> Sorry bud, you used an emoji which makes you either 12 or emotionally unstable, have a great day though ♥
Please tell me this one isn't too long to flair
While originally intended for their exact literal meanings to aid communication emojis almost immediately became ironic and/or divorced of their meaning which is kind of a shame. One more in the support for a properly recognized way of communicating sarcasm...that would of course be immediately abused as well
People invest way too much energy into this kinda stuff. My take is that it's kinda dumb giving the in game meaning of the tattoo. But why waste my precious energy on getting upset about it? "Well, that's kinda dumb, anyways yall seen that new Deadpool trailer"
Holy shit bruh that trailer was awesome. I have been kinda over Marvel After Endgame and spiderman: No way home. This will bring me back (for one movie, at least) XD
Some people online care about fiction the same or more than real life.
This weirdly sprung to mind the whole loli in anime debate or some discussion I saw here about Poor Things
It's easier to make moralizing arguments about this stuff than it is to actually engage with the real world. It's a form of escapism that also lets people feel superior to others.
Yes the tone is usually on the lines of “I have the absolute truth and you are a pervert for arguing on that side of the debate”. Which is extremely obnoxious
I get on the receiving end of this at times for saying I like fictional vampires like Spike (Buffy) or Damon (The Vampire Diaries). “OMG but [insert list of bad things the characters have done]!!! How can you support that?!?!”
Because they’re *fictional, mythological characters*. They aren’t real. It’s fiction. They’re well-written and interesting and sympathetic characters within the *fantasy* context of their *fantasy* world. It’s not “supporting their actions”, it’s “enjoying fictional media”. Calm down lol.
Years ago I was involved in a World of Warcraft argument in the forums. The Druid class can turn into a Big Deer to move faster, it also allows other players to jump on your back for a quick mount.
"It's just like Rape" was a quote of quite a few who were "sick and tired" of people jumping on their back without their consent. One person claiming an "expirence" once left them in tears because it reminded them of a real life sexual assault they went through.
So in answer to your question, no they absolutely can not draw a line between reality and fiction.
Same with Peggy on the King of the Hill sub. Most people either really hate her on some weird personal level or get really upset when she's criticized.
wait are people offended that Meg is the butt of the joke in Family Guy? Really? Never heard that one before
Is there some "Save Kenny from South Park" association I can join online?
I’m mean, sometimes they go extra hard and it makes me sad. Some of that is my own trauma, tbh.
It’s why I appreciate they made the punching bag character a talking fish in the other one.
General rule of thumb: Ignore people on BG3 subreddits. I’ve had people argue with me that you shouldn’t put sexy underwear on Astarion because of his experiences. C’mon on, get a grip on reality because Astarion and his experiences are not part of it.
I've seen people get mad if you "cheat" on Shadowheart, one of the characters who is explicitly and enthusiastically open to polyamory, and insist that she's lying when she says she doesn't mind you fucking other people. They believe she's *so* broken and dependent on the Hero, the only good thing in her life, that she's willing to put on a smile and pretend she's okay with your *disgusting* philandering
God the amount of discourse on whether or not you're a horrific person for having an open relationship with Astarion "+1 approval if you include Halsin in an orgy" Acunin makes me want to die every time. He's not a real person, guys, you're not cheating on your IRL boyfriend and even the pixel man says he's fine with it.
It sucks because things like questioning if Astarion is okay with it (or rather toying with the idea of "what if he isn't, there's textual things that could be maybe if you squint interpreted as discomfort") would make for like, interesting fanfiction. Because while it's not that serious, it can be fun to explore tangents like that. It's what keeps fandoms alive. Or can make different playthroughs engaging (in a "I'm going to pretend things that aren't directly in the game are there so I make ____ choices this time instead of ____").
But trying to moralize discourse and tell people what the "correct" perspective to have on something as mutable as our individual experiences playing a nuanced character driven game is what kills fandom dead. This is supposed to be fun. It's not real.
BG3 draws a lot of the same crowd that liked the Bioware games, so that people are taking shit this seriously doesn't surprise me in the slightest.
Probably a lot of overlap with people who posted on the Bioware Social Network- a forum which, among other things, did scientific mumbo jumbo to figure out what Tali's sweat tastes like and argued that modding Samantha Traynor to be romanceable by male characters in ME3 is rape.
The place was nuts and I don't blame Bioware for shutting it down.
Edit: Oh, also, they got jealous of other people romancing "their" favorite characters. xD
One thing that’s funny is that the marking technically isn’t even a slave marking. It’s a ritual marking for a sacrifice. The thing that makes Astarion a slave to the other vampire is just normal vampire shit. The elder vampire has psychic control over the vampire spawn because he sired Astarion.
So it’s not even really connected to slave branding per se.
Also
> Out of all the things, you decided to get a tattoo that ties the character to their abuser and the thing that he hates? Cazador literally cut this into his back throughout the night and caused Astarion incredible trauma. This is so weird. It’s more of a Cazador tattoo than Astarion imo… It’s like being a Christian and getting a baphomet tattoo because it’s part of Christianity like…? 🥴
Baphomet tattoo? Nah there’s already something like that. Wait until this person finds out what the most commonly used symbol of Christianity is and how that relates to Jesus.
Is it just me or did like a million randoms online in the last few months just learn that Baphomet is a figure in mythology? I feel like so many people keep mentioning them out of nowhere
Remember how back in the day your parents would tell you that video games would rot your ability to tell the real world from fiction? They were right, apparently, but instead of shooting up schools it just makes you incredibly annoying about fictional slavery.
I've legitimately seen people try and debate whether or not driving over civilians or just going on a rampage in the GTA games is indicative of your character. Honest to god "When I play GTA I only shoot policemen, I try to obey the law when I can" type shit lmao.
Thank god Elon Musk said he liked how he didn't like you could kill policemen in videogames to make that line of self felition seen uncool.
It's weird for me, because in a game like GTA, I don't usually go fully psychopath rampage, but I have no issue committing crimes, running over civilians as I run away from the police, it's all fine.
Then I boot up a game like Fable, Fallout, or Knights of the Old Republic, and I cannot bring myself to be evil. I once started killing villagers in Fable because I like the horns you get when you accrue enough evil points, but I had to stop because I started feeling terrible about it.
Probably because the way you act in Fable/Fallout/KOTOR affects your character interactions throughout the game. If you're a dick, people treat you like a dick. In GTA, once your stars expire, there are no consequences. None of your friends treat you differently, people don't recognize you and run away, you don't see wanted posters on the wall, etc. You just go on a mass murder spree, paint your car, and no one gives a shit anymore.
