#they are my fave in case that wasn't clear enough

[webtoon-toon-toon-toon-toon]

Briar, the famous case of do I want them or to be them?

[mfshipbracket]

You know for a fact that with different match-ups the semi finalists would have been Aragorn x Arwen, Doctor x Rose, Gomez x Morticia, and Westley x Buttercup. The fact that you've already pitted them against eachother in and before the quarter finals feels like a rigged bracket...

i wanted to see tenrose and westercup die. is that what you want me to say? i wanted to string tenrose and westercup shippers along and lead them like lambs to their elimination slaughter. i was the puppetmaster controlling the strings behind the arawen tenrose neck and neck battle and i knew the whole time that arawen would come out on top. is that the confession you're looking for? what do you want man we're just some funny little guys running a silly little ship bracket and we're about to go on vacation; do you really think we have the time or intimate knowledge of human behavior and fandom popularity to rig a poll on purpose? c'mon.

[outrunningthedark]

Thinking about your post about people being mad the date wasn't tommy noticing something and standing aside

Cause ultimately I think that's a lot of the issue here, bc being were initially super excited for bi buck bc they figured Tommy was a plot device and would lead to buck realising he has feelings for eddie or tommy noticing their feelings for each other or eddie getting jealous and realising he's gay or or or

The longer he stuck around and the more it was made clear that they were developing this relationship and it wasn't leading every week to the buddie fanfic trope they wanted to see the anger grew and then it was here's all the reason we hate him (which like you don't have to like a ship but when they hate tommy for supposedly being bitchy but love bitchy eddie it's pretty clear what the issue is)

💯💯💯 When BuckTommy was pure speculation (even though a few of us felt there was enough evidence to suggest SOMETHING was happening)? "Tommy is straight, last I checked!" "He's here for the CRUISE DISASTER. Stop." and my personal fave...being labeled fetishizers. By a straight woman. When Bi Buck was confirmed, even though it WAS thanks to Tommy? "OMGGG! We're one step closer to Buddie! Tommy is here to help Buck accept his attraction to men and then Buck can think about his feelings for Eddie!" [cue the absolutely batshit "theories" about Buddie hooking up before SOMEONE ELSE'S WEDDING DAY like we're watching Friends - which, in case people forgot, was about a group of white heteros!] But then...Tommy didn't leave when they thought he would. Enter the (as my mutuals like to call them) bad faith arguments. Tommy is all the sudden The Worst for cutting the dinner date short, despite the fact that his decision to leave was an OBVIOUS catalyst for Buck to come out to his sister and best friend. (Not agreeing with a writing choice does not mean it does not make sense in context! FYI!) He's all the sudden The Worst for not following the bachelor party theme, despite the fact that Tommy did not have to show up at all when he knew he could be/would be called away to help at any moment (which, hey, he was!) (This one was WILD) He's all the sudden The Worst for LETTING BUCK KISS HIM AT THE HOSPITAL. AS IF BUCK WASN'T AWARE THAT TOMMY'S SOOT-COVERED FACE WOULD PROBABLY TRANSFER ONTO HIS??? AS IF BUCK DIDN'T *WANT* TOMMY AT THE MADNEY WEDDING NO MATTER WHAT??? FOR THE PURPOSE OF COMING OUT??? And then, ofc, the one moment that exposed the fuck out of everybody. Tommy, a gay man, is all the sudden The Worst for making a daddy kink joke! Towards his boyfriend! (Who was most definitely not offended!) SCANDALOUS! This fandom's found itself involved in a lot of pointless, petty disagreements, but this "ship war" gotta be the dumbest yet. 📢ANY MAN WHO WAS GONNA DATE BUCK IN SEASON 7 OR LATER CAN'T COME BETWEEN AN OTP ON SCREEN WHEN THE ACTORS BEHIND THE OTP AREN'T PUSHING FOR IT TO BE CANON YET. THANK YOU! (They say it's because Tommy is a Bad Guy, but we all know it'd take no more than two episodes for this fandom to tear down the hypothetical "next guy" who isn't Eddie just because he isn't Eddie.)

[epickiya722]

While I won’t deny that there is some misogyny in Hori giving Mirko and his other female characters costumes that expose more skin (mainly for fan service) whereas male characters get costumes made from their dna so they don’t have to be half naked, people hating on Mirko BECAUSE of her costume is so laughable since her leotard is meant to look like the one-piece bodysuits wrestlers wear and her hero alias was even inspired by a real life wrestler

It is very damn laughable.

At most, the female characters do expose skin.

But the male characters also service fanservice, if not more. It's just that people are so use to male characters going shirtless during fights, I feel like it just flies over their head that some of those moments are fanservice.

Need a whole board to count the amount of time Midoriya and other male characters went shirtless. That one shot of Todoroki after he almost killed Midoriya after their match? Yeah, the way it's shot, even in the anime, that's fanservice. The costumes are tight, and there are scenes to showcase how tight to give emphasis on the muscles. Crust's costume exposes his abs and thighs and Vlad King's got a whole cleavage window.

That AFO scene when he regenerates his body and he's all buff and nude? That was fanservice.

That scene when Mr. Compress shows his face? Fanservice. Shigaraki and Dabi have became walking moments of fanservices.

What reason does Shigaraki actually need to be shirtless?? After season 5, he can't keep a shirt on. Dabi? "It's to show his scars." Oh, that, too! But it's obvious the team caught on that he has fans that want to lick him. Hence, his recent costume change.

If people gotta talk about the fanservice over Miruko, then bring the same energy for the male characters and the female characters more. That's what bothers me.

Miruko is designed to reference an actual kickboxer. Mirko Cro Cop is a real person (even referenced in the first chapter of JJK which tickles me because it was for Itadori, who is my other favorite. Yeah, Horikoshi and Gege read other's stories and are friends). If the wrestling gimmick wasn't clear enough, her backstory has her wear a mask like a wrestler does and she fights others... in a wrestling ring!! She fights like a wrestler!

So her costume actually makes a lot of sense! Both in the case of her fighting style and aesthetic.

Yes, some of the designs for the female characters could be a little better, but it's the amount of energy people want to bring to voicing their hatred about Miruko's actual pretty tame costume to everyone else. She ain't the only damn body in the story serving fanservice, so stop acting like she is.

And considering that Miruko is also a grown woman is always what make me even more confused.

In the case of Yaomomo and Hagakure, it makes sense people would be uncomfortable. They are still teenagers, just 16. I'm sure we all are tired of the teen girls being half nude for fanservice trope.

But Miruko? That woman is almost 30. I would expect for people to thirst over her just as much as they do the other characters. Grown women are allowed to be sexy.

Oh, my bad. Apparently not. I forgot how people get upset with women who are confident in their sexual appeal and want to show it off.

The same people who complain about Miruko being sexy are the same people who probably read smut posts about Bakugou.

The way the fandom acts towards Miruko is the point of my post from yesterday.

Y'all hate her costume, but don't mind it on your character for your obvious horny reasons. A lot of the fics and art was horny.

Call Horikoshi a "misogynist", but some of you ain't even no better because of your treatment of Miruko. If you're gonna complain about her costume being "too much", then I need to see that for almost every single body on that same post. People like to say "You're just horny for her", well, what's the problem? Same people who complain that Miruko fans find her attractive are the same people who find their own faves attractive and only that. Some of you probably can't remember your fave's favorite food or their birthday. So I'm trying see what's the problem.

"Oh, here's another Miruko butt shot."

That's the only butt shot you noticed? Hm... kind of odd to be specific about a Miruko butt shot instead of "Oh, here's another butt shot". Is it just me who smells the absolute bullshit that this fandom is sometimes? Just me? Could be just me.

And it's not even just the costume that bothers me.

