#I have no opinion on it I have no idea what's in the game

[plunderbunny]

Always feels so weird to be saying this because he's the dumb League of Legends spaghetti and meatballs guy, but videogamedunkey had some of the best comments about I've ever heard this in his "Game Critics" video, in which he says the the power of a critic comes from the consistency of their voice, not in you personally agreeing with everything that they say. Understanding the critic's thought process, their likes and dislikes, what they value and what annoys them, whether any of it is even rational or not, is what gives their review utilitarian value in terms of "the critic has X opinion about this thing, does that make me think I would like it dislike it?"

Beyond the most basic "does their opinion make me think I'd like this thing or not" level, the other really important thing about a critic is to challenge the audience's way of thinking about a work and get them to open their mind, broaden their horizons, stretch their brain a bit and think in new ways and from new perspectives. A review should never just be "this is good" or "this is bad", it should include actual ANALYSIS. And whether or not someone likes something isn't analysis, it's one END RESULT OF analysis.

Why is comparing a game to a completely different game a bad thing? Why is engaging with the game in a different way than the developers intended a bad thing? Why is playing and reviewing a game for which you're not the target audience a bad thing? Those all just sound to me like new, novel, challenging perspectives from which to evaluate and think about a game.

And if you don't agree with the reviewer, if they don't like what you do like or vice versa... Why is that a bad thing? You can think they're wrong! Sometimes disagreeing with someone who has a different perspective can be the most enlightening and intellectually stimulating kind of conversation about a media object! My favorite pieces of media analysis of all time, the various works of Elizabeth Sandifer, especially Tardis Eruditorum and Last War in Albion, are FULL of ideas and perspectives and tastes that I disagree with, but they are all FASCINATING to read about and discuss and consider. Just because she is a fan of the Matt Smith era of Doctor Who, which I hate, doesn't mean that her thoughts and opinions on it are pointless or uninteresting.

Like art itself, art criticism shouldn't exist just to validate your preconceptions, or comfort you and give you ask the simplest, most obvious pleasures possible. It should challenge you, make you think, confront you... That's what makes it interesting, and what makes it valuable! Too many people have the notion that art should always be slavishly trying to satisfy a pre-existing audience with known appetites and easily-scratched itches. Too much art ends up complacent on account of catering to those audiences.

More game critics should be like the first picture in this post, actually challenging conventional thought (whether or not they like the game) and thinking critically and from a wide range of perspectives, potentially from ones outside the target audience. The video game community needs another "this game really makes you feel like Spider-Man" reviewer (to steal another great dunkey quote) like it needs a hole in its head, or the equivalent, yet another competitive hero shooter or souls-like or comfy farm sim.

Criticism doesn't exist to validate your personal tastes.

Art doesn't exist to satisfy your personal appetites.

game reviewers are weird

[villainousauthor]

"This might be a new low for you." Hero's voice is firm, unwavering. Villain looks up from their delicate work, crossing of wires and fuses. They were hoping to get this explosive planted quickly and efficiently, though Hero's presence may delay their goal.

"I didn't know you previously held such a high opinion of me. I'm flattered." Villain's speaks in a deadpan tone.

Hero crosses the room, standing before Villain, arms folded in irritation. "A government building? Really? I thought my opinion of you couldn't get lower, but you dropped the bar into hell." Villain looks up, meeting their stern glower. Their fingers drum across the wooden desk the explosives sit on, holding Hero's gaze.

"Is this supposed to have any effect on me? I'm used to your scorn." They stand up, rising to Hero's height. "Either try to stop me or get lost. If you try to fight me, though, know I won't go easy on you this time."

This was too important. They didn't have time to play their usual games with Hero, or worry about their disappointment.

"I can tell." Hero speaks, sitting down on the desk, as if uncaring about the literal ticking bomb inches away. "You have that look on your face. Like you're thinking hard about something." They sigh as if exhausted. "Trying to fight you when you get like this never goes well."

"So leave-"

"Nope." Hero crosses their legs, uncrosses them, and leans back, meeting Villain's stare again. They're forcing a show of relaxation, but Villain doesn’t miss the way their limbs shake, or the way fingers won't stay still. "I have a better idea." They continue.

"Do go on."

"You go ahead and finished setting up these explosives and high tail it out of here like a coward, and I'll stay here." Hero's tone is like that of someone discussing the weather, or the latest sports game.

Villain blinks, opens their mouth, and closes their mouth before finally finding their words.

"What? You do know what a bomb is, right? I know your skull is a bit thick, but you do realize what would happen in that case?"

Hero makes a show of a fake explosion with their hand, complete with an auditory Woosh.

"I'd be turned into paste. Probably. If your weapons skills are even that good." They try to keep their voice in that same casual tone, but yet again, Villain doesn't miss the slight tremble. They're frightened. None of this makes sense.

Villain pauses for a moment. "Are you suicidal? Is this a cry for help because I'm sure this Hero gig of yours pays well enough for some therapy-"

"Nothing like that." Hero interrupts with a shake of their head and a laugh devoid of humor. "I appreciate the concern, but no, that's not what's going on here."

Staying quiet for a moment, Villain waits for them to elaborate.

"I'm calling your bluff." They say simply. Like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "It's easier than trying to fight you and getting my ass kicked."

Frowning, Villain speaks a bit firmer, still confused though. "You're what?"

"I am calling your bluff. You can go ahead and blow up this building, but I'll be right here when it detonates." Hero smirks, like they've figured villain out.

Standing up taller, they lean over the wooden table and grab one of Hero's shoulders harshly. Their face becomes something wild.

