, KILLBUR, KILLBUR, KILL ME, COME ON MR. PRESIDENT, DO IT."

you threw a sword at him, "take my life right now, i can't handle the embarrassment, please kill me." you whispered at him. all you wanted was death. he picked up the enchanted diamond sword, and drove the sword right through your heart. "thank you wilbur." you told him. your final words, haunting him, ringing through his ears. everyone looking at him with shock.

your blood coating the sword. everyone looked at your dead body. but then, wilbur hugged you to his chest. "why y/n, we had everything, you had everything." he cried, and he cried, and he cried until phil came and consulted him. "it's ok son, it's ok, let it all out." he sobbed in phil's arms, hoping that this was a nightmare, and that you were alive, and that l'manberg was blown apart.

but no, it was reality, you died by his hand, l'manberg was done for, and everything was torn to shreds, never getting rebuilt ever again.

-

(This is a extra piece, let me know what you think about it.)

you woke up in your bed, feeling like shit. you remembered what happened, your TnT ruining l'manberg. wilbur driving your sword through your chest, the pain, your final last words.

you forgot that you didn't have one last life during the explosion, you had two left. the first canon life you lost was from dream, during the disc war. the second was by wilbur. wilbur, your savior, the one who gave you peace for once in your life. "so i have one last life huh?"

so, later on made a beautiful house in the middle of nowhere, pet enderman named bob, op potions, armor, and weapons. you kept yourself secret from everyone, making sure that no one would find out you were alive.

(this part was kinda poo, i just added it for no reason)

[cienie-isengardu]

Erron Black. Arguably a character I don't know much about. Is Erron Black feminist, sexist, or just soft on girls? Now I know MK everyone can fight everyone, but in story mode...

In MK10 Milenna impale his hand with a knife, but he doesn't fight her. I'll except injury for that one.

But then with Cassie Cage later, he fights her, only after she engages him, but once he knocks her down he stops fighting her to fight Kung Jin in the market.

Later on the bridge fight, we do see him fighting Jacqui Briggs, in the background, but she charged him, so she initiated it, and when they focus in he is fighting Kung Jun again.

In MK11, when young Erron Black goes after Jade and Kotal, he let's Jade leave without so much as a glance.

In the Black Dragon fight pit, even though she is right next to him, he ignores Sonya Blade until she actually attacked him. He doesn't even point the other gun at her, he points it up and looks away, until she punches him.

The only time it looks like he initiated a attack on a woman was when Sheeva got shot in her shoulder armor (and shrugged it off), but we immediately see him chasing down Nightwolf, so that looks like a accident. And they only fight after she punches him across the room.

And in the comic's when he kidnapped Cassie and Jacqui he defended them against Kano, telling him not to hurt them, and when he realized they were in serious danger, tried to free them and help escape.

Unless I'm missing something, well he doesn't avoid it, he doesn't fight initiate fights with women.

Before I will talk at length about Erron Black and his attitude toward women I wish only to emphasize this is my subjective opinion and there is no need to agree with me on this. Because no matter how much source material will be brought into discussion, there are many ways to interpret his mindset, especially since A) what Erron says is not always compatible with what he is doing and B) the specific game mechanics that limit and/or adapt his “personality” to the needs of the storyline.

Long text ahead!

Mortal Kombat X’s stated Erron Black was hired by Shang Tsung 150 years ago. So he was born and raised at least the previous century and half, thus his approach to women may be old-fashioned but I wouldn’t say he was somehow deeply concerned per se about gender to begin with. Yes, the mentioned examples suggest otherwise but their context is as important as Erron’s action alone. Because the context of the game will not always work well with in-universe logic. I’m talking here stricte about game mechanics that are built around chapter’s main hero that must win against the opponents and in the mentioned examples Erron was sadly just an obstacle to beat down so it is not like he could headshot Mileena, Sonya or Sheeva or any woman and be done with the problem despite how marksmanship is his forte. Also, the game mechanic in MKX kinda made me joke that Erron shouldn’t be left on his own for too long because his competence in those chapters seemed that bad (from Outworld’s main cast only D’Vorah looked to me as a competent character and she was a traitor, that says a lot about Kotal’s team doesn it?). Anyway, on the basis of the specific nature of the game alone I wouldn’t go so far to judge Erron’s mindset, especially since he was a background/supportive character in MKX and MK11 story modes. So far, Black didn’t have his own chapter - thus the story isn’t told from his POV.

