#Stay away from reddit in general lol

[dinodogs]

psa for new rwby fans: FOR THE LOVE OF FUCKING GOD STAY AWAY FROM ANY RWBY SUBREDDITS THAT PLACE IS HELL ON EARTH

[shigayokagayama]

sakurai hato or minegishi :3? my faves

sakurai:

Sexuality Headcanon:

this man is gay

Gender Headcanon:

honestly nothing in specific. cis but in a "never really put much thought into it" kinda way. could he be inclined to question or transition? perhaps, but he is too busy cleaning up the giant comical jar of disgusting orange sauce that spilled all over the floor because a customer insisted they could fit a weeks worth of groceries into one cheap reusable grocery bag and it predictably split open and went everywhere and now the whole store smells like nondescript orange sauce and he has a headache from the smell but the manager will be pissed if he closes the register and moves to one further away so he just has to mop it between customers and the stain remains until they redo the nylon in 30 years.

A ship I have with said character:

koyama. made for each other.

A BROTP I have with said character:

i really like thinking abt post canon 7th division staying friends :] i think they hang out sometimes

A NOTP I have with said character:

none that come to mind? obvious stuff aside i suppose

A random headcanon:

a common theme between all three of these characters is that theyre young enough to fall in the age range where they could have been kidnapped by claw and i choose to believe that's what happened. especially sakurai. this kid screams kidnapped. no one would have looked for him....

General Opinion over said character:

i dont think about the 7th division members all that much just because they all get introduced in my least favorite arc so i dont really have a reason to reread/rewatch unless im doing a full series rewatch, but as a background character enjoyer seeing people have thoughts on them makes me very happy

hatori:

Sexuality Headcanon:

gay asexual seems right for him i think :]

Gender Headcanon:

definitely some flavor of transmasc

A ship I have with said character:

computers. other than that ive seen people ship him with joseph and i see the vision.

A BROTP I have with said character:

similar to above i think he and the rest of the super five are still buddies after everything.

A NOTP I have with said character:

this is a weird question to answer for the more minor/background characters so instead ill say "i used to sorta ship him and minegishi in like a qpp sorta way when i thought they were like the same age but learning minegishi was like 19 and punching the numbers meant that unless they didnt meet until less than a year precanon there's no way to make that not weird so i dropped it". so it goes.

A random headcanon:

ditto to above and also reddit moderator. i know he's a reddit moderator on some tech forum giving the world's most smarmy and least helpful advice

General Opinion over said character:

i like him! i dont think of him too often but im fond of all the super five.

minegishi:

Sexuality Headcanon:

ace aro :]

Gender Headcanon:

transfemme nonbinary <3

A ship I have with said character:

none really. they dont have time for that they have a thankless minimum wage job to work.

A BROTP I have with said character:

super five but also i realized hoshida from the reigen manga is in the age range to have gone to middle school with them before they became a terrorist and the idea of them having been childhood friends who fell out of touch and then him turning on the news to find out the kid who used to make him clover necklaces is wreaking havoc on downtown is REALLY funny

A NOTP I have with said character:

most things honestly at this point. i am so sorry shimamine shippers they took everything from you with the fanbook

A random headcanon:

i feel like post canon theyd become a bug person. like, getting big terrariums with self sustaining ecosystems of invertabrates :]

General Opinion over said character:

i actually like them a lot! i feel like its clear from the answers to these that theyre the one out of these i think about the most frequently lol. i just. how did you join the upper echelon of a terrorist organization at age 16. what happened.

[skinnypaleangryperson]

There's kind of a theme in Rick and Morty Reddit culture where they tend to make fun of fans who claim to be a fan of the TV show but then complain every single episode or every other episode that the show isn't good anymore and make fun of them for continuing to watch a show that they don't like.

I initially was one of those people that looked down on these people, but now here I am, finding myself to fit into that exact stereotype. And I understand why fans like us exist now.

You can't develop a show that, for the most part, sets up the viewers to be extremely invested in this crazy deranged drunk old man and his traumatized grandson, and the general family dynamic, and to have that be the core of the entire TV show and the point of it, and then to throw in episodes twice at a time or even just once or for half of a season that is just a bunch of gags and ridiculously one off one spin characters and not expect the viewers to feel cheated, especially with the show that is generally as slow in production as much as this one has been.

Even the first episode of this season was a little bit unsatisfying but at least it made sense-it showed Rick hanging out with his friends, and at least someone showing that he's starting to humble himself a little bit so it still made sense overall, we got to see Birdperson, etc. It still felt like a decent episode and it made sense to produce it.

I've never in my life have felt so awkward as a fan of a TV show honestly, because most TV shows are more consistent in their themes than this. For the first time in my life I genuinely do feel a little bit irrationally frustrated and depressed over being a fan of a TV show, and I truly don't think that it's my fault because I was set up to care about a certain theme that this show set up.....just for it to snatch or to rob it away from the entirely of some episodes-THAT THEY TEASE FOR A WEEK BEFOREHAND-at least a good half of the time for a show that only comes out with 10 episodes a year, if even that, as we've seen in the past with the show.

Fans aren't pathetic for being frustrated for being emotionally caught up in a show that swings around worthwhile content that they've been set up to care about to like a piece of meat, and then just to have a bunch of random gags and trash thrown in their face and then to be made fun of sometimes even by the creators themselves (I remember reading an article where Dan Harmon said that he loves to watch his fans cry whenever they get frustrated over the content, which for the most part I find ridiculously immature and pathetic) for being frustrated by it.

I was set up to care about Rick, and to care about Morty, and some parts of the family like Beth and Rick and Jerry and the like. Yes, it is true that it's just a TV show, but it is true that the real world is complete chaos, and I don't see what the point is in cheapening something that has the potential to give people a lot of meaning and connection with others and joy by staying consistent with its theme or at the very least, staying within the general realm of it.

It's not my fault as a consumer if I feel cheated and frustrated viewing the TV show-it's bad writing on the TV shows part. I'm not even usually the kind to even rant about stuff like this, but I truly feel like I've been caught up into a corner where I was cheated or set up into caring about this TV show and expecting for the TV show to play along with me with every single season, but it feels like half the time their intentionally throwing cheap or aimless gags or episodes that genuinely don't really seem to be for anyone-in the sense that I can't think a single person on this earth that would give a damn about an episode about Ice T, much less for the entire episode to revolve around him, and especially when there's only less than a handful of episodes left.

I've never been so dumbfounded as a fan of any piece of media, and I don't think it's my fault in our refuse to blame myself for it. Lol.

It's probably just my autism and my real life personal issues shining through, and I admit to that. I'm also irrationally attached to Rick for a personal reasons. But I've never in my life have ever felt so ridiculously disoriented and frustrated being a fan of literally any piece of media, they're usually all pretty straightforward and consistent about what they're about. The show is so on and off with its content, I almost feel embarrassed to watch the episode next week because of how irrationally frustrated I got about this one being such... Random meaningless trash.

[optiwashere]

I think some of your anons have unfortunately been visiting reddit. That place is awful for takes on the BG3 character's,l if you guys want to stay sane avoid it or all you will see is "Shadowheart is a basic bitch/waifu bait" "Karlach is stupid and badly written" "Lae'zel is an ugly Space Nazi with no growth"

Made the same mistake and checked out a thread on the Artifact fight and Unpopular opinions.

