#not to mention it invalidates a

[allhailbrokeloose]

another myth that needs to be gone is that the letter set up for a to be auditioned/hired and/or he orchestrated the whole thing (which tho we are still not sure what exactly he did except bringing in p0nd) just to get his way with a. like i know straight girls have fucked up ideas of romance, but that’s just gross creepy and wrong on so many levels

[vic-does-battlecats]

Tigerstar takes in the RiverClan Rejects (again)

! click the gif for quality that doesn’t suck

[vigilskeep]

viago’s one of my favourite types of guy to write (guy whose internal thought process would work in an organised, listed fashion) but trying to write him aged thirteen was a massive mistake because i kept stopping to think, oh god. imagine having to be viago de riva and also thirteen

[alphacentaurinebula]

I am worried about what the 90 min will deliver but honest I was worried about what a full s3 would deliver well before June.

I don’t want it to be all plot and no romcom, I don’t want Aziraphale and Crowley to be separated for long, I don’t want the celestial system to still be standing at the end, in all its absurd unfairness.

But if they make it so that Aziraphale and Crowley getting together was god’s plan all along, I will actually riot.

[messiahzzz]

the IGN article has already been addressed by several users, but imo the points of critique raised by others were still often misinterpreted, or ignored entirely.

— so i’d like to talk about it.

beforehand, it is important to mention that it remains everyone’s respective responsibility to curate their own online experience. you shouldn’t purposefully expose yourself to topics that cause you distress or trigger you. however, general discussion should always be valid and welcomed. you have every right to voice your opinion on the matter and to be upset about this. please don’t feel guilty about venting and expressing your emotional response.

we also need to differentiate this specific interview from the fandom’s overall treatment and interpretation of gale. several of the posts i’ve seen on the subject tend to derail into the latter, without addressing the valid points many have raised or glossing over them entirely. this isn’t about the usual “haha gale eats shoes” joke or whatever new meme fandom comes up with. this is solely about the developer’s treatment of gale, the character, and about a specific, internal bias that has been prevalent throughout the entirety of the game, as well as their social media. this particular interview merely adding to the amalgamation of points mentioned.

yes, it is certainly unrealistic to expect larian to address every single companion in detail and to touch on every nuance possible, in an interview that broadly focuses on the game’s narrative and gameplay. there are, however, specific character sections. each companion received a headline that was reflective of their overall character archetype or provided quick insight into their development.

Karlach: 'The Labrador of the Party'

Lae'zel: 'She's So Young'

Halsin: 'A Creative Risk'

Shadowheart: 'The Jason Bourne'

Wyll: 'We Lost a Little Bit of Narrative Room'

Astarion: 'Much of What He Does Is Out of Fear'

Minthara: 'It's Not a Redemption Arc...But She's Got a Lot of Love'

and last but not least:

Gale: 'The Guy Who Starts Off Annoying Everyone'

what followed was a brief discussion about their respective storylines, each being addressed with a certain level of respect, empathy, and consideration. except for gale. all that was mentioned in regard to his character was the narrative impact of gale’s suicide. talking about the overall logistics of this ending, the visuals of the cutscene, and how, to them, his sacrifice felt like the right ending and how in many ways, it is.

Chrystal Ding, Lead Writer: On a very human level, you have the guy who starts off annoying everyone, he's constantly asking you to give him your most treasured possessions to eat, otherwise he's in trouble, and at the end, he gives himself for the world. Sven Vincke, Founder: And he had the choice already once before where he wasn't ready for it. So it's a very powerful ending, and it comes in different permutations.

gale is the character who is initially annoying companions and players alike. he is verbose, enthusiastic and has a tendency to break out in long-winded rants. he repeatedly asks for your assistance, to help him manage his condition. to spare himself and his surroundings from an untimely, explosive death, he must consume items that you’ve carefully collected. gale is, essentially, a liability. a ticking time bomb. he already had the option to have his life be a meaningful sacrifice, but he wasn’t ready to die yet. now, that the party has reached the end, he has another chance to give himself up for the world.

short after, gale’s section of the interview quickly diverts into a more general discussion about the difficulties of playing as a wizard and other classes.

larian claiming that there is a universal “right ending” in a game with many branching paths and choices very much contradicts the definition of a role-playing game. where it is solely in the player’s hands to decide what direction to take and what outcome they deem to be the right one. moreover, it is important to remember that the interviewees weren’t just any developers, but consisted of two lead writers and larian’s founder himself. some of them industry veterans who are, to an extent, pr-trained. we all know that fandom often sees statements from developers synonymous with word of god. as such, the implications and impact are truly unfortunate.

if larian was referring the SA survivor and stated that “the right ending” for him was to return him to enslavement or to hand him over to the gur. that for all the death and misery he (involuntarily) assisted, his sacrifice would at least grand them a slither of justice.

astarion caused death, perpetuated racism, and now that you have handed him over to the gur hunter, he is offered a chance to give himself back to the world.

