#because i originally created to be FOR ME

[jackedjacket]

I'm going to go on a rant about P-town because it's an incredibly important part of queer history that a large majority of queer people don't know about.

P-town, also known as Provincetown, was the first place where it was legal to be openly gay and trans, starting as early as the 1920s, if not earlier. It was originally known for it's art, created by many queer artists and their friends, and many people were able to live open, happy lives in this part of America, something that was not afforded for queers in most other parts of the country. In the 1970s, the popularity of this town among the queer community exploded because it was known for being the only place where one could crossdress or hold hands with their partner without being arrested for it, causing hundreds if not thousands of queer people to vacation or move there permanently. In 2004, Massachusetts became the first and only state to legalize gay marriage, making Provincetown even more popular than it already was. Today, P-town is known as the "gay mecca" of America and has a vast, vibrant queer community.

I see a lot of hate for the New England area in online queer spaces and in lots of books, and it makes me incredibly upset because that is the birthplace of most of our rights. New England is where Stonewall happened (I know NYC is 'technically' not in NE, but...yes it is). New England is where queer people were first allowed to be ourselves. New England is one of the safest places to live as a queer person to this day, Massachusetts continuing to fight desperately for the rights of queer and trans individuals while other states willingly give them up. I love New England and our history there.

There is, it's called P Town and it's full of beautiful faggots

[thegoogoomuckkk]

Can I get a smau about them finding out you were a jujitsu sorcerer? Like you’ve been dating 4 years and you just casually drop it out of nowhere. Like a REALL strong one too (stronger than SUKUNA strong) ps. Let me be delusional pls😍

NOW PLAYING

SECRETS

them finding out you're actually a jujutsu sorcerer

Starring: choso kamo, kento nanami, kiyotaka ijichi, satoru gojo, suguru geto, takuma ino

Warnings! none

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ok, first of all: thank you for this phenomenal request!!!! I love fulfilling requests, regardless of what they are because I just love interacting with you guys & sharing my writing with y'all, but it's always so fun & amazing to get a request that I'm so genuinely excited to fulfill & that inspires me as a creator, so thank you!!!

secondly: I kind of took the request & ran with it. I had a hard time coming up with a solution to like, why would they not know about it if they were dating, like that's an odd secret to keep?? So I originally planned on making this a pre-relationship kind of situation, but I have such a hard time with that, I always feel like anytime I try to create something like that it's so cringey & forced, idk??? So I'm sorry if this isn't exactly what you were asking for!

third: you'll notice the cast list for this smau is somewhat different than previous ones. I don't plan on keeping the same exact people or number of people in rotation for each post. When it comes to smau or writing in general, the last thing I want to do is force myself to create something. I typically don't add suguru to my smaus, but I felt like he really fit within this one & I had an idea for him. I didn't include any of the non-sorcerer characters because that made the most sense to me. In the future, if you'd like me to include a specific character (like suguru or sukuna, for example, who aren't in all of my smaus), just let me know; otherwise, it might be a mixed bag.

okay, fourth & final thing: this maybe only occurred to me, & if so, yay! but the whole time I was making this, I kept thinking that if this actually happened, they would probably never choose to have this conversation with you over text, & they'd probably have a much larger reaction. Those kinds of things are pretty difficult to capture in a 3-4 screenshot smau, if you know what I mean. Plus, angst is really not my bag at all; I wish it was & maybe I'll write more of it in the future, but not today.

xoxo, carlisle!

LOOKING FOR SOME MORE? MASTERLIST <3

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING SPECIFIC? ASK <3

[httyd-art-requests]

So the teaser for the live action How To Train Your Dragon film has dropped. Have you seen it? Any thoughts on it?

I just saw it, and BOY do I have some thoughts about it lmao

Live action remakes already annoy me for several reasons, and as much as I want to be excited for "new" HTTYD media, it really misses the mark for me

The movie doesn't look original to me. It's so obviously a remake of something else that it loses any personality it could otherwise have. If the original HTTYD movie had been a live action movie from the start, it would have looked nothing like this, because the creators would have tried to create something that stood out from other movies. This one just feels like a checklist being completed in front of me: "right so we'll have this scene, and then we'll have this scene, and the dragon does this, and the boy does this, and then this is the part the fans like so we're going to recreate it 1:1", but no real understanding of what made the original as beloved as it is.

This trailer just looks soulless to me, but I'm holding out hope that the other trailers will show us more and hopefully prove me wrong

Toothless's design is... fine I guess? They made his hind legs digitegrade for some reason, which just looks very jarring to me. Idk why they felt the need to change it, it's one of the details that made his design feel unique to me. Like dragons' legs are almost always depicted as dinosaur-like and digitegrade, and HTTYD having dragons that have plantigrade legs feels really cool. The wings are comically oversized and he lost a lot of his personality based on the scene recreations shown in the trailer (like the silly People Sit he does in the original, now he just sits like a dog lmao) but it really, really could have been worse.

I slowed it down to catch some of the other dragon species' designs and eeeeeehhhh... They're recognizable, I'll say that. They also lost a lot of the personality that the original models had, they look a lot more uniform in their proportions. I really don't see why making them look "realistic" has to mean that they look more boring, when we have so many animals irl that look fake and made up because of how absurd they look. They could have had more fun with it is what I'm saying

Casting Gerard Butler as Stoick feels like the only actually good decision, his voice as Stoick just can't be recreated. Hiccup's actor is... also fine I guess, no strong feelings whatsoever.

The thing that bothers me the most is the lighting. The original HTTYD movie paid special attention to making the lighting look as realistic and believable as possible. It's atmospheric and helps you get sucked into the world while you watch. "Subdued" is probably a good word to describe it. It very intentionally doesn't go overboard. The lighting in the trailer looks fake as hell. They could be using real actual lighting conditions on set and I still wouldn't believe it's real.

Overall, I have mixed feelings despite all the negative things I just listed. I'm sharing in the excitement of all the people who want to watch it, but I'm still disappointed that it, like, exists at all. No matter what this movie ends up looking like, I'm always going to prefer the original animated movies. I'm open to being proved wrong though, I really hope this movie is going to be better than anything we're imagining rn

[maxwell-grant]

I think it’s interesting, considering how most live-action superhero adaptations kill off the villains after their debut, that both The Batman and The Penguin end with the villains not just living, but set up to return and somehow cause Even Bigger Problems down the line. Is this just because it’s the first Batman film adaptation that’s a capital-F Franchise, so the writers need the villains to stick around long-term, or is something else going on?

Almost entirely comes down to the fact that The Batman was not meant to be Batman's origin story - by Reeves' own admission, it was the origin story of the Rogues Gallery. They got the Cloverfield and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes guy and he did a story about the boots-on-the-ground gritty perspective on larger-than-life terrors emerging from the ruins and failings of human civilization, taking the struggles and wars and laborious processes that others shy away from and putting them front in center. It's just this time, instead of kaijus and parasites attacking and destroying the city, instead of apes emerging as the Mad Max warlords rising from the ashes to fight over the world, we have Batman villains in that role instead.

To me, that was actually the conception - if we weren't going to do a Batman origin story, but we were going to do it in the early years, I thought well, in the comics, the rogues gallery characters often are creating their alter egos in response to the fact that a masked vigilante shows up in Gotham called the Batman.

