#That's the one guy that they aren't really culpable for

[hulloitsdani]

Well if ain't the consequences of their own actions! How we feeling about the new FEH book guys?

#Freyja is just barely dodging the allegations #Death like sleep? More like thin goddamn ice #You know it's funny how it looks like Alfonse is getting blamed for all the god murder #Like Kiran wasn't directly responsible for Hel and Freyr #They got the finishing shot on Death herself #It would also be so fucking funny if these new antagonists are specifically mad about Askr #That's the one guy that they aren't really culpable for #He choose that of his own violation. No one else even knew he was going to do that #But with a list that long its a fair assumption tbh #feh #fire emblem heroes #feh kiran #kiran #feh summoner #feh alfonse #alfonse #fire emblem #feh book 8

[ellestra]

Going in circles

There has been a lot of talk about how Gen V is about social media and stage parents but the underlying theme of this season is the cycle of violence that leads to abuse and revenge cycles. It's a positive feedback loop that makes .

Since Gen V is inspired by The Boys comic arc that was a parody of X-Men this is something that was, of course, always staple of X-Men comics/movies/shows. But X-Men stories in their core tend to be optimistic/aspirational. The Boys universe is much more cynical than that. In the end bad guys win or they at least spin their loses their way so they can hold on to power.

Marie, Jordan, Andre and Emma really believed in the ideas sold to them by the marketing team. But the humans they were trying to save were exactly the ones who never treated them to people. Ones who perpetuated the cycles f abuse - from the moment they were given Compound V to all the stages of deciding who is and isn't valuable. They aren't the ones who lead Vought when it all started but they do the same thing again and again because it's profitable. And when it comes to bite them they try to weasel their way out of any responsibility by appealing to the better nature of those who they abused. And so, so many real life abuses seem to use this to escape culpability. Using the "be better than those who wrong you" as the most cynical way to save their own asses.

It doesn't mean that the rest of the non-powered humans don't have a reason to blame supes. Both the Boys and Shetty are not wrong in the assessment that supes always will a leave a trail of blood behind them - both intentional and accidental. From powers manifesting in the disastrous way, through accidents while using them to abuses of power to avoid consequences and finally malice. Supes are human and do exactly the same things but their impact is so much greater and so is their body count. It's gets horrifying because she's not blaming Vought who created this whole problem. Instead she's uses Vought's own torture factory to try her hand at genocide. It's hard to really feel bad about Cardosa and Shetty's death when we just saw them killing some kids in even more horrible way.

Cate was betrayed by every human she trusted. And the worst was that even though Shetty loved her she still drugged her to dampen her powers (those blue pills reference even more clear after latest Matrix movie) and then used her to help with genocide of her own kind. So she gathers all other abused supes and they all go on a rampage because how you can ever trust any one of them if they even corrupt love like that. Being one of "the good ones" didn't really work out. And because this is the time where the ultimate power of Vought propaganda machine lies with a supe it's all swept under the rug by Homelander.

He's done appealing to mudnon-powered people . The one place X-Men doesn't really go in stories like that is the people who go against their own interests because the ideology allows them to feel superior to another group. And they think they'd be spared. It's the voting for Leopards Eating People's Faces Party all over again. Homelander knows now that there are humans who still will follow him (steeped in American exceptionalism and dreams of ubermensch as he is - BTW I don't think it's a coincidence that both Cate and Sam are the kind of Guardians of Godolkin Stormfront would approve of unlike original versions). He just needs supes who think the same as him instead of believing things like non-powered humans are human too. Someone who is not going to bulk at thing he wants to do.

And the boys would do anything to stop him. I'm pretty sure the virus is not out of the picture yet. Between Neumann container and Butcher finding the infected bodies there still might be attempt to use it. After all it's still in pre fully genocidal form. And Marie surviving Homelander's blast may have taught Neumann she might have enough time to pop Homelander's head - especially if he's a bit sick.

In this cycle people who try to stop it are also part of the problem. It too often leads to letting those in power stay in power so the injustices can carry on. Marie uses the system that was designed against her to stop the massacre and it hurts her too. Andre risks brain damage saving helicopter coming to rescue Vought Board. Jordan almost gets overwhelmed and mind controlled protecting them. And Vought will continue doing what they did to babies and any supe they deem faulty product. Believing the heroes will come and save them gets them locked in a doorless room.

We see how appealing to their opponents better nature doesn't work. Maverick cannot break mind control. Sam chose it over conscience. All Emma gets for trying is being made to feel small.

In the end all trying to be heroic got them is being labelled as traitor and scapegoated. And I don't think it's an accident that of this group only Emma is white (although it's nice that the only couple that survived this in neither includes white people nor is straight).

And so the cycle goes. Non-powered humans abuse supes and supes abuse those humans and each sides has a list of atrocities perpetrated on them they use to justify to atrocities they commit. While the people who caused and profit from it this stay in power.

This is even made even more relevant by real life events reminding us about the real, horrible human toll of such cycles hatred. The real excuses that are used to justify violence against innocents by feeding populations a revenge fantasy dressed as justice aren't all that different. And so isn't using it to keep power and gather more assets. But in stories we can hope good guys will eventually win. History teaches us that, in real life, it always ends with those having power behind them getting all the spoils. Everyone can count themselves lucky if they get a half-assed apology too late to count for anything.

#gen v #gen v spoilers #the boys #the boys universe #godolkin university #marie moreau #andre anderson #jordan li #emma meyer #cate dunlap #sam riordan #homelander #vought #gen v season 1 #god u

[hacash]

I love the 'a new mister hartnell' conversation between hickey and hartnell, because on first viewing it feels like it's just there to emphasise that hartnell is different to hickey and is one of the 'good guys', and so on

but then you rewatch it in the context of hickey's mutiny, the fact that hickey spends the next episode or so sniffing out other men who can be part of his gang of lost boys, and everything hartnell says becomes so much more pointed. and I definitely think that's deliberate: that hartnell can tell that hickey is trying to stir up his doubts and dissatisfaction - do you really think the captain believes in you now? aren't you miffed that armitage owes you one and hasn't paid you back? - and just flat out shuts it down. he lays it on thick: yes, I deserved to be punished, yes, I fucked up. no, I'm not doing it again, yes, I have a clean slate and it's not going to be wasted on you. he even makes a point of indirectly telling hickey that he knows hickey's up to something: why didn't you turn armitage in? what are you going to do with that debt?

so yeah, I don't think it's just a case of hartnell being a martyr or a goody-goody or whatever. I think the scene's another great example of one conversation layering under another one; hartnell emphasising his own culpability and his desire to change because he knows they're not just talking about the past anymore.

