#so i think focusing on them instead is not only a better decision in terms of consistency and storytelling but it's just the more realistic

[dariusaurs]

i think dinostar is such an interesting ship right now even if i've kind of turned away from it after this season. the problem is that it's complicated, and fandoms historically don't like nuanced situations or takes. i don't think it's fair to say darius is putting brooklynn on a pedestal, since from his perspective, she hasn't done anything wrong, and kenji has been framed as this unfair partner to her. it does feel like his feelings are very immature and more of an infatuation right now ("if he loved you half as much.."/"unless?"), especially when you compare them to kenji's own feelings for brooklynn - his girlfriend who he's loved for 6 years - but that isn't a horrible thing, it's just different. i do completely understand if people dislike the ship right now, and even criticize darius' way of handling the accidental confession, but i just think people have been way too harsh on all three of them without being willing to see that all of their perspectives are different

[livelaughghoul]

Oscar Piastri Personality and Career Tarot Reading

Disclaimer: This is for entertainment purposes only, nothing observed or taken away from this should be considered fact. As a reminder, I know fuck all about Formula 1, I just like fast cars and have a dumb amount of knowledge of astrology and tarot. 

Since I am just recently getting in F1, the first race I actually watched was the Hungary GP. Which like, what an introduction to the sport. Since then I have watched a lot of the replays from prior races, but my knowledge outside of the track is nonexistent. Having this be my first introduction to Oscar was interesting, and I think that there is a lot to unpack there between the team dynamic and the way they approach and relay information to both Oscar and Lando. I may end up doing a reading on two of them at some point, but we will see how I am feeling. 

This spread is actually amazing to me, because we have one of the better Swords followed with a slew of Cups. I love that we are mixing Swords and Cups (even if we are Cup dominated), because Swords are very self focused, almost interalized, whereas Cups are incredibly emotional. I think that it specifically being the Two of Swords really telling, especially with the specific correlation of the Cups we pulled. 

I really love this spread, like a lot. I usually don’t care much for wanting to learn more about the people on the grid, but I actually am interested in getting to know more about him because this is just so interesting to me. I might actually look into someone other than Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, and Kimi Raikkonen (honestly I owe that anon SO MUCH, because you truly have made my life so much better with these men). 

Outward personality - Two of Swords

This card has a soft spot in my heart because it absolutely is the introvert card. It’s protective in nature, and more reserved. While I don’t think it’s a full avoidance of feeling or expressing things, but it definitely is a more thought out or silent approach to emotions and expressing them. Since things are more reserved, there is going to be a lot to go through to develop a friendship or relationship with Oscar. I see a lot of people referring to him as a cat (which is hilarious, I love this), and I think that is really seen in this card positioning. Cats take time to develop trust in people, but when they do, it’s lifelong and so rewarding. Cats are also really good at masking how they really feel, I think that there is a lot of masking and hiding of things in terms of how he is feeling or what is being experienced. 

Inward personality - Ten of Cups

Interally, once you break past the resting bitch face and flat affect, you feel nothing but valued, delight, and at home. The Ten of Cups is like, coming home to your family after a long day at work and just getting to feel valued and at home. It’s a happiness, feeling fulfilled and loved. I love the switch up of the outward personality being this like professional brickwall, and then on the inside there is this soft gooey center filled with love and affection.

Current career - Queen of Cups, reversed

I’m not a huge fan of this one when it comes to the career, because I think that this has the possibility of being too willing to take everything lying down, allowing others to essentially make the decisions for you, and almost put yourself in a secondary or lower positioning. There is a lot of tenderness in this card, and I think that while yes, Oscar absolutely can be aggressive and challenge things, I think that there is alot of hesitancy in this. There is going to be this patience and accepting of whatever he is told to do. It absolutely tells me that he is a team player, but I think that there may be too much of prioritizing of others instead of himself. 

Future career - Three of Cups, reversed

No matter where he goes in his career, who is on a team with, or what his support team looks like, this man is making friends and building a community wherever he goes. Oscar is going to be able to foster a community wherever he ends up, and this is going to make work so much smoother, especially when there is a transitional period that happens. 

[translucio]

more veilguard thoughts! minor spoilers below cut

stuff im liking:

still having fun with combat

level design has been good, tons to explore, solid puzzles. beautiful environments. im liking how distinct and lived in the big cities are feeling.

i am liking lucanis more than i expected.....i know Everyone is simping over him but.. i might have to as well and romance him instead of bellara 🙈

im liking how bite sized the codex entries are. makes it easy to read them all on pickup whereas in inquisition sometimes it was like godddd i want the lore but i dont wanna read five pages right now

petting cats and dogs! i love the haptic purring, that's a really good way to do it (i would honestly love to see that polished even further with variations + meowing/whining/sniffing/licking sounds thru the controller but hey, it's a tiny part of the game and what they have is fine)

the resource economy is feeling pretty decent to me, im motivated to seek out collectables, i buy stuff from vendors often, i understand the upgrade system enough to inform my decisions. it feels very god of war or ghost of tsushima. so my only worry is that i might just get bored of it after many hours as i did in those games (which, i think the solution to that is for the level design to keep things interesting and satisfying enough that theyre rewarding even without the collectibles. so we'll see)

stuff im not really liking

overall plot so far feels Just Okay. but i felt that way about 2 and inquisition too lol

it is actually starting to really bum me out that you can't talk to people at will. like, the lack of dialogue choices in it, for a bioware game, is troubling to me. these settings and characters are interesting and filling me with many questions! i want to be able to dive deeper into them, but i just cant. you just get barks for all the world npcs. and the lack of choices really makes rook feel more like a prewritten/predestined character rather than one that's really yours to characterize. i realize it's a lot of writing and voice acting $$ to have that many dialogues, but that's one of the main selling points for bioware games for me... and it feels weird that other games are now doing it better than dragon age.

similarly the lack of continuity of choices from previous games makes me sad.

i still haven't gotten all that far, but i am several hours in at this point, and i gotta say i am kinda missing side quests a bit... related to the point about lacking world dialogue, but the world is feeling a little bit underwhelming in terms of the character and lore context/depth that i find myself wanting. which was a big problem for me in inquisition as well. like sure, there are collectables and hidden paths and puzzles to navigate through, and those are absolutely a huge improvement over inquisition's. but those don't give life and flavor and narrative depth to the environment the way that having meaningful interactions with npcs does. the barks are nice, but they leave me wanting significantly more in terms of interaction and depth.

im gonna keep comparing it to god of war (2018 - haven't played ragnarok yet) since that's really the closest thing its reminding me of. and while i loved god of war, i did feel like its world was very lonely. it made up for it with its extremely honed in narrative focus on the journey of the two established characters, and the quality of its writing and voice acting both for their dialogues and the few quests with other characters. it's not a game about the setting or how it shapes the characters that live there, it's about a grieving father and son who happen to be gods.

whereas dragon age IS about its world almost as much as it is about its characters. and with such a rich setting with three prior entries to build on, it seems kind of a shame to let players explore all these places we've heard about but not meaningfully interact with the characters there outside of Big Epic Story Moments or companion-focused quests, especially when you could in the previous games.

anyway.... much to think about... still enjoying it, still have more thoughts as i keep playing

[hannibalvampires]

What We Do In The Shadows Finale Thoughts

I’ve seen a lot of different opinions on the finale and I thought why not post my own since I seem to agree with different things from those who disliked it and those who liked it.

So first off I was not disappointed by the finale, but the reason is because I already accepted that the show I loved in the first 3 seasons had taken a different direction.

I was disappointed when the show took a turn in season 4 and 5 and dropped or stopped focusing on a lot of my favourite arcs: Guillermo standing up for himself and becoming more confident, Nandor and Guillermo’s evolving relationship (which was clearly heading in a romantic direction), Laszlo and Colin’s friendship, etc.

