#[goes back to watching shadow cutscenes]

[cable-salamdr]

Realised I hadn’t yet drawn anything winter related

It only snowed a few times here. Didn’t get to build a snowman, so I projected on to my fave students instead :]]

(They all got a cold after this, probably)

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic X Shadow Takeover Analyzer (Part 2)

I was so excited to hear this Takeover since it is only Sonic and Shadow talking to each other and answering question. It is one of those times where you get to see their dynamic without anyone else's input.

Since I feel like I could write an essay about these two, I decided to instead put all my thoughts into bullet points, this being Part 2 of my list:

Obligatory ''Shadow likes Latinas'' joke.

I love how Sonic sees their rivalry as a friendly competition, even describing it as being two sides of the same coin and pushing each other to be better. Shadow points out how he fights because he has a purpose and he will fight Sonic if their ideals clash. Sonic isn't buying it, though. He really wants to make it clear that his presence is important to Shadow and he wants to hear that from Shadow himself. Shadow finally agrees, with Sonic sounding so proud of himself.

Addendum: Considering how the cutscene battle in Sonic X Shadow Generations went, Shadow definitely can't resist fighting Sonic to best him, regardless of his own goals. Their rivalry gives him purpose.

''GO OFF KING!!'' Sonic, what?! X3

Shadow goes on a rant about Super Monkey Ball, with Sonic immediately trying to apologize for the whole thing. It's hilarious!

''THOSE MONKEYS NEED TO PUT ON SOME PANTS!!'' Shadow, you don't even wear pants.

I love how when Sonic and Shadow talk about Jet, Sonic immediately turns the question to be about their rivalry, pointing out how their little competition is why Shadow keeps Sonic around. Shadow just groans in exasperation, but we all know Sonic's telling the truth.

Black Doom really has an obsession with Radical Highway. I suppose Radical Highway is to Shadow what Green Hill Zone is to Sonic. Also, love how Shadow retorts to Sonic's ''Radical'' pun by calling him ''Mr. Green Hill Zone''.

When they're asked to draw something, their immediate response is to draw each other, with Sonic even trying to give some input to Shadow. They're not the best at it, though; something they wholeheartedly agree on.

Shadow is so proud to have his Year, and Sonic likes it too, to the point of showering him with constant compliments. Shadow enjoys it, but claims how he's not ''seeking attention''. Nobody's buying that Shadow.

Sonic Shuffle get mentioned!!

Shadow played chess with Maria, which is really nice. Also, if Sonic ever plays chess with Shadow, he'd totally be the guy who eats the chess pieces, much to Shadow's confusion. Also, the fact that Shadow claims how Sonic would lose on purpose to annoy him is both hilarious and also kinda sweet, considering how Sonic has been acting in this whole Takeover.

Fadel is back and trying to get into either Team Hero or Team Dark... and Sonic and Shadow clearly refuse to have him on their teams. I find it hilarious how Sonic immediately directs him to Team Dark and Shadow claims how applications are closed, then points him at Team Hero and gaslights Sonic into reluctantly accepting Fadel into the team.

I actually watched Games Cage's reaction to that, and he is completely oblivious to the fact that Sonic is being passive-aggressive by mentioning how Tails called dibs on their only parachute, meaning Sonic is cool with letting the guy fall off the Tornado. X3

Sonic is so persistent about wanting to hug Shadow! I get Sonic Prime vibes from this and I'm loving it.

''I don't need... your kind of hugs.'' There's two things I can conclude from this:

Shadow only likes the hugs Maria and Amy gave.

Shadow actually would be fine with Sonic hugging him, but they have to be meaningful rather than fleeting considering his earlier comment. Sonic is totally oblivious to that, though.

Sonic Boom ''Shadow broods in a cave'' reference!

Besides training, Shadow's hobby is reading. He's a bookworm, and Sonic sounds so excited about learning that. I can totally see Sonic thinking about dragging Shadow into another Storybook Adventure.

Shadow's first time turning Super was still him learning how to control that power. It explains why he ran out of energy back then, while Sonic had more experience and could keep it longer. Sonic also keeps complimenting Shadow about looking cool in his Super Form, even calling him wise for pointing out how that power needs to be controlled.

WHY DOES SONIC HAVE ABRAHAM TOWER ON SPEED DIAL?!

Shadow definitely doesn't work for G.U.N. That's something that has been confirmed. I have to say, the whole conversation between the Commander and Shadow was really awkward, but the kicker is Sonic's being oblivious to the whole awkwardness. He is so proud that he arranged a call between them.

I love how Sonic's neutral opinion about Orbot changes immediately the moment he hears Shadow's own thoughts on the robot. Once Shadow says he dislikes Orbot, Sonic immediately agrees with him, and when Orbot offers to get them coffee, causing Shadow to like him, Sonic also agrees that Orbot is fine. This really feels like Sonic wants Shadow's approval by agreeing with his opinions.

Sonic and Shadow are arguing about who is better at raising their Chao. They legit sound like married couple arguing about how to take care of their children. Sonic is definitely the fun dad, while Shadow has to take care of the discipline.

Shadow doesn't believe in ghosts, despite Sonic pointing out how they ran into paranormal stuff several times. Sonic also tries to scare him a couple of times, with Shadow showing no reaction.

Shadow's favorite Doom Power is Doom Morph, and Sonic is a little jealous of that form once he hears more about it. The fact that Shadow just keeps bragging about it and annoying Sonic is hilarious.

''Skill issue!'' Lol, Shadow. I can imagine Sonic rolling his eyes at that comment.

Shadow scolds the person who listens to the Twitter Takeover instead of studying for their exam. He really cares about their education, while Sonic points out how he needs to lighten up.

Let's be honest, Sonic and Shadow definitely love hanging out with each other, admitting it in their own way that they care about each other.

I believe that this Takeover proves that Sonic and Shadow really have a good dynamic when they sit down and hang out with each other. They bicker, they tease each other, they come to agreements and disagreements, they care... It is so enjoyable to listen to them and I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Oh, and yeah, this was a feast for the Sonadow fans, if you ask me. I hope you guys will enjoy my notes, because I'm definitely going to take advantage of all the new information I got. I can't wait for the meal we'll get once the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie comes out.

#Sonic X Shadow Takeover Analyzer (Part 1)

#Sonic Cyber Revolution (Masterlist)

[eating-plastic]

Killer Frequency 2: Electric Boogaloo

This is based off of a dream @its-been-rose had about a sequel to killer frequency, so I felt like getting creative. A lot of things I talk about such as changes in game play and style are referenced to the key points in her post plus my own creative liberties. I've also never written something like this before so please go easy on me lol. Anyhoo, with that out of the way, let's start with the prologue!

We open on a black screen with the sound of a car driving getting louder and louder before we cut to a shot of a Henderson Police car driving. We get shots inside the car and a song coming from the radio plays quietly. We get shots of Henry in the backseat of the vehicle but never see his face fully (I like the idea of his face never being known period). You get shots of his eyes here and there, the lower half of his face only showing his mouth, and shots of his profile shrouded in shadows; things like that. We also see his cuffed hands in his lap (yes, I know they should be behind his back, but for the sake of how the prologue ends, they need to be in front of him).

Suddenly, the radio cuts to the report we hear at the end of the game (you know, the one where Marie commits cliff jump). It comes in bits and pieces, cut off here and there by static (this serves to build up tension). We the player could only hear the sound of the car driving, the soft sound of the radio, and Henry's breathing, but as the report continues and gets closer and closer to the point where Marie jumps, Henry's breathing gets louder and more labored. This all gets punctuated by the split frame of Henry's eyes going wide with rage before we see a deer run out onto the road.

The faceless cop who has been driving (maybe they even antagonized Henry a bit in the intro) curses and swerves to try and avoid the animal, losing control of the car and crashes into a ditch or a tree (I like the idea of this unnamed stretch of road to be in a forest). Another brief black screen, before we see a shot on the ground and the back seat of the police car swing open, and two black boots stepping out.

