#critique role

[deancasforcutie]

"Now you live in a secret bunker with an angel and Lucifer’s kid", AKA queering domesticity par excellence

[alliekitaguchi]

one thing I’m hoping is addressed in future episodes is the fact that laudna sometimes acts like she’s the only one who’s ever been through her own trauma. and yes, what she’s been through is AWFUL, but everyone has been through something

- laudna was tricked, tortured, hung, revived, and wandered the world for about 30 years by herself before she found Imogen (though Marisha has stated there was someone before Imogen, but that hasn’t come up in game yet), and then died again, before being revived again. she has delilah in her head, which is Not Great, but laudna consciously brought her back

- imogen was abandoned by her mother at a young age and grew up with an absent father, who revered her as a freak, and was an outcast everywhere she went

- fearne was abandoned by her parents and has had her life be in the hands of others for over 100 years, mainly her “grandmother”, who has been stretching their time together to keep her longer. she’s also been killed, and found out that she was a purposefully made by a villain for some nefarious purposes

- ashton lives every single day in pain, grew up in a cult, died, woke up in a new body that was broken, didn’t know anything about himself, has been alone since he was a child, exploded into a thousand pieces before painfully reforming with new, more “broken” body parts

- fcg was an assassin bot that sat untouched for 2,000 years before being brought to life and thrown headfirst into society with no help or instructions, and then died tragically

- chetney has lived over 300 years by himself because his family abandoned him and he had to come to terms with the fact that they’re all likely dead, and the loss messed him up so bad that he’s avoided making meaningful connections with people ever since, and he literally JUST died, was revived, and watched the person who deemed him worthy of saving sacrifice themself

- orym watched the love of his life and his father figure be cut down in front of him, watched his friend accept a cursed crown that permanently changed her, was killed and revived

there’s no denying that she’s been through something horrendous, but she has to make the conscious choice to get better. to quote matt & marisha both: laudna is an addict, and she digs herself into her grief so deeply that she can’t see the cracks in everyone else.

she was right that orym should’ve talked to the whole group before taking otohan’s sword, but she was a hypocrite because she tried to steal it off of him. the sword is the source of her trauma, but it’s the source of orym’s too. she told chetney to not talk to her about loss after learning just mere weeks ago that he lost his entire family in one day.

i thought dorian put it beautifully: “it’s just a thing.” it only holds power over you if you let it. she’s dead. the blade no longer hurts you unless you let it.

there’s something so riveting about watching the nuances of trauma unfold in juicy, juicy ways

[ariadne-mouse]

I mentioned in this post that I thought it would take a life or death choice about Imogen for Liliana to flip, situationally, as opposed to the party being able to convince her to change her ideology (cult juice is strong), and it seems we may have gotten an element of that in Liliana flying to Imogen's aid against Otohan. I'd be very curious what Liliana would have done if she'd gotten there in time to fight, but we'll never know, so we have to digest the moment we got. I also think FCG's death adds another dimension both in-game and above the table. Since we dropped out literally mid-scene after her arrival this post may get stale immediately after the first few minutes of next week's episode, but for now I think it's safe to say that at least for the time Liliana spends with the party right now she will not be an active antagonist. Her daughter called for help and she answered, and her first act was trying to comfort her. Matt also wouldn't hit the players with another big battle fresh off the first (and with that outcome), so if they do have to face Liliana as an enemy it would be later under evolved circumstances.

To be clear I don't think FCG dying means Matt nerfs the threat of Liliana or that this situation means she has flipped permanently, but rather, it neatly interrupts the established dynamic between Liliana and Imogen thus far and creates a chance for new dialogue that doesn't just repeat all the same things as before. Imogen hasn't needed her mother - not really - and maybe still doesn't, but she called for help and is grieving now and the conversation doesn't necessarily have to be the same old "Liliana renounce your cause" but rather "help your daughter here and now" and to connect with her through that emotion. This is probably the best opportunity they'll ever get to flip Liliana in a more than "last ditch in a crisis moment" kind of way or lay the groundwork for that happening later. Now, the party - and Imogen in particular - may rightly be angry with Liliana as an ally of Otohan, and that FCG died because of the cause Liliana supports. Liliana may want to comfort her daughter while also believing that FCG's death was unfortunate but not ultimately a reason to doubt the cause or escape what she sees as inevitable. It's messy! But it's a very interesting situation and FCG's death is such a visible wound on Imogen that it may elicit Liliana to do or consider things she wouldn't, otherwise.

[ludinusdaleth]

i do not remotely mean this as in insult to the bells, but to me, even before c3 began, i knew it was never going to be a story that would survive on or deserved to be about one party. critical role would have gone stale if it went on much longer as it was, with just its og cast, and you could feel it brimming with understanding of massive events - changes of reality & its own fictional world - on the horizon. i know the concept of a "crossover" story with a staggering number of central characters is inherently risky, but i genuinely think one of c3's biggest strengths is just that.

avalir needed to be presented during c3's runtime, a precursor to past calamity as exandria entered a new one; aeors story needed to be told in this campaign, the apex of mortality's fall in the past as the war for ruidis began to fever pitch in the now; the bells hells needed "guest" stars that truly became their own party members, more than just the og white cast, so many people surviving as nobodies in apocalypse beyond those you expected to take up the call; the crown keepers needed to parralel the bells (hell, they are the bells), infinite parties thrown to slaughter by war when all they wanted was friendship, with hope still deep within them to return to each other; the mighty nein & vox machina & their cohorts needed to push & bear witness to the bells, analyze their own dynamics with power and what it means to be a hero/leader in a time where that isnt clear cut and comes at severe cost not measured in these ways in their campaigns; and most importantly the bells needed - and as of recently chose - to be thrust into being heralds of history. their story was built on heartbreak of being crushed under the boot of other's hero journeys (the story emphasizing that while they got caught in fate, they arent alone in that fate of being "unimportant"), and so it is in the campaigns lifeblood to provide them the chance to look at the tapestry in a way no other can, to bear the tragedy of being the sacrificial lamb and deciding what sacrifices of the world & themselves to make in turn, especially in a campaign that is blatantly asking the question of what is worth it to be in an imperialisically-designed fantasy universe where thousands are not seen as important to the pov of the hero.

