#<- look I KINDA REALLY WANT TO PLAY DEUS EX OKAY?!

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Slowly getting addicted to picking up comics left and right lol. And most of the time I can guarantee it will include a soulfire comic or two.

[dragongirltongue]

Tell me more about your pathfinder character! What inspired them?

Oh this is gonna 6e a 6ig one lmao.

Okay so I've 6een thinking on this a lot, 6ecause there are many many layers.

There is a lot that went into Penumbra herself 6ut even that isn't a starting point, for that we're gonna need to talk a6out Rourke which is a whole other things.

6ut first we'll need to talk a6out parallel universes porting OCs into ta6letop.

So when I first got into ta6letop games I was not the 6est at coming up with new characters. I'd make one and o6sess over them for an eternity 6efore making one more.

Some friends asked if I wanted to join their fun on going home6rew D&D setting. I was like, oh fuck yes and at first I used my character who turned out to 6e a headmate, @arianagestalt, cos we were doing some 3.5 epic level shenanigans with the party 6eing all dragons or dragon adjacent.

Partway into this things started feeling wierd with playing as Ariana which we'd later realize is the fact that she's alive in this layer of reality and needed to figure things out. Around this time I'd come up with a new character for my superhero setting. Rourke, aka Ferropyre.

A dragon woman from 12,000 years ago give or take who has her soul 6ound to a ro6ot in the modern age. I'd 6een doing a lot of thinking a6out her around the time and decided to deal with the weird feelings to softly introduce her as a player controlled NPC who then got turned into a full player character.

Major inspirations for this character include Mega Man, Ayla (Chrono Trigger), Ariana herself now that I know she's a person.

So I spoke with our DM @rrivlet a6out the Heroics! version of Rourke and how possi6le it'd 6e to port her over without losing the important pillars of her character, those 6eing her out of time status, her motherhood, her need to fight a 6attle that's long over. Turned out this whole set up was very worka6le in the home6rew setting.

Rourke was a dragon6orn soldier in a war against humanity to stop an apocalypse. During this war her side had developed ways to keep a soldier from 6eing lost to death, transferring their souls into warforged 6odies so they can continue the fight still.

Rourke was a willing participant in this and I kinda leaned into my own experience with Deus Ex HR, how I think 6eing a6le to have wanted the augmentations could have made an interesting shift in Jensen's character. Rourke fully asked to have her 6ody turned into a deadly weapon and only afterwards do the consequences sink in.

She spends less time with her family, partly 6ecause she's afraid to let this war carry on 6eyond their lifespans, partly 6ecause as a living weapon she feels she no longer 6elongs in their world. This leads to her pushing the 6ody too hard and collapsing in a state of neither life nor death.

She's found thousands of years later, her soul still locked away in a dormant state until a kindly inventor named Hack finds her and decides that her 6ody should 6e fixa6le. He spends a long time restoring physical functionality, planning to give it some very 6asic functionality, unaware that a dragon soul sleeps deep inside.

At the 6eginning of this campaign there is a call to all dragons to meet, Rourke's dormant soul flares up and takes over her repaired 6ody in this moment, only partially aware of the call 6ut trying to ignore it while finding out what she missed out on.

This is where Penumbra 6egins chronologically.

Rourke wants to leave and see the world, may6e make her way to where the call is summoning her to, 6ut really she's amazed to learn that her fighting was worth it, yet also for nothing. Hack creates a gift for her while she stays in town a little, a toy inspired 6y her earliest stories, a wind up doll 6ased on how he imagined she must have looked when she had scales.

She appreciates the gift 6ut turns it down, suggesting he has more need of it than she does as she leaves to happen across the party in a fight against a human tyrant, something she knows she's good at still.

Life got in the way 6ut we started a new game later on in the setting picking up the pieces. Feeling let down 6y the lack of getting to do much with Rourke I decided to 6ring her 6ack in a more level appropriate way.

I'd entered my Doll Phase around this time and @elysiadragon made me aware of the pf2e race, Poppets, I looked into them found the wished alive 6ackground and the rest is history.

Rourke would happen to wish for a second chance and through cosmic shenanigans her effigy would get that second chance, 6eing 6rought to life with memories of her organic life 6ut not her machine life.

Penumbra's inspirations connect to something I alluded to in an earlier post today. Yep, the clone saga! I'm very autistic a6out clones and alternate versions of characters. Penumbra is exactly Rourke up until the moment she woke up, at which point she's 6een forced to 6ecome her own self, she now wrestles with the weight of 6eing Rourke and not 6eing Rourke at the same time.

The final 6it of Inspiration happened very close to game start, she's a very small swash6uckler with a larger than life hero persona, very physically active and proud of how un6eata6le she is.

That inspiration is...

Hell this goes to such a degree that I'd often rewatch this video every game day to get into the mood.

And yes all of this ram6ling was necessary, now to add a million tags to this.

[aeoki]

Machina - Deus ex...: Chapter 3

Location: “Test World” Plaza Characters: Mika, Shuu & Makoto

< In the “Test World”. Plaza modelled after ES’ sky garden. >

Mika: Ngh~ Nghahhhh~

I don’t understand what’s goin’ on at all… Someone’s placed a huge bid on one of my ongoin’ auctions.

Things are a disaster ‘cause of that~ My fans barged into the store and made a mess of things.

If you didn’t take me outta the store in an instant, Mako-kun, I think things would’ve made a turn for the worst.

Makoto: Yeah. You’re right about that… Who would’ve thought there would be people thinking they could get free digital art if they became friends with you?

But I guess that just goes to show how expensive your art is. That’s basically enough money to buy a super fancy car.

Mika: Uuu. Don’t say anymore, Mako-kun!

I did think it would be nice if my art was valuable, but this is still a first for me. It feels like I’m gonna have a heart attack every time I hear about it…

It’s weird that someone like me is gettin’ more recognition than Oshi-san and it makes me wonder if it’s really okay for my art to be even more appreciated than the artists in our art books.

Makoto: Ahaha. Everyone wants to take things step by step, huh.

It’s a bit different, but when “Trickstar” won “SS”...

I pinched my cheek when I was in bed several times because I couldn’t believe it was real.

Mika: Yeah. I know how you feel!

It’s somethin’ to be happy ‘bout but it just feels like a dream, huh.

Makoto: I don’t think things are going to calm down even if you make new art, so it might be a good idea to stop playing in the “Test World” in the meantime.

Mika: Hmm~ I kinda don’t wanna leave the “Test World”.

Makoto: Ahaha, do you like it that much?

But I can’t really recommend you to do that. You’re kinda famous in the “Test World”, Kagehira-kun.

You might be walking about casually outside but it could get pretty difficult the way things are right now.

It’ll be hard to enjoy playing and making things the same way as before.

Mika: Yeah. I know.

…Ah, it’s not like I denyin’ what you’re sayin’, Mako-kun. It’s just that I still have somethin’ I gotta do in this world.

I wanted to use digital art and get Oshi-san to acknowledge me.

Most of the art I’ve made so far used the new technology and I just put things together simple-mindedly. But I made Oshi-san angry by doin’ that.

I wanted to make somethin’ proper – somethin’ that Oshi-san would be satisfied with.

Makoto: Hmm. Judging by the results of the auctions, I don’t think your work is in any way unacceptable.

He must have been in a bad mood. It’s the same for Izumi-san – I don’t know if it’s the jet lag, but he gets pretty on edge sometimes.

Mika: Is that how it works? That would be nice if that was the case, though. Oshi-san seemed pretty angry. It kinda feels like I haven’t really accomplished what I wanted to achieve.

Look, the clouds are just there movin’ slowly in the blue sky, so if you take a closer look, you can easily tell they’re somethin’ someone “made”, right? ♪

But the person who made this didn’t want to make a fake version of it – they were aimin’ to make the real thing.

You wouldn’t be able to do something like that unless you know you can definitely create a world that can replace our current one.

This world is different from real life, but I think it’s an interestin’ world. It’s tryin’ to get closer to our real world and it feels really nice.

I thought it would be good if Oshi-san could also see how interestin’ the pieces of art created in that world are.

Makoto: …Yeah. From the eyes of the current world, they probably think this world is fake, but I also think this “SSVRS” world is even more real than the actual one.

I guess you could say it’s peaceful? It’s calming and it makes me forget about the real world.

Oh, right. If you’d like, shall I purchase another atelier for you?

Mika: What!? Are you sure!?

Right now, “VL$” is super expensive, right~? Spendin’ yer money on that kinda present would be a waste.

Makoto: It’s fine, really. The winter holidays will be over soon. I’ve been thinking about retiring from this test player job.

“Trickstar” does have a lack of funds, so exchanging what “VL$” I have left would be nice, but… having too much would be too much.

Game money is meant to be spent in-game. I wouldn’t feel so hesitant about my in-game money if I spent it that way ♪

Mika: Thanks, Mako-kun ♪ If that’s the case, then my next work–

Shuu: That will be unnecessary, Kagehira.

Mika: ……!? That sounds like Oshi-san…? Where’s it comin’ from!?

Shuu: Look up. I’m here, Kagehira!

Mika: What…? O-Oshi-san’s on some sorta flyin’ machine!? What’s goin’ on!?

Shuu: Kagehira. I’m here to take you back to reality with this Deus Ex Machina.

Mika: What… no…. What happened, Oshi-san?

Shuu: There’s something I need to ask you before I answer your question.

Why did you make such a thing, Kagehira?

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

[nyxqueenofshadows]

was busy and kinda forgot to make a post about it but i finished judgment last week!

had a slow start but by the halfway point i was fully invested and by the end i was like why is it over :((((( let me do it again :(((( great game, if you haven't played judgment, go do it

my notes, written in mostly chronological order. they're a bit of a mess but clearing them up would be a nightmare

most random thing to start off with but i really, really like the character intro cards and chapter title cards. sleek af, big fan

yagami combat’s fun. just like flipping over people’s heads and shit

kaito omg i see why everyone got so attached to him. also saori??? very pretty, she’s great, more of her please

i haven’t got used to the controls and combat yet :((( like i keep forgetting shortcuts are a thing and that i don’t have to hold the sprint button

okay i’m gonna admit it took me a while to get into it and occasionally it’ll still throw smth at me that i don’t enjoy at all but i’m here now! i’m having fun! i think it kind of has the kiwami problem where it has a bunch of stuff it has to establish so all the side content gets pushed later than some of the other games

the scene where sugiura steals yagami’s phone is so fucking funny to me he looks so offended asdfghj;kl

everyone’s kind of a dick? like the journalist is sleazy as all hell, then there’s hamura (hoo boy) and the detective guy don’t like him at all, bad vibes

yagami choke count +1

hamura oh my god i hope i get to punch this guy at some point like ‘here’s where you lose your eyes’ なーんてな that’s so fucked up

yagami choke count +3 jesus christ are the rgg team okay

higashi???? he’s the character i’m gonna get most attached to i can see it coming already. sugiura continues to be fun too, very funny to me that yagami’s reaction to bumping into him (the guy who stole his phone and was trying to throw him to the cops) is to offer him a job

it’s new playing an rgg protag who’s actually clever and quick. there’s akiyama, he’s kinda similar, but it’s kinda nice to have a character play the room in the same way yagami can, like when he gets kaito out of losing his finger. kiryu’s great don’t get me wrong but he tends to blunder his way through the plots of his games and he’s never a step ahead of anyone even when he’s acting as a guiding figure (a la 6). yagami’s refreshing

oh no one of the girls you can date is underage (or is she 18? she’s one year too young to drink) you’re kidding me yagami whyyyyy

chase sequence after the wig was hilarious 10/10 would do again << oh hey we did it again but this time with a young child, okay

sorry ayabe i think i misjudged you, keep doing what you’re doing

why is ryan fucking everywhere, i swear i’ve not had a street fight without him ever since finishing his friendship route. help it’s tanoshikatta de gozaru all the way down

intrigued by the crow and ‘jester’ plotline << why did this not get picked up again? did i miss smth?

