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The Last of Us Part II: A Challenging and Devastating Masterpiece Fans Did Not Want

Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II is generating diverse and adamant responses from fans of the original with some lauding the title as a storytelling revelation. Others heavily criticize the narrative direction and the use of violence within. Numerous negative opinions stem from out of context leaked plot points and a staggering amount of deeply harmful misinformation. Tweets and forum posts boast multiple outlandish claims like the director performing motion capture for a sex scene, which he did not, or false accusations that the studio paid for positive reviews. However, many people have played the game honestly and still feel disappointed and upset at the experience. Their reaction is understandable. I myself finished the game shortly after its release following two grueling 15-hour long marathon play sessions and struggled at first, unsure of the story and its effects on me. But the more I reflect on my experience and the narrative, the more I come to appreciate the game for what it is: a brutal, risky, and devastating masterpiece that none of us wanted.

The Last of Us Part II is perhaps the first game I have seen inspire such a polarizing response and be subject to so much negative press solely for narrative choices. Most of the time, such backlash and “review bombing” indicates greedy and manipulative monetization schemes, or else rushed and underdeveloped projects. However, most people agree The Last of Us Part II has refined gameplay and fantastic animations. Sure it is not flawless, as the cycles of stealth and action gameplay start to become monotonous, especially during long play sessions, which seems at odds with the enthralling story encouraging players to stay engrossed in the world. However, the incredible acting and presentation alone could have earned the game universal acclaim. Yet, many people are angry, upset, or even downright disgusted with the narrative choices of writers Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross. While I disagree with these individuals, I do not deny their opinions on this challenging and divisive experience.

The following contains full spoilers for The Last of Us Part II. Images may disturbing and are not be suitable for all readers.

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The first pride was a riot, more specifically a riot against police violence. Trans women of colour like Marsha P. Johnson paved the way for the celebration of pride today. You cannot celebrate your pride this month, or any month if you aren’t also supporting Black Lives Matter and the riots going on against police violence right now. Us white LGBTQ+ need to stand up for our black siblings and their rights, their struggles. We need to amplify their voices and show any support we can.Hey! Better yet, reblog this version:

Extensive BLM Google doc including places to donate to, education resources, etc

List of 75 things white people can do right now

Simple way to donate to the cause if you have no money to

dealing with the worst case scenario

your condom breaks

you feel a lump on your breast

your friends are ignoring you

you’re stranded on an island 

you got rejected by a crush

you get into a car accident

you got stung by a bee/wasp

you got fired from your job

you’re in an earthquake

your tattoo gets infected

your house is on fire

you’re lost in the woods

you get arrested abroad

you get robbed

your partner cheated on you

you’re on a ship that’s sinking

you fall into ice

you’re stuck in an elevator

you hit a deer with your car

you have food poisoning

your pet passed away

you fall off of a horse

you or your friend has alcohol poisoning

you have toxic shock syndrome

your house has a gas leak

I will totally use it in my next D&D adventure!

Random mansion generator

The Procgen Mansion Generator produces large three-dee dwellings to toy with your imagination, offering various architectural styles and other options. Each mansion even comes with floorplans:

https://boingboing.net/2019/07/12/random-mansion-generator.html

Beauty// Requested by: @hufflepuff-girl-1996

Genre: Romance, fluff.

Warnings: Mentions of body insecurites.

Your eyes watch the reflection of the golden material that gracefully flowed down your body to pool at your feet.

You turned just enough to expose your side, to reveal the various lines that were engraved in your skin.

You were unable to count the amount of times you found yourself in the exact same position you were in now, counting the markings, despising their presence.

It was the most prominent sight in your opinion, no matter how hard you tried to ignore it.

Your gaze was always instantly drawn to the imperfections that lined your body. You had convinced yourself that was the same in the minds of every other you had come in contact with.

Your teeth nibbled upon the flesh of your bottom lip, your fingers splayed across your stomach, concealing the flaws from your sight.

And just for a moment, you thought of how your body would look without them.

