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brushstrokesapocalyptic · 3 years

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it’s time for the “overanalyzing one-off lines” show!

so the very first thing magnus says when he sees pit in chapter 2 of kid icarus: uprising is as follows:

“Well, I didn’t expect to see an angel here. Hope this doesn’t mean I’ve kicked the bucket.”

now, i’m not sure if you’re aware, but that’s a really weird thing for someone to say, and it’s even more weird that no one comments on it. pit and palutena go on talking about unrelated things, as if that’s a totally normal and expected thing for magnus to say.

now, if you’re like me, you probably also didn’t really react to this line the first few times you saw it. it’s the second chapter, kiu has a lot of slightly-odd lines which turn out to be foreshadowing. me, personally? my first thought was “oh, i guess angels are probably associated with escorting the dead to the afterlife,“ and then i moved on.

they’re not, though. that’s what reapers do. and there’s no way humans have these two races mixed up. just fucking look at them.

do they look anything alike to you??? no. they don’t. which raises the question of why, exactly, magnus said that.

now, we don’t know a lot about angels as a whole. pit (and by extension dark pit) is emphatically not the gold standard of angeldom. we can assume he looks fairly ordinary for an angel, seeing as no one has trouble identifying him as such. beyond that, though, a lot of what we know about angels comes from what pit isn’t. for starters, he can’t fly. and there’s something else, too, but i’ll get to that later.

before that, though, i’m gonna go through the various unsubstantiated comments made by people with a dubious level of authority on the subject. (incidentally, i sourced these screenshots from the wiki— much more convenient than trying to dig through youtube for every single random conversation.)

without any further ado! let’s get into it!

Angels as Messengers

Gaol: Aw, Palutena’s little messenger boy. And Magnus, it’s always a pleasure. (src)

in the specific context of overanalyzing magnus’s first line, this is an important sentence to pick out. magnus and gaol are both humans, both with presumably a fairly similar history as mercenaries up until gaol got stuffed in a suit of armor. but while magnus makes a weird comment about death, gaol calls pit a messenger.

and pit agrees with her!

Viridi: I wish I had an angel to do my bidding. It’s like having an intern.

Pit: I’m not an intern. I’m a messenger of the gods!

Viridi: Poor Pit. Don't you know that the definition of angel is "errand spirit"? (src)

this particular conversation is the most insight we get into angels as a whole, i think. viridi thinks of angels as like divine interns, there to do little tasks for gods, and palutena doesn’t exactly disagree with her. pit says they’re specifically messengers, which lines up with biblical mythology. i could see the traditional role of angels in the world of KI being exactly that, showing up to tell the humans what the gods have to say because the gods themselves are too busy being petty jerks to do it themselves.

The Angel’s Code of Conduct

Magnus: You go in fully dressed? Don't you at least want to change into a...swimming tunic or something?

Pit: Oh, no no no! The angel's code of conduct says that we must always be ready for duty.

Magnus: I guess you wouldn't be an angel if you didn't do things by the book. (src)

Pit: Hey! You know the angel's code of conduct! I need to be prepared at all times! (src)

another random little thing is the angel’s code of conduct. without a larger sample size, we can’t know if it’s a real thing or just an excuse to save on laundry, but apparently it’s against the rules to not be on call at all times. in pit’s case, the duty he has to be ready for is doing palutena’s dirty work, but it can easily mean just about anything— including, of course, being a messenger.

No Warrior

Chariot Master: But you are no warrior, angel. Tell me, why do you fight?

Pit: I fight for Lady Palutena. And I fight for the people under her protection!

Chariot Master: That's not reason enough for an angel. (src)

remember how i said there was something else weird about pit? the chariot master seems to think angels aren’t very prone to battle— or perhaps even that they’re actively opposed to it. this lines up well with the idea that they’re supposed to be messengers, peaceful go-betweens for gods and mortals. this does not line up well with pit, the adorable weapon of mass destruction.

and it also does absolutely nothing to explain the question driving the whole existence of this post.

you know what does kinda lean towards an explanation?

No Other Angels

Pit: Do all gods have their own angels, like you have me?

Palutena: No, I don't think that's necessarily the case. (src)

i said before that the Intern Pit conversation had the most illuminating information on angels. this is what i was actually referring to. on its own, it’s pretty innocuous, but it’s just as weird as the magnus line. shouldn’t pit know about other angels, seeing as he is one himself? but he doesn’t know if there are other angels.

the only angels we ever see are him and his clone. no one ever directly references the existence of other angels, they only make general statements about what angels as a whole are like— statements which clearly don’t apply to pit, meaning they’re not just extrapolating based on the one angel that definitely does exist.

the one time someone does comment on the hypothetical existence of other angels, palutena gives a vague answer to the tune of “no,” the topic is changed, and no one brings it up again.

let’s go over everything i’ve established about angels up to this point. they can fly, they’re peaceful messengers of the gods, and pit is the only one that seems to exist as of the start of KIU.

it should be pretty obvious at this point what answer i’m dancing around, if it wasn’t obvious from the start. pit is the only angel around because all the other ones are dead. the reason why magnus said what he did is that his thought process went something like this:

See an angel.

Think “Aren’t angels extinct? Is that a ghost? Am I a ghost? I sure hope not.“

Make a quip about that.

Move on with his life, because he isn’t dead and evidently neither is this guy.

i’m not gonna pretend i went into this post with the intent of any other conclusion to that mystery. anyone who’s bothered glancing over a plot summary for the original kid icarus can draw that conclusion. it’s certainly what i did, reinforced by fics by people who had the same thought!

the truth, however, is that this was all a trick to get you to read my analysis of the theoretical nature of angels as a race. now that you’re invested, i’m going to dramatically throw aside my cape and reveal my TRUE FORM: telling people that fandom consensus is wrong, and my ideas are cooler and better than everyone else’s and you should all throw roses at my feet and bow before your king.

(or just, y’know, take it as the subjective analysis that it is. whatever floats your boat.)

Hot Takes

the original kid icarus does not actually tell you about angels going extinct. here’s the wiki article with the full text of the backstory, just for convenience, so you know what i’m on about for the rest of this post.

so, the part of the story that i think gets misinterpreted is this part about palutena’s army.

Medusa led a surprise attack on Palutena's army which could barely fend off the attack. Palutena's army suffered major losses and was heavily defeated in the final battle.

specifically, i think a lot of people interpret said army as having been made up at least partly of angels. sure, in the actual game it consists entirely of centurions, but you have to take old NES games with a grain of salt. i know i don’t buy for a second that pit was part of palutena’s guard before the original game (he was just too goddamn young), there’s nothing wrong with reinterpreting things.

recall everything i established about angels already, though. this is the hot official lore, from the game everyone knows and loves. angels are messengers, and if the chariot master is to be believed, never warriors. pit is an outlier. palutena’s army consists of centurions, not angels. if medusa wiped them out, it wasn’t because they were fighting for palutena.

(and honestly, i don’t think angels are necessarily associated with palutena exclusively. sure, she’s got the wing imagery, and she’s got the one known surviving angel working for her, at least up until pittoo is born. but angels are messengers of the gods, not messengers of palutena. again, pit is an outlier.)

which all brings us to the real question of this post.

what the FUCK happened to all the other angels? why is there only pit? why does magnus act surprised to see a messenger of the gods, and make a quip about being dead, if not because angels are otherwise extinct?! WHO KILLED THEM, AND WHY?!

thus concludes the “over analyzing one-off lines“ show. see you next, uh, maybe at some point if i feel like it!

(also another thought i had but couldn’t find room to fit it in properly: the gods don’t really act like angels are all extinct, but i feel like that can be explained through the sheer scale of a god’s lifespan. if we assume they were wiped out sometime around the original kid icarus (even if not as palutena’s army) then that’s a whole twenty-five years. that’s a long time for us humans, but for a god, that might as well be last tuesday. “yeah, i know what angels are like. sure wish i could have one. too bad palutena’s got a monopoly on the one single angel that medusa didn’t manage to wreck.”)

#kid icarus #kid icarus uprising #the things i think of at five am #i am just yelling and spewing thoughts and theories and headcanons #if anyone has their own thoughts to add go right ahead i am dying to know whether or not i'm actually breaking new ground with all this #or if there's some vital lore i missed #or anything like that #i am OPEN for CONVERSATION

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emmys-grimoire · 3 years

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Season 2 review

It is done!

I’ll preface this review with the obvious but nevertheless important: these are my opinions. I am fine with others criticizing my opinions, mind you, but I’m usually disinclined to changing them. Like most opinionated people.

And as with most things covered in this blog, spoilers ahead. Don’t read it if you don’t like ‘em.

The Good

I believe the devs did the side characters justice in terms of character development, which is impressive because they have to fixate on seven other characters for most of the story (the demon brothers are the draw, afterall). It’s a little frustrating because it shows they are capable of revealing a lot about a character in just a single conversation, but they spend a great deal of their time on fluff. It is nothing unsurprising given the aim of the game as a whole (romantic fantasy/escapism), but it does detract from… well, everything else. If you don’t care about everything else, this doesn’t matter. If you’re one of the few who do, like me, you’re in for a drought before you get to the next juicy story morsel. Alas, that is the price we pay.

But, this is ‘the Good’ section of the review, so I will focus on that. Diavolo, Luke, Simeon, and Solomon get fleshed out more than they did in the previous season as promised, and their growing closeness to MC doesn’t feel hamfisted; there’s little realistic hooks strewn throughout that makes the relationships grow organically compared to, say, the newt syrup arc.

At the end of the season MC is set to become Solomon’s new apprentice, they are now instrumental in Diavolo’s plan for realm-wide peace instead of just being a particularly charming exchange student, Simeon is more interested in learning more about MC due to MC’s meddling during the retreat and their performance in his play, and Luke finally can bring himself to admit that he actually enjoys being in the Devildom. Michael is being alluded to more and more and finally drops in to say hi, even though the game stops short of explicitly revealing that it is him. It all feels like a good transition into more romantic things with them in the next season, and I look forward to exploring more hidden depths.

I am relieved they steered away from additional time travel due to its potential to confuse everyone and everything. We need to learn what the deal is with Barbatos but I’m sure it can be done without meddling with the time continuum. The introduction of the Reaper has interesting worldbuilding implications: the souls of all beings are overseen by what appears to be an unaligned third party, though prior lore implies that the departed souls still return to their respective realms (Lilith allegedly forgot how to ascend to the Celestial Realm in her desire to watch over her siblings). But, like with Michael, they avoided actually showing him by having him take a vacation right before Solomon and the brothers arrive.

On the whole, I’m happy with the season’s ending. It’s probably as good as it can get, and sets up the next season well -- assuming there is one (I think there will be).

The Bad

It’s hard to frame this because there were never any explicit promises made but wow was the build-up wasted and the climax went down dry.

Diavolo’s wishy-washiness and reluctance to tell Lucifer about how MC’s presence was slowly tearing the Devildom asunder, his growing jealousy and his doubt in the strength of Lucifer’s loyalty, the foreshadowing in Simeon’s play, Barbatos warning Lucifer that one day he may need to choose between Diavolo and MC/his family and how he was reverting back to his angelic self, the very foreboding storm that was brewing outside, how Lucifer was certain “something bad” was about to happen… all that juicy potential rendered impotent because of the Ring of Light and amnesia.

It didn’t lead to a tortured, difficult choice Lucifer had to make that had the potential to put either his relationships or the realms in jeopardy -- and it really felt like it was headed in that direction. But it couldn’t really lead there because Lucifer lost his memories, and he was just re-familiarizing himself with all those relationships. Instead we had to choose whether or not we let Lucifer martyr himself, and of course he’s willing to do that because he loves us even if his memories aren’t fully intact, and it’s heavily implied that he’s his angel-like self again. The choices we made during the play don’t really come into fruition, and the Ring of Light helps make our choice ultimately irrelevant anyway.

It felt like they winded up for the pitch and then lost their nerve.

Though I’d argue that Lucifer would ultimately be okay with sacrificing himself for MC and the realms even if he was still his full-fledged, assholish demon self… but it definitely felt like fate was going to make him choose between his loyalty and his love. You know, the whole “love is the death of duty”/”duty is the death of love” shebang. It would have been more rewarding -- they can even let the Ring of Light ultimately fix everything and I’d be happy if it was that dilemma! But this isn’t Game of Thrones, so I can’t be too disappointed that my expectations weren’t met.

If you like Lucifer and Mammon fluff, this season gives it in spades. If neither of those two are your favorite you might have been bummed out. They give Asmo an arc but he ultimately concludes he was trying too hard to be like Lucifer which left me all ?????? How? Satan tutors you, but he doesn’t really deviate from what he usually does (though his minor tiff with Simeon when he’s physically affectionate with us was amusing). The devs did suggest they want to explore Satan’s origins more thoroughly in the future in one of the newsletters, and I think we’re due for that in the next season. There’s hope for the others yet... just not much in this season.

The Future?

I think there’s a high probability that we’ll get a season 3. Nothing about season 2’s ending felt like they were wrapping things up. The season as a whole felt like a transition.

I think we’ll get more romantic scenes with our “undateables” and they won’t officially be considered “undateables” any more. We’ll probably get more cards with them. I’m not sure if they’ll fully graduate into dance battle sprites because that’ll require more creative color assignments for glow sticks, but I wouldn’t entirely discount the possibility. There are many shades in the rainbow.

I think worldbuilding necessitates more exploration of the Celestial Realm, and an eventual conclusion to the game storyline requires officially mending relations between the angels and demons and healing the wounds incurred by both the wars of the distant past and the Great Celestial War (which was essentially a civil war). Such a thing requires an honest dialogue between the two factions for it to ring sincere, not just a continuation of the exchange program. The game doesn’t hesitate in stating how violent all of it was.

To that end, I think we’re going to at least get a full-fledged Michael eventually, though I understand the reluctance to add him due to the work that will follow in adding another handsome man fans will undoubtedly want to make blush and kiss. They may leave him a disembodied voice for as long as they possibly can, but at some point fans will start complaining at the teasing. It’ll be like continually having to skip a missing step on a ladder.

Until then, though, he’s a missing step that’s fun to conceptualize.

You won’t get routes. The setting is ideal for a harem: all the potential love interests loved each other before MC ever entered the picture, so they will eventually accept having to share them, jealousy be damned. I’m pretty sure they’re all aware of MC’s affection towards each of them already: it’s just a matter of contention of which among them MC prefers the most. If MC wants to pursue only one of the brothers, it is up to them to do just that -- in the confines of the presented story.

Conclusion

There were some good story bits to chew on here and there, but as a whole the writing fell flatter than season 1’s writing, in spite of the predictability in the latter. The general unpredictability of this season has made things more exciting than the conclusion we eventually arrived at; it’s hard to commend it when it just doesn’t lead to something intriguing.

Welp, at least we get time to level up our cards for the next season. I only have three URs so it was pretty rough.

I’ll probably do more analysis and essays in the interim, as I work through hard mode and think more about stuff. It’s been fun, in spite of my critique.

#obey me!#obey me #obey me spoilers #obey me season 2 #obey me season 2 review #review

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desiree-harding-fic · 5 years

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Cold Hands, Warm Heart

Based on that one post by @thepensword about how Taako is always cold. Can be found here. Plus an idea I’ve had for a long time but never written about.

