#so now i can feel called out by a narrative whenever i want

[weirdmageddon]

i posted this on twitter also but it’s still eating at me. i’m so fucking embarrassed to be jewish rn. i dont want to be associated with this ongoing bullshit from israel. why do we need our own state. theyre just making every jew across the globe look bad in general even though many of us are conflicted about zionism and the legitimacy of israel as a state

people have hated jews throughout history for no fuckin reason but now israel exists but now its like. GIVING people reasons to hate us as a group. note that i DON’T conflate zionism with jewishness, but a lot of people in the world don’t know the difference because theyre uninformed and been dripfed cultural antisemitic tropes their whole life and that’s the scary part is them falsely putting two and two together. like what the fuck israel stop youre just putting fuel on the fire for people around the world to hate an entire group of historically persecuted people if youre being this shitty with your insane colonialism and apartheid like……I Want No Fuckin Part Of This. you’re spelling our own doom. you cant just swoop in and go “mine now” and then oppress the people you took land from under a regime without my blood boiling at the injustice no matter WHO you are. even if my lineage is tied to you. so when news outlets support israel it doesn’t feel like they have the best interest of jews as a people in mind. it’s in the interest of a zionist ethnostate and whatever that christian zionism belief is about the jewish people returning to the holy land as prerequisite for the second coming of jesus. its not like they care about us as a dispersed ethnocultural group, it’s all for that religious narrative that a bunch of people in the US are backing.

saying you want all jews to die is antisemitic. beating someone up because they’re jewish and no other reason without knowing their views is antisemitic. criticizing human rights violations perpetrated by israel and the belief that one group deserves more rights another is not antisemitic. and the fact that israel has the ability to pull that antisemitism card in response to criticisms of the violations they commit because their state is the “jewish homeland” drives me fucking insane. take fucking accountability for your actions. and yes, there do exist full-on anti-jewish groups in the middle east that go beyond hatred of israel’s policies and existence as a state and i’m tired of people pretending there aren’t in fear of appearing to seem like they support the state of israel. on the other side of things many people overestimate this by fearmongering and saying EVERY arab is out to get jews worldwide, telling people like me “they want YOU dead”. this is not the belief every person in the middle east and it really rubs me the wrong way that people group millions of individuals into all-encompassing lumps like this. many people there do understand nuance of this political situation.

even if i have that “right of return” by israeli law or whatever, i don’t feel obliged to it; it does not register as fair. why do i have a “right of return” when i’ve never even been there in the first place while palestinians who have homes there can’t return to them? what’s the basis for that? substituting objective reality with an imaginary reality? i don’t think like that. i can hypothetically come and go whenever i please but palestinians are severely limited in mobility? what makes me more entitled to that land than the people who lived there for centuries? nothing that comes from natural law thats for sure. it’s all artificial and inflated.

but at the same time i also dont want to be the target of antisemitism and caught in the fray just for being ethnically jewish. once people start calling for the genocide of entire groups we’ve got issues (and you better believe this absolutely applies to the palestinian victims in gaza too), because people who dissent to the violence perpetrated by the loudest are caught in there with the people who are perpetrating the violence. lack of nuance. people conflating israel and its zionist apartheid policies with jewish ethnicity and culture worldwide. other people conflating being terrorist anti-jew with muslims worldwide (like that 6-year old palestinian-american boy that was just stabbed to death in chicago). scary times man. but as a jew i can’t just opt out of this if it’s how i was born as. i don’t have control over that. but i can control what i think and what my beliefs are

#israel palestine conflict #israel #palestine #what i feel is right most strongly resonates with secular humanist philosophy #never really found the right way to explain my worldview until i read about it

[qqueenofhades]

I'm a little confused by the left's repeated assertion that they're "trying to hold Biden accountable" and push him left, things they've been talking about since before he was elected, and the ramifications of that at this point in time. I do think we need to be calling out things we disagree with and making our feelings known, but seeing people like Nina Turner complain about student loan forgiveness when it's been made abundantly clear Biden is doing all he can and he can't actually cancel anything as just the President (without being sued or having it reversed by Republicans - please correct me if I'm wrong and there's more he could do here?) doesn't feel like it's that? I just don't understand the logic behind people on the left adding to this narrative that he isn't trying hard enough on what we want, rather than the Republicans are preventing things from being done. We need to not sit back and get complacent, yes, sure, but I feel like the line where it goes from helpful and necessary to harmful and more beneficial to the right was crossed a while ago.

The thing is, you're confused by it because it's a bad-faith argument. Actually "holding someone accountable" means honestly assessing what they can do, what they have done, what they can be expected to do in the future, and if they haven't done it, what's stopping them (i.e. have they just not done it or are they being actively stopped from doing it by factors beyond their control)? It doesn't mean "constantly moving the goalposts to constantly criticize someone if they don't magically get everything done immediately, regardless of reality." The way Online Leftists use it, "holding Biden accountable" means "relentlessly criticize him every instant he doesn't magically transform into the Socialist Messiah overnight, the end." That's not actually a useful, honest, reliable, or constructive metric.

This is also the case because their version of good policy is "someone thinks the Correct Thoughts all the time and any failures to achieve it means they are not thinking the Correct Thoughts hard enough." I'm not sure how anyone could have missed what SCOTUS is doing right now, but Online Leftists remain determined to discount, minimize, or otherwise totally ignore its role, because that would mean a) there is in fact a difference between the parties, b) Hillary Clinton would not have made the same appointments Trump did, and c) they might therefore have some responsibility in not voting for her, none of which can be countenanced. As such, if Biden has failed to wave a magic wand and get all student debt erased for everyone overnight, He Is Just Not Trying Hard Enough. SCOTUS very notably outlawed his first forgiveness program? BIDEN'S FAULT!

Even though Biden extended the Covid-era payment pauses as long as he could (it was Congress that passed the law mandating an end to them, because THE PRESIDENT IS NOT AN ABSOLUTE MONARCH!), and even though he's now rejiggered the entire repayment program so that your monthly payments can get lowered to $0, these count as payments, and no interest accumulates as long as you "make" them, which in practice adds up to full forgiveness -- this still isn't good enough for the Online Leftists, because it happened after trial and error, is a partial solution, doesn't snap its fingers and erase everything, and relies on slow and careful policy work. And yet, it's going to be a lot harder for SCOTUS to overturn than just "the president forgives your debt," which was the first thing he tried to do and it didn't work! With a different SCOTUS, it might have! But we have this nightmare court BECAUSE OF TRUMP, and all the Pure Thoughts in the world won't get rid of it!

Biden is the most liberal president we have ever had, period, full stop. It's not sexy and it's not exciting and it's not something the Online Leftists will ever acknowledge, but it's the truth. And whenever he is actually and extensively pushed, he goes more left, not less. I suspect at least part of the recent negative press barrage he's gotten is because he's openly come out with a plan to raise the tax rate on billionaires to 25%, and the corporations and oligarchs that own the mainstream media Really Don't Like That. (They've always been unfair to Democrats, but look for it to be especially so.) That would be, BY FAR, the highest the top-rate tax bracket has been since Reagan. Biden is the first president ever to actually address the scam of "Reaganomics" and take credit for "Bidenomics," which actually does represent a major rearrangement of the way capital is envisioned and distributed in this country for the first time in the 40+ years since Reagan wrecked it. That's why the capitalist media is really, REALLY determined to muckrake him as much as possible, and to do Kamala even dirtier than they did to HRC in 2016.

Anyway also: Holding someone accountable also implies that you're working with them and will reward them (i.e. voting for them, engaging with them) if they do the things you expect, which is another thing the Online Leftists won't do. So yes. This. The end.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts

[nursedexy]

I can never stop thinking about "You always say that" and how Kent reacted to that like Jack said the most painful thing he could've said. And on the surface level it's already painful, because Jack is dismissing Kent's feelings, implying they're fake, implying Kent pouring his heart out is just some sort of manipulation. (Which.. don't get me started on how Bitty's pov of Jack makes the reader want to believe that because the alternative is Jack having hurt Kent and we can't have that when the narrative is painting Kent as the villain.) But I think it's more than that, because what exactly does Jack mean by "always"? As far as we know they've only interacted a few times since the draft, so how many times could Kent have said that?

No, I think Jack's bringing up the voicemails. Because there have to have been voicemails, right? Kent trying desperately to talk to Jack only to be ignored, pleading with him to just call him back, that he'll be there whenever Jack's ready, wanting to believe that day will come. Ending every call with "I miss you." Jack never replies and I'm sure Kent assumes he didn't listen to any of them, especially the ones he left in the later years, when he knew there wasn't a point but he was hurting or something big happened to him and he just needed that connection to Jack, needed to hear his voice, needed to tell him, again, that he missed him.

