#but I actually might die because of what he implements

[reesiereads]

Anyone who voted for him, I hope one day you break out of your brainwashing enough to understand just how much you’ve failed all of us and I hope the weight of that fucking breaks you.

[literalgrill]

Do NOT Support Hard Drive On Patreon

You might see friends today suggesting you support Hard Drive on Patreon today. You know, the funny video games version of The Onion? As a journalist, I will firmly tell you DO NOT GIVE THEM A DIME.

The CEO has pushed out all former staff that have built the site up to its current greatness and has been pushing the use of AI. The staff begged to have a Patreon before basically all being pushed out, but the idea was refused until now, when it will only line the pockets of a single person instead of hard working writers.

I know they might have provided laughs before, but Hard Drive is a shell of what it was once. Let it die and support the people who actually made those moments of joy possible. Don't believe me? Check out what former employees are saying below:

Kevin Podas: Okay you know what, I would feel bad saying nothing about this, so here goes:🚨SAVE YOUR MONEY🚨

We passionately advocated for a Patreon at Hard Drive & were aggressively shot down. The talent & people who built the site were pushed out. To see this now is beyond upsetting. For the past few years or so I put a lot of myself into this website. I pitched a ton of jokes, got over 120 articles published, & met a lot of great people. I'm sure if you've been following me for some time you could easily see this.

However, there is a lot of misinformation. I was eventually promoted to Managing Editor of the site & was ecstatic. Grateful for the opportunity. Felt like all of my hard work in the comedy mines was finally paying off. But things took a turn for the worst, & each day there were new surprises that affected our livelihoods. These were all very avoidable surprises, mind you.

A patreon was going to be our hail mary, but alas, for some reason, the power that be did not want it. Causing us to leave a dream job behind. "At least we did all we could," we consoled ourselves afterwards. I put a lot of myself into this project. I pitched all sorts of ideas that could have helped-- we all did. Merch collaborations, Patreon-integrated YouTube content, so much more. And most of them were shot down out of sheer stubbornness and nothing more. To see lie after lie spread, and multiple big publications and YouTubers that I am a fan of promote this Patreon under these pretenses is incredibly upsetting. There are so many receipts.

Please share this and consider pulling out if you've already put money into this. On Hard Drive using AI, also from Kevin Podas: I can't personally confirm that part aside from some of the recent header images for articles on both Hard Drive and Hard Times are being made with AI. As far as writing, it's been mentioned in the past, but I personally do not know. Maybe others do, maybe not. MORE From Kevin Podas suggesting the owner denying a Patreon being set up earlier cost an artist a job that was replaced by AI: We had a social media person who was awesome! He made the images until this AI implementation. He had to leave because ad revenue was low and a Patreon was aggressively refused.

Luca Fisher: at the risk of burning some bridges, i have to back up kevin here. i've only been part-time, in-and-out of hard drive since i got in last year, but i can corroborate that management doubled and tripled down about not hosting a patreon/crowdfunding and that many other suggestions and ideas, including mine (and ones much smarter than mine!), were shot down in really long, apocalyptic threads of everyone left on deck desperately trying to come up with ways to keep the lights on. managerially it has been messy and sad

i've written for multiple publications that have long since died, ones that were in the process of dying, and ones that, in this case, are soon to be put in the ground. it is sad and sucks every time. i don't know what could have been done differently, but i do know that a lot of great writers and content creators were left shorthanded and unhappy by the way things have gone. and it is sort of puzzling to see the sudden championing of patreon after we were all told plenty of times that it couldn't work and we should move on also, just to add my own personal two cents here, i was really disappointed by the shuttering of many different article sections on the site over the past 6-8 months. i understand cutting corners in a deficit, and i know it had to be done. that said…

all in all, i'm really sad to see this all happen. i don't fault anyone, if only because i don't really know enough about how this all can happen to make sense of it. games journalism is in a sad, sorry state, and will likely no longer be a thing in the next decade

VideoSealMan: I'm gonna say this because I think I deserve to. For months, MONTHS on end I was bugging Hard Drive management about a Patreon. Often I got ignored for a week+, but when I actually got a response I was encouraged to - of all things, write up a Google Doc pitching the concept I did it regardless. I wasn't the only one trying to sway management on a Patreon, but so fiercely was I fighting for it that last night, I was accused of making this comment directly by the CEO! With no evidence whatsoever! After I'd been gone for over a month.

I vouched so hard for Patreon because I wanted all the writers and creatives working with Hard Drive including myself to get paid better. When I actually got a response, the idea was often shut down. Eventually due to the state of my company, my pay was cut for a second time I confronted management alongside a couple other important figureheads at the org and told them that if we couldn't do a Patreon - I could no longer financially justify staying there. The answer was still no, so I left. Baffled at the decision, but whatever.

It is unendingly frustrating to know that myself and many other people who put their soul into Hard Drive LEFT because of management's absolute refusal to compromise on a Patreon, to then see them launch one anyway a month later and get over 1000 people pledging money. I'm seeing a lot of things float around about greed and people being fired. No one was fired. Everyone who left, left because they were sick of management's decision-making. And honestly, management is a lot of things but I would not call them greedy. (From my experience.) They did genuinely make an effort to pay people as much as possible. I found the pay very fair for a while. I am not disputing that I was paid what I was owed - yet management frequently feels the need to remind critics of that. Lmao, yes. I was paid what I was owed. No one is disputing payment. You did the bare minimum a business owner should do and paid everyone their due, very well done. I make no allegations of greed, cheating or foul play. I make allegations of poor management and incompetence that has fucked over other people.

Basically the only people left at Hard Drive have been there for about 2 months. They will reap the rewards of this successful Patreon I and so many others passionately fought for for so long. We will not see a dime.

I do not know the new people at Hard Drive, But I feel bad for them. They were haphazardly thrust into Hard Drive's workplace with little to no explanation on how anything works, or given any context on the state of the place. Even now managements feeds them half-truths and misinformation about other people's grievances. I am broke and have been for a while. I had to move out of my flat in Reading and back with my family because of how little money I was making. This has basically doomed my flatmate to moving back in with abusive parents, which is something I feel guilty about every day. If we had gone with the Patreon I worked myself hoarse over back then, this could have been avoided. Some of my other good pals could also not have been fucked over.

It was a bad judgment call, but it's not a crime. It's just management getting it wrong.

So should you give to the Hard Drive Patreon? I don't know! I don't think any of the new people working there to patch up the holes left by the recent mass exodus have any bad intentions. Maybe they deserve it! But it is not the same site you knew a year ago, or even a month ago. Myself and many people who were there far longer than me and did far more for it than I did are all gone now because we could not deal with management's terrible decision-making and dogass communication any longer. That's what you should know, imo

I had an agreement in place with management that I would receive the next 8 months of revenue from the Hard Drive YT channel from my leaving in November. This was a deal I appreciated, and thought was very fair on management's behalf. So far, the deal has been honoured for 2 months. However as of last night I was removed from the Hard Drive Slack without warning, and as an editor for the YouTube channel. This means I no longer have any way of verifying how much I am owed, I just have to take their word for it. I'm sure management will make their own statements full of half-truths and weird language on the many cases being brought against them - I'd take everything they say with a pinch of salt if some of the screenshots I've seen of them talking about me are any indication lol

To management; I do not want to talk to you. I want you to DM me a screenshot of how much I'm owed every month and then send me the money per our agreement until June, then we can go our separate ways. Do that and admit to your mistakes, and maybe you can recover your reputation! That's it from me, lol. If they pull out of the deal and fuck me over I'll have more to say, but most of what I know is other people's stories of incompetence and poor decision-making, lol. I genuinely get no pleasure out of doing this; I do not think management is evil - I just think they're really bad at what they do and it's cost other, more talented people, lol. You should believe the writers imo

One last thing I wanna say btw, management did often stress that no one should try to make Hard Drive a full time thing. They were transparent about that, and that is fair. I was working on it because at a few points, I was lead to believe we actually were doing a Patreon. Many other ppl have similar stories of being strung along by management changing their minds and stop-starting shit every 2 weeks. We all made the fatal mistake of overestimating our manager - who would tell you one thing one day and something totally opposite the next week lol

Hunter R. Thompson:

I'm not your dad, but speaking as a Hard Drive writer, I don't know that funding Hard Drive on Patreon is worth it

The driving talent on the back end—behind the kickass site I joined in 2019—have peaced out over the years as the site's been (in our view) increasingly mismanaged. Mismanagement like, not setting up crowdfunding before the ship sank and all its best crew failed; or publishing a screenshot of Andy Ngo pedojacketing a trans writer, complete with her deadname; or a disgruntled ex-writer getting falsely accused of shit-talk, by actual staff. I'm grateful for the writing I've gotten to produce for HD (and will forever be kicking myself for not writing even more, in the four years I've had to do it!! i'm a dumbass!!!) but it is very much no longer the site I signed up for.

I don't want to resign as a contributor altogether, because I'm open to the idea of the site recovering and bad practices being retired as finances level out-- it would just be dishonest for potential backers to not be Aware Of The Circumstances, I think.

Jeremy Kaplowitz: i truly don't want to start shit, but feel compelled to say: i want to see Hard Drive succeed w/o resorting to throwing former writers & editors, myself included, under the bus. surely there's a way to save the site without building it over the corpses of those who left. my $0.02 i don't blame anyone who wants to sign up for the HD patreon and i support the website, but that includes those who worked on it for years, have complaints, and don't deserve to be treated like bitter assholes like this kind of stuff is just objectively true, meanwhile there's these new writers who joined the site after i left (meaning, in the last ~3 months) claiming people are liars. decide for yourself if you care, but this is what happened! [Quotes this Tweet]

Seth Finkelstein: Writing for Hard Drive has been a privilege the past few years, and it makes me so angry to see people I looked up to get jerked around behind the scenes. The amount of grenades the editors jumped on our behalf is immense, and I don't think the way they're being treated is right.

