#that's the kind of double standard this game gives us

[randomnameless]

I don't get on why people yap about "Hurdur toxic knighthood culture Faerghus deserves to be conquered" when the other unrecruited students from other Houses do the same thing in other routes.

Hilda and Hubert, along with the unrecruited students from the other houses fight for their liege til the end in the routes you face them, so why freak out over Dimitri's childhood friends following their buddy during the war.

Because the Kingdom is BaD.

It's the same "unilateral execution :(" argument, when Rhea kills people who tried to kill her, she BaD, but when Supreme Leader mows people who "oppose" her, or Clout puts to the axe randoms who want to ditch his Federation, suddenly we don't hear the same nonsense.

FE Fodlan thrives on double standard - Kingdom BaD for protecting their friends at the cost of their lives, but the other two aren't called BaD for doing the very same thing.

Maybe because whoever is attacking/defending against the other two (mainly against the Empire!) isn't the kind of person to piss on people sacrificing their lives to protect their loved ones - even if the game would have, imo, been more interesting if whenever Hubert or Ferdie said this, Barney or whoever asked them if they wouldn't be willing to do the same thing if their role were reversed, if it meant protecting Supreme Leader or people they care about.

As for the fandom, well, fans gotta fan, right? When some people are willing to villify playing with children (Dimitri BaD bcs in his FE16 ending scene he plays with children !), come up with the unfamous "not just kills, but murders" and with "she didn't spare their lives, she just, didn't kill them!", I'm half wondering if somewhere, in redshit's bowels or in a certain discord, someone didn't write 10k words to explain how BaD Dimitri is because his alternate hairstyle in FE16 is a ponytail.

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

Ranking the Veilguard companions Hookup Potential based on the kind of bed situation they have going on in the Lighthouse

(im in early act 2 so have no idea what further romance scenes are actually like, this is just jokin time without any romance spoilers. just pics of how their respective rooms in the lighthouse look and some basic characterization we know about them)

Taash: 8/10

In another game or the real world I would only rate this a 5 because they have no pillows or addition blankets. however they do have a real bedframe AND it's big enough for 2 which means the they are doing better than 90% of the rest of the Veilguard so this score gets boosted. And while there's not many blankets, there are plenty of braziers around the room to keep you warm, and Taash is probably their own miniature furnace to cuddle up to. Crucially, they also have a whole wheel of cheese next to the bed, which means you don't even have to leave the covers to get a snack after.

Lucanis: 1/10

Oh no. I'm not even going to comment on the pantry angle because everyone else asks him about that to begin with, so this is just about the bed. Unfortunately the bed is a cot made of uneven wooden planks with some blankets on top of it, and is only wide enough for 1. This is because Lucanis hates sleeping and doesn't want to do it, so the less tempting his bed is, the better for him. Unfortunately this means sleepover potential is dreadful and you will have to find alternate solutions. He does at least have another blanket to go over him and one that's presumably being used as a pillow, so, he gets a 1 instead of a 0, but I am still planning on gifting him coupons for a back massage for Satinalia.

Bellara: 4/10

This setup is perfectly fine for sleeping. It's the lighthouse standard little bed couch thing, has a mattress/cushion, is elevated off the floor, has a pillow, and she's got her blankets folded below. Perfectly serviceable for getting a good night's rest which we know Bellara is not because she forgot to sleep again. However, it's very much a one person sized setup. You might be able to cuddle for a while but if one of you unconsciously tries to roll over you are going right to the floor. Ouch.

Lace Harding: 5/10

You might be wondring "why is sleeping on the floor rated higher than bellara's" and the answer is because this means you are not rolling off the bed onto the floor. it's not going to be comfy but we are not ranking comfort here we're ranking sleepover potential. Harding has managed to make this space look homey and the canopy gives the illusion of being in a tent or canopy bed to help with that illusion. There are rugs down on the floor plus the blankets and pillows--we know Harding is used to sleeping on the ground due to her career as a scout, and I'm sure she can scrounge up more blankets to make the cushioning big enough for the both of you. Your back WILL hurt in the morning but you'll get to have a fun night first.

Neve: 3/10

Girl I know you can do better than this. Which means you're not trying to on purpose, so, live your life I guess. I will say this cot IS bounds nicer than Lucanis's--you can see its a stretched canvas or hide on a frame rather than wooden planks, so it will have a little more give. However they are not THAT much comfier which I know having slept on this modern equivalent many times. Neve also apparently has 0 pillows or blankets so you're out of luck there, as well as the problem of it only being wide enough for 1 again. This woman has too many other things going on to think about romance so your Rook is going to be the one improvising on that matter I think.

Davrin: 10/10

Now here is a man who has his life together. Double or queen size mattress, rustic bed frame he probably lovingly carved and assembled himself by hand, and not only are there sheets AND blankets AND pillows, they are are full on matching set and this knight in shining armor dutifully makes the bed every morning. There's also enough pillows for two! While the remains of a giant corpse is hanging above you all night, the spacing of the ribs still gives you lots of room above to manouver, so just don't worry about that. As a bonus you'll probably even have a baby griffon come to cuddle in the night which is such a cute thought we're going to ignore how much worse getting stepped on by a griffon foot would be than even the biggest fattest housecat trying to stand on your stomach at 4:30am. My one criticism of the setup here is that due to the bed's positioning if the person on the inside needs to get up in the night they'll have to awkwardly crawl over the person on the outside, however everyone else's bed situation is so dismal I'm not even going to subtract a point for that. Great work Davrin.

Emmrich: ???/10

Where... does this man sleep. Peepaw I KNOW you can't be sitting in that armchair all night you need your beauty rest!!! There are 0 beds or cots or floor blankets in this man's room. HOW am I supposed to break his pelvis if he has nowhere for us to lie down??? We can't risk that old man's spine on the cobblestone.

Wait... unless. No, surly not. I mean--jk. Unless...? 😳😳😳

is daddy necromancer gonna fuck me on the sacrifice slab... 😳😳😳🥵🥵🥵

Bonus:

Solas 11/10

does not matter where he actually slept bc once my inquisitor Gets Him again they WILL be fucking on top of the piano in front of the mural in his Yearning Room

[cy-cyborg]

I'm begging dragonage fans to do a tiny bit of research about arm amputees before loudly shouting their opinions on the inquisitor returning in the next game Please lol.

Apparently, it was confirmed that the inquisitor, your chatacter from the last game (who looses their arm in the final cutscene of the DLC), will return in Veilguard as a customisable character, similar to Hawke, and they will play an active roll in the story. This has caused a lot of people to start speculating on how they'll handle the inquisitor's missing hand, with most people agreeing they'll have to have a prosthetic to be an active part of the story. Which, while I do think this is the rought bioware will take, isn't true, and a part of me really hopes they leave the inquisitor without a prosthetic arm like in the end of Tresspasser

Partially because we already have a companion with a prosthetic (neve) and it would be nice to see some diversity in how amputation is depicted in such a mainstream game, but also because you dont need a prosthetic to fight as any of the main 3 classes from inquisition.

Mage:

mages just need a staff, the game shows them as 2 handed weapons but it's totally beleiveable that it would be usable 1-handed (Neve also uses a dagger-like weapon in the trailer, you can make a "staff" in inquisition that functions more like an energy sword, and the Mage in the chargers uses a staff resembling a bow, so I think it's more that they just need a focus, the shape doesn't matter as much). A knight enchanter may struggle more 1 handed, but I wouldn't write it off as an option with some modifications made to their main staff.

Warrior:

the easiest to justify, because there are several cases of arm amputees fighting with a sword and sheild in history, and while many did have prosthetics, most weren't functional (meaning they were mainly for aesthetic purposes and didn't actually aid the fighter in any way. There were exceptions, like Götz of the iron hand, who's prosthetic was functional, but most were not). The inquisitor looses their arm just above the wrist*, so they still have most of their forearm. Most sheilds strap to the forearm, so it wouldn't take much adjustment to make that work, and you can use the other hand for the weapon. Obviously, two-handed weapons will probably be off the table, though, lol.

*edit to say, as several people pointed out, i got that wrong, my bad 😅. The inquisitors arm is actually amputated through the elbow, the screenshots i was looking at just weren't very clear and it has been a while since i got to trespasser lol. It would still entirely possible to strap a shield to the upper arm though, with some pretty minor adjustments to the existing straps on standard (as in, those used by non-disabled warriors) tall shields, so the point still stands.

Rogue

this is the one people tend to be the loudest about and the one I understand the most. Obviously duel-weilding daggers won't work (unless you give them something like the hidden blades in assassin's creed on their stump side, I guess) but using a single dagger still would, and is a perfectly reasonable approach, given that's how most irl people used daggers. Archery, though, absolutely can work without a prosthetic, despite what people think. Dragonage has crossbows, not something like Bianca (rip) but a small, single-handed crossbow is an option. Even ignoring that though, amputee archery is a thing irl, and not every arm amputee uses prosthetics for it. The bows are modified to be held in one hand and drawn with the mouth using a kind of pully-system built into the bow that I could very easily see being modified into some dwarven-style contraption in game (some double arm amputees use their feet to draw regular bows, but I don't think that would be pheasable in combat).

Like I said, I think bioware will probably go with a prosthetic, but i hope that they don't. Or at the very least, show them with it sometimes and without it other times (the same goes for Neve, no one wears their prosthetic 24/7, I'd love to see them both take them off around the home base, even just occasionally). A lot of arm amputees in particular prefer to go without one, and arm prosthetics in media are some of the worst offenders of the "perfect prosthetic"/"miracle cure prosthetic" tropes. It doesn't count as "diversity" or disability representation if it doesn't actually change anything other than the look of the chatacter, and im really, really desperate for some actually decent amputee representation in games.

[petermorwood]

I have a sword question, if I may. Or more of a sword confusion Im seeking clarification on.

In my mind a fantasy european standard sword (that obviously doesnt really exist, but like, when a knight or someone in a story has an unspecified sword), I always imaged a straight blade with a triangular tip, both edges sharp cutting edges.

Then at some point I learned about eg scimitars that have a cutting edge and a ...blunt edge?

I was looking at your recent addition to the post about the Turkish sword, where you distinguish between an inner cutting edge on a sword v an outer cutting edge.

And then Im thinking of those enormous zweihander types that are all about momentum and do those even need a particularly sharp edge? They seem in dnd parlance to be a bludgeoning weapon not for slashing.

And while Im asking, like. Rapiers are very stabby weapons, do they have sharp edges at all or judt a sharp point?

I guess my overall question culminates something like "what parts of swords are designed for what damage and why? Is there anything all swords have other than blade and handle like can they all be used for stabbing or do some have very blunt points etc? Is it a big deal for a sword to be double-edged, does that necessitate specific training? Whats up with different sword blades?"

I realise thats a pretty enormous question that might be unreasonable to ask. Im happy with whstever response you are or arent willing to give. Hope you have a good day :)

Sharp edge / blunt edge is the setup on any kitchen or table knife you've ever encountered, and being able to put a hand on the blunt "edge" - usually called the back of the blade - not only helps when mincing herbs or garlic, but also features in some techniques of swordplay.

