#yes i'm still bitter about what happened to overwatch

[bardandbear]

So. Transient media. I'm not looking to start any beef, however the latest change to BG3 has me feeling uneasy, less for the specifics involved and more for what it represents.

For those unaware, some very eagle-eyed players spotted that Larian had rewritten some of Gortash's Act 3 letters. I don't know what prompted them to do this, they're extremely minor codex entries addressed to a NPC. I find it hard to believe that anyone provided feedback about these, and the opinion I've seen from most Gortfans is that they liked them before. They were a little character reward for people who were obsessively scouring the game for information.

What I find troubling is that the change definitely alters characterisation in a way that isn't building on something that already exists, it isn't reworking something in a remaster a decade later, it's literally been months. Lore and character are being retconned months after release in what was supposed to be a (finished) standalone singleplayer game.

When is it done? Bug fixes obviously can and should be applied when something is actively broken, but this isn't a bug fix, nor have the previous 'minor' tweaks to character approvals and voicelines etc. It's also not adding content to the game, it's changing it. It's like seeing a movie re-cut for the streaming release, or a book getting minor deviations introduced every time it gets a print run. By all means, fix errors left in by mistake, fix your typos, make a sequel, but why are we okay with increasingly crowdsourced transient media? What is the point in engaging with something, with forming connection with something, if there's always the chance that what you liked about it in the first place is going to get changed?

#bg3 critical #larian critical #leave the text alone #it's done #it's released #put down the pen #this feeds in not just to artistic expression but the broader trend of how we don't own anything digital anymore #things you paid for #things you liked #can be irrevocably changed and removed #yes i'm still bitter about what happened to overwatch

[wildissylupus]

Why people need to stop acting like Ana did nothing wrong

Listen, I love Ana, she's one of my favourite characters... but people need to stop acting like she's a saint. Specifically with her dynamic with Cassidy.

Cause yes, she's one of the few characters that acknowledges his trauma with Overwatch, yes, she acknowledges that he didn't really get a choice and that he was thrown from one bad situation to another.

But fans forget that she was complicit in it, she still trained him, he was still in Blackwatch until the day the Swiss base exploded and we shouldn't act like she couldn't have done anything about that. Because we saw that happen with Genji, he was moved from Blackwatch to Overwatch.

Also I think people forget that Ana only really started to feel guilt in the later years of Overwatch. This isn't just for Cassidy but literally every she did in Overwatch, including her mistreatment of Pharah, her pushing away her daughters dream in favour of her own wants.

I said this to my friend once, "The fact that Pharah takes after Cassidy more then Ana says a lot."

Said this in a previous post too, she could also be taking after her dad, but if that's the case it still says the same thing. Ana wasn't there enough or supported Pharah enough, there's a reason Pharah doesn't think Ana is proud of her.

Also, again something I mentioned in another post, but Ana, in Bastet, had no intention of reuniting with Pharah. It wasn't until after she met up with Cassidy that she met up with her. This implies to me that Cassidy was the one who talk Ana into talking with Pharah. Which also kind of explains why Cassidy his awkwardly off to the side during the Amari's conversation in "New Blood", along with his bitterness towards Ana. I would be bitter too if I had to talk my maternal figure into talking to her daughter again.

Not only that I think people gloss over the fact that at the very least Ana had an emotional affair with Reinhardt while she was married to Sam? Like, you don’t have the dynamic they had without years of romantic history.

I'm not going to touch on the shit she helped pit Mercy through as well cause I'm saving that for a Mercy centric post but the fact that Ana seems to brush off Angela's anger at her still using the biotic rifel is concerning.

Saying all this I do want to reiterate that Ana is one of my favourite characters and the reason for this is because she doesn't suffer from the same problem fans do. She's aware she fucked up and is trying to be better, yes she messes up but she's human, she feels like a real person trying to get better for herself and her loved ones. That's what I love about her. That fact that she's willing to change and acknowledge her faults is very heart-warming to me and I hope we get to see more of it when Story Missions come out.

