#cr analysis

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

I know I go on about how monumentally stupid Ludinus' Predathos plan is but it's because every time I think about it, I find something new to criticize.

Let's start with the obvious: Predathos has a fucking terrible track record of successful god-eating. It ate 2 gods out of a pantheon of 22 before it was defeated, locked in a moon and left to brood for millennia. That's a 9.1% success rate and nothing has substantially changed since then that would make it any easier for Predathos to get the whole pantheon before it gets locked in another prison and probably shot into space permanently this time.

Two, and this might be a "minor" inconvenience that Ludinus has already dismissed because he's put together a bunker for himself and his chosen, blowing up a moon is gonna kill millions of people. Granted, my research on "what if the moon explodes" is rudimentary and the other moon will probably stave off the worst effects of "deleting the tides" and "destabilizing axial tilt", but it only took a rock six miles in diameter to wipe out 75% of Cretaceous plant and animal life and Predathos is about to send a lot more twenty times the size.

Three, let's assume mortalkind survives Predathos popping Ruidus like an overripe fruit. What's next? Well, obvious it makes its way to the Divine Gate and starts chewing. Assuming it gets through, (probably with your help since it couldn't through the same protections on its prison), it's gonna unleash all the gods, including the ones that want everyone on Exandria dead. Sure, maybe the Prime Deities will try and stave them off, but they'll have their hands full with Predathos, so it would be ridiculously easy for the Betrayers to make sure that if they go down, those mortal bastards are coming with them. And well...humanity did just try to murder all the gods for the crime of "not giving us what we want". Would the Prime Deities even consider them worth saving?

Four, let's assume that Point One, by some miracle, does not happen, and Predathos isn't overwhelmed and shot into space like the last time. It eats the whole pantheon, and then goes for the final course, Tharizdun. Being less a god and more a force of utter oblivion, Tharizdun eats Predathos as an appetizer before ushering in the Epoch of Ends.

So yeah, mortalkind is fucked if Predathos gets out and this is why you don't let wizards have power.

[rachandroll]

I still have a lot to do to get a full on analysis done (I am breaking it down into avg damage done/taken/healed per encounter, number of enemies, avg enemy AC and HP if calculable, etc etc etc—have to do a lot of stuff to get numbers that make comparative analysis actually meaningful in any way) but another thing that I've found that is interesting is the frequency of combat within an episode!

Looking at JUST episodes with encounters, the Nein average 1.49 encounters per episode, and the Hells average 1.17 encounters per episode. The Nein had 27 episodes with 2 encounters, and 10 episodes with 3; the Hells had 12 episodes with 2 encounters, and NO episodes with 3. It makes sense then that the average combat time for the Nein is 47m 15s and for the Hells is 1h 12m 1s. It gets MORE interesting when you look at average number of rounds—4.14 for the Nein, and 3 for the Hells.

I can't say with any certainty what that means yet, since I've not finished crunching all the numbers I've been gathering, but I have several hypotheses I'm considering. I reckon the "number of enemies per encounter" information will probably shed a bit more light. REALLY need to figure out where the short/long rests fall in relation to all these, though, as well.

I've been splashing in the puddle that is stats and combat comparisons between the main CR parties in my lil excel document (thanks crstats and omen archive) since C3 ended and while I've not finished pulling enough information to make any definitive conclusions yet, there's a couple things I've noticed that I find interesting. First, the number of combat encounters in C3 (82) is drastically lower than C1 (120) or C2 (139). Second, the Hells spend on average slightly fewer episodes per level, and the spacing between level ups is much more even; the Nein average out to about 10 and a half episodes per level, while the Hells average out to about 9 episodes per level (I'm only comparing the Hells and the Nein because Vox Machina's uneven leveling makes including them headache inducing, shout out milestone leveling, all my homies love milestone leveling).

I think *why* the Hells having so many fewer combat encounters has a lot of factors to it; for one, they tend to try to avoid fighting quite often, talking their way out of things. For another, it seems like Matt is purposefully moving away from using a lot of the classic sort of hoard-of-enemies monsters because quite a lot of them are humanoids who have been depicted as racially evil in DnD, i.e. goblins, orcs, gnolls, kobolds etc etc.

The thing that's prompting me to make this post musing aloud, though, is that I am wondering how much of that was actually part of making this campaign more challenging for the players? Fewer combat encounters means less time to get a feel for your build and how you might best mesh with other players. Spending on average fewer episodes per level on top of that puts the players in the position of gaining new things before they've got a feel for what they've already got. And cutting out most of the damage-farming, high-kill-count swarm type encounters or those with weaker enemies deprives players of the psychological boons of the Easy Win. I don't think I appreciated just how much Matt was quietly twiddling the less obvious knobs, in terms of making this campaign more challenging. I dunno, it's neat!

(I also really want to know when they all took rests in relation to their various combats, too, because the Hells were also often in the position of doing what amounted to a dungeon crawl in terms of resource use before their biggest fights, with very few rests in between. It pains me so much that we never got to see them take on Otohan with like, anything in the tank.)

[shellem15]

Thinking about how, out of all the betrayer gods, Asmodeus is perhaps the most incapable of changing. Of redemption. Of becoming better.

