#i don't really feel like being fair right now so this is pretty negative

[nevertheless-moving]

Considering the amount of emotional and moral nuance he managed to muster up immediately post Guanyin temple (despite having a terrible week and zero good role models) AND considering his front row seat to the dissection of Jiang Wanyin and Wei Wuxian’s downfall, I think that in a time travel fix-it, Jin Ling would actually be pretty successful at brute forcing yunmeng family therapy.

I mean he'd probably cry, but even that would be good! Because 1) modeling negative male emotions beside anger, and 2) Oh shit that’s shije’s kid we made Shije’s son cry, fuck, fuck! Bam! Instant high ground! Also he has the most authority of any second gen character by virtue of the fact that he could pull “DO YOU WANT MY MOM TO DIE??? BECAUSE YOU TWO ACTING LIKE MORONS IS WHAT GOT MY MOM KILLED! NOW SIT DOWN AND SPIT OUT ALL YOUR FUCKING SECRETS OR MY MOM WILL DIE AND I’LL BREAK YOUR LEGS!!” It would work! Tell me it wouldn't work!

Not to mention once he gets a few sect leader years under his belt, he might be the best person to manage a fix-it, in general. He's got perspective. He's got political training. Others might get too caught up on the specifics of the Wen remnants or the Ying Tiger Tally or Vengeance against One Person or Another — Jin Ling is critiquing the basic structure of how Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng are living their lives and he's getting away with it.

He would even be good at dealing with Jin Guangyao, the slipperiest motherfucker in the timeline. Jin Ling's got as good a handle as anyone on his motivations, and he has sincere (if messy) affection for him, which would hit Guangyao right in his weak spot. Depending on your headcanons it may or may not be in vain, but he's got a real chance of getting the man to set some more modest and less destructive life goals.

Similarly, I think he'd do a pretty decent job at a harsh-but-fair critique of Xichen's neutrality and Mingue's rigidity and Huissang's delibrate uselessness, though getting them to listen would be more of a crapshoot.

All of this makes it especially funny how badly he would handle Wangxian.

For context: Wei Ying and Hunguang-jun are not just the gayest people Jin Ling has ever met, they are the gayest people he's ever HEARD of.

He wouldn't want to bring it up. He wouldn't mean to. He doesn't want to talk about it. But when he inevitably calls Wei Ying a slur only to be met with genuine bafflement? Jin Ling would completely lose his shit.

Because I don't think Wei Ying is going to get offended, or defensive, or have a response that his nephew could coherently mock. Wei Wuxian thinks 'hey these time traveling guys are actually pretty funny!' Him and Whom? Not even a serious topic of contention. You got me for a second, haha.

Jin Ling would break. Wei Ying eventually says something the effect of "I'm straight? Obviously?" and Jin Ling would nod once, start screaming, then climb across the table to strangle him.

It's — look. How do you fucking explain that all of the worst moments of your life were, in someway or another, characterized by Wei Wuxian and Lan Wanjii being FLAMBOYANTLY into one another.

The man who saved his life also killed his father and Jin Ling stabs him but it feels awful and — ok Lan Wanjii is cradling Wei Wuxian tenderly. Ok they're just going to go. They're leaving like that. Hunguang Jun was — is — was the Yiling Patriarch's widow, so that's another layer to add onto everything else. Hunguang-Jun is visibly expressing emotions with his face and voice and Jin Ling is going to go throw up now

Jin Ling's kidnapped at the burial mounds and everyone’s lost their spiritual energy and all his friends and family are going to die and — those two are smiling at eachother. They're telling inside jokes. They're holding hands.

Jin disciples (his own clans disciples) just shot at him and and Xiao-shushu really is what people sa— WEI YING SHOUTS ABOUT WANTING TO FUCK LAN WANJII

THEY ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF BEING KIDNAPPED AND HE DOES THIS

Jujiu is bleeding from the stomach and crying he's bleeding and crying his jujiu is doing that and Xiao-shushu caused it and his whole life is a lie and Hunguang Jun and the Yiling Patriarch are visibly groping in a corner.

And then they never stop groping again. Forever.

So yeah, I'm quite confident that if Jin Ling had to be even peripherally involved with coaching Wei Wuxian through a bisexual awakening and homoerotic courtship, he would explode. He would black out with rage. He'd make an honest and embarrassingly unsuccessful attempt at killing Lan Zhan. He would walk into a lotus pond and stay there until he drowned. He'd start heavy drinking. He'd punch a random passerby in the dick.

In conclusion, Need More Jin Ling Time Travel Fics

[penguwastaken]

Headmaster Naegi makes perfect sense (+ DR3 Makoto Analysis)

There's a lot of misunderstandings about the Danganronpa series, and if I had to pick an entry that's "the most misunderstood," I would easily say it's Danganronpa 3.

I went into the anime completely blind and I loved it, only to be shocked by the amount of hate it gets, most of which I think is undeserved. I've written plenty of posts about the anime so far clearing up a lot of misconceptions with it, but there's one I really wanted to talk about. That would of course be the ending.

The amount of backlash I've seen towards Makoto becoming the headmaster of Hope's Peak and rebuilding it was always so strange to me, because to me I couldn't think of a more perfect conclusion to his character. So I wanted to write about it and explain why I feel like this is a perfectly in character and satisfying conclusion.

What went wrong with Hope's Peak?

The usual reason give for why this ending is bad is something along the lines of "Hope's Peak is evil, why would you bring it back?"

This is a fair assessment, at least on the surface level. Starting with Danganronpa Zero and Danganronpa 2, Hope's Peak began to be portrayed in a more negative light by doing things like human experimentation, practically extorting kids by weaponizing their dreams, or covering up murders. However, this take lacks any nuance.

In the original Danganronpa, Hope's Peak is painted in a pretty positive light. The class is seen having fun in all of their pictures, enjoying themselves. When the tragedy hits, Jin, the current headmaster, takes responsibility and helps protect the students.

This paints a very different picture of Hope's Peak than what we'd see later. So what happened? What changed?

If you look back at those things I mentioned, the human experimentation, extorting kids, and covering up murders, all of that ties back to the Steering Committee.

"Not only that, it was the intent of the new Steering Committee members as well to strictlyconceal the incident and keep it under wraps." -Danganronpa Zero

Once Hope's Peak grew in size and the Steering Committee began to gain more power, more bad things started to happen. They introduced the Reserve Course to gather more funds for the experiments they just started doing and there was now an effort was to conceal their crimes.

Danganronpa 3 expanded on this by making it pretty clear that the people running Hope's Peak and the Steering Committee don't always see eye to eye. Jin gets pretty angry when he discovers the Steering Committee plans to sweep the most recent incident under the rug.

(Forgive the awful image quality LOL)

Hope's Peak wasn't always like this, it became this. This is a point that's even pretty consistently brought up in Danganronpa 3, with the main motivation of the Class 74 trio being to fix it.

There was a time when it nurtured true hope. People made friends and memories in Hope's Peak, to act like it was some pure evil entity kind of misses the point. In the end, what tainted Hope's Peak was their flawed view of Hope seeping into it and corrupting it until it became unrecognizable.

Kyosuke wanted to fix Hope's Peak, but eventually his view of Hope became warped as well. Kyosuke would never get to accomplish his dreams of fixing the school and becoming the headmaster, instead choosing to carry the burden of his crimes and pass down his dreams to someone else, someone whose views of Hope were strong and untainted...

Why Makoto?

I can't think of a better person to carry on Kyosuke's wishes than the Ultimate Hope himself. I would argue Makoto rebuilding Hope's Peak couldn't be any more in character.

Right off of the bat, Makoto is known to understand Hope better than anyone else. He's given the title of the Ultimate Hope, a title so fitting that even those at the Future Foundation acknowledge it. The entire series shows that Makoto understands "true hope" better than anyone else.

Makoto also has a history of wanting to help those he sees the good in. In Danganronpa IF, he sees good in Mukuro despite the horrible things she's done because he knew about the good in her. In Danganronpa 2, Makoto attempts to rehabilitate the Remnants of Despair because he knew they weren't always that way.

The obvious natural next step would be for Makoto to fix Hope's Peak, a school that used to embody his ideals, a school that brought him many memories and helped him meet many great people. Of course lots of bad came from Hope's Peak, but bad came from Mukuro and the Remnants of Despair, but that didn't stop Makoto from trying with them.

Makoto running Hope's Peak isn't even out of character. In Danganronpa 2, Makoto is behind the School Trip inside of the Neo World Program, already taking on a "teacher-like" role. Makoto's vision of the school trip is that they spend their time getting closer to each other and building true hope, which is exactly what Hope's Peak should be.

Heck, if I wanted to go even earlier than that, in the original Danganronpa during Kiyotaka's free time events, he comments on about how he "doesn't totally hate" being called a professor. And considering how the writers played the games before writing the anime to catch themselves up, I wouldn't even be surprised if this was intentional.

While not a branch head, Makoto even gets a job at Future Foundation in the branch of public relations. Makoto has pretty much every single qualification to be the headmaster of Hope's Peak and it's not something that comes out of nowhere.

Makoto's arc

While I'm at it, I should also go into Makoto's arc. At the start of the anime, Makoto acts confident. Makoto rejects Monokuma's game, not wanting to give in again and believing that nobody will kill each other this time.

