#ok this game is super fun

[agerefandom]

🧸 Tenth doctor

10th Doctor is a flip to me! He is SUCH a regressor and SUCH a caregiver at the same time.

I personally think that any version of The Doctor doesn't fit into dichotomies: they're always both of whatever is offered to them.

Random Headcanons:

1- bad at keeping regression gear separate: if he's taking care of a regressor, he'll steal their gear, but also give them things from his own stash: he just doesn't register the 'his' vs. 'theirs'

2- his physical affection goes way up when he's regressed, and he's definitely a 'run and jump into a hug' kind of regressor when he's comfortable with someone

3- I think The Doctor and The Master used to be a matched set of flips when they were both on Gallifrey and it adds to ye olde angst of 10's seasons

send a character and a 🧸 and I’ll give you three random agere headcanons!

[greenscreen-dress]

Brain wouldn't shut up until i drew Joey and Lauren as the iconic Malfina and Clark. Witchcraft SMP is very very fun :D

(closeups of the sillies below, quality is very crunchy bc phone doodles & poor canvas size choices whoops)

[vynnyal]

Turns out Sunlit Trail isn't quite done just yet, so after all that they just send you to a dead end 😂

[kogglyuffs]

paper dead plate

[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

[snakeeyesdraws]

can you do more Mario scenes? I really enjoyed your first post xD

Yes of course! I'm so glad you did, and I'd be more than happy to do some more posts about Mario game scenes!

Now, originally I had thought to keep it to more obscure games, or at least games that aren't talked about as much, like Super Mario 3d world. But I'm very stressed and exhausted at the moment, and I'm indulging with one of my favourite Mario games, so perhaps....

Overly Analyzing Luigi's Mansion 3; Mario Rescue cutscene

All screenshots taken from this video (hence the watermark, sorry, I cant record it myself)

So, in order to rescue Mario, the player has to defeat the hotel owner, Hellen Gravely in her office. Each boss ghost has their own unique animation before being sucked into the Poltergust G-00, and hers is to demand Luigi pause long enough for her to apply her make up. Queen moment, if I'm to be honest.

Luigi also has a celebration animation after he defeats ghosts and bosses, and here he tosses his hat off in celebration. It's such a cute moment; he's been constantly terrified in this haunted hotel, but he's so proud of himself for conquering this particularly scary obstacle!

Now, the main reason I'm looking at this scene today. Luigi uses the Dark-Light feature of the Poltergust to rescue Mario from the portrait he was trapped in. Said portrait was hanging up in Hellen's office, and she used it to taunt Luigi to come fight her to save his brother, I should add.

Mario falls from the painting and is seemingly dazed and confused at first. Unlike in the first game, the portraits here are frozen, unmoving images, so it takes Mario a moment of checking out his body and arms to realize he's free.

The second he looks up at Luigi, though, he instantly lights up. I recommend you check out the scene for yourself, because the way he bounces up and stretches his arms out as he goes "OH YEAH!" is so cute and expressive. They really outdid themselves with the cutscenes in this game.

Mario runs over to Luigi, exclaiming "Way to go, Luigi!" and his joyful energy is immediately returned by Luigi. Luigi spreads his arm, happily exclaiming "Mario!" while Mario jumps into his arms and just. Look at them.

Look at them.

(I had to find a gif of this specific moment because screenshots would not do it justice)

I can't even begin to describe how happy this makes me. Mario jumping right into Luigi's arms like it's so natural and common for them to do, Luigi's leg lifting up as he catches Mario, Luigi holding Mario up for a split second, Luigi's loud "MARIO, hey bro!" it's so tender and wholesome. This is the kinda sibling energy I wanna see with them!

There's so much display and affection and trust on display here in just a few seconds of animation. And there's just something about Luigi being the one to do the hug lifting that's just, so cute. Chefs kiss, no notes, perfect scene.

Luigi sets Mario back down on his feet, and I love that this shot allows us to see Mario's perspective. While this is overall a very joyful and upbeat scene, I think it's nice to also show Mario getting some much needed comfort after his third time being rescued from a portrait in the Luigi's Mansion series, poor guy.