VR minigame is okay, lots of flashy visual effects tho, it occasionally makes the game go all janky

kaito :(((( deciding not to fight red nose cos higashi was there and he didn’t want him to get hurt :(((

hamura during that flashback scene in the sewers....yikes. like that he essentially would’ve done the same thing twice (to the guy in the pink shirt before suigura comes to the rescue), he’s got an MO

also is the only requirement to be a yakuza protagonist to have a tragic af backstory and no parents, yagami’s is brutal! the most in the series, i’d argue (unless 7 is gonna hit me with the steel chair)

the side case with the cake and the ace attorney parody is cracking me up asdfghjkl i need to write that crossover or au or whatever i NEED

i love how surprised/offended yagami is when kaito not only throws him under the bus when shioya has them at gunpoint but then when kaito breaks free and shioya says to shoot him he’s just like eh? eh?????? asdfghjkl bro you’re about to get shot, get kicking

deus ex sugiura << he does this like 4 times, he’s the real mvp

ohhh skeletons in the closet. ha ha very funny guys (well, onto chapter 5)

nobody liked shintani at all did they, they’re saying mean shit about him even after he’s dead. guys it’s been a couple of hours at most! he even gets the sad/uplifting substory music during his scene asdfghjkl

sugiura really needled yagami about the okubo case, wonder why

the ghost/memory shintani when you arrive at ADDC was creepy, ngl. yagami are you okay

ohhh full flashback sequence, nice. slicked back hair yagami is really disconcerting at first (he goes from yagami to full on kimtak) but i’m used to him now i think

i forgot that emi’s last name was terasawa so when she turned up i was like oh is it? and then it was and now i’m sad. why, why did that happen i need to knowwwww

there’s a lot of names and different factions of people involved in this one, i think i might have to check the case file notes regularly on this one.

like, what does kuroiwa want, why is the director so adamant on the flow of information out of his company being under his control, how are the ministry of health connected to the kansai yakuza wanting to make inroads into kamurocho? what does it meannnnnn

keihin gang annoying. that’s it

the side/main story thing you do with kaito while waiting for sugiura to call and tell you what he knows about the addc, where kaito meets up with a guy he knew when he was younger, that was great. 10/10 character and relationship establishing content. do the fist bump guys

you briefly play as saori??????? okay! (positive) interesting to do what is essentially a very toned down version of the hostess minigame but from the other side. also the option to dress up saori in outfits that characters wore in kiwami 2 is really weird. OH and that saori can’t be pretty without a makeover, like no, she’s very pretty. glad there’s no penalty for keeping her natural hair cos i DID

all these K names are killing me, so there’s kejihara (run by the man himself) who have sway over the kyorei clan who are trying to get in with minister kazami. plus the ceo of the addc is called kido, and there’s kuroiwa in the mix too, never mind kaito (tho he’s special, he’s okay). i know in jp these are all written very differently but did rgg my guys did you have no other syllables to go for?? there’s a good few ‘ha-’ names too, hattori, hamura, hashiki...

i don’t think matsugane oyassan is earning any of dad of the year awards. he’s trying tho, i’ll give him that. genda tho, now there’s a man i can get behind

higashi really levelled up for his second boss fight god damn

someone explain to me how they did the hair for the tashiro-kun disguise, with all the gold and shit. like, that’s clearly not a wig, right? i know it’s just there for convenience and the laughs but come on! (also kimtaku basically has that haircut now so it was really jarring asdfghjkl)

every time i see hoshino with his enormous backpack i can’t help but think he’s a kid going to school for the first time, i think it’s the suit looking like a uniform (plus how he looks generally). same for the boy twin (yosuke? what was it again) cos he’s so short compared to yagami and most of the people around him. (saying this as someone who is basically yosuke’s height)

plot mandated poker nooooooo (oh you don’t have to win PHEW)

i neglected the side content and now i’m drowning in it oh no asdfghjkl i haven’t even touched the drone racing yet

that meeting with okubo is rough. (positive)

oh we’re really in it now folks, people are throwing around theories like it’s nothing! i sort of get how they arrive at the conclusion it was shono but it also kind of feels like they pulled it out of nowhere? the bit with kaito where he happens upon an answer mid-argument was fun but everything before that just felt kinda like vague spitballing.

wait who’s this dick with the sword cane??? hamura must be really upset if this is the guy he’s bringing out (also why is hoshino-kun there, genda’s office is on literally the other side of town)

we’re just waltzing in the front door of the addc??? okay! oh wait no that didn’t work did it asdfghjkl for someone who says it’s his hobby he sure keeps that special electric baton (kamiyama special?) on him during his work hours

shono interrogation was good, even if the mechanics of the chase sequence thingy before it weren’t so much (this is like that one bit from 0 all over again, but making even less sense)

alright chapter 10 let’s GO

chapters 10 and 11 go so hard AHHHHHH after him playfully ribbing you while you’re going around trying to attract attention, kaito getting shot physically hurt me and then yagami’s face when he has to leave him is even worse, then there’s the very very long boss fight sequence where you fight cane man (who is fruity af for no reason, good for him) a bunch and those are all fun fights except the one in the dark and then the hamura fight!!! the QTE for that fight is so cool, i’ve seen it a few times even before playing it and it never gets old and is a completely different feeling when it’s you at the controller.

pacing falters a bit when you get the long exposition bit of how hamura got involved in the mole shit but it was all interesting so i didn’t mind too much. plus seeing hamura in the flashback and how he interacts with people outside of the main cast was fun

ALSO yagami was totally ready to let shioya physically torture hamura for info (i assume, maybe he was bluffing) and my guy that’s a crime you can’t be doing this shit and then standing in court

and the mole’s kuroiwa!!! i kinda knew that going in but part of me was still convinced it was gonna be hattori the whole time. his entrance and fight scene is so cool tho, i can’t wait to fight him for real!

AND matsugane-san... the line about him failing as oyaji and then trying to make it right as oya was really good, and it being the catalyst for hamura to come clean even in the face of his own death (he’s not suriving this game, no way) was nice. who’s gonna tell kaito :(((

my one gripe is murase’s death scene it’s so out of nowhere that it kind of comes across as funny which is unfortunate asdfghjkl OH and why’s mafuyu there when kuroiwa shows up to take yagami in for questioning, did yagami call her or smth off-screen

also when you get back to kamurocho after all that and yagami’s like ‘i’m exhausted, i just wanna crash’ (fair, he’s had one hell of a rough night) guess who fucking texts me. KIM PLEASE FIX THE KEIHIN ON YOUR OWN MAN yagami’s solving government corruption i think he deserves a break from being harrassed inthe street constantly asdfghjkl

cane man has an identical twin??? why are there so many twins in this game, did you have so few character models at your disposal

idk if yagami telling all these people who the mole is is a great idea, like, even just the suggestion of who it might be got shintani killed in a heartbeat. does he really think mafuyu or ayabe are gonna be okay after this?

oh we’re playing as saori again, neat. tho there’s some uh questionable choices in this section... ig they’re going for a ‘this is what it’s like to be a woman seen as a sexual object all the time’ but by sexualising her during those sections it falls completely flat. ah well. not sure what i expected tbh. ganbatte hoshino-kun

ALSO during that bit saori is like ‘flirt for me i’ve never had experience seducing men’ (specifically men, in both the subtitles and original jp dialogue) and yagami AT NO POINT is like ‘neither have i’. bi and lesbian solidarity!

torture pt 2 asdfghjkl love that the actual no criminal background yagami is more morally grey than actual criminal kiryu (or, well, he acts on it more? idk they feel different about it)

sugiura being that pissed off at kido tho, what did he do to you man? spill your secrets

tailing mission for ishimatsu ughhhhh the only one i’ve had problems with, mostly cos we’re going in circles

experience inside of the love hotel: this place is super creepy, they did not need to make it this creepy- ooh vibrator weapon i’ll be taking that asdfghjkl

ohh that’s why sugiura was being so hard on yagami. all those comments about the death penalty and the anger towards kido make sense now. could’ve done with a bit more foreshadowing for him imho (it’s not like it comes out of nowhere but it needed a bit more for it to be impactful maybe? or maybe it needed a proper cutscene, not the in-engine ones). his little ‘chigau?’ to yagami after his rant about how the chief prosecutor covered up the murders for the sake of a maybe future right in front of him is sooo good, excellent bit of character performance.

wanna know where he pulled the name sugiura from tho ngl

higashi reaching for kaito after kuroiwa has just beat the shit out of them :(((

i’m in the finale??? oh shit. i’ve still not touched the drone minigame oops

the substory where the guy is gonna kill himself cos he thinks girlfriend is cheating on him is a kind of a mess in the way these substories always are in rgg games but the bit where he jumps off the roof and it says fall in love on the back of his jacket and yagami’s like :o really got me ngl reminded me of the old school revelations a bit

the guy from the opening came back! good for him (twice!)

i love this cast, i love how they bounce off each other, it feels like it’s hitting all the beats 6 missed in its banter and far far surpassing them.

i got the glitch where the heat action happens and the camera doesn’t do what it’s supposed to! asdfghjkl very funny seeing yagami slam a guy into the ground twice with a teleport in between

I FINISHED IT holy shit that last section is so fun to play through. all the boss fights (aka kuroiwa x3 asdfghjkl) are great, the QTEs are creative and just really fucking cool, and the pay off for the trial was absolutely worth it. and bits of it made me laugh! sugiura being like ‘bengoshi yoroshiku!’ right as he kicks a cop in the face is GOLD and there’s so many moments like that.

it’s occurred to me before but it really struck me in the finale just how many people supporting him yagami has and how he’s so comfortable relying on them, mainly compared to kiryu. like, 6 (which has a similar friend structure tho less based around it) never felt like a lonely game when i was playing it but compared to judgment? night and day. fuck, i wanna play it again just to hang out with the characters again and i’ve only just finished it

also random thing but the ending credits are really good? like the slice of life stuff of kaito and yagami trying to find the cat and it evading them a few times, like even with no dialogue they conveyed so much in that one bit. need more end credits like this

actually thinking about it yagami leaving shono to look after sugiura after he got shot was kind of fucked up? i know it was a ride or die kind of situation but bro! he killed sugiura’s sister! how do you think sugiura feels about this!

drone minigame was okay, feels like a mix of pocket circuit and the taxi minigame. did i do well? no. am i gonna invest many hours into this? also no, but i see how i could.

mad that i need to do both mahjong and poker to access bits of the side content so i’m just not gonna!

[minetteskvareninova]

Minette watches Medici, part 21 (The Holy See)

-Objectively, this episode wasn't nearly as good as the previous one. Subjectively, it was the best, and that was for the one and only reason: Caterina fucking Sforza.

-Those two things aren't as disconnected as you might think. Caterina honestly felt like a bit of a deus ex machina. Yes, I know Riario being an ungrateful bastard who treats her like shit was set up very well over the previous episodes, so she doesn't technically qualify, but like... For all their efforts, the Medici's victory is ultimately trough no real contribution of their own.

-Well, at least it turns out to be relatively hollow, or at least causing more problems at the moment than it solves. No, really, I actually liked that part a lot! Lorenzo needed to have been taken down so many pegs I cherish every defeat of his, and this one was just written so damn well! Like, the fact that his victory was hollowed by the exact same thing that allowed said victory in the first place (a.k.a. the papal armies not being payed)? POETIC CINEMA

-I am not sure about the portrayal of Caterina from a historical point of view. Like c'mon, this was one of the toughest women of the renessaince, and in this show she's worried about her peace and her unborn baby and being chummy with Clarice... *sigh* Look, man, I just thing we've had enough "silk hiding steel" types in this show, okay? Why can't we have one single unapologetic bitch, or even like a more masculine-leaning type of lady? Also, in history, her husband was at point living in the town Forli, which he ruled along Imola, and they had like six children already, also also he was killed four years after his uncle's death by some political rivals, who sought the Medici support, but never got it (so much for real Lorenzo having a "consumed by vengeance" arch, lol).

-Well, at least as far as "silk hiding steel" types go, she's one of the best ones around. In fact, purely as a show character, I actually love her? Plus, she clearly likes both Lorenzo and Clarice (their fireside chat was lowkey gay and don't you dare dissuade me of that notion), so she can join their polycule, which - nice! Once I get around to writing that Clarice x Lucrezia D smut, I will add her too for sure. For real, tho, I would be madder at every woman in this show wanting to fuck Lorenzo if he didn't actually earn it by looking like Daniel Sharman.

-This show really wants to tone down the depravity of renessaince papacy; a doomed endeavour if I ever saw one, and also you have literal Girolamo "the anti-renessaince papacy activist" Savonarola in your show, the fuck are you doing?! And Carlo's "minor bribery is fine, but larger-scale bribery isn't" stance is pretty stupid, like dude, I hate to break it to you, but once you enter this game, you're in it to win it. Like, the rival candidate is literally supported by Lorenzo's greatest enemy, and he has the chance to destroy said enemy right then and there. Of course, in the previous episodes, Lorenzo had a lot of opportunity to forgive Riario and difuse the tensions between them, but that ship has sailed years ago.

-Honestly, Caterina's secrets are hillariously tame, like I get that this show tries desperately to not be The Borgias, but seriously, what do you mean SOME of the cardinals have mistresses and take bribes?!

-Then there's Giulio's forgiveness towards the murderer of his mother, which... Actually kinda works with both his show character and IRL Clement VII. being a surprisingly decent dude for a renessaince pope? BTW if you've seen The Serpent Queen, the character played by Charles Dance is basically Giulio decades later. Of course, it wouldn't be me if I didn't point out that while Giulio did want to join the church since young age, his career would be limited (as was Carlo's) by his illegitimate birth, which is why he at first tried a military career as a member of the johannites. He only became a priest after Lorenzo's death, but whatever.

-THE SAVONAROLA PLOT THICKENS. That's all I have to say about it. That part of the episode was pretty awesome, no notes.

[noellevanious]

Too bad cause I'm gonna share them anyway (below the cut)

Disclaomer: these are just my thoughts/a review. No callouts or nothin. Things I didn't like or agree with from my perspective, simple as.

I think the entire series is pretty good and fun! The first three arcs are probably my favorites, I think theyre like. Top tier and I can see why the series got so popular. Very good blend of storytelling, real play, comedy, improv, et cetera

By Stolen Century though I was reaching the point where I was like. Okay. This is getting a bit boring.

Specifically when it clearly pivots to like. Griffin telling a giant cosmos-spanning storyline and the three main characters are like. Not as freeflowing as they could be. I really enjoy the back and forth between the four McElroy guys, but I was getting very sick very fast of griffins ocs especially ones added later.

I think the sticking point for me is lup. Taako is a great character and Justin does such a good job fleshing him out and making him feel real. But like. Lup man. It seems like they believe lup is her own character but. To me it's just griffin going "I have a Taako but she's transfem and otherwise not very different". It was very... Weird to hear him essentially doing a Taako character that is also taakos paternal twin.