I did not expect the finale to wrap up all these character arcs because I’ve seen for the past few seasons that they did not care about those arcs anymore. Instead they seemed to focus almost exclusively on the comedy aspect of the show and decided that the character building and development did not matter anymore.

There were occasional episodes where they would focus more on character development and relationships but the next episode would often act like they never happened and the characters learned nothing.

It was frustrating for a bit but I accepted it. The show was still funny and I enjoyed it a lot of the time. It felt like watching a different show that I enjoyed but not nearly as much as the show in the first 3 seasons.

The episode before the finale was one of those occasional episodes where they focused on character development and relationships. I loved it. However, having seen the pattern of the show the past few seasons I knew that it did not have much bearing on the finale.

I went into the finale with low expectations, partially because of the pattern I’d been seeing in the show the past few seasons, and also because I have experienced many awful finales of shows in the past. I was 99% sure that Nandermo was not going to happen. I didn’t think that Colin would learn the truth about Laszlo raising him. The characters would probably continue seeing Guillermo as below them and Guillermo would keep taking it.

The finale made me feel a bit better about how I’d been feeling actually. They addressed a lot of the issues I had with the last few seasons of the show like the characters never growing or changing, showing that it was deliberate. I personally didn’t like their decision to do that but at least I knew I wasn’t crazy. There were also funny moments and I liked that they put focus on Guillermo and his feelings.

They addressed more about Nandor and Guillermo’s relationship than I thought they would to be honest. I loved the Nandermo ‘ending’ in the third version, and their last scene together was definitely hinting at things, however I could see how someone could see that as baiting. And maybe it was, I don’t know.

I’m used to being queerbaited by ships where either neither of the characters were queer or only one of them was but they were killed or something, so baiting between two queer characters is confusing. Is calling it shipbaiting more accurate? I know there were no long-term same-sex romantic relationships on the show despite all the characters being queer other than Guillermo and Freddie (which did not last long and ended in a horrible joke), but does that make it queer baiting or just not great representation?

Overall I can honestly understand the people who loved the finale and the people who hated it. I think it all comes down to expectations and preferences, as well as how invested in the show people were.

I’m thinking of doing a rewatch of the show now and taking notes to better gather my thoughts and opinions. Who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind on some things.

Anyway that’s just my personal thoughts and opinions. Please be kind to each other.

[fictionfixations]

honestly so happy that its easier to grind in hsr then genshin cause im actually able to properly build my characters instead of whatever mess i had in that game (i got the right artifacts but trying to get materials for anything was a bit of a pain to me)

also that the resin (i dont know what its called in this game im using genshin terms) can like. overflow into this other thing??? is. so helpful. (i stopped playing at one point so i just came back to both being full. and then when i realized what it actually did it was a godsend because it made it so much easier to fully commit to grinding. i know in genshin you can make the resin this little thing? condensed?? but thats a thing you have to do yourself i think)

all im missing is leveling up the lightcones and traces

and im only missing the traces because i already used up weekly bosses. THATS IT.

robin and ratio have the same boss material so all i have to do then is get the other resources which isnt actually that hard (ill only have an issue if i cant material synthesis or exchange or whatever since i need to do it for the robin stuff that you get from enemies that can ambush you, i dont know what you refer to them as, but cause i havent unlocked penacony yet lol)

and the only lightcones that might give me issue is because highlighted is penacony material stuff

(yes i put final victor on ratio LMFAO)

so YEAHH i feel like im doing pretty good in that department. also ive caught up to penaconys story i just havent started in-game because i wanted to see where it all leads up to and then go back to see all the foreshadowing and get a better understanding of what happened since it also confused me, so im waiting for a time i can just sit there for countless hours and focus. i even switched to eng vas so i dont end up misreading something

(anyway i only got to trying to max out my characters as much as i can until i can level them higher because before i got stuck on so many quests that required a fight 😭, yanqing, argenti, i hate battling you oh my god)

actually on that topic everyones relics arent fully maxed out.

ive only been leveling this cause 5 star dan heng is my main damage dealer

and the healer because im fucked without them (its natasha, but im open to changing it if i find a better healer or shield 🙏)

on that topic:

i returned to honkai star rail because aventurine. i focused on the story because aventurine. (got spoiled his story, realized 'what the fuck hes cool i like him' and watched someone go through the story) i came back in time for his banner but you know what? i had like zero wishing stuff because id stopped playing so i missed out unfortunately

i have friends who have aventurine as like one of the support characteres thingy tho? like the the where you can get support from other peoples characters

so thats been fun. but also auto is kind of bad with aventurine. or maybe because it thinks 'oh theres already a shield, so i wont e' which is pain. on the other hand actually playing instead of having it on auto is fun with aventurine. i like planning around it and thinking of who to have use their skills while keeping in mind when i should have him refresh his shield. i cant explain to you how it hurts seeing hp missing with a shield around it because i cant do anything about it (im the type of person who likes to keep my characters hp full ngl)

probably not the best decision to want shield over a healer but. i can make it work. maybe. i just want aventurine ok. (except for phantylia who as far as im aware is the only one who can just TAKE hp like that? without even affecting shields???)

[lassofics]

Arsenal

Word count: 1k

Timeline: Post Season 3

Warnings: None

Summary: Jamie gets a very generous offer to play for Arsenal.

Roy had not wanted to get this phone call. Not today… not ever. But he knew, unfortunately, this was a damn good offer, and he’s morally obligated to bring it up.

So, before training starts that morning, Roy enters the locker room, letting out a soft sigh as he observes the players — talking, laughing, joking around with each other. It almost gives him a small sense of comfort.

He quickly focuses his gaze on Jamie, walking towards him, his expression completely unreadable. Jamie, accustomed to his footsteps at this point, looks up from his locker and smirks a bit.

“Gaffer,” Jamie greets him with a playfully cocky nod.

Roy doesn’t smile. He just tilts his head towards his office. “There’s something we have to discuss, Tartt. Come on.”

Jamie’s smirk fades pretty quickly. Roy’s tone isn’t giving anything away, but Jamie’s had enough conversations with coaches to know this is probably bad news. Still, he just swallows his anxiety and follows Roy to his office.

Once they get there, Roy closes the door behind them both and gestures for Jamie to sit. Jamie, unable to bear the suspense, just asks, “Am I in trouble?”

“No,” Roy replies in a strangely calm tone, though there’s an undercurrent of tension.

Jamie lets out a breath… but then narrows his eyes in slight confusion. “So… why am I here, then? You don’t look… happy.”

Roy lets out a long sigh of his own, then just crosses his arms and leans back in his seat. “Look, I’m just gonna come right out and say it. Arsenal wants you.”

Jamie pauses for a moment, then just lets out a little scoff. “Well… yeah. Loads of clubs want me. I’m bloody brilliant, remember?” His tone is slightly teasing.

Roy rolls his eyes, then just blurts it out. “They’re offering you a three-year contract with an annual salary of £12 million. Base wage of £230,000 a week.”

Jamie’s mouth drops open. His heart just about stops. He’s completely speechless. A thousand thoughts run through his head all at once.

Roy takes his silence as a sign to continue. He grits his teeth and reads the rest of the offer: “‘On top of the salary, Tartt would receive a £5 million signing-on fee, paid up front, alongside a potential £1 million in image rights and sponsorship opportunities.’”

Jamie just sits there in stunned silence for a few seconds. Fuck, that’s a lot of money. And Arsenal… it’s much better funded than Richmond. If he has to face the truth, Arsenal has a better team — in terms of skill.

But Richmond… it’s his home. It’s his family.

It only takes Jamie about forty-five seconds to make his decision.

“No.”

Roy stares at him in disbelief for a couple seconds before finally replying. “No…? You’re not even gonna think about it?”

