#IS IT WEIRD YET

[therealraewest]

Laios cuts the tags outta his clothes like an autistic king confirmed

[tadfools]

You guys are commenting on the fics you read right? You’re at least leaving kudos on the Astarion smut and the pairs that have less than 20 fics for them too? You’re bookmarking stories you really like that are still being updated and ones that haven’t been touched in over a year right?

You know that even the smallest interactions are like cocaine to fic writers right? You understand how important a string of emoji hearts left behind on a chapter at three am is right?? Right????

You’re treating AO3 like a community and not a content factory….right?

[krazydraws]

Played pressure with friends recently and this image has been stuck in my head for a solid 2 days

[beautysnake]

quick warmup since I dont have time for a full blown art fight attack today! Little cat things :>

[egophiliac]

he did it! 🐍 and it only took...uhhh...well, there probably could've been less punches, but why hold back!

PUNCHES FOR EVERYONE

[frownyalfred]

Hal Jordan, mid-Justice League meeting, just now finding out that Batman and Superman look so similar they can swap suits if needed: and you guys do that…platonically?

[nataliescatorccio]

aren't you almost 30? it is weird when people over 30 watch shows aimed at teens and 20-somethings. but you even said you stopped watching it, so it's fine :).

ohmygod please don't be one of those people who thinks when you're thirty you're suddenly 'old' and can't enjoy things that give you nostalgia because 'they're for teens!'. guess what, a switch doesn't flip when you hit a certain number that means you stop enjoying things you did before. this attitude will only make yourself miserable

[cozylittleartblog]

Columbo and the Knight (1984)

put me in the universe where Columbo ran through the 1980s and had a crossover episode with Knight Rider. I think they deserved it, and I am not just saying that because they're my two favorite Old Shows. @telebeast wrote a little fanfic blurb about it and I HAD to visualize it into a comic (which is also the longest comic I have finished thus far at five pages...), so writing credit goes to them.

Autism W!

[dragonroilz]

Electrochemistry [Medium: Success] - Hey, at least there's still half a bottle of tequila and brandy left. Let's party and forget this shitshow!

[choccy-milky]

herbology class 🌹🌿 (from chap 2 of my fic!)

[vaguely-concerned]

I understand and agree with a lot of the frustrations about the shortcomings of Inquisition as a story. but sometimes when I hear people complain about the chosen one narrative in it I do want to just be like... you know it's a deconstruction of the concept more than anything, right. the inquisitor isn't actually chosen by anything except stumbling into the wrong (right?) room at the right (wrong?) time because they like, heard a noise or whatever. or if you think they are chosen, as many do in-universe, that's something you have to take on faith, the maker-or-whoever moves in mysterious ways indeed-style. the Inquisitor isn't actually a Destined Chosen One, they're a Just Some Guy in a fancy hat, self-delusions of grandeur to taste as you'd prefer.

a running thread that goes through all of the personal quests of the companions is the concept of a comforting lie vs. an uncomfortable truth, upholding old corrupt structures vs. disrupting them, and the role of faith in navigating that. (blackwall the warden vs. thom rainier the liar and murderer. hissrad vs. the iron bull, or is that the other way around? cassandra and the seekers -- do we tell the truth about what we find, even if it means dismantling the old order of the world? and so on.) and your inquisitor IS at the same time a comforting lie (a necessary one, in dark times? the game seems to ask) and an uncomfortable truth (we are the result of random fickle chance, no protective hand is held over the universe, it's on us to make a better world because the maker sure as hell won't lift a divine finger to help anyone, should he against all odds exist). faith wielded for political power... where's the point that it crosses the line into ugliness? is it before it even begins? what's the alternative? will anyone listen to the truth, if you tell it?

interesting how you also get a mix of companion agency in this -- you have characters like dorian who ALWAYS choose one side of the comforting lie vs. uncomfortable truth dichotomy. he will always make up his own mind to go back to tevinter and try to dismantle the corruption of the old system no matter what you say, or how you try to influence him. meanwhile iron bull is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum -- so psychologically trapped and mangled, caught in an impossible spiritual catch-22, that his sense of identity is left entirely to you and your mercy. you cannot change dorian in any way that matters; you can be his friend or not, support him or not, but he is whole no matter what. you are given incredible and potentially destructive-to-him power over bull's soul. it's really cool (and heartbreaking) to think about.

this is a game about how history will eat you even while you're still alive, and shape you into whatever image it pleases to serve it, and for all your incredible power right now you are powerless in the face of the gravitational force of time -- of more than time, of History. you won't recognize yourself in what History will make of you, because you belong to it now. you don't belong to yourself anymore and you never will again. the further you were from what it needs from you to begin with, the more you will find yourself distorted in its funhouse mirror. (why hello there inquisitor ameridan, same hat!)

and to me this is so much the core of what Dragon Age is about right from the Origins days -- how and by whom history gets written, the inherent unreliable narration of it all. I hope you like stories, Inquisitor. You are one now.

I do think it's probably still the weakest of the games narratively, and it's hampered by its structure and bloated systems. but I also find it disingenous to say that there's nothing deeper or actually interesting going on with it, thematically. if you're willing to engage with it there is Some Real Shit going on under the high fantasy-tinted surface.

[nhyhu]

@hot-scarian-summer-2024 - Day 4

The Countless Stars in Heaven's Field - Wishing on a Shooting Star - In Orbit

a kiss in the sky

[assassin-artist]

messmer_gets_a_hug.png

[elllteo]

forever thinking about how marcille and laios have such a richly weird and funny friendship dynamic that people I see tend to write off as "god she hates his ass" but in reality it's the frustration of one neurodivergent weirdgirl to another neurodivergent weirdboy who has no concept of masking, has never had to mask, and simply doesn't know how to mask making their entire group come across as "the weirdo freaks" despite her best efforts to not be labelled as "weird" probably her entire life

[thatwavephenomenon]

No but the 'team meeting' after the fall of Weisshaupt was so. unorganic or unnatural. 'What a crushing defeat, maybe we should focus on our mental health now to do better next time.' Like hello??? This is not your job of which you had to take a step back from because your boss is an asshole?? You are all at war against two gods who keep Resident Eviling the world?????? I mean it's not such an awful idea but it's executed rather poorly. Like the game was this close to display a message saying 'You have just finished one of the main quest. You should focus on the companion's quests next.'

[egophiliac]

I wanted to try doing something with a super limited palette! it was supposed to be, like, a triptych kinda thing with Mal in the center, but tumblr made the arrangement look terrible, so here you go. :U

("お前を失わずに済む" / "I won't have to lose you")