#usually the unique ones are the main characters but now we get to see exactly why the main character can't be part of the unique ones

[jayktoralldaylong]

Four ways to become an Avatar:

1. Being chosen by an already existing Avatar: This is how majority of Avatars become Avatars, even Jon went down this path (that's right Mr. Sims, you're not special 😂 - I'm sure he's relieved about that).

2. Becoming an Avatar without connections - This one is harder an often involves a Leitner book. Often involves a search for power. Eventually these Avatars will get connections or meet another Avatar to help them along or they'll die fast.

3. Getting chosen by the Entity - Very very rare. Almost never happens. Entities are worse at communication than your toxic Ex.

4. Getting born FOR an Entity - The rarest one. You would think getting born the personified version of an Entity would come with lots of benefits (and it often does because these people are often more powerful than any other Avatar - Agnes and Peter), yet for some reason I think these guys are worst Avatars in general. 😭💀 It's not like they're bad at their job, they are very good at burning and making people lonely, but that's also the only thing they know how to do. 😭😭 Outside of their field they are lost (Agnes even had an identity crisis when she couldn't burn things anymore). I don't know how to explain it but they're really pathetic at manipulation as well. 😭🤣💔 They also seem to have an identity crisis when they get into complicated situationships.

TMA spoilers in the tags.

#kudos to the magnus archives for making the extra special avatars the most awkward ones #usually the unique ones are the main characters but now we get to see exactly why the main character can't be part of the unique ones #the unique ones go through a lot #also #I'm starting to think the vast hand picks its Avatars #cause how did Simon just fall into a painting 💀 #michael the distortion #fits into the chosen by another avatar #even if the avatar in question was his mentor who was barely an avatar cause she was into homicide and carnage #why didn't the hunt just adopt Gertrude #tma avatars #tma #tma entities #the magnus archive #jonathan sims #elias bouchard #peter lukas #agnes montague #mike crew #michael crew #simon fairchild

[the-eeveekins]

While I'm on a roll, I'm going to go off on a little bit of a personal rant (continuing something I mentioned earlier), that's been on my mind due to some comments I've seen made about G-Witch and Sulemio in recent days. I normally try to avoid writing rants like this but this one has been grinding my gears a bit.

Yes, in the grand scheme of queer media, Sulemio's relationship can definitely come across as underwhelming. No one would deny that you can get more explicitly and textually queer stories out there, especially by queer creators. But that absolutely ignores some of the circumstances surrounding the show.

First, it's been made pretty obvious by now that the staff wasn't allowed to be very explicit in their depiction of Suletta & Miorine's relationship. The company that censored an interview and released a tone-deaf statement that their relationship should be "up to interpretation" because a VA said they were married obviously wasn't going to be cool with Suletta and Miorine kissing, saying I love you and getting married on screen. They would've put their foot down well before we got to the ending. And even then the staff did enough to make Suletta & Miorine explicitly married by the end of the show. They found ways around whatever limitations Bandai put into place to try and make Sulemio subtext, and made them a canon couple within the show itself. I get tired of people saying the show didn't explicitly and textually confirm their relationship and marriage because it does, just in a roundabout way via the "sister-in-law" line because they couldn't do it in a straightforward manner.

Seriously, by all accounts, it's not like the people making this show wanted to end Sulemio with "just handholding" and half-assed the relationship, they wanted to do more but couldn't. Just look at how some of the staff members depicted them in the artbook once they were off Bandai's leash: with multiple wedding pictures.

Second, it's actually a big deal that they ended the show married, even if they had to do it in a roundabout way. Yes, the yuri genre is generally going to have more explicit lesbian relationships than what we got with Sulemio, but the yuri genre isn't exactly mainstream. Dedicated yuri anime isn't airing in primetime and ending with the main couple married, it's usually late-night, niche and usually only gets one season that introduces the couple, maybe gives you a kiss, but forces you to finish the story through the LN/Manga. Mobile Suit Gundam is a popular, mainstream multi-media franchise that has been running for 44 years, and G-Witch was airing on prime time. The fact that a mainstream franchise like Gundam aired an anime series that was centered around a queer woman and a sapphic relationship that ended with the couple married is huge, especially considering the legal status of same-sex marriage in Japan. Niche yuri anime airing in the middle of the night can probably get away with a lot more gay content than a mainstream franchise airing in primetime can, especially when the franchise is owned by a bunch of old, conservative dudes.

As an anime fan, it's amazing to see a mainstream animated series like The Witch From Mercury focused around a queer woman and a sapphic relationship (and make it TEXTUAL, not relying on subtext to carry it), especially a series not specifically adapted from a yuri LN/Manga. And as a lesbian and a long time Gundam fan, seeing a major franchise I love like Gundam, that has always been dominated by male characters, air a series focused around a queer female MC and her relationship with another woman is a much bigger deal to me than a lot of random yuri series would ever be.

Reducing Sulemio to comparisons between other queer media or yuri series and how it's "inferior" to those because it lacked certain elements ignores and disregards the unique challenges and situation of The Witch From Mercury, and the way the staff fought to overcome those issues to deliver an explicit sapphic story ending in a married couple.

#g witch #sulemio #the witch from mercury #yuri

[nerdlingmerchling]

So, I've watched Out of Darkness (2022) starring Mr Kit Young himself. 🎬 🎞

Full disclaimer, I hate horror movies, but I watched it anyway cause Kit (yes, it's a good reason). My verdict is that it's more of a thriller than a horror movie, and to my delight, it didn't rely heavily on jump scares.

It's rare to see movies set in the paleolithic era, and I think that's where the true originality of this movie lies. The costumes and props look overall pretty authentic, up to the stitching of the clothes, which I was happy about. It shows that there had been some anthropological research done beforehand.

The made-up Tola language was such an interesting, fascinating aspect to the movie, and all of the actors sounded exactly as if they had spoken it all their lives. They adopted such unique intonation that I even had a hard time recognizing Kit's voice at first. Acting was incredible, from everyone, and from start to finish.

Also, very glad to see an ethnically diverse group of prehistoric humans. Some recent studies tend to show that paleolithic groups were more complex in terms of origins than we might think.  So, props to the casting direction for that.

I also loved how this movie was much more than a slasher and had a true reflexion on what it is, and what it means to be human.  The movie was efficient in presenting the characters and their individual motivations. Each of the six main characters represented different angles of human nature : ego, ruthlessness, innocence, kindness, religious zeal, and determination/weakness. I thought it was such a great way to explore that theme.

It's also a beautifully-shot movie, which shows its Scottish Highlands setting in all its gloomy glory : making it both breathtaking and menacing. No green screen in sight, and you can feel the harshness of the elements piercing through the screen.

Overall, I had a good time, but I'm a sensitive creature, and I was still affected by the movie hours after I was done watching it. Much of it has to do with the character played by Kit.

Character analysis and SPOILERS under the cut :

Kit plays Geirr, a young hunter and the most sympathetic character overall. To no one's surprise, Kit plays him with a lot of nuance.

Geirr is a hunter and a warrior by necessity. He's a gentle, sensitive, artistic soul and the stark opposite to his older brother Adem, the leader of the group, who's proud, selfish, and prone to violent outbursts.

Geirr has a special bond with Beyah, a teenage girl the group picked up "en route". The others still treat her as a stray and an outsider. Geirr, though, accepts her and sees her as being part of their little tribe. He vows to protect and take care of her.

Very few people smile in that movie, but when someone does, it's usually Geirr, and he's smiling at Beyah.

You might think at first that their attachment is a brother-sister or friends type of bond, but something happens that make the viewer understand Geirr's feelings for her extend further than that. While the group is resting after a day of walking the treacherous terrain, Geirr realizes his friend's pants are stained in blood, and he looks alarmed. She's having her first periods ; she's a woman now, and that means leader Adem can get to have a claim on her as he pleases.

Well aware of that fact, Geirr is devastated, and you understand at once that he was hoping to make Beyah his own companion.

You also understand that he's not going to fight for her. He's going to suffer in silence, accept the situation and accept his brother's authority. Because that's the thing with Geirr ; he's not a fighter. And throughout the movie, Beyah is going to prove that she has a lot more fight in her than he does.

Geirr is someone who has principles, and he's going to follow those principles even when it leads him to suffering or even be at risk of dying. He refuses to kill someone, even out of mercy, or to resort to cannibalism, even when it's the sole way to survive.

By the end of the movie, he has given up, and it becomes clear he's not destined to make it. It makes his death even more devastating, because you're still hoping against hope that he's going to live.

I'm still mourning that sweet prehistoric cinnamon bun, and I blame Kit's acting (and his face) for my emotional turmoil.

#out of darkness #kit young #jesper fahey #shadow and bone

[ratwithhands]

I'm curious. I've seen your art and something that's come to my mind is what actually got you attached with the Subway brothers. Your narrative on their different AU forms is so unique which is what brought me to that question

Alright, rat history time.

So basically back in 2021-2022, I was working on an old OC storyline (about 3 years old by then) and I was in grade 9 so I was like “A new Pokémon game? Pfft, like I care” and just didn’t watch any of the stuff related to PLA when it dropped. I still got recommended Twitter posts about it on Instagram and I ended up seeing this one.

I tried looking up Ingo cause I was like "oh, funky design, looks like a captain or something" but I didn't end up finding anything so I didn't press further. Anyways in March break of 2022, I got bored and decided to put some game streams on in the background while I drew. I saw Alpharad's PLA video and decided to watch it for a bit when I saw Ingo.

I was like "Hey you're the guy from Twitter!" and since I knew his name now, I looked him up and found his Bulbapedia article. I found him much more interesting than the rest of the PLA cast since he had history outside PLA, and I ended up reading up whatever I could find on him. I also by extension discovered Emmet this way, which only served to suck me deeper down the rabbit hole. By the end of March break I had a fan OC and 2 AUs made with more on the way, as well as a YouTube recommended page with nothing but theory videos on Ingo and decade old Submas content.

Around May I decided to decommission my OC storyline for personal reasons, and by this point Submas was starting to occupy more of my creative work anyways. Since I didn't have my storyline to put my energy into, I started funnelling literally any story ideas into Submas. This led to nonstop content for a shockingly long time, and ofc I'm still coming up with stuff now.

Long story short, I got attached to them by accident! It was a "right place, right time" sort of thing since they came in as I was starting to get sluggish with my original content and I ended up being more interested in writing for them.

As for narratives, I am effectively playing dolls with these guys. Usually the kind of stuff that I write for them is meant for OCs, but I dumped the 60+ person cast so I put that energy into them instead.

Most AUs will either have a core theme, an out of pocket idea, or both to make things interesting. Usually I just come up with a dumbass idea like "what if we brought ReBURST back for a rerun" or "what if Emmet signed a contract with an eldritch space spider" or "what if Submas could see into the future" and stuff like that, then it picks up themes as I keep writing. For some silly examples:

Burst is based on Pokémon ReBURST and the idea of human-Pokémon fusion, but there's focus on skill, how characters misperceive it, and resentment as a result. There's also a spotlight on inferiority complexes, bottled up guilt, and blind confidence depending on which main character you look at

Journal is about a diary that helps Ingo to regain his memories, and it focuses on remembrance and regret as a result of him reading it. Spotlight on lacking awareness vs hyper awareness and the monotony of living as people around you leave

Oracle is exactly what it sounds like, with the twins being able to see into the future. It focuses on cooperation and the importance of working together, but also learning how to work alone. The spotlight's on jealousy and gratitude for this one, though the latter greatly outweighs the former in this case

I also just have AUs I made to try deranged shit for funsies, like Sapioflora, Cybernetic/Z-Λ, Team Supernova, and Idol. Those are mostly for exploring goofy ideas that may or may not go anywhere.

Right anyways basically I just saw Submas after watching PLA gameplay and found the twins more interesting to write about than the project I'd exhausted by then. The narratives are like that because the AU ideas I make are actually OC concepts that I modify to fit Pokémon specifically for these two or ideas about the two that I'd like to explore. Hope that answers the question ^^*

#submas #submas au #au #ingo #subway master ingo #ingo pokemon #nobori #emmet #subway master emmet #emmet pokemon #kudari #Fun fact: my old AUs were actually focused on Ingo if you could believe it #I know that must sound impossible because of how much I write on Emmet but it's true #Also‚ even though I never released it for the public fully‚ Stelleret is an AU that fits in the example list. It's about monsters‚ #deals with eldritch beings‚ but it focuses on appearances‚ love‚ self worth‚ and self sacrifice. It's also like 1/3 shitposts by volume #Now that I think about it I have a lot of unreleased content #It's probably going to stay that way #WAIT I JUST REALIZED I NEVER RELEASED BATTLE ADDICT #uhhhhh what if I did a doodle dump 😳👉👈 I unfortunately only have pictures of Emmet with the strait jacket #It also has. 3 variants. But they get the happy ending in one of them I promise!! #I think it's funny how basically the only AUs where I have Ingo and Emmet in an ideal relationship is the one where they can see the future #and the one where they are diagnosed with Hyper-Competitive Combat Mania as unfit for battle due to the damage they cause #“We get along because we rely on each other” vs “We help each other improve to destroy the opponent on every level” #Anyways hope this answered your question ^^ if not sorry for the ramble 👁👁💦

[yellowloid]

my experience at am's show (accor arena, paris, first night - 09/05/2023)

SOOOOOOO since a lot of people have done this and i want to write down as many things as i can about the concert so that i don't forget them i've decided to make this post and keep in mind i'm writing this running on four hours of sleep and a cappuccino BUT i'm currently sitting in a very pretty parisian café, chilling and waiting for my train and it's all very aesthetic i feel like the main character of a chick-flick movie. also drowning in post-concert depression but that's another story

so now that we've set the mood let's get to the actual writing bc this post isn't gonna make itself and i still have ~five hours of waiting to do and a whole lot of things to say so let's go

(also disclaimer: this is gonna be very rambly i'm so sorry i'm just emotional)

• so we got to the arena at around 6:30pm bc we had assigned seats, and entrance was a whole lot less chaotic than i'd expected (which was good) +  basically the place was almost empty bc it was so early, it really only started to fill up later and it was REALLY full only by the time inhaler was halfway through their set

• can't say anything about inhaler bc i know exactly zero (0) of their songs but i think they were nice and i actually feel like diving into their music a bit now bc some songs were pretty good

• and then once inhaler was done it was showtime!!!!!!!! i felt like i could DIE!!!!!!!!