#the terror #tom hartnell #cornelius hickey

[creature-wizard]

"True Christians don't do X!"

Look. There is just no objective way to define what make a "true" Christian. Any definition you give comes from your own personal biases.

Also, there's a bunch of people who would claim that you aren't a true Christian based on their own biases.

What are ya gonna do about it, have yet another "nuh-uh! nuh-uh! no, you!" slapfight? Are you going to have another tiresome debate in which you're both absolutely certain that you're the ones with the Real True Objective Understanding of the Bible? Ahhh yes, that's worked out so well for us all so far, hasn't it?

There's just no point in trying to quibble who qualifies as a "true Christian" or not. None whatsoever. It doesn't solve any problems, much less the problem of certain groups of Christians particularly hateful and destructive.

"Oh but not all Christians are like that-"

Oh buddy, I know this. In fact, I probably know much more about the diversity of practices and beliefs among people who profess to believe in Jesus as the Messiah than you. Which is, in fact, one more reason why I'm against this whole "true Christians practice/believe X-" rhetoric. You have no idea just how many Christians you're dismissing out of hand simply because their Christianity doesn't work exactly like yours.

You have no idea how deeply chauvinistic you're being by assuming that you practice the most objectively correct version of Christianity. Yes, this includes your assumption that being a Christian involves reading the New Testament. Christianity didn't begin with the New Testament; it began with a group of people who decided that this one guy was the messiah. People were Christian for hundreds of years before the New Testament was even a thing, and the New Testament only represents a tiny fraction of what early Christianity was like.

"Okay but X opinion isn't in the New Testament!"

Are you sure? Like, have you read the New Testament lately? Like, do you even know what's in the Gospel of John aside from John 3:16? Do you really? Are you just unaware that the Gospel of Matthew puts collective culpability for Jesus's crucifixion on all Jews for all time? The fact is, there are some garbage takes in the New Testament, because the books and letters New Testament was written by a bunch of people, some of whom had some pretty garbage opinions about some things.

If you genuinely think it's really messed up when Christians are racist and antisemitic, or generally bigoted in other ways, maybe instead of whining "not all Christians!" at the people who call this out, maybe ask yourself what you can actually do about these problems. How can you fight these hatreds that other Christians are perpetuating?

If you won't do that, then you never really cared about racism or antisemitism. You only care about your religion's public image.

#christianity #christians #racism #antisemitism

[suffersinfandom]

Am I an Izzy anti?

Like, what is an Izzy anti? Is it someone who doesn't like Izzy-the-character? Is it someone who dislikes Izzy fans on principle? Is it someone who absolutely hates Izzy and attacks anyone who likes him?

I don't care for Izzy-the-character, but I don't hate people who like him. I love the OFMD fandom. I do! My tumblr dash is full of awesome stuff from smart, funny, talented people, and even the folks with takes I disagree with seem to be pretty cool. I've even been reading Izzy-centric meta every now and then in an attempt to understand where the fans I don't agree with are coming from. I still disagree with them about certain things, but that's totally fine! Disagreement is absolutely normal within fandoms, and I think I'd have a nice time talking to most Izzy fans irl.

But sometimes I read a post that drives me absolutely bonkers and makes me think well, maybe I'm an anti after all.

That's mostly okay! I don't think that Ed "made terrible abusive choices towards his crew" or that they're his victims, but I can admit that I have a kneejerk negative reaction to most mentions of abuse in OFMD meta. I think that Ed's harmful actions are often overstated and examined outside of the context of the show, but whatever. We can agree to disagree when OP's still willing to admit that Ed's still worthy of love.

I hate that, thanks! Meet me in the Denny's parking lot, OP -- I just want to have a talk about abuse and empathy.

(That's a joke. By no means should anyone meet me anywhere.)

I think that anyone who makes either Ed or Izzy the victim in their relationship -- anyone who buys into the dichotomies of abuser and abused, innocent and victim -- misses out on what makes their whole Thing interesting. (That said, I think Izzy's behavior falls more into the definition of abuse, which is characterized by an attempt to exert control over someone else. Like, I'd rather not call either of them an abuser, but if we must...) They're both messed up guys, and it takes two to make a properly toxic relationship.

But then some people will say yes, I love these fucked up little guys, and then they'll absolve one of them of any real wrongdoing.

Ed "struggles to care for his crew." He makes "terrible abusive choices," he has "victims." "He can still choose to do better" and "confront his own actions" (implying that Ed didn't choose to do better or confront his actions in canon). That's pretty damning. That's a character who victimizes the people around him and, as of the end of season two, hasn't improved.

What makes Izzy a fucked up character that OP still chooses to love? Izzy is "twisted, messy, bitter." He's used to violence and he has changed himself to fit into the violent world of piracy. He "enabled" Ed's darkness, except he actually didn't. He has a hard time accepting kindness and he's imperfect. That's... not very fucked up at all. All of Izzy's flaws are situational here; he's only "twisted, messy, bitter" because of the environment he's trapped in, and he takes the blame for darkness he didn't really stoke. At worst, he's an imperfect survivor of abuse.

I just don't like it, y'know? I don't like this trick where people say yes, both of these characters are fucked up, but only one of the characters is actually culpable. The flaws of the favored character aren't really their fault.

Look: as a thoroughly Stede-coded human with Depressed Bitch Syndrome, I adore Ed and I'm absolutely biased in his favor, but he is flawed. He has oodles of unresolved trauma, mental health issues, and he isn't all that emotionally mature. He can be extremely self-centered and dismissive of other peoples' feelings; his conviction that he's unlovable makes him quick to give up on Stede and quick to think the worst of the crew in S1E10 (in the wake of the confrontation with Izzy, Ed interprets their calls for another song as mockery). Ed has a tenuous sense of self and becomes whoever he thinks present company wants him to be, even if that person is a jerk (the fancy party) or a jackass (Calico Jack) or a monster (the Kraken). He hangs on to Izzy because Izzy might be a dick, but he's a certainty. And yeah, he loves a good maim. He's a pirate captain.

And you know what? I adore him. He's complicated and sweet and brilliant and I think he's The Character of All Time.

