#like literally cannot stop thinking about them

[ireadwithmyears]

Thinking about when I was still new, when I didn’t have a beta, and someone decided it would be a good idea to let me know that I made some “absurd spelling mistakes” in the comments of one of my fics.

What that person didn’t know, and became incredibly apologetic when I made them aware of it after was that high, I’m Shai, and I’m visually impaired. As a result, I rely heavily on text to speech and screen reader technologies to be able to effectively write in a timely manner. So yes, some of the spelling mistakes that I most frequently make aren’t your usual, run-of-the-mill ones.

Most often, homophones appear to be the bane of my existence, as words that sound the same but mean completely different things frequently cannot be picked up when editing with a screen reader for that reason.

My point is that you don’t know. You don’t know if the person who’s writing that fic you are or aren’t enjoying has a Disability similar to mine. You don’t know if their first language isn’t English or if this is their first time writing for this fandom or if they’re literally in middle school discovering that outside of English class, writing is something that can be incredibly fun.

But what you should know is that your words, regardless of what they are, have the ability to leave an impact. I still think about that comment, even though it was just one out of many, and it still has the ability to make me feel embarrassed and ashamed Even now, making me feel like I’m a fake, that I’m an amateur and that I’m not good enough to call myself a real writer.

Don’t be that person. Don’t be the reason why someone stops. Don’t be the reason why someone gives up before they even truly start, and, key point here, if you don’t have anything nice to say, unless the author has explicitly stated otherwise that they are looking for critiques/feedback, shut the fuck up and move along💅

decidedly unfriendly reminder that fanfiction is written by real people with real feelings for free in their free time. it's a labour of love and something to cherish. if you come across a fic that you don't enjoy, that's totally fine, but it is your due diligence as a fellow fan and decent human being to click away. leaving mean comments, absurd rating systems or harassing writers in their inbox while hiding behind an anonymous icon is not an acceptable manner to behave in any fandom and online space ever. it's disgustingly entitled, wildly disrespectful and only serves to discourage people from sharing their writing in a community that is meant to be fun and supportive. the next time you read something you don't enjoy, stop reading it and move on with your day. read something you like and leave kudos and a nice comment there instead. have some common sense and don't be a fucking asshole. it's not that fucking difficult.

[antianakin]

I think it's fair to say that Andor, despite having no Jedi in the show, makes the greatest argument as to why the Galaxy needs the Jedi! I mean, look what happened to Bix!

See, that's not really how I take it. Andor is hardly the first piece of media to show the Empire being completely awful and showcasing that they're a force that needs to be stopped. The first piece of media to do that was A New Hope when it literally showed them massacring an entire ship, burning down the Lars home, torturing Leia, and then blowing up an entire planet.

The message that Andor is trying to send is much more about COMMUNITY and solidarity and commitment to a cause greater than yourself as being the things that will truly save you from oppression.

The way I connect it to the Jedi is that THIS IS WHAT KILLED THEM. People DIDN'T have a sense of community and solidarity and commitment to something greater than themselves. They RELIED on the Jedi to solve all of their problems and if anything bad happened to them at all, then it was the Jedi's fault for not stopping it somehow, despite all of the many many reasons why the Jedi logistically could not stop every single ill in the galaxy.

Things like what happened to Bix were likely happening every day even during the Jedi's hey day. Plenty of planets likely had corrupt officials in their local governments, and obviously plenty of normal people are just bad people who have no issue with hurting others for their own gain or pleasure. The Jedi cannot and should not be expected to somehow be able to keep all of it from happening. The Jedi RELIED on regular people being willing to stand up to corruption and oppression and injustice themselves. The Jedi were intended to be an INSPIRATION to others to fight back against their own darkness and the darkness around them, not the end all and be all of the solution to darkness.

And THAT'S what allows the Empire to fall eventually. The Jedi were gone, so people finally had to stand up to darkness on their own. There was no one left to hide behind and shield them from the consequences of their own cowardice. And not only do they stand up, but they ultimately win because we see them standing BESIDE THE JEDI. In Rebels, it's all of the regular people in the Rebellion working with both Kanan and Ezra that takes down Thrawn and saves Lothal. In the Original Trilogy, it's Luke using the Force and working alongside the other Rebel pilots that destroys the first Death Star and saves the Rebellion from total destruction.

