#bg3 fandom critical

[eff-plays]

"Astarion is actually so masculine and wants to protect and provide for Tav! He's actually really strong physically and can throw Tav around! And also he's always on top so he's clearly masculine! And him being with women means he gets an extra special vampire treat ;)"

"Astarion is such a bratty effeminate twink who complains about his nails and cares too much about his appearance! His voice and movements are sooo campy! I simply can't imagine him with a woman, he's sooo gay-coded, he's simply made to be a bratty bottom."

#bg3 #bg3 fandom critical #astarion #the cisgenders are at it again everybody #stay safe out there!!!! #posts that will get me executed by firing squad #anyway. if this is how some of y'all approach irl people's gender expression then i feel bad for all ur trans and/or enby friends #cuz jesus christ

[asharaks]

it is, i think, symptomatic of the way larian has built this brand: bg3 was always marketed as being mature (read: sexual), and that was one of the big draws for players - myself included! especially as media pulls more towards extremes, with mainstream video games starting to get increasingly graphically sexual, graphically violent, and the vogue for 'grey morality' becomes the norm, those boundaries get pushed, and it becomes more and more of a selling point.

larian obviously focused on this, along with the How Do You Do, Fellow Kids brand, the increased accessibility of game devs on twitter, and adopted it heavily into their marketing strategy, and are now pretty reliant on the horny gamer crowd for a lot of their audience, and more importantly, they're doing this on purpose.

which is how you end up in situations like this.

characters (white men) the players want to fuck get centred: they get updates, they get more content, they get favoured. halsin's gone from a side character in EA to a half-fledged romance option, to a full romance option: he shows up in the promotional material, is larian's poster boy for the sex scenes, he gets more content with every update.

now gortash gets more heavily implied situationship lines with the dark urge, because players are horny for him. nevermind that some people aren't playing that way, or that he was originally set up to be a lower-level antagonist; nevermind that if the durge's storyline needed expansion, it should've been with orin and sarevok and bhaal, or that it muddies the writing for the rest of gortash's arc + characterisation: people want to fuck him, so it gets put in the game. it's not even to do with karlach, whose quest so desperately needs expansion! it's specifically catering to the people who want their character to have a Relationship with the slaver, because they're either not interested in or not able to focus on strengthening the weak spots in the narrative: they're just doing things that will net the 'my favourite dating sim' people lmfao.

meanwhile, literal main character wyll gets his quest demoted to a subquest, doesn't get bugfixes, doesn't get a single unique romance greeting after 6 patches and months of requests. he's not a Horny character, so he doesn't get the focus: he's not a player favourite, so he gets nothing. it's just... so unbelievably, indisputably racist, and it's incredibly grim and disappointing to watch it happen in real-time.

#also #and I can't believe I'm saying this #it feels like character assassination against enver 'can't be in a room with you without 5 robocops for protection' gortash. like come on. #stop trying to make him sexy he'll never be sexy #he's a slaver. #i feel like larian have backed themselves into a corner where they have to pander to this side of the fanbase #because they've encouraged it so strongly that now it feels like a majority share of their audience are here for the sex #bg3 #larian critical #bg3 fandom critical #to be clear. Yes i am being a hater #baldur's gate 3

[calicostorms]

"Wyll is boring" 😑 he is literally the fairy tale prince archetype, you guys just are not interested all the sudden bc he's a black man instead of a white blonde

#calico speaks #bg3 fandom critical #obviously not saying youre racist or whatever the hell for not enjoying him thats like. fine individually. #just in case my rant makes someone misinterpret what i am saying rn #not putting in main tag bc im just bitching but :/

[sweetmage]

When I say I hate being black in this fandom, this is exactly why. The constant dismissal, exclusion, and judgement of the only black character is frustrating. The way some people treat those who are bothered by this is frankly disgusting.

Had someone reply to a post I reblogged about fandom racism the other day calling the OP delusional for being upset (op if you see this I'm so sorry someone did that from my blog).

Saw someone on twitter saying that them excluding Wyll from an artwork they labeled "full party" was fine because they drew a red girl and a green girl (because that is totally the same as black people /s) and then basically said they'll never draw Wyll again.

Seeing constant criticisms and judgements of Wyll for things other characters do and arent criticized for.

The white washing mods, the racist comments on his appearance, the fact that Larian reworked him to appeal to crybaby white gamers, etc. etc.

And now what just happened to Theo in the interview makes me livid. He deserves so much better than being shoved aside by both the fandom and the interviewer.