"Are you really so self-centered, so arrogant, that you somehow- somehow in that stupid mind of yours think-" They exhale harshly through their nose and let go. "You think that your stupid threat of self destruction is enough to make me change my mind? You think your life matters to me, at all?" Their voice gets harsher as they speak, volume raising slightly. Why would Hero even try this?

"Okay then. So prove how worthless my life is to you." Hero shrugs. "You go ahead and set the bomb off, and I'll stay here." Hero tries to hide their smug smile. Despite their fear, they know they've caught Villain off guard.

Pinching their own face so hard they worry their nails may cut skin, Villain breathes loudly.

"You realize I could turn this back around on you, right? I could call your bluff. You wish to risk your life like this?"

"Call my bluff then." They challenge. "Unless you defuse this bomb, I'm not leaving." Hero raises their chin defiantly, eyes dagger sharp.

Villain rounds the table, grabbing Hero roughly, jostling them with a grip hard enough to ache. Hero's face doesn't change. "You think I can't drag you out of here? That I couldn't possibly knock you out and take you with me?" And then give them lecture filled with ire boarding on something violent later.

"You can certainly try," They keep that rebellious smile on their face, "but I'd fight you tooth and nail the whole way, and is that how you want to spend your precious escape time?"

Sneering, Villain can't decide if they want to shove them away or grip them tighter. "I hate you. I hate you so much." They all but snarl at them. If the imminent threat of explosion didn't kill Hero, they're sure the look on their enemy's face would.

Still, Hero pushes. "No, you don't. If you did, you'd already be out the door. You'd be killing two birds with one stone." Hero's hand reaches for the beeping package of wires, hand trembling, but they grab it nonetheless. They shove it to Villain roughly.

"Prove you hate me. Or defuse the bomb." They keep on the act of confidence, but that underlying dread is still in their eyes, the deep seated fear of what will happen.

Idiotic as always, Villain decides. Like there was any chance Villain would do anything else but spare them. Their stupid, infuriating Hero.

"I can't stand you." They growl, ripping one wire from the fuse.

[goldfades]

oooo crashout couple idea!!!! luka and reader celebrating libertys first win?????

i think this is my new fav "series", should i make a masterlist cause i have so many fics coming for it<333

The buzzer sounds, echoing through the packed arena, and the moment it does, it’s like the whole world bursts open.

The scoreboard lights up—final score, Liberty on top.

You barely have time to process it before your teammates crash into you, arms wrapping around you, shouts filling your ears. The crowd is roaring, the energy electric, but somehow, through all of it, you only hear one voice.

Luka’s.

You turn instinctively, eyes scanning the courtside seats, and there he is—on his feet, fists clenched, yelling like he just won the damn championship himself.

“LET’S GO, BABY!”

The cameras are already on him—because of course they are. He’s in your jersey, the one he insisted on wearing even though it’s slightly too snug across his broad shoulders, and he looks like he might just sprint onto the court himself.

You swear he nearly does. Security shifts, like they’re anticipating it.

You huff out a breathless laugh, shaking your head. Menace.

But he’s your menace.

And when your eyes meet across the court, Luka doesn’t just give you some polite, sportsmanlike nod.

No, he grins.

Big, wild, unfiltered.

The kind of grin that says, Yeah, I’m in love with you, and what about it?

And just like that, you don’t care about the cameras. You don’t care about the reporters already scribbling down notes about the Crash Out Couple and whatever chaos you’re about to bring to post-game.

All you care about is him.

And the way he’s looking at you like you just hung the damn moon.

--

Dinner is loud.

Your whole team is buzzing—high off the win, high off the adrenaline, high off the satisfaction of shutting down everyone who thought the Liberty were about to fold under pressure.

The restaurant is one of those dimly lit, upscale-but-still-lively places in the city where athletes and celebrities go to celebrate without completely being left alone. The air is thick with the scent of grilled steak and garlic butter, plates clinking, glasses being refilled before they even have a chance to empty.

And in the middle of it all, sitting next to you with his hand on your thigh like he needs to be touching you at all times, is Luka.

He’s trying—he really is.

He’s leaning in when your teammates talk, nodding at the right moments, even throwing in a couple of mhms and yeah, that’s crazy in an attempt to keep up with the fast-paced conversation.

But he’s outnumbered.

Badly.

At one point, Sabrina and Jonquel get into a heated discussion about defensive rotations, and you watch Luka’s brain short-circuit in real-time. He’s a franchise player, a basketball genius, but for some reason, this—being surrounded by a table full of hyper-competitive, opinionated, no-nonsense WNBA stars—is the thing that has him sweating.

You press your lips together, hiding your grin behind the rim of your wine glass.

It’s adorable.

This is the same man who drops 40-point triple-doubles like they’re nothing, who talks so much trash on the court it should be illegal, who once got into a screaming match with a ref in three different languages.

And yet, right now?

Right now, he’s nervously swirling the ice in his drink, completely unsure how to insert himself into the chaos.

Sabrina side-eyes him. “Luka, what do you think?”

Luka freezes, his hand tightening slightly on your thigh. “Huh?”

The table erupts in laughter.

You feel him exhale, his head dropping slightly, and it kills you how cute it is.

You pat his cheek, barely suppressing your amusement. “It’s okay, baby. You don’t have to keep up.”

He groans, tilting his head back dramatically. “Man, I’m trying.”

The teasing doesn’t let up after that.

Your teammates love this—getting to rattle Luka Dončić a little, reminding him that, despite all the MVP chatter and franchise player status, here, he’s just your boyfriend.

