#and nobody fucking talking about it???

[woundedheartwithin]

This is absolutely not a callout post on the user who said this, it’s a criticism of the state of the gaming industry, full stop. But somebody reblogged one of my The Evil Within posts a little while ago where I said I didn’t fully understand what had actually happened, and they put in the tags that I should play the dlc. And I was actually in the PS app looking at the dlc, trying to decide if I really wanted to spend the money, when I realized what the fuck I was doing

I am SO SICK of publishers releasing un-fucking-finished games and then hiding critical story elements behind fucking paywalls. I should not have to buy goddamn dlc to understand a game. Paid dlc shouldn’t even be a fucking thing if I’m being completely honest, but especially not shit like that. Ugh.

[nat-20s]

Ten and Donna end up on a fucked up deadly space newlyweds show despite uh. Not being newlyweds but they get almost all the questions right. They start to sweat when the final question is "what's one secret desire you have involving the other?" And Donna writes "sometimes I wish I could occasionally shrink down the doctor real small so I could carry him around in my pocket and make sure he doesn't get lost' while Ten writes "sometimes I wish I was small enough that Donna could carry me around in like a cat backpack or maybe a shirt pocket" and they look at each other like AYYYYYY because not only are they deeply drift compatible they're also fuckin weird about it 💖

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

I don't think this guy knows what an equation is.

[kourota]

⸢This story is for just that one reader.⸥

[bixels]

tarpit site.

[cup-o-stars]

Originally I was gonna draw her in my favorite outfits she's worn, but with barely any digging I realized she consistently has the best looks- as well as the most- and it will take way too long to pick through them. So I just drew her.

[heartorbit]

i want to know everything that makes you happy! 💫🪐🎇

[knifearo]

ultimately when it comes to shipping and fandom space treatment of aspec characters i just don't accept "aro/ace people can still date/have sex" as an answer from nonaspecs. like yeah. mhm. okay. now i think we both know that you're not saying that out of real interest in the diversity of aspec experiences. so you can turn in your seventeen-page essay on why and how you plan to examine this character's aspec identity within the context of a romantic or sexual relationship complete with evidence from canon and peer reviews from multiple aspec people within the next week or i'm putting you in the pit from the edgar allen poe story

[bread-that-draws]

Flowey’s so funny and has me so fucked up like he’s a talking flower. He tries to kill you upon your first interaction. He is ten years old. He is damaged beyond repair. He’s a flower named Flowey. He’s become friends with every single character. He’s killed all of them countless times. He knows everything about everyone. He doesn’t care anymore. He takes care of his mom when she can’t take care of herself. He’s killed her before. He doesn’t care if you kill her. He thinks she’s trying to replace him. He just wants to be himself again. He wants to destroy everything. He hates you. You’re the only one who understands him. He wants his best friend back. He’s terrified of them. He believes in kill or be killed because he died by giving mercy to the wrong person. He believes himself to be the wrong person. He doesn’t understand when you show him that kindness he showed others, even when you know he could kill you for it. He’s tried every route. He asks you if you have anything better to do when you try to do the same. He’s a direct reflection of the player. He’s a fucking talking flower named flowey and his only voice line is by Ronald McDonald and his officially licensed plush does a little dance for you

[astral-herald]

Viktor's (subverted) Aristotelian Tragedy

A common sentiment I’m seeing throughout post-finale Viktor discourse is an understandable concern or distaste for the element of choice lost throughout his story. I know a lot of us – myself included – expected more time spent on his transformation, along with emphasis on the anger/rage/betrayal fueling it. But seeing him allow Singed to “begin the process” in episode 8 reminded me of Arcane’s origins – tragedy. Bear with me for another long analysis :)

Aristotle wrote the following on the tragedy: “A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself…with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions.” He also emphasized that the true tragic hero couldn’t be perfect, and his downfall into such catharsis-inducing circumstances was reliant on a fatal flaw, oftentimes pride.