• the moment they went up on stage i felt literal butterflies......... i just couldn't believe they were real, in the flesh, like they're ACTUALLY real they exist they're REAL!!!!! and we were breathing the same air and i was just so fucking mindblown by that concept i was fr having a moment

• setlist was the usual, i didn't get cornerstone NOR perfect sense (some of my all time am favourites.......) and tbh i still haven't forgiven them (HIM) for that like wtf boys. wtf. i get why they would decide not to play perfect sense but why wouldn't they play cornerstone LITERALLY a fan favourite and a classic smh (jk i forgive them but only bc they're cute 😔)

• also i got star treatment sooooo i mean i can't really complain can i. absolute magical experience, that song

• another thing about the setlist: they kept playing little melodies in between songs and i kept getting FOOLED bc every time it felt like they were going to debut a new song (hello you......jet skis........) but no i was just clowning real hard

• fo example at some point they played this random melody and i was like wtf and then they did nothing with it and just played high so yeah they were being sooo silly and goofy (i wanted to bite them)

• also the crowd was so ???? idek how to describe it bc during some songs they were so hyped (not only the most popular ones from am or 505; they even did a mosh pit during pretty visitors which was......okay i guess not really a song to mosh to but you do you paris keep speaking your truth). but then they were so dead during the car songs.... some girls next to us literally used mirrorball and big ideas to fucking sit down and have a break and that was so offensive tbvfh. meanwhile i was there vibing and singing along to the angsty car tunes and i genuinely was like "why am i the only one that's popping my fucking pussy rn". literally this

• diwk and sculptures are THE most powerful songs ever like hearing them live is a cathartic experience fr. diwk bc of how iconic it is, sculptures bc it's just so unique and they're so fucking powerful my ass was literally shaking. sculptures as an opener after the "countdown" intro they do is just The Right Choice TM like it just makes so much sense. it was born to be an absolutely epic opener and we love to see that. and well, diwk is a classic for a reason. the whole arena lost their shit when they hit the first notes, the floor was TREMBLING it was crazy

• the arabella fuckup moment was still so !!!!!!!! when he screamed FUCK bc he messed up the lyrics i honestly didn't even realise it was a mistake at first lmao considering just a couple of days earlier there was the "but it just doesn't fucking matter" moment or whatever he said during that part (i think it was one of the german shows? or amsterdam? idk i don't remember sjfhwhs). the point is, sometimes he's just silly and changes random lyrics and it all happened so fast one could have easily believed it was on purpose nsjcnennc but that just tells you how good they are. if you're able to make even a mistake sound so good and iconic then you're just so !!!!!!!!! yknow.

• also i heard people saying he was annoyed, a bit like during one of the amsterdam gigs, mostly bc of the arabella fuckup. but that's?? so not true?? like yeah he sounded super frustrated during that bit and his yelled FUCK is proof and rewatching that moment i feel so bad for him i wanna give him a hug </3, but for the rest of the night he was in a normal mood. pretty chill if you ask me

• apart from THE star treatment moment....... someone already mentioned it here but YEAH after the song ended he just went and whispered "it's the star treatment............" with the lowest saddest most heartbroken voice and i swear i heard my heart crack and crumble in a million pieces

• (btw yes he once again opened star treatment with "i just wanted a jet ski for the moat")

• he also sounded a bit sad and lost in his own thoughts during the closing part of iwby which reminded me of the same moment at lowlands 2022 and yes my heart broke once again

• but for the rest he was in a pretty standard mood!!! not overly chatty (when is he ever jskfke), didn't interact with the crowd that much but that's routine. just your regular banter: "what a night" "what a wonderful/splendid [can't remember???] night" and then before either pretty visitors or dancefloor he introduced the song like "it's [name of the song]... get down......GET DOWN" and that was just sooooo silly. in case it wasn't clear i was foaming at the mouth the whole time

• then during dancefloor he went "dirty dancefloors and dreams of naughtiness....AAAAAAAA"

• also he didn't really interact with the others members apart from asking the crowd to give it up for matt (cute bffs <3) and then at some point (i think during body paint) him and jamie were doing their thing. scissoring with their guitars

• after he was done scissoring with jamie he also went and hopped on matt's platform and then went towards nick too but didn't do anything lmao. i was hoping for the usual hand-around-shoulder action but no. okay you do you king

• at some point either nick or jamie fucked up a note and it was so audible and he gave them one of his Iconic Glares TM IT WAS SO FUCKING FUNNY

• btw he didn't speak that much french, i was expecting much more - i'd even say he spoke less french than he did at other french gigs over the years which ???? okay lmao. he just said basic stuff, yknow, the usual "bonsoir paris", "merci", and then at some point he said "incroyable" with, i must admit, a pretty good pronunciation. tbh it was so cute and yes my heart did a lil !!!!! yeah why do you ask

• also he sounded EXACTLY like he does in recordings and studio versions which is INSANE. he has such a wide vocal capacity and his voice is sososoSO powerful, at its best fr. he sounded so damn good and perfect and he's so fucking talented and i might sob bc who gave him the fucking right

• but at the same time i see why people were saying they thought his voice sounded a bit higher - he has moments when you can hear the "ghost" of his younger voice and it's honestly so cute

• but overall it's just crazy and remarkable how much he sounds like the studio versions. there's literally no difference. none at all. he's just THAT fucking good

• and the others too they were so !!!!! honorable mention to matt bc the way that man drums is absolutely mesmerising

• and then well..... can't really ignore the elephant in the room can we. they're all so insanely attractive it's not even funny they looked so good and alex was GLOWING. i was in awe. he has such a powerful aura - commanding and serious yet with a lightness and gentleness to him that you just can't help but stare at him the whole time. he's so charming and fascinating and ARGH literally breathtaking. hypnotising. never getting over him

• long story short when they finished he was sending big smiles and kisses at the whole crowd and the screaming and applause just kept going and going and and and. the whole concert went by so fast it was so intense and i couldn't believe it was already over

• i didn't want to go i didn't want to leave i never wanted to leave i wanted to stay there and do it all over again

• so now it's been two days since the show and hours since i started drafting this post.... and i'm already back home and i MISS THEM SO MUCH. i missed them from the very moment they disappeared backstage and the post-concert depression is so real i literally feel like i left a piece of my heart in paris. i miss them i miss HIM sososo much 💔

• i'm so sorry i'm being such a dramatic bitch but that's just who i am 😔✊️

• overall the whole experience felt like a fucking fever dream and i still can't believe it really happened. it was so magical and special and they were so perfect and ugh i just really fucking love them. i love them so much and i'm so grateful i got to see them and experience first-hand something so beautiful. i didn't sob during the show (tbh i thought i would) but i might do it now bc i'm feeling so nostalgic and emotional and </3 i'm a mess i love them so much there's nothing else i can say it's just That. simply that <3

i think i'll post some pics/videos but not many bc you can hear me screaming and singing my heart out + i was shaking + mostly it looks like i recorded using a potato so skckwjcej but yeah expect me to post something. idk what but definitely something

that's about it for now, but i'll try to add more things if i remember something else along the way!! 💖

#SO SORRY THIS IS A RAMBLING MESS LMAO #BUT YEAH OF YOU GOT HERE THANK YOU FOR READING THIS FAR #I JUST STILL CANT BELIEVE I SAW MY BABYGIRLS #💖💖💖💖 #arctic monkeys #accor arena #alex turner #matt helders #jamie cook #nick o'malley #my show #ramblings

[sitp-recs]

Kept in Cages by @sweet-s0rr0w

Artwork by @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm

Harry/Draco (2022, Explicit, 77k)

Deep in the heart of the Ministry lies the Beast Division: a hidden room where ancient beasts roam, and winged creatures soar, and grumpy giant ferrets eat all your biscuits unless you keep them well hidden. Draco Malfoy would know – he’s been working there for five years now, after all.

Meanwhile, on Level One, ex-Golden Boy Harry Potter is stuck in another interminable policy meeting, completely unaware of the mysterious comings and goings just three floors below. But when a giant snake emergency requires the assistance of a Parselmouth, Harry finds himself thrust, unprepared, into Draco’s weird and wonderful world – and naturally, he can’t keep away…

“All these creatures, and you. You’re not… bothered, you know? They’re all pretty powerful, but you know exactly how to handle them. You’re not scared of them, or anything like that.”

Behold everyone, the magical creature fic we all deserve!! Forget Fantastic Beasts, I would give anything to see this incredible journey on the big screen. From a moving plot to lush visuals, impressive world building and a poignant slow burn, this has all the elements that would make for an incredible movie, and a award-winner at that. The amount of care that went into every tiny detail, the brave decision to explore Harry’s loneliness and deteriorated mental health, plus Draco’s breathtaking characterization and arc, the unique creativity surrounding the magical creatures and their lore! This fic is so rich and detailed it even pays homage to other beloved Drarry works and I had so much fun trying to identify the little references. It’s very clear this was a labour of love and I’ll try my best to make it justice highlighting my favourite elements that deserve some extra appreciation.

First and foremost, the plot. This is NOT your usual “down and out Draco & depressed Harry” meet-cute kind of story. Having Draco secretly work with creatures was such a clever and inventive plot point, he has a quite devastating background and I love the mystery surrounding his post-war life that we slowly puzzle together alongside Harry. The first chapter is a banger and immediately captured my attention with Harry’s chaotic and loud routine as opposed to the quietness of Draco’s Beast Division. You’ll find yourself immersed not only in their main story but also in a brilliant side plot involving politician Lucius in the Muggle world. It was so well-thought, intriguing and original, I loved it!

The pacing also deserves a shoutout, for a long fic this was such a smooth read that I basically devoured in two days. The narrative is a mix of intriguing, funny, heartbreaking and romantic. My kind of long fic! The slow burn is absolutely impeccable, charming and organic, realistic but also full of UST (whoever thought a pet bathing scene could be THAT sexy? SS is showing her devotion to Suds here 😏). And omg this Draco is delicious, competent and stubborn with his dark overalls and tough, capable look (we get it Harry, that’s just your objective assessment!!!) and his single-minded, no-bullshit but gentle approach which is exactly what Harry needs to spark his curiosity. They both start this story so lost and lonely and it’s a privilege to see them find themselves (and each other) along the way. Their personalities complement one another beautifully and we notice all the nuances of Harry’s improving mood as he finds a safe haven and a new purpose working with Draco.

Here you’ll also find INCREDIBLE creatures and complex side characters, yes please! I cannot handle adorable Pandita, hilarious Potter the Jarvey, the baby Mooncalf!!! They have quirky and vibrant personalities bringing Harry and Draco’s funny and tender sides to the surface. I’m also very much here for this fascinating Muggle Narcisa and Ministry boss Hermione. This fic is a magical, heartfelt journey and getting to see Harry and Draco’s “happily ever after” was so satisfying. Each boy broke my heart in different ways but they get to heal together and they get to stay together and oh my heart, but they’re so good together. I love the idea of them exploring the wildlife in blissful domesticity afterwards, with bonus points for those sexy times full of scar worship and fat appreciation (done in a very thoughtful, gentle way!). And speaking of smut, I love that Draco’s pride and confidence counter-balances his inexperience, and Harry’s thirst for him is so relatable and adorable “your bloody arms and all the scars, ugh just leave me alone!!!” same Harry, same 😂

I had a blast discovering this wonderful world SS created for them, her genius mind and love for the ship present in every scene. It warmed my heart and made me appreciate even more all the hard work she put into telling this story. The world building is rich and well executed and I didn’t want it to end. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Draco and Harry and those lovely creatures but the healing journey was so special it felt earned. Lastly but just as important to mention as this is an essential part of the story: we have the absolute privilege to contemplate sixteen (!!!) mindblowing art pieces by the one and only Joy and they’re so full of heart and meaning, I felt truly spoiled. The mooncalf dancing scene, in particular, will be forever imprinted in my mind. This is the best read to indulge tonight or tomorrow to celebrate the weekend, go ahead and treat yourself!!!

Read on AO3

#drarry fic rec

[robo-ky888]

So I wanted to make a video on why Robo Ky is my favorite fictional character period but I don't feel confident enough with my skills to do this sort of thing justice so I'm scrapping the project for now. I'm gonna upload the script here but be warned, it's my first ever script so sorry about that. Thank you for reading.

Introduction

Robo Ky. a character that first appeared as a story mode exclusive boss only as a palette swap of Ky and was only made fully playable in the 3rd entry into the series, is my favorite character in media. But…why, why is this random one off character that usually places around C tier on tier lists and was relegated to cutscenes and spin off games past his debut game my favorite in all of media, especially when Guilty Gear has so many amazing characters like Faust or Sol or even Johnny or Slayer. Well today I intend to tell you why and frankly, i'm not trying to win anyone over with this one or spark a new “Robo Ky revolution” or anything, i just really REALLY wanted to get this out there and this was the only way i knew how to do it. I hope you all or even if you dont, i hope you learn something new about one of guilty gears most original characters.

Who is Robo Ky

Robo Ky made his first appearance in Guilty Gear X Plus for the Playstation 2 in 2001 exclusively in cutscenes. He was portrayed as a palette swap of ky and to play as this version of Robo Ky, you had to select ky’s gg version which had different attacks. This version of Robo Ky looked way different as he was portrayed as having tan skin and a much slimmer frame, looking more like regular ky. This also applied to guilty gear petit as he works exactly like this in that game as well. I actually played this game on an emulator once and inputted the code to play as Robo Ky right away and even got his ending, which is probably one of my favorite photos of the funny man. After these two middling appearances, we finally see Robo Ky take on a full move set in guilty gear XX released in december of 2002 in japan and march 2003 everywhere else. In the first installment of the game, he is unlocked by completing Story Mode or via time release (96 hours). This is the only version of the game Robo Ky is an unlock in and in all future versions he is unlocked right at the start, as perfection should be. Its moveset and gameplay is surprisingly different from ky and if you know anything about Robo Ky, this is probably it. His gameplay revolves around maintaining your heat and battery gage as when you use certain moves, the corresponding bars will increase or decrease, if the heat gage fills up too much, you overheat and explode, if you run out of battery, you can't do specials until you get the energy for them, think of it as tension that empties and fills faster. For example, his special skill fires a bullet from his elbow which increases the heat gauge and his DON'T GET COC-KY! Uses up a bit of power. Heat goes down naturally and your main tool for rebuilding energy is gimmicky, no that's the actual name of the move, Gimmic-KY. He even has a delayed get up which can really throw people off and he even talks shit at you while he is getting up. Now why am i explaining any of this, to most people none of this even matters, but i thought this was really important to explain because Robo Ky does not play like anyone else in the entire cast, not even ky himself. They may share some of the same moves, around 9 or 10, but Robo Ky plays so differently thanks to his gauges and his weird attacks that i was drawn to it as soon as i saw it. His uniqueness is truly what makes him stand out and while he isn't the BEST character in accent core (thank you zappa), he is my absolute favorite to play and i will die on that hill.

