#yes i'm salty about this

[crayonurchin]

Doing between 3-5 birthday parties every weekend means I get to see a lot of different people doing different types of parties, and this includes Instagram style parties.

For the record as long as the kids are happy and safe, do whatever the hell you want. It literally doesn't matter just give the kid a happy birthday and everything else is irrelevant.

However if you are prioritising how your party looks to others over your kiddo on their special day, then it's a problem.

The frustration I feel over kids in expensive outfits who can't play incase they get dirty, or kids being torn away from games I'm running to take a thousand photos with their parents friends, or kids who clearly don't like whatever theme the parents chose yet the parents doesn't care because the party is more for their followers than their baby, is immense. I can't say anything, all I can do is try to make sure the birthday kiddo is having some fun.

But here's the fun revenge.

I have gone to so many 'white' and 'beige' aesthetic parties. You'll have seen them, all white aesthetic that looks amazing in pictures but is depressing as hell at a 6 year olds birthday party. There is an infamous set of white ball pits and white bouncy castles and white soft play that I constantly see rented out for these events.

You know what's great about those all white rentals? It takes one kid with a runny nose to make every picture of that bouncy castle look nasty. You know what my job is? To run birthday parties. You know what I have the power to do?

Have the kids run about getting muddy and dusty and filthy then send them all screaming into the EXTREMELY easy to stain bouncy castle and decorations and 'accidentally' make all the photos the parents are so concerned about look awful.

Yes it's petty but god lord is it hilarious watching then boil red with rage but not be able to do shit about it without looking insane because screaming at children for playing at a birthday party is generally not a good look

[phenakistoskope]

one of the lesser known aspects of continued brahminization in india is the dogshit that gets printed on to postage stamps. i do not want a commemorative parashuram stamp for 5 rupees, i don't not want one for dayananand saraswati, nor do i want the goddamn bridal costumes stamps. more animal and plant stamps please.

[theliteraryluggage]

Look I'm happy to play along with the calling me short bit when I'm cosplaying Edward, it's inevitable you know, part of the Edward Elric cosplay experience along with having your automail fall apart all the time.

It's fine. It's fun. It's a bit. I get to yell at you. All good.

But if you specifically message me on Instagram when we don't know each other and you're not even following me--just to make a short joke? I'm sorry but you're just a dick.

Don't be a fucking dick.

[crappy-cat-the-tabby-cat]

I love how fanart i put time into making gets like 3 notes

but when i repost a tbh creature animation or quote snapcube suddenly i have 1000 notes 15 seconds of fame

Tumblr is wacky /pos

[sunshinebunnie]

Was talking to my boss last week about the opening to backfill her old job and despite the fact that I am without question the most qualified person BY FAR from a subject matter perspective, she effectively told me that she's not going to hire me because the role is going to be more heavily focused on "relationship management". The best part of all is that I'm pretty certain she's known for at least the past 3 months that she wasn't planning to move me up into her new role, and hence did NOTHING to help me build up my "relationship management" skills in preparation for the role.

[phenikas]

had been working on this before *you know who* ruined all the fun out of theorizing about a game and I lost most of my motivation to work on any render... anyways, here it is, a few weeks late, inspired by that one screengrab from the bl4 teaser trailer

[bheska]

So where was this sentiment while planning the season one of the tv show, Richard? If 17 year old, quest veteran and war hero Percy is allowed not to know a mythical being just by looking at them, why wasn't 12 year old inexperienced Percy allowed to be clueless sometimes, Richard?

[thatswhatsushesaid]

so far my favourite unhinged response to my habitual observation of "it's weird that no one on this subreddit can make a single neutral-to-neutral-positive post about jiang cheng or jin guangyao without summoning the antagonist haters like bloody mary at a 90s kid's slumber party" is "you obviously don't know where you are. you don't understand reddit. no one owes anyone else GOOD VIBES ONLY. maybe we went overboard with these posts but we're just stating FACTS"

like. at least you admitted that you went overboard. we'll get to the rest later but, you know, baby steps.

