#and therefore say nothing at all

[nishaapologist]

something this image makes me think of is that a lot of people say that Fallout 4's style of companion/NPC writing is superior to how Fallout 3 does it simply because there comes a point with basically any major character where your affinity is high enough that they just... infodump their lore on you? like, if you do enough things they approve of, they grab your arm and go 'well when i was born--' and you learn a ton about them. then you do their quest, learn even MORE, and then the arc ends there.

the thing is i actually............... like how Fallout 3 makes it that characters don't tell you much, if anything at all?

just to clarify: there's nothing wrong with how fallout 4 does companions and romances or anything, nor am i implying fallout 4 would be better without them; i enjoy the quests and i like that these characters do all their their own personal Driving Factors in their lives, but there's also something to be said for characters written who don't tell you jackshit. fallout 3 doesn't NEED all these characters--clover and charon and jericho and RL-3 and so on--to tell you their backstories because for EVERY SINGLE COMPANION (with the exception of butch who you already knew the backstory of because you literally grew up together) IS NOT YOUR FRIEND.

cross is there because of her duty to your father now passed onto you. you hold charon's contract. you also hold clover's. rl-3 is a robot who follows you because That's His Job. fawkes is kind of blinded by his belief in your destiny. need i talk about jericho. the only two you could maybe say are your friends in any fashion is dogmeat (a dog) and butch (again. you grew up with him).

none of these motherfuckers are canonically going to tell you shit about their lives, and why would they? they are there to perform a duty, or for their own ends, or because they have no choice. so i get it! there won't be an infodump! there will not be an affinity moment! they don't care! all they care about is that you tell them to shoot the right people!

and you know who else isn't your friend? you know who tells you that? straight up tell you that? HEY IS THAT SARAH LYONS--

these characters have lives of their own, doing their own thing, and you--19 year old child that you are--are such a small component of it that of COURSE nobody tells you anything. sarah doesn't tell you shit. charon doesn't tell you shit. NOBODY does, and nobody will, because you are temporary. you have hired them, or bought them, or offered something in exchange for them, and at the end of the day you'll dismiss them and they'll find another employer, another owner, another something.

the companions in fallout 4, however, ARE your friends! they care about you! they follow you often because you offer something more fulfilling than money! you don't own piper any more than you can hire preston! they are invested in you, and your story, and your trials and tribulations. if that also happens to give them perks, so be it.

but in the end, if we circle back around to that picture up yonder, it begs a question: if these characters in fallout 3 are not your friends, and therefore don't tell you anything about them in any meaningful capacity... then why the fuck are they so popular amongst their fans?

like, charon is a character i see such an INSANE amount of fic and art of, right? if you've ever looked in the fallout 3 tag he's just There, Always. but charon doesn't tell you fuckall about who he is or how he got there or his past or ANYTHING. he follows you because you bought the contract, and ultimately--as i said--he's not gonna tell this random 19 year old kid about his entire life when, in the end, he's performing a service and his duties end there. yet people LOVE HIM. they ADORE him. the fics are MILES LONG and the art is MANY. why? the game sure doesn't tell you anything.

because finding a character compelling isn't about what is physically written in the game. i find sarah compelling not because she would have told me her life story in a different game--i find her compelling because of all the little clues left behind. i look at her: her rank of sentinel, her status as the elder's daughter, as a 26 year old field commander, as a soldier, as a friend, as a comrade, and i see all of them weave together in such interesting ways i can't HELP but want to dig in more. this is what people do for charon, too! for clover and jericho and cross! they look into all that negative space and see the shapes of implications of ideas and go 'i want to think about that'.

i'm not trying to say the person who made that image/mod (as apparently it IS a mod) lacks imagination. what i am trying to say is that i feel like people are asking for characters to have reams upon reams of lore before they find them 'well written', and lack the ability to take all the little bits and pieces and put them together themselves. don't you enjoy a puzzle? don't you enjoy the sandbox nature of creating?

anyway, long story short is that. idk. more rpgs need characters who shut up and don't say fuckall. trust me, i can figure them out. it just takes a little more time.

