#// AND TO MAKE SURE MY COMPLAINTS ARE INDEED VALID

[demonsfate]

honestly instead of the end of bloodline feeling like another anti - violence lecture even though devil was beating the crap outta someone who literally just abused and killed jin, i think they should've really played into the horror aspect. instead of them being like "JIN STAPH!!! JIN NO... JIN ENOUGH!!! JIN THIS ISN'T YOU... :'( JIN YOU'VE BECOME A MONSTERRR..." like seriously. realistically if your friend was literally SHOT AND KILLED IN FRONT OF YOU, then they rose up with a demonic appearance - you'd probably even question if that thing is your friend anymore. i mean, it's probably a similar experience to watching your friend become a zombie. hell, watching your best friend getting KILLED is probably a traumatic experience to begin with, yet... they can still comprehend everything enough to tell jin (devil, a very devilish looking guy now) to stop beating up heihachi lol

like i feel xiaoyu should've been horrified, maybe the others too. considering they've likely never seen a devil - and they certainly never seen somebody reanimated after being killed. the whole situation should've had them screaming, not just slightly upset. hell, iirc, when jin was first shot, xiaoyu just sounded kinda mad at heihachi rather than being absolutely devastated. like yeah, she screamed a little at first. but she was really,,, sobbing or anything. like "you're... you're the evil one" sounded like she had more anger in her instead of, like i said - being absolutely devastated. like she only started crying after devil started beating on poor heihachi.

[xandraspalace]

Where the Heart Settles

----- Where the Heart Settles || Banzoin Hakka [HOLOSTARS EN]x GN! Reader - Birthday Fiction

Summary : Hakka used to think that a garden was nothing more than just a place filled with various flowers. However, on his birthday, you proved him wrong. Hakka found himself settling his heart in a safest haven, the garden you made only for him.

WC : 2421 words.

Warning : Grammar errors, fluff with a hint of angst, hint of TEMPUS lore, Ikemen Sengoku references, MLQC references, etc.

Featured Characters : An unnamed friend (OC), Gavis Bettel (mentioned), Josuiji Shinri (mentioned), and Magni Dezmond (mentioned).

Disclaimer : Everything written here is FICTITIOUS. This story is written in second-person point of view and the reader is gender-neutral. The personas written here are based on the avatar of the characters as vtubers, not the person behind it. Enjoy.

A/N : IT’S MY FAVORITE BIRD’S BIRTHDAY AND FOR ONCE I MANAGED TO POST THE BIRTHDAY FICTION ON TIME YEYYYY:D

Other Platforms : [MEDIUM] [TWITTER]

     INDEED. From the outside, your tea shop might look like just a normal shop. That's not wrong at all. You actually run a tea house in your homeland, Xenokuni. However, everything changed when the Jester came to you. Your shop is no longer an ordinary tea house. It now also serves as an information base specifically for Adventurer's Guild TEMPUS.

     You don't remember why you agreed to that. But one thing you know that once the war was over, you had to part ways with your significant other because the Jester took him to the TEMPUS Guild headquarters. And it had been quite a while since the last time you saw him.

     "I'll be fine, I promise."

     To be honest, those worries never went away, not only because he left you, but also because of the eroding effects of the Records Corruption on his body after he was attacked during the war.

     No one knows when they will attack again. You always get scared and anxious every time you think about it. There has been no peace since the people of Xenokuni questioned the validity of Utopia that the elites of Elysium had idealized.

     “Today is his birthday,” you glanced at the digital clock in the room and sighed, feeling a little disappointed. You wanted to celebrate his birthday with him too.

     You don't know, but perhaps the divine forces heard your complaint and answered your wish. The sound of—specifically—okobo sandals hitting the floor can be heard clearly by your ears. However, you ignored whoever it was, considering that your close friend who also works at your tea shop was up front to greet customers.

     But not long after, your friend split the curtain door open to see you. They stood there with a wide smile, it made you confused. “[Y/N],” they called, excitement could be heard in their calm voice.

     "What, are they our customers who want tea or clients who need information?" you asked.

     “You have a guest.”

     With hesitation, you asked again, "I have a guest?"

     However, your question was answered when your friend stepped back, making way for someone. From behind the curtain, you saw a figure that you would never have thought of. Your eyes widen in disbelief.

     You missed this person so much. It would be a lie if you didn't expect a little bit about his sudden arrival, but you also can't hope too much because of his busy life now as a member of the Guild TEMPUS. But one thing you were sure of was that the divine forces did heard your complains about just a moment ago.

     “Hakka…?” you called his name, approaching him slowly. “Is that really you?” That was a stupid question, you admit to yourself. 

     The purple-haired man smiled gently at you. "Of course it’s me. Is there any coolest and cutest exorcist that is better than me here? Tell me who it is!”

     It was him.

     You could confirm it from his antics. Your hand reached for his face, making sure that he wouldn’t disappear when you touch him. You looked down to see one last thing that could prove it was really him.

     You lifted one of the Hakka's hands gently, his eroded one. When you saw the traces of the corruption on his right hand, you could finally breathe a sigh of relief. “Oh, right. It is you,” you laughed shakily, probably because of the tears you were trying to hold back.

     Hakka also raised his right hand to hold yours that was cupping his cheek. "I'm home," he whispered softly.

     You finally pulled him into a hug. Hakka also rested his chin on your crown. He embraced you with such tenderness while whispering sweet nothings.

     Being in his arms again made you realize ... he is your home, no matter how far you two were apart.

     Since Hakka left for Guild TEMPUS, you have prepared something for him when he comes back. His arrival on a birthday was perfect, so you could show the things you prepared for him as a gift.

     You told Hakka there was a place you wanted to show him. You also warned him that this place would be dangerous to visit. The reason why is because this place you were going to visit has the most and strongest concentration of Records Corruption residue. You even call it the Xenokuni’s residue center of Records Corruption.

     But because you told Hakka it would be a birthday gift for him, he agreed to go there with you. He paid no heed to the actual danger he was about to approach. You'd think there would be at least a bit of trauma reactions from him because of what happened to him during the war. But it seemed that he really was the coolest exorcist because he was not afraid of any dangers and obstacles before him.

     "You guys will have a date?" your friend, who was serving some customers, asked.

     "Not really a date, but we will take a little stroll," you answered. “You wouldn’t mind looking after the shop by yourself for a bit, right?”

     Your friend laughed lightly and shook their head. "Of course I don't mind. And Hakka,” they turned to the Tengu. “I wish you a happy birthday. I thought you came here because you or someone from the guild needed information. Turns out you actually came here to meet your darling.”

     Hakka touched his chest, acting dramatic. "Ouch, that's hurting me, you know?" Hakka and your friends laughed, making you smile with them.

     Right after that, Hakka took something out from inside of his white kimono cloth that covered his black shirt. “Here.” Hakka took out an envelope and handed it to your friend.

     "What is this?" they asked.

     “Letter from Dad,” he loud-whispered to them you could hear him. "He really misses you."

     You looked at your friend with teasing gazes and chuckled. “Looks like you guys miss each other. It's not a one-sided feeling."

     Your friend received the letter from the Tengu. Shades of pink blushed their cheeks.

     Hakka grabbed your hand to quickly step out of the tea house. “Bye, Mom! We're off."

     "I'm not your mother!" they protested, but did not seem to hate it.

     Before actually leaving, once again Hakka shouted, “Shinri's my dad, so you're my mom. See you!”

     “Don't tease them too much,” you laughed while walking out of the tea house with him.

     "It's okay. They need to know that Shinri is missing them as well." He took your hand in his. "Let's go. Should we jump down to the spot you mentioned or walk to enjoy the view instead?”

     You giggled. "Let's take a walk. I want to enjoy, not only the view, but also spending time with you too.”

     "That's a great idea."

     With that, hand in hand, you went to the place where your gift for him was.

     After a while of walking, you and Hakka finally arrived at your destination. You stared into the misty abyss in front of you. The concentration of Record Corruptions residue at the bottom of the abyss made your stomach sick. Your legs felt weak, as if you were tired. You're not sure how you came to this place for the past few months.

     “Careful there.” Hakka wrapped once of his arms around your waist, making sure you didn't fall. The Tengu looked at you with a worried look.

     Hakka felt the same way as how you feel. But thanks to his Karasutengu Data, Hakka could still stand and make sure he didn’t fall because of the corruption residue concentrations

     “Hakka, let's go there,” your muttered weakly, pointing a dark, narrow alley. You tried to stand still. "There's a nice place at the end of the alley. I think that place has not been touched by the residue of Records Corruption," you explained.

     Hakka gave you a curious look. While helping you, the two of you entered the alley way.

     When you and Hakka reached there, the exorcist dropped his jaw in surprise, his periwinkle eyes was perfectly rounded. “What is… this…?” Hakka was speechless with what he saw before him. He felt like he was in a different world.

     A bed of flowers stretched out in front of him. It wasn't that wide, but what was before him can spoil his eyes and it could rest his mind which was previously spinning abysmally because of the corruption residue concentration outside.

     "It's a small garden," you answered his previous question. You looked at the garden fondly. “I found this place a while after you and Shinri left to join the headquarters members. Before you left, the Jester had asked me to take a few samples of the corruption residue, and the alley way caught my attention, then I found this place,” you once again explained.

     Hakka listened to you carefully and you continued, “I noticed that the soil in this place is more fertile than most of the land in Xenokuni after the battle. I sent a sample of the residue that the Jester requested along with a letter containing a report about this place. Sir Dezmond replied to the report and said it seems that this place was indeed left untouched during the battle. The influence of the Records Corruption didn’t reach this place.”

     What you said earlier was true. The place seemed untouched by the influence of Records Corruption at all. That place was so fresh and calming, as if it was a world apart from Elysium which is always filled with an unobtrusive aura, despite its beautiful scenery. The exorcist took a deep breath, feeling the fresh air.

     A thin, soft smile touched Hakka's lips. "It's beautiful," he uttered, lightly chuckling.

     A few moments after gazing at the garden, Hakka noticed how neat the garden was. The corner of the garden had been fenced in with wooden pickets. Flowers of all shapes and colors grew out of its well-tended soil. He wasn't sure everything could be this neat without someone’s hands.

     "I grew all of these flowers and tended it ever since Sir Dezmond said I could plant this place with flowers and trees." As if you were reading his mind, your statement succeeded in answering Hakka’s curiosity. You smiled sweetly. “I thought I'll take care of this garden and show you someday. Apart from being located near the Records Corruption residue center, this place has become my safest haven when I need a place to clear my mind.”

     Hakka looked at you in surprise. But if you look at his smile and eyes, curiosity, excitement, and pride was mixed together. “You did all this?!”

