#yet here we are i guess

[saltprince]

I still genuinely believe that playing Granblue for love is the most enjoyable way to play it, as in, I got into the game because of specific characters and then fell in love with more of the world

But I also have to believe there's an incredible sense of vindication in loving a character who's also just objectively good in the meta? Like, you love them and they're good and you can use them to beat difficult enemies, you can fight "with" them in a sense

Like, I'm happy when someone in the hivemind mentions building a party out of blorbos and it working well. I love that and I'm happy to hear it. There's soul and heart in it and not just grinding for the sake of grinding

Then again, I'm a pretty low level player and I know I'm not built for the HL stuff

I think everyone has their own reasons to play gbf or any game, but it's easy to lose sight of the fact different types of players exist (and the (mutual) contempt or even gatekeeping that often follows in its wake).

Personally I do need a strong incentive to pick up a game. I was on and off gbf for years until Sandalphon hooked me fully-- but I had my eye on a bunch of other characters even before him, I just needed a push.

So perhaps shockingly I am also into gbf because I love the characters, I just swing back and forth a lot between objectives.

At the end of the day it's about how you have fun. Progression isn't linear nor is it required.

I kind of ended up writing way too much in response so I'll put it under a read more.........

So like, as someone who's fairly high up in the content and does things both for meta and faves?

The thing with meta is that for most of all characters, it shifts over time. Characters fall in and out of meta or may get new alts that are or aren't meta. Even characters everyone thinks of as top tier have places where they aren't that great. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely awesome when your fave is meta-- but designing teams around your fave to make them perform alongside or in spite of meta is vindicating too. I really think any character can perform in general content.

Generally meta isn't the damning end-all it may seem, far from it. I think meta only has chokehold on 2 things. Racing (getting the most points, either for events like Unite & Fight or something like racing for points for chests in raids) and whatever the 'true' endgame content is at the time. But even for those, there are always options, and as time goes on we get more resources to work with, making teams more flexible.

That said, I do enjoy figuring out teams for specific fights like they're puzzle pieces. I get more enjoyment when I fit my favorites in there, but initially the reward is in figuring out a team to begin with. I'm a bit in between faves and meta, though lately I've been leaning much more into my faves. I find that I'm okay with running 1 fave on a team if the meta makes it possible for me to run that character, and then I'll gradually slot in more faves when I can. But that's me. My whole wind team frontline for endgame is faves, and arguably only 1 of those, Seofon, is true meta for some of that content. (Yes I do love Kaguya for her design). Outside of that frontliner team, I'm able to run even more faves!

I also enjoy building teams to make the lives of my friends easier, I can either run raids for them or help them figure out teams, often including their faves when I can. I'd go as far as to say that most of the game can easily be played with your favorites, with more and more restrictions starting to apply the higher you go in terms of difficulty. And that's okay. You don't have to play those. Or you might eventually play those and figure that yeah, if it's just for this fight, the team doesn't matter that much when it helps you get things to invest into your faves. It might even let you discover a new favorite if you experiment.

It's good to know the type of player you are and play the way that works for you. Like me, this can also change over time or depending on your mood. There's no reason to bother with HL content or break your head over things that aren't fun. If you enjoy logging in and playing your Omega raids with your faves and signing back out, great. If you find yourself wanting to take on Bahamut with your faves, also great. Hell, if you sign in just to look at your home screen character, sigh lovingly, and go to sleep, also also great.

gbf does get pretty grindy if you let it, but it can be spaced out or made easier, too. Personally I let my game run on full auto 95% of the time, designing teams around this in order to make my faves stronger and content easier as I go. If you struggle to come up with your own teams, store-bought (youtube,wiki,guides) is fine.

I'll admit my own main problem is time, I struggle to keep up with the world I fell in love with and may not have the time or patience for that for a while. So I really enjoy seeing the activity on Icha's blog for that reason and staying in the loop through that.

At the end of the day it's about how you have fun. Progression isn't linear nor is it required.

#saltprince replies #i lack faves in so many elements ngl #sorry for the wall of text anon but i love the divide between faves and meta as much as i hate it #oh god I typed SO much ermmmmm oops! #I've tried to stop typing 5 times now enough is enough #funnily i never even considered myself a wind player #yet here we are i guess #this just shows how my brain works #instructions unclear sorry if you wanted me to swoon over sandalphon #i'm swooning in realtime as he kills my raids

[lotus-pear]

last words..

