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normal-thoughts-official · 7 days

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it always struck me as kind of hilarious that you have to pass a 30DC check to convince shadowheart not to kill dame aylin but if you're just like "sure do whatever lol" she chooses not to kill her anyway. tsundere ass fuck. killing is bad unless it's out of spite. i have morals unless you try to tell me what to do

but i just got to that scene in my new replay and it made me realize that that's not what's at stake at all

because the persuasion check isn't "don't do this". the persuasion check is, your life is whatever you make of it. you don't have to do something just because your goddess tells you to.

convincing shadowheart not to kill dame aylin is easy. she knows it's wrong, and she doesn't want to, not really. if given the choice, she is literally unable to go through with it even if she clearly wants to, or wants to want to so badly she can't tell the difference

the problem is convincing her she has an option in the first place

the problem is convincing her that her life is her own

shadowheart has never belonged to herself since she was captured. not in body, not in soul, not in mind, not even her memories. she quite literally doesn't know who she is in more ways than one. she doesn't know her past or her family, she doesn't know who her loved ones are (including the sharran loved ones, like nocturne), all she really knows about herself is a fear of wolves that's been implanted into her by lies and an attachment to a flower she can't remember the details of. and a mission. always a mission. the will of someone else she has to carry on, that is not for her to understand or question or think about. she can't even want to serve shar, because she isn't allowed to pursue her intention to become a dark justiciar. she is supposed to be well and truly nothing, empty as the sharran doctrine

(oh, and pain that she doesn't know the reason of. no matter what, she must bear the pain)

how can she see herself as more than her goddess, when she quite literally doesn't know anything about who she is other than her devotion to shar? how can she choose her own destiny, when she couldn't even choose how to devote and give herself over to her?

she can't, which is why, unless you have infinite rizz points and/or roll a nat20, shadowheart attacks you. not dame aylin. you. and she never argues about whether or not it's the right thing, because she knows. what she's rebelling against isn't the idea of letting dame aylin go. what she's rebelling against is the idea that she could leave her cage and belong to no one but herself. because the idea is scary and she quite literally doesn't know where to begin. which is why her obsession becomes to find her parents, even though she doesn't remember them at all. because maybe they can tell her who she's supposed to be, and she can have the comfort of having her path laid out before her again

(which is also why she has to kill them. not because of some hand hurty curse bullshit. but because she just wants them and selûne to become the new shar, and she has to let that go if she truly means to claim herself again)

and now im sad. because it's easier for shadowheart to do turn against shar and everything she's ever had on the grounds of saving someone else than on the grounds that she deserves better than to be a puppet. even if you do nothing, saving dame aylin, to her, is easy. saving herself is a wholly different matter, one she's not sure she has any right to, or wants to, even if it's what she really needs. accepting a selûnite's humanity is easier than accepting her own. losing everything is easier than gaining her own autonomy. and she will fight tooth and nail to be allowed to stay in her own, metaphorical soul cage

#bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #shadowheart #meta #overflowing trashcan

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sentienceisoverrated · 6 months

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Imagine the batfamily playing dnd on patrol:

Barbara: So you try to open the door and it’s locked.

Jason: I kick open the door

Barbara: Roll me a strength check

Jason: …

Jason: FUCK

Barbara: The door…. kicks you back

—————

Barbara: Ok, Tim I need you to roll initiative

Tim: Wait… some goons just—

Steph: Roll the initiative, Tim.

Dick: Yeah, roll the initiative.

All, chanting: Roll the initiative!

Tim: Ok, fine.

Tim, to the goons: Wait a second, guys.

*rolls d20, gets a nat20.

The goons: Ooooooooh

Tim: So that’s 26

The goons and the batfamily: OOOOOOOOH!

—————

Bruce: I open the chest.

Alfred: Batman, I don’t think you should do that.

Duke: Yeah I detected something suspicious about it.

Bruce: I open the chest.

Barbara: The chest opens its jaws. It’s a mimic.

Duke: Wow, who would’ve guessed.

Alfred: Delightful.

*deep, long sigh over comms.

—————

And last but not least:

Dick: Damian, for the love of everything holy, please do not kill the mayor.

Cassandra: kill him.

Dick: No, No. Do not.

Damian: I go to his house.

Cassandra: I follow.

Dick: No—

*Radio silence as Barbara talks to them separately.

*Cassandra and Damian giggling

Barbara: They—the mayor regrets his life choices and moves out into the countryside. He leaves you the house.

*giggling intensifies

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sugaldean · 24 days

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Is miss Muffet going to appear? Where is she?

I thought she came with them in the Lands In Between

YES ZAC YES ZAC

His nat20s are INSANE.

Oh we went hard Christian indeed

Oh no Lou. You broke my heart. "why other could? Why consequences not only never seemed to apply to other kids but were the ultimate for me. Why did I have to suffer every step of the way. Why must I suffer all the time whatever i do."

"For a moment you are all marionettes together". Stop it. Stop. It's too strong to hard.

Oh no not the turquoise hair fairy

Oh what was this second map with the sea?? Ariel? And I think they were other border of countries

Oh no Gepetto wth. Poor Pinocchio

I SHOULD NEVER HAVE MADE YOU??? What the what the what. Whaaaaat?

I'm crying so hard. I know he doesn't believe it but I hate it. I hate it. I hate it so much

Or there she is

Brennan showing absolutely perfect the danger kids are in when the people in their life don't show them love and affection enough. They get easily manipulated and are ready to give everything to the first glimpse of affection. Real or not. I don't blame Pinocchio, I will never blame him. But I HATE what the Turquoise hair fairy and Gepetto did. Oh you regret what you said? Apologize. Apologize NOW. You can't afford your kid being so neglected and deprived of your affection that the will run first thing to anyone. That's how grooming happen.

Oh the way they all jumped to tell him his dad loved him but it doesn't excuse that what he did and say was wrong

"Even though the moral is wrong Pinocchio still has to escape the moral of his story" oh this episode is breaking me

Oh so the fairies are not a united bunch, interesting

Still absolutely don't trust her tho

Okay so basically the Bad Things are happening because it doesn't match what the Authors want? But if the Authors would. Well. Disappear. What would happen?