Other techniques employed non-blade parts of the weapon, using the pommel like a mace and the crossguard like a pick-axe.

*****

Whether swords should be straight or curved, single- or double-edged, was an argument which continued as recently as the early 1900s.

The last swords issued to cavalry for combat use (modern parade swords don't count) were both remarkably similar designs, straight-bladed for thrusting, adopted by the UK in 1908...

...and the US in 1913.

There was, of course, strong opposition from those who insisted cavalry swords should be sabres curve-bladed for cutting instead.

Equally of course, both sides failed to notice - or ignored, since a certain kind of cavalry officer was only bright as regards boots, buckles and buttons - the uncomfortable fact that machine-guns and repeating rifles had made the whole ta-ran-ta-rah "cut them down with your swords, men!" cavalry charge an exercise in futility.

*****

D&D, unless they've considerably upped their accuracy game, isn't much of a reference for weapon realism.

"Enormous Zweihanders" and other big swords such as the Montante were a lot lighter and more nimble than they'd seem from reading an encumbrance chart.

They had their own techniques to take best advantage of length, leverage and momentum and were indeed sharp. Given a choice between a sharp combat weapon and a blunt one, sharp makes far more sense.

In addition, a sharp blade is lighter than a blunt one simply through having less metal. It may only be a few grams of difference, but it IS a difference.

That's also the reason behind a fuller, the groove(s) along a blade.

They're not "blood gutters", tough and cool though that may sound, but a way to reduce a sword's weight while preventing its blade from getting excessively flexible.

Finally...

The re-enactor is wearing half-armour, but these big swords were also meant for use against unarmoured opponents. Bodyguards often carried them (they looked impressive) and those sweeping strokes could block an entire street while The Boss got away.

That's when an ability to cut rather than merely bludgeon makes all the difference. Determined assassins might try to rush a blunt sword, but a sharp one would give anyone second thoughts...

*****

Double-edged swords versus single-edged ones seem to vary depending on cultural preference - also on period of history and intended function.

Bronze Age European swords had straight or leaf-shaped blades with double edges...

...while Ancient Egypt had the curved, single-edged khopesh, a shape which also turned up in Ancient Assyria (this one's in the Metropolitan Museum, New York USA).

It's listed as a "sickle sword", an incorrect term which I wish would go away because sickles are sharp on the inside of the curve while swords like this - their grip-shape shows how they're meant to be held and swung - are sharp on the outside.

And just when "the Ancient Middle East used curved single-edge swords" looks like a handy generalisation, along come straight swords, one from Ancient Egypt...

...another from Luristan, now part of modern Iran.

This next one comes from Ancient Iberia (Spain), right at the other side of the Mediterranean. Evidence of trading links? Your guess is as good as mine.

Iberia went on to use the falcata, a short single-edged forward-curved sword.

Those extra bits round the blade are scabbard metalwork; the wood and leather scabbard is long gone. This repro shows how they would have looked when in place.

Iberia also used a straight double-edged sword which so impressed the Romans that they adopted it, refined it and used it for several centuries. Here's one of the several Roman versions of that gladius Hispaniensis (Spanish sword), double-edged, mostly meant for stabbing but capable of very effective cuts as well.

Here's my repro of a similar sword, the elegant "Mainz" pattern with its long point and waisted blade. Very pretty, and pretty wicked.

*****

"Curved single-edged swords are Eastern, straight double-edged swords are Western", is another generalisation that won't work.

Here are Eastern straight swords...

...and Western curved ones.

*****

Viking swords were all double-edged...

...except when they weren't.

*****

Many rapiers could cut. Smallswords, which came later, couldn't.

Earlier rapiers with broader blades cut better than later ones with narrow blades, but IIRC even the later Italian and Spanish rapier styles include cuts directed at the opponent's face and sword-arm.

I have a notion that the modern thing about cutting with rapiers is based (like back-carry) on seeing it done in movies. IMO - more about it here - that's actually more a modern stage-combat safety thing than a period real-combat move. A fumbled cut is bruising and unpleasant even with a "safe" prop sword, but a fumbled thrust into the eye-socket or throat with that same "safe" sword can be fatal.

Even those early rapiers wouldn't sever a head or limb - a finger maybe, hence the elaborate hand-protection of swept and cup hilts - but blood from a forehead wound running into the eyes was, and in boxing still is, an efficient way to finish a fight by ensuring the opponent can't continue. One of the duels in "The Duellists" ends this way.

This example is a bit optimistic, IMO...

...but a longsword (double-edged)...

...or a messer (single-edged)...

...was quite capable of disarming an opponent in a very literal way.

*****

Some swords had minimal points, being intended mostly for cutting. One example of this is the Indian khanda broadsword. The second example is also very clearly single-edged.

Another cut-only sword without a point (but with double edges) is the Richtschwert (justice sword)...

...though this was a single-function (and hopefully single-cut) tool rather than weapon, neither balanced for nor intended for combat.

Hope this has helped answer the questions!

[isagrimorie]

This THR interview with showrunner Jac Schaeffer is really good!

Some quotes from the interview:

"When you're lucky enough to have a project be a hit [WandaVision] and you then have some capital, the question becomes: how are you going to spend your capital? And one of the answers to that question was parlaying it into a return to directing," Schaeffer tells The Hollywood Reporter of directing multiple episodes this season. "There's nothing like it. Writing something and being the one to execute it and then additionally seeing it through post, it's the ultimate."

So the reason we're getting this material on Agatha All Along is because Jac Schaeffer earned the capital, the cachet after making WandaVision into a runaway hit. Even though Disney-Marvel refused to give her the rightful title of 'Showrunner' at that time.

She's using this capital to tell the story she wants to tell.

How did we get as much textually, onscreen Agatha/Rio as we're getting?

Because WandaVision was a runaway hit, the first of its kind on Disney+ streaming and because of that cachet Jac and Mary Livanos (EP) now have the capital to spend it on pushing the story they want to tell and includes Agatha and Rio's very complicated romantic relationship.

On Agatha and Rio

Jac Schaeffer: "I just think it's about the dynamic between Agatha and Rio. At this point in the story, it's impossible for them to find each other, and that's the real question," Schaeffer says. "Obviously, they have so much chemistry and they have so much heat, so what's the problem? That's really what that scene points to."

---

Q: Rio dropped the reveal about Teen in the midst of Agatha trying to kiss her. Why did Rio decide to ruin that tender moment between them and hurt Agatha even more?

Again, it is hard to really talk about this because there's so much yet to unfold, but I appreciate the question very, very much, and I would like to try to answer it as best I can. I would just say that Rio's interest in Agatha has a lot of depth to it. When we first see them together as their true selves in that fight at the end of 101, it's all fun and games. It's hair pulling and scratching and knives and sexiness, but there's real pain and real yearning.

Q: Was Aubrey Plaza doing double duty based on her absence between one and four?

Well, it's rarely just a practical thing. In the writers' room, we knew that Rio would be so special, and we were trying to titrate how combustible we wanted their interactions to be. So we knew we couldn't have them together all the time because it's not a rom-com. It's not about two people with cute conflict who then fall into bed with each other. So we always knew that Rio wouldn't be around all of the time, and I believe the construction of the episodes predated Aubrey's availability. But, yes, we did not have her entirely in the way that would've made things easier. Still, I would say those decisions were more about story.

There's a lot of "justice for Sharon," but there's also a lot of "where's Rio?" And part of our job is holding back. You can't give everybody everything they want all the time. You need a little pain and a little frustration in your watch to keep you going.

(Emphasis mine.)

The ol' slowburn, the ye ol' yearning. You gotta keep them hungry, to keep them on the hook.

That good ol' TV standard.

[evenmyhivemindisempty]

I need your headcanons on how the Boyd Boys would react in the situation that they got a baby in their care.No one knows where it came from,doesn't need to be theirs,but they're stuck with a baby now. Good luck to them 👍 (with love from anon who got hit with sudden baby fever for the first time in his 20s)

Haha good luck with that baby fever, anon!! I’ve heard when it hits it hits *hard*

Steve Murphy: This one is easy, because we know exactly how Steve Murphy responds! He adopts that baby ASAP, and proceeds to be a dutiful (if maybe not exactly excited) dad!

Donald Pierce: He’d hold it awkwardly, possibly at an arms length from himself, squinting as it gurgled like it’s an engine making funky noises he’s trying to decipher. As soon as it started crying he’d hand it right over to Gabby. Pierce isn’t crazy about babies! He doesn’t find them interesting! They don’t have anything to say, and they don’t do anything fun! They just cry loudly, eat, and poop! (There is, however, a moment when he’s watching Gabby murmur lullabies and gently rock it to the sleep, that he just feels *so* inexplicably tender.)

Cap Hatfield: He finds babies ADORABLE, if faintly perplexing. He tries his best to make sure it’s comfortable, maybe whittles a little rattler for it, but ultimately he’s passing it off to the first relative he sees that knows more about childrearing than he does. But he’ll absolutely be popping in to help!

Clement Mansell: Ooh I feel like this is SO dependent on his mood at the time. 90% of the time Clement is immediately dropping that kid off at the nearest fire station, but if he’s in kind of a wistful, melancholy state, thinking about his dad or his legacy?? Yeah, he’s keeping that kid. I feel like having a kid *could* actually make Clement a better person too, if it makes him kind of reflect on what he wants for his kid (and the ways that’s different than what he got growing up), but he’s also 100% gonna use his adorable little baby to distract marks while he robs them blind.

The Corinthian: Aw man, the Corinthian is actually *great* with babies. (Baby Daniel!!) I don’t think he’d hang on to it if he didn’t have to though - unless for some reason he got insta-attached - but if it maybe reminded him of Orpheus (who I HC Corinthian sometimes babysat) or something, he’d be such a devoted dad! Based solely on the vibes I got from how he interacted with Jed, I can see the Corinthian having a bit of a double-life: sure, there’s moments where he acts *off*, or says something weird, but overall he’s giving his kid the standard all-American life, complete with a trampoline in the backyard and a golden retriever. He makes his kid and his kid’s friends sandwiches when they hang out at the house after school. Maybe he seduces their hot dads. Maybe he does some serial killing on the side! But he’ll also be there at every soccer game and ballet rehearsal.

Eli Klaber: Klaber finds kids adorable, but doesn’t really know what to do with them. He’d try his best though! He’d read parenting books and attend classes (probably surrounded by brand-new mothers slightly perplexed by his presence). I feel like he’d be the dad that tries to bring his kid *everywhere* (including to work!) and the first day of daycare he absolutely cries a little.

Ty Shaw: Ty immediately integrates the baby into the family! This is a Shaw baby now! He’s good with kids; after basically being a dad for three kids already, he’s old hat at this! He finds it so cute too, and he’s definitely the obnoxious parent that takes a million pictures of their kid and then insists on showing them *all* to everyone he meets.

