Episode 86 of riptide you are so famous

-Ablaze -

I am so proud of him

we love ourselves parallels 

[SPOILERS for JRWI Riptide up until episode 86]

As someone who adores Chip's characterization in JRWI, I feel like not a lot of people give him credit for all the development he's gone through.

Of course Chip was inherently selfish towards the beginning, and it's obvious when you look at the entire Loffinlot arc and the fight in episode 15.

But Chip has grown so much since then, and a lot of people seem to overlook that. He has gone out of his way to show his crew that he cares about them time and time again. Not only that, but he's also shown that he's grown from being selfish to incredibly selfless.

In the Noctis arc, Chip gave up a chance to free himself from the nightmare curse to instead save the people that died during the murder mystery party. He gave Ichabod the insane butter knife with nothing in return. He rowed out into a storm and got himself struck by lightning to free his friend. He spent an entire night building an arena from scratch just to try and make his friend happy.

For a while, Chip has stopped pulling pranks or making jokes, he cares and it's clear, even if he's not great at showing emotion. He wants the best for his crew and would do anything to make them succeed, even when in his mind, the best thing for them would be for him to leave. Despite everything that's happened to him he still cares. I feel like because Chip isn't as open to comforting or being comforted, people act like he cares less, which simply isn't true.

From a writing standpoint, Chip is Incredible and has gone through crazy development that goes pretty far back into the campaign. Calling him a bastard doesn't even really fit anymore, because really, when was the last time he did something bastardy in the campaign?

Anyway I'm a Chip apologist and if he ever did anything wrong, no he didn't, Chip solos, only takes dubs, goodnight

DRIPTIDE PIRATES LINEUP RAHHHHFHHF

what if the undersea was one of those societies where your hair is a sign of like victory in the sense that you only ever cut your hair when you lost a battle and when gillion was exiled they chopped all his really long hair off send tweet

i’m not losing either of you again

it’s ok guys i’m catching up i’m only a year behind i’ll get there

close ups under the cut because i never learn that drawing things smaller means you can’t see them as well

Jay “I have soloed most of our battles and I will shoot you AGAIN.” Ferin VS her stupid boyfriends Chip and Gillion “We fight through our feelings plus anime references” Tidestrider

jay ferin wakes up with a hot coffee and a loaded gun in her hands

episode 86 of riptide was the definition of an emotional rollercoaster.

“Even if it’s not my fault, it’s still my accident, it’s still my mess. It’s still something that - exists, because I do” oh. and he just doesn’t know another way to help, either, because all his life has been screwing up without helpful direction in order to meet impossible standards, and so there is no other way than to bleed himself dry. for the cause, for a friend in need, for anyone he doesn’t know. especially for the problems that he himself creates, because to him his pure existence has always been the problem, because the elders were fucked as hell and traumatized him to no end - so even causing problems is a sin. a single mistake is a sin. it always has been. and it’s rough trying to learn anything other than that mindset - but Jay and Chip won’t let him struggle alone.

and it’s like - that’s what comes with being raised the way he was. punished for imperfection, but there’s no guidebook, no definition of perfect. and so perfect is never good enough anyway. it’s a trap and there is no winning, so there’s nothing else to do but take the blame and bear it, and internalize it. and it makes actual failure and actual mistakes that much more painful. of course responsibility needs to be taken for your actions - but when you’ve been taking responsibility for everything, up to and including the literal fate of the world, all of your life, every outcome is your fault. and guilt only builds, and resentment only festers. of course he hates the elders for how they treated him. of course he hates himself.

he’s grabbing his own destiny and making his own choices - but the thing about making your own choices is that there are so many of them. there’s no destiny to blame anymore. and all you can do is the best you can. and it’s not always going to be good enough. he’s learned plenty about failure, but with Jay and Chip around, maybe he’ll learn about second chances, and self forgiveness. maybe he’ll learn that accidents aren’t always met with extremes. and that he’s not the only one left to deal with a mess if he slips up and breaks something.

HEY SO I'm DEFINITELY normal about episode 86 and how gillion went from that conversation with jay and finally opening up and crying in front of them and admitting no one's ever cared about him the way she and chip do, to finding out about the thing with edyn and that not only were chip and jay keeping that from him but that edyn (the person he cares about and trusts more than anyone else) went out of her way to beg chip not to tell him, to staying up all night stewing in the feeling that if they were lying about something like that how do I know they weren't lying about caring about me, to his emotions fucking with him so bad that he couldn't say a word to edyn, the person he has never tried to hide anything from. then seeing how much effort chip put into apologizing in a way that would matter to gillion, and gillion openly expressing, for the first time, that he isn't okay, he's not in a good headspace and an apology won't automatically fix that, but he still accepts and appreciates it. him asking what chip would have to gain from challenging him, and the response of "my friend back" making him go quiet for a second. I'm totally normal and not mentally ill about gillion tidestrider.

Old sketch

Gonna start crying and its not even because of my many issues it’s because the funny fish man and the guy named after a snack are arguing and making each other sad in the nerd show i watch

gillion’s entire character is just so… all his life he’s been told that if he cannot do things exactly the way he Should, the way he’s been Taught, then he is a failure of a hero. and it’s absolutely fucked him up in so many ways, but one of the most conflicting ones is his Need to do right by those he cares about. one of the issues there is obviously that it’s a need and not a want - he Has to do everything he possibly can to help or save his friends, because if he doesn’t, he’s a failure to them. he’ll stop being useful, stop being their shield, and if he isn’t a shield for those he loves, then what good is he, really?

but the other thing is that like. this need puts him in danger constantly - he’s the tank, he Has to be - and he thinks that that’s good, that that’s what he needs to be doing lest his friends stop wanting to be around him or be his friends at all. he Has to be willing to throw himself up for slaughter because if he doesn’t it’ll be one of them and it Cannot be one of them, not just because gillion cares about them and doesn’t ever want to see them hurt, but also because the thought of failing around the only people who have ever seemed to really want to understand the person that gillion is is something so unbearable it feels like it aches, physically.

and for everything he’s willing to give, for everything he’s already given, he doesn’t even realize how much it hurts chip and jay and everyone else to see him throw himself and his safety aside so casually! he said it himself, he doesn’t know how to give anything other than everything he has, and learning to rely on others is completely foreign to him. not because he doesn’t trust the people around him, but because if he does rely on them, even a little, he’s weak. he’s dragging them down, he’s a liability, he’s purposefully putting them in danger.

and with all that, what is another burden indeed, huh?

hello mx swagaythor and fellow chip bastard james jrwi enjoyer if u are still taking requests from you're drey propaganda can I get a lil doodle of my boy chip jrwi? i do not mind what he is doing i just want a lil ms paint bastard tyyy

FELLOW CHIP BASTARD JAMES JRWI ENJOYER!!! thank you for listening to the propaganda heres chip being a horrible babysitter