#just airing out my grievances

[fukiana]

DRAGON AGE II (2011) dev. Bioware

[slavhew]

breaking badifies them. happy pride motng

au elaboration under cut

this is just copypasted from twt i forgot to post yetsterday

I imagine that the Dirkjake dynamic would be down on his luck partyboy and the estranged high school friend that coerced him into a drug dealing operation. For reasons he refuses to elaborate on. Jake doesn't really want to be cooking meth but he needs the cash and sees Dirk as the one stable thing in his life really. Dirk really needs a partner and an in to the business and is most of the brains behind the operation.

Dirk is also doing a fair bit of posturing to keep them both safe but Jake... hooo Jake. Dear whining Jake will become a loose cannon when it counts. The power balance would fluctuate alluringly.

To be honest I imagine their dynamic would be much closer to a hypothetical high school au turned drug-dealing and wouldn't be much like Walter and Jesse. Wanna think there would be a happy ending but realistically they'd sink into their worst traits & probably end up in a saw trap by the end of it. I wanna imagine most plot beats still happen... gf dies... "gale" dies... Codependent yaoi and corruption arc flourishes.

I imagine Dirk's wardrobe would start to resemble more and more of Bro's and some of his personality might too. But I also don't think he'd go as far or be as bad as Walter, since here there's a care and concern for Jake as more than a pawn and stand-in (aka the Walter special). Damage would still be done though. The love didn't save anyone etc etc.

Bro and Grandpa would have a dynamic MUCH closer to the s1/2 duo. Devil-may-care stoner and the guy who needs cash FAST and doesn't have time for this shit. I dont think Bro has the tender heart Jesse but he definitely develops some terrible loyalty complex regardless. Honestly have a LOT less idea how their story would go so I'm all ears

[year2000electronics]

ford & funcle bill's dd&md session

[asofterepilogue]

I deeply love the epic musical but I have one big and unfortunately pretty central issue with it, and it's that it often seems to conflate kindness and stupidity.

odysseus' mistake wasn't sparing ("sparing") polyphemus, it was going into a cave full of food when he knew something was off about it from the beginning, and then giving the cyclops his real name when he had already won. it wouldn't have mattered that polyphemus was still alive if odysseus had just stuck to his brilliant original plan. polyphemus had to live long enough to move away from the exit that he was blocking, and going back to kill him once he was awake would have been incredibly dangerous, and hard to justify when he'd already so easily killed 7 (14?) men. mercy didn't have all that much to do with it, even though odysseus, athena, poseidon, the crew - the narrative itself at times - all later insist that's what doomed odysseus.

still, the lesson odysseus somehow learns from that is that he needs to be ruthless (which he already clearly is! he might hate it, he might wish he didn't have to be, but he is, at the end of the day, ruthless enough to murder a baby). but when it actually comes down to a choice between mercy and ruthlessness (and not just... a test of whether he can keep his mouth shut), mercy does a lot more for him than ruthlessness.

he's at his most callous in scylla's lair, and how does that work out? he makes the crossing, sure, but his crew attacks him, knocks him out, and takes the opportunity to do the most insanely idiotic thing they possibly could have, which ultimately sends them to their death, and odysseus to 7 years of suffering.

in contrast, odysseus gets help from circe. he chooses to go back for his men, he chooses not to lead with violence, he chooses to appeal to her mercy, and she ultimately chooses to be merciful herself. that's the only time odysseus and his crew aren't worse off having stopped somewhere. and it's not because odysseus was ruthless, it's not because he put his emotions aside, it's not even because he tricked anyone into anything - it's because he was unselfish and honest (but not completely stupid! he didn't provoke her, he used the moly well, etc.), and was met with kindness.

the implicit false equivalence between kindness and stupidity is even more jarring once you get to the wisdom saga, because athena is learning the exact opposite lesson. she's much kinder to telemachus even though he never seems as promising a "warrior of the mind", she sounds downright nostalgic telling him about odysseus, she admits she hasn't been sleeping well since she and odysseus fought.

