#and that won't ever change

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

No, the villains of MDZS do not actually have any redeeming qualities. They have a glimmer of humanity, in the case of Xue Yang cherishing the candy given to him by Xiao Xingchen, Jin Guangyao finding Lan Xichen a kind man, and Jiang Cheng loving Jin Ling. But none of the above is a redeeming quality. Because they still are the ones actively harming who they "loved". Especially in the case of Xue Yang and Jin Guangyao.

Xue Yang took active pleasure in having Xiao Xingchen kill innocent people because the man was blind (literally and metaphorically to Xue Yang's monstrosity). Lan Xichen was purposely blinding himself to Jin Guangyao's depravities and his own lack of facing his hypocrisy by using the fact he was friends with a man that came from a sympathetic hard life, which Jin Guangyao used while aspiring to be his father (that lacked morals).Jiang Cheng is arguably the most sympathetic here, as he did mean well when it came to Jin Ling. But his own hatred and selfishness took precedence to any actual kindness and tolerance he could have raised Jin Ling with.

The first two were always going to be scum because they found nothing wrong with how they manipulated and hurt others for their own benefits. Jiang Cheng runs away from his guilt and hurts others to his detriment. There is a reason the only one that lives is Jiang Cheng. And that's due to him still having a semblance of humanity still within him to actually do better by the one he loves.

This doesn't make him a good person. But it sure makes him a less shitty one that can still do something by not manipulating and using the one he loves as his shield for an excuse. The other two died never thinking they ever wronged the people they killed while still making excuses for themselves. It was always someone else's fault. Jiang Cheng had the chance to stop doing that and did for once in his life.

[anghraine]

ROTJ ruled, as usual— it has more flaws than my beloved ESB for sure, and more than ANH, but the highs are so good and so rewarding in a way that never gets old.

One of my favorite parts this time around comes after Anakin tells Luke it's too late for him to ever go back (a belief explicitly shared by Palpatine, Yoda, and Obi-Wan, but not by Luke until that moment—and only for a little while). Luke withdrawing into "Then my father is truly dead" is always great, especially the shot of him in the lift, surrounded by taller men in Imperial uniforms with his shoulders and back rigidly straight and the warmth in his expression gone. But the thing that really makes it is not ending the scene with Luke disappearing, but letting that rejection linger by shifting to Anakin and just letting seconds tick by as he contemplates what's just happened.

He doesn't actually do much—just walks a few steps and reflects. His body language isn't overwhelmingly despondent or anything. Obviously we can't see his face. And yet we feel how hard that hit and how much he's dwelling on it. He's all but encouraged this response from Luke and yet it feels like it's really, truly sinking that this isn't at all what he wants from Luke.

He doesn't want Luke to call Palpatine (or anyone) master, I don't think; he just considers it inevitable, the only possibility other than Luke's death. And for Anakin, death above all is the thing to prevent.

Everything Anakin says is about things he or they must do, or what cannot be escaped, or destiny, but all of these things he says to Luke are ultimately about Not Getting Yourself Killed. There's no sense of choice beyond submission or destruction.

(Anakin does know he's done terrible things, clearly, but his takeaway from that understanding is that he's gone too far to turn back. That sense of powerlessness, the inability to make a choice that really means anything, pervades his characterization in ROTJ in particular.)

But I feel like, while he still feels powerless after Luke leaves, there's also this sense of a slow, half-buried epiphany. This isn't what he wants.

[shieldmaiden-tabris]

Alright at this point no Star Wars writer other than Timothy Zahn should be allowed to touch Thrawn in current canon. Don't look at him, don't think about him, none of that. Don't even breathe in the blue man's direction. If you don't understand the fundamentals of his character, namely the primary force that drives and motivates him to do things, then do not have him do things!!! Create your own character to be the big bad!! Leave him alone.

[confuzing]

I woke up at 4 am last night and wrote this SQH with little MBJ snippet before passing the f out again:

SQH wrung his hands. MBJ was still crying. He'd done everything he could think of, making sure the kid wasn't too hot, feeding him, triple checking for injuries-

It wasn't like he was being too loud either. The kid's tears were near silent- just harsh breathy gasps of air in between jags where he just shook, tears streaming down his adorable round baby face.