     Seeing his expression, you laughed lightly. “Yup! You came here at the right time—it's your birthday, so can you consider this as your birthday present?”

     "You mean... you tended these flowers for me?"

     You nodded, “Do you like it—woah!”

     “I love it!” Hakka interrupted your question with an instant answer as he jumped on you, hugging you tightly. You and Hakka bursted out laughing. "Are you going to continue to take care of this garden until later?" he asked.

     “You bet!” You looked at him with a prideful smile. “When Xenokuni is more stable, when Elysium is fine again, I want people to see this garden too. I want to prove to them that even in the midst of despair, there is still hope blooming for us to hold on to.”

     Before the war erupted, Xenokuni was a very beautiful place. The spring usually beautifies every corner of the land. The garden was like a mini version of Xenokuni's condition before the battle.

     Hakka could practically see the love and devotion that had been poured into each and every flower. The sight was overwhelming yet feeling so good.

     “Happy birthday, Hakka.” As he stood there in amazement, you reached out and took his hand, smiling somewhat bashfully. "Years from now, I hope we'll still be together and come out to see these flowers again."

     In the hands of the elites of Elysium, Hakka never knows what will happen in the future. However, seeing you who were so committed and confident about the future, he couldn’t bear to destroy your hopes. The sights you mentioned—a stable Xenokuni without war, and a beautiful Elysium without dictatorship of the elites—Hakka really wanted to see those sights. He wanted to see the end result of his and the rest of Guild TEMPUS’ hard works.

     Hakka hold your hands tight in his. “What are you talking about? Of course we will always be together. Where are you going? You're stuck with me for a really, really long time."

     It might sound like a joke, but Hakka wasn’t joking at all. He was very serious about what he said. His bluish violet eyes painted dedication and compassion.

     The spring breeze blew, not carrying the gray vibes of Xenokuni, but the scent of the flowers you tended to so beautifully. In your heart, you felt so proud of your gift for him, seeing how calm Hakka was when he's with you.

     You noticed your hands he was holding. Hakka looked back at you with a beautiful smile on his face. He pulled you into a hug, embracing you so gently, protecting you from the outside world.

     To the exorcist, this was what it’s like if pure, unadultred joy took form. “[Y/N],” he called your name softly.

     “Yes, Hakka?” You shot him a questioning look as he smiled and looped his arms around you, drawing you closer.

     “Thank you... Thank you so much... Thank you for being with me...”

     Hakka used to think that a garden was nothing more than a place filled with various flowers. It was indeed beautiful, and colorful, and sweet. But it was just what it was. However, in that moment, you proved him wrong. Hakka found himself settling his heart in that very place. He found himself a safe haven, only for you and him. And it was a prove that love could still bloom in the midst of despair and hopeless darkness. A place that shines so brightly in the midst of chaos, it almost felt like you two were hidden away from the rest of the world.

     Since the war that destroyed Xenokuni happened, Hakka no longer believes in the concept of Utopia. But maybe, with you, he can feel what they call “perfect world.”

     To him, meeting you was a blessing. You turned his world upside down, yet you do it beautifully and effortlessly.

     With you, his heart settled.

     Forever. -----[FIN].

Where the Heart Settles Fiction by Author Xandra April, 2023

[sapphic-aroace]

I recently realized that I may be an oriented aroace(pan oriented aroace).

My life has been very messy, as I was not well educated about sexuality and gender, and I had unexplainable feelings for many people.

me in the past when I might have felt an aesthetic attraction: from "What the-" to "I see, this must be a crush!" to.

Past me, who may have felt alterous attraction: "is this a - true - crush? Wait, then what was that?"

Past me who may have experienced squish: "This is crush!? Again!? No, no, this is really a mistake. Because we're just friends..."

(Yes, I internalized fucking heteronormativity and fucking amatonormativity🤢)

I learned superficially about aroace: "What were those things? I sometimes wonder, and sometimes I can relate to the experiences of aroaces, but if I called myself an aroace, I would definitely get complaints from all kinds of people"

Me, who finally began to recognize the diversity of aroaces and learned about tertiary attractions: "Oh, so attractions don't have to be only romantic or sexual attractions?! I don't think that those things in my past fall into those two categories! Then maybe I can recognize that I am an aroace! tertiary attraction finally gave me a name for what I was feeling🥲︎"

Me on another day: "there is no way I can call myself an aroace. Because in the past I was... That behavior...were full of alloalloeness..."

(But when I found the label for oriented aroace and the description of the tertiary attractions, all I know for sure is that I felt at peace. I wanted to exclaim, "I finally found this place!"... is all I can say now)

...Even now, I often wonder if I am crazy, or if my existence is disloyal to the LGBTQ+ community and other aspec people.

Do you ever feel that way? When you do, how do you get out of it?

I apologize for the length of the sentence, and I am not very good at English, so I apologize if my writing is not correct🙏

hello!

don't you worry about your English, I understood every word! and English is not my first language either, you're fine 😉

I'd like to start with saying your experiences are entirely valid and that many LGBTQ+ people have been where you are or are still at the same point.

Of course, there are LGBTQ+ people who knew really early that they were not cishet, but many others doubted/are doubting that they were/are really trans, gay, lesbian or bi; aspec as well. feeling like they're mistaken. or can't admit to themselves they're not cishet. you're far from the only one and I can assure you that your experiences are in no way disloyal to any members of the LGBTQ+ community.

As for my own experiences, I can tell you I have dealt with some of what you're feeling.

I am not confused anymore about my attraction, but I have been for the longest time.

it took me many years after I learned about asexuality to admit I was indeed ace and not a late bloomer. while I knew, as soon as I discovered the label, that I was in fact ace, I refused to admit I wasn't "normal". I wanted to be like everyone else.

I still read a lot about acespec people talking about their experiences even though I was in denial, because, deep down I knew I was ace as I said.

I didn't learn about aromanticism at the same time, I discovered it existed many months later, at least.

and I didn't believe that was me. even if I had yet to experience romantic attraction, I wanted to have a girlfriend, so that couldn't be me.

like you, I've dealt with internalized aphobia. I still struggle with it sometimes, but less and less so as time passes and I accept myself more and more.

and like you, I finally started to accept my aromanticism when I learned about oriented aroace and tertiary attraction.

I understood I could still find women attractive in different ways. my feelings were making sense. and others related. it was a relief.

I would also add that even if you believe your past behavior was alloromantic and/or allosexual, it doesn't mean you are not aroace. your struggles with internalized aphobia may have been the reason for this perception, or maybe you've just grown and changed, it can happen.

Finally, I would advise reading about other aroace experiences, especially oriented aroace ones, since it's the label that feels right to you. I think it can definitely help you realize that many people have indeed been or are still questioning and doubting, that you're not alone and that you're feelings are valid. it has helped me a lot.

I would also like to thank you for sharing your experiences, I think it will definitely help others that are looking to understand themselves and have similar feelings to yours.

[cosmos-daughter]

✧ VIDEO GAME REVIEW / ANALYSIS: Resident Evil Village

𝙍𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 : 8/10

CONTENT: the main topic is criticism towards the story-writing and analyzing the Lords (with most focus on Heisenberg for obvious reasons). Additionally, also discussed the gameplay aspect in comparison to previous titles of the franchise.

This review is long overdue, some of these thoughts I've had since the game came out, but I like writing reviews only after analyzing the media enough times to make sure I have a solid opinion in order to be able to provide valid criticism. After finishing the game multiple times and analyzing the aspects I like and dislike repeatedly, I finally know for sure how I feel about it. Village is one of my favorite games, but still this review is a little more negative than positive due the fact that I believe it the potential to be the perfect game, and so I'm constantly grieving what we could've had. As always: please keep in mind that this is simply my opinion as a long time Resident Evil fan. This is how I personally feel about it as a fan and not a direct attack at people who enjoy this game ー since I do so myself as well.

Spoilers ahead! ⚠️

Though I consider Resident Evil Village an enjoyable game, it's undeniably rather unsatisfactory in some aspects. More specifically, story-wise. For the first time ever since the RE5/RE6 era, Capcom decided to make another "story oriented" Resident Evil game, and the result was as expected: lacking in many ways.

The game itself isn't bad, but there are aspects that had could make the game much more interesting if they focused more on it. The biggest issue and my main complaint is the character waste. Without an exception, all of the Lords were underutilized and presented in a very shallow manner, even the one that had more participation in the story. This detail weighs as a immense negative point on the game's overall quality, since they play a huge role in the story and make up most of the content of the game. With the exception of Moreau ー who's too far gone and doesn't have the required intelligence ー all of them could have had more depth and development than what we saw. They have the qualities needed: captivating characters with cool designs, their own customized areas and unique personalities, but never reached their peak because they were robbed of the exploration of the themes that could add authenticity to the characters such as their past/background, motivations, etc. So regardless of how promising they are, since we haven't seen beyond their surface and don't know understand and know enough about the characters themselves, they end up slightly shallow and simple. The consequence of this lack of humanization is that in the end they didn't receive an ounce of dignity or empathy even in death. A cruel fate that feels even harsher when you remember that all of them were once normal people that just happened to be victims of Miranda's evil scheme.

It feels rather frustrating to see a good character go down without being fully explored, especially on Dimitrescu's case, since she was a character that everyone had high expectations for because she was used as a marketing strategy to attract the public by being the focus of the game's demo & trailer. Everyone was interested on the game because of the beautiful tall vampire lady, but turns out she appears only in the beginning of the game and barely has significance in the rest of the story. I didn't expect a redemption for her, it would be unrealistic and out of nowhere ー the game made clear that she's more inclined towards evil than morally-grey by the way she and her daughters are unnecessarily cruel and see the villagers like nothing but food stock, so it would indeed be difficult to create a situation in which she cooperated with the player's side. Besides, there's the huge factor of her blind loyalty to Mother Miranda and the fact that Ethan literally murdered her daughters; so redemption or a change of heart seems in fact out of question for her, but making her the first one to die was so anti-climatic and humiliating. The least they could do was make her be one of the last characters to go, so she could hunt Ethan until the end for avenging her daughters. It would have made more sense for her final fight to have happened before Heisenberg's. They could have done literally anything else instead of killing her off during the first twenty minutes of gameplay and never bringing her up again as if she's insignificant. There were countless possibilities for her, yet they decided to follow the worst and less satisfying route.

Now, the next topic and the reason why I'm obsessed with this game despite everything: Karl Heisenberg. Imagine giving us one of the best characters in the whole franchise: a hot dilf-coded villain with a dark past and problematic personality that show signs of redeeming qualities, and then preceding to completely waste all of his potential as both; a possible ally and a character, by not exploring the depth of his person. If any character should've had redemption in this story, it should have been Karl. What is the point of adding the detail of his disloyalty and hatred for Miranda if that wouldn't make any difference in the end, because Ethan doesn't even consider his offer of a partnership and we're forced to kill him either way? Why give him a whole "character arc" focused on his disdain for his fake Mother, who happens to be the main villain, and not give him a chance of joining the protagonist's side when they both share the same enemy? I think the reason for that is simply laziness.