Weeeeeeew lad, there are some nasty haters out there bashing the girls. Some really insecure Bae'zel fans really hate Shady and love to bash her goddamn.

She's a"Writers pet" now it seems

It's just the backlash part of the "hype -> backlash -> backlash to the backlash" cycle that popular media goes through on social media.

I don't really understand the factionalism that's spawning out of this game, it's so... frankly, it's embarrassing lol. I'm not going to get into it because I love all the characters and finding ways to make myself hate them to prop up my favorite is silly.

This is why I try my best to stay away from hanging out in the more general fandom spaces! Not worth the headache. I advise you and everyone else to curate your fandom experiences :)

[mozillavulpix]

wrote out a bunch of traum thoughts on reddit but it became too long so let's do it here:

Okay, now I'm done. Might as well list out a bunch of stray thoughts.

On a meta point of view, this has helped me figure out what parts of FGO have been Higashide. Really, this whole thing is about as so obviously Higashide as Heian-Kyo was for Sakurai. It ends up being a sequel to Orleans, Shinjuku, Anastasia, Atlantis Fate/Apocrypha and Fate/Extella Link all at the same time. It's like when a Nasu chapter randomly brings up something from Hollow Ataraxia. They all have their favourites and comfort zones so it becomes pretty obvious when you see what character stories they choose to continue.

Seriously though, "we're sorry we did everyone dirty in Fate/Apocypha" keeps happening and keeps being kind of hilarious. Astolfo gets to show off more of his insane side while also doing cool stuff instead of being reduced to Sieg's cheer squad, and Siegfried gets to do Feats that show he really is strong instead of just...giving his power to Sieg and not everything bad in Apocrypha is Sieg's fault but still-

Don Quixote was great. Expected, but great. Genderbending Sancho is a bit boring but gacha be gacha and fate be fate. I liked the twist in the end of them being summoned to Atlantis this whole time and just ran away. There's a whole bunch of stuff there that implies there were a lot of stories that happened off-screen.

Wish Roland could have done more. If he's really the strongest of the Paladins, it's kind of wild all he ended up doing was opening a door. And the sacrifice at the end almost felt artificially tragic. It's messed up, but it happened so fast that it didn't really get me.

Charlie is cool. And if anything, the whole "I'm not the standard version of Charles the Great so I generally don't get to stay summoned for long" makes him even cooler. Like he's just so powerful he can only appear for a limited time. Except for gacha.

Didn't really feel for Salome, her story just felt like the typical female Berserker story where they'll always try and kill the person they love and I swear we've seen this a lot in Fate so it just kinda blended in to me

I like how instead of playing up Xu Fu's Disaster Lesbian energy, her personality here is Being a Slacker. That's such a mood.

The weird thing is despite there being so much Holmes here, his death felt a bit rushed? Like the reveal of him being a Foreign God Disciple is almost so obvious is feels like a joke. (You showed up out of nowhere with weird abilities and no one knows who summoned you. of course it'd be the villain. what else could it possibly be). But also he just tries to fight Moriarty for 2 turns and then bam. he's dead. It would have hit harder if it happened after the final Moriarty fight instead of before. It doesn't make it feel like a climax.The most interesting thing was the implication that the 'real' Sherlock Holmes wouldn't have been an ally to Chaldea because he'd be too impartial, so the Ruler Holmes we know is a creation he made. Like a literal Alter Ego. Or even a Phantom Spirit. Which is a cool parallel with Archer of Shinjuku. Hopefully we'll get a new Holmes version one day.

Kadoc was fun. Honestly, not too much to talk about him, his role was kind of what I expected. He had some great lines.

Konstantinos was done dirty. Not only did he get the worst kit and his banner had no SRs on rate-up, but he got taken out really quickly and anticlimactically. He deserved more.

There was a part where Johanna and Bradamante were talking where I was like "I see, this is Traum's version of passing the Beschdel test" and then the next time they had a girl-to-girl talk it was about a man lol. It's fine, but it's funny when writers try to have the women speak and it ends up falling into a trope without them meaning to.

I do think Johanna would have been better without Konstantinos. The whole thing about the pope is that he has no romantic partner, right? Why not have her actually committed to that instead of keeping her waifu material. because gacha.

I can't believe they ended it on a cliffhanger, the balls on them. I applaud it and also hate it because now I'm just gonna be wondering what this means for the next 6 months.

The chapter was fine. It was definitely no lostbelt, but going from Lostbelt 6 to this did give me a bit of whiplash when I had to remember that no they don't always spend so much time on the lore implications of everything. Sometimes they're just gonna make a chapter that showcases the Servants that'll get drip-fed over the next 2 years.

[bigjimbopickens]

hi sorry to bother you i know this is like a dead issue now but i was a massive fan of kevin before the hogwarts legacy shit, i’m a trans guy and i stopped watching him because of it. i really miss his content though, his channel is pretty much all the games i like and my sense of humour, but i feel so conflicted about wanting to go back to his content. i was just curious what your thought process was around rejoining the cult? i know it’s kinda weird to ask now since it’s been like 6 months since it happened but i feel really weird about it.

also like. no pressure to answer i don’t know if this is crossing a line or anything sorry

It’s okay don’t worry :) enough time has passed, to me at least. Tbh this is the first I’ve heard about this in a while lol.

It’s okay to feel conflicted. I don’t speak for everyone here but everyone I talk to regularly has forgiven him but won’t forget that this happened.

I do believe he learned from this, he hasn’t done anything HP related since then, besides for a few ps1 Hagrid cameos (which is fine, ps1 Hagrid has been a channel meme for a while). I just hope this doesn’t age poorly.

What started getting me back was a bit after the apology post I noticed that other YouTubers were doubling down on their decisions or just not saying anything, including ones I used to respect. Even though I wished Kevin did more than just a Reddit post, I’m glad he didn’t stay silent and admitted he fucked up. His intention wasn’t malicious, unlike a lot of other creators, which is why I was more forgiving with him compared to others. Though I still lost a lot of respect which was regained over time.

Oddly enough what got me to really respect him again was his video on those American Superpastors and Megachurches. Having grown up in one (though in Canada, they exist here but aren’t as big) it was very healing. He couldn’t say it because he didn’t want to get sued, but he was very heavily implying that he believes it’s all a huge scam and they’re exploiting people. But he’s right, I’ve witnessed it myself. Never would’ve expected him to make a video like that and be so bold with it. I’m glad Europeans see what goes on here and think “what the fuck?!” Great video definitely recommend.

Other than that, mainly just enough time passed where I no longer feel that way. I missed the sense of community which is why I rejoined the fandom but it’s not my main one anymore. I mostly do my own thing these days. It was awesome going to Vancoufur as Werewolf Jim and meeting CMK fans there too, I could’ve sworn I was the only British Columbian in the entire fandom. Though I don’t fully trust the fandom still, mainly people I don’t recognize. But not anyone here, Tumblr isn’t really the site for those people.

