#script comments

[bookinit02]

just read the episode seven script. HOLY FUCKING SHIT DUDW

there is . so much. SO MUCH i want to say about it. so many great moments. oh my god. final girl karen wheeler my QUEEN. and the camp scene at the end, witg all the reunions- mr. clark!!! lucas and his parents!!! KALI!!! god im SO EXCITED to see what you do with kali man, i loved that part of season 2 and kind of hated how she was just...never mentioned again... and seeing her in your season 5 makes me so happy!!!!

and now to scream about byler.

*deep breath* .. ASJFBFKFNWIJDKDBFJFBIDBDJD DHHDJDVDJDBDJDHD HEHVDJDBDKDHDIDBJDBDJDBEJEHDJ

HOLY SHIT!!!! THE LETTERS. TYE FCUKGIN LETTERSSSSSZSSS. THAT. THE. MIKE. READING THE LETTER TO WILL. "i dont know how to love people without hurting them" DEAR GOD. AND THEY FINALLY KISSED!!!!!!! IN THE RUINS OF CASTLE BYERS!!!!! AND IT LITERALLY FUCKINNG RESTORES THE UPSIDE DOWN!!!!!! LIKE FUCKING MLP TWILIGHT SPARKLE MAGIC POWER STYLE!!!! HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!

also on that note . i loveloveLOVE how you did the hive mind flashback to before henry showed up, i LOVE the notion that the upside down wasnt always creepy and evil and thats all henry's doing, i LOVE the demodogs and demogorgons being real, sympathetic creatures rather than these mindless drones for the Good Guys to kill. doggie!!!! theyre just doggies!!!! im!!!!!!!!!

clears throat. anyways

YES final girl karen wheeler!! i am so glad everyone is starting to care about her as much as i do bc i have had this plotline in my head for over a year now🥹

actually. confession! karen’s plot was like 80% of the reason i decided to do a script at all, bc i had such a solid s5 vision in my head for her but i couldn’t figure out how to work it into a byler-pov fic. i was thinking about doing separate related ficlets originally, but then i got even more ideas, and the scripts were born!

and yeah, i’m super excited about all the reunions!! i was going to wait for the finale until some of them, like mr. clark, but i figured i’d just get them all done in one big reunion extravaganza. the plan was always to include kali somehow—i want to make sure i close out the arcs of all characters in the show, like terry and the police, etc! and el needs her sister back💗

i’m glad you liked the letter scene :) it’s one of my favorites, and i’m very happy with how it turned out.

thank you so so so much for the comment about the hive mind (and for your notes on the fic as well)! i know that understandably this chapter got overshadowed very much by byler, but the restoration/decolonization of the upside down is a really important theme to me, and i’m looking forward to writing it out. especially because (and i could be wrong about this) it’s not a route that i necessarily see the duffers taking, and i wanted to be able to do it justice.

thank you for the comment!!!! sorry for the long reply, i just woke up from a nap and apparently i had a lot to say😭

[djotime-allthetime]

Freaky Redheads

synopsis: interactions between you and fred hechinger at a red carpet event for gladiator ii.

wc: 2.5k+

rpf!!! don't like, don't read!!!

a/n: i love that soft, sweet, adorable man with all of my heart. my inspiration is how fred talks about sherry. the monkey. i'm down bad bro.

italics are supposed to be comments under tiktok clips of these interviews. i definitely have more in mind for these two, but we'll see how this goes. feedback is writer's fuel!

cross posted on AO3

next part>>

The flashing cameras and yelling reporters have started to become the new normal, which was so not normal for you. You couldn't believe how far you'd come.

Granted, your role in the movie was definitely more in the supporting cast territory, but you couldn't deny how massive the production was. But even as a supporting actress, you still had quite a bit of screen time as the unnamed favorite concubine to Emperor Caracalla.

The fans who knew you called out your name from behind the velvet ropes and you smiled and waved as you walked by.

"y/n! y/n! Over here!" A reporter called out. You nodded and smiled as you approached, indicating your acceptance of the carpet-side interview. Your agent had warned you that not every journalist might want to speak with you and that you should accept any interview you came by. Thankfully, as the start of your night would show, that wasn't the case.

"Hello!" You beamed, coming to a stop in front of the camera. The reporter greeted you back and handed you a microphone glued to a mini Romanesque column. "Oh, wow. I love the microphone!"