Once again, not seeing Henry's face fully, we watch him slowly move the the drivers side and open the door. Whether we see the damage of what happened to the faceless officer I haven't decided, but they are dead (either through us seeing the body or getting a report of them being dead and Henry being on the run later on in the first chapter, because I am going to be telling these in a chapter format). Camera goes first person, Henry's POV, as he examines the body before he spots what he's looking for: the keys to his cuffs. He undoes them and probably takes the officer's gun too (he'll eventually lose it tho because you know, slasher tropes and how they don't use guns).

He then moves to the trunk and opens it. We see him pick up the whistling man mask before putting it on. The prologue/opening cutscene ends with a cinematic shot of Henry stepping into the road and staring down it. Staring back at Gallows Creek. The only sounds being heard now are the muffled, enraged breathing coming from behind the mask.

Smash cut to title card. I'm not sure what the title would be, Rose said that the title was completely different than Killer Frequency (like a Evil Dead/Army of Darkness situation), but I want it to still be called Killer Frequency, just with a subtitle like Killer Frequency: XYZ. Something like that.

Sooooo yeah! This was a rough mockup of what the intro cutscene would be in my opinion. I tried to follow some horror/slasher tropes for it, but also used the intro cutscene of Batman: Arkham Asylum of all things (where Batman is driving the Joker to Arkham) as inspiration too. Since this is supposed to be a part two situation (once again reference to the original post), I'm going to have this take place almost immediately after the first game, like how Halloween II takes place immediately after Halloween.

Please let me know what you think. What would you change? What would you add? What are some ideas for chapter 1 when I eventually create a rough mockup of that? Stuff like that!

[dropletr]

Now that I've finally finished it, I figured I'd share my thoughts on Sonic X Shadow Generations. It's good and you should buy it. O.K. Spoilers, below.

In terms of the Sonic Generations section, it's the same great game as it was 13 years ago. Ironically enough, I bought the original release back on December 23. Lucky me. The only real notable differences are in performance and story, so I'll focus on those. I'm not really an expert on performance. I can barely tell the difference between 30 fps vs. 60 fps. I'll just say that Sonic Generations ran better on my Switch than the original release did on my gaming PC. Take of that what you will. In terms of the rewrite, I thought it was lackluster. Ian Flynn is a writer that I like a lot, so it's a bit of a shame but not too much. The story remains virtually identical, with the changes adding nothing of note at best, and feeling slightly awkward at worst. I could have gone without the random Time Stone reference (it feels a bit off considering Sonic has time traveled in numerous other ways before), and Amy's crush on Sonic being toned town. I feel like making her less clingy was good, but they went a bit too far, in my opinion. I know she still mentions her attraction to Sonic in the dialogue, but I would have preferred it was mentioned in the cutscenes. Also, the removal off "I thought I was dead! Floating without a body in a black limbo... Ughhh, I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks!" is criminal.

Now, onto the main attraction, Shadow Generations. Now, this might be controversial, but... I think Sonic Frontiers is better. Don't get me wrong. Shadow Generations is still a great game, but it didn't quite capture the magic Frontiers had. In terms of the boost levels, Shadow Generations definitely beats out Sonic Frontiers. The level design was frankly more interesting, and I had a lot of fun using Doom Powers to take/come up with shortcuts. In terms of the Open Zone, Frontiers wins. While Shadow Generations White Space fits together more neatly, running around and exploring just isn't as fun as it was on the Starfall Islands. Part of that might be unlocking the map as you go, while in Shadow, it's just handed to you. Doing the open zone challenges in Shadow Generations feels like a chore, whereas it felt fun in Frontiers. Boss fights, I mean, come on, obviously Frontiers was going to win. The battling mechanics were so interesting, and it felt really fun to string them together. Shadow Generations also has really fun bosses, but I found them really easy. Honestly, the bosses characters are really what made the boss fights fun in Shadow Generations, I was geeking out like a kid in a candy shop. In terms of the story, I find them both great. I would heavily recommend Pariah695's video on Shadow Generations story as he goes into more detail than I will (even if I don't agree with his opinions on Ian Flynn). Ultimately, it might just be that the characters and their journeys in Frontiers mean more to me. They're both very enjoyable, and I'll probably watch the cutscenes of Shadow Generations for fun like I do with Frontiers.

Ultimately, even though I think Frontiers is the better game, Sonic X Shadow Generations are still great games that I would highly recommend.

[underratedgrapeju1ce]

So like I'm sending this to you specifically because I do not know anyone else who's actually this deeply interested in the Black Arms/Black Doom bc almost every Shadow fan I have ever met literally discards Black Doom/Black Arms to the side aside from making it clear Shadow is part that and... nothing else.

I was in a vc w/ one of my friends a while back and my dumbass was watching SatBK cutscenes. As you do when you decide to watch Sonic related things. And I'm just chilling and my brain just stops and goes.

"Yk King Arthur looks kinda like Black Doom in the face, haha" And I stopped. And just started. N was like

"Was that an intentional parallel or sum? Because Lancelot is the King's right hand typically- is it??"

This probably makes NO SENSE LMFAO. Sorry for bothering you -🦔

ooooOOHHHH HEHEEHEEEE

it likely wasnt intentional, but i can definitely see the correlation. shadow being undyingly loyal, ready to kill anyone that opposes the crown? sounds like dooms dream come true. the perfect knight to lead his army

i can definitely see an au with doom as that evil version of king arthur with shadow/lancelot as his right hand, you're definitely cooking

[weepingicegiant]

STOP WHEN I FINISHED WATCHING III 18 I LITERALLY WALKED UP THE STAIRS SHAKING I C9ULDNT STAND UP MY KNEES GAVE OUT ON ME THATS HOW FUCKED UP THE EPISODE MADE ME WAHT THE HELL WHAT THE HELL WHY DID I GIGGLE WHEN MEPHONE WENT SILENT AND ALL HE COULD DO WAS DO THAT FUCKING, PHONE VIBRATE THIGN HEELEPPPEMEEEEE33

ok but that aside im just gonnw let out some theories or thoughts here cause ummmm why not!!!!!

have this little ramble that turns out to be w rant about lightbulb

mephone wanted to start a season 4 so the show could go on forever, right? what would happen to the season 2 finalists? considering how long its been i can only assume theyve either been invited to stay at hotel oj for the time being or legitimately got left rotting in the forestHELPME. hoenstly im guessing that during episode 19. like yk how wt the end of object show episodes kike after the credits they show a little scene? yeah im guessing one of thoseare gonna be there after the credits and and and its gonna FIRST OF ALL START BU SHOWING THE NIGHT SKY OF THE SEASON 2 GROUNDS OKAY OKAY??? then its gonna like the screen moves down and its the forest, zoom in more and yiu see suitcase and baseball talking, go to the right and its knife like kicking down a tree or whatever, GO EVEN FURTHER AND IT LIGHTBULB SITTING ON A TREESTUMP CHUGGING DR. FIZZ OKAY ITS GON A HAPPEN SHES GONNA HAVE EYEBAGS AND SHES GONNA BE A DEPRESSED LITTLE FUCK ITS CANON IM TELLING YOU. and apparently it was comfirmed that it hurts ligthbulb when she cries like WHAT!!!!!!!!so um shes gonnw cry at some point cause i said so i love angst i need lightbukb angst shes so overlooked like her stereotype is the assumed enthusiast but her story is so much deeper than that guys please im sobbing can you tell how much i miss her I NEED HER ON SCREEN NOW. okay okay look look so um back to the topic im not sure how iii 19 is gonna turn out but maybe mephone is gonnw come back to the season 2 island MAYBE?????

ok i have 3 outcomes for 5his

1. mephone comes back, the cutscene with the final 4 ends with mephones shadow walking in AND ALL THE FINALISTS LOOK UP ST HIM then it hits us with a "TO BE CONTINUED." CAUSEE YEAAH ADAM LOVES TO TORTURE US!!!!

