#even for characters i like none of the ones people sell appeal to me. i know im not the target audience but still

[lowpawly]

concept of having a character body pillow while also having a partner who you sleep with is funny. me my girlfriend and my anime girlfriend

[tossawary]

Recent "Star Trek" reboot universes have really tried to sell me on three different romances for Spock with other TOS characters whom he did not have romantic relationships (at least not positive ones) with in TOS, which makes it particularly annoying when some fans try to squirm away from the idea of ST ever doing a future reboot or remake in which Spock/Kirk are explicitly queer.

Like, "But it's not in the original! They want to be faithful to the original!" really, REALLY does not pass the "I think you might just be discomforted by queerness and you should work on that, rather than making appeals to the authority of textual accuracy to avoid being called a homophobe or transphobe" check here. Because it's not as though these reboots care about perfect faithfulness on pretty much any other front. We'll accept that the costumes and special effects get updated to move with the times, we'll accept wildly different characterization choices that essentially give these characters new personalities, we'll accept new timelines that change the entire political map of the galaxy, but you as a fan draw the line at "What if this character was bisexual this time?" Really???

To be clear, I am not trying to dunk on Spock/Uhura, Spock/Chapel, or Spock/T'Pring here, I am merely trying to illustrate a frustrating double-standard. TOS Uhura does notably flirt with Spock several times! I see it! I remember TOS Chapel's feelings for Spock being one-sided, but I also don't think it's a bad thing to try to update TOS's more misogynistic writing choices regarding female characters. TOS T'Pring did... kind of try to kill Spock because she didn't want to marry him, but again, I don't necessarily think it's immediately a bad thing to try to explore her as a character and her betrothal to Spock. It's fine! It's fine by me to explore new takes in new AUs.

It's just that none of that evidence from TOS for those relationships holds much of a candle to whatever the fuck Kirk and Spock had going on to inspire The Premise. "Amok Time" is an Experience. There's only so many times that Kirk can say something like, "The cost [of abandoning Spock] would have been my soul," before you want to put your face in your hands. They are taking shiny pebbles from TOS and trying their very best to sell them to me as the basis for romantic relationships in reboots, sure, while they are standing in the shadow of Spirk Evidence Mountain (TOS).

(Yes, I have seen the recent "Unification" short film. Yes, I enjoyed it. No, I will not consider Spirk "officially canon" until all plausible deniability for the squirmy folks has been completely, explicitly destroyed by a HUMAN kiss onscreen.)

And okay, I must admit, at the moment, I don't actually want Spirk to eventually happen in "Strange New Worlds" now that they've finally met. I'm mostly indifferent to their Spock and Kirk actors, personally, and the writing for every canonical romantic relationship in both SNW and "Discovery" so far has gotten a solid "well, they certainly are standing next to each other" from me. (Yes, even the gay marriage in "Discovery". I just haven't been into it so far.) I think the writers would fumble Spirk if they tried it in this specific show and then annoying fans would use the fumble as "evidence" never to try to do Spirk or queer retakes on other TOS characters ever again, or as "proof" against other queer ST in other shows characters generally.

I'm mostly just mildly annoyed that I have to keep watching Spock specifically, famously read by many people as a queer man, be straight and messy about it, especially when there has not really been a significant queer relationship onscreen in SNW yet, unless you count M'Benga's daughter Rukiya and her glow cloud friend named Debra, which I personally don't, honestly. I'd like an onscreen relationship with a main character with zero plausible deniability. There's definitely nothing yet that comes remotely close to the screentime that Spock/Chapel, Spock/T'Pring, and Kirk/La'an have all been given so far, unfortunately. (Sulu is not here yet. Scotty has just shown up. If Scotty gets to make out with a guy next season, or Uhura or Ortegas gets to make out with a lady, without it being part of some god-like-being's fantasy world, then I may be satisfied.) (Also, yes, I am aware of queer characters and relationships in other "Star Trek" shows, thanks. I very much enjoyed Mariner having her incredibly silly breakup with her girlfriend in "Lower Decks".)

"Star Trek" is one of those properties where some people's double-standards regarding romantic interpretations of the original series really jump out. "They can't do Kirk/Spock because they want to be faithful to the original!" Get real.

[rafeinterlude]

𓂃ㅤ⭑. Exterior Gambles

Summery : basically the hunger games with outer banks characters !!

Warnings : none for now

mood board : ⛏️

a/n (1) this is my first time seriously writing a fanfic so be nice, tell me if there’s any grammar errors !!

Words : 567 ( I thought it would be more 😞 )

  CHAPTER 1 : 𓂃. ㅤ Reaping Day : District 12 (JJ MAYBANK)

   It was reaping day, July 4th. A day every 12 to 18-year-olds across the 12 districts dreads, until the day they wishfully turn 19 to finally be free from the horrible tradition that haunts every family. Then the freshly 19-year-old focuses on demanding, mind-numbing work in the districts. 

Like everyone else throughout District 12, Jj Maybank awoke in his ancient unsteady bed with paper-thin covers. Thoughts of what the day would bring clouded everyone's mind. It was quiet in a coal-filled district, normally on a day off he would hear loud children playing outside in sunshine hidden by gray trees and people selling in The Hob, Jj would be there seeing what was for sale so he could feed himself and his dad (if he’s feeling generous). But of course not today when the peacekeepers are on high alert getting ready for the annual reaping.

Jj had to get dressed up nicely with a warn-down suit from his cousin, it was mandatory to dress up for the ‘special’ event as the Capitol put it. Which was his least favorite part of the reaping (other than getting chosen but he didn’t want to think about that possibility, what would his dad do without him? he would sincerely die without his only son taking care of him even though he didn’t appreciate it but what was he supposed to do? it’s his father.)

After he bathed the most he had in months and put on his ‘appealing’ clothes he headed out with the rest of the district getting a sharp sting on the tip of his index finger which turned into a scar after it had been redone for 4 years. Then he went into the line of other 16-year-old boys most of whom he recognized from school and The Hob but noone he was willing to talk to and they were waiting just like the rest of the district to see what 2 people would be torn from their families and closest friends.

Jj looked up at the overdressed woman who walked across the stage and stood behind the microphone in between the 2 fish bowls with everyone’s names from 12-18. She had the weirdest accent he’d ever heard and had the most ridiculous makeup he’d ever seen (before her he had never even seen makeup before) caked onto her face which was especially horrible even more than last year.

"Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor," she called out to everyone anxiously watching her, teens wanting to know if they'll be alive next year and parents in anticipation to see if their children will be safe.

