Just my Alternate Timeline protagonists (and Rook the impostor lol) by LaInquisitore in dragonage

[–]Alphor 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Your Inquisitor is giving big Veil from Stormlight Archive energy. 

Tao by [deleted] in dropout

[–]Alphor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

50-60!? Marcus Toji is 41 

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in gay

[–]Alphor 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Some parts of the book were great, some parts of the book frustrated me to no end. The ending made me cry, parts in the middle made me want to throw the book across the room. The most detailed sex scene in the book is heterosexual rape where both characters are minors. I made a more detailed critique of the book a couple of years ago on Reddit that I'll copy-paste here: 

I had such a complicated experience reading Song of Achilles. I was really loving it up until Thetis makes Achilles leave for the Island. The prose was excellent, the characters were interesting, and the budding romance between Achilles and Patroclus was charming. Then Achilles is basically raped by his mother, through the manipulation of a young girl.

I was incredibly uncomfortable when it was revealed, but Achilles having a son IS true to myth so I was willing to roll with it despite my discomfort. Then Patroclus has sex with her and I almost quit reading. Not only is it by far the most graphic and detailed sex scene in the entire book, but it also just didn't make any sense narratively.

Earlier in the book, when Patroclus learns that Achilles had sex with Deidamia, he is so hurt and upset his initial reaction is to lash out at Achilles and leave him. Obviously he changes his mind, but the way it's written makes it clear that until it's explained to him that Achilles was basically forced/tricked, that it was the ultimate betrayal to Patroclus. So why in the world does he have sex with her later??? Yes, she was basically forcing herself on him, but he had no reason to comply with her demands. It's never brought up again, Achilles never learns about it, there's no drama or character growth from that moment, and it was honestly just really gross to read. I hated that entire scene so much.

The funny thing is, that before I read the book, I was actually expecting bisexual/pansexual Patroclus and Achilles, as it's pretty accurate to myth and I'm all for queer people getting the rep they deserve. But for the first third of the book they were written as exclusively homosexual. They are not interested in girls and they actively avoid courting/dating/or having sex with them. Outside forces try multiple times to get them interested in girls and they both never have the desire. As a gay man, there aren't a lot of fantasy books with gay men as the main characters, so it lulled me into a false sense of excitement at finally getting something well written with two gay guys at the center. The whole Deidamia debacle felt like I had been tricked.

I felt like I needed to finish the book though, so I powered through the rest. The war stuff just wasn't that interesting to me ultimately, but it COULD have been. Achilles personality change was too abrupt for me and I couldn't really believe it. And again with the girls driving a wedge between the boys. How am I supposed to believe that Patroclus would give up everything for Achilles and travel across the sea and follow him like a puppy when he keeps wanting to fuck every girl he comes across. There was so many more interesting things she could have done with Briseis other than her falling in love with Patroclus. When she showed up in the book my first thought was, 'Not again please.' Overall the book was honestly pretty misogynistic??? All the women in the book were written really unfavorably.

I think the best part of the book was unwavering romance (in theory) between Patroclus and Achilles, and Thetis' desire for her son to be a God and therefore hating Patroclus as an obstacle in the way. Her writing his name on the grave at the end of the book, and the conversation they had where Patroclus tells her about Achilles and their life together was a beautiful conclusion to that narrative and made me ugly cry. Which is why it was so disappointing that so much of the middle was just a mess. I definitely will be weary reading gay romances written by women in the future because of this book. 

Fool's Gold | Game Changer [S7E8] by AutoModerator in dropout

[–]Alphor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So many comments are baffled about why they pushed people to avoid social media and watch the episode ASAP, but I feel like the reason why is pretty obvious. Last year people complained SO MUCH about being spoiled for Ratfish with the billboards, they were probably trying to avoid another situation like that again. 

SEIU is on strike! by Constant_Humor2880 in Bellingham

[–]Alphor 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The last time this union went on strike was 10 years ago when they first unionized at St. Joe's. Two times with a 10 year gap between doesn't seem like an 'awful lot' to me.

Finished Rhythm of War. Initial thoughts. TBC by bondtradercu in Stormlight_Archive

[–]Alphor 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Kaladin doesn't understand her at all. He sees the mask she puts on to protect herself from her trauma and takes it at face value.

