#anyway thanks for coming to my ted talk no one is going to care about this but it’s midnight and I need to sleep

[alongtidesoflight]

so here's my honest thoughts on dragon age: the veilguard, after ~40 hours of playing. i finished the main quest after having finished all companion quests and major faction quests. just to clear up what content i saw, i played as an elven transmasc rook who is a member of the lords of fortune. he romanced lucanis (although after finishing the game i'm now leaning towards taash). i don't know what's happening in playthroughs that have a different race, gender identity, romance or faction going on.

full spoilers ahead, i mean it. don't read further if you want to avoid them. i don't want complaining about it in my asks.

oh and also, if you're worried because of a few negative reviews online i can comfort you by saying don't give a fuck about a certain big name youtuber who is very much tied to bethesda franchises giving this a negative review. i'll explain why.

i'm starting off with the things i liked

the game looks really pretty. i was worried it wouldn't feel like thedas anymore (with them trying to "focus on northern thedas only" i thought they'd make a clear cut in environmental design. they do and they don't. it's complicated. i'll elaborate on it when talking about the negative stuff). anyway it does. minrathous feels like kirkwall. treviso enchanted me like the winter palace did. the hossberg wetlands reminded me of the hinterlands and a couple other inquisition maps. arlathan looked like... arlathan. the crossroads were different, but familiar. overall i like the way it looks and feels. it's thedas, with a twist. it's a good one, and gives everything a solid but unique feel.

combat is top tier. if you're a hardcore dragon age player you WILL miss the tactical aspect of it for a bit, but i promise you, once you're used to the way the combat works, you will be lapping that shit up. and once you get to ability combos you'll mourn the control you used to have over your companions in battle a bit less

the MAIN quest and its story. i expected worse, way worse. and for a while the game even had me tricked (harr harr you'll get it in a second) it is Really That Much Worse. but holy shit was it good. i walked away satisfied ngl.

your choices have SOLID weight. there's consequences, good AND bad. i got minrathous blighted, ruled over by venatori, and the leader of the shadow dragons ultimately died because of my decisions. i made those at the beginning and throughout the game. he died at the end. DAVRIN died because i didn't expect what i was saying to have that much weight. i thought i was in the clear. he had hero status. well turns out, your choices can still get your companions killed even if you do everything right. i fucking love him. he shouldn't have made that sacrifice just because i told him to do everything it takes once.

the inquisitor, morrigan and dorian being there, surprisingly. there's also negatives to this though, see below.

speaking of companions dying and the inquisitor playing a bigger role: the final quest feels like me2's suicide mission. i was blown away by it and the fact that i got to see the results of all my efforts playing out in front of me.

bioware are NOT trying to redeem solas. they love him as a character yes, but i wasn't forced to see any good in him. he betrays you. he fucked my rook over twice. he fucked him over right back, for good this time (the veil wasn't torn down, i anchored it by binding him to it, he's doomed to uphold it). but solas really lives up to his name as the trickster elven god. rip to all the people who grew really attached to him over the years.

varric died. if you like him that's probably as hard reading it as it was watching it. varric died and the game lies about it until the very end. when the realisation hits, it hurts. but in the very best way.

the amount of care they put into gender expression and trans identities this time around. (i'll add onto this with negative points as well too).

rook feels very much ingrained in the world of thedas. he doesn't ask questions that expose the player to lore through dialogue as if he's stepped foot into thedas for the first time. those conversations feel very solid and good. i hope other faction players got as much joy out of this as i did.

and the things i didn't like and boy there's a lot unfortunately

the music. let's just get that out of the way holy shit. it doesn't feel like it belongs in this universe. it gets so incredibly sci-fi-y at times you'd think it's taken straight from mass effect andromeda. there's not a single song unique to veilguard that i really enjoyed. it broke my immersion, real bad. hearing a busker play the tavern songs from inquisition on a lute right after i killed some venatori with wobbly bass songs playing in the background is just odd. weird tonal shift. don't like it. it's made for people who like flashy light-weight cinema.

tevinter nights is required reading. the podcasts are required listening exercises. the game is so fast paced, especially at the start, that there's no time to introduce you to characters and how much weight their names carry in-game. i would not have known who half these people are if i hadn't skimmed over tevinter nights. i'd care even less about them than i already did. there is no time to get properly attached to them. people will act as if you're talking to a legend personified and you'll be thinking man goddamn which chapter of tevinter night were they in again and what did they do???

there's a weird mismatch with the animations. you'll have beautifully fluid ones, like emmrich casting spells. and then you'll have rook's face animating in the most unnatural manner that's sorta reminiscent of mass effect andromeda's "my face is tired" addison, when their emotions SHOULD be landing with the player rn instead.

i'm not vibing with the art style. sometimes it works. most of the time it doesn't. at points i felt like i was watching tangled.

that also brings me to some of the dialogue. same issue. i am watching frozen. i am watching tangled. someone on the writer's team really likes the adorkable trope. bellara is its victim.

for all the talk about identity, bioware sure doesn't like theirs. the grey warden armor got a redesign again and it just makes them look like a generic army. i hate it lol

in general, i don't like the armor design. the wardrobe/appearances system is fine, but it's just not helping if all the armors are just... kinda bland or downight bad looking? and don't get me started on the lords of fortune armor. that is orientalism personified.

the world states should have been carried over, full stop. i know they said they didn't because they want to separate what happens in the north from what happens in the south, which... i could have lived with that. but the inquisitor sends you letters that keep you up to date on... the south of thedas. you learn that there's a blight again, that people are standing strong but it's difficult, denerim's fallen, the rulers are taking care of it, orlais is fighting and they're successful for a while, etc etc. what's good bioware. i thought we don't care about the south this time around. why are you feeding me so much boring generic information. if you're not gonna show any of it and just write letters, then carrying the world state over should not have been an issue. i have a game dev background. those few lines of code would not have broken your budget or pushed your engine's limits. fuck right off.

