#and how one faction got way more care than the other to make a clear cut villain

[randomnameless]

Genuine question, not trying to start a fight, why do you get so upset about gods and churches being presented in a negative light in fictional works?

No pbs!

I guess it's a mix of being too common, too forced and having, in general, the cast use common tropish arguments to fight /defeat them.

I rant a lot about this game, but take TS where we have three sort of factions opposing each other, and each are supposed to suck. Who is the faction who never receives any "positive traits" or "pet the dog" moment?

The game force fed us a scene where an Aesfroti soldier - when Aesfrost is depicted as a highly militarised nation with a cult of personality towards their current ruler, that invaded the protag's home and slaughtered several civilians and NPCs in the process - say goodbye to his wife and kids before going to "war" to defend his land against, well, the protags who are invading it to kill their warmongering leader.

As force-fed as this scene was, it, I believe at least, tried to tell us that even the Aesfrosti who pillaged villages and killed their inhabitants are humans, and care about their loved ones, sure it's corny, but it's all about not deshumanising any party.

When we attack Hyzante? Niet, zilch, nothing. No similar scene where random soldiers, or NPCs, worry about what is going on and if they're going to die when their wall has been breached. They just, don't exist in this context.

I think the cherry on the cake is the Golden Route scene, where, apparently, nationalists Aesfrosti decide to turn back against their ultra charismatic leader because, uh, he "lied" when he declared the war and used a false pretense, so the soldiers and people who were butchering babies and invading a city where people were preparing a marriage apparently now have morals and rebel.

There's no similar scene for Hyzante when the cast reveals that the teachings of their Goddess were made up and salt wasn't exclusively given to them by divine intervention, because rock salt exists everywhere. Sure it would be a bit weird and forced that people thinking they're chosen ones and looking down on everyone else suddenly, hm, don't break down when their entire system of belief is shattered, but hey, if the Aesfrostian Gregor can have morals after washing his hands of all this Glenbrookian blood, why shouldn't religious npc #55 not make the same heel face turn?

And then, we have the slavery/human experimentation plot - in general, when TS tries to give nuance, they more or less explain/justify why something that "sucks" is done, it's basically Silvio's character.

Aesfrost' Gustadolph manages to push his "freedom" mentality because his land is a harsh place where people are desperate to survive, salt smuggling is reprehensible, but it's the only way to give some to the ones who cannot afford it. Of course is everyone is free, no one is because, as Gustadolph puts it, they're basically free to die for his ambitions.

Hyzante? Follows a racist creed where Rozellians have to pay for some great sin, and are slaved away in a lake to recover salt until they die. It's, later, justified by Hyzante wanting to keep its salt monopoly else they don't have anything, and wanting to curb down the Rozelle people because they know about the exitence of rock salt (and I guess getting free workers to harvest salt from the lake + having state enemies make his own population docile/not willing to rebel ?).

And then, we have the human experimentations, that are just done for, uhh, Idore's lol. When Hyzante is known for its "advanced medicine" and we could have had the usual dilemna of, idk, having those humans experimentations used to develop this medicine that is reknown in the world (idk, sacrificing a Rozellian to save someone else's life?) - it's not the angle the devs picked. Rozellians are sacrificed to power up an idol, Idore wants to control the world through his idol and soft power (compared to Gustadolph's hard power) and manipulates his people (just like Gustadolph) to do so.

The two are very similar, but who is the final boss? Complete with a transformation in an eldritch monster? The war-mongering imperialist or the jaded old man who is leading de facto a religion?

Hopefully there's the entire "human experimentations for no other purpose than the lols" to settle them apart.

---

I recently watched Dune, and even if I have some issues with the adaptation, the Bene Gesserit isn't portrayed as "comically" evil-er than the Harkonen Empire, I reckon the comparison isn't adequate, because Dune is multi book series when I'm mostly talking about video games.

Symphonia's church of Martel is a font for the Big Bad (tm) to put in motion his nefarious plans, and yet, through the game, we see how random clergymen use their, uh, religious buildings to help people around. Ultimately Martel herself is reincarnated through plot device and tells the big bad to stop being an ass and the story is less about "church and gods evil" but "big bad distorts Martel/church's teachings and role for his plans because he has a tragic backstory"

(but then Symphonia ends with the biggest whitewashing from every Tales I've played for its big bad so I'll stop talking about it because otherwise I'm going to be salty).

Abyss' church is more or less the same thing - the Church is supposed to help people deal with the fact their verse has "predestination stones" where the future is already written, and in the course of the game, we see how it has several factions and one opposes the group (who has the pope as a NPC!) - but it's not a story about "gods bad church BaD".

I remember playing Suikoden Tierkreis a long time ago, and while the game seemed to go through familiar "church bad gods bad" route and we end with defeating a god-like entity... I pretty much loved the twist that, in a game that relied on alternate dimensions/universe, the god-like entity was actually the protag if he made different choices!

In those games, if you fight a religious body and someone pretending to be a God or what not - it's not because people fight against an eldritch creature who wants world domination and to erase puny insects, or is the reason why everything goes wrong, but because, at the end, the conflict/fight is ultimately caused by someone, generally a human or at least a non "god like" entity, wanting to destroy the world.

I don't remember if FE was my first JRPG series or not, but I always liked the idea that if the world is doomed in those games and the heroes must prevent said doom, it's not because a god-like being wants to destroy the world, but because people, humans/randoms are the most shitty ones out there.

---

As for the "tropes" often used to deride fictional churchs and religious people, well, I will again point to TS - which did a splendid job in the Benedict Route where you smash Hyzante after allying with Aesfrost.

There's one battle where out protags diss Hyzantese because they worship a goddess and have no free will, listening to Her teachings and Her says (the traditional "religious people have no free will and listen to their churches who tell them how to think!") - which is immediately countered by one of those Hyzantese characters asking Serenor if he's not the same, but instead of blindly listening to a Goddess, blindly follows Benedict. And it ends with the final chapter title referencing automatons/puppets : who is that title talking about ? The fake "idol" Idore created, or the fake "king" Benedict created?

Anyways, the usual "religions people have no free will because their church/religion tells them how to think" trope reeks of r/atheism and the double standard - bar in this route of TS, but I guess, in TS itself in the Roland route! - is never called out, blindly following a charismatic leader is okay, as long as charismatic leader isn't religious?

Regardless of my IRL thoughts about religion, usually those tropes are presented as a "gotcha!" when they are... not at all, but the games/books leave it at that and we're supposed to roll with it.

I'd say it's lazy writing or, as we saw in Naruto, a quick way to end a story without having to dwelve in characters and their motivations : "you're a god/alien/other being and you're bad, so let us do what we want!" - end of the story.

Hopefully some fillers and to an extent, Boruto gave her more meat bar being the 11 hour villain we had to defeat quick and who manipulated the previous sad'n'lonely antagonists - but it still felt rich from Naruto, known for his famous "talk no jutsu" and trying to understand people he's fighting against, to drop the ball with Kaguya, calling her pure malice and ending with some "let us live the way we want" to wrap up the plot so he can wrestle with his boyfriend later on.

In the end, we often end up with "religion bad bcs the big bad manipulates people through it", as if those mangas/animes/vg never have other examples of charismatic people not using religion to manipulate their randoms/people or "gods bad they should let humans do what they want" when we've read/seen/played through various, uh, really fucked-up shit humans did - but on their own! and ultimately, but it's more in fandom spaces, with have Projection 101.

TLDR : church/religion/gods are too often used in those works as the ultimate scapegoat to either wrap up a story in a rushed ending or to pretend to have "nuance" but still have a common enemy where all the "nuanced" characters can grow/be whitewashed and side together against that "common enemy".

Just like in all things I guess, I prefer when something isn't painted as purely negative and all of the positive traits are erased because there is a need for a perfect scapegoat - sure, bring out too much "nuance" and writing/designing a game/manga/anime becomes harder because there's no "clear cut" antagonist, and yet, the one who always gets fucked in this scenario is the religious/church side.

Want a generic stock villain who will destroy the world so the heroes have to fight against them? Just create a "religion" in your setting, and have the big bad either hell bent on resurrecting Chtullu to destroy the world because Chtullu BaD, or have them be the most corrupt piece of shit who manipulate everything in the shadows, so the rest of the world, even the ones who slaughter others bcs they feel like they must start a war, can be whitewashed at the end.

I mean, there's a saying about diverting attention from a fire by starting a bigger one near, or a trope of "aliens made them do it" : who cares if Madara started a continental war and targeted a village full of random civilians he swore to protect because he lost the elections? Did y'know he was manipulated by a woman, I mean, an eldritch thing created by a woman, regarded as a God, who ultimately wanted to get out of her fridge to kill everyone?

Roland must get over his hatred for Aesfrost for barging in his kindgom and killing hundred of his people while they were preparing for a wedding, because hey, Idore is evil and plans on ruling the world through his sham religion!

I'll forever be salty at TS for not giving Kamsell the occasion to rise against Idore, or not even have minor NPCs get the same treatment as Sycras suddenly going all "u lied to me gustadolph so i won't listen to u anymore + sad goodbyes to my wife'n'kids".

Extremism of all kinds can lead to wars/tragedy/fucked up shit - Sure I don't want to get my History lessons in video game medium when I play lol, but what I really don't like is how it feels like depicting "they're extremists because they're religious" feels like the default/easy answer : want a bunch of brainwashed people the heroes must fight against and can't talk no justu their way out of this fight/will fight without looking too BaD? Depict those people as "misguided" members of a corrupt church/believers of a religion, no one will givea fig. If they are instead supporters of a charismatic leader who throws them through the meatgrinder to further their goals? Well, there's no automatic loyalty so either you have to show/depict it on screen, else it can be challenged at key points to demonstrate how those people - who follow the charismatic leader - aren't completely "mindlessly listening to their leader" or how their leader "isn't that bad after all".

[explodingchantry]

Anders isn't my problematic fave because he isn't problematic. I think the wider concept of anders being 'wrong' the fandom has is a clear example of how biased the writing has been in the games. It's the same reason why people hate Jowan, or why they think the kinloch hold mages were stupid. There's a clear bias in the writing and framing of it all that guides the player towards feeling negatively.

The majority of answers you can give Jowan in Dao are negative, mocking, or downright insulting. The ones who aren't are just... Neutral. You can be a bit sympathetic to him in the circle origin but by the time you meed him in redcliff most of your dialogue choices are so fucking mean. In my replay I was trying desperately to be nice and sympathetic to him but the best you can do is be neutral and let him go but for every rude dialogue option there is no "you've been through something horrible, I'm sorry" or "you were manipulated, loghain took advantage of your vulnerability, I'm sorry" it's soooooo.