[zachdefense]

Beaten Baldur's Gate 3 twice now and I can't stop rotating the characters in my head. Thinking about how all the origin party members' stories can basically be boiled down to "One person with power over them abused them and forced them into unspeakably shitty situations." How so many main & side quests reflect this by having the someone just need to stick one (1) person in the torment nexus to secure their power, in one way or another. How the characters' "good" endings often reflect ways to move forward from abuse, like allowing yourself to grieve for the time you lost, making the active choice to not perpetuate harmful behaviors, and reconnecting with relationships that you were cut off from.

except for one character they decided the good ending would be "reconcile with the person that wanted to use you as a suicide bomb bc they really had good reasons for it" and I am so mad that I can't find a good way to fit them into this theming

[anneapocalypse]

At the end of the day you can use "Varric is an unreliable narrator" to overwrite literally any part of DA2 that you don't like. Like you can say, "Oh of COURSE Varric isn't actually against mage freedom! He just said that he objected to Hawke freeing the mages because Cassandra was interrogating him." And sure, I can't prove to you that he isn't lying about that. I can't prove to you that Varric isn't lying about anything. I can't prove to you that the entirety of Inquisition isn't also Varric making things up because he did also write a book about that and we hear Cassandra reading it in the end credits. At the end of the day if you want to you can basically wipe out Varric's entire character as presented to us and say, "Actually he was lying! He's really this."

But at a certain point you do also have to acknowledge that the frame narrative is a storytelling device that's meant to enhance the story, not like... erase it. Or at least I prefer to acknowledge that, because going too far the other way basically guts the story of all meaning. If Varric is a character we are meant to engage with on any level--and I think it's clear from his prominence in the franchise that he is!--then at least some of what we see him say and do needs to be able to meaningfully interpreted, even if we second-guess him, even if we can pick out half-truths here and there, even if we cross-check our interpretations against how he behaves in other parts of canon.

Like at least some of what we're given about Varric has to be meaningful to his character, or why even bother, I guess is what I'm saying.

[razzberrydazz]

I'ma be real with you chief, this is how it feels to be a BG3 F/F pairing enjoyer, and I'm tired of pretending it's not. The Astarion and Gale fics keep mistagging Shadowzel in their fics as main relationships when they're at best background mentions, and therefore clogging the search for the people actually searching for shadowzel. I and fellow Shadowzel enthusiasts are hard at work making more fics, rest assured.

[rebrandedbard]

Not underrated at all but Jaskier/respect and happiness lmao

Not pictured: Yennefer, his beloved wife who has done nothing wrong. Geralt and Ciri need to step up lol

[isa-ghost]

The anti-purity culture, media literacy skills, and ability to have nuanced discussion about serious topics leaving people's bodies as soon as someone says "Hazbin Hotel" or "Helluva Boss":

[miss0atae]

I wonder what is the worst for Oon… falling in love with the ex-girlfriend of her sister that she knew nothing about or falling in love with her twin sister's presumed murderer?

Among 8 billions people in the world, she just found the girl who fit all these requirements. She is one lucky woman.

Some people can't have a boring life.

[2hoothoots]

i was having a chuckle to myself last night about Gristol, and how his plans are basically:

Restore Ford Cruller's memory

Find Maligula

???

Profit

but then... of course they are, right? this is Gristol we're talking about. Fatherland Follies drives home again and again that he's still operating on a child's logic, a warped and reductive version of the world that he never bothered to grow out of. both of his memory vaults center on the images of his childhood, this idealized version of the past that he clings to no matter what. and that's still how he remembers Maligula, too - as this saviour figure, who rushes in to help him when he's in trouble.

[ID: Two slides from Gristol's memory vault, Glory to Grulovia! Left: Gristol clings to Maligula's back as she summons waves to sweep away his assailants. Right: Gristol and Maligula waving from a balcony as the people cheer. Gzar Theodore brandishes a dagger in the background.]

like so much else, Maligula represents a return to this idyllic childhood - to the peace and simplicity of his youth, when he was free from worries and responsibilities. in his mind, he doesn't need to make any further plans - once Maligula's back, everything will go back to normal. Maligula will make everything better.