Oh we're finally getting some insight on the relationships between groups

I fucking love the big bad wolf. Well I love wolf. I'm just sad he doesn't have a pack, he must me lonely

OH YES RED STORY YES YES FINALLY

Dramatic backstory: starting

Emily: Cinnamon Toast Rolls and Lollypopcorn

Bye broth! A caterpillar chasing their friend the butterfly

"Your ears are honking big" picturing the Wolf listening to the caterpillar and butterfly story while waiting to eat her. Story he already know ofc

They are just loosing it at "Honkin" and honestly same

I love the wolf so hard he is a tragedy that's incredible "why? I am a wolf"

Oh she waited so long. So so long. No wonder she killed the Woodsman.

She was so hungry. I love her. I hate The Wolf. I love the Wolf. I wonder what happened to him to end up there.

YES RED YES. She met death and death convinced her to live!

Gerard's story is so funny, tragic and very reflective but so. Funny.

The absolute chaos if Gerard just. Dies.

"do you go where the dogs are or to your frog pound" "pretty loaded question"

It's adorable that Murph just stated that years after it's still only Fred 2 and 3. Not like. 364.

Oh no they are dead

Oh their meet cute is so adorable

The plot thickens as we met the Gander

OH CINDERELLA

Oh no it's the Stepmother story

Yes it is

That's so much wider she loved her daughters

BABA YAGA OH YES OH FHKGFXHJ

Yeah same Emily EXACTLY SAME

Oh i'm so happy. She's so strong and old

She's going to be a pain in the ass

"your daughters won't be injured if you eat them, and then you will be able to save them" i'm not sure but that's something she could say for sure

There goes the witch way

To be the vilain in every story. To be cursed with never having a story. I would be mad too

How cruel that in a way she has the same goal as Cinderella

She big mad

But when does she eat her daughters?

No no no not her present. You are level 4 guys

Oh that's where she eats her daughters

Rosamund is so smart

The brick little pig being called a boar and a Baron (love the alliteration btw)

I understand from Brennan that while they were running for their life the book of mother Goose downloaded a shit load of information

Have they slept since they arrive in this new life? I feel like they didn't which is HORRIFYING

Any situation: involve a living being

Pib: I kill them

I really would like to understand the nature of that damn book fr

That Gérard&Pib interaction was gold:

Pib: idk how we're going to know someone who knows...

Gerard (vigorously) : yeah we just need to break him out

Pib (confused) : wait... We... No no I think we..

Love them to bits

"so you guys go camping?" well yeah Brennan THEY HAVEN'T REST IT'S A LONG DAY FOR THEM

They are children. "Can we sleap on the roof please?"

LONG REST

The dice sometimes tel' the story of a Frog who got a level of exhaustion from being outside, wet and dirty. Basic living conditions for frogs. While the wooden boy who can rot easily is sooo fine.

Mother Goose bless 🙌🙌

That envoy is absolutely spectacular. A Princess (slept for 100y)with her envoy, basically and old man, a puppet, a cat, a manfrog and a cloak

Rosamund: I AM NOT going to propose myself to be married. No. Not interested and I don't think that's something you do

30sec later: I'm here to offer myself in marriage

Zac and Emily's reactions>>>

Can't believe the Baron isn't call Beter

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verosvault · 2 months

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🚨SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 5!!!🚨

Dimension20 "Fantasy High Junior Year"

Episode 5 "Mall Madness"

Timestamp: 1:42:53

Video Length: 3min. & 9sec.

Conor Counterspell saves the Bad Kids! + The Understanding of Time Loops! 😆👏

Fig: "Was that you?" 😂🤣💀

Conor Counterspell: "Remember me!"

Conor hurls his quarterstaff into the center of the clock! ;0

Shatters it! ;0

Fabian begins to fall.

Fig: "This was not part of the Suggestion!" 😂🤣💀

Conor Counterspell: "I have always loved you! Wait, how old are you?" 🤣😂

Fig: "45!" 😂

Conor Counterspell: "Oh, Gross!" 😂💀

They all are falling through shifting clocks!

Swimming astral sea.

Kristen watches as Cassandra grows taller, and taller, screaming! ;0

As they're all beginning to fall, Cassandra reaches out, throws a spell of some kind of attack at Kristen! ;0

But glimmering shards of twilight energy follow Kristen out through the astral clocks! ;0 (I can't tell if this has relations to Tracker/Galicaea or not! ;0)

They all suddenly land through a Synod door.

Brennan: "Immediately outside of Seacaster Manor, at the time 10 seconds prior to all of you going through the portal, except Adaine, who at this time was already in Oodles of Strudel working her shift. So you have 10 seconds to talk to your former selves before they jump."

Lou, Ally and Murph go CRAZY! 😂🤣💀

Emily, Zac, and Siobhan are SO QUIET! 😂🤣💀

Brennan: "All of them go 'Don't eat Shrimp!' and jump through the portal!" 😂🤣💀

Fabian: "What did you say, The Ball?"

Riz: "I was saying don't let the red things go!" 😂🤣💀

Ally said to cast bless immediately! 🤣 So, hopefully they cast a 3rd level bless! 🤣

Kristen: "Support your friends!" 😂🤣💀

They're now all in front of Seacaster Manor and they hear the first cars opening! ;0

Mazey!!!

Fig: "You ready for the shrimp jump?"

Everyone is so confused 😂

Lou: "Wait, we just went through everything we went through...right?"

Brennan: "Yeah."

Emily: "But we're 10 seconds before. It's just time to throw the party."

Murph looks like he didn't get it and then he GOT IT! 😂 I LOVE to see him process new information! 😂🤣💀

Ally: "Wait, we're not going back?"

Brennan: "Conor Counterspell threw a staff through the clock to get all of you out of there before whatever happened, happened. Cassandra is back in that fight. In other words...In other words, Conor Counterspell has just saved all of you from whatever was just about to happen in the wizards' mall."

Zac: "Wait, is Adaine still there?"

Brennan: "Nope"

Zac: "Okay."

Brennan: "Anyone can make an arcana check to understand time loops" 😭✋

The WAY BRENNAN SAYS IT! SKAKXKSKXW

Emily gets a NAT20! 😭✋ Lou gets a NAT1! 😭💀

It's so funny how Fig is cursed this season but Emily really got some extremely poetic rolls in this episode! 😭✋

Fig: "What are you guys talking about? Wait, I get it!" 😂🤣💀

Brennan: "Fig. All of those events are going to unfold in there, leading back to this moment with you guys coming out through here, with the exception of, as you guys all jumped through there, in this version of events, you got yelled at briefly and confusingly by six of you before jumping in there and having this exact encounter."

Murph: "Ok...so...did we win?"