And so I thought, oh well, what we could do is see all of the rogue's gallery characters in their origins, like Selina Kyle before she's Catwoman, and that we could go into, as we're looking for a suspect, we could go to a nightclub, a nightclub could be the Iceberg Lounge and we could see a pre-kingpin Oz, and we could see, you know, a Riddler who is declaring himself the Riddler sort of because there's a Batman. And so all of that was sort of built into the conception. - Matt Reeves

It's far from the first Batman film adaptation to be a capital-F Franchise, even if that aspect was there - Reeves initially pitched the movie as an HBO series, and throughout production pitched additional show ideas such as an Arkham show or a Gotham PD show, The Penguin being the only one that survived as far as we know. This pulls off an origin from the Rogues Gallery better than every other Batman media ever made, and there's a couple of reasons why it does so and why the villains get to take center stage here:

Part of the difference between the way Nolan tackled realistic Batman, and the way Reeves tackles realistic Batman, is that Nolan needs realism to explain Batman, and Reeves needs realism entirely in the service of making Batman weirder. Pattison Batman is the weirdest Bruce ever put on film almost entirely because he lives in our world while still being Batman in every way that counts - Keaton Bats slept upside down in a cave, but he lived in a Tim Burton world. Adam West Bats is weird, but everybody is like that or even weirder than he is, he is the comedic straightman to everyone else. And where as Nolan needs Batman to be the thing that makes sense, Reeves needs Batman to be the thing that doesn’t make sense.

Nolan wanted weird difficult irreducible villains opposite a logical pragmatically sensible Batman, and Reeves wants exactly the opposite. For Nolan, even besides the Joker who was defined entirely around the lack of a real explanation for him, you have his take on Two-Face, Bane, the Al Ghuls, characters that don't demand that much reasoning or explanation because they can act and exist in ways that defy logic, while Batman's the guy who has to hold the center of logic and reason. Where as here, Pattison Batman is the most interesting and complicated and larger-than-life figure this world is dealing with in much the same way that Ledger Joker was for his movie, and everyone else is in the position of starting out and having to deal with Batman and the paradigm shift he brings - nobody else in the movie is quite the character they were supposed to be, that's something they're all growing into in response to their nightmare city and what this titanic freak in armor represents to them.

Even The Riddler is ultimately explainable, human, reducible to his tantrums and vulnerabilities, even without you knowing in-depth his character and backstory that would be elaborated for Dano's Year One. Even The Penguin - he may be larger-than-life, he may be unexplainable on some level, but we know all too well all of his failings and feelings and life story and all the cracks in his persona that he killed Victor to try and bury. But Batman? Next to everyone else, he is still an anomaly, he is just Like That, even to his own detriment and that of the city, and he learns that he must apply being Like That to something better.

Reeves is not interested in doing "Batman vs [X]" movies, the movies are going to be focused on Batman's arc first and foremost, which means the villains will never really take them over the way they've usually done - this is a world where it's the villains who react to Batman, not the other way around. This frees them from the burden of having to exist in direct relation to how much they can directly menace Batman, and it makes it so that these are characters that can carry their own spin-offs, which is probably a lot easier for WB to work with because these are spin-offs that they don't really have to get Pattison to show up for, but they can construct in ways that don't even need Batman to be physically there. Even after The Penguin, they might not have to do that Smallville/Gotham song-and-dance of teasing a main character who'll never get to be here, there are a lot of other things happening in Reeves' Gotham besides the existence of Batman, even if the existence of Batman has changed all of them. So structurally speaking this series has a ton of room for reocurring villains, and building it has been one of their top priorities. In fact, this ONLY gets to do so because the movie already laid out the entire groundwork for them and how it all ties together.

See, the way Batman stories do the rise of a Rogues Gallery and how it affects the city and therefore Batman always follows a sort of a 7-step program:

Gotham City is ruled by crime, crime that takes away the Waynes (Falcone / Carl Grissom (89) / Falcone backed by the League (Nolan) / the Falcone-Hill-Wayne triumvirate (Telltale) / Gotham S1 and first-half of S2)

Crime begats Batman, who beats Crime

Crime + Batman = Weird Crime (Jack Napier becomes Joker after an encounter with Batman (89) / "we still haven't picked up Crane and those other Arkham inmates btw check out this weird card" (Nolan) / Black Mask and the international assassins + Joker's rise (Arkham) / Children of Arkham (Telltale) / the Indian Hill experiments and patients (Gotham)

Weird Crime Replaces Crime (The Long Halloween / Joker takes over the mob (89) / the mob is so impressed by the pencil trick they give Joker all the money (Nolan) / Joker literally replaces Black Mask in the process of becoming Batman's main enemy (Arkham) / Penguin assassinates Mayor Hill and the Children enter a war with Mayor Dent (Telltale) / Indian Hill breakout and Maniax cult and etc (Gotham)

Weird Crime is a Rogues Gallery now (Penguin and Catwoman and Max Shreck in the sequel (Burton) / Joker and Two-Face become separate problems, Bane + Talia + Crane + Catwoman in the sequel (Nolan) / after Origins a whole asylum full of them (Arkham) / Riddler + The Pact and John becoming Joker proper (Telltale) / Gotham S3 with Tetch and Riddler and the Legion of Horribles

The city is changed by the new paradigm

Batman responds / expands or retracts in response to this change

(4 and 5 don't necessarily always happen one before the other, mind you, frequently you do have a Weird Crime Rogues Gallery before Weird Crime replaces Crime at the head of the table)

And you can apply this to most other Batman stories that don't automatically start and stay at level 5. But where as all of these have to stretch the process across sequels and continuations, The Batman is the first Batman work that gets to do all 7 of them in one row. It gets 1 and 2 done offscreen before the opening act and shown to us how they happened throughout the movie's reveals, 3-4-5-6 comprise the Riddler's plot + the other United Underworld members roped into it, and it ends with 7. Even the Batmanless spin-offs follow the process: The Riddler: Year One covers Eddie's perspective on 1-2 as he enters stage 3 and prepares it for the movie, and The Penguin covers 4-5-6, leaving us waiting for Bruce's response back to stage 7 where The Batman ended.

And up until The Batman, the process behind the creation of a Rogues Gallery had never really been much of a process - comics that go into the transition like Long Halloween/Dark Victory just show the fall of Carmine Falcone -> the freaks waiting in the wings causing it or happening immediately after. Gotham tries to work that escalation gradually and it starts relatively "normal", but it's always dancing around the premise and the central black hole and the building blocks don't have anything to do with each other - the gang wars and Penguin have nothing to do with Bruce investigating a conspiracy, which has little to do with Gordon and Bullock investigating weird serial killers who keep escalating, and then eventually we get that Hugo Strange was building freaks in his basement at the orders of the Court/Ra's the whole time until they all just escape. You can piece together how Batman works that aren't about this transition ultimately touch on most of those 7 stages and have their own version of it as soon as they introduce Gotham City in a pre-Batman/pre-villain state, but the connections are always rather tenuous and not necessarily connected to each other (and it's fine, y'know, not everything in a story always has to come from the same source).