...is what i thought, but then i remembered this line:

[Screenshot source. ID: Gristol, in Truman's body, bows on his hands and knees in front of the newly-awaked Maligula. The caption reads: "Yes, High Priestess! I am here to correct the mistakes made by my father!"]

and that's kind of interesting, right?

to be clear: this happens directly after Maligula sees Helmut-in-Gristol's-body, and recognises him. her line before this is:

"Little Gzesaravich! Have you come to pay for your father's sins?"

my first thought was that Gristol hadn't expected to still be in Truman's body by the time he managed to find Maligula, and this was him trying to placate her and buy some time until he could explain the situation. but watching the cutscene back, that's clearly not what's happening here. Gristol is answering as himself, and his response of throwing himself to his knees before her is, as far as i can tell, genuine.

so what is going on here?

in Fatherland Follies, there's this line in the ride narration that stuck out to me:

"Why didn't the Gzar help Maligula in her time of need? No one knows, but historians agree - it is Gzar Theodore's biggest failure."

other lines mention Gzar Theodore's "mistake", and it's wording Gristol himself echoes in the screencap above. evidently, he believes that his father abandoned Maligula, leaving her to her fate at the hands of the Psychonauts, and it was that mistake that lead to them being driven out of the country - that mistake which he seeks to correct. maybe he even feels like he has a debt to repay to her for his family turning their backs on her all those years ago.

the 'High Priestess' thing, though - that's kinda weird, and threw me for a loop the first time i played the game. it took me until my second playthrough to connect the dots, and remember how the room in the Lady Luctopus - Gristol's room - was full of Delugionist scribblings and symbols.

[Screenshot source. ID: left, the walls of the hidden backroom in Gristol's hotel suite, covered in scrawlings of eyeballs and Maligula's name. Right, the pinboard from the hidden backroom. On its surface are photographs and newspaper clippings connected by pieces of string.]

i mean, look at this stuff! he had a whole conspiracy board and everything!

we learn very little about the Delugionists and their beliefs as a whole during the game, but i think drawing the connection here suggests two important things. one: that Gristol was in deep with this stuff. i don't know how he linked up with them - maybe via old family connections, or just good old-fashioned digging (we know he's skilled at worming his way into peoples' good graces, after all) - but it seems likely that he's begun to internalise their ideas, maybe even warping his own memories of events. and two: the Delugionists themselves are, if you'll pardon the pun, pretty far off the deep end.

like... i understand why PN2 didn't go heavy on the "mass-murderer cult worship" aspect of things, in the end, but man this is such a tantalising glimpse into the wider mythos around Maligula. Gristol is proud and haughty and thinks himself above everyone else; the fact that his first reaction seeing Maligula is to throw himself to the ground at her feet says so much about the way he's come to see her. he's not just trying to bring back Maligula, his childhood bodyguard. he's trying to bring back Maligula, the High Priestess of the deluge, the semi-mythical figure whose supporters believe even death couldn't stop. he doesn't even flinch at the way she confronts him, and maybe it's because he's bought in so completely to this deified figurehead, this idea of Maligula; more a living force of nature than a person. and it all comes back to the same place: an abdication of responsibility, not just to the person who protected him when he was little but to this avatar of floods and destruction. Maligula will make everything better.

i'd write more about my thoughts on the Delugionists but that'd be taking a hard turn into speculation, and this is already kind of long and rambling so i'd better end it here. but what an unexpected and evocative line, right? it's some of the only stuff we have to go off of regarding the Delugionists as a whole, but i think it does such a good job of hinting at the wider story - at teasing another layer to the mythos surrounding Maligula, one whose ripples we see throughout the game but which never quite breaches the surface.

[potionwine]

Thinking about Margrace as Joshua's name post-Phoenix Gate.

Mar-grace.