Because at least the others are honest. Honest about who they are. Honest about their love for their siblings. They know exactly what they are and what they are here to do, even if it is for ill. And that means they can be worked around. Can be changed.

Asmodeus, however, cannot do this. He is the god of lies. Even his truths are rotten. He cannot be honest. Not with others, not even with himself.

Do you think he knows what he even wants? He says he wants eternity to torment his siblings yet tries to kill them. He tries to kill them, yet (whether he realizes it or not) gives them just enough time to stop him. They are gods, after all. One round is all they need.

He says he hates his siblings yet told trist he loved her when in disguise. He didn't need to do that, she was already going to leave. It's the truth, but rotten.

You cannot change, you cannot become better, if you are not honest with yourself. And Asmodeus is the most dishonest of them all. It's no wonder he is always banished by the light of Pelor's truth. He cannot face it, so he runs and hides and lies.

Always burning, always lying, always turning away from the light. Never changing, never growing, never moving on from past hurts. Lashing out at those who try to help, a dagger in the side of his family.

It would be better to remove him. Kinder, for all of them. But he is their brother, eternal, and they cannot lose him. They will keep him, even if he kills them. And he will keep lying, stabbing, burning, because it is all he knows how to do.

[darkfluffydragon]

CRK Character Analysis and Theory: Hollyberry Cookie

Hollyberry is so, painfully overlooked. And I think it's almost by design, really. She's a cheerful, strong-willed character who's never really seen to have been really upset, other than when the truth about White Lily was revealed. Sure, there were subtle signs of her struggle, but never anything that really stuck or was obvious enough that 'it seemed important'. This led to the fandom joking around about her traumas, dismissing what she experienced and acknowledging all the Ancient's hardships, except for hers. She became the joke of the group, the "Except Hollyberry" meme.

And yeah, it's funny when looked at in a quick, general view. It's also sort of...not fair on her. She suffered the same as the other ancients, just because she doesn't scream "I'M TRAUMITISED HELP ME", it doesn't mean that she doesn't have problems.

She may not be like Pure Vanilla, who lost his entire kingdom. She may not be like Golden Cheese, who returned to everyone she loved being dead. She may not be like Dark Cacao whose son tried to kill him, or like White Lily who has to experience the maddening guilt of the consequences of her own actions, but that doesn't mean that what she does experiences should just be dismissed because they're seen as "not as drastic as the others".

Hollyberry has always been shown to be a very family and relationship-orientated person. She cares for them a lot, and visibly cherishes her relationships with all her friends and family. It is her shame of being incapable of protecting them that made her flee, she deemed herself unworthy of being able to protect them. or calling herself not just her family's protector, but her kingdom's protector. This happened after she watched Pure Vanilla basically sacrifice himself to save them and the rest of Earthbread from Dark Enchantress, which she didn't. couldn't do anything to help. And she had been gone for so long, that the Hollyberry Kingdom had to start a contest to try and find a new heir. That entire time, did Hollyberry blame herself for "her failures? For the entirety of however long the period between the Dark Flour Wars was, to the present day?

Eventually, though, she does come back. She comes back and saves her kingdom from Pitaya again, so all is well. Right? Except not really? I've already mentioned that she's a family-oriented person. She defeated Pitaya with the help of Princess Cookie (and Knight Cookie), Princess Cookie who she basically missed her entire childhood of. She never got to see Princess Cookie grow up. The family lost Tiger Lily Cookie while she was gone, and she couldn't do anything. Because she wasn't there. Once again, she has failed them.

She's the Queen Mother again, she's come back and is the hero again with the shield and she defeated Pitaya Cookie once again. She got everything back, without getting any consequences from her disappearance. Pitaya returned because she had abandoned her kingdom. She's the 'hero again' and 'got her shield back again' because she threw them away in the first place. They lost Tiger Lily Cookie and they still haven't found her granddaughter, yet somehow the kingdom sees fit to call her the Queen Mother.

She may have all of this, but does Hollyberry actually think she deserves all of this? Is this not all stuff she would feel she should blame herself for? That she should feel guilt and shame for? Hollyberry has gotten her status back, but she hasn't gotten back the one thing that she cherishes the most. That is the close relationship she had with her family, because of just how long she's been gone. Like, during their reunion? Royalberry personally regarded Hollyberry only one time. The first time he'd seen his mother in who knows how long, and it was him questioning if it really was her or not. Almost like they're just...close strangers. To me, it didn't seem like a familial relationship or a reunion. Probably because that entire part was mostly focused on them talking to Princess, with Hollyberry in the background despite showing up finally for the first time in forever!

Despite the episode being about her, it felt like she didn't belong.

Moving on from the alienation within her own family, I think her drinking problem is really, really overlooked. Seriously, her fondness for drinking is one of her most notable character traits, often portrayed as a part of her hearty and celebratory nature. But there's a fine line between enjoying the drinks in moderation and using it as a coping mechanism. She drinks so much, that Wildberry Cookie is asked to watch over her and monitor her (presumably by Jungleberry as stated in the Legend of the Red Dragon storyline. Also, the fact that a third party has to be the one to ask, and be concerned about her drinking habits??? That it wasn't even her own son, that it was her son's wife. That Jungleberry decided to help, intervene not through confrontation, but indirectly through someone else.)

