#his character isn't different - it's weirdly more fleshed out

[helpimstuckinafandom]

Next up on a tsats post I read got me thinking: Will Solace again

Because (again) good stuff in tsats got lost in the repetativeness of this book. Someone pointed out that Will's character wasn't changed, people just think he's calm and collected on the outside and in this book we see his pov and see him with someone he's closer/more vulnerable with, and dude is riddled with anxiety that he hides. And like..... yes. Yeah. That's it. That's literally it.

Being calm and collected and bossy in his element and completely petrified outside of it? Real for the medic who's great plan in the Seige on Camp Half-Blood being to run/get chased (and do the demigod art of insultsTM) Feeling like shit to be taken care of and thinking yourself useless because of it? So real for a medic who has previously bemoaned his lesser musical ability and combat abilities, who is now unable to do the one thing he IS good at

Personal bias here but I am called the "chill one" in my family. My dad says it almost constantly (especially in comparison to my siblings) that I'm more relaxed and don't get all anxious and have it under control and just don't sweat it. I'm not as academically smart as my siblings or anything and my relaxed nature is the number one thing that gets noticed about me

But I'm not

I am scared all the time. I feel sick to my literal stomach with anxiety multiple times a month going to bed or waking up because of.... life. Do I let a single person know that? God no. What if they need me? I live a good life all things considered, how could I ever compare the small shit I go through to someone's break up or family trauma or depressive episode?(Got a little bit of the "i'm not diagnosed so I'm invalid" thing going on) How could I ever put my needs on the front burner when I need to help people or spend time with them at their beck and call.

One of the other things I'm called/get compared to is a Therapy Dog. Because people find me comforting to be around - I listen and do my best to help - I am a friendly face.

I have literally told myself some days where life just keeps coming at me that I won't cover it up and I will actually look sad. I repeatedly tell myself to do it, and then the instant - the very second - i'm in front of someone I feel it naturally pack itself into the back of my mind and feel a smile pull at my lips. I literally can't do it. I don't want to worry them, I don't want to disuade them from telling me something because I look sad.

I think about the way my failures will impact everyone else but me. Like right now I think I'm gonna fail a course and it frightens me, but my priority is my mother who is stressed from family issues and my dad who trusted me - how my grades will worsen their lives. I'm like that for everything.

Basically, if I can't make people feel better, what good am I? What good am I TO THEM?

So Will Solace. I've always really liked him and related myself to him - even from Last Olympian, believe it or not. The brief moments with him back then had him be that random background character I latched onto. And then there was HOO (and later TOA) and I loved him even more. Partly because I could see him sharing opinions I do, but they weren't completely unfounded, but still his chill-ish nature and lack of other godly talents other than healing resonated with me. And then in tsats I remember several times going "bro he's literally me somehow". Somehow, being the key word, because even though I didn't think he was too different, since we didn't have much content of him before, I could still recognize a sort of shift. And this post I saw made me realize what it was:

He is the "chill one" - he is the "therapy dog". He knows how to take care of people and he likes nerd shit, and outside of that he is scared. He hates being taken care of because it makes him feel useless. He's worried he's loving/caring wrong and that it will lose him people - lose Nico. And we see it now because we get his thoughts - we see him completely out of his element with someone he's far closer to and can let his walls fall a bit, but still not completely. He's being unravelled by the Underworld and tries to downplay it. He's just like me fr.

[cripplecharacters]

CW for mentions body horror

—

I don’t do body horror much, but for one of my characters I wanted to branch out more and experiment with some. This character has heavy symbolism around bones, so I was thinking of trying out some skeletal themed body horror concepts. However, I’m wary that body horror, especially stuff that revolves around flesh and other human parts, often falls into a lot of disfigureism tropes. Do you know any major things to avoid when going about this?

Hi,

Monsters ≠ people with facial/body differences, if you're not giving them an actual Disability Trait then it just doesn't apply since there is nothing inherently in common these two have.

I've never looked at an actual rotting zombie character and thought "facial difference". That's just two completely separate concepts.

But I have looked at certain ideas of "zombies" in movies or "ghouls" in certain games and thought "oh, a caricature". Because they don't actually look like how people with facial differences look like, they're made grosser, nastier, repulsive. They're supposed to give the idea of how a person with a facial difference looks like and based on some fandoms I can tell that it works. It's pretentious to act like a "monster species" that's clearly meant to invoke the idea of a disabled person isn't ableist because it's not meant to be an actually disabled person. It's like when people get offended when you correctly spot a stereotype. "Do you think group X is actually like that, why would it remind you of them?!" Because I can tell who the author had in mind, that's why.

So, the question is, who or what do you have in mind when creating body horror? If it's a skeleton with skin on it, cool... does it share some suspicious resemblance to how people with skin conditions can look like? Because that's unnecessary and creates the aforementioned caricature. No one looks like these body horror things, but they're clearly based on us and turned up to 1000 with extra grossness put in for good measure.

Again, I don't want to have anyone to walk away from this thinking "people with facial differences are basically like these monsters", because that's not true. Every minority will have absurd, derogatory imagery that has nothing to do with reality and shouldn't be compared to, but again, it's pretentious to pretend that they aren't related to each other. It's not difficult to see the "inspiration" behind a lot of these things.

Simply think about what you do to get the "body horror effect" and ask yourself - what or who are you actually basing it on, and what or who does it resemble in the end? Is your "body horror" someone with teeth coming out of their eyes, ribs growing out of the ribcage through the skin, and meat hanging on bones, or is it someone without a nose, with weirdly textured skin, and empty eye sockets? Be real with yourself on what the inspiration for the "scary traits" is because one of these is body horror and the second one is a guy I know that people are scared of because they play too much shit indie horror games. If the scary trait is just a disabled human's trait, why the fuck is it considered scary in the first place?

Mod Sasza

[scrunglepaws]

Tried to fit all my fic ideas on one page, but I still forgot some because they're like... scrawled on random pieces of paper all over my house/in different notebooks/ect. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I tried!

The little branchy-offy things are prequels/sequels of that particular series. Bleeped out things I thought might be spoiler-y to ongoing series. Things with * are super WIP-y titles because I dunno what to call them.

More ramblings under the cut! (Nothing spoilery for the ongoing series; just vague things!)

No Heroes Zone // - I have a lot more generalized worldbuilding, character notes, ect than actual stories. The story ideas are mostly vague/short... Though, I suppose I could stand to write some super short fics. - The exception is an angsty sonighty fic that's basically done, but I just have to fill in all the inbetween, connecty bits. And decide how sonighty-y I really want to go with it. That ship came outta nowhere, I tell ya. - NHZ is really mostly Tails (and Metal) angst, tho. The other day I was thinking about how he tries to latch onto Shadow and even Metal in the absence of having Sonic and was like "Wow, Tails, clingy much? What are you, Nine???" then I felt really bad. T-T; He just misses his brother...!

Kaleidoscope // - The name of this fic is based on an art piece I've been wanting to do for forever: A kaleidoscope of Tails/Nine/Mangey, looking at each other and seeing them each from their own perspective. Because that's the theme of the whole story, funky scifi weirdness aside. But uh, 1) didn't have a decent digital art program for a bit and 2) I'm not good enough at drawing the subtle differences in their appearances to really make it hit how I wanted. Also 3) Tails looks basically the same to all three of them, lmao. - "Mangey Remembers" is Mangey's backstory and "Loneliness*" is... Less of a backstory for Nine, more of a brief showcase of his character in general. Because we already know Nine's whole deal from canon. Same reason Tails doesn't have a backstory- he's supposed to be canon Tails. - "Starless Sky" and "Ruination*" are both poteeeential sequels, but I'm not set on doing them. Ruination would just be a short, noncanon "what if?" bad ending for the heck of it.