2. mephone gets kidnapped by cobs. thats it

3. mephone never goes back to season 2 so the show gets cancled and the finalists go back to hotel oj and lightbulb sees testy painty and fan and they all kiss right right ZrugtRUGHT

i need lightbrush cintent so bad im so deprived for it i just want them to hug ot something like why do we get Znickloom hugging and not lightbrush ok thats not fair tha5 is NOT fair this is so not fair can they atleast hokd hands or soemthing like hug like maybe even KISS come on adam co e on you jnow you want to /silly

oh yeah and tacos probably gonnw do something stupid as fuck with mepad shes gonna rewire him or something and turn him into like a fucking teleportation device i meann he already is one so uhhhhhhhhhh

um hi!!!

[all-pacas]

PERSONA 3 LIVEBLOGGING: AMADA EDITION

wow do these new cutscenes with him really just. RED FLAG CENTRAL. like it was never subtle he was planning some shit, but he's both more subtle now and way worse. "oh yeah, i quit the soccer team, something i love. no reason!" "hey, if for some reason i were to die, would you take care of my beloved pet hamster?"

HIS HAMSTER IS NAMED HAMBURGER

but for real, ken is really benefiting from these new scenes and the script polish. he's always been precocious but there's something very serious and deliberate about him now. he isn't just spending september sulking in his room, he's putting his affairs in order. he's quietly suggesting that hmm, maybe junpei and yukari can't be trusted if they trust shinji. he's a lot more subtle, but also RED FLAG CENTRAL

on the other hand, everyone in the lounge is talking about chidori 24/7, so the vibe is more "we have our mind on Other Things."

anyway i love these "hang out with the gang to unlock New Skills" thing. shinji's cooking class was fantastic. koro watching nature docs - amazing. new scenes where mitsuru is pushing shinji to come back to school ("he's on a leave of absence" - lady he dropped out two years ago)

"she always goes out of her way for the dumbest shit" god do i love team third year, though. i put all three in my party and immediately they were all both nostalgic and picking on akihiko together. they really do give the vibe of, well, having been together for 3-4 years. mitsuru drops her formality around akihiko. shinji and mitsuru clearly get along very well as the two "sane" ones reigning akihiko in. just thinking about their personas, too -- shinji is an All Physical Attacks powerhouse, mitsuru is a pretty specialized Offensive Magic type. akihiko is the only one of the three who even learns healing abilities, meaning that for all his stupid hotheadedness, he was the one who had to watch their backs, but that also checks out because he is rather violently protective of people -- where the other two, again, are much more pragmatic "kill it with violence" types. (before 10/4, at least.)

anyway shinji talking about his chef mentor ugh

the new scenes with takaya ahahaha. "i am the shadow, the true self" -- how they actually DISCUSS evokers and how they're a shortcut. i have So Many theories about that, since it's such a plot point in this game that people lose control of their personas to deadly effect, and it's such a plot point in latter games that if you face your shadow/accept your true self you can just summon a persona without. takaya outright states that's the case for him, and then you have STREGA at large and mitsuru's backstory (forced to manifest a persona at a VERY young age) and shinji's (always struggled to control his). takaya's new scenes seem to suggest that he hates SEES in part because they use shortcuts (evokers) instead of fully MASTERING their other selves like future crews will. and i don't even know that he's WRONG.

anyway lol i forgot about the typhoon but it makes me laugh because persona q back in the day explicitly had the crossover timetravel take place that weekend. so have fun meeting the p4 guys kids

lmaoooo akihiko's ace ass getting confused why junpei is excited to visit chidori.

[dee-in-the-box]

okay, screw it:

time for my interpretation of the DSAF 3 Dee Cutscene (y'all know the one)

basically, i think that it jumps around in time a lot more than we think it does.

now, sure, i'm well aware of the fact that it's most likely meant to be interpreted as "Jack dropped Dee off at the diner while he went to get drunk, and while he was off doing that, Dee got murdered," but...i got something a bit different out of it.

now, i'll lay things out a bit at first, with me explaining how i interpreted the scenes in question:

so, in order:

first scene - Jack drops Dee off at the diner. so far, everything is going along with canon (or, at least, probably how canon is meant to be interpreted). Henry and Dave watch on from the shadows; Dave appears rather normal, while Henry...appears to have an idea. then, of course, Jack leaves the diner.

this, however, is where my interpretation kinda...diverges a bit.

i believe that, between these two scenes below (v)

there's a bigger timeskip.

now, we know that Jack and Peter had to work some jobs in order to support Dee and give her a good life. what if Jack left her at the diner because he had to work that day?

of course, while Jack is gone, Henry abducts Dee and later gets Dave to help with her murder (something of which he did not sound enthusiastic about, might i add). Jack returns a few hours later to pick her up, only to discover she's missing.

this is where this next scene starts:

scene two - Jack returns home from the diner, likely after learning about Dee being missing. he looks upset, and understandably so. now, some may ask: Why Doesn't He Look More Distressed About This? His Sister's Gone! and...okay, hear me out. this may be me projecting a little bit:

...AUTISM.

as someone who is like 99% sure they're autistic (yeah, not formally diagnosed, and not interested in being, either), this is something that, in my research and in my personal experience, can be a sign of autism. it's described as "difficulty showing or expressing emotions appropriately," at least when i tried to look up a way to word it, and. Yeah That's A Thing I Deal With.

(like i swear, every time i find something that Jack does that either i relate to or go "hey, i kinda do that! (to a degree)" and i decide to look it up, it is, basically, An Autism Thing (or, at least, can be Viewed as such).)

so yeah, he's grieving. and a day or two passes.

at some point between this and the next scene, either happening the day before he goes to work there, or even earlier the same day, Jack applies for a position as a nightguard at Fredbear's, likely to figure out what happened to Dee (consider: CAMERAS). he is either told to come back the next night or later that night.

and now, we get to this next part:

scene three - Jack Gets Really Fucking Drunk, Likely Out Of Grief. he drinks a lot, to the point we see clear signs that he's drunk as hell. Look At The Number Of Bottles On The Table (this is important for later; Remember This). eventually, he realizes that it's about time for him to head to work, and that leads to the next scene:

scene four - Jack rushes over to the diner, still drunk, mind you, to go and do his job. and what happens as soon as he walks in?

i know it's hard to see, but...dead ahead is the stage. and one figure seems noticeably shorter than the other.

as though it's not on the stage, but directly in front of it.

and it appears to be Springbonnie, considering we know Springbonnie was on the right, and if you look close enough, there seem to be long ears.

we hear a slowed/deeper version of Henry's theme, as well as a deeper version of Henry's laugh, play in the background, before everything goes dark.

and the cutscene finally ends.

SO, ALL TOGETHER NOW:

Jack drops Dee off at her birthday party at the diner. he has to work, so he can't stay. he likely believes that everything will be fine; it's a place for kids, after all!

A Murder Happens

Jack returns later that evening, only to find out that Dee is missing. he is distraught by this, and probably searches the building top to bottom. the police are likely called at some point.

Jack heads home after it's clear that there's nothing more they can do. He Definitely Takes It Well (sarcasm).

Jack, likely the next day or the day after that, gets an idea and decides to apply for a job as a nightguard. knowing that Henry will likely immediately recognize him and stop him from doing this (because, at this point, while he doesn't know what Henry's done, he does logically know that Henry might keep him from getting the job because he might tamper with the investigation), and likely being incredibly drunk, wears a fake mustache and just hopes Henry won't be able to recognize him. Henry does, but decides to play along with this, and just straight up doesn't tell Jack about the Murder Robots That Will Kill Him. (you Cannot tell me that Henry didn't recognize Jack. there's no way).

Henry either tells him to come back the following night (if Jack did this the day before scenes 3-4) or that night (if Jack did this on the same day as scenes 3-4)

Jack Gets Fucking Drunk And Runs To Work, Finding The Building Empty

Jack mentions in Dsaf 2, if he chooses to tell his own springlock story, that whatever animatronic killed him had caught him off-guard. animatronic footsteps, if we're going by Fnaf at least, Are Really Loud and Noticeable. if Jack were drunk and distracted by, say, grief, however...