What's interesting to me about the situation on Mina-Rau is that we see the community around them get scared and uncertain, same as we did on Ferrix, and we aren't entirely certain how the shop owner is going to react when the stormtroopers finally show up, but instead of falling prey to his own fears and selfishness the way Timm did last season, he actually STANDS UP and helps Brasso and Bix and Wil as much as he can. He gets them a way to escape, he refuses to sell them out, despite whatever he may or may not feel about them as undocumented immigrants. And it's not enough, obviously, it doesn't save Brasso or Bix, but it's still important that he DID make that choice to help them when he didn't have to and it put himself and his own family at risk to do it.

And that's what's important here. It's not a message that this is why the galaxy needs the Jedi, but a message that this is why it's important to continue to stand up for each other, to protect the people in your community, regardless of how you might feel about their choices or their politics personally. Maybe it won't save everyone, but that doesn't make it less worth doing. It's important for everyone, even regular people, to ACT like the Jedi, to have that compassion towards others, because THAT'S what's going to save us in the end, THAT'S what's going to defeat the darkness.

[stardustamaryllis78]

Hey, do you guys remember when these two were actually compelling characters?

Yeah, neither do I.

Bait is by far the most interesting character of these three and I'm not even joking.

But lets start at the beginning shall we?

Let's start off with Callum, the protagonist.

He is the son of Queen Sarai and step son of King Harrow 🐦 and the big brother of Prince or King Ezran, depends on which part of the show you're on. I guess spoiler if you haven't got past episode 3 where Pip dies and Harrow is forced to eat bird food for the rest of his life. (I have MASSIVE feelings about that "plot twist" but that's a potential post for another day.)

He struggles with the idea of being a prince because he believes he's not good at horse riding and sword fighting, things a prince should be good at.

Ignore the horse, Bait is the one clearly in charge, Callum doesn't know what he's doing.

All (kind of) jokes aside, he was dorky without being too annoying and him getting the Sky Primal Stone which in turn allowed him to use Sky magic which made him feel like he was for once good at something was interesting to watch, especially after he had to smash it to hatch a dying Zym and learn the Sky Arcanum through other means. A good well rounded character.

Then we have Rayla, who used to be one of my favourite characters.

Not anymore.

She was originally so snarky, sassy and feisty but in such a fascinating kind of way. She also had a kind and gentle heart and would do anything to help those in need. Plus, she had the inner struggle of being an assassin who cannot kill but that didn't really matter because she used her skills for the greater good anyway.

Its a shame her first and only kill in the show came in the form of herself.

Character assassination at its finest.

How did Rayla go from this:

To this:

Best Dragonguard of the century guys 👏

From a girl who would do anything to help others in need, even a dragon that would torch tons of innocent people to legit turning her back on a dragon in distress. This is not Rayla.

But how did it come to this you may ask? Well curious Tumblr reader, I have one simple answer. One simple answer that will burn so much of The Dragon Prince's fandom down and will cause an all out riot but let me just tell you, I'm speaking nothing but the truth.

The answer is:

Rayllum

Yep! Them becoming a duo literally murdered their characters and I still o7 them to this day 🫡

What was once two interesting characters who found solace in each other and set off together (and Ezran was there as the third wheel) to stop a war spanning centuries became a poorly written soap opera.

So where did it go wrong?

I'm gonna sound like a broken record in saying SEASON 4 📢 HAHA!

But no, not season 4, it was actually before that.

It starts with Rayla leaving Callum the nicest birthday present anyone could give someone - ghosting them.

Now you'd think that Rayla would at least wait a day or two after Callum's birthday so he can have an enjoyable day first but nope! She decides to dip on whats supposed to be a happy day for him and make it miserable. What a woman! 👏

Now you could be saying to me, "But she needed to go with full urgency!" To which, no she did not. She went because it was a mission of revenge, something she LITERALLY said herself so she could have waited a few days but she chose instead to make someone she's supposed to love miserable on a day of happiness.

