#so please feel free to correct me or add on

[andrewminyardslawyer]

The Golden Raven predictions/theories/a few wishful thinking

Last time I got all of them correct so we'll see how this goes! Sorry for the length, there was a lot more detail and explanations this time around lmao I've posted some of these separately and will probably add more after my reread 🤷‍♂️

- Andrew and Neil go with Kevin to Cali. To keep up the childhood friend pretence, and Kevin can't go alone. Andrew talks to Jean about Bee, that she is trustworthy. Nothing extreme but like "talk to Bee" and nothing else but Jean understands (I actually doubt this is going to happen but I think if anyone's going to convince Jean it's okay to talk to her it would be Andrew based off of Jean's thoughts from TSC). I want Wymack there but I don't think he will be with practice already started for the year and the new foxes there. A potential Kevin and Renee combo because Jean needs support and Kevin can't go alone but Andrew and Neil need to stay with the team. Either way Kevin will have someone with him, he won't be able to travel alone

- Kevin and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Talks to Jeremy more about the nest and we get more information on what Riko did to Kevin

- I hope the interview is not live or recorded, it needs to be an article and I want it to be done by Renee's mom even though I have no idea what kind of reporter she is. She would be the kindest option but I don't think we're in for a kind interview. I don't think it'll be completely disastrous though. Kevin knows what he's doing, he's going all the way to Cali specifically to support Jean, the interview is to control the rumors, I don't think it will crash and burn. The Kevin Jean conversation before/after however...

- We know Jeremy's dad is (most likely) military and military often become cops when they come back. Jeremy hides from the cops (valid. ACAB)...

- someone on the team tries joking around with Jean and does something to trigger a panic attack, like splashing him with water or something

- Jean and the Coaches post

- Jean and Shane become friends. Shane is a little chaotic (he's a goalie, comes with the territory) and gets Jean to start changing how he thinks about things, he can relax a little and have fun

- Jean baby please seriously talk to Bee

- Jean crying. Please I need him to let it out!!!

- interesting to me that Jeremy's parents make him stay at the house during the week but he's free on the weekends and during the summer. Wondering if he was missing classes and he has to stay there so they make sure he goes

- mysterious potentially dead sibling is his stepfather's biologically?

- Thanksgiving break. Cat and Laila go to one of their families, leaving Jean and Jeremy alone at the house. Jeremy is required to attend Thanksgiving dinner and Jean is invited so he's not alone and Jeremy's step dad/grandfather wants to "get to know the new teammate"

- Annalise using the term investment for Jean seems like....a Choice. Pair that with Jeremy's meticulous tracking of money and his family restricting how much he gets, it seems like Jeremy has been irresponsible with money in the past

- Jeremy family event obligation. It was mentioned that if "If the Con-gressman needed a picture-perfect family for photo ops, the Knox family was duty-bound to dress up and smile bright for an exhausting number of cameras" (congressman is his step grandfather)

- "but there's bound to be a jerk or two once you pass four kids." Once you PASS for kids. Jeremy has more than Bryson, Annalise, and one mysterious probably dead other sibling. Potentially none dead and just cut contact? Maybe took sides with Jeremy's bio dad

- Jean's parents contact him some how but honestly I think if that's going to happen it will be in the third book. I feel like that part of the story won't really start rolling until then, like publicly.

- a scene with Jeremy talking to his therapist

- I feel like Jeremy's mom didn't marry his stepfather until recentlyish. Like the thing that "tore their family apart" was their parents divorcing after whatever went down Jeremy's freshman year. Or maybe they were divorced before that but still on speaking terms and the Event changed that.

- we find out what Jeremy's stepdad actually does. We know his step grandfather is a congressman but no information about his stepdad

- more of a personal wish but I don't want Jean to drink alcohol, like ever. I want him to learn how to work through things without it, I want him to avoid it because he doesn't want to become dependent on it, doesn't want to risk it

- Jean is average at pottery at first and that frustrates him that he isn't perfect at it immediately but it helps him learn that it's ok to not be good at everything or that slow progress is more sustainable

- depending on the timeline, Jean birthday. One of the team asks him when it is and they make a thing out of it on the day. Or no one knows but the coaches have it marked and one wishes him happy birthday during practice and the team, mainly the main trio/floozies, are like why didn't you tell us ☹️ and get him a few small things

- more Elodie conversations. The trio finds out

- find out what happen with Zane and Grayson but it's because Zane gets in touch with Jean after Grayson dies and they have some sort of discussion about it

- i've seen a million theories about Jeremy's backstory but none really bring his father into it and I think we need to focus on that a little bit more. Jeremy says he doesn't like people calling him by his last name, Knox, which must be his biological fathers last name because his stepdad's name is Wilshire. And he says ' "I've never been to Europe. Dad's been stationed there a couple times, but.." He shrugged and didn't bother to elaborate.' My immediate thought was military but with his mom remarrying a man whose father is a congressman makes me think Jeremy's dad might be more in that type of work than military because how else would she be in the same sphere as a congressman's son. Maybe high level military. Anyway! Jeremy doesn't want to use his father's last name either so something definitely happened with him as well. Whether it's two different things or all the same as the "scandal" Jeremy's first year. I don't really have a set theory about it but I do think he is involved in some way

[destiny2-names]

A post for fellow "healer main" warlocks

I'm not sure if it's intentional, and maybe this was already a thing and I just didn't notice it, but there are now some activities where healing rifts don't heal. Defeating the whole point of healing rifts. Which can be quite off-putting for warlocks whose builds prioritize that.

So! What can we do instead?

Healing grenades, especially when combined with the Seeker's Sight exotic helmet, are quite useful in a pinch. They even have the added bonus that, unlike rifts, you can throw them at allies you can't reach quickly. However, healing grenades can only be used by Solar and Prismatic subclasses.

