#“the game” is such a powerful heart wrenching arc

[lampochkaart]

I didn't like the new movie, so instead I drew fanart of the comic version of The Game, which in my opinion is SO much better

[scribefindegil]

Unlike a lot of stories about people with superpowers, MP100 doesn’t do civilian collateral damage. Koyama threatens all the delinquents in the alley, but leaves without touching them. Minori’s father gets impaled but the show takes pains to establish that he survives. all the big architecture-destroying fights either happen in isolated locations with only espers (and Reigen, lol) in attendance, or in the case of the world domination arc in buildings that have already been evacuated.

Teru, specifically, is used to going up against other espers. And maybe there’s a couple of non-powered Claw lackies thrown in there, but they chose to work for an organization of kidnappers with delusions of world domination; he’s not gonna lose any sleep over it.

And it’s fun. It’s like a game or a puzzle--figuring out how to replicate people’s moves, how to find their weaknesses, how to use them against them. Even when he loses to Shimazaki it just makes him more excited for the rematch. Don’t point knives at people--but when people keep coming to you looking for a knife fight, what are you supposed to do? If his powers are a tool, Teru thinks he’s found the perfect use for them: taking down any esper with less savory motives than his own.

And that’s why the scene where ???% levels the apartments around him hits so damn hard. Suddenly it doesn’t matter how well Teru can fight. Suddenly he--and we, the audience--are confronted with just how destructive psychic powers can be. And it’s terrifying. (And it’s heart-wrenching, because we know how much Mob hates the thought of hurting people, and Teru knows too). This isn’t a battle between espers, this is a natural disaster with dozens of civilians caught up in it.

It’s scary in a way that none of the other confrontations have been. It’s not a puzzle to solve. It’s not a solution that can be fixed by fighting. But Teru’s powers aren’t just a tool for fighting, and he realizes that.

Teru can’t beat Mob. Teru can’t save Mob.

But he can save everyone else.

[brightbeautifulthings]

The Sunshine Court by Nora Sakavic

"'What you hold onto is less important than the act of holding on itself. It's so easy to get lost in ourselves and this world. Sometimes you need to find your way back one tiny miracle at a time.'"

Year Read: 2024

Rating: 4/5

About: Jean Moreau is desperate to get back to the team that nearly killed him. The Ravens aren't the forgiving type, and the longer he stays with the Foxes to recover, the worse it will be for him when he returns. Except he won't be returning. In the wake of deaths in the Moriyama family and Neil's bargaining, Jean signs with the Trojans, an Exy team across the country known for their kindness on the court. It's an ill fit for a former Raven, who are taught to play the game as brutally as possible, but it's the least of Jean's worries with the threat of the Moriyamas coming to reclaim their property. Trigger warnings: child death, slavery, human trafficking, rape/assault, torture, abuse, organized crime, drowning, severe injury, burns, broken bones, panic attacks, anxiety.

Thoughts: It was an absolute delight to be back in this universe again. I can never quit reading the All for the Game series; once I've started, I have to devour all of them until I've finished, and this felt exactly like that. They're so immersive, and I had the urge to start over again from the beginning as soon as I was done. I was a little thrown off at first because this doesn't pick up at the end of The King's Men but rather a little before it, when Jean is first taken from the Ravens. Though initially confusing, I think it was a good choice because it allows us to start Jean's journey with him right from the beginning.

This book reminds me so much of The Foxhole Court. Jean's path has some almost eerie parallels to Neil's in that first book, where they're both learning how to be real people again in the wake of unimaginable trauma. Much like Neil's Foxes, it's his team that gives Jean a lifeline, and I loved the inside look on both the Trojans and the Ravens, who were largely mysterious to us in previous books. It's heart-wrenching to get a deeper look at the Ravens' systematic abuse, none a bigger target for Riko's cruelty than Jean. The Trojans are a much-needed counterbalance, the kindness and the optimism that the Ravens lack, although they're far from perfect.

In addition to writing wonderfully developed, compelling characters, Sakavic excels at balancing the trauma with humor in these books so that, as heavy as the topics sometimes get, we're never without a light (or a sassy comment) to draw us back out of the dark. Most of the novel is about Jean getting settled with the Trojans and learning how to function without such strict regiments; similarly, the advancement is largely in character development rather than plot. Though I do have the sense that Jean has come a long way by the end, it's not quite as powerful as Neil's arc in that first book. I was definitely left wanting much more of this story.

[sparatus]

6, 8, 16 and 18 for the fandom asks plsplspls

🔥choose violence ask game

hiiii yes i know this one's from march before my laptop broke it's fine

6. which ship fans are the most annoying?

honestly pretty much every shepard ship fan is annoying in their own way but i gotta say the 40+ white cishet woman mshenko fetishists make me intensely angry. some of them openly admit they've modded the game so much they're not even playing the same game as the rest of us and then get mad at everyone else for not seeing what they do. sorry to my shenko mutuals i love you but there's some fucking mlm fetishists in there with you and i want to hit them with sticks for getting close to ruining kaidan for me again

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

bangs hands on the table GERREL ISN'T AN IDIOT DOUCHEBAG AND YOU SHOULD BE SHOT IF YOU TAKE THE REN INTERRUPT TO PUNCH HIM he has a valid point in firing on the dreadnought from his pov he has NO idea how long the shields will be down or if you're okay or what the hell is going on and frankly that's how fucking war goes and even if he wasn't YOU STILL CAN'T JUST PUNCH A FUCKING ADMIRAL IN THE GUT

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

why do so many people argue over which biotic characters could hold the barrier in me2. kaidan could not do that. even he himself says he's not super powerful. learning to reave =/= the immense power output the barrier required. see also garrus being the bestest sniper ever, tali as an engineering God, etc etc it's okay for your faves to not be the most amazing in their fields actually the risk of failure makes the story more compelling actually

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

you all ignore morinth So Much. she has so much potential for either a very chewy negative spiral or very heart-wrenching redemption arc. literally on that one post of mine positing that it's implied she killed her own sire in a tragic accident like 90% tag it as samara and go "oh poor samara this is so sad for samara" FALSE. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT MORINTH. don't talk to me about how sad it is for samara's child to kill her bondmate when MORINTH IS THE ONE WHO HAS TO LIVE WITH THE MEMORY OF HER FATHER DYING WHILE MELDED TO HER justice for my girl morinth both the fandom and the canon shaft her so much

[h0estar]

catching up to bnha (contains spoilers for chapter 362)

BAKUGO REALLY DIED I'M GOING TO COMBUST

i saw the spoilers years ago, and let me tell you, i was livid. some MHA fans are genuinely incapable of having basic human decency and think it's edgy to just post whatever on social media. WITHOUT WARNING. tumblr gets a pass because at least it has spoiler tags, even if i follow them anyway, lmao. but, i was definitely going through it! dark days, man.

you see, i would've absolutely grieved this moment had i read this weekly. i would've cried, despaired, and cried some more. i would've been absolutely devastated. but because i knew it was coming, all i could do was stare in shock. heartbroken? definitely. but the emotional impact was definitely lessened. rip to the feels i could've had.