However, as more people begin to die, Makoto's resolve begins to shake. He's reminded how his words were unable to save his classmates, and now he's unable to save the Future Foundation. He's the Ultimate Hope, so why can't he do it? Are his words truly hollow? Are they just worthless platitudes?

But over the course of the anime, Makoto is reminded that his words did have power. He's changed the lives of many and his hope is real. When he sees his friends fighting to protect him, or Komaru eagerly awaiting for him to rescue her, he begins to realize that his hope truly did inspire those around him

Kyoko's sacrifice and her trust in him to carry her hope to the end and end the killing game is the final push he needed. All doubts he had were gone, even despite the constant torment they faced, Makoto had all the proof he needed to know that his hope was true and he gained the confidence to finally face Kyosuke.

I've seen people say that Makoto's conflict with Kyosuke is never properly resolved or that Makoto's point of view on hope is never proven right, but this here is that proof. By carrying the hope people have placed in him, the hope created by his "platitudes," he was able to prove to Kyosuke that his hope was the true hope in the end.

Why does this matter?

Ultimately, Makoto's understanding of hope is what makes him worthy of continuing Hope's Peak. Makoto's values are what Hope's Peak needed, and with a his grasp on true hope, only Makoto could save Hope's Peak. This is what the entire series was building up to.

From a person who saved people with words to finding the good in otherwise horrible people, Makoto carrying the burden of hope and attempting to restore Hope's Peak's image is the perfect conclusion for his character.

Some may say "what if things go wrong in the future," and while there's that possibility, there's always going to be that possibility. There was a chance him trying to save Mukuro would fail, there was a chance him trying to save Class 77 would fail, but in the end he had hope and kept going anyways.

The reason I never understood why people didn't like this ending is because I always felt that this was the most natural continuation of his arc. Why wouldn't Makoto try to restore the symbol of hope, a former titan that brought many people together and once motivated the world? As headmaster, Makoto would be in the perfect position to continue to help the world and spread hope to future generations, even as a "normal" person.

So that's why Headmaster Naegi makes sense.

[the-fab-fox]

Okay. So Imma just come out and say it.

Y'all who read fanfic. You. Need. To. Start. Commenting. On. Fics.

I have been told I'm a great writer. I've been told I'm spot-on with characterization. I've been told I'm great at making readers feel and experience what the characters are feeling and experiencing. Been told it's like the reader is in the room as everything plays out.

However, when I see that my fics have upwards of 1K hits and maybe 100-300 comments and maybe 40-100 kudos and not even hitting triple digits in the bookmarks/subscriptions to a fic... Well, what would you think in my shoes?

Most likely, if you're like me, you're thinking all kinds of negative things (especially if you have mental illness/ADHD/neurodivergency of some kind). Stuff like... Oh, those other people are just being nice (not fair to them so I try not to think this way but negative self talk doesn't play nice with me).

Or I think... Okay so they checked it out. They had to click on the fic for it to even register the hit, right? So why don't I at the very least have more kudos? That's the easiest option on there (though it's like a like on here; if you are gonna leave kudos please also leave a comment), right? So what was wrong with my fic that I don't have more kudos at least.

But then I get on here and see so many comments and reblogs on FANART (still not enough for them either though lbr). THE POINT IS... If you read a fic. If you read it and liked it, you all really need to start commenting.

It doesn't even have to be long paragraphs or quoting or any of the ✨ big comments ✨ stuff. You could leave an emoji that be showing me what my fic or update got you feeling. You can do keyboard smash. If the author asks for it, you can leave constructive criticism (but only if the author has actively asked for it; if they haven't or given you permission, then don't). You can absolutely do big comment things too.

One of my favorite type of comments to get are the quoting ones. You just copy/paste and then say what you liked about it or what it made you feel or your reaction to it. Things like that. I love when my readers tell me their fave parts in an update. Or quote a line and tell me their thoughts and feels. Just yes.

We are far too advanced in this day and age and fanfiction and fandom are wholly more accepting than it used to be but for some reason, comments and reactions have become almost non-existent compared to when I was 15. And I was... Pretty cringy in my writing back then but I can admit that. But every chapter I'd get at least 8-10 comments. A chapter!

Even earlier in my Twst series I was getting A LOT more comments and with every fic it seems to have dropped significantly.

To me, to my brain, that tells me that my writing is suddenly sucky or I lost my talent or I'm not actually as great a writer as I was told because then why aren't more people commenting.

You might try to argue and say you're shy. Do you comment on order things? Do you tack onto a reblog to put out some addition to the original post? Do you chat with people in the fandom? Do you comment on fanart?

Then what makes a fanfic any different? (This is not including smut fics because I get but necessarily wanting it tied back to you. But if you open ao3 in a browser you aren't logged into ao3 on, you can (as long as the author has allowed it) post a comment anonymously. Yeah!)

You might say oh well I don't have time to comment right now. But you had time to read the fic? You had time to reblog that shit post? You had time to comment on the tags on a fanart you really loved? Thing is, unless you want to write a long one, comments do not take that long to leave. They really don't.

If you're worried the author doesn't want to hear from you—I'll stop you right there. The author ABSOLUTELY wants to hear from you.

So now is the time to stop making excuses to be lazy. You are reading really great fan literature for free. The least you can do as a thank you and to show support is to COMMENT. ON. THE. FIC.

And if you wanna really make an author's day and help support them and their work, REC the fic. REC the Author's work list. You can do that to friends you know would like it or even better, make a post about the fics and link your recs.

It's really not that hard and we should not have to beg. Realize the blessing you have that fics you would enjoy exist for free and do your part. COMMENT.

[yansimstorythatiwillnotworkon]

Osoro Shidesu

Name: Osoro Shidesu

Gender: Female

Class: 2-2

Club: Delinquent

Persona: Lovestruck (Violent)

Reputation:

Overall: -66

Liked: -100

Respected: -100

Feared: +100

Crush: Taro Yamada

Strength: Invincible

__

Osoro has always been, in a way, a bad influence on the delinquents. Not intentionally, though. In Genka's tape, she says that Osoro demonstrated that violence was the answer to her problems, but I'm pretty sure that not much else could have been done in that situation. Lord knows the headmaster wouldn't have done much if Osoro got her ass beat outside of the school.

During the incident, she defended herself, which is technically what you're supposed to do when you're being attacked. Although the way does vary. Osoro used violence as a means to defend herself because she didn't want an incident like this to happen again. Hopefully, by proving that she was stronger than this group of students, would prevent them from coming with whatever people they can gather and harming not just her, but the other students.

Despite her fair reason, Osoro did end up making a... unique mark on the school. Some students were scared of her, some students disapproved of her violent choices, but others, like the delinquents, looked up to her, and some students even went to her in hopes of protection in certain situations. Due to this, her being suspended did leave an awkward mark on Akademi for a time.

Umeji and the other delinquents obviously look up to Osoro, and I don't think his feelings vary much different from his comrades outside of being more loyal. If Umeji had to pick someone to enter a relationship with, I think he'd be more compatible with someone weaker. Umeji strives to be like Osoro because she's protective and won't allow any harm to come to herself or others. He wants to have someone to protect, too.

The whole reason the delinquents follow Osoro is because she had an answer to their problems. It wasn't the best, but it was all they were offered. The guidance counselor had failed them, the staff failed them, their peers failed them, and the headmaster always seemed ready to drop them. Even when they first began following her around, she didn't turn their back to them. She allowed them to follow her and conversed with them as much as she pleased. Even if it wasn't much, it was something to them, way more than they'd gotten from the school or their family. Even if Osoro wouldn't will it, it makes sense for them to be so defensive after her suspension. They have to keep her legacy alive somehow, right? So they did it the only way they knew how- violence.

Taro in this week is getting continuously exhausted of the events that have transpired around him. And somehow, that leads to him being comforted by the leader of a delinquent gang. Well, not intentionally comforted, but it leaves him with someone to talk to, someone who doesn't seem to judge him for the past incidents. I'd have to be doing a lot of work to make Osoro having feelings for Taro valid and vice versa. Considering we didn't get any legitimate information during the rival introduction video, I'll have to come up with some ideas myself. Of course, I could also go with so cheap childhood friend schmuck, and I'm sure it would be a pretty fun idea, but I might be able to come up with something more clever along the line. It's not like Osoro's going to fall in love with the Taro from week one. Too much has happened for him to be the same as then, so maybe she'll be shocked by a Taro we don't often see? We'll see.

Genka didn't want to suspend Osoro for such a small reason, but she really, truly needed the time to reform the delinquents. Now that she's back, Genka has to hope that this doesn't negatively affect whatever progress she's got with the delinquents. Osoro is by no means a bad person, she's just a terrible teacher. She does things by her own rules and doesn't rake responsibility for the influence she has on others until someone is in danger. That and her overconfidence is her only problem. I think that her incident causing her to be both feared and admired is something that could really lead her to believe that she's damn near unstoppable. Which could be a good chance for Ayano to strike.

[crackers4jenn]

Okay, now that it's the next day and my brain isn't just a swirling hormone cyclone of horny Looney Tunes noises I wanted to recap Misha's live show a little more thoroughly for my own memories, since you couldn't take photos or record.

*

I went with a friend who's only experience of the spn fandom is via me trauma dumping on her about it. She's seen some of the show, post-Nov 5th, but she didn't develop any sort of attachment or, you know, "mild liking" to it at all. She gave up several seasons in and declared her life all the better for it. Fair! An appropriate response, actually.