"Are you sure you aren't hurt?" he asked helplessly. He pressed the back of his hand against MBJ's appropriately cool forehead again, like this time it would reveal the little demon's secrets.

MBJ shook his head, "I want my mama." he said before somehow crying harder.

oh.

oh but...

SQH mentally double checked his MBJ backstory - the very thing he was currently messing up- but no, yeah... He was remembering correctly.

At this point in his life MBJ's mother was already dead.

...

That was just fucking soul crushing wasn't it?

SQH sat down on the floor next to MBJ.

"Oh I'm sorry." he said, not sure if he was apologizing for the situation or his own decision a lifetime ago to write her out of the story quickly. He hadn't even had a good reason. Dead Moms were just a trope. "I'm so sorry she can't be here for you."

He reached out and pulled the little boy into his lap. MBJ flinched again, like he had every time SQH had touched him, like he was expecting the touch to hurt.

That tore at SQH'S tattered soul even more. He didn't trust himself to speak around the lump in his throat so he just hugged MBJ close and rocked him back and forth while stroking his hair and humming thoughtlessly.

After the initial flinch MBJ went utterly relaxed against him, like he was too tired to fight SQH's embrace.

Eventually MBJ's crying stopped and he dropped into the deep sleep of the truly exhausted. If SQH kept up the cuddling even after that it was nobody's business but his.

[sturgeonz]

Guys he lives in there (click for better quality PLEEASS)

[elf-trash]

reposting this bc the OP blocked me (and is blocking anyone else who disagrees which means blocked people can't reblog) and i want to say this loud and with my whole chest!!!!!

another Dragon Age fic was recently outed as being AI, and this is what the writer had to say for themselves about it:

so actually, Grammarly uses generative AI and is just as bad as ChatGPT. it also objectively makes your writing worse, it sucks the voice out of your prose and turns it into corporate sounding homogenized paste. it's also unethical for all the same reasons any generative AI is unethical. get a writing group and have a real human beta read for you if you don't trust yourself to check your own grammar etc. but honestly something unpolished and written entirely by your human brain and human imagination will ALWAYS be better than AI slop.

also, the part about published authors doing this is patently untrue. i know this is a huge problem in the self-publishing space, but most publishers now are including clauses in their contracts that expressly forbid the use of AI in ANY part of the creative process. this includes using ChatGPT to generate or clean up outlines or Grammarly to spellcheck and revise. so if you're trying to publish, don't fucking do this or you could literally be asked to return an advance if you get caught.

i've posted about this in the past, but AI detectors are actually shocking accurate these days. i've tested them extensively recently and they can consistently and correctly flag individual sentences written by ChatGPT in an otherwise original passage. and they almost never flag false positives. so the argument that AI detectors can't be trusted is just flat out wrong. are they correct 100% of the time? no. but can they indicate with a high degree of accuracy if AI was used in some capacity? absolutely, especially if there is additional evidence.

and for all the people hand wringing about AI detectors flagging false positives, let me just say this: if something is not AI written it is very easy to prove. you can't write anything of any considerable length without leaving a massive paper trail of notes and drafts. almost all writing software tracks changes and makes it very easy to prove you wrote something yourself. being falsely being accused of AI isn't actually a real problem and is only being made to seem as such by people who are trying to get away with and justify using AI or who are worried about getting caught.

i think a lot of people are just lured by a seemingly easy shortcut, and to their untrained eye, what the AI is spitting out feels "better" to them than their own writing. but i promise you it's not. trust your own brain and put in the work to improve at your craft rather than outsourcing the gift of your imagination to a robot that steals from other people's work.

i will continue to die on this hill!!!!!