Jack gets stuffed into Fredbear by Springbonnie and gets springlocked.

we know the rest from here: Henry finds him and leaves him to die, he gets revived, etc etc.

anyway, there's my entire interpretation of that cutscene from DSAF 3. it's really long, but like. This Was Just Straight Up What I Thought Had Happened The First Time I Had Watched That Cutscene (at least kinda)

[p5x-theories]

An updated summary of P5X's plot so far, as seen in the second beta!

Once again, since there’s no official translation, I’m leaning on what happens visually, along with the pieces of context I can understand from the Japanese voice acting (in scenes that have it), and taking into consideration the rough translations I've seen floating around.

Contrary to this blog’s name, this post is going to have as little speculation as possible, and stick to confirmed facts.

Disclaimer: Though the second beta added new cutscenes in, there are still several that are explained only with placeholder text. Because of this, there's some context that's still limited, and that'll be reflected here too.

The second beta goes partway through the second Palace- up to just past the fourth teammate's awakening.

The game begins with a cutscene of a train arriving at the station, and an owl seeming to realize something and fly off.

It then transitions to a shot of Kokatsu Academy, the protagonist sitting in his homeroom class, with a form about what he wants to do after high school. He taps his pencil on the blank form, and looks out the window. His teacher, Kumi Katayama, instructs the students to fill it out with their names (and then the player is prompted to name the protagonist).

After writing his name, the protagonist feels sleepy, and drifts off. He then wakes up in the Velvet Room for the first time.

Igor welcomes him to the Velvet Room, and introduces him to himself and Merope. He's only there briefly before he's woken up by the girl sitting in front of him.

Katayama comes over and reprimands them, then collects the forms.

After getting out of class, the protagonist steps out into the hallway, but Katayama calls him over to talk about his empty form, and asks if he knows what he wants for the future. She seems troubled that he doesn't seem to know.

After, he runs into some girls gossiping and blocking the stairs. They mention something about an "evil god" and a "phantom". The protagonist has the option (presented like a dialogue option) to try to ask them to move out of the way, I believe? But if the player chooses yes, it's like something stops him from doing it anyway.

Another student comes over to interrupt them, and says something to them that makes them bow in apology to both her and the protagonist before running off, calling her “Tanemura-senpai”. She tells them not to run in the hallway.

As the protagonist goes to leave, he walks by the owl, who's landed atop the shoe lockers. It mutters something to itself, but is gone when the protagonist looks in its direction.

The owl follows him to the train station. As he walks there, some more students gossip about "phantoms".

You can watch a video of this next part since it works better visually, but I'll really briefly summarize it too (italicized is shown in the video).

At the station, he boards a train, and spots a strange app on his phone. He tries to delete it, but it comes back. The owl sits across from him, and says something about fate or destiny. It's cut off by screams, as a person on a bike rides into the train car. The person rushes the protagonist, causing him to accidentally tap and open the app.

When he opens his eyes, he's in Mementos, and the strange owl is there too. He introduces himself as Ruferu. He says he can show the protagonist the exit, but as they head there they're ambushed by shadows, leading to the protagonist awakening to his Persona, Janosik.

Ruferu teaches the protagonist the basics of combat, but then they run into one last big shadow right by the escalators.

Ruferu reveals his own Persona, Rob Roy, and they take the shadow down together.

They pass by a strange woman on their way out of Mementos, but after determining she's not a threat, they don't bother to stop to talk to her.

When he leaves, the protagonist shocked to find himself in Shibuya, with his clothes back to normal.

He and Ruferu part ways, with the protagonist heading home. He doesn't notice the blonde girl who sits in front of him in class standing nearby, who is puzzled to see him here in Shibuya.

When he goes to sleep, he wakes up in the Velvet Room again, and Merope and Igor tell him about "ruin". He's woken up by Ruferu pecking at his head. (The protagonist's outfit is changeable by the player from this point on, so in scenes outside of school and Mementos, it may not be consistent in my screenshots, haha.)

Ruferu refers to the protagonist as his "business partner", and says they'll talk more during the protagonist's lunch break at school later. Ruferu's Confidant is established. As the protagonist leaves for school, his mom texts him; something about how she and the protagonist's dad are traveling in another country, and she's giving him some spending money to take care of himself.

When he leaves the house, he runs into a woman who introduces herself as Kayo Tomiyama. She apparently knew him when he was younger and comments that he’s grown up into a handsome man, in that tone of a family friend or relative being surprised at how big you’ve gotten since they last saw you. She also talks about how her "Darling" went to Kokatsu as well, though I can't tell if she's referring to her husband, her child, or someone else.

After she leaves and the protagonist continues on to school, he runs into Merope in Shibuya, staring at one of the Rise posters. She turns it into a Velvet Room door, and heads through it, seeming to have barely noticed the protagonist in the first place.

Getting on the train, he seems a woman trip (or otherwise fall), and the player's prompted with the option to help her (again like a dialogue choice), but something vague once again seems to stop him if the player does choose to help.

Finally on the train, there are some Kokatsu girls gossiping about a hot guy, which at first the protagonist thinks might be about him, but then realizes it's about another student on the train who the girls refer to as "Ikenami-kun" from Kiga High School.

When he gets off the train, he's missing his train ticket. Luckily, a girl wearing a Kokatsu uniform and pink sweater comes up to him, asks if the ticket is his, and returns it.

Later, at the start of their lunch break at school, the blonde girl catches his attention, and says she was surprised yesterday, bringing up the incident with person on the bike on the train.

He doesn't really answer, so she speculates that the bike person was a "phantom", and talks about a website called "Grind My Evil God" (or something along that line) where videos of troublemaking people are uploaded. The owner of the site, the "Evil God", calls these people "phantoms". Then, she turns serious, and says that she saw the protagonist disappear from the train yesterday and then reappear in Shibuya.

However, any further questioning she may have wanted to do is interrupted by the arrival of the other Kokatsu girl, in the pink sweater, who calls out to her and refers to her as Motoha.

The pink sweater girl asks Motoha about having lunch together, and she agrees, then turns to the protagonist and apologizes for saying something weird. As they leave, we see the MetaNav on Motoha's phone.

Before the protagonist has a chance to do anything else, Ruferu flies up to the window, with a sign telling him to go to the school roof.

When the protagonist steps out into the hallway to do so, the pink sweater girl comes comes back, and introduces herself as Tomoko Noge from Class D and the close friend of Motoha Arai.

On the roof, the protagonist sees a student eating cup noodles. When the student sees the protagonist, he wordlessly gets up and leaves with his noodles.

Once the student's gone, Ruferu lands, and explains to the protagonist what Mementos and Shadows are, as well as talking about them acting as phantom thieves and a target he has in mind. He says he'll wait in Shibuya to explain more about that, as the protagonist's lunch break ends.

When he comes back down the stairs, he and Motoha run into each other, and she catches his phone (like a baseball player, I believe?) after it flies into the air, and returns it to him. She wants to ask the protagonist something, but the Tanemura girl from earlier comes up to them, and says something about not doing the kind of catch Motoha did.

Motoha refers to her as Riko-senpai, and apologizes. They both leave, and presumably the protagonist heads back to class as well. The plot jumps ahead to the end of the school day.

The protagonist exits their classroom, but Motoha stays behind, looking at her phone. She comments to herself that she noticed the protagonist had the same weird app (presumably the MetaNav app) as her phone does, and also says something about his disappearance from the train again. Tomoko then approaches her and asks about going somewhere together.

The protagonist arrives at Shibuya station, and Ruferu immediately flies up to him and slips into his bag. He comments on the bag being comfortable, then points out a man in the distance who we see deliberately, aggressively running into women as the walk by him. Ruferu identifies him as their target, Takeyuki Kiuchi.

He talks about Kiuchi's crimes- he apparently has a reputation for very intentionally running into women, with the nickname "Collision Man"- and how he has a Shadow and Palace in Mementos. When Kiuchi runs into a woman near the protagonist, the protagonist catches her and helps her up, which Ruferu seems to note had something to do with his awakening (Persona awakening)?

The protagonist and Ruferu then leave to sit outside, right as Motoha enters the station. She's a little surprised to see the protagonist here, but then seems to recognize "that man" in the direction of Kiuchi as well. Before she can do anything, Tomoko catches up to her, and they head to the station's mall.

