#Honestly as someone who watched through playthroughs as well

[revenantghost]

The pretty fanart of the ladies in space made me watch a Signalis let’s play

I don’t know what happened but that was fun

OH MAN, Signalis is a trip. I love it so, so much enough that I wrote fifty-something poems for it lmao and it's lived rent-free in my brain ever since. I haven't watched anything more recent on it because three pistols brainrot, but if you want to dig more into the horror space lesbians (because it is very confusing depending on your playthrough, for sure--and it only gets BETTER the deeper you dig), these two videos in particular are very good, very relaxing, and so well-made imo:

[aris-lil-library]

VARIOUS RE CHARACTERS REACTING TO FRIENDLY ZOMBIE READER (G/N)

Brought to you by your local zombiekin <3 (Fun fact, was originally planning on adding Wesker- but I wanted to get this out sometime within the month lolol)

Also please note, I have not seen a full playthrough of Re1R or Re1- Chris might be OOC.

Characters Included:

Leon Kennedy (Re2R)

Claire Redfield (Re2R)

Jill Valentine (Re3R)

Carlos Oliveira (Re3R)

Chris Redfield (Re1R)

Content Warnings Included:

Mentions of body horror (brief, but still applies to reader themselves.)

Mentions of gore/death (nothing explicit.)

The Sewers. (They deserve their own trigger warning /hj)

Mention of eye touching/prodding

Leon Kennedy:

After having cleared the hallways of the Racoon City Police Department and coming face to face with some disgusting freaks of nature named Lickers, Leon thought he had seen it all. Honestly, he didn’t imagine there was anything new that could surprise him in this goddamn place until he made eye contact with you.

Well.. if you can call staring at the dangling eye hanging out of your socket “eye contact”.

He instinctively raised his gun, expecting to see you rise to your feet, stumble over to him and try to nom his neck like all the other undead he’d seen so far- but to his (pleasant) surprise, that didn’t happen. In some odd groan you spit out, which he assumed was your attempt at speech, you backed away from him. Arms raised as if to show you didn’t mean to cause him harm.

It was odd to say at the very least. He kept his aim marked at the dead center of your head, though he hesitated pulling the trigger now. Your right hand (which Leon noted had a nasty looking chunk taken out of it) drifted down to a bloodied ID badge hanging from your breast pocket.

Though it was hard to read, Leon squinted out the words “Assistant Secretary” in bolded letters at the top of your ID.

He looked back up at you, slowly lowering his gun as he noticed the almost.. human-like quality of fear in your eyes. He could’ve sworn he even saw your shoulders sag slightly with relief as he tucked his gun into his holster.

“Hey.. can you.. understand me?” Leon’s words paused at times as he debated internally if he was really trying to communicate with a dead person. He could feel his stomach sink slightly as you slowly nodded back, cautious that he’d still shoot.

“What the hell.. How are you even- no wait- you’re infected and you can still?- What??”

You watched as Leon’s brows furrowed and his expressions cycled through confusion, disbelief, intrigue and right back to absolute bewilderment. It was almost funny and you almost tried to smile at him- before remembering the fact that your jaw had gotten unhinged a while ago and it’d likely confuse the poor guy more.

After a very long and arduous time of trying to explain to the baby-faced police officer how exactly you got bit and how you locked yourself in this room and how even you didn’t know how you kept your humanity- it just ended up in Leon sitting on the floor, scratching his head.

“I really don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me. I’m sorry.” You grumbled out a brief noise of annoyance before just accepting it and sitting on the ground across from him.

There was an awkward silence between the two of you for a while before Leon spoke up.

“Hey look. I know you’re already bit and all but maybe we can find you some help? There’s a hospital in the city- there has to be someone who can fix.. uh.. whatever you’ve got going on here, right?” He even sounded unsure of the words he was saying, yet the caring smile etched onto his nervous features was enough to convince you that you should come with him.

Not particularly like you believed you could be cured, but more as in “This poor kind boy will get killed if someone’s not looking out for him.”

