#Either that or no role at all I think

[nellasbookplanet]

I've been thinking about Mollymauk, as I'm periodically wont to do, and the fandom discussion about him as a moral compass. Because the interesting thing here is, Molly wasn’t a very moral character. He was an unrepentant scammer. He had no respect for interpersonal boundaries and would deliberately push and break them. Generally, he was an asshole. As far as actually having a strong moral stance I would say Fjord was the standout of early m9, and to some extent Beau.

But here’s the thing: almost all of early m9 thought of themselves as horrible people. Fjord had been bullied so bad growing up that he still dealt with self-hate from it, and now suffered from survivor's guilt to boot. Caleb had killed his own parents. Beau, while she hated her dad, also had internalized self-hate and on some level thought she’d been such a shitty daughter she deserved his treatment. Nott was stuck in a body she considered monstrous. Yasha had survivor's guilt and knew she’d done bad things in her blank spots. Even when they did good, they didn’t think of themselves as good. Most of them were suspicious and asocial and faced the world with the same kind of distrust they expected to be (and were experienced in being) met with. (Jester was an exception, an agent of neither good nor bad but of amoral chaos)

But Molly was different. He was outspoken about loving life and people. He wanted to spread joy, even to people he didnt know or had even met: he slipped coin into people's pockets, hid a silver in a tree just so some stranger would one day be happy to find it. He openly cared for the party early on; was one of the first to step in and help Caleb when he went catatonic in battle. Above all, Molly had rules: where everyone else would agonize over what was the right or wrong or smart thing to do, Molly loudly proclaimed we don't leave people behind, and we leave every place better than we found it.

But the thing about Molly’s rules was, they were largely a cover. While the rest of the m9 thought they were bad even as they did good, Molly thought of himself as good even as he did bad. He scammed people, but made it a good and memorable experience, therefore thinking he gave more than he took. He charmed Nott and Fjord without consent, and when confronted would claim it was to help them. Out of the group, Beau saw through this, not because she was a better person but because she was a cynic. She saw that he caused harm, just as she did, and was personally affronted that he still thought of himself as good and tried to leave people happy, whereas she deliberately left every place worse than she found it.

I see Molly as a moral compass of the group not because he was actually any more moral than them, but because they made him their template. He was joy and brightness and he died trying to save them because it was the right thing to do, and they all chose to honor him by emulating his rules more than Molly himself ever did, because to them it was more than just a cover, backed up by genuine moral thought and discussion rather than small gestures. He taught them that it was possible to be kind of a shit person and still be good, to still love yourself and others. The idealized Molly they created never existed, and finally died for good when they resurrected him in the end and were met with a stranger, who they welcomed with the same love and care they would've expected Molly to show them.

#critical role #cr2 #mollymauk tealeaf #long post #i know we're all thinking about a different dead pc today but this has been on my mind for a while and i wanted to write it out #i feel like discussions of molly tend to get stuck in two camps: #either 'he was a good kind and perfect moral compass' (lol no) #or: 'he was an asshole and you're all delusional' (also no) #molly was as much of an asshole as the rest of the m9 #but he thought of himself as capable of being a good person and doing good things #and that counted for something even if he backed it up with empty gestures and platitudes bc there WAS genuine care in it #and when the m9 chose to emulate it it was no longer empty #nella talks cr

[julijbee]

girlbossing too close to the sun.

