#which unfortunately it is not. and that is the main issue 4 me

[thecruellestmonth]

Juni Ba is holding a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session on May 7 at 4 PM CEST (10 AM EST).

Some of his answers in his previous interviews about The Boy Wonder, a reimagining of Damian's story—

This is a standalone graphic novel (Black Label), meant to be accessible to readers with no prior comic knowledge. It is meant for ages 13+.

Damian is Ba's favorite Robin, and he finds him very relatable.

On Damian comic influences, Ba says Son of Batman and Super Sons were two of his favorite books.

Other than Damian, Talia and Jason are the characters that Ba has been most excited to work with.

Ba did the art for the "Happy Birthday Damian" story in Truth & Justice; while the art was a test run for some design ideas he's using in The Boy Wonder, the actual story isn't necessarily indicative of his own writing style or his version of the characters.

Ba is a big fan of Darwyn Cooke. Justice League: The New Frontier thematically inspired him here, possibly more than particular Batman comics.

Ba is aware of the racism discussion regarding the al Ghuls, and he intends to humanize them.

Ba started writing in 2020 or 2021, and the story is being released now after a period of waiting.

"This is very much I guess a Juni Ba book that happens to feature Batman characters."

To start us off, what can you tell us about the story of your new series, The Boy Wonder?

I usually introduce it to people by saying it's the story of a child with a lot of hang ups and preconceived ideas, both about himself and his family members. Over the course of this coming of age fairy tale he starts to learn about them, and himself, and grow into a better person. And it really leans into the fairy tale aspect to push the allegory and the magic in this story!

Why does Damian appeal to you so much as both an artist and a writer?

I find him both tragic and adorable. He and I share some things and I think that's why my brain started coming up with a story about him all by itself. Writing wise there's a fertile ground to tell a really heartfelt story. And art wise, he's such a fun character to draw. It's like a cute little gremlin who's always frowning and judging everyone, which can often backfire on him in funny ways.

How much does Damian's past with Talia and Ra's al Ghul influence Damian and this story?

A lot! They raised him after all, so that upbringing influences a lot of what he does. But that includes Batman too, even if his influence is more recent. There's a looming presence of all the parental figures and the pressure of what they'd have wanted you to do, how they would have judged you.

Since we were talking about Damian’s mother, there have been questions surrounding characterization and stuff, especially for characters like the Al’Ghuls, whose stories unfortunately do have a lot of racist elements in their origins. Are you doing anything to combat or alleviate those concerns in your book?

Stories often dehumanize them, so I try to do the opposite. I think I have a very character-driven style of storytelling, and a lot of the time I try to give the point of view of as many people as I can in the story.

There are five issues. Three of them have the Robins, and then eventually we get to my 2nd favourite team up, which is with Talia and it’s done from her perspective. The main goal was to try to give her more of a voice, because you start this story with a kid who tells you “My parents are messed up,” he was essentially raised to kill people, but we see how she was raised too, and the faults that she can see in her father’s philosophy.

Ra’s gets a bit of that as well later on, but the main goal was, I want to make it so that when you start the story with Damian, he has a lot of preconceived ideas about both sides of his family, which make his relationships to everyone very difficult. Every adventure he has, he gets to understand things in a different light by the end of every story, and one of them was, “What is his relationship to his mom like?” And you get to see it from the mom’s point of view and understand that she loves her son, but there are a lot of complications that come from being raised by someone like Ra’s.

Beyond that, this is an older Talia, more mature and less sexualized than the usual I’d say. As for Ra’s, I can’t say much, but a lot of what you see of him at first is rooted in Damian’s childlike, heightened, and scared perception. Just like the rest, it gets explored later.

It sounds like the book will see Damian coming to terms with his place in the Robin lineage. How does he feel about his brothers?

This Damian would probably say they're usurpers, ingrates, failures and profiteers! It's pretty hard being raised as the center of all the attention, as well as a successor who's never quite enough for his grandfather, and then when thrown into the Bat family, he becomes what feels like the fifth wheel. The last and least appreciated son. So his whole arc will be about processing that.

Is there a character other than Damian that you’re particularly excited to be writing and/or drawing?

Jason and Talia, by a lot. I think because the core of it is this is a world of people who seem very perfect. Damian works as this kid who feels like he’s not good enough for that. But aside from him, there’s Jason, who’s really a well-intentioned, good hearted person who really bad stuff happened to, and he’s struggling to get out of the traumatic impact of that. And I think the story works really well in showing that.

Talia is kind of the same. It’s someone who has a very idealistic view of the world and wants to essentially, be allowed to shape the world into what she thinks it could be, but she has to be under the boot of someone else who is not very reputable, and it has impacted a lot of her life in ways that she did not intend, including her relationship to her son and that’s also probably why those two characters also get like an issue told from their perspective. I really wanted to show you the inside of their mind and dispel a lot of the prejudice that Damian has about the way they are.

I really love the way you visualize Damian and the other Robins expressing themselves with their eyes. What design elements of the character were you most excited to highlight to help show readers what Damian was feeling in a given moment?

I do love using the eyes to express! It’s a very efficient and visually compelling way to do it, but more so than that I use character design. Their shapes, their colors, they all are designed to convey something relative to the story at hand. For example Jason takes cues from Taxi Driver and the general feeling of alienation and being a drifter. It’s all to give a shorthand into how he feels, to then unpack that and give it context. Everything is story basically. Damian looks like a cute angry potato! And that’s all because despite how abrasive he can be, he has to remain endearing and you must see that it’s still a kid learning.

Well, since this is your own thing, I assume that must mean that you’re giving your own spin on these characters. Is there anything without spoilers that you can tease that is going to be different? Like if you’re a long time reader going into this you’re going to be surprised by it.

I’m someone who really likes a more fairy tale and magical side to storytelling. Something that I added a bunch of, I mean, they talk about demons in the solicits of the first issue. It’s both an allegorical thing and a very, real thing that the magical aspects of certain parts of that world have been pushed more.

The other big thing for me was Damian is the heart of the story, so everything is seen from his point of view. So Batman looks a lot more like a dad. Talia looks a lot more like a mom, and with every one of the Robins, I try to take a core concept of every one of them and push it to the forefront to contrast it to Damian. So like, I would say that the more fun part of it would be observing how Damian interacts with what’s essentially kind of a mirror put to himself every time. But overall the idea is a sort of cartoon-making logic, of taking the general elements in various iterations of a character, synthesizing them for the story, into something recognizable but digestible.

The Boy Wonder has this beautiful visual style - fairy tale, as you just said - despite some strong moments of violence. Why did you choose to tell the story this way?

Fairy tales are great for allegory, larger than life concepts and leaning into the magical. There's also a story reason I can't spoil but it makes for a great framing device.

[...] There are narrative reasons in the book that I can’t spoil, but overall I’d say it’s because it’s my favorite format, as well as a great way to really lean into the larger than life aspect, the allegorical, the magical. Fables often contain a nugget of a message or meaning, and this is a coming of age story, so it fits rather well.

The Boy Wonder is as much about Damian as it is his brothers. Has that story not been told enough — how similar and different Bruce’s kids really are — and did you draw on your relationship with siblings at all?

Pretty much no one I talk to in the larger world ever even knows that there are multiple Robins, let alone read their stories. So I’m glad to be making a book that’s easy to access for new readers, with no prior knowledge needed, that appeals on its own and can tell them a cool story about family and overcoming pressure. A story that works both for the ones who know these characters and want a self contained tale, and the ones who know nothing and just want a fun comic to read. The comic is Black Label, which usually skews older, but this is a tale I wanted accessible from mid teens to as old as you want.

And I did pull from experience! I have two siblings, my best friends all do as well, and the inner workings of how you view yourself and your family members depending on where you fit is interesting to me. It’s very much a tale of reckoning with your assumptions about your family, as well as the impact your parents had on you and your siblings.

What about Damian Wayne is so interesting to you? Do you think he gets a bad rap even now in the grander DC Universe?

Damian is simultaneously the most insufferable and most touching little boy to me. There’s a mix of adorable and deadly that I find amusing to watch, and satisfying to write. Plus I sympathize with him on a few backstory elements which are the cornerstone of the whole story.

As for his reputation, I think I’m glad there’s a reminder that being coarse and ill mannered can hide a good heart.

What are some of the benefits of putting this out as a DC Black Label book?

Mostly freedom! I got to tell the story I wanted. I didn't have to worry about continuity, and thus made what I like making: a self-contained adventure that anyone can appreciate as a comic, with or without any prior exposure to that world. Plus we got to have fun with the design of the issues!

Do you have a favorite Damian-starring story that you drew on for this book? Or maybe another Bat Family story instead/as well?

I think my two favorites were Son of Batman and Super Sons. I just vibed a lot with the fun adventurous tone. But most of my inspiration comes from outside superhero comics, or even outside comics as a whole. I didn’t even reread those two books I mentioned aside from when I needed to check phrasing. In that case I read those, and the early Damian stories just to absorb how he spoke.

But outside superhero stuff, were there any influences that were working on you as you were writing this story?

So a lot of comics from the 60s and 70s, from France and Belgium.I have a thing for like 80s and 90s movies, including movies that I was not supposed to watch when I was a kid, so stuff that’s drama-oriented. The point of this book is, it’s basically a character study, mostly of Damian, but also Damian through his interactions with other people in his life. So, mostly the other Robins, but also his parents and more so his mother.

The events that happen are really just a setting for you to observe how the characters interact, and there’s a bunch of movies in the 80s that were really good at doing that and showing you a very flawed person and the way that they react to the world around them. So yeah, that’s more of a tone thing. The aesthetic aspect was really taken from 60s and 70s French and Belgian comics as well as very old sci-fi, fairy tales, and black and white photography.

What’s the process look like for you when you write and draw a comic?

Whoa. Let’s see. So the origin of every book is a little different, but usually I spend a year or two, maybe more just thinking about the story and putting ideas down and then once I have an idea of how every story step works into each other, I start storyboarding so there’s no script.

[...] I don’t write scripts because I prefer to have the storyboard of the thing already made, because that’s where I know if something is working or not. Then once the storyboard has been greenlit and all the corrections are done, the next step is drawing the final pages. I do the sketching on my tablet, and then I print that in blue lines and ink over that. It’s a recent thing, I started doing it the last few months. The Boy Wonder was made that way. [...]

[...] I mean, technically, I started writing it in 2020 or 2021. Yeah. I’ve been sitting on it for a while, and then I made a tweet about it and it got the attention of Chris Conroy, who basically runs Black Label. He just asked, like, “OK, sure. Show it to me. I want to see what that’s like.” Several months later, the book was greenlit by DC.

You talked about how Batman: The Animated Series is an inspiration for this. And also because it’s Damian, I assume that the Grant Morrison Batman stuff is also an inspiration in some ways. But what other Batman material were you inspired by, if any, when writing this book?

Well, I wasn’t so much using Batman as I was using other things. Like there’s a bunch of influences from a bunch of different places, but the superhero stuff was mostly influenced by Darwyn Cooke. So it wasn’t so much Batman as much as it was Cooke. Like the thought process I guess was, “What do I like about these characters? Like the concept of the superhero?” Because the idea came from me watching a documentary about The Dark Knight Returns and Frank Miller. They mentioned how he was given free reign to make the Batman book he wanted. I just had the thought of, “Yeah, that would be fun, having a superhero story where you can just do whatever you want. Like, it’s your personal take.”

I guess from then, my brain started imagining a story with Damian because he’s my favourite Robin and I have a lot in common with him in terms of his backstory. I think it was this sense of sympathy towards the kid and the story grew from wanting to talk about the feeling of “You’re not good enough to be a part of the group you’re in or the family you’re in.” So being a superhero was more of an allegory of, “I don’t feel good enough to be a part of those great people who seem so perfect.”

Then the Darwyn Cooke stuff came. He was probably the biggest superheroic influence, because he’s kind of the epitome of superhero storytelling to me. He makes all his stories very easy to understand, very accessible to someone who maybe has never opened or barely knows what that character is about. His storytelling is also strong on its own artistic terms and most of all, he has this great sense of making superheroes this idea of the ideal version of ourselves, like those people who, even if they have bad thoughts or flaws that they have to overcome, they always do the right thing and they represent the best in all of us, and there’s a sort of sense of joyful fun in the superhero stories that he does. He also can talk about very serious subjects through that at the same time. My favourite superhero comic is The New Frontier, and I kept reading it over and over again when I was rewriting the book just to look at how he was managing that balance of joyful, superheroic, and inspirational fun, and the more serious themes. So yeah, the biggest influence would probably be him.

When I was doing research for this, I noticed that this isn’t your first time with a Damian comic. It was the “Happy Birthday Damian” story for Truth and Justice. Even over there, there’s a lot of similarities in terms of the character design, and even to some degree, Damian’s own struggle with his family and all that. So did that story help inform or define where you wanted to go with the characters for this book?

Well, no actually because basically when they asked me to do that story, the way it happened was that I was originally approached for something else, and I said, “I don’t really want to do that, but I’ve been writing this Damian story just for myself. Would you like to take a look?” Truth and Justice was kind of a test like, “We already have this story written by Andrew Aydin, and the idea was, do you want to draw it? It’s kind of a test run.” So I just used the designs I had already made for my own book. The fact that the themes are very similar is kind of a coincidence and it was kind of funny actually. It was a good way to sort of try my hand at drawing these for the first time, get a sense of what works and what doesn’t. I would say my story is a lot more complex, and delves a lot more into the psychology of most of the characters.

This book is an anthology like you said, where it’s about Damian with all these characters. But in terms of the structure of the story, is there like a connection beyond that, like Monkey Meat is all about the corporation. So is there a connection like that in this story?

Yes. It’s a narrative cut into different, contained stories, basically. Because the idea is that Damian is on a quest to try and prove his worth by defeating an enemy, and it’s really more of a set up to allow for him to meet all the different characters that he does. But the goal is that every story progresses that main plot that he’s on and getting closer to the final showdown against the big enemy.

The whole point is this kid needs to grow up and understand the familial context that he was born into on both sides, like a lot of it is him learning how complicated his parents are, and the effect that they’ve had on the people around them and learning to move beyond the trauma and the more negative impact of being the son of a guy who dresses like a bat, or the descendant of a selfish egomaniac. The big plot of the thing is a young boy wants to prove his worth and every story is a step on that journey towards the final end.

For Damian, you said he’s your favourite Robin. You relate to him a lot, but was there anything beyond that that made you want to sit back and think, “Okay, this is the character that I want to give my own spin on?”

I love the concept of Robin. When I was a kid, that was probably the thing that I liked the most about the Batman world. The reason why Damian worked so well is that it was such a perfect way to also tackle the previous ones, so every one of them represents some aspect of what being a Robin is like, and you can use that as an allegory for being part of a group or family with a code and stuff. You can talk about being part of a group with specific ideas of how you should behave, what kind of things you should uphold as good.

Damian’s the runt of the family. He’s the kid who just showed up. He doesn’t really know these people. He has a lot of preconceived ideas and it was a good way for me to be able to also talk about the previous Robins through him. It’s not a meta commentary, it’s more like, “Why do you like these concepts? What speaks to you as a person when you watch those beacons of goodness do things?” Damian is kind of like the audience surrogate in discovering that aspect of things at the same time.

What’s Damian’s favourite sandwich?

