#and did the same for jeanne and luka

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

Just listened to Bayo3’s Moonlight Serenade and it just hit me again how absolutely furious I am about this game. Waiting 5 years since the announcement and then 2 further years before I could finally play it just to be met by that was… I don’t even have words for it.

And the worst part is - I was having so much fun playing it! Sure, it wasn’t on the level of Bayo1 or Bayo2, but it was still a delight to play! I loved the new designs, I loved the new weapons, I loved the music, I loved the new flow of combat, I genuinely had such a great time! Alright, the writing wasn’t exceptional, but the idea of parallel universes was still fun to explore - and I’m not fond of the enemies’ design in general, but I had a blast fighting them once I figured them out, and I appreciate the fact that they tried to do something different once again (after fighting angels in Bayo1 and demons in Bayo2). I even loved Jeanne’s little spy levels!! They were so cool and charming and so much fun to play through!

And I liked Viola! The narrative really didn’t do her justice but she was still such an endearing character! Her fighting sections were different but still enjoyable, and I enjoyed everything about Cheshire, which made her levels even better.

And I just - to take all that potential, all that joy, and squander it so completely and maliciously right at the end was just… devastating to me. I know Bayonetta isn’t made for the girls and the gays, but that’s not even the point - I would’ve at least enjoyed a Cereza/Luka ending if it had been written properly! Instead they decided to assassinate the characters we all knew and loved, spit on all the established lore and themes of the previous games, stomp on all the newly introduced characters, and all to shoehorn in a fated-lovers narrative that doesn’t even work on its own, without taking into account everything that contradicts it in the previous instalments.

And as if that’s not enough, they forced it into the most depressing, most nonsensical, most malicious finale I have ever witnessed. Why are you punishing me for winning the fights? Where is the reward for getting to the end? I was waiting at the edge of my seat for the entire game to see how Cereza would turn the situation around, how she’d overcome the impossible odds and come out dancing on her enemies, and instead they told me no, she saves almost no-one, she dies a pointless death she could’ve easily avoided so we can get a) the stupidest romance ever seen and b) a new protagonist that we spent no time developing, and nothing you did in this game had any meaning at all, fuck you.

Sorry for the rant, but I’m just… I’m so disappointed. I really really wanted to like this game and instead the finale ruined the whole experience for me. I literally sat in silence as the final scene and credits rolled out because I just couldn’t fathom what I was watching. How do you take such a great cast of beloved characters and decide that this is what you want to do with them? With a 5-year development time, no less? They deserved better, Cereza especially deserved better, and we all deserved so much better.

#I’m sorry but I just. i can’t deal #like. this is bayonetta!!! her whole thing is that she gets into impossible situations and comes out on top with a smile on her face!! #she literally fought GODS in the first two games and WON!!! #I’d understand if they didn’t want to make any more games. I’d get it! I’d even appreciate it! #but give her a proper conclusion instead of… whatever this was #they literally scrapped everything that made her work as a character #wrote the hollowest personality imaginable #and slapped it into cereza’s walking corpse #and did the same for jeanne and luka #where are my competent confident witches? where’s my silly comic relief boy with a lot of heart and even more luck?? #when jeanne and the bayos reappeared during the final fight I remember being like ‘oh there we go! they werent really gone!’ #‘this is when the narrative turns around finally!’ #but NO #they were just ghosts and bayo gets obliterated by gomorrah instead. #i just… why. just why. don’t make the game if you hate everything about it just saying #idk if theres an anti-bayo3 tag #if there is lmk and i’ll add it #i dont want to spread any hate but I’m just so disappointed still

[fazuellibutbayonetta]

Viola redesign?

Yes

I'm not sure what exactly she is - because while I really like the "She's a Bayojeanne kid" side of things, I also love the theory/headcanon made by @leolithe (original post!) that Viola is actually just an amalgamation of all the people Bayo knows and loves - Rodin, Jeanne, Luka, Enzo, Loki, so on and so forth - so I ended up making two lore bombs under the cut to go along with both, since I couldn't decide on just one

Viola being a Bayojeanne Kid

With Viola being a Bayojeanne kid, I could see a "Possesed/Kidnapped by the Fae" situation going on with her

If you're like me, you didn't like Singularity. Hell, if you're truly like me you hated Singularity. Which is why I'm benching him from his villain pedestal in favor of the Fae.

Fae are much more compelling villains, and if the Cereza and The Lost Demon Cereza is the same Cereza as Bayonetta 3, then I'm pretty fucking sure the Fae are itching for revenge.

Aaaaaand what better revenge on a witch than to take her cub away?

And that's what happened - once Bayo and Jeanne had their little baby girl the rebel coalition of Faeries started plotting on how to steal her away. They probably have agents or spies to keep tabs on them, and once Viola was idk maybe a young teenager - they came in and snatched her away right under her mothers' noses.

The Faeries plan wasn't to just replace Viola with a Fae double - that would be too mild to be proper revenge for what Cereza did to them - so instead they settled for transforming Viola into a Fae, so she would never return to her mothers at all.

...but they failed to realize that not only were they messing with Umbra Witch MOTHERS, they were also messing with an Umbra Witch CHILD.

Cereza and Jeanne at least have some self control over themselves and their magic. Viola had a whooping total of none, zero, negative, she was a ball of chaos and untamed demonic potential - she was arguably worse than child Cereza ever HOPED TO BE, and that's how a portion of Avalon Forest dissapeared in one night 💀.

But to make things clear, what happened was that Viola was able to stop the Fae ritual before they could complete it - and then proceeded to cause massive chaos on the Avalon Forest while trying to get out, only for Cereza and Jeanne to come in, rescue her and trash the remaining Faeries like they were in a Rage Room.

However, some effects from the Fae ritual still were present in Viola, and it didn't matter how much they tried to, it wouldn't come off - so Viola had to learn to live as a 1/3 Fae from then on. Which, as far as Viola is concerned, if having a very powerful Fae form and a sick ass hair and face mark is living as a 1/3 Fae, then she's good with it lmao

And yes, due to the ritual being stopped at about halfway, it caused Viola to have this angry looking dark purple mark on her face - her purple hair strands aren't painted, it's just because the face marking seeped into her hair and made it into THAT. She thinks it's cool tho :)

Viola being an amalgamation of all the people Cereza loves/loved (Fae creation)

With Viola being an amalgamation of Cereza's memories created by the Fae, I can see her as being meant to be a weapon that chose to not be a weapon

In this scenario, I can see Viola being meant to be a counter attack against Cereza - "the only one who can defeat me is myself" and all that - essentialy, a glorified clone.

The Fae used up all their knowledge gathered about Cereza and her family circle, and crafted Viola based on those people and memories. She has everything - Jeanne's volatile/short fuse nature, Balder's flair for dramatics, Luka's determination, Rodin's resourcefulness, even Enzo's goofyness and Rosa's agility and steadiness, Loki's sassy behavior and desire for independence, and most importantly, Cereza's power.

She was born and bred to be the perfect anti-Cereza weapon, capable of blocking any and all her attacks, and counter them accordingly - but with how many people were used to make her, her mind is a jumble of feelings and memories that are not her own at all, and they influence her in ways the Fae didn't imagine it would.

Cereza's love for her mom, the memories of the sadness over not being able to rescue her, her love for Jeanne, how she considers Enzo, Luka and Rodin as her family and would do anything to protect them, all of her experiences and feelings and memories - Viola feels all, she knows everything, for fuck's sake she can hear Cereza's heart bleeding for these people - and she can't find it in herself to ever turn her hand against them, she feels too much, she's too soft. She also feels for Cereza too, how could she not, when she was made from her?

However, as much as she has Cereza's memories and feelings, she slowly begins to wish for her own self, to not be a weapon or a clone or just another Fae, but Viola, her own person with her own feelings and her own experiences. Which is what drives her to reach out for Cereza and her family as a call for help (the gang probably adopt her as a collective but she only calls Cereza [and maybe Jeanne] Mom)

The facial markings and hair are from the fact that while she is quite the outstanding creation, she's still both a Fae and an imperfect copy. Viola is not human, or Umbra (her ability to activate Witch Time comes from Cereza's memories, not really from a natural place within herself), she is and will always be Fae until the day she's dead, and she's not a perfect carbon copy of Cereza either - she has her own emotions and reactions that are wildly different from Cereza herself.

Another thing that is worth mentioning, is that one of the reasons Viola couldn't find it in herself to attack any of Cereza's family might be because she was made from the people she loved - love was the key in the equation, if the Fae had made Viola using only what Cereza hated (angels for example) chances are they would have a much more effective but volatile weapon (Viola evil counterpart maybe 👀?)

Aaaaand that's it for Viola for now, I must say I prefer the Amalgamation!Viola tho gotta love experiments that learn to be human 😍

#bayonetta #bayonetta series #bayonetta x jeanne #painting #bayojeanne #bayonetta jeanne #bayonetta cereza #bayonetta 1 #bayonetta 2 #bayonetta 3 #cereza and the lost demon #faerie #people hate too much on Viola #she just needs new lore #and she's good as new #and a new haircut too #bayonetta viola #viola #fazuelibayonetta

[ohnoitstbskyen]

(kindly leave the person in the screenshot alone. I have blocked them, I don't want to interact with them, and neither should you, especially not to "defend" me)

I'm getting quite tired of seeing this nonsense, so let's do a quick summary post in case I need it later.

