#just … critical thinking is a gift

[chetney-pockopea]

I'm feeling so normal about this you guys

[moash]

this is such a good post and highlights something i find really interesting about brandon’s writing! this is a really good example of a writing technique brandon likes to employ called “bad writing.” writers typically use bad writing when they are incapable or unwilling to write something better. though the relationship was underdeveloped in wor, several characters in oathbringer comment on it being deeper and more intimate than any of the others that kaladin had. this is a brilliant subversion of the traditional writing advice “show, don’t tell,” where instead of showing us the relationship, brandon simply tells us it was there and mattered. he employs this subversion in a similar fashion when he states that moash was the only member of bridge four to treat kaladin as a man not a god, but he takes it a step further in this instance by having moash’s feelings later devolve into idolatry. since the previous treatment this change is meant to contrast is “told” instead of “shown,” we end up with another incredible example of “bad writing.” i find brandon’s use of bad writing to be really thoughtful and unique since he employs just enough “good writing” to keep your expectations up, so the full force of the “bad writing” moments hit to full effect! :)

[behindthesefangirleyes]

“The racism was in the last 5 minutes of the ep”

No, it really wasn’t. It was sprinkled throughout in ubiquitous ways and became “undeniable” by the end of the episode, but it was always there.

Lindy blocking The Doctor right off the bat. Lindy surrounding herself in a curated world of people who look exactly like her. Lindy calling The Doctor “rude” and saying he’s “not as stupid as he looks” to her followers. Like she’s trying to sell him. (Take that meaning in every possible way)

Lindy blindly trusting strangers like Ruby, another white blonde woman, and Ricky September, a white blond man, more easily than the black man who tried to get her to safety first.

[hyperlexichypatia]

Obligatory Disclaimer #1: Yes, there is a lot of misogyny in the way people talk about the "likability" of female characters. Women in stories can and should be complex, flawed, nuanced, and human, not (just) "likable" (or "sexy" or "mother" or whatever other one-dimensional trope).

Obligatory Disclaimer #2: Yes, I know that an opinion expressed by a character in a story is not necessarily being supported by the narrative itself, or the author, and that people with piss-on-the-poor reading comprehension get this wrong. Good reading comprehension means being able to tell the difference.

Now that we've got that out of the way.

Doesn't it seem like "Female characters don't have to be LIKABLE, you illiterate misogynist!" is often a Privileged Feminist way to silence criticism of... very mainstream bigoted attitudes being presented uncritically in the narrative by being put in the voices of designated "unlikable female characters"?

I love a complex, nuanced, flawed female character. I love an outright villainous female character. I love a character whose flaws and prejudices are slowly picked apart by the narrative. I do not love having the classism, sizeism, and ableism I deal with every day served back to me in Feminist Fiction.

I do not love trying to point out "Hey, this award-winning book you all love, I don't actually like the way the protagonist talks about the working-class fat man. Or the younger woman with anxiety. Or the acquaintance with a disabled child and, like, linoleum floors or something." (Why do I just have all those examples at the ready?)

And being met with "Female characters don't have to be LIKABLE, you illiterate misogynist. Try reading some Serious Literature instead of your fanfic romance YA smut beach reads!"

"Uh, okay, well, it's not so much about the character being likeable as about the way the narrative doesn't seem to challenge the character's, I must reiterate, very widely held prejudices, that makes it seem less like a depiction of a flawed character and more like an uncritical replication of those very widely held prejudices --"

"It's a LITERARY PERSPECTIVE, GOD, didn't you go to SCHOOL? Do you think Lolita is a love story? Do you think Fight Club is about how awesome fighting is?"

"Well, no, but, for example, the way the character was so emotionally abusive to her fat daughter and her neurodivergent son --"

"Uggggh, you don't understand ANYTHING, women don't have to be PERFECT MOTHERS, she's supposed to represent HOW REAL WOMEN FEEL in the face of UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS OF PERFECT MOTHERHOOD!"

"So... the unquestioned-by-the-narrative elitism, classism, sizeism, ableism, and ageism are supposed to be... going against societal expectations?"

"OBVIOUSLY! That's how REAL WOMEN REALLY FEEL!"

"I'm a real woman, and I don't feel that way."

"UGGGGGH, YOU ILLITERATE MISOGYNIST, FEMALE CHARACTERS DON'T HAVE TO BE RELATABLE!"

[essektheylyss]

If I had a nickel for every Critical Role setting with an international organization that handles, among other things, the collection and storage of dangerous, corrosive, and corrupted/corrupting magical artifacts and powerful knowledge in vaults with highly variable levels of impenetrability with chapters that span across borders in ways that raise a lot of questions about diplomacy and global politics,

I'd only have two nickels, but it's weird it's happened twice.