The main reason I made this is the same reason I post about Cassidy. The fandom treating Ana like a saint over simplifies Ana's character to "everyone's mum/grandma" when in actuality she's a very complex, nuanced character.

#overwatch #overwatch 2 #overwatch lore #overwatch headcanons #analysis #cole cassidy #pharah #ana amari

[runicmagitek]

stole this from @wingsyouburn because why not! Not going to tag anyone, but if you'd like to fill this out yourself, consider yourself tagged!!

How many works do you have on AO3? 384 :')

What's your total AO3 word count? 1,836,435

What fandoms do you write for? Yes.

Ok but real answer? Current active ones are FF, Fire Emblem, and 13 Sentinels. I'll bounce around tho, depending on what inspires me. Like I always dip in and out of any video game fandom.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1) Sweet Dreams (Witch from Mercury, sulemio) 2) Finally, Beautiful Stranger (FFVII, aerti) 3) Wings of Valor and Compassion (Overwatch, pharmercy) 4) Give Them Something to Talk About (TLOU2, Dina/Ellie) 5) No Safety in Desire (BotW, Urbosa/Zelda)

It does please me that my top fics are all femslash HSKDJAJD

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I definitely try my best to!! Unless it's very rude or makes me uncomfortable in some way, then I either don't comment on those specific bits or just ignore it altogether. I've had a handful of people make very backhanded remarks and I try to give them the benefit of the doubt, but it's really awkward when an absolute stranger treats me with too much familiarity just bc we share the same ship.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably Limbo? It does not have a happy ending and ends on a very horrifying note. What Becomes of Practice also comes to mind, seeing that the main character goes through hell and ends up dying, though IS reunited with her father in the afterlife 😭

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? God I really don't know. I'm more of an angst writer, so a lot of those happy endings are prefaced with a lot of pain lolsob so I feel pretty much any of my angst with a happy ending fics can qualify for this!! Tho I have received a ton of comments about how fluffy and cozy Finally, Beautiful Stranger's ending was, so I'll pick that one!!

Do you get hate on fics? Not regularly, but it has happened. I've gotten "ew this is gross" remarks on just writing about gay people. I've gotten weird comments about a brief nightmare scene in a fix-it fic, despite tagging for it, bc "she's suffered enough, why would you do this". And more recently, I've gotten some "this doesn't make sense, why would this character ever be depressed/angry" bc I guess female characters who are conveyed as bubbly in the source material aren't allowed to experience any range emotion outside of that and shame on me for wanting to explore darker themes, like recovering from trauma and depression. Bonus points when the male pov character does way more fucked up stuff and no readers call him out on it (sorry, I'm still very bitter about this)

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Hell yeah! All my smut, even my attempts at pwp, always incorporate feelings and more often than not gain a plot along the way. I can't help it. I love the build-up and tension leading to the main event. I need to give my readers blue balls, I guess fjlahdskdh

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Not really. I'm more of an AU person than anything. Even going through my fics, the only proper crossover I've written was If You Had Life Eternal, but even that is like, reimagining Warcraft characters in the Diablo universe and that's kinda it.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? SADLY YES >:/ thankfully, it was removed from FFN, but I really hated that someone copy-pasted my fic and just changed the character names to fit their ship.

Have you ever had a fic translated? I have!! Several times!

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nope. The closest I've come is like, sharing ideas on a single continuity with someone else and then writing it out on my own. I do like collaborative stuff with people I trust, but I don't want to co-write anything lolsob

What's your all-time favorite ship? EVER????? It varies from fandom to fandom, even year to year. Celes/Setzer will always have a special place in my heart, even if I don't write for them as often anymore. But right now, keinatsu is dominating my life and I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel.

What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? God, so many. I have my one Setzer fic that I posted the first chapter, managed to write the second one two years later, and then…. did fuck all with it. Also remembering the Darill/Maria/Setzer longfic I wrote and even did an initial editing pass, but that's now rotting on my laptop. It got a bit too personal at one point and I don't know if I'll ever share it :/ oh and that one Overwatch longfic I got 80k~ into and then abandoned bc the fandom was shitty and I didn't want to invest any more time in it

What are your writing strengths? Dialogue, describing scenery, evoking all kinds of emotions.