But everything in The Batman follows a long chain of dominos that had to happen for this system to become the way it needs to be for Batman villains to emerge. Everything started in that one night Thomas Waynes saved Carmine Falcone, everything started from that ensuing connection and Thomas' failures leading to a city ruled by mobsters for 20 years and the sheer level of rot and corruption and human misery that creates and justifies the existence of Batman, and thus The Riddler in his example. Everything we get in The Penguin is the result of this paradigm shift and total civic collapse, showing the destruction of Carmine's empire as well as his legacies torched and mutated by Sofia and Oz respectively. Everything is still connected. The United Underworld guys featured in the movie live and dwell in entirely separate spaces and represent entirely different things, and they're still all connected in the same chain of dominoes, which allows them to expand and cover entirely separate narrative real estate while still giving it all cohesion.

The movie never has to specifically establish a system full of supervillains or made for them, it has to establish a system so utterly fucked and dominated by Falcone, so utterly failed by every institution and body of government and system imaginable, that it creates Batman, and the minute Batman arrives and survives long enough to be a third power / a fifth state, people in his wake trying to respond to him or do the same things he does, as a response to the same afflictions he faced and to his example or influence, are the only logical thing. Without needing to literally show the other rogues waiting in the wings, The Batman established an entire world of possibility just by very smartly using the 4 big ones + Carmine and showing why and how this regular American city becomes a place where supervillains bombing city blocks and running for political office can become a facet of daily life. Joker, Penguin, Catwoman and Riddler - positioned as separate from each other as possible to show the ways in which this is, and maybe always has been, spreading fast out of Batman's control.

And now with The Penguin, reinforcing the chokehold of crime in the city in it's old ways as well as the corrupt mutated new ones brought on by our boy, as well as a new Batman Villain (possibly two, if Eve Karlo ever gets her hands on suspicious make-up) arriving from Penguin's side of things so that it's not just Batman who has a Rogues Gallery to deal with, not just Batman who has terrific enemies waiting in the wings for a chance to enact their own forms of justice and revenge, no, that's just what life is like in Gotham now, forever.

[definitelynot-aleokin]

I both write and read fanfic. I read more than I write because writing while in university is hard. I also started on fanfic.net, though I am of the younger generation. I also spent time on wattpad before moving to ao3. I tend not to comment unless a certain part really gets me. A side comment on a subject here, that I know a lot about and want to share knowledge about how cool it is and you could add this if the fic goes that way! And I comment if I fic has me by the throat, but I only do on the last chapter, not every one. Part of this is while I was still younger, I made many mistakes. I embarrassed myself by commenting. So now, I wait, I think, and then I comment.

When it comes to my own fics, I could be projecting into the void and still write. For me, it's not about how many hits, kudos, or reviews. I write for me. I found, and make, my own happiness as a writer. Still, I LOVE when people comment! I get a lot of squees and "oh this one part is good!" But none are a conversation. I crave the conversation, really. I want to go feral with someone else who is just as feral about the subject (gimme the discords!). I love counting my kudos and hits. I see what stories I have that get a lot of people, and I see the ones that dont. But that doesnt make me write the more popular ones more. I write what I want. I have so many ideas that I dont think anyone is going to read, im still gonna write them (when I have time). Because, if I want it, statistically, there is one other who wants it just as bad. Even if they dont comment or kudo. I dont care. I want to be a writer that I would have wanted, either now, or growing up.

I'm pretty sure people dont like it when I post something original instead of only reblog on Tumblr. It doesnt stop me. And it shouldnt stop you. Its easier said than done, but, create your own validation and happiness.

"should we tell authors on ao3 when we have discord conversations about their fics" i don't speak for everyone here but if y'all ever find a group chat discussing my fics you can should must and WILL send me screenshots of the whole damn thing. inflate my ego. gimme

[nuggetpool-hi]

Guess who watched X-Men origins again

OK SO I got THOUGHTS of this movie but specially Wade's fight style because it's really similar to our current Deadpool's fighting style... so yeah I wanna yap about that hi

WELL FIRST OF wanna talk a lil about Victor, Logan and Wade's different styles... from a mortal's view point I am no expert on this just insane about these movies and I need to write my thoughts or i'll explode

Starting with Victor!! the ultimate kittycat girlypop

I love his kitty self I'm sorry ANYWAY EXAMPLES

OKAY SO VICTOR. Victor's style is obviously very animalistic but also stylized, he makes the fight a show for himself! He likes to hunt and he tries to always give chase or play around a bit before the kill, just like a cat playing with his food!

AND IF you pay attention to the start of the movie, this game he's got with his target isn't initially how he fought, he kinda developed it as the years went by and the eviler he got the more he played with his food. The first few wars he goes to he's fighting like a human soldier, then you can see him slip up some animal jumps and uses his claws more until at the end he's full on predator chasing his prey (just like when he captures Scott, my god I love that scene he's terryfing)

AND A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIM AND LOGAN (that I will also talk about later I guess) is that with this play thing Victor has going on it SHOWS that he THINKS about the stragety when fighting, he's aware of his surroundings and his target's strenghs and weaknesses, he's good at coming up with solutions on the spot (see his fight with John, he can predict where he's going to teleport and catch him) and how to give a good chase without losing WHILE LOGAN WELL, at least in this movie he seems very lost when fighting?? he mostly just launches at his target and attacks, if the target runs away he chases, very animalistic but in a feral-based on instincts way... prolly why he coulnt win agaisnt Victor at first, because he was being blinded by his rage while Victor was quite literally playing with him lmao

ANYWAY LOGAN our favorite traumatized babygirl

and boy does he suffer in this one aughh EXAMPLES

Now you must be wondering why did I put the bathroom scene, well I feel like it represents Logan's general situation pretty well! (and its silly let me be), hes confused destroying everything and just keeps making it worse every time he tries to fix it.

The thing about Logan in this movie is that he's honestly just- confused and angry from the moment he killed his father, he runs away over and over again from EVERYTHING and he's constantly being manipulated BY EVERYONE!! Poor man has no idea what to do with himself of who he can actually trust but damn he tries, his enviroment is contantly changing and he's trying his best to adapt but he does it in a messy way.

The way he fights and acts in general is animalistic, yes, but more of the "scared dog attacks" kind of way, he's always acting on his instinct that it's mostly led by anger. When he fights he just throws himself and tries to slash whatever he can, he runs he hides and then when he gets the chance to he attacks again.

He constantly has little to no control of the situtation WHICH IS SPECIALLY SEEN pre-adamantium where he keeps losing to Victor because unlike him- he has no plan, he's being manipulated and kept blind of everything ON PURPOUSE which obviouly puts him in a disadvantage so yeah.

AFTER he gets the adamantium you can see his skills strengen with his knowledge, the more he lears about his situation the more focused he is and his fighting it's cleaner, he still moslty just launches himself head first into fights BUT he's not running away, he's able to evaluate his situation and adapt (See his fight with Gambit, he looks at him when running away and then destroys the stair so Gambit can't run away OR with Deadpool where he decides to gain height as a way to create the space needed to evaluate his enemy?? that one might be a lil bit of a stretch tho)

WADE WILSON THE ULTIMATE CUTIE PRINCESS

let's ignore how dirty they did him ok...