Someplace AU (Aquarius) // - Also halfway calling it Aquarius for now because I ended up continuing the first part of the story under that fic name.

- It was originally more focused on Sails, hence Someplace being a play on No Place. But now it's about equally Kit and Sails. I ended up getting SO MANY effing ideas for these dudes, man. ;w;

- "Hollow Existence*" isn't a specific story, but just a sprinkling of scenes/backstory bits that detail why Kit is the way he is. Mostly his relationship with Surge growing up.

- "Sails' Tales" is likewise a collection of random Sails backstory bits. I have a lot more specific/fleshed out things for him, though. BUDDY, did I have fun with the No Place lore. Also, his relationships with Catfish and Black Rose are so cute... ;A;

- The bits to the right are basically going to be chapters in Aquarius. They're vague enough not to be spoilery (other than the blipped ones...)

- "=D?" is a sequel that I'm very excited about. Probably shouldn't say much beyond that.

Everything Else // - CaveTails is a Journey to the Center of the Earth-esque silly, silly thing. That could maybe become a bit more serious? BAsically, I was thinking "Huh, kind of weird that my main kittails fic is with Sails. That'd be funny if I did ones with Nine and Mangey, too. Just for the lulz. Especially the Mangey one." This is the Mangey one. xD Except he's sort of like... Tails AND Mangey at the same time, character-wise? So? :? Also, potentially some wholesome Sonic+Tails moments because I weirdly haven't written any of those yet.

- "Kids" is just a continuation of that goofy Tails Doll+Cream oneshot. Just small ideas for another chapter or two. Cute friendship, fluff, and lots of comfort to make up for the hurt in the first chapter. :3;;

- "Alien*" is what it says on the tin. I have a couple different ideas for how it could go. One of them boots out Silver entirely and had Metal in his place. xD But I might have enough material to write an alien Silver AND alien Metal fic. We'll see whenever I get around to it. :3

- "Nine's Shadow*" is something I've wanted to write ever since I made that joke oc, Stales the Fox aka Zombie Tails variant from the Grim. Probably just a oneshot (or a few short chapters) fic that mostly focuses on Nine being "all alone" after the ending of Sonic Prime.

- "Why is Babies?*" is the second idea I had for a fic. It's just Shadow being awkward and not knowing how to look after a chunk of the main cast that are suddenly tots for unknown reasons. It's very lighthearted, comedic, and cute. Originally a Shadow+Metal fic until I learned more about Eclipse and just HAD to include him. Dude is literally a struggling single parent in canon, how could I not include him in a story about his brother going through something similar? xD Also, I might call this fic "Rascals" as a reference to that one Star Trek episode with a similar premise. Because! Star Trek. 8D

- "The Fifth Element" ... I have put off posting anything about this fic idea for so long because I'm EMBARRASSED IT'S SO STUPID AND CORNY DON'T LOOK AT ME,,, In case you're totally lost, the 1997 film of the same name is my. Favorite movie. So naturally, this was my first idea for a fic. It's so all-over-the-place tonally, though. Obviously, got a LOT of silly, especially the parts that follow the movie almost exactly. But I also added a lot of original bits that help flesh out the characters' relationships. The protag is Shadow, who is very, very soft and introspective in it. Which, like, how did that happen??? But I love it. Metal is his co-lead and is mostly goofy because he's a fish out of water. Sonic is VERY, VERY goofy like goddamn (he's Ruby Rod- if you know, you know). Then there's just the silliest shit ever like Silver. Silver is Shadow's cat. It's stupid, but it's also fun, and maybe even matters to the plot. You don't know. Blaze is the president. Dr. Starline, Surge, Eggman, and The End are in it. Tails has the smallest part of any of my fics, but I think I cast him well. I need to stop now or I never will. Don't look at me. xDD

~

But yeah, as I said, I forgot a lot of other ideas. A few more (still forgetting some, I'm sure): - "Creature from the Black Lagoon" ft. kittails - Steam Powered Giraffe-vibes 50's thing w/ Tails, Cream, and automatons of Kit, Surge, Metal, Belle, Gemerl, ect - Tails Doll trying to be a Real Boy(tm) - Kittails-focused folklore AU with Kit as a kelpie and Tails as a normal mobian. Bunch of other people as fae creatures and villagers, including Starline as the main villain. - Maybe a whispangle oneshot from the above au (Tangle is a mobian, Whisper is. basically a magic wolf? xD) - Knuckles/Tails role-swap

[gorbalsvampire]

Hey so obviously the clanbooks help flesh out the clans, but which clans do you think benefit the most from their clanbooks? Not necessarily powers, but the flavor. The details.

So this one took me a while, because I had to go back and look at the Revised edition clanbooks and refresh my memory on them. I'm mostly a Revised goblin, although Cappadocians never had a Revised clanbook so I dipped my toes into second there.

Also, for a Clanbook to be good, it has to be helpful in playing the clan, and more interested in that than delivering metaplot. This is why Clanbook Giovanni, though dear to my heart, is Not A Good One, because it's so mired up in shuttering Wraith: the Oblivion and the associated plot events. This is why Clanbook Cappadocian is bad, because it is shot through with "here to go" foreshadowing of the clan's downfall and doesn't do enough on establishing what they did in Cainite society at the height of their power.

Brujah: almost no mechanics, almost all history and perspectives. The Brujah suffer from an identity crisis - rootless between the classical era and the twentieth century, their history really feels like the history of the Anarch tendency, and their customs the heart of the movement as it is tonight. But for sheer detail - giving itself the breathing room to talk about how the Brujah work within their sects and contexts - I think this is one of the good ones despite its lack of substance. Telling that Justin wrote it.

Gangrel: this one locks arms with the Ravnos and walks down history together, embedding two underdeveloped clans in each other. The Gangrel come off better, because they're not starting from "[insert slur here] vampires" as a concept, and because the narrative voice of their book is curious and intelligent and refuses to take anything at face value. The core concept of the Gangrel is "Wolverine with fangs" - I'm being reductive, but "brooding animalistic outsider, bad team player, best there is at snikting all the bubs" - the point is that dragging Gangrel into a coterie with anyone else and making them functional involves dragging them away from what their "clan culture" is all about.

Weirdly, I think this Clanbook does more for the Sabbat Gangrel, simply by running through the Paths and showing how the Gangrel can integrate with them. Bloodlines are mostly stupid, mechanical impact for animal flaws reifies the clan curse in a good way (kinda similar to the contemporary Malkavians). There's a lot here but none of it makes me want to play a Gangrel, for some reason. I suspect it's that the core fantasy isn't really one that interests me, and if I'm going to play that hard against type, I'd rather start from a different base altogether.

Lasombra: the throughline of Lasombra history delivered through a series of in-character lectures is a neat device, foregrounding the contradictions better than usual. Likewise, the detailed depiction of Lasombra Embrace and education protocol and internal factions builds explicitly and confidently on the corebook's limited vision and their role within the Sabbat. The dot by dot breakdown on Obtenebration teaches you how to play one systemically and how to ST around this overtly supernatural Discipline and more of the books need to do that. One of the better suites of premade characters, too (and the Student of the Abyss is a dead ringer for my first girlfriend). It's been a long time but I think this is the book that made me like the Lasombra as a clan rather than a power set and story function.

