#it helps that the separation of a cc with a character they play is way more clear

[monarchisms]

I saw a post on Twitter the other day about how someone was posting about how they just know this hermitcraft artist does NSFW art of them in a negative way and man these people would not be able to handle what went on in the rtahfh fandom

i mean, to an extent, can you blame them?

the rtah fandom at its "peak" and the hc fandom (if we're not including stuff like the life series) is some real "hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby" type shit. if it weren't for other people in the AH fandom trying to establish a positive relationship with the crew and find out boundaries in what could or couldn't be made about them, it'd be even more of a wild west than it was

my own personal opinion is that with some exceptions, i don't really like shippy content with the hermits, and i avoid nsfw stuff like the plague. it's a mix of me having little clue what each person is comfortable with since the group is huge, and also that many of them don't actively have a persona in the server that one can excuse as a character that's separate from the content creator

there's also the more obvious fact that rt content isn't generally for all ages. it makes sense for there to be a culture shock if you're someone who is unfamiliar with how rtah fans handle the more explicit content they create lol

[felassan]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard info compilation Post 1

Post is under a cut due to length.

There is a lot of information coming out right now about DA:TV from many different sources. This post is just an effort to compile as much as I can in one place, in case that helps anyone. Sources for where the information came from have been included. Where I am linking to a social media user's post, the person is either a dev, a Dragon Age community council member or other person who has had a sneak peek at and played the game. nb, this post is more of a 'info that came out in snippets from articles and social media posts' collection rather than a 'regurgitating the information on the official website or writing out what happened in the trailer/gameplay reveal' post. The post is broken down into headings on various topics. A few points are repeated under multiple headings where relevant. Where I am speculating without a source, I have clearly demarcated this. if you notice any mistakes in this post, please tell me.

as this post hit a kind of character limit, there will probably be at least 1 more post. :)

Character Creation

CC is vast [source] and immensely detailed [source]

We will enter CC straight after Varric's opening narration [source]

You are given 5 categories to work your way through in CC: Lineage, Appearance, Class, Faction, Playstyle. Each of these has a range of subcategories within them. There are 8 subcategories within the "head" subcategory" in "Appearance" alone [source]

Lineage dictates things like race (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, qunari) and backstory [source]

Backstories include things like factions. Factions offer 3 distinct buffs each [source]

There are dozens and dozens of hairstyles [source]

There are separate options for binary and non-binary pronouns and gender [source]

"BioWare's work behind the scenes, meanwhile, goes as deep as not only skin tones but skin undertones, melanin levels, and the way skin reacts differently to light" [source]

CC has a range of lighting options within it so that you can check how the character looks in them [source]

There are a range of full-body customization options such as a triangular slider between body types and individual settings down to everything from shoulder width to glute volume [source]. There are "all the sliders [we] could possibly want". The body morpher option allows us to choose different body sizes [source]

All body options are non-gendered [source]

They/them pronouns are an option [source]

Rook can be played as non-binary [source]

Individual strands of hair were rendered separately and react remarkably to in-game physics [source]

Special, focused attention was paid to ensuring that hairstyles "come across as well-representative, that everyone can see hairstyles that feel authentic to them, even the way they render" [source]

The game uses strand hair technology borrowed in part from the EA Sports games. The hair is "fully-controlled by physics," so it "looks even better in motion than it does here in a standstill" [source]

The ability to import our choices from previous games is fully integrated into CC. This will take the form of tarot cards - "you can go into your past adventures" and this mechanic tells you what the context was and what decision you want to make [source]

In CC we will also be able to customize/remake our Inquisitor [source]

A core tenet of the game is "be who you want to be" [source]

There are presets for all 4 of the game's races (human, elf, dwarf, qunari), in case detailed CCs overwhelm you [source]

Story

The story is set 9 years since Inquisition [source]

The Inquisitor will appear [source]

Other characters refer to the PC as Rook [source]. This article says they are "the Rook" [source]

The ability to import our choices from previous games is fully integrated into CC. This will take the form of tarot cards - "you can go into your past adventures" and this mechanic tells you what the context was and what decision you want to make [source]

The prologue is quite lengthy. A narrated intro from Varric lays the groundwork with some lore and explains about Solas [source]. In this Varric-narrated opening section, the dwarf recaps the events of previous games and explains the motivations of Solas [source] (Fel note/speculation: this sounds like this cinematic that we saw on DA Day 2023)

What happens first off is that Rook, who is working with Varric, is interrogating a bartender about the whereabouts of a contact in Minrathous who can help them stop Solas. The bartender does not play nice and we are presented with our first choice: talk the bartender down or intimidate them aggressively [source]

The first hour of the game is "a luxurious nighttime romp through a crumbling city under a mix of twinkling starlight and lavish midnight blue" (Minrathous) [source]. The game begins with a tavern brawl (depending on dialogue options) and a stroll through Minrathous in search of Neve Gallus, who has a lead on Solas [source]. Minrathous then comes under attack [source] by demons [source] (Fel note/speculation: it sounds like the demo the press played is what we saw in the Gameplay Reveal). Off in the distance is a vibrant, colorful storm where Solas is performing his ritual. [source] Eventually we come upon Harding. [source] and Neve. Rook and co enter a crumbling castle, where ancient elf secrets pop up, "seemingly just for the lore nerds". [source] Then we teleport to Arlathan Forest, have a mini boss fight with a Pride Demon, and there is the climactic confrontation with Solas. After a closing sequence, at this point it is the end of the game's opening mission. [source] (Fel note/speculation: So the Gameplay Reveal showed the game's opening mission)

The action in the story's opening parts starts off quite quick from the sounds of things: the devs wanted to get the player right in to the story. because, “Especially with an RPG where they can be quite lore-heavy, a lot of exposition at the front and remembering proper nouns, it can be very overwhelming.” [source]

BioWare wanted to make the beginning of Dragon Age: The Veilguard feel like the finale of one of their other games [source]

Rook's Faction will be referenced in dialogue [source]

Minrathous is beautiful, with giant statues, floating palaces, orange lantern glow and magical runes which glow green neon. These act "like electricity" as occasional signs above pubs and stores [source]

The story has a lot of darkness tonally. These dark parts of the game contain the biggest spoilers [source]. However, the team really wanted to build in contrast between the dark and light moments in the game, as if everything is dark, nothing really feels dark [source]

Our hub (like the Normandy in ME or Skyhold in DA:I) is a place called The Lighthouse [source] (Fel note/speculation: I guess this screenshot shows the crew in The Lighthouse? ^^)

Each companion has a very complex backstory, their own problems, and deep motivations. These play out through well-fleshed out character arcs and missions that are unique to them but which are ultimately tied into the larger story [source]

We will make consequential decisions for each character, sometimes affecting who they are in heart-wrenching ways and other times joyously [source]

Decisions from previous DA games will be able to be carried over, it will just work a bit differently this time [source]. The game will not read our previous saves. For stuff pertaining to previous games/choices, players will not have to link their accounts [source]

Characters, companions, romance

Varric is a major character [source]

Every companion is romanceable [source]

BioWare tried to make each character's friendship just as meaningful, regardless of romance [source]

If you don't romance a character, they may end up romancing each other [source]

There will be some great cameos [source]. Some previous characters are woven into the game [source]

Companion sidequests/optional content relating to companions is highly curated when it involves their motivations and experiences [source]

We could permanently lose some companions depending on our choices [source]

Our choices can influence if characters get injured and what they think about us [source]

The bonds Rook forges with companions determine how party members grow and what abilities become available [source]

Each companion has a very complex backstory, their own problems, and deep motivations. These play out through well-fleshed out character arcs and missions that are unique to them but which are ultimately tied into the larger story [source]

We will make consequential decisions for each character, sometimes affecting who they are in heart-wrenching ways and other times joyously [source]

Gameplay, presentation, performance etc

Each class (warrior, rogue, mage) has 3 specializations. The ones for Rogue are duelist, saboteur and Veil ranger [source]. (Fel note/speculation: Veil ranger reminds me of Bellara. Maybe this is her 'spec' too?)

