#gimme that conflict

[lenichque]

when i’m reading a cherik fic and erik doesn't act like an unstable toxic asshole there

[ohnomalora]

Excuse me GMMTV, where is this version??

[mareastrorum]

I’ve been working off and on with a longer post about villains and their roles in a story, but in light of the latest episode, one part seems especially relevant:

Villains and antagonists are different roles in a narrative. Some characters overlap, but they aren’t the same thing. A villain represents the wrong conclusion of something; they are the narrative’s spotlight on a destructive, immoral, or self-defeating way of handling a perceived problem. They aren’t necessarily opponents. In comparison, an antagonist is an obstacle for protagonists, whether they are right or wrong. If the story doesn’t dig into those issues, then that character is likely just an antagonist and shouldn’t be expected to carry much narrative weight. In narratives like an improv D&D actual play show, there’s a Schrodinger’s villain aspect going on here because these roles depend on the choices of multiple participants, so we can’t really judge except in hindsight.

That said, Vox Machina wasn’t going to fight against villains in episodes 113 and 114 because their story within the C3 narrative didn’t need a villain. VM wasn’t here for some overarching narrative conclusion to occur during their appearance. They were here to save Vax, break the bridge, and help prevent the end of the world. C3 isn’t their story; this side story is like the EXU breakaways. Every VM antagonist was someone we hadn’t really seen before and didn’t know much of anything about because making them face villains wouldn’t have made sense. They’re not here to face the narrative questions of C3.

I’ve had the impression that the story purpose to include VM and the MN is that they will be contrasts for the motivations and decisions that Bell’s Hells are going to make for the finale. However, because that is my understanding of their purpose, I don’t expect either of those teams to face any villains. They’re going to face antagonists. Maybe there will be some minor comparisons between the Weave Mind and Cognouza or the Cerberus Assembly, but I don’t anticipate those will be more than passing statements. It likely won’t be the focus of the interaction and the players probably won’t dig deep on it. The parties simply don’t have a reason to care why their opponents are doing this, there isn’t any motivation for them to be invested in correcting any wrong conclusions, and the players probably have character stuff they’d rather focus on.

Then, at the end, we’re going to see Bell’s Hells deal with the story’s actual villains: Ludinus Da’leth, Liliana Temult, and the other exaltants of the Ruby Vanguard. From Matt’s perspective as the DM, the villains are on the wrong path. Does Bell’s Hells agree? What are they going to do about it? Are they going to be heroic like VM, sacrificing their own wants and desires for a greater good, even if they take small moments for themselves? Or are they more like MN, who are like, fuck, no one else is gonna do this, and we don’t want the world to end, and apparently we’re experts on psychic bullshit, so we’re here killing some jackass I guess? Or something else?

Not every conflict within a story needs a villain. Sometimes it’s just a bunch of mean assholes so that the drama can focus on the protagonists and their hangups.

[seaglassmelody]

Here’s a Veilguard critique:

What the fuck was up with the Crows plotline lmao

I love Teia and Viago, they’re very fun characters. And I think Jacobus is a very interesting character who changes throughout the game in the background, and reacts to Rook differently depending on if you save Minrathous or Treviso.

But man I am chewing the walls in frustration at the just. Idiot Ball Plot of it all. Ivenci is so obviously the villain from the second you meet them. Teia and Viago sit around going “Gee who could have sold out the entire city!” Like guys come on. Really.

And I will forever be upset that they never did anything interesting with the underlying theme of elected government versus vigilante Crows. Like actually Ivenci was right! It’s BAD that the Crows rule Antiva! But they never actually did anything except show up and rant and then turn into a “muahahaha” bad guy (which then connects to the poor use of the Antaam in the game. And also Daathrata, who was really fucking cool and could have done so much more)

Like how good are the Crows at ruling Antiva if Zara Renata had a whole blood-based bath house in an abandoned chantry building and nobody noticed?

Between no one figuring out that Illario betrayed Lucanis and Teia and Viago not seeing Ivenci for the villain they are like…the Crows come off as kind of silly and incompetent.

It’s a bummer!

[billycorn]

Plenty of people talk about PMD Heroes who can't use their powers, but what about those who can't STOP their powers?

Picture, a Riolu hero who can't control their aura sensing so they're just constantly bombarded by people's feelings, overwhelmed by all the auras. So, they become a hermit, avoiding crowds and living a peaceful life, and if they ever get really overstimulated Partner just knocks them out and drags them somewhere quiet (more than once, Partner has been stopped by the police for this suspicious behaviour)

Eventually, Riolu learns to shut-off their aura-reading, and refuses to use it again. It's too personal, and they're too scared about going back to being a walking receiver for people's emotions. Until, Partner helps them come to the warming realisation that this power is not a bad thing, it can be used to help so many people.

[rapidhighway]

K I've been thinking about this for like a week now. Ignoring any immortal headcanons if you have them. Knuckles knows he's not going to be able to guard the Master Emerald forever and that probably troubles him, but, if he was dying do you think he'd ask Sonic to guard it? He's the person with a unique connection to Chaos and the Chaos Emeralds and he's basically chosen one the most specialest guy, and one of the few people Knuckles could trust with that duty.

Of course I think Sonic would say no. I think he'd never be able to do that and he wouldn't want to.

[zhoras-bitch]

I really like Vellora, I just wish her route had some ✨ spice ✨, you know? Some ✨ drama ✨. Their interactions with Tiss are a lot of fun, but idk, can they also be rivals? Or fake dating? Maybe there can be only one bed?