"Ladies first," the exotic-looking woman said then walking over to the female bowl and swooshing around with her hand over the hundreds of names of innocent children before picking one up taking it over to the microphone, and said,

“Eris Vapser,” The 13-year-old girl with grayish blue eyes that perfectly matched the sky and dark umber hair whom Jj had only seen her a handful of times before, as she gingerly walked towards the stage with everyone staring at her seeing her stood to the right of the announcer close to tears.

“And now for the boys!” she happily shrieked and seemingly snail-walked over to the male bowl of names, she picked one up and shouted..

“Jj Maybank!,’ she yelled across the district.

a/n : (2) i know that cannonitcly Pope is richer then John b but it would just make sense if he was in district 11, also i’ve watched all of obx and read/ watched all of the hunger games so that means… I will probably get so many things wrong so.. don’t expect everything to be perfect. ( also kinda based on Crimson Rivers on a03 by zeppazariel ) ALSO ALSO some direct quoting but that’s only for the reaping. Popes perspective will be next !!

tags : @haven247 @hewwokitti @redhead1180 @rafecameroninterlude @lustnluv @rafesbimbo & thank you for beta reading (i changed it up a bit) @rafecameronsgun

[dragon-appreciator-fray]

I spent most my entire day yesterday playing Tales of Mistria. (For the first time.)

For context, none of the other Farming Sims have really done much to convince me to buy them. And I don't even go back to my modded Stardew Valley saves.

You all have no idea how much I needed a fantasy farm game with a Dragon Guardian spirit and a Dragon themed Tavern.

The cast of characters that actually feel like a community remind me that the number of people I actually play and share video games with has shrunken dramatically since coming out as trans.

The main sibling I talk about Stardew with has been kinda unavailable lately. So you're gonna receive my posts instead.

The pixel art, customization, and how immediately available the community's resources are really appeal to me. No needing to upgrade a house to start cooking.

So much of the cast shows up for each little stage of progress. Characters drag us from scene to scene as we ask other members of the community for help. No dialog will play as the dog walks up to my avatar, receives pets, and returns to his lil cushion all independent of the unfolding dialog. It's just a cute thing happening on screen that sells the world and its characters.

I can even get perks that make my cooking sometimes considered a universal like by the townsfolk. Which means a lot to me, because I like to cook food I like to eat and share it with others.

I'm really glad this game exists.

I think I might be playing a lot of it.

Hopefully no one minds if I share a lot of my experience with it.

I... really like taking screenshots but don't wanna drown my partners' DMs.

Anyway, here's my cute little horned Fray (She/They) with the progress I have made on my home throughout the first season. I've got a new bed and rug pattern. I have just yet to set aside the personal time needed to craft them when my focus has become breeding chickens and expanding the amount of farmland available for Summer crops.

[paradox-time]

@basil-does-arttt

Heeeeyyyy, thanks for giving me an excuse to ranttt <3<3

Ok so, I saw a post of yours that was something like "what about gortash do fans find appealing?”

I'm going to try my best to answer why some of us are fans of this Absolute Shitbag (pun intended)

Some of my credentials, I've played the game for over 700 hours over about 4 months, seen, made, and interacted with tons of fan content and talked about it at length with other fans and unwilling friends. I make it my job to know every single scrap of Lore the game has to offer, going to stupid lengths to read all the books and letters hidden throughout the game, I also savescum the hell out of dialog options so I don't miss any exposition. I've played a tav twice and a dark urge 8 times, plus started but never finished other origin playthroughs.

Safe to say. I am deranged. (Yay hyperfixation)

Anyway, Enver Gortash is one of my favorite villains in fiction. This does not, in any way, mean that I admire or excuse any of his actions. I don't find him handsome or charming. He isn't redeemable or even likable in any capacity as a person.

The entire main theme of the game is whether or not the characters perpetuate the cycle of abuse or break it. You see that with Astarion, he either kills Cazador and forges his own future as a freed spawn, or ascends, and becomes someone who is just as bad and abusive as Cazador. You see it with Shadowheart in whether she chooses to live a life under Shar's cruel influence, or leave her past behind her and embrace Selúne. You see it in Gale and whether he ascends to Godhhood and is nothing like the kind and inquisitive person he once was, or leaves Mystra and his life as an archmage behind to live a life of quiet comfort where he can follow his passions and teach people like he should have been taught instead of isolating students like how mystra and elminster isolated him.

Many more examples blah blah blah

Ok, a lot of people (wrongly) try to justify and apologize for everything gortash has done by pointing at his backstory like a gotcha thing.

Gortash's parents sold him into slavery when he was very young to pay off their debts. The person who then raised and owned Gortash was none other than the ultimate slimeball, Raphael the Cambion. In this environment, Gortash grew incredibly bitter and started to worship Bane, the god of Tyranny, Dictatorship, Strife, and Subjugation. This was because he believed he was owed power over others for everything he was put through. He then becomes a slave trader, selling Karlach to Zariel is one notable example, a war profiteer and arms dealer, he keeps the families of his prisoners held hostage in an underwater prison that was rigged to explode and then subsequently flood if any of his factory staff tried to escape. His workers were also made to wear fucking bomb collars. He sews bigotry in the general public by not letting refugees in the city and controlling the media (newspapers and posters). His entire goal and religious doctrine is founded on the belief that it is his divine right to control and oppress people.

It has been so freaking long since I've found a piece of media that had an actual villain, but still kept said villain's story and motives interesting! Lots of modern media really tries to go the formulaic propaganda villain route. “Character A wants to do the right thing. Character B wants to do the right thing but does it in a BAD and DiSrUpTiVe way!! Gasp!! Villain!” I think it's supposed to endorse and enforce moral superiority of centrists, yuck. but that's a Different Tangent™.

I feel like there are a lot of fans that think that in order to like a character, they have to be morally palatable and pg or whatever. I see lots of fans that can't fathom liking a character that is genuinely evil and a bad person. So they just. Ignore the entire central point of the character.

Gortash sucks ass. If I met him in real life I would beat his ass into the dirt. But he isn't real. And fiction, especially interactive fiction, is an amazing way to explore darker themes in a safe and controlled environment. This is amazing for dozens of reasons, including exploration of catharsis.

I like Gortash because he amazing as a Villain. His story is super connected to the themes of the game. His acting is done with so much care and talent from the production team at Larian.

Fans who fawn over and woobify him. Umm. Do better. Get media literate please. No hate, love all the gortash content, especially in relation to the Dark Urge's story line. But please stop pretending he isn't as bad as he is. That's one of the main things I find compelling about him as a story device in the first place. You can like evil characters because they're fake.

