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no thoughts only gator loki

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The universe can pry cherik from my cold, dead, my-situationship-literally-blew-my-back-out-and-now-we'll-flirt-over-mutant-rights-for-decades hands

if the twins went with Peter back to the X-Men universe

Peter: *returning from Westview with the twins and Starbucks* Hi Dad, Professor. These are your grandkids, Billy and Tommy.

Tommy: *immediately speeds him and Billy all over the mansion*

Erik:

Charles: How long were you gone??

Peter: Oh, they’re not mine. They’re Wanda’s. Well, Wanda from a different universe. But I can see why you’d think that.

Erik:

Peter: She’s actually helping a wizard track down this crazy witch. I offered to help, but multiverse travel isn’t exactly safe for kids, so I said I’d watch the twins until she can come get them.

Tommy: *returning with Billy and wearing Magneto’s helmet* Uncle P, look at these cool helmets we found!

Billy: *wearing Cerebro and grinning* This place is huge! Are we staying here with our grandpas?

Erik:

Charles: …Erik, are you crying?

Erik: *with obvious tears in his eyes* No.

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Eyes of Nine

I’m finally caught up with Critical Role, so here’s the sequel to the illustration I made back in 2018 (how it started, how it’s going lol).

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Oh, to see Widomauk about to take their lavender and orange selves and make a lil burgundy in the world

Tryst ☀️🌙

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there's this early talks (maybe in an after dark part) where they're talking about very early C2 ships and Travis just goes ">;) I like Caleb and Nott." which has led to my headcanon that Fjord spent all of C2 thinking Caleb and Veth were a couple, which wasn't at all changed by finding out Veth was married to Yeza because as a sailor, he's probably deeply normalized the concept of location-based polyamory.

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Sometimes you get attracted to a story by mistaking a character, and sometimes you see a picture that makes you go "WOW, BIG LADY? STEP ON ME? WHO ARE YOU?" and it ends up being Yasha Nydoorin

Anyway I binged Critical Role episode 1 through 115 back in 2020 just in time to watch live from 116 onward for Campaign 2, so I'd say it was a successful art blorbo-

sometimes i see some cool art of Blorbo but before i reblog it i peek in the notes and discover. it is not, in fact, art of Blorbo. it is art of Squub. i have no idea who Squub is.

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Vox Machina: Pike Trickfoot is the most powerful cleric in Tal'dorei. She is our heart, our light, and we would all readily die for her because we love her unconditionally. She is the light and fury of Sarenrae.

Mighty Nein: this is caduceus we found him in a graveyard and he makes dead people tea

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peeta: breathes

katniss, internally: hm. interesting. strategic. emotionally destabilizing. soft. fluffy. uncalled for.

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She's a strong woman, he's a pathetic man. Perfect.

[ko-fi] [my carrd] [support me on patreon][my discord server]

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The Twins in the Feywild

or, the adaptation is good, actually:

The thing about the Feywild arc in the Legend of Vox Machina is that it's not just a simple condensing of 20-ish hours into perhaps one hour; it's also at a notably different point in the story, and is changed to reflect that.

[as a sidebar: I am not tagging spoilers for Critical Role Campaign 1, as the episodes in question are 5+ years old. This post does have a large number of them, and in general, if you are new to CR and found this via the TLOVM tag, welcome! My blog will have spoilers for the campaign.]

In Campaign 1, after the Sunken Tomb and the encounter with Kamaljiori (who survives in the campaign, incidentally), all of Vox Machina heads towards Westruun. Grog has his (also different from TLOVM, also condensed in a thoughtful way that may be discussed in a separate post) struggles with Craven Edge, and they all encounter the Herd of Storms, deal with them, and kill Umbrasyl. The episode after they have killed the first of the four dragons responsible for the Conclave attacks, Umbrasyl the Hope Devourer, is aptly named Hope; they then go to Vasselheim where Vax formalizes his relationship to the Raven Queen, and then deal with Hotis back in Whitestone. The Deathwalker's Ward's flight power is also activated. Then they go to the Feywild, together (though Pike stays behind again due to Ashley's schedule.) In general, Vax has made peace with his decision, and the party is, for the most part, much more optimistic than they are here.

Here, all four dragons are still at large, Keyleth's spell was interrupted, Vax is still on edge, and the last thing they saw was Pike, impaled on Grog's sword. They are doing far worse.

So, understandably, Vax is in a sour mood the entire trip. This significantly changes his role, as he's less able to offer support for Vex. Keyleth is also more insecure.

