#gonna use the strategy of doing something entirely different for a bit and then go back to it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

alpaca-clouds · 5 months

Text

How "Europe" was made

You know what? Based on this rant from yesterday about the typical "boohoo, Black people in my medieval fantasy are unrealistic" assholes, let me talk about the history of Europe a bit. This is gonna be a bit unstructured, but I also know that even people who like their diversity often do not understand the history of Europe. How could they? It is not taught.

If you even do early European history of Europe (which is a big if and very dependent on where you are and what school you visit) it tends to go a bit like this: Greece, Rome, then Rome fell and we had the middle ages happening.

One way to describe this narrative would be: Dumbed down. Another way to describe this would be: Plain wrong.

I talked before how the entire "oh, the Roman gods are just the Greek gods" narrative is wrong (i cannot find that blog again, because tumblr's search remains shit), but... here is the thing: Rome didn't actually fall. Not really. It just... changed.

Because here is the thing: The Byzantine Empire was Rome. And the Roman influence was very clear for a very long time. If anything, it kinda just slowly evolved into something else. But you cannot really point to any given time and say: "This was the end of Rome!" Well, at least not before the fall of the Byzantine Empire.

And the Byzantine Empire played a massive role into how Europe was made.

See, behind the entire idea of those folks speaking about a "white race" and "white culture" is, that there is a uniform white culture - or at least a European culture. Which is something that is very clear if you live in central and western Europe, too. Sure, if you ask people about it a bit more, enough people will still be fucking racist about Slavic people... But in general there is this idea. The idea of a European culture.

But... You have to realize that this culture was created. And it was created through what was basically colonialism.

Now, we all know that Rome had a lot of colonies - at some point throughout most of Europe. And the usual narrative goes something like this: "Rome had its religion, the colonies had theirs. Rome was accepting of this." Which is at once true and false. Yes, they just let local religions be - but they also considered their own religion as superior and folks from the European indigenous cultures would often gain acceptance through converting to the Roman religion or integrating the Roman gods into their religious practice at least. But yes, for the most part the Romans did leave the indigenous tribes alone.

And make no mistake. There were many, many indigenous cultures living all over Europe. Most people kinda have the once again simplified idea of "there were the norse, the germans, the celts and the slavs", but those were also still names given to groups of cultures that were related but differed to some degree. And there were also some cultures that did not fit any of those cultures - cultures, incidentally, about which we still lack a lot of information.

The usual depiction then goes: "Constantine converted to Christianity and then all the people saw how awesome Christianity was. There were missionaries and they spread the religion throughout Europe." But... That is not what happened.

See, in the late 4th century, the policy within the Byzantine Empire towards the old and indigenous religions of Europe shifted from "they are pagans, but who cares" to "they are pagans, we do not want pagans in our empire". And so, under Emperor Theodosius I the Byzantine Empire started to burn down religious sides throughout the Empire and hunt down the pagans, at times pushing them out of the empire or forcing them to convert to Christianity. This was not a peaceful process, like it is so often depicted, it was violence. It was colonialism. It employed many of the same strategies that were later used to forcefully convert people in the colonies a whole millennium later.

And those hunts and the burning of religious sites, religious artefacts and at times religious texts is in fact one of the reasons why we do not have a full understanding of any of the ancient religions. This shows of course most in our lack of understanding for Celtic and Norse religion (where it was made worse by the fact that the cultures themselves did not write things down) and of course our very, very lacking understanding of the smaller indigenous cultures within Europe - but it even shows in our understanding of Ancient Roman, Greek and Egyptian culture. Because while we do have a lot more records on these that were preserved, there are gaps in our understanding of how the religious practice throughout those ancient cultures developed, because certain places that held this information were partially or completely destroyed.

This entire idea of the "European Culture" was created from this. From a culture that was in the end a result of early colonialism and violence. Because originally Europe was maybe not quite as diverse as the other continents (given how small Europe is), but so much more diverse in terms of cultures, than the usual narratives tries to make you believe.

#european history #history #medieval history #ancient history #byzantium #byzantine empire #christianity #colonialism #celts #norse #norse paganism #celtic mythology #pagan #paganism

14 notes · View notes

todayimgonnaplay · 3 months

Text

Today I'm Gonna Play: Nu: Carnival

I've always seen mobile gacha games that depict lots of female characters. I don't see much of the same for male characters, despite some games showing huge success of having them (i.e. HoyoVerse games and Fate Grand Order). I stumbled across a mention of this on a post about gachas with a male majority cast. I checked to see if it's worth it.

**TW: This is an 18+ BL game containing sexual content to the point that it's not even on the App Stores, although a censored version will be released soon for the stores. I will not be detailing the naughty bits much regardless.**

I have to say, when the content warning popped up mentioning that a scene contains adult content and that I have the option to skip it, I thought it'd be something akin to softcore for some reason. Instead, there was an entire scene with everything shown in all its glory and descriptions. I did get a laugh out of being surprised.

But admiteddly, this game does not cut corners in presentation, at all. The art style is very appealing with a diverse amount of character designs that fit various tropes, and the animation is actually spendid, both in regular and explicit scenes. Although regular animations do tend to move around with a lot of exaggeration, so this can be a turn off for some players. Maybe it's because I don't play BL or adult games much so I'm not in the know for what's the latest or what's buzzing, but I'm getting the impression that this game is a lot more underrated than expected.

The story is not too bad. At least for once I'm paying a little attention to it in a gacha game. It basically acts as an isekai where you gain the role of being a successor to a sorcerer and sex somewhat acts as an energy source. Character dynamics are nice where present, but the best part for me personally is that I like that the relationships are depicted in a healthy manner, where it's more consensual. There are also side stories in the form of events which are fun to read through.

Gameplay is surprisingly fun! It's turn-based with a front view perspective. The UI is very animated which feels like it's giving me little dopamine hits lol. Your party consists of the characters in different tiers known as rarity, and they also have roles such as debuffers, healers, strikers, etc. so there is a fair share of strategy involved. Your party also needs to be leveled up via potions, as well as increase their ranks (kind of like ascensions in Genshin Impact), and also increase certain base stats known as Potential. However at some point it does get grindy as the requirements for getting to the next levels gets higher and higher in terms of your team's power level. This is a system I loathed in another gacha game (Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis), but it's more bearable here because the game offers you other things to do instead, such as events.

As for the gacha aspects, there is a way to get the rolls you want by using a guest account and then binding when you're satisfied, so it is generous in that sense. I'm also F2P so far and I've had decent rolls in the beginning, though lately it's been awful lol. I did think about spending a bit of money, but the prices for what they ask are ridiculously high, which is one aspect I dislike about the game. You can instead gain rewards through quests such as dailies, weeklies,etc., join a guild to do quests in order to collectively earn rewards, do explorations and craft things, or buy with other currencies that don't require payment.

In the end, I'm actually playing this game religiously , but I'm also quite relaxed with it. It's a nice game to drop by and do some stuff and then hop off while you go about with your day. I do hope that the censored version can bring in more users (the intended audience, that is).

#nu: carnival #nukani #gacha games #gacha #gacha gaming #game review #game reviews #mobile games #mobile gaming #nu carnival

7 notes · View notes

noneatnonedotcom · 1 year

Text

pathfinder second edition Jaune arc build

so this is a build i recently made and I wanted to make jaune something different than a normal paladin, think of this jaune as what he would have become if aura wasn't a thing. I'll be taking it to level 4 stats str: 10 dex: 16 con:12 int: 18 (22 with magical gear) wis:12 (18 with magical gear) cha: 10 hp: 44 race: human (versatile) background: sword scion class: investigator with mastermind rouge archetype methodology; forensic medicine:

You've learned that in most cases, especially murders, criminals tend to leave more evidence of the crime on the body than they'd like to believe. Information from bruising, bone fractures, blood spatters, and even the life cycle of carrion insects can provide valuable clues that help reconstruct the scene.

You're trained in Medicine and gain the Forensic Acumen and Battle Medicine skill feats. When you use Battle Medicine, on a success the target recovers additional Hit Points equal to your level, and the target becomes temporarily immune for only 1 hour, not 1 day.

bio: jaune arc was the child of the famous arc family, having been taught from a young age how to use a sword effectively jaune had a deep knowledge of the human body and how best to cause harm. instead of simply becoming a hired killer like most of his family did jaune instead tried to become a superhero. with no powers he did so using his mind. one of the greatest strategic minds on earth and an accomplished doctor besides the young arc is ready to make his mark on the world..... it's just a shame he's a huge dork and has very little charisma and little strength training. boy is a noodle. but he's on the case at least.

gonna cut off the feats and skills here so it's not too long but you can read below to see the descriptions. but as an explanation jaune's entire fighting style is based around using devise a stratagem combined with mastermind's use of recall knowledge to keep his enemy flat-footed and therefore easier to hit and crit. with this in mind when using his warfare lore it's impossible for him to get a crit fail thanks to experienced professional and unmistakable lore and even if he fails he still gets better information than anyone else. with automatic knowledge, he does his lore checks as a free action In combat and with assurance he's always doing so at a 24 for dice checks more than enough to make sure that no matter what his enemy is always flat footed. jaune can hit more often and is doing more damage than even a two-handed fighter. thanks to sneak attack and strategic strike. in essence even at a low level jaune's probably the greatest strategic mind in the world and it shows in combat. his ability to use medicine checks in combat to keep himself and his allies up and fighting also references his semblance and keeps him as a sort of godless paladin. with science being his smite! lol. in essence, jaune's a militarized Batman who's investigations are more about learning key targets then working to take them out. using his soldiers and connections to do the groundwork and investigate his enemies for him so he can put together a strategy and pick them apart. his day job is an officer in some sort of military apparatus which is more just for the earn income action but with all his feats in the warfare lore skill he's pretty much consistently making 4 gp a week (with weekends off) and a comfortable lifestyle only costs 1 gp a week meaning jaune's got quite a bit going into his savings even as young as he is. @weatherman667 any ideas as to what jaune's job would actually be? he's supposed to be his cannon age so i doubt he'd be an officer already but he's doing hard dice checks for his earn income action without having to roll so i imagine it's something important and difficult even as new to things as he is.

feats:

assurance (warfare-lore): Even in the worst circumstances, you can perform basic tasks. Choose a skill you’re trained in. You can forgo rolling a skill check for that skill to instead receive a result of 10 + your proficiency bonus (do not apply any other bonuses, penalties, or modifiers).

streetwise: You know about life on the streets and feel the pulse of your local settlement. You can use your Society modifier instead of your Diplomacy modifier to Gather Information. In any settlement you frequent regularly, you can use the Recall Knowledge action with Society to know the same sorts of information that you could discover with Diplomacy to Gather Information. The DC is usually significantly higher, but you know the information without spending time gathering it. If you fail to recall the information, you can still subsequently attempt to Gather Information normally. devise a stratagem: You assess a foe's weaknesses in combat and use them to formulate a plan of attack against your enemy. Choose a creature you can see and roll a d20. If you Strike the chosen creature later this round, you must use the result of the roll you made to Devise a Stratagem for your Strike's attack roll instead of rolling. You make this substitution only for the first Strike you make against the creature this round, not any subsequent attacks.

When you make this substitution, you can also add your Intelligence modifier to your attack roll instead of your Strength or Dexterity modifier, provided your Strike uses an agile or finesse melee weapon,

strategic strike: When you strike carefully and with forethought, you deal a telling blow. When making a Strike that adds your Intelligence modifier on your attack roll due to Devising a Stratagem, you deal an additional 1d6 precision damage.

As your investigator level increases, so too does the deadliness of your strategic strike. Increase the number of dice by one at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels. rouge (mastermind) dedication: Where others might use sleight of hand or a silver tongue to achieve their objectives, you rely on your intellect to craft intricate schemes. You likely view your operations as a chess game, always planning 10 steps ahead where others might plan three. You might be a detective determined to solve crimes or a spymaster in the service of a powerful family or nation. If you operate outside the law, you might be an aspiring crime lord or information broker, excellent at directing others toward suitable jobs.

If you successfully identify a creature using Recall Knowledge, that creature is flat-footed against your attacks until the start of your next turn; if you critically succeed, it's flat-footed against your attacks for 1 minute.

battle planner: You are constantly drawing up plans and battle scenarios, assembling strategies and gathered intelligence for later use. When you scout an enemy's position or receive a detailed report from an ally who scouted the enemy's position, if you have a clear indication of the number, position, and identities of your potential foes, you can spend 1 minute to come up with a battle plan that takes such potential factors into account and reduces the role luck plays in the equation. Roll a Warfare Lore check. As long as the information was accurate and remains accurate when you roll initiative against those enemies, you can use the Warfare Lore result you previously rolled for your initiative roll; if you do, this is a fortune effect. catfall: Your catlike aerial acrobatics allow you to cushion your falls. Treat falls as 10 feet shorter. If you’re an expert in Acrobatics, treat falls as 25 feet shorter. If you’re a master in Acrobatics, treat them as 50 feet shorter. If you’re legendary in Acrobatics, you always land on your feet and don’t take damage, regardless of the distance of the fall.

automatic knowledge(warfare lore): Prerequisites expert in a skill with the Recall Knowledge action, Assurance in that skill You know basic facts off the top of your head. Choose a skill you’re an expert in that has the Recall Knowledge action and for which you have the Assurance feat. You can use the Recall Knowledge action with that skill as a free action once per round. If you do, you must use Assurance on the skill check.

experianced professional: You carefully safeguard your professional endeavors to prevent disaster. When you use Lore to Earn Income, if you roll a critical failure, you instead get a failure. If you’re an expert in Lore, you gain twice as much income from a failed check to Earn Income, unless it was originally a critical failure.

sneak attacker: you gain access to the sneak attack class feature (page 181), except it deals 1d4 damage, increasing to 1d6 at 6th level. You don’t increase the number of dice as you gain levels.

unmistakeable lore (warfare-lore): You never get information about your areas of expertise wrong. When you Recall Knowledge using any Lore subcategory in which you’re trained, if you roll a critical failure, you get a failure instead. If you’re a master in a Lore subcategory, on a critical success, you gain even more information or context than usual. skills (there's a lot)

arcana: trained +12 athletics: trained +6 crafting: trained +15 deception: trained +6 diplomacy: expert +8 lore warfare: expert +14 medicine: expert +12 occultism: expert +12 society: trained +12 stealth: trained +9 thievery: trained +9

#rwby #jaune arc #character build #au #just for fun #lemme know if you have an idea for jaune's day job

39 notes · View notes

madness-in-the-flesh · 2 years

Note

Ngl, being Anon is hard. I've never done it before until your blog and I'm this close to revealing myself to you in DM or something.

However, I will keep going for a bit ^^ I love requesting for you, although I'd hate to over do it.

This concept has been bouncing around in my head.

Think of the size difference with Yandere! Mag Agents. They could carry you around everywhere and you couldn't disagree.

I was mainly thinking Mag Agent Torture or any of the other variations (v1 - v4) but Mag Hank could technically use height/size to his advantage with a Darling. Intimidation and stuff, y'know?

Idk, do what you will with this info! Drabble or no I kinda want to see your thoughts if you do Mags.