And now here Jack is, throwing it back in his face. Confirming that he did in fact listen to those messages, did hear him say "I miss you" every time, and chose to ignore him every time.

Yeah, I don't blame him for lashing out after that.

#i just get so frustrated when people take that scene to go 'see! kent's evil and mean to jack!' when it's so obviously the result of years #of pain on kent's side #yes he lashed out this once but that doesn't absolve jack of everything that came before #anyway #kent parson #omgcp #omgcheckplease

[lurkingshan]

Notes on Unknown (and Da Ge) Part 2

Another great episode this week, and one that had some very welcome changes from the novel. I finished the book earlier this week and I liked it a lot; the bones of the narrative hold up very well so I'm confident this drama will stay solid as long as it doesn't stray too far from the major story beats.

Where it can and should stray however is in tone and characterization for Qian, which is something I think it's doing very well. One of the reasons I am grateful Taiwan has this adaptation is because I knew I could count on them to strip out most of the violent homophobia present in the original text (this is not a criticism of the book, as it is culturally appropriate there, but I jive much more with Taiwanese culture in this area). Qian in the book is all around much rougher and harsher and deeply homophobic in a way our show Qian is not.

And so this week we see Yuan in his tortured pining era, old enough now to understand both his sexuality and his feelings for Qian, while Qian seems to be just beginning to subconsciously clue in to some of the weird feelings he is having whenever he gets close to Yuan. He did not seem at all bothered to see the gay romance content in Yuan's room, but he was certainly curious to learn more about who he likes. I like also that they continue to hit the hurt/comfort beats hard; Qian needs a caretaker and Yuan wants the job.

One complaint about the English subtitles: Yuan has not yet ever called Qian by his name, despite what the translation claims. He is calling to him exclusively as "dage" or "ge" even as the subs use Qian's name. This is actually quite important--what he calls his brother matters in this story! I'm a little annoyed that this is being mistranslated because when the change comes, it will lose impact, so just a tip to listen for it.

Every week the episodes for this one feel too short; I'm really loving it.

#unknown the series #da ge #priest #taiwanese bl #danmei #shan shouts into the void

[yujeong]

So, there's this fic I want to write for months now about the first time Pete says "I love you" to Vegas and it made me want to make a post about it as well. I truly believe saying that phrase is a huge deal to Pete and I want to explain why.

Starting with the fact that I loved, loved, LOVED that in the show, he never said it. Not directly, anyway. He didn't shoot Vegas when he had the chance, he shot Vegas when it was necessary to save him, he told him he was right there, he told him he was hungry, he told him he's following his heart. All of those things are different ways of saying "I love you" but it's not the phrase itself. And that's important because it truly showcases the core aspects of Pete's character.

Pete isn't like Vegas. Both of them are very emotional but the way they express their emotions is almost the complete opposite. Vegas is letting them get out of control, spilling out of him, while Pete is keeping them deeply locked up inside him until they eventually explode and he can't contain them anymore. Both of them at first are unwilling to recognise how they feel about the other, the changes that are happening inside of them but Vegas comes to the realization quicker than Pete and tells him so. All of this is why Vegas saying the phrase out loud in contrast to Pete never saying it makes perfect sense in the narrative.

I truly believe that Pete has this feeling in his chest which he isn't even sure what it's called or even if it's what most people would call it but it's so strong for Vegas that he knows he can't live without it so he decided to chase after it. There's this incredible fic by LuckyDiceKirby called "even the clearest water" that has an exchange between Vegas and Pete, in which Vegas asks him if Pete loves him and Pete replies with this:

"I don’t know. How could I know what that feels like? I’m not that kind of person. You make my teeth ache. You make the world bright, like it’s real. It hurts. It’s hurt since I met you, but that means I can never forget I’m alive."

I cannot tell you what I even felt when I read that. It was a mix of pure awe and enlightenment, because it was what I had been thinking after watching the show but was unable to put into words.

Now, as I was writing this post, a thought popped into my head related to this and I want to express it. I think the fandom unanimously agrees that Vegas has the capacity for kindness and softness due to Macau, the wonderful, perfect, sweet little gremlin angel of my heart. Macau is the reason Vegas even knows what love is, otherwise starved for it because no one else in his life gives it to him in any way, share or form until Pete comes along.

This got me thinking: who does Pete have in his life to show him what love and affection is?

At first glance, Pete's environment seems fine and way better than Vegas'. He has people that care about him, he has friends, he has a nice room, his grandma sends him meals that he's allowed to eat in his room. Is this actually true though? Is the main family as kind and sweet and full of affection as it seems?

Well...no, it's not. All of this is superficial. Pete got forgotten the moment Kinn had Porsche in his arms (and bed). No one remembered him except Tankhun, who we could argue also loves Pete superficially and doesn't really view him as a person (I love Tankhun and I say that affectionately. I think post canon he has the potential to change his way of thinking and behaviour towards his bodyguards).

But what about Pete's grandma?, I hear people say. Well, she is the only person Pete says "I love you" to but is this enough to claim that he knows what love is? When he doesn't live with her, doesn't have the ability to physically touch her for comfort whenever he needs to, can't talk to her freely without surveillance? He only gets a glimpse of it and if we also include the fact that he works for the main family for years, he's been deprived of love almost all of his life. No wonder the poor man is confused and doesn't realise what he's feeling for Vegas. He wasn't even a person until the safehouse.

The environments Vegas and Pete grew up in shaped them into who they became and it's evident if you think about it in the way I described above: Vegas' environment is cruel and unforgiving with a speck of actual love in the form of his brother and Pete's is presumably kind but devoid of substance. I'm oversimplifying this of course but I think the core aspects of how he lives in the main family play an important role in Pete's character.

All in all, Pete is a brilliantly written character and I want to thank the writing team and Build for giving him to me. I truly hope that when I manage to write this fic, I'll do his character justice.

#Pete has consumed my brain #I had promised two other meta posts but i couldn't help myself #Thinking about Pete 24/07 #The relationship between Pete and love fascinates me #I can't believe this show makes me think of things unsaid as much as things that were said #Truly fantastic #kinnporche the series #vegaspete #pete phongsakorn saengtham

[jaylleoo14]

Its not the spooky season anymore 😔 But I dont need it as an excuse to write it!

TW// Dark/gory/horror themes up ahead so tread carefully

I've been thinking, imagine what the characters would be like as serial killers. Who would be a best fit for one? And honestly, I feel like I'm able to write all of them as possible ones, well except for Ortho. Okay and maybe for Silver too but everyone else I think I can make do with it. I think.... I feel like characters that are obvious to fit the role is already generic such as Jade or Leona or Malleus! So i wanted to get more creative and try to expand more on the other characters. It would be fun to write about them though but I want someone who I think would fit the role just as nicely. Riddle and Trey was also a close one but I just really thought there could be someone more fitting. And what better character than to do the secretive man himself, Cater! I love Cater! And the potential he has a killer! Huihuihuihiuhihi Its making me shiver just thinking about it (with excitement) Perhaps I'll make the narrative as if you are looking through his eyes. That would be a fun read, no? Well I'll definitely switch the narrative to you and him but its a fun thought!

One day your boring, depressing, and mundane life gets interjected by Cater, the fun loving and bright barista! Some days you would always find yourself dreading as to why you should even continue. You live in a shitty area and your living situation is a mess, your neighbors are always partying, your boss is always picking on you, you're family situation is complicated, and all your friends seem to have moved on doing their own things in life. Life sucks, why do you have to go through this? You just want to go home already. Recently whenever you come by this super cute cafe this barista is always happily greeting you. "Another rough day?" He asked one day, and ever since that question you both have been making small talk whenever you would come by. He was easy to talk to, very friendly and bright. He was something you looked forward too during your days before and after work. One day when you go by the cafe you don't seem to see Cater around. Instead another worker rings you up instead. Out of curiosity you ask them where Cater was, and to none of their surprise that it was you who asked they simply answer with a "he called in sick." They recognize you as well considering you are a regular patron, one of the many other people who seem to enjoy Caters livelihood. Well you needed it in your life anyways. When you take a drive to your workplace you hear on the radio that two missing reports have been filed just last week, and to add on, just today they found a dead body belonging to one of the missing persons. They've been found brutally handled, the skin of their face peeled off and missing. What a grotesque and horrific way to go out.

