#calling all romance fans

[spirits-n-giggles]

Now, I don't do much fandom deep dives these days, but I think it's feckin funny to hear of ANY unapproving ships in Baldurs Gate 3 of all things... A fandom that is FILLED TO THE BRIM with pan-sexual/romantic (and asexual/romantic) partners to choose from (if not more than one at time) so if anyone ever gets on to you about how you might enjoy a dark and twisted toss in the sheets, simply give a lil giggle, banish them to Raphael's succubus, and go about your day.

Life is too short to give a single shit about some dumbfuck opinions that are trying to ruin your day. So ruin their day by having a good one and go enjoy your ascended vampyres, your murderous drows, your literal sexy bear (my personal fave), your special connection to Withers, your spunky lil threesomes-- or even no romance at all, if thats what appeals to you. That's why this game is so awesome. There is no "right" answer.

This game is just that: a game. Go enjoy your game. And enjoy the story YOU choose to tell. That's what this game was made for, after all.✌️

TL;DR - if someone's ugly to you, block their ass. Simple as that. They exist to waste your time and your time is valuable, so if they don't pay your rent pay them bitches no mind. (thanks RuPaul)

Besides.... if you were a REAL BG3 fan, you'd ship 'em all together in one big dysfunctional orgy. 🥰

[seafoamdew]

Watch me project my guilty pleasures on to hijack 😔

[missm0rgue]

Anyone wanna be MCR mutuals please please please please please please please please please please please please please

[good-to-drive]

Not to start shit but there's no non-misogynistic explanation for hating Pattie or Jane

[bakafurai]

oh my god I was watching a let's play of P3 reload and one of them called odagiri "onigiri" and now i'm picturing femc calling him onigiri and rraaaghh my heart

(bonus: keisuke catches on and also starts calling him onigiri and odagiri wants to say something but at the same time he can't bc omg his cute smiley brunette friends are calling him onigiri and his brain decided this was a great time to be bisexual)

[emberphantom]

 “...That’s another reason why this Soap and Ghost relationship works, right--is that, for whatever reason, y’know--that doesn’t need to be talked abut now...but--Ghost has, well it’s clear that Ghost has a huge amount of respect for Soap, right? And he wouldn’t let anybody--in fact, for anybody else to talk to him the way Soap does would mean a different thing--but they’ve been through a lot together. But what’s great about that moment--and I’m glad you brought it up Neil-- it that [Ghost and Soap] are pushing each other to evolve without even realizing it. And for Soap to say something like that costs something for him. And for Ghost to correct the record and say what he says, that costs something too. And I think, again, that’s why this game is so satisfying is these characters--they’re going to places they’ve not been before. But they help each other get there. And I think that’s a good theme that’s come out from this game is that, you know, they need each other.” 

-Samuel Roukin on Ghost and Soap in MWII (x)

Honestly, one of my favorite parts of that interview from yesterday. Not even from a shipping stand point, but Samuel just like seems to get it when it comes to what makes Ghost and Soap scratch at everyone’s brains and I think that’s awesome. 

[suffarustuffaru]

Reading your tags about how people miss the very obvious "there's some fucked up shit boiling underneath" regarding Otto, just gave me a sudden realization. Otto is the only character I know in fiction where they act all innocent and drive up the "clumsy", "just in the side-lines" and "straight-man (heh)" persona. When. Like no one's in the EMT camp is buying it. They know he's way more capable than he let's on. Meanwhile, the tomfoolery is completely brought on by the Western audience.

Like Otto is failing miserably to make other characters believe that he's not up to mischief, Roswaal even thinks it can bring his downfall. But the audience, who even sometimes *sees* his fucked up thought process, is buying it.

