#conversation around spoilers

[redstarfish-art]

Yes to all of the above for sure.

I have had SO many people PURPOSELY spoil things for me after I actively told them I hate it because they find it funny (and also as mild, control thing).

People who like spoiling things for others already try to defend themselves by pretending this is not a big deal. And I am sure those people will be weaponising the findings of this study. The article title already begins that process (although seemingly more as a clickbait thing).

The reality is, spoilers CAN be enjoyable to some people. This is not news.

These people have always existed and some of them have recently felt a pressure that they could not express that they like spoilers (an unfortunate side effect of the collective pushing back against people who go around spoiling things for people on purpose).

People who like spoilers have also expressed frustration at not being allowed to talk about the series they've recently consumed to people who have yet consumed it. This is because they like spoilers and they want to talk about a piece of media they've recently watched. Some of this group are respectful and find other people to talk to, while some of this group will be taking this study and deciding that they have scientific backing to say whatever they want and anyone who doesn't let them do that is oppressing them.

Like most things, it is important to check.

If you've never felt any big fear of hearing spoilers, maybe you can try reading spoilers before watching a show to find out if you are the type that enjoys spoilers or if you are the type that hates spoilers (and some people will be a mix of the two depending on the media in question).

However, if you have friends who actively hate spoilers, respect their choices. Respect their needs. This one study about a very specific situation (in which people give consent to be given spoilers before consuming a piece of media) is not applicable to a huge range of real life situations.

And finally, there's a HUGE difference between choosing to read spoilers for yourself, and being forcibly told spoilers against your will.

The thing about spoilers is, I don’t actually think they spoil things for me. That momentary feeling of surprise when the big reveal happens is fun, sure, and I like trying to figure out a mystery on my own.

But I also just really love foreshadowing? Knowing what’s coming up lets me look for all the signs that the creator is laying out for me. It’s a different kind of puzzle, and one that I get just as much satisfaction out of, if not more.

If I enjoy a story, I’ll still enjoy it even if I know how it ends. The most lasting stories we have, as humans, have been spoiled for all of us before we even hear them. Famous tales become a shorthand that we use in every day life. Learning the story of the Trojan Horse actually became more interesting as a result of understanding the phrase first.

There was a time in my life when I didn’t understand people who would flip to the back of a book to read the last page before they started the story, but I think I get it now. There’s a comfort in knowing how things end and an enjoyment in taking the journey regardless.

[lucabyte]

i feel like people are sleeping on the occam's razor situation of how buckwild it is to outright accuse a guy of being a clone of your friend even if you DO have a lot of circumstantial evidence. there's other options is what im saying. they could just be like. a guy. that's a sensible deduction. you should explore that deduction. ignore my shirt that reads I <3 RED HERRINGS.

i still think odile has the correct theory on lock but she's smart enough to know it needs like... a real smoking gun to be able to bring it up without sounding insane.

anyway. (mirabelle voice) i know its rude to speculate but has anyone else noticed the grieving? they seem to be grieving. does anyone have any thoughts on the grieving? i have some thoughts on the grieving.

[kerosene-in-a-blender]

One of Marisha's great strengths as a performer is that she's completely unafraid to let her characters be wrong. She keeps to their characters and if that brings them into conflict with the party? She leans into it, whether or not their actions are morally correct. That's why her performance at the end of c3e95 was so good. She played Laudna completely in character and sympathetically while still allowing her to be unambiguously in the wrong

[fiona-fififi]

Maddie: 🤨🤔 "mhmm, could be very much the point"..."wow"..."Eddie's friend??"..."I just think that maybe you're not sure of your own feelings, yet, and if there's something that you need to tell Eddie, you will. Just, in your own time."

Evan Buckley, your sister has your number and she is going to gloat SO hard when you finally get your shit together and lock Eddie down.

[codacheetah]

Which one will you vote for?

[thevalleyisjolly]

It's a minor detail but I'm so emotional over Doctor Who making the universal human language in the future based on Cantonese.

[chaosgenasi]

I haven't opened up in a while. This group is strange that way. Didn't go well last time, we'll see how it goes this time. Although, y'know, may not matter in a couple weeks. Maybe in these last couple weeks, we can both work on affording ourselves a little bit of forgiveness.

[mobius-m-mobius]

Benoit Blanc you will always be famous

[caeslxys]

I’ve mentioned this elsewhere but it feels relevant again in light of the most recent episode. Something that’s really fascinating to me about Orym’s grief in comparison to the rest of the hells’ grief is that his is the youngest/most fresh and because of that tends to be the most volatile when it is triggered (aside from FCG, who was two and obviously The Most volatile when triggered.)

