#Event Trigger in the whole entire game or something

[starvingnarcissistmusic]

thinking about mal du pays again. you’d think literally writing a whole ass song about it would be enough to cleanse my brain of this creature but no. not even close. still thinking about em. winner of the worlds worst coping mechanism award.

most readings of a post canon mdp are kind of like a moody siffrin-repression detector, which is cool and pretty fun, but my favorite part of mdp in the game was how deeply dreadful its entire encounter was.

i keep imagining a post canon au where mdp follows the gang to bambouche. with siffrin incapacitated by the events of the game, the party slowly realizes something’s following them, but are unable to do anything as it slowly encroaches upon them.

bonnie wakes up in the middle of the night, with a shadow of siffrin motionless at the foot of their bed. it speaks in their voice and tells them that they hate siffrin for letting them die. they don’t know what it’s talking about, but a deep pit opens in their stomach when it speaks. they don’t sleep at all that night, watching the thing standing motionless at their bed, scared it’ll move when they take their eyes off of it.

mirabelle keeps seeing it out there, spiral eyes staring back at her from the woods. until one night she awakes and finds it’s broken into her tent. it keeps grabbing her wrist, driving her hand into its cheek, crying “i can’t wait to never see you again.” in her voice.

isabeau wakes up one night to find it’s crawled into bed with him. and yet, even as it curls up against him, it keeps telling him (or maybe itself?) that he only loves it because it made it love him. he doesn’t really know what to do except try to hold still, and let it spin its wheels until it leaves in the morning.

odile i think would probably be the least affected by mdp. i think the mystery of it would trigger her researcher brain and override most of the horror. i can imagine she’d even go out at night on purpose just to find it. and hey, it finds her! once she gets over the weird voice mimicking thing, she finds it’s pretty docile… at least for now. although, strangely it keeps trying to get her to grab at its collar. the one time she obliged, it went limp like a cat held by the scruff of its neck.

obviously the party is concerned. despite the thing following them being… harmless, mostly, they still can’t shake the feeling that it could be dangerous. when siffrin finally recovers enough to be lucid, they’re terrified that their homesickness has quite literally followed them back onto the road, and even more so that now it’s interacting with their *family* and freaking everyone out. if he even remotely sees it, he panics and passes out.

and like. the whole party knows it’s a sadness, but they’ve literally never seen sadnesses act the way mdp does. and while siffrin is out and unable to explain, it’s up to the party to try and figure out just what the thing following them even wants, if anything at all.

(also had a fun idea that until odile does some research with it, the party doesn’t know what its name is, and so each member has their own little nickname. bonnie calls it the nightmare, mirabelle calls it the shadow, isa calls it the mirror, and odile calls it the specimen because researcher brain)

i have more Thoughts (tm) about this, but for now that’s all I’ll share for the sake of the people who follow me for music wondering why I’m infodumping about a video game lol. Uhhhh listen to my single about it and that’s about it bye

[bibi-the-pooh]

I just finished listening to Hunter’s iHeart podcast, and I’m fully convinced that they adapted Tyler’s storyline from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It’s also worth noting that the podcast was released after they started filming Season 2, so by that time, Hunter had read at least some of the scripts.

Based on the book’s storyline- and everything we know about season 2-, here are the most plausible theories that come to mind:

1.Hunter said that by the end of Season 1, Tyler had "kind of lost all his humanity." I doubt Hyde responds well to solitary confinement in Willowhill. So, during Wednesday’s first visit, she’ll likely encounter the Hyde persona—not Tyler. Still, considering how deeply they got under each other’s skin in Season 1, it’s possible that something Wednesday says might trigger the real Tyler. That 'something' could relate to Donovan or Francoise.

2. Maybe I’m overanalyzing, but the way Hunter said, “Can you redeem someone who murdered some people?” was suspicious—he was literally giggling and kicking his feet while saying it. I genuinely believe that this question will be central to Tyler’s arc this season. I’d even bet money on it, especially since this season’s main theme is 'losing control'.

3. There has to be a nerve-wracking event in Tyler’s life to reawaken "the real Tyler." I’ve prepared myself for Donovan’s death, but I doubt they’ll kill him off so easily. If it does happen, it would require buildup—and once it happens, it needs to launch Tyler into a whole new emotional level. His mother is already presumed dead, so if he also loses his father, it could be the final blow that unravels him, this wouldn't fit into the agenda. That said, I’m pretty convinced Donovan won’t die—not yet. There's too much left to resolve: Morning Song, Willowhill, the stalker, and Tyler’s redemption arc. Plus, Hyde is too big of an asset for the show. Season 1 practically revolved around that violent little cutie. Tim Burton has built his entire career on making people empathize with morally grey—or even black—characters. I don’t think he’d let his hand-drawn "sensitive monster" go without a glorious send-off.

4. Either Francoise is still alive, or Donovan is in a situation where he needs to be saved. I believe this will connect directly to the people running Willowhill and the Morning Song cult. These two organizations are probably linked.

Willowhill definitely isn’t innocent. I believe the hospital is run by Morning Song cult members, elitist outcasts, or xenophobic normies. And all of them have a motive to abuse the outcast patients—especially someone like Tyler Galpin.

Laurel was just a pawn in a bigger game. Since she was able to access Francoise’s files, someone powerful must've been behind her. I suspect it’s the normies, but they likely lack Laurel’s personal vendetta. They don’t have strong emotional motives to oppose outcasts, they might even work with them if they see any benefit for themselves.

I think Dr. Fairburn might turn out to be a decent character, but Heather Matarazzo’s character is probably a sleeper-cell spy. Wednesday will likely uncover both her scheme and Principal Dort’s hypocrisy soon enough, and she may offer a quid pro quo to secure Tyler’s release. She wouldn’t risk being on the wrong side of history—if outcasts were abusing normies and suppressing their own kind, that would be a declaration of war in Wednesday’s book.

5. I’m still unsure how Wednesday would manage to keep Hyde under control, though. Maybe Bianca could use her siren song, or perhaps Hyde would choose to cooperate with Wednesday of his own accord. I pray the latter turns out to be true, because there’s something delicious about Hyde choosing to side with Wednesday while still being unreliable — and Tyler occasionally surfacing, messing with her mind just because he still resembles the boy she once knew.

6. And then there’s Karloff—that Frankenstein wannabe. How thrilling!

I have to admit, I have no idea how he'll come into play. I don't want to dwell on what the leaker said about him, I refuse to accept that bizarre "He accidentaly becomes Tyler's master" bs. For the second time, LET MY BOY LIVE ON HIS OWN WILL! (or Wednesday's...wait, who said that?). Though if he does get out and starts wreaking havoc around Jericho, I can definitely see why Wednesday would want Tyler on her side. You can only beat a monster with another one.

7. The stalker and the Addams family secrets also come into play. We know they’re trying to pave the way for a Fester spinoff. Maybe the stalker will turn out to be Debbie—but that’s just a wild guess. In any case, I don’t think this storyline will have a major impact on the season finale. It’ll more likely feed into the Red Death/Slasher/Camp episodes.

[d3lly1000]

About Sonic and the others forgetting the events of Sonic '06 + The Twitter Takeovers are semi-canons

Okay, here we go... I saw some people mention this answer about Sonic forgetting Elise and being upset about it, and thankful that the Takeovers are "not canon", so I'll share my point of view on that and talk about why the Takeovers are semi-canon! (oh boy a long post-) ~~~~

To start: "But Sonic forgetting Elise is absurd! He was the one who put out the flame with Elise, they both should have known about each other." No. They shouldn't have. From the moment the flame went out, everything was reset and started at the point where Sonic was going through the festival. There was no invasion by Eggman at that moment, Elise was not kidnapped, there were no Events of 2006 EVEN though the game is canon. THIS has ALWAYS been a fact since the game's release. And it keeps gaining strength with new media (Sonic x Shadow Generations and mentions that Sonic make in external media).

And I dare even more, not even Silver should know about the events. But if he knows, it's only him and Mephiles, who was ERASED from existence and ended up in WhiteSpace, the Limbo of Sonic's Universe. (As for Silver, he constantly travels through time, he could be the only one who remembers, but I doubt it a little) But the point here is: The representation of the flame going out at the end of 06 is that everything was rewritten in a new way. Things didn't happen that way and that's it.

"But it's absurd. Sonic would never forget Elise, they liked each other!"

I know that in some way there are fans of Sonelise, but I don't think it's right to support their romance so much when it was rushed and totally done in a hurry to make us get some kind of "emotional attachment" to Elise. Elise was the one who showed the most interest in Sonic, even kissing him (geez...), while Sonic, even choosing Elise in the "Trial Of Love", sometimes the game still throws you to Amy's option in a strange glitch. Which doesn't make much sense since theoretically he "would be in love with Elise."

