#if need be I suppose???? haha

[soulstickerr]

Undertale Red & Yellow has subsequently altered my brain permanently. I love it so much.

Some friends and I went through it in streams, as I said before—we voiced the cast, GOD was it fun. Totally didn’t cry like, multiple times.

[thefrogwild]

The Spotlight

[bonus-links]

HOMESICK, pt. 7

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PATREON

[jangmi-latte]

wait if he was a first year here and vil said he bulked up/grew bigger during the latest beanfest then...then what is this. is this not bulky enough what h..how big did he grow now that he's a third year..h-he grew bigger???? h-he gained more muscle now that he's older??? a-and he's still working out???? w-what do you mean wha..what i..i like...like he GREW BIGGER????????

BIGGER!??!??!??!?!!?!!??

[kat-124]

</3

[vaguely-concerned]

To the ‘themes I am picking up on in Veilguard’ list, let's go ahead and add what I have a sneaking suspicion will actually turn out to be The theme:

— the world has changed and can never be as it was again.

— I have been changed and can never be who I was again.

— in this simple unavoidable truth there is endless grief and endless hope.

And I… may be getting a bit emotional about it haha. Let me show my work a bit: 

if da:o is a game about people who are already dead or half ghosts in some form (through societal forces, psychologically, functionally, literally, in body, through the joining etc.) coming together anyway to save the world from being swallowed by total nihilism and despair (symbolized by the blight) through the power of love and friendship and also this sword/potential heroic sacrifice that I found, da2 is a game about people who have lost their homes and been set adrift finding and building new homes in each other (while completely failing to save the world. also through the power of love and friendship. as well as years of petty bickering <3 we must imagine kirkwall if not happy then worth having been because the love was there the love was there and that's the only sanctifying force we can ever have in this doomed world and city of ours), and da:i is a game about old stabilizing-but-unjust comfortable lies vs. disruptive but potentially liberating uncomfortable truths, and the power of friendship to help us distinguish the one from the other and navigate through them...

folks… I'm starting to think that veilguard might be a game specifically about moving towards recovery and acceptance after trauma — about how even in this flawed, severed, scarred state, what is here right now is worth loving and worth caring for. even in an imperfect and impermanent world and self, there is worth and joy. and of course the first real tragedy — and threat — of Solas is that he just cannot find it in himself to accept this and move on, to let go of what was, the regret won’t let him go or he won’t let go of it. which means that even though on the surface it’s Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain (and the will to subjugate and violate they represent) who are the main villains, the real antagonistic force in this story beneath that is the Dread Wolf’s despair. A despair Rook must make an answer to by the end of the game, one way or another, compassionately or with righteous fury, triumphant or pyrrhic.

The world will change again and again and so will you — BUT the crucial element is that so will everyone else who exists along with you, you are fundamentally not alone in this existential truth. all we’ll ever have is each other and my god that is plenty, my god that is enough!!! Which is the second thing Solas just can’t accept, he keeps himself separate and completely alone out of an awful mix of fear and pride and feeling himself unworthy of anything else. Rook and the player want to save the world of Thedas because it’s where everyone we love lives, Solas wants to go back to the past because that’s the only neighbourhood where he can still visit those he loved — and the person he himself was, before. A very sympathetic and human instinct/trap to fall into when touched by trauma, I think, if only it wasn’t backed by godlike power, a fundamentally oppositional personality, and a catastrophic lack of therapy to make it literally everyone else’s problem too lol. It’s varric and solas’ banter about the man on the island and where meaning in a life comes from all over again, writ large and with detail work — and the added idea of ‘what if there are also other islands out there, though. With other people on them that you could find if you reach for each other’. Rook with the best of intentions has to make choices to which there are no perfect outcomes and live with what happens — and not cut themselves off from everyone else around them even when there is regret or shame. You get back up every day and you make a life with other people doing the same and you do your best, and that’s the only victory this world will give you. In the end, that is more than enough, that is essential. And I um. I love that. So much. It’s why some of the writing clumsiness on top can’t hurt me because this thematic spine is so solid and so beautiful to me. It’s DA2 all over again that way for me personally — I forgive this story for what it isn’t and couldn’t be, and I love it with my whole stupid open heart for what it actually is. Thank you for coming to my TED-talk and goodbye etc.      

(For my fellow TLT heads out there — you know what this story is reminding me of most of all, actually? It has some big Nona the Ninth vibes down there in the deep. It’s about… the horror and unspeakable beauty that can only be found in liminality, and the role of love in making that basic fact of existence bearable. And also even more unbearable at the same time. I'm so sorry.)

[purplepixel]

Happy SWSAnniversary!