STEP 1: Platinum Games screws the absolute pooch on Bayonetta 3, pissing off their fan-base and gravely disappointing a lot of queer fans by swerving Bayonetta into a fairly out of nowhere romantic relationship with previously-mostly-comic-relief charming idiot character Luka. It's pretty universally panned as a dumb move at best, and downright hostile to the game's most passionate fanbase at worst.

STEP 2: A subset of fans use this bad game decision as a reason to start denying that the Bayonetta franchise has queer text or subtext at all. They argue, explicitly, that because Bayonetta ended up in a male/female relationship then she cannot be queer, and that her queerness can only exist or be considered a valid interpretation of her character if she ends up in a same-sex relationship. This is, by the extremely literal definition of the term, bi-erasure and a form of biphobia.

This is not all or most of the criticism of Bayonetta 3, but it is some of it. I see it happening live on social media, I have to block a few people because of it, and it boils my piss, to be quite frank.

STEP 3: Ty Galiz-Rowe, a nonbinary bisexual transmasc games writer, notices this tendency too, and pens a piece for Gayming Magazine called "Bayonetta 3 is bringing out people’s biphobia in a big way" which you can read here. In the piece, he voices a criticism of this tendency, and cites the work of a few other writers, including some who are bisexual themselves.

Those writers don't much appreciate the criticism, and Galiz-Rowe has a fairly civil discussion with them on Twitter about it that, as far as I can tell, ends amicably, with Galiz-Rowe admitting they wrote some of the piece with too much anger and directed some unfair criticisms. I do not believe the piece itself has been edited or amended, but Galiz-Rowe discussed some reflections about it on their personal twitter.

STEP 4: I retweet the article, because yeah, I have seen this biphobia going around and it annoys me too, and I think Galiz-Rowe did a good job putting words to the upset. I write a short thread getting rather heated about people denying the queer subtext (actually screw "subtext" it is text) of Bayonetta 2 because she didn't end up with Jeanne in 3. I direct this thread very specifically at people making the argument that "if Bayonetta had a straight relationship then she can't be queer" because that is, by the extremely literal and obvious definition of the term, biphobia.

STEP 5: People who can't separate disagreement from abuse, and who absolutely refuse to learn enough reading comprehension to understand when a thread is or isn't about them, decide to reach the head-ass conclusion above and have been tagging me with their imaginary grievances since October.

It is quite annoying, and I've had enough of ignoring the casual insults, so here's a post I can link to if someone asks about it in the future.

#the bayonetta thing post

[mememan93]

you sound like you want to talk about Luka. Wanna talk about Luka?

BOY DO I

For people who haven't played bayonetta, Luka is a reocurring character in all 3 games. He's an investigative journalist, following his father's footsteps in investigating myths. In bayonetta 1, he's trying to learn about the Clans of the Umbra Witches and The Lumen Sages, and events 500 years prior, which is what Bayonetta is trying to remember.

At the same time, He's looking to expose bayonetta to the world, because he blames her for the death of his father. His father found bayonetta's sealed coffin and opened it, releasing bayonetta.

He's wrong, obviously. Bayonetta didn't kill Luka's father, Angels looking for Bayonetta did. Humans like Luka can't see the angels, (think the mist from percy jackson) so to luka it looked like bayonetta tore his father apart with magic.

So Luka spends his whole life looking for a chance at revenge, and to avenge his father.

Throughout the game, the pair keep meeting up, as they're looking for the same thing (Even if they don't realize it yet) and bayonetta keeps saving Luka (But again, he can't see what from, so from his perspective she's shoving him around for no reason.)

Eventually, Bayonetta finds a child (it's actually bayonetta as a kid but thats not important rn) and hands her off to Luka, whos first reaction is to get super protective of the child

Again, Luka is wrong, but its a reasonable conclusion to make. Luka, after taking care of the child for a while, eventually tries to get information out of the kid, and gets his chance to see the angels for the first time.

And now that he's starting to get a real perception on reality, he's actively trying to help out Bayonetta

Going as far as to get jeanne's detonator from her (before getting blown up, but hes ok)

Then after Bayonetta remebers who jeanne is before jeanne dies* and gets shot into a building, luka's checks up on bayonetta. Claiming its for his own ego, but hes obviously lying

So then the main villain has him killed in the same way his father was, but bayonetta saves him, making him finally realize what actually happened

So bayonetta saves the world and dies* in the process, so luka shows up to her funeral with a whole ass thing of rosemary (there was a line abt it being a demon repellent)

because he's guilty. He hated her his entire life for no reason and he knows that now, and she was selfless enough to sacrifice herself* for the entire world. He's not there because hes in love with her, hes there because he feels guilty for how he treated her, and just when they started to become friends she died*

Luka isn't in love with bayonetta here, and she's certainly not in love with him. Luka has grown, but not grown in the romantic sense. And as for bayonetta, she moved in with jeanne... and oh my god they were roommates

*shes not dead, this is like the 5th fakeout death of the game and like 3 of them were Luka LMAO

#i love luka #hes funny hes got good plot relevance in the first game his VA is spectacular even with the stupid lines #love luka #but still. man #bayonetta

[dailybayonetta]

sorry, if im bothering you with this (you don't need to anwer if you don't want to), another one of these discourses about bayonetta i've seen with queerbaiting with bayojeanne and that one spoilers thing. do you agree it's an actual thing that happened?

Okay, so BIG SPOILERS AHEAD (metion of them, but not explicit) and lots of text ________

So let me start by saying, usually, as a gay person myself - I've been in this situation. When you clearly have a dynamic between friends of the same gender but it's written much more deeply and with the care and with the actual tropes that get used for het couples and filled with love (and that word gets thrown around, but like, we talking about any kind of love). That happens. But what also happens - is that writers / devs usually never confirm these. Fans and fandom do more job of putting lgbt rep into something that originally doesn't really have it or hidden in narrative (pushed, that also common with censoring) and then act like devs or writes or show runners own them something they invented. Again, it's a complex issue, because sometimes authors take time or have to push for relation ships (LoK / adventure time) and sometimes authors take credit for the ships fans popularised (that one supergirl show comes to mind???) However, in Bayojeanne cause, I can kind of see where people coming from because: a) Bayo herself is an ambiguous character, people been saying for ages that she's bi coded (i can't speak on that honestly) b) Kamiya called Bayonetta and Jeanne couple - not a pair, not duo, and compared them with other couples (that also semi-canon / canon)

c) a lot of promo material art, just as concept art depicted them in way that would couples would. especially couples that have "different side of the coin" dynamic and that complement each other some examples: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5

Fanservice? Sure. Still. A thing that did happened. d) the scenes they had were also common for couples, shots on the reaching hands (the recent one i can think about with cloud and tifa in ff7remake), bayonetta holding jeanne "bride" style, bayonetta holding jeanne when saving her soul (do i need to mention how later they did that scene in familliar way with luka and bayo but just without the kiss, riiiight) and like, i could go on, but you get the idea

d) And what I also think Bayojeanne isn't just that kind of ship that was "oh fans hyped it up and they never interacted in canon" or something. It's in the story. Again, maybe it wasn't explicit and writers probably didn't intended to be that way (maybe Kamiya did but looking at bayo3 who knows), because once again it's a common thing when writes do this type of dynamic and "oh, the bond is so strong" and that kind of thing has a right to exists, if it wasn't for the othert stuff i said about. Again, it's a complex idea and situation. And many things matter in the case. And I'm not a professional and not that type of person who cared about it in Bayonetta of all things. Does that falls under "queerbaiting"? Hell, if I know, because I never expected them somehow to get canon or anything (and if you go through my baoyjeanne tag you know I love them dearly), cause not only being a game from japanese devs but also that I know better now because I got baited enough in various media before. Can I blame people for thinking this was queerbaiting? No, I don't think I can. Especially because it's just bad for the script. What this implies of such strong and impowering fantasy character as Bayonetta is even worse. And like, Bay///o/lu//ka doesn't in any way erase Bayonetta's bi-coding or her being into Jeanne (afterall it's not the same Bayo and we got multiverses now🙄) but I think people are upset because it was executed reeeeeally poorly and untasteful for such character. And people saying it's kind of character assasination are right in a lot of ways. Hell idk why anyone skips the part that Luka also didn't got any development and got thrown in this mess as well. And also THAT PART. What happened with it - who knows what was even going on in the writing room of Platinum.

#imo ambiguity > confirmed stuff if im being honest #b1 #b2 #b3 #bayojeanne #long post #text heavy // #answered #anonymous

[freakshowrefugee]

Spoilers for Bayo 3 ahead!!!

