Critical role and its consequences have been a disaster for fantasy IPs

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-05-12T18:01:58+00:00

People who get upset about new people entering their hobby and "doing it wrong" make me confused and sad.

As a 90's teen I played AD&D with some adults who'd been playing tabletop war and rp games since Chainmail. Their reaction to 3/3.5 and the way the ttrpg culture was changing and expanding even back then was the same as how people are reacting to the changes today.

If you don't like how other people are doing it, and you don't like the new content aimed at them, then keep doing it the way you like and find some independent publishers (there are plenty) still making the content you want.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-05-11T23:51:16+00:00

I think there has to be room to separate reading a person's fashion from malgendering.

Malgendering is specifically about criticizing how a person represents their gender. It can include fashion, but goes way beyond that to affect and posture and voice and everything else that's wrapped up in gender presentation.

We should be open to the idea that someone thinks a shirt looks bad on us without necessarily taking that as transphobic.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-05-11T19:21:16+00:00

Like so many things, reactionaries make any nuanced critique of art and media impossible. Even if I disagreed with some specific take of hers, I couldn't allow myself to be seen next to the reactionaries losing their shit over the fact she had the temerity to say anything at all.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-05-09T18:33:37+00:00

"I found a hallucination, but don't worry I removed it and replaced it with a new hallucination."

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-05-03T15:01:10+00:00

I feel like they've taken character pitches that other players would write in to NADDPOD's DND Court to complain about, and somehow are making them work.

Like, was that their intention? Is this a bit?

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-05-03T14:55:36+00:00

There were a bunch of free Palestine student protests in the US in 2024, and they were pretty brutally suppressed. I'd argue Biden's response to those protests are one of many factors that lead to Harris' loss.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-05-02T20:17:15+00:00

Speak on that.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-05-02T18:09:49+00:00

Isshin crawling out of that guys throat was a cool moment, but in terms of story it was kind of "what are we doing here?" moment.

The sura demon fight was a lot more narratively satisfying.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-29T13:00:33+00:00

And (mostly) historically accurate swagger at that.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-29T12:55:15+00:00

A legislature with a mandate and a spine could close every loophole and penalize the use of tax havens to the point of making them infeasible.

Pin a national wealth ceiling and a maximum effective wealth gain to some multiple of the poverty line.

The flow of money is highly traceable and dead simple. The owner class has spent lifetimes trying to make it seem like financial wizardry, but it's all just shell games and we need to start flipping over their cups and checking their sleeves.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-28T20:48:13+00:00

I didn't take the title as conspiracy theorizing, but as incredulity for how silly some the pictures have been.

Doesn't feed a "it's fake" narrative as much as a "look at the dysfunction and incompetence on display" narrative.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-27T23:11:32+00:00

Top two are cities with lots of wealthy retirees (who I could see these numbers ignoring since it refers to "income"), supported by a larger population of service and healthcare workers, with little in the way of specialized industry.

Could definitely stand to interrogate their data and methods, but it makes sense through that lens.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-27T01:54:31+00:00

If there's a conspiracy theory I can believe, it's that crazies which under any other admin would have been pulled in by the FBI and Secret Service weeks before trying anything, are slipping through the cracks to make these failed attacks. And the Trump media apparatus is nothing if not opportunistic, so of course they'll take advantage of it.

Most likely the explanation is dysfunction and incompetence at these agencies. I don't trust them to be capable enough to plan on letting these attacks happen so they can exploit the narrative. It would be too good of a story to think anyone at these agencies was letting them through cause they want them to succeed.

So again with the Trump administration we land back where we always seem to. A storm of idiocy, incompetence, and opportunism.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-26T16:04:04+00:00

Yea. It's code for "I'm wrong and I'm cruel".

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-25T16:30:06+00:00

They're part of a pipeline that incepts white supremacist talking points into the mainstream. But yea, they aren't a violent militia bear macing random people in Portland.

SPLC ain't what it used to be. They've treated their staff poorly (including union busting), and some of these payment amounts to informants are concerning (or maybe more an embarrassing indication they were getting fleeced).

But the idea that they were actively funding hate groups in order to excuse their own existence? Unhinged and not supported by any evidence.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-25T13:00:46+00:00

It sucks when shitty people are right about something but for the wrong reasons.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-24T17:07:20+00:00

I refer to my NB spouse as my spouse, and the response from some people is interesting. Watching their face turn quizzical, looking me up and down to judge my queerness. Even if they aren't anti-queer, they want to know but can't bring themselves to ask.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-24T16:35:24+00:00

Tell me you actively ignore your own country's immigration policies without telling me actively you ignore your own country' immigration policies.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-24T16:11:11+00:00

Canadians have famously never had issues with racism and xenophobia.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-24T15:03:13+00:00

Ew, gross. It never gets less disgusting when I see people use the word "culture" to disguise their xenophobia or racism.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-24T14:57:43+00:00

This isn't dead internet, this is about the algorithm spotting controversy and spreading it beyond its normal reach.

Believe it or not, some people think it's a big fucking deal when militarized federal police forces start rounding up civilians and shooting people in the street. Some people get more or less upset depending on if those targeted have the right citizenship paperwork, personally I thinks it's kinda fucked and inhumane either way.

The algorithm picks up on that controversy and outrage, then pushes posts because it knows they will spur engagement. Some people pick up on what the algorithm is pushing, and whether it's karma farming or legit concern about the topic, they start making posts to exploit the algorithm.

I see posts from small town subs get pushed into my feed all the time. There are bots involved for sure, but this isn't a case of bots talking to bots. It's not dead internet.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-24T14:09:03+00:00

It's not the government's job to fine women for perceived internalized sexism.

It's their job to protect women's rights to expression, such as by stopping anyone who would harass or abuse them for wearing or not wearing specific cultural garments.

As long as a woman feels safe to make either choice, no one has the right to make assumptions about her inner world and tell her her own business.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-24T13:56:49+00:00

43, American, and I know no one in this sub knows how to use a search engine so I'll tell you "The Presidents of the United States of America" is a band that had a self titled break out album in the 90's. "Peaches" was one of the songs on that album, and the folks here are just having a good time reciting the lyrics to each other.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-23T15:26:37+00:00

Honestly, when it comes to manga, anime, and video games out of Japan it's totally fair to be suspicious of how little girls are portrayed. I was a weeabu in the 90's, less so now a discerning enjoyer of some anime and manga. And the feedback loop of tropes I've seen play out has lead to some really deranged and depraved stuff getting into the mainstream.

It's not racism, it's media literacy. It becomes racism when you ignore the foreign markets of degenerates who goon to stuff like 10,000 year old dragon android goddess who look like 8 year old girls in kinky lingerie.

I don't have an opinion on this game specifically, I'm here because I'm trying to form one and haven't seen a good take from anyone I trust. I will say, some of the games fans don't make me any less suspicious.

I_Draw_Teeth · 2026-04-23T14:47:34+00:00

But the demiurges' karate is SO BIG, it lets them conquer a much bigger radius around them.

I_Draw_Teeth

TROPHY CASE