#roster criticisms

[beauregardlionett]

NO ONE is doing it like chetney. my man slept through two of his party members attacking each other, and the ensuing argument after, only to be woken up by fearne kicking him and handing him a blade and asking him to do his "geometry" and "beautiful mind" shtick on it, tried to go back to sleep without doing that only to get kicked again, did his "geometry" only to witness thousands of deaths to a single blade, immediately threw up after, handed the sword back to fearne, and laid down to go to sleep again without saying anything

[lord-squiggletits]

One of my favorite parts of phase 2 (and indeed one of the few moments I resonated with IDW Prowl) was when the neutrals were coming back to Cybertron and Prowl said that he refused to let Autobots be pushed aside and overruled after they were the ones who fought for freedom for 4 million years (the exact wording escapes me atm).

And I mean, that resentment still holds true even once the colonists come on bc like. As much as it's true that Cybertron's culture is fucked up, and as funny as it can be to paint Cybertronians as a bunch of weirdos who consider trying to kill someone as a common greeting not important enough to hold a grudge over.... The colonists POV kind of pissed me off a lot of times, as did the narrative tone/implications that Cybertronians are forever warlike and doomed to die by their own hands bc it just strikes me as an extremely judgemental and unsympathetic way to deal with a huge group of people with massive war PTSD and political/social tensions that were rampant even before the war?

Like, imagine living in a society rife with bigotry and discrimination where you get locked into certain occupations and social strata based on how you were born. The political tension is so bad there's a string of assassinations of politicians and leaders. The whole planet erupts into an outright war that leads (even unintentionally) to famine and chemical/biological warfare that destroys your planet. Both sides of the war are so entrenched in their pre-war sides and resentment for each other that this war lasts 4 million years and you don't even have a home planet any more. Then your home planet gets restored and a bunch of sheltered fucks come home and go "ewww why are you so violent?? You're a bunch of freaks just go live in the wilderness so that our home can belong to The Pure People Who Weren't Stupid And Evil Enough To Be Trapped In War" and then a bunch of colonists from places that know nothing about your history go "lol you people are so weird?? 🤣🤣 I don't get why y'all are fighting can't you just like, stop??? Oh okay you people are just fucked up and evil and stupid then" ((their planets are based on colonialism where their Primes wiped out the native populations btw whereas the Autobots and OP in particular fought to save organics. But that never gets brought up as a point in their favor)) as if the damage of a lifetime of war and a society that was broken even before the war can just magically go away now that the war is over.

Prowl fucking sucks but he was basically the only person that pointed out the injustice of that.

And then from then on out most of the characters from other colonies like Caminus and wherever else are going "i fucking hate you and your conflicts" w/ people like literal-nobody Slide and various Camiens getting to just sit there lecturing Optimus about how Cybertronians are too violent for their own good and how their conflicts are stupid, with only brief sympathetic moments where the Cybertronians get to be recognized as their own ppl who deserve sympathy before going right back to being lambasted.

Like I literally struggled to enjoy the story at multiple points because there was only so much I could take of the characters I knew and loved being raked over coals constantly while barely getting to defend themselves or be defended by the narrative so like. It was just fucking depressing and a little infuriating to read exRID/OP

[apocalypticdemon]

Be the change you want to see in the world

Behold, an unhinged, very approximate flow chart for each character on the ships, cobbled messily together in an unhinged 3-hour sprint I did right after I came home. Thank god for the Terror wiki. who tf are some of these guys.

Flowchart based on the ranking chart from Nelson's Navy: The Ships, Men, and Organization 1793-1815. It's outdated by about 30 years for the setting, but I am simply not hunting down the intricacies of naval rank shifts between 1815 and 1845. I'm a musicologist, not a naval historian

There was some guesswork on a few of the ranks; I couldn't quite figure how ice masters fit in here, nor the gunner's steward when there were no other mentions of gunners anywhere. ugh

[galedekarios]

larian: “we’re releasing patch 5 this week!! don’t worry, we fixed the most pressing issue: ast*rion’s kiss! 🤭” my brother in christ you have a whole roster of character’s that need tending to. honestly this is just comical at this point.

so i just came home from work and hoped this message was a pointed joke, but no

it wasn't 🙃

[hoarding-stories]

One thing I'm rather excited to experience is being able to kinda-compare each group's high-level combats

I have no doubt each fight is going to be insanely different in both enemies and situations but still! Seeing the overall flow and vibe of these longer fights with two out of three parties at level 20 is going to be an Experience

[kc5rings]

Starting a new Pokémon Sun run together with my wife playing Moon and I always play to a theme so

Say hello to the starting lineup of the Alolan Wrestling Federation

Early fighter profiles under the cut

1. Champ: Our current local champion with her eyes on the world title, a mankey who rises to the occasion with the grit to take hits and strike back twice as hard

Signature move: A flashy jumping suplex that uses her powerful legs to take her and her opponent fully into the air

2. Chance: A bold little bonsly who once challenged Champ to a match with tears in his eyes, seeing the kid had something to prove Champ gave him one chance. Stay standing after one hit and she’d teach him the trade, he was rocked but stood his ground and has been learning from Champ and the rest ever since

Signature move: Nothing yet but he’s got a sharp eye and absorbs his lessons like a sponge, mimicking the other fighters and slowly working out a style of his own