Aight I'm playing Bayonetta 3 rn and I have some thoughts that I HAVE to share for the sake of my mental health. In no particular order:

LUKAON??? Bro the entire Luka plot in this game is almost impressively cringy. Who the fuck plays Bayonetta 1 & 2 and thinks—hmm, this Luka fellow should DEFINITELY become central to the plot for this game to REALLY work. Also, they somehow managed to write out any sort of endearing characteristics of the Luka from previous games?? New Luka's entire personality until now seems to be "uhhhh, me man find woman pretty". I won't even get into the masterclass in bad writing (and bad design tbh) that is "Lukaon" (henceforth named Whiter Luka in this rant). If they were going for a "mysterious stranger" kind of vibe, personally I think they fucking failed miserably. B3Luka is only Luka in name and (arguably) appearance. He has the depth of a blank piece of paper.

I fucking HATE playing as Viola, and this colors my opinion of the character too. No shade to the voice actress, I'm sure she did her best with what she was given, but I have audibly groaned almost every time she appeared on screen. I was okay with the idea of her being an edgy, cringy teen, but she eats up SO much fucking screentime that it becomes jarring. Her gameplay is painfully monotonous, even though I find Cheshire adorable, and her controls are stiffer and very limiting in comparison to Bayonetta herself. Gameplay-wise, Viola is everything a Bayonetta game should NOT be (in my opinion)—LIMITING.

Speaking of limiting, the Jeanne levels. Now, anyone who knows me knows that Jeanne is my queen, but HOLY FUCK those levels. Again, controls do not feel right, level design is atrocious and it all feels like a slog to go through. Why did they think we needed more gimmick levels for the love of fuck?? Why can't I just play Bayonetta in my Bayonetta fucking game? They did my queen dirty, on God...

Why the FUCK are we not exploring the Bayonetta alternative selves more??? There is so much fucking potential, the Egyptian version seems genuinely fascinating to explore, but NOPE!! Why should the Bayonetta game be about Bayonetta when it can be about new character we don't give a shit about and comic-relief-side-character that the writers PROMISE is srs bsns bro, I swear. Ask yourself this, if you were given the choice, would you follow the Viola storyline? I'm genuinely fucking curious.

Ngl, I'm not crazy about the gameplay. It's too much, too fast, nothing seems to matter and nothing is special. They constantly throw enemies at us with no sense of pacing or progression. Same for weapons. Remember the Grace & Glory entrance cutscene from the first game? Remember how memorable that was? Well, hope you DIDN'T like that, cause Bayo 3 will likely never give you that feeling. It's the DEFINITION of too much, too quickly. When everything is meant to be special, nothing is really special. Bayonetta 3 is flashy, for sure, but it feels shallow, at least on the first playthrough. I fucking hate saying this, but I'm genuinely disappointed. I think there are some good bones. I would love to be able to use the new weapons and techniques in a better designed, petter paced game (like Bayonetta 1), but as it stands, playing 3 feels cheap. When I got hit in Bayo 1 I never felt frustration, because most enemies and arenas were designed to allow you to experiment and figure out your own play style. With Bayo 3 I have literally dropped my controller out of frustration (usually when playing Viola). Listen, if be okay with Viola if she was an optional character, like King Zero from the first game or Rosa from the second. As she is, she makes me NOT want to fucking play the game, which is insanely frustrating.

The Crow and Cat umbran tears illustrate the weaknesses of Bayonetta 3's controls VERY fucking well. Why so many fucking gimmicks?? Who plays Bayonetta for the Route 666 and beginning of Isla del Sol, WHO??? Because they would probably love Bayonetta 3.

The world is sadly also quite poorly designed. Everything which shares an aesthetic blends together and orientation without a map of some sorts is a logistical nightmare. Again, it seems like they took the worst parts of Bayo 1 and filled 3 to the brim with them. Gimmicks, backtracking, the fact that you can MISS verses because of the poor map design.

It bears repeating, but this is very personal thing and less of a critique. I don't care about Viola. I don't care about Luka or Whiter Luka. I don't care about the Singularity or Sigurd. I'm. Or even curious about them at this point. Why was Bayonetta relegated to a side character in a game that is NAMED AFTER HER?? I care more about Ed and Edna than I do all previous individuals mentioned. The story of Bayonetta was never great, even in 1, but it was held together by memorable characters. You can't TELL me that a character is memorable, you have to show me. Even the character of Bayo herself has suffered as a result of the poor writing. The depth of her personality is nowhere to be found in 3. And no, it's not the voice change, I love Hale's work and she is doing a great job. We overlooked faults in the story in Bayo 1 (and arguably 2) because the gameplay loop was satisfying. Bayo 3 doesn't have that. And it makes me really fucking sad...

#bayonetta 3 #sorry for the rant #b3 spoilers #bayonetta 3 spoilers

[hosannan]

TOA Anniversary Munday!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

tagging: you!

Name: Annie

Pronouns: she/her or he/him

Birthday (no year): January 12

Where are you from? What is your time zone? California! PST normally! I go to school in the AST timezone

Roleplay experience: 11 years :softsmile: been RPing since I was 15!! Fun fact: I used to have adverse feelings to RP because I used to have friends on youtube before when people used to have personal profiles and talk to each other on there. Then all my friends became Mario RP blogs. (clenches fist) WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE LUIGI NOW

Got any pets? Nope! I shouldn’t have a pet for their sake

Favorite time of year: Winter! Absolutely love it

Some interests and things you like: Farming games! Otomes! Arting once every couple of months. Medicine. I have a fascination of learning just about anything, so one week I could be crocheting, the next week I could be learning about how to respectfully taxidermy a friend’s pet. I also really like punk rock 

Some funfacts & trivia about you: 

I’m quite shy IRL, and I tend to enjoy isolation! Lots of friends have noted the difference between my online self and my IRL self

I picked up metalsmithing (lost-wax casting specifically) and have made some really gaudy, big jewelry pieces. 

I enjoy sparring/physical combat/wrestling. It translates into my combat writing

I used to perform! Played the violin for more than a decade. (am not good at it but love it all the same)

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Story of Seasons, Rune Factory, Jack Jeanne, Fata Morgana

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: Psychic, Espeon

How did you get into Fire Emblem? My best friend asked me to buy him Awakening for his birthday! In exchange he bought me Awakening a little later :)

What Fire Emblem games have you played? Just Awakening, actually! Hahaha, whoops. 

First Fire Emblem game: Awakening!

Favorite Fire Emblem game: To be completely fair, none? But from a writing point of view, I love Shadows of Valentia the most 

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 Stahl! Thank god for our initally loveless marriage

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: Chrom, then immediately Stahl (x4) - Fates: I’ve never played passed the introduction, but Silas or Takumi if I had to make that choice. - Three Houses: Haven’t played, but Shamir! - Engage: TBD

Favorite Fire Emblem class: Dark Flier/Mage/Pegasus Knight

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class? Villager! Or (friend assigned) sage, most likely?

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? Black Eagles

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with? Celica! :soft smile: I think Soren (strategy conversations) and Leif (fighting affinity) would also be plausible

How did you find TOA? Chuu!

Current TOA muses: Nanna, Quan, Henry

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again? Lukas :softsmile: He’s in good hands! I do love him as a muse very much too

Have you had any other TOA muses? Lukas, Gerome, Frederick

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards? No type preference. More than anything, I like three specific voices that completely contrast each other. I also like difficult characters to work with :) (i.e. few lines, strange personalities, discontentment with character’s in-game choices, not many personal bonds)

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most? Motion! Fighting, dancing, moving around. I also, and this is a very silly thing to say, have a tendency to absolutely love my partners’ writing in general. I get very engrossed with how to gel with my partner, and make the writing mesh together. I like referencing old threads, old dialogue lines, completing sentences or thoughts that were left in the cursory. I also enjoy personalizing a character’s narration or writing style based on their mind set. 

Favorite TOA-related memory: Unlocked 2021, my beloved! That event mentally sent me on a loop

How do you pronounce TOA? T-O-A (cheerleader vc)

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day that you’d like to share? Alm, Gerome, Conrad, Dwyer, Tsubaki, Ishtar, Kellam, Donnel etc etc August. Manfroy. God I want NPC slots. That said I'm happy with my selection thus so far :)

[derekscorner]

Witchy Timed Ramblings

I dont even know where to begin

Bayonetta 3 was such a mixed experience. One that was ultimately proven to be negative and frustrating by the time I was done. I know many, both casual and shipper alike, have issues with the Cereza-Luka ending but that proved to be lower on my list of complaints.

I hated Demon Slave as a mechanic. It was fine at first but the game did it’s damnedest to make you use it around every corner which angered me greatly. I still ignored it when I could in favor of normal combat but that option wasn’t as readily available as you’d expect.

And yes, I know ignoring that core new gimmick will make the game more frustrating. When I say I was frustrated it was for things I couldn’t seemingly help.

The things that proved the most frustrating was camera, the abundance of mini-game bosses, and Jeanne’s levels. Camera itself worked perfectly fine and was zoomed out a bit too far at times at it’s worst. The issue I had camera wise was enemies. It felt like I got hit out of eye-shot more far too often...which made no sense given how the camera operated fine.

Between that random sniping and being forced to use the clunky Demon Slave system I felt like I died a lot or was just annoyed by what I was doing. I want to play Bayonetta not a demon that’s far slower and limited in moveset and I definitely dont want to control this demon when Bayonetta herself can’t move only to get sniped off screen.