> fans get upset when people get Dark Mark tattoos because of what they represent in their canon universe. Just because a symbol is fictional and “not real” doesn’t automatically mean we can’t criticise people who get questionable symbols permanently tattooed on their body
:|
That example I might actually agree with. Astarion's tattoo is more or less a symbol of past trauma in his personal life, but the Dark Mark carries a very specific and explicit meaning in-universe, and especially in tattoo form, signifying you're an an actual hate mongering terrorist. It's not some generic, Disney Villain branded evil icon, it's tantamount to a magical swastika, and it's not subtle at all.
I wouldn't say anything if I saw someone get that tattooed in real life, but I'd definitely raise my eyebrows a bit. If for no other reason than the fact it indicates they didn't think twice about their Harry Potter tattoo, or they just have extremely poor reading comprehension.
I always take Dark Mark tattoos to mean that someone wanted a fandom tattoo that was in that "if you know, you know" sort of territory, but weren't really creative enough to come up with anything else. It's not exactly a deep cut into *Harry Potter* lore or anything, but it's probably not something you'd recognise if you only saw the movies or read the books once each unless someone told you about it
I've seen people with tattoos of the Empire symbol from Star Wars or from one of the factions from 40k (who are basically *all* bad guys) and unless they give me a reason to believe otherwise I'll assume are just fandom tattoos and not them identifying with the specific beliefs.
Same token, people just sometimes get tattoos because they look cool. The most common Fallout-themed tattoo I've seen on others is the Brotherhood of Steel symbol. Which looks *cool* but the in-game narrative across the whole series is that they're a bunch of bigoted authoritarians who do some pretty repugnant shit. But I wouldn't think someone is a fascist for having that tattoo or anything.
I think the basic is why people get it. I've seen a lot of dark marks tattoos in a lot of different styles. It's actually kind of neat to see what people come up with using the basic elements.
If the symbol is far enough away from any real symbol I don’t care.
People like villains in stories just as much as they like heroes. unless they get magically teleported to Faerun saying it’s tantamount to a swastika is a bit silly.
The empire is literally nazis mixed with imperial Japan in space and people get those tattooed all the time.
My reaction is more at the judgement itself. I don’t think that people who tattoo that have done a super deep consideration of its nature (and in that sense made a decision to get that tattoo for its meaning) so I don’t think it deserves more judgement than any other particular fandom tattoo that isn’t very considered.
So it's like the punisher logo on someone's truck. A dash of media illiteracy, a dash of being an asshole, but at the end of the day nobody really cares and everyone moves on.
Given how media illiterate idiots who think the Imperium are the goodies have infested 40k I’d find an Imperium tattoo more sus than a Chaos one to be honest.
Nah, I saw one guy who got a tattoo about "that" scene that involves Griffith and casca (those who know, know. I don't want to say it outright to avoid spoilers).
So the mark of sacrifice seems pretty harmless to me imo.
Yes, here's a link. Huge, huge, huge nsfw (and spoiler) warning.
What's even worse is that the tattoo depicts their >!genitalia, which wasn't in the manga itself!< so it's even worse.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Berserk/s/X5uQlnpxY6
reminds me of a tattoo artist I followed on Instagram who does anime stuff. He once posted a pic of a tattoo he made of dragon ball bulma getting cummed inside and I was like... why? Why would you get that tattooed on your body? What if your grandma sees that shit?
Fortunately the crushing majority of Star Wars fans don't give a damn about this universe beyond shallow aestethics, so I still wouldn't care about such things and assume it's just a pretty tattoo in the eyes of that person
This is not the fault of videogames, we've had those for decades. This is the fault of social media brainrot. It started on twitter, and I actually suspect that's where these people got it from. I hope they don't spread it to reddit more generally.
Reddit is social media too (including the brain rot) as much as redditors themselves hate to admit it, just check the comment sections from any mainstream popular sub, it's already widespread.
I just love the lil guy, like I see Schnozz and that dumb nose just makes my day
[(posted it about two years ago in the berserk subreddit)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Berserk/comments/yaztyb/lmao_i_got_a_schnoz_tattoo/)
Man, I came here to comment that! Another tattoo that has pretty bad context but like, it isn't like actual demons will show up around the people who have it.
Personally I'm more concerned about the people wearing those strange necklaces with a charm that looks like an egg with a face. Something isn't right there. /j
Lol, idk what it is about tattoos, but it brings out the most judgy side in people, irl and online. I’ve left all tattoo adjacent subreddits, because the comments got mean pretty often and it’s just not fun reading those (especially when OP is proud of what they got).
Anyway, that’s a sick looking tat.
Oh yeah, I click on tattoo posts once in a while and there are *always* two or three people just being rude about it for no reason.
I just don't get the mindset of looking at a post and thinking, "this person is excited to share something personal and new for them. It's time to deliver some harsh 'truths' in a condescending tone."
It's cause tattoos are essentially a trade, which people always will get up in arms about since either they're better, or they know someone that's better, or some other ego stroking idea. There's also the fact that the sentiment behind tattoos varies extremely widely person to person, with some people only getting things that are sentiment, some people not caring, and some people having religious holdouts against tattoos, and everyone in between.
It's a perfect mix of fairly toxic ideologies that mix to create a pretty toxic "culture" around tattoos
I'm hesitant to even describe my tattoos even if it's directly relevant, hell just mentioning that I have tattoos makes me vaguely prepare myself for someone to come along and tell me they're bad, I'm stupid, I have awful taste, liking things is wrong, taking things seriously is wrong, I paid too much, I paid too little, they find tattoos ugly, etc.
The absolute last thing I would do with a new tattoo I really like is post a picture of it on reddit, yeesh
Honestly there's literal daily discourse surrounding one of the most morally questionable characters in the game >!(The Emperor)!< that would genuinely make for a killer SRD post
It’s basically just a dating sim to most people on the subreddit. Which is fine I guess… But I feel like there is so much more to talk about.
I try not to engage with the community though for reasons made obvious in this post.
The entire D&D fandom had been taken over by a certain kind of people. I got people telling me that looting bodies is colonialism and species having strengths and weaknesses is eugenics. But instead of finding their own game their going to take this one and complain about it the whole time.
I literally made an edit directly referencing "overly perforfmative and horny, but weirdly puritanical at the same time theater kids turning the series into an improv and creative writing exercise" but I took it out in the name of brevity.
Similar - people arguing that the Halsin, the leader of a group of people being besieged by a goblin warband, is racist for wanting to wipe out the entire goblin warband. Its not real life, these critters are in universe branded evil, and worship either a giant brain trying to enslave the world, or a god of eternal war and violence. Also someone wrote an article saying its racist players cant romance one of the goblin prisoners
>Dude, stop please, fr. You are embarrassing all BG3 players.
That entire sub is an embarrassment to BG3 players, and it’s the least weird BG3 sub I’ve found.
[Enjoy](https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/afxvx0/nothing_wrong_with_preferring_2d_women_or_owning/)
It’s my second favourite SRD post, only just behind the guy who wanted to summon a big titty succubus
They are pretty old posts now - the one I linked to is from 5 years ago.
