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graphicabyss · 7 months

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DOS2: A Tale of Frustration

So BG3 doesn't run on my old PC so I turned to DOS2 to fill the void and I finished it out of pure spite. I'm sorry to all the fans but... omg why is it so frustrating? So I'm putting some of the things that were driving me crazy to get it off my chest.

the skill icons on the panel keep disappearing when I try to click them like 30% of the time

the 98 damage types and every enemy has a resistance to each of these

the undead heal from poison damage for some fucking reason

the fucking clouds. poison clouds can be extinguished by fire? makes total sense. Electric clouds? You're fucked unless you know a specific spell.

in half the fights everything ends up on fire, often cursed or necrofire. good luck!

Don't you just love the fights where you start of fighting 3 enemies and end up fighting 12? Not my idea of subverting the expectations.

crafting makes no sense, there are 6834673 items to be crafted and half of them are only useful in early game

how are you supposed to learn the recipes? you get some from dozens of crafting books but it's still only like 30%. How am I supposed to know hammer to a potato makes fries?

I was googleing up quests, crafting, combat and everything else every 5 minutes because I'm tired of going into shit blind but honestly it wasn't enough.

you are free to go anywhere except the areas all have specific levels so you struggle through enemies that are 2 levels higher and then find areas that are 3 levels lower you missed

And what's up with Arx? You expect a chill city phase and end up slaughtered wherever you go. And good luck finding those source points!

Half the quests only work if you have a specific character, specific race or trait and you don't know which. Better prepare for a fight.

Persuasion checks make no sense and you only know the requirements once you fail. Have a fun fight!

Finishing a really tough fight, being really proud of yourself... Looting the dead enemies only to fight... Sir Lora. That little bitch has a deathwish and shall run through necrofire and deathfog like its full of nuts. I redid almost every late-game battle more than once. Goddammit.

I appreciate the immersion but could the NPCs stop pacing for 5 seconds? I need to talk to them! I was running after Hannag for 5 solid minutes and only managed to speak to her after I froze the water making her fall.

The inventory drove me crazy... It's not just gear and potions. You have a pyromancer and the enemies are immune to fire? You better get those scrolls. 97 ingredients half of which you're never gonna use. And I just love putting all my keys into my bag of keys manually.

The armour, man. The armour has physical/magic protection stats, skill points, ability points and sometimes spells. So you wanna swap those gloves? LOL now you can't use 3 spells and are also overburdened.

Faithful Item Set. Just that alone. The set has like 9 items and they're all dispersed all over the map, with the most important parts found on random NPCs! Like, there's no quest relating to it, there are no clues. Just... look in every crate and trade with every single character, bro. Good luck! I got all the items using a very detailed guide... except not. Turns out I got the boots first and sold them off at some point. Woo!

Right-clicking doesn't work half the time. Wanna identify shit or disarm a trap? Nope. Wanna look up that boss that you're about to fight? Don't be a pussy, just hit them and see if it works.

I am using a reasonable number of giftbag perks. I'd probably quit without them by now.

Spent about 260 hours on this game and about 100 of it was just inventory sorting.

The final battle... where do I even start? You get all the spells, all the scrolls, all the potions... only to get one-shot by the fucking Kraken. I expected something epic and received an utter clusterfuck. I only managed to win after about 6 tries and only by drinking invisibility potions, waiting for everyone to murder each other and then finishing Rex.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Sorry for your time.

#DOS2 #divinity: original sin 2 #games #I'm sorry guys #idk how you puttin up with all that

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sapphic-agent · 11 days

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Someone really needs to tell the Glee sub that their unpopular opinions are not even unpopular... They say the same thing over and over again and get upvoted, so how is it unpopular? Take Santana, for example, she is regularly dragged over the coals on that sub and some people can't go one post without saying how awful she is, but it's an unpopular opinion to say she is "not iconic and she's awful". I really can't with the delusion. Rachel fans can't handle any sort of criticism of her without getting mad but Rachel is the "most hated" on the sub.

I know you prefer to keep your blog primarily media based, but it angers me, how on the Glee sub some very vocal people are quick to yell "parasocial connection!!!!" when it comes to defending Santana as a fictional character, because of how a lot of Santana fans feel about Naya, but they're out here DEFENDING AND OPENLY SUPPORTING LEA MICHELE while not opening up any sort of discussion for criticising Rachel. LEA MICHELE. Why is it ALWAYS Santana fans can't separate Naya from Santana and they are told they have "parasocial connections" yet so many of them are Rachel fans who fight to the death for Rachel and openly support Lea but they're not accused of not being able to separate Lea from Rachel?! I really want to tell some of those Rachel/Lea fans to look in the mirror before they make comments like that.

That sub is the worst and I'm waiting for the day it just tanks. There are kind people on there who understand complex characters like Santana and Quinn but they are few and far between and I'm inclined to believe a lot of them just left because that sub is an echo chamber.

Rant over. The Glee sub pushes all my buttons.

Yup, their "hot takes" are lukewarm at best. I guess they didn't know it's not an unpopular opinion if it's been said twenty times before and 98% of the sub agrees with it. I'm surprised anyone's active on it at all, it's so stale over there.

It's always the same shit being regurgitated: "Unpopular opinion but I don't like Santana," "Finn isn't at fault for Santana being outed," "Why do people hate Rachel for ____?" "Brittana is toxic," "Finn was right to beat up Brody."

Like broski, stfu😭 They must be bored or something because there's no way anyone thinks that these takes are special or new or interesting. They're not only redundant, they're awful takes.

Hating Santana and defending Lea is a whole other level of hypocrisy. Lea is a real grown woman, Santana was a fictional teenager. Lea's actions had real consequences for the people around her, Santana hurt your favorite character's feelings. The Glee sub isn't even hiding their bias at this point.

I'm so preying on its downfall. I can't wait for the day they run out of shit to complain about and that whole sub becomes irrelevant

#anti glee subreddit #anti lea michele #pro santana lopez #anti finn hudson

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agoddamn · 1 year

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Finally got into the Engage groove. Sat down and went from 10 to 15.

Something about MC's "I can't do this without you!" at the Emblems is really funny. Big waifufag energy.

Again, another point where I wish the Emblems were original characters. You could actually do something interesting with Alear having some kinda mildly codependent relationship with the Emblems in spite of them not being truly alive if they weren't cool iconic FE characters that need to be objectively good and admirable at all times.

Heck, you could address the unsettling idea of the Emblems not being truly alive in the first place! They identify themselves as Emblem Name, which means even they see themselves as a derivative. Are they trapped in a hell of undeath, watching everyone around them age and die? Do they still feel the human need for interaction? They get used as weapons against their consent-- isn't that an awful existence? Why would they want to become an Emblem in the first place? They're like the cookies from Black Mirror...nightmarish.

Interesting characterization glimmer from Alcryst. His boss convo with his dad has him saying that he wants to be the one to kill dad in order to spare Diamant having to do it. Damn, son

The sad piano music on the retreat chapter is nice.

I don't get why localization did that with the shitenno names...they're supposed to be colors. Mauvier and Griss are recognizably colors, but the girls are weird. Zephia = Sepia, Marni = Maroon (or maybe Marron, the French version).

Fogado feels like the character the fandom wanted Claude to be lmao

Also not sure why they renamed his sister? She's Misteria in Japanese, the siblings are fog and mist, that's the joke.

...dragon badguy kinda sexy. Forehead clit is a turnoff though

I like how Hortensia wigs out thinking Ivy is dead and everyone just chooses not to correct her

Kingdom 1's name theme is French, 2 is rocks, 3 is flowers, and 4 is...not sure, actually. Jp had the fog/mist thing, but English...

MERRIN IS MY WIFE

Oh, the gay bandits again. Wait...do they both call one another little brother in their death lines??

Solm palace is very pretty. Easily the nicest-looking castle interior

RIP to whatever localizer got handed Fogado's fratboy retainer lmao there are plenty of things I'll drag the localization on, but the party peep lingo is so bizarre to translate. I won't even touch it. They did their best with that shit

Kagetsu has gotten str level after str level. He's terrifying. Complete animal.

Kagetsu and Zelkov feel like weird AU cousins of Odin and Zero...Koyasu voicing Kagetsu only hammers this vibe home even harder

Starting to suffer on supports. As of chapter 15, MC doesn't have one B support. They took away support-building on the enemy phase and two-space supporting, which makes it a massive pain in the ass to get support points. I've been doing arena and cafe after every battle, too! Squeezing as many support points as possible outta this, but it still ain't much

Reclassing ends up being kind of an odd beast thanks to how Emblem-dependant it is. Losing your initial batch of Emblems takes away your ability to spread weapon proficiencies around, which hobbles your ability to reclass for several chapters. Compounding that, it's a good while before you can buy Second Seals, and money is very tight. If you have a unit who starts off in a class not suited to their growths (Jean, Clanne) they're kinda just fucked. What's the point of designing a system with so much flexibility only to take away your ability to use it for most of the game? I would have preferred the system be more stripped-down and actually usable.

Goddamn, do I feel the money crunch. Buying gifts? In THIS economy?

#boots plays fe17

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izzysarchivedblogs · 8 months

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which enterprise crewmate does he connect / feel a bond with first? (asked by @/nyhura when i was aking for headcanon prompts)

this question is great because I get to tag @thefleetsfinest and talk about what we've discussed so much of in our chats. (and yes that icon for clint is necessary)

First, let's talk that Clint is incredibly lucky (and who knows, maybe he bent the rules, rigged the game, fixed the cards / clint's not above that) that Peter got put onto the Enterprise outside of the typical timeline that would have happened. So he isn't going on alone, he has Peter and that's good enough for him. He hadn't many people after he drank his life to pieces and his brother essentially told him to get his shit together and than left him be; not after the John Walker situation in the Academy.

Now let's actually get onto this question, when Clint's board the Enterprise, that is the already the longest that he's been sober or without a drink; not drinking and trying to actively manage his life better. He wasn't kicked out of the Academy, he had something to be working towards, and he had a relationship he was investing time into.

Sobriety for Clint is such a constant, and active choice over the years; and he's proud of it as the years go and he's never really learnt how to take the bad days when the urges are there with stride; he may not drink but he's not something whose urges go away and he wishes that. I could go on, that is an effect of the fact even if he never had picked up a drink, he'd be para-alcoholic. NOW WHY BRING THIS UP?

Because the first member of the crew that he connects with on a deep and personal level? That is @thefleetsfinest , that's Leonard. That's Leonard "Bones" Mccoy, because Clint kind of doesn't take care of his body, and yeah he did just burn his hand on something really hot and he probably knew that, and he needs to go see the doc

and the funny thing is he hates hospitals, he hates med-bays; he has literally said that "nobody should be around that much suffering and death" which is how he sees places of haling, hates the smell places like that; and yet he tends to be there more than most.