[thesmokinpossum]

If My Body Could Speak, Blythe Baird | The Godfather, Mario Puzo | My Father's House, Sylvia Fraser | To The Daughter Who Secretly Longs For Her Mother’s Affection, Lynne Shako | Storms from Jupiter, Wanda Deglane | DO NOT REPLY, @filmnoirsbian

[reachhforthestars]

Sonic 3 spoilers!!! Talking about the mid credits scene/what people have been saying about it under the cut

feeling like the only one who doesnt want reverse sonamy for the movies </3

or more accurately, fine sonic can have an obvious crush on her but i dont want ‘reverse sonamy’ to mean ‘amy doesnt have a crush on sonic.’ she can be lowkey about it or whatever (like sonic is sometimes in the games/other media) but to me part of Who She Is is that shes this super cool, super strong, intelligent fighter but shes also still a young girl who has crushes and believes in fate and is guided by her compassion, not by her strength or her mission or her love of adventure.

shes such a good character because while she is physically strong and possibly slightly magic, those are equally as important as her love and compassion and care for the world and people around her. preserving amys girlhood is important to me like loving sonic isnt her single defining character trait bc she ‘has to have a crush on a guy’ but it is a main character trait because thats just who she is. a loving person who sees the good in the world and wants to protect it and loves sonic because she sees him as the embodiment of that

[shalom-iamcominghome]

How does conversion work for a trans person? I'm scared of being naked for the mikveh immersion and also the part about circumcision, I really don't want anyone to see my body naked

I feel you on that, anon. So, it will heavily depend on which branch of judaism you plan on converting to, but there will be trans-friendly and trans-unfriendly spaces within each branch. I think the best course of action is to ask around with rabbis which take in students - definitely ask rabbis what their expectations would be as a trans student. Honestly, the only reason I didn't disclose my transness immediately to my rabbi was because I could tell he'd be trans-friendly even through email.

Now, I don't know your specific circumstances, nor will I ask, but there are options depending on what you're looking for. I'm a trans guy - I don't have the obligation to go through bris, and I'm not really able to. However, I do fulfill many of the mitzvot for men, and that compromise sort of offsets the fact that I don't have any way to really go through with bris.

For the mikvah, I've heard some places will put a sheet barrier in the water so that your body isn't fully seen. From what I know, you just need people to witness (even for a split second) that you are fully immersed and not your body. This might be dependent on the movement, however.

Otherwise, the process is very similar if not identical to cis counterparts. You can fulfill a ton of mitzvot as yourself, and in general, transness doesn't really prevent you from doing that. I would definitely talk with your rabbi for any accomodations you might want in this process - it's imperative that you're able to trust your rabbi to be receptive and willing to hear you out or compromise or anything else. If you have follow-up questions, I'd love to hear them; I can only speak to my experiences, but I know that it can sometimes be comforting to know you're not the only trans convert in the world. Transsexuals have become jewish since the dawn of time; you have no reason not to be jewish if that is something you want.

[kingslionheart]

Just so some king in this world may have driven one of his favourites from him, or he may have been forced from the king against both of their wills; then hath he many torments and many mishaps in his exile, yet he may come to the same lord whom he before was with, and there be much more worshipful than he was. Then he will recall the misfortunes which he had there in his exile, and yet not be the more unhappy — Alfred the Great's translation of St. Augustine's Soliloquies

[angelsdean]

no but really it's funny sam thinks dean is john 2.0 when s1 dean is just. content to take on random cases and help save some people and is trying to do some good w/ the hand he's been dealt and isn't all that interested in his father's revenge quest and up until then has always had to play the mediator and swallow down his own feelings and anger. while sam's the one who quickly becomes obsessed w/ revenge the minute he loses jess and finding the thing that killed her and is quick to anger. "you're more like him than i'll ever be" "i'll take that as a compliment" "you can take that however you like" etc etc

[chiangyorange]

I just had some violent flashbacks of the peepaw polls. Hit me like a truck

hey bestie did u mean to drag my ass down with you

[reel-fear]

Genuinely so curious who Mike thinks is gonna be buying The Cage or the new DCTL GN bc with the way he tweets as far as he's concerned, it's not gonna be:

The queer people he has actively admitted he will never show any representation of in the games.

