#ALSO if I did swap my canon then I could maybe possibly make my rook a child of Hawke. maybe.

[13skeletons]

The more I think about it, the more I think I should've paired a mage Hawke with Tobias Cousland. (Knight Enchanter so he spent most of the game fighting with sword and shield.)

Like, your family has had to move constantly your whole life because of magic. But you've finally settled outside Lothering and tried to just stay in one place for a while, but then the Blight comes and you have to flee with your lives, barely making it out in time. You're refugees in a templar-controlled city and you have to hide your magic harder than ever, but you're determined to make it work this time. Then the Hero of Ferelden ends the Blight in record time and rises to the throne. The official word out of Denerim is that he's a warrior of great skill, but certainly no mage. Certainly no apostate. The noble Couslands hiding their son's magic? CERTAINLY not. And what Ferelden would refute that? They owe everything to him, what's a little blasphemy to a hero? But the rumors persist.

("I have a cousin who saw the Hero crush the life right out of a hurlock with magic!" "Well my sister was living in Denerim during the final battle and she swears she saw him in a field of frozen genlocks and there were no other mages anywhere NEAR him." "Me nan lives in Amaranthine and she saw him walking around with a staff on his back, bold as you please!")

The rumors reach your ears and you think, "if he can do it, why not me?" And for a while it even seems to be working out that way. You regain your family's estate. You save the city from the qunari, you defeat the Arishok himself in single-combat.

But it all falls apart. Champion you may be, but the Arishok is no Archdemon, and you have no queen in your corner, no ancient and respected family name. The mage-templar war erupts right there in your city, and no amount of magic can stop it.

History will remember Tobias Cousland as a warrior and a Hero, but you're just another apostate - a danger to yourself and everyone around you.

Like. OoF? Ow? Pour that salt directly into my fucking wounds??

And also the more I think about it, the more I think I want to completely swap out my canon. Like. I LOVE the narrative circle of starting Jasper Mahariel's journey by being corrupted by this ancient relic of his people and ending it by following his lover through the same. And I LOVE that the first human Merrill ever met took Jasper, one of her only friends away, and she never saw him again. Then the second human she ever meets ends up falling for her and taking care of her and giving a her real home and supporting her unconditionally for the first time. I love that through-line, that's why I did it.

But also I set it up years ago and I'm slowly finding that other stories are more compelling in my old, depressed state. [weary emoji]

[vort3x]

Scattered Thoughts on Lost Light 12

Normally I don’t do this but since I already wrote out most all my thoughts about it when talking to a friend, I decided why not? What a way to end the mutineers trilogy. My thoughts will kinda sorta be in the order that they happened in the comic. The interlude will be it’s own post though. Spoilers under the cut.

First off, did anyone believe that Riptide was really dead? I mean we got this spoiled early since it was in the preview and I’m sure people have already talked about this, but come on. Maybe I’m just cynical when it comes to on panel deaths now, but idk. I’m glad Boaty McBoatface boat boi is okay though. He didn’t deserve a death like that. Unimportant side note: Maybe I’m just remember wrong but why is it that Riptide has the greyed Autobot symbol? He’s had it the entire arc, meaning he had it before he even knew what happened to the Rod Squad. I suppose it could be his way of showing that he feels bad for kicking them off the LL.

Getaway. Okay. So before I get into my whole breakdown about Getaway (which will be towards the end of this), I want to say that the panels where Getaway, Froid, and Atomizer are looking at the Rod Squad in the past kinda hurts. Getaway’s confidence that they’re all alive is just.... kinda sad, especially since he was looking at Skids specifically right before he said that. That mixed with everything he’s doing to everyone on the LL kinda makes you wonder if Skids would have been able to pull him back from the edge had he sided with Getaway. I can’t wait for the moment that Getaway learns that Skids died as a direct result of what he did.

I kinda wonder who said the whole thing about Rung being “one of life’s good guys”. I’m thinking it was Froid but I also don’t see why it couldn’t be Atomizer.

Speaking of Atomizer, we come to his decision of who to kill. I have a lot to say about Atomizer so I’ll save it till the end. His decision to kill Rook is kinda... funny to me as horrible as it is to say. Rook’s basically a mistake in and out of canon and I think it’s kinda funny that Jro fixed that by just killing the guy. No one even seems to be that sad about it. Atomizer seems the most distraught.

Rook aside, I don’t understand how Getaway knew about the Protectobots being a combiner?? Like... Maybe I’m just remembering but I’m pretty sure that there has been zero indication that they combine... and for that matter, how the hell do they know who is what component? As it’s shown later, it apparently doesn’t even matter since First Aid goes from being an arm to a leg anyways. (We’ll touch on the whole Ambulon thing in a sec)

Quick reminder that I’m skipping the interlude for now.