The episode in Syngorn in the main campaign, which was also, notably, Critical Role's first ever live show with the tech hiccups and nerves that implies, is actually pretty funny. We do get the twins' encounter with Syldor - more on that later - but a large portion of the episode is dedicated towards stealing hats and trying to find a threshold crest for Garmelie (with Keyleth and Percy eventually outsmarting him on a technicality, in true Fey fashion); and the party accidentally implying and then fully leaning into implication that they are polyamorous and need a room so that they can have an orgy. I've seen indications that Syngorn was much grimmer than that; while the twins were understandably frustrated with it, it was far from a dark episode.

With the caveat that I have not read Kith and Kin, Syldor Vessar is one of the characters in Critical Role canon whom I feel the fandom has the most warped perception. He is a dick, to be clear; but on a scale of living character parents, he is treated with a vitriol the far worse Howaardt Darrington and Thoreau Lionett oddly dodge, and it says something that Tary and Beau never to our knowledge attempt to interact with their fathers again, whereas Vex maintains a distant and at times contentious but minimally cordial relationship with hers. (It's not unique for parents in this show to be given the madonna/whore treatment, as others have noted, and parents who fall most towards the middle of that false dichotomy tend to bear the brunt of it - see the Calloways and the Gentleman - but Syldor's treatment is, to be honest, inexplicable and weird.)

In "Heredity and Hats," Syldor is not warm or pleasant, but he does, in fact, apologize at length for his behavior and accepts that the twins have reason to hate him when he offers his assistance. (1x60, 47:58) He also accepts Percy's correction of Vex's title in full, and indeed, seems pleased by it (1x60, 55:22). He is not a good person, but he is, by the time the twins see him in the Feywild, a penitent one. And, in this episode, Vax is the one who is largely unconcerned with Syldor, with the implication he's already given up on him and doesn't particularly care, whereas Vex is much angrier.

However, that's all very difficult to convey in TLOVM in under ten minutes, when Vex's upcoming showdown with Saundor hinges on her insecurity surrounding how she was perceived in the past and her ongoing struggles with powerlessness. So in that, Syldor is far more dismissive, and Vax, who is still, as mentioned, in a very angry place himself, is, well, angry. It is a different tack! It also is a very smart choice given that in a campaign that lasts hundreds of hours, the rule is show don't tell; and in an animated series that must compress this into a tiny fraction of that time, that rule is lifted. This is not a time for the subtle background of Vex's C1 arc. There is no time for the subtle background of Vex's C1 arc. What matters is that the adaptation is consistent within itself; achieves the general, for lack of a better term, vibes and major plot beats of the original campaign; and can reach an audience unfamiliar with the source material. We can't make Syldor fascinatingly complex and Vax blasé here, so we don't, so that we can understand why Saundor is able to cut so close to the core of Vex before she's able to pull away.

It's different! And, yes, as someone who does like something very long-form and subtle and show-not-tell, I do prefer the original! I also think that within the limitations of an animated show with 6-hour seasons, with the assumption that the Feywild arc starts here (that is, with Vax still where he is emotionally, Umbrasyl alive, and Grog, Scanlan, and Pike absent), trying to otherwise keep things the same would feel artificial and unsatisfying, and fail to serve Vex's story. It is changed to heighten it in a medium that needs heightening because there's no time for breadth, and you can dislike it, but criticizing it for not being identical to the original is a particularly egregious missing of the point.

(It's also worth keeping in mind: have you rewatched this arc recently? Are you even comparing it to the story as it was, or are you comparing it to the story you remember, because, like it or not, Vex's story was always very much about her relationships to Syldor, Vax, and Percy, and her need to be liked; her flaw was that she simultaneously desperately needed people and hated herself for it.)

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I've entered my Hunger Games era over the past year, y'all

And art like this? It fuels me

these two are completely unhinged and i love that for them

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i need more*died from rabies*

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We all stan Percival Fredrickstein "Dick Suspenders" von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III in this household

has anyone seen the preview from that new artbook... does anyone else uh. does anyone else. umm.

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"Unfortunately for you, my wife is not here and I have even more explosives to fiddle with."

— Percival De Rolo, probably

Percy the type of mf to get wine-drunk and ramble about his wife for an hour an a half before building a bomb or another gun

“Yeah, I just really really love my wife, guys. She’s gorgeous and smart and my rock that keeps me from going insane and doing stupid shit”

*said as he finishes connecting the wires to a bomb that immediately starts beeping concerning*

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@markwatnae @prfury

Has it been 84 years since I've properly used tumblr for anything? Yes

Is this the first thing I tag y'all in? also yes

star wars au: everything is the same but anakin plays supermassive black hole during the mustafar fight

your mind holy shit

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Friendship