Likewise, I always make sure to speak to every single npc in the mage origins and the One mention of uldred before the broken circle quest is from the one mage who tells you about the different political faction enchanters are in, and it's with absolute disdain. That mage thinks uldred is annoying and it's implied that the other enchanters think so, too. Uldred who was an activist for mage liberation is treated as annoying for being an activist.

Then he turns out to be a blood mage and to have killed the majority of the circle, turning them into abominations. The message is clear: those who seek liberation are wicked. In the first game of the series, thus in the game which introduced the concept of circles at all, their existence is justified by the text. It overtly says: look at all those foolish mages, how dangerous they can be when One of them is wicked. Can you imagine if they were free? Can you imagine those abominations' destruction if they were out in the open?

Something similar happens in the mage origin, with Jowan. Through the whole origin, whilst Jowan is painted as annoying, he's definitely seen as a victim. Up until he uses blood magic, that is. Suddenly, the player is likely supposed to think "oh, so they were right to want to make him tranquil after all". Instead of being a way to show that the circle will often turn innocent mages tranquil, it shows you that greagoir was right to distrust Jowan, because he was indeed a blood mage. Instead of showing you how paranoid those in power are about mages, the writing justifies their fear and hatred.

Bear in mind this is the first game and likely the very first thing that happens to a lot of new players. The game does not expect you to know the intricacies of its lore yet, doesn't expect you to understand that blood magic is actually fucking neutral unless you sacrifice people for it. You might be tempted to argue that it's setting up for that realisation later and for you to feel bad about Jowan later, realizing he was led to blood magic because it was his only solution, because he and all other mages are caged like dogs (except this is ferelden, so the dogs are better treated than them). But then you've got the redcliff fiasco where it's obvious the writers expect you to fucking hate his guts

And while dragon age 2 is more overt in its depiction of mage suffering, it also tries to pass on the idea that kirkwall is a special case, that it's only the gallows that are this bad. That it's just Meredith whose craaazeyyy 🤪 and not just Meredith being a product of a corrupt system. The writers expect you to think of Anders as an unstable extremist, or as his writer puts it, a "bipolar terrorist" (note that ofc there's nothing fucking wrong with being bipolar, but I don't think his writer cares!)

With different writers and the exact same set of events, Anders blowing up the chantry would be easily recognized as a positive, as an act of justice, of rightful rebellion. Instead it's seen as a tragedy, a mistake. Instead Anders is categorized as a villain, morally grey even though Hawke themselves has a higher death toll than he ever will.

It's a lesson, I think. In narrative bias.

[iamnmbr3]

Great answers! I do love the idea of Sirius as DADA teacher!

Here's another one for you: rank these characters from worst to best for the post of Minister of Magic

Albus Dumbledore

Lucius Malfoy

Sirius Black (again cause I love him and I read a fic about this once)

Minerva McGonagall

Barty Crouch Sr.

oh god. these clowns would all be such terrible minsters of magic. why are you doing this to me? ok fine. here goes.

Lucius Malfoy: I think because movie!Lucius was sort of toned down and defanged fandom sometimes forget what a nasty piece of work book!Lucius was before he had his downfall and got all sad and pathetic. Fanon!Lucius often gets turned into kind of a joke but book!Lucius was out there torturing muggles for fun by night while he had the ear of the Minister by day and was, seemingly, extremely adept at subtly spreading his pureblood supremacist agenda in government. (Honestly, better at it than Tom because unlike Tom he actually cared). Also in book 4 it's very clear that if he had gotten hold of Hermione - a fourteen year old child - on the World Cup grounds he would've attacked her without hesitation (been eager for it, in fact). Yeah he wasn't down with Voldemort's whole thing but that was more because of the effect it had on him personally. with Voldemort out of the picture he was top dog and he was doing just fine. All this to say, as Minister the policies he enacts are...not good to say the least. He'd be out there building a violent pureblood supremacist dictatorship in a heartbeat.

Albus Dumbledore: Albus says he can't be trusted with the power of being Minister and honestly...I believe him. He'd still play the same messed up manipulation games he plays in canon but on a much larger scale (while simultaneously feeling bad about it and telling himself it's for the greater good). He does some truly epic mental gymnastics to convince himself he needs to make himself dictator for life and then things spiral because obviously anyone who resists him is evil right? Right? Of course! The alternative is that he is wrong and he doesn't want to think about that. Also, he doesn't seem that bothered by house elf slavery and his ideas for getting nonhuman magical creatures on his side in canon seemed to involve asking nicely but not actually granting them rights. So I'm not super optimistic on that front. So yeah. This just turns into the whole of wizarding Britain getting gaslit and thrown into insane situations by a madman who seems so wholesome and lovable and yet... Also. Given how poorly organized the Order is I think it's safe to say that all other flaws aside, the man does not have a gift for management.

Barty Crouch Sr.: Listen. He ALSO sucks. Very clearly ok with slavery, not a fan of due process, and allowed Aurors to torture confessions out of suspects. His only saving grace is that he does love rules so he'd probably eventually step down and wouldn't make as many potentially damaging changes as Dumbledore.

Minerva McGonagall: Her no nonsense attitude ensures that any meeting she runs actually accomplishes things. She's smart. She's sane. She's stable. She doesn't care about ending slavery or changing the status quo, but she's a lot better than most of the options. She's not especially creative or good at political games though which often hampers her ability to carry out objectives and prevent bad actors (i.e. Lucius and his faction) from getting their way.

Sirius Black: What does the man who hates authority do when he finds himself in a position of ultimate authority? I don't know but I'd love to read about it! Sirius is actually pretty shrewd (contrary to fanon) and I think he'd actually turn out to be a natural at handling politics (much as he might hate it). He also understands traditional pureblood society (he is a Black after all) but he doesn't idolize it (he hates being a Black) which would allow him to understand and work with multiple factions. Additionally he can be forceful and authoritative. He's impatient, often biased and unfair, sometimes quite cruel, can be temperamental, and again, has 0 problem with slavery. So like. He's not good per say, but he's actually better than some of the others. (At least with him meetings are never dull because if he gets bored enough he just turns into a dog and eats the agenda).

[mobiused]

is it too late to ask for said actual nuanced statement about your feelings on the way loona has split up and how you feel about supporting each of the factions as a fan

No :0 Okay well this posted early accidentally come back when I've edited it with the answer you seek; edit here it is

As anybody who follows me and actually listens to what I post knows, yes, I was disappointed with the choice that the 5 members in modhaus made.

The reason is of course Jaden Jeong's involvement in the conditioned that caused the members' suffering. I honestly do not care to "respect" the members' choice when, firstly, they're public figures, which means they're in a position where they open themselves to judgement, having surpassed what it means to be a regular person into an overman; hence, idol (no this isn't lore) (yes it is) and it is parasocial to think we as fans owe them the kind of blind devout respect that is reserved for people you know and are close to. We, of course, need to respect them as people even if they are idols which leads to my next point. Secondly, they're adult women who are capable of making their own choices. It is only patronizing, infantilising and self delusionary to cheer them on for every choice they make void of criticism. If I respect them as a person, that means I care about the decisions they make enough to be able to disagree with them. The only decisions you respect unconditionally are from your God (if you have faith) or someone who has got you fucked up.

of course all of this is only my opinion to be clear ^^;

So to continue, I don't respect their decision to join modhaus. However I do accept their decision and think of them no less as people - that's very important to me for people to be aware of! That may have sounded harsh but I only have strong feelings because I care.

When it comes to modhaus vs ctd, to ME it feels like a faction of people who are willing to ignore a history of mistreatment to blindly follow their idols because that's what idolatry is versus a faction who are distrusting and reluctant to give a second chance to a man (and his company) who have done them wrong. And of course bias vs bias.

Regarding why I don't hold ctd to the same standard as modhaus; one is an established company with another group under their belt and the other is a company that formed because Hyunjin asked really niceys. The "mistakes" that modhaus are making, like having Jaden and doing NFTs and having loss of the members' autonomy to give fans control as a business model (to be frank, I don't care about missing english subtitles or those small things, its whatever) are much more severe to me than CTD fumbling the bag in ways that only affect them financially. Sorry I don't care about them picking venues that are too big for them on a concert, I don't think it's that big a deal.

In this way, I think cloo vs ourii, ctd vs modhaus, is much more than the preference people have for the idols actually in the companies but rather an ideological thing. Can you put the past (that isn't yours to begin with) behind you to stan a group with no guarantee of being completely safe and in control, or are you going to be wary of a company that has done little to demonstrate how it's protecting the girls' best interests. At least that's how it looks to me.

And it's weird how we dont see Chuu & Yves akgaes right? And I think that's because the companies are such unknown elements that it's nowhere near as polarising to support them, like there's no reason not to.

And I do think there is a lot of us vs them going on. (some) People who are artms member stans who have become full-blooded ouriis have made it their mission to find any excuse to bring CTD down - maybe out of a guilty conscience vengeance for the criticism that modhaus has been getting. And the same can definitely be said about cloos who just want more reasons to shit on modhaus even though the problems are inconsequential (see? I'm not wholly biased)

In summary I just think it's sad that it's had to have been this divisive. If the loona members weren't in the position that they were - that no company was willing to accept them bar modhaus, and the members who got out first didn't feel obligated to go to modhaus, since CTD - and other places - weren't an option, things maybe would've turned out differently. Or maybe they wouldn't have, and there will always be fanwars regardless.

[jedimaesteryoda]

It will never not be funny that in spite of all the complaints of people slighting his house, Lord Walder slights his own family more than anyone else.

If I'd known how they'd shame me, I would never have troubled myself to make the journey. Why did I need to ride all that way to see Hosteen knocked off his horse by that Tyrell whelp? I ask you. The boy's half his age, Ser Daisy they call him, something like that. And Danwell was unhorsed by a hedge knight! Some days I wonder if those two are truly mine. My third wife was a Crakehall, all of the Crakehall women are sluts. Well, never mind about that, she died before you were born, what do you care? -AGOT, Catelyn IX "He picked her because she's fat," Lord Walder said. "You think Bolton gave a mummer's fart that she was your whelp? Think he sat about thinking, 'Heh, Merrett Muttonhead, that's the very man I need for a good-father'? Your Walda's a sow in silk, that's why he picked her, and I'm not like to thank you for it. We'd have had the same alliance at half the price if your little porkling put down her spoon from time to time." -ASOS, Epilogue

You can tell he actively hates his family, giving his son a demeaning sobriquet and literally calling his granddaughter a "pig." He doubts whether his sons are his for being unhorsed when he was never renowned himself for his skill at jousting. He knows they're waiting for him to die, and trying to earn his favor since he controls the purse strings, making him feel contempt for them.

