#also sorry I didn't post anything recently I just barely got to play the game and there's nothing interesting going on

[dezertvideogames]

What the controversy? - Genshin Impact

I don't normally make post like this, maybe I should as a mixed video game addict. I bet you've heard about the understanding outrage about the skin tones of Genshin characters. Maybe you've seen the meme pointing out that the White Pharaoh has darker skin than most of the Genshin cast. I'm here to tell you the problem is even worse.

What happened previously?

Genshin Impact has been heavily criticized by fans from all over the world for the blatant colorism in the game.

Genshin Impact is a free open world game with gacha mechanics. Characters come from a myriad of in-game regions each based off of real life ones including Western Europe, Japan, China, the Middle East, Russia, Central Europe, and the most recent region taking inspiration from Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin Nations.

This can be a very interesting approach to this kind of worldbuilding, as Genshin is not unique for this, and often makes it easy for fans to connect to the characters culturally.

Genshin's problems started to show immediately. In fact the first region's set of characters, Modstadt, based off of Central Europe has THE darkest skinned characters in the game. Kaeya and Xinyan, and one of them is a mean obnoxious black girl stereotype.

Like-

As the other regions have been added to the game, the problem has only gotten more apparent. Regions that would naturally have a few more diverse skin swatches among the cast just didn't have them. When Genshin did add darker characters they were often lighter than the average mixed person, or another variation of white skin tones, because lets be honest white people come in many colors too.

Now there isn't anything wrong with a region having diverse skin tones, especially if it's based off a real life region with a very commonly diverse population when it comes to skin tones like the United States, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, or South Africa. These places realistically are very diverse, and the people from then come in many colors.

The problem is in Genshin there are zero characters added with a darker skin tone than Xinyan, and the dark characters they claim to give us are barely darker than average Chinese person. There are very few brown skinned people, and they're all quite pale brown skin tones. Take for instance the Sumeru line-up.

When Sumeru came out fans of Genshin were outrages at the lack of darker skin tones among the middle eastern inspired characters. Since then there has been a demand for darker skin tones, and tons of criticism against Hoyoverse, but their pleas were never answered.

The Latest Region

The latest region added to Genshin Impact is Natlan. It takes inspiration from Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin nations. Players have waited with baited breath to see if Hoyoverse finally adds some darker skinned characters. The answer?

ABSOLUTELY NOT

Natlan came out with one brown skinned character. Meaning in all the regions of Genshin Impact there is a whopping three brown skinned playable characters, and zero black people to play.

This is worse than it seems: Hoyoverse

Genshin Impact isn't Hoyoverse's only game. In fact Hoyoverse's other popular games, including Honkai Impact 3rd, Honkai Star Rail, and Zenless Zone Zero also have zero black playable characters and sparse brown skinned characters.

In fact if you are a Hoyoverse fan in general you got your first two furry characters this year, before any dark black characters.

Like-

We got blue people before black people guys

The Outlook & Excuses

Many players are choosing to quit the game, boycott purchases inside the game, or completely moving on from Hoyoverse entirely. In fact I am one of these players (sorry to my mans Zhongli ]: ). I quit when Sumeru came out because I felt very offended seeing the outlook of colorism in the games as someone who is brown toned.

Some fans of Hoyoverse have tried to defend the company by mentioning how it's an Asian game, and these are simply Asian beauty standards.

So how does Genshin Impact hold up to other anime styled Eastern games? It doesn't... AT ALL.

These pictures all come from other Eastern video game companies, including Fire Emblem, Reverse 1999, Arknights, and Dislyte.

There is no excuse for Hoyoverse.

My Video Game Suggestions

If you're a fan of free gacha games I suggest wholeheartedly Reverse 1999 and Dislyte for their diversity. Arknights is also pretty good.

When it comes to open world games there's hundreds out there, many of which Genshin itself is based off of or has been the inspiration of in the first place; like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Palworld.

For games with anime styles the Persona series, and Fire Emblem are super fun. The Xenoblade series has very similar storytelling to Genshin Impact. There are many other series in development that plan to be similar to Genshin Impact, however most have the same hardcore flaw of zero to sparse dark skinned characters. Keeping an eye on them doesn't hurt though, as the lesson might be learnt before further updates are made.

Anyway, play Reverse 1999 if you want a free mobile game to fill the void Genshin brutally left. May Zhongli rest in peace.

I really like the writing, the animation style, the voice acting can be silly but that's because each character is voiced by native speakers of their background.

There's a tons of lesbians in the game too if that's your thing.

(PS. I judge no one who continues to play Hoyoverse games or holds hope for the future of the franchise)

[google-searchhistory-official]

If you receive this, you make somebody happy! Go on anon and send this to some of your followers who make you happy or somebody you think needs cheering up. If you get one back, even better

aww thanks!!!

also, this counts as a "hey google" right? I'm saying it does. Anyways

I was planning to play In Stars and Time but I no longer feel like it unfortunately. Long work day and I know there's the burden of emotion hiding in that game somewhere so I will hold off until I'm less tired physically and mentally and can better enjoy the story.

Despite my unwillingness to engage with that particular game however I have the urge to do things far more taxing than it could ever be. Least of which is just drawing, followed by the urge to watch more one piece, mayhaps I might be inclined to bake bread, and lastly I have the urge to make something in blender.

