#the main character has blorbo potential I will say

[iamthekarmapolice]

why is Slow Horses, a goddamn spy thriller on Apple TV of all places suddenly irresistibly gripping to me lmao?

[markantonys]

i've got to put out an attempt to spread the good word of wheel of time to some of my new rings of power followers!

are you hankering for a new fantasy show to fill the void of ROP? look no further than wheel of time! it's also on amazon prime and is something of a sister-show to ROP. there are 2 seasons out currently, and season 3 is in post-production and slated to release sometime in 2025.

here's what WOT is about:

in a world that has reincarnation, rosamund pike's character who has been described as lesbian gandalf learns that an apocalyptic figure called "the dragon" who broke the world 3000 years ago has been reborn as a new person. accompanied by her platonic work-husband to whom she's psychically bonded, she narrows her search down to 5 potential candidates, a group of 20-somethings from the same little village. the group embarks on a quest to figure out which one of them is the dragon reborn, but even the ones who are not the dragon have nevertheless been chosen out by fate to have their own remarkable powers and key roles in deciding the fate of the world.

here's what makes WOT similar to ROP:

multiple-storyline ensemble show with a variety of personalities among the main characters, so you'll be sure to find Your Blorbo in somebody (and there's a pretty big variety among the fandom of who everyone's faves are, which goes to show how good ALL the characters are!)

epic fantasy that earnestly and wholeheartedly embraces its genre and the inherent whimsy and fantasticalness therein, without acting like it's embarrassed about having fantasy elements or like it considers itself too good and too prestige for the genre

it has some truly dark and harrowing stuff, but it never feels like it's gratuitous/just for shock value and never descends into cynical grimdark territory. it centers on the importance of hope and togetherness to fight against evil (tolkien was a primary inspiration for the WOT books' author robert jordan, so some of the vibes and themes are similar)

incredibly in-depth worldbuilding and world history

gorgeous costumes, sets, scenery, soundtrack, and production value. i could wax poetic about the soundtrack all day but will restrain myself and just say that it's a similar approach as ROP of specific character themes rearranged ad infinitum to suit the tone of different scenes and that it has a very unique soundscape that stands out from traditional orchestral fantasy. the costumes, especially in the second season, are some of the most unique and distinctive i've ever seen in a fantasy show, using lots of sharp/modern silhouettes to evoke a different feel from your standard medieval-inspired fantasy costumes. and vibrant colors!!!

absolutely Perfect casting across the board, with every actor from the most seasoned veterans to the newest-comers delivering wonderful performances, embodying their characters perfectly, and clearly having the time of their life making this show.

major character recast between s1 and s2 haha but like with adar, both mat actors are wonderful and it's impossible to wish one was the other while watching their respective performances.

Wholesome Boy Besties, and overall a lack of toxic masculinity and a total comfort with letting men be tender and kind and emotional (in fact, i'd say WOT does even better at this than ROP)

mesmerizing villains who run the gamut from tragic to Sexy Fun Evil to straight-up bonechilling (oftentimes multiple categories all rolled into the same villain). what if sauron was a sexy sexy lady whose top hobbies were serving cunt and gaslighting her boytoy? watch wheel of time to find out.

on that note, what would you get if you took the toxic hero/villain/villain polyeroticism of galadriel/sauron/adar, dialed it up to 11, and made it borderline canon that they used to be in a throuple that ended badly? one of the major dynamics of WOT s2, that's what.

a slower, establishing first season followed by a bombastic second season that raises the stakes, lets the villains out to play big time, and generally knocks it out of the park. so if you're on the fence while watching s1, keep going to get to the glowup!

and here's what makes WOT better than ROP:

while they both improve in their second season, imo the first season of WOT is quite a bit better than the first season of ROP (anecdotal evidence: i started both shows as a complete show-only with no prior familiarity with the source material (bar having watched the LOTR movies), and WOT had me hooked by the end of 1x01 whereas ROP i watched 2 episodes and abandoned it for 2 years before coming back for another try and successfully getting hooked)

i'd say the main reason for this is that the story of WOT s1 is fairly simple and small scale and laser-focused on just our 7 main characters who all share a single storyline together (breaking up into 3 sub-storylines for the middle portion of the season, then coming back together again), and it holds off on expanding the scale of the world & story until s2. this was much more effective at getting a newcomer like me assimilated in the world, hooked on the story, and invested in the characters than ROP starting out with a massive sprawling cast and story right off the bat and kind of overwhelming me with too much going on. WOT s1 was also very clear in establishing Here Are The Stakes And Here's Why You Should Care immediately in the pilot episode, whereas i struggled for a while with seeing what the Point of ROP was or why i should care about these characters (because there are too many of them and not enough time spent on any).

WOT is better at character depth and development, in large part because its main cast is about half the size of ROP's so there's just a lot more breathing room. like with ROP, some characters/storylines are naturally more important than others in a given season and thus everyone's prominence ebbs and flows, but unlike ROP, the characters who are in their "off-season" still get proper season-long arcs and never feel like they're getting neglected. no primary WOT character has ever been wholly absent for more than 1 episode per season (except for mat absent from 2 eps in s1 for recasting-related reasons).

following off of that, i'd say WOT is better at handling multiple storylines, because of the above point of fewer characters and also the earlier point that all the characters start together, then separate. this ensures that all the different storylines feel connected to each other, unlike ROP where there are some groups of characters that have never even met anyone else. the Found Family and Power Of Friendship themes are extremely strong in WOT, and the bonds between the core characters are unbreakable! and this makes all the storylines feel connected and cohesive even when they're taking place across the continent.

another similar point: WOT strikes a better balance between epic scale and narrative intimacy. i can't describe this any better or think of specific examples, it's just a Vibe i feel that ROP sometimes gets lost in its own scale whereas WOT always keeps us very firmly anchored in the characters and the personal stakes no matter how vast the world or conflict becomes. i might exemplify this by saying that if you enjoyed the sauron-celebrimbor scenes in s2, you'll love WOT because it is a huge proponent of "2 characters in a room talking to each other" scenes that further the larger plot while also keeping things intimate and personal and fleshing out the characters.

oh also, focal episodes! every season, WOT does 1 or 2 episodes that focus in deeply on one particular main character (different one every time) at a key point in their journey and deliver some amazing in-depth characterwork (while still furthering the story and allotting time to the other characters & storylines too). characters truly are one of the strongest aspects of WOT, both books and show, and i love that the show takes the time to give us episodes like this. it is so so good at balancing character & plot, and understanding that we won't care about the plot unless we care about the characters.

there is a HUGE cast of female characters, and a very varied cast too. the main cast is 50/50 men and women, and the supporting cast is at least 50/50 too if not majority women. in both the source material and the adaptation, women are integral to the story and so many of them are huge players that drive the narrative, rather than feeling like afterthoughts the 2020s adaptation is fruitlessly trying to cram into source material that was not designed for them as is often the case with ROP imo.

branching off of that: one of the major institutions in WOTworld is an all-woman wizard faction, complete with a lady wizard pope. this gives us things like battle scenes and political scheming that's mostly or exclusively between women. it's awesome!

edited to add: might be obvious from the point about there being a lot of women, but WOT also has lots of female friendships! and female mentorships and rivalries and romances too. just so many relationships between women, quite a contrast to nori and poppy struggling to singlehandedly make ROP pass the bechdel test.

canon queer characters and relationships. and queerness is not only present in WOTworld, it's normalized!

and finally, you'll have to wait til s2 to get her, but WOT is better because it has elayne trakand and thus is better than every show that does not have elayne trakand (can you tell who my blorbo is)

[the-s1lly-corner]

silly, i got an idea

i don’t know if suggesting this is a bad thing (sorry if it is), but about that vent post thingy, why not make an “x reader who loves their plant(s) a lot” or something along those lines with any character you like rn? (i would’ve asked this for adam or lute, but, uh…ehh)

actually, kinger or ragatha might be cool, but you can do something with this prompt for other characters if you like! /nf

