#imo that's the whole game but again even when it comes to people who Do Like this game

[bibiana112]

There's nothing wrong with people having their dearest most specialest blorbo be Eric ztd it is unironically good for the ecosystem and I always love seeing the different perspectives from other fans but what I am here today to ask is why is no one like that about Mira. whatever happened to feminism.

[zapshazam]

idk something really rubs me wrong about the way fandom treats Astarion's reactions to the Halsin poly romance and ESPECIALLY the Drow twins stuff. like yes. i get the kneejerk reaction to feel really uncomfortable once you get the line from the narrator about Astarion disassociating during sex with the twins - it's not fun to deal with! you want him to have enthusiastic fun the whole time and your character at that point is definitely in love with him and he's reciprocating, so i get it.

but..... like.... he's an adult man who is coming to terms with how he views himself his sexuality and his desires. he DOES enthusiastically want to try having a big fun sex party once you've completed his personal quest. healing from trauma, certainly SEXUAL TRAUMA, isn't a one-and-done thing. just because he's ready to initiate sex with you at his grave doesn't mean he's going to be 100% comfortable all the time forever going forward.

it happens sometimes. even at your best and most thriving-est sometimes something happens that triggers you and if that's your defense mechanism? boom, you're far away, you're going through the motions. he isn't having a ton of fun but again, he didn't know going in, it's an experiment.

but like. reloading as soon as you see that line about him disassociating because it makes you feel icky (which again, fair, I get the impulse) is kinda. idk. babying? like he's SO enthusiastic about doing it when asked. it doesn't end the best. for me that just means he and Tav/Durge have a conversation afterwards where he comes to a realization that yes, he's into the IDEA, but probably only with people he trusts and knows aren't only banging him because of how hot he is. all the dialogue during that scene, as sexy as it is, is EXTREMELY objectifying toward Astarion. it fits his story that it would make him uncomfortable once it becomes clear that that's The Vibe! let him come to that conclusion, he's a big boy! you don't have to treat him like he's made of glass - he's a survivor and he's his own person who gets to make these decisions and deal with the consequences. with a partner who loves him and can help him through it! that's that real good shit imo, that's the shit that makes this game's relationships and character moments feel so real even when they have to veer into headcanon territory.

[outivv]

I’m so disappointed with the natlan teaser because like. Girl. All of those characters would straight up look better if they had even the tiniest bit of melanin don’t even lie hyv.

I’m gonna go on a fat rant here so below the cut, fair warning because it’s messy as fuck I’m just pissed off

No because how are you going to straight up take the inspirations, and clear liberties from Aztec, Māori, Qichwa, Nigerian, Hawaiian, Native American, And Mayan (according to this image from @ HYVboycott on Twitter highly recommend btw they have good info imo)

And then you’re not gonna represent them in terms of their skin color??? Yes there are pale people in all these countries and pale people apart of these cultures, HOWEVER the vast majority of people, or the native people are not typically fucking white. I am white and I literally am darker than the majority of the genshin characters, even in winter when I don’t fucking tan. Like the genshin characters don’t even look ALIVE for Christ’s sake. Hyv are a bunch of cowards who take inspiration from poc, and don’t properly represent them, even in their other games like honkai Star rail. Boothill is Native American. Blatantly. “Oh, no he’s not!!” Yes the fuck he is, his entire backstory is based off of native people, he’s also part Hispanic because the original cowboys were Hispanic people called vaqueros, his home planet in the original CN version of honkai Star rail is literally two native tribes put together I believe. He is Native American, and Hispanic, and hyv TOOK that inspiration and that culture and then was too much of a coward to AT LEAST make him tan. Don’t even get me started on aventurine. So it’s not just with genshin that they do this shit, it’s a hyv problem as a whole, but with genshin it’s so like… common, and genshin has so many issues that make it feel like a cash-grab kinda game, and like the devs are just spitting in our face CONSTANTLY, especially when it comes to characters, and representation. It’s so depressing to see a game that at first had so much fucking promise, now just be such a fucking letdown after like what? 5? 4? Years? Like you’ve built up so much hype, and lore, and excitement just for Sumeru and Natlan not having any representation like fuck off. Hyv CAN fix these issues, they just don’t want to and they have expressed that time and time again by making dark skinned enemies, and enemies with dreadlocks. They know that they can, they just don’t want to because they’re too pussy. And it’s not because they’re a Chinese company, I mean obviously I understand that there is a complicated relationship with tan skin and China, HOWEVER that is no excuse because genshin, honkai Star rail, zenless zone zero, and honkai impact 3rd are all worldwide games and they need to appeal to their WORLDWIDE customers, and I’ve seen plenty of CN players fucking just as pissed off that there isn’t any actual diversity for like any of their games. Plus other Chinese companies have made diverse games, like Dislyte which I’m honestly a huge fucking fan of because of their diversity. Having diversity would BENEFIT hoyoverse a hell of a lot, but they are just trying to appeal to greasy old white men who are the same men who have a tantrum while making a reaction video to a game trailer and go “OH MY GOD SHE ISNT GOT ENOUGH!! LOOK AT HER!! SHE ISNT SEXY!!”, “OH MY GODDD THEY HAVE PRONOUNS NOW!! THE WOKE SNOWFLAKES GOT TO THEM”, and “OH MY GOD ASSASSINS CREED IS MAKING A BLACK SAMURAI THE MAIN CHARACTER!! NOOOO THATS NOT HISTORICALLY ACCURATE!!” Because they’re all pathetic, and that’s who hoyoverse is trying to cater to.

Okay I’m done, this went all over the place but I’m so pissed off so fuck hyv, give them the feedback they deserve, have a great day.

[utilitycaster]

Unpopular opinion: parts of the cr fandom are really dismissive/ reductive of Travis’s characters. It feels like it’s due to Travis being seen as THE cis het man of the group, and by extension his characters must be heteronormative and bad, despite the fact that you could have queer interpretations of his characters. At the very least, Travis’s characters explore masculinity and the different ways it might look. It’s like the people who are all “ew men are gross and shitty” and act like that’s an absolutely normal reaction to a man just existing.

