#when i play telltale games i just choose one character to be in love with and do anything they ask

[thejokerswildcard]

playing batman telltale. feeling very bruharv about this.

#when i play telltale games i just choose one character to be in love with and do anything they ask #like when i played twau i just. did anything snow wanted me to. no morals. no opinion on it. #so uh. my run of telltale batman is definitely going to be very bruharv and brujim (if i can make that happen. still unclear) #j.txt #batman.txt #harveydent.txt #gordon.txt #batmantelltale.txt #bruharv.txt #brujim.txt

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

I read Clementine Book Two so that you didn't have to: an in-depth review from a fan of the Telltale games.

Rating: 2.5/5

Spoiler free review: While better than Book One, it’s still not great.

“When is it safe to fall in love? After another brush with death, Clementine and her new friends are rescued by an island community led by an enigmatic doctor named Miss Morro. But, just as Clementine’s scars are finally beginning to heal, the safety of the island is called into question and Olivia reveals a shocking secret. With her world falling apart, Clementine must choose—keep running… or dig in and fight?”

Some things are improved with Book Two, and some things are worse.

The art style looks nicer, particularly with the establishing shots and environments. It’s cleaner without losing the grunge that comes with a post-apocalypse. The characters look better, even though they still sometimes have potato heads. Once again I wish this was done in color because I know how great Tillie Walden is with her coloring, but this is the walking dead and color would be too hopeful, I guess.

The pacing is better, but still not good. I had an issue with pacing in Book One where it dragged, then it gave me whiplash in the last few chapters. It was all over the place. This feels smoother, yet it’s the same issue as before: chapter seven feels like whiplash as everything spirals, then we go into a slower ending.

The dialogue is still awkward in a lot of areas; sometimes it tries to be whimsical, which is something prominent in Tillie Walden’s other works where it lands, but here in this setting it feels cheesy and unnatural.

There are a lot of flaws with Clementine’s writing, though, but that’s a given when you’ve played the games. If you haven’t and you don’t have context for her established character there, then I think this will feel like a natural progression from Book One.

The new cast is likable, but I have a few issues with Miss Morro’s role in the story. Olivia gets some much-needed development, but not all of it necessarily for the best.

The romance between Clementine and Ricca progresses, taking up more of the spotlight than it did in Book One. I went into Book Two with an open mind about clemricca. I can set aside my bias for clouis, I can tuck violentine, gabentine, and any other Clementine ship away to give clemricca a chance to show me it’s a good relationship. Except I don’t think it is. I have a lot of problems with it.

As for the actual plot, I enjoyed the island setting and the community, but it feels like a massively missed opportunity. The ending is… a lot.

My full detailed review is below. I give a quick recap of Book One and spoil everything for Book Two.

A Quick Recap of Book One

You can read my full review of Book One here, but to summarize:

Clementine left Ericson because she was unhappy. She felt like a liability to the group, so she’s traveling on her own when she comes across a group of Amish survivors. While there, a doctor treats her leg and gives her a new prosthetic, as well as some other supplies. Out on the road again, she meets Amos, an Amish boy set out on his Rumspringa to help build houses in the mountain in exchange for a ride in a plane.

Clementine and Amos become buddies by the time they make it to the mountain. There they encounter the twins, Georgia and Olivia, and Ricca, another survivor looking to help with this building project. Clementine decides to stay and help, too, since she’s untrusting of the twins and wants to look after Amos. They build in terrible, snowy conditions. Clementine, Amos, and Ricca form a little friend group all while Amos and Olivia grow close… apparently, it’s barely a thing but it’s important to know.

Clementine and Ricca also grow pretty close. Ricca confides in Clementine that her vision is worsening, and she fears she may not find another pair of glasses that work for her. She has some past trauma with her sight given her brother broke her glasses so that she had no choice but to rely on him, and once she found a new pair, abandoned him to set off on her own.

When Ricca falls into a pit on a trip to get a generator, Clementine reveals that she named her new leg Kenny. Ricca climbs up out of the pit and promises to look for help, but Clementine decides to explore and gets surrounded by walkers. Luckily, she’s saved by a man named Tim, who gets bitten. Tim gives her some encouragement about building a better world, and she leaves before he can turn.

Georgia and Olivia get into a fight, but everything else seems well and good: they got the lift working with the generator, and Olivia tells Clementine that she plans to leave with Amos. But then Georgia pushes Amos off a cliff, and then tries to kill Clementine and Ricca.

From there, everything goes to shit and they manage to overpower Georgia. With her and Amos gone, that leaves Clementine, Ricca, and Olivia as the survivors. They go back to Olivia’s place and it’s revealed that her mom was actually a walker this entire time and building the houses was pretty pointless. Good thing Olivia knows how to fly a plane, though—the three escape via plane. That leads us into Book Two.

The Plot: I'm on an island of grief, surrounded by an ocean of disappointment

Before I dive into individual characters, the romance, and other thoughts, I want to go over everything that actually happens in this book.

We pick up only weeks after the events of Book One; Clementine, Ricca, Olivia, and their cat, Dr Barnwell, survive crashing the plane they took... somehow. From what I can tell, there were no injuries due to that so props to Olivia for not only knowing how to fly a plane, but crash land it good enough to not die.

They've landed somewhere in Canada, which is where Ricca's originally from. The three girls and their cat are on what looks to be a roof, talking about how they need to get to the coast since Clementine feels they're getting closer to something. Then we get the first inklings of romance in the air with Clementine being a little optimistic, and Olivia telling Ricca it's because of her.

This leads into the section of pages that was teased prior to release. They're going over their multiplications when they see a rabbit. Ricca chases after it because of course you want to send the person with the worst eyesight to catch dinner, but I suppose if she didn't go, then Clementine and Olivia couldn't talk about how not okay Olivia is.

Which makes sense; her twin sister, Georgia, murdered Amos, her... boyfriend? Honestly I don't know if we can even call him that, the Amos and Olivia "relationship" in Book One was underdeveloped and practically non-existent... yet it has great consequences that we'll get into... oh boy, will we get into it, ugh.

But Olivia's feeling like the screw up of the group; she's worried that she'll ruin Clementine's plans; "I'm bad luck. I'll... just hold you two back." / "Georgia and Amos are dead. I keep waiting for them to be next to me when I wake up, but every morning they're not there. There's no place in the world that will make that feel okay."

Clementine has no time to comfort her as Ricca's lost the rabbit to a herd of walkers that chases them into this little shack. They grab a walker and begin smearing its guts all over themselves.

The manage to escape. It's raining as they try surviving off dandelions and acorns, and they're out of willow bark, which is the stuff Rabby gave Clementine in Book One to help with pain. "Kenny" has felt so uncomfortable since the plane ride, and I've been uncomfortable ever since Clementine decided to name her prosthetic after Kenny, of all people.

But never mind that, it's time for Clementine and Ricca to share a moment in the rain. On top of her leg hurting and Olivia struggling, Ricca's eyesight is getting worse.

And then Olivia gets grabbed by a couple of men. They demand that Clementine and Ricca drop their weapons, and Olivia asks them to not hand over the hatchet since it belonged to Tim... this is the last mention we ever get of Tim.

And they get away from them super easily.

These men never come back and have zero impact on the story.

Our three protagonists take refuge in an abandoned home where we see them bandaging their wounds. And this is where cheesy dialogue that might sound better in another work sounds less great here:

Ricca: Why is every day so hard? Clementine: It won't be like this forever. Ricca: The world might not give us a choice, Clem. Clementine: Then I'll change the world.

...Right. Also, take note that Clementine and Ricca's hands are touching. The build up of the romance isn't terrible, honestly... I just wish the actual couple wasn't Clementine and Ricca, but I'll get more into that later.

They're getting closer to the ocean when they hear other survivors above them... and just like that, Clementine's feverish. She can't get up from the ground, her leg looks terrible, and she starts blacking out. It's jarring how out of nowhere she's suddenly in terrible condition. I think we're to assume that the lack of rest, being stuck in the rain, and being covered in walker guts made her condition decline, but when you realize just how bad it is... it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Ricca and Olivia do their best to carry her. Ricca begins singing a Jewish song about angels, and they make it to the beach. There's a boat in the distance that they have to flag down if there's any hope in Clementine surviving.

This is very dumb on their part. Olivia just runs into the ocean screaming, Ricca goes to help, and they leave Clementine on the beach with the cat... bad idea.

And we get our first dream sequence.

When I said I wanted Amos back, I meant that I wanted a big reveal that he survived the fall and was back for revenge, but nope! In Book One, we had Lee showing up in these bits, but he doesn't make any appearance in this book. Neither does AJ.

My extreme disappointment aside, Ricca and Olivia scream at the boat for help. But the waves are strong, and Clementine ends up swept into the ocean... dreadful sorry, Clementine. Who could've seen this coming?

Don't fear, though, she gets grabbed and pulled into the boat... and we fast forward to a month later. Yes, really.

Clementine wakes up in a new room, a comfortable bed, with a lovely view of the cliffside and ocean. She's been in a coma for a month... a month! Olivia's been feeding her and changing her bedsheets the entire time which... I don't think that's how that works?? You can't just spoon feed someone who is in a coma? You need feeding tubes? Which she wasn't connected to any! And with the way Morro explains her condition later, by all accounts, Clementine should be dead!

But why did she black out and fall into a coma, you ask? Her leg had a massive infection. I guess she wasn't cleaning it properly.

Whatever, Clementine still maintains her protagonist powers, so she's awake and well. Suspension of disbelief, y'know.

They're in this place that isn't actually given a name. It's made up of five little islands that almost connect, but they only use one. They farm, compost, build; every week there's a list of chores that everyone signs up for, they all have their own little houses and areas. They don't have to worry about walkers too much, other than when they wash up on shore from the water. It's a pretty damn nice set up... sure hope nothing bad happens to it.

Olivia's happy to see Clementine when she wakes, but they can't get Kenny back on. Clementine's rolled out of the house in a wheelchair to go to a birthday party. At this party, Clementine and Ricca reunite with a hug, and we're introduced to our new group of eight survivors:

Emi - She picked Clementine, Ricca, and Olivia up in her boat as she's the only one not afraid to go out on the water and fish. John - Morro's son. He does a lot of work on the island, like building walls and taking care of the cow. Amir - A young boy who lost his arm when he was bitten by a dog and his father didn't believe him. Shu-Fen - but they mostly call her Fen. She's quiet and keeps to herself. Ginette and Giles - a old, married couple who only speak French. Mercy - a young girl that Ginette and Giles take care of. Morro - she's not at the party, but at this point we learn she's in charge of things around here. Also, she's a doctor.

It's a lot of characters thrown at you all at once, but they're fairly easy to pick apart and remember. Definitely easier than trying to keep track of Georgia and Olivia in Book One.

So, what's the deal with this birthday party? Not everyone in this group could remember their real birthdays, so they decided to make one new birthday for everyone. There's cake, games, little party hats, all around good time.

But Clementine's not convinced. She's uncomfortable, she's asking a lot of questions, and this is where we start to see some tension between her and Ricca.

Y'see, Ricca really likes this place, and wants to settle here. Remember, while Clementine was in her coma, she and Olivia have lived here; they've already settled in nicely. They live in the house that's on the highest cliff and is deemed quite safe.

But Clementine is naturally suspicious of everything and is looking for something to be wrong, like that there's only one boat- one escape. This is an ongoing thing where Ricca wants to act like everything is fine, everything is safe, this is what they were looking for to begin with... and Clementine doesn't want to ignore any possible red flags; "Everything is fine until it isn't."

Clementine can't sleep and takes her wheel chair outside for some fresh air, and there she meets Miss Anne Morro. It's actually a well done interaction where we see these two poke and prod at each other the way two strong, leader-like personalities would butt heads. It's also just a little... unsettling. Morro's got that vibe, y'know?

We learn that Morro used to be a pathologist who performed autopsies, but she knows enough to help the living. She says she surprised that Clementine survived given she was nearly septic and she didn't have much in meds... if Clementine was nearly septic and in a coma, she should be dead but it's fine. She just really wanted to survive, I guess. That's what Morro believes it was; "You must've really wanted to stick around." / "You held on like some one with unfinished work."

Morro asks Clementine if she's going to stay as a lot of resources went into keeping her alive, and Clementine points out that was Morro's choice; "Don't pin your regrets on me."

Morro tells her that, while trustworthy, Ricca and Olivia are depressed, and insinuates that Clementine probably is, as well.

Morro smirks, and tell Clementine she'll be expected to work, and that work is everything before leaving Clementine to watch the sunrise alone.

We then get another time skip. Amir shows up on his bike to tell the girls that walkers breached the wall at Borgot. The three of them agree to go help, but they've all got issues; Clementine's been off her feet for weeks and Kenny's not fitting right, Ricca's vision isn't great and it being so gray and rainy doesn't help, and Olivia's been throwing up all week. But it's fine.

They get down there and meet up with Fen, who is surprised Clementine's there to help. Clementine snaps at her that she's been dealing with this shit just as long as she has and can handle a few walkers. She's just gotta get her sock that Ginette's knitted for her first. Ginette also gives her a new hat, the one we see her wearing on the cover of this book.

There are a lot of walkers by the time Clementine gets there. Ricca can't see anything, so Clementine tells her to go to safety... and I want you to really keep in mind how much this book tries to hammer in that Ricca can't see, okay?

Once the walkers are dealt with, we learn from Emi that all of the walker bodies are dragged to Morro so she can "deal with them." Emi thinks it's a waste of time given she's the one who provides the food for everyone, I'm sure it's annoying for her to know what Morro does. John and Fen are too busy helping Morro to help gut fish, so Clementine volunteers Olivia to help with that.

Clementine goes to find Ricca in this little shed where she's working on a project. Clementine tries to comfort her, but Ricca says she just needs to wallow for a little bit and clear her head while she works. She won't let Clementine see what she's working on.

Clementine asks Ricca to meet her on the docks at sundown, and I'm forced to roll my eyes because the miscommunication is exactly what you think it is; Ricca assumes this is a date, but really, Clementine wants to check out Morro's place to see what she does with the dead.

We get Amir's backstory behind his amputated arm: He got bit by a dog, but his father thought it was a walker bite and he was too little to stop him. His father drowned right before this boat crashed on the island. He and Clementine has some cute banter about how she grew taller and waited for her stump to grow, too.

Then we get to know Fen a little bit more- She's originally from Taiwan, but her family was on vacation here with the apocalypse hit, and she's been trying to piece together a world map so she can make it back home. Emi's helping her build a boat but she's still unsure. The map's... well, it's inaccurate.

That night, Ricca and Clementine meet up. Ricca's clearly cleaned up for a date and expresses her disappointment when it's an investigation instead... Clementine's oblivious to this. Truthfully, I feel sorry for Ricca here. I mean, it always sucks when you're excited for something, like a date, only to show up and oh... it's not what you wanted.

Emi comes to pick them up in her boat, and Ricca asks Clementine what it's going to take to convince her that they could be okay here.

But here's Clementine's concern- She's liking the island, but not enough to settle yet. Ricca's eyesight is bad, her prosthetic isn't great. Olivia's depressed. What if there's more out there for them, like an eye doctor or schools? Something even safer?

Ricca isn't satisfied with that answer. In fact, she's kind of hurt with the way Clementine said, "I don't want us to miss out, make the wrong choice."

They go to Morro's place, who is annoyed at being interrupted and tells Clementine her suspicion is tiresome. Turns out Morro's just doing autopsies on the dead. Doesn't matter how degraded they are, she examines each one, takes note of defining details, items on their person, etc. They're assigned a number and buried. It's a lot of work that Clementine questions.

Clementine: Why? Why spend all this energy on them? Morro: They are people. They deserve to be remembered. Clementine: They deserve to be thrown back in the sea. Each of these "people" has maimed and killed who knows how many others... Morro: And? Clementine: And!? In case you hadn't noticed, that corpse and ALL the others are the reason our parents are dead and the world is a pile of garbage. Morro: On this young man I found a medical bracelet. He was allergic to penicillin. I also found a ring in his pocket. Older style. Perhaps it belongs to his mother. His first death was a bad one. Burns, from what I can tell. Anywhere else, he'd decompose and disappear. But instead he washed up here. Kind of like you and your friends.

...okay, we're doing this, I guess. I don't think I need to say that TFS did it better with James and his viewpoint on walkers; how it was deep rooted in his trauma from time with the whisperers, and was meant to make the player think about what actually happens when you become a walker... Are you truly gone? or is there still a piece of you inside that walker? And it showed how far James was willing to go for his fucked up vision of "peace," but it made sense with his character.

This is meant to show how Morro is older, doing autopsies used to be her job, and so she has a different view on the dead. Clementine, however, was raised in this world and has no other view outside of "they're monsters."

But here's the deal, I don't believe Morro's intentions are purely about doing what's "right" for these people. It's about ignoring the real problems on the island and trying to make herself feel like a better person... which I don't think she is. I mean, did'ja see that final jab at Clem? Morro's kind of a passive aggressive ass, and believe me, it's going to get worse.

But Emi shoos them out, and they meet up with John, who is also working this late at night. Ricca steps away from the group and asks Clementine what's out there since everything's fuzzy. It's the graves where all the walkers are buried. Ricca admits there's something off about Morro, and that maybe she's missing something about this place. Maybe it's not safe, but she's scared to start over again, scared of waiting for Clementine to figure out what's wrong and they'll have to leave.

Then Clementine tells her they can stay.

...what?

When I say that I think Clementine's a little fickle with Ricca, this is what I mean. She's watching everything on this island like a hawk, looking for something to be wrong, worried that there might be something better out there... and then she does a 180 like "Okay, we can stay. Didn't realize this was wearing on you."

But that stance isn't going to stay the same! She goes back and forth on things, then we get this:

Ricca: You can still surprise me, Clem. Clementine: I'm sorry that it took me a while. That I made you wait. Ricca: Oh, come on. You know I'll wait for you. Clementine: I know you will.

Put a pin in that exchange; it's important and makes me upsetti spagetti.

Speaking of upset, by now we're at Chapter Four... this chapter makes me unhappy for so many reasons.

The group is waiting for dinner, and we see Clementine's learned how to knit. Amir comes in and tells everyone that the boat is at the beach but Emi and Olivia are no where to be found. He looked everywhere for them but it's so foggy that he couldn't find them. Something's wrong, but Morro is weirdly against sending out a search party... and we see the way she treats her son.

Uhm, first of all, rude. Second, it's gonna get worse.

The group goes searching. Clementine and John talk about Morro, and he says that she's only a jerk to him. She wasn't always that way, but after his sister's bite, she changed.

His sister, Sarah, snuck out one night and came back with a tiny bite. This was back when they didn't know what that meant, so Morro bandaged it up and they went to bed... only for her to turn and eat nearly everyone: his dad, his other sister, Fen's parents... but Morro was able to save him and Fen. And even though all of that happened, they still live in the inn because Morro told them they need to face it.

How funny given Morro doesn't want to face certain things later.

Then Clementine guesses why she does autopsies on the walkers: if Morro looks at each one, then she'll never miss another bite.

That makes no sense.

They're already dead. It doesn't matter if they're bitten. Pi and I were talking about this the other night; wouldn't it make more sense for Morro to be obsessed with checking the living for bites? Every night, they're to report to her office so she can examine them for any bite before they're allowed to go? Who gives a shit if a walker has a bite? What's that going to do for you? Everyone else on the island wants to burn the dead and not waste that much time, but Morro just doesn't listen.

Again, this is why I don't believe her intentions with it are pure. Morro made a mistake that wasn't even her fault, and she lost most of her family because of it. That's traumatic, and this is probably her way of working through that, of "atoning," but she's neglecting the living because of it.

Also, she treats her only living son like shit, so honestly? Fuck her. John doesn't deserve it. I'm team John, he's chill.

He then goes on to explain the backlog of walkers behind the graveyard.

...an entire community of walkers backlogged, you say? And Morro keeps putting them off? I'm sure that won't be the downfall of this group, Anne.

John and Clementine eventually find Emi and Olivia in the lighthouse. They go there to chill after fishing, and Olivia's upstairs getting some air. Clementine rushes up there and we get the first big twist. Are you ready? I bet you're not.

Olivia tells Clementine she got bit.

Except she didn't.

Olivia: I got bit. It's over. Clementine: What? You- show me, Olivia! Where? I'll cut it out! Olivia: I don't know what happened! Clementine: Where!? We have to hurry! Olivia: You can't cut it out, it's inside! I'm starting to turn already, I feel it! Clementine: It's... inside? Olivia: Something moved in me, it's the start of it. I'm becoming one of them. You know, I really liked being alive. Clementine: Olivia, show me where it moved. Olivia, clutching her stomach: Here. Clementine, sobbing and hugging Olivia: Okay, okay, don't worry... it's not a bite.

I... have so many feelings about this.

Just in case you don't get it, Olivia's pregnant. With a baby. And she thought it was a bite.

Remember how I said Amos and Olivia's "relationship" was important? Apparently they had sex in Book One and now she's pregnant. With a baby.

But... why?

I will tear into this more in Olivia's section, but know that I am unhappy. And so is Clementine. She goes off by herself, climbs a hill to overlook the backlog of walkers and just starts screaming at them.

....she says as if this is a new concept to her?

And y'know... given she already raised a baby- you remember Alvin Junior, yes? AJ? Yeah, the kid she left at Ericson? That one, she raised him from when he was a baby, so you'd think she'd bring that up in all this anguish.... but she doesn't. Which is bizarre. This paired with the fact that there are no mentions of Lee makes me think we're moving farther and farther away from the games, trying to establish this as its own thing. Which is fine for those who haven't played the games, but it's a glaring issue for those who have.

Anyway... dream sequence. This time Clementine and Ricca are on a boat that has a bed. It's snowing, Ricca tells her to come sleep, but there's a walker in the bed. It's so... honestly, the only way I can describe the imagery is it's so Tillie Walden, and that's a positive thing, that's a compliment.

The next morning, Olivia doesn't want to talk about her pregnancy. She's going down the "la la la I'm not ignoring this except I totally am la la la I'm going fishing" route, and storms out. Clementine tells Ricca about it, we learn Ricca tracks their periods, and Clementine asks if you don't have a period when you're pregnant... I think Kate must've missed that bit of info when she was giving her the talk in ANF.

Clementine mentions she saw a baby born but blocked it out because it was so scary... either she's talking about Christa, or Rebecca. Christa's the only one we know she was there for since for Rebecca's, she could either help Kenny or help the group, but she wasn't actually there for the birthing process... she was likely watching Sarah get eaten alive, assuming she lived that long.

But that's not important because Ricca's upset again.

Ricca: Do you regret all this? Staying? Clementine: No! No. We'd have problems like this anywhere. It's more that... I've been distracted. I know we've been, like, um... and I want to do stuff, but I need to make it safe first. Once everything is safe, then we can, um... Does that...? Ricca: Oh. Clementine: Ric? Ricca: I think Olivia had the right idea. I'm gonna go. Clementine: Ricca, I didn't mean- Ricca: You did mean it. Go fight your battles. They'll keep you company. Clementine: I- [interrupted by Ricca slamming the door]

What the fuck, Ricca?

I'll be honest, the first time I read this, I had to reread it, like, ten times because I didn't understand why Ricca was so pissed. But just wait, we'll get it to. I keep saying that, but I need you to trust me on this.

So Ricca storms out because reasons, and Clementine goes to talk to Morro about the backlog of walkers. Morro doesn't want to deal with the walkers right now, even though she knows they have to be dealt with eventually. She believes there are more important things that need done first; "Summer is precious here. There's grain to harvest, fish to cure, wood to store. If this isn't done, winter will end us. On top of that, we're behind on herb collection. We're behind on the sea walls. We're behind on laundry."

Gee, I bet y'all wouldn't be so behind if you spent less time on autopsies and more time helping out, Anne.

But Clementine's not having any of it, nor should she.

She knows there's no secure way to hold walkers, and can't wrap her head around how adults can read, write, and know so much that she doesn't and yet still not grasp the way this world works now. So, she'll take care of it.

What could possibly go wrong?

Clementine recruits John and Fen to help her build a tunnel with a door that'll let them control how many walks come out, that way they can deal with them slowly but surely. John's pumped about getting to help so that he can show his mom that he's not a screw up. Some time passes, they build the tunnel, and Morro tells Clementine to be careful that she doesn't lose herself in her work.

This book's definitely making Clementine and Morro character foils, which I like.

On the beach, Clementine and Olivia show just how much they know about pregnancy and their bodies... as in very little. Morro told her "some wild stuff" about the cervix and uterus, and then Olivia's like "she kept asking me about my last period, and I was like, um, why?" She doesn't even know why her period is important! This sweet summer child! How did she and Amos even figure out how sex worked!?

It really showcases how young Olivia is, though. Apparently the baby will be here in about four or five months. It's so... casual? I don't think the whole group knows, but Morro and Emi do and no one is like... "hey, there's gonna be a baby, we should probably prepare for that."

I guess we don't have time for that, though, because we have more clemricca drama to deal with.

Deep breath... okay. It's raining. Clementine's in her wheelchair. She goes to the little shed Ricca's used for her secret project. She won't let her in, by the way, even though it's pouring and they're both getting drenched. This is the conversation:

Clementine: I, um... Ricca: What? Clementine: I don't want you to think that anything is more important to me than you. Ricca: That's kind of how you made it sound. Clementine: What I meant to say was that I want this island safe for us. We can't do anything if we're dead. Ricca: What do you mean "do?" Kiss? Date? Talk about how we actually feel? The dead decide when that can happen!? Clementine: ... Ricca: I love you. And I'm pretty sure you love me, too. But you're not making me feel loved. You're making me feel like you just want to protect me or... Clementine: But I do want to protect you. It's all I think about. Every minute of every day. Ricca: I don't need saving, Clem. I need you to love me. And I need it to be always. It can't start and stop. Clementine: ... I... Ricca: Oh my god, maybe this has all been in my head-- Clementine: Ricca-- Ricca: I get it, okay? Clementine: If I let... if I let myself... Ricca: Forget this. Clementine: You said you would wait for me! Ricca: That's not fair. You want me to wait for the impossible!? Clementine: No, I-- Ricca: I'm done, Clem. Clementine: Ricca, don't go in yet, please, we can talk more-- Ricca, going back inside: What else is there to say? [slams door]

I..... hate this.

Again. We will dive into it in the Ricca/clemricca section, just know that I hate this so much... but wait, there's more coming!

So Clementine's left in the rain, crying, and I'm trying to keep my composure over all of this. Then we cut to her sitting on the beach, presumably the next day, where Giles and Ginette find her and Clementine breaks down crying in Ginette's lap.

We've made it to chapter six; they have the walker tunnel built, they're stabbing the walkers through it, and they're taking the bodies to Morro because of course she's still doing her autopsies. Fen tries to talk to Clementine about Ricca but she's not having it.

Morro's grumpy about this whole situation. When John offers to help her, she's just an asshole to him. She's going off about how this and that needs to be done, and Clementine stands up for John.

It doesn't go well.

And Clementine snaps at her with, "Your daughter getting bit really didn't convince you how dangerous walkers are? But I guess you didn't take that situation seriously, either."

Not gonna lie, I applaud Clementine with that one. But Morro's not going to just take that sitting down. She tells everyone to get out, and poor John is gripping his head, wide eyed, crying...

But Morro, suddenly calm, adds, "Oh, Clementine, I'm sorry to hear about the little break-up. My marriage didn't work out. My only regret is not leaving him sooner. I suspect you might be like me. We're just not suited for love. Better to realize that while you're young. Some things about yourself, well... you just can't change."

Ma'am, you are an asshole.

John is literally right that, and you just casually drop that you wish you'd left his father sooner even though he was eaten by walkers, eaten BY YOUR DAUGHTER who turned, and that you're not suited for love like??? Is that why you treat your son like shit??

Oh, but you're suuuuuuuch a good person for doing these autopsies and burying the dead, right?

Also, this is the second time someone's questioned Clementine's ability to love in this series. The first was Georgia before she was killed: "You've never loved anyone, Clementine, I can see it. You have no idea... how far I'll go... what I'll do..."

Hey, speaking of Book One- hard cut to a dream sequence with Amos and it makes little sense. Clementine's asking him how he and Olivia made their relationship work, they made it look easy and never seemed scared but like..... what relationship?? I have read Book One 10+ times! The relationship was practically nonexistent! He made a comment about her bright eyes and she invited him behind the curtain with her! Then suddenly she wants to go away with him back to his town!

But in this dream sequence, Clementine asks if she's too broken for this romance with Ricca, asking why she's so scared and shit, and just-

Clementine: Am I too broken for this? Amos: You think Ricca isn't broken, too? The only difference is that she isn't ashamed of her scars. She wants to face her fears with you. Not for you. Clementine: She deserves more... so much more than me. Amos, holding a baby??: She deserves the world. And that's you, Clementine.

I'm at a loss for words, I am so tired...

Ricca and Olivia find Clementine passed out in front of Ricca's shack. Fen told them what Morro said and apparently Ricca threw a plate at her head. Finally, she does something I approve of.

Ricca finally lets them in her shack to see the big project she's been working on- a synagogue; "It's like a church, but for Jews."

It's actually a really nice set up she's made, and it feels like Ricca's the only one who has the baby in mind since she's still trying to figure out a crib. She made groves in the floor so that she can move around even when she can't see. She talks about how this is a place for all of them where they can celebrate holidays, rest, pray, sing', etc. She's hoping to have a bat mitzvah one day, so the girls suggest they have one right now for the three of them.

So they gather together, light a bunch of candles, wrap themselves in blankets and put flowers in their hair. Ricca starts by reciting what she can remember from the Torah, and translates what she can for them; "Some of it is peace and God and stuff, then rest I really don't know. I just know that saying the words makes the ground feel... deeper. And it makes the sky seem so much higher up. I guess what I've learned is that I'm actually really lucky. To be here, right now. To have found you guys, this island. The mountain."

Now this is some development with Ricca I like. We've gotten snippets of Jewish culture with her character throughout these two books but this is the first time we've actually explored it and what it means to her.

Olivia goes next; "'It's not gonna be easy, it's gonna be really hard.' It's from a book we read in Vermont. Oh, and my favorite word from the dictionary. Speckle. It means 'a small part of something.'" She shares that she's thought about how everyone starts out as a baby and someone kept them alive without them even asking, and she's thought about them being super little when they had nothing to worry about... I'm sure this is all coming from the fact that she's soon to have a baby.

Now it's Clementine's turn to talk, and she asks to see what Ricca wrote down. It's a paper of words and phrases, symbols, and such that she could remember, and Clementine focuses on, "May there be abundant peace."

And this makes her realize that she does love Ricca.

....wait, what?

My head hurts. Breathe, CJ, breeeeathe.... It's fine, it's only Clementine apologizing even though she did nothing wrong. It's only us ignoring the fact that Ricca was out here pulling the, "I guess you never really loved me" guilt-trip because Clementine wasn't moving at her pace, it's fiiiiiiiiiine.... I'm not upset, I swear.

So... Clementine and Ricca confess they love each other and are officially girlfriends now, and we get more cheese from Clem; "Making it right between us... it feels like the whole world's been saved."

Oh boy. The girls talk about how they feel more adult after their bat mitzvah.

From here, we get into chapter seven where shit hits the fan. The problem I had with Book One had to do with pacing where it had this slow beginning and middle, and then crazy shit happened all at once toward the end... while the pacing for this book is a little better, this is where we just into that whiplash, "what the fuck, how did this happen??"

The girls fell asleep and now it's night. Everything seems chill as they deal with a stray walker and talk about Morro, and we get this line from Ricca, "Anyone who is mean to Clem is dead to me." which I find hilarious since that's literally the attitude the twdg fandom has. But the irony of that aside, shit's going down because they're surrounded by walkers.

The backlog of walkers got out.

There's hundreds of them.

Dr Barnwell, the cat, is back at the house so Ricca offers to go get him while Clementine and Olivia go to Morro's place where they assume everyone's held up... Remember that- Ricca, the one who can't see in the dark, is the one to go get the cat. They plan to meet at the docks.