Ummm conclusion…. Yeah. I like Gortash because he makes a fun story.

[lia404]

For the Yu-Gi-Oh challenge, I'll, of course, ask you the diva that is Seito Kaiba.

Noooooo I almost put in the tag #please any character but Kaiba svp but I thought... naaah, there are so many characters, people will not ask for Kaiba, right?

RIGHT?

Okay, here we go, time to answer questions about this glorious asshole.

Why I like them/why I don’t

The trope of the stupid chaotic genius with no agenda except his own is a trope that works wonders on me, and Seto Kaiba fits the bill so perfectly. I like him for that. I like his ego and his chaos and his genius, his crazy technology and the way he is here exactly at the right time to trigger stupid events.

But it also annoys me so much. SO MUCH. Listen, I used to be a Kaiba-girl (although my fave has always been, and still is, Mokuba), but I'm back from it. Dude's everywhere. I'm tired of him. I'm tired of reading about him. I'm tired of him being an asshole to everyone, tsundere sometimes but most often not. He is an edgy teenager with a LOT of money and a LOT of intellect to twist the world the way he wants it to look. I can respect that. I am just tired of him.

I think what I like most of him remains his relationship with his brother. OK, and his extraness. I admit it amuses me.

What I like about their appearance

Physical appearance? THE COAT. That stupid, over the top white coat. The fact that a 16 year-old kid thought "I need to find a way to make myself bigger" and came up with THIS. Overall, his character design is awesome too. Those blue eyes and those muscles and those neverending legs, man. I may not be fond of him, but I have eyes.

Not sure if it counts as "appearance", but he is the only character whose US voice I LOVE. Like, really. I don't care about the US dub, but Kaiba's voice in it? It's one of the cornerstones of my childhood. And it wasn't even the version we had on TV in France. I just watched a painfully downloaded very pixelated version of Pyramid of Light in English, because that was all I could find, and suddenly... that was him. That was Seto Kaiba in my ears, better than the French version. I've never come back from it. I love his VA.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?

Does not apply! But as I said above, it's the only character whose characterisation I love almost more in English than in Japanese. Maybe it counts as "I prefer dub".

OTP

This one's hard. I used to be a HUGE Silentshipper when I was a teen (that's Seto/Serenity) and then evolved to the obvious Puppyshipping (honestly, I think I leaned towards it even when I was silentshipping.) It's only "recently" (understand: around 2019) that I discovered that Prideshipping had a huge appeal. Some people have also brought Rivalshipping to my attention and I see the merit of it. I like Trustshipping too (that's Isis Ishtar/Seto Kaiba), they would kill each other. A real OTP for Kaiba though? None exactly. Seto Kaiba/his ego is well enough. (I do enjoy Priest Seth/Kisara a lot because of course I do, and if we REALLY want to enter funky territory, Priest Seth/Seto is always fun.)

But if I really really have to choose something, well. Let's go with Prideshipping; it's the safest bet IMO.

NOTP

Eeeeeehhh most of them? Seriously it's hard to say, on the one hand I'm a huge multishipper and you can sell me any ship if you explain it well. On the other hand, I don't want to subject anyone to a romance with Seto Kaiba. That said, I've discovered that Adoptshipping is a thing, Gozaburo/Seto: let's go with this, that's one hell of a NOTP.

OT3

Priest Seth / Seto Kaiba / Mahad. Think of it. You're welcome.

Seriously, I don't even think this ship has a name. It's a mix of Stoicshipping and Headdresshipping. My proposal is Denileshipping because it's by the Nile and they're all in denial, Mahad and Seth about the fact that they actually enjoy each other's company, and Seto about the fact that they are real people who are closer to Atem than he is, and not weird hocus-pocus pretend memories. And they do real magic. Kaiba, please. Can't say there's a lot of content about it but seriously: THINK OF IT. And I think if you add Atem in the equation you get a nice OT4—and a nice amount of chaos.

Favourite card they use

Okay so bear with me because I actually can't remember which decks are canon in the anime/in the manga, mostly because I have his Duel Links deck in mind. I really love Maiden with Eyes of Blue because not only it's an incredibly pretty card made to bring Kisara to mind, but it's also quite useful imo since it's a nice shortcut to bringing a BEWD on the field during the first or second turn. Pair it with White Stone of the Ancient and a good skill, and turn 3 or 4 you get your Twin-burst BEWD. And seriously, these cards are so pretty, and prove that sometimes, even Kaiba can have good taste.

(Is there really no way to resize images in a post or am I just really bad at Tumblr?)

Favourite moment they were in

Oh god the moment when Mokuba jumps in his arms at the end of Duelist Kingdom.

It's tied with the moment when he pairs up in a nice tsundere way with Yami during Battle City, and a very special mention to DSOD and THE SPACE ELEVATOR that had me in tears the first time I watched it. Physics whomst.

Least favourite moment

See, for all I dislike this idiot, I have a hard time pinpointing a specific moment when I actually wanted to tear his hair off and nail it back on his head with rusty nails and lemon juice. He is annoying and odious, but I tend to like the dynamic he brings with him. Even when he threatens to kill himself so as not to lose a duel, or when he belittles everyone in the team, or when he is so focused on Atem that he forgets EVERYONE ELSE IS LITERALLY HERE? He's annoying, but I like these moments.

Would I fuck, marry or kill them

Kill. Killkillkillkillkill. Sorry but if the alternatives are fuck and marry, I don't hesitate for a second. But also, not too sorry: I mean, it's not like he needs my help for it anyway. He apparently does it very well by himself if the general reading of the end of DSOD is accurate.

Bottom line:

It's not really obvious, but for all the annoyance Seto Kaiba awakens in me, I actually like his character. To me, he is clearly one of those who have the MOST OBVIOUS development, if not THE one. His goals are clear, he asserts his selfishness and he learns to be evil for his own profit, but not to make people suffer. Also, Kaibaland for young kids? Okay, maybe I love him a little for that. And the whole technological miracles to enhance a card game are very very refreshing in a world when technological miracles usually come from the army. Thank you, Kaiba, for destroying the laws of physics and going all quantic with your virtual stuff just for the sake of a card game you're not even really good at. Kudos. The next generations will be grateful well most of them, who didn't have said card game ruin their existence and the balance of their entire society.

Seto Kaiba is an insufferable, proud asshole, but he has every reason to be. I can forgive him. Still not enough to fuck or marry, though.

