#we'd be doomed

[getvalentined]

I understand people giving Lucrecia the benefit of the doubt with regard to what she did to Vincent, just like I understand people not realizing how undeniably fucked up Gast was, but the important thing to keep in mind about these characters is that the majority of them are written as being in the throes of some pretty extreme cognitive dissonance.

It's not bad writing, it's that they're hypocrites. They reached a moral event horizon at some point, and they did what they felt they had to do when crossing it.

Gast abandoned a child because he wasn't what he wanted—even having raised Sephiroth up until that point and knowing that he was a pretty normal kid overall, as we can see from his behavior as a young teen in Ever Crisis, Gast still couldn't bear to continue to be responsible for a monster. He knew what Hojo was capable of, because he knew about what happened to Vincent, because it happened in his lab, and he left a literal child in his care anyway. Sephiroth's only crime was not being what Gast thought he was, and Gast damned him to a lifetime of torture under a "father" whose only goal was to use him to prove his own genius. Why? Because Gast had a goal, and the goal was what mattered, the ends justified any means he could devise. He was a man obsessed, driven to the verge of madness in his lust for the Promised Land. A religious zealot with the most powerful scientific team in the world at his disposal, ready to prove him right—and then he wasn't right, and the whole world fell apart underneath him. Ifalna gave him back that stability, because she was a real Ancient, and she gave him a new, better child to care for. A child that wasn't a monster, a child that was his, a child that might one day lead him to the Promised Land, if her mother didn't do so first. When Aerith was born, Gast got to be right again, and therefore all was right with the world. Sephiroth (like Genesis before him) may as well have never existed at all.

Lucrecia openly experimented on a man who loved her enough to die for her, going so far as to apparently use data from those experiments to improve her own academic standing, because she couldn't bear the guilt of being responsible for his death. It wasn't about whether it was the right thing to do, it wasn't about whether she loved him back, it wasn't even about her thesis at that point—she just couldn't continue to live having lost everything as a result of her own impatience, her own lack of regard for everyone around her. She killed her mentor through her own impatience, she gave up her son for experimentation, she didn't stop her husband from experimenting on her ex-lover, and she had nothing to show for it but crippling Jenova toxicosis and an equally crippling cowl of regret.

I could even go into Hojo here, how what he did to Sephiroth was a result of struggling to escape Gast's shadow, how what he did to Vincent was a result of him struggling to prove that he deserved his wife, how everything he did was born from the all-consuming need to do just one thing for which no one else could take credit. Hojo got the director position not because he earned it, but because Gast ran away. Hojo got Lucrecia not because he wooed her, but because he didn't have eyes like the unrequited first love that she killed. Hell, Project S only happened because Project G failed! Nothing Hojo has ever had that was worth anything was because of his work, only because the work of others failed. Why do you think he talks about "failures" the way he does? The failure of others is the only reason he's gotten so far, and he knows that any failure of his own will knock him right off that pedestal—and he's terrified.

None of these people are good people. I don't know that any of them ever were. But in their eyes, everything they did was justified, they took the right course of action, because they took the only course of action that their personal understanding of reality would allow them to take.

Were any of them actually right? Probably not. Certainly not, in some cases. But there's no going back on it now. The arrow has left the bow of the goddess, and there's no calling it back.

[poodlejoonas]

I didn't wanna say anything, just observe and try to process on my own, but fuck it we ball.

Joel leaving the band should be a wake-up call for some of y'all to come to terms with how you treat mental illness and neurodivergence. Yes, even if you're also depressed, or also anxious, or also diagnosed ADHD. Especially if you're one or more of those things. It's like you don't wanna believe that Joel's lifelong, every day mental and emotional state could actually cause serious physical health concerns - you only wanna see him as the "hehe quirky energetic boi." Which he can be that sometimes, but y'all let that view of him cloud your judgment and make you ignore real issues.

And when you only see the quirky side of his ADHD, some of y'all [emphasis on some] get a little too comfortable with bullying him about it. But you might say, "Oh, well I have the same thing too and it's #relatable so it's okay if we joke and bully him (affectionately)." That's still ableism, babes! Being a little depresso bean yourself doesn't mean you get to make fun of someone else's depression, it just give you permission to talk about your own. Having ADHD doesn't mean you get to be a bully about someone else's symptom expression, even if you think you're just being playful about it. Leaving it on your blog or on Discord is one thing. Posting it in a place where you know he'll see it is a totally different beast. We should all know better than to know you can't read tone through text. You can only do that once you know someone's typing style on an intimate level and can understand if they're joking, pissed off, or chill about it.

None of us know Joel on a daily basis, no matter how many IG stories he posts or how many times we rewatch their tour vlogs and watch him make silly noises or be moody. The other guys can (affectionately) joke around with him because they know him and they've lived in buses and the studio with him for 12+ years. WE. CAN'T. He's always caught the most shit from fans for captioning pictures with future song lyrics that read a little depressingly (like what the other guys did), posting about his sad feelings or low self-esteem, and even sharing his playful moments. He's been a lot of fans' personal voodoo doll for projecting feelings and fanfiction headcanons because his ADHD and other issues are treated like a headcanon.

(And before you say anything - yes, I'm aware I'm not entirely innocent of this either. I've written it into the dad!AU to be as honest to reality as I can be. But I've never tried to force any of my fanfic ideals onto others. I've never forced my fics into anyone's faces if they didn't want to read them. And I for damn sure haven't been the judge, jury, and executioner for how fics with Joel could be written. Because he's a person, not a doll to play with.)