Cw for swears, kids. Be safe out there. But other than that it’s light angst with a fluffy chaser and a dash of Lore.

Enjoy!!!

*~*~*~*~*

Positively stomping through the streets of Neverwinter, Taako, for the thousandth time, curses the city for its positively idiotic name.

“Neverwinter”, his ass. Maybe they should have gone with “UsuallyWinter,” or “JustAsMuchWinterAsAnywhereElse,” or “CanWeReallySayThatAnythingOnThisOneSunnedPlanetIsn’tWinter.”

Because, you see, Taako is cold.

Taako is always cold.

It’s a holdover from a plane long behind them. Two-sunned elves have different traits than those of Faerun. Ears that move. Different colored eyes.

Different body temperatures.

Taako is a sun elf. A sun elf from a planet with two suns. He was made for warmth. More warmth than here. And even on two-sun he ran a little colder than the other elves he knew. But there, the extra warmth was enough to compensate. He’d tan in the summer, he’d soak up the rays and wear sleeveless shirts and live for the suns.

Faerun has one sun. On Faerun the long sleeves and pants, the heavy coat with the dozens of pockets he wore adventuring were more than just good sense - they helped him stay fucking warm.

It’s not even fair because Lup isn’t even cold all the time. Lup feels fine. Mostly. She gets a little chilly but it’s nothing a jacket can’t fix, and now she’s a Reaper and something about that helps too (Taako doesn’t know what). Taako’s body doesn’t work that way. And to top it all off, ever since Wonderland, when those fucking liches stole some of his vitality, it’s gotten even worse.

The snowy winter days in Fucking Neverwinter are hell to the multiverse’s favorite wizard, because no matter how many layers of coats and scarves and gloves and enchanted wizard hats he throws on, he can’t get warm.

He turns off the road, starts making the hike up the hill to his house which looks out on the Stillwater sea. He liked the walk when he bought the place. Lined it with trees and flowers that Merle and Pan blessed to grow big and beautiful.

He bought the place in the summer.

Magic should help. It doesn’t. First lesson he ever learned on the road with Lup: no matter how good a wizard you think you are, you never directly influence body temperature using magic. It’s too powerful, too volatile. Transmutation on the body was a risk they were willing to take. Watching your sibling’s blood boil just because you got a little chilly was not.

He finally makes it up to his front door, pushes inside, and sighs in relief.

Ever since the first chills of autumn in the city, every fireplace in Taako’s home, of which there are many, has been running almost nonstop. Is it a fire hazard? Probably. Does Taako give a shit? Maybe ten percent of one. He’s got more money than anyone else in the damn planar system. He can buy a new house.

(But he likes his villa-styled sprawling house by the sea. Likes the herbs in the window boxes and the flowers in the front and back. Likes the view of the water. It would be a shame if it burned down.)

The fireplaces help. But not enough. Never enough.

He takes off his outermost layer for the sake of the snow caked on it, but keeps on everything underneath it. Stupid, he thinks, to wear a full coat and scarf inside of his own house. But he doesn’t know any other way.

He walks through the foyer, and there.

The man of the hour.

Kravitz.

He’s reclining on the couch, close by the fire, book in one hand and glass of red wine in the other, wearing his usual suit without the jacket and shoes. He looks...

Well.

Taako knows how he looks (miraculous).

The worst thing about the winter is the space it’s put between him and his boyfriend.

Six months after Story and Song, and Taako, against all odds, is living with Kravitz. As in, Kravitz lives in his house. Kravitz drinks his wine and moved in his books and plays piano here and sleeps in Taako’s bed.

Well, most of the time.

Kravitz, who’s hands were ice cold on his and Taako’s first date, who tried to warm himself up for their first kiss, is fucking freezing to the touch in the winter.

It’s been a solid couple of months since Taako and Kravitz have cuddled without at least three or four layers between them, and by then Taako could pretty much have just bought a weighted blanket for all the good it does him. It’s hard to satisfy that craving for skin contact from the person you... care about when said skin contact feels like hugging an ice sculpture.

Kravitz looks up, puts down his glass of wine.

“Evening,” he says, mildly, as though testing the waters. And that’s what does it for Taako.

“Hey,” Taako says, immediately turning into the kitchen, not looking at Kravitz, because he just can’t.

Ever since the winter started, and Taako, out of necessity, started shying away from Kravitz’s touch, things have been... weird.

Taako knows that Kravitz isn’t the kind to speak up about this kind of thing. They’re working on it, but it’s been so long since he’s been in a relationship, so many mortal things are new to him. Taako knows this. And yet... breaching this issue, to which Taako has no solution, trying to communicate to Kravitz that he wants him while constantly having to push him away is... frustrating. What Kravitz wants is for Taako to be happy, for Taako to be comfortable. He says it constantly. He insists. And it’s the insisting that’s the problem.

Because Taako knows that even if he’s not saying it, Kravitz isn’t happy either.

And now when Taako comes home, and tries to spend time with his boyfriend, there’s all this horrible... space between them. When Taako’s cold, it seeps into his words and his actions, until all of him is cold, not just his body, not just his skin. Until he’s cold to people he cares about, and apologies come slow and with difficulty, and then the damage has been done.

Taako starts on a simple soup, no energy to make anything flashier, and still refusing to use magic in the kitchen. He hates the way all the extra clothing gets in the way of cooking. Hates the way the warmth of the stove only does so much.

Kravitz eats with him that night, and they talk, but it’s a weird, shy conversation, both of them anticipating what comes after.

What comes after is Kravitz sitting on the other side of the couch pretending to read while Taako shivers and pretends too.

What comes after is Taako going about his evening routine before slipping into bed in a full onesie and under about five blankets. It’s Kravitz dressing in flannels to try to shield Taako from the coldness of his skin, and then the two of them, side by side. Lying on their back and staring up at the ceiling, as they wait for sleep to come.

It’s a long wait, when one of them is an elf and the other doesn’t sleep naturally.

And there’s the thing about Kravitz: he’s not just without warmth. He’s actively cold. His body radiates cold like a living person’s radiates warmth. It’s only been a few minutes and Taako’s already shivering.

“I’m sorry,” Kravitz says from his side of the bed. And he sounds so fucking defeated and sad and Taako feels bad but he also feels annoyed. Because he’s cold. Because why can’t Kravitz just be a normal fucking person. Because Kravitz won’t talk to him and he won’t talk to Kravitz and this whole situation is just a goddamn nightmare.

“Not your fault,” Taako says, but the words have been said so many times they hardly mean anything anymore. He can feel how flippant they sound. He can feel the way they don’t sink in, how they bounce off Kravitz’s skin like Taako doesn’t care.

I do, he tries to broadcast. I promise I do.

“I think maybe it would be better if I stayed up tonight.” Kravitz says, like it’s an idea he’s only just had, not something he’s been saying nearly every night these days, like it’s not the new normal, like he truly believes that they still sleep in the same bed and touch each other and they aren’t on the verge of -

Kravitz slips out of the bed, pads gently out of the room and shuts the door behind him. And Taako turns over in bed, ignoring the tightness in his throat and trying, desperately, to get warm.

*~*~*~*~*

Candlenights comes, as it always does, despite the coldness in Taako’s house and his heart.

And Taako’s happy for it, really. He didn’t harbor any delusions about everything being beautiful and shiny and sparkly so close to the apocalypse, and in the aftermath of it. The world is still healing from a colossal wound. But he’s hosting, at least. He’s always been a good party planner. Lup is there and so is Barry. Merle comes up from the coast with his kids. Magnus and his dogs. Angus, visiting on his break from school. Davenport is still abroad, and Lucretia is conspicuously absent (no amount of begging from Lup could convince Taako to let her into his house), but it’s... good. Cozy, almost.

Taako even cooks for everyone, Lup assisting, and ignores the careful distance Kravitz keeps from him and from most of his family. The meal goes off without a hitch, save Taako’s shivering. He can see the sympathetic eyes Magnus keeps making at him, wants to glare and snap and tell him to fuck off, but he doesn’t. Just because the cold makes him crabby doesn’t mean he has to be an asshole.

He has a thick will blanket wrapped around him elegantly, like a shawl, while they’re unwrapping presents. Lup smiles brightly at the diamond earrings Kravitz got her, and Taako’s heart swells a little. Angus loves his books. Kravitz gets Taako a set of jewelry done up in gently curling silver and sapphire and pink tourmaline, because he’s a romantic, and Taako tries to ignore how... wiggly it makes him feel.

He wants to kiss him. He doesn’t.

Taako saves Lup’s gift for last, as is tradition.

It’s a tiny little box, which Taako had first been terrified was from Kravitz and then relieved wasn’t, and it’s as light as a feather.

Because, Taako discovers, there’s nothing inside.

Nothing, that is, except a tiny ivory card with scrolling golden text on it. It reads:

Command word: flambé.

Love, Barry and Lup! :)

“What the fuck, Lulu?” Taako asks, turning the card over and over in his hands.

“Oh fuck off, Taako,” Lup says good-naturedly from Barry’s lap. Gross. “You’ll thank me later. Well, thank us.”

And isn’t that fucking cryptic, he thinks. But Lup is Lup. His sister is fucking weird, and he brushes it off in favor of drinking more wine.

It’s a good day, mulled wine and carols and gift-giving, but as all good days do, it winds down sooner than expected. The guests go off to their many rooms, Taako’s house big enough to host them all (by design), and before he knows it, he and Kravitz are headed to bed.

It’s the same old charade. Kravitz goes through the motions, and Taako does too, and it’s awful and stilted and he just wants it to end.

It’s not fair, he thinks, staring at the the bed while Kravitz is still futzing around in the bathroom, a charade of mortality. Kravitz is good. Taako likes him. He’s nice to talk to and doesn’t make Taako feel like he has to perform. He’s a big old nerd and actually really compassionate and sometimes an entity of absolute chaos and he’s perfect for Taako, he really is. So why can’t he just have this? Why does there have to be fucking... roadblocks in the way?

Taako expected things to be hard. He expected having to make things work. Sometimes Kravitz is gone for days going after bounties and Taako can deal with that. There are elements of mortal life Kravitz has to re-learn, and he doesn’t know how to interact in just.. normal society sometimes, and Taako can deal with that. Sometimes he’s a real asshole and gets prickly and offended and impatient after a bad day and Taako can deal with that.

He doesn’t know how to deal with not being able to touch him for months at a time.

He’s shivering just standing there. He needs cover.

But when he pulls back the comforter the sheets are a deep fuchsia. And while it’s a nice color, it looks nothing like his usual ones.

There’s a piece of paper like a letter, there, on his side of the bed under the comforter. It’s the same as the card he found in lup’s gift, and all that’s on it, in that same gold ink, is a winky face.

Taako sighs, long and deep. Because with Lup these things are always a gamble. Is it a gag gift? If Taako says the command word, will his bed explode? He has a horrible flashback to the memory of his first conversation with Kravitz, which was about tentacle porn, and Lup heard it from the umbrastaff, and now she’s given him enchanted bedsheets. Taako pales at the thought.

But here’s the thing: it’s late, and he’s tired, and he can always shut it off because he’s the best wizard in all planar systems, and he’s curious.

He stands, contemplating, cold as balls, for another minute.

And then he says, very deliberately,

“Flambé.”

And for a second it looks like nothing happened. And then it really looks like nothing happened. And then...

Taako can feel the warmth just from standing next to the bed.

It takes him about 0.04 seconds to hop in after that, to pull the sheets up around his shoulders and bury himself under the covers up to his chin.

It’s heavenly. Warmth from all sides, and Taako sighs, long and deep, as he feels tension in his muscles all over his body, held from weeks and months of being cold all the time. Already he can feel the chill in his veins slipping away. He can feel the warmth reaching the core of him, strong and comforting.

He can feel his face flushing, and the warmth rushing up into his long ears.

And then it gets warmer.

And warmer.

Uncomfortably warm.

Taako’s sweating, he realizes. He’s flushed, not in the comfortable way of sitting by the fire. He’s hot like a beach day, hot like a desert plane. He throws the covers off above the waist. It’s not enough. He’s too hot. Much, much too hot.

The door to the bathroom opens up and Kravitz steps out.

“Oh thank god,” Taako says, without thinking, “get the hell over here.” He holds up the blankets on Kravitz’s side of the bed, gestures for him to get in. Kravitz is staring at him like he’s grown an extra head. He slides into bed, slowly, tentative, and Taako practically throws himself on top of him.

The relief of his cold skin isn’t enough through the flannel pajamas Taako’s wearing. He goes for his shirt buttons.

“Taako,” Kravitz says, “what’s happening here?”

“Damn enchanted sheets from Lup are too fucking hot,” Taako grumbles, pulling his shirt off and squirming around with his pajamas pants until those are off too. He tosses them across the room.

Laying across Kravitz’s chest is such a relief. It’s like cold water on a hot day, and Taako spends a luxurious moment running his hands over his chest and shoulders, nuzzles into his neck and revels in the coolness on his face. He sighs, goes boneless against his boyfriend. He feels wonderful.

Kravitz’s arms come up around his back, tentatively holding him, and it hits him.

“Oh shit,” he says, half sitting up. Kravitz looks him in the eyes, questioning.

“That was Lup’s Candlenights gift. It was...” he licks his lips. Why is it so much harder to say things than it is to feel them? “It was this,” he says, running his hands over Kravitz’s chest again.

Understanding dawns in Kravitz’s eyes, and he smiles at Taako, and his smile is like the sun on a warm day.

“Glad I can be your ice pack,” he says, smiling.

“Shut up,” Taako says, resting his head back down, feeling more than hearing the happy little hum Kravitz makes. He snuggles a little closer. Kravitz’s arms tighten around him.

“I missed you,” Kravitz whispers.

And what can Taako do in response to that but kiss him?

“I missed you too, handsome,” he whispers into Kravitz’s lips.

#taz balance #taakitz #taz taako #taz kravitz #taako taaco #kravitz #my fic #desiree: the tumblr sessions #thepensword

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caranfindel · 4 years

Text

Recap/review 15.12: “Galaxy Brain”

Oh, my friends, so many things have happened since we last got together. Most of them bad. But let’s try to forget them and immerse ourselves in our favorite show again, shall we?

THEN: Sammy lost hope (Saaaaaaammmmmm!!!!), Chuck needs to visit his other worlds, and oh. Crap. Kaia. Claire’s wooden response to Kaia’s death, Dark Kaia’s stupid dramatic poses… ugh. I’m not here for any of this. And also, Jack has to do exactly what Billie says if he wants to kill God.

NOW: Four weeks ago. Earth 2. Apparently Radio Shack Shed is still in business in this other world. Maybe because Hillary Clinton is the president. Oh, but things are going to go downhill for Radio Shed, because Chuck just walked in.

I take it you’re unsatisfied with your viewing experience at home?

You have no idea.

Hee!

The friendly Radio Shed employee tries to interest Chuck in his giant wall o’televisions, but he’s not here for a TV. What is he here for? “An audience. It’s monologue time.” Each of the TVs begins to show scenes from one of Chuck’s worlds, including the interior of the bunker in our world, as he begins his monologue. As we watch Sam’s visions from the other worlds, Chuck complains that he created his one world, created copies, and should be happy. Because he’s gotten what he wants from hundreds of Sams and Deans, and could get more. But the other worlds don’t spark joy like the original Sam and Dean do. “They challenge me. They disappoint me. They surprise me. They’re the ones.” Chuck doesn’t need more. He suddenly realizes he needs less. It’s time to cancel “all the other worlds, the alternate realities, the subplots, the failed spinoffs.” YES, CHUCK, ESPECIALLY THE FAILED SPINOFFS.