- 💜

Do whatever you'd like and feel comfortable with. If you feel comfortable talking to me in dms but don't want to come off anon when requesting, go ahead +) I 100% understand and if not, Then I 100% understand too! but in the end it's entirely up to you and what you feel comfortable / happy with! I'm just excited to get the chance to know you via anon because your really sweet and I love seeing you in my ask box !! <3

I'm very happy to hear you love requesting from me though +) means a lot to hear and your requests are always fun to write!

I HAVE to agree w/ you though. You bet the Mags would 100% abuse their size but also they probably like holding you like a child with a teddy bear. I couldn't disagree even if I wanted to because then each Mag would pick me up by my ankles and swing me around and throw me like a hammer toss.

Okay so originally I had headcannons AND a short paragraph at the end written for a good couple mags in game yesterday but Tumblr decided " wouldn't it be funny if we reloaded this post JUST before posting the finished thing " so I'm just gonna write a quick thing for Mag Hank, hope that's cool +') I might rewrite the stuff I had in future tho.

MAG! HANK DRABBLE

GENRE - ROMANTIC / PLATONIC

TRIGGER WARNING - Intimidation, manipulation, kidnapping implied,

Not much you can do when you're backed into a corner like a frightened kitten and that mean ol’ dog that’s been chasing you all over Nevada, and now the enclosure he made for you out of love suddenly decides to rear its ugly head. With the current state of everything, it didn’t surprise you.

You tried to press yourself into the wall as much as possible as if somehow you’d shrink into the behind, turning to sludge and moulding into the wall. Maybe in a better place but it only made more room for the large Mag to close in. Hank had been… different ever since the magnification took place. His whole temperament was thrown off and was a lot more animalistic. Possessive. Where once that security he felt because he knew no one was better than him: But no need for you to interact with others, was now replaced with the need to be the only one you interacted with. The only one who could lay eyes on you, touch you, breathe you in and exhale your aura. He adored you.

The shadow looming over your retreating form was enough to establish himself. Intimidating you, perhaps he wasn’t receptive. After all Hank’s intelligence had… gone down considerably, favouring his newfound brute strength over any previous strategy. Then again, his endurance had gone up considerably since then. Maybe he had just decided that a game plan was for the frail. For someone like you, trying to crawl away from him. A futile attempt at your own little escape.

The next action solidified that he was well aware of the effect this new stature had on you. Reaching down with his right arm, The one that was of crimson, matching that of dried blood decorated with strange spikes protruding out of his shoulders and strange orange stripes going down the outside. It was otherworldly and even more reason to get as far away as possible.

He wrapped it around you and roughly grappled you into his arms. He didn’t say anything, Just beginning to walk off and through the “ home ” he set up for you and him. You struggled and wiggled in his grasp, hoping to escape but your blood ran cold when you watched the shadow of his head rear over you. Looking up, He was staring at you.

You could feel his chest rumble as he began to let out a low growl. It was deep, gravely and carnal. You didn’t know why you felt so intimidating but the looming dread that suddenly filled the atmosphere. Maybe it was the deathly quiet combined with the silent mountain of a man finally making his first vocal response since you had begun the chase, hours ago. In all that time running, climbing and doing everything to get away from him, He never made one comment.

His face never gave anything away thanks to the headgear, but you could only imagine the cold stare he was giving you. Invisible eyes glared daggers that stabbed into your skin, pricking you with every little blade as you turned away. With some failed attempt at shielding yourself from all the tiny cuts, beginning to sting you with fear. The feeling of your heart beating terror acted as the tempo for hank’s footsteps as he began to walk again, heavy footsteps calling into the white noise around the place. Empty and cold, Only making you feel more afraid for your safety. It only made your coercion so much easier. Hank was happy with this.

You were so much easier to handle when you were afraid.

#💜 anon #madness combat #yandere madness combat #madness combat x reader #yandere madness combat x reader #hank j. wimbleton

109 notes · View notes

doubleddenden · 4 months

Text

Anxiety is rampage tonight, so it is time to hyperfocus on pokemon

Specifically I'm going to be thinking about the next 3 years of the franchise. It's long, so you're welcome for the read more

I know pretty much 90% of the fans want them to slow down (with 9% wanting them to stop all together and 1% wanting more games of lower quality, which yes is a take I've seen (source for these numbers: me I made to those numbers but it feels accurate yknow?)).

That being said, we know Game Freak are stubborn. In fact, TPC has said, on record, they want to maintain their cadence of releases while "ensuring quality."

So if nothing is changing in terms of pace of release, then oh well, all we can do is wait for more releases and judge from there.

But with that knowledge out of the way, let's get talking.

I'm gonna make a radical prediction. Gen 9 is going to last 4 years rather than the usual 3. SV released in 22, and guess when the 30th anniversary is?

2026.

Now here's the thing. They COULD drop gen 10 in 2025 on regular schedule and drop dlc in 2026. But let me ask this: would that be AS profitable? My take is that Pokémon has succeeded because of genius marketing strategies and timed releases, so the 30th anniversary, being a huge year for them, would probably boast much better profits by dropping a new generation, which would also give them an extra year to develop the game.

Let's also keep this in mind: the Switch 2 is almost upon us. It's not in the wild yet, but devs have been talking about getting dev kits for a while, they've been talking about ps4 level specs or close to it, and how they want it to be an easy transfer from Switch 1 owners to Switch 2- name not final obviously.

If that's not enough, there was a very accurate leak regarding Indigo Disk a few months back on 4chan that stated they were working with a new system for performance tweaks.

So basically what I'm getting at is that by 2026 we will have the Switch 2 or Switch U or whatever, and gen 10 will launch on that- but it won't be a launch title. Pokémon mainline games don't really do that for some reason.

Let's back up a bit before I go further. Assuming gen 10 releases on the 30th anniversary in 2026, that leaves a blank period in 2024 and 2025. Make sense?

This has been very long winded, but this is what I think will happen.

2024

Pokemon reveals intent to revisit Unova in 2 separate instances of games.

Nintendo reveals the Switch 2 to the public and announces a launch for late 2024 or early 2025.

The Unova revisitation titles are the last mainline pokemon games for Switch.

2025

Johto revisits are announced as the first mainline titles on the Switch 2. Most likely Crystal reremakes, but I'm not sure if it'll be precisely Let's Go style.

In addition, pokemon Switch 1 titles will have some better performance, particularly gen 9 games.

They might do a Legends title, but not just for Johto.

2026

Lots of Pokémon celebration, music videos, ports, and eventually gen 10 as the finish line of a huge celebration.

Now you may be asking "why 2 remakes in a row? Didn't they just remake gen 4?"

Hence why I said "revisits" instead. Because of Legends Arceus, we truly don't know what kind of curve ball could come next for us. Could be straight up remakes, could be new games entirely. We can't even say that they'll just 1 game a year because Legends Arceus and SV both dropped in 2022.

Something else that complicates things is this: Unova didn't have a Platinum or Emerald that they can just ignore the enhancements of. Well. They CAN, but I'm pretty sure we all agree that if they just remake BW1 and completely ignore BW2- aka a game most hardcore and long time fans hold as the GOAT of all Pokémon games in the same area as HGSS- fans will be absolutely livid.

That is... if they choose to REMAKE BW1 at all.

The Revisit clause opens the door for alternative takes. Perhaps a BW3, a BW0 or prequel to BW1, or perhaps something completely different all together like Legends Unova by itself. Or Paradox versions.

My personal predictions

BW1 remake, Legends following

BW1 and 2 combo remake, Legends following

A completely new game set in Unova that acts as a soft sequel to SV and its DLC, possibly merged with the concept of a Legends game OR a Legends game following said soft sequel set in either the past or future.

How do we know Unova is coming anyway? I mean it's kind of obvious if you've been paying attention to the DLC recently, but it's pretty much the most obvious hints since the KANTO KANTO KANTO re remake flags they kept waving in gen 7.

Blueberry Academy is in Unova

They keep highlighting and singling out specific Unovan pokemon such as the Unovan dragons or the starters, particularly Tepig and Snivy after giving Oshawott love in Legends Arceus.

There's an area that strongly resembles Chargestone Cave, apparently.

There's characters that may or may not be related to Unovan characters, like Drayton and Drayden

Ingo is in Legends Arceus

Now you may think all of this is easily explained because of the first point. Let me counter with this:

Why put BBA in Unova specifically?

Now are the gears turning? Sure there's a chance it was just a name thrown out- but if it were a nothing name, why not something different? They could've put Blueberry Academy near Kitakami, they could have put it in the real life chain of islands called the Canary Islands off the coast of Spain, they could have just left it unnamed in the middle of the ocean, heck they could have made it the Indigo Academy from the anime or place it in Kanto in general and nobody would have batted an eye. Or Sinnoh for that matter since we know that's a done revisit.

So the fact they choose Unova has to be of some significance.

Here's something else: the concept of the paradoxes blends seamlessly with Unova's tradition vs futurism that's present in certain areas such as the desert area, Opelucid, and Black City or White Forest.

Plus... cmon guys, Game Freak LOVES money. That's EASY money. Idk if I want it because I'm still in shock of how bad BDSP were and just how abysmal SV perform, but they generally follow the money, whether the game is finished or not. They have multiple teams, they are willing to use outside studios, they can and will do anything for the dollar.

My next point actually leads quite well with the next remake topic

The specific choice of paradoxes for Violet are the Unovan Musketeers

Now this is the clincher: why choose these specific pokemon for future paradoxes? Perhaps a hint to the future? For that matter, there's also plenty of Paradox Pokémon from gen 5 (Brute Bonnet, Slither Wing, Iron Moth, and Iron Jugulus) and plenty of gen 5 variants and cross evolutions.

Perhaps the musketeers pair nicely with the Johto Beast paradoxes given their similar purposes and design styles.

... so why the Johto Beasts for Scarlet?

Now comes my argument for JOHTO revisits, and granted the points aren't as strong as it is with Unova, but I still think there's a compelling case.

The idea was already brought up in the ending for Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee.

I'll pause: "but Game Freak said they weren't making another Let's Go game-"

Lying is a thing. My name is Pinkrillabussy von Skalkatrass, I'm a Capricorn born in July of 1757, and I have 10 wives from Canada and Antarctica. See? Easy

They changed their minds because money

They maybe had no plans at the time

NDAs are a thing

It might not be specifically a Let's Go game

Now, back on track

The Switch 2 will launch in the next year or two, and let's be honest, GSC re remakes would sell the console like hot cakes just like Yellow remakes did for Switch. Pokémon is a system seller after all. Let's not kid ourselves, it will/would outsell Unova.

In SV, there are various gold and silver colored items. By itself that's not a huge hint, but 2 prominent items are sets of mirrored sunglasses- no other mirrored glasses are in the game, and they both show some odd reflection of other locations.

In Teal Mask, Kitakami is in Japan, same as Johto, and has a decent chunk of Johto representation.

Also from Teal Mask, we got some photo music, including 2 very specific remixes from the GSC games, including very muffled versions of the Johto wild Pokémon battle musuc, and the Pokémon March song from the Pokegear. Muffled as in maybe pretty far off, but soon ish. Probably the strongest point.

Billy and O'Nare, the rich assholes we chase around Kitakami and Paldea. They dress in golden colors, have some silver under tones to their hair, and give out a ton of nuggets- gold- and pearls- kinda silver in the menu.

In the same way that paradoxes line up well with BW, the use of the time machine itself is also relevant to Johto, given that the original GSC games had backwards trading compatibility with RBY via a time machine trading system- the exceptions being that you couldn't send a gen 2 Pokémon or a gen 1 Pokémon with a gen 2 move back to the gen 1 games.

While not exactly damming evidence, the variants, Convergent species, and cross gen evolutions- Wooper, Tauros, Wiglett and Wugtrio/Diglett and Dugtrio, Toedscool and Toedscruel/Tentacool and Tentacruel, Annihilape, Farigiraf, Dundunsparce, Clodsire- with exception to Kinggambit and the other cross gen evolutions and covergents introduced in the dlc, these are a lot of Kanto and Johto pokemon or derivatives that can easily be brought to gen 2 re remakes in the same vein as the Alolan forms and Megas in LGPE. For that matter, there's also Certain Hisuian Pokémon, and certain Paradox Pokémon that line up with this as well.

Lastly, johto now is the main region we have spent the longest time since last revisiting. Go figure, Unova is second.

So what could a revisit to Johto look like? Unlike Unova, Johto isn't as complex to approach. In fact, there's several directions they can go, but most likely they'll try to stay true ish to the originals.

Let's Go Johto

Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee had a few signs pointing towards its creation from gen 7, but one of the funnier ones was the phrase Let's Go written directly on the box of Ultra Sun and Moon.

In SV, we have the Let's Go mechanic.

I personally don't want a Let's Go game because I hate motion controls and the Go aspect of it all, but I won't deny the possibility.

An ILCA style remake of HGSS

Hang on, a remake of a remake?

Well, BDSP were straight up just Diamond and Pearl with a few extra bells and whistles, almost frustratingly so. In fact, they even have the same glitches as the originals, and the coding is basically just ported directly to the Unity engine.

HGSS were DS games as well, and most hard-core fans will say they're the absolute best of the franchise- I'm not included, but I do respect just how much shit is cram packed into these games by Morimoto. I'm pretty sure most people would be just fine with straight up ports with modern amenities to reduce the grind.

Different Gold and Silver remakes

This is the deal- HGSS were already Crystal remakes split into 2 versions. They could just remake GS and remove the crystal isms, but that seems unlikely to me

A new take on gen 2

A Legends Kanto and Johto game since they're connected, a revised version of the original ideas for Gold seen in the Space World demo, etc. By now, GF have to be aware that WE are aware of that demo and several of the beta pokemon and chamges. Some fun could be had.

Personally, my bet is a safe Crystal remake split into 2 again. Nothing too fancy, just gen 2 in 3D. Don't wanna scare genwunners or og fans.

Anyway, that was a lot for what could ultimately be nothing at all. In fact, they could follow SV with Johto first and then Unova, or do neither in favor of something new. I'm not gonna deny the possibility of one happening and the other not, and hell, they could drop gen 10 in 2025 on schedule. Could also do a Legends Unova game or similar by itself, then Johto by itself, then gen 10. Could even be a second set of dlc. Who knows, man.

Anyway thanks for reading if you've come this far. Anxiety is a bitch and rambling about this series helps me relax.

#pokemon #dd's theory corner #unova remakes #johto remakes

3 notes · View notes

minuy600 · 5 months

Text

Atari 2600 Chronicles 1980 #7 - Boxing

Third parties! Weird to think that it took several years before they actually became a real thing on console. Sure, we had the console manufacturers creating *clones* of popular arcade games before (Circus Atari), or get the license to make an adaptation of the official thing (Space Invaders), but this is the first clear cut example of another publisher putting something on store shelves that works on the 2600 just fine.

Then again, Activision, the company in charge of the next 4 games i'm gonna cover, consisted mostly of disgruntled ex-Atari employees that wanted more (and deserved) more credit for their work. We're gonna have to wait a little longer before we see a start-up that came entirely outta nowhere.

