#a very curious moral standpoint

[musicfranchisetournament]

propaganda under the cut !!

ensemble stars :

what can I say. it's the no.1 highest earning joseimuke of recent times for a reason. i wouldn't say it was the founding father of male idol franchises but it's undoubtedly important for them and the popularization of them. the characters are enjoyable and the story writing is (sometimes) done pretty nicely. when the songs hit well they hit GOOD. with a cast of over 50 characters you're pretty bound to find someone you'll enjoy, you know. there's a nice variation on unit archetypes that is great for music variation :]

There's just soo much happening in this goddamn idol thing I hope it loses bleehh

Idol game except the plot is NOT what you would expect of an idol game. Notably : murder, the War, vampires, and a guy who lives in the vents.

"oh it's just a silly little idol game" and then the silly little idol game has some of the craziest lore you've seen

milgram :

it's very cool and interesting !! idk !

SUCH a unique concept. I love it so much. Delivering insight into characters crimes and psyches through music?! Genius. And the music all slaps too. The VAs are all super talented, the voices all sound different from one another, and even when a character's music style switches between T1 and T2 to reflect their mental state, there are still things making it obvious it's the same character. Also the VA for Haruka (best character in MILGRAM) is the guy who voiced Linhardt (best character in hit turn-based strategy RPG Fire Emblem: Three Houses for the Nintendo Switch) in the JP soooo. Awesome and based, Fire Emblem fans vote for this one. (Also I think there's other overlap of VAs with Fire Emblem but like Natsuki Hanae has been in everything so of course there is)

genuinely so sooo interesting to me from a standpoint. not only is a franchise that runs and happens in direct response to what the fans decide to do with it but also the songs and mvs are sooo good and it's such a nice thing to see coming off of deco, feeling like a passion project with all the different song style and experimentation going on in them. ive been there since the beginnings and its a great feeling to see just how much everyone involved in the project be it art, music etc has improved. the moral experiment point of it is something very curious to follow for me and see people discussing their votes or takes on things as to why they voted for x thing or another is nice! the deco song remixes that always come with the characters album release are (mostly) fire too. milgram my best friend milgram

The songs are absolute bangers!! And each character is so compelling and it's really interesting to see how the audience's votes impact the story and the characters!

[whirluvr3]

Sentinel Prime’s design & Character parallels

—————————————

Okay, so you all know how everyone’s talking about Sentinel having different alt mode wings? When I first saw the film I kind of caught onto the vibe that it foreshadowed his betrayal symbolically, because, yknow, throughout history there have always been examples like that. Guess what though? He isn’t the only one with cool wings like that

(Yes, IK, common knowledge, but hear me out on these next points.)

(DISCLAIMER: I am fully aware Sentinel in the comics has BY FAR the most similar comic design appearance to his movie counterpart, but I just think maybe a few parallels would be interesting to explore. Let’s see!)

But for a good example, take a look at Tyrest from MTMTE:

There are wings on his back like Sentinel’s, and he also (spoilers) did some pretty important yet shady and morally incorrect things having to do with a large amount of the population of Cybertron just like Sentinel prime. Another example of a similar character in the comics is Proteus:

He has a very similar color palette, just adding red. Obviously, Sentinel’s design was heavily based off of his Animated appearance, but I wonder if the nods to similar design choices were on purpose. What makes proteus an interesting case is that he had a very similarly deceiving moral standpoint to Sentinel. Take a look at what the surprisingly accurate WIKI page cited:

“Proteus is a member of the corrupt Senate on pre-war Cybertron and a heavy supporter of the Functionist system segregating Cybertronian society. While many Senators are rich jerks, he is one step above the rest, being known to manipulate events behind the scenes to benefit the Senate rather than the people and sway the influence of the other Senators to his cause. He may break a ton of laws in the process, but what does he care? Head of security Sentinel is on his payroll after all.”

Does that not scream the shadiness of Sentinel Prime in Transformers one? I just think the fact that Proteus is also not really THE command, but working under it to use the perks to his advantage is very hinting. Also Proteus’ promise being a thing? Very Sentinel TFOne coded stuff right here.

I’m just saying, other than the obvious inspirations for Sentinel prime, I wonder if they were at all inspired by Proteus’ design and demeanor, or if they just came up with it separately.