To be honest, games and comics present Erron in different lights, thus his approach to women may vary from one source to another. Because of that let’s firstly look at the sources separately.

In MKX, on Kotal’s voiceless order, Black was going to kill Rain. Mileena attacked Erron by surprise before he could shoot down the rebel but it was Kotal’s chapter so the emperor was the one that dealt with her. Erron was part of the background during chapter 2 without any impact on the story.

Then we have chapter 4 about Kung Jin.

When Cage Team met Erron Black for the first time, the man demanded to know what is Special Forces’ business here including “a reason why we shouldn’t kill you”. Despite the not so friendly welcome, Erron was willing to address Takeda’s remark (“I can read you… You’re not from Outworld.”) and did not resort to violence once Cassie’s explanation did not satisfy him. Looking at the uncertain situation of Outworld, Erron’s lack of trust is understable - Kotal was still at war with Mileena thus in constant danger. Of course, it is up to interpretation, did Erron listen to Jin solely because the prospect of money spoke to him so much or there is some bias (thus the cynical remark about Raiden’s seal and dismissive attitude) against Cassie, the woman in charge. I personally tend to think Erron was simply cautious because the last Earthrealm that got close to Kotal tried to kill the emperor. And yeah, Kano is nothing like Cassie, Jacqui, Takeda or Jin but there was no way for Black to know that for sure, especially since Outworld and Earthrealm weren’t really at the best terms at that time and Raiden’s name did not foreshadow anything good.

The next sequences may be interpreted as Erron being soft on women but I’m gonna present here different possibilities:

Once Jin went ahead to disrupt the execution, Erron’s first reaction was to shoot him yet Black took aim instead of shooting blindly without care for the crowd (or at least the slow down of his action is how it looked to me). Because he was focused on Jin - the main culprit whose action caused unwanted riot, Cassie easily stopped the attack. Should Erron be more focused on the female soldier at his side? Most likely, but all of this happened in mere seconds so I can understand why stopping Jin acting on his own accord was priority to the mercenary since it was related to his job and he was the one that agreed to take Earthrealmians to Kotal. Which may be the reason why Black just knocked down Cassie and immediately ran after Jin. And mind you, Erron knocked down Cassie by hitting her on the head with the butt of the pistol, which is not a gentle way by no means.

The chapter 6 is focused on Takeda and partially on Cage Team’s run from captivity. The Earthrealmians were important hostages, even if falsely accused of working with D’Vorah. So it makes sense that “Outworld Champions” weren’t trying to kill them. Otherwise Kung Jin would be shot down for good yet Erron kept him just at gunpoint. Once again, the game mechanics don’t make much sense considering how Jin stayed behind as air support but somehow ended up on the bridge while Jacqui disappeared somewhere in the background. Also, the same as with Cassie in Chapter 4, Erron did not kill defeated opponents nor tortured / injured for fun (Rain is a different matter because Erron went for killing only after Kotal’s voiceless order to finish the traitor).

In Chapter 11, Erron is even more degraded into a support role and he did not attack nor take part of the skirmish in the forest until Jacqui beat down Kotal. Personally I suspect he could be (in universe) too injured for hand to hand combat but once Team Cage was surrounded and Kotal gave the order for execution, Erron was aiming at Jacqui and if Sub-Zero did not show up, Black most likely would shoot to kill.