she chooses to help odysseus not because she can use him for her own glory, but because he's her friend after all, and he's suffering.

and she doesn't win the god games by being ruthless (as in, cruel to her opponents) but by being smart. you could argue she's manipulating them, but I think she's just trying to find what would sway them, and she's not dishonest or mean about any of it. she can be smart without necessarily being ruthless!

there are still two sagas left, so maybe odysseus won't finish the story thinking he has to be the monster every time everywhere if he wants to win (though considering the snippets and tracklist... yeah I'm gonna doubt that). either way, I know I'll love it. I just don't love the casual way wit and callousness get conflated throughout what we've seen of the musical so far.

[infernal-feminae]

How it legit feels being in the fandom sometimes

[cuteniaarts]

Digitalised + coloured + redesigned version of my Suiren and Vaatu sketch from two days ago, as promised!!

Coming up with Suiren’s design was a very long process of trying and failing because after you’ve drawn 9+ different versions of one character, the creativity starts to run a little dry, but I’m actually really proud of this one, she looks absolutely adorable <3

(Also yeah I did mostly just scribble Vaatu’s pattern because who has the energy to draw the all out accurately. Not me, that’s who, I’m chronically tired. People who draw him on the regular have my utmost respect. He’s still a funky little guy though :D)

Bonus, Raava incessantly screaming inside Suiren (and being completely ignored because Suiren is tired of her) while all this is happening:

[horsemage]

I think we should bring back basic etiquette lessons such as shutting the fuck up when you’re watching a movie in a group that is not exclusively your friend group 🙂

[mercymaker]

thinking about astarion, years and years later, lowkey experiencing some pangs of regret (ik ik, him?! but i'd like to think that he matures quite a bit and does something more with his immortal existence than just being a selfish hedonistic prick. sue me)

and an idea came to me. years after above the vaulted sky, when he spends more time with thoriel (who, i think, influences him a bit more than he'd like to admit), he sort of absent-mindedly watches her perform at some inn for a quick buck, it's late in the evening and his mind starts going places. astarion catches a glimpse of thoriel, singing and dancing, effortlessly charming everyone around her, an easy smile and a cheeky wink on her face, and for just a brief moment he thinks how she could've been his. how, in a different time and a different place, maybe he could've been a different person, a better one. mal would tell him how she didn't know how such a different person, so much good spawned from someone like her. where did it all come from. but it happened. so, maybe it wouldn't be different with him as well?

and even if she wasn't a child of his seed, maybe he could've been more present? bit his pride and selfishness, kept it clenched between his teeth and accepted something he didn't want, maybe that was the right choice? he would've had more time with mal. maybe he would've grown to love the girl quicker. maybe he had the capacity to grow into a different person, a better one. for them.

maybe maleane would be alive.

but it's a passing thought. a childish prospect. and while he did become a little softer because of the pink moth, he thinks even those ideas are a bit too optimistic. so he pushes them away behind something more familiar, something that feels more like him. and yet, astarion doesn't completely abandon them.

[endearmint]

...it's been a while since i really talked about what's happening in my day-to-day, and this was something major. i know that despite my infrequent updates, there are friends here who care about my well-being.

lemme preface this by saying i'm fine, no one's hurt, and i'm not needing to do any crowdfunding. my streak of lucking out despite the circumstances has remained unbroken, even in the face of my being in my first car accident last week

fender-bender, but only on the corners since i corrected my steering in time. no injuries, no hard feelings, other driver's car was still operational. did get a ticket, but i still have my license and i was able to get an extension on the payment deadline. my car was deemed a total loss, but the insurance payout is over twice what i bought it for. family lives close by, and arranged for me to borrow a vehicle the same day of the incident.

