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

[headspace-hotel]

feels like I've cornered myself with the story I was writing cause like...I decided it was a future world, and the choices I make about the landscape and ecology of The Future have a ton of implications.

Most future-world stories are profoundly empty ecologically. It's a foundational assumption of this type of story: setting a story in the future means extinct animals and desolated wastelands just like setting a story in fairy tale world means magic and castles and fairies.

Creatively, it's pretty lazy. On a deeper level, it means that we have fully accepted the idea that extinction and desolation are the future, to the point that it doesn't even occur to us to imagine anything else.

I played a short game about a week ago, a sort of point-and-click exploration game set in the future, with a throwaway line about how hard it was to believe that a place like the Amazon rainforest used to exist. It was jarring. The Amazon rainforest, wiped from existence in a single line of dialogue, never to be revisited.

What is this doing on a storytelling level? Does it establish the setting, impart to us the themes being conveyed? I don't know, because I'm too stuck on why it could be used in the first place. Implicitly, the elimination of the Amazon rainforest conformed to the setting and genre expectation, such that it didn't need context or explanation.

This kind of "future world" setting clue has lost its meaning as a call to action or a warning about what could come to pass. It is just...an acknowledgement that we are in the future.

And this, in my opinion, is a betrayal of the purpose of dystopia, science fiction, and speculative fiction in general. Spec fic is about envisioning something outside of our world that resonates with the problems and possibilities within our world. If it delves no deeper and aims no higher than the vague miasma of despair that surrounds us, there's no insight or exploration. It is the equivalent of those nauseatingly dull literary fictions about English professors having affairs.

[sockatoothewafflebird]

okay so i found this s1 and s2 intro comparison video and i'm going feral about it. i have a lot to say. i think the intro poses some very important theories and ideas and i'd like to post my take about it. this is about arcane btw

i made a comment about this on the video itself but there's a lot more i wanted to say. in short, the comment said:

season one's intro focuses on the surface-level ideas of the characters. each one is either decked out in their gear or holding their weapons, or whatever things make them who they are. i think it's super cool for that, but season two's focuses solely on lighting and the characters themselves.

as another post mentioned, all of the characters are in very generic clothing, with nothing but them to observe. no gear, no weapons, no items, other than viktor holding his mask (the same way he held the book last season mind you) and the medardas with the rose. they're going to be stripped bare in this season.

the lighting is made so it highlights their faces, their posture, their body language. we're not looking at characters in a show anymore. we're looking at people.

that's the big main idea of all of this, but there's a lot more to talk about, so i'll put the rest under the cut so nonone has to scroll for hours to get past this post if they don't want to read everything. and there are a heap of season two spoilers under the cut as well, just beware.

anyway, we start out the intro with vi. let's take a really close look at this because holy shit.

we start with her sitting there, in nothing but a tank top (and i think not even a bra lmao) and she brings her hand to her face and smudges her tattoo. the tattoo with her name on it. the tattoo that helped maddie nolan recognize her.

and then the pink strip of light HIGHLIGHTS IT. that's her name, that's who she is, and she smudged it. it's probably a tattoo so the smudge in the intro is lore symbolic than anything, unless you can just easily remove tattoos in the league of legends universe. but anyway, yeah, she's having an identity crisis. she doesn't know who she is anymore.

next, we have jinx. parallel to last season's intro vi and jinx are back to back. but in this season they're sitting down. while vi is sitting, contemplative, her sister stands up and shoots.

i think comparing this with s1 is very important. in s1 vi and powder are a carving, cut from the same stone. and there they are in season two, now their own people, now walking away from one another. it's a very clever way to present their dynamic in my opinion.

it's important to point out that vi sits down and the light illuminates her smudged tattoo, while when jinx stands and shoots the light highlights her eye. i'm not sure what to make of it but it's interesting.

let's move on to ekko!

so, when it switches to him, we can see him standing alone in an empty room, the light making it so he has two shadows. they move bit by bit, like the hands of a clock.

i think that's a really cool detail because, for those who don't know much about league of legends, ekko's ability in the game is time-related. what it means for his arc in s2 i'm not quite certain on, but i have a really big theory i'll talk about in another post soon.

on to the next bit, viktor! unfortunately there's a 10-image limit on mobile and i dont have a computer right now so i'll continue this in another post. also i don't want this to be pages and pages long... so stay tuned cause ive got a lot of shit to say lmao.

made a new blog tag, just search arcane intro analysis in my blog and you'll find all posts relating to arcane's intro. more to come!!!