Title card!

Sioux Falls. Our version. Jody is examining a dead cow. Alex calls, wanting to know when she’ll be home to eat vegan lasagna. Which sounds nasty. I’ve got nothing against vegan cuisine, but I think taking a dish that’s supposed to be loaded with cheese, and loading it with not-cheese, is a mistake. Just make spaghetti. Jody says she thinks her dead cow is evidence of humans, not monsters. She sees something suspicious in a barn and heads inside, where she is promptly clobbered.

Bunker. Sam’s wearing that orange plaid shirt that fits him just right, although the collar is higher than I’d like, and we’ve discussed my feelings on orange. Whatever TFW is talking about, he doesn’t like it. “Which part?” Dean asks. “Jack’s deal with Death, or the part where she’s got him eating angel hearts?” Yeah, there’s a lot to dislike there. Sam doesn’t think they should trust Billie, and he’s concerned about Jack’s state of mind, considering that he is still soulless, and was in the Empty for months. And I’m sure this was not intentional on the writers’ part, but I like the way this played out. When they first saw Jack, Sam was the one who immediately reached out, because his boy was back, and it wasn’t until later that he thought oh, things might be fucked up. Dean, on the other hand, immediately had his guard up, and took a moment before he decided it was okay and accepted Jack. This feels true to the characters and I like it. But as I said, I’m sure it’s an accident.

For his part, Jack is wandering the dark rooms of the bunker. He comes across the initials scratched into the table and touches Mary’s, then retreats to his room. Where a strange woman suddenly appears behind him and says she’s answering Jack’s silent prayer to Death, who is busy at the moment.

Meanwhile, Cas says he has some concerns, but Jack trusts Billie and he trusts Jack. And that makes sense. Jack is, what, two years old now? So of course he’s learned who is trustworthy. It’s not like he ever trusted Lucifer or anything like that. Sam reminds them of the required cosmic balance, what with Amara needing to be cancelled out by God. Dean says, having spent time with Billie and visited her library, that he believes in her and her commitment to the rules. He thinks she’s probably got it all figured out.

“Probably?” Sam says. “Like she had the Ma’lak box figured out?” Well, there’s an interesting point. Billie was sure there was only one road that didn’t end in chaotic destruction, and she was wrong. {Or she was lying. Discuss.} But Dean’s still willing to put his faith in her. After all, she was right about Rowena. And it’s the only plan they’ve got, which Sam reluctantly agrees with. Well, he doesn’t agree as much as he just stops arguing.

Skeptical Sam!

Jack is telling his visitor about how he called out to Billie for help with the Grigori, but she didn’t respond. The visitor must be a reaper. She’s a pleasant change from other reapers – a middle-aged woman with gorgeous silver hair and a matronly outfit. She assures Jack that Billie must have known everything would turn out okay, or else she would have stepped in. All Jack has to do is follow Billie’s rules – lie low, wait for instructions, and don’t use your powers under any circumstances, because God might find you. Oooh, what could possibly happen now? Whose life will be in jeopardy, forcing Jack to use his powers?

Approaching Jack’s room, Sam hears him talking to the reaper. Sam knocks on the door and then opens it, which is not cool. {Sidebar: A knock is supposed to say “can I come in,” not “here I come.” You should wait for permission to open the door.} Anyway. When Sam enters, the reaper is gone. Jack claims he was talking to “no one,” and Sam lets that pass. He tells Jack he’s just checking in on him, and stumbles a bit when trying to express how glad they are to have him back. He tells Jack that he could have come to them, even though I’m pretty sure Jack said he couldn’t because he was hiding from God, but that was so long ago that I’ve forgotten. But let’s concentrate on the important part of this conversation. Sam’s face.

He’s awkward and endearing and I adore him.

Dean and Cas are sharing a decanter of whiskey now that Sam’s finally out of their hair. {waves to the Destiel shippers.} Cas explains that he was sure Jack would save the world somehow, and he was “lost” when Jack “died” because he knew Jack’s story couldn’t be done yet. And now, he is absolutely sure that he was right all along. “Here’s to being right,” Dean offers as a toast. He’s also excited about the idea of revenge against Chuck, though Cas says he’s only interested in “Jack fulfilling his destiny.”

Can we just have several minutes of Dean drinking whiskey? Please?

But before Dean can spend a lot of time basking in his anticipated revenge, his phone rings. It’s Jody. Someone’s holding a phone up to her face, so she must be tied up. “Dean, I’m in trouble. Route 11, Fletcher Farm, the old barn. If you don’t come, I’m dead.” Yeah, looks like trouble, all right.

Fletcher Farm. The Impala pulls up next to Jody’s Sheriffmobile. (Aw, typing that makes me miss the Pimpmobile.) It’s just Sam and Dean, though Sam is on the phone with someone when they arrive.

Hello, gorgeous.

The guys find Jody tied up, as predicted, inside the old Fletcher barn. Sam starts to untie her, as Dean conveniently looks the other way and therefore completely misses someone attacking Sam. You will probably not be surprised to hear that this someone is Dark Kaia. She dispatches Sam easily, as people always do when it’s convenient for plot reasons, and gets Dean by the throat. “You have something that belongs to me,” she says. Which, as we know from the Then, is her magic spear. That got broken. Oops. Dean doesn’t care that he promised her he’d get her back to her own world, or that he promised to return the spear, because “that promise expired the minute you hurt our friend.” Although, Dean, you were conveniently ignoring that promise long before Jody got involved, but okay. Luckily, Jody is able to sneak up behind Dark Kaia and hit her with something, allowing Dean and Sam to pull their guns. Yay! {Sidebar: I love Jody, y’all, but that doesn’t mean I want her being the badass instead of Sam.} Sam asks Dark Kaia why she’s so desperate to get back to “that hellhole,” because apparently Sam doesn’t get that your home is your home, even if it’s a hellhole, which makes perfect sense, she said sarcastically.

It turns out the awful orange jacket doesn’t actually match the orange plaid shirt all that well.

Dark Kaia explains that her world is dying, and she knows this because she’s psychically connected to Kaia 1.0. Who is still alive, somehow. Jody feels awful, but Sam and Dean are the ones who didn’t even bother to haul her carcass back through the rift, so. {Sidebar: Coincidentally, I just watched “Defending Your Life.” I wonder if Dean’s feelings of guilt have changed since that episode?}

Bunker. Jack is beating Cas at Connect Four when they hear the creaky door open. {Sidebar: The Husband winces every time he hears the Impala’s squeaky doors. Do the Winchesters not know what WD-40 is?} Sam comes downstairs with Jody, and we have this weird conversation.

Jody!

Hey, Jack, Cas.

Nice to finally meet you in person.

Have Jody and Cas really never met? And if not, why did she casually greet him with “hey, Cas?” Weird. Carrying on. Dean appears with Dark Kaia, who also greets Jack, because I guess she knows him from Kaia 1.0’s dreams or whatever.

Time jump. Cas insists Jack can’t help Dark Kaia, and the guys are like, no shit. But they still want to rescue Kaia 1.0 somehow, so they send Jody into the depths of the bunker to look for something they might not have thought of that can help them jump worlds. Let’s just think about that for a minute. These two, experts in hunting and lore, residents of the bunker for the past 7 years and at least one of them a cataloguer of its contents, who spent a huge part of previous seasons trying to break into a different world and scouring the bunker for anything that would help, think Jody will find something they didn’t?

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

Cas says he’s going to call Sergei to see if he has any more archangel grace. Sergei? Sergei who almost killed Sam recently, and had to be threatened with death to fix what he’d done?

Oh, seriously, for fuck’s sake.

Carrying on. Cas wants archangel grace because, other than Jack, it’s the only thing that’s opened a rift before. And Sam agrees, because both Sam and Cas have forgotten that an angel’s vessel retains some grace which can be extracted after the angel is gone.

Come on, guys. I’m trying, but you’ve got to meet me halfway. And this isn’t even a Buckleming episode.

Shhh. Concentrate on the pretty.

Dark Kaia yells that they’re wasting time, and Jack is right there and could get them to her world right now. “Hey, Not Kaia?” Dean says. “Not helping.” Hee! Jack decides he’ll do research instead, and then they have to decide what they’ll do with Dark Kaia. Jody says “She killed a prize heifer just to get my attention, then she jumped me, beat me up, and threatened to kill me. Do I get a vote?” Oooh, I like Dark Jody.

But the worst thing that happens to Dark Kaia is that they handcuff her to a table and force her to read a fashion magazine. She pretends she’s not interested, hurling it across the table, but sweetie, you’re not fooling anyone. I’m looking at your hair and makeup right now and I can tell you’re into it.

{Sidebar: Is this model supposed to remind her of Claire? Is that why she got upset, because she feels Kaia 1.0’s love for Claire? Discuss.}

Jack throws himself into the research and finds an old Italian spell that requires the liver of a monster which is, unfortunately, extinct because John Winchester killed the last one. Awkward. Dean suggests Jack check on Cas and Jody, and Jack does the oh, because I’m a failure look. The guys are sure they won’t find anything, but to me, the possibility of one spell that requires a monster’s liver implies that other spells might be possible. I mean, how special could that one monster be? Unless it was an archangel monster. Sam suggests he might be able to jerry-rig some magic using a substitute, and oh, guys, once again I’m sure this was accidental, but I love Sam being able and willing to do magic. Love it so hard. Unfortunately, he abandons this idea, since no substitutes are available.

In another part of the bunker, Cas is leaving fruitless messages with Sergei, who presumably remembers the last episode he was in better than Cas does. And Jody’s not having any luck identifying what she finds. They have a little chat about Claire, who is out of cell phone range (which means she won’t show up in this episode, thank you baby Jesus). Jody doesn’t want to involve her anyway, because she loved Kaia so freaking much after knowing her for, what, a day, and if they’re not able to rescue her, Claire would just be crushed.

I don’t know how we’ll be able to tell, since this is Claire’s crushed-by-the-loss-of-her-true-love face. And it’s also her Alex-borrowed-my-sweater-without-asking face. And her Patience-ate-all-the-Cheetos face.

Uh oh! Jack was listening! What will that do to him? He goes to see Dark Kaia and apologizes for not being able to do more. Dark Kaia blames him for Kaia 1.0 crossing over, and reminds him again that she’s going to die soon. Oddly, she doesn’t try this guilt trip on Dean, who pointed a gun at Kaia 1.0 and forced her into the car, as we saw in the Then. Dark Kaia says she crossed over into our world because she envied Kaia 1.0’s peaceful world, but it turns out she hates it, and desperately wants to go back to her own world. She grabs Jack’s hands and begs him to fix it. Jack touches her face, like he did when he was showing the Winchesters where Mary was being held in AU World, and sees Kaia 1.0 in the Bad Place. She’s got a shelter and a campfire and a lizard in a cage, so I guess things could be worse.

He goes to Sam and Dean and tells them he saw Kaia 1.0 and is going to save her. He confesses to dreamwalking, which is against Billie’s rules, but he insists it’s the right thing to do. “You’ve gotta be kidding me” says a voice from the shadows. Jack introduces Merle, his silver-haired reaper. “How did you get in here?” Dean asks, because he’s forgotten how reapers work, I guess.

(Checks again to make sure this isn’t a Buckleming episode.)

Merle says being willing to risk everything for one person isn’t just dumb, “that’s Winchester dumb.” Dean is offended but, well. She ain’t wrong. Merle says if Jack tries to use his power to save Kaia 1.0, she’ll tell Death. Jack says she should go tell Billie, but while she does that, he’ll open a rift, and therefore Merle will be in big trouble. And I kind of had the impression that reapers didn’t have to, you know, physically go find Billie to tell her anything, but maybe I’m the one who forgot how reapers work.

{Spoiler alert: I don’t think I am.}

Anyway, Jack’s threats work. Merle agrees to fix the bunker’s cosmic warding, which the Winchesters did not completely repair after Amara destroyed it. It can’t be restored permanently, but she can put up a temporary fix that will hopefully hide Jack from Chuck. And she’ll need to use Cas to juice it up. Oh, so many possibilities for disaster here. Later, Sam performs a spell and we see glowing sigils appear on the walls, which is a nice effect.

Sam reading the spell is also a nice effect.

Another time jump. The guys are packing for their journey. Dean asks how Sam feels about it, and Sam says “Honestly? It feels like we’re taking a big, probably stupid risk. It feels good. Disobeying cosmic entities, doing the dumb right thing. Feels like we’re back.” Aw yes. My boys, doing the dumb right thing.

Jody thanks Cas for staying, and he asks her to stay too. Because he’s concerned that if she gets killed, Claire will never get over it. Jody agrees that he’s right. And I’m pretty sure this is going to be important somehow; that something awful will happen because Jody isn’t there, or Jody staying behind will mean she’s able to save the guys somehow. {Spoiler alert: I’m wrong.}

Oddly enough, Jody doesn’t seem to actually tell the Winchesters she’s not going. I guess it happened off camera. Merle and Cas power up the sigils, Jack does his thing, and the rift opens. Dark Kaia goes through first, followed by Sam and Dean.

Bad Place! It’s dark and windy and there are lots of those weird little red-eyed dudes around, but they don’t attack. Dark Kaia says they’re afraid of the oncoming storm. {Sidebar: What evolutionary purpose is solved by glowing eyes? It seems like a hindrance.} They yell for Kaia 1.0, and she comes out to meet them, grabbing Dean for a hug. {Sidebar: Yeah, of course it’s Dean.} They turn to leave and wait, you’re just going to leave your lizard? He’s in a cage! He’ll starve! Dark Kaia doesn’t follow, and says she’s going to stay. Sam reminds her she’ll die, but she doesn’t care. She can’t live in our world. Which, well. It sucks sometimes. No judgment here, kiddo. And I guess she can take care of Kaia 1.0’s lizard. The Winchesters head back to the rift with Kaia 1.0 just as the lightning picks up and a huge cloud of destruction approaches. Oh. I guess that lizard didn’t need anyone to take care of him after all. Bye bye, Bad Place!

Bunker. Jody is sitting in front of the rift when the boys burst through with Kaia 1.0. Big hug! Later, we see Kaia (I’m gonna just call her Kaia now, since I think she’s the only one left) wearing Jack’s clothes. It’s cute. Jody invites her to move back with her. “Will Claire be there?” Kaia asks, because, you know, the love story for the ages, blah blah blah. Kaia thanks the guys, and leaves with Jody. Yay! Job well done, right? Except there’s a little too much time left in this episode for a happy wrap-up, so.

Merle tells the guys that if she gave a rat’s ass about Kaia, she’d call this a victory. But she’s pretty sure their scheme worked, since none of them are dead and oh crap, she’s impaled by a scythe. Guess again, Merle!

So, yeah, Billie’s here and she’s not happy. She lectures everyone and points out that one life isn’t important, because all the worlds are dying. All of them except this one. Sam angrily asks Billie what her plan is. She tells them everyone has a death book in her library, even God. God didn’t plot his own death, but “the books wrote themselves,” so Chuck’s death is in there, pre-plotted. But no one gets to read their own book unless Billie lets them. Jack is in Chuck’s book, and so are the Winchesters. “This is your destiny. You are the messengers of God’s destruction.”