But because of this, she didn't really have an idea of what to expect from the show. Same here - I mean, I figured there was going to be a comedic element to it - but that was as specific as my understanding got. I've been watching spn con panels online for years and years, though, so I knew going in what Misha's on stage humor was like, what sort of jokes he'd probably tell. She went in blind, and she did have a fun time, but her first takeaway after was "that was.... interesting." 😂

Okay, so first of all! The venue was separate from the con, we got there a little before 7 when they were supposed to open the doors, with the show starting at 7:30. Instead, we got let in late, but most people seemed pretty chill about it. I will say, waiting in line wasn't my fave. It was very loud, we were right by the bar, there was music playing, everyone was using their Outside Voices. With my voice so hoarse, I could barely talk with my friend without her first going "What????" so I definitely wasn't making pals with anyone around. But I did overhear quite a few people who had shown up solo who were finding other people to talk to. So if you're going to a future show by yourself and you're worried about feeling anxious or awkward or lonely, don't! The fandom is friendly, they'll make you comfortable. Even with my standoff-looking ass being so quiet, people were still complimenting my hair (up in space buns) and socks (strawberries) and being generally really nice.

The first part of Misha's show was a little clunky. He came out, uttered the words "enormous cock" about his newborn self, and it took some time for him to find his pace. But after about, I don't know, ten minutes, he seemed less awkward and more comfortable being up there stared at by so many people.

He talked about his mom dressing him as a girl when he was young; painting his nails, growing his hair long, putting him in tights. How this meant that, as a child, he thought he was going to grow up to be a woman. He also talked about how this meant he was a bit of a freak in his blue collar North Eastern hometown, and he got beat up because of it.

He mentioned his mom's activism, in ways that both positively and negatively impacted him. There were quite a few tales of close calls with drugs, of a childhood sleeping in tents, of being poor, of moving constantly, of being encouraged to not live by societal rules. When he talked about his mom, there was always a lot of fondness, and at the end of the show, he was straight up tearing up reading a newspaper article about her.

He talked about getting a boner in his first sex scene, when he had a role on 24. His partner in the scene wrote "hi, Misha" on her pasties and that apparently did it for him. This story was obviously rife with "my dick is so big" jokes.

He also talked about sneaking into a Hollywood Oscar's party v. early on in his career (as in, before he had one) and mingling with the likes of Jude Law (who, of course, was at a urinal next to him admiring his enormous cock) and Brad Pitt, and Chloe Sevigny giving him her number.

He talked about his kids a bunch. His divorce was turned into a punchline or two. (But never directed at his ex-wife 💖) He brought up his new girlfriend, so I had to sit there and endure the "I bought a sex toy for my long distance lady that she mistook for a birthday present for her kid" story, which!!! I knew was coming, that's something I had heard about from previous shows. And lemme say: uncomfortable to read those words, even MORE uncomfortable to listen to him admit it aloud in front of an audience that was half cringing, half cackling.

There were a couple points where he forgot where he was going with the story he was telling, or where he kind of just spaced out, or he played up the awkwardness. And it was all very charming! He's just a charismatic guy, he's got a great stage presence. The event was like a one-man stage production slash autobiographical comedy show, and somehow him oscillating between poignant sincerity and dick humor really worked. Probably because of the aforementioned charisma. And also that he's smoking hot. I mean!! I went paragraphs upon paragraphs without saying it, so I feel I'm allowed one objectifying "awoooooga" at the end here.

Anyway, I mentioned that my friend's initial reaction to the show was "interesting" but she enjoyed herself too and laughed in shocked delight way more than she doubled over in secondhand embarrassment, so, win!!

Personally, I had a great time. I've been to a few spn conventions before and I don't really enjoy the "dance, puppet, dance!" atmosphere that sometimes happens, or how parasocial it feels, but even when Misha took off his overshirt early on and flashed some skin, no one really hooted and hollered. He did label us his therapists early on, though, so maybe we were all respecting our professional boundaries.

In conclusion: 10/10, would do it again!

[smokinsid]

Alright, alright, let's talk about SotO. Keep your chin up. This'll be long, but as fair as I can make it. It's not all negative, but it's not all positive either. My hope is to just be real about it. Feedback welcome. Blast me in reblogs if you don't agree, I'm genuinely eager for the conversation.

The kryptis are emotion. It stands to reason that this would be a story focused on emotion. How the commander feels about this or that. How the world reacts when you put your emotions into it. That's pretty cool, and after a decade of more and more personal-feeling dragonslaying, separating us from our friends in order to deep-dive into our Commander's own heart is a really cool move. I have to give credit to what was intended.

There's a sense the entire time of throttled execution that I want to talk about. The story is, at all times, not bold enough to deliver the emotional payload it wants. It's not big enough, bad enough- and it's not a question of stakes, either. I advocated for a lower-stakes jaunt into exciting but less apocalyptic territories at the end of EoD.

Eparch is not a threatening villain. The reveal that he lied about his army and manipulated the stakes was... contrary to what we saw in the map, in one hand- and in the other hand, a deception that undermined him as a threat right before approaching his throne.

I recall when he was first revealed wishing that he was just, physically bigger. Not like Cerus. Like Primordus. I wanted him to be speaking to us from that precipice at the arena and then suddenly loom into view, towering over the columns, taking up the horizon. If he's so full of the strength of others, let him grow huge from it, so I can feel the scope of what he's taken and feel small in his presence. I play Asura- at no point did I feel like I could not beat his skinny ass to a pulp with my own class abilities and absolutely no help.

His timer in the fight still running while he's in his Dipshit Cowardice Bubble did not impress me, and I still beat the clock with like 60% of the limit to spare.

He's weak, he's anonymous- he's revealed only to immediately clam back up in his tower while everyone else continues to just talk about him- and if I'm being perfectly honest, the best parallel for him is our old pal, Zhaitan.

Zhaitan loved to send bits of itself as far as it could reach, while the dragon itself remained in Arah. In some ways I liked that- it was the traditional dragon that hunted goats in the countryside and hoarded treasure, but with a necromancer's minion-mastery twist.

Now imagine falling short of Zhaitan, that much-reviled old lizard, in terms of story delivery. Sure, we fight Eparch toe to toe, but he's weak. If Lonely Tower had released at the beginning of SotO instead of now as a flashback, it might've helped us better understand and respect him as a threat, much like how we had the entire personal story past Claw Island to understand Zhaitan.

But we didn't. So to continue looking at this parallel, we see a relatively short, strained jaunt to Zhaitan, with a couple of hairpin turn deaths to sting us emotionally (they fall flat, alas), and suddenly a Big, Easy Fight against a Guy Who Sucks.

Do you remember the Asura woman in the personal story- if you let her spouse die, she never speaks to you again, even in later expansions? Remember Tybalt, Cieran, and Forgal? That stuff hurts good. This NPC won't talk to you because you let her down and broke her heart. These characters grew to love you in ways that, especially for the time, were uncommon for characters in MMOs. That's the kind of thing that this truncated expac didn't have time for.

And let's reflect on IBS while we're at it. I'm never going to stop laughing at it sharing an acronym with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, but it genuinely felt like the best they could do working in Bellevue, WA, in the midst of serious covid restrictions. They even went back and re-voiced a chapter that it wasn't safe to voice at the time, remember that? It spoke to an interest in doing their damnedest to deliver the best product they could. And it was good! The final fight couldn't be what they wanted it to be, and I'll always laugh at "so, this is Pact justice?" but it was compelling, at least.

We spend a lot of time in SotO standing still. Selecting a dialogue option and listening to NPCs read their lines. Now, I love Peitha and could listen to her talk all day, but so much of what you should know as the player in position of Wayfinder is stowed away in text-only books and collections. Maybe that's a budgetary constraint. Voice acting is expensive. I don't mind reading, personally- but I didn't, because I was already spending so much time standing around!

I'm not one of those people that thinks of my player character as a killing machine or some kind of mercenary being deployed by the higher echelons to do the practical job of killing a way to the boss. Sid is a radio DJ. Enid is a physicist. Rucks is a troubadour. These are conversational, curious characters who are absolutely invested in what's happening in the world around them.

But my tools as a player for engaging with that world are the ten buttons at the bottom of my screen. You have to challenge me to play the game using those buttons, in order to hook me in and invest me. Kick my ass! Make me fight back! That's part of a great story, and I play all three cruise control classes- Necro, Engi, and Warrior. I want you to make me break bars and use my control effects and feel like I'm under threat so that when I win, it feels like winning!

SotO taught my foul little chain-smoking radio gremlin how to dab. It let me unlock a skyscale the easy way. It made me feel gay things for a twelve foot tall woman made of meat and nightmares. For these things I'll always be grateful.

With strictly tertiary stakes- a secret war on the fringes of reality- expressed through random invasions not much different from the random invasions from Joko's boys, a pinched story with lots of standing around, and a truly pitiful, downright un-respectable asswipe of a villain that makes Zhaitan look like a properly-told story, I have to say that SotO only delivered on its emotional payload in the small places.

The relationships between members of the Ward. The way Peitha grows close to you and comes to rely on you so personally. The banter, more than the beats- and that's as much a problem as it is something to be proud of. Some games don't deliver on character personality. In World of Warcraft: Legion, you got Khadgar being smarmy and Illidan being awful and hilarious- but these are integrated into the most important story moments. When Illidan opens the way to Argus right in the middle of the fucking sky, he has the biggest shit-eating grin you've ever seen on his face, because he knows that it's funny. He knows that he just did the craziest shit that Khadgar's ever seen, and Khadgar's been dealing with demons since the Second War!