[scentedpeachlandcreator]

Can I rant and ask for advice as well?

Because everyone is like “oh, just persist”, “ignore 3D”, “once you assume, it’s already yours”. But guess fucking what? I’ve been doing it but where the hell is everything I’m manifesting. It’s mine now right? So, why can’t I use it? To give context, there’s a contest I joined. And I’m aiming for the grand prize. Literally, believed that it’s mine. Just waiting for that email confirmation since the winner was supposed to be announced/notified last week. And nothing. The fuck is this??

Also, with regards to manifesting, I have been having a hard time. Because if I believe, and I do, but why is not in 3D. I can ignore 3D, but I also need what I’m manifesting here in 3D cause damn I want you to start changing my life.

I keep on spiralling. Cause why the fuck is it not here when it’s supposed to be instant? The fuck am I doing wrong. I’m so tired and exasperated!! Cause what the fuck is this? If I’m god, whatever I think/believe is. So why isn’t it?

Like I’m changing my self-concept to someone who’s lucky and win whatever I join in. But I just joined a game today (different from the contest), and I’m the only one who left not winning anything. Even when I’m consciously manifesting.

Wtf is this? What am I doing wrong?

Can you just give me the simplest and easiest and fastest way to manifest cause this is making me cry more that it is helping me.

Okay here's my opinion.

You are sooo focused on the 3d and i understand that because if i was in your position i'll do the same thing.

But let's look at it from another perspective.

If you were a lucky person, would you feel confident that you'll win? Of course you will.

That a state you will have, you'll identify with someone who's lucky and Always win in any game or competition, you feel me?

I'll tell you a little scenario that happened when i watched Harry Potter (if you know it lol):

Ron was going to play the quidditch game and he was going to play as the guard, but he felt super stressed and he really wanted to do good in the game so their team would win, so Harry told him that he literally putted the Lucky potion in his drink so ron quickly drank it and felt super good but then, hermione told harry why did you put it in his drink and that it was a stupid Idea, Harry told her that he didn't put the Lucky potion, he literally tricked Ron into thinking that he putted the Lucky potion in his drink, and Guess what? Ron won the game.

You understood it? That means it all about Mindset, if you were confident that you'll win in your game, it was going to happen.

Confident means that you are so sure that it gonna happen and you'll win the game.

What makes you confident? Because you know that you already have it in imagination, it already happened, it like you watched a movie so many times that you know the drill, you know what going to happen next, so treat imagination as that.

Persist in imagination do not persist in the 3d.

When you see something happening in the 3d, go check your 4d instead.

When they Say that you already have your desires, they mean that there's a reality where that version of you already won that game.

I advice you to read this post.

If you want more information read this.

Don't be sad, you Can Always revise and change it, even if it too late.

Remember: consciousness is the only reality.

Xoxo, Eli

[apostaterevolutionary]

So. Veilguard impressions so far (I’m about 13.5 hours in). Most of these are mechanical as I don’t feel like I’ve gotten enough time with the companions/story to have many opinions on it, but I feel like I at least have some opinions worth noting lmao (mostly no spoilers but like. Maybe a little so read at your own discretion)

Things I like:

I’m honestly still shocked my computer can actually run it and overall very well too

Character creator is super detailed, I love that

I keep falling off of ledges lmfao so I’m glad there’s no penalty for that

You can pet all the cats and dogs!!!!!

Also love that there’s no carry weight to contend with but I still get to pick up a ton of random items. It satisfies by urge to pick up anything that isn’t nailed down. This is great, especially after bg3 sksks (which I also enjoy as a game but pls why does gold have weight 😭)

So far I like the new companions a lot and I do enjoy these early game little almost… domestic? Or just small scale? Quests you have with them? Idk I dig it. I wasn’t sure about the ‘bond’ thing at first but on further reflection I like that you can gain approval-equivalent just by bringing them along. Makes things easier

I don’t dislike the vibes tbh like I’ve seen people say ‘oh it’s too happy and positive’ and like. Okay yeah 2 of the 3 companions you recruit early on are very bubbly but we also got blight horror all over the place so idk, maybe this is a complaint I’ll understand later but right now I don’t agree with it

Oh and I love the lantern system for when companions have dialogue - it’s a clever way of signifying when they’re all in different buildings

Things I don’t like:

I kinda get what people are saying about the handholding. Why do I need a little tip to tell me ‘[companion] has noted that you told them [thing you just said]’ 😭