She drank so much, she literally had a goblet that would never run out of berry juice!

("Hollyberry Cookie's Never-drying Goblet: A goblet that is always filled with berry juice, full-bodied and fragrant. It gets refilled the very next instant one takes their sip, hence the "never-drying.")

Hollyberry drinks so much, in the past and now, that even her friends and the people who know her dismiss her actions and go as far as to even just assume that what she does in her free time, is drink berry juice.

Hollyberry's frequent indulgence could be seen as a means of numbing the emotional pain she feels, particularly in response to her failures and feelings of inadequacy. Her idealisation as a hero, protector, and "Queen Mother" might place immense pressure on her to appear unbreakable, pushing her to hide her vulnerabilities behind her jovial personality and a tankard of berry juice.

It's confirmed that when adventuring, she used to take on an alias name. Take on a different identity, hiding who she is as Hollyberry (the legendary hero, the ancient cookie, the queen of a kingdom), to simply be Sweet Pinkberry Cookie. This felt the need to use another name when travelling, Tarte Tartin Cookie knew her as Sweet Pinkberry Cookie, and the Dragon City knew her as Sweet Pinkberry Cookie, she specifically instructed Wildberry to keep her true name a secret and to call her by her alias while within the city. This could have been a method she used to have used to escape her duties and expectations as "Hollyberry Cookie", which had been tied to her name. Her responsibilities definitely weigh down on her, and it seems like her method of dealing with them is to run away. Whether it is through drinks, or through physically hiding who she is and leaving for an adventure. This is ironic, considering her CRK skill is quite literally her charging forward with her shield.

It is through obligation, and her will to protect those she cares about, like Princess and Knight during the Hollyberry Palace story, that she stands strong and firm as a shield. That's what she's passionate about.

Hollyberry’s coping mechanisms are more subtle but no less significant. Her drinking, cheerful facade, and detached family life all suggest an internal struggle that is often dismissed due to her strong appearance. Her trauma is less about obvious scars and more about the quieter toll of endless battles, unspoken regrets, and the pressure to remain a symbol of strength.

The way Hollyberry is perceived reflects a common issue in storytelling: characters who don’t display their trauma in overtly painful ways can be seen as having “less” to deal with. However, Hollyberry’s struggles with alienation and possibly self-medicating behaviour reveal a more subtle picture of a hero who, despite her laughter and strength, is quietly weighed down by the guilt she feels.

Now, into more...theorising territory. Specifically, how I think Eternal Sugar's story will go.

Hollyberry's drinking and avoidance are not just coping mechanisms; they also tie into the theme of sloth in a...nuanced way. Sloth is traditionally understood as laziness or a reluctance to act (WHICH CAN BE SEE IN THE HOLLYBERRY PALACE STORY), which can also manifest as emotional avoidance and a failure to confront difficult truths (GET OUT OF HER PURE VANILLA THIS AIN'T ABOUT YOU still love you though <3). For Hollyberry, her drinking and retreat from her responsibilities reflect a deeper avoidance of her guilt and emotional turmoils. Rather than addressing the pain of failing to protect her family and friends, she withdraws from it, numbing herself with berry juice and pretending that everything is alright.

She seeks solace in alcohol, allowing herself to temporarily escape the weight of her responsibilities. While drinking may seem harmless on the surface, it represents the passive avoidance of the emotional work needed to heal and make amends. This is where sloth comes into play. It is not the lack of physical activity or courage since Hollyberry is brave and strong, but rather a reluctance to face uncomfortable emotions.

Her drinking can also be seen as a way of slipping into complacency, allowing herself to remain stuck in a cycle of self-pity and guilt, rather than taking active steps to repair the damage done to her family relationships. The choice to rely on alcohol becomes an act of sloth, where it's easier to drown her sorrows and pretend they don't exist than confront them.

Each trial the Ancients had gone through so far had been related to the Beasts and their previous virtues. Pure Vanilla learnt Knowledge about the witches, about the beasts, about White Lily, and had to face a cruel mental quiz by Shadow Milk. Dark Cacao had a battle of will as he travelled up a seemingly endless journey, and had to keep his resolution as he watched all the people he cherishes fade into flour. While for Golden Cheese, it isn't clear yet what it is her trial will be, there has been quite a literal sense of destruction for her (cough cough 🍗 cough cough), and with her hiding the Soulcheese and all she cares about in a vault to avoid having them be destroyed in the following battle against Burning Spice Cookie). It would be safe to assume that the trial Hollyberry would have to go through would be emotional by nature as well, which conveniently fits the issues currently being discussed.

The theme of sloth in her character arc highlights how emotional avoidance can lead to great suffering, not just for herself but for those around her. By choosing not to face her pain, Hollyberry leaves her family to suffer the consequences of her absence, most notably the loss of Tiger Lily Cookie. Her Sloth is not just about failing to act physically, but about failing to engage with her emotional responsibilities. She allowed her guilt to paralyze her, keeping her from returning to her family and from offering the protection and love she knew they needed. Though this has been resolved, the emotional difficulties haven't, and rather, they've all been glossed over.

