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Latest Posts by opuspace - Page 3
already seeing "ugh male Rook with Neve in the trailer... that's a LESBIAN" posts on twitter and I'm beating them with a big stick that says "you can HEADCANON whatever you want about anything ever but your HEADCANON is factually incorrect and if it chaps your ass even a little bit when anyone up to and including the literal creators of the character disagrees with your HEADCANON then that's fully a you problem and you should consider developing coping skills about it rather than contributing to this fandom's legendary hostility by policing (even in a manner you'll claim was "joking" when someone stands up for themselvs) people who are only enjoying their own playthrough, headcanon, or ship" and by stick I do mean the block button
Fans: I can't stand Halsin because he's racist to Drow!
Me: I see. Quick question, who's your favorite character?
Fan 1: Shadowheart, who hates all Githyanki, of course!
Fan 2: Lae'zel, who hates all non-Gith, of course!
Fan 3: Astarion, who hates all gnomes, of course!
Fan 4: Minthara, who hates all surface elves, of course!
Me: ...... I see.
i haven’t been able to finish my current me3 playthrough yet due to my brother hogging the xbox so he can play ARC: Evolved but here’s a list of things i remembered i hate in the OT in no particular order
the elevators
the asari
mark meer’s voice acting in ME1
liara’s writing if you don’t romance her (wtf bioware)…especially considering that the reason i generally DON’T romance her is because in ME1 at least, it feels like an adult dating a teenage girl.
femshep’s romance options and how most of them get fucking shafted to shit in ME3
how heteronormative ME2 was
jacob taylor’s loyalty mission and how racist it was
how racist and lazy the writing for jacob taylor was in general (ofc there are many reasons i dislike jacob in and of itself, but some it can be chalked up to bad writing)
jack’s chuppy ass default outfit in me2 (really bioware??? a woman could have the smallest titties in existence and she still wouldn’t be able to strap ‘em down with just a fucking belt. even if this game was written by mostly men, that’s still dumb as hell)
miranda’s largely unnecessary ass-shots
thane’s death
kai leng
that fact that you can’t call out kaidan for his bullshit cheating accusations in ME3 if you DO choose to romance someone else in ME2 as femshep if you romanced him in ME1, but mshep can do that to ashley (????? BIOWARE!)
the fact that an aro ace shepard it practically impossible to play after a certain point in the series without being a complete dick (and if you play the citadel dlc, impossible as femshep! because if you don’t romance anyone you wake up next to javik! lmao)
the fact that the dlc for the ME2 and 3 literally never goes on sale on pc like it does for the console versions, forcing me to pirate shit i already fucking paid for because i am unwilling to shell out £200+ on this shit again because EA and bioware are lazy money-grubbing fucks thanks ea thanks very much for your business practices
related to the above, but why did they never sell me2 or 3 with all the dlc included? that shit would sell like no one’s business…oh wait, EA…again.
the elevators
I love Liara to death but sometimes it does frustrate me how hard the games push you towards her. I'm not romancing Liara. I didn't romance her in ME1. Why does my Shepard have to have so much weird romantic tension with her when they're just friends?
With characters like Garrus and Tali you can see how Shepard has a brilliant friendship with them even if they are not romanced. But with Liara, Ashley and Kaiden it just feels like the games are forcing you to interact with them romantically. Which is sad, because it diminishes their characters as friends and squad mates as well as just romance options.
-Give him content in ME3. Not this token effort that we all saw was just a way of saying, "Of course we didn't forget all your teammates!" Players should have had the option to pick who they wanted on their team for a certain number of teammate slots.
-His script should never have been butchered to make assumptions on behalf of the player. That's what that infamous Femshep greeting came off as: Bioware thinking we'd be so hot to trot for a character we never even got the chance to get to know. His line about how the Normandy is Shepard's love REALLY rubbed people the wrong way.
-Seriously, more effort should have been put into Jacob's story. He should have been part of the main story, trying to take down the Illusive Man after seeing all that madness. Jacob's original writing that had him proactive and seeking to do some actual good would have meant that he'd have been as tenacious in setting things right by bringing karma onto the Illusive Man for misleading him.
how i‘d rewrite jacob to make him a more likable squadmate:
• femshep‘s interactions with jacob would sound normal. none of them would sound flirtatious unless shepard is actually pursuing a romance with jacob.
