#afk to tag

[zzoupz]

first afk journey fanart (I've been wanting to draw it trust me--)

I just got his affinity up and I love this mental image

[anneapocalypse]

On Wuk Lamat, and Female Characters in FFXIV

The Thing with Wuk Lamat is you can tell me you think she had too much screentime; you can give me numbers on how many lines she had or how many scenes she's in relative to other characters or other expacs; you can prove to me "objectively" that she gets more focus than other main NPCs; you're simply not going to convince me that this is something I should be unhappy about. And not just because it's silly to think you can use numbers to prove a story is good or bad and make someone else go, "Wow, you're right, let me just throw away all the joy I experienced with this story and revise my opinion because you've scientifically proven to me that I'm wrong."

Because while I love Final Fantasy XIV and I have greatly enjoyed its story in so many ways, fundamentally one of my biggest beefs with this game has been how much female characters have been denied complex character arcs and growth and agency and interiority.

Minfilia gets treated as a sacrificial vessel who lives for everyone but herself and doesn't even get to have feelings about her own death because that entire arc is focused on a male character's angst about it instead. The game tells us in the Heavensward patches that Krile sees Minfilia as her best friend and then just forgets about that later and never follows up on what that loss must have meant to her. Ysayle is basically right about most of what she's fighting for but harboring a bit of self-delusion is apparently such a terrible sin that she has to pay for it with her life, while her male foil is deemed so worthy of salvation that there's a whole plot point about how important it is that we risk our lives and others' lives to save him. Y'shtola is a major character who's been around since the beginning, and the game keeps dropping maddeningly interesting things about her (apprenticed to a cranky old witch in a cave! saved her own life and the lives of her friends with an illegal and dangerous spell and it worked! reserved and undemonstrative yet regularly through her actions reveals herself to be deeply caring! disabled!) and then shows complete disinterest in following up on any of those things with the kind of depth and care shown to male characters with complex arcs like Urianger.

In general there is also a repeated thread of female characters being portrayed as weak or overly emotional: Minfilia is weak because she doesn't fight and needs to be eaten by a god in order to gain "a strength long sought." Krile is portrayed as not being able to pull her weight with the Scions (despite the fact that she actively keeps five of them from dying in Shadowbringers) and the only thing they could think of for her to do in Endwalker was be yet another vessel for Hydaelyn (hmm, that sounds familiar) and it's not until Dawntrail that she gets much actual character development in the main story and even that has to come alongside "Look, she can fight now so that means she's useful." (And I love Picto!Krile, I'm just saying, there's a pattern.) Alisaie, despite having very good reasons for needing to find her own path apart from her brother, is portrayed as having to prove herself when she returns, that she's "not the girl she once was," and "will not be a burden" (while Alphinaud is repeatedly given the benefit of the doubt and reassurance and affirmation from other characters even after he takes on responsibilities he isn't ready for and fucks up big time).

And if you follow me you know I adore Urianger, and I love Alphinaud and Thancred and Estinien too, so please don't misunderstand what I'm saying here! I'm not knocking those characters, or saying we shouldn't also love them. I just use them as a comparison to demonstrate how the female characters have been neglected.

Lyse has some of the stronger character development among the female Scions, and while she's still kind of portrayed as being too emotional and hotheaded in early Stormblood, I think it's actually explored in more depth in a way that I like; Lyse has good reasons for wanting to fight for her nation's freedom, but having been away from Ala Mhigo for several years now, she needs to understand the stakes for the people who've been there fighting for years, what they've lost and still have to lose. She grows as a person and rises to the challenge of leadership, and I'm even okay with the fact that she leaves the Scions afterward because it feels right for her to stay in Ala Mhigo, and at least she doesn't die.

And by all accounts she was, like Wuk Lamat, widely hated when her expansion came out.