And Izzy... Izzy is a joyless middle-manager with an inflated sense of self-importance. He thinks he's the backbone of the whole operation, the down-to-earth guy holding Blackbeard together. He thinks he loves Ed, but he doesn't even see Ed until the end of season one, and he sure as hell doesn't like Ed until the end of season two. He tries to murder Stede multiple times because he's convinced it's what's good for Blackbeard, even after he realizes Ed has feelings for Stede. Izzy doesn't want change. He resists it at every turn, even after he's down a leg and can't live for his job. He tried to keep Ed trapped in the role of Blackbeard because Izzy's purpose and identity was tied up in that fiction. He only realizes he doesn't want the violence of Blackbeard when he's fired; prior to that, he's fine with going along with the Kraken, even at the cost of his toes.

That's all weird as hell! That's interesting! If I was isolated from OFMD fandom, I probably would've become an Izzy Jar Guy after season two wrapped up! But all of my interest in Izzy jumps ship when I see some of his fans (not all -- my sibling's an Izzy fan and they remain cool) soften him and absolve him of all real guilt.

Does that make me an anti, or just a petty Ed stan? Like, I generally feel like my take on Izzy is firmly rooted in canon, but the more time I spend in fandom, the less certain I am.

#ofmd #fandom critical #kinda? #look i don't know what i'm typing about #i just saw a thing and needed to type #i'll try to say something smart next time #izzy critical #technically? #i don't feel like i'm being critical! #the more i read the more baffled i am #me typing things

[not-terezi-pyrope]

"Don't vote for Joe Biden, he's complicit in genocide and that should be your moral red line". People are right, he is complicit, clearly so.

But what the fuck does electing Trump do to improve the situation, materially? (And yes, not voting entirely is also helping to elect Trump. The republicans aren't abstaining from voting for their guy over Gaza, and don't kid yourself that an independent will gain traction). What is the utilitarian purpose to putting somebody who is guaranteed to even further stoke the genocide while simultaneously persecuting minorities domestically in the US presidency?

Is the idea that the democrats are castigated for their stance on Gaza so they might change policy after another four years? Is that worth the inevitable consequence of a second Trump presidency? Is that really the "lesson" the democratic leadership would learn, as opposed to them just tilting more right to appeal to the center? Have people done that calculus, really decided that that is something they are willing to risk?

Or is it just about being able to personally wash one's hands of theoretical culpability by making a protest vote, damn the actual real world consequences?

Because if it's the latter, that feels like a pretty selfish and privileged move to make, to me. I feel like these decisions should be made to reflect the actual consequences. But then maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. (Genuinely, tell me if I am missing something obvious here).

#not-terezi-speaks #genocide cw #politics cw #i can't even vote in y'all's elections so don't come at me after this

[specialmouse]

all right so yall, in an effort to help the palestinian cause, have decided to boycott a company that is not even listed by BDS, and as a global conglomerate is not even really culpable for the actions of one mcdonalds national franchise (multiple swana mcdonalds franchises have come out against mcdonalds israel).. basically so you can call people who aren't boycotting (which has done and will do next to nothing to mcdonalds, btw, no matter how many self righteous tweets you post) fat fucks. great job you guys im glad you feel good about this

[vashtijoy]

If Akechi's story were to continue, how would you want it to go ideally?

Ohh, anon, where to start.

First off, I want to know what's happening in the true ending. Why is he with that team at the station? Because there are two almost-identical groups there—one is in the car chasing down the Phantom Thieves and Joker, but one is walking past at the station with Akechi. And he doesn't look like he's there voluntarily. So is he working with them against his will? Have they captured him? Is he pretending to cooperate and playing traitor again? Is he actually cooperating? Is he the guy the car suits are talking to on the mic? Is he looking down like that because he knows Joker's on the train and doesn't want to see him? Does Joker know he's alive, are they in contact or even conspiring? I WANT TO KNOW GODDAMMIT TELL ME

Some people say the guys in the suits are part of the continuity conspiracy (which will pop up later in Strikers). I like the idea that they're some faction or other of the Kirijo Group. One thing's for sure, though: they aren't the police.

Once we get that plot out of the way—assuming Akechi survives it, because he's a good candidate for an actual onscreen death—we really get into fanfic territory, shit that doesn't make good video games. How does he develop, given who he's been and what he's done? How does he live with that as he grows and changes? What happens as he slowly connects to others, as he forms confidants of his own? How does he do better? How does he make amends—does he make amends? He wants to leave it in the past and live in the present, but life's not like that; he's not like that. Akechi is his past. His whole life he's been fixated on his past, on the wrongs done to him, on the revenge he wanted. And we're meant to believe that in the third semester, when he's got absolutely nothing left, he just goes yep, not thinking about the past any more? Of course he thinks about it all the damn time. He's going to obsess about it despite himself.

What about the police? What about Sae? If he's going to have a story, he can't just turn himself in—but does he try? Does he believe it's the end of his path? Why isn't he executed? Why isn't he in jail? What about justice for his victims? How culpable is he, overall? He believes he's entirely culpable, that he chose his path all along. But did he?

What about the Metaverse being gone? How does he feel about it, deep down? For years it's a place only he can go. It's his place. Does he think of it as his only real home? As his domain, his place of power? The one place he's truly safe, even as shit attacks him from all sides? Like, never mind that it's obviously the place he goes to be himself as best he can, to vent all the shit that builds up in his day-to-day life. What does it do to him, not having that outlet? Is he homesick for it? Does he crack?—I'd be amazed if he didn't. So what does that look like?

And what does he do? Don't forget, Akechi is a murderer. That's his preferred skillset; that's what he wants to do, what he enjoys doing. What he really brings to the team in the third semester appears to be pure ruthlessness and a will to be the one who kills when it's necessary. So if he somehow gets to have a life, how does he avoid living with anticlimax for the rest of his days? What does he even offer the world?—or a society in which people like him can have no place?

He's done everything interesting he will ever do. He's been as interesting as he'll ever be. Does he miss what he was? Does he miss what he did? Does he miss Shido, even, who was his only family, who praised him and needed him so completely? Does he get mixed up with Mitsuru somehow, just to keep him out of jail, to give him some kind of place and purpose? How would he view that? Another rich, powerful asshole trying to control him?—very much nty, he'll rot in jail first.

And what about Joker? What about the Phantom Thieves? Does he have a place with them? Or will he always be an outcast, tolerated at best, unable to connect? How do those relationships play out over years, over a lifetime?