Y'all really need to examine your biases and behavior and do better. No one has to like Wyll or any other character, but some of y'all need to put some thought into how you behave about him and how you talk about and represent black characters and how you address BIPOC fans who are hurt.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #fandom racism #bg3 fandom critical #wyll ravengard #jun rambles #ok to reblog

[bg3-npc]

Is Theo Soloman (Wyll's voice actor) the ONLY employee through Larian that actually likes Wyll????? Like, I loved the writing for Wyll and felt bad that his writer didn't get to create more and develop him further.

That response to the article though?? It's one thing to not take your characters seriously all the time when you've made it clear you care about them. It's another when a majority of fans are extremely hostile to them and your response is to laugh at a joke made at their expense. You're telling those fans, "Hey keep antagonizing them, it's not only deserved but funny."

If he came to Wyll's defense no one would take note, but joining in on the mocking of him only makes the aggressive (and extremely racist) fans feel vindicated in their treatment of Wyll. You're adding fuel to the fire.

Theo is the only one who (when even invited to speak) talks about Wyll with care and sincerity. He's the only one that when he does poke fun at Wyll, obviously comes at it from a place of love and understanding for the character. Never from a place of indifference or carelessness.

Theo Soloman thank you for everything you have done and continue to do for Wyll. I'm so sorry the people who made your job exist only ever invalidate and demean your work.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #wyll ravengard #bg3 wyll #larian critical #baldur's gate 3 critical #bg3 fandom critical #astarion #astarion ancunin #yes I'm tagging vampy #I want everyone to see the shit #wyll fans have to deal with #mine

[autistichalsin]

Do the people upset at Larian for implementing new kisses "before doing bug fixes" realize that the animation team is an entirely separate division from the programming team? Like, if they weren't working on kisses, they wouldn't be working on anything at all, because they're not programmers. The programming to add the kisses is MAYBE a few hours tops. The people working on bug fixes are still doing so, it's not like they dropped everything to animate Halsin smooches.

PLEASE STOP ATTACKING LARIAN FOR LITERALLY EVERYTHING THEY DO!

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 fandom critical

[opuspace]

Being a Halsin fan is....a unique experience in that you're frequently prone towards running into all sorts of taunts and insults from being called "mentally ill" for liking him because people assume you're into his "deviant behavior" to hearing that there's only "7 romances" because he doesn't count, to hearing that he's a sex pest, constant reminders of how players kill him in a feedback or fan thread about him, him being seen as fit for only being left as "Orin bait" by a few Astarion fans (who hate him because they see him as a sex pest) when I'm meanwhile turning Astarion down only to run into Astarion canonically admitting that he sees Tav's denial of consent as a "dire mistake to be corrected":

Or, frequently running into complaints as to why he's there when Jaheira is around for the Druid role (he was around first so it's clear why they're not acknowledging that).

"He's just fanservice that didn't need to be there! Why can't we have Alfira?!"

"We could have had a werewolf instead of him?! Wasted opportunity!" (Fans datamined that and discovered that Helia was dropped long before they added Halsin so it wasn't a toss up between them that fans think)

"He's a cheater trying to get you to cheat!"

Ironically, another fan found a post that not only was this wrong, Shadowheart and Astarion approve of the player sexually harassing a married NPC:

His point and click lines have still not been fixed despite requests to address them for months now.

Requests for more depth from his days in Early Access has not happened.

Pleas to Larian to please fix the writing that has him making fans uncomfortable has only just now been addressed but the damage has been done.

I see all these moments that get other characters amusement and affection while seeing Halsin vilified for stuff that doesn't even happen. I see acknowledgement that Gale's Weave scene was a bug, Wyll's dance scene where you couldn't avoid him trying to kiss you as "not a big deal" (until they were corrected) and I agree, that's exactly what they were: unintended side effects of poorly thought out writing/coding/scripting.

And yet, Halsin's presence has to be justified every step of the way.

There is so little sympathy for this character. So little sympathy for fans of this character. It even feels like Larian wrote him off when their attempt to make him a companion backfired.

I'm not even sure why fans want more romances added when this one ended with such hostility. I'd rather they fix and expand on the current romances like Wyll's, Minthara's and, yes, Halsin's (he does count as a romance).

#bg3 fandom critical #astarion critical #larian critical #halsin

[antiqua-lugar]

I'm so tired of people playing Sorcerers and getting upset when Gale clarifies they needed someone studied in magic and being like "But I am sooo much better than a wizard, I was born with it!"

Girl, you might be *check notes* magic incarnate but that means absolutely nothing when he is looking for an academic

"But I was born good at magic!"