Kinger and ragatha x reader who loves their plants

Tbh I was originally gonna do this with any characters but I had a mini brain blast for kinger- maybe I'll make a separate post with my current blorbos usually i dont shuffle around queued posts but uhuhuh shooting this one to the top because A) since i plan on doing this prompt again nearly instantly after this, i wanna separate it just because its such... a unique request that i relate to a lot + i try not to post the same prompt back to back unless its a multi part thing and B) i dont want to respond to this ask with a "oh ur cool oomfie basing a request off of me crying over my tree isnt overstepping/gen" LMAO

Notes: reader is GN, non specific plant but admin is basing it off of his own experience with his plant

CWs: none

RAGATHA

she thinks its sweet that you put so much effort and care into your plants, even if others may think it a little strange how dedicated you are

she totally understands personifying it, she does the same with some of her own belongings... she just thinks it shows that you really do care

ties a little bow around the pot as a little pop of color as well as to simply... give it some extra sparkle

love the idea that she was into DIY stuff before getting into the circus- usually baking and sewing but it would be cute if she sometimes made stuff from plant parts- colors from leaves and flowers, preserving parts for one reason or another... in the event that the plants health takes a turn for the worse she takes a piece to preserve for you to keep

KINGER

you both sit together and info dump about your interests and the bonus? he fills you in on bug/plant relationships, what bugs you need to look out for and which ones can be good! will give you some beneficials so your plant has some level of protection from pests

greets your plant as you enters your room, doesnt think its odd and it comes so naturally and he says hi with genuine happiness

bugs are his main interest but he picks up looking into plant care so he can better understand some of the things that you ramble about as well as potentially offer some info you didn't know before

ooohoohoho if you two eventually return to the real world together you make a garden and tend to it together

[modernsuperhero]

Who are these fun characters and why are they taking over my dash? /pos /please tell me abt your blorbos

i'm assuming you mean these little guys:

These guys are my newest silliest dudes from the webcomic School Bus Graveyard! It's free to read on webtoons here and is currently in talks to get a TV adaptation soon so now is 1000% the time to be getting into it!! It's basically a supernatural mystery about six high school freshmen from Georgia who go on a field trip and end up sucked into a demon dimension every time it hits midnight! It's super cool - the pacing is very good imo, a good balance of the Main Plot (oh no we need to survive the Demon Dimension again, also Why Are We In A Demon Dimension) with character development and backstory stuff!

The characters are badass but in a way I feel is very realistic? Like, not just "oh i'm the protagonist suddenly i know how to judo flip armies the moment i'm in danger" but more like "i'm going to train for months in self defense classes to build up some basic muscles" kinda way. The characters themselves are also pretty well fleshed out - they're not just the typical archetypes. Like, the "weak bullied nerd kid" isn't JUST a weak bullied nerd kid, he has well developed motivations and backstory and simultaneously realistic and satisfying character growth.

There are implied potential/future romances but it is so NOT the core point of the story, so whether or not that's your thing you can either ignore it or get excited about it in equal measure. The characters also aren't just edgy and gritty "we must deal with this alone... augh misery woe is us..." they actively do what they can to use all the resources available to them (including trying to get help from their parents, which is an ick for me in other media when the kid protagonists just refuse to ask for help? or assume they can't without trying? anyway).

I would say to be careful about any warnings at the beginning of specific chapters, because some can get quite violent.

The six main characters, without giving to many spoilers, are as follows under the cut (cuz this got long):

The protagonist Ashlyn, an asocial ballerina with her loving ex-military parents, who has a condition that gives her incredibly sensitive/enhanced hearing (she ends up using this to help detect the monsters after them, since they're otherwise silent to the other protagonists!)

Aiden, a creepily-smiley ex-homeschooled rich kid who has no concept of social convention or personal space. Has forcibly chosen Ashlyn to be his friend during his first year in school against her will and ends up accidentally setting off the chain of events leading to the Plot. (I love him. He definitely has Every Mental Illness <3)

Ben, Aiden's incredibly physically intimidating cousin, who is mute and so, so sweet and gentle and follows Aiden like his shadow, in part to take care of him when Aiden's antics get him injured and in part because Ben's muteness makes it incredibly difficult for people to understand him. Aiden, however, can understand his nonverbal communications with ease

Taylor, a friendly girl's girl who tries (often in vain) to befriend Ashlyn. Is also a talented mechanic who ends up putting googly eyes on her weapon once they end up in the Demon Dimension. She's the most Emotionally Aware Person Here but also she's like, 15, so, the bar is on the floor

Tyler, Taylor's twin brother, a somewhat aggressive and rude baseball jock who mostly Minds His Own Damn Business aside from his clinginess to Taylor. In fact they wear matching outfits in almost every episode of the comic it's so funny and cute. Is often found fighting bullies to defend their victims so i forgive him for all his own asshole crimes he's just a dude. he's one of my little guys

Logan, who is canonically compared to a puppy. Shy, intelligent, and incredibly empathetic! My partner's favorite character who has one of the best character arcs so far imo. Likes photography, astrology, and gardening. I think they should give him more guns, as a treat. He can never have enough

anyways thank you for the ask! overall i highly recommend - it's still ongoing, we're currently in the middle of season two!! the mystery is unfolding, there's funny and sweet moments along with the intense ones, and i am INVESTED. :DDDDDD

[sly-s-n0nfusion]

Sly's personal ✨Octopath rankings✨

So I've been into Octopath since the year it came out as a franchise basically and I recently finished the second game so I felt like ranking both games' characters and stories based on my likings. Remember that all opinions are valid and if I didn't enjoy your favorite character or story as much as you did it's fine :) also, there aren’t characters or stories I actually disliked with two exceptions so I’m mostly being kind- but honest.

May do spoilers so I'll put them under a cut

Ot1

Stories

Olberic - His story has to be my favorite because of its impeccably functional structure and climax. I am a sucker for redemption stories and I think they nailed every chapter of it. They even made me like the arena chapter even though I'm not a fan of tournament arcs. It's a very well-executed emotional story and it had me hooked since the beginning (also loving the “plot twist” that his final chapter boss is NOT Erhardt, which is what everyone is expecting since chapter 1)

Cyrus - A compelling mystery story with some plot twist I liked and actually interesting pieces of lore in it. What I liked the most about it (if we ignore Therese's blatant deus ex machina moment in his ch3) is that you can't really tell what will happen when you go into one of his chapters. Also has probably the best ch4 with some of the rawest lines ever against Lucia

Alfyn - Loved his chapter 3 to death because of the moral ambiguity and also has one of the best side characters (Ogen). Golden boy has to doubt everything he knew in his life and I love that. Has kind of a slow start though

Ophilia - While I think ch2 could be executed much better and made less boring, the circular structure and moral of her story is amazing. The emotional ch4 almost made me tear up

H'aanit - Cute interpretation of a "pupil has to find his mentor" story and has some epic moments like chapter 3. Not much more than that but it was still really enjoyable (bonus mention for Susanna, one of the best npcs)

Primrose - Kinda compelling revenge tale, except that it ends in the most unsatisfying way possible. Has some nice ideas but I felt so empty and broken at the end of her ch4 because she too is empty and broken

Tressa - Not a fan of the "coming of age stories" but I enjoyed her rivalry with Ali and her friendship with Noa, as well as Leon's backstory. No hate, just the more lighthearted stories are not really my cup of tea. Apart from those, it found it pretty boring and probably has the most anticlimactic final boss ever

Therion - The one story I really didn't like because of... many reasons. Like, it really had potential with the whole Dragonstones thing and everything but they executed it in the worst way possible. Also I hate how they tried to make him trust people again thanks to some questionable people like Cordelia and Heathcote... it just didn't feel right and left me asking myself but why though so many times

Characters

Cyrus - I do love every high intelligence - low wisdom character, bonus of they're a dork and kind of naive. Could write a whole essay about him so just know he won my heart he’s been my blorbo for what 3 years now? Almost 4

Olberic - Another trope I love is grumpy and probably depressed characters who just have a heart of gold inside and use their strength to protect the people they love so there you have it. They did a great job of delivering the emotional baggage in his internal monologues

Ophilia - I love how her character gravitates around the concept of love, loss and family. She's so dear to me