Outside the station, Ruferu explains more of what they would do as phantom thieves, specifically describing it as the job of phantom thieves to help with a Shadow, and I believe something about the exploitation of human desires? And, of course, the word "treasure". After a bit more explanation, they head to Mementos.

In Mementos, Cattle explains that they need codenames. He thinks for a moment, about how the protagonist is "fushigi-na" (Japanese adjective, meaning "marvelous", "strange", "mysterious", or... "wonderful") and declares the protagonist's codename to be Wonder. He then decides his own codename should be Cattle, though he's not quite sure why.

As they start to run off, Wonder gets tossed into the Velvet Room by Merope, and gets the teammate gacha tutorial, explanation of the "Phantom Idols" as cognitive teammates, and start of Merope’s confidant. Once Wonder leaves the Velvet Room, Cattle (after a moment of concern at how Wonder apparently zoned out) demonstrates his ability to turn into a car.

After their first fight with a Phantom Idol teammate, Cattle's a bit confused. Wonder refers to them as Phantom Idols, and Cattle doesn't quite seem to get it but says he'll let Wonder handle that.

While Wonder and Cattle are traveling around Mementos, Motoha and Tomoko talk more in the real world- Motoha asks Tomoko about some kind of crush, trying to guess who it is, and Tomoko seems to deny it- and Kiuchi notices them, evidently recognizing at least one of them.

... And apparently the image limit of 30 applies to this type of post now too! I'll reblog with a continuation.

[blackjackkent]

Well, between Volo and Withers Rakha has had an annoying morning, but that's okay, because she's going to go kill Ragzlin with Halsin now so that should make her feel better.

Spawning back into the warg pens in a side room, I'm immediately greeted by the sound of Halsin completely eating shit on a leftover grease puddle in the main room, which is hilarious.

In we go!

We don't get the cutscene this time of assisting Ragzlin in speaking with the mind flayer, presumably because we have Halsin with us. Instead we're thrown straight into combat. Rakha, as usual, goes roaring straight into the fray and throwing lighting hands with every Absolutist that comes within melee distance.

This fight was not too bad. It was made considerably harder because Rakha had Tides of Chaos up for higher wild magic chance because I amused myself by using it for advantage on a random animal handling check with Scratch in camp to get the bone he was carrying in his mouth, and consequently Rakha slowed herself on the first turn of the fight. XD

Halsin also missed every single attack. Wyll actually cleaned house on this fight, one-shotting many of the lower-level enemies that were trying to follow Ragzlin around.

Halsin is very excited when the fight is done.

"You did it. You actually did it! The leaders dead - praise Silvanus!" A pause, and then his eyes fix on Rakha. "No, that's not right - praise you, my friend. The grove owes you a debt beyond measure. Killing's never my first choice, but those three were too dangerous to leave alive."

Rakha has been looking down at Ragzlin's dead body - seemingly lost in thought, or perhaps trapped within the beast's celebration of the kill. Her shoulders are heaving, her eyes wide; she looks up towards Halsin at this enthusiastic speech and seems for a moment not to quite understand his words.

Then her eyes begin to clear, and she frowns.

"Thank me not," she says, a low, ironic mutter. "The slaughter was a pleasure."

For it is... it always is, whether she intends it to be or not. The Urge is always there in the background, no matter how necessary the kill.

Halsin lifts an eyebrow. "You sound all but deranged by blood," he says thoughtfully. "But I suppose even a feral wolf has a caring hound at heart."

Rakha blinks. This interpretation is so entirely unexpected that she has no idea how to respond to it. A caring hound...

Receiving no response, Halsin shrugs. "Return to the grove," he goes on. "I'll make my own way there. I can see to some matters there, and we can discuss what comes next amidst more bucolic surroundings than here."

He turns and walks away, leaving Rakha staring after him in bemusement.

-----

She catches Wyll grinning to himself out of the corner of her eye and raises her eyebrows questioningly. "What?"

He chuckles. "Nothing. Just...you get a particular look on your face," he says mildly, "when something's taken you by surprise."

"I see. I must have it often." She grimaces, rubs the blood on her palms off on her robes. "What did he mean?" she asks him abruptly, jerking her head to indicate Halsin disappearing into the shadows.

Wyll hesitates, watching her expression closely. "The same thing we've all been telling you, I expect. Something about the difference between killing mindlessly and for a reason."

She snorts softly, but her shoulders relax a little. "The caring hound. The one who kills with purpose, as Lae'zel said. Yes..." She nods slightly. "A monstrous outside and a cause within. Like you."

He laughs suddenly and shakes his head. "We may need to work on your tact," he says dryly. "But... yes. Perhaps we are two such hounds together, if we keep this course..."

[divineonealear]

Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm gonna post some of the ideas I had for my Blood Drive rewrite! I'll have it all under the cut.

General warnings for mentions of death, and grieving, and mental health struggles. Please read this at your own discretion.

So these are more about what they're doing immediately after the final cutscene in Book of Shadows. I've also completely rewritten Yuka as a character too. I'd also like to add that Seiko had survived in place of Naomi. (I love her but I personally felt I could do something more with Seiko as a character!)

Ayumi

Following the death of her sister, Ayumi struggles with her grief. Her depression worsens as she slowly begins to lose touch with reality and her sense of self. She begins to have a lot of internalized self hatred, which causes her to step down as class representative. As a result, her notable behavior has dumbed down to monotonous, almost lifeless actions. Instead, she displays the bare minimum, causing concern to peers and especially her fellow survivors. Due to her already shown mental instability there’s no telling what goes on in her head now.

Satoshi

On Ayumi’s recommendation, Satoshi takes the mantle in her stead. He becomes more responsible and realistic, while still keeping his positive mindset. In this way, one could say he grew up a bit. He also makes more of an effort to be a good older brother to Yuka due to him feeling responsible for her getting dragged into things. Being more level-headed in comparison to the group, Satoshi knows how to keep up the relaxed act whilst seeking psychological help. Of course, being forced into sugarcoating the truth doesn’t cover all of the mental grounds. Satoshi’s grief manifests in an internal anger, something he never wishes to display, thus he fills in the gaps by keeping himself socially distracted.

Seiko

Experiencing the feeling of loss all over again, Seiko struggles with being able to move on. Luckily since she and Satoshi were so close to Naomi, they both aim to eventually move forward together as they build a stronger friendship. She picks up a part time job working at a coffee shop alongside Yoshiki, while Satoshi helps watch over her younger siblings.

Yoshiki

Trying to get his life back on track, Yoshiki often struggles with what to do next. With his feelings for Ayumi now fading, he reluctantly aims to move on while still remaining to be a part of her life. In the past month, Yoshiki had gotten a job at a coffee shop and is working hard to become an honest, responsible adult.

Yuka

Due to her grief, Yuka became more and more angry on behalf of her brother’s now deceased friends. She uses her softball hobby as an outlet so that she doesn’t hurt anyone without meaning to. In the backyard of her home, she often hits softballs during her practice a little too hard. Despite this, she is still an incredibly nice girl.

Kuon

Since the death of Yui, Kuon has essentially become her replacement. She is unaware of this fact. As the heir to her family’s business, her career as a teacher is much to be desired by her relatives. Still, she remains calm and dedicates herself to her job and cares for her students.

I haven't written everything for the full cast yet, but i want to eventually! I actually wrote this with some friends I used to have, but we don't talk anymore.

[gogopierogi]

The Thaemine raid after story was released on the Korean servers on 10/25. I'm not going to summarize the entire story, but below is a translation of the story cutscenes.

Spoilers below the cut!

The first cutscenes opens with a demonic clown music box spinning and playing a tune atop a cliff overlooking the armies of mortals and demons amassing in Boreas Domain.  Kharmine saunters up to it. 

Kharmine: It’s a sad sight, isn’t it? A being without self, wandering without an identity. 

The clown dolls responds.

Clown Doll: You speak of others. 

Kharmine: It’s different for me. I at least have a very good idea of who I am. 

The clown doll stops turning and an enraged Kakul-Saydon emerges. 