Of those options I know most likely none will get done and my own indecision will have me scrolling and reblogging posts on tumblr or mindlessly watching tiktok as my own mind yells at me to do something else.

Which, whatever, normal day to day shit y'know. But recently I have been thinking of my characters outside of Pepsi, Teron, Solaura, and Storm Eye. Which is difficult because some I rarely talk about and can only think of their connections to the aforementioned. One of which is Peeps. Who is she outside of the one nice human that didn't immediately feel repulsed, angry, or fearful of Pepsi. How long have her and Bismol known eachother. Why do they know eachother. They are more siblings than they are partners and both would hate you ever got that implication from them. Is Peeps only curious in magic because she knows it wholly possible? Or was she interested in the occult at a younger age but was too scared to believe in it? And she's just one character, I'm going through this with multiple that I've never drawn and have barely written anything for. Like Nazalos for my pokemon ocs... Yeah...

Anyways, thank you again for the appreciation! I am not mighty sure I'll get around to sending this ask to others but it is still very much appreciated. Sorry for the thoughts but I don't think that particularly matters with how I've cultivated this blog. :3

[gryffpex]

Sorry for not posting in awhile! I realized that I've never introduced my MCs, so I thought I'd do that for fun.

Spoiler alert for anyone who hasn't completed the game!

This is Alistair Porter. My favorite Hufflepuff boy (Sorry not sorry, Cedric :))

I see him as a good person who does bad things, but rarely for the benefit of himself. He's a good person in the sense that he will happily help everyone around the map with anything they need, no charge whatsoever. But once he gets attached to someone, that's when it gets bad.

I haven't finished playing the game as him, so I'm saying all of this as just what I imagine.

I imagine for the first half of the game, he is nice. Does good things all of the time, and there is never a sign of him being a bad person. That is, until he gets close to someone. Poppy. I feel like he kind of has an obsession, but not the stalker kind and if I can't have you then no one can, but mostly where he is just so protective of her because he likes her. If Poppy would have said the names of the Poachers in the camp she left with Highwing? They probably would have been dead not long after.

Alistair is protective over Ominis as well, but not on the same level as Poppy. Considering Alistair agrees with Ominis more than Sebastian, he hangs out with him more when he can, which leads to the protective nature growing.

I do feel like he was close with Sebastian at first, though. He probably admired that he wanted to help his sister. But when it became crazy and it seemed like he didn't care if others got hurt? Alistair decided not to be on his side anymore.

And yes, he chooses the evil ending. In his mind, the power will only make him stronger when it comes to protecting those he cares about.

Arya Daniels. (I realize I need to come up with actual before Hogwarts backstories for these OCs, but I've been too invested with their lives after showing up at Hogwarts 😅)

The earliest thing for Arya is that she got her scar from the dragon attack while on the Hogwarts.

Early on she likes Ominis, and develops - not really a blind loyalty - but a strong one for barely knowing him, and it only grows as she gets to know more about him. And because of this, she disagrees with almost everything Sebastian says throughout the story. Almost as if Ominis's opinions are now her own.

I don't have a lot for her other than that, except for the fact that she chooses to be good in the end. She wants to take the magic for herself, and she almost does until she sees Professor Fig, whom she had grown close to. And she thinks of Ominis. When she decides that it isn't what Ominis would have wanted, she doesn't take the magic for herself.

A funny thing about her is that even though I have it so it's her and Ominis, I got an interesting picture of her and Poppy 👀 I wonder what Alistair would say?

And lastly, Althea Clarke (I made her middle name Jade so that people could call her AJ - I don't know I just thought it sounded like a nice idea 😭)

I just made her recently, so I don't have much for her. But personality wise I feel like she is flirty with her close friends for fun, and she is nice to everyone. But if someone tries to get her in trouble? Or tries to interfere with her studies consider she is a fifth year trying to catch up on everything? Prepare for a million death glares and maybe a few punches.

And I'll give more details on her features considering Hogwarts Legacy doesn't have all of that 😅

Her hair is a darker turquoise, which is why I mostly keep the pictures with the darker lighting on her hair. And her scar? She got it from a werewolf when she was young, but it thankfully wasn't bad enough to make her one.

She has grey eyes, but the eye with the scar is a little bit whiter because she became blind in that eye. The scar also goes down, cutting off the bottom of her earlobe.

I do feel like she becomes good friends with Garreth later on, despite her keeping the fwooper feather for herself. And because of a picture I got, I feel like if Everett isn't her best friend? Then he is at least one of her best friends.

If anyone has any ideas for Althea or even ideas for my other two OCs, I'd love to hear them! This fandom is so creative when it comes to OCs :)

[pls-just-let-me-marry-yeung]

Don't worry ma'am, I think over half of this fandom is married to him. He's doing ok.

[t0shii]

% comforting them when they're upset

.! oikawa, tsukishima, matsukawa (sep) x gn!r

.! angst + fluff/ breakdowns, crying, etc. lightly proofread bc im lazy so sorry for any mistakes.