Duelist gameplay involves a sharp combination of dashes, parries, leaps, rapid slashes and combos [source]

Faction-related buffs include being able to hold an extra potion or do extra damage against certain enemies [source]

Individual strands of hair were rendered separately and react remarkably to in-game physics [source]

Playstyle settings include custom, distinct difficulty settings for options as granular as parry windows, meaning "players who might fancy that playstyle but typically struggle with the finer points of combat can give it a go" [source]

Combat mechanics is a mix of real-time action and pause and play. Pausing brings up a radial menu split into 3 sections: companions to the left and right, Rook's skills at the bottom, and a targeting system at the top which helps get in focus on certain enemies. [source]. In the pause system you can queue up your whole party's attacks [source]

Tapping or holding the shoulder button pauses the game, allowing us to stop the action and issue orders to companions [source]

There is a system of specific enemy resistances and weaknesses [source]. Weaknesses and resistances plays a big role in combat and abilities are designed to exploit these accordingly [source]. An example is that "one character might be able to plant a weakening debuff on an enemy, and another enemy might be able to detonate them" [source]

There is a vast skill tree of unlockable options [source]

You can set up specific companions with certain kits, e.g. to tackle specific enemy types, to being more of a support, or as flexible all-rounders [source]

Healing magic returns [source]

Abilities can change together with elaborate results, e.g. one companion using a gravity well attack that sucked enemies together, another using a slowing move to keep them in place, and Rook using a big AOE to catch them all at once [source]

A shortcut system lets you map a few abilities to a smaller pinned menu at the bottom of the screen [source]

There are class-specific resource systems. For example, Rogue has "momentum", which builds up as Rook lands consecutive hits [source]

Each class will always have a ranged option [source]

Rogue Rook can do a sort of 'hip fire' option with a bow, letting you pop off arrows from the waist [source]

Warriors can throw their shield at enemies, and can build an entire playstyle around that using the skill tree [source]

There is light platforming gameplay [source]

The game runs on the latest iteration of the Frostbite engine [source]

The game targets 60 fps

On consoles it will feature performance and quality modes so we can choose our preferred visual fidelity [source]

The game is mission based [source]. Some levels that we go to do open up, some with more exploration than others. "Alternate branching paths, mysteries, secrets, optional content you're going to find and solve." [source]

Everything is hand-touched, hand-crafted and highly curated [source]

Some sidequests and optional content is highly curated, especially when it involves the motivations and experiences of the companions. In others we may be investigating for example a missing family, with an entire open bog environment to search for clues and a way to solve the disappearance [source]

Gameplay, presentation, performance etc continued, after the above bullet list hit a character limit

There is sophisticated animation cancelling and branching. Gameplay is action-like, and the design centers around dodging, countering, and using risk-reward charge attacks designed to break enemy armor layers [source]

The dialogue wheel returns [source]. It gives truncated summaries of the dialogue options rather than the full line that the character is going to say [source]

The bonds Rook forges with companions determine how party members grow and what abilities become available [source]

For stuff pertaining to previous games/choices, players will not have to link their accounts [source]

We can play the game fully offline [source]

There are no microtransactions [source]

The game itself is not as cell-shaded in look as the first trailer looked [source]

[☕ found this post or blog interesting or useful? my ko-fi is here if you feel inclined. thank you 🙏]

[auriidae]

more of these guys :] (part 1) (part 2)

classpect thoughts under cut! yippee

these absolute fools gave me SO much trouble. i changed each of their classes and/or aspects like twice while drawing this lmao.

pearle was going to be a rage player initially! i had her down as one for the chaos — yknow, ‘red’s my favorite color’ and all that. but the catch ended up being that in this au, as rage represents in-game chaos and bloodlust, it only exists while the game is in effect, and so rage players don’t have much dominion over stuff that happens after that period ends (which has all sorts of delightful implications for grienn’s character, but anyways). meanwhile pearle definitely continues playing and also grows as a character even in times of peace. i was thinking in terms of comparing her arc in double life to secret life in particular — ‘she left the tower’ and all that, yknow? she went from being terribly isolated and functioning on a completely independent scale, winning only for herself, to being a key member of a team and finding a purpose in helping them. which is pretty incredibly space-coded, in my mind! my personal qualification for space players is that they’re destined to be lonely, often physically separated in some way from others, for a while but not forever — because space is about creation, after all. and if you look at being a witch from the perspective of reinvention — what pearle manipulated or reinvented here was herself. she found her place in the story and the person she wanted to be. witches are also some of the most powerful characters in terms of specifically manipulating their aspect, i think, which is great because i’ve heard she's pretty great at pvp lol

ignore that martyn’s color palette is not particularly great it’s hard to unify the design of a character who is super rustblood-coded but also inextricably linked to the colors green and yellow of all things. i’ll redesign him later. anyways! at first i had thought there might not be any light players in this session — since light is about sort of seeing through the laws of the game and often deliberately defying them, as well as having a certain degree of control over narrative agency due to this. and because, yknow, the life series is a minecraft youtube roleplay series, realistically the ccs aren’t going to be playing any characters that go out of their way to completely ruin the game or refuse to play it by the rules altogether. but then i started thinking — and i don’t know an awful lot about martyn’s character so forgive me if i’m going a little bit off the rails here — does martyn want to understand? because if he as a character tries to understand and affect his destiny even though he’s ultimately limited by the nature of the story itself, then he could totally be a light player. so that’s where i was coming from here. think about how he won limited life in the end, for instance — not by playing into what the game itself had been leading up to, but by acting on and finishing his own story. he’s a knight because i do think knights are a certified Narrative’s Little Guy class — they persevere through so much pressure and often also have that sort of dual persona thing, both of which are particularly endearing to an audience. it’s hard work, keeping up with the narrative and fulfilling his own quest for understanding while he’s at it!! but he does it!!

renn is Such a blood player guys he is such a blood player ohhh my goodness. playing the game in terms of your relationships with others, right? basing how you go about it on allies and interactions, and being a leader above all else? i’d say that’s pretty ren the dog coded tbh. i don’t have too much to say here because i think seer of blood renn is pretty self-explanatory — he sees the entire game as a game of relationships and ties. he has a lot of knowledge about this field specifically, and shares it with his allies in the way he helps direct them and keep them alive. the reason he’s blood instead of light is because he puts his allies over knowledge, i think — he’s far too busy dealing with all that stuff to speculate for too long what the purpose of it all might be, and that would detract from his goal (of winning alongside others or dying nobly), anyway.

again questions abt them are open forever always :3

[emi-writings]

Honestly, still kinda pissed that someone saw my jokey post about changing c!Wilbur – in a way that would have resulted in the exact same mc skin – and decided to scold me for “changing a loved character” in a way they considered “sucks”.

Could you imagine if commented every fanart of zombie Wilbur with “this isn’t canon and also it sucks” just because I personally didn’t like the zombie Wilbur headcanon?

My headcanons also aren’t something new, I just held back on how extreme they were because I knew people who were obsessed with cc!Wilbur would get upset for doing things cc!Wilbur wouldn’t like, even if I could back up why I have those headcanons from the canon material!

Just because I posted something in a jokey way, it doesn’t mean that these aren’t things I have spent years exploring in my fanfics, ideas that always wanted to expand on but never did before.

Why do I headcanon Wilbur as a witch? Because potions in Minecraft are considered magic, you get the death message “killed by magic” when killed by potions, and the mob witch uses potions. Wilbur is strongly associated with potions because he started a potion scam when he joined the dsmp! I held back from including things like astrology, but now that cc!Wilbur is dead to the fandom, I figured I wouldn’t need to anymore.

I’ve actually included Wilbur with witchy tattoos in my fanfics before! In the first ever tattoo artist/flower shop in the tntduo fandom!

Gender nonconforming Wilbur is simply based on the fact that he does act very gender nonconforming in canon. He serenaded Quackity to get him pregnant, he refers to himself as the Yin to Quackity’s Yang, I don’t want to touch on the Ghostbur and Friend shenanigans.