(Also, he did not shoot any enemy from a distance, so the women and men were treated the same although if this is a matter of game mechanics or Erron’s own moral code, hard to tell. Black recognized himself more as Outworlder than anything else so he may actually follow the common there idea of one on one fight.)

So, MKX story mode alone does not tell us much about Erron’s mindset about women because he has never been the one starting fights in the first place. This kinda makes sense since he is a mercenary and kills or injures only those who Kotal wishes to see dead or punished. Besides that he didn’t injure / kill Cassie when he had a chance but he didn't do so with Jin either. MKX!Erron gives the impression of a collected, detached type of person who is far from macho stereotypes or psychopath/sociopath like Kano.

Thankfully there is additional information like dialogue intros and Erron’s ending (from what we learned about Erron's approximate age) that aren’t canon per se but at least give some insight into his psyche.

The best counter argument for eventual Black’s habit of going easy on women is his own ending in which he ambushed and killed Cassie, Jacqui, Takeda and Jin (this situation was repeated in Briggs’ ending except this time Cage Team was saved by Jax). This is a rare moment in which Erron was the attacker and on his own initiated the violence toward others. In this case, he attacked women and men alike.

Then we have intro dialogues in which Erron usually deals with people in a professional manner, some even sometimes addressing in a polite way. Like “Mr. Kung” to Lao, “Mr. Hasashi” to Scorpion and “Mr. Takahashi” to Takeda. Surprisingly, he addresses Cassie and Sonya by their military rank (Sergeant Cage and General Blade respectively) which suggests that whatever Erron learned a century or two ago about gender-related social norms most likely evolved accordingly to his own life experiences, especially those gained in Outworld.

At the same time, it seems some of outfashioned - harmful - convictions are still enough deeply rooted in him to say stuff like that:

Kenshi: The friendless wanderer.

Erron Black: Least I don't take orders from a woman.

Kenshi: Which century are you from?

Which is kinda ironic since Kenshi takes orders from Sonya whom Erron addresses by high military rank without any snide comment about a woman in the army. But as far as I managed to check the intros, this is the only(?) one outright sexist thing Erron said to anyone and surprisingly, he didn’t say that to any woman, just to Kenshi. Frankly, if the idea of taking orders from women was so offensive, why would Erron bother to call Mileena the Crownless Queen or Kitana the Fallen Princess, if both titles by itself imply facing women that are used to give commands or even hire people like him? Once again, there is little to no sexist attitude toward women in context of their power over other men. Which suggests that whatever prejudices Black may have, he does not allow them to affect his interaction with other characters. Usually, at least.

Okay, the insult toward Kenshi could be some of Erron’s deep-seated sexist beliefs adding to the reason why he didn’t support Mileena in the fight for the throne. Yet, at the same time, if that was the case, he could outright say he doesn’t agree to be bossed by a woman to her (or he could be accused of that by her or any character really). Of course, it could be something similar to Black’s claim to care only about money with MK11 strongly hints he is saying one thing and doing differently but I will come back to this topic in a moment.

Another argument against this insult: Erron was one of the characters that did not mock Mileena’s look, origin or called her crazy. If he really thought listening to women's orders was so bad, then he didn’t show that when interacting with her or other female characters.

At the same time, like many other male characters, Black is not immune to the beauty of women around him and some of his comments sounds disrespectful and are unwelcome by the ladies:

Sonya: The gunslinger.

Erron Black: I could take you away from all this.

Sonya: I must be a jerk-magnet.

→ Sonya is not amused by Erron’s words at all.

Erron Black: Hello, beautiful.

Jacqui: Messin' with the wrong girl.

Erron Black: But it feels so right.

Jacqui is like the only one woman described by MKX!Erron as the beautiful one, the other he usually referred to along the lines of hot / sexy. Yet once Jacqui outright warned him to not mess with her, Erron deliberately ignored her because it amuse him. Whatever it is a sign of an old-fashioned mindset (a remnant of the times he grew up) or just simply (male’s) egoism on his part, Erron likes to flirt with women but he does not always respect their opinion or wish to be left alone.