What's he got to be so puffed up about anyway? Only two sons, and one of them's a twisted little monster. I'll match him son for son, and I'll still have nineteen and a half left when all of his are dead!"

Yet, he never blames himself for creating the situation. He sees them as disappointments when none of them were ever bold enough to ask what his accomplishments were prior to the Red Wedding? For all his remarks of Tywin being so puffed up, while true, Tywin at least had accomplishments he could point to. He fought in the War of the Ninepenny Kings, won battles, crushed rebellions, served ably as Hand of the King and became father to a queen. Walder on the other hand never won any tourneys, or performed well at the tilt or even melee. He never personally fought in or served in any distinction in battle as far as we know, and his only distinction was getting the title "Late Lord Frey" for his sons showing up to support his liege lord after it was clear who had won. Nor did he ever have a position at the royal court. His biggest victory was a massacre in violation of guest right, the Red Wedding that earned widespread condemnation and contempt.

He had all those children as a vain way of overcompensating for his insecurity over other houses looking down on him, ie he's more manly for his fertility and fathering more sons than any other lord in Westeros. But with having all those kids, his younger sons and their progeny have valid concerns over what happens when he dies. They have no lands or incomes of their own, and that would leave them in precarious positions. (Also, somehow, I think Tywin's sons will outlive all his.) He treats them more as pawns and tools giving them less reason to love him.

His parenting style ultimately resulted in a dysfunctional house riddled with factionalism with every Frey looking out for himself as Merrett put it. Once he dies, the powder keg is going to go off and the Twins will be rife with civil war. None of his progeny will likely mourn him or at least not for long.

[auspicioustidings]

Lost Boys

4. Little Den

Summary: Preacher does the day shift and meets the supposed monster.

Words: 2.1k

CWs: Nothing major, but as with this whole series it skews darker than what I usually write

Christ, she had been unaware you could get DOMs from a threesome but here it was. She had been sore yesterday sure, but maybe the food and beer had been masking it because today she was in pain. No more pleasant aches and hazey horniness, something that was being sorely missed. Still, it wasn’t like bills would wait and she really wanted to actually do this place up, that would require funds and funds would require working.

Definitely the day shift, another night with those two maniacs and she’d be on bed rest for a bloody month. So she dragged herself up, showered and threw on jeans and a flannel that she could take off and tie around her waist if it got too hot. 

The way Alex had reacted to seeing her was odd, very odd. She knew plenty of people would drift through, pick up a shift and then move on, but his surprise that she was back was genuinely like he had been 100% positive he would never see her again. Had she come off as that flakey? She had told him that first day that she had moved here hadn’t she? Odd, very odd.

“If you don’t need me I can ask around.”

“No! No no, you can take the day shift. Opening is in 45 minutes.”

He was eyeing her neck, the bruising not really hideable. Ah, maybe he was weary about having someone working a ride that, for lack of a better term, was a ride. Understandable, people often underestimated how important the operator was on these things. There wasn’t really enough regulation and if whoever was managing the staff didn’t make sure they were decent it became wildly unsafe. One bad accident was awful for business. She’d need to make sure she was shit hot at her job today.

Alex felt like he was seeing a spectre. The girl in front of him shouldn’t be alive. He wouldn’t say he was disappointed as such, instead his initial disbelief was rapidly converting into mounting excitement. Were they keeping her? Some sort of pet? He thought they might have their hands full if that was the plan, this one was tough. There had only ever been one person before now that hadn’t been vanished and that was because Alex had practically begged for her not to be when Gaz had taken a passing interest in her. Not that she had appreciated it, was a hunter now, determined to ‘save him from himself’. He didn’t need saving, being a thrall to the 141 was a good gig, way better than falling in with the Shadows or the side show or God forbid the surfers.

“Ok, thanks. Are the people from the side show about? I was going to go by and say hi but it’s still kind of early huh?”

“I’d steer clear, not the kind of friends you want to have.”

That was weird. Alex was being so serious about it, genuinely like he cared who she was friends with. This place must be way more political than Coney Island and that was saying something. 

“Uh huh. Look Alex, can you just tell me what the deal is here? I am telling you now I am a good worker, but I need to understand how this place works so I don’t screw up.”

Oh yeah, they would definitely have their hands full with this one. 

“The only people worth talking to are the 141. You met a few of them the other day, the bike you left on was with them. The freaks butt heads with them pretty often. They can’t control that big monster of theirs, so stay clear. Graves and his Shadows run all the games, tight knit group, don’t really entertain outsiders.”

“Surfers?”

“Don’t get into the water with them unless you enjoy drowning.”

She laughed, and then laughed harder when she saw that Alex was deadass serious about all this. He acted as if she was working on a Boardwalk with a bunch of warring factions made up of fantastical creatures rather than a bunch of petty gossips who would get into petty fights.

“Sure thing boss man. I’ll be back in time for my shift.”

Yeah she would not be making friends with those 3 from the 141. Fantastic sex only did so much to make up for them being the kind of unsettling that meant she was flirting with danger in the unfun way, in the going to become part of the statistic in this city way. It was really her duty as an upstanding citizen to knock their egos down a bit anyway. Next time they tried it on she’d turn them down hard and fast, make sure they knew that she had as little respect for them as they had for her.

–

“It’s König right? Am I saying that right?”

If it was true that the side show workers and the 141 did not get along, then she would be making friends with the side show workers. Horangi had been decent to her and honestly she thought it was pretty shitty of Alex to comment about the big guy and call him a monster to be controlled. Not his fault he was huge. He was still sat where he had been before, the only one around this early in the day. 

“Perfectly maus. Come closer.”

He had a manic note to his voice that was admittedly a little unsettling, but she supposed that was part of the job. She chuckled a little at how he had purred to come closer, probably worked wonders with tourists. She knew the moment she got within distance he would lunge at her, try to make her jump out of the range of his chains and so she crept forward anyway and controlled her instinct to flinch. Instead she just grinned at him when he lunged, an offt of breath leaving her when he barrelled into her and crushed her tight against his chest. 

“Careful big man, you catch one of the hassled housewives like this and she’s going to fall in love with you.”

König drank her defiance of the fear she should feel like a fine wine. He knew it from when he had first seen her, that she wasn’t scared of him. Even when she had jumped that first time she had smiled at him after, as if in approval. And now that he held her she only trembled from laughter. How delicious a thing for him, soft little princess to make worship at his altar. He’d keep her in his cage with him, bully his cock into her until she took every inch, until she was screaming from the stretch of taking his knot. He’d take care of her, envelop her in him after and let her cosy up in their little den. Keep her warm and satiated and full of his pups. Maybe he’d allow for some tiger cubs once or twice. 

He wasn’t really letting go. And she could feel that he was hard, difficult not to with the size of it pressing against her stomach. Didn’t really think much of it to be honest, he couldn’t have just gotten hard from touching her as much as that would do wonders for her ego, probably just morning wood. Poor guy, there was no way he had ever found anyone to fit around that. She could feel herself getting wet on instinct, her body panicking and trying to prepare for an absolute railing that her logical brain knew wasn’t actually happening. As much as it would be a fantastic blow to the pride of the 141 to get under this man, her body was still sore and she reckoned it might be an idea to stick to pleasing herself for now rather than getting her back completely blown out. 

“Ooook. Going to need you to ease off now.”

König growled. It wouldn’t do for her to be such a bratty thing so early on. She should enjoy being held close to him shouldn’t she? Ah but she was only human. He forgot sometimes how fragile and delicate they were, how they liked to have independence. No matter, he could be patient. He could act like a human man, court her according to their customs until she realised how much she loved him. Then she wouldn’t ever want to get away. Better to wait until the marks on her had faded anyway, if he took her now he wouldn’t be able to control himself when he tried to cover them with his own.

“Sorry maus, many people flinch away from me. It is pleasant to hold you” he said, forcing his tone into something soft and appealing as he loosened his hold and let her take a step back.

“That sucks man, sorry. Make sure you get to just be you without the mask and the chains on your days off, I know it’s rough to be the monster in one of these shows,” she said with a sympathetic smile. 

She had worked a sideshow for a while. They had been desperate and she could do some basic contortion, nothing that impressive but they would take a decent back bend if it meant at least having something to fill out their little space. She remembered feeling dreadful with the way the more unusual looking performers were treated. It wasn’t so much that she had gotten fired for getting into a fight with someone over how they were talking to the bearded lady, but they had not asked for her to perform with them again.

So yes, she could appreciate that for someone like him it was a given he’d be a little messed up. But he had let her go and apologised plus Horangi seemed to like him so all in all, he seemed like a decent guy.

“Is Horangi about? I was going to say hi to him before work.”

“He will be happy you thought of it, but he is asleep. He is most of the time, very lazy cat.”

She grinned, thinking that she had found him similar to a cat yesterday as well with how he had nuzzled her. 

“Well it was nice to officially meet you König, I’d better be off but I’m sure we’ll see each other around!”

Of course they would, he would make sure of that. 

–

She wanted to pop into the video store before her shift but found it closed. Opening hours were only for the evening which seemed sort of odd, but maybe there wasn’t really enough foot traffic during the day. So instead she just floated back to the carousel and lingered until it opened, finding that the change of pace from the night shift was welcome today. It was hot and too bright but there was less of that dark mania about it in the light.

Rudy appeared at the carousel a few hours in, hair damp and salty and skin smelling of sunshine and seawater. He was delighted to see her in more or less one piece. Interesting though, that she had definitely been fed on but was still breathing. He didn’t sense the aura of a thrall about her either, so they weren’t in complete control of her yet. Johnny and him did like to play games sometimes, maybe this was one. He waited for her to step off for a moment to get the next group on, grinning at her. 

“Looking for a ride?”

“Not on a horse, but if you are offering one…”

She rolled her eyes with a groan, had walked right into that one. 

“Unfortunately I’m working, what a shame.”

She turned to go back on and he banded an arm around her waist to stop her, her back pinned to his chest. The people around here sure were handsy, but she was generally a touchy feely person so it wasn’t entirely unwelcome.

“I would treat you much better than they did cariño, make love to you in the ocean until the stars came out.”

With that whispered little promise he let her go and just left. Just fucking left. Preacher was usually more suave than this. She swore she was good at flirting. But Jesus fucking Christ what was she supposed to do with that? 