So you gave a polite nod, rummaging through what little supplies you saved in here before heading out of your sanctuary with Leon- glad you’d met someone so nice in this mess.

Claire Redfield:

Despite having been caught in the middle of a zombie outbreak and getting turned yourself, undead life was surprisingly calm. You had shuffled your way down into the sewers after getting bit, accepting your fate as you felt your consciousness slowly slip away as blood drained out of the bite on your leg- only to wake up a few hours later a lot paler and surprisingly awake.

Part of you was frustrated you had somehow miraculously lived through transforming into a zombie because of course you would be the unlucky schmuck who would stay sentient throughout something like that. Only your level of sheer bad luck would allow that.

It turned out being down here wasn’t too bad if you ignored the weird mutated masses of flesh in the water, the massive hulking figure of a presumably mutated man that would scream in agony every hour or so and the other rotting corpses surrounding you. Otherwise, it was nice.

You had honestly thought that you were going to live the rest of your undead life here. It’s not like being on the surface is any better at the moment- though you had to admit, it got boring really quickly.

That’s why when you heard a small repetitive bang of a pistol fire off- you couldn’t help but let your curiosity win. You peaked around a corner, just dark enough so whoever was firing couldn’t see you, to take a glance at whatever unlucky person slipped down here.

She couldn’t have been past her early twenties, you thought, her younger features and nervous look spoke volumes. Her eyes had a certain steely resolve to them though, which would’ve impressed you if she didn’t stare directly at you. Previously fascinating eyes now had your stomach drop as she raised her gun at you preparing to fire.

You scrambled away down the hall you came from, legs slightly slipping from the slimy layer on the floor that you really didn’t want to think about at the moment.

Claire had started giving chase after you, worried you were possibly another survivor that she had scared off with her reckless gun waving.

“H-Hey! Wait up!” She yelled out, following your shadow throughout the gross sewers.

You had run yourself into a dead end- panicking and turning around to see her approaching rapidly. Without a way to defend yourself, you simply put your arms in front of your face to shield it as you shut your eyes tightly- preparing to get shot.

Clacking sounds of boots hitting the wet floor filled your ears as Claire stopped just a few feet away from you. She huffed out in exhaustion, leaned over to catch her breath.

“I’m.. I’m sorry- jeez hold on. About.. About scaring you. I didn’t know there were other survivors down here. You alright?” She looked up at you, briefly scanning over your body.

She noted how you looked worse for wear (but then again, so did she) and the large, infected looking wound on your leg. Her face shifted into one of pity as she looked back up at your face.

“Oh.. Is.. Is that why you ran from me?” You nodded, slowly lowering your arms to gauge her expression. It’s funny, she looked a lot more sweet up close. Your eyes met hers and you almost felt better. She looked at you with such.. compassion, even though you were infected.

Claire felt an immense sense of pity overwhelm her. She must’ve scared the living daylights out of you upon chasing you down like a rabid animal. As her gaze met yours though, she realized how glossy your eyes looked- how pale your skin was. You were probably already dead considering how familiar you looked compared to other zombies she had seen.

“I don’t want to hurt you, okay? You seem like a nice.. person? Zombie? I’m not fully sure what to call you.” Her tone was very soft, almost like a gentle elder sister, it was soothing to hear after all the harsh groans and grumbles you’d been hearing from the other undead around you.

“I think that it’ll be beneficial for us to work together. I have a friend who’s a police officer who I’m trying to meet up with. Maybe we can all find a way to escape together and you could get some help at a hospital out of this town. Is that okay?”

It wasn’t like you really had a reason to say no and the way she kept her voice so polite and calm definitely swayed your choice. With a nervous step forward, you precariously nodded.

“Perfect. My name’s Claire. Claire Redfield. It’s nice to meet you.”

Jill Valentine:

Jill was getting pretty damned tired of this zombie shit. First at Arklay, now in Racoon City the day before she was supposed to move out of this hellhole. It was just starting to get ridiculous and if she still believed in a God, she would’ve thought they had it out for her.

