#Non-specific rambling

[welcometogrouchland]

I understand that literature nerd Jason Todd is kind of overblown in fanon compared to it's actual presence in canon (a few issues during his pre (and post?)crisis Robin tenure that highlight it) BUT consider that I think it's hilarious if the unhinged gun toting criminal has strong opinions on poetry

[nebulousmedic]

I feel like they can relate when it comes to that, at least. Ahh, I'm having many angst thoughts.

[buzzfeedunsolvable]

No hate to Steven or anything and a lot of the flack he's gotten in the yt comments is unwarranted, but one thing I think is interesting is how on Watcher he was painted as a business-guru type and yet he was like... a chemical engineering major. Like so was I for most of college and you know what we never learned? How to run a business

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

(DATV thoughts with spoilers ahead; i think my tags will keep it filtered but just in case it doesn't since i dont want this in the actual game tags)

i just... man. i don't have a well formulated thought for this yet (and its my PERSONAL OPINION and other people can feel as different as they want, this is not an attack) but it keeps bouncing around my head, so. i know the popular thing right now is coming up with in-universe justifications for The Pantry Almost-Kiss Scene in ways that imply Lucanis didn't mean it/it doesn't represent him as a person/he was Faking It.

and i just don't like any of them. they make me sad!!!!!! i don't like the idea that one of the like 4 romance scenes we get in this game is him Pretending in some way, even if he does at that point like Rook back at least somewhat. None of the justifications i've seen make me feel Better about that being the point where we declare him as a romantic interest, which is what it is in the game, functionally. It doesn't lock you in yet but that point IS where the game says "they will take your flirting more seriously now". I did those same scenes for Davrin, Emmrich, and Taash and this is the formula the game uses (the "interrupted almost-kiss/confession" happens for almost all of the companions).

so if the answer for Lucanis' is "actually he stopped because he Didn't like what he was doing/feel that way yet" or that he felt he had to pretend for Rook's sake... it's kind of a letdown you know? esspecially when it comes right after what seems like an actually authentic moment (dispelling his "perfectly gathered clouds of doom"). Because, at that point in the game from my/Rook's perspective, it was like he finally was reciprocating. It made me hope that he'd acknowledge whatever was between him & Rook more in future scenes, especially because you get so little else from him at any other point, in terms of flirting back/showing you he IS interested. like up to that point I felt kind of bad for continuing to flirt at him, when he'd just change the subject right after! if someone did that in real life i would take it as a hint to stop. This is pixels and not real people so I didn't but they have done "reluctant/fearful interest" better in other characters if that's truly what they were going for in this one.

so after finishing the romance and getting the rest of content... idk. I don't like saying "one of the major chunks of characterization we get needs to be Thrown Out Actually because he was Pretending". because it's not like he or Rook ever actually address it in game--you just don't get to talk about feelings until some dialogue choices only in the act 3 romance scene, and then his speech at endgame (not even a full conversation, so much as his personal declaration). like it takes until the VERY end of the game for him to say the thing about "he was afraid to want you", but that comes after you've already hooked up, even.

I think truly what annoys me is that it's a story choice that can only make sense in HINDSIGHT not AS PLAYING. Only once you have all the scenes can you say "this one is out of character" and then you either have to accept it as bad writing, or come up with some in-universe justification to explain it... and so far none of the in universe ones feel good to me. i wish they did because maybe then I'd be less annoyed, rip. but at the end of the day i think even if there was some intent there, it was a poor choice for his story arc, because it doesn't effectively convey anything... and the reason why we can project a lot of different explanations onto it is simply because it is never addressed again (and again, Lucanis Dellamorte is NOT A PERSON he is a CHARACTER used to further a story for you the player, and so the reasons I don't like this choice are story-level and not a dig at how real life people feel or act).

So yeah at the end of the day. that is simply not a narrative device I would ever personally use in this way on a player/reader. certain kinds of hindsight revelations have their place (see: what the devs tried to do with Varric though I also think that falls apart on close inspection, but at least it has justification in-universe), but for a romance it just makes me embarrassed for Rook. In a game where you don't have nearly as many back-and-forth conversations with characters and have to resort to eavesdropping on them talking to each other, it's sad that one of the like 5 times you actually get to talk to Lucanis one on one we're maybe supposed to believe he wasn't being authentic, and also that Rook can't respond to this ever. It would be different if it had any kind of follow up, imo. or honestly as i've said before i would rather it have been swapped out with something entirely different or where we get to talk about their feelings instead, before i get labeled as one of the "people mad he's not Zevran 2.0/a sexy latin sterotype".

But having to step back to player-level analysis versus in-character analysis when looking at his whole romance arc just feels sloppy. but i'd much rather stick to "bad writing" than "intentional character choice" in terms of how to interpret the scene I guess, at this point, for poor Rook's sake. and i know people disagree with when I've said that before bc as much as I love Mary Kirby in other areas, she has said many times that she doesn't like writing romance, and I think it really does show here. As much as I love Lucanis and the scraps we got I wish I didn't have to do so much filling-in-the-blanks on our own.

[aka-indulgence]

Man, could you imagine how much research you’d do if teachers give you a research assignment, and to specifically report it in a fanfic format

Like. I’m learning about sports position and historical facts and about skeletal anatomy because of fanfics, I would’ve smashed them if I was writing about it associated with my blorbo

[vintagesimstress]

If I encounter one more page saying that Boudica led her armies into battle fully naked and covered in a layer of woad paint, I'm going to riot.