Also while the new companions are fun, I do think Harding got hit pretty hard with ‘previous game lore dump’ duty cause damn. Admittedly I don’t remember her personality in inquisition super well but a lot of her dialogue just feels. Off in that way. I get it was necessary to do it somehow but. Oof. I feel bad for her cause it makes me less interested in her 😔

This is minor but I don’t like how when you load a save, it’s not actually where you saved. It’s at the last fast travel point. So it’s like. I found this hard-to-find spot last night. Saved. Planned to continue the quest the next day. Except! I have to find the spot again! And I forgot where it was! Why!!! This is absolutely a remnant of when it was a live service game but woof, why keep that in

Also bringing back the 100 save limit - actual worst feature of inquisition, why the hell would they keep it 💀 if anyone knows a mod to fix this, pls let me know, I need to have like 800 saves per run or I’ll die okay

And this is the big one tbh. I’m sorry but I really don’t like the combat 😶 like. Every boss fight is just the arishok fight except with help. Getting Lucanis has given some improvement cause now there’s at least another melee target on the field but at this point, I’m looking for a stealth option on that giant skill tree (why is it so big! I have no idea what I’m doing with it!!!) so I can go full skyrim (stealth archer) lmao. I’m hoping when I actually get to recruit a warrior (why is this the last class you get, that feels backwards), it’ll get more playable cause I’ll actually have a tank. Right now I just cannot understand why everyone says this is fun, I have had pretty much no fun in any of the fights (I’m becoming the person I was poking fun at before when I said it’s weird to play games if you don’t like half of it skskdk. Also ngl I would not be powering through if this were not a game I already had a vested interest in). Also how did anyone play a mage and make it through the first 10 hours, like I have NO idea. I’m very glad I didn’t, it’s hard enough with a rogue

Neutral observations/thoughts:

I’ve decided to play rook as like. A discount version of hawke? Cause I feel like that’s the kind of person varric would seek out, like a spark of the familiar is what drew Varric to them. And that’s adding a bit of fun headcanon flavour

(Also I have some suspicions that things are not as they seem with Varric but. We’ll see on that I suppose)

Also it’s funny cause I’ve always been a Solas neutral person (like him well enough but never understood why he was such a big deal to either the lovers or the haters). But I do find him more annoying here lmao. Maybe cause I’m rping too hard and Rook finds him annoying but I just think it’s funny

Also genuinely could not imagine this being someone’s first DA game sksks they are going to have no idea what’s going on lore-wise

[possiblyreallyme]

Oooo headcannon’s…If possible can we get Ace with a reader who’s fire resistant due to a devil fruit?

Hello!!! I love love love receiving your asks! i'm so sorry this took so long, i finished writing it at the start of november but it got deleted when i went to post it😭

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He is a silly goose at heart, and if you're his friend, you'll need to be ready for a few pranks once he finds out about your fire-resistance. For example, setting you ablaze when meeting strangers because their reactions are priceless, or annoying you with little fire-punches that have flames licking at your cheeks when sat next to each other at dinner (his fist never actually came in contact with your skin— he's not that stupid), or anything else he can come up with.

Also, expect a lot of testing. Like, constantly bothering you and begging you to be a guinea pig for the new move he's been wanting to try, or seeing how hot he can make his flames by slowly trying to burn your palm, things like that. Of course he'd be careful if you were unsure of it, but he would trust you enough to be 100% confident that you'd be fine if you told him that there was no way he could burn you.

If he had a crush on you though, he's a little bit more careful. Yes, he knows that you won't get burned no matter what, but with the added complexity of having feelings for you, he doesn't really want to risk anything. That doesn't mean he won't show off though, because trust me, he loves to do that.

He'll create firework shows just for you, or come up with excuses to use his powers whenever he can— including warming you up by making himself a human bonfire.

Now, if you're his lover, the whole game changes.

If you were a badass, cool, tough kinda babe, he has little issue with creating small flames in the palm of his hand and letting you play around with them, but that's about where he draws the line before he gets too worried. If you were the sweet, kind, shy type however, I don't think he'd be able to bring his flames anywhere near your skin.

He'd be WAYYYYY too paranoid to set his sweetheart on fire— what if he burned you?? What if your devil fruit powers worked differently then you thought???? WHAT IF YOU HATED HIM AFTERWARDS????