Not much else has really changed in his content, just no more HP videos in general (as of July 22, 2023) and the fast-paced editing has mostly stopped. He now only uploads on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays now + any 2nd channel content, song covers or streams. The community has changed a lot though. The Reddit protests caused the subreddit to shut down so it’s gone, so there’s now no longer one big gathering spot besides Discord, which is the one side of the community I’m not in.

It’s really your choice if you wanna start watching again, anonymous user. Do whatever makes you happy :)

Since this is related, I haven’t heard a thing about HL since February. It really was just a mid game that was only popular because it was controversial. Transphobes really spent a lot of money on this, they’re the real losers. I know single player games get less players overtime but a lot of them still get talked about, replayed or are still relevant. Idk just my thoughts. If you really want a magic game with custom spells, play Oblivion’s Mages Guild questline or modded Skyrim.

Also sorry if I got back to this so late. I haven’t had a stable connection for a while until now. I’ve been away, escaping wildfires. Average Canadian summer activities.

[septembersghost]

I feel one of the most surprising things I noticed in reddit recently is that harry seems much more liked now. Last year this time I couldn't go there without seeing comments like how basic him/his music is. But recently he seems loved. Taylor sub is begging for him(lol), gossip subs are actually defending him against the queerbaiting thing(which was bullshit btw) saying how conservative matty was to accuse him for #that despite calling himself liberal etc.. The posts praising him are getting more upvotes than ever! They are all loving harry for being private and non problematic. People are FINALLY understanding the drama wasnt his fault and not ~claiming~ Olivia arguments are actually misogynistic af. I think him staying away from media for awhile coupled with the fact that people are understanding harry is actually a nice guy(esp with matty being a CONSTANT reminder on how non problematic h actually is) made them realise their hatred for him was not warranted. I feel by the time HS4(whose hints he has been dropping for a while😌😏😉) comes out he would be more loved and respected than ever and I feel HS4 would seal him as one of the best artists in our generation even for haters and critics

i saw someone say they hate him today, and people responded defending him, and when someone questioned why, they said, "queerbaiting" (not! a thing! that real people! do!), "hate that he won aoty over bey even though it's not technically his fault" (?), and he just "annoys" them (fine, but not reason for virulent hatred, ignore the guy?). no one has a definable reason 💀

but yes the tide has suddenly turned dramatically and it's kind of funny and also irks me because i wish we didn't have to go through these cycles of viciously hating people over nothing only to then have those commentators realize they were wrong. satellite seems to have had an impact (as she should!), and also it seems like people are coming around on realizing what kind of a person he is. stepping back a bit probably did help, and press around him this year has been very centered on his character and positivity. it's also fairly easy to realize you've unfairly slandered someone when confronted by someone else who is legitimately antagonizing and has said/done inflammatory things. the sheer number of comments i've seen rooting for and praising him...where was this energy before?! it's better late than never though! being embraced is what he deserves, we love to see it 😌

oooooh what hints do you think there have been for hs4?! 👀 i get the feeling he's been writing quite a lot, i can't wait to hear what he might express on the next album! 💚

[bohemian-nights]

Exactly! You’re going yourself a huge favour by staying away from the HITD sub on Reddit especially. They’ve created so many threads about N and how the actress has to be lovable because otherwise she’ll be hated for splitting up the Daemyra soulmates.Like first of all they can f***off god already putting a pressure on the actress who’ll play N and secondly why is it always about N being hated because of their incest ship and never about how D would be even worse for being a paternal figure in her life while ignoring his actual daughters. I know they have to be spoon fed that Daemyra is s bad abusive relationship but it’s not like they haven’t shown him grooming or abusing her on screen so hon falling for someone else doesn’t seem that far fetched to a general viewer however there’s no excuse for him being a dead beat father to his kids and if N is aged up to be in her 20s it will look even more ridiculous and dare I say infantilising when he has teenage daughters he DGAF about. And if they cared about D potentially grooming N they wouldn’t ignore the lasting damage of D’s grooming of R and how her going after him or telling him she’s no longer a child erases that. I mean what does R really know about D at this point after being apart for over a decade?She clearly shows no interest in getting to know more about him and Laena or his relationship with his daughters(her sending her grieving son to comfort them instead of doing so herself because she’s busy chasing after D is so😡).He also never apologises and only tries to justify himself. He offers her no help during her fight with Alicent and she has to beg him to marry even going as far as using their familial connection to make him care.

Reddit is a mess, but what’s new 🫠 Lol. The grooming comments are just performative when you are fine with Daemon x Rhaenyra, but then turn around and hate Daemon x Nettles for that reason.

People can whine and complain or pretend to show concern for Nettles, but it won’t change canon(book or the show!verse) 🤷🏽‍♀️

They will probably age up Nettles so her being “parented” by Daemon is unlikely. Hilarious that they are still trying to insist that Daemon saw the 17 year old he bathed naked with as his daughter.

Daemyra is not gonna be end game. It’s pretty obvious that show!Daemon has an unhealthy relationship with everyone in his family (including the love of his life Rhaenyra), but some Daemyra stans can’t see the forest from the trees.

Rhaenyra is the one in this pairing who is more invested cause Daemon does not seem like he cares for nothing at this point.

I’m just sitting back and watching the chaos ensue from the sidelines until Nettles shows up and blows this hell fire fandom up.

[edenatday]

I’ve been chatting on Reddit about aphansasia and someone shared this essay with me. (Below is a screenshot that stood out)

I relate to about 90% of what he’s shared of his experience.

One thing has been vexing me when it comes to accepting that I have a very poor ability to visualise - and certainly my former friend wanted to use as a valid example to disprove I have no visual imagination. I can imagine, make up, play with lots of things in my brain. I have a rich inner world. How do I make @stupidlittledoodles if I can’t visualise?

This is how…

Milk voice = the neutral voice in your head that reminds you to buy milk. Do the dishes. Etc.

The doodles are visual mad libs. I don’t imagine images and go ooh I should draw that. I don’t see the doodle in my head as it is seen on the page. I experience concepts.

Me in my head:

- lol i bet a reverse mermaid but it’s a bloke and has a human penis would look funny.

- Lol remember that time my partner ran around the house with his dick and balls out the top of his jeans and I called it a blep and we found it hilarious.

- my cat is such a slut. She needs an only fans. Oh wait what if there was an only fans for cats. What would it be called?? Only Felines. She’d do some camming. She’d need a laptop…

They’re simple so I DONT have to spend time looking for a reference. A few are traced so I can make them quickly without too much effort to communicate the concept easily, and the touch of realism adds to the lols. I use my iPad like an accessibility tool bc it’s quicker to edit as I go than analogue sketching. They’re not meant to look realistic on the whole.

It’s interesting to me that I started these doodles as a way to move away from perfectionism & let go of realism, because all I have is realism. I can only see what’s real when I open my eyes. I cannot picture surrealism. I can gather references for the concepts of surrealism, or specific artistic techniques, or styles of artistic greats, and years of study mean I can replicate these things into creating something uniquely mine. But I don’t see the image. I judge each stroke as I go. It’s like pulling a thread.