2. The POC he has actively fought against representing in his franchise. [Who he also mocked for thinking they would be represented in his franchise]

3. The Bendy fandom which has always been concerned with topics of diversity esp in the sense of queer people since its creation. Who he has responded to really poorly esp in regards to the GN.

4. The fans who critique him. [He blocked me for doing so lol]

5. His fans in general who he tweets about like this currently. [He's being vague about why people were mad at him or sent him 'nasty messages' because if you actually looked into why you'd see he was in the wrong. Either way, a very hateful way to speak abt ur own fanbase.]

Reminder while Mike is trash talking his fans he has always treated them rather poorly. The fans who won the fanart contest for Chapter 5 never got their posters actually in game due to it being rushed. Not only was chapter 5 a big slap to the face story wise, but it was literally so rushed he couldn't be bothered to add in the art his fans gave him for his game FOR FREE. [Meatly blames this on a crazy timeline, reminder him and Mike are the literal ceos of this company. The proposal of future updates here is also pretty cruel considering Mike nowadays happily admits he corrupted Chapter 5's source code and therefore literally can't update it At All currently. Because he is a moron]

At least they got to be in Boris and the dark survival, and by that I mean that was the Only game they got to be in so far, isn't that just treating your fans like you love them? Shoving their hard work into a spin off game almost nobody has played or addresses much. [Hell, who knows if with the Lone Wolf rebrand they'll even stay there. In which case they'll be in None of the games, only in the credits of BATIM]

6. The Bendy fans who just generally disagree with him on stuff. Like the new ink demon design where there is literally a public poll showing people generally prefer the old one.

7. The Bendy fans who can see he is actively lying to them. To their fucking faces.

He says this has always been the case, but screenshots and links to tweets regarding the books being canon prove it was not. Does he really think bendy fans are stupid or something? [Unless he's admitting here he lied to Kress when he told her the books were canon which sounds worse!]

8. Anyone who doesn't like the idea of giving money to a guy who laid off tons of employees then afterwards thought it was a great idea to express his anti-union views! Also brag about how good of an employer he was, according to his employees, he was not!

So in summary; Mike is an awful person who has not learned anything from the awful things he did. I will not be purchasing The Cage because, combined with this and his absolute refusal to take any kind of critique or see any differing interpretation of his franchise, I have no reason to think my problems with the franchise will ever be addressed or fixed. I probably will pirate The Cage along with any future Bendy Products [Including the movie] and will do my best to avoid giving it any kind of monetary support. Unless this changes any time soon, I can't see myself making anymore positive Bendy posts soon.

Mike has just managed to make it so hard to speak positively or optimistically of this franchise when he's so willing to broadcast how little he cares about it or its fans. I'm at the point where I refuse to pull any of my punches with my problems with it. What's the point of trying to play nice with my critique when either way the people creating it don't care?

So with this post, I want to invite anyone who feels similarly about the franchise to tell me, make a post or send an ask talking about how all of this makes you feel. It may not change how things are, but genuinely seeing other people share my feelings of anger makes me feel better. It feels nice to see when other people share our same concerns and worries. I'd also love to know if anyone else thinks they'll be avoiding purchasing Bendy products over this.

I'm not forcing anyone to participate in it nor trying to say anyone who doesn't supports mike but genuinely maybe if we can collectively decide to boycott things like the movie, graphic novel and The Cage... It might at least make the bendy devs acknowledge how much they have destroyed their own fandom's faith and trust in them.

The way Mike tweets about his actions like he had no control over why people were mad at him at least proves to me he takes NONE of it back nor regrets it. If you didn't know about his actions and only went off his tweets, you would be led to believe Mike has been needlessly picked apart by fans over things he couldn't control [or in his own words, had his words twisted and taken out of context]. That is not how you speak about your actions if you have actually learned better from them.

anyway, that has been my bendy dev callout post. This is an open invitation to anyone feeling similarly upset about the way the franchise is going to talk about it. It's genuinely nice to see how people feel about this and the more we talk about the more it's likely the bendy devs are forced to address our concerns. I don't think they will but hey, that's why I'm not gonna support them with my money anymore nor am I gonna be nice to them in any content I make critiquing Bendy. I mean I'm also basically making this post just in case anyone asks me Why I feel this way towards to bendy devs/as a way to respond to anyone who thinks I am too harsh in my critique in the future.