Saydon: A half-hearted, powerless subject, blah, blah, blah…shut up!

Kharmine: You’re the one ranting and raving without knowing the subject, aren’t you, Kakul-Saydon? No…you’re a traitor who will remain in the shadows until the end. 

Saydon: Traitor?! 

Kakul-Saydon goes nuts and proceeds to spin around before attacking Kharmine. 

Saydon: You think I let you live? Huh? Huh? You’re just a shell. A shell that means nothing! A shell that doesn’t exist! Shell! Place! Energy!

Kharmine: A shell…

Kakul-Saydon backs off and lets Kharmine speak. 

 Kharmine: In the beginning, everything was chaos. All of it was mine. If it weren’t for Regulus's hypocrisy... Maybe Antares was right. 

Saydon: Yours? Yours? No, no, no. It was mine! Just wait and see, if my plan goes my way…!

Kharmine: Hasn’t your grand plan already gone awry once? 

Saydon: Cheeky…!

Saydon stomps towards Kharmine, apparently about to attack again, when Kakul speaks up. 

Kakul: It’s not time yet. 

Kharmine: You even know how to assess the situation…the power of time is amazing. If he even remembers me it’s going to be bad. 

Saydon: In any case, it won’t work out the way Regulus wants. 

Kharmine: The witch’s prophecy is out of our hands, Lauriel’s twisted fate is out of our hands, and there will be a great war, as great as the first one we fought…just watch. 

The cutscene ends with Kharmine and Kakul-Saydon watching the demons and morals fight as darkness starts to rain from the sky. 

The second cutscene takes place on Petrania, in the same canyon where Thaemine entered Kazeros’s service so many years ago. Brelshaza approaches Kazaros, who appears as a cloud of darkness. 

Brelshaza: The Red Moon Ritual was completed by Baratron and the dimensions have begun to wrap. Chaos and order, light and darkness, once parallel…a single world, a path that never began…it is being realized at your will, Lord Kazeros. 

Kazeros: Thaemine…long ago, I gave him the power of darkness when all he had left was his instincts. It was an unparalleled blessing, but also a curse of lasting oblivion. 

Brelshaza: Since his defeat by Kazeros, he has been in a dream that will never be broken. All that remains to him now is  instinct. He will never know what he must seek. 

Kazeros: The dimensional rift will finally allow my soul to enter Arkasia. 

Brelshaza: Kazeros, then…

Kazeros: No more prophecies. 

Brelshaza removes her horn crown and discards it on the ground. 

Brelshaza: The prophecy is complete…I will prepare for the end of days, Kazeros.

The final cutscene features Thaemine shortly after we last saw him, having broken free of his paralysis. He’s not happy. He swings around his sword, destroying rock formations. His breathing becomes labored, he clutches his head, and for a moment he goes completely still as his blue light fades. Suddenly dark energy erupts from him.

Thaemine: Kharmine.

He then walks off to parts unknown.

Here's a video of the entire story and the accompanying cutscenes:

[queen-scribbles]

I saw the post about the big Bioware sale and figured you're a good person to ask since I've seen you posting about Mass Effect/Dragon Age a lot. The games look fun, and I'm a sucker for complex stories with customizable protagonists, but I am a complete weenie about the more, uh, mature stuff when it comes to romance and the 'M' rating keeps scaring me off.

Like I'm over 18 and I'm fine with the violence/drinking/most of the swearing listed with the M rating, but I just get deeply uncomfortable with the other stuff. I'm just weird like that, I guess.

Is it really a lot? Or is there like a skip option, or some kinda setting that'll just have it be a fade-to-black sitch like SWTOR? I won't be too disappointed if there isn't, I kind of expect that really, but I figured it was worth an ask while the sale is on/to keep in mind for the next sale.

I have major social anxiety and am kinda embarrassed about all this, so sorry about the anon-asking. :P

No, no, you're fine, I understand completely. (I can take or leave a lot of the sexier stuff myself) Now I will try to remember romance scenes bc I haven't played some of these games in 4-5 years, and some of the romances I haven't gotten to yet. 😅 (if you don't mind spoilers you can always look up the romance on yt to check for yourself if it goes past your preferences. but if you do wanna avoid spoilers I will do my best) P much all the romances there's only even potentially anything that might be a problem in the Culmination Scene.

(If I got anything wrong anyone please feel free to correct me)

I know in ME1 the romance scene(with Kaidan for f!Shep, Ashley for m!Shep, Liara for either) there's sideview but shadowed nudity for f!Shep/Ashely/Liara(with Arm Strategically Placed to block boobs so all you really see is a little bit of butt) and Kaidan/mShep is shirtless.

ME2.... I think there's 0 nudity and ftb for Garrus, Thane, Tali, and Jack(ftb on tenderness, comes back in to fully-clothed snuggles in bed), Jacob's shirtless, and Miranda you half-unzip her catsuit uniform so you can see her bra. Oh, and there's a mini-romance-y thing with Kelly and she wears something really skimpy if you do that.

ME3... I need to caveat I've only actually gotten through ME3 with my Kaidanmancers + the Jackmancer, but I watched p much all the others on yt to hurt myself. Also it's been a while. I don't thiiiiink there's any full nudity, when it gets to the big sex scene toward the end, the furthest it goes is cuddling/foreplay with underwear still on, then cuts to waking up still just in underwear, and not all the romances get that. Some of them, ah. end prematurely for different reasons, or the romance isn't an actual companion in this game, so there's less content(Kaidan, Ashley, Garrus, Liara, and Tali get the most, since they join the team + have been established longer). There are new m/m and f/f exclusive option in ME3, but it's been long enough I don't rememberrrrrr if there's anything risque for them. I don't think so.

Andromeda I've only done Liam's romance and I don't think there was much in there(you can get him to stop wearing a shirt on the ship about halfway through and there's a makeout session on the couch that ftb). I think Cora's and Jaal's involve male and female shirtlessness, but I'm straight up blanking for the rest of them.

FOR DRAGON AGE

In Origins, the "big scene" for the romances does involve "sexy" movements, but the characters still have on underwear, so no nudity, and tbh with game engine/graphics advances that have been made a lot of people find those scenes cringey/silly more than sexy now. I think you can skip those, maybe, but if you can't there's dialogue after so you can just look away til you hear your chosen sweetie start talking and the conversation takes place fully clothed.

DA2 they did ftb for the four vanilla game romances. Love interest shows up, there's cutscene kissing fully clothed, ftb, wake up in underwear at worst. (Sebastian MY BELOVED is romanceable with a f!Hawke, but since he's a) chaste and b) a DLC companion, there's absolutely no sex scenes with him, you can get chaste married on his friend path and he'll talk about the two of you getting married to reclaim his homeland on his rival path).

DAI is... simultaneously best and worst in this regard lol Josephine and Solas there's nothing. Sera and Cassandra you see boobs and enough leg to hint at full nudity without actually showing it(Sera's might get a little more explicit, it's been longer for her so I don't 100% remember). Dorian's has... full rear nudity, but I think that's it. Blackwall's I don't remember, Cullen and Iron Bull both have scenes where you can tell they're naked, but the Inquisitor or an object is strategically in the way of the naughty bits.

OH AND not romance related, but possibly an issue, there are demons in the DRagon Age canon known as Desire Demons, who look like practically naked purple ladies(they have, like, an even skimpier version of the SWtOR Slave Girl outfit and are fond of caressing themselves seductively). They aren't in DAI, but do show up in the first two games for a few quests.

[cursed-sonic-opinions]

Am I likely to sound rude, nosy and very annoying by replying uninvited to https://www.tumblr.com/cursed-sonic-opinions/761501640501182464/here-to-share-my-unpopular-silver-opinions-because?source=share ? Well, maybe, but this has really gotten me. So I'll go with it.

