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aroace riz gukgak is SO fucking important to me oh my GOD. like yeah they never in canon say the words aro or ace, but over and over again it’s “hey buddy, it’s ok if you never develop these feelings” “all my friends are making out and it’s not really my thing” “what if my friends reject me for being different when they’re all in love?” “my friends are all getting into relationships and it’s making me kind of worried that i might be different” “my parents and friends found/are finding so much happiness in sexuality, what if i never get that?”

most of this was paraphrasing/summarizing defining points of riz’s characterization, but the first two are pretty much direct quotes. but it’s just. idk. most of the very little aro and/or ace rep i’ve seen is all “yeah, it’s not really my thing, i’m chill. it whatever,” with genuine nonchalance but MAN it’s so refreshing to see actually relatable struggles and anxieties of someone starting to realize they’re different from they’re maturing peers. (edit: i don’t mean to imply this experiences are universal in the aro/ace community, but that they’re relatable to me in a way lots of other rep isn’t)

he just. is so important to me. i love him dearly.

((edit: this is another post about aroace riz with some also important notes and honestly i would appreciate it if you would give it some attention too <3))

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Creating a more unhinged clone of Kristen has been such a boon because she gives Beardsley a way to fulfill their impulses for absurd bits without compromising the real Kristen's arc of realizing chaos isn't cute.

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That part

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while teen while goblin while aroace while injured while doing your best

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Have you guys heard of nuance. It's this thing where neither extreme is right. You should try it some day

Yes Kipperlilly obviously DOES have issues, wanting attention very badly is a mental health thing. Anger issues and jealousy don't make you evil, it's your actions that count. However, that doesn't actually make anything she says okay. She hates a kid for having a murdered dad and thinks his life should be even harder. That's fucked up. She avoids adventuring at an adventuring school and gets mad when people who saved the world get vague popularity for it. Every step of the way she CHOOSES to be boring and then gets mad about it. Look at gorgug. The most naturally interesting thing about him is that he's a half orc raised by gnomes. But he became one of the most skilled barbarians and artificers of his age. Through dedication and CHOOSING to do adventuring.

Also Kipperlilly is maybe not even her actual real self. She, like, murdered someone.

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Kipperlilly is 1000% the kid in high school who is jealous of your hardship because you actually had something substantial to write for your Common App essay

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i can't believe the intrepid heroes forgot that riz is basically a faculty member because of all the extracurriculars he went to. they don't need mazey for the election night, all they need is riz

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One thing I've not seen yet in discussions of Kipperlilly's reasons for hating Riz is how much it parallels the feelings of people born into priviledged majorities about 'diversity hiring'.

The way she thinks that having a tragic backstory makes you a better adventurer, when all it really does is hurt you, is exactly the way I've seen white cishet people complain that being in a minority gets you priority for job offers/grants.

The idea that having pain in your past from discrimination or trauma is worth it because you get 'more opportunities' in the working world from being a POC or LGBTQ+ or disabled is a genuine belief that some priviledged people hold. And to me that really mirrors Copperbitch Kipperbottle's jealousy of Riz both having a dead father and ESPECIALLY coming from a poor background.

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maybe kipperlilly hates riz so much because she wanted to date baron from the baronies

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i think riz should kill kipperlillys dad. like as a peace offering

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Kiperlilly comes across like one of those people that tell you that „Your trauma made you stronger“.

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“I know you only do things to distract yourself from how deeply sad you are that your dad is gone.”

So, it worked.

Freed the maidens, killed Kalvaxus. Restored Cassandra, defeated the Night Yorb. Passed his classes, excelled in extracurriculars. Whether vengeance, justice, or simple avoidance was the motivation, Riz had to succeed, and so he did. Maybe that was an advantage, but—

He still bristles when Fig complains about one of her two dads.

He still wishes his mom would talk about his dad more.

He still does not know how to talk to his dad about unimportant things.