[ezralva]

I came here after reading your Choso&Yuji fics, I love them! 🥰The scenes where they are training blood manipulations are my fave, filling in the gap in the current manga chapters for me so thank you! Your author's notes very interesting but there are some things I don't quite understand. My questions:

1. Was it ever explained how Yuji can do blood manipulation? And how he get the red claws?

2. Since Choso is a Kamo, does that mean he's related with kamo, the young one? I'm still confused because I saw some fans said they are not while some said they are and the fanpage says that Choso's father is Kamo the younger's ancestor, which means they are related?

3. Does that mean Yuji had a Kamo blood too because he's Kenjaku son? Like perhaps his mother? Because why is it different between them? Why Choso reacted like that to Yuji's blood but not to the other Kamo?

4. Are the memories Choso had about Yuji is from him alone or the influence from Yuji's cursed energy?

Sorry if my questions sound very dumb to you! myb cos I was skipping a lotta chapters of the manga to catch up with current arc (I almost skipped the whole culling game thing) but I watched the anime and still not understanding a lot.

Btw my fav is your Light at the end of dark tunnel and I'm actually sad that it hasn't been updated for long despite you still write new fics for new pairings 🥲 but I dont mean to rush you or anything, just hoping one day it will be updated again 🙏

Thank you for liking my stories and telling me about it! Ah I guess it does get confusing if you don't read the manga in order. In fact I've seen manga readers still confused abt the same things as yours so no, they are not dumb questions! Hwvr, to answer, it'd be better to go into manga's chronological orders so it'd be easier to understand...so beware of long answers ahead.

1. It was nvr explained explicitly but heavily hinted, which from the ways Gege does thing so far, which is not always spitting out everything for readers. It could be perceived as true. It happened in ch 220. I'll explain later below.

2. Yep, by all means they are related. I think this much is pretty clear from the narrative even if you're an anime-only let alone read the manga. Related as in coming from the same clan/ancestry line/bloodline. Iirc I explained this in end notes of ch 1 of my long fic. Blood Manipulation is a prized CT that is passed down only thru bloodline/genetics. It wasn't a sporadic thing like Geto's curse manipulation CT. It is the same as Zenin's 10 shadows and the Gojo fam' Limitless/Six Eyes. The fact that Choso has it despite being incarnated in an irrelevant non-sorcerer body meant that his Kamo's blood from his papa (Kamo Noritoshi Sr) still runs fully thru his current body. The concept of JJK is mostly how a soul cud modify the body. For Choso this is def the case cz there was 1 panel where he said he cud no longer sense the prev body owner's soul/essence. So, as a cursed object of a Kamo blood, he had taken over the body fully. Back to the question, howvr, to which degree he's related to Noritoshi Jr we might nvr find out unless GG care enough to lay out the Kamo family tree. They could be as distantly-related as Gojo with Yuuta or more direct line in family. But I don't see how that wud ever happen cz it's neither important to the plot nor is it important to any of the character's narratives.

So yeah, the opinions that said they are completely unrelated are definitely off the mark. It's silly tbh, cz it doesn't take a lot to comprehendthis particular narrative 😅. The BM technique and the great 3 clans backgrounds were there to confirm. I personally think, they must be branching a lot so it's not straight vertical line. Cz Kamo Sr had offsprings and cud have more legitimate offsprings outside the Death Paintings, it cud be said he wud be like a great great greaaat granduncle to Noritoshi Jr (which explains why the fanpage says Kamo Sr was Kamo jr's ancestor) and since Choso, Eso, and Kechizu didnt have offsprings they wud be more like great great greaaat grandcousins or cousins 8-10 times removed lmao. That's how clan family works.

Which brings us to the next Q that is Yuuji. Remember that Yuuji is always the special case.

3. Yuuji is by no means a Kamo even till now. He got BM technique thru acquired means which in ch 220 heavily hinted that he ate the rest of Death Paintings remains (as permitted by Choso). All the Death Paintings had BM like I said before cz they are of Kamo's descendants, only the properties that were different. For Choso it's poison. For Eso is rotten blood.

This is why, despite being born from Kenjaku who once inhabited Kamo Sr's body, Kenjaku didnt pass down BM to Yuuji cz once again, BM is a CT that is passed thru literal bloodline. Which is why we never saw him did BM while in Geto's body. Kenjaku being in Kaori's body who wasn't a Kamo cud not pass that CT down to Yuuji. He cud howver, resist Choso's poisonous cursed blood due to him being the other's papa.

By eating the Death Paintings' remains, Yuuji gained access to BM thru their souls which modify Yuuji's being. Most likely his red claws came from one of the Death Paintings' properties as well. This is the same to how he got stronger and gained more CE by eating Sukuna's fingers, which are also cursed objects, and how Gojo said he wud 1 day gain access to Sukuna's CT. Yuuji's body is such that after ingesting cursed objects, his soul gained control instead of being devoured like how Choso's soul took over the human body he incarnated in. It's why it doesn't make Yuuji a Kamo because he's still the one in control, not the Death Paintings he ingested.

4. I think 👆 has explained it. The memories are one-sided on Choso and they never happened. It's due to the bond between their cursed blood.

Why Choso reacted differently between Yuuji and the other Kamos? Simply cz Choso's narrative is designed to be a character who lives by and for his little brothers only. When it comes to the Death Paintings, they have cursed blood, don't they? Their CE and blood come as a package and cannot be separated. Which imo explains why it's not exactly literal/biological blood that bond him with Yuuji but rather the cursed properties in it, courtesy of Kenjaku's hopping bodies that brought and passed along his CE's components to all his offsprings and that's it...not the host bodies' genes or anything else. This is also why it's only Choso who felt the bond and not Yuuji cz Yuuji's CE didn't rely on his cursed blood back then. I didn't know abt it now though that he had eaten Choso's other little brothers and gained new properties to his bodies.

Unless somehow, when Choso and the brothers were inside the tubes their souls went to another cycle of life with Yuuji in another life lmao. But this one is my headcanon so dont take it seriously.

Thanks for the encouragement. I don't have any excuse abt it but I'll try updating the long fic when I can. That one is sth I took on more seriously which is why the writing process is much harder than the occasional one-shots that I've published. Much harder to hype myself to keep up with it as well. Plus I have lots of ideas come and go that keep swimming in my head and always have these sudden urges to tackle new dynamics when I came across a refreshing different pairing 😂

[uldren-sov]

SWTOR ELORA🖊

its her, Swtor Elora, watch her as she goes

Have some lovely throwback art by a lovely person!!!! (aka you)

Some vibes about her, her place in the Empire, and some of the hypocritical notions of being a Sith in the governmental system that benefits Sith!

I think she is one of my fave OCs in part because she is a way in which I can interface with a system that can be deeply insidious and evil, not only in the cartoonishly way that it is display, and the idea of what Good People can do in a Bad System.

So even while she may be able to change some of the most egregious aggression from the Empire; to what end is she truly effective when the very nature of the Empire is to destroy and diminish anything that is not it? But maybe lessening the outright atrocities committed on the front lines could be enough. We'll have to see.

However! I have really enjoyed her story as trying to be "different" given her awful childhood -- scar over her eye was from a knife wielded by her older brother, her exile to Dromund Kaas -- when the hypocrisy is still as blatant as it is intrinsic; she will always be Sith thus always above others. But, I am very satisfied that she has put in the blood, sweat, and tears in educating herself to push back the prejudices. Maybe that's my bias in thinking time, effort, and education, can overcome a lot of one's own ego and prejudices, but at least in her case being thrown into Nar Shaddaa at such formative years had changed her outlook irrevocably. And given her a fun edge and creativity to how she approaches a lot of her life anymore.

