figgyfaeth - Tumblr blog

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it's just lestat and his fuckass objects against the whole world

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I'm not sure what part of this is my favorite. (They are all my favorite.)

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We’re here for chef’s tools.

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based in part on this post by @t-oriand about zacs absolutely stellar character choices. [img desc in alt text]

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after "remember when we died," I got soo emotional when Gorgug and Kristen found themselves first after their encounter with Ankarna. "you look better" holds so much weight after everything they've been through and how far they've come. "i love you man. you look healthier and stronger than the day we met, and the day we both died. and look at us now, still here." I'm emo

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sometimes when you look unexpectedly at a mirror you get a little bit shocked at what you see.

Gorgug really judged his parents for having all those sex machines while harbouring a crush on Unit

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We didn’t even talk about Fabian and the Hangman racing after Bobby Dawn going “WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID” he’s like Sandra Lynn is one of my moms and Kristen is my best friend there’s no way in the 9 hells that you will not be dealt with, my guy.

Lou Wilson, the man that you are. 💖

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Kipperlilly Copperkettle was so desperate to be interesting and she failed. She sank in the lava and no one who was on her team even knew she had died. She had one plan and was so convinced of its success didn’t even think she needed another one. She was, in the immortal words of Zac Oyama, a regular freak.

And then she died alone, unseen, and a failure in every way that matters. Legend Lore would probably still say she’s unremarkable. Devastating.

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the full unabridged cut of all the mary ann scenes in second part of the finale was too beefy for tumblr so here’s my highlights reel of her

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Thinking about Lucy Frostblade yet again and how we now have confirmation that her friends killed her. That her adventuring party, the hi five heroes, and most importantly her Kipperlilly brought her to the woods that she had spent so long in with them and tore her apart.

Kipperlilly was so convinced that rage was the answer, that Lucy, her dearest friend would embrace it just like she did. The tragedy is that Lucy's conviction and love of her goddess was stronger than the hate that fueled her friends now. The rage star never would have worked and maybe she knew Kipperlilly was always going to be doomed by the narrative and she decided she didn't have to go down with her.

So the Hi Five Heroes come back to life, another chance to do it right. Lucy's unjust death is reversed, she gets another chance to be kind to rats. Kipperlilly died alone in the lava, a mastermind, a party of one.

What I love about d&d as a medium for storytelling is that it needs collaboration. It requires cohesion in it's players for any story to be told well. The Bad Kids' story is a triumph, a great success, a wonderfully engaging story. The revived Hi-Five Heroes are now going to tell their tale of redemption.

The tragedy is that rage did what it always does when it is the only thing you have to rely on - isolates you from anyone who could have helped until it is just you and the hate in your veins keeping you warm at night and that is no way to live.

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just to add to this point - Colin throughout every season aims to fit in, to make everyone else’s life easier. I’ve never read his “I would never court Penelope” statement as his real opinion. He feels the need to be loved and accepted by society. We often see that portrayed in women and I found it refreshing to see it portrayed by a man.

Colin is acting in every scene when he is not in the comfort of his own home or talking with Penelope.

It's hilarious when people are like "Rake Colin doesn't feel right, it's cringy". May I introduce you to The Point

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Riz breaking the 4th wall is the funniest thing in the world to me

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Emily on Adventuring Party saying "I was gonna reach out to Ruben but then he dropped a fucking 9th level spell on me," is pretty illustrative of the difference between how the players see the game versus how a lot of folks online see it, like...why am I seeing people say stuff like "oh, they're all anti-capitalist until the battle starts and then all of a sudden, they're cops???? Do they not believe in restorative justice???"

These are kids who have plotted the deaths of the Bad Kids well before any of them actually did anything to warrant it, other than being good at adventuring. They've been openly antagonistic or have lied to and manipulated them. We're like, two episodes removed from them killing one of their own clerics (for the second time!) because they lost their opportunity to kill all of the Bad Kids. They sent dragons after a house full of kids that they launched into the sky in a wildly premeditated plan. They may have magically corrupted Gorgug's house!

The Rat Grinders have been manipulated by their teachers and magically corrupted by rage, yes, but even if you want to talk them down, if there's a rage wizard with ninth-level spells running around, you don't let that motherfucker drop a meteor swarm on all of your heads, like...there are priorities

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The thing that's bothering me with people saying the Bad Kids didn't even try to reach out to the Rat Grinders and just started indiscriminately killing them is that THEY DID.