And Luka takes it, shaking his head, smirking, playing along even though you can tell he’s still a little overwhelmed.

But one thing about your man?

No matter where he is, no matter who’s around—he’s always going to have his hands on you.

Throughout dinner, his touch never leaves you.

His palm on your thigh, fingers tracing mindless patterns. His hand drifting up to squeeze your waist when you shift in your seat. His thumb brushing over your knuckles when he takes your hand in his. At one point, he rests his elbow on the back of your chair, his fingers playing with the ends of your hair, absentminded but so possessive.

And every time your teammates try to clown him, every time they tease him about being too quiet, about being so in love it’s making him shy, Luka just shrugs.

Like he knows.

Like he doesn’t care.

Like he’s completely fine with all of them seeing the way he needs to be close to you.

Like he’s saying, Yeah, I’m in love with her. And?

And honestly?

You love it.

[utilitycaster]

Forgive me if you've already been asked something on this topic, but I was curious about your opinions re: Laudna's epilogue. Specifically, about how her lifeforce and aging is now tied to Imogen's in a 'marriage' ceremony even though they've only been dating for a few weeks in-game. It felt like an extension of the flaws baked into her entire arc that Laudna bound her soul to yet another magical woman, and in a way that would discourage any conflict between her and said mage. Laudna's epilogue with Imogen being considered a 'happy ending' really hinges on the idea that those two each other's perfect matches

So this is an interesting approach! I have to admit: I don't find the choice to age to be particularly bad, nor discouraging of conflict. I think it just means that she'll live around as long as Imogen will, as a human woman. I think if they were to break up, or if Imogen were to meet an untimely end, it just means Laudna would still live to a typical human lifespan.

But this is an interesting point that I think I touched on briefly when interacting with that weirdo last night, which is that it really feels in the end that Laudna never has her own life. Hell, Liliana manages to more satisfyingly say "huh, I've spent my entire life from probably my early 20s to my 50s either effectively on the run and alone, I fell into the hands of a very powerful wizard who treated me as a vessel, I never really unlearned my brainwashing from that, and now that it's over I think I need to go out in the world and figure out who I am as a person because my entire adulthood was lost to that" and Laudna never does. Even the ritual to make her live a typical lifespan feels very much a having your cake and eating it too - it's always been interesting that Laudna made these sort of intermittently expressed overtures towards liking her weird gross undead state and that mechanically Marisha leaned into it beyond the rules of Hollow One but then she does not get the unwilling immortality because of yet another quite literal Deus Ex Machina. It feels like just one more case of this party getting to have it both ways, for free, without ever having to choose, and the dumbest people alive shrieking at me that what I find to be a desperate saccharine dying dream of an ending is happy and that because it is "happy" any criticism must be a personal failure (and then some other rando will weakly bust through like an incontinent kool-aid man to fart out how unfortunate it is people are so uncivil and unkind and attacking people's intelligence and morals this campaign, meaning, of course, me for existing while holding an opinion and not breaking down in tears and capitulating to everyone who comes on my posts, but not the people who come on my post and call me stupid and unfeeling, because they agree with those people, because campaign 3 appeals, as I've said many times, to the posers who can dish it out and not take it, and not to like, intelligent adults.)

I don't find this ending happy because it's so divorced from reality it feels like weightless nothing, in the end; that's my feeling on all the lack of consequences, actually - as one of my mutuals said, easy come, easy go. Laudna never has a story; she never lets herself out of her own cages to have a story. The only framing people can even come up with to make it happy is "she had TRAUMA and now she has an ENDING where she's left alone" and even then it's like. Personally my feeling on anyone who treats their trauma as the reason they are interesting should be made to retrace the steps of the Franklin Expedition, which will make them interesting and/or at least temporarily remove them from my vicinity. If being left alone to do nothing is happy, why aren't you guys giving me a happy ending.

I meant to be a bit more reserved in this answer, and I have a similar ask to get to as well but I think what I'm trying to express and slowly losing my mind over is that the people who like Campaign 3 and loudly defend it are increasingly quite literally not of an intellectual caliber or level of interpersonal empathy to even join in the discussion with those of us who found it lacking. It's like explaining quantum physics to toddlers. We find ourselves having to define words as basic as "conflict" and "consequence," and repeatedly, with eroding patience, explain "sometimes, I think it is interesting when bad things happen to pretend people, and it is boring when good things happen to pretend people, because they are pretend, and sometimes different people have different feelings, and that is okay! but you need to let people have different feelings. Someone saying they don't like the blue truck doesn't mean you can't like the blue truck! But you can't make them like the blue truck."

[thydungeongal]

I personally don't think the latest edition of D&D takes anything too far. In many ways I think D&D 5.5's biggest crime is that it utilizes queerness as a coat of paint without actually having anything to say about non-hegemonic ideas of gender and sexuality. It's a very USAmerican and European idea of acceptable deviation from the norm plastered into a by-the-numbers Western fantasy setting.

And like. D&D has always had a really confused setting (except in D&D 4e which was the only time the designers actually stopped to examine the implied setting of the game but I digress), and to say that it's based on Medieval Europe gives it way too much credit. D&D's setting is based on Medieval Europe sans any of the material factors that made Medieval Europe what it was, and with an added Wild Western frontier and a number of other anachronisms that betray the fact that D&D is a really American game. It's fantasy polytheism plus literal different species with magic genetics and Fucking Wizards.

