#i have a love hate relationship with that arc

[michanvalentine]

One thing I absolutely love about Astarion’s redemption arc is the complexity of his relationship with the figure of the hero.

Astarion is a vampire, a monster, and also a victim (as well as, in a way, a perpetrator, due to his forced obedience to Cazador). He is the first person in desperate need of a hero to save him and the last person suited for the role of a hero.

He prayed to every god for salvation, even for death, and even that was denied to him. He resents heroes and the powerful, and when confronted with the idea that both have a duty to protect the weak, he scornfully responds that no, they’ve done a terrible job—that in 200 years, no one saved him from torture, and that it was the mind flayers, other monsters, who finally freed him. And that, in reality, the powerful only use their strength to bend others to their will and serve their own selfish interests. It’s in this same conversation that Astarion declares his desire to be better than Cazador—stronger, more powerful—though the player likely meant kinder, more noble.

Yet, despite everything he says, despite his disapproval of every heroic action taken in Act 1, Astarion is irreversibly drawn to the figure of the hero. First and foremost, he seeks their protection, though still through the warped lens of his past under Cazador’s cruel talons. Secondly, he is extremely sensitive to kindness, understanding, acceptance—to being treated like a person, just as a true hero would treat him.

And then, this is something I particularly noticed while playing as Karlach—Astarion is fascinated by Wyll, who is, in many ways, the quintessential hero of the party. He even admits that if he had to choose one of them to feed on, it would be Wyll, because he is sweet and righteous, just. Which is a contradiction, because the very traits that draw Astarion to him are the same ones that make him want to drain him dry. Love and hate, all in one.

With this in mind, even the conversation after meeting Aurelia and Leon takes on a deeper meaning. The player sees something in Astarion, but he still refuses to recognize it, to admit it, and rightfully says he can’t be what we see in him—a good person, a righteous, understanding, even heroic figure. And yet, the player sees through him…

And it’s breathtaking when, during the ritual, just before stabbing Cazador, Astarion says those very same words: "You're right. I can be better than him." But this time, he doesn’t mean stronger or more powerful. No, this time, he means it exactly as it was first presented to him and so bitterly rejected. And he means it with all his heart.

And in doing so, in freeing all his siblings and all the poor souls imprisoned there, Astarion commits a truly heroic act. He does for others what he once desperately hoped for himself, what he prayed for—becoming the hero he needed. Because at the same time, he is freeing himself—from his chains, from his narrow worldview that saw everything in terms of power and dominance. For the first time, he is free to live outside of the path that someone else forced upon him.

And that’s exactly why, in my opinion, the next morning, it’s right to tell him that yes, we were the heroes who stood by his side, but we only gave him a push. Because, in the end, he saved himself.

He is the hero he had been waiting for centuries!

And that thought makes my heart race! ❤️

[mellifera38]

I think you kinda hit the nail on the head here. I think it's a big part of why a lot of people left the campaign feeling less attached to Bells Hells compared to the Mighty Nein.

You got a little of this flavor in the beginning as Bells Hells got to know one another and kind of tackled some of their background baggage, but as the campaign left the honeymoon period and headed into The Main Plot, you got less and less inter-character moments. Huge stretches between them that left you going 'so how are they feeling??? When are they going to get some downtime to process all this?' We kept being left waiting, sometimes for like three episodes. We as the viewers were used to having that after C2, its like the treat at the end of the stressful fight. All we got instead was Stress Stress Stress for like 70 straight episodes.

Once all hell had broken loose on the apogee solstice, the whole thing felt like a big rush to the finish line, and Character Time was mostly over. It's dnd and you can play it however you want, but I think not getting that time contributed to them not really knowing where they all stood at the end or what they should do, which then caused us frustration as viewers.