Back at the Radio Shed, Chuck is watching his worlds self-destruct on the bank of TVs. He’s been there a while, judging by the number of takeout containers. The sales clerk is curled up on the floor, having served him “for weeks.” He asks Chuck if he’ll be spared, and Chuck says “You’ll be fine. Everything’s just fine.” Then he walks out of the store just as the sky fills with falling meteorites. Hey, I think that was a lie!

So. Several annoying things happened (yes, we know, because you wouldn’t shut up about them) but I can’t call this a bad episode. But I can’t call it a really good one, either. As mytharc episodes go, I guess it could be worse. What did you think? (And what does the title mean?)

Please help me stay unspoiled, thanks!

#spn #15.12 #recap #tv recaps

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mal-likes-biscuits · 5 years

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⌆ a nervous tic or habit they do, Mal and maybe a quick one for Imperius?

I’ve written about Malthael’s mortal quirks in this Ask. However, I can also tackle nervous habits/tics specifically, because I think they are quite different. Content below the break for length!

Malthael - Nerves

An important thing to note is that it is extremely difficult to make Malthael nervous. Any anxieties he experiences he keeps buried deep down, and he does not display them externally (at least physically). He also suffers from a serious case of over-confidence in most situations. He knows he is correct. He takes action based on that correctness. 99.9% of the time, he is right–

–Except for the 00.1% time when he is very wrong.

Being wrong about something unsettles him deeply. When he was an Archangel, he found the concept of failure absolutely unfathomable. The fracturing of the Chalice’s Truth and the loss of his Wisdom was the main thing that drove him to madness, because without them, he was capable of mistakes. The immortal, all-seeing Archangel of Wisdom does not make mistakes.

The mortal Aspect of Wisdom does err, however, and more frequently than he would like to admit. When this happens, he tends to freeze up physically as his mind sorts through all the variables of the situation in an attempt to fix it. We’ve seen this reaction several times in my fics (most notably in “A Light in the Darkness”). This is also the moment when he is physically most vulnerable, because he experiences a metaphorical “soul leaving the body” sensation and forgets he should be doing something his physical form.

[“A Light in the Darkness”: Chapter 3]

Chith made to follow, then turned to see Mal unmoving from his post. The older man watched, entranced, as a group of Wolves helped the Emperor regain his balance. Hakkan’s gaze darted about the crowd, until his eyes abruptly met Mal’s. They stared at each other from a distance, incredulity spreading across Hakkan’s face, while an unreadable fury of emotions crossed their friend’s.

“Malthael!” Lyndon screamed. “Regrets later, running now!”

The lore-seeker blinked, turned from the Emperor, and sprinted after them.

Which is where this expression comes from:

If he can’t shake himself from this feedback loop, or find a solution, he goes immediately from nervous/unsettled to Aggressive Existential Panic:

[“A Light in the Darkness”: Chapter 3]

He bit back profanity and tried to halt the feelings assaulting him, but the flow of memory grew, stealing his breath and turning his vision grainy. Death had not helped him, then. It had taken him. Completely.

“Death consumes all, fool. Do you think yourself an exception?”

He unconsciously tightened his grip on Chith’s arm, shaking his head violently to try and clear his thoughts. “Do something,” he growled.

“I cannot,” Chith whispered. He had gone very still, his eyes wide and white.

“Stop them.”

“I cannot. The most I ever summoned was a single ghoul, and you know what it did? It laughed happily and then died. Again.” He pulled his arm away from Malthael, his shoulders shaking.

The break in physical contact was enough to temporarily wrench him back to reality. Panicked shouts from the crowd returned, along with the voices of the Wolves, who were now very close indeed. Ashamed and frustrated at his actions, Malthael tried to reassess the situation, but found his mind locked in place.

Or, in visual form:

His consuming the Black Soulstone at the end of Reaper of Souls is also a perfect example of the Aggressive Existential Panic reaction, where he skips right over any other potential solutions and slaps the overkill button.

This is all to say that when it comes to nervous quirks, Malthael’s are not subtle, and if he is displaying them at all, it means he is only a step or two away from falling apart and entering the realm of Very Bad Decision Making.

I’ve specifically avoided discussing the Reaper-voice component of his panic reaction in any of this, because I firmly believe those are due to his intrusive thoughts/PTSD, and are not a natural part of his nervous behaviour. They can certainly exacerbate the situations I listed above, but they are in addition to his base instinct to either remain completely impassive or jump right to Losing His Shit.

Malthael - Uncertainty

A lesser variant of this is his reaction to uncertainty, which is a fractional step above his reaction to failing, and is usually only triggered by one thing: him attempting to navigate interpersonal situations that he cares about.

Pictured above: the rare moment when Malthael realizes he’s been an utter dumbass and conveys the emotion externally.

Most of the time, Malthael has exactly zero fucks to give about social interaction. He is honest and objective, and he prefers to surround himself with people who accept that about him and prize it (or, at least tolerate it).

However, as he spends more time in mortal form, he gradually bonds with a core group of individuals, and also learns to temper some of his more brusque reactions out of respect for his friends. He is capable of feeling embarrassment when his cocky overconfidence does not brush it aside. It is not an emotion he likes whatsoever; no one does, to be sure, but Malthael particularly dislikes it, because it usually means he is also feeling emotionally vulnerable, and his experience in dealing with that (and capacity to do so due to personality) is limited.

In any of the above situations, he has a tendency to hunch over, avoid eye contact, or tightly clutch anything he is holding.

[Tales from Tristram: “Justice and Wisdom Walk Into a Bar”]

“And you are in a committed relationship,” Chith continued. “Unlike your brother.” (…) “You are, aren’t you?” Chith asked, his expression growing unsure. “I assumed, given how you look at each other. And you share your meals. And, well, a great deal of your time.”

“Farah has exquisitely good taste in food,” Malthael said, remarkably even toned. His knuckles, however, had turned white from clutching his mug too hard. An almost imperceptible colour crossed his pale cheeks. “Also, she is intelligent, and enjoyable to converse with. Unlike…certain others.”

This is not a face/mannerism he makes often, but a good summary of how he feels in situations like the above.

As you may have guessed, the person who triggers these sorts of reactions in Malthael the most is Farah. He is uncomfortable being snarky with her in the same way he is with Lyndon or Tyrael (though he certainly enjoys bantering with her in a witter and less rude fashion). As snark and sarcasm are his go-to conversational habits, when he is left without them, he tends to do things like the following:

[Tales from Tristram: “Echoes”]

He raised his finger in reply, silently asking for a moment. Eventually he located a book, withdrew it, and added it to the stack. Then he turned and stared at the ceiling above her, looking as though he wasn’t sure what to do with his limbs when they were not wielding either books or weapons. Strands of hair branched out messily from the one side of his head, a marginally impressive feat given their length. He looked neither awake nor nearly as self-assured as he had that night outside Tristram.

Gradually, this reaction is replaced by the quietly simmering affection we see him displaying for her in later stories, as he becomes more comfortable with his human emotional capacity, and also learns to trust. He still slips up from time to time, though, and Farah, Lyndon, and the others get a good chuckle when the Aspect of Wisdom suddenly becomes speechless because he cares too much.

Imperius - Nerves

The Archangel of Valor, much like Malthael, does not get nervous about things. He and his brother are similar in that they are both overconfident and tend to assume they are right about everything. While Malthael’s arena is large-scale strategic planning, Imperius’ is battlefield skirmishes.

The difference is that when Imperius is confronted with his mistakes, and is nervous or uncertain as a result, he takes one of two actions: he either does exactly what people are telling him not to do (see: “Wrath”), or he laughs. The former reaction tends to occur when his self-worth is threatened. The latter, when he doesn’t want to look like a fool in less serious situations.

Imperius is that individual who will let loose a hearty belly laugh if you point out his mistakes. His shoulders will shake with mirth. If you point this out, he will laugh even harder. The laughter amuses him and makes him feel better. It also ensures that at a point, the person speaking to him cannot talk loudly enough to be heard.

Aka: “I AM THE GREATEST WARRIOR IN ALL OF CREATION HAHAHAHAHAHAHA”

As an immortal, his capacity to understand this reaction and self-analyse is limited. I assume a mortal Imperius could gradually acknowledge this habit and par it down to allow him to accept and act on constructive criticism.

#my asks #ask replies #malthael #imperius #character headcanons #mortal!malthael #this ran a bit long but it was interesting to study in depth #particularly how his canon behaviour intersects with my personal headcanons #imperius is That Loud Friend #long post

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theygavedvaananimatedshort · 5 years

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Lore Compilation - Hero: Torbjörn

This post will not include sprays, nor any kind of analysis, speculation or theories. However, it is important to note that every piece of media is being given to us through the perspective of an unreliable narrator, so while the material is canon, it may not be the truth of the situation.

(Rest under the cut.)

Hero Bio:

https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/heroes/torbjorn/

Origin Stories:

Despite not having his own Origin Story, Torbjörn appears in Ana’s and Brigitte’s, and makes a cameo appearance in Sombra’s. He is also in the Uprising Origin Story.

Cinematic Appearances:

Torbjörn makes a cameo appearance in the Cinematic Trailer.

Comic Appearances:

Torbjörn stars in the comics Destroyer and Binary. He also features in Uprising , Junkenstein and The Return of Junkenstein, and makes a cameo appearance in Reflections.

[above: Torbjörn’s cameo appearance in Reflections.]

Uprising:

Torbjörn is one of the playable heroes in the Archives event’s Uprising story mode. While playing, multiple conversations can be unlocked. There is no canon resource listing all of them (aside from the game itself), but here is a video containing most, if not all of them. Please note that this is not a canon source.

Articles:

History of Overwatch: https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/news/20130523

A letter from Torbjörn to his wife: https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/news/21574699

Skins:

Torbjörn has three (3) skins with bios: Viking, Santaclad and Chief Engineer Lindholm

Viking: After his village was buurned down by a dragon’s fire, the viking now travels the world, hunting them.

Santaclad: At the gentle urging of his wife, Ingrid, Torbjörn dresses up as Santa for the Lindholm holiday celebrations.

Chief Engineer Lindholm: For many years, Torbjörn Lindholm served as Overwatch’s chief engineer, designing many of the organization’s iconic weapons and technologies.

Maps:

Torbjörn does not have a ‘home map’. There is a photo of him on Winston’s desk on Watchpoint: Gibraltar.

[above: Winston’s desk.]

He has voicelines on the following maps:

Dorado: “I'd love to get a look at that fusion core."

Junkertown: “The uh quality of the craftsmanship here hurts my soul.” | “How in the world does this place even work?”

King’s Row: "If you ask me, the Brits have their heads on straight! Omnic rights? Pah!"

Nepal: "This place is like a terrible culmination of a thousand of my worst nightmares! Are you kidding me?!"

Numbani: "No, no no! N-O, NO!"

Volskaya Industries:"Now this is my kind of factory!"

Watchpoint: Gibraltar: "[sighs] This brings me back."

Using the telescope on Horizon Lunar Colony: "Well, the view’s not bad."

Voiceline Interactions:

Torbjörn has pregame conversations with the following heroes:

Ana:

Torbjörn: Ana?! We all thought you were dead. Ana: Well, I had to come back. I was worried you'd get bored not being able to stick your nose in my business.

Bastion:

Torbjörn: I hate working with these talking tin cans! Bastion: [sad beeping]

Bastion: [beeping] Torbjörn: Hey! Stop following me around. Shoo!

Torbjörn: Bastion, I bet you haven’t had a systems check in years. Who knows what kind of weird behaviors you’ve picked up. Bastion: [weird beeping]

Brigitte:

Brigitte: Papa, what do you think of my armor? Torbjörn: Not bad, not bad! I'm glad you let me add a little something to it.

Torbjörn: Your armor seems to be working well! I guess you were right about the core integration design. Brigitte: I knew you'd come around!

Torbjörn: Isn’t it enough to be an engineer Brigitte? Brigitte: I felt like I had to do more.

Torbjörn: Why does everybody keep pestering me about my aardvarks? Brigitte: It’s true you have been slacking off a bit lately.

D.Va:

Torbjörn: Any chance you'd let me peek under the hood of your mech? D.Va: Hey, hands off!

Torbjörn: Whoever built your mech did a good job, none of that AI mess. D.Va: Well, if you wanna give me some upgrades, I’m all ears.

Doomfist:

Doomfist: Retirement suits you. Torbjörn: And I think a hammer upside your face would suit you!

McCree:

Torbjörn: McCree, what happened to your arm? McCree: Always admired yours, figured I’d get one of my own.

Mei:

Torbjörn: I was wondering... If I could have a look at your little robot? Mei: I suppose so....just keep that hammer to yourself.

Mercy:

Torbjörn: Doc, I’ve been having the worst headaches. Mercy: I’ve always said you should get your head examined.

Mercy: Reinhardt, I don’t approve of you dragging that poor girl around on your adventures. Torbjörn: Angela, you should know that no one could stop Brigitte from doing something she had her mind set on. She is a Lindholm after all.

They have a Winter Wonderland specific interaction:

Mercy: Torbjörn, I miss Ingrid’s apple pie at the holidays. Torbjörn: [laugh] Well, it just so happens she has some saved for you.

Orisa:

Orisa: Torbjörn Lindholm! You are responsible in part for my creation. Torbjörn: Why does that feel like an accusation?

Orisa: I consider Reinhardt to be the model upon which I base m own behaviours. Torbjörn: What a terrifying thought!

Pharah:

Pharah: Hey Torbjörn, check out my new suit. Mk. VI; State of the art. Torbjörn: [clears throat] Jump jets... concussion rockets... well, yes. It's looking pretty good.

Torbjörn: You know, Fareeha. I could take a look at fixing up your suit if you’d like? Pharah: And mess it up with a bunch of scrap metal bolted on the side? No thanks! I like it the way it is.

Reinhardt:

Torbjörn: Reinhardt! Least number of eliminations buys the post-mission drinks? Reinhardt: [laughs] Let's show these kids how it's done. / Agreed! May the best man win.

Torbjörn: I sometimes wonder if all that armor slows your brain down. Reinhardt: Ja. And I sometimes wonder if your height is why you're always in such a bad mood! / Ah,could you say that again? Sometimes it’s hard to hear you from all the way down there.

Reinhardt: You always did take good care of my armor! Torbjörn: Just try to keep it in one piece... for once.

Torbjörn: How’s Brigitte doing? Keeping everything in working order? Reinhardt: A knight could not ask for more from his squire!

Torbjörn: You need to stop telling those ridiculous stories, Reinhardt. No one believes they’re real. Reinhardt: Ridiculous stories? My tales of adventure and glory are all true!

They also have two that only play during the Winter Wonderland event:

Reinhardt: You know Torbjörn, you would make an excellent Santa Claus. Ho ho ho! Torbjörn: Maybe this year you can be the elf! I think Ingrid’s been working on something.

Torbjörn: Reinhardt! You better not be filling my daughter’s head with stories. Reinhardt: Ah! She hardly listens to them anyways.

Symmetra:

Symmetra: Armor? How positively medieval. Torbjörn: No one asked for your opinion./Last I checked, I didn’t ask for your opinion./Everyone’s a critic.