this gripe of mine carries over to all the cameos. as a lord of fortune you have to deal with isabela a lot. it's fun. i missed her. you get to go drinking with her and taash and bellara! also my hawke romanced her. she's not mentioned once. they had the opportunity to put a sentence or two about her in there with not a lot of effort, trust me.

when varric dies, all she has is a single line about it. for gold, for fortune, for varric. she only says it if you interact with her on your way to the final push. that's not mandatory.

morrigan is there. kieran isn't. the old god soul that mythal and then solas absorbed? who cares at this point, the gods are dead now and solas is locked away for eternity. i suppose? why is morrigan there. she feels unneeded. i wish they'd just left her down south, at least that way i wouldn't have had to witness her god awful redesign.

dorian at least feels as if he belongs in this story. the shadow dragons are a crucial part to protecting minrathous. he's also weirdly underutilised. isabela and morrigan had more lines than him in my playthrough.

on the topic of romance: bro that was underwhelming. no, genuinely. you know when romance picked up a bit? after the point of no return. i heard maybe two lines of companion banter about it before that. maybe i missed something which i honestly doubt, but romance did not play much of a role in lucanis's storyline. i saved his grandmother as he wished me to (and if you read tevinter nights you know she was rather abusive and their relationship not the healthiest) and told him to focus on his family. a reunified family my rook wasn't even introduced to as a partner at the end of all that.

really, do not buy this game if you're only in it for the romances. others might be better, lucanis's basically gave me nothing. except for an outing (the second coffee date i had with him, it was getting repetitive) all of it played out once i committed to the final quest. the sex scene was a fade to black. annoyingly right after davrin died. if you're looking for well paced and good spice, pick up something else. the sweet talk and the final goodbye were nice though.

for all the good the ever-presence of gender identity does, it is brought up in such a disruptive manner too. it doesn't even play out naturally if you CHOOSE the lines that are meant to be said. hearing the words trans and non-binary in this setting doesn't feel right, and i'm saying this as a trans guy. i think it could have been handled more gracefully. the amount of times my rook went "i'm a MAN" as if he's about to start drumming on his chest and roaring any second now got super nerve-grating. "i'm so glad you're into me... the me who is trans. remember?" just. tell me one trans person who'd talk like that to a person they've grown close with and are trying to romance. this game doesn't handle sexuality well, so all this hey my body might not look like the way you're expecting it to look talk amounts to nothing anyway. i feel about this the way i feel about krem: this is partial exposition to trans experiences... packaged up for cis consumption. the ONLY exception to that is interacting with taash. holy shit was all of that heartwarming and bro did it feel good and natural to talk to them about theirs and rook's gender.

rivain and nevarra are new locations added by veilguard. they're also incredibly underwhelming, small and constricted maps. rivain is a coastline with a few ruins. the hall of valor is a partial ruin nestled into a cave on a beach, with a fighting pit. isabela is there in her skimpy outfit commentating your pit fights. that's it. i'm sorry if you were looking for a bustling pirate cove or whatever. you're not gonna get it. the nevarran crypts btw are a long ass dungeon crawl. that's it.

speaking of maps. i thought people were being dramatic when they said you're gonna be fighting the same enemies on them again and again. i thought they were figure of speeching it. they're not. you WILL fight the same amount of enemies. in the same spot. every time you reload the map. best to stay on a map and clear out the enemies and do as much questing on that map as you can before leaving, because you WILL have to do it all over again once you return.

the three choices i made for my inquisitor didn't matter lol she didn't have to face solas and therefore couldn't stop him at any cost as she had sworn (maybe because my rook tricked solas into binding himself to the veil, there was also an option to fight him. would she have stepped in? who knows). blackwall wasn't mentioned. and either her using a small amount of her forces in the final fight was the reason the civilians of minrathous fared so well..... or it just didn't matter. ultimately i think she had very little impact on anything

[girlwiththegreenhat]

hey when they wrote "knight behind bars" and they wrote kitt helping a couple get together and they gave him the line "Some day, it will be my turn" [to find love]. did they know what they were doing. did they know that in some 40 years some gay autistic robot-obsessed little freak on tumblr would not stop thinking about it for weeks and write literal dozens of paragraphs screaming about it on discord. did they know they were going to ruin Me, Specifically, with this concept that feels like the culmination of everything kitt has gone through through the show and such a fascinating thing to think about in regards to michael and kitt's relationship,

one of the themes of knight rider is kitt developing as a Person, developing a line between the Knight Industries Two-Thousand, and Kitt. discovering humanity, his own emotions, the joys of the seemingly and logically pointless, and often through the lens of his own driver, his partner, his friend, Michael - his primary guide through all these experiences, his reference for those human things he doesn't understand. and as much as he initially claims to not be capable of experiencing emotions, of understanding feelings, he learns to. he experiences a wide range of emotions through the show even while claiming he doesn't, he even learns fear and insecurity. perhaps it's only natural a robot would learn to love, or at the very least be terribly curious about it and wonder if such a thing could ever exist for Him

the majority of people are not exactly kind to kitt. they talk about him like he's not there, they talk about him like he's a machine, a novelty, some people are even scared of or disturbed by him when all he's trying to do is make polite conversation and company. he's always Othered - there's no other cars like him (at least not anymore), but there's no other person like him either, he doesn't truly belong among humans or vehicles. some of the technicians at FLAG don't even seem to fully respect him as a person, at least they don't based on my vague recollection of how they talk about him in Junkyard Dog. when Michael asks him after KARR is destroyed if it feels good to be one of a kind again, he doesn't say yes or no - he only says it's a "familiar feeling." it may be familiar, but it's surely also isolating, and i think that's something he'd realize as he slowly picks up this curiosity about love. where could he even find it when so few people see him as an equal person to begin with?

