#i wonder if blizz will ever touch on this

[alteredphoenix]

Every time I think about the Three Sisters comic, I’m reminded of how much of a wasted opportunity it was for Sylvanas to not bring up Vereesa’s involvement in the Purge of Dalaran to Alleria’s face.

Now that would’ve been an interesting reaction to see, coming right off of Vereesa’s remark about the blood elves finding true redemption by rejoining the Alliance (I guess she forgot, or doesn’t care, M’uru gave it to them upon restoring the Sunwell in TBC).

(Honestly I think Alleria wouldn’t believe Sylvanas and have a much more incendiary response, but Vereesa? Vereesa would squirm.)

[ravenquote]

OoC: Favorite Characters

I decided to focus on villains or anti-heroes, it’s hard picking just favorites in a general sense.

1. Harleen Quinzel A.K.A Harley Quin - DC Comic Universe I have been in love with this woman since September 1992 when she first aired in the Batman Animated series, Joker’s favor. Due to her brilliant creators of Paul Dini and Bruce Tim, led with the voice talents of Arleen Sorkin. She was born from her own raw desire to help people in her own best way possible, using her talents of understanding, reading and in many sense controlling people. Sadly, like Alice in wonderland, she fell into a realm of madness and uncertainty. She has been one of the most complex characters in animated history with large backstory and many turns and takes. Extremely popular on various forms and has made many appearances over the years even scoring some of her own comics and shows and now movies. When she was first created, she was merely a fill in and not meant to take and yet here she stands, a triumphant beauty whose overcome Abuse, trauma and degradation.

2. Azula - Avatar the last air bender animated television show + comics What can i say about Azula? In many retrospects she’s fierce, powerful, driven and just intelligent! I think a lot of people forget something pretty important about her: SHE WAS FOURTEEN! This young teenage, overthrew governments, taking whole cities and was the closest to killing the Avatar compared to anyone else. Not to mention her pure intelligence! People compare to playing a game of chess when it comes to moving people or controlling their actions. No, to this woman it was checkers. I truly believe if she didn’t become as over-confident as she did, the war would have ended with her taking the world. With the right nurturing, she would have become the most feared overlord the world would ever see.

3. Loghain Mac Tir - Dragon age book (The Stolen Throne by: David Gaider) and Dragon age Origins the Video game. Yeah, there’s a theme so far i am guessing you are seeing. I can’t help but appreciate sheer intelligence. Loghain is sort of obvious in the video games, it’s clear his intents. At the same time, there is far far more than what is merely on the surface with this man. An obvious villain, almost to the point of it being boring. Yet, why in the games are so many people hesitant and trusting of him? This man had proved himself, over and over, that he had his country in his heart and would do anything to protect it and keep it from the true monsters of the world. People. He was never shy about the routes he’d take, the lengths he’d go, he was brass, courageous, and deceptive. He called things out, forced people to seeing the bigger picture, he didn’t need to control or lie to people about things. He got what he wanted in the most unique ways possible, not his title, not his money, not his charisma but by being true in what had to be done. 

4. Sylvanas Windrunner - Blizzard Entertainment Video games I don’t see her as a Villain, an Anti-hero, yes. Look, we all know Blizz can’t seem to understand women or know how to write them on a large scale. I seriously feel bad for both, Piera Coppola and Patty Mattson as they have to watch this poor woman get brutally torn to pieces. I will always, always have a soft spot for her and remember the days where in many respects was like Illidain, and (above) Loghain. A woman who saw the bigger picture and would sacrifice anything to save everything she cared for. I wont drag on for her, simply because i know the most people who are doing this and following are from the Blizzard franchise and i know we have all heard many many layers to this continued argument about this particular character. If ya wanna PM about it or rant at me, bring it. I’m an Alliance player at heart, but i only got into w.o.w because of this woman. Both sides are shit. *drops mic*

5. Aaravos - Dragon Prince, Netflix television animated show. Okay, seriously, if you haven’t seen the show yet: DO IT! Just as with this theme, INTELLIGENCE, INTELLIGENCE, INTELLIGENCE! Tactful, charming, knowledgeable, i mean...look at that face! He is hands down perfect. Sadly, we still know very little of him but goshdamnit! Love! Love! Love! I can not wait to know more of him and see more of him. 

