#critical anger

[halogalopaghost]

It's extremely important to me that Casey Jones is a meat head with a heart of gold because if he isn't, if he falls for the hypermasculine bullshit of the world, extremely impressionable ninja turtle Raphael will imprint on that like a baby duck and become Bad. So it's important to me that Casey, especially when he's an adult to Raph's teenager, is an Enlightened Idiot. He might not know the meaning of life or long division but he DOES know you treat all people equally and stand up for the little guy and protect the minorities and respect pronouns. Do you understand. Is this thing on.

[sunlight-shunlight]

one of the most minor things that pisses me off these days is the sort of... disgusting opportunism, of people who will build their brands on running their mouths off 24/7 about Representation In Media™ and Diverse Voices™ and Art Standing Against Fascism™ and Writing Saving Lives™ or whatever the fuck else. but... only as long as it is convenient.

because, when the fascism is actually barking at the door... oh no, actually! they were mistaken! this isn't REALLY important! it's just escapism, teehee! why would ANYONE want to have something like "depictions of an oppressive authority" or "depictions of bigotry" in art? that's just like, suuuuch a bummer. wouldn't it be preferable to just not mention stuff like that? you don't need stuff like "dictatorships" or "war" to really be shown. why would people need to understand the weight and suffering those things cause, when art could be cozy instead? why on earth would we need pieces of fiction like 1984? that's so depressing! :)

and this is why veilguard in particular lives rent-free in my head (negatively). bc the performative, vaguely leftist-sounding slop that the creative leads parrot, is backed up by a game that has such incredible Social Themes as "i can excuse being nb, but i draw the line at being an immigrant!" and "women will not visibly age, get angry, have secrets, or look ugly, unless they're villains," and "slave rebellions MUST be nice, polite, convenient to society, and held entirely offscreen". groundbreaking!

i genuinely cannot imagine having a creative platform and the ability to reach large amounts of people in this current era, while working in a game series notable for social commentary (even ham-fisted commentary, but still), and then... quite obviously making the conscious decision to go with a narrative that has absolutely nothing of value to say about the world and its current systems of authority. not even by accident! and all this was done without formal government censorship! purely on profit motive alone! can you imagine how rapidly they'd fold up under any actual pressure. 💀

[demigoddessqueens]

🤣🤣 I love it!! 👏

[chipthekeeper]

for the last fucking time it is not about headcanons not coming true or about a lack of screen time for favorite characters, it is about the majority of the women getting pushed aside or into completely baffling roles for the sake of the male heroes and it is about all the characters of color being unceremoniously or even brutally killed or made into the villains (or into raving drug addicts)

[screechingfromthevoid]

No plot just Orym being angry for a minute and a half

[iamespecter]

GAHHHHHH CAN I JUST SAY IT REALLY PISSES ME OFF WHEN PEOPLE SAY THIS END SCREEN OF LN1 MEANS THAT ANOTHER SHIP IS COMING???? TERICHO NEEDS TO STOP PROMOTING THIS THEORY ISTG

NO, THE FOGHORN THAT SOUNDS WHEN YOU PRESS ENTER DOES NOT MEAN THERE'S ANOTHER SHIP!!!! BECAUSE THE MAW IS FULLY SUBMERGED IN THIS!!!! THE FOGHORN IMPLIED THAT THE SHIP THAT WAS DELIVERING GUESTS ON BOARD JUST LEFT!!!! STOP SAYING THIS IS ANOTHER SHIP!!!!! RAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

I HAVE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR LITERAL YEARS AND EVERYTIME, IT FEELS LIKE I'M SCREAMING AT A BRICK WALL!!!

If you *critically* think about it, it ABSOLUTELY MAKES NO SENSE THAT IT WOULD BE ANOTHER SHIP THAT'S ARRIVING.

Because:

The Maw is fully submerged at this point.

We are very much shown that The Maw ONLY accepts Guests WHEN the top part/the "mouth" has emerged. As shown in this sequence of the game, and in the concept art.

It's stated that The Maw "arrives" ONCE a year. NEVER in the same place, but ALWAYS at the same time. SO NO, IT'S *NOT* ACCEPTING GUESTS OVER BECAUSE IT'S CLEARLY FULLY SETTLED BACK DOWN AGAIN. WHY WOULD IT WASTE RESOURCES TO SUBMERGE ITSELF IF IT WAS GOING TO RE-EMERGE AGAIN MOMENTS LATER.

