#or anyone else’s if anyone wants to chime in!

[blackjackkent]

Annoyingly, not a single companion has any commentary in their individual dialogue trees on Karlach becoming a squid. This seems, if you'll pardon my French, fucked up.

Karlach herself does have a bit of dialogue though, and to be honest, she's not completely dissimilar from her previous personality, although the differences are definitely there. (Personally, I think my headcanon is that her personality continues to get more and more subsumed the longer she remains an illithid, so for right now there are more traces of Karlach than there will be in a year, or a decade.)

"This is wild. I'm myself but... but *more*."

"More? How do you mean?"

"It's like I'm... beyond myself. I can sense things I never knew were there." Her voice is the same, but the tone is very different, not quite the Emperor's monotone but far more subdued than the energy with which Karlach has always been infused. She sounds more thoughtful, and very curious - and, for the moment at least, content.

"And my engine," she goes on. "It's... it's... silent. No heat. No gears. Still there, but no longer threatening to explode." Those strange black eyes lift to Rakha's, glittering. "Soldier..."

"Are you certain?" Rakha asks warily. "Maybe your new form has just cooled it down for the moment."

But Karlach shakes her head. "This is... something else," she murmurs. "Something far deeper. Whatever ceremorphosis did to me, it... it fixed me. That means... I won't burn out."

It's very odd to listen to. It's like all of her usual energy and exuberance is in there somewhere, but stretched, elongated, muffled, muted. Each word comes slow upon the heels of the last.

"Shit. I'm gonna be all right," she says, in that strange slow warm rumble. "I get to be alive. I get to stay." She tilts her head, and makes an unexpected whistling exhalation like an attempt at a laugh. "As a hideous monster, sure. But one that can feel. Think. Live."

She lifts her head, peers at Rakha intently. "But I'm still myself," she says firmly. "And I know what our mission is. I'm glad I get to do the honors."

-----

Ahhhh, and now the other characters can chime in! Well, one other character; in-game it was Minsc, but all of these lines are pretty good so I'm gonna write them all out here.

Unless otherwise noted, all of these lines have the rather charming devnote: (devnote: Karlach will live! Yay! But she is a mind flayer.)

GALE: I can imagine no finer ceremorph for the job. HALSIN: A hard-earned chance at life. You deserve it, Karlach. JAHEIRA: Already at home in your new skin. They never took your heart, girl - they never even touched it. (devnote: Shaking head quietly, amused wonder / pride at Karlach's resilience.) LAE'ZEL: I never thought I'd be happy to hear a ghaik will live. Yet my heart is very glad, Karlach. MINSC: Do you hear that, Boo!? Karlach lives! And this new form will make her all the slippier to grasp in our berserker bouts - a battle for another day. (devnote: Excited, then thoughtful, then getting back to excitement.) MINTHARA: I feel your mind evolving, Karlach... it is beautiful. You are more alive than ever. SHADOWHEART (Selunite): I'm glad for you, Karlach. It's hardly the life anyone dreams of, but, well... it's a life. SHADOWHEART (Sharran): You'll have to face oblivion another time, it seems. I'm glad for you, if it's what you want. WYLL: Oh, Karlach. No news could have made me happier in this house of horrors. (bonus even though he isn't here) ASTARION (Spawn): You are indomitable, aren't you? I'm so happy for you, Karlach. (devnote: Genuinely impressed and very pleased for her) ASTARION (Ascended): I'm so pleased your mind survived the transformation intact. As for the rest of you... well, your mind survived and that's what matters. (devnote: Astarion's pleased Karlach's surviving, although she has turned into a gross mind flayer, so…)

-----

Rakha listens to the others chime in excitedly about Karlach's fate. For her own part... she doesn't really know what to say. This is such a monumental change to the person she knew and trusted - even though Karlach seems content with the outcome, Rakha is in no way blind to the sacrifice that was made here.

She has to keep fighting. They have to make this worth the cost.

"We've got a brain to defeat," she says gruffly.

"Hell yes we do," Karlach says gravely in return. "Let's finish this thing, Soldier. It's time. And I'm ready if you are."

