#This can be summed up with:

[evercelle]

bust... or maybe i'll take it all!

[yrsonpurpose]

I do hope you will forgive both my language and my utter lack of restraint: You are so fucking beautiful.

[isan0rt]

I'm doing my first reread of the back half of Dunmeshi, having forgotten a lot of the details of what happened because I read it all so fast (three days for the whole manga from start to finish) and damn. This panel from chapter 54. This fucking panel.

I'm sure I'm late to the party here and someone else has already talked about this but this panel is just. This whole sequence is just such a stark illustration of who Kabru is when the chips are down. He's out of his element. His plan to get the people out of the dungeon safely failed catastrophically in a way he (naively) didn't predict, but the Canaries did, and planned ahead for in exactly the way that is the most upsetting to Kabru personally. He's being actively retraumatized at this very moment by the panic as people flee, as people get poisoned outside Pattadol's barrier.

And he still saves this man.

He doesn't know this guy! He had never seen him before in his life. Everyone else in that crowd was already too late to save. But this guy wasn't! This guy wasn't, and Kabru put his neck on the line to rescue him without hesitation. His first thought was for identifying the person still trapped so he could be rescued. He didn't think for an instant about his own safety. The instant concern is not an act! Look at his face!

He didn't have to save this man... Except that he did, because of who he is as a person. There is no innocent human life that is disposable to Kabru, despite what the red herring of his reaction to the thieves at the beginning was. This is who Kabru is.

[ittybittyremy]

"While all this is happening, Orym has gone full shell shock mode. He's not talking anymore. He's going to go slump down onto a rock and is listening to all the debating at this point and he doesn't know what to do. He's been so sure for so long, and doesn't know what to do. Going in feels so wrong to him. But he hears the logic that it's only a matter of time before someone or something, a day from now, a year from now, six months from now. And just let's them figure it out, because he's took all his energy to make it to this point."

- Liam, C3E118

[utilitycaster]

I think the two most obvious foils for Ludinus Da'leth across all of Critical Role are Essek and Keyleth, which is both fascinating given how different those two characters are from each other (Essek being a foil in terms of isolation, single-mindedness, harm in the name of ambition, knowledge, and other such wizard themes; Keyleth being a foil in terms of people who have lost something at a young age to the gods and bear resentment for it, political leadership, belief that the world belongs to mortalkind, and longevity) but also it's extremely funny that they both are the partners of Liam's character.

[ddenji]

Damn Girl. Something Aint Right With You…

[marsh-snail]

~trauma buddies~

based on this meme

[valtsv]

end avatars are some of my favorite statement givers in tma because every single one of them will spend a minimum of forty minutes and thousands of words telling you a story that basically amounts to this

[tortured-poet-of-thursday]

i lied, put your clothes back on. we’re going to watch dead poets society and i’m going to explain to you why acting is a metaphor for queerness and how it changes how we view neil’s interactions with his father and todd, as well as why it’s one of the reasons this fandom subsists.

[swordscleric]

I'm only halfway through the second phase of Predathos (which, to be clear is an incredible vibe for a bossfight, love a good head & hands/multitarget-same-entity boss) but I cannot shake the feeling of disappointment and just dissatisfaction I have had with this campaign that definitely started with Dusk/Yu, got followed up handily with the first Delilah/Sun Tree fight and then has been unfortunately reinforced with every discussion surrounding the Prime Deities since Hearthdell. This campaign is fascinating to pick apart, I have been really enjoying pulling apart why it isn't working compared to C1 or C2. But as much as I'm having fun dissecting where the worldbuilding has led to the current weaknesses in the gods' argument or reading other people's incisive commentary on the lack of personalities on the Ruby Vanguard's end, the "girlfailure" nonsense, etc etc, man do I wish this campaign was better than it is.

There are so many avenues of improvement -

Matt telling everyone to prep and write characters for this campaign instead of a C2-esque character-focused campaign.

Matt working religious organisations into the world properly.

The cast engaging with Marquet as a genuine location rather than set-dressing.

Otohan, Ozo and the rest of the Vanguard having more than "*insert snappy line here*" for their personalities.

No Delilah.

Bell's Hells having an iota of curiosity for anything outside of their own selves, including but not limited to: the gods, religious worship, the Elemental Titans and why they were sundered, how the people of Exandria feel about the gods, Vasselheim and its role in suppressing information about Predathos, Ludinus Da'Leth's plan and how it would still break the world if they did it in his place

I don't know why all of this fell into place in the way that it did, but it did. We can endlessly speculate why - the cast resting on their laurels after C2, not having enough time between the animated shows and Daggerheart and Candela Obscura and, and, and - but at the end of the day I really do hope that whatever form the final campaign wrap-up takes, they burn the damn questions asking the cast "what if the world was made of pudding and this character and this character kissed?" and instead pick questions that get them to introspect for a potential Campaign 4. Otherwise I don't know what will happen, but it sure as hell won't be Mighty Nein part 2: Issylra Boogaloo.

[cruelplatonic]

my personal headcanon is the vees were unremarkable nobodies when they were alive. i just love it as a thematic throughline for them. they love to let the public of hell speculate on them being famed and acclaimed since before death, but the the truth is they were a d-list failed influencer that got by on cheap controversey and scamming, a broke junkie who burned every shaky bridge he ever had, and a worn-out broadcast production assistant with more rejected auditions and tossed out script pitches than he could count. nobody missed them when they were gone, nobody cared who they were until they were dead.

[catocappuccino]

Snufkin and Snorkmaiden hanging out :]

[glassblossomsthunderstorm]

"Honestly, I don't really care why she lost. I care why he won."

- Desi Lydic

[ceniwen]

jealousy...?

.

[highschoolfrenemy]

That's what makes the betrayal hurt so much.

[sunshine-and-her-ikevil-stuff]

Playing Ikevil

Liam: "Don't force yourself to smile. It may be kind to others, but not yourself."

Playing Ikepri

Clavis: "Paint a smile over your fears and doubts and no body will know what you're feeling. You'll be surprised how much it cheers you up."

Me: "I'm getting mixed messages."