Finally - for the love of GOD - recognize the difference between Blind Channel's songs about mental illness and suicide and the reality behind them. In the songs, they're aesthetics. That's what musical symbolism is about. They exist in their aesthetics so that we can also feel things and process our own shit on our own time. Anytime I get "Die Another Day" on my shuffle, I stop what I'm doing to cry about it then move on with my day. Every one of their sad songs has an even sadder backstory. "Bad Idea" exists because Niko was literally talked off a ledge. "Feel Nothing" tells the story of being so done with life that your whole body goes numb. "Don't Fix Me" is about coming to terms with having a fucked up life and mental state. "Scream" is dedicated to one of Joel's dearest idols, whose life story and death (I'm 95% certain) was part of his fears of continuing in the band with his mental state.

Remember that Joel was literally the guy whose answer to the question, "Where do you see yourselves in ten years?" was "In a grave." IN A GRAVE. And he has the self-preservation now to acknowledge that he may end up there in his stated timeline if he continues doing something that will get him there. Maybe, just maybe, there's a little twinkle of hope that he can grow old and find real happiness and peace in his life. This is someone who probably never thought he'd live to see 30. And he finally has the chance to chase peace on his own terms. We should be grateful for that, but the Anger part of the "Fandom Five Stages of Grief" would rather have us all turn against the five remaining members of the band we all claim to love so much.

Cope how you want, I'm not a fucking cop. But when you're ready for this conversation, return and do some serious thinking about it. There will be future depressing songs not written by Joel. Then who will you project onto?

[kisasan]

me:*thinking no other mha ship will take over my life the same way bkdk does*

kudoichi:

[windsroad]

one of the things i really like about the oblivion lockpicking minigame is that it's one of the most accurate lockpicking minigames I've seen. granted idk if a setting with the level of technology of oblivion would have a pin tumbler lock (probably they should have a warded lock? or a lever tumbler lock? maybe the dwemer invented pin tumbler locks and it spread lmao) but needing to essentially single pin pick the lock is really fun.

the way to make it more accurate would be that it should be what order you pick the pins in, not the speed of them, and you shouldn't break your lockpicks--it should happen in real time with the risk of being caught. but I'm not the kind of person who demands absolute accuracy, i just like that it's closer.

ESO's lockpicking minigame is also quite close to reality. you have to set the pins at different heights, to match whatever key the lock would have, and you are timed. the bad is that - when you set the pins to different heights, you can still see that the pin should be blocking the tumbler from turning??? but if they showed you where the pins were separated, that would just tell you where that pin needs to be set to. um. which would be way too easy, like on a clear training lock.

[lilrobinbird]

Hellooo, I'm death and I came to tell you that Ariel's incredibly unoriginal (though they didn't realize it at the time), but also, maybe you'll have time to watch Night Country this weekend?

Also how's life going? (Oh, I'm still death!): Damn, I hate that bitch

Helloo

Why unoriginal tho? The bear possession idea also comes from the series? The au concept with Atuat is still very cool you should share it with whole tumblr!!👀

[luke-o-lophus]

I like Crowley's grey bad-boi-deep-inside-good persona as much as the next person but let's not pretend he's above hypocrisy.

Miss ma'am criticizes the overkill of making angels fall for asking questions, but (apparently) obliterates his plants at the first sign of disobedience/failure/disappointment.

(then again the shredding happens off screen so who knows?)

[raredrop]

everythings gonna be ok right? :(

[shannonsketches]

This interview confirmed

The point of the wilds era games is showcasing mechanics, the 'core' of both games was to build and walk around

There will be no DLC

There will not be another direct sequel

The ultrahand will not continue in future games

The timeline is intentionally unclear to make the game accessible for new fans and the development process (tl;dr All Zelda games are intentionally AUs to a degree)

The producer and director both deny intentional references to prior games in the story, but then say that these similarities represent the soul of the series and the overall myth of The Legend of Zelda (pick a lane)?

The timeline doesn't matter, outside of specific sets of games it's irrelevant on purpose. Whatever you think about the timeline is correct. Continuity is not the point. Maintaining the form while creating something new is the point.

Fujibayashi really only cares about mechanics and Aunoma is totally cool with that

[yunieful]

i sure was like "hmm where could i share writings or something without needing to like...think too much" and. um. i forgot i have this. i literally forgot about it. like we're very lucky i found the sticky note for this place because holy SHIT

[laplacesdevil]

finished this a couple of days ago... but on june 17th, a beautiful friendship between magentas and phonekind were born ! they may be noncanon in dsaf + tkp but in my heart they're canon bffsies forever

[qourmet]

severely tempted to get a tattoo in honor of my late friend of a pink rose butterfly & i'm caught between "how do i make it not look trashy" & "TRAMP STAMP TRAMP STAMP TRAMP STAMP"

[twopercentboy]

this is my own personal hell I hate it here

[sarcophagid]

i need to put a giant disclaimer that everything in xxv's story sounds so much worse on paper because the events themselves are pretty bad, but in execution i don't want the tone to be heavy it's important to understand that like, nobody cares how bad it is they jsut all have bigger problems/horrible priorities/a carefree and joyful mindset

^ dice game

[kxllerblond]

and if i said this mfer was my super late game clark development inspo??? what then huh

[the-acid-pear]

One of the most beautiful things Deltarune story has is the fact that you cannot remove its tragedy, because it's thru that very same that hope and love is born. You cannot change the past but you can take what you learnt and thru it build a brighter future.

[ettadunham]

why is my little baldur's gate guy so horny, smh