• if you dump jacob for garrus, cut out the line where he calls garrus a cuttlebone. jacob is supposed the be the nice, good guy, the one who gives cerberus a good image, not some racist prick who uses first contact slur. this move was especially bad since garrus is a trusted squadmate! really, bioware? an easy way to make a character hated is to make home insult a character that is that popular among players.
• don‘t make him say „miranda deserves a better man“ in regards to his past relationship to miranda, and then have him be able to romance shepard. that makes it seem as if he is still head over heels for miranda but settling for shepard, who he thinks doesn‘t deserve a better man.. unlike miranda. cut out that line.
• leave out the ‚heavy risk but the priize‘ line. it‘s so dumb. it objectifies shepard and it‘s just cringy.
• he‘s supposed to be the nice guy yet miranda is more polite than he is. jacob should not be saying he is not in the mood to talk; he should be more open towards shepard
• let us find out more about his past life. he was a privatee with the corsairs, what was that like? also where did he grow up, which colony? why did he join the alliance? how long has he been with cerberus and how did he come to join them exactly? how did he find out about the organization?
• for his romance, make it a serious romance, not some hook up. give jacob and shepard a movie night date on the normandy in the starboard port and have them watch blasto and have us learn jacob has seen all the blasto movies. or have jacob play videogames with shepard. giving him a little of a nerdy side would have make him much cooler.
• to make him more sympathetic, write jacob as being the one who helped jack get the coordinates of teltin facility. after the confrontation between jack and miranda, jacob felt so awful that he decided to help jack sort through the files so she could get the coordinates of that place and nuke it. this would actually prove he is that kind hearted nice man he was supposed to be
• have him apologize to thane at some point, saying he was wrong about him. this would‘ve been a pretty great opportunity to give jacob some small character development
• don‘t have him cheat on femshep, most importantly.
Apparently people thing Halsin is....problemati?????
the "each bg3 character is a subversion of their usual class traits except halsin" is one of my favorite discussions but i think halsin is also a subversion he is just harder to pick out
when he kills he feels it is out of necessity and doesnt regret it even though life is lost vs. traditional druid who feels All Life is Sacred
part of druid group and was selected as the leader but is actually too much of a free soul and doesnt actually want to stay there vs. the reclusive druid who must be convinced to trek the world
halsin being a notorious bedbreaking harlot vs. the sexless-druid who is detached from intercourse/interpersonal sexual relationships
built like he got 10 meals a day vs. the tight-bodied lithe druid
I love his character, I feel like he is a druid who worships nature by experiencing it to the fullest. Which is why he doesnt take issue with things like sex and killing. It also contextualizes why he was chosen as the leader of the druid camp but wasnt happy in the position. Halsin doesnt want to be an overseer of nature, he wants to be a participant who walks and grows and fucks as much as he can
Carbonara preparation under pressure....
While there is no doubt that having the Qun inflicted on everyone else is unacceptable, knowing why there are adherents is important because it'd never survive if it wasn't at least addressing enough people's needs to become a culture. One of the biggest things that stand out is that the Qunari do not believe in neglecting their poorest and weakest members of society. Oh sure, ideally, everyone should be taken care of, the Chantry sisters do have charities.
And yet.
There are people still joining the Qun (for good or for ill) like the city elf brothers who were wanted for murder. Why did they kill? Humans raped their sister. Did they go to the City Guard? Yes. No one did anything about it. Why? They were city elves, the least of all citizens.
No amount of spare food or clothing will address that need for justice there.
It's notable that Andrastian myths focus more on Andraste, her relationship to the Maker and a few involved in her story. But the story of the Qunari's reason for arising centers on the failure of societies in taking care of their poorest, their neglected.
Long ago, the Ashkaari lived in a great city by the sea. Wealth and prosperity shone upon the city like sunlight, and still its people grumbled in discontent. The Ashkaari walked the streets of his home and saw that all around him were the signs of genius: triumphs of architecture, artistic masterpieces, the palaces of wealthy merchants, libraries, and concert halls. But he also saw signs of misery: the poor, sick, lost, frightened, and the hopeless. And the Ashkaari asked himself, "How can one people be both wise and ignorant, great and ruined, triumphant and despairing?"
So the Ashkaari left the land of his birth, seeking out other cities and nations, looking for a people who had found wisdom enough to end hopelessness and despair. He wandered for many years through empires filled with palaces and gardens, but in every nation of the wise, the great, the mighty, he found the forgotten, the abandoned, and the poor.