Next time she saw Keegan the jury was out on whether she was going to kiss him or punch him for sending her here.

[idiosinkratico]

i forgor to post this. these are my different couriers. more below. WARNING: theres actually A LOT of text. i went kinda crazy there..

okay so the first one... i cant choose his name, well, i do have his name is just that does it make sense? like the reason he haves that names, does it make sense? How does it make sense that a Hispanic family chose that name since they have reserved what little remains of their culture for years? So it all started clearly with the fact that their ancestors were Hispanic, the war came, they were among the few who managed to enter one of the Vaults. and well, the family wanted to maintain their identities so among themselves from generation to generation they continue speaking Spanish and having some hispanic practices adhered into them. Although over the years, after getting used to the new society, they 'lose' a bit of that. For example, they speak more English now than they did back in 2127. Yes, I made this OC to experience a bit of what other cultures/nationalities would be like in Fallout, whose world focuses more on the United States than anything else.

Well anyway his name is Ismael surname Barrera. Now to actually explain who he is, he's of course, courier six, but he is more of a traveler than anything else. his gender is quite unknown, not even them can explain it, and he doesnt care if he gets confused glances. is whatever for him (have you noticed the lil bit of self insert yet?). oh and also he likes to travel for the sake of learning new places, new people and how the Wasteland works. she also is a Prospector (polite name for scavenger. yes i robbed this phrase from the game). he loveees to collect stuff, which is why he wears the roving trader outfit! also i added other things to make it look like he does collect and reutilize things a lot. like the NCR helmet. he ISN'T from NCR (and actually critizes them a lot), but he keeps the helmet. also yes i made it deliberadly to look weird is a helmet with goggles then he wears glasses, and then again theres another goggles on his neck... why? because he never feels is enough. i mean, while collecting stuff he may have the same things because who knows if the other could be lost or broken. companions say that they look like a whole ahh brahmin pack, and that hey, they exist too. give them some of their stuff, your back doesnt look okay. as in personality, i think i let it clear hes curious. way too curious. so many times he got into combat because they looked at something and wanted to look what it was, then boom it was a big scorpion. also they are definitely idealistic, they believe that well if the world cant change, at least she haves to change, and give people a reason to believe not everything is hopeless (so yeah he has good karma). they also are analyze almost non stop, thats a part of their curiosity. and i mean like he can analyze from how the factions works and how all the options (NCR, Legion, Mr. House, and yes, even Yes Man) will affect the Mojave, lalala but also suddenly analyze hey how do robots do that thingy when a man loves a woman so much? theres way more but i think this should be enough. other stuff includes: loves history and science. collects books from time to time and reads it a lot, which explains where he gets big words. barely remembers his past other than he traveled a lot and why he does so. shes around his early twenties. major skills are: Science, Survival and Guns. Traits: Four Eyes and Hoarder. oh and;

S: 7 P: 3 E: 5 C: 4 I: 8 A: 7 L: 6

> As for the other, this one i just did recently. A compulsive liar. Havent still decided his name, though Oscar sounds good enough. Around his late twenties. Identifies as a man. Worked as a courier because he didnt have anything else better to do. After getting shot, while it wasnt of course pleasurable, he kinda liked it since finally he has something interesting to tell and is actually the truth AND he was shot for actually being important. he twists the story a bit just to make himself look better. also yes when veronica asks him where does he comes from, he unironically and bit dramatically answers "From the grave". cares a bit too much about his appearance. well more like he cares what people think of him. you can imagine the amount of joy he had when he heard in the radio about himself and how people seem to finally see him as someone famous. as for what side he goes for, he chooses Yes Man instantly. You can already see his S.P.E.C.I.A.L. status so i wont bother putting it again. Oh and he also suffers a bit of amnesia from the bullet. He has mostly good karma but since hes also bit of a robber, doesnt have the best reputation, and also, people find out he lies a bit too much. Major skills includes; Barter, Sneak and Lockpick. Traits: Kamikaze and Fast Shot.

> And the last one. Her name is Dhalia. Around her late twenties as well. Tbh that wasnt her design at first. Thats a doodle i did but i liked it so much i chose that drawing as her new design. For her i dont really know what kind of personality she may have. I guess shes the quiet, logical type of person. She values reason before all... or well thats what she says. Also shes very blunt. Doesnt tolerates at all if she sees bitchy behaviour. bit too serious but doesnt mean she doesnt have a sense of humor. She was a mercenary before becoming a courier, why did she choose to be one? to take a break... that sadly didnt last as she was shot in the head. she has more like neutral karma. Like she doesnt really 'care' about whats right or wrong. she mostly looks for herself before anything else. surviving is the first and foremost important step. that doesnt mean she can't help others though, but most of the time when she helps someone is more because she logically assumes that yeah, this is the right thing to do, and doesnt do it out of compassion. at first she was siding with Mr. House just because 'is her job' but she herself realizes that he isnt a very good choice for the Mojave. she may side more with NCR because she thinks they are the ones who may bring more stability to the Mojave, and this also probably because she was born in the NCR (i am not saying shes right) (though i cant still decided for myself what side she may take. well, i am still writting her so i guess it makes sense). Major skills are: Guns, Sneak and Medicine. Traits: Trigger Discipline and Skilled. And;

S: 6 P: 7 E: 7 C: 3 I: 8 A: 9 L: 4

- I have way more OCs (this is how i know the fixation is down bad lmao). Like i have a latinoamerican ghoul that like i want to explore once again about other cultures/nationalities in Fallout, though i guess to make it more 'fit' to themes of the franchise, will be about the American dream, though i dunno if there was such thing like that in Pre-War America, which is why i am kinda leaving him on the dust until i know better about this. Then theres also another ghoul who is an old doctor lady, actually inspired in one my very old OCs and realized that i could just make her a ghoul and thats it. That is more of my love towards old ghouls... we need them more, desperadly. also made her to be from Vault 12 and be one of the ghouls to leave the area around when Set was set (no pun intended) for leader. likes to medically study how ghoul transformation works. also works as a doctor as she has quite the knowledge from Pre-War medicine. i also have a human guy OC thats a mechanist and in him i want to explore about undiagnosed neurodivergence in a world like Fallout.

and and my favorite so far but i cant even know if she fits is a First-Gen supermutant OC thats (again) a mechanist and a crafter! shes Olivia. she makes and fixes supermutants' armor, in fact decorated her own armor hehehe. though of course she doesnt make every armor for supermutants, she came from my question of where the hell do supermutants get their armor? like of course they won't use humans' armor, thats way too tiny. then again they have to get the right resources for an armor thats actually an armor, like whats the matter in putting materials that will be just like dressing with cardboards? but besides that, she also makes other stuff that are like, common day-to-day stuff, but, for supermutants! i mean like, stuff like humans may use and if supermutants may use too, she makes it to be more accesible to supermutants, and she does so because of the feeling of community between eachother, like she cares for them and wants to help. i still feel like she may not fit within supermutants a lot though (i have the need to make OCs as accurate as possible based in the world they are in). but i guess thats whats fun is about. oh and also, i made her because man we need more female supermutants!!! for a bit of backstory, as i said shes a First-Gen supermutant meaning that she comes from The Unity, shes like one of the people that came from one of the Vaults. i still work on what her opinion is about being transformed in a supermutant... if she finds it better or not. anyway. after The Master goes kaboom along The Cathedral and Mariposa Base, she as other supermutants wandered around The Wasteland until finding Broken Hills in where she finds she likes crafting stuff besides armor. She worked as a miner there. Then basically she follows Marcus with the other supermutants until settling in Jacobstown. Also I don't know if this stupid and nonsensical but like remember Tabitha's wig? So uh yeah do you know Olivia also likes scavenging around places to find the resources for her crafts, and also along the way bring resources for her community. what if she finds a wig and some heartshapped and gives it to Tabitha, as a gift yes. im sorry for bringing Canon + Non canon interaction.... she is quite saddened by what happened in Black Mountain. if she could she would have take Neil's place to look out for the place but shes busy with her own stuff. also shes close friend with Lily Bowen hehehe and lets her ramble about her grandkids (again. heh. get it?)

Uh well i think i said enough already. that was all bye bye!

[warrioreowynofrohan]

So far in my read of Wind and Truth, I am through…the prologue. lol

I did note in the Prologue (piles of people have probably already noticed this), that when Gavilar says “I need this” to the Stormfather and the Stormfather says that’s almost one right words, the connection may be that Dalinar, when becoming Bondsmith at the end of WOR, says “I need you” to the Stormfather, in addition to his actual first two Oaths. Which may be why the Stormfather agrees to the bond – you can’t force a spren to bond you by saying Oaths.

I got distracted by go through the first two epigraphs in order to catch what they were saying in full, and then continued on to some of the later epigraphs, which include:

(SPOILERS! for the epigraphs and one Moash-POV chapter)

A passage that seems like it might be from the Dysian Aimians, and that I felt like I had the general gist of until it took a shart turn with

We must travel to the Well of Control, within the shroud of the fragments of the dead moon. There, we will find our destiny.

What the what? You’ve lost me entirely, Brandon, I have no idea what this means. (Well, it sounds like a ring/asteriod belt around a planet, made of a former moon, but no idea where or what that might be.)

A very incisive letter from Endowment to Wit (also referencing Valor, whom Wit appears to have a history with), and what seems like an apologetic reply from Wit (which in some ways migh double or echo as an apology from Wit to Jasnah)

An excerpt from the end of Oathbringer, showing where Dalinar is theologically/philosophically at

An excerpt from Rhythm of War where Navani talks about anti-light as not an opposite but the same thing, at an offset time, like sound waves that cancel out

And yes, we’re getting excerpts from all the books that share titles with the previoys volumes in the series (The Way of Kings excerpt was the second set of epigraphs), because there’s also one from Words of Radiance, and it’s the most fascinating of the epigraph sets to me because of what it says about the Skybreakers:

I wish not to engage to the reader their faults, rather to make it clear that an order so determined to care for the unwanted, the unguarded, and the disenfranchised would obviously have passionate disagreement in how to best attend to the needs of the lowly and disregarded. [I did an actual double-take at this point and flipped to the previous chapters’ epigraph to see if we had somehow switched to talking about the Edgedancers.]…The Skybreakers, who have always quietly cared for those the law forgets, do still exist, as previously accounted; they merely exist in multiple forms.

The epigraph as a whole indicates that the post-Recreance Skybreakers have schismed into three factions, of which Nale’s is only one. This has fantastic implications for Szeth’s journey, and I’m looking forwards to it so much. He’s my favourite character and I’ve been waiting for a book that focuses on him for so long.