To expand just a bit, to me, it felt like we had a specific group of heroes who were very suddenly thrown into some other group's religious story narrative and forced to make a decision that very few of them had personal stakes in other than 'I hate Ludinus'. Their backstories were not religion focused other than FCG. They didn't really have the chance to form new beliefs until after they already had the weight of the world on their shoulders and every interaction with the gods made them feel they were just being used for survival. If a god had reached out previously to help them unbidden in a time of need (other than The Cleric), they would have had a completely different motivation to pick a side bc it would feel like the gods genuinely cared for their children. Even a storyline to pit them against the gods instead of just feeling like they were invisible to them could have been beneficial to their larger character arcs in relation to The Plot.

It was an interesting experiment to put these very neutral unbiased people in charge of that kind of situation, don't get me wrong, but then the vast majority of Character Moments we did get were the constant confused/angry circles of 'why do we care about Them?' and 'but what happens if we do nothing' and it got repetitive and tiresome and people got pissed off at different characters and none of them really even changed. They still didn't really understand one another. In the end, even after learning about the eidolons and the Dawnfather being a dick and talks with the Matron and the Arch Heart, the only thing that STILL tethered them personally to the story was 'Let's stop Ludinus because we hate him for getting Laudna/Oryms husband killed and at least we know he's bad and we'll figure it out this god shit when we get there.'

Not the most compelling but hey, it got them to that finish line.

I think at least some of these unsatisfying pitfalls could have been avoided if they'd had more chances for character/relationship exploration beyond like the first third of episodes and maybe with some more religious theme overtones. It was also kind of a shame that all that build up of the new setting at the start was completely left by the wayside. They Needed a Longer Honeymoon. The apocalypse just rolled around way too early.

I love the C3 characters a lot, but its not the same kind of way I love the M9, and I think its mainly because this campaign was a vehicle for the world's next historical era. There's nothing wrong with that, necessarily, but it is polarizing, and a huge shift from C2. With the M9 we had 140 episodes exploring these characters and who they really were as people and where they came from and how they helped each other heal. You can't get that in just 40 episodes leading into an apocalypse speedrun. They are just two completely different kinds of campaigns. It really is a matter of taste but I'm also quite certain that if Matt could go back and do it from scratch knowing what he now knows, he might have approached this very differently. I do think even the players were left floundering and trying to understand what the narrative wanted from them. This kind of Big Picture History Story needed characters at least a little bit built to theme, I think. This is why Brennan's EXU mini-series are so successful.

Sorry if I took your post a little off topic I just suddenly had a lot of thoughts and I haven't talked about any of this yet lol.

Whatever C4 ends up being and whenever it is, I really hope we see a return of the consistent "I go over to *insert character*" that was lacking this campaign. It's something so simple but so foundational to why I love CR. It used to be so consistent and made even the most mundane things like setting up camp, night guard duty and travel something to look forward to.

I can't tell you how many of these moments with characters just simply talking to each other about anything and everything became some of my favorite moments in all of CR. I remember so many episodes where I looked forward to these breaks more than even combat or some story elements because it immersed me so much in every aspect of the campaign.

To me this is when CR is at its best, it is the foundation that separates it from other AP's and is what pulls you in and hooks you so you're equally as invested to the story or action or honestly anything just like the characters and the cast.

[lover-of-mine]

I agree that they would never do permanent unrequited Buddie (basically Buck realizes he has feelings for Eddie and Eddie doesn't return them). Now I have seen a lot of people speculate that they would do a temporarily unrequited Buddie. Like, Buck thinks Eddie wouldn't return his feelings so he doesn't confess. Or, Buck confesses but Eddie is still in denial/confused about his sexuality, rejects him gently, and then struggles with it and realizes later that he does love him.

Out of the two scenarios, I would really hate the second one if it stretches more than one episode. Literally one is all I could handle 😂 Can you imagine how toxic and demoralizing it would be in fandom?? Think about how people misinterpret the very obvious queer-coded 'I'm straight' line in 8x06. I also think the GA would get whiplash if Eddie is like, 'Sorry, I'm straight!' then a few episodes later is like, 'Wait...' I just think it would be tricky to tell that kind of a storyline, and I'm not sure the show can do it well enough. I ordinarily would have more faith, but I think there are a lot of factors that could make it risky.