So this is another one in that I agree with the initial statement, but I'm actually not sure re: the reasoning why. I think it's possible but I could not tell you for sure.

I used to, again, think this was people carrying through Campaign 1 elements well beyond the point where C1 had ended, and so Grog having an intelligence of 6 was being applied to Travis; and this definitely does come through to an extent when people treat Fjord (objectively as smart as Beau without her circlet) as stupid or act shocked that Chetney is the brains of Bells Hells or that he can play a Cerrit, Fjord, or Nathaniel. However, again, I think this is one of those opinions that pops up among people who weren't around for Campaign 1 (or early enough in C2 to be exposed to it regularly) so I don't know if that's the case anymore. It could still be - it could be that Approved Fandom Opinions get passed down even when the logic behind them has long since been lost; that's a really common thing in institutional memory. But I can't say for sure.

I also have in the past credited it to, as you said, people assuming his characters are the cishet guys and then writing them off. That's still possible - I've seen both Fjord and Chetney called "token straight" despite considerable evidence of bisexuality, and they also paradoxically are both commonly headcanoned as trans while still getting called "token straight," which sort of ties into a post I would need to find from someone else from quite some time ago about which cast members are granted agency by the fandom in their choices vs. which are assumed to be the victims of circumstance. And I do think that there are people in fandom who have decided men are icky or whatever, and I used to think this came from a place of bigotry and a slide towards t*rf ideology but I now do genuinely think it's just idiots who don't grant interiority to characters outside their own limited understanding.

But I think it's also useful to consider a few things, most of which I've brought up before:

Travis is extremely offline. He is not here to entertain your headcanons; he has been politely but openly dismissive of some (imo, really fucking dumb) fanon/fan theories. I think the cast frequently talks about how it's their table, and I think that's valid and correct, but Travis is one of the players who lives it the most. He is playing this game with his friends, and he'd like it to be a good story, but if you don't like it, he is not here to make you like it. I think that really fucks with the parasocial connections some people desire with the cast.

Travis's characters tend to examine masculinity as a performance but also the general performance of the self, and the fact that you cannot in the end control how you are perceived entirely, and I think that really unsettles people who have equated presentation with reality and are again, looking for external validation of the self.

Travis can play it big but he's often extremely subtle, especially with his more serious characters, and he's not as easily quotable out of context as some others at the table. I think because he is a lot more naturalistic than dramatic at times (Chetney notwithstanding) and isn't as pithy and quotable in his characters as many of Taliesin's PCs are, and a lot of the strength is in the delivery, he gets overlooked despite being very good with words on the fly.

And finally: this would be a whole post on its own but people are still very foolishly wed to this idea that pressing the big red button in D&D is Wild and Chaotic and haha Big ADHD Man when it's actually how you play D&D if you're not a coward; the button is where the story is stored, and a lot of Travis's strength is that he is extremely good at understanding what the GM wants and supporting it with sufficient grace that it's only visible if you know what you're fucking doing.

[astaldis]

Why is House of the Dragon allegedly so much better than The Witcher?

Just watched House of the Dragon S2 and I must say - I found it pretty boring in many parts?

Sorry, but the whole thing mostly and disappointingly feels like a very long and repetitive prologue to what might come in S3. And they do many things that are loudly criticised in The Witcher, some even a lot worse, but with HotD people seem to not mind? Honestly, this really puzzles me. Yes, the costumes and make-up might be better, but:

It's all over the place on the whole continent of Westeros and even outside of Westeros with people traveling from place to place in no time at all. OK, on dragon back, you can do that, but they also do it on foot and by boat. I remember some of the geography of the continent because I was very much into Game of Thrones some years back when it aired and also read all the Song of Ice and Fire books that were available (not the ones HotD is based on though), but the constant jumps from one place to the next are really confusing imo and you'd need to have a map by your side all the time to remember where is what. When the Witcher does that, it is criticised heavily.

Same with people, there are so many main and minor characters, some even with similar or the same names, how the fuck are you supposed to remember who's who and who is related to who and how, who belongs to which house, and who's allied to who and who's feuding who without looking it up again all the time somewhere on the internet? With all the incest and extramarital activities resulting in a host of illegitimate progeny, I found this extremely confusing, a lot more so than in The Witcher.

And does anybody have a shimmer of an idea of how much time has passed since the old king's death? Must be at least months but you hardly ever get any hints about it. And this poor girl, how long is she wandering around the desolate highlands alone trying to find the wild dragon? Must have been weeks judging by the other things that happened in the meantime ...

Maybe it's just me, but I did not find any of the characters really compelling. Not that they are not well acted, the acting is good enough, but emotionally they did not really leave any impression on me. Maybe the only character I find a bit interesting is Queen Helaena and this very young Lord Tully who shows unexpected spine and stands up to Daemon in front of the Riverlords. There are so many seemingly random new side characters popping up all over the place, too, miraculously gaining importance that one is supposed to keep track of, but also none of them that was in any way inspiring it me. And the poor cute Bracken knight only drew his sword and was already dead in the mud on a battlefield with hundreds of men hardly a second later ...

Rhaenyra suddenly and out of the blue kisses this lowborn woman (was her name even mentioned? I cannot for the life of me remember it). I don't have anything against women kissing, not at all, but why? There is no mention of anything going on between those two at all afterwards. Are they in a secret relationship now or not? I haven't read the book and don't know if it's in there, but how is that kiss, as it seems to have no relevance to the plot at all, not 'woke' catering to the LGBTQ community? But everything the Witcher does is?

Then there are the dragons you have to keep track of in addition to the many people and places. How many dragons are there? And who rides which one? And why the heck would a dragon in its right mind choose this dubious Ulf character who accidentally stumbles into its cave as a rider???