Story reasons

In the guilty gear universe, Robo Ky was created by the Post-War Administration Bureau as a sort of assassin robot to take care of anyone trying to get in their way. This is his main objective throughout his entire story, to eliminate someone who is in his way, but that is the most barebones way of explaining it so let's go more in depth. The way fighting game canon works in general is….questionable as everyone has multiple endings and routes, it's hard to know what is canon and what isn't but i will give my best interpretation on what is Robo Ky canon.

In X’s story, Robo Ky actually scans ky and stalks him throughout his chapter until they fight and surprisingly he actually gets the jump on the defective original as when you play this story, you will always have a portion of your health missing.

Unfortunately, Robo Ky does canonically lose but this is one of the most intimidating scenes we see Robo Ky in and one of the only times he is taken and shown off as a legit threat. The next time we see a Robo Ky unit is in XX where the number of Robo Ky are actually quite thin and because of their middling performance, they’re up for discontinuation.Nevertheless, this guy named crow who has been working on the Robo Ky’s for awhile decides to send one particular Robo Ky on a mission to gather combat info as a sort of last mission.

Throughout the mission, Robo Ky argues with crow, is generally rude and dismissive and just goes on fighting, collecting data, all that until crow essentially decides “hey bud, your insides are acting real FUN-KY so get back here” and you actually get a choice as a player for if you want to return to the lab or not but for this overview we will be looking at the ending where you do not decide to return to the lab.Robo Ky must have only heard the word KY when crow said he was acting FUN-KY as he only has eyes to kill the defective original, much to crows dismay. Eventually, you actually do find and fight ky but the prince gets away and robo-kys damages are too severe so he gets back to the lab…only to be met WITH A COPY OF JUSTICE WHO IS ESSENTIALLY AN ULTRA POWERFUL KILLING MACHINE.

(Here is pt 2)

#guilty gear #robo ky #guilty gear xx

[dragimal]

Fontaine Review

I’ve mostly kept quiet til now, cus’ I wanted to get through most of the main story of Fontaine + characters before saying anything (and honestly, I still haven’t done much exploring or world quests yet, so forgive me for any lacking context there), but like. good god, Fontaine is THE single worst written region in the entire game, with some of the worst plots, character writing, and gameplay I’ve ever seen.

let's go

1) the hunting metaphor

if you don’t believe me, I’ll start off with a small example—one of the few things I’ll provide full dialogue reference for, because it’s honestly a little insane.

For reference, since this is a minor moment in the grand scheme of things, this is the conversation between the final ensemble, discussing their plans to trap Furina into telling the truth. If you’d rather just watch it, here’s the timestamp, but I’ll relay the relevant section here.

[dialogue start]

Clorinde: In that case, do any of you have experience in… hunting?

Lynette: Not that I recall.

Lyney: Freminet and I once used a wooden stick and a basket to catch wild rabbits when we were younger. As for Lynette… ah right, you were sick that day, weren’t you?

Freminet: I’ve also gone diving to catch some fish before. Does that count?

Clorinde: I’m afraid not. You may or may not have heard, but Fontaine once played host to a group known as the Marechaussee Hunters. Though that was their name, they did not hunt animals, but rather various monsters left behind by the ancient dynasty of King Remus. Today, Fontaine’s monster population has already thinned greatly, so the Hunters have blended back into society, taking up arms in other lines of work. They even left a unique methodology of hunting in their wake.

Clorinde: A trap comprises of the following components: bait, a trigger, and a containment device. Sometimes, a lethal implement will also be necessary to deal with the prey. So if we were to build a trap together right now, what would you choose to build it with?

Lyney: For me, I would prefer something basket-shaped. Pigeons and rabbits will see the bait and naturally enter the snare. Our line of work requires a deft hand, and we’re some of the best in the industry, so you can count on our techniques.

Navia: You used some of those techniques while moving the people of Poisson, didn’t you? My subordinates mentioned that you even performed some magic for the bawling children.

Lyney: Yes, and I even managed to gather some intelligence in the meantime—I’m quite the multitasker if I do say myself.

Freminet: I’m afraid I can’t claim that my strong suit… I prefer more stable methods, like placing bait in the water and waiting for the fish to come within reach… That’s the kind of method I would count on.

Paimon: Hehe, calm and steady—exactly the kind of person who would catch loads of fish.

Lynette: And I can be their assistant.

Clorinde: With discretion, I’m sure.

Navia: Hmm… I’d probably use some sort of mechanical animal. Papa once bought me some small clockwork squirrels, mice, and such. When placed in the forest, they can attract others of their kind. I remember that you liked those too, didn’t you?

Clorinde: I did, and that would be a good way to go about it. If they’re realistic enough, animals of the same kind will follow them all the way to the trap.

Navia: What about you, Monsieur Neuvillette?

Neuvillette: I… fear I do not have any related experience.

Clorinde: That makes sense. You usually solve problems directly, without the use of any such tricks. But I do have one more question for you, Monsieur. If we were to create a trap now, how would you design it?

Neuvillette: Hmm, I would like for it to be effective but bring no harm to the prey. A more gentle trap would be ideal.

Clorinde: Kind, as always. However, our intention doesn’t necessarily change the containment device and the type of implement we need. If we wanted to kill the prey in one strike, we would need a powerful implement. However, that also goes for prey that must be captured and safely contained.

Navia: Wait, why’s that?

Clorinde: Only a hunter who is a true expert at subduing their prey can snare it without harming it. The line that divides life and death is often exceedingly thin.

[dialogue end]

Now anyone would see that long, drawn-out hunting metaphor and think, “oh, so this is gonna be a big hunt, then? Hunting an Archon? A bit weird, given the vibe of the archon quest before this point, but that’s cool!”

But then—

[dialogue start]

Freminet: …So, are we going hunting together?

Paimon: Uh, we hadn’t thought of seeing ourselves as hunters. It kinda works… but maybe it’s still not the best metaphor.

Neuvillette: If our means of capturing and dealing with our prey is to put them on trial, then the hunting metaphor is actually quite accurate. But we shall require much more courage than any hunter to judge a god—a being whose seat is an exalted throne.

Traveler: That’s right.

Lyney: Oh, so that’s what is going on… sounds very interesting.

[dialogue end]

So not only are the characters within the scene confused by the metaphor, but then Hoyo itself has to step in with blank pages of text to dispel the audience’s confusion.

[image IDs: screencaps of white text on blank, black backgrounds reading as follows:

“Clorinde’s hunting metaphor was just that… a metaphor. You will not call this a ‘hunt’ because that is not what you should do at present, nor has the relationship between you and Furina reached such a dire stage. What you need is simply the secrets she is keeping. Attempting to take her secrets is an act of sacrilegious disrespect, but must be done to prevent Fontaine from sinking into the waters as foretold in the prophecy. There is neither hunter nor prey, but there must be a ‘trap.’ That is what you will need.”

End ID]

To be clear, hunting has not been mentioned as an activity or even a metaphor throughout the entire archon quest leading up to this point, and it’s so irrelevant after this point that the Hoyo writers themselves had to step out from behind the curtain to tell us that, no, the cast will NOT be hunting Furina, actually.

So like, what was the point? Hoyo just wasted several minutes of my time painting a complex hunting metaphor, only to tell me it’s nothing? Was it just an excuse to make Clorinde’s skills relevant in the final cast of characters? Why??????

Y’know what metaphor would have been fitting, though? I’ll give you three guesses……. Fucking STAGE PERFORMANCE!!! Performance and spectacle have been huge themes this entire quest, the entire country of Fontaine is mired in performance, and the entire last act of this quest is a literal performance-- why didn’t Hoyo choose that as the metaphor? Or, hell, even easier, just cut out the entire metaphor completely! We already know that the group is discussing what to do about Furina, Hoyo could’ve just cut to black at an earlier point in the convo and been done with it!

This may seem nitpicky as my first point, but it’s so telling of Hoyo’s writing philosophy—don’t write anything meaningful, and don’t commit to anything of substance. It’s really the core of all other problems, imo, and it’ll keep coming back again and again.

2) Traveler + Paimon

The Traveler issue is a bit complicated, and perhaps more subjective than my other issues, but bear with me.

Namely, the Traveler is supposed to be the player’s self-insert, while also being a character within the setting—a combination that just… doesn’t really work, at least not the way Hoyo approaches it

For one, Traveler has goals that often run counter to what the player wants to do. The obvious example being that Traveler just wants to get on with it and find their sibling, whereas we players want to take our time to explore, meet characters, and run through various sidequests. So this leads to a weird tension where the Traveler is simultaneously a kind-hearted errand-runner, always happy to help out… while also being very fed up with it all, anxious to just find their sibling and the truth of their separation.

There’s also the simple fact that we, the players, aren’t given any options to affect the path and choices of the Traveler, beyond “snarky answer” vs. “not-snarky answer”. This isn’t strictly a bad thing, not every game needs to have branching paths or complex character interactions… but it’s not exactly conducive to the “self-insert” approach that Hoyo tries to frame the game as, ya feel me?

And don’t even get me started on Paimon’s role in this! Even if Traveler has a personality, they can barely get a word in over Paimon’s constant whining and commentary. I’m not the first person to point out how annoying she is, but she truly is such an unnecessary plot convenience, when Traveler could easily just… speak for themself (and with a much more pleasant voice). Though that may be the problem-- I honestly think Hoyo only added Paimon so they could still claim Traveler as a self-insert, since Paimon usually serves as the mouthpiece for Traveler. Either that, or she’s supposed to serve as a lore dump to introduce Traveler to Teyvat, but like… Paimon is dumber than a rock, and other characters in the setting explain things far better than her.

Anyways, my point with Paimon is that, because she serves as the mouthpiece for Traveler, that means she also serves as the mouthpiece for the player. Which is infuriating, when she’s saying dumb shit I don’t agree with, but Hoyo thinks I’m supposed to. No, I don’t feel hostile towards Kaeya or think he’s “shady”, I actually like the guy! No, I don’t think Tighnari’s tangents about botany are boring—I’m a bio major, and I love hearing people talk about their interests in any case! Etc. etc.

thus, it feels like Hoyo is carefully straddling the fine line of “self-insert” vs. “character with autonomous personality” without really committing to either option, leaving me feeling unsatisfied and a bit frustrated (or often frustrated, when Paimon’s speaking).

But I will admit, this usually isn’t a problem. Sure, the “half-insert” approach bothers me sometimes, but at least Traveler’s dialogue options are often written vaguely enough that I’m not taken out of the moment, and Paimon… well, I try to just pretend she doesn’t exist. On the whole, the Traveler issue isn’t game-breaking…

Or it wasn’t, until Fontaine.

Suddenly, left and right, Paimon is being rude and dismissive towards more characters than ever (no, Paimon, I think YOU’RE making this moment with Neuvillette awkward, actually), and Traveler is not only agreeing, but inventing new, fun ways to act downright cruel (Lyney + Lynette, FURINA… we’ll get to them…). They’re both rude to a huge chunk of the cast-- not only the strangers we barely know, but the kind and charming characters who’ve never done a bad thing to us or anyone we know of!

It’s a heel-turn that suddenly emphasizes the problems with Traveler that were, up to this point, far more subtle.

For one, this behavior runs counter to how the players respond to these situations, as we've discussed. like, Traveler being rude to Lyney? Fan-favorite Lyney?? In a gacha game that’s trying to sell us our favorite little blorbos? What in the world kind of decision is that???

But more fundamentally, this personality switch runs counter to what we’ve grown to expect from Traveler. we expect someone who is open and understanding to all sorts of situations and types of people… but that’s not really the case, is it? Traveler is only here to find their sibling, and they’ve apparently grown tired of pretending otherwise. No more sympathy and understanding, the patience is gone.

I honestly think I’d enjoy the experience more if Hoyo committed to Traveler as a full character rather than a half-way insert. it doesn’t come up much in-game, but if you look at Traveler’s voice lines on their story tab, you’ll discover tons of fascinating backstory and personality. I want to learn more about their experiences in other worlds, and their thoughts about how Teyvat compares to other places! I want to know more about the apparently deep bond between Traveler and their sibling, and the trials they’ve been through together before Teyvat!

I wouldn't mind a bitter Traveler, if the Traveler was treated like an actual character, and we got to watch the progression of this bitterness over time… but we don’t get to see it, because they’re not treated like a full character. and I honestly don’t even think this was an intentional character choice, in any case.

This leads into the related problem of—

3) the Fatui

ok sure, the Fatui are not exactly trustworthy, that’s been proven time and again. I don’t blame Traveler for being wary of new Fatui characters, or even the organization as a whole. I get it.

however, Traveler has encountered many, MANY people on their journey, including many different Fatui operatives. There are many formerly-‘bad’ individuals (including Fatui) that Traveler has come to understand and even befriend, in many cases.

The obvious example here being Childe, who isn’t even among the list of “reformed” individuals. he’s literally still a Harbinger with violent streak, he’s implied to have a high death count, and he tried to drown Liyue (with Zhongli’s permission, sure, but Childe didn’t know that)… and yet Traveler STILL befriends him. I’m saying this as a huge Childe simp myself—I love the guy, but even I can admit he didn’t do a whole lot to earn forgiveness. Idek what the thought process is in that relationship, was Childe just too pathetic by the end of the Liyue archon quest to be considered a threat by Traveler anymore? Impossible to say.