Viktor fits this mold, as do many Arcane characters, and it stands to reason that this was intentional since the writing team has reiterated that the show is a tragedy, at its core.

Regarding Viktor’s fatal flaw, I’d argue it’s pride, but it manifests very uniquely. He never makes any grand declarations about his success and doesn’t draw attention to himself in any clear way throughout season one (“Progress Day” comes to mind). Instead, his pride manifests as staunch independence and self-reliance that lead to his downfall; his unwillingness to break his stoic mold arguably led to his use of the Hexcore…so it goes.

Fascinating caveat: Viktor’s pride is a defense mechanism, a necessary tool he built in order to survive and succeed in a hostile environment to people of his station. His self-reliance is increasingly desperate as his illness worsens. He’s cornered by fate but banks on the sanctity of choice at every turn – in season one, Viktor is bound by the conviction that we all have a choice. It’s why he’s so distressed when Jayce makes the wrong one regarding weaponizing Hextech.

“There is always a choice.”

Viktor’s choice to fuse with the Hexcore is the classic Aristotelian fatal flaw moment, the singular incident that opens the flood gates for eventual catharsis. We watch Viktor make an irreparable choice, one that we know to be bad, and endure the repercussions. He then makes the choice to abandon the Hexcore, and end his life, but audiences can’t shake the feeling that those consequences aren’t leaving anytime soon.

So why is Viktor so anti-choice in his final season 2, act 3 form?

Choice is Viktor’s weapon. Pride is what leads him to abusing it. Despite how uncomfortable and depressing it is to watch, Viktor’s slow descent into the Herald is a perfect twist of fate. The Arcane is even so insidious that it meshes with his original intent, to help those suffering in the undercity, while convincing him that their subservience is healing. He becomes responsible for their choices. He knows what’s best because he’s relieving the Gloriously Evolved of their suffering, right? The utopia is for the greater good, yes?

Admittedly, it was really hard watching act 3 Viktor descend fully into his choiceless ethos. But we can still relate it to his tragic flaw – his pride has mushroomed into coldhearted omniscience; not only does he know what’s best for everyone, evolution, but he also has the sense to make the choice for them to supersede their “baser instincts.” The grief we feel upon seeing this perverted, violent version of himself, as far removed from Viktor as possible, is the culmination of Aristotle’s treatise on tragedy. The catharsis is the rock-bottom Machine Herald.

"Choice is false."

But then Arcane decided to basically make Jayvik canon (get out of here, Christian Linke) and destroyed the early drafts of this post. I’m going to rapid-fire this next bit:

Jayce forces Viktor back to life. Viktor has no agency in his season 2 inciting incident. Again, it’s distressing when we mourn his agency, but it remains in accordance with Aristotelian tragedy.

Viktor clings to humanity as long as he possibly can. When Jayce calls out Viktor’s trajectory, alleging that his old partner had died in the Council chamber, whatever is left of Viktor gives way to the Arcane because his last tether has been snapped.

Jayce knows the game – Old Man Jenkins Mage Viktor told him so. Jayce becomes the linchpin in subverting Viktor’s tragedy. He knows what must happen. He understands now.

Machine Herald Viktor is given the chance to undo his fatal flaw, to reverse the catharsis, when he sees Old Man Jenkins Mage Viktor. With Jayce’s help, he takes it.

Given that it’s a version of Viktor who ultimately frees him from himself by empowering Jayce, we can gather that Viktor has liberated himself from his tragedy.

Aristotle’s catharsis is rapidly transformed from something based in release to something healing – Viktor’s tether to humanity returns. He grasps it. The walls of his pride and self-reliance collapse. He accepts Jayce’s help, finally being seen as the full individual he is. Catharsis ensues, for sure, but I don’t think it’s based in the typical tragedy genre.