Not that he has to be a good person to be on the good side, but it's also implied he possibly wasn't evil like Dimitrescu, who drained people of their blood and committed cannibalism, or Moreau, who brutally experimented on the living. Heisenberg experimented solely on the dead, and though definitely unethical, didn't directly inflict pain on anyone ー and that makes me assume that maybe he's a morally grey character who's done bad things, and while definitely not the most moral man on earth, still has a line; differently than his "family". But unfortunately we'll never know for sure, since Capcom decided to not give us any more lore. Regardless of which one it's canon, it's still understandable why Heisenberg acts the way he does. I believe it's the consequences of living the nightmarish hell of having to constantly humiliate yourself by serving the person you despise the most, your worst enemy in the shape of a Mother — the very same person who stole your freedom and turned you into nothing but a puppet, a monster, a weapon. All this time, he was just fighting to recover his stolen freedom, fueled by his raw hatred for this woman who stripped him of his dignity, hurt his pride, and took his autonomy away by force. But at the end, he witnessed all he worked so hard for in flames in front him as he died alone under the freezing rain, in the same hell he wanted so badly to escape from. His fate was merciless and cold, even for someone like him.

You could argue that some of the Lords deserved their fates, but Donna's case is for sure the most unfair of them all. She truly did nothing wrong and was just a victim. Her gardener's diary entries prove that she's always been a gentle and lonely person, and the fact that even after being infected with the Cadou and gaining hallucinogenic abilities all she wanted was to help people meet with their loved ones again only further proves her goodness. She has nothing but old dolls in her house, it's clear that this woman didn't bother anyone and lived a quiet life by the waterfall, where she was isolated from everyone else. Donna deserved better than to die alongside her dusty dolls, her only friends, left to be forgotten forever.

The point I meant to make clear by now is that these characters being villains didn't stop me from feeling affection for them ー it never does, actually. So even if surviving wasn't a possibility, I wish we had at least seen more of their human side, their lives aside from Miranda, or their past, before getting locked away in the village by her. There were so many things, small details that I wanted to know about them, what's their age? Birthday? Any family left? Friends? Past lovers? Was Dimitrescu always this heartless? When exactly did Heisenberg realize that Miranda was manipulative and didn't love them, didn't really see them as her family? How did he manage, unlike his "siblings", to see through her manipulation? The way Heisenberg speaks of Miranda sounds more similar to someone who's been hurt and had their trust broken instead of someone that's always hated their current enemy, especially because of his line "She doesn't care for us, no. Her humanity is long gone. I must destroy her." There are so many unanswered question, so much I wanted to know. But for sure what I wanted the most on this whole story was for them to have at least received a little bit of empathy, instead of being referred as monsters all the time. As a player and someone who enjoys the characters, it feels unfair to hear that. They were people too.

Now that I've talked about all the characters, I think it's important to emphasize that despite it being annoying to watch good characters being underutilized, none of that would be a surprise if this was just another typical Resident Evil game. This franchise has always has been awful when it comes to writing and making the characters constant on the series, just look at the amount of cool characters that literally never showed up again after their first appearance (Carlos, Billy, etc) ー and it's even worse when it comes to villains, since they're never offered the chance of redemption. For that reason, I never have high expectations when it comes to character development or story, however... it was made clear enough by trailers and by how much more cinematographic this game is compared to any other that Village was meant to be less survival horror than usual and more story/character focused, more movie-like. And since that was the direction they were heading to, the least they could do was create a story in which the plot and characters are equally developed and work in unison.

My biggest disappointment with this game really is mainly directed at the mediocre writing, because gameplay wise the game is good. As previously mentioned, the survival horror aspects are much less present, item managing is barely needed unless playing on hardcore and the game is pretty forgiving of your mistakes — similar to RE4, it rewards you for killing enemies rather than punishing you, a mechanic that doesn't work well in a survival horror game as it doesn't force you to be cautious with your resources and spend them wisely. You can just go on a killing spree and you'll be fine, and knowing that makes the game's atmosphere significantly less tense.

There was more criticism than praise in my words so far, so allow me to mention my next point, which is in my opinion the best part of Resident Evil Village: the atmosphere and exploration. I was enchanted with the scenery of the gothic isolated Romanian village filled with blood, monsters and death, the breathtaking and detailed Baroque architecture of the Dimitrescu Castle, the calm, eerie silent snowy regions that fills you with a sense of desolation and dread. The game is visually magnificent ー snowy montains is a landscape that can hardly go wrong. Last but not least, another resemblance to Resident Evil 4, the merchant and his requests was the perfect addition to encourage map exploration and therefore reproduce the impression of a open-world game. Hunting treasures and searching for ingredients for the Duke's kitchen were genuinely fun things to do.

I must finish by saying that if this game wasn't part of the Resident Evil series, it'd probably be a 9/10 for me. But carrying the name of a loved franchise comes with expectations, and I found that many of them weren't met. Still, even if not life-altering, Village is still a great, solid game with a high replay value and a decent story, so I personally recommend it and find it worth playing, because as long as you don't expect the game to be similar to the classic RE games in terms of gameplay or horror level, or don't get too attached to the good-looking antagonists, the game's half-assed writing probably and less challenging than usual gameplay won't bother you and you'll be able to have fun with it. I don't think every game should be a masterpiece, and this one, even with all the mentioned downsides, still delivered a emotional and beautiful story about family love that was able to make me sympathize, connect with the characters and cry a river at the ending, so I consider it a good game even if I think it could've been better with a few changes in the direction of the story.

[destinyc1020]

No I side eyed Joe and I have since they started dated. What would a rich 27 year old man have in common with a sheltered 20 year old especially when they come from different cultures? He had the power in that relationship from both an age and money standpoint. Look at how his side is trying to smear her instead of handling this quietly. It really tells you all you need to know about him because even if she partied every night, for the sake of his children, he could have ended this in a way that protected his children which he didn't.

No I side eyed Joe and I have since they started dated. What would a rich 27 year old man have in common with a sheltered 20 year old especially when they come from different cultures?

I mean, people can connect and click w/each other no matter what culture they're from, or how old they are tbh. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Look at how his side is trying to smear her instead of handling this quietly.

No offense, but HE'S the one who filed for divorce, so he's probably just sharing his reasons why?

It's the same if she were to divorce HIM. If she filed for divorce from HIM, I'm sure her side would be sharing the reasons for her decision as well. 🤷🏾‍♀️

It really tells you all you need to know about him because even if she partied every night, for the sake of his children, he could have ended this in a way that protected his children which he didn't.

I can understand this viewpoint... And you make some valid points Anon. My thing though is that this divorce is more than likely going to be handled by attorneys right? So, this information was bound to get out there anyway to the media. Not only that, but if she really was indeed partying every night...was that really "protecting" the kids on her end either?? 🥴 I mean, we can point fingers all we want, but we haven't even heard two sides, and maybe his complaints were valid? 🤷🏾‍♀️

Right now, I'm not really on anybody's side....I'm just wanting to hear more info and wish them the best. I don't know everything that was going on here, but if a MAN is divorcing his wife, then I feel like there may have been some pretty deep things going on here, cuz usually it's the woman divorcing the man lol. Most men don't usually even want to go through divorce tbh, so if he's making the decision, then yea, I kinda do wonder what on earth was taking place.

So, I'm going to need to hear more of her side just to see what her explanation and complaints are for him as well....cuz there are TWO sides to every story imo.

Even after hearing both sides, I still don't think I will take sides... I think I will just hope that going forward, they can handle things in a peaceful way as parents, just for the sake of the kids that they have together.

[jazikatxox]

Let's talk about Strange New Worlds S2E02

⚠️ SPOILERS AHEAD! ⚠️

I think the episode was great, like so many have said already. There are definitely some things that I have previously said I wish SNW would cover better in general, but this week I don't have many complaints. Reading through what others have said about it inspired me to write my own post.

Storylines involving augments/genetic modification have often been very personal to me, especially as someone who is neurodivergent and regularly has to see content advocating for the complete erasure of children who grow up to be adults like me. That is the very definition of eugenics, and the Federation often tried to portray their laws as a means of preventing that sort of thing. However, prejudice and fear are often what wins out in these cases, not concern. I've always thought the Eugenics Wars, brought about by a very specific group centuries in the past and were products of OUR time, not the Star Trek future, were a poor excuse to stereotype and ignore ANY nuance in extremely complex issues.

The DS9 storylines are especially important to me, and Dr. Bashir is one of my favorite characters in the whole franchise. DS9 portrays most of its genetically modified people as victims, rightfully so since most of them were children when they were modified and had no say in the matter. It's not fair at all to compare them, or the Ilyrians, to some perfectly bred super soldiers who caused problems. The scene with Neera and La'an really stuck out to me for this reason, that La'an can in no way be fairly compared to her ancestor just because they share DNA. Khan was never a villain just because he was augmented, he was a villain because of the choices he made.

I have seen some complaints about it utilizing overdone concepts, and in response to that I feel if they had to do it again then maybe it's because not enough people took the previous messages to heart. I think something some people miss when talking about "The Measure of a Man" is that while it's a very sci-fi sort of issue dealing with the nature of man vs. machine and such, in other episodes Data is often humanized (as opposed to dehumanized, as he is in this episode) and used in allegories to those who are "different". I think that episode is best viewed with that perspective in mind. Overall, I do think the continued relevance of that episode was perhaps accidental, while this episode of SNW was VERY deliberate. I'm not entirely sure if it's right to even compare the two for this reason!

However, I can indeed see the other point some have made about it using allegory instead of real representation. I've said many times that there are issues still very underrepresented in Trek, especially queer issues. I do believe that new Trek has a responsibility to make up for the representation we couldn't have in the 90s due to homophobic producers and executives. Regardless, my personal thought on this particular allegory is that there are SO many specific groups under attack right now that this one needed to be somewhat vague to portray its message as intended. It's SUPPOSED to be relatable to many, not just one singular group. While it's a very sad truth, it's our current reality. I've seen many different ways people have personally related to it already, and all of them are valid.

Of course we can and should have nuanced discussions about this episode just as with any other Trek story, but if you've never in your life faced persecution over your identity then I'd encourage you to tread carefully while chiming into this conversation because this is very real for far too many people right now.