Wilbur not understanding geography? He needs help finding things on the server, and he clearly doesn’t know how countries work if he thinks he can just claim a piece of unused land and call it a country. It’s a funny little joke, he doesn’t even know what exactly is going on in terms of countries in the server, he just cares about his own thing.

Wilbur is one of the many characters that didn’t have a canonically height listed, so I made him a bit shorter than his cc! counterpart… He’s still taller than most other characters, it’s not much of a difference that I think would matter.

We know Wilbur is a musician as he composed the L’manburg anthem, but canonically the only instruments in the dsmp are the noteblocks. But I think woodwind instruments make sense for Wilbur, since they’re capable of playing some hauntingly beautiful melodies, and as the son of the angel of death, I think that would make sense for his character.

Like, I shouldn't feel more pressured to make my headcanons of c!Wilbur more like cc!Wilbur after we all agreed that the character was separate from the content creator!

[thedragonagebigbang]

Bang Creator Interview: Tumblr: @blarrghe  |  [AO3: blarghe

The Collaboration period has begun! In these quiet months before works are due, we want to foster a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and celebration among our participants. To that end, all participants were given the option of a formal interview by our mod, Dema, or an informal “ask-game” survey. We hope you enjoy getting to know our phenomenal creators as much as we have!

Tortured Man More Tortured by Having To Endure the Best Week of His Life

Blarghe and Dema talk art imitating life writing, romantic foils, and the Platonic Ideal Dorianmance 

Dema: I'd love to begin in OC land with you. As someone who is both an artist and a writer, do you find that making art of your OCs informs your process? Or are those pretty separate for you?

Blarghe: Hmm. That's a good question.

Dema: Why, thank you!

Blarghe: My feeling has always been that I'm a better writer than I am an artist, so maybe the writing informs the art, more. I am always getting very visual ideas, like maybe some comic-panel type storyboards in the brain, and I can't really illustrate that to the degree that I want, so it can be like it is in my head. But I can more easily make words do that.

I'd very much like to do some illustrations for my own stuff, and I love drawing my OC and some things have helped in the other way, like designing his vallaslin on paper did give me something better to describe from in writing. I'd really love to reach the point of being able to do a few comics. There are a few scenes I really see that way. I try to be quite visual in my writing in the meantime I guess, haha.

Dema: That makes sense! I have the same dream. Comics are very intimidating. So it sounds like you write your OCs before you draw them?

Blarghe: Yeah, generally. I think since we're going from a video game and I already have seen the characters that way, there's that. Though I have OCs I have not made in the character creator. I haven't invented a ton of non-canon side characters but there are a few. I think I can picture them pretty well. I wind up drawing them after falling in love with them through writing them, rather than like, designing a character visually/on paper/in the cc before putting them in a story. Honestly, I put down DA:I for a looong time while still writing da:i-inspired fic with my OC and other canon characters. So I guess I don't have to look at him that often.

Dema: I have asked several of our writers if they make all their OCs in the CC, and if that's step 1. I'm curious, too, at what point you knew you were going to make fan content of your OC and participate in fandom. Did you finish the game first? Did you come in with a foot already in the fandom?

Blarghe: Ok long answer: I was into the games first. I started playing in maybe 2015, shortly after Inquisition came out. My partner already liked the games and was excited to play it, so I wound up watching some of that and being intrigued. But I started with Origins, loved it, and wound up loving and playing all three, all of them with more than one OC, to varying degrees of completion. When it comes to writing fic, I had ideas, like, little comics and some additional fill-in-the-gaps scenes written into notebooks and stuff for all three games. Mostly expanding on the personal relationships and romances, as you do. I'd done that kind of thing for other media I liked, but never really been in "fandom" about it for anything. I've always done creative writing and original fiction as a hobby and it was just a way of getting back into that on a personal level. I wrote the most after finishing DA:I for the second time... I kind of did a playthrough I wasn't super happy with, then made a new character specifically for a romance (Dorian's) then... wasn't super happy with that character either, THEN made Taren who is my current OC obsession, and wrote like 30K words of canon-divergence fic with a whole other OC companion inserted and just had fun with it. I forgot about that until 2020, when I found it in my docs and re-read it and decided it was actually pretty good and that I could maybe try to post online, find community, etc. I've since completely scrapped and deleted that fic from AO3, but getting out there got me into doing writing prompts and writing other stories, and now here I am. (I still haven't actually finished my Taren playthrough. I will before Veilguard lol) I was definitely motivated by COVID, thought I might go insane without community, so I picked a couple things I was already into (writing and dragon age) and went looking.

Dema: I'm guessing most of the art and writing you've done for DA has been DA:I?

Blarghe: Most, yeah. If only because my long fic is a DA:I inspired modern-au. Honestly it's fairly divorced from canon lol. Most of my canon writing is for DA:O actually. And I'm obsessed with Taren, I've drawn him more than anyone ever. He is very pretty, you see.

Dema: He is very, very pretty. Is DA:O your favorite game in the franchise? Everyone hates this question but I GOTTA KNOW hahaha!

Blarghe: Yeah it is! I love them all for different aspects, but it's got that first-game start of the obsession nostalgia. I also love a finicky, strategy-heavy RPG so to me the usual combat complaints aren't really a thing. I like the pause-every-two-seconds combat hahaha. I do really love running around through the scenery in Inquisition though, and I like the characters, and the fun flashy rogue stabbing too. But I have a soft spot for Origins for really gripping you into that story and world. It's a great balance of silly and funny and dark and difficult choices.

Dema: I haven't asked anyone else this yet, but are you finding the Veilguard announcements and previews are refreshing the inspiration? Or are you avoiding all spoilers and pretending it does not exist until the release? Or some secret, third thing…

Blarghe: Somewhere in between. I've been here the whole time lol, I don't know that it hyped me up any more, but it's nice to finally have news. And I'm excited that it will mean new people in the fandom and a resurgence that way. I am not totally avoiding spoilers but still kinda keeping my distance for my own sanity. I'll definitely lock down the spoiler tags once it's actually out.

Dema: So valid. I am feeling very inspired, myself, but I think it may be more the energy of the fandom around me reaching such a fever pitch. We're like a flock of ducks getting a whole loaf of bread after years of crumbs. 

Blarghe: So true haha. I am really excited about how it looks. Can't wait to play it!

Dema: Same! Returning to Taren a bit because, well, he's pretty: you said you went through a few iterations of OCs for a Dorian romance before him, and then were hooked. What is it about Taren that makes him a favorite? Was there a particular inspiration for him?

Blarghe: Oh boy. Not a specific inspiration. I played DA:I three times, counting the Taren one that I'm not technically finished, and the first I completely missed any romance (thought I could get Harding until it was too late) but I loved Dorian's character and his personal arc hit so hard that I immediately made a new character just for him. He was like a sassy Trevelyan who didn't really wanna be there, trying to pull kind of a rogueish charming sarcastic irresponsible pretty boy to hang with Dorian but I really didn't like how that clicked. I know it's a pretty common character archetype esp in a Dorian romance to do sassy x sassy so no hate but I found the Inquisition storyline and dialogue options just wouldn't let me be that irresponsible and funny, which makes sense. I really liked the themes of how the game pushes you into this impossible role where the only thing you can do is become a big responsible hero figure. I'm sure there's a compelling story there for the kind of character I'm talking about, but since mine fell so flat to me I decided to lean the complete opposite way. And Dorian inspired it too. The more I played and considered it the more I felt like I wanted him to have kind of a counterweight romance, you know. Opposites attract kind of thing. So Taren started as this very responsible, serious character who has always been prepared for leadership, being a First, and takes all that really seriously. He's also very Dalish and has reason to distrust and argue with him, which is great for Drama, but very very sweet and genuine and wholesome, which is so fun to contrast with all Dorian's trust issues. Dorian's quite emotional and idealistic, really, so they match in that way and it's very romantic. Taren's also a bit aspirational. Part of why I like Dorian so much is that I relate to him a lot, and I was struggling with trying to become less arrogant and more genuine, so Taren embodies a lot of that for me. Part of what makes him my favourite is probably the blank-slate of it all, too. Not having the Origin and getting to make stuff up. The whole romance plot is really compelling. I stuck him in some AUs and got carried away by worldbuilding, too. And after so much time spent with him he's just the fave now. But yeah, he's not my usual archetype. I think I've made a lot more sarcastic rogues than genuine sweethearts. He has like, anxiety and trust issues and I keep throwing him in situations to give him Trauma, but that sort of, happy, sweet, genuine, and healer-class character was all new ground to me and I wound up just loving the different-ness and challenge of it.