A killer has been out on the loose in your city for who knows how long now. Though one thing is for certain, they've been going on for quite sometime now, all the victims going out in the same vindicative way. With their faces taken from them. This killer has been going on for quite some time now, but its just recently that they are starting to make another strike. For how long exactly? Who's to say. One thing for sure though is that you plan to save enough to finally move out of this godforsaken city, your awful apartment, and quit your damn job once you make enough. Despite all these killings going around, a lot of people seem to still go by their normal days just only hoping that they wont be the next unfortunate victim. "I hope Cater's alright" You say to yourself as you turn off the radio. The weather has been getting a lot colder lately, and it has been frequently raining. It would make sense that he'd get sick. Hearing about the reoccurring news causes you to let out a sigh, taking a mental note to be a bit more wary now.

You both don't really delve into each others personal life like that, so you can only hope for the best that he has someone to take care of. However on the way to work your light makes you stop and next to you is a deep alleyway. The day still being freshly new, the weather being a dewy light blueish grey after a slight rain, you dont care to look anywhere around you until a little glare hits your eyes on the side. Without much thought you turn around to see what the cause could be. Perhaps a shiny or passing car? Or perhaps it was just the reflection of someone's skateboard on the nearby sidewalk next to your car, or maybe it was- Oh.

. . . Oh

Your heart drops. You suddenly feel cold and goosebumps arise in you as you slowly flare up and your eyes widen with hyperactivity.

Someone is over there

In the alley way, next to you. Just slightly, are you able to make out a figure hidden under the shadows casted by the surrounding and clustered buildings.

Someone with a dark hoodie to blend in with the shadows, their back slightly angled towards you in the dark.

HONK

A car honks from behind you and you're woken from your trance. Just then though, the person in the alleyway slightly shoots their head towards where the sound of the honking originally came from quickly and for a split second your eyes meet. You hit the gas pedal, quickly speeding off with your heart racing as you pass the streetlight. Your cold clammy hands grips onto the steering wheel as you slightly speed off in a hurry and you bury yourself into your seat as the sound of your engine revs away down the dampened street.

They saw me...... I saw them...... they saw me

Was that? Did I see, the killer?

As he watches you speed off in your car he turns back to his finished business. The bloodied and lifeless corpse in front of him lying in a dirty puddle mixed with gravel and rain water from the earlier light rain. With his bloodied gloved hands, a dark shining glint glossing over it, he brings it to drag his mask down to inhale the dewy freshness of the air and out with a heavy breath.

"Ah, Cay-Cay should've been more careful huh?"

With no response he only laughs to himself a bit, nudging the lifeless corpse with his foot as if it were a ball.

"Oops. Forgot you've kicked the bucket now. Oh well, they didn't see me anyways. I shouldn't worry too much anyways."

"heh, who would've thought It would be (y/n) to see me down here... I guess I'll keep a close eye on them from now justttt in case."

Definitely will expand on this when I have the time and finish my other work, but oh how I cant wait to share! >< This is just a base and loose little draft for me to go off of but I was thinking of something like Cater placing pictures around the victims, pictures of perhaps locations to where he could have put their faces. But regardless, I think it'd be fun to write a really slow burn between you and Cater, a psychological horror experience :3

#jellorambles #twst #twisted wonderland #cater diamond #cater twst #cater x reader #people like yanderes right? #yandere cater diamond #twst x reader #serial killer au #My brain cannot seem to stop thinking about sk!Cater and >< #does anyone else like cater #this is pretty vile in all honesty but thats the point #I hope i can make this an immersive read for the intended audience #twst cater

[genericpuff]

Hey I’ve questions to the word “Infantilization” sense into thrown out there willy nilly (in my perspective) I want write/read webtoons and comics and im asking what something to watch out for in characters especially when age isn’t confirmed

Ouu, this is an interesting question/request!

So obviously I'm just one person and can't identify every sign of infantilization myself, I still find myself falling for stuff that was subliminally problematic (which is often the point of the people writing it LMAO) And of course the points I'm about to make, you may disagree with! So take this with grains of critical salt.

I'll try to keep it focused around Persephone and Hades as an example but note that a lot of what shows up between them shows up between other Webtoon couples as well (such as Sam and Charles!)

Identifying infantilization does take context. A lot of what I'm about to include as examples aren't inherently wrong on their own - many writers are legit just trying to write a "cute" character or spicy drama - but when put in conjunction with one another or dialed up to hyperbolic degrees, can absolutely play into subconscious and conscious infantilization of characters that can become easy to internalize especially for the younger audiences these types of works are marketed to.

So let's get on with it!

The character has traits that render them dysfunctional unless they have someone to guide them - and are often exaggerated for the "laughs" or to make them seem "cute". Take Sam from Let's Play, for example - she's got anxiety from previous health scares and asthma, which is amplified and viewed by others to the point of comparing her office booth to a "crib". Now, this does make for an interesting plot point wherein Sam's friends and family are actually enabling her lack of independence by shielding her (which is one thing I do like about Charles, that he pushes her to be more assertive and independent) but oftentimes Sam's lack of assertiveness and independence is played off as "cute" for the audience and their favorite ships when in fact, her character has some serious issues going on that stem back to her anxiety that dick can't solve.

But of course, characters like Charles take full advantage of that and are still offered as the "solution" to their problems.

The character is often pursued on the basis of "purity". Often times the characters themselves will call out how young/innocent they are, for better and for worse - and if it's to judge the main characters' preferences, the romance is still pursued in defiance of that, as if to "prove them wrong".

Think Persephone, a virgin Goddess of Spring, being pursued by Hades, a much older and more sexually experienced man who bases most of his relationships off sexual attraction, who she ends up working for in an office environment as his intern. Or Sam, who is both the daughter of the overprotective CEO and dating her own superior, Charles, who isn't looking for the kind of relationship she's looking for - he's in transactional sexual relationships, while she can barely look at porn or hold another boy's hand without freaking out. She's 22. Persephone is often drawn being objectified by Hades, while Sam has been drawn as the "sheep" in the relationships with the "big bad wolves" around her.

Now I know drawing a character 'small' or in absurd ways like this can be used for framing whenever the character feels small against someone else, but the extent it's done to with characters like Persephone and Sam is often under the guise of "framing" when it's more often blatant characterization. Sam rarely feels like she's actually growing as a person, she's assertive when the narrative needs her to be but regresses right back to being an "uwu baby" as soon as it's deemed funny enough to do so. Persephone never changes between the end of the trial and the events in S3, she still acts and is written and drawn like a teenager.

I know this is a hilarious example, but all I can think is when people call Persephone a "sweet cinnamon roll" or Sam a "precious Bunty". Sam and Persephone are both adult women. And even when Persephone was 19 people still defended her relationship with Hades because "she's legally an adult and can make her own choices!" But then Rachel will often her like, well... this.

The character is often "stuck" between their love interest and a parental figure. Again, this one on its own isn't the worst thing in the world as it's a very real conflict that happens in real life, but it's a common thread that comes up in the stories often criticized for infantilization because the relationships these characters are in aren't ideal in the first place and the parental conflict is used as a way to drive the romance and tension instead of actual romantic chemistry. Think those Lore Olympus banner reel ads featuring Persephone "trapped" between Hades and Demeter; or in Let's Play, Sam being "passed off" between her father and her superior who is the love interest.

These things would be fine if they were making some kind of point about marriage culture but they rarely ever are, it's usually only ever to resort to "haha overprotective parent bad!" (even when the MC is in a relationship they really shouldn't be in) or to serve as a punchline which ultimately just, again, objectifies and infantilizes the character as someone who can't function on their own without a man making the decisions for them.

When you take these spicy drama tropes out of the story - the overprotective parent, the boss/employee relationship, etc. - there's really nothing going on in these relationships that's all that interesting. It's just two horny people trying not to be horny for each other.

The other people the character depends on are typically in higher positions of power than them but often hide it under the guise of "romance". Often times this makes the character directly subservient to the love interest. These power differences often serve as the driving factor in the romance itself rather than any actual chemistry. Hades, Charles, sound familiar?

I know I've talked about LO and Let's Play a lot on this topic but it's literally just because of how egregiously similar they are, Let's Play may as well just be Lore Olympus but with real people (esp when you consider how little the "god" element matters in LO when it comes right down to it). And they're both series that are flagship titles, at the forefront of the romance genre which is one of the most widely read genres in webtoons/webcomics. The fact that two of the highest earning webtoons both push this kind of infantilization in their comics that are pushed on a young audience... it's not great. Even if it were an adult audience it would still be problematic, like I'll give kudos to mongie, she left when she knew WT wasn't the right platform for her work, but I don't know if I'd still enjoy Let's Play off WT either because it's still just a mess of a comic. Still stronger than LO - at least the main character spends a decent amount of time having a life outside of their love interests - but I don't know if being better than LO is really a compliment at this point.