Also:

Sabbat are not wholly their own masters. No vampire stands altogether free to choose his behavior, thanks to the Beast and the fundamental requirements of vampiric survival. The Sabbat makes matters worse with its beliefs and practices, which repeatedly push participants into acts that erode conscience (and Conscience). When you play a Sabbat vampire, you take on a distinct set of challenges. It’s not necessarily more “adult” or “sophisticated” than any other sort of vampire, nor is it automatically more “juvenile” or “indulgent.” Sabbat exist within tighter boundaries than most independent or Camarilla vampires. Not everything you’d like to have your character do, or that he would plausibly want to do, is actually within reach.

Because some of us really do need telling.

Malkavian: for sheer style, for refuting the kookiness and fae nonsense and artsy layout of the second edition volume, for actually being substantively useful in playing the clan, this one makes the grade. Has one of the best metaplot beats with the antitribu's grand justification for mass Embrace and thinning the blood. New Derangements, better than the ones in the core book if I'm honest, especially the specifically vampiric ones that move away from "playing something straight out of the DSM."

I'm going to mention powers again here though - I wish the Revised devs had caught on to the idea of alternative powers at lower level, as some of this stuff (like Babble) shouldn't have "be seventh generation, i.e. not a starting PC, i.e. probably having done a diablerie to 'level up'" as their prerequisite. Weakest part. Also, I love the Moirai. Favourite brood. Probably sold me on my love of brood coteries.

Nosferatu: I like that a Nosferatu calls out Kindred history on its Eurocentrism! And much like the Gangrel, this book gives you some hooks to hang your clan weakness on - Merits and Flaws that reify aspects of the Nosferatu aesthetic. I don't think these are all necessary, but they are cool. A similar breakdown of Discipline usage to the Lasombra, again showing and telling how to Nosferatu as well as what is Nosferatu. That's the distinction with the good Clanbooks, I think - they remain focused on playability and using these ideas rather than just telling you about cool shit. I want to play a Nosferatu after I've read this book.

Dishonourable mention: Tremere. The Tremere Clanbook doubles down on a central bugaboo with the clan - if their hierarchy is sevens and sevens and sevens all the way down, your city should be crawling with Tremere. To have all these internal agendas and subfactions represented in a meaningful way - same. I'm aware of Grician bias, I hate the 1:100,000 "rule" with the force and fire of a thousand suns, but this book really needed to show you how one or two isolated Tremere work and it fails to deliver.

Tzimisce: I don't like how overcooked this clan is, with its Koldunic Sorcery and its Old Clan and its revenant families and its two different versions of "your signature discipline is a disease" that are both high concept shit far removed from Playing Your Lil' Guy - but that material undeniably exists and if you want to refer to it... well, isn't half of it in the Sabbat guide? I don't know where I stand on this one, but Tzimisce fans generally want as much as possible to chew on and there's More In Here.

Ventrue: Much like the Brujah and the anarchs, a lot of what the Ventrue have going on under the hood can be read "as above, so below" with the Camarilla as a sect. To know one is to half understand the other. The Ventrue codify the unwritten social rules of their sect, or rather their sect unknowingly imitates the code that organises the Ventrue.

The difference, as ever, is that the conservative and hierarchical side of the coin is much easier to detail than "imagine your way out of authoritarianism", and as such Clanbook: Ventrue has a great deal more direct, didactic, actionable material in it than the broad and vague concepts of the Rabble. Titles, organisation, spheres of influence, clear lines through the medieval to the corporate: read this one.

There is more to the Ventrue than you ever imagined - so much that they almost fall into the same hole as the Tremere do, but they don't have the hard number for the brain to latch onto and worry at. Even now, I'm describing this very good and self contained Clanbook by comparison to its peers - that's how the Ventrue get away with it.

I'm not just saying this to blow smoke up @biomechanicaltomato's ass, either. It's genuinely one of the best books; I think only Lasombra and perhaps Gangrel and Nosferatu are on the same level, and in very different ways.

[thatpodcastkid]

Magnus Archives Relisten 5, MAG 5 Thrown Away

Trash apple teeth! Is this anything

Spoilers ahead!

Facts: Statement of Kieran Woodward, regarding items discovered in the refuse of 93 Lancaster Road, Walthamstow. Given February 23rd, 2009.

Statement Notes: There are so many posts out there comparing The Magnus Archives to the Twilight Zone because of Jon's narration and the serial creepy story format, but this episode really stands out in mind as Twilight Zone-esque. Like the Twilight Zone, some Magnus Archive episodes deal with things like childhood guilt and cult-behavior, like MAG 4. But other episodes just kind of say "Damn, isn't that fucked up? Anyway," like this one.

I do love Kieran as a character. He's just so weirdly chill and realistic about everything. There's are some statement givers who are still being tormented by the fears, some who cause fear, some who are reporting on things that happened to people they know, but there's also this interesting category of people who survived because they played the game right. When the audience says "don't go in the basement" or "call the cops," they listen. Woodward gets through this statement unscathed because he moves on from the creepy dolls heads and reports the teeth, then destroys the "gift" left for him and tries to move on. Alan can't let go, Alan doesn't know the rules of the genre, that's why he doesn't make it out.

My two new favorite characters in the series are "Matt, who was raised Catholic and never shut up about it," because he is me, and David who "broke the silence by vomiting loudly into a nearby drain," because he is the most realistic horror character of all time.

Entity Alignment: Whenever I think of this episode, I think of it as the "teeth in a bag" episode. I actually 100% forgot about the metal heart. Now, when you think of those things, it kind of sounds like a Flesh episode.

But, let's all remember our favorite bio majors and their special gift to their professor. The Stranger has a history with teeth. The description of the dolls heads is very "uncanny valley," which is the Stranger's real niche. The thing that really sells me though is Jon's last line in the statement, "All two thousand seven hundred and eighty of them were the exact same tooth." The exact same tooth, apparently from the exact same person, repeated over and over again to the point that the examiner can date them because of their differing stages of decay. You know what that sounds like to me? Someone has been practicing.

The metal heart also says Stranger to me. I know it has a little Flesh energy, but it really reminded me of the hospital episode from season 5. The way the character describes feeling like her body was not her own, that parts of her had been replaced, substituted. The metal heart as the only remanent of Alan feels like that same kind of fear. It's not his, it's not him, but it's all he's got.

Speaking of Alan, does his obsession with watching the house to the point he goes without sleep for days, isolates his friends, and is presumed dead remind you of anyone? He must be influenced by the Eye at least a little bit.

But ignoring entity alignment for a second, Jonny does consistently uses obsessive characters really well. There's a lot of horror media where, in real life, it would make more sense for the characters to give up on their investigations of the supernatural or to ignore it in entirely in the first place. The audience is usually (and rightfully) able to suspend reality for the sake of the story in these situations. But what's so interesting about Jonny's writing is that he explicitly states characters like Alan, like Amy Patel, like Jon, can't stop themselves. It's obsession, it's all consuming, they know it's bad for them, but they just can't stop. It really adds to the audience fear because you're not the only one telling them turn back, their mind is screaming it too, but they still won't listen.

Character Notes: The post-statement in this episode is just 90% Martin hate. Absolutely unhinged behavior. What if you worked at a restaurant at the end of receipts your boss just wrote "This waiter is a goddamn loser and I hate him." Wild man Jonathan Sims everybody.

[two-reflections]

WIP Wednesday ✨

Minis ✨

Managed to mess around for a couple of hours during the Imperium Maledictum game today.

Those space marines still aren't done because I've been procrastinating/too ill, but I've started basing them. Need to get more PVA glue, I'm not convinced what I used is going to hold this dirt in place.