Jamie crosses his arms over his chest, almost defensively. “I did think about it.”

Roy deadpans. “For what, thirty seconds?”

Jamie suddenly sits up a little straighter, though his arms are still crossed. “Oi,” he says, his voice tainted with annoyance and suspicion. “Why do you want me to think about it?”

Roy scoffs slightly as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world — which, to him, it is. “Because it’s a fucking good offer, idiot.”

But this only serves to make Jamie more annoyed. And this time, his voice is tinged with slight vulnerability when he speaks.

“Right,” he spits out, sounding bitter. “So you wanna get rid of me, innit?”

Roy’s eyes widen slightly. “What? No, you fucking dumbass! I don’t want you to sign with Arsenal!”

“Then why are you so bloody persistent about it?” Jamie snaps, his tone becoming even angrier.

“Because I care about your fucking future!” Roy yells, suddenly raising his voice. He resists the urge to slam his fist on the desk, knowing that might actually scare the kid. Instead, he just clenches his teeth. “You should at least fucking consider it for more than thirty fucking seconds!”

“And why should I?” Jamie yells back, clenching his own fists. Once again, the vulnerability comes out. “‘Cause they have more money? ‘Cause they’re a bigger club? ‘Cause I have more potential to improve there?”

Roy throws his hands up. “You said it, Jamie. Not me!”

Jamie lets out a frustrated sigh, then just shakes his head, his voice coming out in a softer albeit still annoyed tone this time. “Well, maybe I don’t wanna go there, okay?”

Hearing that tone, Roy’s expression softens a bit, and his jaw unclenches, though he still looks pretty stoic.

“I play my best when I’m happy, all right?” Jamie grumbles, fiddling with the drawstrings of his hoodie. “And… I’m not gonna be happy anywhere else.”

Roy stares at him for a few more seconds, his own expression becoming less stoic and more sympathetic. Damn, he loves this kid.

“Yeah, well…” he eventually murmurs, gazing over at Jamie from across the desk. “I wouldn’t be too happy if you left, either. And not just ‘cause I’d have to make adjustments to the starting eleven.”

Jamie manages to crack a small smile at this, looking down.

“I didn’t even wanna fucking tell you about this bloody offer,” Roy confesses with a frustrated sigh. “But I knew you’d hear about it one way or another, so…”

Jamie lifts his gaze a bit, then looks up at Roy with that same small smile. He shakes his head slightly.

“Can’t get rid of me that easy, Kent,” he quips, the corners of his lips quirking up into a full-on grin.

Roy rolls his eyes, though his voice is tinged with amusement now. “Jesus Christ. Thought we were having a fucking moment, but no. You had to ruin it.”

Jamie grins a little wider. “Can’t have you goin’ soft on me, innit?”

“Piss off,” Roy grumbles, though there’s a spark of mirth in his eyes. “And get out of my office.”

Jamie playfully salutes as he stands up. “Will do, old man. See you on the pitch.”

As Jamie leaves, Roy breathes out a massive sigh of relief. As much as Jamie can be a pain in the ass, he loves the prick — and he not-so-secretly hopes Jamie will never leave the club.

[moltensmusings]

I have a question about your RWBY au: how would you handle teams facing consequences when making a big decision that backfires?

My problem with RWBY is that despite making choices that should had have consequences (telling government secrets to Robyn hill, pointing a gun at Whitney, agrus incident etc) the characters instead get rewarded for their actions.

What will you do differently?

I apologize because this got long and maybe veered a bit from the original question but here we go.

For a TL;DR: we need better world building, more apparent character flaws the narrative actively calls out, and villains to be dangerous

I think the main issue with why RWBY never had proper consequences, is that it largely operated (and still somewhat does) on rule of cool. Characters are powerful when the plot demands it in ways that kind of make the stakes feel nonexistent.

To properly implement consequences for characters we need to know what their flaws are and what they could get as punishment if those flaws aren't handled.

Our characters have some referenced flaws, but often times their flaws either never get checked because the writers don't view them as flaws needing to be fixed, or they're excused in canon. Bad things don't happen to them mainly because they mess up, they happen because bad people do bad things.

While pyrrha is the character I'm most annoyed about with the lack of depth, all of them are written to be cool and kind of flawless. So first step is I'd set up clear flaws from volume 1 and have them face consequences that will carry over long term. Here are some examples.

Ruby: For Ruby I feel like she tends to focus on handling things herself. She's incredibly self reliant to the point that she makes a lot of choices to do things solo that ultimately could get her killed. But the writers never go that far. She faces off against Cinder twice and leaves unscathed, if we're going to have her track Cinder to the tower, Ruby needs to leave wounded. Allowed to live because Cinder let her. Give her a scar that remains on her for the rest of the series. Maybe it's normally covered but it's a reminder of the dangers she faces. And even then we don't have to have her learn her lesson yet.

Yang is one where her consequences will effect the Atlas arc. Because I want her semblance to make her black out when she rages. Something she never focused on fixing because normally she could direct it before she blacks out so that the only person hurt is the one who caused the rage. Her teachers keep warning her of the damage she does to the area around her and how her black outs get longer the angrier she is. But she kind of waves it off because she's had this semblance for years and she knows how to deal with it.

However during the vytal festival when there are several competitions between schools and we build up a rivalry between team villain and team rwby we see her anger boiling. She's containing it and does a good job for a while, but the Mercury fight is the last straw. When she attacks Mercury its not just that she hits him once, in fact the villains new her rage made her black out and expected her to hit once. She downs him bad. She has to be restrained and the entire of remnant bears witness to her building rage culminating in her pummeling a kid from a different school. And when she attacks Adam that's once more her lashing out before thinking leading to her arm loss. When she travels she's met with wariness and fear because people know her as the girl that destroys.

Her six month hiatus is not just full of her wallowing over her arm, but angry over everything and raging out sporadically. I'd honestly give taiyang the same semblance as her being the one to help her train to properly control it. But the shadow of her actions won't disappear and people will try to exploit that weakness if she doesn't curb it.

For Blake it would be her being a traitor and running. RWY need their trust regained by her that she'll have to actively work towards doing so but it won't just be them. In Atlas Ironwood knows her past because he would've run checks on any people if interest and found her connection to Adam who was one of the people leading the attack on Beacon and subsequently also was the leader of a group that attacked Argus. Finding out she was a loyal follower of him almost her entire life means that she isn't let into the inner circle and in fact spends most of her stay in Atlas monitored and on probation. The group vouches for her but that can only pacify someone like Ironwood slightly.

For Weiss I'd have her actually be very loyal to authority figures in a way that often causes arguments between her team and her. In Atlas it would cause a major fight because if Yang were to spill secrets to Robyn, Weiss would probably avoid speaking to her for a decent amount of time. I think by that point she'd not outright tell Ironwood herself, but she would be furious at the disrespect. It would mean that more often than not, she's causing unnecessary disagreements in the group but it would also mean that she knows best how to handle people in places like Atlas.

Largely I'd just have a big focus on how dumb choices they make effect their relationships with people outside of the core group. Revealing secret information leads to Penny becoming very disappointed in them and a slight breakdown in the friendship. Potientially if Yang did it without talking to the others it now means Yang gets into a verbal fighting match with the rest of the gang because everything starts to go wrong.

Going off to fight things alone or not properly training means you get into situations that could maim or kill you. Trusting anyone too easily can result in someone dangerous entering your group with the intent to cause harm.

In general I'd really just focus on building flaws, turning down power levels at the start, and making the world and villains more dangerous. Also I think making each kingdom distinctly different in its politics and government could've helped make it so that the group trying to approach all situations the same backfires a lot. It's something I'd have to rewatch the show for to list specific instances of things I'd make consequences for but those are my current notes.