[nightsweatsx]

I let love in, I let love in

You’re thirty one years old, just got out of a five month relationship, you’re convinced it was the best relationship you’ve had in your entire life. You base this off the sure fact that you haven’t once shown any of your insecurities, that you believe do not exist anymore, because hey, you spent the last six years ‘working on yourself, hindsight, you didn’t work on yourself. 

You instead, spent the last six years, single, sending nude photographs almost to anyone you found attractive, getting black out drunk only once in a year, so that was pretty good considering you would do it almost monthly previously, there it is ‘growth’. 

You decided to be more frivolous with posting nude photos of yourself to your social media, such as instagram, as a front that your weight gain was valid, ‘my body is beautiful, it is made this way, it’s called genetics hun, maybe my body is like this because of that? Can’t help it’, Crosses the street to the dairy for my dose of blood spiking levels of sugar with a Red Bull and a Cookie Time ‘it’s cool babes, I eat this, because I want it, I am not going to feel guilt after eating this, because I don’t associate the word guilt with food’.

Two years later, blood tests came in, along with a phone call from the nurse “you better come in, it’s pre-diabetes, you gotta stop with the red bulls love”. The denial was massive, so massive, you send a complaint to the Health & Disability Commissioner that your doctor did a secret hbA1c test with your other blood test, because everytime she has seen you, she points at you and turns her face upside and groans “you’ve put on weight, haven’t you?” 

You caught me doctor! The blood tests don’t lie! Weight gain has caused the pre-diabetes! 

You read right, six years of being single. It’s good to be on your own, to sit with your own thoughts, and company. If you can’t do that, there is something wrong with you. That’s not true at all, most people do find this difficult, and that’s fair, society is always teaching us that being alone is not fun, especially Coca Cola adverts, never see anyone just lying in their bed with their laptop pulled up to their chin, cracking open a cold Coke Zero and sipping on it making sure it doesn’t spill out the side of your mouth, down your cheek and to the back of your neck, never, it’s always laughing, jumping around, on the beach, yahoo, even chuck in an inflatable ball, the beach and a coke with my friends! 

Being single was a choice, but it got the point of, you’re single because you’re actively avoiding emotions. Feelings are too much, because you always acted out when those feelings became heightened, there was no mindfulness, no wise mind in place, just full reactionary blow outs. You increasingly become more aware of this avoidance, that you begin to let yourself become a little vulnerable. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song ‘I Let Love In’ chimes in, reminding you that you may indeed allow love back into your life. You get a tattoo of Robbie Williams with the words “I just wanna feel” on your leg, to remind yourself, it is going to be okay, if I allow myself to endure this. You are in control!

How embarrassing to find that you allow these feelings to enter your life again, and when a moment is taken out of your control, and you are not being provided with the answers you want to hear, you lose it? You absolutely lose it. You’re back to square one, back to the six years previously, of being reactionary, obsessed, jealous, insecure! All that growth, gone! 

Was it growth though? Or were you just avoiding any chance of these insecurities coming out again to show its awful face, to show who you really are. You didn’t actively deal with those insecurities, you covered them up, by taking your clothes off, posing in front of the camera, showing the world you were fat and proud, shovelling copious amounts of food down your throat that you disguised as ‘intuitive eating’, being single was badass, because you know what they say “a woman don’t need no man, she independent” fuck you Beyonce. 

The more you type this down, you begin having revelations, oh, that’s possibly a panic attack coming. 

It wasn’t a panic attack, your panic attacks don’t work like that, yours just pop up when you’re doing nothing, not looking in the mirror, truly looking at yourself, who even are you anymore? You convince yourself you’re crazy now, your ex doesn’t want you back again, because of all this crazy! Not because they are dealing with something incredibly stressful that may have been caused by their own actions. Ah, get back on track, don’t resort to it Sarah, get back to the realising things about yourself. 

I look at the drawing on my wall, of a grim reaper, wearing a cloak covered in red hearts, and above is written ‘I LET LOVE IN’, was it my mistake that I read this and assumed “I let someone else come into my life with love” or should I have read it as, I let love in, for myself, from myself.

[sparkcentralis]

HI 🦑 anon!!!!!!! Sorry for the.. uh... Mis-speciec..ing?

Anyways GLITCH ANONS LETS GOOO!!! And omg u both have such VALID points but dont even get me STARTED on election arc, that video was WILD /pos.

BECAUSE THE WHOLE, THE WHOLE THING THE WHOLE BIT OF ASH DESPISING HER (for funsies probably) WAS JUST SO- like it really brings light to how their dynamics work usually i think cause they'd so do anything for eachother, yet somehow in some way the dynamic (in my understanding) isnt the healthiest, squiddo and ash was always just drawn to eachother but here, oh boy, ash had so much more to do and to care about and what did squiddo have that she continues makes sure everyone knows? Ashswag, she keeps mentioning how much she cared for him yet the way ash seemed and felt more distant (mostly probably due to other things, he doesnt dislike her ofc! Why would he?) but maybe he just..never realised how she felt when he said some things and it really shows in her monologue+collage in the election arc's final voting, she had thought ash was going to vote for HER because she thinks, "why wouldnt he? We're best friende!" But he didnt, and i think the fact that she didnt even bring it up (canonically) to ash to convey how she felt afar from an arrow and a complaint that was drowned out by like, everyone talking in surprise that she just shot ASH, the one person she's constantly going "oh i care for him!".

She just seems to me to be very ready to.. well, do anything for ash, even though this is not the best relationship, she still does, both of them do, i dont doubt that ash would want to do anything to make squiddo happy, its just they barely communicate their feelings (since squiddo was so unsure that ash was actually considering her a friend and not "dead weight", she even thought he might just be using manipulation or smth smth recap thingy during vote) so ash doesnt see what's wrong and squiddo just never brings it up, which makes their relationship FLAWED but left it feeling so much more true, no perfect friendships exist afterall! (Im so not projecting)

Sorry if i seem to be very "looking into the bad sides" core but I lovr glitch duo please-

This is purely based on lifesteal canon vibes from this ONE video, irl they're such besties ong!, but yeah, here's my long as hell thoughts after watching every squiddo video atleast 5 times, save me.

I love having the worst takes on dynamics lets GOOOOOO SQUIDDO MINECRA

- 🟪 (previously 🌱) anon (also dw about the tag just pretend its a mask im wearing for the bit oooooo spooky)

THIS WAS AN INTERESTINF READ..... i respect these takes. Indeed, havinf problems and conflict in relationships are great motivations for character growth.....!! Interesting storylines.... Lifesteal duos tend to have this inner conflict of hurting one another in some way that is somewhat tragic in nature, whether its because its in their nature (devotions.), circumstance, or something of the like.... Its why we love these relationships so much, they're flawed!

[elgringo300]

elgringo300/755365694868209664

Nature is healing, sunrise, cool dice (how was the boat trip?)

My toxic trait is I think my boy scout training would be sufficient in a societal collapse, which, to the other side of my brain, tells me I would die immediately in an apocalyptic situation. But yes, lets go hiking! (and thank you for calling me kind soul!)

I used to be a really good morning person! Back in like middle and early high school. Now I'm a night owl, I don't know what happened. I moved to a new high school and my body's circadian rhythm just flipped. man I am trying so hard to do everything right. and yet the horrors. Indeed. Water is great - I am a frequent bathroom enjoyer in college

Nerds rule the world! I have some pretty cool red socks so thank you. Boat trip was fun and awesome and I have a really cool tanline where my watch is. If you've seen the recent post I made about dealing with people (everyone is trying to be a good person etc) I wrote that based on my experience with the other people in the boat.

There were a couple people in the same watch as me who would consistently shit-talk the skipper of our boat. Some of their complaints were valid, but I think they read way too deep into those and were looking for things to complain about. I listened to them and tried to see where they were coming from, and tbh I could! But if they had tried to see things from a more forgiving and adapting attitude, they would've had a far greater time, and the skipper really didn't deserve all that. I think he was trying his best, for a fairly old dude.

The one fair complaint I truly agreed with the others about was when the skipper decided to dump our waste inside an area you're legally Not Supposed to Do That, which... as a guy at a military college I understand both sides of This Rule Is Stupid So I've Elected to Ignore It as well as Follow The Rules Because You Haven't Thought Of Everything You Idiot so. I'm on side Follow The Rules but I get it.

The sailing was fun too! Its louder inside the sailboat than outside of it because the ropes bang against the hull and you can really hear that. It sounds so incredibly loud inside if its windy outside because every rope flying around sounds like a gunshot or like something metal snapped, and then you go up and "well its windy but the ropes sound normal". We got a little unlucky because there was just very little wind most of the way up and back down, to the point where we used our motor more than half of the way to stay on schedule. Most of the time the biggest problem was how sweaty I got when trying to fall asleep (which was very - boat can get pretty stuffy inside).

At one time though the wind was so strong we were at a 20-30 degree angle constantly - and that was with a reef taken in the main (that means we lowered the mainsail a little bit so that it was smaller and would catch less wind - you can take 2 reefs in the main at most). It took actual skill and positioning to get dressed for my watch because you could not rely on the floor to not throw you against the wall as you were taking off your shirt. And when we tacked (meaning we turned so the wind was coming at us from the other side) it was so violent! We had to secure everything to make sure it wouldn't fly off the counters when we turned. Its hard to explain but whenever you tack and especially when you gibe, when the wind passes the midpoint and catches the sail it can really just seize the boat and what was a nice measured turn suddenly turns into a loud, hard spin. At least thats what it feels like. Whenever you tack or gybe thats a minimum of 90 degrees change of course.

I think thats long enough of a post for now, but thanks for asking! If you want more sailing trivia just let me know - I learned so much in such a short span of time I can probably pull bits and pieces out of my brain for days.

Thanks for the ask!

[jackalope78]

Bad Habits to Break, Mine and Yours

I need a place to hold myself accountable, because I do have some bad medical habits that I need to break if I'm going to get a handle on this MS bullshit. But also, I want to complain about some of the reactions I've been getting, so yay! Two things in one post.

I'm starting with the complaint. Please, please, if you know someone with a chronic illness or disability, don't offer unsolicited advice unless you know the person very well and know it would be well received.

When I told the people in my life about my diagnosis I got the same comment from two different people. See, I live on the third floor of an apartment building without an elevator. My MS has progressed enough that it is starting to affect my legs, but for the most part I'm ok with stairs. I'm slow, but I get there. The comment from both of these people was "oh, you might need to move", because again third floor- no elevator. The comment coming from a close friend was appreciated because I hadn't thought of it and he mentioned it like a possibility, something to be aware of. The other came from a guy who is an acquaintance AT BEST and just made me mad, BECAUSE YOU DON'T KNOW ME. It just felt... rude. He doesn't know me well, he has no idea what I'm capable of, he doesn't know how far the disease has progressed. All he knows is that MS is a potentially disabling disease, and without even asking how I'm doing he moved right to the "You can't do things" place, and boy did that make me mad. So if you have thoughts about someone's ability levels, just don't. Unless you're asked, or you are indeed a very close friend, just... keep your opinions to yourself. Shutting up costs nothing.