Ginette, Giles, and Mercy are dead, being eaten by walkers outside of Morro's place. John's also dead inside, having been bitten. That's FOUR off-screen deaths, and lemme tell you, I'm pissed that John's dead. Morro's just standing there while while Emi watches the door and Fen holds a sobbing Amir.

Morro's still an asshole even when her son's dead, she's like, "My sweet, dumb boy." Lady, you were awful to him this entire book!

It turns out John was so upset last time we saw him that he convinced himself he could take all those walkers on, so he made the tunnel bigger for more to come through. He got overwhelmed and couldn't shut it down, got bit, panicked, and ran to his mother. Then he died on the floor. Just like that.

I..... am so upset about John, y'all.

The group plans to take Emi's boat and get outta there, but guess what? Morro's not going; "I'm not leaving my son."

She knows he's going to turn and doesn't care, AND this action of hers indirectly gets Amir killed. I'm serious. She's staying, so Amir starts throwing a fit that he wants to stay with John, too.

Before they go, Morro tells them to get to PEI, since years ago she traded with an herbalist named Saa who could potentially help them.

They leave, and a crying Morro goes to John while walkers break through the windows. She's dead.

Can't say I feel bad about that one, Anne, got gonna lie...

But then Amir gets killed when he continues to scream about going back to John. He gets away from Emi, goes back to the house and opens the door to find John as a walker. Walker John attacks Amir, killing him.

Characters are just dropping at this point, and we're not done!

Emi's crying out in distress, Clementine has to hold her back, and they all gotta make a run for it. They make it to the docks and Ricca's not there. Clementine refuses to leave her behind, and they get overwhelmed... and Emi saves Olivia, but gets bitten. Emi grabs a bunch of the walkers and drags them all down into the water with her... and she's gone.

I need to stress this... everyone except Fen from this new group is dead now, all killed in a SINGLE CHAPTER. This isn't like S2 where everyone from the cabin group eventually dies; that happened over the course of the season with each death hurting more and more until it all ended with Luke's death on the lake, and by then you're so numbed by the loss... this is just boom boom boom, DEAD.

And guess who shows up. They try to fake us out by making us think Ricca's a walker, but no. She's fine, and she has the cat.

Tell me... how the fuck did Ricca navigate the island in the dark to grab Dr Barnwell and make it to the docks in time when she can't fucking see anything??? HOW??? This book has hammered home that Ricca can't see. She can't see in the dark, she can't see in bad weather, she can barely see in the light! You expect me to believe she did all of this without getting chomped? That she made it back in time? UGH.

John's dead. Emi died to save Olivia. Amir's dead. Giles, Ginette, and little baby Mercy are dead....... but somehow, somewhat, Ricca managed to survive, I'm.......... I'm not saying I want her dead, I'm saying I'm upset laughing right now.

Anyway... that bullshit's over. Chapter eight, three weeks later, they're in this community looking for Saa. Their boat got stolen, they're living off rotten potatoes, and they still haven't found Saa. Clementine and Fen wander around until someone can point them in her direction, and they find Saa and Derrick.

Saa's a woman in a wheelchair, both legs amputated from before the outbreak, and Derrick seems to be her right-hand man.

Saa has Derrick get them a supply bag and lets them on her boat. She's planning to leave town and shows Clementine and Fenn her world map. Remember how Fen was trying to piece together her own map? Yeah, she gets overwhelmed when she realizes just how off her map was. Taiwan's farther than she expected, so she leaves believing she'll never make it home.

By the way, I am happy Fen survived. I think she's a neat character and I'm interested where Book Three takes her character.

Saa's quite likable for a character introduced so late in the book. She talks with Clementine about how amputees existed before the dead rose, and Derrick comes back with a box of supplies. We learn that Saa wants to go to Greenland since she got a letter from a friend who went there, and Clementine's surprised that letters are a thing.

Also, Saa's crew might be dead. She doesn't believe they are, but Derrick does. This gives Clementine a lightbulb moment, and she offers her group to be Saa's new crew.

Saa: Woah, woah, we need five experienced hands, not two kids. Clementine: Olivia is experienced! She knows boats! Saa: Are there five of you? Clementine: Yes! Saa: Are you lying to me? Derrick: Definitely. Clementine: No! No, it's just... Only four of us can help. One isn't born yet. Derrick: Oh my. Saa: No. No.

But don't worry, Clementine sells the group well enough that Saa reluctantly agrees. I guess we're going to Greenland in Book Three.

They camp, and in the morning Clementine drags Ricca and Olivia to this person who takes polaroid photos... because there'ssomeone who just does that, I guess. Then they head to the boat. They set sail, it's a grand ol' time.

Then Clementine and Ricca have their first kiss.. and we head into chapter nine.

I think everyone's heard of chapter nine by now, but whether you've heard of it accurately is another story. Do you know how many comments I've read on reddit about this chapter that are just... false?? Spreading misinformation?? It's ridiculous.

Clementine and Ricca have sex this chapter, but there's no sex scene. It doesn't even show any kissing. It's literally a fade to black. It's not explicit, and no, reddit, it's not like 50 Shades of Grey, you dumbasses.

They're laying together in what I assume is their room on the ship, talking about scars, and this is how conversation progresses:

Clementine: Back in Vermont when we’d bump into each other in that tiny cabin… my whole face would feel hot. Ricca: I remember. You were hard to reach, then. Clementine: I remember. Ricca? Ricca: Hmm? Clementine: Have you had sex before? Ricca: Yeah, have you? Clementine: No… I’m still not totally clear on what it is… Ricca: A lot of it is instinctual. Clementine: Bullshit, maybe for you. Ricca: I’m serious! You and the other person respond to each other. Clementine: Stabbing walkers in the head when they’re trying to kill you is instinctual. This… this is… so overwhelming. Ricca: Doing anything for the first time is… Think about the first time you shot a gun, or started a fire. Clementine: I remember my first walker… I was so scared that day. That year. Ricca: You were alone? Clementine: I was. But I’m not now. I don’t have to figure this out myself. You’ll show me everything? Step by step? Ricca: Of course. We can take our time. Clementine: Doesn’t it feel like… like we have to hurry? Do everything we can as soon as we can? Ricca: Why would we need to? I’m not going anywhere. And we are in the middle of the ocean. Clementine: I know, I know, it’s not that, it’s… Whenever I feel happy, when it’s peaceful like this, it always seems to get cut off. I want to make this feeling… this night… last. How do I do that? Ricca: You mean… How do we stop time? Clementine: Yeah. Can you teach me that, too? Ricca: Hmm… Clementine: I’m not asking for much, just for tonight to last a little longer. As soon as the sun comes up, there’ll be so much to do. Ricca: For you, Clementine. I’ll have a word with the sun… and ask for a little more time.

Clementine wakes up the next morning to the sunlight pouring in through the window with tears in her eyes.

The end; to be continued in Book Three.

That's the whole plot. That's everything that happened.

It's a lot. Book Two's longer than Book One, but I found myself enjoying it a little more... but with that comes even more disappointment than before. I can see a good, solid story here but it wasted a lot of opportunities. I hate that it introduced a new cast of characters just so it could kill all but one of them off in a single chapter, that hurt. The romantic subplot is bad because, in my opinion, the couple involved shouldn't be together. There's stuff to like, hence why I've given it a higher rating than Book One, but it's bogged down by some major flaws.

But let's get into the character's now.

Dreadful Sorry, Clementine...

The best way I can describe Clementine is she's incredibly inconsistent with the game's depiction of her, but she's consistent between both books. Ignoring the games, this feels like a natural-ish progression of her character from Book One.

I believe I mentioned this in my review of Book One, and if not there I've said it before, but this Clementine is like if we skipped TFS. Book One felt like we picked up right after ANF, except Clementine decided not to go after AJ and instead went off on her own, that's how angsty she was... even though that doesn't make sense because we know she was at Ericson and AJ was the one to cut off her leg. It's a regression you won't notice if you haven't played the games, but most of us have. That's why people call her Tangerine. We're backtracking to tell the same character arc in a different, less compelling way.

There were more points in this one where I feel the real Clementine peaking through, though, usually when she's sassing Morro. But the rest of the time it's just a shell of who she once was.

I will say that I find the approach to Clementine's knowledge... interesting? She's definitely dumbed down a little, but it feels like a situation where the book needs the reader to know something and uses Clementine to get that information across, resulting in her looking dumb. Remember when she didn't know she needed to wash her leg in Book One and everyone threw a fit? It's like when you're watching a movie and a character pulls the, "As you know," out; if the character already knows, why are you telling them? You're not, really, you're telling the audience. It's the same vibe; we need to know she needs to clean her leg.

But here we get to also look at Clementine's lacking in educational knowledge. I've already read some people being grumpy that she struggles with reading and writing her name, and fair enough... but remember that Clementine's education stopped at first grade. I think these books are trying to tell the story of someone who grew up in this world... as in Clementine's not exactly practicing her reading and writing every day the same way an average student does in the modern world. She's going to struggle. That's something the games just ignore and make her read super well, and they did the same thing with AJ. No five-year-old can read that well, especially if taught by another less educated person, c'mon now.

Also, y'all crack jokes about how Clementine has a first grade education and can't do math and shit but then the comic presents that in a more realistic way than the games and suddenly you have a problem? Mmhmmmm.

I like that Clementine airs that frustration with Morro about how adults know how to read and write and they know all these things she doesn't understand, but she has the knowledge of how to survive in this world better than any adult because she grew up in it and has little knowledge prior to this life.

She's also paranoid for a lot of the time on the island, which makes sense. She's witnessed enough community failures to be wary of things seeming too good to be true. Plus, she was in a coma. She has every right to wake up unsure about everything, and it's annoying that Ricca and Olivia never stop to consider that they've had a month to settle in and get comfortable, Clementine hasn't. She's trying to catch up. Ricca especially gets annoyed that she won't just hurry and feel safe already and that's a whole can of worms I'll get to.

This book hones in on Clementine becoming an adult after growing up in this world...whatever that means. By now I think we're to assume she's 18, and it gives us two growth scenarios where Clementine has a birthday and a bat mitzvah, which I think is supposed to show a "new chapter" in her life, so to speak.

This book also tackles her falling in love like it's the first time... which I guess means we're dealing with a single Clementine from TFS. I mean, if we have to do this, I'd prefer that. So y'know... anyone acting like this series made Clementine a "cheater," that's inaccurate and you know it, you're just trying to make everything worse than it really is.

I just wish Clementine fell for someone who didn't twist things to be her fault or guilt her into moving at a pace she clearly wasn't comfortable with. Then the book acts like Clementine had to have an epiphany that she does really love Ricca as if that's growth like.... stop. Stop trying to tell Clementine she's incapable of love as if romantic love is the only valid love that everyone has to learn to have. Clementine did love. She loved Ricca and Olivia as friends in this shitty world; she loved Dr Barnwell; she loved Amos enough to dream about him in order to seek his comfort, like... this Clementine is capable of love.

She apparently didn't love anyone at the school enough to stay but ahem not the point-

I can tell that Tillie Walden's not as comfortable writing for a character that's already established versus her original characters. It's so easy for everyone to throw around "this is just fanfiction!" like it's an insult [how ironic given the fandom tends to thrive on fanfiction but sure lets use it as an insult when convenient] but let's be serious about that for a moment.

There's a certain skillset in writing what's considered "good" fanfiction; I believe anyone can write fanfic, but tastes will always be subjective as not everyone will agree what's in character or not, and not everyone finds the same prose enjoyable. There's always room to improve when you're writing fanfiction, but not everyone will like your stuff.

I've read a lot of what I'd consider bad fanfiction in my time; clunky and awkward prose, unnatural dialogue, unappealing storylines and decisions, characters behaving in ways they never would in the source material. We all know how the thought of "They wouldn't say that," can take you right out of the fic you're reading.

When writing, the source material is a helpful tool that I encourage all fanfiction writers to take advantage of. The characters already have an established voice that you have to mimic, mannerisms and facts of their life to consider, and there's a lot of interpretation at play. Based on what you know of them, how would they react in this situation, or that one? If you're familiar enough with the source material and have the dedication, you can create some amazing stories.

I don't think Tillie has the right "toolbox," if you will, for fanfiction. She's skilled in writing her own characters and stories, something that's impressive as not everyone can do that, but she clearly struggles with Clementine. She's played the games [yes, I believe her when she says she played them, keep your snark in your lip] but she hasn't played them the way fans and fanfiction writers have. She's not using the source material the most effective way, and that might be on purpose, honestly. She only uses enough to remind us that this Clementine's originally from the games, but not enough to make her convincing.

All in all, Clementine's the most developed character in these books, obviously, but she's not as great as she could be. She's definitely more tolerable in Book Two than Book One.

Oh, Miss Morro, how you've disappointed me...

I don't like her.

I got beef with Anne.

I so desperately hoped she was conducting science experiments on the walkers. I wanted her to sew body parts onto walkers to see if they functioned; to see her create monstrosities for the sake of science or whatever other bullshit.

But no, she's just an asshole doing autopsies on walkers to make herself feel better while ignoring the big problem that eventually lead to their downfall. She mistreats her son even though he does most of the work around the island.

And she knows there's a lot of work to be done but spends that precious time doing these autopsies despite everyone knowing it's a waste of time... then she has the gall to lecture Clementine about not wasting time. She's passive aggressive, aloof, and just... unpleasant? Even when she's being nice, you get the sense it's fake.

While she's a better "antagonist" [if you can call her that] than Georgia was in Book One, she's just another disappointment. Why not go ham with it? We're on an island that seems too good to be true, you've got this old woman who leads the group but goes off to her little shack at night to work with the dead, you've established there's only one way of escape and that's Emi's boat... make her fucking crazy!

I get we're trying to be deep and psychological with her trauma over losing her family after she disregarded a bite, but it falls flat. You can't just make her an asshole the entire time and then her son dies and she's suddenly like, "ah, my poor, dumb son... I'm gonna stay here and be eaten by walkers now, I don't want to go on."

Imagine this, m'kay? Remember how I said she should be more concerned over checking the living for bites? Say she's obsessed with doing that and everyone sees her point since they don't want a repeat of what happened... then one of them does get bitten, either by a walker or something else, and they gotta deal with it... and then it's revealed that Morro used them in her experiments when Clementine finds them as a walker with parts sewn onto them and shit. Have John be in denial that his mother's doing anything fucked until he has to face it head on! Have everyone turn on Morro! Make her dangerous!

She's not a compelling character, she's just a bitch and I don't like her... and that's the wasted potential of this book right there.

Ricca upsets me

Okay, listen... I don't like Ricca.

I don't think anyone does, but I don't think any of you understand, y'know? She isn't a bad character just because she isn't Louis or Violet, or because you're pissy about the comics existence.

There are layers to why I don't like her. This is a "you don't understand her like I do" situation, except most people use that phrase when they're up their own ass and wholeheartedly believe their interpretation of their favorite is the only correct one, but me? I'm up my own ass about this character I don't even like!

Most of y'all haven't read the comics like I have. That's why you're here. Either you've read through them once or twice, you've only read other peoples reviews and formed your opinions based on them, or you've watched a video of someone reading the comic and they've influenced your judgement.... but me? I've studied these comics! I've read them critically, analytically! I went into this with an open mind about Ricca; I gave her a chance! I gave clemricca a chance! Which is more than I can say for most of you!

And all I've gotten in return is a headache!

Let me get the good out of the way, because there are things about her character that I do like. If you'll recall in Book One, Ricca mentions that she thinks she's the last Sephardic Jew left, and in this book we see her singing Jewish songs, she builds her own synagogue, and we get the big bat mitzvah. I really like that it wasn't just a throwaway detail that Ricca's Jewish, and that we get some exploration into that side of her.

Her worsening eyesight was interesting for me as someone who also has terrible sight and needs glasses to function, but it kind of gets ruined when we've built it up for so long only to toss it out the window in the end. She's supposedly blind at night, yet she made it through a herd of walkers back to their house, grabbed the cat, and made it back to the docks in just in time leave with everyone?

Absolutely not. The only way I could see that working is if she had a way of knowing where she was at all times without her sight, like what she did in her shed with the floor. It's unclear if she's covered herself in walker guts, but that's another way she could've made it without getting bitten... but that still doesn't help that she cannot see and doesn't have a means of seeing without her eyes.

Sorry, this is supposed to be what I liked... I do like the glasses stuff, just not when it's inconsistent. Ricca also has some funny lines here and there, she's definitely a little snarky and sarcastic at times. She's hardworking, and picks up the slack when Olivia's too depressed to do anything, which I appreciate, but... that's it. There isn't a whole lot else I enjoy about this character.

Everything I dislike stems from her relationship with Clementine.

First of all, they have little to no chemistry when it comes to romantic banter. It's bizarre, though, because I believe the trio's friendship more than I believe Clementine and Ricca have some sort of deeper connection. Without Olivia there, it's awkward.

Clementine's focused on the island, determining if it's safe, looking for something to be wrong or dangerous. Ricca wants to turn a blind eye to any potential danger as she wants this island to be their safe place to settle, and gets irritated with Clementine's paranoia.

And just... it pisses me off that Ricca tells Clementine that she'll wait for her. At this point, it's pretty obvious that they have romantic feelings for one another, for some reason. But, Clementine's rather fickle about it due to fear. Ricca telling her that is meant to be this romantic notion that she loves her enough to wait until Clementine's ready for a relationship... except no! When things don't go the way she wants it, Ricca throws it back in Clementine's face and it's so shitty!

Clementine wants to protect her and Ricca acts like that's a bad thing? You don't feel loved because Clementine wants you to be safe? You don't need saving?? Girl, you DO need saving because you can't fucking see! We've spent this entire book establishing that you need help because of it! And then you use that to tell Clementine that you need her to love you always!

Ricca's so awful in this moment. Then she accuses Clementine's feelings of not being real just because she's not responding the way she's "supposed to," and that's cruel.

"I'll wait for you," is a lovely lie, isn't it? Pretty, but hollow. You don't get to say that and then when Clementine calls you out on it, throw a fit that she's in the wrong for making you wait for the impossible, as if you're a victim in all this!

Ricca, Clementine doesn't owe you shit. She doesn't owe you a relationship just because you supposedly love her. Hell, if you did love her, you wouldn't be acting like this! If Clementine isn't ready to kiss, or say she loves you, then she isn't ready and pressuring her is bullshit.

"Oh we should talk about how we actually feeeeel~!" Fuck off, Ricca, she told you why she's scared of having a relationship right now and why she wants to island to be safe.

Can you imagine if Louis and Violet behaved like this? Imagine ep2, Clementine tells them, "Hey, I like you but I want to make the school safe, we need to deal with the raiders first before we focus on us," and they were like, "I'll wait for you, Clem." Only for ep3 to come around and they're like, "That's not fair, you want me to wait for the impossible! I? I'm done, Clementine, your feelings for me weren't real!"

But Louis and Violet never did that because they respected Clementine as a person with autonomy! If she rejected them romantically, neither blew a gasket. Neither accused her of toying with their feelings. The only time something like that comes up is if Clementine romances Violet and then lets her get taken by raiders, but in Violet's defense, I think she has a good enough reason to throw that around, y'know?

Ricca's just being mean. She's intentionally trying to hurt Clementine's feelings because she's sour that the relationship isn't progressing exactly as she wants it and she's tired of waiting.

But the worst part? The book presents this as Ricca being right. At the bat mitzvah, Clementine realizes she loves Ricca and that she was wrong and I'm furious. Not a single mention of Ricca's shitty behavior, no apologies for the guilt-tripping or being vindictive, nothing! Clementine was wrong to prioritize the island's safety over her feelings for Ricca! What a lesson she's learned, folks!

How.... dare you, frankly. I hate it so much. It's acting like it's this deep relationship that's exploring conflicted feelings and handing all these emotions with care but... all I see is Clementine having valid reasons for not wanting a relationship right now and Ricca guilting her until she changes her mind. Clementine shouldn't be the one apologizing here.

I guess we gotta talk about chapter nine now.

I don't want to say all of you have blown it out of proportion, but most of you have. Clementine and Ricca have sex. It's not explicit. Nothing is shown. There isn't even any kissing. There's cheesy dialogue. It's a fade to black. I don't think it could've been done any more tastefully than that.

If it wasn't Clementine involved, not a single one of you would've batted an eye. But because y'all are white knights who put Clementine on a pedestal, her fictional honor is apparently at stake and here we are.

Look, I'm no prude, okay? I read and write Dragon Age fanfiction, and sex can be a big part of those games, for better or worse. I've read my fair share of fics with smut in them, and I'm writing a Dragon Age fic with sexual content in later chapters. I'm not here to clutch any pearls or act like exploring sexual topics is a bad thing, because it's not.

I don't love that this is in a book rated ages 14+. I don't think it was necessary, but I understand why it's here in the context of "Clementine's stepping into adulthood in a world where death forever lurks." I just wish the target audience for these books was older, like... if you're going to include sex and a teen pregnancy, your audience shouldn't be middle grade.

The reason it feels icky to me is I don't like the couple or how they got together. This isn't a good relationship. It's not built on a foundation of trust. The sex is consensual, which is good, but I can't help feeling like Clementine deserved someone who respected her more than Ricca does.

So yeah... Ricca's not a bad character just because she's not Louis or Violet. She bad because she's selfish to her core, but the books portray her as selfless and right.

And to everyone screaming "but Clementine's not 18 yet is she???!?!? UNDER AGE SEX!?!?!?!" I argue that you don't actually give a shit about ages. Y'know why? Because not one of you, not a single goddamn one of you, has had the same energy about Olivia's pregnancy. Amos was 16 when he and Olivia had sex in Book One, and I have feeling she's also around that age.

Y'all really glossed over that, didn't you? So no, you don't care about whether or not a character's old enough for sex. If you did care, you would've been just as alarmed, if not more, about Olivia and Amos... but you're not because you don't care about Olivia, she's not you're precious widdle Clemmy.

Olivia's pregnancy bothers me way more than Clementine and Ricca having consensual sex... which is a great segway into--

Olivia is my new child and that's why I'm mad that she's probably going to die in Book Three

I like Olivia a lot, actually. I'm adopting her. She's my child now, and her baby is my grandchild.

But I'm pretty sure she's going to die. It's predictable, y'know? So predictable that I hope Book Three subverts expectations and this isn't the case, but... my prediction is Olivia will die giving birth to her baby, leaving Clementine and Ricca to raise the baby.

Insert Amos Junior [AJ 2.0] joke here.

Olivia gets some much needed character development in this book. She's showing signs of depression; it's hard to get her to do anything in the beginning and Ricca has to pick up her chores. It's understandable, given her twin sister murdered Amos and then died, too. Her mother's a walker, she's lost everything.

It isn't until she and Emi go fishing together more that she comes out of her shell. I wish we got to see more of her and Emi's friendship, actually. Especially since Emi gave her life and boat to save her. She's kind and naive, a lot like Amos was but in a different way. Olivia's more aware of how shitty the world is than Amos was.

The pregnancy is bullshit. I hate it. Why are we doing this again? And with a teen pregnancy? Why are we bringing in another baby after we jumped through hoops to make Clementine leave the first baby behind? It's not going to end well. Either Olivia's going to die, or that baby is. These comics, and TWD in general, aren't above killing off kids or babies. What are the odds that both Olivia and the baby survive? That would be too happy for our nearing conclusion.

And with how little Olivia knows about sex, periods, and babies, and that Amos came from an Amish community, it's amazing that they even figured out how sex worked to begin with.

Thinking back on it, is THAT why Georgia pushed him off the mountain? Not only did she feel he was trying to take Olivia away, but he slept with her? That actually makes a little more sense! Too bad Georgia never bothered giving us that reason, huh?

It's just... this pregnancy is such a heavy thing for Book Three. Poor Olivia's doomed, and she's the only likable one of the trio.

I don't blame Tillie for this, or for anything else in this comic, since she's not the only one making these books happen. Skybound approved this, her editors approved this, everyone involved thought, "yeah, pregnant Olivia, good idea, that'll bring some tragedy." and I'm just sitting here with my head in my hands like, "noooooooooooooooo...."

These books already took my son away, wasn't that enough?

Speaking of-

Until I see a body, Amos ain't dead in my heart

We have one more book left, just let me hold out hope that Amos survived the fall and will come back as twist antagonist in Book Three, okay? Mark my words, if he comes back, Book Three will get an immediate 5/5 stars, regardless of the other bullshit.

Amos is just a vision in Clementine's dreams this time around. I miss my boy, he didn't deserve this treatment.

And now watch, the book will be cheeky like "You want Amos back? Here's AJ 2.0, that still counts!" Not what I meant!

This review's long, let's lightning round the rest of the characters since I don't have that much to say about them that I haven't already said

--I'm happy Fen survived and look forward to seeing what Book Three does with her, assuming it doesn't just kill her off or some other bullshit.

--I'm pissed John died. If we're going to kill everyone else off anyway, why couldn't Fen AND John survive? He worked his ass off on that island and his mother treated him like shit. To kill him off-screen's bullshit. Would've been way more compelling to have him survive and face the guilt of losing his mother even after the way she treated him.

--Emi's another great character that hurt to see go, but it's fitting that she saved Olivia and gave her the boat before taking the walkers down with her.

--Amir's great. Also pissed he died. Shitty way to go. Did we really need to see walker John eat him?

--Ginette, Giles, and Mercy are just kinda there. They're not too important, but it's still sad to see they got eaten alive by a herd of walkers... especially Mercy.

--I'm actually excited for Saa and Derrick. I hope they play a big role in Book Three and this isn't a Christa and Omid situation; as in they're around for five minutes and then die/separate from the group. They seem really chill and I look forward to hearing more of their backstories.

In conclusion, it's not great but it's better

Even though the clemricca romance legitimately pisses me off, I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I definitely had a different attitude going into it versus how I went into Book One which I think helped me have a better time. There are things to like about it if you'll give it a chance, but I understand why people aren't.

It has issues with pacing, character development/progression, and the romance. I hate that everyone but Fen from the new group got killed off. I hate that we have a pregnancy plot now. I'm disappointed with Morro as a character and antagonist.

But the art's improved greatly. Olivia's a better character now. The new cast is quite fun and likable prior to dying. There are themes and elements that are explored and done well.

The hate Tillie gets for these is absurdly gross. They're just comics. No, shut up, they're just comics. The games still exist. Tillie didn't ruin them, and in my opinion, if you truly believe she did ruin the games, that's a you problem. That's you letting these books ruin the games for you. No one's out here making you read them. No one made me read them, I chose to do that just as I chose to see them as not canon. Sending hate and threats to her and Skybound does nothing but prove what a piece of shit you are. By all means, hate the comics all you want, that's your right, but leave real life people out of it.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Clementine isn't real. I get that she's important to you, but she's a fictional character. She's not going to come to life and reward you for your twentieth comment on Tillie's instagram calling her vile names or threatening to find her for what she did. Clementine isn't going to like your video of you screaming into your mic about what an injustice these comics are, and she's not going to sign your petition to get the comics cancelled.... because she's not real. Go outside. Touch grass. Remember that you're only alive for a short time and try to do something of worth with that knowledge.

We only have one more book in this trilogy left, but do y'all really think it'll end there? Do you think Skybound will give a shit that fans hated the comics and will respectively leave Clementine alone? No, that's not how money's made.

I hope once Tillie's done with this series, she continues to have a great career. It's strange, like... I'm of two minds where I want Book Three to be super good in hopes that fans will just leave her alone... but then there's a little gremlin inside me that also kind of hopes she gets a final fuck you in aimed at the fandom. I'm sorry, the fandom's been embarrassingly terrible to her and they deserve it.

I hope she kills Clementine off... yeah, I said it. She won't because Skybound definitely won't let her, but it would be so good. I say kill Clementine off, turn her into a walker, let her eat AJ 2.0! No happy ending for anyone, just a middle finger!

Literally everyone else would be fuming and frothing at the mouth with shit posts on reddit about how Tillie "rUInEd" TWDG and then killed Clementine off and I would be in my corner just cackling and applauding her.

"How can you say that, CJ?? you fake fan???"

Look, my Clementine's still at Ericson, vibin' with AJ and Louis. Willy made her a new leg, she didn't name it Kenny, she named it Legolas [she still doesn't know who that is even after Aasim and Louis explained Lord of the Rings to her]. She and Violet play competitive cheater's uno every Thursday. She's living her best life.

Comic Clem's another Clementine to me entirely. If she lives, great! If she dies, oh no! Anyway-

To wrap this up... Clementine Book Two has issues, there are missed opportunities, and I think the romance is bad. But there's enough good here that made it enjoyable enough. I don't feel right about giving it a 2/5 stars, but 3/5 feels too high, so 2.5/5 feels right.

I also encourage people to actually read it for themselves. Don't just take my word for it, or reddit's, or whatever. Read it yourself and form your own opinions instead of parroting someone else. It'll make for better discussion rather than a cesspool for hate.

When Book Three comes out, I'll read and review that one, too. As of right now, we haven't heard anything about it, but I'll be sure to keep an ear out and share the news with y'all.

Now I'd like to hear from you; did you read Book Two? What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with any of my takes? Feel free to send in asks or leave comments below.

Thanks for reading! 💚

#Clementine Book Two review #twdg clementine #twdg #twdg aj #twdg louis #twdg violet #long post #clementine book one #clementine book two

[ceeridwen99]

BG3 Companion Endings !!Rant!!

Hello there.

I...I just need to get some things off my chest, and this seems like as good of a place to do it as I will get.

So, exactly 100 hours of documented time into my campaign, and I'm about to start a fresh game because I don't want to finish act 3.

Let me explain. Also !!!!*SPOILERS*!!!!!

This may be a bit of an unpopular opinion, but the conclusions to a lot of the questlines, once we reach BG, are either unsatisfying or utter trash. My main gripe comes from the choices--or lack there fucking of--when it comes to the conclusion of certain companion questlines.

(Note: This is NOT a post about whatever companion ending one thinks is "good" vs "evil". I honestly don't give a shit about what endings people choose for their games. My issues come from the endings themselves.)

This stems from my main group setup, Shadowheart, Karlach, and, of course, Astarion (also my romance). I played a bard!Tav. It goes without saying that I love all the companions, even the ones that I didn't mainly use. They're all beautifully layered and I love that they are actually influenced by your playthrough...for the most part.

We'll get there in a moment.

My point is, after spending a good 100 hours with these characters, you end up caring a great deal about them. I really looked forward to seeing how their arcs were going to come to a head when we finally reached BG...

Act 1: Phenomenal.

Act 2: Fucking Fantastic.

Act 3: What the hell was that!

Never mind the complete and utter lack of pacing in the third act compared to the first two, what the hell are those questline endings?! I've never been so fucking disappointed and furious in my life. Again, this isn't a post about "good" vs "evil", but my irritation that NONE of the endings are good, or in my case, satisfying.

For a game that really stresses choices mattering (and for the most part they do to a certain point), it really suffers from Telltale syndrome in its final act, where none of the choices actually end up mattering, but in truth, you're pigeon-holed into two, and if you're lucky three endings.

Shadowheart's ending (in the Selune path) is either losing her parents but freeing her from Shar's control. Or gaining her parents but being tortured for the rest of her life. I don't even want to go into the Shar ending.

Karlach's ending is just fucking sad no matter which choice you make, and even the patched ending--supposedly giving us a better conclusion--is just bittersweet.

ASTARION'S FUCKING ENDING! Oh my god, his fucking ending is either selling his soul and the souls of seven thousand innocent people to not get a fucking sunburn. OR being banished back into the shadows and releasing seven thousand feral spawn into the world-- because yeah that sounds like a fucking good idea. Even if you don't release them, you have a choice between leaving them behind to rot or fucking killing them, but in this instance, their lives really would have been for nothing. By the end of this questline (and it is beautifully acted I'll give it that) I just sat there with a pit in my stomach feeling like I fucked up somehow no matter what ending I chose. To top it off, I learned that we don't even get any information at the end about how our choices affect the world after! What the hell!

Even Wyll's quest! Why the fuck an "I" of all people making this choice for him?! Where the fuck is the option to make him choose, or even ask him what he thinks/wants. In fact, where is the option to make anyone choose for themselves? Only Shadowheart (I found) really has one during her quest.