A lot of warlocks, me included, have probably spent a good amount of time trying to get their Recovery stat as high as possible. That's the stat that contributes to how fast your rift recharges, and normally a higher Recovery makes your health regenerate faster; for activities where natural health regeneration is disabled, you might want to focus more on Resilience.

Don't COMPLETELY dump Recovery though, because non-healing rifts are still useful! Empowering rifts buff your weapons, and phoenix dive (another ability option unique to Solar and Prismatic) gives your allies a brief burst of healing.

Things like solar mortars and arc souls still work regardless of what you've got equipped in your rift ability slot, but they won't stick around for as long with phoenix dive.

Remember: you can't help anyone if you're dead. Sometimes, if you can't reach your downed teammates safely, the best way to avoid a wipe is to take cover until at least one other person respawns.

Certain weapons, such as those with a support frame or the Healing Clip trait, can give a little boost to the amount of healing you can do for both others and yourself. Hey, anything counts.

For keeping yourself alive, Karnstein's Armlets can be handy (pun intended) when you're being swarmed by weaker enemies. They're a great combo with Monte Carlo, but even unpowered melee kills should activate the gauntlets' effect.

Don't forget about armor mods! Two leg armor mods, Recuperation and Better Already, give you small bursts of healing when you pick up orbs of power. If one or both aren't already part of your kit, you might want to take a look at them, because that healing really adds up when combined with helmet Siphon mods.

If you're using healing grenades, there are also several armor mods that will help that ability recharge faster, such as Bomber, Ennervation, and Explosive Finisher.

This post is meant to help save fellow players– especially newbies and people who only have time to play casually– some time and frustration. If you have any advice to add, please do! If you have questions, please ask! If I got something wrong, please tell me so I can correct it! And if this all seems super obvious to you or you have a better way of doing things, feel free to comment, but please don't be a jackass about it. Thank you.

[theealbatross]

hi, I just read your sebastian fics and to say I'm obsessed would be underestimated hah

I wanted to ask if you take requests, and if you don't do you recommend some writers who you like or write similar to you?

I do take requests but there's no promises on when I can get on with it, I mostly use it as inspiration to integrate on the WIPS I am currently working on!

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR MY RECOMMENDATIONS:

@applinsandoranges - applin (idk if that's her name I just call her that in my head lmao) is my go to for ANYTHING because she writes SO WELL and has such an extensive collection of work that I know anyone will find something to enjoy!

@anto-pops - anto (again i just call them this in my head idk if this is their name jasdfk) is my go to for ~ spicy ~ content + dark!obsessive!yearning sebastian AND BEWARE IT IS SUPER SPICY SO MINORS DNI

@shadowtriovibes - girrrrrl her masterlist is again extensive and immaculate but you ARE NOT READY for her 'break a sweat' series (cheack out both the version here on tumblr and on ao3) IT IS A MASTERPIECE

@whizzing-fizzbee - MY CURRENT FAVORITE but mostly NSFW so children pls stay away! The 'This is How It Starts' was hilarious and sooo well-written

@callmehopeless - the series 'A Matter of Public Record' deadass had me giggling, swinging my feet A PERFECT COMBINATION OF YEARNING + DUMB TEENAGERS BEING DUMB TEENAGERS + AND ANGST

@choccy-milky - 'THE RAVEN AND THE SNAKE' IS A FANDOM CLASSIC AND I WILL TAKE NO NOTES (clora is my sweet angel baby) plus her art is sooo fucking pretty and hilarious and hot (minors dni i beg u)

@slytherizz - I actually discovered them on AO3 and TRUST I was jumping for joy when I realized she was in tumblr too! Most of her fics are nsfw so again MIND UR AGE!

@writing-intheundercroft - 'This Little Life' series had me BAWLING I love love LOVE her characterization of seb and mc I keep rereading it when I need to cry lol

@jackalope-patronus - they mostly do headcannons and drabbles but they have one shots too and they're perfect all the same!

I probably have more but these are the authors I constantly come back to! If anyone has any more recommendations please feel free to add! I mostly used her/they pronouns so any of the authors I recommended don;t hesitate to correct me if you want it fixed <3

[queer-ragnelle]

ngl, i don't understand why arthuriana gets a bad rep for incest. mordred in vulgate and malory aside, i can't think of any OTHER instances of incest. even then the incest arthur committed is quite literally and explicitly condemned in both. Like gee, i wonder what the dream arthur saw meant.....

+ mordred isn't even an incest baby in other medlit as far as i'm aware of? please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong. i don't understand the obsession in modern arthuriana to add MORE incest that wasn't even there. and even worse, to be pro-incest. like what? did we read the same books???

it's TH White and MZB's fault, we've been knowing. but still.

Dark themes under a cut obviously.

Imagine thinking Arthuriana has excessive incest when Greek Mythology is right there. It’s quite literally Marion Zimmer-Bradley’s and T. H. White’s faults. THW started it with Morgause choosing to rape Arthur to become pregnant with Mordred, also a little side incest with Agravaine’s attraction to his mother and ultimately killing her out of jealousy or some shit. Then MZB comes along in the 80s and has the “Old Religion” trick Morgaine and Arthur into sleeping together.

But it’s gotten so much worse since then I’m afraid.

Even media I love and still recommend has this issue. Henry Treece wrote Gwenhwyfar/Arthur as siblings in one of his books. Mary Stewart wrote Morgause seducing Arthur knowing their relation and then later she tries to start something with her teenage son Mordred. Sharan Newman wrote Morgan seducing Arthur knowing they were siblings and then her son Mordred has an ongoing sexual relationship with his aunt Morgause. Persia Woolley wrote Morgause seducing her brother Arthur and mocking his trauma about it then Guinevere’s cousin Maelgwn raping her. Lavinia Collins wrote Morgause madly in love with her brother Arthur and then Mordred raping her, on top of that Collins combined Ector de Maris with Ector the father of Kay, so Lancelot/Kay are uncle/nephew and have a life-long sexual relationship fully aware of this. Merlin and the Sword (1985) has Mordred and Morgan in a sexual relationship, he even calls her “auntie.” I could go on but I won’t.

