#honestly i did not think that I would've ever come back to this fandom but alas

[faceeeeee]

Somebody sedate me

[galacticlamps]

actually ascension needs its own post since that's the one with the most details to speculate over and im starved for soho talk so i will talk to myself if need be

First the cover again, because I kinda can't get over it:

my only thing is that I had been hoping we might get Lizbeth on a cover again since she's never been on one of the boxsets before, despite being the 2nd person credited on all 4 of them (even if that's just alphabetical, still, she's the only one of the four main characters who never makes the cover)

But letting that go...

I know we already kinda knew the brief for this one but damn I didn't expect it to go quite this hard. Maybe that's just because the Parasite & Ashenden covers were (comparatively) similarish to each other and I was so pleased with Unbegotten's, and then got so used to it as the placeholder for Ascension while they kept postponing it, I wasn't expecting anything this colorful or detailed or with what I can't help but register as Fun New Outfits even though these are still like, pretty damn basic as far as costumes go. Still, it's a different vibe from everyone in suits and trenchcoats on every cover, technically. (Oh the woes of being an audio fan such that two characters owning sweaters actually does qualify as new information)

On top of just being visually delightful though, I know we knew religion was gonna be a fairly big part of this one, but I didn't actually expect to get quite this much of it - though I'm glad of it for a number of reasons. The BF twitter already made the ineffable joke so I don't have to, but also yeah I did very much spend all of season 2 episode 4 of good omens half convinced Samuel Barnett & Dervla Kirwan were about to pop up around any given corner (if you will go around being gay supernatural and horrible at your messy bureaucratic jobs in midcentury soho then I'm sorry, this is where my brain's gonna go) - so, fuel to that fire. But in terms of actual important things, at least one of my Soho wishes looks to be being granted because we have a Rev Edward Folgate on the cast list, which must mean we're finally meeting Norton's father, even if his mother & brother don't appear (which they could, technically, I've definitely seen BF not list all the doublings on their cast tabs before). Religion, domesticity, and the nuclear family are all things that absolutely fascinate me when it comes to Norton's character, so getting any amount of story involving his father & his church is something I've been actively hoping for for a long time now.

(I will say I'm a tiny bit bummed Saffron Coomber isn't on the cast list to play Mia again, but I kinda figured she wasn't going to be since Greg Austin's Armitage, who's making his first recurring appearance after originating in Unbegotten, was listed ever since the boxset was announced - presumably if she was also returning, that would've been handled in the same way. But since Unbegotten ended with Lizbeth and Mia going on a date, I still held out hope. Who knows though, maybe things did go well for them and Lizbeth just has a better work/life balance than Norton so she can date someone without them getting dragged into every scifi plot. I know that's not a very common accomplishment for any Torchwood agent, but a gal can hope)

At this point I know I'm completely in the realm of speculation & even wishful thinking, but I'm really really hoping we get some more clues as to Norton's overall timeline in this one, and I have a feeling that even if there's nothing as direct as dates given, the events of a plot like this one are going to heavily influence my personal interpretation of it.

To say that life & death are major themes for the soho crew feels wildly reductive, but even by Torchwood's standards and taking into account its origins as a piece of media with Jack Harkness & his newfound immortality at the heart of it, the living/dead status of this bunch has always been fantastically up in the air to me. Obviously Ghost Mission introduced Norton as kind of a ghost before revealing more obvious ghostly characters later on to which the title might have been referring, but his being from the past did beg the question of his survival into Torchwood's present era all the same, which Outbreak later alludes to much more directly, and his habit of showing up via hologram in multiple stories only further obfuscates any certainty we might have about where & when he definitely can be said to be alive and well. Then you've got Lizbeth and Gideon both being effectively 'brought back to life' via paradoxes that prevented them ever having died in the first place. Again, they are very very far from being the only Torcwhood characters this happens to (for a sprawling EU, it's really rather impressive how often & in how many different ways Torchwood as a whole manages to circle back to being about like. chaotic undead queers at the end of every day. though I suppose that consistency is part of why I keep falling in love with its different iterations again and again). That's without even getting into the question of Norton's dubious fate in God Among Us - and I say dubious because I know some people take that to be his ultimate death, but I personally think that reading something as vague as that as having any kind of finality rather goes against the spirit of this whole world/series, not just because I want him to live. (There are obviously other ways to make him survive/reappear, but I don't see this as a River Song scenario where we can safely assume one of his earlier-released adventures had to happen at the end of his personal timeline). But wherever God Among Us falls for him, he does very much meet God in it - or at least, a god, since the sentinel in Unbegotten is also described as a god of sorts, and even if he doesn't ultimately have the status of the god Jacqueline King is playing there, Unbegotten is still full to bursting with ghosts/undead/came back wrong/echo characters to continue underscoring that life/afterlife theme.

So all things considered, even allowing for the fact that we know Norton's twin hobbies are lying about himself and abusing time travel to suit his own ends/ever-shifting alliances, I find it difficult to believe we could get through a whole 6-part boxset about religion & death without something providing some kind of compelling evidence about where this adventure fits in among his other run-ins with apocalypses and gods and ghosts and dead-but-still-here characters/creatures, so I'm very much looking forward to any further exploration on that front.

And lastly, and least intellectually, I really want to know what the hell 20th-century Torchwood's obsession with Reginalds is. Reading through the cast list, I had to do two separate doubletakes over the character 'Sir Reginald Peebles' - firstly, because I had Reginald Rigsby on the brain, this being Soho (and the other Troughton brother being so active on BF's releases for this same month) - and secondly, because reading this in conjunction with the announcement for the July monthly adventure in which the new main Torchwood guy of the 20s is apparently called Sir Reginald Dellafield, there was a brief moment where I took that monthly release to be a tie-in with Ascension. I don't expect it to be, but damn. was it really so popular a name?

anyways, catch me thinking about those stained glass windows for the next couple months I guess (and knowing Torchwood Soho, for a long long time after it comes out as well lol)

[pikahlua]

Even if your interpretation of the villains ending is correct i believe it is not unrealistic to think that Hori could have done a better job at it? I mean we never saw what happened to Togas body but she died according to Uraraka and Dabi was put inside the alien pod thingy only to die too later for Endeavors character storylines sake. He did apologize to Shouto i guess but no one seemed to have heard him. Shigaraki was the only one with some actual ending for his character arc i think.

I don't think I ever said anything about MHA's ending being exempt from criticism or that it was written perfectly. Pretty sure I made space for the fact that the writing suffered from several setbacks. But that's not what I was responding to. And I do think it's a little unfair to be so hard on Horikoshi when we all know he's been breaking his back for ten years and has been on an absolutely insane writing schedule. Could it have been better? Yeah, it could have. But most things in general could have. Am I personally offended Horikoshi had to take some shortcuts at the end? No. I'm just mildly disappointed with some of the final product, but I still received the message he was trying to convey and enjoyed things overall, and I think Horikoshi did a much better job than a lot of people have in his same situation, and he deserves praise for it.