Well, I’m going to try and focus on my version of Damian from The Boy Wonder specifically. That Damian, his favourite sandwich would probably be something made by the mystical creatures that serve his grandfather, who take care of the whole land that they live in. So it’ll probably be a sandwich made with vegetables and meat from supernatural sources, something that he would not be able to get in Gotham because no one even knows that this stuff exists.

I like the idea of how even his favourite food is inaccessible in the new place that he’s in, furthering the whole alienation that he’s experiencing.

If Damian had a favorite song, what would it be and why?

I’m now going to show my age and mention how my teen sister listens to these moody chill songs that sound like the softer version of the emo rock I listened to as a teen, so I’d say that style! (Don’t ask me to name them, I don’t know!)

A song from my angst phase? “Numb” by Linkin Park.

#The Boy Wonder #Boy Wonder #Damian Wayne #Talia al Ghul #Talia #DC Robin #Robin DC #Ras al Ghul #Ra's al Ghul #Senegalese artist #Juni Ba #Darwyn Cooke #Jason Todd #Nightwing #Dick Grayson #Batman and Robin #Batman comics #DC Black Label #[sigh] #Batboys

[bladesoflightandshadow]

is it an unpopular oppie (cute way of saying opinion) to think that stories with only 1 or 2 gender customisable LIs is kind of the way to go moving forward for choices 🧍

like the main issue ppl have been having seems to be the quality of the books n their subject matter, n the quantity of LIs won't fix that? back when it WAS the norm to have 3+ LIs per book every non-whiteman LI would get sidelined and treated like shit by the plot. at least now when the plot railroads you into spending more time w one LI u can choose their gender/appearance, and it's easier to split screentime equally between 2 LIs compared to for example 4

plus limiting it to less LIs allows the story more time to flesh out characters n ur relationships w them. it's easier to incoprorate LIs into the plot n make them important + impactful when there's less of them

OBVIOUSLY none of this is ideal and their whole business model is a bit garbáge, these are simply my thoughts !

#playchoices #im of the belief that this app is a bit of a sinking ship and i am not super hopeful that things will improve in the way a lot of ppl want #but the 1-2 LI model has worked best for their recent books considering their propensity of hurling all their resources toward developing #ONE li and their romance w mc and centering the entire plot around them #like open heart wouldve been so much more bearable if ethan was customisable id enjoy being scolded by a hot woman doctor a lot more #same w beckett #they have an issue w making lis very generic in later books too n this kinda solves that #easier to write 1 or 2 unique romances for a book than 4 #im working within the confines of what i think r realistic for this game obvsly but ya. idk i don't mind it so much as long as the book #itself is interesting enuf to catch my attention #which unfortunately it is not. and that is the main issue 4 me #plus vip boooo me and my homies hate the vip model booo #stfu nisa

[1kari]

got fired for putting in my 2 weeks, need $ help

hey guys, my name is dylan and until yesterday (1/7/24) i worked for my dad’s girlfriend as a house cleaner for airbnbs. she has been incredibly rude lately and the workload has been very hard on me physically and mentally (disabled, mentally ill, & i have asthma). it was also taking me 4 hours of driving some days, and i wasn’t being adequately compensated for that time.

so, i decided to put in my 2 weeks with her because she has been complaining about there being too much work so i wanted to be able to help her out with that (as well as pay my bills, which is the main issue) as long as i could. but instead she decided to fire me because she was upset..? and because i didn’t clean one house (that she told me i could clean the next day, which i did) which is incredibly unprofessional, but now i can’t pay my bills!

i’m going to be desperately looking for a job but i was anticipating having the next two weeks to have a transitional period, but unfortunately i can’t have that. this has fucked me over severely and i don’t know what i’m going to do until another job decides to hire me. my goal is at least $500 to get me through the next two weeks, but honestly any amount at all helps. if every follower of mine donated $1 i’d meet my goal twice over.

tl;dr i was fired for putting in my 2 weeks and i need financial assistance until i can secure my next job. thank you so much ❤️

#sorry for this i just was not fucking expecting her dumb ass to pull this shit!!!!!!

[owliellder]

Two's A Crowd

College Bully! Leon Kennedy x fem! Reader

MDNI 18+

(Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5)

Description: College is proving to be a lot harder than you imagined. You cannot fail this math class. So when you've tried everything else, a well-known student is recommended to you by your professor for tutoring lessons, not really leaving you with much of a choice but to work with him.

Warnings: Not proofread, No Use of Y/N, Dub-Con, Unprotected Sex, Bullying, Yelling, Cursing

Tags: College AU, Bully! Leon, Shy! Reader, both are in their early 20's, Leon is Rude AF in the beginning, Loss of Virginity, Oral Sex, Fingering, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Additional Tags to be Added

Author's Note: Slightly shorter chapter since I got stuck watching the last two episodes of Fionna and Cake, but I hope y'all like where I'm steering this. Pick up what I'm putting down, eh??

Cross-posted onto AO3

Chapter 2:

“This is insane. You’re not even trying.” 

Leon’s cruel comments had been endless since you showed up today. He was already irritated that you even showed to begin with, now he’s just taking all his frustrations out on you. The guy isn’t even passive aggressive, he’s just aggressive. “I showed you the formula like.. five times already.”

“I don’t need you to patronize me, please.” You asked with a meek voice, bringing your hands up to cover your face for a couple seconds before placing them down on either side of the new math assignment sitting in front of you. You understood his impatience though, you were even starting to grow impatient with yourself, having been stuck on the third question for over thirty minutes now. Leon stressed the fact that you got one hour only with him and you’d basically wasted half that time bouncing from the formula he’d written down to the question itself.

The formula was helpful, but this question included more numbers than you knew what to do with. The main issue was knowing which numbers went where in the formula and you wanted to know why they went where they did, but Leon was only giving you the formula and nothing else. One vague explanation and then he was right back on his phone.

You had a glimmer of hope for the frat boy sitting in front of you. Had, being the keyword here. One study session in and you were already starting to accept defeat. “Can you explain it to me again?” You tapped your pencil on the table nervously, keeping your eyes glued to your paper to avoid the obvious glare you’d receive from him.

The sound of his phone slamming down on the table accompanied with a groan made you grip onto your pencil tighter, now holding it still as he pulled the paper away from you. “Do I have to hold your hand, too? What’s so hard to understand about this?” He reached over, yanking your pencil from your hand so he could scribble out the first few steps to the problem. Afterwards, he tossed both the paper and pencil back over to you, tapping his finger down on the work he wrote down before circling it once. “Need anything else? A warm bottle of milk? Want me to read you a bedtime story?”

He leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms with a sigh after picking his phone back up. “You’ve got fifteen more minutes.” The fuck’s his problem? 

Letting out a small sigh of your own, you silently picked up the pencil and looked down at what he’d written. Surprisingly, it did help you make more sense of the rest of the assignment sheet, figuring out the placement of the numbers by using where Leon had put them. Soon, the assignment sheet was finished and you had him look it over.

“Is it-.. Is it good?” You watched Leon carefully, studying his face for any sort of emotion other than annoyance. You unfortunately didn’t find it, but his muttered “good” made you smile, taking your own turn studying your work once he handed it back. Not tossed or thrown, handed back.

He took in a sharp breath through his nose before standing up, focus still trained on his phone. There was only a few minutes left in the hour, so you guess he took your understanding of the material as his leave. “Can we.. uh.. study again on Monday?” His hand paused on the door handle at your question, looking back at you from over his shoulder with his lips pulled tight as he gave you a glare. “You just love taking up my time, don’t you?”

“Wait, is that-” The slam of the door cut you off, leaving you to watch him saunter off through the large window in the door. Your shoulders slumped and you turned back to give your math assignment one last look before stuffing it into your backpack. At least with this new understanding, you’d be able to hopefully do the next few assignments. Mr. Lebovic was kind enough to let you redo your past fails, meaning all you’re doing is slowly climbing your way back up to a better grade with make-up work.

You held out for Leon, constantly giving him the benefit of the doubt with each study session following the first. You did your absolute best to remain passive with him, but each session was filled with crude, nasty, hate-filled comments directed at you, so it was only a matter of time until you started throwing your own comments back at him. By the beginning of November, studying had been put on the back burner whenever you two met up, assignments left abandoned in favor of fleshing out full blown arguments. He always won since you’d never really had a loud voice to defend yourself and his favorite go-to was low blow insults, somehow always managing to sniff out your insecurities.

Leon’s pattern was always one step forward, ten steps back with you. He would help and then spend the rest of your hour together nitpicking your every attempt to learn. He hated you and it was driving you mad. It was impossible to learn anything like this.

You’d grown a sour mood leading up to your trek to the library for one of your regular study sessions, a scowl settling on your face. You decided hours ago that getting dressed wasn’t an option today, you just didn’t weren’t in the mood, so instead you threw on a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants to mind the brisk chill that had rolled in at the end of October. 

The walk to the main building was dull; most of the leaves on the trees around campus had long since browned and fallen off, the grass was dead and crunchy, and it almost felt like it would start snowing anytime now with how quickly the cold had come. The feel in the air made you tired, it made you miss home. The weather made you long for the warmth a home-cooked meal provided, but you had to wait, and that wait was only contributing to your already piss poor mood.

Making your way into the library and into the reserved study room, you didn’t even notice Leon’s smile until he asked you to pull out your most recent assignment. It immediately put you off because it wasn't like his normal cocky smile or smirk, no, this one was oddly genuine. Soft, even.

“Can I see it?” He asked, smile widening slightly as he gestured towards your backpack. Even his tone was softer than usual. “Uh…” You weren’t quite sure how to react, not really processing his words as you tried to figure out whether he’s setting a trap or not.

“Your assignment. Can I see it?” Leon clarified, his arms resting crossed on the table as he glanced down to your bag and then back up at you. That was also weirding you out; the eye contact. Normally he only ever met your gaze when he was intimidating you with a deep glare and it wasn’t ever this long. He was making a point to look at you now.

Without saying a word, you unzipped your bag and pulled out a couple papers, only looking away from him twice to make sure you were getting the right ones. You made sure to hold eye contact with him, eyebrows furrowed as you searched for any insincerity. 

You’d grown rigid with his kind behavior, even more so when he thanked you and took the papers from you. Questioning him was your top priority right now, though your mouth refused to work with your brain, causing you to stutter out a simple “..what?” Leon only hummed, tilting his head a bit as he looked down at your work, following the tip of his pen as it trailed down the paper. 

“What-..” You repeated, swallowing dryly before finally getting the full “What’re you doing?” out. He seemed genuinely confused at your question, looking up to give you a puzzled look. “Hm? Whaddya mean what am I doing? I’m looking over your work.” He looked back down at your paper, clearing his throat quietly.

“No, you’re being nice. Why are you being nice?” You were quick to shoot back to try and draw his attention back to you. “If this is a joke, I’m not gonna fall for it.”

Leon sighed and dropped the pen down onto the paper to rest his crossed arms on the table again. “Why are you asking so many questions? It’s not a big deal.”

Not a big deal?! “Not a big deal?! You’ve argued with me every other day for the past three weeks!” Your hands balled up into fists on your lap, completely baffled by the dismissiveness of his complete 180° in demeanor. “I-” You stopped yourself, taking a moment to breathe. This was.. actually a nice change of pace now that you think about it. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth?

He gave you his normal annoyed look at your sudden pause, seemingly waiting on you to finish talking. “You..?” Shaking your head a bit, you let out a soft laugh and waved your hand. “Nevermind, uh.. yeah, nevermind…”

“Ooookay, well, you did good on this one so you can turn it in.” Leon held up the first paper before sliding it across the table to you, then picking up the second paper. “But this one needs a bit of work. I circled the questions that need to be redone, not gonna tell you what’s wrong with them, though.” You watched as he slid the other paper to you with your own smile now forming. Pulling out a pencil, you started to relax for the first time around this guy, bringing your attention down to the circled questions.

Your study session has never been more productive. He was being helpful; answering your questions, talking you through each step, giving you smiles and the occasional thumbs up. You’re not sure what changed or why, but you definitely weren’t complaining. When Leon wasn’t acting like someone shoved a stick up his ass, he was actually pretty handsome. You’d mentally recognized his good looks when you first met him, yet his demeanor as a whole masked those good looks entirely.

There was no way he could throw anymore surprises at you, but you stood corrected when he walked over to you at the end of your session, stopping you from walking out. “Listen, I’m sorry for how I’ve been acting. I don’t want to be mean to you, it’s just…” He paused to laugh to himself, looking down at the ground with an almost bashful expression. “I’m only tutoring because it’s a big part of my grade in my class, so..” Not a complete lie on his part.

“Oh. Oh, it's.. it’s fine.” You didn’t want him to revert back to his old style, so you chose to just dismiss it. His attitude did make sense, you wouldn’t want to tutor random people for a grade. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks. Uh.. oh, here-” Leon opened and held the study room door open for you, giving you a small wave as you walked out, which you returned. That was a nice mood booster, not being degraded and demeaned every time you see the one person who’s supposed to help you. 

Your friends had their own opinions about the experience after you described it to them. You’d been relaying every bit of info relating to your study sessions from the past three weeks to them, a second and third opinion was good to have for such an odd trade.

“I don’t trust it. Plain and simple.” Sky placed their hands down on their thighs with an audible slap. They didn’t seem impressed by Leon’s sudden chivalry, and to your disappointment, neither did Ella when you looked over from Sky to her. She just looked back at you with a shrug. “Sorry. I’m gonna have to take Sky’s side on this. There’s just something off about that.”

You sighed in defeat, turning your head around to look out the window in the dorm room. It was nice that Sky and Ella shared a dorm, you can’t discuss stuff like this in your own dorm in case your roommate decided to randomly appear. “Yeah…”

Ella scooted closer to you on the bed and pulled you back so your head was resting in her lap. “I know you got your hopes up, but please be careful. I don’t wanna see you get hurt because some pretty boy decided it would be fun to manipulate you.” You groaned, covering your face with your arms. Nothing even happened and you’re already feeling embarrassed.

“It’s okay if you like him, he is kinda cute.” Ella giggled and moved one of your arms to poke your cheek. “But just remember that the guy’s got a bit of a reputation for being a major douche.”

Sky, sitting over on their bed, pointed at Ella in agreement. “Emphasis on major douche.” They smiled and leaned back, their head plopping onto their pillows. “It was just one instance of him being sweet, after all. Who’s to say he won’t revert back to being an asshole by Wednesday?”

“I know, I get it.” You swatted Ella’s hand away and sat back upright. Even if he was putting up a front, it was still nice to get some real help with your math without being insulted. Everyone deserves a second chance and he seemed honest enough when he told you why he’d been so rude, so why not try again with him? Start fresh, maybe you’ll get to make an unlikely friend out of this popular frat boy.