*head in hands*

no u bring up so many good points bc ive been really thinking about this for a while T^T its such an interesting phenomenon in the difference in perception otto has between the japanese speaking half of the fandom vs the english speaking half which can be explained by—yeah. media illiteracy mainly. im also putting my head in my hands anon T^T

because—okay sorry wkdndn im gonna get into meta again but hear me out bc this pattern of the fandom underestimating otto is interesting bc i kind of sort of i cracked the code maybe??? o.o i think the nature of otto is a character is that youre SUPPOSED to underestimate him at first, just like what happens sometimes in universe. i mean wayyy back then i definitely wasnt expecting him to get more depth added to him in arc 4–which was a pleasant surprise—which is also the reaction the vast majority of people have to reading/watching arc 4, along with the other vast majority reaction which is being a bit endeared to ottosubas friendship and respecting otto for being a good friend. and then its easy to underestimate otto bc of 1. all the chaos going on in rezero at any given moment and 2. hes almost always overshadowed by other characters doing worse shit or being more insane than he is and 3. otto of course damn well knows hes easy to underestimate and counts on that. thats what he did against roswaal in arc 4. plus—i mean even aesthetics-wise hes 100% DESIGNED to be easy to underestimate. his outfit and physical features make him look either friendly or frazzled or soft. so i think that the point is that we were supposed to be kind of fooled—at first.

because yeah, we’re endeared to otto. we respect him for helping subaru the way he did. we think that hes a nice person and we now support his actions especially after feeling sympathetic towards him after learning his backstory. (or at least the average audience member will think this wjdndn.) but like—you dont even NEED to look at any side content at all for it to dawn on you that theres something Wrong. with him. like all you need is main route arcs 3-8 aka ottos entire screentime thus far, because at arc 4 its so easy to overlook otto unless youre thinking a bit deeper (for example—he gets violent with subaru. like yeah its entertaining, its played for laughs a bit, yeah subaru needed to be snapped out of his own head, but was it 100% necessary??? why did otto have this response??? bc if you just look at the main timeline otto really decided to beat up subaru first. and bc this tendency is now Less Funny in arc 8).

but even if youre just looking at rezero face value, when you get to arc 5 its starting to get even more clear that ottos weird in the head. like we already saw him being very good at scheming and planning in arc 4–in arc 5, we find out about otto hiding the tome for a year. we find out WHY hes been hiding the tome for a year. the tome then leads the witch cult into priestella, so like—in the sense, otto is RESPONSIBLE for arc 5. but theres STILL a tendency sometimes for the audience to continue underestimating him even though by this point we’re getting more clues and many characters around otto, like you said anon, KNOW hes very capable. i keep wondering why this is, but arc 5 is, again, FULL of chaos and different storylines happening at once, so its so easy to almost kind of forget otto there in the background until he occasionally pops up again. plus otto serves an additional role as comedic relief sometimes—he spends all of arc 5 being bitchy and whiny (i say this affectionately HAH) about his camp being full of disasters, for example, so i think the natural response from the audience tends to be “aw otto!! what a silly guy!!” sometimes. you know? so its like. i think at this point some people tend to be like “yeah fair that otto was wary of roswaal and thats why he saved the tome…. anyway ooooh whats going on with these other plot points” wobsbss. its so fascinating bc—ok this might be my own personal experience but anyone reading this pls tell me if you agree or not—i dont think ive seen a lot of people actually even MENTION otto bringing the tome into priestella attracting witch cultists. and the english speaking fandom LOVES to go into certain characters’ wrongdoings so why gloss over otto????

the only explanation i have for this is that from arcs 3-4 underestimating otto is. kind of the point of his character UNTIL you get to arc 5 and the clues in the main story start seeping in even more. and also the western audience DOES have media illiteracy a lot. theres that too. just look at rezero content on youtube or reddit or fanfic sites or other things of that sort T^T but no yeah i think ottos nature as a character exacerbates it. youre supposed to start asking questions about him. youre supposed to start connecting the dots and then SUDDENLY its now EXTREMELY obvious in arc 7-8 and even while theres so much chaos going on its basically shoved in your face. arc 7-8 is just delivering on all the leadup that was arcs 3-5.

and i think that youve gotta be media illiterate for sure to NOT get that otto is not squeaky clean and innocent BY ARC 8. i think that ottos the deconstruction of the loyal best friend trope, and also a mirror into what subaru couldve been like if he decided to be more ruthless instead of jumping right to forgiveness and saving everyone, except sometimes that flies right over the audience’s head wkdndnd. it confuses me bc ive seen some people completely miss the point or completely agree with otto and overlook the Bad Parts of it or, you know, STILL think ottos perfectly sane—like T^T please.