There's another passage that comes to mind of how the Qun may not be all fascism and pigeonholing tyranny to the citizens (taken with a large grain of salt):
Nanny Goodwin lay on the hard stones of the Kirkwall docks until the sailors left with her purse. As she struggled to her feet, a large grey hand reached down to help her. It was one of the Qunari, the great horned giants who had come to live in the city.
"I thank you," said Nanny Goodwin hesitantly, looking for her satchel. "I did not know the docks were so dangerous, or I would have asked one of Lord G___'s guards to accompany me as I bought healing herbs for the children."
"You are a tamassran," said the Qunari. "Under the Qun, no sailor would accost you. Why are you here?"
"I am but Lord G___'s nanny," Nanny Goodwin said, "and Lord G___ did not believe me when I told him that the children needed healing herbs, so I was forced to buy them myself."
"Under the Qun," said the Qunari, "tamassrans are trusted and listened to when caring for the children, and any healing herbs they needed would be provided. Why did Lord G___ not attend your words?"
"He is a noble," Nanny Goodwin said, "and I am merely a servant who cares for his children." She shifted her shawl to hide the bruises the sailors had given her, as well as the bruises Lord G___ himself had left.
"Under the Qun," said the Qunari, "all are equal, and no tamassran thinks herself a mere anything."
Nanny Goodwin bid the Qunari good day and returned to Hightown with much to think about.
Sounds like propaganda, doesn't it? And it'd be easy to dismiss as just that, if not for a few non Qunari members of the Qun like Gatt.
Gatt has lived under the Qun after escaping from Tevinter so he has two societies to compare side by side to on the pros and cons. And his assessment is this: The Qunari are meeting enough of his needs to offset their flaws in society.
So there are some positives in Qun society. It's far too rigid and narrow in its overzealousness to categorize and control everyone, but it's fascinating in how it's not just a cartoonish, mustache twirling parody of an evil government. They genuinely do want to take care of every single member of their society, it's just a shame that expectation to conform is non negotiable.
CONFESSION:
It sucks that we rarely get to see any truly positive or cultural looks into Qunari life. Sten was kind of our only real peak into it without every character around them going "wow thats TERRIBLE the qun sounds AWFUL you're basically SLAVES". Even Tallis's storyline eventually turned into her running away from it. We'll shine a light on how the Chantry and the slave empire are 'flawed but worth saving' all damn day, but maker forbid the Qunari have any kind of positive exploration with the modern storyline. I'm not saying I want them to be a shining perfect utopia, but would it kill anyone to add a little nuance?
It's also not about them being human, because Kasumi, Miranda and Jack don't get slapped with the boring label.
We never do get to explore the flaws with Kaidan's racism sadly.
CONFESSION:
I've come to believe that every alien squadmate in Mass Effect would be considered boring , hated or liked a lot less if they were human. Many people in the fandom seem to like the alien characters because they are alien and dislike the humans just for being humans. Whether a character is an alien or one of the so called 'boring' humans people love to hate, if they are evil and have done horrific things I'm going to hate them. I'm not going to automatically love alien characters just because they are not human.
I have an assignment due this week, so naturally I’ve spent all day thinking about a relatively minor aspect of Halsin’s characterisation: his sense of humour.
I haven’t often seen Halsin being funny in fanfic, and while there are probably good reasons for that (writers, including me, love to put him in angsty situations – or just PWP – where humour doesn’t necessarily fit) it makes me a little sad, because his sense of humour is something I really love about him. So I thought I’d do a little bit of analysis of his sense of humour as it appears in a few moments in canon.
First up, this comment he makes to Karlach, saying that being in the Underdark ‘dampens one’s sense of fun’ because ‘noises such as laughter tend to attract predators’:
He’s ostensibly talking about the Society having a dampened sense of fun, but of course it’s also an allusion to his own time in the Underdark, and so I think it’s reasonable to read the 'dampened sense of fun' line as referring to himself as well. I have Thoughts about what this quote says in terms of his time with his drow captors and what a formative experience it was for him, but keeping on topic, it points to something that’s backed up by the rest of canon: his sense of humour is dry, it's not performative or showy, and while I think he’s quite often joking he’s not often telling jokes.
