#have to cover all my bases

[nodosauriday]

Portrait of two normal men with their normal dog circa 1880.

[invinciblerodent]

Ngl, some people's "I wasn't allowed to be an irredeemably evil shitbird, ergo Veilguard is not an RPG" argument is extra funny to me, because I don't actually think there is a conceivable narrative in which, if your Rook did something as objectively amoral as selling people into slavery, they wouldn't wake up the next morning floating untethered in the raw Fade with Neve's bootprint on their ass, and the Lighthouse no more than a distant blip on the edge of their vision.

Like there is a lot to get into here that I just don't have the time or the spoons to go through, but I'd argue that one of the biggest strengths of Veilguard's writing is that the main cast are all very well-defined characters with their own sets of morals, ethics, and goals, and they collectively have more than enough of a backbone that if Rook did something that proved them incapable of leading the team to the story's climax and/or proved them to be of no benefit to them, they wouldn't fail their quest: they would just swiftly and efficiently get rid of Rook.

[mitwodlemi]

(Spoilers for seasons 1-2 of TMA) HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!

I got hyperfixated on The Magnus Archives back in November and now I can finally post some fanart for it! Here's my season 1 and 2 dump. I have much more stuff for the later seasons, which I will be posting soon hopefully.

Enjoy my drawings of the Eye's special little boy!!!!!

[lunacias]

(Silence. CARPENTER tries to rally HAYWARD's spirits. She's afraid she's going to lose him.)

"All three of us - we can all go on living, Hayward. Just like you said."

[fitzyames]

petition to replace his imdb sizzle reel with this pls

[fantasykiri5]

It’s time for everybody’s favorite lead bass player, archdevil, and high school dropout, FIGUEROTH “FIG” FAETH!!!!

[vieoeil-riae]

masochistic steb you say?

indeeeeed you did 🥴🥴

because what I'm thinking is like, steb is in a position of authority (with being a cop and all) so I like to think that he's kinda into putting his trust in you to hurt him, but never too much

like enough for you to pinch the tips of his ears and roll them between your fingers just to get off on watching him jerk and shiver at the feeling, the little thrill of pain and pleasure firing mixed signals, but also wholly trusting how much you think he can handle

I don't think he's entirely submissive per say, since I totally believe he's the type to repress his desires to the point he's just shaking with need inside, so he'd be kinda desperate yk??? so he'd be guiding your hand to where he needs you, groaning when you scratch down his back, offering you his neck and shoulders to bite hard at 😋

he just wants to really feel you there! he'd be less of a fan of hurting you though. a medic and caring partner, he'd hate to draw blood or leave too big of a bruise but you could convince him to bite you back hard or deliciously stretch your limits

but but but! I think, somewhere deep DEEP in the back of his mind he'd have much more extreme fantasies, ones that he'd only tell you if he absolutely trusted you e.g gill play!

after the battle for piltover, he'd be less keen on actually doing them imo 😭😭😭 war does that to a guy, but potentially in the future he'd guide your hands to his neck or gills 😊

[ozy-short-for-ozone-layer]

Did anyone else get the impression from the season three finale of TUA that the new place they were transported was going to be very cyberpunk and fascist/dictatorial place with the father as the dictator and then disappointed when season four was nothing like that? In fact it was kinda the opposite and had a very home-y, small town aesthetic the entire season, nothing like the first impression we got in s3

[puppppppppy]

personal character design headcanons + brainrot

Note: the re-bound!au does NOT belong to me, it belongs to @chipper-smol I’m just not normal about it lol

[phantom-phrases]

Danny Fenton just wants someone to be proud of him.

Not in the obsessed way Vlad is.

Not in the way his parents are proud of his ghost hunting (which is a double bladed sword, because it's stranding him further and further from them and his school work.)

Not in the way people are proud to be 'weird' or 'outstanding', either.

Jazz is proud of him for continuing to be himself, but she is also a child - she shouldn't have to be the guardian, not so soon.

Clockwork is proud - but he can't vocalize as much too far, or the timeline may shift from the reaction.

Danny Fenton just wants someone to say they're proud of him, at his very core, no matter what or who he is.

[cindersnows]

guys. i have a theory

(june design from this panel v)

[kenzan-brainrot-mp4]

talk more about the white whale/whale symbolism in general whatever thoughts you have on the whale stuff i want to hear it 👂

GRAHHHHH YEAH (This one got. Long (again lol) So be prepared (series-wide spoilers but I feel like that's a given atp))

First of all I just wanna say that I love how rgg drags the player along around the final chapter title. With how upfront the other chapter titles are in what they're referring to, you might end up wondering why they chose White Whale for the final chapter title once you see the title card (or at least I did). Of course, this could just be referring to the treasure that everyone's been looking for, but with how nonchalantly they react to the fact that the treasure isn't actually there, it doesn't seem to completely fit the bill.