#here's my contribution as a skk stan to the new ep hey skk nation how are we feeling :( #guess who drew this a month ago but forgot to post it lmao thats why chuuyas eyes aren't red bc bones hadn't animated the vampires yet 😭😭 #its not sokoukuover guys dw!! asigiri himself told me that dazai's alive in the anime and the manga!! :) #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bsd #fyodor dostoevsky #dazai osamu #osamu dazai #chuuya nakahara #nakahara chuuya #soukoku #skk #lotus draws #ALSO SHHH IK I FORGOT CHUUYAS HAT DW ABT IT <33

[javertwenttoheaven]

I literally finally updated my phone and everything. Still no polls 😭

#never thought I’d be hyperfocused on a tumblr update #yet here we are I guess #not les mis #but it could be

[egophiliac]

still absolutely losing my mind over Lilia

#art #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland spoilers #twisted wonderland episode 7 spoilers #twisted wonderland book 7 spoilers #sebek: wow we're so lucky to see lilia-sama at his fighting prime. so commanding! so powerful! #lilia: (straight up stuffs a frog in his mouth without breaking eye contact) #seriously though i did not think it was possible for me to enjoy lilia even more. and yet. #'dragon eggs need love in order to hatch' #ten year old me: gasp. i knew it. #the IMPLICATIONS though! #forget true love's kiss we have true love's baby dragon over here #also twst. twst please. i do feel i need to call you out a little bit on malleus' age #i don't really have a problem with it i was just. surprised. #i mean i GUESS the description of dragon ages was vague enough that malleus being under 200 doesn't inherently contradict it #it could've been clearer okay :( #that said it is true that the younger malleus is the more hilarious his whole world-weary immortal schtick is #'ah...you are all as infants in comparison to me. ' - malleus (age 19) #also lilia being a foundling does explain him not knowing his real birthday. so i will forgive (1) birth-related shenanigan. #auuuugh the parallels between lilia and silver #brb i need to go roll around on the ground and mutter to myself for a while

[howmanyholesinswisscheese]

Imagine for me.

Crowley and Aziraphale crying as they kiss for the second time. Tears staining their lips with salt, their voices broken and long abandoned for words cannot begin to describe this feeling, sniffing as they break apart to dry their eyes, their faces breaking into watery smiles at the sight of the other in their arms. Crowley reaching out and drying Aziraphale’s cheek with a shaky swipe of his thumb. Aziraphale cradling his hand, grasping it before it can be pulled away, leaning into it and whispering, “I missed you.” Crowley’s eyes, red and puffy, softening even further, his sunglasses discarded a few paces behind him. “Missed you, too.”

Aziraphale choking back a sob, Crowley doing the same, both falling into each other and smiling, smiling so hard, despite the tears that spill down their cheeks and trace familiar lines that were born of heartbreak and pain, now carved deeper by the spoils of their joy. Grasping each other in an embrace so tight the forces of Heaven and Hell could not break them apart again, but God knows they’ll try.

Crowley and Aziraphale crying as they kiss for the second time, their sobs rich with relief, and for the first time in so long those tears are happy. For the first time in so long, they have each other in their arms. And they will never let go.

(update on this its a fic now)

#what the fuck I was trying to write something happy and yet HERE WE ARE #I mean I guess it’s kind of happy? #failed attempt I’ll try again next time #SORRY #good omens #good omens 3 #crowley #aziraphale #ineffable husbands #ineffable divorce #aziracrow

[aroaceleovaldez]

HoO is so funny to me when you actually think about the ages of all the characters. Octavian is 18. Percy and Annabeth are 16, almost 17. Reyna is presumably 16. Frank just turned 16, Jason’s about to turn 16. Leo and Piper are like 15. Hazel’s like 14 and a half, and Nico is 13.