But I've enjoyed grappling with the destruction of her home planet a lot. The outrage, the anger, the incomprehension as to how it wasn't given a kind of mourning it deserved, how the Council allowed it all to happen. In an instant, thousands of years of history and culture was destroyed, and once more the Empire's worse enemy was the Empire itself. Her home was destroyed by the Empire yet she's expected to continue on and lead it? It's a wild conflict that keeps her up at night when Cosmia doesn't. And when Dromund Kaas was her prison, her exile, what true home is there in the Empire anymore? :) Is it really one more enemy to manage? A place she lives that she needs to strive to defeat or control?

Speaking of Ziost! Besides her eye, her only real scars are lightning scars over her hands. I imagine she truly pushed the powers of the Force to keep her alive and fighting on Ziost during those last days, to the absolute limit. The scars come from the amount of control it took to not kill people with the rage of her lightning, to the point where she probably has internal cybernetics in them that had to be operated on immediately after the devastation or else she would have lost her hands entirely. Ask her how pruny you get in a Not-Bacta tank.

And for as fun as the whole It's Just Casual, Don't Catch Feelings, trope is for her and Karo (your oc!!!! @damarlegacy ), I think it's so rewarding that they are where they are now because they put in so much time and effort into their relationship, even when they weren't in a relationship. Unapologetically themselves, yet willing to apologize when it came to the friendship and later partnership they had. It's deeply romantic, yes, but also so satisfying that they went into this with clear eyes and purposefully chose each other to love when they realized it was love. Like how powerful is that? lmao

Also parkour and gymnastic shit is fun

so are two sabers

she's a junglegym for her baby girl and pregnancy with a powerful force sensitive baby was WILD and dreads the prejudice lil cosima will face because she will not let mimi's mirialan heritage be hidden

she's considering another baby though

[kohakhearts]

shigegou for the ship game! convert me!

CRACKS KNUCKLES. MY TIME HAS COME

shigegou: ship it!

(side note: i still think i've gotta get serious about using splitdecisionshipping for them until it sticks, lmao)

what made you ship it?

actually this is one of those cases of i shipped them by proxy for ot3 purposes. i liked their dynamic but when i watched jn initially i hadn't yet done my os rewatch and i was actually pretty normal about gary oak (as a kid he wasn't really a big fave or anything and i hadn't actively watched anything but the pokemon movies since middle school so). they definitely gave that same vibe as os pallet though like the "i have a crush on you i can't deal with" so i think i liked that dynamic :p

what are your favourite things about the ship?

ok so now fast forward to the great anipoke rewatch/watch (since i'd never seen the later gens before) of 2023. i got really unwell about gary. DJFGHJFKDDFHJDK but i'd been unwell about goh from when i watched jn the year before so it was...not difficult to begin drawing parallels. i think a lot of people point out how similar the shigegou dynamic is to the early shigesato dynamic and like. that's true and valid! but as individual characters, gary and goh have so much in common. gary's whole schtick is that he travels alone. he doesn't wait around for ash to catch up to him, necessarily. he has his own ideas of what he should be doing and how he should be doing it and mr "i've already got ten badges" here sure as hell isn't a slacker when it comes to proving how Awesome and Capable he is. we never, not once, see gary working as a team with anyone until pokemon chronicles (power play is something else to me. to be clear). by his own admission in jn, he wasn't much of a team player and that's a big part of why he pushed goh so hard about teamwork and collaboration (ok. he doesn't say this so much as goh kinda figures it out and gary doesn't actively deny it. but we the viewers who have known gary oak since 1997 know enough to say yeah he kinda sucked and put people down for his own sake, this tracks). they're both very goal-oriented but in a different way than ash is. i think where ash sees other people are like, a source of insight and inspiration, gary and goh both tend to see them as obstacles (ironically, ash is the first person they each didn't see this way)

also, they both have an interest in like. catching and researching pokemon. gary obviously likes battling too, but in i think showdown at the poke-corral, oak says that gary has caught over 200 pokemon. but he also cares deeply about them all (in jp he often calls his mons some variation of "partner," "honey," "sweetie" and we see him rotate his pokemon a lot - he doesn't have just one team, he switches them out a lot!). goh has a bit of a different approach, yes, but fundamentally i think the interest comes from the same place. and there is no doubt that they both care about their pokemon.

so like. i think those qualities are probably things gary sees, but even more than that, i think he sees a lot of his own worst qualities in goh: arrogant, self-absorbed, putting himself in a position where he is so afraid of people letting him down (though in gary's case, i think this is actually more being of afraid of letting other people down than the reverse) that he doesn't even try to do things that would make him happy or necessarily improve his capabilities as a trainer/research/person in general. but more to the afraid of letting people down point...i think it seems likely that initially gary sees goh as overcompensating for a fear of failure, like he does. but that's not exacty the case with goh, and through more work together it would become a lot more apparent that his issue is actually that he doesn't trust anyone but himself (and ash, by the time they meet - but even then, there are a lot of moments that suggest that trust is tenuous at the best of times). and i think gary would see that as a challenge, too. so idk i'm rambling here but there are just a lot of directions i think you could take with them that are super interesting. gary's position as being, like, an aleady fully-developed character who had to have his big moments of upset, etc. by the time he meets goh make it interesting. lots of opportunity to delve into their parallels and approach them as two people who actually fundamentally make each other better - goh by encouraging gary's own self-awareness and empathy, and gary by pointing out all the flaws in goh's logic because he used to think the same way.

is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

it's like me and 4 other people brain rotting (actually went into the tag the other day out of curiosity and discovered that even though they have over 50 fics on ao3, only 4 aren't a polyamorous or side ship kind of deal so. Yeah) so i don't think there are even any unpopular opinions to be had except maybe that it's a good dynamic and they deserve more love </3

send me a ship!

[butwhatifidothis]

bl stans are sooo much stronger than me bc if someone said something so blatantly and heinously wrong about my faves like this i’d snap. like i’m so serious this would send me straight into my joker arc

(guess you accidentally put it in twice lol rip)

I'm not gonna address any kind of defense for Not Just Kills But Murders OP, we all know that the original tweet was silly. The fastest way to spot a clown is the funny clown nose and wig, but another, more subtle way is to watch if they've ever tried to make NJKBM anything but the accidental joke that it is.

But I kinda wanna actually talk about the Fleche one a bit, because there is such a weird amount of going-to-bat for her and Randolph that's actually kinda baffling.

Fleche and Randolph are bit characters. They barely even are characters. They are devices the writers put into the story so that specifically AM and specifically Dimitri benefit from what they give, which is a solidification of the message that letting vengeance be your one driving force will lead to your end. They are completely irrelevant to all other parts of the game, with Fleche even being completely absent in half of the routes save for one mention of her name as Randolph is literally dying. She loved Randolph so much that she was willing to kill Dimitri to avenge him, but apparently not enough to kill Seteth or Claude for doing literally the same thing.

Except, hey, wait a hingly-dingly minute there, that's not right. Seteth and Claude can only potentially be the ones to kill Randolph in their respective routes, while Dimitri is literally the only one hard-confirmed to not be the one to kill Randolph. Byleth does. They kill him. But Fleche still singles out Dimitri as to one to kill him - not threaten to torture like is the case, but to kill him outright. She calls Dimitri a monster, she hates Dimitri with all she has, she'll never forgive Dimitri, while not giving a single shit about Byleth despite them being the one to kill Randolph. She doesn't give a single shit about the multitude of other people that could have potentially killed Randolph in SS or VW.

Hell, it's not even clear how she knew about Randolph's death, only that she knew that a "monster" (aka Dimitri) was in the ranks of the army in AM, so it looks like she kinda just assumes "the monster" killed her brother without having any actual knowledge on who did what. And even giving the benefit of the doubt in that "well Dimitri MADE Byleth kill Randolph so same difference," that still doesn't explain Fleche's radio silence in the other two routes this can happen in. And still doesn't actually explain why Byleth wouldn't just be lumped in the vengeance quest for, like, still being the one to actually kill her brother outright?

