#Post your opinions on your own blog

[galadriel-blue]

VENTING

Rant under the cut (people telling me to change things about my blog [like the way I tag things???] and just general Rings of Power hate towards me

Hey just so you know, it's not my job to cater my personal blog (that I made for fun) to your personal preferences. This is a Rings of Power & LOTR blog. I am going to post about both because it's my blog. If you only follow me for my Rings of Power stuff, great! If you only follow me for my LOTR stuff? Also great! follow me for both? Awesome! Spectacular even! but like, If you don't like one of the fandoms I post about, then block the tags or just ignore it instead of going onto MULTIPLE OF MY POSTS and messaging me, telling me what to change about MY BLOG.

This is all because I tagged something Rings of Power related with a LOTR tag and a few people got mad at me (comments and messages) saying that "The Rings of Power isn't LOTR??? Can you not tag it like that I don't want to see Rings of Power stuff. I follow for LOTR" like what???

They exist in the same universe whether you like it or not?? And lots of people tag TROP stuff with LOTR tags too. Plus, sometimes I am talking about both in the same post (like comparing and contrasting things that are the same or different from the show and movies) so I am going to use both tags for that. Besides, why are you telling a complete stranger who posts her stuff for fun to make her blog okay for YOU? I make my blog and posts for me so... Maybe just block me and move on if you don't like how I post things, or tag things.

Also, it's not my problem if you don't like Rings of Power?? Don't interact with it then?? Like, you can control that? My blog is pretty clearly a Rings of Power blog. I literally have Morfydd Clark's Galadriel as my pfp lol

If you don't like it don't interact with it. I could care less if somebody hates the show I genuinely enjoy because it doesn't affect my enjoyment if someone dislikes it. Just don't be a bully and don't tell me how to run my blog because it's upsetting when the only comments I get are "I don't like this show can you stop posting about it," and "Don't use those tags pls I don't like seeing Rings of Power on my feed."

Cater your experience to you and I'll cater my experience to me. If you are going to be entitled and tell me how to run my blog, I am just going to block you <3

If you read this to the end, you deserve a The Rings of Power Galadriel for your troubles.

[seagreenstardust]

Live and let ship people. I don’t care what you like, go nuts, but please don’t flood my ship tag with reasons why yours is better. I have my own reasons and you raining on my parade isn’t going to change my mind.

Anyway bkdk are soulmates, canon supports bkdk more than any other ship, and I do not have to flood the other tags with this message to enjoy it. Thank you.

[npc-tess]

It's crazy being an aroace on tumblr nowadays.

Not only do aroaces still have to fight for acceptance (like every other a-spectrum identity, we all struggle together) but now they are also the ones being bashed on & disrespected by their own community. Now that we finally see breadcrumbs of representation, it feels like the a-spec community turned against each other.

People are acknowledging our existence and just happen to understand/accept/tolerate aroaces more than other a-spec identities. Which is actually a very good first step but also not barely enough. And it seems that especially aros and aces separately feel neglected. Which is very valid. Being aroallo or alloace or non-sam means being overlooked and frowned upon. I understand that. Hell, being aplatonic, afamilial or any other a-spec identity is sometimes even harder, I understand that. But starting to fight against your own people? I will never understand that. It’s aro posts including sentences like “don’t reblog with ace or aroace” or ace folks jabbing against aros in passing. It’s posts screaming in capslock that “being aro and ace are two different things!1!!”. This is the hate and negativity aroace people see.

I personally can’t scroll through the aro tag anymore without feeling unwelcome. Posts I relate to and would love to reblog are clearly stated to not be meant for me. Because I am aroace, an identity they don’t… like? don’t want to engage with? I don’t know. What I know is that it feels like aroace people and the experiences they share (which happen to reach allos), are the reason only aros (or only aces) are oppressed.

Why is there a need to hurt your own community? You are allowed to vent, to feel ignored, be angry and sad. But why do people go out of their way to hurt their own community while doing so? What did aroace people do that aros and aces started to push them away?