What are your thoughts? Would you accept a temporary situation where Buck realizes first and then either decides to keep it himself or tell him and potentially face short-lived rejection?

Imma be honest with you, either of those 2 possibilities would piss me the fuck OFF. None of the main pairings of the show were put as unrequited for any amount of time, honestly, there isn't a pairing that was put as unrequited, just as not suited for the long run, the closest you can get to "unrequited" is Buck looking upset when Taylor called him a friend, even Tommy dumping Buck the first time was resolved within the same episode. The idea that they would torture Buck like that is drama for the sake of drama. Buddie has consistently been written as fully in sync and to place them in a space where they seem impossible, temporarily or not, is stupid. "Oh bUt i wAnT PiNiNg" bestie, we can still get pining if Buck figures it out after Eddie comes out. We can still get pining if they figure it out in parallel. I'm not saying make them figure it out and immediately confess, I'm just saying the audience needs to at least be aware that Eddie is queer before Buck figures it out, or else it's just cruel. Painting them as impossible for the audience is cruel. It's why I keep saying give me a parallel thing, because you can have the characters thinking is unrequited, having the audience think that too would suck.

Also, Eddie's arc is about finding joy, I don't know where the fuck the idea that Eddie is drowning in internalized homophobia and would reject Buck comes from, but it doesn't come from canon. Also, buddie needs to be different from every other relationship Buck had before, if Eddie chases him away and then they eventually get together, you have Buck ending up with someone who rejected him once again, hello hamster wheel. I understand the apprehension about Eddie queer arc, but they got Buck out in one episode, they can build up to Eddie figuring it out. Will it be a 160k word fanfic arc? No, but they can just talk about how he didn't realize it. Eddie doesn't know he's queer and he's gonna be put in a position to figure that out and then we can go from there.

[lifsheep]

Ok so I made a theory a while ago with a friend, who posted it in a thread on Twitter, and since some new things have happened with this “new” mocha I wanna share my new takes on this theory :]

Link to the main theory (pls read this before continuing): https://vxtwitter.com/unluckybluelily/status/1890453801087180818

Now, there are a few new things shared on Pili’s stream yesterday which kinda confirm this theory and bring up interesting points

His job back “home” is more of a commitment to the community and making sure everyone is okay

They used to have a news paper service

Paper was a expensive thing to get

Someone delivered it on a reindeer

They had a rat problem

Doesn’t care about twilight

There was a time he used to kill a lot of people for fun but left that life away

He remembers killing but doesn’t remembers why he started to do so

Before the factory he lived in a place with a big purple screen with magic

Isn’t a cat but doesn’t know what he is

Got used to being a cat

The mentions of pap frost and the factory pretty much confirm that this mocha is from Halls smp, as well as hints about him being the mayor of a town he built, Snowden.

The first thing that stands out to me is the killing part. We know that after being betrayed by his towns people h!Mocha went through a villain arc which has lasted till trsmp, but he says it was a life he left behind….

Perhaps this could be referencing other smps (also called realms in canon) before Halls winter smp where h!Mocha could’ve been killing people for fun. Another hint to that could be that he doesn’t remember how he started to do this, and if that period of time was from when the people of Snowden betrays him, he would definitely remember the “why”.

Still, if it is referencing that part of Halls winter smp, then perhaps this Mocha is a h!Mocha from an alternate universe where he forgave the betrayal done to him, unlike our tr!Mocha.

Other than that, another interesting thing is that Mocha isn’t really a cat, but do got used to it and doesn’t know what he actually is. This could also hint at this Mocha being more of a memory erased Mocha than an alternate version of Mocha. The reasoning behind this being that tr!Mocha acted a lot more cat like due to “getting used to being a cat” for far longer than h!Mocha. If this was an alternate version of h!Mocha then it would probably should be used to being a cat as well, but isn’t.

