#it feels so complete to me bc i have just had so much time to process

[vitch-with-v]

Hey remember this? I do, so here's the proof

TRIGGER WARNING: UGLY ASS DRAWINGS FROM WHEN I WAS A PRE-TEEN AND LORE DROP

These are some of the first appearances of Joaquín, my "male version". He got his name after what my mom was gonna name me if i was born a boy

I had made a chart explaining all the different characters that were divisions of myself (cuz there were a lot) and here is Joaquín, who was not only my male version but also my self-esteem

Worth noticing: no, i don't have split personality or any kind of similar conditions, i was just a weird kid and i thought it was cool to give names and faces to different sides of myself, i haven't done that ever since, most of them didn't even survive past 2019, expect for him

His "presence" grew stronger in the start of the quarantine, cuz i was bored and very lonely :(, so he was basically an imaginary friend, that's why i usually drew him just hanging out with me (longer hair, pre-trans lol)

This is ME when i decided to cut all my hair off, wich is when i started questioning my gender, at this point i thought i might be non binary, but Joa still lingered, cuz i mean he was a really important character for me yk?

↑Me and Joa after my haircut... Yeaaaaahh....

Here it says "im gonna change Joa's name" (it says "don't ask why" under it, not pictured). This is also when i went oh shIT I MIGHT BE A BOY- so u can imagine WHY i wanted to change his name, you know, the name i was gonna have if I WAS A BOY??? Yeah, that didn't work out anyways cuz i ended up naming myself after some emo guy from an australian tv show that changed my brain chemistry so :p

This was also the last time i drew or ever mentioned him, after this he basically fucking died and i forgot about him completely + i stopped drawing and journaling for like a year or so (consider that i used to do it almost every day)

I find it crazy looking through my old sketchbooks and seeing my actual self from today be depicted as a "character", this is literally how i draw myself TODAY (with a lot of improvement ok? This is from like 2020/2021)

And i almost forgot to mention, but i was a hardcore fujoshi in 2019 (wich really fucked me in the head cuz it's not good to be reading porn at such a young age but oh well-), and so i used to ship Joa with one of my best friends oc's and we'd joke that they were gay and jaja funny they're gay yk hehe jiji jaja yk?

Thanks to the quarantine i started interacting with ACTUAL queer content, made by ACTUAL queer people, depicting what it's ACTUALLY LIKE to be part of the lgbt+ community, and not the fetishization of gay men made by and for (mostly) straight women, wich also made me feel real bad cuz i was like "oh no I've been fetishizing gay men all this time! Im a straight woman, it's weird for me to like gay men so much!" And honey do i have news for you :).

But i was pleased to find im not the only one that went thru the "fujoshi straight/might be a lesbian girl to transgender gay man" pipeline, it's crazy how there is no original experience, ive seen a gazillion fuckers who went thru the same shit, wich is surprising cuz how the fuck u go from "might be a lesbian" to "im a gay man", but hey, at least im not alone :))

If you read all that, you either really wanna know me, you have too much free time, or u need help HSKSHAKA. But yeah, jst wanted to share my experience, bc i still think about it till this day, and i still think of him every now and then

I don't think im ever bringing him back, or maybe i will, who knows, but for now he has a home in the black box with all my old sketchbooks, and i hope he's comfy in there ;)

the song made me giggle a lil as a trans guy

[33max]

https://x.com/catstappen33/status/1875284354223763768?s=46&t=DBuxp4Kuf46ghyZ-ZJjQyA

youve probably seen this but oh my god this is sooo td maxy after a long day,,, daniel and go already know to prep for a drop (if hasnt already) and tired maxy is always the cutest bc of how clingy and soft he gets 😭😭

(x) that video is so cute, it always makes me think of td maxy!

Perhaps this is at the last race of the season. As Daniel is not driving anymore, Max and Daniel have made a Plan™️. Max will get through the last race, fly home, and then they will spend five lovely days together where Max can drop freely anytime he wants to.