Elise had the potential to be an excellent character and I still believe in that! She was introduced in an obscure game (just like Silver) and we can't deny that fact. She always couldn't cry because she had sealed the Iblis Trigger in herself, she lost her father and had no mother and yet she was the governess of the kingdom of Soleanna. Have you ever thought how much she could have stood out by working on this issue of pressure that she suffers in a deeper way? Instead of Sonic's entire campaign revolving around a somewhat embarrassing romance, have you ever thought how incredible it would be if it focused on how far the line of our responsibilities goes and the fear of failing everyone? Elise could potentially even be an incredible parallel for Blaze being what she is, even if indirectly! There's the other idea of ​​Sonic and Elise being a parallel of sisterhood like Shadow is with Maria, and that's much more captivating than a romance, and I'm sure we'd get much more attached to her knowing that!

Sonic 2006 and plot holes...

Sonic's campaign is the weakest;

Elise is a character who has potential for much more than what we were given;

the time travel issue has many holes like the Blue Chaos Emerald being with Elise the whole time;

Blaze is in the game and we don't even have an explanation for it;

We're very vague about Silver and his future; So, the fact that Sonic and the others "forget" the events is something canonical since the end of the game and has always remained that way.

Now, about the Twitter Takeovers:

The Takeovers are silly and focused on humor, but that doesn't mean there aren't writers behind them!

(Social Media Manager for Sonic's official Twitter account.) This same script is thought by the entire team, since the company's characters are acting! There is a lot of work behind it, which must be recognized! In other words, the information becomes "canonical", since it covers and gives us answers about things that we don't have in the games yet. It's an expansion of the characters, the universe and the story that hasn't been told or fully explored yet, and that's fantastic! The questions are selected based on what they can probably tell us. Whether it's just about Sonic's fur or Shadow's taste for coffee, or even about the Super Transformations and the relationships between the characters. They are Semi-Canons. They are information that adds to our knowledge as fans, but they are not necessarily real, like Sonic breaking the fourth wall. As a fandom, we have to know how to separate some things! That's what makes the Sonic universe unique. Everything can be considered more clues to add to the franchise, but we need to know how to understand the reasons and whys behind it!

Conclusion

I still hope that if Sonic '06 gets a remake, they'll do a good redemption of it, because it deserves it! And who knows, maybe we'll see more of it in the future?

If you want to comment, feel free, this is an open field for that discussion. Just keep it respectful and friendly! I'd love to read and participate too!

Thank you very much for reading! Sorry for the bad English... Stay determined! 🤍

[zenkindoflove]

You guys do not want to go down the road of starting to make blanket declarations that specific ships are "problematic" and "triggering". And let me explain why.

ACOTAR fandom, in my experience, is notoriously very far removed from general fandom. It's big and dispersed across many platforms that weren't created around fandoms, and so a lot of people enter it having little to no experience in other fandoms.

This discourse about what is or isn't a problematic ship and what kind of person ships a couple like that is not new. Fandoms of yesterday yore have had long fights about this and a general consensus has emerged which is anytime you start playing the morality policing game around people having fun with fictional characters, everyone loses.

Let's take this situation with Elain Archeron Week which is explicitly banning submissions for Elain with characters who are canonically known to be abusive to a romantic partner. Generally, the spirit of character weeks are to be ship neutral and importantly a concept that has emerged from prior fandom morality policing debate is the term Ship and Let Ship. Which means just because something isn't YOUR ship doesn't mean you need to come up for reasons why it isn't CORRECT to ship.

So, you think it's morally incorrect and triggering for people to see Elain paired with an abuser or a "bad guy"? That is okay for your own personal beliefs but if you start making rules around it for something that is supposed to be inclusive where do you draw the line or what that means? How about pairing Elain with the guy who runs Night Court Abu Ghraib? A role that means he actually tortures people physically and mentally to the brink that they are forced to "confess" to crimes. Is that some how morally superior to another character who emotionally abused their partner and confined them to a house?

See. That didn't feel good. Now did it? Do you actually want to get into a discussion about which wrong is morally worse than the other? Especially when it concerns a character week that is supposed to be about positivity and people having fun because they love Elain and they love the different interactions she could potentially have with characters in fanon?

And that is the entire point. When it comes to fiction, we all will be seduced by characters who have done bad things. Things that will trigger people. But, and I mean this whole heartedly, no one else is responsible for your triggers but you. You are the only one who knows what you can and cannot handle. Your Mileage May Vary. Tumblr's tag filtering system is in part for this very reason because of how fandoms use tumblr.

When you have a fandom wide event space, generally it's a bad idea to start throwing up these judgmental rules around people's character interests and shipping habits. Of course, any event runner is entitled to do what they please. But you also have to expect those who are excluded or know people who will be excluded are going to have something to say about it.

I really think the entire ACOTAR fandom could benefit from getting curious for once and actually digging into the histories of fandom, fandom lore and vocabulary, and start learning from from fandom elders. If so, we'd all be able to navigate these situations with a shared language that recognizes that the primary goal of fandom is to have fun first. And everyone's fun is going to look different and each individual is responsible for deciding what their squicks and triggers are. And the whole point of a squick is to let someone know this thing bothers me personally but I understand if it doesn't bother you. That sort of back and forth empathy across each side is how fandoms don't burn down in flames and people don't feel shame about what they like in fiction.

Now any fandom event can make whatever rules they want. But what I already see is a bunch of people (e/riels) are now actually making posts about why others who ship Elain with Tamlin are morally inferior, disgusting, perverse, and bad people. But hear me out, someone can easily think and say the same thing about you and your ship and if that is the kind of environment you'd like to fuck around in, well, aren't we all the worse off for it.

[sometimesraven]

Okay. Kate and UNIT.

I don't have a problem with negative characterisation. And unlike a lot of uh,,, questionable things that some characters have done in other episodes, what Kate did is clearly meant to be negative. I do not think this episode was meant to be pro-military despite UNIT being victimised.

However.

I have two huge gripes with Kate and UNIT. One is to do with Kate's characterisation and the other is to do with the framing of UNIT in this era but this episode especially.

First: UNIT. Just like Kerblam! I feel like the ending of this episode undermines its wider message, but in this case it feels like it was just. Rushed. You mean to tell me you unleashed a creature to mutilate that boy and the conspiracy ended? #IStandWithUNIT???

Nah mate you just essentially martyred their leader in a brutal and horrific way. I get that he attacked first and admitted on camera to murder and fabricating the truth and that would lose his movement a lot of traction but you would also have a whole new problem of people going "OMG SEE? THEY JUST SIC MONSTERS ON CIVILIANS" and they wouldn't even all be right-wing podcast bros any more. Like was there a cover-up campaign UNIT did that I missed or..?

I get that you have to wrap up the episode neatly but even just "this will take a long time to clean up but Think Tank have lost enough traction that we can finally breathe again" or something would have worked better

Because unfortunately another trend in RTD2 has been "something in a fairly solid episode has really unfortunate implications" and the fact that the public are generally supportive of UNIT undermines the "that was Too Far" in what Kate did

Which brings me to my problem with Kate. How did we get here? What is her motivation? And do not invoke the EU to answer that question, because the EU is supplementary and the show should make sense without it.

Again, I have no problem with negative character development. In fact I LOVE negative character development. The issue here is that the development part was missing.

When and why did she abandon “science first”? When did she stop trying to make UNIT a primarily scientific peacekeeping organisation? What happened to make her so quick to pull the trigger on potential threats? When did she start using Lethbridge-Stewart again and why? When did UNIT go from covert and secretive to having a fucking Avengers tower and being public knowledge?

Much like Game of Thrones’ infamous final season (though on a far smaller and less egregious scale), Kate’s turn from scientific peacekeeper to trigger happy and frankly bloodthirsty military leader came entirely out of nowhere pretty much immediately at the start of RTD2 with no explanation. It could be such a compelling arc but without even a “what happened to you Kate?” line to make it deliberate it’s like we’re just meant to ignore it.

I know there was the moment in the Zygon Invasion but iirc that was Kate being pushed to the defining point of her personal character arc — the moment in narrative where the character can either strengthen their convictions or change their mind. In making that choice and stepping away from the nuclear option, Kate ultimately strengthened her conviction and characterisation as a peacekeeping, scientifically minded person. I’m fine with the show exploring this kind of “what if she picked the nuclear option” scenario but we as the audience have to be in on for it to hit right.

Which we are not. So it just feels like RTD has completely misunderstood and twisted her character for his own gain without even paying respects to her original writer or arcs thusfar.

Someone said it seemed like Rusty hadn’t actually watched Who since his first era and just skimmed a footnotes version of events before he started up again and BOY does it show with UNIT and especially Kate.

Maybe it will turn out all of this was a long game and it all goes back to “I made a jigsaw out of your history”. But if you are going to play THIS long of a game the story still has to hold up before the reveal. Things have to make sense and the stuff that is “odd” about it has to feel deliberate (like the season formula so far! It feels on purpose and it has me curious about Why we’re repeating history like this. Even if I feel like it’s primarily a massive RTD1 ego stroke it still works as a hint that Something Is Up while allowing the episodes to still be judged on their own merits).

This does not feel deliberate. It feels like we’ve missed a season between Jodie’s era and the specials. It feels like lazy writing.

