#on fictional characters anyway

[casual-praxis]

I know people joke about Vio being an awful liar in the infiltration arc of the manga, but honestly, it seems to me like he's oddly good at it.

I'm usually really irked when characters (who are trying) aren't able to lie their way out of a situation (because they're bad at it or stumble over the explanation), but that didn't happen with Vio. Everything he told Shadow when he got caught at the mirror made sense.

"Why did you hit him?" (Shadow is cautious, but not outright hostile. He trusts Vio enough to hear him out.)

"I was examining the mirror, and he just attacked!" (This is technically true. The hinox didn't know about Tingle being there or what Vio was actually doing, he just attacked. Vio was defending himself.) "I think he was sleep walking." (Outright lie. But not a very suspicious one. Could have been waved off as a misunderstanding had the situation been de-escalated.)

"Someone was trying to break the mirror!" (Shadow doesn't seem to be looking at Vio, he doesn't immediately suspect him. Vio notices.)

"I saw a strange little man earlier." (True.) "It might've been him." (Not accusing, just shifting focus to another suspect.)

"The last two heroes may have snuck in." (Shadow believes him, presumably, and tries to rationalize who Vio may have seen. Because who tf even is Tingle at this point.)

"Yeah..." (Vio rolls with it, attempting to widen the suspect pool. Probably the only place he really fumbled, but hindsight is 20/20, he didn't know the full scope of the mirror or why Shadow might be approaching it.) "That's probably it." (Sealed his fate here. Had he just said, "no, it was someone else," Shadow might not have tried to check their location, though he may have anyway given it was on his mind.)

From here it just falls apart, but I'd argue it had less to do with Vio's lying ability and more with dumb luck (or lack thereof). I do think Vio could have spun the situation with Green being alive had he the time to, but the mirror kinda outed him and his murderous ways before it came to that (Green's group has a fairy. Prolonged observation of the group would have revealed that eventually, Vio just had to double down on the confusion up until then and he'd probably be fine?)

Really makes you wonder what the og Link was like for Vio's acting to be so convincing.

[pyroinfusedtiger]

Posting this everywhere til im not obsessed with it anymore

[blackkatdraws2]

[⚠️The Amazing Digital Circus SPOILERS] This episode was interesting!

[novelconcepts]

I Saw the TV Glow is such a uniquely, devastatingly queer story. Two queer kids trapped in suburbia. Both of them sensing something isn’t quite right with their lives. Both of them knowing that wrongness could kill them. One of them getting out, trying on new names, new places, new ways of being. Trying to claw her way to fully understanding herself, trying to grasp the true reality of her existence. Succeeding. Going back to help the other, to try so desperately to rescue an old friend, to show the path forward. Being called crazy. Because, to someone who hasn’t gotten out, even trying seems crazy. Feels crazy. Looks, on the surface, like dying.

And to have that other queer kid be so terrified of the internal revolution that is accepting himself that he inadvertently stays buried. Stays in a situation that will suffocate him. Choke the life out of him. Choke the joy out of him. Have him so terrified of possibly being crazy that he, instead, lives with a repression so extreme, it quite literally is killing him. And still, still, he apologizes for it. Apologizes over and over and over, to people who don’t see him. Who never have. Who never will. Because it’s better than being crazy. Because it’s safer than digging his way out. Killing the image everyone sees to rise again as something free and true and authentic. My god. My god, this movie. It shattered me.

[bloominglegumes]

i love normal guys doomed by the narrative

[doomedclockworkdotmp3]

just a normal guy surrounded by residents with evil in their hearts

[egophiliac]

You can’t pick Lilia for this. But who is your other favorite short character in Twst?

I like the angry little king boy 🌹

[spitedemon]

i really don’t think it’s “typical dragon age fandom nonsense” for people to be genuinely upset about the world state choices. combat, level design, art direction, gameplay gimmicks, those have all varied across each dragon age game. the one thing that’s remained constant are nods to our previous choices.

i wasn’t expecting my HoF to come riding in on a griffon, but i can’t find a monument dedicated to warden tabris somewhere around the anderfels? lucanis couldn’t have some lines about the time that one arainai boy was stirring up trouble in antiva city? you’re gonna tell me that making a mage the new divine wouldn’t have some impact on nevarra and antiva? on the anderfels, the supposed most devout militant andrastian nation in thedas? you’re saying nobody in the north is paying attention to who rules orlais or ferelden? come on.