Dema: I did want to tell you that your "This is a story about trauma and relationships and socioeconomics and questioning belief and searching for balance. It's also about finding your soulmate on grindr" summary absolutely sent me.

Blarghe: Thank you, I'm very proud of that.

Dema: Speaking of which, can you come up with a clickbait title for your bang fic?

Blarghe: Something like Tortured Man More Tortured by Having To Endure the Best Week of His Life [[REDACTED]] you can cut that last part because it does make it obvious.

Dema: A+. Thank you for the lovely interview, it's been a treat chatting!

Blarghe: Thanks! It was very fun.

[gammagoop]

I think queer headcanons for the characters of the ccs are fine when it is clear you are not talking about the actual irl person. Maybe not on Twitter but here. Tumblr doesn't have many of the ccs here and people usually try to be respectful about it and it's good to see someone like you in your favorite character.

I do understand your reasoning tho, this isn't an argument or anything. Just wanted to add my two cents.

Love your art btw <3

i appreciate the input! and thanks for the compliment :D

the way i see it, the personas that the ccs put on in the life series and hermitcraft etc are not consistently separate enough from the irl ccs in order to warrant treating them as fictional characters. of course this is case-specific— ren probably considers some of the characters he’s played as more separate from himself, compared to someone like etho who doesnt stray much from his true personality. and to me, its just not practical to take it on a case by case basis— we’re not going to ask every cc a list of questions about their content just to know if its ok to ship them and whatnot, so i tend to take a very “better safe than sorry” attitude and just not engage with that fictional treatment at all

i’ve seen this described as a twitter opinion before and while i do think that probably has foundations in reality, i think separating between platforms like that isn’t helpful. i barely use twitter and haven’t for probably a year or so (aside from my private account) so i engage way more with the tumblr fandom than the twitter one, and further, i see a lot of people on twitter who do treat them as separate characters. idk that statement just irks me

and i’m glad that people are generally trying to be respectful— that’s good! and i understand that i, a random guy, cannot enforce my own views onto other people. but i do think this is a good conversation to have that too often i see people brushing off in favor of their own fan desires

if you want to see people like yourself in the minecraft content you watch (as many do, including myself) you should find other queer creators to watch, and/or find qualities about the hermits (and co) that you can relate to

[cohandshake]

I’m aware that this is going to be a horrendously unpopular opinion—which is why I’m doing it on a dead side blog rather than my main

I honestly don’t understand people who listen to artists whose whole shtick is “I’m an awful person and everyone I know leaves me because I use and abuse them”, and then are shocked when the artist turns out to be an awful abusive person. Like, what were you expecting?

I keep seeing all these people saying “well, how was I supposed to know he was bad? How was I supposed to be able to tell?” And then they’re all like “ohhh woe is me, I can’t believe I loved these albums! I’m going to have to get rid of all this stuff I got and completely rearrange my whole life!” Like??? If you liked the songs so much that your whole room is plastered with posters and merch… surely you listened to the lyrics??? At no point was he ever trying to hide the fact he’s like this, it’s all over his songs.

One thing that also gets me, it’s that everyone is now like “if you support or like his stuff you’re a terrible person” and like. That’s valid. But YOU liked his stuff where he made no qualms or effort to hide this, before. Does no one have any kind of critical thought? Like, when you hear the lyrics, you just think “oh yeah, this is a totally normal line” and move on? To say that “oh he tricked all of us into listening and liking his stuff and being a rabid fan”, like you weren’t tricked. The only trick he played was being a “hot guy online” that everyone seemingly collectively decided was great because of that.

or is it being faced with the actuality that’s horrifying? by your own logic, you’re also just as complicit. — this isn’t to say that I don’t understand standing in solidarity with victims that have spoken out, and the purging of his work being part of that. I just think it’s a little hypocritical to get on your high-horses and say everyone is a peace of shit if they don’t immediately disavow his stuff, since the signs have been there from the start.

And this also isn’t to say that I didn’t like his music. I did and I do. In fact, I only know of him BECAUSE of his music (I found him when he was still covering pat the bunny and wingnut dishwashers union). I’ve had no illusions of him being a good guy, and still consumed his work— did I know just what kind of piece of shit he was? No. Maybe because I’ve only known him for his music that makes me so critical of most of the reactions. I didn’t have the chance to be pulled in by a “nice guy act” online like so many people seemingly have.

Speaking of his online personas, it does make me wonder how no one apparently thought he was bad before this? Like I’ve read some fics (not enjoying Minecraft doesn’t mean the fics aren’t good) and people generally and routinely portrayed him as this manipulative, erratic, controlling guy — even when writing him as the good guy, they still always included elements of these personality traits in the work. And now, I see artist after artist discontinuing and deleting works (and if this is what makes them feel better, fair play) saying that “they cant continue writing/drawing his character now they know the truth about him” but at the same time they were always so vocal about “I write about the c! not the cc!” Like if you were truly separating the character from the actor, would so many of you be speaking this way? Looking at the rampant amount of Harry Potter fanfics (not even starting on the manacled debacle), then no — the artist and the work are only connected when it’s live action amateurs.

And also, if you’re THIS distraught over some guy YOU DONT KNOW turning out to be terrible, get some help, that’s not normal i don’t think — or it shouldn’t be, the internet and social media has normalized being strangely attached to strangers and celebrities that you otherwise wouldn’t be.

[steveraglan1987]

🐰🔪 + 🐻🛠️ pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease

well i'm not sure if this is about them separate, ship or both, so i'll just cover all my bases to be safe. And apologies for the wait time.

Keep in mind i'm a movie fiend so this will probably be raglan, except for when i say games, and my interpretation of henry in the movies.

🐇🔪

- i hate willcare.

I don't think it's canon at all and the only thing it tells me about people who like it is that if they watched Marvel's Infinity War, they probably thought Thanos loving Gamora enough to sacrifice her was really sweet and not absolutely horrifying as a show of abuse.

I'm not saying William was never nice. I'm gonna say this once and only once, as someone who is a victim of abuse himself and knows many people in even worse situations:

A few minutes of kindness do not make up for hours of cruelty and torment.

Abuse isn't love. I love William Afton, but that comes with owning the fact that he's a piece of shit. I don't like changing stuff I see as unsavory, either, despite my own experiences, though I'm sure I could fix him or at least run him over with my Toyota Civic, etc etc.

- William Afton is also not a drunk.

I have nothing to add here, but I don't even think he likes alcohol that much. But I found it important to mention with the above, since typically fans fall into one or the other category. Which is either blaming his bad behavior on vices, or claiming he doesn't have them at all because he secretly loves his son that died and that it's all for him? Which is not true. Continuing.

- William Afton purposely let his son die, and he was the first child to die.

Let me explain. In the games, William knew that CC was getting bullied through all the cameras in the house, and the one in the Fredbear Plush that he frequently spoke to CC through as a manipulation tactic.

I think that he let Michael kill CC on purpose because he frequently pit them against each other (as implied through. Everything?) and it was his first real taste of death. I don't think it mattered that it was his own or he would have intervened when they were fighting in the first place. If he wanted Michael to stop, he could have broken character through CC's toy to do so. But he didn't. And moreover, he was experimenting with fear gas on his children in the games?? He wouldn't have had all the cameras otherwise. It's kind of horrifying to think he would subject all his children to horrific nightmares but still "loves" them? I don't think William Afton is a sociopath or anything, but I'm thinking that it's possible people give him way more credit for "caring about people" than is actually true. He's self serving. Not super evil, not super nice. He could go either way if it benefits him. People don't really understand how being selfish works, I notice, and tend to sort William into the boxes of either being secretly tragic or evil. The world is not so black and white, and nor is William.