Like, sure Wanda Childa originally started as a bit so that Fig could gather Intel on Ruben. But the whole dream sequence and faking Wanda Childa's death outside Ruben's house was to persuade him to abandon the Rat Grinders. It's not Fig's (or Emily's!) fault that it didn't work. But she was desperately trying to get a read on that kid throughout the whoooooole season.

The Bad Kids have been doing insight checks on Kipperlilly the whole season and getting NOTHING. Even with pretty good insight checks they were just getting, "this is a very fake person." That coupled with the fact that Kipperlilly appears to have come up with the plan to dig up Eugenia's grave to get her automatic A before she got rage-starred, what exactly were they supposed to do with her?

And when it comes to Buddy Dawn, my goodness. Kristen has given that kid endless amounts of her patience and kindness when he has not earned it. He hasn't necessarily earned her ire, but he hasn't earned her kindness. And yet, the first thing she did when he got killed was try desperately to find a way to resurrect him, despite the fact that members of her own party would maybe need that higher spell slot later. The first thing Kristen did after getting to the gym? Insight check on Buddy Dawn to see whether he had actually bought into this. Kristen can't help that Ally, the player, rolled a Nat 1. It's not Kristen's fault. But up until the very last, Kristen was trying to save him, because she sees herself in him.

Sure, with Ivy, Oisin, and Mary Ann no one tried very hard to get a read on them. But also I feel like we didn't see them much. And the Bad Kids did try at that first party to figure them out, they just rolled poorly. As Brennan put it, the dice have been on the Bad Kids' side, not on the side of the story he had prepped to tell. And that's fine! The dice are the uncontrollable element of DND! But you can't get mad at the Bad Kids for not trying when they have, in fact, been trying all season to get a read on these kids and just totally whiffing every time.

Also, people are apparently getting mad at the cast too? Which, 1, this is not your game and these are not your friends, so leave them alone. And 2, Ally said this episode that they felt "blackout drunk" driving home, which I am assuming is from exhaustion given the filming schedule mentioned in (I think) episode 17. These people are exhausted and running on fumes. As actual human beings they are likely struggling with concentration etc. and they should all be given some slack.

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“Not every field needs to be a farm”

“I’m here representing the weeds and the wildflowers, and we don’t want to be tilled”

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Fig was also being groomed by Porter - and not just groomed to help him, groomed to be a sacrifice and die. She is allowed to be mad about it.

And should that anger be turned at Porter? Probably, but she has spent a not insignificant amount of time trying to sus out how guilty various Rat Grinders feel about having caused Lucy Frostblade's death. Fig, whose relationship with her friends is more important to her than anything in the world, and couldn't imagine being the cause of one of her friend's death let alone making it impossible for them to cross over to the otherside peacefully or denying them a final resting place that would give closure to their family, spent much of her time trying to understand why the Rat Grinders would abandon their friend without even the respect of last rites.

Also Fig gave Ruben chance after chance after chance to do the right thing (and not just in this episode, but all season long) And on one side we understand Ruben's point of "You killed my friends, I had to psychic scream" but on the other hand Fig's friends are also dying and she is seeing all this work she's put in to try and get Ruben to switch sides and god how many spell slots has she used on this boy that could have been heals for her friends or attacks against Porter? And where was this energy for Lucy, left to rot in the forest, no way to cross over, too late to be revivified, where was her Psychic Scream?

In this moment, in Fig's mind there is undoubtedly a loop of "How much of my energy throughout this past year would have had more successful results if I had put it into my relationships or studies or music? How much help did I deny my friends by wasting my time on this guy?"

What she yells at him is mean and DEEPLY DEEPLY hurtful, but her friends are ALSO dying, she was ALSO groomed to be Porter's tool - why wouldn't she be mad? Why wouldn't she be angry?

Her words were particularly harsh, and turned to the wrong target, and Ruben Hopclap didn't deserve to go to hell (which in terms of hell's he could be trapped in - polka music untangling chords hell, not that bad). But crucifying Emily for playing Fig the way she did isn't the move, because she played her in a way that made sense for both the character and the stakes of the battle.

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my pallie callie