But then you beat the game (and by this I mean beat the final boss) and lo and behold, there's an Actual white whale, and so you think "Oh! Duh, the chapter's called White Whale because there's a literal white whale and it pretty much just finished off the final boss!" But that still doesn't make that much sense. Why name the final chapter (arguably the most important one) after some whale that appears in the last like 15 minutes of the game? Like, take the final chapter name of (Kiryu) Gaiden, it's literally the name of the game (The Man Who Erased His Name) so it's gotta be something more significant than that, right? (But then of course take into the account that by this point the player is still convinced that nothing really in pyih is too deep/serious, so maybe it could just be something as simple as that).

Then you get to the credits, and they reveal that the "elixir"/the ambergris is found in the stomachs of whales. Damn, that's pretty crazy/cool, but once again, nobody that was actively seeking the treasure (Rodriguez, Jason/Noah, Spade Tucker, etc you know the drill) seems to hung up on the fact that they didn't find it, and they didn't even encounter the whale, so they wouldn't get that same sense that they just missed it either, again, it's not a big deal really, so why make that the final chapter title?

Of course, we all know what this builds up to: the big reveal, the fact that Majima, who we've been following along with this entire game, was looking for that elixir this entire time, was the only one to actually encounter a whale in the game, and then there's the insane line drop from Saejima.

"Kiryu Kazuma. You never could give up on that one."

Ironically, the final chapter title has nothing to do with that whale you saw earlier at all, rather it's a summary of what Majima's motivations/actions for this game, and the past. Almost every game, has meant for him. It's what Saejima spells out for us at the end of the game, but said in even fewer words.

An all-consuming obsession that only leads to your destruction. An impossibility, something that you can destroy yourself over but never achieve/obtain. This is what the white whale means, metaphorically. And it is this, exactly, that Kiryu is to Majima.

Kiryu is larger than life itself, to just about everyone. He's a legend, he's the one Majima has had his sights on since the very beginning, the legend he chases after game after game and also what he destroys himself over game after game.

(see:

Yakuza 1 -> Majima just straight up taking a full-on stab wound for Kiryu. Like, buddy, I literally saw one of my favorite characters die that way in another game, there was No guarantee you were surviving that.

Yakuza 2 -> Majima fights off an army of yakuza for Kiryu. That man was beat to total Shit (which is Not something that happens often) and we all saw it

Yakuza 3 -> Majima re-enters the Tojo Clan for Kiryu even though he is (extremely likely) aware that it is already entering its steady decline that we see throughout the rest of the series up until its dissolution. And while he's willing to do it for Kiryu, we can't exactly say that he's happy about the situation as a whole.

Yakuza 5 -> Majima's willingness to die for Haruka, specifically stated because "She means more to Kiryu-chan than life itself." Like, of course he wouldn't just let Haruka get killed, but to choose to mention Kiryu as part of his reasoning in that moment? Christ

While I (surprisingly) can't say anything particularly self-destructive happened in (Kiryu) Gaiden and Infinite Wealth, you could argue that Majima trying to more and more directly tell Kiryu not to leave ("No need to rush outta here yet... Alright?" -> "Don't leave! Don't you dare leave, Kiryu-chan!"), knowing that it's likely pointless, knowing Kiryu, is not doing himself any favors.

Pirate Yakuza -> *gestures at the entire game*

Also his reaction to encountering that giant squid ("Sure is a helluva way to die. I think I'm into it!"). Like, okay. I don't want to try and read too much into it because it was very likely just a one off line. But I'm still gonna side-eye it.

Honestly now that I think about it, if Majima Had died fighting that giant squid (that is such a way to begin a sentence thank you rgg), you could argue that that would've been his nail in the coffin for the white whale metaphor. If he had, it would've meant that his obsession for Kiryu is what got him dragged down into the literal depths of the ocean, and even if it wouldn't be Kiryu physically dragging Majima down like the white whale to Ahab, this is a situation that is completely, entirely, fueled by Majima's obsession towards him (Majima had no real interest in the nuclear waste cleanup project, after all, Kiryu was his one motivation this entire time), and it would've drowned him.

Guess that means he got real lucky with the last part, but we all know he sure as hell isn't beating the allegations.)

All this and yet Majima seems to fail to reaching Kiryu time and time again.

Majima does not obtain the Heart of the Dragon, found in the intestines of the literal whale. He does not obtain eternal life for Kiryu. And he (arguably, though the final scene of him walking to Kiryu's hospital room could oppose this) does not resolve the indefinite limbo that has been sitting between them throughout the entire series. What he gets at the end of the game is the acknowledgement (through Saejima, everybody thank him) that he has been obsessing over this, and perhaps the realization that Kiryu was, in fact, this white whale that he would never truly reach ("Well, still just a dream in the end.") Of course this is something he already knows/has acknowledged deep down, and it's a feeling that is hinted at in some of his dialogue in scattered moments, but this is the first time he ever says it in such an outright manner.

I guess in a way, you could say that Pirate Yakuza is a story about the newfound success of all the people Majima helped and supported in achieving their dreams, and the continued failure of Majima in pursuing his own (Kiryu), and him needing to acknowledge/accept that. And the post-credits begs the question of what he decides to do with the aftermath and what he has left. (An oversimplification definitely but still. augh. Augh)

Naming the final chapter White Whale was yet another crazy move on rgg's part. Its so unassuming, seemingly straightforward yet also seemingly insignificant, but once the realization dawns on you it slaps you right in the face, just like everything else about this game does. It's yet another instance of how rgg managed to pull its big reveal so well, with all the small details, all the reframing, all pointing back to the same topic that it had spent the entire rest of the game dancing around.