But okay, she dips and leaves Callum sad and miserable on his birthday. Surely when she returns, she apologizes right?

...Right?

I don't think arc 2 Rayla would understand the word sorry if it bit her right up where the Moon don't shine.

Anyways, its two years later (Yes, you heard me, two years) and Rayla decides to finally unghost Callum.

Now, Callum is understandably upset with Rayla after taking off on his birthday and leaving without saying goodbye. So whats Rayla's stance on this? Is she understanding?

Of course not, this is arc 2 Rayla we're talking about.

Imagine letting the guy she let down have some room to sort things out in his head. Crazy right?

But anyway, he eventually relents to Rayla because she won't shut up in typical Rayla fashion and they both snooze on the couch.

This kind of soap opera drama goes on for THE ENTIRE SEASON while they just gradually "make up" and its just such contrived conflict. Especially as nothing came of Rayla leaving for those two years and it happened off screen.

Plus, her not taking accountability for her actions is a big deal.

Sadly the writers did it with this ship. ^

I love Red Herring story lines that are spent so much time on and are SUPER built up only to have literally no impact on the plot whatsoever. 🤗

Loved wasting my time on the Dark Magic Callum story line.

BUT HEY, he did get some great looking tooth-paste in his hair! 🪥 Looks great on you Callum. 🤥

Now however, I must talk about the most beloved of all seasons and no, I don't mean season 6 or 3.

Clearly I'm referring to season 7, aka, facing sucking the season.

Like seriously, if I ate a Moonberry Surprise every time Callum and Rayla snogged, I'd end up needing medical attention.

That's not the offender I'm talking about though. It's Rayla's super selfishness and Callum choosing her over his grieving brother.

Somehow, the writer's thought that was okay.

Remember, this is the same girl who left him for 2 whole years to put her need of revenge before his feelings.

Callum betrayed his brother for her.

But it's not even just that, it's just the selfish nature of Rayla in season 7. Ezran has just had Katolis burnt to a crisp, and all she can think about is herself and her own needs. Ezran's feelings? They don't matter. As long as she's happy, that's fine.

I don't even want to talk about them all buddying up in the Silvergrove happily while Ezran is still dealing with Katolis' fallout.

Plus remember, at this point, Callum still believes that Runaan killed Harrow. I get forgiving someone but bro is literally choosing the guy who assassinated the guy who raised him over his grieving brother. It's actual insanity to me.

There is much more I have missed but I have reached my Rayllum limit for the day. This ship is as fun as watching paint dry so I want to do something that is going to actually bring me joy. Besides, I think I've got enough people to light their torches and sharpen their pitchforks! 😃

Have a good day everyone! Peace! 🫡

[swiftsgrath]

i feel like we need to talk more about agatha and rio matching outfits bc why are gay people like that

[utilitycaster]

#fucking lost it at the asterisk#and you know you had to put that there because this is tumblr#also agreed - sometimes I see character hate or campaign hate that is weirdly detached from context or blame misplaced#and oftentimes a use of passive voice#like “BH were overshadowed in their own campaign” as a statement that they were “treated poorly” and it's like. by WHOMST#the events of the campaign were not real events that happened independent of cast input#you could say that the various non-BH interludes did distract from BH... but you also have to accept the interludes were created by the cas#and again that is okay to do. you just have to be okay with disagreeing with something the cast has done#but these views are usually paired with some kind of perceived moral high ground#that benefits from treating the “mold” subject like an independent actor or something reverse-spawned from fandom into the show#anyway at this point I'm just restating your post OP but yeah. mood#critical role @ariadne-mouse for real this is part of what inspired it. Like...I've found a lot of discussion of campaign 3 by its defenders does this and is also like...bizarrely ignorant of how running a D&D game works to the point that I suspect for many of them it's their first exposure to long-running actual play or D&D.

