#this series has ruined my life

[kakushimiko]

Vox Machina rambling part 3.

(Yes because this series has taken over my life and I'm starting my own rambling posts that will last until season 4 is over (because we are totally getting, at least, 4 seasons of TloVM))

Can we talk about the fact the Matron is sooo fucking pissed right now?! 🤣

Like, here she was looking at Percy fighting for his life because that is what gives life meaning, to fight until you last breath but hoping to see your love ones again, making every death more meaningful.

Then Percy falls and she is ready to claim him like "Oh my poor broken child, you did your very best and your death was so beautiful, here, let me take you with your family now-"

The Orthax comes by and swoops Percy's soul, like, "Psyche, I'll be taking this, BYEEEE!"

And the Matron is just...

Like, she's so pissed that she went to see Vax after he finally scored with Kiki. Here is my interpretation of the Matron in that scene 🤣

Matron: listen here my champion, this little crow bitch demon had the audacity-stop screaming my champion-to take a soul from ME, the goddess of death, and now plans to steal many more souls with-seriously Vax, stop screaming-with that contraption your brother-in-law created. I have a new mission for you that involves this bitch crow but we'll talk later, I'll leave you to rest with your ashari girlfriend now...

Ripley's plan to feed souls to Orthax through her guns will create such spiritual disbalance that the Matron can't not get involved in some way.

I love how this gives such Princess Mononoke vibes, a ambicious and brillant woman that wants to bring progress into the world and give people independance but being completely blind/not caring about how this disbalance can negatively affect nature and spirits.

(and before anybody says anything, I'm NOT excusing Ripley, I can't wait to see her die and go to hell, I'm just saying that Ripley excuses herself of all her horrible actions by saying that is all for progress and self defence of the weaker)

[tiny-planet-13]

I know for a fact I'm not the first person to say this and I literally read a post about it years ago but couldn't begin to tell you where but it literally plagues my mind constantly like just imagine aaron during his studies (cause he does pre-med(?)) like finding out that the medication Andrew was forced to be on isn't even the correct medication and just going batshit insane because how the fuck could they do that to him?! ofc the meds themselves were made up by Nora but (correct me if I'm wrong) they're some sort of antipsychotic right and like I read a line in aftg the other day of Neil talking to Andrew after he's come off his meds realising that Andrew isn't a sociopath yet everyone treats him as such and the medication (the forced mood etc) was meant to "treat" that but HES NOT A SOCIOPATH!!!! I just can't even begin to imagine how Aaron would feel about that

[happypeachsludgeflower]

Me: I love all the ships equally

Also me: *writes 50+ fics about fengqing being moronic gremlins in love*

[willyhoos]

Q: WHAT TOPS THE FOOD CHAIN? A: HUMANS

[galedekarios]

What do you think of their decision to make Gale a teacher in his good ending? Earlier in the game, he says his attempted students’ ineptitudes irked him. Do you think he’s made enough of a change to make a good professor?

thank you for your message, anon! 🖤

i'm of two minds about it:

i am going to be transparent here and say that i am a teacher myself. i studied, i did my teacher training, and i have been teaching for a good bit now - and some people are meant to be teachers, and some are not. it's one of those professions that you have to be born for, imo. it requires an immense amount of patience and perseverance, a certain intuition when it comes to your students, among many other things.

i have said before that i can see gale as a professor, but less so in a teaching position and more in a sort of research role.

so looking at this, i think what larian is trying to convey is that gale has settled into this new life he leads, that he's found his place in life. that he's finally worked to salvage that life instead of reaching for the stars.

he's content now, more than he's ever been before. he has returned to the home he missed so very much. he's spending his time surrounded with the people he loves. tara, morena, the player, his friends. and he's dedicated himself to the study of magic.

that feeling of being content, happiness and security and love, as well as the journey he's been on, too, may have quelled the things that caused him to feel so irked by his students prior to his journey, perhaps it has given him a new perspective on things, the low lows and high highs he experienced.

but i also think that larian does listen to community feedback - imo too much at times - and this was a intensely popular headcanon for gale.

i have taken a look for you at the files for the epilogue and the notes in it seem to echo my thoughts overall:

His default state is that he returned to Waterdeep and became a professor of Illusory magic at his former school, Blackstaff Academy. General vibe here is that this a Gale who's found peace with himself - he's a great teacher, one his students are mostly in awe of.