Akechi has made a lot of mistakes and a lot of bad choices. In the third semester he's pretty much broken as a person, after what seems to have close to a change of heart. I'd really like to see him slowly develop and learn and change. I'd like to see him find something to live for besides killing. So to really answer your original question—I want him to live. I want him to slowly learn that there can be things in the world for him, and people who want him for himself. I want him to come to a place where he can start to do better because he's chosen to—likely still in a ruthless and mercenary way, that's just who he'll always be, but still doing better. Because punitive justice doesn't put anything right, not really. And it makes for boring fanfic, too.

tl;dr: Atlus, return my child.

#asks #persona 5 #goro akechi

[half-man-half-lime]

I think my Rain O'Fire Frazier hot take is that he's kind of a scapegoat for the collective actions of the Fallen during the mall fire, and if you think about it, that makes him a tragic example of the fact that superpowers make you a main character of society in the Wormverse. (Not getting into how that relates to my opinions on the anti-parahumans, which is a whole other post)

See, he is responsible for countless deaths.... and so are all the other Fallen members who set that fire and penned people in from inside the building. He didn't open the doors when he could have... but others have already pointed out that Seir never told Rain to open the doors, and yelled at him after he didn't, probably as intentional sabotage.

I guess what I'm getting at is that Rain became the omnipresent symbol of all those deaths, of Love Lost's daughter, because he got powers and people noticed, and the shards designed a series of dreams to torment the cluster and leave them without any rest or escape, and placed Rain at the center of those visions.

And there's definitely an irony there, that those dreams are what made Rain question his decisions in the first place, but I don't know what to do with that.

And all of this isn't to say that Rain wasn't that bad in the scheme of things, or that he didn't have responsibility to atone and make up for his actions, it's just... he was really the only one anybody cared about. Not the one who made the calls, not sharing the blame with tens of other goons, just the guy who got attention for it.

And that kinda twists the morality debate, doesn't it? That even though he is morally culpable, the narrative is twisted by the presence of powers to make him the only culprit anyone cares about, including him. Love Lost's daughter rests on his shoulders and nobody else's. He has all this self-reflection about his sins, while everyone else responsible doesn't share that burden and aren't treated like they matter at all.

I mean I guess the Cluster did organize an attack on the entire Fallen because of that, which undercuts the point a little, but, you know, Rain's the only one who got tortured, isn't he?

I don't know what my point is here. Is it that Rain got an unfair deal, or that the finger on the scale against him undercuts his personal growth? Or neither? Not sure.

#Ward Spoilers #Parahumans #Ward #Ward Web Serial #Wildbow

[morose-magnetrix]

Hi there!!! Did you read the Magneto series and Scarlet witch series? I'm eagerly waiting to know your thoughts!

Yes I did! I read through the last issue of Magneto this morning, as well as issues 9 & 10 of Scarlet Witch. Overall, I really enjoyed the conclusions to both of them, Scarlet Witch more so.

Magneto:

This line from Issue 4 really summarizes I think the overall conceit of this story: "Was the 'evil mutant' just a role I played for the greater good... or the ugly truth? Am I the heir to Charles Xavier's dream... or the beast that will devour it?"

At first, this series gave me the impression that the author's argument was that it had all been an act back in the 60's, that Magneto wasn't really ever 'evil,' and I didn't find that satisfying. I think there's a tendency in fiction to try to absolve characters of their past actions/crimes, in order to make them more palatable and less complex (for instance, absolving Jean Grey of Dark Phoenix's actions by making it so the real Jean was at the bottom of the bay the entire time, or saying that Doom had manipulated Wanda into committing M-Day). Removing their responsibility/culpability for actions they took just isn't as interesting to me as seeing someone grapple with something horrific they had done, and having to struggle and reckon with it, and find a way to atone for their actions.

So basically, I thought at first that this was what this narrative was trying to do - to remove Magneto's responsibility for the stuff he did in the silver age. But by the conclusion of the series, I think it became more clear that deMatteis & co were really trying to examine these two opposing poles of Magneto, of his capability for intense rage and violence, but also for empathy and compassion.

I think if the series had been longer, this would've been super successful. As it was, it accomplished what it set out to do in these four issues and the ending scene with Rahne, where they're looking at the photo of Max's mom, it's super touching and sweet. I just wish things had more space to breathe to allow this character study the runway it really needed.

Scarlet Witch:

I ADORE this entire run. I haven't been posting my thoughts on individual issues as much as I used to - and that isn't because these things aren't good, they're fucking fantastic - I've just been busy with work (& getting back into writing fanfic). But I need to be super clear - this is my favorite Scarlet Witch solo ever (not that we have many lol) and probably is up there in one of my favorite comic runs of all time.

The artwork is GORGEOUS. The colors used are amazing and the expressions on the characters, by god they just fucking sing. I love the care taken to depict Wanda respectfully and accurately, the new costumes are sick af, and everything is just so dynamic. Sometimes, I have a hard time figuring out what is happening with comic book art, but I never really struggled here - even as we are dropped into wacky new situations, often times jumping from completely different contexts from panel to panel. And the covers, they are just.... just chef's kiss - perfection!

And the characterization, gods - just incredible. I didn't really like Orlando's Marauders run, I ended up dipping out somewhere in arc 1 or 2 of it, so I was a little worried about Scarlet Witch. I'm so glad to have been proven wrong. The cast works together so flawlessly, the little moments recalling past continuity without aliening new readers is fantastic. I adored Wanda calling Joseph Iosif and I'm hoping that, when we next see him, he may just adopt that as his name? (Although I'm not expecting to see Iosif around any time soon, given that Max is coming back, and historically when Max is back and a good guy, Iosif is either dead or a bad guy).

The treatment of Wanda's family was everything I could have hoped for - honoring Magneto as her father, her interactions with her siblings, with her kids, with her niece. Seeing Luna Maximoff again in a comic was NOT something I saw coming but I loved it lol.

I also just loved the rotating nature of the problems she faced - that every issue was a new adventure, a new place, a new way for Wanda to demonstrate her growth and healing by giving back to others. She's an OP character by definition and I never felt myself bored with the conflicts she had to face. They were unique and varied and I felt most of them, on some level, had a direct connection to a period of Wanda's own history - hell, they even had her basically go and confront someone who was doing a WandaVision which I found sooo funny lmao.

(If you can't tell by my rambling, I'm kinda obsessed with this series...)

The final villain I really liked - partially because I am an inorganic chemist, so a lot of the science and stuff that I do actually comes from alchemists. I think having alchemist villains for Wanda to face is super interesting and a nice change of pace from the demons and other witches she is usually up against, and I hope we see more of Nicola. She's a super neat foil for Wanda, particularly with the current continuity that Wanda comes from a line of Scarlet Witches, and Nicola comes from a long line of alchemists.