My little blue guy is almost done. I think his face needs more highlights, but I'll probably varnish him after that. I varnished the blue lady today too, but she basically looks the same so I didn't take a picture.

Imperium Maledictum and other updates below

Imperium Maledictum ✨

This week, we met the Inquisitor and received our mission: pretend to be an Admech group writing a report on a particular planet's tech status since the Noctis Aeterna while actually writing a very different report for the Ordo Hereticus and delivering a secret letter.

We also rolled for connections and worked more on our characters. My Magos Biologos heretek overheard our Space Landsknechte ex-guardsman describe having seen something he thought was a kroot that was almost certainty a tzaangor. Two other characters overheard my lil guy make an offhand comment about how parts of xenos could be medically useful in a pinch. Lots of incriminating stuff!

Writing ✨

Kinktober is carrying on. I'm finding writing classic drabbles (100 words exactly) weirdly hard, but it's also good to practice being consice at times, y'know?

It has also given me a chance to try new things, like writing necrons and other characters I feel I don't know well enough to write a longer fic about. So, that's been cool!

I meant to hammer out the rest of Of Steel and Flesh for Finish What You Started 2024, but I've been too ill this month to really get into it. I'm still hoping I manage to finish an ancient Kingdom Hearts fic I've left undone since 2018 and my entries for the Salamanders Discord Server's Halloween Competition. Got a deadline for the latter tonight, actually... I'm not good at writing horror, but I will try to do something for it.

EDIT - Urgh. Writing nurgly things while having a nasty cold does not feel great. This story isn't even that gross, but my stomach is jumping now. But I met my deadline, so... Worth it?

Misc ✨

My 40-week kitbashing/fleshcrafting project continues. I know this isn't really the place to talk about it, but I'm finding the process rather difficult. While the experts I have consulted on the matter have largely been wonderful, one person I talked to last week was so condescending and uninformed about the unusual complexities of my project that she had me questioning the whole thing. I was given advice on the tier of "Well, maybe you should chuck out your wet palette and use one thick coat", and then was actually scolded for explaining that a wet palette is a helpful adaptation for my needs and that using one thick coat of paint hasn't worked for people like me in the past and is no longer recommended as best practice anyway. Bleh.

However, questioning isn't a bad thing. We learn by asking questions, don't we? I'm still not sure what I'm learning from this one because I'm so pissed off, but there must be something there. Maybe how to make an official complaint to the NHS. If I was treated that way, I can't imagine how that person treats patients with rarer or more serious conditions.

[nebulousboops]

Part 2 of my trombone official art! Part 1 is here if you haven't seen it.

Admittedly, I haven't developed this group all that well, but less than a week isn't that long to fully flesh out eight characters so I'll give myself a pass on that one. Anyhoo, enjoy the bios!

Soda Dolce is Kaizyle's childhood friend who was more than excited to hop on the new club she was making with her brother. He's easily excitable in general, though his people skills aren't very refined. He and Kaizyle actually bonded over that when they were younger. He hopes to make everyone's days a little better, but whether or not he succeeds is a different matter entirely.

Trixiebell Nocturne is what I would describe as "goofily calm." She can say the silliest things, but she says them with such tranquility and seriousness, you can't help but take it at face value. She's a calming presence to those around her, especially her closest friend, Appaloosa. Weirdly, she doesn't talk about herself that often, instead trying to help those around her. She's also a really good baker.

Beezerly Scherzo is an energetic prankster with a heart of gold, so much so, some people find her exhausting. She means no harm, she can just take things a bit far sometimes. She has a sort of sitcom rivalry with Kaizyle, given that she's easy to mess with and has the most entertaining reactions. She's also one of the few club members to actually be in shape, being quite sporty.

Meldor Allemande is methodical, serious, and a huge dork. He likes to seem cool and aloof, but anyone who's known him for more than a day knows it's a front. While he played with the club during performances for awhile, he hesitated to actually join, not having the best experience with bigger social circles in the past. Still, he's welcomed with open arms when he does join officially.

[storkmuffin]

Hi there! I really like your liveblog!!! And I love seeing your analysis of the characters, Silver especially.

Still, I agree with one of the other asks about the fact that, while I understand why you hate him, Silver is very complicated and messy, even if we’re never shown the root cause of his being like this.

We don’t know anything about his story, his family, his past (and I could argue that he doesn’t either, as he seems to be refusing to acknowledge any of it. He’s blocked it). But one of the things that Black Sails really tries to communicate (imo) is that every character, every person, always has reasons for their actions. And that these reasons are more often than not complex, and deep, and emotional, and trauma-related, and often unconscious.

And I kinda believe we would be doing Silver’s character a disservice by denying that he operates in the same way (as a messy, human, problematic person!), even if he hasn’t explicitly shown us his mind and memories. He’s much more interesting if we assume that he has reasons for his behaviour (even if buried and unknowable), instead of deciding that he’s simply a “low calibre human”, one incapable of feeling love or pain to a meaningful degree. That’s kinda simplistic (in my opinion) and takes away some of the depth and humanity of the writing.

ANYWAY, everybody interprets both stories and people differently and that’s great! Hope this ask wasn’t uncalled for; I’ll keep looking forward to your liveblogging! :)

I appreciate pro-Silver asks like this SO MUCH. I really do. I know it doesn't come through at all when I'm shooting off reactions to each provocation by the show but I genuinely WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE APPEAL OF JOHN SILVER even if I can’t fully buy into it. I really really do. He's weirdly designed to set off all my antipathies which is low-key upsetting bc I know there is so much great fanart and fanfiction and lore to be enjoyed in this fandom for which being at least able to tolerate John Silver is a base requirement! Unforrtunately, every time I am close to warming up to him, John Silver does the worst possible thing in my eyes and sets me right back to 0.

I am looking forward to the Silverflint fics giving him some of the nuance and color you're talking about, assuming I'm not blanket blocked by everyone who loved Silver enough to flesh him out.

Like - Charles Vane let Max get gang raped and sexually tortured and yet I eventually came to see him as someone to mourn! I keep HOPING to do this with Silver (which again isn't gonna come through on the off the cuff posts) and then get super pissy because he disappoints me.

p.s. This fandom is SO CIVIL. Which is so funny bc the show is so violent and merciless lol. Thank you for sharing your thoughts in such a kind way.

[coldslaws]

REAL THO, the amount of found-family potential in that man is insane, he just looks like he radiates warmth and acceptance that eventually bleeds into N, their family dynamic needs to be studied under a microscope

Which is why the Anime version of him pissed me off so bad. Did you know that in the anime he falls asleep during his battle with Ash which completely embarrassed his Bouffalant, and in response to it not listening to him when he wakes up because he embarrassed it he smacks it on it's behind to force it into a head charge???

HE WOULD NEVER. It ends up charging at him instead tho (deserved) his Volcarona is never even featured in the story either! How are you going to have Alder and not show his most iconic Pokemon!? Asinine, I say, asinine!

He also hits on every woman he can get his hands on, like a Unovan Brock. Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny, and eventually Cynthia. Him hitting on Cynthia basically sealed his fate as a shit ass character in the eyes of people who only watch the anime. It's sad.