As in: prior to the attack on Zephrah, Orym was leading a normal, happy, casual life! with family who loved him and still do! Grief was something that was inflicted upon him via Ludinus’ machinations, whereas with characters like Imogen or Ashton, grief has been the background tapestry of their entire lives. And I think that shows in how the rest of them are largely able to, if not see past completely (Imogen/Laudna/Chetney) then at least temper/direct their vitriol or grief (Ashton/Fearne/Chetney again) to where it is most effective. (There is a glaring reason, for example, that Imogen scolded Orym for the way he reacted to Liliana and not Ashton. Because Ashton’s anger was directed in a way that was ultimately protective of Imogen—most effective—and Orym’s was founded solely in his personal grief.)

He wants Imogen to have her mom and he wants Lilliana to be salvageable for Imogen because he loves Imogen. But his love for the people in his present actively and consistently tend to conflict with the love he has for the people in his past. They are in a constant battle and Orym—he cannot fathom losing either of them.

(Or, to that point, recognize that allowing empathy to take root in him for the enemy isn't losing one of them.)

It is deeply poignant, then, that Orym’s grief is symbolized by both a sword and shield. It is something he wields as a blade when he feels his philosophy being threatened by certain conversational threads (as he believes it is one of the only things he has left of Will and Derrig, and is therefore desperately clinging onto with both bloody hands even if it makes him, occasionally, a hypocrite), but also something he can use in defense of the people he presently loves—if that provocative, blade-grief side of him does not push them—or himself—away first.

(it won’t—he is as loved by the hells as he loves them. he just needs to—as laudna so beautifully said—say and hear it more often.)

[utilitycaster]

The thing about the argument that the sword makes Laudna uncomfortable is that it's valid if it does, but if you've been in any sort of organization that attempts to have an emotionally open dialogue in making decisions, and especially if you've been in any sort of leadership position within it, you will almost certainly encounter people who suddenly become uncomfortable when, as the meme goes, we are not about them. You encounter people who suddenly express discomfort - which should ideally be brought up early in the conversation since that alone may be a reason to blackball a decision - when multiple other arguments haven't worked (and during the ensuing argument this episode, you can easily watch Orym stick to the same exact story he's been saying for 50+ episodes and that he wants to reclaim this sword and use it to kill Ludinus while Laudna throws out multiple arguments, switching from one to the other as the rest of the party slowly realizes the sword isn't cursed and that this is Delilah's influence). You see this in internet spaces as well; people who do not draw a line between "trigger" and "squick" or "discomfort" and "dislike" even though that line very much exists.

Obviously you do have to still listen, because there are plenty of valid reasons to change a decision because someone involved is uncomfortable; but even a legitimately uncomfortable person does not automatically outweigh the needs of everyone else and you cannot please everyone at once. These decisions must be made contextually because otherwise "I'm uncomfortable with this" becomes a magic Uno Reverse card to hold the group decisions hostage. It's a factor, but ultimately, even if Delilah were in no way involved, if Laudna's the only person uncomfortable and this also means a lot to Orym, the solution is likely going to be either "keep it out of sight" or "give it to a member of the Accord". And yeah, as Imogen points out, if Laudna's genuinely uncomfortable with Orym having a sword with a dark history, absorbing it herself really undercuts that point.

[d1shfandomz]

soukoku are equally obsessed with each other but the difference is that one of them knows it and one of them isn’t aware of it in the least

[pineappical]

father and son

[applejuiz]

while I am glad that convos around mismag seem to acknowledge the difference between character and player (refreshing after having born witness to Keyleth discourse rip) there is still something off putting to me about the tone of “Erika is doing a great job portraying a horrible annoying monster this season!”

Erika and K are not doing anything different than anyone else at the table. Everyone is playing complex flawed characters and exploring compelling struggles internally and interpersonally. There really isn’t anything about K that’s uniquely unsympathetic or frustrating if you’re paying attention to the story. YMMV with how much you enjoy their character arc compared to the others but that’s a you thing and not something being supported by the narrative or the table.

(ironic and frustrating again as Brennan is playing Evan as equally flawed as K, at least in comparison to Sam and Jammer who’s flaws are manifesting in more subtle ways, but the conversation there is always incredibly sympathetic over the sad boi vibes.)

[batwingsandblackcats]

Absolutely fascinated by Laudna’s “she has a debt to pay. She owes me her life like she took mine.”

This isn’t just a “I’m worth nothing so might as well smoke em if I got em” mindset with Delilah. It’s some of that, but it’s not the whole picture.

This is “might as well smoke em if I got em, and if this is the end of me god damn it I am taking this bitch with me.”

[doodlejoltik]

they acknowledged it directly!!!! going INSANE over this line

Arceus choosing to speak to the whole stadium when he only ever talked to Rei before. Volo and Rei being on an equal playing field now... Rei unable to form a comeback, because it's true

it seems to me that Arceus originally tried, and failed to reach Rei... but why?

also adding in this screenshot from his sync pair story. just Because

[jjrachj]

he not kno ¯\_(ツ)_/¯