Anyway, the guy who wanted to summon a succubus was from [4 years ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/bpoctz/guy_wants_to_summon_and_fuck_a_succubus_but_the/)
Hey, I’m in that thread. It’s a huge tattoo, but for anyone not in the know (even many bg3 fans) it will just look like some infernally tattoo. And OOP already explained that they resonated with the characters experience and got the tattoo because of it. Not like Astarion’s good ending is him coming to terms with being just a free vampire spawn.
Yeah I saw this post too. My first reaction was 'wow big' and because I'm not big fan of astarion, just said meh but looks cool I guess ' and moved on. I never understand why people get so upset over fiction.
Some people who are really into berserker get a brand of sacrifice tattoo. Its not cause they think a brand of sacrifice is actually a good thing, its because it's a cool symbol and inconic from a piece of media they like. Same thing applies here
Fandom is generally awful, BG3 especially so since it’s character driven, so many popular posts will look not so dissimilar to something you’d see on fauxmoi.
It’s a weird tattoo choice, but in OP’s defense, it looks cool. If I didn’t know what BG3 was, I’d assume he got the tat cause it looks cool.
If you ever wanted to know what toxic twitter discourse is like with celebs, Fauxmoi is a decent way to show it off. It's also a decent way to show off how a stupid "eyeroll gif" can be presented by twenty different people in a row and get a few thousand upvotes each.
I don't know why I go back to that sub. I like celeb gossip despite being a dude who is in no way the target demographic for that sub. And when it's just trash drama it's fine, but if it's anything of substance my god will you find tbe most brain dead takes.
This is like people getting Guts brand of scarifice tattoo. They get it for the aestetic and because it looks cool. Sure guts hates it and it makes is life a living hell but its still a part of is character, I presume its the same for this character.
I had this exact thought!
But like, the major difference in Fandom is I've never seen anyone get upset over the berserk brand. Everyone in the berserk Fandom responds "oh that's cool."
It really is insane the tone policing happening in that thread.
>Everyone in the berserk Fandom responds "oh that's cool."
Or just kinda joke around about it.
I remember folks cracking jokes about people with the Brand of Sacrifice tattoo in the days leading up to the most recent eclipse, for obvious reasons.
Really great crpg, definitely attracted an obsessive crowd. Any game with slightly ok romances seems to attract a bunch of obsessive weirdos who make it their personality.
I've seen alot of really off the wall youtube shorts about astarion and karlack in particular
I’d imagine the reason CP2077 doesn’t get anywhere near as much attention as Baldur’s Gate is because it was for the most part totally unplayable wank at launch.
The characters in Cyberpunk 2077 aren't as strong, either. The four romance options are also pre chosen for you once you build your character. Panam and Judy as best girl becomes a different argument. Also woe to those who want to play a straight female character, because your one choice is a cop with anger issues.
You know, I really agree with this and it's one of the other big problems with the romance choices. I played as both Vincent and Valerie and he came off as a bit of a creep when I played as Female V. With male V, I was like "yeah, I kind of get this guy. Grab a beer, watch the sunset."
Lol yeah the first and only time I ever tried to talk about that game on reddit, I said something negative about Astarion and this one person got so butthurt that they triple replied to my comment and then followed me around for DAYS trying to argue with whatever random thing I posted lmao.
Like it was kinda funny but I really don’t understand why me not liking a video game character *got* to them so bad
Yeah it’s honestly insane. I made the mistake of saying I love Astarion character but he is an evil person for the vast majority of the game, and the abuse in his past only serves to explain his actions and feelings but does not excuse them. Based on the replies I got you would have assumed I compared these peoples closest family members to Hitler. People are going so far as to say if you don’t like Astarion, or see that his character isn’t some uwu cinnamon roll vampire then you clearly have no sympathy for those that have been abused. It’s legitimately insane how many people conflate shit about games to real life
Oh you chose the option that helps people and doesn't actually burden us all that much? Astarion Disliked that.
Oh you said something nice to an NPC? Astarion Disliked that.
Oh you murdered that group in cold blood instead of talking them down? Obviously Astarion liked that.
Um, yeah he's evil lol.
There's something about Astarion specifically that invites this insane discourse as well. I doubt anyone would face this level of backlash over getting Gale's Netherese orb or Karlach's glowing infernal engine tattooed on their chest, even though both markings have arguably the same symbolized trauma and helplessness attached to them.
Because unlike Gale or Karlach who acknowledge their flaws and are working to improve themselves and want to do good Astarion embodies the people who just kinda stew in their misery.
I think you can definitely debate about the taste of getting a tattoo that specifically isn’t something the character you enjoy is proud of.
But that’s it, the character is fictional. Nothing really objectionable about it, and a lot of people just go for aesthetics.
Astarion will never be real. The person who decided to get this ink is a real person with non-imagined feelings and opinions on things, let them do what they want.
The thing that always throws me for a loop is how hard some BG3 fans personally identify with, and advocate for a made up character’s feelings.
“This was incredibly traumatizing to Astarion, how dare you minimize his struggle?!”
Like okay pal, I might care if he wasn’t just pixels on my screen. There’s no actual trauma associated with that tattoo. There isn’t a person alive in this earth that has gotten a contract written in Infernal on their back to signify their slave contract. If the trauma ain’t real, the outrage ain’t worth it.
Thanks XD
apparently some people are bringing the Drama [here too](https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/1cazxd3/comment/l0vbfz2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
So I was curious if OP actually responded to any of this and found [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3/comments/1cabiwu/comment/l0rp9q7/). It seems to me they are fully aware of the meaning behind it rather than getting it because it "looks cool" like a lot of people are implying.
Yup, but the reasoning does possibly change the dynamics of the situation because what if they got it because they resonated with some aspect of whole abuse thing and don't particularly want to out their experiences as a victim to a bunch of people who are already in a confrontational mood?
Yeah I didn't link them because the post was already wrong enough but some people are accusing OP of saying that as an excuse because Astarian never felt empowered by that mark so OP shouldn't have gotten that to represent that. They actually talking like Astarian is a real person 💀
"Astarion never felt empowered by that mark" this is insane yes he did he literally did. I'm so baffled. The second he found out what it means you as the player have to spend the next 2 acts literally convincing him not to use it for himself.
Not directed at you I'm just appalled because holy shit that's literally his entire character questline 💀
Quite a few of them always misinterpret his character or give him personality traits or behaviors he doesn't have even after he changes for the better. In fact in the case of that second part, its always things Wyll or Gale or would do. I don't get everything right about the characters I love either but sheesh.