Suddenly, the smooth, baritone voice of your lover startled you, prompting you to quickly cover your bare form with the dress.

"What is the matter, Love?"

Your head whipped around to see the familiar tall frame of your partner standing by the door, his concerned gaze locked onto your back.

You stepped away from your image to look to him, your hands holding the material to conceal your insecurities.

"It's nothing, why do you ask?"

A sigh escaped as his head falls and shakes before he steps nearer.

"Darling, you have always been a horrible liar,"

His emerald eyes met yours as he reached to grasp your hands in his. His observation made your heart plunge and your joyful facade fade away.

"I-"

He eyes softened, almost as if he was silently pleading you to not offer him any more lies. You released a sigh as you found yourself giving up, there was no use in trying to trick a trickster.

"I'm trying to hide my stretch marks,"

You confessed, turning away from his grasp to lead yourself to the balcony. Your dress trailed along side you.

You felt unworthy to be his partner, let alone have his gaze upon you.

You wrap your arms around your middle, as if you were attempting to protect yourself from the harsh thoughts that berated your mind every second you were by his side.

A tear dropped from your lashes to travel down your cheek, you hastily wiped it away as soon as it had emerged to conceal your true feelings from your partner.

But it had been too late, he had already witnessed the salty liquid adorn your face and he was prepared to end whomever had caused it.

"Why would you try to hide them? They are nothing to be ashamed of,"

He offered, everything within him desired to sheild you from the evils of this world.

You cast your eyes out to the sparkling city of Asgard that lay beneath you, you couldn't help but wonder how many young, slim, beautiful maidens who's skin was clear and umarred deserved your place much more than yourself.

"Don't you see, Loki? My body. I-it's imperfect, flawed, it is nothing compared to others you have seen,"

Your voice was heavy with emotion, the agony it carried weighed down your usual cheery tone.

"I am not worthy to be by your side,"

You lowered your voice to a pained whisper, your head turned to keep the now steady flow of tears from his sight.

You waited for him to agree, to compare you to the others, to order you to leave and hide away your horrid form and never return.

But none other than silence met you, he was at a loss for words. His sharp mind that had conjured countless tricks, plots and schemes was unable to comprehend your view upon yourself.

His lips parted, but nothing came out. How you handled yourself, no one would have thought this is what you carried every second of the day.

But how could he- your partner of all people fail to see through your illusions?

"How could you say such things about something as magnificent as your body?"

You hid your face as he came closer, you listened to his heavy boots softly land against the ground.

"Please, do not hide anything from me,"

He almost begged, hooking a finger beneath your chin to to turn your head.

"I have failed you, this I now know"

His voice dropped down to a whisper, his chest pressed against your back and his nimble fingers traveled down the skin of your arm.

His face nestled into the space between your shoulder and neck, his lips lightly pressed themselves to the flesh covering the area.

"The forms of the other maidens are nothing conpared to your own,"

He stops himself for a moment to allow his eyes to trickle over every dip and curve of your body that was marked.

"I vow to spend an eternity to admire, to kiss,"

He breathed against your skin, the feeling of the hot air flowing over your sensitive skin raised goosebumps and sent a pleasurable shiver down your back.

"To love,"

His lips trailed down your neck and shoulder, his fingers lightly traced the stretch marks that lined the skin your dress failed to cover.

"And to adore every scar, marking or imperfection. Everything you deem a flaw,"

You turned your head to meet his sincere gaze, revealing your tears in the process. He truly saw your body as something to never hide or be ashamed of, but something to love, to praise.

Trust blooms within you with each whisper of affection against your skin, he turns you around to face him and trace his finger over your jaw before whispering the last words of his promise.

"And I will not cease until you see just how truly captivating you are."

I’m declaring it now. 2020 is going to be the year where we all unironically, whole-heartedly throw ourselves into our passions.

You like Hazbin Hotel? That’s awesome! Make your Alastor theories and ship every couple under the sun. Make fan art, write fic, speculate for the rest of the season. Don’t let tumblr’s cancel culture make you lose your interest.