[benevolenterrancy]

Scholarly peak is catching up on recent literature

[zan0tix]

Any general thoughts on/relating to the Brobot?

Have my half awake scrawlings...

I really love the brobot!!!! People really misconstrue it and also leave it out in a lot of dirkjake talk? Its a big player in not only how dirk expresses his affection/desire towards jake but also in their multi year spanning unspoken game of gay chicken 😭😭(all of dirks splinters are but Not about them rn)

It was sent yknow under the pretense that jake loves wrestling and wished so bad to have somebody he could wrestle with. But at the same time it protects jake from the horrors of hellmurder island (seen before they strife), pushing jake into the Damsel in distress role he wasnt expecting to play even before all the shit in the game, with Dirk being his hero.

Jake says he keeps it on a high difficulty because apparently in the Novice mode he says their interactions become "too tender" and doesnt want to elaborate, Friendly reminder! His convo with jane on the SAME DAY dirk pulled off that big romantic overture and the kiss happens and him and dirk begin "dating".. is the same day he asked jane if it didnt make him weird for wanting to date dirk. And he also says hed joke around with dirk about how theyd soo make a great couple if dirk were a girl haha.

I imagine the brobot and well. Getting physical like that with a robot that supposedly looks like dirk probably gave jake his internal gay awakening at 13 but he just never wanted to actually confront it and instead just wanted to brush past everything 😭😭 (See: every single time sexuality or romance comes up in relation to jake he is literally always thinking about dirk somehow and he never directly talks about his attraction to men or how that reflects/contradicts on his self image of the Movie Star Hero guy)

and jake doesnt actually hate the thing either, he tells jane he thinks it genuinely did improve his fighting capabilities (Which we see it did in collide! he beat basically the whole felt with guns and fisticuffs alone, no hope powers.) Which serves as a pretty evident parallel to dave who also is good at fighting, even if he doesnt want to be. (see dirk + dave convo)

This one comes from hussies authors notes in the aradiabot and equius scene (which equius imagery being invoked with dirk. something i could totally rant about another time haha) but yeah. Jake was being selfish asshat in that log forcing jane into a corner and wringing what he wanted to hear out of her, and also not giving a shit about the brobot (Which served as his protector and only other semblance of human connection since he was 13 and was a BIRTHDAY GIFT FROM DIRK) KILLING ITSELF? But hes so preoccupied talking about dirk. THE REAL DIRK. And immediately after jake loses the dirk splinter that protected him, HE (AND DIRK) CREATE A NEW ONE FOR HIMSELF USING THEIR COMBINED POWERS/?

Hussie is lying.. somebody Does care about dirks feelings. a whole lot to the point they activate their powers unwittingly Because of it. and its jake. but jake just cant admit that himself. (He cannot admit his real feelings until given permission to, dirk would have to concede the game of gay chicken first using his words and not just actions)

ANYWAY. hussie is so right its so easy to get sidetracked times one million talking about this comic. BUT AHH!! BROBOT. his existence.. tragic.. Jakes really smart in knowing that all of dirks splinters enlighten aspects of himself he doesnt oft share, and the brobot served as another dirk action on the pile of dirk actions he engineers to signify his deep immense care for jake, where he lets these grand gestures and implications sit out in the open without ever actually saying what they mean and where his feelings lay.

EVEN IF ITS SUPER OBVIOUS. The d man cant use his big boy words to actually describe his feelings despite how much a yaps! so jake doesnt know if hes even allowed to say anything about his own. Fellas: Is it gay if you labour for supposedly an extended period of time to create a custom robot in your own image to ship in pieces to your best bro guy crush who is HUNDREDS OF YEARS IN THE PAST because you cant be there yourself?

I think this hal message says enough about how bad dirk wished he could visit jake 💀💀

[starfish-spencer]

Tim Omundson once again being an absolute king on Instagram:

Thanks to @vertigoevolved for sharing this!