All of which to say, the fact that D&D tried to appeal to a wider segment of the audience isn't bad, nor does it shatter the verisimilitude of D&D's already quite confused worldbuilding. D&D is still an extremely American game, and much in the same way as previous editions of D&D were only "Medieval" on the surface without actually accounting for any of that shit in their worldbuilding, modern D&D approaches the idea of non-hegemonic ideas of gender and sexuality but is afraid to commit. Now, the fact that D&D has always had confused worldbuilding doesn't, in my opinion, excuse the fact that as a game and a text it is afraid to actually commit to trying to be speculative fiction that is willing to examine what gender and sexuality might be like in a literal magic world. But knowing anything about D&D's past worldbuilding should dispel any notion that it was in any way sincerely based on Medieval Europe and not a theme park vision of Medieval Europe.

People have objected to the comparison between D&D fans and gaylors in terms of imagined gayness but like. I'm sorry babes, but the gayness of D&D literally is imagined.

D&D has queer representation in its art and fiction, this is true. Does that representation actually matter for the sake of the themes of the game and its gameplay, as presented in the game? No. You can decide that your elf is gay, and hey, who wouldn't, but the game will just stare at you blankly and not do anything with that information. It's literally fluff in the same sense that your character having blue eyes or being left-handed is. As written the game has nowhere to go with from that information.

But even more so, the thing that inspired that post was people insisting that D&D's gameplay and fiction does somehow interface with queer experiences and is, actually, meaningfully about the experiences of a queer found family and sorry I'm not going to mince words here but that part you straight up did hallucinate.

[sageshouldknowbetter]

So… what are those weird “twin” beings?

In my opinion, one of the terrifying parts of Severance S2E4 was when those Mandela Catalog analog horror-type… things showed up to point the way for the refiners. (This whole episode seems to be pretty inspired by analog horror. I was half-convinced that at the beginning, Mr. Milchick was going to turn into a distorted police sketch captioned “The Milker 😈😱” or something.)

So… what’s their deal? I’m going to explain why I believe they’re not clones, actors, or robots… but something else altogether.

First, they don’t have coats. The twins are outside in an extremely cold climate, standing there for who knows how long, and they don’t. Have. Coats.

If they were really clones (or even hired actors), wouldn’t they need to be warm too? Why would Lumon risk damaging what they undoubtedly worked so hard on (or popsicle-ifying an employee) by dropping them in a freezing climate with no protection?

Some clone truthers would argue that maybe the clones can’t feel pain or sensations yet. They’re not finished: maybe fixing their brains is what MDR is working on. But I find the idea that they are somehow super-resistant to weather a bit harder to swallow. And while the innies are at least smart enough to avoid danger and seek safety, a clone unable to feel pain and with a half-formed brain would have no self-preservation instinct. They might be curious about what happens when they insert a stick between their ribs or go cheerfully gallivanting off a cliff like some kind of suicidal Roomba. Boom. Millions of dollars down the drain.

And there’s another thing they don’t have: footprints. Lumon-hired actors have footprints. Robots have footprints. Clones would have footprints. But the doppelgängers… don’t.

For the clear shots of shadow Helly and shadow Mark, we just see them appear with no tracks to show how they got there. We don’t even hear boots crunching in snow. The only explanations are a) Lumon somehow shot them up to the surface on a Hunger Games-style platform (implying that the ORTBO wasn’t actually outside), b) they got some poor guy (probably Milchick) to hurriedly cover up the footprints as they made them for Maximum Creepy Effect, or c) whatever these things are, they’re not corporeal.

I’d vouch for the latter. Because no matter how dramatic Lumon is, I really don’t think they’d spend THAT egregious an amount of money for a bit of extra goosebumps.

So, then… what are they? I’d say some kind of hologram or Lumon-approved hallucination.

I don’t think the ORTBO actually took place outside. There are many reasons for this. The TV at the beginning and the theremin needed to be plugged into something, there was a large room on Petey’s map called “team-building,” Milchick’s walkie-talkie range would be too small, it’s too risky for Lumon to ask outies to shut off their brains for multiple days in the middle of nowhere… and Lumon wouldn’t actually let the innies outside. Not because it would be dangerous for them, necessarily — but because it would be dangerous for the company.

Lumon doesn’t actually need to take them outside. They don’t want to cause a potential PR scandal from the outies talking about the “work retreat” or risk one of them running away. All they need to do — the whole purpose of the ORTBO — is to make them think the outside world is a terrible place and never want to go there again. The cold is real. The hunger is real. The danger is real (to an extent). But the environment… is not real.

So they can project holograms. They can power the TV and theremin. Milchick can remove the Glasgow BLOCK (the term “block” implies Helly WOULD have usually appeared but was blocked from doing so, and the only place that could happen is the severed floor). They make some basic holograms clearly based on the MDR group picture and boot them up. They don’t need to be realistic. All that matters is the message gets across.

Now all that’s left to wonder is: if Mark and the team were surprised at this team-building, that implies that they’ve never done it before. So how did Petey find it and map it? And why was one of the twins behind Mark in S2E1? We might never know.

[everdeensworld]

HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN TEN DAYS | chapter one

summary: for an assignment you are tasked to lose a guy in ten days, the guy happening to be the one and only finnick odair.

pairings: finnick odair x journalist!reader

authors note: this has been sitting its ass in my drafts for the past few days but i finally got around to writing it, my brain was full of ideas and i couldn’t choose

parts: chapter one, other chapters coming soon.

journalism had been your dream since you had been able to read and write, you used to steal your mothers newspaper just to study the way people wrote, the beauty in reading how other people shared their thoughts, their opinions on things.

an outlet.

though of-course you hadn’t expected it to be so hard to achieve, so controlling, that you’d practically be unable to write what you want to but what you have to.