I find it really hard to believe that one could write such complex characters with strong, differing, opinions--so strong that they will leave the party if they dislike your actions too much--but then make them rely on the PC to make the most important decisions in their fucking lives. This is such fucking lazy writing and a cop-out. All of the conversations, all of the growth, really is just boiled down to "What do you as the player want for them?" *feral scream*

More than this, why the hell are there only two (maybe three at the max) options in the first place? You give us dozens of ways to resolve quests in acts 1 and 2, and yet, here is where you want to pull the "Life isn't all sunshine and rainbows, everyone has to lose something to gain something in return" bullshit? What the hell, Larian!

Don't get me wrong. I'm a writer. I get that narrative. But not here. Not in a game like this. In a game like this, these "choices" feel like a slap in the face. This is DND, there are always more than two to three ways to solve something.

I know there are limitations. I know this doesn't have a DM who can make adjustments to the story on the fly to give an ending based purely on your choices. Even so, it is still highly disappointing (even more so for someone who plays DND and is a DM). I was so mad after these questline conclusions that it soured my playthrough. I don't want to finish this campaign because what's the point when I know the people I've spent 100 hours with, are going to get the short end of the stick no matter what I choose.

I went and looked at spoilers for the main story ending after this, and that just pissed me off more. Two or three endings and a piss-poor epilogue are what we get. Not even credit slides to let us know how our choices actually affected the world in the end. Why. Why. I don't even want to mention how dirty they did Astarion. That wasn't funny. Just fucking sad.

This game is overall a 10/10 for me when it comes to acts 1 and 2. It's fantastic. But Act 3 is a solid 2/10 for me, I'm sorry. There isn't enough content to fill the third act out either. I don't know if my game is bugged, but I can barely find any quests outside of what's picked up in Acts 1 and 2 and it's making running around the city seem aimless.

In conclusion, I'm mad and sad. At this point, I'm just going to replay acts 1 and 2 until this supposed Definitive Edition Larian is apparently good at putting out for their games irons out these inconsistencies, hopefully. (This post is just about companions, I also have many issues with the main story. *sigh*)

At least there is plenty of content in the first two acts to keep one busy, and even with 100 hours, I know I haven't seen everything. I'm also curious to know if my perspective of the third act will change with the Dark Urge, as I've heard good things about them being closer connected to the plot.

Who knows, we'll see.

Lol, this isn't how I expected to come back to this blog. If you've made it this far, thank you for listening to my rant.

Final disclaimer: Please remember this isn't about "good" vs "evil" endings. Also, if this is not at all how you felt, I'm glad you had a better experience than I did lol.

Alright, time to go write AU/homebrew fanfiction.

Stay tuned. ;)

#bg3 #bg3 spoilers #baldur's gate #bg3 astarion #bg3 shadowheart #bg3 karlach #bg3 wyll #bg3 gale #bg3 tav #bg3 ending #rant post #sorry for the rant #bg3 companions

[fioras-resolve]

Today's Zero Time Dilemma notes

-Aw I miss the little jingle when you begin an escape sequence. Damn.

-This is the first time I've been genuinely stuck at a puzzle and thought "You know what, I'll go somewhere else in team and deal with this shit later." It's cool to be honest

-There's something so unique about how this game handles choice, which largely comes down to the binary nature of "hesitate or don't." like, choices in something like The Walking Dead will give you a timer, and make the choice for you if you don't choose in time, but typically you at least have to choose between two options. In Zero Time Dilemma, the choice will be like "Okay, you have ten seconds before this person gets incinerated, and the only way to stop that is to pull the trigger on this gun aimed at this person's head." It's like the Trolley Problem actually, it calls attention to inaction as a choice in itself, one that people can play through an entire Telltale game not experiencing.

-Goddamn, the choice of "Who Killed Junpei" being a free text entry is kind of amazing, I love it. It allows you to consider other possibilities besides yourself and Akane, and it actually explores those possibilities. Like "DO NOT KNOW IDENTITY" if you type ZERO or "HOW WOULD A DOG DO IT?" if you type GAB. I love that, and I suspect once I have more information I can go back and enter something different.

-There's something really special to this story's framing. The way I'd phrase it is "Lost in time." One of the big gimmicks is that you only wake up for 90 minutes each time, and have amnesia from what happened before because of The Drugs. So neither the characters nor the player have any idea of what happened before then, or even what timeline you're on. The timelines are represented as a flowchart, but you experience it out of order, so you have NO IDEA what led to what, and instead have to rest with these moments as they are. It's genuinely really cool, and it's really hard to do this in any medium, let alone games, but it's something I've wanted to see and DO for a long time.

-God, you can really tell the animation team on this has never had to make anything that wasn't a visual novel before. The animations are all so STIFF. And like, yeah the animations for Virtue's Last Reward were pretty good, but crucially, there weren't that many of them per character, and they could all be crafted for a single camera angle. While a more cinematic camera is GREAT for many things, it's clear that the ZTD team haven't really learned to USE it for this game, which is a shame.

-The wire-cutting sections are the worst puzzles in the entire Zero Escape series. The instructions are unclear, they're a series of binary choices, and your punishment for getting one wrong is having to do a ten-second real-time minigame, and whether you win or lose that you still just rewind back to the point before you cut the wire. It's every pitfall of puzzle adventure game design in microcosm.

#zero escape #zero time dilemma #zero escape zero time dilemma #ztd spoilers #angie's notes

[sflow-er]

ˏˋ°*♡➷ get to know me ༊*·˚

I was tagged in this lovely game by @lazybug16 and @bluedalahorse - it was so much fun seeing both your 'moodboards'! 💜

The idea is to pick a favourite movie, character, animal, drink, song, season, book, colour, and hobby and present them as pictures.

I'll put a list/explanation below, but it's going to be long, so let's do the no-pressure tags first: I think most people have been tagged already, but I can't keep up. So I'm just going to tag a few people whose names I don't think I've seen and apologise if you've already been tagged - or even made a post that I've missed!

@scatteredpiecesofme @silvagrey @groenendaelfic @raincitygirl76 @plantbasedfish @palehottubchild and anyone else who'd like to do this!

Movie: I've got a lot of faves in a lot of genres, but The Princess Bride (1987) has been one of my comfort films since childhood. I never could resist a good fairytale! I kind of wanted to use an ensemble poster to fix the severe lack of Inigo Montoya in this Westley/Buttercup one, but I think this fits the moodboard better, both aesthetically and thematically (because there's a lot of romance on this board).

Character: Again, there are lots of options! But I want to pick 1) a woman, and 2) a longtime favourite, so... Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. Either book Lizzie or 1995 BBC Lizzie played by Jennifer Ehle will do. Who doesn't love an intelligent and determined woman who is loyal to her loved ones, speaks her mind, and grows from her mistakes? Oh, and who only warms up to the handsome aristocrat gentleman with a massive estate after he listens to her criticism, makes up for his mistakes, and demonstrates some character growth?

Dolphins: Love them. Happened to see some wild ones in Ireland this summer. Keeping them in captivity for humans' amusement is heinous.

Coffee: The thing about coffee is, if you don't drink it, you often feel like a nuisance when visiting people in my country. Especially older people, who don't necessarily keep tea in the cupboard. So, I learned to drink it in my late teens despite hating it at first, and once my tastebuds had adjusted, I fell in love.

Song: Swing Life Away by Rise Against. A very simple acoustic ballad about love, friendship, and how little you actually need to be happy in life. It's also mine and my spouse's song that was even played at our wedding ceremony (without vocals on guitar, violin, and double bass).

Season: I am very much a four seasons kind of person, but I guess spring might be my favourite.

Book: I've got so many to choose from, but I wanted to pick something queer, so: Torka aldrig tårar utan handskar, Jonas Gardell's trilogy about young love and the AIDS crisis in Sweden. It's absolutely fantastic and absolutely heartbreaking (not a happy read!). It's also been adapted to an excellent three-part TV series that can be found on Youtube with English subs. (Short English trailer, 6-minute Swedish trailer.)

Gardell is also a fitting choice because it was his recommendation on social media that got me to watch Young Royals, and I wouldn't be here on tumblr without YR.

Colour: My favourite colours are red, green, and dark grey. I've been in a green phase lately and it fits this moodboard best.

Hobby: Video games. I've been a PlayStation gamer for well over 20 years. I mainly play adventure and roleplaying games; titles with good storytelling and worldbuilding. Some of my favourites include older Final Fantasy games (up to FFX), the Uncharted series, Life is Strange series, Mass Effect trilogy, The Last of Us Parts I & II, Heavy Rain, Until Dawn, and Telltale's The Walking Dead 'seasons' 1 & 2.

In keeping with the theme, perhaps I should also mention that some of my fave WLW ships are from video games! Ellie/Dina from TLOU: Part 2, Nadine/Chloe from Uncharted: Lost Legacy, and Chloe/Rachel from LiS: Before the Storm (although I do love Max/Chloe in LiS OG too).

Thanks again for the tags, this was fun!

#tag game #nor yr #get to know me #moodboard game #thank you both so much for the tag! #💜💜💜

[thymelessink]

10 Characters From 10 Fandoms

Tagged by @walkwithursus (you're really providing me with these games XD)

Tagging: @a-n-n-i-m-i-a and @nanukanal and a whoever wants to do it!

Blackbeard (Our Flag Means Death): Well, we're hopefully still at the beginning of his journey, so...

The fact that he's a fearsome pirate who always longed to enjoy the soft things in life and fell in love with the rich man who showed him that it is okay to like soft and pretty things and then gave up everything to save that man? I mean come on, just thinking about it makes me want to hug him.

Scar (The Lion King): Okay, so...I don't like TLK. Not even as a child. I always thought the story is stupid (and yes, the whole Shakespeare subtext obviously went all over my head back then but as an adult it didn't make it any better for me) and I think I've only seen the movie fully once. But Scar, he's a different story. He's evil but he's eloquent, cunning and sarcastic. He makes the movie somewhat enjoyable and I don't care what he did, his death hurt me, even as a child.

The Joker (DC): Okay, I don't really know much about the DCU but Joker is a character I always come back to. No matter whether we're talking about Heath Ledger's Joker, Joaquin Phoenix' Joker, BTAS' Joker or Telltale's John Doe. He's so fucked up, but I love how many different sources give him a tragic backstory. And his absolute disregard for heteronormativity and his general queerness make him so interesting and I wish more people in the DCU would play with it and see the opportunity.

Gregory House (House, M.D.): I don't even remember how many years it's been since I watched House but that man stayed relevant throughout my life. And you're gonna see a pattern here when it comes to my favourite characters: He's harsh. He's sarcastic. He's an asshole. He says he doesn't care. But he does. He says he doesn't care if people leave him. But he does. He fakes his death to support his dying best friend. And I enjoy that he treats medical cases similar to how Holmes treats his cases. Obviously.

Marty McFly (Back to the Future): Of course, I like my 80s boy. Looks cute, street smart, is funny. He's a comfort character for sure. Also, if I had to name one character that evokes gender envy in me, he'd definitely number one.

Harry "Bunny" Manders (Raffles): The reverse Watson to the reverse Sherlock Holmes. He's adorkable, ends up as a criminal due to his own foolishness and Raffles' manipulation. He knows Raffles is sometimes annoyed with him, he wants to make himself useful but actually makes matters worse most of the time, but in an endearing way. He's incredibly loyal, will follow Raffles everywhere, even to war where he has to witness Raffles' death. It's basically a Sherlock Holmes AU but more gay because there's no way in hell Bunny doesn't love Raffles.

Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad (Assassin's Creed): I was really thinking between him and Ezio because they both have amazing life stories. Assassin's Creed was probably the reason why I started playing more video games. If Altaïr's story wouldn't have been so interesting I wouldn't have stuck with it. Malik first making him see his wrongdoings, forgiving him later and becoming his best friend also plays a big part in the development of his character. But I love that they didn't make him perfect. In Revelation we see that he's still making stupid decisions that cost him dearly and he spent his life becoming a better person and a worthy mentor of the Brotherhood.

Sherlock Holmes: I mean what can I say...I don't even remember for how long I've loved Sherlock Holmes but there's a calmness in the face of danger about him that comforts me. He appears cold and calculating but he cares about the people around him. He also follows his own moral code, no matter what Scotland Yard expects of him. And he's my go-to character when I want to give a basic and famous example of asexuality to people.

The Doctor (Doctor Who): Do I have to decide for one? If so, I'd probably choose Nine. I only got into DW last year, although I always wanted to watch it because David Tennant was in it. Hilariously enough, it was Christopher Eccleston's Doctor who I became especially fond of. It's his harsh demeanor sometimes, a man who just came from war, but the joy he also displays sometimes (e.g. when everyone gets to live) and the way he, more than anyone else, needed a companion, Rose, made him very dear to me.

Tony Stark (Iron Man): Of course, who else. A man who was a weapons dealer and ended up giving up his life to restore half the universe. He has one of my favourite character growths. At no point is he perfect, he has weaknesses, he makes mistakes again and again and he knows that he seldom has the moral high ground. But he seems to love unconditionally. He forgives. And he gives life to beings that love him in return. He provides for the people he loves, deals with PTSD, makes the world a better place, all while keeping a smile on his face and having a smart remark in any situation.

#sherlock holmes #tony stark #ninth doctor #altair ibn la'ahad #bunny manders #doctor house #blackbeard ofmd #marty mcfly #scar the lion king #dc joker #doctor who #crime and cricket #iron man #assassin's creed #bttf

[kokomiin]

I finished New Tales from the Borderlands last night, so i wanted to write a quick thoughts/review post like I do (sometimes). It's pretty much spoiler free but at the very end I mention whether or not a certain character from the first game returns so fair warning

Overall I really enjoyed it, I wasn't super sure about it one way or the other before it came out but if you don't go into it expecting the same kind of story as TFTBL1 or just looking for Rhys, Fiona, Sasha etc you'll get into it much quicker.

It was a bit obvious to me that they hadn't made this kind of game before in terms of the story at large, I think the story of 1 was much tighter (not that i dont have my own issues with certain things in 1 but I don't talk about it here) but what NTFTBL does best is in the main characters themselves, their arcs and the relationship between them. I went into the game prepared to make fucked up chaotic choices but I found myself actually caring about making them get along with each other and grow as people. I went for the good ending and was pretty satisfied, but I definitely want to do a second playthrough sometimes soon to see how bad I can make things.

In that way and many others NTFTBL is a lot more like a game by the Until Dawn devs rather than Telltale, there is no "X will remember that" except for one time as a joke, you have to assume that how you make the characters talk to each other is actually going to affect how they view each other and what decisions they'll make when you're not controlling one of them.

There were a lot of moments that made me laugh out loud, as well as some parts that I felt could have been paced better, but overall I was always excited to see what the other two characters were up to when I was playing as one. As I played I found it actually hard to choose which of the protags was my favourite, for a while it was Anu but in the end I think it has to be Fran because she has some of the best moments in the game.

My main criticism of the game would be that in the first episode they introduce a lot of cool and interesting side characters but they barely show up or have an impact on the story after that, even L0U13 who is more of a main character than a side one. Though even if I felt like he didn't show up enough, whenever I was thinking that while playing they would suddenly feed him to me in spades so I guess I can't complain too much. I also really loved the Tediore soldiers and ended up feeling bad if I had to kill one. or did it by accident.

Something the game does well as 1 did is putting you in the Borderlands universe as characters who are not capable of shooting their way out of any situation, they are even more pathetic than Rhys and Fiona so it makes for some interesting circumstances.

And speaking of Fiona, she is revealed to be the one Marcus is narrating the story to at the end of the game. The way she was talking to him, and the words "time heals all wounds" being written in the stars on that page implied to me that she's a treasure/vaulthunter and may also be looking for Rhys? or something. Either way I figure she'll actually BE in BL4, I was really surprised that they even got Laura Bailey back for this cameo. That does make it a little extra sad though that the VA for Rhys is changed, i don't dislike Ray Chase for him at all and think he does a great job but Laura and Troy work so well together.

#dess #rambling moment

[twinhood-2dot0]

Tell Me Why

I’m a total cheapskate. I have around 150 games I got for free from Epic Games, and a few on Steam, and I’ve paid for a total of 7 games. So in June I found that a game called Tell Me Why was free on Steam so I just got it and never thought about it again. Until later on when I was watching a video on why you shouldn’t buy Hogwarts: Legacy, when they mentioned that you should instead support games made by LGBTQIA+ people, like Celeste and Tell Me Why, and my ears perked up, and I went to my Steam library and there it was! So I immediately installed it, and wow. It is awesome. I have one gripe with it though. More of a gripe with me but whenever I think about the game my brain just jumps to Jake Peralta singing “Tell me whyyy, ain’t nothing but a heartbreak”. Anyways, that aside. So the story is about twins, Alyson and Tyler, Tyler is a trans man, who were separated from each other after their mom was killed by Tyler following a supposed psychotic episode where she tried to shoot Tyler. 10 years later, after Tyler is released from juvie, they reunite, and go back to their childhood home to sell it and put their past behind them, but they find things they did not expect to. I won’t go into much more detail for now.

I really love the story and where it’s heading and oh my god, the interactions between them, so great. Gameplay-wise, it’s sorta like a visual novel but you get to play, instead of choosing dialogue options and reading text, sorta like a Telltale game (Telltale Games was a development studio that made episodic games with choices that branch the story, like choosing to be an asshole or choosing between characters to die. It’s fun. I never played any because cheapskate, but I watched like a ton of playthroughs and could probably detail the story and branches of Minecraft: Story Mode). There’s also a really interesting mechanic that I don’t really want to spoil too much, but they help tell the story through flashbacks and make for some interesting interactions. I also really love the portrayal of dysphoria and the struggles of being trans, they put a lot of effort into getting it right, which I really appreciate, and the voice actor for Tyler is also himself trans. :P I wish I took more screenshots, but you’ve seen those that I did take, so eh.

NOOOO DAMMIT, I COULDN’T GET A SCREENSHOT. Anyways, it’s just dialogue that went

Alyson: So do you want instant coffee or… instant coffee?

Tyler: Hmm, nah. I’m more of a T person. Get it? Like T as in-

Alyson: Mmmhmm. How long have you been waiting to make that joke?

Tyler: Longer than I’m willing to admit. 

(Sorry, I’ve been waiting to use this meme for longer than I’d like to admit too.)

(T is short for Testosterone if you weren’t aware)

Uhh what else have been up to, oh yeah, I finished 2 anime. Your Lie in April and Tokyo Ghoul. YLIA is certainly something. My heart aches just thinking about it, and I’m not one to get emotional about much. Seriously, it has this really cool opening, https://open.spotify.com/track/2BlDX1yfT0ea5wo0vjCKKa?si=7b95e588be604494

 and I learnt to play the intro on the piano, but whenever I do I’m like goddammit I can’t deal with this pain again. It’s about a piano prodigy who stopped playing after his mom and tutor died, and him getting back into it because of a violinist. She forces him to be her accompanist and then picks it up again. Again, don’t wanna give out too many details, although, it is romance so you probably won’t watch it, but whatever. I would make a comparison with a certain novel but that would be giving out too much. I’ve vowed to never spoil anyone. I think I’m finally shedding toxic masculinity and allowing myself to watch whatever I want. Overtly edgy stuff still has my heart tho. Tokyo Ghoul is… weird, in a bad way. I watched the first two seasons and I’m like huh??? in a bad way. I usually like going huh??? but like, nothing mad e sense. Turns out the anime adaptation is garbage. Gonna have to read it :P. So I started Banana Fish. My first shoujo! I heard it’s… sad? Weird? Disturbing? I don’t remember, but all of those are right up my alley so I’m gonna watch it anyways.

(Okay, I'm 3 episodes in, definitely disturbing. Yay! It's created by MAPPA??? Why does MAPPA have everything, like what? Attack On Titan, Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen, literally every recent anime is MAPPA lmao)

Also, I played this really cool demo of a game called Paper Trails, by the creator of Hue, another puzzle platformer game that I got for free, with an interesting mechanic where you use colors to make stuff appear or disappear, so like if it's a red platform and you switch to red, the platform will disappear, and if you switch to something else it reappears, and Paper Trails did not disappoint either. So, the basic mechanic is, it's a top down puzzle game, where the levels are paper. So the level has two sides, and you can fold the paper to create pathways and solve puzzle. Really innovative, can't wait to play the finished game.

[juli-sama]

hii!! could you do a sp character x fem!reader playing video game really late?? sorry if its confusing! first time askin haha <3

Hey guys, this on landed on my like "private"?? (no idea what to call this blog) blog because the ask got send here.

You dont need to follow this one, dont worry XD

Anyway, I hope you enjoy what I wrote, even if I feel like I didnt do so well. ಥ_ಥ

_____________________________

the boys x fem!Reader - Video game weekends!

Cartman:

Cartman is the type of person that stays awake the whole weekend to play. Only if it’s a good game of course.

So, staying up with you is really no problem.

Between you too, you’d probably fall asleep first since he is so used to staying up.

He will still be surprised about the whole thing. A girl. Staying up late. To play videogames?

He sure learned something new that time.

Cartman is one of the best people to lean on to sleep, since he is pretty cuddly.

Stan:

This boy will bath in energy drinks.

He needs them to stay awake, or he will just fall sleep eventually with a controller in his hand.

The idea of staying up late and play video games? He loves it to pieces.

He’s down to play whatever.

Just dance on the Wii? Yes.

Smash Bros on the Switch? Yes.

Story driven game on the console, where you change who plays after a chapter? Hell yes.

He’s also a snack master. He will get everything for a perfect gaming night.

Kyle:

Kyles’s mum will 100% make every snack possible when she hears you come over to play video games.

Kyle will be embarrassed when she comes in to give you more food, but calm down, once you tell him you like that she does that.

He doesn’t really care what you guys play, as long as its not super boring or not his interest.

He is willing tp try anything but will honestly tell you if he hates what you picked.

You two would eventually fall asleep, leaning on each other, controllers still in hand.

Sheila would secretly take a photo of it.

Kenny:

If you hang out at his place, Karen will be with you until she falls asleep, and Kenny has to carefully carry her to her room.

Kenny is a master at staying up.

After such a weekend you wonder if Kenny ever really sleeps.

You don’t see him sleep; he’s just always awake.

He is still awake when you slowly drift to sleep, and he is already up and making breakfast the next morning before you even get the chance to roll out of bed.

Kenny can’t offer to bring any games or even provide a console, so it’s a standard that you either stay at your place or you bring your stuff to his.

He’s super thankful for that, won’t complain about whatever game you want to play and takes care of snacks in return.

You just don’t know where he gets those from.

Butters:

Butters has an Xbox but he barley plays on it.

He prefers his Switch (special Animal Crossing edition) much more and so you guys manly play on the old Wii he has or the multiplayer switch games.

Be careful though, as Butters will probably beat you in Mario Party or Mario kart every time.

He knows all the minigames by heart and is an absolute God in Mario kart.

But he’s a really enjoyable companion anyway.

You can try to persuade him to play other games with you.

Butters will eventually around two in the morning tell you its late and then you guys will stop playing to sleep.

Clyde:

He will bring sweets and get high on sugar.

Clyde stays awake because of all the sugar intake, be it gummi bears that he stuffs inside his mouth (he will do a fist full and show you how many he can fit inside his mouth) or the liters of cola he downs all night.

Around five in the morning he will have a tummy ache and fall asleep while crying about how much it hurts.

Clyde is one of the few people who take just dance super serious and he’s a master. Good luck beating him.

Clyde is open to any kinds of games, but prefers fun multiplayer games like Mario party or Smash Bros.

Falling asleep eventually with him means that you two will be all sprawled out on the floor, the game you played still running.

Token:

Token isn’t that used to staying up late.

He sure can stay up late sometimes, but almost every weekend, like some people he knows? Nope.

Anything you need for a perfect gaming night he will get.

New game? He has it. A Snack you like? Already there in neat bowls. Some drink you fancy? Prepared before you arrived.

He always wants you to choose the game and makes sure you are 100% comfortable and happy.

Token will always have a pair of sweatpants at his place that he gives you, so you can be comfortable. If you ask nicely, he might even give you (happily) a sweatshirt.

At 3 in the morning, he would maybe ask if you’re tired. If you are, great, he will suggest sleeping. If not, he will down an energy drink and stay awake with you.

Craig:

Craig is a big stargazing fan, so its normal for him to be awake when no one else is.

So when you asked if you guys can do all-nighter videogame marathon, he was on board.

If you do it at his place, you will have Stripe in your lap at some point.

Don’t come at Craig with Mario party or something… He is more of a horror game fan. Resident Evil Village, Outlast, The Evil Within.

He will at some point give in and let you choose something.

Around one in the morning he will ask you if you want to go and stargaze.

If you agree, he will make sure to show you everything that there is to see.

Should you get sleepy, Craig will gladly offer himself up as a pillow to sleep on.

If Craig gets sleepy, he will just chill on the bed, and slowly drift to sleep, smiling while he is thinking about you.

Tweek:

Tweek runs on caffein and like Cartman, he has absolutely no trouble staying awake for long periods of time.

Don’t worry, you will be able to match him if you stay over, since his parents will make sure that you also get enough of their homemade coffee™.

He’s open to play whatever and to your surprise he has some hidden gems on his PlayStation that are super fun with him.

He will 100% bake for you guys whenever you make gaming nights and make them fit what you play.

You agreed to play a horror game together?

Get ready for horror themed cupcakes!

If you fall asleep somewhere late in the night, he will probably stay up and just chill next to you.

Jimmy:

Mario party? Mario party.

Jimmy and you will know every minigame by heart once you’re done.

You don’t know how, but no matter how much you play, it just doesn’t get boring with him.

If you do get sick of playing with Mario and his friends, Jimmy will show you his collection of interactive story games. Detroit become Human, Telltale games, Life is Strange, Until Dawn and the likes.

Debating with him what’s the best path or choosing the obvious bad or awkward choices are fun.

Misses Valmer will gladly bring you some chips or bring you something to drink ever so often.

Sleep? For the weak.

When you’re with Jimmy, he is pure entertainment, and you just can’t get tired.

Jimmy himself is just super eager to do all kinds of stuff with you, so that keeps him awake.

#south park x reader #stan x reader #kyle x reader #cartman x reader #kenny x reader #butters x reader #clyde x reader #token x reader #craig x reader #tweek x reader #jimmy x reader

[myersesque]

I recently played all the telltale batman games and oh my GOD I was scrolling through the tag and saw your post on how telltale Bruce was the most in character version of him and I'm so glad someone finally said it, I love how he's genuinely tries to be sympathetic to Oswald and Harvey (if you choose) despite them being villains ... it's refreshing as hell

THANK U!!! i'm so glad ppl agree w me bvcjhbvnhj telltale is one of my favourite versions of batman Ever and telltale bruce is legitimately one of the best versions of him imo

it's so funny to me that telltale was given the rights to use this character and, in their attempts to make something new, somehow cycled back to making the most in-character version of him they possibly could. like it's so genuinely refreshing but also That's Bruce Wayne, when i say i love this character THIS is what i'm referring to

n characterisations of protags in telltale games r sorta iffy due to the choices u can make, but i tend to view it on a "the choices you're given are all in-character to some extent" sort of basis, if that makes sense? like... everyone has their bitchy moments, it's also in-character for bruce to claim he never cared about his ex-friend or to admit he's been manipulating someone the whole time etc etc, but the fact that he Has those sympathetic, kind options makes them equally as canon!! and even when telltale bruce is played to be as brutal as possible, i see youtubers and streamers complain that he always comes off just a little too polite for their taste, so. idk. i think they managed to give the player choice in bruce's actions AND cement bruce as a sympathetic and caring character without stifling the player's control of the situation, yknow?

it rlly IS refreshing. if i had to sit through 2 more games of dark cold i-am-the-night batman i might've ended up hating it. the telltale games absolutely flourish in their allowance of bruce wayne to be a person first and foremost

#loveposting abt telltale bruce is my favourite thing to do so thank u for this!!! i took the opportunity to ramble a little bvjchbvnh #ask #telltale batman #bruce wayne #fav

[destiny-smasher]

Life is Strange: True Colors

Leading up to the release of Episode 1 of TellTale's The Walking Dead game, I was working freelance for GameRevolution at the time, lived in the area, and had the chance to play a build of the game to write a preview on it. I remember comparing it to Mass Effect because, at the time, there just...weren't games of that subgenre. Of course, by now we've seen an explosion of this type of game - the 'narrative/choice-driven game,' spearheaded and even oversaturated by Telltale to their own demise.

Out of all of the games that have come from that initial boom, Life is Strange by DontNod was and still is the most influential on my life, but I also have always harbored really conflicted feelings about it - especially with how it resolved its narrative. Hell, if you're reading this, you're probably aware that I spent a few years of my life creating a sequel fanstory which I even adapted a chunk of into visual novel format. Hundreds of thousands of words, days and days of life spent essentially trying to process and reconcile my conflicted feelings about this game's conclusion(s). Since then, I've been experimenting with interactive fiction and am currently developing my own original visual novel using everything I've learned from both creating and playing games in this genre. It's a subgenre of game I have a lot of interest and passion for because, when handled well, it can allow a player to sort of co-direct a guided narrative experience in a way that's unique compared to strictly linear cinematic experiences but still have a curated, focused sense of story.

Up until this point, I've regarded Night in the Woods as probably the singular best game of this style, with others like Oxenfree and The Wolf Among Us as other high marks. I've never actually put any Life is Strange game quite up there - none of them have reached that benchmark for me, personally. Until now, anyway.

But now, I can finally add a new game to that top tier, cream of the crop list. Life is Strange: True Colors is just damn good. I'm an incredibly critical person as it is - and that critique usually comes from a place of love - so you can imagine this series has been really hard to for me given that I love it, and yet have never truly loved any actual full entry in it. I have so many personal issues, quibbles, qualms, and frustration with Life is Strange: with every individual game, with how it has been handled by its publisher (my biggest issue at this point, actually), with how it has seemingly been taken away from its original development studio, with how it chooses to resolve its narratives...

But with True Colors, all of those issues get brushed aside long enough for me to appreciate just how fucking well designed it is for this style of game. I can appreciate how the development team, while still clearly being 'indie' compared to other dev teams working under Square-Enix, were able to make such smart decisions in how to design and execute this game. Taken on its own merits, apart from its branding, True Colors is absolutely worth playing if you enjoy these 'telltale' style games. Compared to the rest of the series, I would argue it's the best one so far, easily. I had a lot of misgivings and doubts going in, and in retrospect, those are mostly Square-Enix's fault. Deck Nine, when given the freedom to make their own original game in the same vein as the previous three, fucking nailed it as much as I feel like they could, given the kinds of limitations I presume they were working within.

I'm someone who agonizes every single time there is news for Life is Strange as a series - someone who essentially had to drop out of the fandom over infighting, then dropped out of even being exposed to the official social media channels for it later on (I specifically have the Square-Enix controlled channels muted). I adore Max and Chloe, and as a duo, as a couple, they are one of my top favorites not just in gaming, but in general. They elevated the original game to be something more than the sum of its parts for me. And while I have enjoyed seeing what DontNod has made since, it's always been their attention to detail in environmental craftsmanship, in tone and atmosphere, which has caught my interest. They're good at creating characters with layers, but imo they've never nailed a narrative arc. They've never really hit that sweet spot that makes a story truly resonate with me. Deck Nine's previous outing, Before the Storm, was all over the place, trying to mimic DontNod while trying to do its own things - trying to dig deeper into concepts DontNod deliberately left open for interpretation while also being limited in what it could do as a prequel.

But with True Colors, those awkward shackles are (mostly) off. They have told their own original story, keeping in tone and concept with previous Life is Strange games, and yet this also feels distinctly different in other ways.

Yes, protagonist Alex Chen is older than previous characters, and most of the characters in True Colors are young adults, as opposed to teenagers. Yes, she has a supernatural ability. And yes, the game is essentially a linear story with some freedom in how much to poke around at the environment and interact with objects/characters, with the primary mechanic being making choices which influence elements of how the story plays out. None of this is new to the genre, or even Life is Strange. But the execution was clearly planned out, focused, and designed with more caution and care than games like this typically get.