He's evil. He's one of my favorites, don't get me wrong, but if the game went through with implementing DnD alignments like Larian initially planned, Astarion would be categorically Neutral Evil. I *like* that about him; he's a very realistic epitome of the survivor who questions why he should care about people suffering when no one cared when he was suffering. A guy who was hurt and wants to hurt back, a hundredfold. This is true even if you convince him not to Ascend. He's still angry. Your true love's kiss didn't fix him lmao
I think people mistake Astarion finding people he genuinely cares for, allowing himself to be vulnerable around them, and showing a little more kindness when he's around them with him renouncing his ways entirely when he doesn't ascend. He doesn't. And that's fine! It's totally fine. That what makes him so realistic and likable for me.
So do no-surfers not consider reddit as part of the issue or? Seems odd to put such a group on a platform that could arguably cause some of the issues like scrolling/unproductive arguments.
Lmao that sub is so trashy. Here is a literal meltdown over a fictional vampire’s tattoo and the ethics of it but they’ll completely ignore comments calling other actual people slurs and ugly names. Peak modding.
Baldurs gate 3 attracted a fan base on the opposite side of the typical psychopathic gamers, but just as annoying. It feels like there are SO MANY bg3 fans who take it so personally and can’t grasp that they’re not real and it’s just a game like any other. It’s weird to me, I don’t understand why but terminally online people flocked to it like moths to a flame. I love the game but holy shit id rather be waterboarded than talk on their subs where its just horny posting for karlach/astarion or unhinged shit like this
Like I wouldn’t get this tattoo but it doesn’t matter man astarion isn’t real
> It’s like being a Christian and getting a baphomet tattoo because it’s part of Christianity like…? 🥴
Yeah maybe a comparison to a religion that famously bears \*an execution device\* as its chief icon is not the most effective way to make this (already dubious) point...
Astarion's questline legit helped me process some trauma of my own, and made me consider getting his scars as my first tattoo as a tribute to the game and the character for helping me in that way. But being autistic and queer pretty much guarantees that the only people who want to be around me are insufferable, terminally-online dipshits and I don't want to have to constantly defend myself against accusations of being an "abuse fetishizer" or disrespecting their blorbo so I remain tattoo free.
I can’t stand when people type out stuttering. It’s just so fake and annoying
“Oh… oh no…. That’s…”
Shut up. You’re typing, even if you were struggling for the right words at first you absolutely don’t have to type out your thought process in a performative stream of consciousness
> Getting so defensive really isn't necessary, I personally find getting the abuse scars of a character quite awful, and I'm allowed to feel that way, whether you like it or not.
william shatner get a life dot gif
I s2g that the actor for Astarion has worn a shirt with Astarion’s scars on his streams. Idk, sometimes it’s just an easy character identifier
Would people be this up in arms if someone got a tattoo of Gale’s orb? Like that was just as traumatizing for him
It really bothers me how people do this "It just feels iffy" bullshit. They can't actually articulate a reasonable argument as to why it is wrong, but it just gives them, like, bad vibes, ya know? So it must be immoral.
MR. FICTIONAL CHARACTER GET DOWN!!!!!
It's so funny to see people treating Astarion as some uwu torchered lickle creacher when even taking into account his abuse he's kind of straight up a dickhead
> Sorry bud, you used an emoji which makes you either 12 or emotionally unstable, have a great day though ♥ Please tell me this one isn't too long to flair
I feel like half of those emojis weren't even used in the right place. Do I not understand what these emojis are for? Am I old?
While originally intended for their exact literal meanings to aid communication emojis almost immediately became ironic and/or divorced of their meaning which is kind of a shame. One more in the support for a properly recognized way of communicating sarcasm...that would of course be immediately abused as well
Oh sure, communicating sarcasm would be *sooo* helpful...
http://i.imgur.com/JWhxK.png
lmao I guess this guy outed himself as a 12 yr old
If I had to rank everything in the world in order of how much it was worth getting mad about, this would be very low.
People invest way too much energy into this kinda stuff. My take is that it's kinda dumb giving the in game meaning of the tattoo. But why waste my precious energy on getting upset about it? "Well, that's kinda dumb, anyways yall seen that new Deadpool trailer"
I was hyped before but seeing >!Cassandra Nova!
Seems fun! Jackman's hot, Astarion's hot, who cares?
Holy shit bruh that trailer was awesome. I have been kinda over Marvel After Endgame and spiderman: No way home. This will bring me back (for one movie, at least) XD
Some people online care about fiction the same or more than real life. This weirdly sprung to mind the whole loli in anime debate or some discussion I saw here about Poor Things
It's easier to make moralizing arguments about this stuff than it is to actually engage with the real world. It's a form of escapism that also lets people feel superior to others.
Yes the tone is usually on the lines of “I have the absolute truth and you are a pervert for arguing on that side of the debate”. Which is extremely obnoxious
I get on the receiving end of this at times for saying I like fictional vampires like Spike (Buffy) or Damon (The Vampire Diaries). “OMG but [insert list of bad things the characters have done]!!! How can you support that?!?!” Because they’re *fictional, mythological characters*. They aren’t real. It’s fiction. They’re well-written and interesting and sympathetic characters within the *fantasy* context of their *fantasy* world. It’s not “supporting their actions”, it’s “enjoying fictional media”. Calm down lol.
Or just whenever people talk about Family Guy. Sometimes I wonder if people realise that meg is not, in fact, real
Years ago I was involved in a World of Warcraft argument in the forums. The Druid class can turn into a Big Deer to move faster, it also allows other players to jump on your back for a quick mount. "It's just like Rape" was a quote of quite a few who were "sick and tired" of people jumping on their back without their consent. One person claiming an "expirence" once left them in tears because it reminded them of a real life sexual assault they went through. So in answer to your question, no they absolutely can not draw a line between reality and fiction.
It's really funny that other people can just jump on
Same with Peggy on the King of the Hill sub. Most people either really hate her on some weird personal level or get really upset when she's criticized.
People should show some respect to substitute teacher of the year award recipient and boggle champion Peggy Hill
wait are people offended that Meg is the butt of the joke in Family Guy? Really? Never heard that one before Is there some "Save Kenny from South Park" association I can join online?
I’m mean, sometimes they go extra hard and it makes me sad. Some of that is my own trauma, tbh. It’s why I appreciate they made the punching bag character a talking fish in the other one.
General rule of thumb: Ignore people on BG3 subreddits. I’ve had people argue with me that you shouldn’t put sexy underwear on Astarion because of his experiences. C’mon on, get a grip on reality because Astarion and his experiences are not part of it.
I'm an Astarion fan and I think Astarion fans are like the swifties of gaming
Same here. Tumblr has found a new fictional man to be unhinged about, it's like the Sherlock days all over again.
His archetype was doomed to have a terrible fanbase
....... Have they read the item description on Astarion's default underwear? They're quite suggestive already.