“you want me to what?” your jaw dropped, the woman, your boss, who stood before you, a clear grin in her face. “well, ever since katniss and peeta won the games, love is in! it’s all the rage here in the capitol.”

you wanted to roll your eyes. “love is a trend? i don’t see how that’s—”

“nevermind the logistics of it.” your boss waves you off. “you are a desirable woman, i want you to write a piece on what not to do, dating wise, i want you to find a guy, a cute one, date him for ten days, and drive him away, write about it so our love obsessed citizens know what not to do.”

“isn’t that a little cruel?”

she scoffs. “choose someone who won’t care then, like..” she trails off, eyes glancing the room of the capitol victors party, katniss and peeta’s party, “what about gloss, he’s a good looking guy, a victor too.”

you glance over the boy, he was handsome, he was charming, and he had asked you out multiple times before, he was pushy, you gave your boss a apprehensive look, hoping this was just a time and you could forget about this whole ordeal and pass the assignment on to a apprentice.

“if you do this, i will give you your own column, to write about whatever you want.” she bribed, a wolfish grin on her face.

that caught your attention, you did desperately want to be able to have free reign over your work, your writing, to be able to express yourself through your work, and this might be your opportunity.

but to mess with someone’s emotions like that to get what you want, it was wrong.

“oh come on!” your boss scoffed. “i promise it won’t be personal, besides, you’re going to drive him away! he’s not going to care, he’ll be fed up with you by the end, you’re the only one of my employees that i trust is a good enough writer to write this!”

you bite your lip and sigh. “fine! but i get not a column, but a whole page, and i get to choose the guy!”

your boss mulls the idea over before sighing, a fed up sigh, punching her nose. “fine! if you must, a whole page just for you, now trot on— go find yourself a suitor.”

a glass of the capitols finest alcohol was in the capitols finest glass, in his hand. he had finally managed to fend off everyone asking for his autograph, questions about his game and lots of other pointless things too.

his game was almost ten years ago, you would think they’d be bored of him by now, with the way trends change here in the capitol, yet they haven’t.

gloss laughs at his exhausted look. “wow man, you look beat.”

“i am beat, i wish they’d all just leave me alone sometimes, all the time.” he corrects himself, sipping on the alcoholic beverage, the drink is sour, and stings as it goes down but once its in his system he can’t help but enjoy the buzz the drink gives him.

“get yourself a girl, distract yourself.” goss tells him patting his shoulder, finnick scoffed. “from the capitol no way.”

gloss shrugged, “i don’t know man, not all the chicks here are that bad.” he slurred.

“i’ll tell you what, let’s make a bet, see that girl over there.” gloss grabs him, spinning finnick around to face you, finnick noticed you right away, you were speaking to a very pink looking woman, her skin was dyed pink, and she wore pink from head to toe.

your clothes were more cooler tones, you still had a capitol look to you, clean, and it was quite clear you weren’t poor. you looked shy, like you wanted to be anywhere else but here, you didn’t fit in with the rest of the people that were in the room.

you intrigued him.

“she is extremely wanted round’ here.” he says with a grin. “i’ve tried it before, she will not let up, all the men here want her because she’s so untouchable, i will give you anything you want if you can make her fall in love with you, literally anything.”

finnick thought for a moment, there was really nothing he needed, but he was intrigued by you, and it couldn’t hurt, besides, gloss said he could have anything, and finnick had a couple of things in mind.

[doueverwonder]

Hi and welcome back to dumb ideas I had at 2 am and had to write immediately: the largest argument among Spanish speaking states is actually what an avocado is called in Spanish. Gov's getting ready to ban avocados from the statehouse all together just to end the argument.

~~~~~

Why California had decided to bring Florida to the grocery store with her she would never remember, but here he was. It was Saturday afternoon and the store was packed. The fact that they even found a parking spot seemed a miracle, but there were people everywhere, the lights were buzzing adding to the sound and Cal had forgotten their damn list so it just had to try to remember everything off the top of her head. 

“Can you stop that?” California turned huffing, as Florida accidentally bumped the cart into her again because he wasn’t paying attention. 

“I’m not doing it on purpose” the smile he had however told them everything they needed to know about the truthfulness of that statement. 

It shook her head, looking at the cart trying to remember the last thing. There were too many sounds, the aisles felt narrower than usual, she could picture what she needed but couldn’t remember the word for the life of her; “We need um… the green things, they have seeds?” 

“Grapes?” Florida offered, seemingly interested by the new guessing game. 

“No, no, not seeds…” dammit why was this so hard, “pits” 

“Pagua?” 

“What?”  

“Pagua” 

California only looked more confused, “Saying it again doesn’t tell me what it is,” 

“It's um…” Florida contracted a similar look to California, trying to remember the word in English, multitasking was not his strong suit and it spread to every part of his life. He repeated the word in Spanish to himself a few times as if doing that would suddenly make him remember. 

“You forgot the word” 

“So did you, at least I remember it in one language” Florida didn’t explain where he was going taking off with the cart, California quickly following behind. 

Even though they had already been there earlier Florida headed right back to the produce section, finally spotting what he was looking for, so did California, both at the same time reading the sign and exclaiming “avocado!” 

California began what was more or less a ritual when it came to picking out ones that were close enough to being ripe she wouldn’t forget about them and let them get overripe on the counter, but also ones that weren’t so ripe it would have five minutes once it had left the store to eat it. Florida mimicked California picking one up and carefully inspecting it, he however picked up one of the aforementioned too ripe ones and accidentally squeezed too hard. He looked around quickly before putting it back and wiping the greenish-brown sludge on his pants, trying to pretend like nothing had happened. 

Cali was halfway through finding the perfect avocados when she looked up suddenly, “Wait, what did you call them?” 

“Pagua, what else would you call them?” 

“Aguacate, the right name for them.” California was usually pretty accepting of others views and opinions, what avocados were called in Spanish was however not something they would compromise on. 

“That’s subjective,” Florida was hanging off the shopping cart, California rushing just a bit more to pick them out because she knew Florida wouldn’t stop if asked and was more likely to knock over the cart then anything. 

“It's not subjective, they call them aguacate in Spain.” 

“Since when is mom the authority on the Spanish language?” California actually couldn’t argue with that, Spain had lost the rights to her own language years ago. 

For the sake of being right though… “Since she invented it?” 

“Bullshit!” Florida half yelled, Cal was somewhere between embarrassed, mostly because there were small children not far from them, and relieved because at least with that he had gotten off the side of the cart. 

“It's not bullshit, they’re called aguacate” for emphasis she waved one in the air… moments before committing the same mistake as Florida and squeezing it a little too hard. Florida laughed as she also just carefully checked for employees before returning the mangled fruit back to its spot and deciding maybe it was time to go. 