And yeah I know. They get fleshed out more over the story. And taako had like. 3 years worth of fleshing out while lup was like. A plot device up until the last two arcs and barely got any screen time after that. And I think that plot device part was super interesting and creative! But at least to me, she was just transfem taako who talked waaay too much about wanting to swap saliva with Barry.

I did not fast forward or skip ANYTHING up until I was on the last episode (like a half hour before I started typing this), like 15 minutes was spent with lup and Barry bluejeans talking about how hot lup looks in a red robe outfit, and how they're gonna smooch so hard and so much, and I looked at the episode timeline and there was still 40 minutes left of the episode (which at that point was clearly just epilogue stuff for griffins characters and world).

Also just generally don't like how griffin did romance stuff. Didn't feel relevant to the story at all. I think justin doing taako was good and it was cute That he was dating a dude and he outright said "it's nobody's business who I'm dating even if I'm dating death".

Even though death/the grim reaper is just that guy from hazbin hotel basically. Just. A dude.

And that's a great pivot point! Griffin does a rly good job creating so many original characters. But by like. The third or fourth arc where he's setting up all this story and universe stuff it got old/boring. Angus is a cute character and has a fun dynamic. I don't care about his story or how he went to wizard school. I liked how for some inexplicable reason, even though he was the most cute and sweet and optimistic and kind kid, the three mcs just relentlessly and pathetically bullied him. I also liked all the early ocs, I really like/liked Yohan, I liked the one orc girl or whatever during the train arc where she just kinda minds her own business and does her own thing until the rising action. I even like the Normal Kid Genji Main OC that shows up at the end to teach Taako how to make a taco.

Which. I don't have any stakes in this cause I'm white. But I feel like if you consciously acknowledge on your podcast that the name and character and story could indirectly/accidentally be a bit questionable. You shouldn't still do that bit. Especially considering how it stopped being relevant and gave justin/taako a deeper personality (ditzy pro chef! Very fun) until that deus ex machina.

I think other than those, a lot of the issues I have are more the fact that it's a dnd podcast that pivots into a sort of fiction improv story podcast. Griffin doing silly voices for every npc, the way storytelling feels when a single guy is talking to his 3 family members through all these different characters and giving these long-winded diatribes on the world he's built. Etc. They wouldn't be a problem in an actual novel or in the graphic novel series (I havent read them, but I optimistically assume the bits where DM griffin pop in are exclusively for like. Stuff that can't be conveyed otherwise in the format of a story. Like all the real play stuff). And I'm not saying they're an objective problem either, I think it's just like. Eh for me.

I think it's awesome that this kind of thing could take off and see so much success, despite having literally 0 advertising budget and ostensibly just being a family doing a homemade dnd campaign. It makes me optimistic for people writing original stories

All that being said! I think the series can be/is a lot of fun, and the first two or three arcs plus the bonus "in a weird place in canon" offshoot episodes are excellent (ironically, I think my favorite episode is the live show where they had the teamwork summercamp thing).

Just finished listening to TAZ Balance. Do you guys wanna hear my thoughts on the series

[rallamajoop]

Late to the party: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

So, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks getting utterly sucked into (of all things) a random (mostly) FPS game from 2010. This is unlike me for a number of reasons.

I do not DO FPS. Or really shooters in any PS. (Shooting people stresses me out.)

I CANNOT do FPS. (Keyboard-and-mouse just is not how I’m used to gaming, and rapidly leaves me recreating Dara O’Briain’s legendary “Oh no, I’m in a gun battle! Which one of these isn’t crouch?”-sketch)

The youtube review which put DX:HR on my radar was only lukewarm at best (and having played the game… yeah, I still can’t really disagree with most of his critiques).

There are no vampires in it anywhere (not strictly uncharacteristic for me, but it does break what is now about a 4-consecutive-fandom streak).

Why I wound up buying and playing this game despite all the above is a longer story, and not really worth going into here. But for the short version: look, I just kinda had the itch for a new game – and as the old saying goes, it was on sale on Steam.

My first few hours attempting to actually play DX:HR were not promising. I had not magically become better at coordinating in first-person-mode since last time I tried a game like this, and my brain continued to throw up “wait, you want me SHOOT PEOPLE? Omg, that’s not okay! D:” roadblocks. I’m not trying to suggest I’m Too Good for video game violence or something here: taking out waves of human enemies was some of the best fun I had playing Witcher 3 – and by the endgame, I was deliberately picking fights with the supposedly-invincible town guards (who are always so annoying about not letting you freely loot everything in sight), because it’d become a fun challenge. Give me a gun and stick me in a pseudo-modern setting, however, and apparently it all suddenly becomes Too Real. I don’t know what else to tell you.

Part of what convinced me to give this game a go regardless is that the Deus Ex series has been built on giving you options. There are non-lethal weapons available, and there are stealth options as alternatives to running in, guns-blazing (all those memes about hiding bodies in vents didn’t come from nowhere). There’s even an achievement for getting through the game without killing anyone (except bosses, because options only go so far).

The trouble is that (as usual) the full range of options don’t really become available to you until you’ve cleared that first difficulty-hump and left the tutorial area – which you technically can get through without any acts of murder, but doing so is not a super-realistic goal for a beginner.

Nor are the difficulty options much help to the pacifist: setting the game to “story mode” means you can take more hits and enemies can take fewer, but it doesn’t damp their hearing or shrink their cones of vision any, or mean they spend more time standing still in secluded places where you can sneak up for a non-lethal takedown without their friends noticing. Throw in my absurd completionist streak (WHYYY would you tell me I’ll get so much bonus XP for making it to an objective without being seen? NOW I FEEL OBLIGATED TO ACHIEVE THAT!) and the first couple of areas became a truly stressful experience.

A day in, I mentioned to a friend that I was giving up: clearly DX gameplay was just not for me.

…then two days later, I went back for another go, because clearly I have no self-control.

The thing is, I knew if I could just save-scum my way through that first big story-mission, I’d get some breathing room. That’s where the game lands you in your first main story-hub and gives you the chance to run around, explore, talk to people, pick up side-quests and so on – and that far more than any of the core gameplay was the kind of game experience I’d had the itch for. So gave up trying to actually engage with all those guards, looked up a handy vent-shortcut, and stepped out basically just one minor “talk the terrorist into letting the hostage go”-challenge from clear. Done!

Things calmed down a bit from there. I spent the next few hours happily running around cyber-Detroit, climbing ladders and rifling through bins, and generally doing everything the game would let me do that didn’t involve shooting people.

I knew hacking was a major gameplay element, because that video which introduced me to Deus Ex had a whole section on how annoying the hacking-minigame was. I quickly decided I loved the hacking minigame (you get exp! and random bonus rewards if you get all the right nodes! and then you can use that exp to upgrade your hacking skills and hack yet more stuff!), and promptly wasted a couple of hours hacking every door and computer in my office, and reading all my colleagues’ emails. (By a couple of hours later, I’d taken to knocking out patrolling cops who had all these unreasonable objections to me hacking locks on the street in broad daylight – because clearly some things don’t change, no matter what game I’m playing.)

The game goes out of its way to give you multiple paths to many of your objectives: you can hack a side-door, talk your way in, find a vent from the ceiling, etc – but have you really done it properly if you haven’t talked your way in, gone back out, hacked a side-door, and left through a vent? No, I don’t think you have. But c’mon – if the game didn’t want me to do all the things, why does it keep giving me XP for all of them (yes, even exploring a vent)? XP is an excellent motivator.

Eventually, of course, I ran out of side-quests and had to get back to the actual game – but a couple of areas later, something finally clicked. I’m not going to tell you I finally got gud – that first area where things started going my way was also conveniently dimly-lit and sparsely-patrolled, and thus way more conducive to the pick-them-off-and-hide-the-bodies strategy – though hot damn if my first really successful tranquiliser-rifle long-distance-headshot wasn’t ridiculously satisfying.

And I’ve gotta give the game credit for validating this playstyle: you get points for every man down, but you get more points for doing it non-lethally – which also tends to be the better stealth option – and even more points for sneaking up behind people and hitting the “combat takedown” button. (The latter will also play you a short, random animation of 2-3 stunt guys who’ve presumably been told we’ve got all day, dudes, so knock yourselves out! and are having an absolute blast coming up with so many different elaborate takedown ideas.)

Played this way, engaging the enemy becomes less a battle than a logic puzzle (when, where, and in what order can I take these guys down without the others noticing?) – one that requires an embarrassing amount of save-scumming, but still eventually works. Don’t wanna bother engaging the enemy at all? Go for it – we’ll also give you points for ghosting through without being seen (and you’d better believe people have sped-run the whole game that way). Sure, you could give in, find yourself some decent cover and shoot everyone, but it all seems so inelegant.

This was all ticking along very nicely for me until suddenly a major NPC used her cut-scene free-action to hit a panic button, and locked me in a distressingly-open room with a rapidly advancing SWAT team, and suddenly this very-enjoyable-stealth-game is right back to wanting me to play it like an FPS again. Gah. After a few half-hearted attempts to get my usual non-lethal solutions to work, I had to give in and ghost out through a vent. Who taught these bastards to back each other up like this?

Boss battles presented a similar roadblock. The Director’s Cut edition has belatedly added enough hacking-based solutions to those encounters that it’s now technically possible to beat them without being forced to switch to run-and-gun tactics (which, remember, I still suck at) – but with some mixed results. Barret (your first boss encounter) was laughably confused by my run-away-and-climb-the-ladder tactics, but Fedrova (your second) was a lot less willing to just stand there patiently while I hacked my way through a console. Dropping some EMP mines while backing away in a hurry and then whipping out a shotgun ultimately proved the more viable strategy.

But the real test is the infamous moment where your pilot (the absurdly likable and competent Faridah Malik) comes under fire, and not rushing in to help means she dies. I was not okay with leaving Malik to die. Many reloads later, let’s just say that it’s absolutely possible to take down like eight guys and a fucking battle bot in a hurry, using only a stun gun and an EMP grenade – and you know what, it turns out I didn’t need that fricking Smooth Operator achievement that badly after all.

And that’s kind of DX:HR in a nutshell – a game that goes out of its way to give you a dozen viable ways to reach most objectives, then sort of shrugs and gives up each time it hits a big set-piece. I mean, the mere fact the difficulty settings hardly make a difference unless you’re playing by the “default” run-and-gun strategy says kind of a lot. But given the game’s ambition and the amount of behind-the-scenes nonsense and restructuring the team apparently had to deal with, it’s still pretty damn impressive that it all came together as well as it did – let alone that it managed to hook someone as far from it’s main target market as I am.

Of course, I realise in saying all this that 99% of all people with any interest in trying this game will have talked all this stuff to death a good 10 years ago – but I still had such a time discovering it for myself that I couldn’t resist rambling on about the roller-coaster of an experience that it was (and I haven't even got to the story here, which is gonna need it's whole own post). One that proved so addictive that I seem to be replaying it already.

[sniper-childe]

Hello! I’d like to share some of my notes if I were to Beta-read the most recent Archon Quest. I will be going through what worked, what could be taken out, and what could’ve been better. Note that I’m looking at this through an editor’s lens so I’m going to try NOT to change the plot we were given no matter what my opinions are about it BUT some of the said opinions may slip out.

Also, a bit of a disclaimer: I know that Genshin isn’t an actual literary work but miHoYo is known for its writers’ great storytelling and I’ve always loved their work so it really came as a surprise as to what happened to the mess that is Inazuma Act 3. So yeah.

Contains:

1. What was foreshadowed about the characters and why the payoff of their portrayals felt cheap.

a. About Kokomi and the rebellion.

b. About the Fatui, the James Bond villain wannabe.

c. About Ei and the Raiden Shogun.

2. How Chapter 2, Act 3 could have been the turning point that would have us, as the Traveler, cement our perceptions of the Archons and Gods of Celestia OR what I think the death of Signora was supposed to be but was undermined by this one tidbit.

BONUS: I wrote this before Kokomi’s story quest was released but decided to wait for it before posting. And guess what? I think Kokomi’s Story Quest works better as an Archon Quest. At least, some parts of it.

miHoYo teased us this intelligent leader of the resistance that is well-versed in the Art of War. The end of Ch2: Act 2 showed us a powerful Kokomi. So why was she sidelined all throughout the act?

I actually like the idea of the resistance asking the Fatui for aid. But miHoYo chickened out and made it so that they did it unknowingly. To which I say: how? If Kokomi was so smart she should’ve known better. I figured it was the Fatui within a single sentence, so why didn’t Kokomi?

They should’ve stuck with the concept of the underdogs – or in Kokomi’s words, the little fish – of war in an act of desperation. They could’ve shown a calculated Kokomi “making a deal with the devil” and will do anything to win the fight against the Shogunate.

In her Character Teaser, she was willing to burn the enemies’ supplies – to starve the enemy. She can be ruthless, that’s why Kokomi actively giving Delusions to her foot soldiers would have made much more sense to cause the Fatui to be involved rather than the whole “the Fatui orchestrated everything” schtick.

Which brings me to my next point: when did the Fatui turn into a James Bond villain? I hate that trope so much. It’s like the Deus Ex Machina of villainy. It’s lazy. And it doesn’t even fit the Fatui’s modus operandi.

In the prologue, the Abyss Order corrupted Dvalin and the Fatui was just there waiting to steal Barbatos’ gnosis while the Knights are distracted. Morax decided to retire one day so the Fatui swept right in and offered a test of Liyue in exchange for his gnosis.