[devilagent]

💔Least favorite ship for the muse?

i think out of all the pairings with him, i'll say the most least favorite that came to mind which is Nicholas/Angelique

i got a separate ask regarding the both of them so i will save a lot of my ramblings for when i reply to that one! but i'll keep this one a bit more brief for now.

i have expressed this privately already, but i view nicholas and angeliques relationship as disastrous siblings. i am aware that nicholas being her brother is merely a ruse ( which i will also discuss more in the other reply ) - but even with that being said i enjoy viewing their dynamic from a #worst sibling ever lens

i may been influenced by not so lovely fics i have read on this pairing as well, most often ending up abusive on nicholas' part toward angelique ... which doesn't really sell the ship for me. i do understand the appeal that people have towards them in a romantic sense, as for me i view their relationship in a more nuanced way than that!

my secondary choice - which may come as a surprise to some people maybe considering how passionate i am about them - is Maggie/Nicholas

don't get me wrong, there is no doubt in my mind that nicholas would treat her like a queen and she could do no wrong in his eyes, it is already canonly established that he treats her with upmost love, tenderness and devotion. and his feelings for her are sincere, the closest he has ever been to sincerity. but even with that being said, i cannot see them together as an actual couple. for multiple reasons, none of which has to do with nicholas feelings or how he'd act in a relationship with her. nope! his devotion to maggie is unquestionable.

a very glaring reason would be the fact, simply put, that nicholas butted into maggie & joes pre-existing relationship together and sabotaged the both of them. he inflicted a lot of suffering onto joe in particular, not only to get him out of the picture but to appear like a compassionate shoulder to cry on for maggie. it is very much on purpose, because joe is a good man, and nicholas wanted to appear the same way to attempt to win over maggie.

another reason, which is probably the biggest factor of all, is that maggies heart belongs to joe. that is not to say that she doesn't have any feelings for nicholas, i do believe she does even in spite of the fact nicholas set it up that way, however her feelings for him really pale in comparison to her absolute love of joe haskall. he is truly the love of her life! and he was with her long before nicholas entered into the picture.

maybe in an AU scenario it'd be interesting, although i don't really have much interest to explore that personally. i have said this many times privately, but i think nicholas as a character would benefit greater by accepting he cannot be with her.

i do feel that he will always love her though, no matter whether he can be with her or not. it'll be difficult for him. but for the sake of progressing his character forward and allowing character growth, he needs it. his character circles around maggie whereas i think she was a good catalyst for his character vs revolving around her.

[tempestmothstorm]

Ok I have a whole section about this in the ddlc theme analysis that will take months to actually finish but the way the theme of nihilism plays directly into the game’s meta existence as a dating sim parody aughhughhhhh

Like most parody visual novels and parodies in general don’t expect you to get invested in the world it presents. Like who actually cares about the in-depth worldbuilding in the kernel sanders dating sim? Like unironically. Its setting either exists to make fun of the world or subvert it, never actually taking its base concept seriously.

And ddlc is like it too, making all the characters the embodiments of their tropes and having a dozen dumb contrivances to fill its cutesy quota. And the player base before playing the game expects it too, either joining for the hype, the horror, the lore, or the parody. Heck even I was like that, knowing all about the cool scares and meta stuff but none of the actual good writing until literally this year. Like no one told me about it the span of seven years. Apparently it wasn’t a selling point. This game has actual heart in it but from an outside perspective it was just another indie horror genre parody. Nobody came in actually expecting to get attached to the world of cute anime girl game featuring beloved anime tropes such as the tsundere and yandere.

And when Monika has her own epiphany she ends up having a pretty similar view too. A lot of things fuel her apathy and overall disillusionment with her life, but I think a big part of it is the fact that not only are the club members fictional, but they’re also badly written anime tropes. It’s like an insult to be compare to that, and yet here she is having to tolerate her existence being a poorly written joke. Nobody would actually want to care for unrealistic cliches, getting attached to badly written characters means you have bad taste allegedly. Why should she care for these tropes that are supposed to be her “friends”, when they have no meaning and can’t care about someone on a real deep or intimate level. Unlike an actual person, a cliche parody can’t have enough substance to mean something. They don’t feel real. They don’t even feel real emotions. Why would they change your life? Why should they mean something to you?

And being forced to live with npcs lab grown to appeal to the very specific fantasies of a stereotypical anime fan while they involve you in their insignificant shenanigans that mean nothing in the end where they get to enjoy the one thing you want more than anything while not being able to understand how lucky they are compared to you?

…Yeah it kinda sounds like hell. Especially for miss manga hater. And when you’re in hell looking at heaven, why wouldn’t you do anything just to get a closer look?

(Also shoutouts to AM in that one audio drama of ihnmaims specifically)

Uh. Problem with all of this. None of it is actually true with the club. They’re fully fleshed out people with depth and complexity. They are just as sentient as Monika is, and by the end of the game a lot of people cared about these characters, this world that was meant to be a parody ended up meaning the world to people. A world that is meaningless in the grand scheme of things holding value nonetheless. Because even if the world wasn’t made to be cared about, people still cared.

This was all probably intentional btw. Maybe not ddlc being labeled a viral mascot horror, but it did help in a different way. While Dan Salvato mentioned a lot about making this game as anime tropey as possible, he also wanted to tell a good story with good characters. He ended up putting his and others’ real human experience into these characters and making them real, characters who are still supposed be the embodiment of their tropes. It’s clear he love and cares about all of them, and it’s even clearer that the internet loves them just as much. Despite being cliches, they had real impact on people’s lives, teaching people new perspectives, allowing people to grow into something better, etc. By ddlc+, they ended up as characters that grew beyond their tropes and became their own people, something that was a big focus within its art and the side stories.

There’s something so genuine about these games that I never got to see as an outsider looking in, and I feel like a lot of people think about it the same way. The same way as Monika. The way that goes against the whole point of the secret ending. Even if they were a parody, the world still loved them. Even if they’re a bunch of ai in an existential science experiment, they could still love and care for each other. Even if they aren’t real. Even if nothing else is real. Even if their existence is meaningless. They can still love each other and find meaning in that.