You’re still superwholock? That’s banging. So much of us are struggling with disconnecting and distancing ourself from the things we used to love, bc of an unfortunate combination of peer pressure and mental illness. The fact that you’re still creating and consuming content is amazing. Keep at it.

You like “cliche” or “overrated” musicals? Of course you do! Shows like Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Heathers, Be More Chill, Beetlejuice, and Anastasia are popular for a reason, and you clearly understand the craze. In 2020 may you continue to discover new musicals (I recommend Next to Normal and In the Heights, personally) but never lose your love for the musicals that made you love Broadway.

Cringe culture is dead. I’m killing it now. Life is too damn short to be ashamed of the things you like, or to let other people make you feel bad for liking it. The world needs more radiance and positivity.

In 2020, write the fic. Draw the art. Listen to kpop and Taylor Swift and dance around your room. Engage (kindly) with your favorite creators, spread love, and make fandom a fun experience again.

What the hell is even going on this week…?

Star Wars fans are up in arms about the… well, questionable decisions made in Rise Of Skywalker. It did, however, have the strange and almost unprecidented effect of uniting shippers and antis against a common enemy (JJ).

The film adaptation of Cats was not so divisive… but holy cow… what the… I mean… what.

Misha Collins had hip replacement surgery for dysplasia.

J.K. Rowling messed up big time, causing thousands of people to claim that Hatsune Miku is the actual author of the Harry Potter series.

The conservative-heavy U.K. Parliament backed a deal for Brexit to go through at the end of January.

An asteroid three times as tall as the Great Pyramid of Giza just scraped by our planet.

Donald Trump was impeached. Only he wasn't? Or he was, but might not be? Or he is and probably won't be removed from office? Or he will be removed from office and we'll end up with Pence as president instead? Or Pence won't become president, because Trump's entire cabinet goes with him? What is going on?

In other "presidential" news, after Greta Thunberg was named Time Magazine's Person Of The Year, Trump's 2020 campaign Twitter account posted a picture of the magazine cover with Trump's face pasted over Greta's.

There was a reported Wawa data breach that exposed customer credit / debit card numbers, expiration dates, and cardholder names at potentially all their store gas pumps and registers.

The private information of over 267 million Facebook users was reportedly exposed online.

India is in turmoil over a controversial citizenship law.

But also…

The Democratic debate was a mostly-civil affair.

Germany banned "conversion therapy" for minors.

The FDA has issued approval for an ebola vaccine.

Scientists in Brazil have successfully 3-D bio-printed a functioning human mini-liver.

Sebastian Stan modeled for Men's Health Magazine (and the internet melted).

It was discovered that the US government has listed the fictional nation of Wakanda as a trade partner.

NASA has confirmed the existence of a new class of planets called "super-puffs," which have the density of cotton candy.

Virginia biochemist, Camille Schrier, was crowned Miss America after putting on a lab coat and giving "a colorful chemistry demonstration of the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide" onstage.

…

I mean, what is going on here? It's like 2019 forgot to do a bunch of stuff, so now it's piling it all up at the end and shoving it at 2020 like

((The ability to appreciate and evaluate human aesthetic is not determined by your sexuality))

XD

REBLOG IF YOU WANT A LOVE LETTER FROM A FICTIONAL CHARACTER IN YOUR ASK BOX NOW

AND I WILL DO EVERY SINGLE ONE, BASED ON YOUR BLOG.

EVERY

SINGLE

ONE

lets just be clear, if you spend the time baking a cake/cookies/brownies, you can eat as many of them as you want and the calories don’t count. you made those calories. you’re their god.

Omg! It's beautiful

A century’s sleep (A Good Omens piece based off Psyche surprising sleeping Cupid by Louis Jean François Lagrenée)

I’ve lost interest in painting this so here it is, unfinished. Also, i’m not calling it a repaint this time because I've strayed so far from the original it’s more of a “inspired by” or “loosely based off” rather than a repaint.

oooooo a Loki X reader wedding of some sort to give us a lethal dose of fluff

The Wedding of Loki Laufeyson

Summary: Life has been going well for Loki Laufeyson, all things considered. He’s finally paid off his debts and restored his honor, and now that his parole has ended, he’s free to reclaim his place as a Prince of Asgard. There are many things that he’s eager to do - to travel without supervision again, for one, and to spend at least a few days in bed with his mortal love…

He just has to make it through his wedding, first.

