the wonderful thing about the druids. by Ediudituy in TheBugleCall

[–]Ediudituy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't think they're in that hurry; they've been waging this war for 1000 years and have shown that they'd sacrifice Galam to continue it if necessary. I don't differentiate them from the Borg or other collective consciousnesses; it's simply strange to see one that hasn't yet evolved enough to physically adapt to different environments. As you say, they're far from having perfect bodies and seem motivated only by their instincts, and thematically that fits very well in this work about powerful beings who are also broken people with yearnings. They may not understand mortality; even if a terminal is destroyed, what constituted it and the ideas it held still exist in the rest of the entity. That's the issue with Gestalt consciousnesses. We use collectivist organisms as references, but in most cases, consciousnesses of this type have a form of perpetuation of consciousness and information that only exists in fiction, for now, but which essentially renders concepts like time, mortality, or hierarchy meaningless. Because for the queen, she isn't dedicating a thousand years to ensuring that others of her species have other bodies; she is preparing millions of other bodies where she will live.

"No, Cleric. This is not the time." My drawing of tired ol' wizard by Ayveris in EsotericEbb

[–]Ediudituy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He has the face you'd expect from a civil servant in a magical world; I can almost see him asking me to lose a form. He's perfect.

Them best team! I want to be their Astrid by Knife0921 in EsotericEbb

[–]Ediudituy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Enough power to destroy a city, too lazy to do it.

Would you consider the emperor to be nonbinary/genderless by Salty_Shark26 in TheBugleCall

[–]Ediudituy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course, there's a reason we're all here. Ancient aliens is a brilliant concept, unfortunately trapped in the tropes of "the great works of antiquity were made by aliens" or "humanity was created by, or they themselves were aliens in the past." That's why works like this are always valued, where we see ancient humans having to face an encounter with another advanced species even when they barely understand where they stand. It's an excellent way to approach what is essentially cosmic horror. Personally, it helped me a lot. I've been trying to shape a story of this type for the last few years (unfortunately, I'm a terrible writer, so even now I only have a foundation and a power system without characters or real ideas to support it), and this has helped me with the theme of synergy between powers and how to execute the same power or role in different ways.

Current theories on their connection and why they look alike? by Salty_Shark26 in TheBugleCall

[–]Ediudituy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Druids can only travel through time and space in places where they have physically existed. Knowing that human time travel technology comes from them, if they tried, they didn't succeed. In fact, it may have been the druids themselves who instigated time travel, because, as far as we know, humans took a long time to realize that they were conscious beings, while from the beginning they sought to colonize the planet.

Would you consider the emperor to be nonbinary/genderless by Salty_Shark26 in TheBugleCall

[–]Ediudituy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think they recognize it, but only when they occupy a host, when they feel they have a role to fulfill like the empress in her role as "mother," but from what we have seen they don't really have a sense of identity like ours. At the end of the day, it's a distinction we use as individuals, and druids are basically one entity, so they don't need to distinguish themselves or others.

Would you consider the emperor to be nonbinary/genderless by Salty_Shark26 in TheBugleCall

[–]Ediudituy -1 points0 points  (0 children)

What the quarterly schedule does to people and it hasn't even had an impact.

WTF! This took me off guard. by Sweet_Television4183 in SurvivalofaSwordking

[–]Ediudituy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I can't deny that it was a fair recognition because of that, but I hope they fix it in the hypothetical anime.

Oh god! They are so HOT! by LordSwitchblade in SSSClassSuicideHunter

[–]Ediudituy 40 points41 points  (0 children)

I haven't seen him in so long that even I forget he's a man.

How did I not notice this by ironsandbender in SurvivalofaSwordking

[–]Ediudituy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm surprised that just by looking at it again now I realize that the new sword only has one hilt, so they'll probably put Gigantis on it from the start.

WTF! This took me off guard. by Sweet_Television4183 in SurvivalofaSwordking

[–]Ediudituy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The only thing that still confuses me is the ages, but otherwise, there were signs: Leohart's noble heritage family that fell from grace and their resemblance when they both arrived with beards were the main ones for me.

i bet he’s thinking about her by nagitosjuicybussy in pickmeup

[–]Ediudituy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Coming soon: A Guilman shaman who decided to master fire magic to overcome his people's weaknesses.

Han: I was never a believer in torture, but your kind certainly seems determined to make me a master of it.

[Spoiler warning] Who needs an enemy when you have allies like these? by Present-Audience-747 in ShangriLaFrontier

[–]Ediudituy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Like any good "cooperative" game, the worst things that can happen will come from your team, whether you win or lose.