Darcy was a treat, she worked super well here, and I kinda ship her with Zelma now??? Like they're girlfriends, right??? Right???

There's probably things I'm frothing at the mouth over with this series that I've forgotten about, but I also don't want to write you an entire essay in response, so.... I'm gonna cut myself off here and say that I am VERY excited for the follow up Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch series. (Maybe we'll get a Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch & POLARIS series one day, hmmm? Please Marvel? Pleeeeeeeease? I neeeeeed it soooo much....)

#answered asks #asks #marvel comics #scarlet witch #steve orlando #sara pichelli #frank william #russel dauterman #magneto #JM DeMatteis #Todd Nauck #Rachelle Rosenberg

[doubledyke]

Now lets talk about Ed:

1: His intelligence. He's just a doofus, or is he smarter than he looks?

2: Is he this 100% pure cinnamon roll, or he's a kind of jerk just like everyone else (yeah, I find him to be a jerk in some episodes, just like Your Ed Here)?

3: Is he so genuinely sunny and carefree, or is this a mask and he's secretly depressed or struggling (you know, his abusive homelife and all more)?

thanks for giving me some food for thought! i do just wanna say that any and all (okay, most) interpretations and opinions, including unpopular ones are valid, even if i have different ideas. im but a humble dumbass that spends my free time blogging about a cartoon. no one needs a green light from me to feel a certain way about any character. the fun of participating in goofy fandom stuff is to hear opinions from people with different experiences that shape their perception.

that being said 🤔

i've posted here before that i think ed became gratuitously stupid later on, especially for season 5. maybe he got brain damage from eddy using him as a battering ram so often. but he's got some lucidity sprinkled on top of his oafishness throughout the series. i don't think he's "stupid", i think he just stays in his own little world and that his brain works differently than others'. early on he comes off more as a dopey guy who hangs with eddy because they're both outcasts and can be themselves around each other. not a lot of options, if you get my drift. of all three eds he has the least culpability when it comes to their eventual injurious antics, in my opinion. he's kinda just there because he hangs out with eddy (and edd) and that's what eddy does. there's a true friendship there, don't get me wrong. but i don't think the eds started hanging out because they found each other interesting or cool lmao. that's comes later as they get to know each other and experience trauma together.......anyway, im getting off track.

i think ed is just as multi-faceted as anyone else, it's just maybe those facets aren't explored as much as they are for the other two idiots.

that being said, i don't see him as a jerk personally, but he has his moments i'm sure. i think it's moreso that he doesn't have much of a filter and just says what he thinks. and it's obvious that his doting on sarah is not because he actually gives that much of a shit but because he gets in trouble if she tells their parents. not that it really matters because she makes shit up all the time. he's probably said a lot more jerk-ish things but they're made incomprehensible by his use of nonsensical literary devices. little ed blue is one of my favorite episodes because as we get to see ed when he's upset and irritable which is rare and always fleeting. i'll leave it at that and recommend @gettingfrilly's recent post about that scene where ed is on the tree stump just fuming. they're way more qualified than i to examine this type of stuff 🥴 i'll reblog it after i post this. but i do find it hilarious that he grabs eddy by the face and throws him into a tree. with edd, he gives a warning and pushes him away. there are lots of examples of him being notably gentler with edd and probably even jimmy and others a few times. overall i feel like he's not really intentionally violent with anyone besides eddy. i have a terrible memory so despite watching every episode several times by now, i tend to forget stuff often. so i could be wrong. anyway, again i digress. in 'your ed here' he makes a few playfully sassy remarks when he's playing tic tac toe with edd, but i don't really see it as him being a jerk per se. he thinks he's good at the game so he's doing his weird version of bragging and teasing. and I think a lot of times he comes off as aloof when someone (eddy) is being humiliated and/or getting their ass kicked but i think that has to do with him again, being in his own world and not necessarily because he doesn't care. and finally, with him laughing at eddy and edd's middle names, i just don't find it to be mean-spirited. he thinks the names are funny and so, he laughs.

one example of him being snotty that comes to mind right now is from another of my fave episodes, 'thick as an ed'. it's hilarious to see him try to clap back at edd by saying "stinky hat" over and over. he's expressing genuine annoyance at double dee being well, fucking annoying as usual. to me it's unlikely that edd's hat actually stinks so that means ed came up with something he knew would get under edd's skin. you could argue that it's a bit of a dick move! but given the context of the episode, he's reached a breaking point after his friends have done nothing but try to take his beloved lucky cheese chunk. i can't believe i'm writing this right now.

anyhow, there's definitely a theory out there that ed is putting on an act of being stupid and clumsy just to essentially spite eddy, or foil the scams. it's just not my own personal take on things. interesting nonetheless!

yeah man, ed has an unquestionably awful life at home. his maladaptive daydreaming is definitely a coping mechanism for his shitty reality and probably helps him make sense of the things going on around him. i think ed has a bit of a lack of object permanence (for lack of a better phrase) so once he's away from his house and sarah isn't around, he might be able to put his hardships on the back burner for a while. with the other two eds, they wear their emotions and trauma on their sleeves. there's a lot in what they do, say, and how they react that are tells for their less than ideal upbringings and lack of emotional well-being. a big difference is that they try to hide it and don't explicitly state that things are though back home. with ed we mostly gain insight from his interactions with sarah, the neglected state of his room and personal hygiene, and the random things he discloses about his parents a handful of times. he doesn't even express his opinion about how his parents or sarah act, he simply recalls his past experiences. he's smart enough to grasp cause and effect, even if it doesn't ways show in his actions. his cheerfulness might come off as him being blissfully unaware and i think that's because he essentially is?? at the very least when he's not being actively lambasted by his mother, he's able to hardcore dissociate and go off into ed-land to escape the horrors ™.

TL;DR: i don't think ed's thick-headedness detracts from his distinct personality. he is a loveable oaf and that's perfectly fine in my book. i don't think he's a "cinnamon roll", but i also don't think he's a jerk. my opinion is that he leans waaaaay more towards benevolence. and yeah i absolutely think he's experiencing a lot of neglect and trauma, no doubt about it. i don't see his sweet disposition as a mask necessarily, but more as the result of masterful compartmentalization.