Word Count: 1878

Pairing: Loki/Reader

Rating: T

Keep reading

best of sparknotes part 3

(2 | 1)

So last week I tried moaning every time I ate something delicious.

It was vaguely uncomfortable and unnatural

I was walking through the toy aisle at Target when I found this thing and had a VIOLENT AND IMMEDIATE FLASHBACK to when JP first came out and they had a bunch of REALLY COOL T Rex toys that I would have sold one of my scrawny small-child limbs for but my mother wouldn’t get me one because they were “too violent and also ate people” :(

Doing this to prove a point to my mum

Reblog if you think you can have a fulfilling relationship without sex.

I’m sick of people saying “they’re fictional, get over it.” Whenever I talk about a character dying. Listen here, the characters that I mourn may well indeed be fictional, however, they have taught me so many valuable lessons. Let’s take Steve Rogers for example. Steve taught me not to give up, that friendship is one of the most valuable things, and to stand up for what you believe in even if you’re standing alone or going against something bigger then yourself. Tony Stark, He taught me how knowledge is the greatest weapon, to keep going no matter what, that you aren’t your parents, and he taught me anxiety isn’t an obstacle which can’t be tackled. Natasha Romanoff taught me that your past doesn’t define you and that everyone makes mistakes but you shouldn’t judge people on that. She taught me that you can start fresh and you can become someone better then what you were. All of them taught me to keep going, to try and make the world a better place not just for everyone but for myself. I know the actors are still here. But these characters have undeniably left a huge mark on my heart, and taught me things no teacher, parent or friend has. These lessons have made me the person I am today, impacted every choice I’ve made and I’ve found myself slowly becoming the person I want to be. I owe a lot to them. Thank you❤️ (Obviously there’s more characters but I picked my top 3)

Omg so beautiful

For you and your internet friends! 💙

Feel free to send these to them but please do not repost

So.

As you might imagine, my inboxes have been flooded over the last few days.  My fic represents, for a lot of people, either their start in Avengers fandom, or the safe place they retreat to when the angst and infighting and shipwars got too intense.  Which I get, and I appreciate, and I’m so glad if my old fics can give people a little happiness, even after all this time.

But there’s a thread I keep picking up in comments, that kind of worries me.

That things that happened in the MCU have taken the fandom away from them.  That the way things happened in Endgame have left people distraught, or angry, or just grieving.  And a lot of people have worried that they’ve ‘lost’ these characters.

And look.

Look.

I say this as a fandom old.  I say this as someone who reads comics.  Who came from the Trek fandom.  Who’s lived through bad movie adaptations and subpar ghostwriters and writing staff changes that have destroyed tv shows before they had a chance to really fly.

Don’t let canon take anything away from you.

You can be disappointed in a thing.  You can have your heart broken by a writer.  You can hope against hope that something that means the world to you will be ‘true,’ but don’t let a corporation take your heroes away from you.

Every one of us has to pick and choose what we keep and what we leave behind.  But every single version of Captain America has been fanfiction since Jack Kirby and Joe Simon put their pens down.  He’s owned by a corporation, and they can decide what’s on screen, who gets paid to write him, who gets the big platform.  They get to decide canon.

But canon is meaningless.

Canon is a way to win an argument in a bar or in a schoolyard.  It’s knowing publication dates and issue numbers and who wrote what arc and when the reboots happened.  It exists.