Unironically I think the other female Scion with the strongest character arc is Tataru. She tries to take up a combat job, finds that it's not for her, and decides to focus on where her strengths are instead. In doing so, she both holds the Scions together as an organization in the absence of a leader by capably managing their finances, and also comes into her own as a businesswoman and makes international connections that benefit both the Scions and her personally. In contrast to Minfilia, she's not portrayed as weak because she doesn't fight, and is actually allowed to be an important character who's good for more than being sacrificed. Tataru is still distinctly in a supporting role for the player character, however, and her character arc happens as a side story that takes up a relatively small amount of screentime over several expansions, which I think is probably why she doesn't evoke such a negative reaction.

But there is a pattern of the game's writing showing disinterest in the interior lives of female characters generally, and in making their growth the focus of a story.

So yeah, I'm going to be happy about Wuk Lamat! I'm going to enjoy and celebrate every moment of her character arc, of her personal growth, of watching her put the lessons she's learned into action. I'm going to love and treasure every moment when she gets to be silly, embarrassing, emotional, scared, grieving, confused, upset, seasick, impulsive, and still deemed worthy of growing into a hero and a leader. I will love her with all of my soul and you simply will not convince me that it wasn't worth the screentime after such a profound imbalance for basically the entirety of the game. We've never had a major female character get such a strong arc with this much love and attention put into it and that means more to me than I can truly say. The backlash to it is disheartening, as this kind of thing always is, but I'm not going to let it ruin the wonderful experience I had playing it and how much joy it continues to bring me.

And for those of you who don't want any of that for a female character, thank goodness you have Heavensward and Shadowbringers and Endwalker and no one can take those away from you.

(And if you follow me you know that I love Shadowbringers and Endwalker and have very fond memories of Heavensward despite some issues with it, so not only can I not take that from you, I am not trying to!)

Some of us have been real hungry for a character like this with an arc like this, so, I think, y'know, maybe we can have that. As a treat.

[raetreaderarts]

Sorry if I didn’t include your favorite, I just threw out the ones I like the most. You can leave your favs in the tags tho, cause I love getting obsessed with new mad scientists if you couldn’t already tell

[ookikufurikabutte]

let's play a game. is it afk valen or my oc mattias

[tianshiisdead]

Some of you guys who 'like Japanese culture sooo much' just like having a pretty pure object to turn over in your hands , but the moment you're confronted with the reality that you're handling a people and culture with flaws and darkness in their history and parts of their society that have conflicts and cruelty like any other country, you instantly drop them and begin demonizing them instead, and the idea of treating them like any other country and people never even enters your mind. Japan isn't a perfect fairyland, nor is it an oriental despot who needs to be led into the light by a white country that's assumed to be more liberal based purely on race.

Furthermore, your lack of willingness to engage seriously in the cultures and countries you're so 'interested' in shows when you assume certain political realities that have no basis in reality outside of your own biased imagination. Asian countries can't be categorized into dirty or clean, good or bad, and those categories - if you DO somehow force them in with regards to one aspect of society - will not encompass every other part of society.

[pechebeche]

yeah. yeah okay. the girls got me

[300x300 icons, free to use with credit]

[frugalkubal]

I just started playing AFK Journey! ✧⁠◝⁠(⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠)⁠◜⁠✧ I was drawn in by the art style; it's absolutely pleasing to my eyes. (⁠✯⁠ᴗ⁠✯) I've been delaying with the challenges/missions bc I kept wandering around, admiring the landscape art; basically just dilly-dallying for aesthetic pleasure. ♡ lol

I named my character Gavene. I think it's obvious why I named him that. (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

[buggachat]

Happy Birthday, @megatraven!!! ❤️ 🥳 🥳 🥳 🎉 🎊

[taintedmegane]

why he kinda... <3

[the--firevenus]

"I have always been told through legends of old"

-

my magister ref sheet <333 a bit of rambles under readmore

truth to be told there isn't much i change except simplified the clothes and add my lil hc spin design, I like to think merlin had marks all over him like an engraving magic tattoo (kinda)

i had a habit of just... fluffing the hair.... i love to think he woke up and never want to touch his hair, permanent bed hair despite hammie effort in wanting to comb it ("magister please take consider of your appearance more!")

