#what a wise decision

[melscrate]

Lady is lifting her veil for a minute.

smaller parts is under the cut :)

[blobbei-art]

Light redesigns of Romeo and Delilah!

I do like their designs but I thought you could push them a little more. They're very rough, I was just doodling these for fun! Ended sparking some new headcanons i incorporated specific to these designs.

Can't decide whether I like the OG ambiguous robe or clearly a hospital gown for Romeo but I really wanted to see him with the gown!

[xxplastic-cubexx]

what is your favorite thing about charles and your favorite thing about erik? separately, as in what you like most about their characters :]

a devious question this one is, my friend!!! it's hard enough for me to explain my thoughts cohesively, but having to pick ONE thing i particularly love is difficult. with characters like charles and erik, theres been so much done with their characters over the decades and so they have so many components to them that make them so interesting and fun to observe. BUT I TRY FOR YOU TODAY. under the cut i kinda ramble and the size of this text box makin me anxious

i think if i were to be simple and broad, what i enjoy most about charles is his determination to help others, even if he isn't really thanked and/or if people don't even like him. ofc, this isn't to say he hasn't done wrong- to be honest, the fact he does wrong/questionable things at times is another aspect of him i really enjoy, maybe because- broadly speaking- he's meant to be altruistic (intent vs outcome and all that). i don't know if that's super exciting to most people, but it is for me

as for erik, my reason for liking him is easier to explain tbh. To Be Simple And Broad, his progression from villain to antihero over the decades has been fun to observe (as much as i have so far anyhow) and analyze. i think to be a bit more specific, him using his rage and pain as justifications for his villainous actions is definitely what compels me the most: hurt people hurt and the sort, an idea i've always found interesting (something something vicious cycles and the like). yet now, he recognizes this wasn't really. A Just Thing To Do and is beginning to change that, which i enjoy

[lollytea]

Huntlow situationship gives me such intense brain termites you don't get it

[lemongogo]

why do i love the conflict more than anything else . the misery . the incompatibility that spreads like oil slick . wanting so desperately for resolution that never comes . hmmm

[magnusbae]

Never in my life did I watch something quite as ridiculous, pointless, without any coherent sense of direction or self as The Acolyte. Start to finish it created its own 'threats' and 'issues' to artificially stimulate a plot that never had a single point to be made. What on earth were they thinking? Nothing in this series follows its own internal logic. The character motivations are all over the place and often simply contradict themselves within the same episode. The intrigue and the foreshadowing all come to a null when the reveals literally are not in par with what was implied and just generally--- what on earth? You cannot say I did not come open minded. Watched all the episodes, given it grace and opportunity time and time again to prove itself but--- no, no it's actually just the worst tv show I've ever seen, and that's a serious claim as I watched quite a few bad ones I enjoyed more than I did this one. Don't even get me started on how fundamentally lacking they are in understanding what the Jedi are and who they are as an entity, there was no idea of the self or the values or even codes of the Jedi in this show. Something that could have been such a wonderful and intriguing show, with visuals we all were craving (Jedi Temple) it ended up being below mid-show, shot almost in its whole entirety on a planet that looks 100% like earth with zero intriguing visuals or anything to justify the monstrous budget they had to burn through. Wow, kudos on creating something so empty of meaning I am not even angry after watching it, only baffled that someone actually wrote it and someone actually thought it was good enough to film. Damn.

[woodlaflababab]

Hot Take: The Lion Turtle wasn't that out of left field.

Was it a deus ex machina? Yes. Technically. But it wasn't like some sudden dip in writing or like this was unprecedented and had no basis or reasoning in universe. Hear me out. This is Long.

Let's go back to book 1, specifically the book 1 finale. At what point prior to that are we told that there's a spirit that can turn into a giant koi monster and wipe out everyone? We didn't even know about the whole Tui and La thing until we are in the midst of the battle and there is no viable solution. Aang as he is, does not have the ability to solve this problem.

However, Aang is the avatar.

50% of that is having all four elements. It means mastering diciplines, practice, it's skill that you gradually improve on, it's being clever with the tools avalible to you.

But the other 50%, that I feel is too often forgotten, is spirithood, or being the bridge to the spirits. Spirits are not tools. They're explicitly shown to be things that just kinda Do Shit, and Are There. They don't care about the human world for humans' sake, that's the Avatar's job. The spirits are unexplainable. (I am ignoring Korra) Dealing with the spirits isn't something you can learn. There's not really a special technique Aang learns on How To Spirit 101.

But as the Avatar, Aang has the ability to comune with spirits, to seek them out, call to them, ask them for help, and give them help in return. Part of being the Avatar is doing things no one else can, and again, 50% of that comes from having four bending abilities, and the other 50% is his connection to spirits.

