#a hundred responses

[xbuster]

After seeing that guy complain that his favorite route in Fate isn’t the most popular and act like everyone is against him for liking other routes more, I wanted to see how big that discrepancy even is. So…

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

hero/villain showdown but one of them has a spontaneous medical emergency and the battle gets put on hold while their archnemesis drives them to Urgent Care

[epiphainie]

what i don't understand about people totally writing off helena as evil and nothing more is 1) this show is filled with characters with so much nuance and so many layers. every single one of them actually, and 2) you can't believe "love transcends severance" with burt and irving and mark and gemma and then separate who helena is from helly. the central storyline of the show is not creating a clone of yourself who later wants their own agency, it's severing a part of yourself. innies and outties are not different people. that's why outtie mark was still pulled to petey in s1 and why innie mark still felt grief over gemma even when he didn't remember her. why innie irving was attracted to the art on the severed floor, as outtie irving is an artist, and why innie dylan came up with huge ideas about who he could be outside because outside he felt like a failure. whatever you like about helly, her kindness, smarts, humor, strong-headedness, feeling of entrapment are all a part of helena. they're the same qualities reacting with different external factors, and as reintegration is a part of the storyline, to a degree they are the same person

[everymangagojo]

[invinciblerodent]

This is going to be very ranty and disjointed, probably borderline incomprehensible post, but with the "return" of Dragon Age Discourse (and really, did it ever go anywhere?) and me repeatedly seeing the complaints and dismissals of DA:I as a "chosen one"-type of a narrative, I just.... I keep finding myself thinking about the relationship of truth and lies within the game.

Throughout the course of DA:I, the idea of a malleable, flexible personal identity, and a painful confrontation with an uncomfortable truth replacing a soothing falsehood, follows pretty much every character throughout their respective arcs.

There are some more obvious ones, Solas, Blackwall, The Iron Bull, their identities and deceptions (of both those around them and themselves) are clearly front and center in the stories told about them, but this theme of deception (both of the self- and the outside world) is clearly present in the stories of the others as well.

Like, for example, ones that come immediately to mind are stories like that of Cullen, who presents an image of a composed and disciplined military man, a commander- all to hide the desperate and traumatized addict that he sees himself as.

Dorian grappled with the expectations of presenting the image of the perfect heir to his father's legacy, the prideful scion of his house, his entire life (he even introduces himself as the result of "careful breeding", like one might speak about a prized horse)- all while knowing that his family would rather see him lobotomized and obedient, than anything even just resembling his vibrant and passionate self.

Cassandra calls herself a Seeker of Truth, and takes pride in that identity- only to learn that in reality, she has been made a liar, a keeper of secrets, without her knowledge or consent, and it is up to her to either uproot the entire organization and painfully cut out the abscess it is to build it back from the ground up into something respectable, or let the information she had revealed sit, and continue to fester.

And this theme continues and reframes itself in, among others, things like Sera's own inner conflict between her elven heritage and her human upbringing, or in Cole being caught in this unconscionable space in-between human and spirit, between person and concept, etc.

The Inquisitor isn't exempt from this either.

I feel like this is where the core of the many misunderstandings of this plot come from, why so many people continue to believe that Inquisition is a "chosen one" or "divinely appointed" type of story, because I think many might just... not realize, that the protagonist's identity is also malleable, and what they are told in the setup/first act of the game is not necessarily the truth.

The tale of the Inquisitor is the exact opposite of that of a "chosen one" story: it's an examination and reflection of the trope, in that it is the story of an assumption that all wrongly believe to be the truth, and thrust upon you, even if you protest. The very point is that no matter who you choose to say that you are, you will be known as the Herald of a prophet you don't even necessarily believe in, and then that belief will be proven wrong, leaving you to cope with either a devastating disappointment if you believed it, or a bitter kind of vindication if you didn't.

There's a moment just after Here Lies the Abyss (when you learn of the lie you've been fed your entire journey in the game) that I don't often see mentioned, but I think it's one of the most emotionally impactful character moments, if you are playing an Andrastian Inquisitor who had actually believed themselves chosen (which I realize is a rather unpopular pick, lol): it's when Ser Ruth, a Grey Warden, realizes what she had done and is horrified by her own deeds, and turns herself in asking to be tried for the murder of another of her order. As far as she is concerned, she had spilled blood for power, and regardless of whether she was acting of her own volition at the time, whether she had agency in the moment, is irrelevant to her: she seeks no absolution, but willingly submits to any punishment you see fit.