and then there's michael. oh my god, and then there's michael. no matter what flavor you choose to read it in, the whole show is about their relationship, they're a duo, a set Not to be separated, they're Partners. they work together, they worry about and look after each other (forever insane about when kitt was a melted shell, Michael stuck around the garage for hours, waiting for any news like a worried spouse, constantly checking on him every opportunity he got... encouraging him to recover, and even helping paint back on his protective coating... kitt always looks after michael, but for once, it's michael's turn to look after Him), in a way they were Made for each other - Kitt more literally, being programmed for Michael and holding his namesake, but Michael was also made in a sense for the pilot program, hand picked and given a second life to work for the foundation and with this strange supercar. and even if they had a rocky start, michael comes to view kitt as a person - car, TV set, or computer core, Kitt is his partner, his buddy. he helps him find himself, guides him and teaches him about these things that make us human, and in a way, kitt becomes human - but his entire experience is still through the perspective of an AI in a car, it's still very unique and isolating, and I think he sort of grows into his own limitations, he's finally brushing against the walls that define him.

he learns of love, and then he learns to dream Of love. these things he sees in the movies, that michael tells him about, that he so often sees michael Partaking in that he gets so oddly jealous of, doesn't it all seem so wonderful? he's very curious. but who could ever love steel and circuitry, who could ever see him as an equal let alone a partner in a romantic sense? who would ever love a car and all the limitations That comes with? it's a problem for a hypothetical hopeful Some Day, in the meantime stuck between two worlds where he doesn't perfectly belong to either, where no car Can love him and no human seemingly Would love him...

and michael loves him anyway. before either of them really realize or talk about it, in spite of everything, in any form, regardless of the fact it wouldn't be a typical relationship by absolutely any means, michael loves him anyway. kitt is as much a person to him as bonnie or devon or RC, and that person is someone he loves and cares for deeply. the feeling is mutual, kitt's world revolves around michael, he's one of the most important people in kitt's life, and he'd do anything to protect him.

and it is michael that will finally teach him to love, and what it means to feel loved in turn, to be loved as the person he undoubtedly is.

[fadewalking]

Bellara lowkey pissing me off with all this feeling guilty bs

[razzberrydazz]

OC Meme - get to know Rana

Got tagged by @mynthara to do this oc info meme, tagging uhhh anyone else who wants to do this if ya want (@larissel I choose you if ya wanna blab about Nashira :3)

I put a readmore for possible game spoilers ahead for BG3, and for potential content warnings (mentions of Dark Urge antics, kink dynamics, and brief mentions of SA), cuz Rana's life pre-tadpole was Not a happy one. Enjoy all the pics of Rana I stuffed into this!

BASICS

Full Name (pre-tadpole): Rana the Gray, ie the Bladedancer, ie The Dark Urge, ie The Red-Eyed Dagger

(Rana loosely translates to Lesser End/Minor Destruction in Drow)

Full Name (post-tadpole): Rana'rox La'Rouge, ie Rana, ie Durge

Gender: Nonbinary/Agender

Sexuality: Pan

Pronouns: They/It (They/Them for Rana, it/its for their Urge)

Age: Mid 40s? Rana doesn't quite remember how old they are.

OTHER

Family: Bhaal (progenitor), Orin the Red (Half-Sister, Bhaalspawn Bloodkin), Mala (Rana's daughter - a product of SA and incest - that they had smuggled away as soon as she was weaned, in order to protect her from the Bhaalist cult and from their Dark Urge; Mala ended up adopted by Jaheira and her family. Mala loosely translates to Secret Breaker in Drow)

Other family: Adopted drow (seldarine) mother called Rox La'Rouge (deceased, killed by the Dark Urge), a pet Displacer Beast called Chewy (deceased), a human man called Rook Haven (deceased, killed by the Dark Urge) who was the ringleader for a traveling circus called the Raucous Rooks (all members killed by the Dark Urge when the Urge first fully manifested in Rana), and several unnamed children both deceased and surviving as Bhaalists (Rana doesn't remember them, the Brain Trauma is Strong).

Birthplace: Spawned in the Cloakwood forest near Baldur's Gate, then found and raised by Rox La'Rouge and the Raucous Rooks circus shortly after.

Job: Originally a bard and acrobat in the Raucous Rooks circus, then became a Bhaalist assassin, then the leader of the Bhaalist cult in Baldur's Gate, then during the events of BG3 acts as an altruistic adventurer. Rana hopes to one day join a new carnival or circus as a clown or daredevil acrobat.

Phobias: Succumbing to the Urge, Pregnancy (Ironically has a breeding kink), The color Red (specifically when it's the Urge), loss of control, succumbing to insanity.

Hobbies: Rana works to teach themself Drow (they never learned to speak it fluently as a kid, and are trying to catch up in adulthood), and other languages in their free time, and write in their journal extensively. They enjoy collecting and sharpening daggers, sword swallowing, juggling, reading, dancing, singing, and playing instruments such as the lyre and lute. They also like trying new clothes and learning new rope-tying techniques.

MORALS

Alignment: Chaotic Good - Rana will go out of their way to do what they believe is good, laws and consequences be damned, if only to counteract their Urges. Sometimes that involves killing someone doing a great wrong, or breaking into buildings to steal food to feed the hungry, or intimidating guards into turning a blind eye to someone just trying to survive, or purposely isolating themselves from others so as to not hurt anyone.