And I think this meta narrative is just really sweet man. The game still ends with everyone in a bad situation, but that little spot of hope means a somewhat happy ending wouldn’t be antithetical to the game’s themes like other games with sad endings. Because even if the world goes against it and everything else sucks, they can still be happy, together. They deserve it. It’s ok to want them to be happy. There’s the chance for something better

Ok that’s it Ddlc is cool idc if it sounds cheesy I like it

[godza]

justin i need to hear your ag takes now

oh my god yes. i was just about to make a post. ill say a few opinions because they are all scattered.

problem one: from the founding of ag to 2014, everything was perfect. it all went downhill when the historical dolls were rebranded to beforever. all historical accuracy went out the window to cater to an even younger audience. all the playsets turned to plastic, there used to be wooden accessories! metal even! now its all cheap plastic, hunks going for hundreds of dollars. quality of items went down, as well as quality of stories. all the realism in the historical settings were wiped to have colorful smiles and happy colors. yes, some happiness is nice, but im still mad about kits redesign, wheres her flour sack dress! that was not made out of a flour sack!

problem two: girls of the year. they are running out of ideas! a second gymnast, really? im tired of the endless roulette of white girls! none of these girls stand out! they all have the same hobbies, and appeal to the same declining demographic of rich white girls. understandable, since the prices have ballooned so much people who arent rich arent buying them these days. each goty seems no different from the last. the current goty is both a gymnast and a horse girl. that is a desperate bid to tackle demographics. theyve done those a million times, the gymnast was mckenna back in 2012? and horses twice with nikki and sage. a horse does sell well, i always wanted a horse, but they really need to do something else. i honestly havent been paying much attention to recent gotys, but corinne and kavi were fantastic! the asian american representartion was great! but now the year after them, we are back to a white gymnast horse girl. im not privy to their sales, but i wish there were more diverse characters. but since the audience is mostly white rich moms who got mad at one of the characters having lesbian aunts, im not surprised they keep making them. i just want there to be more diversity!

id write more but my phone lags really really badly when using tumblr for too long. i have so many thoughts i didnt even get to truly me dolls but i dont have much to say about them honestly theyre fine

i was very obsessed with ag as a child, id spend hours looking through the catalogues at the pretty merchandise. i also followed their other endeavors like the self help and craft books. i was a fan in elementary school, 2010-2016 so that influences my opinions bc idgaf abt anything outside of that time frame

my fave dolls: kit (i have her! shes in just a coat since all my clothes are put away), julie, addy, rebecca (her collections the prettiest), nellie (shes the prettiest. also gwen but theyre identical with pretty hair), cecile and marie-grace, kanani, chrissa, mia, and LANIE. im so mad i was too young for lanie shes always been my favorite. faves are also heavily influenced by their books, lanies books are really comforting to me. i wanted to be her so bad as a kid! okay im sleepy i worked myself up lol. thank you for asking i love talking about it

[silverchangeling]

Seeing someone's take on magic is weird. I have way too many conflicting feelings on the topic. Like for one, I have such little patience for most modern mysticism. I don't get why someone would take something like astrology seriously. Aliens feels more like a weird conspiracy theory than magic. None of these use the concept of magic or even mysticism for anything important to me. They're just weirdly prescriptivist, and overall strike me as uninteresting?

I also feel like the concept of magic gets a bad rap. If I would rank the most dangerous modern cults in my head, rationalism based cults like AI-preparedness or pure FOMO grift based stuff like NFTs strike me as the most dangerous. Sure, there may be some magical thinking here. But I'd argue these things are appeal to reason, fear, desperation, morality, etc that just happened to be particularly untethered from reality. So I don't see why the concept of magic gets the sole blame for cult stuff. Especially when being too weird, independent, or whimsical will get you thrown out of these places. Or in other words, if you show up with your own brand of magic, these groups are unlikely to accept you.

I do believe that magic and magical thinking has a good place in understanding our place in the world. Tarot can be used for self-reflection. Things like meditation or other classically spiritual rituals can be calming. Magic can be an excuse for whimsy- show appreciation for some fictional character you like, celebrate the passing of the seasons, make shrines to concepts you like. Why merely accept society's ideals and values wholesale? Why tie yourself to a completely pre-packaged brand of spirituality? With a little magic, you can add your own ideals, world-views, and values to your life.

That said, I don't feel obligated to really sell my idea of magic to other people. I understand that- even if you kind of see magic as something you invent yourself for your own life views- people can take this stuff too far. I'd even argue that people already use and abuse this kind of magic. Although they don't call it magic, they call it charisma or something else.

[protagonistheavy]

Not that I ever expected greatness but the FNAF movie sucked on multiple levels. Even if you try to squint and give some generosity to the production, i feel like the direction itself is just flawed to its base.

Most importantly I feel like all the charm and appeal of FNAF is entirely lost here. The movie simple isnt scary at ANY point and leans more as a suspense-comedy than anything else. There's no horror of basically any magnitude. The restaurant quickly loses any sense of creepiness as we get so accustomed with the limited set and rarely get to see anything that made the original restaurant in FNAF so unsettling; the animatronics look way too good and function way more like a regular robots to actually scare anyone, way too much emotion from them -- on top of the fact that we get very familiar with them as characters. They don't use compelling angles enough to sell the creepy-animatronic factor, and we dont see them in regular action to ever get that feeling of "oh god, these corpse robots are interacting with people."

There's basically no gore except cuts, only one James Bond-style death trap, and a VERY campy silhouette death. There is so much potential in this factor, all the gears and machinery that could be used to create horrible situations... but none of that is properly utilized. Violent engagements with the animatronics are just a matter of a guy in a suit pushing other people around. The most violence you get is the fucking cupcake toy, which is just a straight up ghoulie I guess, it's the only competent threat in the movie and is way overused.

But then on top of all this........... get this, there really isn't enough jumpscares in this movie. Which is so fucked up! It's normally too easy for movies to include too many jumpscares... but here, there's such a disappointing lack of them. Jumpscares is so much what FNAF is, if any movie was gonna have too many jumpscares and get away with it, this is the one!! And yet we only get three in the entire movie, including a mid-credits scene, and they're ALL THE SAME GAG. Ugh! The animatronics are supposed to be surprising and hard to see, not henchmen for a Batman villain.

And then the comedy, of which there is too much of, just doesnt normally hit. I giggled more at just the fact that I was watching a FNAF movie than I did at any intentional gag. And this sucks so much too because humor is also a key part to the FNAF feeling, how so many times it can surprise you with such a good joke, or refresh you after a scare by providing something funny in between. That just isnt present here, you just get regular old Hollywood humor, at best it's a "so bad its funny" kind of humor.

Finally, the movie tries too hard to cram in every good idea FNAF ever had into one plotline, and the result is a plotline that makes no sense -- not with the FNAF lore, and not even with its own self. You will be left with so many dumb questions that have no good answers, and even more if youre a fan of the series. Characters are completely different from their inspirations, their motivations are even more whack as hell. It's like the director read a summary of deep FNAF lore and just figured shoving every idea into one plot would be spooky and cover all their bases, but it just makes a jumbled mess of a plot with characters you never give a shit about, in a world that makes little sense and does little to draw you in.

