#either way it's endearing

[antisociallilbrat]

Do you know what I love? Is El's progression of outfits throughout the seasons.

In season one we mainly see her in a lab gown, Benny's big yellow shirt, and Nancy's pink dress. The theme here is none of these clothes are her own. They're all borrowed. Kinda like a physical metaphor for El having no sense of self yet. She's wearing costumes of people. 11, El, and Eleanor.

In season two we see her when she's at the cabin in neutral/brown colors. Kinda showing how she's mourning her disconnect from the friends she had just made and Mike. (Group him however you want). Then after she meets Kali she's in her 'bitchin' outfit. Again, this is just another costume that someone had given her, she still has yet to find her sense of self.

Then in season three, we see the neutral colors continue until she goes to Max- who is the first person to ask El who she wants to be. She shows her all these different styles and choices El can make, opening her eyes to who or what she can be. This is where we get that burst of color. With all these options it's so exciting to pick and like the outfits, learning who she can be was just so colorful. At the end of the season, we return to the neutral plaid, and like in season two this shows she's in mourning, for Hopper this time.

Then we have season four. While the colors are still there they have been toned down. Two reasons for this I believe, firstly She's started to figure out who she is and secondly, and more importantly she's still in mourning. For Hopper, because of the distance between her and her friends (again group Mike however you want). While she's mourning though it's not all sad. She's made her a new little family and we saw how strong those bonds are, which also feeds into the little color we see in her outfits as well.

[vaguely-concerned]

This might be due to the fact that on my first playthrough I ended up creating a Rook more emotionally guarded than any of the companions except Minrathous-route Lucanis and perhaps Neve, so I was primed to look for it, but I never got the sense that the companions don’t care for Rook (the thought never even occurred to me until I saw other people post about it) — to me it seems much more like it’s Rook who keeps the last bit of distance, Rook who pulls away when the companions try to extend their care or worry too directly, who keeps themselves slightly apart. (Rook who is so full of grief they cannot know as grief and thus process that there’s no room inside them to let anything else all the way in, perhaps.) They deflect and flinch back when someone gets too close or approaches them too overtly about their feelings — especially when it brushes up against the theme of grief. They can offer care to all the companions who are grieving, come along to any number of funerals as emotional support, but the moment someone turns that towards them they shut that shit down Immediately, like when Taash almost gives the whole game away with ‘Like you’d know? You act like you haven’t lost anyone!’ and Rook just blandly responds ‘We’re talking about you’ and doesn’t engage. But they can also admit that they struggle with accepting compliments, or knowing what to say, or having confidence in themselves without Varric’s help.

Despite all their determination and even in their most stoic no-nonsense incarnation, Rook is awkward, with the struggles that entails. Someone who is eager and happy to be the helper wherever they can, and helplessly unequipped to know how to be the helpee, as it were. It’s not that the companions don’t return Rook’s attachment to them, there’s MUCH more of a ‘okay so what are the ways you will allow me to be good to you??’ desperation of care vibe behind all their invitations to conversations and hangouts together, to my mind. They bring Rook to their favourite places and share the things they love with them, they ask to spend time together (many times just to have their company, not because they have a problem they need help with! Sometimes the problem arises anyway b/c video game quest narrative of course), they bring them out for some direly needed grass touching, they introduce them to their families. Everyone is clearly getting the sense that Rook does Not want to talk about Varric especially (this is in fact what Harding says in banter, if she’s still alive after the reveal :’( ), but they are absolutely SCRAMBLING to find ways to show that they’re there for them even so. AND from the companions’ perspective, with the situation as they have the means to understand it, accepting that Rook isn’t ready to have that conversation and backing off is also a kind thing to do. (tl;dr: To Me Rook is that weirdly socialized friend who is a great hang once they’re actually there but you have to directly invite them or they don’t quite know how to initiate the contact themselves lol) 

