#ugh can you tell how much I love him.

[sleepingontheclouds]

Look I know Titans (the show) gets so much hate for it’s writing in later seasons, and honestly it’s so based. I hated the whole Blackfire/Conner arc, it felt icky to me. I also had a vague dislike for the whole afterlife thing. Honestly a lot of season four was kind of ass.

But, I absolutely loved how they wrote Jason.

Jason. A troubled teenager who lived on the streets and had a love for theater. A teen who got an opportunity to team up with his hero, had the chance to get a family, and tried so hard to fit in. And he just— couldn’t. Everyone started to give up on him, and he could tell. After what happened with Slade, he even started to give up on him self. Literally.

With the struggle he had, knowing everyone was giving up. Knowing people really just didn’t like him. Dick just sent him back to Gotham. Instead of going back to being Batman’s sidekick, he got benched.

Such a big part of his identity was taken away from him. His whole thought process was, “If I’m not Robin, I’m no one.” He didn’t know how to just be Jason Todd anymore because to him, Jason Todd was a completely different person. Jason Todd was a street rat who’s mom was a druggie, and he had to steal to survive. That was in the past. Now, he’d only been Robin. Hid behind a mask, trying to use it to express who he was, but it wasn’t really him.

All his fear came out the moment he got benched, the fear that he wasn’t good enough. Not strong enough. He would give anything to feel better, and he did.

He started using.

[linktoo-doodles]

dig me up, let me go

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

You ever think about how in spite of knowing their exact locations, the game never gives any indication that templar Carver has reported his mage sibling, Merril (a blood mage) or Anders (an abomination) to his superiors?

I do think about that a lot, even though I tend to ignore the Templar Carver route because I know Warden Carver to be true in my heart and soul... but I totally get the appeal of Templar Carver within DA2's narrative, y'know?

It's so fascinating, really. I've never played a run with Templar Carver, I just can't bring myself to do it, so I know I'm missing out on smaller details of it. From what I do know, this drives me crazy in the best way possible.

Deciding whether to bring him or not to the Deep Roads is such an important choice, not only because it affects his fate, but how it affects his relationship to Hawke. He tells you that he wants to go, he makes it very clear that it's important to him that he goes, too... and Hawke can just leave him behind and it hurts him. I don't think that registers enough with some people just because of how Carver is, like it doesn't matter what Hawke's motivations are [staying behind for his safety, not wanting to bring him, thinking someone should stay with Leandra, etc] it still hurts him because it tells him that Hawke doesn't need him, and Carver wants to be needed.

And yes, there are other contributing factors to why he joins the templars, but it doesn't matter what your relationship is to him, it doesn't change the fact that he doesn't turn Hawke or his companions in.

Sure, the meta reason is it's a video game and you're playing the main character. You're never in any actual danger of being captured by templars, and you're not going to lose your companions to them that easy.

But if we look at it through the narrative and Carver's character, that's when it gets interesting. You can max out his rivalry and be an utter asshole to him [there's a point where you can call him a brat and mock him for being stuck in your shadow, like Hawke can be real cruel about it] but it doesn't matter, you're still his sibling. He even makes a remark about how you might not know what that means [referring to leaving him behind] but he does. He refuses to kill Hawke in the end when Meredith makes the order, too.

Which can I just point out that Hawke has the option to let Bethany die in the end if she's with the circle and they side with the templars? Just saying, Carver NEVER does that no matter what, but Hawke has the option to betray Bethany like that and it's fucked and interesting and it makes me want to eat my chair-

As for Merrill and Anders, I think he knows that if he turns either of them in, then the chances of Hawke being brought in as well skyrocket. They're all friends, they're in the same group... bring one in, and you'll probably get the other two.

I also think Carver just genuinely likes Merrill. Yes, I'm a Carver/Merrill shipper, so I have a bias, but even if you remove anything romantic from their dynamic I believe that's true. Of all the companions, Merrill is the only one who doesn't make fun of him, or find him annoying, in party banters. He never snaps back at her, like he's never defensive with her, he's just a little awkward and nice.