And outside of webtoons, I read A Touch of Darkness recently after being told by people that it's "much better than LO" but y'all it SUCKED. It's shitty p0rn with a shitty plot and Persephone is just as lacking in brain cells in A Touch of Darkness as she is in Lore Olympus.

It's ironic how a comic that claims to be a "deconstruction" of purity culture really feeds right back into it anyways because the creator seems to be a product of purity culture and male gaze media who hasn't actually addressed it or unpacked it.

Anyways, I think that's all for now? If I think of anything else I'll def reblog and add more but I thiiiink that covers the majority of the points that typically come to mind whenever I'm reading stories like this. It's definitely one of those "once you start seeing it you can't unsee it" things that even female writers like Rachel and mongie aren't immune to writing.

#ask me anything #ama #lo critical #lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus

[canonicallyobserving911]

Buck & Eddie: Rescue vs. Save

Buck’s only SAVED three people but he’s RESCUED hundreds because that’s his job.

I completed a post about the difference between Buck rescuing and saving people last year (linked here) and after 6x17 “Love is in the Air” aired, I wanted to mention this again with definitions to illustrate how Buck rescues people for his job but he saves the people he loves.

To rescue means to remove a person from a dangerous, dire and/or an unpleasant situation, i.e., fire, earthquake, downed helicopter, car accident, etc. and a person can be rescued by someone they don’t know (firefighter).  It’s a one-time event.

To save someone is a process and it’s not a one-time event.  It’s a relationship and the person doing the saving and the one being saved perspectives’ change as they continue to grow and mature together. 

In 6x15 “Death and Taxes”, after Buck said he met up with Natalia, Eddie said, “Seriously… dating someone you rescued, you know that never ends well” and he SPECIFICALLY used the word RESCUED instead of SAVED for a reason.

Rescued

Buck rescued Taylor, Ali and Natalia after they were involved in accidents the same way he rescued people during the Tsunami and whenever the 118 was dispatched to rescue people from fires, earthquakes and other disasters.  Also, he rescued Kameron from the standpoint of her needing somewhere to stay while she and Connor are on the outs but since Connor will be in next week’s episode, it’s highly unlikely Buck will end up with Kameron.  He’ll probably be instrumental in helping them save their relationship but he won’t end up with her because the narrative for 6B with regards to the sperm donation has been showing the complete opposite of that scenario.  Connor’s the father (Buck said that in 6x10 “In a Flash” and he said it again to Natalia in 6x17), therefore in 6x18 “Pay it Forward”, he will do just that, pay it forward when he helps Connor realize he has everything he needs with Kameron.

Saved

Buck has only SAVED three people over the past six years and they are Maddie, Chris and Eddie and he saved them because he loves them.  Maddie is his sister; he’s Chris’ legal guardian (in the event of Eddie’s death but soon he’ll be Buck’s stepson) and Eddie is his everything.  Buck saved Maddie after she killed Doug and he ran to meet her when she was injured and stumbled out of the woods in 2x13 “Fight or Flight”.  But he doesn’t have to save her anymore because she’s with Chimney and he admitted it to Sue in 3x14 “The Taking of Dispatch” when he said, “She has everything she needs” as she was hugging Chimney.  Chimney will be the one who saves Maddie now.

Buck saved Chris during the Tsunami after the first wave hit and he swam out to get him.  They came up out of the water together and he protected him because he loves him.  Chris saved Buck too during their conversations both before and after the Tsunami hit when he said, “You’re going to be ok kid” and when he told Buck about never giving up while they sat on top of the 136’s firetruck.  He saved Chris again in 4x8 “Breaking Point” when he gave him a safe place to run to when Eddie starting dating AF.  He listened to Chris and promised him he wasn’t going anywhere and he hasn’t.

Buck SAVED Eddie after he was shot by a sniper in 4x13 “Suspicion” when he crawled underneath a ladder truck (something that almost caused him to lose his leg and his career) screaming for Eddie to get his hand out.  He pulled Eddie to safety and treated his wound until they made it to the hospital.  Reminder the 133’s paramedic was in the back of the ladder truck with them but Buck wouldn’t let her help. Buck SAVED Eddie and Chris again after Eddie’s breakdown in 5x13 “Fear-O-Phobia”.  Chris called and Buck came to save both of them. Reminder, he stayed at the Diaz residence for several days until Eddie was feeling better and he called Bobby to help so that Eddie wouldn’t wake up alone. He loves them so much and he will do anything for them.

The point of this post is to prove that Eddie’s words in 6x15 were specific for a reason since Buck rescues people on the job but he saves his family, the people HE LOVES!

Therefore, Buck dating and marrying Eddie is plausible and likely since he didn’t rescue Eddie, he SAVED HIM!

#buddie #eddie diaz #evan buckley #christopher diaz #the buckley diaz family #buckley diaz family #maddie buckley #911 fox #911 on fox #911onfox #911 abc #911 on abc #911 meta #911 s6 #911 season 6 #911 season 6 speculation #anti taylor kelly #anti natalia #anti ali martin #Anti Connor and Kameron

[randomnameless]

It's still wild to me that people will go to bat for the nothing characters that are Randolph and Fleche as proof of Dimitri being bad; we know next to nothing about them, they have miniscule screentime, what little we do know of Randolph paints him as human scum who'd do horrific things if it meant a chance at a promotion, and Fleche illogically only ever holds a grudge against someone for killing her brother if that someone is AM!Dimitri, with her completely vanishing from the game in every other route.

Eh,

I'd say they play the same purpose than this random child in TS in Roland's story - at this point, both lords want vengeance, and they have to face someone who also wants (misdirected!) vengeance at them, smth smthg like war sucks because people die.

But it's completely wasted in FE16, because, as you said, Randy isn't a random or a civilian or a war orphan, he is a general leading an attack on refugees/civilians/randoms to gain more fame, and dies in the process.

Now, can we say Flèche's anger and death are ultimately directed at Randolph, who died for nothing and took his sister down with him in his quest for "muhrit" ? Or are we supposed to think that this scene is important because Dimitri, the Blue Lord, isn't supposed to fall as low as the Imperial Army - something he comes close to (apparently?) ?

And yet again, it completely fails.

Because for one Randolph - who also had a family and loved ones - we have 50 Waldos and Baldis, whose lives aren't given any fuck about.

We don't see a war prisoner, or an Adrestian civilian accusing Supreme Leader of having sent her/his wife/husband/daughter/son to death with a conquest they never asked and trying to off her.

Only Dimitri receives this backlash from - invaders who wanted to invade and suddenly remember they have loved ones so are very sad when their loved ones dies - Flèche, but not Claude nor Billy, as you rightfully pointed out.

And Supreme Leader never receives any backlash - or wake up call - from a real third party/civilian/casualty who could have done the exact same thing.

Emile mentions how, during her attack, the Holy Grounds near Garreg Mach were turned in a slaughterhouse, why don't we have any civilian who survived from that try to take a jab at Supreme Leader? Waldi's best friend? Baldo's mother? A war captive from Leicester/Faerghus or a conscripted Adrestian?

I laughed about it with friends earlier, and again with the teatime paralogue, but it truly feels as if only 1/3rd (since the church doesn't count) of the cast will face consequences for the war and suffers backlash from the constant fighting (they didn't even start!).

Whenever you have to deal with serious stuff in Fodlan, it'll be for the BL members.

The rest? Will sip tea, talk nonsense, try to solve "mysteries" and live as if nothing is happening in the background.

Just imagine how both deer routes could have been much more impactful and interesting - instead of being a recycled Billy route with a different infodump at the end - if Raphael's sister popped up to a War Council, asking Claude to stop coddling the Empire because their lands were invaded, her grandfather put to Aymr and her inn destroyed by the Imperial Army, or how Ignatz's older brother discovers how Adrestia is burning pieces of art and history and every material related to Leicester and Faerghus history because they want to push an "Adrestia Eternal" narrative. Heck, Claude could even discover more "lore" by picking a Leif route, sort of rescuing the people "handpicked" to become new Baldos and Waldis, discovering the secret of the artificial crest stones and maybe having an infiltration map where, lo, instead of receiving an info dump, they maybe witness Rhea being turned in a relic or used to "produce" artificial crest stones.

War BaD, but only when we can make the BL suffer for it, for the rest, it's just a bgm.