The Death Sibs are both the youngest and oldest on the Argo II. Octavian is a college freshman getting into petty drama with a bunch of high schoolers. He gets told to shut up at one point by a random 8th grader. Everyone is scared of the 8th grader. We Sent A 13 Year Old To Superhell and he came back weirder, Just Like Middle School. TLH was just three high school sophomores being sent to do a task and it going Exactly Like You’d Expect. Percy’s the only demigod on the ship who can legally drive (though Reyna gets her drivers license at some point before TOA). What Is Happening.

#pjo #hoo #heroes of olympus #riordanverse #my second favorite thing related to this is like every time Hazel references someone's age especially in SoN it's just. blatantly incorrect. #she goes into very specific detail about how she's 14. detailing like exactly how many months it had been since her birthday #and when she died and when she was brought back. just like ''okay. im 14 and a half. got that? good.'' #''anyways here's Frank. he's 3 years older than me'' like literal next chapter. we are told Frank is not 3 years older than her. #Hazel: Here's my older brother! [Nico is younger than her in literally every way feasible] #ive just decided Hazel is an unreliable narrator who is just really bad at guessing/remembering how old people are #which like. adhd mood. forgetting how old everybody is. #and she has the bonus excuse of saying her sense of time is skewed from being a ghost for so long #but it's just so funny every time she's just. with the upmost confidence. blatantly the wrong answer. #i want a scene of Hazel looking at Percy and just going ''hm. I bet he's like 20.'' and then learns he's 16 #and she's just [surprised pikachu] #also we know it isn't an error that she's 14 cause in TOA she's like ''oh yeah im learning to drive!'' #so she's 15 by then #it is however an error that *Nico* is said to be 14 in hoo cause he's 12 in TLO and 14 in TOA #but we know in HoO the reason that error was made was cause Rick hadn't figured out Nico's birthday yet #and he was flipping it between January or March #so he just forgot how old Nico is for a series and then we went back to normal

[pepperpixel]

Some inside job art! Mostly just trying to figure out how to draw these two

#inside job #brett hand #reagan ridley #doodles #these aren’t rlly anything special yet just me figuring out there designs but! there will be more…. I promise hhgh #I need to figure out how to draw Brett doing diff expressions ghgh. cuz so far I can only confidently draw him w his mouth gaping open #his mouth is so interesting tho! I love. how they draw it in the show. it’s cute. it’s one of his many cute qualities. #this is a man constructed out of mostly just cute qualities honestly ghgh #but so yeah! I wanna figure out. how to properly and confidently draw. him making diff expressions #cuz! even if usually smilingly vacantly is his default expression. he still has others! and. I wanna be able to depict them ghghg #I’m talking a lot about Brett here but I fucking love Reagan too.. she’s fucking… uGHG #WE LOVE TSUNDERES IN THIS HOUSE!!! #I kinda relate to both Brett and Reagan lol. but to be fair they both have a lot of issues so I guess it makes sense #like. me looking at Brett’s desperate need for approval: omg… he’s just like me fr fr #ghGH OK ANYWAY #yeah. have some inside job art #hopefully there will be more soon! #I fucked up one of the tags in there but I don’t feel like fixing it lol. it’s the one about ‘smiling vacantly’ #just pretend it’s not fucked up ghgh

[wilsons-divorce-papers]

relistening to the early S2 episodes and. well.

how did Lincoln become the teen with the most love interests??

his piss ended up on the shoes of TWO teachers. and then he asked to touch Margarita’s gums while knowing his spell wouldn’t work. rightly so, he earned him the nickname “Gumtoucher Pissfoot.”

and this boy texted Erica, the most popular girl in school, to see if she was going with Taylor. and NOT because he wanted to go with her!! just because he was trying to see if he could go with Taylor.

he asked Scary if she was planning to go to the bathroom alone!!? hand in the toilet water? which was piss?? PISS ALLEGATIONS LINCOLN !!

oh also! his idea of funny is the 2004 movie Garfield starring Bill Murray ?

i had a lot of predictions for this season, but Lincoln Li-Wilson becoming The Rizzler™ was not one of them.

