#it's literally them and I'm not taking criticism

[jubileebloom]

As much as I appreciate the people defending Ford in the wake of TBOB's release, and discussing the importance of avoiding victim-blaming and being aware of a person's environment, there's something specific that rubs me the wrong way about some of the things I've read.

The thing about abuse is that takes agency away from its victims. This is actually something that broadly applies to different forms of trauma, as I've just been going over in one of my classes on Adolescent Development. My professor for that class specializes in trauma-informing and training, so she has an entire unit on trauma as part of the syllabus, and one of the things she emphasized was that giving people agency and control over their own choices is critical to helping them recover from a traumatic event.

When it comes to Bill's possession of Ford, the lack of control is even more literal. Ford literally has his body puppeted by a demon, and his mind altered as well. Others have taken agency from him to a lesser extent—Stan limiting his choices in education, Fiddleford potentially using the memory gun on him, as another analysis post I can't find did a really good job of breaking down—but it's not as all-encompassing as Bill's abuse, and Stan and Fidds both make better choices later in the series. Bill refuses to.

But I'm getting off topic. My point is, Ford's loss of agency is one of the most crucial pieces of his character arc. It's why he lashes out so strongly when he returns home, against his will, to find that his identity has been stolen. It probably factors into his need to be the "hero", to be the one to defeat Bill. And even though he ultimately isn't that "hero", and he does let the Mystery Shack continue to operate, he does ultimately get more of a choice in the matter. He chooses to go along with the plan. He chooses to go with Stan on their long-overdue adventure.

But there's something else he does too. He apologizes.

Why is that so important? Because in regaining his sense of agency, he also undertakes the accountability that goes with it. He isn't solely to blame for everything that happened to him, or even necessarily every choice he made, but he did make bad choices.

And that's the thing that bothers me about some Ford analyses and defenses. Some people go too far and say that Ford isn't to blame for anything that he's done. Not only is that untrue, but it is once again stripping him of his agency. He is an adult capable of making his own decisions, and ergo capable of making bad decisions. And we need to accept that, without infantilizing him or blaming everyone else around him.

One of the things that compels me so much about Gravity Falls is that is generally does strike this balance pretty well, of personal agency vs. external circumstances. (There's also an excellent analysis post out there somewhere about Dipper and Mabel's agency, how the show doesn't force them to fix the problems of their predecessors or burden them exclusively with saving the world, but does still let them have agency and power in the fight and in Stan's recovery.) There are so, so many things that happen to the main cast that are mostly outside of their control, and also bad decisions that a lot of them have made that cannot be excused, at least not fully, by their circumstances.

And the beautiful thing about that agency is that these characters are also able to use it to become better people, to regain control over their lives, to take back power after it was taken from them. But you have to let them, and that includes letting them be people who messed up, owned up, and worked to make it better.

In fact, I think the reason that Ford is so quick to own up to his mistakes when it comes to Bill is because that's one of the ways he's taking back his power. He's incredibly stubborn when it comes to holding other grudges, but with Bill, he readily admits to Stan and Dipper separately that he's made some "terrible mistakes", to use his words. And he isn't to blame for falling for Bill's manipulation—Bill was the one actively manipulating—but no, he should not have summoned him to begin with. That doesn't make him deserving of anything Bill did to him, but by admitting to the mistakes he did make and working on a way to defeat Bill, it's letting him take back some amount of control in the whole situation. He can't make Bill change his ways, but he can own up to and correct the things he did wrong.

He does overcorrect a bit; I do think he blames himself too much for "falling for Bill's flattery." But generally, I like how he also doesn't try to blame Bill for every single thing that went wrong with the whole portal deal, like he (initially) did with some other situations, especially everything with Stan.

Anway. Let Ford make mistakes. Let him be wrong sometimes. Let him have his agency.

[markantonys]

3x02 - 3x03, let's go!!! (i didn't rewatch 3x01, too excited to move forward! also, i like to watch each episode only once as the season is airing, and then do a full rewatch a while after it's all out)

my mind is whirling with all the content, so there will probably be a lot i forget to comment on! i'm hopping all over the place out of order and also mentioning full book spoilers as i'm mixing in speculation with reactions.

first, of course: GAWYN!!!!!! he's here, and he's perfect!!!!! recalled as shouting thank god it is my boy!!!!! i can't believe he fucks djkfjgj was not expecting that, and galad fucks too! this is wild. i guess all the trakand sibs are horny as fuck in showverse, good for them.

i loved the family dynamics we got here! every single character constantly dunking on how annoying galad is was specifically designed to cater to me, thank you rafe. even a literal forsaken will take the time to dunk on galad! (mat finally bursting out "mate HAVE a day off" was the hardest i laughed in all these episodes, truly the most perfect expression of the way galad makes a person feel)

it is interesting to me that galad is established as the stronger personality with gawyn more of a sidekick, since i'd assumed it would be the opposite in s3 due to the coup storyline being more important for gawyn, whereas galad's whitecloak stuff might not come into play until s4. as of now, both brothers are only credited on imdb for eps 2&3, so either the imdb credits aren't fully accurate or this is all we see of them this season and they aren't involved in the coup. we do have ep8 filled out with 40-something castmembers now (initially only the first 7 eps had gotten updated), so i'm inclined to think imdb is now more or less accurate (bar potential surprise castings that are being held for spoilers like moggy was in s3 - more on that later) and we will not see the brothers again this season. pretty surprising given how important the coup is for book!gawyn, i'd thought it was a surefire opportunity to flesh out his character by showing more of his coup involvement than the books did rather than less, but we'll see how it goes! if we don't see either of them again this season, then that definitely lends weight to the criticisms of the show buckling under the number of characters it has and some of them not getting the attention they need this season; hopefully by the end of the season, we'll have gotten a fair amount of deaths to clear out the stage a bit (and the good news is we don't have a TON of super-important new characters left beyond everyone who's arriving in s3, mostly just tuon and the rest of the forsaken).

it's also possible that maybe ep8 will only show siuan being deposed in the hall and it ends on a cliffhanger, and then the actual coup and tower battle takes place in 4x01, although splitting it up like that would feel like an odd choice structurally so i don't think it's that likely (unless they just really could not fit a whole battle into ep8 and had to punt it off til 4x01).