H'aanit - I like her view of the world and her stoic personality but I must say that for a main character, her introspective side could've been explored more

Alfyn - Sunshine boy who feels too much. I do like men who are not afraid of crying in front of others

Therion - a bit of a lone wolf stereotype- but I like his dry and sarcastic attitude when he talks to the other members of the party

Tressa - I like that she's a bit hot-headed and I like her enthusiasm. Definitely a character who shines more when she's with other characters though

Primrose - I think they messed up a bit with her characterization sadly because I can't really tell how the real Primrose is supposed to be even after ch4. She's often portrayed as an overly-flirty femme fatale even though it's probably trauma response and often says some... questionable things to the other members of the party in her travel banters, it's hard to get her true personality right. When she's angry, she kinda comes off as cold and distant, too. I think the writers could've done a better job with her

Ot2

Stories

Castti - Hands down the best Octopath Traveler main story ever imo. It was perfect from how the emotions were delivered to the compelling plot, to the climax in her chapter 3 and the bittersweet ending in her chapter 4. So heartbreaking and has a great attention to details, as well as amazing side characters. Perfect under every aspect and I loved the “horror rpg” vibe to it

Osvald - Amazing revenge tale (and kinda mimicking The Count of Montecristo), much more effective than Primrose's and also more heartbreaking and with an ending that's a bit more satisfying (even if the last chapter is definitely the weakest one and could've been handled better for such a good story). Cool plot twists at the right times an a villain that's actually Rotten to the Core (if we ignore the ridiculous laugh Harvey has). His chapter 1 was probably the best Octopath Traveler chapter 1 narration-wise and had me almost crying at his chapter 4 boss

Throné - I wasn't expecting her story to be this good in the slightest but the "getting out of the mafia" tale is well-executed and has some nice side plots for its side characters, as well as some quite shocking twists near the end. Her chapter 1 is also super good and has some pretty good dialogues.

Temenos - I have mixed feelings towards this one because it had so much potential but it definitely needed more time to be done correctly. The mystery plot feels kinda rushed at times (especially in chapter 3 because I think that one is kind of a narrative mess like why is everything happening SO QUICKLY) and one fatal flaw: Kaldena's backstory not being addressed well enough. She is really a character who needed to pop out more in his story. In the end it's probably a matter of pacing but it does have some real big wasted potential. Also another story that like Primrose's leaves you with a really bitter aftertaste except this time it's actually fitting for Temenos' character

Ochette - .....I'm sorry guys this story is literally Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire for a good 70% of it. Which doesn’t make it necessarily the worst story but it’s not original either. What I liked though is that it has some real good first and final chapters that got me kind of emotional and also kinda creeped me out. The side "anti-racism plot" could've been articulated better narratively but that's what we got in the end so. Also big wasted potential.

Hikari - I am not a fan of stories in which by chapter 1 you already know how they're going to end and Hikari's was exactly like this. I quite enjoyed the arena chapter and the chapter in Stormhail as well, and some parts of it were very cinematic. Not much more than that

Partitio - DISCLAIMER for the next 2 stories: again, I am not a fan of lighthearted stories because of personal taste, nothing else. I want the drama lol. This is why this one was not my cup of tea. I liked the narrative pace of chapter 1 but after that one it just kinda goes a little overboard with the crazyness idk it felt kinda weird to have a bulldog, a jobless guy and a train as bosses. What I loved were the "scent of commerce" side-stories though because it was really fitting to the time period the game is set in to have the merchant traveler interested in financing new inventions and machines. Also not that compelling overall

Agnea - Guys I'm sorry but this one was a big no for me. Legit had me really bored most of the time (especially didn't like the musical parts and her dialogues-only chapter 3 oh god) and never really got me hooked. I liked how cinematic her final boss battle was though and big w for the lesbians in her story I guess

Characters

Castti - Loved her caring, yet sarcastic attitude. She was such a fun and interesting character to be around (if we ignore how many times the travelers insist on calling her “mom” because she is just so much more) and has traits to her that left me quite surprised

Osvald - I love that for once we have a character that's not always nice to the other party members. I like his sharp tongue and atypical behavior, and him going nonverbal at times. A really interesting take on the scholar character I appreciated a lot (also dilfs lover here sorry not sorry)

Temenos - Mixed feelings for Temenos, again, because he does kinda sound like certain anime characters from my childhood but he is a fun character. Sly, snarky, diffident and secretly very broken inside is always a winning combination

Throné - I liked her a lot. I like the contrast between her kind personality and the gruesome job she's forced to do, and that she wants to redeem herself from everything she had to bear since she was a kid. I love her soft side and that she wants to be the good person she is

Partitio - Alfyn, but better. I can say I'm a fan of his over the top humour and attitude and his kind, generous heart

Agnea - Fun girl! I like her bubbly personality and also that she is stubborn and determined. She’s not a deep character but she is still fun

Ochette - I think her character had wasted potential. Even though I agree that she's fun and quirky, they didn't do a great job of portraying her as part of another whole species because they really kinda just made her personality rotate around liking meat. Also didn't really like how unnecessarily infantilized she was rip but she is still cute and fun

Hikari - .......Hikari likers I'm sorry. Oomfs who are Hikari likers if you’re reading this just know that I think your tastes are valid and I'm the one in the minority because everyone loves Hikari, so sorry for what I'm about to say but he kinda was what ruined his own story for me, as well as being the only traveler I actually dislike. I didn't like his teeth-rotting sweet dialogues and his whole character rotating around the concept of friendship. I didn't like that his one (1) flaw is him being possessed by a demon because of his cursed blood. He's too perfect. Therefore to me he's too uninteresting. Sorry!

Peace ✌️

[a-couple-of-notes]

I’m curious what makes you ship Rio/Alice (I also love the ship and glad more people are on board)

Oh, boy. Sorry for the wall of text that's about to hit your eyeballs, anon.

First, the main reason is that I love unexplored dynamics. It's more fun for me to write rarepairs that I have to work to justify or understand, that aren't necessarily scaffolded by popularity or a whole canon romantic storyline. Actually, I tend to avoid writing pairings that a lot of other people write or that feature heavily in canon--kind of a strange feeling of "if you don't have anything new to add, don't say it." (Which, to be clear, is not how one has to approach fandom at all. I genuinely enjoy reading my favorite tropes and premises over and over again! I like seeing ten different people gif the same moment! It's just that I, personally, like the narrative space of rarepairs.)

So for me, Rio and Alice occupy that fascinating grey area of having maybe one and a half canon conversations (super rarepair) but also being such strong characters independently that the threads of behavior and backstory are there to connect if you want. (I want.) To wit:

Rio and Alice are two people (person and entity?) whose natures fundamentally oppose each other--Alice is a very mortal protection witch whose natural instinct is to save, to be good, and Rio is the immortal Death, whose job it is to reap, to take, to be villainized. Put them together, and they'll clash in a fun way--especially since, unlike Agatha, Alice is terrible at running away or deflecting. It has the potential to be really toxic, and it has the potential of coming out the other side to actual growth and understanding. (This is what makes Alice so easy to ship/write for me, by the way--I mean, yeah, she's my blorbo, but also her sincerity and instinctive selflessness offer a great counterpoint to, like, every other character. The others, who are balls of lies and deflection and worse coping mechanisms, clarify when placed next to her.)

They also have interesting similarities: they're both bound by duty. Both forced to accept senseless tragedy. Both grieving. Both, in a way, willing to be truthful.

There are so many entry points into it from canon: Rio following Alice through her life via the curse, Alice seeking Rio (death) at some point in her life (which is not exactly canon but you can argue it by...well, Alice's whole deal pre-episode 4), Rio being jealous of Alice saving Agatha (I wrote that one), and of course Rio reaping Alice. Come on. That cheek touch. Like, we saw someone walking beside Rio into her realm, and it wasn't Agatha.

And, well, there's the Agatha of it all. The way I write Rio, you simply cannot cut Agatha out of it. It adds an extra challenge to figure out how Rio and Alice would have a relationship that would stack up in any way to Rio and Agatha's (and what that would look like). If you do it right, it gives extra meaning to Rio/Alice--it's not the destined love, but it's one they had to choose.