A bit of a far fetched idea, considering the vast differences between you and Leon, but anything like that is worth another try. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

tags:

@kayotee4 @k-fallingstar @bobastayhigh @mi-zer-y @chasingkennedy @l30nva @espressonerd @jjouki @5tarx @bunnybreadloaves @whoisgami @cyanscribe @c4b3r1a @darichvep @mmmangel @kingtacocat @klee-iii @baby--vera @dakiniii @kenma-izhu @aliidarling @leonsmamacita

(a few of your blogs won't show up but i tried)

#college au my beloved #resident evil #leon kennedy #leon kennedy x reader #leon kennedy x you #leon s kennedy x reader #leon s kennedy x you #leon scott kennedy x reader #leon s kennedy #leon kennedy smut #leon s kennedy smut #leon s kennedy x fem!reader #leon scott kennedy #re4 #resident evil leon #leon kennedy x reader smut #leon kennedy x y/n #leon kennedy fanfic #leon kennedy fic #leon scott kennedy x fem reader #leon scott kennedy x you #leon s kennedy x y/n #multichapter #multi chap fic #bully leon

[steveharrington]

can you elaborate more on steve being abandoned by the narrative?

yes <3 so i think there are two very unfortunate circumstances surrounding steve's character that have led to the current state of his plotline: 1. after not killing him in s1 like they originally planned, the duffers have never really had a plan for steve and 2. they are extremely influenced by audiences. when they were conceptualizing steve to fit in among the ensemble cast, the duffers were picturing him as a douchey boyfriend who unceremoniously dies. lonnie was originally going to come back to the byers house to save jonathan and nancy. there was no need to picture where he'd be 4 seasons down the road, so they just didn't account for that. then joe keery charmed them so hard that they literally couldn't bear to kill him, so steve ends season one still somehow alive.

but we've already established the nancy/jonathan plotline, because jonathan was once the duffers' self-insert who must defeat the evil jock and win over the girl. they couldn't just backpedal on that right away, so they needed to give nancy and jonathan a plotline alone, away from steve. but steve only ever functioned as an extension of nancy until this point, so what do we do with steve now? in an accidental stroke of genius that the duffers have admitted was a last second decision, they pair him with the children and make him into a babysitter. it almost instantly boosts steve into being tied with hopper and el for most popular character from the show, potentially even beats them both out. in 2017 when s2 aired, you could not escape mom steve jokes. it was everywhere, steve was everywhere, joe was everywhere, it was arguably the second coming of #justice for barb, which, in netflix business-y terms, was the exact viral meme type situation that the show wanted and needed to sell merch and remain relevant and say "see we still got it!!!"

you know who has the 2nd most lines in the entirety of season three? directly behind hopper? ahead of winona ryder? steve. think for a second about how absolutely insane that is. the character who was written specifically to die in season one. joe keery's name wasn't even in the season one credits, because he wasn't considered a series regular. and now he has the 2nd most spoken lines in the big blockbuster season because he rocketed up in popularity so intensely. season three marketing features the mall so heavily, creates a literal physical shrine to 80s nostalgia, and when the very first promo is released an entire year before the season airs, who's the star of that teaser trailer? and who, pray tell, is featured in the main brand sponsorship ad that plays in movie theaters worldwide? thats right its america's little darling steve harrington.

but here is the issue. the duffers look at what made steve popular and they see: funny exasperated babysitter, heartthrob action hero. they're like oh okay so we should keep putting him directly in the center of the action, bang him up every season to give him his classic bloodied aesthetic, but. he still needs to be funny. we can almost kill him, but we can't actually kill him because he's profitable. we can let him get horrifically injured because it's badass, but we still gotta let him crack jokes. it creates this very weird tone to steve's role in the story starting in season 3 because he's both the action hero and the comedic relief and protected by plot armor, so we get scenes where he's being literally tortured until he's begging for his life and gasping for breath but the tone is still.......fun? comedic? light and goofy? i think the duffers also forgot he's supposed to be a teenager.

now this is partially me making educated guesses but i feel pretty confident about this: once again, like gollum, joe keery uses his big shiny eyes and manages to evade death again in season four by being so likable and charming and marketable that netflix execs or shawn levy or maybe even the duffers themselves were like oh fuck we just can't do it. they were obviously tossing around the idea of taking mom steve all the way by letting him die sacrificially for dustin, so in season four they make eddie, transfer steve's relationship with dustin directly onto him, ctrl f steve's name in the death scene and just type in eddie instead, and once again steve is alive but he's directionless.

so what does he have now, in season four? i think the duffers have a whiteboard somewhere with steve's name and around it are little circles that say "funny" "cool" "DO NOT KILL" and steve is now stuck in this endless cycle of getting beaten up, popping back up somehow unharmed like a looney tune, saying something cute and oblivious, rinse and repeat. because that's what worked, that's what made him popular all the way back in season two. that's what the duffers are obviously keeping in mind when they're writing steve: popularity. not realism, not depth, not growth, just literally how to continue making him popular. meanwhile, other characters get to be part of the actual story. other characters get to serve a purpose other than selling merch. when el is bitten by a monster, she gets to actually feel pain and need help because that's realistically what any human would need. when hopper is tortured, he gets to suffer and ponder his existence and reflect on the relationships in his life. steve never gets any of that, because the writers just don't see steve as the 19 year old boy on his 4th straight year of traumatic events that he actually is.

they literally just see him as a money maker, there for cool viral moments and witty lines and maybe the occasional emotion experienced but only if it's about his romantic prospects. and the narrative that other characters get to have and be apart of just kinda runs parallel to steve. he's there, technically, but he's not really in the story. and it's like actually crazy because you'd think after all the funko pops he sold, he'd have earned an actual storyline!!!

#sorry this is So long im just tb the history of steve...... #know your stevestory #anon #answered

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - I Gave a 10/10 to a BL... me!

Organized, in each category, by ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Nov 2023 Wk 3

Ongoing Series - Thai

My Dear Gangster Oppa (Thurs iQIYI) ep 4 of 8 - I love this show. I adore Tew's the simple backstory. No frills. No fuss. He got dragged in the way many do and he can kill so they kept him. They aren’t trying to make it needlessly complicated (which is rare for Thailand). That said, the pacing is way tf off, the emotional arc is rushed and then sappy out of absolutely nowhere. Before you ask, the kiss is not at issue, we halfway through they should be kissing, but the romantic life changes - too soon. But I don’t care. Finally, they left us this ep reminded of 2 v important things,

this pair kisses beautifully

in BL all mafia be gay

Fun fun!

Last Twilight (Fri YT) ep 2 of 12 - It's official, I love this. It’s a classic caregiver/bodyguard trope where one of them is opening the other one up to the world, but sweetly. I’m enjoying the softness of JimmySea's take and I hope GMM TV takes its cues from the success of My School President and doesn’t push this particular show into rough or edgy territory. Stay on target GMMTV. Don't mess with my bias again!

Twins the series (Fri GaGa) ep 3 of 10 - Finally, our adorable side couple has emerged! This show remains engaging without losing pace (despite the main couple being slow burn), which is all I want from a Thai pulp, and more I could ask for currently from a sports BL. 

(Note: when I dictate the computer always puts "Thai pope" instead of Thai pulp - this is hilarious to me.)

Pit Babe (Fri iQIYI) ep 1 of 14 - I guess they didn’t strip the omegaverse out of this. Unfortunately, I’m not an omegaverse fan, so I find its presence extremely off putting. (But it’s kind of amazing that somebody finally put one on our screen.) Unsurprisingly, it’s a lot of alpha posturing and hyper masculinity, because that’s what this kind of worldbuilding is an excuse for (lazy writing and lazier characterization). This means I don’t like Babe AT ALL except that he’s smell orientated and a bit verse. Way is lovely tho, because Nut is a great soft screen presence amongst the testosterone haze. 

Middleman’s Love (Fri YT & iQIYI ep 2 of 8 - I’m not gonna lie (when have I ever bothered to lie to you all?) I’m struggling with this show. The sound effects are getting worse. That is not allowed. Still I found this installment slightly more bearable than the last last, probably because there was more of the cast in play and less of Jade being too cringe to live. 

Absolute Zero (Weds iQIYI) ep 8 of 12 - AKA temporal paradox of pain.

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) Friends Forever ep 13 of 24 - Ooo it’s a bit of a teacher/student (coach/player) thing. Linguistic negotiation and kinkification of phi. Also actually kinky. But not consensually. Gonna get dark. Bummer. 

Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 1 of 14(!) eps - Whines. Must I? Gaga doesn’t have a skip ahead button. Sad sack main characters really do not work for me. But this was better than I expected. I wasn’t expecting much. 

Look: This is helmed by Cheewin (shudder) with screenplay by Den (Only Friends - shudder the second) under Copy A Bangkok (they deserve not my shuddders). It's gonna be a shizz show people. It's Thai dark War of Y style - my least favorites. Apparently, there is meant to be a "plot" but when has Cheewin ever bothered with plot?

On a completely different note does the blond look like that Korean actor/idol from At a Distance Spring is Green & Wanna One to anyone else? Or is it just me? (Park Ji Hoon)

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

A Breeze of Love (Korea iQIYI) eps 3-4 of 8 - I like it a lot. Dongwook is so obtuse and socially awkward and reserved and needy and Dohyun is so gay over and simultaneously wildly confused by this behavior. Fantastic. A bit stiff, even for Korea, btu I'm okay with it since everything else I'm watching right now is decidedly NOT stiff.

I finished it!

Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru AKA Aki wa Haru to Gohan wo - Japan BL movie 1.5 hr

Best friends life together during university - cheerful sunshine loves to cook, grumpy tsundere loves to eat. Aki is a bit manic pixie dream boy for me (not my favorite archetype) but they’re cute and it’s one of those Japanese slice of life pieces like Our Dining Table that isn’t really a romance in fact it’s barely a drama. This isn’t friends to lovers because they’re basically already in a relationship (which everyone around them knows) they just aren’t fucking. I did spend a lot of time worrying that they weren’t eating any green things whatsoever. In the end this isn’t my thing when there’s no kissing at all, and this was a bit too dull even for JBL. Sorry Japan, one cannot trade on cute and cheese alone. I know, you want to. But that's not a BL or a personality. 6/10 

I Cannot Reach You AKA I Can't Reach You AKA Kimi ni wa Todokanai (Japan, maybe coming to Netflix) 8 eps - This classic friends-to-lovers BL is everything Japan does best. Angsty. Emo. Aching. Driven by real thirst. Yamato is deeply in love with his childhood bestie, Kakeru, and has been for ages, unable to hide his ungainly damaging high school need. He wants Kakeru in every way possible and it oozes off of the screen. Kakeru is silly and a little simple, but not frenetic or overly camp about it. He is earnest, and genuinely wants to keep Yamato in his life which means giving a romance (and gayness) a fair chance. We watch him realize his affection and what form it can take in a truly authentic way. This show was impossibly kind to both of its lead characters and I felt honored that I got to watch something so lovely and rare play out on my screen.

I LOVE LOVE LOVED THIS. IT'S SO GOOD.

10/10

Let me be perfectly clear: I have watched 646 BLs and only handed out nine 10/10s.

I talk more about why this one made the cut, here.

It's Airing But...

One Room Angel (Japan Gaga) 6 eps - adaptation of Harada’s manga (which I did not like) about a clerk who's stabbed, nearly dies, and returns home to find an angel waiting for him. With only 5 eps and a good chance this won’t end happy, I'm gonna wait and let you tell me how it goes.

SHADOW (Thai Gaga) 14 eps - I'm not wild about Thai horror (or horror at all) even one featuring Singto and Fluke. I'm holding off on this one and if told it's good I'll binge later.

Beyond The Star (Weds iQIYI) 8 eps - House of Stars meets Boyband. I was NOT impressed. Waiting to be told if I should bother.

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - I find this series more fun to binge, so I'm waiting until it completes its run.

Next Week Looks Like This

STARTING

11/20 Bake Me Please (Mon Gaga) ep 1 of 6 - trailer here, stars Ohm (of OhmFluke) opposite Guide (bestie from IFYLITA). This looks like an actually gay version of Antique Bakery (play it again, BL). I'm intrigued, it looks HELLA pretty.

11/22 7 Days Before Valentine (Weds ????) ep 1 of 10 - trailer here, horror-esk. Adapted from y-novel of the same name, directed by Tu (180 Degree) stars Jet (Why You… Y Me?). When you want your old love again, but fate sends you a reaper instead. All he can do for you is kill people. I'll likely give this a pass and wait to binge if safe.

11/24 VIP Only (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 1 of 10 - Screenplay by Lin Pei Yu (WBL) about a chef who courts a shy writer with spicy beef noodles.

11/25 The Sign (Sat ????) ep 1 of 10 - trailer here, horror-esk, but with a suspense and adult characters. Special investigators who loved each other in previous lives reunite in new bodies. Stars Billy Patchanon (BillySeng) & Babe Tanatat (new). Includes other SCOY favorites as a special investigation team. I may give this a try (depending on distribution) because I'm into the non-horror bits.

11/26 The Whisperer (Sun ????) 1 of 10 - trailer here. Thai horror BL that ALSO involves cheating (what joy is mine). He has dimples (My Ride) but I don't think even that gives me the will. You can tell me how this goes.

11/26 Cooking Crush (Sun YT) 1 of 12 - OffGun are back, trailer here. Adapted from the novel “Love Course! เสื้อกาวน์รุกเสื้อกุ๊กรับ” by iJune4S this is about Prem who runs a not-so-popular restaurant with 2 friends. About to go on a cooking competition with a huge reward, Prem gets involved with Ten, a stressed-out med student who wants Prem to teach him to cook.

Still Coming November BL

11/30 For Him (Thurs ????) ep 1 of 10 - high heat trailer, I suspect iQIYI will scoop this one up. From the people who brought us Unforgotten Night (please no) based on a y-novel, man nursing a heartbreak has a one-night stand, but the other boy didn't want it to end. It looks terribly trashy so I'm in! Maybe I'll do a trash watch?

Nov 2023 line up with screen caps here. Not kept updated.

Original 2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED).

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

To be fair this was last week but I did get the screen shot until now. (You are Mine)

I Cannot Reach You serving all Japan's favorite tropes plus some very un-Japan decent kisses.

(Last week)

#this week in bl #bl updates #bl review #I Cannot Reach You #Japanese BL #You Are Mine #Taiwanese BL #Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru #Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru review #2023 bl #upcoming bl #My Dear Gangster Oppa #Thai Bl #Last Twilight #GMMTV #Twins the series #Pit Babe #Playboyy #A Breeze of Love

[dawns-beauty]

Upcoming Update: Lunar Lattice Tweaks Full Release

Helloooo Ohmes-Raht enjoyers!

First off, HUGE thanks to @littlemissf for helping me fix a lot of issues I was struggling with, and for being super nice and patient with me! I would not have done the full version without you!

Secondly, this mod will not work automatically with current Lunar Lattice characters. With a little effort, I have been able to update some presets. I had been considering writing a tutorial on how to port your old character heads, but ehhhh...

Anyways, what's new?

All old .tri files have been replaced with their appropriate HPH versions: this will fix crashes, issues with sliders, etc. They will no longer have a truly unique morph, however, though original-look presets can be converted

No longer based on the Default morphs: instead, they use Wood Elf morphs. The headparts/RaceCompatibility script have been updated to reflect this. This also means that Wood Elf presets should be transferable.

Removed the HP LLK brows/scars/etc.: they are simply duplicates of HPH and not needed any more

Separated male and female ear meshes. Edited all ear options to sit closer to the new head morph. Stick-out ears look a little better connected now.

Added two new ear options: Small and Small Stick-Out. These are as close to regular elf-sized as I could get.