As she turned a hard left, narrowly avoiding a zombie grasping and hobbling towards her- Jill entered the subway company’s office. Thankfully it was empty, Jill thought to herself as she pushed the door leading into the traffic control system’s room only to have the door get pushed right back into her face.

…

What the fuck??

Jill grabbed her knife from the sheath on her side and rammed the door open- fully expecting to have to fight hand to hand, only to meet your terrified gaze as you fell onto the floor.

She honestly couldn’t tell if you were infected or not- you looked like you’d been drained dry of all your blood, yet your expressions were so human. Hands raised, slightly shaking (Jill wasn’t sure if that was due to fear or the fact your right hand was hanging on by a few tendons of muscle.)

You mumbled out a shrill and raspy yelp, trying to communicate as best you could that somehow you were still conscious, even in this form.

Jill wasn’t exactly sure what to do with you, knuckles tensing and untensing around the handle of her knife. She almost felt guilt thinking about stabbing you now. Her body went taut as she saw you stumble up and head to the subway panel. You waved your hands, pointing back and forth at the subway map and its controls.

“You.. know how to work that?” Jill hesitated with her words, almost embarrassed that she was trying to communicate with.. a zombie as far as she could tell.

Well that was until you nodded very rapidly, as if trying to prove you had some worth.

So with a frustrated sigh, Jill said “Okay, I need to go to Fox Park. Figure it out.”

Jill watched you with interest as you flipped through the switches expertly, going through the path so quickly she had to assume you worked here before.. whatever happened to you. You figured it out so quickly and turned back to her, as if expecting her to allow you to follow her to wherever she was headed.

Part of her really didn’t want to bring back an infected to the subway but you had the biggest eyes and were practically pleading.

“No- you can’t. God just..” Bigger puppy dog eyes.

“NO. You’ll cause too much commotion! I can’t-”

“Hey Jill- you got that subway route finished?”

Your eyes instantly went to the radio buzzing from her shoulder and she made a mental note to punch Carlos when she got back.

“Yes.. Thanks to the help of a.. oddly friendly zombie.”

You could hear him cackle over the other side of the radio. “You’re joking- right?”

“I wish I was.” Jill sighed out and explained to Carlos that she actually met a nice zombie and spent about 10 minutes convincing him and the other U.B.C.S members to let you follow and that she swears she’ll keep an eye on you and please please please please let her keep you-

Mikhail begrudgingly agrees after her arguing that she should be able to keep you around and that you’ve proven yourself to be helpful- but is told that you’ll be staying with Carlos when you both return to not endanger the civilians and to truly prove yourself.

Jill didn’t know why, but she felt the need to protect you. Maybe it was some lingering savior complex or survivor's guilt but she ignored that for now and walked alongside you back to the subway station.

Carlos Oliveira

As Jill arrived with you in tow, Carlos did notice how surprisingly calm and patient you were with everyone. You clung onto Jill for a little while- being careful to not go too far into the train- in the off chance someone would see you and freak out.

While Carlos trusted Jill’s choice in trusting you, most of the other U.B.C.S members were.. not as happy with the platoon leader’s choice in allowing you to stay. Tyrell was very obvious about his lack of faith in your unwillingness to cannibalize them and informally ordered you to stick near Carlos.

Carlos didn’t mind to be honest. Though, it was a little perturbing to see the way your flesh loosely hung on in some places. He tried his best to be polite and not stare as it’d be “ungentlemanly” of him.

You served to be pretty helpful in the RPD, keeping an eye out for anything he might’ve missed (zombies or items.) You even took a few solid hits for him which may have left you a little more gory in some places over before- but Carlos just appreciated the gesture.

“So, tell me, how’d you end up like that?”

“…”

“Oh right. Can’t talk. Sorry.”

A simple nod or shake of your head was enough to satisfy any base questions he had for you– plus his quips about certain events like the locked doors kept the mood light and cheery.