At the same time, Erron rarely tried to change women’s minds about him or their eventual relationship. So far, only the intro dialogue with Kitana seems to be the exception:

Kitana: Stop!

Erron Black: We've barely begun, my lovely.

Kitana: It will end quickly.

Black may put his own amusement above other people's personal comfort, yes, but didn’t act creepy like Kano did, especially toward Blade-Briggs-Cage family as a whole.

So we have this

Jacqui: I really don't like you.

Erron Black: I really don't care.

Jacqui: As long as we're straight on that.

in which Erron doesn’t care for Jacqui’s dislike of his person but doesn’t impose himself on her. He does not resort to the common rapist “excuse” that woman says no but her body says otherwise, like Kano did (“Your mouth says Kano, but your eyes say Kan-yes.”) and this contrast puts Black in a more positive light. Similar thing happened in the intro dialogue toward Tanya.

Erron Black: My friend, Tanya.

Tanya: We are not friends, bounty hunter.

Erron Black: Have it your way...

Again, whether trying to be friendly or ironic, once Erron was “turned down”, he simply accepted the situation without any additional crude remarks.

Interestingly, interaction with Sonya showed that Black was capable of rethinking his statement about hot/sexy women:

Erron Black: Girls with guns? Always hot.

Sonya: I'll shove 'em up your ass and fire.

Erron Black: Almost always hot.

Those examples suggest Erron may treat women differently, depending on their “fighting experiences”, age and origin and maybe even how sexually / aesthetically appealing they are to him. For example, veteran Sonya’s threat was taken seriously while (novice / new generation) Jacqui’s warning was ignored. At the same time, the intro dialogues didn’t hint at any romantic or sexual interest in Ferra (a young female symbiote) nor D’Vorah (Kytinn) and relatively good looking Mileena who deserves a separate paragraph.

To be honest, Erron, Johnny and Kano are like the main three men openly showing their (sexual?) interest in women around them. Understable, Black’s flirting / comments rarely were appreciated yet he still was less creepy or aggressive towards others than Kano. Erron didn’t bother to hide his eventual (sexual) interest in beautiful women but it can’t be said A) he had no control over his sexual drive and B) has rapist / sexual predator tendencies.

Another interesting thing: with few exceptions like Kano or Quan Chi, Erron threatened people with violence usually after they offended him and most of the time maintained professional neutrality toward his rivals. In that regard, Erron treated other characters the same regardless of their gender.

This is something worth keeping in mind how Black, as mercenary, in general is not the initiator of violence. Unless someone will pay him. For money, Erron would attack (kill) anyone, including women (to Tanya, “The Kahn wants your head.” + Erron’s Epilogue).

The last detail to talk about: one of the intro dialogue with Cassie suggests Erron thought she was an easy opponent.

Cassie: Is something funny?

Erron Black: I'll win this easy.

Cassie: You're going down hard.

but to be fair, he thought the same about Sub-Zero

Erron Black: You're an easy target.

Sub-Zero: As are you.

Erron Black: Bullets beat snowballs any day.

so I wouldn’t say it was the bias toward Cassie because of her gender and just Erron’s own arrogance (and maybe lack of good judgement on his part).

In summary, MKX!Erron in game alone tends to act in a professional manner. He had an occasion to shoot defeated opponents but did not seize the opportunity against not only Cassie but Jin as well. During the storyline he was rather collected, emotionless. In intro dialogues he openly expresses his interest in tough, relatively attractive women yet the banter is far from the creeping tone of Kano’s interaction with female characters.

Then we have Mortal Kombat 11 in which past and future timelines are messed up. Sadly, Erron’s characterization departs from the neutral-polite one seen in the previous game. Of course, this could be blamed on the younger version of Erron, but frankly, twenty years for someone living at least for a century and half shouldn’t make that big difference in behaviour and well, MK11 outright claims Erron is prone to violence for violence’s sake instead of just money. Which is one of many plot-holes and divergences between both games I guess.