#i should mention i am a swiftli believer #and the erica/dance situation wasn’t a swiftli thing #more like he’s checking with someone about a date with someone else #nevertheless Linc is not charming #at all #and yet here we are i guess? #lincoln li wilson #taylor swift (not that one) #scary marlowe #normal oak swallows garcia #hermie unworthy #dungeons and daddies #dndads #dungeons and daddies s2 #dndads s2 #dndads season 2 #dndads s2 spoilers

[karamazovanon]

rip rodya you would've loved american psycho

#im only like 150? pages into c&p but this keeps haunting my brain so. here i guess #FUCK I JUST REALIZED I FORGOT HIS HAT #GODDAMMIT. WELL IM NOT FUCKING FIXING IT NOW #plus i havent settled on a design for him yet so itll def change. this is just to exorcise my brainworms #i dont even want to tag it skfjdkkf #i also love how one of the very first things fd did was make sure we know this guy is pretty as hell. thanks king #ugh i also forgot to add stubble whatever just take it #maybe ill redo it once ive finished it and have a better idea of what i picture him as #rodion romanovich raskolnikov #crime and punishment #back to our regularly scheduled tb/k posting soon i have 29489392 sketches im just too busy to finish them rn #anonart #rodya #alt caption: JUST BLOND BOYS DOING WHAT BLOND BOYS DO

[stone-stars]

a while ago i saw a post by @sideblogdotjpeg about how the cycles in c3 seem a lot more personal/familial. and i kind of went insane in the tags at the time and i’ve been thinking about it a lot since because like…

you have the heroic cycles that the band of boobs parallel/break on this large scale. the idea of these broken trios of adventurers is there throughout the campaign, but they really start to engage with it towards the end— with the divine hearts, and thiala, and the wheel of suffering/wheel of joy idea. the thing hardwon says as he takes the divine heart, that no matter what anybody chooses from then on it’s with love in their hearts, i feel is very relevant to how they break the cycle. they love each other, and they choose over and over to hold each other tighter rather than be driven apart.

and on the other hand, you have duck team’s refusal of fate vs their family’s resignation to it. look at swag working with mothership, oliana’s contrition, and the stuff that is currently ongoing with gowan. you know— sol is a version of swag who fully rejected mothership and found his friends instead. callie refused to be a part of her family’s business, and her love for the wild and the serpents is giving the world a chance. calder, when he makes the deal with ultrus, telling callie and sol that he trusts them to save him. and now calder is refusing to sit back and let gowan handle things in the ice knife.

it's not that duck team aren't trying to save the world. they are. and it's not that the boobs didn't have a personal connection to the cycles they were breaking. they did. but it's like... well... how do i put this into words. right--

the song melora's boon plays when the boobs arrive at the heart of the world and speak to melora. when she talks to beverly about duty, shows him the places he faltered and how at the last second, he gets back up. (later, when they face thiala, bev doesn't go unconscious once. at one point, he's the only one standing.) for sol, this is the song that plays when he expresses his fear of going down again. when he admits to callie that he's scared of the day that she and calder are down and he's the one that needs to stand up alone. when callie says she's not afraid of that day, and sol finds himself empowered by the mushroom in his chest. the moment that sets up sol's long death monk ability, where he's able to refuse to go down and keep on fighting.

melora’s boon is also the song that plays for moonshine’s boon at the heart of the world. there are actually two songs in this scene, hardwon’s is different, and the transition back happens when melora says there’s a part of herself that moonshine hasn’t embraced. when she speaks to moonshine leading her people to a better future like an alpha wolf leading her pack. for callie, it plays when she tells hardwon and sol that she’s a liability and she needs to change— to embrace winter— in order to get calder back, even as they reassure her that she doesn’t. it also plays when callie asks the others to help her protect honeysuckle while he’s weakened. when they promise to lead honeysuckle home and free him from his connections to gromdal.

the writing on the wall plays when the boobs reach the court of gods. there's the wall of prayers there, and they hear the prayers of the people of bahumia, reaching out to them. prayers of protection-- for and by them. prayers that put the future of bahumia in their hands. for callie, this is the song that plays when she sees aryox's carving of her reaching the cave. when she realizes her mother acted the way she did because she could see what was coming in the future. when she realizes her mother was leaving the world in her hands.

the songs that the boobs first encounter at the end— when they’re basically demigods stepping up to face thiala— return for duck team in these personal moments. when sol finds the strength to refuse death. when callie talks about embracing winter, her mother’s season, something she eventually finds strength in, to save her friend. when callie asks the others to help honeysuckle, one of the serpents that she’s promised to protect partially due to the harm her family caused to the wild. and when callie realizes her mother saw the future and acted as she did because of it, pushing callie to walk the path she’s walking now.

anyway. this was a post about naddpod music.