And the plot? Honestly, was there, beside the one fight between the three dragons, anything that was really exciting? I remember nothing, no battles, no good sword fights, nothing but TALK. At lest 90% of the plot is repetitive talking about politics and plotting and scheming. I have nothing against a nice political intrigue and of course that's what happens at courts and it can be interesting too. It was in Game of Thrones where you had really interesting characters, too. But here I found it mostly boring and uninspired. And The Witcher is criticised for having too much politics and too many side characters although it has a LOT less so than this season of HotD.

They also seem to have conveniently forgotten that in GoT they established that Targaryans would not burn from fire. In the books this happens only once because some kind of blood magic was performed, but in the show it happened several times, so it seemed to be the rule, not the exception. HotD thus kind of refutes their own made-up lore, which I found confusing and had to look it up online. (They could easily have made Aegon suffer from bad injuries due to the fall instead.)

The music was rather uninspiring, too, imo, except for the intro which is the well-known one taken from GoT and the music at the end of E8 which was partly based on the Rains of Castamere, otherwise there was not a single piece of the soundtack that would make me want to buy and listen to it. The Witcher has quite a few that I listen to again and again (including, of course, Jaskier's songs, but many more).

What I also like a lot better about The Witcher: It does not take itself that seriously and there is quite a bit of humour in it. In HofD S2, the imo funniest piece of dialogue was: "I want you to fuck my wives." - "How many wives do you have?" (that was between this pirate commander, don't remember his/her? name, and Lord Tyland, was that his name?) . And maybe the truest sentence in the show by this random braggart in the tavern who miraculously turns into a dragon rider Ulf: "A sense of humour would do you all good."

All in all, the only thing that I have found to be really good and outstanding about HotD S2 are the dragons. Without them, it would be less than mediocre. I don't think I would want to rewatch it and feel no desire to look up any of the characters and their relationships etc to find out more about them. I cannot say in how far it is or isn't faithful to the source material as I have not read the book(s?) HotD is based on, but even if it's more faithful to the source material, this has failed to make it a great watch like GoT (minus the ending, that was worse than the poorest fanfic could have thought it up). With the dragons it is alright to watch once, hoping for a more exciting S3, but there is absolutely no way it deserves higher critic/audience scores/ratings than The Witcher S3, the contrary.

Update: To clarify, I don't really mind many things that I mentioned about HotD, I can totally live with an unclear timeline and many characters, even if it's not easy to remember every name, relationship etc. If I really like a show or character, I simply look it up, no problem. But these are all things I have seen people criticise The Witcher for on social media, and then they say HotD is so much better. That's what really puzzles me. What I definitely liked about HotD is the diverse cast and that there are many female characters with a lot of screen time and importance. It's not a bad show, only I like The Witcher much better despite its flaws. This is not meant as an anti HotD post but a pro Witcher post.

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

KATHERINA MINOLA (THE TAMING OF THE SHREW) (CW: Domestic Abuse)

1.) We had to read this for English my senior year. I got so mad at the way she's treated. She's the titular "shrew" of the play. She has to be married off before her younger sister can get married, because that makes sense.

Then the most dogshit man imaginable comes along, and everybody thinks they're perfect. He literally gaslights her and denies her food and water.

Fuck Petruchio and Katherine Minola deserved better!

2.) Literally the whole play is about how she is so awful that the main guy needs to change her entire personality, which he does as a challenge not because he likes her, and then proceeds to her abuse her for the rest of the play. Yet, he is portrayed as the hero, not a villain and she is shown to have "improved" at the end. People will say, oh it's open to interpretation, it can be played different ways, it's satire, but i don't find abuse funny and there is a distinct lack of commentary in the play to count as satire imo. Taming of the Shrew is a tragedy not a comedy, I will die on this hill. Kate deserves better!

3.) The title isn’t joking, ya’ll. She literally gets broken like a rebellious feral animal and it’s treated as a happy ending.

BARBARARA GORDON (DC COMICS) (CW: Ableism)

1.) Famously fridged in 1988, which was so popular with misogynists it became canon. After almost 2 decades of being one of the only disabled characters, was rebooted to a younger, more fun version of herself whose only history is that she was fridged but not disabled by it.

2.) The Killing Joke is one of the biggest comic examples of a female character getting hurt to motivate male characters. Also tbe way different cannons will trade off who her romantic intrest is out of Batfamily is pretty disturbing ranging from Bruce Wayne in Batman the Animated series universe (ew) to Tim Drake in the Arkham games (ew). Not to mention DC now is not letting her grow out of being Batgirl taking away her legacy of other young female heroes taking up her mantle and her getting to mentor them instead forcing her into a Batgirl cycle of purgatory when she was always better as Oracle (Its a little more complicated in the new Batgirl book but its still not solving the issues in a way that feels meaningful enough to make up the damage).

3.) Was shot as angst value for Bruce and her dad, implied to be sexually assaulted in The Killing Joke with absolutely no respect for her long career as Batgirl. When Alan Moore asked if he could, the editor said "cripple the bitch." She became paralyzed from the waist down. THankfully, an actually good writer picked her up from there and then wrote one of the best stories ever written (Oracle Year One: Born from Hope). Was one of the most iconic disabled characters in comic book history, hell, as Oracle, she was definitely up there as one of the most iconic disabled characters ever as well as a fantastic character, period. There were a few moments where people kept trying to make things out of her disability and had her be shitty to other women for no reason but for the most part, she was awesome. During her time In 2011, Dan Didio and some other misogynistic/ableist comic book writers were responsible for "curing" her disability and forcing her back into Batgirl, despite her having shown absolutely no desire to do so, as part of the New 52. They also made it an editorial mandate that she couldn't have glasses, a cool secret base, and her time as Oracle couldn't be referenced. This was because those writers were nostalgic for the 60s Batman show where Babs was played by an actress they all had the hots for and couldn't accept she'd grown up and moved on. That was bad enough, but over time, she's been increasingly deaged and reduced even further to just Dick Grayson's on and off again girlfriend and a generic girlboss. Batgirl of Burnsides burn in hell.

[clairdeluneeeeee]

(Friendly) Matches - Kiyotaka & Celeste

A little fun fact about Ishimaru to start the Kiyotaka week on a positive note:

Kiyotaka and Celeste used to challenge each other often in games of strategy. This is something that gets mentioned in Ishimaru’s School Mode, but also in their Summer Camp and UTDP interactions.

