#[Playing Hero || Dash Games]

[the-knight-of-destiny]

Okay, so long long ramble under the cut about the nature of Ratgrinder Discourse™, I'll preface by saying that I don't want any of this to get hostile with anyone, because I think that's frankly silly to do over a webshow. That said I am also open to critical discussion so if anything I say doesn't make sense, or doesn't track I'm open to critique on it! Obviously spoilers up to Episode 19 of Fantasy High Junior Year underneath. Also it is a VERY long post, several pages, so don't click read more if that'll be overwhelming/too much at once. I just had to get my thoughts into words.

So, this will be long but I'll try to break it up. For clarity I want to establish my main point and give a quick TL;DR here, so here's the short version, long version even further below. My main points are as follows: 1: It is okay to not be happy with how a narrative is going in a show/story you enjoy. Critique is not hate, if anything it's a form of praise in a way. People wouldn't be having such long and frequent discourse about D20 and it's current season if they didn't feel strongly. 2: Similarly, we as an audience have a very different perspective of the entire story unfolding compared to the Intrepid Heroes/Cast. I think a lot of people jump to assumptions about the cast's thought process when that really isn't something we can gauge beyond what they say in episode and on Adventuring Party. 3: For me at least, even if I am left unsatisfied by an ending it doesn't ruin the fun I had in a work. Now if you just wanted my bullet point thoughts without elaboration, there they are! The rest of this is going to be an insanely long ramble (seriously, exit now if you aren't up for that, it's pages long) that I don't expect anyone to read, but I like to get my thoughts outta my brain. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, in regards to the Ratgrinders dying in the fashion they have, there's been a lot of discussion on literally every place there is to discuss Dimension 20, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, I'm sure other places as well. Really it all comes back to one thing, Dungeons and Dragons is a game, but Dimension 20 is a show. We as viewers have some level of narrative expectation, now for everyone that's different. Some folks have specific hopes for plot and character arcs. Others just want a general vibe, but the cast are players. Sure they are performers, but they are players in a game in equal measure. I've alluded to this before but a lot of the sincere vitriol to antagonists thus far (and especially the Ratgrinders) comes from the fact that the players have been fully immersed in a world and as characters where the Ratgrinders have been a constant thorn in their side for tens of hours of play time. Obviously one can still not like how they've engaged with them (I'm still not sure how exactly I feel about it,) but a lot of it is coming from that distinct perspective. When Fig took Ruben out, she specifically was frustrated because she 'wasted her season' on him. There's a meta level of Fig being angry with Ruben as a character who shares a world with him, versus Emily being frustrated as a player that a lot of her in-game actions did not hash out. That's actually totally natural, by the way. The interesting way that DnD serves both as a narrative of the characters in the setting, but also of the players rolling dice is part of what makes actual play like Dimension 20 so interesting. It's why I think SOME of the disappointment with Brennan and the Intrepid Heroes comes from a strange place, we literally cannot experience the story the same way the cast have. We get a week between chunks of story, they film the episodes in batches. We can think for as long as we want about our critical thoughts, they have to improv on the fly. We get to watch the Ratgrinders as antagonists in a story, the IH are actively hindered in their gameplay by the Ratgrinders as enemies.

That said I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about some aspects of Protagonist Centric Morality™ in this. Oisin having a mildly flirty conversation with Adaine once when he had ulterior motives is a deeply awful manipulation, but Fig catfishing Ruben the better part of an entire year is her trying to reach out and understand him (?). Kipperlilly threatening to desecrate Eugenia's grave is deeply fucked up, but Riz openly advocating mutilating Oisin's body for tactical reasons, and Fabian loudly declaring he intends to do the same to Ivy for literally just his own self-satisfaction are 'fun unhinged moments'.

Before I go on, obviously the Ratgrinders are the bad guys. They're taking part in an evil plan, they've done villainous things throughout the season, especially very recently, etc. This isn't some argument that the Bad Kids are secretly the real monsters or something, obviously not. I just think it's odd that people read into the Bad Kids' actions in the best possible light at all times and the inverse for the Ratgrinders. This protagonist centric morality also comes down to the true reason behind any and all of Fantasy High's villain redemption. Ragh gets redeemed because the player characters think he's possibly useful and/or endearing. Aelwyn gets redeemed because she personally helps Adaine. The only one that Brennan really pushed forward on his own was Zayn, who they barely engaged with. People compare the Ratgrinders to Penelope and Dayne a lot, and understandably so. However I think this is sort of the complication and in my opinion, the silver bullet to understanding what's actually happening with the Ratgrinder's narrative place, Dayne more specifically. He does very little evil on screen. I mean, he injures Fabian and is most likely the one who killed Zayn, but comparatively to Aelwyn, he does almost nothing. He gets killed without so much as a thought, and in a fun (?) parallel to current Ratgrinder discourse, does actually have his body desecrated after death by Fabian. Because he hurt Fabian personally. Aelwyn gets forgiven of doing a lot of terrible shit (and this isn't Aelwyn hate, she's like my favorite NPC.) because it didn't directly affect any of the Bad Kids besides Adaine, and even the bad stuff that did affect Adaine can be sort of off-loaded onto their parents. So it's why I say this discourse is tough, people inevitably say "Well, the Ratgrinders are villains, of course they'll get killed." And this isn't inherently a wrong statement, they look at the bad things the group is doing and understand they must be stopped, why are people upset clearly bad guys get beat and/or killed in DnD games? Because they aren't actually getting killed in such brutal ways because they're bad guys, it's because they personally annoyed or hurt the Bad Kids. This is also why Ratgrinder fans often feel both frustrated and vindicated at once (I speculate, but I feel it's a safe assumption,) because on a meta level Kipperlilly is literally right. Her friends and likely herself are getting ripped to shreds because they crossed the special protagonists, because they started to really frustrate the Intrepid Heroes. The Bad Kids have forgiven atrocities before, but the Intrepid Heroes are really quick to dismiss and kill people they find annoying.