Other Bits On AI: We do know for sure however that AI art has been used by the site. Its fucking owner confirms it here:https://twitter.com/MattSaincome/status/1743040541603123622. Seems the owner pushed AI written articles as well! TayFabe: My vaguetweet is making the rounds & these made me apoplectic. - owner regularly lobbied using ai. Once he tested it & said ai was writing better satire than 25% of the HT/HD writers. - ai images were used on the site & socials w/o consulting the team or disclosing it publicly I found the ai bit relevant to include bc 1) it illuminates a stark change in HD's current direction & leadership, 2) ai images have previously been used on the site and (since deleted) ig posts, 3) ai content fucking sucks, and repeatedly pushing to use it is a telling quality The "handful of writers who chose to leave" includes 2 editors-in-chief (both cofounders who wrote a combined total of >1,000 articles & defined the voice of HD), & at least 3 other editors. These guys put in WORK since 2017, so cool to be corrected by ppl who joined in Nov 2023 [Link to mentioned vague tweet from post.] More from TayFabe: owner continuously lobbied for using ai in every possible way. No one else wanted to do it, but he kept on, saying ai was writing better satire than 25% of the HT/HD writers. Also, ai images were used on the site & socials without public disclosure or consulting the team.

The owner has responded now multiple times in a private discord... Thank you for people sharing screenshots! First Screenshot:

Kevin's Response: He banned me from the server for speaking out, so no, I didn't see it. And he gave no indication of a timeline, it was just "we'll do one when *I* say so" and gave every inclination he was totally against it. It bred an environment that pushed our hands to have to leave. Screenshot Round Two:

Kevin's Response: "Starting one in 3 months" is an absolute lie. He denied it, I have screenshots and others who can confirm. No timeline was given. Just "this is what it is now" and like, I couldn't live off of that. I wanted to do more but he was allergic to good ideas from others around him.

Matt, owner of Hard Drive, responds publicly on Twitter.

Matt: Kevin, the patreon launch was delayed because I didn't think it would work. Everyone is happy that it did work. Everyone who left the site because we didn't have money to pay for creative content which didn't revenue is welcome to return home. But unclear why the hostility.

Hard Drive paid out literally every dollar it had, then a bunch more, to creative people who worked on the site. When we ran out of money, we couldn't pay anymore. We did our best.

Kevin: Right, and my point of this thread was that it was completely and totally avoidable. This is reasonable to be upset about. How could I have been any more clear?

Matt: If we knew with 100% certainly that the community would have supported us via patreon, we would have done that. We didn't know. We had tried 4 years ago and got no support. We were wrong this time. We did our best to figure it out. We paid all the money we could.

Kevin: So you knew with 100% certainty this time? Or you took a leap of faith?

Matt: It was a last gasp panic effort after ad rates got cut in half on january 1st due to seasonal spending changes. We didn't know it would work. We were embarrassed to ask for support. We wanted to figure it out.

Kevin: Every site has a Patreon. Every YouTuber, comedy group, etc. But you insisted that nobody cared about Hard Drive. Which is wildly untrue. I know you see that now, but again, I think you can see why I and many others are pretty upset. A last ditch panic effort was long overdue. A couple more things from Matt:

It was about the size of the hole we needed plugged budget wise, the time I had left of personal resources, and the past data I had about us trying a patreon (which turned out to be a bad indicator). I didn't think the Patreon would help us fast enough. I made a bad estimation

aka "if we make $1000 more dollars a month via patreon, which would be 10x what we got last time, we will not solve any of our problems. If instead we try to plow down path B, we might make it out in time." That was the thinking. I chose the wrong path, but didn't mean to Kevin also retweeted this comment from the user Matt was responding to: So you're saying that you're bad at running the business, didn't listen to any of your employees until after they were forced to leave their jobs, and now you're going to get more of the money from the Patreon that was their idea in the first place? Matt's Response: Respectfully, I made a mistake delaying the patreon decision. But keeping a comedy site alive for 9 years is not easy, there are lots of potential ideas, and think overall we've done a good and honorable job. Will leave this thread in peace now to allow people their space.

Sorry for linking to Elon's hellsite (derogatory), but sources need links so...

[undiscovered-horizon]

Hello! Just finished Die Happy, and oh my gosh what a wholesome and sad time!! I love the way you portray Sanji and his inner monologue with himself.

Would it be possible to get a continuation where reader ends up making it a habit of sleeping with Sanji now that’s she’s had a taste. They kind of make a nightly routine and no one really questions it because they just like seeing everyone happy. How would Sanji feel realizing that it’s been weeks since you first started sleeping with him? What if reader is trying to tell Sanji they actually really like him but he just thinks reader is to perfect for him so he’s kind of blind to her advances.

Thank you so much and I hope you have fun writing!!!

All ye who yearned (@federalclassroom @sparkyrosewood14 @zzbloody-animezz @clonaa @number-0-iz) come get y'all juice:

Maelstrom - Sanji x Reader

Part 2 to "Die Happy"

Enjoying my work? You can leave me a tip on Ko-Fi

WORDCOUNT: ~ 1.2k

One night turned into two, two turned into a week and a week turned into... well, however long you and Sanji have been sleeping in one bed. He's not keen on keeping track but taking in the moment instead. He doesn't ask why you continue to crawl right back into his bedroom every night. In fact, he doesn't dare make any comment about your new habit out of fear that you might think he's grown tired of it.

Every night he thinks it might be the last, so he forces himself to stay up as long as he can. Although having you sleep soundly against his chest makes his heart rejoice, the new and asinine sleeping schedule he has implemented puts his body into a poor state. Sanji expected someone to say something but he hasn't considered the whole picture and how it looks to the other Straw Hats - he sleeps in one bed with you every night and looks exhausted during the day. It gives... quite a boost to one's imagination. This is why no one so far has made any inquiry about the new sleeping arrangement.

Even if only opportunity made him the person you like to waste your spare time with, Sanji feels as though the universe itself has smiled at him. Some god above him saw his suffering and decided to ease his burden a little. In his mind, this is the most logical explanation.

But that's about to change.

He feels you stir against him. Unknowingly, Sanji freezes, afraid that it's his feathery touches that wake you up from slumber. He holds his fingertips right above your skin, uncertainty hanging in the air.

"You're not sleeping?" you murmur against his chest.

Gently, he sets his hand back on your arm. Your skin is burning his fingers but he welcomes the scorch like frosty cheeks welcome the scarce sunlight in winter months.

"Just thinking about something," he answers with faux disinterest, hoping that you won't inquire further.

To Sanji's horror, you lean away from him and prop your chin up on your head, staring at his face from above. A bright, curious glint shines in your eyes.

"Come on, shoot. What keeps you awake at night?"

Like a deer caught in headlights, he's silently panicking for a moment.

You. All of you. From the way you say "good morning" in a raspy voice to the "goodnight" you separate with a yawn. How I can tell exactly what's on your mind by the expression on your face. The little dances you do when you're having a good day. How adorable your scowl is. The way my chest hurts when I see you frowning.

Sanji gives you a reassuring smile and shakes his head slightly. "Nothing you should worry about, love," he dismissed you. A beautiful liar he is - nothing in his voice indicates the dread that resides inside him.

His heartbeat quickens suddenly when you give him a flash of a smile. In the twilight of a dark night, you look like a faerie, luring a poor, lovesick man to bestow his deepest, darkest secrets upon you.

And Sanji just might.

"Maybe I want to." You shrug your shoulders. With your other hand, you poke his chest playfully. "I'm fine with worrying if it's about you."

Sanji swallows thickly. You're in his bed, snuggled against him and openly admitting you care about him. If he doesn't change the course of the conversation soon, he might act upon his desire, confess feelings he's been unwilling to admit even to himself.

"As much as I appreciate that," he begins nervously, "there's enough in that pretty little head of yours. You just lean on me and I'll do the rest." Sanji forces himself to smile softly at you as he makes a point of leaning through putting his hand on his chest.

You chuckle and bite your lower lip. Sanji's mind tries to slip into his well-known fantasies of kissing you but he manages to keep his thoughts at the present moment.

"Spoken like a true gentleman." Hinging on your forearm, you lean closer to his face. "Maybe it's you I should marry."

He clenches his hand covered by the duvet. Having you so close to him was a daydream until you made it turn into somewhat of a nightmare. Sanji keeps telling himself that whatever happens, he can't let you in on his feelings, fearing that if you learn of his hopeless affliction, you will abandon his intimacy once and for all. And that Sanji doesn't even want to consider as a possibility.

"I thought you wanted to marry a prince," he says in an attempt to divert the conversation.

A scoff leaves your lips and you shake your head in disapproval.

"Fuck princes," you drone out. "I'm not a participation award you can put in your trophy case and show off. I'm more like wild, untamed waters. Like a maelstrom." Your voice hangs for a moment and Sanji holds on to it with more hope than he thought he's capable of. Maybe the universe really did take pity on him. Then, you lean even closer to him, leaving a rather obscene lack of space between your faces. "And you, my lovely Sanji, are a skilled sailor."

His heart stops for a moment.

"Don't do this," he whispers in a weak voice. "Don't give me hope for something I can never have. It's cruel."

"'Can never have?'" you repeat in confusion. "It's your bed I keep crawling back into despite telling myself to stop doing that. You already have me. All of me. I don't care how desperate that makes me look. I want you to have me."

Sanji tries to control his ragged breathing. His iron will is crumbling as he allows himself to look at your lips. Is he dreaming?

"You shouldn't say things you don't mean," he warns you in a distant voice. His mind is too occupied, too busy going haywire, to be rooted in reality. Will you taste as sweet as he imagined? Will you linger on his lips like the reviving kiss of a goddess given to a dying man?