- The reason that in the films, Golden Freddy kid has a grudge against William, is because HE'S the crying child and he knew William was the killer but didn't tell the other children because William was his dad.

I think GFK (Golden Freddy Kid) was killed by Vanessa, much in the same way that Michael killed CC in the games. I think this is a major thing Raglan held over Vanessa's head to help "influence" her into becoming a cop, she killed his son. He probably uses it to his advantage, and undoubtedly plays along with the "grieving father" story just to guilttrip her, but judging from the stare GFK gives William while he's seizing in the backroom, it's not true. And GFK knows that. He's the leader because he was the first, but he's not around often because Vanessa is his sister and he's not really sure how to deal with that, either.

- William has a dozen ways to justify or explain away what he did, obfuscate, but the honest truth is that he just enjoys it. He loves the thrill, the betrayal, the satisfaction of getting away with it, the twist in his stomach every time someone looks at him knowing he did it and being unable to prove it. He loves his restaurant, so it pains him when it closes, but it was worth it.

🐻🛠️

- Henry also kinda sucks.

He's not the worst parent ever, but he's definitely not winning any awards. He literally beats his daughter in the graphic novels. He's just average for the 70's as a parent, and people forget that. Sure, he loves his daughter, but what I really think is that he loves the idea of a daughter more than having one. He tried to keep her safe, and despite his best efforts, she died. And he spiraled, begging for forgiveness from someone who didn't really care because even then she kind of knew.

In my mind, Henry's not a religious man until Charlie dies. He's Catholic, and he has a rosary that he frequently counts the beads of regularly to beg for forgiveness for letting her die. It doesn't get easier when he knows who did it, and if anything, it gets worse. He does everything he did in the games to atone, and not necessarily for his daughter despite him saying so. After all, he found his daughter in Pizza Sim, but he waited and lured all of them back instead of just designing Lefty to set fire as soon as it caught her. I would say that's the biggest pointer. If it wasn't about more than her, then he wouldn't have gathered everyone.

- Henry dyes his hair black after faking his suicide.

I think he's kind of shaggy, and he gets skinnier and gaunt after it because of grief and bad habits like smoking and not eating properly. He's fairly tall even if he's not quite as tall as William, so it looks a bit odd when he starts shedding weight. Though, thinking on it, neither of them keep weight by the time Pizza Sim comes 'round considering William's flesh has come off by the pound.

🐇🔪 + 🐻🛠️

- William's obsession is hilariously one-sided.

Henry doesn't know about it. He doesn't need to know, anyways. He probably wouldn't have sex with William, generally, but you never know. William likes to joke about it, or imply it, but Henry laughs and shrugs it off - at least when he's in a good mood. He thinks William's funny. If he's in a bad mood, it's annoying, and he tells William to fuck off.

- William's obsession itself comes from jealousy of Henry's family.

I think especially in the movies, I like to headcanon William as trans and Henry as cis. He sees Henry with a full family and gets jealous because he doesn't really feel like he has that, and he might as well since the death of his son lines up so perfectly, he could just take it right out from under Henry. It's all too easy to help them match. Henry doesn't appreciate what he has, and on some level, maybe he's saving Charlie from such a miserable life with a know-it-all who doesn't realize what a gift he has. (Being born the way he was meant to be.) And maybe, just maybe, he's saving Charlie from a cruel and unforgiving world that didn't accept William, and certainly wouldn't like Charlie just on account of being a girl. William would know, he was one once. And after that, he realizes he has a hunger for it. There's a certain trust that children afford you, this look in their eyes. It's the kind you normally only get from the closest of friends, but it's easier when he's Vanessa's dad, or their good pal Spring Bonnie. It's everything to him to see that look of betrayal once he hurts them, knowing he caused it. It makes him laugh. He couldn't explain it to anyone who hasn't experienced it for himself, but it's fun. It's like winning the most intense version of Blackout.

- William couldn't kill Henry if he wanted to.

He just couldn't do it. His obsession with Henry causes him to hesitate, almost confused with love, and then he just can't. Henry could kill William, though. William could definitely hurt Henry though.

[fluffypotatey]

OK SO. the animations family.

first off i have to explain the QSMP a bit. the QSMP (nobody's really sure what the q stands for afaik) is a multilingual minecraft smp that first started in march 2023. the original server roster was 16 players, half of whom were hispanic and half who were english speakers. (this was bc quackity, the guy who came up with the server and did all the planning and stuff, is bilingual and wanted to unite his two communities). one of these original 16 was jaiden animations (this is important). on the first day of the server, these 16 members were stranded in a place called Quesadilla Island, which is controlled by a mysterious and sinister Federation (run by a weird little guy named Cucurucho)

okay, you know the trope of science projects where you get split up into pairs and have to take care of an egg together? they literally did that. All of the players were split into pairs of one spanish-speaker and one english-speaker, and tasked with taking care of an egg (actually a special NPC played by a server admin). the eggs started out with two lives each, and once those lives were out, the egg's gone for good, and your in-game child is dead. (this is a secret surprise tool that will help us later!)

one of these parenting pairs was jaiden animations and roier, and their egg's name was bobby. bobby was a rambunctious little fella- artistic, brave, very aggressive- and an absolute mama's boy. jaiden, roier, and bobby (aka the animations family) all got along very well, and tbh i need to go rewatch jaiden's vods of them bc they were so sweet together. jaiden changed her minecraft skin to match bobby's so they were both wearing overalls together.

(^ mentally i am here)

jaiden's character (or cubito, a word from the spanish speaking community that essentially means "minecraft roleplay character" that p much the whole community uses now bc its so damn cute) was aroace (just like jaiden in real life!), so she and q!roier were in a qpr co-parenting situation. and it was really sweet and i miss them. can you tell i miss them.

(drawing done by jaiden of roier, bobby, and herself) (the qsmp has an art mod btw)

now, astute readers may have noticed that i use "was" for both jaiden and bobby. on may 17th, 2023, bobby lost his second life to a vindicator and was ruled permanently dead. roier was there at the time, I believe, but was unable to save bobby in time. when jaiden found out, she SCREAMED and it was like. you know in hamilton how when phillip dies eliza screams? it sounded like that. (she also chased after the sunset while saying "wait for me" over and over again, it was really heartbreaking and im still a little bit insane about this).

the next day, the whole server went on a journey to the dungeon bobby died in, to plead with cucurucho for his revival. cucurucho refused to bring bobby back permanently, but allowed jaiden and roier ten minutes to talk with him and say their goodbyes. bobby asked them to remember him every time they saw a sunset.

(^ the last time the whole animations family was together. this was 9.5 months ago).

neither q!jaiden nor q!roier ever really fully recovered from bobby's death (although id say jaiden was hit way harder due to not having a support system outside of roier and cucurucho, who took advantage of her grief to manipulate her). there are some other things that happened here, such as q!roier getting married to a cellbit, a brazilian player working as a double agent of sorts within the federation, and purgatory (all the players were teleported to an island, separated into three groups, and forced to fight one another. in the end the island got blown up by a nuke).

on sunday, cc!jaiden talked about her qsmp character, ultimately stating that she was taking a long break from the server, that she had given the admins permission to do whatever they want with her character's absence, and essentially announced that unless the admins stated otherwise, q!jaiden had died in the nuke explosion in purgatory, firmly destroying the animations family.

(to me, the saddest part is that, recently, new eggs were assigned to groups of childless players, and both jaiden and roier got the chance to raise new eggs, with jaiden being assigned to empanada and roier currently being pepito's sole active parent. and all q!jaiden wanted was to be a mom. she died never knowing she had a second chance to rebuild her family. i am no okay.)

in conclusion:

THE LOVE WAS THERE AND THERE WAS NOTHING THEY CAN DO. I AM CRYING IN REAL LIFE I MISS HER SO BAD. SHE'S WITH BOBBY NOW.

oh

[fantasyfantasygames]

Isekai Trucking Inc.