#art #ive literally just been treating this game as a library simuator #i walk from bookseller to bookseller opening up all of their books #vivecs sermons are either a highlight or the point at which i stop reading #ive been trying to convince the ordinators that imitation is the highest form of flattery but it hasnt been working #let me wear your helmets please theyre so funny.. #posting morrowind in 2024 isnt a cry for help but youre not wrong to be concerned. #morrowind #almalexia #vivec #im going to explain the chitin armor give me a moment #so the bonewalker nerevar on the shrines is adorable and it was only after drawing it however many times that i realized #it looked relatively close to a modified chitin armor #and so i modified chitin armor a few times and this was probably the cutest result #i also know i drew almalexia relatively pristine and untouched by years and vivec not so much but my thought process was #vivecs role as if not a favorite then the most accessible divine or the most “hands on” in a manner of speaking #acting in ways visible to the general population or actions explicitly brought to their attention #like not that almalexia isnt doing anything she is #but the dissemination of information regarding that is very different etc etc etc #anyways to a certain extent a god is the face on a shrine or in art or upon a statue or carving #but vivecs presence is interwoven with the geography of vvardenfell especially and his actions and writings with pubished materials #and the arts and culture and customs etc etc etc #so to me the face of a god you know and feel a commonality with or a god that walks alongside you is a face you would recognize #and vivec is already otherworldly looking enough #the simple mark of the years on his skin in some way grounding him in reality felt more right #that and i think the ways in which he and almalexia care about outward appearance are slightly different- they prioritize different things #and the ways they present outward power and their embodiment of their respective attributes share some similarities as they both have that #important preoccupation with physical power and physical strength to a certain degree #oh my god nobody read this i am yapping so bad. #tes

[reds-skull]

Thinking about the inherent tragedy of being Gaz

#call of duty modern warfare 2 #cod mw2 #cod gaz #kyle gaz garrick #cod fanart #call of duty modern warfare #call of duty fanart #thinking about gaz specifically in #BLOOD||HUNGER #his role is small but still #Lieutenant Gaz watching the world fall apart #willing to let his best friend try to find some sort of purpose in life #even if it kills him. Because he'll be dead either way. #in another universe they'll all be happy together. But not in this one #anyway really had fun with the background in this one as you can tell lmao #started working on the requests btw just had this wip and I felt like finishing it

[chiropteracupola]

granby + iskierka + keynes

#em draws stuff #em is posting about temeraire #temeraire #iskierka #john granby #doctor keynes #<- I do not know if keynes ever gets a first name so This Shall Do for tagging purposes for the present moment #speaking of which. my logic here is that granby is always getting whopped upside the head and stabbed and shot and dropped from high places #and therefore I think he should maybe cultivate his relationship with his crew's surgeon. because he is going to Need to. #keynes now. My Friend Keynes. I reallyreally would like to know More About Him and how exactly someone ends up as an aerial corps SURGEON #what is UP with this man I would like to KNOW about him #I would like to write fic even maybe. Hello Sir. Your Backstory? #designwise he ended up looking like patrick gallagher who you may be aware of for his role as awkward davies masterandcommander #which was not entirely intentional but I did end up leaning into it as I went on with the drawing. #he looks a lot like many people's version of tharkay here... I should make an effort for distinguishing them by drawing More Tharkays. #either way. keynes and gong su my favorite tem characters I don't really see anyone drawing. my underappreciated blorbos... #(this is maybe because I'm only on book 3 but) keynes is certainly on page a deal more than certain fellows I could name #anyWay. we are slowly creeping up to drawing BigLarge Iskierka but not all the way there yet. Stay Tuned.

[couldneverhurtusnow]

[chemistry] it's not a word that actors [use]. but you must endeavor a little bit to try and fall in love, in whatever that capacity is. and andrew is a very easy person to fall in love with. he's kind, generous, talented. we shot the film at the perfect junction in our friendship where there was a lot we didn't know about each other, but there was mutual admiration and respect. and a similar sense of humor. (...) yeah, it felt fizzy when we were acting. especially with that first scene at the door -- it's so well-written. you feel like you're dancing through the scene, you can go in loads of different ways, and if i went one way, andrew would go another. if that's what chemistry is, i was aware it was happening.