And even then, it can't be too critical of Supreme Leader, because she was made to sell alts in FE heroes or dubious Cipher Cards.

"Supreme Leader", "cute girls" and "I want to see how Faerghus and its knights will deal with the aftermath of the Tragedy while defending against the invading forces".

Tl; dr : Flèche and Randolph are named, which is a cheap way to make people care for them despite their role in the plot, but the demonic beasts and the civilians dying aren't mentionned nor talked about.

Hell, why do you think I gave names to the artificial demonic beasts? The game doesn't want you to think too much about them, but if I talk about Baldo and Waldi, maybe the fandom will?

#anon #replies #cheap drama and cheap devices to make people feel something #and it's so painfully one sided again #this is how those damn games try to make people feel #'look dimitri bad he killed someone' #but no one will talk about the people dying to Supreme Leader? #they dont' have names so they're just concepts? #the death of one named person is more impactful than the death of hundreds of peons? #FE16 #I prefered how TS dealt with it to be honest

[kanmom51]

My opinion on the whole coming out issue,

I just want to start with a quote from a kdrama I recently watched. I'm sure some of you have watched it, it's called Business Proposal. Basically there's a whole sub-narrative about a "hidden relationship"

Episode 10 from Kang Tae moo "Who cares, I am just hugging my girlfriend. I can't wait for the entire world to know about us"

Knowing Jungkook has watched it too, I really wonder what did he feel hearing this, but it really gave me the "Keep on being jealous, I will keep holding my Jiminie" vibe.

This brings me to GCFs. The videos are surely an avenue for Jungkook to express his feelings to the world. And I am one of those who believe GCF Tokyo was a statement. I wasn't here when it came out, but I've heard a lot of people at that time thought this was a coming out. I mean, even until now, when we look at the comment section, a lot of strangers/non bts fans think it's a cute couple travel video. This just says a lot about how unbiased people perceive the video. GCF Saipan was a subtle statement too. It's no coincidence that out of all members, only Jimin appeared along the lines "I don't wanna lie no more, I don't wanna hide no more".

For those reasons alone, I don't think they want to hide forever. They are doing it now simply because they have no choice, due to the current climate. Yes, coming out is a risk and it can impact the other members and their careers, but you know what? Everyone in the industry is in the same boat here. Every idol face huge risks whenever a relationship is revealed. Whether it's straight or gay. We have all witnessed the many scandals in the past. And it is bound to happen to BTS members too. Them being under the biggest spotlight in Korea for years and years to come. Plus they won't be able to keep up with the "I am innocent, single, and I will marry army' narrative forever. In the future, if ever one of the member's relationship comes to light, I believe the other members will follow too. They will take the bullet together as a group. Plus, they are so big now. They have nothing to loose. A scandal here and there will never break them. Their huge international fanbase benefits them, simply because I feel like we are much more accepting in terms of dating scandals and lgbt+ issues. Also their whole vibe right now is shifting to "idgaf anymore about what people will think"

Change is coming! I may sound too much of a utopist right now, but I really believe that in the future we'll be able to see all of the members enjoy their life with their respective partners happily, freely without having the burden to hide and lie. Regardless of their orientation.

Another one from the vault.

Like deep deep in the back of the vault.

Doing some Spring cleaning in Autumn...

Kind of strange looking at these words in May 2023. With hiatus, solo debuts, almost no ot7 content and even less Jikookery.

I guess the climate, the SM purchase debacle, enlistment, all had an impact on them.

You were talking, anon, about a member in a relationship and it getting out... well, we saw how that's going for Tae, haven't we? Given, he hasn't admitted to it yet, but man, even before he has parts of this fandom (and another one to remain unnamed) went feral.

I have talked about them 'coming out' many times. My opinion being that they won't, not fully that is, not announcing "we're a couple". Not to say that I don't wish that one day we all live in a world where they can do that and will do that without having to worry about their safety, their livelihood, their families.

But that day is not here yet.

What I do see though, especially now after JM's folio and Face and JK struggling so so hard to not throw it all to the wind scream "fuck it all" and shout it out loud for all to hear, is that as of where they are to date, and unless anything drastic happens between now and their discharge from the military, things will change after they get out.

They might not say things out loud, but they definitley won't be holding back as much. Definitely not as much as they are now, and not as much as they were even going back to 2021-2022 (LV Jikook).

You said "change is coming".

Sadly, after that change did come, but not for the better.

What I'm hoping for is for good change to come as soon as they have this hump called MS off their backs.

We know they will have a lot to say and do, changes will be made... AFTER (sadly, we know this by RM's privacy being breached).

So, we will sit here patiently, us supporters, the people that love JK and JM separately and together, the people that love BTS, their music, what they stand for and the members as individuals as well, and hope that by mid 2025 we will get to see them all on the other side of this fuckery.

#ask

[the-owl-tree]

oh my GOD I love your isekai warriors au.... I love that the isekai trope is becoming a lot more popular, especially in anime... please tell me more about it!!

shaking ur hand rn hello fellow isekai anime/other mediums fan :3c FIRST lemme go on my tangent about this genre and my main inspo because wow this got way too long lol

isekai is total comfort food for me haha it's my go to genre of manga/manwha/webcomic reading whenever i'm feeling down and while i generally feel the genre is getting bloated and somewhat stale in anime, i still enjoy it quite a bit. It's a cute idea with a lot of potential, i just wish less of the shows went for the wish fulfillment route of things since we have so many by now.

mine is very inspired by a lot of korean manwha style stories in which the protag gets trapped in a show/game/book/etc. and has to deal with it, specifically what if you became the villain of a story. A lot of them play off the trope of the one dimensional evil villainess and how an average person would have to deal with coming into the body of someone like that and dealing with consequences. That, or it's the tragic villain, someone's who's life is marred by tragedy usually of their own doing.

The most interesting ones are those that play on how character archetypes would actually work in the story. The cold bad boy is just a shitty abusive guy, the shy guy who follows the girl is kind of a stalker, and so on.

One of my bigger inspirations was a plotline that also stuck out to me: a teen girl who died too soon and got reincarnated as the mother of the protagonist. obviously she has no clue what to do, she's a kid who wants to go home! And the only way she thinks she can is by ensuring the story goes as planned (and this of course is doomed from the start, unbeknownst to her, the villain is a reincarnater too and has already made tremendous changes). She dies and the reader never knows if she gets to go home or not. It's kind of this rough around the edges gem of an idea that I love and obviously had to steal for myself.

note for anyone getting intrigued by my descriptions uh a lot of these stories tend to be pretty shallow in their exploration. this subgenre consists a lot more of wish fulfillment/revenge fantasies comparatively to like a deep dive of "oh my god i've fucked up the narrative". Not to say they don't have interesting ideas! many are super interesting. just like. temper your expectations if you're going in

originally the story was gonna be set in a canon arc but that felt boring so i decided to just make up a whole story for it

The story is meant to be a (loving) poke at old fanfiction, common tropes in the aforementioned subgenre of isekai, and just a general ""cliche"" Warriors series (in the human universe here, I figured it's call Battlers/Battle Cats or something stupid lmao). In this story, Frostblaze is born into [ONE OF THE FOUR FAKE CLANS I HAVENT FIGURED OUT NAMES YET IM SORRY]. She's the born to an unnamed mother who tragically died of illness when she was just a young baby and has no clue who her father is.

She's isolated from her peers due to her eyes which some believe are an omen of her unnaturality. This only worsens when she is apprenticed to their Clan leader and causes Honeypaw, the daughter of the Clan leader, to become enraged with jealousy. She is one of Frostpaw's worst tormentors in the early parts of the book and eventually, during a battle, tries to off Frostpaw herself....but is killed by Frostpaw's love interest, the dashing and handsome (if a bit stupid) Eaglepaw of [INSERT RIVAL CLAN HERE].

The two hit it off (Honeypaw is an after thought at this point) and work together to stop the eeevviilll leader of uuhh eviiiiilll clan. They win, live happily ever after, Frost is actually their Clan leader's daughter and Honeypaw is her half-sister and blah blah blah.

At least, they're supposed to. Honeypaw, out hunting, is hit by a truck at the same time a human is. Human wakes up as a cat about to be buried because everyone thinks Honeypaw is dead and freaks the fuck out.