- 💌

AWFULLLL BAD AWFUL. SCORN. HE WOULD NOT. 👎 ive never watched ash's anime outside of when i was like, a microbe. ive been considering it just to see what they do with n (and i hear anthea and concordia are much more present and fleshed out too) but if i have to be subjected to shitass alder i may explode so idk. at least evolutions, short lived as it is, gives alder a decent portrayal. ns reaction to his "he's conned all of us!" always makes me. hrgggrg.hh. you know

its kinda funny because ash's anime isn't even the only medium to totally splice his character for no reason. there's another manga out there where alder is weirdly like. eccentric to put it nicely, unhinged to put it honestly. he throws hilbert in the trash for some reason and attacks him repeatedly. he sides with n, not because he believes in their ideals, but because he wants to be left alive after the world gets scorched. he's just weird and borderline evil. mind you i never read this manga myself directly cuz iirc i couldn't find an english translation but i just read a synopsis and viewed the untranslated pages and was like. pardon? so maybe my understanding isn't totally accurate, idk

the awesome part about pokemon existing in various different mediums at the hands of a ton of different writers is the broadness and nuance in each character portrayal you can find. and the awful part about pokemon existing in various different mediums at the hands of a ton of different writers is the broadness and nuance in each character portrayal you can find. am i right gamers

[someonelookingpraediti]

Currently Reading...

The Eidolon - K.D. Edwards

Ok, so I loved this book. Max and Quinn were my favourite characters in The Tarot Sequence, so I was really excited to read a book from their point of view.

I'm not super into Anna yet, but that's probably a combination of her being younger than the others, and having not been so fleshed out in TTS. She's an interesting character, so I'm sure I'll connect more to her as we learn more about her.

The beginning of the book was a little boring, because it was repeating things that had already happened, but once it got into new plot, it was so interesting. It's weird that re-reading a book isn't boring at all, but reading the same plot from a new point of view always is. I'm hoping that the rest of this series focuses on new storylines - and I can't wait to read them!

But my Max/Quinn prediction isn't panning out so well, since it looks like Quinn might be asexual! I should be absolutely thrilled with ace rep, since there's just nowhere near enough of it, but weirdly, I like to read about all those funky little allos going forth and doing all that stuff I don't! I'm still hoping for a romantic relationship between them, though, since no comments have been made on his romantic persuasion. They need some true love in their life. And I'm convinced they're Tallas.

I bought a special edition from Rainbow Crate. As far as I can tell, this is the only physical copy available of this book - I'm hoping the rest of the series is also going to be available in the same format.

The hardcover is really gorgeous - the dustjacket is the standard cover, that is also featured on the eBook. But it also has a reversible cover, which is equally nice! Personally, I like the original better, so that's the one I'll be displaying. There's also foiling on the hardcase, front and back, and there's stencilled edges as well.

The endpapers feature four different pieces of artwork, presumably by fans. And there's a page that looks like it been designed for a signature, although this isn't a signed copy. But maybe one day I'll meet the author and get it signed, you never know.

[ploppythespaceship]

Thoughts on Star Trek: Prodigy (Season 1B)

I already typed up my thoughts on 1A ages ago, not knowing when 1B would come out, so I'm gonna try not to spend too much time on repeat statements. You can read that here if you care.

Honestly, this was one of the strongest first seasons in Star Trek history. This show knew what it wanted to be from the very start and just got better as it went along. My few complaints are largely nitpicky. Seriously, if you have passed on this because it's a kids show or you don't like the new Treks or whatever -- just give it a try.

What I Liked

The characters and their dynamic continue to be the strongest part of the series. Each of them is unique, memorable, and likeable in their own way, and the back half of the season fleshes all of them out even more. We even get a little flashback establishing each of their backstories. I originally thought Dal was the least interesting character, but his arc of leadership and self-discovery was wonderful in the back half of the season. Now I'd probably cite Jankom as the least interesting, but honestly none of them are bad, and they work very well as a group.

Once again, the animation just looks gorgeous. Character designs are wonderful and varied, and some of the locations are just stunning.

This show is made by people who love Star Trek, and it shows. The references and worldbuilding are crafted with such care, with so many little moments making me smile -- like the handful of calls to Jellico, or the little nods to "Threshold" and "Counterpoint," or the appearance of the Defiant in the big finale. But what I appreciate most about these references is that the show doesn't entirely depend on them. It's not just a shameless nostalgia grab like some other recent Trek outings have been -- if you removed the references and fanservice, there would still be a solid show underneath.

This show also has an excellent balance between episodic and serialized storytelling. There's definitely a big story that gets developed over time and builds up to a big finale, but that doesn't completely derail everything else. The characters still have a series of one-off adventures, which places them in new environments and allows them to have varied arcs. Most had good flow between each other as well, with only a few feeling like pointless filler -- and even those weren't bad, just not as strong as the rest.

I also like how this show isn't necessarily committed to maintaining the status quo. The season finale wrapped up so many arcs and set up season 2 to be quite different, and that's really exciting to me! I don't want them to rehash the same ideas over and over, and it looks like they don't plan to.

I really appreciate Prodigy's approach to darker and more nuanced topics. It doesn't shy away from things like the cast being escaped slaves, or the tragedy of what happened to Solum. Nor does it dumb these things down for its young audience. It just makes these topics approachable.

The reveal of Dal being an augment isn't what I expected, but I like it a lot. It introduces some tension due to the possibility of him not being permitted in Starfleet, and it sends him on a really interesting character arc -- going from "I'm just some experiment from a petri dish" to "I'm the captain and if I can't be in Starfleet, I'm going to do what I can to make sure you all do."

What I Didn't Like

Carrying over my biggest complaint from the first half of the season -- the lip sync in this show is weirdly bad. Mouth movements are often wildly mismatched from the voices, and it's genuinely distracting. And generally, there are some animation choices that make me wonder if there were budgetary or timing issues preventing more fluid movements. Characters can feel a little stiff, or like they're not emoting to the same extent as their voice actors. Hopefully the success of season 1 means season 2 will get a bit more attention in that regard.

Additionally, while the character designs of the alien characters are gorgeous, some of the human characters look a bit strange. I think I notice it most on the returning legacy characters, whose appearances I am most familiar with. It's hard to balance keeping the look of a well-known live-action character while also matching the art style, and I couple times I just think they missed the mark. Holo Janeway looks perfectly fine to me, but Admiral Janeway looks like she was stung by several bees.

While I appreciate most of the little cameos from pre-existing Trek characters, I don't think Okona added much to the story. I would have removed that role entirely, because he was definitely just there to be filler.

I don't care for Murf's redesign. I can't really articulate what looks off to me, but I just prefer the weird little blob to the weird little man.

I don't care for Zero's new suit, either. I understand giving them an upgrade, since their old one was literally scrap metal. But their old one also had charm and character to it. The new one looks like a walking Apple store and feels unpleasantly cold. Even making it gray instead of shining white would have helped, I think.

[osifrau]

this is So Good omg ok

So about Daro'Zaste / Quartz Eye of the King, who's the most recent creation and the most fleshed out one! :)) Zaste's my Skyrim character.

1: 'Te (or Tay) is a mage! His specialty is Destruction magic, but his goal is to become knowledgeable at *all* the different sections of the arcane arts. Not one for Restoration though. As he got older, he started preferring Illusion & Conjuration magic.

2: LOVES putting on a show. His excitement gets the best of him and he loses himself in a weird ecstatic frenzy. Usually is all over the place when casting spells; running around whatever place he's in and switching between various spells.

3: Zaste follows a traditional Khajiiti mindset of "each god has something different to offer, so worship them when it suits you." Being a traditionally raised Khajiit though, he does favor Azurah and Baan Daar (or Rajhin he doesn't really care), and doesn't fully follow any of the Imperial/Eight or Nine divines. Later on in life however, he takes a liking to Hermorah (Hermaeus Mora) due to his deep dive into various scriptures and general collections.