A smaller dev team working with a budget has to make calls on how to allocate that budget. With True Colors, you will experience much fewer locales and environments than you will in Life is Strange 2. Fewer locations than even Life is Strange 1, by my count. But this reinforces the game's theming. I suspect the biggest hit to the game's budget was investing in its voice acting (nothing new for this series) but specifically in the motion capture and facial animation.

You have a game about a protagonist trying to fit in to a small, tightly knit community. She can read the aura of people's emotions and even read their minds a little. And the game's budget and design take full advantage of this. You spend your time in a small main street/park area, a handful of indoor shops, your single room apartment. It fits within a tighter budget, but it reinforces the themes the game is going for. Your interactions with characters are heightened with subtle facial cues and microexpressions, which also reinforces the mechanic and theming regarding reading, accepting, and processing emotions. And you get to make some choices that influence elements of this - influenced by the town, influenced by the emotions of those around you, which reinforce the main plot of trying to navigate a new life in a small town community.

When I think about these types of games, the conclusion is always a big deal. In a way, it shouldn't be, because I usually feel it's about the journey, not the destination. And as an example, I actually really dislike the ending of the original Life is Strange. I think it's a lot of bullshit in many ways. The setpiece is amazing and epic, sure, but the actual storytelling going on is...really hollow for me. Yes, the game does subtly foreshadow in a number of ways that this is the big choice it's leading up to, but the game never actually makes sense of it. And the problem is, if your experience is going to end on a big ol' THIS or THAT kind of moment, it needs to make sense or the whole thing will fall apart as soon as the credits are rolling and the audience spends a moment to think about what just happened. When you look at the end of Season 1 of Telltale's The Walking Dead, it's not powerful just because of what choice you're given, but because through the entire final episode, we know the stakes - we know what is going to ultimately happen, and we know the end of the story is fast approaching. All of the cards are on the table by the time we get to that final scene, and it works so well because we know why it's happening, and it is an appropriate thematic climax that embodies the theming of the entire season. It works mechanically, narratively, and thematically, and 'just makes sense.'

The ending of Life is Strange 1 doesn't do that, if you ask me. The ending of most games in this genre don't really hit that mark. When I get to the end of most game 'seasons' like this, even ones I enjoy, I'm typically left frustrated, confused, and empty in a way.

The ending of True Colors, on the other hand, nails everything it needs to. Handily, when compared to its peers.

If you're somehow reading this and have not played this game but intend to, now is probably where you should duck out, as I will be

discussing SPOILERS from the entire game, specifically the finale.

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Firstly, since I don't know where else to put this, some criticisms I found with the game. And honestly, they're all pretty damn minor compared to most games of this type.

Mainly, I just wish the whole Typhon thing was handled a bit more deliberately. It's a bit weird to do the 'big evil corporation' thing (especially when a big corporation like Square Enix occupies as much as or even more of the credits to this game than the people who actually MADE it?) without offering more explanation and subtlety. The game certainly makes some efforts but they're mostly small and mostly optional, like background chatter or a handful of one-off bits of documentation/etc. you can find in the environment. I feel like Diane in particular needed to be fleshed out just a little bit more to really sell us on how and why things like this happen, why corporations make decisions that cost people their happiness, security, and lives and they just get to keep on doing it. I think just a little bit that is unavoidable to the player that puts emphasis on maybe how much the town relies on the money/resources Typhon provides would've helped. Again, this is minor, but it stands out when I have so little else to critique.

I would've liked to get more insight on why Jed is the way he is. No, I don't think we really needed to learn more about his backstory, or even really his motivations. I think we get enough of that. I just think it would've been great to somehow highlight more deliberately how/why he's built up this identity overtop of what he's trying to suppress. Maybe even just having Alex internally realize, "Wait, what the hell, Jed has been hiding these emotions and my powers haven't picked up on it?" or something to that effect could have added an extra oomph to highlight how Jed seems to be coping with his emotions by masking/suppressing them. Also really minor complaint, but again...there's not much else here I can think to really improve on within the confines of what's in the game.

The game doesn't really call Alex's power into question morally. Like. Max has an entire meltdown by the end of her story, second-guessing if she's even helped anyone at all, if she has 'the right' to do so, how her powers might be affecting or expressing her own humanity and flaws...this story doesn't really get into that despite a very similar concept of manipulating others. There's like one bit in a document you can choose to read in Alex's 'nightmare' scene, but that's really it. I feel like this sentiment and how it's executed could have easily been expanded upon in just this one scene to capture what made that Max/Other Max scene do what it did in a way that would address the moral grayness of Alex's powers and how she uses them, and give players a way to express their interpretation of that. Also, very small deal, just another tidbit I would've liked to see.

When I first watched my wife play through Episode 5 (I watched her play through the game first, then I played it myself), I wasn't really feeling the surreal dreamscape stuff of Alex's flashbacks - which is weird, because if you're read my work from the past few years, you'll know I usually love that sort of shit. I think what was throwing me off was that it didn't really feel like it was tying together what the game was about up until that point, and felt almost like it was just copying what Life is Strange did with Max's nightmare sequence (minus the best part of that sequence, imo, where Max literally talks to herself).

But by the time I had seen the rest of the story, and re-experienced it myself, I think it clicked better. This is primarily a story about Alex Chen trying to build a new life for herself in a new community - a small town, a tightly knit place. Those flashbacks are specifically about Alex's past, something we only get teeny tiny tidbits of, and only really if we go looking for them. I realized after I gave myself a few days to process and play through the game myself that this was still a fantastic choice because it reinforces the plot reasons why Alex is even in the town she's in (because her father went there, and her brother in turn went there looking for him), and it reinforces the theme of Alex coming to accept her own emotions and confront them (as expressed through how the flashbacks are played out and the discussions she has with the image of Gabe in her mind, which is really just...another part of herself trying to get her to process things).

By the time Alex escapes the mines and returns to the Black Lantern, all of the cards are on the table. By that point, we as the audience know everything we need to. Everything makes sense - aside from arguably why Jed has done what he has done, but put a pin in that for a sec. We may not know why Alex has the powers she does, but we have at least been given context for how they manifested - as a coping mechanism of living a life inbetween the cracks of society, an unstable youth after her family fell apart around her (and oof, trust me, I can relate with this in some degree, though not in exactly the same ways). And unlike Max's Rewind power, the story and plot doesn't put this to Alex's throat, like it's all on her to make some big choice because she is the way she is, or like she's done something wrong by pursuing what she cares about (in this case, the truth, closure, and understanding).

When Alex confronts Jed in front of all of the primary supporting characters, it does everything it needs to.

Mechanically: it gives players choices for how to express their interpretation of events, and how Alex is processing them; it also, even more importantly, uses the 'council' as a way of expressing how the other characters have reacted to the choices the player has made throughout the game, and contributes to how this climax feels. We're given a 'big choice' at the end of the interaction that doesn't actually change the plot, or even the scene, really (it just affects like one line of dialogue Alex says right then) and yet BOTH choices work so well as a conclusion, it's literally up to your interpretation and it gives you an in-game way to express that.

Thematically: the use of the council reinforces the game's focus on community; and the way the presentation of the scene stays locked in on Alex and Jed's expressions reinforces its focus on emotion - not to mention that the entire scene also acts as a way to showcase how Alex has come to accept, understand, and process her own emotions while Jed, even THEN, right fucking at the moment of his demise, is trying to mask his emotions, to hide them and suppress them and forget them (something the game has already expressed subtly by way of his negative emotions which would give him away NOT being visible to Alex even despite her power).

Narratively: we are given a confrontation that makes sense and feels edifying to see play out after everything we've experienced and learned. We see Alex use her powers in a new and exciting way that further builds the empowering mood the climax is going for and adds a cinematic drama to it. No matter what decisions the player makes, Alex has agency in her own climax, we experience her making a decision, using her power, asserting herself now that she has gone through the growth this narrative has put her through. Alex gets to resolve her shit, gets to have her moment to really shine and experience the end of a character arc in this narrative.

Without taking extra time to design the game around these pillars, the finale wouldn't be so strong. If they didn't give us enough opportunities to interact with the townspeople, their presence in the end wouldn't matter, but everyone who has a say in the council is someone we get an entire scene (at least one) dedicated to interacting with them and their emotions. If they didn't implement choices in the scene itself, it would still be powerful but we wouldn't feel as involved, it'd be more passive. If they didn't showcase Alex's power, we might be left underwhelmed, but they do so in a way that actually works in the context through how they have chosen to present it, while also just tonally heightening the climax by having this drastic lighting going on. If they didn't have the council involved, we'd lose the theming of community. If they didn't have the foil of Alex/Jed and how they have each processed their emotions, we'd miss that key component. And if we didn't have such detailed facial animations, the presentation just wouldn't be as effective.

Ryan/Steph are a little bit like, in this awkward sideline spot during the climax? Steph always supports you, and Ryan supports you or doubts you conditionally, which is unsurprising but also ties into the themes of Ryan having grown up woven into this community, and Steph being once an outsider who has found a place within it. They're still there, either way, which is important. The only relevant characters who aren't present are more supporting characters like Riley, Ethan, and Mac. Ethan being the only one of those who gets an entire 'super emotions' scene, but that also marks the end of his arc and role in the story, so...it's fine. Mac and Riley are less important and younger, as well, and have their own side story stuff you have more direct influence on, too.

But damn, ya'll, this climax just works so well. It especially stands out to me given just how rarely I experience a conclusion/climax that feels this rewarding.

And then after that we get a wonderful montage of a theoretical life Alex might live on to experience. Her actions don't overthrow a conglomerate billionaire company. She doesn't even save a town, really. If the entire council thinks you're full of shit, Jed still confesses either way - because it's not up to the council whether he does this, it's because of Alex, regardless of player choice. Honestly, even after a playthrough where I made most choices differently from my wife, there weren't really many changes to that montage at the end. It'd have been great if it felt more meaningfully different, but maybe it can be. Even if not, the design intent is there and the execution still works. It's a really nice way to end the story, especially since it's not even a literal montage but one Alex imagines - again, her processing what she's gone through, what she desires, expressed externally for us to see it. And for once, the actual final 'big decision' in a game of this type manages to be organic, make sense, and feel good and appropriate either way. You choose to either have Alex stay in Haven Springs and continue building her life there, or you can choose to have her leave and try to be an indie musician, with the events of the game being yet another chunk of her life to deal with and move on from (I haven't really touched on it, but music, especially as a way to express and process emotions, is a recurring thing, much like photography was in the original game, or Sean's illustrations in LiS2). For once, a climactic 'pick your ending' decision that doesn't feel shitty. It's pretty rare for this genre, honestly.

I could - and already have, and likely will - have so much more to say about this game and its details, but I really wanted to focus on touching upon a main element that has left me impressed: the way the entire game feels designed. It feels intentionally constructed but in a way that reinforces what it is trying to express as a story. It's not just trying to make people cry for the sake of 'emotions.' It is a game literally about emotions and it comes to a conclusion in a way that is clearly saying something positive and empowering about empathy and self-acceptance.

Storytelling is a craft, like any other, and it entails deliberate choices and decisions that can objectively contribute to how effective a story is for its intended audience.

A good story isn't something you find, after all.

It's something you build.

#Life is Strange True Colors #Life is Strange #Haven Springs #alex chen #lis true colors

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

after a year long break, I replayed TFS

I haven’t been too active in the twdg fandom for about a year now, only popping in from time to time to talk about the Clementine comic or to answer the occasional ask. 

A lot has happened- I got into the Dragon Age series and created a side blog dedicated to it, got a new job, played a LOT of Stardew Valley, read Clementine Book One enough times to make me weep all for the sake of a review, gave Skyrim a second chance and that went terribly, went on the search for a good sapphic romance novel but have yet to find one, replayed Fallout: New Vegas and remembered why it’s my favorite Fallout game, and it’s November so I’m crying about nanowrimo.   

I haven’t touched The Final Season, or any Telltale game, since September of last year. My interactions with the fandom on this blog have been scarce, especially when you look at the way I used to post in 2018-2021 by comparison. But I got an email the other day from tumblr telling me that this blog turned 4 years old. I began looking through all of my old content and that inspired me to boot up TFS and experience it once again to see if my opinions changed.

Spoiler alert: A lot have. 

I wasn’t planning on writing a post like this when I did my replay. After all, as I’m working on this it’s nanowrimo. I may or may not be an anxious mess, it’s fine, I’m fine. 

I’m aware that the fandom isn’t exactly thriving at the moment but I feel like I need to get these feelings out of my system.

Y’see, it’s fascinating. I spent years running this blog- so many themed nights, talking with you guys and answering asks, writing fics, getting into dumb arguments, saying dumb things, and streaming the series on Mixer and Twitch, and for the most part? My views/opinions on the series were fairly consistent. There are a few exceptions, like my feelings on Minerva as a character changing or why I now choose to leave Lee at the end of S1 rather than shoot him, but everything else I was rather sure of. 

So imagine my surprise when I finished and many of my opinions changed. 

Turns out, time makes a fool of us all and spending a year away from the fandom and the series has shifted my perspective quite a bit. I’m able to set aside those rose-tinted glasses, but not get rid of them entirely. 

I still stand by TFS as being a fantastic conclusion to the series. It was the ending Clementine deserved, and it’s still my favorite. 

I believe the overall plot holds up great- Clementine and AJ find a new home. They have to fight to protect the people that become their found family. Clementine potentially falls in love or finds herself a best friend. The bond between Clementine and AJ is strong but tested in each episode. And to make matters emotionally complicated, the antagonist is someone from S1. 

It’s flawed, sure, but point me in the direction of a plot you believe isn’t and I’ll find something to nitpick just to spite you. 

I couldn’t imagine a better continuation/end point for Clementine’s story, and I will forever be grateful that this is just as much AJ’s story as it is Clementine’s.

I think this is the best looking game of the series. The school is something to admire for how beat up and overgrown it is, and the walkers are so decayed they’re practically walking skeletons with some flesh clinging to their bones. The character designs are great. The controls are easy, gameplay for Telltale games always are. The only time I had any trouble is the section where you have to distract the walkers so that James can retrieve his mask. I died three times before I was able to complete it without killing a single walker.... I did it all for you, James! 

I also prefer the over-the-shoulder camera versus the fixed camera of the previous games. A lovely change, that one. 

Oh, and the collectables!  I love the collectables, that was such a great feature to implement into this game. Giving Clementine and AJ their own dorm that you can decorate with things you’ve collected makes it feel like home, like this is where Clementine is going to stay. For a lot of people, the last time Clementine had a room was back in S1 at the motor-inn, and she does have a room with AJ if you stayed at Wellington. I just like collecting things, man, it’s fun! Love it, I collect every item!

A big problem I do still have with this season is it’s only four episodes. Yes, it’s still a damn good season, but it always gives me a sense that it’s this close to being the best game Telltale ever created. So many things fall short and it sucks because they were so close, y’know? If they had just one more episode, they could’ve had time to cross the finish line.

I know that some of the developers have said they only needed four episodes to tell the story they wanted to tell and that’s why a fifth episode was cut. If that’s true, then I believe that might’ve been a mistake. If they said it was just a budget thing [and knowing Telltale, that probably was the more important factor] so they cut an episode and had to find a story they could tell in four, or cutting an episode meant they could improve things previous games were criticized for. I’d be more inclined to forgive it if that were the case. 

But if it was just a creative choice and they could’ve easily had five episodes, it’s one that prevented it from surpassing two games that I would consider the best they ever made: Tales from the Borderlands and Batman: Enemy Within.

However, I’m aware that adding one more episode could’ve caused the season to crash and burn. Fair enough. We’ll never actually know how things would’ve turned out had they stuck to the five episode structure the previous installments followed. It might’ve become bloated, or dragged into boring territories, or more characters would’ve been killed off to fulfill a kill count, or more choices would need to be implemented that would’ve only furthered the illusion of choice these games are often criticized about.

The pacing can feel really rushed in a lot of spots, especially with the final episode. And yes, I know the fast pace was intentional, I watched the commentaries. Just because it was intentional doesn’t magically fix anything, it’s still a problem I have with it. 

Lilly and the delta could’ve used more fleshing out. Most of the Ericson crew are underdeveloped. I would’ve liked to interact with Louis and Violet more before the Marlon confrontation, as well as more opportunities to interact with the others. 

Speaking of characters, as much as I would love to write these grand essays about each character and what worked, what didn’t, all that… I don’t have time. Some will get longer sections than others, and I’ll discuss any opinions that have changed, as well as things that stuck out to me as I was playing.

Normally I’d start Clementine and work my way down to the antagonists, but fuck it, let’s start with our antagonists and work our way up. 

Lilly, Abel, and the delta are terrible but in a good way

Fighting the raiders in this game feels like a final stand, y’know? These delta assholes want to kidnap people to fight in their war and they feel justified in this because they see those opposing them as worse. The delta aren’t the real baddies, they’re just trying to survive by any means necessary and they need people to fight, otherwise they’ll lose everything they worked for... but a lot of morals get muddied and downright tossed out in the process where these kids they’re taking, abusing, and traumatizing aren’t really people to them until they submit. 

Lilly can have Louis’ tongue cut out and not bat an eye because he isn’t a person to her, he’s a “recruit” who stepped out of line. They’re all “recruits,” but that gets complicated when she sees Clementine as a person. 

The raiders are a bunch of pieces of shit, no doubt, and they deserve what they got in the end for what they did, but I do like that you can look at them and say “I understand you want to protect your home and your people, that’s an honorable goal, one that mirrors our goal.... but this isn’t the way to do it, you’ve lost too much of your humanity and it will be your downfall.” 

Honestly, I think the Delta vs Ericson group dynamics and what they’re willing to do to survive is interesting to compare and contrast. 

Like the delta loses Abel in ep2 during the fight, and we get to interrogate him at the beginning of ep3. He tries to tell Clementine that Lilly’s on her way to get him but we all know that’s not true. The delta cut their losses. Despite needing people to fight in their war, they’re quick to kill, maim, or abandon and it has little effect on the group as a whole. They’ll just get more recruits, Abel is expendable, replaceable. Lilly’s upset when she hears what his ultimate fate was, but I wouldn’t say she’s distraught because she cared deeply about him as a person.

But then you have Ericson where losing two members, Marlon and Brody, rocks the entire foundation of the group. It causes rifts in relationships because they value each other a lot more as individuals. They’re younger, and the group is way smaller. Marlon’s betrayal left wounds, Brody’s death scared them, and the decision of what to do with Clementine and AJ wasn’t an easy one and they fought about it. When Aasim, Omar, and Louis/Violet get captured, the group doesn’t decide to cut their losses and more forward. That’s something Marlon would do. Instead, they risk so much to infiltrate the boat and save them. They’re not just three lost bodies, they’re people, friends. They plan to blow up the boat to kill the raiders so that they can’t harm anyone ever again. 

I like an antagonist who mirrors the protagonist. Lilly and Clementine, delta and Ericson, what are they trying to do? Protect their home and people against an enemy, to survive, to have food and water and a chance to live in a world where the dead roam. But their methods? Very different. They’re not on the same scale and again, the moral compasses are all over the place, and they treat their people differently. 

Both Clementine and Lilly are leaders who go to great lengths to protect their communities, they’ve both suffered a lot of trauma, their father figures play a big role in who they eventually become for better or worse. They both wandered alone until they found people and a home, a reason to keep going, and now they’re desperate to protect that because without it, they will have nothing left and that’s terrifying.

Plus, there’s the bonus of realizing Clementine could potentially become Lilly if she went down the wrong path. I mean, look at some of the shit she pulls in ANF. No one wants to hear that but there is it. What’s important is Clementine makes it clear that she’s not Lilly... and I hate to say it, but if Lilly lives, there is a possibility that she could change for the better, too, and I kinda like that. 

Not excusing the bullshit she pulled. The only reason she’s even alive is because she manipulated her way into murdering James before the boat exploded. It’s hard to believe a woman who forced Minerva to relive the trauma of being forced to murder her own twin sister just so that Lilly could make a point to Clementine, or as mentioned before, having Louis’ tongue cut out. Or murdering Mitch... kidnapping children in the name of survival, brainwashing.... just a lot of bad stuff- it’s hard to believe a woman who did all of that could ever possibly change. She certainly appears unredeemable. 

However, in the end she’s left with nothing but the weight of everything she did and knowing she did this to herself yet again. Might be the push she needs, and I’ve seen worse characters not waste their second chance. 

Or you can just have AJ shoot her and then she rots. After all, your choices do matter, yes? 

I know I’ve given Lilly as an antagonist shit in the past, complained about how they could’ve picked a better character to bring back, she sucks and I hate having to deal with her, blah blah blah...

but well actually Lilly is a great antagonist, ignore past CJ, past CJ doesn’t know anything and she’s dumb. 

In my opinion, Lilly was the best option for a character to make a return as an antagonist. Yeah, yeah, “what about Christa??” I hear you, but Christa wouldn’t be nearly as compelling and this whole cry for what happened to Christa is old and tired and I think we should just accept that we will never, ever know. 

Lilly is such a piece of shit, she’s so terrible, I hate her but I also really, really like her as the central antagonist. 

And look, I know so many people in this fandom don’t like nuance, they want a simple good or bad answer, especially with characters and other things they don’t like because it’s easier since “brain thinkies made hurt happen no like.” Which fair enough, I can totally relate, that’s an exact quote from me whenever someone tries to talk to me about Loghain from Dragon Age: Origins and I don’t have the emotional energy to deal with everything I know of him from the books that play into the game so I go sit in my sad corner and ignore everything.

but c’mon, look at Lilly and tell me she’s a poorly written, one-dimensional villain. You can’t! If you do, I will point my little finger at you and loudly declare, “I respectfully disagree.” 

She’s fucked up, she’s got her head up her own ass, she really wants to be in control as this intimidating, scary bitch who won’t hesitate to put a knife to your throat whenever she feels like it. She uses her power to manipulate and cause harm so that she never has to experience the helplessness she felt when she was alone and had nothing. She waltzes into Clementine’s cell with such threatening energy, but she’s also relaxed because she knows Clementine can’t do shit. And she’s impressed. She’s genuinely impressed at what Clementine almost accomplished. She sees that Clementine is the golden goose that made this entire trip and its losses worth it. Even if the delta lost everyone they captured but still had Clementine [and AJ] then it would still work in their favor. 

With Clementine, she hesitates. She shows little sprinkles of humanity and it throws her off kilter. Honestly, it almost feels like a performance in the cells, y’know? I’ve given Lilly shit for appearing sympathetic in ep2 only to turn around and be a nasty asshole in ep3 which I still do somewhat think, but this time around? Watching Lilly’s body language and the way she speaks does make me believe it’s all a part of some game she’s playing. Deep down, she’s still the scared little girl who wants to pretend she’s a tough bitch no one can hurt, and that’s the performance. And everyone buys it. It only cracks with Clementine. 

To me, that shows just how far gone she is. The others aren’t people, they’re “recruits.” They’re expendable despite the fact that the delta are supposedly at war and need people to fight. Lilly doesn’t want to see someone like Louis as a person because then she has to face the reality that she’s become a monster who believes cutting someone’s tongue out is necessary. She’s become the St. John’s who definitely didn’t see Mark as a person, and justified cannibalism with “all the dead do is eat people, it’s a waste! We were brought up not to waste, those folks were gonna die anyway, we do what is necessary to survive!” 

THAT is the kind of shit she’s going to have to face if you spare her and she’s alone again. 

It gets worse when she goes on about her father and it gives me this eerie feeling to hear the way she speaks knowing that Larry probably did more to traumatize her than just “he let our power get cut to teach me a lesson about turning the lights off, no more ice cream” like....... what the fuck bruh

I could honestly go on and on about Lilly as the main antagonist but I still have everyone else to cover, so I want to cover Abel next. 

Stinky man bad and that’s good

I think he’s another great character. The dude’s name is Abel and he smokes hand-rolled bible cigarettes. He survives losing an arm. He’s a fucking dumpster fire who spends most of his screen time getting the shit beat outta him. He’s a huge creep, and he looks like the kind of man who wouldn’t shower for a month but then drench himself in axe body spray as if that’s the same thing as bathing. 

But he’s a damn good character. I love that AJ is scared of him, that Abel is what AJ has nightmares about. It fleshes out AJ’s character while also establishing that Abel is scary. We meet him and you watch him approach Clementine and you just know this dude is a creep, you know he’s hiding something beneath the false chill he seems to have, and you know he won’t hesitate to hurt Clementine or AJ over some food. 

He also has no attachment to Clementine like Lilly does and he’s all “what the fuck is this??” when Lilly wastes time talking to her, trying to convince her to come peacefully. Abel is focused on the job and he’s got unfinished business with them if you pushed him out the window. Oh, speaking of which, the dude gets bit and survives because he either chopped off his own arm or he made it back in time for the raiders to do it... hate him all you want, but I’m impressed he survived. The dude’s like a cockroach- a scrawny, ugly little cockroach.

Also he has a magic shotgun that somehow misses Clementine but manages to hit AJ so that’s pretty cool. 

And the fight with him at the end of ep2 is soooo good. He gets his shit rocked and it’s great! Then the shot of him realizing he’s fucked as the Ericson crew surround him is *chef kiss*

His interrogation scene in ep3 where he breaks down, begging to not become a walker is my favorite from him. Like Lilly, he’s a piece of shit, but he’s at the point where he knows he’s going to die and everything hits him all at once. He talks about how it wasn’t supposed to end up like this and things got out of hand. The dude is broken, he knows he’s lost and all he wants is to be put out of his misery so that he doesn’t turn. 

He shows some humanity in the end and again, I know some of you don’t like it when antagonists do that, it’s so much easier when they’re one-dimensional and pure evil… but that humanity, that’s the beauty and horror of it! Abel’s an unredeemable piece of shit but he’s human and that’s scary. 

Minerva is not only a victim of the delta but of “uwu-ification” and it upsets me because she’s a fascinating, tragic character but the Minnie crowd are more interested in sexualizing/romanticizing her because they think she’s hot

....is the title of this section too blunt? Meh, I don’t really care.

Look, If you like Minerva, great. So do I. Even if you like the uwu-ification of her but aren’t pushy or obnoxious about it, then fine. I’m not criticizing you, I’m criticizing the “Minnie crowd” who are usually found mostly on instagram, but also on reddit, sometimes they pop up on here, and there are a few on wattpad and AO3. Or in my inbox under anon... I’ve gotten my fair share of Minnie crowd anons that were rather unpleasant.

I wrote an entire post about her and why I keep cringing at the Minnie crowd who seem to either toss away her trauma [and let’s be real, her character as a whole] because they feel it gets in the way of their fanon or they romanticize it because heeeeyyyy wouldn’t it hot if she and Clementine fought and then made out? Wouldn’t it be hot if she tried to kill Clementine and Violet?? CJ, you just don’t get it! Man, it’s soooo hot that Minnie’s tortured and sad and fucked up and feral and traumatized, like she killed her twin sister, let’s give her a new girlfriend to fix her trauma or turn her into a caricature to add some questionable drama to violentine~

Hm? What’s that about “a chip on my shoulder?” His name is Tim and he hates this shit, too, what of it?

Listen, I will never not have a bone to pick with the uwu-ification of Minerva, okay? I fully admit it. I think it’s an insult to the well-written character we were given and it only happened because she didn’t meet the flowery expectations of thirsty fans.

It personally annoys me that over time fans stopped caring about Minerva as she’s portrayed in the game in favor of turning her into a caricature who’s main character traits are that she likes girls and she’s mean. She is an excellent, complex antagonist with one of the most memorable death scenes in all of TWDG. She’s a tragedy. 

She’s an example of what the delta does to its recruits and.... I don’t understand how you can say you love her as a character when you erase everything about her except her sexuality just so that you can ship her with someone she canonically hates and attempts to murder more than once, or force her back together with Violet which Vi doesn’t deserve that, I’m sorry, but she doesn’t!  

Actually it kinda reminds me of what some DA fans will do to Anders. Listen, I shamefully, bitterly admit to being a serial Anders romancer in DA2, okay?  And uwu-ification happens to him and it makes my brain mad!

I know uwu-ification happens to most characters to some degree within fandoms and it’s usually fairly harmless. I’ve heard every counter-argument and excuse you could possibly throw at me to justify it with Minerva. And look, I’ve definitely taken part in uwu-ification of characters in the past and I’m not proud to admit that, I’m trying to be better at appreciating characters for what they are while not being overtaken by fanon, y’know? So I get it, but at the same time this is an exception where it makes me physically uncomfortable due to the attitude of the Minnie crowd and I hate it.  

Minerva's a goddamn tragedy. She was traded away with her sister and the raiders broke her! They broke everything about her!

Y’all wanted her to do a 180 and turn on the delta for us and that was never going to happen! We knew that from the moment we finally met her! She’s too far gone, she’s only in two outta four episodes, there isn’t enough time to develop a redemption arc for her! She wasn’t ever going to have a change of heart! She’s not the Grinch, you can’t just say some pretty words and then her heart grows three sizes and suddenly a years worth of brainwashing and trauma are gone! She is a broken person now who would need years of professional therapy and god knows what else to recover! She considers the delta, the people who forced her to murder Sophie, her home now, her FAMILY! She is a tragedy we were never going to save! 

She’s surrounded by a shit ton of walkers, shooting and chopping away as she watches the raiders, the people she now calls family, fall one by one. She’s yelling at the walkers to get away from them, she doesn’t give a single shit about the Ericson crew, she doesn’t even wonder where Tenn is. 

Then a walker bites her and she keeps going! A fucking walker bites off part of her face! And she just fucking shoots it and touches the wound! This girl was so far gone from reality that she’s turning into the undead herself but instead of giving up, she wanders through the forest, singing Don’t Be Afraid, all because she wants to find Tenn so that she can murder him so they can be with their family again and y’all don’t care! Why don’t y’all care?? Erase it, none of that actually matters!! 

She’s such a great, complex character but hardly anyone gives a shit about her unless it’s in the context of her sexuality. It is so goddamn frustrating that I know only one person willing to have a discussion with me about her actual character instead of just going “no, you’re wrong!” and then refusing to elaborate on why I’m apparently such a piece of shit for thinking clemerva is toxic. 

I just- what else can I say that I haven’t already said? This playthrough made me appreciate her so much as a character and as a “final boss,” so to speak, and knowing in the end that she got what she wanted because I chose to trust AJ makes my skin crawl and I love it. What a good consequence to that choice, as tragic and unfair as it is, holy shit. I take back any shit I might’ve said about it being a shitty choice, I was wrong and dumb. 

God, what a tragic antagonist, she’s so good and I wish she had more actual appreciation. 

Dude, Marlon’s pretty great ngl

I have an entire character analysis I wrote for Marlon already, so I won’t spend too much time on him.

I believe Marlon holds up wonderfully as ep1′s secret antagonist. He’s a great character and the writers did a great job of establishing him as friendly but cautious when Clementine first meets him, then elaborates on how he handles his position as the group’s leader. He’s stressed, he’s holding a lot of guilt, fear, and shame for what happened to the twins, and now he’s brought two more mouths to feed into the group. We get an idea of his longtime friendship with Louis, how he butts heads with Aasim over the safe zone, and how he handles his frustration and anger… as in he usually doesn’t handle it well and opts for the “everything is fine” route when things are clearly not fine. 

And I know I’ve said this a million times… but the final confrontation with him at the end of ep1 is perfect. The rain, the thunder and lightning, the confusion, everyone rushing outside to find AJ pointing a gun at Marlon who is covered in Brody’s blood, so many emotions and accusations being thrown around, god it’s so good. 

Though there is one thing that has changed for me after doing the replay after all this time: I’m glad Marlon died in ep1. 

I know that sounds terrible coming from someone who used to always go off about, “Man, Marlon should’ve been determinant! AU where AJ shoots him non-fatally and he survives the season! He gets kicked out of the school and picked up by the raiders and has a redemption arc!”

Not so much now. I think Marlon’s role as it is in ep1 is perfect. The only things I would change would be a bit more information on his friendship with Louis and the other characters commenting their feelings about his leadership. But other than that? They nailed it. 