Another mini theory that this fact brings is that Mocha could be some sort of changeling. Before dying, I do remember mocha referencing doomed relationships, which reminds me a lot of this server called “dedsafio”. Pili is well known in the Hispanic community thanks to his roleplay as an otter in it. If Mocha is a changeling, it could potentially mean that dedsafio is also a realm Mocha was in before trsmp, and it could also explain why h!Mocha suddenly became a human in Halls winter smp for a while.

Lastly I wanna analyze a bit the fact that h!Mocha doesn’t care for twilight unlike tr!Mocha. I remember tr!Mocha saying that he related a lot to Edward, which could actually explain his fascination and fanaticism of twilight, and why h!Mocha doesn’t care for it.

Edward is basically a monster that falls in love with a human and constantly battles his urges to kill and consume her blood from what I am aware. To the dismay of many critics, Edward and Bella do end up together and have a happily ever after. This does parallel a bit how tr!Mocha views relationships, a great example being his friendships with Pangi.

tr!Mocha hates himself and views himself as a monster, or something harmful to others, which is one of the key reasons he pushed tr!pangi away, he felt he would be better off without him. Still, unlike what tr!Mocha envisions as the likely scenario of tragedy and hurt, in twilight the main character get to be happy despite all of the problems they face. This would make twilight not just any movie for tr!Mocha, but one that directly fulfills his fantasy of a happy ending.

h!Mocha on the other hand by not having experienced any of the tragic relationships tr!Mocha has, wouldn’t feel this connection at all, therefore not really caring for it.

That is all folks! Maybe one day I will write more tinfoil hat theories that somehow become true hours later lmao

[dapper-lil-arts]

Explain in extreme detail why you love Sunset Shimmer

You just poked a bear lol

So here's the damn thing. A lot of bad guys in this show have underdeveloped or basic-ass backstories. Its not always an issue, sometimes it doesn't mess with anything. But Sunset being the first pupil of Celestia immediately raises an eyebrow, immediately calls to attention how she must have had a much more different role in the background, and ages imply that she would have been very young as a pupil of Celestia. Good times.

From that, just that little smidge of concept, you can already consider so many possibilities with this character. Making her being an antagonist that was beaten down and then redeemed is one thing thats already done and fun enough. But she actually joins the main cast of her show, she has to work for it, there's a period where she's hated and shunned, where she has to crawl on her hands and knees to earn her damn place in the light of good

So when she's actively a part of the group and is the catalyst to their victory, literally ASCENDING TO HELP, she proves to everyone just how far she's changed and blows the villans away.fantastic.

And then its not even done there! She keeps growing, keeps improving, becomes a LEADER, A GENUINE LEADER of the mane 5, and then manages to become a goddamn friendship seraphim

AND WITH THIS NEWFOUND POWER SHE USES IT TO ACTIVELY HELP SOMEONE THAT LOST HER WAY, JUST LIKE IT WAS ONCE DONE FOR HER

Hers is one of the most engaging and fun 'redemption arcs' ive ever had the pleasure of witnessing, and of the entire show, I think its the best one, tbh.

It's just impecably entertaining how in the movies, comics, specials, she is always burdened by loss. She has multiple times lost everything, and even then, she makes her way back. she tries to become better, to improve herself, to grow. All of these things make her a character that is endlessly full of potential for creating more stories and developing even further. The canon does a lot right, and yet leaves even more space to develop, such as her relationship with celestia, the potential of what she does after, whether ts in equestria or in the human world, and how far she can go to save those she cares about n stuff.

She comes back! The sun alegory is fantastic, the phoenix allegory is incredible, she's the immortal Sunset Shimmer, and I fucking love that for her. Also I like it when she and twilight fuck nasty. Doesn't matter which one lol

[peridoxikal-redux]

Various DQB2 doodles that popped out once I started my second playthrough of this game

I....forgot how much I loved it 😭

[ayyunah]

Whole buncha broccoli up there

Late Day 22 of Mobtober 2024!!

[taddymason]

ok i wasn't going to do this BUT

Some people in the fandom have the element of "independence" and Nya's phrase "I don't need anyone" SO attached to her as if any other trait contradicts her character.