6. Maleficent - Fairy Tale story / Disney The jist of her, from stories and movies, is general: She was snubbed or insulted by the royal court and took her revenge on the child they were all celebrating. I’m sorry, but this has always been fantastic to me. What is more painful and hard to deal with then your own child being cursed? Claim petty if you want, but no, oh no my dear friend, this is a brilliant revenge. A normal person would blame the man in charge and curse him, but meh, whatever. Kings wont remember how they snubbed others, this is proven time and time again in many stories. Will this act ever be forgotten? Will the generations always remember not to snub a powerful faerie? You better believe it! She made a ever lasting mark, an impression that has lasted since the 13th century! Throughout the years no one has changed these facts: Maleficent was powerful, she was disrespected and she took her revenge onto a child. Normal stories like these over the years have changed both villains and heroes, or even circumstances. This classic has even seen the beautiful creation, directed by Robert Stromberg from a screenplay by Linda Woolverton, and still they honour the root of what was and with a focus on the villain and her origins.  How many villains get this?

7. Narberal Gamma - Overlord Anime/ Manga series Who doesn’t love a maid? Not to mention a Battle maid. Narberal is...mm, i don’t even know how to express her. She’s just generally cool, powerful, intelligent, loyal and honest with everything around her, just a demeanor of a refined perfection. She’s enjoyable to watch. Another thing i enjoy, she’s not the main villain. The show itself has many “villains”, i say in such way because it’s never really clear or obvious what you can count as villain or hero in a lot of ways. Yes, some are obvious but even then in many cases showed within it’s all about circumstances, who you are following, why you are following them. I enjoy the not so cut and dry of “good and evil”. This character also helps continue that ploy, helping and yet also killing people.

8. Carmilla - Castlevania Netflix series I’m a huge vampire fan, been so since middle school. I’m not as quick whipped as i use to be about the lore, history and so on when it comes to many Vampires and their origins. With such said, damn she made me bring out the books again, especially because she was one of my favorites to read about. I mean, Lesbian vampire. Do i need to say more? For now, i’ll only focus on the more recent adaption of her. So, yeah theme? We get it, intelligence. The world truly is a chess board for her, however she does not expect people to just flip the board on her. God, Jaime Murray, thank you so much for that wtf moment cause you expressed her sheer just horror at watching everything fall around her with perfection. Throughout the points we see Carmilla we see her truly be the tact master, stirring the pot and also showing her prowess in form. There is also a lot of restraint i don’t think people will give her credit for. We see how she expresses her emotions in violence, but i also think we are seeing it in a very, very pulled back way. I look forward to seeing how she changes her circumstances and sets things back into her own order in the coming season.

9. Akasha - Book series: The Queen of the Damned by Anne rice and movie: The Queen of the damned. Ah yes, the books that helped start the joys of vampires and how could i not fall in love with someone toying into the very beginning and trying to draw into the beginnings of a creature known throughout the world and time. Why do i choose Akasha considering i already touched base on vampires? Simple, she will always deserve a spot on any favorite list of anything. She gave so little cares about anything and only wanted the world to die and feel her wrath. Not to mention Aaliyah played this part so beautifully well it deserves every recognition it can get. I know she doesn’t seem to quite fit with the rest, but this is partly why she is so low on the list.

10. Callisto - Xena television series Last but certainly not least, we can’t forgot about this one. Good? Bad? Surely just pure chaos! She does what she wants and cares little about the consequences. It’s been ages since i’ve last seen the show i will admit, so my bases on her is a bit rusty. However, i will always remember her out of the many other villainous people we meet in the Xena universe. Fun, witty, combatant, you never knew what she was really going to do. As soon as she popped into a episode, i would recall fondly sitting at the edge of my seat just wondering how or why she did the things she did. There is my list of favorites, i’m sure you can see the themes between them all as many of them have common traits, inspirations and personalities. Hope you all enjoyed! Tagged by: @olivia-lovecraft​ tagging: *boops* you!

[greyias]

FIC: Dance with the Devil (4/7)

Title: Dance with the Devil Fandom: SWTOR Pairing: Theron Shan/f!Jedi Knight Genre: Angst, H/C, Action Synopsis: The truth got stuck in his throat, like Theron had forgotten what it sounded like to not pretend. Warnings: See Part 1

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Crossposted to AO3

Sitting up wasn’t quite the ordeal that his caretaker had thought it would be, but a trickle of sweat rolled down the side of Theron’s face all the same. Between the perspiration and the general funk that developed after three days in captivity, he had to have reeked. He distantly wondered if she was plugging her nose with the Force or something as he finished sipping the water she had given him. He probably could have chugged several liters if she gave him the chance.

“What are my chances of stealing your sonic shower?”