It doesn't exactly go to plan, though, because Max is exhausted. He jokes with the marketing team about it, dragging his legs and whining at the camera, because he is so ready to go home to Daniel. He’s pretty much counting down the minutes until he’s on the plane home and he can forget about all of his responsibilities.

So, it’s no surprise to Gianpiero when Max is quiet in the debrief. The race engineer watches as Max fights sleep, his eyelids fluttering closed before he snaps them back open and tries to pay attention to whoever is speaking. And then again. And again.

Gianpiero puts a protective arm around the back of Max’s chair, staring some of the engineers down until they start to wrap up the meeting.

“I’m tired, GP” Max says as everyone leaves the room. He hasn’t even tried to get up yet and his eyes are not completely focused.

“I can see that,” GP says, “You look exhausted, Bud.”

The pet name slips out. It’s the one he normally uses when Max is regressed. Max’s sleepy face and unfocused eyes just activate the part of GP’s brain that wants to take care of him.

“Don’t,” Max whines. “I’m holding on by a thread right now.”

“You’re fighting a drop?” GP asks, moving his hand from the back of Max’s chair and up to rub at his shoulder.

“Yeah, I feel like I’ve been fighting it all weekend. I’m so tired.” Max slurs, “Feels like I’ve been hit by a bus.”

“What are you waiting for?” GP asks, wondering. Max has dropped around the team before, they’ve seen him little many times, there is no reason he has to fight to hide this side of him anymore.

“We had a plan.”

“A plan?”

“Yeah, a plan,” Max groans. “I’m going home to Dad- Daniel and then I have five completely free days where I can… you know.”

Yes, GP knows.

“You can still drop now,” GP tells him. “It’s not like dropping now will affect your plan for when you’re home, is it?”

Max pouts. “But I had a plan.”

“Plans change,” Gianpiero shrugs.

“You would be okay with it?” Max asks, “if I drop?”

“Of course I would,” GP tells him, seeking eye contact from his boy. He wants Max to know he means this. “You’re never any trouble, Bud.”

“Please,” Max says softly, “I can’t hold it off much longer.”

GP nods, putting a gentle hand on Max’s cheek, guiding him to make eye contact. “Let go, Max.”

And Max does. Immediately.

[luffysprincess]

Why You Should Play Wuthering Waves

an unofficial, unsponsored list of why you should join the wuwa world ᰔ

CHARACTERS

There’s so much eye candy it’s unreal.

(There are more characters ofc. I just can’t fit them all here but trust me. Or don’t trust me and look them all up!!)

Even the mcs are hot

Which speaking of MCs…

You’re able to switch from female to male Rover at any time you want!! There’s just a limit of one switch per every 24 hrs.

Also they actually talk a decent amount during dialogue cut scenes which makes things more interesting imo. I like their voice actors and enjoy hearing them!

EXPLORATION

Exploration is so damn fun and efficient!! You have unlimited stamina except for climbing, swimming, gliding and during battles. But when running around you can run forever without losing stamina.

Also climbing is so quick and easy. You basically run up the walls. And you know when you’re climbing in genshin and you get stuck bc there’s a ledge? Yeah that’s not an issue in wuwa bc the characters lift and swing over ledges like that.

The scenery is so beautiful.

There are also quite a lot of helpful devices that every character has access to at all times. Like the grappling hook, which is similar to genshin sumeru grappling hooks except there’s no limit to how far away you have to be to use it. Makes it faster to use when exploring.

YOU CAN FLY IN ONE OF THE REGIONS. like actually fly and very quickly too. It’s super fun.

Additionally, each region in a nation has different categories that make up its exploration and it will tell you how much of each you’ve completed. This makes it easy to complete exploration bc you can see what you’re missing and focus on that.

FIGHTING/BATTLES

Boss battles are so unique and fun. It’s very out of the box and unexpected and I’ve never had more fun fighting bosses then I have in wuwa.