-- paul on chemistry and whether ‘they (andrew & paul) knew instantly that their onscreen relationship was working’ in all of us strangers, screendaily.com (1/31/24)

#i just find this whole acting thing & the process actors have to go through very fascinating. how so many of them have said that your -- #mind knows that it's not real; it's make-believe but your body doesn't & it gets blurred & your body gets tricked into thinking it's -- #actually experiencing all of that. no wonder sometimes actors need to take some time to recover from/get over a specific role they played. #i just recently saw claire foy talk about this & how 'you're falling in love with a person you're not in love with.' and there's a -- #psychological thing happening where you can either suspend belief or you can make real what's happening. and that it can get very confusing #& how when she was watching this movie her body would react -- tears & heart palpitations -- but not because of what she saw on screen -- #but because she (her body) was remembering it. it's wild & i don't think i'd ever be able to do it. #reminds me of what jessica chastain said about 'scenes from a marriage' & how her & oscar's years long friendship was changed after that #idk how these people do it; honestly; especially those actors who play really dark characters & put themselves in their minds (evan peters) #paul mescal #andrew scott #all of us strangers

[carlyraejepsans]

saw your most recent post about really good fics that contain uncomfortable kinks and i immediately thought "ah, biscia must be reading the mpreg soriel fic" and almost left a reply talking about it but i stopped myself because i realized that would be an insane assumption to make. needless to say i felt so vindicated when i saw you link it in an earlier post.

like. HELLO?

HELLO???????

#answered asks #''I fear nothing good ever comes of it when it does'' is straight up SEARED into my brain as the toriel line of all time I've ever read #there's some character interpretations I don't share there. like i said i don't think either of them would cry that easily #and while the different conception (badumtss) of sex/gender in various monsters was interesting #i felt like it didn't quite deal with the ramifications of not strictly binary reproductions on social perception of gender like I could've #eg the part about boss monsters being closer to humans in how it works and thus having a different concept of mom/dad compared to skeletons #was pretty nice. but if you establish that skeletons work like ghosts but distinguish she/he ''for some reason'' even though all of them #can bear kids. and then you make a comment about ''the child possibly growing into a woman considering the shape of the pelvis'' it's like #why??????? why. whywhywhy. why would that be a factor. even hypothesizing a certain physical dimorphism. WHY pick the one tied to pregnancy #the ONE ASPECT that you decided was shared between both ''male'' and ''female'' skeletons #it's also like. objectively an argument that is leveraged to hurt and deny trans people irl so it was just. unbelievably uncomfortable #this is what we mean with mpreg and transphobia btw #not that the concept is inherently transphobic or hurtful to trans people #but that that kind of alternative biological worldbuilding implies an alternative social conception of gender role for the characters #that a lot of authors just. straight up miss. because their view of the world is still very cis/perisexist #BUT!!!!!!!!!! #it was still over all a very good fic. I'd rec it to pll not into that for the initial 2 chapters alone

[zecoritheweirdone]

eyyyy,, guess who's been drawing more of that hc x msa au?

been making a lot of scene redraws/edits for the past few days,, buuut i'm not quite done with them yet,, so i'll prolly share them another time. until then- here's a lil pearl design! mostly made these to finalize her design,, since the next scene i'm doing involves lewis,, sksnsks.

#my art #hermitcraft #mystery skulls animated #<- sorry msa fans i am once again subjecting you to my minecraft madness #pearlescentmoon #pearlecentmoon fanart #design(mostly the hair) is inspired by kitsuneisi's ddvau!pearl! #dude it took me so fucking long to find a hair style i liked + i could draw #worried her ghost design might be a bit much; but also. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #bonus au lore for you guys: thinking the peppers(lewis' family) would perhaps be the life winners? who all just run a restaurant together? #or smth idk #minus cleo cuz they already goots a job at a bookstore #either that or just skyblings maybe. idk i'm still thinkin bout it #i would've done soup group or the mail guys but uhh. gem and etho already have roles as the other main characters ksnsksnso #also trying to figure out what the ice power equivalent would be for gem; too;; #but uhhh. starting to have a headache now so i'm signing off for now o7

[transmascutena]

thinking about how akio sees his younger self in utena and wondering if there's any fondness there. doesn't change the horror of what he does to her obviously but i do wonder