What are your writing weaknesses? jfc I'm incapable of shutting up and keeping things short

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I guess it depends? Like I used French in Darkness/Starlight for Jidoorian and the only times Setzer spoke in that was when he was open about his feelings, but didn't want Celes to know. But if the reader translated those parts, they could get more insight as to where his headspace was at. But normally, I would want things written out in a way that's understandable to the audience. If there's a phrase or whatever in a different language, I try to italicize it, but that's it.

First fandom you wrote for? Vividly remember writing about my self-insert OC in a post-canon FFVII/Sailor Moon crossover that lived in spiral-bound notebooks at the age of 11. But the first fandom I actually posted something for online was Metal Gear Solid back in like… 2001???? It was forever ago lolsob

Favorite fic you've ever written? This changes over time, but I'm still very proud of What Leads You Here. I put a lot of work into it and am so happy I could share it with the fandom and even happier that a ton of folks enjoyed it!!

#runic rambles #meme thing #my writing

[elaineiswithyou-blog]

Hey there! I'm wondering if you are open with match up. If no, you can ignore this request but if yes. This is the form:

Fandom(s)(Overwatch, MHA, Hades, etc.): Haikyuu and BNHA

What’s your age?: 20, Capricorn

Sexuality: Straight

Gender I.D: Female

Likes: Reading, writting, big animals, kids (the smart and kind one), anime, fantasy or action stories or movies, foods, cooking, drawing, swimming, games, dark colours, dogs, cats, cute animals

Dislikes: Bullies, Two faced people, idiots, people who are too clingy, hot temperature, being insecure, people who are too bossy, certain mushroom, sewer rat, veggies that are too sour or bitter, insects, and rapist.

Hobbies: reading, writting, watching movies, cooking, and drawing

(I made this to help my friend to promote their coffee)

What are you like/ what’s your personality:Hard working, RBF, Introverted, Shy, Blunt, Sarcastic, Emphatic, A bit sadistic, calm, kind, gentle, caring, and logical, likes to learn a new language, secretly clumsy

Where are you from*: Indonesia

Favorite color*: Burgundy and Black

Favorite animal*: Tiger, Lion, snake and Dragon

Favorite sport*: swimming, gymnastic and badminton

Favorite food*: Sushi or pasta

Do you have a pet*: No

Do you have any mental illnesses*: Depression (healing) and ADHD

Do you have any physical disabilities*: Knock knee (especially right knee where my kneecaps often dislocated).

Do you have any siblings*: Older sister

If so, what are they like*: Prankster, annoying, bossy, stubborn, stern but emphatic, good listener, likes to give me small gifts and funny (I love her even though sometimes I just wanna slap her head upside down)

Do you speak any foreign languages*: Indonesia, English, a little bit of France and Japanese

Reading, writing, watching movies or playing videogames*: Reading Great Expectation by Charles Dickens, watching anime Kuroko no Basuke, writting too much fanfic but currently writting a Haikyuu fanfic (The Last Romanovs) and playing a game roblox

What’s your job*: student but also translator as internship

What’s your dream job*: novelist

For MHA, I’d pair you with Todoroki! Todoroki and you probably meet at a bookstore. Todoroki was looking through the fantasy books and you just so happened to be there when he needed it. He asked you what book you liked and you two soon got to talking about books, anime, and animals. He isn’t a super hardcore anime watcher but he will watch anime with you whenever you hang out at your house. You both end up adopting a rottweiler that Todoroki rescued after a mission and name it Taiga after your favorite anime. Overall, Todoroki is a calming force and you two work well together

For Haikyuu, I’d match you with Kageyama. You meet Kageyama online under a screen name. You two actually already knew each other but the reason you didn’t recognize it was Kageyama was that you two always talked about anime and while Kageyama was a hard-core anime stan, he refused to admit it to anyone or to show it at school. You both agreed to meet up at a nearby park before going to an anime convention so needless to say, he made you swear never to tell anyone about his anime obsession. You still avidly watch anime together regardless.