Now, do I agree the writing suffered in the same ways you seem to think? I don't know. I personally don't see what knowing what happened to Toga's body would've achieved (honestly it would've seemed like a morbid fascination and objectification for it to be depicted in-frame more than it had been, and I'm sure the internet fandom would've jumped all over that--plus this way her ending is open-ended enough for her to come back to life in fanfic should someone wish to write such a thing). I don't see why you would say Dabi died for Endeavor's character? If anything, he died for Shouto's character. But I also don't see how you can say that when Dabi spent so much of his on-screen time devoted to his own destruction and pretty blatantly toward the end there. It was a key part of his story--his purposeful march towards his chosen fate and how right at the end he regretted it and was granted reprieve to tie up loose ends. And what do you mean no one heard his apology? We have no reason to believe that when everyone heard everything else he said, and we're not shown anyone else in the room somehow missing that. But even if they did, Shouto's the only one who needs to hear it anyways, and if he didn't hear it I'm sure he knows it inside. I don't believe Horikoshi needs to depict absolutely every second of a moment for us to know it happened and for it to be good writing. Implication is a powerful art in writing, and the open-ended nature of the epilogue gives us permission to assume the best when we want to know how something turned out.

[tulipe-rose]

Day 2 of me backing up my platonic skk agenda: (long post ahead)

It would be pretty hard to convince people with my point of view on this one, I almost gave up lmao, but I'm relentless when it comes to proving myself as right so I'm putting this out there ✊🏼 I'm not expecting many to agree lol

We all know, and love/hate/have complicated/no feelings for Beast!Dazai, right? I won't be focusing on him either way since he's too unstable/not really focused or have the time for love atm, so any romantic emotions would've been dispelled way too early on due to his unique situation. (Honestly it's less 'dispellled' and more suppressed until supposedly numb)

At least I'm sure we all love Beast!Chūya. What separates between him, and his canon self is how outwardly protective Chūya is of Dazai, but it isn't exactly out of nowhere. A lot of people in the fandom just think of it being the result of Soukoku spending more time together, which isn't far removed from what I believe, but not exactly it either.

I believe that the key reason why Chūya is like this is because of Oda's absence.

Oda was such an important part of Dazai's life, he treated him like the child he was, while upholding the appropriate boundaries due to the drastic difference in their positions, and eventually gave him a purpose to keep going. Oda was arguably the older brother Dazai could've had if it weren't for the circumstances, Oda's untimely death, and the Port Mafia's tight hierarchy system.

In this lifetime, Oda wasn't present, or more precisely, Dazai didn't give him the chance to be present, which ultimately led to Dazai being much more withdrawn, outwardly sadistic, yet inwardly vacant, his self proclaimed apathetic self ever present. Chūya witnessed his steady decline in both health, and mentality since Dazai returned from that mission; the day I picked up Dazai never happened as in canon, and Oda never knew Dazai beyond his facial features until their reunion.

Oda isn't there, so Chūya had to make sure that Dazai's self destructive behaviour didn't destroy him, subconsciously looking out for him more, and paying more attention to him by the day, but disguising it behind threats, and insults; It's rightful with how Dazai acts to be honest.

He was there during the time where Dazai rose to the Boss position, and it must've been paranoia inducing for Chūya, not because Dazai can't protect himself from the assassins, (that man will not die unless he allows you to kill him) but because he could very much allow them to kill him if they were trying a painless approach such as poison; this is what probably made Chūya stand so closely to Dazai, he needed to be close by to deflect any incoming attacks, yet far enough for his ability to not be nullified, and even then I think he only resorted to such close proximity because of an incident that threatened Dazai's life too much. The following panel is what somewhat backs up what I've been blabbering about for the past sentence.

Chūya did it out of care, and worry for his partner, but was it ever romantic? Well, no opinion is ever right in such situations, but I'll humbly say that it feels somewhat familial-ish/closest+only friend-ish from Chūya's side. HEAR ME OUT ON THIS OKAY–

I feel like the way Chūya is reprimanding, and absolutely forbidding Dazai from this despite their positions could be interpreted as a concerned brother/friend yelling at his ignorant younger sibling/best friend. Chūya went on a rampage after Dazai's suicide, and wouldn't a brother or a friend do that too? Yes, a brother or a friend would, the proof being Chūya's course of action after finding out about the flags' death, and Verlaine's talk about them being brothers in inhumanity. (ik how different both situations are, but they both have people that Chūya cared for die, the former being more painful because of how long they knew each other, and because he tried so hard to prevent this from happening, yet it happened either way. This isn't the first time Chūya lost someone important to him, so it's bound to hurt a lot more.)

We didn't see enough of their current dynamic to rule out any familial/platonic relations, so I don't see why this wouldn't be valid. There could be hundreds of interpretations, but all of them sum up to Chūya caring about Dazai; it's up to you, and how you choose to view it.

Exasperated exhale I rest my case, and god the hate I might get for this simple opinion is on sight lmao-

[spacechild-glitchypix]

A lot of people are making a lot of public statements considering this is a situation that has pretty much nothing to do with them.

Look, I'm usually one to be pretty civil on conversations like this in public because I generally feel like people are less likely to listen when you're angry and shouting but I'm also acutely aware that none of you are really paying any attention. You're glossing over statements, you're intentionally reading Rose's statements and apologies in bad faith. If you aren't going to have the good graces to truly listen to either Kab or Rose then, respectfully, back away. You're not contributing anything positive to the conversation, you're talking in circles about points already being addressed and claiming they aren't because the answer doesn't suit your narrative

You can think Rose's comments made in the privacy of his own server are unprofessional until the cows come home but, frankly, his professionalism isn't any of your concern unless you're employing him. And, as for the biphobia comments, I'll speak as someone who was literally in those discord screenshots.

The stuff said in Marshie's post is true but, on a larger scale, this was a common discussion in this server. It wasn't started by Rose, it certainly didn't end with Rose, this was an entire server of queer people who were just sick of the heteronormative way some people would develop their MCs. And if you took that as a personal attack then I apologise but I can't help you with your own feelings. We never expected this to reach public eyes, none of us would've actually said this to a person's face about their own MCs. We're not bullies, our words were posted in a public setting without our permission, the fact you people seemed to have missed that (or even claimed that we apparently weren't private enough because somehow we were supposed to just know one of our members was leaking screenshots of our conversations which is a stance I have seen at least one person take) is honestly very telling.

No one should be expected to be 100% polite or civil in their own spaces (this also includes Rose's blog, before one of you fires blossoming-attorney's post at me), we're allowed to have areas where we can speak our own grievance with friends and be hyperbolic without having to worry about people taking our works out of that space to be put completely on blast to the public. Have none of you people ever complained about a boss before???

But more importantly than that, I just think the level of tone-policing and dogpiling and harassment being leveled at one of my friends over a racist smear campaign is fucking appalling. I don't care if you do not think this is racist because race wasn't brought up, if this wasn't racism then why is Rose the only person you people have thought to go after. Why is he the only person that was named, why did no one try to find anyone else in those screenshots.

This fandom is, quite frankly, a racist cesspit, the people who started this harassment campaign by publiclly posting this bullshit on a throwaway reddit account are scum, the people who pushed it without any sort of critical thinking should be deeply ashamed of themselves and every major artist in the community making a statement as to their stance on this whole ordeal needs to back off

This community has destroyed an incredibly important space where me and many others made a number of good friends for nearly a year over the adrenaline rush of jumping on a bandwagon. You've hurt one of my good friends and tried to get him fired from his job to further a racist smear campaign because you didn't like that he's an outspoken black person.

I hope you're fucking proud of yourselves

[aihoshiino]

Now that the series is ending and we'll never hear a word from Hikaru ever again, I'm very curious to know what Aka would say to describe Hikai's entire dynamics like towards each other, feelings, thoughts etc...even from Takahashi I'd like to know what Aka specifically told her for that one payphone scene.

I know we all already have figured it out (using whatever brainpower left after this shit storm that the latest chapters have brought) and tried to stitch together a cohesive outline(?) to everything hikai related, but hearing the official people speaking on it always adds a nice bonus to everything.