"Thank you," She smiled. With a quick glance at her blouse, you saw a name tag that said 'MTV UK: Claire'. "It was my idea, actually."

"Incredibly creative! They should give you a raise, Claire."

"If you wouldn't mind saying that directly into the camera..." Claire trailed off with a chuckle and a mischievous glint to her eye.

You shot the camera as serious a look as you could muster. "MTV, if you do not give this woman a raise, I will riot in the streets."

"Alright alright, enough of that." Claire laughed out loud with a few shakes of her head. "You look absolutely stunning!"

"Oh, this old thing?" You smiled bashfully, grabbing at your skirt to twirl it around. The styling department had made sure that all the gowns worn during press had some Roman inspiration behind them. The piece you were wearing was off white in color, representing your character's position in society. Even with your character in mind, your dress was still breathtaking. The gown was composed of yards and yards of fabric, giving it this dreamy, flowy silhouette. The neckline was so beautiful, in the cowl style and draped ever so slightly off your shoulders. To say that you loved it would be an understatement. "Thank you very much, you look amazing yourself."

"But you are on a different level!" Claire gasped, no doubt to return the topic to you. Just like you were media trained, the reporters were too. "What was the thought process behind your look tonight?"

Your eyes lit up as this was something you had wanted to talk about. "Well, the styling department and I actually workshopped this look together. Of course we wanted it to be glamorous, this is the red carpet after all. But we also wanted to show the character through the outfits, you know?" She nodded along.

"Right, your character was quite impactful even with the few lines you had." Claire added, and you smiled in thanks.

"Yeah, thank you." You felt your face heat up at the compliment. "We wanted to still be true to her, under all the glitz and glamour. So that's why we went with the understated color, to not only show her position in society but also her demeanor throughout the film."

"But your jewellery is anything but understated." She laughed.

"Yeah, I couldn't help myself." You laughed with her.

"Give us a quick tour."

You were almost dripping in gold, from your head to your toes. "We've got the hair piece." You brought a hand up to show the gold pins connected with chains littering your up-do. "Earrings upon earrings, all hoops." You pulled a strand back to show off your right ear clearly. Some were clip on earrings as you didn't have quite enough piercings to get them all. "The necklaces, of course. Some bracelets, some rings. But I think this cuff on my upper arm is my favorite."

"And these are all borrowed pieces from different brands?"

"Most of them are, yes." You confirmed with a nod. "But some are from my private collection. And some I might steal." You joked, getting a laugh out of Claire.

"Well, you really knocked it out of the park." Claire smiled, a tone of finality in her voice that showed you the interview was coming to a close. "And before we let you go, we've got one question we're asking everyone tonight. I think we can all agree that the cast of this movie is full of beautiful men." You giggled, a bit surprised at the turn in topic. "But people on the internet have separated them into two categories."

"Oh, have they now?" You asked, unaware of what she was talking about.

"Yes, they have. Gen Z has divided them into the brooding brunets and the freaky redheads." She explained, pulling up two little hand held signs. One with Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal, the brooding brunets, and the other with Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger, the freaky redheads.

You couldn't contain the surprised laugh that escaped you at the sight of their little printed faces. "Oh my goodness!"

"So, as the resident Gen Z-er on the cast, who is your pick?"

"Well, I wouldn't say I'm the only representation of Gen Z here." You mused as you grabbed both the signs from Claire. You lifted up the 'freaky redheads' sign and pointed to Fred. "My friend is right there with me in the Gen Z territory."

"Alright, as the representation of Gen Z women, which team is more your style?" Claire asked as you studied the signs. "People are saying they went into the movie for the brunets and came out converted to team redheads."

"That's actually really funny," You chuckled as you looked down at both signs. "This is hard." You mumbled. A small smirk found itself on your lips as you thought of Fred seeing this clip later. Someone no doubt showing it to him, as he wouldn't find it on his own. "I feel like- yeah." You nodded with determination. "I'm gonna have to go with Fred- I'm going with team freaky redheads." You nodded. "I think it would be treacherous otherwise."

"Good choice. You'd break Emperor Caracalla's heart."

"And then he'd have my head." You laughed, stepping back. "Thank you for your great questions."

