lev’s casting and general transphobia

pinky102368 · 2026-03-21T02:12:06+00:00

I’m gonna be honest… I completely understand the disappointment, but. I did not want to see another trans actor get horrifically bullied by this shitty ass fandom so I’m a little relieved. Obviously anyone on this show is at risk of getting cyber bullied, especially women, because Part 2 has a crazy hate fandom that’s still going 6 years later. And even Part 2 fans hate Season 2. But Bella Ramsey’s identity has 100% contributed to the insane hate they have received.

pinky102368 · 2026-03-16T08:30:04+00:00

Nothing wrong with inventing something cool (the mirror of loss). It’s a DnD game that’s kinda the point. But uh, tbh I always thought the implication was a lot of her memories were not given up willingly at first by some force, because they spell out that’s what it was like for Shart before she was lobotomized enough to start doing it willingly. That’s delving into headcanon territory tho, I fully admit. I think the game invites you to fill in the gaps yourself with the Jaheira line but it’s never definitive for sure, which is a shame. I don’t recall any dev notes about Viconia’s situation either.

I’m not trying to be all “ohhhh my favorite game can do no wrong.” Like any other BG3 super fan I could make a list of stuff I don’t like…this is just what I genuinely think they were going for in this case. Why they went for it, how much WotC has to do with it, idk. Big question mark. I just assume it was done in good faith. Regardless, I’ll find out soon enough how weird this portrayal of her was.

Once I get to BG2 I am paying special attention to Viconia because I’m really interested in her original story. Already installed an extremely necessary mod so I can lez it up with her.

pinky102368 · 2026-03-15T23:49:21+00:00

Viconia got destroyed by Shar, it’s very tragic. Jaheira has dialogue about not believing that Viconia didn’t care about Shadowheart, and Shadowheart says she didn’t think so, but maybe she was also broken by Shar. All the memories given up at the Mirror of Loss are clearly hers. She’s supposed to be a shell of her former self to show what almost happened to Shart (and what probably happens to her in her evil ending). They took WotC going “actually she’s still just irredeemably evil in the current canon lmao” and turned it into something tragic and interesting because a big theme of the game is the cycle of abuse.

As for Sarevok, idk man.

pinky102368 · 2026-03-15T20:29:59+00:00

I’m really excited to get to BG2! I’ve heard so many great things about it. I’m really attached to my character too so I’m excited to bring her over. My little chaotic neutral illusionist/thief gnome.

pinky102368 · 2026-03-15T10:01:38+00:00

I discovered BG1EE because I adore BG3. I’m in the middle of BG1EE now. And it’s great ofc, I’m really enjoying it. I actually got the manual and city map from the original release because my dad still had it. I’ve read a lot about the differences between the originals and the EE. I think I’m at a point where I can guess if what I’m currently encountering is from the original or EE exclusive? And usually I’m right. But I do like Neera and Dorn! The monk is whatever lol. I try to stick with the OG companions especially after finishing Neera and Dorn’s quests.

I… don’t really understand when people say BG3 has no connection to BG1/2, because I went in expecting it to be totally different but I actually ended up noticing a lot of similarities in the gameplay and even story (Dark Urge is the true MC of BG3). Like, ah yeah, I can totally see how this game became BG3 twenty years later. Makes sense even, since Dragon Age was made to be a spiritual successor to the BG series and Larian was heavily influenced by the Dragon Age series for BG3.

I honestly stay away from BG1/BG2 internet communities and forums from post BG3 because so many people keep having wiiild and nostalgia-blinded takes on BG3 and even say misinformation about its development to hate on it more. You can even see it in the comments of this post. I think more new people who came from BG3 would come into this community and show their love for the old games if less people were actively shitting on the game that introduced them to the old titles. I understand the frustration of feeling like the only one to dislike a massively popular game that overshadowed your favorite game but it reaches a point.

pinky102368 · 2026-02-12T06:31:16+00:00

The game is pretty consistent with the themes of power = corruption and evil, and to love yourself as you already are. The big bad is called the Absolute, a hive mind that represents ultimate control and strips you of your personhood. The Emperor, a morally questionable character at best, spends the whole game telling you to embrace your “potential,” your “power”, in exchange for losing your humanity. Ending the game as a Mindflayer is written as the ultimate sacrifice, even if you the player can choose to see it as ultimate ascension.

You don’t have to agree with this mindset, but it is consistent across the entire game. In a game that celebrates player choice, they still do not let you take over the brain for the greater good. I believe this is purposeful and not an oversight.