#naddpod #ba2mia #naddmusic tag #sorry to leave calder out his story is too ongoing to fit yet #(and we haven’t had any songs that fit in his arc either) #if we get a late stage bahumia song during this arc #for calder and gowan im gonna fucking. die. #truly just going insane over here anyway #like obviously on a meta level the reason the songs were never used for the bob #before the endgame is bc they weren’t written yet #but like. when you start to think about it #it kind of fits that it happens like this #there’s also more examples like i just want to know you’re taken care of #which is used in c1e91 for moonshine and paw paw’s convo #being used for callie and foster in ep10 #of c3 #specifically in the context of callie’s love and her fear of loving big #(contrasted against moonshine resigning herself to hell and her fear of that future) #anyway if i keep talking abt this i’ll explode so #enjoy? i guess? #hanbles

[johhans]

#I don’t even know what to call this #pure indulgence I guess???? #I haven’t even finished DA2 yet. I only know Anders from Awekening but here we are #Jesus and his disciples or something #my boyfriends. kinda #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 art #baldurs gate fanart #baldurs gate 3 fanart #dragon age origins #dragon age #dragon age 2 #bg3 gale #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #alistair theirin #da origins #da 2 #da fanart #dragon age fanart #dragon age anders #da anders #johhans #I have so much art I haven’t posted… #anyways pls let me know if anyone has been seduced (lmao) by this specific combo of men…

[luck-of-the-drawings]

smth smth about 'the thing that the character did that you thought was rly rly funny in the moment is actually linked to a terrible trauma that lies within said character.' or wahtever.

#jrwi show #jrwi fanart #jrwi riptide #gillion tidestrider #made this within a short span of wahtever bc i gotta go up to the mountains for my stupid gay job tonight n im trying #nnot to frrRREAAAK THE FUCK OUUTTTTTTi dont wanna work but. get that bread we fuckin shall i guess #ONWARDS TO THE FISH TORMENT!! sometimes flowers feel pain when you trim them before their blossoming. atleast i imagine so #i used to draw gillion with loooong hair tied into a big ol braid. and then it was confirmed that he had short hair when he was little. #AT FIRST I WAS SAD. but then i realized the duality of. when they were little. gill had short hair. edyn had long hair. #AND NOW THEYRE OLDER. and gillion has long hair. and edyn has short hair #both mirroring eachother. looking up to eachother. subconsciously or not. they most certainly care. and most certainly miss eachother. #GILLION ALWAYS LOVED HOW LONG HAIR LOOKs. atleast i imagine so. he hasnt cut it since he left the undersea. sure he wanted to go back home #but even at the very start. he knew he was free in some way now. free to grow out his hair. an adventure would await him before he returns. #he knew it would be a while. so he cant let this go. he cant let this sought-after hair-length get cut away from him again #not yet. not yet. i like to think he loved music too. I SAW SOMETHING INTERESTING A BIT AGO #i see alot of ppl commenting on my baby gill comics like;'i wouldFIGHT this teacher i wanna KILL EM i want them DESTROYED #all very good and nice sentiments! i LOVE the energy here! and it would be nice. to have that catharsis #but the story of young tidestrider is not a story of catharsis. it is a story of agony and being so so small and so special and also so dum #and sucking so bad. and just being a kid and doing the things that a little kid does and so many tired tired people reacting badly to it #youre supposed to be the hero that will save us. our world hangs in the balance and you are the one who tips the scales. #YOU are supposed to SAVE US!! you NEED to SAVE US! CAN YOU PLEASE STOP SQUIRMING IN YOUR STUPID CHAIR!! #you'd think that young tidestrider ought to prevail. and be tucked someplace all safe and sound. #elders gone missing and rotting in a jail. their cultists nowhere around. but theres no happy endings. not here not now. #this tale is all sorrows n woes. you may dream that justice n peace win the day. but thats not how this story goes #BIG ideas for this lil baby gillion series. if anything i make ever gets disproven im killing myself in a well as to poison a water supply