He still doesn’t sleep, because he has nightmares. His dad in Hell, an image his brain knows is a lie, but his subconscious does not.  Kalina haunting him, taunting him, with no reform or redemption. His mom’s reluctant confession: I can’t lose you too.  

“There is a moment where Kipperlilly talks about being jealous.”

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Kipperlily just kinda sucks now.

Spoilers for Fantasy High Junior Year, as of episode 16.

I, personally, have not been on the *hate kipperlily* train. I've been looking forward to her pretty much since we met her, a passive-aggressively busybody, a mean girl Riz. Is she evil? Is she just nasty? Will she eventually team up with the bad kids? Ect. And I'd like to say that now I just kinda don't care anymore, she's just... She's not fun to speculate about anymore. I have some info I think people aren't considering, so please read, and I'm also not complaining about the *writing* or Brennan's choices. This is a perfectly logical reveal, doesn't contrast anything, and I'm still excited to see the season unfold. But in terms of kipperlily lore I'm good, she's not potential anymore, she's just kinda shitty. Sorry she's a rage rez now, hope she gets better but kinda fuck her in general now.

Let me be clear, for all those *wildly* speculating about her motivations or making her into something she's not: she is just plain, jealous, full stop, when it comes to tragedy. She is not attuned to larger magical events, she does not have a point, she is fucking *wrong.* Why is she wrong? Consider the main thing she's upset about; that Riz has an adventure advantage because his dad was eaten by Kalvaxis, so he's motivated to adventure more than a normal person.

Let me remind 'yall real quick Riz *did not know* this had happened. Riz, thought his dad was just as relatively 'normal' as kipperlily's. He found out his dad was an agent *halfway through the year* and died in the service, and found out it was *Kalvaxis* that killed him, let me fucking remind you, in the finale from the dragon himself. Kipperlily, has known this for most of freshman year and hated Riz for it. This means she dug up *extremely traumatic* information on a fellow student and proceeded to project her insecurities on him, seeing him as having an advantage in life, while that kid *did not know* any of this and thought his dad, I don't know, died in a car crash or something.

She's wrong from the jump. She digs into people's personal shit for her own *satisfaction*, makes sweeping assumptions about people she doesn't even bother to talk to, and rails against the system for not being fair and rewarding her for *not* experiencing a tragedy. Love Brennan, love this story, fuck kipperlily. She is *not* a sympathetic suffering queen she has toxic insecurities and of all people *Jawbone* has been ineffective at clocking and addressing this problem. I'm all for people who need help getting it but it doesn't make her any less of a creep.

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Okay, I just need to get something out of the way when it comes to the Kipperlilly conversation nobody's brought up yet, which I think is insane. Almost all of The Bad Kids would be more powerful if they didn't have their tragedy porn tragic backstories.

First of all, this doesn't apply to Fig and Gorgug because if Fig wasn't Gorthalax's child she would be a lot like Kipperlilly and not the ruler of hell. I wouldn't say Gorgug has a tragic backstory, he's got a pretty normal growing up experience with ups and downs.

Let's start with her #1 nemesis, Riz Gukgak. She's so jealous that his dad was murdered and that gives him an advantage in the adventuring life. To be crude, no, it doesn't. What would give Riz an advantage in the adventuring life would be living with someone who has a direct contact to all the government's inner workings and conspiracies. Now that would be an advantage. That gives you connections and clues that no one else can get. This is not what happened. What happened was eating cereal with water for breakfast, what happened was not getting an opportunity at college, what happened was a 9 year old who stopped sleeping, what happened was not your secret agent dad giving you an advantage in the school conspiracy because he's dead. Otherwise he fucking would've.