Of course, as we all know, Celeste is the ultimate gambler, so her luck will allow her to win whatever match, even if she admits not knowing shogi’s rules (the game they often play together) that well.

Their friendship is just so funny to explore imo, because they literally have almost nothing in common, and yet, they tend to rotate around each other, even during the main story.

When you start digging deeper in their individual characterisation, you’ll easily discover that they share some traits: like the fact that they can get pretty competitive, and they tend to favour games in which using one’s mind and knowing the “strategy” is the most prominent factor to assure their own victory.

Despite this, their personalities are worlds apart, and they have fundamentally opposite roots that allowed them to turn into the type of person they are today.

Kiyotaka is a bold, enthusiastic young man who takes a lot of pride in the concept of being a “hard worker”, and he’s sure that, one day, he’ll be able to create a perfect society that primarily prioritises meritocracy.

Ishimaru is such a dreamer, he has ideas that most people would find abnormal and impossible to accomplish. Yet, they aren’t totally unrealistic, or at least, not thanks to the way Kiyotaka approaches difficult and tricky subjects. He is always studying, constantly and really, really hard. He tries to understand the situations in which he was thrown into, and then he develops strategies to come out of them as the winner.

Unfortunately, this trait of his was his biggest downfall during the killing school-life. His dedication, paired with his goal of wanting to be as useful as he can be for the others, kinda dug his grave. It wasn’t his fault, but being dictated by your own feelings and impressions in such an environment can be deadly, especially if you end up trusting a soon-to-be killer.

Celeste, on the other hand, is extremely cynical and closed-off. She doesn’t care about anyone but herself, and she’s so confident in her abilities that she tends to overestimate her successes.

Even so, her behaviour isn’t going to be rewarded either. Her pride will be what’ll ruin her in the end, and her inability to come to terms with who she really is going to be shown as her greatest weakness.

Now, a thing that I found quite interesting is how, after tons of failed attempts from Ishimaru’s side, Kiyotaka and Celeste actually come to a draw during one of their matches in the UTDP, which surprises them both.

And while Celeste is quick to dismiss this event by proclaiming that she simply hadn’t been lucky enough that day, and that something like this is never going to happen again, Kiyotaka attributes it to all the efforts he has been putting into his goal of surpassing Celeste.

Even though we’ll never know whatever his triumph was really due to his hard work or if it just happened because of mere fortune, I think it’s a nice conclusion that allow us to see Kiyotaka’s whole philosophy in a rather positive light.

It doesn’t matter if all the odds are against you, or if people are constantly dragging you down for having an “unrealistic and childish” mindset, as long as you’ll believe in what you’re doing and in your capacities, you’ll always stand a chance to gain a victory, however small it may be.

[daydreaming-scheming-demon]

i know undertale is like, almost a decade old at this point, even older if you count the kickstarter’s age, but i still cant get over how flowey/asriel is literally such a cool fucking character. he’s like a player that plays a game too many times and stops being able to see the characters as people as their brain sees them acting the same and doing the same things on each replay and how he loses his sympathy bc of that. and this makes him come across as a typical pure evil antagonist at first, but then you learn his backstory, and it’s all just, aghhhhhhhh. and then you learn in the genocide route that he helped people at first, he used to be kind, but he got bored, and how that contrasts the player on the genocide route with flowey, the genocide route where the player is now in the role of the pure evil villain, just like flowey was.

and also i love how the guy is literally just an edgy kid. like, he comes across as an adult at first, but the guy’s just like one of those cynical little kids who only wants to see the worst in everything. and how that’s portrayed in the true pacifist route where he gives himself this edgy name and transformation sequence that feels like something a kid would come up with. tho the idea that he’s a kid does kinda come into question when you consider all the resets he’s been on, but even still he never got to grow up.

i wanna hug this lil dude so badly, even in flower form, he deserves a hug.

i fucking love this dude, he’s kinda like a pure evil antagonist, but actually has a backstory that makes you feel sorry for him and make his actions feel understandable, even if he can feel like some insane cartoon supervillain, his actions still feel reasonable with his backstory in mind. it’s like taking the idea of an unrealistically evil villain and asking yourself what couldve possibly made them that way

and his whole life as asriel with chara as a sibling. aghhhhhhhh, i love it.

and how in the beginning of the game he probably hasnt even realized his powers are missing yet, and that may just be a small thing but i find it a fun small recontextualization. that in this moment where you seem like you’re falling into his trap, he doesnt even realize that you have far more power over him than he thinks. and something i never even really thought about for a while is how he probably had a bit of a mental breakdown realizing his powers are missing sometime between your first and second time meeting him, and how he probably had to get himself all ready to talk with you again and come across as confident and threatening. like, there’s no way he just brushed off the fact that his powers are missing so easily, his plan to use you to retrieve the souls probably helped him feel better, but there’s no way this dude just brushed off losing the powers he’s been relying on for who knows how long so easily. he definitely got all angry and scared at his missing powers sometime between your first and second meeting, for at least a little while.

honestly, i feel like undertale didnt have enough of him. he deserved more screentime imo. which is why i was really happy to see his characterizationin done so well in undertale yellow, i fucking loved how that game built on his character. and his whole boss fight in that game somehow outdoing his boss fights in the original game. and how a lot of his attacks involve self harm in some way. and how he acts as the save points for the game so you get to hear a lot more from him throughout the game. i feel like undertale yellow gave me some characterization for him that i really fucking needed.

genuinely one of my favourite characters in all of fiction. would love to have a conversation with this lil guy.