The door Six exits out of is likely a maintenance door; for cleaning the Chimney in case of blockage. Especially because of the fact that there is a visible staircase that leads up to the smokestack. PLUS, IF IT WERE FOR THE GUESTS TO COME THROUGH; WHY IS IT A SLIM ENTRANCE UNLIKE THE ACTUAL ENTRANCE OF THE MAW? BECAUSE IT'S ONLY MEANT FOR WORKERS LIKE ROGER/THE JANITOR.

It's heavily implied that while Six and The Lady aren't related, nor are they stuck in a time-loop-- coughcoughlikeMonoandtheThinManCOUGH-- it's still possible that Six is intended to be The Next Lady of the Maw. Mostly because of the whole boss fight that doesn't really resemble a fight, but moreso a ritualistic passing of the torch. And the implications of multiple Ladies existing throughout the millenia.

To be clear; I don't think Six will be stuck inside The Maw for long. As her description states, she belongs elsewhere.

Which could mean that my girl *might* make a comeback for LN3, but I wouldn't hold it against Supermassive Games if LN3 doesn't even make a single cameo towards Six/making her appear. Because either way, I fully understand each outcome.

[constantlytired101]

CaitVi worked in S1.

Because Caitlyn wasn’t a full part of the oppression that Piltover inflicted upon Zaun.

Cait was a newbie enforcer , a body guard at best , up until that moment she hadn’t hurt the Zaun or imposed laws or commanded enforcers.

She wasn’t a direct participant in the oppression unlike the Councillors or Marcus and other commanding enforcers.

That changes in S2 when Caitlyn starts to actively oppress Zaun , gas civilians , send people to jail for questioning even tho they’re not involved , impose martial law.

Cait became an oppressor at that point. And is not held accountable for it and barely redeemed from her actions. ( show wise if I can take her redemption which I don’t , it’s only for what she pulled on Vi , she didn’t redeem herself for Zaun , giving Sevika a council seat where decision are made by voting counts for nothing, cause it’s gonna do nothing)

Zaun is still oppressed under Piltover’s rule ( Pilties still look at Zaunites with distaste and see them as lesser and the council seat is almost useless)

Caitlyn is still a sheriff with full power and Vi has nothing . A worrying power imbalance.

Thus Cait and Vi in S2 became oppressor X oppressed.

[ematini]

So I was thinking about the whole music videos situation in Arcane and guess what, I once again have something to say. No surprises there.

Arcane soundtrack is absolutely amazing, that's true for both seasons, but compared to season 2, season 1 contains significantly fewer montages. In season 2, music isn't just a background for current events. Instead, we get montages, which are basically used as a skip forward button for the show's time skips of unspecified length. A mandatory "Hey, that's what's going on in the world, but we don't have time for that. Now, back to our favorite character!"

Visually, they're gorgeous, but that's not what Arcane was originally praised for. They're more eye-catching music videos than actual storytelling. Good for Riot's promotional material, but when you put them in the middle of an episode? It makes the originally full world of arcane feel like an empty board on which characters play without any real impact on the world around them. Sure, it can be done well, like they did with Firelight's introduction in season 1, but not when it's used to tell very important parts of the story that SHOULD have an impact.

It's abundantly clear in episode 3.

Yep, that infamous part. We montage through Caitlyn using the Grey in Zaun and move past it. That's it. No real influence on the story, characters, or the world.

Imagine if they used the same approach on Jayce and Vi storming the Shimmer factory. If, instead of a mission going wrong, they showed us a montage of them taking over one factory after the other.

I know someone will come screaming "Oh, but they Grey wasn't used on civilians!" Well guess what, Jayce and Vi didn't want to hurt civilians either, that wasn't their intention, just an accident. Are you telling me that during Caitlyn's Strike Team Adventures™, no kid suddenly got in the way? No one was running away in panic and got punched in the face? They were dismantling Shimmer factories too. What happened to all the kids there? None of them panicked at the sight of five fully armed Enforcers?

That is exactly the issue with how they handled that topic and why people are so quick to defend this and Caitlyn's actions and honestly, i get the thought process. It's the writing's fault. Everyone is always screaming about media literacy, show don't tell, you don't have to be shown every single detail, the show shouldn't dwell on it, etc. But the moment they don't literally show us this on screen, people forget about the consequences of the last failed strike attempt at Zaun's criminal underground. They're are quick to say that everything worked out fine, no need to nitpick. But is it nitpicking, if the show made that clear before?

You can't just storm in and take over. Innocent people will get hurt. That's the conclusion Jayce walks away from this. That's the reality of the situation. But it's conveniently forgotten about when the writers don't want to deal with said consequences.