"You shouldn't assume I'm someone who just runs their mouth," you answer.

His lips barely touch yours. There's too much fear in him - fear, that this isn't actually happening. That you're just a dream within a dream, that he imagined this moment to curb his desperation. But then he feels you kissing him back, your lips engulfing his as though you're silently begging him not to go anywhere and stay with you. Sanji can't help himself putting his hand on the nape of your neck and fixing the angle off the kiss to deepen it; to kiss you like princesses deserve to be kissed.

Maybe you are a maelstrom - raging waters twisting into deadly whirlpools. But he's definitely not a sailor. A shipmate would navigate dangerous tides, while Sanji seems to be drowning. The waters of you are filling his lungs and yet he feels like he's breathing for the very first time. He's slowly falling farther away from the light of reason. Soon, darkness engulfs him. But it's not cold. It's not lonely. It's the darkness of a warm, summer night.

And in this darkness, drowned in the untamed waters of a maelstrom, he hears a siren singing in your voice:

The madness of returned devotion.

[evilminji]

Back at it again~! With my PIDM Wife-OC Thoughts!

A SI-OC obviously, because I am a sucker for that "stranger in a strange but familiar land" vibe! It's about the subtle sense of alienation, you know? This is not your heaven, not your earth. Not your sky, not your stars.

Not even... in fact, your body.

You Do Not Belong.

And yet... you remain. Persist. Struggle, as all life does, to find both happiness and purpose. A stranger here. A thief. Unwilling, yes. But cast into stolen goods regardless. Forced to live out the rest of their life, for them. Forever to wonder... DID you steal it? Or did they die? Did you merely pick up what was already cast aside? Would they forgive you? Can they?

Does it matter?

That's GOOD SHIT! Love me some exploration of Self! Of Identity!

And? It's made SO MUCH BETTER? I realized? If you become a Nameless Wife Charater!

'Cause here me out! In the beginning~☆ They were named characters. Had personalized stories. Personalities for the readers and Binghe to remember. But as the numbers grew and grew? They became Beauties. Flowers.

Fetishes.

That one is the cat girl wife. This one is the milf. Over there is the one with the nice feet. He fucks, he marries, he promptly forgets. Except when he wants something, of course. The consent of half those marriages? Shakey at best! Fuck or Die scenarios. False promises. Altered states of mind!

It's everything about being a Woman, historically, on steroids.

You are nothing but a vessel for your husband's power and pleasure. Again, remebered as a fetish. That intimate, private, thing that you shared with someone who you thought you love... who you thought loved YOU? Becoming all you are and all your known for.

The tits ones. The one who does that thing with her tounge. The freaky one, who likes to-

It's a pretty, gilded, hell on earth. And you've already shown up too late. Story's over. Except! No it's NOT. Because the author is a hack. And is dragging it all out! There is nothing but needless drama, torture porn, and ACTUAL porn for decades to come!

What do you DO?

The woman you were... ARE now, didn't survive her God awful Fuck or Die scenario. Not really. Maybe if the Protagonist still CARED she might have. If he had moved to help FASTER. But he's grown so jaded, so cold, he took too long. She died and he never noticed. You took her place and he never knew her well enough to tell the difference.

Can you even call that "courtship"? We fucked. Congrats, you're married?

Are... are you supposed to LOVE him now? Treat him like a spouse? You KNOW how you would treat a spouse. But that was always assuming either monogamy or failing that? A REASONABLE number of other spouses! Like "could fit at the same average sized table" number! THIS? This isn't a marriage. It's a legion. You've been literally fucking conscripted! Heavy emphasis on the fucking part!!

Do they expect you to, what? Sign up to the fuck roster? Wait eagerly for your turn, being used and tossed aside? To dream of the day a man you barely know, slips into your bed again? To mess you up with his INFAMOUSLY HUGE MONSTER COCK?!

Are all of you FUCKING INSANE!?

But that's the thing? Isn't it? SI-OC is trapped in a porn logic horror movie. And the monster is both her fellow victims... AND their Husband. Harem infighting takes no prisoners. None of these women will EVER believe you don't secretly want Husband's undivided love and attention. The POWER that comes with it.

And? Worst of all? The reasonable reaction of "THE FUCK?! Get away from me!" Even if cautiously implemented? RIGHT after he has "Won" a new bride? In that BRIEF moment before he near completely forgets she exists beyond a number and few base facts?

That's like waving a bag of treats in front of a bored dog. Ears come up, attention? Grabbed. The unfortunate combo of his traumas, neuroses, demonic instincts, and sadomasochism all blending together into history's most unfortunate paste. The more you DONT want him to pay attention to you and to go the fuck away? The more he NEEDS you to love him. Worship him. Pay ATTENTION to him.

It's the Shizun issues. Which are Daddy/Mommy issues(extended edition).

So OBVIOUSLY? SI-OC needs to LOVE him. And he's gonna haunt her like the horror movie monster he is until she does. He has literal Gu in her blood. He can track her anywhere. MAKE her feel any physical sensation he pleases. Pain? Easy. Pleasure? Even easier. Why NOT try an condition her to love him?

Morals? Boundaries? "Because that's deeply fucked up?"

Ha ha... So?

Reading about a character like PIDM Luo Binghe and MEETING a character are wildly different experiences. One? Is fantasy. Mere escapism. Trashy porn with a cool character or two. The OTHER? Is deeply, DEEPLY and viscerally horrifying.

It's the difference between the naughty and transgression fanasties we might have in private... and the Actual Serial Killar who traps us in a shed.

THEN?

Mr. UNHINGED? Meets Nice Shizun™. And it ALL goes to SHIT. Very, very fast.

Cause, see, before? BEFORE? Bingge didn't KNOW what he wanted. He was just gathering everything. All of it. For himself. In the vain hope it might finally fix why he's unhappy. That he might be able to hold on to those brief little highs, that he got from victory. From sex.

But NOW? Oh NOW he KNOWS what he wants. He wants Nice Shizun. Nice Wives. Not a BIG number but a CONCENTRATED amount of adoration. He realizes he's been going at this the wrong way. So?

Spring cleaning.

He has a specific vision of what he wants. And if YOU have to die for him to get it? That's a sacrifice he's willing to make.

All those women. Trapped. Reduced to "beauties", "flowers", and fetishs. People who had hopes and dreams. Ambitions of their own. Who were so much MORE then their appearances and ability to be fucked. Dying. Day after day after day. This one not "kind" enough. That one doesn't smile right. She was too cold, too awkward, too proud. Dead, dead, dead.

Why are you crying? We're going to be so happy~!

A story that starts at the End. In hell. All those Wive's family's rightfully seeking justice. Getting caught in the crossfire. Because... because she is so tired. Because there are younger wives behind her. Because she has already died before.

Maybe this time will be kinder.

(That poor man. The warrior who shot her. She knew his sister. He... he looked so horrified. He didn't mean to hurt her. She forgives him. She... for..give..s...hi..m)

Waking up in SVSSS.

Indeed, the next life IS kinder. The System apologizes for the poor integration! She was SUPPOSED to awaken during the EARLY days of PIDM. Become a Main Wife! Help the story reach its full potential! However, PIDM was mistakenly categorized as "simple fix"! And handed over to a Beginner System.

It... is NOT.

(And even if it WAS, you put the User in the WRONG PART OF THE PLOT! *mechanical whacking noise*)

So~! Please enjoy this Journey Of Healing Side Plot~~☆ (yaaaay! Woooo! *confetti* pls don't be upseeeeeet~☆! Ha ha...) in which you, the User, will go one wonderful journey of Healing~☆!

..........is this a bribe? (Yes! It absolutely is! Please have some extra points, valued customer!) She... will take that bribe. Pleasure doing business with you. Kindly keep Crazy Pants away from her.

So NOW? We have Two camps. Team "fuckers, I DID MY TIME" over here in her SECOND-second run. Having her lovely, supportive System and slice of Life exploration of the world. And the OTHER two reincarnators who are all "wtf? That's not fair! Why does wife 453 get that but I dont?"

Ha! MAYBE?? BECAUSE she had to live as the woman remembered, even by YOU Mr. SUPER FAN and THE ACTUAL AUTHOR, as "Wife 453"! Tell me? What. Was? MY? NAME!? Hmm? Not my tit size, not what he did to me in bed, not what he thought of me naked, MY NAME. What was my favorite color? What I hoped to achieve in life?

The part where I KNOWINGLY and CONSENSUALLY agreed to marry that man.

Make Mr. "Everyone's gay for Binghe, who WOULDN'T want to marry him?" Face that... yeah, some of them DIDN'T. Make Airplane look into the face of all the women he condemned, however unknowingly. Let them look upon a kind face that STILL shows no sympathy, that says onto to them "the only way through hell, is to keep walking. Stop complaining."

Still ends up with Tianlang-jun though. Because she emphasizes HARD with being trapped for no reason. And being on the "wrong" side of the narrative, going down with the ship? There is a peace to that. At least this time... SHE chose her fate.

And Tianlang-jun doesn't want to fuck her.

They both got Trauma™ around that. Intimacy directly lead to the worst events of their lives. So like... how bout a cuddle. Everybody keeps their clothes on. He's a god damned mushroom, ffs. They are GOING THROUGH IT. But! They are GETTING through it.

Old married couple vibes. Except they are both literally NEVER getting married again, so help them gods. Because, Again, Trauma. So like... Tired Sassy Immortals who read bad porn together and their beleaguered Snake son. Hang out in a crypt.

AND THEN BINGGE SHOWS UP.

@mayfay @legitimatesatanspawn @spidori @babbling-babull @hdgnj @leftnotright @lolottes

[the-100-days-of-junkan]

Day 94

Drowning by aparticularbandit

I’m Excited!~ 

Both because I just really like todays fic, and also because this is another piece that I’m particularly fond of both with the end result and the process of making it!