But then Traveler will meet other Fatui characters and inexplicably act horrifically cruel. I think it starts with Ganyu’s story quest, where we’re encouraged to profile some random Fatui guy and extra-judiciously beat him up for the crime of… picking berries. And then Traveler just laughs it off like, “well, he had it coming anyways,” like HUH? WHAT?? And then the 9th Company in the Chasm… WHEW don’t even get me started. That whole Company was literally on the floor DYING of starvation, clearly no threat to anyone, and especially not anyone as skilled as the Traveler… and then Traveler STILL has the gall to act suspicious! The story basically had to drag Traveler, kicking and screaming, to help characters who-- I must emphasize-- were dying of starvation.

Real heroic character, there. Love playing somebody that’s clearly so kind and compassionate. Ugh.

At least the hostility towards Scaramouche makes some sense, given Traveler’s personal beef with him across several countries/quests, + Scara’s personality. Like, yeah, Traveler is rude to him after his defeat, but at least Scara gives as much sass as he gets. Still a frustrating double-standard, considering how nice Traveler is to Childe “literally still a Harbinger” Tartaglia, but whatever.

But Lyney and Lynette? The people who have been nothing but kind to Traveler? Who show genuine concern for Fontaine’s safety, who pass out free gadgets to help out the people of Fontaine? Whose tragic backstory involves literal child sex trafficking, and being rescued by the one single Harbinger that seems to have largely unselfish goals*? (*not saying Arlecchino prolly hasn’t done anything bad, but we’ll get there)

and Traveler still has the GALL to scoff at their trauma, and claim it doesn’t matter???

[image ID: a screencap of dialogue from the 4.0 archon quest, reading as follows:

Paimon: So that’s how you two joined the House of the Hearth.

Traveler: That’s all in the past, though. The Knave is after the Gnosis, isn’t she?

End ID]

If I thought the 9th Company quest was bad… WHEW… I’ve never wanted to reach through the screen and strangle the Traveler more than I did at this point (at least until Furina’s story quest <3 )

Hell, the House of the Hearth’s concern for Fontaine isn’t even a front, as is proven by Arlecchino and co. helping out in the final act. For all that Arlecchino and her House have likely done terrible things in the name of her goals, she and the siblings were completely honest about protecting Fontaine… and Traveler is STILL hesitant about the siblings, even when their sincerity has been abundantly proven.

[image ID: a screencap of dialogue from the 4.1 archon quest, reading as follows:

Lyney: As you know, the House of the Hearth has many reasons to seek the Gnosis, but our highest priority remains resolving the prophesized crisis. You can trust us on that.

Traveler: Sorry, I must refuse.

end ID]

Make it make SENSE.

Look, I would understand the hesitation if Traveler had never encountered any nuance in the Fatui before this point. Truly, I get it-- the Fatui is a powerful, deeply influential organization. I also don’t trust powerful, deeply influential organizations! but I must once again emphasize that TRAVELER IS FRIENDS WITH CHILDE. This just feels like a swift kick in the nuts, at this point.

It’s also worth noting that… Hoyo didn’t have to write the Fatui as cartoonishly evil. I’m frankly sick of seeing Fatui as the masterminds behind 90% of the evil plots in Teyvat, as if they’re the true root of all evil. For one, it’s boring-- I’d like to see other people making bad decisions for once, and I’d like to see more Fatui with more complex goals than “be evil, make profit”, such as the complexity of the House of the Hearth in this quest.

Hell, it’s already established that each Harbinger does their own thing with their resources/power.

[image ID: a screencap of dialogue from the 4.0 archon quest, reading as follows:

Lyney: But our organization is very, very large, and the Harbingers have very different personalities and goals.

End ID]

[image ID: a screencap of dialogue from the 4.2 archon quest, reading as follows:

The Knave: Don’t be too preoccupied with “sides.” The goal of the Fatui concerns not a single place or person, but rather the entire world. With such a grand goal in mind, it is inevitable that we must wear many masks.

End ID]

so I’m hoping we’ll see more of this nuance?? But this is Hoyo we’re talking about, so I’m not placing my bets on it.

But the more troubling thing abt the Fatui’s writing is that it feels very… Red Scare. Not that this kind of flat stereotype is exclusive to the Fatui—the Treasure Hoarders are a classist stereotype of “thieves” (despite the fact the Traveler prolly plunders far more ancient tombs and artifacts than the whole organization combined…), and the Eremites and related enemy NPCs are a racist caricature of ‘Arab’ peoples. So like, forgive me if I don’t trust Hoyo to continue to write Fantasy Russian Mob with grace and nuance.

but honestly, the real kicker is… I agree with the Tsaritsa’s goal of destroying Celestia. Celestia is an unambiguously genocidal god-state that can and will destroy any peoples that even hint at threatening their power. I joked abt Fatui being the root of all evil, but throughout Teyvat’s entire history, it seems like Celestia actually is the root of all evil. Like, yeah, blast that sucker out of the sky. Obviously I don’t agree with the free reign the Tsaritsa has given her Harbingers, but I don’t necessarily blame her for using that power to gain their loyalty.

And yet, the game continuously frames the Fatui organization as flatly evil—even Arlecchino, for all the good she did in this quest, clearly has her own agenda. Like, y’know that trope where the group resisting an unfair system is made to do cartoonishly evil things, thus delegitimizing their core goals? It feels like that. Yeah, it sure is hard to agree with the objectively correct main goal of the Fatui, when they keep starting civil wars across the map. Too bad nobody fucking else wants to fight Celestia… oh well, I guess we just have to accept Celestia’s iron rule!

The Fatui isn’t even the worst offender of this infuriating trope, tbh. Let us not forget Khaenri'ah—the people that didn’t want to be ruled by Archons, made their own, autonomous nation, and were thus completely annihilated by Celestia because their technology was “too dangerous”. and then the survivors are either cursed with immortality, or mutated to become black-skinned monsters wearing ‘tribal’ masks/outfits (the og racist caricature, if you will). But I’d be here all day if I started talking abt that, and it’s not related to Fontaine, so I’ll leave it at that.

I can’t predict what Hoyo’s endgame is for Celestia, so maybe they’ll surprise me, but forgive me for distrusting Hoyo’s obsession with authority and “divine rights”.

Which leads into the next problem—

4) the Fortress of Meropide

It’s one thing to have a fantasy world with fantasy ‘cops’ and some kind of punitive system. Like, sure, fine, it exists, but we don’t have to dig into it. Hell, we can even have ‘cop’ characters without it being a huge deal. at least Kujou Sara and Cyno-- for all their blind loyalty-- could eventually see the flaws in the system. Sure, I would’ve liked to see the systems themselves challenged-- to see the people of Inazuma not so readily forgive the Shogun, or to see the idea of “forbidden knowledge” questioned as a tool of control, maybe. but I wasn’t rly expecting that level of self-reflection from Hoyo anyways, so whatever. Ultimately, those systems are ‘fixed’ so they no longer subjugate the people, so I can’t complain too much.

but then we get the Fortress of Meropide. A literal prison—not even just a metaphor, it’s just. Literal, modern prison, but with a steampunk veneer.

Let me lay out all the issues here, beyond the obvious:

“autonomous” prison

generally, the Fontaine justice system exiles people rather than imprisons them. Long ago, all these “exiles” made their own society outside of Fontaine, both for survival and to “repent” towards Egeria (we’ll get to that). Thus, the Fortress is technically “autonomous” from Fontaine, since its population is full of these “exiles” rather than true “prisoners”.

But if that’s the case, why are the exiles still on Fontaine land? the Fortress is still within the borders, after all-- if they are truly just “exiled”, then they should be free to roam outside of Fontaine. Yet, why are these “exiles” escorted straight to the Fortress by Gardes-- as if they are, perhaps, prisoners of the Fortress?

The only way this works for me, logically, is if the Fontaine government claims no connection on paper, while still working with the Fortress under the table. This would allow Fontaine to exact whatever policies/cruelties they like on prisoners, without the oversight of official Fontaine policies to hold them accountable for this behavior.

Fontaine can’t violate their citizens’ human/worker rights, if the people in question aren’t actually citizens anymore.

credit coupons

Prisoners do not earn Mora for their work in the Fortress—instead, they earn credit coupons, and these coupons are only worth anything within the bounds of Fortress.

So let’s follow these facts to their logical conclusion: if prisoners can only earn credit coupons, then they can’t save up any real Mora (unless there’s lore abt credit-mora exchange I’ve missed). That means, when they’re eventually released from the Fortress, prisoners have no money to their name. and unless there’s some system in place to hold prisoner housing/assets safe (doubtful), then prisoners have likely lost their home, job, and any savings as well. So a newly-released prisoner is just as poor (if not worse off) than before. They will likely have to steal for survival, and end up in the Fortress again. if that’s the case, then why would they leave?

Like, gee, I wonder why so many prisoners choose to continue living in the Fortress after their sentence is done? Surely it must be because of the excellent accommodations!! 🙄

prison labor

the main job available to prisoners is factory work, building many of the machines used in above-ground Fontaine. No wonder Fontaine doesn’t want the prisoners to leave, they’d lose their free (slave-labor) workforce!

Notably, prisoners also help make Gardemeks—the robots that serve as a large chunk of the Fontaine police force, and prolly arrested many of the prisoners themselves. What a slap to the face!

welfare meals

Every prisoner apparently gets one free meal a day, after which they must pay for any other meals using their credit coupons.

But what about people who can’t work? the sick, the disabled? one meal a day is not enough to survive, and trying to do so would only make people weak and sick, which would make them even less able to work, continuing the vicious cycle. And the fact that prisoners didn’t even get that little crumb before is kinda nauseating.

Also why is their quality Russian fucking roulette??

[image ID: screencaps of dialogue from the 4.1 archon quest, reading as follows:

Paimon: Oh, you mean the meals are random?

Sigewinne: Yes, what you get to eat depends completely on your luck. You could say that it’s a… distasteful little game that Chef Wolsey likes to play here in the cafeteria.

End ID]

I know Genshin is a gacha game, but this is too much. Fuck people with food sensitivities or allergies, I guess.

EDIT: informed prisoner choice/consent

there's two main instances of uninformed decisions being thrown at prisoners:

A) Sigewinne makes special meals for prisoners whom she observes to be overworking themselves. instead of telling them this, though, she just silently slips her meal into their gacha-tin instead of their regular meal. thus, instead of understanding that they are being given a healthy gift by the Fortress nurse, prisoners just see a gross piece of meat and think they're being punished or poisoned for non-stop working 3 days in a row.

now, I'm slightly more lenient with Sigewinne's case, considering Melusine aesthetics and such. there's a chance that Melusines, idk, have a higher sense of smell or something, so she thinks she need not explain the healthy qualities of her meals to humans, bc they should just be able to tell it's healthy. MAYBE.

but Sigewinne has been working at the Fortress for how many years? seriously, how many years, I'm not sure-- at least as long as Wrio's been there. that's quite a while to not have picked up on human habits-- especially for someone like Sigewinne, who apparently spends all her time studying human behavior/emotions in order to give them the best care possible.

honestly, given Sigewinne's interests, this feels almost cruelly intentional? like, what the hell else am I supposed to think, when Hoyo takes time to note Sigewinne's interest in human emotions? and especially considering the manipulative role she played with Lyney and co... yeah, no dice, this girl is a razor blade hiding under a lolita dress.

B) Fonta wants to sell their drinks down in the Fortress, and in particular wants to test out a new drink they've come up with, to see if the prisoners like it. Wriothesley thinks Fonta sucks and believes only the dumbest of prisoners would spend their precious coupons on Fonta. so to prove this, Wrio slips a bottle of the special Fonta into certain prisoners' cells (those he deems to have recently made stupid decisions) to see if they'll drink it. without knowing what the drink is, prisoners only see a mysterious bottle of unlabeled, blood-colored liquid, and throw it out without touching it.

so, for one, it's really not Wrio's place to decide what his prisoners do with their money. he may think Fonta is stupid, but it's people's Archon-given right to spend their hard-earned money however they see fit! I don't want the president of my country telling me I can't have a nice, refreshing cola after a hard day's work, fuck off!!

but also, like. Wrio clearly knows what he's doing, here. he's giving this new product the worst possible chance at positive reception (pulling off the labels, leaving them in prisoner dorms with no explanation), and claiming it's Fonta's fault for making a bad product. fucking of course nobody wants the new product, they think it's literally blood, and probably some kind of threat!

I bet you a million bucks, if prisoners knew what it was, this blood-like Fonta would get at least some clientele. there's always a morbid audience to be found, and the chances may even be higher in a prison

Wrio doesn't even start offering prisoners his drink of choice-- high-end tea-- to be bought instead, so like. this isn't even a flex on his drink tastes so much as another way to control prisoner's very few means of recreation and personal choice.

medical care and general health

why is Sigewinne the only nurse? That’s insane, there should be a full staff of medical professionals-- the Fortress is huge. And considering all the leaky walls and rusting metal, I’m surprised more prisoners don’t have gangrene or tetanus.

Also being deep underwater, with few windows out into the surrounding lake, the Fortress gets basically no sunlight. it’s socially cut off from the outside world, and as far as I know, there’s little else to do beyond Fight Club (I’ve heard tell of a library, but I certainly never saw one!). the Fortress seems primed to turn people fucking insane and/or depressed. Humans need sunlight and fresh air, humans need intellectual and physical enrichment.

And y’know what? I’d accept all this if it was intentional—some commentary on the corruption of the state, and the way prison only destroys lives.

But that’s the worst part—it’s not.

The Fortress is framed as not only necessary to Fontaine’s functioning, but good for the people. Traveler and Paimon constantly comment on how “surprisingly nice” the Fortress is, how they love being there. Meanwhile, every time I’m in the Fortress, I feel like a fox caught in a bear trap-- I want to fucking LEAVE, but the game acts like I should love it SO SO much.

[image ID: a screencap of dialogue from the 4.2 archon quest, reading as follows:

Paimon: That’s right! Today is our last day in prison… But now that Paimon says that, it doesn’t feel like we were confined here. It’s actually been pretty nice.

Traveler: A lot of people have helped us out.

Paimon: Oh, yeah. Paimon feels fond of this place now.

End ID]

Hoyo voice: oh boy, don’t you just LOVE it here? Isn’t it so fun and great??

Not to mention the weird “redemption” undertones of it all.

…

[image ID: screencaps of dialogue from the 4.1 archon quest, reading as follows:

Wolsey: Now everyone gets a square meal every day, even no-good slackers who’ve never picked up a wrench in their whole lives. Nobody starves to death here.