Bro! This part was so hard for me to process! 😭✋ Just the fact that they lost the battle was just- SO INSANE FOR ME! 😭✋ LIKE HUH?! WHAT?! 😭✋

My confusion was the same as Murph's here fr! Asking like "Wait...so...did they win?"

But no! As a matter of fact, they lost! 😭✋ And they had to have Conor Counterspell save them from whatever was about to happen in that mall!!!! 😭😭✋✋

CRYING, SCREAMING, WEEPING, SHAKING! 😭✋🥲

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lucaurico · 1 year

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i love how everyone had at LEAST one badass moment in their fight against uk’otoa.

beau teleporting out of THE LITERAL BELLY OF A DEMIGOD USING THE CAPE. (also?? riding the head of uk’otoa for nearly that whole fight??? Amazing)

yasha’s BADASS lightning moment!!! the CHAINBREAKER!!!!!!!! she is here and ready to ROCK

kingsley’s NAT20 to deal a huge amount of damage to uk’otoa with the fang of the spire king!!!!!! we finally got to see him use his blood hunter abilities too!!!!! chefs kiss

veth’s MULTIPLE high damage-dealing Rogue Shots AND her final fluffernutter!! she is here and ready to KILL

caleb just. Doing Everything As A Literal Dragon. the gravity fissure and the mirror images and the lightning breath and Everything was cool let’s be real

jester’s MASS HEAL (that quite literally saved EVERYONE. she’s THE cleric, y’all!!)

and of course, fjord’s final strikes, his finishing words, and finally sealing uk’otoa away. nothing gets better than finally defeating the demigod that’s been haunting you for the past year and a half alongside your best friends.

#critical role #cr spoilers #mighty nein reunited #caleb widogast #jester lavorre #beauregard lionett #yasha nydoorin #kingsley tealeaf #fjord stone #veth brenatto #i have many feelings about them okay #the energy in my theater whenever anyone did something cool. Unparalleled

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say-hi-intrepid-heroes · 1 year

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thoughts on Honor Among Thieves (spoiler free)

i finally got around to watching the new D&D movie, and I have some thoughts.

(no spoilers, except for things that are obvious in the trailer, like the big wildshaping druid)

first, some good things:

each character played their stats well. dumb and strong? makes stupid jokes. dexterity-based instead of strength-based? dodges attacks instead of blocking them. the dialogue was very true to stats as well.

the easter eggs. lots of references/appearances of dnd creatures, locations, and different species, even so of the more obscure ones

it felt like the dice were behind it all. there were lots of failures that seemed so far up to chance that someone had failed a check, and a few successes that felt like nat20s, plus things in between. there wasn't an obscene number of successes or failures in a row, as many movies are prone to have.

material components! they dont forget about them :)

now, my criticisms:

too many damn wildshapes. i think i counted six or seven in one scene, and i guarantee the druid is not an archdruid. this bothered me more than anything else, to be honest.

chris pine's character. i don't care what anyone says, he's not a bard. he doesn't do anything a bard would do, no spells, no obvious bardic inspiration. honestly i think he's a commoner with 3 hit points.

the lack of diversity. two humans, a half elf, and a tiefling. the half elf just looks like a human, and the tiefling is in no way a tiefling except for her horns. tieflings typically have funky eyes and skin, and she had neither. i get that CGI is expensive, but it's really easy to slather someone in green paint and call them a half orc. (also, i've heard criticisms about the lack of LGBTQ+ representation, but there wasn't a whole lot of romance anyway, so i'm not super mad about that)

forgetting about action economy. i get it, you have to make a movie that's super cinematic, but a single barbarian, even at level six or seven (which is around where i estimate this group to be, max) cannot take on almost a dozen guards in heavy armor with weapons and take barely any damage, then go on to fight again almost immediately.

overall, i think it's a fun movie, and it's nice to see something i love up on the big screen. i do think it will cause problems for dms introducing new players who have seen the movie and not any actual play shows, cause i can already hear players wanting to do the cool things they do in the movie, then rolling poorly and getting mad at the dm when they cant do what they wanted to do. i'm interested to see if they add to it in the future, maybe with a bigger budget and some more diversity in character species. i also hope they replace chris pine, but hey, you cant get everything in life i suppose.

TLDR: good movie, not totally representative of actual D&D, but definitely give it a watch if you like D&D.

#dungeons & dragons #dungeons and dragons #d&d #dnd #honor among thieves

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grigori77 · 8 months

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Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 71

Yay, back to regular reacting times. Long may it continue ...

Blimey ... I'm with you Laura, that is an ... INTERESTING look for Ashley ... but NOT AS BAD as Sam's ... oh gods, now she's doing a French accent ... which I STILL better than Sam's ...

Ashley: "I'm French! It's my way!"

Wow ... this actually might be the best NordVPN ad for ages ...

Matt: "I think you almost killed Travis ..." Yeah ...

HOMELANDER in Mortal Kombat? Both cool AND disturbing ...

Matt: "Lady I'm married to, next to the horse!" Travis: "Yeah, horse lady!" Matt: "Yeah, this is getting quite disturbing, very Twin Peaks ... as much as I'd love to keep Sam in that outfit ..." Sam: "Oh God, it's so hot!"

YEAH!!! Bye bye, Ratanish, you big butthead!

Okay, so where are we? This IS the Shattered Teeth, right?

Perception check already? Go Liam ... Nat20!!! OF COURSE he does ... monkeys? Look at Ashley, already cute-grinning ... :3

Chetney: "There's an ocean, nearby! Intoxicating! We are truly lucky to be here!" Ashton: "Are you okay?"

Alright, seriously, what IS going on with Chetney? Is he tripping on funny psychotropic moss?

Laudna: "Are you an island boy? Do you operate on island time?" Hmmm ... am I missing an in-joke here?

Cliff! Watch it ...

This is INTENSE landscape ... very broody ...

Jirana the Shore Shrew ... cue loads of playing around with shudhing noises for THAT name ...

Imogen trying to send a Message to Jirana ... Matt: "Roll a D100 for me." Balls ... and 3 points of psychic damage! Ack ... oh, no, just 1 point ... not SO bad ...

Looking for the Great Tree of Atrophy? Hmmm ... but are they on the right tree? Probably not ... but Imogen still wants to go up and see ... so dhr grabs Orym to take with her, and Laudna sends Pate too ...

Liam: "Have I ever actually flown before?" Oh boy ...

I'm sorry, HOW high? Oof ... oh great, just an endless fog bank ... great ... Liam: "So ALL of the Shattered Teeth are obscured?" Crap ...