[lostiel]

Ooof, I've been seeing a lot of people writing off veilguard because prev choices don't matter as much, and while I get where that frustration is coming from, the reaction on the whole seems a bit... extreme? It's a new story with new characters and a new setting, plus the world is kind of... on the brink of ending? Idk Inquisition had a lot of flavor text, but objectively, it still wasn't a good game? I love the Warden, I love Hawke, but I get why they are not important to THIS story, and that's fine? The Well of Sorrows plotline was kind of resolved in Inquisition when Solas consumed Mythal (it was a bit like heeey you were worried about that Well when really, you should have paid more attention to your weirdly knowledgeable companion). Personally, I think it would have made more sense to take into account who ended up ruling Orlais because THAT kind of stuff is of interest internationally? But then again, none of us have played veilguard, and it seems like act 1 alone packs a punch and could have been an entire game in and of itself — it genuinely seems like a well-crafted, high-stakes story, and trespasser already made it pretty clear that da4 would be all about stopping solas so the "why is solas at the centre of this story" salt makes NO sense to me? (and here's the thing – he is not! he is the catalyst, but the story itself is about... the veilguard + rook's journey, so a completely new set of characters 😭😭😭😭).

Idk, I'm curious about your take on the situation?

to be honest i can't say much on this as a relatively new fan but i appreciate your ask so i'll try!

my general attitude is to ignore the bits of canon i don't like and use the bits that i do like as prompts for my headcanons so even if veilguard had no mention of previous choices/characters at all i'd still be excited about the new game bc we get a new story to play with

if the choices are a deal-breaker for someone it's understandable to stay away from the game that makes them unhappy. though i do hope they still give it a chance bc there's soooo much fun stuff to explore like the locations and new companions alone are worth it imo

[thefinnishcap]

I love how much from what we’ve seen, echoes of wisdom feels like it’s going back to the era of game boy Zelda. I don’t really know how to explain it. There’s a certain… mischievousness that the game boy games have, and this one has it too.

It also reminds me of them because there’s this laissez faire attitude that the game boy games had when it came to the direction of the series, they didn’t give a flying fuck about continuity, or the lore (cause it didn’t really exist at the time, and still doesn’t imo). Echoes feels like it’s really returning to that attitude towards the lore. totk and botw also did, much to the chagrin of Zelda “theorists”.

Echoes seems to yet again be muddying the water on what the triforce is and how it functions. The triforce’s specific function and how it works has literally never been as consistent as people like to pretend it is. But this game seems to be doing something pretty drastic with it. Now there’s a fairy? Are they like an avatar of the triforce, maybe the triforce itself? And the rod that they give Zelda, creates duplicates of things? I mean, technically the triforce could be used to duplicate something (in some games), but that just seems like a very out of “character” thing for it to do. I also think that tears of the kingdom heavily fucked with the way the triforce works despite many people believing it’s not in the game (I believe it is, it’s just different), but that is a whole other thing.

While I’ve been a bit disappointed with some of the decisions when it comes to game design in recent entries. I really love the energy Nintendo has had towards the timeline lately. They tried to make an official timeline and confine themselves to it because fans wouldn’t stop whining about wanting one, and then they realized they hated the way it restricted them. So they released botw as a huge middle finger to the timeline, and totk as an even fucking bigger one. Zelda has always been and will always be a series about mythology. Just like with any real world mythology, there should never be an “official”timeline, you can’t make a clear timeline out of a bunch of disparate stories that have been passed down for generations by word of mouth. I love hypothesizing about a possible order for the games, I think that’s fun, but that’s all it should ever be. Timeline discussion was a lot more fun when people were open to other possibilities for the order.

Wow that sure was a tangent that I’ve went on, thanks for listening to this idiot who’s very autistic about Zelda ramble for a bit.

[hishighnesstheprincess]

Okay massive ramble about Sonic code-switching with all of his friends in Frontiers because. It makes me big emotional. Under cut because it's a decently sized one

With each of his friends in Frontiers (Amy, Knuckles, and Tails in that order) Sonic presents a different version of himself, specifically the version that he thinks they need to see at that moment. Code-switching, at least with how it's used in psychology, is defined as when someone, subconsciously or consciously, adjusts their language, behavior, appearance, or any combination of those for whatever reason when talking with different people/groups of people. This can be as obvious as changing languages if you have different friend groups that speak different languages, or as subtle as changing one word when trying to relay the exact same idea to someone. In Frontiers I think Sonic demonstrates this behavior specifically with how he presents different sides of himself to his friends.

With Amy, before she gets out he is very openly worried about her and the situation they're all in, but as soon as she's out he starts presenting himself in a slightly calmer, more compassionate, more heroic way. He's trying to live up to the ideal of him Amy needs to see in that moment: the hero who will never stop trying to save everyone and can't be defeated.

With Knuckles, he's obviously much snarkier and more "free spirited" or so, but he still doesn't show how much he's worried or what his actual emotions are. Any emotional talk they have is instead focused on Knuckles and his emotions and what he wants to do in his future. I think he's presenting himself in a very snarky way because of Knuckles sees him caring a decent amount but not too much, and not showing a whole ton of worry, he's going to think the situation is serious but not as dire as it actually is. He's also trying to stop Knuckles from worrying.

With Tails there's the clearest example of it imo. He's the cool older brother who's always going to save the day. He deliberately hides the worst symptoms of cyber corruption from Tails and again, all their talks are focused on Tails and his future and emotions and all that. Sonic never focuses on himself in this game, it's all about other people. He's always encouraging Tails and trying to help him even in moments where, let's face it, Sonic could probably use some emotional support as well.

He's fucking code switching between his friends to both comfort them, stop them from worrying about a situation which they have very very little power over, and also to stop them from worrying about him.

Also, interestingly, he slowly gets less genuine as the game goes on. With Amy he openly shows worry about the situation to some extent even while deflecting from his own problems, with Knuckles he's fairly obviously putting on a snarky face but still isn't actively hiding anything from him, but with Tails he deliberately hides his own weakness both in conversation and when it comes to the very obvious cyber corruption.

This is all pretty upsetting but imo the worst part about it (emotionally speaking, writing wise this is all the good shit™) is that none of them ever see him at his worst and as such don't realize that he's been putting on a facade for them essentially. Only Sage sees him trying to struggle through the worst of cyber corruption, at that point basically knowing that freeing his friends will lead to himself being trapped in cyberspace. Personally I'd love to see a game in the future (Frontiers 2 please please please Sega) where this gets expanded upon more.