re: the family tree, galad was introduced as "galad of house trakand" and he was a pretty young child (maybe even only a toddler?) calling morgase mom in the flashback, which made me think he might just be her bio son, BUT i see in the end credits he is named as "galad damodred". so maybe they've kept him as her stepson - i know he does call her mom in the books too, so it was more his age in the flashback that was noteworthy, since book!galad was.......i think somewhere in the 7-9 range at the time of taringail marrying morgase and gawyn & elayne being born, but maybe they've just condensed the timeline and said there was only a few years between tigraine disappearing and having rand (who is around gawyn's & elayne's age, so the gap between them and galad would indicate how long tigraine was in the waste, IF she is galad's bio mom in showverse). it's also possible the credits just goofed a little and gave him his book name even though he doesn't have it in the show, because there wasn't any indication in the actual episodes that galad is not morgase's bio son and E&G's full brother, and i'd think they would've made a passing mention of it if they wanted to set up the reveal that tigraine was his mom. hopefully, whatever rand learns about tigraine's story this season will make it definitive one way or the other as to whether she had another child before him!

back to the trakands! i was not expecting cutthroat morgase, but i dig it. it really emphasizes the instability and high stakes of a succession - the books allude to morgase's succession being very tumultuous, but this cold open makes that extremely clear, and will set us up to understand why elayne is in such a precarious position when she finds herself involved in a succession of her own (and i'm sure the book!succession arc haters would be glad if the show injects a bit more GOT-style backstabby violent politics into it lmao although, i wouldn't be surprised if morgase adopting that type of politics here will end up being a contrast to elayne doing her best to take the higher road when she rises to the throne, similar to how we need to see siuan making bad calls as amyrlin so that egwene will truly feel like a better amyrlin when she succeeds her).

i really loved the look we got at elayne's and morgase's relationship and at elayne as an individual character. we can feel the weight of expectations and duty upon her, but also see the genuine love between mother and daughter and how much elayne looks up to morgase. it's a great depiction of a mother-daughter queen-heir relationship, where we get to see both the familial and political sides of the dynamic. there's clear familial love there, but it's also not as straightforward as normal parent-child relationships are.

gaebril played me so well, i truly thought he was a longtime part of the family and rahvin had only recently assumed his identity, but no! he really did only show up a month ago but is using compulsion to make everyone remember him as a longtime part of the family! it took my breath away, it was so diabolical. the fact that the show took the time to give him and elayne a one-on-one scene makes me hopeful that elayne will get to be involved in defeating him and taking back caemlyn in showverse (s4 avimatrandlayne battle polycule taking caemlyn together PLEASE i need it for my health)

our forsaken meeting was so much fun! love Scottish Sammael and the dynamics between the three we see in this scene, plus evidence of all the inter-scheming when rahvin hints he's working with graendal and semirhage while scheming with lanfear and sammael and THEN talks to moggy afterwards.

on that note, putting on my clown shoes after my speculation last week that semirhage was cut! she's in! this means that demandred is out (SOB i love him), but i mean, we can't one HUNDRED percent rule out asmo either, yes that one statue looked like it had a guitar but maybe it's something else, or maybe covid rewrites ended up having long-term impacts such that their original forsaken plan as of 1x06 ended up changing. i will wear my clown makeup for as long as i can before accepting that we won't see taimandred! but if it is indeed asmo in the last slot, how will we see him? still as rand's one-on-one tutor, or will he be involved in the black tower storyline? as of now it's not clear how much saidin training rand actually needs at this point. will he be able to be self-taught and asmo/demandred would be solely reserved for the black tower rather than rand's personal tutor? if they use asmo but give him a black tower storyline instead of his own book story, it would be strange that they didn't just use demandred as taimandred. but who knows what might happen!

as of yesterday, ann ogbomo was one of the only leaked actors who isn't yet credited on imdb, so now that we have confirmation of semirhage, i think she's going to play semirhage in a 3x08 surprise stinger scene that they're keeping off imdb for now - maybe showing up to nab the male a'dam as a Surprise Tool For Later. if this is the case, then i might expect a seanchan storyline in s4 so that we can get a look at what semirhage is up to, similar to s2 introducing moggy in the stinger and then having her be a big presence in s3. we'll definitely have to wait to see how the tanchico storyline ends, but i'd have two predictions for a potential s4 seanchan & semirhage presence: 1) structure for fewer total seasons - tanchico falls to the seanchan and mat gets stuck there and meets tuon with the invasion, so basically skipping to WH for him (though he'd probably also form the band, but in tanchico and in the context of trying to fight against the seanchan invasion). 2) structure for more total seasons - mat rejoins rand in s4 for his dragon's general plotline and forming the band, and we possibly meet tuon at home in the seanchan court in a made-for-the-show plotline involving semirhage, and they launch the second invasion in s5, at which point mat leads the campaign against them on rand's behalf and meets tuon then. i think as long as we get minimum 6 seasons, structure #2 (which is much preferable to me, for cauthor reasons) would work just fine, so structure #1 would probably only be if they're told they will only get 5 seasons and need to really hop to getting the endgame set up.

on the subject of mat, i love him in these episodes <3 donal continues to deliver such a charming and endearing performance, while also getting at the vast emotional depths mat has below the shallow-seeming surface! in the books, mat ranks around #4 fave for me (elayne #1, rand #2, egwene #3), but whenever a new season of the show comes around, i often find myself enjoying and looking forward to his scenes the most of everyone because donal just brings so much vibrance and depth to the role (as did barney before him!). i loved his convo with siuan, her persuading him to hand over the horn by being like "i'm sure you're not an idiot, riiiiight?" was so funny, and then we get the word-for-word book convo about her comparing him to her uncle.

i already posted about it, but mat being surprised but game at what he thought was a suggestion of a bi orgy!!!! he is not beating the allegations!!!! also pretty sure he had a line like "your brothers know how good i am with a staff" to elayne at the end lmao and meanwhile, the Nobody Wants Mat Carnally saga continued in full force, i was howling. poor mat! he's like, the ONLY character who hasn't fucked yet djkfjghj rand come fuck your man, he's begging for it! new biggest question for s3: will mat ever get laid successfully?