"Ace, come on, stop being a party pooper!" You whine, wanting to test out your abilities. And what better way to do so then with your fire-fist boyfriend? "Babydoll, I'm not gonna set you on fire..." He murmured uneasily, as if the thought made his skin crawl. "Fun hater😒" "Love you too, angel-face!😚"

For afab readers, he most definitely works as your full-time heating pad when you're on your period.

It wasn't even your idea— he just asked Marco how to ease your cramps (tearfully, might I add, mans was terrified for you), and he just about jumped with joy when he found out that heat makes it better, skipping back to your cabin to fulfill his God-given duty, which was cradling you like a baby to his chest and heating your back and stomach.

NSFW HEADCANONS BELOW! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

While on the topic of periods, hear me out: heated period sex.

My man loves him so good period sex, especially if you let him act as an internal heating pad by warming his cock. He'll keep his large hand on your stomach to feel the bulge of his cock and heat up his palm to ease your cramps, whispering sweet praises into your ears while he keeps himself to the hilt, letting you adjust to his large size while he himself tried not to cry out in bliss.

Mess? What mess? You think the Fire Fist Ace is afraid of some blood? Honey, we have towels for a reason, don't even worry about it.

100% into temperature play, but again, only uses real fire if you're the tougher type or you beg. Though you'll never forget that one time he teased your nipples with a flame on the tip of his tongue...

In summery: Ace is a complicated guy, so your personality and role definitely change his opinions a lot (sorry if the way i'm writing it is annoying tho).

[thydungeongal]

Hey! I've been sitting on an idea for a cheesy 90's tv show inspired campaign for years, convinced that I'd homebrew the perfect system for it myself... And I'm now ready to admit my hubris. Would you have any recs?

The core concept is Future Teens Escape from Space Juvie + a fun spooky conspiracy to investigate. I've thought abt using Eureka, but they seem to really want you to use pre built modules (which is not my plan at all) and i expect it would take at least a little adaptation to work for the silly-played-straight sci-fi i had in mind. I do like the idea of framing the player characters as investigators within the story though, and it seems like it'd be a fun choice in a lot of other ways.

Do you think it'd be worth square-pegging my campaign into Eureka's round hole, have i underestimated Eureka's versatility, or do you know of any systems that would be a better fit?

This sounds like a fantastic campaign idea! Now, I am not entirely sure it would work with Eureka as is: first of all, Eureka assumes a relatively contemporary setting and also carries some expectations of the setting being grounded in the sort of logic we can expect from our everyday environments, so getting it to work in a somewhat less serious sci-fi environment would require a bit of work.

Having said that, I also can't think of any other system that would fit this type of concept as is, so if investigative gameplay is what you're looking for I can't recommend Eureka enough, if only as a source of inspiration.

Also, to assuage your fears a bit: while the creators of Eureka are very opinionated about the use of premade modules it does not come from a place of "you should never create a custom mystery:" rather, the logic behind recommending premade modules is that planning a cohesive mystery takes a lot of effort and trying to improvise a mystery on the fly does not result in the type of experience the creators of Eureka want the game to produce. Eureka as a game is the type of game that feels there should always be one solution to a mystery and the gameplay is a test of the investigators' skills to see whether they can figure out that solution. So, provided you're willing to put in the effort to plan out the conspiracy/mystery you want the party to poke at as well as having a coherent set of leads and clues for getting to the bottom of things, you should not see Eureka's recommendation to use premade modules as discouraging.

I will also tag @anim-ttrpgs here because I feel they may also have more to contribute to this ask :)

[greatpoetrychopshop]

About DA:TV ending

My thoughts on the veilguard ending, which might be not in line with most people think of it, in particular on the final scene (but I would very much like your opinion and point of view in replies).

I finished the game yesterday and I didn't stop thinking about the implications of the last Solavellan scene, asking myself many questions and the more I think about it, the less I am happy with the fate of the ship.

I do believe that the Solavellan ending is not as happy as many people thought it would be. To be honest, I think Solavellan's fate is particularly sad, awful. I did not intend to express my opinion about it but I am so troubled by it that I need to write it down.

Let's talk about the thing I liked first; I really loved the fact that Mythal decided to "free Solas from his duties" toward her. It implies that from the very moment Solas took a physical body, he was torn between its nature turned to Wisdom and his proud side growing from his actions dictated by Mythal, showing that the many mistakes he had done are as much Mythal's fault than his, which, in my opinion, calls for a fate made of redemption, and hope in a future where he could finally choose his destiny. As a fan of the Dragon Age saga, from the very beginning we know that forcing a spirit doing things against its nature is a terrible thing, and Solas, as any spirit we saw having the same fate in the franchise, deserves our compassion and his friends forgiveness.