This season didn’t need a Marlon redemption arc. Sure, it would’ve been nice, and I would’ve liked more Marlon just for Ray Chase’s performance alone. However, this season isn’t equipped for something like that which would need time and great care to do well. Three episodes wouldn’t be enough, and it wouldn’t be important enough for the overall plot that it’s entirely possible it would’ve ruined an already great character, or taken away from the other great elements of the story and its characters. 

Just like Minerva, Marlon was never going to get redeemed. He wasn’t built for that. 

His death is great, though. He, Brody, and Minerva have the best executed deaths this season for sure. It’s built up well considering it’s the confrontation in the rain that ends with a confession, only for AJ to shoot him in the back of the head and kickstart a huge conflict within the story. 

Marlon’s a great character, he serves his purpose well and once again, I found myself truly appreciating him for what he is rather than being butthurt that he didn’t get a redemption arc that wouldn’t’ve worked anyway. 

James is so damn interesting, where is his spin off story? Oh wait, Skybound nO, IGNORE THAT-

Dude, I fucking love James. 

This guy is fascinating as hell and if I had any faith in Skybound producing good content related to TWDG, I would ask for a spinoff story about James.... but they made the Clementine comic instead and so I’m politely asking them to keep their stinky, greasy fingers off of him instead. 

God, where do I even begin with James? How about the fact that this dude is an ex-whisperer who wanders around wearing walker skin so he can blend in with herds? He keeps a barn full of walkers as a means of “protecting” them from harm? because he’s so alone with his own thoughts and memories of who he used to be that it warped his perception of the walkers? to where he now views them as “something in between” and he believes being a walker sounds peaceful? and when you consider that walkers don’t think, they don’t remember, they just wander and eat and exist? that’s something that would sound appealing to someone so lonely and full of shame? 

Like… James is so sad. I feel bad for him. Even if I don’t agree with this idea that walkers have something human in them, more so because I hope they don’t, I still respect his wishes to not kill the walkers when he asks. I’m willing to listen to him explain how he thinks, and I try to respond as politely as I can while also keeping my Clementine’s attitude in mind. 

And he’s STILL sad in the end no matter what his fate ends up being. Either he’s stabbed in the back by Lilly and left to become a walker, or he witnesses a child kill Lilly and it breaks a piece inside of him where he loses it and tries to separate AJ and Clementine. 

Which can I just say that while I understand not liking James because he’s a hypocrite if he makes it to the cave scene, I can’t agree that it’s poor writing. 

Yes, you’re right, James IS a hypocrite and that’s the point! 

It makes sense with his character! He’s pulling the “I will make peace with violence” card and it’s irrational, it’s bullshit. It’s a huge breaking point for him. This whole time he’s been on about wanting peace, that walkers are something in between and that’s why he protects them, why he feels conflicted about giving his aid to Clementine to save her friends. It’s like he’s so worried and afraid that he’s going to revert back to who he was, or that others are going to become like he was that he’s overcompensating. It’s bad enough that it blinds him to the danger Lilly still possesses even if she’s down with a gun pointed at her. It’s as AJ says, James didn’t see what she did, he has little context for who she is, and he’s more concerned that AJ is the one with the gun. Though, I would argue that he’d still try to stop you if it was Clementine holding the gun, but either way. 

In the end, he’s either killed as your friend, or you’re forced to confront him as a friend turned antagonist and try to convince him that his argument isn’t as cut and clear as he wants it to be. 

I find him compelling and I love what they were able to do with him in such a short amount of time. 

Also, in my playthrough, I spared Lilly so James died and came back as a walker and I can’t look at him like that without remembering the nightmare that was half the fandom talking about how hot walker James is and how they’d let him eat them........ that happened and I wish I could pretend it didn’t hhnnngggg-

Rosie is best girl

Telltale giving us an animal companion and NOT killing her off for dramatic effect? Nawwww but it worked soooo well in MCSM with Rueben!

Oh wait, no it didn’t, Rueben’s death was hilariously bad. Whoops. 

I want to kick off getting into the Ericson crew by informing everyone that Rosie is best girl and I am forever thankful she survived to the end of the season. I love that they brought back Clementine’s trauma with dogs from S2 and allowed her to warm up to Rosie at her own pace. 

I like to think of Rosie as an apology to us from Telltale for what they did with Sam in S2... y’know, forcing us to deal with a smaller Clementine getting attacked by a dog and forcing her to either kill him or leave him to suffer.

Instead of that, we have Rosie who mostly chills out around Ericson, fights off walkers, bites the shit outta Abel, and goes on a fishing trip with AJ at the end. 

What else can I say? She’s a lovely addition, thank you.

Omar exists

Omar is a character who exists in TFS and really, that’s about it. 

I mean, sure, he’s the group cook and he gets shot and kidnapped, and he survives to the end, which good for him.

Yeeeeeeah so I don’t feel strongly about Omar one way or the other. The most entertaining thing about him is knowing his history as The Chef God Omar and how Telltale got in on the joke by actually thanking Omar in the credits alongside Clementine’s eyebrows. That’s a lot of fun. 

I do have my own backstory for him that I wrote forever ago but just Omar in-game? Meh. He’s there. He does some stuff. He survives. That’s about it.

Unfortunately Willy is a character I don’t feel that strongly about

I feel bad for not liking Willy as much as I used to while doing this replay. Really, he only becomes interesting in ep3 when we get development with him coming to terms with Mitch’s death. 

I don’t have any real complaints about Willy, other than maybe the chronic masturbation joke which was pretty cringe. Though the game still got a chuckle outta me for Clementine pointing at Louis like “Don’t you dare” when AJ asks what that is, only for Tenn to lean over and tell him anyway.

I like how Willy’s reaction to Mitch’s death was handled even if their relationship was severely underdeveloped. They’re both side characters so I give it a small pass, especially with showing Willy mourn and lash out at Tenn. I do appreciate how Willy came to the conclusion that it wasn’t Tenn’s fault and that he shouldn’t have shoved Tenn down, and he knows he should apologize. It’s good to see younger characters admit when they’re wrong, be sincere in their apologies and move forward in a better way. I also like that he takes over as the Ericson crew’s bomb maker, following Mitch’s notes and doing research in books, all that. 

Y’know, I would split the Ericson crew into two categories, with the first being the more fleshed out, essential characters who fill an important role, such as Louis and Violet. You can’t remove one of them without removing a huge part of the story. 

The second is the category Willy falls into, which is characters who are given a bare minimum of development but don’t carry as much significance, they’re there to fill a seat at the table during the happy ending. If you wanted to, you could switch characters around, or remove them, and not much would change about the plot. Willy could’ve died and Mitch lived, and things would’ve played out the same just with Mitch mourning Willy’s death then making a bomb to blow up the boat. 

Willy’s fine, he’s likable enough. That’s all I got. 

Mitch is.....not great uh oh what the fuck

.........................no seriously what the fuck?

Yeah, so Mitch isn’t a great character, and as I type that I can feel myself taking a sledgehammer to a huge chunk of the foundation holding this blog up. 

Aside from Louis and Clementine, y’know who was a big player in my blog content? Mitch! 

Y’know what other ship along side clouis had a big impact on my blog? Jamitch! 

Now I’m sitting here with a lot of questions.

He’s not a bad character, that’s not what I mean when I say he’s not great. No, he’s a fine character who fulfils his role in the game. He can be a dick, he’s the one who calls the vote to get Clementine and AJ kicked out, but he can also be quite funny at times. There is a moment of softness with him that you only get when you choose to burn Ms. Martin. It’s interesting that he knows how to make bombs... but then he dies so that we can have a kill count and it’s like.... huh. I remember being a lot more pissed about that.

His death is still dumb, don’t get me wrong. Running at Lilly like that was a stupid thing to do and it lead to a gruesome, painful death for him. 

But someone had to die and Omar wouldn’t’ve impacted anyone soooo.... Mitch got some development so that we’d feel bad seeing him get killed, a true The Walking Dead death. 

One thing that’s apparent to me now that I’m revisiting this after so long is how bloated my head was with canon, fanon, headcanon, “I don’t like this so it’s bad and it should’ve been this instead,” fixating on things outside of the game rather than it in, building off of each other and creating au’s....

It’s me taking off those rose tinted glasses to look at a game with characters I adore and knowing I only thought some of them were so great was because I projected my ideal version onto them. I have fics written about Mitch that explore his character because I liked him, he died, and I was like, “I don’t like that, I can fix it, I can fix everything I don’t like and then it will be better,” so I did. 

But now I look at Mitch and he’s in the same category as Willy, but he’s also just another tally on the death quota. He’s not a favorite anymore and that’s kind of a bitter thing for me to swallow. 

I will say, I’m still curious about the idea of jamitch as far as “what would these characters say to each other if they met?” but would I say it’s a big ship for me now...? Not really, and not just because they’re two characters who never canonically meet or because I no longer think them meeting would be interesting.... it’s just, I’m no longer attached to Mitch so any ships with him hold little appeal to me. It’s actually bizarre to go back and read my jamitch stuff because it doesn’t even feel like it came from me. I don’t think I ship it anymore.

Oh look, my foundation is crumbling, aaaaaaaahh-!

I like Mitch, he’s a jackass, he didn’t deserve to die, but he’s definitely not a favorite anymore and it gives me a lot of mixed feelings that I don’t quite know where to put yet.

Brody is… okay

So… it’s probably not a great sign when my favorite Brody scene is when she turns into a walker and hunts Clementine in the basement, huh? 

Here’s the problem with Brody… you only get more character development with her if you go fishing in ep1, which I never do. Because of this, my interactions of her consist of her introducing herself, then the next day she panics and calls me stupid for pushing Abel out the window… then she tells me the truth about the twins and Marlon kills her…. So I can’t say I’m invested in her character until we get down in the basement, and by then it’s too late. She’s another character who exists in this story to give crucial information before dying.  

But damn, fighting off walker Brody is one of the best parts of the game. The atmosphere, the guttural groaning, the thunder, moving through the dark with only a flashlight as a defense, wonderfully executed scene. 

Other than that, though… I can’t say she really compelled me. I even watched Violet’s full romance on youtube for her section, and it obviously included everything for when you go fishing and yeah, Brody’s nice and she does have a great purpose in the episode. You get a sense of loneliness from her but this scene isn’t really about her… well, it is but the main focus is on Violet and us interacting with her to help repair the relationship with Brody more so than the scene being about Brody herself. 

And yes, her being the only other person to know about the twins and keeping the secret with Marlon is interesting. You can tell she’s reaching a boiling point that Marlon’s trying to keep a lid over but the steam's rising, water’s boiling over, and Brody confesses everything to Clementine… then Marlon kills her and tries to pin it on Clementine. 

I do think there’s a discussion to be had about why Brody didn’t come clean before and what that says about her character. I just wish the game wanted to have that discussion a little more before she died. 

She completely points the finger at Marlon whereas he claims they’re in everything together. So, is Marlon lying or is Brody unwilling to accept she’s just as responsible for not stepping in or coming clean earlier? Did Brody keep everything a secret because she was scared of Marlon or was it to save her own ass? Perhaps some of both? I dunno, and I’ll never know because she died.

Oh, also... this is probably the point where I should mention my history as a briolet shipper.

I don’t think it’s a good ship anymore. 

You can’t hear it, but I’m laughing... I’m laughing because aside from clouis, all of my other ships are just crumbling and I can’t save them. 

Looking back I’m pretty sure I only shipped it because I felt pressure to give Violet a girlfriend after all the shit people gave me. Sure, I genuinely liked it at the time but let’s be real, it’s another case of slapping two pretty girls together and saying, “look, girlfriends” because we’re dumb and easy and like to pretend as if that’s enough... which I don’t believe it is. I hate when people do that and here I am... just slap a walker mask on my head and call me James because whoops, I did the thing I hate! I am shame! I’m trying not to do that anymore!

But yeah, Brody’s fine, she served the story fine, and her walker scene is bitchin’. 

TWDG where everything is the same but Aasim wears a shirt that says “wasted potential”

I’m actually kinda mad about Aasim. 

No, really, I’m mad. I still look at this dude in ep1 and say, “wow they really set you up as important and then did nothing with you, huh?” 

Because yeah, why have a character who pointedly challenges Marlon,  who you can choose to spend time with, who stood in between extremes when it came to the vote,  why set up an interesting character with pay off when you can just NOT do that? 

Why pay off his conflict with Marlon by having him act as leader, effectively leaving both Louis and Violet out of the leadership position to bring in more balance? I’m sorry, I know the Violet crowd hates me for saying Aasim should’ve been leader instead of her but I truly believe he was the better option.

I don’t like the direction of putting her in a leadership position because I believe that should’ve gone to a neutral party between her and Louis..... y’know, Aasim.  I understand a lot of people look at that as part of Violet’s arc of a not liking people to suddenly being in charge of a group, and fair enough, it should make sense but I look at the way she's written and I can’t help but think she’s not a good leader, I’m sorry. 

She doesn’t have the skillset and she doesn’t gain the skillset over time. Yelling and belittling people, not trying to level with them or see things through their eyes, not taking the entire group into consideration when having Tenn bring Clementine and AJ to the funeral, it’s not good and it unbalances things. 

Aside from Clementine, no one wants to talk to her when there’s an issue. It’s actually one of the funniest moments in ep2 when Aasim and Willy are arguing, Violet yells at them “guys, what the fuck!?” and instead of telling her the problem, they immediately turn to fucking Louis who is just standing there like “I don’t... you don’t have to scream at each other? stop looking at me, I’m not in charge??” They should feel comfortable talking to their leader but they don’t and that’s a problem! And it doesn’t even get better in ep3 because Clementine pretty much takes charge from that point no matter what! So?? What are we doin’ here??

“Oh but Aasim would be a bad leader because he got mad at Willy! He doesn’t have the skillset!” 

Character assassination might be too big of a term for this case... but I’d call this character abandonment, as in they set Aasim up for this position and then didn’t follow through with it so he’s left behind in a puddle of mud to sink slowly. 

In ep1, Aasim does show some leadership qualities in the way he puts the group first and develops back up plans. He challenges Marlon about the safe zone, he’s not unkind to anyone other than Louis, but you get the sense that that’s just their dynamic and it’s nothing malicious. Aasim’s responsible and he clearly cares about the group’s future. The dude keeps a journal to document everything so that they don’t repeat their mistakes. 

When it comes to Clementine and AJ, he isn’t blinded by his feelings of either “AJ murdered Marlon! He’s dangerous!” or “Marlon sucked anyway, it’s fine, I want them to stay.” 

He votes for them to stay because he knows Clementine and AJ are capable survivors and them staying increases their odds of surviving what’s to come, but he doesn’t just brush what happened under the rug or pretend it’s all fine and dandy. 

Don’t you dare tell me no one else stepped up when you made it clear Aasim was willing to stand up in ep1. His character made the most sense! Plus, he always ends up getting taken away by the raiders. If he were the leader, then that’s another blow to the Ericson crew- they’re without a leader once again, and now it’s Clementine’s turn to step up. 

But noooooo, instead we get “Oh uh.... I guess he has a crush on Ruby now... and he’s mean to Willy.... that’s about it. Oh and there he goes, getting kidnapped byeeee Aasiiiiiim~”

Nonsense, I say!

I like Aasim, he had a great start and no pay off. He and Brody were characters partnered up with Louis and Violet, suggesting they’re both important. Brody’s character had a pay off, and Aasim’s didn’t.... unless you count him getting together with Ruby as pay off but rusim is a bland ship. 

Yeah, I said it, rusim has very little going for it and I don’t know why any of us shipped it. I mean, they don’t talk to each other. We never get an actual conversation between them. They don’t flirt. They don’t have chemistry. He gets dared to give her a kiss and she punches him. She never shows any affection toward him and his affection toward her comes outta no where because they didn’t know what else to do with him and I think that’s a waste! 

The writers just pointed at them and said, “they’re holding hands,” and the fandom went “ohmuhgawd they’re holding hands!” because we’re easy and dumb and predictable!

They could’ve had chemistry if the game didn’t wait until the last five minutes to show them holding hands and feeding each other. Sure, it’s cute that they hold hands [though the feeding each other thing is weird] but any npcs could hold hands? Ruby could’ve held hands with Omar and I still would’ve gone “oh that’s cute.” 

Hell, now that I say that, Ruby and Omar getting together would’ve at least been funny after they set up Aasim liking her.... well, okay not funny for Aasim, but I would’ve laughed and I’m more important, buddy. 

Aasim is yet another case of this season almost having it but falling short. Should’ve had him replace Marlon, both Louis and Violet would’ve benefited from it. 

Ruby is great, I reeeeeeally like Ruby

I’ve always liked Ruby but I feel like this time around I truly appreciated her. 

She’s a character who teeters between the two categories I’ve talked about. She’s one of the more fleshed out characters in the Ericson crew, but she’s not quite on the same level as Louis and Violet, y’know? We see her consistently throughout the season, we learn more about her each episode, and she lives to the end to fill a seat at the table… where she spoon feeds Aasim and I quietly judge them for it. 

Ruby has one of the best introductions, too. She literally stomps up to us like, “‘Bout time you woke up! yer little boy bit me! >:[ shoulda took a boot to his head!” and then she stomps away! It’s so good! Plus, AJ’s apology scene with her is sweet. 

Ruby’s a charming character with a lot going for her. She’s established as the groups nurse, she learned to patch people up from Ms. Martin and that scene where the two are “reunited” in the greenhouse is heartbreaking. Ruby was a little girl with anger issues and you feel her grief when she looks at Ms. Martin’s decayed and overgrown corpse and says, “I just wish I could make her look like she did.” 

It’s a great character moment to show us how deeply Ruby feels things, y’know? She doesn’t try to hide her feelings, she wears her heart on her sleeve and there’s no shame in that. 

She throws a party [”hootenanny”] in ep3 when we’re at our lowest point. She wants everyone together the night before a dangerous rescue mission so no one has to be alone and scared. Hell, she even tries setting up some games so they can laugh and forget reality for a little bit... only for it to bite her in the butt when she brings out the student records and the reality of how many students have died since the start sinks in, then Louis/Violet share their backstories and Ruby is just like “....I guess I’m not a game person, I’m sorry” like she’s so damn sweet, I can’t. 

I loved having Ruby around, what a great character. 

Weirdly, I don’t have that much to say about Tenn but I feel like I should since he’s one of the more important characters in TFS

I think Tenn’s a sweet kid albeit naïve and somewhat of a screw up, but I don’t think those flaws are “bad,” y’know? 

Lots of people put Tenn in the same category as Ben, Nick, Sarah, and Gabe and act like the flaws these characters carry are poorly written or straight up bad just because they don’t like that character. 

The character gets in the way and messes things up for the group, therefore they’re a bad character, all that. I disagree with that logic. A character can be a well-written screw up. I believe Tenn is the more well-written “screw up” of the bunch since he has a lot more time devoted to him and you never get the sense that the writers dislike him and just want to kill him off quickly. 

His potential death was well-thought out and makes sense for his character- Minerva’s beckoning him to come to her so they can “go to the place where everyone gets to be a person again,” like he knows she wants to kill him and he hesitates before AJ tackles him to the ground. He refuses to cross the bridge because goes back for Minerva and fights against Louis or Violet.

And yeah, people still give him shit because it’s easy to look at this and call him stupid rather than looking at the inner turmoil he’s going through in that moment. He’s witnessing his sister- who he thought was dead-  being eaten alive by walkers and he wants to save her even if she’s unsavable at that point. There is no logical thought, he’s not listening to Louis or Violet, Tenn has tunnel vision where his sister is at the end... but so is death and we don’t know if Tenn’s actually aware of that or not. 

Everything happens so fast, and a quick decision from AJ seals Tenn’s fate, as well as the fate of Louis/Violet. Someone has to die on the bridge, otherwise you’re going to lose both of them and it’s not fair, it’s bullshit... and it’s great as far as a scene and consequences of your choices go. 

For me, Tenn always dies on the bridge. Not only because I’m a selfish hoe who refuses to let Louis die, though I will admit that’s a pretty big part of it... but for me, it makes more sense for Tenn to die on the bridge rather than Louis or Violet. I hate giving Minerva what she wants, but my Clementine would trust AJ and that’s what leads to that decision... and it’s brutal. 

Tenn left a big impact on AJ, he was his first real friend and believe me, I see the appeal of the ending where Tenn survives at the cost of Louis or Violet’s life even if it’s not for me. 

Tenn’s idea that one day the walkers will be gone is a fun one, if not bittersweet. Sweet because it’s refreshing to meet a character who has an idealistic hope for the future, but bitter because that future may never happen, and if it does, it won’t be anytime soon. 

He’s a neat character to have thrown into the cast, as well as a tragic addition to the kill count. 

Violet and I have a long history together

Ruh roh, Shaggy, we’ve reached Violet’s section. I’m sure some of you scrolled right over everything else to get here and since you’re in such a hurry, allow me to not waste your time: 

In my opinion, Violet’s okay. For me, she’s at her best in ep1, but after that she loses me. I can’t even say I like her anymore because her character falls flat, especially in Louis’ route. But her route doesn’t hold up any better. I can’t help but compare her romance with other wlw romances in games I’ve played and they beat her out by an alarming amount... well, with the exception of Chloe and Rachel from LiS. Those two are some of the shittiest love interests I’ve ever come across and Violet is leaps better than them. So... a point to her, I guess. 

I don’t see the appeal of her as a love interest and it never feels like her scenes are hers. They feel more like things the writers jotted down and said, “hey that’s cute” but they don’t tie into her character well and I think that’s a waste. In fact, give Violet a “wasted potential” t-shirt, too, she and Aasim can be twins.  

There it is, take it and run. For the rest of you, allow me to go more into detail. 

And just as a note: when I refer to the “Violet crowd,” I’m not talking about ALL Violet fans. Like with the Minnie crowd, I’m talking about certain fans that irritate me. They’re the ones with an agenda to convince people Violet’s the only valid character/love interest/route in TFS while ignoring or romanticizing her flaws/mistakes in an unhealthy way but try to convince you they’re ideal. They’re incredibly hostile to everyone who disagrees with them. They’re the ones who have blown up my inbox for years. 

Violet and I have a long history together that goes- “Oh yeah, I love Violet, I just prefer to romance Louis!” to “I like Violet, she’s a good character but she has a lot of flaws, I wish I liked her romance as much as you guys do but I get it,” to “yeah, she’s fine, I like her...” to now where I’m like, “......yeah she’s not great, I don’t really like her.” 

I’m aware that my dislike of her has a lot more to do with the Violet crowd than Violet herself. Y’know, all the anons calling me names and telling me to delete my blog, the one time my discord server was spied on, and vague posts that would cause people to send me like “hey, I think this is about you :/” asks because of who it was and how the timing added up too well. Of course I’m going to associate Violet with that shit and that’s going to affect my overall opinion of her. 

I tried, okay? It’s not like I looked at the surface, decided I didn’t like her, and then actively chose to be an ass. I genuinely tried to see her the way Violet fans do but I believe this is just a matter of liking different things, y’know? 

It’s been a year, I went into this replay wanting to like Violet so much. I wanted to write this post like, “I finally get it, y’all! I love Violet and I love violentine! Hooray!” and then there would be peace, we’d all hold hands and sing together until dawn! ...but no, that didn’t happen, I’m sorry. 

I’ve been away from the shitty side of the Violet crowd, I don’t have pressure on me to be overly nice just to keep the peace in a thriving fandom or fear that my followers are gonna be upset that my opinions have changed or the worry that I’m gonna get Violet anons yelling at me to just admit I hate her and fuck off as if it’s important to them that I say it.

Which now that I think about it, y’all really did the self-fulfilling prophecy thing, didn’t you? Thanks for that, here’s a gold star for your effort⭐I’m sure it was worth it. 

And y’know, it doesn’t make any goddamn sense. In theory, I SHOULD like Violet. I should be more into her romance route but I don’t feel the chemistry and Violet’s character is another case of this game almost having it but not quite. 

And in the name of being fair, I even rewatched her full romance with Clementine on youtube [sorry, I didn’t want to sit down and do another 10 hour playthrough okay I had no time] because in Louis’ route I’m obviously not going to spend as much time with her. You miss a lot of information which results in her character feeling unfinished. 

But before I talk about her romance route, let’s talk a little about Violet’s cell scene in Louis’ route since my opinion has shifted on that: I don’t hate it for what it is because it does it’s job. 

Violet loathes you after you let her get taken. She hates and blames you for everything, then she attacks you so that you don’t fuck up again. Because her trust in you is completely broken, the consequence is she stays on the boat with Minerva only to be blinded in the explosion after Minerva ditches her. Her end card even straight up tells you she hates you. 

No, I still don’t believe she was brainwashed/tortured on the boat, I still think certain devs are full of it for that. If you wanna interpret the scene that way then you’re welcome to, just don’t get pissy when I don’t.

I feel like I shouldn’t need anyone who worked on TFS to tell me crucial information outside of the game rather than showing it in game. There are signs of manipulation from Minerva, and Violet’s clearly pissed off and in a vulnerable state after being captured. She’s been told that if anyone steps outta line, they’ll kill someone she cares about, so she complies. She’s bitter, she’s hurting, she feels hopeless and betrayed and Clementine is there to take the brunt of those feelings. 

If the intention of this scene was to show us she was brainwashed and tortured just as bad as Louis [because remember, the Violet crowd will insist this is the only valid interpretation] then why didn’t it? 

Why is she behaving like she’s just pissed off? Why aren’t Aasim and Omar as scared as they are when Louis’ gets his tongue cut out? Why doesn’t her end card say she was traumatized after her time with the raiders like Louis’ end card? Why does her end card say she despises Clementine? Why are you allowed to tell her off when you’re not allowed to tell Louis off in his cell scene? If Violet isn’t just mad then why isn’t that reflected in how Clementine treats her versus how she treats Louis in his scene? Why did you also need to blind her in ep4 if her torture was just as bad if not worse than Louis losing his tongue? Doesn’t trauma dumping onto Violet throw off the balance of things? Why aren’t you making it clear what happened like you did with Louis? 

You didn’t need to clear up what happened to Louis outside of the game so why do you have to do it for Violet? 

Oh wait, you did make it clear- she pissed at you, no longer trusts you, and she stays on the boat as a result of that.

The end consequence of not saving Louis is he loses his tongue, and not saving Violet results in her being blinded. Violet’s consequence just happens to come later, and because of that fans got pissed that Louis was maimed but Violet was “fine.” And instead of just saying, “There’s one episode left, wait and see,” certain developers got defensive and tried to appease players. 

If you look at the scene the way it was written, it’s good. If you look at it the way certain developers told you to, it’s poorly done. And you can argue with me all you want, this is one of those things that you’re never going to change my mind about. We can agree to disagree. 

Moving away from that, let’s talk about her romance route. 

I give credit to Violet in ep1. I genuinely like her. It does a great job of establishing her character and hinting that she’s a potential love interest. 

I still stand by Violet being full of shit that she didn’t know Clementine and AJ were staying in the twins room and used Sophie’s pencil box as an excuse to check on them after things ended awkwardly in the card game. I like that, it shows that she’s not really opposed to us being there even if having someone in the twins’ old room brings back painful memories. 

You can tell she hasn’t had anyone else to really talk to since the twins died as she ends up saying a lot more than you’d expect. This is a rare moment where I do feel some chemistry between her and Clementine as they’re sitting on the beds facing each other, especially when you have Clementine admit that she’s not great with first impressions or people in general, too.

I’ll even give Violet a pass for being a jerk to Brody. Yeah, it’s poor behavior. It makes things awkward when Brody is just trying to be friendly with Clementine only to have Violet throw in an unnecessary, sarcastic quip, but it’s the first episode. It’s good to establish flaws so we get to see growth. You understand why there’s tension, and Violet making things weird fits in with her whole “I’m not exactly a people person” thing.

Oh, and when you appeal to her against Marlon, he tries to manipulate her with his bullshit, “they were my friends, too!” and while I heavily disagree with bringing a weapon into the mess as that just escalates things, it makes sense with her character and acts as juxtaposition with Louis deescalating things by stepping forward without a weapon.  

So yeah, I actually really like ep1 Violet.... but then the rest of the season happens.

First of all, I love Minerva as a character but god does she hold Violet back. It’s always one step forward, two steps back with Violet and her deal with Minerva. The mentions of her ep1 were fine, but then it just makes me roll my eyes when I realize what they’re doing here. 

And to be fair, I think I’m just sick of the whole “queer girl love interest has an ex-girlfriend who causes trouble and gets in between the couple we’re supposed to root for” plot point in games and books that when I see it, I make a disgusted noise so strong that even Cassandra Pentaghast herself would be impressed. 

My grievances about that aside, I don’t care much for the star gazing. As a concept, it’s sweet but it never feels like Violet’s scene. I get that the bell tower represents the isolation Violet has from the rest of the group, and we’re supposed to feel special that she’d bring us there... but the mini-game fucks with the pacing and the scene feels disconnected from Violet. Hard to explain, but lemme try. 

I made this post about how I think Violet should’ve been into basketball and how a better alternative to the bell tower scene would be her and Clementine shooting hoops together, how an activity Violet’s interested in [and I mean genuinely interested in, she doesn’t actually know anything about stars despite what the Violet crowd claims and that’s why they make up their own constellations] would’ve benefitted her. The writers never seem interested in telling you anything Violet likes, it’s always things she doesn’t like or the things she sad about so it’s hard to get to know her. 

That’s the problem, I think. I feel like I never got to actually know Violet as a person during her romance and that’s a problem. I know her backstory, I know she’s conflicted about Minerva, that she’s not a people person, I know she cares about Clementine... but what does Violet like? And I swear on Andraste’s flaming knickers, if you say “chicken nuggies lmao” I’m gonna be very disappointed in you-

Ahem, I mean, what does Violet want? What aspirations does Violet have for the future? What did she want prior to the apocalypse? Why doesn’t she have anything to call her own the same way Louis has music? 

It’s like they focused too much on her deal with Minerva that they forgot to make her more than just a romance... if that makes sense? She doesn’t hold up on her own and I believe that’s a waste. Louis stands on his own as an interesting character outside of Clementine and Violet should as well. 

The walk back to Ericson starts strong with her admitting she was stupid about Minerva and how she tried not to care about Clementine. That felt like a good character moment... but her wanting to rename the school is meh. 

Again y’all, this close to an overall great scene but then it nose dives. She says Ericson never felt like home, she couldn’t picture it as a home, because of the name and then just decides they should rename it and it’s lame. I’m sorry, it’s LAME! Hate to break it to you, Vi, but the name isn’t the problem. You didn’t want to leave because of the name, you don’t want to stay because of a new name.

I like her freak out on AJ after he shoots Tenn, because yeah Violet it turns out excusing murder baby’s actions isn’t so easy when he kills someone you actually care about huh? But, her final talk with AJ at the end isn’t as impactful as it could’ve been, especially when compared to Louis’.

Speaking of which, love that double standard of “Louis is a shitbird for being mad at AJ for killing Marlon and taking two weeks to apologize, he put them in danger, Clementine would never date him!” and “oh my god let Violet be mad at AJ! He killed Tenn and she’s really sad about it okay! She doesn’t have to forgive him after only a few weeks, stop invalidating her feelings, THIS is how Louis should’ve handled things!” yeah because they’re the exact same character in the same exact situation therefore they should react and handle things the exact same, mmhmmm, you’re not full of shit or anything, go off.  

Huh? Wha- yes, I know Tim’s on my shoulder and he thinks it’s dumb too, hush-

Violet’s fine, she just isn’t for me and I don’t think that’s ever going to change no matter how much time passes. I wish I liked her more. 

Louis is the best non-playable character TWDG has given us, it actually makes me emotional

Look, this post is long. I still have Clementine and AJ to cover and a final thoughts section to write and I don’t have time to give you the in-depth analysis of Louis that you deserve, but I can give you a more tame version while linking some to other posts I have. 

Here’s a post diving into his actions in ep2 and why everyone hating him for voting Clementine out is really dumb, and a post ranting about how heartbroken he would be if the Clem comic were actually canon, and this T5F I did of my top 5 favorite Louis moments, and honestly just scroll through the Louis tag on my blog, there is so much that I can’t link without bloating up this entire post. I just... I don’t have time to give you everything and I don’t want to be more repetitive than I already am. 