And only if you play as an Inquisitor who, through prior dialogue choices, had established themselves as a devout Andrastian, can you offer her forgiveness, for a deed that was objectively not her fault- not really.

You can, in Andraste's name, forgive her- even though you, at that point, know that you have no real right to do so. That you're not Andraste's Herald, that Andraste may or may not even exist, and that you can't grant anyone "divine forgiveness", because you, yourself, don't have a drop of divinity within you. You know that you were no more than an unlucky idiot who stumbled their way into meddling with forces beyond their ken.

You know you're a fraud. You know. The game forces you to realize, as it slowly drip-drip-drips the memories knocked loose by the blast back into your head, that what all have been telling you that you are up to this point, is false. And yet, you can still choose to keep up the lie, and tell this woman who stands in front of you with blood on her hands and tears in her eyes, that you, with authority you don't have, grant her forgiveness for a crime that wasn't hers to commit.

Because it's the right thing to do. Because to lie to Ser Ruth is far kinder than anything else you could possibly do to her, short of refusing to make a decision altogether.

There are any number of criticisms of this game that I can accept (I may or may not agree depending on what it is, but I'm from the school of thought that any interpretation can be equally valid as long as there's text that supports it, and no text that contradicts it), but I will always continue to uphold that the Inquisitor is absolutely not- and never was a "chosen one".

They're just as small, and sad, and lost, as all the other protagonists- the only difference is that they didn't need to fight for their mantle, because instead of a symbol of honor, it acted as a straitjacket.

[deerspherestudios]

Evening! I was a bit late for playing day 3 but when I did get around to it OMG CHEEA YOU HAVE DONE ABSOLUTELY WONDERFULLY WITH THE NEW INSTALMENT!!! The animations, the new sprites, the story overall SHDIUCSABSDHDBCA, chef's kiss! Day 3 is my absolute favorite so far!!! It shows us so many new and different sides of Mychael, his playful teasing with ruffling our hair, his honestly eerily threatening demeanour (honestly that one scene where he grabbed our wrist and yelled at us just sdiubciscni mychael pls chill bro), and especially tickling him?!! I was fully planning a frontal attack like mc had but he's saved by the kettle… for now >:3 I cannot emphasise how much of an emotional rollercoaster and how much I was invested into every single part of every single scene!! (i was honestly smilling like an idiot for the most of it/pos)

I absolutely adore mychael as a person because he genuinely feels so alive, someone I would honestly love to be friends with and just hang out about!! Gentle giant mushroom man with crippling social anxiety, mychael you lovable man hhhhhh. But in all honesty, that smack we did on the beginning of the third day is deserved. Sorry not sorry mychael but you have to learn to properly communicate, I will make it my mission to make you thoroughly understand how important proper communication is if you want to befriend someone! The little cooking scene too!! Honestly cheea, on every single meal time I always go back to see every single food option cause every single one makes me hungry, they all look so tasty and very scrumptious, and iusdhcisuadhaiusdh mychael you absolute madlad for learning all of these things on your own like how?!?

Thank you so so so very much for making the game and mychael cheea, no proper amount of words can properly describe how I absolutely love your creations. Please do rest properly and take the time you need to relax for a while. And please do remember to take care and stay hydrated!

Aaaa a a thank you for the ki n d wor d s <3 < 3 < 3 ,, .

[somerandomdudelmao]

this is so bad that people are asking you when your comic updates are so they can sleep.

Yall really SHOULDN'T do that, its messed up, im just speaking from my standpoint but hearing stuff like that i wouldn't even Want to update anymore or announce wips or anything with all this "when is it coming out? can i sleep? can i do this? is it coming out soon?" i mean asking for WIPS of the comic seems fine but asking when its coming out bc its affecting you is wild. and not good. imagine what type of stress that is on a person to know that people arent taking care of themselves until the comic comes out.

idk it feels like some of yall dont know how to act. this comic is a passion project if anything. it just seems. so unhealthy and offputting to deal with this from an audience. idk.