4: Unsure!!

5: (plz cut me some slack i've only played Skyrim and ESO) Dark Brotherhood & The Thieves Guild, not the Fighters Guild or The Mages Guild. He would (and does) however join the College of Winterhold & Dawnguard.

6: Grew up poor on his family's farm on Solstheim. Didn't really have a class for a while because he parted from society for years when he fled Helgen and dove into Blackreach. After returning to the surface though, he had enough old jewelry and small treasures to really get him onto his feet again. Gaining more money wasn't difficult due to his skills in combat and survival, so by the time he becomes Quartz Eye of the King and on, he gets pretty insanely rich. (At least i hope so let's see how the playthrough turns out T-T)

7: Yes (very gay and very violent)

8: Zaste will just keep on going and keep on fighting even if it tears him apart. The flight instinct is non existent in this man and if there's even a minuscule chance that he could get out alive, he absolutely will fight until he dies and will do borderline anything to ensure that he kills his enemy. This dude does not stop with literally anything. Older 'Te though really calms down, although he still teaches others to do what he does, so it never leaves him.

9: He's missing an eye. Was just born like that and his family was loving and protective of him. He's probably got a slew of mental things too, plus 'Tay never learned how to properly patch up wounds so he's got some bad ones that healed weirdly so he has difficulty with his hands occasionally. Has had a real bad tremor from repeated nerve damage since his Reaver days back on Solstheim.

10: I mean he is the player so i guess there are just numerous behaviors and details that have influenced him while playing Skyrim. Other things include love of books and libraries, wanting to collect and organize literally everything into perfect little sections and displays. Another big thing is sexuality but most of my player characters are usually gay (m4m) or bi with a larger preference for men.

11: Yes! He's a Khajiit that abides by traditional honorifics. So the evolution goes from Zaste-Ma (childhood) -> Ja'Zaste (Reaver to Helgen) -> Daro'Zaste* (Blackreach to a little bit before Alduin's defeat) -> Quartz Eye of the King

*Daro is the female honorific, to be so honest i forgot this and refuse to change it because it sounds good but for story things Tay just likes the way it sounds as opposed to Dar. Also weird grimy guys with female names are very cool and i enjoy them greatly

12: It lines up with a lot of the Nords opinions around Skyrim; this being that he supports the defeat of the Thalmor (which for a lot of Khajiit isn't good) and was originally going to join the Stormcloaks, but then he learned about the racism and fascism and senseless murder that Ulfric promoted and quickly turned to the Imperials. (Went w/ hadvar when escaping Helgen so that helped him be more comfortable and knowledgeable abt the Imperials.)

13: Zaste enjoys cooking! He picked up a lot of fun recipes in Blackreach* (Stuffed gleamblossoms, deep vale venison shank, deep vale spriggan smoked slayerfish, a lot of mushroom based recipes, chaurus recipes, and many more. he's probably eaten Falmer meat before). He also enjoys cultivating different plants for food and alchemy, so basically gardening. Again, one of the biggest things that he loves to do is once again collecting. Just. Anything really. Mostly sets of things like armor or jewelry, and he also enjoys making jewelry as well with the gems he finds while exploring Skyrim. As he gets a little bit older he takes to playing a lot of music and dancing in his spare time (dude loves a good party, he threw a lot once he became rich and had a big house) searching for unique decorated instruments to play and add to his collection of things.

*The mods that i use for Blackreach are DMT's Paint it Blackreach, The Blackest Reaches, and Blackreach Railroad. This adds things that might not be canon for other people, but incorporating mods into my characters stories are always fun. There are also many other mods in general that I use that add other things to the game. Zaste is far from a base game character.

14: Not anything specific (not yet anyway, i'm still fairly early in his development), though Blackreach flora is suiting for him. Things that might stick out to others to let them know that it's associated with 'Te are a mostly black object or background with glowing blue+pink marks on them.

15: Guy finds cool magic and goes crazy ig. There is probably more tropes that fit him but im not sure atm.

16: Tamrielic (Common? Cyrodyllic? English?), Ta'agra, a little bit of Dunmeris. As he gets older though and starts studying scriptures he learns Draconic (Dragon Tongue), Ancient Nordic (which might be the same as Draconic), and Dwemeris (Dwarven).

17: Zaste prefers dual wielding & the crossbow when he doesn't use magic, as he couldn't fully rely on magic during his Reaver days, and doesn't prefer staves. Usually the way to decide on whether he uses his swords or his magic is whether or not he wants to cause a huge mess or not. Tay likes lightning magic as well as his shouts, so he mostly uses it outside or in large ruins & caves. He found a Dwemer crossbow during his time in Blackreach, and has kept it ever since. His two swords are an enchanted Akaviri blade that he found in the Snow Elf refuge in Blackreach near i think Mzulft, and a scimitar that he picked up from Lucan Valerius while returning to Riverwood after exiting Blackreach. His fighting style is quick and in your face to be as disorienting as possible to the enemy.

18: I'm going to go with either chaotic good but to a pretty big extreme and emphasis on "chaotic". At his very core, he wants to help people. Deeply. He *will* do anything to help those in need, which is why he joined the Reavers in the first place: to help his family. The income he got from being a bandit was far more than selling goods at his family's stall at the Solstheim market plaza, and he gave nearly all of his gold to his family or purchased equipment himself to give to them. Anyone who asks him for support will get an enthusiastic response back. For the "chaotic" part, he does like his septims and doesn't mind taking lives to get it. He joined the Thieves Guild for the money, and joined the Dark Brotherhood to satisfy that feeling of bloodlust and un-questioned intoxicating power that he felt during his prime time in Blackreach. He misses that feeling very deeply.

19: Tay's just kind of a weird dude, but charming in a way. He looks pretty off-putting, but he's really a sweet Khajiit. A hidden talent of his is that he both dances and plays music super well :) he's always been like that, and was super excited to join the Bard's College when he went to Solitude.

20: Plants that he picked on the road, maybe a cool looking bone or stick something, soul gems, mead, some cool rings or necklaces that he found, and some pieces of paper with little notes scribbled on them.

21: With most situations between people he tries to be diplomatic and understand both sides, ex. his opinion on the Stormcloaks. 'Te's selfless, and mostly abides the law when he's actually in cities. He understands that most citizens are just people trying to get by, and so he sorta robin hoods it to only steal from those who can afford it. He doesn't really have anxiety, or if he does he does really well to calm himself down quite quickly. Lastly, Zaste is kind of a mix of both.

22: I am so deeply uneducated on other NPCs :(

23: Speed and Agility! He's a Dagi-Raht, and a pretty tall one at that + his dragonblood, making him the mighty height of 4'11" (~149 cm) while on flat feet. He's a digitigrade quadruped, so that bumps him up to around 5'3" (~160 cm). His boots are pretty thin on the bottom so they don't do much, maybe add a half inch or so. But anyway, his small size and fast nature are the things he relies on the most in many situations.

24: Zaste never thinks he's good enough. He's a perfectionist, and the thing that he puts that on the hardest is himself. It leads to him getting into situations that are incredibly threatening even to him because he feels that he needs to "prove" himself.

TES OC Interview Game!

What class do they fall under? Anything they specialize in? (ex: Mage > Illusionist) Have they changed their class over their lifetime or stayed the same?

When they cast magic, what’s their style? Are they flamboyant or reserved? Do they wave their hands around? Do they like making a show of it? Are they verbal? 

Which Aedra or Daedra do they worship/champion?

Regardless if something happened or not, which Aedra or Daedra would hate them the most, and why?

