I'm not going to reblog anymore about Jay's crash out, i don't want to focus on the negative experience anymore than we have to, just gonna move on to working on my own creative stuff and uplifting the wonderful people we have in the ffxiv community
we interrupt my normal activity of reblogging random posts for the FFXIV Fanfest Update! I attended my first one this past weekend and walked in the Glamoured to Life show as Emmanellain with one of my oldest friends as Haurchefant. thought I was gonna die before we went onstage lmao, but as soon as I heard people cheering I was so happy so thank you everyone for all the love!!
the whole experience was very overwhelming but in a good way. I met so many new people and saw old friends, traded so many stickers, everyone was so cool and it felt like a huge party with thousands of your besties. I definitely want to go again if I can! anyway here's a video of our walk-on, I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did <3
as a side note, if anyone happened to take any photos of us, we were dumb and didn't take any good ones and are searching for anything we can submit to the official gallery LOL so I'd love to see them!!
for those who want to know the url of the biphobe, it's @/nights-at-crystarium
after his blantant biphobia he has chosen to ignore people who have called him out and also has the audacity to act as a victim as if he is not the one who is outright hostile to bi folks. he also thinks if he grows big enough, his biphobia will be more acceptable.
For those who haven't seen the original exchange, here's the dogwater take from anon that kicked us off:
hApPy pRiDe 🏳️🌈😚 Here's to getting upset that other queers might imagine a fictional character with no established canon sexuality to be interested in more than just one gender.
Oh, and why not sprinkle some caaaaasual racism into it! Because fans "in Japan (and maybe other places idk)" might not recognize the same shitty gender-normative stereotypes as you. So true. We the Asians should def get a pass for homophobia because our cultures are just Like That™ or whatever the fuck.
Brother. Do you know any damn thing about queerness outside of North America? Yes, Japan (and maybe other places idk) has the same/similar cultural tells for queerness because (1) Western esp American media is a major influence on global culture, and (2) shitty gendernormative and sexist beliefs are worldwide and upheld to varying levels of severity.
Holy fuck. I know people of color don't exist in English dialogues about queerness except as window dressing, but please consider perspectives outside your own. Especially during a month that celebrates the diverse spectrum of queerness.
Anyway, here's the very questionable response NAC posted and is now crashing out over:
Even if they could relate to the anon's sentiments, their response is so fucking entitled and whiny. HEY, I'M THE VICTIM. I'M BEING OPPRESSED. WHAT DO YOU MEEEEAAAAN I'M BEING INSENSITIVE TO BI/PAN/OMNISEXUAL PEOPLE YOU'RE TAKING MY WORDS IN BAD FAITH.
Like, did you all know we can have very real conversations about gay erasure without throwing other people under the bus over personal player perceptions of a fictional character's sexuality? Mind blown.
sorry to keep harping on about this but this is what J thinks of queer creators in the community. what do we think he thinks counts as a queer creator. let's take a guess
Oh ill be scrubbing fragments comic from here when im on pc, fuck off with biphobia and racism
Edit: adding screenshots for context since
Bisexuality isn't any less queer than Homosexuality and implying that japanese people can't have a deeper understanding of queer villian tropes from hollywood is fucked up, like don't sign off on that.
It's cool to write Emet as gay in your own comic and fanfics but you don't get to shit on other people for writing him differently. Happy Pride month ffxiv we have our first Ew Discourse even
Thancred feels like a character who wants his persona to be carefree but he cares so very, very deeply it's practically coming out of his pores. All the other scions just pretend not to see it to help him out.
Oh absolutely!
I would legit say that Thancred and Estinien both are easily the characters who love the world the most and yet also hide it the best.
Like WoL (and kind of Urianger) clearly love the world deeply and show it with open arms, Y'shtola has affection for the world (she loves its mysteries more than the general world) and shows it when wanted. But Estinien and Thancred you need to tear open with your teeth to have them show you, and they fight you all the way to be allowed to hide how much they care.
Like Estinien who just…does good deeds and never comments on it and in fact gets embarrassed when being pointed out, like the hairband or the drink or the treasure map. He loves children and helping and feels so much, and its all stuck behind stoicism that people think he is an idiot who doesn't get money.
And Thancred is somehow even WORSE! We see him actually kill so rarely! He has an incredibly strong moral compass and whenever possible he avoids death, he uses tricks to get by. He turns more and more grumpy and violent the more he loves, and nearly breaks Ryne with that until she is finally able to translate AND he is able to show a LITTLE bit more warmth.
And he tries so hard to seem aloof. He did so before (though more in the playboy way) and he does so now (in the 'battle-hardened warrior' way). To not show that he loved Louisoix to the point that he formed his entire personality and responsibilities after him for a long time. And Minfilia he had loved so hard that it BROKE him when she disappeared and he needed literally three expansions (which is anything between 3-5 years) ON TOP of 5 years on the first to SOMEHOW get through that grief. My man suffered for possibly a decade because his heart was so broken, because he does nothing by halves.
The man who was orphaned so very young and fended for himself and likely never felt like he belonged or had a home or DESERVED one either. Only to fight like a rabid dog for what he cares about, because if anyone - even the Twelve or Hydealyn herself - will dare take more from him, he will personally go down into the afterlife to drag them back (he luckily got over that obsessive persona by the time we DO go to the afterlife, now he just sticks to not letting anyone die, period).
He literally became a tank which is - next to healers - THE most protecting class. Literally lets himself get cut down before anyone else can hurt you. Constantly dashes forward first. Nearly kills himself by cutting off all aether from his very soul to defy Ran'jitt to buy us and Ryne time, hesitates to even leave the First because Ryne would be left alone even though he is literally on the verge of actually dying himself.