The ultimate example I feel of this, is Mary Ann. Ruben gets blasted into hell because his actions personally annoyed the players, Ivy gets stabbed to death while being repeatedly insulted and threatened with mutilation because her actions personally annoyed the players.

But Mary Ann is the one they all think they can redeem or save, because her personality is more cute and endearing to the players. That kind of says it all better than I ever could.

[sipsteainanxiety]

mha nation how yall doin

[happygirlartworks]

Pretty much i been experimenting with lineart, colour, brushes and more

[timewontwait]

better late than never, eh?

characters shown:

sonic (sonic & the black knight) mainly for favorite characterization reasons

sun wukong of LMK

benson of kipo & the age of wonderbeasts

spideyman

steven universe

snufkin of moomin valley

[fstbmp-a]

Imagine not just saying 'no' to any form of mind control/manipulation.

[ikkaku-of-heart]

What Tragic Death Would You Suffer?

the prophetic hero

you die saving the world, as you were always supposed to. peace comes only with your blood. the world will remember you for centuries. they will write poems, create art, and film movies all about you. no one will remember what you were before your death. maybe you don't even know it either. you have spent so long saving the world time after time that there is nothing left of you except the heroism. you die never knowing love.

[justiceburst]

Moral Alignment Test

Goro is 18.3% good, tied between chaotic and lawful, making him true neutral.

[true-blue-sonic]

For the ask game: 🎧, 💫, 🦹 and 👽?

🎧 Favorite overall soundtrack?

I would love to say Frontiers, but... I am not that fond of most of the overworld music, to be quite honest. I think it's a tie between Rush and Rush Adventure, just a bit in favour of Rush. It's wild, it's groovy, I would even call it insane in some places, but it works and it makes the levels so much more fun and vibrant! And though Rush Adventure did not succeed entirely in copying that specific style, it's still quite fun and upbeat as well. And I think Forces' soundtrack is also nice, most of Classic Sonic's tracks notwithstanding.

✨ Dream Sonic Game?

Answered here!

🦹 Favorite antagonist/villain?

Infinite managed to actually replace Silver as my favourite character for a good 2.5 years or so! I think they could have done him better than what we got, but I love his design, he's got a great voice actor, and everything about him is meant to be so over the top edgy that in a way, it simply works. I am very curious if we will ever see him again!

And this might sound strange, but I actually quite like Eggman Nega as well. I find the extents to which he is willing to go out of petty spite quite interesting, especially since it relates to how deeply he hates Eggman in the Rivals games... despite being far more similar to Eggman than he perhaps wants.

👽 Favorite Wisp?

Answered here!

[spring-salad]

listen, like, in general i don't mind if people have really deep opinions about antagonistic characters w/e it ain't my take so have fun with your fiction blorbo or whatever

but god damn do i have a problem when those takes willfully ignore the extremely problematic parts of those characters to the point of acting like they don't exist at all

example: like, sure, anakin skywalker definitely needed therapy and emotional support that he wasn't getting and was being fed problematic and regimented rhetoric by the other jedi that was very unhelpful for his state of mind, but he still killed a bunch of children to satisfy his need for power (no matter his reason for getting that power). finding a character sympathetic doesn't absolve them of responsibility for the shitty things they do

[alfida]

Tag Dump / Character Based

[Spear of Lyria || Muse]

[Alfida || In Character]

[Whispers of the Aesfyr || Mun & OoC]

[Aesfyric Decree || OoC Answer]

[Missives || Inbox]

[Another Soldier || Promo]

[A New Mission || Prompt]

[I am Alfida Spear of Lyria and I have never known these feet || Crack]

[In my repose time passes slowly || Queue]

[Memoirs of the Halberd || Drabble]

[We are not the weight of our memories || Saved]

[Let There Be Fire || Wishlist]

[Let Us Begin || Starter]

[Observations || Dashboard Commentary]

[Legend of the Sunlit Halberd || Headcanons]

[Playing Hero || Dash Games]

[A Halberd Forged from Sunlight || Art]

[In Darkness I Shall Fly Anew || Spoilers]

[Lands of the Aesfyr || Worldbuilding]

[eraserisms]

Blog Tag drop

[herstoriies]

What is Your Character Arc?

Diva!Priscilla :: romance/friendship arc

you started this story a little hard, or awkward, or stubborn. that's okay. it's harder than it should be to admit, but what you really want is love. that's what your story is all about - not just the act of loving, but the allowance of it. the confession that you do not want to fight or bleed or save the world, but to simply feel the way two hands fit so easily together. you will have two chairs and a table and you will shut your blinds, and you will say the word love without faltering. this is a happy ending, and you do not need to feel guilty. it hurts our hands to fight - never to hold.

Baroness!Priscilla :: tragic hero arc

we all know how this story goes. when it began, you were almost the perfect hero, but almost is never enough. you lacked introspection, or you were too stubborn or vengeful or reckless - as reckless as the world that helped to ruin you. you were not perfect, and that's okay. we knew the story ended in blood and we watched it anyway. we knew you would die in the end and we still couldn't help but love you, just a little bit. at the very least, you are more human than a hero could ever be.

tagged by: commandeered from @reverdies

tagging: ALL Y'ALL

[herosparade]

tag dump ! 

[moonlightmagus]

tag dump 3

[timewontwait]

Sonic has appeared! What to do?

➭ Feed ➭ Kneel down ➭ Propose ➭ Marry

" All of these options are weird... "

[fstbmp-a]

Walks in, chewing on a fruit sandwich. "Did I miss something?"