I am by no means a good Bayonetta or action game player. I get mad at Bayo 1 & 2 as well but I at least realize my deaths in those games are my own fault. The only thing that feels unfair in those earlier titles is Bayo 1′s sudden QTE segments.

And while many hated Bayo 2′s umbran climax mechanic they could still choose to play without it since they could use the magic meter for torture attacks instead. It didn’t really impact a desire to ignore it since both mechanics used the same meter for different gameplay gimmicks.

In other words Bayonetta 3 forced me to do things that I did not find fun in the slightest. My deaths or damage didn’t feel like my own fault.

Mini-games Galore

Then there was the Jeanne missions and the over abundant mini-game boss battles or mission segments.

Jeanne’s missions aren’t overly offensive just not fun. It felt like the director got drunk, binged Totally Spies, and threw Jeanne into that fever dream. I already have to swap between Viola and Bayonetta during missions so I do not know why Jeanne couldn’t have proper missions. She’s so fun to play when unlocked in older titles.

Luckily she only had four missions so it was a disappointment at best. The thing that ground my gears nearly as much as the Demon Slave gimmick was the number of gimmicky events in Bayonetta’s story.

Nearly every boss was some sort of mini-game event. They ranged from painful to boring. The worst one by far, Sin Gomorrah, was used twice. I can’t begin to describe to you how painfully slow those Gomorrah battles are.

The only one that moderately fine for me was Baal. I suck at rhythm games, dislike them even, but this was amusing at least. Baal’s humanoid appearance and personality got me to enjoy it despite how bad I am at such games.

The moment demonic hands reach up from hell with glow sticks I actually laughed. That’s the kind of silliness I’d expect from Bayonetta. Despite that I wouldn’t want to play it too often but it was a welcome moment in a set that didn’t hit with me.

I spent more time playing something besides Bayonetta herself I felt. When I did get to play Bayonetta I felt some levels went on far too long. Worlds were too big at times as well. (I hated the Egypt world with a passion, forty fucking minutes...)

World Maps

Finally, the most mixed aspect for me was the maps. I do honestly feel that missions go on far too long but it was something I both liked and hated.

I grew up on adventure titles so I’m 25yrs hardwired to explore a level. One reason I loved Sonic Adventure 1 more than 2 was due to the existence of a hub world.

In that sense I love the island of Thule and left sadden I get so little time on it. I wanted to see more of the Umbra and Lumen history there. I also love the feel and aesthetics of Gunnigap. (or however it’s spelled)

I initially loved finding things in the levels but it gets tiring quickly. The very fact that Bayonetta, a game about hack n slash combat, needs a marker button to remind you of where you’re supposed to go feels wrong.

The sheer scale of it all makes my complaints about the camera prior feel contradictory but that’s just how mixed it made me feel. I think the levels just went on a tad too long with too many nooks to look into.

I will end this small section on a random note; Thule really made me want to know the Lumen/Umbran history there. Did they visit other worlds? Did they just watch? Did they leave due to the war? So many fun questions!

Resolution

I suppose I should wrap this up. It became far longer than I expected due to Viola and Lore. (I had to break this up into three posts linked below)

Ultimately the game proved frustrating to play and unless I can skip the mini-game boss battles I wont touch the game again.

My only other impressions weren’t even complaints. Like the graphical style. It doesn’t suck yet everyone either appears slimy or rubbery for some reason.

Or fairies. They were thrown in so randomly and then used as excuse to give Luka and Viola devil triggers. It’s not even offensive it’s just fucking there...at least the Bayonetta Origins seems interesting thanks to the introduction of Fairies and their “twilight magic”.

I’m not interested in Bayonetta 4 with Viola there. I’d like a proper game about her with her actual mother and father but not what they’ve done here. Hell, I’d be more game for a title that focus’ on Jeanne.

Imagine a remake of Bayonetta 1 or a game similar but now Jeanne’s the star etc. The Multiverse is there so do something actually interesting...anyway I’m tired. Bye now~

============

For the rest of the Witchy Timez Ramblings go here: https://derekscorner.tumblr.com/tagged/Witchy-Timed

#bayonetta #bayonetta 2 #bayonetta 3 #gaming #Witchy Timed

[unnocturnal]

SDV Character Inspos

SO there was this prompt about character inspos in this SDV server im in and i guess im just in the mood to talk about why i chose the inspo i did LOL LONG POST! will add some other characters later since they're based off more general concepts and not actual characters LOL

Rosario -

1. Zhao Tianyou (y:lad) - literally his voice claim and everything. based alot of him off this guy from his teasing personality and the way he Gets Serious when it comes to people close to him

2. Shun Akiama (Yakuza 4) - Big personality contributor! he's flirty, smart but acts like a dumbass, and like. the perfect amount of sleezy that it comes off as charming LOL 3. Kogitsunemaru (Touken Ranbu) - based the whole white hair, fox motif off this guy. also he's cheeky so what a surprise 4. Geralt of Rivia (Witcher 3) - Less so the character and more so his occupation and world. I yoinked alot of the worldbuilding from the game and yeeted it into my stardew world LOL

5. Majima Goro (Yakuza Kiwami) - its the "he's crazy but one thing is for sure he's loyal as a dog" for me. also the "goating you into fights as a way of flirting" also the whole, living freely and fuck all the bullshit kind of thing. living for yourself and for your best.

6. Luka Redgrave (Bayonetta) - pathetic flirty little shit

7. Dante (DMC: Devil May Cry) - mostly an influence from one of my best friends irl, the badass fuck boy with an attitude i loved, also he's fucking metal i love him

8. Loki Laufeyson (MCU) - a trickster type cocky little shit that gets misunderstood, also enjoying the chaos. and the bisxuality. 9. Vampire Cookie (cookie run) - ...... the hair.

Luz -

Lady Demitrescu (RE: Village) - tall vampire lader that could crush me without a second thought and long extendable nails haw yee

Nezuko Kamado (Demon Slayer) - sister to the MC, unwilling transformation into supernatural creature, struggles to reign in new instincts to prey on humans, cool fire powers that come with cryptid-hood

Olivier Armstrong (Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood) - shes hot, strong and can kill me

Luisa Madrigal (Enchanto) - shes hot, strong, and can kill me (but she wouldn't) also body type inspo

Jeanne (Bayonetta) - compared to bayonetta (rosario)'s outright flirt-teasing, jeanne (luz) tends to be a little meaner with her goading. also oooo shes hot strong and can kill me (i swear im biromantic)

Rouge -

1. Mirei Park (Yakuza 5) - face claim and also a big personality contributor. manipulative but in a way she wants the best for you, harsh but also for the same reason, intimidating, head strong, reliable, and has gone through way too much shit

2. Kiryu Kazuma (Yakuza) - big family woman like him and is super-unnaturally strong and durable. has his strength and everything. also an orphan that grew up with other orphans, and took care of them.

3. Nishikiyama Akira (Yakuza) - bad bitch honestly LMFAOJFOSDIF no i mean like there was a turning point in Rouge's life where she couldn't go back to what things were, and she fully committed herself to the underworld....

4. Osamu Kashiwagi (Yakuza) - Scars

5. Mine Yoshitaka (Yakuza 4) - yoinked the gayness and last name from this one

#lucian babbles #farmer rosario #farmer luz #farmer rouge

[woolmasterleel]

Honestly I've been putting off buying Bayo 3 because of all the drama that went on and plus I've have to spend money on more important things, but now I'm just scared to buy it because I've heard so many bad things and that people are disappointed in it and there's a lot of performance issues... Is it really that bad???

Okay so, there's a lot to say..

In my opinion, ignoring the story, the game was very fun! There are some moments done well in the game, the combat is so fun, the combos are neat, the music (for the most part) is so good! I didn't have any performance issues myself actually, it ran pretty good. That being said

If you are invested in the stories of Bayo 1 and 2, I would avoid 3. In my opinion, and from what I've seen others saying, the story is what kills this game. It's pretty bad. If you care about Bayo's character, I'd avoid this one. Viola's gameplay too is.... something. For me, I found it okay, just a lot of getting used to.

If you don't care about any of that, I think you can still enjoy the game!

A lot of my criticisms involve spoilers, but I'll put those below the cut in case you want to read those too

The most obvious thing about this game is that if you're someone who either adores BayoJeanne/ dislikes the idea of Luka getting with Bayo/ Bayo being with anyone at all, yeah no this game will be so disappointing. For me personally, I love BayoJeanne, and while I wasn't expecting them to make it canon, I also wasn't expecting them to do.. that. Luka and Bayo just never had that relationship?? Even if they did, I am fairly certain that at some point it was said that Bayo would never get with him since she was immortal, and he wasn't, so she would have to watch him and their kids (if they had any) die, not something she'd wanted to deal with. Maybe I dreamt of that being a statement, I don't know. Speaking of Luka, they fucked him over too.

Luka was the human character, the comedic relief to some extent (not as much as Enzo but still). He grounded things for the player, he didn't have any crazy abilities, he was just Luka. And that's why people liked him. Now he's..... a fairy apparently. And suddenly immortal (I guess?) too.