mat blowing the horn 🤝 mat dueling the princes: scenes i didn't care that much about in the books but got emotional watching in the show. it's because the same arrangement of mat's theme from the horn scene was used again at the start of the duel! it always gets me!! i think it's the most beautiful and emotionally-affecting piece of the show's musical landscape so far.

the music in these episodes ROCKED oh i really really hope we'll get a second album of in-show music later on to add to the themes album that released today! i love the new rand theme, and i love how perrin's new theme includes familiar bits from the original s1 goldeneyes theme and expands on it. all the andor music in ep2 was absolutely incredible, a particular standout of the season's music so far.

back to mat, his relationship with min is quite fun and i like that they didn't just instantly make up after their big fight in s2, but i am starting to lean on the side of "okay, this relationship doesn't need to be THIS big of a focus" haha but now that they're headed for tanchico, i'm sure we'll get more of each of them interacting with nynaeve and elayne too and not just each other, and likewise of nynaeve and elayne getting to expand their social interactions from just each other. i look forward to some mingling! though we did get some great mat-nynaeve scenes already in the first 3 episodes.

the redstone doorway in the 13th depository was just an easter egg after all! so we're back down to just the one doorway visit by mat in tanchico, and we know he is 100% getting hanged, but who will rescue him? at this point i feel like it's going to be min, since they had her foresee it and they're building up her and mat's relationship...........ngl i would be soooooo mad if cauthor cpr went to min instead haha i'd rather nynaeve be the one to save him if it can't be rand! but we'll have to wait and see.

elaida is making inroads at the tower! and most importantly, i have finally unlocked a Favorite Minor Aes Sedai with tsutama. my girl!!! i'm guessing we won't see her again this season, and maybe not for the rest of the show, though i'd really love it if she does come back to the tower eventually in a future season to restore a reds-who-oppose-elaida presence, which could be handy depending on whether the show is going to include pevara and/or silviana.

over to perrin's plotline. i love faile!!! very excited to see more of her. "i've never seen someone try to give themselves up and fail" and in doing so perrin captivated her instantly, she's so loser-sexual haha they have a great vibe between them so far, just kind of a curiosity on both sides and some fun banter, with hints of a deeper connection to come but nothing too overtly flirty yet. i look forward to seeing how the show will manage to get them into a position of kissing by the end of the season - we'll probably get some good development in ep5 with the rescue sequence.

otherwise, not too much from me about the two rivers stuff. it will still be the plotline i'm least interested in like it was in the books, but this time i AM still interested in it rather than finding it boring like i did in the books! i agree with @butterflydm's thought in her review post that us seeing alanna keep a handle on herself after one warder's death makes me suspect maksim will also die later this season, and the double-loss will make her go over the edge and do The Thing in s4. i really loved her and perrin's conversation about grief, i choked up a little! and we get confirmation that perrin does have a family and they're alive haha but conveniently offscreen since there's no time to deal with them (same with tam and abell, i'm guessing that at least with tam they couldn't get the actor back this season because i'd imagine they would've wanted to include him if it had been logistically possible).

now on to the waste crew. not a ton going on for them in these episodes, which i expected, since ep4 will be huge for this storyline. no further avirand interactions, much to my sorrow!!! i really hope they get some good relationship development in the second half of the season (and maybe some interactions in ep4 if avi comes to rhuidean with moiraine and rand to do her own trial). the reveal that egwene's renna dreams aren't only PTSD, but also lanfear deliberately doing that to her constantly in TAR: diabolical and heartbreaking! lanfear's speech to rand about wanting to kill the dark one so she can be free of her oaths is so convincing that it's good we also have the scene of her tormenting egwene to make us remember that she loves being evil and maybe isn't being honest with rand here and/or has ulterior motives for wanting him to kill the dark one. but she puts on such a good performance that we can't help but be taken in!

i believe we got confirmation that there are no choedan kal in showverse, and the strongest male sa'angreal is callandor and the strongest female sa'angreal is the sarkonen (aka the orb moiraine will find in rhuidean). definitely a good move to cut down on the number of Super-Powerful Magic Toys that exist, i think.

randgwene continues to drag on, but it did give me the vision of rand cuddling and soothing someone after a nightmare, and that was very wholesome and made me happy haha i am curious how they'll frame the breakup because right now it feels like there's still a TON of love and long-term intentions there on both sides and feels more like we're watching a rough patch in a strong endgame relationship than the final days of an ill-fated relationship, but we shall see.

moiraine and lan both trying to wingman each other with melindhra was so funny djkfjg (also, if we don't get at least 1 rand sweat tent scene, i will hit the roof! i want that man objectified!) and we've set up an interesting look into lan's backstory and his feelings on malkier & kingship. not a storyline or character arc that ever interested me particularly, but happy for the lan enjoyers getting to see him fleshed out more this season!

okay, that's everything i can think of off the top of my head! loved the multi-episode drop to sink my teeth into the season, but very glad it's only one a week from here on out so i can absorb each individual episode more.

[chibigingi]

My Issue with Solas

(To which I'm going to be berated, blocked, loathed, dismissed by his fans, and that's okay because it's their right, but I gotta get this out.)

First and foremost I will openly admit that I've played most of the Dragon Age games and their DLC (exception being one of the DLCs from Dragon Age 2 involving Corphyeus and the deets on Malcom Hawke, and any DLC in Inquisition), and my enjoyment of the series, up until Veilguard, is casual. I preferred the Mass Effect series and even then I can't say that I know all the lore to consider myself a super fan.

That being said, my issue with Solas (besides some of his crazier fans who genuinely can't acknowledge any flaws or unironically say that the Veil should've came down) is the fact that they wrote him to be too powerful, too clever, and thus wrote themselves (or the ones that ended up taking over as I'm told that the development for Dread Wolf and then eventually Veilguard was... uh... a mess xD) into a corner in regards to how they can realistically combat him by making him the antagonist of the fourth game.

Much of the criticism I see from the hardcore Solas/Dragon Age lore fans usually boil down to the fact that they (the writers) nerfed him so that the heroes of the Veilguard could have a fighting chance.

"Remember when he could turn people into stone without even looking at them?"

"He could've easily subdued Varric without killing him." (Something Neve points out as well if you take her with you to the final showdown in Minrathous)

"I can't believe he'd fall for a fake dagger, they had to BS some excuse that he's concussed or say it's his arrogance that blinded him, whatever, they made him look dumb!"