I believe that Eternal Sugar will use this against her, as her virtue is Happiness. In relation to sloth, happiness can sometimes be a way to avoid dealing with difficult emotions or responsibilities. Rather than actively pursuing genuine fulfilment, one might settle for a superficial, temporary happiness that prevents them from engaging with deeper, more challenging aspects of their life. This type of happiness can be slothful, as it involves choosing the path of least resistance, avoiding discomfort or personal growth. This fits in perfectly with Hollyberry's use of alcohol, avoidance, and happy attitude,

For Hollyberry, real happiness would come from reconnecting with her family, healing from her guilt, and accepting responsibility for her actions. By avoiding these challenges, she sacrifices the possibility of deeper happiness in favour of a shallow, slothful contentment. The cost of this avoidance is not only her own emotional well-being but also the relationships that matter most to her, as her absence leads to greater harm for her loved ones. In order to overcome Eternal Sugar, she'll need to learn to finally confront these problems. Finally learn to properly heal, and not rely on the berry juice to solve her problems.

[mintaikkcorpse]

Bcuz I'm the little bastard people refer to when they complain about how "the only thing fandoms care about these days is shipping 😒", here's an idea

Black Sapphire's mic is alive and emotes. Idk if it's mimicking his hidden emotions or if it's its own thing, but I'm just going to assume it's like a combination of both.

I think everyone is ignoring the possibility this has when it comes to Sapphire and Silverbell. Imagine Sapphire flirting snd being all suave while his mic is just being obvious and making heart eyes. Imagine Sapphire just normally greeting Silverbell when he sees him, but the staff is going all looney toons, "AWOOGA! HUMMINA HUMMINA HUMMINA" on him. Imagine Silverbell complimenting Sapphire and Sapphire graciously taking it, while the mic is just

DO YOU SEE MY VISION?????

[rachandroll]

While it is deeply subjective, I do think that the constant threat of Otohan hanging over the party fills that niche. The Vanguard and the Unseelie Court were in cahoots and operating primarily in their own planes, so I would say she, as the one responsible for killing not just multiple party members in traumatizing ways, but also their closest ally and patron in Eshteross, as well as very nearly killing Keyleth, is something of a stand in for both factions. She's their boogieman. Like, Laudna checked that scry ball a meme-worthy amount. The Judicators didn't threaten the Hells directly because they didn't know about their involvement; random attacks there would have not made sense (and while presumably the folks that team Issylra let return to Vasselheim would have told them, sending was still down until 5 days before the Hells walked in to Vasselheim themselves). The other constant threat was simply time itself; the entire campaign was on a tense timer and it lead to less rests for the Hells and therefore put them in danger of being low in resources in fights fairly often. Just as a quick look, dividing number of encounters by days passed in each campaign, you get 0.44 for the Nein and 0.82 for the Hells. That seems to indicate that despite having fewer encounters by a wide margin, that averaged out across the full campaign, the Hells had nearly double the number of encounters on average on any given day. The effect of the time dilation on everything from the mood to the strategy to the danger of the campaign is pretty intense.

Honestly, I suspect the effectiveness of those threats narratively are contingent more on an individual's attachment to the party and storytelling style preferences more than their actual presence, because they were there fairly consistently throughout. I personally found the narrative threat very present and compelling, but I love the Hells and a lot of the campaign narrative and structure was very much to my tastes. The Hells and the Nein and Vox Machina are all different in most ways, and each campaign is gonna work for people differently based on their preferences.

I've been thinking about @utilitycaster's post about C3 combat since it was posted because I've been similarly rolling around in my head, like, then what the hell was runtime being spent DOING then, and I keep thinking, like, wild there was not more combat because there was so much to-do about how the Vanguard AND the Judicators were both looking for members of the Grim Verity. Yu threatened that if the Hells didn't hold up their end of the bargain, that other agents of the Unseelie Court like them were going to hunt them down. We should've had far more combat simply trying to dodge all three of those groups at various times. Why didn't we have a Hotis- or Caedogeist-style ambush ever? Fjord got attacked by servants of Uk'otoa carrying out their mission to free the Leviathan Lord three times, after all.

It would've made the campaign feel properly dangerous and would've given more weight to the Hells' role in all of this and made them being part of this or knowing anything feel more significant.

Like, in hindsight, it's like.... why wasn't that a thing? It would've strengthened the core conflict here and helped inform the party's struggle with picking a solution while actually adhering more to the pitch of a more deadly campaign.

[cassafrasscr]

Just thinking about Orym watching this and seeing the Prime Deities being forced to choose between protecting their family or saving the people of Aeor.

Having been told several times in the last few months that if any of Bell’s Hells turns against the cause, he'll have to eliminate them. That for the sake of protecting the world, he'll have to kill one of these people he's claimed as his family.

Orym, who has been the target of friendly fire more than probably anyone else in the party. He's been mauled by Chetney multiple times, been directly attacked by murder-mode FCG at least once, and was ambushed in his sleep by Laudna JUST LAST NIGHT. And even when he's angry, he always meets them with compassion and forgiveness.

Orym, who allegedly has contingency plans for each of his friends if they turn, but who always pulls his punches when he does have to fight them.

Orym, whose home was invaded by a hostile force, who lost his father and husband and probably more of his comrades. Not unlike when the original home of the gods was attacked and destroyed.