However, what is his fate when he is convinced to make peace with his past mistakes? Going back to the prison (this has been confirmed by Weekes on their social media account BlueSky), and linking his destiny with the Veil and protect it as much as he can. And I insist on it, it's a PRISON, so it is very much implied that he is PUNISHED for his past actions.

Are we talking about the same prison Rook has been stuck ? This place of horrible emptiness and despair, cut from the rest of the world and the Fade itself, the Fade he loves so much ?

That means that Lavellan will live with him yes, but a Lavellan cut from her roots, her family, her Dalish clan, her friends she made while running the Inquisition ?

I don't think this is a deserved fate for any of them.

There is as well the argument that an immortal being must be linked to the Veil for it to not collapse, that feels like a last minute narrative twist to force the ending toward a certain direction, and justifying (again) that Solas cannot choose his fate.

Solas is now bound to the Veil by blood, and the implications of this are SO HUGE, that means that he has now new duties that falls upon him (after spending millenias having duties toward Mythal), after deserving having his own destiny in hand. That means as well he is FORCED to remain alive in order to maintain the Veil and avoid a new cataclysm that would destroy the world.

And what does that mean for both Solas and Lavellan? He is condemned to live forever, again, not choosing his fate, and see Lavellan die, for she is mortal. And THIS, for me, is the coup de grace.

Solas wanted two things : having a simpler life just like the one he had while helping the Inquisition, and not dying alone. Both of them are not resolved, for there is no chance that he could have a simpler life with his life now bound to the Veil, and being left alone in the world as ages pass…

I cannot see it as a good ending for them and I cannot imagine anyone thinking this knowing all those facts.

There could have been such better ending for them, I had that idea that maybe Solas could have known the same fate similar to what Cole had, meaning that there was a possibility for him to become more human, even if its mindset and personality would have been a little altered.

An Ancien immortal Elven, choosing to become mortal, and finally making its own choices with his lover at his side with a death he could have chosen. It would have made a wonderful echo to the discussion Varric and Solas while trying to help Cole during his personal quest, and a last hommage to the character of Varric himself that remain central to the story of Veilguard itself…

I know that every Dragon Age game has its story with a certain bittersweet ending, but what I feel for the Solavellan ship is not bittersweet, it's unfairness, after everything we kown of this two wonderful characters…

As I am writing down right now, I feel so enraged by this ending and non said things about it, leaving us with questions calling only, if we apply logic, for dreadfull answers.

For my part, I will let the Veilguard behind me (even though there are some parts that I enjoyed anyway) go back to DA:I in some time and make my own headcanon for the Solavellan ship, far from the one Bioware decided, unless there is a possibility for both of them in the future to have a better resolution.

Anyway please don't hesitate to comment to tell me what is your opinion about it, if you don't agree I'm very interested.

[lavender-butterfly-cookie]

Can you do self-aware fic(no yandere please!) about how would they react to anything that you want to write such as background music(watch them get fired up from other game OST lol),human history, CRK lore, human/baker giving opinions to their friends about specific cookies you like/interested?

Oh boy, self-aware you say? I'll give it a shot. I have no idea what size to make them so I'm making them cookie sized

Self-Aware Cookie Run Kingdom

All the cookies were astonished to meet you. I mean, you were a baker, equivalent to the witches! You were capable of making cookies too! Of course, they didn't know that at first since you were oh so suddenly teleported here and were just as big as them, but when they realized you truly weren't a cookie they did some research.

Then came the questions, Oh so many questions. "If you're not a witch and you're not a cookie, then what are you, oh baker?" you told them to just call you Y/N and that they could just treat you as a normal person, no need to be so formal. Then yo explained that you were a human.

"What on earthbread is a human?" They'd ask

"Do you come from the heavens?"

"If you're the baker, do you know my name?" Asked Custard cookie. You laughed a bit and confirmed you did know his name, as well as everyone. So many cookies wanted to know if you knew their names until they finally gave in once you had proven you did again and again.

Then you started answering the other questions. What humans were, where you came from, what you like, human history (kinda depending what country you're from) and many other stuff. You introduced them to things they didn't know exist. Whilst showing them some things you had on your phone Gingerbrave pointed out a specific game that caught his eye and when you looked at it you immediately knew why.

"What's cookie run kingdom?" He asked, which got a few other cookies to come and look. You... how do you even explain this to them? Did they really want to know they were all just characters in a game?