Completely outside of any understanding of D&D/AP, if the cast wanted to wrap up Divergence by the anniversary, that was a choice the cast made about campaign 3. They decided to stop it where it was. They literally did not have to do it; they chose to. They did not have to cut to the Crown Keepers or Vox Machina or the Mighty Nein; that was a thing that at minimum Matt, Aabria, and the players of the Crown Keepers wanted, and something that, when Matt pitched it to the cast, since they had to know about coming in as their past characters, they said "yes" to. You do not have to like these choices; but they were choices that people made. Part of why this avoidance of talking about choices as being made by people is specifically an issue for Critical Role's fandom is that they are self-owned and it's an improvised story; you cannot claim to executive meddling without pointing at literally the DM and two of the players [Travis as CEO and Marisha as creative director]. I think the weird claim this campaign's plot was a dramatic setup to get around Hasbro/WOTC copyrights was a very misguided attempt to point the blame somewhere else, but that was so incoherent it backfired, particularly since it's provably false given the epithets and the fact that anyone who has any understand of copyright law knows that the concept of a nature goddess isn't copyrightable; you just can't call her Melora.

Within the understanding of D&D/AP, just to give an example: the fact that everything with Laudna and Delilah was kind of rapidly wrapped up and not further explored; or the fact that the party didn't go to Hishari or have further interactions with the Nobodies, were not inevitabilities. To quote Liam O'Brien, "no, I want to roleplay Fish and Chips!" is an option! Laudna and Ashton aren't real people but also...none of this is real. The DM controls the sense of urgency; if players feel rushed, then either the DM (Matt) is making them feel rushed and that is either a conscious choice he is making to encourage the focus on the main plot, or an unconscious flaw in DM-ing, or the players are picking up something unintended and haven't communicated that and are skipping things. To be clear, I would not say this is anyone's fault in that I do not assign morality to any of this - but there is responsibility. The DM can, in fact, change the story midway to fit their players' needs and preferences, and indeed, they should (and Matt very much did so in C1 and C2). If you feel that something in Campaign 3 was unexplored and should have been, then it's because of a decision someone in the cast made that they very, very much could have made differently. I don't think it's terribly productive to be angry at the cast or Matt if you are disappointed in this; but I think it is genuinely helpful to say "I don't like the choices Matt (or Marisha, or Taliesin, or whoever) made here."

Forgot to put this on the scrupulosity/fear of liking a character who isn't a good person post yesterday but I think this explains something that's always irritated me - what I like to call the "mold that grew on the campaign" problem. I used that term initially to describe people who hated Essek because they almost always treated Essek as, well, some mold that grew on the campaign and not a character whom Matt created and whom the cast became interested in interacting with extensively to the point that his story became what it did - through constant choices that Matt and the rest of the cast made. Because if you treat Essek not just as a character you dislike - which is valid - but a Bad Person whose story tells you Bad Things and it's Bad to like him - then you would have to consider that the Critical Role cast told a story in which he was redeemed, and if you think that's bad or misleading then you need to consider that they're people who don't agree with you, which means [in this understanding of morality, to be clear, not like, what I think] that either you and they are not morally the same which means one of you is bad which means you liking their work might be bad. So Essek is talked about like mold - not deliberately crafted and introduced to this process* but rather some ambient rot that isn't really anyone's fault. Except perhaps the fans, which would mean that Critical Role is bowing to fan pressure even when those fans have bad opinions, which also says something about them that is perhaps bad.

Obviously this isn't the only case; perhaps the most egregious one was the already infamous "you can't criticize improv" line which implies that none of this has any skill or intent involved, but hopefully this was illustrative. Disliking or liking a choice is valid; but denying the agency - that someone made that choice - never is.

*yes some processes do deliberately introduce mold, you know what I fucking mean. mold on bread rather than mold used to make blue cheese.

[thebxghag]

uhhhh new hyper fixation? Time will tell. Got obsessed with how Teopyon on bsky renders AND their rendition of zelink, so I decided to try it out. Happy with the results! I'll probably do more pieces in this painterly style going forward.

Zelda wants to kiss her champion and her champion is surprised by this turn of events.

[checkadii]

Hhhoougghhghhh

[egophiliac]

How do you imagine Levan/Revan/ Mallenoa's husband?