Sins: Wrath (the Urge), Lust, Envy

Virtues: Patience, Courage, Kindness

Introvert / Extrovert / Ambivert

Organized / Disorganized (memory problems)

Close-minded / Open-minded

Calm / Anxious / Restless

Disagreeable / Agreeable / In between

Cautious / Reckless / In between (save yourself I'll hold them back)

Patient / Impatient / In between

Outspoken / Reserved / In between

Leader / Follower / Flexible

Empathetic / Unempathetic / In between

Optimist / Pessimist / Realist

Traditional / Modern / In between

Hard-working / Lazy

OTP: Shadowheart, Minthara, and Lae'Zel (Rana is polyamorous and kinky, and wants to share and be shared with their partners. In an ideal situation, they act as service top and Submissive in a D/S dynamic with Minthara, Shadowheart, and Lae'Zel; Minthara also acts as the Domme of Shadowheart, Lae'Zel, and Karlach. Minthara only agrees to this dynamic if it's a Hierarchical relationship with her at the top.)

Acceptable Ships: Karlach, Halsin, Astarion, Dame Aylin and Isobel, and Abdirak (If Shadowheart and/or Minthara give Rana permission, they'll happily be with other people)

OT3: In a polycule with the entire party (Rana wants to get passed around like a blunt)

Brotp: Karlach, Wyll, Minsc, Astarion, Gale

Notps: Jaheira (sees Jaheira as a mother/grandmother/mentor figure, but is entirely willing to platonically help Jaheira with her kids, considering they find out Jaheira's the one who adopted Mala ie Rana's daughter),

Gortash (Rana's ex-boyfriend from before the tadpole amnesia, whom enabled their Urges and vices. Rana wishes things could have gone differently, they saw potential in Gortash, and mourn what could have been had he not turned to tyranny and extortion. They resent him for what he did to Karlach, but can't bring themself to hate him, because in his own ways he managed to help them by crafting a prosthetic eye specially made for them, and they at one point held some strange distorted love for each other),

Orin (not only did Orin give Rana the brain trauma and tadpole that resulted in their amnesia, but Orin also SA'd Rana during the time before they became head of the Bhaalist cult, which resulted in Rana going into hiding for a year and a half to have their daughter Mala and smuggle her away to a family that would protect her. Rana feared what would've happened if they raised a child within the cult, knowing the traumatic hell of Orin's own incestuous conception and cult upbringing. There was a high likelihood they would have killed the child due to the Urge, if they kept Mala within the cult. Even so, the good still in Rana wanted to find a way to forgive Orin, and drag her out of the cult kicking and screaming. If they could have found a way to renounce Bhaal without being forced to kill Orin, they would. Alas, they couldn't find a way to save their bloodkin from the lash of Bhaal.)

Raphael (Rana already felt like their soul was forfeit by virtue of being a Bhaalspawn, they're loathe to chain themself to a manipulative devil as well, even though they find his honeyed words alluring and the idea of being a devil's plaything is...not entirely unappealing for someone who enjoys being a service submissive like Rana.)

Link to the lil dagger dividers I used for this post

[paradisetemporarilymisplaced]

if I see one more post abt how ‘taylor swift isn’t a tortured poet she’s too rich for that’ I’m gonna mcfreakin lose it

[dimonds456]

Alright guys, sit down, I have to tell you all something very important. It's something you already know, but you NEED to hear this again.

You only get ONE life.

You only get one shot at this. You only get one lifetime to live it to your definition of the fullest, be that skydiving, entrepreneurship, or a quiet marriage. You only get one shot to tell people the things you need to tell them. You only get ONE shot to make yourself happy.

Yes, we have many, many, MANY years and many, MANY, MANY opportunities to start any of these! But... do you really want to do that on your deathbed? After you can look back and decide if you were happy with your life or not? When it's too late to change it?

I phrased this as doom and gloom on purpose, so allow me to elaborate and bring this back down a notch.

This post is about love. Straight-up. You only get ONE life, and I want you to take a moment right now and ask yourself if you're satisfied with how you view the world. Forget your living situation or your mental state for just a moment! How do you like your view of the world?

Is it a dark, disgusting thing, filled with smog, hatred, and fire? Is it a bright, beautiful thing filled with Good Vibes™ and sunshine? Or is it somewhere in the middle? Don't take these words literally. If you were to tell me if you think Earth is a good place to live, what would your honest answer be?

Now, let's go smaller. What is your honest opinion of your own world. Not fictional, real. Your circle of friends. the news you see. You personally. Now, how do you view the world? Did your answer change?

Now, let's ask this: what can you do to improve your opinion of the world?

Your personal sphere is the more important example, here, but this does apply to overall as well. If you're not happy in your own sphere, then you NEED to make a change. Stop reading bad news. Take a breath and leave arguments. Go watch that show you've been putting off. Your Steam library needs dusting.

You only get to live one life. So why are you letting yourself be miserable?

Dogs are real. Cats are real. Music is real. Soft, huggable plushies are real. The sun, fluffy clouds, your friends, potential friends you've never met yet, and you. You are real.

Take a breath. Breathe it in. You are real.

You have the capability to make your own choices.

You have the capability to choose when to hold on or let go of a thing or person.

You have the capability to say no to someone.

You have the capability to do the things you want to do, no matter how bleak your situation looks right now.

And doesn't that sound amazing?

Why do we hold on to hatred? Is hating someone really making you happy, or is it putting words in your mouth?

You don't have to like everyone. Far from it. If you don't like someone, we live in a day and age where avoiding them has never been easier. Block, report, drive away, walk. Anything works.

But you don't have to hate, either.