So why not have that in our cutscenes? Something as simple as coming to the throne room to threaten Eparch, and seeing Peitha curl her hand around your Wayfinder's shoulder. Isgarren is basically our Khadgar, and he's also a big piece of shit, and he gets some good lines reminiscent of "A Wizard appears exactly when he means to," but we can lean more into that- rather than ask everyone around us if Isgarren is coming, why not... have him fail us? Have him tell us that we can call on him, and then we do, and then have him tell us no.

It's not about how these characters harm and help each other, is what I'm driving at. It's how they harm us, on the other side of the computer screen. You, the player, should be provoked into an emotional response because it's motivating! And if you think being motivated isn't a big deal, I want you to consider that the thing that provokes Kryptis portals to higher intensities are items called motivations.

Arenanet has demonstrated a fluency in the language of emotion, and made a valiant attempt at getting inside our player character's heart. But my take is that in doing so, they left the actual player out of the equation.

I can read to my heart's content, and there's good stuff to read. But I can do that without the game, as everything's transcribed on the wiki. If you want me to be part of your world and tug at my heartstrings, you've gotta provoke me.

And if you can't do that with your main villain, you need a new main villain.

[the-path-to-redemption]

Thoughts on Blood Of Zeus Season 2: AKA, wow /neg.

Long Post Ahead. Seriously, it will be long.

I literally binged the entirety of Blood of Zeus Season 2 in one day, and I'm going to be honest, I was massively disappointed. While there are parts that I enjoyed in it, Season 1 was much better for me because of the potential it had for its characters, especially Heron. Season 2 left a pretty bad taste in my mouth for a lot of its characters though, as well as the conclusion as it felt rushed like Season 1. So let's start with the goods.

The Goods

It's expected, but the best part of this season was the Hades plot line. He's a great adversary for this season, with a believable and understandable reason to why he's doing everything that he's doing. He got screwed over by his family, and I know Poseidon's betrayal hurts him the most; they spent their childhood together in Kronos' stomach, I don't doubt that they were closer to each other than with Zeus, so when Poseidon knew that Hera and Zeus screwed his brother over and said nothing, letting Hades suffer the poison of living in the Underworld without the ability to leave it for long for centuries, I know it shattered their bond greatly.

We see that bitterness in Hades in his sequence with Seraphim, and personally, I think it's nice that he wanted to sink himself into a body of water when he was on the surface as well as him flying between sky and sea. Maybe in a way, he wanted to connect with his brothers again, and it does play into the themes of power ruining the good things in one's life that all gods suffers from. It's a good sequence, and Hades is a great character. His consistency is seen throughout the season, and it shines best when he's with his family.

I also like that he doesn't really know how to approach Seraphim initially, which makes sense. He's all business, and Seraphim is business, so there's that initial wall between them that's still there because of their dynamic as god and mortal, I like that. Seraphim isn't wrong for feeling the way he does, and it has to be a gap that the two must bridged, which they did! Hades took Persephone's advice to be a father to Seraphim, and while he's still rough around the edges due to their inherent dynamic, he still lets Seraphim do what he wants as long as they get to where they need to within the time limit. Yes, there is the whole "holding your lover's fate over your head" thing that he has over Seraphim, but arguably, Hades treated him the best out of all the gods that screwed with his life. It's about deals and fairness in the Underworld, so it makes sense why Hades wanted Seraphim to work for his deal. Again, they understand each other, and I did like their dynamic a lot.

Moving onto Seraphim, who continues to be the best character in the series. Like Hades, his reasons are understandable, especially now with more context to his rage and how it affected him. It sets him on this journey of self-reflection, and I did like that in the end, he still admits to Heron that he's the villain and will suffer the consequences, as long as someone he cares about finds peace. That's great grey morality right there, and it contrast him with Heron's journey very well.

For Heron, I was more conflicted with his story. I liked that he began to play into his justified anger at his divine family; he didn't asked to be born, yet his birth was the catalyst for the world almost ending and his father dead (not like Zeus is any better) when all he wanted to do was provide for his mother despite being outcast. And he barely had time to bond with his siblings before the war started, so I was excited to see the trailer opening with him conflicted with his current situation. And it somewhat delivered?

Him trying to leave was good, him not liking Hera's presence at the Funeral Games was good, him not taking Ares' shit was good, and him still doing good things for the people in his old poli yet not forgiving them for what they did to him was great. Heron is clearly still trying to process his parents' deaths and now his was coming, he's trying so hard to prevent his demise and finding some good in the situation and that's admirable to me, especially when he confessed to Elektra's grave that he can't forgive Seraphim (another great scene portraying the turbulent relationship between brothers, which reflects Hades' inability to forgive Zeus and Poseidon with Heron's active efforts to forgive Seraphim). I'm gonna fight on this hill, but Heron was actually good in the series; he's kind but not perfect, and he's trying his best to do the right thing even when the world scorn his existence, they just needed more time to let him work through his problems that they couldn't, because war.

Hera was also great to be honest. I wish that we have more time to see the disgraced queen of the heavens, because her showing her regrets of starting the second Gigantomachy and the death of Zeus was a great progress for her character. She's not without her pride, shown in Zeus' trial when she defended him and herself, but she is with remorse. It was nice seeing her stepping away from the Olympians' bullshit in the end after failing to convince them to not fight, which I appreciated. Kinda wish we saw her more this season, helping out Heron or at least trying to see past her hatred for him, but she's not the worst offender.

Oh no, I have gripes with several others.

The Bads:

Let's just get it out of the way; that is not fucking Ares bro. I was seething when I saw the writers make Ares, who is the only Olympian who does not fucking sexually assault people, be a creep towards Persephone. Yes, he was one of her suitors, but Ares in most interpretation does not push himself onto women. That's what makes him distinct from his father and brothers, but Season 2 further bastardize him by making him a fucking goober towards Heron instead of making their conflict with each other even have a hint of nuance in it.

In Season 1, Ares was the unstoppable force that Hera needed, and his loyalty to her makes sense. Zeus intimidates him in front of everyone during a competition, his own heir that he has with his wife, and clearly favors Heron over him. Ares has all the rights to forsake his father and the siblings who stood with him, but making him a purely spiteful bully coupled with being a coward is just so fucking lazy when it comes to any iteration of Ares. He's more than just war, he's also a loyal son, a protective father, and a complex character. I would've rather have the season be focus more on how the other heirs of Zeus views each other as both competition and siblings than just another fetch quest plot. I understand that there are time constraints, but the plot needed better planning and execution for the ideas they wanted to have.

What I'm saying is, sibling moments between the heirs of Zeus and how their relationship with him affected them. Make them more complex damn it, because yet again, Athena and Artemis barely have shit, Artemis the worst of the two.

Demeter.

Holy shit, I hated the route they took with her in the second act. I get it, she has beef with Hades. IT'S EXPECTED. But making her NUKE PEOPLE like The Last of Us is not the fucking way to make Hades more sympathetic. I already liked him, you didn't have to make her a complete bitch to accomplish it. How about you go more into her perspective of her daughter's choice, and have Persephone tell her off by reminding Demeter that she didn't even visit her grandchildren at all? How about you see their relationship finally changes with Zeus and Hera gone, instead of bastardizing Demeter and making Persephone a hostage at the end? Disservice to both of them.

My favorite interpretation of Demeter is still from the game Hades; she's capable of being cruel, she's capable of being spiteful, but she does love her daughter and grandchildren and puts in the efforts of seeing Persephone as her own person. She deserves at least that level of respect to her characterization.

Now, we're moving into the territory that I know I will get flamed for. Feel free to disagree, you're entitled to your opinion.

But Gorgo did not need to exist in the narrative.

Seraphim's lover did not need to exist in the narrative for his story to continue or for Hades to relates to him, especially when he already has someone else who can fulfill the purpose he needed for his plot line. His adopted mother.

You know, the woman who rescued him, raised him, protected him and was one of the people who his uncle murdered and sets him off on the journey of vengeance? That woman?

Nope, make another female character who is fridged for Seraphim's sake. For HIS plot. It doesn't matter that we have flashbacks to show the audience how good she was to him, she was fucking disrespected as hell because HER EXISTENCE IN THE SHOW WAS JUST TO MOTIVATE THE MAN IN HER LIFE. You can literally replaced her with the woman who raised Seraphim (who died in the forest. I doubt they gave her a proper burial.) and the story would still worked. I just feel bad for Gorgo.

Speaking of her death and fate, I might be missing some details. But if her fellow priestesses gathered up her remains to give her a pretty swanky grave site, why didn't they fucking pay the obols for Gorgo to pass? Because she didn't have a skull to put money on? That's wack! Put some fucking money in that poor girl's grave, what kind of bullshit is this? Literally her purpose was to serve Seraphim's character, making her the 3rd woman to do so after both of his mothers.

RIP Gorgo, you were a victim of writer's misogyny. I will pray for you. This past couple of years has been hell on me because of the amount of female characters I see with potential gets FUCKED over by their respective writers made me lose sleep. I barely got over Jill Warrick from FFVI and Yoshizawa from Persona 5 Royal, Gorgo was the third bullet to my brain.

And of course, Alexia and Kofi got shafted. Avios did the right thing and noped out before his ass got screwed over too. I wanted these four to have a FFXV style road trip goddamnit, why do ya'll do this.