Louis is my favorite character in TWDG across all games. I fucking love him. I was reeeeally worried that I would replay TFS and not be as invested in his character or route but oh my god, his story holds up so fucking good. I’m struggling to put it into words. Even today, Louis remains one of my favorite characters across all the games I’ve played and his romance with Clementine? I die, don’t bother burying me, just toss me into the ocean to be fish food, I cannot handle it-

If I were to make a tier list of all of my favorite male romances from games that I’ve played, he would still be in S-tier with my other absolute favorite male romance, Alistair from DAO. And given that I haven’t been around for about a year, this is a TWDG blog, and I haven’t been comfortable enough to begin gushing on my dragon age blog yet, you don’t know- you don’t have ANY idea how strongly I feel about Alistair fuckin’ Theirin, okay? You have no idea, and if I told you, you’d think I were a crazy person! Which fair enough, I may be BUT that’s not what we’re here to discuss! My point is, my S-tier has two slots and in those slots are Alistair and Louis, THAT is how well Louis holds up. 

Louis’ back must ache after carrying this season because without him, TFS would’ve been significantly worse... okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. In reality, Clementine and AJ’s backs must also hurt because the three of them carried this season. 

I’m excited, can you tell I’m getting excited? I fucking adore Louis. 

I just- where do I even- I want to talk about everything but I can’t. From his introduction to his backstory to his romance route, I have few complaints. As a character he grows so much in a way that feels like natural progression and not once does anyone have to actually say, “Wow Louis has changed so much” because no one has to, we actually get to experience it. 

Louis starts off as fun but unreliable, he doesn’t take most survival tactics seriously which annoys characters like Marlon and Aasim, he values living among surviving and knows that any day could be their last so might as well make the most of it, even if that causes him to neglect chores and responsibilities. He’d rather keep his head down and not deal with conflict, he places all of his trust in Marlon, doesn’t ever question his leadership, and let’s face it, he’s a little dramatic. 

But god, he breathes so much personality in every scene he’s in. Even if he’s just somewhere in the background, you feel it. He’s a kind person who doesn’t want to fight. Disagreements, sure, he’ll have those with Aasim or Clementine, but he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. He doesn’t want the life they’re surviving for to be wasted away and sees the value in enjoying it. He plays piano and music is so heavily weaved into his character and I love what that brings to his backstory and the romance scene in ep2. 

Everyone gives him shit and he just takes it, y’know? This dude has self-esteem issues and that is one of the beautiful things about his character, he grows into someone you can depend on, someone who will step forward for what’s right, risk his life to save another. He begins to see the value in his abilities and it’s an uphill struggle for him. 

Louis, one of the kindest people at Ericson, was sent to that school in the first place because he caused the divorce of his parents over music lessons. He was a spoiled rich kid who didn’t get what he wanted, he didn’t want to hear what his father had to say, and he was vindictive. He calls himself that, he calls himself a “vindictive fuckhead” with so much bitterness, so much disgust with himself.

For a YEAR, this little shit used his father’s wealth to make it look like he was having an affair and made sure his mom saw everything. Then when they had a big fight, he played right into it. When the divorce was final, he fucking told them everything! That’s awful! Holy shit!

And so they dropped him off at this school and that was that. 

If you stay silent after he finishes the story, he even says he doesn’t know the person he’s talking about, it’s like all they have in common are the same name. He has so much shame welled up inside him for who he was and knowing that he’ll never see his parents again, never get to tell them he’s sorry. It’s so well-executed. 

Shocking, too. No one could’ve predicted that would be his backstory based on what we knew of him. Hell, most assumed he came from an unkind family and that’s where his self-esteem issues came from but nope! The opposite, actually! Wealthy family, loving parents, and Louis was a brat. 

I love it so much, and to get it after the build up of getting to know him for three episodes just.... to quote myself on one of my previous posts: “He finally puts it all out there and now Clementine knows what kind of person he was before he arrived at the school, what he was capable of before she met him. That wall [between them] is gone....  Louis knows first hand what can happen when feelings go unchecked, when resentment is held onto, when you don’t apologize or try to repair mendable relationships, when you’re vindictive and bitter and take it out on others. He’s been there and now he’s here, and he holds a lot of that with him. You can see he does in the way he talks about himself and struggles with confidence in his abilities.” 

and then he plays Don’t Be Afraid afterward, it’s beautiful, it makes me emotional seeing how glossy his eyes are and the way he looks up as to not cry, I can’t-

Another scene that I can’t get enough of is when you appeal to him in ep1 and he stands between Clementine and Marlon, hands up, and tries to talk Marlon down... even after a year, I STILL got chills. Appealing to Louis for help is so beautiful, it’s a beautiful scene of conflict. Louis knowing what the right thing to do is vs his loyalty/fear of Marlon, the way he looks at Clementine vs how he looks at Marlon, the moment where you’re holding your breath because it seems like he isn’t going to help you only for him to slid into frame to shield Clementine. Marlon realizing Louis chose Clementine over him, that the one person he thought he had control over has turned on him and with Louis, everyone else does the right thing and steps forward. 

And of course, “Your relationship with Louis has changed.” I CAN’T

Okay, another thing I adore is how much emotional depth Louis has. He can be incredibly funny, and he definitely plays into the persona a lot in ep1. Actually, one of my favorite things about both Louis and Violet are how their personalities subvert how open you’d assume they’d be with Clementine. 

Violet is presented as intimidating, closed off, bad with people, so you’d think it’d take a lot to get her to open up to Clementine when that’s not the case. The first time she and Clementine are alone [well, AJ’s there but y’know] she opens up a lot more than you’d expect with little effort on Clementine’s part, something that’s a trend in her route. 

But Louis is presented as friendly, talkative, and fun, so you’d think he would be open with Clementine right off the bat... except he’s not. Louis doesn’t tell you anything about his past that actually matters in ep1. He doesn’t tell you about his friendship with Marlon, his relationship with the twins, or anything really significant about him. He says small things like how he hates cantaloupe or used to like baseball. You know he likes music due to his introduction. 

In ep1, he doesn’t know Clementine. While he likes her well enough, he doesn’t trust her enough yet and trust isn’t easily won from him when it comes to that stuff. But then you go hunting with him, you choose to deal with the walker with him, and he opens up about his view on survival... then he sends you away because oops, too much sharing, too much chemistry. 

That’s the thing, though, you don’t get that one moment unless you choose him. Like... actively choosing him is a big point in his route. I know that seems obvious, but I’m serious. Every time you choose him after the hunting scene, he’s genuinely surprised. Appeal to him? Choose to help him with the piano? Choose to save him? Every time he gives you the sense that he’s like “...but why” 

He even questions you about it in the dorms if you saved him during the raid. You can straight up tell him it’s because he’s too important to you and he’s still shocked, then pulls a face like “.........but why”

I don’t want to sound mean about Violet, but choices where you choose her feel different, like she’s not surprised you picked her. Especially after ep1, it’s like it’s a given you picked her. She never questions, she never thanks, it’s just assumed “yeah you picked me, of course you did.” and it’s probably because she voted for you to stay, and that’s very different in Louis’ route.

He rarely offers up anything further until you pursue it. That’s a trend in his route. It makes the moments where he chooses to open up unprompted even more significant, like with the piano scene in ep2 or the reveal of his backstory in ep3, and especially the walk back to Ericson in ep4, THAT scene is so fucking good because it’s him finally fully opening up and letting Clementine in and hhhnnnngggggggg sooo goood~

One last thing I wanna bring up that I love: When Louis screams “FUCK YOU!” at Minerva in ep3.... it’s so fucking good. As I said before, Louis is such a kind hearted person, he never wants to hurt anyone and he beats himself up whenever he gets emotional and lashes out at anyone...... but in the cells, he’s fucking pissed. Like, we don’t even see him that pissed off after Marlon dies, and the closest we see him get that upset again is when AJ shoots Tenn. But even then, he didn’t tell AJ to fuck off, he just said, “what the fuck!?” and that’s very different. 

And I don’t blame him for being furious in that moment! He just heard all the shit Lilly said and Minerva just let everything happen. Now Lilly has AJ and they’re screwed.  Hell, he might even be missing a pinky finger now! And he just calls Minerva out on her bullshit and tells her to fuck off, and her reaction is just perfect. 

Oh and then of course, he shoots Dorian and it’s pretty rad... I mean, he doesn’t think so, he’s super upset about that one, too. But I thought it was great. 

As for Louis’ romance route, it’s just *chef kiss* holy shit.

I actually did a T5F on the top 5 reasons I love clouis that is still accurate and covers pretty much everything so I won’t get too crazy.... but lemme gush a little more please?

Their chemistry is fantastic, they bounce off each other so well, they’re not afraid to call each other out on their bullshit, they’re not too proud to apologize and move forward together as better, stronger people. Louis is great with AJ even after what happened to Marlon and that speaks volumes for his character. 

Louis never looked to the future until he realized he could have a future with Clementine and AJ and that’s why him asking her what their dream home would look like is so significant and Clementine always promised that she and AJ would have a home and they finally found one with someone who would do anything to protect them, someone willing to forgive, apologize, grow, and be emotionally vulnerable when needed, I just-

She carved a heart around their initials, he named the song he wrote after her.

I cry... I cry so much

another quote from myself on my T5F: “Their chemistry is strong, deep, and romantic, they powered through so much unavoidable bullshit, they worked hard for their relationship, they’re comfortable and not afraid to lean on each other when needed, they get comfort from being together but aren’t afraid to disagree on things because they know those disagreements aren’t stronger than they are. With AJ and everyone else at Ericson, they’re a family now rather that a group of misfit survivors, and they’re working to change things for the better for Ericson. I love everything about them and damn it, they will be happy together every single time I replay TFS because that is what they deserve.”

Now that I’ve ranted about how much I love him, what I’m NOT going to cover is the whole thing with AJ and the vote because I’ve gone on and on about that, so I’ll just say this: 

If you’re mad at Louis for his vote, valid. 

What’s not valid is trying to convince everyone he is solely responsible for Clementine and AJ getting voted out when he was not the only one who voted. The vote was brought up by Mitch, and it probably wouldn’t have been brought up in the first place if Clementine and AJ weren’t at the funeral. Louis is not responsible for Abel and Lilly showing up, and he’s not responsible for AJ getting shot. He’s not any less of a valid love interest for his vote, his vote makes perfect sense with what he is experiencing the morning after what he witnessed the night before. Stating that any relationship between him and Clementine couldn’t work because he voted against them as if it’s a fact is an ignorant dismissal of his character, his trauma, and his apology to Clementine and AJ, and your agenda is very clear. 

The endgame stats being higher for Violet does not mean Louis is a bad love interest, and no, Melissa Hutchinson saying she likes violentine does not mean clouis is invalid. You can tell someone is desperate to have their choice validated when they use a voice actor’s opinion as evidence in their argument to convince others that their choice is the only valid option and everyone else is wrong. 

We get it, you don’t like him and that’s fine, you don’t have to, but please don’t act as if people who do like him are in the wrong for doing so, and don’t try to cover it up with a “but I DO like Louis though I swear” because it’s transparent. Trust me, I’ve been there with Violet, I understand why you feel pressured to tack that on at the end of your “Louis is a shithead” post but stop, it doesn’t do what you think it does, I can tell you that from experience. 

At least if people were honest, I could go into their posts like, “okay they don’t like Louis so they’re going to be more harsh/critical of him,” but when they say they do like him after not saying a single nice thing, that just tells me you’re lying because you’re afraid of getting attacked. Again, I feel that, I’ve been there with Violet. It’s not fun. 

I also feel it’s only fair that I talk about the Louis crowd, too. Like the Violet crowd, they’re obnoxious and hostile toward everyone, their arguments are usually surface level, and they annoy the piss outta me. I don’t have as many bad experiences with them since we like the same character, but that’s where our similarities end. 

The argument is usually, “Louis is better because Violet’s such a bitch, she BETRAYED Clementine in the cells, she’s a TRAITOR! She’s using Clementine as a rebound and she doesn’t care about AJ and that’s why she stays on the boat with Minerva.” 

So y’know... lame, no nuance, no actual discussion or further explanation, nothing. 

Also I feel like the Louis crowd attacks Violet’s appearance a lot which is gross and a sign that their arguments ring so hollow that they can’t think of anything better to prove “MY choice is the correct one” so they resort to things that don’t actually matter and then act like it proves their choice is the right one.

“Violet? You did her route? but I think she looks weird, so you’re stupid.” 

Like... how is that anything? What is that accomplishing other than making you look stupid? 

But yeah, the Louis crowd hyper-fixate on Violet’s betrayal the same way the Violet crowd hyper-fixate on Louis’ vote. It’s treated as a smoking gun of “this proves that YOU are wrong and why MY choice is the only valid one,” but it’s not, it’s not a smoking gun, you’re just being a dingus. 

There is a difference between discussing how the reasons behind those choices made by Louis and Violet are a result of the inner turmoil and pain they’re going through and it causes them to make a mistake that they eventually turn around from and just.... “Louis is a shithead who voted them out and Clementine could never love him after that” and “Violet betrayed Clementine on the boat because she loves Minerva more and Clementine could never forgive her after that.” 

 Why y’all can’t just chill and agree to disagree, I’ll never know. 

ANYWAY... I don’t wanna leave Louis’ section on a sour note so here’s a reminder that he had a pet turtle named Geoff, he lost the 3rd grade spelling bee to the word “recommend,” and he still remembers his grandma’s phone number after all these years. 

God, I love him. 

Boy am I glad AJ didn’t get cut from this game

AJ’s still one of my favorite characters in this game and I’m glad his relationship with Clementine is at the core of this story.

He’s a fascinating character study and I can’t get behind the complaint that “oh but he isn’t a realistic portrayal of a five-year-old!!” like I’m sorry, do you know what a five-year-old is? They’re dumb and loud and if he was written that way, you’d just complain that he’s annoying like Duck was instead.

Sorry, Duck, love ya but you cannot deny that a majority of players hated Duck  for being a hyperactive child. Players would be like, “Gawwwwd when is this kid gonna die?? He’s annoying, I hate him!” when S1 was released. 

This is a game about zombies, okay? and if everything were realistic then AJ would’ve died in S2. Use your suspension of disbelief. 

I find AJ so interesting because he’s a child who was born into this post-apocalyptic world. He doesn’t know what it was like to live in a world before walkers. He never had a long-lasting, stable home and aside from Clementine, all of his other caretakers either died or gave him up. He’s grown up in a world that is cruel, unforgiving, scary, and where killing is normalized as a means of survival. Whether it’s walkers, animals, or other people, he learns early on that that’s just the way it is now. He knows how to shoot a gun and god, what a fucking thing to have to teach a child. 

Really think about the lessons Clementine teaches him, too. Some aren’t alarming, like checking for windows or always knowing where an exit is. But then you get into “Always aim for the head,” or “Don’t hesitate,” or the big yikes of, “Save a bullet for yourself.” 

I stand by the fact that AJ was in the wrong for shooting Marlon after his surrender, but c’mon, what did you really think he was gonna do the moment he got his hands back on the gun and saw the opportunity to “stop the monster” to protect Clementine and the others? 

Clementine isn’t perfect and she isn’t always right, but she’s doing her best to teach AJ how to survive the way Lee and many others taught her... but she’s forgetting that AJ is so young and he doesn’t have a fully developed concept of the world before. She also misses crucial point that Lee made with her when teaching her to shoot, like how if it’s a walker, then aim for the head. But if it’s a person, that’s different. Walkers are always the same, they always have the same goal... people aren’t that easy. 

Remember the fight between Javi and David in ANF? Clementine will either point a gun at David to stop the fight, or she’ll shoot him. She doesn’t aim to kill him, she doesn’t want to kill him. She’s aiming to break up the fight, that is a moment where killing isn’t necessary and would only cause more problems with those around her. Gabe would be distraught, Javi would react depending on how you play him, and Kate would freak out, too. 

If you choose to shoot Kenny to save Jane in S2, same thing. She shoots him to break up the fight, but the shot happens to kill him after you share some final words. 

Hell, the one time she does shoot someone in the head during a fight in ANF, it’s an accident [even though she knows better that to point a gun at anyone without the intention of shooting] and is treated as the wrong thing to do and you can either cover up her mistake or you can make her confront it by telling the truth. 

But then you have AJ who doesn’t have the context, that experience. He’s taught to aim for the head, so he does, and it’s a mistake. 

AJ shooting Marlon is complicated. He doesn’t realize he did something bad until everyone reacts and then he’s like, “....but I aimed for the head? Marlon was a monster? He was dangerous? Clem?” and you can either reaffirm that he’s justified, or you can teach him why he was wrong and about atonement. 

AJ doesn’t want people to hate him, he doesn’t want to hurt them or make them sad. He wants to make friends and have a home. He wants to protect Clementine the way she’s protected him. He has doubts, he doesn’t always know the proper words to explain how he feels, and he gets frustrated which causes him to act out. He wants to play games, and learn, and make connections with people. But, I can see why he would be scary, too. Especially with the way he talks sometimes. 

When he calls dibs on Abel, you can express how you don’t like the way he’s talking and tell him it’s not a game, and honestly I don’t think it’s a game to him. He’s had nightmares about Abel, he’s scared of Abel, he’s is a monster and AJ believes that if he can kill the monster, he’ll be gone and everyone will be safer. He’s expressing that in a worrisome way, though. 

Or the one some like to point at when arguing that he’s a bad character: when he says he liked killing Lilly. Yeah, not great, and it only manages to set James off more during that whole fight. But AJ explains himself that killing Lilly made him feel powerful [not a great sign] and it made them safe and that feels good. 

Plus, YOU told him to do it... I know y’all don’t like taking accountability for your choices when they backfire, I feel that, but he looked to you for what to do in that moment and you said to shoot, so he did and it set him off. Half a clip right into Lilly, whoops, betcha she didn’t see that coming. 

There is a discussion to be had about that choice despite it not having a right answer, but I don’t have time to go in depth so just know that I can see both sides. 

But both Marlon and Lilly’s deaths are pointed at as a “See?? AJ’s a bad character!” by the anti-AJ crowd.

Yeah funny enough there is a crowd for AJ but this one happens to be viciously hostile against him to where they go out of their way to argue with everyone that he’s “a bratty, stupid, annoying psychopath who loves murder and is badly written and that’s not even how five-year-olds act lmao you’re stupid” and just like the other crowds, they’re desperate for validation and it’s hard to watch as they make asses of themselves. 

Again, you don’t have to like AJ and you can be critical of his development and choices, but maybe harassment under the guise of “well it’s just my opinion” isn’t the best outlet for your frustrations. Just sayin.’ 

So much about AJ gets lost on those people, usually on purpose because god forbid we don’t always deal in absolutes, and it’s a shame to see a character that the writers put so much time and effort into be so underappreciated. 

Oh and on the opposite side of things, I do want to point out that flipping it so that AJ’s just a widdle uwu baby who should never held accountable because he baby and everyone else is wrong to dare be mean to him or Clementine.... is also not great. It lacks understanding and depth of the character or the characters around him.

To end on a happier note, another thing I love about AJ is how funny he can be. I mean, his apology to Ruby when you tell him to lay it on thick? When he excitedly informs Aasim that he likes fish? The fact that he interrupts your date to throw a gross ball at your head like “look what I found!!” The way he laughs at the Beat Nick joke but doesn’t understand it? When he catches you smooching Louis/Violet and is just like “what’cha doin’ over there??” 

He can be so damn funny. We tend to focus on the more serious side of his character but c’mon, look at his funny little dance during the party. It’s cute as hell! 

There’s so much I didn’t cover about AJ but like with the others, I don’t have the time to give you a huge analysis, I can only give you the things that crossed my mind as I was playing... which was also too much to fit in here but still. 

AJ’s great, I adore that kid, so glad he wasn’t booted from the story, thanks Telltale. 

God what’s there to say about Clementine? She’s complex, flawed, well-written and I adore her 

Alright, last character..... but seriously, what can I possibly say that I haven’t said before? 

I’ve written a lot of posts about Clementine, like this one about why I have her leave Lee in S1 and how that ripple affects her choices in TFS, or how I feel like putting Clementine up on this pedestal where she can do no wrong and saying players SHOULD agree with everything she wants [namely in ANF] is a disservice to the growth and nuance of her character, gone on and on about why I think Louis is the best option for her as a love interest and how that plays into her development, why her relationship with AJ is so important, why the damn Clementine in the comic doesn’t hold up-

BY THE WAY.... tangent, but I actually feel second-hand embarrassment for the Clementine comic which is a feeling I do not appreciate.

TFS Clementine and Comic Clementine are not the same character. I’ve experienced more depth sitting in the kiddy pool I bought my dog to play in during the summer than I experienced with the comic. My salt levels still haven’t gone down after writing that review... Amos deserved better, good god...

The comic rings hollow because it lacks everything that makes Clementine compelling in the games. You can tell it was written by someone who has only played through the games once or twice instead of a writer who worked on the games and understands the character. 

But forget the comic. It’s not canon anyway and if skybound tries to tell me otherwise, I will politely tell them I’ve agreed to disagree. And that they can go suck an egg. Politely.

Back to the one that’s actually good, I believe Clementine is one of the best characters Telltale ever gave us. She’s set a high standard for me when I go into other games. We’re lucky to have four games with her, and while I can’t say I absolutely love all four Clementine’s [I still have a lot of conflicted feelings about ANF Clementine] that’s totally fine because overall? She’s had a helluva bumpy journey and it brings me a lot of joy knowing she’s finally found a home and a family to care for her it. 

I feel a connection to Clementine’s personality this season. She’s come a long way from ANF [thankfully] and I love seeing her more balanced out as a hardened survivor who can be a goof sometimes. Having AJ back in her life brings out a softer Clementine that I missed. 

She cares so much, y’all. Clementine cares so, so much about AJ and everyone at Ericson that she’s willing to put herself in grave danger to protect and save them. She’s fought for so long, had her heart broken over and over again, has faced death every damn day, and now she finally has a home.

And it’s not even a question. Once her friends are taken by the raiders, she doesn’t even hesitate in telling everyone that they’re going after them, that they’re going to end this. 

Then after everything, she gets bit.

Oooohhhh the emotions I feel thinking about the barn scene with Clementine dying and AJ begging her to get up. But she knows, and even worse she knows that AJ now has to deal with her, either by leaving her to turn or by killing her with an axe and just

“I need you.” I CRY

Her bond with AJ is so good, her chemistry with Louis is so good, her determination to fight, her sense of humor, her moments of vulnerability... it’s all so goddamn good. 

Also, the Lee flashback with little Clementine. Look, after already being emotional during Louis’ song, only for it to cut to the train and hearing Lee’s voice again... damn it, they knew what they were doing and I’m so damn easy, it made tear up, okay? I admit it! 

I honestly don’t have that much else to say? This post is long enough as is so perhaps that’s a good thing. She’s amazing, a beautifully written character that I hold a lot of praise for. 

Lemme quote myself once again, this time from my review of the comic because this still sums up how I feel: 

“This isn’t like Clementine in TFS where you do feel she’s mature. She has to be, she has a child she’s raising and protecting. She has to be strong and smart for him. She has to be the adult in their relationship… but she has those moments of vulnerability to remind you that she’s not an adult, she’s a teenager who was forced to grow up too fast and it hurts.

In ep4 of TFS, when they’re in the caves after getting separated from the group, she and AJ get into an argument. She tells him that he’s just a child, and he throws it right back at her- “So are you.” and you can see it on her face… y’know?

You want her to be happy, you want to give back the childhood that was taken from her at the start of the apocalypse, you want her to overcome every obstacle thrown her way.  You understand her feelings about Lee, why he meant so much to her and why she struggled to let him go even after accepting that he was dead.

You remember that she is a teenager who makes mistakes, she doesn’t know everything, she fucks up. She’s doing everything she can to protect those she loves. You feel that she wouldn’t hesitate to give her life for the little boy she raised. She still has a lot of growing to do but you don’t doubt that she’s gonna do it..... TFS Clementine, amputation or not, she would’ve charged that damn boat herself if it meant saving those she loved.”

In conclusion: I still love TFS, even if things have changed for me 

Before I wrap this up, I do hope that everyone understands that my criticisms of characters, story elements, or of the crowds aren’t meant to be a criticism of individuals who may disagree with me. I'm not criticizing people for liking Violet or people who dislike Louis, or even people who view Minerva through an uwu-lense. I'm criticizing the terrible behavior from those crowds that make everyone uncomfortable and accomplish nothing.

Being critical of a character, plot, or of the fandom is fine. If a post is critical or even harsh toward a character, I may not agree and would argue with the points, but that's fine. I’m sure plenty of you will take issue with my points for characters like Violet or Minerva. We all have different interpretations and one of the fun things about fandom is getting to express that, to have discussion and debates, but it’s all in good fun. The point is never to intentionally make someone feel bad or to fight. 

It's when people get into guilt tripping, lying, gaslighting, name calling, using accusations of homophobia/racism against people not because they’re displaying those awful behaviors but only because they do/don’t like a character, sending hostile messages to people, or trying to convince everyone that their thing is the correct thing and the other thing is bad therefore they should feel bad, that's what I'm trying to criticize here when I bring up crowds. 

They’re an unfortunate part of the whole thing, every fandom has ‘em. What's sad is that crowds who would need to read what I’m saying in this section aren't going to. They're gonna scroll to the parts they know will make them mad and then leave. Oh well. 

I want to say that if you made it this far into an incredibly long post, thank you. If I had another gold star I’d put it right on your forehead and then give you a cookie, but I already used my gold star in a comment toward the Violet crowd and then Tim ate all the cookies, so.... sorry about that. 

The Final Season is excellent and I had a lot of fun even if I was conflicted with a lot of my previous opinions and work. I know I’ve somewhat moved on from TWDG and Telltale games, but hell, I’m still here. I’m not going anywhere for a while... after all, who else is gonna read the next two Clementine comics 9 times each to write in-depth reviews so you don’t have to read them yourself, hmm? No one, because they’re not ridiculous! 

But as far as consistent posting, writing fics, and doing themed nights, I have moved on from that. Not to say that I won’t ever pop in, y’all are always welcome to send in asks but y’know. I spent a long time working on this despite it being nanowrimo and I should be working on my project, but I still have some passion for this series that I wanted to share. 

It’s bittersweet, really. While I’m glad my ninja fam held up beautifully, I’m still bummed about the rest of the Ericson crew. Especially Mitch, god he was one of my favorite characters and now I barely feel anything for him, it’s sad. 

I will be home all weekend, supposedly working on nanowrimo, but if this post sparked something then feel free to shoot me an ask. I’ll answer a few if any come in, and we’ll see where it goes. 

If you want to follow me elsewhere, as I mentioned before I do have a dragon age side blog: @stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage, and then my main blog is @cj-writes-stuff.

Thanks y’all  💚

#twdg #twdg tfs #twdg clementine #twdg aj #twdg louis #twdg violet #twdg marlon #twdg brody #twdg james #twdg mitch #twdg willy #twdg aasim #twdg ruby #twdg tenn #twdg omar #twdg minerva #twdg lilly #twdg abel #long post #tfs analysis #twdg clouis #twdg violentine #twdg rusim #twdg briolet #twdg jamitch

[thevindicativevordan]

Guardians of the Galaxy Game Review

Managed to talk about both of my core interests here!

The Guardians of the Galaxy game hitting Game Pass meant I was convinced to give it a try. I'm not really a fan of the comics incarnation of the Guardians, mostly owing to never having read their best stories which is the DnA cosmic epic. While I plan to one day check that out, my knowledge of the Guardians mainly comes from them cameoing in other peoples books after the first movie came out and skyrocked their popularity. I enjoyed the Guardians movies, not as much as others did but still found them solid, but damn did I hate the comics Guardians when they started showing up everywhere after the first movie's success. Annoying quipbots was what they came off as, and it put me off on exploring them outside the movies. Can't beat "free" though, so I gave this game a try and man I actually enjoyed greatly! Felt like a good hybrid between Bioware and Telltale.

Having played so many open world games recently, it was nice to play a linear game again, especially with the wide variety of levels. Characters are the strongest part of the game, the main Guardians cast in particular are all well-written and acted. Game Drax was my favorite supporting cast member despite MCU Drax being one of the most insufferable MCU characters for me. Drax's arc is likely to be the one the player resonates with the strongest, given it's a story about the stoic mass murderer bonding with his fellow Guardians and accepting them as his adopted family to replace the one he lost. Gamora and Groot are pretty much the same as their MCU selves (Groot can talk in the comics I hear? Can we bring that back, I know reddit loves their meme tree, but I found his gimmick wearing thin really fast). Rocket sucks, he's just an obnoxious prick and even his "heart of gold" couldn't completely make up for how he acts during the story, but I did sympathize with his backstory and appreciated the part where he conquered his fear. Star-Lord himself is alright, he's an idiot but a good-hearted one who owns his mistakes -if you choose to - and that helps win you over to his side despite his shenanigans. Or maybe you love his quips in which case you will be very pleased with how he's characterized here! The other supporting characters, including Cosmo, Ko-Rel, Adam Strange, Mantis (her VA was fucking aces), and Nikki were all fantastic as well.

Gameplay is the worst part by far. Star-Lord isn't very fun to play in combat, for all the hype about his magic guns, they're actually pretty weak? Most of the time you're just running around trying to stay alive, chipping away at enemies health until you can use one of your or your companions abilities to do massive damage. Enemies are mostly just boring bullet sponges that pose little challenge, I played the game on hard, and the few times I died were simply because I got too aggressive and didn't watch my health closely enough because I wanted to get through the boring fights and back to the story.

There's one big misstep with the story however: the reveal about Nikki.

Nikki not being Peter's biological child was lame. From the moment they drop that bombshell about her maybeeeee being Star-Lord's kid on you, everyone's initial reaction is going to be "it's a fake out, no fucking way would they actually do it." MCU Star-Lord isn't a dad, and even though I've never read a Guardians comic I know Peter doesn't have a daughter in 616 either, anyone with even the slightest hint of genre savviness can see the reveal coming a mile away. Even the game developers knew they needed to work extra hard to make players think there's even the slightest chance in hell that Nikki could actually be his kid, which is why they made sure to include so many red herrings. First the game tells you that Ko-Rel and Peter were an item, then you meet her kid, then the game lets Peter ask Ko in a roundabout way in her office if Nikki is his kid (which she refuses to answer), then later you get to see Nikki's secret room with her file showing Peter might be her dad (with the "data inconclusive" bit basically telling me where this was going), then you get to see Nikki's Promise where her perfect life has Ko and Peter together as her parents, and countless more conversations across the game deal with Peter's reactions towards the idea of having a daughter. They spend the entire game trying to knock down the walls of cynicism they knew many would have, only to just... fold and admit that no, they didn't have the balls to actually go through with the idea? What a disappointment, especially given Insomniac already pulled the same fake-out with the Black Cat DLC.

You didn't even need the fakeout to justify why Peter would want to save Nikki. We're constantly reminded that despite being a man-child at times, Peter has a strong moral compass and a fondness for children (given he's a child at heart). Once he learns that he's the one who released the entity responsible for enslaving peoples minds, he's going to feel responsible and want to end the threat. Add on that he and Ko were close, and Peter has inadvertently gotten Ko killed, making him responsible for Nikki's possession as well are all reasons enough to justify why Peter would fly around the galaxy to save Nikki.

I know some people will say that Nikki being adopted fits better with themes of the Guardians, and that while Peter may not have been her father, he does become her dad, but it's just a way more interesting and better story in my eyes if Nikki is Peter's biological child. Nikki being his "adopted" daughter (as established in the epilogue) just rehashes the themes we already got with other characters, we already had the Guardians themselves for a story about family being more than bloodlines. Introducing a biological child into Peter's adopted family offers more future storytelling opportunities. How is he going to react to future conflicts between his adopted family and his blood child, especially given his adopted family - including himself - are criminals while Nikki was raised by her supercop mom? Would he favor his biological family over his adopted one? Instead she ends up just another adopted family member, same as all the other Guardians, and missing out on what would be a unique hook for her character and relationship to Peter. Real shame too, there was an opportunity here to take Star-Lord to places he likely won't be able to go in the films or the comics.