The shadow is MOVING ... oh that's not good ... yes, dive. DIVE DIVE DIVE!!!

Laura: "What if it's a nice Falkor? It's never a nice Falkor ..." No. No it's not.

Wow ... I love that ... Orym has INSANE good perception and a truly HORRIBLE sense of direction ... XD

Pick s direction ... FCG: "We can't just stand around with our metal dicks in our hands."

"Squishies in the middle!" Yup ...

Little feetsies ... LOL ... Matt: "I just wanted to say that so bad."

Fireflies? Ashton: "Remember the last time we thought some little glowing lights were cute?"

Oh no, Laudna, this is NOT the time for a swarm ... oh well, there she goes anyway ...

Pass Without A Trace! Here we go ... meanwhile Ashley's distracted making sure she doesn't smell like the horse suit ...

Tiny beating wings? Oh great ... not pixies again, please ...

An AMPHIBIOUS pixie? Weird shit ... that can't be good ...

Low growling and thuds from somewhere? Oh hell no ...

Trusting Fearne to know how to move through a place like this IS probably a smart play, actually.

Ashton: "I'm more scared of IT than I sm of you." Fearne: "Well that doesn't sound right." Ashton: "No, you ARE very scary."

Sending Pate out to scout ... Laudna: "And don't HIT ON the faeries."

Wow ... only TWO of this party have Darkvision ... great ...

Now they're looking for spiders? Hmmmm ...

A big fucking footprint ... 7 FEET LONG?!!! Seriously, Matthew?

Grim Psychometry! Okay ...

Oh, so they're on a BLOODY GAME TRAIL right now ... that's just LOVELY ...

And there's bits of broken canopy ... shit ...

Not many places to hide, clearly ... Imogen: "This place is bad!" Ashton: "Yeah, it's bad, everything's bad."

A makeshift camp, then ... and Fearne can make sn extra overgrown think to shelter them too? Okay ... "A little Bob Ross cabin". Nice. Sounds tight, but also quite cosy ...

Liam: "Is the rest of the show gonna be us just decorating?" XD

Night time but for them it still feels like early afternoon ... oof, timezones are EVIL ...

Chetney takes first watch ... so that whooshing sound KEEPS happening? Not a good sign ...

Laudna takes second watch, along with Pate ... "This is as low as I go, you didn't make me to he quiet." Yeah ...

Laura: "Okay, what if the creature IS the Shore Shrew?" Travis: "Okay, go to sleep."

And now they're being CHECKED OUT by the pixies ... wow, and these things are FUCKING UGLY up close ...

Liam: "I can imagine it walking right across your eye." Laura: "Like in Aeon Flux?" Oh yeah! XD

Extra watch? Then they can get a LONG rest ... so it's FCG with Pate helping.

Now there's a whole bloody HORDE of the fucking things surrounding them ... FCG tries to Talk With Animals ...

Laudna sleeps with her eyes open? Of course she does ... O.O

FCG seems to be making friends ... he tries to pickpocket his meat from him ... that didn't go well ... Chetney: "You're not supposed to be bartering with them!" FCG: "GO back to sleep." I can't believe that worked ...

Detect Thoughts? Hmmmm ... meanwhile Pussy II jokes ensue ...

One perches in his hand and HE CASTS TONGUES in it? AND IT WORKS?!!! Holy fuck ...

No name, just "me" ... hmmm ... "the Spray Cannon"? Okay ...

Oh, the "Smelly One" is some kind of creature ... oh, they decorate their bodies to mask their scents ...

Ah ... so the stuff is actually their SHIT ... of course ... they have to cover themselves with pixie shit ...

The island is uninhabited? Oh, there's Toriz? The Protector? Ummmmm ... what?

Big fire? FCG: "Oh, you guys are pyros?" Oh, so they WANT a big fire ... XD Yeah, I reckon they can accommodate that ...

Okay, so waking everybody up yo meet the new friends ...

Orym rolls over and IMMEDIATELY starts doing his morning push-ups ...

This is like now SUPREMELY bizarre ...

I love Me so much, I swear to the gods this thing is ADORABLE ...

Imogen tries to speak in its head ... "I'm in your head." Oh gods ...

Me: "You promised a fire." FCG: "Oh yeah, they like fire."

Imogen: "You're worried they're just gonna push us off a cliff?" Orym: "Oh ... well I WASN'T ..." XD

So they're APPROACHING the whooshing sound? Hmmmm ...

An old, long abandoned campsite? Interesting ... Grim Psychometry again ... oh shit, something NASTY happened here a long time ago ... oh, now that was just quietly TERRIFYING ...

Okay ... so it's time to make ... The Fire ...

Imogen: "Me, could EVERYONE poop on us? Oh, so gross ..." Me: "You want a rain from Me?" Hmmmm ...

Insight check on Me? Ooh, WHISPERS!!! Aaaaaaah ...

Fearne bamfs out Mister ... meanwhile they're discussing if they ACTUALLY want to get genuinely SHAT ON by these things ... it smells like lavender? Oh, so it's THAT MOSS that Chetney was chewing on earlier ... that explains a lot ...

Oh yeah, these guys really do LOVE fire ...

Me (to his friends): "The newcomers require a rain party." Oh. My. GODS ...

They are actually getting PELTED with this ... SHIT. Yeah ... Ashton: "Sometimes I think I should have just let that living room set kill you all."

Building a suitable bonfire ... oh yeah, OF COURSE Chetney knows what wood burns well.

All right, here we go ...

Ah, so this will be Laudna trying her Fire Magic under Fearne's guidance ... wow, nice job, girls! O.O ... oh yeah, they're just making a BIG shos of all this, and the pixies are just LOVING IT ...

Oh, here we go ... something's coming ...

A massive multi-legged komodo dragon that can change colours? Oh boy ... and it has NO EYES, just a FUCKLOAD of teeth ... with a big star on its nose? Like a MOLE?!!!

Stealth check ... Chetney rolls STUPID high ... znd it STILL attacks? Not good ...

Go to break? NOW?!!!

Shit, that's a NAT20?!!! Matt: "Why are you cheering?" 62 POINTS OF PIERCING DAMAGE to Chetney? Holy fuck ... znd it's time to ROLL INITIATIVE!!!

Battlemap! Yay!

Liam: "So Chetney just got COMPLETELY WRECKED?" Gods yes ...