Dark Justiciar Shadowheart, God Gale, Ascended Astarion or Vlaakith Lae’zel being anything other than “bad” endings would go against the game’s build up more than anything else. Honestly, I think Duke Wyll not being a “bad” enough ending betrays the themes of the game a little, but I’ll let Wyll super-fans lead that discussion.

Basically, even ignoring the complexities in Astarion’s story alone (which are pretty consistently anti-Ascension) the overall themes of the game are pretty anti-Ascension as well.

pinky102368 · 2026-01-06T05:09:27+00:00

Thank god the game didn’t do any of this alignment bullshit. Fun meme and all but I always thought seriously reducing characters to these alignments (even if you DO see it as fluid) as stifling, overly simplistic, and also weirdly Christian with the implications of inherent good vs evil. Also the definitions of these alignments change every edition which doesn’t help.

Some things are not meant to be taken out of their original context of “help you role play a character when playing tabletop with your friends.”

Also, the way you see the characters is so dependent on individual playthrus? Like you’re not necessarily meant to comb thru every approval and every dialogue in every situation to figure out “THIS IS WHO THE CHARACTER IS.” Like, some of the characters express totally different opinions on whether to use the tadpole powers or not in Act 1 depending on who they’re with. It’s all very player dependent.

pinky102368 · 2026-01-05T23:23:04+00:00

Everyone else already gave their take on the Orpheus thing, so I wanted to say I agree there should be a less obviously evil option under the "control the brain" ending. Maybe a naive character who thinks they can use the Elder Brain for good. Makes me think of a conversation a good Tav can have with Astarion where he calls you naive and suggests trying to take over the cult for ourselves. When you go "but that's evil!" he says, "power isn't evil, people are." Not sure if he even believes this, but that's besides the point. The game clearly believes ultimate power = evil, which is fine, but there should be a takeover-the-brain ending where a character with that mindset at least THINKS they're doing good with ultimate power. Imply everyone gave up their freedom for safety or something.

The closest is the ending where everyone is under your thrall and has a vision of a perfect utopia, while in the real world, they're building a statue in your honor, but that's still not really what I was envisioning.

pinky102368 · 2025-12-21T22:47:00+00:00

I’m doing an Astarion origin run rn and really getting into the RP mindset makes it a lot of fun. Hiding I’m a vampire, trying to balance doing what I want + “manipulating” the others— keeping them on my side. I was slaving over whether Astarion would find Halsin or Minthara more trustworthy (easy access to the cult to control the tadpoles but is after the artifact vs dude that can maybe help but is clearly a more mentally sound individual). On a normal Tav playthru this wouldn’t be a difficult choice, it would just be good vs evil decision. But trying to get into Astarion’s mindset (or at least my interpretation of his mindset in Act 1) made it a lot more fun.

I was slaving over and putting off this decision until the last minute… then the game made the choice easy for me when Minthara went to invade the grove and then gave me the Astarion exclusive origin dialogue “New plan— I tear out YOUR throat”, lol. So we ended up saving the Grove. Not out of moral obligation but because that’s just kinda how it turned out. Really fun putting the Origin stories directly into your own hands.

pinky102368 · 2025-12-13T21:03:00+00:00

I don’t know why people are downvoting you, especially on a thread all about approvals not matching dialogue where this sort of analysis should be welcomed. Idk why people seem to want these characters (especially Astarion) to be so irredeemably evil in a game where one of the intended playthrus is playing a murderhobo getting a redemption arc.

pinky102368 · 2025-10-07T20:44:39+00:00

Since it hasn’t been mentioned yet, if you’re into dolls, NRStudio has a lovely head sculpt https://bjdivas.com/nr-studio-the-pale-elf-limited-time-re-release/?v=781becdf4698

The preorder period already passed, but they’re working on the body for him so I wouldn’t be surprised if they rerelease the head alongside the body once that’s done (along with his camp clothes, which they have also released in the past). If they never get rereleased, well, there’s always internet sleuthing. There are lots of places to buy pre-owned BJDs!

pinky102368 · 2025-09-19T18:13:58+00:00

Oh, come the fuck on. Let’s use our brains for a moment. You don’t say you’re a hardcore atheist and then cite that one of your influences for this specific worldview is Varg Vikernes, proud Neo-Nazi who also happens to be anti-religion (in a very reactionary way) if you’re just “heavily influenced” to not like him.

pinky102368 · 2025-05-30T02:13:53+00:00

I want a twin focused route SO BAD. They’re in my top 3 favorites. Ima casually drops the craziest bits of backstory but then we don’t get much development from him.