Secondly, we have a moment from one of the conversations you can have with him in act 3 about his dislike for the city. He talks about his dream to find a better way where everyone can be cared for, and then he chuckles and says ‘Listen to me, preaching like an initiate in his cups.’
To me, this is quintessential Halsin sense of humour. He’s not telling a joke, he’s not even really trying to make the PC laugh; he’s just poking fun at himself in a wry sort of way. He’s also using humour as a defence mechanism here, I think; he’s minimising the impact of a potential dismissive response from the PC by undercutting his own speech before the PC gets a chance to do it.
Thirdly, we have his interaction with Lae’zel about the chimera:
I know some people seem to take this quote as him seriously admitting he’s fucked a chimera, but I will die on the hill of ‘he was joking’ (a chimera is functionally an animal! it has an INT score of 3! Halsin is canonically on record as uninterested in having sex with actual animals and has the scars to prove it!)
So this is one of the few instances I can remember of Halsin making an outright joke. Note though that it’s still in keeping with his particular sense of humour: it’s dry (to the point where it’s easy to miss that he’s joking at all) and it’s also self-deprecating, in a way: he’s playing with the conception of him as someone who’ll fuck anything that moves, leaning into that characterisation and by doing so, making fun of both it and of himself.
And finally, the other instance I can recall of him outright joking: when the PC tells him he’s quite large for an elf and his response is ‘I am?!’ I really love this one, both because it’s such an obvious example of him deliberately being funny and also because for once, the person he’s poking fun at is the PC (for stating the obvious) rather than himself.
Looking back at these examples, what strikes me is how much his sense of humour shows itself in relation to other people’s assumptions about him. It’s clearly an important way he copes with people misunderstanding him or being dismissive or seeing him as a caricature. Much of the time he seems to be joking to himself rather than anyone else, which makes sense given the interpretation that it’s a defence mechanism rather than a means of connecting with whoever he’s talking to. (I also have a theory that humour is one of the main ways in which he feels safe expressing anger – c.f. the interaction where he tells Shadowheart that she bleats too much – but this post is long enough as it is.)
In any case, I’d be interested to know if anyone else has thoughts on this, or if there are any canon moments I've missed that might contradict these theories.
Same here. It wasn't enough that she intentionally got pregnant, abandoned the Nexus and the people who needed her expertise, stole dwindling resources from a group who were facing hostile forces, she had also doomed her kid to a future that had no pleasant end in sight until Ryder started making major steps in turning the odds around.
And she had the. Gall. To be patronizingly smug with no remorse for what she did.
The game even acknowledged she's prone towards selfish actions but instead of giving the player and Ryder a chance to be furious with her for it, we're forced into a position and dialogue where we're supposed to admire her for it when she gives birth.
And the game does not let you refuse this quest. You will see it every time you go to the map or your journal.
This mission makes me so mad I've never finished it. I cannot stand talking to Zoe or Addison about it and there are no consequences to make me want to save this selfish woman from her actions despite me having a completionist streak for even the most innocuous side missions.
On a side note, has anyone else noticed that every single pregnant character in Mass Effect is written to be as obnoxious as possible?! Rebekah being willing to take a larger risk with her baby, Brynn rubbing the fact that she went after Jacob in Shepard's face if Shepard romanced him and that he's better off with her WHILE SHEPARD IS RESCUING THEM, what is up with Bioware doing that?! It's as weird as their tendency to write every one of Femshep's male LIs needing to talk about their exes before she can romance them.
CONFESSION:
For the most part, I enjoyed Andromeda despite the problems/flaws but there was a couple of quests that infuriated me, with one being "The Little Things that Matter". I thought Dr Kennedy was freaking selfish. I wanted to call her out and Addision out for kissing her friend's ass. If I ever do another playthrough, that will be quest I won't do.
Garrus and Shepard on their honeymoon. Reports of her death have been greatly exaggerated.
When you're used to being critiqued and undermined constantly on your feelings and reactions, it often leaves one feeling like you've been picked over like a Thanksgiving carcass.
Don't criticize. Don't be rude. Never show your anger or annoyance. Don't be that killjoy when someone makes a sexist/racist/ableist joke that everyone else is laughing at. Always be accommodating even if you know that they're going to manipulate that good will to make you do work that's not yours to begin with. You still can't be cold and shut them off.