ANYWAY

i know he's alright 🙄

and this "death" feels like a slap in the face to Bakugo's entire character arc. i mean what was the point of him working his hardest to be number one? to have his goals on full display for the readers time and time again? to have other characters rooting for him? to display his determination and drive? to develop his character so well? it would be a huge waste to just throw him away as a plot device for another one of izuku's rage-fueled power-ups. he's more than that :(

i mean, sure... his heart exploded or whatever... and i mean yeah sure there was a bit of flashback. but he's had a such a great development, it'd make no sense to just take him out so early in the game. right? RIGHT?!?!!!!

also, not to mention the multiple death scares this mf had. therefore, i am definitely not buying it 🙄 (even if it looks real this time but whatever!!!! i know he's alright!! he's alive and well. i know it because of the spoilers, okay? i think. i dont know. was that him? crazy. i think it was. maybe. i hope? hahhahhdaidjkssk)

anyway, i'd have to brace myself for the next volume. this volume was hell on earth with toya vs shoto, endeavor vs afo, shigaraki in the sky, etc. i sense pain, pain, and more gut wrenching pain in the next volumes so @h0estar, be prepared.

honorable mention to horikoshi's art. i love love love love bnha's art style so much. see, as much as i love the anime, i'm always a sucker for some godtier manga art because you can see the artist's improvement and emotion in his works. horikoshi is so passionate about the details and i love how he goes beyond (plus ultra?!) with his works, considering this is a weekly shonen. in all his years, his work's quality never deteriorated 👏🏻 it's one of the reasons why i'm a manga > anime girlie for MHA. note that i'm not artist so i could be yapping about things i don't understand, but i'm sure you get me! ha ahaha

[buckybarnesss]

okay okay so teen wolf the movie happened (and it was bad). i haven’t seen it but i have some thoughts from what i have read about it. what is teen wolf but the fans taking the concepts and trying to make them work?

here’s my wish basically:

the nogitsune is a trickster. it thrives on chaos, pain and strife. so it coming back one has to ask: what is the game? what is the trick?

i will be referencing this fantastic meta series because it brings up a great point. the entire possession of stiles, the entire gambit of the nogitsune was an attempt to use stiles to get to the power of the nemeton. 

that is what the nogitsune always wanted. a motivation i believe remains true. however, i think now it also wants revenge on stiles and his pack for defeating it but very specifically it’s target is stiles.

when we see stiles playing go with the nogitsune it is about the concession of territory. what territory you ask? the territory of stiles’s body and also that of beacon hills. the nogitsune of course was cheating and stiles was an inexperienced player. 

15 years later though? that is a different animal. things will have changed. 

here are the ground rules for the state things as i think they likely would be:

most of fandom agreed that stiles was a something. that he was magic. a spark. like many things it was all there in the subtext of the show. if i had my way stiles would be the emissary of scott’s pack. scott and stiles always came as a packaged deal.  (one reason i don’t buy the movie is because there is no way come hell or high water stiles abandoned beacon hills, scott, or derek or his father for any extended period of time. davis was salty dylan said no. period. the sitles and scott friendship is the very heart and soul of teen wolf. i know there is a large section of fandom that doesn’t like scott. i think they’re wrong and that’s that.)

allison is dead dead. there is no cheap resurrection here for her. her death was a cataclysm in the teen wolf universe. bringing her back would make it lose it’s impact. scott and lydia’s arcs would have been better served on letting allison go, and for chris to show how allison changed him and how he honors her memory. 

stiles is still with the fbi and is gone from beacon hills for extended periods but he has not abandoned anyone. however, him coming and going from beacon hills conveys that stiles is running away emotionally from things (ie: failed relationship with lydia, his remaining guilt over events, and a jeep metaphor with derek)

allison’s supposed resurrection is a ploy by the nogitsune to distract scott, lydia and chris argent as them scrambling to figure out if it’s real and if allison is actually allison gets them out of the way for the real game.

stiles and the nemeton. 

if i had my way scott would call stiles pretty much immediately because he has the good sense that melissa mccall gave him.

the wrench would be stiles doesn’t answer because he’s busy on an important case or what not. it doesn’t really matter the why i guess what is important is that he doesn’t answer the call from scott initially. 

as i said i think it works if stiles is emotionally running away from beacon hills and his friends so he buries himself in work. he’s refusing the call of being a hero and losing those precious moments to ignorance costs him and the pack later.

scott does leave a voicemail along the lines of dude allison’s back and so is the nogitsune get your ass here.

since in my version allison is dead dead the nogitsune is using a facsimile of her to fuck with everyone and cause pain, strife and chaos to feed off. this can only work for so long though and it’s real target hasn’t come yet. so with stiles not there and allison only being a distraction for so long the nogitsune has to raise the stakes. 

enter the hales. 

the hales are the old guardians of beacon hills and therefore a problem/nuisance to the nogitsune’s plans. in more ways than one. it also knows derek and stiles are close as derek worked really hard to protect stiles during his possession and prevent him from being killed. 

despite it being over a decade later the nogitsune would still use what knowledge it has of stiles to continue to exploit his relationships to create pain and as a lure.

as for derek i think that we can keep a lot of the same. derek having hale auto (good for him), having eli (also good for him) are nice things and derek hale deserves nice things. 

using allison to go after eli and derek the nogitsune not only tries to resurrect the tensions of old but brings in another element to lure stiles back once he finally gets involved. 

an aside because this is really just me rambling: 

over the fifteen year gap scott and derek probably eased into a friendly relationship. they aren’t best friends but probably talk casually, eli does lacrosse and scott is the coach, they talk werewolf business and keep beacon hills safe.  

malia and derek were finally allowed to build a familial relationship and she’s like a cool aunt to eli. peter is still peter and the man always had a complicated relationship with derek so he’s sort of peripherally around. cora is probably around being awesome somewhere but her and derek talk regularly and she visits her brother and nephew frequently bringing cool gifts from her travels. isaac sends postcards that go on the fridge. 

naturally being the shipper trash i am i would make sure to be clear that stiles and derek have a relationship. that in the fifteen year gap their friendship grew and flourished as they supported each other through things. that derek really got to actually start to heal from his trauma and even though stiles isn’t quite there derek’s been there for him too. they developed a close bond. stiles being there for eli? give it to me. stiles teaching eli to drive in the jeep? i want it. which would be why eli’s always stealing the jeep. to be closer to stiles and annoy his dad.

but this is all set up for the real meat of what i have been thinking:

derek still dies BUT

it’s not eli he dies in front of. it’s stiles. he does not take it well.

stiles eventually gets scott’s message and books it to beacon hills. the facsimile of allison the nogitsune is using digs into that guilt he has over everything that happened with not just the nogitsune but will allison’s death, with claudia and with what happened with donovan. it rips into stiles’s psyche wanting back in. it wants to use stiles to not just cause pain but to use his magic like a battery to feed off stiles’s connection to the nemeton. 

because i have always believed that when stiles, scott and allison did the ritual sacrifice at the end of 3A they became tied to the nemeton, they became it’s champions and protectors. 

anyway, derek once again keeping his track record of saving stiles sacrifices himself with parrish assisting. 

the delay in stiles getting scott’s message cause them not to have a plan that would give stiles time to prepare to face the nogitsune and prevent derek’s death. 