There was a big Community of A-spectrum identities once. Nowadays it feels more like everyone desperately wants nothing to do with the other. Which is the most counterproductive thing we can do.

I am proud of being aroace. I adore my community. They just seem to not adore me anymore.

[qiu-yan]

in MDZS the novel, the innkeeper in Yunping mentions that people are too scared to go petition Yunmeng Jiang for help because someone once walked in on Sect Leader Jiang whipping a guy in the main hall, supposedly because the guy was a demonic cultivator.

[siblingshuffle]

to the "its pride mont you know what that means post" and thats why splash and hornet are trans now

I suppose them’s the rules

Thanks, Anon!

(the drawing the anon referenced)

[twopoppies]

.

[galedekarios]

the way some ppl go out of their way to actively seek out appropriately tagged content to get upset about to the point of making several posts in a row abt it... it's like that guy on bike meme tbh

[alaskan-wallflower]

Brody showed up to work this week! OMG!!! Does he want a medal?? Josh Boone has a CHILD and he’s in more than Brody.

And I know you’re going to use the shitty excuse “he’s been in a lot!!!” but that’s bullshit. Why are we praising an adult man for showing up to work.

why do you care? why are you bitching about him being absent? and i know you’re gonna use the shitty excuse “Oh BuT hE HaSnT bEeN iN!” but like…he has been? this message is confusing lmfao do you want him to be in or not? you’re insinuating both. make your intentions clear.

im saying its nice that he’s in more is all. if you don’t like what i post or what i say on MY blog mind you then block me.

also i think you should come off anon and talk to me face to face but whatever. be a coward and use the mask of anonymity to hide who you are. i find it funny all these people who are anti outsiders or anti brody choose to stay on anon. like say it to my face. if i can answer you without anonymity have the decency to say this kind of thing to my face.

and btw i’m not praising him for “going to work” im saying it’s nice that he’s in more and seems to be enjoying his job again. and why do his absence matter so much to you? why does it bother you so much that he’s out and that i post about it being a good thing that someone seems to be finally having fun at their job after a rough patch?don’t put words in my mouth.

so cry about it and block me if you’d not like my content. thank you!

(just figured i’d mention by the way that i’m not saying that if you dislike brody you’re automatically on my shit list. everyone is entitled to their own opinions. everyone is allowed to think whatever they want AS LONG AS IT ISNT HURTING ANYONE. but i do think it’s funny how im the one everyone sends anonymous brody hate to like some of the things you anti brody people say about him are WILD. so yes. i will defend him in the reason that nobody should be bitching about his absences or saying rude things, but i absolutely don’t want it to seem like i’m saying that you HAVE to like him. You don’t have to like him but it’s possible to not like him without being a huge jerk to him or anyone who supports him.)

[kwop-kilawtley]

sorry but if you’re anti-Jacob Black yet super pro Jasper, you’re sus and idgaf about any opinion you have on Twilight ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[adamnablelittledevil]

"I'm afraid show!fans will hate Marius without even waiting to see him on season 3 or read the books to know how he really is :/"

Me reading the books, on my fifth book right now and getting vivid details of how Marius de Romanus really is:

[will80sbyers]

Why are y'all against making your own posts instead of using the posts of someone else to shit on a pairing you don't like, honestly that seems extremely rude... You should make your own posts and then also tag it "anti" following the etiquette on Tumblr

If someone is making a positive post about a ship it's not nice to take that post and write how you hate the ship, even if you're responding to someone that you're usually friendly with, think about it a little more before doing that because maybe you don't mean anything bad from it but it doesn't change that it is... Especially when the post is a positivity one towards a platonic pairing or ship that is not meant to invite commentary from antis

[shift-shaping]

Rewatching trailers: a midnight analysis

Long post ahead.

On the recommendation of some folks in the fandom on tumblr, I went back and watched the game trailers for every other DA game to compare them with the Veilguard trailer.