[grimgrazia]

Doors and Denji:

Doors are a common motif in CSM and hold many meanings. They act as a gateway to Hell, a metaphor for repressing trauma, and a symbol of the unknown. I believe they have some other meanings as well, but I’ll touch on those later. This is just the beginning of my analysis for now, and it focuses on Denji’s dream. This isn’t really an analysis on Denji’s character, I plan to do one for him later on. Also let me know if there are other parts of CSM I should analyze. I make plans for an analysis and then school gets in the way so I’ll forget about whatever I wanted to do.

The door in Denji’s dream is one of the most notable parts of the series. Behind the door are suppressed memories from Denji’s traumatic childhood. Each time he has this dream, a voice tells him not to open the door, and he doesn’t. I think it’s important to note that Denji shut those memories away himself. Denji doesn’t need permission to open that door because it’s his door. That being said, suppressing memories is a common response to trauma, so Denji is never aware of the fact he can choose to confront his past or not, because he forced himself to forget. After the Darkness Devil arc, Denji decides he is better off not opening the door, and he’s learned that knowledge isn’t always a great thing.

The door isn’t just locking trauma away, it’s also a symbol for the unknown. There is no foreshadowing or hints as to what could be behind that door in the manga, all we know is that it’s probably not good. We find out at the same time Denji does, when Makima forces that door open. Why would Denji want to open a door that most likely has something bad behind it? Why would anyone want to do that? Even in real life, no one can be 100% sure of what is behind a door (unless it’s transparent but that doesn’t apply here.) It’s kind of like putting a cat in a box and leaving it there for a long time. The cat could be dead, alive, or missing but it’s uncertain until you open the box again. Does the cat even exist still if you can’t see it anymore? (Plz tell someone knows this story I’m talking about). The closed door, like the unknown, leaves room for POSSIBILITY. Denji can’t know for certain what is behind that door until he opens it and sees for himself. To Denji, Aki might not be a fiend until he opens the door, just like the cat might not be dead until you open the box, if that makes sense.

Also, this room for possibility can make finding out the truth even more harmful. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus was so sure of himself and his life. To be fair, he had no reason to believe that he was unsuccessful in avoiding his fate. His entire life was a lie. Denji remembers his father’s death as a suicide, instead of killing him in self defense. Like Oedipus, Denji had come to terms with a lie. Accepted it and moved on. It only makes sense for Oedipus and Denji to react with pure horror when learning or remembering years later. For so long, they believed they knew what happened. They were sure, so there was no need to think about it anymore. Everything in their lives were not as they appear, both Oedipus’ skepticism and Denji’s tendency to trust easily did more harm than good because of it. Neither of them did anything wrong, they simply responded to their respective situations. Responding to the circumstances is really the only control anyone truly has.

Unlike Oedipus, Denji is okay with not knowing what is behind that door. Denji can accept that he does not know everything, doesn’t need to know everything, and never will know everything. It’s impossible and attempting to do so can cause more trouble than it’s worth, like in Oedipus’ case. Learning about something that happened in the past won’t change anything, what’s done is done.

Denji’s decision to not open it can be interpreted in a few ways. You could see it as healthy and as Denji moving forward. He has a great bond with Aki and Power, he’s content with his life, why jeopardize it? Even so, this could also be seen as Denji avoiding the door. The door would have opened eventually, it was inevitable. The question was if Denji would do it himself. Denji wasn’t ready to open it yet. It’d be healthy if Denji confronts his trauma on his own terms, but that’s not what happens. Makima forces that door open on purpose. She’s well aware Denji isn’t ready, so she sees this as the perfect opportunity to ensure he can’t bounce back. That he can never live a normal life, thus breaking his contract with Pochita. Confronting trauma and healing from it is a slow process, but people can still move forward and live normal lives. However, it becomes extremely difficult when you’re overwhelmed by all of it in the matter of seconds.

Even though Denji CHOSE not not open the door after the Darkness Devil Arc, it opens anyways later on. The door was always going to open, it’s something Denji never would have been able to avoid. What he can do, is control how he reacts to it, but he doesn’t realize this immediately. Makima is counting on the fact that after what happened to Aki and Power, on top of forcing the door open, Denji won’t be able to move forward. If she is confident in Denji’s reaction, she has control. She orchestrated everything so she could be certain that Denji will be totally hopeless, and never live normally. She understands it’s difficult to control how people respond to things, especially when someone has lived a life like Denji’s.

“Time eases all things,” is a famous line from Oedipus Rex. By this, Creon means that over time, people move on or at least find ways to cope so that they can go about their daily lives. Makima realizes that after Himeno’s death, Denji does not get attached nor is he fazed easily. I think this is when she realizes she can’t just throw him into horrific situations, but must build his ideal life, let him be happy, and then rip it all away. The deaths of Aki and Power being so close to one another was crucial to this too, because Makima didn’t want to give Denji time to process what happened, or “ease the wounds.”

Makima becoming a mother figure for Denji contributed a lot as well. Fujimoto stated in an interview that their relationship is based off abuse from documentaries he watched. Unhealthy family dynamics cause conflicting feelings, especially if they are all you have. If Kishibe did not get to Denji in time, Makima’s plan definitely would have worked. Makima made Denji believe that he had no where else to go, he had no choice but to die. It’s in the safe room with Kishibe and Kobeni that Denji realizes he has not reached a dead end, or rather, reaching a dead end on one path doesn’t mean the same will happen on another path. He does what the mouse in Kafka’s “A Little Fable” couldn’t do: change his direction.

I hope this makes sense, I feel like I got off topic. Anyways, this doesn’t even scratch the surface of CSM, but this is all I have energy for right now sorry.

[rukimakino-heirofheart]

🔥Puella Magi Madoka Magica

🔥Renaruki

🔥 MadoMagi:

The original anime was pretty mediocre and had a mediocre soundtrack. Its fatal flaw is that it tries to center itself around a single main character (Madoka Kaname herself) whose viewpoint we see the world through, but her characterization physically cannot get focus in this format in an anime, because you just don't get to see how deeply screwed up her worldview is if you never know what she's thinking. Consequently, you actively lose information by telling the story in a format other than a novel or VN. (Observant viewers may recognize this as the same ultimate problem behind why adapting FSN for the screen inherently requires getting more exposit-y about Shirou's deal.) Ultimately, I wholeheartedly recommend skipping the MadoMagi TV anime entirely; most of the best parts of the Puella Magi Series are elsewhere and don't expect familiarity with a disappointing TV anime. (The Different Story, Rebellion, and Wraith Arc escape this curse by not being Madoka-centric, instead focusing on more conventional protagonists in Kyouko and Homura.)

Rebellion was a perfectly fine ending in and of itself, and it doesn't need a sequel. The only reason I'm interested in Walpurgis no Kaiten's existence is that it seems to be going so far out of left field that I kind of have to entertain it and find out what the cook is.

Of the "classic" Puella Magi titles (pre-2017, i.e. before Magia Record), I'd rank them like this:

Puella Magi Tart Magica - Masugitsune

Puella Magi Oriko Magica - Kuroe Mura

Extended Puella Magi Madoka Magica Series - Gen Urobuchi (TV, Rebellion, Wraith Arc) & Masaki Hiramatsu (TDS) & Hanokage (Wraith Arc)

Puella Magi Suzune Magica - GAN

Puella Magi Kazumi Magica - Masaki Hiramatsu

Rankings of Tart and Oriko may be swapped depending on how I'm feeling that day.

This is not to say that Suzune and Kazumi are bad manga, but the former quite infamously ran into production troubles and the latter bit off way more than it could chew, and it shows. Kazumi has a lot of cool plot ideas and themes in play but reading it for the first time can feel like being subjected to a plot point firing squad. The original manga run of Suzune was good but not spectacular -- it didn't truly get to shine until the MagiReco crossover events started happening. (It has been 1200 days since the last Suzune event...)