...

probably not...

You decided to word it differently, saying that it was what you used at a portal to interact with them. You went into the cookie run kingdom lore and everything, but made sure to not give any spoilers of what's to come in the future. If any of them didn't like what they heard would happen in the future, they'd try to stop it, and you can't allow that. Canon events must not and can not be changed after all

[rita-repulsa-ke]

Death on drums

Agatha was having so much fun.

Rio watched with a mix of frustration and delight as the woman she loved belted out some seventies covers of her murder ballad, arms spread wide, playing to her invisible audience.

She had not realized until then how much she’d missed Agatha singing. It had been a constant on the road in the days when they traveled together, Agatha always picking up new songs everywhere they went or simply making up her own.

“You’re welcome to join in,” she told Rio once, early on in their relationship.

Rio had only shaken her head. “I like listening to you,” she answered, already well on her way to realizing how madly in love she was with this beautiful, irritating witch.

She had more-than-liked it, Agatha’s voice raised in song on a road in the middle of winter, her breath puffing out in the cold air. She’d never had much of an opinion on music before, but now—

“That’s beautiful,” she said and then regretted it, because Agatha stopped.

She expected a cocky grin of the sort she would have gotten if she’d complimented Agatha’s skill at magic or in bed, but instead, Agatha looked away and gave a small shrug. “Passes the time.”

“Keep going.”

“We should focus on—“

“Agatha, keep going. I want to hear it.”

“Demanding,” the other woman complained, but Rio knew she wasn’t upset, Agatha loved showing off. And she had picked the song back up and it had, indeed, been a lovely way to pass the time.

Once she’d tried singing to Agatha, when the other woman had been fighting a bout of miserable illness.

“You’re terrible at that,” Agatha said, laughing weakly with her head in Rio’s lap. “Who knew Death was tone-deaf?”

Rio only rolled her eyes, preening Agatha’s hair. “…Don’t stop,” Agatha instructed. “It’s nice anyway.”

When she’d been feeling better, she’d tried to teach Rio, but Agatha was a terrible, impatient teacher at the best of times and Rio did not appreciate being condescended to, so after a couple of fights about it, they’d both given it up as a bad idea.

And then Rio had watched from the shadows as Agatha taught Nicky to sing, laughing at his mistakes, praising his natural ear, delighting in making up silly little songs with him.

She’d watched as Agatha weaponized one of those silly little songs, turned it into a lure for her hunger for power and also a hook to hang her grief on, a song sung by an innocent turned to single-minded, deadly purpose. She’d watched Agatha kill with that song again and again, gathered and guided the souls Agatha left behind.

Now Rio played the drums to fight a curse in someone’s fantasy of a place that never existed, listening to Agatha sing like all of their lives depended on it. And drums were a good choice, she liked having an instrument she could hit, because there was Agatha, a few feet away, and she was—

She was so beautiful. Her voice, of course, but also her, showing off, getting into it, secretly having fun. Agatha, enjoying herself as she hadn’t in centuries prior, when her song and voice had only been a means to an end.

Agatha, who had manipulated her only a few moments ago, teased her with promises of peace and one last, big adventure, and then thrown it in her face like she always did, playing with Rio for her own sadistic pleasure.

Rio was going to kill her.

Rio wanted, so badly, to kiss her.

Instead, she played the drums and didn’t point out what a terrible farce this whole thing was, didn’t try and stop whatever game Agatha was playing this time, didn’t take her knife and take what was hers here and now. She let it play out, play on, because she hadn’t gotten to see Agatha have this much fun in centuries and she couldn’t bring herself to ruin her beloved’s last big show. She would be content with watching and waiting until they reached the road’s inevitable end.

Want to read something else? Try the many husbands of Agatha Harkness for Agatha being a complete pain or the Ritual of the Rose for post-show shenanigans

[scorndotexe]

Out of curiosity, why do you dislike Midnight Mass? It's really like hear your opinions.

it's just so fucking BORING!! the concept is interesting i do find the concept interesting (vampire priest who believes his vampirism is a gift from god) but somehow it was done in the least interesting way possible. sometimes there's like a minute where i thought "holy shit is it finally gonna get better" and then i watched the next episode and it continued to be exactly the same.