This isn’t proofread or anything, but please feel free to comment. I want to know what others think on this topic because I am very curious if anyone else agrees.

[jackdaniel69nice]

@kaytaygay asked for tokoyami and dark shadow with Kuroiro Shihai headcanons so here you go! I loved doing this because he isn’t someone I have given much thought to before and it was great.

Kuroiro is someone who is familiar with the darkness like tokoyami. He’s the scheming hero, coming up with clever tricks and using sneak attacks to get the upper hand on his enemies. I think eventually they would get along but at first there is a lot of tension between them.

While I don’t think tokoyami would see kuroiro as a rival necessarily because they aren’t that close, he is someone that toko is curious about. There is no backstory for these chunibyos with no explanation for their reasoning to become hero’s so it leaves a lot of leeway on their character. Kuroiro is similar to monama and shinso without being outright antagonistic, he’s still willing to play dirty to win. While I think tokoyami has a high moral standing when it comes to treating people with respect, he won’t hesitate to lie for his own benefits (he is interning under hawks, who is a spy). Kuroiro’s quirk is best suited for support while dark shadow has the brute strength, speed, and flexibility to be one of the most powerful forces in mha (as said by afo himself). It would just be odd for them to be rivals when they are on completely different power levels and focusing on different career paths. Tokoyami admires kuroiro’s dark and scheming ways but is mildly worried about it being used against him, over time spent together trust can be formed and they could have a very strong friendship…in theory.

Dark shadow does not like kuroiro. I have mentioned before that shadow is intimidated by people who hold their weaknesses like light, and in this case the ability to control dark shadow’s body. That loss of autonomy was scary and to make it worse kuroiro used them to HURT fumikage, not cool. Dark Shadow is the equivalent of a hissing cat when near kuroiro, they do NOT want him near them. Still shadow is not completely heartless, if kuroiro puts in special effort to gain their trust they will give it. This would mean promising to never possess their body outside of battle even as a “prank” (which should of been obvious but shadow has trust issues) AND actively doing thing for shadow like spending quality time, doing favors, or giving them gifts. I still don’t think he would be allowed to give them pets tho, simply due to the accidental body merging that could result.

Kuroiro was briefly shown to be a bit jealous of Tokoyami talking to kinoko so there is a bit of tension from his side in that regard. A quick explanation of this has toko quelling his fears and even getting him to talk about how he’s feeling. Tokoyami encourages him to spend more time with her and eventually confess. Honestly tokoyami is just so full of wisdom beyond his years, so many people go to him for advice it’s unreal. This interaction obviously draws them closer and they become real friends.

Once they are friends they share about their interests like all the goth materials they have collected and dark media. Random hc but I think while Fumikage would lean more towards gothic poetry, kuroiro would lean towards art. His quirk is Black, which is a pigment of sorts and I think he would be a painter as a hobby. He would also be able to merge with the dark parts of his paintings so that’s cool. Also he has taxidermy animals (don’t show koda). They go to hot topic for fun hangouts.

As a bonus here is what the MHA Ultra Analysis says about them. While this doesn’t give much insight to Tokoyami’s behavior and feelings towards the other it is interesting to see Kuroiro’s thoughts. I think he sees tokoyami as a familiar soul who can understand him but also holds some jealous and wants to prove himself by challenging him. From a narrative standpoint it is also saying kuroiro’s character is solely made to be a foil to Fumikage, almost his entire character file is talking more about toko than himself. A narrative foil is a character that contrasts from another to highlight their traits. He pushes tokoyami to use his new move Black Fallen Angel and shows Tokoyami’s resourcefulness and resolve to win.

[unchataparis]

A 'DO I SHIP IT?' template made by XStephTheHedgehogX on DeviantArt.

Before I get immortalised as that one Liladrien person who writes a lot of stories about them and seems to genuinely ship them: yes, I do ship them. I think they're both interesting and aesthetic people, underutilised by the plot with a lot of dynamite potential together.

BUT, I also do not think Lila and Adrien should not end up together in the permanent, romantic sense because their psyche just cannot aligned. Even in a future where Lila is redeemed and a morally good person, their outlook on life and general stance regarding hobbies and careers are simply too mismatching. I can see the two of them dating, having fun and respecting each other, but settling down for the long term? Adrien is the 'white picket fence' and 'two-and-a-half children' person. Lila is the 'growing old elegantly in a private mansion surrounded by fourteen cats' kind of gal.