All reasonable criticisms, but I think the problem lies in the fact that the writers, either his original ones or the new ones, just did themselves an oopsie and powerscaled him to the point that ANY effort to overcome him will be dismissed as 'contrived', 'unrealistic', or that they had to nerf him in order to overcome him.

Which... not really?

Think of it like this. Rook is portrayed as the anti-Solas, regardless if you play them as Blue, Red, or Purple. Whereas Solas schemes, plots ahead, plays chess with others as pawns, willing to sacrifice said pawns when necessary, Rook is literally riding by the seat of their pants and making it up as they go. When your opponent is someone who thinks he has everything figured out, the best way to combat that is to be so wild, so unpredictable, that it throws them off balance, long enough to get a few licks in.

Solas's greatest weakness in regards to Rook is that he always, always, always underestimates Rook and that Rook always does the unexpected.

Whereas Solas knew Varric would try and talk him down, he could never predict that the wild card that Varric hired was stupid enough to drop a freakin' statue on him to stop a ritual (instead of doing something conventional, like, you know... shoot at him from afar or charge boldly at him, like an idiot). ((Though, if Solas had taken the time to know Rook, especially Warden Rook, he's have probably been a little less surprised... or not, because who'd drop a large construction ontop of someone else TWICE in the span of a few months? Seriously, who even does that once, much less twice?))

Whereas Solas expects Rook to be belligerent and distrustful throughout their shared sessions in the Meditation rooms, Rook surprises him by actually listening to his advice, despite their dislike/distrust of him.

Whereas Solas expects Rook to be trapped in the Fade prison, because if someone as smart and clever and powerful as he, the Elven god of lies, deception, rebellion, blah blah blah, then an idiot like Rook who Solas clearly thinks lacks insight and introspection (a far assumption, Rook dropping a statue on him and interrupting a Ritual was literally plan A) couldn't figure it out.

Even the three (technically Five I guess) endings, Rook defeats him by doing the unexpected.

Sacrifice, he never expects Rook to have what it takes to make the sacrifice. Sure, everyone SAYS they'll do whatever it takes to save the world, but how many are actually willing to do it when the gauntlet is thrown? How many have tried to stop Solas with the good ol' 'Whatever it takes' mentality and hadn't either been defeated or chickened out when the time came?

Fight, he expects that Rook would be stupid and fight him on their own, never expecting that his companions would be willing to risk life and limb to fight for Rook (hell, even Emmrich, Mr-Always-Suggests-The-Non-Violent-Option is ready to throw hands the moment Rook says it's Clobbering time).

Trick, this is self-explanatory in that he never expects Emmrich or anyone to have made a fake dagger, nor does he expect Rook to be brazen enough to even try pulling such a trick on him. This is a guy that thought dropping a statue on him was a good idea, after all, and Rook hadn't shown signs of such deviousness before, at least not against him. Who would dare try and outDread Wolf the Dread Wolf? Rook, that's who.

Both Redemption endings, he never expects Rook to actually talk to him in the final confrontation, especially after all that he put Rook through. He's expecting Rook to be so out for blood, so determined to see him as his enemy, so determined to stop him, that the idea that he'd go through the hassle of learning about all of his regrets or finding Mythal's fragment wouldn't have crossed Rook's mind. That Rook actually believed that he was worthy of redemption, after everything he's done, to Rook, to the Inquisitor, to Mythal, to literally all of Thedas... is unexpected.

Look, I get that the writing in Veilguard, especially compared to previous games, isn't all that great. Sometimes it's just bad. I think fans had expected Solas to continue to be this all-powerful being that was always being eluded to through in-game journals and codex entries (or these feats maybe were seen in Trespasser, I don't know because I haven't played it and at this point, I kind of don't want to). I think a lot of the issues arise with expectations, whether they're reasonable expectations or not.

People expected Solas to be bested by a character that could match his wit, but instead, they get a chaotic DnD player that is literally making shit up as they go. Which... if you're a fan of Solas and wanted to maybe see him have a better outcome even though you knew he'd have to lose at the end, I can get the disappointment. Or maybe you hate Solas but are still disappointed that you couldn't really do all the terrible things you wanted to do to him (like, me... sorry, but my Inquisitor would NOT have called him 'Friend'... don't give me the option to say 'I want to stop him' if you're just going to be lazy and have it the same as the 'I want to help him' but just a little less nice). Sorry y'all didn't get the game you wanted or the game you feel the series deserves... fate conspired against us players and the developers who tried despite being given an impossible task.

Maybe I'm pessimistic, and I'll admit I have some bias against Solas anyways as I never cared for him even BEFORE the reveal in Inquisition, but I just had a feeling that the decision to have the entire series revolve around him was going to eventually bite Bioware in the butt, because once the expectations was there, the chances of them living up to said expectations was slimmer than Emmrich's waistline. Maybe with more time and resources and not having EA constantly trying to make Dragon Age something it could never be, y'all have gotten the game y'all feel the series deserve.

Or maybe y'all be bitching because there'll be something else that y'all didn't like in how he was handled. I don't know, I'm like Rook in that I don't have time for that kind of insight. I enjoyed the game, for all of its many flaws... only other Dragon Age game I played more than once was 2, and that was because I screwed up with Isabela and I hate finishing a game without a full party available to me (if it is possible and not because of the developers forcing the players to make a choice to kill, or have a character leave no matter what you do).

Anyways, TL;DR version: Rook is my precious baby and we were never going to get a version of Veilguard that would've satisfied the fans nor EA's ridiculous expectations...

[genericpuff]

(I am the anon who recommended Ulysses Dies at Dawn) I hope you like it!!!! Udad is one of my favourite albums especially because of the world building around The City, so I hope you enjoyed it too!!