The Fabulous True Story of Isekai Trucking Inc., Kun Collections, 2020

No relationship to Fridge Hauler, one of my previous reviews.

For those who don't get the reference: "Isekai", sometimes called "portal fantasy", is where someone from our wold ends up in another one. They often get there in a way that leaves it ambiguous or heavily implied that they died in the process. The most common way this happens is when they're crossing the road and there's a truck headed right for them, and they wake up in this other world. Which is probably not a last-moments hallucination but maybe... So yeah. Isekai Trucking.

Villains have overrun your world. They have something that can stop your every efforts, thwart all your magic. Your world needs heroes. It's your job to go out and get them. As many as possible. Only the magical energy released by near-death experience can trigger planar travel, so here you are, causing as much near-death as you can as quickly as possible. With a giant truck.

You do need to balance hitting people with your truck (which thankfully leaves no evidence) with actually getting caught. Getting caught is likely to put you in a near-death experience, which sends you back to your world. That's no good. Getting thrown in our prisons with their iron bars and steel manacles, that's no good either. You need to be sneaky. And clever. And probably befriend some humans who can help cover for you. And then steal a truck and hit people with it.

This is complicated by the fact that you play "fey" monsters. The system doesn't do a whole lot to support that. It's assumed that you're wearing the traditional "Benjamin Grimm in a trenchcoat" level of disguise, that you have no special strength or powers beyond mild cartoon wackiness and the kind of extreme resiliency that comes with "Heal all damage every morning". It does make the art fun. A goblin made of pipe cleaners hanging off the side of a dump truck with a baseball bat. A crazed garbage can with eyes staring out, hands on the steering wheel. A giant fuzzball engulfing a screaming pedestrian. It's all black-and-white Palladium-level stuff, but that honestly fits pretty well.

Rules are a GURPS-inspired 3d6 roll-under, with the usual four stats, a handful of mostly psychological advantages/disadvantages, and maybe more skills than you need. There are only 20 of them, but I feel like Driving, Stealth, Menace, Explain, Wait Let Me Explain (a separate and amazing skill), and Cunning cover an awful lot of territory for this game. The game would benefit from some more modern design, and maybe even being transformed into a spinoff of Eat God.

Isekai Trucking was distributed in EPS format (why???). It was on Itch for a while, but in the process of moving it over to another distributor KunColl accidentally introduced a non-Unicode character string into the title and now they can't open the original any more. They've declared the original CC-BY 4.0. Version 1.02 is the latest one if you're lucky enough to find multiple versions.

[llycaons]

rightt i love the cql ending i think it was needed for them to go their separate ways. soo many cql haters bring up the ending as their main point for why it sucks. its as if they forget they reunite at the very end. also ive seen soo many weird fics where they hate on lz for “leaving wy and abandoning him” when thats such bs 😭 there was a fic summary where it was like ‘novel lz sees cql wy traveling alone and they get together’ like huh?? wy doesnt know that man and he loves HIS lz get over it

literally get OVER it lmao wwx didn't literally say 'WHEN I come back I want to hear the name of the song' (meaning he knows its significance and plans to RETURN and confess/hear lwj's confession) and lwj didn't say "I have long since known it' (meaning he's been in love w wwx for many years and knows it/plans to tell him) for wwx to LEAVE his star-crossed beloved of over two decades in order to shack up with some yellow-eyed weirdo who already has his own wwx who's into the same shit as he is? like. we HEAR lwj say wwx's name at the end, SEE wwx turn and smile. not to be rude but did these people watch the finale to the very end? are they stupid? what do they think is about to happen? lwj is going to say "oh it's you. I don't want to see you again, wei ying. being cc is more important to me than you are. I reject you and I will never have sex with you. that's why I came out to this cliff where you're playing the song I wrote for you. bye' and then leave??? lmao. please. PLEASE

plus it was a mutual decision based off of temporarily incompatible needs - lwj didn't abandon him! and if these fans are mad he 'let him go' then all they're saying is they're mad he didn't, what, imprison wwx somewhere he didn't want to be? clearly wwx wanted to travel and couldn't stay at CR, and clearly lwj needed to return to his home and help them all readjust to a shattered lxc and no cc. no it was good they each had time to breathe and they each as individuals needed to deal with things before they could be together

to be completely honest I think I would have liked the finale less if they HADN'T separated. postres, they slowly did become closer and started breaking down the barriers between them, but it was a process with a lot of stops and starts that seemed to stagnate at times. separation was a huge change that felt like it pushed their relationship into something new and resulted in an event so significant it was like they couldn't even show it. it was a really powerful choice!

to be fair if people don't like cql or think it's not gay enough or the censorship worked too well that's their business and I'm not going to lecture anyone into liking something they don't like, that's fine. there are little things about the performances and writing choices that annoy me too. but if the separation was written bc of censorship then they still got back together in the end and if the separation was an independent decision, then it was made to serve the story, which as a whole was a genuine and sincere attempt to convey a gay relationship even while being censored. and I do think it served the story and the characters very well. I know people also dislike cc lwj, which I can't fault them for since it's so far from the 'run away from the cultivation world' finale in the ending, but as someone who never read the book my first time watching, it made perfect sense to me. like....canonically wwx planned on returning and canonically lwj was there to greet him. if that hadn't happened, yeah it would have sucked. I would have been miserable. but it didn't! they got their ending together!

[eeldritchblast]

Editing Face Textures for Baldur’s Gate 3 (as of Early Access – Patch 9)

Disclaimer: I’m definitely not claiming to be the expert on this, I’m just sharing what I’ve figured out thus far upon request from an anon looking to play with this too.

TOOLS USED:

GIMP 2.8.18 (+DDS Plugin)

BG3 Modder's Multitool

PART 1: Unpacking the textures

After configuring the BG3 Modder’s Multitool (click the asterisk), you can use it to unpack the textures.pak file found in Steam\steamapps\common\Baldurs Gate 3\Data, or wherever you have the game files installed.

Click the “unpack .pak files” button and select the checkbox next to Texture.pak in the selection window that pops up. Then exit the selection and wait for the textures to unpack. This may take a few minutes. The application will create a folder called UnpackedData where the files will appear.

(Because there’s so many texture files, I highly suggest deleting folders you will likely never use to keep your computer clean.)

Face textures are found under Textures\Generated\Public\Shared\Assets\Characters\_Models, then sorted by Race folders – for example, Humans, and then for example HUM_F_NKD or HUM_M_NKD, and then by individual head, for example HUM_F_Head_E\Resources.

A great resource to help identify what textures go with what head is Padme4000’s CC Head References PDF, which you can download HERE.

In this tutorial, we’ll be changing the eyebrows for TIF_F_Head_C with the eyebrows from ELF_F_Head_F.

I suggest copying the textures you are using into a new folder so not to accidentally edit over the vanilla ones.

PART 2: Editing the textures

There are 3-5 textures found in each resource folder per head: CLEA, HMVY, NM are the only ones you need—and sometimes you don’t even need HMVY, depending on what you’re doing. Sometimes there’s also a MSK file, but you can ignore this one. Tieflings also have a BM file for the horns, but you can ignore this too.

Open the CLEA file in GIMP. Click on Colours > Components > Decompose with RGB as the model selected. (For some reason edited CLEA files are unfriendly with alpha. I don’t know why.) This will create a new image file with the channels separated into different layers. You can close the original.

Red will contain the face details. Green will contain the eyebrows. Blue will contain the lips. Sometimes eyebrow details are included in Red as well—such as the case in what we’re doing—but most of the time with eyebrows, it’s just a matter of switching out the Green channels.

For this tutorial, I pasted the elf red channel over the tiefling red channel, then cut away the changes I want to keep. Then I replaced the Green channel completely with the new eyebrows.

After you’ve made your edits, click Colours > Components > Compose with RGB as the model selected. This will create a new composed CLEA file for you to save as a .dds with the following settings:

For HMVY next, do the exact same thing as I did with CLEA, but this time with alpha included (RGBA). This is the file that you can make changes to things like adding or removing freckles to, by placing dark dots on the Green channel or getting rid of them using the Healing Tool. When you’re done, again, Compose the image but with RGBA this time, and save it as .dds with the same settings.