Being an addict, an alcoholic, even when sober the effects of what the alcohol did to your body; tend to leave your immune system weaker, and so he gets sick more likely and than Clint's prone to getting hurt.

So he is there, and we all know Leonard's a good doctor. Clint's someone who becomes Leonard's migraine and headache, because Clint is an AWFUL patient, and well Leonard collects those (Jim and Spock). So over time of Doc visits, they start to just become friends; talk here and there, Leonard joins the list of people that Clint harasses when he is bored and will put up with some of that.

Friednship through annoyance, which goes the fact that Leonard and Clint would recognize The Alcoholic in each other and than that kinship between them is there. That leads to them genuine friendship, getting to know each other and leads to discussion about alcohol, about not drinking, about leonard's capable of one glass control for his sobriety where clint is not (no alcohol at all), and discussions of their recovery.

That leads to doing morning yoga with each other, because that is part of their on-going recovery work; which when you are recovery friends, sober buddies, that kind of thing leads to a very deep friendship; Clint has told Leonard things that no one else would know. Hell, he tells Leonard more about the John Walker stuff than Peter, and Peter was there for some of it. Leonard does the same.

They have a friendship with Secrets to Take to the Grave; and knowing the intricacies of alcoholism, and they keep each other accountable with that. After BEYOND, Clint relapses, and it is Leonard the friend he leans on when he can't rely on Peter. And literally, Leonard's pulling string to get Clint more emotional support; because when he relapses, after 6 years sober, that is hard climb back up. such a dog, cause clint's been borrowing luna too much.

And Clint would do the same with Leonard, he keeps his secrets and even doesn't tease him when he needs serious at the point of a few year into their friendship; they have lunch and talk ship business, and other things. Clint even exercises the HEY IM YOUR FRIEND and trying to shoulder some of Leonard's burdens too.

Clint's Leonard's eyes and ears on the Bridge now too. so that's how leonard probably knew about that.

@thefleetsfinest and I have talked so much about these two, and just it's Leonard who he really connects with too.

Beyond Leonard? The next crewman that Clint connect with would be Sulu and the other three helmsman, making the total amount of helmsman/pilots for the Enterprise being five, which would be for shuttles as well ass shift rotation. Along with that would be the Navigators, as helmsman and navigators go hand in hand.

He is tight with them, and he does actually try to be good guy to them; not push on their nerves too much. Talk with them and keep each other in the loop, pick up when the others need a shift swap, and there is a "brotherhood" between helmsman/navigators.

Clint'll grab lunch with them, or join them for rec sometimes, talk and keep a good working relationship.

#about; clint barton #all headcanons tag #verse; clint barton; to boldly go (ss; crisispider)#dynamics; thefleetsfinest; it ain't heavy when you got a friend (recovery buddies)#DO YOU EVER GET EMOTIONAL ABOUT RECOVERING ALCOHOLICS? BEING SUPPORTIVE FRIENDS?#or is that just me #i LOVE YOU MELLLLL

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annyankers · 1 year

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hi train! you're sucking me back into your lore too (it's soooo good and i'm invested) so tell me more about your version of darla?

dkfghkls Sorry this took a bit to get to I've been in the Pit with some other stuff that kept making me forget this was in my inbox rip

LET'S TALK DARLAAAAAAAAAAA [AIR HORNS]

Darla My Beloved, My One, My Only. My changes to Darla are honestly super minimal on like, a base level. I love Julie in the role and I think she builds a truly Iconic Character.

Mainly my thing is that it's Fucking Dumb And Stupid that she dies. In one s6 btvs/ats crossover/combination fanfic I swear to the GODS I'll finish plotting and writing I use an oc to help make sure she survives the pregnancy but honestly I don't care how you do it. She Just Does.

I like to keep Connor and her pregnancy because I think it creates a really interesting and unique conflict for Darla that plays well with her utterly heartless and self-centered character. Sharing Connor's soul is the second brush she's had having with one in under a year after 400 years without one. That's super duper fun and interesting to work with. It's fun to have her be conflicted about still being a heartless bitch and maybe caring for at least 1 (one) person just on the principle that they're helpless and cannot survive without someone who cares.

I don't really like the idea of "motherhood makes her better" because that's uhhhhh.... that can be ummm....... but I think there's something to be said for "jerkoff takes some responsibility for her actions and the lives of others". At the end of the day, Darla is still a vampire and still soulless but now she's got some Complex Feelings about stuff and also things. She's more in the Spike Zone of soullessness and how to deal with it in the face of doing shit like giving a fuck about people compared to Angel's whole vibe about the topic or the Master's -- which is her previous stance.

Connor is Her Baby, he's an extension of Her which is important to the douchey narcissist in her. Even after some brushes with having a soul I don't think she'd even CONSIDER a change of heart or just an adjustment to her lifestyle for anyone who's not somehow "Hers". Darla is about Darla before she's about anyone or anything else. Connor being From Her forcibly extends her circle of Self Interest and cracks open the Padora's Box of Possibly Giving A Shit About Others.

The things she felt while she shared his soul also have a big impact on her, she does care about him and his well being. Her stance on the rest of humanity's wellbeing? Less concerned lol. She's not interested necessarily in ~becoming a better person~ but she DOES realize she has to make some change, some life choices, and get better at covering some shit up because Connor WILL look to her as a role model as he grows up and she'd like to minimize the damage she does to him lol. Also recognizes she needs to make some lifestyle changes so that she's got more than just Drusilla helping her raise and protect Connor or WORST SCENARIO IF SHE DOESN'T-- have that asshole Angel STEAL HER SON FROM HER AND DENY HER ACCESS because she's "A Psychotic Heartless Murderer" or whatever dumb shit he's wanking about now. Loser.

She's TRULY the Vegeta or the Hiei she IS the Regina George and you DO have to bribe her into helping. She's a barely domesticated villain she's only here because all these numb nut goody two shoes can't muster up the spine to say no when she asks them to babysit. She and Spike actually end up having much more familial relationship because they're both working through all this Weird Shit about being vampires with no soul who're also grappling with doing weak ass pansy nice guy shit like losers but also it's weirdly fulfilling??? tf???? Since when tf did they like kids-- and not just as dinner??? what happened here???

She's fond of Cordelia because she's Mean, they bully Angel for sport. She and Buffy probably end up with a weird chilled out vibe eventually as two very sexy narrative foils of each other. Shadow selves Baybee. Darla and Anya would be ride or die let's just be real about that they're both unhinged. Illyria is the only person Darla is afraid of lol. Darla and Angel have the most CURSED on and off again sex relationship that torments everyone around them.

Basically Darla is the Cassandra Truth in a lot of ways for ATS. She's the Greek Chorus pointing out all the flaws and issues with Angel's dumbass plans and how X is a trap and OBVIOUSLY So-And-So is upset you ninny. She doesn't listen any of them she's the oldest person in the room she's not taking orders from CHILDREN. Angel is 100000x more competent with her around, it's almost like she was always the brains of the operation lol. Basically she and Drusilla are the muppet critics who're also raising a baby and sometimes help fight crime but only because if they don't they'll have to pay rent.

#answered #darla (train's version)#btvs #ats #meta

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mermaidsirennikita · 1 year

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LK will always be iconic for that last minute breastfeeding scene. Like I was a teen when I first read and was so shocked but also so into it ?? Derek became my man ever since 💗

I think the last minute nature of it is what makes it surprising? Like in a lot of books today that would be a Shocking Moment, and Lisa just went, oh, here, an epilogue sex scene where he very deliberately sucks on her tits while she's lactating and drinks her breastmilk, and then they fuck for the first time since she had the baby. Lmao.

I also think it's a really good example of the sex... or in this case, the kink? Fitting the couple and the romance. Imo, we see a lot of shit in romance (more in contemporary, but honestly everywhere) wherein the specific kink or vaguely "outside the box" sex thing feels... just there. It's not something the author is really connecting to the characters. I mean, I'll kind call a later Kleypas out for this--I actually like Devil in Spring, but Gabriel Challon being into Mild Bondage has like. No connection to his character. No connection to his relationship with Pandora. He's just into it, she's like "ooh scandalous" and is also into it. They have like, a mild "rake meets rebellious girl" tension, but I didn't feel like that light bondage was a payoff to anything in their dynamic. It was just... nicee.

Which is realistic, sure. In real life, lots of people don't have Deep Reasons for their kinks. But in real life, we don't have to connect to character arcs and plots. Our sex lives are just ours. And while I'm good for casual kinkiness in romance, I do think that... the romances I like the most are sexually explicit (I'm all about sex in romance) but connect the sex to the characters?

~Like, in Then Came You, there are two scenes with bondage (which to me, both easily top--haha--the scene in Devil in Spring). Lily (wild) ties Alex (uptight, can't stand her) up to keep him from interfering with her schemes. Because their in an enemies to lovers deal, she then climbs on top of him and taunts him, and just like, to fuck with him, leans in to give him a light kiss. And he's SO aroused, and so embarrassed and unmanned by it, and he can't help but deepen the kiss and she's shocked to realize how into it he is... and then later he ties her up as "revenge" foreplay after they get together. It makes sense with the dynamic Lisa has set up--he can't stand how attracted to her he is, and he can only give in to it when he has no choice but to do so.

Similarly, in The Duke Gets Even, it actually makes sense that Lockwood likes pain during sex (both inflicting and receiving) because he feels like he's living on borrowed time, he wants to feel alive and vital and like he can withstand anything... But additionally, his love of dominating in the bedroom--biting and bruising Eleanor, fucking her mouth versus a sensual~ bj--is connected to how much power he feels he doesn't have in life. He doesn't ever whine about it, which is why he doesn't come off as a Nice Guy type, but we know that he is embarrassed by his lack of money, his need to sell his title and really his Fetishistic Ducal Qualities and in a very real sense his body, to keep his estate afloat. He knows that dukes don't actually fucking matter on a practical level anymore. He wants to control Nellie in the bedroom because he feels totally out of control in his regular life.

(Contrast this to many, many BDSM romances wherein the dom is like... also in control in every other aspect of life. Which, yes, those types do exist in real life, but it can be hard to execute in a romance without it feeling kinda flat? Like, I love dominant heroes, but something does ring a lot truer to me with a dominant hero who constantly feels as if his life is spinning out of control.)