Symmetra: I am impressed. I would not think such crude creations actually functioned. Torbjörn: Why, thank you! I must admit, I'm surprised— hey...

Torbjörn: There's something on your dress. Symmetra: No, there isn't.

Winston:

Torbjörn: Winston, are you still using that silly feather duster of a gun? Winston: Why don't you come over here and ask that again?

Zarya:

Zarya: The suffering of my people rests heavily on your shoulders, Torbjörn. Torbjörn: Believe me, I don't need reminding.

Zenyatta:

Zenyatta: I hear that you have taken in an omnic, Torbjörn. Torbjörn: I don’t want to talk about it.

Torbjörn: I hate working with these talking tin cans! Zenyatta: Your will is strong my friend, but in time I know you will realise we are not so different.

Additional Links:

The children surrounding Torbjörn in Reflections are his grandchildren https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/t/discrepancies-in-lore/12820/2

That’s all for now! If there’s anything that you know I missed, please let me know and I’ll add it. If anything new is added to the game, I’ll be sure to edit accordingly.

#Lore Compilation #torbjörn #overwatch lore #torbjörn lindholm #op

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wrong--lever · 6 years

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Your Thoughts for OW’s Lore At Blizzcon

**Edit - would help to tag you hurr durr @freckledmccree

I like how you will indulge in detailed speculation and interpretation of OW lore and don’t center all ideas around one specific (noncanon) idea but will admit occasional personal bias. I also really appreciate that you steer relatively clear from fanon and when people respond to your writings you don’t have an attitude or seemingly disregard them. Sooo, that’s why I wrote this disgustingly long thing even tho I’m paranoid about being annoying.

(Apology beforehand if you have answered any of these before, I have not properly stalked your blog yet. Also, excuse my rambling I did my best to be coherent. Lastly, I only have one friend who is kinda into OW and I feel bad to bother them 24/7 so I talk a lot in this.)

McCree Speculation

The following assumes that the new cinematic will be McCree’s.

If there is another known character in the short along with McCree, excluding flashbacks, who do you think it would be?

I have 3-4 ideas even though I would not say they are likely. And with any of these I don't imagine a role any larger than Brig's in Honor and Glory or even Zarya in Infiltration.

A.) Genji. I don't think it's likely but I wouldn't be surprised. It also might be risky on Blizzard's part because many are salty about Genji's abundance of lore compared to others. (Which is dumb and I would gladly rant on it but it's not the point) Reasons:

Notable increase of McCree's interactions w/him.

McCree might've left OW in a less professional fashion than others. Which would mean he may not have anything to be alerted by for the recall. Especially since he went underground for a while. Winston’s contact info? Long since changed.

From how I interpret “Dragons” it seems that Genji has received the call as well as offered Hanzo a choice to go w/him “The world is changing once again, Hanzo. And it's time to pick a side.” So why not others?

Genji has also been canonically in touch w/at least one other ex OW member. So why not try to get in touch with another member that we know he directly worked with?

My logic - Why would their interactions matter?

McCree's asking about how Genji dealt with the loss of his body emotionally/physically as well as Genji's response leaves room for the implication that Genji knows how he lost his arm.

Why would Genji go in person?

Well, I mean you probably don't wanna broadcast that your getting the highly illegal band back together. In which said band also is also hated by the UN and every other terrorist organization on the planet.

How will Genji know how to find him?

Cause he's a ninja, duh. But seriously McCree most likely said something before he quit OW and if not Genji would just have to look at the news and he'd be there.

B.) Sombra. If anything I wouldn't be surprised by a small reference to her rather than actually seeing her.

Reflections comic (duh)

My logic - I expect Sombra to get involved with a little bit of everything. She likes making people question their beliefs on who is “right” or “wrong”.

She would most likely know about the recall so if she wants to manipulate that at all she could be the one to tell McCree about it. Idk, she’s a wildcard with anything.

C.) Fio. The Blackwatch Pilot in Retribution. (I used “known” characters loosely) I'm not sure on my certainty with her, tbh. But I do find it rather intriguing. (I said no flashbacks but maybe with this one)

Fio's only lines that are not directly related towards the mission are all directed towards McCree.

The tone of them is clearly on the teasing/banter side of things.

My logic - Why have this side character show any interest in conversation outside of the task at hand?

If she was just being used for the game mode and as lore filler it would make more sense to have only lines relating to the mission. Or have generalized ones for the team. But she has multiple focusing on the one and only Jesse McCree.

Reasons for that could be that they ran out of time to add other interactions. Which would explain why McCree does not acknowledge her comments. (The only time he was quiet during the mission is when she talked to him, rip you got denied girl) Or it could be that they knew each other previously or trained together in some of the early days of Blackwatch.

D.) Mercy. This one I would be surprised to see but it would have some logic to it.

Losing his arm, depending on the how/when/where.

She is not one of the characters who speak to him about his arm.

My logic - Who fixed his arm up for him?

Depending on how/when/where he lost his arm he may have shyed away from public hospitals. Especially with Talon seemingly controlling so much of the press. So he may of wanted someone he personally trusted as well as doctor patient confidentiality.

Why does Mercy of all people not ask about the prosthetic?

Out of the people who question McCree Mercy isn't one of them. Which may seem odd since she has known him for so long and her being a doctor. However, she does call out his smoking. So this proves she does pay attention to his over all health. (Which I am aware is a much older interaction) But it would have been a good opportunity to have her inquire about the arm there if she doesn't already know.

Do you think McCree will directly receive the recall or from some other source?

What do you think of the fact that McCree lost his left arm specifically?

If the loss of McCree's arm is related to the Deadlock Gang do you speculate that it was intentionally the arm that had his tattoo on it? With how far McCree got in his career/life with OW and potentially spilling info on the gang when caught some people might want him to hurt. Not just die. To me forcefully sawing off the branding of the gang he betrayed would fit the bill. As well as be a good warning for others. (Not that blizzard would show that)

How do you imagine the camaraderie within Deadlock to be?

I ask this since in “Hero” right before the Los Muertos member throws the grenade it shows him actively choosing to help the other gang members (very broken gang members thanks to Soldier 76)onto the back of the truck instead of getting out ASAP.

I just found that to be notable in how their social structure works. It makes more sense for Los Muertos specifically since they originally wanted to stand up against the politics and speak out for the people still suffering from the Omnic Crisis. They are not formed from the shady work they do.

Deadlock, however, doesn't seem to represent a core ideology. So I wouldn't be surprised if when OW caught some of them the others ran. Especially since McCree would probably still be pretty low in the pecking order at the time.

Can you imagine a shoot out in the warehouse tho, that'd be so risky people could be anywhere and there's no good line of sight except for where the truck drives through. Sneaky teen McCree climbing around and ish

Do you expect/hope for the origin on any mementos to be revealed?

My only idea is his iconic BAMF belt buckle. We know he's had it for quite a while since he wears it here:

Just thought Blizzard could do something cute with it if they wanted.

Do you have any thoughts on the Deadlock Torb skin?

Idk, this is kinda silly but people have talked about it. People do have a good point that it’s odd for him to have that skin.

Lastly, do you have any little head canons that you hope to see confirmed?

Nothing serious just simple personal hopes from the cinematic which may or may not set you up for disappointment cause fun

(When I first started writing this I had two questions, rip. I'm pretty sure I forgot one of the original questions too)

Other Blizzcon Lore Speculation

Do you have any ideas for the new hero?

Personally, I do not have any super strong theories but I do have a few loose ideas. Tbh, I can’t especially convince myself of any these besides the likelihood of said character being a tank.

A.) Talon Tank

Reasons:

Moira’s origin story contains two possible indicators towards this, or another Talon member in general.

We need another main tank added to the roster (opinion)

Talon has a character for every role except tanking (weak)

Popular request (weak)

My Logic lacking- Majority of this idea comes from Moira’s origin story which shows this relatively well known photo with a person or armored suit of some kind on the back panel here:

I used to think of this to be much harder evidence than I do now since it looks like it could be a uncolored design used for the Talon members in Retribution. However, there’s another detail in the photo (including the version with the different back panel that I believe could point to another member. Each character, excluding Moira, has their line of sight going to the same spot. My doodles for emphasis:

(Reaper is kind of hard to tell but that’s basically his entire role in Talon at this point, lol) Who are they all looking at? This could just be an artistic choice for viewer immersion but it also could be rather purposeful. To me, it looks like a proposition to someone, with the panel in the back for emphasis. If not a proposition, perhaps the workings of a plan or setting clear expectations for said person. (either version works for this context) This someone must be rather important to have them all there. Moira is looking back at the rest of them, seemingly reading their expressions/body language. She seems pleased but then again she’s a tad bit odd.

B.) Mystery Characters

Idek, I added this cause I could. This is not likely at all but will remain on the list of possibilities as long as Overwatch shall live.

Have been shown or spoken of very early on but nothing since

Recently mentioned names but no physical hints of who/what they are

Tying up some long held questions (weak)

Popular demand (weak)

My logic (or lack there of) - I have exactly one tiny speck of logic for this. Mystery characters shown and/or spoken of before the cancellation of the First Strike comic are still occasionally brought up to the OW team. Yet they have conveniently not retconned them. Why not say they are no longer a significant part of the story when there has been no updates on them for 2ish years? Maybe they are just keeping the possibility open. Liao and the two from Ana’s origin story are the best (only?) examples:

There is also more recently mentioned characters such as Ray and Fio. Ray was discussed mostly early this year and all we know about them is the following:

We do not know anything else about who or what Ray is. I do not 100% believe Ray is an actual person but you never know. The comment on the beard and his response to has Ray’s combat experience could be some teasing on Michael Chu’s part. To me, Ray is either a person, an omnic, or some sort of computer system used in the Orca. I should note that another AI other than Athena would seem odd especially with the whole reason OW formed and all.

(Fio I have already discussed but at least we know she’s an actual person, hopefully...OW is weird man)

What do you think of the common theory of Sanjay Korpal being the next hero?

Personally, I think he lacks the look of an OW character. He looks rather plain to me, almost like a background character used to fill up comic space. I do believe his role is going to grow substantially in the lore but as an in game hero? Eh, I don’t know. Another thing I struggle with imagining is him being a tank like a lot of people presume. It would be interesting with what Vishkar can do with hard light technology to have a tank based on that, I will admit. Just don’t see him filling the role of that, he doesn’t strike me as someone who wants to get his hands dirty. I will admit, that this is very strictly my opinion and read of his character and by no means is anything to go off of speculation wise.

But, if I’m wrong, then next years first cinematic should definitely be a Symmetra/Lucio one and it should definitely have Symmetra kiCKING HIS ASS FOR MANIPUlATING HER foR GOD KNOWs hOW LONG..ahem.

Do you think a comic will be released soon?

They usually put out comics on Wednesdays but they have been odd this year when it comes to them. Idk, if they’ll announce one at Blizzcon. I kinda doubt it. Personally, I’m hoping for a really kick ass Christmas comic since in Reflections it ended with Winston saying he has a good feeling for “next year” (OW’s next year cause timeline) plus last year’s was cute but underwhelming.

I think that’s all I have to ask/discuss for now? I had ideas keep popping up but I kept going back over what I already wrote and my attention span is all or nothing soooo there goes my ideas into the void.

***Random ass question cause you like RDR2. I keep getting a gamestop ad for it and it’s bugging me cause I can’t make out what this guy is saying. It sounds like “I don’t want to kill all you smooth dutch. Just you.” Idk where the exact video is rip, but I feel like I’m really mishearing the guy, lmao.

Non Sequiturs and Stupid Fangirl Squealing

(possibly completely incoherent warning idk how to wenglish when im excited pls ignore mw)

I saw a comic aart thing once and it had young jesse punch Jack in the face and Reyes thought it was the funniest thing and I feel like that’s in character

What if Reyes had a few choices on who to recruit and he was like I want the cowboy chose the instead of the trained older guys. Ana would be like Reyes no and Reyes would be like I want the damn cowboy

I never realised how much I appreciate McCree’s character until the hints of him having a short started popping up. Before I liked him sure, I just never thought too deep into how they could expand on his character. Originally I was just like, “so Reyes picked this kid out of a big ass gang and had him trained among the world’s most renowned soldiers and he still is perfectly content being a cowboy?” Good for you my dudely man, good for you,

wanna see skinny (lean) young McCree but everyone will want the skin but it wont look the same with his in game model so blegh

I agree with you on how you think reyes recruited him, so many people think he just yeeted jesse at a bunch of angry omnics and was like lol have a cowboy

Imagine McCree being so confused by the weird ass original OW team like y there captain america, my new found father, a dwarf (swede) and an 8 ft german happy meal

He’d be so intimidated by Ana I bench lift Reinhardt for fun Amari being his coach like asdfsdf

But I think with her training it’d be the first real time he let his guard down without him realizing it because he was so in awe of her sniping skills and being able to get taught by her, bonding over shooting people half a continent away yAY

What if we see lil pharah??? I’ll die???

Okay I’ve said this to another blog but even tho McCree is not my “type” I’m still gonna need to strap my ovaries in place for this short, cause booooooooyyyyyyyyy (I dont even have a type but I guess I mean a lil scruffy?)

#overwatch #jesse mccree #lore speculation #blizzcon #long ass post #i started this in your ask box on thursday afternoon and now it's 1:40 am on saturday #sorry if there are mistakes i tried to clean this up as best i could #freckled mccree

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vadathheilsang · 5 years

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Why I don’t like Soldier being Gay (Please read the whole thing before you give me hate.)

The main reason was that I felt it could have been handled much better than it did. The entire short story gave us so much more information about Ana, Overwatch, and the future world as a whole. And then Soldier 76 is gay. If I literally had to reread a paragraph because I thought I messed up reading, you’ve either done something really well or really bad, and in this case I felt it was bad.

My reasoning for this is that it was just so out of left field and unexpected. The story was supposed to be about Ana, and suddenly we are getting more information about Jack. (Such as him not having a family and that he has a Wolverine-esque healing factor.) I was a big fan of this, since Soldier is one of my favorite characters. (Don’t get me wrong, he still is one of my favorite characters.) However, I was expecting a story about Ana to be more about... Well... Ana.

Ana is another one of those Overwatch characters whom I feel didn’t have as much lore as some other of the Overwatch Agents, which made me feel a sort of disconnect while playing as her. This short story fixed that. A story that was focused around Ana gave her more background and character, which is good. However, making Soldier 76 gay in this story sort of undermines the entire story, because people aren’t seeing “New Ana Lore!” in their news feed. Instead, they see “Soldier 76 is gay and white cis het men are evil for not liking it!”.

Suddenly, people are focusing on Soldier 76, the character who is not the focus of the story, instead of on Ana, the character who IS the focus of the story. A lot of cool Ana lore was revealed here, such as how she is scared of telling her family that she is alive and well, as well as how she donned the mask of Bastet. But no, news articles, Reddit, and Tumblr all have to focus on how Jack is gay. And don’t tell me that Blizzard didn’t see this coming; people have being crying in the forums about LGBT heroes (and changing current heroes to be LGBT) for the longest time. Blizzard knew exactly what they were doing. (Because of this, it just feels like they wanted to pander to an audience instead of trying to seriously make soldier gay, since it was just kind of slapped on.)

