#like I understand it’s iconic for a reason but

[alleiradayne]

I haven't said much personally about Veilguard besides sharing my Rook and a few other silly things, but I do have a couple thoughts now that I'm so very far into my playthrough (halfway at about 50 hours).

I know the music hasn't hit like some hoped it would. I agree that it is not as good as Inquisition. That's still my favorite OST of the series. I understand BioWare wanted a new composer for the next game because each game has had a different composer. But given how very connected Inquisition and Veilguard are, I disagree with that premise and thought they should have stuck with Morris, and not only for that reason. He's a fucking musical genius.

All that said, I do enjoy Zimmer's and Balfe's work on this OST. It's not bad. I was shittalking the main theme for weeks after it came out but when you mash it up with the actual opening of the game, it fits. And I like all the softer versions of it, the less complicated takes with less instrumentation. And there are other tracks that call back to Inquisition. No, I'm not referring to the cameos where Morris's actual tracks were used. I'm talking about Zimmer/Balfe's new content where they threaded callbacks to Inquisition. Once I finish the game, I'm going to do a much deeper analysis of the Veilguard OST, but for now, I'm enjoying it as I play the game (I don't want to listen to the OST before I finish the game itself).

A couple other thoughts in shorter form:

The combat is fun. Compared to previous games, it's dynamic enough that, while there are patterns, you still have to be on your toes. Yes there's the rock, paper, scissors of get rid of armor, get rid of barrier, then spam left click/spells. But you know what, compared to the previous games, I'm enjoying that. It's a nice change of pace. I'm also playing a Mourn Watch Death Mage, so there's some nice flavor there.

Skin texture sucks. It's too smooth. It gives everyone a cartoonist look. I hate it.

Hair is fucking gorgeous. I just wish there were more styles I liked.

The story and quests are fantastic.

I find the dialogue to be a fun balance between seriousness, camp, and exposition.

Now on to my biggest fucking complaint about the game so far and given what I've read (without spoiling anything), I'm ultimately going to be disappointed in the long-run by the romances. My mage committed to Emmrich and I love him. He's wonderful. Read on for some spoilery-ish facets of his romance.

SPOILERS

He's an artist. Both with his magic and his words. He's sophisticated and overly romantic in such a respectful way. Rook's interest in him takes him by surprise because I believe canonically there's an age gap (that I headcanon away), but it's adorable. Plus, graveyard dates. He's very Gomez Addams but without all the public displays of affection (which I also headcanon away because fuck that noise).

END SPOILERS

My last point in the spoilers section about Emmrich's romance is my biggest complaint of the game. There's very little actual romance! And it's because you can't roll up to your companions at any given time and open a dialogue with them. There's no open conversation option. You only get to talk to them if they have a time-sensitive marker or a quest marker on their icon on the map. No free smooches on the ramparts!

And the romance moments we do get are so few and far between in a game that is absolutely massive, not in terms of map size this time, but in terms of content. There is so much good content (as opposed to the shit side quests of collecting 10 bear asses in the Hinterlands of Inquisition). The side quests all feel directly tied to the area's story so they all feel worth doing. We're never doing dumb shit like drawing constellations in the sky or finding shards through tranquil mage skulls (don't ever forget that they used the skulls of mages forced into tranquility specifically for this purpose).

Now I'm not through the whole game yet, but I'm hearing and seeing that there's next to no nudity. Given that on top of the lack of open convos and sparse romantic content, I'm bummed. I still love Emmrich, and I know I'll enjoy the others when I do get to them (because I plan on it). But damn. I was hoping for Desk Scene (iykyk) levels of spice outta this crew.

That's it. Halfway through the game and this is how I feel so far. I'm thoroughly enjoying the game and will continue to binge it. I have Rooks planned for the rest of the companions, too. Femme elf rogue crow to romance Davrin, femme qunari warrior lords of fortune to romance Harding, femme human shadow dragon rogue to romance Neve, femme elf warrior veil jumper to romance Bellara, masc elf mage grey warden to romance Lucanis.

I'd like to see your thoughts!

[deskraven]

(Below are some personal thoughts on Nightshade and queer representation. OG poster I have nothing against you and this is not an attempt to persuade you into liking Nightshade. Your feelings are valid and I understand where you are coming from.)