The Conclusion

I did not like Season 2 at all. Season 1, while rushed, had a lot of potential that could've been explored in Season 2. And when I saw the trailers, I genuinely thought that we could've have a more melodramatic plot following the death of Zeus. The creator's video on the synopsis said that Season 2 was focusing on the relationship between the 3 brothers, but that was a fucking lie because Poseidon was nowhere to be seen after Zeus' trial. We didn't see him trying to keep up the pieces of the family for the sake of his brother's children or see him clash with Hades after that fall out. He just fucked off back into the ocean.

Hestia got one cool thing going on, and I liked seeing her grief after losing her little brother and watching the rest of her family tear each other apart. But like Athena and Artemis, she got shafted because she wasn't evil enough like Demeter. Lame as hell. They introduced Zagreus and Melinoe to make me hopeful, only to fucking Thanos snappeed those kids into oblivion after 5 minutes.

And the ending...

Narratively, it makes sense. And the cliffhanger makes sense. Heron's death happened because Hades cannot move on from his anger and forgive, something that Heron learned with his brother and even vouched for Seraphim, so they are screwed. But the lead up was so disappointing that I'm with Gaia on this. They should all blow up via Typhon.

That's all I can muster up to even word my displeasure towards this season right now. As always, feel free to disagree with me, that's cool. But personally, I'm gonna pretend that Season 2 does not exist.

[nellie-elizabeth]

The Legend of Vox Machina: To the Ends of the World (3x10)

Wow, okay, interesting!

Cons:

Do we think this is the most the show has ever deviated from the stream? I don't mean in the sense of anything particularly major happening that is just straight-up new for the show, but in the sense that this episode isn't... based on a cohesive set of incidents that played out on stream, it's really a lot that's totally new! I am putting this under "Cons" not because I think it's bad in and of itself, but I did want to mention that this season is making me realize, for better or for worse, that a fair percentage of my enjoyment of this show is the adaptation aspect, seeing how they chose to move things around and still hit all the important moments. Up until this season, even with all they did change, I never felt like a core morevment I really enjoyed from the stream got dropped entirely, even if it did move around. This episode makes me pretty trepidatious that the Ripley kill is going to the twins alone, and that will mark the first time a major moment I was looking forward to from the stream simply won't be in the show at all. But we shall see!

This episode did feel structurally a little weaker to me for another reason - it feels like the momentum coming off of the Thordak kill is just sort of ground to a halt as the group separates off into their little mini quests. Now instead of the group racing to find Raishan and figure out next moves, it seems that Keyleth is the only one who even cares about doing that? I get that Ripley needs to be dealt with and that they need to find a way to wake up Scanlan, but it felt like the urgency just fell out from under me as a viewer when Raishan vanished and the gang didn't immediately set to chasing her.

I understand Keyleth's anger and I don't blame her for it, but her plot thread in this episode was honestly pretty dissatisfying to me. There was a mismatch with the stakes and what we were seeing her go through. This trial to learn the Earth Ashari ritual wasn't really... grounded in a strengthening moment for who she is as a person, if that makes sense? I kind of wish the stakes had been "find a way to defeat Raishan" instead of just "find out where Raishan is." Scrying is some pretty basic D&D shit, and turning it into part of Keyleth's big growth arc felt a little... I don't know, uninspired, I guess? Seeing her struggle to connect with this new form of magic didn't really hit as hard for me as it did with the Fire Ashari, and I think a big part of that is that the whole gang wasn't there with her.

There's this overall tension in my brain, here, where I understand that part of the gift of adaptation is that the whole gang doesn't have to be together for the whole story - unlike a D&D campaign, where splitting the party rarely happens and for good reason. It didn't really bother me in season two when Grog, Scanlan, and Pike started off the Westrunn arc while Percy, Keyleth, and the twins were in the fey realm. But here it's hitting a little differently for me, and I think it's because of that lack of motivation/momentum thing I was talking about before. Vex and Vax sneaking off to deal with Ripley without even checking in with Grog and Pike... nobody worrying about where Keyleth has gone or even mentioning going to find her... I'm fine with a story about how the group is fractured right now and going through a tough moment, but it felt like they all just kind of shrugged their shoulders and wandered off, which felt slightly off as a vibe.

Pros:

That's more negative than I usually get with this show, but I think part of what I'm noticing is that this is an episode with a lot of setup and not a lot of payoff, and that's just part of creating a serialized viewing experience! So I can't knock it too hard for being a bit of a transitional episode.

While I might be a little iffy about Keyleth's story, I did like the way she verbalized her quest towards leadership here. She's wondering how she's ever going to lead her people if she couldn't even get Vox Machina in line. And then later when the council rejects her proposal, she comes back and stands firm, expressing that being a leader isn't about just following in other people's footsteps. Her mother's journey is not her own. I loved her standing up for herself and getting through to them in that moment!

Then we've got the Scanlan plot, where Grog and Pike are distressed to find that he's not waking up, but then Pike has a thought: maybe Kaylie is the way to get him back to the land of the living! Comedy points for Allura's very brief appearance in this episode as Pike's ride to go find her, that really made me chuckle. Much like with Keyleth's story, this is mostly setup: Pike goes and finds Kaylie and is going to bring her back to talk to Scanlan. We'll have to see how that plays out in episode eleven!

And then the twins - despite my fear about how the Ripley fight is going to go down, I really did love seeing them two of them as a dynamic duo again. This has been a very romance-focused arc of the show, which I love, but I did feel like some of the other relationships were lacking. The two of them work really well together, but Vex's grief for Percy is getting slightly in their way, as she's rushing ahead without Vax's help, nearly getting herself killed. I like them slipping into familiar rhythms but with added context that makes some things harder for them. Vax is pretty hot as a super sneaky rogue character. I feel like most of the time on this show we get to see him zip around and be sneaky, but he doesn't get to be like... cool and suave and in disguise. So I liked that aspect too!

I'm excited to watch episode eleven because I think it'll play out what we've started to see set up in this episode - will Keyleth find Raishan? Will Scanlan wake up? Will the twins win out over Ripley? And I think knowing the other half of these plot beats will help to solidify how I feel about this episode. In isolation, it's a bit of a dip in terms of my personal enjoyment, but that doesn't mean I'm not still thoroughly enjoying the season!

7.5/10

[asexual-society]

Hii hope you have a wonderful day today! -I wanted to ask something to make sure im not being mean but- is it possible for an Ace person to be Aphobic? Im in a fandom where there used to be a Ace character- he said he was- thing is, the show never said he was SexRepulsed- but fans took his lack of interest as such. believed he was in fact SexRepulsed. -that character is gone- now, there is yet another character (think, a reboot of the old one) believed to be Ace but this time, he seems to be ok with touch an even seems very friendly ~ with only one character. my ask is, if some people view this second version, as still Ace. but sex favorable, is that aphobic? is maybe having another view on this chracter that is questioning himself, a bad thing? because this is said a lot, that ppl is being aphobic for "refusing to accept he is sex repulsed" or "using the fact he is questioning himself to ship him" (mind you-most shipart is literally hand holding and being buddies) hope Im making sense- im so lost and I trust your blog to help me (because im also scared to be harrased for asking this inside that fandom)

Hey! (We got your other ask, I got half way through answering it and then forgot, so I will get to that soon I promise) Good to hear from you again :) I ended up going a little off topic here, but I hope I managed to fully answer this (if not, just send another one). Also get ready for some parentheses.

In answer to the first part of your question, yes ace people can be aphobic (many ace people can be arophobic, but also acephobic, both to people who share their own identity and others who have a different identity under the ace umbrella).

This is a pretty interesting question actually, because there is acephobia at play in the situation you're describing, but not necessarily in the way those people mean. It is NOT acephobic to have a sex favourable ace character, that's fine, because there are sex favourable aces out there and they're just as much a part of our community as those who are indifferent, averse, repulsed, or some sort of mixture. Sex favourable aces have just a much right to see themselves represented as sex averse aces, but unfortunately, there is so little asexual representation that it can feel like if one flavour of ace people are represented, that that representation has been taken away from aces of other flavours.

It's totally understandable to feel that way, but that doesn't mean those feelings are actually justified? And people get pretty negative reactions for complaining about any lack of rep, which can lead to bad feelings all round and just creates even more of a divide between us. We have to understand that our individual experiences not being represented is NOT the fault of other ace people. It's not fair to want one group to miss out on representation, just so another can get theirs. Additionally, it can be important for people who are questioning or struggling with their identity to work through that in their art, and explorations of things like touch aversion and touch starvation can be very nuanced because one person can experience both to very high degrees, and they each can even compound the other. And, a sex favourable asexual person will not feel the same way about sex as an allosexual person, and that is an equally nuanced and interesting (and fun) thing to be able to explore.

I don't know what media this ask is about, so I can't comment on specifics, but I can admit, I've been frustrated by this sort of thing in the past; it can be really hard to shake an instinct to push back when you feel like you're being treated unfairly, but sometimes we do have to step back and understand that everyone in our community feels the same way, we just want to see ourselves and to feel seen by others. As a person who is both aro and ace, and doesn't want to have sex or be in a romantic relationship, I don't feel represented by characters who are alloace in the way an alloace person does, or sex/romance favourable aroace characters in the way sex favourable aroace people do, but they probably feel that same way when they see aro characters or sex averse characters. It does really suck when people outside of the community ignore and erase the identities of aspec characters because they don't feel our experiences are interesting or valuable enough to represent and explore, but that isn't what's happening on an intracommunity level (as in, within the ace community).