[mushysquashythingamajig]

Yo, yo Hen what do you mean you don't want the captain position??

Hen is literally THE best person equipped to lead the 118. There was a reason she was the interim captain, Bobby's second-in-charge. There's a reason she and Sal were the de facto leaders of the old 118.

Although, this is her choice, I still feel like it's out of blame that she couldn't save Bobby. The next episode is a Hen episode.

[sofibeth]

The show was soo real for this line

[shokuto]

Most interesting depiction of their relationship in four years

The Spider-Man Love Unlimited comics are so good wtf

[silversyn115]

HII hi hi hi hi!!

So em, idk how many asks you get but I have one-

I notice your AU revolves a lot around the OCs included in it, and their relationships with the other canon characters, and I was reading one of your older posts about Felony's relationship with each of the turtles and was wondering if you could maybe elaborate a bit on her relationship with Raph?

I'm just curious and I love lore so you know ehehensnsjsjsnsndnamak

I LOVE your art style btw, one of the most unique ones I've come across :>

Yeah, let's make this my first post in months after disappearing to deal with some health issues and NOT address that front at all!!!

First off, THANK YOU FOR ASKING as I actually don't get very many asks and I LOVE TELLING PEOPEL ABOUT THE LORE FOR MY AU-

And, just for you my friend, I have made an artpiece that pretty much encapsulates Felony and Raph's relationship in a nutshell (I had a lot of free time lol):

As mentioned previously, Felony is actually kind of fearful of Raph, mostly because he is bigger and stronger than her, and it actually ties in a bit to Felony's upbringing; in another post I made a joke about Felony spending time in solitary confinement. And uhh, that...wasn't entirely a joke, because Felony DID spend most of her childhood in prison and solitary confinement. When she was with general population, she was bullied and taken advantage of by the other prisoners, and since the neglectful guards that watched over the Hidden City Prison wouldn't do anything about it, Felony, at the age of 13, would start working out vigorously and teach herself in the ways of vicious hand-to-hand combat - and nearly killed her tormenter the next time they tried to pick on her.

Felony's mentality essentially is that the only way to avoid being beat up every day is to be the strongest, most vicious person around, and in prison, she was just that (and very much still is, I mean, the girl can dead-lift over twice her own weight) but OUTSIDE of prison, living with the Mad Dogs, its different. She instantly assesses and pins Raph as the strongest of the Hamato household for his strength (plus the mystic powers don't help) and recognizes that even utilizing her other skills, like her speed or agility, she realistically wouldn't be able to beat Raph in hand-to-hand combat. Felony is basically waiting for Raph to challenge her to a fight for the title of strongest and therefore, untouchable by anyone, and the idea of losing and falling back to where she was when she was 13 and relentlessly bullied is unbearable to her.

But I also honestly think that the idea of facing Raph in combat alone, without the looming thought of falling back to her previous position, is terrifying to Felony because, like I said before, Felony KNOWS Raph doesn't trust her, and can and will break her in two if she ever dared to hurt any of his brothers. The last thing Felony wants at this point is to provoke him further and push him far enough to fight her because Felony knows she won't win, and the concept of "pulling your punches" and NOT killing people in a fight like that, critically, doesn't resonate with her because she essentially grew up watching other people tear each other to shreds in prison. My girl may have a few screws loose, but she still has a sense of self-preservation!

On Raphs part, he has good reason not to trust Felony; its not just that she's emotionally unstable, always acting out in violent fits of rage and CONSTANTLY putting herself and other members of the team in danger, but really her own fear of Raph that makes him suspicious; I mean, why would she be scared of him if she has nothing to hide, if she's not doing anything wrong? Why would she be scared of him if she DOESN'T have malicious intent and thinks Raph is conceivably the only one that could stop her? It doesn't add up to him, thus, he tries to keep a close eye on her; which is a bit hard because Felony, of course, is terrified of Raph and tries to avoid him.

So basically, to sum it up, the two spend the first part of the story walking on eggshells around each other because they're both wary of one another - for reasons that don't really have full merit. Felony doesn't know Raph well enough to know that he isn't going to beat the tar out of her to prove he's the strongest or just because she does something out of line, and Raph doesn't know Felony well enough to know that she truly has no mal-intent, and the only reason she asked to stay in their household is because she escaped prison with Leo on a whim and has absolutely nowhere else to go.

WHEW, THAT WAS A LOT-

I hope that answers your questions though. And I also just realized that this reveals a good amount about the first part of the story, so WONDERFUL, THERE YA GO, YOU HAVE SOME SPOILERS MIXED IN TO GO WITH ALL OF THAT YAAAYYY

I do have some more drawings I could post later, AAAND the first part of the comic is NEARING COMPLETION AFTER MONTHS AND MONTHS WHICH IS EXCITING, so be sure to stay tuned for that!

[eleanor-bradstreet]

Could you imagine if Anthony fires Sophie thinking he is saving his family from scandal?

Imagine the carnage that would cause?

Oh for sure! I really REALLY want the show to go in this direction. I want some dark!Anthony conflicting with lovestruck Ben. Such juicy material for the actors and stakes for the story! 🤞🤞

[eurodyne-d]

.

[chaunceydollz]

Base game update seems 100% more appealing than the new pack itself

[bloodpen-to-paper]

If he gets Fred

If he gets fucking Fred

[mummer]

moffatbros…… is it over