The play styles between each character differed a whole lot and each and every one is so damn cool.

Not only do you have the ability to dodge and counterattack, but you can also parry. There are other opportunities to do more than normal damage during battles as well. You have the regular attack, enhanced skill attack, and then special skill attack like in other games such as genshin and hsr. But you also have an echo attack and intro/outro attack when you switch characters in battle.

WISHING

It’s very easy to collect astrite!! Astrite is the equivalent of primogems/stellar jade. The game is very generous and when it comes to wishing, it is very kind when pulling for your fave characters.

COMPANION STORIES

Companion stories are super fun. Sometimes the game style changes to a 2d view (think Mario bros) in certain domains for companion stories and it’s such a fun little twist.

MISCELLANEOUS

YOU CAN SKIP DIALOGUE!!! Dialogue can be skipped for any and every quest. For more important quests, they will give you a summary for the dialogue you’re about to skip. But for simple side quests, they will just skip the dialogue w/o a summary. This makes gameplay so much more efficient bc I hate when there’s too much dialogue.

There are tactical hologram enemies that are essentially pre-existing bosses that are made to be more difficult and have about six or seven versions. Each version is more difficult than the last and provide a fun challenge when it comes to fighting. Bc sometimes the game can feel a bit too easy when you level up your characters, but these holograms make you plan and rethink strategies when it comes to battling.

This is your travel companion. Look at how cute he is!!!

Your characters will heal not only at the bigger teleportation spots (the ones that unlock the map) but at ALL the teleportation spots. Makes it very convenient.

Did I mention that the characters are really hot?

We can be friends if you play :)

[a-man-in-the-crowd]

Pluto Is Trans (in my humble opinion)

okay so as far as i'm aware this is a pretty common hc in the fandom (i lurk in the tumblr side of the fandom mostly and i haven't taken the time to go through the pluto tag simply bc i wanted to make this post first), BUT i just wanted to add my two cents into it bc i love pluto and need a reason to yap about him

i'm mostly going to be focusing on him in the maze arc, simply because i think his character has remained pretty consistent since then, as well as his flashback. if i ever noticed anything else in later (or even future) chapters i might come back to this but for now i think i basically have everything i can think of down

of course most of this is still pretty much projecting ☠️ i'm pretty well aware pluto isn't like ACTUALLY trans. this is just a headcanon based on things we've seen of him, not like an actual theory or anything

1. His Appearance

so the first thing that really got me thinking about how he has major trans vibes is his design

comically oversized coat that covers up his actual figure, he's slouching (to hide his chest, mayhaps??), and his hair gives me major trans vibes for reasons i'm not sure how to explain but like let me try anyways

maybe i'm digging too deep into this, but his hair feels VERY different from the other male characters (montresor with gorgeous shoulder-length hair is an outlier and shall not be counted) and again i have no clue how to put words to this but it has the vibes of someone who's too nervous to cut it too short bc 'what if it looks bad' (re: what if i look like i'm trying too hard to look like a guy). but that might just be the projection talking.

oh yeah, he's also the shortest male character as far as i'm aware. basically every male character towers over him (so, so real, i fear) and even will is taller than him (though apparently will is 5'10??? idek anymore 😭). now, does being short make you afab? no, obviously not. but that + the fact he's wearing and oversized shirt gives me some major trans vibes

most of this stuff is incidental, but honestly that's definitely the most actually concrete thing i have to explain myself

fear not, though, i can and WILL read too deep into things and i will read things however i wish

2. His Agoraphobia

the only 'level' of the fear maze that he has a big reaction to is the agoraphobia level. why?

now, could this very reasonably because he's paranoid? yes. but you can be paranoid AND trans. in fact, i think the two frequently go hand-in-hand, especially in areas where being 'caught' as trans can be dangerous.

perhaps he's scared of being stared at because he fears they'll figure out he isn't 'really' a man. and what then, when they figure it out? what'll they do then?

i wouldn't be surprised if pluto had some sort of traumatic experience while being in a crowd alone. this doesn't necessarily have anything to do with my hc, but it very well could. we know he's very small and frail, it doesn't seem like he had many friends when he was alive, and the neighbourhood he lived in doesn't seem particularly safe. he has plenty reason to be terrified, even ignoring my silly lil hc, but i think this particular debilitating fear implies he has genuine experience with something bad happening in a crowd.

