Actually I Am Curious Now!

fully do not get the thing about halsin coming on too strong at the tiefling party bc like...that's the party where you can flirt with *everybody* and at that point halsin turns you down too.

even before the party lae'zel asks you very up front if you wanna bone and i dont hear ppl saying lae'zel is too pushy (btw i don't think so either, her bluntness is part of her charm)

also when you actually can get with halsin in act 3, he's very respectful abt it, including if you turn him down. i do think some ppl are overthinking things and just aren't ready to deal with their negative ideas about polyam ppl 🤷

Same here. It wasn't enough that she intentionally got pregnant, abandoned the Nexus and the people who needed her expertise, stole dwindling resources from a group who were facing hostile forces, she had also doomed her kid to a future that had no pleasant end in sight until Ryder started making major steps in turning the odds around.

And she had the. Gall. To be patronizingly smug with no remorse for what she did.

The game even acknowledged she's prone towards selfish actions but instead of giving the player and Ryder a chance to be furious with her for it, we're forced into a position and dialogue where we're supposed to admire her for it when she gives birth.

And the game does not let you refuse this quest. You will see it every time you go to the map or your journal.

This mission makes me so mad I've never finished it. I cannot stand talking to Zoe or Addison about it and there are no consequences to make me want to save this selfish woman from her actions despite me having a completionist streak for even the most innocuous side missions.

On a side note, has anyone else noticed that every single pregnant character in Mass Effect is written to be as obnoxious as possible?! Rebekah being willing to take a larger risk with her baby, Brynn rubbing the fact that she went after Jacob in Shepard's face if Shepard romanced him and that he's better off with her WHILE SHEPARD IS RESCUING THEM, what is up with Bioware doing that?! It's as weird as their tendency to write every one of Femshep's male LIs needing to talk about their exes before she can romance them.

CONFESSION:

For the most part, I enjoyed Andromeda despite the problems/flaws but there was a couple of quests that infuriated me, with one being "The Little Things that Matter". I thought Dr Kennedy was freaking selfish. I wanted to call her out and Addision out for kissing her friend's ass. If I ever do another playthrough, that will be quest I won't do.

*Pinches nose*

PSA Announcement: Solomancing Halsin does not make him monogamous. It's not a fan's responsibility to go sleep with others to make sure gatekeeping poly fans are reassured he's still poly. There is no minimum quota of people a fan has to sleep with for someone to still be poly. I'm sorry I don't find others attractive enough to put them above Halsin, but it's my playthrough, not the ones who are complaining. I don't owe the polyamorous group validation ON MY OWN PRIVATE PLAYTHROUGH through denial of my own preferences. What I like does not change that Halsin is still polyamorous.

On that note too, Shadowheart and Astarion are also poly despite some fans' insistence that they're monogamous victims being preyed upon by Halsin.

If you have never said this to anyone, carry on, this message is not directed at you.

*Waits for the torches and pitchforks*

You have been lied-- THIS is Snow White

As usual, prints are avaible here <3

Actually, you know what's disappointing? I was kinda looking forward to the idea of getting to share common interests with the next generation instead of having that gap in understanding with my own parents. It wasn't just about mom thinking I'm getting into Satanic stuff because I liked Pokémon (seriously, cute little critters was Satanic to her?!), it was not having that chance to bond with them on a hobby.

Sad thing is, I think I kinda get it with how prevalent creeps are on the internet, trying to hit on minors and not taking the hint. And you know what, I'm sick to death of seeing those actual assholes harassing teens and sending offensive images.

But that's not the message a lot of us older fans are getting. Instead, it's like dealing with the resurrection of Prudishness all over again, gatekeeping What Is Acceptable for Adults.

It's a shame, because there's a chance for actual understanding and camaraderie there, because the rules for harassment and offensive imagery is something both older and younger fans can agree upon. It doesn't have an age requirement because it's expected of everyone. Someone pestering you for nudes? Give us a heads up and we'll report this ass and call them out. Someone being inappropriate regarding actual minors? Hell, we'll help boot them.

It seems to be when it involves fiction and art work that the alarm bells are going. Thing is, fiction is a different animal, not something you can peg a person by what they create. Sure, there's going to be stuff I never want to see and that's where the filtering is required instead of raising alarms. If it's happening to a fictional character, it's a filter. If it's happening to a real person, then it's a report.