NOTP: So, although Lila and Adrien is my favourite Miraculous pairing, it's purely because they're my favourite Miraculous characters. I want to see them in a relationship together, but I don't think they'll work out quite so well in the long-term.

I SHIP IT: One hundred percent. I feel like Adrien and Lila's arc went tremendously unexplored. I wonder how their meeting would've gone if Marinette never interrupted them in Volpina, if Adrien and Lila could've formed an actual friendship, and how Adrien would've reacted to Lila's lies from there. I feel like Adrien needs someone like Lila in his life, someone like Félix, whose appears to care about him but is also willing to feed him the facts bluntly.

underrated/why not?: Again, stemming from the points above, there is so much potential for how a relationship between Lila and Adrien could've went. I really don't like how in Season 5, Adrien started standing up to/exposing Lila for Marinette. I felt like he could've done it for a more independent reason.

would read a fic about it/reads fics about it: Absolutely! In fact, I take it one step further and writes fics about it.

the sexiest pair: I should mention at this point that when I write about Lila and Adrien, they're either late teenagers or early adults. I'm not fond of writing about adolescents getting it on. From an aesthetic standpoint, Adrien and Lila mesh together perfectly. Old money and high luxury, glittery baddie and designer purses. Think about yacht parties and mansion photoshoot scenes, red carpet dates and clandestine late-night rendezvous. I made a post way earlier about what Adrien and Lila's aesthetic would be, and you can see what I'm envisioning, right?

i'm curious, can i know more?: We don't know anything about Lila. In fact, we don't even know her real name. Is she Cerise? Or some other vixen in the hiding? I'm not entirely sold on this Lila/Cerise/Iris mash-up yet, because it seems to come out of nowhere to me. Lila already has a massive 'plot-twist' in that she's actually a liar and a huge arc of Miraculous had been devoted to her exposé and the class' subsequent reaction. The next step in the narrative would be how Lila moves on/takes revenge. Instead, we, the audience, learn that Lila has another trick up her sleeve, she forged her whole identity! I'm very excited to watch Season 6, because, new powers, new outfits, and new Butterfly villain aside, I also really want to find out what's up with Lila.

Fun fact: It was pretty hard to find sources on this, but did you know that some ship names develop based on who the dominant partner is? I couldn't find who originally coined the term Liladrien, but if they're not making a perfect combination of both of their names, then they believe that in a romantic relationship between Lila and Adrien, Lila would be topping. Sounds about right.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Am curious

How does HC/LL Gabriel treat nooroo?

Better than Canon, but that's a low bar!

One of the weird things that is in my head but I haven't really had a chance to show because I rarely write Gabriel and Nooroo interactions is that... Nooroo isn't exactly an unwilling player.

Like they're somewhat against the whole thing! They don't think Gabriel should be doing this, and they know that messing with the Wish is very tricky and could fuck him over. And ofc they'd rather be with the rest of the Kwami

But they've grown attached to Gabriel, and to Emilie as well. They care about her. And Kwami are.... kinda morally gray. So they don't have as much issue with the whole 'going Supervillain' from the morality standpoint as much as the previously mentioned 'I don't think this is the best idea' standpoint.

[leportraitducadavre]

I just found your account and I really like a lot of what you have to say about the naruto series, and your opinions and reasoning are really interesting to read! When it comes to naruto and female characterization I have a lot of strong thoughts, and your posts about the topic say a lot of what i feel better than I think I could myself, so thanks for sharing. I was reading through some of your posts and got really curious as to what your stance is on itachi, and particularly his actions pertaining to sasuke. It’s something I think about quite a bit as I have really mixed feelings about the whole thing (story of my life as a naruto fan lol) and I would love to hear your thoughts on itachi if it is something you’d be interested in talking about :) I really like that your analyses are very rooted in unbiased observations of the series itself, and I’m curious what your thoughts are, even if they’re brief!

Oh my dearest, you started with the question, lol.

There's no easy way to encompass all of my thoughts in one single post, as I have many things to say about his character and his fandom in particular, those who have followed me for a while know the number of words I've dedicated to him.

I'll link here my most "important" post about him for you to read if you wish, you've reminded me to update my pinned post with these links, so thank you for that.

Also, thank you for your words.