~~~~~

California was on their way up to the West floor with its groceries when it ran into someone she never would have expected to be happy to see, “Texas!” 

He stopped turning to look at her confused by the excitement, “California?” 

Florida showed up another bag in his arms, “Look Flo, you’ll see,” she set one of the bags down and dug around for a moment before pulling out an avocado, “Tex what do you call this?” 

“An avocado?” 

“In Spanish dumbass,” Florida commented, “I call it pagua, she calls it aguacate, we need you to break the tie” 

Texas looked between the two for a moment, clearly he knew it was aguacate, anyone with half a brain cell knew that. Which is why Florida didn’t know that. Of course he didn’t want California to win, but he didn’t want to look like he had less than half a brain cell either… he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, when he realized there was a way out. 

He adjusted his hat, waiting for all hell to break lose, “palta, obviously”

[burning2know]

Since people seem to be interested in inferring the real political opinions of the devs (or whoever's vision was realized in these games), here are some shower thoughts.

disclaimer: just some personal observation, i'm pretty ignorant about history and politics.

So imo, Anders follows very much the cultural narrative of a post 9/11 world (at least in my bubble). Violence is bad (especially terrorism), and we're meant to not fall prey to its tantalizing justifications because that's a slippery slope to war, genocide, the whole nine yards and then some. (We had to allow some time to mske it okay to even talk about capital T terror and sympathizing with perps).

DAI sets Solas up to redeem the writers for Anders, potentially. And given recent events in the past, idk, few months, year, I've seen that north american society no longer thinks about violence the way I thought it did (yes social media has a big role to play in that). Considering this background, da4 seems weirdly regressive and also on trend, all things considered. Opinions on the quality of the game notwithstanding.

Now I feel like the expressed-in-public sentiment is that violence is okay depending on which side you agree with because peaceful protests don't do fuck all, whereas some 10 odd years ago, it was that we like the change but not the violence to bring them about... Because change without violence is possible. But we've proven to ourselves time and again that the chsnge that happens without violence is overwhelmingly one-sidedly benefitting the powerful. There are through-lines over time, for sure, but things were indeed not always like this. The narrative of who is allowed to be sympathetic used to be controlled by keeping us ignorant, whereas now, it's being controlled by moral imperatives. Because it's gotten a lot easier to know.

Judging by what made it into the artbook, they were never going go where I hoped. But I think the da4 libs aren't quite the same flavour as the DA2/DAI libs. And that's... Something (neutral). Whether that reflects a single perspn on the team's views or the company's, I can't say. But it tracks with what I think is the zeitgeist.

However. I think it'd be remiss to not account for the change in leadership and vision of the world of thedas between dai and da4. To argue that the writers had always been like this is to ignore a major part of the problem. I felt that something had fundamentally shifted between dai and da4. The op's critique not withstanding (and I think you're right). The characterizations in dai were a hell of a lot more progressive than in da4, if only by virtue of da4 being extremely regressive through its bare-faced simplicity. In a nut shell, I just don't believe that the people who created Mythal and Flemeth and Morrigan would write the characters in da4. And it aggrieves me to have them lumped together with the likes of miserable little epler... They are not the same. This was not always the world view of DA.

Lastly, and this point is inane af, but I offer a more mechanistic explanation of the grace offered to blackwall. blackwall killed a single noble family, you can count that on one, mayhe two hands. Servants do not count as real people (I come back to this later, bear with me). anders and solas sought to destroy institutions forming the very fabric of society. The latter is much more visibly destructive, obviously, since such visible destruction is the ultimate goal. Whereas the violence perpetrated by the accepted authorities and instutions are so mundane as to be invisible or inevitable or "do not count" just as the servants thom rainier killed did not count. It's seemingly worse on an utilitarian scale. this often is used as justification against non-sanctioned violence and progressive ideas in general.

genuinely curious how the writers and larger dragon age audience would treat thom rainier if instead of being appropriately* repentant and putting himself in prison he blew up a major orlesian government building to instigate a chevalier rebellion or tried to have someone do some necromantic blood magic ritual involving uncertain danger and possible sacrifices to bring the innocent children he ordered killed back to life