I'm almost done, I promise, but I want to tell you one more important thing. You probably already know this one, too, but you need to hear it anyway.

Hatred comes from love.

That seems really weird, right? Contradictory? Well, it is!

Hatred of a person could start because someone you love got hurt, or someone you love said bad things about someone else. Hatred could come from witnessing someone you love get hurt by an entire group, or one person. Or, it could come from watching a clip on the news. It could come from listening to your family talk about how much they hate a group, and then you'll hate that group, too, because you love your family.

That's all it is.

Any form of hatred can be broken down in this way. We hate because we feel that something or someone we love is violated, and we want to protect them. This can be from things like lions, tigers, plagues, and oceans, but it could also be from race, sexuality, bodily autonomy, countries, or your very own neighbors

But... is that hatred justifiable?

Can you really hate the entire ocean because your friend almost drowned there? Can you really hate a lion for needing to eat? Can you really hate someone who just wants to feel right in this world?

Cuz guess what?

You only have ONE SHOT at life.

But so do they.

Every creature needs to eat, no matter what your relationship with their prey is. The ocean isn't even alive, your fellow man was just unprepared to face it, and that's no one's fault. And that trans person wants to live their life to the fullest, too, whatever their definition of fullest is.

Now that I have the transphobes' attention, is hating this group making you happy?

I'd bet the majority of you say yes, right? But stop and think about this. Really, really think about this. What is something you've always wanted to do? Paint? Fly? Study? It can be anything.

Now, is hating a group of people in any way getting you closer to that dream?

...

No, right?

So why are you wasting the energy?

This goes about any group, too. Jewish people, people of color, gay people, muslims, disabled people, ect. Is hating this group of people who also only get ONE shot really making you happy? Helping you achieve your dreams?

No, right?

So why are you wasting the energy?

Now, if a group IS getting in the way (or trying to get in the way) of you trying to achieve those dreams? Great! I hate fascism, too! But now you know why.

You only get ONE shot at life. The choices you're making now are building up to a grander whole, a tapestry you will see as you lay on your death bed. Did you live a good life?

Yes, we struggle. There are times when it's fucking unfair. The world seems out to get us sometimes, but that's not your fault. Your responsibility then becomes what you choose to do with those struggles. Crumple under them, or push through? It's easy to fall apart, but so, so worth it in the end to get that 1st place ribbon you've always wanted.

So, how can you improve your worldview today?

[saltyfilmmajor]

They couldn’t translate the detective Conan reference in English or Spanish I’m crying

[forvirresky]

Actually. Re the su post tags. I think pearl was holding it together rather well, really. Some seriously remarkable and commendable composure. We really only see a few instances of it slipping through, and it only turns into a true break in composure when someone presses her on it. If I were her I really dont think I could bear to see the guy that took my best and first and only (for a really long time) friend away from me. Yes it was roses decision, but greg was the catalyst that allowed it to happen at all. I think I would be really resentful, even if I didn't want to be. I certainly could never be the guys friend.

Dude and the implication of pearl possibly getting with a human????? (barring the possibility of the pink pearl that mightve had that subtext? Unsure. There was a fairly long stretch where pearl was shown getting a bunch of humans numbers. And the pink haired girl episode especially) she is never gonna be able to have that crazy lengthy history she had with rose with any human. They just don't live long enough. That's so little time in comparison. It would just be potential after potential after potential. A brief time of attachment and they're gone, and she'd still be there. Again!! It'd be rose over and over and over. I think I'd go bonkers!!!

Anyways su was ok and I'm not into it anymore but some of the character stuff has really stuck with me.

[eleu22]

You guys do not appreciate Gaz enough so I’m here to sell him to you

this shit is important so yall better read

I truly don’t understand the lack of Gaz love -

ok well

I do at some level

I think the argument usually levied against his character id that he’s boring

but beautifully stated by tumblr user mockerycrow in their character analysis of him

CHARACTERS DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE A TRAGIC BACKSTORY TO BE INTERESTING CHARACTERS

press keep reading to fall in love with Gaz

Who is Gaz?

I’m going to start out with who Gaz is as a character

morality

Gaz is someone who has a strong sense of morality and struggles with the balance between doing the right thing and doing the morally right thing, there’s this debate between long-term morality and situational morality that Gaz struggles with

look im maybe not the most linguistically talented person on earth so im just gonna throw in a few quotes which i think gives Gaz

Gaz is someone who admist chaos and war is trying his best, trying his best to be a good person, to be reliable and to do the right thing

if thays not lovable idk what is

relationship to price

ok so i think this aspect of Gaz’s character is what people tend to focus on

and as much as the omg price’s son shit is cute i think he’s become a vehicle for people to emphasise price’s daddy factor (which like dont get me wrong keep up the good work)

but i think theres so much more to that

i forgot who wrote this but someone said something about Gaz trying to follow in impossibly large footsteps and i think thats so accurate

going back to Gaz’s struggle with morality there’s so much untapped potential in the idea that his idol, may not be an amazing person, having to come to grips with the idea that Price, his role model can look at a woman and child as interrogation leverage is something that i think people need to look into more

OK so now

Untapped Potential

so here are somethings which i

idk if this is like the correct phrasing

headcannon? idk i just think these are parts of Gaz’s character which could be rlly interesting to explore

ahem

yes Gaz is a good guy, but that doesn’t make him passive Gaz has shown moments of anger, like in the interrogation with the butcher when he lunges at him or when him and price first meet

i think the fact that Gaz is so calm and collected but has these moments are cracks in the facade he creates

i believe personally he has a lot of repressed anger whether it be at the world, at himself, at his captain hes an angry dude hes just better at keeping it under wraps

and i know we don’t really have many details on his backstory but cmon there’s no way u sign up for a job like this and don’t have any issues whatsoever

i think this quote is so good for this because he’s harnessed his anger, it’s what makes him good at his job, a knife, a weapon

i think another interesting concept for Gaz is guilt

the fact that he cares about whats right and wrong how does he feel going to sleep at night? do these things haunt him? is he irredeemable?

i think its like that one quote “the dog that weeps after it kills is no better than the dog that doesn’t. My guilt does not purify me.”

