Reblogging For Historical Value

Rean is both the most realistic and most absurd of the Trails protags.

He's got two different, unrelated, protagonist secret powers. He's got unexpected ancestry! He's one of less than a dozen people who know Eight Leaves sword tech! He's a champion snowboarder, excellent fisherman, and unbeatable at Magic:the Gathering! He is the Maryest Sue at the ball.

...and he is deeply, realistically, clinically, depressed. His primary drive to help people comes from not being he can, or even should, help himself. He has a breakdown any time he spends more than a day by himself, constantly needing to be thinking about other people - as the alternative, thinking about himself, is too. damn. much.

I like Rean. I really hope he learns to like himself better.

sidequests in most trails game: you are basically a do-gooder for hire. doing these requests is how you put bread on your table and how you move up in the world

sidequests in cold steel: the cute student council president asked you very nicely if you could help her with some stuff and you are incapable of saying no to anyone

I love it when I see a nice art and it immediately dissolves into WTF-ery. Give me those man-made beauties beyond my comprehension.

Moooola!

Handmade paints from medieval pigments, and those paints used on miniatures (pics of finished minis to follow) #flyingmonkeybonus #minipainting

Disney: ok you can use mickey mouse, but- Nomura: Michael is now a Flawed Warrior King with a reckless past who is not exactly forthcoming wrt to the truth. He makes critical mistakes like leaving people behind in the realm of darkness but also takes the nearest troubled teenagers under his wing at every possible opportunity. He is always trying to make up for how he’s erred but despite keeping a fairly level head is sometimes consumed with thoughts of vengeance when his friends are threatened. Also he says it’s not only okay to be gay but that the capacity for such strong love is the source of your power–

i miss her (ttrpg character i barely got to play)

"The best thing we can do with power is give it away" - On the leftist critique of superhero narratives as authoritarian power fantasies:

The ongoing "Jason Todd is a cop" debate has reminded me of a brilliant brief image essay by Joey deVilla. So here it is, images first and the full essay text below:

"A common leftist critique of superhero comics is that they are inherently anti-collectivist, being about small groups of individuals who hold all the power, and the wisdom to wield that power. I don’t disagree with this reading. I don’t think it’s inaccurate. Superheroes are their own ruling class, the concept of the übermensch writ large. But it’s a sterile reading. It examines superhero comics as a cold text, and ignores something that I believe in fundamental, especially to superhero storytelling: the way people engage with text. Not what it says, but how it is read. The average comic reader doesn’t fantasize about being a civilian in a world of superheroes, they fantasize about being a superhero. One could charitably chalk this up to a lust for power, except for one fact… The fantasy is almost always the act of helping people. Helping the vulnerable, with no reward promised in return. Being a century into the genre, we’ve seen countless subversions and deconstructions of the story. But at its core, the superhero myth is about using the gifts you’ve been given to enrich the people around you, never asking for payment, never advancing an ulterior motive. We should (and do) spend time nitpicking these fantasies, examining their unintended consequences, their hypocrisies. But it’s worth acknowledging that the most eduring childhood fantasy of the last hundred years hasn’t been to become rich. Superheroes come from every class (don’t let the MCU fool you). The most enduring fantasy is to become powerful enough to take the weak under your own wing. To give, without needing to take. So yes, the superhero myth, as a text, isn’t collectivist. But that’s not why we keep coming back to it. That’s not why children read it. We keep coming back to it to learn one simple lesson… The best thing we can do with power IS GIVE IT AWAY." - Joey deVilla, 2021 https://www.joeydevilla.com/2021/07/04/happy-independence-day-superhero-style/

finally finished this painting i sketched out months ago… please click for better quality i know tumblr is gonna kill it (reference used)

Haha babe ur so sexy~

Read more Crow Time @ crow-time.com 💙

Same energy as "Betty Boop was the original vSinger".

reading an academic paper about Dark Souls that casually mentions "environmental storytelling, which was first pioneered by amusement parks," hits exactly the same as when i went on the wikipedia page for Gorillaz and the linked page for "virtual band" casually mentioned that the concept was pioneered by Alvin and the Chipmunks. truly we stand on the shoulders of giants

I misread this as "fanfic can be as good as professional wrestling", and that seemed rather unkind to everyone involved.

At some point "fanfic can be as good as professional writing" became "fanfic should be as good as professional writing" and that's caused major damage to fandom spaces.