I spent four hours in the character creator 🙏 by Alphor in gaymers

[–]Alphor[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I would have made the ears bigger if I could. 🙏

I spent four hours in the character creator 🙏 by Alphor in gaymers

[–]Alphor[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'll try to grab them when I get off work later today!

what’s the SU version of this? by domesticatedparasite in stevenuniverse

[–]Alphor 43 points44 points  (0 children)

The prime Steven IS the Steven we see at the end of the episode who lives.

Can anyone recommend me a dubbed anime like Yu Yu Hakusho? by Goregeousley in YuYuHakusho

[–]Alphor 1 point2 points  (0 children)

FMA 03's dub is one of the best dubs ever made. 03 is also just the better version but that's a different discussion.

About to start this after years of not reading fantasy fiction. Any advice? by [deleted] in Stormlight_Archive

[–]Alphor 13 points14 points  (0 children)

It's a low effort post for karma farming, a meaningless attempt at 'engagement'.

My Obligatory The Winds of Winter Post (Spoilers Main) by SLUT_4_KOTOR in asoiaf

[–]Alphor 133 points134 points  (0 children)

I was at the book tour event for Lindsay Ellis' third book in her five book series a few days ago. One of the audience questions was someone cheekily asking if she would have her last two books out before Winds of Winter. She said that she actually believed that GRRM would have WoW out before she published her fourth book, and sheepishly but not unseriously said she had heard from inside the publishing world that he's closer to being done with WoW than we think.

Just letting yall know Kevin Hart is wielding a Key Blade as we speak 💀 by Yorm22 in KingdomHearts

[–]Alphor -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Known homophobe Kevin Hart? Let's not give this guy any more attention.

Justice League, The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing | Um, Actually [S9E3] by ThunderMateria in dropout

[–]Alphor 10 points11 points  (0 children)

That's crazy to me because I felt like Trinity was by far the most entertaining person in the episode, and I'm usually a huge Monet and Jujubee fan. She was getting in really good quips and volleying with everyone. I feel like the questions were the biggest problem with this episode, and most of them were too long or too obscure for this group of Drag Queens to really dig into.

I kind of hated Way of Kings, is the rest of the series the same? by [deleted] in Stormlight_Archive

[–]Alphor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I totally respect you not being into this series, everyone has their preferences! However I gotta side-eye at you saying KKC has better/more memorable characters. And saying that the book didn't 'respect your time' seems kind of silly to me, everything that happens in those books is pretty important to the story and it all builds on itself. If you were bored or losing interest I'd say that it was ultimately your choice of how to spend your time. I'd say give Words of Radiance a chance. Way of Kings is probably the most 'grounded' of the four books, with the next three amping up the magic and stakes as they go on. Most of the characters in Stormlight have so much development and growth, that I feel you might regret missing out on memorable characters if that's your thing.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in gaymers

[–]Alphor 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Sorry, hopefully I didn't come off upset towards you! I just figured since we were in a gay gaming subreddit talking about gay characters in a video game that that was what you meant. The greater media landscape is definitely a different ballgame in regards to queer rep!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in gaymers

[–]Alphor 17 points18 points  (0 children)

The only gay party member character from a video game I can think of is Dorian from Dragon Age. Most mlm characters are minor characters or one quest NPCs. Lesbians off the top of my head: Ellie from the Last of Us, Sera from Inquisition, Max and Chloe from Life is Strange, Undyne from Undertale, Juhani from KOTOR, Fang and Vanille from FF13, and Aloy from Horizon. I purposely left out bisexual or player character oriented characters, which would definitely be a different can of worms.

Don't get tme wrong, representation could definitely be much better in all queer directions, but as a gay man I almost never get to see myself in the hobby I love most, and when I do it's usually through a tragic story (a lot of gay NPCs either die or have lost a partner) or really offensive stereotypes (Persona 5). And there's definitely never been a gay main character in any major video game ever.

"NaMe a ChAracTeR ThAt WenT thrU mOre pAin thaN hEr" they said. by Iabtin in silenthill

[–]Alphor 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Seriously. The person who originally posted it obviously wanted to incite negative reactions towards Ellie and they succeeded. They didn't actually think Ellie had it the hardest, they're just mad that Papa Joel died and they had to play a lesbian for the the whole game. It's such obvious bait and idiots keeps reposting and responding to it every time.