[dennisboobs]

:) i certainly have no issue dressing in drag :)

^guy who has no issue dressing in drag btw

glenn said that dennis' drag name is victoria von hemen btw

(Source)

[mikakuna]

thoughts about time travel shenanigans where robin jason and bruce are thrust into the future and find themselves on a rooftop during a stormy night? because listen.

they both find themselves on this random rooftop in gotham, but they're not alone because right in front of them is batman of this year and a man wearing a red helmet. this wouldn't have raised much of a concern-- they probably could've just asked the future bruce what happened and how to get home-- except this batman is more violent than jay or bruce anticipated. they watch, stunned, as this batman repeatedly rains his heavy fist down on the other man's face, chest, ribs, and wherever else he can reach.

they watch as the man with the red helmet struggles weakly, consciousness slowly leaving him, before they catch sight of his face in the crack of his hood. both jay and bruce realize at the same time who it is-- that this is future jason despite the hard lines and large ragged body so different from jay's own.

the realization hits right there-- that bruce is beating down on jason more violently than batman has handled any villain.

the bruce of the past feels it before he sees it-- his jay flinching away from him and his tiny hand ripping away from his cape in fear. bruce looks down at his son, his child, and sees the absolute terror in his eyes. after all, why wouldn't jay be so upset? didn't bruce promise never to lay a hand on him like so many adults in his young life already have? didn't bruce swear, crouched down in front of his little boy and gently holding his hands, that he would keep him safe now?

and yet as they stare at each other with horror-filled eyes, the jason of this time finally loses consciousness as his bruce drags him away by the cracks of his helmet, bloody knuckles pressed over his swollen eyelids.

bruce distantly remembers the way jay had shyly called him dad just two days ago. now, he stares as his sweet boy takes a trembling step back, tears threatening to spill down his wide eyes. bruce doesn't think he's hated himself more.

[girlrandomstuff]

Do you ever think about Mags in her last minutes probably thinking that her sacrifice would not only give Finnick and the allied tributes a chance to win but also keep Finnick alive, not knowing that the boy she ended up raising didn't survived the war?? CUZ I'M STILL HAUNTED ABOUT FINNICK'S DEATH

[infamous-if]

Blake over AUGUST? I think I’m going to be sick

trust me I hate it too i need to burn this story to the ground /j

[i-maj-ine]

Just started reading ORV (not that far in but I am lightly spoiled on some plot points bc of friends) and trans Kim Dokja would hit diff if Fourth Wall's censor helped cover how fem his body shape is

Like that'd be fucking hilarious

'i didn't think the apocalypse had to happen for people to be more accepting of my gender' says local man, who has a skill that literally convinces others that his boobs don't exist

Imagine the misunderstandings. Imagine them, please, I beg of you. I need someone to vibrate on the same wavelength as me when it comes to everyone literally not Knowing He Is Trans because HE LOOKS LIKE A FUZZY BLOB.

Kim Dokja, very confused but very glad that people are so accepting when he knows he doesn't pass as a guy. Kim Dokja, scrunching his face when people talk down to women and look at him like he'll implicitly agree because he's one of the boysss. Kim Dokja, getting weird ass stares for the menstrual products he has on hand-- (OH GOD BATHROOM BREAKS, BATHROOM BREAKS WOULD BE SUCH A HILARIOUS SUBJECT, IMAGINE HIM GOING TO THE WOMEN'S BC OF HABIT AND GETTING TUGGED BACK BY SOMEONE ELSE STERNLY LIke stop laughing Sangah-ssi, you're being such a bully rn)

He just looks like a thin frail looking stick of a guy, it's like only when people get close and touch (if you're even allowed to... the kids get that privilege via hugs) that some areas seem to have more give than others while others seem more expansive than they actually are. When you set your hand on his shoulder, the hazy form is lower and tinier than you expected... He's so weird.

[contamination-zone]

Um, hi this is my first ask ever so I’m a bit nervous ‘:D and I might yap a little—

Do you know about Greaser Sans, the 50’s themed Sans? He’s a funky guy and he’s paired a lot with Fresh because they’re both themed after specific time periods and their creators both ship them as well. I always love their dynamic since it’s ‘Parasitic entity that is a mockery of its time’ + ‘Average dude that is actually from his time period’

People love shipping them together which I think is very amusing because Fresh is aroace I believe and Greaser canonically couldn’t commit to a relationship to save his life.