Changed up the ear selection: I've added the ear types as additional heads in the Face Part slider. This avoids the issue of ear parts stacking/deleting your eyes, while keeping compatibility with other head parts (like beards etc.)

All ears have been converted to BSDynamicShapes and I created .tri files: meaning they should follow some facial sliders and you can now use the Sculpt tool on them. Can't seem to get them to show facetints, unfortunately, so if the ear base overlaps with a warpaint, you may want to sculpt it down

Changed the eyeglow method: instead of using a mesh with a glowmap, the iris mesh now uses the regular environmental mapping and glows via emissive data. This allows for the iris to be cubemapped like the rest of the eye while still glowing

Changed the eyelashes to use the ones from Fair Skin

Adds the LLK hairstyles as options for all humanoids

The main caveat I've found with this version is that the regular elf ears exist under the merlike ones. As long as you don't enlarge them via sculpting or edit the ear sliders, it should be fine.

I am also releasing a new mod with RaceMenu presets for the LLT Full Release. It will have 4 Full Release Style presets, and 4 Classic Style presets that I've converted to work with the update.

Currently, I need to update all the earring meshes, which is going to be a big job.

Full-sized pics under cut (click to enlarge)

#skyrim #skyrim mods #lunar lattice tweaks #my tamriel now

[koyoriin]

So I have once again chosen to obtain this Series Pass reward through Frontlines, and I have some more thoughts on the matter!

tl;dr: The issues that existed before have only been made worse this time around, largely due to huge groups of players that game the system and openly mock others for not doing it.

I have some thoughts on “precons” and a postmortem on the whole situation, and will talk more about it through the cut!

Just as a disclaimer, I’m also vividly aware that Frontlines (FL) is one of the most side pieces of side content imaginable in this game; even I only really engage in PvP for FOMO rewards (which bothers me, but that’s a whole other thing), but my main focus is generally the story and raiding. So all of this primarily bothers me as a community issue as well as a game design issue.

Anyhow! So this pass contains the third armour set glamour since the PvP overhaul, Crystalline Conflict (CC), and Series Pass launched. I’ve once again avoided doing CC for it because of my poor experiences with it in the past (see previous post if you’re curious!), but I only do the Series Pass if there’s an armour or emote reward.

Since last time, here are the changes:

The Pros:

- A daily Series XP boost means that it’s now more feasible to get through it with FL only, and not having to grind CC if you’re not in a rush

The Cons:

- Pretty much everything else

So one big “phenomenon” this time that people have brought up elsewhere, are “precons”; groups of people who queue together, both within the 4 person per party limit…and then some. They coordinate in a linkshell or Discord, queue with enough people to fill multiple full parties (up to a full faction at times), and they have set roles of the most frustrating combos that SQEX hasn’t patched out yet (DRK + DRG + SMN are their bread and butter).

This was always a thing since the PvP overhaul and has never been addressed, but it’s only gotten worse. A single “precon”? Well, usually it’s feasible to deal with; I’ve seen them try very hard but still lose. The current trend of “precons” where it means multiple parties of people queuing at the same time, enough for a whole faction or at least close? Well…throw in more than one precon into a faction and it becomes exponentially more difficult to deal with for each one.

As of the last season pass, I noticed a large group of people gathering to run FL together, and I saw them queue back to back all day, daily or at least on Seal Rock days. I assumed this was to get the Seal Rock coat glamour, and I assumed correctly as a large number of them did obtain it after that and left. The fact that Seal Rock has a notoriously difficult 100 win requirement, and SQEX gave people the opportunity to play in the most irritating and broken way possible pretty much goes hand in hand.

In part, I would also blame SQEX for not altering the achievement in some way or even changing the reward structure as it not only incentivizes but rewards this kind of behaviour. In any case, I didn’t play much of last pass so I paid them little mind, and I consider the Seal Rock coat out of my means to obtain anyhow.

However, as of this pass, the “precons” are still running daily, and are now present in every format other than Seal Rock too. The idea is pretty simple; get a group of people together in a community who can coordinate their DRK/DRG/SMN (and AST/RPR/DNC if you want to get fancy) LBs and movements, and you can easily steamroll the other factions, get an easy win. Everyone (cough) has fun, you get the maximum payout of XP/points/whatever. It sounds pretty innocuous and everyone moves on with their day, for better or for worse. Right?

Well, it’s unfortunately grown a bit beyond that at this point. Even if it began as a group of people who gathered together to make getting the Seal Rock coat "easy", it’s become a group of people who exploit the system and then openly mock the people who complain about them; an exercise in punching down on people who aren’t in the clique and sabotaging people who aren’t in on it. Making people miserable has grown beyond just steamrolling them in FL, and occasionally include arguments and mockery.

Essentially, what goes on is:

- The group gathers on a specific DC; locals, Wanderers, and even Travellers, and they queue at the same time. I’ve seen up to 24 and beyond queuing at the same time, enough for a full faction and then some

- They gather in multiple parties of 4 (the current maximum per party) and queue at the same time to get matched in the same game

- If they don’t get into the main group/faction, they intentionally feed the biggest one; I’ve witnessed multiple cases of people just running into combat and not hitting a single skill, repeatedly, just to feed kills and Battle High for an entire match

- The group with the most people will follow one of the group’s shot callers and use their DRK/DRG/SMN LB exploit, with multiple of each back to back to make it impossible to shut them down effectively, since control abilities don’t work that way and are easily cancelled out

- They steamroll the other factions and win with a huge lead because no one else has nearly two dozen people coordinated in that manner, and are just in randomly assigned groups and playing other classes

- Then they gather and queue again; and if they’re called out on it, they begin to mock and argue with the people who called them out, quoting inane things like the “spirit of the solo queue” to imitate people who aren’t in their group, while ridiculing people for losing or not playing DRK/DRG/SMN like they do.

It’s awful. I don’t care about PvP as I only really do it out of FOMO on the rewards so my engagement is not for personal enjoyment—but it’s beyond a chore when a large group of people have fostered a community that’s actively gaming a system SQEX has failed to balance and then openly encouraging unmitigated contempt within their group towards people who aren’t in with them. I love this game, so it especially hurts to see it happen, when the rest of the community has been great.

> Can anything be done about this? Well, probably not unless matchmaking is adjusted, or instances are intentionally staggered for people who queue in the same window, or SQEX finally decides to adjust FL separately from CC. The only times I had matches that were at least somewhat more fair, was when I queued intentionally when these people were not around.

A similar issue existed years ago when PvP used to be based on your Grand Company; Maelstrom was the go-to for PvP, and if you were not in Maelstrom you would essentially expect to lose. Then they made the Freelancer system (joining a random faction when queuing) and it almost dissolved that aspect of it. But even back then, there weren’t unbalanced combos that exist now where you can annihilate an entire faction with your light party in 4 seconds. In addition, the group I witnessed doing it is a mix of people from other data centres. Freedom to queue for PvP wherever you’re visiting has also enabled this kind of behaviour.

The most baffling thing is; there are no leaderboards. It’s not a competitive thing where you get ranked (unlike CC), and by now they have cleared the Series Pass and then some—so I can only assume the group does it for their ego and the joy of ridiculing others, and it’s really so disappointing to see and experience.

Unlike last time when I wrote about the Series Pass, I have no solutions to propose beyond the typical “DRK/DRG/SMN/AST need to be re-balanced”, and FL as a whole needs to be re-balanced separately from competitive CC. “Precons” in general make the experience awful for everyone who isn’t in one, and the even larger ones are just miserable.

And if you’re reading this and my description of that large group sounds like you, I’m sorry you’ve become this way and that this is somehow a point of pride for you. I hope you can find some other way to be have fun that doesn’t involve ruining others’ experiences.

tl;dr: FOMO continues to make people feel like they need to do PvP, and extra large "precons" are ruining the experience for everyone due to a drastic imbalance in specific class combos such as DRK/DRG/SMN/AST, some even going as far as mocking people in public chats.

[countessqin]

A family of three

Character: Jing Yuan × fem!reader (romantically); Yanqing × fem!reader (platonically:  mother-son relations)

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[Author note]

Me and my thoughts about Jing Yuan and Yanqing father-son relations are living rent-free in my head as well as different ideas connected with these two, so here we are. (Again, purely my headcanons were used!)

PS. Maybe a little OOC. My apologies for any typos and mistakes! Uni takes the most of my time, so I will correct them when I will be free from my assignments and exam preparation.

Hope you enjoyed reading it and thank you for reading it!

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- You still remember that day very clearly. Being an advisor of Luofu is quite a job, and you have just returned from meeting held in another Xianzhou region, so you decided to work from home

- You have finished your papers for today, and were doing some ink painting, when you heard the main door opened

- To say you were surprised will be not the right word... when you came to greet your husband you saw not only him but him with adorable 4 year old child

- You were confused but decided not to question, who, why and how for now. Being married for God knows how long (being a native person from Xianzhou meant being blessed with long life) you knew that face of your husband, when he was tired and was concerned with some problems. And the mara-struck problem striked again with bigger waves, so you decided not to throw all your question at the General, who already have had enough problems

- When Jing Yuan wanted to introduce you and boy to each other, you were faster and leveled yourself to boy's height

"Hi! I'm Lady Y/n, what is your name?", - you said with warm smile. The boy quietly and shyly said "Yanqing", "Oh what a pretty name! Are you hungry? I baked some mooncakes, and made some spring rolls, wanna try?" The boy beamed with happiness and agreed.

- After eating, you showed boy around. When you entered your study room, Yanqing saw the ink art on your table and asked if he can try to draw too. Of course, you agreed, firstly being kind-soul you are and secondly, how to say no to such adorable child.

- After some tries you proposed your help and boy agreed. Within 30 minutes a masterpiece was finished. You saw that the boy was yawning, so you took him to your bedroom which was closer to you.

"Here, you can sleep here. If you will need something, I will be in the study, the next door, 'mkay?", "Yes, thank you miss N/n!*", "Good, sleep well Yanqing, have sweet dreams~"

- When you and Jing Yuan finished all work-related issues, you sat on sofa reading your favorite book, while massaging Jing Yuan's head which was lying on your lap.

- He said that mara-struck problem was getting more and more serious. And that Yanqing was a son of one of his most trusted soldiers, about whom you have heard, but unfortunately the soldier died because of mara. His wife came to Jing Yuan, and told that she may been striked by mara too, she felt some symptoms of it, and she wanted to ask general to help find new family for Yanqing, so he would life a happy long life.

- Of course, you knew the horrors of person being mara-struck. They became monster, who didn't recognize anyone. Although you are not strategist on the battlefield nor general as an advisor you also dealt with consequences of such curse-illnesses.

- Jing Yuan said that tomorrow he will find a good family, for Yanqing while you proposed to raise Yanqing together. You have had more that enough resourses to ensure that boy will grow up in good conditions. You and Jing Yuan have lived for so long but were too engaged in work that you did not have children of your own.

- Of course the General have had such idea, but he wasn't quite sure, whether you would agree or not. Raising your own child is hard, what to say about not your one? He knew that you are kind and loved children but still it such a big step, what if you felt that you are not ready?

- So after you proposed to raise Yanqing together both of you agreed. Then you held a small discussion, what to renovate in household and what you need to buy for Yanqing. And that how a family of three emerged.

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[Small note]

* N/n stands for nickname, I thought that if your name is quite complicated for child to pronounce, he will use name similar for it, for example - Cecilia = Lilia and so on. But even if it's easy one, children still tend to give some nicknames.

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#honkai star rail #hsr #honkai star rail x reader #hsr x reader #honkai star rail jing yuan #hsr jing yuan #honkai star rail yanqing #hsr yanqing #qin's stories~

[qcomicsy]

Hi

Can you recommend me Bat-family comics to read? Which ones do you like?

Heyyyy

I would love it!

DISCLAIMER Keep it in mind I'm a casual reader so my recs might not be the most "this is every issue they are together" or the longer ones!

Let's go!

Nightwing Annual (2021)

Dick & Jason focused

This is one of my favorites ones, it focuses both on Dick's and Jason's relationship as Nightwing and Robin and Nightwing and Redhood.

The dialogue is great, it has both it's really funny bits but also it's really wholesome ones too and it's full of heartwarming moments.

I absolutely adore the way they handled Jason's Robin and acknowledges his violent tendencies without judging him for it.

He's not portrayed as overly violent and reckless, but as a normal teenager having normal reactions given the things he had to deal in his past.

My only criticism is Jason still using that damn crowbar and how they kept drawing Jason shorter the Nightwing for some reason. I think it was to accentuate the "younger brother" feelings so I forgive the artist.

But it's pretty funny.

He looks like short king

Robin & Batman

Dick and Bruce focused

Oh this one, this one it's so good, so good that almost got me crying on main. It's really beautiful, I wasn't the happiest about how Bruce behaved in the comic but it sat in a fine line between Batdad and Bruce being a terrible father/person.

He is too hard on Robin, but it does show how he is trying.

The art is goddamn beautiful, it has this watercolor look and Dick looks adorable on it.

It also goes deep in Dick's feelings about being Robin and what the whole jig means to him, it respects Dick's relationship with Bruce but without forgetting the love and the moments he had with his biological parents.

It's just really, really beautiful a goddamn gem between the many mistakes DC made with them two over those years.

For Tim and Dick I really recomend

Batman Prodigal (1997)

Note: The whole Kightfell series is great for a Bruce, Dick and Tim read. But for the Batfam feelings you can just focus on the prodigal parts.

Dick & Tim focused

The only thing you have to know to catch up is:

1. Bane broke Bruce's back and dignity, so he couldn't still be Batman.

2. Bruce found this guy called Jean Paul to fill for him.

3. Jean Paul is really fond of punishment and violence and the good ol' catholic guilt and goes a little bit too rogue as Batman for everyone's liking.

4. Bruce takes the mantle from Jean Paul and Nightwing fills in as the new Batman.

I wouldn't call exactly brotherly, because Tim wasn't adopted yet in the timeline this was published but they have their moments.

New talent show case DC #2017

Duke and Jason focused

This is also a favorite. It's a short story (unfortunately) but every single panel is worth it.

It's basically Jason and Duke bonding moment between fighting some baddies and trying to clown each other on the way. 10/10 will always recommend.

Robin War

Jason & Duke & Tim & Damian

This one I've read recently (thanks for the asks people send to me y'all are fucking great) and it's a fucking gem!

It shows a lot their chemistry on the battlefield and how fucking insufferable they are around each other. It also shows how Duke fits as a glove in this family of misfits even before he was an "official member".

Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual (2016)

Another Dick and Jason focused!

Oh this one is a blast! It's also short but so goddamn worth it.

Basically Jason and the Outlaws take a gig in a circus to track a Russian bad guy (gotta love how comic books have unresolved beef with Russians until this day) and well it's a circus so how can you not call Dick Grayson?

It's so goddamn funny and it has no right to be, it still very close in the timeline where Dick and Jason were definitely not in good terms, so their interaction it's all so awkward it's a joy really.

We also got a flashback from Dick and younger Jason as Robin and even the flashback is goddamn hilarious, I had such a good time reading it that it's a must read!

Now If you're here for the angst and general feeling's™

I would highly recomend.

- Nightwing Year One (Dick & Bruce)

- Death in the Family (Jason & Bruce & Dick)

- Red Robin (Tim & Dick / Tim & Damian / minor Tim & Cass / Minor Bruce & Tim)

Note: They don't interact much in this run but when they do it hurts. It also can help you understand the beef between Tim and Damian better.