Any thoughts on this? Do you think everything we mostly came up with upto now are all correct and Aka had the same ideas back then? (I say back then because clearly idk tf he did to Hikaru in the recent chapters, Onk ended back at 155 for me.)

Honestly I'm so keen to know how Akasaka described the HKAI dynamic to Takahashi but also just kind of wtf he said to her in general? I'm not sure when she would have been doing her recording for episode 1 but it would have been around the same general timeframe we were getting the first Hikaru lore drops and appearances in the manga, so Akasaka would've at least had a broad idea of who he was supposed to be as a character... But at the same time, the Kamiki we get is SO inconsistent on the page, I think I'm kind of just desperate for some confirmation of wtf even the authorial intent was in that regard because I can't make head or tails of where it all ended up.

I do think for HKAI's dynamic specifically he had a pretty clear image in his mind, though, because a lot of what the fandom predicted and how he was broadly characterized even prior to the Movie Arc getting into the specifics was pretty on point for what ended up being in the manga. Obviously some of the granular details were off, but his deification of Ai, his sense of longing towards her even after her death, the idea that he was trying to preserve her legacy and that the relationship they had was probably extremely codependent were all takes that the fandom largely agreed with on both sides of the language barrier, at least in the spaces I was in.

I do also remember specifically predicting that they broke up over the pregnancy which I still feel quite proud of calling LOL. I remember getting really in my head about it when the Movie Arc was ongoing because the chronology got so penised so having that concretely confirmed and WHY it caused their breakup was nice to chew on during that stretch.

I think the only thing we were wrong about is that the fandom tended to make him a little more, like... proactively possessive/yandere for her and that her death had been a sort of "if I can't have you, I have to kill you" vibe. But the Kamiki we actually got comes across as way more fragile and hollow and even passive in a way I think is really fascinating.

That said. I DO really like yandere freak Kamiki and I'm so glad people still draw it in fandom. Every time someone posts HKAI fanart where Kamiki is looking at her with a facial expression that is at the exact midpoint of "brainmeltingly horny" and "ravenously hungry" my HP gets maxed out <3

[kaija-rayne-author]

13th review in series of Dragon Age Veilguard

98 steam hours logged, 84 game hours logged on final save, (the listing in the game itself) actual gameplay hours (-2 for time in CC) either 96 or 82... depending.

14 hour discrepancy between game logged hours and steam logged hours is likely how much trouble the game gave me in loading, reloading, glitching, and crashing. Do I get to charge Bioware for those lost hours of my life?

Obligatory disclaimer, feel free to skip it if you've read it.

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I'm on media blackout while I play this, so I'm only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Though., every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguard and everything else DA, I'm a Lore fiend.

My pithy pre-end sequence commentary.

Section 12 here.

END GAME SPOILERS

End game spoilers for BG3 too.

13 is my lucky number, but even that couldn't save it. I can't think of a single thing that can save this disaster of a game. I'll write a more professional wrap-up review post too, this is my reaction portion.

I've finished the final sequence of the game. Sat through the credits of probably a thousand people who worked on this piece of shit and still thought it releasable. AND saw the 'easter egg/future game possibility scene'. My kid said I got a hint of hope back in my eyes for about 10 seconds when that final scene popped up then the light faded again. Apparently the 'long slow horrified stare of death' was all over my face again.

Loading in, I dreaded everything I was about to see. Veilguard had already disappointed me in so many ways. I didn't have any hope the final sequence would be any better.

It wasn't as bad as I expected. It was worse. Yes. Honestly.

In all fairness (even if I really don't want to be fair right now) the last sequence does contain some of the best material in the game. If they'd actually written the rest of it with that kind of passion it probably would've been a better game. But that doesn't actually make it good. And how any average person makes it to the final sequence is beyond me. I'm stuck in bed. I've got an excuse.

So. I expected it to be long. That part didn't bother me that much. Most Dragon Age games have long final sequences.

The positive! Ummmm? Oh! I actually did get an intimate scene with Lucanis. His timing stinks but whatever. I did actually get one. I mean, it was one your aunt who's a nun probably wouldn't have found racey, but it exists! Dude. It's 2024, there's this cool toggle function you can click off if you don’t want nudity. It's a Mature rated game and I'm pretty sure most of us know what sex is. Give paying customers what they want!

My least favourite character died.

I called it on Solas killing Varric in the first scene. Interesting twist they did with that, though. Told y'all. I didn't want it to happen either, but the writing was on the wall in great big letters in drippy red paint from the second they fired Mary Kirby (Varric's writer.) In case you want more details than snark on that? Varric did indeed die when Solas stabbed him in the beginning. What you see throughout the game is Solas messing with Rook's mind because Solas needs Rook to work with him. Varric died before the story actually started. That last line of his 'take care of the team' told me. But I got taken in by the twist too. Bet that was a Weekes twist. 'It’s right in front of you the whole time.'

Elgar'nan made a WAY better final boss fight than Coryphyfish.

I did legitimately love watching Teia and Viago fight as crows. That was a really awesome section. (They're two of my favourite characters from Tevinter Nights.)

The bad.

There is no way for me to list it all. So here's the highlight reel.

Varric died.

They lifted almost the entire final battle sequence from BG3. The tentacle they have to climb to the fancy building in the sky. People falling and almost dying by tumbling down the tentacle, having to fight through said self-destructing fancy building in the sky... I know you can't copyright an idea. As an author, I understand and approve of that. But you should at least make the idea a wee bit unrecognizable as to where you lifted it from. Y'know?

Yay! We got to see Solas in wolfie form! He looks like a Chinese hairless crested dog on a really bad day. Like... really needs to go to the salon and have a bath day. I really wish I were joking.

Called it on the Solavellan ending. And NO. Trick Weekes. That DOES NOT give a suggestion of a Happy Fucking Ending. Read some fucking Romance. GOOD romance. (They do. And I'm being very mature by not calling out one of the authors they read who was one of the ones who harassed me off of Twitter. Oh. No. Two of them I've seen Trick mention as books they've read were involved in that. I guess looking at the people someone likes and respects is kinda indicative... isn't it?)

What's that say about me? I don't like very many people. I get along with people as best as my autistic/AuDHD ass can but I don't LIKE very many people at all. Nor do people tend to like me. I have no compunction about calling someone on bullshit. It makes people cranky, but I've had enough bullshit in my life. And I respect about the same amount of people as I like. If I can't respect you? I can't like you. (For anyone who does actually know me... I don't mean you. If I talk with you privately? Or even if I'm willing to? I both like and respect you. Or I wouldn't bother talking to you privately. I'm shit at reaching out. But if we've talked more than once in any form of privacy? You've made the list of my cranky ass.)

Am I a bitch? Probably. Live my life and see if you'd be any different.

No intimate scene for Solas and Inky. After ten years of waiting for Solavellans. After all the shitting on Solas we had to put up with in DAV (and OMFG there was soooo much!!) No actual happy ending. No intimate scene. Oh, but you do get a rather grody kiss between them because he's just been fighting and has blight all over his face. But yay? They get to kiss? With absolutely no passion at all. Maybe the passion of a bavarian cream pastry? A rotten one? Ew. Before dissolving into fade gook.

The entire time I spent in CC for my Inky to make her look like my player character from DAI? It didn't show up in the final sequence. And no way was I replaying that hellscape to see if it MIGHT could be coaxed into actually showing her the way I made her. I just got the stock body.

So... y'know the veil? That edge of reality that has been getting more and more holes in it throughout the entire history of the Dragon Age Franchise? The veil that the Lore has been pretty clear about it strangling both the magic and the life out of THEDAS? Not to mention everything the elves lost because of it? That veil?