[bixels]

The more I think about it, the more I question Arcane S2's politics and themes, which were so foundational to S1. Like, a tiny example [SPOILERS AHEAD]:

Singed wins. He gets exactly what he wants in the end. All his "efforts" are rewarded. What does that say about people who share his ideology of eugenics? He is the source of nearly every horrible thing and conflict that happened (Shimmer, the factory deaths, Jinx, Vander as Warwick, the corruption of Viktor), and he gets a happier ending than any other character. Not even a 'he got what he wanted but he has become completely unrecognizable/monstrous to his daughter' tag at the end. You can say they're setting him up and need to open his daughter to future shows, but the way you end a character's story says something about what you think about that character. What does it say when the eugenicist war criminal gets the happy ending he doesn't deserve?

[stardustedknuckles]

Listening to the Matron talk about the previous god of death cements for me the idea that Vax was always meant to have more time before she made good on their deal. She didn't mean for him to know the same eternal separation and grief she had taken upon herself - that she had chosen with eyes wide open. He was supposed to have time and happiness with Keyleth. Maybe even time beyond a natural lifespan, though that's probably pushing it a little. To the max of said lifespan at the very least. She didn't want for him - or for keyleth - what she had been through, but her hand was forced, and the only way to give him back in any capacity was to take away what should have been. His fate was to become her champion, yes, but there was time to live first. That fate was changed as a gift. It was all she could allow as the keeper of her domain and arguably, her mortality is what led her to give it at all.

Yes. She hears the sounds of grief and loss unending, unceasing. Death is less than nothing to her and the sum of who she is. She is synonymous to death in many ways, though she refers to herself as its steward and rightfully so.

But I think what sets her apart is that she never grows numb to it. That mask is to hide the fact that all of it still affects her. It's to hide all of it - her loneliness, yes, but also that she feels every death. She hears every cry, every curse, every regret. She stands before every soul individually and does what she must, and she wears the mask so that she can do so without giving anything of her mortal feelings away. The dead do not need to know that she cares, that she understands. Death is not about her. It is about who is standing in front of her waiting to be ushered into the beyond. She is the great reuniter, forever separated from the one she loves.

So yes. I believe that Vax was always meant to have more time, right up until time was the only thing left to barter. His fate was to die after a long and happy life, to go peacefully and take up the mantle at her side when he was done on Exandria.

But that had to change to save the fate of the world, and nobody in this realm or any other knows better the loss and the grief that came about from cutting that time short. Vax wasn't meant to understand it either. She wanted better for him and, by extension, keyleth.

[yashley]

It’s easier with people around you. To make you feel more like you.

[sukibenders]

Me, watching some YJS fans justify what Shauna did to Mari by using clips of Mari and Jackie giggling in s1 (normal teenage girl things), or Mari speaking the truth and trying to take Jackie's jacket (even though it was the middle of winter and the group were already sharing clothes), with said fans saying that they've would've done worse to Mari in response, acting like that makes them any better:

[mayapapaya33]

I had sort of hoped Keyleth would have matured and grown past her anger at the Matron over the past 33 years but I suppose it's in character that she hasn't fully dealt with her grief yet. And the Vorb probably isn't helping her issues either. It just sucks because I think a lot of the fandom take Vox Machina's grief fueled blame and fully accept it as fact when the reality is that Vax's situation is almost entirely his own responsibility. The only other person with any remote culpability is Percy. And even Percy is only really to blame for accidentally Killing Vex, not for Vax's choices. But even if you want to hold Percy accountable for Vax's choice in the tomb as well, that still doesn't make him responsible for Vax's death. Vax could have lived a long full life as the Matron's Champion, as shown by the Delightful Purvan Suul and his companion Galdric.

Vax was a borderline suicidal, self-sacrificing character from day one. He always threw himself into danger headfirst regardless of the cost to himself. Between Percy accidentally setting off the trap creating the circumstances for Vax trading himself to the matron during Vex's resurrection, all the way up to Vax CHOSING to come back as a revenant after being disintegrated in order to help defeat Vecna, the choices have always been his. Especially him, fate touched as he is. Ultimately, Vecna killed Vax and Vax killed Vax. I think it's easier to blame the Matron than to be angry with Vax for being who he was.

The Matron maintains the balance of life and death. She accepted Vax's offers both times, do you think she should have refused? The first refusal would have meant Vex's death, and the second refusal would have meant Vax possibly just staying dead after being disintegrated, and not being there to fight against Vecna, which was truly an all hands on deck situation. There was no time to fuck around with a resurrection ritual that might not even work, the whole world was in danger. One life, a life that was already lost, is a small price to pay to save the world. I'm pretty sure Vax would agree with me!