The main difference between Atari and Activision games at this point is that the latter seemingly enjoys style over substance more. These early titles actually have *less* content than what Atari brought to the table in 1980, and debateably 1979 too. However, they are visually surperior and feel muuuuch less dated thanks to it. You'll see this to greater effect with several of the upcoming titles. Boxing itself is a very, *very* subtle take on it.

The Verdict

Graphics (6): If you SQUINT, you can see a little bit of the Activision sauce put over this simple overhead boxer. There's this little graphic at the bottom of the screen that would keep showing up throughout the company's 2600 history. Reading 'Activision'. It looks pretty good. The font also got an improvement over Atari's offerings, being smaller and more rounded. This'll also keep being a factor throughout. Now the game itself? You'd need to understand that the boxers have way more frames of animation and the subtle detail of having their noses bopped in when hit before you can appreciate it. Oh, and get used to the boxers looking like lobsters if you can't get the hang of the overhead perspective.

Sound (5): There's exactly 2 sound effects in this game. The punching noise and the 'ding ding' of the bell when a round is over. Man. They are good sounds, once again largely beating Atari in giving off a modern vibe, yet is that really enough when the quantity is THAT low? Going straight down the middle for this one.

Fun Factor (5): I can vaguely see what the hubbub is about when some reeeeally nostalgic types call this one of the best boxing games ever. It's certainly one of the first competent ones, I will go as far as saying that. Landing a blow, or better yet, a combo by wailing on the opponent when he is on the ropes, that can be a little bit of fun. However, it's all too fleeting. Too shallow. Seems like the game struggles to connect (automatically adjusted) hits for ya too, it happened far too often that I thought I would have found the right spot, only for the game to play an awkward whiff of an animation and be none the wiser. Strategy also kinda goes out of the window when playing against the AI, I don't think I lost a single match by just bashing him up without thinking about it.

Longevity (4): Relying heavily on the players making their own fun in multiplayer isn't doing it anymore i'm afraid. You can set the AI/second player and yourself to a higher or lower speed and that's literally all you can do to change things up. A small group of people got their money's worth out of this one in the 80s, for me this is nothing more than compilation fodder. Something you'll play twice to get the Activision Anthology stamp, which is what I was playing this on. And that's exactly what I did. I actually got enthousiastic about reading about this supposed 'difficulty setting', turns out that's just their naming of the higher speed switch. Bleh.

In Conclusion

#retro gaming #minuy600 #review #sona #atari 2600 #1980 #boxing #activision

3 notes · View notes

nemesis-is-my-middle-name · 1 year

Note

That last Ingo and Emmet one was so heartbreaking omfg. I genuinely nearly started crying at the end there; using Emmet's pov first so that his last words echoed throughout Ingo's entire section was so genius but so, so painful. :( It definitely makes me want to see something where they're together though, so could I possibly get something for Emmet and Ingo with the first one on the list, "hugging them as they're crying"? I'm not sure if it'd actually be any less painful, because there's a lot of places you could take that, but after that last one I just need for this salt and pepper shaker set to be complete once more.

(101 ways to say i love you with actions)

( >:3c THANK YOUU... divine symmetry. very last one and then the very first. this is gonna be sort of a continuation of that one i think)

Ingo is different now that he's back. This is obvious, and was inevitable. He's been living an entirely different life for years, and though his memories are slowly returning, there's no magic cure for the length of time he spent entirely without them. But people change, they adapt; it's what they're good at. And he's still the same Ingo, underneath all that. It can't help but shine through in the moments where he acts without really thinking.

So if his brother is more reserved now, or prefers to take a more aggressive strategy in battles, or hesitates more over his words, or, or—that's all fine. Emmet would learn, would rearrange things to make that a part of their life, if it was what made him happy.

Except, he can't tell if it does make him happy. Mostly due to the presence of this giant stupid wall he's putting up between them.

That is not a change he is okay with.

Communication has always been their bedrock. It's what made everything else work. But now he barely talks to him about anything, unless directly asked. And even then he dodges the question half the time, even though Emmet can tell there's still something making him uncomfortable, because his physical mannerisms are one thing that really haven't changed at all. It's still a guessing game half the time, and it's so—frustrating. There's a literal, physical distance between them, which is such a point-blank metaphor for what's going on that it would be funny if it wasn't so worrying. He dodges around him, intentionally takes the longer route, like he'll burn him if he gets too close.

Emmet hasn't come out and demanded an explanation, yet, because. Well, half because between the both of them, Ingo is, ironically, still the better one at conversations. And the directness is one of the things he seems to flinch from, now (which hurts, because he doesn't know how else to be—) and he doesn't want to make things worse. And, maybe a little bit, because he's not sure he wants the answer.

(What if part of the difference now is Ingo doesn't trust him? He's not sure how he could live with that.)

But he can't keep doing this, either. Or, he won't.

Ingo's on the couch when he finds him, reading their heavily annotated copy of a book cataloguing Doubles abilities and moves. Before he can back down again, Emmet takes a seat next to him.

"I want to talk," he announces.

He sees the flicker of doubt—reluctance—in the way the book in his hands pulls back, but then he stops, and sets it down. "...Very well," he says, voice still hovering somewhere in uncertainty. "About... what?"

"You are far away. And I do not like it."

"...I am right here," he says, sounding puzzled. "You could reach out and touch me, if you liked."

"You are here physically," he says, frustrated, and then pauses—no, that needs clarification. "But you are keeping your distance. On purpose. I think. You will not tell me anything. That is far away. And you do not want me to touch you."

Ingo inhales sharply, at that, like he has something to counter it—but then he doesn't say anything.

He looks down, drumming his fingers on the back of his hand, while he puts his conclusion together. "I told you before that I do not care. If you change. But I want to know why. And I want to help if something is wrong. And I do not like guessing. That is why I am specific. I want you to do the same. At least a little. Please." He hates that he has to repeat this, to his brother of all people.

Ingo opens his mouth, and then shuts it, and then finds a piece of patterned blanket to pick at.

"I have been distant," he repeats, confirming what he understands. "Physically and verbally. And this is not... you want me to be... more direct. More open."

"Yes."

He traces a straight line, frown pinched and deepened.

Then he says, "The Pearl Clan reveres space."

"Okay?" Emmet tilts his head, able to parse that this was somehow significant, but not able to interpret how.

"They revere space," he repeats, with more emphasis this time. And then continues, "They treat it with the utmost respect. It must be kept neat, and clean, and cared for communally... so, many things are... left unsaid. To argue in a public space would be disrespectful to it, so communication is... indirect. And to bother other people would be an invasion of their own, personal space. Thus there is a... distance. A physical distance. Maintained at all times." He holds one arm out to the side, as if delineating an invisible personal-space bubble.

"To... touch a clanmate, or even be particularly close to them, was... rare. Reserved for private moments, or emergencies where it couldn't be helped, or..." His hand drops back down, and he adds on, "And I was ever an outsider. Becoming a warden did not help with that. Not when it so far removed me from the rest of them."

He takes a deep breath, and this time it shakes a bit, though his voice stays steady. "I assumed... or, I... if I have been distant, it is because..." it's unusual to see him struggle this much, grasping for the right words. Finally he says, slightly snappy like he's frustrated, "I do not know where the line is, anymore. Distant is all I can remember. If this set of rules is wrong, then..."

He raises one hand to his forehead, smooths back his hair. "What I want is too much. I know that. But that does not make for much of a benchmark."

Suspicion and concern gnawing at him, he echoes, "What do you want?"

He curls back on himself, one hand folded against his chest like he's guarding it, head angled down in a way that would hide his face if he were wearing his hat.

"...everyone is so far away," he says, voice much smaller than it usually is.

It isn't difficult to hear the pain in his voice, or see it in the way his other hand twists a handful of blanket. Emmet takes a breath, but then, he isn't the wordsmith between them. So he just reaches over, arms open, and, like he's ached to do since they reunited but hasn't been allowed, he hugs his brother.

He holds him, silently, chin on his shoulder, hand on the back of his head, feels his unsteady breathing. Until he gets an answer, in the form of a pair of arms reaching up to wrap around his shoulders.

"Understand?" he asks.

"Yes- I-" his voice wavers, and then catches on a sob, and then his shoulders are shaking.

Despite himself, Emmet feels a spike of relief. A surge of, there you are. I found you.

He can feel him trying to fight it back—to pull away again, veil his emotions, keep the distance—but he rocks them both back and forwards, silently, holding him tighter, trying to say without words, it's okay, it's okay, just stay.

"I missed you," Ingo says, after a while, voice still rough.

"You did not remember me," Emmet points out.

"No," he agrees. "But- I missed you, regardless. I knew–" his voice catches again. "Something was missing, and I– and it–" he breaks off.

"I know," he answers. "I missed you too."

#the nemesis speaks #the nemesis answers #anonymous #swift writes

7 notes · View notes

lilalbatross · 2 years

Text

absolutely itching for Ted Lasso season 3 so I can studying their formations and strategy with my football magnifying glass, but my trash boys at Leicester City played a fucking bananas formation yesterday that I think Richmond could absolutely rock so I’m pleased to say I am temporarily Back On My Bullshit

long post under the cut as usual

so what they played was this:

if you recall my positions and formations post, you read this from defence to forward. so, I’m pleased to acquaint you with the 3-1-4-2. this is not a 3-5-2, which implies either a flat mid or two defensive mids depending on who’s running it. no no no we’re getting a little weirder with it. but first: how the fuck does this work?!

all the formations Richmond used on the show run 4 defenders out the back—two centre backs and two fullbacks. so this is just one centre back, yes? Wrong. If you’re running a defensive trio, you’re actually running three centre backs. your big dudes! your aerial boys! do you wanna bulldoze a striker? you’ve got three guys ready and willing.

now the midfield. we’ve got a defensive mid floating between the CBs and the rest of the mids. he’s reinforcing the defence to try to prevent counter-attacks. he’s a pain in the ass. if Roy wasn’t retired this would 100% be Roy, no question. you want this to be someone good at keeping possession in tight spaces so he can try to receive from the CBs and move the ball up while under pressure.

now, that 4. two attacking mids. nothing too special here. we’ve seen this before. but the wings? those boys on the outside are responsible for the entire length of the pitch. 3 CBs of course means 0 fullbacks, so the wings are actually wingbacks, a combination winger/fullback position. everybody else is in the middle, so the wingbacks go deep into the attacking end and absolutely must be coming back to defend as well. 33 & 27, Leicester’s WBs above, are actually normally fullbacks cause that defensive awareness is super super important. the WBs can make or break this shit if they aren’t hustling back to help their goddamn CBs.

and then of course two strikers. gotta be two in a formation like this. this formation is set up to absolutely choke the middle of the pitch. with the expectation of how deep the WBs have to come back, the strikers can’t necessarily count on wing support on a counter-attack, so they have to rely on each other.

now, how would Richmond run it? personally, I think something like this would absolutely slap:

I put Zoreaux in net but if O’Brien’s back in rotation then it could just as easily be him. Keeper’s not the focus here.

CBs: Jan plays on the left when in a 4 with Isaac, and Reynolds plays right CB with Isaac in s1, so this trio pulls on a few strengths. 1) Isaac can play comfortably on either side of a duo. 2) Isaac has worked with both of these guys. I can’t overstate how important it is that CBs know how to work with their partner(s). Everybody’s style of play is a little different, so you absolutely must be familiar with what your other CB’s gonna do, what his weaknesses are, how to cover for each other, who’s gonna push in certain contexts and who will drop back or wide, etc. This formation is hard on the CBs, so this trio relies on their existing strengths to give them the most solid set-up. Isaac’s one of the stars here, to me

We’re not using Winchester. I still haven’t forgiven him for that offside.

Centre mids: Moe and Richard, same deal. They know how to work together as a CM duo (see the 4-4-2 Richmond runs in s2). Moe, particularly, I think would be strong in this type of formation cause they use him as an attacking mid already, and he seems like a tricky little player (Manuel Lanzini vibes, to me). Shannon’s there largely cause we don’t know how most of the background guys play, but they use Shannon as a DM in 1x10 so to me he’s the safest choice.

WBs: Colin is...maybe on thin ice for me here a lil bit cause I haven’t seen anything out of him to suggest strong defensive skills lol. I love the little bastard but he’s maybe not the best fit. If anything, Goodman might be better as a classic left fullback (again see the 4-4-2) and also quite frankly cause he and Jamie are bros and the WBs here are the ones most likely to be playing crosses and thru balls in for the strikers. You can’t tell me Jamie and Goodman don’t fuck around practicing that shit in their free time.

Now, Sam on the other hand would absolutely shine in this formation. He has experience as both a FB and a winger, so he’s got that perfect mix of defensive and offensive positional knowledge to be an asset at both ends of the pitch. I would be stunned if they ran this and Sam didn’t end up with at least an assist. Obisanya Man of the Match? it’s more likely than you think

And then of course our strikers. Our dynamic duo. Our pains in the other team’s asses. This formation largely works because it smothers the centre of the pitch, so you gotta have the boys up front to punish the other team when they give up possession and boy howdy are Dani and Jamie a dangerous pair

I think Richmond has all the pieces to make some weird bullshit like this work spectacularly well. But also I’m just desperate for them to play something more interesting that the 4-4-2 they ran in s2. I get it! You want two strikers! But god damn there are more exciting way to do that please I’m begging you

#ted lasso #afc richmond #isaac mcadoo #jan maas #sam obisanya #colin hughes #richard montlaur #moe bumbercatch #dani rojas #jamie tartt #and i wouldn't be analyzing richmond's formations if i didn't absolutely shit on some of their coaching decisions at the same time #442 is boring! do something else!

53 notes · View notes

nerdyenby · 1 year

Text

Aqua time :D I’m watching Scar

Pregame

Hearing ace race sound effects during the starting soon is way more amusing to me than it has any right to be

Ooooo AI is their theme

Chatgpt is a bit icky and it feels weird using it with the WGA strike going on but I think this was before that and Scar’s enthusiasm is contagious

Ai is scary y’all

Chatgpt is flirting with them 😭

I already fanboyed about these skins in other pics but they’re everything!!! AQUA ANDROIDS!!!! (I know Scar’s calling them AI Axolotls but in my heart it’s Aqua Androids)

Gosh, we don’t talk about Ranboo’s first parkour warrior in this house, it was something

They are an edm band, so true

Nalan got to hang out with Scar and get a tour of hermitcraft :))

“We’re gonna start on time today!” Now this is why we don’t say things like this

Grid Runners

Useless nicknames are my favorite thing ever, cutting two syllables down to one doesn’t make much of a difference but it always sounds so unreasonably affectionate (yes this is about Scar calling 5up “5”)

I feels like they are zooming

That red herring got everyone so bad 😭

They might’ve gotten 10th but they did not do bad, no one got stuck on anything this time

Parkour Warrior

We do need game logo t-shirts, so true Scar!!

Scar jumpscaring everyone with his *ba dump psss” 😂

NOOOOOOOOO alll that painnnnnn

AGAINNNNNN????? Oh goodness, Scar

Scar already falling as overtime starts 😭

Stop being so hard on yourselves, it’s second game, you got this

“We’ll make H proud” yeah you will!!!