Just as a crushing sense of responsibility for their family is a trait that is built into Hawke no matter how you play them or how you make them respond to that, I feel like Rook — however helpful and earnest, warm, charming, jocular, stoic or straightforward they seem at a surface glance — is always someone who struggles deeply with connecting to themselves and other people. (Emotional Intimacy, the Final Frontier.) As, indeed, is the case with all of the Veilguard companions too! It’s clearly a deliberate theme. These are all lonely people struggling with their sense of identity and belonging in some sort of way. AND having, working on and eventually starting to overcome these difficulties also makes Rook a direct foil for Solas, who doesn’t learn that lesson unless you corner him at the end of the world to force feed him his medicine lmao. They don’t manage to break out of the regret prison under their own steam, it’s because even struggling and grieving they have managed to create mutual bonds with other people who show up for them in turn now — and with all the protective walls of denial around what happened to Varric crumbling and making them less of a stranger to themselves, Rook is finally able to let them. An outcome Solas seemingly didn’t even consider to guard against, because he’s become that deeply entrenched in his loneliness, the utter isolation of the self — he can no longer truly imagine an alternative. (It’s not that he can’t form these bonds, obviously, it’s that he resolutely refuses to value them. Whether it’s because he feels like he doesn’t deserve it or out of a need for control or the martyr complex where he must sacrifice everything he loves on the sacrificial pyre of fixing his mistakes, all of the above and more, the result is the same. Mind!Varric, who I think is mostly Solas speaking, even calls this out directly. So yet again a situation where he has some self awareness about it and it doesn’t help At All haha. Solas falls to the temptation of making people into tools again and again and again, no matter how many times it comes back to bite him in the ass and the eternal solitude it traps him in.) 

And that deep deep loneliness… There but for the grace of… well the theological state of thedas being what it is right now, let’s just go with the grace of Something, Presumably go you as well, Rook. The same capacity/tendency to pull away from connection clearly lives in them as well in some form (again, for whatever reason and with whatever motivations and instincts behind it for any individual Rook). Solas and Rook coming together to create a blood magic paper doll of the mind Varric in response to acute loss and loneliness is one of the most deep , deeply fucked up and invasive acts of intimacy I’ve ever contemplated. I don’t think that’s accidental, there’s something There’s Something Wrong With You (there’s something wrong with you that’s also wrong with me (derogatory)) here that resonates no matter how both parties would hate to hear it. (A fitting legacy for Varric and his wild ‘I made my best friend into a story because it’s the only way I know how to love with this desperation of sincerity’ brain to leave in the narrative, methinks. I feel he’d appreciate it on a craft level, if nothing else.)

If you read through all of Rook’s potential backstories, one of the common threads through all of them, along with a certain maverick ‘I’ll do whatever it takes’ streak, is a sense of profound alienation. They did something or have some sort of quality that made it hard for them to fit in with the group they’re from, causing a conflict that cuts them off from parts of their identity as it’s been up until now. All of which also adds to how important Varric is to them — he was clearly able to break/see through some of that and be closer with them, even in the relatively short time they spent together. No matter what else goes to shit, they can trust that a) Varric sees them, b) he genuinely likes them and believes in them not despite who they are, but for it, and c) he’s got their back, we’re in this together kid. And then he is gone, and it takes them the whole game to be able to bring themselves to accept that and know themselves again, be able to let new relationships in fully. The very understandable ‘the last time I let someone in, they got stabbed before my eyes and the world ended’ flinch away, even if they’re not consciously aware that’s what it is. Anyway I love Rook. So much space to play around in here as to WHY they might feel or react like this, even when the framework is more defined.

[swampthingking]

andrew’s definitely gotten in trouble with his pr manager for tweeting things along the lines of:

“no mania inducing medication will compare to the euphoria i will feel the day donald trump drops dead”

[borgialucrezia]

peaky blinders — 2x06 created by steven knight

[impossiblefeat]

Espio's victory animation after winning a race in Sonic Rivals 2.

[hanzajesthanza]

geralt and per procura no, PERPRO MOUNTAIN

[notachair]

Since atla is again having an extra surge of popularity, I'm shooting my shot:

[ID: (Rest of image description in alt). At the bottom of the image sits the text: "Zuko: Okay. Well, I can't remember how it starts, but the punchline is "leaf me alone, I'm bushed."" ID end].