3. Lockjaw: A classic example of a heel on the surface who always looks out for her crew behind the scenes, helping treat as many injuries as she causes, which is A Lot. Fights largely by soaking impacts and out muscling her opponent, often hides foreign object in her body to use herself or pass to her heel teammates

Signature move: Designed to catch people off guard by being counter to her usual slow style, it’s a low darting rush followed by an upward poison mist spray to the eyes

4. Mako: A newer babyface making a name for herself and the resident heavy for the Face side of the group. Normally easygoing but has a heated rivalry with Lockjaw given her position as the heavy of the Heel side and her use of foreign objects, which Mako finds particularly offensive

Signature move: A running clothesline propelled by the ropes

5. Sly: A former boxer and proudly dirty fighter, he uses his speed and footwork from boxing to create a unique shoot style of wrestling, wants to prove he’s the real deal and not just here as a post boxing career stunt

Signature move: A blindingly fast flicker jab adapted into vice grip of a choke slam

6. Rhea: Leader of the heel side of things and Champ’s long time rival and sparring partner. Their grudge matches always get the wildest crowds and Rhea in particular thrives on the hype, becoming more vicious as the excitement builds

Signature move: An extended backbreaker into a vicious slam where he gives his opponent plenty of time struggle for the crowd before driving them to the mat

[galaxycleric]

winters crest album kinda goes hard I won't lie

[soulofamy]

i dont really understand how people can expect mk1 to fit in full arcs for every single character into one main story campaign

[tomiyeee]

people who hate on tighnari for having straight hair fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you

[elliesgaymachete]

That thing u said about the all men line ups on dropout...... yeah and also this for smosh as well.. like if there is no women I'm outtie

OH THAT yeah and I didn’t say smosh in the post but LITERALLY same. like a few women have left the smosh cast (and olivia is hardly in videos anymore so she barely counts) that the split is SO uneven now and I only watch like a fraction of their videos lmao

But yeah for those who don’t understand why I lose interest in dropout (or smosh) content with all men let me explain it to you:

I am a lesbian and I am tired of content and stories centered around men. I do not care about men. I would like some more women on my screen. Hope this helps 😄

[edgelite]

freshman XXL

[helpimstuckinafandom]

Cr Zelda one-shot with Emily Axford Omar Najam and Robbie Daymond I'm going to pass away

[synnthamonsugar]

Bungie needs to hire another ex-homestuck writer, stat, so we have some hope of seeing f/f content ever again

[italianhorror]

first of all let’s not even compare seth rollins and any sort of nobody from aew. who the fuck is anybody on that show.

[a2zsportsnews]

Grant Hill Responds To Jaylen Browns Criticism Of Team USA Roster Decision

Grant Hill addressed the United States’ decision to replace Kawhi Leonard on their Olympics roster with Derrick White. There were previously reports that White would be the probable replacement should anyone on the roster drop off before the roster was finalized, the announcement was met with cryptic criticism from Jaylen Brown. After White’s selection was announced, Brown first tweeted a series…

[swiftlymurmurs]

I've seen a lot of people voice disappointment over this Game Changer season finale and while I personally wasn't really bothered by a lot of the criticisms (I thought the Ratfish was an interesting added game mechanic and I never really care who wins or loses so his judgements not aligning with mine made no difference to me) I do think it's very interesting and I've spent some time thinking about why it doesn't work for so many. Some thoughts: Why is this Eric guy even here?

Tim & Eric were a popular tv comedy duo in the late aughts alt comedy scene. Sam and many of the writers at Dropout are sketch comedy nerds who, in 2007, were freshly at the start of their comedy careers, and probably see them and the larger [Adult Swim] environment they were a part of as a huge influence.

Why has it maybe aged poorly?

As far as I know, their popularity came in the early stages of about a decade of quite cynical, surreal comedy that also spawned the "lolrandom" era. While huge and fresh at the time, I think my generation (gen Z, the main viewerbase of Dropout) has grown pretty tired of this style and favours sketch comedy that's more clever, witty, and emotionally open or wholesome. At least, that's a movement Dropout has very much steered into with their roster of comedians and it's what the viewers expect.

The parasocial thing

It's no secret that Dropout actively promotes itself as a tight group of friendly comedians who you are invited to get to know, expect, and love when they show up. They don't abuse parasociality in the way you see, for example, younger audience oriented youtubers shoveling merch do it, but they absolutely make use of it. Most of the moments from this episode I've seen people gush over or post positively about are those where the cast recognize each other's styles, reference their relationships, and just generally make it known how well they know one another. When a total stranger enters the picture in an episode where the cast already have a barrier to their regular banter AND is given so much power over the game, they may look like an outsider or even an enemy to the happy little family people have gotten so attached to. Especially because his role is explicitly that of an antagonist, and the cast are never given a chance to see him and maybe out their love and respect for him as a comedian. In the minds of viewers, he just stays some guy who made mean jokes about their blorbo and then left.

Conclusion

I'm always glad to see this show making big swings, and while most of them have landed, some of them are bound to miss. It's a show that prides itself on trying things the viewers may not yet know they wanted and the second it stops trying, I think it'll be all the worse for it. It's a shame to end the season on such a note, but it's been hit after hit so far, and before we know it we'll be right back into it. I love this show, I love this cast, and I'm excited to see what's next!