Very briefly, before they step back, Luigi is also shown patting Mario's back with his hand. Again, even though Luigi has navigated this hotel scared out of his mind, the fact that he's shown to be consciously giving his brother some show of comfort is adorable.

Luigi steps back and they both laugh, Mario placing his hand on Luigi's shoulder. They're both equally happy to be reunited! Smaller note, but Luigi appears to be ever so slightly bending his knees, probably to be closer to Mario. Yes the height difference between them really isn't that noticeable, but I'll take what I can get, okay?

For a second, the scene lingers as they simply stare at each other in relief. Then Luigi seems to snap back to it, having a small "wait a minute-" moment as he looks at the camera.

Immediately, Mario's smile drops too, and his hand drops off Luigi's shoulder as he straightens up. You can tell Luigi kinda forget where they were for a moment, probably because of how relieved he was to see Mario again, and now he's remembering that oh yeah, they're kinda stuck in a haunted hotel with a giant Boo that specifically has it out for them.

Luigi grabs Mario by the shoulder and exclaims, "Come on! This way!" clearly referring to Professor E Gadd's lab.

A bit of context for those who haven't played the game; before rescuing Mario, the player rescues the three Toads who also accompanied them on the vacation trip to the hotel, and every time Luigi escorts them to the elevator so they can stay in E Gadd's lab, safe and sound from the ghosts. So we can infer Luigi's immediate thought was to also get Mario there, so he wouldn't be in danger anymore :'3

He keeps his arm on Mario's shoulder, and grabs his other hand to literally start leading him in the direction of the elevator. Which is just.... so precious. Literally "I just got you back and you are not leaving my side until I know you're safe" energy. They care so much about each other guys. I love protective big bro Mario with all my heart, but protective Luigi fretting and worrying over Mario's wellbeing is so special too.

However, unlike the Toads who were more than happy to stay in the safer lab, Mario has other plans.

While wiggling out of Luigi's gripe, Mario corrects him with "Ah ah, ah ah, this way!" and pulls him back into the office. Luigi's confused, and his hand reflexively almost reaches for the Poltergust since they're heading back in the direct of danger (or it could just be his arm swinging back from Mario's pull, but again, over analyzing.)

The camera pans over to reveal the wall with the portrait Mario was trapped in on it.

Mario turns back to Luigi, clearly gung-ho and ready to go. We don't see much of Luigi's face, but I like to think he had an "oh no, not this again-" expression, because he knows exactly what Mario is about to do.

Mario gestures over his shoulder with a "Come on!" and takes off, leaving Luigi to startle and raise his hand. Here we get their classic dynamic; Mario, head strong and determined, running recklessly right into the action, and Luigi, timid and cautious, taking a moment to really sit and think about the situation.

Mario throws himself at the sliding wall and pushes it aside, demonstrating some serious physical strength. That's a pretty thick wall, with a portrait and tv screen on it to boot, but he manages to throw it open fairly easy.

Once past that, we see Mario stumble a bit from the momentum of pushing the wall. He immediately sets himself upright, gesturing again for Luigi to "Come on!" without much of a pause. Again, so much character on display here; Mario is flinging himself right into the action, and while he isn't particularly clumsy, he's practically stumbling from how fast he's pushing himself.

You can read this as that's simply in Mario's heroic nature - to run right into danger without so much as a second thought - but you can also read it as him being ecstatic to be out of that portrait. Even though he knows at this point that King Boo is waiting for them and Princess Peach still needs saving, he's still smiling and urging Luigi to follow him, like they're on an adventure. This is much more his speed, as opposed to being the one needing a rescue.

So Mario opens the door, not bothering to actually wait for Luigi, and continues on ahead. I read it as a bit of his impulsiveness with charging ahead, and also as trust that Luigi will follow him anywhere - albeit at his own pace.

For a split second, Luigi hesitates with a confuse "Mario?". Even though he knows his brother, he probably wasn't expecting Mario to bounce back so quickly. But hey, if his brother is still willing to forge on ahead even though he just escaped a trapped portrait, Luigi can't hold himself back either, can he?