Anyway, Erron, again, was the background character to beat down, so it is worth remembering that he couldn’t permanently hurt or kill anyone from the main cast. In chapter 2 he let Jade get away when he was facing Kotal and frankly, there is little explanation for that in-universe wise. I personally suspect it may be related to Erron’s own sense of honor, as in respecting one on one fight without cheap moves like shooting someone’s beloved person. Not practical in the mercenary job but it is possible for someone born and raised around two centuries ago. Also, Shao Kahn’s anger was focused mainly on killing Kotal for taking the throne. Because of that Erron could be not interested in Jade who simply did not have any significant political matter at that time. Sadly, it is really hard to say for sure what was on his mind.

In chapter 6, past!Erron stormed the Special Forces Base alongside Black Dragon members. There were women in that group but sadly, Black did not interact with anyone beside Johnny Cage. We can at least assume, Black did not mind fighting side by side with women.

Similary, present!Erron in chapter 7 showed up in the background during the alliance attack on Coliseum. The attack was led by Kitana (albeit did Erron join her to save Kotal out of loyalty or for money, it was not explained) and there were female fighters in the group. It seems then Erron does not mind fighting side to side with women.

During the pit fight (chapter 8), past!Erron faced the past!Sonya and the past!Johnny. Frankly, the same as in the previous chapter, game mechanics make little sense because there was no real reason for Erron to open the ring and face the characters when he could simply shoot down both from a safe distance. This really undermines the whole point of Black being a gunslinger, isn’t it?

Anyway, Cage took the forward position (which I think is both because despite his injuries he tried to shield Sonya AND because he actually met Erron during an attack on a Special Forces’ base) and got shot in the arm. After a short skirmish, Erron knocked down Johnny and aimed to kill the injured man.

The most logical thing for Erron in this situation would be to shoot down Sonya first and then finish already beaten down and exhausted Johnny. In defense of the Black though it is worth emphasizing that he didn’t completely ignore Blade nor turned away from her.

Most likely the weird slow-down action of aiming at Johnny was a moment of distraction that Sonya simply used to attack. Similar to MKX, game mechanics do not allow Black to headshot the main heroes, even though, in-universe, he should do just that and be done with the job. There is also a possibility that past and present Kano still wanted to keep Sonya alive for their own amusment (torture and sadly most likely rape) what could explain why Erron didn’t shot her from safe distance. I mean, the game alone did not voice what Kanos really ordered Erron to do.

I know that MK games like to slow down action for dramatic effects, but I strongly believe it was actually a matter of a few seconds of distraction (Erron looking aside to shoot Johnny and aiming) that Sonya took advantage of rather Black ignoring her on purpose. Even more since Black did not hesitate to shoot at her and seemed to enjoy facing “the legendary” Sonya Blade.

The same as MKX, Mortal Kombat 11 does not explain Black’s mindset. He does not shoot Jade or Sonya when he has a chance but he does not make any rude remarks toward women in general. However the intro dialogues shed a light on the complicated relationship that Erron has with women.

From what we learn about Erron, his childhood was far from normal or safe. We don’t know details, but what he shared with Cetrion and Cassie strongly suggest that Erron’s both parents were abusive people:

Cetrion: You shot your own father, Erron Black.

Erron: Sonofabitch had it coming.

Cetrion: Honor thy parents, mortal!

or

Erron: My Ma would’ve loved you, Cassie Cage.

Cassie: Aw, sounds like you miss her bunches.

Erron: I hated Ma.

or

Erron: I grew up around tough women.

Cassie: Didn’t they teach you respect?

Erron: They taught me to hit back.

The last statement suggests young Erron was abused by women (most likely including his own mother) to the point he is now willing to hit back anyone regardless of their gender without remorse. Erron himself says “I ain't above shootin' a lady” (intro dialogue vs. Sonya).