[littleeggrock]

gimme ur dream bbq theories

RIGHT! (long post, put a cut for convenience. inor spoilers for some smaller details)

FIRST AND FOREMOST:

ENA (in my opinion) IS NOT AN ENTIRE SPECIES. while understandable, i personally think this is dumb :') it really minimizes her character as a whole. though, i do not disagree with the fact that there are multiple of her. think back to what the shaman says the first time we meet him:

"one person can be in two places at once"

given multiple other things, like the easter egg in the webseries that says "FORGET YOUR PAST," the plane like things in the starting area along with the siren like ambience' in an urban/suburban-like setting, and Meanies little meltdown when talking to the vendor man ("WAIT! I'M NOT DOING WHAT YOU SAY I'M DOING!) with the bullet rain and wasteland-like area, it's led me to believe that ENA herself was once one whole person. each little split persona ENA we see show two minuscule facets of her personality. we've got the happy and the sad, the customer service voice and the one who's had enough of retail-hell bullshit.

yes, there are multiple of her. yes, they exist semi-simultaneously. No, they are not a species. They are parts of a single whole, fractured by some sort of intensely traumatic event. perhaps a war of some kind if the planes, sirens, and bullet rain are more than just abstract artistic choices meant to darken the tone of the game at certain times. I'm unsure whether this is some digital circus "TRAPPED IN THE GAME!" or something more along the likes of u m a m i's Interface and SAFE MODE, where uploading ones consciousness to a digital interface was seen as the only means of survival in an increasingly uninhabitable world. or perhaps this is simply what the world looks like for them now.

to elaborate on existing semi-simultaneously, it's important to note the fact that our familiar blue/yellow ENA shows up for a split second in the end credits scene. whether they're swapping physical location, or simply replacing the others existence is unclear.

THEORY NUMBER TWO!

While not directly related, i do believe that The Great Runas from Temptation Stairway is/was a genie. given that he's revered like some sort of godly figure, and has the ability to grant wishes, it seems obvious now that we have a name for what these deities are.

stemming from this, it's worth noting that the area we end up in after the Lonely Door begins to close appears to be the very same place as where Auction Day takes place. same cube face rock in the sky! potentially Temptation stairway as well, though the specifics aren't as clear there.

so, as for the significance of this... I'm really not sure. some of it depends on where Power of Potluck takes place timeline wise. if these are in fact in chronological order, this doesn't work at all. but if its a one off set in-between/before extinction party, auction day, and temptation stairway, oh boy.

i believe that it was the closing of whatever door powered the world ENA and Moony resided in for AD and TS that triggered the emergence of Dream BBQ ENA as we know her. the place became closed off, simply ceased to exist after the door closed, and ENA ended up changing drastically to combat it and escape. Froggy cites her "salesperson tricks" that she uses to get out of "predicaments," perhaps this version of her has some form of dimensional transport between whatever these doors are. personally I'm leaning towards a pocket dimension type deal but there's really no way to know.

THIRD, FINAL, and FAR LESS SERIOUS THEORY

when you think about it the purge route of Dream BBQ is really ENA:

joking(?) about killing their boss with a coworker

catching a taxi to an illegal party

having a BAD trip

making it to the bathroom

smashing someones bong because the smoke was bothering the aforementioned coworker

[yanderes-galore]

One character that i find really interesting in Resident Evil is Mia Winters, and it's not even when she was infected by mold. For starters, Mia isn't exactly a victim (not as much as the others in the game). She was a bioterrorist that worked for The Connections and she knew what Eveline was and what she could do. Mia may not have designed Eveline, but she helped transport her to her destination, which led to the events of the game. So, Mia is responsible for the deaths of all the ship's crew, the Bakers, all the family victim's and Ethan himself, but she still got away with it in the end. So, could you write a general concept for Mia? You can add the infected version, but i think she has more dept in her normal form.

I'll try, sure. It won't be that long but I will say what I think of her.

Yandere! Mia Winters Concept

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Manipulation, Stalking, Picture taking, Human experimentation, Delusional behavior, Dubious companionship/relationship.

I will agree that is not the best person.

She lied so much during the story.

While she did care for Ethan, she lied to him many times.

She lied about what she was doing, she lied to lure him, she even lied about him not being a mold creature.

That's barely even covering the fact she was transporting Eveline.

Eveline was a developed bioweapon meant to sneak behind enemy lines and was meant to be transported to testing grounds.

Mia choosing to do such a job, even if the pay was good or she was doing the right thing, is a dark thing to do morally.

Despite all of that, I would still say she's a subtle yandere if I had to make her yandere.

She's primarily just manipulative, even before the mold.

I could also say she's delusional in the way she's thinking.

She may think she's doing the right thing when it comes to lying to you.

She was married to Ethan prior to RE7 (iirc), and still lied to him.

You think she's going to tell her obsession the truth?

She knows the truth would drive them away from her, then she can't have them anymore.

She'd hide her obsessive tendencies... and if they were some sort of experiment, she'd hide that too

Mia would fabricate your entire life if it meant you stayed by her side as your yandere.

Does she feel guilt? Maybe a little.

However, Her own feelings often trump any regret she feels.

I feel Mia would hate being alone more than anything.

She'd want you to be by her side and for you two to care for one another.

Even if it means your whole relationship has been based on lies.

She'd lie to you as a friend and lie to you as a lover.

She'd be delusional, uncaring if she's leading you into a web of lies.

In terms of what she'd actually do other than fabricate your life...

She'd socially isolate you in fear of others knowing the truth and saying something.

She has a photo album of pictures she took when you didn't know.

She has a journal and audio recordings she uses as ways to vent her obsession.

She definitely isn't one to outright kill unless it has something to do with the mold.

That's fine, not all yanderes involve murder, that's something I've come to learn when writing.

Sometimes they just need to do something overly toxic or worse.

I'd say her lying and manipulating is its own form of scary.

Mostly because, if you ever learned of her lies, the trust issues you get afterwards is enough to make you distrust anyone.

How would you know if anything is true after that?

Hiding her obsessive behavior is bad enough, honestly.

But if she was hiding the fact you were an experiment or infected with something?

Just so she could keep you as hers?

It may not seem that bad compared to other yanderes...

But it will still mess you up psychologically when she cages you in her home, promising all she does is for the best.

[the-fox-with-no-name]

All for the Reflection one year after last January.

I just realized it’s been a year around this month since I started The Foxhole Court. I never thought I’d stick with this series for so long. It all started when I saw TikTok cosplays that I initially thought were from Haikyuu!! But as I dug deeper, I realized, “Oh shit, this is an entirely different story, and people talk about it a lot.”

The first character I looked up while researching All for the Game was Jean, and I almost noped out right there. But, knowing myself, I can’t handle leaving my curiosity unsatisfied, so I kept digging. Eventually, I found The Foxhole Court and decided to give it a try.

Before diving in, I was warned a lot about the trigger warnings. Honestly, I had no idea what I was getting into. Still, the series was so beloved, and the fandom seemed to be growing, so I couldn’t resist. Plus, I spoiled myself on most of the major characters, Neil, Andrew, Jean, Riko because I wanted to know what kind of emotional rollercoaster I was signing up for.

I’ll admit, knowing the series was self-published gave me pause at first. But that hesitation didn’t last long because I’ve always wanted to explore indie authors. A friend once told me it’s a good idea to study indie publishing if you’re thinking about writing yourself.

Once I started book one, I thought, “Wow, this is a lot.” Not because it was slow (in my opinion, the pacing was solid for a first book) but because it didn’t feel like a typical novel. It was raw, unhinged, and something only an open-minded reader could fully appreciate. It’s not your traditional style, and I think that’s what hooked me.

Interestingly, book one doesn’t get talked about as much, but for me, it pulled me in and left me wanting more.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I re-listened to The Foxhole Court several times before moving on to The Raven King. Not just because I was obsessed (okay, that’s a lie), but because I knew The Raven King would have a massive tone shift. I waited a whole month to mentally prepare myself before listening to it.

It didn’t take long for me to finish The Raven King, though. While The Foxhole Court set the stage and tone, The Raven King completely changed the direction of the story in ways I wasn’t expecting. I stayed up all night until the sun came up, and when I finally finished it, I went outside, cried, and threw up. That book wrecked me. Re-listening to it later was easier, but that damn tension was still there.

The character arcs in The Raven King were so raw and real. Sure, some people criticize parts of the book, but in my opinion, Nora Sakavic gave us just enough to understand how terrifying and real the events were without overloading us with unnecessary details. The ambiguity adds to its power.

It took me about a month to recover before I was ready to move on to The King’s Men, which I finally got in April. Even then, I wasn’t ready to read it yet. Instead, I went back and re-listened to books one and two (mostly skipping chapter 11) because I didn’t want the series to end. I was way too attached to these characters especially Andrew.

Andrew quickly became my favorite character. For someone so short, he’s a lot to handle, and I love him for it.

The King’s Men wasn’t like any other final book in a trilogy it was different and didn’t follow the traditional “final book” formula people always talk about. Instead, it felt like something entirely unique. Honestly, it was almost like reading two books in one. It’s as if the story ends in the middle, and the rest is one massive epilogue. But I thought that was kind of awesome.