With Dreaming of You, I feel like the breastfeeding plays into several things? Beyond it just being hot lol. For one thing, let's be real, Derek being drawn to Sara's maternity and shit is absolutely Oedipal because Derek was abandoned by his mother... Derek also is very fond of Scandalous Ladies (which Sara is a mild form of as a general rebel who's bored with her staid life) like Lily and the sex workers he works with, because his mother was that. And That's Fine. Having an Oedipal Complex of some sort isn't bad and let's be real, it's.... more common than we might wanna admit, it just depends on how you handle it. Derek has a bit of a mommy fetish. Read that epilogue and try to tell me otherwise--it's not just the breastfeeding, but him being so satisfied and like, emotionally and physically aroused by Sara being a good mom lmao, him watching Sara feed the baby, him seeing her domestic. IT IS WHAT IT IS.

Also, however, from a writing perspective--it's very Nice Boys Don't Do That. He isn't a nice boy. You don't even read about a lot of like, rakish types drinking breastmilk. It's an earthy act that... Unless you specifically pay someone who is breastfeeding and catering to that clientele, you really aren't going to Casually Experience very often if ever. It's something that I imagine... happens among partners a lot more than people wanna admit, again, lmao. It's intimate, it's earth, it's something that speaks to how close he's let himself be to Sara after holding himself back--and a lot of Derek's dialogue with Sara speaks to that too. He wants to be Deeper, he wants to hit her cervix essentially lmao, he wants to crawl inside her. His conflict is that he wants to be as close to her as possible, and he doesn't feel deserving of the privilege, so obviously, once he's over that, HE'S GONNA BREASTFEED.

And of course, it also just speaks to how that's still like. Their Thing. Him enjoying pushing her boundaries, her knowing that he likes to see her act all scandalized. Because when you do read breastfeeding scenes in historicals lol, it's often an OOPS, and she very much warns him "I AM LACTATING" and he's like "that is the POINT". It's so good because he's actively seeking it out, and he isn't a little bitch who's afraid of bodily fluids of any kind and in conclusion Derek Craven eats Sara out when she's on her period.

Anyway, that's what I've got to say about that.

#romance novel blogging #the thinkpiece no one asked for #so yeah the adult breastfeeding scene is hot

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shoot-of-corruption · 11 months

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(Oh, look a meme I wanted to send about a week ago and it's Munday again. XD I know there's kinda a lot on here.. If it's too many I starred the ones I want to know the most about. That takes off 3 lol)

icons

*dash games

shipping

*your current RPC

*your character

*an old muse

*blocking

your choice!

Oh look!! A wild munday meme, i posted monday last week, got monday this week and decided to reply to on a wednesday PFFFFGGGHHHH!!

Thanks rainy! I appreciate your asks any day of the week x'D

icons

I have a love-hate relationship with icons. I simultaneously love them for how expressive they can make a post and hate how hard the icon game is on tumblr.

Like one expression can breathe so much more life into a reply or make the intentions you have so much more evident.

Whenever i see people using icons, i see perfect borders or even banners and uniformly sized colorcore icons... and the i feel embarassed.

I decided though that the icons i have might be crooked, not perfect and all a bit weirdly shaped...

But they are mine and they feel very comfortable to use for me in the shape and with the inclusion of exactly how much expression i want!

dash games

I mean they aren't life changing to me, but i always find it sweet if somebody tags me in one and it takes some time, but i usually do them.

If i can identify with the game that is.

What i want to clarify is though that nobody should feel forced to take part in dash games and even if you get tagged in one, you have every right to refuse. Simple as that.

shipping

Gotta say it as it is, I reslly like shipping. It gives me great chances to explore my character more and also their partner.

Usually it is "no strings attached" with me on all muses, which might be because i myself am aromantic... like my muses usually don't care much for romance and are hardly social... but somerimes, there is just this one ship that makes my heart sing 😌✨️

your current RPC

- is actually the best RPC i have ever been in. I have seen a lot of drama here and shit has hit the fan so often for me... but it just feels like home.

I want to come back and go on being here again inevitably.. i have long since stopped trying to explain this. I feel seen and respected and accepted here, i also feel like i am contributing stuff to the fandom and maybe i have also helped shaping it a little bit back in the day.... 🤷‍♀️

It just feels good to be here, i barely get any anxiety and i just love my muses 💚

your character

Honestly, I can't even tell you how i came to rp this complicated miserable mess of a character....

One day i just woke up with this thought in my head that there should be a fleshed out version of Yami Marik. I pondered how this could happen, like... he wasn't fully formed inside of Marik and then obviously killed as well.... the only way in my head was to arrange something in the shadow realm, which i did right after and then the headcanons and feelings came flooding...

By now I reached the level where his brain is as much my own, when i slip him over me like a glove and the words just keep flowing... asking me for headcanons without specifics is always pure chaos, because he is so interwoven with me now, that i know in EVERY situation what he would do, but when prompted with a random i am like: ....... but i need something to react to ..... what do you want to know.... i can't think something out.... GIVE ME SOMETHING TO KNOW HOW HE WOULD THINK ABOUT IT X'D

an old muse

Well another muse which I used to play was

... i think we get the direction my muses usually take now lhjfhsihhhdfkhhx.

Anyway, Flowey was relatively recent and I don't actually play as him anymore. I used to have a love-hate relationship with that too... you know he is a very angery boi, which is cathartic, but it's always keeping tough face with him, or you are risking slipping into mental break down territory.

Also... Underzale fandom didn't feel like here. I wasn't really able to get to know people and additionally, i just used it as a replacement, because i didn't feel comfortable coming back here... i wasn't in s good mental place... like nothing felt right. I think that overflow just went into this muse and actually was what i needed to work through my bad feelings, so thanks Flowey... you seemed to be toxic but you were the healing that I needed.

blocking

What a weird thing to put into a munday list LOL that's like asking: what do you think about the reblog button?

Honestly though.... blocking might be rude to some or an overreaction to others, but I PERSONALLY find it as necessary as breathing. There is some content that you simply can't blacklist, some people, who don't sit right with you, some topics that are beyond traumatic.... and some situations and relationships that looked like a dream but ended up being unbearably toxic.

BLOCKING is a necessary and useful device and should be considered in any and all situations of doubt, fear, toxicity, drama and generally feelings of unwell. Not to forget outright HATE.

Everybody - and I repeat - EVERYBODY deserves the security and self-love in their life to remove themselves from perceived and real danger of mental, emotional and physical properties. This is hard to do in RL and sometimes you have to just deal with your problems head on there or compromise about things to survive.

You should NEVER hsve to do this, especially not online, while doing domething you love and enjoy. All of us deserve to be happy, loved and feel okay. And if there is something - or somebody - that/who causes you to feel constant anxiety, terrible feelings, like you have to give a part of yourself up that you simply can't and won't budge on, that you are unwilling to talk and compromise about, do yourself the service and use the blocking function. You don't have to compromise, you don't have to talk about it, you DO NOT have to EXPLAIN YOURSELF.

Use this knowledge and lead a happier online life. I saw pictures of self harm on my time line once, which i actually have blacklisted, which wasn't tagged and it is very okay to INSTANTLY block this person in anxiety alone. Bloggers cannot keep your timeline trigger free all the time and you deserve to give yourself the attention to remove this harmful content from yourself.

NO QUESTIONS ASKED. You have the highest priority and then everything else follows.

your choice

Oh goody... uhm... I want to repeatedly thank people like you, who are interested in me and my muses and want to know what i have to say. I don't easily leave my shell sometimrs, even though i come off as bubbly and open and social.... i am... really not.

And it's mostly because I made a lot of bad choices about toxic people in my life... people who pretended to like me, pretended to want to know me, ridiculed me and every bit of my being and never took me seriously from a very young age... and it kinda fucked with my self-worth.

That's why i am so baffled, when somebody expresses wishes to know me and that is also why i say sorry a lot and try to explain every bit of "failure" to write better, faster and longer replies ^^

So... it still baffles me sometimes, when i find out that a lot of people honestly like me now... whenever my babbling goes on your nerves, i hope this explains most of it, LOL 💚✨️

#ominor #omi nor #ooc #munday #ria rants #LONG POST #my god this is long #also wrote this on mobile #don't stone me for the bad spelling that is going to be in this #oop #ask

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ryan-shepard-writes · 1 year

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I posted 1,810 times in 2022

50 posts created (3%)

1,760 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@delusion-of-negation

@athena-anna-rose

@chaos-event-horizon

@scientistservant

@spaghetticordez

I tagged 119 of my posts in 2022

#important - 30 posts

#fate's crystal majesty - 28 posts

#ideas - 14 posts

#writeblr - 11 posts

#discourse - 10 posts

#crowlyn nissad coronis - 9 posts

#ask game - 8 posts

#science fantasy - 6 posts

#mature - 5 posts

#writblr - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#no dude she has no character arc. no emotion. every third interaction she has is her telling people they're worthless while the bus cheers.

My Top Posts in 2022:

ANNOUNCEMENT:

So... I completely reworked Fate's Crystal Majesty.

After realizing that the first book was long enough to be almost 2 and a half whole novels... I decided to break it into chunks. In doing that, I've changed several parts of the story that many people have already seen.

BUT!

That also means the book is several steps closer to being worthy of possibly getting published!

So. The website has been redesigned and the live chapters have been re-uploaded as google docs rather than site pages. Not only does this make interaction more smooth, it also creates better ease of access. As always, they are completely open for comments and interaction!

A story can't happen without its reader, after all...

12 notes - Posted September 12, 2022

I have no idea about what bigotry/drama/war unfolded while I wasn't looking (my dash is sprinkled with a wide variety of conflicting takes that do absolutely nothing to clarify whatever the heck I missed) but more and more lately I'm thinking that we as a community need to just... Have a fucking meeting. Because there is a LOT of thinly veiled shit that seems to constantly be happening. Everything from people starting drama about writing about ~bad things~ (a gay person having a homophobic villain character in their works and getting attacked for it) to SERIOUS racism (apparently someone said they want to live in a world/write a world with only one race? The fuck?) to cultural appropriation/deeply rooted lack of knowledge about a culture being referenced (saw a writer trying to just... Claim Aphrodite as a 'trans-masc icon' and trying to rename her 'Aphrodito'???) To mountains of mountains of toxic positivity and/or insisting on asanine levels of 'purity' within the work of other people.

Genuinely. We all need to like... Talk.

13 notes - Posted October 24, 2022

Okay so this is very obviously NOT the finished product. Not even a little bit. But I'm writing a prequel bit for Fate's Crystal Majesty for @athena-anna-rose's writing contest. And. I'm having the hardest and funniest fucking time writing an oblivious straight man. I have no experience in this category of Guy so writing this bit is killing my sensibilities but it's already so fucking funny and I wanted to share. Current progress is under the cut. This is turning into a comedy.