…

Wolsey: Whatever the case, hard work is rewarded here. You’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else as fair and reasonable.

End ID]

--

[image ID: screencaps of dialogue from Wriothesley’s story quest and the 4.1 archon quest, respectively, reading as follows:

Wriothesley: Which is why in my opinion, learning to reconcile with oneself is the first step on the path to redemption.

--

Wriothesley: And with that, the people here stopped referring to the Fortress as a prison. They saw themselves as repenting sinners, who would regain their freedom once they had sufficiently redeemed themselves.

End ID]

How disgustingly Christian 🙄

this only reinforces the idea that prisoners are lesser citizens that deserve to live under the worst conditions, unless they “repent” and bring something “valuable” to society. Not to even mention that every crime is treated equal, in the scenario—yeah, sure, I definitely want the single parent who stole food for their starving kids to go to the fucking pit of darkness. Definitely.

And if it wasn’t already incredibly obvious, this is way too close to real-life to be comfortable—everything from credit coupons, to exploitative prison labor, to the idea of prison as “redemption”. This is how real-life prison works, what people think of prison, and how society often treats convicts.

It’s one thing to write a narrative that’s tone-deaf to the deeper implications—Hoyo does that all the time, I’m used to it. But this? This feels intentional. This feels pointed and vicious. This feels like Hoyo, mask-off, saying, “these are our unambiguous views about the state and punitive system, and we’re going to make you agree with us using a hot guy mouthpiece.”

Which is, of course, why I hate Wriothesley so much.

It’s not just that he’s a smug, insufferable bastard (though he is), but it’s more what he represents for this story.

Essentially, Wrio is not allowed to be wrong. This is partly bc he’s a high-spec guy and Hoyo is afraid of letting high-spec guys be wrong (see: Alhaitham), but mostly because Wrio is a thesis statement for the Fortress. Wriothesley is authority, and according to Hoyo, authority is always right. even when authority is manipulative and cruel, as long as the “proper leader” is using that authority, then it’s actually for your own good, so you should just shut up and listen.

Wrio can’t be wrong, bc if he is, then what does that say about the Fortress?

Thus, interactions between Wrio and the prisoners take on a different tone. Wrio’s not just some schmuck acting smug—he’s a guy with power, and he delights in lording that power over the people who can’t tell him “no”.

[image ID: screencaps of in-game dialogue from the 4.1 archon quest, reading as follows:

Deakin: Th- The Duke! Greetings, Your Grace! L-Lovely weather today, isn’t it?

Wriothesley: Greetings, my good fellow. I’m willing to imagine that the weather is as good outside the sea as you say it is. Ah, how great it would have been if only the Fortress of Meropide had been built on the coast. It would have been so convenient to enjoy a nice chat in the sunshine.

End ID]

[image ID: screencaps of in-game dialogue from the 4.1 archon quest, reading as follows:

Fitzroy: Ah, Y-Your Grace! Good morning… I mean, good afternoon!... No wait, what time is it again?

Wriothesley: What time indeed. Time waits for no one, so it’s best to keep an eye on it.

Fitzroy: Ah, m-my apologies, Your Grace! *panting*

Paimon: Geeze, that guy’s so nervous he almost forgot to breathe…

End ID]

these interactions kinda make me wanna vom! This isn’t playful teasing, and Wrio knows it—he’s got all the power, and he can wield it as he likes.

Also, knowing that Wrio was once a convict doesn’t make me like him more. He’d only work for me if he was like Roy Mustang—a smug bastard façade hiding a manic drive to tear apart the whole system from the inside, and then himself. But Wrio is the Duke, and little has changed in the Fortress. Class traitor? Die

Also, this is a minor problem compared to the writing issues, but the Fortress is just an awful place to navigate. Why does each elevator only move between two floors, when there are several floors? I should NOT need to turn on sparkle-trail navigation for a single goddamn building. Nightmarish, 4.1 was easily the worst quest in the entire game, bar none.

5) Furina

Furina herself is excellent—she’s one of my new fave characters, and the situation involving her, Focalors, and Neuvillette is insanely tragic and devastating. I’ll give Hoyo props for that one—that scene was insanely well-executed, and Furina/Focalors’ Eng va crushed it.

No, I’m upset with all the writing surrounding Furina.

It all starts going sideways when Traveler tricks Furina into the final trial of the archon quest. I don’t blame them for the situation, of course-- they couldn’t have known that Furina was about to maybe open up, if only they had a bit more time alone. but GOD that betrayal still stung… except the Traveler didn’t seem to agree. they didn’t show any concern for Furina in that moment, or at any point during the trial. But y’know what, fair enough—there are bigger problems than Furina’s feelings in that scene, so I don’t blame them for focusing on the more pressing goal of Fontaine’s safety.

But then they enter Furina’s literal mind. They see her desperately clinging to a mask of confidence, even at her deepest core. They see her scared and alone, frantic for solutions and sacrificing every part of herself for months and years, decades and centuries. They see her tears flowing over and over, desperately trying to cover up the fatal cracks in her façade.

[image ID: a screencap of a scene from the 4.1 archon quest. White text reading, “Scene 182375, Opera House, Furina,” sits on a black background. Hundreds of faint tally marks are scratched into this background, marking the days. End ID]

Traveler sees Furina at her most vulnerable, most broken, and her still caring more for the people of Fontaine than her own health and happiness.

And Traveler has the AUDACITY to demand MORE of Furina. To demand to see the “truth” of Furina’s situation, as if her trauma wasn’t already abundantly fucking clear by that point. Literally, if Furina knew anything else about her “mirror self”, Traveler would have seen it by then-- what do they even want from Furina at that point??

and THEN. after Fontaine is saved, and Furina fucks off to solitude (good for her), and Traveler now has an intimate understanding of Furina’s trauma concerning performance and spectacle… Traveler and Paimon make fun of her situation. Paimon makes fun of Furina’s clear depression meals and lack of life skills like cooking, as if it isn’t extremely fucking obvious WHY she lacks those skills.

And Traveler demands Furina return to the stage.

And when Furina decides that, no, she’d rather not act ever again, Traveler completely ignores her boundaries. Furina literally calls it a boundary that she refuses to cross, and this newfound confidence and self-worth is framed as a problem that needs to be fixed.

Paimon even calls her a “drama queen” for daring to set boundaries.

[image ID: a screencap of dialogue from Furina’s story quest, reading as follows:

Paimon: It’s amazing… even though Furina’s still being a bit of a drama queen about it all, she’s really fired everyone up!

Traveler: I’m really looking forward to the final production.

End ID]

As if it isn’t completely fucking obvious? Why Furina wouldn’t want to play as someone else again? to cover up her own feelings with a mask? to be ogled as a spectacle, an object? To be judged by the harsh gaze of her people?

Hell, even Neuvillette suggests that Furina belongs on the stage, but frankly that’s character assassination, imo. Neuvillette was HORRIFIED when he learned what Focalors did to Furina, and even if he saw the necessity, that doesn’t mean he was happy to learn that a dear friend of his has been suffering so severely for centuries. But anyways.

Furina finally makes a solid decision for herself—no coercion from outside parties, no playing a part-- she makes this decision all on her own, for herself. And the people she’s closest to decide that they know better. They decide that Furina doesn’t know what’s good for herself, and that they should dictate exactly what she needs.

Was 500 years not enough for you people? Was it not enough?? this literally makes me nauseous! It makes me want to burn down all of Fontaine and spit on the ashes! Sorry, Neuvillette, you may forgive Fontaine, BUT I FUCKING DON’T!!

And the real kicker, the true punchline to her “character arc”, is Furina receiving her Vision on stage. The culmination of her core character—her hopes, her passion, her will… is being pressured into playing a role. Again.

What a joke.

6) Melusines

One of my lesser problems with Fontaine, but I consider myself a connoisseur of creatures, and Melusines deeply disappoint.

design

Melusines are supposed to be slug-things, but they just look like toddlers? YAWN, give me real slugs!

Also they look like cutesy toddlers, and they don’t wear pants. Really bad vibes, there

behavior

Melusines have this whole schtick abt not understanding human communication/emotions, but it doesn’t land when they look, act, and talk like tiny humans. When Sigewinne calls me “cute”, it feels weird and infantilizing, because she’s a tiny human calling another human “cute”.

infantilization

speaking of, Genshin has always treated nonhuman objectification and boundaries weirdly (I could say a lot abt how Gorou is treated..), but the treatment of Melusines is especially uncomfortable.

Like, they’re fully autonomous adults that have been alive for hundreds of years, and they’ve made their own underwater town… yet everyone keeps infantilizing them?

Like when Eloffe wants to use Kiara as a model for child clothing

…

[image ID: screencaps of a scene from Neuvillette’s story quest, featuring the short, pale pink Melusine Kiara, and the human Eloffe. The dialogue is as follows:

Eloffe: Hear me out. I’m planning to release an outfit for children next month and wanted to hire you as my model. Is that okay with you?

…

Eloffe: I think light and frilly clothes look best on you. You’d definitely look cute wearing them.

End ID]

for one, this wouldn’t even work bc Melusines have different proportions than humans, but like… why not use an actual child to model child clothes? Why not make clothes for Melusines themselves? Why not ask them what styles they’d like to wear, instead of just assuming? This is kinda rude??

And the worst part is that the Melusines don’t even seem to notice this infantilization—as if they’re so far ‘removed’ from human culture, they don’t realize when they’re being objectified.

[image ID: a continuation of the previous scene, with the following dialogue:

Kiara: I love them too! Especially the soft and fluffy kind…

End ID]

Not gonna lie, it’s creepy!

Slug-girl racism

slug-girl racism is dumb. It’s already dumb when stories do cat-girl racism, so making the characters slugs instead doesn’t make that narrative any more profound. At least the racism is over by the time the story starts, but that was a rly dumb aspect of Neuvillette’s story quest …

#shut up ashley #genshin impact #sorry this is lik 6k words um. I had a lot to say

[iturbide]

I'm curious, what would your ideal FE be?

And do you have any particular FE concepts in mind?

So, fun fact: I actually talked about this a while back.

...and by 'a while back,' I mean 'five years ago,' because time is soup.

So because that's a heck of a lot longer than I remember and a lot changes in that amount of time, let's come at this fresh and see what changes and what doesn't.

So I still really want to keep the lead character concept: dual sword/mage older sister and priest younger brother (with natural promotion to dual healer/mage) is a nice shift on the usual Fire Emblem formula, where we rarely see female Lords in the lead who are set to inherit the throne or male healers (and I can't recall the last time one was a prince, barring Brady with Chrom as his father and I guess Forrest though he's not in the immediate line of succession since he's Siegbert's cousin meaning Xander and Siegbert would need to be removed from the equation before he'd be in line for the throne but since Leo's a prince I think that technically akes him one too and now I'm just going down a rabbit hole of technicalities).

Intro/tutorial would be fairly run-of-the-mill, border skirmish type thing against a small incursion from a neighboring nation and going out to take care of it. But something I think would be fascinating is an expansion on the usual mid-battle recruitment and the option to spare foes that we saw at times in Three Houses: I want every main chapter enemy to have a name and unique portrait. I want there to be a frankly ridiculous number of characters who could theoretically be recruited depending on who approaches them, and I want every enemy to have an option to spare them even if they're not recruited.

Think of it: you go into battle and you see that every enemy is an individual. Every enemy is someone you can engage with. And you can approach any one of them with any of your units and talk to them. As you play, you start to get to know the different personalities of your units: someone may have a kind and gentle approach that's more likely to convince someone who's not exactly keen on fighting -- but that same approach might get steamrolled over by another person that's more set in their ways. Conversely, one of your units might be blunt and straightforward, and could butt heads in a constructive way with someone like that, but whose approach would scare off a more timid foe. Maybe approaching another unit with a character just recruited in the same battle can be helpful -- one of them bringing a friend or close ally over, because they don't want to hurt each other -- or maybe it can backfire spectacularly, with the enemy unit accusing your new ally of stabbing his comrades in the back, which shuts down all attempts at conversation.

It could be an interesting risk/reward system that encourages getting familiar with your various units beyond just their mechanical strengths and weaknesses: knowing their personalities and being able to employ them to take enemies off the field and bloodlessly thin the ranks could be a lot of fun -- plus, it's something that's not required. You don't have to try and bring them to your side -- you can breeze past those little dialogue snippets and just take them out if you want. And at the end of combat, if they weren't recruited, you have an option to spare them or kill them. If you spare them, you might see them again in another battle, and maybe they'll remember you: maybe you'll have another chance to recruit them, and more success the second time around because your actions challenged their preconceived notions about you. If you kill them, though, you might run into someone else later on -- a sibling, a relative, a friend -- who can't be reached at all because their quest is one of vengeance against the one that murdered someone they loved.

And then: what if that built into Supports. What if recruiting units off the battlefield had long-running effects based on how that unit was used? If someone was initially hesitant to join you, and then you bench them permanently, maybe they desert your force after a while because they felt isolated and lacked any kind of community since no work had been done building a new support network for them. Maybe someone else was a little too eager to join based on their impression of your army, and if you build out their Supports it becomes clear that their character has goals that are entirely at odds with the main characters' -- but because those Supports also gave them an understanding of the disconnect, they end up betraying you at some point to get what they want. Recruitment becomes a mechanic that needs to be considered, rather than just a 'collect them all' thing, because indiscriminate recruiting can backfire on you down the road.

With that many characters, of course, it would be completely insane to have all of them as combat units -- so what if some recruits unlock camp options. Maybe they're hesitant to fight against their own people directly, but they want to help and learn more about your force, so they offer non-combat skills: cooking, hunting, fishing, foraging, various sorts of combat/weaponry training, medical aid, merchant services. Similar to Three Houses monastery activities, you can pick a couple of combat units and send them to do different tasks that help keep your forces in fighting shape, building support bonds and learning things about the non-combat units in the process.

One thing I definitely want to see though is a reversal on the stereotypical Divine Dragon and Evil Dragon dichotomy. I want the main characters to talk about their Divine with absolute reverence, I want them to refer to their Divine as their protector and guardian, I want them to make their Divine out to be so kind and compassionate -- and then at some point deep in the game, I want it revealed that their Divine is the one that's seen as that world's Ultimate Evil. I want their Divine to look incredibly daunting, too, big and dark and toothy and terrifying -- but the main characters have nothing but respect for it, and it's eventually proven (maybe through calling it for aid against the threat of the neighboring nation's Divine) that their faith is not misplaced nor mistaken, and their Divine is everything they claim it is.