BUT 

it’s a gambit by the nogitsune. it thinks it wins no matter how it shakes out.  remember derek was set up as the king on stiles’s chess board way back when. it has removed not just a hale from the board but someone important to stiles. someone he’d go through great lengths to save. that’s a play. that’s the trick. 

derek dying causes stiles pain just as much as it removes him off the board and if stiles tries to bring him back he has makes himself (and the nemeton) vulnerable. it is a gambit

how does it end? i don’t know. i like the idea of stiles having to confront himself and descend into his own personal hell to save derek. he has to overcome his fears and guilt. has to open himself up to derek to save him. you know what i mean. 

i have this idea of stiles meeting paige in the inbetween place. she’s tied to the nemeton too as it’s where she died. it was her death that powered the nemeton enough to save julia/jennifer when kali tried to kill her. she’s representative of derek’s own guilt. stiles has to confront not just his trauma but derek’s too. 

he would also meet allison. the real allison argent. allie a who saved the day. she’d tell him to stop blaming himself for her death that it wasn’t his fault and she went to save lydia and him. 

derek gets brought back of course. stiles stops running and finally decides that he wants to come home. and you lets just heavily imply he means home with derek and eli. his dad is thrilled. 

all in all: the pack saves the day and allison is finally, truly laid to rest. 

other points i didn’t lay out but also not a comprehensive list.

kira comes back because of course she does she was the other half of the nogitsune plotline and this is my version. her and scott are awkward at first but maybe by the end there’s hints towards a reconciliation because they were cute as hell and this is a story where people grow and come back together 

scott is a vet and is working with deaton

deaton shows up to talk cryptically with stiles about the ritual to bring derek back and have a nice moment with scott because deaton was more of a father to him than rafael ever was.

hale👏 family 👏 lore

the sheriff being eli’s grandfather for 120 minutes

scott treating derek like his brother in law

lydia and stiles broke up over different life goals and desires not a stupid premonition. 

stiles and scott get a crying, healing hug for 15 minutes

liam’s mom gets a name (this has always bothered me okay)

liam and mason being dumbass best friends and mason trying to get liam to help him with his work. it works 45% of the time. 

they actually say that stiles is derek’s anchor out loud

the sheriff and sitles having a conversation where the sheriff isn’t sure stiles should try to bring derek back because it could go badly and stiles bluntly asks if the sheriff would bring claudia back if he could. 

i want peter to talk about talia. if peter is going to be there i want mr unhinged to be absolutely spitting mad that derek died in hell fire and helps bring him back. 

stiles and derek talk about their relationship in the most convoluted way possible. hence: the jeep. 

stiles tells derek “what you thought death was going to get you out of this relationship?”

me: teen wolf the movie but what if stiles was there like he was supposed to be and it was pretty gay. 

[yoiku]

I really don't know how I feel about going back to FFXIV with DT dropping soon. (putting this under a read more due to some depression talk)

I still very much love the game in my mind and have kept up with what i think is the majority of news, but I have not logged in since jan/feb of 2022. Basically maxed out my crafting&gathering professions after endwalker main story and since then I haven't been able to bring myself to resub. Well, For a lot of it I also haven't had the time or money either but i have been thinking the entire time that i'll go back after the initial rush with Dawntrail launch has calmed down. Now I don't know anymore. As much as I loved the conclusion of thing with endwalker, I think I played it at a very bad time and my mind keeps connecting the game to that time now. I was suicidal around the time EW launched and the story resonated a bit too much with me at the time, so much so that I doubt I'll ever be able to replay it. I loved it but it also became what feels like a straight link to how bad i felt about myself and life while i was playing through it. And i think because of how anxious I was at the time as well really did a number on my already frail self-esteem when it comes to doing any kind of group gaming. The trust system is handy for that but I would rather play mmos with people than npcs. At the same time just the thought of queueing to a roulette turns my stomach a little too much. So I'm feeling pretty conflicted. DT seems like a nice fresh and a lighter start before likely delving into another heart wrenching story arc later, so part of me is still looking forward to try it. At the same time I feel like going back to the game might make me feel worse again. Part of me wants to roll a new character entirely but I know I don't have the time or will power for that again. I miss having any kind of social gaming circle to be an active part of. Well, I miss having more social interaction in my life in general but I'm too afraid of feeling like I'm alone in a group again. that sucks even more than just being alone as it is when you got the ol' depresso stuck in your brain. I dunno, maybe I need to get therapy before I give any of that a try again. (at least the progress on that has been moving along this year) I definitely feel like this is entirely a me problem after all. How I wish they sold self-esteem or confidence somewhere, I still haven't figured out how to find any of that within myself.

[moon--mama]

I just saw a bunch of theories on another site claiming that Gwyn’s mother could be Ianthe, and her father could be Lucien.

Here’s the issue with that: the timeline.

Gwyn’s grandmother was a nymph and her grandfather was High Fae. That means her mother was half nymph and half Fae.

Let’s start at the bottom and work up. Catrin and Gwyn are about 20. That means their mother partook in the Rite 20 years ago.

At that time, a lot of High Fae are under the mountain. Amarantha does let some out to celebrate Calanmai, so it doesn’t take every High Fae out of the equation. The biggest hint to Gwyn’s parentage being discussed by fans so far is her red hair. But we already know that her grandfather was associated with the autumn court. That means her autumn connections are likely NOT through her father.

It seems that in ACOTAR, red hair is a dominant trait. Therefore, anyone mixing in with the autumn court would likely have some shade of red/auburn hair. ((I’ll just mention here that the human queen Vassa has red hair and large blue eyes, matching Gwyn in description)).

So the red hair would carry to a grandchild easily.

Two things:

Where did the surname Berdara come from?

Who are potential candidates for her father and grandfather?

Gwyn’s Mother:

Gwyn’s mother cannot be Ianthe. In ACOWAR, Feyre notes that Ianthe was hiding out in Vallahan for 50 years while Amarantha terrorized Prythian. The timeline doesn’t add up.

Plus, Gwyn’s mother was half nymph. Her people lived in rivers, and Catrin had webbed fingers. Ianthe is High Fae—not half nymph, as far as Feyre ever observed.

BUT, it’s interesting to note that Mama Berdara tried to live in the Autumn Court for a while. What does “untamed” mean? I believe that it means she would not keep quiet about her parentage. She couldn’t be “tamed” into playing the political games of the Autumn Court. If she’s tame enough to be a priestess and live at Sangravah, then it has nothing to do with her avoiding confinement. Mama Berdara was sent away to keep her quiet.

Also, Mama Berdara is dead but we don’t know what happened.

Lifespans don’t get discussed much in ACOTAR, since everyone is constantly on the verge of being murdered, but they do get discussed in Crescent City. Generally, the different species live…

Asteri: forever?

Fae: 1000 years

Angels: 500-1000 years

Shifters & witches: 500 years

Humans: 100? Years

If Mama Berdara died naturally, she would have likely been between 500-1000 years old. Gwyn doesn’t mention her death beyond this, suggesting that it wasn’t a murder or anything traumatic.

Gwyn’s Grandfather:

The fact that Gwyn’s mother was brought to the Autumn court as a baby suggests that her father had a position of power. Unless he’s a random unknown character, that leaves all the men of the Autumn court as potential suspects.

The popular theory is that Lucien is Gwyn’s father, and that idea does work.

Rhysand says this to Lucien in ACOTAR, which indicates that Lucien is less than 500 years old. That’s a lot of Calanmai hookups. Also, it makes Lucien potentially old enough that he could have been the Autumn Fae who fell in love with the nymph.

All that we know about Lucien’s first love, Jesminda, was that she was a lesser fae who lived in the countryside. Was she a nymph? It’s possible, since Alis proves that lesser fae are capable of moving from one court to another. It would be a heart-wrenching story arc for Lucien to discover that Gwyn was a surviving remnant of his love.

But I’d like to propose two alternatives.

Beron: the irony of a High Lord alphahole who murdered his son’s lover for being “lesser fae” also siring a daughter with a “lesser fae” would be too rich. He doesn’t have any official daughters at all, though. And Lady Autumn’s thing with Helion suggests that perhaps Beron has been distracted elsewhere romantically.