[kinnoth]

If I see ONE MORE FUCKING PERSON be like "well I played and finished the dlc, but I'll wait to draw my conclusions about the lore until after the vaati video comes out"

FUCKING WHAT. It's not vaati's fucking lore! That man is just another fan, just like you! He is not your authority!!! Fucking dig up your own lore! All the information you need is there! Walk around the fucking game, open your eyeballs, and draw your own fucking conclusions!!!!!

I swear to fucking God you are all such cowards about "getting it wrong" that you are denying yourself half the fucking experience of the game by refusing to engage with the lore until someone tells you what to think about it.

Get your heads out of your asses!!!!!

[blorbologist]

Hi hi!! I hope you're having a good day or evening! :3 can I request Wish with Perc'ahlia if it hasn't been done yet??

42. Wish

"Wish is the mightiest spell a mortal creature can cast. By simply speaking aloud, you can alter the very foundations of reality in accord with your desires."

[You had to know this was gonna be painful]

“Is it - Percy, does it make me a terrible person? If I almost wish -” and here she breaks into a raspy laugh, “- if I wish Scanlan hadn’t done it?”

She died. They married. He said a few words. 

And now it’s late. So late it’s early, the tide reaching desperately for the moon. Vex can’t find the footprints on the shore. Is grateful she can’t find where she was dragged out. 

She can’t rest either, can’t sleep. Which is why Percy has found her here, toeing the seaweed painted up the beach. It’s gross, but it’s something she can feel, to know this terrible day has not been a dream.

Vesper, at least, is asleep. Thank the gods, thank all of them that Cass had retired early and volunteered to keep an eye on her as she slept. 

(Last of the de Rolos - really, Sylas? The last and you can’t even boast of the death of a teenager who drove fine steel into your wife’s throat, or the little baby named for a girl you threw from a tower?)

The waves race and die. Vex’ahlia has never been to the ocean much before - here, now, she sees that the ocean does not retreat after it crests the beach. Much of its froth sinks into the sand between her toes, doing its best to drag her down with what strength it has. 

There’s three, four deaths around her ankles, sputtering and sighing, before Percy reaches her. It’s so dark - she marvels at how he found her without a candle before remembering. Spying her haloed reflection in the next dark mirror of water to meet them.

“No,” he says. She’d almost forgotten what she asked, the memory washed away, but - “I believe we have sorted this issue before, about being terrible people for wanting simple things.”

Percy pulls her into his side and she sinks into his warmth, turns to press her ear to his heartbeat. In only his sleepclothes (and his coat, of course, but that he drapes over them both) it’s right there, right there. 

Vex snorts with little humor. “From snowy Wildemount to the beaches of Marquet,” she says. “How far we’ve come.”

Her husband hums in agreement. Their rings are heavy, grounding - she rubs her thumb over his. 

“Was that even Vax?” Some of the ocean’s foam is in her throat. Airy, wet, painful as she tries to breathe. “He - Percy, he hardly smiled. He didn’t laugh.” The Champion of Ravens did not indulge their little spat about the boots, those fucking boots, and - and is that not the true mark of their relationship? The stupid little things?

“I think,” Percy says, “it would be worse if it was not him.” 

He tightens his hold on her, like the revelation might give her terrible wings. “Lord knows what his duties have been. I’d rather know the Wish to be true, I think, and uncorrupted… even if it means the time in Her service has changed him.”

“I wish it didn’t,” Vex sniffles. The salt burns. “I wish - fuck. I close my eyes and I see him tonight, Percy. The - the way he moves, the way he talks, the - fuck, he didn’t even kiss Keyleth.” She rubs the heel of her hand into her eye. “Couldn’t keep his - his stupid hands off her, before. Gross.”

Her husband does not point out that the Champion of Ravens, as he is, giving a kiss to the Tempest would likely be just as distressing as this is, if not moreso. She knows he grasps her point just fine.

Before she can lower her hand Percy catches it. Kisses her pulse, to assure himself it’s still there. 

“If it’s any comfort,” Percy says to her heartbeat, “I - I don’t know how I would react if I saw my family again. If I hoped, hoped to speak to them again, only to meet -” he stops. 

“Vex, dear, none of that.” Gently he dries her tears, doing little for the hot shame coursing through her. In tilting her head she finds tears in his eyes, too. “If you think for a second I envy you - no.”

There’s something he wants to say there. Something like I loved my family but I have grieved. Their chapter is closed and I am content to let it be. 

And she has grieved, she has. She thought she had. Then Sylas crawled out of hell, and she still has seawater faintly in her lungs, and her brother is an angel, an angel, and she cannot pretend he is otherwise. 

“He didn’t get to see Vesper,” says Vex. “I mean - I mean, she’s too young to remember, anyways, but.”

None of their children will meet their uncle. And that has to be a good thing, it has to be, because to meet him now would mean the worst.

“We should get inside, darling. It’s cold out - we’ll catch our death out here.”

Another hum. They make no move to leave.

The tide begins its lethargic retreat. Before it crept far past her ankles; now it just barely brushes her heel. Is Percy in his socks? They must be soaked, fool man.