I actually have come up with two ways as to how this reveal could have been done better: One with the same outcome but in a more positive light, and the other being radically different from what Blizzard actually gave us.

1. If you are gonna do the soldier is gay reveal, do it right. Do it in a story, comic, or animated short dedicated to and based around soldier 76, and NOT steal the spotlight from another character. (Seriously, how many people have you seen who actually discuss the new Ana lore? I can’t have conversations with anyone about it because whenever I ask someone about the short story they freak out about gay soldier.)

2. Make a comic/story/short while introducing a NEW character and make the new character gay. Funny enough, if you introduce a new hero as being gay, and do it well, then some people might actually focus on the aspect of the lore that is the focus of that media while also not complaining about how the character being gay was just tacked on. (Yeah, people will still complain. I know that. But it will be a significantly smaller number than the current one.) Heck, I even came up with an idea for how a comic for this Vincent character could have played out.

(The idea) Vincent is at home and watching tv with his family or something. Suddenly, it gets interrupted and we see the broadcast that Winston made. Vincent then goes on to remember some of his past experiences from when he was in the super soldier program. (Pretty sure that the Ana story mentions that he and Jack knew each other back during Omnic Crisis as soldiers, before Overwatch was created. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.) After we see the flashback, Vincent thinks about how he was never able to tell Jack how he felt, as he thought that Jack’s job as the strike commander of Overwatch would prevent the two from being together. We then see Vincent prepare himself for battle as his family asks if he truly needs to go, to which he answers, that yes, the world does need heroes to protect it. End of media. (Actually, now that I think about it, I kind of just ripped off Honor and Glory by complete accident. If anyone has any better ideas for this, let me know please!)

So yeah. I believe that this was a bad piece of Overwatch media because the actual lore being pushed forward was just completely overshadowed by one reveal that was not important to the story at hand. (Had the reveal been done earlier, the way it was implemented would have been fine since it would give Jack a bit more lore while also not overshadowing everything else.)

PS I swear to god, anyone who mentions that this was foreshadowed by the picture in reflections has worse eyesight than Helen Keller. Jack is wearing different outfits in the pictures, he wears his hair in a different style (he looks like 76 in Reflections but looks like Jack in Bastet), and the hair just straight up is different colors as well. It’s very clearly NOT the same image. (And if it is supposed to be the same image, why the hell you be changing the picture Blizzard?)

PSS Just before I was about to post this, I saw the video for the Bastet Challenge, and uh... Yeah. Blizzard is trying to push the soldier thing by straight up making one of the items during ANA’S BASTET CHALLENGE a spray of the picture that Soldier 76 looks at in the short story. How the hell is that an “Ana themed spray”?! That kind of just backed up my point on how Blizzard was trying to pander rather than move the Overwatch story forward.

But what do you all think? Depending on whether you give an intelligent answer or not, I will reply in a kind and thoughtful way, or a Winston insulting my main man Reaper kind of way. (That’s a reference to an in-game joke dialogue to anyone who just follows to the story and doesn’t play.)

#Overwatch #overwatch competitive #overwatch ana #overwatch ana amari #ana #ana amari #bastet #soldier 76 #overwatch soldier 76 #soldier 76 is gay #jack morrison #overwatch jack morrison #blizzard #blizzard entertainment #activision blizzard #activision

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segadores-y-soldados · 7 years

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Blizzard’s shitshow of a timeline

Alright, settle in kids, because this is gonna be a long one - I had to rant about this to @starsherit earlier today and fuck, maybe no one’s gonna want to dive into this mess, but fuck it, I’m frustrated by the maddeningly slow progress Blizzard’s Overwatch development team has put forward on this.

fucking LONGASS RANT under the cut, you’ve been warned.

Let’s start at the very fucking beginning.

Not that Omnic Crisis shit.

The fucking Overwatch “Cinematic Trailer” - aka the video that introduced Overwatch to the world.

This video was uploaded by “Play Overwatch,” Overwatch’s official Youtube Channel, on November 7, 2014 - almost a full year and a half before the game was actually released (May 23, 2016).

As most of you know, in the trailer, the characters Reaper and Widowmaker attempt to steal an item call the Gauntlet of Doomfist while Winston and Tracer attempt to stop them. Some kids and Pixar magic help save the day and prevent the “bad guys” from making off with the loot. We were shown a few key things: Widowmaker’s infrared ability, Tracer’s temporal stuff, Winston’s rage, Reaper’s Death Blossom, etc.

But this was fairly early on in the public aspects of Overwatch’s development so there are numerous inconsistencies: the one most frequently pointed out is Reaper’s skintone, which is extremely pale and not the same as his “grey” skintone that eventually made it to the final game (I don’t want to talk too much about Blizzard’s inconsistencies with his whole visible cosmetics because that’s a related but a whole separate issue and I’m trying to focus on timeline, storytelling, and world-building stuff here).

Another thing which I have NEVER seen pointed out

Is that Reaper actually uses a pipe bomb launcher at two points in the short.

The first:

And yes, It shoots exactly what you think it does.

And the second:

That seems really familiar doesn’t it?

Only problem is that the “final version” of Reaper doesn’t have this ability at all -

Junkrat does.

So what happened?

Well, as with most things that occur over a year and half, things change. It was a video game early on in its stages of relatively public development. It’s pretty well-known that Blizzard changed a lot of mechanics, made a ton of new characters, changed designs, etc. It happens - it’s all part of the process of creation and design. I don’t think anyone is faulting Blizzard for trying to make a very unique team-based game with a bunch of very unique characters.

The problem however, is that Blizzard and the Overwatch team have been very clear that they wanted the game design to come first, and the story design to come second.

You know what other series this has been a major issue for?

The Legend of Zelda.

I’ve talked about this issue frequently, under different usernames, with different people, for different fandoms, for different series - there is no one “right way” to make a game, just as there is no one “right way” to develop a story. There is nothing wrong with wanting to prioritize gameplay, design, and development and make a story that fits those aspects later. It can work. But it does mean that if you aren’t careful, you will get problems poking through the cracks where you’ve glued them together.

And boy, does Overwatch have a lot of those.

For example, take this article:

https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/blog/19809396/

For those of you who can’t read it at the moment, it’s a long, “in-universe” article written by a editorialist for Overwatch’s fictional “Atlas News syndicate” about John “Jack” Morrison and his personal history - from a kid in Indiana, to supersoldier, to Omnic Crisis hero, to Overwatch’s commander, to the potential vigilante Soldier: 76. It is where, essentially, most of the “meat” of Morrison’s and Reyes’ backstories are laid out for players and fans.

It was also posted on July 6, 2015, again, almost a full year before the game itself was put out on the street.

And it is FILLED with problems.

Problem 1:

["Even I had my doubts about whether Overwatch would succeed," UN Under-Secretary-General Gabrielle Adawe, one of Overwatch's key architects, said shortly after the end of the Omnic Crisis. "But Morrison never gave up hope. He didn't just meet our expectations for what Overwatch and its agents could achieve; he shattered them."

The UN rewarded Morrison for his contributions by making him Overwatch's first official commander. Reyes was passed over in the process, and it created a rift between the two men that would lead to tragic consequences.]

Jack Morrison is made Strike-Commander of Overwatch “shortly after the end of the Omnic Crisis.” In the Soldier: 76 trailer (posted by Blizzard to their Youtube channel on July 7, 2015, a day after this ARG news article), Soldier confirms this description of his Overwatch career by saying “I led Overwatch for twenty years.”

So let’s start the timeline:

From that same ARG article:

[When [Jack Morrison] died under mysterious circumstances six years ago, I felt as if a part of my childhood died with him.]

[That Morrison was buried here six years ago. All that's left is the shadow of the hero we once knew.]

Source 1: The Explosion at the Swiss Base occurred roughly “six years ago” from the article’s posting “in-universe.”

New Source:

https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/blog/20130523

This article, also written “in-universe,” describes the Museum Heist attempt. It expresses concerns and doubts about what a “Recalled Overwatch” can possibly hope to achieve in the world, after the public already said they didn’t want it. This matches with the information given in the Soldier: 76 origins trailer, the Recall animated short, and the “Cinematic Teaser” (posted May 2, 2016 - narrated by Winston).

This article gives “the meat” of Overwatch’s total lore, describing the rise and fall of the organization, and even events that occurred after that. It does not give a direct amount of years since “the fall,” but it more or less matches the other information other sources provide.

New Source:

https://twitter.com/to_grok/status/826487157430874112

A twitter conversation between user to_grok and Michael Chu, Overwatch’s lead writer, on both the Fall of Overwatch and Reaper’s biography (aka why I’m writing this mess).

[Michael Chu: No, Overwatch was disbanded around five years ago.]

Chu confirms that this particular aspect of the timeline has not changed.

Alright so, let’s crunch some numbers:

Reinhardt: age 61 in-game - born in the year 2016; Ana Amari: age 60 in-game - born in the year 2017.

2016 + 61 = 2077; 2017+ 60 = 2077

The “current point” when the majority of Overwatch’s gameplay, shorts, comics, and events occur roughly between 2076-2078, centering around the revelation of Jack Morrison’s “un-death” about 5 - 6 years ago, which is when the Swiss Base was destroyed and Overwatch was disbanded.

Let’s use the ARG article’s number and roll back 6 years:

2077 - 6 = 2071

[2071 - the year that Overwatch was disbanded and the year that the Swiss Base explosion occurred.]

Now let’s figure out when the Omnic Crisis ended, and supposedly when Jack was made Overwatch’s commander:

2071 - 20 years = 2051

[2051 - the year the Omnic Crisis was ended, Morrison became Strike-Commander, Overwatch moved from being a task force into being a global organization for peace]

Time since the end of the Omnic Crisis and Overwatch was officially made a global organization for peace: 26 years.

AND NOW WE COME TO PROBLEM 2:

From Article 1:

[According to Overwatch's former agents, this outcome was inevitable. "After Morrison's promotion to strike commander, his relationship with Reyes changed," Dr. Angela Ziegler, medical director of Overwatch, stated during a UN committee hearing. "The tension became more pronounced as time went on. I tried to mend things. We all did. Sometimes when the closest bonds break, all you can do is pray you stay out of the cross fire."]

Angela, oh Angela.

Angela’s in-game age: 37 years old.

Time since the end of the Omnic Crisis to the “present” game: 26 years:

Angela’s age at the end of the Omnic Crisis: 11 years old.

Now -

This seems like a real fucking contradiction to the story being developed, doesn’t it?

New Source: Mercy’s “official biography” from the Play Overwatch website:

[Ziegler rose to become the head of surgery at a prominent Swiss hospital before pioneering a breakthrough in the field of applied nanobiology that radically improved the treatment of life-threatening illnesses and injuries. It was this expertise that attracted the attention of Overwatch.]

I would be fucking shocked if an 11 year old could do this.

Other noteworthy aspects: since Jesse McCree is also 37 years old in-game, the same age as Angela, he too is 11 years old at the end of the Omnic Crisis.

Which means we have several contradictions going on:

1. Jack Morrison was made Strike-Commander 26 years ago, when Angela and Jesse were children and apparently somehow “a part of Overwatch” so they could witness this “transformation” between Morrison and Reyes.

2. Jack Morrison was made Strike-Commander 26 years ago and Angela and Jesse were not actually present for this event (because they were children) and therefore Angela’s quote from the article is impossible.

3. Jack Morrison was not actually made Strike-Commander 26 years ago, but instead was made Strike-Commander after Angela and Jesse join, making Angela’s quote possible but therefore making the entire timeline inaccurate.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Things change during game development, I completely understand that. The problem is that when you post multiple, contradicting “official sources” without having a clear understanding of your own story, you are going to run into - and even create - some problems.

The contradictions continue past this - as many people have pointed out, Chu and the Overwatch development team have retconned Genji’s backstory and the “lore aspects” of Tracer’s chronal accelerator, so they’re definitely open to changing parts of their story to make things fit better - even things that were “consistent” upon release like the chronal accelerator.

Which is why it is weird that Chu states that the wording in Reaper’s biography is intentional.

Because as I’ve already pointed out, Reaper is not at all the character he was originally shown to be in November 2014, and we have a number of other sources saying that his gameplay mechanics changed a lot during development time (at one point, his consumption of soul globes was going to prevent Mercy from being able to revive teammates).

Hypothetically, the Overwatch team could make a backstory that fits the description - it is entirely possible that Reyes became something along the lines of Reaper in SEP, or that he gained his Reaper abilities through unethical experiments at Blackwatch, or that - in order to give Overwatch plausible deniability - he conducted his Blackwatch missions under the guise of “Reaper,” pretending to be a mercenary instead of an agent of peace.

And he could actually just have been a double agent the whole time.

The last one is particularly frustrating for people who are fans of making Reaper a more complicated, complex character, because it does seem like “the easy way out” for the Overwatch team to take in order to avoid addressing the deeper questions that Overwatch’s attempts at a lore bring to the surface: was Reyes fucked over by Overwatch and the U.N.? Is he actually a “ruthless mercenary” or is he searching for answers on his own? Why does he blame Morrison and Overwatch for “becoming what he is?”

And yup -

Here’s another goddamn contradiction:

New Source: Old Soldiers Comic:

Transcript:

[Ana *removes Reaper’s mask*: What happened to you…?

Reaper *emphasis is from the comic, not me*: He did this to me, Ana. They left me to become this thing.

Ana: Gabriel…

Reaper: They left you to die. They left me to suffer… … Never forget that.]

Alright, so let’s try to break this problem down into different parts:

Part 1: Reaper has been Reaper for “decades.”

See, the above hypotheses could be explanations for Reaper’s inconsistencies in his biography, except for the fact that Old Soldiers, which is more recent than his Play Overwatch bio, states through Reaper himself that he “blames” two group - “him” and “them,” most likely Morrison and, with some easy inference, either Overwatch or Blackwatch.

Now, the most probable hypothesis, given all the information we know that is still somewhat consistent, is that Reaper is talking about some fall out related to the Swiss Base explosion, which he was caught in. Prevailing fan theory says that some one - potentially Angela - or some group - potentially Talon or another anti-Overwatch organization - pulled his dying body out of the wreck and forced him to undergo experiments that transformed him into the Reaper. If either of these theories are true, then his Play Overwatch biography is inaccurate and Chu is supporting the wrong timeline.

Part 2: the “Mercy botched Reaper” theory has largely been debunked.

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20747844983#post-16

Granted, it was debunked by Chu, but technically, no one can find the supposed interaction of “This wasn’t my intention for you.”/”You knew what you were going,” so while it may have existed at one point, it has all but disappeared. It’s entirely possible that fans misinterpreted or misheard the current Mercy/Reaper interaction of “what happened to you?”/”you tell me, doc” as implying that Mercy botched saving Reaper. However, Old Soldiers also supports Chu, in its own way: Reaper does not say anything about Mercy failing to save him - he only resents Morrison and possibly Overwatch.

However, as someone in that Blizzard forum post points out, Reaper does have an audio line of “Don’t forget, you’re the one responsible for this,” although I personally cannot recall if or when he says the line in-game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoKRFx5Sb5g#t=4m7s

(Note that the video is about the Mercy botches saving Reaper theory and some of it may be outdated or have been removed from the game)

Anyways, back to the main point: Old Soldiers certainly implies that whatever made Reaper Reaper occurred sometime during Overwatch, or sometime after it, which, once again, when we do the math, generally does not add up to “decades” - unless the idea that Overwatch had a hand in making him into Reaper is true, or that they left him in the hands of some group that made him into Reaper and then “returned” him to Overwatch.

