#The cultural stuff idk...

[new-austin]

I really enjoyed a lot about Taash's personal quest, it was one of the quests that made me cry. But I wish there was a way to have Taash embrace being multicultural like you can at the beginning of their quest. Being from multiple cultures shouldn't mean you have to choose either or. I wish you weren't forced to have them choose like that.

[bloodyredhanded]

[jeanjaquesrousseou]

They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me They dont care about me

[box953]

hey me and my girlfriend saw you from across the room and one of us is going to infodump at you while the other stands around nodding politely okay.

I like them….. little doodles for you

[youling-the-ghost]

Gosh I love small fandoms where everyone is equally insane and everyone's just making references to the source material.

Like, I can go "y'all I just saw a badger, I sure hope he doesn't become King of England" and everyone will get what I'm talking about while people who aren't in the fandom are confused as shit.

[ultramarinaa]

So… remember how Jon was explaining the whole “knowing isn’t same as understanding” and the Eye just dropping the most random info on him (like letting him know his crush was nearby)

Think about the eye dropping random information on internet culture and now Martin has a lot of explaining to do

Jon: Martin… do you know what a „fursona” is?

Martin: *trying not to choke on air itself* uhhh it’s like… k-kind of like… your animal a-avatar?

Jon: hmm… do you think it’s related to the hunt? It must be right? I think they will have a meet up in London…. We should investigate…

Martin: *trying to hold back tears* uh uh….

[ell-es-dee]

being a fictionkin/factkin is knowing you'll never see your family or friends ever again.

[kirkwallguy]

i do keep trying to write something meaningful about taash's storyline but i always get stumped when i try to talk about the conclusion because it's so insane. "hey btw my mother just died protecting me. she was an immigrant whose culture was deeply important to her which caused conflict between us because i left the country too young for it to have much significance to me. she would probably want me to do something with her body in a way that honoured the culture she most closely identified with. however i (the writer using my dragon age character as a mouthpiece) personally think that this culture is inferior regressive less nice to trans people so i feel icky about it :( should i just honour her in accordance to the culture that i feel is better personally because they (the three characters we see) respect my pronouns?" like. to be clear this is absolutely something the most out of touch person you know would say in the vent channel of a discord server. but i don't want to be rewarded with an armour for participating in it.

[oscargender]

Heartbreaking: “problematic” danmei everyone told you to avoid is actually pretty decent and has mildly interesting things to say about poverty and class

[harbingersecho]

countless days pass by immeasurably;

anniversaries gutter in the maelstrom

[aro-culture-is]

Aro culture is pretending you have a crush (because apparently your friends are having those now) and when they ask “why do you like them” you’re just like “i need a reason?????”

.

[alistair-blackwood]

kabru's relationship with his eyes makes for suuuuuch a fantastic trans allegory (an aspect of your body alienating you from your community, being compelled to understand the perspective of someone who also has a complicated relationship with their body in the hopes that you'll better understand your own, people straight up misunderstanding biology) it makes me kind of insane because now I feel like I can't dig into any complicated feelings he might have about his body in relation to his gender without feeling like im just ... double dipping?? like fifjpejgh ryoko kui straight up already told that story in a way that exquisitely fucks??

[skrunksthatwunk]

actually i'm still thinking about the moral orel finale.

he has a cross on his wall. do you know how much i think about that bc it's a lot.

a lot of stories ((auto)biographical or fictional) centering escape from abusive/fundamentalist christianity result in the lead characters leaving behind christianity entirely. and that makes complete sense! people often grow disillusioned with the associated systems and beliefs, and when it was something used to hurt them or something so inseparable from their abuse that they can't engage with it without hurting, it makes total sense that they would disengage entirely. and sometimes they just figure out that they don't really believe in god/a christian god/etc. a healthy deconstruction process can sometimes look like becoming an atheist or converting to another religion. it's all case by case. (note: i'm sure this happens with other religions as well, i'm just most familiar with christian versions of this phenomenon).

but in orel's case, his faith was one of the few things that actually brought him comfort and joy. he loved god, y'know? genuinely. and he felt loved by god and supported by him when he had no one else. and the abuses he faced were in how the people in his life twisted religion to control others, to run away from themselves, to shield them from others, etc. and often, orel's conflicts with how they acted out christianity come as a direct result of his purer understanding of god/jesus/whatever ("aren't we supposed to be like this/do that?" met with an adult's excuse for their own behavior or the fastest way they could think of to get orel to leave them alone (i.e. orel saying i thought we weren't supposed to lie? and clay saying uhhh it doesn't count if you're lying to yourself)). the little guy played catch with god instead of his dad, like.. his faith was real, and his love was real. and i think it's a good choice to have orel maintain something that was so important to him and such a grounding, comforting force in the midst of. All That Stuff Moralton Was Up To/Put Him Through. being all about jesus was not the problem, in orel's case.