Additionally, there is at least one moment with each of his friends where he slips up in how he present himself: with Amy he shows frustration with the koco leading to her getting angry with him, with Knuckles he shows worry for Tails leading to Knuckles giving him a confused look, and with Tails he is unable to hide the effects of cyber corruption, leading to Tails getting extremely worried about him. But in each case he brushes their emotions off, slaps whatever face he has at the time back on, and just keeps going.

Anyway, that's the post. I would have slapped pictures in here but I am lazy and just relying on the fact that I have a borderline encyclopedic knowledge of basically every Sonic thing that I have consumed in full at this point. The autism is strong with this one

[acewithobsessions]

Headcanon ask game yayyy I love it!

I’m thinking what if Thomas went back to his parents’ house to tell his dad and mom he was leaving Britain forever to live with his partner in America. Because he knew he would never see them alive again. Although he very much knew his father would deny him once more, he just hoped maybe in his father’s twilight years, he would finally accept who his son was.

In my mind, Thomas really craved his father’s approval more than anything. That was projected to Carson since Downton became his home. But all was rooted in his father. So he wanted to have this one last chance to turn things around. Because Thomas knew that this was the only way he could truly accept himself, no matter what others think of him now.

I think when you watch Thomas’ expressions, even when he was invited back to be the butler, or when he smiled at Guy after he resigned, you can still see there was a glimpse of sadness behind his eyes. Maybe that was why.

So, do you think Thomas and his father could be reconciled with each other? And how about his mother? I think she would be more accepting (or perhaps she didn’t really care much idk)? Somehow I got the idea that Thomas was the only boy in the Barrow family so it mattered more to his father. Anyway, please tell me what you think <3

Oh man YES!!!!! (For some reason, as soon as you said it, I pictured the scene from les mis where Marius asks his dad for permission to marry Cosette??)

That part about Carson? Yes, PREACH. I love love love it when people pick up on this. It's one of the most fascinating bits of his character, imo.

Ok so in my personal headcanon, the reason he started work a bit later than was typical (he did this right??) is because his mother died, meaning there was no longer any sense of security at home. (Also because from what I remember, he talks about her in the past tense.) But if she were still alive, that adds even more layers to the whole thing. I'll have to set aside half an hour of my usual pacing to think about this lol

I'd imagine he shows up to their house kind of stiff, with a sort of "f*ck it" attitude. Guy's not there. He understands that this is something Thomas has to do by himself, and Thomas wasn't exactly eager to let him meet his parents, either.

There's no small talk -- he barely even comes inside. He just finds his parents and deadpans, "I'm leaving."

"What?" his mother asks, a little bit breathless.

"I'm leaving," he repeats. "I've got a beau and I'm going to America with him."

There's a familiar flash of anger across his father's face, but he looks so tired that it swallows it right up. He stands up and leaves. For a second, Thomas wonders if he's found ways to keep his thunderstorm inside, to stop it from raging and having the lightning strike others. He wonders if it makes a difference. It doesn't, he decides, but all the same, it's good to know.

(He wonders if he knows just how much the storm can hurt you when it is stuck inside.)

His mother asks him questions until she is satisfied. She doesn't approve, he knows that. But she knows her son is happy, and maybe enough of her cares that her disapproval isn't the most important thing to her anymore.

He finds his father leaning over the table, staring into space. He starts into his pre-prepared spiel - I'm sorry if I've disappointed you, this is who I am, blah blah etc - but his father cuts him off.

"I'm not happy for you." He still won't look up. "But truth be told, I don't think I'd have been happy for you if you'd settled down like the rest of us. I don't think I'd have been happy with anyone." Finally, finally, he looks up. They have the same eyes. How has Thomas never noticed this before? "You survived me. I guess that's as close to close as we're going to get."

Is he high? Maybe he's drunk. He looks sober enough, but Thomas can't connect this person with the image of his father he has in his mind.

Thomas leaves without feeling as though anything's been accomplished, but nothing got worse. Pick your battles and all that. Just as he's leaving, he thinks that maybe, maybe, his father's storm has blown itself out.

Ough, sorry, I wasn't actually trying to write anything. Anyways, all in all, I'd absolutely love to see this kinda thing, whether it goes horribly or not. (Tbh, I think his dad being so articulate in this iteration points to how he's been thinking about this for a while. Which is probably optimistic. So this is one of the better situations...)

Tysm for the ask!! Wonderful idea :D

[tvckerwash]

okay so idk how popular "other freelancers get epsilon and take wash's place" au's are these days but one problem I've always had with them is that I feel like people don't understand that wash is so perfect for taking down the meta and pfl that I honestly don't think anyone but him could succeed in the way he did. (utc again because it's kind of long)

the other freelancers (imo) lack the same 'wait and see' calculated nature and skilled subtlety to play the director and the counselor's waiting game like wash did, because while they always knew wash was going to betray them, they didn't know when he would betray them, or what he even knew in the first place. wash's long memory and his ability to hold a grudge is his greatest strength, he will remember what you've done long after you've yourself forgotten, and that's when he'll strike.

wash going around collecting the blues (and the reds) in s6 was more than him just trying to find people with experience with project freelancer to help him take down the meta—I mean at first that's all it was, but by the time he comes across church with caboose he definitely started to piece together the whole alpha puzzle, and at that point is when he switched gears and he was now looking at the blues (and reds) as people he could trust with his insurance policy when shit finally went down.

wash gave epsilon to the reds and blues for the same reason that ct gave tex a copy of her data in pfl, that being of course because he knew that there was a good chance he wasn't going to make it out alive, but he still wanted the director to pay for what he did even if he wasn't the one to put him behind bars. wash decided that the simulation troopers were the safest place to hide epsilon until they could get the chance to turn him in to the unsc—if it was good enough for the director to hide alpha, then it was good enough for wash to hide epsilon.