Sands of Time

Scar don’t need 5up coaching, H already got him trained up

Scar in his runner arc, he’s killing it!!

He’s now dead but it’s alright, he needed to get back anyway

Oh my gosh, that was rough

He’s got it though

Scar breaking out the dodging strats 😂

It’s a miracle he made it out alive though

Ace Race

Scar stopping to turn on toggle sprint as soon as the game starts is so iconic actually

He might’ve come last but that was such a good feeling run, he killed it and was close to others almost the entire time!!

Meltdown

Rip, unfortunate

Aw again :/ bad luck, they played well though

EVERY TIME?!??? What the heck

The way they’re not even upset just 😑 “really”

#teamnotlast becoming “#teamlast” 😂

Battle Box

They’re doing really well!!

The way they were all so chill until they saw red and all hell broke loose

Yeah I’m not a fan of this map, not from a gameplay point of view, it’s fine, it just feels too sweaty for the event

Not last!!!

… what did Scott do to them? I just kinda accepted that Scott gets bullied by everyone but I probably know the backstory and just forgot it

Sky Battle

The barn strategy is always an option

Barn time!!!

They’re so chill, usually skybattle feels frantic but they’re just vibing

Impulse my beloved!!!

The loudest silence I’ve ever heard was when it popped up that they were 10th overall

“We wanted last, right? That’s what we wanted?” “Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah” never change, boys, never change

I’d love to see this team again in an event with rocket spleef and buildmart, they’d pop off, I just know it

Impulse is so unsure of what he’s doing but every team I’ve watched is just yelling /pos, you’re doing great sweetie

Hole in the Wall

“In the beginning eat your carrots, and in the late game eat your steak” “I like your optimism…” “I believe in you all fully!!” 5up my beloved

I take it back, my man just called “north” 😭

Aww Scar just jumped right into the gap

Not again :(((

Dodgebolt

“I have more friends on purple” vs Impulse holding a grudge against the mean gills 😂

Impulse having to remind Scar that they’re actually rooting against their friends is so iconic

Impulse is so petty, I love him

Let’s go Gumi, I believe!!

Congrats purple!!!

Scar, sadly: “Unfortunately that was my worst performance in MCC” Impulse, sounding oddly excited: “Yeah, me too!!”

“Meltdown was a meltdown” REAL

#mcc 30 #mcc #mc championships #goodtimeswithscar #impulsesv #5up #illumina #nerdy’s mcc reactions

6 notes · View notes

phantomrose96 · 3 years

Text

Buds After the Frost

This was supposed to be a short warm-up writing exercise yesterday and then it got... longer. Enjoy!!

...

The doors opened for Maddie Fenton with a pneumatic hiss. Pressurized nitrogen released, splitting open the vacuum seal on the door as its twin halves slid apart, slotting into the wall-mounted sleeves. The nitrogen misted out, cold and dry, air currents catching in swirls around Maddie Fenton’s lab coat. Her feet thocked against hollow metal, amplified by the coldness and the vastness of the containment room beyond.

She paused short of the specimen’s cell, mindful attention drawn to the panel of controls nested rightmost against the wall. The monitor read out stats, tracked metrics of the specimen’s heartrate and blood oxygenation and blood pressure. Dials beneath the screens offered her means of interaction, manipulating the cage’s environment without needing to tamper with it by hand. She ignored these, as she had been ignoring them the entire time, and paid mind only to the single switch which would seal shut the doors behind her.

She pressed it. Another pneumatic hiss followed, locking out the world behind her. Her breath curled, cold. She and the specimen were alone.

“No coffee this morning?” he asked.

Maddie sat down at the control panel, elbow leaning against the dashboard for support. She turned to the cage. “No. One of the interns broke the pot last night. New one should be delivered today.”

Phantom let out a huff of air. “You mean in this whole gigantic mega-hyper-futuristic government lab, there’s nothing that can stand in as a coffee pot?”

“I wouldn’t stay employed long if I tried using equipment to brew coffee.”

“Use one of the big ectoplasm beakers. Ectoplasm washes out with soap and water. Just suds it up and throw it in the coffee maker. I’m an expert about these things.”

“It’s more about protocol.”

Phantom waved her off. “’Protocol.’ Bureaucracy is standing between you and a delicious cup of ectoplasmic coffee, Dr. Fenton.”

Maddie looked forward now, taking him in. He’d hovered to the front of the cell, translucent reinforced glass separating him from the rest of the lab. Green eyes shined above a cheeky smile, a dusting of loose white hairs falling over his eyes, the rest of his bangs swept slightly to the side. His tailed flickered, his aura pulsed, his vital readings blipped out steady, normal, healthy.

“Phantom?”

“Yeah?”

Maddie paused.

“Why are you still here?”

The ghost boy let out a small guffaw. He motioned his arms around him, hands waving. “I dunno. Maybe the big ghost-proof box I’m in has something to do with it?”

“The shield is down, Phantom,” Maddie answered quietly. She set her eyes to Phantom, investigating. “…I put it down last night. It’s down now. You knew this.”

Phantom took just a moment too long to react, eyebrows arching up. “Oh, huh! Nope I didn’t notice. I mean it’s not like I’m constantly throwing myself at the barrier to electrocute myself so no I just didn’t try getting past it last night so I didn’t notice.”

“Phantom,” Maddie said again, voice measured, words stern. “You saw me crank down the dial that controls the shield.”

“Well I don’t know what all those buttons and dials do.”

“Yes you do. You’ve been observing me since day 1. You knew.”

Phantom kicked back in the air, floating a fraction back and higher. “Well maybe I thought it was a trap, I dunno. Or maybe I just like to get in your head, you know? What unpredictable thing will Phantom do next! Gotta write another 200 equations about ghost theory to figure that one out, Dr. Fenton.”

“Phantom.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you not want to leave?”

“Oh I wanna leave.”

“Then why aren’t you?”

“We’re having a conversation. That’d be rude.”

“Will you leave as soon as I exit the room?”

“Who knows?”

“Phantom.”

“Yeah?”

Maddie stood. She left her chair and the control panel behind. She walked up to the specimen cage instead. It was cubic, a skeleton of metal bar ribbings with a metal mesh that plastered the glass sides like a membrane. The top anchored to the ceiling, the bottom—raised by about a foot—anchored to a pedestal on the floor. Maddie stared through the mesh into Phantom’s eyes.

“Is there anyone who realizes you’re missing?” she asked.

Phantom chewed on the question. “Nah. Well um, trick question, actually. Probably not. Assuming I do this right, then no one has even realized I’m gone.”

“Do what ‘right’?”

“You know that thing about Clockwork I explained?”

“You said he’s the ghost that controls time and reality.”

“Yeah. SUPER powerful.”

“And you said you …were from one of those other realities.”

Phantom nodded. “Maybe I touched some things in Clockwork’s lair I wasn’t actually allowed to touch. Jury’s still out on whether I’m in trouble for that or not. I’ve been a little too ‘stuck in this reality’ to know if Clockwork is pissed. But yeah, I got um, bopped into your reality instead of mine. So technically my reality is lacking me right now, and yeah there’s people there who’d know I’m missing.”

Phantom flipped upside-down, as though laying on his back. He rested his palms beneath his head, elbows out, suspended in an invisible hammock, head tilted far back so that he still stared at Maddie. “Especially since it’s been, what, a month that I’ve been gone?”

“2 weeks.”

“What? No way. I’ve been here absolutely forever it has to have been at least a month.”

“This is day 14 of your observation, Phantom.”

Phantom blew a strand of hair out of his face. “Anyway. Two weeks is still long enough to have a search party out on my butt. But whether or not that’s happened is up to – it’s kind of a Schrodinger thing. Because here’s my strategy. Assuming Clockwork hasn’t banned me from reality-hopping forever, I can just get him to send me back to my own reality at the precise moment in time I vanished. And then bam, no one ever knows I was gone. And it makes no difference whether I do that today, or next week, or next month. So assuming you eventually let me go, then I’m all set there.”

“You say that almost like you don’t care when it happens.”

“I dunno, more like I’m just not losing sleep over it. It’s not like I have a say in the matter. You do. I don’t.”

“Is the time you spend here just meaningless, to you?”

“I wouldn’t say meaningless. I’m still aging goddammit.”

“You’re a ghost.”

“I’m complex.” Phantom flipped right-side-up again. “If I start growing facial hair, send me back. I’m gonna have some awkward questions to answer if I show up again with a ghost beard suddenly.”

“…And what if I never send you back?” Maddie asked, careful with her words. “How does your plan work if you stay here forever? If I destroy you first?”

“Um. …It doesn’t, I guess.” Phantom set a hand to his chin, thinking. “Yeah um, please don’t do that. I don’t wanna worry my whole family like that.”

“Do you really mean that?”

“What part?”

“That you have a family.”

“I mean. I think that came up in Interrogation Session #3. Consult your notes.”

“I just have a hard time believing you.”

“Because I’m a ghost?”

“Yes.”

“I’m a complex ghost.”

“I know. You keep saying that.”

“It’s true.”

Silence filtered in between them.

“…What is your family like, Phantom?”

Phantom stiffened a fraction, his eyes finding Maddie’s and shifting away. “Oh, you know, family.”

“Do they exist here too?”

“Huh?”

“You’re from another reality, at least you’re claiming you are.”

“I gotta be. The me from this reality died 6 months ago, didn’t he?”

“The you from most realities is dead, Phantom. You’re a ghost.”

“A complex ghost.”

“The you from this reality was destroyed 6 months ago.”

“Which you validated with your own sciencey equipment, right? You said so! So you know I’m not lying. Unless you think I recombobulated myself from being a protoplasmic smear on the sidewalk.” Phantom caught himself, registering the flinch in Maddie’s body. He deflated a bit, eyes averted. “S-sorry. Inconsiderate phrasing.”

“Why?” Maddie asked, tone flat, blunt.

Phantom’s eyes shifted back. “Um. Just. You know. That accident was. There were um, you know—”

“Human causalities.”

Phantom squirmed. “We don’t have to talk about that, you know? No one wants to talk about that. Okay as a ghost I guess ‘talking about how I died’ is sort of a bit more normal, but this is weird yeah, ‘talking about how an alternate-me died permanently’? That’s morbid. No one wants to talk about that.”

“Okay then. You can go back to answering my previous question.”

“Um. I forget.”

“Does your family exist in this reality?”

“Um, well who really knows, you know? I had like a grand total of 20 minutes of freedom in this reality before you captured me, so, don’t ask me like I’m any kind of expert about your reality. What’s it matter?”

“I want to know if there’s anyone in this reality who’s mourning you.”

Phantom’s face schismed with surprise. His front dropped, and the first look of genuine emotion sank into his glowing eyes. “Woah… That’s um, weirdly nice, of you, I guess. Why do you… want to know?”

Maddie said nothing.

“I. Um. I think the answer is no? So don’t um. Worry about that. If you were worried? Which is weird. I’m the enemy, aren’t I? Evil spooky ghost to be studied?”

“I’m not so sure what you are…” Maddie answered. “I heard you got destroyed trying to save them.”

“The um… the human casualties?”

“Yes.”

“I said we don’t have to talk about that.”

“Phantom.”

“What?”

“Do you know who they were?”

“The… casualties?”

“Yes.”

“Come on we’re on a different topic now.”

“Do you know who they were?”

“I don’t—how’m I supposed to know? I don’t know how I died here, you know? You think I’ve got some kind of like… parallel-universe death vision?”

“So you don’t know?”

“N-no.”

“I have a different question, then.”

“Okay, good, because I haven’t been liking these previous ones.”

“Are you staying just to keep me company?”

Phantom faltered. He looked left, then right, hand scratching at his chin. “I’m staying because I’m in a ghost-proof box.”

“It’s not ghost-proof anymore. The shields are down.”

“I feel like you’re circling around some accusation I’m not smart enough to follow. This feels like entrapment.”

“Then I’ll be more direct.”

“Oh no there is an accusation.”

“I think you do know how you were destroyed in this universe, Phantom.” Maddie took a step forward, and she let her left hand touch the glass, eyes focused on her fingers. “I think you know what happened at the Nasty Burger.”

“That’s—um—the human food… consumption… location… that the local human adolescents meet at, yes?”

Maddie looked up, and she locked Phantom with her stare. He squirmed, and he relented.

“I um…” he continued. “I—yeah—yeah, okay? I know about the Nasty Burger accident. It was supposed to happen to me too in my reality but I—Clockwork—stopped it from happening in my reality.” Phantom glanced left, right, as if staring beyond the confines of his cage. “When I first got knocked into this reality, I went to go find the Fenton portal so I could try to refind Clockwork and fix this and… Well it wasn’t there. And I tried to find some people I know and… I checked out the library in case the Fentons just lived somewhere else and. I um. I found the articles.” His eyes focused on hers again. “They all say you were the only survivor, yeah…?”

“I was sick, that day. It was just a cold. My husband Jack went without me.”

“I’m sorry…”

“It took my daughter and my son too.”

“I’m so sorry…”

“And it destroyed you.”

Phantom opened his mouth, but no words followed.

Maddie looked up.

“You knew this. You’ve known this ever since I captured you.” Maddie let her hand slide away from the glass. “Did you let me capture you?”

“Why would I let you capture me?”

“Because you feel sorry for me.”

Phantom’s eyes flickered about, unwilling to meet hers. “…Nah. Nah. I don’t—come on ‘sorry’? I’m a ghost you know? Bane of humanity! We’re enemies. You were just too skilled a hunter and you captured me.”

“And yet you won’t leave.”

Phantom lapsed silent.

“I um… I wasn’t happy to read about—to know the, the thing at the Nasty Burger happened here, okay? That’s something that I kinda didn’t want to believe existed in any reality anymore, but I guess… And if you were still alive. I was… maybe just kind of happy to see you? That you were okay. And still hunting. That was kind of, like a small relief.” Phantom glanced away, back again. “I wasn’t evil, you know. In my reality or this one. I care about what happened to the Fentons…”

“You let me capture you. …And you did it because you thought it would be a nice thing for you to do for me.”

“I Just—I thought maybe, um… I mean when you phrase it like that. I mean what else could cheer up renowned ghost hunter Maddie Fenton quite like a ghost subject to study? Me, especially? The ghost boy or public enemy #1 or whatever. I’m fun, aren’t I?”

Silently, Maddie pushed away from Phantom’s cage. She moved to the control panel, stiff movements and numb fingers. She entered the release code into the console, and unslung the key from her neck to twist into the override, and she threw down each successive lever in the row of four lining the top of the mechanisms.

The scrape of glass sliding away sounded behind her. All four walls of Phantom’s enclosure dropped away, metal mesh sliding away piece-meal. Phantom stared at her, blinking, floating in place.

“You’re free to go, Phantom.”

“I—uh—well hang on, I don’t think the Guys In White would be too happy about that. You can’t just let me—”

“Go, Phantom.”

“They could like, fire you.”

“I don’t care about this job.”

“I—come on, you still wanna study me, don’t you? Chat with me? If you feel bad maybe just get me a couch and some video games for my cage then I’ll be—”

“Phantom.”

“What?”

“Go home to your family.”

The half-hearted smile dropped from Phantom’s face.