Okay, and I was born a native Italian speaker, however if an academic asked me if I have studied Italian I would have to say no, because academically I have not. I don't know a single italian linguist. I don't know how we went from indio european to latin to Italian. I don't even know why sardo is a language and bergamasco is a dialect. I forgot all the grammar I had to learn. Sometimes I talk to Tuscans and I do not understand them. it's almost like those are two entirely different things

#bg3 #gale #l also play sorcerers btw. I love them #I like that they can be arrogant dicks #but it's entirely on THEM not on gale asking if you are a fellow magic academic #also like you are born talented. that is not going anywhere without putting some effort in #also like gale is a former Chosen of Mystra. with all due respect who are you #i know some people just have no idea of what it is to study things academically but like #imagine if he was asking about english lit and you went 'but i am english' okay buddy so i was thinking about a structuralist reading of ac #bg3 fandom critical #this is a minor thing but it keeps getting on my nerves #but I can get all the jokes in boris effortlessy! okay you still are not going to the academia della crusca any day soon #chiedo scusa a tutti i toscani #also people saying he is jealous...girl of what. but that's a different post. (no but seriously)

[qwainte]

People are so weird about Halsin and other characters, I hate fandom sometimes.

#I've seen a few comments try to imply Halsin's bond and love for Thaniel is a lot creepier than implied if you catch my drift... #i hate this fandom #i know it's just a few ppl and it shouldn't bother me but how can anyone play act 2 and interpret their relationship like that? #how perverted do you have to be to view his storyline like this? #people will really create their own weird headcanons and try to make discourse around it #like bruh you're literally inventing things to get mad at #halsin #baldur's gate #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 fandom #bg3 fandom critical

[waylaid-by-enemies]

I’m still muted and banned from direct messaging for being a spam account on TikTok but tumblr will enjoy this more.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 fandom #bg3 memes #bg3 shitpost #alignment chart #bg3 fandom critical #lae'zel #lae’zel of crèche k’liir #wyll ravengard #the blade of frontiers #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #karlach cliffgate #mama k #raphael #archdevil of avernus #shadowheart #shart #astarion #halsin #minthara

[northlandcleric]

I’m going to finally go on a long ass rant that’s been building up for a while now:

I really fucking love how yall go and say “angry about Astarion kisses for whatever reason,” like yall don’t know.

And to add, these pics are literal datamined dialogue that has been floating around for a while.

And then idk if you’re being deliberately obtuse, but wtf kind of response is this? Yall are just feeding that delusions at this point.

Because yes! We do think Larian is only going to give something to one companion and not the others because that’s all they’ve been doing since release!!

For god’s sake, the company love child and thirst trap of the game has not only gotten extra content(that was confirmed by writer) to fit in perfectly with the Dark Urge origin, but they keep adding more shit for him! He already has a grand total of 9 scenes where 6 of them can be romance. The SENIOR NARRATIVE DESIGNER said they prioritized Astarion over the others.

Meanwhile, we have, on release:

Gale, who is so damned buggy that everybody knows him as the desperate, horny, still caught up on his ex, magical item consumer: 6 scenes with 3 that can be romance.

Wyll, whose romance and story is so fucking short it might as well not exist: 5 scenes with 2 that can be romance.

Karlach, whose story is not even damn finished properly: 4 scenes with 3 that can be romance.

Minthara romance has been bugged since the beginning.

All of these other companions that do in fact exist keep getting neglected, but yall have the audacity to freak out when his kisses are bugged? Heaven forbid.

And aside from the companion neglect, Act 3 is still bugged out. Content was cut in full release to the point there are too many loose ends and quests that go nowhere. And no epilogue.

I’m just tired at this point. Love the game, love most of the characters and even more of the side characters. And I really wish this was talked about further than Tumblr, but any other platform will get you mass attacked.

Anyway, doubt that this will get far, but hope I can at least help start some conversations.

#larian critical #bg3 critical #bg3 #baldur’s gate 3 #bg3 fandom critical #bg3 discourse #bg3 rant

[eff-plays]

Is this your remorseful and selfless and uncorruptible meow meow.

#i got this on my first playthrough and i screenshotted it because the line hit me like a truck #it felt SO significant to him as a character and i LIKE it #but it does fully show his main flaw #and that's WHY i like it #but like ... this is him y'all #don't look away and pretend he's soo justified and it's just a trauma response or whatever #cuz i know a bitch when i see one!! #embrace it! he's FUCKED!! #don't smooth over his edges just because you don't wanna look at them damn #bg3 #astarion #bg3 fandom critical #anyway haha he's sooo cute in this pic<3 #*beats him to death with a stick of salami*

[bg3-bitching]

Hot Take that's gonna get me sent to the gallows:

Of the male companions, Gale is actually the best example of a "messy, imperfect victim".