Sales for the game at launch didn't meet Square Enix's expectations - real shocker given their expectations are always nuts - so I don't know if we'll ever get a sequel. Game thankfully doesn't end on a tease at least, the main plot wraps up nicely and if this is all we get, it's solid enough. However the sales tail for GOTG was apparently very strong, and I expect more people will check out the game after the upcoming Holiday Special and the final installment in Gunn's GOTG trilogy. I'd be interested in a sequel myself although I would probably just wait for it to come to Game Pass instead of buying it Day 1. Solid as the game was I would need a major upgrade in the quality of combat before I'd be willing to buy Day 1.

#marvel #guardians of the galaxy #marvel's guardians of the galaxy #square enix #gotg game #video games

[fordarkisthesuede]

The Tolls of Justice: the Tarot, Name Meanings, and More!

Gentlepeople…

BEHOLD!

All the tarot-aligned hints! All the future foretellings! All the silly references! :) Everything you might have overlooked is here for you easy-to-read pleasure!

Naturally, there be spoilers a-plenty ahead for Batman the TellTale Series: The Tolls of Justice, so if you haven't read it (or maybe you're thinking about reading it, or this is your first time hearing about it), I'd advise waiting until you're done with each chapter to read through the sections. You can either click the link and be redirected to Ao3, or look through my tumblr tag #ttoj!

*One forwarding note: the tarot references build slowly in this story, and I only use the traditional Major & Minor Arcana. You'll see a lot of jokes and name-type references before we get to the tarot. I also simplified the numerics, but they're often displayed as roman numerals on cards, hint hint.

Prologue

gang member "Four Ears" - a very very off-the-collar reference to the line "Listen up, four-ears!" from J-Men Forever; in context, it was an off-shoot of the insult "four-eyes" but for music taste, also implying the person's taste was "square".

gang member "Muddy Nye" - his name can be boiled down to "muddy river". It works as an allusion to the messy, unclear case ahead of Bruce and the Batfam, but also as a hint to Clayface, who acted as Muddy in his first sighting of the story.

"Sunset" - a reference to everyone's favorite vampire series to pick on, the Twilight series; back when it was at the height of it's popularity, some drug dealers sold heroin marketed towards the crowd based off it's terrible and unfortunately iconic(?) line from Edward Cullen, "You're my own personal brand of heroin"…hence why the drug of choice BM is shipping here is heroin. Essentially, this plot setup is one big joke.

"FIGS" - a reference to POP! vinyls, hence the capitalized name and spiky word balloon on the packages.

"Gray Ghost [memorabilia]" - one of my (and everyone else's) favorite BtAS episodes, which proves definitively that Bruce Wayne | Batman is not only a Huge Nerd™, but also a massive collector of normal fandom things. (Do you think he troughs through blogs and fanwikis…? What am I saying, of course he does. He edits them.)

gang members "Jack Whendleham and Kirby Noltz" - nod to Jack Kirby, comic artist extraordinaire!

Ch.1: A Different Ceiling

[chapter title] - John does not wake up in Arkham at the start of the story, hence waking up to a different ceiling. He also hits different limitations on what he can do, so it's also a different kind of "ceiling". (Like the term "the glass ceiling", the invisible barrier a demographic hits in a hierarchy.)

St. Dymphna New Life Home - named after Saint Dymphna, the patron saint of mental illness. There's no "'s" at the end because I saw other clinics named after Saints didn't use the possessive form when referencing them.

The Lucky Hotel - an oxymoron, really; the unluckiest place to get stuck at with it's seedy history, but also the place where John "gets lucky"…in a couple of different ways!

Stitched Up Alterations - a heavy nod to the wonderful batjokesy line from S2, "We're two threads in the same stitch". It's pretty deeply ingrained in fanon (and technically canon, if you go with The Dark Knight) that Joker makes his own clothes, hence Batman rarely finding him through his tailor. Since John's thrifty and clearly made his original Joker outfit(s), I piggybacked off it as a legit skill to give him. I mean, come on, the guy is always so stylish! And you're really going to look at me and say he didn't alter his thrifted shirts and vests to fit his sleek frame? Puh-leeease.

13th Street - 13 is a traditionally unlucky number in western culture; hence the "Lucky Hotel" there having a bloody history, along with a failed, closed casino nearby.

Corazón gang - okay, I admit…I'm still a weeb at heart. It's a One Piece reference. Corazon was one of the few post-timeskip new characters I really liked; his name is Spanish for "heart", and he sported a heart motif. Like the gang in this story, he also died before the start of the main storyline.

Ch. 2: Face Values

[chapter title] - A reference to the phrase "not taking things at face value", which is very evident in this story. Also doubles as a rather loose reference to the upcoming Tarot cards.

Sebastian Overfield - The name Sebastian means "from Sebaste", as is derived from the Greek word sebastos ("venerable", someone who has a lot of respect). Overfield of course is "over" and "field", implying the family is on a high hill overlooking/overseeing/maintaining a certain field. As Seb is a reverend, this name is well-fit for him.

orange rose [gift from John] - means "passion" in the language of flowers, and can allude to fascination; this can be taken platonically or romantically…but it's definitely romantic when it's coming from John.

blue iris [gift from John] - means "faith and hope" in the language of flowers, and sometimes are associated with royalty; an allusion to Batman/Bruce's overall symbolism in the eyes of Gotham…and John.

Chandis [ship, circa Prologue] - A reference to Chandi | Chandika, the Hindu deity; the short version of their story is that they are a demon slayer, known to be angry and passionate, wield multiple weapons, and ride a lion. And who was on the ship? Hmm…

Ch. 3: Ink Trails

[chapter title] - A reference to the Alterations' claim slip John finds, which ends up leading back to the Court of Owls. It doubles as a reference to the mask tattoo/clue on Ian 'Nito'.

Faith Ackart - "Ackart" is a variant of "ackhart", derived from "ekkehard", which we can say roughly means "brave/hardy". The name "faith" and "hardy" together is another very subtle clue for the audience towards the villains' motives. (Well, I say that, but it was really more of a joke-clue for me to giggle at. And it makes a good reporter name!)

Lou Monger - the guy's a fish monger…with the last name Monger. It's-a joke! ;D

Ian 'Nito' Coggs - first mentioned without his real last name, but "Ian Coggs, Nito", is a pun on the word "incognito"…which is what Clayface is here.

FriendBook/Chirp/bloggr/uBox - takes on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube respectively. (This started back in my 'Season 3' story, At the Brink of Midnight, though I've since learned that bloggr was a real thing. :T) The 'uBox' is meant to be a play on 'jumping box'/'the box' as other terms for TV, like 'the tube'.

"whole tomato of pins" - the supposed history of tomato-shaped pincushions is that tomatoes placed on mantels repelled evil spirits and guaranteed prosperity, but I really wanted to just allude to the common pin-cushion shape. (My mom once had a whole little basket of strawberry shaped pin-cushions. I remember "borrowing" them a lot as a kid to play with. And then "losing" them.)

"sock and buskin masks" - these are a reference to the "comedic sock" and "tragic buskin (i.e. boot)" of the Greek comedy-tragedy theatre masks. I figured something like them would be a good logo for the "false faces", as BM is obsessed with masks. It also doubles as a natural callback to the "your relationship with x has changed" feature of TT games.

Ch. 4: Suite of Cups

[chapter title] - the first chapter to be a reference to the Tarot, in specific the Minor Arcana of Cups; rather than specifying the card at play outright, this title is a pun on the aforementioned arcana "suite", as the main location of events this chapter are in a casino's hotel suite. One can interpret many Cups cards at play here, but...

○ Specifically, in the Casino's suite/crime scene, there are 8 visible seats, but 7 cups on the table. The 7 of Cups refers to choices, fantasy, and illusion, an indicates there are multiple opportunities or many paths you can take, but they should be chosen carefully; when reversed, it can mean confusion, diversion, and temptation, and indicate a lack of choice or failure to choose.

○ The upright version is definitely in play, with the overall root of TellTale games being choices, and some "the player" makes this chapter will move your relationships with Tiffany and John in different ways, which can strengthen your relationships with them. If "the player" has chosen to be a more violent Batman, the way the Talon - and later, the Court - treats Batman is different.

○ The Reversed reading can be interpreted for the Court's complete disregard for the mere notion of choice.

Bauta - a Venetian carnival mask, meant to represent 'anonymous decisions' via it's original design of protecting identities. It's quite common in carnivals.

Melpomene-Thalia - the Venetian masks for comedy and tragedy, a la 'sock and buskin', the masks used as a general symbol for theatre. You can practically taste the irony, given who's shown wearing it...

Volto - a Venetian mask, meant to represent 'anonymity, quiet exit' for it's blank face. It's also known as the "Citizen Mask" because of it's worn by the common folk (in comparison to the more elaborate masks).

The Lot [casino] - named for "drawing lots", like drawing straws or matches to pick a person to do a task (usually with the shortest straw having to do the task, but it varies). This is both a pun on the fact that it's a casino - where you try your luck at gambling - and corresponds with the theme of foretelling the future that's woven throughout much of the story.

The Wednesday Nighters gang - this doesn't mean anything in particular. I'm a big fan of Midsomer Murders, and there's an episode ("Death in a Chocolate Box") where it references a few dirty cops who frequently took the Friday night shift at a station for episode-plot-reasons, who called themselves The Friday Nighters. It's an off-shoot reference to it, hence the corrupt cops on the gang in this story. :)

[John's voicemail] - Another BtAS episode I love is "the terrible secret of Bruce Wayne". In particular, I loved Joker's voicemail when Dr. Strange calls in ("Boy, do YOU have the wrong number!") and I wanted to do something like that. But, y'know, way less murdery.

"F85H4ND" - l33t-written "Fate's Hand", for…well, the hand of fate, supposedly guiding you through life/events. Another correspondent to the foretelling the future theme.

Michael Hodgson - not all of the names I pick for characters mean anything. Sometimes their names are just loose references to things I like. This is a silly mish-mashup of the original hosts of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Michael [Nelson] and [Joel] Hodgeson. (Joel was the first host + show creator, and Mike was the second host who closed out the original series run.)

"40F5WRD5" [Batcomputer archive] - l33t for the 4 of Swords, a card in the Minor Arcana for rest and restoration; since the archives and file names are randomly generated when not prompted otherwise with manual input, an otherworldly force seems to be saying 'get some damn sleep Bruce'.

[John's ringtone] - I know, TT always has everyone's phone on silent. I don't care. Bruce's ringtone for John is "Mack the Knife", a song about a violent mobster, played on a carnival organ. Chosen because 1) John probably loves that song, 2) I thought it was funny that it has the line "the shark bites - with his teeth, dear - when he shows them pearly whites" and how well that goes with John's A+ dental care... 3) TeamFourStar made jokes in their BtTTS S2 playthrough about having "a special ringtone whenever John calls [them]"…why would I not carry that through? They did get me to where we are now, you know. ;)

Ryde - the in-game stand-in for Lyft, the not-a-taxi service.

Ch. 5: The Wheel Still Spins on the Upturned Chariot

[chapter title] - a reference to 2 tarot cards in the Major Arcana. 1) "The Wheel"/"The Wheel of Fortune", which is a sign for continuous cycles, inevitable fate, and usually indicates good fortune and pre-destiny when the card is presented upright. When reversed, it can signify bad luck and an unfavorable fate. 2) "The Chariot", symbolizing a path forward to success, confidence, and overcoming obstacles; when reversed, it's stands for recklessness and lack of direction/control. 3) As the Chariot is upside down, John's original plans have been upended and everything goes out of his control in a chaotic situation. He’s essentially "not at the driver’s seat" for a little while. "The player" decides which direction to take the wheel in - either letting him lash out violently and send him on more solitary and dangerous path, or satisfy his need for stability by embracing his new relationships. The Chariot is always upturned here, but whether the wheel spins forward or backward is up to "the player's" decisions.

511 N. Blade Street - this one's a bit messy. 511 = V I I, or VII in roman numerals, which =7. The tarot cards are traditionally numbered in roman numerals. North, for pointing upright, and "blade" is synonymous with "sword". So it’s the "7 of Swords", in the upright position – referring to deception and trickery, which is of course what's going on in regards to who Ian 'Nito' Coggs really is…

Apt 1005 - even muddier, but this is referring to the 10 of Swords, which is for betrayal and backstabbing, hinting at the true motives of "Ian" | Clayface. 10-0-5, so 10 and the l33t for "OS" = 10-o-S.

900 Wanda Way - Both a pun on the phrase “wander away” and the 9 of Wands in the Minor Arcana, which alludes to pushing forward to achieve victory. A good allusion for a clinic, me-thought.

400 Wanda Way - The 4 of Wands in the Minor Arcana stands for community, another good allusion for a clinic.

Karen McCarthy - named after the most stereotypically uptight narcissistic asshole the masses have agreed to call 'Karen', and both McCarthyism and another famous lady with the surname McCarthy. Because I wanted you to know the second you see her name that she is *horrible*. (Funny, though, there's 2 senators named McCarthy that are pieces of shit and one infamous quasi-celeb who's the face of the anti-vax scene. Is it just a cursed family name?)

Ch. 6: The Tips of Our Swords

[chapter title] - Refers to the 4 of Swords card in the Minor Arcana, as the "swords" are alluding to the four active members in the Batfam - Bruce, John, Tiffany, and Iman - who work together on the case[s]; you can infer this title to a presentation not unlike the Musketeers joining swords to affirm themselves as a team, as they all gather together. The reversed reading of the card is for restlessness/stress in Bruce's case, and the clear signal of the universe to tell him to relax, and the reading when presented right-side up is for the break it gives to "the player", with the homey atmosphere of the Batfam spending time together. Either reading is completely valid here.

○ BUT, as Alfred is a non-active member of the Batfam, we could also say that 5 of Swords is also at play, right-side-up for the fighting and resentment with Alfred, and John's hinted budding conflict with him; and 5 reversed for Bruce's attempts at making up with Tiffany. If one illustrated the gathering of our four heroes joining swords like the musketeers over a breakfast table, then Alfred would be sitting drinking tea, standing as a symbol of the Ace of Cups, signifying new emotions or stirrings of feelings.

○ If we stretch the metaphor eeeven further, the title can also be a loose reference to the Sword of Damocles; threats always hang above the heads of powerful people, and in this case the looming threat of Black Mask and the mysterious assassin, ever-present in Batman's world…

Dr. Brandi September - literally "Sword" and "Seventh Month", alluding to the 7 of Swords, hinting to deception and manipulation at play.

"I was tired of the soup du jour" - a shameless Devo reference; a tiring of the routine/everyday. "I'm tired of the soup du jour - I want to end this prophylactic tour - ain't nobody around me - understands my potato - I'm only a spud boy - lookin' for a real tomato" - DEVO, "Mr DNA/Smart Patrol".

Motel 11, Augury Road - "augury" is another word for crows; as a gathering of crows can be a method of fortune-telling, this a reference to a gathering of 11 crows, which when seen is supposed to be indicative of disguising or revealing secrets.

Ch. 7: Drawing the Strings

[chapter title] - meant to allude to John aligning the strings connecting the people and crimes together, like an old-fashioned way of mapping clues; can be interpreted as these crime-strings on the proverbial board being drawn closer together, marking the center of the "web" as the Court of Owls

Frieda Baast - Frieda, an allusion to the Norse goddess Freya, who rode on a chariot driven by cats, and Baast, the Egyptian goddess who had the form of a cat. It makes it really obvious who was staying at the Motel 11, huh?

room 14 [Selina Kyle's motel room] - a reference to the 14th tarot card, "Temperance", which when upright is meant for choosing the middle path between choices. This is meant to reference Selina herself, currently at a secret, personal crossroads and being in "the middle"; John can influence her hidden choice by either making her think about what her potential job's employers are really aligning themselves with, or taunting her into how she can't leave her old life behind. (Whether John is violent or not doesn't completely impact her choice, but it does impact how they interact later if Selina winds up in the hands of our villains.)

Oracle, Spoiler, Batgirl, Spectrum - Batman's had a lot of non-Robin sidekicks in comics, including Batgirl (originally Barbara Gordon), Oracle (Barbara Gordon, post-Batgirl-forced-retirement and computer hacker extraordinaire), and Spoiler (Stephanie Brown, who "spoiled" crimes). As a fan of Ao3/tumblr's @fractualized 's own Telltale Bat-verse fics (the "Release John Doe" series), I added in the reference to "Spectrum", which Tiffany became in lieu of "Robin". A wink from one fan-writer to another! ;)

"I'm steppin' out, my dear - to breathe an atmosphere […] - that simply reeks […] with class" - John's singing a classic Fred Astaire hit, "Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails".

Eric, Jerome, Jeremiah, Jack [John's "Normal name" ideas] - As this story allows "the player" to pick a name for John to use in place of his own, you can pick between some classic and modern references to Joker's alternate personas over the years. Eric White Border (edit: goddang it that's what i get for looking at White Knight while writing this up and never double-checking), Joker's regular persona in the New 52 Batman comic line; Jerome or Jeremiah of the Gotham TV series, both of which are different aspects of Joker's personality through media, with a more modern gritty version in Jerome (think Heath Ledger's Joker) and a more modern take on Joker's sociopathy in Jeremiah; and last but not least Jack Napier, the first official name of Joker circa Tim Burton's Batman (1989), and the one most popularly used (BtAS and other comics throughout the years since use this name). "The player"'s choice doesn't impact the story or the way John acts, but it does give a surprise feature later. ;)

Matt Chaney - Aka, "Clayface", Matt has both new and old elements in his name alone. Matt, for Matt Hagen, the most well-known/used of the Clayface personas, and Chaney, for classic film actor Lon Chaney, AKA the man of a thousand faces. This Clayface is an aspiring actor who is psychologically dependent on Moddy to keep him handsome after a terrible car accident left his face marred. He uses his excellent makeup skills and acting to infiltrate the False Face Society, and double-plays them and the Court of Owls.

Root / MuSec - stand-ins for Vine and TikTok, respectively. "MuSec" is both a play on the word "musac" (the word for 'elevator music' and generic produced music you hear in fake stores and the like) and the mish-mash of the words "music" and "second", referencing the short length of the videos. "Root" was used in a prior story (At the Brink of Midnight), and acts as another "natural network" type name akin to Vine; though I do recognize "Vine" might have come along as part of the phrase "I heard it through the grape-vine". I have a feeling some Aussie fans might find the fake-Vine name funny...or just awkward.

Ch. 8: It Had to Be You

[chapter title] - A reference to the classic crooner song, "It Had to Be You"; specifically, the one that flows through the first scene is a cover done by Frank Sinatra, meant to align with other Bat-media's use of Sinatra where Joker and Batman are concerned. The Arkham games got his famous "Under My Skin", and another crooner's "Only You". Batjokes fans/content creators have also used "Strangers in the Night" for their relationship. I wanted to present one that would feel at-home in the TellTale universe regardless of what route you end up with, and what's more perfect than a song about finally discovering the love of your life? The song fits them to a tee, in my humble opinion…

Estella Art Gallery - Selina's art gallery, mentioned previously to have been the site of a Talon attack. "Estella" translates to "star", for the tarot card "The Star". When presented upright, it means hope and rebirth; this card can be presented after a disaster, such as an event like "The Tower". Normally, it can be interpreted as a card to show a phase where you have trust and faith in yourself and the universe. Selina was turning over a new leaf and enjoying her new life until the Owls found out who she was.

Mrs. Bollard - "bald-headed person"…this poor woman got her wig snatched as John stole Bruce from her on the dance floor. xD

"I knew today's horoscope was bullshit" - a nod to earlier, where Roman mentioned his horoscope when visiting Bruce; "a friend will help you out of a tight bind." Not that it was mentioned like that... still! I wonder what today's was? "You will be fortunate in your business endeavors"? Ha ha ha! But really, the horoscope is another nod to the theme of foretelling the future, as it's a popular method to try and see how your day, month, season, or year will be. Not that I know what sign Roman is… *thinking face*

[Achievement Unlocked: Batman Who Laughs] - John showing up in the Batman cowl was not only funny, but a direct nod to the Batman Who Laughs. The TT games had Batman comic titles often used as Achievements, so I figured I'd put in some…

[Achievement Unlocked: Batwoman Rises] - Iman helping the team out in the spare Batman suit is naturally a nod to Batwoman, and something I wanted to do for a while. ;D

Brighella - a Venetian mask taken from a play now used to depict a cunning and mischievous servant. Originally the mask was used to depict a greedy villain character.

The Two Gilded Cups - A restaurant in-story that references "The Two of Cups" tarot card, a card representing unity, partnership, and two becoming one. When upright, it's a card that can reference lovers or a new relationship; when reversed, it can represent broken communication, imbalance, or tension. As such, the couple who were seen at the restaurant - Sonja Townsend and her husband - are established lovers who work together for the Court of Owls, but those who were really there are Jackie Lant and Matt Chaney, who are in an imbalanced relationship. "Gilded" implies that "The Cups" are covered unnecessarily with gold - this is both in reference to Jackie and Matt's disguise of the Townsends and the truth about their relationship. Matt's lies are covering for his narcissism and selfishness, and ultimately is the only thing holding him and Jackie's relationship together.

Moddy - A fictional body modification clay-mud-putty that's a product of Janus Industries, this makeup is the favorite of Matt Chaney and the reason we can call him "Clayface". Like the traditional Clayface, Matt is in dire need to have his fix of the makeup, despite what it does to him - as John notes, it leaves a weird burn-like sensation, and since Matt has deep scar tissue he covers every minute of every day, it's made the skin damage worse.

"You’re really committed to drowning in that river" - A riff on the old joke "denial ("de Nile") isn't just a river in Egypt".

"Your words are honey in my ears, but my brain always turns it into bitter wax" - In Futurama, Fry has a silly line of “Sweet words! Sweet words that turn into bitter wax in my ears!”. It always had the potential to be a great metaphor if the words were twisted around! :) Plus, I mean, come on, this is a totally On Brand™ thing for John to say!

Ch. 9: Strength in Numbers

[chapter title] - Referencing the Strength card, for bravery, compassion, and inner strength; the title also doubles as a play on “different kinds of strengths”. Strength is the will the expose your truths. Strength is finding compassion to help others. Strength is staying true to your convictions in the face of opposition. We see all different kinds of strength on display here.

○ It can also a reference to the different partnerships going on, with Jackie joining the team (unofficially), Bruce and Tiffany going off to tackle the other half of our case, and John and Iman’s team-up. :)

"[John] could barely hear it over the tinny electronic whistling tune emitting from his own phone, telling him the person on the other end was a mystery" - this is referencing an old tumblr joke! Yes, John has the “It is a mystery” tone on his phone for unknown calls…complete with the little (:o) ghost icon.

CUP5K1NG [license plate] - Referring to the King of Cups card, a card portraying emotional balance and compassion. As it's not written as "K1NGCUP5", it implies it's a reversed card, signifying there's manipulation and instability at work. Even though Matt doesn't own the car this license plate belongs to, it's definitely tied to him since it's his getaway ride, and thus hints at what's to be revealed in his and Jackie's hotel room.

Aylin Street - the name "Alyin" translates into “moon halo; one that belongs to the moon”, thereby being a reference to the Moon card, representing mysteries and illusions. An investigation is afoot!

“Looks like I’ve got the red light, kiddo.” - In stage acts, the red light is to indicate to the performer their time on stage is up. Generally, it’s reserved for comedians who either overrun their time or are losing the audience. John's joking that he's been given the red light to exit stage left (but not persued by bear).

"What’s the ‘G’ for?” - Iman's 'Gotham Construction' jumpsuit has a G different from John's - it's shaped more like a gear. This is another Mystery Science Theater reference, in particular the logo for Gizmonic Institute, the company/labs that "employed" original host Joel and the mad scientist Dr. Forrester (and his assistant, TV's Frank), who started the experiments of forcing a guy and his robot friends to watch reeeally bad movies. The result was 12 (soon to be 13!) seasons of some guys making hilarious and very memorable jokes at said bad movies' expense. Does this reference mean that Bruce is just as huge a dork as I am, or does it mean that MST3K is real in this universe?! You make the call! ;D

○ …if you read 'What's the 'G' for?' in Invader Zim's voice, that's also valid. Especially if you followed it with “I dON’t know!” in GIR's. (There is no cringing here! We openly embrace our childhood silliness!)

MasterOfClayFace / #IdW3arThat [Matt Chaney's social media login] - naturally Matt is so far up on his high horse that he considers himself a master of clay work…and of course his nickname is ClayFace! His password is a joke in and out of canon, being a riff on Lemon Demon song: “A mask of my own face – I’d wear that” ~ Lemon Demon, “Mask of My Own Face” [Nature Tapes].

3055 [Jackie Lant's InstaPic followers] - According to research, the average Instagram following is about 1000, so Jackie is above average popularity. Anything above 10k is usually(?) celeb status. The number 3055 is meant to be broken up and turned partially into l33t, to make 3-O-S-S, or 3 of Sword[s]. The 3 of Swords card in the tarot signifies heartbreak and grief, stemming from betrayal, loneliness, and rejection. Jackie experienced all three of these heart-piercing swords during her return to Gotham, with Matt basically forcing her into isolation, betraying her trust, and rejecting her input and values in favor of his own; but she didn't really know it until the truth was exposed.

8055 [Matt Chaney's InstaPic followers] - similarly, Matt's follower count is meant to be 8-O-S-S, or the 8 of Swords card. It signifies self-victimization and imprisonment. In particular, the card shows a person restrained and trapped, but their helplessness is a show…they could choose to get out, if they got over themselves. Matt is incredibly selfish, so it comes as no surprise that he will play the victim card.

#OnlyInGotham - Another tumblr reference! I love the @hashtagonlyingotham blog! ( ^3^)

The Herold Rite's Theatre - A play on the word "Hierophant": Herold, like “herald (ruler/champion)” and Rites, like “sacred rites”. In the tarot, the Hierophant card represents following tradition and values, which for the Owls is their very core. This is basically a big ol' hint that Iman and John are heading into Owl territory, but also foreshadows the religious undercut of The Court and Reverend Sebastian Overfield's role.

"a familiar red-pyramid-and-floating-eyeball" [graffiti] - A reference to my icon! ;D You think I can't self-promo?

trading cards [found in theatre storage] - In the Theatre, John finds "old promotional trading cards for an old sci-fi film with big-brained aliens". This is a shameless and loving reference to Tim Burton's 1996 film Mars Attacks!, of which my AO3/tumblr icon and username is lifted - the movie was based on a series of Topps trading cards from the 1960's, and had it's own set of cards with movie scenes and behind-the-scenes pictures (and summaries of events) printed for the movie! They also used them as promotional tools, and if you get very lucky purchasing a copy of the old single-issue comic books from the 1995 Mars Attacks run from Image Comics, you can get a promo card.

https://bit.gt.gd/S3272019F?=RO - Originally "gd" stood for a derivative of Google Drive, but I can’t look at it and not see “get good”. The "S3272019F?" is meant to stand for "Started: March 27, 2019 Finished: ?". I can't believe I started uploading the story in March of 2019! Man, 2020 really messed with my sense of time…

Ch. 10: Tantara Bounces Off of Moonlit Walls

[chapter title] - "Tantara" is defined as "the blare of a trumpet or horn", as seen in the Judgement card, which stands for self-reflection as well as reckoning, and can indicate rebirth. There's of course another reference to the Moon card, for intuitions and the unconscious being. Then what are the "[Moonlit] Walls"? Well, they're the part of the only Major Arcana tarot card to represent a building - they are the walls of the Tower, symbolizing destruction and disaster. When all the cards' meanings are put all together, this alludes to a time of discovery among absolute disaster.

○ Expanded, the whole title is a reference to both forms of Judgement occurring – self-reflection and change are happening with Bruce and John as their mysteries and anxieties are finally put to rest: John is undergoing his final "rebirth", seeing his reality clearly in Arkham’s padded cell; Bruce seems to finally come to terms with working with Tiffany, as his fear of not being able to protect her comes through with her showing she's able take care of herself and prove she's a true asset to the team; and the Court of Owls finally comes to light, with Matt Chaney, the Talon Adam, and the Talon Sonja Townsend finally showing their real motivations.

○ We can also interpret the title as a reckoning coming for the Owls, who have long been obscuring the truth of their deeds and whose true motives have been murky. They've built their own tower of disaster with bricks of delusion, and judgement's horn is blaring a warning through their hallways…

"X-Sharp Manufacturing" - a reference to the 10 of Swords (hence the "sharp"), the tarot card for betrayal, backstabbing, and defeat. For Bruce, there is disaster here beyond his control that ends in a [temporary] defeat. For Roman Sionis, owner of the small factory as part of Janus Inc., he's unwittingly walked into his own betrayal.

"Merlin's Flower Arrangements" - Merlin, a famous wizard, is a reference to The Magician card, who defines “as above, so below”… And as John is taken to a secondary location, so is Bruce. :)

"La Luna Painting" - La Luna, aka The Moon; remember, shadows can play tricks on your eye, so something’s afoot here… Aka "HEY GUYS THIS TOTALLY ISN’T SUSPICIOUS OR ANYTHING NO SIR"

Yelsnia Theater - Yelsnia is…actually a name. But searching for it shows my true hint, as it's "Ainsley" backwards. "Ainsley" derives from Scottish words meaning “alone, solitary” or “hermitage”. This is a reference to the Hermit card – in this case, it's blatantly upside down, referring to loneliness, isolation, and a general disconnection with mankind. AKA, the path Matt is on.

"the looming pillar tower" [Arkham] - A blatant representation of The Tower. It stands for impending disaster and "an upheaval of a foundation of reality". Of course, this can be taken in two ways. 1) That John has overcome/avoided the disaster of another mental breakdown. 2) That John’s foundation of his delusions - that he’ll wake up in or get sent back to Arkham for his sickness - was wrong in a realistic sense, as he’s made serious progress in managing his emotional issues, and right in an unrealistic one, where the only way he could be sent back was through an outside force, i.e. the Owls.

10210475 [inmate number] - When separated for the numeric cipher, we get 10-21-4-7-5, or J-U-D-G-E

13051420 [inmate number] - When separated for the numeric cipher, we get 13-5-14-20, or M-E-N-T

○ When put together, the inmate numbers read "Judgement", the tarot card is shown here for John's choices and character arc on display throughout this chapter. When the card is reversed, it implies a lack of self-awareness, which we can also attribute to "the player's" choices for John if they make Bad Decisions. If you simply take the word "judgement" at face-value (without involving the tarot) it also works wonderfully, applying to John's entire situation as being a trial/judgement set by a higher force.

"The prince returned to the tower" dialogue [the prophetic cell mate] - Whether the person speaking is physical or not, John notes he can hear the scratching of pencil on paper within the cell, implying a person is writing their words down like a story… “The prince,” (John Doe, alias Joker, traditionally the ‘Clown Prince’ of Gotham) “having returned to the tower” (Arkham Asylum, the foundations of John's issues) “to reclaim his crown,” (assurance in himself and his reality; the completion of John's "self" with his final choices and becoming Vigilante!Joker for good) “trails after the fiend” (confronts the Talon Adam, alias Owl-man) “who's flying on wings of retribution” (core beliefs, perceived sense of justice). “The fiend’s wings are big, but the bones are brittle” (the Owl-man is imposing and persistent, but his physical "wings" are his weakness).

○ If you couple the Court of Owl's belief that G*d has written down the destinies of everyone in the world [as they are each born] with the knowledge that someone was writing down a short version of John's events at Arkham…hmmm.....

Room 11 [Iman's cell room] - The 11th card in the Major Arcana is "Justice". This can reference either 1) The just-desserts coming for Talon Adam/"The Owlman", or 2) The outcome of the player’s choice to take Iman with them or not.