Contest Story: What Once Was

"I've been meaning to say this for a while," said a voice, light and playful like a bell. "...But you really are pretty cute, mister Crown Prince!"

Solaris Trinidad Coronis nearly slammed his book closed, face turning red as his head whipped around. There, standing behind him, was a young mage— a university student that was younger than him, and a familiar one. Her blonde hair and aquamarine eyes would have been a dead giveaway, even if her uniquely folded 'dog' ears didn't signal her identity and status.

"O-oh, you're… Lunari Nitewing, correct? I believe I've seen you around…" He asked, doing his best to ignore her commentary on him. He nearly winced as he glanced at the nearby clock, suddenly noticing the time.

The young half-Rorvan nodded, grinning. "Yes, your highness. But I'm surprised you remembered my name… They say you spend too much time with your head hidden in these books to notice much, and I'll admit, this library is where I usually end up seeing you."

He sniffed, wolf ears giving a disdainful twitch as he collected his studying materials. "Well 'they' don't seem to know the value of being well-read… but at least they're smart enough not to insult me to my face, I guess…" Though… he thought wryly, I'd have to be blind not to notice the most magical young woman on the planet. "...You ought not to listen to gossip, Miss Nitewing. You have a lot of talent. It would be a true shame if you got caught up in a bad crowd."

"I find your studious nature endearing, actually!" The girl giggled. He suddenly realized how petite she was as she sat on the table, her eyes just barely higher than his were. "Makes you seem like a normal person."

"You'll find that I am a normal person, Miss Nitewing," he said, voice even. "I do what I can to make sure that being a prince doesn't get in the way of being a good citizen."

He stood then, gathering his books in his arms, then gave the girl another quick once-over. Sky blue Rorvan-inspired blouse over white pants, dark boots, a charming blue headband to match her top, tasteful floral scented oils along her pulse points… she looked a bit too nice for a trip to the library.

Is she… going out with someone?

He gave a polite cough. "If you're planning to meet someone, you shouldn't be chatting me up… someone might get the wrong idea if you speak to me."

She smiled almost pointedly. "Oh, I don't know if I'm going out yet… the guy I like doesn't seem to notice me as much as he thinks he does. I'm actually here to talk him into going to dinner with me."

Solaris blinked, suddenly a little surprised and annoyed on her behalf. What kind of idiot wouldn't notice her? "Oh… that's too bad. Someone as interesting as you should be at the top of anyone's list. Are you meeting him here?"

The young woman giggled. "Actually, he's already here. I'm just running a social experiment to see how long it takes him to notice."

16 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

The Crystalline King

Lilly watched as the young Keir—he really was so, so small here—quietly edged towards a door frame. Somehow, despite the fact that she was much further away, voices suddenly came to her the same way they would have if she stood where the young prince did. It was as if, even here, that part of their connection still worked. But the sounds were… odd. Entangled, somehow. It was impossible to tell who spoke, without seeing who was in that room.

"... But you know he'll probably never have magic like us."

"We can't say that! He's only a child, just like Rolph had been before he left because of all this pressure. His magic could manifest any day now, or maybe even years from now, and that's fine!"

Lilly blinked, then jogged over to the doorway, watching things unfold. There stood a young Crowlyn, looking around her own age, leaning against a table and facing the king… who looked very different from when she last saw him in real life, a creepy and dangerous figure with a fake smile and lacking entirely in humanity.

No, this was an entirely different man. Tall, yes, but only barely taller than the average human. Velvety black hair with greying highlights framed his face, and seemingly helped to hold up glasses with a thin wire frame. His shirt was strikingly white and billowy, draping over somewhat lean limbs and tucked into brown working pants and a pair of well used boots, as well as a pair of leather bracers at his wrists. Like Keir, the king wore minimal jewelry. Much of it was made of sturdy leather and gold chain—including a piece resting at his forehead and looping under his hair, which seemed to stand in for a crown like she'd seen Keir wear occasionally. The way he stood and the magical atmosphere around him, however, resembled Crowlyn. He had an aura that even she could feel, and a sense of strength and authority that went beyond the physical. She couldn't quite see his eyes… but she knew that he could probably stop armies with a glare. This was the man from the painting she'd seen. Handsome. Soft features, clean and well-kept hair and close-cropped beard, a voice that was soft, but firm. A smile that radiated kindness—if not also a tight frustration at the current discussion with Crow. He looked so… normal. Like a father. Not at all the imposing and dangerous force that he had been when she’d met him.

She could understand how Lunari might fall in love with this man, rather than the king she knew he would become.

"But still, an heir to this kingdom must have magic,” Solaris said, “It's the only way we keep our status as leaders over the other Daekin. If it wasn't for Lunari bringing together the other mages and supplying most of the power to build this place, I doubt we'd be held in such high regard. An heir who's empty of magic cannot take the throne while you are still an option to rally behind. It must be you, unless..."

"You're too much of a pessimist. And he doesn't need magic, if he has a mage and advisor,” Crowlyn argued.

"You only say that to avoid your duties, my son. Whether they lead anywhere or not, marriage interviews are part of the job—"

“—An unnecessary part, I assure you—!"

"—and are vital to keeping our family line strong,” the older man sighed, rubbing his neck. Did… did he seem sorry for having to say these things, or was Lilly just imagining it? “Our ancestors were the first Rorvae. The first to undergo the changes back on Earth, and the first to access the magic behind Fate. Our history and future are important things that must be maintained, at any cost."

Changes… back on Earth?

But no one elaborated on her silent question. “Keir can do that easily when he's old enough. Leave me to my own business,” Crow said, an edge to his voice, “And stop trying to force all these petty she-wolves on me! I'm not going to suddenly be more normal just because you set me up with someone!"

"Crowlyn…"

"No offense, father, but I'm tired. You should really go and see your sick wife for once, instead of barking in my ear about something neither of us needs to be concerned about."

As Crowlyn abruptly turned she watched Keir half-fall over himself to get clear of the door, while she also stepped back. He was nowhere near fast enough, though, and Crow—he seriously couldn’t possibly be a day over twenty—nearly tripped over him as he rounded the corner. Upon finding the younger prince, Crowlyn immediately signaled for silence, fluidly picking him up and trotting away.

Lilly glanced between the king and retreating princes, then turned to follow—

"I don't have my wife's talent for discernment, but I'm not entirely blind either."

The girl halted, her head whipping back to Solaris. He'd sat down at the wide table and started to write something. After a moment, he looked up with eyes that bore a startling resemblance to Keir's. They looked like bright gemstones, faceted and glimmering an array of yellows and oranges as light shifted around him. But unlike Keir's warm honey and amber tones, the eyes of king Solaris were hard and cold with their brightness, and zeroed in on her with alarming precision. They looked so light and alive compared to the last time she'd stared him down.

"Well, come in. You don't appear to be here to kill me… and from what little I can see of you I doubt you could regardless. Just skin and bones, you are"

The girl shivered, then entered the room. Once she'd gotten past the door, it clacked shut, trapping her and causing her to jump with a squeak.

"A girl? And human as well, it seems… I have no idea what you're doing here, but you shouldn't be roaming around so… willy-nilly. This place can be dangerous," he said, turning his attention back to what he was writing, almost sounding concerned for her safety. "But I suppose the guards cannot see you, as powerful as your spell is… though I'm shocked Crowlyn didn't spot you either. He's a very powerful mage… perhaps even more powerful than me. He's at least on par with Lunari, when she was younger. He must be just as frustrated as I am, to be so distracted."

Lilly swallowed. "I… don't know if he can see me, since he's who I'm… supposed to be following. 'Dream-walking', I think Crowlyn called it?"

The king nodded absently. "He sent you from somewhere himself, then… and you are a powerful magician in your own right. Your combined magic must have affected his spell, if you're here, and able to move independently. This isn't dream-walking, young lady. You've projected your soul back along Crowlyn's timeline. So... you aren't a spy, nor an assassin. Humor me, girl, why are you here?"

"Well… uh…" Lilly fumbled, her heart racing. Was it even safe to talk to this man? In a few short years, he'd be hurting his children left and right! She didn't want to give him anything he could use.

Solaris paused, then sighed, his shoulders sagging a bit. "It seems I've frightened you by accident… I apologize. When they call me 'the crystal king', it isn't just because of my eyes… I'm also a bit cold and rigid. You've caught me in a bit of a mood. Crowlyn, bless his heart, has put me in a difficult position. I don't want to force him to marry when he obviously isn't interested in women, but a king needs to be able to carry on his legacy. He can't dance around the problem forever, but he also doesn't seem keen on telling me his actual reasons. If he would, I'd be able to relent a bit…"

See the full post

19 notes - Posted August 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Contest Story: What Once Was

Heya! This is my entry into the writing contest being held by @athena-anna-rose! It's a short story involving some characters from my book, Fate's Crystal Majesty, and hints at some of the events to come. I recommend reading it in the original document HERE, because Tumblr breaks everything and doesn't allow for other fonts (and also removed every ounce of formatting in the story).

I put a lot of thought into what scenes to show, so I hope you find the story interesting!

"I've been meaning to say this for a while," said a voice, light and playful like a bell. "...But you really are pretty cute when you're lost in a good story, mister Crown Prince!"

Solaris Trinidad Coronis nearly slammed his book closed, face turning red as his head whipped around. There, standing behind him, was a young mage— a student at the nearby university, and a familiar one. Her blonde hair and aquamarine eyes would have been a dead giveaway, even if her uniquely folded ears didn't signal her identity and status. A human-Rorvan hybrid, with strong magic and eyes nearly as mesmerizing as his own, could only be one person.

"O-oh, you're… Lunari Nitewing, correct? I believe I've seen you around…" He asked, adjusting his glasses, doing his best to ignore her commentary on him and hoping the magic in his eyes hadn't flared up. He nearly winced as he glanced at the nearby clock, suddenly noticing the time. The pups would probably tease him again for staying out so late...

"You'll find that I am a normal person, Miss Nitewing," he said, voice even. "I do what I can to make sure that being a prince doesn't get in the way of being a good citizen… or parent, though I can't say I'm doing a stellar job at the moment. I ended up getting lost in my reasearch."

Is she… going out with someone?

He gave a polite cough. "If you're planning to meet someone, you shouldn't be chatting me up… someone might get the wrong idea if you speak to me."

Solaris blinked, suddenly a little surprised, and annoyed on her behalf. What kind of idiot wouldn't notice her? "Oh… that's too bad. Someone as interesting as you should be at the top of anyone's list. Are you meeting him here?"

The young woman giggled. "Actually, he's already here. I'm just running a social experiment to see how long it takes him to notice."

Prince Solaris looked around. His lanky build let him have a good view of most places, and from where he was standing… this floor of the library seemed empty, aside from himself and the young mage that still sat rather casually on the table.