#thanks again! i have a headache so im gonna spare everyone any further attempt to form cohesive thoughts at the moment #@gettingfrilly don't roast my poorly expressed takes too hard #text

[iintervallum]

the only sort of thing of worth i can contribute to a very specifc discussion that is taking place on here is, vis a vis this weird sort of transmisogny v racism comparison thing that i keep seeing cropping up and also admittedly keep looking into because I'm curious why people think how they do is this:

at the very least people do recognize racism as an axis of opression, even the most liberal of liberals knows it's a thing that happens and that people do experience it, even if they don't take stuff like micro agressions seriously or think that racism is no more somehow because of Martin Luther king or whatever, they still understand that its something that a person can experience and be a victim of, even if they think we've "gone past it"

meanwhile i still see trans fems get hounded for trying to just explain why tme/tma are useful terms and that transmisogny is a genuine thing that can happen. people somehow managed to make the toonimal thing about trans women who didn't know the guy, like huh?

people bring up tme poc as people who would get the experience, but honestly, especially in the cases of tme women of colour, i feel like they are more likely to want to distance themselves from trans fems, they would get offended if they were to be compared to one, I've seen it happen a few times.

like sure terf/radfem ideology is very much racist yes, but you find transphobes are perfectly fine rubbing shoulders with racists if it means getting to paint trans people as 'degenerates'.

people of colour are just as culpable in transphobia and it should be brought up, i don't like to bring it up because unfortunately people can't talk about the homophobia/transphobia in non white spaces without being racist about it."oh well they're backwards anyways what do you expect" how about you fuck off

that's one of the reasons its so annoying to see people of colour that are terfs, like they aren't going to fight for you. i distinctly remember once while i was looking into the radfem tag to block people, i once saw a radfem that was poc, complaining about how racist people within the radfem community can be,and i thought "didn't think the leopards would eat you too huh"

im vaguing about a specific "discourse" that i honestly think shouldn't be even called discourse it's been going on for a lot longer than when i first heard about it. im not involved with it but I've been looking at it from a distance and man, if either of your sides don't seem to involve transfems of colour then your statements talking about either transmisogny along with racism seem to ring kind of hollow. i really don't like how this thing that seems to be born out of one specific incident like 2-3 years back has kept going and morphed into something a lot more insidious. i think people are stiring shit with it too and sending horrible anons and asks to bait drama as well which sucks

i want to see more conversations about those topics that don't circle back to this weird feud that neither circle involved seems to want to keep going on with but for whatever reason there's just something or the other that ignites it every few months. like we're stuck at stalemate here unless someone new comes in to fully blow it up even further.

tbh i don't even blame twoc for keeping their distance on this it's genuinely not worth it, youd just get the brunt of the horribleness of both sides and none of benefits. that's honestly the most i can say, I'm not trans fem, and I'm non black too, as a lot of the specific kind of racism they are talking about is antiblackness, which of course with either topic I'm not the person who can really talk with any authority on.

hence why reblogs are off I'm just giving my 2 cents on this because im finding it difficult to sleep and i have a lot of thoughts

#aster.txt #transmisogyny #racism #non rebloggable #<- should add this as a tag for the posts that have reblogs off #honestly people should use rebloggable or non rebloggable if they want people to be sure so they don't have to ask #but asking is still nice i like when i go to the replies and people ask it's sweet #just a little reminder that there are nice people in the world #this situation too has these circles of people that i don't particularly like #and if you pay attention it's centered around like one specifc guy #that is clearly never going to accept his complicity in the harm caused in this #while i don't like either circle i dislike his thing of getting involved in stuff and then going woah #i was just posting on my own blog how did this happen?? like hey you know your reputation here #you know that if you were to comment on stuff people will make a thing about it #and clearly people are willing to get nasty over this on anon to defend you so somewhere you went wrong #i followed that person for a bit of time before seeing this play out and going nope i dont like you actually #ugh i feel nervous posting this but whatever I'll delete later if i regret it

[ashintheairlikesnow]

i feel like it’s kind of a bizarre take for marc to feel like he belongs in/has a right to live or even pass freely through hope because he helped one pet who had already escaped escape more effectively. it’s eerie to see others perceive him sympathetically through his daughter and even beringer and rye buy into it cuz he’s “one of the good ones.” they’re so used to the cruelty of WRU that because marc only witnessed/did nothing to stop it he has convinced himself (!!) and others that he’s a good guy. i feel like he’s rlly one of your underrated darker characters w the whole no choice/following orders thing

Marc Sonders is absolutely someone who has been making excuses for his own culpability for so long he kind of believes them, but also doesn't entirely because there is a core of conscience in him that his life hasn't entirely wiped away.

Marc is my take on guys recruited from poverty into the military. He took a job with WRU because the recruiters sold him on the pay structure and benefits, and he needed money for his young family. By the time he realizes what he's gotten himself into, he's dependent on that paycheck and worried that if he leaves he can't get anything else that will let him support his wife and child.

Then WRU does what they do and isolates him from his friends and family, bit by bit, until everyone he associates with, even outside of work, is mostly still his coworkers. People who get it, you know? And somehow he comes back to himself when his wife leaves and he has a little girl and he's a monster but if he stops being a monster, he and his daughter might have no way to feed themselves and he has no friends who aren't part of the system anyway.

So he tells himself he's doing the best he can in the situation he's in, and he sometimes even believes it.

He wasn't sure if they'd let him go through Hope to Canada. he was hoping so, for sure, but he wasn't entirely surprised when they didn't. His surprise has been more that Beringer didn't just abandon him.

Granted, Ber is ALSO shocked he didn't abandon Marc...

And yeah, Rye is someone who is so deeply immersed in what he was trained to be that he can't really see how Marc was still doing terrible things, even if he didn't do the MOST terrible things compared to the others. To him, Marc is a good guy, because he had total power and control but he didn't use it the way the other handlers did, to cause pain. That's all it takes.

And Rye is sweet, and sincere, and so Brock is giving Marc some kind of chance but also lowkey hoping Marc dies in the little shack so that this can stop being a problem he has to deal with.