Can Itachi's character be fixed? Spoiler alert: It's the fandom's perception of him that should change, not his character.

My response to the perception of some Itachi stans. (and a non-serious take)

The Curse of Hatred - or a poorly constructed theory based on bias.

About Itachi, his fandom, and moral standpoints.

Have fun reading!

[vampacidic]

can i inquire about the reasoning for your S-tier amusing presidents

absolutely

lbj was my 3rd grade president project president and i thus have a large emotional attachment to him. he is referred to as "the most racist civil rights president" by my government teacher (he is). he was obsessed with his penis (there are a lot of anecdotes from white house staff about how weird he was about it). he was largely the reason the US had the vietnam war in the first place. following the kennedy assassination he just decided to record every phone call he had which is a) why we have such great documentation of his presidency and b) why we have audio recordings of him saying "down where my nuts hang" (he was ordering tailored pants Yes he did say this). originally he wanted these recordings to be released 50 years after his death iirc? but when they reopened the kennedy assassination for investigation he gave up all of these recordings. objectively hilarious that we have a president who referred to his genitals as "jumbo"

abraham lincoln defeated racism (or did he?) turns out he was really fucking racist at the beginning of his presidency who would've guessed (didn't care about if slavery was kept in the US as long as the union remained intact/tried to ship black people off to costa rica so the US could just be white people/made jokes when he ran for office about how ludicrous it was that people were accusing him of wanting to marry a black woman. the works). however i find his expansions of presidential power very interesting...... ex parte milligan + ex parte merryman are interesting reads. he suspends a lot of fundamental rights during the civil war and i find the repercussions of this interesting (establishes the executive as expanding power throughout the rest of US history). also he got significantly less racist as the civil war went on. wish he would've been president after the civil war im curious about what his plan would have been. instead john wilkes booth gets his ass and we get fucking ANDREW JOHNSON i fucking hate andrew johnson. bad president

i liked teddy roosevelt. i think it's funny that he was a prissy rich boy so he had a bunch of photos taken of him with guns and hunting stuff to make him look more manly. also i think his policies regarding corporation legislation + anti trust law are good. i think the national parks are debatable on a moral standpoint (wow we Should preserve nature! hey why are you kicking natives off their land. Hey buddy) but ultimately very interesting

[womanfredvonkarma]

As much as I'm irritated by notions of intrinsic (im)morality in either direction, I'm marginally more interested in the concept of humanity being inherently evil because, while those who defend the immanent goodness of humans frame evil as an aberration born of social malaise (it was not born in a vacuum--who cast the first stone?), I'm more confused (and therefore curious) as to how evil humanity truthers explain the existence of good. I have to say, the idea that everyone who has ever chosen to do good was acting against their nature is, at the very least, compelling from a conceptual standpoint.

[shinra-makonoid]

I'm watching an online course about ethics, and it's from Belgium so they focus mainly on Belgium. They have quite a few different laws/possibilities that don't exist in France for example like legalisation of euthanasia, and what they call "sexual assistants" for the disabled.

It is interesting as a topic because they make a point to step away from morality and rethink about issues/questions from a multidisciplinary standpoint, which is what ethics is. I haven't yet seen any argument for euthanasia so far (only the question of organ donation after euthanasia, and I realized how euthanasia could be definitely used as a real harvest of organs but that's beside the point), but they talk about sexual assistance.

I can say that on the first approach I am not a fan, I kinda have the feminist-like belief that sex is not owed, and I still do. However they reframe the question in another way "how can we make sure to help disabled people being the most comfortable in their lives?" Buying a prostitute who has no training in regards to disability can/will cause damages to both the disabled person and the prostitute. Families and caring people for the disabled will deal with unnecessary and uncomfortable moments when they care for their disabled beloved, because of the lack of healthy sexual fulfillment. Moreover, sexual fulfillment is a part of health.

So, in that case, it kinda makes sense to give the opportunity for sex workers to get training for that and given the choice to be able to care for disabled people in that way, and being protected by society for it. Moreover, apparently, despite what feminist would claim, female disabled people are often "virginalized" and treated as children, despite the fact that, like other people, they need sexual fulfillment.

Whether I personally am for or against is not really the question there, but the way they reframed the question was very interesting. The woman speaking of this, is part of the committee that made the arguments I wrote there, and it was basically a well-documented approach of "how can we make disabled people, and their families/carers feel more comfortable AND also make sure it doesn't negatively impact sex workers?".