In FFXVI the Undying choose their own names (Cyril explains this in-game), and many of them have names drawn from Final Fantasy XII, including their leader 'Margrace' himself, from Al-Cid Margrace. The page for Al-Cid notes that Margrace is likely an alternate form of the title 'margrave', an old title for military commanders on the border.

That aside. This is the name chosen (by the boy himself?) for the boy who should have rightfully been known henceforth as 'Your Grace', 'His Grace'.

Grace (style of address), from the Oxford English Dictionary:

With a possessive adjective: a title of respect, esp. for a person of royal or noble rank. Frequently (in 'your Grace') as a form of address. Now archaic or historical. Formerly (in England until the reign of Henry VIII and in Scotland until 1707) used for a monarch or prince; now replaced by Majesty or Highness. Even so, "Majesty" for the sovereign of England was not used exclusively; it arbitrarily alternated with both "Highness" and "Grace", even in official documents, until "Majesty" finally became the official style to the exclusion of others (source).

Grace (other meanings):

1. Divine favour, benevolence, or providence bringing about worldly benefit or advantage. 2. A person's lot, destiny, or fate; luck, fortune. 3. The quality of being pleasing; attractiveness, charm; esp. (in later use) refined elegance of manner, expression, form, or movement, esp. regarded as natural or effortless; gracefulness.

Whatever the etymology of margrave, the name Margrace in-game is probably meant to call to mind the meaning of 'mar' as in damaged, spoiled, ruined. All the grace that ever belonged to his family, his home, his birthright—marred, of course.

Mar+Grace, the last heir of the oldest unbroken ruling dynasty in the Twins at the time of the opening events of the game**.

The living ghost, carrying the desecrated corpse of his legacy in his new name. Introducing himself by his humiliation: "Hello, I am Margrace", "Hello, I am the ruined dignity of my house." "Call me Margrace", "Call me the wreckage of one fallen from divine favour." "My name is Margrace", "My name is blemished fortunes and diminished nobility".

It's appropriately brutal and dramatic for such a character, especially since the game is frustratingly silent on how Joshua personally feels about the loss of his duchy which is a rant for next time.

**Footnotes:

In the Year 860 (Prologue year/Phoenix Gate), Rosaria is about 260 years old (est. Y600). Older, if you count from the time of the Rose Alliance (est. Y550). The Rosfields have been on the Rosarian throne since the inception of the duchy in Y600, and prior to that House Rosfield was already known to be the chief of/the preeminent house of the Seven High Houses that united to found the duchy. House Rosfield has held ruling power for 260-310 years at a minimum.

For reference, England's longest-reigning dynasty was the Plantagenets, who held on for 300+ years. Rosfields aren't doing half bad!

Veldemarke would have been older had it not been overthrown by Barnabas; therefore Waloed is the youngest nation state at the time of the prologue (only 17 years old). Also we do not know much about the governance of Veldemarke, although as a 'kingdom' it was likely some type of monarchy.

Sanbreque was formed 100 years after Rosaria, and at any rate is not actually a hereditary monarchy. The Holy Emperor is voted into office by his fellow Cardinals, likely the five who form the Council of Elders. We are also explicitly told that Sylvestre 'won his throne' in 865; there is no indication either way that his predecessor emperor was a Lesage. The wording suggests the throne is not Sylvestre's by lineage or birthright. How this is supposed to relate to the concept of Sanbreque having a 'crown prince' (Dion) is unclear and contradictory, since an emperor by election should probably not have the authority to unilaterally decide on the succession of the throne, and his issue—legitimate or no—should not automatically be in the line of succession.

Dhalmekia is a republic with elected officials.

The Iron Kingdom apparently has a royal family, but nothing else is known apart from it being impotent and sidelined by their state religion.

The Northern Tribes likely do have hereditary rule, and Jill is referred to as a princess, but once again little is known.

Ergo—and I am ceaseless in this propaganda—Clive and Joshua are really, properly posh! Absolutely baffling that Anabella would allow anyone to put down the pedigree of her sons when they are so blue-blooded precisely because she is! For someone with such entrenched ideas of blood purity she should not stand for it, no matter how she feels about her eldest.