- DCeased (Damian & Steph / minor Damian & Jason)

Note: It's one of the many, many DC aus but this one it's 'pretty' good (it's decent). Definitely not Batfam focused but it has one one of my favorite Damian & Steph and Damian & Jason moments. It's also one of my favorites interpretations of Damian, he gets so sweet and mature over the years that passes in the comic and his reencounter with Jason rewrote my entirety brain chemistry.

Also unfortunately it's the only time we get to see Damian and Jon growing up together :')

- DC vs Vampires ( Batfam (except Duke because the author is a coward) specially Tim & Damian / Tim & Bruce / Dick & Almost everybody )

Note: Okay this one is a fucking car ride, a rollercoaster if you will. And it's ANOTHER DC au but with yeah VAMPIRES so buckle-up.

It has major Batfam moments in the beginning and one of my favorites Damian and Tim interactions ( I'm going to reblog this with photos because Tumblr is homophobic and isn't letting me add more photos in this shit >:( ). Then it goes hard on betrayal (trying not to add spoilers) and feelings so get ready for that.

I unfortunately haven't finished (casual reader remember that) but the much I've read was really, really good.

It gets very silly very quickly as anything made with vampires generally get (unfortunately they butchered a lot of characters in the process) but if you go head empty no thoughts you're going to get a lot of fun and maybe cry a little if that gets to you.

So this is it. I'm sure it has more of it, and oh I'm sure I forgot a lot of it but those are the one's I could get from the top of my head, so I hope you and all of the people who want to follow it have fun!

Also if someone has more recommendations feel free to add on the Reblogs, I'm sure I will eat it up anyway.

#Also Batman & Robin Eternal has been sitting on my reading list for a while (lies) #I've read a couple of panels today and seems really promising a lot of Dick & Tim & Jason interactions! Harpey my dear is also there to! #so if someone wants to check go for it I for now have no idea of it's good or not #but I will (eventually (*I hope*)) #q asks #q recommendations #batfamily #batfam #dick grayson #jason todd #bruce wayne #tim drake #damian wayne #duke thomas #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #alfred pennyworth

[fernsnailz]

Not sure if you’re familiar with Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time but I feel like Sonic Prime is the animated version of that game like the plot/style doesn’t really fit Sonic games while Crash both stays in that arcade jungle setting AND has the shattered time and space themes which they focus heavily on the recent game. The villains already are a bunch of scientists and I feel like either the team from Crash games or someone specific like Nicholas Cole just slapped Sonic Prime on the script for a Crash Netflix show and edited some characters

okay i understand the point you’re trying to make, but unfortunately you sent this ask to someone who works in animation and i need to set the record straight here: that is not how TV animation works

first, you’re right that Nicholas Kole worked on both Crash 4 and Sonic Prime! he’s also done work for the Spyro series, some Disney projects, and a bunch of other cool stuff. however, he specializes almost entirely in character design and concept art. this means that he helped develop specific parts of the visual look for Prime REALLY early on, such as designing some of the characters like Knuckles the Dread. however, that was likely the extent of his involvement in the show. character designers and concept artists normally do not edit the script, and often these artists draw their concepts before the script is even finished.

this is all stuff that happens VERY early in a show’s development, so Kole’s work on the show is probably multiple years old by now. and yeah, that jungle art DOES look a bit like the stuff that he did on Crash 4… because that’s just what Kole's art style looks like. he uses bright colors and varied shapes in a really distinct way on EVERY project he works on, which is probably why they hired him on Prime!

but even if that concept art was inspired by Crash, the jungle universe doesn’t even look like the concept art in the final version of the show! because it was concept art!! it was meant to be an exploration in styles, not a definitive look at the final product. this jungle below is a COMPLETELY different look than what was explored in the concept art. it sooooorta looks like the style of Crash 4, but it's FAR different from the initial concepts presented earlier.

(any person who modeled and painted this environment would ALSO have to be a dedicated Crash fan if they wanted to just turn Sonic Prime into Crash Prime)

and so far, this is completely ignoring the fact that the jungle concept art included in the ask probably isn't even Kole's. it looks very different from his style to me, and as far as i can find no artist has actually been credited for the leaked Prime concept art floating around. Kole has only mentioned his contributions to the character designs on Prime.

this is all a HUGE tanget from the actual argument you're trying to make in this ask, and i apologize for that - but my main point here is that this is a trend i see a lot in online fandoms, where people really like to place blame for issues in media onto one specific person and say "hey it's THIS guy's fault that this show is bad." what a lot of people don’t seem to understand is that these are collaborative art forms. there are so, so many people who worked on Prime, all the way from the first draft of the script to when it was being exported for Netflix, and a lot of these people probably don’t even show up in the credits! if there’s something you don’t like about this show, it’s unfair to single out a specific person to blame because TV shows are not made by one person. they come from a team of artists all working together to try and make something great, not one of the concept artists trying to turn the new sonic show into Crash 5. Nicholas Kole is a single character designer that worked on Prime. he is not solely responsible for an artstyle that you may dislike, because he is not the only person that developed the artstyle. there is no specific person to blame here.

regardless, i can’t really say much about your main point concerning the similarities between Crash 4 and Prime because i don't know as much about Crash series. my instinct is to just go “yeah of course they’re similar, multiverse stories with brightly colored rocks are the big trend in all franchises right now and they’re both 3D platformers from similar eras of gaming that have always featured cartoon talking animals fighting evil scientists, so of course they’ll seem alike.” but hey i mean what do i know

that's all, please know that this isn't meant to be an attack against you or anything! i'm just really used to seeing people blame individual artists and animators for stuff that isn't their fault, and i'm just. kinda tired of it. i will also spare you from my second ramble/disagreement about a sonic game or show in the crash style. because i think that would look fuckin INCREDIBLE

#blease.. if you're going to critique an animated project then have a basic understanding of how the animation pipeline works #hello welcome to my nicholas kole defense post in this essay i will explain how animation for TV is made #fernasks #long post

[chirpsythismorning]

It would appear I am indeed one of the very few optimistic (delusional?) Bylers left.

Not saying that if you feel hopeless and need to move on, that you can't. A lot of you have been through this before with other shows. Again and again. You’re tired and fed-up and you have every right to be.

Technically, Season 5 won't be out for another 2+ years anyways, which means the best thing for everyone regardless is to get whatever we need off our chests now and then to just go on a hiatus for the foreseeable future. 

When it comes to how I feel about Vol. 2, there were definitely at least a few good moments. If this season has anything going for it, it’s the emotional value. This is without a doubt the most I’ve cried ever while watching the show. One scene in particular that had me on the floor was the scene with Will and El reuniting and hugging. And of course the scene with Will and Mike in the van (DAMN YOU NOAH SCHNAPP FOR MAKING ME SOB SO HARD ALL DAY THAT I GOT A MIGRAINE!)

But yes, I am a Byler. So you could say I was a bit disappointed in that department.

And yet still, I think my take on the later part of season 4 is much different from the majority.

Because personally, I don’t think that what played out in Vol. 2 means that Byler is dead. If anything, I believe it to be more endgame than I did before (well, at least in comparison to pre-s4. There’s no denying pre-Vol. 2 confidence levels remain unmatched. Truly the best era for the Byler fandom to date).

I think my main issue is, like so many of us on here, I thought it was guaranteed we would get to see Mike become aware of Will’s feelings. 

Alas, we did not.

And to be totally clear, without this revelation, Byler can’t go anywhere. 

Neither forwards, nor technically backwards.

This means the baiting game is not over. Which as bad as it sounds, is why I’m still so optimistic…

Now, if they had made Will’s feelings obvious to Mike, or even the fact that Will is gay as being obvious to Mike, but STILL had Mike behave the way he did in Vol. 2, now THAT would have sucked. It would have been canon rejection on Mike’s end.

But we didn’t even get rejection from Mike. 

Instead, we got Will coming off as a hardcore M*leven shipper in Mike's eyes, all while the audience was getting the exact opposite interpretation of this situation; that Will is helplessly in love with Mike. 

Will is able to voice the extent of his love, albeit through advice to Mike about his own situation with El, in a way that no one else on the show has been able to. Most of the other characters need a bunch of bystanders to make them realize their feelings and push them in that direction. But Will, he doesn’t need someone holding his hand along the way, telling him what the right thing to do or say is. His love isn’t something he needs to really think about in order to understand it. It just is.

(Which is SO fucking ironic when you think about how Mike always needs help with figuring out his feelings for El and even sounds like he’s reading off a script when he’s trying to explain himself to her. Whereas with Will, s2 monologue teas, it’s the most natural thing Mike’s ever done. Unscripted, straight from the heart… And both Vol. 1-2 continued to drive home this concept, so maybe jot that down..)

It’s just that, unfortunately, in Will’s eyes, Mike will never return this love, which means his only option is to let Mike go. If supporting Mike and El’s relationship means putting himself dead last in every respect, so that his best friend and his sister can be happy, Will is going to do just that. 

But as far as Mike knows, Will holds no romantic feelings for him. I mean after all, Will is guiding Mike literally every step of the way to confessing his love to El, and that doesn't sound like the behavior of someone who’s in love with you, now does it? 

So why would Mike, throw everything on the line, including the survival of their family and friends in Hawkins by not simply just telling his gf he loves her? All while El is right there loving him and needing his love to fight (presumably), with Will beside him literally rooting for him to do just that? This is very obviously the only option in Mike’s eyes.

Which is ironic, because in a way, I think that Mike has truly never seen him and Will as an option, just like Will, but for an entirely different reason. 

Mike views his feelings for Will as childish, something he will grow out of, or at least should have by now.

“We’re not kids anymore. What did you think, really? That we were never going to get girlfriends? That we were just going to sit in my basement and play games for the rest of our lives?”

If Mike can’t love El, then how can he possibly love any women? She’s special. She’s a superhero. He HAS to love her, right? It’s the best option he could ever possibly have. Well, at least considering…

But what happens when suddenly, he comes to the realization that him and Will ARE an option? And that the only thing ever stopping them was himself and his inability to just be honest with everyone and himself?

I think the truth is, there’s a reason that they’re holding off on this revelation for Mike. 

It will be a catalyst. It will change everything.

Now, how exactly do you think Mike is going to react to this? The fact that Will was in love with him this whole time and he had no idea?

Honestly, I think he’s going to react horribly, but not for the reason everyone assumes.

Because I would argue that, if Mike was going to react badly with disgust or even just let Will down nicely to confirm it’s indeed unrequited, then the Duffer’s would have just given this revelation up by now. But they haven’t.

Once Mike finds out that Will is (probably always will be) in love with him, and that instead of telling him, Will used his love to help Mike get closer to El, even when Mike himself was having doubts over and over? That Will went as far as to lie about the painting he worked so hard on for Mike in order to rekindle their dying friendship, to instead insinuate it was commission from El, to give Mike that final push he needed to even have the courage to tell El he loved her? That all the moments like this that they shared as of late, was really just Will talking about himself? That the only reason he was able to tell El he loved her in the first place, was because he was so moved by Will’s love for him??

This is going to break Mike.

And let’s be real here, two episodes would not have done this revelation justice. 

So now, just knowing the direction they went for Vol. 2, as well as coming to terms with it, I have reached the conclusion that, despite how bleak things seem now, ‘maybe all of this is happening for a reason’ (s2 Mike Wheeler, we miss u).

Which brings me to the other most important piece of the puzzle, which is that, arguably, El needs to be the one who ends things once and for all.

The general audience has been given the impression El is head over heels in love with Mike, and so of course they were rooting for Mike to get on with it and just tell her he loved her. 

But that’s the interesting part. He finally did tell her, but her reaction in the aftermath was not something a lot of fans expected. 

It seems that she’s distancing herself from Mike, a fact that Will acknowledges to Mike later at Hopper’s cabin, with Mike genuinely confused because he thought he did the one thing he had to do. 

He told her he loved her. Which makes everything alright now, right?

But maybe it doesn’t.

Maybe the reminder we got, of that speech from Max to El, about how she didn’t need Mike or Hopper or ANY man to know her worth, was foreshadowing for what honestly needs to happen in order for El to really process and realize her own true feelings about Mike.

Because, although I do believe El genuinely thought she loved Mike, is it possible that Mike was not only having doubts about saying it because of the reasons he argued, or even because of some repressed feelings for Will, but also because El hadn’t given him what he needed to truly believe she loved him.

Mike, like a lot of people, doesn’t need to hear “I love you” to believe that someone loves him.

“I didn’t say it.”

“You didn’t have to.”

He wants something more meaningful, or more specifically, something along the lines of the speech Will gave to him in the van.

Will’s confession disguised as El’s, was what Mike needed to finally say I love you to El... 

Something I think we also got caught up in, is this idea that the Duffer’s were just going to drop M*leven and throw in Byler, with everything else going on, while they still have a whole ass season to promote for another 3+ years, and to their mostly 80’s loving homophobic audience. If Byler is going to happen, it’s going to be the definition of slow-burn and endgame. That’s literally the only way. 

This puzzle is complex, which sucks if you want all the answers now, because we’re just not going to get them. If they give up all their moves, then what is the point of telling the story at all? 

Other pieces of the puzzle include things that arguably still need to happen before Byler can, even regardless of the constraints they have as show-runners who run the biggest show on Netflix’s dying platform. 

Things like Will and El’s love for each other as brother and sister. Considering all the fans that said Will hates El because he didn’t stand up to her bullies or that he’s a home-wrecker who just wants to get with her boyfriend, is why I do think they needed to debunk these insinuations within the narrative. And boy oh boy did they deliver on that front. Will is the most selfless son of a bitch on the planet, who loves his best friend and his sister so much. They made that very clear. And you can see that despite a few homophobes here and there, the general audience's reaction to Will in Vol 2 is sympathy and to Mike it's confusion and betrayal...

Hmm, making El realize she doesn't even love Mike, after making Will's unrequited feelings for Mike more clear, after making Mike behave like an IDIOT this entire time juggling these two relationships, only for him to become aware of whats going on, and to clearly be in love with Will?

Sounds like a good way to set up Byler to an audience that might not have humored it before...

And like I said, with how important I do think it was for this to happen in order for them to go the Byler route, is why I don’t necessarily see this approach as a bad thing. We even got the Will and El hug in 4x08, which maybe it’s just because Noah and Millie are so close, but I would easily rank that on my top most well-earned moments in the whole show.

We NEEDED that. Especially in terms of what is likely to come in season 5 with Byler endgame...

Also, yes the Will angst sucked and it's just trauma porn at this point. I’m not going to deny that fully. I agree with pretty much all of the criticism in regards to how they chose to do certain things when they didn't necessarily have to, but I also simultaneously am able to understand that it again, maybe this is all happening for a reason. If they are indeed going to have Will play a big role in the final season, than them forgetting his birthday, Mike being oblivious and all this other shit he's been through combined, sets up a really arc for him next season, not even necessarily a villain one, but all of this pain has the potential to lead to a happy ending. And I'm being full serious.

Like we have Finn Wolfhard saying the ending of Stranger Things will be like the ending of Schitt’s Creek??? That it will end at it's highest point. The last episode of Schitt’s Creek is literally a happily ever after gay wedding, there's no other way to interpret that…

We also know that a lot of ideas for the last seasons were planned from the beginning, with David Harbour saying that he knew the ending way back in s2 and that it's beautiful and has been the intended plan all along. That there's easter eggs that will have us going 'WOW this is what we've been watching the whole time'? That it's wonderful?

