#<- stealing ops tags

[keferon]

Don’t mind me I just like to see him go bananas about cartoonish Autobot rules

Maaan…..if Prowl was in tfp he would spontaneously combust at least once a day

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

OP is a chinese cosplayer and professional volleyball player and too tall to fit in the cab on his way to comic con（cr 如你所见老子是奇行）

Cnetizens:

[melorambles]

Hi! Ace person (not demi, but under the same umbrella and also starved for representation) and Lucanis fan here!

OP summarized really well how annoying it feels to have the writer go "yeah this was totally intentional the whole time, the company just didn't advertise it the way they did all the other rep." The company made such a production about all the companions being romance-able by any PC configuration and then said it was because they were all pansexual, 'because representation' not because they were making the companions 'player-sexual', but then the company outright denied having ace rep. I could put that down to corporate PR teams not understanding that asexuality is a spectrum that demisexuality falls into. If I was inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt, I might even be persuaded that Mary Kirby was planning to be more blatant about it, but the scenes/dialogue were cut. But I'm not inclined to give the benefit of the doubt (especially given that some of those cut-scenes were apparently 'steamy'). It feels a lot like claiming credit after the fact for brownie points.

As an ace person, I'd like to expand a bit on what OP said about Lucanis being traumatized. To preface, I like that Lucanis is said to be demisexual. I'm so damn starved for ace rep. And I appreciate that the ace rep here is a man in his thirties who doesn't go through an arc 'figuring it out' or stressing about how he experiences romance/attraction. (So much of existing ace rep involves angst about it. I feel no angst about my orientation, only vague irritation that it takes a power point presentation to explain. Seeing people angst about it does not inspire an 'oh that's me' response, it makes me feel sad for them.) He just is the way he is, and lives his life. Dude has bigger problems than swapping bodily fluids with people. I also like that he's inexperienced and doesn't angst about that either.

But they made the ace (demi, if you prefer the distinction) character a deeply traumatized person whose hesitance to be intimate can be attributed to his trauma. The PC gets a whole personal quest for Lucanis dealing with his tendency to internalize his reactions to everything but especially the trauma. Then the final romantic cut-scene implies intimacy without commentary regarding hesitance of any kind. As if the early instinct to pull back was overcome with the trauma. I'm really damn sick of ace-coded characters being traumatized. My sexuality was not formed by trauma. There is a misconception that people aren't actually ace, they're just traumatized or repressed or haven't 'met the one' yet (which, btw, sounds a lot like demisexuality doesn't it?). If trauma formed sexuality, there would be a lot less people interested in men (yes, that's generalizing, but come on, look at the statistics). I am the way I am. Can I have one ace character that doesn't angst about it or wasn't traumatized in an extremely violating fashion?

Also, Lucanis doesn't discuss his lack of intimate experience with the PC. It's tucked away in companion banter with Emmerich. If the PC doesn't bring the two of them along enough, you could easily miss it. Again, Lucanis is a character that has a lot more going on than dating troubles, but if the PC romances him, it would just be reasonable character writing to have a scene about 'oh yeah, this dating thing, never really done that. never really done the physical intimacy bit either. but I would like to do that, with you.' The fact that there isn't a scene or discussion or dialogue like that makes me feel like the writers had more plausible deniability to say he isn't demi, than they deserve credit for adding demi rep.

I wasn't looking for him to say the words. I actually prefer it that they don't. I liked what they did with Krem and Maevaris: in my opinion, they balanced affirming how they identify with setting appropriate language and reactions they have to deal with. It breaks my immersion in the setting when characters start using modern terminology for things that sometimes even the average modern person isn't familiar with. But one, one singular line where Lucanis says that before the PC, he's never truly thought about someone 'this way' would have done a lot of heavy lifting.

You know who would have been revolutionary as ace/demi rep? Davrin. The nice, handsome, sociable, heroic, knight in shining armor, ready to martyr himself to save the world, trying to raise a griffon, no intimacy related trauma to be found. Romancing him has been described as straightforward but intimate. Which is great, he's a lovely character, I'm very fond of him. But if he was ace/demi? On the far side of the map from every stereotype people think of? I would have lost my mind. Again, I really like Lucanis as a character, but if I have to seek out fanfic to fill in the gaps, the writers didn't accomplish what they said they were aiming for.

I openly accept any corrections, especially from actual Lucanis fans or demisexuals. If you disagree with anything I say this point onwards, please tell me!

The way Lucanis went from "bisexual disaster " to "panromantic demisexual" after the game came out feels weird (Both are direct quotes about Lucanis from Mary Kirby). Before I get into this I'd like to clarify, neither is a problem, Lucanis being demisexual in a vacuum is not what I take issue with.

But it feels like another excuse. Being demisexual means something it's not just another word for inexperienced or hesitant. If Lucanis is demisexual why does he fall for Neve or Rook nearly just as fast as any other companion does and why does he never acknowledge that?

There are many hints that he's never dated before (not sure if it's ever outrught stated), and again, he is shown to be hesitant... but nothing uniquely in the direction of demisexuality.

This game clearly isn't afraid of using real terms (it has an entire codex going over different non-binary labels), so why is this where they draw the line? Why does Lucanis never acknowledge the fact that he requires a deep connection before he feels certain things?