Firstly: that's NOT an unpopular opinion, that's a mainstream opinion, I would bet money that, at the bare minimum, that's the opinion of 80% of the IDW Sonic readers. The unpopular opinion is the one that got blogs analyzing and explaining the japanese material, known by a really small part of the western fanbase, to explain why they consider IDW's take incorrect.

he's just mellowed out because he's matured

Well, this point even could be an explanation, if one of the Head Writers for the comics hadn't stated that he doesn't consider this to be the case in here: https://www.youtube.com/live/Y6N6Yq8XqlM?si=v8SResqGkrGNpdNB (around after 1:01:00 of the video)

When questioned if he knew Silver was rude in the japanese material, the Head Writer said "well, he's not rude in any other media", nothing like "well, he was, but now he's got friends yunno" proving he doesn't think Silver was rude for start, what contradicts the games: he calls Sonic a joke after fighting him (in 2006) and tells Knuckles "I have no time to deal with someone like you" (in Rivals) meaning that he doesn't remember these moments at best or that he never actually watched/played/read them at worst

In either case, his personality (in the comics) didn't change because he matured, but because Ian Flynn thinks he's always been like that.

Blaze says when they get separated that Silver gets insecure when he's alone

What 1) is not supported by anything in Sonic 2006 itself: after realizing they were separated, Silver darts off focused in locate the blue hedgehog on his own with no hesitation, he deadset focus on his mission even when nobody is there and makes no ceremony about facing the supposed Iblis Trigger alone. Note that the only times he doubts of his mission is because another character instigates him to do so (Amy & Shadow) and in one of these he does not hesitate to follow the complete stranger into a portal to an unknown time and then he takes with no hesitation the mission to follow and deal with Iblis, the being that would destroy his world in the future.

And 2) is result of a wrong translation, all the versions I could find of fantranslations of the japanese cutscenes states that Blaze called Silver something like "rash" or "reckless", both traits are very tied to overconfidence, what is very much opposite to insecurity.

I also remember him having some pretty awkward moments in Archie's Silver Age arc

I must paraphrase a previous confession here: Archie is not the main canon, it doesn't matter when talking of the main canon; the games!

The only reason to compare IDW with the games is because it follows, or at least should follow, the continuity of the games, opposed to Archie that created its own, separated, continuity!

Silver goes back to Sonic's time period specifically to participate in Dodon Pa's race

What, by chance, is yet another thing in which IDW contradicts the games, IDW Silver stated in the 2022 annual that he was sent to the past every time, and in the Urban Warfare Silver says he "can't freely time travel", but then in the games, Silver's always been stated to actively choose to time travel to the past or back to his future, just like in TSR's case.

I think Team Sonic Racing exemplifies Silver's behavior when there's no immediate danger.

Indeed, specially the japanese version, in which that scene with Sonic is completely different btw.

Also I think we should remember of the Sonic Colors DS, the biggest threat he faces in there is Orbot and Cubot, and doesn't get involved with the plot, so we see him when there's no immediate danger.

There's also the Sonic & Mario at the Olympic games btw, while not canon, they're still a depiction of Silver when the stakes are lower and there are no immediate danger as well, and better: provided by SEGA themselves

In the IDW comics, the most "flanderized" I remember him getting is when he first meets Whisper.

What then defines his dynamic with Whisper every other time he interacts with her. He's always happy like a kid who just heard they're going to McDonalds when it's about Whisper. It's always him who talks how amazing she is, it's always him who talks how much a honour it is to work with her, it's always always him who talks he will honored to train with her team. Why doesn't she ever do something like it? Why doesn't she ever verbalize how honoring is to work alongside one of the greatest heroes, who is only less heroic, inspiring and determined than Sonic himself?

C'mon, he met Shadow, the Ultimate Life Form, and at most he let him know the truth about Eggman Nega; he met Knuckles, the Guardian of the Master Emerald, and dismissed him with no regret; he met Sonic motherfucking the Hedgehog, a legend in the history books and just complained he was on his way. He worked with these three to save the world and the most he had to say was "Guess this world is in good hands with these guys around" and that WASN'T EVEN TO THEM!

Even with Blaze and all the thing of a friendship transcending the timeline erasure he doesn't help but is somewhat snarky and makes the point to try and showcase his competence when they were facing fucking Orbot and Cubot.

He gets excited because Whisper saved his life multiple times so he looks up to her.

Very funny that he doesn't look up to Sonic motherfucking the Hedgehog, who is a world famous hero, worked alongside him to save the world and also saved him (I could get in the merit that Sonic saved him from motherfucking Infinite, Eggman's masterpiece by the time, while the comics so far only portrayed Whisper saving Silver from a single Egg Pawn, but that's another critic for another day)

He also doesn't get even a third that excited when talking about Espio, even though he was the only who believed him and helped him to save the world from Ifrit, he also doesn't even say a tímid "Thanks" to Shadow when he understands Mephiles' plan, thus meaning that Shadow prevented him from becoming the Iblis Trigger he so much believed Sonic was.

(on another note, maybe the criticism that Whisper having to save Silver's butt multiple times is undermining should have been my focus here and now)

The parts of it that are highlighted changed, but his personality as a whole hasn't changed.

Which is why instead of standing for himself against Lanolin and bringing up that Duo's face fucking shapeshifted and he looked at him smugly as ran away, Silver just didn't do anything, I figure.

Silver is confrontative, he makes the point to appear before Sonic and tell him why he's there in '06, he calls Infinite a liar when they fight (and a bad one btw) in the eng version of Forces (and in the jap version he still confronts him by saying there's hope while they don't give up) and even when Knuckles and Rouge mocked him for believing the Chao could save the world he was confrontative and stated they would thank him when the world were saved, so where's this confrontation when he's left to die, being stared by a smug smile?? Forces is very recent, so if IDW had not changed his personality, this side should have showed given the situation.

Also, another thing is that in the Rivals duology Silver is perceptive, seeing through Eggman Nega's disguise twice and given TSR even suggests he can get a feeling when something is off about someone, he should've been capable to see through Starline's mask and figured he was not a good person even if he didn't look like a bad or crazy person, being more time around friends would never make this characteristic vanish, it would actually make one more capable to identify who is genuine and who's not.

.

[time-bone-swap-au]

Season 1-2 changes:

Season 1:

Bad Weather

The scene where DBK finds LBD’s crypt is replaced with an Oracle Bone Script landing on his head and him having to read it, understanding what it meant. Then he hears MK whisper in his mind about a power source that can strengthen his mind.

The Great Wall Race

Red Son doesn’t compete, cause he doesn’t find the poster, DBK and PIF go to a shrine built for MK as at some point of time his legend was altered so differently from LBD, they find after the episode, they find a similar version of the crypt, and MK turned himself into bones and they begin to grab the power source and return it.

The Skeleton Key

Mayor gives LBD the key upon MK’s instructions and Bai He feels and off vision from it, they find a cave and open the door, after that get attacked by Yin and Jin’s shenanigans. After that, they discover that the cave was holding an ancient relic, one telling how to defeat MK, unfortunately Mei and Bai He can’t read it so they left the cave, unknowingly releasing a demon that was sealed there long ago

Macaque

The Demon inside the cave was Macaque, MK had trapped him in a cave after he had betrayed him (Since I believe in the theory that Wukong never killed him, I decided that he was killed by a random demon, MK never alters this memory because he was unaware of Macaque’s backstory.) Macaque goes to meet Bai He (since Macaque wasn’t erased from history) who Bai He admits is her favorite over Wukong. Macaque has ulterior motives for getting Bai He’s powers after betraying her. It’s still because he wants to fight SWK but Macaque is fearful of MK. After the episode and getting heavily injured, Macaque gets captured and MK uses him utilizes him as a future host for after DBK

The End is here!

Everything in this episode stays the same, except Bai He is seen as LBD and DBK is slightly possessed. In the end though the whole cutscene that I showed via screenshot redraw with Macaque and MK and MK uses his body to ‘return his destiny to him’ the screen flashes to a shadow of MK possessing Macaque and Mayor insanely watching as he does.

Season 2:

Revenge of the Spider Queen

Instead of Bai He, it’s Macaque and he gives Spider Queen the Bone Vial.

The scene where Sun Wukong is caught off guard by LBD is replaced with witty banter as MK perfectly re-enacts Macaque’s personality, this is one of the time Macaque breaks out of the dreamscape and is in complete horror at how perfectly MK re-enacts him.