A lot of the plot points are kind of just me working through my gripes of the subgenre lmao:

"the person who is reincarnated is more adept and cool and better than their character and everyone loves them" -> Honey is awkward, neurotic, and can come off as rude to those who don't know her. Even her coolest trait, her wrestling ability, is off-putting because oh my god why are you putting a cAT IN A SPIDER GUARD THEIR SPINES DON'T BEND LIKE THAT HONEY PUT HIM BACK TO NORMAL-

She reread the story before she died but, because she has no pen, no paper, and sadly of all, no thumbs, she's unable to write it down to keep remembering it when she gets sent to this world. It's awful and she desperately wishes she had thumbs back.

she stands on two legs, makes weird comments alluding to being a human, and just is a bit of a weirdo. Honeypaw was isolated for being mean, Honey is isolated for making everyone uncomfortable (unintentionally). However, her isolation allows her to slip under the radar and do some more investigating, as she's noticed that some of the details in the story aren't adding up...

The story is strange and the characters aren't as she remembers now that they're in the flesh. Of course, her main priority is to thwart Honeypaw's assassination attempts, the spirit being intent that the way to get her body back is if she dies again. It's only from a near death experience that they realize that that's not gonna work and have to work together to change the story so they don't die!

and, as many people have pieced together, they're not alone.

#warrior cats #wc isekai au #deer rambles #tysm for asking about it #sorry it devolved into me rambling about my thoughts #but the story is kind in progress #so there isnt too many fine details to discuss beyond the plot + general character overviews #honey's horrible time

[portal-geist]

⊹𝒢𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊⊹

Hmm...? I recognise this title... Oh, oh no not my scripts! I must hurry! This is...

𝓝𝓪𝓻𝓻𝓪𝓽𝓸𝓻 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓻 𝔁 𝓦𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓓𝓪𝓻𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓰

It is such a rare occurrence for the neighborhood. You don't see much other than sunny skies and ocasional snow at the perfect seasons but... It seems that today is a rainy day.

It is not as if I mind however, Barnaby too. He just loves to play in the droplets, Frank sometimes observes snails whenever he's unoccupied.

Though, maybe some others will disagree.

Eddie shivers whenever he enters my home from the cold rain, delivering none-stop. Y7/N4 complains about the waters pouring into their circuits as well as Jullie who cannot play around outside due to the mud...

In my opinion, the pouring droplets and the wet grounds creating sounds of faint chimes are such to adore and motivates my inner narrative spirits.

My voice is who I am as I am the voice of the neighborhood.

With my brightly coloured unbrella in hand, I decided to use my eyes for once. It has been a while since I've went out like this.

The light breeze and the sound of rain echoed around the feilds as I stepped out, looking around the other buildings.

The small puddles collecting on Home's windows seemed to make it look as if crying. The floweres around it swayed as if comforting.

Though Home wasn't the one who was in need of help I'd say.

I may have forgot to mention a single neighbor who absolutely despises the rain due to their pride in beauty.

"You seem to be in a puddle of shame, neighbor."

I leaned over the small friend who was crouching down below the apple tree. Completely disgruntled but not wanting wanting to fade their charming act, they attempted to fix a smile on their face despite their eyes not listening.

Unlike myself of course.

"Ah, Narrator, of course... Please do not see me like this..."

Wally put a hand to hide his messed up appearance as I cast my umbrella over him.

"Oh, Wally Darling. It isn't very usual to ast in such a shy manner."

I smugly said.

"Narrator! This isn't a time for teasing! Where are your manners?"

"Apologies friend. I understand your pride and care in your appearance! How about I guide you back to home, hmm? Does that sound fruitful?"

I eyed the fresh, red apples above, proud of my word play.

Ah, well, of course I have a silver tongue, I am the narrator after all.

"...Thank you."

Brushing his clothes off, Wally stood, stepping underneath the unbrella I pulled close to avoid getting any wet.

The first thing I notice about his appearance was...

His necktie! Oh, dear the poor, beautiul necktie! It was such a prized possession of my dear friend!

"Oh my! We shall fix up that tie of yours as soon as we return! Allow me to lead, Mr.Wally Darling!"

I enthusiastically pointed straight, and began to march towards Home's direction, Mr. Darling following close.

I hummed along a familiar tune when walking, knowing very well it would sooth my friend nerves. It is very efficient with children espeacially! Such a useful and pretty talent I take care with.

Opposing the cold breeze, I felt a stare that burned my soul. It was intense, though I didn't dare question it. It will show eventually.

"May I ask you a question, Narrator?"

Wally asked, trying to tidy his hair.

"Hmm..? Of course. Go ahead little sir."

I replied with curiousity.

"Why do you... Always use my full name instead of just... Wally?"

"Why, do you not feel comfortable?"

"Ah, no, not at all! However... I do feel a sort of distance between us..."

Hmm... I thougt for a moment.

"Well, I simply just think your name is very pretty. 'Wally Darling'... Such a icon for such a star, how can I not enjoy it's charm?"

Wally's head perked up.

"It can be a head full but not a mouth full oh nonono... "

He tilted his head at my words, though I continued.

"In addition, I just cannot simply just call you Darling now, can I? Eh, well, if you desire so of course."

I chuckled at the faint blush on the neighbors cheeks as they widened their eyes slightly.

"Hah, ooooh I am only messing around now... Darling..."

I began to laugh joyfully at Wallys small reaction. What a rare sighting! The smug little man being the one to be smugged!

He grunted in confusion as the tinggling sensasion isn't what he is used to feeling, I whatched with amusement.

"Ahahah... Apologies for my mannerisms... Oh? What's Sally doing out on a raining day?"

Across the sidewalk, Sally Starlet was skipping around.

As I peaked at the peppy starligt who bean to twirl around outside, I felt a sudden pull on my clothes. Wally caught my attention as he pointed at the sky.

Following, I saw that the rain had died down, clouds clearing as the blue and open sky began to make its entrance.

"It seems that the rain quickly passed in a swift huh, neighbor?"

I raised a hand and followed the snail paced clouds.

"It sure did now, Neighbor..."

"Oh, look!"

That was when a colourful rainbow began to cast upon the colourful neighborhood. The neighbors came out of their homes to observe the pretty phenominon.

Barnaby tilted his hat, Jullie hopped over to Frank with excitment, Eddie stopped rushing to take a peak as Poppy cam out with a baskett of bbaked goods. Y7/N4 came out of the shop beside Howdy who was being circled around by Sally who kept on blabbering about the sight.

I felt another hand next to mine as if it was grabbing the rainbow.

It looked as if the hand was shooting a beam out o it's palm.

"Look, Narrator! My beam of love for you!"

Wally chirped with a smile.

I looked back at the small neighbor, startled for a moment before chuckling at his cheeky comment.

"Of course, and my hand to catch allll of the love!"

"What? None for me?"

A familiar voice came from behind.

It was Eddie and Poppy, them waving with glee at the two of us.

Wally was slightly startled as he attempted to fix his appearance.

"None for you~"

I replied with a hum, playfully acting greedy. Eddie played along also acting sad, Poppy giggling at the silly expression.

"Awh, well, how about some cookies?"

Wally gasped, grabbing Poppy's little goodiebag.

"Ah, my favourite! Here Narrator."

Wally shared a piece of the baked goods which I took with grattitude.

No one can resist Poppy's cooking, not even Wally's pride in looks.

Eddie looked at his wrist watch before making a shocked expression and began to hurry away.

"Oh no! I better get going! Make sure to leave some love for me next time!"

"Hah, will do!"

We waved off to Eddie as he clumsily rushed off. By the time he was gone, the rainbow had quickly vanished, leaving no trace of it behind.

I looked at Wally to then face Poppy.

"Thank you Ms. Poppy Partridge. I appreciate the delicious gift! I was just about to drop Wally off back at home."

I gestured to home that was next to us.

"Ah, I see. Have a good afternoon then you two. Make sure to stay healthy and grow!"

"I'm pretty sure my growing spurt had ended years ago..."

"Nonesense! There's a lot to grow in life! Isn't that right Wally?"

Poppy looked down at Wally as well as myself. He nodded innocently to the motherly bird and smirked in my direction. I chuckled once again.

"Well then. Ought to get going you two! Home's waiting."

As that, Poppy kindly waved off to go and meet the others.

I looked at Wally who was already facing me. I smiled as I close my open umbrella, shaking off the water droplets and potential mud.

I eyed the sky, the sun shinning a tune. A tune that showered light on me. My voice felt as if visible. Just like a mad man, I can see sound, I can hear colours.

My voice finally being my story.

My light.

"Narrator? Are you alright?"

Wally snapped me back to reality. I looked back down at the small neighbor and tried to recollect my surroundings. I smiled and sighed softly, shaking my head slightly.

"Apologies, let us head into home and get you tidy now, shall we?"

"Ah, you're willing to help me?"