[perplexedjokist]

harvey dent working as a lawyer even while being a criminal somehow but oh no, they've switched and twoface hasn't a clue what's going on

when someone asks him his defense he looks around, it looks to be joker is on trial.

a swift thought; how'd we even get here? and then the words "can't we just hang this guy?" the court becomes silent.

and then the court cheers.

[kalameruki]

Okay so I need to say this before I actually explode but:

So I just finished watching dogs in love 3 (okay actually I finished it 2 hours ago before this but shaddup) and I just fully ship Crap Gorps and Jolteon, especially after watching that animatic that's going around. It's not like a "I wanna have em smooch" sort of ship but more like "I want them to live in a stable house and support each other emotionally Despite not being in a relationship" sort of ship. A platonic ship. Just two friends that people don't know if they're dating or not and they're too afraid to ask but they are most definitely not and they're just really close because they have been in each other's lives for literal decades.

I am very much just screaming about this because my brain won't let me shut up about it but that doesn't change the fact that I love it and I think it's adorable and sweet and I wish them the best, especially when they do brunch with Jorge and Poochy because fuck it then getting bunch all together sounds fucking adorable.

[do-you-know-this-adhd-character]

Do you know this (noncanon) ADHD character?

Evidence below the cut!

can be pretty hyperactive, forgets things regularly (even important things, forgot he turned into a heartless in kh1), distractable, later on he seems to have some problems with emotional dysregulation. hes constantly called lazy by his friends but as soon as hes doing something he likes he has all the energy in the world, and also tends to dismiss his own intelligence despite actually being pretty smart, both of which are things that i think are decently common with undiagnosed adhd

[ilovedthestars]

why are all the queer stories romance (unless they're about the 1 token ace person)

[sp1resong]

to be quite honest if you make the scavenger king an Evil Villain i am clicking off of your artificer comic.

[antihibikase-archive]

It is incredibly isolating to navigate through fandom as an aromantic person. Aro experiences are so varied, and there is no definite aro experience that encapsulates the alienation that fandom spaces cause for certain people.

Fandom is mostly built and structured on shipping. And if not, the blorbofication of characters, which tends to go down the shipping pipeline; where does that leave the romance repulsed aro person who genuinely does not want to see any form of shipping? Platonic dynamics, right?

Yeah, sure. But by platonic dynamics, it's only "best friends" or "family" right? Where does that leave the aro folks with undefined labels? No, qprs aren't a get-out-of-jail card.

And qprs- they have no rules or standards set upon them by society, not even having a clear definition for what it is, because not all qprs are the same. Yet, for some reason, it ended up becoming the "nonbinary" option to a lot of people- not romantic or "regular" platonic? Qpr it is, right?

But where does that leave the aro folk who don't want a qpr? Who don't wish to see characters depicted in pairs or trios or so forth- who embrace the lack of a partner?

And these concepts presented; when aro folk talk about them, do you care? And if you do, do you understand? Do you try to?

If you aren't aro, but wish to be supportive, are you a genuine ally? Do you raise the concerns of aro folk you share the space with?

Or do you take a look at these concepts- and decide you understand them "well" enough? Do you decide to speak for aro folks instead?

Do you depict relationships outside of romance because you believe in the importance of platonic relationships? Will you accept the fact that not all platonic interactions will be familial or "best friends"?

Can you accept depictions of qprs outside of "more than friends, less than lovers"? Are you willing to accept it is not just "best friends" or "romance lite"? Will you accept that nothing is inherently romantic- and characters in a qpr may fall under your standards of lovers?

Can you resist the urge to put every character in a pair or trio or group? Are you comfortable with the notion of characters finding more joy in being by themselves, outside of all those lenses you see them in?

It's good if you can.

And if you can't, at the very least, do you understand why some aro folk in your space are upset? Embittered by your favorite ships? Starving for representation?

Did you depict these characters with these concepts with the knowledge that aromanticism is fluid?

[justsomerandomplanet]

Uraume talking about how sorcerers of old disregarded their humanity....looks at tengen who has been called a "higher being" and sukuna who is a natural disaster, a calamity....kenjaku who's whole curse technique means to disregard the human body....

[aka-indulgence]

How do ya'll focus on one piece of work/fandom/idea. I feel like my braincells are constantly ping ponging from fandom to fandom, blorbo to blorbo, fanfic to original ideas, writing to drawing,

I have too many thoughts and only two hands 😭

[hauntthebodies]

Imma be real with y’all, I am not the biggest fan of genderlocked games. Unless it is vital to the stories where there are discussions of gender, sexism or other things that make gender asa conversation topic, I find there’s no real point to genderlock a game that lets you customize the main character.

An IF where the game is a journey about a gay man dealing with his sexuality, sure. A game where a woman is in a world trying to overcome the hardships thrown at her, cool. An epic about some lesbians? Very neat. I like that kind of thing. I like stories that discuss real topics still prevalent but if one is writing a story that doesnt have any of that what is the point in genderlocking the mc if all other choices are customizable?

This isn’t to say the genderlocked stories are bad, there are many amazing stories where the mc is genderlocked for one reason or another. But those stories are for a large demographic I have difficulty relating to, and that makes me sad.

[energeticpoltergeist]

Part 1: Mad King's War

Prologue: Diverged History(pages 22-25)