The point really is that these creators can make whatever they want but if people try to “justify” the dark content because of one instance of incest in the legends, that’s a stretch at best. Write your stories however you want I don’t care but it does ruin otherwise great books/movies for me personally. Like nothing in the story would change if that aspect was taken out, it’s not as if the stories are really dealing with the psychological traumas of these acts, it’s rarely a theme. (Persia Woolley did make sexual abuse a theme, I’ll give her that, she absolutely dealt with it related to multiple characters, I just hate evil Morgause and the rape of Guinevere was excruciatingly detailed.) Incest is often just a shorthand to show a character is especially evil, like if they kicked a puppy, but for some reason they go to an extreme of sexual violence when none of these medias are in the horror genre where they belong and none of them confront the implications of such things. It’s wild to be enjoying a romance or adventure story and then get blind sided by an incest sex scene or worse a rape. Like why.

For all the faults in Arthur Rex by Thomas Berger I appreciate how the situation was handled throughout the book, firstly showing Arthur and Morgause had a one night stand mutually and neither knew the truth. Then Arthur was so anxious about what happened once he found out that part of his attraction to Guinevere was borne of knowing without a shadow of a doubt they weren’t related. Later, Arthur was kind to Mordred when he arrived at court but the shadow of what happened followed him for the rest of his life. The text doesn’t demonize Morgause for this, for cheating on Lot sure but it wasn’t something she planned. She was a spy and shit happened, she wasn’t an aggressor. Alternatively I liked that Bernard Cornwell and Edward Frankland both wrote Mordred as a brother of Arthur instead of son or in BBC The Legend of King Arthur where Mordred is Arthur’s nephew, the son of Lot and Morgause just like big bro Gawain. It can be done one way or the other just write something meaningful. Adding this shit for shock value is getting so old.

[c-rankshaft]

This addition might be considered a little bit off topic, so feel free to tell me to make my own post if you wish OP(s)!

Elder Scrolls games seem to have some kind of disease about them that makes it so they just cannot grasp the scale of JUST HOW BAD things are. Morrowind (edited bc my dumb ass forgot about beautiful Daggerfall and I own up to my mistakes), in my opinion, came the closest, but that's another post for another time. I think one of the problems with Skyrim and the Alduin storyline is that there's not really any true incentive in the game to seek out this information. You can ABSOLUTELY play the game not knowing anything but the bare dry bones of what is going on. Then, with no incentive TO learn deeper outside of having the question in the box go from white to grey, the incentive is more found in NOT asking the questions- gets you back to the ""fun"" gameplay quicker.

This DOES allow for player character variation (say you want to make your LDB an idiot or something) alongside an easier route for people who have already played before, but it doesn't work for portraying a world that is supposedly ending, or one that is being overtaken by dragon cults. To get the gravity of that to truly WEIGH on the player, you have to make it so not knowing, like not seeking out the books or the extra dialogue, in some way disadvantages the player.

However, this doesn't really tackle the issue of the confusing and overly simplistic way they handled Alduin in the first place. As said above, there's a huge unanswered question taken from the main storyline of "What the hell was he even trying to do?" that comes from different characters implying different sentiments. Perhaps this was supposed to be an attempt at pitting many theories against each other A LA Battle of Red Mountain(?), but without any elaboration on anything and no true incentive to seek out more information, alongside the fact that some of the MOST interesting stuff on Alduin isn't even in the game at all, it all just falls flat. You don't get a coherent story OR the full weight of the situation from the game, at all.

I'm, personally, fully convinced that this is the result of suppressing creative writing/portrayal ideas in the interests of making the game marketable. You can feel as you play the game, that it was intended to hit a very very wide audience. It's designed to be easily picked up and played by literally anyone, and that's a HUGE part of where the massive success came from. It was simplistic enough story wise so that nobody ever would have a single issue understanding. Big reach = Big money, and big money is more important to a game studio than a good story. Combine that reach with the fact that they've re-released the game (arguably) 17 times on 10 different consoles, it makes it pretty clear that they're more focused on creating and adding aspects to the game (and other games currently being worked on in the series) that make it lucrative-- not necessarily new, inventive, creative, or gripping story-wise.

Basically, this post is so correct it kinda hurts a bit. There are ways to make all of this information work. They don't really bother because they'd have to put more budget into story, and what if not every single person on the planet is pleased with the story? Bad for business. Better make it as generic as possible so it sells better. Fire every writer who cares. Underpay and mistreat the rest so they can't care. Now put Skyrim on the Switch. Now put it on VR. Now add paid mods. Now encourage everyone to play your MMO. Now release paid DLC. Now add something to the Crown Store. Now release paid DLC. Now add something to the Crown Store. Now release paid DLC. Now add something to the Crown Store. Now release paid DLC. Now add something to the Crown Store.

alright i might be misremembering some things bc it's been a while since i played the skyrim mq but.... man i really wish we could've had a proper conversation with alduin near the end of the game like we do with dagoth ur. like he's the one villain who isn't some Bad Guy gone mad with power he's literally a GOD. he's literally just doing his job!!!!! of ending the world!

i don't like how he's depicted as just a generic power hungry bad guy like isn't being the world eater literally his Purpose....you even have conversations w arngeir and paarthurnax, iirc, about the ethics of killing the "world eater" and if it's okay to let the current kalpa keep going when it's supposed to end. i wish that was a moral dilemma explored more in the game. i would've loved a final conversation between the ldb and alduin where he talks to you and asks you if you know what you're doing, if you know what it means to keep this world going. discussing if it's really your choice to decide when the world ends or stays. about death, rebirth and creation. who are you to interfere with this natural cycle?