“Come on. You can’t just evict me on such short notice. I’m not ready for Clockwork to kick my ass so soon.”

“Go home.”

“I’m not in any rush! I like talking to you. Don’t you—don’t you like talking to me too? In like a scientific way?”

Maddie lowered herself into the chair by the control panel. She leaned forward, arms pooled in her lap, eyes to the floor. “You have a family to get back to, Phantom.”

“It’s—there’s time travel shenanigans! Like I said they don’t even know I’m gone.”

“Every single day, Phantom,” Maddie looked up, eyes stern, “…I wish every single day that my own family would just come back home. I won’t do the same to you. I won’t do the same to your family.”

Phantom said nothing. A somber acceptance sunk into his eyes.

“They’re… alive, you know. In my dimension.”

Maddie dropped her head, and she blinked away the wetness in her eyes.

“I actually… in my dimension I’m kind of closer to the Fentons than I think the, the Phantom in this dimension was. It’s… complex.”

Maddie said nothing. Silence built between them.

“Jazz is um… Jazz is applying for colleges, y-you know. She got in early-acceptance to Yale but um, we all—they all—visited Columbia last month and I think that’s what she wants the most. I can see Jazz in New York City. I think she’d rock it.”

Maddie blinked again. Tears plicked into her lap.

“…Should I stop?”

“Jack… Tell me about Jack.”

“Oh. Yeah he um… big and goofy as ever. He’s got some kind of eight-armed-octogun he’s working on. I know because I was his target practice, involuntarily by the way. He keeps trying to merge “Fenton” and “octopus” together with mixed results. We—Mo-addie—you… are still trying to talk him out of ‘Fentoctopus’.”

Maddie’s ribcage shuddered, a repressed sob, a repressed laugh.

“And Danny?”

“Danny… um… Danny is...” Phantom’s shoulders fell a little bit. He looked away, and then back at Maddie. “He loves you. I know that.”

Maddie blinked, and blinked again, and her eyes wouldn’t clear.

“And are they happy?”

“They’re happy.”

“Am I happy…?”

“You’re…” Phantom’s tail bounced. “You’re happy, I think. I like to think so. I think you’re very happy. You have a great family.”

Maddie nodded.

“Now go.”

“But I still—”

Maddie reached forward, and she grabbed the ecto-gun propped against the control panel. She lifted it into her shoulder, and flicked the safety, and the charge built along the rising whine.

“Go.”

Phantom balked. He blinked. He kicked away from his wall-less cage. “Not forever. I’ll be back. You won’t be alone here forever.”

He was gone.

And Maddie was alone again.

…

Clockwork surveyed the boy in front of him whose head was bowed nearly to the floor, white bangs trailing along cobblestone, hands clasped, apologies repeated, begging case made.

Clockwork ran a hand along his beard, which unfurled, drew back, undid itself with the shifting of his form to a simple child.

“So let’s see. You have the audacity to break my rules andbeg me to meddle on your behalf in the time stream, all in the same breath? Apologies don’t usually come with additional requests for favors.”

“I know,” Danny’s head dipped lower. “You can punish me however you want for touching the restricted timelines but you have to help it, or let me help this one timeline. Please, please just send me back to the Nasty Burger incident so I can save it.”

“It’s already been saved.”

Danny faltered. He looked up.

“You died at the Nasty Burger incident that night,” Clockwork elaborated, form shifting older. “There is no you to ruin that future. That timeline is safe. It’s a very lucky timeline.”

Danny blinked. “N-no. No that’s not what I mean. Save it like you saved my timeline.”

“That did happen. You’re describing your own timeline.”

“I mean do it to THAT one.”

“You are misunderstanding timelines.”

Danny lapsed silent. Worry bled into his eyes, and Clockwork sighed.

“There is no undoing timelines, Danny. There is only forking them by meddling in the stream. All futures and pasts you witness exist, and do exist, and continue to exist,” Clockwork paused, “with the exception of realities I needed to cull, to prevent utter catastrophe.” His gaze fixed on Danny. “The futures that your evil self destroyed, I did have to cull. And culling a reality is not to be done lightly.”

Clockwork motioned with his staff. “There were a handful of surviving realities that I was able to save. That room you meddled in without my permission—they contain the realities off the main track where, for one reason or another, something else succeeded at destroying your future self. …Your own deaths, in fact. In every one of those realities, Danny, you are dead.”

“I don’t…” Danny shook his head. “So then just tell me how to save that one I was in, okay?”

“Oh, that’s easy.”

“How?”

“You don’t.”

Danny said nothing. Clockwork shifted young.

“You can let it live on in that room, or you could ask me to cull it, Danny. You could ask me to cull every reality in that room, so that the main branch, the one you’re from, is the only reality in existence. So you never have to worry about any existence where your family is unhappy. And it will be that way until you, or I, or someone else, meddles with the timestreams again, and more splits occur.”

Still, Danny said nothing. Clockwork continued.

“Sometimes, a mass culling of realities is healthy for the tree of time, like pruning a plant down to its stalk to survive an unforgiving winter, or a terrible disease. But I did that, just recently, to save all of time from the blight of your future self. It would feel cruel to snip off the first buds that have come after the frost.”

Danny lowered himself to the floor.

“Okay…”

“Okay?”

He nodded. “Okay. Just. I have a different question then.” He looked up, a young devastation wet in his eyes. “Can I still go back and visit that reality, sometimes?”

“No. I cannot give you permission to do that.”

“Please!”

Clockwork spun his staff. A portal swirled into being in the space between him and Danny. Washes of color formed patterns, shapes, objects, images. Like a mirror, it reflected Clockwork’s lair beyond its shimmering surface.

“This is a portal back into your own reality. It is set to the location and the time that you vanished. Go there, and leave through the Fenton portal, and nothing will be amiss.”

“No. No no I won’t. Clockwork you have to let me—”

“I am doing you a favor, Danny, getting you home after you caused more trouble. Do not make further demands of me.” Clockwork curled forward, old, sallow skin sagging, and he turned his back to Danny.

“You have to give me permission—”

“I am the only one who has permission to meddle in realities, Danny. This is an absolute.” Clockwork glanced over his shoulder. “And because this is an absolute, I have no reason to have a lock on the room housing those budding other realities.”

Danny blinked.

“I wonder if anyone might break my rules anyway. I wonder if anyone might be nosy, and enter that room anyway, and water the plants in that greenhouse without my permission.” Clockwork stared forward again.

“Clockwork…”

“Luckily I am the master of all time. I would be able to see this coming. And maybe plan for it. If ever such a person would come into my lair, and meddle in my timelines, and try to spread a bit of his own kindness to the realities he couldn’t quite save, I would be fully prepared to stop him.” Clockwork spoke into the green abyss beyond him. “Unless, maybe, I were to accidentally have my back turned.”

Silence trailed after Clockwork’s words. He kept his back to Danny, staring into the abyss of swirling green ether beyond.

“…Thank you,” Danny answered, quietly. “I’ll be back.”

“I imagine you will. Those realities may get lonely without you.”

When Clockwork glanced back over his shoulder, both Danny and the portal were gone.

#Danny Phantom #dp #dp fanfiction #me: -writes any kind of interaction between Maddie and Phantom where Maddie has captured Phantom-#me: 'haha sick Phantom of Truth reference'#ANYWAY i got really attached to a terrible what-if #please enjoy

912 notes · View notes

bowithoutadaemon · 4 years

Text

I reached the last sentence/paragraph I want to write.

I know the point I wanna make. But how do sentence? Also German? How when thinking thought in non German? Plz want be done...

#bo studies social work #gonna use the strategy of doing something entirely different for a bit and then go back to it #also fucking hell i have like a bazillion things i wanna read up on more rn #idk whenever i am educating myself about othering and the construction of the concept of normal i feel like i am arming myself for a battle #the war for making society better for everyone in it

0 notes

aawesomepenguin · 3 years

Text

SONIC RANGERS, EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT IT, LINK FOR ALL SOURCES AT THE END

Ok, the time has come. I spent my entire day doing some searches on the 4chan website, picking and trying to find every nugget of information I could find that I was 100% sure it was connected to Sonic Rangers.

I’ll get this right out of the gate: I’m 95% sure the next main Sonic game will be open world, and what will follow is all my evidence towards it. It’ll be uncharted territory for the Sonic franchise, and we’ll need to see how it pays off.

Also, spoilers for Sonic Rangers, but kind of broad ones, so in my opinion, your experience wouldn’t be ruined if you read all of this. But if you’re one of those that want to go 100% blind, then I think the time to jump off this ship is now.

Here we go.

As it turns out, as I did some digging of my own, and thanks to other observant people, I can confirm that the “Sonic Rangers” name has been circulating on the Internet way, WAY before the accidental leak revealed on May 27th. I will show an entire timeline of these discoveries, and how they connect.

But okay, before we dive in, a general vision of Sonic Rangers: the game will take a brand new approach with the character, placing Sonic in an open world for him to explore. Where through his speed, he’ll do platforming challenges, do puzzles, fight against badniks, etc. When fighting against enemies, the player gains XP, that can be used to give Sonic different abilities. Spread through this world are bosses, where after you defeat them, Sonic obtains orbs, and when enough of them are gathered, Sonic can enter Special Stages, that are structured like a Sonic Generations/Sonic Unleashed boost level. When you complete them, you get a Chaos Emerald.

Ok, now let’s go to the 4chan leaks. From what I can tell, SEGA has been inviting different test groups to testplay their next main Sonic game, under a strict NDA. After it, SEGA collects feedback from the testers. I can’t exactly pinpoint when SEGA began to do these tests, but if I had to guess, it has been around as early as March 2020.

1st Occurrence

In July 2020, another fake leak claiming to be the 30th anniversary game showed up on 4chan, but then, as an answer to it, a person that has really played a test version of the next main Sonic game called the fake leaker out. The person that has put their hands on the next main Sonic game had the following to say:

“I playtested the game back in march and played it for an hour. There were no levels just an overworld. You’re full of s***.”

In another post, the person that got their hands on the testing version of the next main Sonic game, had the following to say:

“It was called Sonic Rangers when I played it.”

1st Occurrence analysis

I believe that the person that played the test version of Sonic Rangers has erroneously interpreted the open world as an overworld, which makes sense. Sonic Rangers name gets dropped for the first time.

2nd Occurrence

In August of 2020, another person that played a test version of Sonic Rangers, stated the following about the next title on the Sonic series:

“It’s not an adventure remake. I playtested it. They ARE working on something, but if they take feedback me and the other panelists gave them, SEGA might change quite a bit from what I ended up playing.

Open World

Set on a gloomy, grassy, uninhabited island dotted with ruins.

Big BOTW influence, little korok-like puzzles scattered everywhere.

Robot/alien bosses scattered throughout the island, defeat them and you get a Chaos Emerald.

Get all Chaos Emeralds and you gain entrance to the final boss area, a foggy forest you couldn’t enter before.

No major characters appeared aside from Sonic.

No story, just dumped in.

Turn Super Sonic to fight the boss, he’s a giant colossus-like entity that you climb, hit his weak points.

These could all be changed because I played a couple of months ago and there still hasn’t been any reveal, so I assume they might be reworking a lot.”

2nd Occurrence analysis

As you can see, in this version, some of the elements that were talked about in the most famous leak aren’t present, some missing elements were added later, but the basic was already present and in place. Sonic can travel through an open world, doing puzzles, defeating badniks and fighting against bosses, to then fight against a final boss as Super Sonic.

The most interesting thing is how the person that leaked these details claimed that they played it “a couple of months ago”, meaning that this version could take place after the build shown in the first occurrence. Some things have changed since then.

Another cool thing that I wanted to point out was that this build uses placeholder from previous Sonic games. During the final boss, the theme for the first boss fight against Infinite from Sonic Forces is used.

3rd Occurrence

In January of 2021, another anonymous 4chan user talked about Sonic rangers, once again mentioning the name “Sonic Rangers.” As their version is pretty edgy, and negative because Sonic Negativism gets clicks, I’m going to present it in a unbiased manner, and be direct to the point on what they said.

Sonic Rangers, around the end of 2020, was presented once more to a select group of people, two demos were shown. The first one allows exploration of the open world under a time limit of twenty minutes, and another demo that has an apparent Final Boss battle.

Open world is filled with small enemies, puzzles, and platforming challenges.

Completing puzzles, challenges and defeating badniks gives XP to the player as a reward, that can be used to unlock abilities for Sonic.

Among the abilities that Sonic can unlock, there is the “spincycle”, where after pressing the Y button, Sonic begins to create a line behind him, and if the player creates a circle-ish shape around the enemy or a group of enemies, Sonic attacks all the enemies that were “marked” within the spincycle line.

Homing Attack that can target multiple enemies at once, from Sonic Lost World, is back.

There are lots of bosses spread through the open world, when they are defeated, Sonic gets some “orbs”.

If the player gets enough orbs, he can access the “Cyberspace”, essentially this game’s special stage.

The cyberspace levels are like the boost levels in Sonic Generations.

When beating a cyberspace level within a certain amount of time, the player obtains a Chaos Emerald.

New voice clips for Roger Craig Smith were used.

Some new music was made for this build.

In regards to the demo where the player faces the final boss:

After reuniting all the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic can go through a dense fog that the player couldn’t access before in the open world.

A Giant Tree Robot is the apparent final boss.

Fly as Super Sonic using the spincycle and other abilities that were unlocked throughout the game to help defeat the final boss.

Can’t take damage, on a timer of rings. A Ghost girl refills the player’s ring count multiple times.

Demo ended after defeating the boss.

3rd Occurrence analysis

As you can see, this version polished even further the concepts that were talked about in the second occurrence. Instead of getting Chaos Emeralds after defeating a boss, Sonic gains orbs, where after this Sonic has to go after EVEN more bosses to get more orbs. With these orbs, the player can access a Special Stage, named Cyberspace, where you’ll be able to play a more traditional like Sonic game, to get the Chaos Emeralds.

This certainly helps the game longer, which is a plus for me. We’ll probably have seven boost levels, with them being treated like a Special Stage. They also added a XP system, and the main gimmick of this game, the spincycle, was shown in the trailer for Sonic Central.

Sonic will keep building up abilities, which is something I believe the player will be able to use them as different strategies on how to beat different types of bosses.

4th Occurrence

youtube

Sonic Central takes place, with a trailer for a new Sonic game at the end. Sonic is running through a forest, and then he begins to glow blue, creating a pixel effect, with a line following him. Sonic then runs in a circle with this new ability that makes him glow blue, and then exits screen.

4th Occurrence analysis

With the context we’ve piled up from previous occurrences, you can put some pieces together. Sonic is clearly activating a spincycle, the main gimmick for this new game, just like how it was said in the January 2021 leak. And just like how the leaker said, Sonic formed a circle-ish shape with this ability in the teaser trailer. Sonic creates a blue energy, creating a line behind him, allowing him to make patterns with it, maybe creating a shape that could surround his enemies?

5th Occurrence

Dataminers and modders are able to get their hands on the 4K trailer for the new Sonic game, finding out that the name of the game is, Sonic Rangers.

5th Occurrence analysis

It perfectly fits with what was stated previously in 4chan threads, specifically, the one from July 2020 and the one from January 2021. Helping give the 4Chan leaks even more credit.