If you’re the level of Byler truther that believes they were somewhat planned all along from the beginning, then you would also know that if they plan a happy ending for Mike and Will, then they would have no problem killing us this painfully in the beginning of the end, because they know we’ll be the ones cheering on by the actual end, and it'll be the homophobes who are pissed and stuck with this result forever as endgame. 

I’m just saying, don’t be surprised when s5 gets closer and we actually see them promoting Byler… like a lot. And we actually start getting in canon hints at scenes with El herself even trying to get them together.

Groveling Mike Wheeler era?

Will finding a potential new love interest and Mike pining/jealous?

Come ONNN! You guys are way more delusional than you’re giving yourselves credit for and I urge you to join me!!!

#byler #stranger things #stranger things 4 #stranger things 5? #stranger things spoilers #stranger things theory #stranger things meta #byler evidence #byler season 4 #byler proof #byler nation #byler better be canon #be gay make byler canon #mike x will #byler tumblr #byler st4 #mike wheeler #will byers #noah schnapp #finn wolfhard #duffer brothers

[showrunnerihardlyknowher]

girl yeeeesssss spill the fucking tea 😫 don't go hiding that drama in the tags

Okay, so originally I wasn’t going to say anything because I did not have the energy or desire to rehash all of this to a community that I hardly interact with besides post-dumping every ~4 months. But then, ironically, two people DM’d me about this this week and now I’m feeling spiteful again, so let me regale you with the cringe tales of the Tumblr g/t community and why it gives me a headache to think about. And you know what? This bitch is being a pinned post, too, because I’m not going to let it be swept under the rug anymore. I’m rocking the boat, I’m naming names, I’ll be a little goblin starting dumpster fires.

Now, I will say there are definitely further issues in the community that I can’t personally speak on – rampant racism, transphobia, etc. That’s not to say these things aren’t happening or aren’t important to bring attention to, but I am not someone who witnessed it firsthand or experienced it. In my handful of years being active in this community, they are topics that have been brought up a fair few times, which is enough of a sign that it’s an ongoing issue. However, I also have not looked at any g/t related tags in almost a year, so whether or not these discussions are still happening or have been relatively resolved, I don’t know. It’s not my place to talk about them in depth when I would have no idea what I’m talking about or what to reference, in which case I implore others who have unfortunately dealt with this to please speak out about it. There’s other drama I am able to talk about because I went through it myself or by proxy, and so that’s only what I’m going to be relaying in this post. 

I feel like the most infamous implosion was the GTMS/Chamomile-g-tea debacle from half a year or so back, but at the same time based on the messages and DM’s I’ve received, it seems like…a lot of people have forgotten about that, or at least weren’t around/invested enough to know what happened. The quick recap is that @unicornofgt created a written series about giant mech suits that were actually powered by giant humans in a post-apocalyptic setting, inspired by a post made by our shared friend bolshoycorvid about Pacific Rim. It grew into a fairly well known series in the community, and while I had only read the first chapter, I still at least recognized it from my mutuals and some of the tags. 

And then Cham found it and became utterly obsessed with it, pumping out fanart left and right and opening the floodgates for its popularity. And that’s so cool! That’s great that such a talented artist with a large following genuinely enjoys someone else’s work that much, and is introducing it further to the fanbase for people to read! It’s amazing to get that kind of feedback to know people want to make art of your handcrafted characters because they adore them that much, it’s one of the best compliments a writer can get!

Except Cham really started getting into it. Like, helping-create-two-Discord-servers-without-permission, kind of into it. Like, posting-fanart-on-multiple-platforms-without-source-credit, kind of into it. Like, repeatedly-responding-to-messages-about-the-characters-without-consulting, kind of into it. And when I tell you her art for the main characters were everywhere, I mean they were everywhere, not just in the Tumblr g/t community. Tiktok, Twitter, Instagram, they were posted, and they were never credited back to unicornofgt. I had friends send me her animatics of it, gushing about how amazing it was, totally unaware that it was a storyboard to the first chapter of GTMS (which I recognized and told them, at least).

And was unicornofgt mentioned in any of these posts, was their fic linked, was it even noted that these weren’t her original creations she was spamming to every platform? Nope. Not a word. They actually had to repeatedly ask Cham to credit them as she continued to drop the ball, and even so it was too little too late, finally coming in the few weeks before unicornofgt put a stop to it altogether. Some platforms would only allow an additional note to be added via comment, which was often missed or drowned out by the sea of other messages. Other places like Tumblr could allow a full body edit, however that did nothing for the hundreds of reblogs that were already circulating without a link back to unicornofgt, and are still out there, even if unicornofgt had Cham delete her GTMS posts. 

And naturally, if you’re not in the already niche Tumblr community, and even if you’re new to said community, you would have no idea! You would see her post these characters, answer questions about details for these characters, maybe even be invited by Cham to one or both of the two Discord servers for these characters (of which unicornofgt was a member of, but more often than not still not addressed for their story as Cham would take over and talk about GTMS when they were not online to agree/disagree) – Of course you’d naturally assume these are her characters and her story, and even if you knew different, you might become one of the many people swept up in the fandom environment created by Cham, which treated her as the forefront of it.

And please, don’t think I’m taking this out of context. Understand that unicornofgt DM’d me about all of this before they eventually abandoned their Tumblr a while ago due to this situation and the rampant bigotry in the community , and you can read their farewell post here. They told me about the growing anxiety and morphing disdain they felt when it came to their series, because it felt like that creative freedom had been robbed, pressured to morph their original vision to appease Cham, even  at the expense of their own passion for GTMS. They felt unheard, ignored, and pushed aside while Cham got to reap the benefits of their own hard work to bring it into existence in the first place. No matter how much they spoke about it in private with Cham or openly on the two Discord servers (they had never wanted in the first place), it didn’t matter. 

They told me about the instances in which they had multiple talks with Cham about this crossing boundaries, but ultimately not feeling  they could enforce them because as a meager content creator, they should feel grateful that someone so popular was giving their work as much attention as it was getting. Friends and followers agreed with that sentiment because more and more people were becoming unaware who the true creator was, and it seemed on the surface unicornofgt consented. They told me about how Cham had to be repeatedly told to stop and redirect any questions relating to GTMS to unicornofgt, instead of taking it upon herself to answer them, as a majority of the time whatever she said was at best a bad rehashing of unicornofgt’s own explainations that watered down unicornofgt’s characters to “silly stupid little incompenant man” and “big badass woman who loves him sooo much”, and completely ignored bolshoycorvid’s characters altogether. Sure, to Cham’s benefit, she would back down…for a little while, and then start those habits all over again and ignore what was previously requested, especially during the mini internet breaks unicornofgt would have to take since the pressure  gave them further fatigue, contributing to their pre-existing chronic health problems.

 Let’s not forget the free for all fandom that was created as well. Anyone with questions/comments/concerns all went straight to Cham and rarely to unicornofgt. Art requests, ideas or what-ifs, AUs – all to Cham. Her friends and mutuals straight up telling bolshoycorvid that they’ve never read their GTMS fics despite them being a fair chunk of the overarching universe, simply because they were hardly acknowledged in Cham’s art and frequent posting. The influx of underaged users coming in to join the fun and the Discord servers, which unicornofgt had already said they were uncomfortable with and had wanted the main server to at least be 18+ (a request that was, once again, ignored by Cham, who irresposibily never checked the ages of new users to the point any and all of her mod privileges were revoked and all invites were turned off). So many problems came from having those kids in an 18+ space, essentially taken over by Cham, that unicornofgt decided to pull the plug on the entire server and cut finally Cham off a week later.

From my understanding, this fandom behavior was even worse on Twitter to the point the GTMS characters were selected to be used in a roleplay tournament. The host reached out to Cham for her opinion of character authenticity during the rounds, while others were asking if they could use her art/comics for voice acting. Meanwhile Cham sent all of these to unicornogft because she thought it was funny, but  didn’t reiterate to any of these people that these were NOT her characters and if they wanted permission from the creator, they needed to reach out to unicornofgt. Even when unicornofgt tried to pass on this message, it was ignored by Cham’s little fandom, who continued to view her as the creative authority. 

But even worse than Twitter was the Tiktok, where many of Cham’s GTMS videos went semi-viral, still leaving her sitting pretty at 18k followers while neither unicornofgt or bolshoycorvid saw any of it. Hundreds of comments gushed about the art, meanwhile both the true creators were lost in it. Eventually Cham didn’t even ask permission before posting, not bothering to check if it was true to the characters, but why stop to think when those videos are getting views up to 250k, with all the comments telling you they adore you and your work? It is your work, right? 

What’s so insane to me is that you would think for such a talented artist, she would know the value of being properly credited for your work, especially fanwork across multiple platforms. But no, it had to be explained to her the importance of crediting the real creators of these characters in her posts, and the highly contrasting way people consume art, quick and easy to appreciate, vs writing, which takes more time to consume and appreciate. This isn’t some multi-billion dollar international franchise that’s universally recognized at a glance like DC/Marvel. This was a fun little series created between friends and shared with a small community as something new to enjoy for a little while. It’s not a licensed IP, it’s someone’s personal pet project that they enjoy. It’s completely unreasonable to assume a rando on Twitter is going to look at a badass pose of a giant woman and know that it at least came from an obscure series from an obscure fandom by a single person who was just trying to have fun on the internet. Hell, even 4chan users on the hentai board ask for sources all the time, to know who created these characters they’re jacking off to so that they can go check out their other work!! 

Instead, you try to get the source for a GTMS fanart, you likely get Cham, and from Cham you get…no one. Because she failed over and over to  make reference that it belonged to anyone else, via tags or in the text body, until long after it was too late with an edit. And there’s no sense in trying to beat around the bush, that’s borderline art theft. You took a character word for word, design for design, setting for setting, and sold it off as your own. It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t your intention, that you were ignorant of the consequences – it’s what happened and it needs to be owned up to. This isn’t a petty squabble between two teens on fanfic.net about a demonsona OC for Sonic Underground, this is an adult making a conscious decision to post content of something that doesn’t belong to her and not give an ounce of credit. Not only that, it just furthers the divide between artists and writers in a creative space, with the latter hardly ever getting their dues for putting in their effort for a written piece that an artist can doodle in 15 min.

 It was like creating a spectacle out of smoke, a flimsy foundation that was bearing its full weight down on the mental and emotional health of the person who actually created it. In a matter of months unicornofgt had gone from a simple writer of funny size difference things to being forced to watch their vision be watered down for the sake of uwu soft giantess wholesomeness, none of it being done by their hand.

And I think the worst part about all of this, after this whole mess finally came to light thanks to unicornofgt finally finding the courage to put their foot down and cut Cham off completely (both as a friend and for having permission to make anything GTMS related in the future), is that it was unicornofgt who had to leave this platform. It was bolshoycorvid who had to leave, in part for other reasons, but because they were also snuffed during this fiasco as well as both a co-creator and someone who had their own canon OCs/fics in the GTMS world. It was other friends and mutuals who left because they couldn’t stand the toxicity of this fandom anymore, the hypocrisy, the sheer lack of critical thinking and the inability to hold people accountable for their actions. GTMS was essentially abandoned after the dumpster fire was put out and that was it. The series that everyone seemed to fawn over and adore was forgotten at the drop of a hat. 

Why? Because it wasn’t the written fics or unicornofgt that everyone was attached to; it was Cham’s art and her version of an OOC story she was pushing they loved. And once she stopped posting it, that was it. Dead in the water. Absolutely tainted. Can you blame unicornofgt for not wanting to touch their own creation that they had made from the ground up and put so much thought and energy into, all because it had been essentially stolen and ruined by someone with a much larger following? A following that hit over 20K during Cham’s GTMS reign across multiple platforms , might I add, while unicornofgt was lucky to see a fraction of that for the same concept. 

I also want to note again that these are retellings told directly to me from the persons involved, including unicornofgt prior to their leaving, former fans, and Discord members, that I am airing with their permission. I’m also not someone who has a lot of social media or who followed GTMS at all, this is almost entirely coming from the creator (the REAL creator) in the time before they left, their experience dealing with the fallout, and the sentiment that even still they don’t hate Cham, but just wish there was even a single legitimate consequence on Cham’s part (and that non stop self bashing at the rescue of yes-men does not count). And it hurts to see a fellow g/t content creator be so scarred from this, to lose all interest in the things they cared about most and only wanted to share with their friends, due to one person’s inability to stop and think about their actions. And sure, maybe this is old drama, maybe it’s small and petty to still bring up, but it doesn’t seem like anyone else is going to pull back the rug that this was swept under, so it might as well be the local menace to the community to make a long ass post about it. Chamomile-g-tea killed an entire series and drove the creator, the co-creator, several fans and several more friends who also made g/t content off of an entire website because she couldn’t be bothered to not feel entitled to other people’s toys.

I lost a lot of good friends as a result of this, and the g/t community lost a lot of good content creators as well, to the point this really was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me to say fuck it. To sit here and watch my mutuals abandon their Tumblr’s and all their works in favor of avoiding Cham and her followers who keep pretending  she did nothing wrong, acting like her excitement justified her “promotion” of the story, never holding her accountable and accepting at face value her claims  that she had no idea the distress she was creating, letting her act as if she’s the victim of this whole ordeal – nah, chief. It didn’t matter if it was on purpose or not, it still happened, and she was allowed to get away with it scot-free, so I will continually throw this in everyone’s face so that the g/t community never forgets its track record . 

Because I really don’t understand how this entire community can go through the same run around of “is fearplay/petplay morally wrong to create in a place full of minors” (which is another debate I am NOT getting into right now) and cause several blogs to abandon ship over the backlash they received…but a well known artist forces a popular series to be discontinued and runs off the original creator and their friends after she stole their concept, and everyone is just like “damn, that sucks, she just got too excited /:” and pretends it’s nothing? There have been plenty of former blogs that were called out for less and were forced to be accountable for whatever fuckery they were doing. Besides, I thought we were supposed to be thinking about the poor children here, the sweet minors, which was what her wholesome SFW blog catered to. Last I heard from one of her followers she started posting softcore GTS (I wouldn’t know, I have literally 0 desire to scout her blog), which sure, go ham bestie with your titties and light crushing, we all know I’m an 18+ blog. 

But then she continues to interact and mass reblog from minors and bring them into her inner circle, sooo…which is it? Are we worried about corrupting the kids or not? Do minors have the ability to use critical thinking about what concepts are right or wrong, or not? Are people accountable for what they post or is it the responsibility of the viewers who need to heed the tags? Y’all don’t get to have it both ways. Not to mention, I will reiterate again, she never verified anyone’s ages and let them in freely to what was intended to be an 18+ space on the GTMS servers, which created PROBLEMS to the point the servers had to be shut down.