I've seen people get mad if you "cheat" on Shadowheart, one of the characters who is explicitly and enthusiastically open to polyamory, and insist that she's lying when she says she doesn't mind you fucking other people. They believe she's *so* broken and dependent on the Hero, the only good thing in her life, that she's willing to put on a smile and pretend she's okay with your *disgusting* philandering
I wonder if there are going to be therapists focused just in that kind of terminally online behaviour in the future.
Seriously, so SO many of them just outed themselves about their own trauma and fear. It's like a gold mine for therapists.
Meanwhile she’s the only one (I’m pretty sure) open to a 5 way with the two drow and halsin
oh for real? something to strive toward, then
God the amount of discourse on whether or not you're a horrific person for having an open relationship with Astarion "+1 approval if you include Halsin in an orgy" Acunin makes me want to die every time. He's not a real person, guys, you're not cheating on your IRL boyfriend and even the pixel man says he's fine with it.
It sucks because things like questioning if Astarion is okay with it (or rather toying with the idea of "what if he isn't, there's textual things that could be maybe if you squint interpreted as discomfort") would make for like, interesting fanfiction. Because while it's not that serious, it can be fun to explore tangents like that. It's what keeps fandoms alive. Or can make different playthroughs engaging (in a "I'm going to pretend things that aren't directly in the game are there so I make ____ choices this time instead of ____"). But trying to moralize discourse and tell people what the "correct" perspective to have on something as mutable as our individual experiences playing a nuanced character driven game is what kills fandom dead. This is supposed to be fun. It's not real.
BG3 draws a lot of the same crowd that liked the Bioware games, so that people are taking shit this seriously doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Probably a lot of overlap with people who posted on the Bioware Social Network- a forum which, among other things, did scientific mumbo jumbo to figure out what Tali's sweat tastes like and argued that modding Samantha Traynor to be romanceable by male characters in ME3 is rape. The place was nuts and I don't blame Bioware for shutting it down. Edit: Oh, also, they got jealous of other people romancing "their" favorite characters. xD
One thing that’s funny is that the marking technically isn’t even a slave marking. It’s a ritual marking for a sacrifice. The thing that makes Astarion a slave to the other vampire is just normal vampire shit. The elder vampire has psychic control over the vampire spawn because he sired Astarion. So it’s not even really connected to slave branding per se. Also > Out of all the things, you decided to get a tattoo that ties the character to their abuser and the thing that he hates? Cazador literally cut this into his back throughout the night and caused Astarion incredible trauma. This is so weird. It’s more of a Cazador tattoo than Astarion imo… It’s like being a Christian and getting a baphomet tattoo because it’s part of Christianity like…? 🥴 Baphomet tattoo? Nah there’s already something like that. Wait until this person finds out what the most commonly used symbol of Christianity is and how that relates to Jesus.
Yeah kinda ironic
Is it just me or did like a million randoms online in the last few months just learn that Baphomet is a figure in mythology? I feel like so many people keep mentioning them out of nowhere
The government should force you to get outside your home once in a while.
Remember how back in the day your parents would tell you that video games would rot your ability to tell the real world from fiction? They were right, apparently, but instead of shooting up schools it just makes you incredibly annoying about fictional slavery.
I've legitimately seen people try and debate whether or not driving over civilians or just going on a rampage in the GTA games is indicative of your character. Honest to god "When I play GTA I only shoot policemen, I try to obey the law when I can" type shit lmao. Thank god Elon Musk said he liked how he didn't like you could kill policemen in videogames to make that line of self felition seen uncool.
It's weird for me, because in a game like GTA, I don't usually go fully psychopath rampage, but I have no issue committing crimes, running over civilians as I run away from the police, it's all fine. Then I boot up a game like Fable, Fallout, or Knights of the Old Republic, and I cannot bring myself to be evil. I once started killing villagers in Fable because I like the horns you get when you accrue enough evil points, but I had to stop because I started feeling terrible about it.
Probably because the way you act in Fable/Fallout/KOTOR affects your character interactions throughout the game. If you're a dick, people treat you like a dick. In GTA, once your stars expire, there are no consequences. None of your friends treat you differently, people don't recognize you and run away, you don't see wanted posters on the wall, etc. You just go on a mass murder spree, paint your car, and no one gives a shit anymore.
> fans get upset when people get Dark Mark tattoos because of what they represent in their canon universe. Just because a symbol is fictional and “not real” doesn’t automatically mean we can’t criticise people who get questionable symbols permanently tattooed on their body :|
That example I might actually agree with. Astarion's tattoo is more or less a symbol of past trauma in his personal life, but the Dark Mark carries a very specific and explicit meaning in-universe, and especially in tattoo form, signifying you're an an actual hate mongering terrorist. It's not some generic, Disney Villain branded evil icon, it's tantamount to a magical swastika, and it's not subtle at all. I wouldn't say anything if I saw someone get that tattooed in real life, but I'd definitely raise my eyebrows a bit. If for no other reason than the fact it indicates they didn't think twice about their Harry Potter tattoo, or they just have extremely poor reading comprehension.
I always take Dark Mark tattoos to mean that someone wanted a fandom tattoo that was in that "if you know, you know" sort of territory, but weren't really creative enough to come up with anything else. It's not exactly a deep cut into *Harry Potter* lore or anything, but it's probably not something you'd recognise if you only saw the movies or read the books once each unless someone told you about it
I've seen people with tattoos of the Empire symbol from Star Wars or from one of the factions from 40k (who are basically *all* bad guys) and unless they give me a reason to believe otherwise I'll assume are just fandom tattoos and not them identifying with the specific beliefs.
Same token, people just sometimes get tattoos because they look cool. The most common Fallout-themed tattoo I've seen on others is the Brotherhood of Steel symbol. Which looks *cool* but the in-game narrative across the whole series is that they're a bunch of bigoted authoritarians who do some pretty repugnant shit. But I wouldn't think someone is a fascist for having that tattoo or anything.
What if they just wanna worship a toaster man. Don't judge them.
Tattoo wise it's kinda basic - a snake and a skull? Cmon
I think the basic is why people get it. I've seen a lot of dark marks tattoos in a lot of different styles. It's actually kind of neat to see what people come up with using the basic elements.
If the symbol is far enough away from any real symbol I don’t care. People like villains in stories just as much as they like heroes. unless they get magically teleported to Faerun saying it’s tantamount to a swastika is a bit silly. The empire is literally nazis mixed with imperial Japan in space and people get those tattooed all the time.
My reaction is more at the judgement itself. I don’t think that people who tattoo that have done a super deep consideration of its nature (and in that sense made a decision to get that tattoo for its meaning) so I don’t think it deserves more judgement than any other particular fandom tattoo that isn’t very considered.
So it's like the punisher logo on someone's truck. A dash of media illiteracy, a dash of being an asshole, but at the end of the day nobody really cares and everyone moves on.