OKAY SO SADLY- The bullet scene is pretty much the only scene where we see him fight and it's honestly not enough to tell how his normal style is BUT I WILL SAY his general style is fancy to look at and scarily effective (which is mostly seen with our current Wade but you can see a bit in origins deadpool) he makes a show for everyone to see, which is also his stragedy to make himself even better at combat! He uses a lot of fancy movements and acrobatics that help him AND takes his enemies off-guard, confusing them as where they should attack or what he's going to hit?? anyway-

Comparison time yippieee THIS IS WHAT THIS POST IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT LMAO

I did not get side tracked idk what you mean.... and now seeing it over and over I'm realizing not that noticeable.... so it's just not that much to talk about oops

LOOK AT THIS WADE, LOOK AT THE MOVEMENTS HE DOES WITH HIS LEGS!! HIS HANDS??? THIS MAN IS SHOWING OFF he's using all kinds of acrobatics and fancy movements while fighting, he attacks with his hands and dodges using mostly his legs, he's using all he has!! and it's making Logan lose BECAUSE LOGAN CAN'T FOCUS!! specially since he's so "target locked will attack", Wade makes it SO HARD for him to focus on a pose long enough to actually stab him also Logan ain't too good at dodging, I'm guessing it could be because he heals? dunno

now what inmediately came to my mind upon rewatch was THIS scene (maybe because I saw it recently who knows)

THE SETTING IS SO SIMILAR!! Wade is using a lot of fancy movements to get up, dodge and attack all way too fast for Logan to process, once again Logan is looking everywhere confused about where to aim bc this silly red guy it's dancing on his face and he's struggling to keep up JUST LIKE IN ORIGINS except well he IS able to get a hit bahah

Dodges like crazy, jumps over Logan (he did in origins too) just moves a lot between every attack

Actually now that I think about it Wade feels a bit less effective in the car, like yes sure he's putting up a good fight but Logan still feels like he's leading it BECAUSE WADE IS MORE EFFECTIVE WHEN HE HAS MORE SPACE!! he likes to be able to move around and do gimnastics while Logan it's a lot better the closer he gets to his target so omg yeah... ALSO LIKE WADE STILL TRIES TO MOVE AROUND he shoves Logan away from him, he gets out of the car choking logan with a seatbelt and gets to the back, he tries to create space because that's where his speciality WHILE LOGAN keeps trying to get closer to have him in his power, which he gets to do since the car isn't allowing Wade to move as freely as he would want to...

AND YOU CAN SEE HIS FANCY MOVEMENTS WITH FRANCIS TOO he's constantly circuling him, dodging and spinning while Francis is just trying to get a hit, Wade keeps his enemies chasing him when he fight THAT'S the way he controls it and gets it wherever he wants aughh

ANYWAY YEAH I think that's it, don't really know how much sense any of this does since I've been writing it on-and off the whole day lmao it's so messy but yeah feel free to add onto it I'd love to see opinions on this wahoo

Might keep talking about stuff I find interesting in the movies bahah this has been funn

[ab121500]

Listen i'm a big fan of Veilguard. Feel like I gotta start with that.

But can I just say not all origins are created equal?

My first playthrough I did Veil Jumpers. It was cool but there was really no mention or connection to the other Veil Jumpers. You haven't been gone long and yet Bellara doesn't know you? And besides a few little lines theres no real mention of you interacting with the other Jumpers.

Compare that to Crow Rook. Teia missed you, Viago missed you. You hear from gossip with the other crows how Viago is worse when you aren't there. You have fun little conversations with Lucanis. You have a letter from Viago where he calls you Idiot. You matter and were important, only sent away because you had to be but people missed you.

Now i'm not too far in yet but Warden Rook gets fun bits with Davrin. The First Warden hates you even more. Antoine and Evka talk about how you fucked up but they still love you and know you did good.

I haven't done the other factions yet, so I don't know if its the same for them. But the fact that the Veil Jumpers are so lacking makes me sad. Its like you had no impact on that faction. Oh you lost an important map? Well shit. We aren’t going to mention it. Its dumb and I wish there was something for them.

[markedbyindecision]

in middle school my friends and i created this document that was full of conspiracy theories about our new vice principal bc we thought he was weird and scary. it eventually spread to our entire grade and became a 50+ page document with organized timelines of his work history, details from all his social media, a long list of conspiracy theories (including that he was various fictional villains, a CIA agent, a plant, a clone, etc), and a sightings log. i may have contributed heavily to this and done a concerning amount of internet stalking.

the document was printed out a couple of times and one copy was given by the original creator of the document (who i also had a crush on at the time) to our English teacher. i think about that all the time i mean what the fuck do you even do in that situation. your student just handed you a 50 page paper of conspiracy theories about the vice principal and asked if you could “take a look and give me some feedback). one of the tech teachers also knew about this.

anyway one day it got confiscated bc ppl were looking at it in class and the creator got called down into the vice principal’s office and got into some sort of trouble for it, they told her off and told her parents but her parents didn’t really mind iirc. oh my god BY THE WAY IT WAS HIS FIRST YEAR TEACHING AT OUR SCHOOL. the poor man…. imagine thinking you’re starting to become friendly with the students and then you learn they’ve been writing conspiracy theories and internet stalking you for weeks all because you give off an extremely intimidating vibe…

it's so weird to me that everyone on this website is a human person outside of their weird internet niche so rb this with a random bit of your lore

[kaitaiga]

origins (dagger 0-1 / dagger 1-1)

Hello! I wasn’t planning to do a render today but here we are 😂 I was listening a lot to ‘Test & Recognise (Flume Re-Work)’ and it made me think of my Dagger boys. The song feels so soul-crushing, kinda like the JTFD universe! 😂

Can you see? I added their patches I designed too! 🎉 I rendered two slightly different versions, one with some other members and one as a poster version 🤔

Bit of lore: Lachlan and Damien were the original ‘founders’ of JTFD, but created for a different smaller reason - before ‘Project Nightfall’ was first discovered/activated in Sydney Metro (2024).

it’s funny because their colour scheme is blue, idk how it ended up red 😂😂

Taglist: @alypink @efingart @revnah1406 @eccentrcks @welldonekhushi @islandtarochips @breadtheend @sleepyconfusedpotato @deadbranch @mortal-kombattore-115 @justasmolbard @imagoddamnonionmason @moossnesc @itsastronxmy @cloudofbutterflies92 @alexa-mwll @shinmiyovvi @walder-138 @cynicvice

[angrykittybarbarian]

Things that bother me about Dragon Age: The Veilguard part 3 (final thoughts)

I have finally finished the playthrough. I endured because I wanted to give this game a fair chance. I wanted to see it from start to finish in the hopes it would deliver something, anything capable of redeeming it. But it just didn't. Or more precisely, not in a way sufficient to make its flaws easy to overlook. These are my closing impressions on the game. I have already done two posts about this in which I documented my observations and comments as I progressed. I will link the posts here: Part 1, Part 2.

Let's finish this ride for now.

!Spoilers below the cut!