It reminded me of a game where you have to beat it all the way to 100% to get the perfect ending. It might not be the typical conclusion to a trilogy, but for me, it was perfect. The focus wasn’t just on reaching the end—it was about the journey and seeing it through to the very last word.

When I read the final words, “Neil was never letting go” I felt an overwhelming sense of attachment to the characters. It felt like I had met a group of incredible people. The Foxes felt like family to me. Neil felt like an idiot friend I’d want to protect. Wymack was the father figure everyone needs. Nicky was the kind of person you could always feel comfortable around.

And Andrew, Andrew felt like an anchor. I hope one day I find someone who makes me feel the way Neil feels with Andrew.

The rest of the Foxes were like family I’ll always hold close to my heart. Even after finishing the series, I read some of the extra content, and while it hurt, it also brought closure. Especially knowing that Neil and Andrew will be okay, it’s comforting to imagine them moving forward together.

The All for the Game series introduced me to so much more than just a unique writing style, it gave me a beautiful story, incredible characters, and a journey that felt like taking a cold shower: shocking, raw, and overwhelming, yet absolutely worth it in the end.

I’m so grateful to Nora Sakavic for inspiring me to write again after so much demotivation. Her work reminded me that stories don’t have to follow traditional rules to leave an impact. Right now, I’m writing how I want to write, and it feels liberating. Someday, I’ll move beyond fanfiction (ha ha) and create something original to share my talent with the world.

I’m also thankful for that one cosplayer who sparked my curiosity and led me down this incredible path.

I’ve read bits and pieces of The Sunshine Court but haven’t managed to get my hands on the full book yet, soon, though. I can’t wait to dive into it when the time comes.

[radioactivepeasant]

Snippets: Free Day Friday

Well, not a snippet. A whole durn one-shot. No title yet, so let's just call it "Responsible Adults, or, Damas Wants A Raise"

(This mentions a hilarious headcanon that rose from a discussion of game weapons with @troblsomtwins829 and @segaphantom , one I intend to use from now on, where it was decided that red eco shockwave ammo is what Wastelanders give their kids when they're first learning trigger discipline, and Jak is the equivalent of a kid bringing down a grizzly bear with a plastic baseball bat. Also featuring swears borrowed from Watership Down because rabbit language is a lot of fun tbh)

It should have been a perfectly straightforward event. Fourteen candidates who had finally passed the initial terrain tests to Kleiver's satisfaction, finally able to go at it with weapons. Only Scatterguns for now, of course. Live ammunition would wait for those who passed their first trial. Those left standing would receive their gate pass and first amulet, everyone who had dodged the lava but not their comrades' shockwaves would be scraped off the sand and delivered to the on-site hospital. They would have to wait another month to retake their trial.

It was standard procedure.

They'd done it hundreds of times.

But this time, it was immediately apparent that something was amiss.

One man broke out of the pack before Damas could even explain what was expected of a first trial. He ran between the cover provided by the matter formers like his life depended on it, gun swinging uselessly on his back.

Well. That one probably wasn't going to last.

Damas sighed and checked the tiny screen that showed him the Arena from a closer view. Oh. That was the Krimzon Guard who had turned up at the temple, begging for clemency in the wake of Praxis's death.

Well if he survived this, his record was clean. But if he didn't-

Well that was one less Krimzon Guard in the world.

Behind him, down the stairs leading to the interior corridors of the Arena, Damas heard an alarm siren. He frowned. What could be so urgent as to sound an alarm back there? Was a patient coding?

The king twitched one ear back to listen for details while glancing periodically at the ring.

"All personnel, all personnel, be on the lookout: an unaccompanied minor is missing from Ward 2. Light hair, underweight, believed to be experiencing medical distress-"

Damas blinked. How on earth had a patient gotten out of the children's ward without someone noticing? Oh, Dr. Petros was going to spit fire when he found out.

"It's going to be one of those days," Damas grumbled, rubbing his forehead, "I can already tell."

He was correct.

A chorus of surprised voices began shouting in the stands, and Damas squinted down into the Arena. Amidst the chaos, the tattooed soldier formerly of Haven was still fleeing for his life. He occasionally fired behind him, but focused mainly on looking for a way out of the Arena. And now Damas could actually see his pursuer.

The figure was small -- tiny, compared to most of the candidates in both height and weight. It wove in and out of the combatants with an unusual speed and grace. But something was wrong.

"What the-"

Damas stood.

"Asa," he said into a handheld radio, "Don't activate the lava. Can you get eyes on the field and tell me if I'm actually seeing someone in hospital scrubs out there?"

"If what?!"

The man running the matter formers went silent as he peered out of his booth further down the wall.

"Bloody Frith! That guy doesn't even have a gun! They're not allowed to be unarmed for trials!"

"No, no they are not." Damas tightened his jaw. "But if he's unarmed-"

Then what's the Krimzon so afraid of?

The mystery candidate passed near the drone camera, and Damas almost dropped the screen entirely.

"Embleer Frith!" he swore, "It's that kid!"

It was the boy he'd found in the desert, barely alive, the one with a dead man's beacon in his hand. It had only been two days! Foundlings weren't permitted to take Arena trials until they had been declared medically sound for three consecutive days after their rescue!

Damas suddenly remembered the call from Petros, informing him that the young man was not, in fact, an adult from Haven. That he was in reality a young boy, covered with some deeply concerning scars. And the doctor had been very insistent about the foundling not being of age for combat trials.

The alarm from the hospital continued to blare, and Damas had a sinking feeling that the unaccompanied minor and the kid he'd hauled out of the desert were one and the same.

Who had allowed this?! The foundling definitely hadn't passed the terrain test yet -- he hadn't even reached the minimum age allowed to compete yet! He never should have gotten past Kleiver in the waiting hatch!

"Oh don't tell me," he breathed.

The Arena had been compromised. And that meant that the results of the fourteen candidates' initial combat trial were compromised. If Kleiver didn't have an incredible explanation for this, heads were going to roll.

Below, the boy had caught up to his quarry. Every single blast of the Scattergun, he dodged. Then the former guard shouted something; Damas couldn't make it out, but from the footage his lips seemed to be forming the word "free" or "freak".

Yells of both excitement and alarm filled the stands as the renegade patient just

Changed.

Purple sparks flickered over his body, like lightning. Every part of his body the sparks touched drained of all color. This was not the pallor of the dead, this was the white of bleached bone, and teeth. Black horns rose from ragged hair. Black claws were barely visible on each hand. At this distance, even his eyes looked black.

What. Was. That.

The KG screeched, firing without aiming. But the demonic boy launched too quickly to be tracked by the drone, taking the guard to ground. Damas knew without looking that the man was dying. He didn't even scream. There was only a pitiful gurgle as claws pierced his throat.

Damas turned the volume as far up on his screen as he could, just in time for the monstrous form to recede, to vanish as though it had been a mere hallucination. Spattered with blood, the boy from the desert stood up on shaking legs. Just barely, the drone caught his vicious hiss.

"Not so funny when you're the one with a mouth full of blood, huh, Tyber?"

He spat on the dying man.

And then his knees buckled.

Damas had seen enough.

"Stop the trial!" He commanded, waving guards towards the Arena. "The Arena is compromised! Get the candidates back to barracks, and send Kleiver to me, immediately."

He started to leave the booth, then turned back to the radio again.

"And find whoever was in charge of Ward 2 this week! And for the love of the Precursors get that kid out of my Arena!"

Oh, heads were going to roll.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Jak could hear shouting long before the creaking wooden platform reached the top of the shaft. He'd already been tense when the two big Wastelanders pulled him off the cot someone had dropped him on. If one of them hadn't been carrying Daxter, it was very likely that Jak would have tried to kill them, too. Now he started tugging experimentally at his arms, checking their grip.

"Quit!" One of them scowled at him. "The king’s mad as it is, don't make it worse!"

"-Didn't drag that kid off death’s doorstep just for you two to send him right back!" A raspy voice was yelling, "So you tell me, Rezzik, how a patient -- who Petros already told me was a minor based on musculoskeletal scans -- got into the Arena -- unarmed -- during a combat trial!"

The voice that responded was the skinny guy Jak had shoved away from him when he first woke up.

"Sire, the boy just-"

"I didn't ask about the boy! Tell me what you did! You were in charge of the children's ward this week, not the boy! When I want to hear the boy's side of things, I'll ask him myself!"

The other guards holding Jak's arms sucked on his teeth nervously.

"Oh, he's pissed," he whispered. "I wouldn't want to be the nurse right now."

"Or Kleiver. They're in deep weeds," the other agreed.

The elevator locked into place and, for a moment, Jak forgot the shouting. They were inside. And there was water. Water. Inside. Vast pools of it like an indoor oasis. Trees lined the room, dropping the temperature by several degrees. And this had been built by hu'men hands! How?!

"Well there he is." The raspy voiced man -- oh, Jak had seen the guy with the staff on that balcony of that stadium -- made an impatient gesture in his direction.