And finally, the two other, very shallow reasons:

I wrote a fic about these two, and I put so much of the stuff I like in there that I played myself and got interested.

Aesthetically, Death and her puppy dog girlfriend in a Hot Topic leather jacket? Fire.

[tiredassmage]

veilguard thoughts!

rook + solas parallels edition

spoilery ofc because my head's not full of cotton balls today and i haven't stopped chewing on it all since i finished the game! so! this is a little endgame heavy; you've been warned for what's below the cut <3

the final first playthrough counter has come in just over 67 hours and i am all but physically holding myself back from launching right into another one with another rook because i had a blast. i'll concede it was a bit heavy on the exposition in the first several hours, but what followed has certainly won my heart, and i think the game is visually beautiful.

but i'm not even looking to do a full review here, but i think one of the most fascinating things this game did was set up rook and solas. so, two parts of preface then: one, i was a little determined to love this game and hoped it would at least perform decent. that's my spite about it, lol, but that's not the point, so we're not here about that. two, one of my admitted concerns when they had first announced this game having its own protagonist was... that i wasn't sure there was another person to finish solas's story other than the inquisitor, and this isn't a solavellan thing for me, though my beloved canon inquisitor is a lavellan. solas's friendship wasn't the biggest hitch in inquisition for me, but it was important to my inquisitor. he wanted to prove his friend wrong.

i don't believe hallaren had a plan at the time for how to achieve that. he wasn't sure it was actually possible to convince solas the dalish were not as lost a cause as he seemed to believe, but he had to try.

and when i started veilguard, i wouldn't say i'd have anticipated the parallels of solas and rook, nor how well they ended up working for me. i admit: they got me. i didn't see that twist coming. and the hindsight of losing varric from the beginning makes a lot hurt (i say that as a compliment). i think it's easy enough to explain why i didn't see it, why (my, at least) rook didn't puzzle it out, but i also readily admit i'm historically bad at seeing these kinds of things, so you're free to be amused on your own time, lol.

anyway. regret. not becoming what you hate, what you claim to fight against. not being beholden to what you were or what you've lost. the game hits these beats several times, and i think its a real beautiful repeating thing they've done if you hammer all the companion's stories with the main deal, and i did the memories of the dread wolf as well. rook and the inquisitor have a conversation about it that about touches on all of it way more eloquently than i could summarize.

and, of course, part of the reveal is solas did dabble with blood magic on the matter of varric's death, did set rook up for the level of regret and grief they must settle with to trap them in the fade - a prison fit for gods, a prison fit for a god's regrets.

and this is where i transition into blorbo-specific thoughts. because i think part of what fascinates and delights me so much about the rook and solas, potentially two sides of the same coin deal is how tyr's relationship with solas starts and then develops.

tyr does not trust solas from the outset. which i think is where a very interesting presentation of similar (at their roots) choices begins, as varric says: in a bar, as all good stories. one of the first story notifications we get is how rook chooses to handle the bar owner: charm your way out, or a more direct approach, and we're told varric takes note of this.

varric's own plan is an appeal to solas's nature. to talk his way out. as is varric's way.

normally, i'd call tyr the kind of character (having played with him as an oc in various medias for oh... going on 2 years, is it? maybe 3? time's fake, different post) to also prefer talking his way out. but he doesn't believe solas will listen. so he rebukes varric's plan of just waltzing up and charming him with his babygirl eyes.

then at d'meta's crossing, he spares the mayor. not because he doesn't hear the concern that the greedy bastard will fall to said greed again, and not out of an entirely conscious mandate for live with the consequences of your actions, but... in hindsight with other choices, i'd argue it's... from at least a little of that kind of place.

he tries and fails to reason with the first warden. several times. in the heat of weisshaupt, and with the recent conversation with solas about whatever it takes on his mind, he ends up decking the man. the stakes are too high for risking the first warden staying on his high horse again if another attempt at reason fails, is the driver of the decision.

i'd chewed for a while on how that would seem to make tyr's commitment to "talking things through" indicated by that first choice in the bar inconsistent. it all seems justifiable at the time, and he didn't get to the place with the first warden he was out of intentional malice, but he still wound up there.

much of that is natural by the circumstances he was presented. by making calls with the information and under the conditions that were present at the time, as anyone, not just rook, would have to do under such circumstances, if they traded places. sure, some of it is also by solas's engineering of his conversations with rook. by setting them up to be a leader asked to make those hard calls. maybe even for arguably goading them a bit into a situation where whatever it takes was their only feasible option. which neve has a great comment on:

this is, i think, most directly about varric's death, but also, personally, i have to say is applicable for solas's intervention during blood of arlathan.

so, back to blorbo for a moment. tyr begins from a place that mistrusts solas's motives. the I'm quoting you here, "lies, treachery, and rebellion" kind of mistrust. and then, as things progress, as the team unveils more about solas's past in the crossroads and through the murals, it circles back to what I think motivated much of his comment to varric that talking with solas wouldn't work: that even if solas has any regret for what's happened, he's too stubborn to concede, too trapped by the mistakes of that past to ever admit fault, to hear himself sound like the 'gods' he claims to despise. tyr continues to take solas's advice into consideration the whole time, true, because it's... hard to discount the only potentially close to the problem kind of advice and knowledge they don't... exactly otherwise have themselves. he's not sure what the other shoe dropping in that equation is going to look like, but he's more convinced it'll happen than he is entirely happy with the situation.

the murals create... a hunch. or develop it. that rather than just being too prideful about the harm he'll cause by tearing down the veil, that solas is trapped in this plan by his regrets and guilt for actions of the past. at that point, tyr... has a better understanding about how they got to this point, but it kind of only solidifies his reservations that solas might actually be reasoned with.

the one moment this is changed, then, is during blood of arlathan. because frankly i think that was one of the worst experiences tyr has in the entire game. elgar'nan's influence in their minds, and an incident where they're trapped with no conceivable way out and potentially facing down an archdemon again, not so long after weisshaupt that the losses have stopped aching.

whatever his reasons or motivations and whatever else happens, solas saves their lives. tyr can't find a way around that one, and he's not even certain he wants to. because it's one of the definitive moments where he didn't have a plan, and he was terrified the tables had finally turned against them, and they'd fail.

it's not... trust. but tyr's also spent all this time working with his team on this concept that change shouldn't exactly be beyond anyone if there's a little effort put in. and whatever his own feelings are, varric wanted to believe in his old friend, and so does the inquisitor - both people he respects greatly, and he's constantly calculating their desire for a better outcome into the rubix cube that is trying to figure out how to stop the gods.

the problem then, is that solas all but instantly takes advantage of this... lapse. this faint relaxation of tyr's guard against his manipulations. that whole little incident with the fade after ghilan'nain's fall is all but immediately after, and its a betrayal nearly thrice or so over in rapid succession: that varric's been dead this whole time, that solas has manipulated him and how he feels responsibility for the team and the regrets that arise out of having to make hard choices, especially in times like these, and then on the other side of the fade, that solas has gone to minrathous, solas is playing "hero" about it all in tyr's and the shadow dragons' backyard. and to add salt to the wound, in minrathous, it's been blood magic all along.

and, y'know. solas says sorry, says he won't tear down the veil by his own hand, but hands rook the weapon to do it for him. sets them up again. so maybe that's more like... four or five times, depending on your count and categorization of it all.

and rook has a choice about all of this to make, a certain level of peace they have to make with it all to even get out of the fade. and how much to follow varric's advice about don't become what you hate - what you were fighting all along, or trapped by what you lost.

here's tyr's opinion that solas has more than likely been beyond reason because he's too far gone on his own path to even see that he's done exactly that: that he talks like elgar'nan's control, he's just dressing it up in a different way. that he's trapped by what he's lost and sacrificed and admitting that will be too much.

and here's tyr's inescapable bitterness of having been betrayed, of having spent so long trying to be careful with the god of trickery only to have danced right to his tune the whole time. a fiery emotional response for a threat to his home, to minrathous that he's tried very hard to protect and leave a smidgen better than he found it in this whole fight.