but back to the meta, wash was the ideal freelancer to take him down because wash had an advantage with the meta that no other freelancer did. wash was the only freelancer who understood maine even after he lost his voice, and it's heavily implied that they were fairly close going by the like 1.5 interactions they had in pfl and all of s8. wash's advantage of being able to read maine—and subsequently the meta—in ways no other freelancer ever could, meant that he could predict the actions the meta would take and plan accordingly.

wash also wasn't dumb enough to think he could take the meta head on with no tricks and live, and I personally think that's exactly what happened with north and south—they were so confident in their skills and abilities that they thought they could beat the meta, but they were wrong and they both paid the price. north with his life, and south who was stuck with the guilt of knowing that she inadvertently got her brother killed (and whether she did so intentionally or not is debatable and up to interpretation, I personally don't think it was intentional and I think wash believed the same thing, but he decided to use it as one of the many excuses given by delta to shoot her anyway because the guy is PettyTM and he didn't want to have to worry about her shooting him in the back again and ruining his plans).

another advantage wash has is his ability to (mostly) remove his feelings from the situation at hand ("I said that I didn't like it, not that I wouldn't do it."). wash and maine formerly being close friends did not change what he needed to do, wash and south being former teammates did not change what he needed to do, alpha having a life as away from project freelancer as he could did not change what he had to do, caboose just wanting his friend back did not change what he had to do, carolina being his former leader did not change what he had to do, etc etc.

slightly off topic but the above is probably where locus got his idea of wash being some perfect soldier who always follows orders from. he misconstrued wash's ability to push his emotions and morals aside in order to get a job done (something that is admittedly seen as an ideal trait in a soldier or anyone who is in a position in which you shouldn't question authority), as a point of similarity between them without recognizing that the reasons why wash did that are totally different from locus' own. wash's definition of what it means to be a soldier is of someone who is fighting for the sake of something bigger than themselves, someone who is fighting to protect and preserve humanity and ensure the survival of their species. locus was using his identity as a soldier to justify the atrocities he not only committed himself, but to justify the atrocities of others as nothing more than "just following orders". that is why wash is a true soldier, and locus is just someone who had been indoctrinated.

that aside, if we compare wash and carolina for example, I don't see her being able to take down the meta, and it has nothing to do with skill or even any of the above reasons, carolina is characterized as having waaaay more emotional baggage when it comes to pfl than wash does, and considering how she reacted to epsilon bringing up the meta in s13 ("don't you dare talk about maine like you knew him.") even if she was at the peak of her revenge quest I think she's too emotionally attached to the other freelancers to do what wash did.

south, north, and york all feel a bit too....self centered? to care about bringing pfl to justice, like yeah north and york had that "we're the good guys, right?" conversation and they both helped tex during the break in but it's pretty obvious york's main priority was to try and convince carolina to come with him, and north really only cared about south and theta. south based on what little we know of her really doesn't come across as a justice seeking type, wyoming and florida were still working with the director and pfl, maine is very difficult to say anything for certain because we know very little about him prior to becoming the meta, and while I think there's a chance for beta tex I think she really only cared about alpha (I didn't watch s1-5 on my rewatch though so maybe I just don't remember shit lol. I'll have to watch those seasons and come back), e!tex wanted to find the director, but I think her want to do so is because epsilon himself wanted answers only the director could provide.

[atopvisenyashill]

general thoughts

damn we started this season strong but once we get past the first catelyn scene it started making me mad lmao

once again…..ATE these bitches up and LEFT NO CRUMBS

shae screaming at tyrion after he tells her to shush is so funny

see this sex scene is fine, whether renly can get it up is actually plot relevant and they’re trying to characterize margaery as a proper player, and show renly is kind of in over his head as well. like it’s a topless scene that at least makes sense to be there.

theon writing then burning a letter warning robb about the attack……….

another sex scene and this time it’s a crazy joffrey one.

oh fuck i completely forgot about dany lmao

cat pulling a knife on petyr. listen i don’t think stoneheart will kill petyr but damn hot damn. do i want catelyn to rip him to pieces slowly ramsay snow style. i can’t wait for red wedding 2.0 that’s the main reason i need the winds of winter, i need to see cat go INSANE killing a few pathetic freys isn’t enough I NEED A REAL WAR CRIME I NEED HER SLAUGHTERING INNOCENT BABIES LET HER ENTER HER VILLAIN ERA FOR REAL

“for the sake of the mother who bore us” CASSANA ESTERMONT MENTION LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo

can i say i think finn (loras) isn’t that good here either

cersei day drinking omg she is so slushed right now when she raised her cup and slurs out “and i say we should thank them”

the tyrion and lancel scene is so good lmao

now what is the point of this random tiff between irri and doreah

this whole scene where dany is scolding aggo and jhogo over trying to steal something from xaro and then her & jorah talk about how savage the dothraki are……did i just experience a racism akskdjd

when catelyn takes brienne’s hand to swear to her and brienne’s face goes so soft, like she wasn’t expecting the affection. gwendoline christie u r a genius and an icon to all queer people everywhere

i might do something with bran and osha first, they make my heart so soft

changes i noticed

i adore shae & sansa. i love this change i think it’s the best change they ever did. the way sansa just went through this intense dinner & is taking her anger out on shae, just a lowly maid, but shae is so unflappable & notices sansa is crying and just decides to stop bitching. sansa wanting someone to brush her hair when one of the first scenes we got of her was catelyn brushing sansa’s hair…

keeping lommy saying he’ll yield and his murder when he asks to be carried but not the original “what do i do if the wolves come” “yield” joke is so fucking LAME I HATE THESE PEOPLE

talisa…….do i do my talisa rant now or later. do i get super high when i rant so it’s funnier and i don’t get legit angry like i want to omg the westerling disrespect never ends

so the margaery character change is the next big one (i’m not ranting about talisa yet). i understand wanting to focus in on her, how she plays the game, how she ~weaponizes~ her femininity in order to gain status. the thing is. i don’t like the ultimate decision to make margaery & olenna the acting heads of their houses when in reality, the tyrell plot is often olenna trying to act AROUND her dumb ass son!! i think this goes back to aging up those 14 year old characters - just makes their stories a bit hollow imo. also this first dress is so ugly omgggg