"Of course! What's a friend who wouldn't?"

I posed with confidence, making sure that Wally understood that I'm willing to be a helping hand.

He gave me a smile with grattitude as home opened it's front doors.

I entered from behind Wally, making sure to be respectful of the house's property.

Making sure to look good on camera, to sound godly on air.

I am the voice, I am the sun's tune.

I can hear your glares, Wally Darling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why hello, Narrator. You are looking daring today!"

"Oh hello to you as well Narrator! You sure are one to talk hm?"

"They've been talking to themselves infront of the mirror for 1 and a half hours now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(A/N)

Hope you enjoyed!

I'm glad many of you seem to like it :]

I'm probably gonna switch between robot reader and Narrator reader depending on my mood.

If you want me to write more into their character please let me know! :D

I wrote this in a short amount of time so appologies for that...

I am planning on making like a small explanation post about them so yeah. Ideas are very much appreciated and please notify me if you want me to write a certain thing about these readers with certain neighbors :]

Thank y'all so much! Farewell!

#Welcome Home #wally darling #welcome home puppet show #wally darling x reader #Welcome home x you #Welcome home Wally Darling #Narrator reader #poppy partridge #eddie dear #Rainbows #portal geist #fanart #fanfic

[felassan]

BioWare blog post: BioWare Community Update - All By Design

02/23/23

Welcome to the first Community Update of 2023!

As promised in our last BCU, this time around we’re discussing what our game designers are up to. The responsibilities of a game designer can differ from studio to studio, so we’ll first jump into how our team is handling the design work for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf™. Let’s get to it!

When we use the term “designer,” we aren’t referring to someone who visually creates outfits or environments, as you might expect from a fashion or landscape designer in the real world. In game development, those would be our artists. Our designers help craft, balance, and conceptualize the player’s journey—working with artists, programmers, writers, and more to build out the game in a highly collaborative process.

In this blog, we’ll look at a key RPG system and how three distinct types of game designers are involved in making them.

- Systems Designers work on a variety of features across the game, like skill trees and difficulty levels. Their goal is to create a vision for features that will directly impact the player’s experience. - User Experience (UX) Designers, collaboratively with systems designers, take the vision and explore how players will interact with it by creating mock-ups and early user flows. - Technical UX Designers then build it in-engine, working with the systems and UX designers in a constant back-and-forth, keeping the player’s experience and usability in mind at all times.

There are many other kinds of designers, too! Gameplay designers focus on creating and balancing the moment-to-moment gameplay, technical level designers create the building blocks for level designers to map out the player’s journey through locations, technical UI designers tailor how information is clearly surfaced to the player, cinematic designers craft scenes for the best storytelling experience, and narrative designers make sure the story’s flow of information to the player is a cohesive experience.

Now that we’ve gone over the basics of being a game designer, we’re going to talk about how they’re working together on Dreadwolf. Past Dragon Age™ games have all handled RPG systems, such as the player’s progression, differently, so naturally, we’re being just as experimental on Dreadwolf, taking the learnings of the past while also trying something new.

Skill Trees are a fundamental part of a deep RPG experience and give our players the ability to customize how their character functions in combat. A key belief on the team is that when a player invests a skill point, it should have a clear, tangible effect on the game, such as an ability or impactful perk. What those are and how they’re implemented in-game is handled by multiple designers, starting with a Systems Designer!

Luke Barrett: "Whenever we're envisioning something new, we're always presented with a Problem Statement we're trying to solve. Sometimes, especially for larger systems, they are very high-level, such as “The Player needs meaningful choices as they progress through the game,” or “The Player needs to feel more powerful as they progress through the game.” Together, these combine into a variety of different ideas as there are many ways to solve those problems, so it helps as a general rule to start introducing constraints and Player Statements to narrow things down. A Player Statement might be something like, "As a Player, I want my choices to matter.”" "Through the use of working sessions and brainstorming meetings, we narrow down what type of solution we want to pursue and then move on to doing competitive analysis. In this case, we made a vision board with pictures of skill trees, talents, etc. with a list of pros and cons. We also counted how many unique nodes existed and how far the player could realistically invest."

Intro of original design doc for Skills

Luke, cont.: "We take all of this information and write up a vision doc (sometimes called a 1-pager, design doc, or brief) that’s intentionally very brief and digestible and pulls together all of these problems, constraints, and user statements. It encapsulates our goals for how the design will solve them. Here is an example of two of our original statements and some bullet points under them:"

Luke, cont.: "We really wanted to have something that allowed the player to character-build in a way that allowed them to reach their “player fantasy.” And because we're supporting so many choices, we've designed something that can be customized widely, as opposed to a more linear progression system."

Initial design goals following the Player Statements

Luke, cont.: "Once we have enough constraints and player statements together, then we (finally!) start building the design. This is where we start doing prototypes and work with UX to flesh out ideas to see how a design may feel, both as its own entity and how it works with the rest of the game. Fun fact: I built a very early prototype in Excel for one of the ways we thought about solving the Problem Statements using a lot of buttons and scripting. (Important note: Designers aren't programmers! :) )"

Very early prototype for skill tree functionality exploration—names are placeholders

And that’s just the beginning! Once a game designer like Luke has established the vision of the feature to address the Problem Statement, it then moves over to one of our UX Designers to start exploring how our players might interact with it.

Bruno Porrio: "As a UX designer, my job is to approach design in Dreadwolf from a player-experience perspective. Our team partners up with other devs across the project and through ideation, prototyping, iteration, research, and feedback we help shape the vision for how players will interact with the game—from in-world signs and how the player affects the world to user interfaces and interaction design." "Let’s use the skill tree as an example. We take what starts as an early vision from the systems design team and poke holes, ask questions, and start developing what the feature will look and feel like (in this case, through user-interface design). We usually start with sketches, interactive wireframes, mock-ups, or in-game prototypes and validate them through testing and multiple rounds of feedback. At the end of the day, it’s a process where the system informs the experience design, and the experience design helps shape the system."

Initial class specialization skill tree wireframe—node total & layout subject to change

Bruno, cont.: "After multiple rounds of iteration and validation, we landed on the finalized design of the skill tree (which we can’t wait to show you). It was very important to us that the fantasy of playing a certain class and the customization options would come across clearly and at a glance without overwhelming the player. It was key to our team to take something that is usually complex and make it accessible and simple to read." "Overall, I love the skill tree. Not only because it’s an intuitive, fun part of our game, but because it’s also a great example of how the Experience Design team can help craft the vision in partnership with the systems design team."

From there, another designer jumps in to take the vision and mock-ups and turn them into something tangible in the Frostbite engine. We call those devs our Technical UX Designers. Game Designers, UX Designers, and Technical UX Designers constantly work together, providing back-and-forth feedback on each other’s work all the way until a feature is completed.

Kelsey Wicentowich: "Once the design is in a good place and the system has been stood up, it's passed over to a Technical Designer (like me!) for implementation. Technical UX Designers are actually a relatively new position at BioWare. The first ones were originally brought on a few years ago to help bridge the gap between the UX designers, programmers, and artists as UI (user interface) technologies changed and advanced."

In-engine mock-up—not representative art

Kelsey, cont.: "We use mock-ups provided by the UX Designer as a starting point and build out the UI in-game, including the general layout and navigation of the screen. Every UI is a collaborative effort between the XD (Experience Design) team and other pillars of the game team. We go back and forth with programmers and other game designers to figure out how to gather the data we need to display to the player. Larger features, like the character screen, really come alive once you start pulling in even more departments like character design and lighting to bring it all together." "But the work doesn't stop once the feature is functional in-game. It's at this point that we can truly start to evaluate how it feels and how it reads to a player. Does the navigation work well? Is the information overwhelming or confusing? Designs change and iteration continues until we find the right balance between the designer's vision and the player experience."

From features like the Detailed Stats page that cater to RPG enthusiasts to hand-crafted locations you’ll come to explore and more, design is a topic we could talk about endlessly. It’s a subject we’ll likely touch on again in the future, too, when we talk about other parts of game development, so keep an eye out!

Every week, we see so much amazing community artwork from all of you. It’s always a delight to share some of the incredible pieces here! Seeing you bring these characters to life in unique styles is such a wonderful treat for everyone on the team. [click here to see the art and art section]

This year, we also wanted to provide you all with a direct way of asking us questions. Now, we can’t answer every question, but we’ll try to answer what we can in our upcoming BCUs. There will undoubtedly be some that we’ll have to save for later, though.