Skipping ahead this way also showed me a Moash chapter, which I read because I’ve been curipus since ROW on where his story was going – and my guesses were half right and half completely wrong. I thought that Taravodium would have no interest in “taking his pain” or the nihilistic attitude that drove him to Odium, and that Moash’s pain and guilt would return – and I was right. I did not anticipate that Taravodium would be interested in, and play on, Moash’s outrage at injustice, and would convert Moash to Taravangian’s own self-serving belief that doing evil (and feeling guilty for it) in the service of what you think are good ends is a praiseworthy moral sacrifice.

This is the literal opposite of a redemption arc – I destest Taravangian and his philosophy more than anyone else in the book, and find his ideas abhorrent and infuriating (here’s a way you can commit mass murder, torture, and any other atrocities you like and still be self-righteous about it! philosophy hack! having principles and being decent to people is selfish!) – but it fits Moash’s character and plays on his current weaknesses very skillfully, and is different from anything I’d foreseen for him.

Amd he end up – becoming a hemalurgist? getting hemalurg’d? – so if the Ghostbloods are the only major Scadrian faction on Roshar that means that 1) Kelsier (or his followers) is now teaming up with Odium, making him a definite villain now, and 2) we may in fact get the Kelsier-Moash team-up that some readers have been wanting!

It also made draw some connections the the epugraph on Skybreakers – if them “caring for those the law forgets” means upholding the idea that no one is above (or below) the law – if it means justice for the disenfrancished – then Moash might have had the chance of following a very different path if he’d encountered them. If the Kaladin-and-Szeth arc (with or without an encounter with Moash) leads to Kaladin grappling with this, I will be very pleased.

The one other ‘spoiler’ I got from skipping ahead is the visual effect of the stone arches around the chapter headings crumbling as you go through the book, which confims to me that this book is going to end in a major defeat (although not a hopeless one, going by Brandon’s usual style) – that it’s going to be along the lines of the endings of The Empire Strikes Back or The Two Towers (book), though probably less clifffhanger-y than The Two Towers. I’m happier knowing this going in – it means that I have a sense of the direction (which I already suspected) and won’t be taken aback by that fact.

[object-vault-9]

Y'know, I've been thinking a lot about the group of objects that the Paradise Foundation chose to kidnap. Though it was never clear why they took those specific six (except for Triangle's case) I think it works really well for Benny's story.

He has some sort of connection to all five of the other objects, whether that be through personal relationship, his brother Rufus, or the Foundation itself. Worm and Benny knew each other before the vault and Splinter became his friend after he joined it, a place which he only visited because of Apricot's rivalry with Rufus (he also found Milkweed with Splinter but that's pretty disconnected from this). Sometime later Downy Feather was part of the small group that discovered Rufus had unfortunately died and was Very Directly confronted by Benny about it. Lastly, Triangle was a secret former agent of the faction that most likely killed his brother and abducted them all. To me it's like each one of them played a part in signifigant things that've happened to him ever since he became part of Vault 9, so it feels almost fitting that they were chosen to be taken, as if to tie everything together at the climax of Benny's involvement with the Foundation and probable end to his story with the injury and deadly sickness resulting from their escape.

Some of the other abductees too have this event resonate well with their storylines, Triangle even more so than Benny since he originated from there and spent so long deliberating on his loyalties. Splinter also was one of the three objects present when the Foundation first contacted the vault and greatly cares about her robot friend Gameboy whom they wanted back so badly. Downy Feather had not yet joined his family in the kidnapping experience. Really, the whole Paradise Foundation saga was (kinda still is) impactful on several character's stories, and though it felt completely random at the time it now kinda makes sense that those six ended up in the heart of it.

(Sorry for the super long ask, I listened to "Worried about Ray" too many times and created a mental AMV focused on Benny in my head ahah. That made me realize the interconnections of this whole thing, and, well... here this is.)

You're right, I've thought about how they were connected before but I didn't make the connection to how it coincides with specific events in Benny's story ! 

And you're right about the other abductees too ! I feel bad for Apricot the most, he is way too young to get yoinked so many times, he's lucky (or unlucky) that his life before being abandoned at the vault was even more high stress.

Triangle it's like the climax of his loyalty arc, Splinter is so close to Gameboy like you said and honestly Worm I think just expects chaos she's hard to keep down. On a marginally related note, Splinter's healing at the foundation was because she basically was instantly healed the moment she was picked up. She (and Benny) got hurt again on their return by coincidence.

I love how it worked out the way it did, the actual characters chosen were random! I at the time had "mass extinction events" clicked on and luckily instead of an extinction it was a "captured by two legs" situation, and with it lining up during it right after the 'war' with the foundation I turned it into that! 

Don't worry about the long asks I love them, and I do hope to put at least one v9 pmv/animatic/etc out into the world one day 

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Hi BPP, lemme pick your beautiful brain abit if you don’t mind. So i think it is really beautiful that jikook decided to enlist together using the buddy program. But no matter how much i think about it, i can’t seem to figure out why they decided to do that if they are not more than friends. Don’t get me wrong, i am not saying that people who are just friends cannot do the buddy program, no, they definitely can and they have in the past but my thing is, with the way almost everyone was kinda convinced that jikook had grown distant and were not as close anymore in chapter two, how do u explain them choosing to go together, being joined at the hip for 18 months? Plus they have to have talked about this at some point way before they applied. So while many of us sat here thinking they were not as close anymore, they were making plans to enlist together as buddies? Why would they even consider this if they weren’t really close to each other and if they were still so close to each other enough to consider using this option, why did they both sometimes act like they were a little distant?

I can understand not wanting things to be so obvious but u could really tell that Jimin especially seemed very…, i dunno, different about Jk in chapter two. I don’t know of i’m making alot of sense rn or if u even understand where i’m coming from (i hope u do) but i’d love to hear what u think.

***

Oh god. I wish you sent me this ask an hour ago when I was still sober because I really want to answer this right this moment but there's at least 6 fingers of Lagavulin in me. Sorry in advance for whatever you read below - I've been told I ramble and I'm more of a cunt when I'm intoxicated.

I want to say I told you so. It was clear that whatever distance jikook showed in Chapter 2 was self-imposed. It looked like a caricature of what an actual breakup would look like, in my opinion. And mind you, I've never been certain that jikook are dating. They might not be and it wouldn't make a real difference to what we've all observed them to be: something more to each other than whatever is normal.

Any distance that showed in Chapter 2 was simply spatial. The way I saw it, Chapter 2 was a period for each member to present themselves to the world as individuals. It's something I believe every member took extremely seriously. It's possibly one reason Jungkook agonized over his album to the point Bang PD intervened and we thankfully got Golden. Chapter 2 was a big deal for them. Necessary. At the same time, all the boys know the narratives they have in the fandom. They know there's a faction of fans who believe either Jimin or Jungkook uses the other to remain popular in the fandom, they likely know most of the least flattering ones floating around. They know external critics are also likely to conflate their individual efforts and motives, whether positively or negatively.

I think it was important for every member to present themselves as a singular artist in Chapter 2, and this was even moreso for jikook because of their reputation of being stuck at the hip and/or overly dependent on each other. So on one hand I think they were more careful about showing their intimacy because of external critics and perceptions, but I also think they did it for themselves. They've always had lives outside each other and they had things they needed to pay attention to in any case, with enlistment looming over the horizon.

But now that it's happened, it feels very obvious that if they had the chance to do the Buddy program, they'd do it. I think part of what you're asking Anon, is which came first - did they decide to 'appear distant' in Chapter 2 before they decided to enlist together? Or was it afterwards?

Personally, I don't think it matters much which came first. They have always and always were going to choose each other. Jikook excite me because they are literally always jikooking. I'm not sure if people think I'm joking whenever I say it, but I mean it when I say I don't worry one second about those lads because they are always jikooking.

Even while they were apparently not so close in Chapter 2, some of those times they looked tormented. What was Jungkook thinking going live, just to stare at Jimin's tattooed chest in SMF Pt 2?

What was that bit with JK naked in bed and Jimin saying he could handle him? Jikook were messy as hell during their supposed 'distance' in Chapter 2 lool. Whether or not they were fucking a girl on the side makes no difference to how I think about what's gone down in the last 18 months, and it likely won't influence what I think of them during the next 18 months.

[horizon-verizon]

I get now why Alicent is standing by a lake or frolicing in the grass:

https://t.co/v9ooj39C9t

Based on the trailer, it looks like she’s still trying to be the voice of moderation on the Green Council, the name given to the faction which supports Aegon’s claim to the throne. “Who can she trust? There’s no one around her,” said actor Olivia Cooke. “Everyone, it seems, has been spying on her. It’s this sense of peak paranoia within her own home. That had to really permeate throughout my performance. All of a sudden she’s of no use to anyone. She’s done what she was supposed to do — put her son on the throne — and now she’s discarded. Who is she if she can’t be the person to implement wisdom?”

However, in a way, her new role is freeing: “Oh, I could do whatever the f--- I want and no one cares. All of a sudden I’m not important. I’m not a player,” Cooke said. In a very giddy way, that’s really novel and exciting.”

REMEMBER WHEN HER DELUSIONAL STANS SAID THAT ALICENT WILL CONTROL AEGON, THAT HE’S JUST A PUPPET AND FIGUREHEAD, AND ALICENT WILL BE THE REAL RULER AND THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE 😂😭

I’ver NEVER EVER hated a character as much as I hate her, oh my god, she crowned a man while knowing he’s incompetent, sadistic and unfit to rule, she started a massive and devastating civil war that will result in hundreds of thousands of deaths, her daughter fell into madness after her child was beheaded in front of her, but she happily choose the “Après moi, le déluge” approach, she choose to let everyone down and force them to clearing up the mess SHE created.

"Après moi, le déluge" -- "After me, the deluge". An expression meant to convey a nihilistic view or dismissal of what will happen after and/or in consequence of your actions after your death. Or removal from a situation.

I agree, she's still trying to moderate everyone as if she hasn't been the one to participate in their coming to power out of her own jealousy, and I hate that the show has tried to make us feel sorry for her or think her relationship with Rhaenyra is in anyway real, since it also seeks to validate Alicent's bigoted jealousy against Rhaenyra for not being compliant with "the rules" enough.