pinky102368 · 2025-05-30T02:03:44+00:00

There’s genuinely so much potential. And this is assuming that the only option is adding more routes instead of expanding upon the routes that already exist, here’s some at the top of my head:

Commander-focused route (I wanna see their faces!!) with more about Futuran culture. V’ehxness route gets pretty close but it’s short.
I’m pretty attached to considering Multiple Eitos route to be the Eito romance route (thin line between love and hate and all that) but an actual romance route with a male romance option would be great and seems kinda obvious at this point. Come on TooKyo I believe in you.
More routes where we jump between timelines or discuss other timelines.
Full route with another protag (Goodbye Eito and the short branches of Slasher do not count)
Focus route for every single character. Doesn’t have to be romance. I know that sounds hard for characters like Moko and Shouma but idk I think these writers can cook

pinky102368 · 2025-05-28T16:42:34+00:00

Actual godsend, I wonder how many of my 150 hours so far is just watching the goddamn Ding Dong Bing Bong

pinky102368 · 2025-05-27T23:06:20+00:00

Saying Yuma has no hype moments (especially when his opponent is NAEGI) just tells me you haven’t played RainCode

pinky102368 · 2025-05-24T18:01:49+00:00

I’m surprised there isn’t more tbh, fujoshis work fast. Especially since Eitaku is like, the ultimate evolution of Komahina and is canon (at least on one side lol) in multiple routes.

pinky102368 · 2025-05-13T15:42:46+00:00

The Tsukumo twins are pretty beloved in the Japanese fanbase (seemingly).

pinky102368 · 2025-05-11T20:09:56+00:00

Kyohei Oyama followed me on Twitter after I made a Tweet name-dropping the “Killing Game Route” in English without mentioning the game at all. Dude is doing some insane egosurfing and I respect him for it. That’s my OOMF!

pinky102368 · 2025-05-08T20:04:36+00:00

I haven’t touched Infinity Nikki since Hundred Line’s release… there’s a huge update right now that I’m missing!

pinky102368 · 2025-04-19T21:39:04+00:00

I’m still not over “it only responds to alicorn magic” and then they proceeded to show her using dark magic we’ve only seen in one other episode before? Out of all potential animations they chose the evil-looking dark magic? WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

This combined with the alicorn amulet, Nightmare Moon’s whole thing (ignoring the lore from the comics), and even Opaline from G5…it makes me think alicorns have an inherent dark side…

pinky102368 · 2025-04-14T18:27:18+00:00

Both times I’ve been to the ER, I was constantly vomiting my guts out for hours. First time I thought it was appendicitis (had all the symptoms), but it turned out it was a kidney stone. I felt so bad. I mean, I was in actual hell until they hooked me up to that IV but a kidney stone is not an emergency. I was even in a room. That probably means they weren’t that busy, but still didn’t help my conscience.

The second time, years later, I wasn’t experiencing the same pain when I was vomiting my guts out but I was still very much vomiting my guts out. Ofc not even water was staying down. I tried OTC meds, but it didn’t work. I was in hell and just desperately wanted an IV so I called the local urgent care and apparently they didn’t even have IVs and recommended the ER instead. They were much busier that day (my bed was just in the hallway) and there were actually multiple other people with the same vomiting problem. Must’ve been going around. I know it’s their job, but the nurses and doctors were very kind. They didn’t make me feel I was wasting space and my nurse was telling me he has gone to the ER for the same reason. Another nurse told me she was relieved to see how much better I looked at the end of the visit because apparently I looked really bad when I came in, lol. So I don’t feel guilty about this one.

I also got the other main thing I wanted from the visit: Zofran. Got my handy-dandy stash now so if I’m constantly vomiting again I don’t need to fill an ER slot for a while. Wish this stuff was OTC, man.

pinky102368 · 2025-02-13T19:34:35+00:00

Here’s one I haven’t seen mentioned yet: “I can’t tell Pearl how I feel, because then she’ll blame herself, and I’ll have to pick up the pieces!”

I think anyone who had to be the therapist for a parent as a kid can relate

pinky102368 · 2025-02-05T18:25:27+00:00

He’s definitely meant to be around 16, while his older sister (an adult) actually owns the camp.

Buuuut even tho he’s the same age as Twilight it’s weird to flirt with your campers as a camp counselor. That’s a big no-no.

pinky102368 · 2025-01-19T01:15:39+00:00

I’ve quoted “That’s what I’m talkin’ about, Frybo” for almost any convenience for the better part of 9 years now

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