Problem is, with stupid little doodles, my brain isn’t able to mad lib like that all the time. The ideas I get are sparked by quips in conversations, random bits between friends, jokes, maybe even vocalised visual randomness from other peoples brains, that I’m able to illustrate. I live a very solitary life these days so im not exposed to these moments often, and I miss that creativity. It only happens when I’m bouncing off other people. I’ve sat with this feeling of personal failure for a while, why don’t I do them anymore? I really love creating them. They’re like a dopamine button for me too! Maybe I’ll figure out ways to spark this part of my brain again. For now I’m choosing to focus elsewhere.

A lot of my creativity comes this way. A solitary life suits me, but doesn’t suit my creativity. I have to externalise a lot of my brain to function, so lot of my ideas are externally generated through my unique perspective human experience. I’m not sure how to describe this process entirely yet. But it’s been on my mind for a while. In order to make art I need to go out in the world and have experiences, but there’s people and things out there, so I stay in.

I’ll get back to the world soon I hope. Burnout is a bitch.

[glass-clown]

[ID: Six images in total. The frst five are from the same Ars Technica article and the sixth one is of the title of different articles.

The first image is the title of the article, "Unity dev group dissolves after 13 years over "completely eroded" company trust" with "Meanwhile, major game devs say fee structure changes haven't won them back." under it in smaller text. The article was written by Kyle Orland on September 26th, 2023 at 10:35 AM.

The second image says, "The "first official Unity user group in the world" has announced that it is dissolving after 13 years because "the trust we used to have in the company has been completely eroded." The move comes as many developers are saying they will continue to stay away from the company's products even after last week's partial rollback of some of the most controversial parts of its fee structure plans."

The third image starts with a sentence cut off, "[…] wrote in a departure note. "Following the IPO, the company has seemingly put profit over all else, with several acquisitions and layoffs of core personnel. Many key systems that developers need are still left in a confusing and often incomplete state, with the messaging that advertising and revenue matter more to Unity than the functionality game developers care about. BUG says the install-fee terms Unity first announced earlier this month were "unthinkably hostile" to users and that even the "new concessions" in an updated pricing model offered late last week "disproportionately affect the success of indie studios in our community." But it's the fact that such "resounding, unequivocal condemnation from the games industry" was necessary to get those changes in the first place that has really shaken the community to its core. "We've seen how easily and flippantly an executive-led business decision can risk bankrupting the studios we've worked so hard to build, threaten our livelihoods as professionals, and challenge the longevity of our industry," BUG wrote. "The Unity of today isn't the same company that it was when the group was founded, and the trust we used to have in the company has been completely eroded.""

The fourth image has "Developers remain wary" in bigger text, beneath it continuing, "BUG's feelings are being echoed across large swaths of the game development community, where many prominent developers are saying Unity's public reversal has done little to nothing to restore their trust in the company. Vampire Survivors developer Poncle, for instance, gave a succinct "lol no thank you" when asked during a Reddit AMA over the weekend if their next game/sequel would again use the Unity Engine. "Even if Unity were to walk back entirely on their decisions, I don't think it would be wise to trust them while they are under the current leadership," Poncle added later in the AMA.""

The fifth image says, "Some developers are now also suggesting that Unity ignored advice from the development community before announcing its initial plans earlier this month. Brandon Sheffield of Necrosoft Games (Demonschool) told Wired that his company was "privy to these [initial] install-fee changes well before they went live and pushed back against them. We knew the reaction would be resoundingly negative, but we weren’t listened to." In part because of that intentional ignorance on Unity's part, Sheffield says he will stick with an earlier pledge to never use Unity in a future project despite the later fee structure changes. "We simply don’t trust them to stick to their word," he told Wired. “We don’t trust them to update their engine in ways that affect us, as PC/console developers, in a positive way. I think they have done irreparable damage to their brand for game developers in general, and the walkback isn’t going to fix it.""

The sixth image shows four article titles. The first one was published five says ago and is by Gizmodo that says "'First Official Unity User Group' Disbands Over Company's New Developer Fees." The second article was published nine days ago by Wired that says "Unity May Never Win Back the Developers It Lost in Its Fee Debacle." The third article was published nine days ago by PC Gamer that says "Unity makes big changes to the install fee that pissed off just about every game developer last week." The fourth article was published thirteen days ago by Gizmodo that says "Unity Backpedals on Its Horrible Plan for Game Install Fees Amid Developer Backlash."

/ END ID]

things still aren't going well for unity btw. i know the talk of it died down a bit but i didn't forget

i hope unity implodes under the weight of its own hubris

[clunelover]

Agh since deciding on foot surgery I’ve gotten all in my head and am bugging out. Like, okay per the surgeon it’s 10 weeks before I’d be walking in normal shoes again, sounds like a long road, but everything I’m reading says that’s not even full recovery, which is more like 6 months away. Which I guess makes sense and that was probably the case with my old foot surgery too, and makes it even better that I picked to do it in December so I’d be hitting that "full recovery" mark in summer, but still it freaked me out. I also read about how once you fuse a joint, the joints around it start absorbing more stress and can deteriorate faster, and that sounds bad…but I also WAS told by the guy who did my original foot surgery in 2010 that the current issue in that foot "will just keep getting worse until it’s time for surgery" so like, it’s happening someday regardless so maybe better to do it now while I’m younger and better at healing? And while I still have a job and short term disability benefits if in fact I do end up quitting at the end of May and becoming a SAHM as we’ve been roughly planning…BLAH BLAH I guess there’s just no really right answer, it’s just that any plan comes with pain and it’s hard to know what’s the "right" pain - like more pain from surgery but hopefully less pain once it heals but also no guarantee and maybe other joints get more painful later? Vs the just for sure pain I have right now that’s bad and getting worse and will for sure get continually worse?

Oh and I got on the flat feet subreddit and that really bummed me out, just seeing the extent to which this is a progressive condition! Which I guess I knew but it was hard to see it more concretely - like, okay even if I get this surgery, there’s no magic fix to having flat feet, my life might just keep getting worse lol…gotta stay off that damned Reddit I guess (there are also real benefits to getting more info on Reddit, but r/flatfeet and r/thritis are bummer places to visit)

Also I read about platelet rich plasma injections and how they’re a still experimental but possibly helpful tool that can help with osteoarthritis and tendon probs, so now I want to consider that too? From what I read, maybe it’s quackery or maybe it will help, but it won’t hurt anything to try (unlike the steroid injections I got which I’m now reading can degrade cartilage and maybe make things worse long term so maybe it’s good I only got three? Agggghh must stop reading!)

One thing I’ve decided FOR SURE: I gotta get back into yoga! Any way you slice it, I am having problems related to my tendons and flexibility and mobility and strength, and yoga is a thing that can massively help with those things as well as help manage stress which I am also generating a lot of lol.