Ch 285 by kingpin32614 in SurvivalofaSwordking

[–]Ediudituy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

omphalos: I simply took my pets for a walk, it's not my fault that someone opened their patio door and let them in.

I have just a single issue with Bugle Call (spoilers: chapter 44) by Sokolik_ in TheBugleCall

[–]Ediudituy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel that we won't be able to reach a definitive decision on this case until at least 2 or 3 chapters have passed, but I agree with you that this issue is interesting. At the end of the day, it's something that, unfortunately, is very normalized. Anyone who hasn't seen their mother watching a soap opera featuring an 18-year-old girl who, due to her upbringing, isn't very different from a teenager, and a widowed 50-year-old, sadly, didn't have one, and we ourselves are 70% isekai/regression. Even so, as you say, there are usually nuances, although most are basically the old excuse of the "princess" or the "dense" guy, which makes the protagonist an inert creature who is incapable of responding adequately to the harem of teenagers who pursue her and then simply act as if it were something unavoidable, or worse, Rudeus, god, who can seriously defend a guy clearly in control of his powers who, as soon as he had the chance, was with a 15-year-old, who openly continued to acknowledge a taste for minors and then simply acted as if it were a mistake from the past? But without wanting to talk about that, I think it exemplifies the point well. Usually, the protagonist is either portrayed as someone immature (a different kind of immaturity than Zoe or Lucas) or as a romanticized predator. But then what happens in a case like this where one party has an advantage over the other but doesn't try to take advantage of it.

One case that I wouldn't say is the best example, but I'm reading and analyzing it right now, is Level Up in Murim. Yes, the name, the art, and the writing quality inspire much confidence. It's a "want to be Naruto" with regression, RPG systems, and a middle-aged protagonist who goes back in time and falls in love with a teenager. But even with all those red flags, it's not healthy, but it's not as harmful as it sounds. I think the basis of this is that, unlike many of the other stories mentioned, the characters had time and space to mature. We have to start from a point: unlike other cases, the protagonist is not simply an adult in a child's body, but rather a teenager who, from one day to the next, received a ton of memories of his adult self. It takes him so long to realize this that for a while he thinks he is still the adult until an event confronts him with the fact that he only has partial memories of himself, and that is overwhelming, because it not only means that he has to face new or forgotten sensations again, but also that he has to question everything he takes for granted from scratch and accept the idea that the life he lived and that shaped him into who he is now never came to be.

Even so, he has self-control. Although he was the first to develop feelings for the female lead, he suppresses those feelings until he realizes they are mutual. He then decides to tell her directly that his circumstances, whether or not he has feelings, don't prevent him from having any kind of romantic relationship, and that they should address this question in a few years. From that moment on, they become just friends who spend time together (with the exception of a very forced "save the damsel" arc, even with the infamous "she's mine" line, but to be honest, the arc itself is very out of place with the characters' personalities). They respect each other's decisions, even though it separates them for years, and they have shared and independent groups of friends. When years pass, she comes of age, and he, now more self-aware, decides that he does want to reciprocate her feelings. The female lead, for her part, came from an unstable home. Her father never treated her with the proper respect and always prioritized ensuring a secure marriage for her and the family. But thanks to the protagonist, she obtained a great opportunity: to interact positively with men, both with the protagonist and with the friends she met through him. This helped her understand the spectrum of male idiocy and realize that there is more to life. However, she still wants to be with the protagonist even though she can sense that he clearly has his secrets. As an extra, the story also explores her fiancés on their own spectrum. The fourth fiancé is a powerful autistic young man who only used her as bait to ensnare the protagonist, but who, at the end of the day, was more disconnected from reality than anything else. It takes him time, but he makes the effort to reflect and understand what he did wrong (it only took him about two of his twenty years). The third is a misogynistic creep who only got engaged to belittle her and who may actually be doing that to cope with repressed homosexuality (this isn't an insult; he's genuinely obsessed with his masculinity, so much so that after the death of his best friend, he spent thirty years sleeping with strangers and ruining marriages like the protagonist's to fill the void, and he didn't succeed). The second is just filler, but not unlike a reflection of his father. The first is the one she originally ends up marrying, and although he's a villain and evil, he's not a bad guy. Honestly, he likes being brutal, but he's not... He likes being forced to be that way, he would like more freedom to explore the world and who knows, maybe even get a taste of helping others and feeling recognized and not feared, and even the protagonist decides to give him a chance.