i'm very fortunate that the logistics have worked out like this. i'm still working on processing things emotionally (stress/anxiety took a few days to actually set in), but everyone's been very supportive and accommodating. i can start looking at a replacement vehicle within the next few weeks, and i can always carpool if it comes down to it

[mortiflyer]

even now the way people frame the wertheim situation is so weird...? not to beat a dead horse but why are so many people so willing to disregard it as what it was: a derogatory comment about a woman's appearance when her appearance has nothing to do with her job?? the way people are acting like the issue is that he made a misstep in the commentary/journalism world and he said something "that can be viewed as controversial"...no. the problem is that he felt comfortable enough to deride barbora's looks to the people he WORKS WITH on TENNIS CHANNEL and then acted like it was wrong because he got caught...not something going to yale teaches you, closer to human decency methinks. also why is it "extremely disrespectful" but not sexist. quickly

[dreamlogic]

quietly getting more & more annoyed at my housemate & her bf as the evening goes on. thought they were at his house this weekend but they showed up unexpectedly to have loud sex here, left for a little bit, came back in the middle of a fight, and are now watching tv really loudly in between continuing to totally-not-fight-everything's-FINE.

[relaxxattack]

tbh your post about dreamsmp is the first thing I have heard relating to dreamsmp in almost a year.

I hear they’re dead but this is your reminder that being a hater is Free Advertising for the thing that you hate.

anon i appreciate you, truly, but considering the dsmp wasted like two and a half years of my life and 90% of my followers followed specifically for that i think i have somewhat of a right to still be a little hater about it

[quibbs126]

Thoughts on the legendary cookies?

Okay, this has been in my inbox for a while, I might as well answer this now

I’m just gonna focus on the elemental Ovenbreak Legendaries, since that’s what I was thinking of. I’ll put my thoughts on the others at the end, but it probably won’t be as in depth

Fire Spirit Cookie:

So I got this ask back before Flames of Longing was announced, and I was going to to say that I don’t really care for Fire Spirit, as I know basically nothing about him, but then Flames of Longing came out, and I quite like him there. Yeah he’s a bit of a prideful bastard, but he’s got a heart, and I can’t help but like him.

His Cookie Trial is ass though, I’m so bad at it

Moonlight Cookie:

I also quite like Moonlight Cookie. Granted, I haven’t gotten close to getting through Episodes 15-16, as I’m stuck at the beginning, but from what I have seen from cutscenes and Crunchy Dreams, she seems neat. Hopefully with her (I think) joining the fight against Dark Enchantress Cookie, we’ll be able to see more of her. I’m curious what interactions between her and the Ancients would be like. Also I haven’t finished Odyssey so I don’t know how we got to the Gingerbrave group looking for Moonlight, but I can’t help but imagine Gingerbrave going up to the Ancients and being like “hey guys, I was able to recruit the powerful moon lady! Oh, and her ocean wife!” (I assume that Sea Fairy would probably join if Moonlight was there) while they’re just like “wait how”

But let me tell you, until I got her for myself, I feared her in Arena

Sea Fairy Cookie:

Now, I actually quite like Sea Fairy Cookie, she seems like a nice lady. I just wish I knew more about her. I mean yeah, I know stuff about her, like the Sugarteara stuff and her relationship with Moonlight, but my thing with her is that we don’t know much about her herself, or at least things that don’t relate to Moonlight

I like seamoon, it’s cute, but I feel like it’s one of those ships/relationships where while one of the characters is allowed to have arcs outside of the relationship and about them themselves, but the other is stuck having basically all of their character moments having to do with their relationship, like Jay/Nya from Ninjago and Moxxie/Millie from Helluva Boss. The things about Sea Fairy that we’ve seen, like the Tower of Frozen Waves and the Sacred Pearl, seem to all have to do with her longing for Moonlight Cookie, and it feels like this relationship just defines Sea Fairy. Which sucks because I want to know about Sea Fairy all on her own. She’s the only elemental legendary we’ve met where we don’t know their origin, and sure we know she’s cursed, but we know nothing about that curse. I want to know about her lore, but right now we just don’t have it. But I hope we get it at some point, and Sea Fairy isn’t just relegated to “pining for Moonlight”