Beside that, an abusive mother alone could influence Black’s approach to women - and most likely she did, since he admitted to hate her. Surprisingly, Erron uses the past tense (“I hated Ma”) so there is a chance he gained distance over time in that matter. It also seems like whatever he feels about mother usually doesn't affect his relationship with other female characters. For example, in the mentioned banter he did not insult Cassie for reminding him about the abusive parent. Despite the bad childhood intro dialogues hint Black actually likes dangerous women.

Erron Black: I stepped out with Nitara before you.

Skarlet: You clearly have a type, Erron.

Erron Black: Just like living dangerously.

Like in the previous game, Erron openly shows his (sexual) interest in various women. The interesting change however is how:

His interest extends now to more alien-looking female characters like Nitara or Sheeva. Surprisingly, Mileena’s advances are still rejected. Also, Erron has like zero respect for the goddess Cetrion but to be honest, he does not respect any god.

Erron is more disrespecting by using nicknames like Legs or Baby Doll for Sonya or Sugar for Cassie. Of course, it may be just the “charm” of younger Black - hard to tell in most cases which version is speaking - but it creates an overall feeling of ironic, at times irritating or insulting approach to female fighters. At the same time, there are women that Erron refers to in a rather consistently respectful manner - Jacqui (Miss Briggs, Little Lady), Jade (ma’am, missy), Kitana (Princess, Kahn).

Before I will focus on the complex situation with Mileena, I need to talk about Erron’s important trait: he often says one thing but does the opposite. This is especially noticeable in intro dialogues concerning money and loyalty. Both games agree the main motivation for Black is a good payment, albeit MK11 highline also the thrill of danger. Anyway, Erron admitted he is willing to betray Kotal, a current employer, if someone offered a better deal (“Until a better offer comes along.”, “There's always a better offer, Kotal”). This strengthens the impression Black cares only about himself yet he rejects all propositions coming from Kotal’s enemies such as Shao Kahn, Rain or Mileena, Quan Chi, Shinnok and Kano/Black Dragons. At the same, he is willing to work with/ for Kitana who happens to be the best friend of Jade, Kotal’s beloved. Which makes Erron still operate in a group wishing no harm to the ex-emperor.

I’m bringing this into discussion because there is strong possibility that under the tough guy act, Erron still follows some “old-fashioned” sense of morality and is decent enough to not attack or harm women (and in my opinion, people in general) unless A) it is part of the job or B) is self-defense. Which could explain why he let Jade walk away or why he didn’t shoot Sonya from a safe distance but faced her in hand to hand combat. Depending how long he lived in Outworld, he could simply adapt into local customs - the people of Outworld are a combat-focused society and because of that have a strong sense of honor code. Erron’s eventual softness toward female fighters would get him in serious problems and I doubt he could afford such weakness when serving Shang Tsung or Shao Kahn.

So, why did Erron not want to serve Mileena, the designated successor? As the Empress, she was in position to offer the best (materially wise at least) deal after all.

In MKX!banter Erron claims Kotal paid him better:

Mileena: You aided the usurper.

Erron Black: He offered more coins.

Mileena: ...and no protection.

Meanwhile, MK11!Black outright says it was not a matter of money but of Mileena’s behaviour. Considering how prone to violence she was, it is no wonder why Erron decided to work for someone else.

Erron Black: Now what's got you all rip-snorting mad?

Mileena: When I gained the throne, you abandoned it.

Erron Black: Wasn't no pay worth dealing with your crazy.

This brings me back to the MKX’s banter suggesting Erron may dislike being bossed by women. Considering the implication he is currently negotiating a proper deal with Kitana Kahn (“New Kahn, same deal?”), the problem is more complex than judging someone by gender alone. I mean, Erron worked for Shao Kahn who himself was a cruel tyrant so sadism shouldn't be anything new for Black, right? Except, he was hired by Shang Tsung and because of that I think it is highly possible Erron had just indirect contact with the Emperor. Thus Erron could be not ready for Mileena’s unstable nature(?) and cruelty.