MagiReco fans often describe Arc 2 as "when it gets good," and it's common to write off Arc 1 entirely as an extended prologue, however I do still maintain that Arc 1 is a good story on its own terms. You can feel the weight of the production issues (there's a very noticeable midpoint shift where a major rewrite happened) but it's still a perfectly fine and coherent story. Most of what the fandom writ large likes to call "flaws of Arc 1" are just, intentional foreshadowing.

When AniReco (the companion anime to MagiReco that tells a completely separate story)'s final batch of episodes originally came out that fateful April 3, I gave the production as a whole a massive side-eye (I distinctly remember logging on and asking a chatroom I was in "what is even happening?? Why is the anime Folklore of Zero propaganda all of the sudden?? Wait, Neo Dorothy Motherfucker???? Huh??????"), but I've since warmed up to it. It's its own thing, and you have to have its place in the series' cosmology and the showrunner's goals in writing it explained to you first before you start watching, and it makes some writing decisions I find to be questionable, but it did a remarkably good job for a series that was slashed from 39 episodes down to 25 halfway through.

Apparently this is a hot take now: I like Nagisa Momoe's actual backstory as detailed in MagiReco a hell of a lot better than "dumb idiot child wished for cheese instead of healing her ailing mother." The collected Nagisa cycle of MagiReco stories makes her arguably the single most interesting member of the Holy Quintet.

I want more Kyubey worldbuilding, goddammit! We know precious little -- the Incubators were created by an advanced alien civilization (local expert Touka Satomi, A1C9), and their tissue is analogous to stem cells and can be reconfigured on the fly (Kosane Kiriha, NMG) -- and I need to know more! What were the progenitors like? Did they wipe themselves out? Actually, now that I think about it, are Incubators like Touhou's shikigami where you take fleshy hardware and flash it with your own artificial intelligence? We know a human can control one (Madoka uses LoC-branded pink Incubators for surveillance purposes) and we know a human can have their soul shoved into one losslessly (mokyu!), so like, what are the limitations here? Hell, the Pleiades made their own once! It sucked at its job, but it existed! How did they do that? Tell meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I think that even in the absence of the Automatic Purification System, being a magical girl is just kind of objectively better than being human. You get to opt out of mortality, you get private(-ish) telepathic communication for free, you get a shrunken hitbox -- no more worrying about workplace safety hazards as long as you protect the gem! -- you get a weirdly specific personal magic that varies in effectiveness from Konomi's baton pass to Iroha's localized time reversal, and even if you don't get something useful you still have a magical weapon that you can spawn on command. That's even before we get into the existence of Coordinators, and the logical applications of their Adjustment magic in gender-affirming care. To be quite honest, if Kyubey ever had reason to approach me, my wish would probably just straight-up be "immediately megucify every human who exists right now and every human who will ever exist in the future regardless of energy cost."

I'm scared of the new Magia Exedra mobage's existence because (1) it's very prominently advertised as being Quintet-centric and I'm sick and tired of the Quintet, and (2) there's a nonzero chance it will take resources away from Magia Record to focus instead on what seems, if the credits on the website are to be believed, to be a shitty autobattler. MagiReco is the best thing the Puella Magi Series has ever done and I want it to survive well past its tenth anniversary.

🔥 RenaRuki:

Okay, seriously, did the entire Tamers fandom collectively forget that, past a certain part of the D-Reaper arc, none of the Primary Colors are actually human anymore? Because it feels like I'm the only one who's acknowledging this, despite the fact that "Ruki, alienated from humanity, voluntarily gives it up, while Renamon, aligned with humanity, is a trans woman" seems like a pretty obvious thread to work with, and being turned into a digital life-form offers plenty of opportunities for neat body horror, not even to mention how this affects the ways in which Ruki's Candy timeline counterpart has steadily been getting worse for two decades.

[Side note: I really need better names for the "more canon" movie timeline that's relevant, essential and true, and the "less canon" drama CD timeline that isn't. If I keep calling them Meat and Candy I'm going to get weird looks from the non-Homestucks.]

I swear I had more observations I was going to put here but I got sidetracked. Might add on a reblog later.

[ca-suffit]

somehow I missed this post but let's get into it now. this is only a small part of a larger post made by all the white fandom ppl.

this theory they all have and keep repeating is racist af. it's even worse because these aren't white ppl saying this.

these ppl need to protect the white character so much that they're weaponizing their races (even the black ppl) to be antiblack af. they're taking gigantic steps over acknowledging the v simple fact that everything lestat does makes sense when ur able to recognize racial differences *as the show wants u to do.* it's not bad writing, it's not "gringo writers." it's moving the characters through a world without being anne rice stupid about it. also louis was *not* the aggressor in the book and the story is *always* about *both* of them escaping from lestat. it's about parenthood in the ways that frankenstein is about parenthood. it's not just about how louis fails claudia, it's how lestat failed louis, how lestat failed claudia, how they all constantly fail *each other.* and the show is giving us that too! fucking idiots! I thought u were big readers, u can't see this?! how fucking sad!!

u can tell this story of lestat being abusive as a white man to his black partner (and black child) and have it be true just fine. this happens irl all the fucking time. if it was rly that fucked up, there'd be no black ppl in the fandom. this group is so fucking antiblack, they not only shove the characters aside to center the white guy and excuse his abuse six different ways, they bully black fans and make sure nobody gets to hear any black opinions that aren't those voices who only center and protect whiteness.

anyways, lestat can do all of this and still come back around to healing with louis. it's only "bad writing" to ppl who have never emotionally matured. which would be everyone who has to go this hard defending white ppl instead of just saying this is all happening because this was racially conscious casting. this story is focused on race. these are real issues in interracial relationships, even now. it's patriarchy. it's slavery. it's blurring lines on purpose. It's not "some cheap Lifetime movie plot" u ignorant fucking bitch.

let me get to my other point tho. they want u to ignore race, they want u to think it's bad writing, they want u to think *they're* the smart, book educated ppl. they repeat their own fanon in a group to manipulate u to thinking it's "the smartest" decision by "smart" ppl. it's just a bunch of antiblack bullshit.

lestat having done this fr and louis having to come to terms with that is real. that is prbly what the show is going to hit hard on. that lestat did that and claudia got the most fucked by it because louis was still unable to leave him. and u can still create healing from that with loustat because, as this group loves to remind us, they're *vampires* and they have literally *forever* to fix their shit.

these book ppl want us to rush through twenty books just to stop criticizing white lestat and making them feel bad about liking him. there's no reason to be rushing the books in part two of fucking *IWTV.* they are so STUPID. and they want us to be too. but sorry, we're not all fucking buying it.

louis *has* to attempt suicide because he becomes aware that claudia manipulated him into killing lestat because of her own pain at being forced into vampiric existence by both of them? so all of the manipulation and violence and lying liars is only aimed at black ppl then? lestat is gonna walk away taking accountability for nothing, being the victim of a bunch of black liars, and u think that's the better version? u think that's rly gonna happen?

I need u to understand how fucking deeply racist all of this shit goes. it is evil levels of it. it is planned levels of it. this group is so fucked in the head and they need u to buy into it so badly so they can feel rly smart and get one over on black fans.

u need to know this is fucking garbage. it's not deep, it's not insightful, it's just antiblack shit from the same fucking group who is always bringing u antiblack shit dressed up in ways they think they're being slick about. I need these ppl to choke and cry and throw up when this shit does not happen in the show, because it is v much not going to.

fuck every single goddamn one of u.

[valemya]

🍄🧸 for the asks! :)

thanks for the asks!

🍄 mushroom: tell me about your dr family!