I still really like the split narrative concept, too, with the two siblings having different stories and different objectives: the kidnapped brother would likely have missions emphasizing escape or endurance (which takes advantage of his status as a healer), while the questing sister would have more objectives to rout an enemy or defeat a particular foe. Odds are that the narrative would begin with a single straightforward story, then split at the kidnapping, and only join together again at the very end before the closing chapters (so you could bring your favorites from both sides of the story to the final confrontation, but wouldn't get all the out of battle/camp stuff).

And above all: I wouldn't want it to be a story that ends with unification under a single banner. A lot of Fire Emblem games have this as their 'ideal' final state, and that's just never worked for me. I would want every nation to remain independent -- maybe with more connections, an openness to diplomatic discussion and free trade, possibly some leadership changes -- rather than having one country dissolved into another.

#answered #unsuspecting-person #extra fun fact: this has been in my inbox for weeks #because i was sure i'd talked about something like this before #i just couldn't remember when or where #it took me this long to find it #because again: five years is a really long time #because of the heavy emphasis on support building #the system for building support points would need tweaking #so that it's not a pain to achieve like it is in engage #pair up/adjutants and out of battle activities are a must #also the open recruitment/unique character stuff #would have to be main story only #skirmishes would be way too much to manage #maybe there would be one specific skirmish recruit #a merchant or something #but most skirmishes would be against puppets/constructs #for more incidental things: only one gen and no timeskip #the thing about character diversity and sensible armor stands #and way more support options #romantic platonic all kinds of rivalries from friendly to bitter #i want it all #this is way too complicated for a fire emblem #but it doesn't stop me from thinking about it a lot #i already have part of a character roster #because of course i do

[annfirestar]

Today is Escanors birthday, so I’ll celebrate it the best way I know how…

By making a THEORY!

(Just like old times, huh?)

So, I think Mortlach (the Chaos knight who evacuated Ironside, and vibed with Arthur in last chapter) is Chaos Escanor.

We already know for sure that Chaos can and is resurrecting people, but it corrupts their memories in whatever way Arthur pleases.

The thing that’s put this Idea in my head is this frame. (Yes, that post was a long time coming)

The pose

The flame/sun thingy on his helmet

There’s some running theme with Chaos Knights with black capes, but that’s doesn’t say anything for now

Also, Mortlach has some strange shadow/darkness magic that allows him to teleport not using regular spell, which is just odd. It doesn’t exactly look like your usual native magic.

Also he’s actually very tall, Ironside is taller than Pellegarde, and this guy is head taller than him.

One other thing I noticed while reading the manga is strange way Merlin always ends up placed by Arthurs left (the only left) hand. Be it stained glass illustration, or literally any frame that we got of her in 4KotA.

Examples:

I would have put it as just a more wining “camera angle” just an artistic view, but then the chapter with Mortlach next to Arthur happens, and he’s always stays to Arthur right. (I mean even when he’s leaving)

I’ve decided that’s a bit too suspicious to my symbolism loving nature so I did a bit of research (with the help of amazing people from NnT discord server) and that’s what I’ve found:

The left side is associated with lunar, feminine, passive energy, while the right side with solar, masculine, protective energy.

By popular belief, left side of the brain is controlling logic and intellect, and right side is controlling emotions and empathy.

In the scenes dedicated to the crucifixion of Christ, the thin criminal was depicted on the left of Christ, and the good criminal was depicted on the right.

At the Last Judgment, the condemned have a place on the left, the justified on the right.

In Europe in the Middle Ages, during the age of mystification, hell was depicted on the left, and paradise on the right.

The the left hand is associated with magic, right hand - with daily activities.

There’s more, but I think that’s enough to get the main theme.

That’s actually a lot, but still doesn’t prove anything, maximum an interesting details of non verbal narrative. And I wouldn’t have written this post if not one little detail I have found literally yesterday.

Nakaba usually names all important characters in the series as characters from Legends of King Arthur, which makes sense. That’s why when I see a character that looks important and has a name that’s literally a name for whiskey, I get suspicious.

I did a bit of digging, and that’s what I have found. "Mortlach" can literally be translated as "valley in the shape of a cup."  The name of the whiskey itself is a tribute to the unique nature of Speyside, namely the hills near Dufftown.  As the founders of the brand once said, after tasting their whiskey, a gourmet should imagine all the splendor of the valleys of this region.

I think you get where’s that one going?

I’m on so much hopium right now, you can’t even imagine.

#oh shiiiiiiiiiit #here we go again #*honks clown nose* #my gift of hope #nanatsu no taizai #the seven deadly sins #nnt #4kota #mokushiroku no yonkishi #four knights of the apocalypse #mnyk #mortlach #escanor #escalin

[the-stray-liger]

gundam question! I am confused

What is a gundam? I watched a vid with this title and the guy said "they have these certain colors and maybe some horn things on their heads and are made of a special metal" and that explained nothing.

Why are people worried that the warcrimes kid Eri is now the gundam? Do gundams eat their pilots? Do they power their big attacks by eating people, specifically their pilots? Is Suletta in danger of getting eaten too?

When Suletta pilots Aeriel, is she actually... doing anything? The fight clips I've seen, it just seems like she's in there and the gundam does complex stuff while she talks to herself. And I get that's a thing, in general, with anime, but I'm seriously confused here.

Is Aeriel an AI and Suletta basically just there to press the On switch? Does she feed power to the gundam somehow? Is she the one moving it around???

What the FUCK is a gundam!?

I grew up watching a VHS of Zoids Liger Zero (my command wolf is still around here, somewhere) and I WANT to be into a mecha show again especially if the MC is a dork idiot girl blowing things up for her bride, but I don't understand! None of the article's I've read make sense! What part of these battles am I supposed to worry about? What makes a gundam different from a non-gundam robot????

Please, if you have the energy to help, or link me to place where someone explains it... please.. im thirsty for mecha and confused

oh jesus what an Ask dfskldsfd

WELL a gundam is a robot. Like that's a given but the main thing in Gundam is that the gundam, the titular robot, is The Coolest Robot you can find. Usually you can tell gundams apart because they have two eyes and a v-fin on their heads but that's not canon for every series so it isn't really a way to tell them apart always. Also the characteristics of the gundam vary between series. The most important thing about gundam is the pilot. The gundam is usually set apart from other mobile suits because of a specific characteristic that others dont have like a psychommu or a GN drive, but what matters is its pilot, that's what makes a gundam special.

Gundam in itself its not a franchise about robots, but afrachise with different stories about different characters with a specific message (like War Bad or Fuck Silly) that has robots in it. You can relax, the definition of a gundam isn't something set in stone and it will be unique in each series you watch.

Im gonna start the part about G Witch by telling you right off the bat, the witch from mercury is a series that's just coming out and we don't have a lot of information about Eri, Suletta and Gundam Aerial. Most of the stuff you see floating around on tumblr besides the gay is basically throwing spaghetti at the wall type headcanons.

So the main thing why people think Eri is now Aerial, as in she was consumed or absorbed by the gundam, is that there are signs that Eri and Suletta are not the same person. For starters, it seems like Suletta doesn't remember the events of the prologue. Her age is another big thing-the prologue happens 20 years before the series and Suletta is only 17 years old, which seems to be a sign that she is another different person.

Aerial itself is very special too because in the little tale we got it is completely sentient and bonds with Suletta. I cant really remember an instance in which the gundam does that in another gundam series? gundams are usually just robots. The big thing about gundam is that the power of the gundam depends on the pilot, gundams aren't usually sentient. But this seems to be a nudge towards the theory that Ericht Samaya was absorbed by it, and as you said, the strength of Aerial doesn't seem to depend from Suletta but it appears to be within Aerial itself.

Plus the displays of power of the Aerial are very unique; cant remember exactly the episode but during a specific fight we see the bits of the Aerial transform into what seem children made of light, which also implies there might be more than one person in there. It's A Lot to take in. But again, we're just getting started with the series so all of it is just headcanons.

So for now just chill. Sit down with a cup of tea and turn your brain off, enjoy the gay and the big robot fights, that's the best way to watch gundam. If you really need the explanations as you watch I think you'd better just wait til the series is done to watch it in one go, or watch a different gundam series that isn't as insane as g witch.

Hope this helps, and if it doesn't, I reccomend once again trying a less balls to the wall series like Gundam Wing or Gundam 00! my askbox is open always if you have any other mech stuff you wanna yell about.

Good day!

#gwitch #mobile suit gundam the witch from mercury

[sneakyscarab]

touhou 19 time! this game was literally not even released when i started this, so this is really fresh! this post is probably the closest i will ever be to a real games journalist lol.

nina's thoughts on Touhou 19 - Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost

the most recent touhou, coming out just a few weeks ago, so this review is hot off the presses! UDoALG (wild abbreviation by the way, this name is so long) is a pretty neat game, being a direct sequel to Wily Beast and Weakest Creature story-wise, and a sequel to Phantasmagoria of Flower View gameplay-wise.

UDoALG is another in the competitive-danmaku type gameplay, similar to PoFV but with a number of evolutions to make the gameplay more balanced and easier to control. i won't go over every little change, since theres quite a lot, but ill point out some interesting changes, mostly in relation to story mode. for starters, Ability Cards are back again from UM, although with a much smaller role. each character has 2 cards themed to them, and whenever you beat an opponent in story mode you're randomly given one of their two cards. the three animal spirits are added, but they work completely differently to WBaWC, now being stronger variants of the generic spirit enemies from PoFV. a change that i think is only in story mode is that a new win condition is added, where if you defeat your opponent's boss summon an amount of times then your opponent loses. this is also pretty much the only wincon in story mode, since the AI has insane dodging skills. i literally only saw them lose a life one (1) time across 19 characters' stories (if you're curious, it was in Chiyari's stage 1).

one really interesting aspect of this game is the storytelling. i usually don't bring up the story in these posts outside of how certain characters relate to it, the story usually is a fairly simple affair that just gives the characters a reason to fight, but UDoALG has a much more complex story, which im kinda mixed on. i'll start with the cool part: the story actually progresses as you play through and unlock various characters in story mode, every set of character unlocks represents a later time period of the story, so you don't get the full story and resolution until you play through it all. this is a super cool idea, and gives good incentive to keep playing different routes and see how it all plays out. its a cool idea that uniquely plays off of the large character roster and unlocking method of these competitive vs games.

unfortunately, in order to make this happen and make every character be relevant, the plot is needlessly convuluted, especially in the first couple campaigns. there are so many factions at play, all with their own motives and double-agents and subterfuge. by the end of the 19 story scenarios you will be absolutely sick of the phrase "this is exactly as i had planned", and yet i still dont fully understand What the "main villain"s plan was. i commend ZUN for trying something new with the narrative, both in doing a direct sequel with most of the same characters as a former game, as well as this way of unfolding the story over time through different character routes, but i can't say it was Good. maybe im just biased since it mostly revolves around the WBaWC cast, and that game already had pretty rough plot and characterization, but i dunno. i will say i liked the story more at the end than i did after doing the first couple routes, but some of that early confusion never really goes away, and characters like Ran and Tsukasa dont really get their stories resolved.

time to talk about the characters! UDoALG is furry city, pretty much every character besides the human incident resolvers is some kind of animal-person, plus a few Onis. for returning characters we have Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, Ran (from PCB), Aunn (HSiFS), Nazrin (UFO), Seiran (LoLK), Rin (SA), Tsukasa (UM), Mamizou (TD), Yachie (WBaWC), Saki (WBaWC), Yuuma (the 3rd Animal Realm leader, coming from a fighting game i think?), and Suika (also a fighting game, and SA). for the new characters, we have 3 new youkai who have each joined one of the animal realm families respectively, plus the 'main villain' Zanmu and her assistant Hisami. since theres only 5 new guys, ill just give them each a quick review.

Son Biten is a monkey youkai, based on Son Wukong, recruited to Yachie's Kiketsu family. she's pretty goofy, and has a really neat musical theme. i dont have much to say about her, besides that she has a cool inspiration, and some of her interactions are pretty funny.

Enoko is a dog-type youkai, loosely based on the idea of Cerberus, who was recruited to Saki's Keiga family. instead of literally having 3 heads, she has bear traps on her wrists that act as analogues to the jaws of two additional heads, which is a really neat interpretation of a cerberus concept, as well as having tons of comedic potential. i love all the jokes people make about her offering up a Totally Normal Handshake, dont worry about it. she apparently lived in the Forest of Magic as a dog before awakening as a youkai, so she joins the crew of Marisa's funny forest friends.

the third new Youkai is Chiyari, who is NOT a chupacabra, despite what everyone says. she's based on a Tenkajin, which is apparently an obscure youkai that sucks blood, obscure enough that i could only find a single source for it online, being a Japanese blog post written by who i assume is a youkai enthusiast. Anyways, nobody in Gensokyo knows what a tenkajin is either, so everyone calls her a chupacabra instead since its another bloodsucking creature who is 'pretty popular right now'. most of her interactions are her being annoyed by being called a chupacabra, and eventually coming to terms with it. poor tenkajin gets no respect. shes very funny, and also apparently completely broken in pvp. great character.