"Thank you for your time." Claire waved as you walked away. "We're gonna have a tally going throughout the night, and we'll see who wins. Team brooding brunets, or team freaky redheads." You heard her say to the camera as you moved further down the carpet.

'She looks so pretty!!'

'i love the thought process behind the outfit, you can tell she really loved her character'

'the reporter asked y/n if she prefers lucius and acacius or geta and caracalla and this girl really said FRED 💀'

'i love seeing new faces in hollywood, give young new actors a chance!!' ↳ 'right?? im so sick of them recycling the same actors for every big budget movie'

'she mentioned fred, not caracalla, twice, unprompted. i see you, y/n. you're just like us.' ↳ 'have you seen his interviews? he's literally the cutest i cant blame her 🥺'

A few steps down, another reporter flagged you down. This time, the questions were more centered around the acting itself.

"And was it difficult? In a previous interview, you've said that your character's growth was significant, but she had almost no lines in the movie."

"Yeah, I think in the final cut she only has... three lines?" You winced, looking upwards as you tried to recall what was and wasn't cut. "Though I'm not sure."

"So there were scenes where she could've said more?"

"Oh yeah, for sure! There was a lot of experimentation with my character throughout filming. Ridley's a genius and he was kind enough to truly take in my suggestions. There were times where I felt like she would actually stay quiet during a scene, whereas other times I felt like she would speak up. But yeah," You breathed in and furrowed your brows in thought as you tried to focus your answer back to the original question. "It was definitely a challenge. I had to really work on my micro-expressions. Lots of research, lots of practice. And lots of trust, too. With a character like mine, I really relied on Fr- on my fellow actors in those scenes. So yeah, definitely challenging. But who doesn’t love a good challenge?"

"And did you take any inspiration from other people's work? Any source material that helped you out as you built your character?"

"Of course!" You smiled, a hint of humor in your tone as you thought of your response. "Yeah, I did. Actually, one of the biggest inspirations for my role, believe it or not, was Ferb. From 'Phineas and Ferb'."

"The- The children's show?" The interviewer questioned with a grin.

"Yeah, Ridley thought it was brilliant!" You laughed. "We watched compilations of Ferb scenes on youtube together. And I know that Fred- Fred Hechinger, who plays Emperor Caracalla-, he also brought up Sid Vicious with Ridley, as well as other sources like that. Sir Ridley Scott has great taste, there's no denying that."

'ferb as inspiration for a movie like this,,, gen z in the film industry really are the gift that keeps on giving'

'im just imagining y/n and ridley scott curled up on the couch watching phineas and ferb reruns. that man is 86 years old. this is brilliant.'

'bro didn't even have to say anything and y/n still brought up fred 💀'

'the gen z cast members making ridley scott watch cartoons is sending me'

'not her pretending she didn't mean to say fred when she talked about trust, we all heard you y/n'

Unbeknownst to you, Fred's interviews were going much like yours, only a few feet behind you on the carpet.

"You look amazing today!" Claire, the same reporter you spoke to, told Fred during his first interview on the carpet.

"Thank you, thank you." He replied bashfully as he tried to subtly look around for you, but he couldn't see you just yet. "Everyone looks so great, everyone."

She asked him a few questions and then came time for her ending segment.

"Alright, to close off, we've got a little game here."

"A game?" Fred smiled with raised brows. "I love games." He said softly, not realizing that the microphone would pick it up.

"Yes, a quick one. You just have to choose between team brooding brunets and team freaky redheads. We've asking everyone to join."

"Woah!" Fred exclaimed as he received the signs. "That's me." He pointed out his own face in the picture of him and Joseph. "What are we basing our choice on here?"

"Well, the internet is battling on who is more attractive."

"Oh my god." Fred chortled, not expecting that answer. "Who's played the game?" He asked, still examining the hand held signs.

"As of now, we've spoken to Joseph Quinn, Connie Nielsen, and y/n l/n." Claire recounted.

Fred's eyes lit up and his cheeks reddened at the mention of your name. "And what's the- what's the consensus so far?"

"It's two to one. Can you guess who's in the lead?" Claire asked.

"Let me think... Well, Joseph -my brother-, he definitely voted for us." He pondered aloud as he counted the votes off on his fingers. "Connie... I think Connie went for team brunets. I mean, it's her husband. She's gotta." He grinned when it came to you. "y/n chose me, right? We're in the lead?"