Final Thoughts

anyways guys thanks for coming to my ted talk

i know this was really messy but i just want to encourage some Gaz love because i think he’s a really interesting complex character who we just need to dig a little deeper into

i hope this incites some more gaz love

THANK YOU 😳

[marsmaximoff]

🦑 hwang jun-ho; headcanons 〇△□

content warning: gn!reader. fluff. mentions of death, coma and jealousy. pet names. no season 2 spoilers. let me know if i missed anything.

word count: 941

author’s note: well, my man is back, and i had to write some headcanons for him. the OBSESSION that i had back in 2021 needs to be studied, omg. anyway, as always, constructive criticism is welcomed, english is my third language, so i apologize for any mistakes. in case i don’t post anything else this year, happy 2025 everybody!! enjoy! 🩷

divider by @k1ssyoursister

〇 pre-games

best. boyfriend. ever.

that’s it, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

🙃🙃🙃

his love languages are:

1) quality time

he may be a police detective, but he ALWAYS tries to make time for you 

and see you every day, and if he can’t, he’ll save some minutes to call you

loves to hear about your day

big on communication, that’s key on your relationship 

type of boyfriend that picks you up after work, or anything really

he just wants to see your cute face :3

takes you out on cool dates

to the park, to eat, to cute animal cafés

he’s okay with staying in too, just cuddling, talking, watching something….

and 2) acts of service 

will drive you anywhere you need

you get ‘good morning/night’ texts every single day you’re not together

makes you breakfast 

and has no problem with cooking for you

opens doors for you 

pulls out the chair at the restaurant ☝🏻

he’ll simply do anything you need

loves coming home to you, it doesn't matter how shitty or overwhelming his day was, you just put a smile on his face

his favorite thing to do with you is eating

it may sound boring, but he loves to see you taking care of yourself, well-fed and happy

takes you to meet his family

his mom loves you

even his brother likes you

he’s a tease and enjoys seeing you all flustered

i feel like he’d be the type to have many pics of you on his phone that he goes back to whenever he misses you

you’re probably his wallpaper, perhaps even on his wallet too 🤭

some pet names like: “honey”, “love”, “beautiful”, “cutie”

would never cheat

a guard dog

not super jealous -a bit tho- but won't hesitate to step up if someone acts stupid 

(picture that one scene in season 2 when that man mocked him and didn’t believe he was an actual police detective hehe)

shows you off 🤩

checks you out :p

his hand is on you in some way when you’re out

has good emotional intelligence

big spoon

reminds you to take your make up off before bed if you wear any -he may even do it himself if you're too tired

or to take meds

he is just really caring and supportive

doesn't like seeing you worried or anxious because of his job

absolutely hates to see you suffer

doesn’t mind that you may be struggling financially, it won’t change what he feels

will help you with whatever it is

just don’t hide it, he hates secrets and lies

i hate doing it, but there always has to be some 🚩 

he’s the first one that would do it (lying and hiding stuff) to ensure you’re okay and don’t get worried

on a particularly overwhelming day, he will raise his voice at you

can get really overprotective 

some days you may not hear from him, or at least not much

will sometimes struggle to open up about his issues or what’s upsetting him

△ during the games

after your sudden disappearance, worry and fear ate him up

while checking your house he found a weird card

and once he discovered the exact same one at his brother’s, he knew something was going on

heard gi-hun at the police station rambling about some weird symbols and immediately recognized the design

interrogated him about you, desperate to know about your whereabouts 

as soon as he successfully infiltrated the games, he began your search

almost had a heart attack when he spotted you

had to make the effort of his life to stay calm and not run to you

would somehow manage to get you two alone so he can get you out of there (i wrote about this)

almost gets caught

feels betrayed you didn’t tell him and quite angry you’d risk your own life like this

but mostly relieved you’re okay (and still alive)

watches you like a hawk from the distance, ensuring your safety

constantly around, you continuously sense his presence close by 

□ post-games (you died)

had to see your death and practically went numb

blurry vision, ringing in his ears, shortness of breath, sting in his throat

the worst thing tho, was finding out his brother had been behind everything

how could he have done this to you? you trusted him! 

feels completely disgusted

after his coma, he blames himself for everything

your name was his first word after waking up

dreams about you 

gets you a cenotaph given that your body will forever remain strayed

nevertheless, he still talks to you like you’re there

tells you about his recovery and his progress finding the island

you are his strongest motivation

he’s doing this for you, to provide the love of his life a much deserving peaceful rest

gets you new flowers every few days

he’ll never stop feeling guilty

〇 post-games (you survived)

has nightmares he failed and left you to meet your demise on those cursed games

always there when you have them, and so is his shoulder if you need to cry

reassurance king

hides the identity of his attacker from you

becomes even more overprotective

shared location on at all times

gets paranoid if you don’t text him all day

he swore to never miss a single detail of your possible struggles. not again

you can still tell he holds himself responsible for your time on that island

stays awake at night just watching you sleep safe and sound (will never say it tho)

babies you

bigger spoon

doesn’t let you go out on your own if it’s late, afraid that something may happen and those psychopaths will reach you again

[icarusredwings]

I love watching how animalistic they let Logan be in X men Evolution.