6th Occurrence

SEGA, while sending out press kits to news websites, ends up slipping out the name for their next main Sonic game, Sonic Rangers.

"Announcing new console experiences, Sonic Colors: Ultimate and Sonic Rangers, further details on Netflix's Sonic Prime, mobile news, musical events and much more!"

-SEGA

It was an accident, and SEGA stated they sent an erroneous version, and when pressed about the Sonic Rangers name, it didn’t dwell into it any further.

6th Occurrence analysis

Coming straight from SEGA’s mouth, the name for the next main Sonic game is gonna be Sonic Rangers. This fits a lot with the rumours that came from 4chan from July 2020 and January 2021, making it EVEN MORE likely that the next main Sonic game is gonna be an open world game.

Conclusion

And that’s where we’re at now in terms of Sonic Rangers news. In my opinion, I’m 95% certain that these leaks are legit. Keep in mind that after the Sonic Rangers name came to light, 1001 other rumours were created, but these I have my doubts, since they now have a sturdy base, they can make up more stuff to go along with it.

My opinion: I’m particularly excited for this next main game. Sonic Rangers deals with uncharted territory for the Sonic series, and I feel like it could be very fun. But of course, I’m a guy that’s mostly chill and cool with most Sonic media out there, so form your own opinions.

Anyway...

HYPE FOR SONIC RANGERS!

Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4, Source 5 and Source 6.

#Sonic Rangers #Sonic the Hedgehog #SEGA #Sonic News #Sonic Speculation #Sonic #Sonic 2022 #SC2021 #Sonic Central

348 notes · View notes

crushed-like-an-ant · 3 years

Text

how to calm down an angry billionaire

Step 1. Deflect.

Peter was good at deflection. Always had been. It was a skill he'd picked up after people constantly tried to ask him about his feelings after his parents died, then again when Ben died. Any questions he didn't want to answer quickly turned into an animated conversation about whatever his mind thought of first (there had been that awkward time he'd asked a fellow orphan how their parents were), an apology and fast excuse to get the hell out of there (mostly worked except when he was panicking and the best he could come up with was a cheese making competition, that had caused a lot of questions Peter would rather never deal with again), or just flat out running away (sometimes he ran into poles or walls which was always a bit embarrassing given he was literally Spider-man). Sometimes Peter had to use all three options. So Peter knew when Tony finally decided to have the dreaded conversation about the whole not-my-first-time-holding-up-a-building thing, he would be able to deflect it. Or so he thought. Turns out, Peter had drastically underestimated the sheer stubbornness of Tony Stark.

It was a lab day, around three weeks after the incident where Peter and Tony had been stuck under a building and Peter stupidly let slip that he’d held up a building before. Peter had thought Tony had forgotten about his words. He was comfortable, tentatively confident and optimistic that it wouldn't be brought up again. He had no idea how wrong he was.

"Hey kid?" Tony said, cutting the comfortable silence between them as they worked, tone slightly hesitant. Peter should've picked up on it. He should've realised. But he'd grown complacent. So Peter ignored the dread pooling in his stomach and lifted his head from the mess of wires in front of him to look at Tony.

"Mr Stark?" he replied with a smile that Tony didn't return. Nor did he try to tell Peter to call him Tony. And that was how Peter knew something was wrong. Nerves skittered down his spine, clod fingers of dread snaking around his neck as nervous energy filled him and he began to tap on the desk. Anything to distract himself from the sorrow and worry shining in his mentor's brown eyes.

"Look kid, uh, I," Tony fumbled for words. Shit. This was bad. If Tony Stark was struggling to say something, you knew it was serious. Peter just stared at him in silence,unsure of what to say, anxiety coursing through his veins at the grimace that clouded Tony's features. What could possibly have gotten him into this mood? Had Peter done something wrong? Was he gonna, oh god, was he gonna take the suit? "Pete, I need to know what you meant when we were under the building," Tony finally managed to say, Peter relaxing. Oh. That was all?

"I just meant that I'd lifted a lot of heavy things," Peter half-lied, looking Tony straight in the eyes and lying to his face, mindful to make sure his tells were carefully under control. Training with Daredevil - despite Tony's misgivings about Double D - had been one of the best decisions Peter had ever made. He felt a twinge of guilt as he lied to Tony but it's not like he could tell the truth. And he wasn't really lying. Just withholding the entire truth. He shrugged nonchalantly, "Anyways, you reckon you can help me with this? I'm stuck. My mind kinda decided to go and die on me." Peter chuckled quietly. Tony wasn't laughing.

"I want to believe you, kid," Tony told him, "I really do. But I can't. You had a panic attack under there. What aren't you telling me Peter? Whatever it is, I'm here for you. You can tell me anything. And I don't want to pressure you into telling me anything until you're ready but I-I just-I need to know what happened. I need to know what you meant." Peter's resolve almost broke as Tony's voice broke. No. He couldn't tell Tony. Not only would Tony think he was weak, but Peter knew that Mr Stark would blame himself because he took the suit. Peter couldn't let him do that. Option one had failed him, so it was onto option 2. Make a quick exit without raising any suspicions. Yeah, he didn't think that was gonna work. Worth a shot though.

"Hey, Mr Stark," Peter said after checking his watch and pretending to look shocked at the time, "I'm really sorry but I have to go. I promised Ned we'd work on our Bio project tonight and I'm already seven minutes late." Mr Stark raised an eyebrow and pulled up a picture of Ned on his holiday in California.

"Nice try kid," Tony replied drily. Peter sighed, shoulders slumping. Time for option three then.

"I-I don't really know how to tell you, uh," Peter deliberately stuttered, guilt eating him up inside as he put on an act for Tony. For option three to work, Peter had to catch Tony off guard otherwise he'd react too quickly and lock the tower down. His act work, Tony's features softening and body relaxing.

"It's okay, bambino, take your time." And if that didn't make him feel like a horrible person, nothing would. Peter stood and padded over to some machinery near the exit, pretending to be trying to busy himself as he worked himself up to answering Tony when he was actually getting closer to the door.

"I, uh," Peter stumbled. Tony was now far away enough that Peter could easily run without being grabbed and stopped. The door was right there. Peter took his opportunity. He ran. Out the door, down the hallway, flying to the elevator. Pressing the button frantically, Peter groaned when nothing happened. Great. Tony had stopped the elevators. Sighing, Peter pulled the mask from his pocket and pulled it over his head, sprinting at the window. Peter burst through the window in a shower of glass, activating his web shooters as he fell, quickly shooting a web and catching himself. And he was swinging, swinging, swinging. Allowing himself to smile at his escape, Peter was unprepared when he was grabbed from behind by two cold metal hands. Thanks for nothing spidey sense. Tony flew a sulking Peter back through the broken window and into one of the meeting rooms, setting him down firmly in a seat. Peter crossed his arms, pouting as he pulled off his mask, Tony's Iron Man suit unfolding around him and the man stepping out, an unimpressed look painted across his features.

"You done deflecting yet?" Tony asked, a single eyebrow raised. Damn. Peter wished he could do that. Alas, no amount of practising in front of a mirror had ever given him the talent to lift one eyebrow and not look like a demented monkey. Time for a different strategy. Deflection had failed him. But Peter would not go down easy.

~~~

Step 2. Deny.

The unfortunate thing about this step was that Peter would always over-deny. He would deny everything or nothing. There was no in between. For example, he was once denying eating the last bit of chocolate and ended up accidentally telling May his name wasn't Peter and that he was an alien from outer space with a severe lettuce allergy. Don't ask. Peter really didn't want to relive that trauma. So although Peter always tried his best with denial, it never really worked out in his favour. Honestly, it was through sheer dumb luck that he managed to keep Spider-Man a secret from his friends and family for so long. It was probably some good karma that had been waiting for the perfect moment to help him out. It was a little late but hey, better late than never right?

"No," Peter blurted in a panic. Shock splashed across Tony's face as he folded his arms.

"Kid, you know you can tell me anything, right?" Tony told him gently.

"No," Peter exclaimed again, hurt painting the billionaire's face. "I mean, yes." Shitshitshitshitshit. Peter was an idiot. He had to deny everything - but not everything, Peter, remember the lettuce incident - so Mr Stark wouldn't find out. But Peter had always been shit at denial.

"Look, I know this is probably hard for you to talk about," Tony continued on, oblivious to Peter's internal panic, "but I won't judge you. I love you, bambino. You know that right? And I'll support you no matter what but I can't help you if you don't let me."

"No," Peter said. It was the only word he knew. Any more and he would have another lettuce incident or he'd end up rambling the truth. He couldn't do that. So his current vocabulary was limited to 'no', 'no', 'no' with a side of 'no'. Which wasn't suspicious at all. Totally.

"What the hell, kid?" Tony asked, mostly confused, slight irritation colouring his tone. Peter was hyper-aware of the thundering beat his heart was drumming to, the way Tony's slightly picked up when he said 'no', the sweat covering his body like a second skin. Tony's sigh sounded like a bomb to his sensitive ears, the sharp intake of breath before he spoke like a blaring alarm. "What did you mean when you said it wasn't your first time?"

"I didn't," Peter responded, brain not quite computing, "nothing happened." Tony's gaze narrowed. Shit. Was Tony going to take the suit if he didn't tell him? But Peter just couldn't tell him. He couldn't.

"Fucking hell Peter, just tell me dammit!" Tony exclaimed, running a hand through his messy brown hair in frustration. Peter knew - with the certainty that he knew his own name or the colour of his eyes - that denial had failed him. Time for Peter's next strategy.

~~~

Step 3. Stretch the truth.

When Peter's other strategies failed him, he turned to stretching the truth. It was simple really, just take the truth and dial it down from boiling hot to freezing cold and give it to the person on a silver platter with a charmingly innocent - and only slightly nervous - smile. Half-truths were easy to fool people with. Someone had said that the best lies were the ones based on truth. Peter couldn't remember who exactly had said that. He had never been very good with that sort of stuff, unlike MJ. So although stretching the truth was Peter's third option, he'd always been surprisingly good at it. People seemed to believe he was too innocent to be able to lie. Which was absurd because he'd spent ten years living with his Aunt and her terrible cooking and she still didn't know he hated her walnut date loaf.

"Okay," Peter conceded quietly and the rage slowly left Tony as he deflated like a balloon, looking smaller without all the fury. Peter sat down in front of Tony. "It was back in the fight with The Vulture and he threw a wall at me. I caught it and threw it back at him but he dodged it with his super awesome flying skills." Tony looked him straight in the eyes for a few seconds, Peter holding his gaze before Tony leaned forward.

"Cut the bullshit," Tony whispered, dangerously quiet, tightly compressed anger stemming from worry swimming in his brown eyes. "A wall wouldn't stay together if it was thrown, caught and thrown back. Even then, you wouldn't say it wasn't your first time while holding a building up unless you'd held up a fucking building already. And you wouldn't have a panic attack from holding up a building about something thrown at you. So stop lying to me, Peter Benjamin Parker." Damn. The full name. Peter released a heavy exhale, knowing he was beaten. He had to tell Mr Stark the truth.

"It actually was in the fight with the Vulture," Peter began, "so I wasn't lying about that. And I did have to catch a few walls." Tony raised his eyebrows at Peter's weak attempts at defending himself. "I went to his warehouse and he sent his flying suit at me. It wasn't particularly good at attacking 'cause it hadn't even touched me. I said that and Toomes told me it wasn't trying to." Tony inhaled sharply, clasping his hands together to stop them from shaking, Peter trying not to listen to how Tony's hands still hit each other gently. Enhanced hearing sucked sometimes. "He had directed the suit to take out all the supports in the building." Tony gasped, expression contorted into one of such extreme guilt and sorrow that Peter wanted to shelter Tony from the world for the rest of his days because goddammit he's seen too much and been through enough and couldn't the world just give him a fucking break for once? No one deserved one more than Mr Stark did.

"I took the suit," Tony whispered, voice thick with emotion, "I took the suit. It was your only protection, damn it, and I took the fucking suit!" Tony was yelling now, self-hatred and rage dancing in his wild brown eyes.

"It wasn't your fault, Mr Stark," Peter tried to tell him.

"How?" Tony scoffed, laughing bitterly, "How was this not my fault. I took the suit and you got hurt because of my mistake."

"It's okay, Mr Stark, you didn't know," Peter said.

"But I should've," Tony replied, "I should've known." Peter's features hardened, spine turning to steel. He wouldn't let Mr Stark blame himself for this. The blame was on Toomes and only on Toomes.

"Did you pilot the Vulture suit?" Peter asked firmly.

"What?"

"Did. You. Pilot. The. Vulture. Suit." Peter repeated, staring defiantly at Tony.

"No, of course not," Tony replied, slight confusion clinging to his features.

"And did you cause the building to fall?" he continued.

"No."

"Then it's not your fault," Peter told him simply.

"Kid, I shouldn't have taken the suit," Tony began, dropping his head into his hands. He opened his mouth to continue but Peter cut him off before he could say anything equally self-deprecating.

"Maybe," Peter allowed, "but then I wouldn't found out I was strong enough to get back up again. 'If you're nothing without the suit then you shouldn't have it'. You told me that. I thought the suit made Spider-man and I lost sight of what Spider-man really meant. God, I started out in a fricking onesie. That's what Spider-man represents. Not a hero with a multi-million dollar suit, but someone with nothing but their will to save others. Without you taking the suit, I never would've remembered everything Spider-man stood for.; With great power comes great responsibility. You gave me that tough love moment and I needed it. Now it's my turn to dish out some tough love for you." Peter took a deep breath. "You, Tony Stark, are being a fucking idiot. The blame of what happened in the past lies with Adrian Toomes, and Adrian Toomes alone. So stop this self-deprecating bullshit and use your fucking brain for once in your life. It. Was. Not. Your. Fault." Tony looked up at him, the self-hatred drained from his features, a slight smile adorning his lips which Peter returned.

"You're right, kid," Tony said, "when did you get this wise?"

"I've always been this wise, Mr Stark, I just wanted you to feel better about your lack of common sense," Peter joked, Tony chuckling.

"It wasn't my fault," Tony repeated. Peter tilted his head, confused at the strange undertone in Tony's voice only to see a fire lit in his caramel eyes. "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch."