3. He's Physically Affectionate

something something you can be a cis guy and be physically affectionate something something this is just a thing to consider in relation to literally everything else i'm talking about something something

anyways

he's my emotional support animal actually ❤️

obviously we've seen other male characters be physically affectionate (like duke), but this is definitely a trait i'd ascribe the most to pluto. now, does this mean anything in isolation? of course not. he has trauma, he could've just been desperate for affection when he was alive and therefore in his afterlife he has this overwhelming need to aggressively hug his friends (which is a completely fair interpretation and i think most of the the things i talk about are a combination of trauma and being trans)

but like just let me say my piece. what if he's more physically affectionate because he was raised with, let's say 'feminine rules of socializing' — which is to say, hugging your friends is extremely normal and in fact encouraged.

this is one of those things where like if it weren't for everything else i wouldn't be saying anything, but BECAUSE of everything else i feel the need to scrutinize a bit more. i think it's definitely one of my weaker points but like. i don't care, ngl.

4. His Flashback

sooo funny story i can barely ever read this scene for multiple reasons (i feel so bad for pluto i want him to be crushed by the weight of all his friends' hugs and love he deserves it) but i will try my best to recall it and get like a semi-decent photo in for reference

i think this scene is kinda what confirms in my head that this shall remain a hc, because pluto's dad refers to him as a boy and by his name (which i will get don't worry i could never forget about how incredibly transgender it is to be named fucking PLUTO). but, consider: i am delusional and a professional bullshitter.

so here is my absolutely nonsensical take based on nothing but vibes and some unfortunate personal experiences 🎉

this is gonna be my biggest 'bear with me yet', but plzplzplz bear with me. obviously by no stretch of the imagination would pluto's bitchass dad be supportive of him being trans or whatever word they'd use to describe pluto when he was alive (i've seen people theorize around ww1? idk man i don't have the knowledge on time periods required to rlly theorize about that).

but, just because someone calls you the right name and pronouns and terms doesn't make them an ally. this specific line from pluto's dad absolutely REEKED of that weaponization of gender dysphoria that at the very least i have experienced. taking every opportunity to tear down your gender identity because you're not stereotypically [gender] enough. someone like pluto's dad definitely feels like someone who would, instead of trying to deny pluto's identity, use it against him to make him feel shitty.

after all, having a son has its merits. pluto can work with no problem whatsoever, and something tells me that pluto's dad is a raging misogynist anyways. but that doesn't make him care any more for his kid, just make him more useful. and in reality, pluto's dad probably thinks it all one huge joke.

but yk that's just me yapping

5. HIS NAME IS FUCKING PLUTO?

okay so judging by pluto's comment to eulalie about his name, i think it's pretty safe to assume that he was specifically named after the roman god. and from what we've seen of pluto's dad, there is NO WAY he was the one who named him. unless pluto's dad for whatever reason had an admiration for roman mythology of all things. maybe autism runs in the family who knows.

now, i don't want to discount the idea that maybe his mother was the one who named him, but like i'm not even sure what the hell happened to his mom. so like. idk.

the name pluto in general definitely gives off the vibes of 'i named myself at twelve' (/affectionate, if your name is pluto you are beautiful and loved). it's nerdy but also mildly edgy. not exactly a common name, either. and the fact he knows his greek mythology implies interest in this sort of thing.

now, could his interest in greek and roman mythology be because of his mother, who could have named him pluto? yes, of course. in fact, the idea of a woman who was presumably living in poverty naming her son after the roman god of riches makes me teary-eyed. but so does the idea of a little trans boy living a shitty life with his shitty dad (who probably drained most of their money on booze, let's be real) naming himself after the roman god of riches.

also, the way he responds to eulalie gives off the vibe of 'well, i literally named myself after the roman god pluto so'. but that could just be me.

and last, but certainly not least...