#akio and utena #m #long ramble in the tags sorry: #the thing about akio is that he's so evil bit he's also so human #he has feelings. i just don't know what they are (if anything) toward his victims #he loves anthy at the very least i'm sure of that. even if he hates her too. just like she loves and hates him. the lines are blurry. #and i just. i have to wonder whether any of that extends to utena at all. we know anthy at times feels similarly about utena and dios #(and akio by extension.) the simultanious love and resentment. so it's not too unlikely i think. #like. even though he never had anything but bad intentions in getting close to her #i'm not sure it's possible to do everything he did and feel nothing #not that he has any meaningful amount of guilt or remorse for it. i don't think that. #and i obviously don't think he “loved” her in any of the ways she might have thought he did #but did he not care at all? did he not feel any kind of fondness or sympathy or just. idk. pity? for her? #whatever the case it wasn't enough to reconsider having her killed so you know. how much does that actually matter anyway #idk. i think about it a lot. how abusers are rarely entirely indifferent toward their victims #the role he's playing in her life is so fucked up but it IS a role he's playing and i wonder how much he you know... internalizes it? #how much does he believe the illusion of family that he invites her into? because akio DOES often buy into his own illusions. #(similarly i think it's possible that akio is fond of touga too. their mentor-protégé relationship is horrible and abusive #but that doesn't make it less real. you know? maybe real is the wrong word.) #when he talks in episode 25 about wanting utena and anthy closer that's obviously so he can continue to groom her #but is there something genuine there too? i don't know. #again. it obviously does not make anything he does better or even different. but it is interesting to think about to me. #on the other side of that coin does seeing his own past youth and naivete and desire to do good that he (maybe) once had #reflected back at him through her mean anything? #is there resentment there? that she is what he couldn't be? or more likely he just thinks that idealism is stupid. #either way it's something he wants to take from her. anyway ramble over. #i talk a lot about utena's feelings toward akio (familial vs romantic love and the way the two are intertwined in fucked up ways) #but not much the other way around. probably because utena is actually a sympathetic character whose feelings the show very clearly #wants you to analyze and think about. #which is... less true for akio i think. though he's still a complex character with complex motives. he's just harder to get a grasp on.

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

That scene towards the end of the S3 trailer

The one where Shadow is running to save Sonic from disappearing

What if by that scene, the main conflict is changed? Nine is no longer actively trying to get ahold of Sonic, to drain the paradox prism energy from him. Just like Shadow and his focus on saving Green Hill over the Shatterverse before, he concedes that *nothing* will exist if they can't fix the paradox prism (assuming that the crew comes to the conclusion that they need to fix the paradox prism to have a chance at fixing the rapid breakdown of the shatterverse).

What if after episodes of fighting Nine and avoiding having his prism energy taken from him, Sonic gives himself over willingly. Nine has just realized how far he took things, how tunnel visioned he became on a goal with the sacrifice of things (and a person) he cared about. What if he feels guilty, resolved to help fix the universe they live in before anything else, and Sonic *asks* him to drain the energy this time?

And no matter what Shadow or Nine or anyone else says, no matter how uncertain doing so would make Sonic's fate uncertain and put it at stake, they can't refute the argument. Doing this could kill him (just like back on Ghost Hill, when Sonic asked for Nine to give him energy to match that of the prismatic titan), but is there any other way to save the shatterverse?

I'm not sure what the answer is myself, but perhaps they hope so. They're running out of time, and if they can't fix it, all of them will die. So, they all form a plan.

What if Nine feels this guilt as he drains the prism energy from Sonic? What if he feels more awful (and a little jealous) when it's up to Shadow to ultimately save him (because Shadow's the only other one who can move quite as fast)?

What if Shadow runs and runs, desperate too to make sure that Sonic won't die? What if he's frustrated at Nine and Sonic (because why did it have to come to this?), but also frustrated at himself (because maybe if he could have been there with Sonic, or maybe if he was the one searching the shatterspaces before, maybe he could have stopped all this before it went too far, maybe he could have kept Sonic safe from this fate)?

What if Shadow enters that shatterspace with Sonic in his arms, hoping so badly he'll pull through, trying not to think about what'll happen if he doesn't?