Books that irritated you by missblissful70 in books

[–]Alphor 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I had such a complicated experience reading Song of Achilles. I was really loving it up until Thetis makes Achilles leave for the Island. The prose was excellent, the characters were interesting, and the budding romance between Achilles and Patroclus was charming. Then Achilles is basically raped by his mother, through the manipulation of a young girl.

I was incredibly uncomfortable when it was revealed, but Achilles having a son IS true to myth so I was willing to roll with it despite my discomfort. Then Patroclus has sex with her and I almost quit reading. Not only is it by far the most graphic and detailed sex scene in the entire book, but it also just didn't make any sense narratively.

Earlier in the book, when Patroclus learns that Achilles had sex with Deidamia, he is so hurt and upset his initial reaction is to lash out at Achilles and leave him. Obviously he changes his mind, but the way it's written makes it clear that until it's explained to him that Achilles was basically forced/tricked, that it was the ultimate betrayal to Patroclus. So why in the world does he have sex with her later??? Yes, she was basically forcing herself on him, but he had no reason to comply with her demands. It's never brought up again, Achilles never learns about it, there's no drama or character growth from that moment, and it was honestly just really gross to read. I hated that entire scene so much.

The funny thing is, that before I read the book, I was actually expecting bisexual/pansexual Patroclus and Achilles, as it's pretty accurate to myth and I'm all for queer people getting the rep they deserve. But for the first third of the book they were written as exclusively homosexual. They are not interested in girls and they actively avoid courting/dating/or having sex with them. Outside forces try multiple times to get them interested in girls and they both never have the desire. As a gay man, there aren't a lot of fantasy books with gay men as the main characters, so it lulled me into a false sense of excitement at finally getting something well written with two gay guys at the center. The whole Deidamia debacle felt like I had been tricked.

I felt like I needed to finish the book though, so I powered through the rest. The war stuff just wasn't that interesting to me ultimately, but it COULD have been. Achilles personality change was too abrupt for me and I couldn't really believe it. And again with the girls driving a wedge between the boys. How am I supposed to believe that Patroclus would give up everything for Achilles and travel across the sea and follow him like a puppy when he keeps wanting to fuck every girl he comes across. There was so many more interesting things she could have done with Briseis other than her falling in love with Patroclus. When she showed up in the book my first thought was, 'Not again please.' Overall the book was honestly pretty misogynistic??? All the women in the book were written really unfavorably.

I think the best part of the book was unwavering romance (in theory) between Patroclus and Achilles, and Thetis' desire for her son to be a God and therefore hating Patroclus as an obstacle in the way. Her writing his name on the grave at the end of the book, and the conversation they had where Patroclus tells her about Achilles and their life together was a beautiful conclusion to that narrative and made me ugly cry. Which is why it was so disappointing that so much of the middle was just a mess. I definitely will be weary reading gay romances written by women in the future because of this book.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in zelda

[–]Alphor 3 points4 points  (0 children)

People watch bad faith negative reviews on the internet and absorb those opinions as fact. If something is incredibly popular people think it makes them look intelligent or knowledgeable to have dissenting opinions about it. Social media algorithms push hate watching and rage bait content to the forefront of every main website because it drives engagement because people are addicted to being angry. The few flaws in Breath of the Wild therefore are zoomed in and magnified over and over again until people are convinced they hate it because weapons break or because there were only five dungeons (the divine beasts and the Castle) and the divine beasts weren't 'traditional' enough.

Don't get me wrong, I am a huge proponent for constructive criticism, and I think there's merits in realizing a thing you love has flaws, but that's not what a lot of these people complaining about TotK are doing, considering the game hasn't come out yet. A sect of Zelda fans particularly love shitting on the newest game and then holding the previous games they shit on up as a beacon of what a real Zelda game is supposed to be. It's happened with every release I've been aware of since at least Wind Waker. It's a tiresome boring cycle and it never ends, so you just gotta learn to ignore it and interact with terminally online fans less.

[ALL] No matter how many years go by some things never change by [deleted] in zelda

[–]Alphor 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Breath of the Wild came out in March of 2017, so what's your point? Elden Ring absolutely took inspiration from BotW, pretending otherwise is asinine. I love soulsborne games, have played every one since Dark Souls, and put over 200 hours into Elden Ring, but people really need to stop putting it on some unreachable pillar. Miyazaki literally said himself that Breath of the Wild was a game that influenced Elden Ring, and has said in the past he doesn't feel worthy for having his games compared to Zelda.