No idea what's going on @xepparellin - Tumblr Blog

The return of Godfrey in Elden Ring creates a pretty entertaining twist on the customary fatalism of the Soulslike genre.

In most Soulslikes, you run into a bunch of creepy weirdoes who have big plans about how to Fix This Broken World, and those plans are invariably doomed to failure because they fundamentally misunderstand the nature of the problem.

In Elden Ring, many of the creepy weirdoes actually have a pretty good bead on what the problem is and how to fix it, but their plans are doomed anyway because, unbeknownst to everyone involved, if they ever managed to get that far there’s a geriatric Conan the Barbarian waiting to powerbomb them so hard they clip through the Earth’s core.

azure-trash

Bouncing her bunny

pigeonmiku

hsr 4.1 spoilers to talk about some characterization

when pearl was trying to pay ashveil off to get him to stop asking about what they did with the herald of death aftermath, I kind of think she was testing him more than anything. especially since the answer is "I dont know much", it doesn't seem like there was anything on her end to hide, she doesn't know the extent of any coverup that happened and doesnt seem to have been in charge at the time either. there was really no reason for her to go to all this trouble, but given how much she admires the "impractical" side of human nature, I can't help but think she was testing ashveil's moral fiber to see what he'd do.

starcurtain

I don't have the time to go in depth but the discourse about Varka's writing being misogynistic is the most inane drivel I've seen in a long time. Beyond even that though, I think that a lot of people are not seeing this debate for what it actually is: A complete failure to decouple characters in a narrative from the viewer's own modern perspectives and ethics.

"Varka not going into the Traveler's room if you're playing as Lumine is part of patriarchal tradition that implies women need to be treated different."

Yes, this is because he's a knight from a culture based around feudal Germany where chivalric codes were the primary tool used to show respect for women.

"He dumped all his work on a woman and went off to win glory!"

(This isn't even accurate but whatever.) Sure, yes, this is because Varka is modeled on archetypes of wandering heroes whose destined journeys take them far from their homeland not often just to win glory but to do a duty which only they can do. He's Roland at Roncesvalles, Perceval seeking the Grail, Beowulf protecting the Danes--the entire historical weight of Varka's character comes from being a man who can lead in battle but who is uniquely unsuited to stay in one place and serve as a practical peacetime leader to his people. Ignoring the entire archetype of the knight-errant to argue about his writing based solely on ethics from the 21st century is like saying we shouldn't enjoy ancient Greek tragedy because none of the Greek playwrights were feminists.

Frankly, I see this all the time with my students of literature, and it's actually a sign of a very scary trend. Modern students struggle massively to sympathize with or just understand the behaviors of characters from ancient and classic works because many under-read young people fail to conceptualize of characters as having separate perspectives from their own. Rather than being able to understand characters as unique entities, hallmarks of their own time periods (or the periods they're meant to represent), or as having their own wildly different cultural contexts with little connection to modern morals or gender politics, many younger readers can only project themselves and their own current-day ethical perspectives on to the characters in the narrative.

All stories and characters are being judged as if they were real people living in our modern day, with our modern morals.

This underscores a dangerous lack of ability to conceptualize of alternative contexts as well as a lack of any ability to empathize with the "Other," butttt I don't have time to go any farther into this, so just... begging people to get a little more educated before opening their mouths. 😂

If you don't have at least foundational knowledge of the cultural and ideological contexts inspiring a particular character, you are genuinely not qualified to engage in discourse about that character.

briannyssey

Crazy that y'all aren't offering obeisance to the world serpent. Its wiggles are literally cute

briannyssey

WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! WHY HAS THIS GAME DONE EVERYTHING FIRST

fourfoldfires

its wiggles are literally cute!

veloriajones

SCREEEEEEE!!

finalrespite

starting a collection

(links in alt)

wandringaesthetic

trying to find the original "church bad? dragons.... good?" post and also "heaven exists to be surmounted [etc] my polearm technique is unparalleled" to add to this

wandringaesthetic

well,

(the original seems to be a tweet by Twitter user bwoop who seems to currently going by dragoncommunion)

wandringaesthetic

annnnd, here:

baldursghaik

actually I lied, this was the funniest part of that doctor's appointment

teatitty

Was looking up the Wooing of Ailbe story for Uni so anyway here's Ailbe being super relatable in her GILF fucking ways

For easier reading: "Cormac argues that Fionn [spelt "Finn" here] is too old for his nubile young daughter, but Ailbe's reasoning that an experienced husband is preferable to a green, ill-prepared one finally rules the day and brings her father over to her side"

The convo itself is literally just Ailbe going "a mature young woman needs a competant and virile husband to fulfill her conjugal duties." Which is a very polite way of saying "I want to marry someone who can actually make me orgasm in bed and not pass out two strokes in." Considering Fionn is noted in this story as being "aged" multiple times this is indeed a roaring review of his prowess even in his GILF years. Man could lay pipe is what I'm saying

byjove

Me: This is a really cool Neolithic monument, does anyone know who built it?

Irish folklore: Fionn mac Cumhaill.