This one's for you @psychologicalwarclaire! Finally can give a proper thank you for writing my favorite rise fic of all time. Here's to a Spider's Web with Strings Attached's one year anniversary! What better way to commemorate this with a little comic featuring the very beginning?

For those who are just stumbling on this comic, please go read the fic its based on! I cannot praise and recommend it enough!!

[blackkatdraws2]

There are more things in the Parable than Stanley knows about. [Blank Scripts AU]

[valtsv]

not my usual kind of posting but i genuinely hate how unpleasant having chronic gastrointestinal issues makes your life. even if it was more socially acceptable i would still be in excruciating pain every single day of my life just for doing something that's necessary to live. the fact that it also makes other people think you're disgusting and embarrassing just compounds the misery.

[cozylittleartblog]

James Hall & Clara Clemont in... Swing Time!

[fallofthecelestial]

Okay. Since we're going over all the takes on Mr. X at this point.. What if his powers really don't have a backside. What if (the state of) his normal life is the backside.

What if his normal life is akin to that of heroes where he has to pretend to be something he's not and follow rules that the people who control his life came up with to further their own goals. What if he can only be free of other people's beliefs and expectations when he's a hero.

What if in reality he truly is like everyone else. The other heroes. The ordinary people. All those who work themselves to the bone, who are tired and overworked and sick of all the exploitation...

What if when he's in the form of the number one hero.. when he becomes the most sought after product on the hero market..

Is when he gains the freedom to truly be himself

[hajihiko]

youre one of the few artists that actually make kazuichi pretty thank you for not being one of the "well ppl dont like them so obviously theyre not attractive to anyone" ppl

also sorry if i sound insane

funny bc i often see the MOST fanning over him lol

[sunlight-shunlight]

anyway the main interesting thing about the masked empire is that it looks like felassan needed like a special herbs and spices blend to meditate deeply enough to actually contact solas? and even then the impression seemed rather murky and vague (perhaps just bc they hadn't decided what solas' personality was ingame at that time), and solas was pretty detached and still on his "this world is garbage and full of tranquil" mindset prior to dai. i feel like if solas had been regularly able to talk to felassan, he'd 1. be more moved by his argument, 2. be aware that felassan's resolve was waning even before being told, and 3. be less likely to kill him point-blank without even a conversation, since he'd be more confident in his ability to talk him back into loyalty

so i think it makes sense if solas was genuinely Asleep a lot of the time, with some phases of more lucid dreaming where he was able to look at the fade/talk to felassan. so his experience would be vaguely stirring in his uthenera every few centuries, getting a fresh batch of bizarre mortal nightmares, and disconnected updates from felassan that went kind of like this:

"hey boss sooo... we lost all the eluvians and floating cities and stuff, and a lot of people just starved, and the veil is really fucking us. but we're ok! actually some round eared little guys showed up. uhhh actually arlathan's gone now and the population got enslaved by the round eared ones. their mages broke one of the seals on the black city and released a blight. oh the humans got into a new religion :) it's anti-slavery, but it DOES hate spirits. but the people have the dales now! another blight. actually another blight again. ohh the humans really got into their new religion... remember the dales i mentioned? yeah those are gone actually. also the survivors are evanuris loyalists and hate you specifically. two more blights. this last one went by super fast, i barely noticed it! hey actually i trained this mortal girl a bit and she's kind of fun, i think we should rethink the plan, and give her the eluvians and let her cook-"

and presumably solas goes "what the FUCK is felassan talking about. he must be going mad, he could easily foil the whole plan if he's lost it like this. goodbye old friend"

[vaguely-concerned]

powerful mental image of lucanis expounding passionately about any given one of his limited but extremely deep areas of interest (the wyvern/knives/coffee/cooking/murder continuum of lucanis dellamorte special interests if you will) while rye lounges around and Beholds him with palpable twink boutta pounce energy

[narsh-poptarts]

Gosh RGB, who let YOU have a face?

...I did? well, that's strange

really wanted to draw a solid expression or two and strangely wanted to do the guy who doesn't. have a face. so i did a panel redraw!!! (there's just so many moments in this comic where the feelings leaking out from him and what we see is just so POTENT and i AUGH!!! please please please go read The Property of Hate it is such a wonderful comic it will make you explode on the inside. i promise you will come out of it completely normal <- lying)

also STOP DOING THAT RGB you're gonna have people endeared to you

original panel and alternate less eye-strain-y version under the cut!!

it's so weird seeing him with a face, but it did give me an excuse to go overboard with the hair

[skitskatdacat63]

All I want for Christmas isssssssssss to completely demolish your chances of winning another championship~

+

without text, and the lineart I really like:

plus some of my inspos:

and if only I wasn't a coward....