by circumstance... and by a little of solas's own design then, rook and solas confront the same trouble of what sacrifice being a leader demands. what cost is too high? how much is too much?

i had the pieces at that point for the ending with mythal, but now i had tyr bitter and a bit more resentful about solas - in a kind of pain about betrayal that was still asking why? about it rather than worried about if regret was present or meaningful. which is where this came from in my head akdfnas;dfnsadf

you're both thinking it. and the endings directly focus on whether or not solas succeeds in tearing down the veil, but the thematic part of it, to me, was... do rook and solas recognize where they might be held back? does tyr act on the pain and resentment of betrayal and swing blindly at solas as repayment? or is it bigger than both of them? is it about posing the question to solas about regret? how much is it like what drove solas to this point to act on that resentment? is it just retaliation? or did either of them learn anything from that prison in the fade?

and that's what makes the parallel, and it's what sets them apart.

and that's how, still, in the end, i have tyr who is willing to choose trying to reason one last time. for the sake of the advice of an old friend. for the people that brought them this far, the ones who chose to believe against the odds. and maybe, even, a little bit for himself. a choice against letting regret and resentment rule.

for the sake of it and because i couldn't get this game out of my head, i checked out the other endings, just to see, and i... think i like sticking with convincing him the best for both of them.

the trick with the dagger swap i think is the only other fitting course of action tyr might've taken from that point, and i think some of its elements reflect similar beats here about... learning from the past, if you will.

the accusation of likeness to the gods is still there. the banter about wits. i am a fool who finally met his match. one might argue that's for underestimating rook, which... fair enough, but i think... it also falls in line with solas's regrets, the appeal to be made to his nature, the... want, in the end, to be proven wrong. to find a 'better' way, as once he suggested to the inquisitor, and as mythal's release from debt and rook and the inquisitor's forgiveness, if you will, finally allows.

and that is... very satisfying to have said between them, when it's been on tyr's mind the whole time. and... they can both be proven wrong this way: for tyr, that solas wasn't beyond listening, and for solas, that there was another way.

for both of them that they could move on from what these trials have made of them, what they have done, and what they endured.

and man... man that was good. and so, so satisfying. it worked, veilguard. you sold me on these two as parallels to each other.

and that's just... one of many things in this game that gave me a lot of emotions, but this has already been. a helluva ramble, so if you've made it this far, congratulations and i salute you, lol.

i'm sure i'll do it all over again and have even more thoughts about even more rooks to throw around and chew on with this and what it'll reflect about each of them and that's. MMM. that's delicious. i loved this game. if my brain and time cooperates, i'm sure i'll have more thoughts and maybe even some writings for it in the future, we'll see where the blorbos take me. xD

[imfromthemiddlekingdom]

Felony saying that everyone in the universe can access the force if they tried hard enough makes me want to deck him in his fugly face

He’s ruining all established canon in real time. Speed running the absolute destruction of continuity of the SW universe and people are still rooting for him and his blorbo self inserts like there’s no tomorrow. Literally the whole reason I no longer engage in Ashoka content is because he massacred my girl and made her so one dimensional that my Mary Sue self insert fanfics OCs I wrote when I was 14 looks well developed compared to the absolute bland “girlboss kick ass take names” personality Ashoka has right now.

There were so many opportunities for him to explore the absolute potential of angst and conflict within Ashoka in this new series, to give her character a believable story of grief loss and growth yet he threw it all away because he wanted his OC to be the specialist girl that ever lived. This series could’ve been used to explore Ashokas conflicting feelings regarding the Anakin that taught her and was a mentor to her whilst trying to connect it to the monster that killed her family and hunted her culture into almost extinction and tried to kill her, a person he confessed to love as a sister, on Malachor. It could’ve been a good send off to a great character, to have her face that the Skyguy she put on a pedestal in her mind was in actuality the worst sort of scum and have her try to come to terms that just because she can forgive him for being the genocidal maniac he was and still hold love in her heart for who he used to be and also understand why the Jedi, her family, wasn’t the reason for their own downfall.

But alas. We got another series of “the Jedi caused their own downfall!!! Anakin did nothing wrong ever and him killing all my family and everyone I’ve ever known is so not his fault!!! It’s definitely the fault of the unbending stuck in the past council!!!”. Instead of a series that could’ve made Ashoka’s “departure” (literally never going to happen with felony at the helm, he’s going to find a way to make her immortal and then show up 200 years in the future to be the protagonist of another light v dark fight since she’s his special SI) from the series tie in nicely thematically and canonically with every other Star Wars media we have, he decided that the best way to have this series go down is 1) everyone is force sensitive if they tried hard enough ig and 2) the Jedi were bad!!! Their protocols don’t work! They were mean to my little meow meow Anakin Skywalker the greatest Jedi of all times™️ therefore he got to kill them all!!!!

Got a bit off topic but I’m still so mad that he had this chance to make Ashoka truly experience growth like the first 5 seasons of TCW yet he decided maintaining the badass rebel without a cause aesthetics for her was more important then good story telling.

Honestly though, my main problem with this series is that he decided that apparently everyone in the universe can be force sensitive if they “just tried hard enough”. Like your Midichlorian Count no longer matters since even if you were Force-Null you can still be special!!!!

This takes away any and all urgency in the Jedi Fallen Order games. It makes Cals journey absolutely redundant. It throws away all the tragedy contained in having inquisitors being force sensitive kids kidnapped from their parents and tortured till they give into the dark side. If all beings are able to use the force in his universe then there are no consequences to the inquisitors not finding the Holocron that holds the names to all force sensitive children in the universe. There would be no need to them to chase Cal and the Mantis Crew throughout the universe to obtain what they have. They could’ve just went down to any random level in Coruscant and take homeless Force-Null kids and train them.

Even better! It makes the entirety of the KOTOR games redundant!!!! Oh and I guess the hidden path is also redundant since everyone can be force sensitive and no one truly needs more saving from the empire over others :/ totally not like these kids that were saved by the path would’ve been taken and tortured into inquisitors, definitely not since EVERYONE is force sensitive nowadays or is it just the ones Ashoka trains herself because she’s the “living embodiment of the daughter uwu she’s so special and unique look how well she can train a non force sensitive to be force sensitive!!!”

Everyone in the Star Wars universe has Midichlorian’s in their blood. That is a fact. It is also an established fact that the amount each person has is different and is not determined nor dependent on lineage. Force-Nulls typically range in the 1000-3000 count and you need 7000 to be force sensitive and higher to be accepted into the order. (The order isn’t the end all be all of force cultures, Rouge One shows that Jedha’s force culture isn’t restricted to only force sensitives as the Guardian’s were never specified to be only a religious order of force sensitives. And high canon doesn’t depict many other force cultures but we know that there are many force cultures in the universe that co-exist with the Jedi with which the Jedi weren’t in opposition towards; literally not even the witches of Dathomir were oppositions anywhere outside of the battle fields.) You don’t need to be force sensitive to be part of a force culture (Jedha literally has pilgrims who come far and wide to make a pilgrimage to the holy site and not all of them were force sensitive), Sabine could’ve very easily been taught the tenets of the Jedi without retconning her to be force sensitive or making everyone in the universe force sensitive.

No where in either the EU or High Canon did anyone ever say that you have to be force sensitive to be a badass or to make a difference. Hera did not hold the title of the best pilot in the universe just for some rat of a man to come and say that Anakin was the best because *muh force sensitivity!!!!* Some of the most heroic and most influential (good or bad) people in the franchise are Force-Null! And that’s great! It means that the force doesn’t make anyone better than anyone else! It’s a quirk of the universe! To retcon that everyone can and is force sensitive if they tried hard enough is literally cheapening everything the franchise stands for. Andor did not literally give us an entire story about how Force-Nulls in the Galaxy makes just as much of a difference as force sensitives for felony to come out and say that “you know what??? Midichlorian’s are a scam! You get a force sensitivity! You get a force sensitivity! Everyone gets a force sensitivity!!!!”