Charge! Orym rushes the beast, using Seedling to pull himself right into its face! Bait and Switch on Chetney, nice! Protective Orym for the win!

Imogen Summons her Reiloran! Hex Mind? Okay ... using SPECIAL SORCERER MATHS she casts a long range attack on the beast! Zap! Psychic damage, bitch! Now the Reiloran delivers a Mind Spike znx deals EVEN MORE?!!! Oh, and then Mstt reminds her it can do MULTI-ATTACK so it does it AGAIN!!!

Chetney: "Oh my FUCKING GOD!!!" Casts Blood Curse of Bloated Agony and starts to crawl off ...

It tries to attack Orym and he fends it off TWICE ... third hits, though ... 22 points of slashing damage? Crap ...

It xan ONLY sense Orym? Hmmmm ... so the shit works, unless it's already engaged with them ...

FCG Compels it, but otherwise can't do much of anything until he can get to Chetney ...

Laudna Hexes the fucker! Yeah! Then she sends Pate in to attack ... but he can't make it either this round ... bugger ... 2 Eldritch Blasts, both hit! 14 and then 12 Damage! Nice!

Ashton Rages! Big ass rainbow charge! And he starts BARKING at it? That's wild ...

FIRE!!! Fearne tries to torch it ... oooh, damage maths ... 16! Nice! Mister goes too, poop shoot! Here we go ... bah, MISS!!! Nuts ...

"What about the power ... to move you?"

Wait ... what the fuck is THIS?!!! Something ELSE is coming? Is this about to get so much worse?

This changes Orym's plan somewhat ... flanking instead, slashes once, misses, Gain and HITS!!! Goading Attack! In the ARSE ... 16 points of damage and disadvantage against anyone else ...

Imogen LIGHTNING BOLTS the thing! Nice! Boom! 9 D6 of damage? Crazy ... 31 points of Lightning damage? Ouch ...

The Reiloran CRITS it ... 11 points of slashing damage ... Chetney: "Is that all? Eye flash and that's it?"

It attacks Orym ... miss ... then a HIT!!! Laudna casts Silvery Barbs! Nice save! Still hits a little, though ... crap ... it NEARLY BITES HIS ARM OFF?!!! Fuck, Matthew! Orym is REALLY HURT now ...

FCG gets as close as he can go Ofym and does a 3rd level Healing Word for 12 points ... that the best he can do right now ... and then all he can do is try and shoot it with the Bolt Thrower ... znd he MISSES!!! Travis: "Well at least you're consistent."

Laudna sends Pate to it and casts Shocking Grasp through him ... ZAP!!! Skittering? A great swarm of Stink Bugs? Infestation! Nice ... FCG: "It can't smell past the stink!" Yes, nice distraction!

Still Raging, Ashton Charles in, grabs Orym and carries him off ... stows him in a little hollow and then pops back up into the fight.

Fearne casts 3 Scorching Rays ... and NONE OF THEM HIT!!! Argh ... but at least Mister's "fiery turd gun" hits for 10 points of Fire damage.

Something big DROPS OUT OF THE SKY!!! Great ... boom ... and everybody gets blown back from the impact ...

Gigantic fucking demon frog beast ... like a FUCKING KAIJU ... its mouth glows from inside ... wait, there's a HOUSE inside this thing?

Whoa, giant beast face-off! Matt laments the fact he doesn't have a mini THIS BIG to put in and they immediately start ribbing him about it ...

Orym hacks and slashes, trying for another Goading Attack ... it works! Action Surge! Go tiny fighter!

Imogen tries to communicate with the giant frog ... oh, this thing might be friendly? Okay ... Imogen (out loud, to the group): "Take cover!"

Everybody who can just SCATTERS ... meanwhile the creature flees. Laudna tells Oare to build and he's very vocal about thinking her for the warning ...

The Mes are all swarming around the frog's head now ... it jumps on the lizard mole, squashes it, then just takes off with it and CHUCKS IT INTO THE OCEAN!!! Nice ...

Okay, the frog's back and SEEMS to be chill ... it opens its mouth ... and there REALLY IS like a kind of weird house inside this thing ... and there's somebody living inside it.

A galapa ... oh, a tortle? Cool ...

So this IS a friend of Keyleth's ... she's quite sweet, real. Hello Jirana. And the frog is Toriz. It's her home AND her friend, that's bizarrely adorable.

Fearne gives Toriz scritches. :3

Jirana IS aware of the major changes in the world. Oh, she's inviting them inside ... buy first douses Chetney with a bucketful of water for all the blood.

Bari Mondolo? So THAT'S what that thing was ...

The pixies are Dolabos? That's cute ...

The Cloud Jaws ... like a sky whale? Scary big thing ... and apparently IT IS dangerous, but only to airborne things. Okay, so not a MAJOR danger, then ...

The interior of the frog is surreal but also quite quaint and cosy.

Imogen uses Prestidigitation to clean them all off of the shit. Nice.

Jirana clearly collects stuff. Imogen gives her the Taste of Tal'dorei tankard. Awwww ... :3

She us an expert on grief and loss ... seems Keyleth sought her out? Oh yeah ... yeah, we know what THAT was about ...

There are 43 islands in the Shattered Teeth? Crazy ...

She's 400+ years old ... that's fucking crazy ...

Meanwhile there's some confusion over whether time passes different here or if she's just confused zbout that ...

Ashton reveals his Titan blood secret ...

Now asking about the Tree of Atrophy ...

Ooooooh ... Calamity fallout lore dump! Sweet ...

So you can just CHOOSE to become a tree ... okay ... wait ... is the Sun Tree like this? That would be interesting ...

Jirana: "The Tree is ... honest. Not everyone can handle this level of honesty." Hmmmm ...

So ... looking for a boat, then?

The islands REALLY DO move ... that's just GREAT ...

Oh my gods, I love the way Travis always completely loses it when Matt gives them a map. It's completely adorable every time. XD

Let Chetney repair a boat, guys. He's so stoked about this idea, just let him have this one.

Sam's flask is trying Matt's patience in the best way ... XD

Three big mountains ...

A "floater of danger"? Hmmmm ...

Yes, I agree, teleportation is NOT a smart idea right now. No, just TAKE A BOAT!!! Let Chetney mend a boat, guys ...

Ooh! Compass! Sweet ... the lost compass of the Dread Pirate Novos ... wait, is Matt SERIOUSLY evoking THE PRINCESS BRIDE right now?

A dark deal ... a GHOST SHIP?!!! Wait ... is this some U'kotoa shit?