Quinn McKenna: The thing is, Quinn actually *is* good with kids, and he does like them, but he’s not good at being around them for too long. He can’t really do fatherhood for very long without getting a little distant and needing space. I think if he *has* to take care of this kid, he’ll do it and he’ll do a thorough and competent job, but he’s gonna be burnt out quick, and maybe not always the most emotionally available parent. It’s better for him (and the kid, frankly) if he can find someone else to be the full-time parent, and he can act as an uncle figure.

[balkanradfem]

So I like the Barbie movie enough to do an analysis of their feminist statements and try to get to the root of the problem! They did give us a long list of expectations women worldwide are dealing with, now let's see why they're dealing with it.

1. "We have to always be extraordinary, but somehow, we're always doing it wrong. You have to be thin, but not too thin, and you can never say you want to be thin, you have to say you want to be healthy."

This issue happens because women in practice, culture, and their real-life circumstances are still effectively living as the second class citizens, and they're viewed as servants for males, and male toys. It does not benefit us to be expected to be extraordinary, and it does not benefit us to be thin. So who benefits from it?

It's a feature of a male fantasy. Male wants to posses a woman who is trained to please him in every possible way, but she also needs to be unique and different from all other women, so he feels like he has something special. Every woman already is unique and individual, but he doesn't notice such things as personality, he needs her to be special in a way that he and his male buddies will notice! So she has to be extraordinary in something that males appreciate, but also if she is better than them at it, then they no longer feel the ease of being superior, so she's doing it wrong.

Women's ideal being thin is also a male fantasy, they've managed to pavlov themselves into finding thin women the only kind of woman that is attractive, thus the requirement on women is to be thin, even when it damages our health. Men love causing trauma to women, but to see women actually visibly struggling with it, putting it into words, saying it hurts us, that makes them uncomfortable! So they shame the language, until we phrase it as something that doesn't relate to them, or that makes it seem like it's for our own good. 'Being thin for health' makes it seem like the required starvation is for our own good, and healthy, in fact.

This could not possibly happen if we were not existing in service of the other half of population. If we were respected and valuable human beings, what is bad for us would not be represented to us as an ideal.

2. "You have to have money, but can't ask for money, because that's crass. You have to be boss, but can't be mean. You have to lead, but you can't squash other people's ideas."

These are double standards that men put up for us. Even though women are paid less, own less, are globally more impoverished and have a harder time gaining money, that is no longer enough for us to completely depend on men for money; they hate this. So as a revenge for us managing to earn a bit of our own money, we now can't ask them for any, we are supposed to 'have our own', and still depend for them, but in fear, reluctant to ask or to demand. Notice how it isn't crass for a man to ask for money, it's almost expected, but for a woman, it's shameful.

Women in lead will be criticized, called out, scrutinized and humiliated like no male leader ever would be; this is to make it harder for women to feel in control and comfortable in leading positions. Male leader is supposed to step all over ideas he doesn't find useful, hell he can even squash it and take credit for it later, but if a woman doesn't acknowledge a stupid idea, she is immediately told off for 'not being a good enough leader'. Even when she's doing exactly what she's supposed to do. It's a hypocritical little game to ensure only men can comfortably lead.

3. "You're supposed to love being a mother, but don't talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman, but also always be looking out for other people."

This is a feature of "women existing for male convenience" problem. We are supposed to be naturally loving of raising kids, because it's convenient for males to just have their children raised for them without having to do much about it, and if this is not provided to them, then women are evil for not 'loving being a mother' when it's convenient for men that women are super into that and willing to do it for free, forever, without complaining or talking about it, because men don't like to know that it's an actual effort, they feel more comfortable feeling it's a silly little chore that deserves no thought whatsoever.

Women having careers is something men have been making difficult in any way possible, because it means women are not reliant on them for resources within capitalism, but they were not able to completely prevent us having jobs, so now they're just trying to get as much use of it as possible. If women earn money, they will leech off of that money. If women have careers, well then those women should prove that they're just as convenient, nurturing, always available, running at every beck and call, and act as if they still only exist to serve and please men. If women fail to do this, they'll again be accused of being selfish, horrible people, bad mothers, bad community members, and so on and so forth. Men of course, can ignore the entire world and do their job badly, and have a violence problem, and be addicted to p*rn, and it's fine. They're not bad people regardless of how little compassion they have for anyone who isn't them.

4. "You have to answer for men's bad behavior, which is insane. But if you point that out, you're accused of complaining. You're supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you're supposed to be a part of the sisterhood."

This is an example of psychological abuse; victims are most often told they're responsible for their abuser's actions, as if they would in any situation be able to control or influence them, which they can't. But, putting that responsibility on women will make women hyperfocus on their own behaviour, on prevention of abuse, prevention of violence, which means they will go a long way trying to please men, tiptoe around them, give them insane amount of attention and care, in hope or preventing the escalation of their behaviour - and this is exactly what men want, this is what the abuse was for. To gain that devotion and attention, with the threat of violence. If women understood perfectly that men are responsible for their own behaviour, their way forward would be to hold men accountable, to lock them up and never look back. It's only in the world where women are victims of severe psychological abuse that we try to please men into not committing acts of violence. And it never works, because men love violence, and will turn to violence at every corner, even more easily and smugly knowing they can simply blame a woman for not working hard enough to prevent it.

Men expecting women to be pretty but then punishing them for being pretty is also an act of abuse; women's exterior is being judged as if our appearance is both a statement and a crime. Men can look whatever they naturally look like, and it's not a provocation, temptation, lack of solidarity or anything worth criticizing; but any way that a woman looks can be scrutinized and a ground for moral callout. The reality is that women also just look like the way they look like, and there's nothing wrong with it. There is zero moral problems with women looking pretty or not pretty. There isn't even a problem with tempting males because males are responsible for their own actions and not toddlers who have no power to resist impulses. This is a tactics for making women responsible for male behaviour - the way she looks is responsible for what I want to do to her. Complete nonsense, they just found a way to blame her for his own behaviour.

Calling women out for not being 'a part of the sisterhood' based on their appearance is very poorly concealed tactic to turn women against each other, to distract them from seeing that men are the root of the problem. Men don't turn on each other based on appearance, and it doesn't make sense for women to be assumed to do it either; in women-only communities, it doesn't matter what women look like. Whatever women look like is never a threat or an attack on other women, men are trying to play on female insecurity and frame other women as a threat to that insecurity - when the only threat all along was men, creating ideals and standards of beauty that don't correspond to reality or nature.

5. "Always be grateful, but never forget that the system is rigged, so find a way to acknowledge that, but also, always be grateful. You have to never get old."

The waves of feminism have forced the public consciousness to acknowledge that the system is rigged, but the pressure to do something about it falls completely on women, even though men created the system, rigged it, are keeping it rigged, are using violence to enforce it, and are benefiting from it. And it's convenient to them if women do nothing else but acknowledge it's rigged and stay grateful they're still allowed to live within, we're supposed to be threatened by the fact that we can easily be killed if we step out of line.

Men are threatened by older women because mature women have experience, they are no longer easily manipulated or cheated out of their gain, they will not bow down and please men like young, inexperienced women can be tricked into doing. So they convince those young women, that being old is shameful and ugly for women. They want women to stay young and susceptible, like children that they can control and not allow any agency or free will. This ensures we stay focused on being scared of time, aging and our own bodies and nature, but not of the predators who are taking our lives as a service for themselves.

6. "Never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear. Never get out of line, it's too hard, it's too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says "thank you". And it turns out, in fact, that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault."

These are lists of standards that are only applied to women, men are allowed to do all of these things and to be catered to while they're doing it. This behaviour is presented as bad only when women are doing it; if men do it, it's considered neutral, normal, intrinsic to human nature. Women being selfish inconveniences men, who are looking to exploit female selflessness. Women showing off and being proud would cut into their time showing off, they want that attention for themselves. Women getting out of line is inconvenient, since men have drawn those lines for women (those lines don't exist for men). Women showing fear makes it difficult for male predators to corner them down and have them act complacent; men don't want to see proof of victimizing women, except in private, except when they can get off on it. Never in public, never when women could potentially escape or reach for help, then it's sexist of women to be afraid.

Women getting medals, acknowledgment or gratitude again, cuts into male parade of getting all the acknowledgment, gratitude and medals, for them it doesn't make sense that they should share attention or credit with what they consider to be the 'servant class'. Men have deluded themselves into thinking they deserve more credit than women do, they don't consider us smart or capable, because they can easily oppress us, so how smart can we be? But also, they expect and demand us to be as smart and capable as necessary to resolve all of their issues, to make their life easy and pleasant and undemanding. We are forced to deal with issues they won't even look at, we often solve problems or create solution they wouldn't be able to produce, and this is when they simply take credit and convince themselves that they knew better all along. It's a 'male-delusion rules reality' kind of world for women.

After doing the biggest bulk of work on earth, creating and raising the entire human race, doing daily unpaid labour, putting up with violence, threats and constant degradation from men, after not having our interests represented by the law, education, government, economy or any other institution with any power, after spending a piece of our life being groomed and then having to spend another undoing the grooming, we are still told that everything is our fault, and that we're doing everything wrong.

This is abuse, and somebody is doing it. We are not put thru all of this for vague reasons, or for arbitrary reasons, someone is benefiting from all of it. While we're raising children, who lazes around and attaches their last names to our kids? When we're doing daily unpaid labour, who doesn't do their part? Who is staring at us while we're walking down the street, who fails to represent or even acknowledge our interests, and even our human rights? Who does the grooming, and who enables them to do it? Where do they get resources from it, who allows it to go on unchecked? How come young girls and women are regarded as such low value that we allow them to live unprotected around predators who will absolutely attempt to violate them in as many ways they can? Who fails to prevent, or arrest, or punish them?

It's not just a system of patriarchy, it'a a system of men, doing this every single day of their life. We can point the finger at the root of the problem. We have a common enemy, and they're working damn hard to keep us from realizing it.