As always, it seems the best part of Bendy isn't actually anything about canon but about what the fan's are creating with the ideas Bendy failed to do anything interesting with.

Also the books, the books slap.

[briwhosaysni]

I said this to a friend earlier and I thought I'd say it here too in case anyone else needs to see it:

Constantly checking election maps will accomplish nothing besides making you more anxious. It will take a while for counts to be finalized, and there is nothing to be gained from giving yourself a multi-day anxiety attack by checking for updates every 10 minutes

You've done what you can. The votes have all been cast, and now all we can do is wait. Making yourself miserable by checking for updates and worrying constantly will do no good and will benefit no one. Take the time between now and the final call to rest, and to take care of yourself and your loved ones. However this turns out, you'll be better off for having given yourself as much of a break as possible

[daily-hanamura]

[clegfly]

Getting REAL sick and tired of how omori TikTok views sunny.

Like, they view any scene of him being emotionally vulnerable, affectionate, or even just making an expression outside of just being completely neutral as “mischaracterised”. He’s not some cool, stoic, unwavering badass, he is a traumatised teenager. Don’t cry whenever he dares to give his friend a hug or (god forbid) be SAD about something??? Isn’t like. Part of the point of his development about him allowing himself to break down the repressive walls he built when he shut himself in? And being able to rely on his real friends instead of imaginary versions? And isn’t the game like. Meant to SHOW that he still cares about them despite isolating himself?

It’s really stupid to get mad at a character like that showing emotion or affection personally, especially since he’s not used to expressing it properly after so long. But that’s just me

[ohthewh0rror]

Tom Riddle, feminist icon.

[objectivelyimpermanent]

I'm sure that this has already been noted, but is Rogue a Timelord?

Rogue and the Doctor are equated to one another a lot. Some of this could be just two people finding similar interests to encourage fondness, thereby driving the romance plot. Both are troublesome and both like Kylie Minogue. The Doctor does seem like a more experienced or emotionally healthy (or "post-therapy") person trying to get someone more shy or less experienced out of their shell.

But it's more that that. There's the obvious in the name: Rogue sounds very Timelord of a name. But there's also the framing of when they introduce themselves to each other. Rogue is interrogated as as much a name as "the Doctor" is a name.

There's also the obvious time-travel in a ship that can be cloaked with a central console that makes it look a little like a retro-TARDIS. Others also have pointed out that 15's offer to Rogue to argue "across the stars" sounds a lot like the offer 10 gave to undead Simm!Master.

Retro-TARDIS. Time travel capabilities. Apparent 20th-21st centuries Earth-focus, with the fondness for Kylie Minogue. Apparent recognition of 14/10's face on Rogue's part, and we know now that faces can reappear, so that doesn't necessarily root any possible acquaintanceship at any point in either of their timelines.

Now, I'm not saying that Rogue is the Master. I think there's something even funnier.

What if Rogue is also the Doctor?

[lululeighsworld]

Lorah: Lilac Knight's Love

Artist: @littledashdraws

Wanted to share this commission by Dash, who so lovingly illustrated my vision for Gunter's first wife!! Although Lorah's lived in my head since 2017, this is the first time I've had her drawn. Because I'm so thrilled over this art, I put together a little introduction for her!! you can read more about her below~

Residence: Duet Mountains Occupation: Farmer •❀• Bedside Nurse •❀• Homemaker Birthday: July 11 Gender: Female Relatives: Gunter (Husband) Katerina (Daughter)* Personality: Shy •❀• Bubbly •❀• Optimistic Hobbies: Crafting •❀• Gardening •❀• Baking Age: 21 (when she first meets Gunter) •❀• 36 (at death)

A Nohrian commoner whose known the kingdom's southern mountain range and neighbouring valleys her entire life, Lorah was a recognizable resident of her town even though she kept to herself. Learning the basics of herbal remedies from a young age, she would split her time between tending to the fields and easing the woes of the sick. In adulthood, she would chance upon meeting a Nohrian Great Knight during her town's annual spring festival. The couple's engagement, after seven years of courting, had become one of the most highly anticipated moments amongst the townsfolk.