He grabs his flashlight and exclaims a energized "Okay!". Again, keep in mind that this whole game, Luigi has been terrified out of his wits and scared of every obstacle in his way. But now having his brother back has him grinning and ready to face the challenges up ahead. The way they inspire courage in each other can actually be so personal-

Even though Luigi's Mansion 3 came out first, and the two don't really have a lot of connections outside of being based on the same property, I can't help but connect the new movie's "Nothing can hurt us, as long as we're together!" theme to this scene here.

Such a good scene, great animation and personality on display. Literally my only complaint is that I want more of well thought out cutscenes in Super Mario games in general.

Oh, and more bro hugs. Definitely more bro hugs.

[the-knight-of-destiny]

Okay, so long long ramble under the cut about the nature of Ratgrinder Discourse™, I'll preface by saying that I don't want any of this to get hostile with anyone, because I think that's frankly silly to do over a webshow. That said I am also open to critical discussion so if anything I say doesn't make sense, or doesn't track I'm open to critique on it! Obviously spoilers up to Episode 19 of Fantasy High Junior Year underneath. Also it is a VERY long post, several pages, so don't click read more if that'll be overwhelming/too much at once. I just had to get my thoughts into words.

So, this will be long but I'll try to break it up. For clarity I want to establish my main point and give a quick TL;DR here, so here's the short version, long version even further below. My main points are as follows: 1: It is okay to not be happy with how a narrative is going in a show/story you enjoy. Critique is not hate, if anything it's a form of praise in a way. People wouldn't be having such long and frequent discourse about D20 and it's current season if they didn't feel strongly. 2: Similarly, we as an audience have a very different perspective of the entire story unfolding compared to the Intrepid Heroes/Cast. I think a lot of people jump to assumptions about the cast's thought process when that really isn't something we can gauge beyond what they say in episode and on Adventuring Party. 3: For me at least, even if I am left unsatisfied by an ending it doesn't ruin the fun I had in a work. Now if you just wanted my bullet point thoughts without elaboration, there they are! The rest of this is going to be an insanely long ramble (seriously, exit now if you aren't up for that, it's pages long) that I don't expect anyone to read, but I like to get my thoughts outta my brain. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, in regards to the Ratgrinders dying in the fashion they have, there's been a lot of discussion on literally every place there is to discuss Dimension 20, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, I'm sure other places as well. Really it all comes back to one thing, Dungeons and Dragons is a game, but Dimension 20 is a show. We as viewers have some level of narrative expectation, now for everyone that's different. Some folks have specific hopes for plot and character arcs. Others just want a general vibe, but the cast are players. Sure they are performers, but they are players in a game in equal measure. I've alluded to this before but a lot of the sincere vitriol to antagonists thus far (and especially the Ratgrinders) comes from the fact that the players have been fully immersed in a world and as characters where the Ratgrinders have been a constant thorn in their side for tens of hours of play time. Obviously one can still not like how they've engaged with them (I'm still not sure how exactly I feel about it,) but a lot of it is coming from that distinct perspective. When Fig took Ruben out, she specifically was frustrated because she 'wasted her season' on him. There's a meta level of Fig being angry with Ruben as a character who shares a world with him, versus Emily being frustrated as a player that a lot of her in-game actions did not hash out. That's actually totally natural, by the way. The interesting way that DnD serves both as a narrative of the characters in the setting, but also of the players rolling dice is part of what makes actual play like Dimension 20 so interesting. It's why I think SOME of the disappointment with Brennan and the Intrepid Heroes comes from a strange place, we literally cannot experience the story the same way the cast have. We get a week between chunks of story, they film the episodes in batches. We can think for as long as we want about our critical thoughts, they have to improv on the fly. We get to watch the Ratgrinders as antagonists in a story, the IH are actively hindered in their gameplay by the Ratgrinders as enemies.