[joojeans]

hi sno! im just wondering who do you think would be the boy dad or girl dad among hyung line? imsoo sick im already thinking of them as the father of my children (i dont think id ever want to have kids...) thank you <3

&team hyung line: girl dads vs boy dads

k: k is such a boy dad. i think he would get nervous with a little girl because he would be so afraid of accidentally hurting her sdfjsfs :( but a little boy! he would be k's shadow. he'd take him with him to run errands, to walk the dog, even to work if he's able. he would make it his duty to turn the little guy into a miniature version of himself. he'd even have him double team you (the mom) with matching pouty faces when k wants to go for ice cream but you've said it's too late. because how can you say no to both of them at the same time? he's the cool dad 99% of the time so you usually have to be the disciplinarian but he can step up to the plate if and when he needs to. fake beefs with his son about which one you love more.

fuma: equal parts girl dad and boy dad. with a little girl, he's spoiling tf out of her and treating her like she hung the moon in the sky. it's a stark contrast to how he'd raise a little boy—making sure he corrects even the smallest misbehavior. he teaches his son about nutrition and being active from a young age so he doesn’t have to struggle with it later in in life while also playing video games with him when they get back home. his little girl is his princess and he buys her pretty things and snuggles with her mid-day if she wants him to. his little boy is expected to help with dinner and cleaning up and he watches his words a lot more carefully. it's not that he doesn't hold them to the same standard so much as it is letting the mom take the lead with the daughter while he takes the lead with his son. he will still make sure his little princess isn't acting crazy. she just gets away with a little bit more until her mom's around.

nicholas: he's a girl dad and i'm so sad about it !! he's the softest dad, carrying her around as much as she wants. he will cave to anything she asks for and if mom says no, he'll give it to her in secret. paints her tiny nails :(( her freedom of expression is very important to him so he'll be walking around the grocery store with her dressed fully in costume if that's what she wanted to wear that day. he's good at disciplining her, but in the gentlest way possible. he'll use a soft voice and puppy eyes to make sure she doesn't feel like he's angry. she's his heart for real. he comes home and no matter what kind of day he's had, he finds her first thing and spends quality time with her, only to make your heart swell with that much more love for him.

euijoo: both pt. 2. with a son, he's dedicated to raising a polite, well-intentioned young man. he has many heart to hearts with him as he's growing up to make sure he understands that just because some boys may act this way or that way, it doesn't mean that it's right. makes sure he understands how to treat women and be mindful of their struggles. his daughter is his sunshine in a sometimes stormy world. he's so protective of her. if she trips or hurts her finger or someone at school makes her cry, he's falling over his feet to make sure she's okay. makes sure to warn her about "how boys can be" and will give a stern look to any boy around her so they know to be on their best behavior with his daughter. good at talking either of them through any misbehavior by making them understand exactly why what they did was wrong and how they can handle it better next time. will watch them carefully when the situation arises again, a proud smile and words of praise when they navigate it successfully.

[kafus]

my orre colosseum team

i spent the past month or so on-and-off breeding this team for orre colosseum in XD gale of darkness, a postgame challenge i've never played through before. the long time was mostly due to being in bagon hatching purgatory for weeks

i planned out the whole team before breeding it. orre colosseum is basically like gen 3 VGC - bring 6, pick 4 with team preview, no repeating held items, battles are in doubles format. there's not anything else quite like it in gen 3 especially because team preview wasn't the standard yet, so i was kind of in the dark when it came to teambuilding. i knew orre colosseum NPCs had preplanned teams by the devs, not randomized out of a pool of pokemon sets like the tower/frontier , which is more in line with the original stadium games, and it was usually considered a fairly difficult challenge, so i had to give it some thought

this is what i ended up with after skimming some resources for the orre colosseum format played by real players, but not checking orre colosseum teams in advance as i wanted to be surprised. the IVs here are weird since like i said, i spent like a month breeding these pokemon manually (hatched around 2000 eggs overall give or take, i wasn't counting all of them) so their IVs aren't perfect across the board.

the main two things i was keeping in mind while teambuilding were speed, protection from explosion/self-destruct, and spread moves that affect the whole field. tailwind and trick room don't exist yet and speed control options are very limited in gen 3, so base speed and training in speed is really important. additionally spread moves that affect the whole field like earthquake and explosion don't have their damage cut the same way moves that only target both opponents do in this gen, so they're extremely powerful and a team needs to both have access to these options and be able to defend from these options.

i was also hellbent on not using any legendaries (box legendaries and mythicals are banned from orre colosseum AKA restricteds, but legendaries like the kanto bird trio are allowed) and not using metagross or gengar, two of the gen 3 doubles GOATs and... idk i'm just tired of using them frankly, i feel like i have enough skill to beat NPC opponents without them, even if they're tougher. so that's why i don't have pokemon like latios on the team, etc.

i will admit that while teambuilding i completely forgot about rock resistance which is pretty relevant in gen 3 in general... i have THREE pokemon weak to rock and no resisted switch-ins. BUT all rock moves in gen 3 are physical, and i have three intimidate users, so instead of changing up the team i was already attached to after realizing this, i just decided to roll with it.

anyway with all that out of the way and the acknowledgement that this team isn't perfect, i'll explain the pokemon one by one:

first up, tangerine! she was actually the pokemon i teambuilt first and was most excited to use since i got really attached to the persian i used in my recent firered nuzlocke named after my friend zur. in fact, she stems from zur's bloodline so i let zur name her, and they picked tangerine lol. other than just wanting to use one of my current favorites though, persian actually has really nice moveset options for doubles - fake out is not common but is incredibly useful in any doubles format, and icy wind is one of the very few speed control moves in gen 3. double-edge with silk scarf rounds her off with some big damage and shadow ball lets her hit ghost types... though i'll admit protect is definitely more optimal here instead of shadow ball, i just really wanted to use shadow ball because of an ongoing inside joke with zur & co about it (look up the tag #/freakylocke on my blog and you'll find it eventually)

i've played three rounds of orre colosseum so far, so the easier ones, but tangerine has been popping off, she's very useful i'm so proud of her.

tenchi the arcanine is next, also a pokemon i was hellbent on using. during my firered nuzlocke i was really excited to use arcanine since it's a version exclusive and i almost always play leafgreen, but my growlithe died early on from a careless crit, and after that i was determined to use arcanine in the battle tower or something to make up for that disappointment. i ended up routing that desire to orre colosseum instead! the aforementioned dead growlithe was also named after a friend, my friend babs, who picked out the name tenchi.

he's pretty straightforward - overheat does massive damage and ideally he gets to use it twice for free because of the white herb. hidden power grass provides extra coverage and extremespeed lets him pick off weakened opponents. protect lets allies safely use earthquake. also my first intimidate user!

next up, firegreen! bulbasaur was my favorite starter for most of my life until sprigatito came around and venusaur is still one of my most beloved pokemon. his name was recommended to me by my friend note. i was just really captivated by the comedic nature of his name, lol.

he's the team's weather control and has access to sleep powder. synergizes nicely with tenchi who can throw out really powerful overheats in the sun, even with a stat drop. and of course solarbeam is great in the sun.

his EV spread is really specific compared to most of the other pokemon on this team - he has enough speed to outspeed uninvested base 85 speed pokemon, he has enough HP/special defense to live a modest max special attack latios psychic, and the rest i dumped into special attack. this bulk has proven incredibly useful in some battles already so i'm glad i did his EVs the way i did. the slower sleep powders is also convenient for the following guaranteed sleep turn.

now louie the gyarados (named by my friend Serena who was once again a nuzlocke encounter from my firered nuzlocke lol) is kind of a weird one. at this point i knew i was probably going to use salamence, a flying type, and i wanted a second flying type (or levitate haver) for double earthquake immunity. i had also already added arcanine and venusaur to the team, fire and grass types, and fire/water/grass is a known good type combination on a team. so i combined these traits with gyarados - having yet another intimidate user isn't half bad to have either!

i bring him to battles more situationally, ie. in the first round i brought him against lovrina's obvious full stall team because taunt just absolutely decimated hr and prevented her from doing literally anything, even with taunt's crappy 2 turn length in gen 3. he's really meant as a support pokemon - speed control with thunder wave, taunt - and he's meant to stick around as long as possible and be annoying, hence protect and brightpowder (gen 3 doesn't have a lot of hold items so i figured i might as well). but of course i have at least one damaging option and i picked earthquake for that.

i don't remember exactly how i EV'd him but i do know i calculated his HP/defense to live... some rock move... so yeah his EVs improve his match-up into rock type attacks. i dumped the rest into attack, but i may adjust later to give him some speed if necessary, dunno. haven't needed it thus far.

now here's scramble, the only pokemon i actually named myself... her name takes after the sheer amount of eggs i hatched for her, over 800. it was torture. don't ask (lighthearted)

she's the premier damage output of this team and i often lead with tangerine and her so tangerine can use fake out and allow her to get off a substitute, which keeps her safe from most status moves and an attack, and then she can set up dragon dances and absolutely go to town with hidden power flying and earthquake.

i actually ran into a battle with a ditto out of the few battles i've played so far and wound up in a situation where i had to deal with the ditto copying scramble's own singular dragon dance and posing a huge threat to the rest of my team. intimidate really came to the rescue there lol

somehow she ended up being the only non-kanto pokemon on this team. that was not intentional.

and last but not least, scoop! my friend rat recommended the name ice cream scoop, which obviously doesn't fit within the 10 character limit, but i got really attached to the "scoop" part and went with that. he's very straightforward - incredibly fast max speed coverage that hits decently hard and can clean up games from the back. the lum berry is there to prevent him from getting paralyzed or otherwise have his cleanup stopped by status, an d he has protect for ally earthquakes, explosions, etc.

and yeah that's the team. i love them. they took such a ridiculously long time to put together but totally worth it. i'm excited to get back to more orre colosseum when i get the energy

[joesalw]

This conversation about Taylor's downfall in 2016 and what led up to it, plus this lie that most criticism of female celebrities is just misogyny is really interesting to me because it's something I talk to people about in real life. There's this idea that in mainstream media people love to build female celebrities up and then rip them apart when they get successful, which don't get me wrong is absolutely true, but in some cases it's a little more complicated than that. There are times when certain celebrities brand and present themselves as "the ideal dream woman" of whatever period they're in, and then when the societal image of what "the ideal dream woman" shifts but the celebrity's image doesn't, the facade cracks.

I think a good example of this is Jennifer Lawrence. I was a teenager when the hunger games movies were coming out and was obsessed so I used to watch a lot of the interviews with the cast. Jlaw presentes herself very much as a "cool girl", she was the youngest of 2 older brothers so she was a "tomboy" that loves sports and drinking beers and shots. She also made it a big deal about how she doesn't diet and is constantly eating yet still has a slim body and doesn't know about designer clothes and is so above all this fame thing. Whilst all this was happening the Gone Girl monologue was gaining traction particularly the part about cool girls and how women alter their personality for men's consumption. Eventually people caught on about all the fictional women and celebrities that fall into the trope and were over it, yet jlaw kept up with the persona. Couple that with her continually working with David o Russell, the insensitivity to other cultures, the overexposure and people realising her acting ain't really all that, you have the general public getting sick of her and her having to take a break. She's sort of made a comeback now and people are just chalking her downfall to "misogyny".

I wasn't really following what Taylor was up to in the lead up to her crash because I'd gotten sick of her long before that and avoided her stuff like the plague, but I did see someone on Reddit talk about how her winning album of the year over Kendrick Lemar and then using her speech to shit on another prominent black hip hop artist over something that was a lie wasn't a good luck for her. Add in the racist undertones in shake it off and wildest dreams videos for good measure.

This time around I do think her not adapting to the political and societal change is going to be a major factor if (I hope) she has another downfall. Before I get to the next part I do have to say I'm from England (you may have heard of it but it is a very foreign country/s) so if I'm wrong about the American political atmosphere someone feel free to correct me. After the election of trump there was a whole knew political awakening and conversations happening, one of them being about how Hillary lost due to misogyny (not completely true) so there were conversations about patriarchy, sexism, double standards and all that. This was the perfect climate for Taylor to be able to swoop in and use all these buzzwords she's learnt and blame anything bad that happened to her on misogyny and made all of her problems into "women problems". You had her giving quotes like how women are only allowed to react or some shit and released "the man" (side note but does anyone else find the bridge to the song kind of racist? Especially the way she's constantly compared to black artists?). She was of course celebrated for all this and had successfully rebranded to politically conscious Taylor Swift.