The last two locations had their own story to tell while the Fatui was just in the background like the opportunistic antagonist that they are.

It also would have been a stronger plotline to have the already set lore – like the tenuous relationship between Watatsumi and Narukami – be the driving force of the Inazuman Civil War.

The prologue and chapter 1 also delivered what we are told we’re going to get in the Story Preview. That’s why they are satisfying. However, with chapter 2, the way it ended turned out to be more about the Fatui rather than “what do mortals see of the eternity chased after by their god.”

Sure, we got the consequences of the war in the World Quests and some of it in the second act. But making the Fatui the Big Bad in the end takes value away from the actions of the characters that are supposed to be the main feature of this chapter.

How much of the Eternity the Raiden Shogun is pursuing is directly from Ei? How much of it is its own understanding of eternity, coupled with Ei’s memories, and its own response? How much of it is the Fatui’s influence?

I have to say though, I’m fine with the puppet actually. Believe it or not. I have had kinda figured that out with the weird shifting of emotions in and out of the puppet. And the dead glowing eyes. So kudos to the design and animation team for that foreshadowing.

It was also said that the current Electro Archon lost someone dear to her and, while I didn’t think it was a twin, I did figure that the current Electro Archon wasn’t the real Electro Archon. So the whole Baal and Beelzebul backstory didn’t really surprise me. So I guess that was foreshadowed too? But my friends didn’t feel the same way so I don’t know. I’m not touching that.

But I do agree that all of the new lore got info-dumped to us by Yae rather than have us find out about them. To be honest, I would have wanted the backstory of Ei to be in her story quest rather than it be in the Archon Quest. A World Quest could work too.

I just feel like the 2.1 Archon Quest ended up cramming so many themes and subplots when it should’ve been focusing on what was promised: the darkness that is brought by their god.

They already had set up the Visions are people’s motivations/ambitions and that taking them away also takes away their agency.

Then they could’ve played with the idea of the people of Watatsumi looking up to Kokomi as their pseudo-god in-place of Orobashi and so with her actively giving Delusions could fit well in the said theme.

They could’ve made Ei and Kokomi character foils of each other and have the final showdown be about them.

And then it’ll all, of course, end up with the people of Inazuma learning how to work without their “gods” or something like that, which is the overarching theme of the whole series if you think about it.

But as I said, my opinions about the plot shouldn’t matter and I’m only here to make what was already written better.

So let’s talk about something that the puppet has done which didn’t make any sense on the surface level but could’ve been clever if it was done right. Killing La Signora.

Okay. So there is a pivotal moment at the end of the first arc of a three-act story where the main character experiences something that will leave them no choice but to move forward. This usually is a physical thing like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. But it can also be a mental or emotional situation.

Over at Honkai, the first arc ended with the death of a beloved mentor and a shattered world (both external and internal). The characters had no choice but to step up and “to stay alive, bravely” (yes, I won’t stop using this line ever). It was so very well done and even after so many years it still hurt no matter how many times you reread/rewatch the scene.

This reread value is what shows how much a twist is well written.

And that is what miHoYo is known for. So I had high expectations with the plot twist (technically this pivotal moment is called a plot twist because it twists the feel and/or pace of the story). Chapter 2 is the perfect spot to end the first act of a seven-chaptered story. So I’m really preparing myself for the inevitable twist.

But then we ended up with Signora’s death.

Okay. So. They could have used that to show us, as the traveler, how Archons and Celestial beings are unfeeling and not to be trusted. We were told this repeatedly by Dainsleiff and by the Abyss Twin. But it is only textbook writing 101 to show NOT tell.

And Signora’s death could have been this portrayal. Although, to be honest, it would have been more impactful if the one who died is a friend of the Traveler.

Them seeing someone die at the hands of an Archon could have their idea of gods shift. Because there is no turning back once you see the proof right in front of your eyes.

But instead, the puppet did it. So what was the point of Signora’s death if not just a power demonstration? We already knew that the Raiden Shogun is powerful. So why did Signora have to die?

Sure, one can argue that the puppet was enacting the Ei’s will so maybe there was a point. But! In Ei’s story quest, we were told that the puppet would have no hesitation when it comes to killing whereas Ei can show mercy.

Which begs, again, the question: how much of the Raiden Shogun’s actions is a reflection of Ei’s will, and how much of it is a logic response of an artificial intelligence from Ei’s memories?

Honestly? I don’t like that they killed off Signora. It doesn’t feel right. I would’ve taken Beidou’s death over Signora’s no matter how much I love Beidou. There was just no build-up to it and it feels weak. I… didn’t feel anything besides confusion. The anger only came later because of the wasted potential.

But overall, I do think they could’ve made it work if it were actually Ei doing the killing.

--

So I just did Kokomi’s Story Quest and man. The soldiers wanting to continue the war is what they really should have made the motivations of the actual war rather than have it as a post-war response and then have Kokomi fix their mess.

Seriously. While it was really interesting to see the usual trauma response of soldiers who had only known war their whole life, they wasted this idea, man.

Before doing the Archon Quest I had thought that the Watatsumi had a hand on the Vision Hunt Decree. Because if I were a tactician, I would have made something to anger the people of my enemies and have them have their internal issues. And while the Shogunate is weak, that’s when I will strike and claim Inazuma for my people and my god.

Then Orobashi will rise once more.

Yep.

Obviously, I really wanted Kokomi to be a more active character in the Archon Quest.

Anyways. If you reached the end, thank you for reading this ~1.5k words of musings. Tell me what you think. Or don’t. You do you.

[binaryeclipse]

I’ve been reading ur fics &can I just say I LOVE how u always draw attention to how powerful anakin is cos honestly if I had to criticise 1 thing abt the movies/clone wars it’s that they always allude to how powerful he is/how he’s the chosen one but they rarely ever properly show it in all its glory. I understand cos in a way it’s kind of deus ex machina but u prove it’s possible to find that balance of showing he’s one badass mf but also not using it as a get out of jail free card plot device

Omg thank you so much 💖🧡💛💚💙💜

Anakin's status as the Chosen One is one of my favourite things to explore.

I think in the canon text it's meant to be ambiguous. The Council is wary, rightfully so I might add, that this random child Qui-Gon shows up with is the Chosen One. So they try to treat Anakin as just any other Jedi. It's difficult though, because there is a lot that's extraordinary about him—not that the Jedi haven't had extraordinary members in it's long history because of course they have but amongst his peers he is singular in a way—with mixed success.

And of course ROTS happens and well, I don't think anyone except some weirdos on the internet would call that "bringing balance to the Force".

Even within the Original Trilogy it's still ambiguous if Anakin or Luke is the Chosen One. You can really look at it as either one of them and I think that's something that's very beautiful and also Lucas winking at the inherent confusion that comes with prophecy. I choose to believe Anakin is the Chosen One because it makes his arc a really beautiful one since it's his coming back to the Light and destroying the last figure of the Dark that brings the balance. Luke just gave him a reason and the non-judgmental permission to do so.

There's also a bunch of stuff in Legends where Darth Plagueis' deep dive into bioengineering and the midi-chlorians ended up producing Anakin, which is wild and also I'm kinda glad that's not canon anymore 😂 but it is, again, an interesting take. An artificial Chosen One is a fun concept!

But when it comes to fanfic I really love to lean into it. In fanfic I can say "okay he is the Chosen One so what does that look like?" I want to see the raw power that comes from being essentially a Force Entity crammed into a fragile human body with all the limiting factors that comes with that. The play of the divine and the mortal is so fun.

In the end the mitigating factor on Anakin's power, in canon or otherwise, is himself. Whether you think he's the Chosen One or not, he's still a person with a lot of issues which tend to get in the way of him realizing his true potential. And that's so fun to play with.

Fantastic Cosmic Power meets Depression™ and Anxiety™

[androgynousblackbox]

have you seen the latest RaM episode? I was hoping to see if you had any thoughts about it! I really liked the exploration and the going off the gotdamb rails with the decoys. Also that scene with rick just. dick out and making morty peek at his ass for No actual reason sndhs

Don't forget the fact that his family didn't questioned for a single second that it should be MORTY the one to look into Rick's ass, like there was never anyone else but Morty who should be do it. It was gross, sure, but also such a... "guys would be guys" moment but not in the violent/toxic way but on the silly and unnecesary way, you know? Like Morty called it "punishment" and, sure, nobody wants to be farted into their face, but I can see Rick pulling a similar move on just any friend he feels like pranking to and, on a way, that was kinda wholesome. Okay, so I am going to pour my thoughts about this and the other episode as I usually do here so bear with me: -The fact that Summer IMMEDIATELY picked on what could go wrong about the whole decoy thing, and Rick has to aknowledge that Summer was smarter than this on this regard. This to me is talking again about how Summer IS actually smarter, emotional and socially wise (meaning with interelationships at least), that she could tell that if one Rick thinking he is not a decoy was going to make decoys then of course other Ricks would have the same idea. But Rick never saw this coming because he was only thinking of the decoys as instruments to be used and disposed, even as he was giving them actual personalities and filled their memories with real ones. He never considered they could go on to make their own because, well, they are not This Rick and this Rick is the smartest man in the universe, the guy that unironically think himself to be god, so OBVOUSLY think only HE would be capable of pulling that off. -The fact the immediately after a Rick wins while proclaiming himself "not a man, I am god!" only to be killed by what is essentially JUST A TOY, some little creature that was MEANT to be killed but got pissed when nobody did it. A literal "god" got eliminated for something fucking mundane that didn't even had to do with the main conflict. He doesn't even understand WHY this little dude just killed him, he died with uncertainty, and if that isn't the most human experience ever then I don't know. -With this episode and the first one, I HOPE this season is going to be about desconstructing Rick thinking himself above anything else. I said this before, but I don't trust fans who truly believe Rick is entitled to do anything he wants and be shitty with everyone because he is smart. It seems to be like these two episode literally adressed that kind of attitude by putting Rick on situations where not even he can get out of and revealing he is, in fact, still just a flawed human being. A major criticism that many people have levered against the show is that yes, we know Rick is sad and miserable, but the show still goes out of it's way to keep making him win on anything he wants (most of the time at least) and thus is signaling to the audience the idea that he is always right, that he should be always right, because he has the power to do anything he wants. The very first episode start with Rick about to fucking die with all his regrets ("I am a silly man, a silly old man") and then he is saved BY MORTY. If it wasn't because of Morty being there that would be it, they both would be gone. -The previous season was already descontructing Rick as the patriarch of the house and show how nobody "needs him" on the same way they needed him on the first season. The only character you could argue still gives a fuck about Rick's approval/recognition is Summer, but even then Summer was never submissive and passive like Season One Morty was to Rick, instantly believing anything he said. Plus, we all know that Rick COULD take Summer on all his adventures and she would never complain about it because she doesn't give a fuck about school anyway. But he still insist on taking Morty instead, despite his protests, because he just likes Morty better than Summer and he does not take well with Morty not relying on him. I don't fucking buy the whole "cancelling brain waves" excuse anymore because, come on, there is a million ways in which Rick could circunvent that problem if he wanted to

but he just prefers keep Morty around. -On the first episode Rick literally says "let me deus ex machina out of here". Deus ex machina literally means the hand of god because in ancient greek mythology many plays would have an element of a literal hand coming from the sky to take the characters out of any problem they are in. And it didn't worked! He needed Mr Nimbus to save them. Because he is not fucking god, and the show is finally showing us concrete evidence of this, while Rick is still the only one with this delusion on his head and this delusion is part of his downfall. The whole second episode is nothing else but Rick's ego fucking him in the ass, literally killing him over and over again. -Beth was GREAT rejoicing on Rick's existential crisis and she fucking deserved that moment, I am glad they gave it to her. -The way so many of the decoys decided to react to knowing they were decoys was so amazing. Like yeah, a majority of them decided to be all "oh no, there can only be one", but many other just off themselves because they couldn't handle not being The Original, insisting to the last moment that they MUST be the original because, well, that is what they think, and then other decoys were just ready to accept death because they had accepted there was no other way. -The only wish of Summer to be on the ocean was... so wholesome? Like it made for a beautiful scene in general, but then they dying hand by hand and just happy to be together, Rick apoligizing to Morty because they couldn't make his wish come true, such a good moment. -The fact that all those Ricks made decoys purely out of a sincere desire to protect his family, it's just great. It was still selfish to basically create life with the only purpose of it being destroyed, but it was motivated as another security measure to protect others, not just himself. -The skin wearing Rick on the swamps talking about "a Rick must provide for his family". Ricks CARE about their family so much. -The puppet Smits were so cute, I loved their voices. -THE MUPPET SMITHS. Even if it was nothing but a costume, it was cute and I want them on Pocket Mortys. -This scene is a Call Me By Your Name reference and nobody tells me otherwise:

As I explained on a server: 1. Italian. The movie happens on Italy. 2. Pool. Many crucial scenes include a pool. 3. Age difference. If they just wanted to imply Morty was flirting they could have used just an older teenager, they didn't need a literal hunk that kinda looks like the older character on the movie. 4. THERE IS FUCKING PEACHES ON THE FOREFRONT. If anyone saw Call me by your name, they know they literally fucked a peach at some point and then the love interest EATS IT ANYWAY. And what does it look like the guy Morty is with is eating? PEACHES. 5. Parents are watching and don't give a fuck. 6. I have decided. -Regardless if it's a reference or not, though, is still pretty fucking gay. -I have seen some fans theorizing that the Smith family we see in the end with Space Beth was our own, and at first I thought so too because they are with Space Beth but then I was... wait a minute, ALL Beth decoys knew there was a Space Beth. They went out of their way to show us this by always having Beth being the one who insisted that no decoy had to die, because she knew what was to feel like a copy. When Rick decided to make another family exactly as his own, he also made HIMSELF expendable and interchangeable. We don't need thirty Smith families, the show only needs one and it doesn't matter which one is it as long is one we can recognize. Why couldn't that have been another decoy family that just so happened to want to do a space trip while all the bullshit was happening? I don't think they are ever going to confirm if this was our original Smith family or don't, just like they won't confirm which Beth is the clone, but I personally think it would be fucking hilarious if they were a decoy and Our Rick just died thinking he was a decoy. -Also the way that Space Beth was just casually putting an arm around Morty made me so happy. Considering that Beth is also the mother who prefered to save Summer over Morty when their lives were in danger, I really like the idea that Space Beth sees how much Morty has grown and is proud of him for becoming a badass himself without Rick's help. That is just my headcanon though, but wouldn't be nice to have SOMEONE appreciate Morty? -Finally, but not less important... Rick knew Morty uses a yosemite shirt in order to cum. This man literally knew about the masturbatory habits of his grandson. Rick went as far on his desire to protect his family he used that knowledge for the decoys. He also told Morty to not fuck his double, which is a nice little reference to Morty literally doing that on the comics but also a subtle way to tell us that Morty is definitely Not Straight because, yeah, I am fucking counting selfcest as a form of queerness because regardless of everything else, that is still two identifying male characters fucking. We only need Beth showing attraction to some female character and the entire Smith family would be officially pan/bi.