The Lion Turtle is the earned pay off of Aang's actions. Aang, like in the Northern Water Tribe, faces a problem in which neither he, nor anyone around him, knows what to do, and just like in the NWT at the twelfth hour, he turns to the spirits. He chooses to find a place where he feels connected, and calls out. He opens himself to a world outside of human control knowing that, as merely human, he is not capable.

It's the same set up.

Aang faces a problem: Giant Invasion/Having to defeat the fire lord

He does everything he physically can: Takes down a dozen ships/Masters three extra elements

But pulls back when he realizes continuing this way will destroy him: Retreats and admits hes in over his head/Refuses to commit violence with the intent to kill because that means sacrificing his values and the last remaining shreds of his people's values.

(PSA: Taking care of your mental/emotional health is just as important as taking care of your physical health)

He opens himself up to other people for solutions: Yue is just like 'you gotta dude :|'/His friends mock him

He chooses to turn to the spirits: Brings it up with Yue and Katara and Yue brings him to the spirit oasis/ Leaves the others to meditate

[Enter Magic Meditation Here]

He Goes To A Weird Spirit Place: Spirit World/Lion Turtle Forest

Fucks Around for a while as he tries to figure out wtf hes supposed to do: talks to spirits and Roku/talks to the avatars and momo (best place of advice obvs)

Finds the spirit he needs to help give him info: Koh+Ocean Spirit/Lion Turtle

Is granted sudden new powers that can solve his impossible situation: Giant Koi/ Energybending

Uses that shit

Saves the day

The end.

And I don't think this is really a cheat for him either. Aang still gives his everything to trying to fight those ships, even after seeing how many there are. He still has to go through all the hassle of the spirits fucking with him.

With the finale, he still admits to Momo that he may have to kill Ozai. He still accepts that, if literally no other solution is avalible, he'll do it even if it means sacrificing himself and his nation. He still has to do the battle to subdue Ozai and still has to risk being internally fucked by bad mojo from Ozai.

He still has to prove himself. In my opinion, he has to prove himself far more in the book three finale than book one. Book one he just kinda takes out some ships and then chats with some spirits and then the Ocean spirit does everything for him.

In the fight with Ozai, AANG had to learn all four elements, HE had to learn the avatar state (even if it conveniently got taken as soon as he did and then given back at dramatic moments), HE had to face Ozai even without the avatar state, HE still tried to reason with Ozai to the end, HE still used the avatar state (apon being gifted with a poke in the back) to fight back, HE still decided to not take the easy way out, HE still commited to and accomplished taking Ozai's bending.

He earned his use of the elements

He earned his use of the Avatar state (prior to lightning bc they couldn't have Aang be op too soon jebdjsbdn)

He continuously believed there has to be another way

He sought out solutions.

And he still had to get ragdolled some to top it off.

And as to the other Avatars' advice, and the idea that he was selfish.

He followed the wisdom of all the Avatars he spoke to.

He was decisive: "No, I'm not going to end like this."

Justice brought Peace: the firelord being rendered powerless and stuck to suffer jail the rest of his life weak and helpless is justice

He actively shaped his own Destiny: he decided how he was going to end things and shaped his destiny and the destiny of the whole world

"Selfless duty calles you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs and do whatever it takes to protect the world": to which Aang says "I guess I don't have a choice Momo, I have to kill the firelord."

The Lion Turtle did not come out of left field and Aang earned/deserved his ending.

[elendsessor]

i may be crucified for this opinion but

one of the many reasons i think dds deserves a remake is just how little impact some of the characters have and it’s really fucking sad. unless they’re party members or antagonistic forces they don’t get nearly as much screen time as they deserve and i think that hurts them as characters???

jinana and lupa especially. i get the setting of the first game is a battle royale that turned into a cannibal battle royale so of course not everyone could live but they kinda didn’t get as much screen time as they deserved. i mean think about it they kinda just exist to introduce their tribe, interact with the embryon for a bit, disappear, reappear once or twice, then next time you see them they’ve succumbed to hunger, you beat the shit out of them, and they end up dying. what little they are given does make you like them don’t get me wrong but a lot of that rides on dialogue which, as someone who loves seeing people experience certain plot stuff of games i enjoy, i kinda noticed that it was a really mixed result. it’s either “oh no anyways” with maybe the player getting a little melancholic when they get brought up again or the player doesn’t care. considering how important their struggles and mini arcs are that’s not good??? the fact that they exist solely to develop argilla and gale is a shame since unless you like the exchanges they have their deaths don’t have that big of an impact. they do get mentions and all that in 2 yet it kinda just. makes me question it more from the standpoint of what could’ve been done with them or the giant emotional aftermath that should’ve happened. this isn’t to say they can’t die or whatever but considering the interesting conflicts dds introduces and how it already struggled to explore it as much as it could’ve, jinana and lupa really did have the potential to help remedy some of those issues.