It was honestly a lot of easy communication between you two- Carlos read you very well and normally a simple tug on his arm or small grunt would do the trick if he truly missed something.

Carlos did ask some weird things though-

“Can you like.. see outta the hanging eyeball?”

You didn’t really think about it before but now that you focused on it- you really couldn’t. With an experimental prod, Carlos watched in horror as you pushed it back into its socket to see that’d change anything. It didn’t but it was worth a shot.

He (somewhat disturbed, somewhat politely) asked you never do anything like that in front of him again.

Fair enough.

Chris Redfield

This entire mansion situation was completely overwhelming for Chris- everything was so out of place and nothing made sense. Grappling with the concept of zombies being a real thing, Umbrella Corp actually being tied to this goddamn place somehow and the Bravo Team being completely wiped out along with his other colleagues being God knows where was just getting too much to handle.

Maybe that's why he didn't even take a second glance at you when you rolled a flashlight next to him as he sat on the ground of the grimy hallway.

It took him a second to fully process what just happened- his eyes running over the slimy flesh of your body that looked rotten and gross. You just simply stared back at him, hollow eyes in hollow sockets waiting for a response.

“.. Hello?”

You waved back in response, watching as Chris’ face cringed as your bones cracked and popped from the movement.

“That's new. Most of your friends seem to not be interested in conversation, eh?”

Chris was pretty sure he was losing it- he knew he should be grabbing his gun and getting rid of this thing in front of him before it attacked instead of making conversation. Yet something felt different about this one.

You nodded your head slowly and made trepidatious steps towards Chris. Testing his willingness to let you near- he did move his hand near his knife, which you took as a warning and stepped back.

He looked down at the flashlight you rolled towards his side and palmed it. It was essentially a gift- and you didn't seem to want to harm him.

“Listen. I need help finding my friends. They're somewhere in this mansion. This place is just so confusing to get through- will you help me out?”

You seemed to hesitate for a second, feet lingering in place as if trying to see if it was a trap. Chris almost found it funny, the both of you unsure of the other and still needing help to get out of here in one piece.

You gave a weary nod to him before stepping closer and offering your hand to help him up.

Chris shuddered a little as he felt the bone through your frail, decaying flesh and pulled himself up with your help.

An odd duo you two made, but certainly two is better than one in this situation.

[dr-spectre]

Talking about Side Order and... Marina. (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!)

You know, i really enjoyed Side Order, like it wasn't perfect or anything but i had such a blast with it and if they continue to expand on it we could have something REALLY amazing. My reaction to the GOD DAMN TUTORIAL BOSS GOT ME HYPERVENTILATING! IM NOT JOKING! IT WAS SO EXCITING AND SHOCKING!!! THE FINAL BOSS WAS INCREDIBLE TOO! I was singing along to Spectrum Obligato and WHEN THEY BROUGHT IN THE STUFF FROM THE LIVE CONCERT VERSION OF EBB AND FLOW MY JAW DROPPED!!!

However i gotta admit, the story could have been better, what was the deal with the Octoling engineers Marina was talking about? That goes completely nowhere and i thought it was gonna build to something with the repeat playthroughs of the final boss.

And of course, the biggest missed opportunity in my opinion, Marina Agitando.

Now look, i wanna say right off the bat, the design is excellent, it was so smart to bring back her Order outfit and make her into a giant abomination that moves in such a weird way that makes you feel uncomfortable. When i saw her for the very first time when you enter the room, i stood there for at least a solid minute in complete disbelief and shock seeing a giant Marina in some octopus tentacle heart thingy that beats and pumps with the music. The song that plays too "Unconscience" is such a BANGER and honestly it rivals Octo Callie's Bomb Rush Blush remix in my opinion.