[loz-the-noob]

Because I’m playing dual destinies and I miss Ema Skye with my whole heart, please take this WIP list of Silly Goofy Things Ema Has Done throughout the games I’ve played. Feel free to add to it if you think of anything I’ve missed.

Things Ema Skye has Done

Threatened to spray potentially hazardous (?) chemicals on a child

Unwittingly convinced everyone she was a crack addict

Sung a song in a court of law with very little persuasion  

Openly admitted that she intended to commit tax evasion. To a lawyer.

Accused a blind orphan of murder with a 45. caliber revolver 

Cried because she couldn’t push something over

Essentially received a bonus in the form of snacks and was completely fine with this

Apologised to a trash can 

Bullied Apollo into buying tea for her from an overpriced vending machine

Somehow confused the words “pickle” and “sausage” in the context of a well-known phrase. 

Inexplicably physically morphed into the Prosecution’s imprisoned brother briefly during a trial. This is never addressed. 

Said ‘Ah’ AT LEAST 12 times in Apollo Justice. I’m pretty sure I missed some 

“Eh heh heh, you want to know about my tool do you?”

Signs legal documents with a little heart next to her name

Was placed on security for a major venue with literally no means of communication with backup?? She had to physically go and get people. This is not her fault.

She has been set on fire. This was also not her fault.

She’s canonically very clumsy. Allegedly breaks bulbs all the time. Did I mention I love her.

Momentarily considered going on a destructive rampage at a concert she was supposed to be security for.

Very nearly let a 15 year old girl convince her to eat potential evidence at a crime scene.

I’m 90% sure her footwear is a health and safety risk

[gallusneve]

I want to put Neve Gallus in DA2 or DA Inquisition sometimes like:

poisoning Solas with her boiled coffee after realizing he hates tea (she means well)

feeling at home in Kirkwall since it's very similar to Dock Town

Cole with the wisps around Neve

Inquisition Dorian and her would probably have spats because Dorian was low-key "status quo" about Tevinter before (further elaborated on his codex in DATV)

Vivienne would let her know right away if she's being tricked or about to be sold out during her jobs

would ask Josephine with her connections to help solve her cases plus fashion talk

Neve and Sera having the same artistic level of doodling

her going bonkers with how the Southern Thedas Templars handles their mages, her mind flashes back between Rana and Cullen's experiences

would SOMEWHAT agree with Divine Cassandra’s ideas with revamping of the Circle and making it actually "educational"

actually pulling big sister moves on Merrill by telling her to not mess with blood magic

her understanding Calpernia first and foremost, the verbal standoff between them (after all, Neve was suppose to be Calpernia)

would give Bethany pointers with her magic

Anders 🤝 Neve CEOs of Cat Parents Society, plus Justice would be somewhat pleased with her moral compass and intentions

Cole calling her out on being emotionally stunted, having her walls up, and not taking care of herself (while being curious/helpful about her cases)

would've likely clocked Solas or Blackwall from a mile away

her and Fenris interacting with how they view Minrathous and definitely helping him kill Danarius, also both being scared of emotions

Isabela flirting with Neve but sharing love for fried/grilled fish since it's closest to pirate cuisine, also makes Neve not work so much and have fun

[i-used-to-wear-the-fedora]

I want to preface this by saying I'm almost definitely not qualified to really get into this analysis as I am very white, but I would like to think there's something very intentional and interesting with the casting of this movie and how it effects the series thematically as a whole.

Youtuber Yhara Zayd has a video called "The Day Rue "Became" Black" talking about the first Hunger Games movie casting Amandla Stenberg to play Rue and the racist backlash that came with this despite the fact that anyone with basic reading skills would know that in books, Rue was already not white. Rue was still a little girl who died tragically and is the reason for the revolution, but how does this relate to the 10th Hunger Games and Reaper?

I haven't read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes book, and I don't know if this is a similar situation to Rue, but the casting of Dimitri Abold as Reaper is important. He's shown to be the toughest competitor in the ring. "The Scariest." In the movie, he lashes out at the girl assigned to "mentor" him as a joke because he knows she's scared of him. But he's not scary. He's not a monster. He's a teenage boy who doesn't want to hurt anyone and is protective of people he cares about. The alarmingly (and unsurprisingly) mostly white capital doesn't view him or any of the other children as people. So what does he do? He shows everyone watching that they're people, too. He gives them proper respect and covers them in the flag of the people responsible for their deaths. A black teen protesting the cruelty and unfairness of all their deaths in a move similar to Katniss' honoring of Rue years later.

There's probably something about Gaul being the one to cut off Reaper's death live on air in the movie, too. Yes, she's the game maker. But also imagine the politics of the capitol announcing that they might kill all of the kids this year after an event like that. It wouldn't look good if the, presumably white, based on casting, president cut off this boy's plead for humanity. So, instead, they go to the Black woman they have on staff and have her talk about these "disgusting rebels." Because it's okay if she specifically says it.

There's all of this, while not even including Lysistrata's side plot of being one of the only other mentors with human empathy towards the tributes, specifically Jessup, also being a woman of color. I know a lot of people are miffed by some of the changes from book to movie, but I will go to my grave defending the movie's casting at least thematically.

“he tore down the flag.”

[wizardsix]

ok... so I have finally finished veilguard after about 90 painful hours (two playthroughs). im not gonna write an actual review about all of my detailed thoughts bc it'll actually take days, this is just to at least get my general thoughts out and see if anyone else feels the same or if ive actually lost it.

overall it is the weakest dragon age game story-wise, and I'd give it a nice lukewarm 4/10.