She just gave him a look. “You’re hardly sitting up as it is.”

“Sponge bath then?”

She rolled her eyes up to the ceiling, actual exasperation breaking through her veil of worry. That was at least a step in the right direction. “Is that really your main concern right now?”

“I feel like I just rolled around in Zakuulan swamp muck. And probably smell like it too.”

“Our first priority is to finish addressing your injuries.”

“Then a sponge bath?” He bobbed his eyebrows lightly, although his heart wasn’t quite in it.

She sighed wearily. “I will see what I can do, after you’ve rested some.”

Normally she had a seemingly endless well of patience when it came to his antics and sarcasm, but he sensed that it was probably a good time to not push her any further. Her angry outburst from earlier was still fresh in his mind, and he didn’t want a repeat of that. Especially since Valkorion was apparently taking an interest in the proceedings. Her attempts to disguise her true feelings from the ghost were likely futile, but at this point it was probably more of a coping mechanism than anything else. Theron wasn’t the one with a monster trapped in his head, and he wanted to be as supportive as he could. Sometimes he just felt like collateral damage in their never-ending war for control.

The empty glass was taken away before she retrieved more kolto. He would have worried about how much she had in stock, but that was one thing he had made sure the quartermaster knew to keep in abundant supply on the Defender. She might have been the heaviest hitter in the galaxy, but she wasn’t invincible no matter how hard she tried to project that image.

She gently applied another patch of kolto to one of the deeper bruises that started at his ribs and wrapped around his back. That had come from a particularly angry outburst from Dirai. It was possible Theron might have said something sarcastic in response to one of his questions. (That sounded like him.) He was surprised that the scan revealed they weren’t cracked, but he’d take what he could get at this point. Her touch was light, but not enough to prevent his flinch. She caught the movement and flashed him an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry, I’m almost done.”

“Just do what you got to do, don’t worry about me.”

“It’s a little late for that at this point, don’t you think?” Her tone had an air of forced levity, but the wrinkling of her brow let him know it wasn’t really meant as a joke.

“Poor choice of words.”

She seemed to busy her hands with very, very gently applying more kolto to the large section of mottled skin, but the frown was still in place. “What were you doing on Skeressa?”

“Looking for Arcann. It turned out to be a bogus lead.” He’d hoped that perhaps if he left it a bit vague, she’d let the subject drop.

“Exactly how did Dirai and his followers factor in, then?” Then again, he’d neglected to factor in that he was dating a particularly stubborn breed of Jedi. “I am not naive enough to believe this was purely Alliance business.”

He pressed his lips together, staring over her shoulder so he didn’t have to look her in the eye. “Things didn’t quite go as planned.”

“This isn’t the only time something hasn’t gone to ‘plan’ though, is it?” She straightened up, looking him square in the eye. “Like the time you and Torian came back from Tatooine looking like you’d fought a minor war?”

“That was… complicated.” Theron was trained to withstand any interrogation, had just survived three days of hell without breaking once, but found his resolve crumbling as he stared into her stormy blue eyes. “In my defense, we brought back Gault and Blizz in one complete and unbruised piece.”

“What is going on with you, Theron?” She gently cupped his chin, gaze softening. “You have disappeared like this more than just twice recently, but it’s getting worse each time.”

“I don’t really think worse is the right—”

“You were just held captive and tortured by a death cult filled with Dark Side users who routinely practiced blood sacrifice and old Sith traditions actually banned by the Empire.”

This was probably the wrong time to ask her how she had found out about those rumors. It had taken him several days getting acclimated to the locals to hear those tales. Exactly how long had she been on Skeressa looking for him? From the dark circles under her eyes, it was possible that she had been on the planet longer than just the time it took to walk from her ship to the warehouse.

“Am I really supposed to believe this had something to do with Arcann?” As she continued, her stare did not soften, but the naked concern shone through. “What aren’t you telling me?”

He shut his eyes, unable to take her staring at him with such open worry and care. If he wanted to, he could give her some excuse. Even as muddied and unorganized as his thoughts were right now, he’d probably be able to think of something that would satisfy her curiosity and ease her mind. He could lie to her face and she probably wouldn’t even realize. It was what he had been trained to do after all. It was a hallmark of the profession he’d chosen after the one he’d been raised for didn’t pan out. But if he were being honest with himself, he didn’t want to. He didn’t want any of this. He just wanted this damned dance to stop. Wanted things to go back to how they’d been before Valkorion. But more than any of that, Theron just wanted her. That’s all he had wanted for a long, long time.