There's a motorcycle outside, apparently ... Liam: "Grog's got gas." Travis (as Grog): "Sorry ..."

Chetney tries to get a read on the compass ... ooh, vision of a memory ... that's some crazy shit ... "Yep, it's a pirate ghost ship, and it'll be ... AWESOME."

Wow, they're actually seriously considering going for some kind of Davy Jones deal with the Dread Pirate ... O.O

TWO Titans died here ... Jirana has to look up their names ... Rau'shan and Ka'mort. Okay ...

Oooh, care package ... what kind of goodies are they getting? 2 reef moss balms, a bottle of slickshimmer oil, 2 brackish Potions (basically two greater healing potions) ... cool ... that's gonna be so helpful ...

FCG gives her fresh baked goods, and she's very appreciative.

Oh Letters, you're doing better at this than you think you are. Jirana does a really beautiful job of bucking him up ... apparently HE needs to talk to the tree too, and she's willing to help hom too if he ever makes it back this way ...

Man, this ancient tortoise woman is really something special ...

Chetney: "The wolf requires a high metabolism." Jirana: "THIS is for stamina." Wait ... did she just give him some homemade viagra? O.O

Fearne gives her salt and pepper shakers she got from the museum heist. Awwwww ...

She can TAKE THEM to the North Shore? Sweet ...

Oh yeah, clearly this us gonna be a serious wild ride ... I love that she's just a massive daredevil about this while the rest of them are deeply alarmed by the journey ...

Stepping out ... aha, the Shore is in sight. Here we go, then.

Ashton: "How do you grieve if you don't know what was taken from you?" Oh man ...

Jirana: "I am perpetually surrounded by broken things. They can always be mended in time."

Farewell to Jirana then, while the rest of them head to the shore. And that's it for tonight.

Yeah, Matt DID go all out on the Miyazaki vibe tonight, didn't he? I loved it ... :3

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rauchendesgnu · 12 days

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Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗 (i don't know if you do these sorts of chain-letter things, or if you'd prefer not to, but for my part i do like to know which of their works a given author is especially hype on, so consider this an opportunity to gush!)

hi there! I'm not really a fan of chain letters, but I do support people gushing about each others' (and their own) art. I hope you don't mind if I open this up to anyone who sees this (to anyone who sees this: if you're feeling like showing off your favourite pieces of writing or art or gifsets or music or sculptures or whatever you do, then please do so! I'd love to see everyone's best ofs! @ialwayscomewhenyoucall @al-in-my-head @chaosheadspace I am herewith asking you specifically to show me your favourite fics :D)

These are in no particular order:

A Gentleman's Guide To Dancing Fandom: The Witcher Pairing: Geraskier Rating: T Words: 8,433 Why is this a fave: Gay Regency Pining™️and dance lessons Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: Regency Era, Witchers still exist, Slow Burn (ish, with only 8k words)

Insane Twink Takes On Military (or how Lambert learned that Geralt's husband is actually terrifying) Fandom: The Witcher Pairing: Geraskier Rating: T Words: 1,068 Why is this a fave: BAMF Jaskier, also intimidation is one of the best skills in DnD and Jaskier rolled a Nat20 in this fic Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: BAMF Jaskier, do I need to say more?

New Perspectives Fandom: The Witcher Pairing: Geraskier Rating: T Words: 4,226 Why is this a fave: vaguely Victorian setting, people respecting boundaries, trans character, supportive husband (and friends) Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: trans Jaskier, Arranged Marriage, Historical Fantasy (ish) AU (don't ask me to define the settings my brain comes up with), transphobia (not from Geralt), dysphoria

For A Moment We Are People Fandom: The Magnus Archives Pairing: LonelyEyes Rating: T Words: 3,075 Why is this a fave: Hurt Elias. Also Peter trying to justify falling in love with a horrible man called Elias Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: Illegal Soft LonelyEyes, Peter finds out he doesn't like Elias in pain if it's someone other than him who does the hurting

Five Times Jon Faces His Dysphoria Alone... Fandom: The Magnus Archives Pairing: JonMartin (Teaholding because I think it sounds cute) Rating: T Words: 4,266 Why is this a fave: the trans. also I projected a bit. maybe. and again, supportive partner and friends Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: trans Jonathan Sims, gender dysphoria, comfort

I know it said five fics, but since everything I write concerning trans characters and being trans is kind of very personal and important to me, I'll have to add another of those fics (and feel free to check out the trans fics that I have not listed here)

Questions Of Identity Fandom: The Magnus Archives Pairing: JonMartin (Teaholding) Rating: T Words: 4,496 Why is this a fave: the trans (again, yes). again, projecting and me being angry at ignorant people. supportive partner and friends (do we spot a theme yet?) Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: trans Martin Blackwood, gender dysphoria, comfort, pre-T Martin

I'll have to add another note (sorry): I haven't done so for my earlier work, but my more recent fics all have content warnings about what kind of dysphoria is discussed. If dysphoria in fics is triggering to you, feel free to check the content warnings and take care of yourself <3

Last thing (I promise): feel free to ask me anything about these fics or any other stuff I write and post. I also love recommendations, if you feel like I might enjoy something you've seen or read :D

#ask #self rec #writing #fanfic #tma fanfic #the magnus archives #the witcher fanfic #geraskier #jonmartin #trans characters #my writing #jonmartin fanfic #geraskier fanfic #lonelyeyes #lonelyeyes fanfic

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lediz-watches · 1 year

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Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

To quote or paraphrase Andy Farrant (I watched the stream a few days ago, the wording's not in my head) "It was better than it had any right to be."

This was such a fun movie, though. It was silly popcorn fun with legitimate heart, which is exactly what action adventure movies should be.

I loved the overarching narrative and the way it showed a legitimate found family long before it verbally addressed it. I loved the relationship between Holga, Edgin, and Kira, and that beautiful repeated phrase "I'm gonna bring back your mom".

As someone who loves the idea of DnD but has never had much success with it (I think it's very telling that my favourite DnD stream is Oxventure and I couldn't sit through more than ten episodes of Critical Role), it was so curious how they played this. They didn't (although they very easily could have) show you the rolls, but you could definitely feel them sometimes. I'm not just talking about the Nat20s and NatOnes, but like Simon's player in general is a very good player with such cursed dice. He failed so many saves and had to adjust around them.