But when I think of Hawkeye, canon is only part of the picture.  I do think of Matt Fraction’s run on the comics.  I do think of those early years, sneaking my brother’s issues of West Coast Avengers.  I think of the weird, wild, off beat run of Secret Avengers.  But I also think of @dr-kara’s art of him.  I think of fanfic long since deleted, that introduced me to the fandom tropes of Clint living in the vents.  I think of the Tumblr posts, diving deep into the psychology of trauma, into his place as the most human and the most pointless of the original six, into a thousand stupid memes.  Caw-caw, motherfucker.  I think of the comments I got, telling me he was OOC.  I think of the Hawkeye cosplayers I’ve met, including the one guy who was in full gear at Star Wars Celebration in Florida.  I asked him why, and he shrugged and said, ‘Clint would’ve.’  I agree with him.  

I think of the first time a friend put a bow in my hands, and showed me how to shoot, wobbly and uneven, at a straw target all the way across the yard.

I think of the bruises that dotted my arms afterwards.

So canon can add new things.  Take bits away.  Make me think.  Make me hurt.

But nothing canon does will ever cause him to be different, not on any fundamental level.  Clint Barton started forming in my head when I was eight years old.  He belongs to Marvel, but the version I carry with me has a lot more sources than that.

Guys, this is a long way of saying: find your own version of the character.  Find what you need in a fandom.  And think of canon like that one fic that has a million kudos on AO3 and you just. Don’t.  Know.  Why.  That one fic, that everyone talks about, that you just can’t stand.

If canon doesn’t work for you, then discard it.  And move on.

But don’t let a corporation take a character you love away from you.

Don’t ever let that happen.

The Courtesy Rules Of Blindness

from The Courtesy Rules Of Blindness

“When you meet me don’t be ill at ease. It will help both of us if you remember these simple points of courtesy:

I’m an ordinary person, just blind. You don’t need to raise your voice or address me as if I were a child. Don’t ask my spouse what I want–“Cream in the coffee?”–ask me.

I may use a long white cane or a guide dog to walk independently; or I may ask to take your arm. Let me decide, and please don’t grab my arm; let me take yours. I’ll keep a half-step behind to anticipate curbs and steps.

I want to know who’s in the room with me. Speak when you enter. Introduce me to the others including children, and tell me if there’s a cat or dog.

The door to a room or cabinet or to a car that is left partially open is a hazard to me.

At dinner I will not have trouble with ordinary table skills.

Don’t avoid words like “see.” I use them too. I’m always glad to see you.

I don’t want pity, but don’t talk about the “wonderful compensations” of blindness. My sense of smell, taste, touch or hearing did not improve when I became blind, I rely on them more and, therefore, may get more information through those senses than you do–that’s all.

If I’m your houseguest, show me the bathroom, closet, dresser, window–the light switch too. I like to know whether the lights are on or off.

I’ll discuss blindness with you if you’re curious, but it’s an old story to me. I have as many other interests as you do.

Don’t think of me as just a blind person. I’m just a person who happens to be blind.

You don’t need to remember some “politically correct” term, “visually impaired”, “sight challenged” etc. Keep it simple and honest, just say blind.

         In all 50 states the law requires drivers to yield the right of way when they see my extended white cane. Only the blind may carry white canes. You see more blind persons today walking alone, not because there are more of us, but because we have learned to make our own way.”

Omg so cooool

MCU + 2019 calendar. End of an era.

REBLOG IF YOU HAVE STRETCHMARKS

This way girls and boys can see they’re not alone. I have them and this would help me see that.

TODAY IS THE ONLY DAY YOU CAN REBLOG THIS

Movie artwork by Failunfailunmefailun 

Tumblr I need help! I’m making facebook event for my eighteen birthday and I need creative fandom desription. Any Ideas? My fandoms are Doctor who, Harry Potter, Marvel, Tolkien, Star wars and Star Trek, Game of thrones, X files Hamilton and musicals in general 

A reminder to myself and others: It’s important to let yourself rest when you need it 💙

A Surprise Pride and Prejudice Engagement

(Note: This isn’t me)

Happy Birthday to our space princess on what would’ve been her 62nd birthday. We miss and love you so much Carrie Frances Fisher.

After first episode of series 11

I don't like that new action film vibe but I absolutely love 13th Doctor. She is lovely, funny and she is exactly what we need right now. She is my Doctor <3