[certainempatheticturkeymuffin]

So....

I finally got my Four Swords manga and read the entire thing in one sitting.

I have a few notes.

Red is a dumbass and I love him.

That whole hugging scene with Red and Blue came a little out of nowhere, but it was funny.

Red is an arsonist and I love him.

Green totally has the hots for Zelda.

I don't know why but Vio is my favorite.

Red is close in second though

Blue got fucking EATEN by the fucking Big Poe

And Red fucking saved him by being an arsonist

TWICE

Green is definitely the straight one, you can tell.

Shadow is dramatic as fuck

Vio is also dramatic as fuck

Shadow has a fucking DRAGON

Shadow literally destroyed Hyrule Castle and Castletown in a day. He's technically up there with Calamity Ganon

Shadow tricked Link into freeing Vaati!

My take was that Shadow was being heavily mistreated by Ganon and Vaati, which laid down some abuse subtext and....holy fuck that was sad. Maybe it's just 'cause my family was abusive that I got that read, but wow.

Shadow needs to be protected.

I love Shadow he needs to be given the good fucking things in life.

In the LU could he technically be brought back by one of Wild's blood moons? I read a fic about that. Does he count as a monster though? Then again, the blood moon enhances your cooking, so really I don't see why it can't give Shadow his physical form back.

Shadow deserves good things.

He just wanted attention and a family.

He killed himself to kill Vaati....I mean, I knew that before hand, but seeing it with my own two eyes....fuck

Shadow is a troll and I love him

He and Vio were just messing with Blue and Red lmao

Blue learned patience by being frozen in ice until Red decided to set him on fire, which, how long was that really? It was stated that they only left Vio alone for a day, so it must've only been a few hours. Must've felt like an eternity though.

I feel like Red and Blue were the main characters for most of the middle really.

I'm not complaining, their dynamic is hilarious and I love them

But I wanted to see Green and Vio interact with them more y'know.

I feel like Vio only really interacted with Shadow

And even then he was kinda lying the entire time.

Oh Hylia, Shadow's face when he realized Vio was going to smash the mirror.

That was just betrayal on so many levels

And he had just opened up about thinking Vio was the only one he could really trust.

After that I honestly feel it was dickish to just kill him.

And then he lives

Zelda is a top tier fucking Queen(tm)

She had no obligations to comfort someone who had kidnapped her and yelled at her

But she did and it was super sweet

THEN THE FUCKING SENTIENT CLOUD

I didn't know the clouds were sentient and honestly I'm still having a crisis over it

And in the beginning I thought Shadow just straight up killed Link's dad and I was like "oh damn okay this is darker than I expected"

But nope the fucker is still alive.

I feel like the knights of Hyrule were kind of a deus ex machina

And the final show down with Ganon was underwhelming

Vaati is a bitch

I think Red was the highlight of this story

And the fucking art style, because damn the expressions were funny

And I'm glad they implemented the subtle ways to tell them apart, like the textures of the tunics, the color of the shirt under the tunic(Green's is black) the light and dark eyebrows, and the eyes themselves.

Tingle was unexpected and I wanted him to go away like Green and Vio did

Honestly I still don't understand why people love Tingle, he annoys me.

Back to the actually good characters-THEY FUCKING LITERALLY TURNED A LITTLE GIRL INTO A DOLL

Her fucking doll(Rosie?) was creepy as fuck!

That trick was absolutely CREEPY AS FUCK

And I like how the four just wreck the bastard with toy weapons

And they keep them as real weapons when they leave

Like, how does that work lmao

Red set a fucking forest on fire

Red is an arsonist

Red is brilliant and I love him

Vio is an asshole and I love him

Just playing up how "Oh yeah Green is dead" and fucking messing with Red and Blue

I noticed Shadow is super touchy-feely with Vio and he's probably touch starved which makes sense.

Okay so Shadow wasn't dead, technically, is he still alive if all he can do is wave from Link's shadow and stuff?

It seems like a bad ending for Shadow.

In the LU, does this mean that Four just fucking stole the Four Sword and killed Vaati? Or did Zelda find some other way to seal him, 'cuz like, I'm pretty sure Four has the four sword in LU right????

So many plotholes but if this means I get more arsonist Red content, then I'm down.

Also, Shadow is gay af for Vio

Like, my gaydar was off the charts

YOU DON'T JUST GIVE A BRO THIS LOOK

70. And, like, Vio, you JUST fucking killed Shadow, don't give me this shit

71. This art is super gay, you can't deny that, they are literally fucking wrapped around each other

72. And Shadow wanted to fucking rule the world WITH Vio, like, DAMN he's thirsty 73. If it were me, I'd still prefer ultimate authority 74. Just in case y'know 75. And Shadow was so ready to spill his secrets 76. And he was so fucking heartbroken when he saw Vio with the sledgehammer 77. Like fuck Vidow is definitely my top pairing. 78. And Green and Zelda, the token straights 79. And we can't forget Red and Blue 80. Like Red was hardcore flirting with Blue, you can't change my mind. 81. Zelda was so fucking confused when she saw that there were four Links, and it was cute and hilarious 82. I normally don't like Zelda, but she was so cute and sweet that I really couldn't help it. 83. Also that chad drawing of a past Link that split into four was funny 84. It was just so fucking out of place 85. They literally only rescued two of the six mages, so are the other four still trapped or were they released when Vaati and Shadow "died"? 86. The knights of Hyrule had to save the four, so are they technically the weakest Link? 87. Fuck I made a pun 88. I fucking hate myself 89. Blue was probably my least favorite of the cast, but that was probably because he reminds me of my sister 90. Y'know, the sister that hits me, yells at me, and calls me names? 91. It just rubs me the wrong way. 92. But aside from that, he was great. 93. A bit of a cocky asshole, but great. 94. And Link's dad just thinking he sees his son's dead body and Shadow just yeeting him into the dark realm. 95. Damn Shadow was an asshole 96. Vaati was even worse though, trying to get Link's father to kill his four sons. 97. That would've sucked. 98. Link hiding behind Zelda's chair was funny 99. Green and Zelda with the childhood friends turned lovers aspect would be cute 100. I like how a fairy just pops up out of no where in the middle of the book

I think that's it?

I love this book and it'll probably be the only one I ever reread.

If you didn't know, I hate rereading content unless I find it or a certain part of it worth reading through again. Which is to say, one, maybe two, fanfics(oneshots technically), and maybe this manga. So yeah, quite an exclusive club.

I don't regret this purchase!

[defilerwyrm]

For the ask meme: burning bright, anything about the parts at the table with the Nein. You write their banter so well!

FIC SPOILERS BELOW!

Burning Bright on AO3

The entire dinner scene hit me like a bolt of lightning while I was working on this fic. It started with Beau’s outburst, and then Veth’s willful denial and subsequent fit, and I built the two scenes around that.

Diving into particulars….

“Uhm,” he said, intelligently, but quickly recovered and flashed his friends a smile. “It is most impressive. Certainly a step up from a tiny hut.”

A direct reference to the name of the spell. Originally it was Leomund’s tiny hut. I have no clue why in 5e Wizards decided to 86 the attribution names on so many spells like Otiluke’s resilient sphere and Tasha’s hideous laughter. Things like that always made me curious about the (what I assume were) PCs the spells were named after. I had thought maybe it was because the characters who diegetically invented them were specific to one setting, but in that case I don’t know why Bigby’s hand is still Bigby’s but Evard’s black tentacles are no longer Evard’s. I don’t like it. As an aside, Widowgast’s Nascent Nein-Sided Tower is, mechanically speaking, Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion. Anyway. Moving on!

It was delectable that Caleb wanted to impress him.

This boy hungry and not just for soup

Flustered, Essek tried to fend them off, but it was Caleb that did him in. It was always Caleb. The human took a large roll from his own plate, broke it in half, and offered one of these parts to Essek, who tried his best not to choke.

“You need to keep your strength up, ja?” Caleb implored him quietly.

The steady hand that accepted was a point of pride because it very much wanted to quake. The Kryn weren’t bread people, but...did he have any idea what this gesture would mean in Rosohna? Any inkling at all?

This is another one of those places where I delight in playing to cultural differences. What I’d had in mind for what that gesture—breaking food into two pieces and offering half to someone—WOULD mean in Rosohna was a bit nebulous, as I like to keep the reader guessing a bit and let their imagination fill in the blanks; but my rough idea was that it’s a courting gesture that signifies “I can and will provide for you, even if it means less for me.” An expression of selfless caregiving and an offer of partnership. Not wholly unlike a bird bringing food to a prospective mate.

And actually it’s a little bit funny coming from Caleb, who has fuck-all to his name but his name, when Essek is a rich bitch who answers directly to the Bright Queen.

Not that he was about to say it out loud, but he was a quick convert to this whole bread thing. To say that it won him over would be an understatement. That seemed to be a recurring theme here.

I imagine if I’d grown up never really eating bread and was introduced to it in adulthood I’d be like “Where have you BEEN all my life?!” But also: the bread is friendship, the bread is the Mighty Nein, the bread is communion in the spirit of sharing rather than politics and appearances and power plays—things he thought he was fine without until they were foisted upon him.

Somewhere in the course of the multiple conversations going on at one time, Jester got an Idea, as she was prone to doing. He became increasingly aware of her talking about kissing, of all things, and this culminated in her shouting above the din, cheeks flushed purple though he hadn’t seen her touch any wine: “I have an idea you guys! Why don’t we all go around and say how many people we’ve kissed?”

Jester is the most wonderfully convenient deus ex machina if you ever need to insert an awkward or embarrassing conversation among the Mighty Nein, because this is exactly the sort of shit she would do.

Jester leaped up and slammed her hands onto the table. “Caduceus you’ve never been kissed?! That’s so sad!”

The firbolg was unfazed. He merely shrugged and said, “It hasn’t come up and I haven’t gone looking. Not something I’ve ever thought about, really.”

Jester’s tail lashed back and forth behind her like an overstimulated cat. “Do you want me to kiss you?”

Fjord went a bit wild-eyed at this. Caduceus smiled gently and said, “No thank you.”

Three things about this part:

1) Jester’s tail doesn’t get NEARLY enough mention in fic! If I’m playing (or writing) a character with a tail you can be damn sure you’re gonna know what it’s doing! Makes me wanna play a tabaxi tbqh.

2) Cad’s “No thank you” is the sum total of his sexuality, lol. Jester was raised in a pretty highly sexualized setting, didn’t really get out much before she fled Nicodranas, and can be pretty naïve, so she doesn’t really get the whole aroace thing; but it never crosses Cad’s mind that this would be “abnormal“ or ”sad” in any way—it causes him no distress, as it shouldn’t. This is yet another “Same planet, different worlds” moment.

3) Fjord is physically restraining himself from yelling “JESTER WHAT THE FUCK” lmao

Veth kept picking at it. “So you’re um. You know. Into the fellas?”

Beau snorted. “I could’a told you that months ago.”

“Yeah you could’a!” Veth pouted with a self-conscious curl to her shoulders.

I saw a comment on Tiktok that said Veth was being borderline homophobic, but that wasn’t my intent! It’s just that she inherited a certain blind spot for male queerness from her player, and as hard as she’d been trying to encourage Caleb to hook back up with his female ex, it never occurred to her that he had a male ex, too—and given that they’ve been so close for so long, she’s feeling pretty self-conscious about the fact that she never figured out that Caleb is bisexual in all that time, as well as kind of upset that no one—Caleb especially—told her. She’s having a moment of “Why didn’t I know this? Did you think it was going to change things between us? Did I make you feel unsafe?” And also a little bit of “Okay well, now I have to get him to hook up with TWO people AT ONCE because my boy deserves threesomes 😤”

Jester went goggle-eyed at him. “You’ve only been with one person?” she exclaimed. “But you’re like a hundred years old! And very handsome. I would have thought you’d get like, all the ladies.”