#bnha #mha #bnha matchup #bnha todoroki #shoto todoroki #todoroki #mha matchup #matchup request #match up #matchups #haikyuu!! #haikyū!! #tobio kagayama #haikyuu kagayama

[wildissylupus]

Pharah and the shit load of trauma she needs to deal with.

Since I'm kind of on a Pharah post train right now I might as well give an analysis of her character.

First off, let's get the obvious out of the way. This woman has abandonment issues, with the number of characters that have left her, willingly or otherwise, it would surprise me if she didn't. Not only that but I do think her reaction to Mercy leaving without a goodbye says a lot about her issues with people leaving.

Now let's get into the less obvious, her toxic idealization of Overwatch, especially in regard to Cassidy and Mercy. It's something that I think a lot of people ignore about her character, Canonically Pharah was very much sheltered from a lot of the drama that was happening with Overwatch. Yes, she isn't like Winston where the rose-tinted glasses are still in place, but there are still things that she is unaware of and doesn't completely understand.

Such as the things Cassidy went through in Blackwatch and the fact that he's basically holding on by a thread. I've talked about this in a previous post but it's very much implied that Cassidy has relapsed back into smoking and has become a high-functioning alcoholic. These are both things that he has successfully kept hidden because of the fact that throughout the game's history, the only person who acknowledged his behavior is Mercy in an old voice line. If Pharah, someone that considers Cass family, noticed what he was going though it would be acknowledged in a instant. Looking at the way Pharah talks about Cassidy in "As You Are", she's completely unaware.

The same goes with Mercy but it is different. She does know that Mercy's feeling on Overwatch are complicated, it's not something that Mercy hides, but Pharah seems unaware of how tired she is. How Mercy has become a workaholic because of Overwatch, how Mercy is incredibly bitter towards Ana and the rest of the Old Guard for how they treated her technology.

Now saying all that I want to point out that Pharah not knowing this stuff isn't her fault, both Cassidy and Mercy are characters who put everyone else's needs and health before they're own. She isn't aware because Cassidy and Angela are actively hiding it.

Now this leads me back to Pharah's toxic idealization of Overwatch. A majority of Pharah's issues with Overwatch stem from her mother, as a result it's safe to assume that she only really paid attention to that, especially when she was younger. Meaning the issues with Blackwatch? The treatment that Cassidy, Mercy, Genji, Echo and so many others received? She wouldn't be aware of that. Which leads me to believe that she put Overwatch on a pedestal. She holds onto Overwatch as a comfort. Have you ever noticed that Pharah doesn't seem to have any connections outside of her father, work, and Overwatch?

And before you say this is a common thing, it's not, a lot of characters have connection outside of Overwatch. Even with Pharah's connection in her job they all seem more professional then personal. Which leads me to one big point that a lot of people haven't realized, Pharah is sheltered, that's why she has a crush on Mercy, she never really allowed herself to make connections outside of Overwatch. It's why she hasn't realized that Cassidy has relapsed, because Cassidy and Ana have always shielded her from his troubles in Blackwatch.

Even after Overwatch's fall she's still only mentioned being in contact with members of Overwatch when she's outside of work and this wouldn't be a problem if Overwatch fell 1-2 years ago, but it's been 6 years.

I believe a big part of Pharah's arc is going to be moving away from Overwatch, in a social way I mean. I think her and Baptiste now being on a first name basis is a step in that direction, I think she's going to become friends with the other members of the New Blood group and that will lead her into making connections with people outside of Overwatch. They might be new characters introduced more as allies to Overwatch, or maybe it will be older characters who either share the same issues with adornment (Sombra) or the same inexperience with socializing outside of the organization they grew up in (Symmetra).

Either way I do think Pharah needs some friends who either weren't always a part of Overwatch/recently joined or are just allies and/or not a part of Overwatch.

#overwatch #overwatch 2 #overwatch lore #analysis #pharah #fareeha amari #overwatch pharah #pharmercy