I did finish it, I quite liked it! Recommended it to my husband as well as he's a huuuge Epic fan (he's more of a musical theater person than me overall tbh) and probably would also love The Magnus Archives if he ever gave it a shot haha (I haven't touched TMA but I'm aware of its fandom presence on this hellsite LOL)

Overall it was a really cool concept album! Turning the setting of The Odyssey into a sort of post-modern steampunk epic was pretty unique and cool, especially with how they adapted some of the stories into said setting. Turning the riddle of the Sphinx into a literal disease that ages infants from birth to death within a matter of hours? Genius. And while it does take some massive creative liberties by incorporating other mythological characters like Herakles and Ariadne directly into the cast, it still did a pretty good job at creating a unique, thought-provoking, well-rounded plot with overarching themes and motifs in only an hour! I especially appreciate the little lore details they hid in the video descriptions and thumbnail art, I always love hunting for secrets like that haha

My favorite songs were probably My Name is No One, Riddle of the Sphinx, Sirens, and Favoured Son, the vocals are all wonderfully delivered (especially in Sirens, it gave me chills in the best way) and the narrative progression within the lyrics was very compelling especially in relation to the world-building.

I had a couple of least favorites too though, and unfortunately they were Orpheus' and Ariadne's songs which I wish I could love on that basis alone but alas, they just didn't hit the mark for me.

My issue with Trial by Song is largely personal, I can get what the vocalist was going for but that constant high-note vocal waving / shaking just doesn't do it for me, I've never been a fan of that delivery style so even if it was intentional and driven with purpose, it's just not something I can force myself to enjoy. But again, that's largely personal taste, not something I'm gonna hold against the vocalist because aside from that one personal ick they're doing a great job at hitting and maintaining those notes, if it weren't for that one thing I'd probably be way more into it haha

As for Ties That Bind, that one actually isn't a personal issue, at least as far as I can argue LOL On a technical level, the mixing felt very off, the instrumentals were often just way too loud compared to the vocalist which made it difficult to focus on what was being sung (and the mic quality itself didn't seem all that great either). And that problem was compounded by the vocalist's own stylization which threw me off because of how deep her voice suddenly sounded compared to how she had been speaking up until that point; it felt very forced and strained, especially when she tried to switch from those deep chest notes to those higher throat notes. This stylization clashed with the lyrics too, the line deliveries often felt "cramped" where the vocalist almost seemed to be slurring / rushing the words (sometimes they even felt completely off-tempo) which made it hard to make out what she was saying even when I could hear past the instrumentals. And that's not exactly ideal for a musical where the plot is literally being delivered through song LMAO It just felt like it could have used a bit more time in the oven IMO. I don't doubt that the vocalist is skilled, it just felt like the song was often working against her skills rather than with them.

All that said, in spite of those two criticisms I have of it after my first couple listens, I do think this is a great concept album and I was shocked to see it doesn't seem to have much attention on it judging by the view counts, it really deserves more attention and love because the amount of thought and detail that went into creating this world and its narrative and its characters is incredibly impressive.

So if you're like me and also had no clue this album existed until now, I highly suggest checking it out! It's not as big a time commitment as Epic or Hadestown, it only takes an hour to get through. And if you're into gritty steampunk film-noir stuff with lots of mystery and intrigue and twists, it'll probably be right up your alley!

[clonerightsagenda]

I do want to hear more about the Maxwell lives instead au, I remember you mentioning it before

Yeah, sure! Maxwell lives instead AU is part of a larger AU known as the alien Minkowski AU, original post can be found here. Context + Maxwell-specific high points:

In this scenario, Eiffel doesn't pull his stunt with the gas mask in time, Hilbert subdues him, Minkowski runs out of oxygen, and Hilbert has time to phone command.

The Dear Listeners are not happy about their favorite radio show and send in the hounds (Captain Lovelace in her shuttle, with a new Minkowski for good measure). No one's sure how Lovelace got there or how Minkowski survived but it's the Hephaestus, shit happens. They've got more pressing things to worry about, like the inevitable arrival of a Goddard kill squad.

Said kill squad arrives and Jacobi and Maxwell switches places at a few key points. Namely, Maxwell encounters her duplicate during Time to Kill, and Jacobi is shot during Desperate Measures.

Maxwell is very unhappy about this, but after the funeral and Lovelace's resurrection she calms down and becomes unsettlingly helpful with future alien communication plans. She has critical thinking skills. She's also paying close attention to Minkowski because, again, she has critical thinking skills, and she has Hilbert's reports insisting that the station commander ran out of oxygen an hour ago.

I always got the impression Maxwell was tolerating Kepler as a way to access the resources and career freedom she wanted rather than out of personal loyalty, so while she doesn't have the dramatic falling out with him that Jacobi does (she never trusted him that much), she's happy to ignore him and offer to cooperate with the crew now. Kepler assumes this is all part of the plan. The crew is uncertain. Hera is furious of course and insists it's a clever plot but makes other people tell Maxwell that. She's not speaking to her.

This leads to Dark Vengeance Maxwell, aka her version of Time to Kill, which involves holding Kepler at gunpoint cheerfully explaining that yes, she's doing a little bit of unauthorized space necromancy, no she doesn't think that's a dangerous alien weapon pretending to be her friend, honestly colonel didn't you listen to those tapes you brandished to prove how smart you are, do you think a Tiamat crewmember shooting himself in the head is part of an alien conspiracy, if you touch him or even sneer at him too hard I'm putting a bullet in your head, or if you can't handle it we can do that right now.

When she's bored of listening to him throw a fit about how she's making a huge mistake she turns to Minkowski to ask lieutenant :) wouldn't you like to make one thing right? could you escort the body bag in storage out to the closest airlock?

Minkowski's not feeling great about killing someone, and plus since Maxwell broke with Kepler and Kepler very clearly would not be on clonecobi's side it's not really strengthening the SI5 as a united force, and also Maxwell has been threatening to hack station navigation and crash them into the star if they don't cooperate. (Maxwell has worked that one out too, although she hasn't shared with the class so it can remain a viable threat. Worst case scenario they visit the aliens.) So she takes the body bag to the airlock and oh shit! The inner door slams shut behind her

No this isn't a punishment, Maxwell tells her over the intercom. Ok it is a little. But it's also an attempt to make her finally face up to the thing she's been ignoring. You know what that is, don't you, lieutenant? If you insist you don't, you will soon!

Then she spaces her, Minkowski does not die properly, and she's finally forced to accept that she, Lovelace, and soon Jacobi are all literally and figuratively in the same boat.

Eiffel clips a tether to his suit and goes out to rescue her, at which point he figures out what the aliens want, so he transfers the tether to her and shoves her toward the airlock, which also pushes him to the star so he can visit Bob.