First Aid criticizing Getaway for throwing a boat into a reservoir just had me thinking of this.

Ah, First Aid. You’re a doll for trying to tell Riptide that he’s dumb as a sack of bricks in the politest way possible... too bad he’s... well... dumb as a sack of bricks and doesn’t get it.

Okay so now Ambulon. I... have to point out here that they didn’t actually need to use Ambulon? Mirage is technically a combiner now too after the events of Combiner Wars. It probably would have been much easier to just use him instead of going all the way to the morgue, but I guess Jro just wanted him to be separate?

It’s good to see that they actually retrieved Ambulon’s body and turned it back to normal.

It’s interesting to see the idea of combiners combining with dead members again... also First Aid and Streetwise swapping spots. Does that mean we may get some Scramble City action with the combiners in the future?

“A stand-in” Omg.

Okay so I know it’s not the Autobot way and all that but Thunderwing should have honestly just killed Getaway right then and there.

I was wondering when Star Saber was going to make his reappearance. Still as frightening and terrible as ever. It’s looking like all the lose ends are starting to come together what with this and the interlude.

...Mirage isn’t actually dead is he? That... that was so sudden and... others have come back from worse haven’t they? Kinda? Sorta? I... just find it kinda hard to believe. Mirage is such a big name... then again Trailbreaker...or I guess cutter was too. Huh... I’m cynical like I’ve said so... I guess I’ll have to wait... but it seems like he’s dead. That hurts and Atomizer’s reaction was mine.

The same goes for the Protectobots. They’re not actually dead are they? Jro wouldn’t just kill off a combiner like that would he (and it’s kinda a shame to have to look at them like that. It’d be nice to look at them as individuals but Hot Spot, Groove, Streetwise, and Blades haven’t really done all that much)? Sure combiners have come back from having dead members before, but that’s not going to happen when five sixths of the combiner are dead. Again that’s a bit hard for me to believe but given Getaway’s later comment about there having been a massacre in the shuttle bay makes me think they are (though I know that’s probably suppose to refer to Atomizer).

And now we finally get to Atomizer. I was saying it since last issue, but I was pretty sure Atomizer was going to turn against Getaway in this issue and I was right. He did and I absolutely love him for that (and other reasons). He rapidly sees just how far off the deep end Getaway has gone and now he finally steps up to the plate to help put an end to it. He’s really the redeemable antagonist that I wanted Getaway to be... BUT WHAT THE HELL?? WHY DIDN’T HE JUST GO WITH FIRST AID, RIPTIDE, AND THUNDERCLASH? THE SHIP WAS RIGHT THERE ATOMIZER! Okay. As you could probably guess I’m super angry about what happened to Atomizer.

It really looks/feels like he could have gotten away here and maybe he couldn’t have, but... I don’t know. It feels like such a let down to give Atomizer this moment of redemption but then instantly crush any hope of a redemption story/arc by killing him. I feel like that’s a lot of wasted potential right there....But at the same time I think I see why Jro did it this way. By having Getaway brutally rip apart Atomizer we see that Getaway really has gone off the deep end... or I would think that if it wasn’t for Getaway’s hesitancy to give Sunder more life cords. I suppose it’s just showing that Getaway really is emotionally driven... but the wasted potential because of that...Which brings us back to Getaway. Oh Getaway. So much to say. Back when the mutiny first happened and all that, I wasn’t as against Getaway as most of the fandom was because I could see where he was coming from.

It’s been pointed out before, but it’s really like Getaway says here. Megatron should have been punished but he wasn’t. He’s getting off clean. It’s actually pretty easy to see where Getaway is coming from. I was sympathetic to Getaway’s plight before the mutineer’s trilogy. After this though? Well. I honestly still see where he was coming from with the Megatron thing, but you really see how much his need to feel important and be a great leader is driving him...straight off the deep end. He’s gone way too far and if Jro somehow pulls a good and believable redemption arc out that mess I’d be incredibly impressed. But no. I don’t believe we’re going to be getting a redemption arc here and, well, alright then (ATOMIZER SHOULD HAVE HAD ONE AAAAAAHHH).

Getaway is left with no friends now. He only has those that he thinks will listen to him by his side now. He shoved away or killed (mostly killed) his actual ones and you know what? I think that is what is going to catch up to him. I can see Star Saber, Froid, and Sunder all either turning on him or just leaving him to his fate here in the future, and despite me kinda still liking him as a villain, when/if what I said does happen, I hope the realization of what he’s done destroys him.