.! im so sorry if this is absolute word vomit or horse shit 😭 i tried my best though 😌 uhhh sorry for not posting yesterday i got my daith pierced and i was in a lot of pain after that so i didnt feel like writing anywho enjoy this 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 p.s. i was originally gonna write for mad dog but i was struggling so i went with mattsun instead sorry. also idk why matsuns ended up being so short i didnt do him justice i apologize 😩

oikawa

— always gets discouraged when his knee bothers him. today was one of those days. his coach had made him sit out of practice because he had been limping a bit. he came home distraught and you noticed right away.

"what's the matter toru?" you asked opening your arms for a hug, which he accepted, wrapping his arms around your middle quite tightly. "my knee is bothering me again 'n coach made me sit out. it's just not fair." he mumbled into your shoulder. you could feel his tears soak through your shirt. you nodded and responded, "baby, he just doesn't want you to hurt yourself. i know it's not fair but-", "but i wanna play volleyball, i wanna get better and practice." he said, aggravated that you weren't exactly on his side, still he held you tighter.

"toru, baby, look at me." he does as told, and you bring your hands up to wipe his tear stained cheeks,"toru, you can't strain your knee anymore than you already do, you know this. i know you only want to play volleyball, baby i know, but you have to be patient." he nods in agreement and you do the same, then guiding his head back to your shoulder, "i know it's frustrating toru, but you can't force it, y'know? he wouldn't make you sit out if it wasn't for your best interest. you know that, deep down."

the two of you had been cuddling on the couch, his back against your chest when you heard him sniffling again, "toru, what's wrong?" you ask softly, sitting up slightly. "i'm so useless, my own knee can't even work right. the team deserves someone better and so d-do you" he hiccuped, hiding is face in his hands. you felt guilty for not comforting him more earlier. "toru, that's not true at all." you stated, forcing his hands into yours, "take it back right now." he looked at you confused. "toru oikawa i said take it back right this instant." you said a little sterner than before.

"no." he managed to get out through sobs, and you knew the stern method wasn't going to work this time around. "toru, please. you're not useless at all, not to anyone, not to the team, and especially not to me. you're the best teammate, friend and boyfriend anyone could ever ask for and your knee just needs a break sometimes, you just need a break sometimes and thats okay. needing a break doesn't make you useless or weak, toru." you say softly, guiding him to a sitting position, hugging him closely and tracing small, comforting shapes on his back.

"you're so so strong toru, and you're an amazing person, an amazing boyfriend, you're such an amazing volleyball player and i'm so proud of how far you've come since highschool." you say, kissing the crown of his head. "you mean it?" he asks leaning back to look at you, "i always do, toru. i love you more than anything, and i'm so so fucking proud of you, but you have to know, it's okay to need a break sometimes and it doesn't change who you are as a person and it definitely doesn't make you weak or useless. he nods in response, burrying his head into the crook of your neck. you both stay like that, you whispering words of affirmations, him listening fondly until he feels better a little while later.

tsukishima

— he usually didn't let the stress of professional volleyball get to him like this, but he couldn't help it he would be lying if he said he wasn't overwhelmed, from interviews, to extra practice to prepare for the overseas games he had coming up, he was exhausted, to add onto it all he had been neglecting you and he felt horrible for it.

you knew practice was going to be running late since your boyfriend had told you in advance, so you weren't initially worried as to why kei had been coming home late at night. this night in particular was the fourth night in a row kei been home late and you starting to grow concerned. you hadn't seen him hardly at all that week, which was unusual because he always made time for you no matter what. worried, you decided to stay awake and wait for him to get home.

when the time finally comes, your heart dropped at his appearance, he looked absolutely horrible, as if he hadn't slept right in weeks. "why are you up?" he mumbled, taking his shoes off rather sloppily, uncharacteristic of him. you made your way closer to yoir exhausted boyfriend, "kei, i'm worried about you. i know you don't like me meddling with your career, and please don't misunderstand my concern for that. i'm just worried you aren't getting enough rest and i've barely seen you at all this week." you said, crossing your arms over your chest.

you knew something was wrong when you saw the tear swell in his eyes, but he just stood there awkwardly, you walked closer toward him, "kei, what's wrong?" you ask, extending your arms toward him, which he basically fell into, he started sobbing immediately, shocking you initially. "i'm s-sorry for neglecting you this week, i didn't mean to i-i just-", "kei, i'm not worried about that, i'm worried that you aren't taking care of yourself properly." you mumble, patting his back comfortingly. to which he shakes his head no."work has been too much recently, i can't sleep and i barely have time to even think. its just practice, interviews, practice, interviews i-i can't handle it all anymore, y/n." he sobbed into your shoulder, you were speechless at his vulnerability.

"kei,-", "but i can't stop now because that'll make me a failure and i don't want to let you down and the team too, i just want to make everyone proud but i think i'm falling behind." he cried, fiddling with the hem of your shirt. "kei, you could never let me down. actually, i think i've been letting you down recently, i don't tell you this enough but, i'm so so proud of you kei, so proud you don't even understand, i'm sorry for not expressing that enough to you. i understand that you feel as if you're falling behind but overworking and stressing yourself out isn't going to help you improve, kei, and i know you also know that."