As soon as Minkowski gets back into the airlock and the outer door closes, a very confused Jacobi appears next to her. His last memory is her holding a gun on him and he's like, ha, told you you couldn't do it. Also why are we here now.

Minkowski is processing a lot right now and just sort of breathlessly gestures toward the inner door until it opens and Maxwell gets there to go hey, are you feeling ok? no headaches? no frostbite? listen don't talk to the colonel for a while, I'll explain everything later, but the important thing is you made a bad call and I fixed it. Face it, I'm basically your savior

[moonflower-rose]

Is it true that this year is the 20th anniversary of your first Drarry fic? Is it also true that it’s literally this week? (JK I know for a fact it is)

HOW does it feel being a FANDOM ELDER and WHEN will you re-up that first fic?

Love your work, please take this in the spirit it was intended!

Whoops, I read this when you sent it which was over a month ago and then I absolutely wiped it out of my memory.

Um, yes Feb 7 2005 was the date I posted my first Drarry, and I don't think I'll ever republish it (although a few years ago I did dig up copies of it on my Livejournal and I put it in AO3 in a closed collection just in case I change my mind).

If you knew my Drarry origin date then you must remember the fic at least a little bit and I regret to inform you that I think you're viewing it through rose coloured glasses and the enthusiasm of youth lol. It's absolutely terrible. I once sent a tiny sliver to @shiftylinguini and that is probably the last time another human will lay eyes on the monstrosity while I still live. It's like when you revisit some type of media you loved as a kid or a teen as an adult and you discover its objectively horrible, so if you loved the fic that I shan't name, I'm not going to shatter your fond memory of it by ever letting you see it again. I mean, the sex scenes alone read like someone who had never had any kind of sec in their life and I was unashamedly a little slag in my youth, so I had NO EXCUSE.

A fandom elder? Me?? I am an old bitch who has been here for 20 years this year but an elder implies wisdom and I don't know her. It was funny to retell some very dumb fandom wank from 17-18 years ago recently, some of which I would never have remembered if I hadn't gone through the digital hoard in my old email account, and have my homie @sherribon fact check some of it (FYI, Supernatural fandom has been fucking unhinged since S1 and the fight over unsolicited criticism has been alive and kicking in HP the entire time). Which means she and I have been friends for 20 years! I never imagined making lifelong RL pals when I started reading Harry/Ginny on MuggleNet in 2004 but I've collected a bunch of them and they're some of my fave people in the universe (@meredyth I'm looking at you).

So yep, thank you, happy anniversary to me, this has been the only hobby I've maintained an interest in for this length of time and it doesn't feel like it's drying up any time soon, so see you in 2045!

[officeobject]

Long vent/rant:

Yeah. I personally never dick-rode him (I know it's a METAPHOR, but I was 10-12 and aroace and later in life became a FORMER FNAF fan + former platonic simp who's sex-repulsed and at times romance-repulsed now, so I just hate the term - plus, no one should be mean to 12 year old me for loving him and all - well, not that I'm saying you're mean, I just hope no one would) - but yeah, like, I didn't hate him or anything, but at some point revisited the drama, wondering what again people were upset about, and turns out, dude donated to shitty people and is pro-life and stuff, and I was like "you're kidding, right?" - but nah, that's true, and feck him (though not "fuck him").

And people's reactions were like "he can have his opinions", and "but he donated to LGBT+ charities and said he supports us!", and "well he was MY childhood hero, and created the beloved FNAF" - and sure, all those reactions are shit, but I hate when people were like "but he's the FNAF creator!", because you CAN realize that people who made something amazing, or something from your childhood, or a beloved thing, are shitty people - and also because they act, on their high horses, as if the ones that are mad, didn't feel the exact same way - OR MORE - about Scott - like, I knew Texas wasn't the best place to live (didn't know HOW exactly, but still knew I'd normally wanna stay clear), but was still willing to move in as soon as financially and legally possible, so I could be near Scott, and hang out and stuff - and they act like the ones getting mad, were merely content with Scott's games at the age of 16 -

Also, it's understandable to like Scott or be a FNAF fan, because maybe one is my little brother (he's a kid - doesn't know or doesn't care about Scott and isn't a platonic simp for people - then again, we're different people duh) - or maybe one hasn't revisited the situation when one can comprehend it (I was old/mature enough to understand when I revisited), or maybe one doesn't know about Scott, or doesn't know the situation, etc, but if you do know, and you fully comprehend everything, how could one still be a fan?!

Also, I have this 30 year old office worker, and we have a friendship via mutual staring (yes, just that, we never "met"), and they're technically a better ally than Scott, through treating me like normal even though there's a pride flag in the window (has been there for MONTHS now), assuming everything I do is platonic (aroace ally in a way), and the fact that they've been shown so many times to just be considerate of me as a person, and how things will affect me - UNLIKE SCOTT -

And also, communities like the Hellaverse critical one, and Boyfriends slanderers, typically have a mascot or a character they'd save, or multiple, and I haven't seen any Phone Guy stuff since I left the fandom (Phone Guy getting some book or whatever, and a daughter, felt like a kick, slap, punch, AND spit in the face), but like, I'd choose Phone Guy - then again, Phone Guy is voiced by Scott - I actually made an OC based on my memories of Phone Guy and Scott, back in 2022, plus additional characters and people and whatever else, and you know that 30 year old I'm friends with? They're literally that character 😐. Like, I kid you not, they're all of THAT - and I do wish we could meet, and to get them Tumblr, so if they'll accept some fans, then THERE YOU GO: an alternative for former Scott fans - I guess -

They do appear to have very different lives (don't know anything about them outside of work though), but, like, still -

Also, Scott announcing retirement on his old website and being like "but before I do, let's take a look at this drawing an 8 year old made for me! Isn't it nice? THAT'S the FNAF community, and the joy it gave me -" or whatever he said, kinda seems like some kind of guilt-trip stuff to me - and FNAF fans also acted like we ALL doxxed him or stressed his pregnant wife (by the way how many kids DOES he keep having) - and also, people are like "folks hate him because he's Christian" - when, like, every FNAF fan either doesn't bring it up because religion doesn't equal being a piece of shit, OR, is like "Scott, stop using a religion that a bunch of people innocently have, which isn't an inherent bad one, as an excuse 😐" - which means a lot to me as a Christian, because Scott is an embarrassment (I was gonna add more, but that sentence alone is funny and suffices).

