Mildly spoilery, but not really because it happens almost immediately into the Dawntrail arc for me, but there comes a time A'rukay realizes that A'rhet can't see the classroom board that well, and they get him glasses.
Yeah I greatly underestimated how much I should have got lol
Guess they're just gonna be limited edition lol
Reading about people making 200-300 stickers for fanfest and I'm like damn. I definitely didn't get that many. I'm at like 70
low effort post. rotating my camera around him while raid mechanics are being explained
WE HAVE TRANS BABAYLANS (PRIESTESS) CALLED ASOG IN THE PHILIPPINES.
A few months ago I went to a local coffee shop and they wrote "the bravest thing you can do is try" on the cardboard cup sleeve, and I've saved it so I can look at it every now and then for inspiration
I'm gonna screeeeeeeam
A gpose of Kel and Elminné standing in a mostly-dark room back to back holding hands. Elminné leans her head on Kel's should while he looks at her over his shoulder.
Day 11: Hand Holding
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"Now that I'm here... I'm never letting go."
#kelcore · #gposers · #viera · #vierapril
This is so sick 👀
They're reapproved and I'm good to go 😩 Was freaking out so bad
Being asexual is part of who we are. We did not choose to be asexual. We cannot choose to stop being asexual. We are not broken. We do not need fixing.
Happy #InternationalAsexualityDay to all my ace friends out there!! Let’s make asexuality more visible!!
That's what I'm sayin', but they're pulling "but policy says".
Thank yoou I'm prayin so hard
Due to unfortunate circumstances that would take a long story to explain, I had to get my fanfest days off reapproved by work. They could not reapprove them and I have to ask the boss of my boss's boss to pleaseplease reapprove my days off so I can go to fanfest. Thoughts and prayers for me please 😔
Merchant’s Tale from FFXIV, Part 1 Credit where credit is due. FFXIV’s latest Variant Dungeon, Merchant’s Tale, came out this week in Patch 7.45. There’s been a lot of well-deserved criticism levied towards it already, because some of the most prominently marketed aspects of this new release - the gear, some of the bosses, etc. – have been Orientalist caricatures that are demeaning, racist, and frankly rather disappointing. It’s obvious why this is (sex sells and Disney’s Aladdin sells; hence the “exotic” belly dancer gear, the blue genie of the lamp, the flying carpets, etc.), and I won’t rehash those points here because that isn’t the focus of this post. The point is this: there’s been some actual research & work that’s gone into Merchant’s Tale, and those facets should be recognized and praised and discussed, even as we are justly and rightfully denouncing the aforementioned Orientalism. I’m an Iranian-American; I may not be the best person to speak on this on account of how I am diaspora, but my grasp of Farsi/Persian and my cultural upbringing gives me enough background to recognize the work that Creative Unit 3 did put into this latest release. It’s my personal belief that we should be encouraging more and better representation, not less and worse, and until matters & industries & reach improve enough that we can enjoy homegrown representation developed in the countries best suited to represent themselves, we ought to give companies feedback to encourage them to do better (hire natives and first language speakers, do their research, understand what not to do, etc.) rather than to become entirely avoidant (“why bother with representing this culture when we’ll only get slammed for it”) or, worse, to start disregarding our feedback entirely in favor of what sells best. There’s enough good representation in Merchant’s Tale that it’s worth not losing sight of it, and I’m going to be covering all of those things in this post.
Be warned: spoilers await you. Finally, before we start: please pray for the people of Iran. The Framework The first thing about Merchant’s Tale to reckon with is that it isn’t current-day Corvos, which is to say that it isn’t FFXIV’s closest analogue to the Middle East. It’s Corvos as depicted by a fictional collection of stories. Sound familiar? Several textboxes from Y'nazqha follow: If you have no objections, I would start right away. Now, will you journey into the pages of ancient folklore with me? It is a beautifully illuminated manuscript that bears a treacherous enchantment: it can draw the reader's very mind into its pages. Needless to say, such a rare tome is notorious among collectors of unique and dangerous documents. Now, I hope you understand the reason I requested your company. Might you keep me safe while I explore this world of fiction? Yes, er...I am...very thorough. But enough about me- surely you're curious about the book! It's entitled The Merchant's Tale, and it is a well-known fable passed down in Corvos, located in southern Ilsabard. The protagonist is a shrewd young merchant, and the story describes his journey to find the perfect gift to win the heart of a young maiden.
The tale in question also suffers from having countless versions: Screenshot of a textbox from Y'nazqha again: However, over generations, countless versions of the tale have been passed down and retold. I can't say for certain how this particular manuscript ends. One aspect of the story is about as traditional as it gets in folklore. A young man winning the heart and hand of a woman: Another textbox from Y'nazqha: The protagonist is a shrewd young merchant, and the story describes his journey to find the perfect gift to win the heart of a young maiden. If there’s any doubt as to what’s happening here, the reward for unlocking all thirteen routes of Merchant’s Tale is an eye mask that looks like sleepwear. Something you’d wear to bed. A screenshot of the FFXIV facewear item "The Faces We Wear - Comfortable Eye Mask" which is a white eye mask with a black and yellow head strap.
And, of course, there’s both the genie and the flying carpet(s) which call to mind Disney’s Aladdin, based on Aladdin, a tale that originates in a certain collection of folktales. I’m not including the picture of the genie here, you’ve all seen it, but we will revisit the carpet later. FFXIV’s Merchant’s Tale appears to be based on, or heavily influenced by, One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of mostly Middle Eastern stories. I say mostly because some are mostly inventions added to the collection at later times by Westerners. The prime example of this is Aladdin; look that up if you’d like more details. The majority of stories found within One Thousand & One Nights aren’t very well known in the public zeitgeist, and we can probably attribute a great deal of that to vast gulfs in culture and sensibilities (old vs. modern). The most common and universal aspect of the collection, however, is the framing device: the stories contained in the collection are presented as stories told by Sahrzahd (commonly known as Scheherazade) to her husband the king starting on the night of their marriage. She regales him with these stories throughout the night, and ends mid-tale each time come sunrise; intrigued and possessed by the need to know how each story ends, the king always delays her execution (long story, you can look it up) until the next day.
A few weeks ago, when The Merchant's Tale dropped in FF14, a GREAT Tumblr post was made about the stuff that the content does RIGHT, and the things that are just Orientalist slop. Some ppl requested the post in image form and so I reached out to the OP to get permission to do just that!
Spoilers!
🧵
Can't wait to see more of these 👀
The Jetsons lied to us
It's giving "I used to be the most popular jock in high school but now I've graduated and I can't relive those glory days"
😭 Thank you! I've been doing -kae but I do like the sound of -kai too!
"sorry, i haven't finished a project in months i've been at war with myself"
meio assim
I would never hurt a naughty nanka
A screenshot from FFXIV. A Miqo'te sits in front of two little purple creatures. The Naughty Nanka minion.
The little naughty nankas! My little boys 🥺
3D render of a 3-headed horse demon named "Nith" from videogame "The Killing Stone."
So I want to share a story about my favorite concept in our latest game, The Killing Stone, and how strong art direction recognizes the potential of an idea and can empower artists working to capture it.
wdym oomf? it's right there already
This is so cute 💙
EVERY SINGLE PART of a lily is toxic!
Petals, leaves, pollen, the water in the vase.
You can celebrate someone other ways besides killing their cat.
I worked as a vet tech for 10 years. Let me assure you, you don't want to see your cat go through this nightmare.