Hisami is a 'guide of Hell', who is also inexplicably based on grapes for some reason (or eggplants, depending on who you ask, but im in grapes camp.) she pretty much just finds people in hell and helps them find their destination, although 'their destination' is up to Hisami's interpretation, and multiple times in the story she leads characters somewhere else. apparently she does her job wrong because she wants Zanmu to notice her, and it doesn't work cause apparently that was part of Zanmu's plan all along, so she doesn't care. Zanmu is too busy playing 4d chess to give her suboordinate some attention, so sad.

speaking of, Zanmu is an Oni, and the 'main villain' of the game. i say that with quotes because, despite being the final boss in most routes, and being the chessmaster supposedly laying out the big plans and manipulating everyone, she also is simultaneously resolving the incident, kinda?? its a bit hard to understand her motivations. well i guess her motivations make sense, but its hard to understand how exactly she plans to get what she wants from this plan. like her plan involves getting beat up by Reimu multiple times? hello?? not a fan, and she doesn't even have a cool design inspiration to make up for it, shes just another oni.

alright, lets wrap this one up. i was surprised to see another VS type game come out, and it seems to deliver a lot more balanced and interesting combat than the first one (granted, story mode plays pretty differently from what i can tell). the story is weird though, and the roster doesn't really have many characters i'm excited to play as compared to PoFV, and the characters i do like are pretty bad. (Sanae in particular is really weak in this format, her homing snakes are a huge disadvantage against bosses since they turn as soon as they see an enemy, meaning they wont hit the boss unless every random spirit or fairy is dead first). complaints aside though, at the base level its still pretty fun, and im glad that this type of gameplay is being given another chance.

i said it in my PoFV review, and ill say it again here: if any of you reading this have UDoALG, and are interested in playing the PvP with me, hit me up! itd be fun to try playing this with another person (although i heard the online is rough so i dunno…)

thank you so much for reading, especially those of you that have stuck with me through each post! this is the end of the mainline series, but there's still a lot out there i havent done. im not sure where this will go from here, especially since my college semester just started so i'll have a lot less free time, but ive had a lot of fun working on this project, and i hope that youve had fun reading it! if i do keep going, i might do the PC-98 quintilogy next, or maybe talk about cool fangames like Luna Nights or Mystia's Izakaya, i dunno. whatever comes next though, i hope to see you again! consider this the end of 'volume 1' of my grimoire. farewell!

#grimoire of nina #touhou #touhou 19 #touhou UDoALG #unfinished dream of all living ghost #touhou project #touhou 19 spoilers

[aeoki]

Seven Bridges - Hate Control: Chapter 16

Location: Tanabata Stage Characters: Mitsuru & Mao

Mao: Putting that aside for now, one of the main features of this year’s “Tanabata Fest” is the fact that there are a total of seven stages.

For example, Venue 1 is in the Yumenosaki courtyard while Venue 2 is in the auditorium. There are similar stages set up in a variety of places.

Thanks to the establishment of ES and the new students multiplying campaign (?), it feels like there are way too many idols… There’s no way all of them can fit in one venue.

And there’ll definitely be idols who won’t get the chance to stand on stage. “Tanabata Fest” is an event that’s only held at night, so it’s possible the night can end without their turn ever coming.

But Anzu probably didn’t want that. She’d want to let as many idols stand on stage as much as they want.

That’s why we increased the number of venues. It’s seven times what we had last year.

Of course, that meant our work also increased sevenfold and I was THIS close to dying.

Mitsuru: Are you okay? You want to stand on stage too, right, Student Council President Nii-chan?

Mao: I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m used to the hecticness. This is nothing compared to the performance that became the trigger for our revolution – AKA the very first “S1” last year that no one knew how it’d turn out.

This is an event Anzu poured all her time and effort into making a reality – I know for a fact that it’ll definitely be a success ♪

I also know that it’s highly unpredictable and that it’s something unhead-of, so it’s possible something unexpected can crop up.

Mitsuru: It’s okay! The sky’s clear too! Tanabata is a day that’s all about making wishes come true, y’know!

Mao: You’re right. Haha, I feel better after chatting with you. “Ra*bits” is great.

Mitsuru: Heheh ☆ We’re doing our best to make sure everyone knows that, y’know!

That’s why this Venue 4 is one of our challenges.

Mao: Ohh~ This area is the art division, right? Looks like you guys can’t use your usual weapons, huh.

Each of the seven “Tanabata Fest” venues have a set theme, like cute things or western music.

…Or even a sexy theme.

Mitsuru: Why were you kinda hesitant to say that?

Mao: There are a lot of female idols making an appearance this time, so it’s, uhh, one of the last things I need to see.

Mitsuru: Nii-chan also told me that’s the one venue I shouldn’t get close to, y’know! Why not? Why not? I wanna challenge everything, y’know!

Mao: You’re still too young for that… But I don’t think Venue 4 is suited for “Ra*bits” either because the theme is based on art~ You guys would be unparalleled if it was the cute venue, though.

Mitsuru: Not exactly! It looks like the culture for female idols and their audience is kinda different, so Tomo-chan and the others were saying how we might have a pretty hard time, y’know!

But it’s fun ‘cause it’s hard! It’ll make this year’s “Tanabata Fest” worth it~♪

Mao: Haha. Well, I’m happy to see you’re enjoying yourself.

Oh, I was totally speaking like a “producer” there. I’m also an idol, so I’ve gotta do my best in that aspect too.

Besides, I’m not in a position to give any sort of advice pretentiously, either.

This time, each stage has a certain theme so we kinda stand out from the crowd in the other sense; “Trickstar” doesn’t really have anything specifically unique.

We don’t particularly specialise in one thing. We’re not like “Valkryie” which has an art theme or “Akatsuki” whose concept is based on a traditional Japanese style…

But on the good side, we’re a wild card. On the bad side, we’re just “normal idols” with nothing special about us.

In a good way, we’re like a commonplace meal that anyone can eat at a family restaurant.

We don’t have any weapons like the other units. I guess that’ll be our goal in the future, huh.

Mitsuru: Hmm~? Tomo-chan says similar stuff but you guys aren’t normal at all, y’know? In my eyes, you’re all special and unique people.

Mao: I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’d like some sort of unique trait, so that everyone could see us that way. Actually, it’s always been my goal since I’ve never had anything that I could call a weapon.

That’s why, this time, we’ll break into all the venues with the mindset of learning what we can do in each of the themes.

If we’re in the cute venue, then we’ll fully embrace our cute side! If it’s the art venue, then we’ll show our artistic side! We’ll do our best and see how far we can currently get with each theme!

I feel so thrilled about it that I don’t think I can contain my excitement! It’d be nice if “Tanabata Fest” could go on forever ♪

Mitsuru: I think so too! No, I think everyone feels the same way, so I’m sure our wish will be granted, y’know!

Mao: Yeah. Anzu will definitely come up with fun events for us again, so we’ll be able to experience this happy feeling over and over again for sure.

We definitely have to work really hard and make sure this “Tanabata Fest” is a success first.

This is an event our “producer” created while thinking of us.

…Although, it does look like the things between the “producer course” and the “Peace Party” aren’t exactly straightforward. Well, it should be fine. We’ll do our best to back her up.

We’ve stood by her side and overcome our difficulties time and time again. It’s the same this time and it’ll continue that way in the future too – I’m sure of it.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ← Previous Chapter ᠂ ⚘ ˚⊹˚ ⚘ ᠂  Next Chapter →

#seven bridges

[manygalaxiesinone]

If Disgaea Characters had Arcana Pt. 2

((This is Part 2 of a multiparter topic. If you haven't seen Pt 1 yet, please go check it out first, then come back here. If you have or just don't care then well...let's get on with it then.

Moving onto Disgaea 2, we now have Adell and Rozalin. As much as I want to cover them separately, I think this time it would be more interesting to cover the both of them. Reason I say this is because I think these two would qualify for the Sun and Moon Arcana respectively. The Sun Arcana represents happiness, vitality, and optimism. While Adell isn't exactly the most cheerful person around, he loves doing things his own way and he does help spread some positivity around. Granted, it's usually when it comes to Rozalin whenever she's upset, but let's not forget how he's the one who talked Yukimaru out of taking her own life when he defeated her in the colosseum, or when he encouraged the player to befriend Rozalin in Disgaea 5 so she won't feel so lonely, and even in Disgaea 6 when he was ready to befriend Zed after one fight with him. It also helps that a good portion of Personas are fire based, including Vulcanus, which happens to be the persona of Tatsuya Suou, the main character of Persona 2: Innocent Sin. As for Rozalin, the Moon Arcana represents doubts and fears taking over the mind and clouding one's judgement, usually leading to isolation if not dealt with. That fits Rozalin to a T as she is constantly haunted by her memories of her past life as well as her questionable relationship with Fake Zenon as her father. As I said earlier, this resulted in Rozalin feeling emotionally isolated from everyone even among her closest companions, hence the term "A being of Solitude". It's also interesting to point out that Maya Amano, the protagonist of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, is also a representative of the Moon Arcana.

Now I know what you're thinking. "Tink is literally just this game's version of Teddie, so he's easily the Star Arcana". Eh...not quite. Don't get me wrong, Tink and Teddie share A LOT of similar traits, but they do differ a bit in personality. Teddie is more arguably innocent and upbeat most of the time, while Tink has a split personality, one that's polite and respectful like a butler and another that's crude, perverse, and raunchy. As such, I think it would actually be more fitting for Tink to represent the Fortune Arcana.

Axel on the other hand, I can totally see representing the Magician Arcana. He is rather unique given his wide range of talents as the dark hero, like somehow playing the flute expertly while talking and laughing at the same time. Plus like Junpei Iori and Yosuke Hanamura, he has mainly stuck as the comic relief role in the series and he is rather boastful about his talents like Morgana. In fact, if he was a character in a modern Persona game, the only thing he would be missing is an attempt at a relationship going wrong.

I honestly have a tough time thinking about which Arcana would actually suit Taro. While he's not exactly that much of a coward, he is more on the passive side compared to others. He doesn't respect Adell all that much and wants to become a good vassal for Rozalin. At best, I can probably see an argument for the Temperance Arcana, which is represents moderation. The "go with the flow" kind of deal.

Hanako on the other hand, is the Chariot. She has a major "can do" attitude and won't stop at anything until she accomplishes her goal of becoming a powerful demon lord. She even went so far as to summon her future self just to see what she would be like after accomplishing it.

In another case of Irony, Yukimaru could be Strength. While it sure didn't start out this way when she was first introduced, after meeting with Adell she has found resolve to accomplish a task and to do so alive. And with this newfound resolve did she become stronger than before, as indicated when she mastered Midare Fubuki near the end of the game.

Fubuki on the other hand, is definitely the Hanged Man. Between him and Yukimaru, he's more gun-ho on giving up his life if it means finishing his mission. Not only that, but he's more willing to resort to attack others if they're in his path, like trying to kill Rozalin to get to Zenon. In his own words "A ninja will use any hand". Now granted he has matured since then, but I don't think he has fully given up the concept of the need of sacrifice if the time comes for it. At least now, he strikes me as the big bro that would die in battle if it means his little sister would make it out okay. Then again, I can also hear arguments for him being the Justice Arcana.

You're probably expecting Fake Zenon to be the Judgement Arcana or something along those lines since he's the final boss. Not really. In my eyes, he represents Emperor. He's very authoritative and has done quite a bit to get the status he has on Veldime. It's heinous actions, but still. Now if you want someone in this game representing the Judgement Arcana,

look no further than the REAL Zenon. Her second awakening at the end of the game is when Rozalin's memories start flooding back to her, meaning her past and present selves are now together at that moment and the amount of Adell's felonies placed on him will determine the ending of the game. She COULD also represent the death arcana as this also symbolizes Rozalin not fully healing from her past, thus preventing her from fully enjoying the great new wonderful things that comes in her life.

Mao is an interesting case honestly because there are actually a few Arcana that he fits the bill for. The Fool, Emperor, Devil, Hermit, and Tower. Like Laharl, he is authoritative and has struggled A LOT before he became the new Dean of Evil Academy and both Devil and Tower would represent his relationship with his butler, Geoffry. Because of years of being manipulated by Geoffry, Mao was nothing but powerless as he plays right into his hands at almost every turn as part of his ultimate plan to have the ultimate battle. To say that Mao's mind was a mess because of Geoffry is an understatement. And finally Hermit as unlike Laharl, Mao doesn't really struggle all that much with solitude. In fact, he has his own oath about it. That being said, simply because of the fact that he fits so many different arcana and given how impressionable he is at times, it does make the most sense to have Mao be our first Fool Arcana.

Raspberyl would probably be the Lovers Arcana, and no I'm not saying that because she has the same English voice as Rise Kujikawa from Persona 4...though that does help. Raspberyl highly values her bonds with her companions, including her rivalry with Mao. After all, she was the first to reach out to him when he started giving in to his hidden dark powers around the second or third time and she was the only one to do so in the game's worst ending. That being said, she has acted rather carelessly sometimes, like not paying attention to Kyoko and Asuka's envy of her interacting with others or getting Mao to pull a role reversal and become a delinquent thinking she resorted back to her honor student ways. I can also see arguments for her being the priestess Arcana as she was the only one in the group that questioned Aurum's actions during the worst ending in the game and was right to do so even though it was already too late to stop him.

Almaz would be the Strength Arcana. Despite his cowardly nature, especially in the beginning of Disgaea 3, Almaz does his best to try to help others because he wants to become a hero one day. It is through his courage and determination to help those in need like Mao and Sapphire that he was able to do things he normally wouldn't do otherwise like sacrifice himself or opening Mao's heart.

Speaking of his wife, Sapphire would be the Star Arcana. Sapphire is also supportive and encourages Almaz to be better, prime example is when she punched him when he tried to use her as an excuse to try to ditch Mao when his mind reverted to that of a toddler. She also has no issues helping Mao and Beryl if needed, especially Beryl. She is a loyal companion as long as you don't give her a reason to kill you like becoming an evil tyrant that kidnaps princesses. Plus I think we can all agree that having your crush come back to life after he sacrificed himself for you is a clear sign that the universe is working in your favor.

Mr. Champloo gets the Sun Arcana with ease. He is very passionate about his profession as a chef and teacher, always eager to train others to become quality chefs themselves or simply help them walk the path of life. This is why Almaz looks up to Mr. Champloo as his master even though Almaz hasn't done any cooking whatsoever in the game, because his teachings apply to more than just cooking.

Master Bigstar would be Temperance. He's probably among one of the most well balanced characters in the series thus far as he knows how to act as both a leader and a follower whenever the time comes for it. Plus, he's not exactly someone that gets that upset even in the most dire situations like during a losing battle or missing the letter "a" in his name. He takes them seriously, but rarely does he ever panic.

Yeah, I don't care that she's a woman, Salvatore gets the Emperor Arcana with ease. She's far more authoritative than Mao as she gives off crazy commands to anyone she sees as below her rank, even if they happen to be enemy forces. This along with her trying to find her womanliness in Disgaea 3's post game kinda seals the deal for me on this spot.