all the characters are basically exactly the same. i know it's by monologue flanagan but can they at least monologue in DIFFERENT ways??? dear god. he edited it himself and you can REALLY tell. the fucking ten minute scene that's just "what do you think happens after we die? vcnvncmrnwbvnjef vdmnnc cmnennwneetnewnnwbefnbrtnbemrbermnbmrbtrtbwnrebeb" is crazy who thought that was a good idea. god every character was so forgettable i think i remember like 4 names. genuinely i see people talking about a character and i have to look them up and i STILL don't remember them. don't get me started on the fucking therapy speak. also riley flynn is the most boring protagonist i've ever seen i can't think of a single personality trait he has. i can barely think of ANY personality traits ANY characters have.

i know we shit on his adaptations a lot (as we should) and at the very fucking least he didn't ruin another excellent work of horror with midnight mass but he is NOT a good writer with his own stuff either!! it's so BLAND. even when it's not boring it's bland and uninteresting. i know i'm biased i know i watch extreme horror to find artistic value in underlooked pieces of media so i'm used to "that freak shit" but he did nothing!!! he did nothing with his vampire priest! he was literally irrelevant by the end because he gave that antagonist role to some other character and he was never really the protagonist either. he was just there for a really dumb late-game romance plot/plot twist.

it's such an unbearable show and the ending isn't even good!!! its tone is so fucking weird like everyone dies and yet there's still a weirdly hopeful tone to it. i feel like that's a moment to REALLY lean into the tragedy. it doesn't have a happy ending but it also doesn't let you feel sad enough for it to be truly tragic.

also there's like three different types of vampire in the show and it makes NO sense why they're so different from each other. i'm not asking for extensive lore i'm just asking for consistency.

it's like 8 hours long and i know i've probably spent way more than that complaining about this fucking show but still a waste of my time. it just sucks so much. it could have been an okay movie but as a whole show it's so dragged out and doesn't DO anything with those eight hours. i don't mind a slow burn i really don't but a) the build up has to be worth something and b) it has to have something really really good at the end of the build up.

honestly it looks SO good in gifs and screenshots and fanart that it makes me wish the show was better because you could have a much better experience just looking at those and imagining a good show than actually watching it.

on the plus side if you DO watch the actual show riley's death scene is the funniest shit in the whole thing.

[thegreatmelodrama]

After sitting with the new information about Sunrise on the Reaping, I’m now able to piece together my thoughts and ideas about this book and what I think or hope it will be.

One thing I am positive that we can expect is that this book will be one which explores the theme of hopelessness. That the book is told from Haymitch’s point of view means that we will get to see and gain a deeper understanding of Haymitch’s experiences of the games and their aftermath. That is, readers will gain an intimate insight and understanding to the losses and beatings Haymitch bears (mentally and physically). We will witness him being beaten with the stick of tyranny over and over again until he is left hopeless and seeking refuge in the numbing embrace of alcohol. If Katniss’s story is about finding hope, then Haymitch’s is the story of losing it. This doesn’t mean that the message of the story will be one tinged in cynicism or even encouraging us to feel hopeful, seeing as we have the main trilogy. I think instead, this story will call upon us to reflect on our relationship with government and the powers at hand; to become more cognizant of the propaganda that is ingrained within virtually every aspect of our day to day lives. Furthermore, Haymitch’s games remind us that our actions have an effect on people, no matter how large or small.

Furthermore, while Haymitch loses hope, his penultimate act in his games is presumably the first act of “rebellion” since the 10th games (at least as far as we are aware). He exposes the chink in the Capitol’s armor, and that presumably has an effect on people within the districts, planting a small seed of hope among others. While Snow makes to punish Haymitch and subsequently district 12 to squash that seed, it is impossible to completely scrub Haymitch’s games from the people’s memory. This isn’t the 10th games; people are watching now and they are paying attention. It wasn’t the spark that was needed, but Haymitch’s games, in my opinion, are the sunlight and water nurturing the growing seed/plant of revolution—nurturing the “Katniss” until it’s ready to be collected (even if Haymitch wasn’t aware of this).