The build up for this was pretty good too, seeing Marina say "help me" before she was knocked unconscious and then possessed by Overlorder BROKE ME! I was like "OH NO! ITS HAPPENING AGAIN! NOT MARINA!!" The build up to the 10th floor was so anxiety inducing because you know in the back of your mind that Marina is gonna fight you but you don't know what it's gonna look like, if you were there since Splatoon 2 and have watched Pearl and Marina since the beginning then this build up is even more anxiety inducing and its pretty damn good. And once you free Marina she feels so sorry about what happened and helps you out to put things right, heck she goes through a small character arc of embracing chaos.... but... i have to say...

It is unfortunately not executed that well or with any depth in my opinion because they repeated the whole thing of "oh no a character we know is evil because of (quote on quote) mind control!!!! oh noooo!!" Which is a tired trope in this series that needs to stop or else I'm gonna get REALLYYYYYY pissed off.

I've done enough ranting about Callie's villain arc and how that has been misinterpreted and stuff, but for Marina, i really wish they didn't do the whole "oh no a character is evil because of an evil character oh nooo!! we gotta save them!!" thing again and i wish Marina was more of a villain with a sad motivation for her actions. As much as its cute to see Pearl and Marina act all flirty with each other in Side Order, it kinda ruins the mysterious and dark tone of the story that was teased from the trailers and the tutorial in my opinion. Everything is also explained so quickly early on which really sucks. I really wish Marina was actually conscious throughout her time as Marina Agitando and most of it should have been her fault. She does blame herself for creating Overlorder but it's kinda brushed aside quickly and Marina ends up being totally fine and free of guilt. There isn't enough depth to it which is so lame and a missed opportunity.

Marina is flawed, she makes mistakes and acts emotional and angry sometimes. We have seen a side of Marina where she snaps at Pearl when she loses Splatfests and has shown signs that she still hasn't recovered from her time before she met Pearl.

She picked team Order because she was genuinely scared that her new life would fall apart and she doesn't wanna lose the people (especially Pearl) that she's met and grown to love. Marina is also heavily theorized to be on the autism spectrum and as someone who is autistic, i can see myself in Marina, they could have really explored Marina's psyche and mental health in Side Order but they just... didn't. Instead she's put to sleep and controlled by her ai child and all of the focus is put on stopping it like a traditional "oh no we gotta stop an evil ai!! oh noo!!" story... ugh... I mean Smollusk is cute i guess but there's not a ton to them and they come off as yet another "evil ai that wants order and control!! roarrr!!!"

From reading the most recent interview on Side Order and seeing the concept art, they said that they wanted to tell a story about Marina losing herself to a machine that she created. Could you imagine how tragic it would have been to learn more about Marina and how she's so wrapped up in anxiety that she decides to make this replica of Inkopolis Square and make the Memverse? Maybe at first she makes it to help Sanitized Octolings just like in the dlc, but then maybe due to overwork and burnout (which Pearl mentions in the tutorial by the way), her emotions and anxiety become so strong that she becomes consumed by it, this obsession of order and trying to achieve happiness takes over her and then she gets the idea to spread this order to the real world, where her friends can be "happy" and "safe." Maybe Overlorder is still there but they just whisper to Marina, manipulate and point her in the right direction to continue to her mission of order instead of just fucking knocking her out and using her as a meat puppet for 5 minutes.

Could you imagine how much better the build up would have been to not see Marina until you get to the 30th floor for the first time and you got to unlock her diary entries beforehand? Seeing her thought process and her slow descent into becoming an antagonist. I'm not sure how they would have changed the permanent upgrades but they could have thought of something man. I get that they wanted to subvert expectations but, i think they should have gone WAY further with Marina Agitando.

I was waiting for Pearl and Marina to have their "Tidal Rush" moment where it's this emotional battle between the two, could you imagine how DEVISTATING a remix of Ebb and Flow would have been if it had gotten that "Tidal Rush" type of remix? Pearl singing her parts in this chaotic and emotional way, on the brink of tears trying to get Marina back and calm her down, and Marina trying to fight back against her words, not wanting to believe her because she's so wrapped up trying to make them both happy in her way. She's so caught up in order that she has forgotten what Pearl wants, that Pearl wants to be with her and go against any obstacle that stands in their way together. God i would have cried seeing that I'm not gonna lie. Maybe once Marina starts to think rationally, she breaks free from the machine and then leaps into Pearl's arms, and then we have to go back up the 30 floors to fight Overlorder and we slowly see Marina learn to embrace chaos throughout the floors instead of it just being at the final boss.