"Yeah, you're right on all counts! You really know your cast members." Claire laughed. "y/n didn't want to anger Emperor Caracalla."

"Oh, she couldn't. I’ve got too much of a soft spot for her." Fred shook his head emphatically.

"So, are you keeping team redheads in the lead? Or will you give us a tie?"

"No, I'm going team redheads!" Fred exclaimed. "I'm not helping out my competition, no way!"

'this man has bewitched me with his beautiful eyes and calming demeanor'

'he always calls joe his brother im CRYINGGG'

'did you see his face when they mention y/n, this man can't hide his crush for the life of him 🥺' ↳ 'neither can she lol'

'what do yall know about fred hechinger 🗣️🗣️🗣️'

'fred immediately knowing that y/n chose him, kill me right now.' ↳ 'mind you the choice was caracalla. she still said 'fred' and he said 'me'. can they be more obvious?'

'the way this man said 'i love games' protect him at all costs'

‘he said ‘i’ve got a soft spot for her’ is this the year of men yearning?’ ↳ ‘it’s just the paul mescal effect’

It was during his next interview that he saw you. He was talking about his experience building the character of Emperor Caracalla with Sir Ridley Scott as well as Joseph Quinn when he finally caught sight of you. You had spent a bit longer with a specific reporter down the carpet, causing Fred to catch up to you. 

“Of course, y/n was a great help as well.” He smiled, reaching over to brush against your elbow to catch your attention. At the perfect time, too, because you had just finished talking to the reporter in front of you.

“Oh, Fred!” You beamed, coming over to give him a hug. 

“Look at you.” Fred spoke against your shoulder. He pulled away from the hug and brought you into his side in front of the camera, almost like he was showing you off. “Look at her, isn’t she stunning.”

“Stop it,” you rolled your eyes as you tried your best not to show how his compliment affected you. “I’m sorry for interrupting, I just had to say hello.”

“No worries,” the reporter reassured you. “Fred was actually saying how you helped with the building of his character.”

“Yeah, we worked really closely during pre-production actually.” You nodded, acutely aware of Fred’s hands on you. He had one hand casually tucked into his pocket while his other arm draped across your waist, his hand resting against your hip. “My character was almost like Caracalla’s sidekick, so the motives for all her actions are really based around him.”

“I’d argue that she was more of a mirror, actually.” You turned to look at Fred, never passing up an opportunity to hear his view on these things. “She’s the complete opposite of Caracalla, but in a way she represents who he truly is under all the pressure of being in Geta’s shadow.”

“And under all the syphilis, of course.” You added, causing Fred to giggle.

“Yeah, and under the syphilis.”

‘he seems like such a sweet guy 🥺’

‘did you see his face when he saw her???  😫😫😫 theyre in love, your honor’

‘him showing her off like that is peak soft boyfriend behavior’

‘they just called me single in seven different languages’

‘his laugh is actually so cute, who is this man and why am i in love with him? 😍’ ↳ 'get in line' ↳'behind y/n, you mean?'

‘the way he’s touching her???? im just gonna go take a nap in front of an oncoming train’

‘im calling it, new hollywood it couple’

‘look at how he looks at her!!! may this love find me 🙏’

[citricjoy]

kyle on simon’s moral compass 🖤

[neunhofferart]

My big storyboard sequence from Jurassic World Chaos Theory Season 3 Episode 2!

Surely Nonna didn't turn our baby dinosaur into meatballs???

-

This was probably one of my favorite comedy sequences to board on the show. I had a lot of fun leaning into this kind of horror parody style-- I was inspired by the scene in Monster's Inc. where Sully thinks Boo was turned into a cube of trash, as well as the episode of Tom and Jerry where the dog thinks his kitten friend was baked into a cookie hahahaha.

One of my goals was to make the meat to look as horrifying as possible, and the effects team really took my boards and ran LOL.

Can you spot some of the differences between my boards and the final animation? Some acting eventually got revised, and it was edited a bit more in the final ^^

[elinordash]

It was also Brett’s idea to call out Watson’s first name, ‘John’, when he emerged from his near-fatal experiment in the story.