Frankly, Vox Machina were super lucky and privileged to have so many successful resurrections between them. I think they got a little spoilt and entitled about it honestly. Most people have never even met someone who's been resurrected before, they did it like 20 times! Vax was disintegrated, he chose to come back as a revenant to fight Vecna, protect the world, and help his family. An opportunity he was only given due to his allegiance to the Matron. She gave Vox Machina and Vax extra time together and a chance to help save the world.

For those of you shouting "what about true resurrection!?! I hear you, and Matt said it's complicated and didn't elaborate lol. Personally, I think the Matron has quite the special a barrier of entry to true resurrection, if the spell even works at all in Exandria. I think they touched on it briefly in Calamity but I've forgotten. I can only imagine what insane ritual Matt concocted years ago that he's had plenty of time to work on since. Part of the Matron's whole thing is that everyone must eventually go into death, sure they can avoid it for a while, so some resurrection is fine (the DC gets higher every time), but eventually enough is enough and it's time to go. Hence why necromancers and liches are her enemies.

At any rate, I'm really proud of Keyleth for going to therapy and I hope she goes back when all of this moon business is over because she still needs it and that turtle lady in the frog seemed great lol.

[ruporas]

i killed. i murdered. i'm nothing like these sleepy people here… nevertheless, you can actually be grateful? bastard… i’m saying… thank you. because you spilled blood, you saved all of these people’s lives. i couldn’t have done it without you. (ID in alt)

[zoneofsmites]

Still laughing about how they didn't want to "invalidate" anyone's worldstate. But that is exactly what they did.

Morrigan is the most obvious, I really cannot believe that a Morrigan who was a mother would have so willingly taken into her something like Mythal if she was a mother - of at this point - a 10 year old Kieran. Maybe she would, but it would be for different reasons.

Isabela is the most annoying to me. She's talking about how "Kirkwall taught her about family." as if she couldn't have been given up by Hawke to the Arishok. As if she couldn't have ran away from Kirkwall and never looked back. If I had met an Isabela from a world state like that, she would never have said that.

Harding talking about the Inquisition also feels like it misses some... extra flavour here and there based on actual choices. Like my Inquisitor didn't do well with Blackwall, and he didn't survive to see the end of the game. But Lace speaks about him fondly and in such a way that I don't think she should if the Inquisitor never 'redeemed' him.

Zevran is never mentioned by name, but what if a warden outright killed the assassin hunting them. Or he turned on them in Denerim and died later? Then explain to me that entire banter Lucanis has with Harding about why House Arainai messed up so bad they went trough several Talons about it. And now the Crows don't take contracts in Ferelden anymore.

At that point the reason that was given to us for the lack of worldbuild choices to prevent 'invalidating everyone's worldstate' feels null and void. Because you have. You have invalidated many worldstates already by bringing back these character or have people talk around them in such a way that doesn't make sense.

[notebooks-and-laptops]

I think one thing genuinely missing from Veilguard was court intrigue. This is of course true from the perspective of the events in game but it is also, crucially, true from the glimpses we see into Solas/The Dread Wolfs past prior to the veil coming down.

One of the most intriguing little moments in DAI is when Solas begins waxing poetic about how he missed court intrigue, politics, how these places linger with sex. If you call him on that and ask hey WHEN did you experience that, he immediately gives you disapproval. This is the closest the inquisitor can get prior to trespasser to catching him in an outright lie and KNOWING it.

Further, the dalish tales that we have heard about Solas say that he could walk in multiple worlds, and pass himself off as whatever the moment called for; that's one of his trickster aspects.

Yet in absolutely all of the visions we see in the past the rebellion is literally just fighting or breaking into a location to fight in there. The closest we get to that not being the case is breaking into ghilianhans lab but even then it's just fight fight fight the whole way through. When Solas and Elganan are speaking to one another, they frame it as them being family or siblings having an argument rather than as the sort of political rivals that I had imagined from DAI.

Part of me wonders if this was yet another sacrifice of Joplin (the original plan for DA4) which was a sneaky heist game. Joplin sounded like it would take a lead on some of its major missions from missions in the past like Wicked Eyes Wicked Hearts in DAI and Mark of the Assassin in DA2. DAtV simplified a lot of those concepts down, making the game polished in terms of technical gameplay but lacking in critical roleplay decisions which I think are more key to a game focused around politics and court intrigue. The decision to make Solas a lone actor rather than the leader of the dreadwolfs agents also slashed the chance at this; making the game the first in the series where none of the companions have ulterior motives in joining your group/none of them are lying to you.

But ultimately I do think it's sad we never truly got to see Solas act the dreadwolf in regard to court politics. It sounded like he really did miss it and it sounded like a side of him that we had only glimpsed briefly in DAI; I was excited to see it in all it's glory.