I don't see…?

"You know…" she started, and when he looked down at her he found that her eyes almost seemed to twinkle in the artificial light of the nearby reading lamps. "...I've been saving up for this date for nearly a month, so it'll be a shame if he turns me down."

Solaris blinked, noticing a hint of humor in Lunari's eyes, but chivalry won out over his ability to think past the sudden twinge of his heart. "That is quite a power move on your part, Miss Nitewing… but I must say, any man that forces you to pay for him as well as you, isn't worth your time. Call me old-fashioned, but a first date should be a meeting of equals."

She giggled, and he suddenly twitched to adjust his glasses. "If it were a normal man, I'd agree… but I'm afraid that I'm quite fond of this poor soul. He and I haven't talked much, but…" she said, looking up at him, eyes sparkling in shades of blue. "The medium of my magic is Shadow… and shadows tend to talk. This particular man's shadow says he's lonely, and a bit tired from all the stress he's been under after an awkward breakup. I decided it might be nice to treat him and his children to something fun. Maybe ice cream, since I know he has a thing for sweets."

Solaris suddenly blushed. Children? She has eyes for someone with kids? That would make him probably as old as… probably a lot like… and he enjoys ice cream like…

"...Oh."

"I've been watching this man from afar…" she confided, looking almost shy, as if watching the dots connect in Solaris' head while his ears twitched in embarrassment. "I don't think he really noticed. I've been trying not to scare him off, you see, since he's the type who tends to overthink things. I didn't want him to think that I was just approaching out of the blue or that I wanted something I shouldn't… but I didn't quite know how to start a real conversation with such a dignified gentleman."

The prince looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. "...What will you do if he declines?"

"Probably just try again tomorrow. I'm very persistent!"

"And you don't mind that he… has children?"

See the full post

26 notes - Posted November 15, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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butch-bakugo · 27 days

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I would have an ounce of sympathy for Zionists if they didnt:

make islamophobic circa 2013 jokes

repost racist propaganda about arabs to the point of charicatures

make a million claims about "innocent Israeli counter-protestors being attacked!" With no videos (beyond a lady who was going around randomly punching pro-palestine protesters then got mobbed LIKE SHE SHOULD to stop her from hurting others. But of course, no one can find out who she is to verify, they never say the location in question and they conveniently leave out the fact she was the instigator and agitator. Hell there's videos of a Zionist rabbi professor running into an encampment and trying to beat up the pro-palestine protesters. Litterally knocking over their food, kicking them and eventually just starts swinging. Edit: another rabbi professor got caught running around an encampment with an agitator student putting up mein kampf posters and tried to claim it was the protestors... While this man was actively Holding freshly printed ones.... With tape... Then when the protestors and cops found him, he tried to run in the encampment and throw the unhung posters and fight protestors until the members of the encampment blocked him. He then whines about how Jewish men can't even walk on campus anymore and left without comment.) proving the supposedly shouted anti-Semitic remarks (with videos of counter-protestors randomly trying to shout out "kill all Jews" and other remarks then claiming it was said by the pro-palestinian protesters then whining when they got arrested. Oh and there's two of three of those videos circulating)

make a million claims of seeing posts on here with "straight up nazi rhetoric" and other "examples of leftist antisemitism" to the point of claiming their saying nazi slogans but never with any screenshots or proof then call you antisemitic if you dont automatically believe them

a whole account by a token pro-zionist "2nd gen American from gaza" who essentially wore a "all lives matter shirt" about " just wanting peace" and walked through an encampment and, just like that video of that little white girl crying when protestors gave her a wall of silence, said he felt "threatened" because the protestors wore masks, side eyed him and ignored him. He even accounts how many people were nice to him, asked him if he wanted food or water and generally left him alone. He Litterally said he felt threatened because he went in to agitate and no body took his bait. I'm sorry but masks dont make people violent. He kept saying he felt like he couldn't talk about his views or felt like "they could do anything to me and I wouldn't see their face" like this is Karen level paranoia bro.

Spout pretty much every alt-right insult in the book to the point I have to wonder if they are trolls but have to toss out my suspicion cause their either too low key to be a troll or just remembering its a fachist movement. Calling people whores and sluts, saying they are giving Palestinians their "OF money", calling the Palestinians "immigrants who need to get out", calling people retards/n words/various other slurs, calling leftists litteral snowflakes and wokes. Like wtf

Snuggle up, reblog and like from alt right American blogs with bios like "pro life pro guns pro liberty", litteral pepe the frog icons, praise the fact Republicans like Matt gatez, tom cruz and other famously terrible and racist people support their movement.

Own up to the fact they want all of palestine and more and talk about Palestinians in a way that feels very familiar to me as a native American. Calling us backwards, primitive, dogs and other horribly racist shit.

Say they deserve an ethnostate because the Holocaust happened. No.

Like.... Wtf? Why are y'all cuddling up to diet Nazis right now? That's independent of any news source I saw, I saw that shit with my own eyes scrolling your blogs. I knew you liked fascism but like? Wow.

#levi speaks

0 notes

spontaneous-human-combustion · 3 months

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Darkness Falls

1.24.24

Merits:

Writing:

This episode is basically Ice in the forest, to me. Not necessarily in a bad way. They're stranded with an unknown biological entity among them, tensions are high, Scully distrusts Mulder for a second, and at the end the government destroys evidence. I've gotta say, the ending is extremely weak. It's supposed to be an Oh Shit type moment, but I just don't think it works.

What this episode does just fine is keep things fairly simple: the secondary characters have one or two defining traits and don't really deviate from them; the monster isn't too complicated; the plot is easy to follow. It's all pretty self-contained and doesn't try anything too grand. Until the ending, pulling in a random government conspiracy, but y'know. It's Chris Carter. I'll give it an 8.

Characterization/development:

Mulder assumes the best of the "eco-terrorist" Doug against everyone else's warnings. Once again, an example of how he paints himself as a paranoid cynic, but he's actually a very warm-hearted and generous person to underdogs and people otherwise misjudged by society.

Scully as usual wants a rational, scientific approach, and for once she kind of gets it. A rare/extinct species of bug is not implausible, even if it is extreme. What gets her is when she thinks she has them figured out, but then they do something unexpected -- they're on her body even in the light! I would not be happy either. Solid 8.

Emotion:

As a monster-of-the-week episode, this one doesn't really pull on any heartstrings. There's not a strong feeling of joy, sympathy, fear, anger, or any of those really powerful emotions. I felt bad for Mulder getting dunked on; I sympathized with Scully's little freakout moment; the remaining time, though, I was kinda like "huh. Wonder what'll happen next." 3.

Antagonist/monster:

I like the little green bugs. They're just doin' their thang. Like I said, this is literally just the parasite in Ice, but in a forest -- it's old as balls and it's going to kill you. Nevertheless, I thought the story behind them was kinda cool. Trapped in a tree ring (not in an ice core, make sure we get that straight), dormant for eons, then released upon a populated world. They're hungy!!!! 10.

On set:

One of those episodes where filming in Vancouver actually works. Apparently, though, the weather was so bad and the location was so remote that everyone was pissy the whole shoot, and the director (Joe Napolitano) never came back for another episode. Oof.

Effects-wise, most notable are the bugs themselves, which are very obviously CGI. Shots where they're superimposed over the actors, diligently pretending to fight them off, don't always work. I'm also still not 100% sure how those little guys are supposed to get an adult male up a tree... the cocoon does look really cool, though!

Scenes in the forest and the cabin, on the other hand, are gorgeous. Outdoor scenes are allowed to breathe, with just the location itself doing most of the work, while in the tight quarters of the cabin, moody high-contrast lighting and creative angles give a sense of claustrophobia.

Of course, I can't go without mentioning Scully's adorable windbreaker in the iconic 90s jewel tones. Instead of blow-drying her hair into the pageboy perfection we see in most episodes, she's wearing a messy ponytail and letting her curls go crazy. 7 overall.

Music:

I'll be completely for real. I didn't pay any attention to the music. It was probably just fine though. 5 to cover my ass.

Demerits:

Boringness: It held my attention :)

CCWFL (Chris Carter Wankfest Level): He can't resist the mysterious government agents covering up evidence, can he. 2 because it's not that bad.

Bonus points:

Scully's coat gets an automatic extra point.

Hell, another point for cute bugs and big trees.

Merits: 41

Bonus: 2

Demerits: 2

Episode total: 41/60

Favorites:

"Come on Scully, it'll be a nice trip to the forest."

I like the moment between Mulder and Scully when she gets a little upset with him for letting Doug take their vehicle and fuel can, but after his rebuttal they both agree that arguing won't accomplish anything -- they need to focus on surviving. He acknowledges he made a mistake, and she doesn't rub it in, and they keep working together.

"Take a good look, Scully. Rugged, manly men in the full bloom of their manhood." "Right, but what am I looking for?" "Anything strange, unexplainable, unlikely...a boyfriend?" Is that a dis, Mulder? lol

"That's a lot of flannel to be choking down, even for Bigfoot."

Scully being hoisted up into the tree and then her little look of disgust when she sees the hand sticking out....lmao

"It's a male." "Barely."

"Oh, a brain-sucking amoeba."