I don't think she expected the political climate to shift so quickly once again. In 2020 we had those viral videos of white women calling the cops on black people and the conversations about how white women use their privilege and tears to harm others and get away with it. During BLM there were talks about how certain white women will present themselves as allies and progressive but still have friends and date people who are bigots showing their politics is skin deep *cough cough*. COVID had us talking about the disconnect from celebrities about the real world and how capitalism is just another plague that is killing us normal people. You had certain companies and people becoming billionaires during this time and this truly began the crumbling of the pedestal the rich and famous were on.

Flashforward to now, where there are multiple genocides happening in front of our eyes. A time where you can't open any social media site without seeing innocents being slaughtered in ways that fills you with a rage and sorrow I can't even put into words. A time where our world leaders are doing Jake shit like some Arab leaders or actively funding it like the UK and US. A large number of Americans are saying they won't vote for Biden next year, others are screaming if you do that we'll get a repeat of 2016. But people are rightfully pointing out that Hilary is also a war criminal and the DNC were told people are not going to vote for her so pick a different candidate, they didn't and lo and behold those people stuck to their word. Women being in power does nothing if they uphold the same system which is exactly what women like Taylor do.

So the women Taylor rebranded herself to is the exact kind of woman whos shit people are sick of. Her face literally being used as the face of the western media ignoring the atrocities happening to brown and black people and upholding the status quo is just poetic justice. Add in the absolute shallowness of that interview and the whole capitalism is okay when you're girl bossing and you've got people wondering who the fuck does she thinks she is.

There's obviously a lot more to any potential crash Taylor may have and this is all my observations that may be wrong, but I do find all this shit fascinating and I wish people smarter than me would look into it to see if I've got a point.

You’ve got a great point

[existslikepristin]

Unexpectedly busy week, that was. Except today. Today I got home and ate ice cream

Only two options in the poll this time! Is there a secret reason?! Yes, it's because I didn't have any more ideas The poll is only going to be available for 24 hours, because I should be able to get the next part up tomorrow!

Tags: NSFW, S.M.U.T., genie, microtransactions???

(Story Index)

Anime Girls

"I wish for a harem of anime girls!" you blurt out before you can think.

Joy appears mildly shocked for a moment, but then she gives you a wry smirk. "Look at you, making a wish like that. You perverted weeb."

You frown and put up a finger of protest, but Joy quickly continues, "I know. I know. You're not the first of your kind I've come across, master. Being a weeb is an honored profession nowadays, and you're all special because of your unique waifu and/or husbando selection(s). I know the drill."

The air around you seems to contract and expand simultaneously, and everything in your line of sight briefly tints green. Except, that is, for Joy herself. Even as space bends in front of your very eyes, causing no small amount of queasiness to knot about in the pit of your stomach, Joy remains on the table, sitting up with the same smooth grace she has continuously displayed up to this point and only looking as green as usual, which isn’t all that green, really.

And then it's over. The air feels normal again, and your standard color vision has returned.

"Was that the wish?" you ask.

"Sure was!"

You look around. Nothing has changed. You see no anime girls. Not even your waifu (though, considering Joy told you she can't read your mind, you're not sure how she would have known to pick her). "So, where's the harem?"

"I figured you wouldn't be able to list each and every anime girl you've ever wanted to fuck."

Joy pauses. After a few seconds you say, "That's not a useful explanation."

"Oh. Right. Check your phone."

"My phone?" you inquire, as you reach down to take your phone from the pocket of your discarded shorts.

"Yup! I've noticed that most weebs are very heavily invested in their own tropes, which I appreciate, as you can imagine. And one of the more common tropes in harem anime I've seen is that the protagonist controls some aspect of the world around them with a supernaturally-powered smartphone."

You tap your phone out of sleep mode. "So, I have a phone… harem?"

"No, master. You have a magic app that summons anime girls into your presence, all of which are suspiciously and sexually attracted and devoted to you, of course. This will make your harem as weebly wobbly as you can possibly get!"

You exit your phone's internet browser, where, obviously, you had been reading existslikePristin fanfics, and go to your home screen. A new app does a little inflation animation to let you know of its location. The icon is a silhouette of a lithe woman on a green, circular background, and is not labeled. You tap to open it. There is no waiting on load time. You're immediately taken to a very cluttered generic fantasy town isometric view, with bubbles of text all over the place. You think the text might be Sumerian.

"It's a mobile gacha game!" Joy looks and sounds far too proud of herself. "And with my special djinnfluencer promo code, you get one thousand free shards! And that's not all! You get ten free spins, five billion gold coins, and double daily rewards for the first week!”

Options:

Okay, that was exceptionally dumb. Ask if there’s a way to undo a wish.

Whatever. A harem’s a harem. Figure out this app and summon an anime girl.

[randomnameless]

Land 3 and 4 done!

Elves and furries!

Or the worst double standard with Alcina's tragick backstory while Gary eats scraps, and Reimann puts devoted Fodlan fans to shame with his bias against subhumans!

Elheim was...

Very green compared to Drakengard lol, however the interactions between the characters felt... stale.

I mean, compared to the constant back and forth + exposition from Virginia about how cities are different from Cornia, who is Gilbert, the people living in the desert and all, for the first part of the plot, we just follow Rosalinde, a dark elf, to meet her sister so she we can save her from the bad guys, and ask her where is the second magic mc Guffin ring.

Sure, we rescue some villages and characters along the way, but they aren't, imo, as integrated in their setting as the Drakengard ones. Still, we find former thieves/brigands/bandits Alain decided to spare in Cornia - and apparently they want to turn over a new leaf, so when their old gang wants to sell elf ladies (young and not so young) as slaves, they rebel and we deal with them.

I guess the difference in setting/atmosphere is due to Drakengard, well, being conquered by the bad guys, but it feels like they just conquered it and left it there, not really caring about it.

In Elheim, they're still around - it can be sort of explained by the fact that Drakengard was conquered 6 years ago (Cornia, Alain's home was done in 10 years and Bastorias was subjugated 8 years ago) when the conquest of Elheim is supposed to be more recent? - but I guess it plays/is due to the main boss of this area's agenda -

Unlike Cornia and the small villages here and there, or Drakengard and the large cities sprawled on mountainsides, here the cities are located kind of far from each other, with a lot of forests/green/lakes/small mountains around - it makes for long maps without a lot of stuff to seize, but at the same time, it means you have to check your stamina more frequently so it's different enough to be a regional difference compared to the previous setting.

The units are... something - all jokes aside, having units deal both magic and physical damage was a nightmare for my poor 0 res armors lol, but I reckon they can be kind of useful with the proper setup, too bad the "proper setup" was something I never found and actually, I like how the game still gives you "human classes" enemies too (from the evil empire, like a red loldier) so you're not only fighting against elves, but also against the same kind of enemies (albeit promoted) than you did before, and they use mixed teams like ones with elves and humans, to make you sure have to still rethink your strategies and can't send the same team you used in the former land and expect the same results.

The BGM though... is sort of there - a bit disappointing compared to Drakengard's but I got a newfound appreciation after hearing the final boss' theme The Witch's World, it's not the banger Heir of the Dragonlands was but the fantasy/dream TWW conveys made me realise what Elheim was all about (hell those titles have a meaning lol) :

Drakengard's final theme is all about Gilbert reclaiming his castle and being the true heir of his country, not by birthright but when push came to shove, he stood up and restored the country. Which is why Drakengard had some exposition and character drama centered on Gilbert, his family and helping him.

Elheim is, as sad as it is... all about Alcina's fantasy/dream, her downfall and a sense of tragedy, both because of what she used to be, and what she actually did for the sake of her dream.

Regarding Alcina, I'll try to keep the sodium levels to minimum but :

@megafan1993 I know your comment wasn't under an Unicorn Overlord post lol, but this is basically my feelings regarding Alcina, and the comparison with the boss of the following arc stings even more, all things considered.

Who is Alcina?

A witch who acted as the court witch/mage of Cornia (MC's land!) who has the "uses magic to not grow old too fast but will eventually" syndrome, and was around during the time of MC's grandpa, a dude named Gerard.

King Gerard knew how to use his sword very well - to the point of being called a sword saint! - and liked to use it "for the good of the people", but he was the kind of guy who didn't like doing King work, found his coronation a nice distraction and didn't like when his PM modified his bills/papers etc etc. Pissed with the life of a King, especially since he felt like he couldn't do what he wanted, he left the land, without warning anyone, to explore "Cornia" and see what her people needs, only taking Alcina with him : effectively ditching the country - but no worries, his father was still around !

Exploring the land, Gerard finds himself in an ambush/skirmish against Drakengard - the neighoubing nations with whom Cornia has had border issues/problems for centuries - and takes an arrow meant for Alcina, thus dies unceremonously.

Alcina returns to Cornia and people are starting rumours, like how she had been the king's "favourite" and how the situation sucks, because now Gerard left his kid daughter* (whom he never mentionned even once in all of his voiced lines) Ilenia (MC's mom) alone to assume the role of the ruler of Cornia**.

Now, Alcina was pretty much in luf with King Gerard, so much that when Ilenia faces a rebellion (aka the prologue) and asks for her help, Alcina accepts to help her, because Ilenia is King Gerard's daughter.

Then...

Ilenia is supposedly "dead", Cornia has fallen and the Gharnef-like Baltro tells her (or she deduces it herself?) that his magic doesn't turn people crazy, but use people as mediums to put foreign/other souls inside them and take control of the bodies. It's more like a channeling magic.

Seeing the possibility to be reunited with her Gerard-poo again, Alcina switches sides and joins with the evil Zenoiran Empire, but she has her own agenda you see?

Alain lived peacefully on a small island because Alcina, who knew where he was, never told anything to the evil Zenoiran Empire people. It's not out of the goodness of her heart, hell no. Alcina had an interest in keeping Alain alive... because she planned to use him/his body to channel Gerard's soul inside - with the added bonus that Alain is a pallet swap of his grandpa.

She knew Gerard would most likely despise her for using his grandson as a medium to bring him back (from the lines we got spoken by the guy, I doubt it, he never mentions his kid!children not even once, why would he suddenly care about his grandson?) but she just wanted to hear/see him one last time sad uwus

(which raises a fucking giant red flag, Alcina who knows this and knows Ilenia's body isn't around, would obviously have guessed she was too, used as a medium for a Zenoiran soul much like Renault and Hodrick! So, with that knowledge, she wouldn't have tried to find a way to save her? Especially since she came to her in her "direst time of need" in the first place! I guess seeing Gerard >>> saving his daughter, after all the man himself never gave a fuck about said daughter...)