and yeah so back to what you said about otto Not being underestimated In Universe—its such an interesting detail bc hes ALWAYS been simultaneously pathetic and Very Competent wjdndnd. but yeah no all of his friends have seen various hints and clues and evidence of what hes capable of. like even though he hid the tome from them successfully and even though hes hiding info now its INEVITABLE that its gonna blow up in his face one day. like you got characters like garfiel who literally saw otto punch the wall and break his hand in an unhinged fit of rage, julius who got snapped at by otto and while julius is a Bit naive definitely knows somethings off there, anastasia whos smart as hell and definitely knows not to underestimate otto, and roswaal who, like you said anon, literally went out of his way to stop otto from breaking his hand in another unhinged fit of rage and warned otto that he will literally be destroying himself if he keeps going on like this. its this fascinating dichotomy bc otto is NOT fooling anyone around him but at the same time his current schemes are mostly unnoticed—for now—which yeah i havent seen that in a lot of media!!! its an interesting balancing act bc people around him realistically know hes competent after seeing the Proof of that for the past couple arcs, but otto is still finding ways to try and Win…

which—again, the anger and violence is an extension of arc 4 otto!! this is the same guy!! hes always been like this!! ottos kind of stayed the same, deep down, this whole time and as an audience its ONLY shoved in our face with a big gigantic spotlight on it FOUR ARCS LATER, but it was hinted to all this time. and like you said anon—we LITERALLY see ottos fucked up thought processes. literally what sane person thinks any of that shit. its spelled right out for the reader HAH T^T which—yeah. media illiteracy…. and also this whole ask was a longer way of just saying that otto is VERY easy to see at surface level if youre media illiterate. but at the same time it should be very easy to figure out otto is A Bit Fucked Up bc tappei underlines it in bright red print!!! i think people sometimes just hang onto soft awkward silly otto and forget about the rest T^T either that or they dont think he cares about subaru at all. which. that phenomenon of thinking characters that do care about subaru Dont Care is also interesting to me bc why????? we’re at arc 8 and you STILL dont get it??? o.ooooo

but yeah apart from that….. i said this earlier but yeah sometimes some people agree with ottos realism in arc 8 which is. understandable, but the whole point is that he is EXTREME. with it. hes Not in the right here, but the same crowd that wants wanton revenge in rezero is gonna agree with that kind of stuff T^T ottos been lurking in the background so much so that tappei made it meta by doing the whole “walking in darkness” part of his character, so i guess people just. dont see ottos ACTUAL worst traits and instead think he would ditch subaru at the first opportunity or something. but at the point we are now, arc 8 ottos problem isnt that hed ditch subaru. his problem is that he would sacrifice the world for subaru. his problem is that he gets extremely angry at subaru for trying to do good. his problem is that hes trying to micromanage everything around him and is willing to sacrifice anything necessary to get what he wants. but sometimes people dont get that bc otto doesnt look sound or seem like a character thatd do that. the Underestimation part of his character is doing too well on. certain audiences. please T^T the soft and awkward and silly parts ARE part of his character just like all the Darker parts are!!!

additionally im also wondering if western audience perception of otto is also clouded by the fact that otto looks and sounds more feminine / androgynous and he doesnt have the appeal of Overt Power either……. he cant Really be waifu-ified… and he cant be used as a weird self insert like subaru…. and you Have to look at him closer to understand him…. and for some reason people dont tend to hate on him so aggressively, if anything people cant even see his actual canonical flaws half the time wkdndn so if youre not paying attention otto CANT be aggressively hated on bc theres nothing there if ur not looking at it….. and if youre not paying attention otto seems more “boring” compared to the others…… (not that people arent allowed to not have otto as a favorite character bc thats totally fair but im talking about the tendency to think hes Saner than he actually is.) but yeah these are just my guesses. i have no clue the western fandom is a little T^T some people unfortunately cannot read.

anyway. big thank you to the japanese fanbase for understanding ottos character more and making so much wonderful fancontent for him T^T also i think that we as a collective fanbase should stop underestimating otto in general bc its exactly what he wouldnt want and i think itd be really hilarious. <3333 make him explode with rage please

[zaachknight]

checked tiktok for some itgo (cause I forgot to check there when I first read it) and I just gotta say,, did most these ppl truly not get the plot of it (or even the subplot) or what? "it's such a larry story" "it's 1d coded!!!" no it's not what r u twelve????

like I like 1d, and I get it but I'll be honest, it just doesn't make sense to me how ppl who've read it can take that from it like. come on.