[m1ckeyb3rry]

Im never getting that baby karasu butterfly scene out of my head also wait adding this to the sweetheart karasu agenda but maybe he really likes animals too?? Like there’s obv the crown motif all over but we see him like gazing at it so fondly too like bro crows and butterflies this boy is so precious HDJSHSJSJAH and no because atp the authors fr just copied you like fwtkac karasu was actually so on point it’s scary

NAH BC WHAT DID WE SAY?? MIRAEITA CANON FR we got the first epinagi appearance guys epimiraeita next fs look at all these signs

On that note im seeing all your shitposts on Otoya and laughing you fr fell into the Otoya agenda trap (me too honestly) LMAOO I also can’t unsee that eyebrow meme but what’s also really funny is wayyyy back when when I first read the manga I was like “bro id never give two shits about Otoya so idc and it’s fine that he’s a cheater LMAO” (look at me now :(((((((() Also wait I also did not know about the green eyebrows it never processed in my mind…that’s…interesting….bro has blades of grass as eyebrows…..

Also the BEANIE I cannot I’m sure he’s worn it so often that his skull and hair have been like permanently MOLDED into a beanie shape like let’s be real let your scalp breathe

LMAFAOAO “buddy we can tell” HAS ME ROLLING but nah fr he just said it is what it is no thoughts empty head

But ok wait pause again this just makes all the previous tabieita moments even more special HEHJSJS like when karasu prevents Otoya and Bachira from stopping off the bench to their recent game interactions and their third selections interactions too like goodbye im ascending we love tabieita power duo (also from what we’ve seen im also assuming himizu probs came first!!)

FR the length of the epinagi chapters is sm nicer whatever’s going on in the bm pxg match just passes like i feel like I read four panels and the chapters over LMAO

We love karasu relevance….i feel like he’ll definitely have a moment but i wonder if maybe it won’t be as tied to shidou so that it still allows Rin to score while he gets some spotlight…like maybe he finds a way to shut down Kaiser or Isagi (good parallel back to the whole Ordinary Isagi from third selection etc)…I also considered that maybe he’d help Rin!! Honestly that was kinda my ideal situation where maybe he breaks apart the current dual system (which seems kinda inefficient imo) but I wasn’t sure how likely that was to happen LOL either way I trust karasu awakening moment soon…

FRRR I get that Isagi is the mc but I’m DYING to see other matches like please we haven’t seen any of the other matches barcha has been straight up dead for like the past 60 chapters

Another nagireo breakup NEEDS TO HAPPEN like let them grow I’m begging (also I too like to doom scroll through Reddit but then I see some extremists debating some points or talking about characters glazing and whatnot I’m like ok maybe this was a mistake LMAOOO)

Yeah there’s no such thing as a non ooc piece there…also I think just generally (at least in terms of my preferences) the writing style is very…unsophisticated…which makes sense since it’s like middle schoolers writing but I cannot bring myself to continue reading some of that like…(LMAOAO I like that philosophy if it doesn’t exist I’ll make it myself HAHA)

Well either way we were fed well today with that chapter I dropped everything to read it

-Karasu anon

HE IS JUST A CUTE SPARKLY BOY PLEASEEE he’s so 🥹🥹💖💖 i can’t…he loves all animals except the marine ones TRUST!! bro finds wonder and joy in all living creatures as long as they stay far away from the water. and HAHA omg karasu is basically mine atp i should be getting royalties for letting bllk use him 🥱

YES MIRAEITA SO REAL SO TRUE HIGHLIGHT OF THE CHAPTER 🤩 first in bllk now in epinagi…it’s obvious what the best ship is!! NO BUT SAME when i first saw him i was like okay weird guy his best friend is hot asf though (i was so overwhelmed by karasu that i did NOT care abt otoya) and then i read he was a cheater and i was like yikes…never liking him…now i shitpost abt him constantly and just posted the first chapter of a fic for him 😓 he used his ninja skills on me or smth tf…

I JUST NOTICED IT THE OTHER DAY so ig his hair is naturally green then?? does that mean he bleaches the rest of it?? he confuses me a bit 😭 don’t get me started on the beanie LMAOAOA he keeps that thing ON ‼️ yeah ykw at least he admits that he’s dumb as hell though like he truly is just floating through life and chilling i have to respect it

TABIEITA IS PEAK OVER THINKER + DOESN’T THINK like they average out to a normal person’s levels of consideration to any given subject HAHA karasu is always analyzing shit and internally freaking out about every little thing meanwhile otoya is like “cool 🥶👍” to literally whatever 😭

pxg vs bm has been like so many chapters and yet i feel like nothing has happened…i think it’s the curse of weekly releases though because i bet on reread it’ll flow well!! it’s just that as it’s coming it’s like please i need MOREEE

i do think karasu is going to have some kind of relevance!! i see a lot of posts on tik tok abt rin and shidou possibly linking up and i think karasu could be an avenue to that. but also YES bro i can’t wait for the epinagi manga to catch up w nel in twenty years i need to see what’s going on nowwww let me see my boys again 😓 BUT NOT TOGETHER. REONAGI ANTI RIGHT HERE (not actually hehehe but yk)

honestly i’m not a reddit lurker…embarrassingly enough i happened upon the thread while looking for manga panels of otoya on google 😐 goofy ass mf taking over my life and whatnot

100% i think it’s almost a self fulfilling prophecy — kids start off writing on wattpad, so the quality isn’t great, which means adults searching for smth better written go to sites like tumblr/ao3, leaving mostly people who can read objectively more beginner work on there, and because they’re so used to that, that’s what wp authors will put out. then because the ecosystem is as such, there’s no motivation to improve as authors can get away w a simplistic writing style and still be popular. ofc this doesn’t apply to everyone — i myself post on wp sometimes, so there’s obviously going to be other people who can write fairly well and upload on there for various reasons — but for the most part that’s kind of the case. actually ime more complex/better written stories will get less popular and more hate/complaining-type comments than the very surface level y/n-harem type of stories. that’s not to bash on the latter kind of story but it’s just an interesting observation i’ve made!! i think it speaks a lot to the wp audience

[automatismoateo]

My Parents are planning on getting rich from their Church. via /r/atheism

My Parents are planning on getting rich from their Church. I'm sorry for basically venting on this sub. This will be my last post regarding my family. I just want to get this last thing off my chest. Just now in the kitchen my Mom was gleefully telling me what the Lord apparently told her in a dream Last night. She says that Me and her are called together to preach his word and I'm supposed to help her. She says that the money we receive where we go to preach will be split between us and the church 50/50. She was dancing and talking about how God has promised to bless her because she passed her test (kicking me out of the house a year and a half ago because apparently I was her Isaac and she proved that she loved God more than me by doing that). Apparently everyone else in our old church and many others have failed God but she passed ( I allegedly passed too but it's only because of her prayers for me). She says she has now been upgraded spiritually and can now cure demons from any child/teen in her presence. Neither of my parents work and growing up they always condemned prosperity preaching and getting rich off the church. I was so confused and horrified listening to their plans of getting rich, the sudden switch up. She told me that God told her they'd see so much money that they'll be walking on it. 10% is meant to go to my Dad from the tithes and offerings and my mom receives half of the donations guest speakers gets She says that next year a new generation of people will be used to preach God's word because the last generation failed him (naturally I'm amongst the new generation of spiritual leaders and the reason for this is because my mother prayed for me while I was gone so I'd stay "pure" and prayed away all the men who wanted to steal my virginity (lol) ) I'm just so appalled and disgusted by what they're saying. I didn't want to bring up the whole "it is ieasier for a camel to pas through the eye of a needle than..." because I didn't want to start anything. But I don't want to get rich from the church or be rich or famous in general. I don't want any part of this but my Mom insists that my calling is to help her. I kinda wanna name drop them and their church so in case they actually do succeed they'll be exposed. All of this and I'M the evil, demonic Atheist? 😂 Submitted December 29, 2023 at 04:31PM by Distinct_Machine3433 (From Reddit https://ift.tt/WRZ3JOr)

[servin-up-surveys]

survey #188

Have you ever wished you had been born the opposite sex? No. Gender/sex has never been a thing I feel some sort of attachment towards, like it plays absolutely zero role in my view of myself and my level of comfort as this human being that I am. I'm honestly really grateful for that since trans people regularly go through fucking hell by people whose lives are entirely unaffected by how they choose to identify and live.