When he looked at her, he didn’t say anything immediately. The truth got stuck in his throat, like he had forgotten what it sounded like to not pretend. He tried again and opened his mouth, but the first word died on his lips when he realized there was an extra set of incorporeal ears listening. A cold sensation ran down his spine as he contemplated for the first time exactly what Valkorion’s reaction might be to learning that Theron was actively trying to find information to eliminate him. Would it matter? Would he even care? If he did, would his reaction tend more towards detached amusement or anger? If it was the latter, would he be able to act on it and lash out as his intended target, or would he just find some new and worse way to torture the Jedi he was haunting? Theron couldn’t suppress the chill that ran through him.

She frowned, a look of disappointment and hurt stealing across her face as she assumed he was clamming up on her again. He shook his head fiercely, reluctantly catching her eye again as he very slowly and deliberately traced the shell of his ear with his thumb. He may have hated their secret gesture at this point as it had become a symbol of what kept them apart, even if they were standing side-by-side. However she needed to know that he really wanted to tell her what he had been trying to discover while on Skeressa, but he didn’t want Valkorion to overhear. It took her a few moments to put together the signal with her previous question, but she connected the pieces together quickly enough. From the way her eyes slowly widened in understanding, it seemed she might have also started to guess the type of information Theron had been searching for when he’d gotten captured, and who he’d been conducting his investigation on behalf of. 

She let out a horrified gasp, hands flying to her mouth as she shook her head violently, unshed tears forming in her wide blue eyes. Watching her reaction was not quite unlike feeling like someone had just punched him in the gut. He knew there was probably something reassuring that needed to be said, but he had difficulty swallowing past the lump that formed in his throat.

Amazingly, she was the first one to find words. “Why?”

He wanted to ask if it was obvious, but he couldn’t get a sound out. In all his life, no one managed to tie him up in knots the way she could with just a single look. He would think it was unfair, but it was far, far beyond just that.

“Why would you…”

The words had been exchanged years, hell, almost a lifetime ago. But they were still fresh in Theron’s mind as the day they had first been uttered. He could still feel her fingers digging trenches into the red leather of his jacket as she brokenly asked what would happen if she fell again to the monster that had forced her to murder civilians, locked her in her mind as she tortured her crew. The words had left him before he’d even had time to think them through:

“You’re not going to fall,” he had said. “Because I’m going to catch you.”

The words were nonsensical, but he hadn’t been thinking. Just… acting on instinct. Maybe he should have just held her and let her cry, but he’d needed to let her know she wasn’t facing that fear alone. They should have just been words of comfort, but he’d meant it as a promise. Even if he hadn’t a single clue how a Force-blind Padawan-washout-turned-spy would ever be able to stop a Jedi Master from sliding down into darkness.

With everything that had happened since Yavin, he wouldn’t have been surprised if she didn’t remember exactly what had been said up on that crumbling plateau with only the stars as their witness. But he couldn’t forget, no matter how hard he had tried. And he had tried.

Theron forced himself to look at her, managing to fight past that damnable lump that made his voice sound far too rough with emotion. “I made you a promise a long time ago.”

“I…” Her brow crinkled into a frown, before her eyes widened. She did remember. “No…”

“I don’t want to be someone who breaks promises to you. Not then, and not now.”

“Please… I’m not worth—”

“You are.” Heedless of any damn Force ghosts listening in or injuries he grabbed her hand, fiercely squeezing it. “Nothing is going to change that for me.”

“Maybe it should,” she whispered and tried to pull away. “I would rather have you alive than dead with your word intact.”

Perhaps it was the cocktail of painkillers and whatever drugs were still left in his system, the distant ache and searing pain, or the fact that thinking straight was like swimming through the muck — but he couldn’t force himself to let go of her hand. They’d always had a silent understanding that when either of them needed space, they’d respect that. Normally he didn’t have this much difficulty, and was usually better at not holding on too tightly both literally and metaphorically. But her hand was too warm in his, and everything around them was so cold. Had it always been this frigid? Maybe he should ask her to check the environmental settings.

She looked at him with a torn expression, but whatever she was going to say was drowned out by a shout in the hall from their friendly neighborhood Mon Calmari. Grey let out a long breath, and the mask of the Alliance Commander slid back into place as she stepped away from the cot. Theron’s fingers loosened his hold on her and slipped around the edge of the bed. He hoped that the quick motion and white knuckled grip looked more like he just needed to hold onto something for support than a guilty reaction for his moment of weakness.