It's all better now. Regardless of the Lore. Because Solas bound his life force to it. So instead of a quick bandage being pulled off to get rid of the veil that really does need to go (y'know if Bioware writers actually gave a rat's ass about the fucking lore of the world they're writing in)... Now it's there until Solas dies... which he can't really do easily being one of the first Elves. Sooooo by the very lore of the world they've crafted... THEDAS is now doomed to die.

Congrats Bioware. Well done. /s

Oh, but THAT doesn't matter. Because everything from the very beginning of DAO has been 'influenced' by 'the ones from across the sea'.

Pardon me while I gag.

The entirety of THEDAS and everything that's ever gone wrong with it is the fault of 'the foreigners from across the sea who wear clothing that's kiiiinda a lot like a Burqa.' Y'know... the black over gowns and veils Afghani women and some other Muslim folks wear?

Cause... uh... yeah. That's a GREAT idea. I legitimately cannot believe they went there. I just... I can't. Bioware hasn't ever really been great on the racism front but I'd hoped they'd gotten at least a little bit better.

Nooooope.

There were a couple of mentions of something like 'the gathering storm' in Taash's quests and how she's a weapon against them. HUGE spoiler I'm sure, but I'm pretty sure they want to make a game that deals with 'the foreign invaders who have been subtly influencing everything wearing black burqas and veils' as the next Dragon Age. Or maybe they'll call it a spin off since it has to be getting close to the end of the actual Dragon Age in the calendar.

I really hope I'm not the only one who can see the issues there. Not that I expect Bioware to. Honestly? I used to pray that DAV would save Bioware. I've liked them as a company for a while, but this is it for me. I'm done.

I might enjoy the first three DA games occasionally if I feel like it. But DAV does not exist for me. Anything they make going forward does not exist for me. That fucking bullshit about no one having had any free choices in the entire history of the games/books/comics etc.? AND the next game's bad guys looking like they wear burqas?

Bioware has made my boycott list. And I honestly hope they sink like the fucking Titanic for the shit they've pulled in DAV and that last fucking scene.

With that scene, they not only shit on many cultures who veil, they shit specifically on Afghani people who are required to wear that. Whether they want to or not.

They also, from a writing perspective, removed every single bit of agency from any of their previous characters. Making every single game pointless in the history of the world.

I'm just done. My boycott list is pretty long. I have these pesky standards. I'd already compromised them by continuing on with playing Bioware games regardless of their well known issues. But nope. Done. Finite. Time to cut the rope and watch it sink.

I would never, in a million years, recommend this game. On those two reasons alone. But also because it doesn't do anything a good CRPG (Computer Role Playing Game) is supposed to do very well.

It doesn't hold up the Dragon Age expectations for anyone who has played the games or enjoyed the lore. They basically shoved all the lore under the proverbial carpet. (Must have made a hell of a lump. That's a LOT of Lore. Trust me. I know. I've marinated myself in it.) On the surface it LOOKS like a CRPG. It has the elements of one... but so few of the elements are carried through that it's kinda shocking to me that they dared to advertise it as one. I mean... didn't someone tell them pissing off people by advertising something they aren't delivering is a bad idea?

It's full of easily fixable plot holes. Seriously, they'd be so easy to fix! They just didn't bother.

Where DAI was an intricately woven adult CRPG masterpiece? DAV is a poorly woven bedsheet with arm sized holes in it and lots and lots of stains. Made for kids.

CRPGs have a long history. Bioware and Dragon Age do too. DAO came out in 2009, Dragon Age 2 released in 2011, both were solid CRPGs. You felt like you were playing a role playing game. Bioware then released DAI in 2014. And in the Dragon Age series, DAI is the crown jewel.

It had everything a CRPG is supposed to have. It wasn’t perfect, no, but it's definitely the best of all 4 games for being what it's supposed to be.

CRPGs generally do not challenge the player as far as manual dexterity or physical response time. That's for action/fighting games. I'm not a professional level gamer. But gaming is my number one hobby and source of entertainment. I play on hard level for most games I play, if not ultra hard. I struggled with the shitty DAV fighting system. Dear gods, who had the brilliant idea of tying accumulation of skill points to how high your bond is with your companions? That's just... the kindest thing I can say is poorly thought out. Especially when you can only take two of them with you on missions. My not-a-fucking-rogue should never have had aggro. And they always did. I'm intimately acquainted with the inside the mouth animations on the dragons.

RPGs are supposed to have intricate, layered world building, a levelling system that makes your characters grow and develop as they progress through a well developed world, often they have fighting, puzzles, and other mechanics to spice things up. But there's some very specific things an RPG needs. And DAV has so few of them. They focussed so much on that shitty gods damned fighting system that had my not-a-fucking-rogue always plastered with the 'come eat me' aggro flag that they failed to deliver on so much else that an RPG needs to have. Especially a CRPG.

I think I heard someone on the dev team say they were quite happy with how the characters and romances came out and um. Well. Might I politely suggest learning how to write better? Cause they weren't. From both a professional and consumer level? They just weren't good.

The characters were dishwater boring with no character development possible. The romances were... not. I'll just leave it there.

Those are a few things I KNOW I'm good at. Just because my fans have told me often enough that I've almost internalized it by now. What? Characterization, writing intimate scenes, and writing romance. My writing voice is very love/hate like many authors. If you love my voice and read kinky romance, you'd probably like it. If you don't like my voice? No story I tell will satisfy you. But from an editorial and writing standpoint? The characters and romances in DAV needed so much work. As much as the plot.

I'm no stranger to trauma. And yes. I did it to myself. I needed to play the ending for myself and I wanted to see what the game was like. I feel traumatized. Abso-fucking-lutely traumatized.

If you're Solavellan and looking for reviews to tell you whether it's worth buying and playing? It. Is. Not. On any level.

Oh and you know those Steam Achievements you get? At the beginning they were like in the high 90s and 80s percentages. The last two I got were from the end game. 2.2% and 6.8%. Respectively. According to my kid (who usually knows more than I do about things like that) that means people stopped playing before they got there. (Or possibly just haven't gotten there yet. I did play it reasonably fast because of my current circumstances.)

I really wish I could say better things about this game. I wanted to love it as much as I loved the other three. As much as I've loved most Dragon Age material. Something about it just captured me. Until DAV.

More professional review to follow at some point.

If my review series has been helpful... and I really really hate to ask, but if it has been? My work of words is my family's only income. My partner is still recovering from a broken back, and I'm recovering from a pulmonary embolism. Money is so tight it squeaks. If you're not gonna buy the game anyway after reading my blather, a tip would surely be appreciated.

All my links are at the bottom of my website. And the tips button up top is set up too.

My response to breaking media blackout.

[synergysilhouette]

Hot take: I am SO TIRED of the pessimistic thief/conman trope and the poor execution of trying to make them sympathetic

I never found it really engaging or interesting--in the case of Tulio and Dimitri, it's not really explained why they are the way they are, and Sinbad and Flynn get the typical "poor kid ostacized and turned into a thief" backstory, none of which is given in anything more than brief detail. In fact:

NO ONE ever brings up the fact that even after Dimitri develops feelings for Anya and BEFORE he finds out she's Anastasia, he still involves her in the con, lying to her and willing to scam the dowager empress out of her money. He doesn't feel bad about lying to either of them; he only feels bad that he's been lying to Anya once he finds out she's really who he's been pawning her off as. She had every right to be mad at him, and I never see the fandom mention this.