Have you ever been insulted or called names by a significant other? Not while we dated/knew each other.

Do you drink more frequently than once a week? I don't even drink once a month. It's normally only celebratory, and even then I drink very little and with a puny alcohol concentration because I hate the taste of alcohol.

Do you have any step-grandparents? Yeah, but I don't consider him my grandfather. He and my maternal grandmother weren't married long before she died, and he's just... not family to me. I don't dislike him, he's just not someone I consider real family. He just married the grandmother that I despised.

Have you ever been to a same-sex wedding? I haven't yet.

Have you ever attempted to pick a lock? Did you succeed? No.

Do you like sour candy? Yes, I love it.

Where would you like to go on your honeymoon? Probably like, Venice.

Is there anybody you’re not ashamed to tell anything to? No. By no fault of others, I am just very, VERY easily excruciatingly embarrassed, even over things I've been told aren't embarrassing at all.

Are you disrespectful to a lot of people? I sure try not to be, I don't think so.

Do you like the color pink? um YES, it's my favorite general color and basically all its tints and shades make up my most beloved colors lol.

Ever kissed someone your parents hated? No. Apparently at the time Sara and I dated Mom didn't really like her, but she didn't hate her until she spoke ill of me.

Are you drifting away from your best friend? Absolutely not, I really do love him more every day. He's the bestest best friend I've ever had.

Would you feel hurt if your last ex was in a relationship? Not at all, I don't care what she does.

Is there anyone who seems to always be under the influence of something when you see them or talk to them? Does it bug you? No.

Do you and your boyfriend or girlfriend fight a lot? Nope.

Have you ever cleaned up someone else’s vomit? The day I thought would never be possible finally came and I helped Girt with this, lol. Granted it was not a lot like at all, and it was barely digested so it was less ew than it coulda been. He swallowed wrong and food kinda got caught.

Does your boyfriend or girlfriend get mad/jealous when you talk about the opposite sex? No, he's an adult that's secure in his relationship.

The last time you burned your tongue or mouth, what were you eating? It wasn't severe or anything, but I had some angry spaghetti awhile ago lol

Has someone ever made you a Build-A-Bear? NO but i dream of this

What’s your favorite flavor of Doritos? Cool ranch.

Do you feel free to post how you feel on Facebook? I mean I feel free to, but I sure as hell don't. I rarely post things about my actual life on there, I just share memes or pretty/cute/motivational stuff. I have a very strong "Brittany literally no one cares" mindset on there and I just feel awkward talking about my life.

Do you read Reddit? If so, how often and what subreddits do you like? No, Reddit is Girt's thing, I've never really explored it.

Do you know anyone who's had a baby recently? Not VERY recently.

Do you listen to any podcasts? How do you listen to them? No, that's another one of Girt's likes.

Why did you leave your last job? I don't enjoy anxiety attacks that leave me crying in the restroom.

Do you know anyone who has been through a divorce? lmfao plenty of people, divorce isn't exactly rare.

Would someone being either a cat or dog person affect you dating them? No, unless they hated cats and weren't willing to potentially one day live with one if we stayed together. I will not get rid of Roman for a partner.

When was the last time you had a PopTart? Many months ago. I don't really eat them because they're completely non-filling to me so are just empty calories.

Would you ever jump into a fire to save your best friend? I can pretty much guarantee I would, I guess UNLESS it was a situation where I'd 100% inexorably obviously die, but I still kinda feel like if it was Girt in there, I'd try no matter what.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done? I think my darkest demon will always be the fear that maybe I was emotionally abusive to Jason after we split. I really don't know if my behavior qualifies, but I don't like thinking about it.

Do you think walruses are cute? I do.

Do you know anyone named Trey? Not one living. One of my elementary school puppy-dog crushes was named Trey, and I later found out because of Mom that he later died via drug overdose as a teen or young adult. His parents or someone had a road named after him.

What was the name of your last or current math teacher? I don't even remember his name.

Do you know anyone with a lip piercing? Yeah, me, lol. Probably many others. Most people I've known who've had them took them out by now, but certainly not all.

Do you own any hair ribbons? No.

Have you ever given birth? Nope, gonna pass on that.

Do you enjoy making out? If I'm in the mood to.

What’s your favorite class you’ve ever had? I had a lot of fun in high school art classes, especially my I think junior year.

Would you rather get [another] tattoo or piercing? If I could only pick one, a tattoo.

Do you prefer cold or room temperature drinking water? I will not drink water that isn't at least pretty darn cold, because otherwise I hate it. Room temperature water is so disgusting to me. One of the most relatable obscure posts I've ever seen was someone describing warm water as "soft" and cold water as "pointy," aND IT'S INSANE HOW *CLEARLY* I GET IT, LIKE I 100% KNOW WHAT THEY MEAN, and it plays a role in why I only like cold water.

When you read a book, do you use a bookmark or simply dog ear/fold the top of the page? I just dog-ear, though for a book I really cherish, I'd want a bookmark. I prefer bookmarks in all cases, but I don't always care enough.

Do you know anyone who owns a gun? my brother in christ I live in the South

Have you ever seen a panda in real life? Where was it? No, but I would LOVE to, of course if the zoo took proper care of them.

Have you ever had Covid? What was your experience like? Once, yes. My primary symptom was an extremely sore throat, and I ended up losing my voice for a couple weeks, I wanna say. For many months after I could feel phlegm in my lungs and I'd often hack it up with a strong cough, but I will say I consider myself lucky in that my experience with it wasn't nearly as bad as I've seen others deal with. I got vaccinated (which no, I do not regret and I fully encourage vaccines).

Has a romantic partner ever given you a pet as a gift? No, and I don't really want this to happen unless I'm in on it. I don't want to be gifted a random pet. The only situation where this would be acceptable for me is if they knew it was a pet I wanted and was in a state to properly provide for them.

Have you ever been bitten by a spider? It's certainly possible I have at some point in 27 years of life, but I don't have an even remotely memorable experience of one.

Tell us something that made you happy yesterday: Mom and I watched Hocus Pocus 2! I'd been wanting to see it since I first heard it was being produced, I just at the same time don't really watch movies; I have to be in a very specific mood, and yesterday evening we watched it. I loved it, but the original still has my heart.

How many people have you been really in love with? Two.

Are you a seafood fan? In general, no; the only seafood I enjoy is shrimp. I haven't tried a lot, but I've at least found I generally dislike the taste of fish.