So when you're tip toeing and side stepping the thorns of social expectations, only to witness someone committing to an action that would have gotten you scoured and punished for, you'd think they'd be facing the same kind of consequences, right?
Nope.
Watching those moments where others are laughing their way through a sassy remark, a defiant gesture or a cheeky comment while you've had to filter and bleach your personality until it's dull, flat and tasteless to the world (and giving the world that classic "autism" impression) because you can't afford to weather the long cold ostracism that could cost you your job.
Is it any wonder why our emotions are fucking bombs by the time something finally sparks that long stored volatility under pressure?
Autistic and ‘Over-reacting’ to the Little Things
Neurodivergent_lou
people are like "no one wants to work anymore" when every job application is like upload your resume and cover letter. okay now manually type out your resume and cover letter in our text boxes. okay now answer these 10 riddles. okay now take a rorschach test. okay now upload a photo of your childhood bedroom and explain the relationship between its layout and the adult you are today. okay now show us your youtube watch history. okay now define the color "red." okay now walk into a patch of poison ivy and take a selfie of you holding up a paper saying "i <3 ivy." okay now wave your hands in the air if you just don't care. that one was a trick to cull the applicants who don't care. okay now choose a loved one to sacrifice. great! thank you for submitting your application we will not be calling you
Protector of the Forest.
collection of useful things tumblr has taught me:
even if you can't fall asleep, laying down with your eyes closed will still rest your body
you don't have to brush your teeth standing up
you don't have to do any chore standing up, from dishes to showering
you don't have to shower with the lights on
if you can't brush your teeth, flossing and a tongue scraper gets rid of plaque and bad breath
if you can't do that, mouthwash kills a lot of bacteria
eating "unhealthy" food is better than eating no food
you can make the same meal everyday for however long you still want it
some pills come in syrups or chewables if you can't swallow them
kids nutritional shakes can be a quick way to get fuel if you can't eat/don't have time
if walking hurts/exhausts you on a regular basis, canes and rollers are for you, no matter how young you are
we have free will—if doing something "out of the ordinary" makes life easier for you, do it
enough silliness what’s y’all’s favorite fruit
listen ima say it too many of y’all write Halsin like a big serious daddy dom with no humor and not nearly enough of you are writing him as a silly willy nilly ol’ bear
please he is canonically a big fan of nature puns and dancing like a dad at a barbecue and being a big goof
let that man laugh and be goofy I beg you he loves ducks and bedtime stories and playing games and being silly and he deserves to smile more
Norm previu o futuro:)
Rejection Sensitivity
Neurodiverse Journeys
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: the hate Halsin gets is confusing and undeserved.
I know a lot of people think Halsin whittles a duck for the player simply because he likes them or for the metaphor of 'coming home', but I honestly think he's a sentimental creature and it goes deeper than that.
your very first conversation as friends, you have to push quite hard to learn what he likes. I think a century of being Archdruid meant people didn't actually care about who he was as a person, only that he could fix their problems.
So when the player makes an effort to get to know him - a genuine effort and not allowing halsin to give a polite dismissal- it's novel for him! And you've endeared yourself to him greatly with that one conversation.
So when he has the chance to make a gift for you, he chooses something out of the most romanticized memory in his mind.
The simple conversation where you got him to speak of whittling and ducks
A simple conversation for you, but one that meant the world to him
I refuse to believe they didn’t know what they were doing when they made The Ghoul. You mean to tell me a good man and father with a fondness for dogs and in love with his wife, over the course of centuries and nuclear war, turns into an irradiated cowboy bounty hunter with flexible morals, quippy one liners, and a reluctant fondness for an earnest and kind (but total badass) young woman with whom he shares an equivalent exchange before they end the season with the promise of two unlikely parties joined together on a road trip quest…and people DIDN’T expect tumblr to go feral?
What is it about laying on the floor when you're overwhelmed that makes everything feel so much better?
Actually I am curious now!
Personally I am sex repulsed ace but I love video game romances because I enjoy seeing what makes those little pixel fellas tick. Plus to me, it's just as much a part of the fantastical adventure story as all the bandit/goblin/demon murders committed by my character.
(Also sorry for not exploring the entire attraction spectrum, I ran out of poll options! Demi folks, consider yourselves part of the ace umbrella)
A distinct lack of Halsin on my dash lately 🐻😔
idk my brain does somersault about these two
Hear me out. Falmer/Dwemer Ghoulcy!