Astarion is a better example of "thinking they're above perpetuating the cycle of abuse".

#gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #bg3 fandom critical #fandom critical #fandom discourse #astarion critical #astarion discourse #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 critical #larian critical #astarion #astarion ancunin #astarion analysis #astarion thoughts #bitching

[rawrsatthetree]

I see too many people bitch about all the dad Astarion headcannons and fic.

1. Just don’t read them not everything is for you.

2. The main complaints being “Astarion would be a terrible parent” “he wouldn’t want kids” are completely irrelevant. I never want children and would be a horrible parent, most parents didn’t want kids and are really bad at being parents. The act of having a child isn’t some moral Christian heteronormative propaganda. Pregnancy is a natural biological condition that sometimes just happens. Sometimes having a kids is two adult who are really into each other with compatible organs that are bad at planning and considering the consequences of their actions. Sometimes having a kids is an “oh shit we fucked up” and deciding to deal with the consequence because you love each other and are delusional enough to convince yourselves that maybe this accident was just meant to be. Maybe only one parent is excited and the other loves them enough to suck it up and try with them.

3. The other whining I see are people saying “for a canonically queer character why are there so many heteronormative headcanons”. For someone that’s preaching queer inclusion you just erased a lot of trans people that aren’t women that can still get pregnant. And Astarion being canonically pan means he can be attracted to any sex or gender which includes people with uteruses that can get pregnant. Also fan creators can write whatever they want, if they’re cis women they can write about that all they want. You can always add key words and tags to filtering so you don’t see it.

#you’re the one that sounds like a puritan babe #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #astarion #bg3 astarion #baldurs gate astarion #baldurs gate #dadstarion #bg3 fandom critical

[sweetmage]

Did y'all see this? 🙃 I highly recommend checking the comments on this tweet for more info, but to summarize the presenter decided to take fan questions instead of letting Theo tell his story about how he landed the role as Wyll. Because they were "short on time".

And like, you're gonna cut off one of the main speakers for some fan questions? If you're out of time then let him speak for the rest of that time, are you serious?? Intentionally targeted or not this feels rancid. The dismissal and exclusion of black characters and entertainers is an ongoing problem in general and is pretty damn rampant in this fandom as is. Awful :(

#wyll ravengard #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #theo solomon #bg3 fandom critical #fandom racism #justice for wyll

[bg3-npc]

Extremely conflicted every time I see a response to the mistreatment of Wyll along the lines of "omg I didn't know this!?!"

Because like, I'm not about to scope out every blog that says this. I'm not about to see how deep they are in the game or if they're an outsider voicing support. However, one can assume if they're talking about BG3 related issues, they probably play and/or enjoy the game.

So seeing support and mutual anger is good! I'm glad you're now aware of these issues, hopefully you'll continue that awareness and continue to offer support! However.....

Why do so many of you have 0 knowledge of ANY of this? These issues become clear upon interacting with Wyll in any capacity. From just general approval, to romancing him, to playing his origin, all of this is obvious. Even more so when you interact with others along with Wyll. So for so many to have no idea about any of this, you have to have not interacted with Wyll at ALL.

For as important as Wyll should be to the story and game objective, you can easily play the entirety of it without Wyll. You have to be interested in him and be willing to initiate his story. Which means a majority of you just...haven't.

A majority of you have had no interest in the only black companion. You've had no desire to learn more about him, or have him in your party. While you can play without him, he is still vital to the story and you miss out on a lot by bypassing him. Yet many of you have been perfectly cool with that because of superficial reasons that are just excuses to be uncaring of a black protagonist.

Astarion doesn't matter to the story. Full stop. His story and quest is practically self contained and has nothing to do with the main objective. You lose nothing by not having him in your party. Yet so many of you have sought him out. Many of you have done little but interact with him alone. Many of you bought the game not because it appealed to you, but because Astarion was there. This shitty white dude with nothing to add to the game got you to spend money, but you're surprised to learn the single black protagonist has gotten fucked over?

I need all of you to be fucking for real with yourself. Think of something and someone besides yourself and consider why awful white men are the only people you're ever drawn towards.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #astarion #astarion acunin #wyll ravengard #bg3 fandom critical #baldur's gate 3 critical #larian critical #I'm just so tired #and it's all so plain as day #just admit you have biased preferences #based in racism #and do better in the future #that's literally all you gotta do #fucking christ #mine