and then there’s fred aka the smokey of dds. i still don’t know why he exists except to explain why lupa somewhat knows what a child is and to introduce the existence of tiny humans to the gang. i’m sorry i straight up forget he was a character at points.

qds fixed a lot of this yes yet i still think it’s important to point out on a game standpoint, since most people who play dds don’t end up reading qds, and i really don’t think actual important contextual stuff or major aspects of a game’s themes should be exclusive to books. it’s not as bad as something like fnaf or other mascot horrors—that shit was over a decade later—but it is a major writing issue and i don’t think the fact that the original lead writer got sick and had to leave means there wasn’t a writing decline. you can tell there was stuff that was going to be built upon only to be abandoned or underdeveloped.

it’s extra sad because this is straight up one of the best instances of world-building the series has ever had, and the whole cannibalistic character drama mixed with spiritual and buddhist + hindu themes is something so inherently interesting while also being in some ways taboo??? there’s not a lot of games out there at least not made by indie developers that get that risky since it’s not marketable, and something like that is next to nonexistent now in the mainstream market. we fuckin need games like the dds duology that challenge the status quo and goddammit if it got expanded upon and had more development for side characters that would be actually perfect.

[elvenbeard]

Not Yet

Just a random little scene that might wanna still write out in full in the future. Angst, what angst? I would never...

100% blame @humberg for the wonderful upcoming poses fueling me with angsty thoughts and scenarios 💜

[eziojensenthe3rd]

Stole his wig, now he begs to spare him and work for me. What to do to the giant rat thats made all of the rules?

[disdaidal]

I wanna thank my irl friends who follow me here and also my beloved mutuals as well as followers who still send me kind messages and try to interact with me and my stuff even if I'm bad at doing it myself.

Honestly, things haven't been that great with me lately, so... it means a lot to me. Honestly. <3

[blue-eyed-giant]

actually, as i start approaching 20 i realize nana is not a cool coming of age story but it is, in fact, a horror

[barnabyboppins]

Athena in the pjo series confuses me because she’s the goddess of wartime strategy and useful skills/crafts and things but she’s also super well known as the goddess of wisdom, and yet (almost) every depiction I’ve ever seen of a truly wise person involves compassion and willingness to forgive and accept and extend your hands to others even if they may not know how to receive that kindness.

With Athena, she;s a goddess of wisdom but it’s like her ‘wise counsel’ only extends to how to best preserve her authority and the authority and safety of the gods (mostly just the twelve). For being a goddess of strategy she seems to often desperately lack forethought as well. In the Titans Curse she votes to kill Percy and Thalia to try and “prevent” the prophecy when the gods already know you can’t stop fate??

Not only that, it doesn’t take much consideration to think that maybe helping the likely child of the prophecy stay alive and not hate you has a better chance of working in your favour than walking up and saying “imo you should die,” like bro??? By this point Percy already saved their asses multiple times and Athena thinks it’s better to remove him than to use him. Athena is supposed to hold wisdom but her only perspective is from a position of infallible authority and narrow-mindedness

[iniziare]

Inquisitor: The Evanuris were elven mages? How did they come to be remembered as gods? Solas: Slowly. It started with a war. War breeds fear. Fear breeds a desire for simplicity. Good and evil. Right and wrong. Chains of command. After the war ended, generals became respected elders, then kings, and finally gods. The Evanuris. Inquisitor: You said that the elven gods went too far. What did they do that made you move against them? Solas: They killed Mythal. (Chuckles.) A crime for which an eternity of torment is the only fitting punishment. Inquisitor: I thought Mythal was one of the Evanuris? Solas: She was the best of them. She cared for her people. She protected them. She was a voice of reason. And in their lust for power, they killed her.

You know, sometimes I wonder about him in regards to Mythal. Not only over how intensely he struck down those who slayed her (and the severe repercussions thereof, even if he didn't realize they'd occur as they did), but the sheer conviction he holds in regards to the future. He banished the Evanuris, and in doing so, single-handedly brought devastation to his people, and Mythal's, leaving their descendants scarred and 'weak', shadows of their former selves. But it's the 'and Mythal's' that gets me. He 'avenged' her and in turn, became the 'undoing' of the elven civilization she'd loved and protected above all?

Inquisitor: That's the past. What about the future? Solas: (...) My people fell for what I did to strike the Evanuris down, but still some hope remains for restoration. I will save the Elven people, even if it means this world must die.

[natjennie]

watcher announcement is insane. I don't have anything insightful or important to say but like. whoaoahh that's crazy.

[grapecaseschoices]

does the game track which options you pick for da2 and balance them or just default to the most used? Like say if a Hawke was 50% purple, 45% red, and 5% green. Would it take note of that or would it just be default purple when ... idk they state something during a fight?