Give me a random word in another language. Tell me what it means. "Meerkat" in German is "erdmännchen," which literally translates to "little earth men" and I think that's absolutely precious.

Would you prefer a pet rat, mouse, snake, lizard or spider? I love all of them!! However if I could only pick one of these to have, it's gotta be a snake.

Can you keep a pokerface and not show your emotions easily? HAHAHAHAHA NOOOOOOO

Do you think rainbows are pretty or overrated? Man, who thinks rainbows are OVERRATED? If you don't think every single time you see one that rainbows aren't cool as fuck get outta my face bro

Do you like carrot cake? Surprisingly, yes.

What’s the grossest/worst thing you’ve ever seen in a public restroom? Blood completely covering the underside of the toilet seat. I went into a gas station bathroom with my then-best friend, and she'd recently discovered she was pregnant so was being VERY careful with basically everything, and I could not fucking believe when she checked the seat.

What’s the worst relationship advice you’ve ever seen? Misogynistic shit. If you think it's bad everywhere, come to the southern USA.

Have you ever volunteered in a hospital? If not, would you ever want to? No no no no. Hospitals are very upsetting for me.

Have you ever had a disappointing Christmas, or any disappointing holiday if you don’t celebrate Christmas? I remember one specific year as a kid and I wanna wring her throat lmao, I was so blessed with how hard my mom specifically always went, but Dad too.

Have you ever had to give a pet away? Yes; a number of cats over the years, our old nightmare of a dog Bentley, and my young iguana Kaiju because I did not have the funds to house him properly. He was growing too fast and that terrarium wasn't gonna cut it.

What’s the junkiest junk food you’ve ever eaten? Hmmmm, I can't say I'm sure.

Did you play pretend a lot as a child? Were there any recurring plots or themes? Oh I certainly did, I loved this. I played house and Barbies with my sisters, and my big "plot" as a kiddo was with some toy dinosaurs, crocodiles, deer, and Pokemon figurines that I had an ongoing story for that I sure as hell barely remember now, other than the crocodile and deer were married and had two kids that were the other croc and fawn, lol. The dinosaurs were the villains. I also loved making blanket forts where I pretended inside was a burrow and I was a meerkat (this should surprise NOBODY). I also liked making fucking "penguin nests" out of the rocks in our driveway??????????? One more lil tidbit I remember is I liked to take a leaf and pile seeds and little plant bits onto it, kinda mimicking A Bug's Life, which I was obsessed with.

How do you feel about runny egg yolks? Fucking disgusting, I will not poke it with my tongue.

Have you ever hidden a relationship from your family? Well, yes, technically. Joel and I never actually dated, but something not okay was going on between us.

Have you ever used a view-master? YES!!!!!!!! omg I was obsessed

Do you know any sex workers? If so, how do they feel about their job? Not that I'm aware of.

What kind of wild animals do you see most frequently where you live? Birds, squirrels, opossums, raccoons, deer.

Do you and your parents share any of the same hobbies? Mom and I both like to write, but she doesn't do it much, sadly. Dad and I both enjoy fishing, even though I don't really do it anymore because I feel mean lol.

Who was the worst friend you ever had? Honestly, when it boils down to it, probably Sara. Maybe Colleen, not sure.

Do your parents and grandparents get along with each other? I think Dad and his family were cool. I don't really know how Mom and her dad were, he died when I was like two, but my mother and her mom had a very rough relationship. My grandma was straight-up abusive to her, and Mom just wanted approval and love from her up to the day she died. By the way, guess which kid of hers took care of her on her deathbed?

[maximuswolf]

Light/Medium recommendations?

Light/Medium recommendations? I'm a beginner in the coffee culture, but I'd like to improve my coffee experience. Recently picked up a french press and a coffee grinder with various coarse to fine settings and I'm on the hunt for some good beans. Ideally, they would be purchased online and bonus points for supporting smaller businesses with ethically sourced product.I'd like to stay away from dark roast, because I've never tasted one that is as enjoyable as the alternatives.I am aware there's a general "recommendations thread" so I apologize if it's against the rules to repost this question. I just arrived at this reddit category so digging through all the previous posts is a tall order (lol). I guess I'd like to know:Specifically light or medium roast available online, which one do you consider a "gem" and what's your favorite thing about it?I appreciate any responses! Thank you! Submitted January 01, 2023 at 09:07PM by ckirby7 https://ift.tt/zE8TZRu via /r/Coffee

[autistichalsin]

Maybe it's different on other sites (I don't follow the fandom on twt or reddit) but the #1 with a bullet takeaway most of the fandom seems to have from where I'm at is that Halsin is willing to condemn a woman to death to save his own peace of mind. You can be critical of his character (which is a good thing! As I'll get to in a sec) completely on the basis that he's asking you to choose between them, knowing only one party is in real danger (hint: not Halsin) of being abandoned.

It's on this site, all the time, that Halsin is "Drow racist" for refusing to go with Minthara. It's even more common on Reddit and Twitter. And it's not actually just his peace of mind. Remember, he has already suffered harm because of her- as I explain below, this ONLY plays when the Rite of Thorns is completed. And yeah, "but the Absolute made her do it!!!" but... honestly, if someone CLOSE to me had a brain tumor or similar event that made them make attempts on my life, I STILL wouldn't want break contact with them let alone if this was literally my introduction to them. Let alone if the person said that they only regret that their brain tumor forced them to do such things instead of choosing it themself.

That's still a a character flaw that doesn't even need elaborating on his history with the drow. That can still be a factor, as would his imprisonment in the goblin camp. To say a lot has changed since then is an understatement, and as he states he's perfectly willing to go if Tav (the one he's supposed to be worried about for in this case also) refuses to effectively kill Minthara.

He is worried about Tav and himself. If Tav is willing to stay with someone dangerous (one of the options Tav even has is "Minthara's dangerous, and that's why I choose her) then he can't change their mind, but that doesn't mean he has to stick around and play Russian roulette along with Tav. As you pointed out, Halsin doesn't have a tadpole, which means he can't see into Minthara's mind and determine for sure if she's a threat. All he has is her word. Which means very little.

Speaking of his history with drow, it would be equally silly to dismiss it entirely as irrelevant considering he generally has nothing but negative things to say about drow. But then, so does basically everyone else in Faerun, and every other character will make an exception for Tav so yes, that's not the only motivation. It is also the thing he falls back on when Minthara refutes his claims that she's a danger due to what happened (or would have happened) to the grove.

He says one negative comment (what I alluded to about Drow culture being built on violence against each other). Which isn't even that negative. It's true. That's literally the entire DEAL for Lolth-sworn Drow. And what he says when Minthara denies his claim she's a danger (she doesn't refute it- refuting would mean she had proven it, and she did no such thing) isn't about Drow, it's about Lolth worship.

Anyway, count me as someone who really likes the ultimatum, and would be okay with this ultimately being a hard choice (no convincing him) between the two, if Larian is unable to implement any further interactions between the two. Because it'll start to feel weird if they have literally no interactions (as I intend to find out for myself in my current playthrough where I'm recruiting everyone; at least unless this ultimatum drops before I get to that point), but if they remain mutually exclusive but the player has to make a morally difficult decision no matter what they choose, that to me is more interesting and a better way to characterize both of them.