All this to say, I think Viktor’s arc was, in fact, carefully constructed. He represents the Aristotelian descent into a fatal flaw and that’s very distressing to see unfold, especially since he embodied the tragic hero archetype so well from day one. However, Jayce undoes this narrative and we’re given an incredibly subversive ending that I, personally, never saw coming.

I’m sure that Mage Viktor has a much larger bearing on this analysis than I’m accounting for. But for now, suffice to say that he is Viktor’s way out of the tragedy. TALK ABOUT CHOICE!

This doesn’t erase anyone’s discomfort for Viktor having less and less agency, but I’d like to emphasize the logic and literary precedent behind the story decisions.

PS: here's a quick source I looked at about Aristotelian tragedies. I hope to re-up on Greek tragedies so I can get more specific about the parallels Arcane draws from them.

[minyard-05]

idk i mean. i'm just thinking about dan wilds. dragging herself out of where she grew up, grasping at threads of any opportunity, anywhere that might be better than this, sleeping with her exy racquet at night, fighting tooth and nail through life until it all comes crashing past in the form of david wymack. and the train won't slow down, won't let her step back and decide, she just has to grab onto the hand outstretched and don't let go, don't ever let go. wymack gives her a place to belong, to stay, something to build on rather than piece back together. no wonder she cares about him like a father. wymack represents dan's whole world stringing itself together and starting to come back into a whole. she comes to the foxes so she can stay. she finds friends, finds somebody who loves her, she's made captain. she gets fire from fans and the press, but nobody will fucking take this from her because nobody will ever prise her bloody hands from this life. she's fought too hard for it for it to be stolen.

so when neil shows up at palmetto, dan recognises the world-weary grief in his eyes, recognises the stubborn set of his jaw, the firm stance that he holds himself in. neil needs this too, its helping him breathe. dan knows it because it's helping her breathe too. admittedly neil's a lot more messed up than she was expecting, but she doesn't care, like calls to like, and every swing at her team is a swing at her. they will have to rip the foxes out of her grip before she lets them go.

as offensive dealer, dan stands on the half court line between the strikers. front and centre. she heads the team, she leads them, she is who they look to for direction. not kevin, not neil, not andrew, not wymack. dan. she is their captain and she has fought desperately to be it. she will not let them down.

thinking about her facing riko for coin toss at the final game and knowing he killed seth, he is the sole cause for allison's months of grief, he took neil, he tried to take kevin, he is what has caused her foxes so much pain and hurt over the past year and he smiles at it.

we talk about how neil and kevin cling onto exy like its keeping them alive, but we forget that it's doing the same thing for dan, too.

[spyres-moved]

gen 6 of pokemon is such a haunted generation to me. obviously not literally but like xy had that shit with the pokemon war and using the life force of pokemon to power an immortality machine, as well as setting up so many weird and alarming mysteries like the lumiose ghost girl and the train station note but never getting the opportunity to follow up on them in a third game. then oras just makes shit even more depressing with the downright miserable lore behind sea mauville (which also used the life force of pokemon for energy), where workplace abuse was common (expected even!) and literally tore a family apart at some point. like say what you want about gen 6 but it was kind of off the shits.

[wienners]