“Commander! Good news!” Guss’s face popped into the doorway a second later. “I think we’ll be able to shave off an extra few hours if we—oh, it looks like he’s awake. Feeling any better, Theron?”

“Oh, yeah.” He swung a miserable look at the latest interloper into their conversation, feeling a prickle of gooseflesh raising. Someone really needed to check the thermostat. “Ready to run the Coruscant 5K.”

Theron’s other half let out an annoyed breath, but Guss continued on as if the sarcasm didn’t phase him at all. “Oh, that’s good to hear. You were pretty out of it for a while there. I had to carry you back to the ship in my strong arms. Swaddled you in your jacket, just like a little baby.”

It was possible the angry noise Theron made in the back of his throat could have been more articulate (he had planned on asking for his blaster), but that required more coherency than he seemed to possess at the moment. A calming hand was laid on his shoulder, almost blazing in its warmth. 

“Perhaps you can give us a moment, Guss?”

“Ah, of course,” the Mon Calmari said conspiratorially, tapping the side of his face knowingly. “My old captain would always turn up the music in his cabin very loudly when he needed a moment or three with his lady. Or ladies. Do you prefer classical music or synth rock?”

She blinked before her cheeks blazed red as she caught onto his meaning. “Guss!”

“What?”

She shook her head, trying to keep a hold on her composure. Theron briefly thought about trying to repeat his suggestion on finding his blasters (with the added benefit of actually saying that this time around), but she cut that off with a stern look. “I believe that bath you asked for will have to wait a bit longer.”

Bath? That was the last thing he needed right now with the temperature around them plunging like it was. He slid his glance over at his dirty, grimy jacket longingly. It was too far to reach, and the thought of standing up and walking even that small distance seemed like a monumental task. A gentle pressure on his shoulders gained his attention and he looked up to see her staring at him with that same look of concern.

“I think you should lay down for a little while.”

“But…”

“Come on, I’ll help.”

With an offer like that, how could he refuse? Not that he had much strength to fight back if he wanted to. He might have held on to her a little tighter than needed as she guided him onto his back, and his hold on her lingered far longer than necessary. She gave him a reassuring smile before extracting her hand to accept a blanket being handed to her. The action of her carefully draping it across him was strange. He wasn’t used to someone to treating him so tenderly, and he wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about it. 

Her fingers began to card through his hair again, the small action sending a small measure of warmth running through him. Not enough to chase away the chill completely, but it warded it off enough to where his eyes began to feel heavy.

“It’s time for you to rest now,” she said quietly, the soothing note seeming to break through his muddy thoughts as if carried through on a wave. “I’m going to step away for a minute, but I’ll be right back, I promise.”

He watched her, trying to fight the sleep threatening to pull him under. She continued to run her fingers through his hair, staring at him with that gentle smile. It was possible he was already dreaming, because he could have sworn that she was bathed in the most beautiful light. It was far too easy to get lost in the sensation of it all, and before he knew it his eyes had begun to drift shut.

Satisfied, she gave his head one last pat before extricating herself. As she stepped away, the cold began to creep back in like a slow rising flood. It was a struggle to crack his eyes open, fatigue trying to drag him under, but he managed to spy her form walking away from him. She was still haloed in light, but the further she got, the dimmer it glowed. 

The chill surrounding him intensified as an angry purple haze seemed to leak out from the fading light, coiling around it like a serpent moving in for the kill. Theron tried to get up, but his limbs refused to cooperate. He could only watch on helplessly as the hazy darkness filled the room. It snuffed out the light completely, leaving nothing but dust motes in its wake.

It was too late, but Theron tried to reach out all the same, his voice catching in his throat. This action only seemed to gain the attention of the darkness, which seemed to shift and turn before suddenly rushing forward and overtaking him completely.

[depizan]

SWTOR for the ask

Yep, that got long...

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character: Not counting my own, I assume. Well...I really like most of the female companions, actually. Of those that I trust wouldn’t put interesting substances in my drink, Elara is probably the most well rounded. The male companions somehow don’t stand out as much (except when it’s in a bad way), but I do like Vector a lot. And Blizz. And there are some better done NPCs...oddly, most of them spies.