The recent discourse about shipping aroace characters has sort of been getting me down, because it's a complex topic and rather than being a black-or-white, two sides thing, there are people with good and bad takes (mostly bad, let's be real) coming from so many different directions, there is so much nuance it would take me much more than one little answer to cover (and let me tell you, if I were to try, it would not be on this blog!). I might have said this before, but I tend to avoid fandoms of media with canon aroace characters for the most part for this exact reason, and within the community we are SO far ahead of where the rest of the world (and even the rest of the queer community) sees aspec people, I genuinely believe (call it cynical if you like) that this will continue to be a problem for several more years. And like, you can just block people and move on with your life, your fandom experience will be so much more enjoyable if you block people who say shit you think sucks, aphobic or not. Everyone should do this.

I think this is probably long enough now, and I've definitely missed something important, but I hope it helped.

~ mod key

[emblemxeno]

This ask is going to be kind of long, but your platform is really the only platform where I feel comfortable having this conversation. You don’t have to post this if you don’t want to, I won’t feel any sort of ways about it, but I’ve got to get this feeling out of my system. The way the fandom treats Fates compared to the other games in the franchise, makes them completely unbearable. I don’t think I can forgive the fandom for it even if they did somehow start giving Fates its overdue credit. Treating its fans like shit for almost a decade is unacceptable. I don’t know how so many people can justify their behavior in regards to this game. The fans of this game have literally done nothing to the fandom other than love it unapologetically, and we still get condescended to about it. You dare offer your opinion about a take in the series and it’s like, “You’re a Corrin fan, you have no right to talk about anything.” I have never seen a group of fans that have to literally HIDE the fact that they cherish a game in order to appease its larger community, it’s so disgusting. I don’t care if I’m being harsh with this ask because I have witnessed and dealt with this condescension for years. I don’t care to spare any feelings at this point, and I think the fandom certainly doesn’t deserve any of our grace either. Calling out the elitism, cliquish behavior, and hypocrisy is the right thing to do no matter how much some people soften/normalize these issues.

Hope you don't mind me posting this anon.

It's certainly an unfortunate situation. While Fates has its problems--I say this as a diehard fan--I agree in that it's in a singular situation where it's just met with derision initially and only given praise in backhanded manners. Think "Fates sucks but it does have great X and Y" and including an obligatory compliment towards Conquest. Which, don't get me wrong, Conquest is fucking amazing in the gameplay department, but half the time I'm just like... all right, I think you're just pretending to like anything of Fates just because you feel obligated to like one of the most acclaimed gameplay centered entries in the series.

There was just the perfect storm of controversy and unmet expectations that people had towards the game: the woefully inaccurate conversion therapy accusations, the romance options, the sales model of having multiple versions, the story not being liked, Corrin not being liked, the cast being seen as tropey, the fanservice hatred, etc. Its reputation from pre-release to nearly a decade after release is just a swamp of negativity.

And, in risk of sounding defensive and deflective, Awakening did most of this first. Awakening used being gay as a constant punchline especially in DLC (but people are reclaiming that now as something to be praised cuz of course), Awakening had problematic romance options (Nowi, any of the children but especially Nah, Donnel, Ricken, and Lissa are still underage, Aversa is technically your sister and she's written in the M!Robin support to tease that aspect, Tharja in her entirety), Awakening's cast was the de facto tropey cast before Fates, its story was criticized for the same things Fates was (poorly explained lore and world, pacing issues, convenient plot devices, pandering to a previous game, and had its exclusive issue of being inconsistent with Archanea's lore), Robin was criticized for being an all loved player insert with too many powers/importance, it started the oddly designed armor designs for fanservice reasons, and while it didn't have multiple versions, it was the first game with a ton of paid DLC.

Don't get me wrong, I love Awakening to pieces. But that game started pretty much everything Fates gets shit for. Yet it gets retrospective love or at the very least a pass cuz... Fates does it worse/more and because it was gonna be the last game in the series? Wouldn't it be fair then, to give slack to Fates for following in the footsteps of the most well received and successful game in the series by replicating it while trying to improve on what some felt were lacking? But I guess at that point, people think it utterly failed in improving on the story and characters so :/

I think you have a point regarding Fates fans as well. We're pretty much the only FE fans that get unironic negative labels, at least by casual aduiences. Apparetnly we're "coomer, porn brain freaks who don't know what good games are." Though, that's about it in terms of the elitism thing, otherwise I think it's just fans of older games being out off by the direction newer games have gone, and most make no distinction and criticize all of Awakening, Fates, 3H, and Engage. Still, Fates fans are the ones getting the most accepted flak.

To end this off, let's be honest: If Fates is the example most people give of the worst game in the series, FE fans have it pretty fucking good lmao.

[maleficore]

Daydreaming bg3 scenarios is my full time job at this point and I've had this phenomenal idea on my walk the other day. It's not really a headcanon since it has little basis in canon and directly contradicts some game events and plays with the lore like it's play-doh so more of a AU/fanfic idea, but...

It always struck me as inaccurate for Durge to be referred to as a "Bhaalspawn" since they're literally a PART of Bhaal made into a separate person in an act of (very confusing) divine creation and it really downplays just how powerful and dangerous they are. Especially since I fully subscribe to the idea that Durge is NOT a mortal, but that's simply not in the game due to just how OP it would be to play an unkillable Dame Aylin-esque character and the definition of a Bhaalspawn is "mortal offspring of the dead god Bhaal". So what the hell are they?

The Slayer. Or at least they're a direct vessel for it, more like.

No, really. Hear me out. Have you noticed how Gortash refers to Orin as "The Slayer" in that bit of dialogue when she puts a dagger to Ketheric throat? Except she's not? Not yet at least because the dialogue does not change depending on if you're still the one who has Bhaal's favour or not and she doesn't get it until you piss of Dad enough for him to go "fine have it your way, ungrateful brat". Plus I don't think The Slayer has been used as a shorthand for "Chosen of Bhaal" anywhere else sooo... Does he assume it's a feature of the position since he knew Durge had command over the form before their disappearance?

That's what birthed the first worm in my brain leading to this unhinged infestation, but it's not all -- there's THE URGE itself.

The game fucks it up SO bad on the whole front because it's reluctant to take choice away from the player, which is maybe understandable, but absolutely WRECKS the narrative that it's something to be afraid of. There's what? Alfira and the squirrel? Those are the only unavoidable consequences of having these supposedly violent and divine compulsions baked into every cell of your damn body. Saving your partner from a gruesome death by your hand needs a dice roll of 15, for fuck's sake! It was harder to convince a bunch of goblins to not turn me into an arrow pin cushion. Durge themself has been scared shitless of it their entire life and you're telling me the thing mostly boils down to dialogue choices? That just won't do for me, sorry. In the game The Urge's source is also never really explained beyond "of course you have unstoppable violent compulsions, you're 100% Bhaal's flesh and blood" which is fucking BORING and doesn't make sense to me because as far as I know Bhaal loves murder because that's his domain as a god, he was not a compulsive killer as a mortal so why would it be something that's passed down? No, The Urge is a fucking Slayer thing!

"It also had the ability to incite attraction in others, and remove any negative feelings they felt, or compel an urge to slay in any intentionally malevolent being, whenever it chose."

To be fair this is from a 2e sourcebook, but COME ON. Didn't it strike anyone else as weird that young Durge is mentioned to have slain an entire PALADIN ORDER before making their way to the temple if you're playing as an oathbreaker? Like, HOW? Slayer form bay-be, that's how.

(Can you tell by now I'm not normal about the idea? Yeah.)

All living creatures learn the best from their own mistakes and I think that letting The Slayer take over would be Bhaal's version of letting your incessant kid touch the clothes iron because they just refuse to leave it alone. Bad parenting, but it's Bhaal we're talking about lmao. "Oh you don't want to kill? No biggie, fuck around and see what happens then. I'll wait." is way fucking scarier to me than him just forcing Durge's hand with the butler basically being like "Heads up, master. Your father is pretty mad and your Urge is hungry so you might commit a murder tonight!" right beforehand.

Just the mental image of Durge thinking "I've done it! I've saved Isobel!" and then having the starved Slayer rip itself out of them like it does out of Orin when Bhaal forces her to transform... You see my vision right? RIGHT? And then the beast gets slain because what else is there to do and since Durge is immortal they just come back to themself instead of becoming goo (which is a game mechanic already since their sis is not so lucky, rip). The drama and angst potential is INFINITE. The sheer raw power of THAT being the "Bhaalspawn" reveal because if Isobel is alive that means Jaheira must be there like "what the FUCK are you exactly??" and no one can pretend that Durge is just Bhaalspawn+ like they do in the game. Do they kill anyone? People are bound to be at least heavily injured, especially since they've JUST fought Ketheric's bossfight and are not rested and at full potential.

GOD, I am rotating this thing in my head so fast the friction is bound to make my brain melt.

[skys-archive]

In case you haven't been able to tell from my recent posts (or just haven't seen them, which, fair) I have psychosis. And I decided I wanted to talk about it while I was thinking about it.

I'm not going into detail of symptoms, but if conversation around delusions, paranoia, hallucinations, and disassociation could potentially trigger you please keep yourself safe. I do describe symptoms a bit and give a few examples. Also warning - a very brief mention of self harm.