Leads me into the next issue, the consistency with the story and it's elements. There was zero mention of fairies being a thing in 1 or 2, I highly doubt any of this was always indented from the get go when they wrote Bayo 1. Bayo 3 doesn't feel like a Bayo game. The angel-slaying is hardly there, and while I know it would get boring and repetitive, fighting the Homunculi doesn't feel the same?? I think the Homunculi could work, it's works with the trinity: angels, demons, chaos (human). But they did a horrible job executing it. To be honest, I was really excited about the Homunculi. In the trailer, Viola calls them "manmade bioweapons", and being someone who adores the vibe of labs and biological anomalies and whatnot, having that in a Bayonetta game was everything I've ever wanted in a game. The thing is, Viola mentions them being bioweapons, and then it's never elaborated on.

Some other issues with the game (and personal opinions) that I don't feel like explaining fully:

Where did the Homunculi come from? With the Angels and Demons, we know their origins. But what about the Homunculi? They're not human souls who didn't make it to Paradiso or Inferno, right? Otherwise they wouldn't be "manmade bioweapons".

Singularity????????? While I didn't mind him as a villain, he is kind of boring. Also, we had the representative of the chaos/human part of the trinity in the last game, Loki and Loptr/ Aesir, so who is Singularity?? Is he just Sigurd ascended to a higher state of existence?? If so, how?? And why does Midmyers Sigurd's info page thing make it seem like Singularity took advantage of him, and that he was also a victim?? This was never mentioned in the game, you have to go read about this on your own accord.

Why did Jeanne or Bayo not suspect Sigurd?? Like at all???? Not even a little??

Both Bayo and Jeanne are out of character at some points.

Fairies..

Viola being Bayo's daughter... is a fine idea, I wouldn't mind it so much if it wasn't with Luka?? Again, this is just my opinion, but it just doesn't seem in character for Bayo to 1) get with Luka and 2) Have a kid. Viola doesn't even seem like their daughter?? Luka's maybe, but I see zero of Bayo's likeness in her. You would think she's act a little like her??

Lukaon.

Why does Luka's fairy form look so beastlike, yet Viola still looks like a human with fur and butterfly bits..... either make Luka look like a man or Viola like a creature too, goodness.

Adam and Eve references???? Arch Adams and Arch Eves??? What was the point?????? They attributed nothing to Singularity's defeat, hell Singularity killed so many Arch Eves (and probably Arch Adams too), it's not like they were a significant issue for him.

No giant demon lady summon as a finisher ╯︿╰

There were no Lumen Sages either???? I get they're wiped out but with the multiverse thing????? Not even a background Balder???

The ending was just....... sad and disappointing.

Most of these are my opinion, but as someone who adores the first two games for what they are, I feel like most people feel the same way about some of these things

One more thing that just??? Singularity uses the exact same moveset as Loptr/Aesir when doing that projecting move.. if that makes sense.

#Ask #bayonetta 3 spoilers #This got super long.... if you read the spoiler bit then I hope it was helpful! I hope the non spoiler bit was too #Ultimately it comes down to opinions on whether or not the game is bad #This is just how I felt about it #I can't tell you to buy or not buy something it really comes down to you #But if there is another game (or you have more important things) to spend money on I'd say hold off on it #No one kill me for voicing opinions this is just me.. I personally did not enjoy the story

[sonicasura]

How would team Bayonetta react to seeing the tamer/sleuth who I imagine is pretty young. Telling them stories of there adventures in the digital world were they probably faced of againist numerous high level digimon that could level cities in minutes. Bayonetta out of all of them would probably be the most worried, cause we seen with Loki that she does worry. I mean back in Bayonetta 2 when her and Loki got to the real gates of hell and Loki was going to leave for the top of the mountain, she wasn't happy with him being away from her and was really concerned for his safety. I honestly don't think Bayonetta ( Jeanne and Luka when he eventually finds outs) would be ok with the fact that they constantly through tmeselves into highly dangerous situations with the tamer/sleuth I imagine being really young.

Your Thoughts?

I honestly thought about making Tamer a young adult but the child suggestion is much funnier. Digimon don't have a good concept what's good for someone's age. *Looks at most Digidestined* This especially goes for one particular where Tamer/Sleuth work since they been active at the age of 8 and are about to turn 12. (Almost four years in the job.)

You have no idea how concerned Bayonetta was upon the first mission story which involves retrieving a valuable from a very aggressive Okuwamon's territory. Said Ultimate Digimon chasing after a very inexperience Tamer/Sleuth alongside their twin partners. To hear about it being sheer luck that a kind MegaKabuterimon(Blue) was nearby to help made her worry skyrocket.

Bayonetta can't stop looking back on the time when she been a young Umbra Witch in training as Tamer and their two Gammamon are constant reminders. Jeanne finds this out the same time since Rodin was doing some weapon maintenance for her amidst the story telling. Luka hears about through gossip from Enzo. Super concerned adults all around!

Those extra dangerous moments did pay off since both their partners learn how to digivolve into their respective Champions and Ultimates. Sometimes you got to stay in the frying pan to become empowered by the fire.

#sonicasura #sonicasura answers #asks #foolmariofest #digimon #digimon digital monsters #digimon cyber sleuth #digimon hacker's memory #bayonetta #bayonetta series

[thelovelypoems]

Just Bayonetta things to ponder a little longer. Or just some of my musings.

Cereza has Balder's eyes. (Yes, I know Rosa’s eyes are Grey as well and so she has her eyes as well but I wanted to say this resembles out loud instead.)

I believe Enzo's kids are twins. (I feel like their names are so similar that it was like if a boy we will name him Ed, if girl Edna but they ended with both. And I feel they do stuff together like bake a cake and share toys like the jet because they are close.)

Luka tells Bayonetta “No matter how I ask, no matter how many times, you always say the same thing--a misunderstanding” meaning they have met and talked for several times for the past several years.

By how many tabs Luka keeps on Bayonetta he should've known if she was pregnant or gave birth to a child. I don’t believe she would've been able to hide a growing belly for 9 months from him. So why did he even question Bayonetta having a child when little Cereza claimed her to be her mummy.

Witches and sages aren't necessarily hereditary, it depends on how much an individual possesses magical power. It is a higher chance though if one or both parents have magic and the environment of the crescent valleys.

I am waiting for the day Jeanne takes an apprentice. Since she doesn't want the Umbran clan to die out and she is the teaching type. I think it would be just a human girl that she scouts out and trains her to be a witch. It would be even funnier if it was a student from the high school she teaches at.

Cereza said in the epilogue for game 2 that "the distinct lack of acts of God doesn't hurt either" makes me think that as a Nun (which is one of her jobs) she has to do more holy events for the holidays. Perhaps this annoys her to do much more religious work for the holidays.

It is hinted in the game that Angels smell like rosemary.

It seems that sages are all male and the witches are all female and they don't mingle except for Cereza’s case, so that would mean most of their spouses / partners they make a family with are regular humans, although some might have an aptitude for magic but don't practice either magic arts.

Cereza was born to be a rule breaker. I don’t think she follows rules or traditions too closely and she is also the literal result of a broken rule.

I feel that Kirby and Bayonetta have best friend energy, the most compatibility. That they are galactic tier, and they are so extra but that is just their causal day.

I know that one of Bayonetta jobs is nun. But sometimes I wonder if she is a hit man for Enzo jobs occasionally. I know Enzo called her his racket for some of his odd jobs but I'm not exactly sure what that entails. Bayonetta says that “I see to the funeral, you get me the information I asked for. That was our deal”. Rodin says that he made a killing exploiting her, what are these other jobs? Because Cereza and Jeanne look like they do expensive shopping, and I don’t think the jobs (Nun and high school teacher) that we know of fit that budget.

It kind of surprises me that the lumen sages banished Balder instead of imprisoning him because he was their treasured right eye. Wouldn't they want their treasure there?

Bayonetta can't swim. Unless it's her serpent form, but in her human form since she can’t swim, she often surfs on objects during water battles. In really calm, still, shallow canals or bodies of water she walks and uses witch powers to breathe.

How the frick does Luka get to places? How does he get into the floating sphere of the Ithavoll tower? It’s in the air and Bayonetta has to walk on magic paths. How did he get to the cathedral where Bayonetta and Loki were with the water sphere thing? How did Luka manage to find the literal gates of hell himself? And just happened to be waiting outside the door when Loki popped out?! Like stuff that seemingly requires magic to reach?

#Bayonetta #bayonetta 2 #Cereza #Luka Redagrave #jeanne d arc #Balder #Loki #Bayonetta nun #Umbran witches #Lumen sages #Enzo #Bayo #bayojeanne #bayoluka #Rodin #Kirby #Cerezita #Eyes of the world #right eye #Just Bayonetta things

[love-is-blue]

Just a massive list of Bayonetta headcanons because my gf and i have a disease <3

Just in terms of gender+orientation...