Appearance, personality etc.

Revaan/Laverne/whatever-his-name-is's title sort of implies that he might be from a fantasy-Eastern country (they've established that in Twstland, 竜 = Eastern-style dragons, andドラゴン = Western-style dragons). and that's about as much as we know right now about...anything in regards to what he might look like. so I've been trying very hard not to form too much of a mental picture of him, because I'm still hoping we'll get to see him (or at least a silhouette)! ergo, in my head, he kind of looks like this:

so handsome. surely Malenoa fell in love at first glance.

I do think the funniest thing about what we've learned so far is that Malleus being kind of quiet and reserved and dignified...absolutely did not come from the Draconias. and he sure as heck did not learn it from Lilia. so he probably got a lot of that from his dad! the vibe I get from how Lilia talks about him is that he could be a bit of a prim little fancyboy sometimes, but was (mostly) willing to go along with his wife's zany antics out of love. he sounds sweet, honestly! I'm sorry he (maybe) died. :(

my favorite thing about Mal's parents is that Malenoa and Lilia's dynamic was "long-suffering guard and princess who has long been the cause of said suffering":

but then they would happily join forces in order to gang up on Revaan:

tl;dr Revaan was the straightman in Malenoa and Lilia's comedy act until it all ended horribly whoops

[meteortrails]

the thing I keep coming back to at the end of the day here is that luffy’s got some insane latent abandonment issues, and zoro and nami are the absolute surest thing he has. he has those two Locked The Fuck Down so hard he might as well have put a ring on it before they even hit loguetown and he knew they’d be his from the second he saw them. they’re his aces in the hole that he can always count on to help him cut through all the bullshit and get to the heart of the situation. something that always stands out to me is the way that when luffy and zoro end up tied up in a combat situation, it often falls to nami to direct and organize the crew (most notably in water 7); they’re his seconds in command, one to back him up on the battlefield and one to hold down the fort so he’s free to fight as he pleases. and in return for this faith and trust nami and zoro are genuinely the most obsessively devoted motherfuckers they’re capable of being! none of their dreams belong to just them anymore it’s THEIR dream to make luffy king of the pirates, THEIR dream to map the world, THEIR dream to become the best swordsman. frankly if they all loved each other any more than they do they might just burst

[missescalientee]

Since it femuary can You tell us more about Jade? She’s my baby girl I love her.

Yes! For starters she is actually shared OC! I’ve said this before but she’s shared between me and @spjs ! She first appeared briefly in Lost Opportunity and I absolutely fell in LOVE with her and JDs relationship like I legit could not see him without her in my mind SOOOO I uh… kidnapped her

She first appears in one of my works in this comic and then my fic Not the Only One !

For a throwback here’s the pic I’ve ever drawn of her!

Compared to one of the more recents

You can see how much she has changed and my arts developed XD I’m still using my funky pen tho hehehe

Some facts for the Jade you see in N2 au

She is the oldest of two siblings

She has partial iridescence in her hair

She and JD dated in high school

She hadn’t learned to cook until having a child (her parents wouldn’t let her near the stove)

She learned how to support herself and be independent through trial and error (self made woman)

She is very into wood carving and has made most of her own cutlery and dish ware

She also makes her own clothes, and has a knack for cross stitch

Unlike her son, she has no known allergies (Lief is allergic to stout berries)

She fights hard for what she wants but occasionally needs a push to start the fight

She both has a need to be in control of every situation but hates controlling people which occasionally leads to action paralysis

She has a deep love for her music and nature

Her favorite colors are pink and mermaid green and comprise most of her normal wardrobe (unless I’m playing dress up doll with her hehehehe)

Her voice claim for me is Penelope (Anna Lea) from Epic

I said she’s the oldest of 2 because she has a younger brother named Jasper! He was part of the group cut off during the last trolls time so Jade thinks he’s dead (and blames herself for it)

This is what he looks like! He’s a fully iridescent troll which means his colors shift in the light, he was favored by their parents because of it but hated both the attention and the way they treated Jade. Jade and him were very close and despite her objections he fully supported her moving out even if it meant leaving him behind. (He also lost an arm during the last trollstice so ye hehehehe)

Jade is a part of a few aus there's the main au linked above, a wip au called Jadepunzel ATM,

there's a DND au which I haven't spoken about at length yet but have a few drawings and lore some of which will be cross posted ambiguously on my main blog cuz it's only semi related

and then the Explorer au which has a few posts already!