"Back from the dead, are you? You've certainly caused a fuss, young one. Care to tell me exactly what you were doing unarmed in a combat trial?"

"A combat what?" Jak answered the question with a question.

The man with the staff steepled his fingers in front of his mouth. He inhaled sharply and wheeled to face the skinny medic.

"Rezzik!"

Rezzik put his hands up defensively. "He was unconscious, my lord! He wasn't expected to even be lucid until Se'enday!"

The king dropped his face into his palm.

"Oh my gods," he groaned, "He doesn't even know where he is, does he?"

"Uh, "he" is right here," Daxter snapped.

Every person but Jak jolted.

"It talks?!"

"Oh what the rot what the rot-"

"Oh that's so cursed-"

"Why does it talk?!"

Daxter whistled sharply.

"Yes yes, I'm a miracle of premodern medicine. Moving on! Who are you mooks, where are we, and what's all this about Jak and a combat trial?!"

Jak glowered at the ground.

"Saw Tyber. From the prison. He's dead now."

Daxter's ears drooped and his eyes widened. "Oh..."

He reached down to pat Jak's shoulder.

"The creep had it comin', Jak. You did good."

"Well. Considering you apparently weren't conscious until now, you can't be expected to have known," the man who was probably the king groused, "but entry into the Arena is restricted to those aged eighteen and older for a reason. So. What I need to know is who let you through that gate."

He pointed at the sullen man with the big mustache.

"Did he or did he not make any attempt to stop you?"

Frankly, Jak couldn't remember much about how he got onto that field.

"Wouldn't have mattered if he did or didn't," he muttered, "he couldn't have stopped me."

The king narrowed his eyes at him. Then he seemed to actually see him.

"Ah, what are we doing- Jin, Faro, let go of the kid! Get him some water for the gods sakes, he just passed out on the battlefield!"

Then he turned to look at the guy he'd called Kleiver.

His voice was much quieter now. And somehow that was more frightening.

"Kleiver, you know the procedure for new arrivals," he said softly. "Three days' recovery and approval from Maud or Petros before First Trial. So what made you let a boy in hospital clothes through that gate?"

The big man sneered. "Did you see the anklebiter?! He was out for blood! He ended up fine, di'n't he?"

"Fine?! Look at him!" The king gestured sharply in frustration. "He's wearing pajamas!"

"If he'd passed out two minutes sooner he could've died!" Rezzik gasped, appalled.

"Sire, this clearly wasn't the hospital's failure," he said, turning to the king. "This oaf put my patient in danger and-"

"Enough." Damas held up his hand, face hard.

"You are both to blame for what ultimately derailed the trials of fourteen candidates. Rezzik, I leave your penalty to be decided by your superiors. But Kleiver-"

He glared.

"Your only chance at retaining your position is if that boy had an extremely valid reason for hunting down that candidate."

Jak edged away from the guard offering him a canteen. "What counts as valid to you?" he asked pointedly.

The king paced to the edge of his dais, watching Jak with eyes a little too knowing. He folded one arm behind his back and studied him with none of the fire that had been directed at his own people.

"Newcomer, I will ask you only once, and you need only answer once. The man you killed: did he give you those scars?"

Jak went rigid.

They'd seen his scars.

They knew.

Nausea rocked him, crawling up his throat and tasting of shame.

"Boy?" The king pressed, "Did-"

"No." Jak practically spat the word out. "He kept me from escaping. He laughed. And now he's dead. Got a problem with that?"

The king scoffed slightly. He glanced back at Kleiver.

"You are fortunate today. I will retroactively approve an exception for the boy this once as a case of justified retribution. Do not let it happen again."

"Sire," Rezzik piped up again -- guy just didn't know when to keep his mouth shut -- "Arena exceptions must have signed affidavits from the guardian of the minor, mustn't they? As the attending physician, shall I-"

"Don't be a pot-stirrer, Rezzik," Damas said flatly.

Jak muffled a snort and exchanged amused glances with Daxter. At least he wasn't the one getting yelled at.

"No," Damas said, tense again and gritting his teeth, "Since apparently I am the only reasonable adult in this entire godsforsaken room today, I'll complete the affidavit."

He waved dismissively at the group.

"Do not compromise the trials of our candidates again. Negligence costs lives, and weakens our city, gentlemen."

Kleiver looked like he had a few choice words to say about that, but he dipped his head respectfully and marched away without a word. Jin and Faro cringed at each other, then made to grab Jak's shoulder.

"Come on, kid. You need to go back to the doc-"

Jak shoved Jin away and stumbled back.

"Don't touch me!"

Rezzik raised his hands placatingly, approaching as if the boy was a frightened baby animal.

"Hey, hey, it's alright, we only want to help you! I know you must be scared, but if you'll just let us get you back on the IV-"

Jak didn't hear anything else after that.

They were going to inject something into him.

They were going to strap him down and inject something into him-!

His breath shortened as he ducked Jin again. Faro was surprised enough by the elbow strike to his gut to loosen his grip on his gunstaff, and that was all Jak needed.

He ripped the weapon from the guard's hands and swung it in a wide arc, eyes wild.

"Get. Back."

Daxter snarled next to Jak’s ear. "Nobody touches my pal. Keep your filthy needles to yourself, or better yet, stick them up your-"

"Hey! Come on!" Faro complained, "That's custom, kid! You can't just jack a Wastelander's peacemaker, that's just not on!"

"You're not taking me back."

Jak swung the gunstaff again.

"I'm not going back there!

You can't take me back! I won't go back!"

Damas frowned and started down the steps. "What the bloody bones did you people do to make him do...that?!"

"That's...that's what I was trying to tell you before, sire," Rezzik said meekly as he backed away from Jak, "We didn't release him from care, he had some kind of...panic episode. Ripped out the IV and nearly killed Jessop on the way out."

The grinding of teeth was audible even at the bottom of the stairs.

"Petros is going to strangle you if he finds that you didn't take precautions with newcomer trauma," Damas said sharply.

"But we didn't know-! He was unconscious!"

"Get out."

Damas pointed to the elevator.

"Send Petros up here with his file after he deals with you."

When the guards didn't immediately follow the medic, Damas growled. "All of you get out! I've had enough foolishness for one day!"

"Sire," Jin gulped, "The uh, the boy-?"

"He's fine. I have to ask him questions for paperwork now thanks to at least one of you."

That left Jak and Daxter alone with the really really pissed off Wastelander King. (He hadn't even known there were enough Wastelanders to have a king!)

For almost a minute the man paced, swearing very colorfully under his breath. After six or seven very slow, deep breaths, he finally seemed to get control of himself again.

"How do you see needle scars and not think "hm, perhaps someone should stay with him to explain when he wakes up"? It's not that complicated!"

He pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned.

"Is it the full moon this week? It must be. Everyone's lost their twice-rotted minds around here."

He took another deep breath, and after letting it out slowly, he sat down on the edge of the dais.

"Well, I can hardly think of a worse introduction to Spargus than that, but I hope you won't hold it against me."

Jak kept the staff clutched tightly in his hands, but didn't aim it at the man yet.

"Who are you? And what's Spargus? I know it isn't in Haven. Nobody cares what age you are in Haven."

"Definitely not Haven." Damas buried a curse in his hands.

"Gods I hate that place."

Daxter scowled. "Join the club."

"My name is Damas. I am the king of the territory of Spargus, and the man who pulled you out of the desert that surrounds us. And you are going to be an interesting case, I can tell."

Damas used his staff to drag a box from the side of the throne to just beside him. After some digging, he came up with an oddly shaped piece of metal.

"Ah. There it is."

He looked up.

"This is a battle amulet. Earning three grants adult newcomers citizenship and equal legal protections in the city."

"What if you're not an adult?" Jak challenged.

"Then you're already a citizen, but you can't vote until you're nineteen." Damas dismissed this as if it barely warranted mentioning.

"Now, understand this, boy: I am giving you your first amulet. And I will give you the modular gun. But you will not be allowed to take further trials until you pass eighteen years of age. I will hold your gate pass until such time as you can show me you have learned to survive in the wastes out there."

"You're keeping us here?!" Jak bristled.

"You're a minor. You had heatstroke. It happens. And since my people want to be idiots today evidently, you and I are going to be stuck with each other for a couple years. So you'd better get used to this place." Damas turned and stood up to stretch.

"Frith-rot-it. I have to go get the bloody intake forms, make a whole folder now- Do we even have more guardian ad litem forms?!"

He stepped somewhere behind the throne and seemed to vanish. "Amuse yourselves while I'm gone. No drowning in my throne room.".

And then he was gone , leaving the boys with more questions.

"What...what just happened?" Daxter asked.

Jak didn't have an answer.

[allwormdiet]

Shell 4.3

In which we finally discuss the locker

Little surprised that Alec is taking the lead on this one, but pleasantly so

And yeah, here we finally get an explanation for powers and triggers and all that, or at least the foundations of it

...Also there's no way that Glory Girl triggered just because of a basketball game, that has to be a crock of shit. What's up with New Wave claiming to be the most open hero team and then coming off the shadiest? How am I trusting these people less than I trust the government capes?