Sabine was great as she was in rebels, why cheapen it with “oh she’s actually force sensitive all this time!!!” When we could’ve stuck with badass Force-Null Mandalorian can kick your ass five ways to Sunday with her paint bombs and blasters you force wielding asshole!!! Like why even do that felony. Do you want people to hate her??? Nvm ofc you do, you need Ashoka to be the best in every way possible even if it means ruining every other beloved character in this franchise👍

[utilitycaster]

sorry if this is something you don’t want to answer! you’ve said that questions about how you THINK the campaign is going to end are annoying, but i’m curious about how you personally WANT the campaign to end, given the various possibilities we’ve heard and what might still be considered?

At this point? For them to go with the Accord's plan, and for it to work on the general scale, though obviously not without potential casualties. It's the only plan that has at least attempted to consider the needs of multiple disparate groups of Exandrians and Ruidians and which has considered the possible long-term impact. It does not have complete representation and it is not perfect, but it's the only plan that isn't just, in the end, one arrogant guy who thinks they have all the answers and can make the choice for everyone else.

I will say: I am generally hoping Vox Machina and the Mighty Nein get out of this intact (Vax de-orbed but still a celestial, to be clear). I am open to a multitude of endings for Bells Hells since that is the burden of the main campaign party for the big final battle.

I do not want to go into this in depth on this ask though I've alluded to this extensively in a lot of places but: I am drawn to stories for them being narratively interesting and satisfying, which is a broad term but not an all-encompassing one, ie, you can't just say "narratively satisfying is whatever makes the viewers happy." Some people are drawn to stories more because of an individual character that speaks to them, or shipping, or lore alone, or an ending that validates their pre-existing irl views rather than their thoughts on how it should end based on the premises of the worldbuilding and the plot. And they can do this, and I am not stopping them, but I do, from the bottom of my heart, know that if someone's priority for storytelling is anything other than "this would be narratively satisfying" and that you have a decent understanding of narrative satisfaction (ie, following from the coherent worldbuilding and the established characterizations) I am, in the realm of the appreciation, analysis, and creation of stories, better than they are. Pretty much any critique I have of patterns of fandom behavior (roving shipping; "why is no one asking my blorbo how they feel" disease; projection of personal trauma; refusal to accept death or tragedy and the related obsession with fix-it fic; the idea of someone deserving a fate not because of what has happened within the story itself and what they've done but because of what has been done to them in an unseen backstory) boils down to that: it's not coming from any understanding of story structure.

[olderthannetfic]

I absolutely agree that everyone should write what they want and if they are not into F/F then that's alright, we just like different things, that's normal. However, I can't help but roll my eyes when I inevitably see the argument that "oh, but there are NO interesting female characters! not a single one! and they NEVER have any interactions with each other!". And people keep saying that like it's the universal truth and not a matter of what media you choose to interact with. I'm not saying you should abandon/change your fandoms or something. I'm just saying that I, too, felt that there were scarcely any interesting female characters to be found when my main fandoms were shonen anime which, to paraphrase that one tumblr post, were written by authors so misogynistic that they accidentally wrote gay romance. In comparision, my current fandom has a majority of female characters with hundreds of meaningful interactions and diverse personalities, including a handful of ones with all the classic characteristics of tumblr's beloved sad wet blorbos. And while before I only passively enjoyed F/F and were mostly into M/M, now I have so many ideas for my messy, complicated F/F ships! I guess it helps that I'm bisexual too. And again, I'm not saying that you should seek different fandoms out of duty, I'm saying that what media we interact with has a lot of impact on our stance in this discussion.

--

I know, right? You'll see someone assuming things based on... like... The Untamed and then Word of Honor will have way more interesting women with some f/f potential even if it's still a m/m thing where women aren't the point.

Shonen manga aren't my go-to for female characters, but man is there a gap between the very most blockbuster anime for the very biggest weekly jump manga vs. some random-ass shonen manga from a less popular magazine.

And that's just talking media that's about dudes.

[pinkyjulien]

🟨 Appearance Creator Mod Infos Dump

With the release of ACM (Appearance Creator Mod) I wanted to dump some information that might be useful, especially for non-modders that want to play around with it!

(I had no involvement with the making of this mod at all, nor I have any tie with AMM development, just throwing my two cents as a regular user, player and modder)

You'll find some How To, Tutos and other useful heads-up under read more, if you plan on using this mod as a modding tool (sketching up outfits ideas before modding them as custom appearance for your blorbo for example) or simply want to play blorbo dress up!

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First, You might want to get familiar with these suffix, as you will need to identify what part of a character's outfit you wanna swap

▶ Garments Components Names

h0 - Character's head mesh he - Eyes mesh heb - Eyebrows mesh ht - Teeth mesh hx - Head's details meshes (pimples, makeup...) hh - Hair mesh t0 - Character's Body mesh t1 - Torso Inner Garment (T-shirt, Tank top...) t2 - Torso Outer Garment (Vest, Jacket, Hood...) a0 - Character's Arms mesh (Cyberarms...) l1 - Legs Garment (Pants...) s1 - Feet Garment (Shoes, Socks...) i1 - Accessory / Item Garment (Cyberware, Belt, Necklace...)

▶ Garments Rigs Names

ma - Man Average mb - Man Big mc - Man Child mf - Man Fat mm - Man Massive wa - Woman Average waf - Woman Average Fat

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⚠ It's important to note that Garments are NOT automatically refited to the character! You can use a WA garment on a Male NPC but it won't magically fit his shape

⚠ Johnny and Kerry, despite using the MA rig, both have a thinner bodies and most of the garment will float and appear larger on them

⚠ A lot of Garments have their own RIGs and physics, and might T-pose / break upon being swapped on your NPC of choice! For this reason, Hair with physics will automatically break as well

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AMC is a standalone window in game, and not included in AMM main window!

After spawning a NPC, the AMC window should fill up with the spawned entity's garment components (and yes it can get crowded really quick, especially on smaller monitors and resolution)

Yes, It also works on NPVs and NPC+! 🔥

Everything on these windows can be overwhelming especially if you're not familiar with modding, so I'll throw a little example here using Scorpion

First I want to get rid of his hood and vest, without using AMM's custom appearance, using only ACM

In the list, I look for his Vest and his Hood component

We can easily turn them invisible by clicking the "Toggle" button Make sure to also disable any decals, stickers, and additional component (his vest also has a decal component, see in the screenshot)

The little icon next to a component's name indicate it has been edited in some way

I'll now switch his tank top for something else

Click on "Select From List" next to the "Mesh Path" of the desired component (in Scorpion's case, t1_060_ma_tank__corset) Open up the "Torso" list, and you'll be able to click on any of the listed t1 and t2 garments!

⚠ As mentioned above, garments doesn't magically refits on characters; Scorpion use the Man Average body and rig, anything that isn't a "ma" garment won't fit him correctly!

⚠ Another thing to be aware of is that a lot of garments's might break around the collar area! However if you plan on using this same mesh in an outfit, don't let that scare you, as it's easily fixable in blender

Export your desired mesh and look for the "NeckCollar_JNT" bone and simply rename it to "Neck" (blender will put some numbers next to it but that's fine, ignore that)

I'm going to switch to Valentin here to showcase how to deal with potential clipping 🤏 Since Valentin's body is customized, bit chubbier, he always needs refiting

Let's say you swapped your character's top for something else but part of his torso clips out

To put my boys titas away, I'll look for his body component (t0)

Click on "Chunk Mask" to open the garment's submeshes list

Garment's meshes are broken down in multiple submeshes that can be easily chunkmasked (disabled) at will to deal with clipping! This is why NPC usually don't even have a full body mesh when taking off their clothes, they are chunkmasked to avoid clipping :D

I will disable the Submesh 1 by unchecking the "1" box

Don't be afraid to click on multiple box and see what gets chunkmasked on different meshes! You won't break anything 👌

aaand for now that's about all I can think of that might be confusing for users- tho if you have question don't hesitate to ask on this post, to reblog or to come into DMs!