Did we ever find out what the setup for this joke was? I feel kinda haunted by it. If not- anyone wanna make their best or worst guesses?

edit: I now know what "I'm bushed" mean, but go ahead anyway 👍

haunted thoughts in tags ↓

[the-blossica-fan]

Did you watch the Blonney anecdote?

Watching it made me feel so proud of her and how far she had come. She really grew as a person and her level of maturity is much different from when she first appeared!

I also love her bond with the little blonde boy who had deer like eyes. Blonney was really dishing out words of wisdom to encourage him and she protected him the entire anecdote. It really warms my heart.

I also found it funny when she was teaching the little boy about death she was so straightforward and had no tolerance for fancy, pretentious words. He was like "Do bugs shrivel up when they die because their souls leave their bodies?" and she's like "No, they shrivel up because they are dead." I can totally imagine how an interaction between her and Avgust will turn out.

Avgust attending a baby shower with other people in the suitcase.

Avgust: Ms. Sunflower, where do babies come from?

Blonney: Oh, babies come when a dude and a lady has se-

Only for her to be interrupted by Vila tackling her.

OMG I LOVED THE ANECDOTE

I was tearing up by the end. After all she went through in her adolescence, having ripped away her true self to appeal to others, she's finally being herself. Here's my favorite line of the event before I start with the content of the ask. (Hope you don't mind me derailing a bit)

It's such a big difference from how she talked about herself back in 1.2, because in this one it felt lighthearted rather than self deprecating. She accepted herself and her flaws, and she just played into that silly blonde girl part because she wanted to.

She has grown, my sweet child. I am so proud of her for overcoming her traumas and letting go of the past.

I choked during that part. She said it so nonchalantly and so straightforwardly. Such an icon.

She did really give him a needed push in the right direction and didn't let him wallow up in his self deprecation, he probably reminded her of herself, so she didn't even doubt his potential and opportunities.

I really wish he could have entered the suitcase with Blonney, but they can't make a playable character out of an anecdote. Though I wish we could see him again, I recognize closure when I see it. Time to make a story where they find each other again and it's just Blonney introducing him to the people she cares about.

Oh I can see Blonney being the fear of Druvis, Ms. Moissan and Vila from how straight forward she is.

The worst part is that if Avgust were to ask what "sex" means, Blonney would just tell him before being sent to the ocean by our lovely Mermaid. (You had it coming Blonney)

[ding-a-derry]

just watched the first few saw movies, and PLEASE don’t spoil me if it gets addressed in later films, but.

what is it with john and crafts. he’s gifted in engineering & knows how to work some chemical MAGIC so where in that time did he pick up puppeteering?? or did he love puppets so much he commissioned one of his persona???

[blackpilljesus]

Pls elaborate how Y works like rabies I need to know

The `/ chromosome is a parasitic-like virus. It cant be "caught" per se but it operates similarly to rabies. It manifests itself as a host and seeks to reproduce itself to cause more terror. The end goal of the `/ chromosome is reproduction & destruction; this post will focus on the reproduction aspect. Once a part of it gets into another body the process begins all over again. Similar to how rabies gets into a new host to make it's way to the brain to spread.

I mention rabies particularly bc some symptoms rabies exudes makes it spread easily and difficult to combat. For example, fear of water (to reject being washed away), foaming at the mouth, nocturnal animals out in the day and appearing friendly to humans (when they otherwise wouldnt be), animals that are typically reserve attacking others, etc. The `/ chromosome takes a mutated form of human -well woman- & wants to reproduce itself through women. Anything that threatens its chances of reproduction is ruthlessly cut off.

Note the obsession moids have with wanting sons (and used to name sons after themselves) & how sons are typically born in cases of tragedies like rape? Y chromosome mutation. A big part of ♂️inflation occured as most women were raped multiple times & had no autonomy or way of fighting back so from these conditions more moids were born because I dont believe the gender ratio was ever meant to be 50/50 -consider that despite all the femicides, having to live in a maIe centric world, and son preferences, the overall gender ratio is roughly 50/50 give or take a few points.

I saw this the other day, pregnancy is not the happy go lucky romanticised bs that women are indoctrinated into; their bodies are taken captive to reproduce on a biological level. The y chromosome is fighting to be reproduced and will take whatever it can -born or unborn- to do so. The womans genes are trying to fight back. I believe a big reason why sons are born from tragedy more often is because the womans body has already undergone stress so theres not enough energy to fight back the `/ chromosome invasion. Remember the sperm determines sex.