6. His Spectre

this one is the cherry on top for me personally

he wants to escape the binds of society? go beyond what humanity deems admissible? YK LIKE BECOMING A DIFFERENT GENDER???

i don't have anything much else to say about the fact he's a cryptid, but yk what i do have more to say on?

6.5 So, like, wtf does it mean to be a 'domesticated cryptid'? — A Theory

now i am fully operating under my trans pluto hc, but i think this idea might be able to make sense with the canon of him being probably cis.

ms poppet says that cryptids are people who wish to 'go beyond what society deems admissible' — hence, they're generally wild animals. perhaps the reason pluto is a housecat is because the 'inadmissible' thing he wanted to do was live his life as he is; a normal, regular, cisgender man — or just like in general a normal dude, something he couldn't do for not-necessarily-trans reasons (like, maybe, being able to escape life with his shitty father).

he's not a wild animal because he didn't want to live outside of society, he wanted to be fully integrated into it as a normal person but he thought this impossible because society has already deemed him other. he could never be more than the role he was assigned — not the same way he could were he a normal, cis guy.

—

so yeah that's the end of my little ramble, if you read all the way thank you very much for letting me yap bc honestly i think the more i wrote this post the more genuinely convinced i was that pluto's trans. like idc if canon 100% proves me wrong it's too late i will simply ignore it and invent my own canon.

[nanihirunkits]

WE ARE | EP16

[mythalism]

im actually kind of surprised how at peace i am with this unofficial but inevitable end of dragon age. obviously im sad. for the people who just lost their jobs with seemingly very little notice, and also just a general sense of sadness for how capitalism is so relentlessly dedicated to crushing every last shred of human creativity and passion under its bloody boot. but personally, i actually think dragon age served its purpose in my life, and i'm not sure how much more i could have continued to get out of it. outside of providing satisfying closure on a story i waited 10 years for, which was a necessity, in order to actually carry on and reignite the passion i had for the franchise and reincarnate it into something that could last another decade in my mind palace... da4 would have had to have done something really groundbreaking for it to resonate with me at 26 the way it did with me at 16. even if i really enjoyed veilguard and thought it was great, i am not sure it would have carried over into the next phase of my life unless it was really special. think it could have easily been possible, for example i think if they went back to the full da2 greek tragedy vibe that would have absolutely gagged me and had me by the balls, but i also didn't necessarily ever expect that. i would have loved to see it, but i was never counting on it, and as i waited for the game to download on the morning of the 31st, even then it felt a long cycle finally coming to an end, rather than the exciting beginning of something new. what excited me was finally getting closure and catharsis, not starting a new cycle. loving dragon age primarily from ages 16-22 was genuinely so profound, the stories were so meaningful to me as a young adult and carried me through so much. it was exactly what i needed when i needed it, and though these games got me to this destination of who i am 10 years later... i'm honestly not sure they could have carried me any further. veilguard was the last leg of a very long trip. a cigarette-smelling, reckless-driving, overpriced Uber ride following a wonderful life-changing vacation and a 10 year long turbulence-heavy flight, but it got me where i needed to go in one piece. it could have been a much more pleasant ride, of course, but i made it. and now i have to find new destinations to travel to

[moeblob]

They're soulmates in every single universe and I miss them at the most random times.