"dude its not that embarassing to rewatch some creepypasta stuff you liked as a teenager" the character i imprinted on like a baby duck at 16 was a demon from new jersey that acts like the humanization of every offspring song and canonically listens to scissor sisters. His favorite color is purple and his favorite pokemon are gengar and haunter. His favorite candy is reeses cups. He leaves people notes with emojis on them. He acts like a beetlejuice scare actor at halloween horror nights. His catchphrase is "feeling sassy?" Hes (allegedly) worked with every war criminal throughout history and been every serial killer. even the gay ones. He ate a baby. His animal motif is a rabbit. Hes kind of based off the donnie darko rabbit. He almost exclusively wears merchandise of the quentin tarantino movie death proof. He talks to his cats in a baby voice. He wears a white fedora that makes every video he wears it in feel dated by like 7 years. Hes 5'3. Sometimes he barks like a dog. Hes from new jersey. He hacked a girls tumblr blog so he could post about how awesome he is. He added a laugh track over a video of him killing people. He named a chainsaw rex. He torments people by playing frank sinatra at them. His name comes from an animal collective song. His creator drew his "true form" as a giant buff wolf bug anthro. Theres a (semi)canon blog entry where he makes the speakers blare rob zombie before he enters a room, then holds a guy at gunpoint to describe what he did to to him while "making sure to leave in all the cool parts". The guy hes possessing has radioactive blood. He tried for 2 whole minutes to pick up a bottle of ketchup with a grabby hand. Hes kind of suicidal.He can be reasonably compared to pretty much every major tumblr sexyman. His actor has gone on record saying heath ledgers joker inspired his acting choices. His creators were too attached to him to permanently kill him at the end of the series. Sometimes his voice gets distorted and it makes him sound like bill ciphers first year on HRT. Hes basically like my artistic muse. For some fucking reason i associate the song cake by the ocean with him. I firmly believe that if everymanhybrid didn't require a masters degree in creepypasta autism to comprehend, he would've caused more teenage stabbings than the slenderman incident and more kin war tumblr scenarios than nagito komaeda.

[arachnerd-8-legs]

really disappointing that bunjywunjy had to be pestered twice just to quietly remove their reblog after using their huge platform to encourage garbage like raving about the lesbian estonian soviet flag and how 'new pride flag just dropped' so people could go 'ooh pretty' about a flag that was forced onto us by ppl who wanted our culture gone and oppressed us for about a century in total if not more.

to say nothing or not show anything of the truth about that flag and quietly remove the reblog felt more like it was done out of obligation (and you didn't agree) rather than care for the subject matter that is still a fresh wound in our country's memory. it's only been 33 years since it ended.

I'd rather you make the mistake about something you didn't know (eastern european history is easy for westeners to overlook, because we're not a big country like them, we're not england or france or spain or germany) and admit/apologize for said mistake or even just outright state that you don't actually care rather than say nothing and quietly remove something so that people would stop talking about it

[rufuslupislupis]

So, did everyone see K doing the work of a team of people for four days straight and just decide that was a normal thing for them to have done and not, like, INCREDIBLE thematic work.

Like. The problem is not that K is self-centered or that K is selfish or even that K is a dumbass. The problem is that K has never learned how to champion a cause. K has been trying to fix the world, not just Evan, and the whole *gestures* thing with his arm is not just about their ‘I can fix him’ mindset.

It’s ‘I can fix everything.’ It’s ‘I can fix what I SPECIFICALLY broke.’ Magic is gone because K wanted to have a world full of wonder and hope. Like, Evan’s lack of healing is directly followed by magic breaking, and that is why K is so desperate to fix it. Look at what K has been doing to fix what they have broke, look at how Teddy’s been forced to stay inside and how K has actively deteriorated. It’s not just about this one thing! The character flaws go so deep.

It is not normal to do what K has been doing. It is actively detrimental to do what K has been doing to themself. K fucks up (or at least perceives themselves has having fucked up) and then K takes a big, risky swing to fix the fuck up and then that fails, too and K has to fix it again so K takes another try…

The ARGs and the trench coat look and Teddy in a room all day and K not eating enough. Those are a big swing too. Those are a big, flashy way to fix things because again K has not learned how to champion a cause, K did not properly recover from Terminal Onlineness even if they did learn how to stop viciously bullying people for bad opinions.

K has a deeply admirable, genuine desire to help and the way K chooses to help is Big Swings and the rules of the world have changed. The rules of the world have changed. This is NOT Big Swings time, this is buckle down and work at small goals and focus in time.

Evan tried to help and failed too. But what Evan tried to help with was a t-shirt, not a broken arm, and so the consequence was nothing but an errant bird.

[rassicas]

just so you guys know: -i am not dead -i am cooking -i am not even halfway done with this