Everyone else can sit around thinking she got off scot-free and never needing to address the fact she destroyed an entire series beyond a meaningless sorry, but I’m not going to forget, even if I’m still the only one left from that era and friend group to be able to tell this side of the story. That hurt my friends just as much as it hurt the community to lose such incredible writers and their beloved content, and that’s inexcusable to me. Writers in general are already treated awful, especially in the g/t community, to the point people have the audacity to complain there’s no new content to enjoy after all the good writers got fed up with the lack of recognition. Art and writing are two different mediums and they both require an insane amount of talent to pull off beautifully – just because you can enjoy a pretty picture in 15 seconds versus a plot-rich fic in twenty-five minutes does not make one superior to the other. But if those fics are continually pushed aside, then why would any creator waste their hours and days and weeks and months making a story for no one to see? 

Writing out concepts and ideas are a labor of love that are graciously shared to YOU to also enjoy. Trust me, I have no problem keeping an idea to myself or to be tossed back and forth to my friends for fun, it’s far less effort to still ‘see’ whatever story I would have jotted down for 20K words. If the community is going to continue treating writers like shit, as demonstrated through this hot mess, then of course no one is going to stick around to deal with it. A talented writer lost the world they built, the characters they developed, the story they were trying to tell, to one single artist, yet they were the one who had to pack it up and call it quits after getting hit with hate, while the other gets to roll in the second hand clout from un-credited posts across various platforms to further their own artistic career.

And frankly, I don’t really care about what kind of reception this post has; if it’s only seen by 5 people or if it’s seen by Cham herself, if people agree or disagree vehemently with it. This blog is also more or less dead aside from the few times a year I drop a new fic or art, so feel free to scream into its void as much as you want lmao

#g/t #g/t community #gtms #so anyways yeah fuck the g/t community all my homies hate the g/t community #and there's soooooo so so so much more drama that i didn't even touch here #because my main thing was about cham and i started getting more and more heated as i wrote this lmao #but i also prob won't be talking about those other dramas either because i just cannot bring myself to care anymore #if the last thing i do here is to bring light to this situation than so be it #idk i dont rly have much to say besides that i miss my friends and i miss the good times of 2019/20 and i miss the vibes

[williamrikers]

Some Personal Favorite BL Moments of 2023

this is inspired by @lurkingshan's post, thank you for that 😊

Best Show

be my favorite, hands down. this show hooked me right from the very beginning, and each week it kept outdoing itself. the kindest, most compassionate storytelling mixed with some absolutely amazing character journeys and a strong message at its heart, bmf will stay with me forever (and not only because i managed to snatch one of the utterly gorgeous box sets for my collection). 12/10 puffball music boxes

Best Scene

alan and wen pre- and post-breakup at the start of episode 5 of moonlight chicken. i've rewatched these nine minutes more times than i can count. both first and mix do some incredible acting here, and it's such an utter joy to watch. 5/5 crying firsts sliding down a wall

The Scene That Came For My Life The Most

look, i've talked about only friends episode 6 [4/4] before. you all already know that i desire mew carnally for what he did with that audio tape. i have also rewatched this scene an embarrassing amount of times. 96/69 illicit sex tapes

Most Rewatchable Show and Best Main Couple

this one goes to a boss and a babe. i have already rewatched this show twice this year, and i love it more on every single rewatch. i regularly lose my mind about how much i love this silly little show and start waxing poetic about how much this love story means to me, how much i adore gun and cher's weirdness, their communication, their commitment, their gentleness, their mutual respect, the way they help each other and heal each other, the way they make each other feel safe and loved, which my friends from the bl besties server can attest to. maybe one day, i'll put all of my ramblings into a coherent format, but for now please trust that this show is absolutely wonderful and extremely special to me. 1000/10 gaymer friends sleepovers

Best Premise (That Was Utterly Ruined By The Show)

i've got to say dangerous romance, although step by step comes in at a close second. after the second episode of dr, i was out here writing hundreds of words worth of meta, and then... well, then the show became what it unfortunately is, now. i still want to see the show that i was promised (a thriller about two poor brothers who get into hot water because of money issues and end up having to turn to crime to survive, all while the younger brother slowly falls in love with the biggest bully at school, and over the course of the show the bully needs to learn to become a better person and help sailom overcome the trust issues he should have had from growing up constantly threatened and sometimes physically abused by members of the mafia.) -20/10 stupid fucking windmills for ruining something that could have been amazing

Best Side Couple

tiwpor, you will always be famous to me. my school president itself might just have given us crumbs, but i licked those tiny crumbs right off the floor with delight, and when our skyy 2 made it canon, i lost my entire mind. i could not have asked for more. 2/2 couples t-shirts

Best Date

yang and phumjai on their practice date in episode 4 of love in translation was probably the sweetest thing that happened on any bl in 2023. in the later episodes, they had many more beautiful moments together as well as some incredibly amazing physical intimacy (plus, in the extended iqiyi cut, one hell of a foreplay scene), but their sweet date before they had even confessed their feelings has stayed with me. 11/10 slices of pandan

Best Beach Scene(s)

never let me go wins this one. no other show was as devoted to showing off their beautiful beach locations as nlmg this year. watching this show made me yearn for the sea. 1/1 tattoo of your boyfriend's name

Best Rooftop Scene

despite the stiff competition in the form of bmf and cherry magic thailand, last twilight has this one in the bag. the pain, the pining, the heartbreak, the complicated feelings, the desperate kiss... they even lampshaded this trope in the dialogue. stellar scene. 12/10 sunflowers

Best Sensuality

we've had a lot of high heat bls this year, some of them still ongoing, and since billy infamously said "a lot and deeply", i feel like the next episode of the sign might just blow all of our minds. i'm not awarding a best sex scene here so i won't have to eat my words in a few days—however, i feel confident in saying that when it comes to raw sensuality, no one is going to beat ray and sand in only friends this year, no matter how hard the characters on pit babe, playboyy and the sign might be trying. truly, nobody embodies sensual attraction like first and khaotung do. 69/10 sausages that represent blowjobs

Best Minor Character That Stole The Show

gotta agree with the masses here and say nawin laws of attraction. what a guy. every day i miss him. ∞/10 unhinged ex boyfriends

Best Viewing Experience

this is not bl, but it might as well be: midnight museum still feels like a fever dream, i have no idea what the plot even was, i understood maybe 10% of what was happening at any given moment, and i've never had more fun watching anything. this truly is the show of all time. 5/3 roles played by gun atthaphan

Wildest GMMTV Moment

also not a bl, but the piploy pissing in the car scene as an act of revenge in wednesday club would go down in history, if, you know, people had actually watched this show. what can i even say. 3/3 gratuitous pissing scenes

Most Anticipated Show Of 2024

i just had to find a way to mention my golden blood in this post. i am yearning for this show with an intensity i cannot describe. i literally need to see joss bridal carrying gawin as much as possible, it is on the baseline of my hierarchy of needs. no matter whether this turns out to be trashy fun, high camp, an actually serious show, or all three, i win. gmmtv could not have given me anything better to look forward to next year 💖

#bl stuff #*mine #be my favorite #moonlight chicken #a boss and a babe #only friends #my school president #love in translation #never let me go #last twilight #midnight museum #wednesday club #my golden blood the series

[sailorgundam308]

On Karlach-gate

I’m gonna talk a little bit (lol, lie, a LOT) about Karlach’s endings and her companion storyline in Baldur’s Gate 3.

This feels like opening a can of worms, and it took me a while to gather the courage to do so. Not because of other people, but because of how many thoughts and feelings I’d have to face to put my opinion into words. BUT before I go full steam ahead, a few disclaimers are in order.

First, this is spoilerland. It is full of it, all around you, and there’s no escape. So if you’re not into reading about every single Karlach related spoilery thing I can think of in the game, don’t read this. (There are spoilers of Final Fantasy 16 too, so beware)

Second, I shouldn’t have to say it, but this is merely my opinion. Granted, I enjoy having my opinions corroborated by evidence - to a problematic degree -, so this is gonna be a long and painful text. Still, an opinion is neither wrong nor right (though it can be shitty or nice lol).

And third: I loved the game. I still do. But not as much as I thought I would have based on the first half of my experience with it. Currently I have - and I shit you not - 762 hours of Baldur’s Gate 3 - 500 of which are just in my first playthrough. I bought the game in the pre-sale (I played Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 when I was a kid/teen, so I squealed and jumped into it when I heard there was a 3). Two weeks after I’d started playing it, I bought 4 extra copies of the game to give to my best friends so they could enjoy it too. I can’t compare the game to others because I am not a proper gamer. But I am comparing the game to ITSELF (and perhaps that is the problem). That is to say: I enjoy BG3 and support Larian and everyone who worked on the game - thanks to them I put (lost) 700h of my life in the Forgotten Realms (and I fucking love me some Forgotten Realms).

Unfortunately, the quality of the main story and the companion’s personal stories are not consistent throughout the game. While I might not be an experienced vidya gamer, I can at the very least attest to my satisfaction in relation to the way the narrative was implemented/delivered in the game - or wasn’t.

Which is where the issues begin, and so does this long rant.

My comments are about Karlach and her story, because she and Astarion are my favorite companions and I am generally satisfied with how we experience Astarion’s story in the game. But I don’t feel the same towards Karlach’s.

//

In regards to the main story, Act 1 - and even Act 2 to a lesser degree - have consistent storytelling, cohesive and interesting narrative moments, with twists and turns. But Act 3… We know it, right? It feels like being in an electronics shop on a Black Friday. Compared to Act 1, Act 3 is a free for all, rushed, disconnected and random festival of “wait, wtf?”

The companion’s personal quests also have issues, but in a different way.

Something that bothered me a lot is that there is no consistent narrative care and quality among the implementation of the companion’s personal storylines. Essentially, some companions have their personal stories aptly and extensively implemented and integrated into the progression of the game, while others don’t - to very different degrees.

For example, you have characters who seem to get priority attention put into their (implemented) writing, questlines, dungeons, dialogues, animations, and insights into their past. Most notably is Shadowheart. She has the only cinematic flashback, 2 fucking huge dungeons and several key personal closure moments throughout the span of the game - Shar, Nightsong, Viconia, parents, her tief friend, cemetery is what I remember off the top of my head (so if you think she still got the short straw I WILL strangle you). And, then, you have severely neglected characters like Karlach.

When I say neglected, it’s not a matter of Karlach’s story being less interesting than the others’ (I think it’s def MUCH cooler than SH’s, for example), but that there is so little of it seamlessly and carefully implemented in the game we get to play. If you don’t believe me, just open the quest journal after your endgame and read through every single companion’s personal quest journals, then read Karlach’s again. There it is. Nothing I say will compare to just looking at it with your own eyes. It’s kinda crazy, honestly. It’s hard to deny that something there went wrong and still argue Karlach is supposed to have the same level of “origin companion” importance.

//

Unlike many people I communicated with, I am not that opposed to the current Karlach endings we get in the game - but I am not "okay with it" either. Let me explain.

The current endings are not ANYWHERE near good (in the sense of satisfying). In fact, if you compare Karlach’s ending to ALL other companion’s endings (yes, even Astarion’s), her possible outcomes become pretty bad pretty fast. When side by side, the others’ ‘bittersweet’ endings quickly start to seem mild or even happy in comparison. Karlach definitely drew the short straw (or the writers put the short straw in her hands - so short in fact that there were moments when I wondered if someone in Larian had something against Karlach).

All that said, I diverge from some people in that I don’t wish for a happy ending for Karlach - I don’t think it suits her, nor does it suit the game. Even a full resolution would not fit, I think. But there seems to be an entire spectrum between “absolute worst” (death and becoming a mind flayer, which is essentially the same shit), “lame and unfulfilling” (no hope of changing her situation, just going back to Avernus to be forever stuck in a warzone - but alive), and something we DON’T get for her, which is “bittersweet”. There are levels of bad endings, and Karlach’s endings are on the worst bit of the spectrum. Though I don’t personally wish for a happy ending for Karlach, I wish we had a ‘happier’ one.

For context: By the time I finished my first (Tav) run, Patch 2 had been released (because I'd stalled and refused to finish with the launch ending for her). Still, I did not get the Avernus epilogue scene for some reason (perhaps because I had not romanced her), so first I watched her die, and it was horrible. Then I redid the save, and decided to go with her to Avernus.

In either case, I got just a black screen and then a cinematic of the city and the narrator telling me how epic, heroic and FULFILLED I should be feeling (even though Tav was never a hero and I never gave a fuck about being heroic in my play) - which sounded like insult to injury as I had basically JUST watched Karlach die and couldn’t care LESS if the people of Baldur’s Gate were saved. Fuck’em. What the fuck do I care about the city or strangers when one of my most beloved companions just burned alive in front of me?

Fuck off, Larian. <- That’s how I felt then (ok, kinda how I still feel when I think about it). Insulted and empty. I felt like the game was trying to railroad me to feeling some sort of epic fulfillment that wasn’t there. That seems worse than regular railroading… Like, railroading my feelings? No, thanks.

For me, there was no ‘epicness’, there was just numbness and a bad taste left in my mouth - a feeling that all my effort and time put into the story turned meaningless in the end. And let me tell you, that is NOT a feeling you want people to feel at the end of a story you tell (esp when some of us sick fucks spent 500+ hours in game).

Since I did not get the cinematic epilogue with Karlach in my Tav ending (just the fade to black) I was left with nothing to hang onto. I had nothing in the game that gave me a sliver of hope of something - anything - else happening after the credits rolled (I have since heard from one of my friends that this might have changed a bit).

//

But, if I don’t want a happy-happy ending for Karlach, and I don’t particularly care for her endings as they currently are, wtf do I want?

Well. I’m not entirely sure, but my best guess is two things.

First, the “easier” one:

If you finished Astarion’s story with him as a romanced partner and as a spawn, you get a conversation with him about the future. Granted, this scene is underwhelming (and he feels quite OOC), but it does have something that I consider very important for us players who cared about him and dedicated hours of play to help him in game. We have the option to say we will try to find a way for him to stand in the sun again. That is not a guarantee that we can do it, nor is it a scene clearly showing us in the future doing so. What it is, though, is a seed of hope, in canon, that lets us believe that there might be a way. So we can use our beautiful headcanons to imagine what the future of our Tav and Astarion could become, based on something canon. It creates the important feeling that the story will go on, and, moreover, that things that are currently shitty for him (losing his ability to move freely under the sun - among other things), might have a workaround. For me, this is crazy important in order to feel fulfilled - and it is one of the reasons I said before that I am generally satisfied with Astarion’s story arc and how it ends. I don’t need the game to spell it for me, just to give me that glimmer. The rest I can do it myself in my own head.

Which takes me back to Karlach and the biggest issue I have with her Avernus ending, and the first thing I wished we had in the game - a sliver of hope for her. At the VERY LEAST, I wanted to have something in game - a dialogue option tweak, or any lazy indication - that hinted that even though we are returning to the Hells with her, it might not be forever. That there might be some secret hidden in Avernus that could still help Karlach become free - or free-er, at least. We might not ever be able to get her heart back, in the same way we might not ever be able to cure Astarion’s vampirism, but if the game gave me a fucking tiny hint that going to Avernus might lead us to fixing/changing her engine to the point she might be able to see the Material Plane again without immediately burning to death… (just a vacation in Faerun, whatever).

Just that would make her Avernus ending less miserable, and minimally fulfilling. My head canon building abilities would still be doing most of the heavy lifting in that one - for SURE - but it would at least be something. The shittiest and tiniest improvement from her underwhelming and terrible ‘best scenario’ ending.