And now Kipperlilly's new #1 nemesis, Kristen Applebees. She was ostracised from her religion for her sexuality, she achieved sainthood, and raised a dead god back to life. None of this would've happened if she hadn't been raised in The Harvestmen. No, it wouldn't, but what would have happened if Kristen had been straight? Disgusting thought, yes, I know, but let's talk about it. A Kristen who never left Helio behind would have so many more fucking advantages than the one with Cassandra has. If she had followed her birthright she would be the only chosen one of one of the world's most powerful gods. Sol is the biggest god in Spyre and Helio is his son. Helio does not have a chosen one anymore because Kristen left. It's not a title that's just given out, it could only have been Kristen. You know what's an advantage? Being the chosen one of one of the world's most powerful gods, being a god's spoken favourite, and deified by all of that god's followers. Now that would be an unfair advantage. You know what's not an advantage? Being homeless at 14 and being at the mercy of your ex-girlfriend's uncle for housing, dying and having absolutely no one there for you so you're only option to survive is to trust your own abilities enough to raise yourself from the dead, and failing school because of biased teachers.

And what of Adaine Abernant? The Elven Oracle? Her tragedy porn tragic backstory is surviving an abusive home. Now I just have to imagine that Adaine would have it a lot easier than most students, an incredible amount of unfair advantages, if her old money parents paid for every wizard whim she wanted, kept her diplomatic immunity so she could do literally anything she wanted without consequences, and gave her a direct contact into the heart of the Fallinell government. Now that is what I would call an insane amount of unfair advantage. I would be furious at this rich kid who's never had to work for anything myself. This is not even close to the case. She's barely passing classes because she can't afford the material you're required, she goes to the guidance counsellor for panic attacks, and she's being hunted by her home government. I'd say that's about every single thing in her life working against her having it easy.

Fabian Aramais Seacaster. He's complicated since he is very privileged already. He gets 5000 gold a month just for existing. He's the captain of the Owlbears because he killed the previous one. He lives alone in a mansion. Yeah, that's pretty privileged. His parents are also so severely fucked up that if they hadn't been filthy rich they would've been absolutely horrible for him. If he had parents who unconditionally supported him and stayed with him through everything, then we could talk about perhaps the most powerful person in Elmville. In Solace possibly. The most feared pirate in history who single-handedly dismantled a monarchy and fights against armies on his own is at your beck and call, does whatever you ask him to, and loves you more than anything. The greatest swordswoman in the world, that bested the most feared pirate in the world, the daughter of one of the most influential elven families and immortal will do anything you ask her, loves you to bits, and would cheat any rules for you. To have that would just be insane. You can argue that Fabian already has unfair advantages because of his social status and inheritance. This is true, but this is also true within his own adventuring party. Now his parents aren't helping him with anything and are determined that he reach his legendary status on his own. Otherwise talk about a fucking advantage.

All this to say is that if Kipperlilly got all of The Bad Kids tragedy porn like she wanted she wouldn't have been better, but she would've made them better. There is an adventuring party out there in the multiverse that has a secret agent at their disposal, the only chosen one of a Sol religion, Bill Seacaster and Hallariel Lomenelda unprompted in their corner, and a seer with unending resources and diplomatic immunity. These would've been people you start a platform about adventuring not being fair for everyone because of. The people you went against was a homeless kid, a kid with an anxiety disorder, a trust fund kid, and someone with PTSD.

I've seen your posts about Kipperlilly being wrong for her validation, but right in the fact that The Bad Kids have been given larger plots and mysteries because of their families and circumstances and I don’t want to fucking see another one. When you make that I want you to think about the adventuring party they would've been without their backstories. The insanely powerful and privileged adventuring party that almost happened. Their life got made worse, not easier because their life could have been so fucking easy. Kipperlilly can take all the tragedy porn she wants and then maybe realise that that's not what makes the adventurer. That the reason she's mad at The Bad Kids is the only reason she can even tangentially compete with them.

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that one speech bubble thing thats been going on twt

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Hey sorry for being dead lmao here's a quick sticky note doodle. is anyone still here

original inspo here

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If you can’t reblog this, unfollow me now.