*NOT the Nohrian Queen. I named their kid before I realized what Xander's mom's name was and by that point I was already ATTACHED (tell me Caterpillar is not the cutest nickname). So now the reason they share a name is lore relevant (which is a part of this fic!).

divider by saradika

[cranberrymoons]

.

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

“because he never accepts that it's never been about righteousness--it's about repentance.” except javert killing himself IS repentance.

well, it’s like 12 different things, because bro had gone days without sleeping and very little food and water and he already had low self-worth and kept asking the amis to kill him and just assumed he was going to die AND THEN valjean upended his understanding of the world and morality. he was really going through it & there are a lot of overlapping reasons for why he jumps into the seine.

but javert is like Number One Most Responsible guy in the whole story. taking responsibility is his Thing (forever bitter the musical doesn’t include the punish me monsieur le maire scene). how else, in his derailment, could he atone for his conceived misdeeds other than by handing in his resignation to god? in the brick he had already left a note urging his superiors to treat convicts at toulon better, which is another step in his repentance (and another crime the musical commits by not including it). jumping into the seine was another step.

honestly a lot of ppl who like the book think the musical was dead wrong to exclude him from the big heaven group sing, because it COMPLETELY undermines the themes of forgiveness and compassion threaded throughout les mis. like the musical was simply wrong lol.

This is helpful context! I am still finishing the brick, although I have fully read the abridged version, and that detail about the letter wasn't included, so I didn't know that occurred! (And thank you for the message--this is a long response but I'd love to hear more of your thoughts!)

I agree that Javert is certainly deeply distraught and remorseful; like you mentioned, his worldview is literally falling apart, and his actions reflect his mental state. But his death isn't really repentance--in the sense that it's not what God would have wanted. To me it reads like a Judas situation: a desperate realization of a huge mistake, and doing the only thing you think can make it right, namely, ending it all. That's the just punishment for someone so wrong, isn't it?

But true repentance, meaning the repentance that the Lord desires, is about changing your ways, not "paying a price." Had Javert really understood the beauty of Valjean's mercy (an image of Christ's, just as the bishop's undeserved mercy was to Valjean himself), rather than killing himself, he would have lived to also become "an honest man"--in heart. One who could forgive and understand forgiveness, for himself as well as others. One who could recognize that he is not The Law, that he can fall, but that he can also be "brought to the light." One who could accept that men like Valjean, and men like himself, CAN change, and be changed.

It's tragic to me because so much of "Stars," and his character in the book as well as the musical, is about wanting to be righteous, to rise above his birth and the sinfulness he associates it with. It's about wanting to please the Lord by his actions. But in his end, he shows he never understood what God really wanted from him, and that's where my original phrase comes in: not righteousness, but repentance. To live, and face the man you were, knowing it's no longer the man you are. That it's never been about what you've done or can do, but about what's been done for you. That's the Gospel that he could never fully accept.

To use another example you mentioned, that misunderstanding drives why he asks the Mayor (Valjean) to punish him--in his worldview, mercy is unjust, or at the very least, unfair. Evil must be punished; "those who fall like Lucifer fell" receive "the sword." But "as it is written," God "desires mercy, not sacrifice" (Matthew 9:13). God would have wanted Javert to live, and Javert couldn't see that, and that's why it's devastating to me. In his misunderstanding of the heart of God, he misses what would have set him free from the chains of sin he's always been trying to escape.

That's why he's contrasted with Valjean, who (though he carries guilt about his past till the end of his life) is eventually able to face it and confess what he had done to those he loves. He knew there was mercy to be found, if only it was asked for. Javert was too blinded by pride and shame to realize it, and so, while broken, he never was able to truly repent.

For that, you must go on.