– David Stuart Davies, Starring Sherlock Holmes

[murderedbyhomework]

So i found an extremely interesting commment on bilibili from someone who had bought and read the entire og lhl script and also watched the show

translation: ask the director, so much fluff got deleted…. the script was filled with so much ship content, better than a lot of danmei novels i’ve read. In the later periods it was a solid reciprocal relationship, xiaobao was so top energy, and xiaohua really liked to sajiao (playing cute). When xh when to explain to xb that he didn’t kill his dad his first sentence was “i’m sorry i betrayed your trust, i was wrong okay?”. when xb went to save xh from the palace, xh was tortured for information and xiaobao helped him dress his wounds, and also broke the hand of the man who hurt him. xb felt so bad for him he started crying and xh started to sajiao “i’m very glad that you came to save me, but look (waves handcuffs), i had it under control” xiaobao also asked “how are you” xiaohua replied that shan gudao went to the palace to find the mother bug and xiaobao replied “i was asking how your wounds were”…… also when xiaobao broke out of the trap improving his original swordplay his opponent wasn’t qi mushan but li xiangyi….lastly when xiaobao gave xiaohua his qi xiaohua’s internal monologue was “the world only wants the all knowing, all capable, godlike li xiangyi, but at least someone still insists on treating me like the normal person li lianhua, that is enough” it’s all gone i’m so mad

[dennisboobs]

[cosmictyto]

Sometimes, all you need is a self-care day with goofy robes, your favorite people, and trashy tv.

A while back @luci-hypno83 made these posts about Bal and Amb with "Rich Wife Robes," one thing led to another, and this was something that just needed to be drawn. (Also kudos to the one reblog that mentioned Ambrosius dramatically calling for Bal. Without you that lil comic wouldn't exist, lol) Took me forever but dammit it's finally been finished, lol.

Also, based off that internal rant Ambrosius has in the movie, I am 100% confident in knowing he's the kind of guy who gets really into whatever he's watching and will add sassy commentary to go with. Nims is the exact same. Bal's given up on trying to actually hear the show and is fine letting the chaos unfold.

(Btw, Amb's is ripped from this video I found a while back of a husband reacting to an episode of Love is Blind.)

[bookinit02]

Getting to read your script was absolutely the highlight of my day and it was phenomenal as always! Your creativity astounds me, all the little details like Chester and the cliff scene parallel, it was all so impressive! The end absolutely made me tear up. It’s been a pleasure to read!

ahhhh thank you!! i have been thinking about those things for so long, so i’m glad you liked them!! i’ve loved your comments along the way, thank you so much💗🫂

[borzoilover69]

update.. my tablet is still broken!!! but i am getting a new one soon! bad news im also starting a new job soon so i can accomodate for it.

Also i'm working on producing at least five or so panels for hs2:oot i might be dropping those sometime this week or next week if im lucky i've been really excited to get working on hs2:oot lots of ideas stick around for that

much thanks to everyone who've supported me so far <3

[lavenderprose]

Man the feminism sure does just leave some people's bodies when they see women dating men who they consider ugly or old or undesirable. 'Why would she date him' she thinks he's hot next question. 'He must be giving her something' yeah it's called love shut up. 'What is he doing to her to make her stay with him' yeah you're right it's probably something really awful like eating her pussy like it's his job. Be so for fucking real. Grown ass women do not need protection from randos on the Internet because their relationship/marriage/lifestyle doesn't make sense to you.

[gothamite-rambler]

Batfamily Pride Month Special

Stephanie and Cassandra recently came out as bisexual and lesbian (though Cass being written as bi or pan or straight fits her), and since it’s their first Pride Month, they’re not exactly sure what to do. So, they decide to ask their nearest LGBTQ experts.

They meet up with Tim and Kate at the mall, sitting together for lunch.

Cass: We have a question to ask you two.

Stephanie: It’s about Pride Month.

Tim: What do you need to know?

Stephanie: What do we do for Pride Month?

Tim looked at Kate with a knowing smile and took a sip from his milkshake. Kate cleared her throat, ready to tell them what she’d told Tim.

Kate: First, we go to the hospital to see if they’ve found a cure for our gayness. Then, we pray to God for forgiveness. And after that, we hide away. Oh wait — that’s what my great-aunt Lizza told me. Then I told her to eat a sandpaper cock.

Tim: You remembered the exact speech you used with me? Impressive.

Kate: It comes in handy.

Stephanie (typing on her phone): I have to use that last part with my deadbeat dad when Father’s Day rolls around.