He's always sniffing, hunting, tracking, growling, snarling, scratching, sometimes hisses even. He has fangs, he runs around like a phyco, climbs stuff, pounces, jumps down from high locations like it's nothing, pins, and ravages his prey.

He protects those kids like a mother bear and rolls his eyes like a father who's fed up with his mansion full of angsty hyperactive children.

It's great.

There's a couple handful of scenes when he pulls himself away from the children.

In epusode 11, he absolutely wrecks his room, causing a shit ton of damage, almost slices kitty, but stops. Kitty then talks about how much of a scolding Logan is gonna get from charles only to find him pacing the garden like a trapped wild tiger, the type that even when released in the wild still paces the same 10x 10 and dies from starvation when theres no zookeeper to care for them.

Charles comes up to him, and immediately Logan is an open book, asking for help, whining how much his head hurts and is tearing him apart.

Afterwards, Logan takes the black bird to go track down who ever did this to him only to almost stab kurt so instead locked himself away from the kids.

When they land and after, he's forced to join with Sabertooth due to some chip in his head, lowkey making him hunt these kids. Im pretty sure Kurt pissed his pants. (Same), but Kitty overrides him by asking if he really wants to hurt her. You can see the pain in logans eyes. He obviously doesn't.

He then ends up exploding the experimental place, and charles took out the chip. He tells him that he still hurts emotionally. UGH, my boy is so soft, and no one gets that. He's literally a rescue ex fighting pitty, scarred, scared, reactive, agressive towards men and charles unfortunately is the white woman who has decided to put a sweater on him and give him cocoa butter rubs after his baths.

(I also like that not only Spyke calls Ororo 'Auntie O', but so does the other kids. Rouge saying she hates cats is also something that feels out of character for her. Also, can Charles stop sending Logan to Magneto battles? Like, bruh, you know he's gonna be useless, and it's just gonna end badly. Stop playing this poor man. But anyway. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.)

[thegeminisage]

lucanis's pet snake

lucanis mentions in veilguard that he has a pet snake, but he doesn't give the snake a name. however, i know in my heart that the snake's name is illario. please come on a journey with me to consider a scenario:

lucanis wants a pet but crows don't do that sort of thing but he can have a pet if it's a snake because that's not a pet that's a little venom machine :) it's even kind of like a tiny wyvern if you squint right :) 

and caterina is like ok you can have a snake 👍 but don't like love it or get attached to it or anything. absolutely do Not give it a name do not embarrass this house

and lucanis is like ok yes i can do this and of course decides he Must name the snake. he will die on the spot if the snake is not named, by him

but it can't be like a Real Name because what if he says it loud and then gets caught Loving The Snake (i am picturing lucanis in his teens which is fine some snakes can live up like 30-60 years)

so he names the snake illario because if he accidentally refers to the snake by its name he can just pretend he's talking about human illario

(the unforseen outcome of this is that he is now in danger of calling his cousin human illario, which is a really normal thing to call your cousin around people who don't know what you named your snake)

snake illario (snillario if you will) is not like human illario. snake illario doesn't complain about lucanis's dossiers. snake illario is happy to do his part as a crow (making venom for lucanis's poisons). snake illario doesn't care that lucanis never says no to caterina. snake illario would never make fun of lucanis for being a virgin. human illario may have done this a time or two. or ten. or twenty.

it is so crucial to me that human illario Hates This Snake. he's like, why would you own a pet snake. what kind of freaky shit is happening in that snake enclosure oh EW andraste's holy cabbage cousin is that a fucking MOUSE (wigmaker job illario is infamously fussy and squeamish). the very first time he sees that snake unhinge his jaw he is done with snakes forever for the rest of eternity. get a cat or something, freak. the snake is not the reason illario decides to kill lucanis but it doesn't have nothing to do with it either

meanwhile, lucanis is so happy because snake illario doesn't fight with him about who is going to be first talon or whether or not he should quit being a crow. snake illario is just happy to be here. snake illario accepts displays of affection (the display of affection involves dead mice). it's kind of like getting to cook for human illario without all the complicated emotions. snillario is the best thing that's ever happened to him

anyway and then illario pays to have his cousin killed and while lucanis is presumed dead and in the ossuary, out of cousinly guilt human illario tries to feed snake illario like one (1) time and then immediately decides he has enough money to pay to have this done but there is not enough money in the world to get him to touch a dead mouse

and even after lucanis gets back from the ossuary illario never finds out what the snake's name is.

here is an artistic depiction of snillario by my good friend @maulthots

thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[goodnightbirdy]

it’s is 9:30 am. i woke up thinking about the fact that house tells cuddy they won’t work out bc he can’t change, he will go back to doing awful things, and she knows he will.

cuddy tells house she doesn’t want him to change

and he knows that a lie so he does change, he works hard to care about rachel, he actively tries so hard to be less misanthropic, he stays off vicodin. But it’s unsustainable bc he’s right, HE CANT CHANGE.

he told her. he warned her of exactly how he is, and she was still surprised, when he relapsed, when he was awful to her EVEN THOUGH HE TOLD HER THAT HE WOULD BE

she breaks up with him for the exact reason he knew she would and it breaks him. it reinforces EVERYTHING he’s been saying since day one.

Everybody Lies.

anyways, that’s all thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[leoleolovesdc]

It’s so weird that Heathers the musical toned down so many things from the story (Veronica’s gray morality, JD’s behavior as a whole, Kurt and Ram’s sa on the girls, etc.) but decided to make the Heathers way bigger assholes than they are in the movie.