What guild would they join, regardless of their skill? (Any guild/group from any game and any timeline) Why?

What’s their social class?

Are they a fighter or a lover?

What’s their lowest/weakest skill that could be a fatal flaw? Or what’s their biggest weakness?

Do they have any handicaps or disabilities?

Does this character have anything in common with you?

Do they have any epithets? How about aliases? 

What’s their most controversial opinion(s)?

What’s their hobbies? 

Any motifs or symbolism for this character? Flowers, animals, etc.

Tropes, tropes, tropes! Do any come into mind for this character? Or do they subvert any?

Languages! How many do they speak? Are they literate?

If they can, what’s their fighting style? If they’re a mage, how do they handle being silenced or running out of magicka?

Where do they fit on the morality chart?

Do they have any quirks or hidden talents?

If you took their bag and upended it now, what would you find in it?

Are they: Diplomatic or Violent? Passive or Instigating? Selfish or Selfless? Law abiding or Lawless? Trusting or Apprehensive? Caring or Indifferent?

Ignoring time, what Elder Scrolls NPC would they get along with the most? Or the worst?

What’s their 2 main attributes? (Strength, Endurance, Speed, Agility, Personality, Intelligence, Will Power, or Luck)

What do they believe is their biggest weakness? What do you say is their biggest weakness?

[jprgirl]

S1E3 - God's Gift to Zebras

[I skipped a scene of the goddesses talking about how girls are swooning over Axl in the library and Stacey is pissed she has to keep stalking him.]

Anders complains to Ty that Axl doesn't want to sleep around, "One girl comas out on him and he thinks he has killer god sperm" - to which Ty points out that it was Axl's first time, so he didn't have a lot to compare it to.

Anders checks with Ty that he's never done that to a woman, right? And Ty replies that he's not Odin.

"But you're still a god; I'm still a god. What makes Odin so different?" "He's Odin, we're not."

Anders then gets weirdly annoyed? He tells Ty to be more positive, then asks if he wants to spend the rest of his life hiding away in his cold room. The implication I think being that Anders believes if they ascend they won't have to hide their powers anymore? I don't feel like this was a very fleshed out concept, like, even rewatching it several times I'm confused by what they were trying to really imply or get at here, other than to show that Anders thinks their powers are good and not something to be shamed about. But honestly Ty doesn't seem all that "negative" in the scene, and him saying he's happy with his hobby might be true, but overall his character arc is that he hates being a god, so even that feels awkward on rewatch.

Anders tells Ty that if he likes things the way they are, he should "shift to Alaska - hide there" and Ty gets a good little retort in after he leaves, "YOU shift to fucking Alaska."

This whole scene is a little weird? The jump from talking about Odin to telling Ty to be "more positive" and then getting pissy that he isn't unhappy with how things are - I'm just not sure what Anders was really doing here, and if he accomplished it. Were there more lines originally that ended up getting cut in editing? He seems to lose his patience out of nowhere and then fucks off, which leaves Ty alone to answer his phone (which sets up the rest of the episode).

Since this isn't a place Anders would just happen to be, it feels odd he'd go all the way to Ty's home just to have this short convo and storm off without convincing Ty of anything, or even really asking him to do anything.

In later seasons this would probably have been made a phone call, I think, but this was probably more visually interesting, even if I don't fully grasp Anders's character motivation. I almost want to say they made him get pissy that Odin is like, "special"? But I feel like Anders is more of a hype man to Axl than jealous overall in the series. Especially in the final season, where he openly sides with Axl over Mike.

IDK, this scene left me scratching my head on this rewatch, haha.

[canon-notcanon-warriorcats]

What happens to Speckletail and perhaps maybe Brick in your rewrite?

brick isn't really like a character i guess, he's just one of tigerstar's rogues so he's just like there, but not really named

SPECKLETAIL on the other hand is weirdly fleshed out for a background character

she has lionheart and goldenflower with sunfall being the one who sired them, they were like sort of friends and speckletail thought she might have a crush on him but she actually finds out through this that she's aroace, she wanted to have kits and for them to be great and powerful warriors but she didn't want them to be treated specially or different for being the kits of the deputy and she didn't want anyone thinking sunfall and her were mates and also treating her differently

they also kind of bonded over having a distaste for stormtail, sunfall never liked how stormtail treated moonflower or their kits and speckletail always hated how he became mates with her adopted sister, especially when he ditched her after their litter of kits died (one died of illness and stormtail killed the other one that was deaf because he hated the idea of his son being deaf and thought he'd never be able to be a strong warrior/wasn't good enough to carry on his legacy)

speckletail and smallear were also best friends, which no one really expected, they were both grumpy cats with attitude and they constantly gave each other shit, but they both would say that the other was one of the only cats in the clan that would deal with their bullshit, cats thought they'd become mates but smallear was gay and as i said before, speckletail was aroace, HOWEVER, when the two were older, smallear retired and speckletail on the verge of retiring, speckletail had always wanted more kits but never had more, and these feelings were amplified after the death of her son, lionheart

smallear had never particularly wanted kits, but he wanted speckletail to be satisfied with what she gave to their clan before she retired, and so he offered to sire a litter of kits for her and she gratefully accepted, once again keeping who her kits' father was a secret (except for the other elders, they all knew) smallear died of old age while snowkit was still a kit

speckletail kept it a secret until the night she died, where she told goldenflower and snowkit who each of their fathers were with her last breaths, she died from smoke inhalation from the fire from protecting and saving snowkit, she died having never retired even when her siblings all had and wanted her to rest with them, she died to keep her son safe

[absolutehomosexuals]

Hey!

First of all, thanks for expressing your points more-or-less politely. English isn't our first language either and you made your point very clear, so no worries.

While I do agree his options are a bit restricted when it comes to female companions, he doesn't really flirt with Gale or Wyll either – not to their faces, at least. He compliments Wyll a lot when speaking to Tav, but iirc, it's not like he's ever made an effort to hit on him one-on-one.

And when it comes to Gale? I've seen people claim Astarion pronounces his name as if it's a slur, and I pretty much agree lmao. The point we were making isn't "his interactions with male companions seem more genuine", because there's no actual flirting between the men of the party (weirdly enough).

In fact, I think it's even more telling that a victim of repeated sexual abuse perpetrated by men, WOULDN'T hit on any men and would instead attempt to hit on women – perhaps the thought of having sex with men again hits a little too close to home, but he's still trying to carry his plan to term with the means he has. He still talks about being into men in the meantime, whether it's in general/referring to past flings or directed at Wyll, so the evidence is still there.

However, this is a very niche interpretation and we're fully aware of that. Doesn't mean it doesn't hold any credibility.

They made every origin character functionally playersexual to (in our opinion) expand their public, so them adding special lines if you romance him as one of the origin ladies sounds reasonable. I wouldn't say I consider it compelling evidence but eh, that's subjective.

Sincerity = clumsiness is very interesting, however I think there's a middle ground there somewhere. We don't see him acting "clumsy" towards Tav in act 3, where he's in the middle of healing from his trauma and learning to break out of his façade, at least as far as I remember.

10 CHA is regular charisma, so I wouldn't say it's in character for him to act clumsy when hitting on someone he genuinely likes, whereas it would be much more likely for an 8 CHA companion.

His "spicy food" line, imo, didn't come off as particulary horny: it was more of a jab at Lae'zel's threat, because we know Astarion is a bit of a menace lmao. Showing fear (aka vulnerability) wouldn't be wise in his opinion, so he resorts to a snarky remark.