I also like the ultimatum. If nothing else I've had enough 'lol only one tent' jokes.

Because it isn't a morally pure choice, it shouldn't be. You either side with the "good" character against the "evil" one, and in so doing condemn her to a fate worse than death. Or you side with the "evil" character against the "good" character, who can walk away and return to his original duties tending his grove, a position he was reluctant to hold, but held no intrinsic harm to him.

Halsin CAN'T return to the Grove. EVERYONE seems to forget that this scene is only programmed to trigger if the Rite of Thorns is completed. Meaning that because of Minthara, Halsin has lost his home, his place of worship, will never see his friends again (that's why he has a line that Minthara was only denied her 'bloody prize' because of Kagha's foolishness), AND all of the refugees under his protection died. Halsin's choice is morally sound in those circumstances.

I don't know about you, but I don't consider condemning someone to slavery that robs them of their free will to be a "good" decision. No matter who the victim is.

Why should we care what happens to Minthara when she advocates for enslaving the refugees in Baldur's Gate? If she had at any point expressed maybe the slightest agreement with a "slavery is wrong" philosophy i might understand, but instead, her philosophy is "slavery is wrong when it happens to Minthara Baenre instead of one of those OTHER lesser people." So... why should I care?

Meanwhile up to this point, Tav has already given Minthara the benefit of the doubt by 1) not killing her (this one is flexible if you take knocking her out as "she survived despite our efforts") 2) rescued her from getting mind wiped, and 3) led her to safety, and 4) knows without a doubt at this point that her actions were not her own, and that you share a common enemy now. To turn on her now feels not only "evil" but craven and duplicitous. Not on Halsin's part, but Tav.

I disagree, though i do understand your argument here. It does seem like it was set up with the assumption no one would choose Halsin's side here, and actually I think I know exactly why. I frequent Larian's forums, Discord, etc, and just about everyone who wanted to recruit Minthara in a good run also wanted to be able to send Halsin packing after lifting the Shadow Curse- I can count on one hand the number of posts I saw from people who liked both. 99% of Minthara fans hated Halsin even before this ultimatum. So I can definitely imagine Larian feeling they had solved two issues (wanting Minthara for a good run while also letting those fans, who almost always hate Halsin anyway, cut him loose without condemning an entire land to eternal darkness.)

At this point the only reason I could see for siding with Halsin is a "greater good" mentality that you need him to reverse the shadow curse (which, you can get this ultimatum after that's done, so *shrugs* in that case). And historically those who do morally nefarious things for the greater good are always in the right, right? /joking

I mean, the entire game has multiple greater good choices. Wyll is treated as evil if the player encourages him to break his pact at the cost of his father's life (as far as they know); fittingly, Halsin is one of the only companions to say it isn't evil to choose your life over someone else's. (This is also why he holds no anger to a player who sets off the Tiefling-Druid fight and then kills the Druids.) On the other hand, Shadowheart is never treated as bad or selfish for killing her parents to escape Shar's torture. And of course, the whole "trust the Emperor and let Orpheus die, or free Orpheus, doom the Emperor, and make one of you have to transform into a mindflayer" issue.

Something to think about should you actually have to make a decision on whether to send Minthara off into a fate she says herself she would rather die than face again.

I do think it would be a lot better and more interesting if they had Minthara go aggro if the player indicated they were going to choose Halsin. Makes it more 'fair' in the sense that she dies instead and also adds more stakes for those who either ignore or don't realize that the Rite of Thorns has happened. (Not directed at just you, the "he can go back to the Grove and live happily ever after!!!" argument gets made very often. And it would be nice if we could get more elaboration on some things hinted at elsewhere; for example, seeing as Ketheric Thorm sent the Shadow Druids to Halsin's Grove on purpose to make the Druids less of a threat against him, Halsin was in his sights for quite a while. It would not take much extrapolation at all to then say he was a target for the Absolute as a whole.)

I don't feel Halsin comes off badly in the current iteration of the scene, but if I could change it, I might do one of the following:

Make Halsin flat out say he's leaving if the player brings Minthara, no ultimatum/choice, so that people will stop blaming Halsin for that.

Make Minthara go aggro if the player chooses Halsin over her.

Establish that the Absolute has Halsin in their sights because of the intelligence Ketheric and Minthara collected on him, Ketheric from before the Shadow Curse, and Minthara from when he was a prisoner. Make it clear that with the Rite of Thorns completed, Halsin won't be safe anywhere but with the player.

Have Halsin state, clearer than he does here, that he is afraid for his life if Minthara stays. OR have him bring up that as an escaped slave to a noble Drow house, he is afraid Minthara will attempt to return him to slavery.

Okay ONE more post about this, and then I'm going to try and disengage from the issue again.

I think what annoys me so much about the reactions to Halsin in the ultimatum is that the fandom is working BACKWARDS to make things fit a conclusion, rather than looking at the textual evidence to form a conclusion.

The fandom's conclusion: Halsin is racist to Drow.

Therefore: His objections to Minthara's actions are solely based on her race.

Therefore: It makes no sense that he is okay with a Lolth-sworn Tav, since he is Drow racist, which means he is just making Tav one of his Exceptions. His acceptance of Tav and willingness to judge Tav on their actions does NOT disprove that he is Drow-racist; it is, instead, an oversight in the writing of Halsin as a Drow-racist character.

But also: Halsin makes one comment early on expressing skepticism that a Drow Tav actually has reservations about killing another Drow, when Drow society is built on constant betrayal and culling of the weak. This proves that he is actually Drow-racist.

Further: It is really gross that Halsin is willing to sleep with the Drow twins. This does NOT disprove that he is Drow-racist; instead, it suggests that he will fetishize Drow while being Drow-racist.

Further: Halsin saying "Lolth's followers" does not make him not Drow-racist. Instead, it means he's discriminating against a religion, and also being very insensitive to cult victims, and he should turn the other cheek. It's actually WORSE if he hates just Lolth's followers instead of all Drow.

Further: Halsin's statements about Minthara's true nature are obviously about exclusively her race, and not her character as an individual. Therefore, his forgiveness of Kagha wasn't because he had seen her be a different and better person before her corruption by the Shadow Druids, but because she was not a Drow, and therefore, this supports that he is Drow-racist.

Therefore: Halsin's objections to Minthara are NOT based on her being a slave owner (and slavery supporter) while Halsin has trauma about being enslaved, and not about her attempt to murder everyone he knows, and not about concerns she will harm the player character (who Halsin has shown multiple times is EXTREMELY important to him), and not about fear for his own life, but solely about Minthara's race, which makes him Drow-racist.

Fandom refuses to see the inherent tautology of this, and it makes it impossible to stop the character-bashing. Instead of contradictory evidence proving Halsin isn't Drow-racist, it's either twisted to make it out like he wouldn't care about that thing if she wasn't a Drow, so he actually is MORE Drow-racist than he was before that issue was brought up, or it's written off as an "inconsistency" with a character as obviously Drow-racist as Halsin.

There is just no winning here. So fine, I give up, I guess I'm stanning a Drow-racist daddy now.