Cass giggled, shaking her head with a smile.

Cass: We appreciate the lighthearted comment, but we want to celebrate our first Pride Month and aren't sure how.

Kate: I’m proud of you for wanting that. Honestly, what we usually do is go about our normal lives, buy pride stuff before July 1st hits—

Tim: Laugh at people who complain that it’s also Men’s Health Month and that should be more important, even though they only bring it up during pride month.

Kate (eating her general tso): Since serving in the army, I also get a kick out of homophobes demanding more holidays for veterans and troops, while ignoring all the holidays that already exist for veterans.

Tim: Do they ever backpedal when you bring up those holidays?

Kate: All the time. Then, when I tell them I served, they start stammering. "Gay people in the military? That just doesn’t compute."

Tim laughed.

Tim: After I came out, I hesitated telling people right away that I’m bi. I wait. I wait until they say some homophobic bullshit.

Kate (chuckling): What do you say then?

Tim: “You know I date both genders, right?” And I watch the terror spread across their face. After that, they either double down or backpedal.

Cass (sympathetic tone): Oh, Tim, I’m so sorry you have to go through that.

Tim: No need to apologize. Watching people put their foot in their mouth is hilarious. It’s better than getting offended or upset, I save those reactions.

Kate pointed at Tim, nodding in agreement.

Stephanie (jotting these tips down too): That’s so messy, but that’s why I like you guys. We’ll stay friends no matter what.

Tim: Thanks. Oh, and Kate took me to a Pride parade when I first told her. It was fun, great food, and although there were people protesting with picket signs, standing there stewing in their audacity, we always got a good laugh at their reactions.

Kate: Remember the lady with pancake makeup who screamed at us for being sinners who’d burn in hell?

Tim: Then you used a Bible verse about how her outfit would doom her to hell first and she took a swing at you, but you punched her in the eye. Good times.

Stephanie: That sounds like fun! We have to go to one! Cass, what do you say?

Cass: A parade with the possibility of fighting or just laughing at homophobes and good food? Sounds like the best time, honestly.

Tim: We probably won’t run into those people, but it’s still fun.

Kate: What if we go as a group? I have dresses you can wear.

Stephanie (hopeful): You already bought them for us?

Kate (smiling softly): I did. And some pantsuits if you don't want to wear dresses. You lucked out with me. How’s it been since you both came out?

Stephanie: Oh my God, it’s been great! Dating’s a mixed bag. Some jerks thought I was faking or being selfish for dating men and women. I just tell them I date people I like. My mom’s been super supportive, but my deadbeat dad? He hates that I’m not straight anymore.

Stephanie spoke with a delighted tone when bringing up her father, happy she could rub salt in the wounds. He was an asshole after all.

Kate: What’s he said so far?

Stephanie: That I’ll burn in hell, I’m no daughter of his, and he’ll disown me if I keep this “phase.”

Tim (disgusted): What an asshole.

Stephanie: Exactly! I thought I’d have to kill him someday to get rid of him, but now? With this, he can’t even look at me. God has finally answered my first prayer, my second prayer is he has a final destination style death.

Cass (after looking at Steph with a loving glance): And Lady Shiva has actually been supportive. She wore a “Free Mom Hugs” shirt when we met up a week after I told her I liked girls and said she’d kill anyone who tried to hurt me for being gay. I told her not to do that, but it’s nice she’s thinking of me positively.

Kate (wiping away imaginary tears): I knew that crazy woman wasn’t all bad.

Tim: You’re silly. Hey, if we go to the festival in costumes, do you think Bruce will let me wear his rainbow Batman suit?

Stephanie: Oh God, don’t wear that gaudy suit. Just the cape.

Kate: Yeah, that cape’s the only cool part of that suit. We all wear capes to the parade!

Stephanie: Yes, queen! I call dibs on the bisexual one!

Tim: That’s not fair; I came out first!

Stephanie (smirking): Yeah, but mine was done better. I came out to my homophobic dad while he was in prison.

Kate: You both can have the bisexual capes. I’m wearing Bruce’s rainbow bat suit cape since I make it work best. Cass, you can wear my lesbian flag cape.

Cass: Yes!

Happy Pride Month!!!

Might write one for Dick and Damian soon.