There are definitely some tropes in these trailers that have always been a mix of cringe and effective --especially the pop song over cutscene footage. In that sense this trailer is exactly like many of the other ones (DAI: A Wonderful World, DAO: This Is War). Also, the quips are unfunny in trailers for both DAI and DAV, and I think that's intentional: the quips aren't really there to make you laugh, just to give a specific type of levity to certain moments and specific vibes to certain characters. If you listen to the Veilguard trailer instead of watching it, the biggest difference in tone between this and the Inquisition trailers is the amount of in-character narration, but I think that's serving a very functional purpose here and even though some of the lines are cringy ("you KNOW there will be dragons" yes I understand the title of the video game implies as much thank you), I get it.

Moving on to visuals: some shots are almost identical. These are from the DA2 Launch trailer, the DAI Breach trailer, and obv the Veilguard trailer.

The DAO Sacred Ashes trailer has a few similar moments, but nothing that shows off your entire possible party like this, as it adheres much closer to the gameplay conceptually (i.e., you have three companions in that trailer, you can have three companions in the game at one time).

Every game trailer since DA2 has had individual shots showing off your companions fighting. They don't have big fancy titles over them, but they all have them. The difference here, I think, is that the DAV trailer that we saw on 6/9 (nice) is specifically meant to introduce the companions. With that in mind, it's not particularly interesting or noteworthy that this trailer looks like it's for an Overwatch update. Like yeah, sure, it's introducing the characters, of course it's going to look like other modern trailers that are introducing characters.

Another familiar visual aspect is the color saturation. DAI is green, DAV is purple/pink. Rewatch the A Wonderful World trailer for DAI and look for how bright and vibrant the green shades are compared to the red, and then rewatch the Veilguard trailer and look for the vibrance of the purples/pinks. This is not surprising, Bioware have been telling us this game will be Purple for years. DA2 might have some extra yellow/gold in its trailers but ehhh I think it and DAO are just brown af.

So this is all to say that some of the things setting the tone of this trailer are things that have been present since Inquisition, if not earlier. Some of the tropes in its presentation are to be expected if you actually played Inquisition, and frankly if you played DA2 as well. There are definitely people in the YouTube comments of the Veilguard trailer whose idea of "Dragon Age" is Origins as their nostalgia recalls it. Origins came out 15 years ago. If you want to go play Origins so bad, fucking play Origins. Or Balder's Gate, whatever. If you didn't like the last installment of a franchise like this, and you REALLY didn't like the one before that, you are probably not going to like the new one.

These are some of the tamer ones, I'd encourage you to go look at the comments yourself to get a feel for what people are saying.

I don't know what to tell these people. Your expectations for this trailer were unrealistic; DAO is not coming back. Sorry. I liked it too.

However.

What most people are complaining about in the comments is not that this is a drastic shift from the specific type of Dark Fantasy of DAO. The vast majority of complaints are about the art style. For me, the most jarring moment of the trailer, when I actually realized the art style is different, is this one:

Emmrich looks like Handsome Jack from Borderlands. His face is cartoonishly angular and his eyes are animated in a dead eyed stare that just looks cheap. I don't know how else to describe it, sorry. The other two characters have this weird stare too, and it looks really, uh, bad.

But to me, the worse model is the skeleton. It looks very far from any kind of realism. The cheekbones are too wide, the ribcage is oddly triangular? Compare it to the Darkspawn in the Warden's Calling DAO trailer, or the various demons in the Breach trailer for DAI (linked above). It looks like the Wizards 101 skeleton pet.

It's a bad sequence of shots, and there are other bad ones after that. Davrin and the griffon look good, the dragon looks good, but Taash looks like plastic/gelatin. What material is her armor made of? It's very matte-looking. Rook looks fine.

Varric and Harding look. Uh. Bad. Their models are simplistic, and the hair physics are chunky and awkward. I know I initially said they look good, but upon further review: I was wrong.

The clothing looks kind of low poly, too. The lighting on Varric's collar is... wrong? Neither of them look like they're wearing fluffy fur, so I hope that wasn't the intention.

I don't know why they would choose this art style for a trailer that's showing the game for the first time. It looks at best unfinished, and at worst cheap. This is not an art style to present to people who have been waiting for a game for ten years, or to new players unfamiliar with the alleged tone (a la Tevinter Nights) the game is going for. Like, compare Harding in 2014 with the above shot.