Some might say "that's the point"; I'm saying that the way it's written--thus the thing itself as there is no other version of this relationship--we are encouraged to commiserate with Alicent or feel more amenable to her feelings and her role as "peacekeeper" while being as unobservant as her about the state of affairs surrounding and determining Rhaenyra's conditions. I have never seen more people so sexist towards the girl and woman who tries to find her own happiness in this violently patriarchal world than in this fandom, and yes there is illiteracy and bigotry regardless but it is also because:

The show has both made Alicent much younger when she married Viserys AND much less intelligent/scheming--this more vulnerable & genuinely trying to make peace and "girlfail" for sympathy points. We don't witness a pattern (basically not enough scenes of how she regards and treats people around her during the time between the wedding feats and Joffrey's birth) of the jealousy the show claims she has for Rhaenyra.

We've had to had this show explained to us by the actors afterhand AND/OR/BECAUSE some of us have had to really sit and go over the plot holes, inconsistencies, quick character switch arounds, etc. -> to trace how exactly Alicent got to a point where she thinks Rhaenyra "tramples" duty and sacrifice "under her pretty foot" and her resentment for Rhaenyra not being as unhappy as her/not acquiescing to her queenly authority that she hangs onto to justify her own suffering

As for Olivia's words:

However, in a way, her new role is freeing: “Oh, I could do whatever the f--- I want and no one cares. All of a sudden I’m not important. I’m not a player,” Cooke said. In a very giddy way, that’s really novel and exciting.”

....Yes, I know we've only gotten trailers...but nothing we've so far seen from those trailers AND how they have already characterized Alicent as wanting her Queenship to mean something because of her suffering and thus her resentment towards Rhaenyra for not also complying in season 1...this is, let's say, very odd and contradictory.

Yeah, this is good to show TG stans that Alicent is not the power they think she is. It also portents--in my eyes--of more logical inconsistencies in the writing for season 2.

[autumnmobile12]

This is an interesting and really vague line, and it’s unfortunate Zamfir’s arc is probably the most rushed subplot in the series.  (I mean, I didn’t really care for what Sumi and Taka had going on, but at least they got a brief flashback explaining their motives.)

So let’s dive into the historical context here:

Since it’s founding in 1310, Wallachia was ruled by the House of Basarab, a family that some historians believe may have migrated from Asia.  Wallachia’s first ruler on record was Basarab the Great.

After the death of Mircea the Old in 1418, a direct descendant of Basarab the Great, the ruling family split into two factions:  Mircea’s descendants through his sons known as the Drăculești and the descendants of his brother, Dan I, known as the Dănești.  This split would become the defining feature of Wallachian politics for this time period.  During the last years of Mircea’s reign, he named his only legitimate son Mihail as co-ruler to ease the transition of power after his death.  Within three years of ruling on his own though, Mihail was overpowered by the Ottoman Empire and the boyar lords under him defected to his cousin Dan II and Wallachia broke into a civil war.  Mihail was killed in the spring of 1420, after which several of his illegitimate half-brothers took up the Drăculești line’s bid for power, fighting the each other as much as Dănești faction.  It’s like Game of Thrones but even more chaos and the bastards are 100% valid players in the eyes of the law and society.

Castlevania takes place in 1476, so in between this year and the year of Mihail I’s death, rule of Wallachia (the Voivodate) would change hands 24 times and see a total of 10 separate rulers, only one of whom would die of natural causes.  (In comparison, England’s throne saw three different occupants in the same amount of time.  Although, one of those three was a usurper and one died under mysterious circumstances of the ‘probably murder’ variety.) So Sypha coming out and guessing that Zamfir is the last of the nobles is thought-provoking in that the royal court was already a hostile place even without Dracula bearing down on the capital.

Zamfir’s psychosis may have deeper roots than what happened when Dracula attacked, and I really want to explore that further.  ‘Last person of noble birth’ can have a few meanings.  The Wallachian nobility were the boyar lords, whose power and influence was dependent on wealth and/or land.  At court, there was the princely council who advised (or schemed against) the ruling prince, and there were also a few court positions that weren’t part of the council.  More to the point, Wallachia’s society behaved the same way as most European nations did at the time: ‘You have no power for you are but a woman.’

As for the mummified corpses in the Underground Court, in the interest of loose historical accuracy, the dead prince could only be Vlad III Dracula of House Drăculești.  In November of 1476, Vlad III usurped the throne from Basarab III, who had held it since 1474 after killing his predecessor Radu III (Vlad III’s younger brother, actually.)  In December of that year, Basarab III returned to Wallachia and took back the throne, killing Vlad III in the process.  Basarab III would live another four years.  In addition, the capital of Wallachia was moved from Târgovişte to Bucharest this same year.  So intentional or not on the creators’ part, the show roughly matches up with the historical timeline.  There’s also the fact that it’s not entirely clear exactly how Vlad III died and there is some speculation by historians that Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the historical Dracula only share the same name and the latter was not the actual inspiration for the former.

It’s a bit of a stretch to say Vlad III Dracula and the vampire Vlad Dracula Ţepeş were intended to be two separate people in the series, so I won’t go out there and make that claim.  The mummified royals are probably just nameless artifacts for the plot and we are definitely in speculation, headcanon, string and thumbtacks territory now.

Still, the ‘last person of noble birth’ line does have me wondering what Zamfir’s connection to the court is aside from ‘leader of the Târgovişte resistance.’  Daughter of a courtier, daughter of a council lord, or daughter of the ruling prince himself?

[a-la-campanella]

Since the 1.6 update is approaching us, here are my thoughts from the latest livestream!

Huge fan of the recent livestreams featuring the characters (rather than the voice actors) bringing us the news. It makes everything feel so much more immersive and highlights the whole "This program is brought to you by the Interastral Peace Corporation" thing.

As for the upcoming update... Critter Pick looks like it'll be a fun event! It'll be a good way to explore the new areas of Herta Space Station, too. I wish we could keep them as permanent pets; if the Trailblazer unlocks their own room on the Astral Express one day, we could keep the critters as an event memento.

Looking forward to new additions to the Simulated Universe as well. I haven't finished everything about the Swarm yet (mostly because of how time-consuming it is to grind through SU), but having more things to do in-game will make sure I'm never out of options for things to do, I suppose.

I don't particularly care about the new optimizations to Forgotten Hall. My RNG on artifacts is trash, so it's not like the optimizations really help me out. They're more so for players who play by the meta and actually clear all the stages.

The most exciting part of the special program would probably be Sunday as our final special guest. I'm hyped for Penacony! For a number of reasons, but mainly because of the various factions we'll get to see interact with each other. Stories (whether they're events or permanent content) that feature characters from different regions and/or factions crossing roads are always fun! I hope it's like the Genshin events where characters from all kinds of different nations got together in the same scenes, like Hues of the Violet Garden (the Inazuma poetry event from 2.6), the Perilous Trail Archon Quest (ft. the Chasm), Summertime Odyssey (on the islands in 2.8), Windblume's Breath (revisiting Mondstadt's Windblume, 3.5)... you get the idea.

Conceptually, Penacony and The Family sound pretty noteworthy. It's giving cult-like vibes, and something about Sunday feels inherently suspicious, especially in the way he speaks and presents himself.

Penacony/The Reverie as a place "where one may travel freely between reality and Dreamscape"... well, Penacony is the Land of Dreams. It's a place that only exists as a dream, "where time forever stands still" (Data Bank -> Relics; Penacony, Land of Dreams). There's an underlying cruelty to being such a place where everything is in a sense stagnant like that, and I hope the game embraces that wholeheartedly. I'm curious to see how they'll try to approach the themes of "dreams" and "time".

Key players from Penacony are the are five great families and The Reviere - it's possible we won't get to see representatives from all of the families, similar to how we stuck to the Xianzhou Luofu while visiting the Xianzhou Alliance. The representatives we'll definitely see are, according to the livestream:

Sunday (?)

Robin (possibly from the same family as Sunday; hard to say, as she could be referred to as "sister" to keep up the notion of being a Family or as a sign of affection/a close relationship, though she also has wings like Sunday so who knows)

Misha (from The Reviere)

Firefly (from the Iris Family)

Gallagher (from the Bloodhound Family)

From the guestlist, some speculations:

Duke Inferno is going to be someone to pay attention to. The Annihilation Gang isn't the Antimatter Legion, but it does follow Nanook, and anything involving Nanook is going to demand our attention. Besides, he's probably going to be involved in the source of our upcoming conflict what with planning on wrecking chaos in Penacony - so he thinks, "Penacony will just be another pitstop along the way [on the pilgrimage to Destruction]" (Data Bank -> Relics; The Ashblazing Grand Duke). Probably not playable.

Likewise, Stellaron Hunter Sam has to be important... I wonder how much his IPC bounty is. Elio probably told him to go to Penacony, but I wonder why Sam instead of anyone else.

Adventurine? My. IPC representation is always fun. I hope he interacts with the Trailblazers, and that we get more information about Qilpoth from him (though that's rather unlikely). During the cutscene where we fought Cocolia, we obtained Alisa Rand's lance while Qilpoth drew their hammer and seemed to draw their gaze at us. It's possible the Trailblazer is an emanator, but you could argue otherwise too. I'm looking forward to seeing what the IPC thinks about that, if the Trailblazer really is an emanator of Preservation, or Destruction, or anything at all.

Not much to say on Dr. Ratio. He'll be there.

Garden of Recollection memokeeper Black Swan... hey, I wonder if we'll get a reference to the Messenger on the Astral Express, since she's from the same organization.

Sparkle, representing the Masked Fools... I love the Masked Fools, they're so goofy. She's probably here to have a good time, shake up chaos, and be on her way.

Acheron from the Galaxy Rangers? We'll get to see more from another side of Lan's followers.

A bunch of the upcoming characters look interesting. I'm not invested in most of the characters, mainly because their fits look... super uncomfortable. That's a me thing, I don't care about most characters unless their lore piques my interest or I vibe with their outfits. Characters I am interested in, however, and expect to be playable:

I'm partial to Ruan Mei, she seems promising! I do wish that she wore a lab coat, she would absolutely pull it off and it would bring out the scientist part of her character more. (Nobody in this universe seems to care about lab safety with how much skin some of these characters show.)

Sunday for sure. His personality is serving... something. I don't know, I like his voice though. And the wings!

Aventurine looks cute... that's about it. His interaction with Topaz strike me as kinda funny. I want to see more from IPC coworkers, especially when Diamond gets introduced in more depth.

Sam, because mechas go hard, and I want to collect all the Stellaron Hunters.

For the same reason, I'm going to grab Elio (and Kafka on her rerun; skipped for Blade and I already had Jing Yuan to fill the same meta-niche).