Plausible, but again…

Part 3: What the fuck kinda halfassed character motivation is that?

I personally find it strange that Reaper would work for a group he’s hated for “decades,” even as a double-agent. It’s not that it’s impossible or even totally unheard of - it just seems unnecessarily shoddy in developing his character and placing it into the larger, admittedly inconsistent world of Overwatch.

It’s like trying to fit an old square block into a peg hole.

It would just be easier for Chu and the writing team to be clear and state that - much like Genji and Tracer and possibly even Soldier: 76 and Mercy - Reaper’s biography and his timeline have undergone numerous changes from the very beginning of development, to the game’s release, and even after, through Old Soldiers and Infiltration and beyond. We all know what Blizzard did with the First Strike comic - admitting that the story had changed from its initial conception and therefore they needed to pull it was disappointing, but it at least acknowledged that their development of Overwatch’s world had shifted and would need to be reorganized. Hell, if you pay close attention to the wording of the cancellation, you’ll see that Liao - supposedly the sixth member of the Overwatch original team - is not even mentioned in the entire post:

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20752185714

I would be extremely...skeptical of Chu’s claims that the wording of Reaper’s biography is intentional - because we already know that Blizzard has retconned so much of the early Overwatch content and is putting the original lore through a massive overhaul. So sure, maybe Reaper’s “decades” of work is going to be canon, but the fact remains that what is implied, right now, in the contradicting content that is out there, is that it is not.

Let me see if I can explain this:

From what is out there right now - Reaper blames Morrison, Overwatch, possibly some other group or people for his specific condition. Ana - a character he worked with for his entire Overwatch career - is shocked by “what he had become.” This is supported not only in Old Soldiers, but in their in-game interactions as well.

It would be extremely surprising if Reyes had been Reaper “the whole time” that Overwatch was around and Ana was completely unaware of his behavior, especially if the new fan theories that “Reaper” was his call sign are true.

From what Blizzard could eventually release - Reaper’s backstory could be changed to make it so that he was, in fact, Reaper for “decades,” that Reyes was turned into Reaper either during SEP or the Crisis or Overwatch eras - but that would involve scrubbing much of his current interactions with other characters, all of whom are surprised by “what he has become.”

“Oh but he was Reaper in secret” - what bullshit. You think a globally-recognized hero, no matter how bitter he is, surrounded by the same people for nearly THIRTY YEARS, just sneaks off into the night to kill people and then comes back with literally no one noticing?

That makes Morrison and Amari both blind and incompetent.

The simplest conclusion is either:

1. Part of the “different direction” of First Strike will be reworking Reaper’s biography, and potentially changing a bunch of other information already out there and present in the game or

2. The “decades” line is just inaccurate.

Things change, even after a game is released. Shit gets retconned all the damn time. It happens. Genji was not an Overwatch agent and then a cyborg. Angela did not work for Overwatch at age 11. The in-game map of Dorado’s location in Mexico is way different from the map in the Soldier: 76 origins trailer. The photos of Junkrat and Roadhog in the bank are literally just their models from their “line up” pictures. Reaper does not shoot bombs. Liao seemingly does not exist anymore. Tracer’s chronal accelerator can be removed. Hanzo has a fucking undercut. Torbjorn has eight children. Symmetra now has her shield generator. Roadhog has hook 2.1.

Things change.

I will be astounded if Blizzard can make all these contradictions work for Reaper, but I suspect somewhere, much like his fucking pipe bomb launcher and his “Don’t forget, you’re the one responsible for this” line and his bloody skintone, something, somewhere, will be cut or changed or contradicted. I suspect that it is entirely possible that we will see a comic or a short or some sort of lore where Reyes was “left behind by his team” and tortured into becoming Reaper and then returned to work as a double-agent - something that happened “decades” ago, as opposed to a comic or short or some sort of lore where Talon or another group pulls him from the wreck of the Swiss Base and makes him into something new only “six years” ago.

Something that is, unfortunately, “the easy way out” of developing Reaper as a more complicated, more complex character.

Of course, at the rate story-based content is released for Overwatch, it could be a long while before we see the results of this whole debate and discussion and mess.

...Maybe even decades?

It’s hard to say.

So I can already figure a lot of people who have come across are saying, “Aren’t you just being a disgruntled, delusional fan? Is your interpretation of this so important that you’re unwilling to change in the face of new information?”

That’s not really the point of this - I have my interpretation and it is unfortunately built on piles and piles of already-released, already-contradicting information that Blizzard has put out. While I am a fan of post-Fall Reaper and the idea that he was made after the Swiss Base explosion, my biggest gripe with Blizzard isn’t Reaper at all, but fucking the Overwatch timeline as a whole. The Crisis ended thirty years ago? Morrison was Overwatch commander for twenty years? When are Angela and Jesse recruited? When did Winston escape from the moon colony? Did he make Athena, or is she possibly an Omnic God Program like some fans hypothesize? Who fucking joins “Post-Recall” Overwatch and why? Why DOES Hanzo have an undercut? What is the fucking point of the Ilios map and why do I care about guarding some hole to the center of the earth? What is Junkrat’s secret? Will we ever see Roadhog’s face? Will Brigitte ever become a playable character? Are you guys gonna fucking hire Terry Crews or not?

Blizzard has SO MANY FUCKING PROBLEMS in their timeline that the Reaper “decades” thing is just one surface part of the iceberg.

It’s fine and dandy to put gameplay and game design before story - Overwatch’s gameplay is practically seamless and so fucking fluid that you don’t even really need a story - it’s got that Halo “Red vs Blue” or Team Fortress 2 type chaos built into it and that makes it fun, flexible, and fair for the vast majority of players.

But it would be great for Blizzard to recognize - beyond Genji and Tracer, beyond First Strike - that the problems poking through the glue holding disjointed gameplay and story together do have an impact on how their characters and lore are perceived in the long run.

Whether that comes down to complaints about the Sombra ARG, or the disappointing amount of skins for some characters over others, or the fact that half the maps seemingly have nothing to do with the world being built, or the fact that the comics are good but totally separated from one another, or the fact that the shorts are just enough to tease and not enough to really explore the world and characters -

Or even if comes down to Reaper being a “bad guy” for “decades.”

Reyes having been Reaper for “decades” and therefore having been “a bad guy all along” will be a massive disappointment for everyone who wants to see the complicated, complex, dark-skinned, Latino character get a good backstory and eventually a good redemption arc - but it will be disappointingly expected too. The silver lining is that he’s still one of the funniest, funnest, wittiest, most sarcastic characters in the game, and no matter how many contradictions they build onto him, nothing will take away from shit like “I’m back in black,” “Welcome to the black hole,” “I’m a high-functioning psychopath,” “What kind of name is Doomfist anyways?”, and the fucking line of solid gold, “It’s in the refrigerator.”

Also

Sometimes being the “bad guy” is way more fun than being the hero.

I have no fucking clue who’s actually gonna read all of this but in summary:

To Chu, if you come across this: be very careful about overhyping things or vaguing information for your followers. I don’t think any of us here want to see the First Strike cancellation repeat itself. When you wrote Old Soldiers, were you thinking about Reaper’s biography and the word “decades”? It would be very interesting to learn how Blizzard’s timeline for Overwatch has changed throughout development.

To everyone else, whoever reads this: be skeptical of claims made by Blizzard, individual members of their team, and by fellow fans, including me! Like, holy shit, it’s crazy cool you got this far, but seriously, take a look, click those URLs, find that missing dialogue, do the math. “Word of God” means very little in this day and age when content creators change their ideas and stories all the time for something new, something they think is better.

Thanks for reading, sorry if I rambled in places, and sorry if I didn’t end very strong. I wanted to write more shitty fic shit this morning but got totally sidetracked by hunting down this problem and it just...I’m tired of seeing funny, interesting, unique, creative characters get reworked by their creators into something more “typical” so that they don’t have to deal with the heavy lifting of the problems that come with defying expectations. Reflections was a great start - hell, having such a diverse cast of characters to begin with was a great start - but I look at things like the First Strike cancellation and the whole “we’re moving in a different direction,” and it just echoes other video game series that have done the same thing in the past.

The theme of Overwatch is that there are “limitless possibilities” - “anyone can be a hero.” The world could always use more heroes. So to turn that around and make the “stereotypical bad guy” into a tired, tried stereotype once again would be bitterly disappointing. And at a time when people of all races, ages, genders, beliefs, and origins are facing harsh, real world struggles in the face of renewed evils, Overwatch provides an opportunity for fun, fairness, and optimism. To use that platform to tell the same tired, tried story is just exhausting.

#reaper #overwatch #first strike #my writing #essays #gabriel reyes #blizzard #plot holes #problems #is this the discourse?#idfk #i'll probably put this on ao3 too for easier reading #i hate tumblr's text posts #references #ideas #timeline

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rate-out-of-10 · 7 years

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MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA REVIEW

Since the Mass Effect series is one of my all-time favorite game series, I almost have to get my thoughts out on Andromeda. This game is a bit of a departure from the original series, taking us to the galaxy of (you guessed it) Andromeda. We leave the Milky Way in search for a new home amongst new stars and planets. Mass Effect: Andromeda is a loaded game, filled with content, so I will do my best to stick to all the pertinent information.

SPOILERS AHEAD. This review is based off my experiences with the game on the Xbox One.

We say goodbye to all of our adventures in the Milky Way, to Shepard, to our companions, to the fight with the Reapers, all of it; we meet our new human character, named Ryder, and whole new array of companions and crew mates, and other people/aliens. I will say that after the likes of Shepard and the Normandy crew, Andromeda does an admirable job with the follow up, but they just aren’t quite up to standard. And while I grew to adore some, most of the characters tend to fall flat. Drack, a krogan, grew on me very quickly the more I played with him, and I did fall into the Peebee trap, that cute ass asari, she’s just so infectious. Others like Cora and Vetra felt a little streamlined. I didn’t not like them, in fact I can say that by the end I did indeed like them, but there was a good while where I didn’t feel a good connection with them. But there is one companion that I did not enjoy at all: Liam Kosta. He was annoying, flat, boring to every degree, and I did not enjoy playing with him alongside of me at all. He delivers some of the most horrendous lines in the entire game. Our last companion, Jaal, is of the new species we find in Andromeda, an angara, and he felt cool in some places, and others a bit off (but only at first). Of course, by the end I felt for him and especially on his loyalty mission I really liked him. I was really hoping to get my twin, Sarah Ryder as a companion at some point. But of course, instead of killing her at the beginning, they chose the next worse thing: put her into a coma for most of the game. While you get to play as Sarah for a small section, which was short but sweet, and she helps you at the very end, I hope to see her as a companion in some future DLC. Andromeda features a wide array of new characters, and misses the mark with a few key ones. Our main villain, The Archon, of the new kett species, was a complete generic trope. The guy that believes he’s on some holy quest, he’s saving people, when in fact he’s just a psychopath hell-bent on killing everything that isn’t him. I was supremely disappointed in the lack of a boss-battle with him, as well. Where was it? The final section was just some drawn out wave combat as I disable some terminals, and then he dies. An absolute disappointment, especially when there are some pretty exciting bosses in the game, such as the Architects. Now, the game excels in certain categories, such as the loyalty missions for each character. I felt as though I really got to know my squad mates, and I helped them through whatever it was they were dealing with (except Liam’s. I did not enjoy him at all, I cannot express that enough). But the game tends to drop the ball in its essential story-telling. The main quest line had its ups and downs, but all together felt a little shallow. I was mostly interested in locating the other lost arks, and how they fit into the main story was very exciting and interesting, however the struggle with the kett and their exaltation, however horrifying it was, didn’t have too much pull on me. I was excited to craft new relationships and explore and do some amazing things, and I definitely did, I just wish that the main story had some stake in those feelings. In the original trilogy, I’d be torn between what to do, because I was so involved with all of it, but here I had almost no issue shelving the main quest in favor of my loyalty missions, or exploring the viable planets. I had no problem not playing the main story, until I had to, and I think that’s a problem. The main storyline isn’t strictly speaking bad, in fact it gets to be very cool towards the end with a lot of promise and spectacular moments, but it isn’t as enthralling all around as I would’ve hoped. And with the main story focusing on the evils of this new species, the kett, I was surprised that we only meet one other intelligent species native to Andromeda, the angara. Most of the other alien life is primitive and hostile. What made the likes of the Milky Way great was that humanity stumbled upon a huge galactic community of various species from the Milky Way, but in Andromeda there’s only two, and they’ve just been warring with each other for a hundred years, since before we got there? I wish we could’ve seen more, perhaps allied ourselves with another one, it could have raised the stakes a bit higher in the main story. As interesting as the angara were, this was a bit of a let-down.

Mass Effect: Andromeda makes a huge departure from the combat we’re used to playing in the series and offers a more versatile way to play. The combat itself, with your jump and dash abilities, feels so smooth. A major tune-up for the series, this was a great step in the right direction. Also, the class profiles, and access to every skill, was awesome. I very much enjoyed this new system. I didn’t feel bogged down or restricted, I could legitimately craft my Ryder in any way I wanted, and equip him with the abilities and skills necessary per scenario. It added a nicer piece of strategy to the game, and that’s always welcome. The game also looks as phenomenal as it feels in many places. Many environments are breathtaking; whether it’s the lush forest on Havarl, or the snowy mountains on Voeld, or the remains of the destroyed planet H-047c, or the springs of Kadara. I loved exploring each one and bringing up their viabilities to 100%. I felt so accomplished after activating the monoliths upon solving an alien Sudoku puzzle, activating the terraforming vaults, and settling outposts. And it wasn’t a high-maintenance thing at all, and I really appreciate that. Some games with aspects such as these sometimes go over board and make it a chore, but it’s fast and satisfying here. The galaxy map exploration has some cool things to offer as well, and some not so much. Its visuals are gorgeous, I will say, I very much like the point of view being the tip of the Tempest as you fly through the galaxy, but it isn’t so rewarding. Most planets you visit don’t offer anything other than a quick paragraph of info about the planet and some meaningless lore, others some XP and research points, and then the occasional salvage and loot. But exploring every system to 100% isn’t as rewarding as I wanted it to be. It’s not a necessity either, so that’s good because it is very much a skippable, tedious part of the game. The game’s research and crafting system is simple and cool to use as well, although I wish the OS was simple too. It can be a bit encumber-some and a real task to navigate, but you can get some really great gear out of taking the time to explore and find the elements and materials you need (or just purchase them). But trust me, you’ll get tired of the scanner real quick. Now, some other technical aspects were sore. The facial animations (of course), while I didn’t have any major glitches or problems during my 60 hour playthrough (thank god), they were still stiff and plain. However, it’s not something I take away from the game too much, plus future updates are fixing the issues. The voice acting is where I get most annoyed. Some characters just sound uncomfortable and some are lame. There were many deliveries that were cheesy or awkward, some were just painful to hear, even a few from my Ryder made me go, “oh my god stop.” One thing that players will notice as a departure from the original trilogy is the absence of Renegade/Paragon, it was swapped out with (I think?) a more dynamic approach to your Ryder character. Now in conversations, you choose between responses that fall under four categories: Emotional, Casual, Logical, and Professional. It was an interesting change from what we knew, however it doesn’t change the game or how I play all too much, it seems. You can read a nice psych profile written by the Tempest’s doctor, Lexi, based on your choices, but that’s about it. One thing that kept me coming back to the original trilogy was choosing different Renegade/Paragon options, it felt like they changed your relationships with other characters, it seemed like it would make a difference, but this new dialogue/action set up doesn’t have that same effect. There weren’t many major choices in the game that felt heavy either, none that drastically changed how the story would play out. Of course on my next playthrough I’ll be choosing the opposites of what I chose this first time, but if they don’t change my experience enough, I don’t see much reason to keep coming back to the game. I’ll wind up going back to the trilogy first before Andromeda, if that’s the case. Andromeda doesn’t have as high of a re-playability value as the trilogy.

