listen. idgaf whether fearne wanted the shard or not. this isn't about fearne saying ashton should have the shard. this is about ashton taking the shard without telling the rest of the party! this is about ashton (nearly) killing themself because of a misguided assumption about what the party needs, without any actual discussion about it! this is about ashton's persistent inability to let people speak for themselves instead of presuming to know what's best for them! do you hear me!!!!!

Honestly I'm thinking and this season of dimension 20 has so many plot lines that are all needing to be tied up fairly quickly. It makes me a little concerned for the finale in terms of how rushed it may feel or how little pc-pc or pc-npc interaction there may be. But I am wondering, right-

There's so much to do. They're in their junior year, and we're hopefully presuming there will be a senior year. Some of the combats so far (ex. Night Yorb, rage mall, grix) have happened with some kind of help throughout it (the curse, Connor counterspell, the vulture king) and they end up succeeding (at least partially because of it). In the finale, it's very very reasonable that they get through it and everything works out.

BUT what if it doesn't. What if it starts going well and then drops like those other combats have gone. What if there's no kind of help this time. What if something actually goes terribly dangerously wrong and they can't fix it. What if senior year has a continuation of the same very intruiging plot?

This is mainly just ramblings before the finale episodes (and I don't think this will likely happen) but I am thinking about it. I'm thinking very much about it

People who say Bakugou should be punished for telling Deku to kill himself and Make fun of him need to realize he’s been dead for more than a year… that’s all.

LOL yeah like i think he's received the worst possible punishment for his actions ... which is. u know. dying

it's also so silly bc have u ever encountered a 14 year old. everyone was or will be 14 at some point. and it's common knowledge that u're absolutely ur worst self in middle school. it can literally only go up from there

not everyone has told someone else to kill themselves at 14 but i assure u everyone has done stupid shit as a 14 year old and i think most normal people would give literal children some grace regarding their bad behavior. bc most normal people would understand that ur identity and personality at 14 shouldn't be taken as a true reflection of ur character. bc u were 14. and u're irrational and u're still growing and ur brain is still developing. and more importantly, u didn't know shit. and u thought u did and that's why u were stupid and made mistakes and said dumb shit.

"but he was a bully and that's why he deserves to suffer severely and painfully for the rest of his life" these ppl are lucky bkg isn't real; if u're older than 14 and know better yet say this about a real 14 year old i think that says more about u than the kid. u will be put on a list of some kind

also, like, some perspective to soothe my own brain: season four happened in the craziest two weeks of everybody’s life. not much even really happened that was that significant, for all the big emotions. they called a presidential election that probably won’t go the way they called it. the deal went through like logan wanted it to, which is really no big; the kids just got so swept up in the idea of stopping it because trying to tank the deal was a way to try to keep their father with them, a way to try to keep themselves the same people they were -- or wanted to be -- in their father’s eyes. everything they did was pretty futile.

and, like, roman and gerri had some bad fights within a tense two weeks. but the whole thing with succession is that there are always those moments where you’re like “oh my god. i can’t see how these characters can possibly come back from this. their relationship is OVER.” and then in the next episode, they’re interacting like normal again. because that’s the toxic family bubble! that’s the rollercoaster! that’s the mess! that’s the norm for these people and it always has been!

so i feel like realistically, season four was less “roman and gerri are over forever” and more “roman and gerri had a bad fortnight where they were both grieving and exhausted and emotionally insane and he fired her twice and she threatened to sue him and release his dickpics to the world but also they miss each other and look at each other tenderly from afar and roman and gerri will probably just keep being roman and gerri when the dust settles.” i don’t think big dramatic relationship endings are really a thing on this show, even when they maybe should be. (coughtomshivcough) one thing that i liked about the finale was the suggestion that it was specifically the end of the “who’s going to be the next ceo?” story, not the end of the roys* and the other characters, and they’ll all probably just kind of carry on being themselves and doing what they do. and for me, that in part means roman and gerri continuing to cross paths and do their weird little thing.

*except maybe kendall idk man D:

I feel like a major factor in understanding the gods in Exandria is that trying to apply some kind of mortally relative moral framework to them is a fool's errand, because they are only and always representative of their domains.

The gods of Exandria are not individuals, and they have entirely different perspectives. You can see that in the discussion this week of the differences between the Raven Queen as a mortal mage ascending, and the Raven Queen as an ascended god—her motives and concerns have changed. In fact, those attempting to follow her are actively ignorant of that difference, to their peril.

The Raven Queen realized upon ascension that she had already caused some destabilization within the pantheon, and how disastrous another occurrence of that would be, even though she herself believed in the legitimacy of her own ascension—Purvan spoke about the death of the god of death as something almost fated, cementing the Matron's domain. However, for all future circumstances, her followers attempt to dissuade such attempts at her behest, and she with the pantheon hopes to keep the knowledge of that ritual unknown.

The mages of the Age of Arcanum, however, continue to attempt these ascensions, because they are mortals, and they do not have that kind of perspective.

But while they are operating within the bounds of moral framework, relative to what that means in their time and society, the pantheon is operating under a broader framework, one that is essentially amoral—which is very different from moral greyness. In fact, it's a framework that is outside of moral relativity at all. As such, I would argue that if we assume that morality is relative to the society that spawns it, the gods cannot fundamentally be said to be moral beings, because they owe no worldview or allegiance to any one society of Exandria.