[ravenkinnie]

For the character ranking thing, jinx, caitlyn, ellie, raven, cassandra cain

5 ellie - I loved the show I like the games but when I know a character first through my grilfriend I consider them a blorb9 in law, like claire redfield and alice liddell are also my blorbos in law. my girlfriend could take them in the divorce and for the rest of my life I would resent seeing any mention of these games because I'm a scorpio so that lowers ellies ranking

4 raven - I love raven, her and batman are my ogs, they both changed something permanently in my elementary school brain and it never recovered. however, i hate modern raven so much, like fellow mutual momo strongest raven fan warrior is able to keep up but I dont have her powerful autism so i only feel hate and i wish dc the worst for that. god i fucking hate bbrae too i would stage a coup at the hq just to fix raven. I wish somebody brought back the new teen titans design, keep the saris and keep everything, just make her desi, people will complain and get over it like they got over miles and we got spiderverse out of that so. take her out of the titans cause im sorry, I'm a titans fan but this is a sinking ship, every book is a heavier flop than the previous one, im going to save my girl. have her cameo in other shit and be like omg im on my own whatever and test her dynamic with other characters, find her a new place in dc universe and then i think you could have a banger team book on your hands because she does the best in teams. I do selfishly wish that place was more near magic users books because i think that would be so much more slay for her to show her powers than having her faint all the time because she could easily defeat a divorcee in spandex and we have 20 pages to fill

3 caitlyn - caitlyn is my OG main which you might not realise because in so jinxpilled these days but I played her through high school (never left bronze <3 still haven't left bronze <3). so you can only imagine my joy when they made her a 6'1 dyke with a tooth gap AND they kept her big boobs, I've been winning ever since. I think I'm one of like five caitlyn stans maybe tho, every caitvi shipper seems to either like vi more or want to fuck vi more and outside caitvi circles no one really likes caitlyn. which is fair because she's rich and a cop so i can't defend her but I like that she's always struggling because of her own stupidity and is constantly challenged. when someone says she's wrong and she does that frowny face, she's so sexy to me, I love a stubborn bitch. she's also autistic to me, I'm just saying it because no one ever has caitlyn headcanons. I also LOVE league caitlyn, i think league caitlyn is 80% of the reason why domme mommy caitlyn is so popular because she IS a domme mommy. fantastic legend of runeterra card too

2 jinx - i know its a travesty she's not #1 but the tea is, i just didnt like her in like 2014 dhshsj i don't like jokeresque characters usually, i think it's a noring iverused tropes that only pretends to be interesting with fake depth and quirky randomness, I'm sorry. but you CAN make it good and i think arcane gave her such a strong comeback for me, I'm fond of league jinx too now, like I've grown to appreciate her even if I dont find her OG release that good. jinx gets the best promo materials tho, maybe outside of KDA girlies. GREAT legends of runeterra card, i maxed out her skill in the path of champions and I've played with many other decks in this game so believe me when I say, level 3 jinx is so OP its baffling. play her path of champions before they nerf her cause they just nerfed her in league a lil shshjsis. I have to stop typing because i took an edible and i could talk about jinx all day like the way they balance her storyline perfectly, the fact that every storyline goes back to jinx, her energy like im biased but sorry she is a scene stealer. her potential, the way every single dynamic she has with every character could be so good BECAUSE she has those plot connections, also i think her voice lines and arcane dialogue are really good, she has a very distinct style of speaking. both voice acting in the game and the show are great (pls look up her death voicelines they are so funny) but ella purnell??? I had no clue who she was before arcane and now i watch everything she's in. get jinxed was made by djerv which is a GREAT band too

1 cassandra cain - she is forever my dc rising star like i see who you are, i see your potential and i will blow up dc headquarters for you. I'm keeping her at #1 cause she deserves it but I'm so sorry when I recommend you the solo and the art looks like that, in my head it doesn't, love is blind. PLEASE look up the batgirl vs joker issue drawn by bill sienkiewicz tho, she is so beautiful in it kiss kiss. she is literally just if batman served extreme levels of cunt in every move. her backstory is batshit, she is my favorite portrayal of suicidality because it proves you can write those themes without being corny as fuck, just like jinx she has great fascinating dynamics with every other character. unlike jinx, it's because she stands out, she's barely connected to other characters which I think makes her kind of cooler like she's this super weird shadowy being you're kind of friends or coworkers with. pure cuntress

and the thing that hurts the most is that if that solo launched with modern art now I think it would find a good market because hear me out. every comic book is cursed now because no one knows how to write dialogue or understand cinematography or design but they sure know how to write monologues so you lose eyesight trying to read a lot of words about nothing on tiny panels. which cass' solo does not do becauee the dialogue is quite minimal even later on, it relies on visually striking and easy to read panels which are fantastically shareable on social media to entice people to read the book. plus I just watched mad max furiosa in the cinema and I was thinking we really have a trend of feral young women with an older mentor figure that sucks as a person and cass. CASS HAS THREE. and a cunty as fuck mother. I know this shit would sell and if it found a good market maybe it wouldn't end so fucking badly

give me five ships, characters, or shows and I will rank them from my favorite to my least favorite.

[kursed-curtain]

For the character ask game

Wilford and jaques

Sir Wilford IV

How I Feel: I think he has a lot of potential to be a cool supporting-protag or antagonist of any stories people in the fandom make, and I like him dearly. My Wilford is a dad mafia boss guy 👍✨ but he can be whatever and that's cool

Ships: I don't actually have any ships for him? I'll ship him with others when it comes to others' AUs but my Wilford IV is a single pringle. Maybe that's a good thing for some of y'all folks out there? Simps, all of you /lh /hj

Platonic OTP: I did like one joke doodle of him n' Jacques and I think that's a funny friendship in of itself ^^ they can watch everyone else in the clan be stupid :D

Unpopular Opinion: I think "strongest leader" doesn't have to mean he was an arm wrestler kinda guy even if I personally do make him a bear dad

Wish This Happened: Uhhh idk he's perfect. Maybe what I said with randy how I want more info on how they affected the toppat clan through the various vault items

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Jacques Kensington

How I Feel: I think I've rolled him around in my head so much he's practically blorbo material at this point. He's the one past Toppat leader who we actually see like. alive. And he's a hostile mob. And he has his own Mario 64 style dimension where he just stands around. What is going on with him?

Ships: I don't personally have any ships with him for my universe version of him? My version of him is so victorian era gothic horror novel main character, though, so maybe he had a lover but he was married to fame and wild ideas and adventure more xP

Platonic OTP: Gosh... Guys can I say Bettigan and Jacques? (Bettigan is my OC for the folks who don't know. Eldritch horror being who took Jacques' mortality through a series of badly-made wishes) I don't think it's friendship but it sure wasn't romance either lol

Unpopular Opinion: Needing more Luigi's Mansion inspired Jacques'

Wish This Happened: I wish he talked more lol the one scene he's in is very short - in a good, comical funny haha moment, at least

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(Give Me A Character)

[asha-mage]

It's a bit early to say for sure but I think A Darker Shade of Magic may finally have done the trick and broken through my year long reading slump. Still not to far in but for two days now I've been regularly reading it on work breaks for short ten minute bursts.

My main tale away thus far is that Kel has some solid blorbo potential. Very Shaped. Hits several major checkboxes on the "mage is predisposed to like this character" index.

[tuliharja]

Five comfort characters, five tags

Thank you so much for tagging me @unohanadaydreams!

The timing of this tag game wouldn't have come in more ironic timing than it did, since just recently my one friend asked me about my own comfort characters. To be honest, I think when I move to a new fandom, my comfort character changes along the way. Though, at times I notice myself going back to certain fandoms and reading about certain characters or ships, so maybe those in a way comfort me. But then I read about other people's answers, which made me realize the definition of comfort character differs from person to person. Yes, there are some similarities, and even in some cases, the definition can vary between characters. It's all about how one views and handles them. So, I've tried to make my own list with explanations of why these characters are my comfort characters (which was very hard. Not just because of the explanations, but also just listing only five of them!)

Tomoyo-hime (from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle). Probably my oldest blorbo. Writing her is extremely easy for me. Not to mention she reminds me of all the good and pure things in the whole world with that glint of mischievousness. Just thinking about her calmness and beautiful smile soothes me. Not to mention she is the other part of my ultimate OTP, so when I talk/write about her, I can talk about my OTP. (And oh boy. I have a lot to say/write about them! And things concerning them and around them.) She is just extremely comfortable to me.