And what if Nine is the next to enter the shatterspace, arriving before anyone else? What if Nine watches Shadow hold Sonic's barely existing form and feels a pang of jealousy, and a waterfall of guilt. What will he do if Sonic doesn't pull through?

#sonic prime #sonic prime season 3 spoilers #putting that tag cause of trailer talk #sonic the hedgehog #nine sonic prime #miles nine prower #nine the fox #shadow the hedgehog #Sonadow #Sonine #i just be ramblin #This is more a prediction than anything (and also a method of hurting myself with feelings) #How convinced am I this prediction is correct? Ehhhhh 30% maybe #I have no way of knowing what's going to come next. My only predictions for that scene are this‚ or Nine (tunnel visioned) does manage #to drain the energy from Sonic during his campaign‚ and Shadow puts everything else aside to rush him to make everything okay. #So basically I either think Shadow's role was in a plan to extract the energy to save the shatterverse AND save Sonic #or that Sonic gets his energy extracted and Shadow has to save him on the fly #With how warped his goals may be becoming‚ I kind of hope Nine goes down a kh1 Riku route‚ where consequences force him to step back and #realize all he'd done and hurt in the sake of fulfilling a goal that wasn't necessarily his original one. I want him to feel so guilty for #hurting the hedgehog who was kindest to him back then #I love when feelings guys #I love when regret #I love the idea of Nine and Shadow putting aside their differences to save Sonic AND the shatterverse #sonic prime spoilers

[sofigrace]

my theory about what will the party do after this in regards to the current plot is that after they return to exandria and give all the info to the resistance, they're gonna be like "thank you for your service, now let the grown ups deal with the hard part"

far away from taking that, especially after one of their friends died for the mission, they're going to make their own investigation to find a way to better their chances against ludinus. probably towards aeor or issylra. most likely aeor.

#critical role #obviously the resistance is gonna fail in whatever they do cause this is bells hells' campaign and they have to be in the main fight #but this is how the campaign could extend 20+ episodes #where does liliana fit in all of this? #she could stay as a double (or triple? i still don't trust her) agent either with rudius or the resistance #i don't think she'll stay with the party #bells hells #critical role spoilers #sofigrace

[neutral-towards-mindmaps]

the 3-step laura bailey dnd romance strategy:

step 1: create a character that's impossible not to fall in love with

step 2: find a player who has deemed their character inherently unromanceable

step 3: profit

#critical role #cr spoilers #its either about loving a character that sees themself as traumatized beyond lovability #or tormenting your husband who wants nothing to do with dnd romance #both are valid #i actually don't know about step 1 i don't think laura makes all her characters that charming on purpose #i think she's just like that #and yes i do get a nickel every time i come on tumblr dot com and draw comparisons between the 3 cr campaigns

[communistkenobi]

I’m sure those articles written by ex-terfs looking to deradicalise other terfs do occasionally help, and honestly if you’re an ex-terf I think you are morally obligated to berate the bigots you used to call comrades out of their horrendous belief systems, but whenever I read those articles it’s clear to me that these people still view trans people as research specimens to debate over, they’ve just generously shifted over to the side of “i think exterminating this minority group is bad”

#and they also tend to still have reactionary opinions about sex and gender! #like thanks for no longer thinking the transgendereds are all monsters #but your beliefs are not localised to ‘the trans question’ they exist in a web of beliefs about sex and sexuality #and the role of gender in society more broadly #we will probably see more of these types pop up more and more #as more of them realise they either have to fully buy into fascism or leave their movement #and that’s a net good obviously like I’m glad they’re doing that #it’s just frustrating that they tend to not let go of their abstract view of trans people #like we’re still just a topic to debate on twitter #anyway I need to go vacuum my apartment

[bkyngw]

revolutionary girl harrowhark

bonus gideon (LMAO?)