She is so near and dear to my heart and I LOVE HER SO FREAKING MUCH

[trashwithvariety]

Days Since Last Hannibal Crashout

*adds a zero*

[anotherpapercut]

genuinely so many of you want to be leftist and "punk" and countercultural soooooo bad but you refuse to become comfortable with the concept of people taking drugs for fun because they like it and not because they were somehow tricked or forced into it without knowing what they were getting themselves into

you'll be like "addiction is a disease!!" but think you're better than those degenerate stoners because you only drink energy drinks and white claws and would never touch "illegal drugs"

many if not most drugs CAN be consumed completely safely with almost 0 risk to the user and even if that werent true and all drugs were extremely dangerous you still wouldn't be better than those of us who love doing drugs recreationally

lighten up and grow up. get offline, talk to real adults, and stop being shocked to discover that they enjoy doing stuff that adults do like have sex and do drugs and even listen to rock and roll

[dykedvonte]

No one ever mentions how on the QnA PE has a 30% cargo loss which?? That could mean only the order is broken but. It’s space the crew is also definitely dead so the Tulpar is just one lost ship in the many cases that PE just throws their hands up on. well you just can’t beat those prices!

This is exactly why it’s so frustrating when people ignore the way P.E’s negligence and lack of care/concern for their employees influences their decisions/behavior.

Like they don’t really care if 30% of their workers regularly go missing or get lost. You think they care if they had locks or adequate training? You think they left supplies on that ship to add them in case of emergency or conflicts? They don’t have adequate medical supplies and even on a regular trip the crew has rations, no abundance and implied very little extra and they STILL added an extra person. If we look at that early HR complaint info graphic they make it extremely difficult to file or make complaints, not to mention actively discouraging it with how many penalties are directly attached to having personal/co-worker conflicts.

They really only want employees there to work and little else. No real enrichment, no real privacy and no back up in case anyone gets hurts, hurts someone else or they get in trouble. I mean Curly really made a point in realizing that no one checks on the fucking nurse for evals! Was it too late? Yeah. But that is something the pony express needed to handle and require, not a Captain with no training or experience in their own medical course as Curly’s crew isn’t the only one who has likely faced these problems.

P.E. Is so oppressive and actively malicious to their employees I can’t fathom how they lasted so long without the literal Geneva convention coming for their ass with how many human rights violations they have.

[jfkisonthemoon]

no one was more of an idealist than yoo joonghyuk. no one was more of an idealist than yoo joonghyuk.

[gifti3]

the goverment is definitely figuring out this alien situation asap right?? cause whats happening currently is not feasible in the long run is it not??

im sure they are trying to maybe figure it out...probably, but part of me feels like it is not being treated with the seriousness it should be by them, which ig is in character LOL

pretty much relying on one guy (who doesnt even wanna be doing this) is actually scary

and the mc still has to like 'encourage' him to do it, tho its much easier in the 'ray ending' for sure. that man just wants to live a regular life with mc (unfortunately for him that means continuing to be binary star and dealing with aliens)

and if i was a citizen and knew this id be panicking

like yea u have these other heroes helping and stuff which im sure looks comforting from an outside point of view! but like the actuality is that its ray keeping things afloat

AND ON THE TOPIC OF THE MC, i was definitely in my head like....wouldnt rays superiors (managers??) get like curious about them? like no way theyre not being nosy about it after a certain amount of time passes. it really feels like something that could be leveraged against him,,, (if there is fic about this pls send it to me lol)

honestly i feel like mc and rays relationship would have moments of high stress. like there will be good times but also the bad times will also be there and its sometimes gonna be because of outside factors they cant control

[moeblob]

Silent Protagonist.