Because we as players aren't meant to really care that much about her - she and Randolph are given no point in the story other than showing off to Dimitri why his quest for revenge is Cringe And Not Based like he thinks it is. They are literally meant to show off why Dimitri's misguided quest for vengeance is dangerous and unfulfilling, which is why when Fleche stabs and kills Rodrigue Dimitri comes to his senses and rejects vengeance as a motivation. That is all Fleche and Randolph do.

(we ignore the "Edelgard did nothing to Dimitri" lie - because at this point they've got to just be outright lying to cope - we know it's not true and we move on from it)

They are given no focus whatsoever on any other route because it is AM where their one, singular purpose is found. Even on CF, the route where you can actually talk to them, at best Randolph is given one cutscene where he dies and makes Edelgard Sadge before she immediately gets over it and moves on never to mention or think about Randolph ever again. And Fleche does literally nothing - she just stands there for the rest of the game as a lump on a log. So seeing multiple people saying "Fleche wasn't allowed vengeance when Dimitri was!" when Dimitri literally isn't allowed vengeance and always dies should he continue to strive for it is just weird. They're, again, trying to go to bat for two bit characters that are solely meant to encapsulate the opposite of what the batters are saying lmao

[cyandreamz]

Just finished case 5 of SOJ (will be starting the DLC case soon though idk how long that'll take cuz I do be a slow gamer :P) and honestly I am surprised to say I like SOJ a lot more than DD!

More thoughts under cut

I'm surprised because the first case I HATED, it almost turned me off finishing the game! But than I loved the second case (would be S tier if Phoenix wasn't a shit Dad!). 3rd case I found to be overwhelming and too long but, really liked the ending and Maya is still a super cool character, she has grown but, in ways that make sense imo. 4th case I loved Simon's dialogue with Athena and Nayuta but found it to be super mid, I felt completely indifferent to the case itself and it's characters. 5th case was a LOT and felt like a two for one deal but, even though it was so loooooong it was very nice, I loved how it wrapped up the story, the fun Edgeworth and pearl fan service (I guess they both affect the plot but they both felt like they were only there for fans, I don't care cuz I'm fans and they're my faves!), and where it leaves Apollo off I quite enjoyed!

I also loved the new story characters, Rayfa and Nayuta are both so fun and, I was surprised by how much I also ended up liking Datz, Dhurke and especially Ga'ran! Not my favourite aa antagonist (that's Morgan Fey fun fact) but, she's definitely a fun villain and horrible person, she's basically a better Manfred (compared to his appearance in aa1, yet to play aai1-2 plz no spoilers for those) because unlike him she is the law! Until she wasn't because she can't sprit channel lol.

Plus new models! Phoenix and Trucy look so much better, shame that Apollo and Miles still look... weird :/

Though I do definitely have strong points of dislike. For one, the overall story is very "look guys our legal system is so good and perfect, because this fictional country has a ridiculously dystopian legal system that can only be saved if they do what we do!" and look, I expect all aa games to have a stance on law I disagree with (as I don't respect the law at all) but, it was frustrating enough to see Phoenix and Miles being like "our legal system was perfect... before the dark age of the law" in DD, when I don't feel like they'd think that? (Also how did the dark age of law not start with how Edgeworth v state ended when all it took for it to start was a lawyer forging evidence and a procecutor being accused of murder? Though this rant is unlrelated to SOJ... sorry) but they really lean into not just those two but EVERYONE thinking American (Japan in original version of course) has a perfect legal system and I really dislike that (especially since it kinda goes against AA4's message).

Also this game pacing was so weird, like case 1, way too long! Why did I have to talk to white Jesus for so long!? I know he's the killer! Case 2, perfect imo. case 3 too long again! Case 4, kinda short??? Case 5... long is an understatement -_-. Only reason I don't completely hate this is because it's better than DD as that game felt like it dragged on and oooooon (to be clear I don't hate DD! Though it is my least favourite of the aa games and found every case but the DLC case to be mid, DLC case I did enjoy quite a bit and glad I played it 3rd and not last like many recommend :D).

Also fuck insight, I'm sorry but I just hate it.

[ladyluscinia]

I was too busy, uh, watching more Black Sails yesterday (😆) to really notice how huge the pirate poll blew up until the drama was all over my dash, but damn

Anyway... wait, pause to acknowledge a few disclaimers like a) Black Sails and OFMD are entirely different shows for different audiences with different messages, so the individual words "gay", "pirate", and "show" hit almost every similarity they have (and they both do what they are trying to do! - it's just a poor comparison to each other), b) even a little harassment goes a long way for OP so maybe Tumblr should do less blatantly mocking them, if only because there are thousands of us and they are kinda outnumbered, and c) voting Flint in a silly pirate poll is not bravely taking OFMD to task for problematic aspects no matter how you spin it. Ok, now... Anyway, I do think this whole thing is another great case study in how petty fandom drama can look so much bigger than it actually is.

Like, for all the current narrative is this huge wave of Black Sails fans jeering and joking in the tags in support of curbstomping Stede, real numbers paint a different picture. When I checked the poll this morning, a few hours after it closed, it had around 2300 reblogs. A lot, to be clear. Plenty to look overwhelming to the poll runner in their notifs. But compare that to the total votes:

2300 vs 21,500??? Stede lost with something near 4 times as many votes as the total number of reblogs. The vote difference was nearly twice the reblog count. Even if every reblog came with commentary (not true) and all commentary was Flint fans maliciously dunking on OFMD (not remotely true), that hypothetical "toxic" element still would never have been anything near the majority. And this makes perfect sense!

It's a random cross-fandom tumblr bracket! You look at two pictures and pick either your blorbo, your fandom, the best vibes, or the guy you don't have filtered for being annoying. Hell, just positioning it at all as OFMD fandom vs Black Sails fans / OFMD haters isn't accurate, because I'm a decently skewed OFMD blog and literally everyone I saw in my section of this (massively divided) fandom was voting Flint 🤣. He wasn't an underdog in any respect.

I'm sure there was enough notably aggressive hate to upset OP since they are the one who would be getting all the notifs and even anons (who I'm sure we all expect to come in with calm and well reasoned observations 🙃), but I'm not actually sympathetic enough to pretend they didn't react terribly and contribute to blowing it out of proportion.

Flint didn't win due to a harassment campaign or even a massive resurgence of dedicated fans, guys, and Stede didn't get unfairly curbstomped into oblivion. Tumblr just widely voted on their fave pirate the way tumblr does 🤷‍♀️

[dontbotherwiththepronunciation]

Something I'm curious about today: what were the proportions like in answers to the "do you relate to Theon" question? This doesn't have to be a long articulate answer with comparisons if you don't want to, I would love even to just know how many people answered yes or no, I'm very interested in how that plays out with liking and relating being basically thought of as sinonims in fandom these days

Ah! Just checked because in all honesty, I don't think I paid a lot of attention to the fractions on that question.

Problem here is that since this wasn't a question with options, but instead one where everyone wrote what they felt, some of the answers were less clear. Ex. some people said that they don't relate to Theon specifically, but to some of the themes/situations he goes through.

The rough statistic:

There wasn't much to be remarked upon, not many surprising things; out of the third culture kids everyone related to him (and so did the other types of immigrants who answered the survey), the fraction between most-liked hips and feelings of kinship were proportionate and didn't show any preferences, and out of those who would be content with endgames that allow him to stay in the North many of the votes came from those who didn't relate to him.

Still! I found it interesting how there was a small fraction of voters (from both sides) that admitted they not only related to him, but also self-inserted (is that the correct tense???) to whoever they shipped him with. This happened nine times (that I could count, but perhaps I slipped or misunderstood something); four theonsas, three Greysnows, one throbb, and another special case in which the person chose throbb as their preferred ship but explained in length how they also ship theonsa and self insert on Sansa.