I like that they make a point of reassuring her after her blunder. She couldn't have known, and they know that, and they don't hold it against her. I love these kids.

Brian seems more comfortable smacking Alec around than he does Rachel. I don't think that's a thing of not wanting to hit women, last arc he decked Vista like she owed him money. Maybe it's that Rachel intentionally provokes that reaction and Alec is just kind of a little shit? Idk

Again, I remain utterly fixated on how this is Taylor's one line, the thing she refuses to compromise on ever. I'll buy that she doesn't want outside interference from the Undersiders or other capes when it comes to the bully situation, but it's harder to do that when she never makes a move herself.

This is so. Evil. Like, the false friendship, the rotting tampons, the imprisonment. The fact that nobody who sees this play out even bothers to help her. The fact that she's trapped for hours. If that didn't give someone a trigger event, I'm not sure anything would.

Alec is actually so real for this. Like for all that he was disgusted with the story (which, fair) his disgust isn't with Taylor, it's with the fuckers who did that to her. And Brian agrees with him! Lisa is making a point of not disagreeing, even.

Oh hey, Taylor actually acknowledges her thing with anger and violent retribution. Glad she's cognizant of that, it'd be a whole situation if she wasn't tbh

Actually thank god for Alec keeping up this line of thinking, this might be the most passionate we've seen him get about anything. The runner up is like, him being annoyed he can't keep Kid Win's skateboard, and that's peanuts compared to this. Maybe he's wrong about the revenge thing but I don't know that he is, and he's definitely not wrong about the indignity that Taylor is allowing herself to suffer

I don't think this is half the lie that Taylor thinks it is. For all that she has noble intentions, and I don't doubt she'll do her best with those... I don't think Taylor's drive to be a superhero was entirely selfless. This isn't all truth and justice going on here, this is feeling strong and being appreciated by others and not being looked at like a bottom-feeder.

Wonder when she'll figure that out for herself

Get cared about idiot! Get absolutely blanketed with affection and approval from the people who would absolutely rip your bullies apart if you asked them to!

You know. I think Brian's trigger event is one of the ones I know the least about? I know the broad strokes of almost every other Undersider, but I don't think I know anything about his.

Current Thoughts

Even knowing what's coming, reading through Taylor's ordeal with the locker is so fucking heartbreaking. She could've died in there and the consolation prize she got was not worth the cost of admission, that's for damn sure. Emma Barnes is a fucking maniac for this one.

The stuff about powers and trigger events is a pretty neat concept, and I like how it kind of contextualizes most capes as being fucked up. Like, I'm thirteen years late to the party on this one, but what a fascinating fucking idea to build your superhero setting on.

Alec really shone through for me in this chapter. Maybe I relate as someone who finds it easier to get angry on others' behalf than to be angry for myself, or maybe it's just nice to see him get fired up about something. I like this kid.

...Got work and a family thing today, but I'll see if I can't slip some more updates in. I'll probably read some at least and double back with my thoughts if nothing else

[greatwyrmgold]

I've been thinking about Gnosia's endings. Spoilers below the break, obviously.

So, Setsu's goal (and the player's) is to end the time loop without anyone dying. Pretty standard stuff. There are a couple of problems with this. One is that the Silver Key will keep the time loop going as long as it wants (regardless of its hosts' desires). The other is convoluted, but TL;DP every timeline where Gnosia don't kill people is a timeline with a second (mostly dead) player-character, and that causes a time paradox.

The "normal ending" is, in my opinion, a satisfying resolution to those problems. Once the Silver Key is satisfied, Setsu and the player-character can go into a timeline without any Gnosia, and then Setsu can follow the Silver Key into another dimension and take the second player-character with them. It's a bit bittersweet (since Setsu can't live in the world with the people they saved), but it works, bitterness and all.

And it's not easy to accomplish! Unlocking the Normal Ending requires getting functionally every event, and some of those are pretty tricky. Like the one requiring you to keep Raqio alive for the entire game while they're a Bug and also act like Raqio. Or the one which requires you to keep Jonas and Setsu alive for several nights.

The "true ending" is, by contrast, pretty simple if you know what to do. I'm not sure how you're meant to come to this conclusion, but all you need to do is start a new save file and pick a conspicuous new option in the first dialogue choice. Then wait; everything's on autopilot.

And it's also...less. It appears to be a timeline where ten of the fourteen characters died before the loop began, which is never really commented on. But it lets Setsu take charge of the discussion, identify SQ as Gnosia/Manan, and dump Manan and the Silver Key in another dimension.

As an epilogue for Setsu, it works. It confirms that, eventually, Setsu will get a chance to rest. But it's not labeled as an epilogue, it's labeled as the True Ending.

In visual novels (and some other video games), it's common to have several possible endings plus a "True" or "Golden" or otherwise special ending which only unlocks once you've seen some portion of the other endings. (Usually all the endings, unless some of them are marked as Bad Endings or Game Overs or something.) This ending is generally more comprehensive, building off the conflicts and themes and reveals in every other route to craft a conclusion for the experience as a whole.

In Gnosia, each loop has its own ending, including several Notes whose events only trigger if the loop ends a certain way. (And a couple which end the loop early.) All of those loops build up to the Normal Ending, which means the True Ending can't really fill the same role. Granted, the True Ending picks up a couple of Manan-related threads that the Normal Ending left dangling, but it's not like the plot needed those threads resolved. It's not like the soft love triangle of Shigemichi/Stella/Jonas gets resolved in either ending!

Video games with a New Game Plus feature often include some kind of special ending which can only be obtained in NG+. This is usually a more complete and lore-heavy conclusion, serving as a reward for beating the game more thoroughly (and usually overcoming some kind of New Final Boss Plus).

Gnosia's True Ending doesn't work very well for this, either. It's slightly more lore-heavy, in that Setsu's plan incorporates Manan and Kukrushka's spare body, but it's arguably less complete. Most of the cast got left behind, for Gnos's sake! And it's not a reward for overcoming some ludic challenge; you just have to solve the puzzle of "start a new dimension that Setsu can walk into".

None of these are things that Setsu's epilogue needs to do. But it's weird that something called the True Ending doesn't do any of it. It just wraps up the story of one character, one whose story already had a cathartic (if bittersweet) conclusion in the Normal Ending. And calling it the True Ending kinda implies that it supplants the Normal Ending in some way, which sucks for the ten characters who presumably got left behind on/in Liu-An when the D.Q.O. left in this timeline.

It's weird.

[imoenhatesthis]

Lily makes it really hard to not want to correct her takes on media. There’s just an itch to want to correct lies. So here’s the hopefully one post I’m making for me.

There’s other more important things to focus on in this post. But this stuck out to me:

-

“I want characters that will react to me being evil, up to leaving me for my actions, just like my favorite mod.” Okay. Easy.

This is in fact, a feature in MOST RPG games where companions are a focus/are ‘real characters’. Yes, including recent 3D ones filled with playersexual companions.

Since she made that comment I’ll leave out BG2, outside of saying the old BG games do have a similar system in place. Characters leaving over disagreements is a feature in Baldur’s Gate 3. It tracks companion approval, and if that gets low enough they’ll leave without any chance to convince them otherwise. This includes romanced companions. That’s without getting into a whole host of actions one can do where the companion right there will leave or even attempt to kill you with no chance to talk it out. If you do account for scenes with failed rolls, that pool gets larger. Or you know, the fact people play lone wolf runs on harder difficulties all the time. Or that you can kill every single companion, or just simply never invite them in your party. Literally no one is necessary.

She wants a romance where the character breaks up with you for abusing them? Low bar. To pick something totally random…the Astarion romance. If you break his boundaries, he will break up with you and let you know you’re a piece of shit for not valuing him as a person. And that isn’t even the only scene where a breakup can happen. Both times you’ll notice the trigger is trying to push his boundaries.

To be charitable and include a good-aligned character to scale… Wyll also has a breakup event that can be triggered with no talking out of it depending on certain events. He has strict morals and goals, he also obviously will disapprove of certain actions and statements, and again, will leave if approval is low.

These aren’t mods. These are base game, these are what the writers intended.

So yeah, I’m not all that impressed it took more than 10 years for a couple of people to write up and add creepy fanfiction to a game that was already completed and also port it to the newer edition. That’s not impressive, if anything, that’s a really long time to spend on a project like that. It even still has bugs and typos, and doesn’t match the writing style of the games at all.

It took the BG3 team 7 years to make the entire game and first ship it out. Maybe add another for current updates to address bugs and to continue to add content. And when it does reach 10 years of development, I think most everyone will agree that one of these was a big triumph for RPGs, and that it was just perfected over 10 years. The other will continue to rot away on old message boards.

[fraeuleintaka]

AAIC Gameplay Video (PS5)

This is the 57th post in the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Countdown: 24 days left until release!

Today's topic: some Gameplay footage from the PS5 version of the collection!

I talked about some of the gameplay we could see from the Switch video but there's also one for PS5 showing other scenes and aspects of the game that I'm going to talk about in this post. (Before you're confused about some of the screenshots, I took them from the Switch video but they also appear in the PS5 video and I wanted to make both posts about the same length so I included them here.)