When editing the NM, I prefer to make changes channel by channel just the same as with CLEA and HMVY to be super safe. Make sure to use RGBA again, like with HMVY. The only channels you need to edit with NM is Green, Blue, and Alpha.

PART 3: Replacing the textures

Assuming you’re replacing a vanilla set of textures, here is the loose file way of doing so. (AKA the only method I know currently…)

Remember the file path of where the vanilla textures were extracted? You need to recreate that file path in your Data folder where the game files are installed. So in this example, that would be Data\Generated\Public\Shared\Assets\Characters\_Models\Tieflings\TIF_F_NKD\TIF_F_Head_C\Resources. Drop the new .dds files in the appropriate folder path, and start the game to view your changes!

[felassan]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard info compilation Post 5

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

[There are also a series of 'lil snippets' posts where I was just chucking together bits and pieces that I saw at other times: one, two, three, four, five, six]

Post is under a cut due to length.

There is a lot of information coming out right now about DA:TV from many different sources. This post is just an effort to compile as much as I can in one place, in case that helps anyone. Sources for where the information came from have been included. Where I am linking to a social media user’s post, the person is either a dev, a Dragon Age community council member or other person who has had a sneak peek at and/or played the game. nb, this post is more of a ‘info that came out in snippets from articles and social media posts’ collection rather than a ‘regurgitating the information on the official website or writing out what happened in the trailer/gameplay reveal’ post. The post is broken down into headings on various topics. A few points are repeated under multiple headings where relevant. Where I am speculating without a source, I have clearly demarcated this. if you notice any mistakes in this post, please tell me.

For notes in here on community council things in particular, I recommend to listen to the vid directly, it's always better hearing things first-hand ^^

Character Creation

"The diverse body and gender options make it an industry leader by a signifcant margin" [source]

"BioWare was keen to highlight the hair strand technology that looked very similar to that seen in FIFA and EA FC, also made under EA's roof" [source]

"Fine tuning sliders that allowed for microscopic adjustments of nose angles, it was clear that a lot of options exist to get the smallest possible body parts exactly right" [source]

"There's no specific genital customisation to be oversold as CDPR did but, much like Saints Row, there is an option for bulge customisation" [source]

Pronoun choice, gender identity, body type, and voice choice are 4 separate options, not tied together [source]

Height is customised on a slider [source]

Size is customized on a triangle like in Saints Row: the 'points' are fat, slim and muscular [source]

The different lighting options are 4 different settings: clean, bright, dim, sunset [source]

In CC you can also try out what Rook looks like in their starting rags, in typical mid-game armor, and some level 50 gear (class appropriate for each one) [source]

There's a way for you to modify your character's look once the game has started if you want to make some tweaks [source: the official Discord]

You can be any class and choose any backstory/faction, any race, any gender [source]

Story and lore

On meeting Neve in the opening, if Rook chooses to say the positive dialogue option (I think this is the thumbs up one, "You rescued yourself, I see") they say something like, "It looks like you're doing pretty well by yourself huh?" [source]

According to someone who played the game at SGF, the game has a Mass Effect 2 Suicide Mission feel to it [source]

The Shadow Dragons are kind of an anti-Venatori faction, sort of. [source] A freedom force. [source]

The Mourn Watch are kind of like the police for the Grand Necropolis [source]

The Veil Jumpers are kind of like weird magical investigators, weird magical nerds [source]

The moment right after the gameplay video ends is 👀❗❗...? [source]

On the timeskip, the Community Council were told that they were going to make it about the same amount of time in-game as the amount of time that passed in real life from the time most people would have last played DA:I [source]

Rook's faction is also referenced outside of the intro segment of the game [source]

In the gameplay reveal video that we saw, some of the Evanuris statue assets at Solas' ritual site are doubled up in error, i.e. some of them have the wrong heads. This is not supposed to be the case, they are supposed to each have a different head (bear in mind this was an early build and isn't the final build of the game) [source]

Characters, companions, romance

Go [here] to see some DA:TV doodles of the characters that a dev drew this year and last year. :> the hidden doodle is a version of Rook, hidden as they have not yet shown any of the possible hairstyles for Rook outside of the gameplay reveal video. [source]

It is Lucanis who has the purple wings [source]

His name is pronounced "Loo-khan-ess Day-ah-MORT-ey" [source]

Lucanis is hands-down "the sole dumpster fire of the crew". Mary "wrote him specifically to be a bisexual disaster of a human. You're welcome." [source]

As a name 'Rook' is closer to 'Inquisitor' than 'Hawke' [source]

The Community Council highly requested there to be 4 voices for Rook. They kept bringing it up [source] (there are 4 voices for Rook)

The Solas face model has been tweaked "a hundred times" [source]

Gameplay, presentation, performance etc

Rook can jump [source: the official Discord]

Rook can sprint [source: the official Discord]

Warrior gameplay (or at least one build of this) involves doing the right parry timing to lead to a certain attack [source]

Warriors have a dropkick ability, enemies can be dropkicked off cliffs using this [source]

According to someone who played the game at SGF said that the game ran smoothly and didn't have any bugs [source]

Companions can have an ability that heals Rook even when they are not mages [source]

Sword and shield warrior's ranged skill is like, boomeranging their shield over there [source]

In terms of the 'the game isn't open world, it's mission-based' stuff, it could be likened to Trespasser in this regard [source]

The first time the Community Council played, they asked if there is a photomode. BioWare said no, and the Council were like 'aw that really sucks, we really wanted one'. The next time that they went to play it, BioWare introduced them to a dev and said "Okay, we have photo mode, all thanks to this guy". "So there is one particular dev we all need to be kissing the feet of" because he figured out photo mode. [source] [nb, more on the Photo Mode situation here]

The current build of the game is not the final build of the game. A few things are currently being vigorously worked on [source]

Other

Someone who played the game at SGF was told that all of the choices and consequences were in the game, and that basically the team are just polishing things up right now [source]

The number of community members on the Community Council is in the double digits and they are from all walks of life. They don't have any contracts which say that they can only say positive things; they can be as negative as they want about DA media. Not every member of the council has said publicly that they were part of the group, there is nothing mandating them to do so [source]. They have not played the full game [source] and they tested it on consoles [source]. A lot of them ended up liking the gameplay [source]. They played some of the main story but they don't know how it ends. At one point they did three days of playtesting from like 9am-4pm daily. "I liked the quality, I liked what was going on, I was very invested. I did have some worries from the first playtest that were completely resolved in the second". "If you are someone who is into the story, I think we're safe, in the clear, I think we're okay. What I saw, I was really enjoying, I'm really excited about" [source]

The name change also surprised the community council. They aren't keen on the 'the'. There are a lot of things that they said to BioWare which, sometimes things just cannot change as it's too late. [source]

They did not see the finished game trailer before it released, and at that time it might have had a different song in it. They fed back that the version of the trailer that they saw was fine (what they saw was a bit different) [source]

BioWare have data on the percentage of people who used tactical view in DA:I and it's in the single digits [source]

Upkeep of the The Keep is a lot and it goes down like once a month. There have been times when it was down for weeks at a time [source]

[greaterspawnislands]

(This is the separate ask I would genuinely love to hear your thoughts on how other stream sub groups operate differently it's just so fascinating to me)

YEAH!!! Also it's so very cute to me how supportive and patient he was with Kristen when she was first considering streaming <333

At first she just kinda popped into chat and on stream rarely and he never forced her to stay if she didn't. Over time she just got used to and wanted to interact with chat more! Until she started streaming herself and he's been 100% supportive the entire time. Literal A+ husband material you can tell how much he loves her and its so sweet,,,,

YEAH ok so about the kristin thing at first so recently i've been watching all of phil's s4 videos and i'm getting to the end of 2019 aka they're preparing for their wedding and phil's in the process of getting a visa and it's so :))

i currently have two kristin stream vods in my watch later (bc i've been busy) and im so excited to get to themm it's been awesome to see kristin get more confident in streaming bc she is so funny!! i really love tuning into her streams they are such nice spaces :) also i miss parents sdv i hope they play again