Screwllum is a maybe. He's a mecha, but his personality is kinda ehhh for me.

Dr. Ratio! I'm glad he's going to be free. I'm not a fan of the right side of his outfit or his animations and wouldn't feel very happy pulling for him even though I want him. They picked an odd place to show skin and it doesn't really mesh well with the rest of his design. His attack animations are funny but rather boring and there's not much going on. As a character, I genuinely love how obnoxious he sounds. Judging by the 1.6 livestream he and Herta have Beef(TM) for sure... or that might be a Genius Society vs Intelligentsia Guild thing. Either way, it's bound to be interesting.

Misha's cute. His hair looks cute. I hope his personality will be cute, too.

Maybe Robin, if her dress doesn't look too plain. She's a superstar and she'll be singing for us at the festival! Perhaps we'll get a dedicated cut scene, music video, and song sung by her.

They're mostly guys. That's within my expectations. I don't have much investment in a lot of the female characters so far, to be honest. I like March (it's hard not to care about her), the Stellaron Hunter girls, Sushang and Bailu, and everyone else is fine. They're there, they help flesh out the world, but I'm not particularly attached to any of them. I guess you could say the same thing about a substantial portion of the cast in general...

Anyways, these are my thoughts. Looking forward to version 1.6 and hope everyone wins their 50/50s!

[daughter-of-fire-and-dreams]

He’s not worth it

He’s not worth it. Not anymore. 

There are times when Rhua is brash, a loudmouth, a person who isn’t scared to wear her heart on her fists. But even then, Rhua is not a gullible person. She tread life in a perpetual state of distrust.

Even if living in comfort, even if busy with schedules.

Even in the apocalypse, even in a war torn land. 

Fire. Embers. A flickering light. This is the wrong order. It’s always the other way around. But something in Arym just takes away any reason she may have had to care. There are several people suffering from the aftermath of Garlemald’s state. Several people who were conscripted and now found commiseration and a place with each other. Several who are struggling to keep their head above water in Alvarium. 

So what if he’s the one that’s lived war the longest?

He’s got several hundreds of years under his belt on top of that. 

Everyone else doesn’t have that luxury. 

People struggle, a war machina is approaching, there’s women, children, and several factions that are barely learning how to live again, side by side instead of master and slave. And he chooses to be the one to throw a temper tantrum, leave, and add to the burden of everyone else. 

Does he know how many have had sleepless nights? Does he know that fuel is a finite resource that was spent in engines to go and look for him? Does he know how many people he left behind that he practically forced to care about him only for him to ditch them at the worst time? 

What if the Overseer turned out to not be who it claimed to be? Life is full of betrayal. Rhua knows this best. 

Rhua had been taught best. 

And even though it hurts. It burns. She’s still here, living. And struggling with herself as well. 

But she isn’t her mother in any physical, emotional or- Hells… Even aetherial field. She won’t sacrifice more than she has just for a man that will throw a temper tantrum when found, ignore the fact that he’s gonna die if he keeps insisting on helping others, and will certainly throw a temper tantrum about rest if he’s even wrestled back and saved. 

She knows a man with a death wish. And she’s not the hand that will extend itself to save him. Because if he slaps said hand, and continues to do a temper tantrum, he’s no different than the soldiers holed up in that mountain. 

Rhua may have been one of the most outspoken over beating people over that were being clear idiots and making everything more difficult for others. But. Despite her outbursts, she’s always been able to think logically even then. And she can see that giving Arym more attention than he’s already gained for himself is just going to mean her collapsing again in an outburst. 

She ain’t going to fucking die for this bastard. 

There’s things she has to do. Matters to settle… Once this damn apocalypse is over. If a decision to settle despite the doubt gnawing at her had been in her head, there is only one definite reason why she would leave town of her own volition, no matter how extreme it may be of a decision. 

Which means time is of essence. Heh… It all goes back to the same shite as back home. Work. Make sure everyone is fine. Give maintenance. Be the person that blends in the background while making sure everything works perfectly. 

In the hours that followed after relinquishing the drone she’d been using back to Twelves, the first thing Rhua does is find all the available paper as soon as possible. If a possibility ends that she’ll leave after this, then the town must have every single field covered with instructions for someone else to pick up after her. When starting action, the backup plan must be the first one to be covered right away. 

Bells upon bells, writing, writing, writing. All the years she’d spent in the Crystalline Means were bearing fruit. She’d been an engineer yes. But no one ever got to see the side of Rhua where she’d just be too busy to turn down any request for assistance. Hold this, bring this here, help me thread this. All the factions had worked closely with her always when she wasn’t busy. Her apartment had looked more like a workshop than an actual living space. Her board was almost always filled with at least 15 overdue projects. 

Thinking back on it, Rhua could guess that there was a part of her that was homesick for that feeling. But. At the same time, something gnawed at her. She paused her writing, opting to instead bite at the tip of her glove to free her hand and stare down at her wrist. 

There was nothing on it. But she could have sworn she’d seen a tally of lines adding up to 14 in total. Just her imagination. Or… Part of the horrible nightmare she’d written down on some old notes that she’d made sure to lock down somewhere at the bottom of whatever was left of her belongings. This wasn’t the time to dwell on it. 

But just because now isn’t the time to dwell on things doesn’t mean that they haven’t affected her. She’s just slightly better to prioritize efficiency over herself. 

The brief pause she gave herself to think on ambiguity though, are almost the nail in the coffin she needed. There’s grief. Grief so deep that there’s a well large enough to be a pond of tears inside her. And one that she can’t let out. 

Whoever thought that giving up one’s tears is an easy exchange for nothing short of a miracle is a damn bloody fool. 

Rhua can feel the weight that not showing this particular emotion does to her. Which only causes her to pause and idly lean her head against the back of her hand. 

This is all a mess. A mess beyond stupidity. She’d jumped out of a ragtag group that had shunned her mother after all was said and done, only to jump into an even bigger group drenched in idiocy. Or at least. That’s how it had started. 

She knew she could respect a few. She’d worked with them for better after learning a few ways around. Which is why it is all the more baffling to see the one person who had protested for progress and justice for A.I. to be the one to make things worse. Wasn’t Sergius supposed to go and find him? Did Arym just also find a way to avoid him altogether and send him too in a wild goose chase? 

The thought only made her burn more. 

Which was the last thing she needed in this moment. Arym is no longer worth it. He won’t get any leniency from her nor any more callouts to stop being an idiot and care for himself. The attempts at hacking the drone she’d been using to remove it’s speech was the straw that had broken the camel’s back. 

As far as Rhua is concerned. He left town and got turned into a blasphemy. 

She’ll account for all the resources that might be spent on him if he makes it back. There’s little else to do other than that after all. No one would ask her to visit him. Or check on him. And. Given how much of a shit he was. She knows that he would never approach her of his own free will. 

He’s never had the balls to do it. And this won’t be a different case. 

But. There’s work to do. This backup plan is just that. A backup. Upon finishing the headers and the first 3 pages of every field that covers the basics of how to keep a town running, Rhua finally walks out of Alvarium. 

It’s time to do rounds. An entire search party with many of those that had helped with the new effort was out. Which meant she had a lot of ground to cover now. Patrols. Rigging. Fixing. Maintenance. Gardening. Weaving even if all she could do was stab a few needles on fabric with one hand. She doesn’t feel tired. She’s done worse than this. Or perhaps it was just her finally growing used to the climate and several other variables? Removing the arm had certainly helped as well, no matter how inconvenient it had also become for her freedom of action. 

But. There’s more to do. Opening Arym’s bunker proves to be far more difficult with her only arm. Or is it the bite of the frost? In her rush to get everything ready, she’d not realized that her hand was now freezing after removing her thick glove and doing all sorts of work around town. But, finally, she managed to pry the door open. 

It was still the same. Nothing had changed, not even dust had settled. Save for a few icicles on the corners maybe. If there was one thing different, was the fact that she didn’t see the letter she’d received from her mother crumpled on the ground. A list of medicine alternatives for immunosuppressants as well as the contact information for certain alchemists from Thavnair. Her mother had done the work. But Rhua had been the one to request it in the end despite their shared agreement to give him space. 

All of that was worth shit now. But who’d picked up the letter?

It didn’t matter. She was here for one thing and one thing only. Moving away to push at a hatch in a far off corner, she found the hidden attic that she’d been allowed to use. And immediately started vacating it of her belongings. Several boxes fell. Hells, even some spoons as well. Honestly it was a struggle to do this alone. But she wasn’t going to wait for others to see this helpless state of hers, she’d showed enough of it already. 

One by one, trip after trip. She could feel her hand going numb. But it was fine. Until. Finally. All that was left was the garlean violin. With a low groan, she set it down for a moment, sentimentality getting the best of her as she looked back at this damn space. 

She’d visited many times, bickered with him many times. And almost all of them had been to listen, understand, maybe help, and then call him out on his bullshit just as much as he’d called her out. But maybe she should have seen this coming. 

Yes. She should have seen this coming since the first time he’d made her cry. 

Or rather. Made her feel the burning sensation of her face in the absence of tears that she was unable to shed. Rhua should have known better. No one has ever made her cry that doesn’t turn out to be a piece of shit that could get her killed out of their own whims and selfishness. 

No. There had been a single exception. But this wasn’t the time to dwell on that. A faint glimmer catches her eye, and Rhua sees for the first time the golden butterfly that should by all means be inside the greenhouse flutter towards her. 

“How did you even get here?...” she mumbled, knowing the bug wouldn’t answer her anyways. 

As she set her instrument down and idly raised a hand towards it, the butterfly fluttered and perched itself on her index finger. Rhua had never seen one like it. But then again. That wasn’t out of the ordinary for her here. She watched it walk all over her hand for a time, until another faint glimmer also caught her eye. A blue one was also resting on a nearby open box. 

Ah, so they’d been resting here? Or at least, that’s Rhua’s conclusion upon seeing the weird different items inside the box. 

Withered greenhouse clippings, definitely more than a moon old. Pills of different sizes half covered in dust and rust. A fork?... And… the crumpled letter. 

That enough told her all she needed to know. Someone had also been here and thought her trash to be precious. Which meant she should really leave. Now. The clippings though. Make her pause one last time. He’d probably been feeding them. They must be starving. But. No. She won’t be the one to feed them in his fucking absence. 

“I’m sorry..” she mumbled to the little critters. She wasn’t going to take her anger out on innocent ones. But she was done caring for people who didn’t deserve it. 

“If you can find your way here. Then you clearly know how to get back to the greenhouse. Go back there. You won’t be fed here.”