Guys, Nya's vision is not OOC. That she shows concern for the whereabouts of her fiancé who she hasn't seen in years, and who could very well be dead or could have "moved on without her", is not out of character and even more so when her reaction to this is to instantly realize that it's fake, her fears always have to do with what is out of her control and this vision clearly emphasizes that.

Like, guys, do you really want "Nya is afraid of being normal / Nya is afraid of losing her powers 2.0"? Instead of showing us real vulnerability on Nya's part from irrational nightmares in which she ends up reacting with anger and denial? You want the character to remain static, and for her to have the same fears about herself as in season 11 when:

We've already seen that fear, so there's no point in presenting us with information we already know.

Nya ALREADY faced that fear. She sacrificed herself at the cost of losing her humanity, she returned and regained control of her powers. When you've been through something like this, it makes sense that your fears evolve.

I don't see anyone complaining about Lloyd's fears not being the same as those in s11 (and his fear also went from being something about himself to being afraid of disappointing someone else.) I'm sorry, but it doesn't make sense introduce a fear that won't make sense with the arc Nya will have this season with Jay's obvious amnesia. Nya showing vulnerability/concern for someone so important to her does not make her any less independent.

[labotor]

late-night waltzing at the House of Hope 🎶✨

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

See, I think Charles’ annoyance and frustration with the Cat King really was just pure protectiveness and not any kind of jealousy - it’s understandable, because Edwin is not telling him what happened even though something clearly did, which is not typical for them. Edwin doesn’t usually hide things like this! Of course he’s worried!

Charles’ reaction to Monty, on the other hand, is difficult to explain in a way that isn’t jealousy. You could say he’s being protective again, but Charles shows no sign of distrust in Monty, and had no idea of who Monty was or that he might betray them - he was actually very chill with him, except in a select few specific scenes. You could say he just doesn’t like him because he got brushed off during their first meeting, but not only does that not seem like Charles at all, it also doesn’t make sense, since, again, in most instances, Charles is genuinely friendly and is happy when Monty compliments him and seems to have come around to liking him (it completely flies over his head that this is a petty jab at Edwin on Monty’s part but oh well hahaha). You could say it changes up their status quo a bit and that bothers Charles. I do think this bothers him a bit, but I think, unlike Edwin, Charles’ fear and frustration here is directed more at situations (the Cat King whisking him away for several hours, as an example) than others. He’s sociable and likes being able to talk to new people. There’s absolutely no way he’d begrudge Edwin doing the same - and he doesn’t… with Niko. Edwin and Niko hit it off and become very close and that never bothers Charles at all. He’s incredibly endeared to her, just like the rest, and for the most part, he’s chill with Monty too, and smiles pretty knowingly when Edwin confesses to him having awakened some feelings. The only exceptions, where he shows definite annoyance, are when Monty first shows up and gets really in Edwin’s personal space to show him the astrology chart he made, and when Edwin is so sucked into the book Monty gave him that he doesn’t hear that Charles is talking to him, to which he annoyedly says that they seem to have been “spending a lot of time together”.

You could say he’s unused to having anyone get in Edwin’s personal space like that, but, again, Niko. She’s very tactile with him and he doesn’t seem to mind all that much; they spend time together watching things. If it was just someone getting close with Edwin in general, not only would that be weirdly possessive for the character, but it would also mean he would show discomfort with anyone getting close, I think. Does Charles see Monty as more of a potential threat than Niko, seeing as he knows her and her personality and doesn’t know Monty? Well, maybe, but again, Charles shows no sign of distrusting Monty at all.

Monty is a boy. Okay. So something about seeing Edwin so close to a boy that is not him, getting lost in thought over something this boy gave him, really rubs Charles the wrong way. Charles appears to catch on just as quickly as anyone else that there is something (or it looks like something) between Edwin and Monty. He is not surprised when Edwin comes out to him in episode 6, and in fact, seems to have just been waiting for him to verbalize it. He smiles and is not bothered at all by Edwin showing (what he thinks is) a romantic interest in Monty - he just doesn’t like it when Monty clearly shows a romantic interest in Edwin. Um. Well. Well.