[persephoneprice]

hey lily!! sorry i feel like you’ve answered this question before but i couldn’t find anything about it sooo..

do u have any thoughts on how the mentoring system operated after the 10th games? and/or maybe how the mentors from the 10th games reacted to the all the changes made over the years?

hello sol!!! thank you so much for the question because it’s actually not something i’ve ever really nailed down my thoughts on! so i’ll give you the different scenario’s i’ve considered:

they immediately went with the past victors as the mentors.

while it’s true that not every district had a victor (actually, i’m assuming the majority didn’t)- i don’t think the capitol would care that much. if anything, they would see it as a bonus way to 1.) punish the districts and 2.) make the games more of a spectacle because it would motivate the tributes to work harder so they’d have someone to mentor their tributes. technically, district 12 didn’t have a victor that could act as a mentor until the 50th games and i’m sure that they didn’t wait until them to establish the victors as mentors situation.

i think this would also explain why the stronger districts like 1 & 2 continued to have so many victors over the years because they started off on much better footing than the other districts by having the mentors on top of being well-fed.

peacekeepers as mentors

i’ve seen this suggested before and i suppose it makes sense. they’re already armed and trained so the capitol wouldn’t have to worry as much about them doing something stupid and getting themselves killed (looking at you arachne!). but honestly, i just find this theory to be kind of boring.

gamemakers (or gamemaker adjacent) as mentors

this could be interesting! and a good way to help make the tributes more of a spectacle. i don’t think active gamemakers, but maybe past gamemakers or people who have worked closely with them. they have the best knowledge of the games and would be able to help the tributes navigate the games unlike anyone else.

personally, i lean towards them immediately diving in with former victors. i don’t think there would be many of them but i think they would try to spin it like a huge honor to get more viewers (victors of the past- back again to prove they’re the best of the best!)

as far as how i think the mentors reacted- obviously i think that widely varies depending on which mentor. i think a lot of them would be relieved that students aren’t involved anymore because it was such a traumatizing experience (clemensia). some of them would feel special that no other students got to mentor (livia). some of them were possibly excited about the new changes and helping (festus). some of them were horrified to see the victors be brought back and essentially tortured more (lysistrata).

i think all of them were affected by their tributes on some level and i can’t help but think all of them had some form of guilt from it all- even if they don’t want to admit it to anyone, including themselves. watching the games over the years either made those feelings worse or it turned into such a spectacle for them that the feelings went away because they lost the humanity in it all.

[convenientalias]

Do you have a wuxia rec list? I really enjoyed mysterious lotus casebook from your posts on it where it was just relaxing to watch. I was planning to watch Meet you at the blossom next, but not sure what to watch after.

Sure, but tbh I haven't actually watched that many wuxia! Also if you finished Mysterious Lotus Casebook you're technically ahead of me there bc I never watched the last six episodes. I'm just really bad at finishing things sometimes lols. But I do love that show and maybe this will be what finally makes me finish it!

Anyway here is a quick rec list:

-Nirvana in Fire: If you've never watched Nirvana in Fire (have you? I can't remember) I'm contractually obligated to rec Nirvana in Fire. It's more political intrigue than jianghu adventures so it may not be as relaxing to watch idk. Nevertheless it does top my wuxia recs list bc it has the best plot and some of my favorite characters. and it is also very funny. IF WHAT YOU LIKED FROM MLC WAS: the whump of a guy with an incurable poison in his body or the identity porn of a guy who used to be kind of famous re-encountering ppl he knew a while back but now pretending to be someone else. then Nirvana in Fire is a perfect watch for both of those things.

-Ancient Detective: If you like a group of people just wandering around solving mysteries in the jianghu, this show is more purely that than MLC. It has a fair amount of whump and bromance but it's also largely a case-per-maybe-three-episodes show. However, sometimes that's what I want.

-The Flame's Daughter: This is a drama with a bunch of inter-sect war and intrigue. There's also a big love polygon going on and imo the winning side is the most boring. At its worst, the main romance had me going "whyyy" but at its best, there is some really good whump, intrigue, murder, and general jianghu travel and shenanigans. However, out of the list thus far I would say it is the least similar to MLC (if only bc of a focus on m/f romance).

-Handsome Siblings (2020): This is a show about twins separated due to some Nefarious Schemes and then raised by villains to Murder Each Other without knowing their siblings. The level of goofy jianghu shenanigans and whump is absolutely through the roof. Like every few episodes you meet some new villain who's like "Hi my name is Black Spider and I will tie you up and poison you". It is all a bit silly.

Tbh that's about it from me for "this is definitely wuxia" recs but I would like to add one more "this is not wuxia but it is adjacent and in 2023 it was my most similar to MLC watch" rec, which is:

-A League of Nobleman: It's just a historical mystery show set in the capital, with a heaping helping of political intrigue and revenge quest. Similar to MLC, there are mysteries investigated every few episodes, and each is tied into a larger scheme at work. Meanwhile our protagonist is seeking justice for his father, unjustly accused of treason many years ago, and having a (b)romance with at least three different guys. It's not wuxia, there's no real martial arts going on and not a ton of jianghu travel, but as far as MLC comp titles go, it's not bad.