Thinking in terms of ethics detaches you from your own beliefs for a more satisfying and nuanced answer over difficult questions. I hope they do take this approach to talk about euthanasia because I am very curious about the ethical arguments for it.

[a-single-spider]

Gen 5 as a new generation of the elements of harmony...

Izzy- Sharing/self expression

Hitch- Conflict resolution/justice

Sunny- Unity

Zipp- Responsibility?? Community in the sense of helping others when they need it

Pipp- Communication/language or vulnerability/being open and inclusive to others

Thinking of it from a demographic- "telling a children's story"- standpoint, elements are a really huge product of the values during the times they were written in.

Thinking about the transition from the Elements of harmony- Magic, laughter, kindness, honesty, generosity, loyalty- then to the Pillars, written in season 7- Sorcery, hope, healing, bravery, beauty, strength- they're very interchangable in ways, yet highlight different necessary aspects of relationships. They're both meant to carry the storyline but also further portray the morals of the show's stories they're trying to get across.

I mean, the whole story with Starswirl and the other pillars was about the incredible sorcery and the unimaginable things they did. Then theres the elements, which are all about the magic friendship creates as well as each element's contribution. Then, I just kind of think about the moral they're trying to reach with this story- yes, we're different, but we can still unify together and be friends. How it's possible to be different together.

There's been such a big emphasis on teaching individuality in younger generations lately, it's definitely reflected in the newer generation of the show. Each of the main characters has their own traits, and I feel that- for better or worse- its been a story less about how their traits fit together and more of a "yeah, we're different, but we can still be cool and mesh together" with a huge focus on individuality compared to last generation. I saw a lot of that in the late seasons of gen 4 and see it, especially now in gen 5.

I think it'd be very interesting - if the new characters do represent the next incarnation of elements - to see what items are chosen to represent them. We saw it in the pillars with things like the shovels and masks, and then with the gemstones for the elements. I'd be curious to see what it turns out for those five- maybe it's the unity crystal. Maybe it's things like Pipp's lucky mic or whatnot. Maybe there's nothing at all.

[pilferingapples]

emileesaurus reblogged your quote:“Victor Hugo only likes standing flowers.  He...

#so he won’t cut flowers but he’ll put a bat in an envelope#who even are you tricky vicky (via @little-smartass)

in...less of a defense than an explanation...the bat thing WAS like thirty years before he came around to NEVER CUT A PLANT time 

[hekateinhell]

As someone who is interested and knowledgeable in psychology, can you comment on how you think vampire psyche is different from human psyche? I’m always curious like... could you pavlov condition a vampire? Would therapy work on them, since their brain is kinda frozen in time? Just anything you find interesting regarding this topic, please share!!

Disclaimer time: I don't practice as a psychologist or psychiatrist (lol that's more years of a Ph.D. or med school than I'm willing/able to do anytime soon). Whatever I say is just based on what I know from my psychotherapy courses and what I've learned over the years in relation to treatment models, behavior patterns, and mental health conditions (basically, whatever would bring someone to a clinical counselor's office). Also, these are fictional vampires, and Anne didn't really get into their psychology much, so take this with a grain of salt - it's just for fun!

I do think the vampire psyche would be extremely different from a human’s! Fanon aside, there’s no real way to quantify hundreds and thousands of years of experience (suffering, loving, so on) into one human lifetime. Attributing the labels we use for ourselves in terms of diagnoses, sexuality, monogamy, etc., doesn’t make sense to me from that standpoint. I feel like when a vampire starts noticeably exceeding the range of the average human lifespan (let’s say 150 years, for argument’s sake) - their view of themselves and others would evolve beyond what we can condense into our nice, neat little boxes.

That said, we know in real-life that trauma has a measurable impact on our brains, even more so in childhood, which can affect what would be deemed "typical" brain development. I'll use Armand and Lestat as examples because I think this can be applied to both their human experiences. (And Armand is my favorite fictional brain in formaldehyde). They both had abusive/traumatic upbringings (in different ways), which would have affected the natural course of their psychological development throughout their childhood and teen years.