I mean - Erron comes from a pathological family and grew up around tough women. In his opinion Cassie has some traits or behaves in a way for which his mother would’ve liked the girl. So there are certain things that Black connects to hated mother. Now, Cassie is more of an extrovert type of person, showy and with sharp ripostes but she is one of the good guys and cruelty for fun is not her thing. So, if someone like Cassie can somehow make him think of a hated parent (that most likely is dead for decades now), how much Mileena could trigger Erron in the wrong way? To the point he chooses his mental health over money and/or thrill of danger?

If this is true, we may further wonder if bad experiences with tough women in childhood are the reason why despite flirtatious nature, Erron’s interest in female fighters usually is strictly sexual attraction? Because it really looks like he does not try to emotionally connect with women. Even his “thing” with Skarlet seems to be more a matter of thrill than a serious relationship, considering how Erron was okay with her eventual death.

(The possibility of Erron being freaked out by Mileena also rises an interesting question about her mental state between MK9 and MKX)

This is why I think Erron did not have a problem with working for women as long as they did not remind him too much of past abuse. And this is pretty nice implication, considering how tough guy Erron is for most of the time.

Because of that, Kotal questioning if Erron is jealous of Jade could be read in different way too:

Erron Black: So, you and Jade, huh?

Kotal Kahn: Jealous, Erron Black?

Erron Black: She's quite the looker, Kotal.

And yeah, Erron brings this to the matter of appearance alone, but hopeful as I proved earlier, Erron sometimes says one thing but does (thinks) something totally different. Because of that I suspect he may not be really jealous of Kotal for having a sexy lady but actually of the relationship itself. You know, build on respect and love than just build on sexual drive.

Like I said before, the game cutscenes and character banters may be interpreted in many ways but for me MK11!Erron Black - at least the older version - seems to mask his trauma and/or complex nature of his relationship with women under the act of tough guys. At the same time, there is a high possibility he still follows an out-fashioned sense of honor and though he is not above shooting women, he does not attack them unless it is demanded. Though to be fair, in my opinion this is how he approaches everyone. A mercenary’s mindset that distinguishes him from the likes of Kano.

In Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermatch, Erron met Sheeva, when the Shokan Queen in the company of Fujin, Nightwolf and Shang Tsung carried a coffin to the Soul Chamber. Black and Baraka decided to confront the Shokan woman and it quickly turned into a fight (and the typical game mechanics).

There is a question though - did Erron really take Kitana's offer or did he stay with Kotal? Because it’s really suspicious that he happened in the place where defenless, injured Kotal was in the healing process. Anyway, whatever the case, Black directly or indirectly worked for the new Kahn so it is highly possible his actions were dictated by Kitana’s best interest rather than his liking or disliking anyone.

Let’s just look at the situation - Kitana is the empress but she promised to treat her allies as her equals. That means Sheeva, as well respected Shokan Queen, plays an important role in the new regime - killing her or permanently injuring was out question, otherwise Shokan people could rebel against Kitana and in result the freshly established peace would go straight to hell.

In my opinion, this is why Erron asked Sheeva’s group to go with them quietly so the situation could be explained to Kitana without unnecessary violence. Black actually was okay with Sheeva go to Soul Chamber as long as Shang Tsung (Shao Kahn’s sorcerer) and the suspicious coffin was returned to him. Thanks to Shang Tsung, one of Tarkatan warrior died and thus the situation got out of hand. It makes sense Erron was more focused on Shang Tsung (hated by Kitana), Nightwolf (whose current self is revenant) and Fujin than on Sheeva who, potentially, was protected by political immunity.