[shorthaltsjester]

free my complex female character, she did the same thing as complex male characters but the fandom takes Any analysis of her actions/choices/motivations that doesn’t strip her of all of her agency in bad faith and claims that only misogynists would dare to critique the things that they’ve noticed in her character because she’s a woman, completely ignoring the over-presence of discourse about similarly traited male characters in their fandom.

[stackslip]

for every "loud obnoxious vegan" on social media who compares eating meat to genocide and that tumblrites have decided are representatives of all vegans ever, there are thousands of ranch farmers deliberately destroying essential parts of the ecosystem and slaughterhouse executives pushing for abuses of both animals and human workers (most of whom tend to be extremely poor and/or immigrants) and dairy/meat producers who will bitch about how environmentalists and the Woke are ruining their lives while they treat animals and undocumented workers like slaves so they can squeeze out a bit more money

[ravenkings]

[sassy-cass-16]

ashton greymoore is a very interesting and deeply flawed and beloved character who is currently functioning with chronic pain, a point of exhaustion, and a charisma stat as low as grog strongjaw's intelligence. it makes perfect sense that they sound pretty fucked up right now. however.

i keep wondering what the fuck they want. they've been saying a lot of philosophical mush for the last little while without actually making a meaningful statement about their current goal. obviously they're not a fan of the gods and keep making vaguely disparaging statements about pretty much every deity, which is perfectly reasonable given the circumstances. but they haven't said anything about what their actual goal is right now. do they want to let predathos loose? probably not, considering he also isn't a fan of ludinus. do they want the gods to abandon exandria entirely? that seems like his best-case scenario, but that's not happening. they have to KNOW that's not happening.

but complaining directionlessly isn't going to get anything done. it's not forwarding a goal.

so what does ashton want?

[utilitycaster]

I think with the appearance of the exaltant teen we can say that despite most exaltants being from a charisma based casting class they somehow all have the least rizz anyone has ever had

[sangrefae]

i feel like it must be said that i very much enjoy mithrun, he's one of my favorite characters, but the way the community at large handles him with safety gloves as if he'll break at the slightest criticism is very frustrating considering his role in the story is that of an antagonistic force

[socialistexan]

There's so much in I Saw the TV Glow that I saw in my myself, in Owen in particular. So many little things, even down to having asthma.

The constant apologies for the crime of existing. The soul crushing disapproval from a father figure with liking "things for girls". The finding identity and meaning and relationships in TV shows (hell it's why I found Abed Nadir so identifyable 10+ years ago). That awkward manner of speech. The stuff about time not moving correctly. "Look me in the eyes" oof

Owen saying, "there's something wrong with me, everyone knows it" hit me so hard. That is really almost word for word things I said about myself at that age.

And in the end all it did was affirm me. It affirmed that I made the right choice in transitioning, even though I was 30. It wasn't too late, there was still time. I stopped myself from being buried alive. Saved from being stuck in a contructed world, looking for superficial meaning because the glow of youthful light that is hope I once had taken was from me and hidden deep down.

It was like being shown an alternative future for myself that I avoided.

[weldnas]

-

[agnesandhilda]

while I stand by my assertion that species in beastars operates as its own demographic category that overlaps with but does not directly equal any real world identities one of the easiest parallels to draw is one of gender. itaparu's insistence on pairing off her characters into couples that are uniformly heterosexual but still forbidden because they're interspecies (specifically carnivore/herbivore, which is stated to be a much bigger deal than even different-species pairs that are still carnivore/carnivore or herbivore/herbivore) contributes to the sense that beastars is a world with a distinct social binary based on diet as well as gender. legosi is admonished by other carnivores for being too meek---embarrassing, ashamed of his nature and easily cowed by herbivores---and is at the same time criticized by herbivores for failing to take advantage of the strength (both physical and in his perceived societal safety from predation) that they lack and wish to have. does that remind you of anything in particular?

[isfjmel-phleg]

What if interactions between girls and boys in children's fiction were not necessarily Statements About Gender Roles to be critiqued but examinations of friendships and social development and personal growth through learning to relate to others. It's okay if Mary undergoes character development and then uses what she has learned to help someone in a similar situation who happens to be male. It's okay if Marianne rescues a friend who happens to be male and then has to loan him her pencil so he can try to return the favor in the end. It's okay if characters of any description help each other, care for each other, out of a place of genuine mutual affection. It's okay if we take these friendships in good faith instead of trying to find ways for them to be Actually Secretly Heinous.

[admiral-blackwood]

you all are giving alex way too much credit, I honestly think he just thought it was a funny idea to use exaggerated gen z slang

[itsalwaysforyou]

jay not asking coach about letting lonnie onto the team bc he doesn’t want to do anything coach might disagree with…….