Certainly! In terms of biological family... I went the route 99% of shifters go- they're just not around. Being a jedi and all it would be difficult for them to be present in my life anyway, so to make it easier I just don't really know them because I haven't seen them since before I was taken to the order.

There is one exception though and it's a bit of a weird one tied to my other (star wars rebels) DR, which I have had for a looong time. Basically in that DR Ezra Bridger is my (non-biological) brother, yknow grew up together, lived together the whole deal. I faced a great deal of emotional torment when I decided to create my tcw DR, because I felt like I would be "cheating" on rebels by focusing on another DR. A friend of mine helped me realise it was alright to put that DR on the backburner for a little while, and besides I could just script Ezra in my tcw DR with me? So then came the epiphany I literally could just bring Ezra with me to my new DR, and that was genuinely really comforting and made me feel a lot better about my decision to make the tcw DR.

Anyway boring backstory aside, there is one exception and it's Ezra. The only difference is that in my tcw DR he's my second cousin (and my padawan!!) cause I thought it would be reeeally funny if I was just randomly assigned a padawan that coincidentally had the same last name as me, thinking there was no relation, until one day obi wan goes digging in the jedi archives or something and finds out oh shit! you guys are cousins fr!

Someone: *reading off a report* General Bridger and.... Commander... Bridger? Is that like your son or something?

Ezra and I, at the same time: we are NOT related!!!

Obi wan: ...😶

So that covers the biological side... but I know you're really here for the found family bit. I'd say that I consider just about everyone family, especially all the clones, but I'll rattle off a few really significant people quickly.

My old master Depa is for sure the mother figure in my life. And yes she's still keeping me in check even after I've long passed my trials and officially gotten out of her hair in the eyes of the Order. By extension, Caleb (Kanan) is someone I'd consider like a half-brother and don't worry, I make sure he and Ezra get to hang out a lot.

Obviously growing up with Anakin I'd consider him family too, and that means Obi Wan on some level as well. To me Obi Wan is kind of like a wine aunt. Will not be elaborating further. Ahsoka feels like a niece.

Despite legally becoming my brother-in-laws at some point, I do consider a lot of the clones to be either very close friends or some kind of familial figure I can't really place. Naturally some are closer to me than others such as Rex and the 501st or the Bad Batch, but I think I bond with them all pretty well.

Tech of course holds the most special place in my heart as my future husband.

...I think that covers it...

🧸 teddy: do you have a favourite childhood memory from your dr?

This one actually had me stumped for a while. I honestly, genuinely have not thought about my life before the war too much, certainly not as a child really. If I had a favourite memory of anything from my childhood it would be a toss up between:

When I was a brand new admission to the Order and didn't really know anyone or even my place in it all, I would spend most of my time in the temple library/archives. The lovely librarian Jocasta Nu was super kind to me, and I continued to spend time in there over the years and even kind of wanted to work within that area because of her kindness. Turned out not to be as I got assigned to the war instead, but the memory is still pleasant.

OR

The early days when I was chosen as Depa's padawan. Getting to know her and what she stands for and learning from her and meditating together is just such a nice bonding activity. She's super supportive and a very grounded teacher, and I think my eyes would have been sparkling watching her do all these cool things and then receiving her guidance on these same things until I was able to master them myself. Just so cool. I think she's a great jedi and a great teacher too.

And there you have it! my essay responses to your asks! hope you've enjoyed and thanks again for the submission!

[tumblydovereviews]

In Defense of Caillou

Growing up, my family was one of the very few who weren't avid members of the Caillou hate wagon. It was, and still is, one of my dad's favorite shows that I watched as a kid, and he was genuinely surprised when I revealed to him all the hate the show has managed to amass. I watched plenty of Caillou as a kid, and I'm happy to report that I came out perfectly normal, if not a bit energetic for my age.

Yes, Caillou is not a perfect show by any means. With the characters having little-to-no personality outside of existing in this hairless child's kingdom, annoying voices, and the infamous tantrum scenes, it's no wonder why this show has become so hated, and still is to this day. But I don't think I'm being too generous when I say that Caillou has some merit to it that I feel is overlooked by the general public.

Contrary to public belief, Caillou isn't actually a lonely cancer patient or an alopecia victim- he is actually based off a French book series that originally depicted him as a baby rather than a toddler. To make sure kids could still recognize him even with the age increase, it was decided that Caillou would remain bald. In my personal opinion, I think the creators made the right call. Young kids are still learning how to recognize differences, and chances are if Caillou did have hair, the sudden change in appearance would be overwhelming. It may be weird to us older people, but to kids, keeping Caillou as recognizable as possible was a serviceable move.

A lot of people tend to forget that Caillou is a four-year-old, which is surprising considering that it is established in the literal first line of the theme song (I'm just a kid whose four.) Being four, Caillou is destined to have tantrums, moments where he acts bratty and less than a saint. The real issue comes with the lack of emphasis on condemning the behavior and instead focusing on solving rather than learning. Caillou's parents are the original permissive parents, and one could compare them to the overly gentle parents that exist on TikTok. They rarely call out their son when he does act out and instead dismiss his behavior to the side. The 2020s revival series does a much better job at balancing gentle fairness with firmness. When Caillou or Rosie misbehave, they are scolded for it while also steered in the right direction in an imaginative way, arguably more creative than Boris or Doris' tactics in the original show ever amounted up to being.

Caillou has surprisingly great representation for a preschool show in the 90s, especially in terms of disability and other medical conditions. The show features episodes spotlighting deafness, Down syndrome, autism, wheelchair usage, and even Type 1 diabetes. The episodes in particular talk mainly about how the chronically ill/disabled character is still able to function perfectly normally, even with the condition they have. As a diabetic myself, the episode Emma's Extra Snacks always stood out to be, even before I was officially diagnosed. Diabetes representation and the stigma surrounding it is an issue that not many pieces of media discuss, and I'm happy that Caillou has the courage to tackle a subject that can and has been botched so easily.

And let's not forget the puppet segments, arguably the best part of Caillou. These puppet segments focused on three of Caillou's furry companions: Gilbert the cat, Rexy the T-Rex, and Teddy the teddy bear as they go on miscellaneous adventures around Caillou's house. My personal favorite of the trio was Gilbert and his 'odes.' The segments, while on the more basic side, provide a good enough distraction from Caillou's escapades, even if only for five minutes, before we were forced to go back to the bald boy's basic ballads.

While writing this post, I came up a post online asking if people would rather have their kids watch Caillou or Skidibl Toilet. If faced with a decision like this in real life, I'd turn on Caillou in an instant. Caillou has done a lot of bad, but deep down, we can't forget that the show's main intention, no matter how botched it ended up turning out, was to teach kids about life. I would much rather live in a world with mildly annoying preschool shows than brain rot which serves no purpose but to gradually disintegrate a person's cognitive functions.

He's just a kid who's four, and each day he grows some more, so I think that we need to start growing on him, just a smidge more.

[tuliptiger]

Ok ok ok last totk rant. Maybe a little nicer this time after playing it in a gentle way for a bit. I thiiiink my biggest gripe is that I don't really feel they asked and answered the question after BOTW was over, how do we continue this world and this story? What does it look like after Link and Zelda are reunited? How do we answer some of those loose end plots IF they need answering?

You know? I feel like there were a lot of questions to ask and it felt like they just wanted to start the story and plot over completely but with the same sand box elements, just keep the aesthetics but get rid of everything else because it's easier and quicker for production if we can pump out a game everyone has already liked.

I also feel like Totk got choked out by corporate decisions, trends and keeping everything dulled and dimmed down for a younger audience. Which is kind of fine because honestly I don't really know who the audience for totk was, if it was general or targeted at younger audiences. That is certainly what it feels like for a large majority of the game.

In which case, I need to come to terms with the fact it wasn't ever aimed at me regardless of the money I spend on it and I will always be disappointed because of that.