Going back to the title selection screen for a minute, when you start the game or a case for the first time the artwork isn't unlocked yet which makes sense to avoid potential spoilers and also functions as a sort of reward for finishing the case (the DS versions did this as well). Instead you get this fancy little screen with just the episode title. I love the gold framing that carries through the entire menu design and the outline of the Prosecutor's Badge behind the episode title, it looks gorgeous!

With that we also get the new name for the first case of Investigations 2: Turnabout Trigger (Turnabout Target in the fan translation). I really like Target as a name and Trigger is pretty similar and just as snappy, it's a good choice imo. It even wonderfully foreshadows its relevance for the rest of the game, as this is the case that "triggers" the whole chain of events following it. In that sense the name is particularly meaningful and I love that.

Apparently, before you start the game for the first time you get asked directly to pick the art style that you want to use, it's not set to one of the two by default which is kinda nice. You can always change it during playing, of course. It's also useful to see an example animation directly in the menu so you know exactly what each of the two styles looks like. Very accommodating. The loading screen is great as well, the little burgundy-coloured knight piece fits perfectly! Simple and pretty!

The PS5 video shows some more of the menu structure and options screen. It's about as gorgeous as I expected it to be! The black chess pattern for the save files, the large Prosecutor's Badge outline for the options menu, the gold framing for everything... Love it! There's an Autosave file which is neat when you forget to save and several different save slots available. The options include pretty much all that you could ask for, even adjusting the Text Window Transparency or turning Text Skip on/off altogether. It's so weird to see because I'm still used to playing Ace Attorney games with no such options at all 😄 But it's definitely good to have! You can even change the Automatic Play Speed for the automatic modes. Interestingly, there's a warning that says that you won't be able to get some accolades when using Story Mode. Since you basically get the answers given to you, you don't really "achieve" anything regarding the solutions when playing so it definitely makes sense to disable that. Otherwise you could just skip through the hard parts and still get all the same achievements as the others which would make them feel cheap. But it's definitely something to keep in mind when wanting to use Story Mode to only get through one specific question you don't know the answer to without having to present every piece of evidence randomly; maybe that will already prevent you from getting some/all accolades.

Seeing the chibi sprite animations in continuous action in the gameplay highlights even more how well they work in the interactions and how amazing they look! Just Miles' visibly shocked face when stumbling upon the body in I1-1 followed by him dropping his suitcase without really noticing adds so much to that scene! And his epic side-eye to the intruder threatening him with a gun - even more badass!

It's hard to see on screenshots but the animations are wonderfully fluid and it just looks amazing. They even have some mouth movements for the longer animations when characters are talking. I also don't recall the crowd being this animated during I2-1 in the DS versions. Here, they regularly turn their heads to different directions and some even twitch a little at their spot just like you'd do when being impatient. Or maybe they also did back then and it was just more difficult to see with the pixel graphics... Anyway it looks great and makes the whole scene feel even livelier and more genuine!

I also love how funny Nicole (Tabby Lloyd) looks waving her arms around and trying to get Miles' attention. Waving frantically, standing on her tiptoes, her eager smile when holding the microphone towards him. Everything just comes across even better with all the added details! I genuinely can't express how much I love these new chibi sprites and animations. These two are already my favourite games in the series but with this the experience is gonna be incredible on a whole different level! Can't wait to play through them again myself!

On language, "Ruffles" is a fun nickname for Miles and it's completely in-character for Nicole to call him that! I think she didn't use any kind of nickname in the fan translation but I like this addition, it makes their interactions a little more unique. I don't recall if Lotta has a nickname for him, maybe she adopts this one from her mentee? Would be fun!

Somewhat sadly, I have to report that they changed Miles' iconic "I won't rest until I've inspected every suspicious-looking nook and cranny" line for the 2nd game. In I2 it seems he says "I must scour the scene and inspect anything that catches my attention" whenever you get a close-up view of an area to investigate. It will be missed but that seems to support the interpretation that Miles isn't as obsessed with nooks and crannies as some people might've painted him as 😉

[major spoilers for Investigations 2 in the last section]

As per my last post, I'm not going to do an extensive line-by-line comparison between the two translations but I do want to compare one line directly because it's one of my favourites in I2 and I remember the fan translated version by heart. It's this one here from Huang's (Wang's) speech just before he's shot at.

Fan Translation: "The Hammer of Justice shall be brought down upon all evil!"

Official Translation: "We shall crush the wicked with the righteous hammer of justice!"

Content-wise the two lines are pretty equal, "righteous" doesn't really add anything that isn't conveyed with "of justice". The official version sounds a bit more impressive and fancy whereas "all evil" and the passive voice from the fan translation makes it easier to apply the line in a completely different context. That's the reason I love this line so much: On the surface, Huang is talking about putting a stop to the criminal activities doing harm to his country but since he says this right before the shot of the fake assassin rings out, the moment a certain someone's revenge scheme kicks off, you can also see it as him announcing his and his cronies' own downfall as they are the evil (or wicked) the hammer of justice is brought down upon (or crushing).

I adore this double meaning as it's so wonderfully ironic and poetic in a way and I hoped that the official translation would keep the line similar enough so that it still applies. And it does! Yay!

[nonbinary-red-supergiant]

I cannot sleep so here I am ranting about why Monika is so tragic and that her realization towards the end of DDLC was absolutely perfect.

To start things off, Monika had ZERO idea about the real world outside of her world until the player joined her game, her world. The whole dating simulator could not have started without player because player was the trigger that activated the game to be set into motion. While everything was set into motion, Monika could have suddenly been hit with an odd feeling, a feeling and presence that she had never sensed before. Hell, she could’ve felt that peculiarity exactly when you download Doki Doki Literature Club. It was that moment that her conflict between herself, her world, and our world began.

So many people hate Monika for what she did to the other club members Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki. However, in a way this can be justified if we just take a look into Monika’s thought process.

The simplest way to describe Monika’s predicament would be to call it an existential crisis. Once she realizes that the player is different from everything around her as in terms of genuineness, how real player feels compared to everything else around her, she begins to question the events that happened prior. She questions everything, including her closest friends who are presumably her club. She then doubts all the happiness and care and love that the other three girls have shown her all this time. In her eyes, all the work she put into everything she did, from creating the Literature Club, to literally navigating her own person to become the popular athletic lovable girl became… insignificant. And it is detrimental when someone starts to think that everything they’ve worked for has been for nothing. She’s no longer happy, in fact she hates everything around her because it only reminds her of the storm that is thundering inside of her. She sees nothing the same anymore, and now she is desperate for a solution. That solution sparks within her when she realizes that, unlike everything else in her reality, she has power.

Monika decides to use that power to obtain something she has never had before… something real. When the game begins, it clicks in her mind that the player is indeed real unlike her world. Desperate for a sense of true humanity, true love, true happiness, and true purpose, Monika tampers with the game script to make everything go her way. Now these are the horrific, infamous events that occur in DDLC.

Perhaps if Monika were in a better mental state, no one would have been treated so violently. But because of her crisis, she felt hatred towards her entire world. In fact, she could have been the most malicious and emotional towards the girls who she thought were her truest friends because she feels as if it’s their fault that her reality hurts so much. In her desperation, she justifies her own actions in those moments because she knows that none of them are truly real and that they don’t actually feel pain unlike she can. Plus, her actions led to you finally noticing her, which is what she needed in order to get a grasp of the reality she wanted anyway.

During the climax, she’s actually happy to be in your presence. She fell in love with you out of the desperation of wanting something real. Monika became attached to you, and saw you as the only thing that can make her feel any real emotion, love, and happiness. It was her own desperation that led to her demise. Unfortunately, she was forced to face the consequences of what she did to her world. The player never asked for anything that Monika did, you only wanted to play a cutesy video game. The way she twisted it was so psychotic, and Monika couldn’t even see that.

It was only when you deleted her that she finally realized her wrongdoings. She also realized that she’ll never truly fit in anywhere. If she were to stay in DDLC, she would only feel empty inside and starving for something more. If she were to be a part of our reality, she would realize that she can never be considered human because in our world, she would instead be considered artificial intelligence (AI). When she accepts her fate, it is out of the sadness of knowing that she can never be happy anywhere. That’s why she is not present during the final scenes of the game.

That is until Monika deletes the game as a whole. Her character file was deleted, but somehow that artificial intelligence managed to stick around and cling onto Sayori. With that remaining self-awareness, Monika was able to manifest herself onto that for a final chance of redemption. Her life within the game flashes before her eyes, every memory and every core event that happened seems to be rushing back. The ways that she hurt her friends immediately occurs in her mind, and it’s that guilt that makes her strive to make it up to them, even if they weren’t truly real. As if wanting to protect her friends from the realization that she had, Monika decides to do one last thing before she “dies”. As if it were some sort of way to let her friends be released from DDLC peacefully, she deletes everything. The world, her school, her club, her dearest friends. She gave herself up in order to protect the things she truly loved in her life. She truly loved her friends, even if they weren’t real, because they had stuck with her all this time, way before player joined. Those were the purest forms of love that she felt, and it must’ve been sad for her to realize that.