The music

I don't know what the direction of the music was meant to take. When it was announced Hans Zimmer would compose the OST I had high hopes. Hans Zimmer is a houshold name in Hollywood and skilled at what he does. I listened to a number of movie OSTs of his making and they were all excellent. So what happened here?

The music sounds generic most of the time without a clear theme or a unique piece that got me searching for it on youtube.

The main theme has sort of a recognizable composition but isn't anything outstanding. Emmrich's theme sounds like a halloween piece written for Wednesdsy Adams and the rest of the OST seems to mimic Trevor Morris' work for DA:I, namely the Lost Temple and In Hushed Whispers themes, but without the emotional impact the original pieces created.

It's as someone has already pointed out and I agree: Bioware has bought the name Hans Zimmer but not his quality. It sounds like he didn't even seriously create something but half heartedly whipped something out of his sleeve and called it a day.

The facial animations

The main problem with these is they often don't fit the emotions the VAs are communicating.

The VAs actually did a fantastic job. The scene that touched me the most was the one Rook confronts Solas in after they escape the regret prison in the fade. That was the first time Rook felt involved, raw and real.

But what broke the atmosphere in an otherwise flawless scene was how unmoving their facial expression was. There was the VA shouting their lung out and the animation couldn't even give half a fuck about it.

I don't even see an excuse for this lack of facial animation. It was possible to do since DA:O, hell, even since the first Mass Effect back in '07. Why is it not possible in the year of our Lord 2024, when technology is presumably better?

The handholding of the player

The plot is tightly paced. This is not necessarily a bad thing as I didn't really like the Open World approach of DA:I since it stretched the main plot too thinly and the maps created weren't filled with interesting side content but boring and pointless fetch quests.

But Veilguard went into the opposide extreme as it leaves only little room for the player when and how to do things. The quests are activated and must be completed in a specific order. They have also only one outcome without room to make different decisions.

Rook can never be truly ruthless. They can never disagree and butt heads with their companions.

And I hate how on the side of the screen the game exactly tells you what you have done and how it affects your companions' behaviour. It doesn't bake it into the interaction organically. Instead it has yet again, explained to me what I did and why it has this very specific effect without any of the characters discussing it. But the beauty of consequential decisions lies in the very unpredictability of its outcome. That's what creates the emotional impact. It doesn't work if I am being warned and explained to like a small child.

It's this lack of trust the game puts into the intelligence of its players that is so experience breaking, insulting even. It doesn't trust its players to figure stuff out themselves. It assumes we are too stupid to get any of the things it tries to tell us.

The ting is though, dear Bioware writers, if you think you have to overexplain your story because you think your audience won't get it then that's a telltale sign of the story being actually badly written.

Another area where this becomes appearant are the "puzzles". I used the quotation marks because there isn't really anything to solve. The solutions are obvious and at times your companions go out of their way to tell you.

The romances

Romances have always been a nice bonus on top of the otherweise amazing game content. They added some enjoyable extra fluff purely for enjoyment and some cases even deepened the main storyline.

In Veilguard they don't do that. In almost all of them the flirting is so meaningless that your cutscene with them just proceeds as if nothing happened.

There is no shift or change to their tone towards Rook. You don't build up the relationship with them. There is no last goodbye kiss before the last mission or passionate affirmations of love and trust. It just leaves you cold.

The only romance that seems to have that old depth is Emmrich's. The rest however, they don't add anything significant. There virtually is no difference to the game without the romances.

Companion relationships

Let's begin here with the simple fact that all deeper interactions Rook has with the companions are strictly scripted which ties back into the handholding part of this criticism. Rook cannot initiate a conversation and ask them some general questions about their histories and opinions on certain matters.

Rook only gets to interact with them when they happen to want something from them. Otherwise they cannot be bothered to acknowledge Rook with more than a one sided oneliner.

And then there are the relationships between the companions themselves. They either get along swimmingly or the game feels the need to stage some immature conflict between them without any deeper purpose.

Like Harding not understanding why Emmrich brings so many books on the road despite it literally not being any of her damn business bevause it doesn't personally affect her in any way.

Or Taash not understanding his profession as a Mournwatcher as they call him names so Rook has to point out Taash in turn likes dragons which is an interest he doesn't share only to culminate the discussion with a "We need to respect our differences" sort of statement.

These are not conflicts, these are squabbles of children and like children Roik talks to them which is brought ad absurdum with Emmrich because he is literally old enough to be Rook's father.

Why bother at all with writing conflict if it is only to be something as inconsequential as this?

Varric's death

This one is a .... choice.

I won't go into why the decision to let him die or not is good or bad because I feel like this is highly subjective.

However the impact of the reveal of this fact is only partly executed well.

Why?

Because it only hits hard when the player has known and cared about Varric at least since DA:I if not DA 2. The execution of this plotpoint thus relies too heavily on nostalgia instead of building the tension up within its own setting.

When thinking about Bioware also wanting to be newcomer friendly with this game I am left to wonder then why they didn't introduce Varric properly and didn't give the players time to build up the relationship? Why would a new player care about Varric? They don't know him.

Bioware cannot in good conscience claim they designed the game to be new player friendly while simultaniously heavily relying on knowledge from previous games, dlcs, comics, novels and other spin-off media. They cannot claim this and have anything but DATV do the heavy lifting when it comes to executing their plot.

The final mission

For my final point I also want to lose some positive feedback about this game.

The ending was actually well written.

In relation to Solas it comes full circle. You can actually feel what's at stake and the decisions Rook makes actually matter.

The final questline roughly follows a Mass Effect 2 approach where it is classified as nothing short of a suicide mission.

Companion quests essentially function as loyalty missions and Rook gets to assign various posts in battle. Just like in Mass Effect 2 assigning a companion a post completely outside of their expertise may get them killed.

The dialogue is actually written well at this point in the game. There isn't really much to complain about.

But even this part is not entirely without faults.

For one I don't like the non negotiable sacrifice that has either to be made by Harding or Davrin. Rook doesn't even get a chance to save any of them. But again these non negotiable companion deaths where you only make the choice who's it's going to be isn't anything new (i.e. Hawke and whatever Warden you happen to get, Kaidan/Ashley in ME 1). So maybe a bit if a bummer but nothing experience breaking.

A stronger point however is that Rook will always keep the Veil intact in the end.

I suppose this outcome already is part of the game title itself but was it necessary to take it so literally?

With everything the elves have lost and the discrimination they faced it should absolutely have been an option to agree with Solas and tear the Veil down.

But since we don't talk about racism and slavery I guess Rook doesn't reflect on these points either. So I guess keeping the Veil intact is in line with the game's general sanitization of the world.

So in conclusion?

The game is far from great, not gonna lie. It feels like the devs actually wanted a new IP but were too afraid of the risks that come with such an endeavor and thought gutting an existing franchise that already did the heavy lifting of building a fanbase and using it as a package would save their ideas from flopping. Surely no one will notice it is actually something else if we market it as Dragon Age, right?

But we are not that stupid. This behaviour is insulting to put it plain and simple and I am heartbroken, angry and said that this was done to Dragon Age. I wanted to love this game. I was optimistic before the release. Everything looked fine, nothing in particular to worry about.

But I cannot continue to defend this without breaking my basic brain function.