And it was then that he knew he fucked up.

~~~

Step 4. Try some breathing exercises.

Peter had always been shit at breathing exercise. He just didn't have the patience for them. While he was breathing, someone could be getting raped in an alley, a shop could be getting robbed, or a kid could be getting beat up. So - despite the constant reminders to just try the damn breathing exercises for the love of god - Peter had never done anything of the sort. How could he? With his enhanced senses, it was impossible to relax. Would you be able to sit there and breathe while screams rang in your ears and sobbing pounded in your mind? Naturally, this meant that Peter wasn't the most experienced when it came to said breathing exercises. Maybe he should've practised. Life always had a funny way of throwing Peter in the deep end headfirst and tied to a ten ton weight and expecting him to swim. However, he had once read in a self-help book that breathing exercises were good for calming people down, so he decided to hit fuck it for the sixth time in the last 48 hours and try it out. I mean, it was that or release an angry billionaire in a metal suit decked out with the most advanced weapons in the world (except for maybe what HYDRA had because honestly Peter knew better than to underestimate them and he mildly respected their cockroach-like survival skills) who was hell-bent on revenge and gave zero fucks into the world. The second option was beginning to sound quite tempting, Peter would be honest.

"Mr Stark, you need to calm down," Peter told the man gently, placing a hand on Tony's shoulder. Tony tilted his head up to look at Peter - rage splashed across his face, tension lining his body - before he shrugged off Peter's hand and jerked into a standing position. And the room was suffocating, suffocating, suffocating, because damn had Tony always been that scary. A cloud of darkness surrounded Tony, filling the lab up and winding itself slowly around Peter's neck, stealing the breath from his lungs. Tony stormed through the lab, footsteps like thunder, anger crackling like lightning. Desperately, Peter followed the billionaire. "Mr Stark, Mr Stark, please calm down," Peter pleaded with him.

"No," Tony spoke, voice cold and flat, tone totally devoid of emotion, so totally opposite to the fury painting his entire body like a second skin. "No I will not calm down, Peter. He dropped a fucking building on you. He deserves to die."

"But you don't deserve to live with the guilt of killing him," Peter begged, tugging at Tony's sleeve in a desperate attempt to stop the man from his warpath. Peter knew he could easily overpower Tony. But he was hoping it wouldn't come to that. "Trust me, I know how it feels to want revenge, I really do, but you have to let it go. Please, Mr Stark."

"Dammit Peter, he hurt you!" Tony shouted, whirling around to face Peter, features twisted and manically furious. "He hurt you a-and I wasn't there and you had to deal with being crushed by a fucking building and then you got up and kept fighting because of that sick son of a bitch so I swear to fucking god I will murder him." Tony's eyes held a frenzied wildness in them, chest heaving up and down, Peter could hear his heart racing.

"Mr Stark, try some breathing," Peter said out of desperation, completely and utterly out of ideas. "Just breath. In and out, in and out." Tony's momentary surprise shocked him out of his anger, confusion flickering across his face momentarily before the anger was back, stronger than ever. Tony pivoted on his heel and walked away from Peter, heading towards where he kept his suits and leaving a heavy sense of dread pooling in Peter's stomach and twisting his insides in knots. So breathing hadn't worked. Thanks for nothing self-help books.

~~~

Step 5. Hack the most advanced AI in the world.

When in doubt, do something potentially illegal. A mugger had once told Peter that after Peter caught her trying to rob a young man. That lady had been fucking badass. It was honestly a shame she's gone to prison but a criminal is a criminal. Turns out the lady had been responsible for a string of high-end bank and jewellery robberies. Peter wondered how she was doing. Probably not well, considering how shit the American jail system is. Peter always tried to find alternative ways to stop criminals, only really sending in the pedophiles, rapists, murderers and the more professional robbers. Sometimes people had no choice in the shitty hand life had dealt them and goddamn if Peter didn't get that. People were just pushed and pushed until they were left with nothing but desperation. Maybe if the government or any of the fucking American systems were better or did their jobs properly then people wouldn't have to steal just to keep themselves and their families from starvation. Maybe Toomes wouldn't have started his alien tech business and then none of this would have even happened. Peter wouldn't be in this situation right now. And Peter was now out of options. He had an angry billionaire on his hands and absolutely no idea what to do. So, he took the lady's advice and decided to do something potentially illegal. He hacked the most advance AI in the world. (What, like it's hard?)

"Hey FRI?" Peter called with a wince.

"Yes, Peter," the AI replied.

"I'm really sorry," Peter told her before bringing up FRIDAY's code. (A/N - I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT COMPUTERS SO THIS IS GONNA BE SOME VAGUE, QUESTIONABLE AF HACKING) Fingers flying across the keys of the laptop, Peter bit his lip in concentration, brows furrowed. He had to hurry and shut down Mr Stark's suits before he reached them and left to murder Toomes. Adrenaline coursed through his body, brain whirring to life like the computer before him as he deleted lines of code, rewriting and altering the code that created FRIDAY as he tore down the firewalls Mr Stark had built. Peter vaguely registered that this was probably illegal and that Mr Stark would most definitely be mad about this later but he quickly waved the thoughts away. He didn't have time for them, he didn't have time, he didn't have time. Barely registering what he was doing, Peter submerged himself into the world of numbers, immersing himself completely in the ocean of lines of code, fingers instinctively knowing what t do as though he'd been born to hack. Again, probably not a great thing that this was so easy. But computers had always made sense to Peter. After what felt like hours but was really only a few minutes, Peter was into FRIDAY's system. And with a few taps, Peter shut down the suits. Quickly exiting the browser, Peter dropped his head into his hands. He'd done it. With a long exhale, Peter relaxed, leaning back into his chair and running his shaking hands through his hair. An enraged roar broke the peaceful quiet surrounding Peter and he squeezed his eyes shut. Maybe if he ignored it, Mr Stark's anger would go away. He couldn't deal with this shit. Peter was too young to die.

"Peter Benjamin Parker I swear to fucking god-"

"You probably shouldn't fuck god, Mr Stark," Peter couldn't resist remarking with a shit-eating grin. "People might get a bit mad. And who knows, you may even end up pregnant which I can't imagine will be very fun."

"What the fuck?" Tony whispered into the silence that followed Peter's statement. "I don't even want to know what goes on in your brain." Peter hummed in agreement. To be honest, he had no idea what was going on up there half the time. He was just along for the ride. And hey, if it distracted Mr Stark from his anger then it was a win win situation right? (How Peter won in this scenario he didn't know but he didn't question it).

"It's the trauma," Peter replied flippantly, as casual as one would be if they were discussing the weather.