Funny enough, I happened to watch Willy's Wonderland in the background at a party the night before, and even though I wasnt even watching it completely, I have to admit that movie just seemed more compelling than FNAF. It had a protagonist I wanted to learn about, mysteries that keep you wondering, humor that was ridiculous enough to make me laugh more sincerely, and animatronics that frankly had a spookier appeal to them, in a premise that was much more engaging. In some ways, Willy's is even truer to the spirit of FNAF, albeit with Nic Cage action sequences; there's at least a better attempt at conveying a complete story, and it does more to create spooks and frights with the setting. I really loved in Willy's the scenes where Nic Cage is cleaning the place, I love the attention to detail -- which gets you engrossed with the setting, makes you feel like youre there, convinces you it was indeed a happy place once before becoming tarnished. Im definitely thinking waaay more of Willy's than I am of FNAF lol.

[youngpettyqueen]

I need to know how badly your dad sold mash to you that it took you almost an entire decade to agree to watch it

ok so to be fair to my dad it wasn't actually bad and would've worked on most other people but it was a very bad way to sell it to me specifically

my dad told me two things about MASH when he started trying to convince me to watch it. one was that it was a war sitcom. second was that it was the greatest show ever made. he started doing this, unfortunately, when our tastes in media started greatly differing. up until my mid-teens my dad and I had very very similar tastes in media, and agreed on like. everything. and we still have very similar tastes! but we tend to disagree on extremes. example of this is my dad adores the MCU and I would gladly see it burnt to the ground

I also didnt like sitcoms. at this point I had tried to watch Friends, another show that came highly recommended from him (and my mom, she's a huge Friends fan) and I really just did not get the hype. the sitcom formula wasn't doing it for me- even when I was into Brooklyn 99 for a while, I found the sitcom formula to be a drawback. I also caught a bunch of episodes of The Office while my mom watched it, and I couldnt fucking stand it. so I was seeing all these big popular sitcoms that literally everybody was hyping up, I was not impressed by them, and here was my dad trying to sell me on a sitcom. from the 70s. about a war. absolutely none of that sounded appealing to me

hindsight being 20/20, my issue is less with the sitcom formula and much more with the quality of the characters. Friends, in my opinion, does not have strong characters. neither does The Office from what I remember, though I'll add that I havent seen the entire series (I have since seen all of Friends, which was not my choice, but I have seen it) and so cannot make a fair judgement of it. B99 had some stronger characters, but I dropped the show all the same for several other reasons. so, basically, it took so long for me to agree to watch MASH because I was a sitcom hater, and my tastes were starting to differ from my dads, and I felt like he was way overhyping the show because the premise he was giving me wasn't at all interesting to me

now, in case anybody's curious, he did change his tune with it a bit last year, hence why I agreed to watch it. not to be dramatic but 2022 was probably the worst year of my life. my entire life blew up and I was in some of the worst depression I'd ever been in, I spent pretty much the entire year miserable and lost and sick. throughout this time, we had this channel that played reruns of Three's Company, a show I had not seen but one he had hyped a lot, and it was something that would make me laugh without fail. my dad realized he had an opportunity, so, come October, he finally decided to try convincing me again. except this time, instead of insisting it was the best show ever made, all he said was "c'mon, it'll make you laugh again"

and it did

[dongzhou3kingdoms]

Part 2. Split from part 1 due to length, covering comment below line and their extra post. This should be shorter then part 1

The initial thread

@hungryhydra69-blog

The Comments

Essentially one but seemingly split into two, possibly a tumbr thing?

"If you consider yourself an intellectual,"

I must admit, being able to read "Wu surrendered to Jin" and other such things, being able to interpret it as Jin rather Wu saw Jin's surrender was not something I considered an intellectual achievement before. Some seem to be trying to make it so

"then how I write my paragraphs should be of no concern to you. Basically, you are dodging the point. I saw the thread, both the Twitter thread and the Reddit thread. You and your gang assumed he was talking about the novel and history when he was obviously talking about the game. You chose to be a toxic Twitter bot and instigate a harassment campaign just because someone thought the game's version of Cao Cao was cool."

"Also, to say my paragraphs creates long wall of text is very HYPOCRITICAL of you, considering that you do the exact same thing even with short paragraphs. Your way of writing is equally as annoying as mine in this regard. In other words, you have no right to talk."

So when, in your life, you fall over and someone offers a hand, do you attack them for hypocrisy, SJW and declare they have no right to do so? Or do you say thanks?

My suspicion would be the second becuase most people realize the first would make them look like someone having a hissy fit and being an idiot.

I don't know why you would think that same wouldn't apply to online. Your making yourself look ridiculous

Why is it a concern when someone posts a 484 word post without paragraphs? Because it is unkind to readers, doesn't help you get your point across clearly and it isn't how things are done becuase it is considered inconsiderate to others.

Now I don't know if your new to tumblr (no likes or posts before) but your certainly unused to posting. Which is fine and everybody new to something is likely to need a hand at some point. I offered it. You threw a hissy fit

Now do I post long stuff? Sure. I am not good at being concise. I would not consider myself a skilled writer. Yet even I know the need for paragraphs.

Now as for this bit

You and your gang assumed he was talking about the novel and history when he was obviously talking about the game. You chose to be a toxic Twitter bot and instigate a harassment campaign just because someone thought the game's version of Cao Cao was cool." Apparently the man who says "In fairness, the game Cao Cao is a character I very much enjoy and DW are very good at tapping into possibly existing perceptions and with Cao Cao sell a tale that appeals. The man who does not care about reputation, the man who values talent, the calm, dynamic leader." " is anti-people liking Cao Cao...

Next up, when game says Jin, what they mean is Wei apparently. When they say you can ride a horse, what they mean is you can ride a cow that will jump over the moon

You keep saying a launched a harassment camapign but whereas I provide links to show what I say and so people can judge, you provide no links of me urging people to harass the person. Almost as if your in a conspiracy theory that ignores the more likely reasons things happened the way they did

Post 2

To be found here

His very first line was “Dynasty Warriors, incidentally, has a very relevant message to our modern society“. Meanwhile, your response was just “None of those. Literally none of those factions won”- you assumed he was talking about history/novel when in he was quite clearly talking about the GAME.

It was. Which is why the answer was a game one. As the game series itself says, the Sima's won. Jin won. Wei gets defeated in battle stages. Sima Zhao calls for Cao Wei to fall.