Then, to top it off, they both got turned at an age before their minds fully finished developing (this happens around 25 years). We know their minds are never going to finish growing. It’s evident in some of the characteristic behaviors they exhibit throughout (i.e., their needy, obsessive tendencies read as a very young, trauma-related response), especially when contrasted against a vampire like Louis (who was exactly 25 when he was brought into the Blood).

Would therapy work on them? (Paging Dr. Fareed, vampire psychiatrist). I don't know about therapy, but I like the visual of Marius reading books on child development and cult deprogramming and going WHOOPS FUCKED THAT UP (not right away because this is Marius, after all, but the thoughts would nag eventually). As far as conditioning goes, they all definitely have reinforced patterns established in their relationships, just like we do.

But to answer the broader question (in a more serious way), yes, vampires do have the capacity to change, and we can see this with Lestat, Louis, and Armand especially in their respective arcs throughout the series!

Armand, by his own account, was prone to cycling in and out of what he described as, “an acceptable madness to a state of which I alone knew the dangers,” during his centuries with the cult; Allesandra tells him that he dreams, “the sad dreams, the dreams that precede madness,” (no shit, I wonder why?).

So for Armand to go from the broken cemetery waif Lestat met in the 1700s to being a settled family guy in NYC by the end of the series is an exceptional demonstration of the mental adaptabilities of a vampire. From Prince Lestat:

“Not so savage really,” said Gregory. ‘There is not a single one of us, no matter how old, that does not have a moral heart, an educated heart, a heart that learned to love while human, and a heart that should have learned ever more deeply to love as preternatural.’ Armand looked sad suddenly. ‘Why has it taken me so long?’”

Last, but I'm sure not least, to try to answer Armand’s question - why does it seem to take so long for these vampires to get from Point A to Point B? Aside from the apparent lack of support systems for most of their lives, and really, anything at all that would be helpful, Marius gave us a clue in B&G when he described how vampires process their memories:

“No matter how long we exist, we have our memories. Points in time which time itself cannot erase. Suffering may distort my backward glances, but even to suffering, some memories will yield nothing of their beauty or their splendor. Rather they remain as hard as gems.”

They don’t have the luxury of having their worst memories fuzzy out and become less painful over time, the worst days of their lives will always be as sharp and fresh as when they first happened.

Ow.

Bummer note to end on, but hey... they all lived happily ever after?

[yourbuerokrat2]

@cchipollo

First picture: I am acutally very curious about the AU presented in the first picture. Q went back in time to become PIcards roomate, always a human!Q joining the Academy, Tapestry!AU where instead of going with his former friend it's Q with whom Picard has sex with during Tapestry? Also I realyl love Picardtrying to slightly justify 'this' to himself by saying that he really needs to relax, he thinks while Q is clearly like 'what you need to do is pay attention to me'

Anyway, Q trying to get with a younger Picard is so funny because Q would see it as a cat of mouse but 'Johnny' was a real heartbreaker in his Academy years and not only two-but I think it's implied in Tapestry three-timing people. Meanwhile Q, either as an entity who went back in time or alwaysahuman, is not the kind of person who would take being cheated on easily.

Second one seems like a magic AU? Where Q seems to be teaching Picard something?

Which is then followed by the 80s AU. Aagain, I see two entirely different genres wether the AU is going more with the historically accurate 80 or with an Au version of the 80s. Although Q very clearly coming unto Picard I would say it's a more AU version of the 80s. Picard finds Qs behavior very unprofessional, that much is clear although I thnk a bit of interest is there.

'you better fix this' would be such a strange thing if Q said this to Picard because how is Picard supposed to fix this? Although I think I have seen some fics where the Continuum does not banish Q entirely and instead just puts him and Picard in situations so they can sort what is between them out. Or where Q only pretends to be powerless so maybe he is hoping that him being sweay and very revealing from the backsite is going to get Picard to do somethign about this.

Now the next fanart brings up a few rather interesting questions ince Q is aware of these alternate realities.

Are Q and Picard close in the other realities because the universe just decides that for some reason it just really wants these conflicting moral and personality standpoints together or are they always together in so many other realities because Q, the 'original' godlike Q, wants them to be together in every other reality.

Also the headache and the whiplash that probalby comes with being thrown through seven different realities in a short amount of time.

Q: So... do you now see how we are simply 'meant to be'

Picard, after finally being back in his own reality and on his ship: Well, I can certainly see that you seem to have a strange obsession with me in quite a very other universes.