-Bayonetta doesn’t really worry so much with defining herself and is at the very least sapphic and only calls herself a woman when its convenient to her. She doesnt care so much about gender otherwise

-Jeanne’s a nonbinary lesbian -Rodin is trans and bi

-Rosa and Balder are t4t and also bisexy

-Luka’s a bisexual in denial and the closest he’d get to seeing that would be calling himself “bicurious”

-Loki’s trans gener and bi too

-Enzo is homophobic

Balder is colorblind and thats why he mixed up Loki and Loptr and why Bayonetta had to be like “look at his forehead markings you fucking dolt”

Bayonetta has a scar in the middle of her chest from where Jeanne struck her to seal her away

Likewise Jeanne got top surgery between the first and second game (When she was still loopy from anesthetics she was telling Bayonetta she and her had matching scars now)

Bayonetta snores

Jeanne can sit or lay down in nearly any position and be comfortable, much to Bayonettas horror

Bayonetta and Jeanne wear eachother’s clothes. Alot.

Also between the first and second games, Bayonetta broke her guns. Don’t ask her how. She won’t tell you.

Jeanne has a tattoo on her lower back thats the same symbol floating above Madama Styx’s head

Jeanne did numerous things in her time alone to help cope with her waiting for Bayonetta. Even though she was unsure when she’d even see her again, she’d constantly buy things that she thought she’d like or would learn to do things she think she’d like or would want to do with her, like for example, she wasn’t a great cook before Bayonetta was sealed away but 500 years was more than enough time for her to perfect that.

Another thing she did with that time was write a story using their dolls, Charles and Chesire, more or less projecting everything on to them, right down to Charles sealing Chesire away to protect him. She has books on books of drafts saved going through numerous endings. (Charles and Chesire are he/him lesbians in it btw <3) (ALSO I DO want to try and eventually flesh this out in a fic w my gf one day. hopefully we see)

Jeanne transferred to a cahtholic school next to the church Bayonetta works at after the two got back together post first game. The schoolboard had her on the first floor for a while but moved Jeannes room to the second floor after Bayonetta kept going up to the windows and coming in sometimes while Jeanne taught. They don’t understand how she manages to keep getting in after that. (Jeanne’s students fucking are obsessed with how Bayonetta just climbs in through the window on the second floor still)

Not a headcanon as much as it is me liking to think about Loki not having to pokemon mystery dungeon away at the end of second game and I like to think Jeanne and Bayonetta care for him after. He doesnt exactly live with them, he just crashes at their place from time to time and travels wherever he wants. Also they gave him a credit card and taught him how to traverse between purgatorio and the plane people are on. Also they gave him a credit card its ok.  (also post game loki would have no forehead mark)

Loki’s other beast forms aside from a flying squirrel are a hummingbird, a ribbon eel, and dragonflies

Bayonetta and Jeanne both experience extremely frequent fatigue after Jeanne was practically ejected from her body and Bayonetta had the Left Eye removed from her. They take care of eachother alot whenever this happens.  

this is already so much and can always write more another time so eat up

#bayonetta #hope you guys like reading my gf and i wrote down so many things #both post

[skayafair]

VnC Plot Theories and Questions

Here are some of my ideas and questions about the VnC plot. There’s going to be part 2, in which I’d like to explore the connections of VnC universe to the real one and how that affects the plot (spoiler: greatly). I’m relatively new to the fandom and don’t know if all those points have been already discussed so feel free to give me links and - discuss! That’s what this post is for, I’m dying to talk about all this!

SPOILERS UP TO CHAPER 51

- How long ago did the Babel incident happen? What century at least? Chloe was waiting in her castle for several hundreds of years. The 15-16th century, like the time when the real Paracelsus lived?

- Queen Faustina, Naenia, The Vampire of the Blue Moon, Jeanne.

What is exactly the vampire queen? Is she the first vampire of the crimson moon? Her power is endless, only her counselors have a succession (Luca and his predecessors). The queen honestly looks way more like a local goddess rather than an actual queen: she’s one and only, any vampire cherishes her like a deity and will go feral if someone’s impolite regarding her as if it was a heresy.

Is she even a ‘she’?

As far as I understand, Neania is a Malnomen of Queen Faustina, the queen who forgot herself and is acting upon her curse. Right now it’s her who distorts the names. However, there’s a question: the curse-bearers have happened way before the outbreak Vanitas is investigating atm, and as far as we know, the queen disappeared at the same time the outbreak occurred. So, who was distorting the names before Naenia? How long does she exist at all? Was Faustina cursed way before her disappearance but the symptoms were kept at bay until the council couldn’t manage it anymore? According to the fairytale, the curses are Luna’s fault but we never saw them doing any of this. Unless they have sort of a split personality or a curse themselves?

As we know, Luna is neither male nor female (which made me think of Bathomet but I’ll get to it later), they didn’t know who and what they were, until they did and regretted it dearly. We also know Noe thinks the Queen and Luna look very much alike. And when we saw the queen’s hand atop of her blanket in her bedroom while Luka was by her side, that hand was pitch black and looked just like the VotBM one.

That was the first part of the mystery.

The second part is that the Queen looked very young when her physical form stabilized. 

We know she was tried to get rid of - her body was demolished and her spirit (???) - or whatever was left - became Naenia. I’m not sure whether Naenia is corporeal or not, but she becomes one when stabilized and all this time she is in such a severe pain that she doesn’t want to get back to this world. She doesn’t want to remember herself and the way she died.

Why exactly was she killed?

Anyway, she must not be brought back at any cost either. Vanitas mentioned that if she comes back, there won’t be neither a vampire nor a human to overcome her. Besides, all the vampires felt when she reappeared. Did they feel her dying?

I wonder if she’s some sort of a bee queen. (I hope not, I really got enough of that with the Pandemonium in Chrono Crusade.)

However, whe know exactly who killed her: Ruthven, Veronica de Sade and Luca’s older brother (who seemed to play an important role in this mission and bore the most of the backfire, and I wonder why the safest place for Luka is beside him now?). Probably all other members of the council took their part in this, too. 

So the Queen is not to be brought back, but Lord Ruthven tries to bring SOME queen into this world anyway. Someone with long fair hair just like hers is growing in a glass vessel at his lab. 

And, as we know, Jeanne also got out of some glass vessel just like this one. And she had very long fair hair, too. I wonder why didn’t anyone there notice the similarities… how often do the vampires see their queen again? 

Ruthven keeps Jeanne within his sight and even saved her from being executed when everyone wanted to. He’s obviously trying to use her, but in what way?

To cut the long story short, I think there was smth terribly wrong with Faustina - so wrong they had to kill her or at least weaken her as much as possible. But the vampires worship her like a Goddess, so she had to be present one way or another, the council couldn’t keep what happened to her a secret forever. So they needed a replacement, and that’s what Ruthven is working on. A clone? That explains his sponsorship of Dr. Moreau’s experiments.

And Jeanne’s one of the failed ones. Or is she? Maybe she was let out on purpose?

- What did Ruthven teach his students? He honestly looked more like a messiah in a cult rather than a scientist and a teacher.

- What order did he give to Jeanne?

- Looks like his ‘curses’ orders cause a bloodthirst just like Naenia’s ones, although way weaker. Which makes me wonder: does any strong vampire have an ability for such curses? If so, why just the VotBM was hated and feared for it? And how old is Ruthven?

- Where did the VotBM fairytale come from? Who created it? Ruthven reminds me of Jack Vessalius a lot by his place in the plot (remember how Jack fabricated the prophecy?). He’s everyone’s hero and a very shady person in reality. He used to have the best intentions and beliefs, like Noe, and was disappointed in them - however, this didn’t stop him from finishing the war between the humanity and the vampires and bringing peace to them. He looks like someone who’ll do everything and anything for what he believes in and sets as his aim, and I wonder what the aim is. I can’t help thinking it’s something grand and ‘for everyone’s sake’ in his POV but can play out pretty terrible for actual people. I think he cares for the vampires - and maybe for the humanity as well - but may go too far in it and forget his morals (he already had to in order to get to the top of society and gain some power).

- I strongly suspect Naenia aka Faustina, the Teacher and Luna are closely connected. In what way though? I wonder if Paracelsus is going to turn out to be a composite image after all.

- Also I see the reflection of those three in Jeanne, Noe and Vanitas and that makes me think back to the Sablier and the Riverra’s trios.

- Vampire rampages.  Yes, the vampires were ostracized and feared when the Babel has just happened, later there was the hunt and a war. BUT. They’re long over. There’s Lord Orloc to control vamps now, and humans consider them a fairytale. 

Astolpho and Vanitas’ families were killed no more than about a decade ago though. And there wasn’t just one crazy cursebearer - no, according to the fate of Astolpho’s sister, there was an organized group of vamps sane enough to keep their ‘food’ alive for some time. They were laughing and talking. They behaved like people - not like mad beasts. What were those vampires then? 

- What happened on THAT DAY?

- What happened to Michael and who’s his err supporter? Ruthven again? Or Marquis Machina, judging by Michael’s hand?

- What is Charlatan? Looks like this isn't just Naenia. Does its carnival exist in reality or is it just an illusion in the victim’s head since it comes and goes so fast and seemingly out of nowhere?

- Why did the Teacher need Noe? What role is set for the Archiviste?

- Where did the Archiviste go? Were they all killed? Why and by whom?