#marc asks

[bunnyloaves]

hickeygibson euthanasia posting hours

thinking about the hickeygibson euthanasia scene, or more like superimposing my own feelings onto it. not to put my hickeyposter street cred on the line like this but this is what i delusionally think its all about.

the take that its all about the pragmatism is just so meh to me. that hickey really just stabbed billy out of necessity and he's the one worst for wear out of all of them or that this euthanasia scene is just a perversion of the fitzier one. this one is Wrong while the other is Noble (they are just as noble as each other, yall girlies just don't like his form and manner in having done it :pp)

he saw billy suffering and wanted to put him out of that misery before he could fully sink into that debility and pain. and like fair, coming from them two its as much an expression of love as he can provide (we can now be sad about the sparseness of love, it was there but these conditions have whetted it into a weapon, ok) but the take that it was about love doesn't have enough grit to me either, like yeah thats them but i don't think thats how they operate.

idk TO ME that whole exchange is like. if hickey could reasonably believe that billy wasn't as worse for wear as he was. like if there was some measure of life (not just lumbering around camp) then i don't think he'd have stabbed him. they were gonna make it out together, not traipsing away to some tropical island, no. but they were gonna be together even with hickey's delusions of grandeur. like to some extent, billy IS hickey's creature, or wife, (or whatever u guys want) there is some measure of culpability there, a sense of responsibility for the deterioration they've reached

so there's this aspect of being culpable and guilt, whether he is forgiven by the other or not. its about whether he still looks at you with affection or is it vacant and long-suffering. the pivotal point is, if its a look of long-suffering then, yeah he'll shank the wifey. but if its a look with recognition, then no, he won't be shanked since having recognition means that billy's still attached to hickey. and i don't see hickey as the type to hand off recuperating/caring for billy to another person. like its definitely not bc he wants to do it himself, but i think it'd be sickening for him to have a person he liked turn to another figure for such comforts, like seeking that elsewhere IS a kind of betrayal to him. that's what the stabbing is TO ME, some kind of fucked up apology for letting billy wear himself out that much. since hickey's the one who put billy in this state, he's the only person allowed to absolve/extricate him from that pain.

yeah i hear you, billy is in a state of disarray, feed him more broth or something. isn't that the obvious loving response to your partner deteriorating?

i think a lot of it hinges on whether or not hickey perceives that billy accepted his proffered comfort, like yes the logical thing is to be tender (and he IS, like that bit was so tender) but what if he looks at you with emptiness, like what if the wifey is too far gone in his debility, what then. what if the tenderness/benefaction hickey is proffering is turned away. so your partner has just shown you that they aren't dying for the comfort ur offering and isn't that a damn betrayal (and by betrayal i mean like hickey makes the biggest slights out of nothing, be forreal) that betrayal is a catalyst for the shanking, more than love or practicality, its about the fear that they don't really need u at all, not when they're this far gone and deteriorated. and any future attempts at recuperation would similarly be too far gone to be fully appreciated. that betrayal riles him up enough to do this. like if billy smiled or any bit of recognition, i just know he wouldn't have been shanking him but since he's looking so sad n dejected that means he's not absolved (this isn't something that'll just come to pass, so he's compelled to shank)

like i don't mean this in that hickey is inherently manipulative, honestly i mean this in a pathetic "i kinda cant let u seek this from anyone else, bc it would render me impotent, and being confronted by my own impotency is driving me crazy". like oh it definitely was still about love and all that putting him out of his misery, but its a secret third flavor of attachment TO ME.

#the terror #terrorposting #hickeygibson #euthanasia scene posting #is this actually grounded or am i just superimposing my own illnesses onto my blorbos hmm #i mean it makes sense to my brain like yeah u love them but also i need to euthanize you despite it all #idk if these leaps of logic make sense but ig through a lens of undisclosed personality disorder hickey this would make more sense? i guess #or like in my brain the leap from 'i love u' and 'i will still shank u' just makes sense #i think its the whole bit that your offered comforts cannot be a balm to them anymore bc its beyond fixing #and if u hinge it on that. its not outlandish at all imho #squeaks into the void

[iamnotawomanimagod]

welp. time to just get this off my chest.

on tumblr it's "support Palestine or you are the scum of the Earth" but literally everywhere I go and everyone else I talk to is spouting the "there's two sides to this" "there are no good guys" rhetoric

so no, I'm not surprised that people who aren't chronically online in the deepest left spaces on the internet support Israel.

does it piss me off? of course it does. do I understand the omnipresent and pervasive nature of Western propaganda and the way very few people in Western culture are interested in confronting that? yeah, I do. is it fucked up that that's a reality in Western/American culture? yeah, it is. do I think screaming and mud-slinging at every person who even slightly suggests that there could be no good answers in this is even remotely productive, useful, or helpful? no. I'm not going to end the war by calling my chronically-ill, dying mother a genocide supporter.

I do not support the genocide and I am part of those that see the absolute need for an immediate ceasefire. I am the only one I know in my offline life that feels this way. My friends and family are all left-leaning.

it's difficult not to see the attitude here on tumblr as virtue signaling. it's also difficult to have any meaningful conversations with the people in my life about Palestine when this issue has been ongoing since before I was born. since before my mom was born. yes, people feel overwhelmed and scared and unsure of what the right thing to do is. that's a very human response to war. it's awful.

I don't think we should stop talking about Palestine. I do think tumblr has distilled this issue down to a single talking point that does not allow for any meaningful conversation to take place with the people who could actually have their minds changed, because if you step even the tiniest bit into the "two sides to every 'conflict'" discourse, you are labeled a supporter of genocide.

even posting this is going to get me some major side-eye, I know that. and yes, I am speaking from a place of enormous privilege, safety, and distance. I know.

I just think of all the other horrific shit going on in our world, every single day, and of how little impact me and my family and friends can actually have on any of it, and then I come on tumblr and every other post is about abhorrent actions taken against people who I cannot help. an absolute deluge of human suffering, graphic violence, and traumatizing images and stories that I can do absolutely nothing about.

geopolitics is not something I've ever had any hope of having significant impact on. it's so so so far above my head. it's so far out of my control. and I'm too sensitive of a little bitch to just keep swallowing the bad news and knowing I can never really fix it or even help in a meaningful way.

I don't want to visit a blog about bears and see images of children crushed under rubble. I don't want my favorite fandom blog to post video of victims waving white flags and being shot down.

who is this actually helping? whose mind is this actually changing, when you're on the "there is ONE side to this and if you think anything even a little bit otherwise, you are Evil" website?

I get two options when I vote. less genocide or more genocide. voting is the only thing I can do to influence my country's politics, and I was going to do it already anyway. my president is 100% culpable in this and he's STILL the better option.

and how people posting on tumblr lowkey do seem to think that they're going to stop the war that way. you aren't. this is a fucking echo chamber, and I know that's true because the moment I step outside of it, the discourse changes completely. you cannot and will not save the world by blogging. people who aren't blogging about it are not contributing to the genocide.

I guess if this is upsetting to you and you think I'm a bad person because I feel this way, you can unfollow me. if you're a mutual, at least soft-block me on the way out.