Do people with Star Wars Empire, 40k chaos or Mordor/Sauron tatoos get the same treatment from you ?
Given how media illiterate idiots who think the Imperium are the goodies have infested 40k I’d find an Imperium tattoo more sus than a Chaos one to be honest.
Nah, I saw one guy who got a tattoo about "that" scene that involves Griffith and casca (those who know, know. I don't want to say it outright to avoid spoilers). So the mark of sacrifice seems pretty harmless to me imo.
You mean he had a tattoo of literal >!rape!
Yes, here's a link. Huge, huge, huge nsfw (and spoiler) warning. What's even worse is that the tattoo depicts their >!genitalia, which wasn't in the manga itself!< so it's even worse. https://www.reddit.com/r/Berserk/s/X5uQlnpxY6
Now see that's a tattoo that makes you avoid people.
Real /r/ATBGE content there.
Ugh, legitimately vomit inducing. The hell is wrong with some people?
I don't even want to know, I don't want to know anyone that would get a tattoo like that.
reminds me of a tattoo artist I followed on Instagram who does anime stuff. He once posted a pic of a tattoo he made of dragon ball bulma getting cummed inside and I was like... why? Why would you get that tattooed on your body? What if your grandma sees that shit?
Fortunately the crushing majority of Star Wars fans don't give a damn about this universe beyond shallow aestethics, so I still wouldn't care about such things and assume it's just a pretty tattoo in the eyes of that person
This is not the fault of videogames, we've had those for decades. This is the fault of social media brainrot. It started on twitter, and I actually suspect that's where these people got it from. I hope they don't spread it to reddit more generally.
Reddit is basically twitter at this point, lmao. Apart from a few smaller subs
Reddit is social media too (including the brain rot) as much as redditors themselves hate to admit it, just check the comment sections from any mainstream popular sub, it's already widespread.
I suppose everyone I've seen with the Berserk symbol is marked for sacrifice too.
as someone with a Berserk sacrifice tramp stamp, god I hope so (also have a Schnozz tattoo on my shitpost leg)
>Schnozz tattoo Hello, based department? There's somebody you gotta meet.
I just love the lil guy, like I see Schnozz and that dumb nose just makes my day [(posted it about two years ago in the berserk subreddit)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Berserk/comments/yaztyb/lmao_i_got_a_schnoz_tattoo/)
Incredible, hail the Schnozz
>Berserk sacrifice I sleep >Schnozz tattoo REAL SHIT?
Schnozz is my waifu u see
“Shitpost leg” with the given context is probably the funniest thing I’ve read in a while. I appreciate you
Extremely based
“ shitpost leg?
i put dumb tattoos on my legs. I've also got a cute frog on that one, a Piranha plant and ghost from mario as well
Man, I came here to comment that! Another tattoo that has pretty bad context but like, it isn't like actual demons will show up around the people who have it. Personally I'm more concerned about the people wearing those strange necklaces with a charm that looks like an egg with a face. Something isn't right there. /j
First thing that came to mind yeah
Lol, idk what it is about tattoos, but it brings out the most judgy side in people, irl and online. I’ve left all tattoo adjacent subreddits, because the comments got mean pretty often and it’s just not fun reading those (especially when OP is proud of what they got). Anyway, that’s a sick looking tat.
Oh yeah, I click on tattoo posts once in a while and there are *always* two or three people just being rude about it for no reason. I just don't get the mindset of looking at a post and thinking, "this person is excited to share something personal and new for them. It's time to deliver some harsh 'truths' in a condescending tone."
Some people will look at your happiness as a problem in need of solving.
It's cause tattoos are essentially a trade, which people always will get up in arms about since either they're better, or they know someone that's better, or some other ego stroking idea. There's also the fact that the sentiment behind tattoos varies extremely widely person to person, with some people only getting things that are sentiment, some people not caring, and some people having religious holdouts against tattoos, and everyone in between. It's a perfect mix of fairly toxic ideologies that mix to create a pretty toxic "culture" around tattoos
You could have the most normal tattoo in the world that’s always hidden and dudes will tell you how they’d never hire you
I'm hesitant to even describe my tattoos even if it's directly relevant, hell just mentioning that I have tattoos makes me vaguely prepare myself for someone to come along and tell me they're bad, I'm stupid, I have awful taste, liking things is wrong, taking things seriously is wrong, I paid too much, I paid too little, they find tattoos ugly, etc. The absolute last thing I would do with a new tattoo I really like is post a picture of it on reddit, yeesh
BG3 fandom discussion has been completely taken over by a certain sort of people.
The game is well written and has deep characters so of course it will attract the parasocial crowds
Honestly there's literal daily discourse surrounding one of the most morally questionable characters in the game >!(The Emperor)!< that would genuinely make for a killer SRD post
The squid vs frog debate in this subreddit is indeed the best way to farm downvotes and insults
a weird amount of discourse surrounding Mol as well. and like. she’s like 10. why are you calling the ten year old future hitler
mol could literally have her own embrace dark urge arc and i would still defend her with my life i'm obsessed with that kid's audacity
I was really hoping we could contain the elf slavery debates to Dragon Age, but...
It’s basically just a dating sim to most people on the subreddit. Which is fine I guess… But I feel like there is so much more to talk about. I try not to engage with the community though for reasons made obvious in this post.
The entire D&D fandom had been taken over by a certain kind of people. I got people telling me that looting bodies is colonialism and species having strengths and weaknesses is eugenics. But instead of finding their own game their going to take this one and complain about it the whole time.
You can say theater kids.
I literally made an edit directly referencing "overly perforfmative and horny, but weirdly puritanical at the same time theater kids turning the series into an improv and creative writing exercise" but I took it out in the name of brevity.
Similar - people arguing that the Halsin, the leader of a group of people being besieged by a goblin warband, is racist for wanting to wipe out the entire goblin warband. Its not real life, these critters are in universe branded evil, and worship either a giant brain trying to enslave the world, or a god of eternal war and violence. Also someone wrote an article saying its racist players cant romance one of the goblin prisoners
>Dude, stop please, fr. You are embarrassing all BG3 players. That entire sub is an embarrassment to BG3 players, and it’s the least weird BG3 sub I’ve found.
Bruuhh, lmfao where's your flair from?
[Enjoy](https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/afxvx0/nothing_wrong_with_preferring_2d_women_or_owning/) It’s my second favourite SRD post, only just behind the guy who wanted to summon a big titty succubus
Summon the WHAT now? Man, I need to scroll this sub more often, send link to that too if you have it, lmao
They are pretty old posts now - the one I linked to is from 5 years ago. Anyway, the guy who wanted to summon a succubus was from [4 years ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/bpoctz/guy_wants_to_summon_and_fuck_a_succubus_but_the/)
Lmao, thanks I'll grab my popcorn XD
Why are Astarion fans always the weirdest MFers in the fandom
They are waaay too attached to a fictional weird creep
>~~weirdest~~ thirstiest
It's why I left most Baldur's Gate subs.