Anyway I'm glad you enjoyed Mysterious Lotus Casebook! I really need to finish watching it lol. And I didn't mention Meet You at the Blossom bc you said you already intended to watch it but yeah I think that show's a lot of fun, it's rather sappy and whumpy and comedic and I enjoyed it a lot.

[dicktat]

Will anyone be interested with a DL+DL2 Halloween event? Im thinking a horror movie themed community collab where people are free to submit their piece (writing/art/edits) of their fav as monsters or horror movie icons and it’s just a giant interactive game

[camellcat]

I love spuffy as much as the next guy but ohhh my gawddd I really kinda wish it had been buffy wil and xand to finish the fight. they started it together, and while they've always had outside help, I just think it would've been so good if each of them had their own big important parts to play since this was the last we get to see of them

[ilovedthestars]

one more idle thought about Hands of the Emperor that's been on my mind as I've been reading it: I'm not sure I could recommend this to people who like Murderbot on that basis only. Sure, they overlap in that platonic relationships are central to the plot of both, and in some of the underlying themes. but they're vastly different in genre, style and tone. (Epic character-driven and political intrigue fantasy, vs short and often fast-paced, action-heavy sci fi)

However. I do think that Hands of the Emperor has a much better chance of appealing to people who liked Witch King.

There was a similar feeling to me, especially in the beginning of Hands of the Emperor. Reading Witch King often felt like the complex web of politics were going over my head, but the interpersonal relationships at the core of the story drove it forward and kept me following the plot. Hands of the Emperor does a similar thing—it drops plenty of names and places that it doesn't expect to make any sense to you until much later, but in the first chapters it pulls you in with a foundation of character relationships that carries you through all the politics that unfold in the rest of the book.

The worldbuilding also has a similar quality—very anthropological, very thought through, a wide range of cultures that have been invented and imagined in complex detail, with inspiration drawn from real life cultures but not leaning on coding as a crutch. Politics that span hundreds and thousands of years. As I write this down I'm also remembering that both worlds have suffered magical catastrophe—there really is a surprising amount of overlap in the details.

It's not a one-to-one match (as nothing could be). Witch King is shorter and leans more towards action and adventure, and has its two interlocking timelines. Hands of the Emperor is more straightforwardly chronological and lingers longer on the details of politics and relationships. But I think there's definitely enough overlap that fans of one might enjoy the other.

[sparrownnax]

one extremely specific thing i appreciate Shirt doing is the whole "dad technically coming from a racial minority but not being connected with the culture at all x mom whos fuckin obsessed with said culture" bcus yeah my dad and by extension me n my brothers r Metis but like we don't talk to any of that side of the family like for all intents and purposes we're white but my mom loves to bring it up at any opportunity

[wernerherzogs]

hi if i want to watch 911 for the gays do i need to start at season one or can i start at the newer seasons and just watch the important episodes from older ones (and what important episodes do i need to watch if i'm just going to start from, say s6 or s7)

hiiii i'm afraid i'm a You Gotta Watch It All truther!!! especially for buck buckley's journey. :( s1 is an Essential watch to get it...... but there are also important storylines there for every single one of the mains! and then when you get to s2 and eddie's finally there it HITS properly ☺️

[slightlycomicobsessed]

@alicepooryorick i know this isn’t perfect but it is canon that dani becomes disabled after the demon bear saga and it’s actually written pretty well and she’s not treated as “lesser” for being in a wheelchair. if you’re talking about disability rep

[mysticalflyte]

so uhhh... should I watch the LOGH remake or the seventy-billion-episode original? What's your opinion on them? Is one better than the other?

Hey there! I’m no authority on this, but my personal opinion from having watched both to completion is that the original 110 episode OVA is better :D

Here are some reasons:

1) The Character Designs - the OVA has beautiful and distinguishable character designs, on top of voice acting, that will always remain classic to me. As a fan artist, I vastly prefer the looks of the cast in the OVA over the versions of everyone in DNT. For example, Walter von Schonkopf’s face in DNT looks more plain and generic than his OVA counterpart:

2) The Music - DNT has fine modern orchestral arrangements, but the OVA actually inserts lots of classical music throughout the show, adding to the grandeur of the experience! For example, there’s a particularly memorable part where a small fleet of fighter jet spaceships launch out into space to do battle with Spanish Dance from Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky blasting in the background that I’ll never forget 😆

3) The Story Itself - As the original source material is actually a series of novels, the story is adapted slightly differently between the OVA and DNT! DNT is arguably more accurate to the books in its order of events and pacing, while the OVA takes more creative liberties by adding more depth to certain background characters that are brushed over in the original material, while also slowing the pacing down a bit. I have talked to someone else who also has watched both and they said that they could Feel the passion and love that the OVA creators felt for each character more that way! For example, Admiral the Cat is totally an OVA invention and is so fun to watch! Yang Wen Li, my favorite character, seems less infallible and more endearingly dorky and tired of being pushed around in the OVA compared to his more perfect DNT counterpart. There are also so many more humorous verbal quips littered throughout the OVA that are very memorable. 😀

Ultimately I think it’s up to you! Keep in mind that the OVA is already fully complete while DNT has only covered like 30-40%(?) of the story at this time. Even if you were to start DNT, you would most likely have to hop over to the novels or OVA anyway later.