StephCass fics

[a2zillustration]

Do you understand, do you see my vision

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[[ All Croissant Adventures (chronological, desktop) ]]

[[ All Croissant Adventures (app) ]]

[fourshords]

no way four swords posting

[thewardenisonthecase]

im not going to find it now, but @/v-arbellanaris post on the themes of identity loss in DAI are not that well handled because the inquisitior is not allowed to have an identity TO BEGIN with due to how centrist this game is is always on my mind.

Because like, everytime i see people talking about this big theme around the inquisitor i cant help but feel like i played a different game. I felt so disconnected from the inquisitor because I had no idea who they were. Like, they felt too much like a blank slate. DAO and DA2 both gave you established backstories of which you could build your character around, but DAI felt like I needed to work it from the ground up. I remember the first time i got that convo with Josie, in Haven, where you can establish some stuff, I felt almost weirded out because I was suddenly being told things about this character that I knew nothing about and now i had to establish things? It was confusing and I didn't even KNOW what to pick. And I played the games in order, so for it was extremely JARRING to jump from warden to hawke to inquisitor. So much so that it took 3 tries, with 3 different characters until I finally landed on one that I felt like i could work with, because until then, I couldn't figure out who the fuck my inquisitor was supposed to be.

And its really, REALLY hard to have a theme of you're losing your identity when you don't have one. I almost feel like there should have been two games - one where you deal maybe with only the mage rebellion and get to see and understand who your character REALLY is and then DAI, where you see all that you were get rewritten. And honestly, it gets to me because loss of identity is something that lowkey permeates the other characters - The reason Varric wrote the tale of the champion was in part because people were getting Hawke's story wrong (Cassandra is a GREAT example of how people were imagining things went down and why Varric's book was so relevant). I like to add that "you're only a symbol now" theme to my warden sometimes and it fees like a natural progression but to the inquisitor?

And to be honest, I'm not even entirely sure that this theme was intentional on the writer's part. Like, i give DAI some grace because of HELLISH the development was, but sometimes it feels to me that either they had a specific idea for who the inquisitor should be and if you play differently, themes get lost, or that the inquisitor was 1000% just some placeholder.

No wonder that the one character that stuck with me was Adaar because it was the only backstory that i felt gave me something i could work with - it said you have at least one mother and one father who left the qun and you joined a mercenary band and they have names. Not the faceless trevelyans who you only mildly hear about nor clan lavellan, who is talked about as if all those people were one person instead of, y'know, a group of people (i bring these two up because my 1st inky was a trevelyan and the 1st inky i ACTUALLY finished a playthriugh with was a lavellan and my god. i felt SO disconnected with them).

There's some other stuff too regarding the inquisitor's story that i don't know how to explain but that add to that feeling of not liking the inquisitor. Like, I think one of the things that I really like about the warden and Hawke is that you really have to build that character from the ground up. The wardens are very near the bottom of the social ladder and hawke is a refugee who's possibly an apostate too. it takes LONG in these games for your character to get any semblance of comfort. But for the inquisitor idk, i didnt feel that? Things happened to them and I had this feeling that they didn't deserve it. Like you go from haven, who's alreayd more organized than anything the warden and hawke had from the get go, and then you go to skyhold which is even nicer but I just cant help but feel that its unearned.

idk. its hard to explain. its even harder when i add the whole anchor thing, because I really do hate this thing. Like sorry, even if the inquisitor got named that because of their leadership, they were only given a chance to begin with bc of the mark. Its not a chosen one story but it sure as fuck feels like one to me most of the time. And the inquisitor being this leader is also something i just struggle with, and i blame it mostly on the fucking war table missions. Idk, again, bc in dao and da2 you have to basically do everything yourself, i could picture the warden and hawke as leaders, but because the nit and gritty is done by leliana/josephine/cullen, its like ok so am i just the guy who sits on a chair and orders people around? I just never get the feeling that the inquisitor is ACTUALLY working to get these things done its always just ordering others around. And like sure, the king who sits on the throne and orders people to their deaths is a leader, but the general who's going to war with me feels more like my leader than the guy with the crown (terrible analogy but its the best icould come up with).

idk. i have too many thoughts about how i don't like the inquisitor as a PC because of how they were written. its why i talk much less about asala because for me, despite doing 2 FULL PLAYTRHOUGHS its so hard to picture her in my head because the game gives me so freaking little to work with.

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