#1.20

0 notes

akajustmerry · 3 years

Note

hello fellow hater here 👀 wondering your reasons for disliking jodie’s doctor 👁

hello! my bestie deah and i have a whole podcast ep where we discuss this in-depth for an hour and 40 minutes. it was recorded last year but my critiques remain the same so pls go listen to that here at this link for more detail other than the angry dot points i am about to smash out:

Jodie admitted on David Tennant's podcast that she doesn't watch doctor who, has never watched it and doesn't intend to. that lack of knowledge shows in the way 13 has zero personality beyond surface-level reactions. you can tell jodie has no specific grasp on who the character she's playing is and isn't even familiar with her character's history enough to have meaningful interactions with characters (see: jack harkness). its unprofessional and disrespectful to take on a role with almost 60 years of canon and refuse to engage with any of it.

but really if you want a concrete unforgivably repugnant reason to join the prayer circle for this era to end, look no further than jodie's 2nd season where chibnall wrote a scene where the Doctor used her white privilege to hand the master, who was brown at the time, over to the fucking nazis and jodie played it as a gotchya heroic moment. lord knows, rtd and moffat were racist and littered this show with their racism and anti-blackness but at least neither of them ever wrote a scene where the Doctor became willingly complicit in one of history's most brutal white supremacist regimes to one-up a person of colour and frame it as a win.

chris chibnall doesn't give a shit about the mythology, lore or history of this series, and even if he did he's not a consistent or clever enough writer to do anything worthwhile with it. chibnall's prior work on dw was filler eps. unlike moffat, who at least had written beloved iconic episodes with ongoing archs, chibnall's work was all childish filler because the dude may like this show but he doesn't have the ambition or vision to write it and it shows. chibnall rewrote the Doctor's entire personal history just because he didn't want to meaningfully engage with the Doctor's gender-fluidity, and still hasn't even delivered on how the Doctor being the timeless child actually means anything significant for her other than so he can be like "actually the doctor has been a woman before so i don't have to write anything about this character struggling in a marginalised body/dealing with dysphoria except for as a joke occasionally haha".

even the way chibnall brings back monsters/characters from the show's past, its never in a significant or interesting way, but almost like he wants brownie points for making a basic reference without considering the implication of what he's doing.

please also see this post where i discuss how Chibnall constantly making 13 uninformed not only makes him terrible at writing a mystery show but also is a blatant display of his unconscious misogyny.

also, the homophobia/misogyny of chibnall completely desexualising the Doctor now she's presenting as a woman is fucking gross but its also so fucking boring. let the Doctor be horny. its weird they're not given their horny history

chris chibnall has no idea how to write companions. none of them even pass the lamp test most of the time i.e. if you replace these characters with a lamp, how much would change? we don't get to see how these ppl form a significant relationship with the Doctor because it apparently happens off-screen so there's zero character building. their characterisations are inconsistent if they're remembered at all. yaz is a brown Muslim woman yet her race/religion has only been significant maybe twice in 3 seasons as if a time-travelling brown (likely queer) Muslim woman would only experience marginalisation in very specific contexts and not constantly. this goes for ryan and the Doctor too.

this whole flux concept is so fucking nauseating it's like a hallucinogenic nightmare of everything i can't stand about chibnall's "style" if you can call directionless reference mongering a "style"

genuinely don't think any of these hoes can act or have chemistry!! in the past even when i maybe wasn't a fan of the writing/direction of doctor who, i would still enjoy the performances of incredible talents like David tenant, alex Kingston, Michelle gomez, matt smith, etc. but the casting now is shithouse in the way that u can tell chibs is just hiring his mates. with the exception of sacha's master, there isn't a single moment of memorable performance from anyone on this show for the whole time chibs has been in charge. fucking tragic

but yeah in case its unambiguous. i can't stand this racist, toothless, misogynistic, soulless era of doctor who. it literally breaks my heart to see an era characterised by so much historic diversity on the surface be so offensively meaningless. i mean its so bad that rtd, who famously never wanted to run this show ever again, is literally coming back voluntarily.

#chris chibnall #jodie whittaker #yazmin khan #doctor who #anti doctor who #anon #/

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thevindicativevordan · 3 years

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Alright, time for a Big One: what makes All-Star Superman so special? And is it really *just* a modernized take on Silver Age storytelling conventions?

He's the "mythical" Superman while still being an actual character who undergoes an arc.

"Mythical" in terms of both being a version who does amazing feats and being a version that doesn't care about the finer bits of continuity. Morrison cuts out the bullshit and captures the core of the character, showing off his appeal. Everything important is told to you right from the start: He's a child of two worlds. His birth world is dead. He was raised by a human couple who set him on the road to becoming who he is now. Superman is a man with unimaginable power who uses that power for the good of all. Modeling the main story on the Twelve Labors of Hercules, this is a godly Superman who takes the reader on a tour of the world he lives in. A colorful world full of excitement, where mad scientists sabotage other mad scientists' missions to the sun, full of threats that can push even this version of Kal to his limits.

Frank Quietly's art also sets the tone, giving Superman a bunch of "iconic" shots he's often lacked. Superman flying in front of the sun was as hard hitting for me as DKR Batman leaping into the night with lightning illuminating him. Such a gorgeous shot that takes your breath away when you see it, and the entire story is chalk full of great panels like that. The 4 panel summary of Superman's background in the opening. Clark being a klutz and still managing to catch the coffee. The wide shot of all the cool shit Superman has in his Fortress. Clark and Lois kissing on the moon. Pa Kent dying in the open field. Superman One Million offering a golden rose from New Krypton. Clark laying said rose on his Pa's grave. Superman comforting Regan. Superman punching Solaris into submission. That final shot where Clark is building a new heart for the Sun. The very last page.

And so many more great panels and pages. Morrison joked at the start of the project that you knew it was going to be late and you knew it was going to be worth the wait. Can't argue otherwise in my case, the delays were worth it to get all that Quietly art.

All-Star Superman is also a story that in many ways leans into some pop culture perceptions of the character, while defying them in others. An example of how it leans in is that this Superman's power levels are off the charts. This is Superman at power levels he's often memed to be at, without any limit on how strong he is. An example of how it defies is that this Superman is clearly relatable, defying the common refrain of how you can't relate to characters who are too powerful. We see Clark cry, flirt, offer comfort, get angry, show fear, display confidence, and express doubt. His power levels may be beyond human, but his emotional range is still well within what you and I would express as human beings. Breaking the arms of two clowns in arm wrestling that tried to steal his girl isn't exactly how "SuperJesus" would act now is it?

Oddly enough, this version is maybe the least "Christlike" despite the imagery. How many times have we seen the fawning over Supes in the mainline universe? Heroes begging him to take charge because they just can't go on without him? Endless speeches about how Superman personifies "hope"? The general population in awe of him and treating him as a living deity? Cosmic entities and time travelers telling him how absolutely critical he is to reality? That's not present here, the time travelers of Samson and Atlas show up to try to seduce his great love while he's on his death bed! Everyone else treats him as their friendly neighborhood Superman. Everybody likes him (except the villains) and they think he's cool, but they treat him more as a peer and friend rather than a living god. Helping that perception is that we don't get scenes of Superman floating above everyone talking down, he's on the ground engaging with people like his fellow Daily Planeteers face to face. The human side of Superman is as present as the iconic aspect of him, fitting given that Superman's duality is a key aspect of the story.

That humanity is repeatedly showcased in both his best and his worst moments. When Superman gets the news that he's going to die, he puts on a brave face. Telling Leo to keep this to himself, Superman doesn't want anyone to know he's dying and he doesn't want anyone to know how afraid he is. But his fear about dying and about the loose ends he'll be leaving if he doesn't take care of business constantly show through the cracks. Crying about how he doesn't want to die after being exposed to black kryptonite and facing Doomsday-Jimmy (with Doomsday being the monster who best represents the Grim Reaper for him). The vision of his father Jor-El telling him he has to surrender to the cell apotheosis he's undergoing, which Clark rejects with fear.

Aside from that the entire plot of the book is Superman trying to clean up his house before he exits stage left. It's a mad dash to tackle all the problems he put off dealing with until later, as he now realizes "later" isn't an option. Procrastinating until it's almost too late, who can't relate to that? And who can't shake their head in sympathy at his relationship with Lois? Putting off telling her the truth until time ran out meant that they never got to have the relationship either wanted with the other. They get to say how much they love one another, but it's only a brief moment before Superman ascends (although because it's Superman, Lois never gives up hope that he'll come back).

Lois and his relationship with her is very messy and very human in a very lovely way that makes the heart ache. "What could have been?" is the question that haunts them as Superman's impending demise cuts their time together short. If this were a modernized take on the Silver Age, Clark would've come out of this portrayed as justified for his hiding the truth of his identity from Lois over the years. No matter how he acted in the Silver Age, the narrative always made sure he came out smelling like roses, fully vindicated for whatever he did. That's isn't how he's portrayed here, he handled his relationship with Lois badly, and it's one of his big regrets.

It's status as The Superman story is because it perfectly encapsulates the defining attribute of the character in the same way Dark Knight Returns does for Batman. Batman Overcomes, which is why that story is the one that's ascended to the top. Superman Cares, and this is the story that shows that better than any other. He cares about his parents, which is why we see him in anguish over Pa's death. He cares about Lois which is why he tries so hard to end his relationship with her on a good note before he dies. He cares about Earth and humanity, which is why he tries to find a successor in the two Kryptonian astronauts. The iconic scene where he comforts a suicidal person in Regan shows how much individuals mean to him. Nurturing and releasing the Sun-Eater demonstrates how Superman cares even for "monsters" (something he's repaid for when the Sun-Eater returns to aid him against Solaris). Superman even cares for Lex, protecting him from other prisoners in the jailbreak, and constantly trying to get through to him.

That's the big message at the heart of it: what makes a Superman is caring about the welfare of others, and we can all be supermen if we strive to do that.

Lex's big revelation which ultimately results in his defeat is how interconnected we are, how we are all we've got, so we must care about each other the way Superman does. It's a beautiful sentiment that only grows more potent as humanity lurches ever onwards on the road to self-destruction due to the apathy and callousness of those at the top. That some people see All-Star Superman as "Silver Age nostalgia" or a puff piece about how great Superman is baffles me. This is a story that has something to say, something every bit as meaningful as the nihilism of Watchmen or the brutality of the Dark Knight Returns. Alas, compassion isn't as cool as glorification of strong men making hard choices for the good of all as they beat down or murder everyone in their path.

Damn though is there plenty of cool stuff on display here. The Fortress of Solitude, needing a key made of dwarf star matter to open, full of awesome artifacts like the Cosmic Anvil, and concepts like the Intergalactic Zoo. Superman Robots that care for said Fortress and follow Superman into battle. Baby Sun-Eaters! A sentient star that wants to murder Superman! Lex plotting grandiose and audacious schemes for world domination! Kryptonian astronauts! Baby universes! Lois gets superpowers! Superman deploys the Kandorians to save children with terminal illnesses! Everything about P.R.O.J.E.C.T.

I guess seeing a work that so thoroughly rejects the pursuit of "realism" in search of something much more interesting is "Silver Age" storytelling to some people. For me this is the Superman book that reminded me of those 70s scifi books I grew up reading and loving. Chockful of ideas, ambitious in execution, uplifting in theme but with some darkness present. Yet I wouldn't describe this as a throwback to those stories either. If anything this is a work that challenged Superman, pushed him in exciting new directions, threw out tons of cool ideas about how he could be rejuvenated as a character and pushed forward in a big way. Lots of concepts we see in this book have their roots in the Superman 2000/Superman Now pitch that Morrison was a part of way back then. That and All-Star Superman had the desire to push Superman forward to engage with the 21st century, not retreat to the past.

Sucks that people seem to have taken the wrong message from this book, but what else is new for Morrison's work? People read a book that was proud of Superman, thought he was cool and worth telling stories with, and associated that with the past. After all that certainly isn't the attitude simmering underneath modern DC's handling of the character right? "Superman in a simple story like the good ol' days" is certainly not what I or many others got out of this book though. We got something much more interesting.