#the locked tomb #tlt #the body #alecto the first #harrowhark nonagesimus #john gaius #john is in akio's role. obviously. #gideon is chuchu bc i think it would be funny #ntn or atn will probably throw all these parallels im making out the window lmao #i purposefully didnt draw the iconic sword pulling pose out of spite bc everyone does it #anyway. this either makes sense to you or it doesnt. thats not my problem. goodbye #if it does make sense to you um please dont think too deeply about it or itll all come apart lmao

[awildofnothing]

Imagining an ending for CR3 where a single instance of true resurrection is on the table and they have a choice between making Laudna un-undead and getting FCG back

#would love even more if it was reincarnation instead #because I would love to see FCG in a different body still grappling with all the existential angst and realizing that’s a big part of life #but idk how realistic it would be mechanically to have only one instance of reincarnation- true rez is much higher cost I think? #cr3 spoilers #critical role spoilers #cr spoilers #critical role #cr3 #I also have wondered this whole campaign- would laudna change her form if given the chance? #like her storyline could go either way- learning to love herself as she is Or saying I want a chance at a diff. life that was taken from me

[chronurgy]

might be alone in this, but I actually prefer essek being totally correct about the luxon not being a god more than any other theory. there's something so delicious in knowing you've proved evethying you'd always striven to prove, and then realizing that what you did to get there wasn't worth it. that you shouldn't have done it. to be totally vindicated, and have it not matter. to claim the title of the world's bestest, most smartest, rightest boy and realize it doesn't mean a damn thing

#essek thelyss #critical role #cr2 #love to think of essek finding out he was right thanks to some of the assembly's research and then having to admit it still isn't worth it #that he still regrets what he did #that it was still wrong #also would love to see him provide the evidence to the dynasty and watch it not change a damn thing #watch them either vanish the evidence or just ignore it entirely #I just think both of those things would be baller character moments for him #just absolutely fascinating to imagine #how do you deal when you prove it's all a lie and nothing changes? except your homeland maybe declaring you a heretic? #would just loooove to see how he copes #yes he's my blorbo yes I want to put him in the blender

[zlobonessa]

one aspect that always fascinates me about the witch cult is how much they are used-to-be humans-but-now-not-really-are. they were just people who sometimes were good in the way people are and sometimes were bad in the way people are. and then their lifes had been altered by powers so fundamentally that they just. lost touch with any humanity that they had. how do you comprehend being a hundreds years old? how do you comprehend being able to kill a human as simply as a mosquito? how do you comprehend being beyond time, beyond aging, beyond life and death, beyond your own body, beyond your own memories? it's a horror scenario accepted willingly, horror where instead of running from monster you shake its hand and convince yourself that that's all you ever wanted, because the alternative? the alternative is the existence so miserable you'd rather die than go back. the existence that may ask you to take responsibility for your actions, navigate your own life, change who you are as a person.

they cannot do that. they never could do that. they live for years and years, having powers to do literally anything and yet led by instructions in the book, further and further conservating in the state they were from a start, the moment they took a deal.

doomed from the beginning. never having a chance to escape. never wanting to escape, instead allowing your humanity to slowly seep away as a price for not bearing the weight of that it means to be human. damn.

#re zero #sorry for being barely comprehensible myself i just think about this. a lot. #like the sheer fact that all of them lived either literally or technically (lye) for thousands years #and yet they still hold grudges for stuff that happened lifetimes ago #never progressing never changing despite the fact that their whole life is now technically about Progression To The Goal #to do more work! (nobody except petelgeuse actually cares about the cult goals on the personal level) #to collect more names! (there are never gonna be enough names) to collect more wives! (same thing here) #to be loved by someone who could never love you back because he stucks in his own role and unreachable goal #to be loved by everybody even though you are completely disgusting by your own volition #none of this matters but hey if you convince yourself that it does it doesn't suck so bad! #and if you admit that it doesn't then the only option is to ask yourself what am i doing here actually! and you not gonna love the answer! #well i sure am talking A LOT about them. sorry. #also that's the part where i'm slowly pointing at regurein- [I'm shot at the back of the head] #[my bloodied hand still draws “I'm a monster who hunts monsters” in sand tho]