[sir-adamus]

Same anon from before, I'm pretty new to the FNDM (I started it back in the summer) so let's say I was pretty fucking confused when I searched up the show on social media and saw all the negativity surrounding it. Like, if the show was super controversial then I would understand, but it's pretty much on the same level on most western cartoons nowadays

I need someone to enlighten me on why RWBY in particular is so dogpiled on... I don't know if it's the audience that Monty-era attracted or bad luck or what but it's just annoying we have to put up with it constantly

You know that one comic panel of the guy sat in the pool who's being laughed at because he's the only one who didn't pee in the water? Yeah that perfectly encapsulates what it's like when you say anything good or positive about RWBY 😭

the show attracted a demographic of buzzkill assholes from the moment it started who decided it was the new thing to mock and shit on, because it was 2013 and we were still in the height of the era of irony poisoning where being genuine or caring about anything made you a subject of mockery - so an amateur show that wasn't perfect from the word jump and genuinely believed in the story it was telling was the perfect punching bag for a crowd of losers desperate to make themselves look cool to all the other irony-poisoned losers

i think after that they stuck around simply because the show didn't shrivel up and die like they convinced themselves that it would (to the point that they have now deluded themselves into believing that nobody ever liked the show and that it was never successful which is hilarious considering the international success it's seen and, oh yeah, nine seasons, a spinoff anime, multiple books, multiple games and two movies), so it just became sunk cost fallacy - if they admit they wasted all this time shitting on a show that provably is a success, then they look like idiots. sticking to their guns, continuing to try and parasocially bully a web cartoon under the belief that eventually they'll convince everyone that it's bad and it'll disappear forever and prove that they're smarter than everyone else, and won't make them look like weird pathetic losers and idiots at all

like you have to be a special kind of weird and pathetic to create a subreddit just for shitting on a web series under the guise of 'criticism' (like, guys, you're not critics. you have no qualifications in media studies, you provably have no understanding of media production. you're dumbasses whining on the internet about a show you don't like. and it's weird), that is primarily screenshotting positivity on social media and whining about it in your little circlejerk (and then harassing anyone who complains about being harassed by these morons because you're incapable of any kind of self-awareness, and yes i am talking about one specific idiot in this example, he was doing that shit this morning)

it's like, the sunk cost desperation to avoid admitting being wrong, and an utterly pathetic desperation for attention - the contrarian, the devil's advocate, the dickhead who always has an opinion that is intentionally inflammatory just to get a reaction. and because these losers are holed up in their little circlejerk all the time it's given them a completely warped idea of acceptable behaviour and they will just be unpleasant little slimes not just in response to fans posting fanart and fanfic but to the creatives involved, actors, artists, animators, the creator's own brother - there is no depth they won't stoop to because ignoring reality in favour of being 'right' matters more to them than any basic sense of decency

and i invite them to go outside, up to some stranger on the street and act like that and see where it gets them

[edenorisshitposting]

I'm seeing a lot of posts about how we should listen to Jewish voices when it comes to harry potter game antisemitism, but not a lot of posts by Jewish people about the harry potter game...

[lucabyte]

On autonomy, and what it means to be Obliged to Help.

Bonus:

[rosesparkes]

i know i should of listened to you! he took videos that aren't his and posted as 'his' and lied about his identity of what he looked like. all the love and feelings i had for him is over my head. like I honestly don't give 2 shits about him cause he made me feel not enough and had me feel drained, my mental and physical health, and all we did was argue with him lusting and following half-naked girls and I'm just so happy im not in the relationship with him like that's why I feel my spark is back, I'm glowing, and i feel so free. some bikers on biketok im cool with but nothing but acquaintances supporting each others content. ugh that's why i know my worth and know what i want in a man that im DONE with long-distance he was my last straw

what in the actual...that's so crazy, he seems messy is what I'm getting the impression cause like why would he go through all that if he just wants to be a librarian point blank. yikes 19th? that's 10 days, are you looking into other jobs or seeing where this goes after your contract?. have you read any new releases? I finished 'deep end' and was a 4.5 star! it was soo good, I haven't found my 5 star book :/

I'M SORRY I'LL GET TO IT I PROMISE!!!

i haven't watched TFIOS since it got released in theaters totally forgot the character was named augustus but i love the nickname 'augie' i use in the book! I PROMSE YOUR CHARACTER DOES NOT BETRAY HER! she's friends with seraphina but not close as Winnie (Sera's bff) but through out the fake dating Piper and Seraphina's friendship gets close helping her out

i haven't watched the second season yet!

omg omg march? ahhhh yes! once its def let me know and we can set something up! OH MY GOODNESS YES I AM SO FLIPPING STOKED LIKE YES I NEEDED THAT SO BADLY! have you read the books yet? also did you hear Noah is rumored being Garrett in 'the deal' everyones hating but i pictured noah from garrett so i don't have a problem. my opinion with LIS new game? i know they are continuing the franchise but the OG ones will be the realest ones, i feel like they are running out of ideas

I'm feeling rosie cause her album helped me with my break up +you see me as rosie

OMG WHAT THE DOUBLE FUCK….but like I told u not to die boys on biketok they’re SO MESSED UP like. but the girl on the side is wild YOU BETTER GET UR SPARK MA'AM U SHOULD SETTLE FOR UR LEVEL

okay so basicallyy every month he threatens to come back but he still is not so yeah and now he’s building up a file filled w therapists session and all that to say “look im suitable to get my job back” BUT MIND U HE WANTS TO COME BACK BUT CANNOT FACE CLIENTS, CANT DO REPETITIVE MOVEMENTS AND NOT LIFT HEAVY STUFF….. HE WANTS TO BE A LIBRARIAN!!!!!!!!!!!! that is all we do LIKE?? anyway for now my contract stops at feb 19th SOOO WE SHALL SEE, right now i’m kinda wondering what book should I read next ngl idk!!