That said I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about some aspects of Protagonist Centric Morality™ in this. Oisin having a mildly flirty conversation with Adaine once when he had ulterior motives is a deeply awful manipulation, but Fig catfishing Ruben the better part of an entire year is her trying to reach out and understand him (?). Kipperlilly threatening to desecrate Eugenia's grave is deeply fucked up, but Riz openly advocating mutilating Oisin's body for tactical reasons, and Fabian loudly declaring he intends to do the same to Ivy for literally just his own self-satisfaction are 'fun unhinged moments'.

Before I go on, obviously the Ratgrinders are the bad guys. They're taking part in an evil plan, they've done villainous things throughout the season, especially very recently, etc. This isn't some argument that the Bad Kids are secretly the real monsters or something, obviously not. I just think it's odd that people read into the Bad Kids' actions in the best possible light at all times and the inverse for the Ratgrinders. This protagonist centric morality also comes down to the true reason behind any and all of Fantasy High's villain redemption. Ragh gets redeemed because the player characters think he's possibly useful and/or endearing. Aelwyn gets redeemed because she personally helps Adaine. The only one that Brennan really pushed forward on his own was Zayn, who they barely engaged with. People compare the Ratgrinders to Penelope and Dayne a lot, and understandably so. However I think this is sort of the complication and in my opinion, the silver bullet to understanding what's actually happening with the Ratgrinder's narrative place, Dayne more specifically. He does very little evil on screen. I mean, he injures Fabian and is most likely the one who killed Zayn, but comparatively to Aelwyn, he does almost nothing. He gets killed without so much as a thought, and in a fun (?) parallel to current Ratgrinder discourse, does actually have his body desecrated after death by Fabian. Because he hurt Fabian personally. Aelwyn gets forgiven of doing a lot of terrible shit (and this isn't Aelwyn hate, she's like my favorite NPC.) because it didn't directly affect any of the Bad Kids besides Adaine, and even the bad stuff that did affect Adaine can be sort of off-loaded onto their parents. So it's why I say this discourse is tough, people inevitably say "Well, the Ratgrinders are villains, of course they'll get killed." And this isn't inherently a wrong statement, they look at the bad things the group is doing and understand they must be stopped, why are people upset clearly bad guys get beat and/or killed in DnD games? Because they aren't actually getting killed in such brutal ways because they're bad guys, it's because they personally annoyed or hurt the Bad Kids. This is also why Ratgrinder fans often feel both frustrated and vindicated at once (I speculate, but I feel it's a safe assumption,) because on a meta level Kipperlilly is literally right. Her friends and likely herself are getting ripped to shreds because they crossed the special protagonists, because they started to really frustrate the Intrepid Heroes. The Bad Kids have forgiven atrocities before, but the Intrepid Heroes are really quick to dismiss and kill people they find annoying.

The ultimate example I feel of this, is Mary Ann. Ruben gets blasted into hell because his actions personally annoyed the players, Ivy gets stabbed to death while being repeatedly insulted and threatened with mutilation because her actions personally annoyed the players.

But Mary Ann is the one they all think they can redeem or save, because her personality is more cute and endearing to the players. That kind of says it all better than I ever could.

[sunnysorcerer]

Cloud is the best video game protagonist because he is everything all at once. Shy and awkward boy? Yes. Complete goofball? Also yes. Unhinged, on the verge of a mental breakdown? Yes, that too.

[simcardiac-arrested]