Let’s talk about the fic this time first! Spice it up a little!

Love this one! A lot! And if I’m not having a severe lapse in my memory this was actually my introduction to Bandits work! While I haven’t read all of it (yet), what I’ve managed to take in so far is truly lovely! Bandit consistently has a very strong way of putting words together, the inner monologues written for whatever character we happen to be following are so good! Go read!!

I mentioned Drowning quite a few days ago, as it inspired two of the pieces playing with the idea of Junkan’s dynamic when portrayed using the Alter Ego flavor of Junko. So it seemed pretty fucking obvious that when making a list of what fics to make fanart of in this section of the project, that Drowning would have to be one of the first ones I did.

I love the process of Mikan internally explaining how it felt to finally remember Junko after being forced to forget her in the Neo World Program. I think there’s still intricacies to the wording that I’ve yet to pick up on, but it’s such a fun and readable description of how that feels! I love it! And the fun little anecdote about the two watching Horror Movies together is so fucking pleasant just as an aside. Love that.

I really like Monokuma’s implementation here, short as his tenure in the text is. He is just a silly little guy amidst this very serious oneshot and then Mikan says “Junko” and he isn’t fucking around anymore. I love it! The description of Blood in DR is also nice!~ Now the like, actual Junkan part of the Junkan fic though. It’s amazing!~

First off, Mikachin as a nickname is adorable. Second off, I’m not sure how to adequately articulate WHY i love the rest of this so much? Like I can say I really, really love the kiss scene, it drives me up a wall how good it is like god DAMN. But the rest? It’s just so fuckin well put together, pure artistry, excellent. And the end? Mikan “swimming”? Perfect, cinema even. Good work. God damn.

As for the art it’s actually both a cover, AND an adaptation. The combo.

When trying to figure out how to handle this I knew a few things. I wanted Monokuma, and I wanted the cave by the beach, since I love that fucking metaphor. After a lot of thought I decided to make it an adaptation of the scene where Mikan pets Monokuma. Albeit adding my own interpretation of things, which may have been misguided depending on your perspective. There’s a chance that when drawing Junko here I softened her up further than what might have been intended. That’s the one thing that usually happens whenever I read these Junkan Fics taking place in actual canon, it’s always a little bit hard for me to tell what the general intention with Junko is in terms of her feelings towards Mikan. Not by any fault of the author(s) of course, it’s more me trying to tell if it was actually intended to be a softer Junko who does care for Mikan, or if that’s my own biases clouding my interpretation of the text. 

I just really liked the visual of Junko watching over Mikan while she figures things out until they can be together again, like a ghost but less sad. Except it’s a little sad given y’know, it’s Alter Ego Junko and also this is in canon so Mikan’s gonna “die” relatively soon after this, but also they don’t need to know that. 

I really need to draw Monokuma more often. I definitely draw him a bit . . . cuter? With a much smaller body compared to the size of his head, usually at least. I do draw him more on model sometimes, kind of a random chance whether that happens. 

Lighting this fuckin pic was so enjoyable, like some of the most fun I’d had in a while. I don’t really remember why I did the glowing pool below them in place of a floor, beyond the motif of water, but i’m really glad I did. Junko? Amazingly fun to draw, I made the color palette a bit more muted this time around and I think duller colors really work for Junko, which is funny given how maxed out she normally is. Her hair, was so god damn fun to draw, oh my god. 

Fun fact! This pic was actually how I introduced myself to Bandit sometime earlier into the event, and they’re an absolute fuckin treat to talk to, very glad I worked up the confidence to do so. Definitely adds a bit more sentimental value to this art in specific!~ 

As always, Reblogs, Comments, and Little Notes in the Tags are appreciated!~ They always make my day!~

[highfantasy-soul]

I've seen some interpretations of Qimir/The Stranger's comment "When you lose everything, that's when you're finally free" that I don't really agree with.

A popular interpretation is that he's saying you have to cut off all your connections to people and love nothing, that's the only way to be free, but I think that's completely incorrect.

My interpretation is that he's saying when you lose the structures that have told you what to do your entire life, the people who had such strict expectations for you that you tried to mold yourself to, when you let go of all that, then you're free to really take a look at who YOU are.

Who we are a lot of the time is molded and shaped by the expectations of others: I can't get that tattoo because my grandmother wouldn't approve, I can't move to a different city because it would make my family sad, I can't post about political issues I'm passionate about because my job will fire me for it, I can't say what I really think because my friend group will treat me differently.

When you lose all that, you're no longer bound by their expectations and you can do what feels right for YOU. This doesn't have to be that they die! "Losing" them can just mean (in terms of Osha and the Jedi Order), you're no longer a part of that organization. Osha's not beholden to it's rules in a physical sense, but she was keeping herself mentally constrained by their rules all the same. Once she 'loses' that, she has the freedom to take a step back and assess her life and who she is and gets to decide who SHE wants to be - without being afraid that she's letting anyone down or not adhering to the rules of the organization.

There will be no social or structural consequences if she decides that she DOES want attachments now - because the Jedi can't punish her for it since she's "lost" her standing with the Jedi. She's free.

That's why it's so important to look at both the philosophy offered (when you lose everything, you're finally free) and also the interpretations of different people and how they're implementing that.

I do think Qimir/The Stranger was trying to color his killing of Yord and Jecki as something positive for Osha, but I don't think that's the 'end point' of his sentiment. I think that he's genuine in his belief that they were enemies who would kill him/stop him from existing as he wants to and so it wasn't 'evil' to kill them to stop them from doing that - I don't think he's lying to Osha about that to manipulate her - I think he's just trying to share how he views the situation.

After all, if an abused character killed their abuser, they might also indicate that they now 'felt free' because they "lost" that thing that was controlling them. That doesn't make them evil, it doesn't mean they're trying to lie and manipulate their way out of responsibility for the death, it's just indicating what their mindset is now that the threat to their safety is gone.

That acknowledgement isn't me saying Qimir's justification is 'right', only pointing out his own thought process behind the actions and how I don't think he's telling Osha that she needs to lose everything and KEEP it lost. I think the idea here is that once all your previous 'baggage' is stripped away, you're free to create the life/attachments you actually want.

[grahminradarin]

SPOP And Queer Joy Tw for transphobia, the Daily Wire, and getting kicked in the nuts

I was watching the most recent video from Some More News about a deeply stupid and bad and transphobic film from the daily wire called Ladyballers, and there was a scene they talked about where one of the main characters who was a guy that has been disguised as a woman for a couple weeks in order to win a woman's basketball tournament realizes he might actually be trans, and confesses this to the basketball coach who is his old friend and came up with the idea. The basketball coach then tells the trans character that she doesn't understand her own feelings and that the coach will help her figure it out. When she continues to insist that she's a trans woman, the coach kicks her in the nuts. And this made me realize the whole conservative mindset is based on an authority figure convincing people under them that they don't understand their own feelings and they don't know who they are, but the authority figure does. And the point of it all is to make someone never trust themselves or their own feelings ever.

And then I thought of the ending of She-Ra.

And I finally get why it felt so right and so triumphant and so different. Catra and Adora have been living with Shadow Weaver their whole lives, and Shadow Weaver has constantly been telling them who they're supposed to be, and it hurts both of them so much over the course of the series because Adora keeps trying to fit herself into that mold better (is helped in this endeavor by light hope) while catra is trying to break out of her mold to put herself in Adora's as the golden child

And then hoard Prime shows up as the ultimate example of an authority figure insisting that you don't understand yourself with the chips, which are literally a direct physical implementation of that idea!

And in what both of them think are their final moments alive, they kill the shadow Weaver in their heads, trust themselves to know who they are, and do what they've wanted to do the whole time. Catra stops trying to prove herself and admits that she cares and wants to just be enough without having to try. She stops caring about whether she's weak and says she loves someone. Adora stops trying to be the self-sacrificing hero and acknowledges that she can care about other people differently than just having to save them and she finally takes something she wants without worrying about the consequences.

They both say "screw authority, I know who I am and I'm going to let that out" because they both think they're about to die. And that one tiny moment of rebellion and understanding saves the entire goddamn universe. It terrifies Prime to the point that he can't even comprehend what's happened, and then it obliterates him and frees everyone he's ever hurt. It fixes everything

That one moment of queer Joy, even at the very end of the world, is all that it took.

[alpaca-clouds]

Fixing Karlach's Companion Quest

Let me ramble a little bit, after this post venting about the 3rd Act and especially how underused Karlach is was shared quite a lot. Because believe me people, I have thoughts in regards to how one could do her companion quest.

As I said: Out of the origin companions Karlach by far has the most lackluster companion quest. In fact her companion quest has less content than the quests for Halsin and Jaheira. Because basically Karlach's companion quest has only those steps:

Find the "Paladins of Tyr" and defeat them

Go find Infernal Iron for Dammon in the grove.

Give another Infernal Iron to Dammon at the Last Light in.

Defeat Gortash (which you have to do either way, no matter whether Karlach is on your team).

Which is not a whole lot.

The only decision Karlach will have in her entire questline is always "Does she want to die or rather go back to Avernus with Wyll?" And both are most certainly bad endings for her. And while Baldur's Gate (the city) is filled with those Steel Watch soldiers, that have a working infernal engine, the player does not get a chance to somehow try and follow up on it.

So... Let me talk on how I would write her quest.

Act 1

For the most part I do think Act 1 for her is alright as it is. I would maybe bring in some more tension into the story of some folks from Avernus coming for her. That does not need to happen in Act 1, but it should be hinted at. Because when we meet her, we learn that she had been haunted for days by folks from Avernus, but then... we never see anything of that outside of the paladins and the stuff with Mizora and Wyll. And that is kinda a let down.

Just hint at some infernal creatures being seen or something. Make her a bit more anxious about it. Something like that.