I've seen people call Krem from DA:I bad trans representation because he's never called transgender, which I respectfully disagree with. Still, Krem is explicitly trans and then Lucanis's demisexual coding is just... pulling away before you can kiss? It doesn't help that the scene happens after something that would definitely explain why Lucanis would need to clear his head.

That's also paired with the fact we do get told constantly that he's traumatised and he mentions having little faith in people prior to his romance (at least with Neve). This isn't to say he can't be demisexual, not at all, but there's always an explanation for his behaviour that people would think of before demisexuality and there's no effort put in to otherwise lead us to it.

For a game that is on the nose about everything, I find it hard to give them the benefit of the doubt that this was the one thing they handled with subtlety.

Best case scenario, Mark Kirby was just trying to... I don't know, set up expectations to defy them? Worst case scenario, this is just another case of someone from Bioware lying to us about this damn game.

[soulrending]

i want to FLUSTER that man. i want to make him BLUSH. i want to make him feel VULNERABLE AROUND ME. i want to make him WEAK IN THE KNEES. i want to kiss him

[local-loser-clown]

Garp showing Roger his kid

Dragon liked Roger just to spite their dad

[uhuh100]

robotgirl who isnt pre op or post op but a secret third thing: coin op

[ghosts-and-blue-sweaters]

tagged by @iiusia & @sunflower-chai :]

*technically i am not actually staying in my room at the moment and i will not be staying there for a bit… more accurate phrasing would be “choose a thing from the living room i am using as my bedroom, complete with a fold-out bed” lol

** and one middle grade fiction)

GRAVE TYPO it is supposed to say atlas of the world 😔

tell me what you picked in a reblog / reply if you’d like :D

no pressure tags: @pinestripe37 @biathediamond @thisistheendtimes @thatfriendlyanon @je-suis-un-pamplemousse @yukeet @i-am-phroggie @icyfox17 @pevensiechase @skaterfc @fairytale-lights @kanerallels @lmanburgseulogy @zorishy @calx0xo @catkin-morgs-kookaburralover @cats-inthe-cradle @brown-little-robin as well as anyone else who’d like to join!!

[throwaway-settings]

stealing this from @spinebuster! shuffled my on repeat and YOU have to pick your favs

@grouchythefish @weird-pigeons @mushroomgothic @bitemyleafyass

you must….. also….

[biohazard-inevitable]

I’m fucking wheezing- eneru… endless vearth…

HE WAS TALKING ABOUT THE FUCKING MOON WHAT THE FUCK

Mans on some gru type shit im DYING laughing over here

[motionpicturedemise]

[catboywizard]

i loveeeee making ppl jealous by inviting them to my house and introducing them to my cat

like yes, he is the most perfect and beautiful and sweet boy on this entire planet, but no, you can’t have him. he’s mine! hehehe

[arb0k]

tried a new couch co-op game called Sunderfolk with friends last night and it was really good, you should check it out! it's a turn-based tactical rpg with a whole campaign, based mostly on how co-op board games play and feel

the main gimmick is that everyone uses their smartphone as their controller, with the main game up on the tv, which i was worried would be finnicky but it's actually really really well implemented and genuinely adds to the experience! crazy! since everyone has their own little screen you can do all your inventory management and checking the rules and stuff on your own device while other people take their turns without cluttering up the interface on the main screen. and when you're in town everyone splits up and has conversations/relationships with NPCs separately but simultaneously, it's great for the timing/flow of everything

took us around six hours to get through the first act on normal difficulty, and we're already talking about doing a second campaign to try out different characters, so you can get a good amount of playtime out of it too

[hyruviandoctor]

hey guys I made a Baldur's Gate 3 Gale Valentine's Day card for you 5 months early in a moment of inspiration

[conways]

Cutting up 1 Cigarette on a white plate with fork and knife

[kath-loves-toast]

Two posts in one day, I know.

BUTTT!! I DREW SABO GUYS!!

Please don't steal, I was tryna draw my oc, but I drew Sabo instead.

He's so pretty, oh my God.

Like or repost. DO NOT SAVE AND TAKE CREDIT FOR MY WORK!!

I haven't even finished it yet...

[r0semultiverse]

I refuse to hop in a Zoox car in my entire life if I can avoid it. I refuse to hop into any self-driving robo taxi (or robotaxi) that uses AI to keep it’s passengers “safe.” If this is actually a service they are legally allowed to provide publicly, there’s about to be a whole bunch of new laws made in hopefully very little time! Now you know me, obviously fuck the law, many laws are unjust, but sometimes we need some regulations to keep up with the shit that rich Silicon Valley tech bros “put out” while claiming it’s allegedly their own work. These rich bastards are dangerous! Now I’ll pass along the questions that my partner & I jokingly pondered. If something happens that the AI & detection systems doesn’t know how to handle, will us as the passengers be held legally responsible say if a child gets punted into the air by the self driving car & we can’t do anything to stop it? What if we’re asleep assuming the car is safe & it runs over a legally endangered animal? What if we’re on our phones & these self-driving robot cars cleave someone in half? What if it crashes into someone’s private property? Are we held responsible in any of these cases or is the big rich guy’s company? If it’s anything like Tesla, you should get your kids or pets out of the road when you see a Zoox car coming, it could allegedly cause some mortalities. Two more things. What’s stopping someone from hijacking, hacking, or planting a virus on these self-driving taxi services? What if one of them gets hijacked to take someone to a human trafficker meetup spot? Will the company be held responsible at all? The gifs below pretty much summarizes my feelings.