I really do feel like Splatoon has this issue of trying to appeal way too hard to kids and being really scared to dive into the flaws of these characters. They are so avoidant of being more serious and they hide it away in optional collectables and obscure posts on social media that creates misinformation and stories that feel way too undeveloped. They just say "oh this character has been brainwashed!!" which is such a lazy and bullshit trope they slap on these characters to avoid getting into their flaws for some stupid reason. (Hell that word has lost all meaning to me now to be honest. Like no, Callie wasn't "brainwashed" per say, hypnosis is not brainwashing or mind control I've said that a trillion times in other blog posts but whatever. Agent 3 was knocked out and had no clue on what was happening. They weren't "brainwashed" they were used as a puppet from a fucking goopy telephone for five minutes while they were asleep. Maybe its poor translation i don't know.)

I know that Splatoon is made for all ages and primarily for children but, i find that to be a stupid excuse for bad storytelling, a good story with depth that's explored and set up properly can be applied to all kinds of age groups not just adults. And the adults that say that shit too, why do you think like that? Why do you wish to dismiss that sort of thing in media? So what if it's made for kids? Adults write these stories and plant themes and arcs into them. Why do you think people cried over the Rosalina storybook in Mario Galaxy and think its the best part of that game? You don't want that kind of stuff in games because "they are made for kids"? Why do you think there are so many adults in the Splatoon community hmm?

I am so worried for Deep Cut in the next game because i really don't want this to happen again, i want an actual proper villain arc for either Frye or Shiver. No hypnosis, no brainwashing, no mind control. Just a pure fucking villain arc caused by the flaws of the characters and without the involvement of a third party. Please, i wanna see growth in these characters that is explored way more clearly and better. Or maybe don't do a villain arc again and just have Deep Cut be fully happy with each other and develop their relationship more with lore and backstory. PLEASE!

Anyways ramble over, thank you for reading!

[starastarship]

Thoughts on Indigo park chapter 1

Spoiler warning under the cut!

Alright guys so today I played Indigo park chapter 1 with my friend @theroseofazrael. And I wanted to give my thoughts on it along the way basically! Warning again spoilers for chapter 1!

Right of the bat I wanna say that this is coming from somone who watched it first and someone who played it after. So you could say I have at least 2 things to go off by

Putting this in multiple parts

Part 1: entrance

So the beginning. first of all intro cutscene was really well made and amazing to look at! Getting right put into the game, meeting Rambly for the first time was nice! (Also fun fact I did the math around the 2920 days guest absents and it's 8 years!) I liked him alot! He is cute and sweet! Love his animations and I hope he doesn't turn out evil (or at least not the AI) So we open the door with a simple puzzle and I am glad it is really just like a kind of walking simulator! Going in we are getting our critter cuff, and I was so sure in the playthrough I watched that there was one of the mascots inside the shop!

with the critter cuff around our wrist we now walk into the park and when I first saw the statue I immediatly thought "Is this a disney reference"! I liked it! going throught the tunnel and it collapses behind us. I would say I actually kinda liked that! I find it sometimes a bit more realistic if something old collapses right behind someone than it already having collapsed! Also the tunnel kinda reminded me a bit of a tunnel from my favorite theme park which I found funny!

also on a side note: I love how Rambly still tries to make this abandoned theme park sound more like that it is under construction. Deniel is a river in egypt!

part 2: The train ride

While it still plays a bit in the tunnel I put it with the train ride! Walking through the que line really helps the feeling of This was really a theme park! And while I didn't see it on my playthrough (at least I think I missed it) on SHB I saw like the tail feathers of Mollie already giving an uneasy feeling but was also a bit foreshadowing in a sense. Anyways when I was in the call with my friend, Rambly told me I would be too old for this ride and I literally said "well fuck you then". This was also still at the time where I did not realize Azra was not watching my stream, because my game crashed at the beginning and I booted it up again but forgot to stream it at the time (I honestly believe it has nothing to do with the game and more about me having too much stuff open at the time!)