I did actually enjoy, kind of playing it for the first time in a couple months for a couple of hours. But I played it like I played botw, mid world with my horse and slowly kind of picked around the map in one central spot I liked for a little bit. Enjoyed the flora and fauna, didn't take battles too seriously or just ran away. Focused on an areas quests instead of shooting all over all 3 maps, without my horse or a mode of transportation.

I honestly hate the build system and I know I'm bitching about the things that didn't happen, and that I won't change anything by complaining but fr a mount system to me works so much better for open world games. I hate "paying" to make a vehicle or going through the motions of making a vehicle. It's cold and distant to me, I want my horse or a "living" mount companion to hang out with on my adventures. Bleh so much wasted potential and so many interesting questions that could've been asked but just weren't.

What's an interesting way to navigate the maps that gives players the freedom they want but isn't cumbersome? Somehow they made the horse controls worse which I honestly don't understand how that even happened, considering they did NOT improve or add anything to the horse system. Vehicles are a pain because yeah, the buying your vehicles aspect but also the menus, the menus and menus and menus and the scrolling through all your items. The fact that you not only have ultrahand but it was annoying ENOUGH that they added a specific tool to try and circumvent the annoyance of rebuilding vehicles.

And I can't even get started on the erasure of the sheika and sheika technology AND the fucking guardians and I cannot believe I'm saying it but I do actually miss the guardians. I think the battles with them were awesome and they were scary as hell and I liked not only running from them but knowing that they can cover a lot of distance quickly added to the thrill. It was so incredibly lazy to pave over them with "just another ancient civilization". Another question that could have or actually was asked this time and they just didn't want to answer it because it took effort to figure it out. "How do we continue with the sheika and guardians considering the calamity's impact on them? How do we not repeat botws ganon taking over the guardians when he awakens again?" I think pretty interesting questions! That will never be answered.

I miss having my horse teleport to me and not need to be within 500 ft of me. Quality of life and functionality just took a nose dive to me. Anyway! Totk is a different beast I suppose, the only way I'm going to enjoy it it seems is as slowly as I can and try and enjoy the things I liked about botw and the rare new things I find in totk.

I don't think I'll get over feeling disrespected by Nintendo and the developers though tbh, I am a chump for paying 70 dollars for a large dlc of a game I liked though and they knew it too. Fuck Nintendo, it's kind of always been that way but also like, fuck Nintendo.

[elftwink]

so this is from someone who also actively plays in and dms campaigns with other systems but personally i love dnd partly because i like the number of arcane rules. i think part of what it is, is my table experiences have been so combat-lite that for me the system has just become tools for solving puzzles and situations. encounters are so few and far between with my usual dm that they become very intense and scary when they do happen, and you can maybe say well that's dnd guy cope to say that this combat sim is better without the combat, and that probably is true. the best version of dnd for me like if i were writing 6e would be to shift the game's mechanical focus away from combat, increase the prominence of utility/ roleplay oriented spells and skills, and encourage DMs not to rely on combat to fill space in the game

yes!! ik im being a hater in my posts rn but i also love dnd, and especially the magic and spell system. it's not perfect obviously, but i have yet to find a ttrpg whose magic system is as engaging to me personally as dnd is. idk it's like exactly the right amount of rules to feel very bound by them while still leaving wiggle room for creative magic choices (either by way of flavour which is whatever you make of it, or by way of doing something that is Technically covered by the spell but probably not intended, which almost always fucks extremely hard).

& also i agree that dnd is kind of too combat focused, and i actually do think it would be better with less (although i suspect that given theres a pretty large contingent of dnd players who play mostly or solely combat, i dont think this is a universal opinion lol), or at the very least if it didn't feel like it dominated the meta decisions you have to make. like when i take new spells i often have to deliberate between the cool utility spell i actually want to take that has no damage component, and the damage based spell that will keep me viable in combat. i wish often these choices were less at odds with each other, or at least if you had a character who needed to be carried through combat that they would have more utility in non-combat scenarios instead of just kind of feeling like dead weight (now i sound like someone who should try another system, lol. but its more varied spells in the existing dnd system that i want!)

also i kind of think dnd has a problem esp at the mid level with keeping combat high stakes and genuinely scary, which is a whole other post where i could ramble lol, but honestly in terms of per table solutions "do combat a lot less" sounds like actually an extremely good way to deal with it. the worst thing in dnd is when combat starts to feel repetitive and like a slog. if it happens rarely it just so so so much easier to avoid that. i could say much more about this but ive already been typing this ask for a gazillion years but the point is i'm stealing your dms tactics for next time i run a game

also to contextualize my baseless haterism posts, i just want to clarify that i don't care in any way if someone plays only 5e/dnd and refuses to play other systems. this is whatever. what annoys me is when such people insist this is because every other game on earth is worse than dnd at everything, somehow, even though they do not know the full rules of dnd and are not super interested in learning. there's a lot to be found there in dnd but you have to like, engage with it. your dm cant read it for you. & its always more fun to be at a table where everyone knows wtf is going on than with players who barely know enough to scrape by and treat the DM like a rules dispensing machine

anyway. your 6e ideas sound awesome, especially more utility spells pleaseeee wotc. life could be so beautiful

[yonarida]

Dopamine Detox

The title is Dopamine Detox. For me, that is a nice book, by Thibaut Meurisse Several points I like, as a reminder for myself:

The truth is that no amount of stimulation will ever bring you the sense of fulfillment you're seeking. Yet, many of us are constantly overstimulated, looking for the next source that could trigger a release of dopamine. It seems as though we always want more and are never satisfied. And the more we seek stimulation, the worse it becomes.

Your focus is a scarce asset. Instead of using the internet to find information or communicate with loved ones, the internet has become the one using you. It does so by hijacking your focus and making you unproductive and, as a result, restless. Social media notifications are a great example of how your brain is being hijacked.

When you engage in such hijacked activities, you risk becoming not only overstimulated but also distracted and, as a result, you will lose your ability to focus. Whoever has succeeded in staying away from the internet or social media for a few days, understands what a waste of time and focus such activities can be.

Food craving -> By adding sugar, the food industry can not only make the food more palatable, but they make us crave more. For this reason, if you look at the list of ingredients contained in any processed food, you'll find sugar in most of them. However, I should mention that, while there is a debate on the actual addictive power of sugar, it is unlikely to be as addictive as cocaine. -> Humans seem to have a natural craving for sugar and fat. While we may not be addicted to them per se, it might be a good idea to reduce our intake and lower our dependence on them, especially on sugar.

Dopamine and Constant Stimulation Can Impair Your Ability to Think Long-term -> Studies have shown that one of the best predictors of success is the ability to think long-term. People who repeatedly focus on where they want to be in the future, make better decisions in the present. -> They tend to eat healthier food, be more productive at work, and save and invest more money than others. Unfortunately, these days, focusing on our long-term goals isn't an easy feat. Many external forces lead us to become caught up in short-term thinking and encourage us to fall for immediate gratification. -> Remember, long-term thinking is the "secret" to achieving your goals. But it won't happen today or tomorrow. You must develop the art of patience and consistency. To do so, eliminate the distractions that make you feel restless. Remove the external stimulations that prevent you from focusing on the long-term picture. Then, you will stand a much better chance of ending up where you want to be in the coming years.

When you are calm and focused, doing your main work can be surprisingly easy. You might even be excited, looking forward to making progress toward your biggest goals each day.

The Problem with Overstimulating -> When you're engaging in highly stimulating activities, your brain will keep demanding more and more stimulation. As your level of stimulation rises, regular tasks will appear increasingly dull and unappealing.