(i wrote this post right after I finished the game on the weekend so maybe I sound a bit harsh, I tried to edit it to be more reasonable lol but I didn't really want to delete this since I do still stand by a lot of this)

I really tried to go in with an open mind, bc I always want to experience media in full before making any kind of judgement, but about a few hours in I had this horrible feeling that once again this was another soulless, rushed game, and I still don't feel any different after finishing the game.

what stuck out to me was that there's no sense of urgency despite what the plot is, serious topics are not treated with care as the writing overall is shallow, and the gods as well as any other enemy you encounter are just cartoon villains (and apparently the lore retconning, but I'm not well-versed enough to dissect that so I won't).

I can't take this plot seriously when it feels so disjointed and forced and lazy. and I see no point in caring about anything when choices literally don't matter. no say in who you recruit, no say in the relationships with them and they have almost no awareness of rook, definitely doesn't matter if you have allies or not bc they show up anyway, and only four companions are locked into unavoidable decisions where one of them bites the dust no matter what (which is strange bc why are harding and davrin forced to die no matter if they're at hero status while bellara and neve can literally survive blight if they're at hero status), so it's impossible to try to strategize for better (or worse) outcomes with all the people you've gathered when there's only one right answer that the game pretty much tells you instead of letting you think for yourself (and side note this game does an incredible amount of hand holding). the game actively tries to trick you into thinking your choices matter with the onscreen notifications, but nothing matters bc the devs clearly had only one story in mind and for some reason lied that it had "complex choices".

also rook in general wasn't interesting as a protagonist bc they were written to be perfect. they always know what to say and are so supportive of everyone. they never struggle with anything. not even with leadership beyond "man leading a team is hard :/" but it doesn't actually show how hard it is by having actual volatile conflict between the companions* or showing how their plans sometimes fail. which, if we actually had choices that mattered, would have helped develop that struggle. also? what's with everyone being so friendly? I'm not gonna get into that but everyone is so eerily nice and it's been said a lot but yeah, the world is extremely sanitized and devoid of any real conflict aside from the gods I guess.

*(like off the top of my head cassandra fighting with varric and accusing him of not being on their side or how the inquisitor can literally punch dorian and solas if approval is low enough or fenris and anders bordering on killing each other is not the same as lucanis and davrin distrusting each other or people being uncomfortable with emmrich's necromancy. it just scratches the surface of conflict and never goes anywhere)

and let me say real quick again, there's nothing wrong if they wanted to make a more rigid story about being a hero. it's been done a million times and it can be executed well, but if you do that you need to make sure you 1) don't lie to people and 2) actually flesh out your (especially main) characters and plot to give people a reason to care. look at dragon age 2. hawke is a fixed protagonist with their own life front and center. they ultimately only have two choices (siding with mages or templars), but it works bc the game took time to build up the conflict straight from act 1 so by the time chaos happens in act 2 and 3 you understand why bc it's Been brewing the whole time. it just makes sense. the villains as well have sound reasons and feel real instead of being evil just bc. the story is more grounded, yet you have choices. you decide if hawke ends up alone or not. you decide how they approach situations with force or diplomacy. there's none of that in veilguard. a game that supposedly took 10 years to make. when dragon age 2 took almost 16 months (yes I know da2 also has problems like the fact that the templars are always proven right but this isn't the place to dissect that).

I want to be fair though and I do want to restate what I enjoyed about the game. the cc (though would it kill them to have more variety in face textures like age and body types beyond average.. also no colour wheel... especially since they claimed their cc was so good), the map progression/visuals/exploration (how certain places become more blighted overtime), the factions (though I feel there should have been more content for your faction, and helping them or not should have mattered more), the combat (did not feel like a slog, pretty fun and mindless), the companions (bellara, davrin, emmrich, harding, and lucanis had solid personalities and stories despite my complaints. neve was not memorable and I just feel sad for taash's bad writing), certain parts of the story were good, the intro and the point of no return sequences were solid, and the ending didn't feel rushed or boring compared to inquisition. and yes, I do appreciate that rook can be trans, I just think a little more subtly and care would've been nice.

another thing I did like and predicted was that varric died at the beginning of veilguard, and for a second I actually enjoyed that because i thought we were finally (a bit too late tho) getting some depth to rook and their own struggles of accepting his death and carrying this weight without him. and while I do think maybe they should've taken more time to establish the mentor/mentee relationship so we really feel rooks regret, I still think it was at least the right direction where in their grief they still see him, giving advice and narrating their journey.....but then it turned out to just be solas manipulating them the whole time, immediately destroying any emotional weight this reveal had.

whenever bioware has good ideas they shoot themselves in the foot and make it about solas. it's like nothing in the world exists without solas being involved somehow, and that is just incredibly boring and uninspired to me. not to mention solas just being an insufferable ass the whole time, which is fine, but it's not even in a compelling way like he used to be. he became so ugly by the end and the fact that the devs consider redeeming him the "good ending" and not giving him what he deserves is very telling and once again shows their own bias is king over good storytelling (solas' feelings should not come into play here, whether you/your companions live or die should determine good/bad ending since solas is trapped no matter what, only difference is who is trapped with him. idk but I personally think different endings actually means different outcomes). i will not go into the bs of the secret post credit scene, bc frankly I'm fed up with bioware's shitty writing and I won't be playing their next world ending space aliens game (unless they miraculously pull a good story out of their ass but lbr).

overall the bad outweighs the good for me. it's fun to play as a game, it's a decent fantasy game, but the story just doesn't do anything for me. sometimes I wonder if dreadwolf was a completely different game and was scrapped for veilguard last minute. maybe this was yet another inevitable industry fuck up and maybe there was a good story planned at one point. idk. all I know is bioware lied. respect and credit to the poor devs and writers who actually cared and to those who were kicked from the project, but in the end bioware promised too much and delivered too little.