(Just let me add that a friend told me that now she has a dialogue option where Tav can say they’d still look for a cure in Avernus, which might be new. I haven’t checked if it’s a new dialogue tweak or if it’s just the delusional/in denial Tav dialogue options repeating “no, you’ll be fine!” even when Karlach is literally dying in front of them.)

Now, what would I REALLY want for Karlach? (oh boy, watch out for the burst of anger >>)

What do I think would be fair for me (and everyone), as a consumer and a player, who is really into Karlach as a character, who loves her, cheered for her, went around the game always paying attention to anything that might remotely relate to her story and problem?

I want her STORYLINE to be rich. As rich as fucking Shadowheart’s. I want to have to fucking scroll down Karlach’s personal quest page, like I have the other companions’, because there’s so many twists and turns there, because it was written carefully. I want her quest updates to be more than “fetch infernal iron/ bring infernal iron to Dammon/ hold onto the infernal iron and wait/ NOW bring infernal iron to Dammon/ the end.”

I want her fucking quest to not LITERALLY END AT THE BEGINNING OF ACT 2. Because it fucking DOES.

You get a second upgrade as soon as you reach Act 2 and the Last Light Inn if you want (you can walk right up to Dammon). And you also learn Karlach will die and that’s that. And good luck to you, player, to manage to find motivation to go through the rest of the game and finish it already knowing that there’s no helping your favorite companion.

Even though Karlach’s quest does not read as complete then, it IS, for all effects and purposes, over. What is left is for her to be taken to Gortash - and not to KILL HIM herself, mind you - freak the fuck out because now she just gotta wait for death, and bam. Companion personal storyline complete. Enjoy the rest of the game (insert BG3 giving you a big middle finger right here).

That is the part that really, honestly, does not go down with me. I cannot swallow it. Karlach has the background story to have richly written interactions with Tav/NPCs and more twists and turns to her questline. SO much more. But she barely gets anything.

The game puts Gortash as her big nemesis (Zariel, her actual enslaver, is whatever, apparently), and you still can simply skip taking Karlach with you in the fight. Even if you care enough to have her in your party when you do, she gets no big wow moment with Gortash (like Astarion gets with Cazador, SH gets with Shar AND Viconia, Lae’zel gets with Vlaakith, the lot). You, Tav (or any other character for that matter) can be the one to finish Gortash. Doesn’t change anything, even though the game clearly puts him as Karlach’s evil guy.

Fun fact, you actually have to kill him anyway regardless of Karlach for the main quest - with or without Karlach. It doesn’t really matter. Karlach doesn’t really matter for this bit of the story. It is NOT really her moment. She has NO real moment of her own (except when she dies - oh, wow, thank you I guess). And I hate it.

We do get the best and most heartbreaking monologue in the game after Gortash’s death (if Karlach is there AND you care to talk to her). Karlach then has the first real meltdown, the first time she lets her truth connect, and feels the feelings she has kept bottled up inside. And it fucking HURTS.

In my first run, this was the moment when I dropped the game for more than a month. Because I realized there was nothing the player could do for Karlach. Not because I, the player, did not want it, but because the game does not let us. The game railroads us into simply dropping her quest.

To boot, we realize when we reach the endgame, that even if you had NEVER cared for Karlach, never upgraded her engine or did her questline’s shallow fetch quests, her ending would be EXACTLY the same. She would not die faster because you did not upgrade her. She would still last until the final fight, then immediately ‘start to die’ afterwards.

There is no REAL influence from the player in Karlach’s destiny. In this sense, she feels like a random NPC that is just there as a companion because fans liked her in EA (or so I heard). Though most ironically, even some NPCs have their outcomes changed drastically by our actions and choices in game. (And if you come to me saying Karlach’s outcome IS influenced in the game because you can kill her or not in the beginning, well, go suck a fuck. Any companion can be killed, and you know that’s not the point)

//

In other words, what really, REALLY bothers me in the whole Karlach’s situation is not the outcome options she has at the end - at least that is not what MOST bothers me.

What bother’s me is that, even if she is the companion I want to know more about, the one I want to run around the map for, have one, two, six fucking humongous dungeons to clear JUST for her, hear about her past for hours on end, meet her friends, her enemies, have her story be told with as much care and detail as all the others are… Even though I want all that - and I should have it, because everyone else gets it - I can't have it.

I just get the basic, shallow and (infuriatingly) ultimately USELESS fetch quests. The fetch quest only ‘truly matters’ if you romance her and want to have sex with her. If you want to help her as a friend, or if you just have her occupying space at camp - it makes NO difference.

You will still end your game with 6 or 7 lines of one-sentence quest journal entries and Karlach’s fate being decided by a 1 and a half minute dialogue (with not even a lazy persuasion dice roll) in the epilogue.

THAT is what seals Karlach’s fate. A dialogue box, once, in the final minutes of the game.

(Watch out, my turn to rage)

The excess infernal iron you found and kept? The ENHANCED infernal iron you got from the Steel Watchers? The WHOLE Steel Watch thing, including the mention that Karlach was a prototype for them - and they are doing just fine in the Material Plane? The FUCKING Gondians? The Ironhands? Them BOTH? Even some random Ice Metal pieces you get in the underdark and shit? The mentions of the House of Wonders? Gale’s scroll of True Ressurection? Vlaakith’s Wish spell? Gale ascended to godhood??!

NO. Fuck you in particular, for even remotely thinking ANY of these things could help your little hellion companion. You dumb hopeful FUCK.

The game was just trying to trick you, giving you all these possibilities and hope, to then pretend they don’t exist and railroad you to the dialogue at the pier - because THAT is what truly matters.

Oh, and do not forget how you should feel the epicness of that ending cinematic all the same, feel fulfilled that you are the “savior of Baldur’s Gate” or whatever shit the narrator tries to tell you with a voice that sounds like they’re smiling and you should be too. You should be thankful, little player, that there is even the chance to get Karlach back to Avernus - because THAT is the bittersweet ending that puts her story in equal standing to the other origin companions’ stories (<- irony right here).

...

Man. I CAN’T. I can’t even continue. I got into a rage typing spree here that no shit gave me a headache. It’s just all so ridiculous that it turns offensive.

Explains why I don’t usually go deeper into this subject, because it doesn’t feel good at all, just frustrates me to no end. I got NO JOY out of my endgame, NO fulfillment. And as I felt it sink in that THAT was it, the narrator talking to me as if I should be glad came across as condescending and insulting to an absurd degree.

//

That is to say... I wasn’t happy. But being sad about the ending of a game is not always a bad thing. Having a beloved character die in a game is not always empty and unfulfilling.

I am reminded of a previous launch this year, FFXVI, and my favorite character in that game: Dion Lesage. Granted, the style of game is completely different, but I will use Dion’s death as an example nonetheless. Dion dies in that game (boo, spoiler, I warned you). His death cannot be avoided because FF has a linear story - his outcome is not supposed to be avoided, whereas BG3 is a choice-based game where the player should be able to influence the narrative with their choices.

Well, in FFXVI my favorite character dies. It IS sad as fuck, it made me tear up and feel melancholic for a while and all that shit. But what it DIDN’T do was make me feel numb, empty and unfulfilled. I didn’t feel his death was UNFAIR. Because the story of Dion until his death was meaningful. It was well crafted, interwoven into the game’s main narrative, and told with the importance it should have. His death also was not meaningless, he died and the story of the game could not have continued on as it had without him. He was an integral part of the narrative, and so was his death. It was SAD, yes, but it was MEANINGFUL. It was important. He didn’t die alone or just dropped dead in a corner after the game was over just because. People cared that he died. He mattered.

I did not feel any of this about Karlach’s death. And I strongly suspect it is because her journey until her death was not as rich, not carefully crafted AND implemented, not meaningful enough (or at least not presented to us as such)… It was not delivered in the way that she deserved. Especially for the companion who will certainly die among the lot. She should have had a journey as deep and layered as the others (if not even more) if the plan was to have her die either way.

Gale also has death looming over him most of the game, doesn’t he? But his death is the one that might have an impact in the grand narrative, be the game changer. And EVEN THEN, he has a way out. He has a True Resurrection scroll in his little secret pouch. He has Mystra throw a deus-ex at the last moment. But Karlach… well, fuck her in particular?!

//

I can’t claim I know much about how Karlach came to be an origin character. I never played EA, and just read about it. Yes, it might have been the case that she was the last added origin companion, that she had to be squeezed into the already almost-ready game somehow. But, excuse me, that is sloppy. And if that was truly the only thing that happened (which we can't know), I doubt no one at Larian was concerned about her becoming one of the most popular companions (cause she already seemed to have been in EA), and people noticing how poor her story progression was.

This might be unpopular but, sometimes I think they should have left her as an NPC, or a secondary companion option like Halsin, Jaheira or Minsc. (Ok, that might be me being extreme and angry due to my frustration, but I still wonder.) If I could not deliver the same level of quality, carefully crafted and integrated character into a story, would I still half-ass it? ...I know. Calling it “half-assing” isn’t fair (I am comparing BG3 to itself and that is a HIGH bar, because when BG3 gets it right, it knocks it right out of the park).

I’ll also be the first to admit that, if she was so 'poorly presented in game', no one, me included, would be so fucking mad about her circumstances at all. The fact I care so much to let this issue ruin my game experience - if anything - attests to the capacity BG3 has to immerse players in its world.

But I also know I am not complaining for nothing.

//

The way I feel has pretty solid grounds - so much it was one of the first things Larian patched. But it was a feeble attempt, in my eyes, because the real blatant issue with Karlach is not in the last 3 minutes of the game - it is in the span of all 3 acts. It is her personal questline in its entirety, the development of her story in game and the level of influence and interaction we as players truly have throughout it all. It is the fact she does not stand at the same level of the other companions (not out of merit as a character, let me be clear, but due to execution and implementation of her story in the launched version of the game), nor do her quests or her (lack of) dungeons and truly meaningful unique crafted content.

She is a charming, beloved character and, even if Larian really truly wants to die on the hill of “Karlach is a tragic character who must die”, they could do so and still make (some of) the players feel fulfilled by having the journey with Karlach, from Act 1 through Act 3 and that damn pier, be rich, intricate, layered, funny, badass, bloody, sad, painful, relatable, sweet… Just like she is.

//

So that is what I wanted:

Not necessarily have her be 'cured', marry and have kids or whatever shit is happily ever after - I think it doesn’t suit her (it might have, in an alternative universe, but not in the one presented in game, with THE Karlach we get in game).

But have her story receive the highlights it deserves, including locations, NPCs and interactions - so even if we just get the 3 outcomes for her we currently have - Avernus, death or death by mindflayer - we could feel some level of closure.

Or, even better: have her journey be richer, AND give us the sliver of hope for the Avernus ending. Make Dammon say that there is something somewhere in Avernus - a blueprint, a special crafting material, a DUDE, or Mizora imply there's a chance to bargain with Zariel (whatever!) - and that we might, perhaps, just MAYBE, be able to finally actually DO SOMETHING.

And then just leave us, the players, to let our minds wander on, imagining how that would go.

That, honestly, could be the thing able to redeem the terrible ending experience I had in my first playthrough. A fully implemented story progression befitting Karlach and just a hint of hope to hang onto.

//

It doesn’t seem absurd, does it? Though the implementation of a richer story (perhaps a dungeon or a sneak peek of Zariel) of course would involve a lot of new work and re-work. But for a game that turned out so big and successful - and a character so cherished - it doesn’t seem out of the question.

Too bad I’m not Swen so I can’t do it myself.

Instead, I write long rage posts on an almost anon account on tumblr. Thank you, tumblr. >>

PS: I got really angry up there, didn’t I? LOL. I’m as easy to get heated as Karlach, it seems. Oops.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #karlach #long post #bg3 long post #bg3 analysis #karlach's endings #bg3 spoilers #spoilerland #astarion #shadowheart #gale #mizora #karlach cliffgate #opinion #bg3 opinion #bg3 tav #ff16 spoilers #dion lesage #bg3 narrative

[op3ra]

hi tumblr this is my wrench cosplay. I built her in 8 days in july for some reason

some build talk under the cut (and a picture of the kneepads). feel free to ask or reach out with questions!

she is built almost entirely of EVA foam and contact cement and is my first ever foam build. her leotard and gloves are prepurchased and my hair was already dyed these colors (blue velvet + cranberry + blood moon from lunartides)

her shoulder piece is actually an exceedingly simple build; it's just a bunch of 6mm (or maybe 8? I can't recall) rectangles + trapezoids, then smaller rectangles and triangles for the shoulder bits. the trim of the red part is just 2mm EVA foam cut into strips and glued on. it has a split velcro closure in the back.

the actual shoulder bits of the shoulder piece are held in place with black vinyl; which would allow them to flip up if I hadn't messed up the silver bits lol. the silver stripes are scrapbooking cardstock, cut to size and glued on after the pieces were painted. I would like to upgrade to vinyl-wrapped foam on future iterations

the belt is a 8mm base with 6mm silver parts, and the coupler rings are 12 inch EVA dowels glued into circles and then glued on and held in place with 4 mm strips. the belt has a velcro closure in the back.

the tabards are honestly the one piece that needs to be replaced the most at this stage; they're also 6mm EVA foam with 2 mm details, then spray painted silver and hand painted with the blue details. the lower tabard pieces have not held up well to movement :I the top ones are connected to the belt with two velcro straps at the bottom corners, and to eachother at the top with black vinyl straps. there's also Velcro on the leotard to hold flush to my body.

all of the foam construction was glued together, then heat sealed, then plastidip sealed, then spray painted, then coated with a clear coating. unfortunately only the shoulder piece was really properly sealed, but it SHOWS. my neighbor stepped on it on Halloween and the damage was like, NOTHING.

the neckpiece is pretty much a mockneck that I pull over my head, with a red vinyl collar that I sewed and then studded using leftover cats cosplay collar studs. the headband is just Eva foam with elastic. the kneepad base is pretty much a lycra sleeve dyed silver.

the kneepads are a two-piece EVA foam construction that I patterned off of... an existing kneepad, I think? they're glued, heat formed, and then have elastic straps around the back of the knee to hold them in place.

I know the lettering is ass but. recall that this was an 8 day con crunch and I have never painted foam before lol

finally, the elbows are just also 2-piece Eva foam constructions that I just patterned directly off my elbow. I actually built bumpers but ran out of time to figure out a way to attach them lol. the arm band is just a simple 4mm rectangle with 2mm trim and a velcro closure.

overall the velcro closures are one of my favorite things on this costume; they're all sturdy strips of velcro sewn onto neatly sewn black vinyl rectangles and are VERY STURDY.

my main issues with this build was mostly the paint I used, to be honest; it was an absolute nightmare and in the end I wish I had used krylon for everything, BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY PAINT THAT IS STILL HOLDING UP (the red)

overall the build was a ton of fun! I spent up to 14 hours a day working on her bc i went absolutely insane. i still don't know what happened to me.

once my motivation returns, I will be rebuilding a lot of her and learning the proper techniques; my next major part of this project is building the proper unitard, coil legwarmers, and latex-cast wheels and bumpers

#did you enjoy my nerdy cosplay build post #also there is so much hairspray in my hair here #and also i didnt have my glasses on yet so i couldnt see that the selfie was blurry :( #starlight express #stex #starlight express cosplay #wrench the repair truck #stex cosplay #starex