Like, HE'S SO NICE TO HER! He tries to find common ground with her! She asks him about "swording" and he's taken aback by her saying he's good at it, but you KNOW that if someone like Anders asked him the same question, he's be all, "shut up, you're stupid, stop talking to me >:["

Think back to that banter Carver can have with Aveline post-act 1 where they're talking about how the guard wasn't the right place for him [hard disagree with you there, Aveline] and Carver says he was a bit of a tit, wasn't he.... and every companion will agree except Merrill. She doesn't say anything, whereas other companions like Anders will be like "ugh maker YES" and if you have a purple Hawke, they'll go on to other ways Carver was a tit like?? I think Carver and Merrill got along and he doesn't want to turn her in because she was nice to him! And she's a blood mage! He knows what will happen to her if the templars get ahold of her! He doesn't want to see her made tranquil or killed!

At that point, he's witnessed what bad blood mages can do, assuming you've brought him along for those quests, but even so. He knows Merrill isn't like that and he likes her, so of course he's not going to turn her in despite that being his literal duty.

Then there's Anders who Carver doesn't like. If you're in a romance with him, Carver will tell him that's why he doesn't turn him in but c'mon Carver, you know that's not the only reason. My theory is Carver may not like Anders and he knows the man's got a spirit of justice inside of him... but Anders also runs a free clinic. If he's ever taken in by templars, then so many people [including a LOT of Fereldan refugees] will be without free health care and will suffer for it. I think in Carver's eyes, Anders might be irritating but he doesn't more good than harm. Carver knows first hand how shitty refugees and poorer people are treated in Kirkwall. Anders' clinic is the one place they can go for help and actually get it, and he's not going to be the one to take that away because the templars say "magic bad."

So yeah, I'm not as informed about the Templar Carver route, but I do think about how if I did do that route, he wouldn't betray Hawke or their companions no matter what and what that says about him.

[trashcreatyre]

I think the main thing that pisses me off about like 90% of mephiles ships is that people will be like "how old is he??" Look that fanwiki says that he's ten and they RUN with it. Like they don't read further. I'm so convinced that most people don't even know the plot of 06 bc the shit I've seen people draw and write with the characters is just mind boggling.

[sevenines]

i wish steven universe went more into the watermelon stevens (said no one ever, but hear me out!) i wish they went more into how steven made a whole society and abandoned them, just like the diamonds do, just like rose did. and how it demonstrates that having such immense powers very easily leads to a disregard for life.

[sysig]

Pivotal bright spot (Patreon)

[s0lemnhypn0s]

not to be a gatekeeper unironically but i genuinely feel a very, very small percentage of people actually understand crocodile. and if you think you're in that small percentage you're probably the exact kind of person I am talking about. Not to be mean but to be mean.

this is mainly directed at genderbenders and dofuwani shippers. neither of y'all understand crocodile and do not deserve access to him

[luxsea]

i heard karlachs monologue was rlly good but holy shit i genuinely dont think i'll be the same after that

[yelenapines]

watched tbosas today. needless to say i am obsessed with the red uniform skirt and they should have been wearing those the whole movie. thank you.

[llycaons]

okay I thought about the similarities between jfm and jc's unrequited crushes who prefer their 'servant's' company to their own and it looped around from being tragic to being really funny again. jc pined after wq so clumsily and unsuccessfully with the stupid fucking comb she didn't care about because SHE AND HER FAMILY WERE POLITICAL TARGETS AT THE TIME and HE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HER AT ALL and she 100% always preferred the company of wwx, who was genuinely fun to be around, as intelligent and selfless as she was, understood and respected the delicate political position she was in, treated her like an individual, knew what was important to her, helped her family, and sacrificed everything for her safety. wq literally would rather have lived a doomed life in a starving refugee camp with wwx and her family than accept a marriage proposal from jc, jc wq shippers how does it feel to be fucking clowns