"The-" Tony broke off into angry, confused gibberish that Peter didn't even try to decipher. Crisis averted. Now to deal with the aftermath.

~~~

Step 6. Watch a movie.

Peter Parker wasn't good with emotions. Being a socially awkward sixteen-year-old genius had that effect on a person. Not to mention the fact that he had a crime-fighting, sarcastic alter ego. Yeah, he wasn't great with feelings. Especially not his own. And now he was attempting to help Mr Stark clam down after the whole Toomes-dropping-a-building-on-him-reveal thing. And the only way an emotionally stunted teenage genius superhero knew how to help an emotionally stunted adult genius superhero was something most people would not class as a healthy coping mechanism. Distraction. Preferably with a movie.

"Hey Mr Stark, wanna watch Empire Strikes Back?" Peter asked. Tony fell into a confused silence which Peter took as an agreement. "Yes? Perfect, let's go." Grabbing Tony's arm, Peter tugged him out of the lab and into the elevator, confusion splashed across Tony's features as they entered the movie room. Peter dropped onto the expensive yet incredibly comfortable couch in the centre of the room, pulling Tony down beside him. "Hey FRI? Can you please play The Empire Strikes Back."

"Certainly, Peter," FRIDAY replied, a hint of warmth in her robotic voice. The Star Wars theme filled the room, Peter lips kicking up into a smile at the familiar sound. And as the movie played, Peter reciting every single line with the characters, he felt the rage and tension slowly drain out of his mentor as he relaxed.

"Hey, kid," Tony whispered, interrupting Luke and Darth Vader's showdown. "I sorry for getting angry. I just... I just didn't know what to do. Instead of asking if you were okay I blamed myself and wanted to frigging murder a guy who's already suffering in prison."

"It's okay, Mr Stark," Peter responded with a smile, sincerity gracing his tone. "I get it. After Ben died, I found his murderer. I almost killed the guy," Peter chuckled without humour, Tony watching him with sad eyes, the movie forgotten. "Point is, I know how it feels to want revenge. Don't apologise for being human."

"You really are the best of us all, kid," Tony remarked, a smile adoring his face, features relaxed as he looked at Peter.

"I learned from the best," Peter replied with a shrug.

"Thanks, kid," Tony said, throat tight with emotion.

"I meant May," Peter joked lightly, the heavy emotion clouding the room vanishing as Tony laughed.

"Are you okay, kid?" Tony asked, seriousness settling over them again.

"Honestly?" Peter responded, "no. But that's alright. Because I will be." Peter held Tony's gaze, warmth blossoming in his chest at his mentor's caring eyes, as Darth Vader's voice filled the room.

"No, I am your father," Darth Vader spoke. Peter turned back to the movie, watching as Luke jumped and fell.

"You're gonna be okay, kid," Tony whispered, "we're both gonna be okay."

Because Peter would be okay. So Tony was okay too.

And if Pepper walked in three hours later to find them curled up against each other, fast asleep she never said anything. (She got FRIDAY to take a photo and saved it to Irondad and Spiderson - an unsurprisingly large file. She should probably get Peter to do a DNA test. They did look rather similar)

#fanfic #peter parker #spider-man #iron man #irondad #father-son #pepper potts #unhealed trauma #marvel #the avengers #spider son #bamf peter parker #tired dad Tony #tony stark #aunt may

278 notes · View notes

makeste · 3 years

Text

BnHA Chapter 302: As the Todoroki Turns

Previously on BnHA:

Today on BnHA: We have a very fun chapter in which (1) Shouto grows up lonely on account of his parents being worried that his siblings will literally try to kill him, (2) Natsu and Fuyu grow up neglected on account of not being special and/or self-destructive enough to attract attention, (3) we get to revisit all of that exciting spousal abuse from chapter 39, and (4) Touya burns to death right on cue, pretty much exactly like we expected it to happen. Thankfully since this is a shounen manga, Horikoshi finds some hope in all this misery as the Todoroki family rallies together, with Shouto getting his long-overdue credit for being a perfect sweet angel who put up with all of this shit for sixteen years and somehow came out of it strong and kind and empathetic and determined. Anyway, so that flashback was a barrel of laughs. But now that it’s over, we can put all of that angst behind us, and move on to... well I guess, probably, more angst. Look, we’re short on variety at the moment. Bear with it.

ouch. we knew this was coming, but still

A+ parenting move there. “ho boy, our eldest just tried to murder our youngest, now what? hmm how about we isolate our youngest from all human contact”

though in their defense, we probably shouldn’t have expected this rabidly strength-obsessed fire man and his wife who was groomed since childhood to obey her family’s whims to have any idea of how to raise stable, well-adjusted offspring

SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS

this is a perfect example of Enji’s tragically self-revolving viewpoint right here. just because being a hero is your entire world doesn’t mean you can just excuse yourself from anything outside of that and act like it’s out of your control. “alas, all I care about is hero stuff and my son can’t be a hero, we are doomed to inhabit two different worlds” no you jackass, it’s called having more than one hobby?? figuring out how to spend some time with your son that doesn’t involve training?? the same exact thing you were telling him to do last week, while ignoring that you’ve never done that yourself in your life??

that said, yet again we have that complexity though because it’s obvious that Enji at least on some level is aware of his own flaws, even though he seems unwilling or unable to confront them. honestly, from what we’ve seen so far, Enji’s obsession with surpassing All Might might be more accurately called an addiction. he literally can’t let go of it even though he’s fully aware of how it’s slowly destroying his life. and so in the same way that a lifelong smoker or alcoholic might tell their child to stay away from cigarettes and booze, Enji tells Touya not to follow down the same path as him, even though he himself doesn’t know how to leave that path. so yes, it’s hypocritical as fuck, but there’s also an element of helplessness there as well because Enji literally doesn’t know how not to be like this

though all the same he sure could stand to put in more than just a token effort. but it is what it is, and we already know how much he’ll come to regret it

and meanwhile Baby Shouto has frozen his sleep bubble with his quirk lmao. so I guess his quirk did come in early. that’s a recipe for chaos right there

once again Shouto is ruining every single dramatic panel in this flashback

this was so dark and intense... and then I spotted the lil bubs in the corner. Horikoshi please control yourself

“some hero you are, running away” and then all of a sudden, “FIVE YEARS LATER” lol what. OKAY THEN

(ETA: love the confirmation that eight-year-old Natsu comes from the Iida school of puberty and is basically a fully grown man, and meanwhile Touya comes from the hobbit school of puberty and has been perpetually eight for the past five years.)

“HEY BIG BRO WANNA COME RECREATE AN ICONIC FLASHBACK SCENE WITH US. WE’VE GOT THE SOCCER BALL RIGHT HERE, BUT HURRY UP OR WE’LL BE TOO LATE FOR SHOUTO TO WALK ON BY AND STOP TO LOOK”

lol and that’s literally the next three panels. but Horikoshi did add this extra bit after Endeavor starts to drag Shouto away

seriously Enji what the hell did you expect was going to happen here. “Touya went nuts and tried to kill his little brother out of jealousy, so let’s make it clearer than ever that Shouto is the important child and all the other children are just rejects. this will definitely not make the problem 100x worse, and will surely lead to Touya giving up and living a happy life, having been emotionally abandoned by the person he admired more than anyone.” good for you pal you figured it all out. no need for that plan b, “we all just go to therapy”

anyway so he’s telling Shouto he can’t play because he needs more endurance training. and meanwhile Touya’s patented Todoroki Drama Genes are going through puberty as well

definitely the face of a happy, emotionally stable child who’s not still plotting to murder his younger brother in his sleep

“WELL ACTUALLY MAKESTE” lol I stand corrected??

apparently during the five year interim Touya actually stopped blaming Shouto and realized Enji was the one at fault. good for him! a bit inconsistent, given what we know happens later, but I assume we’ll get to that in good time

anyway. “yeah man I agree that dad sucks, but it’s the middle of the night and I’m only eight and you’ve been monologuing for the past two hours bro”

LMAO

the manga is making my jokes for me, only better. fine then

looks like someone’s still miffed about that disagreement he had with his baby sister back when she was like four

“Fuyu doesn’t get properly riled up like I want her to so ranting to her is annoying.” okay but having been in Fuyu’s shoes, it really is just a different way of coping, and I can guarantee she’s not as fine with the whole situation as Touya might think. but making your peace with something is often a decision that’s made for emotional self-preservation reasons. and I sure as hell don’t fault her for trying to shut out a situation that she had no control over, and trying to make the best of it, and scrape together as normal a childhood as she could manage

and now in Touya’s defense as well, that is of course easier said than done, and I’m sure if there was a “push this button and instantly get over all of the trauma in your life” switch readily available for Touya then he would have pushed it too. unfortunately it’s not always that simple

so now Rei is pleading with Touya not to go train up on his little emo hill again, but it doesn’t seem like much has changed since he was eight

I don’t think he gives two figs about being a hero; he just wants his father to look at him again with pride. fucking hell, stop doing this to me you damn Todorokis

guh, they keep telling him the same thing over and over again

even if we hadn’t already known he was gonna go melt his jawbone off soon, I wouldn’t have expected a line like that to go over well

yep. fuck

that Todoroki puberty angst, though. nothing else quite like it

“you have a part in this too, Mom” ooooooh man

okay but look, he’s not entirely wrong. like, I’m not saying any of this is Rei’s fault at all! she’s in an impossible situation where she’s afraid to stand up to Enji (who by this point has shown that he’s willing to physically attack her if things get too heated, which is terrifying), and doesn’t really have anywhere to turn for support. her parents aren’t helping much if at all, and Japan in general is just a terrible country to be in when you’re in a domestic abuse situation. everyone’s expected to put on a brave face and deal with their problems all on their own in private. Rei is basically completely isolated at this point, and she doesn’t know what else to do, and so she’s just trying to keep the situation as stable as possible for the kids

but on the other hand, “for the kids” is also where that argument starts to break down a bit, because at this point Shouto is also being physically abused by his father, and the other kids are continuing to be neglected (emotionally if not physically), as they have been for years. so the situation really isn’t stable at all for them. and as a kid, what you end up learning in that type of situation is that you can’t rely on either parent. not the abusive one, certainly, but also not the other one who can’t protect you from any of it. even if they love you and they’re trying, they’re just as helpless as you. Rei is struggling to deal with all of this with one hand tied behind her back, and I get it, and I’m not blaming her at all. but all the same, particularly given that she’s (understandably) putting almost all her focus on Shouto, the end result is that the other kids have basically been left to fend for themselves

so yeah! a shitty situation all around. and one of those cases where it’s not really anyone’s fault (aside from Enji’s), but I can understand the resentment Touya is feeling all the same. and I’m so glad Horikoshi is acknowledging this, because it’s something I probably would have been too uncomfortable to bring up otherwise. as it is it’s still an incredibly heavy subject, and one that I probably have too many personal feelings about

anyway, so once again the whole “we’ll try talking to him and then just shrug our shoulders when it doesn’t work” parenting strategy doesn’t really pan out for the Todoroki fam

sob this boy is Anakin Skywalkering before our very eyes. all that’s missing is AFO to come and start whispering in his ear. any minute now...

“anyway so then he got taller and his fire changed from red to blue”

guess we’re getting pretty close then huh. this is the part of the flashback that I really don’t want to see, but also unfortunately the part that I’m most curious about :/

oh for fuck’s --

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN IGNORING HIM FOR FIVE YEARS DIDN’T ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM” sob. back to the drawing board I guess

I thought he got taller, why is he still only like a third of Enji’s height here

oh fuck me these are armor-piercing feels. this is the heavy artillery right here

ENJI I’M BEGGING YOU PLEASE STOP AND THINK FOR ONE MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE BEFORE DOING SOMETHING YOU’LL REGRET FOR THE REST OF ALL TIME. your child just told you that he still thinks beating All Might is the only thing you care about, and that he believes his existence is a mistake unless he finds some way of doing that for you. please stop for a moment to contemplate that and choose your next words with care and grace and oh who the hell am I kidding

-- OR WE COULD JUST BLAME REI

go on and blame everyone but yourself then!! that’s a great solution!! jesus christ man I know this is Endeavor at his literal worst but still this is fucking hard to watch

POOR BABY SHOUTO IS YELLING AT HIS DAD NOT TO HIT HIS MOMMY THIS LITTLE BRAVE BOY NEEDS SO MANY HUGS OH MY GOD

AND MEANWHILE THE OTHERS ARE HUDDLED IN THE NEXT ROOM TRYING NOT TO CRY AH FUCK

(ETA: Fuyu covering Natsu’s ears cuts RIGHT TO THE CORE OF ME. Horikoshi if you’re really not gonna get these kids some therapy then at least consider giving your readers some. what is this.)

you know it’s bad when you’re starting to think the part where the kid burns to death might actually be a less traumatic thing to cut to right now

holy shit, actual Rei thoughts

“I was the one who ultimately made that choice” well there we go, wonder if that’ll put that whole argument to bed at last. I doubt it, but you never know. actually who am I kidding it’s not gonna settle jack shit lol

oh thank god, they decided it was getting too intense and cut away back to the present to narrate this next (final?) part

get ready to cue up that Alicia Keys. THIS BOY IS ON FIREEEEEEE

yeah I think that’s one thing we can mostly all agree on. neither of them had any clue what the fuck they were doing pretty much at any point. though I will say that the hypocrisy of him being all “WHY DIDN’T YOU STOP HIM” followed by him IMMEDIATELY DOING THE EXACT SAME THING is a bit rich

(ETA: and he still has this problem, doesn’t he? he froze up when Ending snatched Natsuo, and again when Dabi was attacking Shouto. he’s so afraid of doing the wrong thing that he ends up not doing anything, which of course is exactly what led to Touya’s death. damn Enji I guess you’ve still got some additional character development to unlock.)

and of course neither of them could possibly have known how badly it was going to turn out. like, the consequences here were WAY disproportionate even for the shittiest of parenting. no one expects “I didn’t know how to talk to my son” to snowball into “my son burned to death and then somehow came back as a villain and murdered thirty people”

ohhhhhhhh fuck me

LITERALLY INCINERATED THE ENTIRE HILLSIDE. fuck. and I am so not ready for the scene of Enji finding the remains of his jawbone afterwards. at least we were spared anything super-graphic (for now at least)

I feel like the timeline here is off, btw?? wasn’t Touya’s death supposed to happen after Rei got hospitalized? this might be the first actual retcon of the entire flashback. although I think it makes more sense this way tbh

I do appreciate that ten years later Enji is finally reflecting on the fact that if he’d just given up his stupid obsession he could have stopped his family from crumbling apart. that probably sounds sarcastic as fuck, but it’s not. there are countless jerks out there who would have still managed to find a way to blame literally everyone and everything under the sun except for themselves. at least he finally figured out how to take responsibility, even if it came too late to stop his son from dying and being radicalized into a villain terrorist organization

and speaking of, it seems to me we’re missing a third and final part to this little tale of woe, and one which only Touya himself will be able to shed any light on. so we’ll see how that goes

oh man seeing the other kids blaming themselves even though none of it was their fault hits hard af. Rei wasn’t kidding when she said they’d been bearing that burden of guilt far longer than Enji

SHOUTO I SWEAR TO GOD IF THE NEXT PANEL IS YOU APOLOGIZING FOR BEING BORN, I WILL... WELL I’LL BE VERY SAD, I GUESS. SO DON’T DO IT

oh good he’s just being quiet. good. it absolutely is not your fault lil bean. it’s not theirs either, but feeling guilty about things that aren’t your fault is a time-honored shounen tradition

goddammit I braced myself for the angsty Shouto panel a page too early. gotta do it all over again now lol. okay here goes

;_;

well well well would you look at that

imagine that. talking things out with your child before they make a rash decision. looks like the Todorokis’ parenting skills are finally leveling up

OH MY GOD

holy shit. this is the most quintessential moment of father/son Todoroki bonding in the entire series. for me it even tops the “nice scar” scene lol. Enji sobbing at the fact that he still has a chance to set things right. and Shouto offering his hand in what is actually the most mature and selfless gesture I’ve ever seen, and being all “we’ll stop him together” to his dad who he hates, but also doesn’t really entirely hate anymore. and all of that is incredibly moving... BUT ALSO HE STILL REFUSES TO MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH HIM AND HE WOULD LIKE HIM TO STOP BEING SO FUCKING DRAMATIC ALREADY IF YOU DON’T MIND. “WHEN YOU’RE DONE CRYING...” fkjldsk

OH MY FUCKING LORD

(ETA: wouldn’t be a Todoroki drama fest if there wasn’t somebody listening in on the whole thing in secret just around the corner lmao.)

“you think we should have waited somewhere else?” “yeah, probably.” “are you feeling a lot of secondhand embarrassment too?” “god, you have no idea.” STFU HAWKS IT’S NOT EMBARASSING TO BE MOVED TO TEARS BY YOUR FAMILY ALL COMING TOGETHER IN YOUR DARKEST HOUR TO GIVE YOU HOPE THAT YOU PROBABLY DON’T DESERVE BUT ARE NONETHELESS INDESCRIBABLY GRATEFUL FOR

and anyway you chose these guys as your found family, bucko. too late to back out now. next time go get yourself adopted by the Iidas then

AND MEANWHILE NO WORD ON THE WHOLE “HOW DID A THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD SURVIVE A FIRE THAT COVERED HIS BODY WITH HORRIFIC SCARS AND MELTED HIS JAW OFF, AND HOW DID HE SOMEHOW THEN MANAGE TO GO INTO HIDING FOR TEN WHOLE YEARS, AND WHAT HAPPENED IN THAT INTERIM TO CHANGE HIS GOAL FROM ‘SURPASS ALL MIGHT TO IMPRESS MY DAD’ TO ‘KILL ALL HEROES TO MAKE MY DAD SUFFER’.” as if we don’t know the answer to that. but still, would it kill Horikoshi to just confirm AFO’s involvement in all of this already. at this point it’s basically just a formality

so here’s hoping next week we’ll either get that, or more Hawks action, or (DARE I EVEN SUGGEST, I’M AFRAID TO JINX IT) finally cut back to Bakugou and Deku and All Might omg. either way I’m hyped

#bnha 302 #todoroki touya #dabi #todoroki enji #endeavor #todoroki rei #todoroki shouto #todoroki natsuo #todoroki fuyumi #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #my sincerest apologies for this absurdly long recap which is barely funny at all!#THERE WAS VERY LITTLE HUMOROUS CONTENT IN THIS CHAPTER #congratulations horikoshi you win this round

469 notes · View notes

tainbocuailnge · 3 years

Text

fgo criticisms have been flaring up in the wake of dw’s sakura wars mobile game quitting after only half a year but I have a disease that makes me get defensive when people try to rip fgo apart as this uniquely terrible game with uniquely terrible devs so i’m going to complain about people who are complaining for a bit.

i hadn’t heard of the sakura wars game before it shut down but from what i’ve been able to find it suffered from a lot of the same problems as (launch) fgo, terrible gacha rates with no pity, slow ap recovery rates, barebones repetitive gameplay. so i guess seeing how fast sakura wars was shut down people feel like it’s only the fate name holding up fgo and in the early launch days of barely playable fgo that was definitely the case but I don’t think it’s fair to fgo to act like people only continue to play it because it’s fate, and “being like fgo” wasn’t the only problem with sakura wars either. sakura wars is a vn/dating sim series that attempted to revive the series with a mobile game that featured none of the original cast that fans cared about while fate was already a series with new characters and a new setting every instalment and the thing that stood out in this new game was actually that it DID have characters from previous fates available. hell, it’s not fair to sakura wars to claim that its series name is simply weaker than fate’s when there were other factors involved in its failure beyond “being a delightworks game”

fgo DOES improve, launch fgo is unrecognisable compared to current fgo in a good way. events have become more streamlined (events have mid- to lategame enemy hp scaling but feature damage ce’s to let newer players keep up, mission events are set up so that they basically clear themselves just by farming the most recently unlocked node), they experiment with new game modes and gameplay mechanics on the regular, they’re taking more care to make viable permanent servants and buff the older ones, and the past few months there’s also been a noticeable effort to throw out random banners for minor things as an excuse to rerun old limited servants more often. I’ll admit the bar is on the low side (strengthening quests are a ridiculous model, there shouldn’t be this many limiteds to need reruns in the first place, etc) and progress is slower than many people are willing to put up with, and I’m not saying anyone Has to put up with it or they’re a fake fan or whatever, but like, granblue fantasy is seven years old and still doesn’t have the ability to uncap a weapon multiple stages at a time when its entire gameplay loop centers around farming and uncapping weapons and they’ve buffed heles like 7 times but she’s still shit, none of fgo’s problems are exclusive to fgo.

i LIKE playing fgo. i like tapping the cards and watching my little guys go and coming up with different teams to make them go harder or just look good together or even lean into the Themes. and this is going a little bit on a tangent but i have this post window open anyway i was talking with friends earlier that one problem that a lot of mobile games seem to have is that they use “making the game play itself” as substitute for “making the game fun to play”. the only game with autobattle functionality (out of the ones I play, i don’t know everything that’s out there of course) that I feel DOESN’T do this is arknights, where you solve the puzzle that the stage presents in order to earn the right to not have to solve the puzzle every single time you play the stage and coming up with different efficient or perhaps ridiculous ways to solve the puzzle is part of playing the game. the worst case I know is dragalia lost which upon realizing that playing it sucks implemented an item to just let you skip playing stages altogether. “this game is good because you don’t have to play it” is not the selling point some people (and devs) think it is, and fgo refuses to fall into that trap - something I believe is an intentional decision because of their explicit refusal to implement NP skip.

one big advantage that fgo has over the other mobile games i’ve played is that it’s entirely turn based with no real time elements beyond start and end times of events. fgo doesn’t NEED to continue playing itself when you look away because looking away has no bearing whatsoever on your ability to clear the quest, fgo doesn’t give a shit if you look away for six hours and then close the game and only reopen it another ten hours later, you can continue right where you left off. the problem is not that you have to manually play the quest, because as far as the system is concerned you can take as much time as you like to clear that quest, it’s that the greater structure of the game wants you to repeatedly manually clear the same low-stakes quest for disproportionately small rewards. this one’s easy enough to solve by just increasing material droprates across the board. repeat clearing a low level quest is much less frustrating if you actually get drops every other clear.

but that’s a bandaid solution, because related to the issue of having to manually farm low-stakes quests is the lack of high-stakes quests to do when you want to do something a little more engaging than routine farming. outside of event challenge quests with their time limited availability, certain main story chapters that you can’t replay, and recently on JP the permanently available kiara challenge quest in the main interlude, there simply isn’t any difficult content to play. you could argue about fgo’s merit as strategy rpg in the first place i suppose but if you ask me it does have that merit and there is a clear effort from dw’s part to improve the depth of fgo’s strategy elements, the issue is that there is simply not that much content available to unleash those strategies on. of course you’re gonna get bored if all there is to do is either brainlessly repeat the same quest for minimal rewards or play the specific challenge quest that the game hands you right this moment regardless of whether that’s the kind of challenge you feel like facing right now. the solution to this one, although it’s likely going to take some significant effort on dw’s side to implement, is to make main story quests replayable.

you want to flex your brain muscles but there’s no challenge event right now? you stomped on a boss by using overpowered servants the first time but want to challenge yourself with some 3* this time? or the other way around, you beat a boss by the skin of your teeth the first time but want to stomp all over them now that you rolled some bitching 5*? you rolled a servant that’s not that suitable for day to day farming but would really shine in more difficult content and you want to try them out? you have a silly strategy in mind that would only work against certain story enemies? you’re like me and just really crave the shimosa duels? all of this involves content that already exists and is available in the game, dw would just have to figure out a way to let you access it again after clearing the chapter. and of course ideally this extends to event story quests once they’re added to the main interlude

i guess another way to put it is that i think the reason a lot of people say fgo has bad gameplay is not that its gameplay system is actually bad, in fact it has the potential to be very engaging, but rather that it’s a system that is set up to respect your time through the ability to put down the game absolutely whenever you want without being penalised, only for the game around it to go and penalise you for putting it down anyway. if you don’t diligently spend all your ap farming this quest you won’t get single damn material drop, and if you don’t play the event while it‘s happening you’re going to miss out because you can’t be sure when if ever it’ll return. so the number one way to solve the problem of fgo’s “bad gameplay” is not to make the game play itself whenever it tells you to play, but rather to make content more easily available so you don’t have to play if you don’t want to and CAN play if you do want to. thank you for coming to my ted talk i suppose

#anyway i love cuchulainn

261 notes · View notes