[a-sketchy]

“high schoolers seem like they’re glittering. maybe that’s why… i just want to see them get screwed over by life” WOWWW. not gonna lie the nurse explicitly sexually harassing yu because she likes the Power she holds over him is pretty interesting. damn shame this is persona

[paper-cuts-galore]

My favourite part about this whole thing was when Wednesday was leaning more to Enid’s side of the room :’)

[longagoitwastuesday]

I am liking Jujutsu Kaisen, way more than I imagined I would, but I foresee it will let me down and it's keeping me from enjoying this as much as I could haha

I think the characters and dynamics are well set, and I think many of them have an incredibly good and deep potential, but I would be willing to bet they'll not get a proper development, enough for them to really hit. A well assembled set of gears is not enough to make the movement go, you have to wind the clockwork.

I think Gojo and Megumi have a fascinating and very complex dynamic, but I doubt it will be given the time and care that imo it needs to actually work. And it is going well enough for now! One could see the intimacy between them was deeper than the one Gojo had with, say, Yuji and Nobara ever since the very first few episodes despite the fact Fushiguro too was a first year. But the pieces forming what they have are extremely complex, and it just wouldn't be realistic if it doesn't show, even if in a not showing way, or if it doesn't have consequences or implications.

It's one of those dynamics that shape one's life, the way one regards the world, the way one establishes or not relationships with other people. It's one of those dynamics that could be full of fondness, gratitude, resentment, admiration, trust, and that imply intimacy, the good kind or the bad, even if in just the knowledge of someone who's been a constant through your life. It could, and would, imply a myriad of feelings, and probably in such a mix it could imply contradictory feelings too. Even the nothingness would weight, even the nothingness would be significant and meaningful.

Gojo took Megumi and his sister under his wing, the son of a man who murdered him, because of both selfish and selfless reasons. Megumi looks like Toji. What does Gojo feel about this? How does Gojo deal with this? How does Gojo go about taking care of Megumi? Would he walk him to school? Make him breakfast? Celebrate his birthdays making him blow candles? Did he take him to the zoo? Does the relationship between them feel professional or is it something more? Gojo appreciates his students, but is Megumi to him just another student? When Gojo faces Sukuna in Megumi's body, did he see the kid he raised, or does he just see Sukuna in one of his students' body? Did he have one faint wavering instant? And how does Megumi feel about this? Is he resentful of him? Resentful of the situation? Of the selfishness behind his actions? Does he feel like a pawn? Is he grateful? Does he resent feeling grateful? Would he rather not? Does he love Gojo? Does he feel nothing about him other than what he could feel about a teacher that sort of annoys him but knows he's reliable in his strength? Does he think it unfair, cruel or unfeeling that Gojo is close, closer perhaps, with Yuuji or Yuta, considering their story? When Sukuna slices Gojo in two, does the remnants of Megumi's soul tremble?

And not just Megumi and Gojo. Yuuji and Nanami, Gojo and Nanami, Yuuji and Fushiguro, Nobara and the boys, or Nobara and Maki, Todo and Yuuji or Yuta, Gojo and Yuta, Megumi and his sister. Gojo and Geto, even! If the pieces are well set, the dynamics are intriguing, interesting, and have potential to be deep, but then the characters have like two plot relevant scenes that punch you hard, but little more, it's not nearly enough. Especially not nearly enough for the enormity that is shonen dynamics and situations. And the potential existing at all, and then not delivering, makes it all the more frustrating when you're left with something mediocre that could have been so good.

The development of dynamics through not only a few plot relevant gut wrenching moving scenes, but also the smallness of life, is important. The friend who recommended this to me said that those things were just unnecessary filler, but I disagree. I think there's a big difference between a large amount of anime-only filler episodes whose existence is based on the fact they had run out of manga chapters to animate, and moments of quietness. The low stakes character-driven moments of quietness can be so telling and so insightful, and they are so satisfactory when brought back later in higher stakes situations. My friend teased me there was no scene of Gojo making breakfast to Megumi, that it would be an idiotic idea, but it would be so telling. How he makes breakfast, what they eat, if he tries hard or if it's all mechanised, if they have personal bowls or if they use whatever, if he just buys them some pastry on the way to school, if the way they have breakfast changes through the years, or if he doesn't make them breakfast at all! All that would be very insightful on their dynamic and its evolution. All that would give a glimpse on how they regard each other and why, even in the present. All that could become meaningful in tense situations and high stakes scenes.