Nightshade is an icon to me in Season 1. I always joke about "fox news is not wrong that Nightshade is trans-ing people" - they are a key factor I started using nonbinary pronouns in real life. So sure, my opinion on them is biased - there might be too much insertion and projection involved and I'm looking at them through rose-colored glasses.

So let's start with facts instead:

"The character's very existence is unnecessary" is a very subjective statement. There is a thread on Twitter that asked "(Without saying its woke) What's your reason for disliking Earthspark?" While many pointed out that there are too many Terrans and only 2-3 of them are well developed / interesting, the 2-3 they listed are very diverse among the comments! The following are all direct quotes:

I never found most of the kids/terrans entertaining (except for Nightshade and Jawbreaker)

... only Nightshade and Hashtag are interesting, the rest have the personality of a piece of cardboard.

A few of the Terrans feel underdeveloped, Thrash and Hashtag feel like nothing characters compared to Twitch, Jawbreaker, and Nightshade.

the Terrans don’t really stand out from one another in terms of personalities except for maybe Hashtag and Twitch.

The other terrans that are not twitch and thrash are really boring and lame

All of these are valid statements. I'm not accusing the original poster to be mistaking a subjective feeling as a factual statement - they very well clarified that this is their own personal feelings and acknowledged that Nightshade is a popular character. I just want to use the opportunity to show how diverse people's feelings can be.

I also don't think Nightshade "solely exists to make a statement".

If so, people who didn't even hear their statement should be really confused what the character is even here for. We do have such a group of people - in the Japanese dub, Nightshade's nonbinary identity wasn't revealed until their conversation with Sam. I'm not Japanese so I can't say for sure, but there were a lot of Japanese fanart about them prior to "Home" being aired in Japan. It seems that they are well-liked.

Now my opinions:

Nightshade has a very tasteful introduction and implementation. I see the "came flying in to throw all sorts of people into a tizzy" as part of their personality - which I cherish. I also see the "forced, self righteous, and more than a little annoying at times" as part of their personality, which I cherish even more because it reminds me of many queer neurodivergent friends of mine.

But Nightshade doesn't just appeal to queer people. A friend of mine adores them for a very specific line they said, "You've just proven you don't really know me - because I was never lost!" She's a cishet Chinese woman who doesn't know much about US queer culture, but she remembers saying something similar to her parents.

But even if they really are just a tasteless boring character who exists for the sake of representation, I wouldn't say they shouldn't be there either. I would sure be angry - a year ago I was enraged by the portrayal of Lake Ripple (Elementals) because this nonbinary character really literally serves no purpose. It is frustrating when there's finally a nonbinary character on big screen yet they are just a soulless background cardboard. But most of Lake's cisgender relatives are also background cardboards, yet no one would say they shouldn't exist in the first place. Imagine if all it takes to make a character's mediocracy tolerable is to remove their minority identity - it's unfair.

Anyways I like Nightshade very much they are the second perfect transformer character imo ^ ^ It's a pity they got shafted in S2 and S3 but they will forever live rent free in my heart and I unironically love how you described them as "self righteous and more than a little annoying at times" and "came flying in to throw all sorts of people into a tizzy". These are the reasons I love them and I couldn't have put it any better.

I can never change your dislike for Nightshade. But have you considered that Nick basically reduced their role in the show because of all the controversy? It's harsh to think that they shouldn't be there. This show has studio interference written all over it.

Today is the die I become hated.

Le sigh.

I recognize that studios have their money hungry fingers all over everything, but that does not change what Nightshade, and other similar characters, represent. I think Nightshade's very existence is unnecessary. Even without the controversy, the character is just kind of there for no real reason other than making a statement. For me, Nightshade feels a great deal like the ridiculous arrogance of Elita-One in Transformers One.

Both characters are there to leave a message, one that could be good if done correctly. But due to its implementation, it comes off as forced, self righteous, and more than a little annoying at times. Elita was an attempt to represent girl power that went sideways by making her worse as a person. Nightshade was a studio's shot at reaching more diverse audiences that just came off as out of the blue and tasteless. Nightshade has very little purpose, even before people got upset, my point remains. Additionally, the character is largely there for diversity rather than actual functionality in the show.

For all I care, your character could be named Squishy von Veek and could go by screams of the damned as pronouns, so long as said character is USEFUL to the story and makes sense in the lore. Nightshade sadly does not check any of these boxes for me, at least not in initial implementation. There was no lore groundwork, no tasteful introduction. It just happened and Nightshade came flying in to throw all sorts of people into a tizzy.