Anyway, I've suffered with some psychotic symptoms since I was really little. (Side note - on its own these aren't psychosis. But because I have psychosis I noticed these are tendencies I had as a child that are similar) I would mix up dreams and reality very very often, even take out anger of things that happened on people in real life, or believe things even if I knew the opposite where true. For example I had a fantasy dream when I was very young, and in it one of my friends sisters was our neighbor. I went years legitimately thinking that friend was my neighbor, even when I would pass by her real house. Also, I was very very sure I could not be killed. This is a delusion I still struggle with, the idea that I'm unable to be harmed a significant amount. I believed I was a prophet, and my dreams held meaning of what would happen. It didn't help that I grew up Christian being told stories of spirituality coming to you in dreams. All of these were relatively harmless on their own aside from the delusion I still struggle with, I mostly just mention it because it reminds me of my more severe psychotic symptoms now.

I'm not really diagnosed with a reason for these symptoms right now, my doctors don't want to diagnose me. I'm diagnosed with depression and anxiety, as well as panic disorder. Though now I don't really meet the criteria of panic disorder because I don't have panic attacks very frequently. I think I actually maybe never did, and what I thought were panic attacks were more minor psychotic episodes. I personally think I may have a schizospec disorder, but again not currently diagnosed, though I am on medication for it. I do notice my doctors have never called it psychotic symptoms.

I'm not super familiar with the terminology behind psychotic symptoms at the moment. I know there's positive symptoms, things that are added like hallucinations and paranoia, and negative symptoms that take away things like lack of interest or focus. I know there's another category as well. And I know medication only really treats the positive symptoms which is also what I've noticed.

I started noticing my positive symptoms a little over a year ago, about April of 2023. I was having a really hard time seeing the difference between dreams/thoughts and realities. I would hallucinate conversations and interactions that would make me very upset and sometimes I would just see things. Paranoia I've had for much longer, but I didn't start recognizing it as paranoia until around the same time. I don't often have paranoia of very specific things, just a general idea that people are out to get me. I think people are lying about so many things. Often my paranoia goes hand in hand with delusions. For a long time, I was convinced that my boyfriend didn't actually exist. I thought that everyone knew I was making him up and so they lied about knowing him in order to appease me and that everyone who didn't know I made him up had just never met him and assumed he was real. So, I was paranoid about people lying not to hurt my feelings. I'll have delusions about the whole world being specifically tailored to hurt me, or that it's not real and it's some special kind of hell made just for me. This leads to paranoia about nothing and no one being a real thing.

My medication has definitely helped these symptoms. I didn't haucinate often anyway but that pretty much went away. Paranoia could be triggered but I didn't find myself having it as often as I was, same with delusions. The two kind of go together.

It's been hard learning and setting boundaries for my triggers. I've noticed a big one is miscommunication. Communication is very very important to me in any kind of relationship. When there are misunderstandings, my brain kind of takes that as lies. Kind of like when there's a plot hole in a franchise, my brain finds a way to make it make sense but often it uses the worst outcomes it can imagine. When things aren't communicated properly I start thinking people are lying and then I get paranoid about being paranoid wondering what to believe. I try to make people understand that communication is just, really important. Obviously it's important for everyone but especially for me because without it it sends me into mental health crises.

With medication, psychotic episodes have become a lot more bearable. Before, I would spend hours upon hours physically unable to control myself. I'd cry and scream and kick and pretty much anyone I had a conversation with I would be so unbelievably nasty to. I would have specific racing thoughts I couldn't control and everything felt like it was fighting. It took me days to recover but I didn't have days because I would have multiple of these episodes a day, just spending energy that I didn't have. I either waited until I wore myself out or I would hurt myself to shock my system out of it. The latter was the only effective thing I knew to help me get out of it instead of losing too much energy.

Now it's different. Again it's usually because of a miscommunication. I have a fear or a paranoia, I believe no one is listening. I have one clear thought of what's wrong instead of the racing and fighting. I'm very torn on the thought, but it's only one thought. I can control myself physically and if I need to I can continue my tasks. Not to a very good standard but I can do it. It lasts maybe an hour, and it takes out a lot of energy. It doesn't happen nearly as often, I'm able to recover more. With therapy it's been easier to find ways to distract myself and shock myself out of it more healthily and successfully.

I still have the symptoms but it's bearable.

There's more to talk about but that's all I feel at the moment.

Psychosis is something I live with, I don't have much of a reason for this other than I wanted to bc I was thinking.

[swamp-spirit]

Swamp's Small-Talk Tips!

My power is that, despite being incredibly socially awkward in 99% of situations, I love small-talk. I'll get to know the person next to me in line! I'll talk about the weather! I'll learn what family members/pets/hobbies co-workers like to talk about!

The core of small talk is just saying "I am interested in your life and care about your experiences".

Small talk is fun because it has very clear rules and also you can win at it (make somebody happy). Here's my small talk tips-

-If it's a 'getting to know you' conversation, start with the shared situation. If you meet somebody traveling, you could ask where they're going. That opens up follow up questions. Going on vacation? What are they looking forward to?

-If they ask a question, and the question could also apply to them, it's polite to ask them the question back. ("Oh, I'm headed to Nevada. What about you?") Most people are not actually just trying to quiz you, and feeling like it can feel like doing all the work to keep the conversation going. Think of it like tennis: Receive the question, give a meaningful answer, return the conversation to them.

-You can give negative answers, but don't dwell in the negative. When somebody says "how are you today" they are trying to communicate they care enough to check in. You aren't expected to say "great, how are you!", but being negative is seen as a bid for sympathy and for the conversation to turn towards comfort. Some days, this may be what you need, but sympathy takes a lot of energy, even for the neurotypical. If somebody always focuses on the negative, it makes the conversation always focus on comforting them instead of something more positive and mutual. As a rule of thumb IMO, if you're in a normal bad mood, don't lie, but keep it light and shift focus. "Ah, I'm pretty sleepy. How are you?" (translation, I slept for hours and am running on a single protein bar and spite, but do not need to shift the conversation towards me). So, unless you really are asking for some attention and comfort, don't fake happy but downplay ("could be better", "still alive", "hoping to feel better after some coffee") and distract ("how about you?") This can also be good for reframing your own mood and focusing on the ways your day could improve or is going well.

-The reason weather comes up so much is because it's a shared experience with people in your area. We all drove to work in the snow today! Let us exchange Driving to Work in the Snow experiences! But there are many shared experiences that aren't the weather (and aren't touchy like major news stories). This is why things like traffic, location based sensory experiences (like loud construction), or shared inconvenience are common.

-Show interest in what the other person shares. Most stories have an intended reaction. "What happened was impressive, I want this affirmed." "That's awesome. What did she say?" "What happened was difficult, I want this affirmed" "Ah, that sucks so much. I hate it when that happens." Remember this is small talk. Most people are not looking for solutions right now. They probably don't know you well, and you don't know their situation well.

-Ask about previous conversations. Small talk is about showing you care, and remembering is one of the best ways. "How'd (your dog's name) handle the fireworks", "Did you end up seeing (your cousin's) play", "I know you love (media), did you see the (new thing)?". Remembering what's going on in their lives matters to people.

Some additional go-to topics: -Ask about plans for upcoming breaks/weekends. Often, the answer will be that they aren't doing anything or are doing something unpleasant, but you can affirm that taking a relaxing weekend is great or that having to spend the weekend doing taxes is rough -Follow their interests. Crafts, fashion, ren-faire, whatever. Find the things that make them light up. -Point out physical objects in their space. Cool earrings, a cute desk magnet, a photo of a pet, and compliment them.

Topics to avoid -Remember that not everybody has a good family relationship, and questions that assume that can be landmines -Lots of people are upset about being single, so don't ask if people are in a relationship -In general, avoid hot buttons like religion/politics until you know them well

Also remember a lot of other people aren't great at small-talk. Every office will have somebody who responds to every "how are you today" with a fifteen minute monologue of minor problems or never turns questions back to you.

You can deal with them through most of the things on this list (showing sympathy for their minor complaints, trying to show interest in what they're saying), or you can choose to disengage.

Good luck, and may you find the topic to make a stranger's day!

[roo-bastmoon]

In Defense of Our Alliance

My dear friends, there's trouble on the timeline today and it hurts my heart. I'd like to make a case for peace, if I may...

Every group of friends and all communities need every so often to hash out differences in points of view, personalities, and policies--but I suspect there's a bit more to it than that, this time.

We are beset on all sides with enemies we cannot fight.

Billboard keeps deleting sales without explanation, deaf to our requests or complaints. They absolutely have a double standard for the artists who pay radio to play. We cannot be sure any of our new buying methods will work, and in this economy, nobody has money to burn without a care.

YouTube keeps deleting views, again without explanation, despite folks streaming under premium accounts and following best practices. Watching those counts go down by the hundreds of thousands every hour is maddening, especially when it doesn't happen to artists who pay for ads.

Spotify froze and split title tracks. Hanteo deleted sales data the second records broke. The company went completely silent--neither celebrating Jimin's Hot100 #1 nor publicly acknowledging his being unfairly pushed down the chart--again, without explanation or recourse. Even some members were silent about his achievement.

Meanwhile, the LA Times is writing love letters to other groups trying to use our group for validation, which is just baffling.