#rambling about my life #not going to tag this but it's about i/p

[hxhhasmysoul]

I've played something like up to mid act 3 of Baldur's Gate 3 now, have opinions on origin characters and companions. SOME MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD. But I'm trying to be as vague as possible.

Maybe I will start with the good because there's less of it but it's what keeps me from crying.

Karlah - best girl, no notes. She's got a very fun personality, her back story is very good and her behaviour tracks really well with that back story. Same goes for the things she approves of an disapproves. She's also very attractive and that's a bonus. She's for a good playthrough mostly but I'm not into evil playthroughs so I don't really care. She's a very reliable party member but barbarian isn't the best class solo, I multiclass her for better efficiency.

Lae'zel - very solid character, she's kinda scary and better than though in the beginning but her skills and efficiency really explain some arrogance. The githyanki are a specific society and she's very into their way of life but as I spent more time with her and did her quests I liked her more and more. It's funny how she's proud of her brainwashing. Her behaviour and approval also makes sense. And damn she's got game. She's a little too skinny looking for me but I think it's because that's how githyanki are, she's still hot.

Wyll - he's interesting because he really wants to be a good person but isn't the best at getting there. His back story is really good and he's personality is interesting. I find myself rooting for him to find himself, to actually be the man he wants to be. His behaviour is consistent and what he approves of and doesn't also makes sense. Hottest among the guys, no contest. The problem is that warlocks aren't the strongest class, another candidate for muliclassing to make him stronger.

Halsin - daddy, Larian let us cuddle the bear and it offsets some of the shitty writing Larian is so so guilty of. Alas it shows that he was put in because of fan pressure, there's not that much story tied to him and that lands him slightly below Wyll. His personality is very pleasant and looks wise he's a fan favourite for a reason. Halsin is a druid that makes him very useful and very strong. I wish Larian'd actually planned to make him a companion from the start.

The sadly disappointing.

Astarion - the biggest disappointment since early access. I used to like him a lot, he's got very good dialogue early on. He also has an interesting back story that initially makes his attitude very understandable. But it feels like the writers had no idea what to do with him. The more I spend time with him the more he annoys me. It's really hard to predict what he will approve or disapprove of. A lot of time he just seems contrarian for no reason. He feels disconnected from the main story, it doesn't feel he grows closer to my character, unlike with Lae'zel for instance where I feel the change of gaining her approval. Looks wise he's average, I'm really not into the pale and white haired.

Could go either way.

Minthara - idk anything about her, I have never and am not planning to side with the Absolute. Her looks are average so no temptation there. Her religious fanatic thing also isn't tempting because I already have Shadowheart and she doesn't ask me to slaughter refugees and animals to grace me with her shitty company.

As to the characters returning from the previous games. I'm very against this move by Larian or the DnD overlords, whoever is culpable. One of those companions had such an extensive quest in BG 2 that honestly it's annoying they're here to have more personal quests. Also this character kinda annoys me when it comes to their personality and affiliation. The other character that's coming back is less aggravating to me personally though they are an acquired taste for some. I wouldn't mind them joining my camp and serving as advisors or even romance options, but them taking up companion slots is really a big minus of the game. Either way I have no intention of ever having them in my party, I'm not interested in them. I'm so mad we couldn't get Alfira, or Barcus, or Isobel, or that guy from the githyanki hatchery as a companion. Those and possibly others I'm forgetting, could have been good companions with interesting potential.

Now we're getting to the bad. And honestly it's not simply bad, it's instantly very bad.

Shadowpout - idk what to say, Her personality is grating, she's pouty, she thinks she's mysterious but she's just a poor liar. She's constantly in self denial that borders on stupidity. I don't respect her goal to become a fanatical enforcer. Her moody dialogues that I guess are meant to be ironic or sarcastic are just annoying, I've told her to shut up several times, like out loud, towards the screen. She's also proud of being brainwashed, like Lae'zel, but her arrogance really isn't backed up by any skill. Gods with her built in specs she's useless in a fight, mele, spells single use or concentration based, healing, you name it she can't do it well. Multiclassing or respecking her is a must above the lowest difficulty if you want to have her in the party - and a well speced cleric/druid in the party extremely useful. Honestly it's easier to run a party without a wizard/sorcerer/warlock than without a cleric/druid - that's why I still take her into the camp and revive her when she dies. Her looks are average but her personality is so off putting that she kinda grosses me out.

Gale - the fucking incel. He's a walking nice guy mansplainer stereotype. He's even worse than a normal mansplainer, he's a wizardsplainer. He will wizardsplain magic to a sorcerer character and the people who wrote it think that's flirting, at least that's how I understand that scene. What the actual fuck. That scene gave me the creeps, together with that scene where he explains his back story of: he had a thing with that one gal, it finished, she broke it off, stopped taking his calls, he couldn't take a no and decided that if he makes a grand romantic gesture she will take him back. Oh, and he still has a spell where he projects an illusion of her face to stare at her. But he's also monogamous, will not allow for the player character to branch out. I kid you fucking not. And he manages to be condescending with almost everything he says, fucking his his tone is at least as annoying as Shadowpout's. Gross, I judge anyone who pursues a romance with him. Because he's like this I actually stopped meeting him since mid early access, there's actually a way to never meet him in the game. And it pains me because his affliction feels like such a nice handicap to have in your gameplay. But he's a wizard so he's replaceable.

The Dark Urge - shitty edgy Larian writing at its fucking worse. The little introduction of the Dark Urge is all about resisting. But there's nothing to this character when you resist. There's only stuff for those who will play to embrace the urge and like what's the point of having a character like that in a Role Playing game which supposedly is about player choice!? It's completely pointless and it's doubly insulting to me as someone who grew up with BG1 and BG2 because that character references that story line the most directly. First of all that's stupid because the point of that story was to reach a conclusion but also that story was all about living with a horrifying legacy and making choices on how to handle it and you could play it as good, bad or neutral as you wanted and it didn't shut you out of most of the content related to your character.

#bg3 #i still think the game is an achievement and it's worth playing #and i will replay it for sure #probably a few times #but in the early access larian really reined in their worst writing instincts #and gods dos 2 has some of the worst edgy teen boy writing i've ever seen #it gets tedious to play because of that #but early access was act 1 #in act 2 larian let the dos 2 writers out of the basement where they should've rotted #and those guys went to town #i'm not gonna say more not to spoil but ugh #i was so eager to finish act 2 because it was so tedious #larian is great when it comes to world design and gameplay and stuff #but fuck their writing has the power to take the joy out of the game