I like Theon and Robb best overall, but Sansa is my fave both for self insert reasons and general thematic interest, so I love theonbaby girl. sa too (in a doomed fairytale way). In Throbb I like darker fics, hurt comfort, betrayal etc, usually interspersed with flashbacks to when they were happy and in love. Plausible deniability level Canon compliance is important to me. I like fics where Robb is already dead. If they're happy, I want it to be pre-ACOK, I'm not too into fix it first for them. I'm happy for them to be each other's first and only, or in a secretive open relationship, or just mutual pining, I can run the gamut. Theon and Sansa for me is much more about AUs, Canon divergence, and fix it fics. I'd rather they be happy. Sansa is never also a victim of Ramsay for me, no show compliance ever, she has her own shit with Joffrey and Littlefinger and Co. I like expanding on the idea that Theon had thought Ned might marry him to Sansa one day. I like badboy, player, misogynist theon because I see myself in Sansa and I like to play with modern AUs where she thinks that's the kind of man she likes, and they both become better people organically before really getting together. I also like AUs where theon is still a bad boy player but he was never that bad/has a heart of gold or whatever, because that's just fun/fluffy. OH I also like fics where theon is bi for Robb and Sansa! Robb can die and then theon can fall for Sansa.

Weirdly enough this only applied to ships.

Also on a more personal note, not gonna lie, the four/five theonsas who identify with/self-insert/kin Sansa were really fascinating to me because of

the hateful argument used against Sansan, Sanrion, Sansa/[insert older man] shippers regarding them not really loving Sansa and just self-inserting on her.

the memories of how the "You are just self-inserting" argument was also sometimes used against theyne shippers but out of the theynes who responded here no one seemed to identify with Jeyne. Anyway, mildly curious things to think about.

[khaleesiofalicante]

Damn I feel like it's been forever for some reason lmao. Last week's hell is finally over and I get to relax this week! I'm going out with some friends on Friday and I've also cleared my phone and organized my notes!!! It feels so good😭 Now I have some thoughts about last chapter BECAUSE WOW

First of all fuck Mallory, I hate her and I will never get tired of saying this and I am now divided between wanting to read the next chapter so bad and dreading it with my whole being 🙂

My heart broke into a million pieces with the first part!!! Rafael's fear for Max is shown so damn well and Max's thoughts are messy and all over the place and the way you can see him moving in and out of reality is overwhelming!!

I kinda guessed the "why isn't he smiling?" part but fuck if it ripped my heart 😭😭

"Tears of grief" Max loving him so much he literally recognizes his tears and knows these ones too.... And saying he looks as if he is grieving something that was his everything, not knowing David was grieving him. Grieving them. The life they had built. Gone.

"I wanna see daddy" WHEN I TELL YOU I WAS SCREAMING INTERNALLY ON MY FLOOR!! When we first saw on the first chapters I was so confused and now that the dots connected I am in pain 😭. And you wrote that scene so beautifully, their pain and horror and how you see Max slowly losing himself because it's just too much. The pain is too much. Losing David, Lance's pain, his job, his home...

And the scene with Magnus!!! GOING TO MY FAVE COLLECTION 🥺. Also him giving the band to AJ later, because Magnus said he could give it to someone else when it hurt just a little bit less HOLY SHIT😭😭

I can go on a three hour analysis so Imma stop jdhdjdjkd. BUT THE PRESENT TOO JFC

Max's growth. That ends me everytime. Seeing how much he has changed and how he survived through all of this. Thinking of the was Alec told him how proud he is of Max because he made it. Not the way he planned. But he did it. He got so far, and that took so much strength but he still survived. Same Alec, same🥹

But also the fucking parallel:

"He was careful now (...) Just in case. Just in case he'll get his heart broken all over again."

///

Not without an explanation. Not without getting his heart broken into a million pieces one last time.

Then, just like everything else in life, things slowly got better. This whole fic is a prove of it and I can't even-

YES LANCE CALL HIS IDIOTIC SELF OUT!!! TELL HIM DAVID LOVES HIM MORE THAN LIFE ITSELF!!! I WILL NEVER GET TIRED IF HIS SASS BTW

You once said that tlnd was was about acceptance and healing, but IALS is about forgiveness, about learning to forgive the people we love, but mostly about learning to forgive ourselves (I have the receipts don't @ me) and this scene portrayed that so well. Even though Max knows it wasn't his fault he still blames himself. Because knowing is not the same as accepting it. As Max said, shit is hard to internalize.

THIS GOES TO MY TOP 10😭😭 LANCE AND MAX TALKING TO EACH OTHER IS EVERYTHING I KNEW I NEEDED FROM THE VERY START I AM SO EMOTIONAL!!! Also Lance and Max's detective skills together??? ✨ Iconic✨

Tell me how to love you as you want to be loved and I'll do it to give you the comfort and safety you deserve is something I'll never get tired of😭😭 istg I could go on a whole speech about this part because it's so true. Sometimes parents don't love us the way we want to be loved, but that doesn't mean there's no love there. It's just different of what we expect. And sometimes people go their whole lives not knowing of that love and that's just sad.

That is one unproblematic child,” Max noted. “Really doesn’t fit into this clusterfuck of a family.”

“I’m waiting for him to set Hollywood on fire,” Lance informed. “Don’t lose hope yet.”

HOLY SHIT I JUST REALIZED I'M THE ARTHUR OF MY FAMILY. WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS KNOWLEDGE???

I have so many feeling about that apartment and Harry and them but I will not unpack them bc this shit is already long enough 🙂

Their conversation. The way they've both changed so much. Talking about how they wished they were there for Lance and for each other. I was in TEARS

Everything of the last scene was *screams internally* David fucking pushing Max to the wall, stronger than hate. "He's scared of something". Fucking Mon ange, *what did Mallory do to you?"

I just want you to know I will combust into confetti or tears in the next chapter. Probably both...

Anyway this turned long and I better go. Take care and drink lots of tea!!!!

💙.💙.💙.

This made me so 😇😇😇😇 and gave me some motivation to write the next chapter 😭😭😭😭 Thank you 💚💚💚

This is Lance sleeping in Arthur’s room 🥰🥰🥰

[petrichoraline]

wait stay by my side is good??? and no one told me??? or maybe i keep confusing stay by side and stay with me lol

as someone who is all caught up on both shows - they're both fun 😄

this ask is from three days ago when I talked about how stay by my side (taiwanese show about a boy who can hear ghosts and the guy who gives him a break through touch) had a very fun sixth episode. i wasn't into the show that much but ep.6 gave me some heart-fluttering moments and cute angst that I neither took seriously nor disliked - it was fun for me because of the execution, the fact I don't take anything happening in the show to heart and because the show is short enough so I sensed a resolution was coming very soon 😁

now ive seen episode 7 as well and I can say 6 is definitely my fave. the conflicts are predictable, theres nothing really new but thats what goves you the safe feeling - you dont risk breaking your heart watching it haha. i'd recommend this in case you want a quick sweet watch with "cute silly boy denying his feelings" and "cold rude guy turned passionate suitor". it's the lightest watch i've seen in a while and it's my palette cleanser these days (everything I watch is angsty apparently and the angst supreme™️ trio of loa, of and dr hasn't even reared its ugly head yet lol)

stay with me (the og title of which I find real cute: "gege, don't run") is as far as I know a remake of addicted - a chinese bl that was Very direct in regards to what it's about and therefore got canceled AND banned and the main actors - banned from interacting with each other on tv or at public events for years; I thought swm would be a story set in the same universe or smth but as I watched the first episode I kept getting deja vu until I realised it's the same plot lol

it's about two teens whose dad and mom, respectively, got together - the boys claim to hate each other before they even meet, then fate brings them together without them recognizing each other and shenanigans ensue. it's about found family, finding common ground with parents you can't communicate with, about forgiveness and acceptance. the characters are very lovable <3 the crew is doing their best fighting censorship so it's very clear that the couple are not just bros. they can't, however, do what addicted did so many might prefer the 2016 show. I, personally, was not a fan of the mains in that - wu bi is too possessive for me in this version but his predecessor was Something Else

it's a very standard modern mainland china show. the reason im mentioning this is because of clips on tt and having not seen a cdrama in a while, i had the impression itd be more like a taiwanese or korean bl. the editing, dubbing, bizarrely cut scenes - nothing new in cdrama land. i was wondering if I would recommend it but I think I would, yes. some coincidences and plot points are just so beyond belief that you'd roll your eyes but it's not smth unheard of when it comes to asian dramas haha and I think you'd get so caught up in the angst, domesticity and hunting down hints spread around like easter eggs that you just won't mind the convenient plots (if you would care bout such a thing in the first place)