Ok now me.

Confession time. I am where 'as needed' medication comes to die. I KNOW THIS IS BAD. I absolutely take all antibiotics, but if a doctor is prescribing me something for pain, or something else that will heal on it's own and the medication is just to make it faster/more tolerable, I let it sit in my cabinet. It's bad.

One of the medications that the neurologist has already prescribed for me is something to help with the spasticity/stiffness in my legs. But she wrote it out as 'take 3 times a day as needed for spasticity". My dumb brain took one look at that prescription and went, "but I'm FINE, I've been dealing with the stiffness for a few years now, I don't NEED the medication". So I haven't been taking it.

So, bad habit #1 to break is to let myself take medication that I don't necessarily need, or maybe redefine my personal definition of 'need'. I need to stop white knuckling my way through my illness symptoms. They're real, they're valid, and I can take medication to stop them, so I should.

Bad Habit number 2 is that I hide embarrassing things. I mean, I'm sure everyone does. But I have some symptoms that are embarrassing, and I've had them for a few years now, and I didn't discuss them with my doctor. In fact, and oh my god I'm so mad at myself about this one, I was specifically asked about one of these symptoms and I hedged and kind of lied-or rather wasn't 100% honest- to my Primary Care doctor about it. Now to be fair, some of these symptoms were things that I chalked up to being fat and out of shape, and I didn't want to hear my complaints dismissed with a "have you tried losing weight about it", so I didn't bring it up. I wish I had though, it's possible I could have gotten diagnosed earlier.

Anyway I have an appointment with a specialist today, so this is my goal for today. Be honest with the doctor. Even though it's very embarrassing and I hate admitting to it because I'm an adult, I need to be honest and open about my various symptoms.

With the doctor. Not you guys. Sorrynotsorry.

[professionalvalkyrietrainer]

Assignment 3 Postmortem

At last, welcome to my final Tumblr blog for IGB 220. I can't believe I have written around 15 blogs for the span of this semester. I know sometimes they are not on time but hey at least its an average 1.15 blog per week for the semester so no complaints.

Lets start off with a recap from my last blog, in which I talked about my team and my experience of hosting playtest for Crab-splosion. We had a total of 3 playtest sessions and gotten a total of 9 play testers and their respective feedbacks. I was also responsible for hosting my first few play testing session which went alright. After all the playtesting sessions, the team then took the response from the questionnaire and survey that were filled up by play testers and have the data sorted and compiled. Credits to Evan for compiling the data into easy to read tables. Evan also compiled the questionnaire to create a demographic analysis to allow the team to have a better understanding of what type of user is testing our game.

Play Tester Feedback

Now unto the meat of the blog, we will now have a look at the feedback we had for our game and goes in depth at every single one. Different from usual postmortem sessions, we had a table of compiled data that shows every major feedback we instead of just playtesting notes I wrote down. This session will also be divided into 3 session corresponding to the 3 playtesting session we had.

Playtest 1

Tutorial Missing

The first big feedback we had for this playtesting session would be the lack of a tutorial stage. By this time, we still have not added a tutorial stage to the beginning of level 1 which explains the feedback. Other than that, our game is a bit complex due to the amount of systems we had so having a tutorial to explain everything beforehand would make it less confusing for players trying to pick up our game. I would say this is a valid feedback and is something that we managed to add in eventually.

No Checkpoints

This feedback is something that each of the play tester has brought up. I believe this is due to two points: 1) Our game is a little challenging if you are not that experienced in platformers. 2) Each level takes a pretty long length of time to complete. Both has caused play testers to suggest add in a checkpoint which makes death in-game less punishing and tedious. In the end, we did add in checkpoints through out the levels.

Player Aiming Direction Not Clear

Onto the next feedback, there're also several play testers that are not sure where the crab is currently facing because no matter which direction it is facing, the model will only show the crab facing towards the right. In order to sort out this matter, we decided to add in a sprite that show the crab is facing left.

No Enemy damaged indication/Feedback

During playtest, some of them said that there isn't a clear indication of whether the player's attack is having effect on the enemy, basically the play tester is looking for visual cues while they aren't receiving any. I believe this can be easily fixed by adding some form of visual impact that let the player know that their shots are indeed something. Originally we opted for make the enemy flash when it takes damage but that requires too much work since new animations need to be added to each enemy so instead we used an easier solution which is to add a hit sprite on where the shot connected with the enemy. This was seem effective as no similar feedback was received in future playtesting.

Orb physics messing with enemies

This feedback was given by one of our testers in which an enemy can push the orbs dropped by defeated enemies. This caused a phenomenon where players can just kill the enemy in front and had the enemy at the back push the orb towards to the player. This is something that the team didn't intend to happen but had a great laugh out off. This was fixed in the final demo of our game.

Playtest 2

Tutorial STILL Missing

Player Aiming Direction STILL Not Clear

During playtest 2, because not much development on Crab-splosion was done in between this playtest and the previous one, we are still receiving these feedbacks during playtest 2. However, as mentioned these were fixed before playtest 3.

Unclear UI Elements

There were also feedbacks from players regarding how the UI for Crab-splosion is very unclear of what they are trying to represent. The team decided that it can be tweaked by making the health bar easier to notice as well as add more visual cue to the weapon gauge to better represent the weapon being unusable for the time being as well as an icon to represent each weapon so player know which gauge represent each weapons.

Scatter Shot/Shotgun Alteration

One of the play testers actually commented on how our current scatter shot bubbles is not scientifically correct of it being red colored. As a suggestion, he think that the bubbles can be blue colored to better represent its damage or purpose. However, the team restrained from doing that because we believe that making the bubble blue color would make the bubble blend into the background instead.

Enemy AI

One major feedback we got from this session is definite regarding the lack on an AI within the enemy. Most play tester felt that the current enemy is too easy to avoid as they only move from right to left without considering player movement. A play tester suggested that a pathfinding can be implemented so that the enemy would be moving towards the enemy. There's another feedback that suggested the enemies to move back and forth as well. In the end, the team decided to go with the back and forth idea but as unable to implement it due to time constraints.

Bad Controls

Another major feedback that we have gotten is related to Crab-splosion's current control scheme where the play tester found it to be confusing and unfamiliar. The play tester stated that he prefer using WASD keys for movement when playing platformers instead of arrow keys, which is what we are currently using. We also used WASD for weapon controls which made it even more confusing to the play tester. The team have discussed about this and planned to research for commonly used control schemes to create a more publicly appealing control schemes.

Playtest 3

Game Unbalanced

Some of the play tester also found that the game is too unbalanced as well as too hard navigate. This is mainly due to the addition of level 2 that has too much path to go on as well as having too much enemies. The team suggest that more health can be given to the player, having more checkpoints and warning indicators will also help.

Lack of Death Screen

The lack of a death screen is also a feedback that we have received from multiple play testers. When playing Crab-splosion, if the crab ran out of HP, the crab will just be instantly teleported back to the previous checkpoint. Many play tester felt that having a game over or death screen would make it more visually clear that the player has lost and need to replay from the last checkpoint. This is definitely something the dev team would add in the future.

Second Level Tweaks

Many play testers have given feedback regarding level 2 of Crab-splosion being inconsistent with the overall level design of the first and final level. Some also believed that its not following the principle of going from left to right that was present in the first level. Hence, the team have decided that the second level will need to be redesign in the future to better suit the system of the games.

Portal Unclear

There are play testers who also responded that they were unclear what does the portal do. This is probably due to the fact that no proper introduction was given to the portal which made players confused when they approach one. I would suggest that we add a tutorial for the portal so that players can learn about what the portal does.

Bullet Travel Indefinitely

One more flaw with the game that the team realized during play testing which is also picked up by some of the play tester would be the fact that the bullet shot out of the crab will travel indefinitely. This meant that enemies can be killed off screen if the player constantly blind fire shots into the right. This I believe can be fixed by simply fixed by just adding a time limit for how far the bullet can travel before it de-spawns.

Personal Notes and Future Additions

Finally I would like to add some things that I would definitely implement into Crab-splosion if I were to keep working on it in the future:

Add in the upgrade/leveling system that we didn't add in for this demo

Add Enemy AI

Improve UI Visuals

Better Crab Animations

Add a better narrative/story to it

At last, I have completed all the blogs. I want to thank everyone for sticking with me throughout all the codes. I am not sure if I will continue writing blogs for my future subject but I would try to as it is in my opinion one of the best way I can keep track of all my development and growth as a game developer.

Signing Off,

S.

[foxilayde]

I’m a February (if the month part matters idk if it does 😭😭) Pisces that enjoys drawing, writing, gardening, weight lifting, astronomy, and history. I’m 5’6 with fairly long light brown and blonde hair.

My perfect first date idea would be visiting a botanical garden or a museum and simply enjoying each other’s company, and I guess just having an overwhelming feeling of knowing he truly does like me. I’m a sucker for “apparent” validation. I’m a bit of a “queen of hearts” mindset unfortunately and just VERY much want to be “his bitch” and his only. Genuinely don’t care how fast paced; if the promise is eternal commitment then I’m available for any timeline of events with a person.

Huge lover of broad and bold features: eyebrows, facial hair/body hair, nose… I guess all of OI’s features. But man, when he has that beard of his. 😩 I enjoy ‘existing to please’ and doing whatever I can to make sure I am fulfilling all desires at any cost and love praise. I like to pull some strings to get some aggression or punishment out of him. I do whatever I’m told without questioning my authority and if I do I expect (and truly hope for) appropriate consequences. Domination, brat, bitch, whatever I’m made to be by him, I am. Literally down for anything that he wants ((as long as it is monogamous-based I’m sorry that’s my only thing))

Turn offs? I guess being made to feel insecure, unwanted or in competition.

Look. Lookie here. Look and listen. When I started this thing, there were a few characters I was SURE- was CERTAIN were not going to get matches, okay? Prince John being near the top of the list. But omfg holy balls it's the most perfect thing I've ever seen.

There is NO QUESTION about Prince John’s devotion to you, because he literally defied his Mother’s wishes to marry you. Making quite the stir with the French treaty. But he doesn’t give a shit. You are his, and he is king, and he’ll do whatever in God’s name he wishes to do. Because he’s ordained by God to do so. The complaints of other heads of state, of his own family; means nothing to him. Every decision he makes is imbued with power from the highest authority. Fuck the treaty. He has you. 

