Hope is what makes us strong.

I have a love-hate relationship with the character of Astarion.

I love the depth, the emotion, the sheer humanity that Larian managed to imbue into that little bunch of pixels.

I love that Larian pulled Neil in time and time again over four years to work on Astarion *with* him.

I love that Neil helped to shape Astarion's story. Advocated for him. Pushed for the *right* dialogues. Was the person to say "He wouldn't say that!"

I love that Neil is both passionate about Astarion and vehemently does not want to be him.

I love that Neil did such a wonderful job on Astarion's voice and movement. He deserves every damn award he's received.

I hate that the other actors didn't seem to get the same opportunity to engage with their character and put out the same sort of performance as Neil did. Because yes, he did an amazing job. But the playing field does not seem to have ever been level.

I hate that Neil in particular has had so many issues with fans because a vulnerable hurting character attracts the predators.

I hate that the other characters didn't get the same level of attention and love, and that it shows so damn dramatically.

I hate that Wyll, our only Black companion, got 6 months of Theo shoved into a sound booth with lines thrown at him and often no idea of what would be coming that day.

I hate that Theo seems to have never had the chance to really grasp or understand Wyll's story, let alone advocate for him, because everything was so rushed and he was basically burning the candle at both ends.

I hate that it shows so much in Wyll's story, his interactions, everything.

I hate that I love Astarion and constantly resent this fictional character a little because he gets to be an oil painting and the other characters are a collection of crayon drawings and sketches.

I hate that despite the glaring issues with the characters and questlines, Larian has still done better than most *major* game studios when it comes to thoughtful, considerate representation and diversity, and how far there is to go.

I hope that Larian were using Astarion as a litmus test. That they wanted to see if pulling in the actors at the start and engaging them heavily - instead of worrying about spoilers and leaks to the point of hurting their game - would lead to a better, more real character. If maybe having a single person advocating for each character would provide a better, more cohesive user experience in the end.

I hope they learnt that yes, people will engage far more heavily with a character when they're rich with detail and feel like real people.

I hope they learnt that to do that, you NEED to have someone in charge of keeping the character on track so you don't wander off into the weeds trying to follow every bit of customer feedback, especially when it's racist or sexist or transphobic or homophobic.

I hope they learnt that yes, letting the actors engage with their characters creates a bond that enhances the performance and adds veracity to emotional scenes. It makes the story feel as though it has a flow to it.

I hope that in their next game, they do better.

I hope that we, collectively, expect them to do better.

you know what's worse than crushing on fictional older men? crushing on real older men!!

so imagine my horror when i see the cast of baldur's gate 3???

Double - behind the scenes

Happy Fathers Day Mr. Newbon!

source

Breaking News with Neil Newbon! Trump found guilty on all counts

I love him, however this is a white man’s take on a term that black people came up with. I’ve been wanting to say something about this because he’s made some other remarks that have made me do the cat head tilt and remind me why we need to have conversations with fellow leftists and liberals (or not have convos, because I don’t expect any of my people to sit down with others who don’t want to actually have a discussion in good faith). I’m getting off track. Anyhow, cancel culture was a way to divest oneself from the work of those who had been racist, homophobic, transphobic, you get the fucking drift. It’s now become this thing that has morphed beyond what the actual intent and call to action was. It’s become this thing that white people, well-meaning and other wise, have misunderstood. It always bothers me because the information is right there. Like, it’s a fucking search away and yet so many white people (mainly white men) and we get the same spiel over and over about how “it doesn’t work”. It doesn’t work the way y’all think it’s supposed to. If people stop engaging with content or someone they don’t want to for reasons that I listed above then it does because it’s on a personal basis, not a cultural one. Get what I’m saying?

via _toydonut_ on tiktok

have you ever witnessed a man sarcastically unravelling earphones?

context: chat were begging him to do something about his permanently tangled earphones and he told everyone to Neil With It

I do find it funny how much discourse there is around Astarion when Neil Newbon said he based him off a cat he tried to domesticate for three years.

"Why does Astarion keep making rash decisions?" Because he thinks he's going back to the streets any second now and refuses to leave survival mode.

"Why does he hate when we make good decisions?" Bitterness at being rescued "so "too late" plus the aforementioned survival mode that makes him want to leverage everything.

"Is he a good person or a bad person?" He has real safety and body autonomy for the first time in forever. Let him figure this out first by going on a Frieren style self discovery journey first and then discuss personality aspects.

"Is Astarion romantic or are his fans projecting other's aspects onto him?" See above. Also, the graveyard scene proved he can be romantic. He just figuring out beyond "laying dead animals on your doorstep" gothic part of romance.

"Why does Astarion try to go through the ritual even in playthroughs where he wants to stop it at any cause?" Imagine being a kicked street cat forced to his shit for all your life and finally getting the chance to not only eat the face of the person who forced you into this life, but steal all of his shit as well. It's a urge that's deeply hard to fight.

"Why is he an asshole?" He's a cat.

"What is the true face of Astarion?" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. No one knows, least of all him.

He's just a cat, guys. Leave him be with his favorite person and he'll probably be fine.

The Devil You Know & The Pale Elf

Didn't even hesitate