And like, I'm sorry for those who're so hung up on nostalgic Scottie who made games they loved, and seemed oh so nice and quirky, but if I can find someone better, they can too - and, well, sometimes you just learn, that things aren't as good as they seem, or that things are different, or maybe things turn out unexpected, but I guess those people are too interested salivating on either the purple married man, or THIS married man (not comparing the two or anything, just saying they're both married and simped for despite being bad).

And FNAF fans be like "but he donated to charities! He's trying his best! He's an ally! He's so nice!", etc, when Gerald (not their real name) - working a desk-job over there is like a much better person - and cooler - like, genuinely cooler - whatever quirks the Scott-suckers see, I kid you not, Gerald has way more -

Gerald has less than half the social skills of Scott, not famous, merely an office worker, and STILL seems like the superior person here - like, again, my office worker thinks about how their actions impact others - I mean, they're not that good at understanding personal space it seems and all, but they TRY, and they TRY to be professional, and they're very nice to ME, a dedicated worker -

And you know how in an interview, Scott said he didn't even say to Steel Wool how things should be in FNAF SB or something? My office worker will passionately (and probably loudly) express their ideas in every meeting they're in, if they have any - like, really takes the spotlight and stuff.

And like, we have the same friendship as I wanted with Scott and all, back when I was a tween (yes, that DOES mean that I'm surprisingly childish/immature at times - they do know, and defend me against their coworkers who probably wonder why I'm abnormal as a human being), and like, I've heard that Scott, who usually goes to all Dawko charity streams, was mysteriously absent, from the Palestine/Gaza one, even though Dawko gets lots of attention from him (cue tween-me hating him internally) and Scott usually donates, plus, that he worked with a fricking zionist company - like, CAN SCOTT CHOOSE TO NOT, "BRANCH OUT", IN TERMS OF PIECE OF SHITTING?! Oh and also, pretty sure my homie would never, since, they're, you know, AN ACTUALLY GOOD PERSON WHO TRIES THEIR BEST TO THE POINT OF BEING LIKED BY THEIR COWORKERS (as seemingly more than an acquaintance, even).

I hope to GOD, that Scott hasn't voted for Trump THIS time, but like, how could we know? What are the signs that he hasn't? And I get loving a nostalgic fandom that was there when things were tough and all, but it doesn't seem THAT possible to separate art from the artist, even if you only buy merch second-hand at MOST ... plus, again, it gets better.

Scott didn't get better, FNAF didn't get better, but life as a former FNAF fan, gets better.

The Internet: Don't give money to stuff JK Rowling is involved with or you're directly giving money to her to allow her to keep doing her bigotry.... ALSO if you so much as BREATHE the name Harry Potter, you are a transphobe, a bigot, AND an antisemite.

Also the Internet: omg im gonna see the FNAF movie a million times in theatres i cant wait yaaay 😌✨

[an-au-blog]

my professors giving me test after test is the only thing keeping me from posting the most heart wrenchingly devastating shuggy fic right now. And you lucky bastards should brace yourselves because once Friday rolls around my keyboard is catching fire with everything I'm cooking up, I'm so serious.

But for now all I'll say is...

Nothing's New - Rio Romero

Blue Hair - TV Girl

Promise - Laufey

Let You Break My Heart Again - Laufey

I Want You - Mitski

Break My Heart Again - FINNEEAS

Step On Me - The Cardigans

Jacket Over Hoodie Over Shirt - Marco Aziel

Judy Byrd - Juniper Avenue

You Were Perfect & I'm Sorry - Mickey Darling

Becca - The Sukis

EVERYTHING - The Black Skirts

[celtrist]

Why does Vassago already have merch, we haven't even met him yet

[strqyr]

there are so many youtubers whose names i wouldn't even know if not for people complaining about them constantly and i feel like that's saying something

[james-stark-the-writer]

just finished Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, and it is a game written by cowards for cowards.

the final twist genuinely ruins the game. it's so stupid as a narrative decision. i hate it so much. it almost makes me understand what the people yelling about The Last Jedi being too subservient to its themes were yelling about (OBVIOUSLY not the ones that were being bigoted and loud and wrong about it, but just the ones who had actual issues with its narrative directions/execution). genuinely, the twist takes what could have been an extremely solid 8.5, maybe a 9/10 game down to a 4/10 game with nothing of interest to say deluding itself into thinking it's saying anything of worth by thoughtlessly repeating patterns as if that's supposed to generate meaning without any real effort of actually committing to that meaning, or seeing the world as anything beyond its basic binary worldview of Good and Bad.

putting that twist in fundamentally cuts the legs out from any actual, interesting and substantive critique it could have leveled at the legal system and our feelings about people on trial and their perceived guilt or innocence, and it just ends up reinforcing it as a power of good that Will Ultimately Prevail In The Search For Truth, as if that is even remotely a thing any legal system is concerned with, especially the one in the game that mostly just stumbles into The Right Choices because it's a game controlled by the player. it's frankly ideologically incoherent to the point of saying nothing because its critique is unfocused and toothless. best it can muster is "maybe some people are corrupt and lying, but if You take Advantage of The System, you can beat them" as if malicious compliance is supposed to change the system. fuck off.

ran out of tags but. i'm serious about this lol, i really hate it as a narrative and ideological choice. the game threatens to say something bold and interesting and then just pulls the rug out from underneath you. it sucks. it's very much like 12 Angry Men in that way, i think, except at least that movie Knows what it's saying and that its basic premise is its ideological downfall, this just doesn't really feel like it says anything much interesting or coherent, ultimately, because the criticism either drowns in the length and comedic nature of it, or just ultimately isn't focused and pointed and nuanced enough to actually say something meaningful. like ik someone's gonna do a "kid's game" thing but hello, kid's shit has always been nuanced and just bc it's "for kids" doesn't mean it has to abide by some binary ass morality that flattens all its interesting critique, especially when you're constantly led, structurally, to the more interesting and nuanced narrative choice only to have a twist completely ruin it and making it all feel like a waste of your time. plenty of things are nuanced and interesting and "for kids" without deflating their themes and messages by writing a stupid twist that undercuts the interesting parts of its arguments.