"you're working yourself sick, kei and i can't stand here and continue to let that happen so you're taking a day off whether you like it or not. tomorrow will be a me and you day, how does that sound? i'll call your coach in the morning." honestly, you wouldn't have let him say no anyways, and he knew that so he just nodded his head. "look at me kei, you have to tell me when you're feeling overwhelmed. it's not good to keep things in like this, it's just like you tell me." he nods his head, but avoids eye contact, "and i'm not disappointed or upset at you, you know. but i can't read your mind, so please just tell me when things start to feel like they're crashing down on you 'kay? i'll help you just like you help me." you smile, he looks at you and nods, hugs you closer and whispers an "i love you" into your ear, which you return.

matsuwaka

— you knew his work was stressful and emotionally and mentally exhausting, so there were always worries in the back of your mind that he would become too overwhelmed, well today your worries became reality.

"welcome home issei." you called from the kitchen as your boyfriend walked through the door, though he offered you no response, which made you frown. "issei?-" you gasped when you felt a pair of strong arms sneak their way around your waist, "jesus, issei, you scared me!" you giggle placing your hands atop of his own, but you realized he was not laughing with you. "issei, baby?" concern laced in your tone as you maneuvered your way around to face him, "what's wrong baby?" you ask, taking his face in your hands to wipe at escaping tears.

"work was rough today." was all he said as he melted at the feeling of your thumbs running back and forth on his cheeks. "oh issei, i'm sorry." you mumbled, kissing the tip of his nose lightly, "is there anything i can do to help?" he didn't know why but something inside of him snapped when you asked him that, and sobs escaped his lips, he could only hide his face in the space between your neck and shoulder because for some reason he felt... ashamed to be crying in front of you like this. "please just hold me." he cried, so you did just that, shushimg him when his sobs got violent, rubbing your hand up and down his back soothingly.

the both of you stood there for a good 15 minutes before you spoke up after he had calmed down a bit, "is there anything you need to get off your chest? you don't have to tell me now or even at all but i want you to know that whatever is bothering you, you can tell me, anything at all. i know your job is mentally exhausting and honestly i dont even know how you do it but i dont want you thinking you have to carry the burden of it alone, okay? i'm so proud of you, so so so proud of you issei, i just wanted you to know that."

you felt him nod in the crook of your neck, a soft, "thank you." sounding shortly after, "of course." you responded, kissing his shoulder a few time.he wasn't sure when he would feel completely ready to get things off his chest but he felt loved knowing that you would always be there to comfort him, and for that he was forever grateful.

[mellometal]

WHAT'S GOING ON? THIS IS PART TWO OF ME RIPPING APART DHAR MANN'S VIDEOS ABOUT FATPHOBIA! Whoo-hoo!

Before I get started, here's an obligatory trigger warning: This post will be talking about fatphobia, bullying, homelessness, mentioned ED, fat shaming, shaming a person FOR EATING, and the abused thanking his abuser AS AN ADULT for tormenting him as a young, impressionable teenage boy.

If any of that is triggering, upsetting, or makes you uncomfortable in any way, you don't have to read this post. Please consume media that sparks joy for you.

This time, there won't be a response from me about this video, like I usually do with all my Dhar Mann posts. If you want to see my response, refer to my first post about fatphobia (the one about the plus-size woman being fat shamed). It does tie in with this post, as my thoughts on this video are the exact same here. Yes, even though this is about a (at the time) plus-size black teenage boy being targeted. Search for the "dhar mann talk" tag and it's one of the most recent posts. I don't believe anyone should be shamed for their weight. Your weight doesn't hold any significance to your worth as a person. Don't let anything or anyone tell you otherwise.

With all of that out of the way, let's get to the video!

To sum up the video, it starts out with a plus-size black teenage boy (Kurt or "Big Boy", as he's called almost throughout the entire video) who's on a basketball court at school with his friend (Mike), a few other teenage boys, and Mike's uncle (Frank) is their coach. Mike is the captain on one team, Frank is the captain on the other team. They're picking teammates, and everyone is on a team except for Kurt and another boy. Frank says to his nephew to not pick Kurt (he called him "Big Boy" instead) because "he'd never win with him". LIKE THEY WERE PLAYING FOR THE NBA. CALM YOUR DICK. HOLY FUCKING HELL. THEY'RE KIDS.

Mike, not listening to his uncle (good for him), picks Kurt anyway. Kurt is happy and thanks his friend for picking him. Mike gives Kurt a shirt that looks at least a couple sizes too small for him and would be pretty uncomfortable to wear. This isn't Mike's fault, obviously. Kurt politely asks if they had a bigger shirt. Obviously not an unreasonable request. They're playing a sport that requires lots of movement (honestly, pretty much any sport would apply here, except for maybe golf or cricket) so it's understandable to want to at least be comfortable and have room to move around. Frank mocks A LITERAL TEENAGER with the whole "You think you're shopping at Big&Tall?" line and then says that's the only size they had (why couldn't they supply inclusive sizes in the first place, or at least ASK Kurt what his size was IN ADVANCE?), which....umm, I'm actually GLAD plus-size clothing for men (Big&Tall, in this case) is more readily available and accessible now. I'm happy plus-size clothing in GENERAL is like that now.