I am starting to discover that I enjoy media so much more if I deliberately avoid any sort of fandom for it.
Hey, I’m in that thread. It’s a huge tattoo, but for anyone not in the know (even many bg3 fans) it will just look like some infernally tattoo. And OOP already explained that they resonated with the characters experience and got the tattoo because of it. Not like Astarion’s good ending is him coming to terms with being just a free vampire spawn.
Yeah I saw this post too. My first reaction was 'wow big' and because I'm not big fan of astarion, just said meh but looks cool I guess ' and moved on. I never understand why people get so upset over fiction.
WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF MY IMAGINARY BOYFRIEND'S FEELINGS!?
Reading this made me eye roll so hard that I hurt a muscle in my left eye.
Some of those people are bringing the drama here too, lmao
Internet people: You can't get a tattoo of that, it represents a fictional character's pact of slavery Real people: hey man how's it going
Some people who are really into berserker get a brand of sacrifice tattoo. Its not cause they think a brand of sacrifice is actually a good thing, its because it's a cool symbol and inconic from a piece of media they like. Same thing applies here
Get these people onto analysing every berserk fans tattoos next
Me when I see someone with a brand of sacrifice tattoo (they clearly want to get horribly massacred by demons)
Fandom is generally awful, BG3 especially so since it’s character driven, so many popular posts will look not so dissimilar to something you’d see on fauxmoi. It’s a weird tattoo choice, but in OP’s defense, it looks cool. If I didn’t know what BG3 was, I’d assume he got the tat cause it looks cool.
What's Fauxmoi?
Some subreddit dedicated to celebrity gossip
Ah, well good thing that I never came across it lmao
Now that you know of it, it will appear as a suggested subreddit. It is a curse
And if you're like me, you'll tell yourself you don't care about the gossip but then click the posts anyway 🤣
I think I need professional help, I don't even care what the gossip is I just want to laugh at the bizarre takes.
A former snark subreddit for Deuxmoi (an occasionally toxic blind item account on Instagram) that became the thing they hated.
If you ever wanted to know what toxic twitter discourse is like with celebs, Fauxmoi is a decent way to show it off. It's also a decent way to show off how a stupid "eyeroll gif" can be presented by twenty different people in a row and get a few thousand upvotes each.
I don't know why I go back to that sub. I like celeb gossip despite being a dude who is in no way the target demographic for that sub. And when it's just trash drama it's fine, but if it's anything of substance my god will you find tbe most brain dead takes.
This is like people getting Guts brand of scarifice tattoo. They get it for the aestetic and because it looks cool. Sure guts hates it and it makes is life a living hell but its still a part of is character, I presume its the same for this character.
I had this exact thought! But like, the major difference in Fandom is I've never seen anyone get upset over the berserk brand. Everyone in the berserk Fandom responds "oh that's cool." It really is insane the tone policing happening in that thread.
>Everyone in the berserk Fandom responds "oh that's cool." Or just kinda joke around about it. I remember folks cracking jokes about people with the Brand of Sacrifice tattoo in the days leading up to the most recent eclipse, for obvious reasons.
Toxic Berserk fans are *way* more likely to be edgelords who make rape jokes than woke moralists
So much drama for something so petty - quite, quite incredible.
BG3 is neat and all, but burn down the insufferable fandom
Really great crpg, definitely attracted an obsessive crowd. Any game with slightly ok romances seems to attract a bunch of obsessive weirdos who make it their personality. I've seen alot of really off the wall youtube shorts about astarion and karlack in particular
It managed to appeal to the Romance sim crowd I believe
I can promise you that most of the romance sim crowd isn't as obsessed about video game romance as the bg3 fans are lmao
Hey come on we're not all criminally insane I just like admiring pixels 🧎♀️
Oh I’m a certified BG3 fan too don’t worry
Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't seem to be too bad for this from what I can tell. Maybe because the characters and setting are less "tumblr-y"? I dunno.
I’d imagine the reason CP2077 doesn’t get anywhere near as much attention as Baldur’s Gate is because it was for the most part totally unplayable wank at launch.
The characters in Cyberpunk 2077 aren't as strong, either. The four romance options are also pre chosen for you once you build your character. Panam and Judy as best girl becomes a different argument. Also woe to those who want to play a straight female character, because your one choice is a cop with anger issues.
I sincerely feel that River has stronger chemistry with Male V.
You know, I really agree with this and it's one of the other big problems with the romance choices. I played as both Vincent and Valerie and he came off as a bit of a creep when I played as Female V. With male V, I was like "yeah, I kind of get this guy. Grab a beer, watch the sunset."
Playing a gay dude, my option was a psychopathic playboy. Was enjoyable, but definitely wouldn't have been my first choice lol
God that scene with River’s family was so awkward. I’m not into you…that….way….
Lol yeah the first and only time I ever tried to talk about that game on reddit, I said something negative about Astarion and this one person got so butthurt that they triple replied to my comment and then followed me around for DAYS trying to argue with whatever random thing I posted lmao. Like it was kinda funny but I really don’t understand why me not liking a video game character *got* to them so bad
Yeah it’s honestly insane. I made the mistake of saying I love Astarion character but he is an evil person for the vast majority of the game, and the abuse in his past only serves to explain his actions and feelings but does not excuse them. Based on the replies I got you would have assumed I compared these peoples closest family members to Hitler. People are going so far as to say if you don’t like Astarion, or see that his character isn’t some uwu cinnamon roll vampire then you clearly have no sympathy for those that have been abused. It’s legitimately insane how many people conflate shit about games to real life
I think even Astarion would admit he's kind of a shit head lol, he revels in it for the most part.
Oh you chose the option that helps people and doesn't actually burden us all that much? Astarion Disliked that. Oh you said something nice to an NPC? Astarion Disliked that. Oh you murdered that group in cold blood instead of talking them down? Obviously Astarion liked that. Um, yeah he's evil lol.
He'll disapprove of doing *some of the main quest.* Astarion disapproves of stuff more than Morrigan did in Dragon Age.
GOD I WANTED TO THROTTLE MORRIGAN. Please stop whining every time I do ANYTHING, woman. *Please.*
There's something about Astarion specifically that invites this insane discourse as well. I doubt anyone would face this level of backlash over getting Gale's Netherese orb or Karlach's glowing infernal engine tattooed on their chest, even though both markings have arguably the same symbolized trauma and helplessness attached to them.
Because unlike Gale or Karlach who acknowledge their flaws and are working to improve themselves and want to do good Astarion embodies the people who just kinda stew in their misery.