- I have a feeling in the end someone will try to bring the world to its natural order and either lock or erase the world of formulas, so that there are no vampires anymore, everyone’s back to being human. And someone’s going to be left in that locked world - Vanitas. Remember he has to be touching a vampire to cross between the worlds and Noe can’t forgive himself for the fact that he didn't grab Vanitas’ hand? (I’ll repeat as much as I have to - I don’t believe he’ll settle with this when his whole ark is “I can’t save anyone I want to save, I can’t change anything”. Unless… but later.)

- Why are Vanitas’ memories forbidden to be read? Is it because they’re Lunas as well and they knew something crucial about the world order? Did Ruthven try to get to the same knowledge through Faustina? He also needed Chloe’s world changing machine - why when he’s such a strong vampire himself? How much does he want to change in the world if his power alone is not enough? Is it the queen - or the world itself?

#vanitas no carte #vanitas no shuki #the memoirs of vanitas #the case study of vanitas

[bayonettas-left-eye]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Bayonetta (Video Games) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Bayonetta/Jeanne (Bayonetta), Cereza/Jeanne (Bayonetta) Characters: Bayonetta (Bayonetta), Jeanne (Bayonetta), Cereza (Bayonetta), Rodin (Bayonetta), Luka (Bayonetta), Rosa (Bayonetta), Balder (Bayonetta), Enzo (Bayonetta) Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Romance, Eventual Romance, Fluff and Smut, Action/Adventure, Action, Action & Romance, Humor, Bisexual Female Character, LGBTQ Themes Summary:

Theoretical physics suggest that each alternative action that can be taken spawns into existence a new universe. The multiverse is proposed to be composed of these many diverging timelines, each created with every infinitesimal decision made by every being in the world.

It's theoretical for a reason. But not totally incorrect.

A split created during the events of Bayonetta 1 creates two seperate timelines; two Bayonettas, two Jeannes, endless trouble.

As the world around Bayonetta slowly begins to collapse from the loss of the Eyes of the World, she and her companions are blindsided by the arrival of a new set of faces...or are they?

Two of the same become one with a difference as Bayonetta sets out with another version of herself to correct a grievous series of events and yet again bring peace and order to her world...and then some.

Hello BayoJeanne fandom! You may have read my fic, Reconciliation, about one or two years ago (I don't remember when it was that I posted it). Originally, Reconciliation was the drunk brainchild of my sleep deprived, over worked, moderately frustrated self; it was born from a silly, simple drabble, and the first chapter is, indeed, very short, and very riddled with syntax that's just...ok.

I had no outline, and only the barest of inclinations when I wrote it, and it therefore, did not make it past three chapters. Returning to that story is difficult for me because it was written during a time where I had lost a lot of my lust to write. I struggled with syntax and diction, and often found myself rewriting chapters. I disliked the characterization of our leading ladies as well, but struggled to find the time or passion to correct it.

I'm in a much better standing now.

Through the Eyes of the World will be an approximately 20 Chapter long fanfiction that sets out to imitate what fans believe Bayonetta 3 may be about...with the addition of some much wanted romance between our two (or in this case, four) leading women.

It will be updated on a monthly basis, with the goal being one to three chapters per month, and perhaps just over a year of writing. Unlike Reconciliation, I do have a proper outline formulated for this story, so the chances of me abandoning it are much smaller. I hope you all will enjoy it!

#bayojeanne #bayonetta #jeanne #bayonetta 1 #bayonetta 2 #cereza #bayonetta 3

[timeless-hollywood-classics]

James Francis Durante (February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American actor, comedian, singer, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and prominent nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s. He often referred to his nose as the schnozzola (Italianization of the American Yiddish slang word schnoz "big nose"), and the word became his nickname.

Durante was born on the Lower East Side of New York City. He was the youngest of four children born to Rosa (Lentino) and Bartolomeo Durante, both of whom were immigrants from Salerno, Italy. Bartolomeo was a barber. Young Jimmy served as an altar boy at St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church, known as the Actor's Chapel.

Durante dropped out of school in seventh grade to become a full-time ragtime pianist. He first played with his cousin, whose name was also Jimmy Durante. It was a family act, but he was too professional for his cousin. He continued working the city's piano bar circuit and earned the nickname "ragtime Jimmy", before he joined one of the first recognizable jazz bands in New York, the Original New Orleans Jazz Band. Durante was the only member not from New Orleans. His routine of breaking into a song to deliver a joke, with band or orchestra chord punctuation after each line, became a Durante trademark. In 1920 the group was renamed Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band.

By the mid-1920s, Durante had become a vaudeville star and radio personality in a trio named Clayton, Jackson and Durante. Lou Clayton and Eddie Jackson, Durante's closest friends, often reunited with Durante in subsequent years. Jackson and Durante appeared in the Cole Porter musical The New Yorkers, which opened on Broadway on December 8, 1930. Earlier the same year, the team appeared in the movie Roadhouse Nights, ostensibly based on Dashiell Hammett's novel Red Harvest.

By 1934, Durante had a major record hit with his own novelty composition, "Inka Dinka Doo", with lyrics by Ben Ryan. It became his theme song for the rest of his life. A year later, Durante starred on Broadway in the Billy Rose stage musical Jumbo. A scene in which a police officer stopped Durante's character—who was leading a live elephant across the stage—to ask "what are you doing with that elephant?", followed by Durante's reply "what elfin!?" was a regular show-stopper. This comedy bit, also reprised in his role in Billy Rose's Jumbo, likely contributed to the popularity of the idiom "the elephant in the room". Durante also appeared on Broadway in Show Girl (1929), Strike Me Pink (1934) and Red, Hot and Blue (1936).

During the early 1930s, Durante alternated between Hollywood and Broadway. His early motion pictures included an original Rodgers & Hart musical The Phantom President (1932), which featured Durante singing the self-referential Schnozzola. He initially was paired with silent film legend Buster Keaton in a series of three popular comedies for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Speak Easily (1932), The Passionate Plumber (1932), and What! No Beer? (1933), which were financial hits and a career springboard for the distinctive newcomer. However, Keaton's vociferous dissatisfaction with constraints the studio had placed upon him, his perceived incompatibility with Durante's broad chatty humor, exacerbated by Keaton's alcoholism, led the studio to end the series. Durante went on to appear in The Wet Parade (1932), Broadway to Hollywood (1933), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942, playing Banjo, a character based on Harpo Marx), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962, based on the 1935 musical), and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963). In 1934, he starred in Hollywood Party, where he dreams he is Schnarzan, a parody of Tarzan, who was popular at the time due to the Johnny Weissmuller films.

On September 10, 1933, Durante appeared on Eddie Cantor's NBC radio show, The Chase and Sanborn Hour, continuing until November 12 of that year. When Cantor left the show, Durante took over as its star from April 22 to September 30, 1934. He then moved on to The Jumbo Fire Chief Program (1935–1936).

Durante teamed with Garry Moore for The Durante-Moore Show in 1943. Durante's comic chemistry with the young, brushcut Moore brought Durante an even larger audience. "Dat's my boy dat said dat!" became an instant catchphrase, which would later inspire the cartoon Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy. The duo was one of the nation's favorites for the rest of the decade. Their Armed Forces Radio Network Command Performance with Frank Sinatra remains a favorite of radio-show collectors today. Moore left the duo in mid-1947, and the program returned October 1, 1947 as The Jimmy Durante Show. Durante continued the show for three more years and featured a reunion of Clayton, Jackson and Durante on his April 21, 1948 broadcast.

Although Durante made his television debut on November 1, 1950 (on the Four Star Revue - see below) he continued to keep a presence in radio, as a frequent guest on Tallulah Bankhead's two-year NBC comedy-variety show The Big Show. Durante was one of the cast on the show's premiere November 5, 1950, along with humorist Fred Allen, singers Mindy Carson and Frankie Laine, stage musical performer Ethel Merman, actors Jose Ferrer and Paul Lukas, and comic-singer Danny Thomas (about to become a major television star in his own right). A highlight of the premiere was Durante and Thomas, whose own nose rivaled Durante's, in a routine in which Durante accused Thomas of stealing his nose. "Stay outta dis, no-nose!" Durante barked at Bankhead to a big laugh.

From 1950 to 1951, Durante was the host once a month (alternating with Ed Wynn, Danny Thomas and Jack Carson) on Wednesday evenings at 8 p.m, on NBC's comedy-variety series Four Star Revue. Jimmy continued with the show until 1954.

Durante then had a half-hour variety show - The Jimmy Durante Show - on NBC from October 2, 1954 to June 23, 1956.

Beginning in the early 1950s, Durante teamed with sidekick Sonny King, a collaboration that would continue until Durante's death. He often was seen regularly in Las Vegas after Sunday Mass outside of the Guardian Angel Cathedral standing next to the priest and greeting the people as they left Mass.

Several times in the 1960s, Durante served as host of ABC's Hollywood Palace variety show, which was taped live (and consequently included ad-libs by the seasoned vaudevillian).

His last regular television appearance was co-starring with the Lennon Sisters on Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters Hour, which lasted for one season on ABC (1969–1970).

Durante's first wife was Jean "Jeanne" Olson, whom he married on June 19, 1921. She was born in Ohio on August 31, 1896. She was 46 years old when she died on Valentine's Day in 1943, after a lingering heart ailment of about two years, although different newspaper accounts of her death suggest she was 45 or perhaps 52.[9] As her death was not immediately expected, Durante was touring in New York at the time and returned to Los Angeles right away to complete the funeral arrangements.

