#not actually critical this time

[soleminisanction]

War Games hot take? 👀

Mm. I still need to muddle it over for a while before it turns into anything significant, but it boils down to, I honestly think that people who discard the event entirely when it comes to Steph's characterization are throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

As in, I'd actually argue that it's one of the better Steph stories based on character writing alone -- death scene and all. It would've been better without that dictated plot point and there's NO justifying some of the art choices made (those torture sequences are frankly disgusting and never should've seen print), but in terms of how they're scripted? The writing's far from perfect, it'd have been better if they hadn't made her motivation for the whole thing "wanting to get Batman's attention" and stuck with something a little more in-character like trying to spitefully one-up him, but...

I feel like it's the only story that really digs into the narrative forces that drive her, or had driven her up to that point, divorced from specific external elements like her dad and her boyfriend. Things like the conflict between her unflagging self-confidence and the frustration caused by the perception that she's not progressing as fast/accepted as much as those she considers her peers, the tunnel vision she can develop when it comes to things that she wants and the obsessive lengths she'll go to to achieve her goals, her tendency to rush recklessly into situation without considering the potential fallout, and so on -- these are all aspects of Stephanie's character that had been previously established, but it feels like War Games is the story where it all really gets pushed to the foreground.

And then once the story gets going its fundamental tragedy comes in how the situation twists what had up to that time been her usual story. Up to that point, Steph had been repeated confronted with older heroes who would almost inevitably tell her to stay out of whatever danger she was sticking her nose into so she'll be safe, to which Steph would respond, "You don't tell me what to do" and get involved anyway, for better or worse.

But in War Games, when Selina finds her and puts her in the care of her friends, telling her to stay where it was safe and let the adults take care of it, Steph seems to really understand for the first time that she's right -- and sneaks out anyway, not out of petulant defiance, but because she feels responsible for the destruction and is driven to help stop it. It's really the first time it feels like she truly understands the danger she's putting herself into and chooses to do so anyway for selfless, heroic reasons without a hint of personal self-gratification. It's not about revenge on her dad or getting back at her boyfriend or showing one of those stuck-up grown-ups that she's just as good as the next caped teen, it's just about fixing her mistake, and it's that heroic instinct that tragically gets her killed.

IDK like I said I think I have to muddle it over a bit more before I can fully form it into something but it walked into my head last night and wouldn't leave.

[shellem15]

Can I just say, I really appreciate how Critical Role plays the Devil trope straight. There's been this phenomena in a lot of modern media (I'm not going to mention specifics but I'm sure a few examples pop up in people's minds) where Hell and the Devil aren't scary or malevolent forces. Hell is portrayed as being basically the same as our world just "edgier", and the Devil is a pretty decent guy actually. Heaven are secretly the real bad guys!

But Critical Role doesn't do that. In Exandria, Asmodeus *feels* like the Devil. He's malevolent and manipulative and terrifyingly powerful and he hates you, personally. We never see that type of portrayal anymore! And it's amazing! And he still manages to be sympathetic and tragic without losing his edge!

And the "Good Gods" are portrayed as flawed without being secretly evil or something! Like, actual nuance? In my Heaven/Hell dichotomy? What!?

It's just such a breath of fresh air after so many "The Devil was right, actually" stories. So props to Matt and Brennan and the cast.

[alliekitaguchi]

Robbie really rolled up the CR Headquarters, looked Liam in the eyes, and said, “I believe I have what it takes to match your freak.” And Liam just smiled, beckoned him inside, and said back, “You can certainly try.”

[itseghost]

a few meager cr3 sketches :] ft feywild fearne, orym's sending stone blues, and the revival scene from blood and dust that i sketched ages ago and decided i was never going to finish lmao

[brookesmartt]

Betrayer.

[ravenpureforever]

On one hand, Young Justice is kind of neglected by the actual superheroes that should be looking out for them in a lot of crucial ways and very much failed by the adults around them

But on the other hand Red Tornado straight up hosts a parent-teacher conference where their respective legal guardians all show up, barring Batman who’s in traffic so Nightwing fills in instead because Robin’s dad does not know he’s a vigilante which is objectively hilarious

[wardensantoineandevka]

2.104 // 2.105 // 3.102

the cast never learns why you don't three-way Boulder, Parchment, Shears

[ciderjacks]

despite Laios low self esteem making him think that if he’d been eaten, Chilchuck and Marcille wouldn’t have helped Falin,

theres a small part of me that thinks the reason Chilchuck stayed with the party and went back in the dungeon in the first place was because he didn’t want to leave Laios alone. That Laios was moreso the reason he stayed.