11 minutes + 16 seconds [remaining time on bomb timer] - 11:16. 11/16, aka my birthday! :) I only wish I had finished Chapter 10 in time for the chapter's publishing year (2020), lol~

"Our Faith brings Perseverance, and Our Perseverance guides Justice, for Mercy to God." - The Court of Owls' beliefs circle around 3 principles bringing people closer to G*d: Faith, Perseverance, and Justice. Their belief hardens their persistence in their actions (as they are written and not guided by "Evil"), and their goals are ultimately to deliver justice where the human system failed and "Evil" prevailed in "escaping", hence the guiding of one principle to another. "Mercy to God" is what is granted by righting the injustices of the world; as G*d wrote your future down exactly, Evil can corrupt it, and once corrupted this does G*d a harmful injustice. The Court considers themselves close to G*d by "mercifully" stopping further corruption via eliminating "Evil" in all it's worldly forms…

Speaking of the 3 principles, our main Owls are meant to be "embodiments" of these in the story.

○ Talon Sonja Townsend represents Faith, driving home her belief in G*d's absolute destiny. She is corrupted by her own selfish goal of eliminating her son-in-law, but is also so by-the-book she does not think to look at the obvious double-standards of the Court, and doesn't think her underlying actions are guided by "Evil".

○ Talon Adam represents Perseverance, having fought Joker to unconsciousness, and was willing to blow up Arkham with himself still inside just to eliminate it; he is the most brainwashed, but the least corrupt in motivations, only striving to get what he feels is "justice". On the flip side of Adam is Talon Evan, who despite serious injury still appeared in Court and jumped at the chance to kill Joker and Batman, despite the Court's general appreciation of Batman; he is corrupt in personal selfishness, as he possesses no "real" faith in the Court's belief system and doesn't like others getting credit by stealing his targets.

§ ...it's also worth mentioning that the names for Adam and Evan are meant to be derivative of "Adam and Eve". In this way, it can also be seen as a parallel to The Lovers card, which one can attribute to Bruce and John. While Bruce + John are oddly harmonious and undeniably have a strong bond regardless of story paths, Adam + Evan are discontent rivals, with Adam "stealing" Evan's target and good graces with the Court, and Evan very pointedly beating up and kidnapping Batman (who Adam admires) to set up Batman's eventual Judgement.

○ Reverend Sebastian Overfield is the main representation of Justice, though he embodies all 3 principles. The Court’s belief is that their pursuit of justice – stopping Evil/chaos via deaths of criminals – overrides their own traditional sins. Because they are being helpful to G*d, granting Them mercy by righting the injustices of Evil and putting G*d’s Word back on the right path, they are in G*d’s favor. Therefore, as the leader of the Court and the one who organized everything by handing down "God's word", he is the carrier of Justice; without him, the Court would be nowhere and G*d would be shedding more tears over their ruined work…at least, in his mind. Naturally, he is the exact opposite of what justice should be. He is biased and unwavering in strict faith, as much a carrier of chaos as he doesn't want to be…

○ Of course, this is all also up to interpretation. One can interpret Adam as "justice", Evan as "perseverance", and Sebastian as the stand-in for "God", as he is the Court's ruler and is the sole person to hand down "the word of God".

"[…]if two people you normally count on for one reason or another" - Alfred made a subtle dig at John being Bruce's boy-toy. Ouch, Al'…

"[…]given it's your pet project, and all" - Even though Selina is talking about Arkham, she's making a dig at former-Arkham-resident John being Bruce's "pet", who in her eyes was Bruce's main reason for getting Arkham revitalized. :\ Man, everybody's picking on their relationship…

petrichor - The smell proceeding rain. Because it's not a climactic fight scene in Gotham city without rain.

Ch. 11: The Tolls of Justice

[chapter title] - Naturally referring to the Justice card of the tarot, this title is the same as the story title. Funnily enough, this is the 11th chapter, and the 11th card in the tarot deck. (I guarantee you I did not plan this bit… Funny how these things play out, ain't it?) The Justice card naturally stands for cause and effect, clarity, or truth; ultimately, it's a representation of karmic retribution, and what the Owls are in dire need of facing. The title overall is referring to both the [para]phrase "do not ask for whom the bell tolls, for it tolls for thee" (in the original context: a grievance over death for all out of love for community/mankind, not just one person) and the "toll" - as in cost or damage - of enacting justice. What Bruce has put himself through to become and keep being Batman, the enactor of vengeance for all those wronged in the city of Gotham, and what ultimately the Court of Owls has sacrificed - either wittingly or unwittingly - in the name of justice. It also extends to John, who for the sake of "justice" is routinely stuck in Arkham, in one way or another, and has never had a conceivably just or fair life at all - thus paying the unwilling toll opposing Bruce and the Owls. We can also extend it to Tiffany, who is making good on her work with Bruce to "pay her toll" for her own crime, with her toll being seen in a positive light as Robin, compared to what life sentence she might have been paying otherwise.

[the sword in the pulpit] - a symbolic reference to The Justice card, as the Justice card in the major arcana often depicts a sword, either alone or in someone's hand. This can also be interpreted as a reference to the Ace of Swords in the minor arcana, which is normally pointing upwards, referring to victory, truth, or ideas; when flipped, as it would be when looking at the initial depiction of the sword as a "cross", it stands for lies and confusion. The sword in the story itself is a symbol of justice, and uses snakes as the stand-in for the forces of Evil, which are destroyed by the owl making up the handle and supposedly wielding the blade.

"the skull peeking out of the knight’s helmet" [card in the box on Reverend's desk] - A very clear reference to the Death card, famous in the tarot deck. It signifies change, inevitable cycles, and new beginnings/directions. Depending on the reading, it can be interpreted as an actual death, but more often than not it’s merely showing of a life change. As this is the Reverend’s deck, it seems the last card he drew was Death… The viewer can interpret this as a reading from the Reverend into the Arkham plot, where Death is representing John’s own changes, the end of Talon Adam’s latest “cycle”, or the actual deaths that had occurred (no matter how many there are in the end). The viewer can also read this as the Reverend trying to find his own fate, the fate of Roman Sionis for his trial, or Batman’s fate. All of them are quite valid, but I feel the most accurate interpretation is that the Rev' was trying to read the future of the Court of Owls.

○ …as mentioned above, the Death card is the most overt reference to the Tarot. This way, if someone didn't piece together the weird chapter titles, the specified numbers and number-letter strings, and/or the odd names of people and places, they'd be able to double-back and see them as clues. They are put there purely as a storytelling clue for the audience. As you can tell, the tarot references increased with each chapter…almost like someone is trying to get your attention…

[the framed painting] - a reference to The High Priestess, aka card II of the tarot. This card is indicative of intuition and looking within, and can signal to mysteries at hand or a higher power at work. The pillars on the card are (hilariously enough) marked with a B and J, and are in black and white, respectively. They stand for Boaz (Strength) and Jachin (Establishment), and are meant to represent the duality of nature, good/evil, masculine/femine, etc. Naturally, both pillars are equal. In this depiction, it is both relating to “the player’s” own duality, with the ability to be flexible as Bruce and John and have both good and bad decisions play through the story, and as a strong hint to a higher power being present.

8-9-6-3 [candle puzzle] - It takes a bit to work out by sorting through the alphabetic values to each number, but it doesn’t make a complete word. On ye olde phone keypad, 1 is always null in value, so it’s always unlit in the candle sequence, and since there are 4 other numbers present we know it doesn’t count as part of the string. (If there were only 3, you could guess a year from your notes.) My idea for the “game” specs of this part would be that the key-code would be somewhat randomized, either using a specific year (if Tiffany and/or Iman are not present, this is *always* the case, as you have to utilize your background notes and the candles by yourself), a few translated letter combinations just for fun, or an occasional number-card type combo, as presented here. (In some lucky scenarios, “the player” doesn’t have to solve the candle puzzle, since Tiffany can figure out the year by herself and just call you over when she opens the door. You still have the option of looking around, though!) In this case, the values are another tarot-themed hint, using the card number first: 8-w-n-d, for the 8 of Wands, which alludes to quick actions. AKA “Get ready for quick-time events!!!”

"looking more like the king on the throne than a judge" - Meant to allude to The Emperor card, the ultimate royal symbol in the major arcana and always depicted with a king. Traditionally this symbolizes power, authority, control, etc., but when reversed it alludes to overbearingness, arrogance, and chaos. For the Owls, they would likely see themselves as the upright depictions, even when presented upside down before the person doing their reading… And here is no better example, with the Reverend Overfield taking place as the ultimate authority over the Court.

"like [Sonja] had a say in commanding the room" - Alluding to The Empress, in conjunction with Rev’s position, this card alludes to femininity, motherhood, nurturing, creativity, and/or abundance. When reversed, it stands for neglect, creative blocks, overbearing, and/or uncaring. Sonja is a good example of an overbearing mother, trying to make decisions for her child because she thinks she knows best - thus fits the reversed reading well.

[Courtroom layout] - How curious is it that I haven't referenced The Devil when we have so many opportunities? That's because I strove to show this card rather than reference it overtly. The Devil card depicts El Diablo in the upper middle, lording over the card, with two souls chained to him at the bottom. The classic depiction shows a female demon-like human on one side and a male demon-like human on the other. As such, Rev. Sebastian sits on the high bench as the judge, overlooking the courtroom, and Sonja and Evan sit beneath him, one embedded on each side of the lower bench, sitting before him rather than beside him. Naturally, The Devil card represents temptation, manipulation, and materialism (though not necessarily of physical things). There is nothing more suited to The Devil card than the Reverend Sebastian Overfield and the Talons.

Circe | Cindy Peterson - Circe was the original Black Mask's downfall, or at least serious decent into who would be Black Mask. In her origin, she was a model who seduced Roman and ended up being blamed for his poor business choices, as he completely revolved Janus Inc.'s new direction around her image, somewhat at her insistence. Roman seemed to love her, but grew vengeful when she dumped him. She was named Circe, after the witch who lured men to their doom. In this story, she plays a much less active role but ultimately still serves as Roman's downfall, though in a very different way. : she does seem to care about Roman, going so far as to hide him on her yacht, not rat him out for his overt gang activities, and even leave Gotham with him for good to run from Batman despite not being in a relationship with him for long. But Bruce is able to spin this to his advantage, openly lying that she was working for him undercover and twisting Roman's affection for her into paranoid doubt, which he eventually lashed out with and ended up being caught because of. Circe never got a ~proper~ name in the original canon, so I dubbed her Cindy. The name "Cindy" can be boiled down to “person from Kynthos” and since Circe is Greek… Well, it fits well enough!

"[…]waltzing into the danger-zone without his wingman" - It’s Top Gun's “You can be my wingman anytime”, but with ALL the homoerotic implications!

"the Degnah Club" - The Degnah Club can be inferred to be one of Roman Sionis’ clubs, or just one his False-Face Society visited on occasion, but the event that happened there is implied to have taken place before the start of the story. “Degnah” when written backwards is “hanged”, referencing the Hanged Man card. When upright, this card means sacrifice and selfless acts. When reversed, as very much implied here, it’s an unnecessary sacrifice. This is both a play on what Roman’s implying – which is likely a very violent event – being an “unnecessary sacrifice” as part of Matt Chaney’s greater scheme for the Court of Owls, and as an allusion to Matt’s fate, where his morals/good choices/old law-abiding life were thrown away for an inevitably failed pursuit.

"[Tiffany | Robin's] personal count of 13" - The 13th card in the tarot is Death, bringer of change and ender of cycles. It’s also a traditionally unlucky number. This number is the “body-count” of Tiffany’s run through the Court so far. Does it reference the end of the Court's latest cycle, or something else…?

Accompanying the Tarot, as mentioned earlier I also tied in other fortune-telling methods, with the counting of crows and reference to the zodiacal horoscope. I also threw in allusions to luck, with The Lucky Hotel and The Lot (in both name and the fact that it's a casino). This is all tied entirely around the concept of fate and being able to change it with the choices you have made or currently make as "the player". Luck itself has nothing to do with your choices and the fates you guide Bruce and John to, and it's not something "the player" can control - it's an illusion, with things seemingly lucky for our heroes having already been written in on purpose to lead to the next event. It's essentially a long, drawn-out joke.

Talons/Reverend's Owl Masks - I wanted the Talons to be set apart from the rest of the Court and have special owl faces. The Court's owl masks are as follows:

○ Talon Adam - Great Horned Owl; chosen for the owl's large size and hunting ability, as well as the protruding "horn" feathers mimicking Batman's cowl. This is the most common owl used in media. The "horns" are meant to clue the reader into the culprit early on. Adam's a Batman-fan, so he mimicked Bats' style.

○ Talon Sonja - Snowy Owl; chosen for the owl's fairly elegant feather pattern and Sonja's ~colder~ personality. Sonja had a masquerade one to show her "humane" side to prospective Owls, but always wears a full-faced mask for the rest of the Court.

○ Talon Evan - Barn Owl; chosen for it's ghost-like face and screeching call, and it's hunting skills. They sometimes are seen as bad omens. While Adam was a mysterious stalker, Evan is overtly dangerous upon appearance, in no due part to his temper.

○ Reverend Sebastian Overfield - Eastern Screech Owl; this owl is smaller than the other, but has similar "horn" feathers to the Great Horned, and a gray face. The "horns" are meant to be another a mirror to Batman, but can be considered another allusion to The Devil. It isn't the largest or flashiest owl of the bunch, but Sebastian has the most power of all the Court members.

[The "Justice" bell-toll] - traditionally, a church bell tolls to signify someone passing into death. In the Court/Church of Mercy's case, they use a bell rung at midnight to signify a complete "trial" and a carry-out of their own brand of "justice"…which also culminates in death. The "trial" shown in this chapter is a rarity, as the offenders are actually present to get a talking-to before their sentencing - generally, the Church will hold a mock-trial to decide the fates of the perpetrators…after some previous counseling with Talons and select older members. (Think of the Trial like a ceremonial conference for the majority of the time.)

Chapter 12: Ten Cheers to the World!

[title] - The act of cheering, aka toasting, is to raise a cup and drink towards someone or something in celebration or tribute. Here, it's referring to the tarot's Ten (X) of Cups, which is pretty much the best card you could pull in a reading - when upright, as it is here, it means celebration, fulfillment, and happiness! The World card is the final card in the Major Arcana, encapsulating completion, accomplishment, and harmony, all from inner and outer sources. It might seem redundant at first, but the Cups suite in the Minor Arcana is all in regards to emotions, relationships, and love; in comparison, the Major Arcana represents a journey from innocence and ignorance to wisdom and completion. So you have an emotional celebration with fulfilling relationships, and the story's path marked as complete in both a literal and figurative sense.

"An accident at Ace Chemicals" [Iman & John's convo] - Referencing the majority of Joker origins, wherein pre-Joker fell into the vat of chemicals at Ace Chemicals and survived, leading to a psychotic breakdown due to his changed appearance and/or the circumstances around to what led him to Ace Chemicals in the first place.

"the string of deaths in the Velestra mafia" [Iman & John's convo] - a ref to the former mafia/main antagonists in Batman: Mask of the Phantom that kept getting killed off one by one by the Phantom. Whether The Phantom exists in this world…we'll have to wait and see, I guess!

"an unrecoverable ‘data loss’ at the Agency" [Iman & John's convo] - not a reference to canon, but my own theory on a potential background for John being a former Agent…(see further below)

"Et tu, Peeps?" - a riff on "Et tu, Brute?", Julius Ceasar's last words as he was betrayed and stabbed to death.

"Maybe I was someone in the wrong place at the wrong time" / "someone at the right place at the wrong time" [John monologue] - Another reference to the most popular background choice, the Ace Chemical origin story, and it’s variations. Though probably lacking Batsy’s involvement, considering the timeframe…

"Maybe I was some experiment gone wrong" [John monologue] - A reference to a different author's Season 3 replacement fanfic, where John ended up being a genetically modified human/test tube baby. Unfortunately the work got deleted from Ao3??? And my bookmark is gone, so I can't name the fic… But I still remember you, Unknown Author!!! It was a fun story and I've never forgotten that twist!!!! \( >o< )/

"Maybe I was even an Agent, like you" [John monologue] - My own little theory as to why the Agency was so keen on getting him for the Suicide Squad – and why he was considered a dangerous part of the gang despite not doing too much of interest in Season 1 (even if you consider the theory that he was helping Lady Arkham get her chemicals/drugs) – was that he was part of the Agency somehow. Either an agent who screwed up on the job, a rogue agent that escaped death via Agency trap…or maybe a guy who knew too much! But it's a fun, fresh idea to bring to Joker's multi-choice past, right? (( ;w;)) <(please say yes)

hippocampus - The region(s) of the brain that primarily deals with memory.

[the photo] - I wanted to leave it up to the reader/"player" to decide what kind of pre-Arkham past the TellTale!Joker has… So whether you think the picture Iman has is a "real" photo of him or not is entirely up to you.

"[…]'you're the moon to my sun'" [John, 'paraphrasing' Bruce] - In Tarot terms, this is a reference to the Sun card, representing joy, success, and masculinity, as well as another reference to the Moon card. One can also interpret the Sun card as "success in overcoming your obstacles or fears". As the Moon card can represent inner fears and femininity, it's a fitting opposite for interpreting this romantic line. While Bruce doesn't exactly embody the "positivity" and "joy" that this card represents, he brings that feeling into John's life, and Bruce is more traditionally masculine in contrast to John. This is also an overt use of the phrase "[they're] the moon to their sun" - a romantic notion that one person, though the opposite to the other, is completely complementary, like a One True Love. TeamFourStar's playthrough of TellTale Batman: The Enemy Within had not one, but TWO mentions of the "moon to [their] sun" line, the second of which was referring to John and Bruce. This one's for you, fellas!!! ( ^3^)

○ Funnily enough, The Moon is a very broadly interpreted card. Sometimes it's not a good card to have because deception, manipulation, illusion, and mystery/confusion are all potentially at work in your life. Sometimes it's an excellent card, because it tells you examine your feelings to resolve a problem, or tells you that you aren't seeing the whole picture. The reversed of the card is often attributed to avoidance of one's problems and further confusion, but also clarity, truth, and the full view of what's going on. If John is the embodiment of The Moon in the upright position, then I say Bruce is that of the Reversed Moon…

"[…] two lovers against the world" - Another classic romantic phrase that can be turned into a Tarot reference. The original phrase is meaning two romantic partners are pitted against "the world"/external forces that threaten to tear them apart, but they are committed to each other regardless. You can't really pit cards against each other in a reading, but you can read Past-Present-Future. In which case, in story terms, The Fool is always the Past, The Lovers is the Present here, and The World is the Future. As mentioned earlier, The World represents harmony and completion - if reversed, it would mean incompletion and chaos. The Lovers card is representing a strong union being forged between two people, very often romantic in terms of the Tarot. The meaning is usually attributed to decisions in a relationship being made (whether to start a new one, or to deepen the one you have), but it can also represent people outright, as well as an indication that a new partnership/relationship is on the way. When reversed, Lovers represents disharmony, imbalance, or a loss of relationship. In our story, of course, our two lovers are representing the upright reading of the card in the Present, showing as a strong couple. As it's "against", it implies that The World is something that will be a challenge, so it's likely Reversed. Which is a pretty good representation of Gotham in general, isn't it? lol~

○ The Lovers can also be seen symbolically in chapters 8 and 9, when Bruce and John are laying opposite each other and linking pinkies/holding hands at the hotel. :)

○ John uses the romantic line regardless of whether he's a vigilante or not! If you didn't get the Best Ending, aka our Sleepover Ending, Bruce would wind up back in the parlor with John as usual, and once the rest of the fam are gone (if they were there at all), he uses it to describe themselves. In the villain route, Bruce and John converse in the Batmobile on the way back to Arkham, and John uses the line there, too. ;3c

○ Naturally, you don't really get this complete scene if "your" Bruce is with Selina in the vigilante route.

Ending Type - …it's not a tarot reference or anything specific. I just wanted to let you know that you can ONLY get the Sleepover Ending if you have Tiffany and John in Bruce's party on good terms with each other AND with Bruce.

○ You can drive Tiffy away from Bruce by saying she shouldn't be with them at the Court Battle, but also by generally not believing in her/being mean and giving a neutral reaction to her staying during Battle; she won't go back to the cave with Bruce, so you don't get a chance to speak to her directly afterwards as either character. (John can still have his conversation with her via text, and they can still end on the same terms.)

○ If you don't have vigilante!John, there's no one else to help lift the things, so Tiffy's idea is never brought up.

○ John is always simping desperate for Bruce's attention, so even if you don't treat him as well in a platonic relationship, he'll still be there for this Ending type. ;_;

○ If you have a Romanced!Selina in your party, Selina will join you in both Court Battle and the Ending as seen in this story. It'll either cause her to take Iman's place (if she is not present) or to have extra spot suddenly appear above the rest of the group. Like Tiffy, she overheats and needs more space too cool off.

§ You can also talk to her as John, and sort of makeup/say your part of the team now. (But John will still be somewhat jealous of the attention she gets.)

§ John doesn't get the emotional hug with Bruce if Selina is around - especially since she doesn't temporarily leave with Tiffany and Iman - but the conversation is almost the same.

§ Naturally you can talk to her as Bruce, too. I don't think on her options too much, but they'll likely talk about change and what it means to have this "job" and internalizing too much of their emotions/themselves.

§ If you and Selina are only friends, Selina can join you in the Court Battle, but will text you instead of sticking around.

1:06 A.M & [Clock time on Belltower in Chapter 11] - Bruce's sense of time is off, which is why he's surprised it's after 1AM and not closer to 2AM. (Can't blame him, he was unconscious for a while and a whole bunch of stuff happened.) I figured if Bruce broke out of his kidnapping ropes at 10PM sharp, and drove all the way to the GCPD, that's about 20-30 minutes in his supercharged car, if not a little less, plus with 5 minutes to escape proper. If we think GCPD is sort of a halfway point to Old Gotham/The Coventry district, it's another 15 minutes to there. So he'd arrive at the Church of Mercy before 11PM, and wait John for around another 10-15 minutes, including with all the investigating inside. The "trial" scene probably took another 10 minutes until Batman crashed it, and fight scenes seem long because of all the action going on, but by the time Bruce and co' leave, it's not 12AM yet. The bell-tower in the Church of Mercy is actually off by about 20 minutes… And what do you know, card XX (20) of the tarot's Major Arcana is Judgement, alluding to karma at work! It can also be attributed to a life change. ;D

"11:43:20PM" - this wasn't deliberately meant to allude to anything. It took the batfam about 2 minutes from the last toll to leave the church. Bells' tolling speed is varying between clocks and towers, but you can estimate about 30-45 seconds for a full twelve. If it rang at 11:40 exactly, then…ugh, this is sounding like math homework.

Epilogue:

[Still a WIP, so will be updated after it's uploaded! Shouldn't have much, though! Saay, isn't there a Major Arcana card missing? (9v9) I wonder what that iiiiis~]

So that was [just about] all of them! I had a lot of fun weaving them throughout the story this time, especially with the story's themes! AtBoM didn't have as nearly as many, so they weren't really worth mentioning before.

I hope this was helpful to those of you who were interested in diving beneath the surface of BtTTS: TToJ~!

#ttoj #ttoj reference guide #telltale batman #batman the telltale series #tarot cards #I made it a goal to use all the Major Arcana! #fortune-telling #it took me a month to compile this whole guide #I had notes scattered between my Word doc and google doc #hopefully this wasn't too hard to read #even if no one got any of these i'm satisfied! #they were really fun to write!! #edit: corrected Eric's last name (my bad)

[ziracona]

With the next chapter being Resident evil, if they had made it into ilm do you think you would have take the route of parallel universe like bill or the raccoon city incident would have been canon in the main universe? I'm just imagining the situation like this:

Meg: so you're saying that the company that made my painkillers also made THAT THING?!

*points at Mr.x/Nemesis*

Leon: yup

I’ve actually never played a resident evil game all the way through although I’ve played and enjoyed parts of multiple—they’ve just never been my copy—so I’m not super familiar with the franchise. To the best of my understanding, unlike Silent Hill, the events effect too much of the world to easily fit into the same universe as like Saw and Scream and NOES, so if that’s correct, then they’d have to be from another timeline I guess? If there’d been enough characters from /wildly/ unmarriable timelines, like say a Telltale’s TWDG chapter and a Train to Busan chapter and an Anna & the Apocalypse chapter (unsurprisingly most timelines that can’t be dealt with are just zombie apocalypses lol), then if their lore could fit together, they’d all be from the same world (As in same as Bill/one same alternate timeline, which might be doable for zombie apocalypse people if you tweaked some lore details, but might not for all of them), and I’d keep it the way I have it.

If not, I guess I’d have to write multiverse, but I wouldn’t be happy about it, and I’d write limited multiverse. I might have just had to do everything really differently, because it’s a very different kind of story if there is no way they can end up together in the end, or if ending up together means choosing to never see your family and loved ones again. (By limited I mean I very much ascribe to the Terry Pratchett theory of even in infinite multiverse, where everything should happen, there’s no world where Vimes has killed his wife, because human choice matters and who you are matters, and it’s so powerful it even effects the infinite to make it fit who we are and choose to be. And I think it’s goofy period to have like 30 versions of the same survivor in the realm like just why? Is it somehow easier to kidnap them 30 times? No. Is it more interesting or more variety? Not really. And it’s insulting and gross to just assume there’s a version of Yui the champion for female victims of violence who goes around murdering girls because oh ho ho isn’t that so dark and edgy? Like when Agatha Christie said everyone is capable of murder she was 110% right but she meant that for some people they just do it, and for some people it has to be the only way to stop a powerful vile man from killing another child, but there’s a set of conditions out there that would make even the best person take a life if they were met, not we’re all one dice roll away from being Freddy Krueger.) So I guess I’m not sure? If there was any way Resident Evil was limited enough, that would be GD hilarious though, and it’s a Meg move if I ever saw one. 🤣

#ditoworld #ask #god Mr X is something else just looking at him is funny I hope all the X gon give it to ya memes return #dead by daylight

[lunchador]

so when do we get the long post about your feelings about dragon age inquisition!!! i dunno if u wanna wait until dlc or not! i am i n t e r e s t e d (also its ok if u dont feel up to it im just!!!! again, interested in ur opinions/feelings)

kajsldkjf PLEASE I HAVE SO MANY DA FEELINGS ALL THE TIME and Inquisition was twice as long as the others so might as well do a word vomit now and I can always do another after the dlc (which several people have assured me are worth playing )

SO

Yeah so inquisition is long. I dislike open world games so a lot of the (super repetitive!!) side quests did grate on my nerves and that docks this game a few points but over all the LORE IS SO GOOD, and it tying in so many choices in from 1+2 is the greatest butterfly effect I ever experienced in video games. I thought telltale + Until dawn were fun for that but good LORD bioware has showed up all of those games and I am really stoked to try mass effect when its out later and play more bw games. I only played Anthem before this and that game seemed...idk, gutted against BW’s wishes.

ANYWAY

Yeah, I managed to go into the whole DA series knowing very, very little, despite how many artists I followed did fanart for it. Once I started playing, I added all the words I could think of to my blacklist but a lot of untagged stuff came through (fair, series is 10+ years old and inq is like what 4-5?). I allowed my friends to pressure me into playing an elf mage for the lore and to romance solas cuz they said he was as important to the story as alistair was. A lot of online followers said I should play how I wanted, which I def would recommend to anyone else, but honestly I can see where they came from and while he never would have been my first choice, I think he actually paired REALLY well with my Inq and how I was playing her. I put her as sensitive but trying to put her responsibility above herself, she was definitely the least funny of my 3 characters, but not incredibly serious. A bit reserved? Just more mature. She’s got faith but she didn’t think she was the chosen one but she’ll do her role the best of her ability. She makes hard decisions and then sobs her chest empty over them because how is one to ever feel like its the right one? I really like how the game lets you choose how you wanna approach the responsibility. Like i said, I wasn’t a reluctant chosen one, but she will do what she can. Versus my friend playing at the same time as me said he played as the second coming of jesus essentially lmfao Having so many characters come back for different roles was so GOOD!!! Like everyone told me Varric was in this one but were like ‘teehee you still cant romance him though’ but you how you play drastically changes your relationships with each person. Tons of characters I met I knew would be personal favorites but I ended up interacting way less because others were more fitting to my inquisitor. So i.e while I love Varric and would’ve smooched him a heartbeat with Hawke, I didn’t get that vibe with Clover. They were really good friends, he was a grounded friend with a sense of humor that was a good escape from everyone else and the ~inquisition~. At least, until the Beyond the Abyss quest. That obviously heavily fractured their friendship and hurt them both :( And i felt that for a long time, until the end. He looked tired. Poor guy is gonna be borderline dead in 4 at this point. But so many side characters you talk to coming back like Dagna and Samson??? Speaking of that quest, I got Stroud because, yeah...Alistair was dead for me and APPARENTLY IT COULD ALSO BE LOGHAIN??? If he stays a grey warden??  wish I did that so def would’ve preferred to save Hawke even if I think the wardens are more important as a concept but like.......i wanted to behead him, so....But yes even tiny details like..Varric wrote home to kirkwall to Carver for me because the rest of my family was dead and I never completed a full romance in 2 lkajslkdjf but the fact that changes based on your play through. BUT YEAH THE way this game weaves all your decisions in and how yeah, overall the story is the same but it makes it so personal to YOU and so different from everyone else ;w;

But I could see my Inq genuinely falling for Solas, and I see her best friends as Cassandra and Blackwall/Thom. Really close to Leliana and the Iron Bull as well. I just loved all their interactions. All the characters were so cool to get to know?? Like I thought I would’ve hated Cullen (hes a dick in O) and tbh I just got into the series as the VA was being a complete shit. But I liked him a lot!! I love the work buddies vibes between the Inq and the advisors. I thought I was going to love Sera!! And like, I did, but she hated my Inquisitor and their personalities clashed a lot. Shes the only one i didn’t get a cut scene for in the end :’) I loved coming back from story quests and having to take like 20 minutes to go around skyhold and make sure I talked to /everyone/ for their new dialogue. You genuinely feel connected to all these wonderful npcs ljkasljdf

I wanted to make Cassandra the new divine but I made leliana on accident and kinda dug it so I stuck with it. VARRIC IS THE NEW VISCOUNT??? h i l a r i o u s.

One of the things I loved the most in this game in particular, and while this is something in all of them it just really struck me in this one, was....everyone gave up so so much to devote themselves to the cause, y’know?? Like, it’s almost heartbreaking how much everyone loses and they’re still looking towards you with their belief and willingness to follow you to the end ;-;

The final fight almost felt, Idk, underwhelming? Dude dragons are way tougher than him asdkjhfkhjd. I even went up a difficulty in this game after feeling like I got the hang of the series. But at the same time, we just spend how many hours knocking down each and one of his advantages so fuck him lol.

But yeah there are so many things I wanted to do but I felt so worn out by mindless sidequests and story being level locked in comparison to the previous games. askdjhflkd

One of the things that blows my mind is so so many people were stoked i was playing DA and they couldn’t wait til I got to Inq, and so I find out most people I know only ever played Inquisition? TBH if I didn’t play O+2 I think I would’ve dropped inquisition and never finished it *shrug* all of the build up just means SO MUCH!!! Everyones argument seems to be the older games are ugly and yeah O has rough battle system but its easy to get over imo. Like, you need the chaos of 2 to get the real weight of the mage/templar stuff?? Theres so many characters and story and dialogue that go over your head without Origins?? Like yes inq can stand alone pretty well but, idk, I’m in love with this entire series and the world building and THE!! WAY!!! IT!!! ALL!!! CONNECTS!!!!!!!!!!!

I love how a quest can go differently by whos in your party, I love you can have more dialogue based on lore you’ve managed to pick up around, I love HOW COMPANIONS BICKERRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! The lore of these games are so good. It’s like playing an epic line of novels. It’s so immersive and I don’t think I’ve played too many games to this level.

I didn’t like the skill trees to being a mage in this one, Idk why. It wasn’t nearly as fun for me as 2, but then  again I really fucking liked being a force mage haha. I wanted to be a rogue to complete a diff class per game but everyone said mage brings a lot more interesting story/lore stuff so

but yeah I love having the full context now and seeing other peoples Wardens/Hawkes/Inquisitors and asking people how they played and how their options differed from mine and THERES JUST SO MANY POSSIBLE DECISION TREES!!!!! No wonder the fans play over and over.

but yeah ultimately so much fucking happened?? I’m probably missing a lot of key points.