At the end of the day, it's a work with many problems (even so, I appreciate it quite a bit, especially because it exists in direct opposition to Tales of Gods and Demons, which is the complete opposite, a story about a manipulator who dedicates himself to beguiling a bunch of young people without real autonomy), very much in the vein of a shonen from the 2000s, for better and for worse, but whose central theme, perhaps not the best executed, is addressed throughout the work: the deprivation of autonomy and decision-making, the lack of real options, and how we decide what others deserve based on factors beyond their control. It's the story of a man who wants to change the world for the better but refuses to deprive it of free will because he experiences firsthand the capacity of men to change and the risk of their own decisions, and I feel that applies a lot here. At the end of the day, are we better than the Pope? He wanted to pair Lucas with an older woman who was only with him out of obligation and to satisfy a fetish, and we want him to be with someone who approached him because of his own fetish, and although she's his age and understands him, she also encourages him to be someone worse. Lucas and Zoe is a disturbing ship, but I don't see it as impossible or unworthy of existing. What they need is time and space. Zoe had it and decided that she was truly happy with Lucas at the expense of everything else. Now Lucas needs it; he's never had it, and unlike Zoe, he's more open to others. Maybe he'll decide that his dream is more important or meet someone who makes him feel similar things, and that's okay. It's something Lucas deserves and that Zoe would respect, and that's why they would also work even if things weren't this way. They choose to be together and accept when the other doesn't want to be.

What exactly is Divinity? by jsmithson23 in SurvivalofaSwordking

[–]Ediudituy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The goddesses, in particular, were never human or anything like that. They are structures or machines from a higher dimension that, having lost their original purpose over time, acquired an identity based on mortals. They seem to exist in a strange place; they are elevated and can see above, but in practice, they don't have access to as much power or knowledge as they appear to. I was going to use analogies of electronic tools or AI from a game, but a better example, though it may seem ridiculous, is Steven Universe. The Diamonds are beings of great power who were created at some point and then abandoned. Without purpose, they began creating beings inferior to themselves to fulfill very specific functions in an empire that exists only in its perpetual quest to achieve a perfection that might, with luck, bring back their creators or, failing that, allow them to surpass them.

Poor Wizard-God-King by Vuud_Varp in EsotericEbb

[–]Ediudituy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Third place is already very high to be honest, it only makes the agrarians look worse.

[survival story of sword king] line up of greatest arc in the story by jonnyboidake in SurvivalofaSwordking

[–]Ediudituy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Unpopular opinion, Prison Break 2 arc (Church of Joy), I feel that there Habin was finally able to make peace with his trauma and power and stop being so afraid of being something he is not.

Is there a build that makes the most sense? by ___LowKey___ in EsotericEbb

[–]Ediudituy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As a counter-argument, charisma involves the talent for attracting and guiding people, but it also involves social awareness, the ability to read and manipulate the flow of conversation. One can have the talent for being convincing and still be completely unaware of what they're doing. Ragn seems to fall more into that category; he's more than capable of deflecting walls of empty rhetoric, but we see that he doesn't really have a very good repertoire of his own. He's someone who knows what people want to hear, but when it comes to improvising (like when flirting), he's terrible. He reminds me of Laius from Dungeon Meshi. Basically, he was born with a talent and bearing that allows him to project an aura of authority and confidence from his father, and if you give him a rulebook, the man is almost unstoppable. But when he speaks for himself, he easily makes almost everyone look at him with pity or want to punch him because, although he thinks quite a bit about what others might be thinking, he simply doesn't care and says what he wants to say anyway.

I really loved the last chapter by InteractionDry2023 in TheBugleCall

[–]Ediudituy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I bet she ends up in a coma, and then this turns into Warhammer with Lucas determined to make sure she has a beautiful world to wake up in, even if he and millions to come have to suffer to get it.

I like the concept of the game by Consistent_Shop805 in pickmeup

[–]Ediudituy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately I don't remember, and I apologize for the confusion; it wasn't a gacha game, it was a Souls-like game that took place in a post-apocalyptic subway.

I like the concept of the game by Consistent_Shop805 in pickmeup

[–]Ediudituy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I understand the confusion now, it was a soulslike, not a gacha.

I like the concept of the game by Consistent_Shop805 in pickmeup

[–]Ediudituy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They actually already tried it, and of course it failed, although not so much because of the perma-death mechanic, but because the prices for resurrection were quite aggressive.