You met Prince John when he was still that, a prince. You’re from another noble family and you were invited to come to court for the summer season. At the very first feast, he couldn’t take his eyes off of you- in a stunning shade of purple gown that brought out the gold in your hair. 

All it took was a few rushed orders to the servants and you were being moved quickly away from your family, to sit at the head table with the royal family. Next to Prince John.

“Good of you to join us, my lady.” He grins at you, taking a sip of wine from a gold goblet. 

“The pleasure is all mine, your highness.” You bow as best you can while being seated next to him (and in about 18 layers of silk, muslin and whale bone). 

“Indeed. And it always will be,” he leans to whisper in your ear,  “I’ll make sure of that.”  Causing you to blush furiously. 

During the dinner he does, somewhat scandalously, feed you from his plate, cutting up bits of entree’s and slices of fruits, making you take them from his fingers with your mouth. The queen is staring daggers at you, but you can hardly care, you’re under the graceful influence of the imposing man at your side. 

By the time dinner is over, you’re nearly in his lap and he has made you a promise of a swift union, because, “I cannot wait to feed you everything, pet.”

[jostepherjoestar]

Maybe Jotaro, Risotto, Prosciutto, Bruno and Leone friendship HCs with a fem friend thats llike your generic dumbass but they are just like a soft dumbass, she is just too cute to get mad at no matter how stupid she is. So basically a smol sweet dumbass that just radiate baby energy. Like she just runs up to them saying she want to show them something cool and its just a pretty rock but she looks so happy xjsbkss 💖

Pure of heart, dumb of ass fem!friend with Jotaro, Risotto, Prosciutto, Bruno and Abbacchio HC’s

sfw // fem reader

lemme just say, reader is baby and that’s valid 🥰this is so adorably pure ugh ya done killed me anon 🥺💖✨(can very much relate tho, glad my friends put up with my dumb antics)

Jotaro:

“Why am I friends with you again? Yare yare...” A phrase you’ll hear every time you’re hanging out with this tall bastard. He’ll tease you for being a bit of a dumbass but is incredibly drawn to how kind, sweet and absolutely thoughtful you are.

You remind him of Josuke and Okuyasu which only makes him like you even more. And the added cuteness-factor made him admit to himself he does indeed love cute things, no matter how adamantly he denies it to you.

His favourite thing to do is bring you along to the beach for field research, knowing just how wide eyed and giddy you get when you’re allowed to collect shells and rocks or even poke a jellyfish. You seem very good at spotting irregularities in your surroundings, making quite the good assistant to Dr. Kujo.

You’re even allowed to help with lab research, studying petri dishes filled with algae as you excitedly point out a very important detail he hadn’t noticed yet, too tired from working such long hours. Sometimes you’re quite the genius without even trying.

More than anything he loves the amount of lightness you bring to his life, his studies and general headspace take a large toll on him. Any relief is a welcome one.

He’ll often find himself smiling at the thought of hanging out again, staring at the collection of trinkets he keeps in a cute little Hello Kitty box you once gave him, which rests on his nightstand as a reminder that it can’t hurt to adapt your lifestyle of mindless giddy; even just the tiniest bit.

Risotto:

Being close friends with Risotto seems a bit impossible without being in his squad, he’s very insistent at keeping outsiders of Passione more than an arm-length away. Good thing that the stoic man is your capo, phew!

He’s apprehensive at first, not really sure why the soft round pebble you brought him reminded you of the man as he studied the mineral, admiring its softness. “It’s like you! Soft and worn down, but very sturdy and unbreakable.” smiling sweetly at him, excitedly awaiting a response.

What was this new feeling of being appreciated and cared for? Risotto’s never really experienced a friendship so pure. He’ll quietly thank you for the pebble and keeps it on his desk, staring in awe as he’s reminded of your kind words every time he spots it.

He knows the others like to tease you for not always being aware of general human knowledge, shooting them an intense glare as a warning to keep any rude comments or jokes to themselves.

Your friendship consists of him mostly listening to you, quietly taking in all the stories you divulge- so full of excitement, telling him facts you picked up somewhere; the source of these often containing varying levels of credibility. He won’t correct you though. (unless it’s something that might actually endanger you)

He values your friendship so.much. He’s not used to being treated so kindly, receiving random gifts, being praised for a job well done, having someone who doesn’t judge him in the slightest. He’ll do whatever he needs to keep you safe, from others and yourself, along with trying to return your kindness and care. (he tries his best and it’s so cute)

(you guys hold hands for safety when you’re out in the city... just saying, it’s adorable)

Prosciutto:

Prosciutto has a chronic case of “caring older brother disease”. Will need to hold himself back from tying your shoelaces for you, the man knows you can do it it yourself but it’s just taking sooo long.

Just like Risotto, you’d have to be a team member to get close to him in any way. Good thing he recruited you ;)

It’s a bit hard to make him open up about anything personal. You feel like he knows everything about you, while you barely know a thing. When he sees your pouty lip and begging gaze that is way too cute to deny, he’ll cave. Perhaps finally realising it’s alright to lean on others.

He’ll still struggle with continuing the openness, but find relief in your loyalty and understanding. The way you intently listen to his troubles, there to hold his hand if he ever needs it, it makes his heart hurt to know how sweet and gentle you are.

Will keep you and Pesci separate during missions, he’s already getting a migraine from imaging everything that could go wrong without his guidance.

For someone who’s a little more on the dense side, you make up for it in emotional intelligence. Whenever you see how stressed he tends to get, eye twitching without even realising while his shoulders hunch together in discomfort, you come over to hug him. It’s something he had to get used to, the small gesture always calming him down enough to keep going.

Does not appreciate you slipping cute trinkets in his suit pocket. Especially not after finding a snail that one time. You’ve been forbidden from leaving pocket gifts since the incident.

Bruno:

It concerns Bruno just how clueless you can be from time to time. That one time they almost left you behind on a busy station with no cellphone because you found a coin on the ground made him realise you need some extra supervision.

He’s not the type to hold you back from doing things that are guaranteed to result in disaster (unless it’s literally deadly), he wants you to experience the consequences of your own actions.

You do make him hold back his laughter when you try out a stupid idea you know has failed in the past, but change your methods slightly to hope for better results. And you know what? Now he’s curious too.

The man has a weird sense of humour that sometimes even surprises you. He’ll copy your habit of picking up strange trinkets or rocks and asks you to compare findings with him. Like trading marbles, he’ll barter with a smirk.

“Mhh, if you give me that cute shell and that pointy rock... I’ll give you this keychain.” His alluring offer making you question if you’re getting swindled or not. “Hey! That shell is at least worth two stickers!” He’ll heartily laugh at your reply, a mischievous smile while thinking over the trade. “Ok, two stickers and a pebble then.”

With a firm handshake the deal goes through. The rest of the gang never knows how to respond, staring in amazement as their grown-ass capo barters with their grown-ass teammate. He loves being silly with you and forgetting all the pressures of life for just a moment.

Bruno takes his time opening up to you, but finds your presence so comforting it becomes very easy to trust you. As a vital part of his team he finds it important to be able to lean on each other for support and is glad you offer him just as much trust and loyalty.

Abbacchio:

Will never admit he can’t live without you anymore. You’ve become the shining beacon of assumed happiness the man never thought existed. He knows you won’t always be go-lucky and have your own troubles and struggles but admires how you handle them.

Don’t get me wrong, he’ll still gladly tease you for your occasional (well, more like frequent) stupidity. He’ll let you know with a big huff you should smarten up; “Read a book that doesn’t have pictures in it for once.”

He’ll be the first to correct any wrong info you’ve been given, unless he thinks it’s funny. Like when Mista made you believe you needed to order dessert at Libeccio or they’ll kick you out for breaking their beloved rule. It’s only when he saw the panic in your eyes when you finished your main course one day -too full for any sweets to come- that he assured you it was a dumb joke. (he’ll put all the blame on Mista)

Abbacchio seems to tether to people who have a positive influence on him without even realising, it won’t be obvious to him, but just like with his loyalty and admiration for Bruno, he’ll make sure you know it once he finds out.

Not that it’s a bad thing, his need to cling to anything that might help him stay afloat just needs to stay healthy. You didn’t even realise your effect on him, you were too busy trying to figure out a way to turn that scowl into that smirk.

After gifting him a handmade friendship bracelet that had the shortened versions of your names spelled on it, he hugged you. So tightly it was suffocating, you were shocked since he’s never been the touchy type. “Leone! I can’t breathe...” He’ll let go after the complaint but that look on his face will never leave your memory. The face of being loved unconditionally by choice, no matter how unworthy he might think himself of it.

[wonlouvre]

pairing: doctor!wonwoo x lawyer!female oc genre: modern royalty, arranged marriage, fluff and future angst word count: 2.1k WARNINGS: mentions of food, eating, hospitals, and brief mention of armed men

author’s note: finallyyy! been working on this for the past week and i’m relieved to be posting part 3 already! i’m not so confident about this and i am already warning you all that this could be dialogue heavy :((( please let me know your thoughts! i’d be really thankful to hear from you all!

three: subtle snuggles and light snores | masterlist

Wonwoo chose to work at the Royal Hospital of the neighboring kingdom at his own will.  He and the rest of the people in his kingdom won’t deny how the other kingdom pioneered in the line of medicine.That’s why in spite of the many offers and opportunities at his homeland, he wanted to gain experience somewhere else first before going back home. 

The marriage wasn’t served on the table before and when his parents broke the news to him, he was already hired and working for a few months. And now that a marriage is in talks, it seems unlikely that he’ll be going back anytime soon.

Wonwoo didn’t hesitate to agree. But someplace in his heart couldn’t help but wonder how it got to this. He’s not saying you’re terrible. You’re the exact opposite of being terrible. To him, you are amazing and awesome. A badass even. 

There’s nothing really holding him back. Even his past relationship that you brought up previously. 

It’s just that he wanted a purpose out of this union aside from the fact that this will bear the best outcome for his and your kingdom. 

Wonwoo was once in love. 

He knows, used to know rather, how his heart skipped a beat and how butterflies filled his stomach. But then came you and he is back to zero. He wants to like you. He wants to love you. 

He doesn’t want to be a husband recognized by the public. Instead, he wants to be the lifetime companion that you can lean on and trust. He hopes that you see that he’s trying to be one. 

It’s a challenge though, because he doesn’t know how or where to begin.

These thoughts have been running on his mind for the longest of days and even now as he gazes at your face, deep in slumber. What happened earlier was a shock. All he wanted was to invite you for a quick lunch before he goes to work and here you are now literally at his workplace, getting the right amount of rest you’ve been missing. 

“Your Highness,” the Royal Family’s doctor calls to him politely while the two nurses accompanying him check on you. Wonwoo only gives a brief nod of acknowledgement. “I advise the Princess to stay overnight to recover from her dehydration and stress. A day away from work would be immensely helpful.”