PLEASE CAN U HURRY SO I CAN TALK TO U ABOUT IT

OMG miles like in colleen hoover’s “ugly love” I LOVE THAT. OKAY OKAY augustus like in the fault in our stars we love to see it. PLS MAKE SURE I DONT BETRAY HER CAUSE HONESTLY I READ A BOOK WHERE THE BFF JUST SELLS HER TO HER WORST ENEMY IS VANISHES LIKE SDFGHGFDS MY 13TH REASONS ISTG

xo kitty season 2 WAS BOMB btw

I WILL DEF GO i think in march!! also this is very true BTW HAVE U SEEN THEY ARE DOING A FUCKING SEQUEL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO HAPPY THIS IS AMAZING !!!!!!!!!!!!!! omg yes but looking back at the last one i am so scared i am very doubtful now :// wbu what do you think about it??

OMG I HAVE NO IDEA GIRL who are u feeling?

[egophiliac]

I love ur twst pokemon au but I have exactly one complaint: Lilia doesn't have a Noivern

Mr pop rock bat without the sound bat??? Seems like a crime of some kind

(This is intended to be all lighthearted sorry if it comes off as otherwise!!!)

thanks! :> it's a boring reason, but I didn't give him one because it's not, like, a real AU or anything with full teams; it's just me drawing the guys with some pokemon according to a couple of arbitrary rules I made up! I wanted to keep it to just one or two each, and I was already pushing it by giving him three, so. 🤷 if you want him to have a Noivern, he can have a Noivern in your heart!

[dykedvonte]

One of my mutuals opinions is the "bro code" thing, that Curly is one of those guys who wouldn't care about the victim because the perpetrator is his friend and I'm really banging my head on the wall like that other anon. I've only played through the game once but Curly's behaviour/reactions etc read completely different from the "bro code" thing and I have to wonder if my mutual and I even played the same game.. like the constant digs at him from Jimmy, his body language in his face reveal and so on like you mentioned in your post. While this game is a little different obviously, it kind of reminded of a point in Alice Madness Returns that makes it very clear that Alice's pain blinded her to the abuse of the other children and her failure to act earlier because of it. Curly is guilty of a similar inaction but it doesn't change the fact he was a victim of Jimmy too. I don't think I can look at it any other way because both of these games have really stuck with me.

I genuinely think it really is the idea that people want a simple easy to blame problem and the idea that the only relatable victims of abuse are those that "surpass" it or do a lot to help others. When it comes to victims, especially those that don't fit the typical demographics, who either accidently perpetuate it, enable it or aren't ideal in some way shape or form, people jump to ignore what they went through as it's easier than dealing with those conflicting sentiments.

The bro-code conversation in Mouthwashing stems from a concept I generally dislike that there had to be something about Curly that made him meet or keep being friends with someone like Jimmy. I think people genuinely underestimate how many like decent and good people just know an asshole or are friends with someone who is really bad outside of their view/established dynamics. The game makes it clear none of the inaction against Jimmy is because of a lack of care, it is a lack of understanding from the privaleged postions they have as men to not have to worry about what Anya does/went through and the type of extremes men like Jimmy will go through to cover it up. They are all too preoccupied in their own strifes.

Another thing I see being oversaturated the idea that you have to be a freak, misanthrope or have a disorder to do the thing Jimmy does. The game is an escalation, it's a spiral that I don't see people comment on that Jimmy was not likely having the mood swings and episodes of rage/frustration we were seeing in the game. This is after they all start experiencing the worst moments in their lives that he got THAT openly bad. Of course, this is just my interpretation but much like in real life, people that go to extremes like that usually live mundane lives. It's a pressure cooker affect to where the stress made them pop. It's self inflicted but still the case.

I really think people need to be more willing to acknowledge that not everything needs to be an extreme or in black and white or easy to understand. It doesn't need to be happy or have an answer or solution, especially in the cases where the abused sadly helps perpetuate what they experience. It's not he should've known better from experience or shouldn't he have known what could've happened because victims tend to not like to think in matters of the worst. Not to mention, especially in cases of abuse where it feels so personally directed that you don't expect to happen to someone else.

[toxintouch]

I am headcanoning Mhin's monster transformation as being related to their emotions (as in: transformation can be triggered by very strong emotions) SO HARD lately.

It would add an extra layer to Vere constantly trying to piss them off that just ⋆˗ˋˏ Makes Sense ˎˊ˗⋆ to me.

Vere is intrigued by the MC, describing them as "not quite human, not quite monster".

Is it safe to assume that Vere felt similarly intrigued by Mhin? That he picked up on that, smelled it on Mhin when they first met, only to have Mhin stab him on sight? And now Vere is constantly pushing at their raw nerves to try and get a Monstrous reaction out of Mhin... It would add an extra layer to their dynamic that I love to consider.

Alternate theory: The transformation is more werewolf-esque and it's related to something that can be astronomically observed. & that's how Mhin started up their stargazing hobby?? But it's kinda cuter if they just enjoy that for it's own sake, amiright?

P.S. if ur wondering how Vere knows about the emotions trigger he knows bc he can Do That Thing