Eris: it would be somewhat poetic if the eldest Autumn lad who seems to be a secret softie had changed because of his love for a nymph. Maybe his father’s treatment of Lucien softened him up towards the “lesser fae.” Maybe his father’s rejection of his love and his daughter caused him to help Lucien when Beron killed Jesminda.

Also, Gwyn might know the identity of her grandfather. She specifically says that her mother never told her who her father was. But if Mama Berdara was tossed out of the Autumn court, what’s the likelihood that she would have shared her family connections with her daughters? Especially if she knew that she was coming up on her death due to her age—she’d want them to know where to turn for help.

Berdara…Who?

So if you google this, Berdara means “blood” or “bloodied.” But it can also mean “of a certain ethnic background” as in, the blood of ancestors.

Is this nomenclature a hint about the past, or the future?

Gwyn is one of fourteen people to achieve the Carynthian status in the Illyrian Blood Rite within the past 500 years. Does her surname mean that she’s destined for a life of bloodshed and warfare?

Gwyn’s family is brutalized when the temple of Sangravah is attacked by Hybern. Could her surname be a nod to the way her sister was murdered?

If she happens to share blood with Beron, Eris, or Lucien, is her surname a hint that she is “of the blood” of the Autumn royal family?

Also—where did this surname originate? Is it from her mother, her father, or her grandparents? Arguably, Berdara sounds a bit like Vanserra.

For my Spring Court believers:

Yes, it’s possible that Gwyn is the daughter of Tamlin during the Rite. But wouldn’t her mother have mentioned being chosen as “The Maiden?”

Twins do tend to run in families. And what we don’t know is whether or not Tamlin’s dead, cruel elder brothers were twins. If they were, it’s a point in the favor of him being Gwyn’s father.

Also, as many have observed, his redemption arc would work better if he was dealing with a paternal love instead of a romantic love. So I’m in favor of a daddy Tamlin revelation.

My only point against Tamlin’s paternity is the whole “lightsinger” concept. Tamlin does not seem to be a lightsinger. The only light-manipulating characters so far have been Feyre and Helion, but THAT would be messed up. If Lucien and Jesminda were Gwyn’s grandparents, and Helion is Lucien’s father but also Gwyn and Catrin’s father…ugh. It seems too complicated to be likely. Perhaps the lightsinger powers come from the nymph bloodline.

Theoretical Family Tree:

Looks like we have to wait for the next book to know for sure! Anyway thanks for reading over my theories. Let me know what you think!

[fanworldbuildingfun]

I’m 35% into Valhalla and I need to vent a bit I have such a... Love/hate thing for this game???  I mean. From the “Mythology set” it would be my second-favorite, after Origins

(Which is an undisputed leader for the perfect mix of lovely world, lovely protagonists, and heart wrenching story which - most importantly - ties in to the Assassin lore)

Valhalla gets #2 after Origins for a very simple reason: while I may have issues with Eivor (not the writing; I find them pretty fleshed out, but for the moments when story decides to sod your dialogue choices and defaults to prideful hothead), I did not click with Kassandra, whom I decided to start Odyssey with. A little over 15% in, and I switched to Valhalla. I fully intend to see if Alexious would click better, after I’m done with Valhalla

(and just to clarify: I’m playing the “Let the Animus decide” option for Valhalla, co Eivor is female in main parts of game)

Now. One thing I have to mention: I’m a completionist and I’m easily sidetracked by non-mainline quests. Which means that, while I’m doing main plot quests in power level order and I’m only on Oxenefordscire Arc right now, I have a lever 5 settlement and 200 power for Eivor. Which means, I am at this point invested in the role playing aspect of game

And had a lot of time to tinker Eivor to my preferences Now, the thing I am having issues with: I have, as I mentioned, a love/hate situation for Eivor. I*like* how I got them acting at this point, and am managing to rock, more or less, the Hidden One aesthetic and behaviors now. Which yeah, comes with its own issues since you can’t really join the Brotherhood Point is, my Eivor isn’t going in guns blazing. They also aren’t going to get into your face and will consider other options if it’s beneficial for the situation. Even if it doesn’t exactly go with the “Dane” attitude to the problem Which makes the moments where the game goes more linear a problem Case in point, the start of Oxenefordscire. And the dialogue with Sigurd and Basim hit me right into the face. Because my Eivor isn’t going to toss accusations straight at Basim after seeing them act so odd. Not after having spent time running errands with Haytham and exploring old bureaus. The more likely option they’d entertain would be that someone got to both of them But instead, you have Eivor going all “Odin and Loki” in this situation - without any obvious reason?? I mean it would make sense if you play Eivor as the more aggressive type, but I did not. This kind of defeats the purpose for giving us the option to tune Eivor’s behavior - and in a scenario where, subjectively, Sigurd is the one acting more sus than Basim!  (Subjectively because, at this point, one can either see Sigurd as being influenced by sus Basim who has Agenda OR, as Sigurd being unreasonable and Basim appeasing him to avoid confrontation) Anyway. I’m hoping there will be some shifts further on because this has been frustrating me something awful Moreso than Dag being forced as a critic on Eivor while I’m busy running Eivor around and securing us alliances, and making exactly zero claims at being a Jarl (And I did get a bit spoiled beforehand, so with how the entire Dag situation is supposed to play out? I feel like I’ll be feeling all “sod it, I quit, peace out” by the end but without actual ability to do it. Would have been lovely if there was an option to at least have a talk where you seriously consider joining Hidden Ones but alas) ...This is going to get frustrating won’t it. RPG but not quite. I’d say they should have kept RPG elements at Origins level - at least when it comes to dialogue / personality. Call me spoiled but my basis for good RPG dialogue-pick comes from Bioware’s Star Wars games / Dragon Age series. And those won’t fit into Assassin’s Creed, unless we are talking Alternate Universe / Modern Time line game

[honey-minded-hivemind]

My favorite character from the Owl House is Hunter because his character arc is so good and his relationship with Willow is adorable. (He literally fell for her at first sight)

And my favorite character from X Men is Kitty (I hate her relationship with Cyclops because she was a CHILD AND HE WAS A GROWN ASS MAN WHEN THEY MEET IN THE COMICS. Also can I just say that I hate that they make Bobby (the guy who does the ice thing) gay because that came out of nowhere and it only happened because an alternative version Jean Gray and her version of Bobby is gay so she decides that all versions of Bobby is gay and she needs to help them be their true self and Bobby who keep in mind has shown sexual and romantic interest in women up to this point 'realizes' he's gay and the rest of the comic is just him coming out to everyone one by one and hardly anything else happens. I wouldn't have minded so much if it wasn't for the fact that most media still treats sexuality like there's only two options gay or straight which completely erases Bisexual, Pansexual, Demisexual, Asexual, to name a few. It just grinds my gears you know anyway sorry for the rant. Kitty deserves a good love interest hopefully she gets one)

I feel like if reader had magic I feel like it would be similar to ether to Luz's or Eda's.

Hunter was so awesome, and he felt relatable, too. He and Willow are cute together, let them have plant and palisman babies!

I like Kitty, and I haven't read the comics (except a handful) so I didn't even know that relationship was thing. (Who the f*ck wrote that?!) I use my favorite X-Men medias as canon, along with head and heart canons, because let's face it: There are so many separate comics with different writers, different movies and timelines, even three (now going to be four) separate X-Men cartoons, whatever books and games they have for the various media, and even the anime and other Marvel shows where the characters show up from time to time. It is SO confusing. So, I just pick my favorite out of the bunch and roll with those (and usually it makes enough sense. Except the timeline changes in the movies. That STILL confuses me. Who is alive? Who is dead? Hopefully Deadpool fixes things).