In all fairness, I’ll also give some more positive points on DNT:

1) Being Modern - it’s modern, so the animation quality is probably easier to get used to as it’s done by Production IG starting in 2018

2) The Battles and Ship Designs are Flashier - there is usage of CGI models for the space battles but honestly they do a pretty good job blending everything in with flashier effects not present in the OVA

That’s about it! Just my opinions, feel free to do with this information what you will :)

[captainjonnitkessler]

If Deadloch gets a second season what do you hope will happen in it?

I'd really like to see the Bushy murder investigation! I imagine it being something of a reversal of the first season - first season was focused on Dulcie's life and featured a big-city detective in a small town, second season would focus on Eddie's life and feature a small-town detective in a big city.

I also think it would focus more on corruption and incompetence in the police - I can't remember if it was actually implied that Bushy was shot by a fellow cop or if that was just a theory I had but I stand by it. So I think it would be interesting to see the investigation turn inwards, and that would keep the first season's murder-mystery "everyone is a suspect" vibe while being different enough to not just be a rehash.

[tsams-and-co-memes]

Hiiii

Uh

What are some things EaPS Moon tend to say a lot? I can't think of any-

I've seen that you compile character canon info so I'm just hazardin a guess you watch a lot of the stuff. I'm making yet another rp blog, and I don't know where else to ask this without spoiling the surprise

If you can't think of any either, I can just go watch through stuff- just wanted to try n ask somewhere first

Uhhhh right offhand, I know he talks about wanting to make games a lot. He's repeatedly talked about Project Zomboid, and I remember him saying multiple times in one video that he's not a monster. That's all off the top of my head though, and I can't really think of anything else at the moment ^^" hope everything goes well with this rp blog you're making!

[sebson]

You have me recruited to this mission!

Got a few deadlines to meet the next couple of days but I definitely remember seeing either Seb's BMW or torro rosso paddock pass somewhere, I will dig it up.

I don't have it saved anywhere but *hopefully * I can find it again *prays to the tumblr lords*

- a sewis/sebson lol :)

anon we’re thrilled to have you on the team and helping with the quest for answers 🫡 please feel free to report back on any findings (or really anything sebson related. this is sebson dot tumblr dot com after all)

[luxshua]

In terms of Protocol Head Canons no one cares about here is what Civil Service pay grade i headcanon everyone at (yes I am a civil servant, so this will be accurate and somewhat based on my own experiences)

Alice, Sam, Ceclia: AO/EO pay grade, still very much bottom of the rung, semi decent pay, but not anywhere near a managerial position

Gwen: HEO next step up from alice sam and cecila, team leader position desperately wants to be promoted into SEO but everytime she applies for either the EOI or the perment position her behaviour statements just get shittily graded

Lena: Grade 7/6 (grade 6 is above grade 7) in a higher managerial position likely in charge of them all at a departmental level

Colin: SEO expert in his field, only departmental tech person, is in a specialised field so essentially in control of himself (most of the time)

[goldendruid76]

it’s christmas eve, that means it’s time for the annual re-listen of Chimes of Midnight! it just wouldn’t be christmas without it

[sunray-screaming]

I’ve seen a number of posts lately referring to holi as “a south asian holiday” and it is AGGRAVATING because no!! no it’s not!!!

it has its roots in hinduism and yeah, it’s celebrated by other dharmic religions other than hinduism as well, but that does NOT mean it’s south asian!!

and it always stems from a place of ignorance or erasure. always always always. either from people being unaware (which. wikipedia exists fam. they’ve got it right. go look it up. I’m so tired of excusing ignorance too, it’s literally in the first sentence of the article) or from people trying to erase the hindu origins of the festival. hell I’ve seen it happen to diwali too and guess what!! SAME SITUATION!!

you wouldn’t call eid anything other than a muslim holiday, you wouldn’t call easter anything other than a christian holiday, you wouldn’t call yom kippur anything other than a jewish holiday.

treat us the same way. let us have our holidays.