his alias name has little to do with canonical merlin mythos and more so to just me picking it cuz i originally want to name him helios, like the god of sun but alas.... i do think its a bit poetic to it cuz he so space theme in my head

originally i want to also put more design sketches especially on his markings! but that maybe for another day, i imagine merlin had it all over his body and not many had seen it cuz guy cover up from head to toe LMAO

lastly, since the game default face to masc merlin is just... resting bitch face, i upped that a bit and make him more expressive! stranger might never notice it but his travels companion probably would, fun teasing victim tbh

[special-vibe]

Brainrot is still very real about these two!

[mili0lin]

messy silly guy in croissant hat (in case if you didnt recognise him: philip is an nps with inventory sort side quest)

mini 🫦 face

[obsessedwrhys]

Do you have any angst headcanons for Lorsan (AFKJ)? Doesn’t even have to be ship related I just love a good lil sad bunny boy every now and then and I’m curious if you have anything in mind

|| LORSAN ANGST HEADCANONS ||

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ major angst, bit of fluff, I added some relationship headcanons as well, enjoy!!

He has self esteem issues.

It's the constant overthinking of whether if he's good enough that made him this way. With all the corruption happening in the land of his home, he just feels the guilt.

He tells himself he did what was right setting out searching for help but was it right to have abandon his people when they could have been better if he stayed and helped instead?

That's why whenever the thoughts became unbearable, he'll start pacing up and down and even sometimes go as far as to pulling at his own bunny ears.

He just doesn't wish to be a burden to anyone.

Adding on that his big sister is such a good role model to others, it pressures him even more to try to be as perfect as she is. After all, he never was a good student at the Jade Lake Academy when he was a kid.

Although he always plays off as the cool guy and whatever, most of the time it's his way of coping with his insecurities.

So if you happen to be dating him, communication will be a huge issue in the relationship.

He doesn't listen to you even though he's a windwhisperer. It's quite ironic.

You always have to point out the things he's doing is not good for him or that what he's doing is not fine with you. He can be a bit slow.

He also gets depressed easily if left alone. That's why he's very chatty when he's around his friends. It's all because of his fear of loneliness.

He just doesn't want to be abandoned.

The thought of all his friends forgetting about him scares him.

Another thing I would like to say is I think that whenever he cries, he starts off with like this high pitch whimper. It's like those cries where he feels so vulnerable that he completely loses all hope in himself.

Whenever he's upset or anxious, he grabs onto his arms like he's hugging himself. It's how he tries to comfort himself.

If you were to offer him a hug, he'll literally melt into your embrace and start crying shamelessly. He'd struggle to talk through the hiccups as he pour out his problems

"I—I'm sorry— hgnh! I wasn't thi-thinking right... hold me hnn... mm..." He'd cry, nuzzling his face into the crook of your neck.

He rarely cries so when it does its from the days of bottling up his emotions deep inside.

Sometimes when he gets too frustrated, he'll accidentally lash out and bite you which ends up with him apologising nonstop. All this leading to him hating himself even more.

Even though he has his issues, he's still a person just like everybody else. You just hope that someday he'll realise there's no shame in being imperfect.

(Sorry this was a bit short, I ran out of ideas 😅)

[masond-jar]

have to make my own homoerotic art for them. they make me insane

[zkretchy]

Decided to draw the fam

[glitchedcrisis]

KinitoPET sayings for minesweeper and being afk

Minesweeper:

1] I'm trying to ask you a question, nows not the time to be playing games

2] Did my story bore you? I saw you playing games.

3] Hey, what are you doing? I promise the web world is more fun than games!

4] are you playing minesweeper? Why?! There's so much fun to be had here!

Afk:

1] are you still there?

2] hello? Where are you?

3] I guess they had better things to do

[After that it seems to repeat]

There maye be more. This is just all of gotten so far 🤷