#if you're gonna be annoyed

[drhu0806]

I have... very mixed feelings about the criticisms aimed towards game devs right now regarding Baldur's Gate 3 setting a new standard for RPGs, and frankly I'm a little disappointed if only because it doesn't sound all that different from those really annoying players who obviously have absolutely no experience in game dev and what it's like but they keep talking shit like they do. Game dev is hard. I'm not a game dev, but I am in software and that's hard enough, and I can only imagine what people who make games go through. I am not going to pretend I know what their job is like.

That's not to say I completely disagree with people wanting to put BG3 on that pedestal: I absolutely want AAA studio execs to fear for their lives with the release of this game because it's going to prove so many things to them, and I do want it to set some kind of standard in some things. But I also genuinely don't think it's even possible for games to consistently reach BG3 as a standard even if they tried. So I see it less as attainable and more as something to consistently worth striving for, mainly because of just why BG3 is almost for certain going to rock our worlds, because it's a result of a perfect combination of factors that I genuinely think even AAA studios will have hard time getting:

Backing of Wizards of the Coast - this is one of the biggest ones I think, but this gives BG3 relatively lower risk when it comes to turning profits. I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell anyone that D&D is hot right now, so Larian already has a near guaranteed huge batch of consumers coming in.

Highly successful early access - this is less of a super important point since AAA studios def have the resources for QA on this level but we do need to factor in the steady cash flow and how for a part of playtesting players are paying them rather than the other way around. Also of note is that part of what made their EA so successful is because the studio has had previous EAs that proved their worth, which ties into the next point...

Proven track record - Larian is one of the most perfect companies to have taken on this role--though yeah they did get rejected before when they tried convincing WotC--mainly because they've had at least two very successful and genuinely good games in the past, and they've brought on a lot of those devs from those games to work on BG3. This is the really important point because I do want to emphasize that Larian had to build up to BG3; the two Original Sin games were good but they aren't as big. Part of why I don't think games regularly being the same caliber of the game is feasible because studios need the experience, and they absolutely cannot make games as high functioning as BG3 every single time.

You need at least both points 1 and 3 to get something like BG3 and while there are some franchises + studios that can achieve this (I def have one in mind but they THREW THEIR POTENTIAL AWAY--) I'd be very hard pressed to find this combination with any level of consistency. I'm sure we'll get games of this caliber every once in a while but I feel like so much of getting there is having games in between that may or may not be great.

I feel like there's a disconnect in the way people are expressing and interpreting these opinions. I personally think game devs--at least the reasonable ones--are saying BG3 shouldn't be the standard because they're saying it's really not possible to make games of that level of scope all the time, which I think is pretty reasonable. But maybe the way some of them are saying it, players are interpreting it as a refusal to put in the time and effort to make decent games that don't break the backs of their producers. I think BG3's general work flow is definitely something any company could achieve, and I think that's what good fans want, I just sympathize with devs in that I don't want players to hold games to such a high standard on a technical level when Larian was just about the perfect company to take on this job and you can't get that all the time.

[therealraewest]

I can't believe Khonshu took Steven and Jake in the divorce

[pep-rambles]

While I can't speak for other Alastor ships (but I'll tag you all and you can weigh in). But in the RadioApple/DuckieDeer fandom a lot of those making fanwork, including the smuttier stuff, are acespec/arospec themselves so maybe learn what is actually going on in these fandoms before try to gatekeep in their tags

[bakudekublogblog]

talking to normal people about mha is always so enlightening because someone told me they didn't like season six and i was like???? THE BIBLE??????? YOU DONT LIKE THE BIBLE??? BAKUGOU KATSUKI RISING?? THE APOLOGY??? THE CHASING AFTER HIM TO FIGHT SHIGARAKI, THE REVEAL KATSUKI HAS BEEN WORRIED ABOUT IZUKU, IZUKU'S FERAL RAGE WHEN KATSUKI IS STABBED, KATSUKI BEING THE ONE TO FIND IZUKU AND THEN THE ONE TO BRING HIM HOME??? YOU DONT ENJOY THE SACRED TEXTS?? and then i'm like oh right not everyone is a fujoshi high on that sweet, sweet bkdk yaoi

[hedwig221b]

I'm smiling so hard at my current (and only) wip, it's so delicious so good I'm obsessed with it 💗 it's everything I want and need from an abo fic, it's unashamedly self-indulgent and just ahhhhh

I think it will beat Predators for me as the best fic I've written. Also it's gonna be the longest one. I know for sure some of you (you know who you are) are gonna be obsessed with this fic just like I am currently bc we share a brain

I'm so excited for you kittens to read it 💗 I'm smiling again agdjdjsllqhskeeieowjsqljswlwl

EDIT:: IT'S HERE!