Tulio is never given any type of backstory, nor is Chel, Miguel, or Tzekhal-Khan. No one gets any type of explanation for who they are or where they came from. It holds the movie back, imo. But honestly the reason I dislike Tulio is the reason I like Miguel; Miguel doesn't fall into the trope.

Sinbad's movie felt like it was full of rushed characterization, especially his romance with Marina. Plus he never comes off as charming or as clever as he's supposed to; he just comes off as kinda sleazy and a terrible friend--except at the very end because of Eris' test. She did that one to herself. He was willing to risk his friend dying simply because he thought his dad wouldn't allow it--which he was right about, but Proteus still wanted to risk it, regardless. I think we can all agree that Proteus deserved better.

Flynn feels so mature and jaded in contrast to the innocence of Rapunzel that he feels almost fatherly to her--I wouldn't be shocked if he was in his 30s. Their romance just didn't click until the end for me, and even before that, Flynn--like Sinbad and Tulio--is thrown into comical situations and doesn't come off as super charming. I feel like he would've been more endearing if his "Eugene" side was secretly a nerdy/emotional person who was hiding himself due to toxic masculinity or bullying--but I guess this is why I'm not hired to write movies. I'd have preferred his Bastion deleted concept.

[moltensmusings]

I've been warring over whether to say something because it's not like it's the entire fandom, but there are times where I've seen people hating on magnus archives female characters that honestly just feels like misogyny slipping into fandom spaces. Hating Gertrude Robinson because she sacrificed someone to save the world while giving passes for other characters who do fucked up stuff. She's a complex and layered character that I can understand disliking but the reason people hate her always feels like a "she hurt my baby boy so she sucks" boiling her down to some villain as if what she did wasn't a last resort.

Then there's Helen who I wasn't even aware became the distortion because I didn't actually see any content talking about her prior to getting into the show, and who gets far less content then Michael/is hated for (from what I've seen) a lot of the things both Michael and every other antagonist do. "She manipulates and takes victims" so does Michael. Like we have actual statements of Michael taking victims and playing with people for his own amusement. "She tries to kill the main cast" that's a running theme though. Even Peter Lukas tried to kill John and hurt Martin but I've only ever really seen love for him. He's a fandom Darling who gets way more attention than Helen despite her having more screentime.

I also saw a fair bit of antagonism towards Georgie when she's one of the most rational characters when it comes to putting her health and safety first if she's aware her efforts are wasted. I genuinely adore that she refused to destroy herself for John and didn't let Martin make her feel guilty for the decision. She's the person Melanie needed to for support and it works so well. I will say I feel like part of this antagonism goes back to "female character in the way of ship" energy that would've stuck around if she didn't date Melanie.

Again: I don't think the entire fandom is at fault for this. I still see a fair bit of love for female characters of TMA, but sometimes the way people hate the women in this fandom has such a distinct energy to it that I get really uncomfortable with the concept of engaging with some fans

[tio-trile]

came back here on tumblr after literal years just for gomens 2 stuff and i got a notif from you. I feel happy seeing your blog again,, so its so surprising for me that you disliked s2, purely just bc youre someone i consider as monumental to the entire fandom bc of your loyalty pre-TV era. so it's intriguing to know your thoughts abt the tv version.

i read your points and DAMN you reminded me of the stuff i didnt like back in s1 that I FORGOT bc so many years have passed since i watched + read the series. I forgot how much I loved bastard, asshole Aziraphale. TV him is characterized as 100% good, better than heaven dude which isn't bad.. and hes very fluffy and adorable. But i always liked the difference between that and crowley being a demon and yet nice. i always missed him calling him "my dear" too. If theyre gonna make them lovey dovey in TV, make him call him my dear damn it!!

As a book fan too, i personally loved s2. But reading your points made me realize it wasnt completely perfect so I respect your side. I do hope s3 turns out to be better than our expectations so you can tune back to it again. I just want you to have more content that you can enjoy even if it's completely new stuff. I understand the feeling so bad of having new stuff but being unable to enjoy it (a diff show for me). Makes you wonder what kind of plot he and Terry originally planned for all this fanservicey stuff to happen. I agree about the book part too, Crowley would never throw those around! The part with them meeting as angels, honestly I think it wouldve been better if they just didn't remember it so they wouldn't ruin their first meeting in the book. It would've been fine as a throwaway like "they met but don't remember."

With the finale,, hmmm I think TV!Azira's characterization def plays a part in why he did it. TV!him screams as someone who is still insecure about being an angel and losing his privileges. So he took the only opportunity he could to change heaven so he and Crowley could live in peace, after seeing Gabriel who is alr so powerful, be cast away after that decision. I'm curious though, how would you think book!him would think in this decision?? With an Armageddon 2 coming up again I can't imagine of anything else the two of them could do to fight it again w/o an influence in higher power.

Oh geez, I sure hope that nobody has notification on for my blog right now 😂 (or ever)...it'll be so annoying for them 🤣🤣 and honestly, I'm just some guy on the internet running a blog with no profit to gain from being "loyal" to a fandom, so I'm gonna truthfully share my opinions. And yeah like you said, it's possible to enjoy the book and the show at the same time, just taking into consideration that they are different media and characters. It's hard to imagine book!Aziraphale in this situation because there has been too many differences that led to this situation......and I just don't see book!Aziraphale in this situation, because to begin with, I don't think Gabriel would even go to him in times of trouble, lol. So let's say that Metatron directly went to him after everything had happened and Gabriel had already ran off and offered him the position (with an offer he can't refuse) -- I think he would have to accept on the surface, and then he would immediately go to Crowley to try to work their way out of it/figure out a way to keep the position but still slacks off all the time like he's always done 😂😂

[lovemyromance]

Do you think Sarah and BB not announcing the next book while the shipwar continues is intentional or not? I’ve seen both arguments and I lean toward not because if i’m correct Sarah doesn’t really get on social media and yes BB would most likely have a media team or someone to help Sarah with marketing but I also feel like the shipwar is mostly within the fandom and not something the average reader would know about and so it might just be “a few bad apples” to someone on a media team or something scrolling through tags not like a full blown issue and not just that but you do have to manually turn on timestamps on posts on tumblr and it’s not always obvious when a tiktok was posted and from experience towards the end of TOG while it wasn’t anything as bad as this with tiktok not being around/popular yet it was the same level of anger and hatred over ships on tumblr like it tends to cycle through toward the end of Sarah’s series where things are wrapping up and all the sudden the fandom is in flames for a while

Honestly I think SJM has a really shit PR/Media team. They have never done a really good job with promoting any of her books and other than the random book signing and instagram live here and there, they're really doing a poor job of capitalizing on the popularity of her books.

In regards to the ship war, I think it only really exists online. Most casual readers ship Elriel or Elucien, and do not have any stake of interest in what is endgame or not. Gwynriel isn't even something that ever comes up, let alone is considered.

I don't think festering the ship war is intentional, as I don't think BB even knows of its existence. Even if it did know, it probably wouldn't know how to use it to their advantage anyways (sorry not sorry). I think the only reason it's taken this long to get the next ACOTAR book out is because SJM was working on CC, her tv show thing (idk if it's even happening still), etc.

If they were trying to be intentional about the ship war, the recent articles that have been published would've hinted at that. But most articles only mentioned Elriel, referring to Lucien as just someone who is her mate who she does not speak to lmao. If you think back to the twilight craze, we allllll knew Bella was going to end up with Edward. But there was still such a big ship war and it was purely just marketing. We had celebrities out here putting #team Jacob on their Twitter bios, teenage girls with full Team Edward merch, and whatnot.