WAIT I JUST REALIZED THEY CUT WEASEL??? THE GIRL IS IMPORTANT TOO YOU ABSOLUTE FUCKING FUCKS

i love to drag dany for naivety in Qarth but this adaption isn’t even naivety it’s just stupidity. she just throws a fit on their doorstep, makes some threats, and thinks that’s gonna get her inside. when i tell you how much i fucking hate dany’s story in s2. is dany actually learning about politics & magic not interesting??? compared to this temper tantrum?!??????

show renly and robb should have hooked up

…..details are fuzzy but iirc brienne doesn’t kill anyone here? catelyn convinces robar royce to let her go, and then LORAS kills them & he believes that brienne killed renly until jaime says otherwise

i will give them “i want to be THE queen” is such a good line

i don’t care for the roose/tywin change. they could have cast someone with more star power as roose if they really just wanted to have maisie playing off someone cool for a few episodes.

i have a conspiracy theory i’m not ready to share yet. we’ll circle back next season.

[loveislandthegame]

thoughts on todays volume! in case you are unaware, android users got to play the volume very early, while ios users were given a late release. lmao. (i have both ios & android, but my phone is old & i didn’t want to add “slideshow frame rate” to a game that’s already glitchy af) somehow i managed to escape the horde of unmarked spoilers 🙏🏽

first off, felicity is stunning !!! i'm surprised she had an actual sprite rather than getting the zeph & cassius treatment . if she's not coming back that's such a waste of a really cool & pretty design

friend is really generous, jin . i get OG LI is trying to be nice or whatever but be so fr 😭 the only thing that sienna has been is a boring antagonist, she’s not shown not one single ounce of personality besides being delulu and coming at MC sideways (and it’s mainly because FB now struggles with writing multi-faceted characters…which is why they have AI allegations in the first place…)

speaking of delulu : theo , girl... how many times do i gotta tell you i'm all in on claudia unless they actually let us be poly at the end

MC somehow came out unscathed in movie night, plot armor for the win ! the guys pull MC for a chat before the boy's choice recoupling. the pit in my stomach when i read that.

theo flirts again, but this time our responses are flirty, rude af, or "you should focus on claudia." i didn't want to pick any of these but i picked the flirty one because at first i thought it could be "jokingly" said. interestingly enough, he says something among the lines of how he didn't expect MC to be interested in him because she's with claudia . i didn't want that to bite me in the ass later so i just replayed and picked the rude option (so it seems that it's "canon" for theo & claud to simultaneously crush on MC? at least if she's bi/pan etc.)

i saw this coming but still, this has to be a joke … 😭😭😭😭😭

there’s like what, three volumes left ? unless FB decides to drag this out with a “season 8.5,” this should’ve been a players choice recoupling (hell, it technically could've still been boys choice, with MC getting first pick for winning the heart rate challenge, or because she was selected by the viewers, literally anything lol)

it'd be one thing if OG LI was like, "i chose you because i wanted to keep you safe . even if we're not meant to be, i still care for you, i want you have a chance with the one you want," blah blah blah, but FB never lets us be in a friendship couple, he's just gonna keep pining for MC ... moving on

i forgot to screenshot the first part but it was basically claudia fantasizing about her and MC living in a huge house like the villa, MC was like "how are we gonna afford that"

my MC is a musician, so cuteee

i...what ? 😬 genuinely , what . i read this like 5 times and i still don't understand. unfortunately he did couple up with me, that's why i'm forced to hang out with claudia in the damn shower instead of being out in the open with her . somebody get this grandma to bed

i kinda love the cowgirl outfit. it's terrible, but i love it in a kitschy way . also i just kinda went with it because the mermaid outfit was clipping through MC's braids (as you can see the hat has some weird layering issue, but it's the lesser of two evils)

claudia's outfit wasn't paywalled, and i didn't get the gem option to give jin the viking outfit so he came out looking like this lmfaooooooo

okayyyyyy cowboy carter!

logan arrived way too late imo. again, unless FB plans on extending the season (or he's not romanceable ?) people who get with him are gonna get less time than oliver, angie, youcef romancers. you know how little time that is ???

as for the whole hazel and liam thing ... horrible. , she really deserves better, like me 💋 

[leslutdepointedulac]

For the ask game:

🚨 what do you think is the best and worst thing Louis ever did?

I'm sorry this took me so long to get to!

I'll start with the worst thing which imo, is how he ignored Claudia's attempts at trying to make him see Armand for who he really was. Now don't get me wrong, I love Armand and Loumand is one of my favourite ships. But Louis, dude. Your own daughter was trying to warn you that this guy you met two seconds ago is trying to kill her, and all you said was "You just don't get him like I do, you wouldn't understand." My brother in christ. Please! *Insert rightinfrontofmysalad:jpg here* Louis was down so bad he didn't see those red flags waving right in his face smh.

The best thing I think Louis' ever done (apart from existing lmao), is that he tries to support Lestat in the things he does, or at least tries to talk him out of his stupidity for his own safety. For example, during their reunion at the end of TVL, Louis practically begs Lestat not to do the concert because he knows it's not safe, but when Lestat insists, Louis' still there with him at his side.

Or even in Body Thief. I get that there might be some people who think that what Louis did in that book was a cruel thing for him to do, but he was only doing what he genuinely thought was best for Lestat. And in refusing to help him, he was condemning himself to a life without him in turn.

When Lestat's in his coma, Louis is the one who sticks by him through it all and he doesn't leave his side. He sometimes neglects his own feeding just to stay and guard Lestat. It's in his own grief over this (among other things) that Louis is driven into the sun.

When Lestat becomes prince, Louis leaves Trinity Gate for the chateau to be with him again, and support him in his leadership.

Louis is the one who comes up with the solution to what to do about Amel, and when Lestat comes around, he finds that Louis has been waiting for him to wake up.

Ngl, I could create a whole entire list of things I think are the best and worst things Louis' done, but these are my main ones I think.