I'm doing a bad job at promoting this show but I do want more people to see it. the cast is perfect imo (..except for duo duo, I'm sorry but that bby cannot act..her face and aura suit the character though), the sets are all amazing (I like the school, I like su yu's home, I like the shared space later on etc.etc., all decor is very well picked and pleasant to the eye) and the moral of the story is heartwarming, its execution too.

you get passionate hot-headed athletic rich boy who's crazy for his equally smitten furrow-browed genius humble guy - they both value family and each other very much and are willing to do everything for those close to them. it's very endearing and their dynamic is swoonworthy, they're a complete power couple.

(also, spoiler, you get enemies to friends to lovers which is pretty neat)(the spark is there from day 1 tho)

EDIT: i wrote this before the final two episodes were released so disclaimer - POST FINALE SPOILER: if you don't like open endings, esp distressing ones, i don't advise you watch it now - better wait for a secure second season

[fern-thee-otter]

I read the one review that's come out so far of Alice in borderland s2 and they said some of the supporting characters really don't get much screentime but they kind of disappear after the initial arc and then come back for the finale. I'm thinking that's gonna be kuina and Ann mostly bc they said chishiya gets a lot of screentime. You've read the manga is that true? Those two are my faves, from the trailers I mistakenly thought we're getting a lot of them now I'm sad.

//spoilers

yes buddy, i believe some of the cases are true. i.e. kuzuryuu keiichi, aka the glasses guy not much people know or payed enough attention to him during the adap.

beach arc: no. 2 of the executives and no one seemed to talk much abt him; second stage card: THE INFAMOUS K◇.

(if you actually meant it like that)

Also, during the Q♡ arc, ann, kuina, doudou (a guy who sadly never became added in the adap), akane and mahiru (another dude who had the same fate as doudou) are depicted to be at the venue entrance before arisu and usagi arrive from the battle royale place

Honestly, the game in the trailer with kuina and ann (the part with the blimp exploding behind them) wasn't shown as kuina was seen clearing the J♤ after the K♧ and ann leaving the Q◇ venue. we didn't get much to see of them, so it did take me by surprise when that part was shown, meaning that we might get more content of the two

[babe-a-yaga]

Alright. Veilguard. Thoughts at length including significant discussion of endgame.

From a gameplay perspective, combat and exploration, it's a triumph. The best the series ever was, imo. Genuinely a joy to actually play, and beautiful for every moment of it. The main things I struggled with, were I missed the search ping from inquisition. Loot and resources were visually highlighted well enough to find easily, but sometimes I STRUGGLED to find notes and investigate points because the map only narrows it down to a general circle, and they aren't highlighted the way items are. I had to look up walkthroughs for a few side quests because I truly got stuck and the quest text wasn't clear enough on whether I was supposed to be finding an "investigate" clue or a note, or what, and it wasn't marked close enough, nor highlighted. A search function would have helped a lot. Similarly, the mini map could have been improved if instead of marking the exact location of chests, the exact locations of quest points and merchants were more clearly indicated. But the combat, as an orb and dagger mage was FUN fun. I LOVED it. I had actual FUN fighting. The jumping and climbing and ward crystal and blight cyst puzzles were FUN.

The beginning is long, and probably the roughest from a writing angle, but it improves and improves as it goes. The tension is very high. The companions as individual characters are all likeable, interesting, and how they grow and interact is fantastic.

Rook, while I liked them a lot, is probably my least fave protagonist, they didn't feel as fleshed out as previous entries. I may still warm on them, as I typically don't nail my "canon" protagonist down in my head until I've messed around on a few different playthroughs and find the background/romance path that actually resonate with me and my head canon. I don't think I've ever gotten it on the first play.

To that note, I didn't find the background or romance as compelling as previous entries, but I've seen others commenting that Shadow Dragons got the short end of the stick. This compounded by the fact that, as I romanced Lucanis and thus chose to save Treviso, it effectively bricked the shadow dragon faction for the rest of the game.

Docktown felt like Kirkwall. I look forward to saving Minrathous next time to see what it could have been.

All of this feels super critical of the Minrathous/Treviso choice but that is far from the case. The choice, and heavy consequence of it, was compelling from a story angle. My Shadow Dragon Rook, with the knowledge that Minrathous has never fallen, is from a military family and knows it has an army and a magisterium, and their trusted SD colleagues to defend it, chose to protect a defenseless civilian city already weakened by occupation. And the devastation to the SDs made it personal.

I felt really emotional about the loss of the merchant Lorelei, specifically. My Canon warden is a Tabris warden, who's greatest failure was the elves Howe and Loghain sold to Tevinter that weren't retrieved. To find one again here, who found a place in an anti-slavery organization, and then failing them again, hit me.

I dont know if it's a Lucanis thing specifically, or if it's all of the romances this time, but while I loved him as a character, the romance fell flat for me. And not because it was slow burn, it just didn't feel like it had enough content to feel a romantic attachment, and I felt he actually had orders of magnitude more chemistry with Neve than he did Rook. I'll probably let them hook up the next time around, and just love him as a dear friend. As a character he wasn't what I expected going in. He was so soft and caring with everyone, and I ADORE him, just not as a LI again.

I loved the dynamic between Rook and Neve this play through. Neve was the one who came with me and got injured in the initial ritual choice, and then I didn't save Minrathous, but we were both Minrathous mages, and both Shadows, so they had camaraderie and conflict. That ultimately ended up feeling like the most compelling companion relationship for this Rook, as a friend.

Early game I hear the criticisms that the dialogue felt a little unnatural sometimes, and it's not unfounded. It improves a lot as the game progresses though. There's points where, especially "blue" dialogue selections come out sounding like therapy talk with your companions. Which feels a little weird until it says something you didn't know you needed to hear. For me this hit during Hardings heart of a titan quest beat, when she's taken over by the titans anger and I chose to tell her to honor the anger. And suddenly Rook had me in tears. This is the point where I committed a lot more to purple dialogue with some occasional direct options and didnt lean into blue as much, but it's also when the character quest arcs started to all come into their own anyway and it felt a little more natural.

Weisshaupt was excellent, cinematic, apocalyptic, and scary.

I also have a history of going into Dragon Age games with very clear ideas of who I expect to like and romance from the companions based on marketing, and then having that all subverted when I actually get to know the characters, and happily, this was the case again. I was coming in on the Neve Harding Lucanis train, with no real interest in Taash or Davrin (outside of Assan) based on what I'd seen. Davrins whole "gloom howler monster nemesis" thing they teased in the combat previews did nothing for me. Once I got into playing, I loved Davrin. I loved his little picnics and walks in the woods and doing shrooms in Arlathan outings! They were very sweet and funny and Rook had great friend chemistry with him and Assan! And his main arc, the Gloom Howler, I'm a convert. Full disclosure, I am a DA book reader and Last Flight was likely my favourite, but before the reveal I realized that the Gloom Howler was in fact, my beloved Isseya, and I was devastated when it was confirmed. She deserved better than to be made a villain, but it made me way more engaged than I would have been otherwise.