Act 2

The big issue is that Karlach has basically no content at all in Act 2 right now. Like, at all. You meet Dammon early on, bring him an infernal iron that you probably already have on hand. If you romance her you can get the first sex scene with her afterwards. And yes, if you actually go around talking to all the NPCs you will find one, who has a message from Flo, a demon who was a kind of "friend" to Karlach in the hells. Which is where we get introduced to the thing that feels like it should go somewhere - but never goes: The soul coins. While we can already collect those in Act 1, this is where Karlach actually explains what the Soul Coins are. And it is pretty clear that this at some point was the set up for a corruption arc... Only that this arc never happens.

Something I would do to play from this is, that sometime during Act 2 you will encounter some devil (maybe they'll actually come to camp) that will actually challenge you on Karlach. And during the fight she would through some way or another actually use a coin (just make somehow sure she has one) and there are gonna be consequences from that.

You can talk to her about it, she probably would just act as if it was nothing. Something like that. Just build that one up.

Act 3

See, I kinda think I know why the soul coin thing goes nowhere. Because for the Soul Coins to be used you need to have Karlach on your team - and generally speaking the game does not force you to have certain characters on your team. Sure, for some events on the companion quests you get highly encouraged to take the companion in question along, but... You are not forced to do so. And for Karlach to get corrupted she would kinda need to use the Soul Coins - and implementing that would have been a bit harder? However, here is what I would do:

Once you get into the city, you will sooner or later find Dammon. Karlach will ask about him, you take her to meet him. He will tell you, that he has no idea how to fix the engine. But the player will get the ability to note that ineed the Steel Watch are running on Infernal Engines, and hence understanding them might help. Hence, this will actually also give you another reason to go to the Forge, which can then double as Karlach's "Dungeon". You will try to find some stuff here - and from there you could go different parts.

Either you really frame the entire Karlach conflict around the soul coins, or you frame it around her want for revenge. I think storywise the soul coins would work a lot better - however they would also need a lot more change in the game.

Because a Soul Coin plot would probably build around her using the Soul Coins again and again and through it losing control. Basically a addiction metaphor. And for that you would either need to talk her out of it or the engine could actually fail earlier than the finale. If you really want to be a bit evil... let her die earlier on. I mean, the game lets characters leave/die earlier, so it is fine to let that happen, right?

The revenge plot is easier to do. You go to the Forge, deal with the Gondians one way or another, you bring those plans to Dammon and he realizes he needs something (a MacGuffin, a specific bit of information, whatever) to actually fix the engine. And this is something that Gortash has.

I wrote about this before: I generally think that even in another origin playthrough or a Tav playthrough the game would be better if you could actually get Gortash to give up rather than fighting him. For one, the fight against Gortash is boring, but also it would improve the story a lot more to get to see both him and Orin with a bit more nuance.

In this case the story would go like that: You go to Gortash. Given this is past the Forge storyline there is a good chance you destroyed his Steel Watch. He is pissed. Well, works good, because so is Karlach. Of course he does not want to help you - and Karlach wants to kill him. Still, you need his help to save Karlach. So you need to convince the two of them in one way or another.

I think this is especially poiniant because one of Karlach's biggest wants is actually a regretful Gortash. And sure, she will not realistically get that anytime soon. But give it a chance?

Well, either would work: A story about the Soul Coins - or one about the entire revenge plot. In my fics I went with the second one, because only a few plot points needed to happen differently for that. But if you were to remake parts of the game, I think both would be nice solution. (For my alternate Gortash confrontation: Hurt Begets Hurt.)

[etaleah]

On the one hand, yes I want Sonic to catch Shadow in the third movie or in a remastered SA2 because I like Sonadow; HOWEVER, I also want it because it would be the ending that makes the most narrative sense.

For one thing, it’s a simple, believable explanation for how Shadow could survive that doesn’t involve having to come up with convoluted justifications for Shadow somehow being unharmed after falling to Earth and burning up in the atmosphere or why/how Eggman would save him and how Shadow mysteriously got his inhibitor ring back. Saving Shadow, especially at that point in the story, is something everybody could believe Sonic would do, no clarification needed. That’s just who Sonic is.

For another, it saves the creators from having to go through the amnesia song and dance again (which I personally think was a mistake and only implemented to give him something to do in Heroes) or taking the risk of killing off a fan favorite that’s extremely marketable. Shadow just never gets amnesia because he never falls. Simple as that. He never dies because Sonic saves him.

And while it might be easy to think that Shadow not dying or being thought to have died at the end would weaken the sacrifice, I actually don’t think that’s true. Just having Shadow remove the inhibitor ring and starting to fall afterwards shows that he was willing to make the sacrifice, and that matters much more than whether he actually ends up having to make it. Frodo and Sam don’t die on their journey to Mount Doom, but that doesn’t make them not heroes. They were willing to die for the cause, and that’s what counts. The same is true for Shadow.

Having Sonic catch him also helps cement that they’re allies/friends now, and that Sonic has forgiven him. Now that Shadow has redeemed himself, he gets to reap the rewards of his redemption. It’s a nice little symbolic gesture that, while it may not be necessary, is still nice to see.

Anyway let Sonic catch Shadow pretty please with a cherry on top covered in a banana sundae.

[ignitesthestxrs]

i'm nearly done with veilguard and like. there have been some stand out narrative moments! it is, in general, a much better game and story than i feared it was going to be able to be post-anthem, and shaped much more like the game i wanted it to be once we got the news that it was going to be single-player only.

but. ultimately. it's sooooooo Player Choice Focused and so so so scared of making any big narrative calls one way or another that it has resulted in this game where the mechanics themselves take agency away from each of your companions and hand it over to your protagonist.

sobbing deeply like it should not be Up To Me to decide for a character What Their Culture Should Be, and honestly it's deeply fucked up that the game is making you make this choice regardless. as an example.

like the game offers you a plethora of choices, but there aren't actually consequences for any of them in a way that impacts you, the player, emotively or narratively. the big choice that might harden one or the other of your companions is like, a coin flip that the game is very careful to stress doesn't reflect on the...morality or world beliefs of your character?

what i mean by this is that in da2, if you make pro-mage choices in front of fenris, he'll be annoyed with you. if you talk shit about blood magic in front of merrill, she'll get mad. the choices you make are reflected in how your companions respond to you over time, however clumsily implemented mechanically they are able to be in a game made in 2011.

meanwhile this game made in 2024 has chosen to go the route of Everything Rook Says, Goes. this is articulated most clearly in the conclusion to davrin's quest, where he literally says 'i can't make this choice, but i trust rook to'. whatever rook says goes.

so while the choices you are presented with over and over again seem on the surface significantly weighted because it changes what events occur, they ultimately leave me feeling cold, because there's no emotional fallout in the wake of making them (maybe with the exception of treviso vs minrathous, but even then the issue is like, well i had to pick one and you lost the coin toss).

even if i do have opinions about the outcomes of one choice or another, the game assures me that those opinions don't have to come into the decision. because whatever you choose, in the wake of that choice, the specific companion will assure you that you made the right choice. even if they're mad about it, they understand that you had to do x thing. there's nothing you can do, or say, or believe, that fundamentally clashes with a character's world view. only bad luck that forces you into an untenable position, or the ability to convince any companion, eventually, that you were right.

idk i just think that narrative choices are only meaningful if you have to defend why you made them in some way - not because of their outcome, but because of what that choice says about the character your playing. if i decide to leave a shitty mayor to die and he comes back later as a monster to kill a bunch of allies, that's just a quest i'm ticking off when i kill him.

but if i then get confronted by a companion with opinions on restorative justice in the wake of that choice, now i have to actually contend with the impact of that decision i made in early game. now someone is mad at me, or disappointed. having to kill one more dude in a killing dudes game is not a consequence. the whole point of having companions in a narrative choice game like dragon age should not be to have 6 besties who agree with you and each other all the time, but instead a way to help figure out how you want to navigate the game world, story, and the choices you're going to make about it.

ultimately it feels like this game is terrified of interpersonal conflict in a way that sucks a lot of the joy out of playing this kind of rpg, and i'm sad about that. veilguard wants so badly to assure me that i'm doing amazing sweetie that it's ended up creating a world where i can only do amazing.

that, or i'm just so great at video games that i have won every interpersonal conflict in the [mumbled] hours that i've been playing veilguard. that seems likely.

[rmwb-fanfics]

How to remake Harry Potter:

(A step by step guide)

We’ve already had one god-awful adaptation that way too many people think is good. This is our one chance to have the book characters represented correctly, along with the plot they support.

I’ve put YEARS of thought into this. I’ve written scripts for episodes of a hypothetical tv show. I’ve drawn concept art. I’ve done shit. So I figured I’d share my thoughts.

1. Stick to the books*.

Stick to the books has a massive asterisk next to it because I mean the plot and characters. Some stuff (as you’ll see later) should be changed.

Nothing in this show should feel out of character. Harry should be closer with Ron than he is to Hermione. Snape should be a real d*ckhead. Hermione should be judgmental of those who don’t think like her, etc etc. The way these characters navigate their relationships is why the fandom is still relevant. It’s why canon-compliant fic is popular in the first place. We like their dynamics. SHOW THEM APPROPRIATELY.

Plot is a sticky thing because I’d say there’s wiggle room, but not too much. Certain characters have to die. Certain events must happen. You cant change that stuff.

2. Use the Medium.

You’re using film as a format to tell your story. Ideally you’d us animation, but I know Warner Bros has less creativity than Disney’s remake department, so I won’t even try and pitch that.

Use colour and saturation. It can help contextualize emotion. It can make us subconsciously recognize things. For instance, the scene growing more saturated when Ron walks into the room when Hermione is wearing the horcrux, or any multitude of other uses this could bring.

Bring in costume design that (actually fits the world) but also helps show how that character is feeling. What they’re thinking, their personality, their future, etc.