Every day he has to make the impossible choice: save the world, or protect his family? Even as flawed as they are, and with how much he's been hurt by them, he loves them. He has insisted repeatedly that he won't HAVE to kill his friends, because he trusts them not to betray him. He believes in them wholeheartedly.

And now he's watching the Prime Deities have to grapple with that same choice. Even knowing that the Betrayer Gods didn't die, and the Calamity lasted another 100 years.

I'm so interested to see how Orym reacts, with everyone pressuring him to choose the world over his family. Knowing that, at least on some level, the Prime Deities chose their family over the world. And look what it cost the world.

[cheesecakemermaid1048]

Okay, I just noticed most, if not all, cheese cookies related to wealth in some way. Roquefort is said to be from a wealth family, while cheesecake is ...well nepo baby.

We see even this trend with golden cheese cookie, her kingdom once being one of the richest kingdoms out there.

And we see this trend continue on within oven smash, specifically the lactose tribe. All of them having cheese in their name and once being related to wealthy.

Anyway, that's all for now. It just a little something I have noticed, lol.

[abitcaughtinthemiddle]

The Hypocrisy of Vex'ahlia

Before you all come for me, I am a Vex stan and I will defend her until I die - she is my favorite Critical Role character and I'm so glad we're getting a deeper dive into her psyche.

The complexities of her character cannot be overstated. She has a lot going on under the surface, and the breadcrumbs of her deep-seated insecurities have been there the whole time.

I'm really excited we get to explore those in season 3 through her relationship with Percy, in a way different than what we've seen in the actual play streams. I want to commend the writers for being able to convey so much in so little time.

We are introduced to Vex as a sexy, confident woman who uses her looks and charisma to her advantage. She takes charge most of the time, being the unofficial "leader" of Vox Machina. She presents herself as someone who doesn't really need anyone else and does not care about anyone outside of her brother. Keyleth even comments on this in the first episode, "Vex and Vax only care about themselves".

This, of course, is a complete fabrication, a mask she wears to hide her insecurities. A mask, she wants no one to see through. The irony here is that she can so easily see behind Percy's mask - "Darling, take off the mask". It takes one to know one, after all.

She so badly wants to get underneath Percy's mask, for him to show himself to her fully. There's something inside of her that sees the guilt and shame inside of him and that resonates with her belief that she is deeply broken. Vex truly believes that something must truly be wrong with her. And why wouldn't she? Saundor, who said he knew everything about her, saw this, too, after all.

Saundor says plainly, "you will never be enough."

So it must be true, right?

Why wouldn't something be so wrong with her? It would make sense. Her father carries no love for her, her mother died, and Vax had to sacrifice his life for hers. She knows Vax loves her, and she believes he is the only one who does. Even Kamaljiori, an ancient and all-knowing Sphinx, fed into this during their test when Vax fell: "you have no family left who cares for you".

Her hypocrisy lies in the facade she built as a woman who does not need anyone or anything. She presents herself as someone who does not need the love of others, when in reality, she desperately wants to be loved.

Saundor saw this as well.

Vex longs to love and be loved. And yet, she cannot allow herself to give up her facade and let Percy love her and admit her love for him.

The last person to see through her walls was Saundor, and we know how that went.

What he said really cut her deep, as we see after the Kevdak fight when she brushes off Pike's inquiries about her experience in the fey realm.

As we see her relationship with Percy move from harmless flirting to physical intimacy at the beginning of season 3, we see her embrace the physical closeness to Percy but starts to block him out the moment he wants to cement their relationship. But she can't let herself tell him how she feels because that would mean admitting her heart is his - and that would be doomed to end in tragedy, as Vex admits later in the cave.

Putting up this emotional wall between her and Percy will not give Vex what she wants: love.

Love is that emotional intimacy. Vex loves to point out the importance of love between other people- in season 2, pushing Keyleth to tell Vax how she feels ("it always matters"), assuring Allura that Kima's love for her will help her endure after Vorugal's attack, and putting faith in the rest of Vox Machina.

Vex understands what makes love so special, and how important truth and intimacy are to real, lasting love.

And while she comforts others and pushes them to be vulnerable and embrace love, her own fears prevent her from fully doing the same. It's ironic and sad, how one of the only people who can see through her mask is the one she's pushing away.

Trauma makes hypocrites of us all.

Image credits @blorbologist @aq2003

[justiebunch]

I’m a genuine believer that Vampire is ABSOLUTELY one of the smartest cookies and best strategists in the games with my basis being his “Insouciant King” costume in Ovenbreak, his leaked line for the affection system, AND the Sibling Rivalry? story in Kingdom

In the chess costume set alone, he is one of if not the best chess player in the lineup

Why do I say this, you may ask? Because Alchemist admits that she would need to make something new just to check him

And btw if you click on the highlighted “king”, it takes you to his costume, further emphasizing that she’s talking about him

Also, he actively implies he doesn’t need any sort of luck to win in chess and he’s skilled enough to dodge every check (or checkmate) from an opponent easily

As for Sibling Rivalry?, in case one might need a summary on it, the whole thing revolves around Vampire pranking Alchemist by acting as though he was “turned smart and motivated” by one of her potions and Alchemist doing everything in her power to change him back