Mike comforts Kurt and says the shirt might fit. The shirt does KIND OF fit Kurt, but it's obvious he's uncomfortable. Look at this screenshot here:

Frank laughs at Kurt, says he looks like Barney The Dinosaur, and the other kids laugh along with their coach. This is NOT setting a good example for children, Frank. You're a fucking teacher. You're a COACH. You're supposed to be teaching these kids about sports and shit. You're supposed to be setting a good example for these kids about teamwork and sportsmanship. WHAT YOU'RE DOING TO A TEENAGE BOY, WHO IS MOST LIKELY ONE OF YOUR STUDENTS, IS TEACHING NONE OF THOSE THINGS. You're teaching these kids that bullying their peers for things they can't help having is okay. Do better. (I'd say that he's an adult and should act like one, but I'm an adult and I barely act like one a lot of the time, so that'd make me a hypocrite.)

While I may be fortunate to have had a physical education teacher who never bashed on me or shamed me for my weight and she would cheer me on for whatever amount of effort I made the first and only year I had actual P.E., I know that many other kids who are plus-size most likely has/had horrible P.E. teachers or coaches like Frank.

To anyone who has/had a teacher or coach like Frank, I'm so sorry, kiddos. You don't deserve to be bullied by your own teachers. I wish I could give all of you a hug, but I can give y'all virtual hugs instead! *virtual hugs* /p

So they play a game of basketball, and Kurt is struggling to fully play because the shirt he was given was probably cutting off some circulation, especially in his arms (again, do I need to reiterate that this was NOT Mike's fault and is FRANK'S fault for his ignorance and negligence). Frank mocks his nephew Mike by saying that he told him not to pick Kurt. Why? Because according to him, Kurt will never make anything of himself in life due to him being fat. (AGAIN, THIS IS NOT TRUE.)

Then it cuts to Kurt sitting with Mike, who's working on his car and Kurt's working on his own thing. Mike says he believes one day he'll own a nice, brand new Cadillac. Kurt is very supportive and cheers his friend on. He says that he believes he'll be one of the biggest radio show hosts and has a title for it called "Big Boy's Neighborhood". Both of them are hyping each other up. Love to see men supporting men. Mike pulls out his Walkman (they were HUGE back in the 80s and 90s because you could listen to the radio from anywhere, I have a Sony Walkman mp3 player, but it's a newer model), and Kurt says that he's always wanted one but couldn't afford it. (I'll go into why in a second.)

Frank comes over to reprimand Mike, who has done NOTHING WRONG, for talking to Kurt. Instead of working, which Mike WAS actually doing. He tries to tell his uncle this, but he wasn't having it. Frank then reprimands Kurt, who also has done NOTHING WRONG, for just sitting and apparently "distracting Mike" (he wasn't). He asks if there's any work he was supposed to do. Kurt FINALLY stands up to Frank in a polite, mature manner. He says that just because he wasn't working with his hands, it didn't mean he wasn't working. Frank ridicules Kurt some more, Mike tells his uncle to leave his friend alone, and Kurt stands up to Frank AGAIN, still being polite and mature. UNLIKE THE ACTUAL ADULT ACTING LIKE A CLICHÉ MIDDLE SCHOOL BULLY WHO PROBABLY PEAKED IN HIGH SCHOOL. How fucking ironic.

What does Frank do in response to Kurt standing up to him? INSULTS THE KID SOME MORE. He tells Kurt that he must have "pig fat for brains" (which is not only insulting to Kurt, but also insulting to pigs, because pigs are intelligent animals), takes his small bag of Doritos, and says that he "doesn't need to be eating anything." He eats Kurt's Doritos IN FRONT OF HIM, tells Mike to quit letting his friend make him lazy (he wasn't doing that at all), and to get back to work.

THAT line made me livid. I've actually thought that I didn't deserve to eat anything because I'm plus-size as a teenager, and into my adulthood at a few points in my life. NEVER say that someone doesn't need to be eating anything. (Obviously except for poisonous things, inedible objects, and things that could and will kill them.) You could cause them to develop an ED, or trigger an ED if they already have one. THAT'S NOT A GOOD THING. EDs are no joke. Whether it be starving, purging, or binge eating, none of them are fun to have and/or to deal with. Even if they DON'T develop an ED, their relationship with food will be all sorts of fucky-wucky. Some even for the rest of their lives. Unless you get proper treatment, of course.

When Frank leaves, Kurt is obviously upset. Rightfully so. How he's feeling is justified. Mike comforts him and says to not let Frank get to him. Mike offers to take Kurt home, but then realizes that his friend and his mom got evicted and are homeless. (This is why Kurt couldn't afford to buy a Walkman.) Kurt, still distraught, says that he'll just walk. Mike invites him over for dinner and that he'd drop him off after, which Kurt agrees to.

They're at Mike's house, having dinner, and Mike's parents are talking to Kurt. They're being supportive. Frank walks in to have his sister's cooking. He sees that Kurt's there. Mike's parents introduce Frank to Kurt, tells him Kurt's gonna be on the radio one day, Frank laughs and says Kurt's not gonna be anything. Kurt brushes it off. He says that his mom says that he can achieve whatever he wants (which is true, to a reasonable extent), Frank cuts him off and says his mom was lying to him, and that his mom knows he's gonna be a big loser.