This is to say nothing of the cult, the haters, the shooters from other fandoms, dragging our friends and our members through the mud, nonstop, all day every day, with a particular viciousness I'd normally associate only with actual diagnosed psychopaths.

And we knew there would be challenges, maybe even a contrived scandal or two, around Jimin's release. But I don't think anyone could predict this level of a shit show.

Everyone is exhausted; everyone is on edge.

What was supposed to be a fun and safe space has become a battleground.

And most of us are so ready to defend Jimin and the other members, yet we have zero hope of a fair fight.

It is no surprise to me that, with all that fatigue and pent-up anger, we are starting to fight amongst each other.

I must acknowledge that there are a fair few things we need to hash out as a fandom--the ability to call a spade a spade and not be labeled an anti; the ability to block or take time away and not be called a coward; the ability to criticize but not give in to hate or cult-like narratives; the ability to speak our minds without spewing negativity. There's a lot that needs to be addressed, and it's for heads clearer and smarter than me to untangle it all.

But I will say this:

Jimin has only us. That much is very clear.

So I put it to you now:

We NEED our archivists, who help capture and catalogue the important milestones and the little moments that illustrate why our fandom believes what it does.

We NEED our tutors, who help us make the most of our streams and purchases and votes so we are not wasting time and money and effort.

We NEED our cheerleaders, who help reset our attitudes into more positive, gentler, kinder, more honorable kinds of fans.

And we NEED our discourse blogs, the ones who can entertain multiple points of view without bashing or adopting any particular stance.

Most of all, right now, we need to unite. Because Jimin has very few other folks in his corner. Hobi goes in today. And while his other members love him, I strongly suspect he will feel the absence of Hobi's unfailing support, his clear demonstration of affection, and his wise counsel.

Now more than ever, we must come together. And to do that, we each much decide:

Why are we here?

If you're here to experience pleasure over a ship or a rush of adrenaline over drama and tea, if you just want to look at pretty pics and fics and not really get involved--okay. You are a casual fan. Nothing wrong with that. All I ask is that you do no harm while in this space. Don't fuel the flames of any feud, please.

But if you're here for Jimin, for BTS, for Jikook... then the goal has to be to support Jimin and BTS and Jikook first and foremost, yes? Even though it would feel great to pop off on someone you don't like or agree with (and I'm in Super Menopause thanks to medication so I absolutely sympathize with folks who do pop off--god knows, I have), please try to ask yourself:

Does it serve our common purpose?

Does it help?

Is it kind?

Would Jimin and Jikook feel honored by it?

Would BTS be proud of us?

And if the answer is no, then: forgive yourself for being human. We are none of us perfect.

But maybe take some time away to reset and recharge.

Real life is stressful; fandom life is stressful. Try to get some deep sleep. Let yourself enjoy a nutritious, hearty meal. Watch a comedy show that makes you belly laugh. Look at something so beautiful it makes you tear up. Listen to uplifting music. Pet an animal. Take a walk. Enjoy a luxurious bubble bath. However you restore yourself to your BEST self, you deserve that.

And then? Bring your best self back to this fandom. Because otherwise, we abandon it to the loudest assholes out there.

In the end, I believe we all want to support our boys and to make the best judgements on how to be a good fan. We may disagree on how to do that. But that's no reason to insult our allies or harshly judge the way they conduct themselves.

Shame is not a teaching tool.

Let's lead by example.

I'm a small blog. I'm nobody important. If you've read this far, I'm already surprised. But if you're still with me--please take this much to heart: I sincerely want us to get back to being the loving, intelligent, hard-working, focused fandom we've always been.

We are just regular people. We are going to have bad takes, and bad days, and bad attitudes. But let's give each other a little grace.

And if someone truly has bad intentions, and wants to ruin things, then let us calmly, quietly walk away from them. No need to give our precious time and attention to anything toxic. Toxic people feed off it and only get stronger, anyway.

Our time and energy is best spent on what brought us all here in the first place: BTS.

These are my thoughts, and I mean to say them sincerely and gently.

If this post rubbed you the wrong way, my DMs are open and I'm willing to listen to your thoughts. (Because DMs are always the best place to question someone or discuss something sensitive, I think.) But it's very unlikely that you'll change my mind about the need for us to work together and treat each other compassionately, so, you might wish to just quietly block and be on your way instead.

In any case, I just wanna say... I see you guys, out there. I see you trying hard. I see you contemplating the best way to make use of your time and resources. I see your bubbly enthusiasm and your devastating frustration. I see you, and I think each of you are very human, in the best sense of the word. Despite all the heart aches and hardships, I'm still proud to count myself among you.

It's not much, but I'm sending you guys my love and support. <3

It's gonna be okay. We'll get through this.

I'll show you.

[thegreatimpersonator]

I agree with your previous anon that people do seem to take Taylor's music as an endorsement of her feelings being the truth or a perspective she thinks is objectively truthful and fair. It's gotten worse over recent years imo, and I think that's kind of wild because she's written several songs that are different perspectives on the same situation (see: Red the album). Especially since TTPD touches on themes of the stages of grief, I don't think it makes sense to look at it as a statement of fact any more than a study of emotion, but this fandom is all about wanting to know the gory details sometimes lol

And I will also add that, no, we don't know that Joe is a good or bad person, and him speaking up for Palestine is just a (very helpful and appreciated!) reflection of his beliefs about a certain subject. It sucks that Taylor hasn't spoken up about it, and we're all pretty heated about that in the fandom rn, so I can see how that might seem like an easy way to draw a comparison between who they are as people. I'm certainly disappointed in Taylor for not using her platform for Palestine. BUT I think it's important to not look at the backlash she's getting from not speaking out/praise he's getting for doing so as an indicator of how much people want to paint them each in a good or bad light. Like the anon said, horrible people CAN speak up for Palestine! But so can good people. This is not really a good measure of what someone is like as a partner, and those things are completely divorced from each other. It might be uncomfortable for some fans who don't like Joe to see him being praised for something Taylor is getting a lot of heat for not doing right now, but from what I've seen, the fandom is largely neutral to negative on Joe right now, for better or worse. So I don't think fans are giving him a level of grace overall that they aren't extending to Taylor. I think they're just relieved he's using his platform at all for a cause that desperately needs it.

yes to all of this!! Also people appreciating the fact that he's speaking up isn't necessarily them siding with him or betraying taylor

[tea-with-evan-and-me]

Those leto fan girls are so annoying and pathetic actually. And I'm off anon because I don't want their asses to say I'm "weak". No one cares you're not part of the fandom anymore. And yes the evan fandom can be awful. But so much of the toxicity was often caused by them. And sorry we are gonna call you out for stanning someone with multiple allegations against him. It is not the same as when people slander evan to defend emma. There are actual allegations against that man. People are not obsessed with them just pointing out how stupid it is to complain about EVAN'S fandom when you stan a man like that. Like it's laughable actually.

well! happy sunday night all. i have dozens and dozens of messages about this topic and i don't want you guys to think i'm ignoring you - i am not. but i don't think it serves anyone to dogpile and make post after post about this. @evanboodaddy @letsxriot i received your messages as well so i will address this here:

i just want to start off by saying this: i'm not here to police who anybody is a fan of. i really do not care if someone is a fan of jared leto, not because i believe he is innocent of the allegations against him - quite frankly, where there is smoke, there is fire. the odds are very likely that he is a nefarious person who has done things that would be unforgivable if proven. but they are not proven at this time - no arrest or charges, and i am not familiar enough with him to make a conclusive judgement and even if i was.. he would be one of like, a million men in hollywood who are guilty of just as bad and worse, so i do not have the time nor mental bandwidth to be concerned with his proclivities.

but outside of that? look, no one can constantly troll/make remarks intended to inflame, and not expect to get a reaction. it's disingenuous to act as though you are minding your business and evan's fans are being unfairly critical. to be honest, i am well aware the only reason you both have taken a turn and are speaking against evan's fandom is because you feel you were essentially pushed out because people ''hate'' and want to cancel you. every time you logged on it was like you were fending off people upset with you, but if you were truly above it, you would not be incessantly speaking on evan and his fans in a derogatory manner, - you'd simply move onto the next male celebrity you stan, as you both have done previously, no big deal. your accounts did not begin as evan fan accounts, in fact, before dahmer you both never mentioned his name. what is happening now, you becoming fans of someone else and moving on, is par for the course and nothing to apologize for. no one should be mad at someone quietly moving onto a different fandom, for any reason.

i hope you will consider that you can participate in fandom and not feel the need to dedicate the majority of your time to engaging with people who hate the celebrity you stan. and to be fair, you have no right to talk down to the anonymous people on my blog when you created numerous troll accounts to argue with ''haters'', per jessie herself. you perpetuating a cycle of making remarks to anger people and then being frustrated you're disliked is not serving you in any positive way and it doesn't have to be like this. fandom is to enjoy, and i don't see how this is enjoyable. you are setting yourself up to be in a constant loop of hate and defending your fav against every person who speaks negatively about them. i will not disagree that there are some very toxic and draining people in this fandom, but allowing them to affect your enjoyment of it is a decision as far as i'm concerned. if you two stop addressing the fandom i'm pretty sure all would be forgotten by most in a couple of weeks, but the tit for tat will just keep things continuing in perpetuity.

either way.. only you can decide that. i understand a lot of folks are riled up but i just don't see there ever being a resolution to this and it's just ridiculous to me, i don't see the point in continuing to address inflammatory tweets that are obviously baiting you to do just that.