[tshortik]

Cryptic visions of space and time...

[fox-guardian]

starting to feel like part of the reason that Sam and Celia's romance thing feels a little off rn is cuz like. what do you mean they're actually dating. he asked her on a date and she said yes. and it's working out so far. it's chill and fine. what do you mean they're not pining for 4 seasons, not communicating, and then getting together only after one of them walked through hell to drag the other out and make sure they know they're loved and wanted. they haven't even patched each other's wounds yet hello. aren't y'all moving a little fast.

[luminousstardust]

sometimes you block every spoiler tag you can conceive of and mute every single character name & ship name to try and avoid spoiling yourself before you can watch the episode but then you stupidly open social media thinking you’re safe and this is the first thing you see and you just know Something Happened

[esthelle-wanders]

[Image credits to Jojo of course, alignment credits to a special irl]

Did a few of these surprise me? Yes they did.

Do we take constructive criticism? No we do not.

[distant--shadow]

drew an imogen pin-up caus my brain isn't cooperating

[andrewknightley]

saw someone saying something like "do you really think veilguard story would be better if you could do evil choices?" and actually yeah. i think if they let us act more like the dreadwolf on the "you are a paralellism to the dreadwolf" game, it would be more significant when the story tells you "you are a bit like him/you are nothing like him" because , thats how you chosed to play it.

[ohnohelpitsagain]

so idk if we’re getting a bard’s lament this season, but regardless of if we are or not i NEED to talk about my most favorite dynamic ever so i can get this convo back out into the universe before a bard’s lament happens because it makes me unwell.

vex and scanlan are, in many ways, the same. they’re deeply insecure, sad people that put on masks to hide it. they’re good liars. so that’s what they do. they stand in front of each other and they lie. and it’s not hard for them to know the other is lying. i mean vex LITERALLY SEES THROUGH HIS DISGUISE EVENTUALLY LIKE ARE YOU KIDDING?

and like, vex is snippy and she can be a bit of a shit and she says scanlan is just some guy without his magic. but he’s also the person she looks up to. she literally travels across the whole continent by herself to make sure his daughter can get to him and she sends kaylie back to him even though she’s distraught and terrified and alone. she’s the one person who actually gets through to him during a bard’s lament and she gets through to him by telling him to stop viewing his daughter as a sacred object. to fix his relationship with her. AND HE LISTENS. like again she is the ONLY person in that room who gets through to him and it’s because she implores him to fix his relationship with his daughter after he cruelly remarks that they went to the fey realm to “fix her daddy issues.”

and scanlan! he teases her and he deflects his seriousness around her with humor as much as he does to anyone. but he teaches vex how to use the broom and he gives her the hat to wear. and he ensures her success when he turns her into a dragon and directly tells a god that she’s mean and greedy and the most perfect one of all of them.

scanlan is a father with a fractured relationship with his daughter and vex is a daughter desperate for her father’s approval.

scanlan is not vex’s father. but when scanlan comes back she does everything she can to try and make sure he won’t leave again despite the way he hurt her.

vex is not scanlan’s daughter. but he walks her down the aisle and makes sure she can see her brother at her wedding and he’s happy to be like her father for a day.

scanlan is NOT vex’s father and vex is NOT scanlan’s daughter but really, aren’t they made of the same stuff?

[monabee-draws]

Sometimes I remember that Ludinus' entire plan hinged on the love between two people who were ripped apart by fate for more than 30 years. Somehow he knew that, when it came down to it, not even Vax's transformation into a servant of the gods would prevent him from loving Keyleth of the Air Ashari. No amount of removal of his personhood, or distance from the person he used to be could snuff that out and prevent him from breaking the non-interference accords to be there when she was in danger. Their love was always going to be doomed by the narrative, and in the end it doomed the narrative too. Everyone talks about Delilah and her willingness to rip the world apart for love, but for Vax it wasn't even really will anymore, just the inevitability of all that was left of him other than the Champion.