Mike's dad tells Frank to leave Kurt alone. Mike's mom also says the same thing. Frank asks Kurt if his mom doesn't feed him at home, and what he was doing "eating up all their food" (he wasn't; he just had a singular plate). Mike and his mom tell Frank to stop. His mom explains that they invited Kurt over for dinner, and she tells her brother to sit down and eat. Frank then asks Kurt again if his mom doesn't feed him at home. Mike tells Frank that Kurt and his mom don't have a home because they just got evicted, which is a shock to the parents. Instead of having sympathy for a teenage boy who was on the streets with his mom, HE MOCKS HIM. WHO THE FUCK DOES THAT? Especially to a teenage boy who didn't do anything whatsoever to deserve being evicted from his home and be out on the streets with his mom. I've dealt with being evicted. I've dealt with homelessness. Out of no fault of my own. It's not funny, cool, glamorous, or anything like that. It's terrifying. I'm still traumatized by that experience and it happened four years ago. Sometimes I have nightmares about that kind of thing. The very possibility of becoming homeless and going through that again scares the shit out of me. The thought of it is so triggering for me that I will resort to reverting back to things I used to do when I was a kid. It also doesn't help that I will NEVER be able to afford an apartment on my own where I live now and will probably have to rely on at least two or three roommates and/or family to get by. Thanks a lot, Boomers.

I would never wish what I went through on anyone. Anyways, back to the whole summary of the video.

Kurt gets up and leaves the table. Mike tries to go after his friend to make sure he was okay, but Frank stops his nephew. ONLY WHEN KURT LEAVES DOES FRANK ALL NONCHALANTLY SAY THAT HE'S STARVING AND THAT THEY SHOULD ALL EAT. Despite Frank making Kurt as well as his (Frank's) own family upset.

Kurt walks to where his mom is. His mom notices that he's upset. Kurt tells his mom that it's because of Frank. His mom comforts him and gives him the advice that she gave him before. Kurt is still obviously too upset to take anything she's telling him, bringing up that they're homeless and broke, and his mom is desperate to help comfort her son. She gives him his birthday present early, which happens to be a Walkman. Kurt is shocked. He thought they didn't have that kind of money. His mom says not to worry about that. She pokes some lighthearted fun at her son, he thanks her, and he asks her a question. He asks if she believes he'll be successful or if she's saying that to make him feel better. She asks if he believes he'll be successful (yep), and he tells her that when he succeeds, he'll buy them a house so they don't have to be homeless anymore or worry about getting evicted.

Fast forward to adulthood, Kurt becomes a bouncer, meets someone who works at a radio station, and he goes there. Just to have people laughing at him. He's distraught again and leaves the station, thinking that he made a bad decision. Frank happens to come by, see that Kurt was upset, and asks what's wrong. Kurt tells him what happened, and Frank mocks him AGAIN with the same shit he told him when he was a TEENAGE BOY, now as a YOUNG ADULT. He walks off, laughing.

Nice going! /s Kicking Kurt while he's down JUST LIKE OLD TIMES, RIGHT? FUCK YOU.

Kurt then decides that he's gonna lose weight and be the best radio show host. (Toxic much? Why would you try to preach that your weight = your worth as a person? If you're losing weight for yourself, great! I'm happy for you! If you don't want to lose weight, you don't give a fuck about what people say, and you're happy in your own skin, that's awesome too! Do it for yourself, not for anyone's approval. Try to love yourself and accept yourself in any form you're in. Don't fall for the bullshit that you have to be a certain size or look a certain way for you to love and accept yourself. The weight may be gone, but the rest of your issues will still be there. I have to clarify that I meant this in GENERAL, not necessarily for extremities on either side of the spectrum of weight...because there are things you MUST follow.)

Kurt gets back to the station, ignores all the people being assholes, he's doing his thing, and he's climbing up.

Fast forward to when Kurt is middle-aged. He has his own radio show, and he's one of the biggest names in the radio industry. After he finishes up his show, he goes outside to see a couple of young fans. A young black girl with her brother, a plus-size boy. They say how much they love his show, they got his merch, and the boy tells Kurt that he wants to be just like him. The boy doubts himself though because of people abusing him JUST LIKE what Kurt went through. Kurt empathizes with the boy and tells him a little bit about his own experience. Following them is Frank as an old man. They're his grandkids.

Frank recognizes Kurt, and actually apologizes to him for the torment he put him through as a teenager. WHAT A SHOCK. /srs

Kurt takes it with grace, but says that he should be thanking Frank for all the torment. Why? Because it "motivated him". The girl says that she loves that. (Okay, since she's a kid and there's still time for her to change her mind about certain things, I'm not going to be as harsh here. I don't bash on the kids unless they're doing or saying extremely fucked up things willingly. She didn't say this with bad intentions. I understand you're coming from a good place, and I appreciate that, but please hear me out. This wasn't at all like dealing with edgy thirteen year olds on the internet. This man you look up to was abused by your grandfather in his youth. Your brother is experiencing that same torment your idol went through...at a younger age too, it seems like. The kid looks no older than middle school age [ten or eleven at the YOUNGEST to maybe thirteen or fourteen at the OLDEST]. That's a huge problem. Kurt may have "toughed it out", but that might not be the case for your brother. Please don't excuse that kind of behavior.)