And yeah, for Bobby, only one version of him was gay. It would have made more senses if they built that into a story arc, took it slowly, instead of being so abrupt. Let the guy be gay or bisexual, but at least make it make sense and not just be considered a quirk or passing fancy. Give it some development. Some thought. Make it mean something. Let it happen like how The Owl House portrays romance and self-discovery. (I myself am part of the asexual community, and that took awhile to figure out, and to this day I'm still finding out more about how I view relationships, platonic or romantic or otherwise. I'm not sure if I truly am interested in romance or not, but in the past I had a crush on a guy and girl, and later found out I just thought they were really great friends). This stuff can take time, it can get messy and feel gut-wrenching, but it doesn't make a person less for being bisexual or gay or lesbian or asexual or straight or trans. None are better than the others, and none are less than the others. It does help to realize all of this isn't back and white. It's a big, mixed canvas of grays in every shade of cloud and ash and silver and stone and eggshell and storm and smoke. (Point is, LGBTQA+ isn't back and white, neither is being straight, but these things are not just quirks. They shouldn't be treated that way, as those are valid beliefs and emotions that don't go away). (I hope I said this right, I'm not always great explaining my thoughts on this kind of thing).

Reader having a power similar to Luz or Eda would be so wild! Surprise, they have glyphs! Surprise, they're part owl beast! They have wild magic, they're blessed by the last Titans, they kicked an evil old emperor/hypocrite into dust! The series finale might have been a little rushed (thanks a LOT, Disney. You should have given them extra time! Extra episodes! A whole lot more episodes than just three for the third season!) but I thought it was still good for the constraints put on Dana and her team. They did good.

[goldazu]

Okay, I know people are tired of my Pokemon shenanigans, but hear me out. Some people were also interested in what I thought about the overall plot and I will try to go ahead and give my two cents on it.

Personally, I'm somewhat sick of the same recycled Pokemon plot in which the rivals are overly friendly, hold your hand throughout your whole journey, and act a little too light-hearted for my tastes. Give me a mean rival again, those were fun. However, that isn't to say I didn't enjoy Nemona and Arven in particular. Especially Arven. His arc was very mind-blowing for me by the end of the game considering what happened with his family.

Truth told, before I started the game, I definitely heard rumors of people like "the story made everyone cry." So, I wanted to see what exactly was so heart-wrenching about it. Initially I thought it was the whole plot arc with Arven and his sick dog who showed little to no signs of recovery even as you collect the Herba Mystica (basically nutrient-loaded food for the Pokemon) for him to feel better, which I'll admit was indeed sad and tugging on my heartstrings at some point, but it wasn't anything too eye-opening for me all the same.

Little did I know, this was just the beginning of it.

As the player explores Paldea and collects the Herba Mystic for the professor (Sada or Turo depending on your version—I played Scarlet so I got Sada), your ride legendary also gains some new powers. Dashing, jumping, swimming, gliding, climbing, etc. It's clear throughout the adventure that Arven and the professor have strained relationships due to Koraidon/Miraidon yet the player doesn't really know why until the end, which I consider the most exciting part of the overall story.

Once the Herba Mystica subplot was finished, the player then has to make their way to the forbidden Great Crater since Arven just kinda goes "okay, we need to find my mom/dad." Yes, the professor is revealed to be his parent, though I didn't see it coming even when in hindsight they do resemble each other. That's on me, I guess. Oops? Anyway, the professor up until that point has and continues to communicate with you, the player, via Rotom phone so you never actually get to meet them. It turns out they're "trapped" in the lab in Area Zero, which leads you and the gang to travel there despite the prehistoric/futuristic Pokemon crawling about. All of which are quite powerful in their own right.

Eventually as you approach the lab, it's revealed those Pokemon from the past/future are too dangerous for the ecosystem and must be stopped/contained in their "respective times." It makes sense, to be fair. Should they escape Area Zero, then they'd undoubtedly infest all of Paldea and probably turn the whole region into a living Hell for all the other, much more weak Pokemon who are from the current time period. So, the professor asks you to disable the time machine that they themselves made to prevent that from happening, since a lot of the paradox Pokemon are already starting to go out of control.

Sounds easy enough, right? Well, there's just one small complication.

Turns out the professor is actually an AI based on Arven's real parent, who died in the respective time zone of their field of study. They died in an accident trying to protect Koraidon/Miraidon yet somehow the AI still lives on. Ironically enough, even the AI recognizes the whole time machine thing was going to be a bad idea and faults the original professor for it. They warn you that if you try to disable it, they will be programmed to fight you since anything that tries to stop the time machine is immediately deemed a threat.

Now, this is what I find very interesting. The AI is on your side, yet you have no choice but to defeat them in battle. Even though they don't want to fight, it's just how they're wired and programmed, unfortunately. This battle is also very exciting from a blind player's perspective because the AI's whole team is comprised of Pokemon solely from the "past" and "future" that the player has yet to encounter, forcing you to guess their weaknesses if you haven't already spoiled yourself by this point. For those going into the game 100% blind, I can see why the fight poses the greatest challenge yet.

Anyways, after you defeat them, the AI explains they can't leave the time machine which is why they were "stuck" in the lab all this time. Despite your efforts, it doesn't exactly "shut down." There are too many protocols and it turns into a Koraidon vs Koraidon (or Miraidon vs Miraidon, again, Scarlet vs Violet differences) showdown. Yes, there are two of them, by the way. Apparently the one you own is the more submissive one who lost a territory fight or something, but I think it's kind of awe-inspiring that it beats the one it originally lost against. It just goes to show that since you traveled with it all throughout the game, your bond overcame everything else.

Instead of disabling/destroying the time machine, the AI decides they, too, want to go on their own journey. All this time, monitoring you as you collected the Herba Mystica, beat all the gym leaders, challenged Team Star, etc., it's revealed they envied you. Makes sense, since they spent all that time tethered to the lab/time machine. I guess even AI can develop a thirst for adventure.

Enough recap, here's where I add in my opinions on everything.

Honestly, the idea of an AI character in Pokemon developed this way is very interesting to me. I know they tried to do similar in the past, but the exposition here was much more intense than other games. And the fact that it's revealed Arven's sole parent who already spent little to no time with him throughout his childhood as is died, I realized "wow, this is darker than I thought for a Pokemon game." I love it. I actually came to adore the professor more knowing they were an AI in the end. Their parting words to Arven before the time machine transported them was something along the lines of "s/he really cared about you." And I don't think they're lying, either. If you take a look at the lab, you'll see the original professor has a picture of Arven and his dog when he was just a child.

The whole game, all the side characters encourage you to "find your treasure." Yet, here we see with the professor that sometimes people go overboard with their treasure hunt, and they devote all of their time and energy to their goals that they forsake their loved ones, their kids, their family, etc. Hell, the professor even developed all those protective measures so that the time machine would never fail, which just goes to show they wanted to research those paradox pokemon no matter what—even at the cost of neglecting their kid.

If I was in Arven's shoes, honestly, I'd be devastated. The one parent I came to resent and never spent all that much time with turns out to be dead, and I was only speaking to an AI version of them all this time. Crazy, right? He surprisingly took it well despite all the rivals being kids, but still, crazy stuff. Makes one wonder what his life would be like if only he had an active parent around.

Now, I may be biased because I played through Scarlet, which means Arven had mommy issues with Sada. However, I just cannot imagine Arven and Turo for some reason. 💀 Maybe it's because I also played as a girl, and considering his beef with Nemona who is also a young woman, it makes sense that Arven has a distrust towards the opposite gender due to his mother's absence. Sound familiar yet?? Omg, Arven is even good at cooking.