One thing I didn’t touch on was the multiplayer, and that’s because it’s essentially recycled from Mass Effect 3. Wave-based, horde combat scenarios mixed with a few objectives, and then extraction. The combat in Andromdeda is great enough to where it’s fun to be in, but not for too long because I despise the leveling system. I don’t like the pre-set character abilities. I feel as though they could’ve kept it simple: let us choose what race we want, apply the skills we want to those races, and with each race they have a special ability that makes them unique. Almost like a create-a-class system from the Call of Duty games, but with your different characters/races. It should be progression based with the gear as well, not this loot box system with in-game currency that’s plaguing video games now. Acquiring better armor and weapons should be organic and correlative to how much I’m playing and how well I’m doing, not how much money I’m willing to spend. It takes the immersion right out of the game. It’s lazy. And that’s all I’m going to say on multiplayer. My final rating for Mass Effect: Andromeda is:

7.75/10. Not exactly what I was waiting for, but I’m glad I have it.

Andromeda has a ton to offer and for all intents and purposes, it’s a really good game, but there are quite a few shortcomings that hold it back from true greatness, especially as a follow up to one of the greatest game series’ to have ever come out. It excels with its planet exploration, its visuals, its combat, its loyalty missions, and dynamic class system. However the lackluster main story, which leaves many questions left unanswered, and a generic villain, copy & paste lazy multiplayer, some trivial voice acting, and its small scale choice system leads the game astray. I definitely think it’s worth getting for fans of the series, as well as those who enjoy sci-fi/fantasy games, and open-world exploration games. But the real greatness of the Mass Effect universe still lies within its original trilogy (for now anyway).

#mass effect #mass effect andromeda #andromeda #bioware #video game #videogames #gaming #xbox one #review #game review #gaming review #video game review #reviews #out of 10 #sci-fi #fantasy #action #rpg #space

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mal-likes-biscuits · 5 years

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Series Behind the Scenes (Diablo: Amor Aeternus)

I wanted to share some of the fun hidden eggs/did you know/lore reference/extra stuff that appears throughout the series, but I didn’t have a chance to mention as I posted.

LONG post: content after the break! (Also, series spoilers. In case that’s not obvious.)

In All Things Light and Dark

Water imagery: all the Aspects have an element associated with them. Wisdom/Death is water/ice, per their arcane spells and the domain itself (Pools of Wisdom). Malthael returns to life in a spot that reminds him of the Pools.

Biscuits are the first food Malthael ever eats. He likes them afterwards because they remind him of the warm compassion he was shown. This carries on into later stories, where he has an obvious preference for baking, but also a lingering soft spot for biscuits in particular.

Fallen angels carry with them some sort of lingering power. One of Mal’s most important but not really mentioned ones is that he can speak/read all languages. It’s about 50% practice and 50% magic. He just knows what things mean.

I probably should have had ice manifest on his hands in the church instead of the arcane glow. However, I also wanted to underscore the difference between his base element/person and the Reaper.

The blades themselves aren’t the cause/fix of his memory loss. He’s suppressing things due to a) an extremely painful death and b) his mortal brain trying to reconcile things with his previously immortal/corrupted soul. His taking up the blades and recovering the past through combat is purely symbolic.

Things Malthael does in the year before Tyrael finds him: scribe, translator, and at-no-pay demon cull-er. He spends his entire savings to buy Talm the farm sickles.

Tyrael and the companions probably overreact when they see Malthael, thinking he is a Reaper. But he also is super grungy looking and his clothing is all tattered. He’s been sleeping on the streets when he hasn’t been working at the church. He doesn’t look that far off from a corrupted Reaper.

The reason there’s a punisher in Salvos, and a demon swell in general, is because (you may have guessed it) another angel Fell near there, and is now living there. You see undead when Tyrael falls and his angelic power causes chaos. Any remaining Reapers come out of their fugue state and gravitate towards the lingering essence of their master...who is not really impressed to see them.

This does get mentioned elsewhere, but yes: they all drink the mead. They all get extremely drunk. Malthael and Tyrael get dragged into the farmer’s hand-to-hand just for fun fight and end up smacking the snot out of each other for catharsis.

Arcane & Apples

This story came about because I wanted to write a fun one-shot about how Tristram would appear to an outsider.

Also, I felt bad there was a lack of scholarly characters in the series after Cain dies and wanted to bring someone else in.

Farah was originally meant to be an Archivist (based on the April Fool’s content in the game) before I canned that idea, because I have plans for that later that are very different.

Osseus’ name was one he took when he became a proper necromancer. It derives from “ossuary”, or a place where the dead are kept (bones only).

Farah had a cat for most of her life in Caldeum, but she was currently without one or she would have likely brought it with. You see a few cat references from her throughout the series.

Aya and Tyrael were more than a little hoping that Malthael would strike up a conversation with Farah. They were just dodging around the topic most of the time.

Aya almost barfs when Farah sniffs one of Malthael’s journals. She says she doesn’t know where it’s been, but she has ideas from what she’s seen.

Originally Osseus was going to be Xul, until I learned that Xul was the Diablo 2 necromancer. Part of this carried over to my description of Osseus having a rather charming voice, which is more like Xul and less like the actual Diablo 3 necromancer. I’m chalking it up to artistic variance.

The unreadable scrolls about scroll-crafting are going to be important in Series 2.

The prophetic line from Farah’s dream about Malthael ("This man walks the crossroads. One path leads to ruin. The other, survival.") is meant to read as applying to the survival of the Nephalem (or himself), but it also applies to his decision about the Arch in Act 4.

Farah reacting to the tone of Malthael’s voice (beyond just basic surprise) was added in after several edit rounds, when the characters decided they had this Love thing going on in later stories. Still, I wanted to keep it relatively understated.

The "Aya, would you explain mortal courtship?” line was in the very first draft and was meant to be a humorous throw-away line, but, you know. He still doesn’t understand mortal courtship.

A Light in the Darkness

Most of the first scene was added in the final edit draft, because I wanted to up the banter between all of them.

Lyndon and Malthael pretty much subside by insulting each other, like the not-quite-brothers they seem to be. Tyrael is mostly relieved it’s not him dealing with it anymore.

There’s a small suggestion that people have been beaking at Farah for her being kind to Malthael, and this is true; he’s not making that part up. But they try and not whisper about it if he’s around because he would end them. He finds out anyway.

Lyndon isn’t bugging him for that reason, he really just likes pushing his buttons and doesn’t have anything against Farah or them all getting along.

Unlike Osseus, Zaira never changed her name. It’s hers. It’s who she is. That pretty much sums her up.

Zaira happened because I wanted to write a morally grey/lesser evil human character who was nonetheless on the side of good. Sort of like Malthael when he’s the Reaper.

Zaira’s unhealthy fixation that Lyndon mentions has been mentioned on this blog a few times and implied in the story. She is obsessed with learning more about the Reaper of Westmarch, and admires him greatly. Also, had a really weird infatuation with his power, which is what led to her and Osseus breaking up.

Chith never got far enough to even talk about adopting a new necromancer name.

Chith was named by my husband, when I asked him to come up with a name for a necromancer. He thought it was for Zaira’s character, who we’d chatted about in concept awhile earlier. Nope.

The book lady really has no idea she just called the oldest being in creation “young man” until after it happens.

The book lady is also important and is going to be reappearing later in Series 2.

The bit with Malthael arguing with the Reaper part of him (mentally) during the big gem-fight was added in much later, as part of a sweep I did across the series to build up that conflict for his character, as well as establish the level of PTSD flashbacks he experiences.

Born of Night & Beams of Light

This was originally meant to be the second large story in the series, and come fairly closely after “In All Things Light and Dark”.

The idea for the Archshards happened way before Diablo: Immortals and the Worldstone Shards were announced (my reaction to that probably makes more sense now).

I had planned on making Imperius the antagonist for this story from the beginning, based on his character development in Diablo 3.

Originally, the Prime Evil was going to take more complete control of Imperius, and his form was going to reflect that. But I didn’t think a character as strong as Imperius would give in that much, and that a lot of his behaviour would be due to his own issues and not the influence of the Hells.

The “charger” Tyrael rides in the opening chapters is a reference to Tyrael’s Charger from Heroes of the Storm.

I had notes for the scene in Salvos with Malthael drafted while I was writing “In All Things Light and Dark” because I knew he was going to be revisiting Death.

Talm and his family were originally slated to die in Salvos, but I thought Malthael bringing them back alive would actually have a more positive impact on his character, plot-wise. I wanted him to draw on Death out of responsibility instead of despair.

Malthael’s Death abilities (while mortal) are inspired by the frost magic he uses in Reaper of Souls, as well as by some of the magic the necromancers use in the game series. His Wisdom Aspect form is mostly intellectual abilities (scrying with the Chalice, languages, etc.); his Death Aspect is mage-ish.

The “mental connection” Malthael and Farah use is inspired directly by what Tyrael does with Leah in Diablo 3 in terms of imparting memories and feelings. The mortal angels seem to be at least partially psychic.

A lot of Aya’s character development in the series was inspired by me wanting to write a) a more HUMAN Nephalem and b) how a Nephalem would handle having imposter syndrome. (Since the Nephalem in the game are essentially unflappable.) It is a slight departure from the game characterization, but also my attempt to bring some realism to an overpowered character class.

Originally, Auriel wasn’t supposed to recognize/learn it was Malthael stealing the Chalice until after it was all done, to show that she was willing to help the humans specifically. But the scene ended up being very emotional and affecting and I left it as I wrote it, with her finding out his identity right away.

Auriel’s fate was somewhat undetermined, but I knew she would oppose Imperius. When Chith came about as a character, I decided to have her become mortal instead of dying because I wanted to be able to write a student-mentor relationship between them.

Itherael was plotted to die from very early in the series planning, due to the nature of the Prophecy of the End of Days. Unfortunately, for everyone who is a fan of them.

Auriel’s mortality is one of the more self-indulgent items I wrote into the series, mostly because that could have gone so many different ways.

I really wanted to explore Chalad’ar’s uses, particularly since it seems to be so powerful but isn’t really explained much even in Storm of Light. There’s a lot of suggested functionality, intentional or accidental, with how the user can interact with what they are studying.

Farah helping Malthael with the scrying was a relatively late addition to the story and didn’t appear until I began to write the scene.

Farah’s Nephalem abilities actually extend beyond the Sight, but aren’t fully developed yet -- though they are hinted at when she is able to tolerate Chalad’ar better than some of the others. This will be developed more in Series 2.

My description of the Chalice use/scrying was written before I read “Storm of Light” and ended up being surprisingly close to canon. I had to change very little.

All the various Nephalem classes from Diablo 2 and 3 are represented in the final battle, though not all are named characters. Some of the unnamed Nephalem will be appearing in Series 2 as “new” characters.

The final battle takes place somewhere in the Fields of Misery.

The “Death Knells” described by Chith are a reference to Auriel’s Heroes of the Storm ability that lets her see the “souls” of the dead in order to resurrect them with her ult. This idea will be expanded on in Series 2.

None of the end-battle deaths were planned ahead of time except for Imperius. I let the battle write itself fairly organically and saw what came out of it.

Malthael sees as much in the Caverns of Terror as Tyrael does. Imperius is correct when he says he is thinking about Farah: one of the visions he has is of her telling him that he has disappointed her (which, thanks to some of the mind-to-mind conversations they have had, he does not believe).

The arcane abilities that Aya unleashes on Imperius at the end of the fight are a reference to the wizard’s archon mode in the game. And like in the game, they are taxing and have a cool-down period.

We don’t see Kormac return as one of the souls that Malthael works with, because he is “ready to die” and at peace with how he goes out. It’s in many ways the ideal death he wanted to have as a warrior.

In the original outline I did for the series, Malthael was scripted to die at the end, ensuring Imperius could be defeated. I had a change of heart as his character developed throughout the series, and his redemption occurred in very different ways than I had planned.

Lyndon saving Malthael from death was not scripted at all, but when I started writing that part, it came about naturally. I went back and built up stuff with the two of them for the entire rest of the story to set it up, character-wise.

Malthael is meant to be the “brother” that Lyndon actually manages to save, vs. the one that he didn’t.

The bit with Farah waiting at the water is an accidental but direct mirror/echo of the opening story, where Malthael washes up on the lakeshore. More overt references to this were added in after the draft was completed.

There’s a lot of unwritten material that happens during the Epilogue, including lots of conversations between the characters, patching up, the wake/celebration, etc. This may be material I write and refer back to later, but I didn’t want to include it in the Epilogue because there is so much of it.

I hadn’t actually planned on getting Tyrael and Aya together until I wrote the Epilogue and it just sort of happened. Again, lots of additions/tweaks went into the story earlier to help set it up more overtly.

Malthael hasn’t actually been sitting on that bench for that long. He doesn’t specify when he leaves Farah to go back home.

Tales from Tristram

I wrote “Echoes” about 3 times partially, and scrapped each version, because I thought the chapter kept backtracking on Malthael and Farah’s character development from “Arcane & Apples”. The published version is the 4th attempt.

“Echoes” is also the first time we see Malthael’s PTSD manifest from his POV, post-memory recovery.

"Echoes” also gives the details of him working through the PTSD after fighting himself in Act 1, including some subtle references to the very annoying inner (anxiety) monologue he has.

“Night of Souls” was me writing a Halloween story and accidentally stumbling on pivotal character development for pretty much everyone.

Malthael’s comments in “NoS” about Wisdom angels stargazing is related to the description of the Pools. Even when they are pure they are said to show Balance, and I assume if you went high up enough in the Heavens you would eventually see the stars. It’s an interesting visual balance between light and darkness and very fitting of his role.

Malthael arguing with himself while sitting at the bonfire in “NoS” is an example of how he handles his anxiety when he’s in better control of it; the devil’s advocate voice is a lot more nuanced, and he’s more than able to tell it to be quiet.

“Justice and Wisdom Walk into a Bar” was the original plot idea behind “A Light in the Darkness”. Zaera-d was telling me a story about their DnD group burning down a tavern and I thought it was something the Tristram gang would do. Only they ended up not doing that in Act 3.

The above chapter was also the only real time in the series that Tyrael and Malthael’s sexualities get mentioned directly (though Lyndon hints at Malthael’s in Act 3); I really had to balance it being a humorous scene without actually making fun Tyrael because that was 100% not my intent.

#diablo: amor aeternus #my writing #behind the scenes material #long post #some fun stuff for you to read #a little insight into the stories #i'm sure there's stuff i'm missing #but this is a sample of some of my notes and related things

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