Make magic fun™️. The books sort of sidelined magic in 5-7. Don’t do that. Divert from the books. Magic should feel alive. Colour-code them so we as an audience can recognize spells and what they might do before we see it. Implement sound design to make each spell unique and vibrant. Make this world subtly bursting with magic like it was in the first few books. Have it weave around characters, wrap them up. Be creative with action scenes. Force transfiguration into battle scenes. Choreograph your duels. Show don’t tell us that a wizard/witch is powerful. Turn people into portraits. Lock them up as mice. USE MAGIC.

Your set design should reflect this. Everything should be bursting with personality. Don’t just use the shitty movie sets. Inject some colour, have the surroundings aid you in telling the story. Get weird with the camera. Use these tools to their fullest potential.

Actually fucking try.

3. Utilize Music.

Music is just… such a massive part of film. It’s frustrating how often even the best filmmakers overlook its use. Characters should have themes that mature and develop as the series goes on. Have action arrangements of the themes to play with heroic moments. As the series progresses, we grow attached to these themes. When they appear, the audience FEELS something. Don’t reuse great pieces to force emotion. (Dumbledore’s Farewell in The Prince’s Tale. Are you fucking kidding me?)

For example: Have a theme for Neville that starts out timid and uses very shy instrumentals, but we first hear a change when he stands up to the trio at the end of PS. Then it gains more instruments until OotP, when it grows again. Once we get to DH, it can be used in this heroic swell as he chops the head off the snake in front of Voldemort and everyone watching. The audience, consciously or not, will feel that moment even more.

Have a theme for Ron and Hermione that might not even be romantic until HBP when it gains that element. PLAY WITH MUSIC.

Themes for mystery, adventure, loss, love, friendship, LOCATION. Let them come back throughout the series to highlight various moments. See Lord of the Rings and The Hunger Games, as well as (surprisingly) the Fantastic Beasts films.

Let music affect the visuals. Magic can bend and swivel with the music. Use it to tell the story. Use it to show emotion. Use it to progress a character’s arc. USE CONSISTENT MUSIC.

4 . Be Bold.

This is the big one and it may seem like I’m contradicting myself but I’m not. Rowling’s work hasn’t aged crazily well to modern fiction standards. This is your chance to rectify that. Fill plot holes, actually think through the politics. Introduce world-building elements that enhance the story/characters. (The house system, and how Slytherin fits in. The logic behind avada kedavra???) Get creative with solutions. Contradict the original work when it comes to description of location. If it doesn’t work for the film format, don’t force it to work here.

Spend more time with characters we know are relevant, but maybe not to the plot. These are your Ginny Weasleys, your Seamus and Deans, Nevilles, etc. Really fill them in. Give them more scenes. Ginny has two phenomenal arcs that play completely off-screen, explore them. Show us her friendship with Hermione. Show us her insecurities and her faults. Give us more of her and Harry’s friendship. We know they get married, so maybe fix the whole “Rowling wrote the epilogue first, but didn’t realize she was waiting too long to introduce these characters until HBP”.

Add scenes. Add jokes. Add smiles and covert looks. You have more time, which means you have a chance to focus on friendships, and romance, and world building.

Tell multiple storylines. Give Remus and Tonks a cool spy/thriller subplot interjected with the main story in OotP. Show us more of Fleur staying in England. Give us more of Harry and Sirius bonding. All of this stuff can fit loosely into canon, and be welcome creative additions.

BE BOLD.

And finally,

5. This is your chance to not only retell the story, but to do it better.

RECOGNIZE THIS. Take advantage of this opportunity and enhance canon, don’t fight it.

Don’t add Hermione and Harry dancing because *YOU* don’t like where the romantic pairings went. Don’t add Draco sympathy because you want him to have a redemption arc. Don’t dumb Ron down because you don’t like the fact that he’s just like the teenage boys you dated in High School, and he was a bit immature.

Make changes, be bold, use music, stick to the books*, use the medium, but take this as the opportunity that it is to enhance what came before.

Thank you.

[kaffykathy]

Sometimes I look at Lancer's core book and just think about how lacking it is in significant details for all the factions, like who is the current leaders of Union, to founders and owners of the many corporate entities.

I know that doesn't sound like exciting lore to anyone, but for Union, there's no one like the Camerons from Battletech or the Karl Franz from Warhammer Fantasy. And I can see that it was probably purposely implemented like this for the reason that these entities are bigger than the identities that lead them, and that's why when a name like Johnathan Harrison pops up along sith a small blurb of who he is, we start to realize his significance and why Harrison Armory is the way it is. He was basically a fascistic General from Seccomm that fled and made his own Union how he saw fit, and his clones still live up to his legacy to the current setting of Lancer.

At the same time, Union doesn't have any of that. There's no lore about some, or any politician of government in the Core Book at least other than the seats and chairs that they fill. The reason for this is to give the players the ability to make their own interpretations with the world, but it's really saying something when your big government super power claiming to be in a utopian golden age doesn't have a face to its actual organization.

(Side note: if anyone ever tells you that their realm is a Utopia, you should be taking that the same way that someone says that a ship is 'Unsinkable'. Sorry to burst your bubble Pilot NET, but some of you really need to read between the lines about this. Especially with how much of a bureaucratic nightmare DoJ HR is.)

I know that it's very much the case that Massif press could have done this intentionally to show in the Lancer setting that the sum is bigger and more significant than all the parts added together. The world of the setting is too big to care too much about one individual or planet without weeding in a reason why in most cases because unless you're playing a mission book like Solstice Rain, you probably wouldn't be visiting any of the planets or people brought up in the first place. But the thing is, to me, is that this really makes Lancer less lively than I think it should. When I read about the Albatross, I wanna know about their heroes and significant feats and journeys. I could just play and Albatross, but having record of the daily life at the perspective of a nomadic Lancer would have been told so much more than I think the actual descriptions give.

It's why I love the blurb of text on the Sisyphus NHP. It builds a character, tells a narrative, and humanizes this being most probably would only be used to get a better roll. It also implies how cycling actually works for an NHP and the significance to it. And from all this, we can see that Sisyphus knows that his fate is to be cycled and die over and over again. Something barely given full page and it's just text on equipment.

And yet we don't have anything like that for the bigger picture. We don't know that the leaders of Union generally feel or think about the world surrounding us. We don't have a set uniform for Union or any other of the major players. And as a person who was fascinated with historical things like what soldiers wore during the battle of waterloo, or what camo patterns did a certain tank use, I feel like it's a significant diservice to not give us official uniforms and outfits for Union.

Imagine what cultural reflections that could have impacted the clothing an officer would wear.

I don't know, Lancer really likes to skim on the actually interesting descriptions, but I still love it. It's just that it really doesn't give me enough reason to care about things like Cradle or the Solar System in its current timeline. There is a lot of telling, and not showing in the lore for me, but they don't even tell things that historical nuts like me might be interested in.

[packet-of-staples]

Have you always wondered that you really wish that undertale would also gets it’s own adaptation since cuphead and fnaf gets it’s own

(it’s much better if undertale was like a animated series)

(And I really do wish it got it’s own adaptation cause I love the games😔)

I actually hope undertale never gets an adaptation outside of the video game format! The game is so intrinsically tied to the fact that it is a video game I dont know how you would adapt it.

Games like Cuphead, Fnaf and Mario's plots arent as tied to their video game mechanics like Undertale's plot is.

Entire plot points and characters just would not work (Like Flowey's entire character, resetting, choosing to spare or kill etc.). The whole story hinges on what you the player chose to do and that gets thrown out the window when you are watching something.

The active role the player has in shaping the story by sparing or killing cannot be replicated by a passive watching audience. Not in a way I think has the same impact anyway. Your choices are what make Undertale what it is.

Sure the story its self is very good! Outside of the mechanics. But a lot of the emotional battles like Asriel, Omega Flowey, Sans or Asgore are so inextricably tied to flipping the mechanics you have learnt on its head to illicit a reaction (see, Asgore breaking the Mercy button in a pacifist run through. You cannot spare him despite having done so for every other character. This is shocking to the player and I dont think it could work the same in a different format).

Or okay let's take the entire Omega flowey fight. What save points is he drawing back on to move you or kill you over and over when it is in film format? Who's save file does he discard when you cant make a save file when watching a movie? How about when he crashes the game after you die? How would you implement that into a film? You really cant.

How would you explain the ethics around resetting if you are unable to actively reset? You would not be able to relate to Flowey, get that gut punch in genocide when you realise you have become just like him after resetting and slaughtering all of your friends. When watching a tv show or movie YOU are not doing anything, the character on the screen is, you are just an onlooker with no ability to alter the story.

Toby wants it to feel like you're playing with these characters like toys you can discard, love or damage whenever you want and makes you think about the ethics around that. Characters in a video game feel a lot more like playing with toys than watching a film does, because in a video game you are able to make an impact on what they say or do. While in a film characters have a set script, you have no impact, there are no choices you have to make aside from keep watching.

Undertale's Metanarrative is woven into it's very being. By separating it from the video game format I feel like you are just gutting it of what made it special in the first place. You would have to rework it so much, I feel like you'd might as well just write a whole new story.

Does this make sense? Its 1 am while I'm writing this so I hope I'm not talking in circles.

[uboat53]

In light of the election, a word to those who voted for Trump.

I'll admit, I've run out of sympathy. It's been eight years of him being overwhelmingly in the public limelight and he was president for four of those. You all know who he is now and you still voted for him.

And I get it, you'll claim that you voted for him for "the economy" and that you don't support all of the ways in which he's a terrible human being, but I have a hard time believing that considering that the average Trump voter doesn't actually even know what Trump's economic policy will be. Look, America had a decent economy under Trump the first time, not because of anything he did, but because he inherited a decent economy from Obama and spent all his time doing petty things like the Muslim ban rather than screwing up the economy. Don't believe me? Find any graph you like of the US economy and show me where his policies changed anything dramatically from the pre-Trump trend (at least, before he completely screwed up the pandemic).