These moments also let the plot breath; if a lot is happening all the time, if every character is always experiencing trauma after trauma, the entire story is so emotionally draining that at some point you don't even care all that much. Besides, these nothing moments or low stakes plot arcs, besides deepening and developing dynamics, also let some in-world time pass, which would make the intimacy and bond between characters more believable imo; between Yuuji eating Sukuna's finger and their last confrontation in December how much time has passed? A few months? Am I truly to believe these characters are so everything to each other in only a few months?

Without some smallness, some repetition, some daily life, some low stakes not plot-centric development, the dynamics don't hit, they don't truly feel fleshed out, and dynamics as complex as the ones Megumi and Gojo have, or as supposedly meaningful as the one Megumi has with Yuuji or his sister, should be fleshed out if they're going to exist at all. Otherwise they'd risk making the writing feel awkward and fake. Besides, if the dynamics felt well fleshed out and realistic, they would shape the way the characters interact and act, and how they deal with situations, thus being plot relevant.

The shonen genre has so much happening all the time, the stakes are so high, the dynamics are so rooted in big events and the relationships carry enormous weight and implications. Yet they barely get developed, and it feels so stupid, so plain, the absence of something so important noticeable like a constant void, a shapeless nothingness present in every scene. It makes the characters feel like cardboard figures. Jujutsu Kaisen is already getting a better job than many, but I doubt it will do enough for what I've heard, and I fear I am bound to feel let down, and bound to feel unmoved.

After all, if not enough time and care has been given to develop a dynamic, I am not going to feel pressured by the high stakes; if not enough time and care has been given to develop the dynamic between Megumi and Yuuji, as good potential as it has I am bound to feel little for this last confrontation between Sukuna and Itadori, and his effort in getting Megumi back.

[harmoniouseclipse]

MLP Violet doodle bc burnout has hands (her outfit is like an elden ring boss)

[swords-and-starlight]

Poseidon and Sally is a man’s idea of romance. Paul and Sally are a woman’s idea of romance.

[bonpuns]

one year ago this month i was a happier individual and then He happened to me

[jtownraindancer]

Speaking of Burn and his profile-

-can we please talk about this?

[lsd-ink]

I know I'm into rc9gn but, I'm really scared of it's fandom, it feels so ancient I can't get in.

My hyperfixation so hard it makes me wanna throw up.

[dyrewrites]

I didn't start making playlists for my writing, that weren't ambient tracks to write by, until I heard this song.

And now I have a playlist for every book in this series and one for each main character in another one...

halp

[sneakyfox55]

major To The Moon series spoilers ahead!

no because the real Quincy--relative to the "real" world our Lynri came from--never actually got to see his family again

can we talk about that please like my heart BREAKS for this man and sure you can say "well like he wasn't actually real because this is the topmost stack and not reality lmbo" but like.

what IS reality?

like! the entire point of the games is to bring up the question "what is the reality we tell ourselves, at one point does reality become... not so?" and that's honestly like, other than the various other themes Kan Gao has so masterfully crafted into this series that's my favorite one because then the ethic becomes, if nothing is reality--if everything is just the reality OR fiction we tell ourselves--what does it really matter?

so if we go based off that, the real Quincy relative to IF-Lynri's timeline just. was basically pushed off to the side. and yeah, there's the version of him within the machine that we play as of course and we get to see that version of him be happy, but how can that account for the original version? did that Quincy not have feelings? did that Quincy just, not have his heart broken by the love of his life after the tragic loss of their child? did she not abandon him? from we know that did still happen, does it matter that it did, maybe not to any other version of them (or even IF-Lynri for that matter since she gets everything she wants in the end) but did it not matter to that Quincy?

and it hurts so much worse to me personally to know that, he would have never know about any of this, and he has no idea that in another timeline so to speak, he gets to be happy. and!!! this even goes back to To The Moon the game (try saying that 5 times fast) itself because!!!!

the real River and Johnny technically might have never reunited.

in fact they? probably really didn't? at least not in a way that could have ever been substantial to either of them. the "real" Johnny never actually remembered their first meeting, and the "real" River never got to feel that closure that she so desperately wanted from him.

but then it goes back to the question of if it matters, since they're happy anyway?

and this all leads to my point about all of this:

does it? does creating perfect fantasy worlds for everyone really MATTER if the real them never got to live out that fantasy world?? because sure, you can say to THEM, it does! in that brief moment before they leave this world, they can leave knowing they did all they wanted! they can leave with a (figurative) smile on their face!! right? isn't that the point?

...but then. where does it stop meaning something because EVERYTHING was made up? how can we differentiate the two anymore?

and at what point was reality just... maybe, not reality in the first place?

[helloiamacashier]

It's a travesty that I can't reblog gifsets of books.