So yeah, long story short, the next ACOTAR is taking a while because SJM is the bottleneck here, not BB trying to prolong some toxic ship war

[neonbutchery]

You not seeing mystra as evil despite grooming someone just BC her victim is a man is uh a red flag ngl

okay i'm going to turn off anons for a while so this will be the last thing i'll say about this. if you do want to have a discussion about this, i'm open to having it as long as it's earnest (which judging from the tone of your message, isn't the case).

number one, the post about the evil bg3 character hairstyle was meant to be a joke. i know that saying "bro this is just a joke" is a crappy defence sometimes, but i never aimed for serious character analysis in a joke image i made in 20 minutes that came from me noticing a funny pattern.

number two: i haven't done the gale romance nor played through the gale origin. all i know about gale's story is what i've experienced through a tav that didn't romance him, so it's very likely i missed some of the content related to his story. that being said, i've seen both "mystra is evil" and "mystra isn't evil" thinkpieces, so i honestly didn't want to get into this discourse since i have zero to none knowledge about gale's wider backstory and mystra's wider dnd lore. if i had included mystra as a villain i would've probably gotten people contesting that, too, so i decided to just put her in a category that wasn't "100% maliciously evil villain". she absolutely did harm to gale, and i'm not denying that. i'm just not comfortable making a clear judgment on if she's irredeemably evil or not.

you want to go back to that image? fine. i included cazador and mizora, both of whom have male victims (astarion + all of the other male spawn, and wyll). mizora's abhorrent treatment of wyll is especially dismissed by the fandom as something that's not that serious anyways, too. are also you going to jump into the inboxes of every single person who's ever made "step on me mommy mizora" jokes and accuse them of also not caring about male victims?

finally, number three: i really don't appreciate the implication being that i condone abuse/grooming if it's directed towards men just because of a shitpost i made. i'm sorry, but you don't know nothing about me nor my personal life nor my relationships, and i don't think that making wider judgments on internet strangers based on a single meme about fictional characters from a fictional world is something that you should be doing. i can't tell you how to think, and if you're weirded out by my take (which, i reiterate, isn't even a serious character analysis) that's completely fine! feel free to mute me or block me or unfollow/unfriend me if you're one of my mutuals. i won't even hold it against you, since i know that everyone's triggers and squicks are different. but what i don't appreciate is you coming into my blog and accusing me of being a grooming apologist based on only one tumblr post that wasn't even about mystra's relationship with gale on the first place.

again: if you want to actually have a serious discussion about this, you can go off-anon and dm me. if you want to accuse me of something as heavy as being an actual abuse apologist, say it with your whole chest. have a nice night, afternoon, or morning, wherever you are.

[therealslimsanji]

I’m sorry for the incredibly long ask, but this is pretty much the only place I can voice my thoughts on the matter without getting attacked by those who now hate the OPLA cast!

I genuinely don’t understand how Taz, Iñaki, and Jacob are getting cancelled and sent death threats for what they’ve said (part of me feels like people have been ITCHING to cancel Jacob for something because he’s black)

Iñaki’s post was about the earthquake in Mexico and NOWHERE in Jacob’s post did it say anything that was pro-Israel! All Jacob said was “Just because someone is Jewish, doesn’t mean they support what the Israeli government is doing. Just because someone is Palestinian, doesn’t mean you should label them as a terrorist. This conflict is putting innocent lives at risk, so let’s continue to speak up against violence while also having compassion for both Palestinian and Jewish people!”

WANTING INNOCENT PEOPLE (no matter where they are from) TO NOT DIE ISN’T A BAD THING and I don’t get how people got “I support Israel and I’m pro-IDF” out of Jacob’s statement???

Now with Taz, he definitely could’ve handled the situation better after getting called out, but I’m not going to cancel him or wish death on him for simply sharing a link that supports THE INNOCENT CIVILIANS of both Palestine and Israel! The British Red Cross has been helping Palestine for years and I’ve heard that sometimes TBRC is the only way they can get more help! I wish Taz would’ve just deleted the link from his bio and not said anything because not everything you do needs an explanation or a Twitter post made about it. Sometimes, moving in silence is the best option. Or if he felt the need to post about it, he definitely should’ve worded it better, but the death threats being sent to him are uncalled for!

I’m sorry if this seems out of line, but I feel like some people are so hung up on rooting for one side that they don’t see those who need help on the other. I’m all for “Free Palestine”, but that doesn’t mean I want every single person from Israel to never ever get help and die right where they stand (now the ones participating in all the violence against Palestine and making fun of their suffering, they can choke)

People on Twitter labeling Taz, Iñaki, and Jacob as Zionists are REACHING! It’s like that “any Kpop star that watches Made in Abyss and anime in general is a pedophile” situation all over again! These keyboard warriors need to realize that words have meaning and those are two labels that someone could never come back from if this had spread to those outside of the OPLA fandom! Now if they were voicing their full support of the IDF, THEN WE’D HAVE A SERIOUS PROBLEM ON OUR HANDS, but all of this over Taz running a marathon for an organization and a badly worded tweet???

Also, I’ve seen so many people saying OPLA should be cancelled or they will boycott it from now on, but I bet this whole situation will blow over by next month (hopefully sooner if Taz puts the Twitter fingers away) and those same ones will be right there when a trailer for season 2 comes out!

Honestly I'm so mentally tired of this right now and can't form a coherent thought on the matter outside of what I've already said on other posts and what not. I'm just so incredibly disappointed with people. And thinking about them tryna come back to the OPLA Fandom and go back to being fans of the cast after the bullshit they pulled pisses me off. I know that's petty but idc at this point.

Taz has said himself that he tries to be the peacekeeper so I'm sure the tweet was meant to try and soothe things but he didn't accomplish that goal. I think if he had slept on it more then he would've been able to word things better. He reacted just like everyone else did.

But right now, I'm just so fed up with Twitter warriors who act all righteous online but probably don't actually do shit for a cause in real life.

[sapphire-weapon]

Intereshting… do you still think that way? I mean, you think people who write fanfiction are so detached from reality that is scary?

(Side note: I’m genuinely interested if you would’ve been a writer if you didn’t grow up w such fandom…idk prejudices?)

honestly, it's a relief for me that that stigma is dead in fandom, and modern fans can have fun in ways that I wasn't allowed to. so -- no, I don't think that self-shippers are detached from reality at all. if anything, I'm jealous.

but homie it's all good, you don't gotta worry about me. I got my own AO3. I've been writing fanfiction since I was 7.

I'm just paranoid about self-inserting (or being perceived as doing that).

so, here. would u like a snippet of an EagleOne fic that I started and have since abandoned involving Leon going to visit Ashley the night before her dad leaves office?

here u go, friend

-

Stopping just outside of her bedroom door, Leon closed his eyes and took another slow, steadying breath. He could feel his pulse beat at his temples and behind his eyes, and his hands in his pockets felt unsteady as the tips of his fingers tingled. Suddenly, it seemed as though the shoulders of his suit jacket were too tight, and the knot of his tie was overly constrictive at the hollow of his throat. In some ways, he almost felt like he was back in high school, trying to psych himself up to ask out the girl he liked.

It was stupid. Ridiculous, even. He was a grown-ass man now, and Ashley wasn't the cute girl in his Algebra II class. Ashley was just… Ashley. She'd already seen him bleeding and sweating and exhausted and covered in actual literal human shit. What was he so afraid of?

Opening his eyes and steeling his nerves, Leon raised his right hand and lightly rapped his knuckles against the heavy wood of her bedroom door.

At first, he was met with only silence. One full second passed without sound or movement. Then another. And then a third.