I will admit though, the design and name for Nightshade rock.

[incomingawn]

My hottest Transformers related take is that I think The Touch is the least good song of the The Transformers: The Movie soundtrack

[bonefall]

I'm not in 100 years reading wind, so what's the nightstar stuff as well as the harelight execution scene?

The Nightstar Stuff is that they're constantly making it clear they KNOW that cats can lie about getting the 9 lives, they KNOW that a murderer can receive the lives, and they KNOW that StarClan has never rejected an evil cat before... but then they handwave it away because they don't wanna do anything.

Nightstar/Nightpelt gets namedropped six times and vaguely alluded to a dozen more, but it means nothing to the story. You could have just forgotten him entirely and the plot would happen the same way.

Most of this book is the leaders finding excuses to sit on their butts, but I really only need to share one exchange to demonstrate just HOW stupid this is,

"I'd like to think that the ancestors would speak up." A+ logic Squirrelflight. Just believe that reality won't happen. If you cover your eyes it makes the maneating lion bowling towards your face go away. Soblem prolved.

[exaltior-a]

Just from observation, putting glados in any kind of poll is like. Okay so she's going to win. We know she's the robot god queen of tumblr at this point. Feel free to keep putting her in tourneys that she's going to win.

[elizabethzoopzoop986]

My favorite part of the anime messing up the timeline is that it imply that Akane just doesn’t give a single fuck about nene in the slightest and Hanako doesn’t give a fuck about his job as leader of the 7 mysteries like in the manga it’s established here that Akane is aware of Hanako in the weird hair style even with his glasses

The same scene happens in the anime but with out the clock keeper arc and thus the following scene with Nene and Akane in home economics

So like the implication is that Akane saw this random ass ghost just absolutely harassing this classmate who he’s like mutual friends with (like in the since they there both besties with Aoi) and just was like welp ok then I’m not gonna address that.

He even talks to Nene later in the episode and is just like “yea Aois the best I’d rather die than not have Aoi” (which looking back is also wild) like I get Aois in that scene to so he can’t go “why you being harassed by the ghost my grandpa says is slimy” but still he really just went yea ima ignore that

ALSO on the opposite side of the coin Hanako:

He’s also clearly shown to be able to sense Akanes magic and stuff. SO HANAKO IS ALSO BULLLSHITTING HERE. Bro also went: lol I sense a school mystery ima ignore that. It’s not like that could be like important or anything lololol.

Anyway the anime version of this scene is basically Hanako and Akane going: yea that seems like something I can ignore and not address fr fr

In conclusion, just like maybe dont mess up the timeline of manga in the anime?????

[skeletalheartattack]

a bestie can be anything. a bestie can be the 2007 roblox chain chomp face changer. ive known him since childhood. we grew up together. he literally changed my face and it was so cool. i hope he's still out there causing a ruckus and shit.

[bookishjules]

my biggest issue with percy's competence in the show isn't about him being smart or knowledgeable or anything.. but more about how an mc should function in a hidden fantasy story. they are supposed to be more distanced from everything. they are supposed to be confused and not know what tf is going on. because that's a big part of what makes them relatable to the audience. it's like an entire angle when it comes to world building--introducing the mc and the reader to everything at the same time. we are able to put ourselves in the mc's shoes and also learn things in a way that feels natural. but with percy just.. spouting greek myths he's apparently known forever (bc of him mom and mythomagic etc.) it distances him. it removes a lot of the meta reasons of why he was kept from this greater magical world for so long.

[cementcornfield]

Is there any song/songs that make you think of Joe’marr? I keep thinking about them listening to Troye Sivans album 😊 (I’d also like to thank you for your Joe/Ja’marr/Joe’marr/bengals tags bc I’ve totally fallen in love with the team v v quickly 😅)

Hi! lol i've seen you in my notifs the past few days, i love when i can tell people are going through my tags! so glad you're joining the fandom just in time for all the content to start back up <3

and oh boy, okay, i'm the kind of person where once i get obsessed with a ship or character, EVERY song makes me think of them (even some that really don't work at all, whoops!) but here are some that get me particularly in my feelings about joe'marr

Sweet

King and Lionheart - Of Monsters And Men And as the world comes to an end I'll be here to hold your hand 'Cause you're my king and I'm your lionheart