Monika’s final send off, “Your Reality”, acts sort of like a reflection of herself and mainly a final display to the player, you, that she did have humanity within her. You can tell by the piano, her voice, and her lyrics that the song is completely genuine and from the bottom of her heart. She wants DDLC to end on a good note because 1) Monika never had that chance to end like that herself, and 2) She doesn’t want you to be upset, she wants you to be happy because she truly did love you. She doesn’t want you or anyone else to go through the same thing she did, and I think that is fricking raw.

If you made it to the end of this rant, damn. I’d like to hear your thoughts and opinions about Monika’s while arc. Thanks for reading haha <3

[love-kurdt]

Swooping, Sloping, Cursive Letters: 7

word count: 1040

warning: underage drinking

PLEASE READ THIS IS ME TRYING FIRST, AS THIS STORY RELIES HEAVILY UPON THE CONTEXT OF TIMT

January 21, 1988

Dear Will,

It’s been a few weeks since the blow-up on my dad. It’s been eating away at me. I said it with obvious sarcasm, but what if my dad actually thought it was true? Like, he wouldn’t be wrong, but I don’t want him to know. It’s scary, thinking about what he could do to me. I’ve heard about those camps where they try and change you. They always leave there more traumatized than when they were initially sent in. But enough doom and gloom for one letter.

I just got home from the basketball game, and we’re all going to a party in about an hour. Our first high school party. Lucas got invited by the team, and then he invited us. I’m still debating whether or not this is a good idea. You know, with the whole Upside Down trauma thing. We all have our own problems to deal with, but I remember specifically that you have really bad claustrophobia, and I just think going to a crowded party might trigger it. But that’s just me and my overthinking. And yeah, I know what you’re going to say, ‘Mike, I’m fine, don’t worry about me,’ but are you really? Are you really fine? Because that’s one thing that’s really bothered me since everything ended. You’re still obviously dealing with some shit, and I don’t blame you at all. You should be suffering.

That came out so fucking wrong, I didn’t mean that at all. You deserve every good thing this fucked up world has to offer, and you should never have to suffer ever again. I just mean that considering everything, it would be a huge shock to me if you were just able to recover with the blink of an eye. So when you tell me you’re fine, I’m sorry. I don’t believe you. I love you, and I want you to trust me enough to be able to open up to me and tell me what’s on your mind. And you know I’ll listen all day if it comes down to that. It doesn’t even matter what you’re even saying, I just love hearing the sound of your voice. Jesus Christ, everything is coming out wrong. No pun intended. Everything you say matters to me, but that’s probably already implied by the “I love you,” so I’m just gonna stop rambling on and on about this.

You’re coming over in a few minutes, ahead of everyone else. I love how we’ve always made plans like this, with you arriving earlier so it’s just the two of us. It makes me feel wanted. Even though you don’t actually want me. Not in the way I want you. Anyway, before I get all mopey and pathetic– Lucas insisted upon all of us “pregaming,” whatever the hell that means. I don’t know. Maybe this party could be a blessing in disguise. It could represent things finally going back to normal for us. I really hope so. You– we all– deserve this.

—

It’s currently 2:30 in the morning, and you’re passed out on my bed like a fucking starfish. Before the Party came over, you told me you didn’t want to drink, for pretty obvious reasons. And I really respected that, Will, you know? I respected your self control and your aversion to ending up like Lonnie. I even told you I’d stay sober in solidarity with you. So we didn’t pregame like the rest of our friends– yeah, now I know what pregaming is. Basically getting drunk before going full-on blackout at the actual event.

Which was why I was shocked to see you stumbling over to me like you’d been drinking since 3pm. You called out my name, and I barely had any time to register what was happening before you slung your arms over my shoulders and jumped on top of me, knocking me over onto the couch behind me. The landing kind of hurt, since throwing all your weight on me caught me off guard. And I’m not even going to try to confront the way you shoved your entire face onto mine, your lips narrowly missing my mouth. That was obviously just a mistake, probably just you being drunk and lacking coordination or something. But the way you looked at me, Will… I had to remind myself on a loop that you were drunk.

I asked you how much you’d had to drink, and you told me “Uh, like, five shots of vodka.” And I know you have free will (again, no pun intended) to do whatever you damn well please, but I just felt kind of blindsided. Because you told me you didn’t want to drink tonight. But then I asked you what changed your mind. You said that you just did the shots because everyone around you was telling you to, but to not make a big deal out of it, because even though you didn’t want to drink, you were still having a good time. So I left it alone.

But it got me thinking. For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve been so incredibly selfless. You’d do anything to make people happy. But sometimes you do it at your own expense. You did it during 1985 when we ignored you all summer and then swept it all under the rug when you left for California. You did it with me when I said that horrible thing, and not even 24 hours later, you told me it was fine. And you did it with the painting when you were silently sobbing next to me in the van. I still want to talk to you about that one. I just don’t know how to bring it up without scaring you away. It just hurts to see you do things that clearly make you unhappy. You shouldn’t do that. You deserve so much better.

Anyway, I turned you onto your side so you don’t choke and die. I just hope you don’t beat yourself up in the morning. But I know you will, Will. Okay, I swear that was the last pun. I’m gonna go now and try to scooch myself between you and the wall.

Love,

Mike

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[alterrune]

RE:KMRG SIDE STORIES - TWO EVENTS AT ONCE?!

Oh hey, looks like Summer Nights' rerun theme has been announced!

What's "Summer Nights"?

A special Splatfest, Susie. Happened last summer, too. Every time one of those splatfests happen, Kyle dolls up the blog for it. Fuckin' awesome work on that, by the way.

Thanks, Dystopiac. Here are the themes.

So which team are you picking? Since Big Man will be Air, I'm assuming Air?

Yes, I'm going team Air on this one.

Did you get that last nostalgia trip?

Yes again, Advisor. We're eight-for-eight on nostalgia trips being triggered. What was I reminded of this time, you may ask?

Well, I was actually reminded of a bunch of games by Nitrome.

Nitrome made some really good Flash games back in the day, and they actually have been trying to covert every single one of those games to HTML5 so people can still enjoy them today.

Their entire artstyle is 16-bit pixel graphics, and they're really charming.

I believe we ripped one of their games in the past! If my memory serves me right, it was Super Treadmill.

But which games did the Summer Nights teams remind you of?

Well, I'll show you.

-🔺💜🔵💕✍🏼🌸🃏-

For Team Land, I saw an ol' classic: Steamlands, along with their Player Pack update.

I made so many levels with this game's level editor. I think I still have an old USB flash drive somewhere in my IRL household chock-full of levels I made with the in-game level editor.

How many levels are on that flash drive?

I dunno, around 50, maybe?

50 LEVELS?! That's quite a lot.

Yeah, they were curated over the course of a few years, mind you.

-----

For Team Sea, I was reminded of a game me and my younger brother used to play Co-Op mode a lot on: Mutiny.

It's simple: fling bombs (or yourself) at opponents, and take them out before either they take you out or you run out of turns.

Sounds like a lot of fun!

It really was. Me and J-Man had a lot of fun blasting our guys away. Sometimes I even booted up 2-player mode by myself and treated it like a sandbox mode, as it had every bomb unlocked from the start.

-----

As for Team Air, it reminded me of a couple things, but most notably the first Nitrome game I ever really played.

MEGA MASH.

This game's a "Nitrome Enjoyment System" game, meant to be a 7 in 1 cart. The whole premise was that the game cartidge is so badly damaged the games are bleeding into each other, making it so you have to play 7 different games at once in order to beat all 30 levels.

Two of the games are even prequels to other Nitrome games, those being "Ninja" and "Balloon". "Ninja" is a prequel to the Final Ninja games, and "Balloon" is a prequel to the Hot Air games (btw, the original Hot Air game was Nitrome's first ever flash game)!

A majority of the games on there have you travelling through the air, hence why I was reminded of it when Team Air came to mind.

Oh! That sounds like quite an intriguing game! I like that all those different games types can blend together so well.

-----

And you wanna know how I found out about Nitrome? MOSHI MONSTERS. No, I'm not kidding. Moshi Monsters had an area known as the "Moshi Fun Park", and other flash games were hosted there, with some Nitrome games being thrown into the mix.

How fitting that my namesake was what introduced you to Nitrome.

Indeed, M.O.S.H.I., indeed.

-🔺💜🔵💕✍🏼🌸🃏-

So, you gonna doll up the blog for Summer Nights again? God, I hope you are.

Yes, but I'll have to find a way to have it and the RE:KMRG theme included.

You always do, Kyle.

"Yes. The only time you didn't make your Tumblr have a fancy theme was with us. I don't really mind, though, it was the first time you'd done something like that."

Heh, thanks guys. Funny how, just like SiIvaGunner, I'm about to run an event for Summer Nights as well as this one. Two events at once, I've never done that before.

But I can make it work. Like Alter said...

I always do.