That’s all, I absolutely love your art!! All your headcannons about Fresh and Nightmare has made me see them in a totally new light and your choice of coloring makes my brain happy. The way you draw people are so shape-shaped

thank youu!! glad you like my stuff :-]

I do know who Greaser is. Unfortunately, I am terminally disinterested in him, especially in context with Fresh. I'm sure he's a lovely character, I have just never seen a portrayal that caught any of my interest.

[natolesims]

ME: *Installs a risky woohoo mod*

ALSO ME: *Forgets the mod is installed*

SIM: *Gets pregnant*

AGAIN, ME: 👁️👄👁️

[reksink]

A Gaggle of Children from a Tortured Mind of One

[front-facing-pokemon]

[trappedinafantasy37]

"Weeeh! I wanna recruit Minthara on a good playthrough! Weeeh! I don't like the ultimatum and want to keep both Minthara and Halsin! Weeeh! I wanna make Minthara good! Weeeh! I don't want Minthara to break up with me!" Minthara deserves more content but none of these things are at all what she needs or deserves. No, these are all things that you want for yourself, but do absolutely nothing for her. This is one of the biggest L's in the game and it will forever enrage me because I just know it will never happen.

Minthara deserves to confront Orin like all the other companions do with their abusers. She deserves to scream and yell at Orin. She deserves to cut at her the same way Orin did, make her bleed and scream in pain. Minthara deserves to torture Orin, just as she did her in the mind flayer colony. Minthara deserves the right to roll up to the Temple of Bhaal and beat the shit out of Orin with her bare hands. Leave Orin begging for mercy in which Minthara will not even give her a drop. To slam Orin down on that altar and slice her throat, offer her up as a sacrifice to the father she is so blindly devoted to.

And yes, Minthara would be afraid. She would be TERRIFIED. Despite how strong and powerful Minthara is, she is also the only one afraid of Orin. Unlike Ketheric, or Gortash, or Sarevok, she is the only one who fully acknowledges just how dangerous Orin actually is and does not underestimate her. She will walk down into that temple, intending to duel Orin with a massive disadvantage because she is terrified.

Minthara choked when seeing Orin again in the mind flayer colony. She choked when seeing Orin as an imposter, throwing her deep into the ocean of paranoia and fear. And she is so entrenched in paranoia that it actually becomes palpable to everyone around her, even you. She describes herself as paranoid, but this is the first that you actually see how paranoid she is. And she choked again when Orin kidnapped someone in camp, making her feel inadequate, making a mockery of her for being unable to protect one of her own. And every day that passes, the more and more likely that the victim is going to die and she has doubts on their survival.

At every possible avenue in which Minthara could have done something or said something about Orin, she froze in place with fear. But she's had enough. She cannot be afraid of Orin forever and she doesn't want to be. One way or another, Orin has to die and she wants to get over that fear. She needs to know that Orin is dead, for herself.

This would also make the alurlssrin confession all the more impactful. She wants to tell you that she loves you in the best way that she can because of the very high likelihood that she will never have another chance to do so. She would beg you to come with her as you give her the courage. She has the courage to face her fears and confront her tormentor, because she knows she has you in her corner. If you have the courage to stand up to the very gods themselves, then she can stand up to Orin. Romanced or not, your presence alone is enough to give her the strength to do something she would otherwise be too terrified to do.

Minthara deserves the honor to solo duel Orin in a fight to the death. Minthara deserves the right to achieve vengeance for herself. No, I do not care that this confrontation would conflict with a Durge playthrough. In fact, it would provide a phenomenal source of some interesting, and toxic, drama between Durge and Minthara. Especially if they're in a relationship. This also does not mean that Minthara killing Orin instead of Durge would not have its consequences (because it most certainly will). Even if Minthara does not fight Orin, it would be so much better if Minthara was just given the fucking chance to yell at Orin like all the other companions in their personal quests.