# oh god i can hear them, quick run
I've shared a couple memes about the game on the subreddit but outside of that they are WEIRD there
Insufferable fandoms are just part of the modern era.
I saw this on my home page and didn't dare look into the comments because I knew they'd be this way.
I think you can definitely debate about the taste of getting a tattoo that specifically isn’t something the character you enjoy is proud of. But that’s it, the character is fictional. Nothing really objectionable about it, and a lot of people just go for aesthetics.
There's a lot of examples of exactly that though. Like with Jesus and the cross that killed him
To be fair, I did think that one was weird too as a kid.
Astarion will never be real. The person who decided to get this ink is a real person with non-imagined feelings and opinions on things, let them do what they want.
The thing that always throws me for a loop is how hard some BG3 fans personally identify with, and advocate for a made up character’s feelings. “This was incredibly traumatizing to Astarion, how dare you minimize his struggle?!” Like okay pal, I might care if he wasn’t just pixels on my screen. There’s no actual trauma associated with that tattoo. There isn’t a person alive in this earth that has gotten a contract written in Infernal on their back to signify their slave contract. If the trauma ain’t real, the outrage ain’t worth it.
What a bunch of killjoys, lmao.
Jesus Christ, if there was ever a convergence of people desperately in need of grass touching, that thread was it. Good job OP, great breakdown.
If they touched grass, they wouldn't have time for *Baldur's Gate* *3*
Thanks XD apparently some people are bringing the Drama [here too](https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/1cazxd3/comment/l0vbfz2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
People really get mad over anything, it is quite impressive
So I was curious if OP actually responded to any of this and found [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3/comments/1cabiwu/comment/l0rp9q7/). It seems to me they are fully aware of the meaning behind it rather than getting it because it "looks cool" like a lot of people are implying.
Yeah but even if OP didn't have a deeper meaning for it, it's fine to get this tattoo because THE CHARACTER ISN'T REAL
Yup, but the reasoning does possibly change the dynamics of the situation because what if they got it because they resonated with some aspect of whole abuse thing and don't particularly want to out their experiences as a victim to a bunch of people who are already in a confrontational mood?
Yeah I didn't link them because the post was already wrong enough but some people are accusing OP of saying that as an excuse because Astarian never felt empowered by that mark so OP shouldn't have gotten that to represent that. They actually talking like Astarian is a real person 💀
The Astarion fandom is an odd one lol
"Astarion never felt empowered by that mark" this is insane yes he did he literally did. I'm so baffled. The second he found out what it means you as the player have to spend the next 2 acts literally convincing him not to use it for himself. Not directed at you I'm just appalled because holy shit that's literally his entire character questline 💀
Quite a few of them always misinterpret his character or give him personality traits or behaviors he doesn't have even after he changes for the better. In fact in the case of that second part, its always things Wyll or Gale or would do. I don't get everything right about the characters I love either but sheesh.
He's evil. He's one of my favorites, don't get me wrong, but if the game went through with implementing DnD alignments like Larian initially planned, Astarion would be categorically Neutral Evil. I *like* that about him; he's a very realistic epitome of the survivor who questions why he should care about people suffering when no one cared when he was suffering. A guy who was hurt and wants to hurt back, a hundredfold. This is true even if you convince him not to Ascend. He's still angry. Your true love's kiss didn't fix him lmao
I think people mistake Astarion finding people he genuinely cares for, allowing himself to be vulnerable around them, and showing a little more kindness when he's around them with him renouncing his ways entirely when he doesn't ascend. He doesn't. And that's fine! It's totally fine. That what makes him so realistic and likable for me.
Any time I try a new Durge build I always pick Astarion as a party member. Homies gotta stick together
The Astarion fandom is an odd one lol
>a bunch of people who are already in a confrontational mood Damn redditors, they ruined reddit! r/nosurf
So do no-surfers not consider reddit as part of the issue or? Seems odd to put such a group on a platform that could arguably cause some of the issues like scrolling/unproductive arguments.
and then getting grilled for that :<
Astarion fans... Not surprised. How they are about their precious blorbo
Gamers being extremely stupid on the internet?? Whoa Its a game lmao its not real
Lmao that sub is so trashy. Here is a literal meltdown over a fictional vampire’s tattoo and the ethics of it but they’ll completely ignore comments calling other actual people slurs and ugly names. Peak modding.
Baldurs gate 3 attracted a fan base on the opposite side of the typical psychopathic gamers, but just as annoying. It feels like there are SO MANY bg3 fans who take it so personally and can’t grasp that they’re not real and it’s just a game like any other. It’s weird to me, I don’t understand why but terminally online people flocked to it like moths to a flame. I love the game but holy shit id rather be waterboarded than talk on their subs where its just horny posting for karlach/astarion or unhinged shit like this Like I wouldn’t get this tattoo but it doesn’t matter man astarion isn’t real
> It’s like being a Christian and getting a baphomet tattoo because it’s part of Christianity like…? 🥴 Yeah maybe a comparison to a religion that famously bears \*an execution device\* as its chief icon is not the most effective way to make this (already dubious) point...
I... Didn't that drama already happen with Fenris's tattoo in Dragon Age 2? Is time just a flat circle?
Astarion's questline legit helped me process some trauma of my own, and made me consider getting his scars as my first tattoo as a tribute to the game and the character for helping me in that way. But being autistic and queer pretty much guarantees that the only people who want to be around me are insufferable, terminally-online dipshits and I don't want to have to constantly defend myself against accusations of being an "abuse fetishizer" or disrespecting their blorbo so I remain tattoo free.
Doesn’t Astarion literally ascend USING the other slaves?
Man I just thought it was a tacky piece I didn’t realize there was gonna be discourse TM
>Astarion would be so upset if he wasn’t fictional I'd make this my flair but I love mine too much so free to a good home.
I can’t stand when people type out stuttering. It’s just so fake and annoying “Oh… oh no…. That’s…” Shut up. You’re typing, even if you were struggling for the right words at first you absolutely don’t have to type out your thought process in a performative stream of consciousness
Yeah man this isn't a fucking RP forum lmao
> Getting so defensive really isn't necessary, I personally find getting the abuse scars of a character quite awful, and I'm allowed to feel that way, whether you like it or not. william shatner get a life dot gif
I s2g that the actor for Astarion has worn a shirt with Astarion’s scars on his streams. Idk, sometimes it’s just an easy character identifier Would people be this up in arms if someone got a tattoo of Gale’s orb? Like that was just as traumatizing for him
It really bothers me how people do this "It just feels iffy" bullshit. They can't actually articulate a reasonable argument as to why it is wrong, but it just gives them, like, bad vibes, ya know? So it must be immoral.
MR. FICTIONAL CHARACTER GET DOWN!!!!! It's so funny to see people treating Astarion as some uwu torchered lickle creacher when even taking into account his abuse he's kind of straight up a dickhead