[ganondoodle]

(idk if anyone wants to keep hearing my opinions on totk book stuff but-)

apparently it says that rauru DID have kids, multiple even, which yeah... is kinda necessary for zelda to even be connected to them so much so that sonia can SENSE a blood connection (which, even with all the excuses with magic, is just a little too far for me to suspend my disbelief bc its over, OVER, ten thousand years worth of generations that seperate her from them that one lil touch of the hand can sense that (feels more like an attempt to make you care about them or .. see them as zeldas "better" parents just bc they exchange a few nice words, i never got the feeling they were 'better' parents and its also kinda disrespectful to her actual parents, like sure rhoam wasnt the best but i wouldnt call rauru better just bc he was polite)- i could see maybe the light power of hylia or sth but since its the coolest dude that ever lived rauru now that had it which still doesnt make sense and makes me unreasonably annoyed and she can sense BOTH of their powers in her? nah) the fact theres NOTHING about them in the game itself is just so ... no way they planned any of this

i dont think theres anything they can do or say that wont make be believe they either

are making it up alla 'fix it in post' mentality trying to hastily explain stuff the game never bothers to do to try and appease fans or let it appear as if they thought about it at all

something went really REALLY wrong during development, which kinda seems likely given how the game turned out (im sorry i cannot let go, its not just the writing, the game design too and how little was changed in the map while being so damn expensive, i dont know how people dont feel scammed q_q)

given that they (allegedly) spent the last entire year of development on polish (where??? where????? huh??? like it would make it more understandable (EXCEPT for the price) if there was alot of trouble, which was also bc it got delayed and ... turned out like this, but they dont want to say it, especially given their reputation, with that quote i have heard way too many times 'a delayed game blah blah') i just??

are they just gonna go and do it like they did with kashiwa (kass)? "they uuuh where flying around the whole time ony cool sonau tech maschines, you just dont see or hear from them ooooorrr they were uuuuh out of the country at the time" (sending invitations to other continents to join their glorious kingdom ;) )

(bet they are also gonna say they did all the stuff like ... moving the shrines around (lol?) and lifting the islands up into the sky- which is still weird bc ... didnt they also say they were living in the sky before coming to the surface?? so where?? did they park all their islands on the surface and the mystery kids had the keys so they had to repark them back into the sky after they returned off camera?? xD also why are the islands so different as an environment if they where from the surface? like even the STONE up there is different- and if they were first in the sky then on the surface and the nback in the sky .. why is there not a single yellow tree or grass in the past- you cant really argue that it changed bc they were up there so long bc .. nothing else changed, the suddendly and totally always there sonau buildings are largely in prime condition, only some slightly moldy, and what we see of the glorious past looks barely any different from the present, aside from like ... some standard trees shuffled, no castle yet and that glowy uwu filter DESPITE that stupidly long time frame between it)

[greyedian]

MAN I'm seriously so sad about season 2. Bc I wish act 2 had the same emotional impact on me as it appears to have on so many others. But rn I'm just somewhere between unable to care and actively annoyed by some of those writing decisions. Seriously the more I think about it the less I like it.

[yuseirra]

It's been years since I check the tags for fandoms I'm in because I get a bit nervous...I get influenced very easily, and the way how other people feel about things affect me in a massive way, whether it be both positive or negative, so I keep to myself and I tend to read and think about things alone. I got invites to discussion, but I couldn't talk so much, I'm really sorry about that. I really appreciate it!/// I was happy... It's just that I function a bit differently regarding what I enjoy. As much as I love putting my ideas out there, I just enjoy introspecting about things by myself rather than having debates.

I'm really grateful for all the kindness I've been receiving, I love all the sweet tags too. It keeps me fueled!

So today I braced myself a lil and checked out the hikaai tag here right!

AM I CARRYING THAT TAG???? I shouldn't say "carry", maybe...that's being too full of myself, sorry. but.. Wow.. I think I literally took over it... OH MY GOSH...