[toiletcthulhu]

Skyrim has such an inoffensive style of game design that allows it to appeal to a lot of people, but I've known a lot of people who really need solid dialogue or non-violent options who just can't get into the game. Largely, I think Skyrim focuses on aesthetic and combat immersion (although I think combat has been more immersive in previous games, especially magic). The environment and music contribute to a cozy or scary vibe depending on the situation and do heavy lifting for lackluster level design, in my opinion. Whatever character you play, there's most likely an outfit, weapon, spell, and combat style that allow you to validate your perception of your character. Using these forms of expression to watch your character interact with an open world is quite addictive. The dialogue is vague enough that, although you may not be playing for it, it usually isn't bold enough to ruin the immersion of your experience. Basically the dialogue experience of Skyrim is so neutered and bland that it could almost be taken away and just replaced with quest descriptions. This would seem like a temporarily fun arrangement, but still not very substantive to even the most mainstream player, and that's where all the hard work of previous writers comes into play. Elder Scrolls has had a lot of passionate minds putting work into writing in-game libraries, fleshing out the histories of several different empires and peoples from different cultural perspectives, as well as creating an incomprehensibly intricate deity pantheon and creation story. I struggle to remember one part of any of these things that Bethesda improved upon in Skyrim. Pretty much no new lore for the Brotherhood, the Blades, the Dwemer, most of the Daedric princes, the civil war factions are barely fleshed out, hardly any new politics in the Dragonborn expansion or even seeing the ramifications of the Argonian revolt. There's basically a treasure trove of immense and honestly quite interesting knowlegde that compose at the bedrock of interest for desiring to remain in these worlds. It's funny because Fallout 4 was actually TOO ambitious for them, they tried to write their own stuff and rather embarrassingly couldn't write factions in a AAA game with more complexity than a middle schooler. This is why I think 3 and Skyrim are the most succesful of Bethesda's slop. They defile the carcass of good ideas and cover it with a polish of improved gameplay and a simple yet iconic aesthetic style, and so long as they try not to do anything that fundamentally damages the narriative integrity of the world they've had built for them, they're golden. It's ironic because I think this skillset would lend itself very nicely to high quality remakes, something that fans have often asked for. I used to think that it was a stupid request and that I desired freshness, but after seeing what Bethesda has to offer, I can't help but wonder how much cooler things would've been if they never made any new Fallout games and just remade them.

What is it about Skyrim that feels like the peak of Bethesda games

[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:

[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!

[call-sign-shark]

Welcome to this first edition of Game of Blinders! 😂 Kinda proud of the name Aerthurys and Thomaryon tbh.

Wooouaaaah I didn't think about Amos being from the same family as Lucy but now that you say it, this is the real thing since he's a cruel Bolton. ( @mischievouslittlecreature, hon what do you think?)

I'm so delighted that you picked up Arthur's status. I loved the idea of reversing the role and having Arthur, as the eldest and the strongest, being the King. As for Tommy, he would be such a good and strategic Hand I couldn't help. In my opinion, he really is a bastard!

Of course you can pet Kairaxès, Nyraxor and Syndor. They are already excited! Hope you don't mind being covered with dragon drool??

Thank you for the precision, I did this in the middle of my boring uni lesson lmao

The King and The Hand || Arthur & Tommy as Targaryen

♠ Aerthurys Targaryen the Dragon Wrath, firstborn of the family and King of Westeros. Sitting on the throne with fire in his veins, he's both feared and respected -- even though his most strategic move comes from his Hand and clever adviser, Thomaryon.

♠ Very pale purple eyes, some discreet white streaks in his hair.

♠ His journey to the throne is scarred by brutal battles.

♠ Smitten with his cousin and future queen, Heavenerys Targaryen since childhood. Aerthurys lost his mind and destroyed everything that was standing on his way when Heavenerys had to marry Amos Bolton. He ended up destroying and maiming him, only leaving him alive to humiliate him.

♠ His Dragon, Nazrith (Blade of Embers), is one of the hugest ever seen even though it doesn't hold a candle to Kairaxès. Mostly black, imposing, covered in spikes and horns, Nyraxor has red shaded/gradient scales which make him look like a destructive fire is burning under his skin when the sun hits him.

♠ Thomaryon Targaryen, secondborn of the family and misunderstood prince. Considered the family's black sheep, rumors say that Thomaryon is a bastard due to his lack of Targaryen features.

♠ The common people as well as some members of his own family wanted him out of the royal circle but Aerthurys insisted on keeping Thomaryon by his side both by deep fraternal love and by strategy considering how intelligent Thomaryon is.

♠ Thomaryon eventually became The Hand of the King.

♠ Thomaryon fell in love with Lucy Bolton ( @mischievouslittlecreature ), going by the name Tyrell. He met her during one of his visits to the north when his cousin, Heavenerys, had to meet Amos Bolton, her future husband.

♠ Syndor, his dragon, is entirely black. Besides Heavenerys, Thomaryon has the strongest bond with his dragon out of all his siblings.

@peakyswritings @mischievouslittlecreature @evita-shelby @justrainandcoffee