McNamara doesn’t do anything in the movie, she just goes along with Chandler and kicks Veronica one time at the beginning but then in the musical she’s setting up a fcking date rape??? She goes along with the boys during Sword Fight in Her Mouth and is just a bitch to Veronica all of the time, but everyone in the fandom (and also Veronica somehow) kind of ignores it because she acts innocent.

Duke, even though she isn’t made that much worse from her movie version, (except for the date rape thing with McNamara) is also way more agressive and obnoxious. In the movie, even after Duke turns into a Chandler carbon copy she’s still a funny and likeable character. In the musical she is an asshole even before Chandler dies and her and Veronica keep antogonizing each other from beginning to end when in the 1989 version they were pretty much friends until the last minute.

I think one could make an argument that Duke’s bullying of McNamara is also worse in the musical, but I’m a bit lazy to adress that, so just have in mind that in the musical she’s also more agressive, screaming at Mac at live TV instead of just writing “poor little Heather” on the board.

Chandler in the musical is more of a cartoon character than a person. She screams at everything and everyone for no reason whatsoever, she isn’t necessarily a worse person, just very flanderized and, I’m sorry, but I can’t believe that somone who acts that way could even have a chance of climbing so high on the social hierarchy of a school. Heather in the movie was a bitch, but she knew how to keep up appearances. She acted nice, she played people, she never had to scream to get things to go her way, that was how she managed to be so powerful.

The movie is a parody of teenage narratives, the musical takes that parody and plays it straight. That’s how you get an absurd story where the three mean girls of the school are annoying bitchy monsters and the literal murderer is a sympathetic villain.

I think the Heathers 1989 is interesting because of how literally everyone is a bad person, but at the same time not everyone is the same kind of bad.

You have bad Chandler, an fatphobic asshole who doesn’t care about anything unless it affects her. You have bad Kurt and Ram, homophobic, sexist guys who have raped multiple girls. You have bad McNamara, only follows other people’s leads which makes her act like an asshole. You have bad Duke, is not evil when controlled but when given the opportunity she will become an asshole. You have bad Veronica, an uncaring and murderous person who in the end makes the right choice. And you have bad JD, the kind of guy who he thinks he’s justified in blowing up a whole school just because everyone there kind-of-really-fucking-sucks.

All of these people are assholes and some of them should be in jail, but that doesn’t make the psycho who’s killing them some kind of martyr, he’s still just as bad, maybe even worse, than all ofthe others. The musical makes JD look justifiable.

He was good person, he was just traumatized!

If only he had gotten help!

No. Just no. JD was psycho. He was trying to blow up a school. That’s not justified, doesn’t matter what sort of heroic reason he may have he had. Which, by the way, he didn’t. He wasn’t killing people because they were assholes, he was killing people because he was an asshole.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. Yes, I still love all of thsoe characters despite how much shit I talked about all of them, sorry this got long, one thing lead to another, and now I have spent like two hours writing this and my arms hurt from holding an ipad. Bye.

[aergate-fr]

wow new, fat breed i hope people are being normal about it.

i think one of the main criticisms i’ve seen with everlux is that their design is anatomically/biologically implausible in some way, largely related to how they’re really fat with really thin legs. the main thing being fat distribution. going to say right off the bat that YES i know these things are dragons, and thus vertebrates. so you wouldn’t expect them to have the proportions of something like a grub

counterpoint to this: i dont think staff cares

so many of the other breeds have absolutely wild anatomy that would not work in the real world without magic. so many of these breeds should not be able to fly at all. staff does not care about the anatomical plausibility of their dragons; they just want to make a design they’re satisfied with

besides, criticizing the design because it’s “implausible” or has wonky anatomy doesn’t really work when there are REAL-WORLD EXAMPLES of small animals with large bodies and legs as thin as twigs, just like the everlux have (lots of them being insects, which is convenient considering the everlux are Based On Insects)

out of the 3 insect breeds we’ve gotten, veilspuns are some sort of. weird little dragon fairy thing? aethers are moths. and everlux are grubs. go look at a grub and tell me how big its legs are compared to its body

(traced-over picture of a grub, for the insect phobia havers :3 phobia havers who are not really rude about bugs like that person in the announcement thread was: u guys are the real ones. thanks for being normal)

they are really fuckin’ chunky, with really thin legs. which is exactly what everlux are shaped like

and a thing i think not enough people are keeping in mind is the size of these dragons. the longest everlux i was able to find was .9 meters (just under 3 feet), which includes the tail. so the head and body are like. half of that. these things are SMALL

there is something called the square-cube law, which, when applied to biology, explains why something like a mouse does just fine with its thin, spindly legs when it’s at the size it’s already at. but if you make that mouse the size of an elephant, then those thin legs are no longer enough to support its weight; it’d need thicker legs to be able to stand up and walk, like an elephant. an elephant, in turn, would not need legs that thick if you made it the size of a mouse

everlux dragons are on the smaller side, which puts them closer to mice with their thin legs. thin legs like that are perfectly fine to support a smaller creature, especially considering how many they have. if anything, I’d say the main issue with them is leg length. those things Barely reach past the body, they’d probably need something longer if they didn’t want to be smacking their belly on every single rock or exposed root or whatever that's in their path

TL;DR the anatomy of everlux dragons is perfectly reasonable you’re just fatphobic

(i know not everyone who has critiqued or complained about the body size vs leg size is doing it because fatphobia/internalized fatphobia. this isn't directed at those people; it's directed at the people who are. though if anything its just me using this as an excuse to complain lmao) (also this is the result of Years of watching shit like this happen so its less the reaction to everlux in particular and more it being the latest in a long string of fatphobic discourse) (aren’t you tired of being nice. don’t you just want to go ape shit.)

anyway. the ideal everlux dragon would look like this:

thanks for coming to my ted talk