Ladies. Right.

Veth might not be the only one with a certain blind spot.

Beau gave her a funny look, snorting. “I dunno, he seems like the kinda guy who turns down those offers left and right.”

..…But Beau’s got his number, for more than one reason. She’s got super gaydar, for one, and has him pegged as the type who’s very choosy about his partners (also mind you, this was before demi!Essek was canonized by WoG, so I was still rolling with my hc that Essek got around when he felt like it).

The uproar was instantaneous. Everyone—almost everyone—started talking or shouting at once. Beau’s voice rang out among the din with, “HOLY SHIT ESSEK FUCKS.” Strangely pleased with himself, he downed the rest of his wine in one gulp and spent the next few minutes fending off increasingly prying, personal questions until the Nein grew bored with his lack of answers and someone changed the subject.

There it is, the line that spawned two entire scenes!

He was not a war mage, but he was experienced and wily, and he was damned good at what he did, and as long as there was breath left in his body, the Mighty Nein would not fall here.

Joke’s on me, motherfucker literally has the War Caster feat -_-

But like in my defense, that’s just what it’s called in the book. The feat just means that you have either the training or experience to cast well during a fight, which I see as not necessarily the same thing as a war mage, which was my way of saying an arcane caster who is a soldier.

Veth stared at her blankly as if willing herself not to understand. “Caleb? With who?”

She breathed steadily. “...Essek. Caleb and Essek.”

Beside her, Jester squealed and brought her fists to her face.

Veth was less enthused. “WHAT.”

Beau’s mental commentary here is dead on. Veth still doesn’t really trust Essek at this point and has been pretty vocal about that…despite being the one to declare him part of the Mighty Nein? Eh, she’s allowed to have complicated feelings on the guy, all things considered. But I find it kind of comical and very Veth (and very Sam) for her to be all full of zest for trying to get Caleb back together with the frigging Volstrucker who is actively working for his abuser and worst enemy but balk at him hooking up with Essek.

Jester “explained” in a delighted yell: “Caleb and Essek are gonna fuuuuuuck!”

I don’t know, is this too unsubtle to call foreshadowing? The line flowed naturally in the dialogue, but it’s also letting the reader know exactly what they’re in for next, lol.

“...He’s going to break that little elf twink, you know,” Veth said, sounding distant. Seemed she was having some difficulty processing. Not too surprising, considering how adamant she was about wanting their wizard to hook back up with his old flame, the fucking Volstrucker. “We’ve all seen his dick.”

This was 100% taken from Sam’s little throwaway line “It’s above-average” but it turned out to serve two purposes other than reminding the reader that all of these people have seen Caleb naked:

1) It’s yet another thing Veth thinks she understands about him but doesn’t. Caleb’s a top like Dalmatians are purple and if you disagree then I respect your right to be incorrect ;)

2) That said, it is, in fact, foreshadowing for the sequel, in which Essek experiences a great deal of frustration. (I haven’t touched the damn thing in weeks, feels like; I’ve been too busy with work, being exhausted from work, and being in a tizzy about my upcoming surgery.)

Fjord blurted out, “I’ll join you.”

Poor Fjord has had such an uncomfortable night!

Hoo boy that was a lot. Thanks for the ask, this was really fun!! And sorry it took so long; I work Saturday nights and things got really busy for a bit there.

[naturallyweirdedout]

Okay here I go

The Steven Universe Future Finale Was Not That Great

Just a note this is my own opinion.

Honestly I feel like the finale for SUF was decent at best and lack luster at worst. I’ll break these up into my views on each episode.

Homeworld Bound

Honestly this is one of the two episodes that disappointed me the most in this finale. Intially I went, yay Homeworld! We’ll get to see the Diamonds and Spinel and hopefully they’ll be helpful to Steven. And in all honesty it seemed like, they weren’t even trying. Firstly Spinel. I feel like Rebecca did Spinel really dirty in this episode simply because she was reduced to, comidic relief. And I feel as if that’s such a waste of her character potential. Imagine if every character that had a completed arc was just turned into “oh that goofball who doesn’t know what the fuck they’re talking about”. That’s literally Spinel now. All she does is annoy Steven and well, act like a bafoon. She could’ve offered him some insight, her struggles to change and adjust to her new life and be satisfied with herself. But nope, she simply was there just to annoy the main character and provide nothing useful. Then onto the Diamonds. Another wasted potential in all honesty. Yellow, Blue, and White didn’t even really TRY to help Steven at all. They basically shrugged it off and went ah shit well I can’t do anything for you bud even though we only talked for like 2 minutes and all I did was try to force the only way I know to improve onto you. It feels as if, they were only there just to show Steven “wow look at how these former murders and dictators improved! You sure are shit when compared to them now”. And White. White was the biggest waste compared to Yellow and Blue considering what potential she had. The one who caused all of Steven’s problems and issues. But nope, she was just like “ah Steven just project into me and this is surely to go fine even though you just basically acknowledged you don’t like your Diamond powers and this will most likely not help you”. I feel like this episode would have gone a lot better if the Diamonds and Steven had time to have proper interactions, or even just Steven, Spinel, and White due to the impact those two had on him directly. Just a lot of wasted potential in this episode that could’ve made the episode a lot better in my honest opinion.

Everything’s Fine

Now this episode was the better of the finale episodes, but still had its fair share of flaws. Steven comes back, and he has a good ol fashion mental breakdown essentially and tries to talk himself out of it and reassure himself. Good shit. However my problem was when the Gems showed up. It’s VERY VERY painfully obvious that Steven is not okay. I mean, all they commented on was that he looks weird. The dude literally had DIAMOND EYES. The fact that the FUCKING DIAMOND EYES went the ENTIRE EPISODE ignored just doesn’t make any sense. The Cyrstal Gems and the gems on Little Homeworld should have all been shocked at this but they all act like it’s nothing?? Anyways going to Little Homeworld and trying to act like everything was fine and dandy was really well done. I’m a bit annoyed though at just showing us Pink Pearl but not showing us her eye because that’s just a fucking tease at this point. Anyways, no other complaints really. Steven breaking down at the end was really intense to watch and my heart rate was actually speeding up. But then, that lead to the thing I did not want to happen.

I Am My Monster

To be fucking honest, I should’ve known. I really should have known but I just REALLY didn’t want it to be true. Steven turning into a monster literally is just. Oof. For starters, I do not support the corruption theory and I STILL do not, because what we saw wasn’t corruption. Steven shapeshifted. Corruption was shown to have only two causes. Either an attack on a Gem by Yellow, Blue, and White Diamond OR because of fusing with a corrupted Gem. There was no other hint or sign that a Gem could corrupt for any other reason. And there still is not. Yes Gem’s can poof because of extreme emotional stress and yes Volleyball was so damaged that the trauma manifested physically, but those were not examples that could support the corruption theory. Anyways, for starters I hate the design of Monster Steven. I really wish the color scheme could have been darker because that just would’ve been more aesthetically pleasing but I digress. There were so many ways I wished that the monster in the intro could’ve played a role in the series that didn’t involve Steven being corrupted. Perhaps a sort of mindscape battle between Steven and this monster, perhaps Pink Steven makes a return and turns into this monster and it’s a race against time to return the two Steven’s together, perhaps Pink Steven even took over normal Steven! But nope, it just HAD to be this way. Anyways enough of Monster Steven talk. My other issue was with well, everybody else. For starters, the Diamonds showing up? Convinient as fucking hell considering how a whole episode passed before they showed up again. Secondly, I hate the dismissal of Blue asking if Steven was corrupted or not because gosh shouldn’t we as an audience know what the hell is happening to our protagonist?? Also how did Garnet know that Yellow could make her big? As far as we know, perfecting physical forms is a new ability that Yellow discovered. I really liked Greg finally taking a stand in this episode to save his son, it kinda redeems how he was acting in Mr. Universe. But gosh I just hate how, everything broke into a crying fest? I’m gonna be honest and say that tears are a cheap way to invoke feeling in your audience and it can be overdone when EVERYONE ON SCREEN IS CRYING. And I hate the Diamonds blabbering about how “oh this is all my fault. No, no it’s all MY fault” because just, are you all just now acknowledging that you fucked Steven over. You mean in the entire time you’ve been buddy buddy with Steven you haven’t addressed this to him ONCE?! Bullshit. And Spinel, I was taking her a bit seriously until the fucking cartoonish nose blow then I just gave up with her. Way to degrade one of the best characters this show has provided. And the Cluster was just, deus ex machina. That was REALLY fucking convenient for the Cluster to just show up and help restrain Monster Steven. Anyways that’s all my complaints for that episode, now onto the final one.

The Future

The final episode of the series. Several years worth of progression have led to this point. And it was extremely lack luster. Honestly this episode felt like a fizzling end to the series. I’m glad that Steven decided to move out because honestly fuck that entire town it was harmful to the boy. I’m glad he finally got a therapist too. But this episode was essentially just, a good bye episode? And I feel like that alone cannot drive an episode along. Also Jasper’s character arc was ABSOLUTELY WASTED. Basically her entire arc is just being abused and putting that on repeat up until the end where they just disregard her as “hmph I’m angy now”. The only part of the episode I really liked, or can even properly remember for that sake, was Steven leaving at the very end and hugging the Gems. But tbh, Steven doesn’t have a high school diploma, legal papers, he’s not going to college, and he doesn’t have a job. So can someone tell me. How. Is. He. Gonna. SURVIVE.

Anyways that’s all I have left to say about the finale. Overall I feel pretty dissatisfied with it and this picture describes exactly how I feel.

If you wanna complain to me shout at my main @thespiffyspiffiestspif $5 a complaint

Also @salty-sapphire I got inspired to write a critique by you :) thanks for enlightening me to how legitimately bad this show is.

[shinglescat]

Low-key disappointed in the game.  Gameplay wise it’s good, story wise - okay. It’s vast but ultimately empty. 

The first game made by CDPR that I finished (and sorta-kinda enjoyed).  Deffo better than their previous game *cough* tw3 *cough* Wasn’t waiting it, wasn’t hyped for it either, just needed a brand new game to play. I’d say it’s 6/10. Will definitely be 8/10 once they fix bugs and do something about that shitty optimization. I mean, it’s playable in its current state, but every bug breaks the immersion.

A mess of thoughts:

Despite my initial neutral to negative opinion of this game, it grew on me after the prologue; it started to pick up and all that stuff. I loved the side quests, I loved the main quests, and my main issue with the game is the writing for V. It’s not bad, it’s just... it’s more for a game like Skyrim with a generic avatara-protagonist, but not for a game where personality and persona matters the most, story wise. It had a lot of potential to turn into a mindblowing mindfuck, but instead it’s just... disappointing. V’s character and personality never gets defined either by the game or by the player, and the background does very little to help the matter. Feels like I bought another BG3, but without the EARLY ACCESS badge. Actually hoping Larian would handle this whole head parasite problem better. This whole “you’re turning into Johnny”  thingy is just there to, I dunno, just to add some more shits and giggles to the story, I guess. I’ve been expecting V to start turning into the guy, or the guy starting to turn into V, buuuuuuuuuut with exception to the smoking - there’s nothing. Thought at first that Johnny had a better writing compared to V, but in the end - they’re at the same level of shitty. Both need a lot more definition than that. The endings are all the same, it was obvious that there’s nothing that could help V to stay in the land of the living - so went with Arasaka to close the circle for the corpo kid. It was all alright up until the point where mr. Reeves started scolding me for my choice, like lmao, what the heck game, you don’t know my V and why we went this route. Sorta-kinda redemption, stfu Silverhand. I dunno, man. I was hopeful before the “point of no return” for the DLC to come out, but now I’m just depressed a bit, ‘cause well - the protag grows on you either way.

The game tries hard to be several games at the same time. It’s trying to be GTA-like, it’s trying to be an immersive sim like Deus Ex, it’s trying to be an rpg, but it fails miserably at almost everything. The game would be better, imo, as a linear experience, not as in corridor one, but rather in character development - haven’t seen those games in ages. Yeah, keep your rpg mechanics for leveling up, skills and yada-yada, but leave the character linear without any player input to better tell the story of Silverhand’s and V’s. Also, the city is E M P T Y. It’s pretty and all, but that’s just a shell. 

Did I mention the AI? It’s the fucking worst. Imagine Karens from NFS: Heat and multiply that by 100 - that’s the traffic in CP2077. Also, if you ever thought NFSH’s police was brutal - try Night City’s, it literally forces you to obey the law, and god forbid if you ever get a lot of wanted stars - it’s insta death.

Optimization is sucky too, dunno how people play it on non-Turing cards. I played on ultra with RT turned on at psycho ’cause I wanted to see if the lighting is still a piss with it to the max (spoiler - lighting is indeed a piss), DLSS set to auto, and maaaaaaaaaaaan, from 20 fps up to 60 down to 20 again in a heart bit just because I was playing the game for too long. Possible memory leak?  Disabled DLSS for funsies - fps cut in half. Oy vey.   Also, this game turns the PC into a really nice space heater. -15C outside, windows open, +50C radiates from the case and warms the footsies. Nice.

Sex scenes are hilarious, by the way. My V banged Meredith, and oh boy did I laugh hard at that. 