I don't have the exact timeline, but Alcina then accepts to march on Elheim - which resisted the Empire because they elves protect their land with a magical forest, and only taught a select few humans they are friendly with and trust a lot how to cross it, but could never have guessed that Alcina would later turn on them! - and leads the evil empire there with a dude named Gary, the land is conquered and while Eltrinde, the current elf leader (the eng/european script comes up with a lot of "exclusive" elven words, in the script she's called a turenos (??) but the jp!audio just has her be a "miko", I guess mikos don't sound elvish enough to the western lolcalisers and of course they couldn't translate her title by the word "sibyl", aka her class name :/) surrendering to avoid casualties...

Nothing is heard about her, save for Rosalinde (Eltrinde's twin sister!) who worries about her, and we believe when we face her that she's also possessed like the other people we used to fight against (by, and it'll later be revealed, ancient Zenoiran souls channeled by Baltro's magic in those bodies) but no, Eltrinde was possessed by... Alcina herself!

"But why would she need an elven body? She already has hers!"

Apparently, given some clues here and there (Yana - Alcina's apprentice - rapport conversation with Rosalinde), we can surmise that Alcina wanted an elven body to get a longer lifespan without needing to use the dangerous "rejuvenation aka turning from a dried old fig to a stripper" spell.

Tl;Dr : Alcina wanted to have her romance/spend time with Gerard again, using Alain and Eltrinde's bodies as mediums, even if it means dooming the elven kingdom and the world in general -

And oh boy do we see the elves being doomed, because while the two other human countries had a suspicious "plague" going on, here Baltro - like our beloved Riev - drops any sort of subtelty behind his title as a necromancer, and revives elves he previously killed to fight the party, which enrages both Eltrinde and Rosalinde (a feat, because so far their plot mandated interactions where very lackluster, their reunion scene had no pathos or similarity to the Drakengard brothers or even Virginia reuniting with her long lost cousin!) and they swear to take him - and Alcina - down.

Ultimately, after Baltro rewarps away like the good dark mage he is, we fight Alcina - who saved both Alain and Eltrinde from Baltro and prevented a game over lol because she still wants their bodies for her uwu ritual - and both the map song (witch's world) + her various FB's and ultimately Yana asking her to rest in peace after she's killed participate in selling us the "tragic/doomed by love" vibe about Alcina, like, the tragedy is about her, this arc is about her, hell, the entire Elheim plot is about her.

I guess I already let some salt flow lol, but even if this isn't as hamfisted as Hresvelg Grey, I felt like this was a disappointment and a bit of a letdown compared to Drakengard's story.

Double-standard hour : I was loitering on redshit to find some stuff and I saw so many people trashtalk some dude called "Gailey" that I wanted to know what was his story and...

(FR-wise at least, "Gailey" is Gary lol.)

So, Gary was Unicorn Overlord's take on FE8's Carlyle, without the sympathy he had for Joshua.

Gary was very devoted to Queen Ilenia and part of her guard, when she "died" - pretty sure that if Alcina knew, she would never told him the truth - to him Cornia died, because there's no Cornia without Ilenia as its ruler.

So Gary accepts to work with Zenoira because his queen is dead, apparently he does this conquering stuff well enough to be distinguished during the Drakengard campaign, and is sent to Elheim with Alcina.

Alcina however is the main villain while Gary is a sidekick, and is relegated as such which pisses him - and he knows she is the one possessing Eltrinde! - but our party arrives, and he wants to take our head.

It doesn't work, apparently Galvius (the evil emperor who conquered everything and is the red emperor !) doesn't like it when his troops lose and Gary knows that if he returns to him, he'll be executed, but also can't remain in Elheim else the rebels will kill him and can't escape from that land due to the magic forest surrounding it (the one no one could cross save for elves and their trusted friends!).

To get rid of the magic forest, Gary thus decides to burn the "super magic tree" that gives power to the forest and fairies living inside who are also the source of power for the elves.

Alain's party finds Gary and kills him... or at least planned to do so, because he runs away after we rekt him and is actually killed by one of his soldiers (who wanted to bring his head to Galvius and explain that if the rebels got them, it's only because Gary was incompetent!). He has last words not to Alain, but to Jeigan Joseph and the other former members of Cornia's knights - they ask Gary why he betrayed and it's here that he tells them that he never betrayed Cornia, because Cornia died when Ilenia did, thus he had/felt no attachment/reason to fight for Alain.

He has the last word to Joseph though - who pulled a Finn when he escaped with kid!Alain while Ilenia fought (apparently to her death) to give him an opening - saying Joseph has no right to judge him, because when Ilenia was fighting for her life (and apparently died), Gary was by her side until the end (he was in her team) fighting for and with her, while Joseph ran away.

And we know - after Virginia's sidequest - that Joseph still feels guilty about having left Ilenia and escaped with Alain, wondering if their places couldn't have been reversed and if she should be the one alive, but he listened to her orders back then (something he doesn't reveal to Gary!).

In a nutshell, Gary had most likely unrequited feelings for his queen, did his best to save/protect her and fought with her, but when she died he felt like his world did and from that point dgaf about the world or what it was supposed to become.

Alcina... most likely had (unrequited ?) feelings for her king, felt like trash when he died and she couldn't save him, thus abandonned her job and while she did help his daughter at one time, in the end she was willing to see the world and her king's family burn to get another chance to live her love story with him.

They are pretty similar, but somehow treated differently when both did horrible stuff, however only Alcina gets the "tragedy sad uwus" framing when Gary dies unceremonously.

Yeah :/

Not find of that plot arc.

In their rapport conversations, the elves are more interesting than what their plot interaction led to believe and I liked the devs adding maybe like 70% of the elven npcs around being sort of assholish and quite biased because Alain'n'pals are "humans" and have a huge superiority complex regarding the rest of the continent (watermelon time for that one NPC who calls Bestrals "unclean" or "corrupted" like dude, what do you have against bunnies?).

-------

I heard Vanillaware rushed the ending of the game because they had a money problem or something, and well, Bastorias shows it lol.

We have maybe 5 plot quests - sidequests you are supposed to unlock way way later lol - and a cast of 3 characters who talk in turn, but don't really exchange or interact with the NPCs or the rest of the cast found there.

So yeah, I can see where the rush was lol

And yet, I still prefered the Bastorias arc -

First because while the maps are also as empty as the Elheim ones in cities and all, well I sort of prefer the "vast snowfields" vibe to the "large forests" one, even if I confess I really liked seeing/talking to the various people around - even if it was only for a sidequest (tfw a dude wants to sell Laguz slaves).

Second, because the BGM is both relaxing and yet foreboding/mysterious enough to keep you focused, even if I confess, I pressed + during some fights when wereowls were busy giving each other blue points lol

Oh, and werefoxes were... I won't judge people based on their kinks, but personnally, I was kind of weirded out by their sprites, like when I can crack jokes at F!Elven Fencers like "if they fall on their back they can't stand anymore like turtles if you flap them over", werefoxes are just... uh yeah. Not my cup of tea.

Plot-wise, Alain wants to get rid of Zenoira in this region too so it will diminish their forces (ludonarrative point : if you don't do Bastorias and go to the final map, Reimann pops us as a reinforcement unit with the feral plot characters you're supposed to meet in Bastorias, aka feral!Ramona and feral!Morad :( I guess Yunifi died alone, I hope she wasn't killed by her adoptive parents !) but everyone realises that there's some "illness" or stuff that makes some Bestral go mad/feral (does this remind you of something?) and while some pop up as yellow units who attack everything on sight, through the plot we later learn that it's not "illness" at all!

Much like the best Gharnef out there (sorry for your poll @crushednugget, but I believe science should have won!), Reimann - a former Cornian noble who was part of the band of traitors who sided against Ilenia in the prologue - uses his science + a magic rock to turn the animal people in feral versions of themselves to control them, and calls himself a genius while also revealing that this magic rock that those lowly subhumans only thought was a shiny rock that belonged to the lion (thus royal) tribe was actually the magic rock that makes people able to control the Bestrals (the subhumans).

We even have one rapport conversation from Joseph, that suggests that Reimann might have been involved in trafficking/enslaving/experimenting on subhumans before the game's events, as he was already trying to get his hands on Bestrals during Ilenia's reign!

Unlike Izuka though.... Reimann is betrayed by one of his "allies" - much like Gary! - who was... under his suit of armor... a bestral himself!

(Cucumber lolcalisation point : Eligor, when first met is talking to this place's Batta the Beast and at one point is pissed/haughty/upset and calls Batta a human - but in the jp!audio, I didn't hear any "ningen" mention at all. Eligor blows his cover in the us/eu script, but not in the jp version!)

Eligor is a rat bestral, and Bastorias has some sort of hierarchy/class system based on which kind of Bestral you are - cats are fishermen, owls are the "wise mayors", bears, foxes and wolves are fighters (but polar bears are selling weapons!) goats are innkeepers etc etc.

While it's upsetting that we never hear anything from the numerous NPCs around about the "rat tribe", given how Bastorias is presented we it's not that farfetched that rats were indeed seen as lesser or not as important/valuable as lion bestrals.

The Rat Tribe was captured by Baltro who used them for experiments to make them sturdier/stronger, everyone lost their mind save for Eligor who seems to be thankful to Baltro-sama to give him the means to reach his dream : become the King of Bastorias even if he is a member of the rat tribe.

As Morad (a lion!) tells him though, while his dream and ideals about making Bastorias a place for everyone to live with pride etc etc, he still tells Eligor that he resorted to stupid/ridiculous methods (aka mind controlling and sending hundred of bestrals to death fighting against each other and being a fucking member of Zenoira!) and would have prefered if they worked together, to which Eligor tells him that he dgaf, because even if it only lasted for the duration of the final battle, he finally got what he wanted being the King of Bastorias and commanding people thanks to the shiny magic rock.

No uwu sobest for Eligor unlike the gallons of tea we had to drink for Alcina though, maybe that's why i can appreciate this arc more lol

I think the nod to the reveal about Eligor being a rat and this arc wasn't the lolcalisation adding shit, but the sidequest with the... Rock Rats - former bandits Alain spared in Cornia lol - when you recruit/want to recruit the leader who's basically Robin Hood, he tells you that even if Alain started his quest with 5 people and thus isn't like the other evil Nobles (tm), you should always worry about someone who started from scratch and managed to become a leader, because they will cling to power and forget why they wanted it in the first place.

...That's basically Eligor's story, as told by another, metaphorical, rat!

Battle theme a Fleeting Dream is the general Bastorias overworld theme, with imo, the earlier feelign of something ominous being played/schemed and its climax - it's the same mystery/foreboding feeling we got in the overworld map, but with a feeling that "something is going on". A good catch for Eligor's plot and this arc in general, even if it was rushed.

Anyways after his death, more plot reveals - Morad the friendly (uhh) lion we met who acted as one of the main characters from this arc was actually a human changed in a lion with the power of the shiny magic rock, and the human girl, Yunifi, who was adopted by Ramona (owl mom) and Morad (lion dad) is very heavily implied to have been a lion princess herself, but turned in a human!

Nod to Fodlan discourse : upon finding Reimann's notes and researches about how to use the shiny magic rock to control bestrals - everyone in the cast agrees with Ramona's suggestion to burn those notes!