MK shows up with ‘Macaque’ and sees Demon Bull King, DBK remarks on his betrayal, as ‘Macaque’ just shrugs and says that he’s just working with the winning side and suggests that Bai He be placed alongside his mentor.

The part where Wukong says ‘You should’ve stayed buried’ is changed as Wukong remarks how disappointed he is in Macaque, he understands that he is angry at Wukong, but he didn’t have to go and involve DBK, much less capture him and use him for battery ‘Macaque’ only responds with Wukong using dirty tricks and people just to get his way and how he even got his ‘brothers’ captured just for the sake of protecting his Master. Wukong attacks out of anger but MK removes the glamour on Macaque and he sees the light blue marks and the scar tainting Macaque. Wukong looks back to hear that Macaque was actually revived and takes it upon himself to consult an old friend.

After the whole episode MK hides the Trigram Furnace for further use and returns to the Spider Queen as Macaque, using the shadows to speak instead of his physical form giving her an Oracle Bone Scripture (Translated) that could help her achieve victory, before disappearing again for the whole season.

Sleep Bug

The plot still remains the same, however they’re doing this in guidance of the Mayor. Syntax arrives with a different blueprint and a blueprint that Mayor needs to fulfill MK’s destiny and Bai He is more smarter giving Syntax a hard time before summoning the guardians.

Dumpling Destruction

Most of Season 2 is just the same just without MK, since he won’t engage so much with the Spider Gang. So Dumpling Destruction just happens without the trigram furnace and the LBD mech blueprints, Spider Gang just instructs Huntsman to find another artifact that isn’t the demon revealing mirror

In the start of the episode however, Wukong actually is fine in the Celestial Realm, he just went there to find Nezha, as he seems to know PIF and Red Son more than him. But when they said he wasn’t available he turned to find Guanyin, the start where Sun Wukong threatens a god is changed to him gleefully greeting Guanyin.

Minor Scale

Bai He actually just gets a note from Wukong on how to shrink, she then discovers Spider Queen’s plan and escapes to tell Pigsy and Tang.

Instead of showing Wukong in the start, the episode shows him in the end. Where he is seen having tea with none other than MK, who has briefly released Macaque but with a seal that he can’t inform anyone about his situation. Wukong is seen asking MK for advice about Macaque, it just cuts with MK saying ‘Let me see what I can do’

Shadow Play

This is during the time Macaque was briefly released, Macaque finds the shadow lantern and uses it for his plays, however he sees Bai He, and out of fear of MK uses this opportunity to build her strength even further, the episode plays normally but afterwards the Mayor comes and sees his causing trouble again, the Mayor and Macaque have a small conversation (While Macaque is being choked) and Mayor brings Macaque back to MK since he’s already done consulting Wukong.

72 Transformations

Bai He finally learns how to shapeshift and discovers that Spider Queen has completed her Mega Spider Mech (Ain’t no way in hell am I drawing that so you’re all going to have to imagine the mech) in the end Spider Queen’s Spider Mech bursts out of the ground and begins conquering the city.

The is the End!

Spider Queen tried to conquer the city by infecting the city with a more powerful venom instantly turning the people into spider goons, since they don’t have the Trigram Furnace, the gang has to think of another way to cure the city.

(Not sure what happens in-between this is a work in progress)

The ending shows Spider Queen doing community service and redeeming herself, and MK looking over the scene, proud at the sudden shift of the timeline.

[alln64games]

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

NA release: 3rd December 1996

PAL release: 1st March 1997

JP release: 14th June 1997

Developer: LucasArts

Publisher: Nintendo

N64 Magazine Score: 78%

Shadows of the Empire was a big “Expanded Universe” multimedia event with this story getting a novel, soundtrack (for the novel), comic book, toys and, of course, a video game. Shadows of the Empire was released on the N64 on PC. I was originally going to use the PC version for this, as the game is identical, but it has video cutscenes with voice acting, but controller support is poor (and the HUD goes tiny). With the help of remapping buttons, I was able to create a good setup that uses modern using the strafe setup.

I played this as a kid and I do remember enjoying it.

The game starts off during the Battle of Hoth from The Empire Strikes back, with you controlling a snowspeeder. This section is great, with the snowspeeder feeling great to control and toppling AT-ATs with the tow cable is great. Unfortunately, the level isn’t very long and it’s the best part of the game (you may notice the large amount of lives – that’s more for the poor platforming in later stages). If the entire game was like this, it would be a great game, but most of the game is on-foot.

You play as Dash Randar, who in this game is essentially a Han Solo clone (the novel expands the character’s personality a lot). You’re armed with a blaster that recharges, and you can get special ammo for it (best saved for bosses). The game heavily relies on autoaim, which is especially necessary as you can’t really aim up or down in any reasonable way (the aim button lets you, but it’s far too sensitive).

Trying to setup so you can flee Hoth, you start by watching the Millenium Falcon leave (shouldn’t Vader be standing nearby?) then blast your way through the stormtroopers attacking the rebel base. The shooting isn’t very satisfying and the movement is wonky.

After blowing up an AT-ST, you make your way off Hoth and blast TIE fighters in an asteroid field in a dreadful turret section with awful controls. The game at least gives you plenty of time to react as the bombs from the TIE bombers are really slow, and you have infinite missiles – they just reload between batches of 5.

Hunting for Boba Fett, Dash heads to a junkyard planet to get information from IG-88. I absolutely hate this level as a kid due to the controls but I didn’t find it too bad – I think the ability to strafe helps a lot with lining up jumps, and I never figured that out the first time round. It’s still a very ugly planet, though – Shadows of the Empire was definitely ahead of its time for its use of greys and browns. At the end of the level you take out IG-88, who gives you information on where Boba Fett is.

This is where the platforming really does take a nosedive. Dash’s jump is incredibly floaty and not difficult to control, and the narrow paths of this level are built for you to fall off constantly. You get a jetpack half way through which helps a bit, but is not as fun as a jetpack should be due to being slow and only possible to use for short bursts.

You fight Boba Fett and the Slave 1 at the end. I ran out of ammo, but found a spot where Slave 1 couldn’t hit me, so was able to hit it a few hundred times to destroy it.

Some text explains that after this, Boba Fett escapes and an assassin tries to kill Luke, so it’s up to you to help protect him.

As Luke chills out at Obi-Wan’s home on Tatooine, Dash hears of a swoop gang heading to kill Luke. Speeding through this level is great, but it’s much better to go slowly to take out enemies. You find out information that an Imperial ship contains the necessary information.

As Luke waits outside in his X-Wing, Dash assaults the imperial ship on his own (this game makes Luke seem weak). Most of this level is messing with door switches in a large cargo hold. There’s some secrets to find, but you need to work your way, then fighting a big droid near the end. The jetpack you found earlier would have been handy, but Dash left it on his ship. On a side note, I do really like the Outrider.

In order to infiltrate a base, we need to go through a sewer. Dash has absolutely no issue diving though massive amounts of excrement as you have to find a few different items to progress. The boss fight at the end is a horrible experience, with respawning tentacles and the poor jetpack controls underwater.

Going through the base your job is to find a reactor to place charges to blow up a space elevator. Luke is also infiltrating this base to save Leia, but that’s just background information and you never get to see them during gameplay. This is another dull level.

After another bad ship turret section, we get to actually fly the Outrider, and it’s great. You don’t get to focus on shooting other ships, though: your mission is to shoot four turrets then fly into the base and blow up the reactor, Death Star 2-style. The game ends with Dash seemingly not making it (but then reveals his fate in the final cutscene).

Shadow of the Empire is not as fun as I remember. The genre has evolved a lot, and the controls are just strange and floaty. The full story is probably good, but this isn’t a good adaptation as important points are relegated to scrolling text.

The first and last levels are superb. Some of the rest are good. A sad few are awful.

- James Ashton, N64 Magazine #1

Remake or Remaster?

This game definitely needs a remake, perhaps with a few more levels added as well, with better integration of the story – perhaps even working alongside Luke.

Official ways to get the game.

The PC version of the game is available via GOG and Steam