What I’m focusing on is the fact that throughout the story/prank, Vampire was seen doing alchemical formulas and experiments, something of which he’d be unable to do as flawlessly as he did if he didn’t know the material in the first place

Also, the whole story shows that Alchemist feels threatened by Vampire actually using his smarts. It’s the clearest when her narrative says she doesn’t want two alchemists in the family:

(Also note: what she emphasizes is hard to believe isn’t him being smart. It’s him being DILIGENT. MOTIVATED. ACTUALLY WORKING)

So she’s well aware that if Vampire were to use his smarts, he wouldn’t only be as good as her, no. There’s a chance he could surpass her, and she doesn’t like that

AND THE PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE

One of the leaked Vampire lines for the affection system is, AND I QUOTE,

“I’ll have you know I was actually called smart as a young cookie!”

It was practically handed on a silver platter

With all the previous things in mind, the line makes it seem like he used to flaunt his intelligence more. It isn’t that he grew dumber, it’s that he stopped flaunting it and began to hide it more (he explains why in the Crunchy Dreams event in the Gnome Uprising story. He likes to keep people’s expectations of him low so he isn’t asked to do anything)

TL;DR: Vampire Cookie is an academic and strategic WEAPON and it’s been shown several times except nothing is done with it. And it makes me sad because he has sooo much potential as a character, yet he’s treated like comedy relief in every line he gets. Also his own sister is his biggest opp when it comes to him actually using his smarts and I think that’s even more tragic

Also he could totally beat or at least be an extreme challenge to Shadow Milk in a game of chess but shhh

[sparring-spirals]

okay. i mean this with the utmost affection. but. while imogen and laudna telling each other "im you're anchor. you're my tether" as reassurance about going "dark" or giving into the lure of power is very meaningful and important. it also kind of struck me like. hey wait one of you anchoring the other. fine. possibly-functional. but doesnt BOTH of you tethering to each other risk creation of a spinning centrifugal blur whirling down the road to power.

and like yes yes this isnt an original thought and the proper terminology for this is probably like "dual corruption arc" or in CR "i broke the world for you" yes but. i wanted to share the specific imagery my brain provided for this train of thought, which is roughly:

like. thanks. brain. i guess.

bonus thought that popped up when drawing this:

[navpike]

i think quite a few people saying that exu divergence is a bad look after c3 are missing the point a little bit.

first of all: if c3 just wasn’t the type of story you like, that is so fine! it was very high stakes for my tastes, even if i did enjoy it! you can not like something without it being bad! that is how media works. the rest of this goes under the cut for those avoiding discourse

second: yes, c3 was messy, but that was the point! there’s no good answer to “an evil wizard wants to unleash a godeater, and now that he’s opened that door there is no closing it, and if he dies, eventually, now or in a hundred years, someone will replace him, so how are you going to fix it?”

the gang found an answer to the problem that maybe wasn’t the best, definitely wasn’t “””right””” because this isn’t black and white, but that got rid of the predathos problem, took the evil wizard’s control of the situation away, and let the people of faith keep their gods instead of removing them from the world entirely, which is a very cool answer to the issue! maybe its not what everyone wanted to happen, but it is a very creative solution, which is fun and which dnd games lend themselves to.

the point of c3, as i see it, is examining the consequences of a world that the gods have left. it’s been a THOUSAND years since divergence at this point. the gods, while they do act through their people and talk to people, are largely inaccessible to the common folk. and that’s what c3 is all about. the consequences of the gods being gone, shown through a largely non-religious party.

divergence is all about the consequences of the gods being right there, too present and too big and causing trouble and enacting miracles.

of COURSE we see the moonweaver be soft and sisterly and loving in such an overt way in divergence. she’s spent the last couple decades being loved as a mortal sister, loved just for living and loving in return.

and of course in c3 we see them vaguely disconnected and unawares of some suffering on exandria and people committing horrors in their names, primes and betrayers alike. if you got ripped away from your children for a thousand years and could only watch through a looking glass and occasionally talk to a few of them in dreams and visions and cryptic messages? you’d have to stop caring a little too, just to keep going!

the gods were so withdrawn for so long, that has to have consequences. it did. that was all of c3.

bells hells DID speak for the people. people who hadn’t had gods around for a millennia, who get overlooked as collateral in a war about gods, again. they’re not heroes. they’re a bunch of idiots all desperate for a family, who mostly cared if they could save each other, in the end, but who wanted to save others on the way if they could. they’re the people that the divergence gang would grow to be, with power and a smidge of a voice, just minus the real attachment to any gods.

there are so many parallels i could draw between garen and chetney, between the roaches and ashton, nia and fcg. divergence isn’t highlighting a failure on c3’s part. it’s showing the opposite end of the spectrum. distant gods vs overly present gods.