Back to the paradox Pokemon, there are theories that they aren't actually from the past/future and that they're just the professor's imagination coming to life due to a third unrevealed legendary. To be honest, I think this theory is sound. After all, how can Sandy Shocks, a Pokemon resembling manmade magnets, come from the ancient past???

Overall, I loved how surprisingly dark the story in Scarlet and Violet were this time around. Please give me more plotlines like this. TL;DR, Arven is best boy and deserves everything good in this world. 😩

[lewa358]

Game Retrospective: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (2021)

Note: This post contains vague spoilers.

Video games are an incredibly diverse medium. You can have multiplayer-only experiences like Unreal Tournament or Counter-Strike that are mostly devoid of any narrative context, and are meant to be played for hundreds of hours or more, focusing almost exclusively on slowly improving a player’s skill at the game. But on the other hand, there are games like this Guardians of the Galaxy game, that are basically just really long movies that let you shoot things and walk around the sets every now and then—games that can have really unique experiences, but those experiences are heavily scripted and simply stop existing after a few dozen hours, if that.

Generally, I prefer the latter. Fortunately Guardians is a fantastic example of that.

In this game, you play as Star-Lord (and only Star-Lord), as you lead the recently-founded Guardians of the Galaxy (specifically Groot, Rocket, Drax, and Gamora) on a Job that slowly unravels itself into a galactic threat. In terms of mechanics, this means controlling Peter Quill as he slowly pokes around cramped, extremely linear environments, solving (pretty excellent) puzzles and occasionally finding consumables that can be used at specific points to craft upgrades.

Occasionally, there’s also combat, which is very fun if not particularly deep. You shoot bad guys with your Element Gun, which has infinite ammo but can overheat and also has several unlockable elemental powers that can be used to freeze or stun opponents. You can also direct each of members of the Guardians (including Quill himself) to perform up to four specific, unlockable attacks that do everything from attack enemies in a line to pin them to the ground with vines. There’s also a “huddle” super move that you can activate after charging it up that requires you to make a dialogue choice to activate correctly. In a way, it feels like a mix between Mass Effect and Kingdom Hearts' battle systems---you shoot with your gun and you order your squadmates around, but there’s a lock-on camera and no cover system (you’re supposed to dodge attacks).

But when it comes down to it, the “meat” of the game—and the main reason I had such a blast with it—isn’t the exploration, or the combat, or the puzzles. It’s the story, which is just…fantastic.

All of the Guardians are multi-dimensional, brilliantly interesting characters with their own meaningful arcs and unique character quirks. Rocket is crass but always comes through in a pinch. Gamora earns her place as the Most Dangerous Woman in the Galaxy, but still happily bickers and jokes with the rest of the team and shamelessly enjoys “Girly” things like dolls. Drax is still an alien (meh) with no relation to Moondragon (meh) but he’s far from the bland “doesn’t get sarcasm” joke you might know from the films; here, he’s easily the most heartfelt and caring member of the team, all of whom respect and at times participate in his native culture.  Groot is…well, Groot. And Star-Lord himself strikes a beautiful balance between the “80s loser who never grew up” from the films and the “Battle-weary war veteran” from the comics.

These characters’ personalities are reflected in the seemingly constant dialogue they have with each other—while you’re squeezing through a tight gap to the next story beat, while you’re briefly abandoning the story to find goodies, while in combat, while you’re just standing still, whenever. The amount of dialogue in this game is insane, and the overwhelming majority of it is brilliantly written, and often very funny, and even at times heart wrenching. I actually felt sad that I frequently missed some lines because I answered a dialogue prompt too quickly, or moved forward with the story a touch too eagerly.

Aside from the ambient dialogue, the story is quite good, excellently utilizing some of my favorite narrative tropes, and frequently exclaiming in joy when they brought in a character I loved from the comics. Everyone, even outside of the Guardians themselves, has a meaningful character arc and engaging quirks, and the twists are all just…fantastic, and well-presented (though admittedly the game’s attempts at making some of the emotional beats playable feels a bit more awkward than, when, say, Undertale does it).

There’s also dialogue choices, most of which seemingly don’t influence anything, but every now and then you have the chance to subtly change the progression (if not outcome) of the story, complete with a Telltalle-esque prompt in the upper right letting you know when you’ve succeeded or failed to influence another character (somewhat ironic, considering that the only other Guardians game is, in fact, a Telltale game). Regardless if whether your interactions actually do anything, it's still fun to be an active participant in the banter.

My only other real complaint is that the ending (or really, endings, given that the game does a poor job of faking you out) is kind of weak. It fits, for the most part, and is a blast to play through, but it falls a bit short of the otherwise brilliantly-written rest of the game. It almost feels like the game’s own medium is working against itself, demanding a cool, flashy boss fight when the game’s central conflict was already resolved excellently with a quiet moment of dialogue. Though that last post-credit scene where Star Lord talks to himself in a mirror is a perfect note to end on.

Oh, and one more thing—this game is gorgeous. After so many “Realistic” sci-fi games like Mass Effect and Halo that feature earth-like biomes and an endless supply of gray metal corridors, I am so damn happy that Guardians is not afraid to get colorful and weird, with incomprehensible geometry and anomalous organic matter populating skyboxes, spaceships that don’t look like dicks, and a constant devotion to surrealist or just unnecessary creative touches. This is a game that is not afraid to go as weird and nonsensical as the comics can be, and it excels because of it.

The game’s only real flaw is that it is, at times, plenty buggy and all-around clunky. Multiple times, I had to reload a save because a character would not move to where they needed to, softlocking my game. Other times, the game would throw a literally endless horde of really weak enemies at me, expecting me to do something else in a way that wasn’t clear, even with the prompt in the corner. Sometimes the animation is gorgeous, but other times it feels really uncanny. But these were all minor, quickly-resolved issues, that didn’t impact the impact of the game’s frequent and plentiful strong moments.

If you play games because of mechanics and gameplay loops, then I fear you might be disappointed. But if you are happy with a game that can show you a good time for a few hours and then can be freely uninstalled, I could not recommend it highly enough.

Notes:

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: Eidos-Montréal

Release date: October 26, 2021

Played on PS5 via PS4 physical disc

Image source: Steam Store page for Marvel's Guardian's of the Galaxy

[toririvas]

first time listening to superpowereds year 1! welcome to the live blog, to be updated as i get through it.

I'm listening to the graphic audio version, if that matters.

Let's begin, I'm starting the liveblog on chapter 4 because I figured it was a good idea to document it. Also, it's a slow work day. Sue me.

First chapter is good at getting me intrigued. I have to say Vince is a solid protagonist, and his VA is fun. I just imagine him as a silver haired Miles Morales, 12fps and all. I'm intrigued with Nick because I goddamn love these types of characters. (If you've ever seen me tag stuff for Ike, you'd know.) I heard Nick and I'm immediately like, Nick Furcillo from supermassive games' The Quarry? Pretty hair, pretty face, and praying that's all you notice kind of boy. Tboy swag detected as well, I may just be projecting a little for him tho. Herschel... oh, I pick him up in my ARMS. I have a thing for the sweethearts, I really do, and I have a character that's kind of similar to him (always left to clean up the messes). The dynamic of him and Roy is. Well, it's sure a hell of a thing. Speaking of Roy, holy shit dude, chill. I get it, though, he's the literal representative of ego, blah blah- stop bullying your headmate>:/. MARY. Mary I am going to stare at you. Oh my god. I love weirdgirls. They have such swag. Hyper powerful weirdgirls? be still my beating heart. And, Aelwyn Aberna- I mean, Alice Adair... She's cool. I like the mean girl archetype. It's a vibe. I hope she goes feral like Regina George becoming a jock.