“Ew you’re an adult why are you in fandom” Kid, if being mocked for fandom shit wasn’t enough to stop me when I was an actual 15 year old, hearing it from a 15 year old when I’m 30 is genuinely hilarious

i haven’t been able to finish my current me3 playthrough yet due to my brother hogging the xbox so he can play ARC: Evolved but here’s a list of things i remembered i hate in the OT in no particular order

the elevators

the asari

mark meer’s voice acting in ME1

liara’s writing if you don’t romance her (wtf bioware)…especially considering that the reason i generally DON’T romance her is because in ME1 at least, it feels like an adult dating a teenage girl.

femshep’s romance options and how most of them get fucking shafted to shit in ME3

how heteronormative ME2 was

jacob taylor’s loyalty mission and how racist it was

how racist and lazy the writing for jacob taylor was in general (ofc there are many reasons i dislike jacob in and of itself, but some it can be chalked up to bad writing)

jack’s chuppy ass default outfit in me2 (really bioware??? a woman could have the smallest titties in existence and she still wouldn’t be able to strap ‘em down with just a fucking belt. even if this game was written by mostly men, that’s still dumb as hell)

miranda’s largely unnecessary ass-shots

thane’s death

kai leng

that fact that you can’t call out kaidan for his bullshit cheating accusations in ME3 if you DO choose to romance someone else in ME2 as femshep if you romanced him in ME1, but mshep can do that to ashley (????? BIOWARE!)

the fact that an aro ace shepard it practically impossible to play after a certain point in the series without being a complete dick (and if you play the citadel dlc, impossible as femshep! because if you don’t romance anyone you wake up next to javik! lmao)

the fact that the dlc for the ME2 and 3 literally never goes on sale on pc like it does for the console versions, forcing me to pirate shit i already fucking paid for because i am unwilling to shell out £200+ on this shit again because EA and bioware are lazy money-grubbing fucks thanks ea thanks very much for your business practices

related to the above, but why did they never sell me2 or 3 with all the dlc included? that shit would sell like no one’s business…oh wait, EA…again.

the elevators

Honestly the Halsin romance frustrates me so much, because he makes it so clear that he wants something more and you just… have no option to give it to him?

“You’re all that I want” he says but then you’re literally not allowed to tell him that he’s all YOU want!!! He’s so moved when you say you want to go with him to take care of the kids and help out with rehabilitating the (formerly) shadow cursed lands, but you don’t get to stay with him!!!

Like sure maybe he doesn’t want an exclusive relationship, but I think if you put together all the context clues of his unexplored trauma and loneliness, he probably doesn’t understand what he wants! And he deserves to have the opportunity to have his partner help him work through that and stand by him and offer him actual love and support, rather than just having him be the tacked on third to a relationship that functions entirely without him.

Be polyamorous with him. But by god, they could have had a scene of the THREE people in the relationship interacting, or at least allowed Halsin to feel like he was as important of a partner as your other one!!! Having him just say “I know you’re in love with someone else but I’m in love with you so I’ll accept the dregs” is pretty horrible, FROM A POLYAMOROUS PERSPECTIVE.

If they didn’t want to program in triad endings (very stupid if they were going to allow you to be polyamorous) they should at LEAST have allowed you to choose a paired ending with Halsin over a paired ending with your other partner. I want to help him take care of the goddamn kids and put down roots with him!!! Why can’t I? There’s nothing antithetical to polyamory in that. Polyamorous people can settle down with a partner they like, and Halsin expresses over and over through word and deed that he likes the player!!!

It just frustrates me that I feel like even when I say yes to him I’m still hurting him. He deserves so much more love and attention than the game allows him to have.

Lrb, I would also argue that Larian expected us to romance Halsin as a joke, what with how late in the game the romance occurs and how much emphasis the marketing put on the bear scene.

Just wanted to say that you're one of the few Halsin-centric blogs I'm never nervous about browsing. No bad takes. No major discourse. And based on the posts you've liked from me, I can probably say that we're in agreement about a lot of Halsin things!

Anyway, have a good day!

That's a huge relief to hear. Thank you. Truly.

I won't say I'm not biased in a lot of things, but I'd like to think I at least make the effort to try make sure what I say can be confirmed. On the other hand, it's probably not a great sign if we're seeing more bad takes than accurate ones. 😬

Day 10: Favorite Romance

Fair Warning: This is an incredibly long essay with tons and tons of flycammed screencaps.

Obviously, my fav romance is Shakarian. It’s my favorite for many reasons, but I think the reason that I like it best is simply because it is actually a romance. I honestly love it so god damn much that I’m having a hard time focusing on what I want to talk about with it, because its that damn good.

I think I’m going to talk about the development of it, because there’s lots of essays out there already about why they’re suited for each other or what makes them such a good pairing. What I think is particularly interesting about the way the Shakarian romance is set up is that so much of the romance is not in what they say – it’s in how they say it.

Keep reading