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Marwan Kenzari about JoeNicky and working with Luca Marinelli

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i think my favorite thing about the old guard was how much and how obviously they all LOVED each other. like. the baclava scene. those first hugs between andy, nick and joe. andy cradling booker's face while she begged him to wake up, and the tender forehead-touch when he did. how they all (barring andy, who i assume was taking a guard dog-like position) slept so closely together in the church. how quick they were to all surround andy when they found out about her mortality. how KIND andy was, even when coming out to tell booker what his punishment would be. how they waited and looked to each other in relief every time they died—and how the first thing they thought of when they felt nile's presence was that they had to help her, because they all knew how scared and alone she would be feeling right then. hell, even booker's motivation for his betrayal wasn't the typical scheming double-crosser's motivation; he just wanted to help, to try and give the rest of the guard (mainly he and andy) a means of control—a way to REST. to decide when to stop on their own terms. they weren't just a team of badass immortal soldiers dedicated to protecting the earth; they were friends, with relationships centuries in the making, and it showed. they were a family.

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Dutch Netflix posted this timeline of Joe's life back in 2020:

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Yusuf and Nicolo/ JoeNicky / immortal husbands / kaysanova headers from The Old Guard 2

like or reblog if using || my other old guard edits

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JoeNicky in The Old Guard 2

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The Old Guard (2020) dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood

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Missing Dorian Storm Hours

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former what netflix. former WHAT

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Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford, fresh off their retirement from Wizards Of The Coast, have joined Darrington Press.

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[ID: A digital drawing of Orym and Dorian Storm from Critical Role. They're dancing a pas de deux, Dorian is lifting Orym with an arm around his waist and they both stretch their arms and legs out gracefully. End description.]

A kofi doodle for @/samuraiko on bluesky!

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THE OLD GUARD 2 (2025) dir. Victoria Mahoney

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the little guys. they are in my brain. rotating about like little rotisserie chickens. spinning around like rocks in a tumbler. all their backstories in a little rolodex.

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Is it July yet???

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Here I go again, venting about the whole "I can fix him" thing that all spawn Astarion fans get accused of. But seriously—what the hell are we even talking about?

First of all, having a moral compass is not a flaw. It’s a good thing. Let’s stop promoting the idea that being a piece of shit is somehow okay—because in real life, it’s not. In the game, sure, do whatever you like and enjoy it—but that doesn’t mean it’s justifiable in the real world.

Secondly, Astarion is not some one-dimensional monster whose sole purpose is to gain wealth and power at any cost. His goal is to be safe. Period. If you didn’t get that, then you missed the entire point of the game and the character. And safety doesn’t come in just one form.

Most importantly: Astarion contains both light and darkness. It’s up to the player to bring out one or the other. This isn’t about fixing him. It’s about recognizing and valuing the qualities that are already in him, for fuck’s sake. There’s no way you could talk him out of the Ascension if he weren’t already having doubts about it! He’s meant to be ambivalent—designed that way to let different players make different choices and enjoy the journey.

And let me say this again, because it’s a hard myth to kill: rolling the dice to convince Astarion not to ascend isn’t making the decision for him. It’s cutting through the bloodlust and fear clouding his mind and saying, “Hey, babe, have you considered this, this, and that?” Nothing more, nothing less.

The person who convinces him not to ascend doesn’t change him—they reassure him. They show him a different possibility.

So no, it’s not “I can fix him.” It’s I see you.

And for the record, if you choose the spawn ending, Astarion stays exactly who he was—just with a new perspective on the world and the people in it. So what the hell was “fixed”? Nothing. He has to fix himself from that point on, using the tools he’s chosen to reclaim: connection, friendship, and—yes—some level of morality (he’s still an antihero and a vampire with needs, after all).

The Ascension literally changes him—turns him into something he’s not, into a type of unnatural vampire that didn’t even exist before. And it’s in that exact moment that he becomes a true monster with no chance of redemption—because he chooses to go from victim to predator. Once again, something he wasn’t before.

And who pays the price? Not enemies—mostly innocent people, including children who will be damned to hell for all eternity.

And for what? The gain (which, honestly, is highly questionable—and for me, not worth it) of one person. A person who, again, gains things he didn’t originally have—wealth, power, sunlight, no more hunger, etc.

So isn’t that what trying to “change” or “fix” him really looks like? Making him different? The excuse that “he was always just a piece of shit with no hope” doesn’t hold up—even if it helps someone sleep at night.

And let me be clear—I don’t give a fuck what people prefer or how they play the game. I ascend Astarion too, in some of my runs, when and how I feel like it. But seriously, this whole “fixing him” narrative? It needs to die—especially when tied to morality.

Shocking news: everyone should have a moral compass and use it. It’s not about “conforming.” It’s about the fact that without it, the world—which is already falling apart—would be completely doomed.

And by the way: the only reason some people get to ignore morality is because most of the idiots on this planet do follow it. Otherwise, it’d be absolute chaos.