He legit has such an extreme drive to keep those he loves safe that he defies Meteion LONG after even WE collapsed. We are wheezing and fainting on the floor - us who are possibly the strongest humanoid on the whole star - and he goes from a crouch into a sprint and slashes at her. Because how dare she hurt us and our friends!
And he SUCCEEDS!
And fucking builds a whole ATMOSPHERE and GROUND with that!
Thancred is insane.
He is the most soft-hearted guy who has at the same time locked his heart with 20 layers of steel. And sometimes we can see it cause it's just too much, he can't contain it, it squeezes through the screw holes and joints.
And he turns awkward when even he notices that he got sappy or sweet, and everyone is fine to turn away and act like they haven't noticed.
Urianger and WoL just smile gently, Y'shtola and Estinien smirk, Krile and the Twins giggle for a moment before moving on. G'raha might just be air-headed enough sometimes to miss it and be a bit confused, else he might join any of the others. But none of them says a word about it.
And so Thancred marches on as if nothing had happened, back straight, eyes forward, confidence in his stride and love for everything and especially that which he cares about pouring out of his soul so much he might start glowing.
I love him so much. My lovely, emotionally-repressed Rogue.
I'm not a fiend about "you must play this in Japanese only" by any stretch. I actually prefer the English translation in XIV instead of subtitles, which is rare for me.
But damn it, what we lose in translation sometimes.
So.
Culturally, historically, the Japanese have been what you might call "sparing" with their outward emotions. Not that they don't feel the same emotions as any other humans; but love especially is a closely, carefully guarded thing, not to be gushed about day in and day out. To do so is to diminish the power of the emotion, to cheapen its value.
As it was put to me years ago, "I told you 'I love you' once. That means forever."
Now obviously, a culture is not monolithic, and Eorzeans are not Japanese. But the world and its people are unequivocally influenced by the culture from which the game comes. And in Thancred's case: we know he doesn't talk about his emotions. He almost pathologically avoids trying to feel them.
What he does do is act on them.
Here's what Meteion tells us Thancred says in Japanese:
守ると。
守る, "Mamoru," in simplest terms, means "protect" or "guard." (と, a word particle, indicates that Meteion is quoting Thancred directly.)
But it's more than that.
"Survive," Thancred says in English. What's that mean? Great. Of course he wants you to survive. Doesn't he always?
See, "Survive" is an imperative in English. "Survive" is a command to you. Valid, yes.
But 守る, while it implies that command for your survival, is a declarative to himself. 守る means, I will protect you, whatever the cost: my own life, my own life essence, all of it. To protect you, I surrender to the unmaking of my body, aether, and soul, so that you will live.
Do you see how "Survive" warps the original meaning?
守る is Thancred's cri de coeur, torn from the deepest parts of his own soul. A man who would strangle his own life force rather than admit how he feels cries out in wordless desperation so powerful that it reshapes empty atoms into walkable ground under your feet; transmutes the nothingness of the void into the very air you breathe.
While I understand frustration with translations and how often higher up meddling and or censorship can mess things up I personally think "Survive" was a good choice.
I do very much appreciate the context you have given for the original japanese dialogue though but please allow me a moment to explain my reasoning.
Survive is what he needed for the wol, and he will give everything to make sure we do just that survive. It can be taken as a command yes but i think in the context of Thancred's personality and what he may have been thinking in the moment it was more of a Prayer.
He needs the worlds, our friends, and the warrior of light to Survive, so with his final breath he us a chance to do just that
Another lovely summer is upon us, and that means it's time to celebrate with yet another xiv event!!
Since the plan is to stretch it throughout summer, I’m doing a longer “deadline” for each prompt + an opening and closing day. This way, we can star/end together but still have our own pace in betweens <3
MAKE SURE TO USE: #XIV HEATWAVE FESTIVAL
As always with my prompts: you will get a theme + a specific prompt + a quote. This time, since it's weekly prompts, you can use any of the 3 prompts any time during that week. Be it just one or multiple posts per week, mix and match some of them, skip others entirely - you do you!
— GUIDELINES:
this list is intended for every medium! I once again made sure to add quote prompts to make it easier for writers, but feel free to pick and choose whatever you want: gpose, art, gifs, writing, anything goes!
none of the prompts are mandatory, specially not this time. you have 3 prompts every week to use them as you please!
NSFT works are welcome. You know me by now and know some of those are purposefully suggestive, but feel free to go crazy with any of them! just remember to tag and label them accordingly to those who don't wish to see this type of content.
It starts in JULY, so we have a month to prepare + during the weeks.
Still, if you can't make it on those dates, trust me, there's no real deadline. This is intended for all summer but if you ever feel like following it later, feel free to join!!
Make sure to use and lurk the hashtag: #XIV HEATWAVE FESTIVAL to support your fellow creators and DRINK WATER!
— WRITTEN PROMPT LIST:
JULY 01: heatwave, melting, “it's too hot...”
JULY 02 - 05: water, swimming, “come on.”
JULY 06 - 12: fun, competition, “there are no rules.”
JULY 13 - 19: sunkissed, golden hour, “look at you.”
JULY 20 - 26: beach, bonfire, “don't touch that-”
JULY 27 - AUGUST 02: wander, drifting, “where are we/you?”
AUGUST 03 - 09: fresh, camping/hiking, “try some!”
AUGUST 10 - 16: sweat, bathing, “turn around.”
AUGUST 17 - 22: glow, stargazing, “what was that?”