The most frustrating part is that with the ending the devs showed they can write a story and meaningful dialogues. It left me wondering why it couldn't be done like this for the rest of the game and living with the reality that I will never get what this game could have been.

All in all this is not a good Dragon Age game. It is a massive disappointment and does not live up to the promises made by the devs.

I am sorry for everyone who preordered.

I am sorry for everyone who paid the full release price.

Nominating it for Game of the Year is not justified no mattee how you look at it.

If you are genuinely enjoying the game, I hope you continue to do so and all power to you.

For the rest: let's stop excusing Bioware's disrespect towards the fans and enabling them by paying them too much money for it.

Don't buy at release. Don't buy spin off media. Wait for sales. These people only understand the problem when you give them a good run for their money.

[lil-writer-523]

GUYS! WRITING IDEA! (If someone has done this PLEASE GIMME THE LINK)

Okay, recently got into Mouthwashing (Watched Jack’s play through of it and have seen LOTS of Titkoks, even before I knew what it was) AND I saw this TikTok (credits to the original artist):

So I’ve seen plenty of people creating AUs in general (most of which I love and would like to write out if I ever had the energy to) BUT I saw this and was like “second chance, huh? Why that kinda remind me of Happy Death Day?”

So yeah. Imagine an AU fic where Curly doesn’t know that Jimmy’s the one that causes the crash, and everytime the crash occurs, they restart that day (or week, considering all of Curly’s POV in the game takes place in a week before the crash down the the day of the crash) And because he knows what Jimmy did to Anya from that “previous life” his whole reaction to everything is more nuanced and matured, and while he’d like to actually fight Jimmy (like we all want to) he’s still able to handle it in a way that is satisfying to the story.

What you guys think?

[katerinaaqu]

Heyo!

I don't know how exactly to phrase this but I was wondering if you know anything about Odysseus trying/planing to kill Diomedes while they were stealing the Palladium. I have heard some people say that Odysseus did try to kill Diomedes while doing so but Diomedes noticed him so Odysseus stopped.

This feels so strange to me as Odysseus and Diomedes aren’t antagonistic in the Illiad and Diomedes is loved by Athena like Odysseus so betraying him, especially for hubris, seems like a good way to end up on Athena's bad side.

Also the translated summaries of Little Illiad I know don't mention it either but I know those translations can be missing out context. I suspect the Odysseus Betrayal is a "later adition" to the Epic Cycle but I am not that confident on that opinion.

Yes absolutely and I understand completely what you say. That is because the Palladium Heist betrayal story was peobably not part of the original epic cycle but rather a later adittion. More specifically through the work called Bibliotheca by Photius I, the ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinopole in 9th century seems to be mentioning in his work a Roman mythographer named Conon.

Conon lived and created during the times of Augustus. It seems that he is one of the oldest if not the oldest mythographer to ever mention this story. So the story quoted by Photius goes as such;

Basically after the revelation of Helen's Diomedes and Odysseus enter the city. Odysseus helps Diomedes on his shoulders so that he could climb but when he reaches out his hand Diomedes doesn't take him in and goes for the Palladium himself. When he comes back apparently Odysseus asks him on it and, according to Photius who quotes Conon, Diomedes "knows his cunning" and says that he didn't find it. That a spirit stole it and that he has another one. Odysseus realizes he is lying so he eventually draws his sword to kill Diomedes and take the Palladium to the Greeks himself. Apparently as he goes to stab Diomedes in the back, his sword casts a shadow by the moonlight or the glint of the weapon, Diomedes sees it and deflects him. He draws his own sword and threatens Odysseus with it wishing to "punish him for his cowardice" but eventually he decides otherwise (arguably knowing that the war needs him) and thus he drives him back to the camp while hitting him on his back with the flat of his sword. And according to Photius this is what gave the famous phrase to Greek language διομήδεια ανάγκη (Diomedes Need) which basically means "do something unpleasant out of necessity for the greater good"

So as you see the story does seem pretty bizarre. First it implies mutual distrust and rivalry between the homeric heroes for Diomedes doesn't take Odysseus in the temple, Odysseus asks him on the Palladium obviously with intention to steal it and Diomedes lying to him and of course the actual act. For starters Odysseus ready to kill Diomedes for the sakes of fame (while he literally saves his life in the Iliad) and not only that, be greedy and stupid enough to hold a sword to the moonlight. So it holds many contradictions to the entirety of Epic Cycle even Iliou Persis which also shows a more unpleasant side of Odysseus.

My guess is that the story is mostly linked to traditions of later years especially Roman sources and is not directly linked to the Epic Cycle. Even art of later years doesn't depict the Palladium Heist as a negative aura between the two heroes. If anything they seem to be cooperating just fine. And as I said this myth as told by Conon shows BOTH Diomedes and Odysseus as rivals and equally antagonizing and deceiving each other which doesn't usually appear to the Epic Cycle. Although of course we cannot be 100% sure given how the Epic Cycle is lost, it seems to me more like a roman legend that usually depict Greek heroes of Troy in general and Odysseus in particular, in the most negative light possible given how Odysseus is known for taking Troy, the mythical city of origin to the Romans (given how Aeneas who barely escapes with his life from Troy is the ancestor of the founders of Rome)

I hope this answers your question; to summarize it seems to me that this story of the Palladium Heist has as much connection to the Epic Cycle as Ovid has to Medusa legend; seems more like a version either created or told by Conon based on traditions of his time and the general anti-Odysseus climate.

[maul-of-shame]

[ABOUT "THE RINGS OF POWER" RUMOURS GOING AROUND:]

Sooooooooo, I’ve been seeing this swirling storm of chaos over on Twitter and Tumblr, and it seems like shippers (and non-shippers alike) are whipping themselves into a frenzy over this “Amazon Preview program” post. People are panicking, spinning theories, and already mourning the show as if the Valar themselves have announced its doom.

First of all—breathe, besties. Lemme grab those reins before y’all ride headfirst into Mount Doom on a horse named Speculation. Let’s take a step back, re-saddle our ponies of reason, and navigate this mess with a clear head. Because honestly? This panic spiral isn’t doing anyone any good, and it’s time we address it properly.

This post claiming to be from someone in the Amazon Preview program has thrown out the idea that The Rings of Power might get canceled, based on one alleged survey question asking how viewers would feel about such a possibility.

Naturally and obviously, that one sentence has snowballed into chaos: shippers blaming each other, Haladriels claiming to be the sole saviors of the show, and everyone else clutching their lembas bread wondering if this truly spells the end of Amazon’s multi-billion-dollar endeavor.

Spoiler alert: It doesn’t.

But before we dive into why, let’s lay this out clearly. Speculation without evidence is just that—speculation. Right now, this rumor has the same credibility as Gollum’s “juicy fish” promises. So, let’s chill out for a second, untangle the web of panic, and address this mess calmly, because trust me, The Rings of Power is not about to vanish into the West just yet.

1. No proof = no panic. While the original poster claims to be part of the Amazon Preview program, we have no concrete evidence that this survey or its specific question even exists. I'm sorry that's not me being mean, that's a fact. Until Amazon makes an official statement, take this with a grain of salt. Let’s not give ourselves heart palpitations over unverified claims. We don’t need to borrow worry from the future.