On that fourth beat, he heard some light shuffling from behind the door. And on the fifth, Ashley's voice finally called out, muffled and confused.

"Who is it?"

"Room service," Leon called back.

There was another extended pause then, followed by some more shuffling. A few seconds later, the door to her room swung open to reveal a very confused-looking Ashley, who practically had the words "what the fuck?" etched into the wrinkles of her furrowed brow. She clearly hadn't been expecting any visitors; her blonde hair — which was a bit longer than he remembered it being — was still damp from what Leon could only assume was a recent shower, and she was dressed only in a black band shirt and beige pajama shorts. If he hadn't known any better, Leon would've sworn he'd just knocked on the door of her college dorm room.

Within seconds, her expression switched from confusion to surprise, and she took a half-step back as the realization of what — or, rather, who — she was looking at seemed to finally sink in.

"Leon?" she asked breathlessly, her tone that of complete and utter disbelief.

He shoved both hands into his pockets and offered her a quiet, nervous, close-lipped smile. In truth, he didn't really know what to say to her. It wasn't as though he'd come here with a plan — or that he'd planned to come here at all.

"Hey," he offered simply. "Been a while."

It took her a moment to react, but when she finally did, her entire demeanor changed. Ashley's eyes lit up as a wide, genuine smile split her face. She nearly toppled over in her shock and excitement, with both shoulders jerking forward before she seemed to catch herself with a hand on her chest. It was as endearing a spectacle as Leon had ever seen, and he barely noticed the edges of his mouth tug further upwards into a more pronounced smile.

"Oh my god," she exclaimed.

Before all three words had even left her lips, she'd closed the distance between them, throwing her arms around Leon's shoulders and pulling him into a tight hug. And just like that, all of the anxiety and tension that'd been building up in him since President Graham's request vanished. A wave of relief came over him as her body crashed into his, and he suddenly had to wonder what he'd been so worried about in the first place. Chuckling a bit, he was quick to hug her back, and he even leaned down the slightest bit so that she wouldn't have to overextend her posture.

As they both settled into place, Leon couldn't help but notice just how well they fit together — how the contours of her body molded perfectly into his, as though she was the missing piece of a puzzle. It wasn't the first time he'd had this thought — this was something he'd felt all the way back at that very first time he'd caught her out of the window of the church in Spain, but back then, he'd eventually chalked it up to a combination of adrenaline and hyperfocus.

Neither were present here, and as the seconds ticked by in a hug that was going on much longer than it probably should have been, Leon was slightly alarmed at just how little he wanted to separate from her. He dragged his open palms down the length of her back in a gentle, comforting little motion, as he tried desperately to ignore how the sheer intimacy of her breath rolling against the side of his neck made him feel some type of way that he wasn't at all ready to acknowledge yet.

"I was scared I was never going to see you again," she whispered. Her voice was quiet and vulnerable, as though she'd just told him a secret that only he was ever meant to know.

Leon felt her words more than he heard them, and he felt himself wince in response. That horrible, oppressive guilt he'd felt earlier crept back into his awareness, slithering into the center of his chest and coiling around his heart. The weight of it was almost like an anchor, threatening to pull him down to the floor and leave him helplessly stranded there.

It was then that he finally broke the hug, but he didn't pull away from her completely. He kept his hands resting gingerly at her sides, and as she slid out from his embrace, her own palms came to settle on his biceps.

"Oh, come on," he said while putting on his best poker face. "You didn't really think I'd let you leave without saying goodbye, did you?"

A look of genuine unease spread across Ashley's delicate features, and her eyes shifted to the side, avoiding his gaze. After a second, she offered him a nervous, half-hearted smile and the weakest shrug he'd ever seen.

"Honestly?" she said. "At this point? … Yeah, kind of."

The sides of Leon's neck grew hot, and an embarrassed flush traveled up towards his ears. He'd never been good at reacting to people calling him out on his bullshit, and Ashley's close proximity to him made it even worse. He took a deep breath through his nose and dropped his head slightly as though to hang it in shame. The next time he spoke, his voice was quiet and gentle, as though he was returning the secret she'd told him earlier.

"I'm sorry, Ashley," he told her. "I didn't mean to disappear on you like that. It just… kind of happened that way."

"It's alright," she said in a tone that told him that it was anything but.

With that, she took a full step backwards, pulling away from him completely — though, her right hand stayed on his arm, traveling downwards until she was able to wrap her fingers around his wrist.

"Come on," she said. "Come inside. People will talk if they see us out here like this."

He nodded numbly, and she released her grip on him. Without a word, he followed her into her bedroom and quietly shut the door behind him.

[vamp-stamp-fics]

The Raven ball

Fandom: Wednesday (Netflix series)

Ship: Wenclair

Tags: friends (?) To lovers, fluff w/ slight angst, happy ending, Enid have a lesbian attack at the sight of Wednesday, jealous Enid

Summary: while thing forces Wednesday to take Tyler to the Raven ball to socialize, Enid thinks otherwise

Word count: 1316

A/n: I love this show sm, I swear if Netflix is queer baiting us which they probably are I'm emailing them a strongly worded complaint. Also some scenes in this fic obviously don't line up to the episode

Wednesday opened the door to reveal Tyler at her dorm. He held Flowers with a bright smile "I got the note you sent me" what note? "honestly it shocked me how endearing and sweet it was" "yes. It shocked me to. One moment please" she closed the door and glared at Thing "How could you make him think I could write something endearing and....sweet" she looked through her closet. Maybe I could try faking my death, it's not like it's something I haven't done before. Thing snapped his fingers to get Wednesdays attention. She turned to the black dress from the antique store "how'd you afford that?" Thing sighed to her in response. "Hm"

Her roommate Wednesday walking down the stairs, looking more beautiful then she'd ever realize. Enid thought Wednesday was quite attractive when they first meet but now seeing her here confirmed something Enid was contemplating since the two girls first meet:

Enid looked around for her date. He'd left just mere seconds ago! Where'd he gone? She heard whispers and awes of someone who had just entered the ball. She'd looked to see-

Enid took interest in Wednesday. She didn't know how she hadn't realized it before. Then again the way she felt with Wednesday was different from her other romantic interest. Ajax was attractive yes, but he didn't have that dark allure that Her roommate had. This attraction was stronger but hidden in the back of Enids mind. Like when the two were up on the balcony she had felt a certain way. Back then she thought the attraction was what all girls felt.

Sadly that awe came to an end when she noticed Tyler accompanying her. What the hell was he doing here? She thought Wednesday was stubborn on not having a relationship, she'd mention it to Enid one time how she loathed even the slight possibility of her having a partner so why was HE here with her? Enid realized she was getting frustrated and tried calming herself down. She walked over to them with a bright smile "Wednesday! I never thought you'd be here. What was the change of heart?"

"Believe me I didn't come here by will, if I did it would be a sign I've truly gone insane. Though I'm not surprised you're here" Wednesday eyed her in suspicion "I thought that gorgen dumped you. Who's your date? Or are you alone? Now that'd be the real surprise" Enid felt slightly hurt at Wednesday implying she'd gone to the dance alone. But brushed it off "oh he's around here somewhere"

Enid looked desperately In the crowd to find him, though a part of her hoped she didn't. Wednesday raised an eyebrow "is he invisible? How inconvenient, be harder to kill him if he breaks your heart" Enids felt attracted at the thought of Wednesday killing someone over her, even as morbid as it was. "Oh no no! He just went somewhere... probably taking a bathroom break" Wednesday replied with a "hm" and went to find Tyler. Enid walked to the punch bowl and drank 3 cups of punch. Hating the thought of Wednesday being with that normie. She watched as she saw Wednesday bumping into Xavier. After awhile she walked out to the sitting room.