Aight, now to some positive parts that I still remember:

I loved River’s quest line (and prerequisites for it), tho a bit short, and yes, I’m gonna complain about the dude being not available for the dudes because I did not know that and did not started as a dudette. The Hunt quest was... it was thrilling, disgusting but amazing at the same time. Not a masterpiece, but it you get the idea. Would’ve loved more jobs with him, like a buddy cop stuff, idk. Then there’s Panam, her quests are great too, not gonna go into the details.  Judy’s quests, a thriller too. The main quest isn’t so bad too except for the protag duo who would benefit from a better writing.

To be honest tho, overall it was... a really plain experience. The only time I had goosebumps and some semblance of water in my eyes is with Alt’s part, Johnny’s memories and that stuff. Annnnnnnnnnnnnd that’s that. 

Gameplay is fine, I had a lot of fun dicing enemies with katanas.

Looking forward to see what DLCs would bring. Hopefully a happy-happy ending, because fuck this world is depressing as is already.

Edit: wanted to add, there are not enough of proper side quests. A lot of generic gigs, but a handful of normal side quests. 

[soyouareandrewdobson]

Dobson’s favorite cartoon reviewed: The adventures of spandex girl in New York aka the Miraculous Ladybug movie

So THIS is not going to be about a Dobson comic, but rather with the lack of Dobson posting shit out here, I thought I give my opinion about something Dobson would have likely sperged out within the last few months. What could it be I want to talk about? The riots? The death of RBG? Cuties?

Are you insane? My brain may function better than Dobson’s, but even so I am not touching those subjects with a tong, seeing how I myself am lacking detailed knowledge on such subjects. No. I am talking about the cartoon that makes Dobson’s little brain (and dick) all tingly: Miraculous Ladybug.

For starters, let me just say that despite being an animation fan myself, I am not really into this show at all. For a magical girl show that goes on for over three seasons at this point, I just feel like nothing happens in it. Sure, A LOT of tokusatsu and magical girl shows run on repetitive monster of the week formulas, but overall they will still have some progression to themselves. Growing up with Sailor Moon, I always loved the first season and how it actually made me feel like things are increasingly at stake as the story progressed. Especially in the final episodes when the Senshis actually died protecting Sailor Moon and it was only thanks to a Deus ex machina everyone was reincarnated again. As melodramatic as Sailor Moon could be, at least each story arc had a beginning and ending that did not overstay its welcome. Ladybug meanwhile can be summed up as followed:

 Teenage girl is thirsty for obvious blond boy whose dad wants to get magic jewelry to necromance his comatose wife. Teenage girl gets magic jewelry and turns into heroine in ladybug mustered spandex suit that makes rule34 artists all tingly. Same goes for boy she has the hots for, only he becomes gimp catsuit shota bait. Bad guy transforms random citizens who feel down for some reason (often times connected to a blond whose family name Dobson can’t write) into action figure like super villains. Ladybug and Cat Noir defeat them, the damage is reseted, Ladybug and Cat Noir never figure out who the other one is despite things being so obvious Ray Charles could have seen that shit coming. Repeat not just for one, but ALL seasons so far and add as little as possible storywise to increase the roaster of characters, but not progress the plot.

 All that said, I can say that there are worse shows out there and for a show meant to sell toys to girls and be about a female hero, it is not THAT bad. But a) the creator is an asshole (think of functional Dobson) and b) there are still better shows to watch, even within the preteen magical girl genre, than this. Not to forget that this thing may be the indirect successor of Totally Spies and give certain people internet related fetishes within the next few years.

So, why am I believing Dobson would talk about the show at least for today more than he already tends to do on average? Because Ladybug actually got now a movie.

Well, it is called a movie, but in reality it is more of a 3 parter to start the fourth season if you really look into it. The thing is called Miraculous World: New York – United HeroeZ. It clocks in around 65 minutes and focuses on Marinette and Adrien in New York, teaming up with new heroes that are so unsubtlety promoted in this movie, I expect them to get their own spin off series by the end of next year so the showmakers can milk the cow even drier.

Let me try to elaborate in what is going to be a less than just a bit snarky summary with a few critical points and jokes at Dobson’s expense thrown in here. In other words, the typical biased youtube reaction channel/movie review.  Spoiler warnings are obvious and I promise than unlike certain pedos on youtube I am not going to focus on the assets of underaged French girls. I do warn however for increased levels of making a fool of myself by writing a multi page “mock summary” of this thing.

So because the movie is based on a children show, it has a very basic set up; Adrien and Marinette’s class is invited to spend one week in New York, because of a pointless international collaboration thing referred to as French-American Friendship week. The sheer existence of this showing that a) we needed any reason to get them there and b) this special was worked on LONG before COVID19 hit us all. And yes, I know animation takes its time to be done, I just think it is funny how in today’s international political climate and health situation this thing has become outdated already, when it is hitting the tv just now.

 At the same time, Adrien’s dad suspects that an artifact currently shown at a museum in New York may be a missing Miraculous that was owned by the Marquis de La Fayette and gifted to George Washington during the American Revolution. And yes, we are going there and you can guess what Hawkmoth’s goal this time is, while at the same time history gets fucked up the butt.

 But before we can get to any action in New York, we have to deal with the one thing Ladybug is known for best: Cringy shipping bait.

 Look, I know that shipping is a part of magical girl shows in general, but the shit going on in this cartoon is not only drawn out tediously even for children tv standards, I find it makes some characters outright dumb and unlikable. We get it Marinette, Adrien makes you tingle. But can you stop cringing your way through life around him in a manner that would make Tomoko Kuroki say that you are freaking pathetic?

I don’t want anybody else. when I think about Adrien I...

 Just three minutes into this movie she essentially melts away at a poster of Adrien and throughout the first 15 minutes she just simps away in the big blue yonder. For example by asking Adrien’s dad to allow his son to travel with the others to New York, obviously stumbling upon her words when she needs to remind herself that she can only see Adrien now as a friend and not love interest (because this is supposedly set after season 3, when she decided to go for the second price in form of the guy who plays guitar), insisting that she is only “friends” to the point even her best friend Alya gets fed up. Or when Marinette gets more than just “a bit” nervous at the chance of sitting on her flight to New York next to Adrien, resulting in her fucking that chance up so badly, I felt an headache approaching. 

Not gonna lie, I had to pause a few times because it got so cringy for me, I wondered why Dobson makes primarily jokes on Adrien’s expense when Marinette herself is female thirst personified. Even the movie seems to point out how the two are so obvious to each other, when Alya has the following to say about them: I can’t decide if they are the most cutest people I know, or the most embarrassing.

Thankfully it is at 18 minutes into it, we FINALLY get something of a conflict. While still on the plane (And Adrien and Marinette watching a sunset through a window) a villain shows up, trying to steal the jet engine midflight.

 Just roll with it

 Thankfully, before the plane can go down thanks to a Gremlin on the wing- I mean TECHNO PIRATE, the real stars of the movie show up.

 Wait, you thought this thing was going to be about Ladybug and Cat Noir being the primary heroes? WRONG!

 Okay, to put the summary on hold and explain what I mean: This “movie” introduces us to “United HeroeZ”, a group of American superheroes. Yeah, turns out Miraculous is essentially set in your average “Superheroes are everywhere, but primarily US dominated territory” world and this story is meant to introduce us to them and have Ladybug and Cat Noir team up in order to save the day. And while I don’t necessarily HATE the characters, I have to admit that I can’t help myself but snark quite a bit about them. Not only are they for the most part just expies of well known superheroes, the way how prominent two of them in particular are featured in this movie makes it very, VERY obvious that (As I stated earlier) this thing aims just to create a tie-in show for the creators to make more money of the property. Not just that, but their presence in a way reduces Adrien and Marinette’s importance as characters, even though the new ones at best would count as supportive characters overall. Which again makes me wonder, what does it say about Ladybug and Cat Noir’s “impact” in their own franchise when I actually find myself more interested in the side characters made to promote new toys, than the actual leads?

 Anyway, United HeroeZ defeats Techno Pirate and in doing so we are introduced to the main members of the group which are relevant for this movie:

So please, give an applause for…. MAJESTIA (aka actually decent Powergirl redesign/Non Superman)

 SPARROW (Aka yet another Robin that may get hit by a crowbar)

UNCANNEY VALLEY (aka The Shipper on Deck/Cleopatra in Tin Foil/Vision as your Waifu/the dumbest name you could have chosen for a character!)

NIGHT OWL (aka Alan Moore is going to be pissed!/Oh look, it’s Batman!)

You get where I am coming from when I call them expies, right?

 Anyway, with the plane safe the class finally gets to New York. Both Sparrow and Uncanney Valley get tasked to go undercover with the students and assure they are save during the trip, because plot reasons and New York is supposedly enough of a safe place that their services aren’t needed to fight bigger threats currently. Which confirms at the very least that a) this is not the Marvel Universe cause at this point the town may be ground zero yet again and b) a way more enjoyable version of the Big Apple than the real deal.

By the way, these are Uncanney (left) and Sparrow’s (right) civilian identities :

I can now imagine Dobson wanting to proclaim how problematic the character is for being a native American who looks the way she does. But believe me. It gets kinda worse in all the right ways.

 Also, we are 28 minutes into the movie and we are introduced to the dumbest thing in the movie yet. The arch enemy of the Condiment King; Hot Dog Dan.

A superhero hot dog vendor seller with a flying hot dog truck, whose hot dogs give you temporarily some random superpowers when you eat them. And it seems he uses hot dog tongs as weapons.

I don’t know what the people making this show take, but I am torn between wanting some of that myself and putting them into rehab.

 I really bring the character just up because he is as a concept in itself so ridiculous that part of me thinks he is a fever dream of Dobson. Otherwise he has no real bearing on what is going to happen on the rest of the movie. He is just relevant for a three minute long scene of a house roof party during which Adrien and Marinette dance for a bit.

 Speaking of relevance, the next day the class finally gets to do something on the trip that leads into conflict for our heroes to face. During a visit of the museum where the La Fayette related Miraculous is hold, Uncanny and Sparrow decide to play shipper on deck by forcing Marinette and Adrien in a room and attempting to set a really stupid plot into motion (and no, I don’t mean they enforce a reenactment of Steven Universe or something). At the same time the villains finally do something, when Hawkmoth (now in New York) turns Techno Pirate into his latest minion and have him attack the museum to steal a saber by La Fayette as distraction, while he takes the charm he is out for. Long story short: Our heroes FINALLY transform and have to fight with Uncanney and Sparrow against Techno Pirate on the roofs of Manhattan.

 And while I don’t think it is all that great of a fight, it still means something aside of Marinette cringing her way through the plot is happening and the heroes are actually in decent peril. Plus during the fight the movie gives me one of the funniest moments possible. You want to know what it is?

 Well, while fighting the bad guy, Cat Noir and Ladybug obviously trigger their miraculouses. And what does Ladybugs miraculous turn into this time, to help her develop a strategy to defeat the villain and save the day?

A bikepump.

 ... yeah, I am going to give all of you now 5 minutes to laugh it off. Believe me, I needed them too.

Sure, it is a cartoon and I doubt anyone working on the show is even aware of our favorite uncare bear, but come on. At this point the universe itself is either mocking Dobson or tries to set up the perfect opportunity for an obvious joke from my side.

Not helped by the fact that once the bike pump shows up, the dialogue between characters that follows is, and I quote:

Cat: A bicycle pump? What are you going to do with that?

Ladybug: I may have an idea, but you wouldn’t like it

 Anyway, believe it or not, the fight actually ends with a surprising shock moment. Cat Noir, while having his cataclysm powers active (you know, the powers that make him decompose anything he touches), being thrown by Techno Pirate at Ladybug, resulting in Uncanney protecting her and being turned into scrap metal. Which in turn causes Techno Pirate to make the acquaintance with Majestia’s fist, as Uncanney is more or less her adopted daughter and I guess she has seen what was going on (but did not interfere because the plot says so) until now, pummeling him so hard he flies through a few buildings and causes at least three 9/11 to happen on this day in New York.

So, yeah. Uncanney is dead. The heroes experiencing their darkest hour in the movie.

… welp, can’t have that for long, so less than 2 minutes later Ladybug uses the Magical bikepump…

5 minutes of laughter later

Got it out of the system? Good. As I was saying; She uses the fetish toy to reset all the damage done by the akumatized villain and in doing so fixes Uncanney too.

Welp, that was a waste of tension. Guess someone watched the entire Lars dying thing from Steven Universe.

So, damage undone, but Majestia and Night Owl pretty pissed at what happened, want Ladybug and Cat Noir to give up their miraculouses (I assume that is the correct plural) until they leave New York. You would expect this to result in some dramatic chase scene or confrontation with the older heroes, but because this movie has just like 22 minutes left and we need to close act two now, our heroes instead flee and end up in the sewers of New York.

There they do NOT team up with a group of mutated reptiles, but have a heart to heart talk (I never thought I would agree with Dobson on something, but I have to agree on this: The show is kinda fixated on having important stuff happening in sewer channels) that is sort of an argument Cat Noir and Ladybug also had during the fight. You see, because those two idiots haven’t  figured out their respective civilian identities yet (something even Sailor Moon would have figured out AFTER THREE SEASONS!) Marinette assumed that Cat Noir would be in Paris while she is in New York to keep the city save. And Adrien/Noir was okay with making the promise of keeping the city initially save, because his dad only allowed him on the trip the day after he made the promise. So when the two transform out of sight of the other in New York and meet, instead of asking some logical questions (like “where is Marinette/Adrien and why is Cat/Ladybug here?”) they kinda argue wtf Cat is doing here while Paris may be in danger.