So Asmodeus can lie and manipulate, and this is not inherently something that draws moral judgment—because this is his domain. It's in his nature to do so, because subversion and manipulation exist, both passively and actively in the world. A mortal following in his footsteps is subject to ethical and moral questioning, because mortals are moral beings. There is a longer interlude here on free will, but for simplicity's sake, what this essentially means is that the gods act within certain bounds, while mortals have more freedom. The trade-off between them for this restriction or freedom is power. When the Raven Queen ascended, she gave up some manner of her mortal nature for a divine one, and in doing so took power with, for lack of a less loaded term, free will as payment.

(I have to wonder if the mages who seek to follow her understand this. I doubt it.)

This isn't to say that the gods cannot err—they are well aware of their own failings, which is the entire reason that they are, in modern Exandria, cut off behind the Divine Gate, an exile they willingly chose and created—and there are, to an extent, some outcomes that are so universally Bad as to transcend that relativity as well, for instance the inevitable destruction of all life on the planet, which spurred their exile. But beyond those few universals, the gods act in alignment with their domains, and by extension their natures, because they are less changeable, and more cognizant of the longer arc of time.

Ser Gerold Royce of Runestone, cousin to Rhea Royce.

these swatches from these conversions of Jaheira's outfits from BG3 are perfect for Fallon's "I'm totally not a royal" outfits.

You see that theory going around on Twitter about Gregory being innocent in the main ending?

@/TheJ_Pro on there has a pretty detailed thread about it if you haven't heard it.

YEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAH I SAW!! MY SON!!! MY SON IS INNOCENT!!!!

Honestly I think he's valid in his actions whether he did it or not considering the situation he was in at that moment- but after hearing the evidence of him not doing it, even outside of that thread, I'm definitely leaning more on the side that it wasn't him.

Did people actually like the finale? It really soured the whole thing for me, like okay I get that the season got shortened but the amount of character arcs and problems etc that got no closure really made everything else feel kinda pointless

Like Ed's been wanting to leave piracy since we met him, he tries to be a fisherman (granted, the way he went about it was awful) and gets told "no, go back to killing that's all you're good for", HE DOES, and then just leaves again like that was nothing, no exploration of his state of mind or anything in between?

Stede feeling inadequate and ignored his whole life, the whole thing with the Badminton twins, then this season he kills a man willingly, gets cocky for once at being admired (due to the aforementioned feelings of inadequacy he's still somewhat carrying) and eats shit for it, all of that just... Goes kinda nowhere? What he went through this season should cause some change in him, yet I don't feel there's any difference between the Stede in the first episode and the Stede in the last one, idk

GOOD GOD THAT NORAGAMI CHAPTER SOMEONE FUKCING HOLD ME

do you think any of the lov can be/will be redeemed?

Yeah. I think it's already foreshadowed and established as a main theme of the story. The League is getting saved, but I reckon that won't play out like a redemptive arc à la Enji with atonement on the League's side, per se. Thematically, it's the hero kids who need to "redeem", so to say, the concept of heroism itself and prove that someone who can actually call themself a hero doesn't just punch their way to victory, but also makes room to save. That was the lesson from the whole first half of the manga (explored through Deku and Bakugou's respective mindsets and flaws), and it already came up again in the final arc; if punching bad guys to win was enough to wrap up the story, Katsuki wouldn't have gotten his heart exploded, and if separating them to fight them better was a solution, the Sad Girl Parade never would've happened.

The villains are getting redeemed in the sense that they will be made to discard their villain aliases and to leave their bloodlust behind them. Putting them in jail or killing them wouldn't solve the knots the story already set up, and it would contradict the early lesson that a complete hero is someone who knows when to punch to win, yes, but also when to save to win. That's what the story is asking from the protagonists. Become the type of heroes who extend help even to those who don't want it. Even to those who are "too far gone" because where there was a crying child begging for a hero's help once, there is still a person within reach even now (thematically represented with the returning motif of the kids version of the characters). Returning—or staying true—to your origins is the biggest theme of the story so far, and there's a clear pattern where this applies to the villains as well.

ok I've just slaugthered Isobel and the whole Last Light Inn, only Jaheira was left. Then I've looked her dead in the face and said "It was me, I've killed them all and enjoyed it" AND THEN I'VE KILLED HER TOO😭

Good lord here come the Ghostface apologists

this is the ONLY way i wanna see hunter acting in for the future btw

(third one based on the second pic in this post btw)

I want to play SV so badly :(

I don’t even like....... actually care about the story or whatever at this point since I’ve seen so many spoilers (maybe 1/3 of the game’s “plot twists” if you can even call them that 🙄🙄🙄), and I don’t really like, like the pokemon designs this generation either, but I’m tired of my brain hyping it up constantly kjsdhfjksd

ok like yes it’s very funny that we find out for sure that nandor likes guillermo because his mind controlled wife starts giving guillermo little kisses LMAO and i know everyone in this show does evil unforgivable things constantly but still, for this one, i’m reallllyyyy hoping nandor faces some fucking consequences and marwa does actually get to live on bc my dude this is some next level shit. i know YOU see marwa as a plot device and not a person, but i hope the show lambasts that concept and doesn’t treat her the same