Okay, onto the actual plot.

Okay, it's a program to turn Powereds into Supers. I got that from my dad's summary and the back of the book. Cool.

Nick gave me vibes from the start. Why are you like this. I can tell you're sad, weirdo. Vince having clothes and a bed and being weirded out by it is heart wrenching. I didn't get what Herschel's deal was when I first listened so I just sort of accepted the Shifter thing. Alice is neat, Mary is weird. Cool. I've got the dynamic.

Combat training! That's typical, the placements make sense but the rule of five and the not being able to challenge the top five is... Weird? I guess the rule makes sense but not the waiting until the end of the year thing.

New side character, Sasha Foster. Speedster. Roommates with a Julia? Fun. Punky vibe. That's fun. She's into Vince, that's neat.

I'm skipping around a little because again, starting this late

Wow, Roy is a cunt and a half. That mf is friends with Mitch (NPCs) in another universe, I can feel it. Lmao, get stronger without your powers is his arc. Got it. Solid.

Did he... Charm someone into getting him into the bar? Does he have a fake ID JUST FOR HIMSELF? Insane.

Goddamn, going back to Casino night for a second, obsessed with the weird mind games of Nick and Mary. Like. He's so fucking weird. What's with his journaling? Why'd he delete it? The fucking sunglasses??? Is this some kind of fucking Mr. Spender moment (shout out to the 1 other Drew Hayes/Paranatural fan, who I am pretty sure does not follow this blog).

Poor Hersch and the damn mornings after. I hope he gets to be liked by someone genuinely.

Okay, back to chapter 4, will report back with thoughts.

Vince is awkward. We love this. Graphic audio funneled kiss noises directly into my ears. Disgusting.

Roy plans to fuck him up but hail mary, it's Mary. And she thinks Hersch is nice, so she's threatening Roy. Good for her. Holy shit, by the way, she's so scary. I'm in love for real. I just see her in my brain as kinda Allison Reynolds, kinda Lydia Deetz, kinda Eleven in terms of aesthetics, but she's Rose Lalonde in scaring the fuck out of people. God bless.

Wouldn't Herschel being officially classed as Super mean he has control over Roy appearing? Why isn't he forcing Roy into going/taking control when he doesn't do what's best for the host body? Anyway. Roy has a challenge now, let's see how this goes.

Chad stomped him, as I heard in the audio sample. Fuckin nice.

Midterm, huh? Okay. Twenty page paper and an ethics project. Interesting. Pairs? Nick and Alice, lmao. I think they're bitey at each other. That's hilarious.

Vince and Will. Cool! Everest is their project.

Hersch and... Alex the Jedi! Okay cool. The more I listen to Alex talk the more I'm like *Donald?*

Nick and Alice are fun. Love that there's jazzy music whenever Nick's brain is in focus.

Will has a twin, Jill. Wow. Okay fun. Will is a support member! Neat.

Jill vs Sasha. Sasha wins! Speedster makes sense. Fast healing, probably? Decent recovery.

Chess again. Hersch is getting better. Nice. Herschel is her rook, Vince is her bishop, Alice is her knight, and Nick is her king. Obviously, she's queen. Alice is so interesting. I hope they become girl best friends.

Girls day!

Movie night boys!

Vince: I'm gonna leave!

Mary: no you're fucking not.

AHA HE DOES HAVE A FAKE!! GOD. Alice is going to make plans. She has decided it. She has DECIDED it. Shut up, Nick, you *know* you wanna go to Halloween with her. Nerd ass.

Nick, flippantly, in the beginning of the book: Mary I have /trust issues/

Nick, upon realizing she was taking that as a personal project: well fuck me running.

Alice... Oh my god nobody's ever stood UP for her. She likes Mary!

Back to studying. Nick and Alice. Yeah. They have this "I know you"/"I refuse to be known" dynamic that flows both ways. They're getting together I'm calling it. Calling it!

Globe, huh? Big traitor? Alice's father is his old teammate? Fuckin SWAG

Alice is opening up? Nick is doing it in return? Fucking knew he didn't have parents tho. Motherless behavior, Nicky.

Defective? Oh, Alice...

Movie night. Uh. Will and Jill, Sasha and Vince. Uh. Zombie movies. Video store? When is this fucking set ???

HaLLOWEE- "Roy was either an ancient gladiator,or a male escort catering to a very specific fetish" i CACKLED

Nick's got some fuckin eyes. I know he does. I don't know what's wrong with them but this Strider mother fucker ain't flying under my radar.

Oh shit, okay, Michael is gonna attack Vince outside. That's not a blatant use of his power or anything. Feels...weird man.

Nick is being a hilarious wingman. Pft. "You realize there's no girls in earshot, right?" "yea them hoes be shutting us down." Wild.

Thomas? Okay, new guy shut this shit down. He's cool. He's a stickler. That's important for later.

Alice would be friends with Adaine Abernant. God. I love her. Autism wins again.

CHAD IS GLOBES KID? yep.

Coach wants to talk to Vince. I looove this. Scared of his own strength. Poor bishop. He has the Eyes! The Paladin Eyes! I say a lot about DH character archetypes but that man makes paladins I want to *love*. I've never met a paladin by him I DIDN'T love.

Vince's dad went to this school? Cool.

Updates to the Dean from Numbers.

Edit to add I think my last addition got deleted. Whatever. Started Nick's backstory flash. It's official, I love the cynic. Happens every time.

[cooledtured]

House of the Dragon Soars Back in 2024

Mark your calendars, firebloods, for a return to the smoldering embers of Westeros! Season 2 of “House of the Dragon” ignites in 2024, promising to unleash a tempestuous torrent of blood, betrayal, and dragons. The Dance of the Dragons is no longer a whisper on the wind��— it’s a thunderous war cry echoing across the Seven Kingdoms.

Aegon sits uneasily on the Iron Throne, a crown forged in the flames of his brother’s betrayal. Rhaenyra, the rightful heir, nurses her fury across the Narrow Sea, a storm brewing in her eyes even fiercer than Balerion the Black Dread. The Blacks and the Greens solidify their lines, alliances forged in ambition and vengeance.

Corlys Velaryon, the Sea Snake, navigates treacherous currents, his fleet a leviathan poised to strike. Daemon Targaryen, ever the wildcard, lurks in the shadows, his loyalty as fickle as the winds of Essos. Meanwhile, whispers of ancient prophecies and forgotten powers slither through the halls of King’s Landing, promising destinies etched in dragonfire.

But in this dance of death, the greatest threat may not come from within. Winter, long prophesied, gnaws at the edges of the realm. Beyond the Wall, whispers of forgotten darkness grow louder, a tide of ice and shadows rising to meet the storm of steel. Can fire and blood hold back the encroaching darkness, or will Westeros drown in the maelstrom of its own making?

Season 2 promises not just spectacle, but depth. Expect nuanced character arcs, where allegiances shift like sands in a Dornish viper pit. Expect political machinations as cunning as Littlefinger, whispered plots as tangled as Cersei’s web of lies. Expect heart-wrenching betrayal and passionate alliances, forged in the crucible of war.

This is no mere rehash of “Game of Thrones.” This is a fresh chapter in the Targaryen saga, a brutal ballet of fire and ice played out on a Westeros forever scarred by the Dance of the Dragons. So raise your tankards, blood of the dragon and friend, for when the dragons take flight in 2024, the fires of Westeros will consume us all.