And, look, if he'd just been promising vague, back to normal-type things, I might believe you that it was the economy, but he hasn't. Since the start of his campaign he's been promising to implement massive tariffs on all imports; something he can do, by the way, without Congressional approval. Tariff, by the way, is another word for tax; he's going to add a 10% (and more!) tax to every single thing that the US imports, and we import a lot. Inflation, by the way, has been back down to reasonable levels for months, this is the type of thing that would cause it to spike back up again.

So, yeah, I don't believe you that you voted for him because you were very concerned about the economy; if you were very concerned about the economy you would know all of that already. No, you didn't vote for him "in spite of" the racism and the lawbreaking and the bigotry, you voted for him because of it. The economy was just a fig leaf.

And if that strikes you the wrong way, if you think I'm wrong about that, if you think I'm judging you in bad faith, sit for a minute with that feeling. Ask yourself, why did you vote for a racist? Why did you vote for a criminal? Because you did. Whatever reason you tell yourself you did it for, you still did it. And millions of people around the country and around the world are going to suffer for it.

And, if the economy, as just about every economist predicts, crashes under the weight of Trump's tariffs and other terrible economic polices, I'll admit that my reaction to your shock will probably not be what you'd like either. As I said, I'm out of sympathy after eight years. You voted for a criminal and a bigot in exchange for a "good economy" and the most likely result is that you will still not get it.

I hope that all of the women who will die because they're unable to access abortion care find peace and that their families will too. I hope that all of the immigrants who are deported and the communities they're ripped from are able to heal. I hope that all the gay and trans people who will be attacked and denied support by their own government find what help they need. I hope that all of the Jews and ethnic minorities who are murdered all over the country by white supremacists emboldened by Trump are able to find peace as well. I hope that all of these people are able to survive the economic shockwaves that are coming.

As for you, I'll admit, as unsympathetic as I am generally, I still have my humanity and that leaves me with at least a small bit of hope for you. I hope that you one day discover the humanity to, even if your assumptions about the economy were somehow correct, risk a little bit of what you have to prevent the suffering of others. I hope that you aren't one of the many people devastated by the economic policies you've voted for. I hope that you eventually realize what you've done. I hope that you'll take responsibility for what you've unleashed and work to combat the bigotry and crime that is coming. Ultimately, though, I hope, when you do realize everything that's happened and everything is said and done, that you can forgive yourself.

[7thcirclebaker]

Alright, so since we don't know who's the lead for season 4, and we mostly think Eloise needs someone who will actually call her out on stuff, and clearly the canon relationships at this point are up for grabs, I propose a Theloise potential storyline.

In this season there was the focus on heirs and family inheritance and how surprise titles just are like a thing. From Season 2, we know the Sheffields don't have a male heir, or at least we can assume so, as we never see or hear of one. As Edwina has made a good match on the continent, likely her first born son would inherit whatever title is there, assuming there's only one. And she doesn't seem to have gotten pregnant yet either. This means the Sheffields would need to hold out another couple of years to have an heir, even from the daughter they basically disinherited. But clearly, it's also possible for families to go searching for the nearest male next of kin who would inherit which we saw in the Mondrich plotline this season.

Enter Theo, a like 4th cousin of the Sheffields. They find him, and quite forcefully don't let him out if it, because well he can actually read and is young, fit, and healthy. But he's really not a fan of this, doesn't want it really, is always talking about workers rights etc. in an attempt to tire him out, and for him to be more palatable to the Ton, they buy him a commission, because there's very much a war on. It's a cushy one that's unlikely to see too much battle so he's not at major risk but it should alter his life priorities or something.

Danbury hears that the Sheffields are sending this poor lad of to war, doesn't connect Theo Heir to be Sheffields, to Eloise's printer apprentice Theo and tells Kate about him. They decide to invite him to the next ball as he's kind of her cousin and she wants to do some fence mending. Eloise bumps into him there and they're both just an absolute mess, but like defensively angry at the other. Still people don't connect them to the scandal from season 2, and the only one Eloise would tell is Pen, who won't be writing about this.

They cool off after a little bit and send an apology letter, I wanna say Eloise apologizes first because Pen calls her out faster, and also Theo might die like, is that what you really want the last things you've said to him to be. Thus we get the letters over several months.

Boom! Combat! Things actually go pretty okay, and Theo gets a commendation and a shiny medal. He's horribly wounded though, like weren't sure he'd survive wounded. He does, and gets sent to the country for air from the military hospital only no one told Eloise. So she's thinking he's ignoring her or dead, he thinks she's ignoring him because he's now somewhat fucked up (I wanna say in a way that means being a professional printer is no longer viable because of the work, so he has to accept that he's the Heir now). Someone tells Eloise that he's not dead and is in fact at the Sheffields. She storms herself up there all abluster and yells at him for letting her think he was dead and after that last letter was somewhat touching and like maybe he proposed in it. They argue, they make up, they make out.

Eloise was of course unchaperoned, as we'll say the Sheffields died or were in the city lauding how great their heir was in battle. We get three angry Bridgerton Brothers battle ready for their baby sister. They agree to get married and the family slowly come around once they see how in love they actually are. Also because he's like actually maybe willing to ask for help about how to do the estate management and also how he can implement some reforms and it makes his brother's in law think about the estates they manage and do some reform as well. Everyone wins.

[horizon-verizon]

May I ask why you don’t like Jace and Sara Snow? I wouldn’t say it’s the same as Rhaegar and Lyanna, but the situation does have some similarities. Maybe it’s even closer to Robb and Jeyne/Talisa (though I’m not sure if you like that pairing). Personally, I think Sara isn’t real, but let’s pretend she is for a moment. What about their dynamic doesn’t work for you?

Anon is either talking about all the Sara Snow posts I've done or this post.

Rhaegar failed bc he was way too idealistic that he let ideas of heroism carry him away from observing issues with is own acrions or how e implemented a lot of them. So he was both irresponsible in one sense and was obsessed w/fufilling an ultimate level of "responsibility" through a prophecy I think he took as way to justify/redeem te corruption around him. Yes, he wanted to be "authentic", but went about it unfairly & disastrously under that inevitable weight. Jace didn't have this issue.

A)

I explain why Jace and Sara vs Rhaegar and Lyanna aren't similar enough to warrant the pairing people put them in the link above.

Other than what I wrote there, it's also bc Rhaegar did not abandon Elia (at least not to die; is fault, yeah, but people make as if he went out of his way tomake sure is family were in danger for p*ssy; Jace did not ave te same problem of yper-idealism as Rhaegar to beleive that things would work out & thus put is family at risk), like Jace would be doing to Baela and Rhaenyra IF Sara Snow and him were a thing and married AND to be like what people think Rhaegar did, Jace would have had to run off somewhere else entirely with Sara and trigger another problem for himself and the whole black team...which doesn't happen.

Even if Sara were real, nothing came of it. She's still at Winterfell. He quite clearly came back and resumed his duties. None of it goes anywhere. So what exactly is the point or true motivation/inspiration, I wonder, to shipping him and Sara, and nothing major or plot-defining comes from them beign together or trying to be? When with Lyanna and Rhaegar, their relationship triggered a war and had purpose and definitively shaped the entire country for years to come--to induce another critical event in the story? RobbxJeyne: Robb broke his betrothal and was unfairly murdered in a forever historical event that brought the War of the Fiver kings to a close and opened a new "wound" in the society similar bec the punishment did not fit the crime, even went too far. He may not have been in love with Jeyne like some imagine Rhaegar-Lyanna and Daemyra to be, but there is a nobility in his decision, too...I don't see the same for the SaraxJace ship.

Second, unlike Robb, Jace in this scenario is never described as "doing right" by Sara by marrying her after impregnating her. Both bec she is a known bastard who could never really marry him (remember Ellaria and Oberyn, Aemond and Alys) in this hypothetical where she is real and she we hear nothing about her being pregnant in the first place. In every single scenario that I have seen Sara SnowxJace shipping, these two fall in love and oftentimes just elope just because they are in love and Jace is motivated to stop shouldering the pressures of his own birth and obligations. that might be attractive to people, but there are other things that contextualize my dislike and suspicion of it actually being about "love for love's sake" or "love is the relief of duty".

Third, unlike Rhaegar and Elia (which GRRM describes as a marriage of "tragedy", and I while I do think it was clearly more a tragedy for Elia than Rhaegar [Rhaegar not loving her when it was possible that she would have tried to love him, her illness on top of pushing herself to birth his heirs, Rhaegar having given Lyanna the crown publicly, then her horrific death and the murder of her kids]), Jace and Baela showed no unreciprocated reluctance or hesitation or lack of chemistry/compatibility nor was there testimony of such. For Rhaegar-Lyanna, the narrative tells us that it was never something that was going to be emotionally fufilling for either person through Barristan Selmy and Rhaegar's own actions and much symbolism written into several parts of AWoIaF, the main series etc. about blue roses and such--no such thing exists for Rhaegar and Elia. He may not have "hated" her, but their's was not a marriage of "love" of a certain kind. And for JacexBAela, while we don't see any hint of passion or love from him towards Baela in the same degree that would be a match as much as something can be for a book like F&B's section of the Dance, again, we still do not see any hint of his reluctance/non-attraction towards her that some SaraxJace shippers may try to argue. This matters, too, bc the passion that some argue makes Rhaegar risk it all for Lyanna & then ruin the realm is at least admirable in the sense of agency for Lyanna.