I actually wonder how someone who has never played the game would react to some of them, actually. Like, there's a point where Simon gets his foot caught in some cobblestones. To a DnD player, what happened is that it's clearly a failed stealth check followed by several failed saves from everyone to free him. But I wonder if to a non-player whether that seemed like a bit of an arbitrary complication to the story for DRAMA.

But there are, I should point out, very few points where I actually noticed those points that would likely end up as a divide. Mostly, I think, the movie was incredibly accessible.

Like, even painfully DnD tropes. Everyone points out that Xenk is either a DMPC or a player who barely ever gets to play and so is always overpowered so they can be a fun addition. But the actual painfully DnD trope about him is that he's just SO Lawful Good. So lawful that he can only walk in straight lines. But rather than it being specifically a DnD joke, he's a parody of The Perfect Hero. Everyone knows that trope. Everyone can follow that trope.

So the only problem I have with it from an adaption perspective is how twisted and messy the story felt. As a DnD player, it was fine - the players were scrambling to find solutions to a problem and were going on multiple quests to figure out what they would do. But I can definitely see how an outsider might find it all... incohesive.

They're gathering party members > oh, that wasn't good enough.

They're going to search for a helmet > oh, that isn't available.

They're going in search of a hero > oh, he's going to give them a different quest for the helmet.

They've got the helmet but more importantly they have this hero > oh, he's leaving, okay.

They've got the helmet > oh, that won't work.

They're doing a heist > oh, that's not going to work either...

Like, I get it. I FELT it. But I can also see how an outsider might react to it in the same way I originally felt watching The Dark Knight. After a point, plot twists get tedious. And some of these plot threads could have been entire stories on their own rather than quick asides. Everything was a little too shallow in order to fit a lot of story into a twisted adventure.

But that said, I enjoyed it. And I loved the complications in this a lot more than I do in heist movies where it all turns out that it actually went exactly as the grandmaster thief intended all along.

And more than anything, I loved the main arc. I am always a sucker for Found Family, but this was beautiful.

From the very start, the film goes out of its way to SHOW us that Holga and Kira are an unconventional but very real mother and daughter. Holga has a closer relationship with Kira than Edgin does. BUT the story is told from Edgin's perspective, so it repeatedly TELLS us that Holga is Edgin's partner, Kira is Edgin's daughter, and the quest is to bring back Edgin's dead wife so she can be a mother to Kira.

I love that dichotomy SO MUCH. I adore it when stories not only use show and tell cohesively, but make the difference between them a POINT. It was amazing, and something that I think couldn't have been done nearly as well in a written medium, I'm so in awe of how effortless it felt.

That one line was... mmph! Nice job, Mr Pine, nice job making that line hit your character so hard.

AND while I probably can't get into it without going on a whole essay about western ethics re: resurrection, there was something I really appreciated about how the film didn't linger over Edgin's wish and decisions about his wife. This was a DnD campaign. Resurrection is expensive and a pain, but it's a thing that happens, the only issue is Faerun lore about other planes, let's move on.

Last thing I'll talk about is the characters themselves. This was such good casting, and I love the characters and how they're embodied.

I love Holga's unapologetic dumb muscle and how much heart she had. (Side note, Bradley Cooper's cameo was wonderful and heartwrenching and that whole mini-arc is going to quietly stay in my heart for a long while)(Side-side note, I love Bradley Cooper so much more as a supporting character actor than a lead. He's SO GOOD at what he does but lead characters make his arcs overwrought)

I love Simon and Doric's blunt, awkward style and how you can tell they'll work well together but would be hopeless without Edgin's charm and energy to guide them.

I love Edgin, and I LOVE Edgin played by Chris Pine, who balances that charm and quiet desperation and arrogance into one perfect BARD. He was SUCH a BARD, even though he was missing the magic and lore (yeah... Simon fails saves, Edgin fails knowledge checks all. the. time. His dice hate the lore and it's absolutely a running joke at the table). His personality was just embodied Harper bard and it was perfect.

I love Hugh Grant's villain era because I actually find it a very natural evolution of his typecasting. But more than anything, I love that Forge isn't and never was actually evil. He's Neutral. He's selfish and willing to do either good or bad to achieve his goals. He didn't really want his friends to die, and you know, the overall outcome of the scheme was regrettable, but he would get away with money, love, and his life, so... -shrug- And Hugh Grant plays that so well. He's so dry and deadpan and you're never sure whether he's making fun of you or not, and it just works. So it's Nice. I like it. Nice.

But yeah! I could ramble about the things I loved for days, and there are certainly things I would have preferred, but this was actually a really good, really fun movie using DnD rules and tropes.

Good game, Paramount. Well done.

#dndhat #dungeons and dragons #honor among thieves #movie review #can we have more please?#a tv series #working with Jim Henson's creature shop #Because those animatronics were great to see but #I mean the dragonborn was amazing #but those tabaxi uhhhh #I want to see Kira level up into a scary battle rogue

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legionofpotatoes · 3 months

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Hi Legion! Long time lurker and lover of your art and tags here. I always read your tags and I'm really interested in your thoughts & views on love and relationships, so I'm curious to know where you got those ideas from. Are there any videos, terms, or books you could recommend? It really resonated with me and since I'm a huge nerd my first instinct is to find more sources haha. Thank you so much!

This ask genuinely made me sit with myself and think long and hard about how my views on that stuff really formed, something I maybe took for granted a lil bit. So thanks, and I'm sorry that I can't give a nerdy answer here! It is difficult to point to specific sources, it's more of a lived-experience type thing. It truly is The Question Of All Time lmao. And boy did it get me thinking back.

I'll put my ramble under the cut if this is not interesting or what you're after, but I enjoyed the introspection still! Thank you!

My context is entirely unremarkable (middle class cishet white guy from eastern europe), but if I had to point to one thing that is the bottleneck of my views on love and relationships, I genuinely think it could be traced to my insane early childhood nat20 roll to avoid toxic masculinity pipelines. I truly believe in my bones that if I had been seduced by that stuff - and legitimately all but maybe two of my childhood friends were - I'd be a completely different, colder, worse person today. I credit only luck in that.

Where I'm from, boys of my generation were set on a very specific path very early on that was pointed veeeery far away from "love". All wrapped up in warped orthodox christianity and crypto-nationalist sentiments, stemming from our incredibly disillusioned post-soviet parent figures constantly running in survival mode. So like, I legitimately don't remember how I managed to avoid those circles and behavior patterns, and the truth is that I probably sometimes didn't? I certainly made stupid mistakes in my early teens, but I had the luxury of making them outside of the public eye of social media. More luck.