Prepare to be enthralled, to be shocked, to be moved. Fire may blood may bind us, but in the Dance of the Dragons, only ashes remain.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —  DANIEL SIMMONS | Writer POP-COOLEDTURED SPECIALIST cooledtured.com | GROW YOUR COLLECTION

[memryse]

The magic of 3rd Life, or why such a simple hardcore miniseries works as well as it does

For a series which only lasted for eight sessions, 3rd Life has had a profound impact on the MCYT fandom. While it did go comparatively unnoticed on Twitter (as is consistent with YouTube-based Minecraft content as a whole, admittedly), Tumblr and other platforms have fallen in love with this series, and it’s become a vector for many fans to familiarise themselves with Hermitcraft and Empires SMP as well. But at its core, 3rd Life is a simple vanilla survival series with a gimmick. What about it resonates so much with so many people?

I would argue that its simplicity, its small cast, its vanilla gameplay “with a twist” is certainly part of it. It’s an easy series to consume, with many POVs totalling four hours or less, and it doesn’t require any prior knowledge of any of the members. Its mechanics are easy to understand. As a standalone, it functions perfectly – it’s immersive and can be followed easily by anyone, regardless of any prior knowledge they may or may not have. However, these factors alone don’t quite encompass what makes 3rd Life so special. Its true charm point lies in the format of the series, and how well it utilises improv.

[more below the cut; this is a fairly long post about 3rd/Last Life meta and my love of its improv. I'm mostly talking about 3rd Life here as it's a completed series, but this most definitely does apply to Last Life as well]

3rd Life is an entirely improv-based series. Whilst members may have a brief concept of the direction they’d like to take their series in – how heavily they want to roleplay, for example – the actual content of each session is fully improvised. Each episode is recorded in one three-hour block, and members are not allowed to play on the server outside of the allotted time other than specifically to finish builds. This time constraint prevents any planning from going into each episode, and interactions between players are completely spontaneous. Players simply run around the map looking for others to interact with (which is significantly easier with the limited world border) and chat about various events on the server, form alliances or deals, etc.

By definition, this almost completely negates the possibility of bad writing. Each player’s reaction to any server event is spontaneous, a legitimate reaction; they aren’t trying to play any specific roles or shoehorn in any specific events (with the exception of the Red King/Hand of the King roles, who were still completely improvising). Even the finale – a distinctly heart-wrenching and tragic scene – was improvised without Grian or Scar attempting to tell any specific story. According to Martyn, they weren’t roleplaying, they didn’t have any aims with that scene. It just happened to turn out in the way that it did, and they were legitimately sorry to one another. The server progressed in this natural way, and every person’s perspective tells a completely different story. It’s hard to identify any specific heroes or villains – fans of the Dream SMP can surely relate to this feeling, but I would argue that 3rd Life takes this one step further. 3rd Life is a tragedy from all perspectives, a tragedy which tells one cohesive story in its entirety before stopping as abruptly as it began.

3rd Life hinges entirely on its interactions between its members. Whilst solo content does exist – base building, for example – the majority of each session is spent interacting with others. 3rd Life is carried by its dialogue; nothing else drives the story, and yet many episodes are between 30 minutes and an hour long. It’s that dialogue-heavy. Members of the server have expressed trouble with even editing their videos because there is so much key dialogue that they don’t want to cut. People don’t watch 3rd Life for the actual gameplay, at all – there’s so little of it! They watch it for how each member interacts with the people around them. This is something not found in any other SMP I’ve encountered. SMPs livestreamed on Twitch have plenty of downtime, and people will happily watch streams on that SMP no matter what’s occurring on the server; people often watch them for their interest in specific members. Other currently popular YouTube SMPs, namely Hermitcraft and Empires, are well-balanced between solo content and interactions, and all server content hinges on the members’ various skills like building and redstone. 3rd Life is, to my knowledge, the only SMP which does not rely on building or redstone skills (what’s the point, when they’ll be dead the next week?), it doesn’t rely on the creator doing solo work talking to their chat, it doesn’t rely on planned roleplay. People legitimately just want to hear various members talking to each other. It’s a fascinatingly unique series in this regard. This dialogue-heavy aspect of 3rd Life ties back to my earlier point about 3rd Life feeling like a completely different series from all perspectives; with all of this dialogue being conveyed through proximity chat, so many events are entirely left out of other POVs, or presented in very different lights.

The pure improv format also helps significantly with worldbuilding, whilst also leaving plenty to the imagination. MCYT fandoms always require a significant amount of imagination to become invested in them, let alone make fan content of them, and 3rd Life is no exception to this. As discussed in this post, which was incidentally the inspiration for me to write this one, 3rdLife is full of lines which flesh out the series, which illustrate what happened better than can be shown in Minecraft. These lines are improvised on the spot, and are often complete throwaway lines in the creators’ eyes. In the fans’ eyes, they make 3rd Life feel alive, they provide plenty of material on which to base headcanons. Again, this isn’t necessarily unique to 3rd Life, it’s a common aspect of all Minecraft series, but I think this is where the rather angsty nature of 3rd Life comes into play. A dramatic survival game, entirely unscripted, with all events hinging entirely on your interpretation of them? It’s not hard to see why 3rd Life fans are so creative with character designs and fanfiction – hell, a lot of 3rd Life fics simply narrate canon in their own more dramatic light. Canon-compliant fics are significantly more common for 3rd Life than other fandoms I've encountered, because people hear these simple lines and want to dramatise them, put their own spins on them. I don't feel that this would be possible with any other series, not to the extent that 3rd Life fans do it. Other series' canon is either already dramatic, and so rehashing it can feel repetitive, or so lighthearted that people write AUs/new storylines. 3rd Life strikes a brand-new balance.

The development of its characters is also bolstered by improv. As no events on the server are pre-planned, members have to react completely spontaneously to anything that occurs. They don’t get time to think – only to react as though they genuinely were in that situation. As I said at the start, 3rd Life inherently lacks bad writing, because it’s not written. Ren, for instance, began 3rd Life as a kind and harmless person, with others often walking right over him. His reaction to his death by Grian and Scar’s trap spurs him to become the Red King; he raises an army and goes to war, and ends the series having taken countless lives, becoming hardened by war. He begins Last Life by isolating himself from others, seeming jaded and unwilling to form alliances, ready for another war to break out. Being improvised, it’s impossible to say how much of this was deliberate, or if Ren just started building his base without thinking about continuity from the previous season. This improv is what makes it feel so natural. It isn’t planned beforehand. This is Ren’s natural reaction to starting Last Life. It makes his character feel so much more real than it would if this was all scripted beforehand.

3rd Life is, overall, a testament to the power of improv. It manages to be compelling and dramatic without any acting feeling forced or wooden. Its characters’ arcs feel natural, because they are natural. Placing such a heavy emphasis on dialogue, with the gimmick of the server being a vehicle for interactions to happen rather than the sole appeal of the series, makes it truly feel as though we’re getting a glimpse into the characters’ lives, rather than watching a story which has been written beforehand. We get to watch everything unfold in real time. 3rd Life has a magic to it that, to my knowledge, no other SMP has been able to recreate.

[carlyraejepsans]

Ok “But the Earth Refused to Die” is one of the most heart wrenching tracks to me. I can’t listen to it without getting teary eyed, it’s so powerful and I never see people talk about it!! In the game you can softly hear a heartbeat and the sound of crashing waves behind it, it’s so so good

I can't think about undyne's genocide arc and the undying scene for too long it's like staring into the sun. my brain just starts emitting smoke