Wonwoo’s eyes don't leave you as he continues to nod and agree with the doctor’s orders. It doesn’t look like it, but he is paying attention to every word the older one is saying. He bites his lip, beating himself up for not knowing what could be causing you stress. 

“If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to page us,” the doctor assures and Wonwoo finally turns his attention to him. 

“Thank you so much.” He extends his arm for a handshake before letting them leave.

Wonwoo sighs before taking the seat beside your bed again. As much as he wants to go closer and maybe opt to hold your hand, he doesn’t. He just keeps his eyes on you. Your face looks so peaceful while sleeping, a small smile can’t help but form on the Prince’s face. It’s a relief that it’s nothing bad. But still, he can’t feel at ease until he sees your eyes once again. He decided to take a leave from work and stay beside you until you wake up and get discharged.

He has already informed the King and Queen of what happened and they will be here shortly. 

“Wonwoo, my dear,” the Queen greets while opening her arms to the young doctor for a quick embrace. “How are you?”

The King walked past the warm exchange, not wasting any time to be close to your bed. “How is she?”

“Your Majesty,” Wonwoo doesn’t fail to say his greetings first before going on full doctor mode. “The Princess is stable. She just needs to replenish her energy by having lots of rest and she’ll be discharged as early as tomorrow morning. Would you like me to call the doctor in charge?”

“No, no,” the Queen answers, now sitting with her husband who’s been gently cradling your cheek. “We’ll go to him ourselves. I’m just glad you are here for her Wonwoo.”

“Ever the hard worker, she is,” your father mutters a harmless complaint. “I will give her a scolding once she wakes up. Scratch that, I am going to have the Prince do that in my place. He’s the doctor after all.” Finally, the King looks at him, a glint of humor in his eyes.

Wonwoo blushes and keeps his head low. He scratches the back of his neck before firmly promising, “I will take care of her better next time, Your Majesty.”

“Nonsense,” the Queen dismisses his apologetic tone with a wave of her hand. “Everyone gets sick every day and it just so happened that it’s our Princess this time around.”

An hour after the King and Queen left, Wonwoo’s eyes grew heavy. Unbeknownst to him, his head gravitated to your bed and close to your arm. He tried to keep his eyes open, still determined on waiting until you wake up, but his determination was futile because it didn’t take long for him to fall asleep beside you. 

His face was the first thing you saw the moment you regained consciousness. The top of his head was snuggled to your arm, surprising you. At first, you couldn’t figure out what was going on. But the remembrance of the three cups of coffee you had was enough to answer the questions running in your mind. Then, the embarrassment came too soon because you also remember the look on Wonwoo’s face when he saw your agony.

You’re still not feeling well. You should probably get more sleep instead of resenting your embarrassment. You release a low groan, momentarily forgetting the sleeping Prince beside you. 

Wonwoo stirs a little before opening slowly his eyes and meeting yours. He sits up in a heartbeat and blinks his sleep away to make sure you are really awake.

After confirming, he releases the breath he had been holding. “Hey there.”

“Hi,” you whisper, completely bashful. “How long was I asleep?”

“It’s eight o’clock now,” he answers while looking at his watch. “You were asleep for the whole afternoon so approximately eight to nine hours.”

“Wow,” you mutter in sincere disbelief. “I haven’t slept that long since I started working.” 

“That’s why you’re going to sleep more.” Wonwoo stands up and fixes the blanket that’s keeping your body warm.

You frown and weakly stop his actions. “What do you mean? Am I not allowed to go home tonight?”

“Nope,” he answers and pushes your hand back down. “You’re staying overnight and that’s your doctor’s advice.”

“I don’t want to lay on this bed for 24 hours,” you whine, lips in a pout. “Can’t you give me clearance instead?”

“I’m not the doctor in charge and I am more than sure that you know that,” the Prince reminds and gently pat your head. “Go back to sleep and once morning comes, you’ll be good to go.”

Seeing that he has made a point, you give up and let your body relax on the bed in spite of your reluctance. You are smart enough to know that you can’t outsmart a doctor like him. 

Wonwoo grins in victory and makes himself comfortable on the chair. He then pulls his phone out to make a quick check on some emails and updates at the emergency room. 

That got you confused. Why is he still here? You blink suddenly realizing how he had stayed with you ever since you got admitted. You were embarrassed earlier but now you are sorry. 

“Are you not… leaving?” You ask. “I can manage alone. All I need to do is sleep this away, right?”

“Sleep Y/N,” Wonwoo commands while his eyes and hands remain focused on his phone, dodging your question. 

At the sound of your name, you roll your eyes and turn to the other side of the bed with a huff. As the days go by, you have noticed that Wonwoo can be mischievous and whenever he becomes one, it makes your cheeks blush red and heat up like wildfire. 

Wonwoo just snorts at your annoyance. He puts his phone back in his pocket and puts his attention at the back of your head as your breathing slowly even out, much needed sleep once again taking over your body. 

Wonwoo didn’t want to leave you when morning came and Jeongyeon arrived with your new set of clothes and warm meal. But he knew he had to go back to work and fulfill his sworn duty in spite of the validity of his excuse that his fiancee is sick. Other than that, but most importantly, he just wanted to see your eyes again first thing in the morning and he’d be content. 

You seemed to be exhausted still because he could hear your light snores even when the sunlight through your room was enough to indicate how late it is already in the morning. But time is ticking and he is needed at the emergency ward. So, disregarding his qualms, he took the paper bag of clothing from his friend and colleague, Soonyoung, and changed. 

Afterwards, Wonwoo picks up a thermometer and checks your temperature one last time to make sure that you don’t have any fever. All the while, oblivious to the knowing grin of your assistant.

“Please call me when she wakes up. I’d like to see her before she gets discharged,” he requests, hands busy fixing your blanket for the ninth time. 

Jeongyeon smiles, aware that there’s nothing left to fix on your bed anymore, before answering. “Will do, Your Highness.”

Finally, the Prince takes his leave but not after giving one last glance to the sleeping Princess.

Jeongyeon immediately fed you the moment you woke up. She didn’t take no for an answer, reminding you that it’s her responsibility to take care of you and that her failure to do so is equivalent to having her head beheaded (it’s not enacted anymore). 

At this point she’s now nagging you and it just falls deaf to your ears because you are indeed starving after all the sleeping. You ate every food she brought from the warm soup to the last grain of rice so fast, you looked like you were inhaling them instead of chewing properly. That made Jeongyeon scold you again reminding you that you’re about to be discharged from the hospital and she can’t have you admitted again because of indigestion this time around. 

“I am glad that you’re eating well, Your Highness,” the Royal Doctor gladly says. He’s now here to run one last check up before giving you the clearance you’ve been begging Wonwoo for last night. 

Wonwoo, you suddenly remembered. Where is he?

“Your Highness?”

“Oh yes,” you reply, waking up from your daze. “Sorry, I think I ate way too much. Please go on.”

The Royal Doctor checked your chart, frequently updated by the nurses on duty all throughout your stay. He then sits on the chair once used by the Prince to ask a few questions to make sure he’s not missing on anything. Your head still feels heavy but it’s nothing you can’t handle. He assures you that you are fine and gives you the reminders that he usually does with cases like yours. 

“That’s it.” He clasps his hands together and stands up. “You are more than free to go. Please come back next month for a check up.”

“Yes, I will,” you say and reach for his hand to shake it. “Thank you very mu-”

You couldn’t even thank your doctor properly when someone suddenly barges in through your door with a bang. You recognized him right away as head of your security detail. 

“I apologize, Your Highness,” he says, eyes on the floor. Soon, more men follow behind him. “But we have to leave the hospital and move you somewhere safer right this instant.”

Jeongyeon already knows what to do, moving quickly to help you sit up. Meanwhile, the doctor grabs the wheelchair from the small storage room and helps keep your IV stay in place as you move from the bed.

Once you’re all secured, everyone dashed out of the room.

“What the hell is going on?” You demand answers from the men surrounding you and Jeongyeon, who’s pushing the chair to the private elevator.

“There has been a commotion caused by armed men at the Emergency Room,” the head reports and upon hearing where he is talking about, your heart drops to your stomach. “The hospital’s security has it under control but we won’t be taking any chances on letting you stay here any longer, Your Highness.”

“Stop.”

Wonwoo.

[itsclydebitches]

TBH I think the whole "You didn't have an issue with this in 'insert x show here' but you have an issue with it in RWBY? What are you, sexist?" thing can easily be defused with a simple, "How did RWBY present this plot-point compared to the show I like?"

Sure, technically Cinder Fall and Darth Maul are the 'same' character, but how are the two presented in their respective shows? Cinder eats up screentime and none of it goes anywhere and gets frustrating. Maul is a relatively minor villain that had one season's worth of attention in CW and then was the villain of a few episodes throughout Rebels before getting killed off.

The only reason someone would be confused as to why people like Maul but hate Cinder is if they just read the two's respective wiki pages.

Really the whole "Your issues with RWBY are just subconscious misogyny" is just some people wanting to slap labels onto others so they can feel validated on not agreeing with their opinions.

Generally speaking, I'm wary of any take that boils down to a single sentence, "You're just [insert accusation here]." Not because such accusations are always 100% without merit—with a canon dealing with as many sensitive subjects as RWBY, combined with a fandom as large and diverse as it has become, you're bound to come across some people whose "criticism" stems primarily from bigotry—but because such dismissive summaries never tackle the problem a fan has pointed out. If one fan goes, "Ruby's plan was foolish because [reasons]" and the response to that is "You just can't handle a woman leader," then that response has failed to disprove the argument presented. The thing about "criticism" based in bigotry is that there isn't actually a sound argument attached because, you know, the only "argument" here is "I don't like people who aren't me getting screen time." So you can spot that really easily. The person who is actually misogynistic is going to be spouting a lot of rants about how awful things are... but very little evidence as to why it's awful, leaving only the fact that our characters are women as the (stupid) answer.

And yes, there is something to be said for whether, culturally, we're harder on women characters than we are men. Are we subconsciously more critical of what women do in media simply because we have such high expectations for that representation and, conversely, have become so used to such a variety of rep for men—including endlessly subpar/outright bad stories—that we're more inclined to shrug those mistakes off? That's absolutely worth discussing, yet at the same time, acknowledging that doesn't mean those criticisms no longer exist. That's where I've been with the Blake/Yang writing for a while now. I think fans are right to point out that we may be holding them to a higher standard than we demand of straight couples, but that doesn't mean the criticisms other fans have of how the ship has been written so far are without merit. Those writing mistakes still exist even if we do agree that they would have been overlooked in a straight couple—the point is they shouldn't exist in either. Both are still bad writing, no matter whether we're more receptive to one over the other. Basically, you can be critical of a queer ship without being homophobic. Indeed, in an age where we're getting more queer rep than ever before, it's usually the queer fans who are the most critical. Because we're the ones emotionally invested in it. The true homophobes of the fandom either dropped RWBY when the coding picked up, or spend their time ranting senselessly about how the ship is horrible simply because it exists, not because of how it's been depicted. Same for these supposed misogynists. As a woman, I want to see Ruby and the others written as complex human beings, which includes having them face up to the mistakes they've made. The frustration doesn't stem from me hating women protagonists, but rather the fact that they're written with so little depth lately and continually fall prey to frustrating writing decisions.