Just becuase the game doesn't tell you what you want to hear, doesn't mean others who take on what the games says (even if they have critiques) are thus talking history when they use what the game does and says

Even with that in mind, even history shows that Wei didn’t become Jin until after the fall of Shu. Meaning: Wei effectively won, game or otherwise.

The game literally tells you Jin won. Even "going into the history", that is a stance I can't say I have ever seen a historian take.

Wei "won"? Despite not have controls of levers of power for decades, being dethroned before the land was united, being regicided, their policies changed from the Cao beliefs to take the Sima stances even before Cao Huan's abdication, the long slow Sima ploy (that Wei loyalists publicly flagged in 249), the deaths, arrests, the divorces?

To say Wei won is to ignore reality and a slap in the device of both Cao and Sima loyalists who took risks, even giving up their lives, careers, freedom and marriages for their causes. Which were not one and the same.

The game, for understandable reasons, doesn't go into that as I have said in the twitter threads. But even the games don't say Wei won

Regardless, history is irrelevant as they are all effectively biased depending on the speaker.

This is a bit of a cowards action. Bring up a (bad) history claim then claim it doesn't count before your called on it.

Show, humans are biased and so history is biased. That bias is quite useful in understanding the past

You clearly have a bias against Cao Cao and in favor of Liu Bei,

That is... an opinion

that’s your opinion

No, it is what you think, or even wish, my opinion to be becuase I dared say game is saying what the game says. Also that a source, that even the writer says is wrong, is problematic.

You don't actually know my opinion.

so I’ll respect yours but instigate harassment just because they think differently is bad no matter what.

Such a thing would indeed be bad. As I have not done so, it is a bit weird to bring it up.

No evidence I have instigated harassment has been provided (and one of them I am accused of harassing: Corrupter, I don't think has talked to anybody else from the community on twitter?). So far the harassment is simply claims from you, with no evidence, and corrupter, whose inaccuracy has been shown a few times, and also provided no evidence.

Be a decent human being, don’t be like your pervert of a namesake and be reasonable for once in your life!

Nice one on the use of the tyrant. My hat off to you on that one

But given you don't even know my actual opinions, your advice has no meaning. Maybe you can persuade someone worthy of respect to rebuke me? Someone who actually knows me?

As for being a decent person, have you seen corrupter's profile (and twitter handle) while complaining about don't be a pervert? Have you seen swordmaster's behaviour as listed at the end of part 1? Yet you say nothing about that.

[blues-valentine]

I am not surprised the Gossip Girl Reboot got cancelled because it was boring and I couldn’t finish season 1. I think the creators thought having that property would be enough for the show to be successful and focused all of their energy on those outfits and soundtracks but did nothing for the show to actually work. My opinion on why the reboot failed to impact audiences that no one asked for:

It’s not like the original GG was a writing masterpiece but it came out at the right time. In 2007, while there were a lot of successful shows, a lot of the teen shows like The OC, One Tree Hill, Gilmore Girls etc were tame in comparation to the format GG was presenting. Aside from the UK (Skins), it was unusual for American TV to exploit sex and drugs on teens the way Gossip Girl did. They turned the negative reviews into promotional banners. That was A+ marketing. They wanted to be problematic. That was their selling point. So in theory, the idea of a group of wealthy teens from NYC doing all sort of awful stuff was appealing. The show wasn’t trying to be apologetic. Yeah, some issues were too much not just Chuck but so many other things but the point stands with the show not wanting to fix it. This with a really good fashion sense — GG really pushed the boundaries on fashion during late 2000’s. It was meant to be a hit ahead of its time. The problem with the reboot is that is not new or original. Euphoria already exists. Teens doing alcohol and sleeping around has been in media for a while and people crave something new. If they wanted to stand out they need so much more than just a known intellectual property but most importantly create characters with personality and sadly, that wasn’t the case.

The characters for the reboot lack distinctive personalities and it was difficult to buy why they were even friends. Like, the group on the OG worked because there was an established dynamic but every character in the new one felt like a parody. The initial conflict was them being mad Julien had a sister. For the OG, the initial conflict worked because at first Serena presented herself as a mystery �� as the IT girl that ran away and no one knew why. That increased her mysterious persona and her popularity. She ran away because she slept with Nate (Blair’s boyfriend) and while she was away Blair managed to establish herself as the IT girl. That made the rivalry between Blair and Serena more believable and so Serena's dynamic with Nate. Blair had reasons to feel insecure over Serena because she had the influence and wealth to out power her. They tried to recreate that with Zoya and Julien but failed miserably.

I think every character in the OG group had a very established dynamic and propose. Serena was the mysterious girl that created the rivalry with Blair and also presented herself as a bridge outside of the Upper East Side because of her relationship with Dan. Blair was the "mean girl" — the one ready to create chaos if she feels like she is being displaced from her status. Julien never gave me that energy. Neither did Audrey. None of them were able to go the lengths Blair would go for a little drama. The closest thing to Blair they had was Monet and they didn’t give her enough to shine but that’s also the thing. Teen media keeps trying to recreate their very own version of Blair Waldorf but fails everytime. Every teen show after GG now has their sophisticated "mean girl" that is able to quote books and movies (aka Veronica Lodge or Cheryl Blossom) and it fails every single time. Blair worked because of what Leighton Meester brought to the table but also because Blair was actually really mean and unapologetic about it. She wasn't meant to be taken as a parody with some mean one liners. Her only characteristic wasn’t just being mean, it had realistic layers. And even when I feel she became a bit of a parody the later seasons because the show not longer needed her to be mean, I think she remained charming mostly because of Meester.

Serena worked on early seasons then she became unnecessary and boring. Her character only worked because of Blake Lively's charisma which I feel a lot of the new ones lacked. Then there was Nate. He was like, just there. He wasn’t that problematic until that season they made him date a minor for zero reason. I would assume GGRBs version of Nate was Obie (?) and that was such a boring character. Now, Dan was a good character until they needed to use him as a plot twist because they didn't know who GG was and needed a finale. Dan was the one that was inside the elite but hated it and brought interesting points about their privilege and had not problem in checking them once in a while because he was like the impartial one. Again, they tried to make Zoya the one that wasn’t in their circle but her character was just boring, the actress did good with the material.

And Chuck, he was introduced as a rapist from the get go and didn’t deserve to get as far as it got or even a "redemption". Blair deserved better and I will never go down with the Chuck and Blair train. Blair coming back to him on season 6 after learning her own value and worth outside of Chuck's shadow and toxicity only to make her regret it was character assassination. Chuck should’ve died on Season 4. Now, here's the thing. It was clear Max was supposed to be their unproblematic version of Chuck and it's a shame because Thomas Doherty was giving THE perfomance. I wish him luck in his career. Also, Savannah Smith as Monet did good when given good dialogue and stuff to deliver.