Least Favorite character: Hmm...Skadge or Space Voldemort? That’s a tough call. They both seem like escapees from particularly unpleasant tabletop roleplaying games. Just Skadge is a player’s terrible character and Space Voldemort is the GM’s terrible GMPC. Skadge is more pointless, but also more avoidable, while Space Voldemort at least has plot (even if it’s badly written), but is completely unavoidable unless you avoid the expansions entirely. Which might be a good plan, anyway.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): I haven’t played all of the romances (most of the romances?), but... Elara/Trooper is well done, and so, though I’m not quite sure I’d call it a romance, is Kaliyo/Agent (though, as Kaliyo is VERY CLEARLY BI, she should’ve been romanceable by f!Agents as well.) Uh... I’ve read some fanfic with other acceptable romances, even some I don’t like in game. (And haven’t played the other romances I’ve heard will not make me wonder if the galaxy has restraining orders.)

Character I find most attractive: Again, not counting my own, I assume. Hmm... I don’t know. Again, it’s a galaxy with a tendency toward aesthetically pleasing people. Maybe Kira? ???

Character I would marry: N/A

Character I would be best friends with: I don’t know. Most of the non-dangerous, non-let-me-get-my-mace companions seem like they’d be cool to hang out with. And I’d like to think I’d get on with at least some of my own characters.

a random thought: Please, Bioware, give us the option to turn off your horrible graphics update so I can actually play the game again. Please? The pre-KoFEET character models aren’t detailed enough for the wrinkle invasion not to be thoroughly uncanny valley. At least to me. It borders on that horrible old animation style with the live lips. Only with wrinkles. (And, yeah, with the right body types, species, or makeup, it works fine. Sadly, none of those are of help to me.)

An unpopular opinion: I can think of at least two popular male companions that strike me as less romantic and more “please get off my ship now.” I also dearly wish they hadn’t gone all anime ages on a lot of the companions. It makes their backstories hurt my brain. Then there’s that little problem of the Republic NPCs tending to be staggeringly incompetent and/or prone to random and inexplicable bouts of evil and somehow none of this has any of the fallout it seems like it really, really should. No, the Republic doesn’t need to be perfect shiny good, but half the time it’s such a mess that I can’t work out how anyone in universe could possibly not notice. Like, the people in the Empire notice the evil, they just don’t see it as evil, or think it’s necessary. Over in the Republic it’s like...has your drinking water all gone bad??? Though, actually, hell let’s go for the big unpopular opinion - I don’t actually like the Charcoal Gray/Black morality. I’d rather shift the entire morality up several notches and have neither the Republic nor the Empire be as terrible as they are in game. And then stick with the Cold War premise. That was interesting and different. And sustainable as a game setting.

my canon OTP: Uh... Mako/Torian? Trooper/Elara? Kaliyo/mayhem? Or does this mean my canon specifically? Because my canon and game canon are not entirely the same thing.

Non-canon OTP: Or does this mean my canon? Though the only romantic OTP in my own canon is Mako/Savler. (Yeah, if Havoc Squad ever makes an appearance, Tevin and Elara are a thing, but that’s even more background.)

most badass character: I think Jace Malcom might get the most epic non-Force User bit in the trailers. In game...I’m not sure. (And, of course, in the tie-ins there’s Theron I-Inexplicably-Take-Out-Sith-Lords Shan.)

pairing I am not a fan of: Oh dear. Well...some of the pairings I generally don’t like have been done well in people’s fanfic. I’m still not sure what the hell Bioware was thinking with some of them, but... That said, I have no idea if either DS!Jaesa/SW or Agent/Hunter can somehow be redeemed in fic because I am not touching either with a ten foot pole. Whatever floats other people’s boats and all, but they can have those boats aaaaall to themselves.

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Everyone in KoFEET? Setting that aside... General Garza should not have been giving highly illegal and evil orders. WTF, writers? She can be a Did What I Had to Do sort without resorting to that. Take a look at the writing for Keeper, then keep in mind that Garza is in the Republic, and adjust accordingly. Governor Saresh. Have her be being a hardass about the reconstruction of her own planet, not a rakghoul infested cesspit that’s been abandoned for centuries. Boom. Reasonable character. Too many of the characters on Coruscant to go into here. Not so sure you should’ve gone for the whole Depraved Bisexual thing with Hunter, especially considering the reveal. For that matter did the unnecessary and illogical Imperial baddie in the Smuggler story need to be making rape threats? (Did he even need to exist? Signs point to no.) While on that topic, Rogun the Butcher’s Heel Face Turn makes slightly less than no sense and he would’ve been a perfectly acceptable actual bad guy. Again, the whole Dubrillion thing with Risha feels tacked on and wrong. Did anyone’s characterization make much sense past a certain point in the Bounty Hunter story? Please, someone instruct General Failfish, I mean Var Suthra in the fine art of how top secret things should work and also in the concept of background checks. The list goes on.