We got a Superman story about ideas that matter.

#superman #all star superman #lois lane #lex luthor #grant morrison #dc comics #frank quitely

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nellie-elizabeth · 2 years

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The Legend of Vox Machina: Depths of Deceit (1x10)

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I liked this final crop of episodes. Holy shit. My heart was pounding the whole way through.

Cons:

All I can put here is the true nit-picky-est of nitpicks, just a few little things that I happened to notice.

We've had all of Percy's iconic one-liners from the campaign represented so far, and every single one has met and even surpassed my expectations. "Your soul is forfeit", "you were the one I was least looking forward to", "you're the face I saw when murder entered my heart." Like... you can't fucking beat this, man. However, and like I said this is a nitpick, the one I was looking forward to the most was in my opinion kind of awkward when executed in this version of the script. Percy says to Anna: "You are the luckiest person in Whitestone. 'Cause you're at the bottom of my list." In the campaign, Percy was a lot more level-headed at this point, where in the show his vengeance has ramped up to this really scary point and he's rapidly losing control. So this suave, bad-ass line, delivered with a lilting tone and a smug expression in the original, lost something here when it was said after a scene where all of his friends and his sister had to beg him not to shoot this woman in the head.

Okay and this is the smallest thing ever, but Pike called Grog "buddies" in this episode? As a plural? She did it a couple times over the course of these three episodes and I don't know why "buddy" suddenly became plural? It was distracting.

We do get the briefest glimpse of the revolution amassing on the doorsteps of the castle, but it didn't seem to build to much within this episode or even within the full three episode run. That's something I feel they could have changed more from the campaign, giving more weight to the actual revolutionary fighting going on outside, making it seem like it actually matters if they succeed or fail, that not everything is pinned entirely on Vox Machina. This is a casualty of the show being based on a D&D campaign, one of those times I noticed the adaptational weak points more than usual.

Pros:

God, where to even start?

I really liked the Percy flashback at the beginning. They've been using the flashback stuff to great effect, having these brief moments to show the true tragedy of Percy's backstory without lingering on it. This is smart, because the backstory of "evil people came and killed my whole family" isn't actually particularly layered or nuanced, it's more just the baseline thing that informs Percy's current vengeance quest. So we didn't need a ton, we just need to see the brutality of it. This was also an efficient way to explain Anna to us without having to belabor the point.

Percy shoots immediately at Anna, planning on just killing a defenseless prisoner, which I loved for the way his journey has been going in the animated series... he really is pretty far gone already. It's only Cass deflecting the shot that saves Anna's life. I love that Percy is convincible at this point, but he's very much teetering on the edge. Pike checks him out with her holy powers and basically sees that the smoke is some evil force blocking his soul, but Percy decides procrastinating on that is probably fine. This is such a great way of setting up the stakes for the endgame, because Percy isn't wrong, necessarily, that they're on a bit of a time crunch and they need to see this through, but also... is that really just Percy talking, or is someone else starting to steer?

As far as the group's collective stakes in the adventure, we get this quite important moment where Scanlan points out that they could just fuck off back to Emon and demonstrate what the Briarwoods have been up to, clear their name and avoid the fight to come. Keyleth immediately says that they can't abandon the revolution that they helped to spark. This moment was really lovely and I'm glad that line went to Keyleth, as that is so true to what Marisha was doing with her character at this point in the stream. She was the only player character thinking about the larger stakes at this point, and the moral depth of the group was defined by her insistence that they pay attention to the consequences of their actions. This was a great way of demonstrating that and we got the bonus humor of Scanlan trying to pin the suggestion of leaving on Keyleth, and Grog saying "I'm really disappointed in you." I love that with Grog you can't tell if he's actually confused at what's going on, or if he's in on the joke. Classic!

The twins in this episode... what this is building to in the next few... I'm having many emotions. I've seen some people complaining about a Certain Moment that we'll see in the next installment, saying that a moment of Vex's was stolen by another character, and that in fact Vex has been given a raw deal this season, that they've downplayed the twins' relationship so far... I hardcore disagree. With so much story to tell, I'm beyond thrilled by the level of nuance and attention given to so many of the relationships in the show. The setup for season one here is that Vex and Vax are devoted to one another, and that Vex is afraid of change. Early on in this episode we see her gently ribbing Vax for his feelings for Keyleth, basically saying "I told you so" about his bruised feelings. And then there's the exchange where Vax says "you don't trust anyone", and Vex says "Well, except you", and Vax says "funny way of showing it sometimes." Oof. It's not some huge fight, it's just a sticking point that we know is coming between them.

And then when we get the moment at the end where Sylas charms Vax and he turns to walk away... see, if that moment had been given to Keyleth, if it had been Keyleth who reacted massively and with fear to Vax being taken, I would understand people's complaints. But no, it was Vex as it should have been, and her anguish at Vax turning and leaving was exquisitely painful to behold! I will have more to say about these two in the next review for obvious reasons!

And speaking of sibling relationship dynamics... Cass's betrayal was so good that even though I knew exactly what was coming, I still gasped out loud. Percy seeing her name appear on the gun, turning to her, the absolute heartbreak on his face as he collapses, sobbing, on the other side of the barrier... Cass saying "I am a Briarwood"... CHILLS, let me tell you. God, I know I keep saying it, but Taliesin Jaffe is very fucking good at his job. The voice acting from him in this whole season has just been untouchably good.

It's the setup that murders me the most. Early on, we have Cass persuading Percy to let Anna live, literally saying the words "trust me". And then there's sibling banter, Cass saying to Percy: "your mind is unlike any I've come across... not a compliment." So funny, so adorable, Percy is just quietly delighted at having a member of his family back, and then all the more devastated to lose her once again. I also have to admit that until this episode, I wasn't 100% sold on the voice acting for Cass. I thought it was fine, but it wasn't completely how I'd pictured her. This episode persuaded me otherwise; I thought the performance was so perfect, that blend of vulnerability and pain and all the rest of it, when she declares herself a Briarwood all along. Gah. I cannot handle this.

Before we get to the climactic action sequence, I will say I liked the little nod to the tomb fight. Obviously it was a more drawn out combat in the original, but here we still get the blend of the disturbing, with de Rolo ancestors breaking out of their tombs to accost our heroes, and the absurdist comedy of Grog laughing in a rain of shattered bones, or Cassandra's voice as one of the undead comes lumbering towards her: "Uncle Nathaniel?!" It also served as a good escalation of the Anna Ripley through-line in this episode, where she tries to arm herself after this combat and Percy stops her.

And let's talk a bit more about Anna Ripley. God, she's hot. Knowing what is to come with this character makes every moment with her drip with tension and irony. Something that's definitely touched on in the campaign but which seems to be distilled even more in the show is the strange intellectual affinity that Percy and Anna have for one another. We see in flashback that she tortured Percy without a hint of remorse in order to get the information she wanted. But we've seen Percy be truly ruthless so far in this show. Sure, most of the people he's hurt have been his sworn enemies who murdered his family, but the very first time we see him put on the mask, he's shooting a more or less innocent young man in the hand. We know what he's willing to do to achieve his goals. His ruthlessness and Anna's are not so dissimilar. We see that she's lost a hand in her own tinkering, and she mocks Percy's friends for their lack of intelligence, while trying to talk shop with him. And then during the climax, she helps out to save the day... I mean, I know she would have been killed in the acid too if she hadn't helped out, but I still loved seeing Percy and Anna forced to work together in that fateful moment. So intense and charged and UGH I can't wait to see it all unfold as we go along.

And jeepers, let's talk about that final action sequence. Given what we're going to see in the next two episodes, I love that we have an action set piece that isn't about people vs. people, but instead is a group effort to open a door and save themselves from acid. Everyone gets a part to play, and the show continues to blow me away with its ability to cram in all these important character beats in the midst of carrying very intense action. Grog saying "Oh great, Percy's broken. Come here, you limp noodle" as he picks him up and deposits him on Scanlan's Hand. Scanlan's "heavy metal" version of his spell, showing what a bad-ass he is as he saves everyone's life, and also providing an amazing soundtrack for this whole sequence. Grog in the acid! Pike hanging off Percy's foot to cast healing magic through the acid to keep him alive long enough to pull the lever! That aforementioned moment of Percy and Anna working together!

And... Vex... holy shit I loved what they did with Vex in this fight. See, in the moment of first desperation, the group turns to Vex as a leader. She tries to pass the buck on to Percy, but he's in the midst of a "my sister betrayed me" catatonia and doesn't react. So she does her best to come up with a plan. Then, in the moment when they're all on the floating hand and they have to think fast to survive, she gives Percy one hell of a speech. "We will never abandon you. You want your sister back, and I want my brother. But if we're to have a chance of saving them, you have to save us first!" That's what makes Vex a great somewhat de facto leader of Vox Machina. Not only does she often have great ideas, she's also in tune with her team and their strengths, their weaknesses. Here in this moment, Percy needs her encouragement, and he gets it, and then Percy is able to save the day. My Perc'ahlia heart is living for it.

I also want to mention Keyleth here, in particular the way the show has been demonstrating Keyleth's magic all season. She's undoubtedly got the most raw power of any of them, but we see again and again that the strength of her magic isn't necessarily going to come in and save the day all on its own. She can pull vines through the underground ceiling and wrap it around the acid feed tube, but the pressure builds up and the acid breaks through and rushes out all the faster. It's moments like this that make her triumph later on feel all the more earned and intense and beautiful, when she can harness her strength and compassion to save the day.

This episode also marks the first time the Briarwoods appear in a scene with Vox Machina since episode three, and I loved how it plays out. It's a delay of the showdown we're about to see in episode 11, while still upping the stakes in this really personal way. Percy already had this immediate reason to hate them, but then we have the whammy of Cass's betrayal, stacked immediately by Vax being charmed and controlled, so we know that as we rush into the next episode, it's Delilah, Sylas, Cass, and Vax that our other six heroes will be fighting. Sylas and Delilah are still as sinister as ever. I love their smugness here, and how we end on them basically saying they need a sacrificial victim for their big evil ritual, and they're going to choose between Vax and Cassandra in the moment of truth. So evil! So deliciously evil!

Some other rapid-fire moments I want to mention: Scanlan and Percy get a moment early on that I liked, with Scanlan saying: "love ya pal... but you are legit fucked up!" This is a good setup for a thing that's going to happen in the finale, and it was just a great small moment. We also had Pike and Grog having a friendship check-in where Grog asks how Pike's apology to the Everlight went. They're the cutest. Also Pike reassuring Grog that his dick is still there after his acid dive... lol. And of course the Vax and Grog rivalry continues, with Grog making Vax beg for his help with opening a door, and then later when Vax is charmed and leaving, Scanlan calls after him: "wait, don't you at least want to see Grog die?" I also liked that Vax is ordered by Sylas to push the button that starts the acid flood. That was a great way of adapting something from the campaign in a way that made sense and streamlined the sequence of events.