Genetics arent perfect however there's sometimes often outliers for example an xx is born despite the Ys effort. My 2 theories is either a mutation on the y chromosome part (causing it to be weaker) or the mothers body was strong enough to fight off the y chromosome. Now I'm no biologist or geneticist all of this is just rough speculation.

Also recommend reading trust your perception blog about the y chromosome.

[tenshiharmonia]

I'm currently hyperfixating on the Trolls movies, and I must say, I don't know who came up with the idea of pairing Floyd with Riff, but fluffy heavens, let me tell you that you have all my gratitude.

[edettethegreat]

You asked for Edmund asks and I'm here to deliver. Sorry if this really surface level or straight up wrong, I am but a normie when it comes to enjoying Shakespeare. So there's before the scene where Gloucester gets blinded, Edmund is sent away by Cornwall and it felt like a missed opportunity to make him prove his loyalty. Eventually, I assumed Cornwall didn't want him backpedaling and that got me wondering, would he? I mean, would it have changed anything if Edmund was in the room or tasked with blinding Gloucester? On one hand, Gloucester's situation is of Edmund's own design, it's not like he doesn't know how serious treason is. On the other hand, he may not like or respect him much but he still craves his approval and it makes me wonder what would change if he was holding the blade.

oh this is interesting

in short, I think bringing Edmund along for Gloucester's interrogation would be counterproductive on many levels.

For the most surface level explanation, at this point Gloucester didn't know that Edmund betrayed him. He still believes Edmund is a good and loyal son. If there's any chance of him surviving the interrogation and getting away (as he does), you would want to have someone who he trusts to keep him under control.

standard 'playing politics' move.

During the interrogation -- Regan, after Cornwall is stabbed and Gloucester's eyes are out, reveals that Edmund has betrayed him. It doesn't seem like this was part of the original plan, and this ultimately ends up costing Edmund his life.

On the topic of Cornwall potentially needing Edmund to prove his loyalty-- the only thing being involved in Gloucester's torture would prove is that Edmund hates Gloucester. Which he already knows, as he heavily implies he's aware that Edmund's intentionally destroying the Gloucester noble lineage to become earl. And he thinks that that's very cool of him :)

On top of all that, dragging Edmund into the interrogation is not the role he want to play here. Whatever he's got going on here-- "thou shalt find a dearer father in my love" -- again, this is another political move. He recognizes what Edmund is capable of, and most likely wants to use this new connection he has to him. Edmund turned to him to denounce Gloucester as a traitor, and Cornwall wants to play the role of Edmund's 'savior' who removes this 'awful evil traitor' Edmund was 'brave enough' to denounce.

Him sending Edmund away before the torture could be a way of saying 'don't worry, I've got this covered from here.' He's choosing to actively take a part in Edmund's ascent to the Earldom, proving allegiance to the brand new earl of gloucester.

in short. the torture functions more as Cornwall proving his loyalty to Edmund's cause than any potential loyalty test for Edmund.

and of course imma shout out @suits-of-woe's Cornwall analysis posts-- he understands Cornwall on a level deeper than I could ever hope to, and I feel like reading his Cornwall Analysis Saga should be required text for anyone playing Cornwall

[quietwingsinthesky]

“least favorite” isn’t anywhere close to bad. it just shows how damn hard the competition is going, but we’re talking about gold medals all around for each actor i’ve seen portray the doctor so far.

[sugar-salt-n-spice]

does roach actually have antennas on his helmet or is that something artists have taken creative liberties with and added themselves?

[homoeroticgrappling]

I'll be honest gang, I am struggling to focus on collision now because I saw those Danhausen gifs and all I can think about is how charming it is to me when you just know you're watching Donovan who happens to be wearing Danhausen paint or when it's blatantly Donovan doing Danhausen expressions/mannerisms without makeup

[nukacourier]

James would take 2 shots of whiskey and be like "hey if you ever lose your toothbrush you can use my tongue instead" and Arcade would be disgusted but also somewhat intrigued