favourite friendship: Uh... setting aside my own characters... I really, really like Vector’s friendship with a male Agent. It is just wonderfully supportive and neat. (And rare in fiction.) Havoc Squad comes together rather well. If you excise a certain person, so does the Bounty Hunter’s crew. The Jedi Knight and Kira can also have a really good friendship. And, oddly enough, so can Vette and a f!Sith Warrior. (Possibly a m!Sith Warrior, but I don’t know how that is exactly in game, having not played one.)

character I want to adopt or be adopted by: I think I’ll second your idea that we save Vette from the Empire.

[warwaged-archive]

I think I’ll begin with Alleria because I have less to say about her.

I love love love how freaking terrifying her void powers are. am absolutely in love with it. It’s scary, and I think it should be, given what she’s dealing with. I love that her messing with people’s minds is actually messing with people’s minds, that it has consequences, that she believes they’ll recover but it will take time (and I think having someone invade your head like that, even when you recovered, inevitably comes with some trauma that won’t really just go away). it’s invasive and harmful and I absolutely love it.

madeleine’s take on her is great. I love it. Her personality is spot on. She’s not patient, but she’s very tactical in a ‘goal-oriented’ way. She doesn’t care to be nice or respectful unless that respect is genuine. She doesn’t disrespect Anduin, even when he’s demanding much from her, and is in fact very polite towards him in spite of how visibly worn out she is. At the same time, she doesn’t curb her animosity towards Jaina after Jaina questions and opposes her. 

I also think her ties to the Void were well portrayed in the sense Alleria walks a fragile line. She’s confident in her control, and she has yet to fail (I don’t think her ruthlessness comes from it, at all; she was ruthless, or even downright cruel, well before she ever had any contact with the void), but the Void is a slippery thing, and if whispering on her head doesn’t seem to have much of an effect unless it’s an idea she’s already amenable to, the dream sequence showed wonderfully just how it can act to make her amenable without her realizing it is that influence at all. after all, the book itself never explicitly states that was caused by the void, and I think it’d be just as valid to see it as a product of her own fears (losing her loved ones and falling to the void), and I think it’s all more brilliant if we look at it as void influence for that, for how hard it’d be to distinguish between what is void influenced and what isn’t. and regardless, it clearly achieves it’s intended outcome, if it is supposed to make her more amenable to the path the void believes she has to follow, in that it convinces her they have to act, that inaction will lead them to their downfall, and thus she has to do whatever it takes before sylvanas no longer can be stopped. she is in control, yes, but she’s not entirely free of influence, and I think that’s wonderful.

“I would become more than my worst self to stop it.”

At the same time, it speaks of how Alleria sees and deals with the Void consciously, that she doesn’t trust it blindly, that she has always to seek the truth behind the lies, and that she knows and actively does this.

Even if Alleria denies it, she is questioned on her ties to her sister, and I think that (while could have been done better), is enough suggestion to me both that it’s not a bond that’s just simply forgotten or broken, but also that clearly her loyalty is elsewhere and she’s committed to have Sylvanas pay for what she did. Which isn’t new, btw, but it’s nice.

Alleria and Turalyon, as a pair? I loved Madeleine’s take on it for the most part. There was clearly a duality there, to me, and the vibes that remembered me of what I like about them, about them kind of tempering/complementing each other, and to have that expanded to them using their opposite skills in complementary ways to act on what they’re most alike in (their commitment to do what must be done, no matter the price they have to pay to complete their mission and protect what matters to them) it was... wow. I loved it. I didn’t think I would but I did. A shame that complementary-ness wasn’t used to develop the touch part and it was instead just retconned. I don’t subscribe to it btw. 

Alleria’s longing to be with him but when they’re together she doesn’t know what to do? Yes. Spot on. I might make a post just for that.

Also to articulate the Void stuff into a headcanon/meta thing.

The dinner with Jaina and Katherine kajsndfkjandfkjn I love how she clearly didn’t want to be there and made no effort to hide she didn’t want to be there and didn’t eat and didn’t talk and was just. Terrible. Alleria has terrible diplomatic skills I’ve said it before and I love that this remains true. 

I like that people distrust her because of the Void, and that duality between Legendary War Hero and Untrustworthy Void User. 