[atthebell]

i feel like you should not get to use the word cubito if you're one of those complete fucking asshole hc/life fans that's said racist shit about the qsmp/quackity like you don't get to borrow that word from spanlang fans if you're gonna act like latinos are beneath you or like your annoying white guy is the only mcyt that matters

[willowser]

much as bakugou hates having his privacy invaded, he doesn't bother to hide his face when buying you flowers.

out in public, right there on the street. first, in front of the strangers passing by, and then not long after, his candid, frowning face is plastered across several cheap magazines all throughout the city. it pisses him off to no end to keep his mouth shut when he knows some bastard is snapping his picture from across the street — but he swallows it all down, for you.

doesn't pull his hat any lower as he drives through the streets, doesn't hesitate to take the stairs up to your apartment, doesn't care to cover up the look on his face — with his pitifully sad eyes and soft frown — when you open and shut the door before he can even say anything.

bakugou hates to have his privacy invaded, but he'll gladly let the world know where his heart lies, this time. yeah, he fucked up before, but he'll be front page every single day if that's what it takes for you to realize how much you mean to him.

if, eventually, the center spread will be of you, leaning against the door frame with a little smile and a bouquet in your hands. he wouldn't even mind, really, if they captured the exact moment you decide to give him a second chance, or the kiss you plant on his cheek after.

can't tell how red his face is from a distance, but his smile is crystal clear.

[jesncin]

not to throw shade- but it is a tiny thing I feel I have to say. John Constantine is not a perpetual outsider, in the context of being a British person in America (in Dead In America).

You can just say he's a foreigner. The term "perpetual foreigner" is to refer to people who are perceived as foreigners even when they are native born citizens. In the American context this means Asian American and Pacific Islander people. Johnstantine is a white man, sure he sticks out because of his accent and British-ness but he isn't perceived as foreign because he's not part of a racial minority group.

He's not going to be asked "so where are you really from" the same way an Asian person constantly would be asked in America.

[bonefall]

while i do agree with the sentiment that bloodclan should be more nuanced as an entity i still believe it is wrong to portray them as the necessary "response" to clan injustice (haven't read the books in years but i am pretty sure that bloodclan started with no connection to the clans) / an opposition to the clan's flaws. some of the thing scourge did was out of selfishness and bloodclan isn't the other colour of the black and white debacle with the clans. the clans are heavily flawed yes, but it isn't realistic to completely say that their structure had no redeeming qualities altogether and that all outsider groups is fundamentally better than the clans.

all clans and groups are flawed in their own way and i believe we shouldnt brush past the things that other groups (the sisters and what they do with their toms *cough cough*) did solely to be able to degrade the clans and their culture.

Buddy, you're setting up a strawman. I promise you that if you look into the reduxes I've made of BloodClan, Guardians, The Sisters, and the Tribe, you will see that I don't make any of them a "flawless" alternative to Clan life.

Nor do I say that the Clans have no redeeming qualities. In fact, you can browse the "Clan Culture" tag to see the various expansions I've made to show how these traditions, values, and technological advances make Clan life so alluring.

The overarching theme of BB is that the nature of culture is change. For better AND for worse.

With respect, I think there's something insidious in the wording of "the things the other groups did." We're talking about fan responses to a work that consistently demonizes and degrades foreigners to make the Clans look like the "best way to live," justifying xenophobia. These are not real groups, they are writing choices.

In the franchise with some pretty extreme examples of misogyny, the authors said "What if bizarro world where women rule and have no men... woag..." and only includes a single Clan-alligned member of this culture, with a BAD opinion of them, who can't even do his diplomatic job because he HATES them so much.

In the same franchise that shows Fireheart getting bullied, facing prejudice, and fighting a murderous tyrant who publically executes a mixed-race character, their endgame villain is an outsider, like him, but this one IS a godless heathen who HATES love and friendship and banned families.

In the VERY same franchise which made its first non-malicious group barely able to get through an arc without needing to be saved by Clan cats, totally unable to defend themselves, framed as "whiny" for not wanting their clearly 'inferior' culture to be forcefully changed.