“I’m sorry,” he rasps. “I - I wish it was different. I’m sorry.”

She knows why.

[h0ney-bee]

Another new oc wip

[hassianlovebot]

i wish there was more in the whole shepp thing,, even the character just bringing it up would be nice lol sometimes i forget that was a thing i had to do and considering it was like. The quest for the ceremony and took a long time? boooooooo

here are some ideas/wants i have!! going down in how hard it would be for the devs to add

a special quest with the shepp where you go on a little adventure and they have dialogue teaching you about majiri and kilima culture (and maybe their paths/interests too). ideally this would work similarly to the temple quests where you get to unlock a new place. maybe add a building that you can't get into until you complete the ceremony and fully become part of the kilima community? visit another town? idk man just something nice and rewarding

a separate shepp relationship level alongside the friendship and romance ones. it would just be with your shepp (obviously), and increasing it would involve conversing with them using the shepp option (dialogue would include teaching you about majiri & kilima culture, their path, their life experiences and beliefs, etc) and Maybe leveling up in their path if that's possible with them (ex: reth with cooking). for certain levels you get gifts that are unique to the character and their path. this would incentivize players to really think about who they want their shepp to be and not just choose their fav blorbo!

you talk to them after the ceremony and they gift you a placeable guidebook about majiri and kilima culture that they wrote themselves (so unique to each character's personality) and that you can actually read (like the books that you can read around the map)

a weekly challenge related to their path/interest. i'm not sure how they'd implement this for characters like caleri or chayne since their paths aren't part of the gameplay like cooking for ex but,, it'd be cool lol maybe for those characters they could add like a,,, talk to that character x amount of times challenge?

add casual dialogue centered around them being your shepp like "hey remind me to teach you about this thing" or "have you heard about this thing that we do" or "hey you've learned a lot blahblahblah" and maybe dialogue from other characters about them being your shepp (similar to the romance ones). they could give their opinions on that character or even ask you how it's going

literally bro just anything it's so weird to me that this was SO important at the beginning and so meaningless immediately afterwards. please devs pleasepleaseplease

[cesium-sheep]

aaaaaaa okey I ordered the speaker and the star projector. (and a beauty blender and a neck support and the new volume of yona and the garbage disposal cleaner matt wanted.) it was still only $35 actually out of pocket and I get my allowance in the morning which will completely replace that amount. I will definitely like the speaker and if I don't like the star projector arin will.

[eighteenthofoctober]

Dress to impress more like dress to stress me tf out???

[constantvariations]

Went scavenging for rabid screenshots and drained my soul along the way so here's my silly nitpick of their nitpick

The academies (almost) align with colleges age-wise (I am once again asking why they chose 17 as the majority cast's age), but the Beacon era is littered with tropes exclusive to high school settings, like shoving people into lockers, school uniforms, insta-crushes, food fights, and getting ready for prom

It's little wonder why people confuse Beacon Academy for a high school. All the high school hallmarks are there yet not a single student is pulling an all nighter with the help of redbull, cigarettes, and anxiety-induced insomnia

Side note: are the Academies confirmed 4-year programs or is that an assumption?

[isabelleadjani]

hate to break it to yall but a lot of kids who were designated as gifted in like elementary school in fact did absolutely not fit easily into the school system. in fact, that difficulty with the system is often the very reason they get the label gifted in the first place.

[swordmaid]

for me… FOR ME..!!! and for shri’iia specifically the lock in for astarion’s romance is his graveyard scene in act 3.

i think it is too quick for shri’iia to be moving on to another relationship considering her previous one was with her mistress who essentially groomed and isolated her for like … more than hundred years. learning to chase her own desires and not moulding herself to what anyone wants her to be is something so new to her…!!! and something that she’s still learning how to be comfortable with….

and what I like abt romancing astarion with her is that I usually go for the dialogue path in his act 2 confession scene where you can ask him:

- what do YOU want to do?

and he goes like honestly idk what we’re doing but /this/ is nice. it just feels like two people exploring the option to love for the first time and taking things in their own pace rather than jumping straight into the relationship. they’re going at a snails pace… they don’t know what they’re doing but they like this feeling and the vibe and they want to more of it but they’re not ready to commit to anything yet and it’s fine for them …!! and they’re only committing by the end in the graveyard scene where significant time has passed and they’ve learnt a little more about themselves and they’re both more confident about their own desires and also how they want to be loved.

like it is so fitting I think… and sweet… not to mention astarion being a high elf & a vampire and shri’iia being a drow, they have all the time of the world for themselves so I def think they would want to take their time. except if shri’iia turns into a mindflayer or drider by the end then that plan is out the window lol

[jaylynx1412]

hyperlexia is crazy cuz you'd be the top student in your classes all of primary school then BOOM geometry BOOM chemistry BOOM physics BOOM algebra BOOM BOOM BOOM!!

[josecariohca]

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