Q: And..

Picard with a sigh: And that for some strange reason that I myself do not understand, I seem to, against my better judgement, give into it more often than not.

Vash and Q is also such an interesting pairing but while I certainly see friends with beneftis working out long term with them going on expiditions together and where they are each others 'rebound' I don't think as a romantic relationship it would work long term because they are both too individualistic but in different ways. I think at one point, Vashs materialism and greed may get boring to Q who does not really understand it and sometimes with Vashs flirting there is a bit of second-guessing where you know that she is doing this to get something but you are not sure what and Q as he did before that DS9 episode simply got bored and left her on some foreign planet. Q also would choose their adventures not on the merits of potential rreasure but he would do so on the merits of the fun and entertainment he would get out of it. And Q also tends to incorporate some 'lessons' into the games he plays which I don't think Vash would appreciate on the long term. And then there is that they are also 'too similar' in some ways and that I am sure that a part of Vash is very aware that originally and maybe still she is second choice/Q consultation prize. I do think that a polycule with Picard would work because Picard is sort of the rock that gives stability and direction to their mixed chaos? Sort of where sometimes it's just Vash and Picard, Vash and Q, Picard and Q and more often than not the three of them.

Love the line where older Q says that he is the destroyer of worlds or something and still Picard would look at him and berate him like this. Also the conversation where Picard says that he is not Qs toy and that he refuses to be another piece in Qs game and Q just says that Picard is not a toy and not a piece but instead that PIcard IS the game. Which was probably meant as an admission to something or even a compliment but clearly PIcard does not take it as such.

'Attention on Deck, Ensign Picard' oh those eyes and that smile. Q certainly and very probably has a variety of fantasies involving Picard.

Poor child in that last animation. The animation is very good by the way. And yes, I do think that even if this wasn't a 'hatechild' and just a child Picard had with literally anyone else that child would have the very same problem. Because Captain Picards number one priority will always be his ship and his job. So whatever you may want can wait, especialyl if Picard deems the conversation he is having as important.

In a strange way, I also think that in a friendship or relationship even Q himself would have the same problem as this child (I still have that post that is basically about Q outright staring at PIcard while Picard does not even look in Qs general attention) although Q would be way less shy and friendly about wanting Picards attention.

qcard drawings from the past few. uh. since whenever i last uploaded ig

[canwealwaysbe]

Awhile back you said that you believed that season 2 was the most obvious chenford? I’m curious why you think so

I’m not sure I said obvious, and if I did I chose the wrong word. I think it was the most /meaningful/ chenford. And such a great buildup to what could have been.

In early S2 when Tim criticizes Lucy for covering for him, and she replies with “you’re punishing me, but don’t pretend it’s because you have some moral code” (I’m paraphrasing) and she’s absolutely right. He’s punishing her for the very reason of her being too close. He puts distance between them because they crossed the TO/trainee line. Not romantically, but in a major way. The s1 finale shifted their dynamic. The single scene of them on opposite sides of the door, with a dying Tim complimenting Lucy foreshadowed them being together. Eric and Melissa’s chemistry shined and they weren’t even in the same room.

Lucy being the one to get through to him regarding Isabel. That was extremely heavy stuff and NEVER made sense from a trainee/training officer standpoint. Her showing up at her BRAND NEW training officer’s ex wife’s drug house to give him a speech? Heavy!!

All of this leading into Day of Death was god-tier set up. What they did after was nothing short of a disaster. The build up was there. It worked. Then they did a complete 180° and trashed it.

[accidental-host]

I know you don’t care that much for the ancients but since they have gotten so much focus so far and especially in the first odyssey chapter I was wondering if you’d rank/rate them on their roles in the story so far. I’m curious to know your general opinion so far now that we are getting the second chapter of odyssey.

Answering this before Odyssey part 2

Some thoughts: The Ancients as shown in Odyssey part 1

Very quick thing, just wanted to ramble real fast before I see anything for part 2

Out of the three of them, it’s hard to rank them because I do think the balance is very well done. They each play a totally different role from a narrative and from an emotional standpoint. I think

Pure Vanilla provides a really good look on a much more passive side, being the first to understand Clotted Cream and often failing at conflict resolution as a flip side to that passive nature. It shows the exact major flaw of a mindset like his so well, and when it comes to him being too nervous to tell them about White Lily, both sides are understandable.