no actually I’d like to hear your thoughts on the isat ending

Like i said it felt really tropey and by that i meant that it’s just Everything Good Happens forever and…..that’s it ? like idk we were building up to this huge catharsis sort of thing and then we got to it and it was so sudden and not a good payoff and just kind of nothingburger of an ending . the fact that everyone just forgives siffrin bothers me, or at least the fact that they don’t confront them about the shit they’ve said and done. call me a mental illness villainizer but i think if you’re a fucking asshole and doing the most insensitive things to the people you care about then hey, i think those ppl have a right to fucking tell you off for it. likeeee idk being at your lowest point …… not an excuse …. not feeling it chief ……. like sure the message is to move past your mistakes or whatever but ? that doesn’t mean just getting away with it ??? and i just really don’t understand Why everyone forgives him. honestly at the end of the day the ending is just one problem, the root of which are the characters. everyone feels like trope cardboard cutouts. oh, this is the smart one. this is the smol bean. this is the himbo. and they all care for each other btw. Did u hear that? they all care for each other. we’re not really going to explain to you why these people are so close or what they went through together but just trust me man they’re sooo found famy. like …. okay. i’ve played 30 hours of this game and not once did i buy that any of the characters really cared about each other. like??? why???? You’re telling me everyone super cares about siffrin even though they barely know them?? you’re telling me siffrin cares about everyone sooo much even though he never even bothered to find out their problems before ? Wat ? and this just breaks the ending more because literally whyyy do these people care about him so bad. and then it’s just whyyy does siffrin Have to tell them anything he doesn’t even seem to know them that well. everyone feels like colleagues and Just Friends at best. and so the ending just seems really forced. like it was written by that type of tumblr user who’s always talking about aww why does the found family have to break up after the end of the journey :( which is like fiiiiine. i guess. but u guys know that u have to build up to it right?? you can’t just tell me they’re Family Members(tm) 102829 times and that they super care about each other source: trust. you can’t just do that and then expect me to believe it ….. It feels unearned. the ending feels unearned and i don’ttttt understand what i’m supposed to take away from it . that it’s ok to fuck people up because you’re traumatized and insecure?? that you have to talk about your deepest problems with people you barely know??? i just dont know. Like i said if im being honest the problems with this game’s writing are more than just the ending, it just stands out so much because there’s a lot of build up and then just …… That

[tenojan-in-tevinter]

Honestly I really want to be able to side with Solas in dreadwolf. I think it'd be super interesting to play as an elf in Tevinter and be able to just go "yeah actually I think Fen'Harel is right let's tear down that veil." I mean I assume the main conflict will be Solas trying to convince your character to join him, or your character being told they have to try and stop him, and there are not enough games that let you side with the presented "villain" character. I want to see what the world is like with no veil I'm so interested. Also so interested to see what full-on Fen'Harel Solas is like. Is he still as empathetic? Or is he more conniving and distanced from "mortals" like the old stories would have us believe?

[yakkitylylac]

HEY THIS GUY IS DOING A FULLY VOICE ACTED DUB OF PYRE YOU ALL SHOULD WATCH IT

[famitendo]

Haha funny

[noahmio]

Congratulations Shalvis on ur messy divorce 🥳🎊

[kathrynmjaneway]

.

[jarkonian]

Idk I’ve got a migraine and a bone to pick rn. I used to be a big proponent of “roll with the punches” when it comes to how a game can change depending on your actions, but after Baldurs Gate 3….. gotta say I’m not so sure anymore.

Spoilers, I guess, but… Last Light Inn? My first playthrough, Isobel got kidnapped and everyone died. And it just sucked.

And I don’t mean that the feeling I got sucked, that parts fine. I mean the game just got less good because I let that stick.

Narratively, it wasn’t really treated like the massive “low point” it should be. Next to nothing acknowledges it outside Jeheira and like one dialogue option.

In game, not much changed either. There was a big fight and my main memory of it was carefully knocking out Damon (to no avail, of course).

And in exchange for that? My main goal of Act I was rendered pointless. I didn’t get to see the adorable interactions between Isobel and Aylin. And now I’m constantly seeing gifs of interactions with the other tieflings in Act III that were just erased for me.

So many details and interactions wiped off the map cuz I trusted the game to provide something more interesting in their place. I guess making me mad enough to rant about it after finishing the game should count for something, but I’m only mad because it wasn’t clear to me how objectively hollow “rolling with this punch” would be.

Idk. On me for not reloading I guess, but I feel like for a crucial moment like that one, if you’re going to be just flatly removing parts of the game because of one battle, then there should be some kind of interesting new stuff added to even that out.

As it stands if Isobel is knocked out the game becomes notably less interesting in numerous ways, and doesn’t do a good job of making it feel like anything else

[todayisafridaynight]

getting wigs for characters with the same hair color as myself make me feel like the biggest dumbass around but youd have me fucked thinking im burdening myself with daigos 2000's emo cut just for a weekend