Questions like “when will a big reveal trailer drop?” or “when does the game come out?” are things we’ll save for official announcements. However, if you have questions about a BCU’s topic (including past BCUs), games we’ve made, or other relevant questions that come to mind, please feel free to ask! You can even just ask a fun question you want devs to answer.

We’ll be keeping an eye out on Twitter (#AskBioWare), community subreddits, and community Discord servers for questions you all want to have answered. We’re looking forward to answering some!

Thanks for giving this a read! We hope you learnt something new and better understand how we’re crafting Dreadwolf. Everything we do is in hopes that we can make something great for you, and getting to talk about that is something we’re eager to do. We have a lot more we want to talk about, too.

As always, please let us know what you think of these blogs! We love hearing your thoughts—it really helps us when we’re deciding on the things we want to share.

Until next time!

—The BioWare Team [source]

#dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #video games #long post #longpost #solas

[mississpissi]

i started writing this in the tags on bulk's post but i got pretty off topic so i'm just gonna put it here.

whenever theres a conflict in night vale, i like think about whats going on in the real world. finknor are really really good at satirizing very real and heavy issues and somehow finding ways to bring out the beauty and awe and community that can exist no matter how bleak things seem- it’s a huge part of what i love about wtnv.

this arc and janet specifically is so interesting to me because of exactly this. 

i think part of why we're so obsessed with lubelle as a villain is bc we KNOW she's the villain. we can see her disrupting the town and using her language and “logical explanations” to get rid of things she doesn't like- to get rid of that which makes her uncomfortable. its satisfying for us to hear cecil call for the town to shut her out! its satisfying to hear of the town storming her campus, confronting her and calling her out as being in the wrong! its satisfying to know that, by the end of this season, things will be resolved in some way that leaves us feeling hopeful. that things might look different, that dynamics might change and characters will have changed, but that there is some sort of resolution coming. 

it’s also heartbreaking (though very fun from strictly a storytelling perspective) to see that the efforts cecil and the town have made so far aren’t working. it’s heartbreaking to hear cecil be at such a loss as to what he can do, to try to avoid violence for carlos’ sake, to feel hopeless. to watch him put his trust and hope in someone who is promising freedom from janet's tyranny only for that to be shattered.

sometimes i wish i could go grab a pitchfork and storm on the people who are trying to explain away the existence of people i love. i would be lying if i said i didn’t sometimes feel at a loss as to what i can do- as to what authority figures i can trust, where i can put my hope. sometimes i want to yell on public radio for everyone to shut out the hateful, hurtful people in power. sometimes i feel paralyzed like i imagine carlos has in this arc. i don’t know that there will be a neat resolution to everything going on in the world right now, but i am trying to remember that there ARE people taking action. that there are people trying to make the world a better place, who want good for everyone around them. that there ARE people marching and yelling for change. that there IS beauty and awe and good and community no matter how bleak things feel. idk. i might be projecting too much here but also isn’t that what art and story is all about? just… i love this narrative bc its fun and exciting, but also bc it is such a brilliant mirror being held up to world rn. and now im gonna go back to hoping cecil is kidnapped and so so sad and scared and hoping that steve carlsburg will use his hope and love of his community and unique knowledge and perspective to save the day. or carlos or whatever. sorry im so insane ab this little podcast.

#idk if this even makes sense i just have very big feelings ab this #wtnv #wtnv spoilers

[yallemagne]

Whenever I see people on the hate train against Jonathan -- it doesn't seem as common nowadays, but they're apparently still alive and roaring in their circles jiogep -- it's soooo funny how they use Mina as a scapegoat for their anti-Jonathan rhetoric but can't think of a solution to Mina being "overshadowed" other than... erasing Jonathan from the narrative and/or replacing him with a new guy. They don't share this attitude toward Van Helsing though, which I find curious. I mean, perhaps they have some bitterness towards the guy, but never have I seen them speak on that... nope, it's just vitriol for Jonathan.

This is a rant.

A lot of people like Jonathan. Sure, sue us. And there is generally a problem with female characters being less prioritized in fandoms than their male counterparts. But the cultural impact of a few tumblr users calling Jonathan Harker their blorbo will never stand a chance against the wider interpretation of Van Helsing.

All of Mina's accomplishments and ideas are attributed to VH in many adaptations and readings, and she gets pushed to the side and downgraded into a screaming damsel who, in the worst cases, is depicted as encouraging Dracula's sexual crimes. Mina isn't the only victim of this flanderization, all the protagonists in Dracula are often dumped for the sake of raising up Sexy Tortured Hunky Helsing, but it's especially offensive to see this highly intelligent and resourceful female character have all her intellectualism stripped and given to an older male character. In fact, the very older male character who endangered her life because he doubted her mind and infantilized her!! The irony hurts!!

Now, I am pissed that the vast majority of people will always see VH as the ultimate champion against Dracula and view Mina as nothing more than a wayward virgin in the devil's clutches, but I don't direct that anger toward Van Helsing and get pissy any time I see him. But people who are still furious that love for Jonathan Harker exists do precisely that to Jonathan. And when I try to figure out why VH is not attacked with such venom but Jonathan is... it doesn't look good, chief.

In general, an older, accomplished man with a lot of say in group decisions against a younger, inexperienced man with little say in group decisions. An enforcer of gender roles against a challenger of gender roles. A man who said to Mina's face that he doubted her intelligence against a man who eagerly kissed her when she displayed her skills in deduction... Who is the evil gigachad? Truly neither of them, but I hope this illustrates my point. VH's authority and sexist beliefs are already a bit of an obstacle for Mina (one she thankfully overcomes) and yet her supportive husband is seen as the problem. Not because he's not supportive enough, but he's just too charismatic.

You don't need to write Jonathan out of the story to put more focus on Mina. Bram didn't feel the need to do that when he summarized his entire novel as being about Mina's gallant bravery, so why would you? Unless maybe... it isn't wanting more focus on Mina as a female character but rather a call for less focus on Jonathan as a male survivor of assault.

It's incredibly telling when they go beyond erasing Jonathan and actually replace Jonathan with a new man that their problem isn't that Mina's supposedly being overshadowed by her male love interest, it's that Mina's male love interest is not an overbearing hypermasculine figure. Mina, who had an equal partnership from the beginning, is told "nonono, you have to get with an awful man... and transform him into an okay husband". I don't know about you, but that does not sound like putting Mina at the forefront whether that new man is an OC, a character from another novel, or Dracula himself. That sounds more like twisting her into being the catalyst for an awful man's character growth. WHICH WE ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH OF IN FICTION.

And hey, lissen, you can read and write as many reimaginings of Beauty and the Beast AU Dracula as you want, but stop lying and claiming it's for Mina's sake, like fuck dude, your taste in men is not Mina's, she much prefers her gothic heroine of a husband over your saviour complex nonsense.

#i just have a lot to say #dracula daily #dracula

[a-typicalsmoothbrain]

So...

I decided to watch Jesse Cox's playthrough of the End of the Road update and I can summarize my feelings with one word. Fuck.

More thoughts under the cut. (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Before I say what I think, I'd like to say that I'm glad I saw his video instead of playing it myself because lemme tell you... some of the events esp. the cave and motel were LEGIT unnerving and it was hard enough to watch even with commentary. I don't wanna know what it's like to actually experience it alone. Beautiful Glitch could make a full-on horror game if they wanted.

Now, for the main event.

I'm just... gobsmacked. I have never seen a piece of media that left me so utterly speechless. This is probably one of the best meta stories I've seen yet. I'm usually tired of meta and forth-wall stuff in modern media, but man they pulled it off here so well.

The events that reference old lore and stuff from the previous games, as well as locations like the pillars being used to explore the themes of narrative and fictional characters was so brilliantly done and the call-backs are what I consider it the best way to deliver fanservice.

And the ending. Holy shit the ending.

The goodbye, the final images and credits song just shook me to my core. The ending completely ties the entire playthrough together to culminate into something so fucking effective.

I'm feeling blue now, because now whenever I'll see Polly when I play Roadtrip or see her in future or previous games, a part of me will always know that that version of her will never be the TRUE her.

It's sad, but also kinda beautiful in a way. Because the real Polly's now out here... building her own pillars. And she, along with every character in this franchise will still be 'alive' no matter what as long as we keep 'em in our hearts.

End of the Road is a fucking superb ending. Kudos to Jesse, Beautiful Glitch and everyone else involved for creating and being part of something so amazing.

Until then, see you all on the other side.

#monster roadtrip #end of the road spoilers #/thoughts #it's kind of a long one #im fine *lies in despair* #ill need a little while to recover #also im sleep deprived so yea #monster prom