[perilegs]

do even half the bg3 players think about, or at the bare minimum, read/listen to anything said in the game. ever.

[juney-blues]

99% of conversations on anarchism about here are hampered by people having no clue what anarchists are talking about when they refer to "the state", including, it seems, the anarchists themselves.

[cassianandfenrysaremyboyos]

I'm sorry but this just pisses me off (Not Hunt obviously, but Bryce)

Bryce rant incoming which you can just ignore and I'll probably delete later

But Bryce just puts all the blame on the Asteri. And yes ultimately they are to blame in the larger sense of things. But Bryce plays a direct role in leading them down the path that results in Hunt, Ruhn and Baxian being caught. It was her need to find out Danika's secrets with no thought to the consequences, her idea to go to the Eternal City. And she takes NO personal responsibility for it at all!

Hunt is blaming himself for everything that's happened. Even when it's not his fault at all. When we're in his pov he's constantly drowning in guilt, thinking about how he should of done more, he should of tried harder, he should of been better, how it's all his fault this happened and that his friends suffered.

And then Bryce does none of that. When we're in her pov she doesn't really show any major guilt. I can't think of any times when she blames herself like Hunt does. And I'm not saying she should be wracked with guilt. But a normal person, a good person, will usually feel bad and will feel guilty and blame themselves to some degree when something bad happens and people they care about are hurt, regardless of how big or small they're involvement is, or even if they're not at fault at all, case in point Hunt being wracked with guilt even when it's not his fault.

And to make it worse she acknowledges that Hunt warned them, warned her. But that she disregarded it and would of done it no matter what.

And then she has the audicity to say she doesn't regret it. And she thought they were on the same page. ON THE SAME PAGE!!?? Hunt made it clear in hosab that he didn't want to go down this road again, that he didn't want to get involved. YOU just didn't listen Bryce. And yeah Hunt's an adult, he can make his own decisions and he could of said no and not gone. But of course, OF COURSE!! he wasn't going to let Bryce go down that road alone, because he loves her, and doesn't want anything to happen to her, and wants to protect, so of course he would never desert her. But that doesn't mean he wanted to do it!

For Bryce to be that unaware of Hunt's feelings, when he explicitly stated them. For her to be that disconnected from her mate's feelings that she's surprised that he wasn't really on board is kinda unfathomable to me. Just that complete lack of awareness really does make her look quite selfish/self centered.

Anyway sorry, this post is a mess but I just had to vent

And then when Hunt mentions the consequences he and his friends faced, Bryce makes it about her pain. She's hurt that Hunt mentioned that they suffered. And the worst part is, Hunt then regret's it, he regrets saying something that hurts Bryce, because he cares about her and feelings. And she does not consider his feelings to the same degree

It just pisses me off

[snowstories]

BOTW's story is kinda weak because it sucks at information distribution, but I think it did a great job incorporating the gameplay into the narrative. Breath of the Wild is an open world game, meaning the onus is naturally on exploration and freedom. By contrasting this main gameplay loop with the memory flashbacks and given information of the past, it manages very naturally create a narrative of past vs present and restriction vs freedom.

Almost everything we see of the past in BOTW creates this stifling feeling of repression. It is a past filled with restriction, where everyone is given a very narrow role to play and punished when they do not play it well enough. Everyone is always prim and proper, anchored by tradition and the 'right' way to do this.

By contrast, in the present, if you want to spend a whole day trying to make your way through Hebra in your underwear, you can just do that. Sure, you can also just beeline for the Divine Beasts and then the castle, but few people (speedrunners not withstanding) will do that, and moreover, people aren't supposed to do that. Breath of the Wild wants you to spend your time fucking around rather than completing your divinely ordained world-saving quest.

This creates a contrast between past and present, where Link and Zelda are pushed into restrictive roles by precisely this destiny. Link is still mostly a vehicle of projection for the player, but is nevertheless established as a character in his own right in the game, and what limited notes of characterization we get indicates that he was absolutely miserable in the past. In memory cutscenes he's stoic and unemotive (probably part deliberate characterization, part effort to preserve his status as a blank slate), and Zelda's diary establishes him as not talking because he's afraid of saying the wrong thing. Whichever way you read his character, he's clearly very repressed.

And in the present he's spending a whole day seeing if he can get a picture of a bug, or eating dubious food, or chasing ducks or whatever. Because that's what you're doing. And since you're probably having a great time, you're gonna project that on the character designed to be projected upon. While I do still think past!Link could have done with a little more emoting, the game overall does a good job utilizing Link's status as a player insert to create/add to the story and its themes.

BOTW's chosen story is one set in the past, mostly about Zelda and her failure to fit into the role she's given. It's a story of restriction and repression. It is a deliberate contrast between the freedom the gameplay gives you. With this, it does a great job incorporating the gameplay into the story; rather than a game where every second you spend screwing around and exploring feels at odds with the urgency of your quest, the fact that Link, the repressed and miserable knight of the past, is screwing around freely feels like character development. Now having the freedom to screw around rather than single-mindedly pursue destiny is the point of the story.

In addition, it adds to the game's overarching theme of past vs present. In the flashbacks, we see an overreliance on Sheikah tech and ancient plans, hailed blindly as a savior when we know exactly this will be everyone's doom. Breath of the Wild never posits that we should ignore or scorn the past; on the contrary, it encourages exploration of it, both in the past with Zelda's character via her fascination with Sheikah tech, and in the present, with encouragement to uncover Link's past and the gameplay's incorporation of Sheikah tech. However, it cautions against worshipping it. The past is something to uncover and honor, but not a thing to live in; ultimately, you must forge your own path in the present. This is reinforced through the freedom of the gameplay and the aforementioned contrast it creates between the past and present. Following the past brought doom upon Hyrule a hundred years ago; doing so again would surely repeat this. You are encouraged to ignore the blueprint of the past and forge your own path. Even and especially if it involves riding your horse everywhere but the plot points.

By the very nature of the game's design, you are creating a story where Link wakes up in a wild future filled with endless possibilities and obtains a freedom that was inherently restricted in the past, letting go of the past and celebrating the future.

It's not groundbreaking or revolutionary or anything, but I think it's a very solid example of incorporating gameplay into the narrative.

[autumnday19]

Fucking tired of being nice rn if you're subtly rude to me I am clapping back I'm done