Majima recounting his story of how he went to Hawaii -> Majima recounts his story to Kiryu in the exact same way at the very end

The treasure everyone's been looking for/known about + Majima, the one guy who didn't have knowledge about any of this legend stuff prior? -> Wrong, he was after the treasure from the very start (before the amnesia at least). For Kiryu

Majima originally being on course for Hawaii so he could help with the nuclear waste cleanup even though he'd be bored as hell? -> Nah. For Kiryu (Ohhhhh you know what this is reminding me of some screenshots I took from near the beginning of the game)

(I'm sure this meant nothing of course. Lol. Lmao)

Majima's dream during pirate yakuza being to fulfill Other People's dreams -> Haha. Well, I think you get the point by now

Kiryu, Kiryu, Kiryu. It all goes back to Kiryu, every single time, without fail, in an obsessive loop that Majima has been dragging himself around over for Years. He is the white whale, seemingly untouchable, the constant object of Majima's attention and devotion in so many forms, his consistent weak point, that only seems to dig at him deeper as the games go on.

Like I said before, while the white whale metaphor is undeniable, and essentially spells doom for Majima, it's not over for him yet. Because, hey, he didn't drown at sea, or die on the beach. He was saved, and he's survived enough to retell that tale and reflect on it all with Saejima in the post-credits, brief as that reflection was. I mentioned before how he really only said one line of any actual substance during that specific part of the exchange, but the significance of it says so much.

"Well, still just a dream in the end"

As much as it hurts to here Majima address the hopelessness of it all, to hear him say something like that after Saejima basically just laid out his sheer devotion and refusal to give up on his dream for everyone to see, I think the bittersweetness is. Good, actually. Captain Ahab never gave up on that pursuit on the white whale, and it destroyed him; that whale dragged him down until he finally drowned, and it feels like all Majima has been doing over Kiryu since Yakuza 3 is drowning himself in him.

Don't get me wrong, I (for now at least) do not take that line as a complete admittance of defeat, or Majima finally giving up on Kiryu, on that dream he could never let go of. (Like I've been saying, it's an acknowledgement, not exactly a declaration.) I do not think it means he is just letting go, full-stop.

But I do hope it means he can stop himself from self-destructing completely. I hope it means that he can slow down with the wild chase, (and that he and Kiryu can just. Sit down and talk like fucking normal people. Which i guess they are doing in the post-credits, supposedly) and I hope it means that he won't drown completely, especially in the case of the worst possible scenario.

[cloudinal]

Happy Valentine's! Have some yuri

[wahwahmoment]

good morning wyllstarion nation

[lesliemeyers]

In This Podunk Town — A South Park fanmix about the tumultuous experience of growing up with (and sometimes growing apart from) your best friends in your insane little hometown.

Cover art by me (an homage to The Great Depression by Defiance, Ohio)

Listen here.

Tracklist ⤵

This Feels Better — Defiance, Ohio | Bleed American — Jimmy Eat World | Bored Teenagers — The Adverts | Feel Like Rain — Motion City Soundtrack | Seattle — Public Image LTD. | No Rest For The Weekend — Orange | Working Title — Mt. Eddy | Knowledge — Operation Ivy | Big Lizard — The Dead Milkmen | Kids — The Frights | Halloween 3.5 — Rozwell Kid | Dry Heat/Nice Town — Cheekface | Familiar Patterns — PUP | Don’t Die In Yr Hometown — Antarctigo Vespucci | Fat Lip — Sum 41 | Minor Threat — Minor Threat | Hey Suburbia — Screeching Weasel | Stand There Until You’re Sober — Bomb the Music Industry! | Let’s Get Breakfast — Walter Mitty and His Makeshift Orchestra | Circles ‘Round the Moon — Nana Grizol

[chronicowboy]

i know obviously the still of buck and chris is probably-almost-definitely gonna have something to do with the basketball thing but on the tiniest off chance it doesn't: it's christopher trying to act cool and nonchalant as he asks buck what it's like to have a crush on someone and buck turns further and further away from chris as he describes it, hunches deeper and deeper as the words just keep spilling out and when he finally goes quiet chris asks "is that what you feel with natalia?" and buck whispers to himself "no" and then eddie walks in and goes "woah looks serious in here, everything okay?" and buck's like "uh, yeah, yeah, i've gotta go do something but uh see you guys soon" and then he goes and frees natalia from the homoerotic situationship haunting los angeles' women. [bonus: chris asks eddie the same question after a bit of deliberation about how insufferable his dad might be about the implications of chris asking said question and eddie gives an answer that is essentially the same as buck's and chris like. narrows his eyes and goes "that's exactly what buck said" and eddie like blanches a little bit and goes "huh, is it? anyway. who's got you feeling butterflies?"]