This is not about aging a character, this is a clear difference in how a character is modeled. Inquisition has aged beautifully and still looks fantastic. I'm still taken aback by how wonderful that game looks.

Looking at the other trailers, what sticks out the most in the context of the art style is that the graphics of the trailers look as good or better than the gameplay. This is usually how game trailers work. I can't imagine why you would show a trailer with worse graphics/art style than you have in the actual game. Like, someone (do not recall who, sorry) brought up Morrigan from the DAO Sacred Ashes trailer as if she looks terrible and is an example of trailers being worse than in-game, but if you watch that trailer, she looks really good for 2009. She looks objectively more realistic and impressive than the in-game model. The models and art style in the Veilguard trailer would also look really good for 2009. They look very bad for 2024.

Maybe the wonkiness of these models is being exacerbated by the lighting. That would explain why Bellara and Davrin look better than Varric and Harding, but Emmrich is fairly well-lit. Maybe his model is especially odd and will look better in the gameplay? This was definitely the case with Varric (and solas lmao) in his own Inquisition trailer.

So, TL;DR:

Dragon Age Origins is dead and is not coming back. This is not news.

The Veilguard trailer is primarily a character intro video, so obviously it focuses on the characters.

Much of the tone re: shot composition, overall structure, and music is in-keeping with previous DA trailers.

The art style/graphics are both visually bad and what people are primarily complaining about, but the degree of badness could be the result of some odd lighting/modelling choices.

As has been the case for the last ten-ish years, we'll just have to wait and see.

6/10/24

[valyrfia]

guys if i reblog a post to add an opinion/discussion and say 'don't go into this person's askbox we're just all having a friendly discussion' that's not in fact code to go into that person's askbox telling them how they're wrong

[anti-dazai-blog]

I don't understand why fans in general are always so against critical analysis & always try to defend characters whenever someone points out bad writing. Bsd fans have huge issue like that I'm glad you're so vocal about dazai character writing tho cause lots of people just avoid it due to his fans taking it so personal

I think it’s mainly an issue of people not properly tagging their posts, so that when people search their favorite characters, they find negativity instead of the positive content they were hoping for. It makes sense why that would be annoying— but in the end of the day it’s everyone’s job to curate their own internet experience.

I tag all of my negative posts with #anti dazai, so it’s pretty easy for a person to just block that tag (or block this account), and so most people don’t have a problem with me. I’ve only run into any sort of problem with two separate tumblr users in the past (one of which is pretty infamous in these bsd tumblr circles)— so from my end of things, I don’t really see all the people getting angry about character-critical content. I know it’s out there, I personally just don’t come across it very often.

I also block very liberally, so that might be a contributing factor to why I don’t see that side of the fandom. But either way.

I’m glad you’re enjoying this blog!! For any given piece of media there will be positive aspects and negative aspects, and everyone can and should feel free to talk as much as they want about both sides. There also isn’t a single right answer— meaning one person could find a character to be written in a very compelling way and someone else can find the character writing shallow— neither person is wrong, so long as they can justify their opinions with textual evidence.

The only time a media interpretation is wrong is when it’s entirely made up. And I don’t mean “this person read the text and came away with a different conclusion than me,” I mean “this person is directly contradicting the text and is giving no reasons for why they might think the text is lying.” There’s always the concept of an unreliable narrator, but on tumblr, the website that’s infamous for lacking any sort of Reading Comprehension… yeah you’re not gonna get the brilliant literary debates everyone’s hoping for.

[flashhwing]

I’m here to say that you may absolutely express negativity about veilguard to me as long as it’s not stupid. hate on it for real reasons, of which there are plenty, most of which I’m ignoring because of the hype but would be glad to discuss in a civilized manner. no forced positivity in this zone this is a safe space. unless your criticism is dumb as fuck then I will point and laugh

[tacosaysroar]

People’s lack of self-awareness never ceases to amaze me