Further on the books though, I've never felt more rewarded for engaging in the tie in media than I was in Veilguard. It certainly isn't essential to do so, but it really enhances the experience. The whole new cast of faction characters were familiar to me, meeting Maevaris, seeing references to the whole Wraiths of Tevinter gang in Charter's letters, the Isseya plotline, Felassan haunting the shit out of the narrative from beginning to end, all VERY rewarding.

Bellara also snuck up on me as being super likeable. I'm a fan of Epler's work and I knew he was very proud of Bellara but I came in with "ahh...Merrill 2.0 I guess" energy, and she almost immediately won me over. Her arc with her brother was very touching, and her role in the final act had me gutted.

Taash was the real standout fave I didn't see coming. Their youthful petulance at times, their social skills boiling down to picking fights because they can't communicate their actual issue well ("sorry I called you a skullfu- skull liker. A skull liker"), their relationship with their mom, their dynamic with Lucanis (when I wasn't rotating for companion or faction, Taash and Lucanis were my regular party makeup), were all amazing. The climax of their arc with the dragon king was the first time the game made me ugly cry, instead of just get misty. They made me laugh out loud more than once. They reminded me of myself, and people I know. They were young, troubled, and very relatable.

Assan and Manfred were both really delightful comic relief characters, I was very attached to both and they felt like the right amount of cheese. Emmerichs quest choice between lichdom and Manfred was such a non choice I stopped reading after "save manfred".

Emmerich was the only one who didn't super resonate with me, and that's fine and likely just a me thing. He was still a lovely and interesting character, I just wasn't personally compelled by a lot of the necropolis plots and aesthetics. I've seen others who feel very differently, so not a bad character, just not one I connected with.

There is an element missing from this game, that I myself do miss a lot, and I know others are going to be super critical of. One of the things I've always loved best about Dragon Age, was it's layers of socio-political commentary. Lore heavily steeped in the politics, history, societal and racial dynamics of the world etc. And more specifically, how that lore has always been presented. Dragon age has always put the player (should they choose to engage with all the reading and codexes and such) in kind of an informal anthropology role. The lore is given in bits and pieces through just existing in the world, through letters and tablets and academic texts, primary and secondary sources, conversation and folklore, frequently contradictory as it is in life, and raising as many questions as it establishes Truths while you are forced to interpret based on the information you have. It's what makes the world building of Thedas feel so rich and substantial and REAL. And it's not present in Veilguard which I think is contributing to people feeling like the game is just "speaking to us like we're dumb" when we who have been here for many years are used to approaching the lore as a study. I miss it too, but sitting here now, credits having rolled, I understand it's absence. Veilguard feels like goodbye. Veilguard WAS straight telling us the lore this time, but at the end I feel the questions...all of the questions...were answered. The Evanuris. The old gods. The Blight. The Dwarves. The maker. The golden city. The veil. The chapter is closing and we know the truth. If we ever return to Thedas, it will be different, if we are never able to have another Dragon Age game, we walk away now without loose ends. I suspect this shift in approach was a deliberate attempt to give us that closure, and I can accept it.

The worldstate thing. They did, in my opinion, an acceptable job navigating around the lack of worldstates. I never felt a jarring thing happened that contradicted my headcanon, having Morrimythal and the inquisitor working knowingly together all the time kind of removed the need for me to know who drank the well because it really could have gone either way and achieved the same thing. My Inquisitor felt like my inquisitor. She was as I would have played her. The second conversation with her, where she spoke of her relationship with Solas, was perfect. I'm an unrepentant Solavellan player, it compels me, and I had been going through the game looking for cryptic codex references and hoping for a shred of perspective from Solas's side. When he acknowledged it to Rook, I gasped, and was satisfied but not hurt. When Lavellan spoke about HIM it unexpectedly broke me. One of my favourite moments. She was sad, and tired, and still in love, but not willing to give up the world for him until it was safe, but after she would still follow. As MY Lavellan would have been.

Solas and Mythal. I loved how it was handled. The regrets. The playable memories. I'm pretty critical of who Mythal is, but really enjoy how she was written. I loved the differentiation between a Mythal who had lived thousands of years with mortals and it having changed her from Mythal the mercurial goddess. I'm glad she didn't get the same treatment as Isseya, that a powerful woman who did terrible, terrible things wasn't reduced to a 2D villain, but someone deeply flawed who could be changed by living in the world as it is. I wish Isseya had been given that same sympathy as I feel she deserved it more. Isseya like Solas, did terrible things against her own will and tried to put it right, before ultimately being corrupted by powers beyond her and deserved a better end.

I loved the evolving dynamic of Solas and Rook through the game. How they started off with "verbal jabs" annoying the piss out of each other, and Rook talking mad shit about him behind his back. Solas intially physically standing elevated and apart from Rook. But as events unfold and Rook proves themselves capable, and the playing field literally and metaphorically levels between them, he begins to stand level, but still apart. He begins to shift from outright condescension to mentor. He begins to feel less like Fen'harel and more like Solas. He still knows things he isn't telling, hiding behind half Truths, but Rook too, has seen Solas's memories and met Mythal and doesn't tell him. They mirror each other, in respect and in deceit, but as they grow in that respect they also begin to throw out some pretty real moments of vulnerability to each other. Solas ASKS Rook if they're OK, if their team is OK. Rook is honest with him about when they're truly shaken. When Rook fails their "one shot" at Ghilan'nain, instead of coming down on them about it Solas actually admits they did a hell of a job and living to fight is a victory of its own, and checks on their well being. Rook calls him on his entanglement with Lavellan and Solas doesn't shy away. Even following his inevitable betrayal, Rook, while pissed, understands him and likes him enough to get past it, and Solas openly admits that Rook has traits he finds "enviable".

The third act was, unquestionably, the strongest part of the game, and where any complaints of the game "not being dark enough" lose all merit. The story takes off and doesn't relent, and it's nothing short of devastating, over and over again for the full duration of the act. I came off the couch by the end. I was on the floor SOBBING through huge swathes of the final act. I believe no matter what, one companion probably dies, and one is blighted and saves the day in the end, probably. But your choices impact the live to die ratio beyond that. This is my assumption having played it once. I made calls that got half my team killed. I made the mistake of building all of my combat kit around synergy with Lucanis, my LI, because he was in my party no matter what all game. Because of this, I deployed Davrin in the final battle when Lucanis would have been the better choice. And Davrin died for my mistake. Harding made the ultimate sacrifice. Bellara was taken by Elgar'nan and blighted. So when the second round of deployments came, keeping Taash and Lucanis with me meant I had a choice between only Neve or Emmerich to send with Morrigan, when neither were suitable. So I knowingly sent Emmerich on a suicide mission to protect Neve, who I'd put through hell repeatedly already. When Solas pulled his little castling maneuver (yeah I learned some basic chess stuff ahead of this game specifically to spot that metaphor when it came, I'm deep nerd on this stuff) and threw Rook in regret jail, I sobbed.

The Varric reveal had me destroyed. In spite of my neurotic summer long binge of the Dragon Age books, I only caught the Tevinter Nights foreshadowing because I peer pressured a good friend into reading it this week and he had commented to me that he got "Sixth Sensed" by the ending of "Down Among the Dead Men" like two days ago. Not only that Varric, my beloved fave, my Hawke's true ride or die, was dead, but that Solas, my poor, terrible, beloved fave, killed him. That he knew. That he deliberately robbed Rook of grieving that with her friends for his own gain. I was inconsolable. It was the moment that I doubted whether I could redeem him, something I've been ten years resolved to want for him. In a long list of truly terrible things Solas has done, this is a truly terrible thing. Not as much the killing as the after. In the end it was for Lavellan that I decided to continue on that path. She earned his redemption more than he did.