[echidnana]

‼️CLOCK TOWER 3 SPOILERS‼️

we really like how uncomfortable clock tower 3 feels with Alyssa and her grandfather. how he marries into this family and takes it up on himself to preserve the bloodline. how he's controlling and sees himself as owning his daughter and granddaughter. how his need for possession of Alyssa and the Rooder power literally drives him to attempt to kill her and merge them together.

we love horror games that focus on girlhood in general, but clock tower 3's focus on controlling/abusive paternal figures and a lineage of girls killed by evil men in their lives to take their power is so good. like the "harvesting" of a 14 year old girl's power before she loses it.

[todayisafridaynight]

In my head *cough, fantasies* RGG isn't so centered on their need to 'one game only' their villains, and allow the characters they already have to expand and grow beyond those games. (Ryuji-though he came back in Dead Souls, Mine, Aizawa) they do a good job making really compelling, interesting characters and then have to speed run to their demise. It's unfortunate, but I do understand they were operating with 'there might not be another game after this so we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves' much of the time. Hell I don't even need redemption arcs, just..not having death be the only answer, if that makes sense? Or I just get to attached to the well-done villains. Heh. (chaoszonenate)

noooo it makes me sooo pissed actually just because kiryu (and even ichiban !!) Every Time preaches about people's capabilities to start over and so long as you have a will to go on you can right your wrongs but !!!! these fucks aren't ever given that chance and i'm over it !!!!!!!!!

if no redemption arc for them then at the very least let them go to jail idk- just stop killing them because the game's over

[scionshtola]

i love. y’shtola. so much

[strwbrymlkshake]

LOVE ME THE MOST THE MOST YOU POSSIBLY CAN!!!!!! LOVE ME THE MOST I NEED TO BE THE ONLY THING IN YOUR MIND

[sulevinen]

i feel like every jayce hater is a viktor lover

[halechief]

you know you’d never think it because of all The Affairs she has in the show, but claire in my mind is a very . . . monogamous kind of person. i think the main thing that people ( men ) who were fans of the show and would constantly criticize her kept missing is that claire made a life and career out of choosing francis. she was aware of and accepted every part of him. the unfortunate fact, however, is that the favor was not really wholly returned. if we’re being totally honest, it might be owed in part to the fact that the version of claire that he met and married, is a different version than the one he ended up married to. but while claire sees different levels of francis revealed over time and holds to those as much as she had held to the original version, francis does not always know what to do with the revelations of claire’s character. he doesn’t know what to do with her sensitivity, at times. with her reflective nature, her porosity. 

claire is one of the few things that can actually affect francis, while almost everything affects claire, large or small, it’s just a matter of how much she allows it to show. those parts of her have no place in a union rooted in pragmatism, and power, and control. and for a woman who has always remembered her husband as the only man who understood her, to feel like a stranger in his eyes or out of place in the life they have built is an incredibly unsettling feeling. that’s why she falls for adam, however shallowly, and she thinks to herself she can exist in those factions. be half a person with each, and somehow keep both contained, and not allow them to spill over and taint the other self. but they do. and when they do, francis doesn’t understand. it doesn’t make sense to him. francis has affairs, but they’re largely for gain, political or otherwise, and claire’s are just ... not like that. they’re more. but the THING IS. she is not that person, that wants to cordon herself off into little pieces, she wants to be seen in her entirety and understood in her entirety ... by one person. and it's not just any old person she wanted that from it was francis specifically. she wanted him to see all of her, and want all of her. claire being with other people was never about .. just sex, or comfort. her affairs were ways to keep herself from breaking apart, or drowning in the absence of that understanding. endorsed and encouraged by her husband, even if they hurt him, too. I WISH. that i could better articulate how much that fucks with me.