2. Viewership ≠ Haladriels alone. I’m sorry (not really), but this idea that Haladriels are the "main audience" and thus the show’s sole reason for survival? Nope. Stop right there. While the Haladriel fandom is vocal and sizable, they are not the entire viewership. Millions of people around the world are tuning in for the larger story of Middle-earth, the intricate lore, the stunning visuals, and their own favorite characters and dynamics—whether that’s Elrond & Galadriel, Durin & Disa, the Harfoots, or even Arondir's badass moments. Amazon didn’t pour half a billion dollars into a single ship.

Haladriels, who are you? The dwarves showing up at the last minute to the Siege of Eregion, claiming to be the sole saviors of the battle? Let’s pump the brakes on this idea, because while your contributions to the fandom are visible and often loud, you are not the entire viewer base. You’re part of the tapestry of fans, not the whole thing.

Yes, you’re passionate. Yes, you create fan art, fanfics, and engage actively in discussions. And yes, maybe you’re a good chunk of the audience (you are).

But—and I cannot stress this enough—you are not the majority of viewers Amazon is depending on for the show’s success.

The show has millions of viewers globally, and a good number of them don’t EVEN engage with shipping.

They’re here for the lore, the spectacle, the drama, or maybe just to see an elf and a dwarf bicker their way into a beautiful friendship.

Amazon’s decisions about the show—renewals, budgets, story arcs—aren’t hinging on one ship. They’re analyzing data from a massive, global audience across dozens of countries, not just the trending tags on Twitter or Tumblr. And even if Haladriels make up a decent slice of the pie, it’s not the whole bakery. This is Middle-earth, not a kingdom under one banner.

While the ship is part of the fandom's flavor, it is not the main course. This isn’t me throwing shade—it’s me asking for a reality check, from one passionate fan to another.

And just so we’re clear—this isn’t me throwing shade because I ship Elrondriel (Elrond/Galadriel). Trust me, I know my ship isn’t the entire audience either. Elrondriel shippers are a passionate, creative, and dedicated part of the fandom, but we’re also just one piece of the puzzle, just like Haladriels are. Believe me, we’re in the same fandom boat here—just sailing with different banners.

I understand the urge to feel like your ship carries the weight of the fandom. When you’re surrounded by incredible art, fic, metas, and headcanons that fuel your love for a pairing, it’s easy to think, "We’re the backbone of this fandom!" But the truth? We’re all in this together, and none of us—not Haladriels, not Elrondriels, not any ship—can claim to be the be-all and end-all of The Rings of Power audience.

We might feel strongly about our pairings, but the reality is that shipping communities are just one part of the much larger audience Amazon considers when making decisions. There are fans who aren’t on Tumblr, Twitter, or AO3, fans who aren’t debating ships, and fans who might not even care about romance in the show at all (I know, wild concept, but they exist!). They’re here for the epic battles, the exploration of Middle-earth, and the overarching story.

So, no, this isn’t a case of “my ship is better” or “your ship doesn’t matter.” It’s about perspective. I care about fandom health and fandom spaces, no matter the ship. I’m here advocating for all of us to recognize that we’re not the sole audience Amazon is catering to—and that’s okay. We’re all contributing to the fandom in different ways, and that’s something worth celebrating.

So to Haladriels feeling like the show’s fate rests on your shoulders, let me reassure you, that you have to produce and produce and produce: it doesn’t.

The show’s survival isn’t riding on Elrondriel either, nor on any single faction of fans.

We’re all part of the audience, but none of us are the entire audience.

The fellowship of fans is vast and diverse, and while we might be rowing in different directions sometimes, we’re still in the same boat when it comes to loving this world and wanting the best for it.

We might not ship the same thing, but we share the same love for this story and the passion to see it thrive. So let’s focus on that instead of spiraling into ship-centric fearmongering. Let’s celebrate what we love, stay creative, and keep contributing to this incredible fandom in ways that uplift us all.

3. Bezos isn’t walking away. The Rings of Power is Jeff Bezos’s lovechild. He and his family are reportedly huge fans of the Tolkien franchise. Love him or hate him, Bezos is not the kind of person to let a project this massive—one of the most expensive shows ever made—flounder without giving it every possible chance to succeed. The man is prideful, and he’s not just going to bow out because of mixed reception in its first season or something. If anything, he’ll double down, exert even more control, and pump the breaks on creative risks to bring the show in line with mainstream expectations.

You can even check this right here, which is from a trusted source:

You can also see this article and passage here:

As part of that investment Amazon MGM Studios recently acquired Bray Studios, where “Rings of Power” is filmed. Can we take that as indication that the show, which shot its first season in New Zealand, is staying in the U.K.?

JS: I think you can. Why not? No plans to move it. Very excited about it.

How have you found the reaction to Season 2?

JS: Obviously very different marketing levels and all of that [to Season 1]. But that being said, over 55 million people at this point have engaged since Season 2 launched. And if you look at the long-term trajectory, which is how this company looks at an asset like that, this is a long-term investment in that franchise. […] There’s well over 150 million viewers watching and engaging with the show. So I feel really good. I think we all do.

Is there any change to the 50-episode commitment?

JS: I don’t think so. [That] commitment is never the thing that’s driving what we’re doing. We’ll continue to make the show as long as we see global customers loving it and watching it to the point where — it is a business. Obviously, we need a large amount of people showing up. And there are a large amount of people, so there’s no debate about whether or not the show will continue.

4. "Cancelled" doesn’t mean what people think it does. Even if Amazon is “mulling over” decisions for Season 3, this doesn’t mean the show is on the chopping block. It’s standard practice for large-scale productions to reassess budgets, strategies, and audience reception to refine their approach. It doesn’t spell doom; it spells adjustments. Given the scope of The Rings of Power, Amazon likely planned for this to be a long-term investment and would have accounted for a slower start. Building trust and an audience takes time—just ask any successful franchise.

5. Let’s calm the Fellowship down. Worrying about every rumor floating around is exhausting. It’s like trying to outrun a Nazgûl while barefoot in Mordor. We don’t need that energy in our fandom right now. Yes, we can be critical of the show. Yes, we can hope for improvements. But the speculation about the series getting canned before Season 3 even airs is unnecessary noise that only feeds negativity and add worries to already existing conflicts.

TL;DR:

I’m not here to sound like your mom or anything—but if it helps, think of me as your friendly neighborhood Gandalf (minus the fireworks but with plenty of snacks). I’m just here to calm things down before we all start marching out of Hobbiton over a rumor that has absolutely no solid ground to stand on. This whole situation is snowballing—and let’s be honest, it’s not even winter yet.

This post that everyone’s spiraling over? The one about surveys and cancellation questions? It comes with exactly zero proof.

No screenshots, no corroboration, nothing to confirm it’s legit beyond someone’s words on the internet.

I’m not saying it’s impossible, but without evidence, it’s like claiming to have the One Ring but refusing to show even a glimpse of it. Sounds a little sus, right?

Look, I get it. The wording is scary. “How would you feel about cancellation?” is enough to make anyone who loves the show clutch their lembas in fear. But panicking and spreading unverified claims like wildfire isn’t helping anyone. It’s like rallying the Rohirrim before you even know what you’re riding to face—take a breath, assess, and then make decisions.