[gorgynei]

cant get over the fungi on ruidus sorry. i have more to say

its implied that the reilorans are able to survive and farm the fungus, theres at least 347 different species of fungus native (?) to ruidus, and theres also slime molds*. evolutionarily (assuming the life evolved independently on ruidus which is a very bold assumption) this would imply that theres also prokaryotic life (bacteria, basically) and likely advanced eukaryotic organisms in the form of animal life, which we do see! its very possible that the reason theres so little plant life on ruidus is because something about the makeup of the planet is aggressively harmful to plants, if i had to guess its the lack of easily available sunlight due to the constant dust storms and the soil is probably unfavorable for growing. this probably means that fungus makes up the majority of the biomass for animals to consume or animals are much more adapted for absorbing nutrients from the soil/other sources.

i do think its interesting that fungus seem to survive and thrive SO well in the deep caverns because most fungus (on earth, and exandria. probably) are decomposers and need organic material to survive off of. they could be decomposing the crystal corpse of predathos though, which is the coolest idea in the world to me, or they could just do so well that they've created an independent ecosystem underground complete with its own n- and c-cycles.

the fungus on ruidus seem to take more after kingdom animalia in general, since theyre motile (for those unawares, fungus are actually MUCH much much more related to animals than they are to plants, so this isnt that out there) which is super cool. the myceits are somehow related to the fungi's sexual reproduction because we see the sterile mycelium on it's own and it doesn't seem to be producing any spores, where the myceits do have spore producing structures (specifically they have hymenophores, since they are most similiar to hymenomycete mushrooms). so i think its likely the myceits are just advanced forms of spore dispersal and will run around till they find somewhere favourable to drop spores (or passively will drop them as they move) and probably they have very short life spans </3 sorry myceits

also myceit = mycete = fungi kingdom. proof of earth-equivalent taxonomy existing in exandria? possibly why the ruidians call them myceits is because theyve seen botanists dream about mushrooms and refer to them as "mycetes" !

*gaz, the source for the # of fungus, seems to consider slime molds a kind of fungus, so its unclear whether all the species are actually true fungi, but i digress because slime molds are closely related to fungus anyway. also 347 is a really low number of species for an entire planet, but whatever.

[shellem15]

Okay, I know the Dawnfather and the other primes are running interference, but we NEED to get a full, one-on-one conversation between Asmodeus and Raei (I need it. So bad.) It would hurt so much but so GOOD. I know the hardest bars would be dropped, fucking "My greatest heartbreak...is that I will only have eternity to punish them" levels of bitterness and resentment.

Especially considering what we learn about them in the intro! Imri was straight up ready to die for Luz! Fucker threw himself into the goddamn flames for her!

You know there's so much angst over that. Over how she apologized before healing him. Is Asmodeus hung up on that? About how he sacrificed himself out of love and all she gave in return (in his mind obvs) was guilt? Does he think that's why she tried to save him during Calamity? Not out of love but out of guilt for trapping him?

Asmodeus, who was changed (change, a thing he hates above all else) for her. Who refuses to be changed ever again. Who would hurt the ones he loves in his pursuit of revenge. Who loves his hatred more than he loves his siblings.

The Everlight, who was just trying to help her brother. Who was just trying to help the world. Who got stabbed in the back for her efforts. Does she regret it? Trying to help him? Does she regret saving him on that ship in the first place?

Perhaps Torog is right. Perhaps death would have been the greatest mercy for him. Anything that isn't pain, that isn't all-consuming hatred.

Imagine if she told him that. How much that would fucking hurt him (them both). If it was a lie, would he know? Would he call her out on it?

Probably, I imagine. He'd probably say something like: "Mortals think we are different. That you are honest while I am not. But between us, you've always been the better liar. The greatest, cruelest lie that's ever been told, is that there is any mercy to be found in this wretched world."

TLDR, this miniseries is driving me insane.

[utilitycaster]

stopping a little pre-break to go to the gym, and this is also a little salty and in response to the ask I deleted but once again the idea that the Mighty Nein didn't follow plot hooks and meandered and whatever is just instant "oh you're stupid." like, I think they followed weirder plot hooks, but they did in fact consistently follow plot hooks or organically ended up via dice rolls:

from Trostenwald, headed to Zadash, which was a pretty natural progression given how many of them had interests leading to an urban center; Alfield detour because it was literally on fire

followed the mail that Beau stole to Zadash

Took TONS of opportunities in Zadash, eventually deciding to get out of town as they (understandably) didn't want to get involved in the war; took a job with the Gentleman who was part of the hook from the mail Beau stole and tied into Jester's backstory, though that wasn't something they knew at the time (but was a person one would want the party to meet so that the payoff would hit right...consider how flat all the Apex War stuff fell in C3 because no one followed any sidequests/investigation about it)

Did the jobs for the Gentleman and a few things that popped up en route; Molly's death

Found the letter from Avantika at the Sour Nest and it served as an opportunity to see Jester's family; followed that hook

accidentally stole a pirate ship, pirates arc, Fjord's plot becomes relevant, followed that to a reasonable point of stoppage given that Fjord didn't want to unleash Uk'otoa and Avantika was dead

Returned, in part because Felderwin had been attacked which was of relevance to Nott; stopped by Yussa's out of curiosity re: cool shit in the world [doing interesting things on a thursday! what a concept]

The discovery that Yeza had been taken leads them to Xhorhas and drives their plot from there up to and including giving the beacon over to the Bright Queen

I will admit the episodes in the 60s get a little "what do we do next" but they still serve a vital purpose of showing them the perspective of The Other (the Kryn) after a strongly Empire (and coast) perspective that quickly picks up once they start following the start of the angel of irons plot, which carries them through Yasha being taken