No "uwu censorship BaD" or "creature masquerading as a human is attempting to hide knowledge to keep humans ignorant!" -> those "researches" are basically some "how to perform mindcontrol and turn people against each other in 5 steps" lessons, so they are destroyed for the sake of everyone, the shiny magic rock will forever remain a shiny magic rock, and not a tool to control the minds of anyone else.

Gameplay wise :

The Bestrals have a gimmick where they are more powerful/get more mobility during nighttime, but some of their classes are more similar to the human ones than the elven ones.

I still have to use/play around the werefoxes and the werewolves, so far I only used the lion, the bear and the owl and while I know Yunifi has an unique class and can be built in a certain way to be completely broken...

I don't have enough medals to make more than 3 teams of 5 characters rofl - but I'll definitely try to play with some builds!

----

Oh and in general, I guess i forgot to mention in the "this was rushed" part, but while we can see the rush - I still am flabbergasted at some details the devs added like, hm, the fact that when you use a skill that summons rain in Bastorias - aka tundra land - you don't get rain but snow!

Or the completely random stuff I just noticed today (tfw after 50h you still notice and learn something knew), when you pick a squad captain, the sigil/banner for that squad in the "battle screen" is the one of the "captain" of that squad!

So yeah, even if they're fighting in Alain's Liberation army, some characters still retain their identity and banners - Gilbert's team has the Drakengard sigil, Eltrinde/Rosalinde has the Elheim one and... Travis has the Tricorns (his bandit/merc group!) one lol

*Given how Virginia is Alain's cousin and Ilenia's niece, it means Gerard must have had two kids, assuming primogeniture works, Virginia's parent, must have been younger than Ilenia which means Gerard basically left his two children and role/duties as a king behind him because he was upset that people were disappointed in him/kept on meddling with his duties as a king.

**Through various supports and lines popping up here and there, we learn that while some people loved Ilenia and thought she ruled wisely and justly, some other people were very critical of her, given how she became Queen young and wasn't as battle-hungry as her dad before her : Tl;Dr, dying like a moron after ditching his throne, Gerard abandoned his daughter who had to face the same adversities - if not more - than he did, but she pulled through. I'll have to check the audio when I'll reach that moment to see if there's hidden salt, but she has a line to Alain in the True Ending where she's basically all "I'm not going to miss my son's coronation" and, well, with the knowledge that Gerard was crap, I wonder if Ilenia resented him a bit lol

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

I would like to share my perspective about Horde Prime’s dinner scene and showing colonization via food in SPOP’s final season. 

Horde Prime is further seen as evil for serving food from a planet that he colonized and destroyed, and it’s supposed to be a thoughtful and deep but subtle insight into Horde Prime as a villain who should be condemned. Catra has no problem eating this food, and I think the writers meant this to signify that she wouldn’t initially succumb to Horde Prime’s mind games like Glimmer, who starts hyperventilating in horror (You know, before Horde Prime told her that she’s not even a player in his game, but with the writers’ favoritism of character and shipping, as per usual, with Catra clawing the table and that talk about “elevated heart rate” and “dilated pupils” for Adora when she was shown on Horde Prime’s live robot feed).

It really reads to me that, like Horde Prime, Catra feels no weight of guilt from taking lives and what those lives once owned (unlike Glimmer, who actually cares about the colonization of her planet, as well as that planet that was destroyed by Horde Prime), as a fellow colonizer and destroyer. Like, it’s not because she has a better poker face than Glimmer, it’s because she literally does not care, and thus does not react to Horde Prime’s statement. 

This “sensitivity” to colonization via food is another double standard. This perspective of colonization and consequence is completely blind to Catra, despite it being highlighted via Horde Prime; I am specifically referring to when Catra joins the others in the spaceship to eat the food that Glimmer said she and Angella used to make together. Catra does not deserve to partake in anything positive pertaining to Angella’s memory: she attempted to destroy the Moonstone, colonize Bright Moon, and killed Angella. She does not deserve to eat the food that Angella used to make with Glimmer, and she does not deserve to live in Bright Moon (a disgusting implication shown in Adora’s supposed dream of the future).

That’s all for now 💞.

i never thought of this but yes, that describes catra's character perfectly. we only see her feeling mildly guilty about the way she treated adora, scorpia and entrapta. we never see her considering the weight of what she did in the horde, the lives she ruined. she never cared about the civilians and she certainly did not care about what horde prime did to them, because at their core, they were the same kind of person. controlling, apathetic and cruel.

again, we can take zuko for comparison here. zuko isn't just guilty about trying to capture aang. he is shown to be very clearly guilty about the way he harmed other innocent civilians and about what the fire nation did as a whole. even though he didn't take part in the war directly, he still takes responsibility for what the fire nation did. his confrontation with ozai says it all. he could have just been like "i'm leaving to join the avatar" but he stayed and pointed out the effects of the war and how the fire nation has brainwashed its citizens into thinking that they were doing something good.

and there's build up to this. throughout the series, zuko meets and interacts with various civilians, all with their own story of how the fire nation ruined their lives. song shows him a scar she got during an attack, jet confides in him about how his family was killed when he was little, lee (the little boy in zuko alone) is almost recruited into the army forcibly, just like his brother was. ATLA does a fantastic job of showing us how war affected everyone, not just the heroes and villains. and through this, zuko's conscience is unraveled more and more until he decides to take a stand.

meanwhile, spop has the theme of war as a pretty backdrop. they give no importance to it whatsoever and catra, who did way more damage than zuko ever did, isn't even shown to be guilty of partaking in the war. she doesn't have to answer to how she conquered salineas or how she invaded a village in s1, nothing. it really makes me wonder what the civilians in spop thought of her. is it just "oh she's she-ra's girlfriend now so i guess we can't say anything"?

[highfantasy-soul]

Moments I loved from NATLA Episode 4 - Into the Dark ❤️️❤️️

Aang and Iroh interacting more - love that they're not friendly to each other, per se, but it builds a foundation that makes their later respect make sense

The Earth Kingdom being harsh with their 'fallen foes' is nice to seed in here as in the animated version (season 1), most of the 'bad' stuff was relegated solely to the Fire Nation

The Earth Kingdom is no pushover and it's nice to see that early

Sokka defending his dad "My dad would have never done what you did" even after he commiserated with the Mechanist about his dad 'not valuing' what Sokka could bring to the table.

Though Sokka is frustrated that his dad doesn't see "him", he knows his dad is an honorable man doing his best and when Sai tries to use him as an example of 'doing the wrong thing just to survive', love that Sokka calls him on it

SECRET TUNNEEELLLL!!!

Like them introducing this now - all old buildings have secret passages - it's just a law

Teo's "its time to fight!" attitude - love it. He's so ready to stop cowering and wants to hit back

Flopsy statues!!!!!

Rolly ball throne? Nice touch

"Bumi? BUMI!!" :D

"You did 🤨" Love how Aang keeps his "I'm just gonna say the truth and I don't care if that's 'not allowed' I'm gonna do it anyways because your social rules are stupid" attitude

Katara's water pouch!!

Love the shake in Jet's voice as he tells Katara "I am nothing like the firebenders"

Katara's assessment is shallow on her part, but the core has a ring of truth - no, freedom fighters aren't the same as their oppressors, but when you start harming your own people to hurt the enemy, then you really have lost sight of what's right and wrong - why you're fighting.

FREEZE JET'S ASS!

I love Jet, especially this version of him, but yeah, no touchy

And Katara is absolutely right: Jet might have helped her through her block, but her power, that's all hers.

What are you going to do, Zuko?? What choice will you make!!??

Love that we're getting this choice of his here in Omashu

Bumi's puns 😭 kill me now - though very canon accurate

Like the vibe that everyone just has to laugh as to not anger him - there's less of a whimsical madness vibe to Bumi here and a more serious - yeah, this guy is our leader vibe that's quite unsettling

The tonal shift with Bumi did give me pause, but I like how the writers kept the jokes, the games, his eccentricities, but shifted the vibe to make them darker

In the cartoon, whimsy might work, but if you think about it realistically, that leadership style would NOT work during a war - a 100 year war, at that.

HIPPIIEESSSS!!!!

Sokka getting into that maraca - you let your little musical heart fly

"What are you doing here?" "We're doin' what we're doin'" :)

Oma and Shu lesbian supremacy!!!

Always get chills when this story is told

Lol Sokka's "There's no such thing as angry spirits." Right before the episode where they're kidnapped by an angry spirit XD

Love the switch up of the rocks not really being the path out - keeping us animated show fans on our toes as to what the lesson will be this time

Everything about the Earth Kingdom soldier's interaction with Iroh - all of it is just so good.

The cartoon glossed over Iroh's warmongering past - but he did do terrible things that hurt so many people. No, 'it was war, I was a soldier' is not an acceptable excuse (we didn’t accept it with Jet, so why the double standard for a ROYAL MILITARY GENERAL??)

The funeral scene

Leaves from the Vine

Zuko offering a soft and kind memory of Liu Ten instead of just talk about him being a soldier

Zuko sitting next to Iroh so he won't be alone!!!!!!!!!

The conversation between Katara and Sokka in the cave where she talks about how Jet helped her and Sokka how Sai helped him - then Katara reminding Sokka that when he was forced into a leadership position for the Southern Water Tribe, he didn't have anyone to help him through that

The concept of us all needing people to help us through our journeys is so important and really comes around at the end of the episode and just through the entire series

BADGERMOOOLLLEEE!!!!

Is it bad that all I could think about was how cute it was the entire time it was on screen?

Dallas Liu is so. Freaking. Good. At. His. Stunts!!!!

And the first mention of the theme Zuko struggles with of compassion being weakness!

Sokka's little 'thanks!' as Katara saves him from the badgermole XD

Seriously, all the little touches in Ian Ousley's performance are great

Idk why Sokka assumed the badgermole was a man, that's clearly a dignified lady

The power of sibling love guiding the badgermole was a great alteration from the OG - if they can be controlled through music, they can definitely respond to emotions

Bumi's whole speech here - and his willingness to get crushed - is what brought me around on this portrayal of him

He's right: it's a game where you have to make impossible choices - you have to fight even when you don't want to (a much more poignant message for Aang than 'look at things a different way')

The power of friendship saves the day!!!

"You CAN rely on your friends - and that's the only way I'm going to save the world: with my friends"

"You think like a child" (derogatory) "Is that really so bad?" (genuine)

Bumi made Appa's whistle!!! 😭😭😭😭

One last time Zuko chooses protecting his uncle over capturing the Avatar 🥲

"Everything I need is right here on this boat" 😭😭😭

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

[ultimatebottom69]

Not the same anon but I saw the latest hsr confession and I was baffled with the responses. I see the sidelining with poc LIs and fem LIs in only 1 month after reading some stories. Like it's there. IT'S BLATANT and people want to pass it off as a coincidence??? Idk about the Vincent and Greg drama, if there's any, but nobody talked about the memory wiping scene with Raphael???? When I read the scene I was like "why did he do that? Why would he hurt MC even if he meant well??". Only for MC to gain it back later. Yes, I understand that the hsr and abh author are new to the game so i can see why they're still struggling with pacing, plot, etc but i have to admit the fandom reactions to poc LIs aren't that good either.