Me: Ah. Interesting. This is a gorgeous and unique geographical feature, I wonder how it came to be…

Irish folklore: That was the work of Fionn mac Cumhaill as well.

Me: Ok. Wow. He was a very busy guy. Any idea who constructed this Neolithic tomb?

Irish folklore: Fionn mac Cumhaill. He did it.

Me: Is all of this…

Irish folklore: Yes. It was all Fionn mac Cumhaill.

spacephobos

fucking love the pitt. they let the autistic girl chill with a dog fo a bit then her boss came in like "fucking love u girl my least troublesome intern wanna pick sooo much gravel out a dudes leg wound?" and she was just like 😀😀😀 incredible. banger autistic rep shes so me.

anyataylorjoys

The Watermelon Woman (1996) dir. Cheryl Dunye

seeveekat

Hey this movie is really important in queer history! It was the first feature length film directed by a black lesbian! You can watch it here for free!

I really recommend you do because while it is a rom-com (and a drama), it also looks at how the stories of black queers are over looked in history.

iridescent-sunshine

This is important because black queer history IS queer history. Black trans women led the charge in Stonewall. A black gay man was the chief organizer of the March on Washington where MLK gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. A black gay man was one of the first to openly write about homosexuality. A black woman was the originator of the theory of intersectionality.

Black people led the way in LGBTQ+ advoacy. Y'all aren't telling queer history if you're omitting black history from the story.

ftmtftm

It's reported that it was actually likely to be Stormé DeLarverie, a Black, biracial, butch lesbian drag king, who incited the Stonewall riots. Marsha P. Johnson said herself that she was not present when the riots started and this has been corroborated by Sylvia Rivera, who was also likely not there on the first night of the riots. That doesn't diminish their acts as leaders and pillars of the community, particularly with STAR, however it is a narrative that erases the important presence of a different Black queer figure in our history.

Not to mention, these people have names. Baynard Rustin. James Baldwin. Kimberlé Crenshaw. If we're giving flowers to the Black people who have gotten us to this point in history we should be naming them while we do so.

werewolfetone

The revolutionary period has never been my favourite period of irish history in general but those photos of michael collins with a hurley in the most restrictive 800 layers of 1920s clothing you could possibly imagine are some of the funniest images ever taken

werewolfetone

Out here showing the people of dublin how good I am at sport in my waistcoat and suit trousers/coat and my smartest shoes and my starched collar/shirt/cuffs because it's 1921 and they have yet to invent the FUCKING t-shirt

oglaighnaheireann

Locals pass out Tea to a Local Irish Republican Army gunman in Creggan, Derry, 1972

severinedraws

Eternal Recurrence x Undertale

hollowwhisperings

Who's Who in the "Anti-Destruction Alliance" Trailer?

we begin with the destruction!

we have four or five lord ravagers here: zephyro (left), celenova (behind zephyro), asat pramad (right), phantylia (behind asat pramad), and the big white glowy thing may even be luxbane. that's five out of the six known emanators of destruction!

the (allegedly) preservation-following IPC is next!

we have face reveals for two more stonehearts: pearl (in two different outfits!) & opal (wearing a very snazzy hat).

the hunt had five representatives, four familiar and one brand new!

from the xianzhou alliance, we had jingliu (technically a fugitive) & general yaoguang of the xz yuque.

from the galaxy rangers, boothill & rappa were joined by an as-yet-unknown woman wielding... a chainsaw? could be a fancy gun tbh.

the harmony had two representatives: robin, whom we already know and love, and this ballroom dancer failing at ballet.

your weight is supposed to be on your toes, not a possibly imaginary stiletto heel! for shame, hoyoverse!

from the erudition, we have my personally most anticipated character: stephen lloyd!

i'm gonna take a wild guess that, with herta recovering from the irontomb incident and ruan mei doing shady research on aeon remains, screwllum had no choice but to tag in the genius society's token kiddiwink.

good luck, stephen!

from the elation, we have alt skin sparkle ("sparxie") & a mysterious male silhoulette who is, let's be real, very probably asat pramad. yes, the lord ravager.

we also got some cameo appearances from the astral express (himeko & the trailblazer) and, in the stinger, three/four stellaron hunters!

we already had promo images of blade & silver wolf's new looks but seeing the latter's in action was very cool.

the following characters are new (to star rail) and of uncertain path affiliation: wild speculation ahead!

this well-dressed gentleman was previously promo'd as "ashveil". my first thought on seeing him was gallagher (suit + wolves) but he shares a lot of features with the likes of blade and boothill... the devs should really update their knowledge of hair styling.

(meanwhile, genshin players: wriothesley is that you?)

quickfire silhouettes at the crosswalk!

our first model is hsr's long awaites yae sakura variant: "evanescia". look at that elegantly modern take on a furisode! we're back to bunny girl sakura, i see.

our second model... wait, isn't this just the lord ravager asat pramad again? isn't this supposed to be an anti-destruction alliance??!

thirdly we have... a blonde. is this the ballroom dancer? the chainsaw-wielding galaxy ranger? a casual pearl the stoneheart? a crossdressing luocha? idk, man, your guess is as good as mine.