Long story short, she is angry at him, he feels guilty for having disappointed her and the thing with turning Uncanney into scrap, Paris was attacked by Hawkmoth’s secretary unleashing temporarily some monster clone because Hawkmoth thought that distracts the heroes in Paris (and really just results in damage that makes a city that experienced the destruction of Notre Dame the year prior just feel numb) and because this is the turning point in the plot, our hero needs to do something just a bit too melodramatic. Which is that Adrien gives up his powers and runs away.

… so, up to the final part in which things to care about start to happen.

Hawkmoth now has the Miraculous and unleashes its Kwami who is this eagle themed little thing referring to itself as the “Kwami of Freedom”.

 … Yeah, this thing was NOT around for the last 200 years, wasn’t it?

 Anyway, it states that its powers are based on “freeing” people of limitations to achieve their full potential. What does that mean practically? It means that when Techno Pirate holds its powers on top of his regular powers increased by being akumatized, he can unleash some energy attack that removes moral inhibitions when getting hit by it.

… So it basically unleashes the Purge.

 Which is exactly what happens to Majestia and Night Owl, turning one into Man of Steel Superman causing nine additional 9/11s on top of the three prior (how the fuck did this movie manage to turn an American tragedy in a measuring unit?) and the other into All Star Batman.

Oh and it turns the President of the USA into a worse war monger than people accuse Trump of being.

Oh, this is NOT going to sit well with anyone...

… Yeah, sidenote: The president of the USA in this movie is essentially Michelle Obama who ALSO is a superhero with an American flag theme and besties with Majestica and Night Owl, trying to protect the exchange students. Because supposedly NOTHING better needs to be done. Once she gets hit by the “Freedom Feathers” or whatever you want to call the Kwami power, she pulls out the Football and activates turrets all over the USA, ready to blow up anything that moves into smithereens. Including at least 10.000 such turrets on the roofs of New York and a nuclear missile in the bay near the Statue of Liberty.

I’ll take it to the people with the eagle not the dove. If there is one thing that obedience is symptomatic of, it’s W-E-A-P-O-N-R-Y... WEAPONRY, from above!

(BTW, the rocket is animated like shit!)

I get the feeling someone on the production team is not the biggest fan of America.

 Anyway, with the heroes being useless and Marinette and Adrien mopping around for what happened during the battle (and Adrien being tricked by his dad to leave New York and get back on a plane cause this town is not save and Adrien can’t fucking stand up to his emotionally abusive father), Uncanney and Sparrow have to get the ball rolling so the day can be saved. Which means that Sparrow and Ladybug try to fight and distract people for time (off screen mostly), while Uncanney hijacks Adrien’s plane and brings him back to take up the gimp suit of Cat Noir again. Oh yeah, almost forgot, Uncanney, cause she is a robot, has figured out easily who Ladybug and Adrien really are cause scanning. Making our heroes literally dumber than a walking toaster.

 So the four finally together, fight Techno Pirate on the Statue of Liberty a second time (after some hijinx with another corrupted hero whose power is literally to create portals through doors, but he is irrelevant for anything so I skipped him up until now) and defeat him. He loses the Miraculous, Sparrow takes it on and becomes its next official owner, resulting in her costume turning into THIS

 So now we have the native American girl turn into an eagle based superhero with a costume that looks like out of a western based Lego set.

Real talk here: Unlike Dobson I do not believe that everything is political or offensive or some other shit. In fact I hate his comic where he talks about “skin color changes” of the black characters in Ladybug, because he essentially tries to create a race issue and tension where there is none, just because he is a social justice moron. Which gets especially funny when his ideas for a progressive female results in characters like the black rat pirat who kicks you in the face for being hetero or infantilizing the characters of Patty to make them visually more appealing to Max Karson.

That said, in this day and age, doing a character like that… kinda yaiks.

Like, on one hand I think the girl has an enjoyable personality and the design of her hero outfit is okay for a kids cartoon. It’s not like she also talks in some cartoonishly native way or has suddenly a tomahawk as a weapon.

On the other hand, it is kinda stereotypical from multiple ankles and unfortunately there is nothing to the character past this point. Oh sure, Sparrow has now Miraculous powers, but really, all she does now is just use her powers to nullify Techno Pirates influence on the adult heroes before Majestia manages to reenact the bad ending for Majora’s mask and that is it.

Granted,  there is Hawkmoth also almost starting World War 3, but that is really just happening at the site and dealt with almost instantly. To be more specific, because Ladybug and Cat Noir did not hand over their Miraculous, he lets Techno Pirate launch one of the missiles near the Statue of Liberty (worse president than Trump, honestly) but before the thing can hit anything, Majestia sweeps it away and throws it into the sun.

You know, if the show writers want to make Adrien’s dad even remotely “sympathetic” or interesting/intelligent, they increasingly fail. Cause I don’t know about you, but causing World War 3 does not really feel like it will benefit in bringing your comatose wife back.

Bottom line: Nuke has been burned, Techno Pirate gets defeated, all the damage reseted, Sparrow is now the official owner of the latest Miraculous and renames herself Eagle, everyone is happy, there is a big celebration for the class and Hawkmoth is convinced there might be other missing Miraculous all over the globe he wants to get his hands on, meaning season 4 may have more globe trotting Miraculous “action” once it starts.

And also the last scene of the movie shows Eagle and Uncanney meeting some other guardian of the Miraculous box who wants the Eagle charm, but she seemingly convinces him to team up, solidifying that this one hour “movie” was really just a backdoor pilot for a tie in series about an American centered heroine that is so big, a freaking monster truck could pass through this backdoor.

 Yeah, if you can’t tell, I am not a big fan of what I saw.

Look, I will openly admit that my opinion on this is in large parts already tainted by me not being part of the demographic which enjoys the show. So this was never going to be considered “good” in my opinion. That said, I tried to be neutral to it for the sake of fairness. And I kinda failed.

Sorry, but I genuinely do not think this is a good “movie”. First, with barely 65 minutes I don’t really consider it a movie and more of a tv special meant to lead into the next season of the show. Second, I expect of a movie based on a tv show to have slightly higher stakes and presentation value to it than what you would expect from any average episode it has to offer. Which this thing doesn’t. Oh sure, the animation is slightly improved in some scenes, but overall just the same. And frankly, the writing is just still as “bad” as in the original show, if in parts not even worse. Aside of the typical stables, such as the cringy romance that does not move forward but is kinda on the forefront, the main heroes stumbling more or less into the situations instead of being more active in their duties, Hawkmoth not even in a movie having a genuine plan aside of “get this, see how it will help me defeat two kids and fail”, the movie also just never manages to induce a proper escalation of conflict to make it feel like something “special”. For example, we have a shitton of temporarily corrupted heroes. Do Ladybug and Cat Noir ever properly face them off at one point or have meaningful/fun interactions with Sparrow and Uncanney or each other outside of the first three minutes of the movie? Nope! I can name a few movies based on animated shows that gave me enjoyment, even those following basic shonen anime rules. But this one isn’t really among them. And taking into account that I consider at least the Steven Universe movie enjoyable in a dumb way, that says something.

 There is also just the fact that it takes away from Ladybug and Cat Noir too much. Sure, I don’t like the romance stuff with them because I think it plays out in some of the cringiest way possible. But I would have been okay with them or other already established sidecharacters doing other stuff and having to face some conflict that is centered more around them.

Instead the movie finds this bizarre disbalance where it focuses too much and yet too little on completely new characters, that feel shoehorned in to create a starting point for a spin off, making Cat Noir and Ladybug secondary characters in their own movie.

I mean sure, I have seen many shonen anime based movies where there is a set of “movie only” characters interacting with our heroes, but they don’t take too much away from the heroes being heroes. Say what you want about the 13th movie of any long running shonen anime, at least Luffy, Naruto, Son Goku etc. are still the central characters of their respective franchise affiliated flic. Here however we take too much away from Ladybug and Cat, while at the same time focusing also too much on their “struggle” as Marinette and Adrien (or rather just Marinette making a fool out of herself while Adrien is utterly obvious to her behavior) while the major heroics are reserved for the movie characters only, that this entire thing should just be renamed “The Adventures of Mummy Robot and Not Robin, also starring two underaged kids that Dobson is obsessed about!”

 All that said, I will give it a few things.

1) Uncanney and Sparrow/Eagle, despite my jabs, are kinda enjoyable in terms of personality. So are their partners/parents (Majestica and Night Owl are actually the (adoptive?) mothers of their sidekicks and also a couple openly caling themselves love, so yay, L(GBT) representation) and if the show would ever decide to focus also a few episodes on other characters aside of Ladybug and Cat Noir, I wouldn’t mind to see them. I just don’t think they are the most original characters out there and I think I may speak for some fans of the show when I say it sucks, that when it comes to the “action” within this “action adventure show”, they take up the spotlight from the actual main characters.

2) The fight scenes against Techno Pirate were okay overall. Nothing mind blowing animation wise but okay for the standards of this franchise.

3) Eagle’s costume design is not the worst despite my jabs at it being “stereotypical”, at least under consideration of cartoon designs (again, I can think of more offensive shit from the 90s or the Dobbear himself)

4) Well, it wasn’t for me, but I can say it was at least still on the same level of quality as the show. Make out of that comment however whatever you want.

My verdict: Three out of five Dobson’s would approve this movie. The other two would rant about stereotypes and be too busy incest shipping Majestia with Uncanney based on one shot of the movie. And none of them would acknowledge the flaws that make the “movie” a badly disguised jumping point for a spin off that makes the Equestria Girls look subtle.

 Hope you got some enjoyment out of this rant that ironically may have been overall more retarted and detailed than anything Dobson may ever say in regard of this movie.

[lumilasi]

Hello! I was wondering if you have any advice on how to story bulid? You seem really great with that!

Oof, well, I can try. I’ve never really thought about how it happens in practice for me, I just...sorta map everything out on my head from the start? I’ll be using some of my fics as bit of an examples when trying to explain stuff, I hope that’s okay. I’m bad at explaining things heh

I guess the few tips I can give based on how I do my writing would be these, though I dunno if they’ll help, given everyone is an individual and different stuff works for different people;

I usually tend to decide the ending from the start, so I know what I am working towards. It is not set in stone however, and some details may change overtime. Knowing your ending roughly beforehand can help with foreshadowing stuff however, so I’ve found it a pretty useful technique when writing.

Majority of fics are about romance, but I recommend giving attention to other relationships as well, they can really help with estabilishing what kind of version of the character we’re dealing with. Focusing on a non-romantic connection can be quite refreshing and give you a new perspective on the character you’re focusing on. I tend to actually prioritize family/friendship bonds over romance a lot in my fics lmao

More different types of character connections means more material to work with too! More possibilities! More sleepless nights spent mapping out shit-ton of stuff in your head. ........Wait.

Going back to the foreshadowing thing, it’s a pretty good trick to drop hints about what’s going to come up in the future, giving people a mystery to discover and stuff to theorize about. This kind of lore-building is also pretty useful in keeping people interested if your main relationship is currently being a slow-burn thing heh (See Soul Journey for example; Izuku and Tomura’s connection is still being built slowly, but I’ve estabilished a lot of lore and hints for future already so it doesn’t feel like the story is being slow....I hope)

Don’t be afraid to type out even the wackiest of ideas/things you’ve never really seen written before with the characters you want to write about; many of my currently most liked fics were pretty bizarre ideas at first glance, yet people clearly seem to enjoy them. I dunno if this is about story building though, it’s more just a general ’go wild and have fun!’ Recommendation

If you write an AU with your own world and such, it’s good to kinda map out the basic way the world works beforehand. I personally never take notes, but I feel like most people should/will. I’m bit of an oddball amongst fic writers apparently with my speed alone.

Every action a character does has consequences. It depends on the rules of the world you’ve estabilished what those are. It’s good to keep this in mind as it can help making the story direction feel more logical, having cause and effect at play. You can have a few convenient moments mixed in though, where something gets helpfully ignored because plot, or something magically fixes the problem. Just try not to do it too much I suppose, having stuff feel logical makes the story flow better....or something. This one’s pretty hard to explain tbh, it’s just kinda something you’ll learn to do overtime the more you write.

Choosing the point of view you write from can have quite an effect on the story. Different people have a different way of looking at things/different kind of knowledge about the situation, and that can be reflected in the narrative. FS is a pretty good example of this at play; the vibe is different from when we follow Tenko’s point of view, when compared to Hisashi, or Toshinori. It can really help to sort of flesh out your story even more, having these different viewpoints, keeping everything interesting.

Oof, that’s all I can think of right now.

To summarize it short;

decide a rough outline for your ending beforehand, so you know what you’re working towards. Foreshadow things, both to give people stuff to look forward to and theorize about/keep things interesting while the main relationship is being built. Use different viewpoints and multiple relationship types to add more flavor in the story, as well as give yourself more material to work with, as it honestly makes stuff a lot easier. When character does something, make sure it actually has consequences most of the time. Use plot-armor/Deus ex machina/insert another term here rarely. Estabilish the rules of your AU beforehand for yourself, just to make the writing process easier on you.

That’s about all I can say to this right now. You don’t have to use any of these tips, as like I said, it’s really just based on my own way of working, and you might find other kind of way more in line with your personal style and preferences.

I have a friend IRL who doesn’t understand why I decide the ending from the start for example, they think it’s limiting for creativity. I disagree with them obviously, but that’s just an example of people functioning differently with this process.

I still hope at least some of that is helpful to you! It’s really difficult for me to explain my writing process given I never really break it down and think how it works lmao. I just sit down and write.