ANYWAYS ok so my ramblings about phil's community is just. hold on i need to put this under cut because the more i write out the more it feels like inane bullshit but whatever we're here now

i feel like out of all of the streamers who have grown their communities in the boom of 2020/dsmp era phil's has been the most interesting to me. obviously biased here bc this is my community but ok. I'm not going to say that phil's fanbase is "the best" because that's obviously a subjective take but i think part of what makes it stand out to me is that it skews significantly older than any of the other streamers fanbases. routinely, we've heard from donos that there are teachers or people with full jobs who are donating to phil's streams. now, obviously we've heard plenty from high school age and younger, but for the most part those people tend to be sbi fans, or crimeboys fans who also enjoy phil - totally valid, etc, but they're not who i'm talking about.

the people who main phil tend to be older, which shapes a pretty different community that has a much less active presence on places like twitter. Those who are on twitter tend to not have nearly as much of a drive for clout as other subtwts - obviously there are exceptions, there always are, im trying not to speak as a total generalization - but i can't think of too many c!phil mains with thousands upon thousands of followers compared to other subtwts. And i think that again mostly comes down to like . it's just an older fanbase so they don't care abt that stuff as much.

oh and also! early gang as a central hub for most people who main phil i think helps a lot because, similar to tumblr, no character limit directly correlates to like. more critical thinking being used and less automatic aggression towards other people in the way twitter pushes to the forefront of every interaction. so as a whole the community comes across as far more chill than other subtwts/etc bc they aren't using twitter as their primary hub of communication

but i also think phil has had a direct impact on how his fans act on twitter regardless of age. the example that immediately comes to mind is when uh. ok. so idk if u were on twitter at all circa late 2020-early 2021, but subtwt selfie days were Alllll the rage back then, there was basically one or multiple every single day of the month for various ccs and duos/groups/etc. and i remember when it started popping off, phil got asked about it on stream and he very seriously talked about how he wasn't comfortable having a selfie day tagged after him, because he didn't like the fact that so many people, many who were high school age/teenagers, were putting their face on the internet for literally anyone to look at. i think he was the only cc who really spoke out about the ramifications of having your face online like that, and i know for me it was the first time i took a step back and went "yeah wait this is kind of fucking weird". it obviously didn't stop the selfie days for any other ccs, or the sbi selfie day, but his fans listened, and there was no phil selfie day ever again, and i think it's that kind of communication between phil and his audience that sort of helped develop his community in that direction, being mindful of internet bullshit and all that jazz. it's that kind of way he looks out for fans and the like that makes me really appreciate him and his community all the more. i just really like telling that bit of his history bc it was important to me in that time

again i don't know if this makes . too much sense. i sort of just started rambling and didn't stop to think if i was making any real points. this is all just to say that i love early gang, love philza, loveposting hours are so real i love this old man

[bookofmirth]

I personally do think that between Gwyn and Elain, Gwyn has a better chance of helping Bryce because she's doing research about the other worlds and stuff and she also kind of speaks the old language- she at least sings her songs in the old language so I would I assume that she can talk it. We know nothing about Elain and she didn't have any visions since acowar + I don't think the IC would let her help.

But tbh? I don't think they will play a big role in CC3 no matter how much el/riels and gwynriels think that. I feel like Sjm will only stick to the IC and Nesta. Maybe only those who were in the crossover? She said that CC3 will partically lead to Acotar 5? We have Azriel, who made a big apperance in the crossover and the whole TT thing. That only just conviences me that acotar 5 is his book and he most likely will play a big role in CC3 while Bryce is in Prythian.

Elain or Gwyn might make a small apparance but I don't think a big one where they are really needed. I think Rhys or someone else would mention that they'll go to the library to get some more Information and Bryce might just meet Elain briefly. That's my opinion though- I really don't think it is a big deal.

Again, I have no fricking clue how el/riels included Elain because like I said... Elain may be a seer, but she doesn't have visions every now and then and she doesn't know how to control them. She didn't have visions to warn Cassian and Azriel about the trap before they went to save Eris. Or warn Nesta before she went to Emerie and Gwyn came along. And even if, her visions are very unclear, no one in the IC didn't get it until it was too late (in acowar). The IC doesn't include her in anything, which is why she was barely in acosf. Plus she has no clue about the other worlds or anything about Prythian. Gwyn and Merril might do research that Bryce could need and it's good for her to know the old language which is why I understand gwynriels better, I still don't think she would be that much included like they think.

Agree 100%, if in part because I really really really don't want the two worlds to be *that* entwined with each other haha

There are a lot of potential ways in which the IC and other characters could help Bryce, but my hope is that their involvement remains at a minimum. I know that sjm said that cc3 is going to set up the remaining books, which sounds like it could have a huge impact on acotar, but I am going to remain hopeful. I am not a fan of being upset until I absolutely have to be.

And let's be real, if either character's name comes up even once in CC3, the fandom is going to lose its collective shit. Or, the few remaining braincells it has. "Elain sneezed" *chaos* "Gwyn said hi" *mayhem* "Azriel blinked" *orgasm*

Perhaps she will only stick to the people who were in the final chapter, which would be the IC, like you mentioned (Rhys, Feyre, Cassian, Az, Amren, and Mor) and Nesta. It would be very easy for Merrill to help without actually appearing on the page, same for Gwyn. And as you mentioned, Elain would have a *lot* of work to do before she'd be in a position to help, and I am Team acotar and CC Stay Separate As Fucking Possible. I can't imagine that Rhys & Co. would want a lot of the other courts to know about Bryce? They don't know if she's a threat, or an ally, or something in between. So I could see them trying to keep her presence pretty secret.

I'm just tired of trying to predict stuff in a series where the author literally does whatever the fuck she wants - which I don't blame her for, at least she's having fun - and it's not even something I enjoy doing under normal circumstances.

[thesmpisonfire]

I hope you don’t mind me writing all of this here! You’re the blog I scroll through the most for QSMP related stuff and I really like how you engage in the content and I don’t have any irl friends who watch it so 😅 but I’ve just seen all of the Missa stuff (which I wish people could engage with media without being freaks like actually leave the CCs alone it’s not hard) but the whole thing has kinda made me wonder if maybe it’s an audience thing country/language wise? I really hope this doesn’t come across as offensive or malicious in any way towards the Spanish speaking community because that’s sincerely not what I’m intending but like 99% of the players who don’t want to log in because of pressure from the audience about the eggs are Spanish speaking creators (Rubius, Spreen and now Missa) and don’t get me wrong EVERY chat in every language can be intense and has had to be “told off” by their CC but it doesn’t seem to have affected the English, French or Brazilian CCs as much as the Spanish. I’m just wondering if maybe Spanish speaking audiences don’t have as much experience with role play stuff so maybe they just are very overly invested in the egg stuff and can’t separate it from the actual CC (also this is coming from someone who genuinely loves the eggs as characters and the stories they bring to the whole thing) idk sorry for babbling but I just wonder if there’s any correlation or anything 🤷🏼‍♀️

Awie nonnie thanks 🥺 also dw dw i love when ppl ramble in my asks :D

Alrighty so. I see you don't have much experience with the Hispanic side of Minecraft twitch, so lemme give u a quick rundown

Actually! Hispanics have a LOT of experience with rp servers, Karmaland is the biggest rp series in Hispanic twt and Vegetta created it! Quackity was in the last season (Karmaland V) and it was an experience that really helped him set down the rules for QSMP and how he'd want to direct it. Other servers such as the one Roier played before the qsmp (sorry i forgot the name) or even squidcraft and minecraft extremo are other examples of it

But i think the difference is that Hispanic mc servers usually have a minimum playing time requirement per week, so the participants usually have to play 3 times per week, as an example. So now, added to the Loud™ part of hispanic watchers that would annoy the streamers, there's also added the new audience from English speakers and, yes, even Brazilians, that probably caused this wave of pressure to be tenfold

Also, about the eggs, i trust the writer's team to get a way out in a way that manages to be a middle ground to everyone, let them cook, yk?