And I'm re-stating all this because, again, no offense to you in particular Anon, but I've been seeing a few people with a sentiment like yours lately. Complaints into a vacuum that don't make targeted critique of anyone's fanworks, gesturing at this broad "woobification" which is apparently out there somewhere over the rainbow, saying things like "well Scourge is selfish" or "well Moonlight abandoned her 13 year old" as if we haven't BEEN knew.

As if we're not all directly responding to these choices. As if I haven't written ESSAYS on this topic.

Since this was about BloodClan in particular though, and you admit you haven't read the books in years, please go back and actually read Rise of Scourge before trying to make critique of the ways fanon rewrites its origin. It's EXPLICITLY a response to the Clans, in the text, that the Erins wrote, it is canon that fanon is working with.

And you want people to take that out and approach it a different way... why? Because it's so incredulous to you that a nation forms in response to a threatening neighbor? That a common enemy through invasions is a way that people might choose to unite, and encourage their new culture to value brutality? Because you don't like the idea of Clan Culture's XENOPHOBIC BATTLE CULTURE affecting surrounding communities??

Could YOU, maybe, be doing this "woobification" thing I keep hearing about? Can I play this stupid game too? What's our stupid prize? Can it be a lollipop? Do we get stickers

TL;DR, ok.

[wikiangela]

just a reminder that people don't need to explain why they ship or don't ship a ship or why they write or don't write for a ship, no one owes anyone any explanations and seeing people send asks about it is just so weird and ridiculous and confusing tbh

have you never been in a fandom before? don't like something, block and unfollow buttons are right there - and the opposite too: looking for fics/gifs/art for your ship, well, the search function is there too, its so easy to find blogs that share your ships, and you can ask for recs or whatever

just, stop asking people to explain themselves out of ships of all things, this is literally fiction, who the fuck cares about the why and why nots jfc

[epickiya722]

Seeing my boys get their cards brought me such joy. I'M SO PROUD OF YOU TWO!!! 😭💜

[spaciebabie]

well i cant draw springtrap in a sexy cat outfit if i quit now can i?

[quaranmine]

can people be nicer about the solar eclipse because i've had people irl laugh at me when i express disappointment over the bad weather forecast and online i see tons of people being rude about it too? like where is your whimsy and sense of awe at the universe and how dare you insinuate that i'm being frivolous to be sad about potentially missing what is, for my area, a once in a lifetime event?

[skrunksthatwunk]

something he can't put into words.

[butcharondir]

An Unholy Sacrament // Rated M

a polin medieval au

nun x knight

multi-chapter slow burn

depictions of medieval violence, religion, and sexism

chapter one: a woad-blue ribbon

Penelope reflects on her life in the nunnery, and a moment from her childhood she can't forget. Colin goes to war.

chapter two: three hundred sides of vellum

Penelope survives fever and finishes a winter project. The King's forces return with grim tidings.

chapter three: i'll sell my flax

Penelope pulls together a plot, but the Abbess throws complications in her path.

Full summary below the cut...

Summary: Chantress Penelope is a respectable nun, in charge of the books in her abbey's scriptorium, and she's proud enough of the life she's made. But she didn't have any choice to become a nun, and ten years after her vows, she still mourns the life she might have had, and the long-buried dreams she's unable to even speak. When her old friend and long-term crush Colin of Bridgerton is sent to war in France, Penelope is more fixated on the event than is seemly for a cloistered woman. And when he fails to return at all, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Penelope has her wits and her talent for guile to help get her to France. Unfortunately, she knows almost nothing of the world beyond the abbey walls, or of the Knight himself…

Read on AO3

[utilitycaster]

I'm still thinking about that post about how female characters and especially wlw and f/f ships are treated in fandoms because I got a reply that I deleted on my post about how all the Nein were big shippers on deck for Beau and Yasha that boiled down to "haha Caleb making a tower so the useless lesbians would admit they liked each other!" and it's like. He made the tower to Beau's orders. She had already asked out Yasha, who in turn had of her own volition written Beau a phenomenal, beautiful letter instead of a poem as recommended by Jester. This is factually incorrect and obnoxiously dismissive of a genuinely great dynamic and attributes all agency to a man. When you say shit like this you sound like you are Chat GPT. No new thoughts no time actually spent analyzing a relationship dynamic just "ooh i see a woman in fiction what is the phrase most associated with this ok done onto the next task".