I like the idea with the memory of Arator, but I think it fits quite poorly on the timeline. Alleria’s development in regards to her own bloodthirsty, vengeful phase only came by the end of Beyond the Dark Portal, which would be shortly before she went missing. Her being in Stormwind might have made sense in different circumstances, given Turalyon was an important part of the rebuilding the city, but given she avoided him like the plague, it doesn’t fit the timeline unless things are changed and she and turalyon are ok well before going to draenor, but even then, the time period from the second war until then and for Arator to be a child is uhhh it doesn’t work. Don’t blame her though, it’s not like Blizz ever tried to make that work aksjdnfkajsndfkajsdnf

[spiralingworm]

The whole mobile debacle

So Blizzcon 2018 happened and I am sitting here feeling like a typical dad… Not mad just disappointed.

To understand why I feel this way you need to understand something about me. I really had bad time deciding what genre is my personal favourite, but after a while I finally settled for hack’n’slash. Nothing just engages me enough like slaying endless groups of monsters in preferably isometric camera position. Sadly platformers and shooters were pushed to 2nd and 3rd position and this saying a lot, because I considered Doom 2016 my game of the year a while back. So to see the IP that started all this love for me turned into a mobile game, when there was a promise of “multiple projects to share later this year”… It’s just heartbreaking.

You might be thinking now that I despise mobile games, but this is really not the case. I would love to use my phone to game more and believe me I tried to look for Diablo clones for my android. They just weren’t any to capture my attention in any shape or form. I think part of the reason is the controls, the touch screen isn’t ideal for h’n’s and I doubt that it ever will be. Touch controls aside the size and the way you need to hold any phone can be really tedious. Personally my hands feel super weird after 30 minutes of play time, and I don’t about you but I can play my favourite games for longer than that. Lastly I think the more complicated a mobile game is, in terms of mechanics, the less fun it is. Simple games or turned base systems really work wonders for the platform. That is why I settled for Tetris and simple game called aa for when I want some play time on phone. I also enjoyed Battle of Polytopia and Kingdom Rush, but I just “finished” them. Hack’n’slash is really heavy on reaction times and more precise movement were touch screens struggle, so I doubt D:I could achieve the goal of satisfying me.

You could say that I might be wrong this time (not that I wasn’t multiple times), because of all companies in gaming Blizzard is the type of brand that delivers. They surely spend a lot of time on it to battle the problems mobile titles have and we have nothing to worry about. Except this isn’t being made by Blizzard. Yeah they assigned their artist, writers and designers to this project, but majority of the ground work was made in Netease Inc. The company that was known for making Wow clones or even Diablo clones for mobile. So nothing here truly feels like Blizz work. Even the cinematic just feels off for me, like this wasn’t made with Blizzard’s Mark of Quality. On top of everything Netease is also known for heavily monetising their work so, if you were in this group of people that called Diablo 3 RMAH pay to win you will maybe want to eat your words soonTM.

With all this turmoil one thing makes me happy, because no matter who we were before Blizzcon 2018 (Blizzard fan, Diablo 1 fan, Diablo 2 fan, Diablo 3 fan, Diablo 3 hater or heck even if you switched to PoE, because D was dead for you for long time) we all just said “Nope” and Blizzard felt it. I really feel for the devs on stage, especially since I really enjoy D3 and I think Wyatt Cheng is the big reason why. So when he met dead silence while announcing Diablo Immortal, when he got asked if this is an out of season april fool’s joke or when he got boo’ed on stage, I am not gonna lie I was happy we all are on the same page with this one. I have no sympathy for the dev that shouted “Do you not have phones?”, I am 99% sure it was Wyatt though, he jumped onto train tracks by himself.

It’s not like companies can’t go mobile. I just think that there is a time, place and mood for everything. Nintendo put their beloved IP on mobile, and nobody was angry about it. They showed Super Mario Run with Jimmy Fallon, nobody in their right mind could be angry for that. Bethesda maybe showed Elder Scrolls Blade in front of E3 crowd, but they also run a teaser for TES6. At least we know that Beth haven’t forgotten about people that mainly play on PC or console. Instead Blizzard went full EA, announcing mobile title for beloved IP, when fans of the originals felt neglected for years. At this point it is hard for me to believe when higher ups from Blizzard tell us that they are preparing other Diablo projects, they just aren’t ready to show us anything yet. In this highly volatile market when announced games get scrapped and long running companies just die with no warning the words of some old dad mean nothing to me.

PS. I can’t even play Diablo Immortal, because my phone isn’t supported.

PPS. No, I am not going to upgrade my phone to play a game… My fiancée would kill me.