it is then deemed the right choice for him because it is the most narratively satisfying/impactful/powerful outcome in the context of the overall story. the majority of us would agree that such would be a rather tactless statement, no? not specifically for mentioning it in relation to astarion as a character or his influence on the narrative — he is fictional, after all, but because of the real-life implications and the very real stigma the affected face. we can't deny that it would be hurtful to irl victims. maybe we would even fault the writing altogether for such biases. after all, why should astarion be the only character whose redemption and healing are considered to be significantly less important in the grand scheme of things?

fiction functions as an abstraction and simulation of our social experience. we are supposed to get invested, to explore the meaning, examine the parallels, or maybe just to enjoy stories for the sole purpose of indulging in the occasional escapism. perhaps a way to temporarily forget about one’s limitations and the prejudices we face. in many ways, chronic pain/impairment, suicidal ideation, and autistic traits appear to be disorders & symptoms that are perhaps less relatable to some, and that they are maybe not as sympathetic to.

it truly would’ve been nice to see larian approach this interview with more professionalism. opting for a simple, diplomatic “actually, there is no right ending. the sheer variation in choices makes such a distinction impossible” would’ve more than sufficed.

this isn’t asking for larian to touch on every nuance possible, in an interview that largely resembled the flow of a regular conversation. it’s about asking for the same level of consideration and care that was granted to the rest of the companions. it’s about addressing gale’s particular brand of trauma with the same level of basic human decency. maybe we even could’ve received some new bits and pieces of insight on gale’s development, rather than the regurgitation of every shallow reddit/tiktok take we’ve seen up to this point. alas..

[neechees]

Im sorry i cant get over that stupid Midsommar "female rage" tiktok comment. Like these are the same White women who were praising Ari Aster for this movie for allegedly being "feminist" & portraying the "inherent trauma of being a woman" or whatever the hell & using it as a prime example of "female rage", but then when someone points out that Aster himself has said this isn't a happy ending because of the main character was manipulated into and by a White supremacist cult then she switched it up and said "well Ari Aster is a man so his opinion doesn't matter".

Like are u praising Aster & his film for "accurately" portraying "female rage" or are you dismissing his messaging & intentions within his own movie because he's a man & therefore doesn't & can't understand "female rage"? Are you admitting "female rage" is for White women? Why is the messaging of White supremacy in Midsommar irrelevant if it's so prevalent throughout the film? Where is the "female rage" for White supremacy & the nonwhite female character who was murdered by the cult?

[alexvals]

whoever thought it's a great fucking idea to sit tf down and count hypothetical money quackity would make from streaming FREQUENTLY, laying it out with passive agressive comments on how this could save qsmp from the financial downfall - literally NOBODY FUCKING ASKED, GET A DAMN LIFE. i am once again aggressively tapping the sign saying no way fandom can get into every business thinking it is their sole right to fix things, presenting their opinion as the only correct one, moreover, trying to talk as if they are the expert on the subjet, MOREOVER, trying to speak like his damn BOSS. (spoiler: you are NOT). it's pure manager anti behaviour. whatever happenned wtih treating ccs like humans they are, amirite !!! i understand being disappointed and angry with him over how things turned out, but at this point some fuckers will not be satisfied with anything Q does, it's never going to be enough. (fuck these people sincerely, as well as their irrelevant ass takes). (in general, Q was never a long stream guy, at the beginning of the year he did mention he wants to stream more, doing things he likes, but then shit hit the fan, so. literally one of the recent streams he did, the one where he painted, he did because he felt sad and wanted to do smth nice. he is literally not your type of streamer who'd grind for money and subs, idk what to tell ya)

[pinacoladamatata]

hurricane shutters: up

tablet: plugged in

age old resentment towards [redacted]: returned

[utilitycaster]

Hi again! Thanks for taking the time to answer, it honestly was very helpful!

For the first point, the thing I had in mind was the last 4-sided dive from 43:23. To your point, it's honestly less explicitly mentioned that I remembered; but what I had in mind is Matt saying: "He's watched it [...] There's a lot of broken information [...] He's had time to sit with it, to find something that is very important to him and is now showing it to you for reasons he has."

And about the last point, it's not condescending at all! "Wait for it" is something I tell people a lot and I am told a lot when watching something with a lot of excitement, it happens! But my problem isn't really that I can't see them making horrible decisions in the next episode (I'll sure they will, they don't really have non-horrible options and I'm looking forward to it!); my problem is that the set up to whatever is going to happen has been so sympathetic and understanding that even if Luds manages to prove that are problems here with the gods, it will be kinda impossible to then follow it up with "therefore I think they should all die actually!"

However, to your second point, I do think I need to sit with this a bit longer and maybe go into the main tag to read some bad takes to make it more understandable lol, so feel free to not publish this at all if you don't want!

No worries and glad it didn't come off as condescending!

I really do think the situation is that Ludinus does think the gods should all die for this. For what it's worth I think this is what makes him a great villain and a very compelling and real one. I really do believe there are people who see an impossible life-threatening situation and judge those who act imperfectly out of self-preservation and terror more than those who lie down and let themselves be killed.