Fourthly, what dynamic? We literally know nothing about Sara Snow. Just that she is a bastard of the Starks, Cregan's sister, and possibly a figment of Mushroom's desire for attention and drama. And because we know nothing about her for certain (and for real this time, unlike stuff we know about Alicent, Rhaenyra, Daemon, etc. even though this is a history book), there's no reliable material to give reality to Sara Snow even if I wanted to pretend she was real. I have to do independent work to create a personality for me to even be able to ship her with anyone, much less a young boy who's narrative purpose leaned on opposing the Westerosi understanding of bastardry like his brothers and Addam/Alyn Velaryon all did. Jace can't do that by just deciding to break his betrothal or dishonor his betrothal to Baela (and we don't even see or have any suggestion of his supposed discomfort to being married to her in the first place, this is another thing people made up and projected into canon!) because he fell for her. Again, Robb married Jeyne not just because he liked her, but because she got pregnant.

This is a dynamic(?) that, like a lot of ships, tends to take one aspect the shippers like a lot, they see some aspects of that narrative-of-a-ship they like or created in a canon circumstance (Rhaegar-elia-Lyanna) or what they think happened, and then they mash it together to give more credit to the new ship they have. I find it disengnuous. Especially when my biggest issue I have with this ship is it has gotten so much more support or relevance only after HotD came on and Baela "became" Black. I've tried searching for this ship prior to the show, and only a miniscule amount of desire for it existed then in comparison to all other ships, canon or not. And it parallels people saying Baela should be Lady of Driftmark while Helaena is queen, esp in lieu of the show making Rhaenyra offer this marriage arrnagement...bookwise, Baela and Jace were betrothed since both were tiny kids bc Rhaenyra and Laena had been best friends AND it made sure to bind Corlys/the Velaryons more to Rhaenyra's side/make sure Luke could have a better chance of being the future Lord of Driftmark--as he was betrothed to Rhaena since very young as well. The betrothals were a matched set, one came with the other.

Canon!Baela was happiest betrothed to Jace, growing up with Jace, growing up a Targaryen under Daemyra's "roof" even as she was obviously loved by her Velaryon grandfather and likely visited him often. Because she seemed to have developed a relationship with Jace, they would have made a good ruling couple and Baela would have been the most prestigious, highest ranking woman in the realm, with as much influence as maybe Alysanne since I don't see any suggestion of her being shunted to the side once he rules. Involved and shaping decisions that involve the ENTIRE realm, not just a small area like Driftmark. There's even a healthier degree of remove because she is still connected to the Velaryons, has her father and sister and her other stepbrothers anc vice versa. Both individuals preoccupied with other things in away that Jaehaerys and Laysanne were not while they had to hide away from Maegor and were confined relatively to each other alone. So it's possible the pitfalls of intramarriages is mitigated a little bit here despite them clearly growing both together and separate enough to be themselves, Baela having some practical agency, and not so dependent on each other. So, again, why is it that people are so eager to make Jace disatisfied with her or them not devoted to each other or Baela being "better off" being a mere Lady when the white!Helaena gets to be queen...I'd even say Helaena needs to be away from her family and marry out more than Baela does, as the latter in canon had more protections with her relatives than show!Helaena did.

This JacexSara ship is only as popular as it is bc it entirely depends on a rejection of Baela AND Laena AND Rhaenyra's canon female bonds and possible politicking apart from Alicent. Or against Alicent or just for Rhaenyra herself. Laena's relationship with Rhaenyra is erased for Rhaenicent, which gives way to that Helaena-Jace idea that only gets thrown back in Rhaenyra's face. Contrast that with her successful and satisfying arrangement (satisfying to the kids themsleves) between her sons and Laena's daughters--now instead we have this weird back and forth that makes no sense.

I'm usually not one to hurl on ships; in this case, my disdain comes from fans taking and misunderstanding "death of the author" and then hypocritically transposing their own ideas onto the canon by sheer force of will. It comes from the show amplifying people's biases and misunderstandings of the text. It encourages willful reading before comprehensive reading, which is dangerous; one example of why is people say Aegon would have been happiest or most powerful and safe still married to Jaehaera, or that this entire story should have ended with them together bc "both sides bad, marriage makes good, it ends the war"...the disabled child forced to be impregnated...sure. And it that why Jaehaera gets killed by another guy who wants to put his own daughter on the thoen so he could have descendants as Otto did...while having been on the green side? That guy that perpetuates the violent disposal of girls/women like Rhaenyra? Sure, it's just about "both sides bad" because Rhaenyra was not a "good" queen. Gotcha.

Contrast this situation to people shipping Jayce and Viktor of the League of Legends show; in that case, no people are well within their rights to ship them and even to believe that it was textual that they had romantic feelings or a soul connection that outstrips mere friendship.

Why?

there is strong SUGGESTION in the mannerims and dialouge that could easily lend to romance or high-feeling many times throughout the series, where the two share an understanding or faith and devotion in the other while they try--in their own disjointed ways--to make their society a better place through Hextech, their shared "creation", which brought them close.

that suggestiveness was deliberately played into by the voice actors and animators and writers themselves even though a few writers didn't see it that way

(This is not me saying Jayce didn't care nor didn't love Mel, this is me saying that Jayce and Viktor discover the real meaning and value of life through each other when they forgot that they should have questioned the ethics of their development of Hextech and its effects on humanity's greed and fight to survive just in the classism of their society. The reason why this inspires people sometimes more than Jayce's love for Mel or their perception of Mel at all is because this entire story's center ond direction is coming from the characters' desire to "fix" humanity and that going wrong because of things utterly out of their control they never should have or just couldn't get a handle on...and lots of grief. Mel was a big part of all that, but she has her own story and Piltover seems more like a "stop" in her story more than anything.)

I said once shipping is or can't be detatched from how people view politics AND can often be a political act -- I don't like what I'm seeing in this particular ship's politics. Or the fans' quiet motive behind it.

B)

I actually like Robb and Jeyne (not Talisa, bc the show tweaked that in a way that was...weird), much better than Jace x Sara Snow. Robb marries Jeyne both because he genuinely likes her and wishes to preserve her "honor", thinking it is honorable for him to go out of his way and risk his own political advantage so that he will not produce a suffering bastard or have Jeyne's life ruined for having extramarital sex. In this world, men get to have all these affairs and produce children who would have it much tougher and even be in danger from their other kids or wives or others who wish to destroy possible competition or just out of pain/jealousy/pride.

Meanwhile, the women--whether raped or having had conseneual sex with him--almost always have their lives ruined. Society thinks them as "spoiled goods" and they cannot have more stable economic means through the prime way women can such--potential husbands, who again would not want "spoiled goods"...or their relatives arranging any marriage for them. And if they have illegitmate kids, they're left with little means of future security or protection for them or themselves. sure some might have families who keep them till they are older, but again, their lives as "proper" people who can go out with their head held high or unaccosted by other degradations is done. Here Robb takes responsibility by marrying his lover and making sure his child comes out legitmate--he's extending his socially granted protection when he has all the space and ability not to do so and still be seen as "trustworthy" by his peers and other potential allies or whatever. Because "men have needs".

A lot of people say he was stupid for doing that, but the point was not to berate the person doing the right, moral thing; it was to point out how mush it costs to to the right thing, how that potnetial cost is innately unfair and life-destroying. How it even destroys the better men who in any way divert from what the system tries to compel its beneficiaries to do. It's about exploring the human cost of power and the ethics inherently connected to it all. You were not supposed to treat this story as a stats-session, who's "smarter", or "better" at politics for the sake of seeing who is the "best" at the cost of forgoing human worth.

Walder Frey is rather the "stupid" party, morally AND politically, so in any way you slice it, WALDER is actually the "stupid" one. why? He broke one of the biggest social rules of Westeros, espe for the northmen: the guest rights, where the host must give complete shelter to anyone he/she provides food and shelter to. Walder basically shut himself in to only ever be allied "faithfully" with the Lannisters and the Boltons, because we know that if he does later, he's basically opened himself up to others doing similar or worse to him, or run the risk of them betraying him quickly once they get the chance. He killed a young man and a pregnant woman and his mother (a scion of another great hous, the Tullys, his own great lord paramount). Nothing he did in retaliation to Robb breaking the betrothal was "normal" nor justifiable, it was an extreme, amoral, very prideful action that he did partly bec he thought copying Tywin was his go to for power by both showing that he'd "go the mile" for this man we wanted an alliance with and become another "big dog".

It is reflective of exactly how this feudalist patriarchy compels people to seek for self gratifying power above all else and imitate the "mightiest" above all else, to "fall in line" with/behind the biggest fish/man and reap the benefits for yourself. Tywin, who got his way by also having a mother killed with her kids), who how we all know ended up. Killed by his own abused child.

Walder Frey is also a "predator" of young girls barely out of their preteens, almost always marrying them very obviously for sex since he has no need at all for more heirs. Contrast that with Robb, who merely broke a betrothal AND did right by the girl he chose to have sex with nearer to his own age and who he very clearly respected. Robb deserves no flack at all for what he did, Walder does.

In order to criticize Robb, many people thought it was in good taste to let Walder Frey off the hook entirely, bc they've accepted the status quo and even have decided that such should be the case. they've grown morally complacent or were never truly ethical to begin with.

This narrow-minded, jaded fandom prizes instant power gratification and "playing smart" to miss the bigger picture and what's actually being written and "advocated" for, what this entire series is really about just as they refuse to understand Daenerys:

[dragonseeds] The Existentialism of ASoIaF Leadership and Heroism in a Violent, Exploitative World

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly] What is "Heroic" and MOST Meaningful is to be willing to fight for What's Right despite Mistakes, Controversy, or Disadvantage

[rainahadaenerys] Quote from Frederick Douglass on GRRM's Blog

[jozor-johai] LoTR and ASoIaF, the Orcs and the Meereenes Slaver Kid Hostages

[cerseiandjaime] Human Heart in Conflict with Itself

Dragon Fire as Deterrents

Jon & Gilly, Male Violence vs Female Violence