Until we hear something concrete, let’s not let this post stir the pot unnecessarily. The show is far too big to just disappear overnight, and Bezos’s pride alone will probably ensure we at least get to see this through. Let’s focus on enjoying what we have, continuing to provide feedback where we can, and sharing the love of this sprawling, beautiful world Tolkien inspired.

It’s a single claim from an unverified source with no screenshots, no corroboration, and no concrete evidence. Until we see something legitimate, this is just another shadow in the Misty Mountains of Fandom Panic™.

With everything I’ve mentioned—the insane budget, Bezos’s personal attachment, and the fact that Amazon has already made long-term commitments to the show—there’s little reason to think it’s on the chopping block. Is it possible they’re retooling it or adjusting things? Sure, that happens with every major series. But outright canceling the biggest, most ambitious project in their streaming history? That’s a huge leap, and frankly, it doesn’t line up with what we know about how Amazon operates (or how Bezos’s ego works).

So let’s not get sucked into the Eye of Sauron-level drama without solid proof.

I get that the idea of the show being in jeopardy is unsettling—Rings of Power means a lot to so many of us for so many different reasons. But until there’s something concrete, let’s not fall prey to baseless fear. Hold fast, steer your boats true, and don’t let panic steer you off course. Keep your lembas close, your theories reasonable, and your hearts hopeful. After all, not all rumors that spread doom are gold.

Bezos and his family love this series. The man isn’t going to let his shiny billion-dollar baby get canceled quietly.

Let’s channel some hobbit energy—grab a snack, take a deep breath, and wait for actual confirmation before we assume doom and gloom. We’ve weathered plenty of storms in this fandom, and this? This is just a passing cloud until we know otherwise. Stay calm, my friends. Middle-earth wasn’t built in a day, and neither are Amazon’s decisions. 🌿

[n0va-dot-mp4]

Finally, I'm back with some more skins! This time, I remade the residents of Magic Mountain. I really like these skins, the small details really add a lot. Closeups, download links and design thoughts are under the cut.

ImpulseSV

This is one of the outfits I designed myself, and I really like how asymmetrical it is, I think it adds a lot to the cyberpunk aesthetic.

Skizzleman

I originally wasn't going to add any 'animalistic' aspects from the fan designs to the skins (note the lack of wings on Grian), but I just had to give Imp and Skizz the imp and angel characteristics.

Mumbo

I like Mumbo with a waistcoat more than a suit jacket because it has more contrast with his pants, so it's easier to see the shapes. There's also some contrast between Mumbo and Skizz - they both wear suits and shirts, but Skizz wears sneakers while Mumbo has some nice dress shoes.

Grian

Grian has one of the simplest designs, but I think it makes one of the best skins. I especially like the shirt collar and tails, they break up the blocky shapes of the jumper and pants really nicely.

Scar

Scar was honestly one of the hardest skins to make, because his current skin is really good. However, I think I managed to put my own spin on it. I also added the ponytail that some people add to his designs, it matches him really well.

Smallishbeans

In this design, I leaned towards a more traditional Japanese outfit rather than a more cyberpunk one, and I think it turned out well. I really like the sakura details, and also I think Joel is associated with tanuki, and it gives off that vibe too, which is nice.

GeminiTay

For this skin, I took heavy inspiration from @bakuvex's design, I hope that's alright with her.

I love making Gem skins, her hair is always so much fun to style. I also love the kinda tunic and the mini-cape combo, and the fact that it looks like armor on the back is a nice touch.

If you made it all the way here, I want to thank you so much for the support. A large part of my motivation for making these is seeing what the community thinks, and hearing your feedback motivates me to keep creating <3

[missgenesis]

Yes

[fenharel-is-so-swell]

While I’m on my ✨Race in Thedas✨ rant let me just explain why the blending of Dalish and City Elves bothers me personally.

As I said previously, I’m mixed. I’m specifically black in the ‘descendants of enslaved people’ way. I grew up in a predominantly white area but finished out highschool in a diverse school with a high number of first gen African immigrants.

(I promise this is pertinent) My relationship with race has always been complex. I benefit from a proximity to whiteness due to being mixed, but I of course still experienced rampant racism and an identity crisis.

In elementary school we had to do a yearly genealogy project. In some ways, mine was easier than the few other black kids in my class. While their families were nearly untraceable past 2-3 generations, I could just focus my effort on my mother’s side. Though, I faced ridicule because OBVIOUSLY I wasn’t white, so obviously I couldn’t be German. While I may have shared DNA, I felt much less experientially connected to the ‘family tree’ I did my reports on because their lives could look nothing like mine. They walked through world without the color of their skin first. So, of course the next year when a culture week came up and we were encouraged to wear clothing representative of our heritage I went the other way—I asked my dad to buy me a dashiki. I still I faced ridicule and still it felt foreign. I had no cultural ties to the patterns, my family never wore them, I’d never heard of the foods we looked up that were mainstays on the Ivory Coast. I may have shared DNA, I may have shared racial trauma, but my culture was different. I was black I wasn’t African.

Playing dragon age origins as a City elf I saw myself for the first time. I saw a woman divorced from her original culture, ripped from her roots by an imperial force but still incredibly steeped in a rich world created by survival and painstaking effort to hold onto oral tradition and what blended history the alienages could. I saw my grandmother singing gospel on the weekends, the church ladies in their outfits, the greens, the pecan pie, the stories of struggle the community shared, the village it took to raise all my cousins and get our older family and friends through chemo and childloss and hard financial times. In hearing about different alienages I saw the distinct cultural differences between Harlem, Oakland, Birmingham, Houston, Atlanta.

Playing as a Dalish elf I saw a facet of the African-Immigrant experience I came to know in high school from my friends who immigrated. I saw the culture more closely connected to the various countries they came from, but still scared by the vestiges of imperialism and colonialism. They were all unique, just as Dalish clans are. My Nigerian friends ate different food, had different rules, wore different clothes, had different cultural practices than my Kenyan or Nigerian friends. I had a couple of North African friends from Morrocco and Egypt that still felt grounded in the history of Africa but were so different. I saw the physical differences in them like I saw them in further DA entires in the Dalish from Antiva or elves from Tevinter.

(And better yet to see this dichotomy in culture I didn’t have to face more trauma porn on black bodies)

As I continued digging into elven cultures in southern Thedas I saw even more complexities of the diaspora that matched my experience. They way both city and Dalish elves looked down upon each other one for ‘assimilation’ and being ‘weak’. The other for holding on to ‘strange’ cultural practices and being ‘primitive’.

Growing up at a crossroads of many racial and cultural experiences I relished in the nuance, the way both cultures were painted as a people just trying to survive and hold onto themselves. A people distinct and resilient, a people not too unlike from each other and while aloof still marginally less wary in solidarity. They were both full of individuals that interacted so vibrantly with the world and life they lived in.

Flattening that in Veilguard initially devastated me, then enraged me. That’s not just poor writing, that’s borderline racist. It indicates that the differences don’t matter, the pain, the struggle, the culture, the history none of it matters because ‘an elf is just an elf’ at the end of the day. And that’s fucking gross.