And with that, she was gone. All her things with her, probably stacking and making for a cramped personal space, but it would have to do. She was used to a workshop rather than living quarters anyway. And there was work to be done. Twofold now. 

[serenephenix]

So, I think enough time has passed to maybe tentatively look at Trigun Stampede in relation to the manga and some issues with the pacing that I did notice over the course of the past weeks, especially considering the story elements that have been shuffled around for the most recent episode.

For anyone here to have a good time and cry in tears of agony about this show: Power to you and have fun! Anything you don't wanna read is under the cut!

Also, massive spoilers ahead for the Trigun manga if you haven't finished it yet!

First of all, Trigun Stampede brings a lot of good things to the table, like the score that really sets the mood and breathes life into the scenes, to the almost looney-tooney animation elements that really give it some of the charm the manga has, the gorgeous flashback sequence we got today, the incredible effect of twisting the music/visuals just as Wolfwood's body and mind get twisted in the experiment, as well some worldbuilding that had only been hinted at in the manga.

I really like Trigun Stampede but it is, unfortunately, produced at a time where the market has deluded itself into thinking that less than 20 episodes is the best option for marketability and that it will cut them losses if they need to cancel any show for any inane reason.

The parts that I want to focus on here, is the decision to have Livio introduced this early into the series and the... let's call it "lack of understandable motivations" behind his attack on Vash on the Sand Steamer.

I was curious to see why exactly Livio would appear here in the first place.

In the manga, Livio only appeared after it became clear that Wolfwood had defected and deceived Knives, the Gung-Ho Guns and the Eye of Michael. He was sent to eliminate Wolfwood and lessen the risk of him interfering with Knives' plans in any remarkable manner.

And what had made the encounter between Wolfwood and Livio heart-breaking in the first place, was that Wolfwood for his part had believed him to be safe back at the orphanage, away from all the bloodshed and monstrosity.

To Nick, it had almost been a sort of cruel, twisted punishment for his perceived sins - one of the reasons why he then tried to confront Livio all by himself in his last battle.

And in that context, Livio's appearance in the story and his impact makes a lot of sense.

Him being on the Sand Steamer now and attacking Vash, makes little to no sense on the other hand, unless the Eye of Michael itself has been torn up into two factions - one that follows Knives every command and one that thinks that Vash is too great of a risk to the heralded promised day and want him eliminated.

I hope they do explain it a bit more in the future because right now, it doesn't add up.

I also have to admit that, what Stampede has not yet been able to really establish and drive home to the audience, is how much of a vindictive and downright sadistic pleasure some of the Gung-Ho Guns take in making others suffer for the heck of it. How little they care about humanity and are willing and even excited at causing as much collateral damage as possible.

While the church sub-plot puts a lot of actions into perspective for Stampede and makes it easier to explain why characters like Rollo come into being and can ease new viewers into understanding Legato's mindset - at this point - they will not have any perspective on how much the Gung-Ho Guns just love to mess with people because they can. Because Knives has put them in a position to do so.

Because, as someone who knows the manga, I know that Legato has no qualms in extending Vash's journey even against Knives' wishes, because nothing brought Legato more pleasure than seeing the man in Knives way suffer over and over. That became apparent from the very first moment they both had their first exchange in the manga.

An insight into Legato's motivations that we did not get from the short dialogue between him and Wolfwood (although I must say that I really enjoyed the twist of Wolfwood having this kind of very personal beef with the man).

As a newbie, I'd have no idea what even is going on anymore except for the part with Wolfwood and Livio (on a surface level).

Heck, when Legato and Zazie showed up, I was sure they were there to collect Livio because he had acted upon Razlo's wishes to find a worthy opponent. The episode could have, very honestly, done well without them. It was already packed full.

I'm also somewhat saddened by the fact that they cut away the whole plot about the Sand Steamer and Kaite. For me, at least, it was an important part of establishing that, despite what we saw in the manga so far, the people on this planet are complex characters driven by all sorts of motivations and that they can have a change of heart. It made them all more human to be honest.

And it would have been fun to actually have Wolfwood and Vash interact with him. If it had played out in a similar manner, with Vash ending up drugged, it would have been a rather interesting thing to see him and Wolfwood arguing about how he is taking way too many needless risks.... but I digress.

So, I'm still excited for the next episode but I hope, deep in my bones, that they not just... not address any of this.

[lasnevadaslaborunion]

I feel like you've assumed my critiques of trolls come from a surface level outsider's perspective. They don't.

I main a Darkspear troll druid. I have mained her consistently since 2014, except during the time I stopped playing the game during BfA and Shadowlands. I roleplay her regularly as a devout practitioner of her faith who takes a reasonable amount of pride in her culture. I love troll aesthetics, troll themes, troll history. Vol'jin is one of my favorite characters in lore. Trolls can be very, very cool, precisely because they draw from cultures not often represented positively in fantasy.

The problem is that the way trolls are written in canon uphold those colonialist tropes as often as they subvert them.

Remember Zul'jin? Leader of the Amani trolls? Rightfully furious that the blood elves have stolen Amani land, desecrated their sacred spaces, tortured him and cut out his eye, and then allied with the Horde that betrayed his people when they needed them most? A bastion against colonialism, fighting to defend his people's ancestral home?

Yeah, that guy. Remember how he was a throwaway raid boss in Burning Crusade?

Or how about this - do you remember how in the classic troll starting zone intro, they were called "vicious dark-magic users," despite Vodou being a religion practiced by real people today? Do you remember how trolls are called "superstitious" despite their gods canonically existing and influencing their lives? Have you noticed how troll Loa are constantly portrayed as scary and sinister compared to, say, night elven Ancients, despite technically belonging to the same category of deities? Have you noticed how frequently in questing we are tasked with murdering their gods? Have you noticed how often the Darkspear trolls have been portrayed as "exceptions to the rule" that trolls in general are xenophobic, hateful creatures?

Where, exactly, is the subversion of expectations? Where are we meant to sympathize with them, if we are still forced to kill them for daring to defend themselves?

And do I need to say anything about how even Vol'jin - the "good" troll leader who cooperates and makes peace with other races - was treated pathetically? How he somehow got hit with the "black guy always dies" curse before actual black humans even became playable?

(Side note, but why the fuck did it take Blizzard until 2020 to add proper customizations for PoC humans? Why is it that humans in mainstream fantasy are always white, and the non-white inspired cultures are always non-human? Does that not strike you as strange?)

Hell, why is it that the only "loa" seen in the current Emerald Dream patch - one largely centered around the wild gods - is an entity we have never heard of before, with zero trollish aesthetic elements?

I don't hate the trolls. They're my favorite race. But that's more for what they could and should be than for what they are in the game. Zandalar was a massive step in the right direction, to be clear - but there's a long, long way to go. And as a descendant of some of the real-world groups that form the inspiration for trolls, including practitioners of ATRs like Santería and Vodou, it matters deeply to me that they are given the same care and sympathy as any other fictional race in their setting.

Now while we're on the subject of the Horde... I agree. That subversion of the typical "good vs. evil races" dichotomy is what drew me to the faction years ago. Orcs aren't naturally bloodthirsty conquerors; they were a shamanistic people tragically duped by demons. The Tauren aren't animals; they're a peaceful society that lives in harmony with the land. The Darkspear aren't like those other scary trolls; they let their women have equal rights!

But how has that theme been followed through on after Warcraft 3?

Since Cataclysm, I struggle to think of any major faction conflict that was not either started or escalated far beyond reason by the Horde. Garrosh's aggression toward night elves, bombing of Theramore, and attempted conquest of Pandaria. Sylvanas's... everything. It's always the Horde that needs to change itself, while the Alliance oh-so-graciously allows them to continue existing despite the grievous sins they have committed.

And no, the Alliance has not conducted itself perfectly throughout these conflicts. But since the very first Warcraft game, they have been put on the defensive. And when they do something genuinely horrible unprompted (see the dwarven archeological desecration of Tauren land in Mulgore, as one example), it is rarely called out for what it is.

Why is it that the Horde - consisting of Mongolian-inspired orcs, Amerindian-inspired Tauren, and Caribbean/Aztec/African-inspired trolls among others - are constantly portrayed as the agressors against the overwhelmingly aesthetically European Alliance?

Look, I don't doubt that World of Warcraft is trying to be anti-racist and turn stereotypes on their head. Problem is, it's not very good at it. They're learning. That's good. Let's not pretend they're perfect or that they've thought everything through.

It frightens and discourages me how pervasive "tribal" stereotypes and imagery are in the fantasy and adventure genres.

It's all over the place in classic literature. Crack open a Jules Verne novel and you're likely to find caricatures of brown people and cultures, even when the characters are sympathetic to the plight of the colonized peoples - incidentally, this is the biggest reason I can't recommend 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to everyone, despite Captain Nemo being one of my favorite fictional characters of all time.

You can't escape it in modern cinema, either. You'll see white heroes venturing bravely into jungles and tombs to steal from natives who don't know how to use their resources "properly." You'll see them strung up in traps, riddled with sleeping darts, forced to flee and fight their way out. Hell, Pirates of the Caribbean, a remarkably inclusive franchise in many other ways, had an extended sequence of the white heroes escaping from a cannibal civilization in the second film.

And when fantasy RPGs want a humanoid enemy, the "bloodthirsty natives" are the first stock trope they jump to. World of Warcraft is one of the most egregious examples, with the trolls - blatant racist caricatures with faux-voodoo beliefs, cannibalistic diets, Jamaican accents, and a history of being killed in droves by (white) elves and humans - being raided and slaughtered in nearly every expansion.

It doesn't matter how vibrant and distinctive the real-world indigenous, Polynesian, Caribbean, and African cultures are. It doesn't matter how much potential these real civilizations offer for complex and sympathetic characterization. Anything that doesn't make sense to the white western mind is shoved under the same "savage" umbrella. They're different. They're strange. They're scary. They have to be escaped, subjugated, eliminated, ogled at from the safety of a museum.

Modern writers, directors, and developers don't even seem to realize how horrifying it is to present the indigenous inhabitants of a place as "obstacles" for non-native protagonists to overcome. "It's not racist," they say, "because these people aren't really people, you see." And if you dare to point out anything that hurts or offends you as a descendant of the bastardized culture, you're accused of being the real racist: "These aren't humans! They're monsters! Are you saying that these real societies are just like those disgusting monsters?"

No, they're not monsters. But you chose to design them as monsters, just as invaders have done for hundreds of years. Why would you do that? Why can you recognize any other caricature as evil and cruel, but not this?

This is how deep colonialism runs.