"Xavier told me what you did" Tyler looked to Wednesday sitting next to him. He sighed "look Wednesday I wish I could lie my way out of this and tell you a reason why I did but to be honest, I can't. I don't know why I did it but after I realized how awful it was I felt terrible"

"Do you really think I'd stopped liking you for a lousy prank? The way Xavier told me about I would've done worse" Tyler smiled. "I knew I liked you for a reason" Oh. We're the feelings mutual? Wednesday didn't know. She thought over it. She somewhat tolerated his presence around her, and did he make a damn good cup of coffee, but Did she like Tyler? In that way? People confused her. How should she put it to him.

"I don't believe the feelings mutual" Wednesday deadpanned. Tyler turned towards her "huh?"

"Not in that way, I don't find interest in you in a romantic Sense but I do somewhat tolerate your presence" Tyler translated what she said to himself then repeated it back to her "so you're saying you don't want to date me but you more see me as a friend? Did I hit the mark?"

"Not exactly. I don't have friends but enemies and people I've decided not to poison in Thier sleep. Also I have a confession to make" Tyler snorted "And what's that?"

"I didn't write that note to you. Thing did, he was forcing me to socialize and thought you'd be the perfect date. He was sorely mistaken"

"Yeah I had a feeling someone else wrote it. Too sweet to be written from you. You'd rather be caught dead then doing that"

"Agreed" a pause. "So who is it?" Wednesday was confused though her face didn't show it "who's what?"

"The person you're interested in instead of me?"

"Do I really have to be romanticly interested in someone else if I'm not with you? Like I told myself in the beginning of my time here; I will not become my mother and find my "one true love" why is it a need for girls to find a romantic partner?" Tyler quickly defend himself "sorry that's not what I meant, you're right I shouldn't assume" The silence thickened between the two. "Though I'm might be contradicting myself, there might be ..... someone"

"Who?"

"Not telling you, but I do have some business to take care of with this person" Wednesday stood up ready to walk back into the ball. "Is it-" Tyler was going to ask if it was a certain boy but she interrupted him "it's not Xavier if that's what you're thinking" she walked out of the sitting room into the flashing light filled dance.

Enid accepted that her date completely dipped on her and wasn't coming back. She sighed, frustrated at the predicament. She watched as the rest of the school danced with each other as she sat at one of the tables. Enid took a sip of her drink.

"Enid" she nearly choked as the girl in black appeared out of nowhere. Putting her drink down Enid stood with Wednesday "Jesus Wednesday! You have a nact for appearing from nowhere"

"It's a hobby" Wednesday deadpanned. "I have something to tell you" "what? You killed your date already?" Enid joked.

"Don't change the subject" something told Enid this was serious and not Wednesdays usual morbid sarcasm. Enid leaned closer "so what is it?"

"I don't know what you did but you've done something. Maybe it's some form of dark arts you've casted on me"

"Huh?" Wednesday furrowed her eyebrows in irritation. "I'm trying to tell you I tolerate you a lot more than everyone else. It's probably because I've spent so much time in that dorm with you I've formed Stockholm syndrome" Enid realized what Wednesday was trying to say and smiled. "Wednesday are you trying to say you like me?"

The girl in black avoided her question and said instead "will you have this dance with me" Enid squealed and threw her self on Wednesday "oh yes! Yes I will!" Wednesday tensed up at the physical touch. "Sorry forgot you're not a hugger" Enid tried pulling away but Wednesday slowly (and awkwardly) wrapped her arms around Enid. Holy shit. Wednesday was hugging Enid. It somewhat surprised dark haired girl herself. Wednesday promised she wouldn't end up like her mother and fall for someone. Damn her mother for being right.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Hey CJ 👋 I hope you’re doing well in life.

I’m on the same page as you, when it comes to taking a step back from TWDG & the fandom. And, coming back to the games after sometime & seeing it in a different light. Some things that didn’t click with you back then, makes a bit more sense now.

Also, I’m curious.. what are thoughts on true colors? Steph & Ryan? 👀

Hello, my friend! 👋 Been a while! But yeah, I'm doing fine; a lot of the usual work with writing fic and blog posts in between.

Yeah it's funny to step away from a fandom you're so engrossed in for so long, like twdg was such a huge part of my life back in 2018-2020 with me running this blog, writing fic, and streaming. Now I'm just in a completely different headspace in general, and looking at the games now, they're still amazing but my reasonings are different. Also I talk about the comics a lot, which isn't something I would've guessed I'd be doing. If you go back to when they were announced, I made posts being like "yeeeeeah I dunno if I'm gonna read them :/" jokes on me. I read them multiple times, I need to make that useful haha.

As for LiS True Colors, I actually super loved it?? way more than I ever did the first LiS game?? though I think I might've loved it for the wrong reasons. I don't know, I haven't actually looked into what LiS fans thought of it compared to the other games, but for me it was a "perfect time, perfect place" game in the moment. To me the whole thing was nearly a perfect escapism game; the music is an A+, the entire town is gorgeous and covered in flowers and woods, Alex gets to live in a nice apartment for free [the true fantasy], there's a whole LARP campaign to play through, a flower festival where I've never been so conflicted on who to give a rose to, and overall just the coziest vibes. I swear, I spent most of the game just wandering around the town looking at all the flowers, it was great.

Like if Gabe didn't die and True Colors was just about Alex moving to this fantasy-like small town and working through her issues with the help of her powers, I would've been 100% on board. I didn't mind the mystery, though I totally guessed Jed would be the twist villain given the first episode immediately presents him as a hero who saved a bunch of people in the mines, I was like "Oh did he now... mmhmmm mmhmmm and he's Ryan's dad, oohhh he's gonna be this game's Jefferson-" except he was done better than Jefferson imo. He didn't turn into a cartoon character and his motivations behind the cover up were interesting. He didn't do it for the aesthetic like Jefferson did. And in the end I got everyone to side with me, except Charlotte because I told her to take the money so she wanted to speak out but couldn't, which was honestly fine with me like take their money, send Ethan to college, we'll stab Typhon just fine without your vocal support.

I liked most of the characters, except for Diane and Mac, though I reluctantly disliked Mac less by the end... Diane can suck an egg, though. I don't think I've ever wanted to throw a character out a window more than when Alex came back all bloodied with a bullet wound on her head as she exposed the truth and when she asks why no one's saying anything, Diane just goes, "We don't want to embarrass you" kjlkajdslkjalkjdl LADY DON'T PISS ME OFF

As for Ryan and Steph, I liked them both, trying to choose between them was absurdly difficult. It was like True Colors saw how easily I picked between Louis and Violet and took it as a challenge to create Ryan and Steph specifically to stump me. I mean, soft boy who loves nature, goes out of his way to be kind and helpful to those around him, has a slow build up to being emotionally available with someone he trusts, and has some daddy issues? A girl with pretty brown eyes who loves DnD and LARP, has a passion for music and will deflect with humor, who knows who she is and is eager to help those around her, and who isn't just another rehash of Chloe? They knew what they were doing; they dressed Steph up in as a witch after having Ryan act like a goof acting like enemy creatures, they were made for me.

Having done both routes, I do prefer Steph. I adore her and Alex together, but Alex and Ryan are super cute, too.

It's not a perfect game and there are issues in the writing but honestly, I don't care. I had a good time. I was engaged. I looked at every single flower and kissed a pretty girl so good that the world exploded. What a great game.