Wind Archer Cookie:

I also like Wind Archer well enough, but I also feel like I don’t know much about him. From what I’ve seen (pretty much just he Sherbet story and Truth of the City), I like him, I just haven’t seen enough with him in it. Hopefully that gets rectified in Kingdom, at least assuming he doesn’t show up with Millennial Tree Cookie. Personally I’d like to see him show up in Beast Yeast and become a traveling companion of the Gingerbrave group. That’d be neat to see

Millennial Tree Cookie:

I quite like Millie, he seems very interesting. I feel like I don’t have much to say on him, but I am very curious to find out more about his lore, which I imagine we’ll get. Also I personally like to think that White Lily Cookie comes from his forest, so if that turns out to be true, we’d get some interesting interactions between him and Dark Enchantress. And possibly he could be a reason for White Lily existing outside of Dark Enchantresses, since I mean he is an ancient powerful being

Also I love his trial theme, it’s very relaxing to listen to

Also a random tidbit, but I keep thinking his voice sounds like the voice Charriii5 gave the N’rrgal leader in his EWW Sonic Chronicles video. I don’t know why

I was gonna just talk about the Ovenbreak elementals, but might as well mention Frost Queen too

Frost Queen Cookie:

I like her. I’ve heard people think she’s evil because of how she treats Sherbet’s fate, but like, it’s just a fact of life for her, it’s something she knows is inevitable, why wouldn’t she act like that? Also personally I see the Legendaries as not really being the same as normal Cookies, since they’re like higher beings, so you could see her apathy as having to do with her no longer being a “normal Cookie”, so to speak. And besides, she tells Cotton of a way to possibly save Sherbet, or at least prolong their time together.

But regardless, she seems cool.

Might as well include the other legendary Cookies

Dark Enchantress Cookie is probably my favorite legendary, if only because of her story and character in Kingdom. Her being White Lily really adds interesting depth to her character and I’m very interested to see how they conclude her story

Timekeeper is fine. Personally I don’t think I get the hype. I mean yeah, I know why the hype’s there, but I don’t think I personally feel it. Maybe I’d get it more if I watched their story

Similar feelings towards Black Pearl, where I like her well enough, I just don’t know much about her to really give thoughts, since I haven’t watched her story. Though my feeling towards her are also elevated probably because she’s been an integral part of my team in Kingdom

I like the dragons, though I don’t really know much about Ananas. Did they have a story segment? Because I haven’t seen it. I think in Ovenbreak, Pitaya is my favorite, though in Kingdom I don’t think I like them as much. Maybe it’s because in Ovenbreak they seem more amicable to Cookies, at least from what I’ve seen. But I’d say Longan is second place. I’m curious if they’ll ever add any more dragons (like the North and South Dragons), and if they do, maybe ones with a different theming. Like how the five we have are supposed to be tropical fruits, maybe we could have other dragons that have a different shared base. Though I wouldn’t mind more tropical fruit dragons

Anyways, yeah I think that’s about it

[gibbycat]

some anime onlies jumping to laios' defense and hating toshiro/shuro after the recent episode has the same energy as a parent trying to excuse their autistic teenagers behavior after they crossed someones boundaries with the 'hes autistic, he doesnt know any better'

[spagheddiediaz]

idk i just feel so lucky to have amanda sometimes you know i hope everyone has someone like @forthewolves in their lives bc she’s just so wonderful 🥹🔪

[frost-felon]

If you think either or both of these fights were okay or good, go ahead and vote, too! I'd love to hear thoughts on these battles--this is strictly about which was worse overall. Not which you disliked more, but about the quality of the fights. I've got a lot of thoughts on both. Probably won't be able to provide an analysis with screenshots until I get a day off again, though.