I heard Shen was seen as a red flag or a bad person at some point because how cold he was in the beginning of wtc. Same with Cassiel. Meanwhile people would defend Amen for his murderous tendency and forgive Boris for killing people. Yes both are/were hunters and they're meant to kill in both stories. Does anyone see the pattern? Like, holy crap, it doesn't take a genius to see that and yet people choose to ignore it. IT. WAS. THERE. The authors subtly gave you hints/clues of who they are and yet most people want to be blissfully ignorant about it. It's okay to like antagonistic or villain LIs but don't tell other people what to feel about those LIs and gaslight them if those people don't like the LIs.

I do like that you went to say you are not the same ANON. Like listen. I think most of us who saw the RC confession saw that confession and my answer is visible to all.

But my monarch when I tell you this people just don't want to see it. Like it's fucking crazy and from what I am hearing you are one of the new players. I need you to understand that the old stories ? They were worse. We are almost being cajoled compared to litterally 2 years ago.

And yes yes Shen was seen as a red flag because he was cold. I am like "You mean the old man who had to break you out of jail is grumpy and unemotional ? Color me shocked Jessica." It was 4 months ago i think. Vincent drama is everyone is like "He is a red flag" but when you really look at the siatuation. Yeah he lied to her. But he also is being kind of nice to her but frankly the whole souless story is a bit problematic. There is a lot of shit going on so I am for throwing away the whole case and just enjoy the ride. It's a Wincy story, there is a lot. But the fan responses ? Damn.

And wait Raphael wiped MC memories ??? WHY is no one talking about thid ??? That's the biggest red flag ??? Why. So Greg ASSIST in torture and he is the bad guy but this guy just WIPED memories ?? And no one is giving a shit ?? What. Like Anon I knew this fandom had the lord craziest double standards but ??? MIND MANIPULATION ?? Bitch ?? He men in Black that woman !

Also I am so tired of Boris. I am so fucking tired of him. Like aaargh. Just kill him.

And Amen...Fucking Amen. If at least he had qualities. Nit even redeeming qualities. Just qualities. He is just a senseless killer who tortured a gal...For an information...An information he already had. Like. Damn bro. I am not giving Seth my time of day. Take your dehydrated twink faux Loki deluxe out.

And my sibling in fuck. Your take is valid. Your LI does not need to be universally liked. Especially if they are the main li and happen to be a white man with more red flags then Trump has felonies. Like you love him good for you ! But listen to me when I say my LI is not liked BY THE AUTHOR ITSELF !

And yes. The authors...Are nor subtle but yeah the fandom just...Act like that.

Which is why I love the romance clib confession blog. I don't know who idea it was but love you all. I love reading different opinions and people showing me their critical thinking skills...Non ironically actually love that. Even when the takes are as you said. Absolutely just blatant stupidity that you willingfully gaslighted yourself into believing.

And Anon. Let me tell you. It will only get worse the more you look into it. You been here for a month ? Been here for 1 year and half. If the books seems more willing to give us more food now us minorities...the fandom...Responds.

[askmerriauthor]

Pokemon Violet - The Paldea League and Geeta

Man, Geeta has turned Paldea into kind of a shitshow, hasn't she?

Discussion/stream of thought rambling on elements of the game's story after the jump. Spoilers ahoy. This is about the story and lore implications, not about the combat-based mechanics of the Pokemon League.

The actual purpose and function of the Pokemon League throughout the various incarnations of the Pokemon franchise over the years have always been a little muddy. That's on purpose, I believe, as it allows more creative freedom for each version to define itself. In the earlier games, the Pokemon League was a sort of trial to prove one's worth as a Trainer exclusively. It had no impact on the lives of anyone other than combat-focused Trainers. As time went on and the stories became more complex, we saw the League turn into a more public element that had a greater impact on its setting. The Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and the League Champion became public figures of renown and respect. It varied from being local celebrities to even being something akin to vigilante superheroes. By the time we got to Alola (Sun/Moon), it was shown that establishing a Pokemon League is both A) something a region does entirely on its own for its own purposes and B) something that will put a region on the map. Having a League brings prestige and value to the area. This is never more overt than in Galar (Sword/Shield) where the entire Gym circuit and Pokemon League is a heavily commercialized professional sport that directly parallels fútbol here in the real world in terms of its popularity, scope, and money-making. As time has gone by, we've seen the Pokemon League become less of a rite of passage and more of a business.

The Pokemon League in Paldea, meanwhile, cranks that up to 11 and breaks the knob off. And that is to the utter detriment of literally everyone.

As has been frequently observed, the Gym Leaders of Paldea don't actually seem to like being Gym Leaders and certainly don't like the Champion, Chairman, and Creator of the Paldea League; Top Champion Geeta. She's their boss and behaves as such, keeping a professional and detached attitude toward them and everything else she does. The various Gym Leaders discuss how much she micromanages them and puts pressure on them for performance. On one hand, she enforces performance reviews several times a year that risk a Gym Leader losing their role if they don't meet her standards. On the other hand, Geeta ordered Katy - the Bug Gym Leader - to hold back and go easy on Trainers who challenge her because her Gym just so happens to be near to the academy where newbie Trainers might be discouraged if she was too tough. Geeta even controls what teams of Pokemon the Gym Leaders use. Larry is a Normal-type Trainer by his own preference, but Geeta forces him to use Flying-types later in the game.

We can be generous when we examine these behaviors, given how the Gym Leaders themselves offer a more gracious view of Geeta's behavior after you defeat them. They give the impression that Geeta's meddling is the result of a genuine, if poorly implemented, desire to encourage them and young Trainers to achieve more. I don't necessarily disagree with that, but it's also abundantly clear that Geeta is running Paldea into the ground and actively abusing everyone around her in the process. Young Trainers included.

Despite the Gym Leaders having that as their job, it's also a point worth noting that it's not their only job. Every Gym Leader has another job - they run a bakery, are a professional artist, a livestream internet celebrity, or pull double/triple duty within the League itself. Larry is simultaneously a Gym Leader, a member of the Elite Four, and some form of administrative agent within the League. And, yes, he is exactly as exhausted, over-worked, and spiritually beaten down as one would think. It's never explicitly stated why this is the case, but it's clear that being a Gym Leader doesn't pay the bills. As in, Geeta is not paying her employees sufficiently to make a living in the amazingly generous and socially supportive world that is the Pokemon Setting. Larry makes mention of how Geeta likes to rope people into doing her work for her, or just working for free, which we not only see but experience ourselves firsthand.

At the beginning of the game, the very first time we meet Geeta, she's talking Nemona - a teenage student who is not her employee - into doing work for her. At the end of the game, Geeta volunteers the League to aid in setting up a tournament, but immediately puts all the admin work on Nemona - to the point that Nemona can't participate in the event, despite battle being the one thing she loves most in the world. When we the Player become a Champion (not The Champion, A Champion - Geeta never surrenders her title as Top Champion and just bestows a lesser title on those who beat her), the first thing she does is rope us into doing her performance review of the Gyms for her. She also blackmails Penny into doing free programming work against her will to help the League. Arven, meanwhile, is not given any task because Geeta doesn't see him as useful, so he's specifically ignored as comedic relief.

On top of all this is the fact that Geeta is also on the Academy's board. She has a massive amount of influence over the school, its staff, and its students. This becomes a particular issue given how Geeta has fully integrated the Pokemon League into the local economy.

Something exclusive to Paldea is something called "League Points". This is a digital currency in-universe that can be used to purchase various goods and services from League-sponsored sources. That is to say, literally every market in the entire setting with the specific exception of individual auctions of rare items outside the standard economy. Even the student store and cafeteria use League Points. To be blunt, it's Company Scrip. The Player does things that the League wants done (combating Pokemon, trading in useful materials, challenging Gyms, doing research on Tera Raids, etc), they're given Company Scrip, and they then spend that Scrip at vendors the Pokemon League owns or subsidizes. Anyone with even a hint of common sense or a knowledge of history knows how this is an EXTREMELY BAD THING as a practice. Made all the worse by the fact Penny is able to very easily hack into the system and illegally produce/distribute all the League Points she likes, meaning it's not even a particularly well-designed system.

Going to the "villain plot", despite Geeta absolutely not being considered a villain and the story technically not having a villain at all: there's allusions in the game lore that Geeta is directly involved in the Tera outbreak plaguing the region - that is to say, a massive environmental threat endangering the entire population and region itself - and that she helped set it into motion for how it would empower the League. Tera Orbs - the proprietary and exclusive technology needed to use this game's gimmick - are held only by the League, Gym Leaders, and specific Trainers approved by Geeta. Using them is ultimately detrimental to Pokemon, Trainers, and Paldea as a whole, but that doesn't stop Geeta from distributing them as suits her needs.

Even going back to the earlier notion of looking at Geeta's actions with a generous gaze and giving her the benefit of the doubt, I'm left unable to reconcile that given the outcome. Geeta herself says everything she does is for the sake of making Trainers stronger and encouraging others to achieve great things. Yet her actions - both as a League member and personally - weaken and hinder everyone around her. The Player becomes stronger despite everything Geeta sets in place and for their own reasons. It's stated in-game that the vast majority of Trainers in Paldea never get more than three badges, and Geeta herself states that she's unable to hold back against anyone who challenges her because she enjoys the thrill too much. As a result, Nemona and the Player are the only other Champions to exist in Paldea since Geeta's been running the show. Also, not even beating all the Gyms is enough to qualify one to challenge the League; Geeta enforces an interview and, if you don't answer questions to their satisfaction (specifically to their satisfaction - if you just answer earnestly and not say what Geeta wants to hear, you fail), then you're denied access to the League outright.

On top of all of this? I know I said I wasn't going to talk about the combat mechanics, but it is relevant in this case. The Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, and Top Champion Geeta herself are... well, to be completely frank? They're weak. Like, laughably weak. Geeta has a team composition that doesn't make any sense and is designed in a way that intentionally sabotages her combat viability. I wasn't even significantly over-leveled or relying on clever strategies, and I utterly steamrolled every single challenge with just my Grass-type Starter Pokemon and the occasional swap to my Salazzle when I was feeling bored. I didn't even bother with type match-ups or using the Tera gimmick. Amusingly enough, Larry gave me the most trouble - he got two whole hits on me in the midst of his steam rolling. The Gyms and League are simply... weak. All because of Geeta's endless meddling. And even the characters themselves seem frustrated and resentful about it. For all of Geeta's talk about wanting to make Trainers stronger, everything she does actively weakens everyone around her and herself.

What we end up with is a Pokemon League that's centered around one person's goals and ideals, that's forcing everything and everyone around it to bend to that person's whims. All in a way that's actively undercutting those desired goals in the process. If Geeta is trying to make the Paldea League a major player for the sake of gaining a better standing for the region, she's doing a cataclysmically bad job of it. I really hope we get a lot more lore in the upcoming DLC expansion because Geeta's left all kinds of questions that really need addressing.