Dude...what the actual fuck? I can understand not being bothered by the hate, but this grown ass man literally VERBALLY AND EMOTIONALLY ABUSED YOU AS A YOUNG, IMPRESSIONABLE TEENAGE BOY, CONTINUING INTO ADULTHOOD, and you're THANKING Frank for all of that? Why should you thank your abuser for what he put you through? He didn't contribute ANYTHING to your success. So I guess abuse is a GREAT contribution to people's success now, right? /s It doesn't contribute to anything, in my opinion. Yes, what doesn't kill you can make you stronger, but can we normalize people becoming weaker to a point due to traumatic events? Because they exist. Demonizing survivors who have become weaker to some degree or just flat-out ignoring them isn't helping. You did the thing you wanted to do, Kurt. Frank didn't help you. The person who really helped you was YOU and your mom.

MOVING ON.

The boy asks Kurt if he thinks he'll ever be able to make it as a radio show host. Kurt asks if HE believes that. The boy says he does. Kurt gives him some advice and gives the boy his Walkman. The boy's ecstatic, they leave, and Kurt goes to meet up with his mom.

Keeping to his promise, Kurt bought his mom a house so she'd never be homeless again and never have to worry about being evicted. (HOW LONG WAS SHE HOMELESS FOR? OH MY GOD. THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO KNOW. I hope you at least let her stay with you or something. They never went into that, unfortunately.) She's very grateful. The video ends there.

My personal thoughts on the video: Another piss poor video....but worse! Because it was a COLLAB. And based on a true story. Good going with taking this man's story of being abused by a grown adult to exploit for your personal gain, Dhar Mann! WOW. LOVE THAT! Totally a good look. /s

What I took from this video is that if you're plus-size, according to Dhar Mann, you'll apparently NEVER be successful, let alone be taken seriously...which is an absolute lie. There are many plus-size people who are very successful. Another thing I took from the video is that apparently according to Dhar Mann, being verbally and emotionally abused as a teenager by a grown adult all the way into adulthood is "motivation" for you to work harder to reach your goals. (Nice going, Dhar Mann. Justifying grown adults abusing children. Who would've thought? /s)

Oh, and it's like MANDATORY to thank your abusers for tormenting you when you become successful! (Obviously this is an exaggeration. This is me using Dhar Mann's logic against him.) You want to thank them for making you stronger? Fine. You want to spit in their face and say, "Fuck you." to them? Also fine. You want to just never acknowledge them ever again? Totally fine. Whatever you want to do, that's fine by me, but can you not imply that "thanking" your abusers is mandatory in some way?

If you made it this far, thank you! I hope you're having a good morning/day/afternoon/evening/night. Stay safe, y'all. Love you. /p

[baekuras]

Fun Kraken lore I thought you'd be interested in given your love for griffins.

There are three rites of passage you can choose from that make you a Kraken witcher - you can either dive into the underwater caverns below the keep and find a black pearl (aka get it from an elderly siren named Ursa who likes to play games with the younglings and can be bribed with toffee, gossip or jewellery), recite the entirety of that one fancy book (borrowed from Griffins) or, while you're witchering for your first year with a mentor, you find and tame a creature - animal or post-Conjunction (since there's very little difference between the two.)

Mira chose the third option and ended up befriending a griffin she named Sara (she's a griffin geek and always had love for them.) Sara was her loyal partner for a long time (though she was initially iffy about that bard her mistress has adopted recently) until she was killed in a fight with a chort (the thing had rabies and needed to be put down.) Mira took it really badly and in fact that's how Anton was allowed to go to and stay in Kaer Voeda - he didn't want her to be alone as she went back to KV for the winter.

Fast forward a couple years of healing, it's springtime, the Krakens are hunting in the woods when Jesper finds a nest of griffin chicks - two dead of starvation, three barely hanging on. The parents were nowhere to be found, so they took the chicks in. One chick didn't make it through the first week but the other two hung on and gained weight well (via griffin muppet feeding to not make them accustomed to witchers.) Mira informed the rest of the Krakens that she'll be in charge of the chicks (named Beak and BeakBeak because Jesper is very creative with names) because she knows everything about them and also won't let another one die on her watch.

Eventually the chicks grew up enough to be released into the wild, but by then Mira got Attached and asked if she can keep one of them for company. Jenna was initially a bit iffy about the idea, but she remembered how badly Mira took losing her buddy and decided that, sure, BeakBeak is pretty attached to you, isn't she? You can keep her on the condition that you name her anything other than BeakBeak.

And that's how Mira got Frida - Beak had returned to the wilds and probably has a nest and mate by now, while Frida has a witcher mama and a funky bard who gives her scritches and will never run out of writing quills again.

(The buddy trial was also undertaken by Bronn who got a wolf, Basia who got a plumard, and Jesper who aced it automatically because he already came into the keep pre-equipped with a smol wyvern buddy.)