Charles is jealous. I really don’t know what else to say.

Look, when I first watched this show, I actually didn’t want them to end up together romantically - I love the idea of one having fallen in love with another who does not reciprocate and the two of them still loving each other just as much. That Edwin’s confession made them closer instead of making things awkward is such a beautiful outcome to this build up and I absolutely love it. However. On my two rewatches, I caught a lot more little details, and I think it would be very strange if the show did not follow up on this. That, plus the deliberate quality of these “jealousy” moments where the camera focuses on him, Charles’ Orpheus coding throughout the show, the fact that Edwin’s arc was far more about realizing his feelings for Charles specifically than just coming to terms with his sexuality, and that even the actors admit that Charles’ response to the confession kind of left things open, it really seems to me like the path leads to a romantic endgame for them, or at the very least, that this possibility will be explored in more depth.

**This is just my reading of it. Please do not use this post as a gotcha for anyone who loves them as a platonic duo or people who really love Crystal and Charles together (because let’s face it, they’re super cute too). I’m just doing my rambles. As per usual.

[coquelicoq]

little seiji must have thought shinobu hung the moon. based on the way he talks about her now, and the way he seems to have modeled kuromisa's appearance after her...like he needed to create an air of mystique that people would be drawn to and he immediately went well just dress up like nee-san. he worshipped her in that special younger sibling way. how did her resentment of him shape the person he's become? what did her leaving the clan do to him?

[snixx]

nina salazar-roberts is such a beautiful case study in comphet and I genuinely think her arc deserves so more appreciation

[darthenderson]

Me watching the end of “Amor Fati”/ The end of the Diana arc:

[ravenpureforever]

So guess who finally watched JJK

[hauntingblue]

CAUSE THIS IS THRILLER (bark), THRILLER (bark) NIGHT

Usopp's outfit is so funny for reals

He got the whole squad laughing

Luffy enablers at it again.... (Robin.... I know.....)

The humor panels so far have been so good!!! God this arc is so funny

HE SAID IT‼️‼️

They look like birds 😭😭

It's just too good... luffy taking cerberus and zombies what can't he do

It's just banger after banger what can I say

Franky feeling for other people because of his guilt complex and sanji lying through his teeth and pulling out the women excuse to seem unaffected... yeah

Look at them.... look how they ate

Omg joyboy reference?? (No)

Sanji is rubbing off on usopp.... also chopper noticing that is sogeking's weapon akdhaksjak

ANOTHER SLAY!!!!!

Their priorities: I'm not strong enough, there isn't enough food, and nami isn't here

Franky going from wanting to kill brook for his jokes to making a joke like his after he hears his backstory... exactly (Robin was already enabling him before the backstory even fdagjsfha)

Sanji is altering his body and actually being on fire to communicate to us how fucking mad he is..... I need more of him going insane I do I do

My god what is he doing ALDJALAJALA

AHSAHAHQHAH THEY ARE THE SAME!!! naaah sanji wouldn't force a woman to be his wife

You cant see me but I am nodding my head in agreement over and over

You don't understand he altered his body to communicate to us how mad he is. He inploded himself and then reconstituted again. Those germa 66 genes are insane

You tell em usopp!!!! The first of many girls you've scared into defeat!!! Akdjqknql

Zoro zombie regressed to not trusting robin akdjaks he's still in there

ROBI-CHO SUPLEX??? HELL YEAAAAAH

There is zosa- [GUNSHOT GUNSHOT GUNSHOT GUNSHOT]

Super frapper gong.... he is doing combo shots with frobin... omg.... parents....

Everything is so fun I'm having such a good time reading.... and then zosan angst like damn I am being fed well here

[lemongogo]

why do i love the conflict more than anything else . the misery . the incompatibility that spreads like oil slick . wanting so desperately for resolution that never comes . hmmm