Durante's radio show was bracketed with two trademarks: "Inka Dinka Doo" as his opening theme, and the invariable signoff that became another familiar national catchphrase: "Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are." For years no one knew who Mrs. Calabash referred to and Durante preferred to keep the mystery alive until 1966. One theory was that it referred to the owner of a restaurant in Calabash, North Carolina, where Durante and his troupe had stopped to eat. He was so taken by the food, the service, and the chitchat he told the owner that he would make her famous. Since he did not know her name, he referred to her as "Mrs. Calabash". At a National Press Club meeting in 1966 (broadcast on NBC's Monitor program), Durante finally revealed that it was indeed a tribute to his wife. While driving across the country, they stopped in a small town called Calabash, North Carolina whose name Jean had loved. "Mrs. Calabash" became his pet name for her, and he signed off his radio program with "Good night, Mrs. Calabash." He added "wherever you are" after the first year.

Durante married his second wife, Margaret "Margie" Little, at St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church in New York City on December 14, 1960. As a teenager she had been crowned Queen of the New Jersey State Fair. She attended New York University before being hired by the legendary Copacabana in New York City. She and Durante met there 16 years before their marriage, when he performed there and she was a hatcheck girl. She was 41 and he 67 when they married. With help from their attorney, Mary G. Rogan, the couple were able to adopt a baby, Cecilia Alicia (nicknamed CeCe and now known as CeCe Durante-Bloum), on Christmas Day, 1961. CeCe became a champion horsewoman and then a horse trainer and horseriding instructor. Margie died on June 7, 2009, at the age of 89.

On August 15, 1958, for his charitable acts, Durante was awarded a three-foot-high brass loving cup by the Al Bahr Shriners Temple. The inscription reads: "JIMMY DURANTE THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS COMEDIAN. A loving cup to you Jimmy, it's larger than your nose, but smaller than your heart. Happiness always, Al Bahr Temple, August 15, 1958." Jimmy Durante started out his career with Clayton and Jackson and when he became a big star and they were left behind, he kept them on his payroll for the rest of their lives.

Durante's love for children continued through the Fraternal Order of Eagles, who among many causes raise money for handicapped and abused children. At Durante's first appearance at the Eagles International Convention in 1961, Judge Bob Hansen inquired about his fee for performing. Durante replied, "Do not even mention money judge or I'll have to mention a figure that'll make ya sorry ya brought it up." "What can we do then?" asked Hansen. "Help da kids," was Durante's reply. Durante performed for many years at Eagles conventions free of charge, even refusing travel money. The Fraternal Order of Eagles changed the name of their children's fund to the Jimmy Durante Children's Fund in his honor, and in his memory have raised over 20 million dollars to help children. A reporter once remarked of Durante after an interview: "You could warm your hands on this one." One of the projects built using money from the Durante Fund was a heated therapy swimming pool at the Hughen School in Port Arthur, Texas. Completed in 1968, Durante named the pool the "Inka Dinka Doo Pool".

Durante was an active member of the Democratic Party. In 1933, he appeared in an advertisement shown in theaters supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs and wrote a musical score titled Give a Man a Job to accompany it. He performed at both the inaugural gala for President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and a year later at the famous Madison Square Garden rally for the Democratic party that featured Marilyn Monroe singing "Happy Birthday" to JFK.

Durante continued his film appearances through It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and television appearances through the early 1970s. He narrated the Rankin-Bass animated Christmas special Frosty the Snowman (1969), re-run for many years since. The television work also included a series of commercial spots for Kellogg's Corn Flakes cereals in the mid-1960s, which introduced Durante's gravelly growl and narrow-eyed, large-nosed countenance to millions of children. "Dis is Jimmy Durante, in puy-son!" was his introduction to some of the Kellogg's spots. One of his last appearances was in a memorable television commercial for the 1973 Volkswagen Beetle, where he proclaimed that the new, roomier Beetle had "plenty of breathin' room... for de old schnozzola!"

In 1963, Durante recorded the album of pop standards September Song. The album became a best-seller and provided Durante's re-introduction to yet another generation, almost three decades later. From the Jimmy Durante's Way of Life album came the gravelly interpretation of the song "As Time Goes By", which accompanied the opening credits of the romantic comedy hit Sleepless in Seattle, while his version of "Make Someone Happy" launched the film's closing credits. Both are included on the film's best-selling soundtrack. Durante also recorded a cover of the well-known song I'll Be Seeing You, which became a trademark song on his 1960s TV show. This song was featured in the 2004 film The Notebook.

He wrote a foreword for a humorous book compiled by Dick Hyman titled Cockeyed Americana. In the first paragraph of the "Foreword!", as Durante called it, he describes meeting Hyman and discussing the book and the contribution that Hyman wanted Durante to make to it. Durante wrote "Before I can say gaziggadeegasackeegazobbath, we're at his luxurious office." After reading the material Hyman had compiled for the book, Durante commented on it: "COLOSSAL, GIGANTIC, MAGNANIMOUS, and last but not first, AURORA BOREALIS. [Capitalization Durante's] Four little words that make a sentence—and a sentence that will eventually get me six months."

Durante retired from performing in 1972 after he became wheelchair-bound following a stroke. He died of pneumonia in Santa Monica, California on January 29, 1980, 12 days before he would have turned 87. He received Catholic funeral rites four days later, with fellow entertainers including Desi Arnaz, Ernest Borgnine, Marty Allen, and Jack Carter in attendance, and was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Jimmy Durante among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Jimmy Durante is known to most modern audiences as the character who narrated and sang the 1969 animated special Frosty the Snowman. He also performed the Ron Goodwin title song to the 1968 comedy-adventure Monte Carlo or Bust (titled Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies in the U.S.) sung over the film's animated opening credits.

While his own career in animation was limited, Durante's distinctive voice, looks and catchphrases earned him numerous depictions and allusions in animation: A character in M-G-M cartoons, a bulldog named Spike, whose puppy son was always getting caught by accident in the middle of Tom and Jerry's activities, referenced Durante with a raspy voice and an affectionate "Dat's my boy!" In another Tom and Jerry short, a starfish lands on Tom's head, giving him a big nose. He then proceeds with Durante's famous "Ha-cha-cha-cha" call. The 1943 Tex Avery cartoon "What's Buzzin' Buzzard" featured a vulture with a voice that sounded like Jimmy Durante. A Durante-like voice (originally by Doug Young) was also given to the father beagle, Doggie Daddy, in Hanna-Barbera's Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy cartoons, Doggie Daddy invariably addressing the junior beagle with a Durante-like "Augie, my son, my son", and with frequent citations of, "That's my boy who said that!" The 1945 MGM cartoon Jerky Turkey featured a turkey which was a caricature of Durante.

Many Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons had characters based on Durante. One Harman-Ising short from 1933, Bosko's Picture Show, featured a caricature of Adolf Hitler chasing Durante with a meat cleaver. Two examples from the 1940s include A Gruesome Twosome, which features a cat based on Durante, and Baby Bottleneck, which in unedited versions opens with a Durante-like stork. Book Revue shows the well-known (at that time) 1924 Edna Ferber novel So Big featuring a Durante caricature on the cover. The "so big" refers to his nose, and as a runaway criminal turns the corner by the book, Durante turns sideways using his nose to trip the criminal, allowing his capture. In Hollywood Daffy, Durante is directly depicted as himself, pronouncing his catchphrase "Those are the conditions that prevail!" In The Mouse-Merized Cat, Catstello (a Lou Costello mouse) briefly is hypnotized to imitate Jimmy Durante singing Lullaby of Broadway. One of Durante's common catchphrases "I got a million of 'em!" was used as Bugs' final line in Stage Door Cartoon.

A Durante-like voice was also used for Marvel Comics superhero The Thing in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Fred and Barney Meet the Thing. The voice and appearance of Crispy, the mascot for Crispy Critters cereal, was also based on Durante.[17] In Mickey Mouse Works, a character named Mortimer Mouse (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) was based on Durante, complete with the "ha-cha-cha!". One of the main characters in Terrytoons' Heckle and Jeckle cartoon series also takes to imitating Jimmy in 1948's "Taming The Cat" ("Get a couple of song birds today...").

Since Durante's death, his songs have featured in several films. Dan Aykroyd and Kim Basinger performed impressions of Durante from The Man Who Came to Dinner singing "Did You Ever Have the Feeling" in 1988's My Stepmother Is an Alien. His performance of "Young at Heart" was featured in City Slickers (1991) and his versions of "As Time Goes By" and "Make Someone Happy" played over the opening and closing credits of Sleepless in Seattle (1993). Michael J. Fox performed an impression of Durante singing "Inka Dinka Doo" in 1994's Greedy. His rendition of "Smile" featured in the film, and trailer for, Joker (2019).

#jimmy durante #classic hollywood #classic movie stars #golden age of hollywood #old hollywood #1930s hollywood #1940s hollywood #1950s hollywood #1960s hollywood #classic television #frosty the snowman #hollywood legend