Jenny was an interesting character. It gave the show the outside drama it needed. Georgina was an amazing villain. Even Rufus and Lily served. GGRB had potential but didn't give anything interesting. OG GG embraced being problematic and the reboot tried too hard to be "woke". There's nothing woke about a group of wealthy kids (and not just any money but generational wealth for some of them) that don't need to worry about paying the bills. Maybe if they didn't take themselves so seriously it would've worked a lot better. They should've allowed Monet to be the mean girl she was clearly destined to be. Luna also deserved her own plot not just a sidekick.

Lastly, their biggest problem: GG being the teachers. The teachers story line made me cringe. It was so weird and unrealistic. The thing about GG is that it could be anyone. It was the anonymity that made it fun. GGRB fumble by giving GG a face and an underwhelming one too. In conclusion, while I loved the diversity of the new cast, none of them had the charisma on screen except for one or two on occasions and charisma is what carried the original series until a season 6.

[bythenineshards]

Omg what was up with that Feysand stan on ur post????? ITS JUST A THEORY. (Not to mention a MUCH better pairing) and lol if Feysand was always endgame why in the fck does Rhysie SA Feyre??? Did Sjm do that to build sexual tension (cause Feyre says in Acomaf she had "wanted him even then") AND THAT'S INFINITELY WORSE!!

Lmao they tried to fire up on one of my posts too and I immediately blocked them. Seen them one too many times fighting about posts that's none of their business. Like life is so empty u need to fight with strangers on the internet to feel something. I am literally so mad not them saying Tamlin Apologists deserve to be bullied?!?!? For liking a fictional character????!!

I took personal offence to that

Ha! See! I told you I would respond today. I totally didn't get sucked into Skyrim and my writing and nearly forgot.

Idk what their problem was. They blocked me like the first week I was on here so I didn't think much of them. I knew about them because there would be discourse on posts and an invisible opponent. So I guess they unblocked me to stir shit and idk, get more traffic to their blog? They rebranded with a name that is clearly meant to draw in Antis of Feysand. I think they're like 15 and so I guess they're in their "I'm edgy look at me phase" where they want to pick fights because they think they're always right and special. I'm so glad I didn't grow up with my cringe behavior on the internet.This is why we don't sell erotica or "dark romance" to children. They can't handle speculation or discussions. I bet they cry over Marvel's What If... series because it's not Canon. Like... the post that had them all fired up was speculation about something we have receipts for. And a lot of people liked the idea. All they do is make the books look worse.

And the way they talk about Feyre vs. Nesta is like they think they're written by two different people. This isn't Harry Potter (fuck you Rowling) vs. Twilight (fuck you Meyers). I don't think Feyre gets a free pass to transform into a person of another race just cuz Nesta and Gwyn modelled their stuff after the Valkyries. I think both are bad and icky because the same author wrote both and clearly doesn't see how offensive that could be. I do, however, think that there's a difference between what Feyre did and the Blood Rite. Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie were kidnapped and forced into the Blood Rite. They didn't actually choose to.

Side note though: Valkyries are from Norse mythology. It does chap me that she couldn't use a mythology or create something new for her Illyrians to flesh out their culture. She just used a primarily white culture for her non-white character's culture.

Sorry to rant about that. It just irked me.

I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would ship Feysand the way it's written in Canon. I can with 100% confidence say I've never written a romance that involved anyone SAing anyone. Hell, I don't feature SA at all really. I don't want it in my fantasy. I want people to find peace and love in my books. Men have written enough SA in fantasy, it doesn't need any from me.

But like... if you look at their posts, the reason I don't like Feyre is because I wanted "my fav" to end up with Rhys. They can't fathom that I don't like Rhys at all. I don't like any of her men. They don't appeal to me at all. The only one I might’ve had any inkling of interest in is Kallias but I'm sure if we spent more than a handful of pages with him, I'd hate him too. I think she'd eventually change all of them regardless of appearance to something shallow and toxic.The Bat Boys specifically are boring to me. Their designs suck, their personalities suck and the way they treat their women sucks. Nothing I see in her books is what I would classify as love. Her books aren't about love. They're about sex with hot dudes. But you know what? Other books do romance, love and even just sex better.

I'm glad you blocked them. Just know, they still spy on us.

Thank you for your ask. I hope you're doing well.

[yali-the-sloth]

I thought I had nothing of substance to add to this post. However, after internally seething about it for the whole day, I actually have stuff to say.

I take great offense at the stance some people in the fandom take on how ‘BioWare delivered what the fans were asking for all along’. You’ll have to thrust my face into it directly because after spending nearly 50 hours in the game I see none of the ‘narrative’ which is supposed to drive me through it. This game is a hollow husk with none of the substance of the previous entries, a mediocre candy wrapped up in a really pretty cover.

And the worst part? The writing team is not the victim here, they are complicit! They knew what the approach to the writing will be from the get-go - see Gaider’s tweets on why he left. What we got with the veilguard’s writing now in 2024? Exactly the reason he left back in 2016.

8 years, 2 reboots and nothing’s changed. And these people sat through it all and then had the gall to try to actively lie when promoting the game in order to try and appeal to the older fans. Nothing about this game is about the narrative, the quests feel like there were stripped out of like 3/4 of the lines that were initially written for them, characters are one dimensional and are never ever allowed to have any sort of strong opinions and reactions, the world, writing wise, never reacts to anything that is happening on the screen. Don’t even get me started on how they treated the foundation left by the previous games.

And why should I be happy about receiving the single player game? Duh, it should have been like that from the very beginning! The one and only reason we got it is because EA saw that it’s gonna be more profitable than the life service shit they wanted initially! It was a purely business decision on their part and I don’t see why I should be thankful to the team for it.

The writers left on the team knew what it would be like, accepted it and then tried to sell it as their best work possible. Moreover, they already got paid, nothing I can say on social media will ever change that. And I already paid 60$ for this game so I’m not gonna pretend I got my money’s worth. They can just ignore all the criticism like they’ve always done, it’s none skin off their backs.

We’re not in kindergarten, they do not get a golden star for ‘trying’.

Reminder to be kind to the writers/devs as they’re beholden to a much larger company that makes the big choices as far as what they do with the final product. Don’t forget, we almost got live-service online multiplayer DAV. They remade it from scratch, YEARS into the production just to give us what we actually wanted, a single player narrative-driven game.