I'm glad I recorded most of act three, because I was, without exaggeration, untethered sobbing myself hoarse through so much I'm not sure I absorbed some scenes properly.

The Solavellan of it all. When the moment came, Elgarnan defeated, Veil tearing apart, and Rook put the dagger in his hand and said "choose a different path", and Lavellan entered, and...failed to convince him herself. I truly broke again. After everything. After ten years she still believed, and he still couldn't turn from it. Not even for her. And when Mythal entered, and proud to the last Fen'harel crumbled in on himself and cried as she let him go, and Lavellan still, as always, met him with nothing but understanding and care, and they finally got their "in another world." And I finally got my reprisal of "Lost Elf Theme" I've been yearning for the entire game. I said going in, what I wanted for Solas was to be made wretched, to break and cry for the wrongs he did, and then I want the man to know something like peace, after what, 8000 years of literally apocalyptic grief and regret? And that was precisely what I got. It is so, so fitting, that the cadence of Solas's speech was patterned after "Hallelujah"; as that is what the close of his arc felt like. A cold and a broken hallelujah. And Lavellan, who lost everything in her service to the world, her faith, her family, her vallaslin, her arm, and her love, finally got to put her burden down and go home to him.

One of my big qualms with the game was the score. I found it really disappointing. It wasn't "bad" in that I never felt it removed me from the moment, but it also didn't add much, and nothing in it was memorable or moving. The complete lack of music on the ending slides was weird and jarring. The moments that really hit me in the chest were the scarce few moments where the inquisition score made it back in. I no joke was praying the whole game for a snippet of lost elf or dark solas. The Trevor Morris score turned what would have been just a long gauntlet of difficult qunari fights at the end of trespasser into a truly urgent narrative moment that I'm usually playing through tears. It punched me right in the chest and has been deeply anchored in a corner of my brain for a whole decade. Nothing in this score holds a candle to that. It was... mid. At best. The inclusion of lost elf in the final moments was the saving grace for me, a crumb I'll treasure. I always said the Inon Zur scores were pretty mid too, but they had a strong identity and compelling moments that I do listen to from time to time. Trevor Morris's work on inquisition was masterful and this game would have been improved a lot by keeping him instead of throwing him over for a big name like Zimmer, who didn't understand Thedas well enough to it justice and kind of phoned it in.

Another nitpicky issue was in the cameos. Dorian and Maevaris were appropriately aged I felt. Isabella and Morrigan did not look their ages. They both felt victim to that old trap of women who were the "sexy ones" in their respective games, when they were in their 20s canonically, not being permitted to visibly look old.

On the flipside, the character creator allowed me to make Lavellan look properly middle aged, which made me SO happy. She isn't twenty, she wasn't in inquisition and it's been a long ten years, so I'm really pleased she was able to show it.

Character creator itself was spectacular. Best I've ever used. I had a vivid picture of what Rook looked like in my head, that wasn't the airbrushed glowy Rooks we were seeing in the marketing content, and I was able to create her almost perfectly. I look forward to playing with it more now that I'm through the game once.

I've talked a lot about how much the game made me cry, and that's coming put of act 3 where that's largely all I did, but through the first two acts, I laughed out loud a lot. It served a lot of honest, joyful, funny moments in spite of the stakes, and that's what made act 3 land with the weight that it did.

I dont have much to say about Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain. They were over the top, villainy villains, and it worked. It's what Corypheus aspired to and didn't quite hit past the attack on Haven scene (which still slaps). They were present, and frightening, and all powerful, and defeating them genuinely felt like impossible odds. They weren't the profoundly human villains of origins and 2, but they were well done. I'm a little let down that we didn't get the whole Horrors of Hormak experience with Ghilly, but non book readers don't know what they're missing so it's a disappointment I won't dwell on.

All in all the end was incredible. It felt harrowing. Not like Inquisition, where you won! Hurray! Back to the castle to celebrate and go to bed! Onto the next adventure! Veilguard felt like you prevented apocalypse by the skin of your teeth, but the horrors and loss that that kind of war take as payment for your success leave you feeling like the world is saved, but I'm not sure Rook was. It's not a celebration, it's an ending. And it felt like a goodbye. To Thedas. The ends are tied up. The questions are answered. The Arch Demons are all gone. The Black City is truly empty. The veil stands.

The game was very good. It wasn't perfect, it never is. But the end was.

Anywho, this was way longer than I planned but I clearly had a lot of thoughts and my friends are all still early game so I needed to get them out 🙃

[sqbr]

Tangential ramble, but I keep thinking about it every time this post crosses my dash: I suspect that the main reason so many Taylor fans imagine she's secretly queer is just that she's got a lot of Very Invested fans, and the subset of those fans who like the idea of their favourite singer being queer find it easier to pretend their existing "looks secretly queer if you squint really hard" fave is queer than get into a different, openly queer fave.

But also I feel like tin-hatting about Secret Gayness is kind of it's own separate thing to straightforward fannishness about someone who's unambiguously queer, and is closer to, like... the people who still think Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattison are secretly married. Especially these days, when there's a lot more unambiguous queerness around.

In either case I feel like it's a specific sort of...overinvested single minded Need for your fave to live the sort of life you'd find most emotionally satisfying to watch, whether that be queer, married to your other fave, Sending You Secret Messages, or whatever, which outweighs any investment in accepting them for who they really are.

I've never been into celebrity fandom in a big way, but I still have celebrities I like whose more dedicated fans I'm vaguely aware of, and there have been a few times one of these celebrities behaved in ways that had people speculating they might be queer, often as a prelude to coming out. And it felt like there was a big difference between the people who speculated a little and were hopeful but made it clear they respected the fave's privacy and would remain fans either way, and the ones who got REALLY INTO Searching For Clues as it's own form of enjoyment in and of itself and got ANGRY at anyone who said we couldn't know for sure until the fave came out. In those cases where the celebrity did later come out, I'd be curious to know how those second sort of fans behaved next: did they just remain Intense Fans really into how queer their fave was, or did they get less invested now it wasn't a Secret Only They Saw? I'm guessing a mixture of both.

Because those brief windows where I had a Maybe Secretly Queer Fave were kinda exciting(*), and I can definitely see some people seeking out that specific form of excitement. I mean I'm just speculating based on Vibes which these kinds of fans have shown is unreliable, but that's what rambling under a cut is all about.

This is all different when we're talking about fictional characters, because writers really do Leave Clues and (try to) create satisfying narratives in a way real people generally don't, and so it's much more reasonable to interpret fictional characters that way. RPF which acknowledges that it's more about crafting a fun narrative than trying to really understand the real people's feelings is similar. People can definitely still veer into Weird Fictional Tin-Hatting in broadly similar ways to Weird Real Life Tin-Hatting, but the lines are different.

(Also I don't have anything to add regarding the whole bi erasure thing but OP's icon is a mood)

(*)I'm oblivious and disconnected enough that it was like "Hmm, Janelle Monae is singing about how much she likes vaginas, I wonder if this means something... Oh hey, she came out!"

all goofing aside I genuinely don't understand the urge to reimagine Taylor Allison Swift as a secretly queer icon when the pop music scene(TM) is like. literally overflowing with women who actually like women. Gaga and Kesha and Miley and Halsey are right there. Rina Sawayama and Hayley Kiyoko and Rebecca Black and Kehlani and Victoria Monét and Miya Folick if you're willing to get slightly less top 100. Janelle and Demi for them nonbinary takes on liking girls. like what are we doing here. like I'm not even saying you can't enjoy Taylor but why would you hang all your little gay hopes on her.