Yoruichi Shihoin (from BLEACH). When you don't know what to draw, either draw Tomoyo or Yoruichi, my brain whispers to me when I'm stuck on which anime/manga woman to draw. Yoruichi is extremely easy for me to draw. Not to mention there is just something in her character that draws my attention in art-wise. I really like to both draw Yoruichi and look at the art of her. It brings me a sense of serenity and makes me want to draw something cool or amazing. She is a very great character. I also like the fact the manga didn't reveal everything about her, so there is room to write about her if I so want. Not to mention she is a very layered character underneath her cattish attitude. But to me, she is mostly my art blorbo.

Shinji Hirako (from BLEACH). This feels very random, even to me. But after I mulled over this matter a good while, I realized Shinji is my comfort character. Each time when I've been away from Bleach fandom and I want to read a Bleach fic, I unconsciously start to look for fics where is Shinji. There is just something about the piano teeth man who brings me a sense of security, despite the fact he is a goofy mess. Not to mention he is an extremely layered character, which makes him just a delicious character to read about. (Sadly, I still can't read fics where he and Hiyori appear as main characters as usual in such fics their slang/dialect is so strong, I get lost in translation...)

Furina (From Genshin Impact). One of my newer blorbos. I can't help but just feel most about her. Even before the big revelation about her, everything about her made me root for her and feel this kinship that is very hard for me to explain. More so, after the big revelation about her. There is something about Furina that brightens my day and makes me feel reassured. Especially when I think how she can mess up badly or be a bundle of anxiety, yet still keeps going on despite her many failures and faults. Not to mention she is a very complex and pretty character. I definitely want to make art about her at some point~.

Lucifer Morningstar (from Lucifer). My newest, shiny blorbo. I must admit I'm not sure why he is my blorbo. The fact he is such a layered character? The fact he looks drop-dead gorgeous? He has more issues than one can count with two hands, yet still chooses to ignore that all? The huge angst potential? The fact despite the fact he can (and will) act like an absolute a-hole yet is the sweetest thing ever? Or he knows how to live, but can still be very insightful and all that more? Haha, I don't know, but I sure do know underneath that wild party animal, he is the most lovable guy ever and that's magnetic. Plus, he is what he is and is (mostly) unapologetic about it.

Honorable mentions: Juushiro Ukitake (Bleach), Tobirama Senju (Naruto), Madara Uchiha (Naruto), Thrawn (Star Wars, Penelope Eckhart (Villains Are Destined to Die), and Riruka Dokugamine (Bleach).

Tagging (with no pressure): @officerjennie, @callmeasyouwantidk, @jkrobertson, @the-con-she-called-conscience and @lemongrass-and-cedarwood.

[radioactive-dazey]

Roman, Virgil, and Janus for the character ask game? :)

Hey neon ✨

First, Roman :]

Favorite thing about them: it's Roman. My beloved. I really enjoy the prince gimmick, I always have. I think the moment he updated his costume is what solidified him to blorbo status for me.

Least favorite thing about them: he's perfect there ISNT a least favorite thing about him. I can't even come up with something for the game.

Favorite line: "time out for thee, time out for thee, focus on issues or focus on me," comes to mind. But any bit he's talking like a college frat boy is also fantastic. OH! or that spin he does in Can Lying Be Good and he squeals "MEEEEEE?" Amazing. 10 gold stars.

"I thought I was your hero."

brOTP: ooooh how could I pick one... prinxiety has got the best platonic dynamic over time and they really are so great in any font... but I do like Roman and Patton's bromance a lot.

Roman and Virgil, final answer!

OPT: HOW CAN I CHOOSE, FUCK-

I gotta name my top three, Prinxiety, Roceit, Logince.

nOPT: do I even have to say it...

Other than that, not the biggest fan of romantic Royality as of late. They have the potential to be very sweet with each other and I used to really love it, but to me theres very little you can do with them and it makes writing and consuming a bit one note for me. It makes even writing LAMP fics difficult and it's one of the reasons I have a fic of mine shelved.

Random headcanon: he's the biggest drama prince about the small things, but if something shakes him to his core, you won't see him for a week. Until he gets his spark back, there's nothing you can do to get him to leave his room. He'll be fine, eventually. (Side note: Patton had the best luck with getting him to come out and take care of him but now, Roman mostly ignores him.)

Unpopular opinion: I like that Roman is an asshole. Refer back to my "least favorite thing about him" Bit. He's mean but it's part of his charm.

Song I associate with them: ooof I don't listen to a lot of music so I'm gonna have to refer to the undertale track list: Death By Glamor (and it's associated songs before it shows up in the game) comes to mind, and For The Fans

Favorite picture of them: I dunno... I like the glam look a lot...

Next: VIRGIL

Favorite thing about them: Possibly one of my bigger fashion inspirations, I've been rocking the same fashion style since the 7th grade, the only difference is I have a credit card and I'm not limited to the stores in my dying mall.

Least favorite thing about them: refer to my unpopular opinion

Favorite line: "I usually go and sit on a surface that isn’t meant to be sat on. Because when tomorrow comes, I will be faced with even more challenges, and I am too overwhelmed to be worrying about what is, and is not, a chair."

brOTP: Prinxiety, Analogical

OPT: Prinxiety my beloved...

nOPT: I dunno... I'm a multi-shipper at heart. If I absolutely had to name something, I get weird about Moxiety. Its cute, but most of it has a tendency to boil down to uwu-ification, on both sides. They're really interesting characters and I wish I could see more content that fleshed them out as such. (I'm not saying it doesn't exist, I just find it rarely and don't seek it out often)

Random headcanon: Virgil has a second or third set of eyes as part of his animal trait, it being a spider. With all the spider webs in his room, I think it checks out. I want to re-make his emblem with this in mind, I think it has the potential to be really cool.

Unpopular opinion: He's overrated. Everyone's favorite is Virgil. And I *UNDERSTAND* why, but I do think it gets annoying how much content is focused on him ("they say, as if they don't have a bunch of projects where Virgil is of main focus"). I've had this thought for awhile, but if any side was a "main character" for the series, it would be Virgil.

Song I associate with them: once again, back to the Undertale soundtrack: SpiderDance, Spookwave, and It's Raining Somewhere Else have Virgil energy.

Favorite picture of them: I think the skirt look, but the E-Boy look, as however disliked it was at the time, was really great too.

Lastly, Janus "Classy" Sanders

Favorite thing about them: He's charming, very similarly to how Roman is charming. I think it's the accent, really. Both Roman and Janus have that going for them.

Least favorite thing about them: :( he's too mean to Roman and that makes me sad. He can be mean to everyone else tho, I don't care.

Favorite line: Too many good ones good gosh. The weird noise he makes in one of the episodes, I can't remember which one. It's just so funny.

brOTP: Demus (or whatever the Janus x Remus ship name is)

OPT: Roceit. Go back and rewatch SVS. Bro was SHAMELESSLY flirting with Roman.

nOPT: once again, I'm a multi-shipper, but I can live without ever knowing Anxciet exists. You CAN have an interesting dynamic without it leaning TOO heavy into... *gestures vaguely*

I've seen far too many odd tropes with them, and while I can't deny I don't envision them having the healthiest of relationships, some people out here are romanticizing actual abuse and that stresses me out. this isn't even a dead dove- don't eat thing, I mean it's going into bad YA smut shit and that's objectively weird

Random headcanon: Janus needs the crook/cane to walk because snakes don't have legs and therefore, cannot walk.

Unpopular opinion: Less of an unpopular opinion and more of a general, quiet, less talked about opinion. Janus and Virgil are incredibly similar and cannot do their job without the other. I know this can be really said for all the sides, but for some reason I feel like Janus's and Virgil's is underused, overlooked, and underappreciated.

Song I associate with them: It's raining somewhere else (again), Waterfall, An Ending, Don't give up

Favorite picture of them: Uhhhhh just pick a frame from the sections of SVS where he's dressed as a lawyer.