and i know i'm mostly assuming that orel ended up in a healthier, less rigid version of christianity, but i feel like that's something that was hinted at a lot through the series, that that's the direction he'd go. when he meditates during the prayer bee and accepts stephanie's different way to communicate, incorporating elements of buddhism into his faith; when he has his I AM A CHURCH breakdown (removing himself from the institution and realizing he can be like,, the center of his own faith? taking a more individualistic approach? but Truly Going Through It at the same time), his acceptance (...sometimes) of those who are different from him and condemned by the adults of moralton (stephanie (lesbian icon stephanie my beloved), christina (who's like. just a slightly different form of fundie protestant from him), dr chosenberg (the jewish doctor from otherton in holy visage)). his track record on this isn't perfect, but it gets better as orel starts maturing and picking up on what an absolute shitfest moralton is. it's all ways of questioning the things he's been taught, and it makes sense that it would lead to a bigger questioning as he puts those pieces together more. anyway i think part of his growth is weeding out all the lost commandments of his upbringing and focusing on what faith means to him, and what he thinks it should mean. how he wants to see the world and how he wants to treat people and what he thinks is okay and right, and looking to religion for guidance in that, not as like. a way to justify hurting those he's afraid or resentful of, as his role models did.

he's coming to his own conclusions rather than obediently, unquestioningly taking in what others say. but he's still listening to pick out the parts that make sense to him. (edit/note: and it's his compassion and his faith that are the primary motivations for this questioning and revisal process, both of individual cases and, eventually, the final boss that is christianity.) it makes perfect sense as the conclusion to his character arc and it fits the overall approach of the show far better. it's good is what i'm saying.

and i think it's important to show that kind of ending, because that's a pretty common and equally valid result of deconstruction. and i think it cements the show's treatment of christianity as something that's often (and maybe even easily) exploited, but not something inherently bad. something that can be very positive, even. guys he even has a dog he's not afraid of loving anymore. he's not afraid of loving anyone more than jesus and i don't think it's because he loves this dog less than bartholomew (though he was probably far more desperate for healthy affection and companionship when he was younger). i think it's because he figures god would want him to love that dog. he's choosing to believe that god would want him to love and to be happy and to be kind. he's not afraid of loving in the wrong way do you know how cool that is he's taking back control he's taking back something he loves from his abusers im so normal

[system-architect]

i desperately wish gw2 had more food-centric lore. i think about asura food more than is probably particularly reasonable. they're sort of implied to like molecular gastronomy in the lvl500 chef quests which is fitting and makes sense, but surely not every asura is eating bespoke Pea Spheres day in and day out right? i think my favorite angle on them is a sort of 50s-80s american-esque food style where there's a huge emphasis on things being Convenient and Scientific, so you'd get a lot of absolute slop tv dinners and canned items that have labels boasting how they were nutritionally fortified and contained your day's complete vitamin intakes and so on. a lot of jellied things. i do also fully believe they would have + eat soylent.

[themyscirah]

Complaining abt Suicide Squad yet again but the fact that they have Waller exposing the alien community to space racist attacks and talking abt how she got to her position through deceit and being a terrible person and stuff is just. Ahsfiwueh JUST SAY YOU DONT KNOW WALLER.

Anyways literally the 3rd mission of the Squad ever (and the first framed as smth Waller picked and not orders from above) was the Squad discrediting and stopping a rogue vigilante who was only arresting POC and funneling white people into white supremacy groups (of which he was the most prominent member) in SUICIDE SQUAD #4. and it's explicitly framed as this mission being personal for Waller that she's hiding from the government bc its illegal like. Guys. Please why are we having her incite (space bc comics) racist attacks now

Also the whole "Amanda got her position through deceit and being a terrible person" NO. she KEPT her position through being shitty and playing complicated political games!!! She wasn't always that way like there is a difference and it is IMPORTANT ppl PLEASEEEE. In Secret Origins #14 we learn Amanda's backstory and she used to be a normal, caring person! Like even after she entered into working in government and politics she wasn't automatically morally bankrupt like please people. She was originally given control of the Squad by Reagan (*sigh* 80s comics...) to distract and get rid of her because she was so successful at pushing progressive social policy in Congress. Acting like she's this static pillar of evil is such a waste of her character and so fucking uninteresting and disrespectful to her arc it drives me MAD.

Like I am NOT saying Waller is all sunshine and rainbows, she fucking SUCKS (said w love <3) but like there's a human being there. It's a progression, she has a character arc like please, DC, please!!! They've fucked up Waller so bad and made her so opaque and uninteresting she can't even be the protagonist of her own story for fucks sake!

Like I don't know how many times I have to scream it until DC hears me or remembers but WALLER IS THE MAIN CHARACTER OF SUICIDE SQUAD. ITS HER BOOK. yet right now she's a cutout to be used as the villain wherever the writers please. Even in her book we get none of her perspective really displayed, no exploration of her thoughts with any kind of understanding of the role she traditionally has played and was made to play in the story.

[arcanegifs]