[forevergoldgame]

✨HERE✨

Forever Gold is a dark fantasy, text-heavy roleplaying game being developed in the Twine engine by Broncoburro and LSDolphin... and the demo is playable now on itch! (And rbs ARE appreciated.)

(A disclaimer: Forever Gold is a game for mature audiences. It does not feature adult content, but the subject matter can get serious in a way not appropriate for all ages.)

[comfort-character-central]

Imagine your f/o holding you, wrapping the two of you in an incredibly soft and comforting blanket. "I've got you, okay? You can rest, you're safe with me." They express in a soft tone, kissing your forehead delicately as you begin to doze off in their embrace.

[szynkaaa]

kicks down everyone's door folks I might have figured out how tall Sun Wukong/Destined One is in Black Myth Wukong.

Starting with a disclaimer that this is just my speculation and nothing is confirmed unless the dev state otherwise

So y'know how the collector's edition came with this amazing Wukong figurine:

amazing right? I want one too.

The description states that the figure is 40cm tall (according to playasia)

The figure is made by Queen Studio, specifically the INART team that makes 1:6 figures.

So we know that the figure is 40cm tall. It is not clear if that includes stand or not, and I was not able to find any information how tall the stand is

On another website (which I don't want to name because I don't know how serious the website is) lists up the figure as 315mm/31.5cm

If that is the height of the actual figure without stand, and it's a 1:6 figure, that means 31.5cm * 6 = 189 cm

So that means it is very possible Destined One/Sun Wukong is 189 cm / 6 feet 2 inch tall.

that is TALL. a lot taller than I thought he would be tbh LOL cause in the books he is usually described as the shortest (cause well, monkey)

which ALSO means.

Wukong better be paying for her chiropractor with the amount of crancking her neck up she has to do.

[nedlittle]

apropos of nothing, here are some gay historical fiction novels that engage with historical queerness in thoughtful, complex, and interesting ways (organized chronologically)

hild by nicola griffith ↪ early 7th century england

a tip for the hangman by alison epstein ↪ 1585-1593 england

confessions of the fox by jordy rosenberg ↪ 1702-1724* england

the confessions of frannie langton by sara collins ↪ 1812-1826 jamaica to england

patience and sarah by isabel miller ↪ 1816 america

devotion by hannah kent ↪ 1830s prussia to australia

the sweetness of water by nathan harris ↪ 1865 america

whiskey when we're dry by john larison ↪ 1885 america

the city of palaces by michael nava ↪ 1897-1913 mexico

tipping the velvet by sarah waters ↪ 1890s england

at swim, two boys by jamie o'neill ↪ 1915-1916 ireland

the gods of tango by caro de robertis ↪ 1913-1920s argentina

uncommon charm by emily bergslien and kat weaver ↪ 1920s america

the book of salt by monique truong ↪ 1930s vietnam to paris

the amazing adventures of kavalier and clay by michael chabon ↪ 1939-1954 america and beyond

the flight portfolio by julie orringer ↪ 1940 france

the savage kind by john copenhaver ↪ 1940s america

a thin bright line by lucy jane bledsoe ↪ 1950s america

*this one has a framing device and footnotes from the present day but the bulk of the story is set in the early 1700s

[egophiliac]

This is a very random thing, but years ago I played a game where all the fae had Scottish accents, and I’ve never been able to imagine fae without Scottish accents since.

Therefore, I think that every fae in TWST has a Scottish accent. More specifically I’m convinced that Sebek has a Doric accent, and also that Silver actually has a Cockney accent.

I’ve been needing to share this with you for a while now, and I’m curious on your thoughts here.

ooh, that's a fun idea! I do see some Scottish inspiration in some of the little aspects we get to see of the fae culture (like the Day/Night courts, although they aren't quite as. extreme. as the Seelie/Unseelie :'). so it tracks!

I do like the idea of everyone having different accents in general! not in, like, a cartoonish or stereotypical way, but like...they're from all over the world, so I think it makes sense that that they wouldn't all speak with the equivalent of, like, a transatlantic accent. (...although that would actually be amazing in its own way, hold on --)

(there is something uniquely wonderful about the idea of Silver with a Cockney accent, thank you for bringing this into the world. his whole weird mix of formalities becomes that much better if you imagine he's never said an h in his life.)