And now to end this part with Super Hero Aurum, and big shocker, he's Judgement. He's the final boss of the game, his reveal forces Mao to fully confront his past of watching Aurum kill his father in front of him as well as realizing he has been betrayed twice by the same person and how Mao handles it determines either the worst or best ending of the game.

Like I said, this is my take on this. Let me know your thoughts and stay tuned for the next part.))

#disgaea #disgaea 2 #disgaea 3 #tarot arcana #persona #shin megami tensei

[eisforeidolon]

"...but for me it's just easy - this is a separate show, so if I don't like it, I don't give a fuck. Like the other hundreds of tv shows I don't like or even think are dumb don't affect me. Would have felt the exact same if Bloodlines or Wayward was picked up. Separate show. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ "

Yeah, exactly!

I do not get the people who are so mad about the prequel's mere existence at all and I think a lot of them just use "the legacy" as an excuse to be outraged about it.

Personally, I will definitely watch the prequel because I'm very curious about it and want to see what they have planned plot and canon-wise, but if I don't like it, I will... just stop watching it? It really is that easy. No need to on 853 angry tirades about it.

Also, even if it really turns out to suck - thousands of shows, movies and books have prequels, sequels and spin-offs that suck. This is really not a unique situation in any way and rarely affects the "mothership". People usually just pretend the offensiv add-on in question does not exist and ignore it (e.g. "The Cursed Child" in the Harry Potter fandom for example. No one likes it, but its existence hasn't affected the main series and the fandom at large in any way)

To be fair, I think a lot of it comes from the fact that SPN is now a legacy fandom and people are still kind of adjusting to that. The show isn't airing anymore, but there are still a lot of us that have strong feelings and attachment to it and want to engage over it. But it's also an old enough fandom that a lot of subjects have already been done to death, so the attraction of something new to talk about is pretty compelling.

But there's not going to be any new episodes. Cons are less frequent than they were before. Particularly right now during the summer hiatus, there isn't even much to say about J2's other projects. So the closest thing to a new development for this fandom to engage in most days? Is speculating about The Winchesters, which I think we can all agree they have released very very few substantial details about. I can see how that easily keeps drawing the attention (and ire) of even people who are decidedly Not Interested when there's nothing much else doing. Which is, of course, exacerbated by those who are determined to dunk on it and Jensen forever specifically because of prequelgate.

Cursed Child I think is a really good example. It messes around with the canon characters in ways fans largely didn't like on top of a bunch of really odd time travel fanfic-y chicanery, and most of HP fandom just said, "Eh, doesn't count," and went about their business. People concentrate on their favorite eras of Doctor Who while ignoring others all the time. I hope maybe once TW is a concrete thing that's airing, it will feel more like a separate entity because all we have now is aimless speculation about the inconsistences with the parent canon.

#askboxery #anonymous #prequel speculation

[chromochaotic]

there are 100 little things i should be doing, but instead I feel like doing a write up on the books I’ve read this year... mostly so I remember them better, but also bc it might be fun to read later

The list so far (that I remember) (not including ones in progress... like dracula and gideon lmao) (also not including fanfics but man what if):

**12/27: update! adding 4 more (RIP my nice grid)

I'm gonna try and do a positive-negative-positive sandwich with these "reviews", because apparently I'm very picky, ahahaha.

in actual reading order...

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Thoughts: Read this with a discord bookclub! Which made it a fun read, kind of throwing around our theories about possible backstories before they got revealed, the "limits" of the magic in the book, what we wanted/didn't want to happen. I actually really enjoy non-chronological stories when they're not too convoluted, haha, so that was a treat. Also enjoyed the way the author conveyed all the different settings and time periods.

(vague spoilers in this paragraph) Every once in a while I got a little miffed at how... French the entire vibe was. Like, this will sound/probably is petty, but I don't click with main characters when they're being just like, dolefully beautiful, and how all these love interests seem to be drawn just to Addie's Unique Mega Gorgeous Face and her vague manic pixie air of mystery. I liked her as a character much more in moments like her interactions with Luc, which focused more on her defiance and cleverness. In a way that I swear is related, I remember being a little exasperated at the underlying feeling that romantic love was like the end-all-be-all of existence itself. I get that that's like the whole point, this being an epic romantic story, and romantic in the way that like wistful poems about the French countryside and Moulin Rouge are capital R Romantic. I also don't love Moulin Rouge, though. So it's probably a me problem, haha.

Still, the storytelling was very rich! I liked how lush the emotional moments felt... I also got a kick out of the characters around Henry, like, his friends and family were a mix of quirky and heartfelt that made something about his story get to me a little more than it would have otherwise. Ohhh, and I loved the little visual art "records" printed throughout the book! It always added to the story for me, seeing how they tied in and captured certain feelings. WOO

The House in the Cerulean Sea

Good things! The story is immediately fun and whimsical—this was another read with the discord bookclub, and during our first chat we were all having a really good time talking about the world and the characters that get introduced. The setting is just ridiculously charming.

(spoilers) I know the book is touted for being like, feel-good and lighthearted, and I usually super-enjoy stories like that. It's just that, I feel like it didn't 100% commit to being Cozy Fun Queer Romance when it dipped into having fantasy racism. It might have been one thing if it was just like one or two narrow-minded characters, but the book doesn't really let you forget that systemic fantasy racism is built into their society... This is ofc 100% subjective, I get how a story like this where everything gets wrapped up with a little bit of "oh, phooey on those bigots! cheerio!" could be exactly what we need to read now and then. It just didn't quite strike the balance for the time and mindset I read it in. Also probably didn't help that bc of the bookclub's schedule, there was a looooooong pause in reading in the middle, though!

But again, tons of charming moments, the characters and especially the kids are delightful. My sweet blob son Chauncey sparks infinite joy.

Myths to Live By

So this was an odd one. Backstory: I was one of those people who read The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and sort of had my world rocked by it, like, went quickly from a cynical atheist to being like "oh shit religion might be good, actually." I had a vague sense while reading that book that like, yeah, sure, the things he was saying were tinged with some sexism and euro-centric vibes etc... But I was still pretty pleased to pick up this Myths to Live By book in a thrift store for like a buck.

Halfway through the book, I'm bopping around on tumblr and finally stumble upon The Discourse (tbh it's not that bad I'm just being dramatic) about Campbell. Like, the way I summed it up to friends was that apparently he's regarded in the academic field of comparative religion the way Freud is in psychology—a big name, probably sparked a lot of people's interest in the subject, but the ideas he spreads are super out of date/inaccurate/oversimplified, especially when it comes to non-western culture. So...

Idk, it was still an interesting read, and probably a good exercise for me in trying to think a little more abstractly. And he still somehow makes me appreciate the significance of rituals and how make-believe stuff can actually hold societies together... I dog-eared a handful of pages (mostly in the first half before my online digging made me kind of disenchanted ahaha), and the last one is on this page putting forward the idea that as humans, "we are a natural product of this earth... If we are intelligent beings, it must be that we are the fruits of an intelligent earth" and this stuff that of course isn't new, but still comforting, like not thinking of man as separate from nature but a distilled-and-connected bit of a big, amazing, living universe.

House of Leaves

Weird!!! Weird book!!!!! Very novel!!!!! Which I liked! okay it's getting a little late which is probably not the best time to type this out, but overall I had a good time with this book. The weird formatting and framing of the story as a movie within an academic analysis within a story and presented as the very book you're holding—nice! The little puzzles to figure out along the way that add extra meaning that you can dig into if you so choose—nice! And ooo the horror, the horror of the house was very fun for me, as someone who enjoys more psychological kinds of horror.

There were parts of the book that were... trying, to read. But I think they were sort of meant to be that way? I don't know, some of Johnny's parts of narration were just so disgusting and off-putting I had to skim/skip them, but I feel like somewhere on a forum someone is arguing that that's a perfectly valid way to read the book. I was also pretty bummed out by like... which characters don't make it out of the story. That's a way I'm not suited for horror stories, but, like these two felt especially personal. Ahhh, well.

But yeah! Very funky, and I absolutely vibe with the final message that the book lands on. I'm also blown away, like everyone else is, by how much research and super-detailed knowledge went into this book to make its sticky spiderweb of complexity really land.

Klaus: The Art of the Movie

heeheeheeheehee okay this was just a fun thing I also picked up at the thrift store, but I love a good art book and the movie is gorgeous all on its own. The way they animated it is super unique—it's 2D made to look 3D, and the art book goes into some good detail about how they accomplished that thanks to new animation tech and stuff. I've always kind of thought 2D animation is more appealing than 3D animation, and this is going off on a tangent, but I will say the book and the commentary in it made me feel Valid.

I don't think there are any downsides to this book?? Unless like, idk, I guess some of the full-page spreads are a little pixelated in print, lmao. and i feel like i have to, as a jew, say it should probably skeeve me out a little more how a story about The Big Christian Holiday is constantly portrayed as "universal". But also it's! gorgeous!! look at this

The book did a great job helping me understand/appreciate how every place and character was designed to be Distinct but also flexible—like, a lot of the locations had to go from Scary to Charming while still looking like the same place, and it was cool seeing the tricks they used to do it.

The Fruitful City

I just finished this tonight! Kind of an odd one, I picked it up at this anarchist bookstore that made me feel like a big poser on a trip to Philly. I feel like I don't have as much to say about it since it's nonfiction, haha. But, yeah, it helped me understand the ins and outs of what growing fruit in the middle of a city looks like. I feel like it makes everything seem a little more possible, like, the author wants people to be less afraid to go out into the world and harvest in a hands on way.

It was a little dry at times for me, but I think my attention span has really suffered since.......... a while ago, haha.

Overall, it was a nice thing to read. There were some really lovely descriptions of people interacting with their communities via shared resources, and small, interesting bits of immigrant history. I have zero cooking skills whatsoever, but it made me think that like, maybe, mayyyyybe, I might attempt to make a jam or something next year.

OKAY i should sleep, this was fun, maybe I'll update it when I finish my next book, who knows! more!!

Gideon the Ninth

Positives: what hasn't already been said! I guess, first off, I love the cast of characters & the whole setting. Like, even though the world of TLT was pretty unusual, the characters feel so grounded and vibrant—they jump off the page through dialogue and things Gideon observes (or fails to observe) about them, and I either love to love them or love to hate 'em, there's no middle sliders! And I loved exploring Canaan House along with the story! The book wouldn't be the same without the haunting presence of its backdrop, this sense of decaying grandeur and old tragedies described so beautifully, all around.

I think I only have a few nitpicks... One would be, as fun as "show, don't tell" was in this book—honestly, I way prefer how this book introduced its history and magic system and everything compared to the one I'm reading rn, which just kind of dumped exposition at me—it was a little overwhelming at the start! I honestly thought I'd accidentally bought the 2nd book in the series when I saw so much odd jargon and strange, offhand details in the first few paragraphs. I was also a little thrown by how suddenly it felt like some of the character dynamics changed, but that might have been a symptom of me binge-reading and then having to take breaks bc of life now and then haha.

So, yes, overall, really enjoyed it! I think the book was very hyped-up for me and it mostly lived up to expectations... More than anything, love Gideon!! Love this beautiful herbo who, by virtue of being a gold-hearted meme-ing brick house, flexes her way into all sorts of secrets and everyone's hearts. (also love Cam and Pal, would die for them. also magnus. maybe ianthe, for sure corona. yep.)

Dracula

lmao guess who did Dracula Daily... This review might be more of that whole experience, which was pretty fun! I definitely fell behind for a while, but I had a chance to catch up, and at that point things were getting wet and wild. I think what I enjoyed most of all was, as some post somewhere on this site points out, the story is pretty touching when you view it as a community of people trying to look out for each other vs. the parasite of self-interest.

Again, like everyone pointed out, there's all the dated things about the book... The asylum-related parts were no fun, and god the way working class people and roma are portrayed vs. the honorable, constantly-bribing-people main cast is just, nah!

But still, for a book this old, it had its surprises! I loved some of the more romantic descriptions of little seaside villages and eerie mountain roads... And the high stakes (haha) of the story were really uniquely explored—reading it along with The Internet helped me get way more destroyed by Jonathan's promise to follow wherever Mina goes, even if it damns him. And the line about Mina's mark at the very end, as the sun rose? No spoilers but I got teary.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

I listened to this as an audiobook, since I'd never read it and I've seen posts about a new show coming out. The series has always seemed interesting! And it was a fun listen, very whimsical, plus I have a soft spot for summer camp settings.

I felt a little old to be getting into it now, haha—I kept wanting more nuance in certain characters and themes, which isn't a fault of the book considering the intended audience!

Overall, I think the writing did a great job capturing a relatable, exciting story for young teens, plus it's very cool how the author worked to make diversity a sticking point both when he first wrote it and, from what I hear, to this day. There's a lot of joy packed into this adventure, and I'll probably get around to listening to the rest of the series next year.

Harrow the Ninth

First off, I just finished this one, and... I liked it more than book 1! I enjoyed them both, but this one feels like the storytelling kicked into overdrive. Once again, the characters leapt off the page—the number of times I wheezed over lines from Ianthe or John, or got gut-punched by [redacted] and [redacted] and [super redacted]. More than anything, I feel like the mystery(/ies?) unfolding in this story were more engaging than before, where instead of just clinging to the story without a chance of prediction, the reader has more of a chance to puzzle things out along the way (and then still be surprised).

The rollercoaster ending was a page-turner, but there was one point that I think really toed the line of being just plain convoluted, haha. I also remember reading things and thinking "I know if I reread this series one day, this line would probably make me lose my mind, but right now it's just absolute nonsense." Which... I just felt like documenting! I don't know if it's a bad thing, like, I get that part of the fun is squeezing as many clues out of the context as you can, but there certainly is a lot of context-squeezing going on.

Anyway, this was definitely one of my favorite reads of the year! The way the writing plays around with framing—the PAYOFF!!! The payoff of the 2nd person voice!!!!! There's one scene, you'll know what I'm talking about, where the perspective does something and suddenly all these lenses shift into focus and I went wild. I need to draw something for it. My god. I can't rehash all the great things about the series, I guess, but I love it! It's so much fun! There's a stussy! There's a makeout with god! what more can you want!

#hi my name is chromo #uh #book review #? #also a fun fact with HoL is that #it was very specifically mentioned in a fanfic i was reading at the same time #which felt a little spooky but mostly very funny #now with an update!