And then yeah, you take all those feelings, frustrations, expectations, and ask yourself, "Have I seen other shows that manage this better?" Considering that RWBY is a heavily anime-inspired show where all the characters are based off of known fairy tales and figures... the answer is usually a resounding, "Yes." As you say, I keep coming across accusations along the lines of, "People were fine with [insert choice here] when [other show] did it," as if that's some sort of "Gotcha!" moment proving a fan was bigoted all along, when in fact the answer is right there: Yes, we were okay with it then because that show did it better. That show had the setup, development, internal consistency, and follow through that RWBY failed to produce, which is precisely what we were criticizing in the first place.

What I also think is worth emphasizing here is how many problems RWBY has developed over the last couple of years (combining with the problems it had at the start). Because, frankly, audiences are more forgiving of certain pitfalls when the rest of the show is succeeding. I think giving a Star Wars example exemplifies that rather well. No one is going to claim that Star Wars is without its problems (omg does it have problems lol), but there's enough good there in most individual stories to (usually) keep the fans engaged. That doesn't mean that they're not going to point out those criticisms when given the chance, just that disappointment isn't the primary feeling we come away with. Obviously in a franchise this size there are always exceptions (like the latest trilogy...), but for most it's a matter my recent response to The Bad Batch, "I have one major criticism surrounding a character's arc and its impact on the rest of the cast, and we definitely need to unpack the whitewashing... but on the whole yes, it was a very enjoyable, well written show that I would recommend to others." However, for many fans now, we can't say the same of RWBY. Yang getting KO'ed by Neo in a single hit leads into only Blake reacting to her "death" which reminds viewers of the lack of sisterly development between Yang and Ruby which segues into a subpar fight which messes with Cinder's already messy characterization which leads to Ruby randomly not using her silver eye to save herself which leaves Jaune to mercy kill Penny who already died once which gives Winter the powers when she could have just gotten it from the start which results in a favorite character dying after his badly written downfall and all of it ends with Jaune following our four woman team onto the magical island... and that's just two episodes. The mistakes snowball. RWBY's writing is broken in numerous ways and that's what fans keep pointing to. Any one of these examples isn't an unforgivable sin on its own, but the combination of all of them, continuously, representing years worth of ongoing issues results in that primary feeling of, "That was disappointing."

Looking at some of the more recent posts around here, fans aren't upset that Ruby is no longer interested in weaponry because that character trait is Oh So Important and its lack ruins the whole show, they're upset because Ruby, across the series, lacks character, so the removal of one trait is more of a problem than it would be in a better written character. What are her motivations? Why doesn't she seek answers to these important questions? Why is her special ability so inconsistent? Where's her development recently? What makes Ruby Ruby outside of wielding a scythe and wanting to help everyone, a very generic character trait for a young, innocent protagonist? We used to be able to say that part of her character was that obsession and we used to hope that this would lead to more interesting developments: Will Ruby fix/update their weapons? Is her scythe dependency the reason why others need to point out how her semblance can develop? What happens if she is weaponless? Surely that will lead to more than just a headbutt... but now we've lost hope that this trait will go anywhere, considering it has all but disappeared. Complaints like these are short-hand criticism for "Ruby's character as a whole needs an overhaul," which in turn is a larger criticism of the entire cast's iffy characterization (Who is Oscar outside Ozpin? Why was Weiss' arc with her father turned into a joke and concluded without her? etc.) and that investment speaks to wanting her to be better. We want Ruby to be a better character than she currently is, like all those other shows we've seen where the women shine. Reducing that to misogyny isn't just inaccurate, but the exact opposite of what most fans are going for in their criticisms.

[floater0352]

TL;DR warning: TFATWS Ep. 6 / Finale There’s a lot to unpack in this series finale, and I sure as hell am not the expert to do this, but I thought I’d highlight some particular issues I have. Much of this, admittedly, will be coming from the high character tenors of the previous episodes, whereas this episode is really where the “MCU kind of movie denouement” kicks in. If you can call/criticize something as “Disney formula” writing, this might be it. Did it hamper/dampen my enjoyment of this series? Not THAT much, but it really stands out and suggests it could have been better. So let me do a few numbers. 1. PRO: A very acceptable execution of selling not only Sam’s first outing as ‘Captain America’, not only the affirmation of Bucky Barnes’ commitment to heroism, but the apotheosis long-denied to Isaiah Bradley. I’m getting the impression much of the gushing here in Tumblr will be focusing on that--and to an extent, I am in agreement.  their characters were very well fleshed out and to be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way. There may be still other things I would recommend as a better laid-out recognition for Isaiah (something more faithful to the Truth comic miniseries), but that’s a minor quibble compared to the others below.  

2. CON: Falling into the trap of a “GOT-layout” series ending Ok, that description might be too harsh. After all, point # 1 is near perfect. 

However, and this is a very big HOWEVER... A really good show does not rely solely on giving your main characters the best ending possible. Their supporting cast deserves at least a fair amount of character development (understandable motivations, a good appreciation of their character arcs, more moments which make you empathize with them especially if you are trying to experiment with moral ambiguity on their characters). The fact that the action sequence ate up more than half of the final episode’s near-50 minute runtime really prevented any further character development moments. How, to some extent, this became insufficient with Karli Morgenthau and John Walker become really apparent in the end.  3. CON: Under-served Character Denouements Karli and the Flag-Smashers, in practice, were basically given the “Killmonger” treatment: they’ll have to die, but the validity of their moral argument will be recognized. As someone with a very limited set of fandoms I follow, the only other place I’ve seen this done is Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. The protagonist cast was left to die, but the tragedy of their situation led their world to improve things for the better. (For those familiar with this fandom, many will understand that this did not go down well.) Compare this, in turn, to how Breaking Bad gives even the supporting cast and side-characters understandable character endings.

The reason of complaint here, being, that this kind of story flow robs these characters of agency not only in their tragedy--but also how they choose to go out. Sympathetic tragic characters, to an extent, are at least given some dignity in how they go out. The fact that Karli and the Flag-Smashers are practically disposed of by a) Sharon, now fully revealed as the criminal Power-Broker and b) Zemo, whose butler is no less capable in extreme action even while he was in prison further highlights how they are basically reduced into ‘plot elements’, not a fully-realized group/faction of people.

John Walker, for his part, is also given very little to do (and indeed, what little he was able to do in the entire fight sequence is laughable). Even his one spark of “good choice” (seeking to save the falling vehicle’s occupants), even if he failed, was ultimately overshadowed by Sam’s more flamboyant rescue. One might be able to make argument, perhaps, that that is the point: Walker’s arc in this episode, perhaps, is to finally learn why exactly he can’t become Captain America: because he remains primarily a soldier, and only good at that. Witnessing Sam arguing and pontificating in front of the cameras, perhaps, is what hammers it home to him--and why perhaps his last scene in the series is him accepting his new role as U.S. Agent. If his world is going to be small and he is going to be pigeonholed into what he is good at, so be it. If he can’t be Captain America (now that he knows why exactly that symbol is powerful, and what is required of it), he’ll find his way with people who will let him be what he can be. Notice, however, how even between these two underserved characters, John Walker has a more understandable progression. I don’t think I’ll really be able to fault ‘left-wing’ viewers of the show who will be left dissatisfied by this ending (especially those who are sympathetic to the Flag-Smashers’ demands--especially as to some extent (due to my own line of work and leanings, I’m kind of one of those). And then there’s the reveal of Sharon as the Power-Broker--its own can of worms, but I’ll fold it in the next item. 4. MIXED BAG: How the show’s social layout closes

The fact that the MCU’s undercurrent politics remains to be “institutions are bad, mob/grassroots action will always be misguided, let media-chosen/private individuals and orgs show you the ‘right way’ of doing things”--it isn’t really as helpful as it could be. The show basically ends with Sam and Bucky’s individual arcs and moral world-views affirmed. It is definitely a happy ending for them. It is, however, pretty difficult to swallow that it ends well for them when the bigger picture is left unaddressed.  (For those who may be interested in this line of critique, this video essay, “Imagining the Tyrant” by Kyle Kallgren / Brows Held High / oancitizen should be helpful.)

Nowhere is this better illustrated than in 2 instances: the setting of Walker’s rechristening as U.S. Agent, and Sharon’s “pardon” scene--now that we know she is in fact the Power Broker. Both events happen in the U.S. Senate Committee hearing hall--basically making the statement that even with a new Captain America that is more ‘home-grown’ and closer to the ground and common people (even as he literally flies high), the institutions of the U.S. government is still as impervious and clueless to its corruption and enabling of crime and injustice. Criminal elements like Valentina de Fontaine and the Power Broker foster the underground economy with impunity, and the U.S. government allows them to for a number of unbuilt/unestablished reasons. 

It’s a valid/backed-up argument to make, and with historical/real life basis at that, but this is the kind of plot development difficult to credibly sell within a 6-episode miniseries already crammed with character arcs--and it shows. Compare this, for example, with how the Netflix series The Punisher built throughout its Season 1 run how exactly can black market profiteering grow under the CIA in a believable way. There, you see exactly what needs to happen for a previously-established upstanding character living in a grey environment to turn grey--even full on black (be it Frank Castle/the Punisher himself, Dinah Madani, or even Billy Russo). I’d want to chalk this up to the possibility of merging/reintroducing that world--and by god, imagine Jon Bernthal’s Punisher returning in this kind of gray area--interacting with Captain America AND the Winter Soldier, as this series is now likely to be titled--should be very interesting.

---- These are the top points in my head after my first watch of this finale. I may be rewatching this again--who knows if I get to come back. Still, it’s been a pretty meaningful ride. P.S. I should probably admit to my Filipino background here again, but it’s hilarious how the closing shot of this series (Sam and Bucky having a party with their family/community near the Louisiana seaside) is basically how mosts 80′s/90′s era Filipino action and comedy films end (either a beach party or a wedding/outing near a beach/swimming pool). The presence of Pinoy shout-outs in this series (”Amatz” and “Isang Tao, Isang Mundo”) really emphasize how this might not be an accident.