[dontronick]

What I immediately thought of while rewatching

#satosugu #gego #gojo satoru #getou suguru #geto suguru #jujutsu kaisen #minor jjk spoilers #i guess? #I havent seen anyone talk about this yet #ignore the fact that a 28 year old said his type was a second year highschooler #he’s projecting #the closet is glass #we can smell you from here

[simgerale]

CHAPTER ONE ; 1/3

TRANSCRIPT:

[sounds of swords clashing and rowdy cheering]

geordie: Your highness, apologies for the intrusion, but her majesty has asked me to remind you of the time.

killian: [panting] The time? And what exactly is the time?

g: Half past noon.

k: So she wished to inform me of my tardiness. Thank you, Geordie. I will be with you shortly.

---

k: Am I the only late one?

g: I am afraid so. Even the princess arrived promptly.

k: Drat. Dara will never let me live it down. The one time I lose track of the hour…

g: No matter, your highness. Soon you will be Knight Captain and have plenty of excuses for tardiness.

k: I sincerely hope not. I am perfectly satisfied with my rank.

---

luca: There you are, at last.

k: Apologies, apologies. What did I miss?

#progeny #ts4 story #i changed the training grounds a bit #realized it made more sense for the walkways to have brick short walls lol #SO!! first chapter!!!! here we go #as you can see Killian is a knight #geordie is a minor side character but he's like the closest thing to a bff that killian has #he mainly patrols the palace which is why he was sent by the empress to get her son lol #where are they walking on the way to the palace? tHE UNDERGROUND TUNNEL SYSTEM #one of the coolest things i made up for the volais capital is that they have underground tunnels that connect all the important places #also i haven't named the capital yet. just referenced as the capital lol #it's how they're so defensible even when they have a river running through the city #it's sort of their secret weapon #but also good for traveling when you are low on time #Killian was late to a family meeting lol nothing crucial but his mama puts a lot of importance on them #call it her version of a sunday dinner #aaaand... oh yeah! we see through killian's words that he is PERFECTLY SATISFIED with his rank #by the end of the chapter you will see where he stands on things #okay! enough rambling! SORRY #nooo I just noticed one of the balconies isn’t lined up with the window 🤧 oh well I guess

[alienduchessdraws]

wearing his shirt 💝

#jeankasa #jeanmika #this was done for jk's middle birthday on tumblr (03/10) but I couldn't finish it in time #yet here we are #slightly mature i guess? #but i won't tag it like you know #hope it doesn't get bandereado

[good-to-drive]

I totally agree with the general consensus that Ringo provided a lot of emotional support and coolheadedness to the other beatles to the point where they'd have probably killed each other without him but I do also wonder sometimes how much of that is being supernaturally patient and easygoing and how much of it is Ringo just having a tumultuous and isolated childhood where he was never taught to recognize and assert his own emotional needs so he became a blank slate on which others could process their emotions

(And tbh I also wonder how an inability to access or assert his feelings may have contributed to his tendency to process pain by numbing himself and the pretty shitty way he treated women)

#see also: george falling in love with his wife and paul routinely telling him he was easily replaceable #and yet ringo has nothing but warmth for either of these men #and of course I'm not saying we shouldn't appreciate how much patience and kindness that takes! #but also i guess it takes a certain lack of assertiveness or the ability to see/value your own emotions #and that's also something interesting to think about #speaking from experience here a lot of alcoholics want to be numb more than they want to be alive #and if ringo couldnt access his emotions it makes sense his only recourse would be to erase them #but for me it comes from childhood psychosis and i think for him it comes from isolation at a young age and a lack of emotional support #you need your caregivers to teach you what 'sad' is so you can then teach yourself what to do about it #or you may start to cope with that constant feeling of unease and dissatisfaction (that you can never quite grasp) in destructive ways #also his mom started getting him falling down drunk when he was not even twelve years old so tbh the alcoholism was probably inevitable #anyways all this is just to say that the fact that he could absorb pretty much infinite distress CAN definitely be construed as a virtue #but tbh it might also be symptomatic of some painful shit that he needed/deserved help with #ringo starr #rambles