I really wish I could be a better artist!! Or could lay out some things that are worth reading... I really am trying my best though!! I have the love. I've been doing this to every single thing I get passionate about, I'm sure! There is a period where I get new ideas every single day. That's something you can't obtain even if you want to. It's been really fun lately as well as it having been tense. Really tense. It's scary because I hate to be unsure and wrong... But I still talk a lot.. And that's pretty new of me to do so. I usually just stick to drawing..maybe it's because it's that intriguing. This series is pain but I guess that's what's stimulates me to try and get a grasp and figure just what exactly things are going for.

With episode Aigis coming out today, (yay!) I'd love to hop back to drawing more persona 3 art(that's a great game) and feel an immersion towards it, draw more fanarts of that lovely fanfic I found once again(the writer deserves so much from me;;) but I also really wish...that I'd come to love this ship till the end. I genuinely see the potential it can have. I mean what I draw, I don't spend time and effort on things I don't feel about. Feelings are my everything~ To those of you who enjoy it, I'm thankful to have you with me. It's been helping me a lot!! I feel you'd all like p3 too? That game deals with loss and I personally think shuyuka does have this similar vibe w this ship to a degree, you wish someone back no matter the cost. There is that desperation and longing and I always fall for ships where someone cares so much for another.

[jrueships]

I HATEEEEE DYSPEXIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kizzington]

Not aiming this at anyone specifically, but I’m genuinely so disappointed & annoyed at the fact no one in my real life circles bothered to reach out to me to check up on me regarding the recent Liam Payne/One Direction news.

[moe-broey]

Men only want ONE THING and it's DISGUSTING (Guy who's uour best friend who's always happy to see you who visibly lights up and sparkles when you enter the room who's comstantly looking out for you and doting on yiu just a little bit and making sure you're taken care of and who you trust so mucj so completely that you can share a bath and sleep side by side amd you'rw. Best Friwneds...)

AND YET. AND YET. Moe has something Worse than self-loathing going on. Like this is just denial at this point. And for WHAT (PSYCHOLOGICAL REASONS. IT'S SO DIRE)

[loserelf]

maybe i do need to go to therapy bc its probably not good that ive been living on autopilot and the last 7 years went by so fast but also bc i was deliberatly Wanting the time to go by to put as much space between me and the events of 2017-2020 as possible all while somewhat knowing my young adulthood was slipping me by and now both my teenage years and my early 20s are gone and i still feel like my 19th birthday was yesterday yeesh!!

[goldkirk]

I DON'T HAVE TO LIE ANYMORE!

[deus-and-the-machina]

ffxiv garlemald discourse is so funny because people will go "ugh people just cant stand it when things aren't black and white" and then you look at how the empire are portrayed in stormblood and shadowbringers and its like hm. that seems like a pretty intense and accurate display of violent imperialism to me! Wow I wonder why people in this day and age may find it hard to feel sympathy for them or even hate them on principal. god its such a mystery.

the games like 50/50 to me on how it tackles these themes because I actually like the garlemald arc in EW, I think it has a lot of horrific and powerful scenes depicting how self destructive fascist propaganda and beliefs are, but I also think it doesn't go far enough on some fronts. the garleans' xenophobia is most notably and obstacle to getting them to accept the contingent's help, which is what they're there to do,

but there's never an admission of harm from any garleans on the uuuuuuuuh massive amount of war crimes the nations around them are still suffering from they're just kind of like "we misjudged you...but you actually wanted to help us all along" like yeah thats great now can we get you all some deprogramming because you keep talking about returning to your prime and glory days and I think we need to unpack some stuff you really SHOULDNT return to. im not even really talking about EW proper but the patches where things are a bit more chilled out and people are recovering.

It feels like they wanted to have their critique of imperialism and also have things end with the beauty of human connection and reaching out and these things just don't mesh well because hey a lot of your modern day audience is not gonna like having to treat people yelling xenophobic things at the cast and your character with kid gloves after you showed them hours and hours of the awful things these people's beliefs have done. especially in the present day hoo boy.