For Cacao, I think he plays very much the opposite role as Pure Vanilla. He absolutely is not an antagonistic force, but he is stubborn and paranoid. The way his trauma from everything with Dark Choco and even Affogato has changed him is made obvious, and it’s another case of it being no one person’s fault.

Hollyberry is somewhat of a middle ground. She is very similarly stubborn, and maybe even more impulsive, but she holds herself back from real action with the combination of her alcoholism and her apparent struggle to really take things seriously. She insists on self-soothing with getting drunk when moral dilemmas get tough, which ends up coming across as an unhelpful combination of Cacao’s stubbornness and Pure Vanilla’s passive, conflict-avoidant nature.

Because of their inherently unique personalities, it is hard to just give them a solid rating on a scale of 1 to 10 or anything. But I do think all of them have been explored SO WELL so far, this entire moral issue doing a fantastic job at putting them in such a sympathetic light. They’re just as human as anybody else, Soul Jam or not, and they feel incredibly realistic in their strengths and flaws.

You’re right that before I was never that interested in the Ancients. I’ve always been more of a Legendaries fan myself, I never disliked the Ancients but they were just a new aspect of worldbuilding that came with kingdom that I never got that into. But this update has made me REALLY start caring about them and I think they’re so well written.

Thank you for the ask, didn’t even realize how much I had to say about this. Apologies for not ENTIRELY answering the question about just straight up ranking them, it’s impossible to put them on a simple number scale when they are each so different and provide such a different side to the issue

[veilkeeper]

thanks for answering. this broke containment a little bit, so i appreciate you answering respectfully and taking the question in good faith.

it sounds like you and i actually play these games very similarly! im also a strong roleplayer that likes to explore morally ambiguous PCs. my first shepard was a renegade, and even my canon warden makes some of the "evil" choices available in origins. if veilguard had options to be evil, it's likely i would have picked some of them, and the ability to be more morally ambiguous and go down different paths is why origins and DA2 continue to be first in my heart.

i guess the only difference lands in the realm of personal taste. personally, i got zero mileage out of inquisition for replays. i felt like i had to do a lot of the heavy lifting headcanon wise to make the game work for me at all, and i don't feel like there was a lot of strong roleplay options. just didn't click as a "role playing" game for me. sounds like veilguard did something similar for you.

i think it's a little unfair to say that rook is set up as a specific character but not say that the inquisitor also is. trying to play a quiz that isn't andrastian in that game is like pulling teeth, and one of the backgrounds literally is dalish elf. i find quiz's personality is definitely of a set type. rook absolutely has a certain tone to them, but only once in my 120+ hours in the game so far did i feel like veilguard was making assumptions about my character that i didn't sign up for, whereas in inquisition it happened constantly. if nothing else, i don't think veilguard commits any sins in the roleplay department that inquisition didn't first. and neither game has significant "evil" options, either, so i think they're on equal footing in that sense.

tbh this post was mostly made in response to the fact that i saw a couple different versions of "veilguard should have let us be evil" takes where at least some of the reblogs/replies said something along the lines of "having the option to be evil makes choosing to be good feel more meaningful", so i was genuinely curious how many of those people had actually played the options they supposedly wanted.

and regarding your comment about not disregarding replays: for the record, i'm not. i just think there's a noteworthy difference between "this is my second time around and i'm roleplaying hawke as a templar supporter" and "i've played this game the exact same way five times and now i'm going to just click the different buttons this time." as i referenced in my tags, there's that famous anecdote from one of the mass effect devs about the renegade path: how they put so much effort into making those options available, and then when the player stats came back, only a tiny fraction of players had actually chosen them. as time has gone on, those numbers have changed as people did their replays, but you have to understand on a certain level that from a dev standpoint, creating options that some players only see once they're several replays deep starts to have diminishing returns when that effort could have gone elsewhere.

okay i gotta ask. have the people saying veilguard should have let us be evil actually ever done an earnest playthrough of origins where they annulled the circle/killed connor/defiled the ashes etc or do they just want to be able to be a dick to our companions for no reason

earnest here meaning that they made those decisions in a first playthrough or as a roleplaying decision for their characters, not just as a "this is my fifteenth time playing, i should try out something new"