"...given your love for griffins." i feel called out in a good way

"or, while you're witchering for your first year with a mentor, you find and tame a creature - animal or post-Conjunction" i know the first two are probably the fastest ways to get your medallion, BUT yes to that specifically

"named Beak and BeakBeak" those are the best names and I will stand by that (I am about as creative-don't look at the griffins I have drawn, none of them have actual name-names they only have words I think of when drawing them i am so sorry to my babies but at the same time....names are hard) Would be funny if Frida may have been renamed, but only responds to BeakBeak anyway

"will never run out of writing quills again." best perk of a Griffin buddy with/near you

Love the variety of Wolf (bascially a doggo in my eyes but BIG and just as loveable, dorks really) Griffin (!!) Wyvern (also !! tbh, anything dragon-esque in aesthetics gets a 👍 from me)

and then-a Plumard rat-bat(affectionate) who I think is bigger than I imagine right now but hey-details

[annalyticall]

Hiya! I'm curious what thoughts you may have on BL3 story wise. Do you have many criticisms/things you personally didn't like about it or thought could've been done a little better? Sorry if you've talked about it at length on here before, I've had all BL3 posts blacklisted until recently.

No problem! Actually, I don’t think I have ever talked about my thoughts on Borderlands 3 before on a general tumblr post. So, I’ll list some of my bigger thoughts on it.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story up until Maya’s death at about the halfway point. It did take a while to get going since I felt like the introduction to the story dragged on Pandora, but I had so much fun on Promethea and Athenas. They were such refreshing settings compared to typical Borderlands fare, and I loved interacting with my two favorite characters Rhys and Maya. It was so worried with how Gearbox was going to handle Rhys, since it would have been easy to go down the Handsome Jack 2.0 route, but I’m glad they decided to keep his eccentric quirks and his dedication to becoming a better kind of CEO than Jack was. I especially loved the detail that he purposefully didn’t open the vault on Promethea because it would have put the citizens in danger, while Jack had done the exact opposite. Maya also had a lot of interesting development going back to the planet that had abused her out of her sense of duty to protect the innocent that had no part in her abuse.

Maya’s death, however, was a very, very solid turning point in the story for me. It wasn’t so much that Maya died - I could live with that narrative decision - but it was what followed. 

Eden-6 was by far my least favorite section of the story. Gearbox rehashed the entire last arc of the story and barely added anything new. Example - we are helping a perceived “good guy CEO” (Rhys and Wainwright) by defending his “better-than-the-other-guys” company (Atlas and Jakobs) from a hostile takeover by a spoiled evil sibling that wants it for themselves (Katagawa and Aurelia). This story-arc villain is being supported by the COV as well. In the end, we kill the story-arc villain and get to a vault, where Troy and Tyreen ambush the supporting Siren character (Maya and Tannis). It’s a story that was better the first time because I felt Rhys, being an established character in the franchise, better portrays the struggles of a “good” company in the universe compared to Wainwright who doesn’t even particularly want the Jakobs company which is now inexplicably a “good” company too despite canon contradictions to that in previous games. Also, they absolutely did Aurelia dirty making her a black-and-white evil villain rather than just a rich brat. And I just don’t find Eden-6 a particularly interesting setting.

I’d say I liked the story a little better once we got off Eden-6. The story involving Tannis inheriting Angel’s powers was very interesting to me since I love the Siren lore in these games. I also really liked Necrotafeyo as a setting and the small insights into just who and what Eridians were. However, I found Typhon somewhat a nuisance to the story. The echo-logs he leaves behind are not interesting whatsoever, since they don’t really talk about the lore despite him being a great vault hunter that should have an expansive knowledge of it. Instead, many of the echo-logs are used for cheap jokes, which meant that I had almost no attachment to Typhon when we finally got to meet him and I certainly didn’t feel anything when he died.

Ava is also not a very good character. She is hypocritical and rash, which is fine on its own, but she doesn’t have any sort of character arc that leads her to become a worthy successor of Maya’s powers and Lilith’s leadership. She doesn’t really learn anything, and that frustrates me a lot since she is someone who theoretically is taking the place of some of my favorite characters in the franchise.

Troy and Tyreen were... okay. In concept, they had the winning balance of comedy vs. serious threat that Handsome Jack had, but in execution, I felt both were lacking. Their story and theme potential were perfect and Gearbox could have really done something great by either pitting them against each other so much that they turn on each other and destroy themselves out of spite or, contrarily, are so devoted to each other that the death of one would spark an unspeakable fury in the other. Yet, Gearbox did neither of those things. They kinda turned on each other, but also kinda didn’t? Tyreen’s reaction to her brother nearly killing her, then her brother dying, was almost non-existent, which was very underwhelming. I also felt nearly nothing when Tyreen killed her father, which is not... good.

Overall, I consider Borderlands 3 to be split into three parts: the “good” Promethea and Athenas part, the “bad” Eden-6 part, and the “okay” Pandora and Necrotafeyo part, which means my overall feelings towards Borderlands 3 is very mixed.

While I haven’t played DLC 2 or 3 yet, I did play the Handsome Jackpot and also really enjoyed it. Fleshing out Timothy was a great idea and I also really liked the new side characters they introduced there as well. I think Gearbox is much better at making mini-stories like those in the DLCs rather than over-arching narratives.