For of lack of a better way to put it, and deliberately avoiding any specific irl political positions, I think it is always a good exercise to consider why someone may hold political views that are entirely batshit fucking nuts to you. I think of Brennan's "personality pre-dates ideology" line a lot because a lot of political views I find hateful or lacking in empathy or lazy or stupid are based in either valid but not objective emotions; or in good intentions lacking a firm grounding in reality. One will never get anywhere invalidating their feelings, because they do really feel them; the only way forward is to say "just because you feel these real feelings does not mean you can take these harmful actions." So I do think, for example, that Ludinus is genuinely hurt and traumatized. It's just that I don't think he understands that other people's response to hurt and trauma isn't "so kill everyone who caused this" and indeed they might think that's just as bad if not worse. And again, very intelligent people can still fall into this trap.

[arrenkae]

So hey remember how one of THREE entire choices we could get from the previous games was "who did your Inquisitor romance"? Remember how they could only give us three because each one of them was going to be sooo important and impactful you guys not just a one-liner surely we don't want that

So how the FUCK was Sera "the only one who could make Blackwall let down his guard" when my Inquisitor was smooching him in front of her entire court?? BIOWARE EXPLAIN

...of course we all knew that this choice was just basically "romanced Solas/didn't romance Solas" toggle but could you AT LEAST pretend that it wasn't and throw in a couple more lines come the fuck on

[neopronoun-user-culture-is]

Neopronouns culture is consantly having people ask what Xe/Xem is and than going into a ramble that the first Neo that was used in 1789, and that the first neos where Thon witch was a mix of the words that and one!

And then just have the People go “well it’s not valid”

Neopronoun user culture

[alilaro]

its so funny hbomberguy uploads a video like once every millenia, but when he does he manages to send every person he scrutinizes into oblivion, never to recover

[idontmindifuforgetme]

Literally annoying as shit *someone makes a good point about how big events like award shows are used to distract from a violent attack* *random person on the internet * “oh so you’re saying I shouldn’t SLEEP now?! I’m not allowed to eat and take CARE of myself? How DARE you!” I am banging my head against a brick wall as we speak, I can’t.

Betting my MONEY on that person being American bc the relatability factor always has been & continues to be such a major issue here. Americans do literally think in terms of “I’m not Palestinian so why should I care” “I’m not Arab so this isn’t really my concern” “ok but do you expect me to just STOP MY LIFE???” and this entitlement ends up breeding actual disbelief for the idea that others could care about other people despite not suffering the same problems or hailing from the same backgrounds. Their recourse is either to shame you for it or get defensive for their own indifference. Its such a tired pattern

(Also worthy to add that it’s not just rooted in relatability and hyperindividualism and a lot of these people are in fact simply anti Arab racist lmao)

[616s]

"iron man was always a dick" i will not engage. i will NOT. ENGAGE.

[blood-choke]

you know. since learning what butch actually means. im starting to think that maybe. just maybe. im just....butch and not a trans man. just a thought i've been having after learning more about butch from you.

❤️❤️❤️

there are lots of experiences that some butches and trans men share (and a lot of other queer people for that matter) and as i've told other people before, there's absolutely nothing wrong with reconsidering your identity and self-reflecting.

if you're looking for more to read i always recommend Stone Butch Blues (though it can be heavy as a first read), and anything by Ivan E. Coyote (Gender Failure w/ Rae Spoon is my biggest recommendation for you). on the other hand there’s Lou Sullivan’s diaries, which i haven’t read myself, but he was a major pioneer & activist as an out gay trans man & i know a lot of people that love his work. more recently i read Chella Man’s little pocket book & he has dozens of articles published in various publications writing about his experiences. Stone Butch Blues is honestly something that i know both butches, transmascs, and trans men have all related to; like i said, a lot of the experiences overlap, and i know people on all sides that believed they were one and came out as the other later.

and there is no one singular way to experience your gender. particularly with SBB & Sullivan’s diaries, they’re dated, the community has changed a lot since they wrote those books, you may relate to some but not all. Ivan E. Coyote is butch and nonbinary, Rae Spoon was a trans man before coming out as nonbinary in 2012, Leslie Feinberg was butch and proudly called hirself a transgender lesbian, Lou Sullivan was a gay trans man, Chella Man is a pansexual, deaf, trans man of color.

no one experience invalidates the other. we do have similar experiences and we share similar language and we should celebrate that. and we should also respect and celebrate our differences, too, and support each other despite these differences. it's worth it to explore these feelings you have, even if they lead you back to where you started, you'll have a better understanding of yourself in the end; it wasn't wasted.

wherever you end up, sending u lots of love!! 💗

[walker-lister]

I just have to remind myself sometimes that no matter what anyone else says, the way a piece of media makes me feel and the positive impact it has had on my queer identity is valid, and that tearing myself apart thinking I have to defend it or questioning my own place within queer communities is not at all important when compared to the almost tangible sense of 'rightness' that piece of media helped me to feel about myself.