[episodes-without-incident]

Drawfee Bits Wrapped (2023)

Cats (2019)

Episodes referenced: 14 (14.89%)

Episodes not referenced: 80 (85.11%)

First reference: January 17

Last reference: November 30

Longest streak of no references: 20 episodes (June 1–August 24)

Shortest streak of no references: 0 episodes (Referenced in the September 14 and 19 episodes)

Cascada (2005)

Counting for Cascada started on August 15.

Episodes referenced: 8 (22.22%)

Episodes not referenced: 28 (77.78%)

First reference: August 15

Last reference: December 26

Longest streak of no references: 12 episodes (August 22–October 3)

Shortest streak of no references: 0 episodes (Referenced in both the August 15 and 17 episodes; then again in both the October 12 and 17 episodes)

Combined statistics

Again, note that this only covers August 15 onward.

Episodes where both were referenced: 2 (5.56%) (October 12 and November 30)

Episodes where only one was referenced: 10 (27.78%)

Episodes where neither was referenced: 24 (66.67%)

Other Notable Bits of the Year

This is a list I kept this year of the most enduring bits, but it's obviously biased.

Fight Song (Origin: Patreon Bonus Stream 03/24/2023)

Italian Cold Steel Cinquedea (Origin: Turning Words Into Drawings)

Merobiba (Origin: Turning Medieval Words Into Art)

So do, Scooby (Origin: Turning Monster Hunter Armors BACK Into Monsters)

[just-more-pr0mts]

Danny was not here.

It's the only way he could describe how he felt. He was walking, talking and breathing. But it wasn't him, yet it was? It was all so complicated and confusing.

He was supposed to be walking, talking and breathing with his his family, his mom and dad, his sisters dani and Jazz. He was supposed to be walking, talking and breathing with his friends, Tucker and Sam.

But he wasn't he was sitting at the end of an extravagant table where he had been all of his life.

Danny was walking, talking and breathing in someone else's body. He felt like a spectator of his own life life he was in a fever dream. But it wasn't his life. Yes he was controlling how he moved and how he spoke, he wasn't possessed after all, yet it felt as if he were.

He was walking down halls he's been in for years, knowing the layout like the back of his hand, yet it all looked so new.

He was talking to people, his siblings and parents who he'd been through hell and back with and knew what made them tick, but he struggled to recognize them as they waved hello.

He was breathing in air that reeked of death , air that tasted like the electricity of the portal air that was so polluted you hardly ever saw the moon at night yet he'd been breathing it in all his life and yet never before.

Aka

Danny wasnt able to save his planet from the asteroid, and in that fiasco he gets thrown into an alternate version of himself that grew up in Gotham with the wayne family (can be twin au or whatever) and now he's stuck there pretending like his danny as he has old Danny's memories.

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

WHAT IS THIS SAGAU THING I KEEP SEEING IT????

*claps hands* i will try to explain as best as i can with what i know!!

SAGAU is an acronym for Self-Aware Genshin AU. in its most basic form, it's an alternate universe where the genshin characters are aware of the player's existence in some capacity, often extending to them being/becoming aware of their existence as video game characters

HOWEVER as far as i know (might be wrong) the most popular iteration of the SAGAU is the cult/creator version. i'm not sure what the name of it actually is, but the basis is that in Teyvat, the player is revered as the creator of the entire world (basically the one true god) and more often than not it involves the player being somehow transported into genshin and being completely baffled when they see people worship them

there's a LOT of different versions of this AU, my personal favorite is the "imposter" route of the creator one, aka where everyone thinks the player is a fraud and tries to kill them, and i definitely don't know everything about it but i hope this helps!!

[givemearmstopraywith]

im usually prettt good with deciphering american culture but i still dont know what a quaker is in its entirety

although i love quakerism and attend meetings sporadically, i am not a quaker myself (yet- we'll see). additionally, there are many different kinds of quakers (for instance, evangelical versus programmed quakers) but i'll try to give a general overview.

quakers, formally known as the religious society of friends, are a historically christian denomination group which developed during a period of religious unrest during and after the english civil wars and the english reformation. george fox is recognized as the founder of the quaker movement. quakers reject religious ceremony and episcopal hierarchy. although quakerism was founded in england, religious persecution (the term "quaker" was actually somewhat pejorative: george fox wrote in 1650 that, "Justice Bennet of Derby first called us Quakers because we bid them tremble at the word of God") led many to migrate to north america in the mid-1650s.the guiding principle of quakers is generally considered to be the idea that every human being has the capacity to experience "the light within" or "answer that of God in everyone." quakers are perhaps best known for their advocacy: they have been involved in abolitionism, women's rights, and civil rights, and continue to advocate for non-violence in accordance with their belief in pacifism.

quaker.org gives a highly accessible overview of their beliefs and practices.

additionally, you can access some of the writing of early quakers here.

bayard rustin, the organizer of the march on washington, was a quaker; another famous quaker is this website's beloved public universal friend; and both joan baez and, weirdly, hozier were raised in the society of friends.

[kozachenko]

I remember hearing some stuff about how if ZUN wanted to take the story of Touhou Project to a new stage, there would have to be some kind of major change to the status quo and would be focused on how each character adapts to that change. This got me thinking about what would happen if the story of Touhou "went to another level" and I personally think that's going to happen when Marisa inevitably becomes a Youkai. It's already been established that Reimus whole duality is balancing her duties as a shrine maiden with her wants as a person, and this leads into basically the reason as to why I wrote this post.

Buckle up, because this is going to be a long one

So, I've been thinking about ReiMari a lot, and like, IDK if there are any fanfics/fanworks exploring this idea, but the ship could work incredibly well for a romantic tragedy story. I mainly say this because of the possibility that Reimu would have to kill Marisa if Marisa becomes a Youkai, and there are a few possibilities for this:

Option 1: Reimu doesn't think about it/doesn't fully know

Reimu isn't fully in the know about the behind the scenes stuff of Gensokyo's balance. Yukari probably tells her half of what she needs to know, but leaves Reimu with more questions than answers. She most likely doesn't think about this much, and even forgets about with Marisa. This means that when the time actually comes when Marisa turns into a Youkai, Reimu is reluctant to exterminate Marisa until Yukari finally tells her the "truth" that she needs to kill her in order to maintain Gensokyo's balance.