When the Shokan Queen beat down Baraka, Erron in my opinion did not try to hurt her, only fired a warning shot. Maybe to make sure Sheeva will not kill Baraka (another important leader whose support Kitana needed to uphold the peace in Outworld). The Earthrealmers on other hand were another matter. Maybe Erron was too trusting or too reckless to not pay more attention to Sheeva or simply didn’t really think she was the traitor. It was after learning she is trying to resurrect Kitana’s evil mom - a dangerous, not consulted with Empress decision - Erron faced Sheeva in hand to hand combat.

Not much to analyse here, especially not with limitations of game mechanics yet I strongly believe Erron’s course of action was dictated by political situation and Kitana Kahn’s best interest so killing or seriously injuring Sheeva could be out of question. Also, like I said previously, Black is rarely the aggressor, what I believe is related to his mercenary’s mindset.

The last source, Mortal Kombat X comics series, requires a little clarification: I treat it as a potentially additional insight into Erron’s psyche than any real canonical material. Partially due to many plot-holes but also because of overwhelming violence used for violence’s sake alone. That said, here what happens:

Earthrealm (Special Forces) and Outworld (Kotal Kahn) weren’t on the best terms. To help Kotal, Erron and Black Dragons kidnapped young (under 21 years old) Cassie and Jacqui and took them to Outworld. During the journey through the dangerous jungle, girls tried to run away but got hurt in the process by Kano. Erron openly talked against brutal treatment of prisoners.

Looking at the difficult situation of Kotal, it was in Erron’s best interest to keep Cassie and Jacqui in one piece. Otherwise the whole plan would fail and then Kotal would be forced to deal with really pissed off Sonya Blade. And that would take a bad turn for Black himself. But like I said earlier, the tough guy act could also cover Erron’s more empathic nature that in the mercenary world was seen as a weakness to exploit. I personally think he did not like torturing people if that was unnecessary but also that he would have spoken against it even if Cassie and Jaquie were boys.

Then the Red Dragons attacked to take over hostages.

(Once again, a tough guy act with the “girls are Kotal’s property” as in cover up his worries about the situation or his true mindset, or mix?)

When the fight started, Erron went to tied hostages:

One one hand, Erron needs the girl to stay alive and not be taken by the enemy. On the other hand, he does not promise them safety nor ask them to run away. He is freeing them so the two girl (both under 21 years old) will fight against experienced criminals armed with swords and other dangerous stuff. This is actually an interesting detail, because it suggests Erron thought Cassie and Jacqui had a chance against thugs or that at least that way they wouldn't be a burden to him.

Jacqui punched him and Erron, either was taken by surprise or did not want to hurt her, was “saved” by Kano. And then betrayed by the Black Dragon leader.

Kano’s worlds raise a question, how much Erron is driven by the money and how much he uses the tough guy act to actually hide his unwanted “vulnerability” (as in, having moral sense and not being the heartless psychopath like Kano).

My general conclusion about Erron is that, for a side character he has a really complex relationship with women around him. I strongly believe that Erron sticks to some old fashioned sense of honor that mixes well with a mercenary's mindset. Thus rarely he is the one attacking first. This most likely influences his interaction with female fighters but at the same time, Outworld is not a place where people are judged by gender but for their skills and powers. So, Erron living there for decades for sure got influenced by that mindset to some degree.

I would not call him a feminist - not because he couldn’t be one but for lack of proper material to analyse. Feminism has many shades but in the most general sense is about establishing the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Erron does not show much opinion on that matter and does not interact with “common” women; those truly weaker than him, disabled or anything else other than warriors, soldiers or queens. With lack of such interaction there is no chance to come to a proper conclusion.

Does Erron have a soft spot for women? It is possible but that would not stop him from hitting back or killing them if the situation called for such action. I think the safest option is just that Erron is in general a more emphatic and honorable human that he wants to admit, to not look weak or be exploited by others. In contrast to Kano, Black for sure has some moral code he follows no matter what. Even if this get him into trouble more often than not.

Hope it answers your question!