Anyways we load up onto the train and off we go on our first ride! This was a very sweet introduction to the cast, and felt natural for a theme park! Meeting Mollie first I loved that introduction. I like her opimistic character as they talked (which I found also really cool that Rambly interacted with the cast during the ride!) What I didn't noticed until a bit later, down there was a door where you could see Mollie "spying" on us! I just saw how the door closed but it gave me the impression that she stalked us during the entire ride or she was like "looking around" and basically found out there is someone!

Then we get to Finleys underwater space and the entire time I was looking around if I could find Mollie somewhere again (I unfortunatley didn't see her anywhere). But then Finley say "you know me for 100 years" and Imma get this right off the bat, Mollie later on says this! I go deeper in this later on!

Then we get to a really destroyed place which thinking about it is weird! Every other place was ok looking, almost in tip top shape but this one was quiet literally ruined! It is open for alot of theories I believe, since this one was probably Salems place! it is up to you guys what this was! So off we go to repair the electricity finding a Mollie animatronic! It says one last thing about Rambly hurt Llloyd! Now this one gives me the impression that Rambly is more evil but also later on with Lloyd there is a scene that plays out. And I believe that there is more to the cuff/ the system in the park than we thought

Anyways we boot up the train again and carrie on! Next and last one is Lloyd. Here we see the first time the total distaste for Lloyd from our Raccoon! now considering how Rambly and Lloyd interact, this might be just his AI programm but throught the game, expecially the collectables, it is more to believe that this dislike isn't really programmed! So maybe that part, wasn't meant to be in a annoyed way? only time will tell! But also I knew this one from tik tok but at the end of this interaction, looking to the left shows Mollie like literally by our side coming from the courtains! I will talk about a thought when we get there!

Going out we are at the gift shop of the ride. And here I noticed that in one of the cameras we can see Molluie running after the train! We see multiple empty trains in those photos and then one in the middle with Mollie running! I believe that would have been our photo! considering all other photos are empty seats, it makes the most sense. And with mollie always popping up during the ride now and then! Now this one is more a theorie but I imagine that this photo was taken during Salems part! Maybe Mollie was chasing us, the train was just faster, and when it broke down and we went out to fix it, maybe she caught up! Then she saw we weren't there and maybe thought we ran ahead? this is really just what I have thought about this than really being a theory! Anyways i was pointing the picture out to Azra and here I noticed how stupid I was

I noticed after they told me, there was no stream, that I forgot to stream it! These entire first minutes, they did not see what I saw while I stupidly pointed out things you can only see! oTL anyways moving on to part 3!

part 3: the central area and Lloyds theater

Putting these 2 together cause I find them rather short in a way! First of going down the stairs and seeing the entire area + working and I believe opperating ferris wheel! I told to Azra that as a kid or even now that I would have gone there! I just hope they also have rollercoaster tbh! I like the adrenalin! I found the fountain actually really funny, being able to rotate like this while spitting water! Noone was save against the water! we also get to the information kiosk and to the collectables! I found it nice that we got more info about them through Rambley and expecially through our protagonist which there is one thing!

At the beginning Rambly tells us that we are a new comer/ are not in the guest data base, but looking at the descriptions it is made very clear we were in this park multiple times! I believe either, children weren't like allowed to be in the guest data base because well they were children! or because we aged and with age faces change, the face recognition didn't pick up on us!

And another thing. As I said before Rambly seems to really dislike Lloyd and with the plushies, expecially the last one we get (and old cartoon version of Lloyd) it says that Lloyd was the most popular one apperantly! or at least the company was more focused on the Lion than the Raccoon! So I believe the resentment shows that Rambly is a bit more sentient than it looks like!