[katabay]

Do you have specific fiction authors that you like to read? What aspects of a story make you want to really dig your fingers in it? Is it horror?

I’ve got a couple! Keigo Higashino for sure. anything Naoki Urasawa does: I will be reading it. Priest (Guardian and Mo Du are all time favorites). also KJ Charles and Andrew A Smith!

ngl I don’t really have a concrete list of favorite fiction writers, I spent several days thinking about this one: like, I have favorite books for sure, but I don’t often find myself considering an author to be a favorite just because their book blew my mind. I’ve only read three of Andrew A Smith’s works, but he’s here because he gave an interview years that changed my entire approach to storytelling, and I still revisit it whenever I start editing a story.

honestly the big thing is that I like character!! I like compelling characters (extremely varied definition of compelling, it doesn’t have to be much, but it does have to have something) I like it when something goes full throttle into whatever it wants to be. I’ll watch a slow paced slice of life romance with the same amount of enthusiasm that I had for Devil Judge, and the 1vs10 beat down in Ipman takes up just as much space in my brain as the ‘let’s not see each other from now on,’ breakup in the Heirs (but for extremely different reasons lmao)

however. if I have to pick something more thematically specific: I like seeing people in power get what they have coming to them, I like explorations and confrontations of political and social injustices. kingdom is one of my favorite shows, and the horror is great, but it was the political-class-power aspect of it that solidified it as a memorable watch to me. kamen rider build did something fundamental to the circuitry of my brain. etc.

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Sorry but like

I think it needs to be said at this point

[nostalgia-tblr]

everyone has these thoughtful reasons and careful media analysis to make their point about why sylki will/won't "be endgame" and thus it's okay (or not) if they argue a bit first and i am slightly ashamed to admit that my entire thought process thus far has just been "well there's six episodes to fill, of course they'll drag the romance plot out as long as possible." :'(

[thegirlwholied]

not to have a grudge against all books written in a certain POV but first-person alternating, we meet again, my beloathed

[romance-incubomp3]

came across that diru vs b-t poll from a while ago and looking at the notes…. jfc no offense but some diru fans are kind of really fucking annoying lol

[slightlyplant]

not to make a big deal out of a character who we never even see alive, but i just love clay terran’s name. like… in general ace attorney pun fashion, the astronaut should be named Space McGee or something, right??

nope!

because clay never gets to space. even his name ties him back down to the earth, prophesying his failure. his japanese name does this too—the wiki translates it to “blue earth.” (and, i mean, i don’t think how i have to describe how the english version “clay terran” is earth-related. TERRAn? really?)

because clay will never get his dream.

he doesn’t matter.

he’s just another Deid Mann, except his name refers to the fact that he’ll never reach his dreams.

suck it, clay.

[junipum]

im sooo annoyed seeing some of the GO2 posts that are calling it "low quality" or fanfiction in a negative sense. like yeah ik we're all entitled to our own opinions but i truly don't see half the issues with it that would elicit such criticism. i get it might've been a little less action packed than s1, but that doesn't make it bad! or poorer quality! stories have ups and downs, and i don't even see this as a down at all. i genuinely really like s2, and i think it lives up to the hype. i know i certainly believe it was worth the wait! i think the ending was good as well. i would've loved a happy ending right away, but it's a well known fact that stories only get better endings after something heartbreaking or drastic happens that totally throws a wrench in the plans. i can't help but think of the end of hannibal s2. while at the time of release fans might've been mad possibly, but now with s3 we look back at that and cherish it as just another layer of the show and their relationship. i can only pray that we get a s3 that gives gaiman and pratchet time to finish/continue the narrative they're creating. aziraphale and crowley deserve more time to fix their relationship, and the writers/directors deserve more time to continue the plot without being stopped by annoying critics

[lesbianwithchainsaws]

Almost my entire feed is just Gerard Way living the life. Love to see it