And finally, no one said bisexual men cannot partecipate in gay subculture. Though it is called "gay" for a reason: if I see someone speak English, I'm going to assume English is their first language, even though there are plenty of bilingual people in the world.

This is also a fictional character, written by an author that's naturally going to be influenced by biases (as we all are) and the things he knows, we're not talking about a flesh and blood bisexual man.

If that were the case, we obviously wouldn't form any theories about his sexuality, as humans are complex and can express themselves in a million of different ways.

Whenever people claim "[origin characters] show attraction to all genders", they often point to Astarion's party banter.

Which leaves us pretty confused because, if anything, it shows he has no clue what he's doing with women.

He's known to be this skilled seducer – the fantasy equivalent of a prostitute and, canonically, his pimp's favourite – yet his advances towards female companions come off as clumsy.

We've always chalked it up to him being a snarky little shit, with a touch of stereotypical gay man attitude¹, but the implications of it being genuine are terrifying.

As far as we know, Astarion gathered prey for at least two centuries, and he only ever talks about his male victims: Sebastian and the so-called darling boy were his only sincere relationships. 

If you romance him, he justifies his initial manipulation by saying he only ever seduces people he's genuinely attracted to.

Couple that with the fact we never hear about any women, can it really be a coincidence on his writer’s part?

All we’re saying is, he probably didn't pick up his victims by calling them "a pretty flower", which unironically sounds like someone's first attempt at flirting in a lifetime.

We're even more appalled when people claim he flirted with Lae'zel (who he briefly teased and later implied he wasn't actually interested in, when she asked him why he hasn't tried to "bed" her yet) or Karlach (he seems to sympathize with her quite a bit due to their shared slavery trauma, offering to show her the Upper City when she implies she's never been – didn't come off as sexual at all, honestly).

If anything, his comments towards Wyll sound way more sexually-charged, going as far as to say he was the man Astarion dreamed to marry when he was younger.

And we know Wyll is the furthest thing from his current type, given his approval options.

A history of successfully, and famously, hitting on men coupled with overly-friendly, borderline exuberant interactions with women... wonder what subculture that reminds us of!

Hint: it's gay male subculture.

We also tend to forget Astarion's perception  of his own sexuality is extremely screwed, because centuries of repeated sexual abuse will do that to you.

He's canonically riding that post-escape wave of mania and engaging in sexually risky behaviour (e.g the foursome with the drow twins at Sharess' Caress) + putting on an "open minded, experienced lover" façade (e.g justifying the MC upon being cheated on with Mizora and allowing them to sleep with Halsin to make up for the lack of sex in their relationship).

To put it gracefully: he fucks his way in and out of situations, exchanging sex with favours/protection is second nature to him at this point.

He's forcefully trying to reclaim his sexuality, biting off more than he can chew and re-traumatizing himself in the attempt: what's a little flirting with women to make sure his new allies are on his good side, after all? He surely can't be violated more than he already has been.

What's the damage in agreeing to sleep with a heart-broken Lae'zel at the tiefling party, at this point? It's the perfect manipulation, laid out for him on a silver plate. Also, we know from his confession scene that Astarion's first sexual proposal to Tav was indeed a form of manipulation: he admits that the initial reason why he pursued the player was to seek the protection of someone stronger and to make sure that the party won't kick him out. So, in the instance of Tav refusing him (the only option that triggers the scene between him and Lae'zel), it's only logical that he'd run in the arms of the next best thing, which in this case is Lae'zel, a great warrior that's eager to find a partner for the night.

And when she claims he performed flawlessly? That's the same thing the narrator tells you during the Sharess' Caress scene, only to reveal he's dissociated into oblivion.

Of course Larian didn't want to restrict players' options by locking certain romances, but we’re sorry to announce… he's still not beating the allegations.

¹ Being visibly gay = not being perceived as a threat by women, thus taking liberties such as sarcastic "flirting" towards female acquaintances.

Karlach refers to him as "fancy-boy" if she's in your party while recruiting him, so he is perceived that way in canon.

We can also see Gale being uncomfortable around him at first, especially when Astarion tries to strike up a conversation through party banter, for seemingly no reason – which seems like a pretty clear hint to us.

[nitewrighter]

Looking at the Roadmap of hero releases, do you think certain characters would have been better off if things were a little different? For example, Would Pharah as character would be more fleshed out if Ana wasn't the first additional hero or if Baptiste and his story was included much early with the original roster?

Honestly I seriously wonder what happened what the hell happened with Blizzard and Pharah because like... in terms of the fundamentals of her character, you have someone who was kind of poised to be a central figure in Overwatch's lore: She's got a whole "legacy" thing with Ana, she says she's dreamed of joining Overwatch ever since she was a little girl so you know of course she'd be among the first to answer Winston's recall, she sort of represents the law enforcement that filled the gap during Overwatch's absence, so that puts her character in opposition with Jack-as-a-Vigilante and she's kind of the "Lawful good" contrast to Winston and Tracer's "Neutral Good." There were all these threads of potential but Blizzard didn't pick up on any one.

Even when they brought Ana in, everyone was like, "Ah, okay! This is where Pharah's story starts picking up!" But... it didn't. Ana got two comics, all about her and the original strike team. And like... the really painful part of that is that it honestly took away Pharah's centering in that narrative--like, there was so much mystery about Ana and I thought Pharah's whole story would be Pharah solving the mystery of what happened to the old Overwatch while trying to track down her mother, but... no. Pharah is lucky to get mentioned once in any of Ana's media. The in-game interactions and the lore between Ana and Pharah are weirdly conflicting--Pharah reflects warmly on Ana in her 'Mission Statement' comic, but then you have all this complexity and resentment in Pharah with regards to Ana when Ana isn't present on the team, but then once Ana was dropped in it's all "Mum, You're amazing!" And then in the short story's Ana's like, "Yeah Fareeha never answered my letter." So like... what the fuck are we dealing with here, Blizzard?

Okay I got sidetracked with the Pharah thing but... I do think Ana was very much a necessary first addition to the game because she carries so much lore and backstory and complexity with her. Her addition to the game was basically Blizzard being able to yell, "Hey, this isn't just a shoot 'em up Clusterfuck! We are totally going somewhere with this!" And for a while they were! And Ana added a cool amount of complexity to the Reaper/Soldier 76 dynamic! But then Blizzard started putting more effort into bolstering up the Overwatch League and into New Hero releases to keep focus on gameplay--the new hero releases did add to the world's story, but Blizzard also super dropped off on the comics, and like, to an extent that makes sense--there's not a lot of profit in a comic you're providing for free, and they probably looked at time, money, and effort going into the comics and said, "Hey, these comics aren't bringing in new players, let's not bother with them" ("Oh, you mean the comic about FUCKING BASTION AND TORBJÖRN you released didn't bring in new players??? Color me shocked!!") but those comics were basically the most actual canon lore happening so when they dropped off... it felt stagnating. BLizzard course-corrected, started doing the mini-skin events with the short stories, and honestly I think that's a solid approach because it engages you with the plot both in and out of the game, but as far as how hero releases go...

I don't think one can really say if tweaking the hero releases would really affect your intake of the plot or overall interest in the game, because ultimately the new hero releases are more about gameplay than developing the plot. 

Certainly, some hero releases had way stronger impacts on the lore than others, but when new hero releases, in relation to actually developing the overarching story of the world, feels more like a stopgap against stagnation than actual plot advancement, then the focus shouldn't be, "What hero should we release when" it should be, "Okay what areas of the story have we completely dropped the ball on." (All of them. Blizzard has dropped all the balls.)