:т

[mobius-m-mobius]

#a man who DESERVES A SLICE OF PIE

[relaxxattack]

rereading the hivebent commentary makes me so annoyed that people are never really willing to analyze the actual effects that alternian culture clearly had on every troll, especially the highbloods. pretty much the only troll who ever actually gets taken in the context of her upbringing is vriska.

no one ever seems willing to think about the character arcs of trolls like equius and terezi, who are also bluebloods with extremely hypocritical and toxic understandings of the people around them-- equius is boiled down to a gross creep who is just like that naturally and definitely didn't get it from his society in any way, whilst terezi is scrubbed of virtually all her flaws and turned into a strange sort of woke love interest character who is all about being gay and too cool to be tricked by any of the alternian propaganda. quadrants? classism? how silly! terezi would never believe in stupid shit like that. she's quirky! and GAY!

despite the fact that equius and terezi both obviously have much, much more to their personalities than that-- and the alternian empire is informing way more dangerous things about these kid's beliefs than "you can kiss your enemies".

[dumbbullet]

1200 miles from home on a trip specifically about indulging in time spent alone and someone explain to me why i would add a job interview to my itinerary??

[a-big-chicken-nerd]

the textures on zanes vs the ice emperors sleeves are NOT the same btw hes got a cool new outfit on for his reign of terror hes the most stylin emperor alive (ignore how the texture turns back as soon as he gets his memories back hes just built different)

[swan2swan]

The biggest problem with Dominion is the dichotomy of Maisie's plotline with regards to motherhood, and the way both plots revolve around it from wholly opposite perspectives while never actually clashing.

Her plot starts off simply enough: she's angsting about not being a real person, Claire's trying to protect her, and Maisie spits at her with the "You're not my mother!" line right before she's kidnapped.

This is a classic Finding Nemo setup, which Claire takes to with gusto: she calls on favors, slips into seedy markets, fights a crime boss, eludes raptors, jumps out of a plane, and crawls through a forest to get the girl she calls her daughter back. Most stories would show this as a trial: ye olde "GASP! My parents love me!" story.

But the fact that Claire has no obligation to bring Maisie back is never challenged. Soyona doesn't bother with asking or playing the role of the tempting serpent instilling doubt; the closest the movie comes to that is Franklin giving her the "I told you this would happen" speech. It's all taken for granted, which is...okay, because we have already established who Claire is, but that's not the problem.

The problem comes with the other half of the story: Maisie mopes to Wu about how she's just a close, and Wu immediately points out how no, she was conceived and carried in a human womb just like everyone else! And he calls Charlotte "your mother".

And Maisie goes "Is that my mother?"

And when she meets Ellie, Dr. Sattler is somehow fully aware of who Maisie's REAL MOTHER, the one who created her and who she looks like, is, and gushes about how great of a eugen--person she was. Every single time Maisie talks about "her mother" with the people around her, the word is referring to Charlotte Lockwood, the woman who birthed her.

Meanwhile, that Claire woman is crawling into a slimy pond to get away from a twenty-foot-tall Kreugersaurus because she wants to get Maisie away from kidnappers.

Of course, Maisie runs back to her and yells "Those are my parents!", but there's still something missing there. Claire's side of the story is all about her powering through, risking her life time and time again to track down her daughter...but there's never really a moment between them later. Maisie even posits the "So I was just an experiment to her..." plotline that has been seen before, but even that's immediately refuted.

The movie's not wrong for avoiding the cliches and the oft-used tropes of foster motherhood, but it doesn't really break any new ground, either. Obviously, people can have more than one mom, but there's something of an imbalanced focus on Charlotte as Maisie's mother in the Maisie and Jurassic Park plotline, while Claire in the Jurassic World plotline is doing all the expected Mom Stuff.

I can't wholly express what's bothering me about it, maybe I'm overthinking it, but it...doesn't quite sit right with me.

[bikananjarrus]

FIRST OF ALL, little miss vernestra rwoh who showed up to elzar's office and said "sit your ass down and confront what you did" would NEVER put all the blame on sol, her friend, for something that a previous apprentice of hers did!!!!!!!!! leslye i hope you can fucking fight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[yardsards]

tfw you want to look up Blorbo Images but the blorbo in question is a tabletop character that less than a dozen people know about

[daltonsnightmare]

MacGyver (2016) s1e7 Can Opener | Cold Open

[julezo]

the fanfic recommending culture on tiktok and reddit is so insane to me. wdym there are people who only read fics that influencers recommend them? do they not know the struggle? the pain?

by jove.. have these people never randomly discovered the literal most perfect fanfic that they missed for 4 years because it was mistagged? the instant disbelief? the distrust? the euphoric glee?

no it makes me angry actually. its a disgrace to fandom culture. wade through the tags like an adult, you immature children. your brain is still malleable. you’ve never had a hard day. you belong on wattpad. i could crush you like putty. suffer and burn.