Aquemini - Outkast Nothin' is for sure, nothin' is for certain, nothin' lasts forever But until they close the curtain (y'all know) It's him and I, Aquemini

1950 - King Princess So cold that your stare's 'bout to kill me I'm surprised when you kiss me So tell me why my gods look like you And tell me why it's wrong

Thinkin' Bout You - Frank Ocean Or do you not think so far ahead? Cause I been thinkin' 'bout forever

Bodyguard - Beyoncé Be your best friend I protect you in the mosh pit And I'll defend you in the gossip You know how people like to start shit and pop shit I don't like the way she's lookin' at you Someone better hold me back

Nineteen - Tegan and Sara I felt you in my life Before I ever thought to I felt the need to lay down Beside you And tell you I feel you in my heart And I don't even know you

Angsty

Fireproof - The National You're fireproof Nothing breaks your heart You're fireproof It's just the way you are You're fireproof It's what you always say You're fireproof I wish I was that way

Bad Religion - Frank Ocean If it brings me to my knees It's a bad religion This unrequited love To me, it's nothin' but a one-man cult And cyanide in my styrofoam cup I can never make him love me Never make him love me

Earfquake - Tyler the Creator I don't want no confrontation, no You don't want my conversation I just need some confirmation on how you feel, for real You don't want no complication, no

New Magic Wand - Tyler the Creator Can't be in the picture if it got no frame And let the world know 'cause I ain't got no shame Blow the whole spot up, 'cause I ain't— I wanna share last names, I wanna be your number one Not the other one, keep it on the low I'm in my right mind, keep it on a high

Secret Heart - Feist Why so mysterious? Why so sacred, why so serious? Maybe you're just acting tough Maybe you're just not man enough What's wrong?

Somewhere in Between

We Belong Together - Vampire Weekend We belong together Baby, there's no use in being clever Baby, it don't mean we'll stay together Hallelujah, you're still mine All I did was waste your time If there is not some grand design How'd this pair of stars align?

I Want to Know Your Plans - Say Anything I want to know your plans And how involved in them I am [...] I'll look out for you 'til I die, 'til I rot I'll remember you 'til I die, 'til I rot

Never Be Anyone Else But You - Emmylou Harris Cause I hope and pray the day will come when you belong to me Then I'm gonna prove to you how true my love can be There'll never be anyone else but you for me Never ever be, just couldn't be, anyone else but you

Vito's Ordination Song - Sufjan Stevens And when you write a poem I know the words, I know the sounds Before you write it down

Specialist - Interpol You make me lose my buttons oh yeah you make me spit I don't like my clothes anymore You take me to New Orleans where you put me to the test I know what my heart is for

Bedroom Hymns - Florence and the Machine Cause this is his body, this is his love Such selfish prayers and I can't get enough

[flaticeball]

the idea of a Gayest Player In The NHL bracket at all is already in poor taste to some degree bc i get everyone loves to make the “they’re so gay for each other fr” jokes but the condition of the actual league and its actions right now is like. you do understand why calling these people Gay Icons (Positive) for funny haha jokes is just. at best inappropriate timing, yes? but the idea of literally including one of the guys who got pride nights cancelled with his homophobia is just. can we take a minute to realize that hockey fandom doesn’t take place in a void completely unconnected to reality and see that this is just. a Really Bad Look. at best.

[livvyofthelake]

re: letterboxd profile picture. these are the final contenders yes three of these are mara. i literally told you i wanted it to be her but didn’t think it looked as good… anyway if you’re invested this is the update

[hballegro]

i mentioned a while ago that my pal wanted to do a dnd campaign with me and my siblings and since ive finally gotten my head outta my ass and finished character backstory

dr. sam beckett stepped into the quantum accelerator and vanished right into Neverwinter

[destinygoldenstar]

[a-so-called-person]

Jayvik is my barbenheimer

[mariocki]

Inspector Morley, Late of Scotland Yard, Investigates: The Case of the Scarlet Letters (1.3, WGN-TV, 1952)

"Mr. Mullins, I have in my possession sixty-eight letters, none of which has begun to outlive its usefulness. I'm quite prepared to admit that blackmail is risky, but then murder has its disadvantages too - that is why I gave up murder."

[hauntingblue]

I might be dumb. Only 2 episodes left....