Option 2: Reimu and Marisa both know this fact and have both been putting it out of their minds for a while

This option is a variant of the previous one, but I feel like it could also lead to some interesting story beats. They've both been putting it out of their minds and have instead been trying to enjoy the time they have left together to the fullest. Yukari and the other sages probably don't know that Marisa also knows her days are numbered, but she knows that day isn't there yet. I like to think that in this version, they both have a sliver of hope that maybe they could change things, that maybe they could re-write the laws of Gensokyo entirely and create a world where they can both still be with each other, but deep down they know the cruel reality of it.

Option 3: Reimu does know but she doesn't tell anyone

Reimu does know the full extent of Gensokyo's order and knows that she will need to kill Marisa eventually. Only she, Yukari, Kasen, and Okina (maybe even some of other sages we haven't met yet) understand this. However, none of Gensokyo's higher ups know that this fact pains Reimu to the point where it becomes a close guarded secret of hers. This also adds to my headcanon that before she met Marisa, Reimu probably closed herself off from a lot of people, and even afterwards, she still has a feeling of loneliness from the rest of Gensokyo when she's not with Marisa. I imagine the scene in this hypothetical fic where Marisa has turned into a Youkai and she finally sees Reimu again, but their reunion isn't a happy one. Reimu, with tears in her eyes looks up at Marisa and she silently realizes why Reimu has come to see her. A feeling of betrayal followed by anger rises in her, and she asks as to why Reimu never told her about any of this sooner, only to be answered by Reimu wordlessly attacking her. Marisa gets away for the time being of course, but she then realizes that nothing is going to be the same for her. Reimu on the other hand, has to grapple with having to kill the one who helped bring her out of her loneliness, the one who has always been by her side even in her worst moments, and the one who she loves more than anything.

As you could probably tell by the time I've spent writing about it, but option 3 is my favourite. While each of these are slightly different variants on the same premise, I think having the cruel irony that Reimu knew this was inevitable all along would make for such interesting conflict. This story also makes ReiMari this beautiful type of doomed love, which could pit all of Gensokyo against Reimu, leaving her as isolated and alone as she used to be without Marisa. This fic idea could also be an interesting way to explore the characters of the sages individually.

And if by the end of this fic, Reimu does indeed kill Marisa, we should expect to see Reimu come into conflict with the sages, asking questions they don't want her to ask. And like ok, I know we're veering back into headcanon territory, but I think it would be interesting to imagine that the sages probably view the Hakurei lineage as a mere tool for Gensokyos balance (aside from probably Kasen), Reimu being no exception. This also could also question the ethics regarding how the Hakurei Shrine maiden of each generation is treated by the higher ups in Gensokyo, especially with the fact that Reimu is still an orphaned teenager who doesn't have a proper support system outside of Marisa and Kasen. Speaking of, I imagine that she's the only one of the sages who is actually trying to help Reimu with this whole situation, and would probably end up being one of the few people Reimu could trust in this situation. However, after she kills Marisa, she would probably be just as distrusting to her as with all the other sages.

I think could also make a very interesting manhunt type of story, with Reimu and Marisa being on thier own and a bunch of Gensokyo residents coming after Reimu to avenge Marisa. Which could also make for some really interesting conflict. I'm also very curious as to how Yukari would respond to this situation, and if a part of her, deep down is subtly reminded of the time when she lost someone oh so dear to her, if only she could remember them...

And then there's the big question of, "how would this fic end?" and to be honest. I don't know, but a cool idea could be Reimu potentially rewriting or recreating Gensokyo and becoming a god herself. It's a very farfetched idea, but it could be neat. Actually no that's basically what Madoka did uhhhh yeah no kinda stumped. Maybe Reimu could escape to the real world or something??? Yeah I'll have to think on that one.

In the end, while some people are kinda frustrated with the status quo reliant nature of Touhous narrative, I personally don't mind as Touhou is primarily ZUNs playground for ideas and the like. It also gives fanworks more freedom in regards to how it wants to fit itself into the canon. So yeah that's the end of my very very long Touhou fanfic/fanwork idea. If I feel like actually writing this as a fanfic, I probably would if I had the time lol.

[buggbuzz]

Israel is a terrorist state? We don’t even want this war, we want to live in peace and we don’t mind if we get a Palestinian state existing next to the state of Israel as long as no one hurts no one.

I don't really give a shit? As far as I'm aware Israel forced the palestinians out of their homes and land. Israel is commiting a deliberate genocide against an entire people and destroying every physical part of their culture they can. You don't get to defend a country committing an ethnic cleansing with bombs targeting children, infants, pregnant women, hospitals, ambulances, and journalists and then go "oh I just don't want anyone to hurt eachother 🥺🥺🥺" get real.

Coming from an american whose country has had a direct hand in catastrophically destabilizing countless other countries' governments and economies, as well as the indigenous peoples' of the land they stole AND its own people's political movements/saftey/rights, you have to at least fucking acknowledge when your country is commiting crimes against humanity.

I'm sure there're israelis that don't want to massacre an entire people. But your country is commiting devastating acts of terrorism against another. It's a terrorist state.

[white-cat-of-doom]

Hi, I was wondering; do you know if there was any sort of social (or official) discouragement of Cats actors sharing their headcanons, especially pre-2010 or so? I feel like that was a thing, but I can’t remember if I just made an assumption or read something concrete.

I feel like I read a “Broadway Revival has been surprisingly open about their headcanons in contrast to traditional productions” somewhere but I can’t remember.