Follow Caduceus's visions and Fjord's pact-breaking (70-76) and then return to chasing Yasha

Upon multiple failures, seek out Yussa, masterfully DM-ed introduction of Allura and the return of the Happy Fun Ball to not only provide more information on an antagonist (Laughing Hand) but also renew the party's spirits

Get a lead on Yasha, find and free her only to be immediately tasked with ending the war

Follow that lead with a few opportunities to check on some long-running personal quests (Caduceus and the grove, Veth being turned back into a halfling, both of which are the characters' goals at the time of their introduction and have had recurring attention throughout) in the meantime

Attend peace talks, learn about Essek, get hook for Aeor from Vess DeRogna

Go to Rumblecusp, part of Jester's story that has been previously seeded

Get a vision of The End Plot (Vokodo fleeing Cognouza), return to talk to Vess, realize they could resurrect Molly perhaps given the power they had amassed

Aeor plot and endgame kicked off; honestly that alone covers more things but I do want to get to the gym.

Like...the characters all had stories very much driven by the mechanics and structure of D&D, which is inherently about gaining power, and all were given significant attention throughout, but also, while they didn't always follow the hooks Matt expected, they either were following hooks he had nonetheless provided, or making their own interesting decisions.

If this isn't for you, that is fine, truly. But I think that Reddit - especially during C2 - was mostly people mad that it wasn't still Vox Machina's story, and the idea that C3 is a response to Reddit is not a defense of C3 but a condemnation, ie, the correct response would be flipping off Reddit and saying "I do what I want." And again: "not for me" = totally fine. "avoidant/plotless"= you are abysmal at narratology and this means your analysis is not worth my time.

[dami-anne-damn]

Spoilers Ahead for Cookie Run Kingdom!!

(All images below belong to and are credited to Devsisters, the developers of Cookie Run Kingdom.)

So I’ve been reading through all of the transcripts from the official leaks shown in the Carnival of Shadows and I think that it gave us an interesting little look into Silent Salt Cookie (and others but I really wanna focus on Silent Salt for a moment—) and what to expect from their update! I’ve gotta tell you guys, I’m thrilled to bits!

As we saw from their concept art, The Beast Cookies we know now were once supposed to be bug themed (very Hollow Knight core, but I digress—)! This was sorta kept in mind for a couple of them moving forward, for example Mystic Flour’s ‘cocooning’ (since her beta design was based off of an empty silk cocoon). Now, I have a pet theory for how this could potentially affect Silent Salt’s portrayal and how their Soul Jam might affect the cookies around them.

Looking into Silent Salt Cookie’s beta design we can see that they are based on an ant and their followers an ant colony. I think this ties in very well with what Silent Salt used to represent, Solidarity (Solidarity being defined as “Collective unity or agreement among individuals” and what is more unified than a literal colony! I think it’s very clever on Devsister’s part to think about going this direction~!)

Taking a look at what stayed and what went when Devsisters finalized their design, I think we could make some pretty good educated guesses on how they are going to be characterized in their episode.

In the translation it states that their original inspiration was a mix between a “Black Knight” and a “Funeral Veil”, something we can see clearly influencing both designs very heavily (and wonderfully might I add).

In specifics, a ‘Black Knight’ is a character archetype used within literature to describe a figure (usually a villain) who hides their intentions and identity behind their armor. This is done intentionally as to not reveal any of their motivates to their enemies. (They also take note to hide whom they serve.)

Where the ‘Black Knight’ is more of an archetype, the ‘Funeral Veil’ is definitely meant to be more symbolic. More specifically, used to symbolize the act of veiling one’s emotions of deep grief.

With those definitions in mind, I am willing to make the assumption that Silent Salt Cookie is going to be a silent griever. Someone who regrets the past and cannot let go of their pain, perhaps they had kept a secret for years, a terrible and dreadful memory that caused not only their downfall but also, their friends downfall.

(Sound familiar? Eh? Eh? Parallels anyone?!)

But moving on, reading the translation further it is revealed to say the following “An ant burrow is full of servants. They take care of the burrow and do various tasks. It’s a lot of people, but they are connected by a silent spirit.” This one line was the catalyst to this entire post, and I truly think this line of text reveals so much characterization and context for Silent Salt’s powers it’s unbelievable.

I am going to make the inference (based on the lines above) that Silent Salt Cookie will possess some form of telepathic implantation and hypnotic sway over their followers, and will control them much in the same way a queen ant would her colony (but with less pheromones and more mind control~!) and will be terrifying~!

Each person under their control will still be alive in a sense, but they will no longer be an individual. They will become part of a hivemind, servants tending to the will of the silent spirit that guides their very thoughts and feelings. They would all be silent, for they have no thoughts of their own to share anymore. No differing opinions, no fighting, no fear, it’s the textbook definition of complete and total Solidarity…

Except it can’t be…this ‘Solidarity’ lacks its sister, Freedom. So it can only be described as one thing…Silence.

Anyways, that’s all. Thanks for listening to my rambling. I shall now take my leave! Until next time!

(Bows and exits through a closet.)

(Also, this image is awesome. And you needed to see it!)