There's other alchemy of course - as a child of divorce I got a real early up-close look at the ugly results of mistrust and toxic "love", and a lot of my life back then was rebelling against that. Not that the parenting itself was always bad - my mother turned me to the arts and to stories, which eventually led me to fandom that I can now identify as a much healthier outlet for my frustrations than whatever my peers were doing with their nighttime brawls. It led me to a very crystallized idea of what I really wanted from life - not glory or patriotism or ambition, but a quiet life with the ones I loved.

That is also around the time when I let go of teenage lust as my north star and started fostering friendships instead; because like, relationships are bonds and connections, nothing more or less. Sexuality and romantic love can take as big or as small of a role in that as the parties desire, and they're entirely ornamental to the value of linking your experience with another living, breathing human. Realizing the divinity and beauty in that changes almost everything in an instant. And it is such a goofy-ass thing to say, but yeah, for a lost idiot dude like me, fandom helped me see that. Even the raunchiest fics were ultimately about belonging and emotional nakedness, and I learned to desire that more than anything else. I am trying so hard to point to something specific here, but I honestly don't know with way back then. Bioware's found family-ass games/fanfics were a big one later on, but there were so many other communities before. My memory's just bad.

But knowing I wanted love was one thing, and being a healthier, more empathetic person ready to actually get that was a whole other trek. Made a few more dumb interpersonal mistakes. And then I met my current partner, now over twelve years ago, and realized there was a version of me reflected in her eyes that I could truly chase and grow into. This all sounds super melodramatic but it was more of a terrifying thought at the time, stoking self-doubt and real worry that I was leading her into a mistake. But of course that was all a symptom of terminal self-awareness. We were in our early 20s, mature enough not to play childish emotional games, and young enough to go on that growth journey together. More luck. Found that gentle peace I had yearned for with her., and I count my lucky stars to this day.

In short, everything about my understanding of love and relationships is rooted in personal circumstance + massive amounts of luck, and especially that early course-correction away from toxic dudeness. Nothing extracurricular. And then just more and more luck piled on with time, culminating with my lovely bean. So in that sense I'm the worst person to ask this question! And times have really changed irt internet culture and fandom so I can't even point at that part as an action point either.

But if nothing else, I believe that storytelling is the ultimate shortcut in getting our dumb teenage brains over the precipice of pride and control, and towards the gentle pursuit of love in all its forms. I think that's worth articulating over and over again. Thanks for reading this long and I promise I usually interpret asks like a normal person! This is an exception!!! a big question if there ever was one

#appeltaart27 #asks #I'm so sorry I cant condense my thoughts better lmao THIS IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE

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gaygoetia · 2 years

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Eleven's Season 4 Arc

The more I think about Eleven's season 4 arc the more I think it's going to be about her learning to accept failure and realise her worth is not defined by her ability to save the day.

Foreshadowing

In season 4, episode 1's D&D game, Dustin rolls an eleven against Vecna and it's not enough to beat him. In the end it is Erica's nat20 that wins the fight.

Much like Will's failed roll against the demogorgon in season 1 episode 1, I believe this is foreshadowing the events of the season. Specifically, I think this foreshadows that Eleven will be unable to beat Vecna on her own.

Vecna is unlike any of the monsters they've previously faced and they'll need new tactics to beat him. Hawkins can't keep relying on Eleven's powers to solve everything.

Eleven's battle against expectations

The constant pressure on Eleven to save the day is emphasised throughout the season with frequent references to "this girl we knew who had superpowers" and how much "easier" it was (though of course it was only "easier" for everyone else, not for Eleven who was constantly pushed to her limits in order to save everyone)

And Eleven herself has clearly internalised this idea that it's her job to save everyone and that her powers define her worth.

Her argument with Mike followed by her letter saying she's gone to "become a superhero again" implies she thinks she needs to regain her powers in order to win back or be deserving of Mike's love.

Of course, it's clear from previous seasons that this isn't the case at all. In season 1 Mike took Eleven in without even knowing about her powers. Between the events of season 1 and 2 Mike tried contacting Eleven every day even though there were no supernatural threats to tackle. In season 3 Mike specifically calls out the rest of the characters for treating Eleven "like a machine" and putting her at risk in order to stop the Mindflayer.

Eleven's relationship with Mike

The big point of tension between them this season is that Mike (for unexplained reasons) can't seem to tell Eleven he loves her to her face, even though he already said it when he didn't know she was listening.

Without knowing his exact reasons, it's hard to know exactly how this will play into Eleven's arc. However, now she has her powers back, if Mike does finally tell her he loves her to her face it risks reinforcing Eleven's belief that he only loves her as a superhero.

I think it's unlikely that they would make Eleven lose her powers again after a whole season of her delving into her subconscious to get them back. So with this in mind, it's possible Mike will say he loves her only after Eleven has fought Vecna and failed.

This would go some way to showing Eleven that Mike's feelings for her aren't conditional on her being a "superhero" (although I don't think it's a perfect solution - they would definitely need to explicitly discuss it as well)

There may even be a situation mirroring season 1 where Eleven feels she has to sacrifice herself in order to save everyone and Mike explicitly tells her that beating Vecna is not worth losing her.

Eleven's Past

In Eleven's flashbacks we saw her struggling to master her powers and getting frustrated. When she couldn't guide the coins where she wanted them to go she refused to accept failure. Instead she kept on stubbornly trying the same thing over and over.

In season 1 and again in season 4, flashbacks showed Eleven struggling to reconcile her love for her "Papa" with the things he was asking of her. She didn't want to hurt anyone but she felt a pressure to meet the expectations placed on her by Brenner and by her environment.

One also placed expectations on Eleven by suggesting she is special and more powerful than the other children, asking her to join him and ultimately choosing her as the one person to keep alive when escaping the lab.

Her whole life, Eleven has been told she is special because of her powers and her whole life she has been used by others because of them.

Brenner uses her for his experiments. One uses her to escape. Kali uses her for revenge. And in many ways the Hawkins gang have used her too.

Ultimately, Eleven needs to stop tying her sense of self-worth to what she can do for other people and start thinking about what she wants and needs. And the first step towards doing that is to see that she still has value when she doesn't succeed.

#I'm sure there is more supporting evidence for this but I haven't had time to rewatch any eps recently #stranger things #stranger things meta #stranger things theories #stranger things spoilers #st4 theories #st4 spoilers #mileven #stranger things 4 #my posts

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