I will lead with the fact that I cannot say with complete certainty, but I would imagine all productions, including ongoing and any future ones, have a form of clause in the contracts outlining what performers are allowed to say and their general conduct, and that encompasses headcanons to a degree. I would say that guidelines around publicly sharing thoughts have very likely been relaxed as time goes on, but it is very important to consider that the show is left purposely ambiguous for the audience to interpret themselves. That is largely the whole idea of the musical. How much is prohibited depends on the company running the production I think, but I cannot see any replica production being too stringent in more modern times, as long as the general structure that is taught is maintained (which I will discuss briefly). In the end, we must remember that cast members are doing their jobs and are not obligated to share anything at all.

I do not believe anyone is going to openly say whether they were discouraged from sharing, as that could jeopardize their future opportunities in the industry, and I do not believe anyone was not allowed to speak openly from an official standpoint. I also do not think anything is realistically stopping anyone from sharing their thoughts once not part of an active cast.

As I was not a fan of the show long enough ago to speak exactly how much headcanons were readily shared in the past, the below is more my thoughts on why it seems to be case now that it is more prevalent for recent productions.

For some perspective, US Tour 5, which ran between 2001 and 2012, had stipulations related to what the cast could say and definitely what photos taken by the performers were allowed, with nothing showing in process makeup or anyone not fully in costume. The recent US Tour 6 had the same rules as well, as both were non-Equity productions.

However, your question pertains to something slightly different as headcanons are not necessarily tied together with the appearance of a production or the performers. This is where different factors come in to say whatever it is more prevalent seeing headcanons now than in the past. Despite US Tour 6 having strict rules on what could be shared by a performer from a costume standpoint, it did not stop them from sharing headcanons fairly regularly.

Perhaps the most important point is that social media is a much bigger aspect of daily life then it was even ten years ago. It is obviously going to be easier to know what a performer in the last five years thought about any part of the show than someone from a production that ended decades ago. Performers are now much more likely to share headcanons because it is considerably easier to connect with fans of the show directly, and the first big productions for that would have been those starting around that 2015 mark, like the Broadway Revival. Before this, all fans had were interviews or media that would be primarily focused on what would be the plot of the show, instead of something like headcanons. Most performers were going to be limited to speaking on those points as they did not have a wider audience that they could connect with more directly. It was all about promoting the show itself if they ever found themselves in a situation to talk more freely. No one in the media typically was going to ask for more background on the characters themselves unless that cast member was being specifically interviewed at length. Any personal thoughts were kept within the cast and production themselves, and carried through based on what newer cast members saw established performers do and act. Also, given the larger variety and amount of productions worldwide in the past, there was probably considerably more divergence in how the characters could be viewed than compared to now. It was nothing for a performer to have been a part of an US Tour, Broadway, and Hamburg within a span of five or so years, and they were exposed to many more views of characters that they could bring to wherever they went.

This brings up the second important point, in that most modern productions are overseen by Chrissie Cartwright, the associate director of basically every European production since 1986, and very applicably to this conversation, all US productions starting with the 2016 Broadway Revival and Australian productions like the recent Asia Tours. Chrissie has her own viewpoints that are, more or less, officially cascaded to the respective cast during rehearsals on behalf of The Really Useful Group, Andrew Lloyd Webber's company. As a good chunk of the performers are not likely very aware of CATS and the story in general in any capacity from the get go, they will take everything at face value and not think too much more on it. Those performers who grew up with the show are definitely more likely to have a set of headcanons that they could be more willing to share, but to actually speak on them was not realistic. Either way, what is directed to the cast takes precedence for them over anything that a fan might come up with or is seen as a fandom consensus, even if a cast member themselves believes differently. It is much easier to share a headcanon that is now, for all intents and purposes, universal among all English productions.

Which leads me to how modern productions can be more open about headcanons when the time calls for it. For recent productions, like the US Tour, we saw some performers mention headcanons in select social media posts, but they were mainly the ones told to them by the creative team. A few performers expanded on what they learned to make more unique headcanons based on their individual style of performance and personality, but I think most of the cast had done the same as well, but were not interested in sharing publicly. It also depends on how readily members of the cast wanted to overlap personal friendships offstage and what they learned and were taught to build different scenarios and add variety. From what I found, North American cast members were/are likely to share because they are used to over sharing on social media, compared to European or Australian cast members who are considerably more private with their lives on social media, some to the point you would not even know they were in the show. It is cultural thing as outlandish as it may seem. I know many more cast headcanons from US Tour 6 than probably Vienna, all the UK Tours from 2016 onwards, and the Asia Tours combined.

Circling back to the Broadway Revival, the main reason we saw a wider sharing of headcanons was because Tyler Hanes, who played Rum Tum Tugger, was doing a video series backstage on the development of the production from the very start up until opening night (and then a few more videos due to popularity through to closing night), otherwise I do not think we would have seen more than what the US Tour shared, and if anything, probably less given how social media only has become even more prevalent.

At the end of the day, the only reason anyone would notice headcanons being shared at all by performers is because we are fans and can now find media fairly easily where a performer is interviewed more specifically on what they thought about their character and the show at large. Those same performers can also talk about the show in a capacity if they see fit, but outside of bigger, well-known names (i.e., those from the 1998 film), the fandom at large does not particularly care what someone involved in the musical has to say, in my opinion.

TLDR: (In my opinion) You see headcanons more from recent and current productions because they have much easier access to share them, if they wanted to, worldwide at the click of a button using social media, but I would not say that past productions would have not done the same if they had the same opportunities and access. Having a standardized lesson on the show during rehearsals from the same figurehead is largely going to reduce individual headcanons that would have been more prevalent in the past, and that is why you hear similar headcanons that can be more readily shared. There are also more opportunities for a cast member to share their experiences if they wanted to now, but the past is largely unknown unless someone speaks up and another person is there to listen.