But god, y'all, this episode was so good. Anna Ripley is so good. The relationship stuff is so good. The soundtrack and the action and the animation, so good. And things only get more intense from here. Onward to episode 11!

9/10

#review #tlovm review #the legend of vox machina spoilers #tlovm spoilers #critical role

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pharahsgf · 3 years

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hate cql fix-its that have the golden core reveal happen early/wwx telling the jiangs that then has a domino effect of fixing every wrong that happens thereby implying that everything bad that happens was wwx's fault for not telling ppl he doesn't have a core. and then the way people rewrite the cool shit wwx does so that other characters do it but ~better and ~smarter like it's somehow less offensive and more effective when it's not wwx. like him crashing the banquet to ask about the wens or when he told jgs off for trying to marry off jyl to jzx like iconic wwx moments that no one else has the range for. also just like pretending that the issue was SOLELY that no one had the context to understand wwx's behavior and not also that he was deliberately sabotaged by the sects and his own brother. like i will not argue that having context for his behavior would have helped lwj, jyl, and possibly some other characters to understand and protect him better or at least sympathize w him but you can't tell me it'd make much of a difference to the cultivation world as a whole, or to jc as soon as the public's perception of wwx and wwx's morals began to clash with jc's position. imo concealing the lost gc was most impactful on his close personal relationships like i think in the end the cultivation world would have come to look at him the same way as an evil unnatural heretic who should shut up, stay down, and play nice in the face of the sects' immorality. which isn't smth jc ever disagreed with btw like why do ppl think jc would suddenly back wwx as his super powerful necromancer second when jc already HAD that option and kicked wwx out anyway. add to that the pressure the other sects would add to get rid of the useless cultivator without a core who relies on evil tricks and jc would turn on wwx twice as fast.

omg, my least favourite genre of mdzs fic. the sects opposed wei wuxian because he was powerful and uncontrollable, because he insulted them, because he aligned himself with outsiders. revealing his corelessness wouldn't suddenly have made him a misunderstood hero, just an easier target; providing a motive for his use of demonic cultivation doesn't make it any less dangerous & the revelation that resentful energy can elevate a non-cultivator above a cultivator's level would present a genuine political threat to the sects' power. you mentioned it already but it would not erase the other grievances the sects have with him and just cement him as even more unnatural.

also. i do have to mention that while a lot of these aus seem to care a great deal about letting jiang cheng save the day and be a good brother, most of them just make him look... way worse. jiang cheng jumping to wei wuxian's defense the moment he realises wei wuxian gave him his core means that jiang cheng was always able to support wei wuxian, but didn't think he deserved it enough. and if wei wuxian explaining himself to the sects would earn their support and acceptance, he owes his canonical death to jiang cheng, who effectively isolated him from the cultivation world by lying to him and lying about him to the sects.

for wei wuxian, at that time, a golden core reveal is a huge gamble that for all he knows won't net him much more than shock and pity, and choosing to use his status as a shield was the safest play. he is not self-sabotaging or stupid for refusing to put himself and those under his protection at risk.

#replies #anonymous #jc hate blog #i agree w your other points too btw! but i thought i'd spare you all the extra four paragraphs

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retphienix · 2 years

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Alright, some strawman made up person will twist this into reasons to call me a fake fan or insult my lack of a perfect score on my real save but here's some fan gushing:

For the past few days my best bud and I have been revisiting 4U, my favorite monhun, and it's been a ridiculously good time that's both reminded me of the many reasons it's my favorite as well as giving me excuses to look at it from new angles (and maybe find MORE I love).

And part of this revisit, which was not planned but ended up happening, has become us cheating through the single player because:

1) I have literally already done it before, all red checks on 3ds

2) He's never been a fan of the single players in monhun and I can't blame him because despite me liking them I agree- they are tutorials and a means to get some free monster parts to be better prepared for multiplayer (as well as leveling farms/food for the same).

So after doing most of low rank legit, we ended up messing with a x10 damage code, and then a straight up entirely bull shit "Instant Clear" code that skips quests, it's been amusing to see but it's safe to say neither of us are experiencing it as intended this time around lol.

That's mostly me getting stuff off my chest before exploding with love.

In addition to cheatin' the single player, I'm trying something new that I've never done in any monhun- actually reading all the dialogue (or almost all, I skipped a few by accident towards the start) and lemme tell ya if that didn't reinforce my feelings on 4U in perhaps unfair ways since I haven't given other titles the same chance lol.

So here's the thing: I could say literally too much about this game.

I could make an hour long dissertation on why this game NAILS so many aspects of monhun in ways I feel, through my nostalgia fueled nonsense goggles, no other monhun has come close to.

I could! And it'd suck! Because I'm inexperienced with the format and I'd get so wrapped up in my excitement and adoration that points would frequently get lost in translation!

So here's text instead lol.

First off, I can not believe just how fucking much I love the team in 4U compared to the other titles.

And again, I read the text this time, unfair bias, but even WITHOUT reading I felt this way and you know why??

Because 4U characterizes everyone SO FUCKING WELL and uses its cutscenes to SELL you on them all!

After having read the text, it's just 10x stronger, bud. This is the one team in monhun that nails the balance of quirky and competent PERFECTLY.

Every other monhun I've tried goes too far one way or the other, you have 3U being 90% serious lifeless characters and then the funny mis-adventures of ChaCha and Kayamba (who rule) so by the end I'm left going "Those sure were vendors I interacted with".

Gen (no GU because lack of experience) gave me nothing.

Like I can't remember a single 'character' it just felt like vendors leading to fights.

World tried like... really hard, and just didn't come ANYWHERE close to what 4U accomplished in no words (cutscenes only) or few words (dialogue included). World gave a quirky handler who never really felt capable in their job, but WAS enjoyably fun about it, a quiet vet who just straight up does nothing but pull out his long sword a few times (how 'cool'???), and a dream team of like, some guys who can look at a map.

Sick work, World.

And Rise mostly just made visuals and no character, you have ninja who does nothing, twins who do nothing (and eat), an elder who draws the monster icons I guess, and uh, blacksmith who I believe is talked up a touch???

And the thing is, this doesn't make any other monhun a bad entry- World and Rise have phenomenal takes on the gameplay that in many ways rank my favorite, but it's interesting to see 4U NAIL it and then the subsequent games kinda flounder in a puddle about it with forgettable attempts and no real cohesive 'family' unit to build you hunting adventure around.

I didn't want to just ramble about how I love my Capital "C" Caravan family a LOT and think other monhuns would be a bit better if they tried to match this AMAZING unit, I also just wanted to say I love 4U.

Just that.

Simple statement.

I love playing it. I love all I've accomplished in it. I love the harder single player missions (You best BELIEVE I plan on getting rainbow legit in this run! I might have cheated up to this point but I LOVE the rainbow quests and I wanna do em again!)

I love the Capital C.

I love how mix sets rule the day in this game.

I love how the mega ultra end game feels as well as how strong you can get- you get REALLY strong but you don't get to "What bullshit power creep is this?" levels like Iceborne.

I love the gimmick this game with Frenzy and Apex- they don't feel too ridiculous like Hyper or too dreadful in what mechanics they apply like AT, and the way they flow into gameplay via Frenzy and Wystones both actually ADDS to the experience rather than just being "This is a harder fight" and calling it a day.

I love pierce this game.

I love my Cera Cymmetry.

I love how content PACKED this title is without falling into world's live service hole (you CAN do content without doing that! ALWAYS BEEN TRUE!!!!).

I love the G hub with His Immenseness.

I love how the Caravan 9 "finale" before the dips into G Caravan 10 quests pop up has you fight alongside AI hunters!

I mean, uniquely defined and extremely limited AI hunters, but it's a concept Monhun SHOULD explore for single player and I liked it here!

I love the finale cutscene showing, glamorizing, and pulling no punches in displaying the monster hunting cycle! Go hunt! Win! Eat! Celebrate! Get Cocky! LOSE! Laugh it off!!!

What other monhun ends with a cutscene showing hunters losing and it's all played like "Well! BACK AT IT EVEN BETTER THIS TIME!" LOVE THAT!!

I love just so much about MH4U, I know this is disjointed, I ain't rambling about all I love about playing it when I should be, but this is my post. This is my love for the game.

Going away from this emulated copy I cheated on, here's my physical copy I didn't.

This is the game that stole at least 820 hours from me. (it was a tiny bit more than shown).

This is the game I'd go back to in a heartbeat, and having done so, I know I can always have the time of my life from HR1 on.

This is the game I played so much, and so seriously, that I bought a CPP and wore down my 3DS to the point where I CAN'T USE IT. The A, X, and R are all worn down to heck and need to be pressed with serious pressure and even the right angle to work anymore ALL because of 4U and Gen, and mostly 4U lol.

This game is what truly cemented Monhun into my life.

I started in 3U because a tutorial / call to action video sold me on the series. I played a lot of 3U.

But I also found a comfort spot and avoided learning how to play 'well'. I beat G rank, I did some of the hardest things you can do in 3U, but I was practically carried through on life powders and the kindness of players much more well informed than I was.

4U is where I decided to hang up my safety nets and learn how to play. It's where I fell in love with mixed sets and striving not to match the meta, but somehow beat it.

It's the game where I accidentally recreated fucking Hame sets just because I was trying to make the best set I could think of and it turns out doing that eventually lands you in a hame lol

It's my favorite Monster Hunter title.

By a long shot.

And it's funny, because most of that is because it does what Monster Hunter always does, but very well.

The gameplay is the best oldschool monhun ever got, flaws and all. I can argue all day that newschool has mastered a lot of ideas I wish oldschool had done, but there's a reason both have fans and I AM a fan of oldschool for where it's own strengths lay.

The roster is robust and a joy to explore.

The challenge is high where it needs to be, and there's an ungodly amount of end game challenge to chew through.

And what stands out to me are the little things that make it 4U.

The characters being memorable and likable instead of static vendors you forget seconds after meeting.

The plethora of friendly hunters I had full on conversations with through this title despite being a text only 3ds game- miles more than I ever had in World or Rise.

The end game I never truly got tired of. That one hits hard, because it's true, and it somehow IS unique to 4U for me.

And a community that pushed me to get better and always reminded me that being a friendly hunter is the best one you can be; Now that's something you don't get to see a ton of on the internet's version of monhun.

I fucking love 4U.

#Monster Hunter #Monhun #MH4U #Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate #RetPlays

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