Action Step -> Write down a specific distraction pattern that often falls into that leads to being in a state of overstimulation. example: checking Instagram -> The Stimulation Trap As soon as you enter a state of overstimulation, your mind will play tricks on you to convince you there is no need to leave that "trance". Instead, your mind encourages you to embrace it and seek even more stimulation.

The Benefits of Detox -> Dopamine detox: the reduction of stimulation to prevent overstimulation and put you in the proper state of mind to tackle major tasks. -> A dopamine detox helps reduce stimulation, thereby allowing you to revert to a more natural state. When you need less stimulation, seemingly challenging, boring, or tedious tasks will become more appealing, and easier to tackle.

Type of dopamine detox: 1. The 48 hours complete dopamine detox -> You must eliminate most or all sources of external stimulation for a total of 48 hours. Doing so will help you reduce your overall level of stimulation and revert to your natural state. You will feel much calmer and find it easier to focus on any specific important task. -> example source: internet, phone, social media, sugar/ processed foods, video games, music -> Alternative activities: going for a contemplative walk, journaling, relaxing, practicing awareness exercise, reading (except stimulating reading perhaps), stretching exercise. 2. The 24-hour dopamine detox the concept is like the first type 3. the partial dopamine detox removing your biggest source of stimulation.

3 Steps method for a successful detox 1. Identify your biggest distraction 2. Add friction Make unwanted behaviors harder to engage in by adding friction. Redesign your environment to make undesirable behaviors more difficult to engage in while making more desirable behaviors easier to conduct. 3. Make desired behaviors easier to engage in by reducing friction. 4. Start first thing in the morning Create a morning routine to help you start your day on a positive note and with a strong focus. Do the thing that remains calm and focused, something that doesn't make you feel overstimulated. Now, decide whether you want to do a 48-hour, a 24-hour, or a partial detox. Then, identify the main sources of stimulation you'll eliminate as you go through your detox.

Reflect on your life When we're constantly busy and overstimulated, we sometimes fail to take a step back. We can't see the forest for the trees. Use your dopamine detox as a way to zoom out. To do so: -> Reflect on your goals What goals are you pursuing? Are they the right ones for you? Are you making progress toward them each day? And if you keep doing what you're doing, will you reach them? -> Assess how you're using your time Are you being truly productive each day? Do you spend time on things that matter? Which activities or projects do you really need to focus on? Which ones do you want to stop doing? -> Seld Reflect Are you where you want to be in life? What inner work could you do to improve yourself?

Doing the Work One of the main goals of a dopamine detox is to lower your level of stimulation to help you feel more motivated to work on key tasks. -> Plan your day Planning your day is important for the following reasons - it allows you to clarify which tasks are important and which ones aren't - It reduces the odds of your mind distracting you during the day. Because you know exactly what you have to do, you can move from one task to the next smoothly and without distraction, and you will move toward your goals proactively. The key to productivity can be summarized in three words: 1. Focus 2. Consistency 3. Impact means identifying your key tasks (the ones that have the greatest impact on your long-term success

[lokilysolbitch]

okay i'm moving my tags here and adding some extra stuff bc i had time to read everything and see what wasn't mentioned

i suspect my abusers had DID or something so instead of working with consistent consequences or consequences based on how angry they were, it was really just russian roulette if something would make them laugh, make them angry so that they'd make up a punishment on the spot, not make them angry but still make them punish me anyways, make them angry and they'd give me a long term punishment but they'd comepletely forget they even had a punishment a few days in, etc. it was really up to the gods. so my tips are gonna be based on giving yourself the space to make a last minute decision and idk they might not be very helpful but they helped me. also there will be tips for isolation

if you're in situations like hotels where you share a room with them for a night, keep your brightness down, apps on dark mode, and make your phone's wallpaper dark. even on the lowest brightness with your phone hidden under something, a light wallpaper will light up the whole room in pitch darkness. if you want to message someone, use apps with dark backgrounds (like pinterest on dark mode. snapchat is bright as hell)

if you share apple ID accounts with the abuser, use different apps (social media on browsers in private mode are best) for messaging people. sometimes apple gets messed up and your messages show up on other people's phones if you share accounts. only use imessages for non suspicious stuff. anything else for punishable conversations. it can even be something like communicating through messaging options in games. as long as it works. just not imessage

have your laptop settings to where you can tap to click things instead of having to push down on the mousepad and make a noise. it's helped in lots of random situations, especially when an abuser suddenly is on edge and can get set off by any noise. i think on mac's there's a way to key the keyboard on screen so you can click the letters with the mouse too

that trick to cup your ears with your hands actually does help you hear better, but also if you direct them like a dog's ears you can chose what direction you want to hear from. so if you turn your hand around, you'll hear behind you better and block off distracting noise from the front of you

always have a tab open of schoolwork looking activities to pull up quickly when needed. my abusers were very school focused most of the time so if i looked like i was studying there was a good change they would back off and come back later

if you live with an animal, memorize the animals patterns for how it interacts with people (ex: the apartment cat meows most when my roommates are in their rooms, a little less and slightly quieter if they're in the living room, and will meow loudly for a few minutes and sit quietly for a few hours if they're out of the apartment. but if he's (the cat) completely quiet that means one roommate is in the living room but probably fell asleep on the couch)

if you're room is kept at really cold temperatures and especially you have raynauds on top of that, prioritize keeping your core warm. you can alternate sticking one extremity into your jacket/sitting on it to keep them as warm as possible. learn to do as much as you can while most of your body is underneath blankets. stay in the bathroom as long as you can after hot showers so the steam can keep you warm for a while, and then afterwards get right back under the covers to preserve heat as long as possible. use whatever you can as warmers like overheating laptops and phones. and don't let the wind from the ac get on you because that sucks the heat out of you within seconds. cover whatever body part the ac will hit even if it's just for a short time

water/drinks are quieter if poured on the side of the glass. while the glass is tilted. basically try to make it so the water cascades down the side instead of falling straight it.

if you're allowed to lock your doors, depending on your situation it might be best to unlock it if your abuser is in an argument separate from you. sometimes mine would come looking for a reason to be mad at me if they were already mad, and tried to barge into my room to find it locked? not good, even if it was allowed before. if i heard tense voices or yelling, i'd unlock my door, clean and hide what i could, and then sit somewhere while looking like i was doing something school related. then they might just settle for saying i better finish my work instead of getting a lock taken away

okay i know it sounds silly but if you're isolated from friends and need someone, you might want to find a bf/gf/friend/etc rp asmr-tist you like. i had only one friend for over a decade and for 8 of those years we lived in different states, sometimes different timezones. so if one of us were busy or asleep i was on my own, which was often. sometimes you just need a video of someone saying it'll be okay to get through life. there's ones for panic attacks and things like that

also maladaptive daydreaming isn't as maladaptive when you have no other option. you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes

if you need extra time to sleep in the mornings, sleep in your clothes that you're wearing tomorrow but know that blue jeans will stain your bedsheets after enough times.

if your parents care about grades but deprive u of sleep, know what classes you can sleep in and what times you can sleep (sometimes teachers have a rhythm of giving good info for a minute and then rambling for a while so id fight microsleep to write the notes and let it take over during the rambling). know what subjects are easiest to re-teach yourself at home and what it's best to try to stay awake for in class. i could look up equations later but if i missed notes during an english class i was screwed

if an abuser is squeamish about certain things like unopened pads you might be able to hide things in there bc they're too afraid to try to look closely at it or dig through them

establish signals with friends that don't look out of place. like texting "so true lol" meaning you agree but texting "so true" meaning the abuser is watching your phone screen and they shouldn't say anything that could get you in trouble. as opposed to saying something like "So true. LOL" which could be suspicious to the abuser if they know how you usually type

hey so protip if you have abusive parents and need to get around the house as quietly as possible, stay close to furniture and other heavy stuff because the floor is settled there and it’s less likely to creak