Moving on, Rambly wants to bring us to the Jetstream junction but unfortunatly we need a key! And that key was in Lloyds theater. getting acess to it, we go inside! seeing the theater was really pretty! and on stage we see a sleeping Lloyd who wakes up and running away. now I wanna adress that because I feel like that they aren't really out to hurt us! after the key and getting through the section (where even if I know nothing would happen, I still anticipated it) only then when we tried to go, did he really came close enough to grab us! and that one time in the middle where he was squished under a box! And honestly i think it was also because he was like put into a croner and didn't see another way!

Here is also a funny thing because technically speaking you can get this anytime when you turn around away from the backstage area we see again Mollie! Some had it at the beginning I had it after the area and honestly I feel like it is more impactful when it is after the area!Anyways we got the key and off to Mollies place!

part 4: Jetstream junction

Now this place was really fun! We go up to rooftop racing adn are greeted with rumble having fallen onto the ride destroying it! Now I felt it was unfair we only get to ride one thing so far in the entire park! Anyways we go downstairs again and to the landing pad! or rather we should go there but off to the side is a little drinking area with an arcade machine! We can play it and it is a typical oldschool platformer! This is also where we meet Salem for the first time basically! Many also belive that this has more story relevence than it looks like. Also we get like a pixalated Ramblyberry but I think that is more an easter egg than it being exactly "canon".

Anyways we now enter the landing pad which is like a really REALLY big playground area! and we got a interesting puzzle here! simple to understand. We have blocks and need to figure out the the right combination! Easy to understand thanks to the purple block and the purple star besides it! So power goes out and we walk through the entire playground, finding all shapes and the colors to it! And guess what Mollie is with us! She is often very cose to us but never really attacks us! until after we solved the puzzle! We get our first chase in the game and the only one in chapter 1!

I died only 2 times! first time I was not expecting her to come from the front and second time I didn't knew where to jump! but overall I liked the chase! it was easy to follow and had only one moment that I thought "ARE YOU FUCKING ME?! an it is the collectable during the chase! it's not hard to see but dang I held to step back one time to get it and my adrenaline was so high holy shit!

And the ending was wow. So like I felt like with the head off it felt different than I saw on SHB. Maybe it was becuase of the pure adrenaline but I felt like they fixed the timing of when it happens! Cause with Mike I felt like the timing of the head or the distance of the jump too was weird! but maybe it was always like this. And during all of this me and Azra just went "damn she is bleeding alot" not exactly listening to Rambly saying anything about the park and stuff! But it does make me wonder what happened to the staff and expecially WHY WAS THERE FRESH LOOKING BLOOD ON BOTH MOLLIE AND LLOYD?!

Anyways we leave and soon make our way to Ocean Odyssey and I notice that is Nordic themed ! (loves it!) and after seeing a big Finley coming out there ends chapter 1!

Finally thoughts

I really enjoyed it! I don't play often horror games... actually rewrite that I never played horror games and this was my first time! gameplay wise, there were a few nitpicky things but that was their first game and for that alone this deserves a major Star because it is really good! and story wise, it got me hooked! we got enough information for anticipation withouthaving all to much said, only leaving us wondering!

Anyways can't wait for chapter 2 and see ya!

[thedragonagebigbang]

Bang Creator Interview: Tumblr: @blarrghe  |  [AO3: blarghe

The Collaboration period has begun! In these quiet months before works are due, we want to foster a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and celebration among our participants. To that end, all participants were given the option of a formal interview by our mod, Dema, or an informal “ask-game” survey. We hope you enjoy getting to know our phenomenal creators as much as we have!

Tortured Man More Tortured by Having To Endure the Best Week of His Life

Blarghe and Dema talk art imitating life writing, romantic foils, and the Platonic Ideal Dorianmance 

Dema: I'd love to begin in OC land with you. As someone who is both an artist and a writer, do you find that making art of your OCs informs your process? Or are those pretty separate for you?

Blarghe: Hmm. That's a good question.

Dema: Why, thank you!

Blarghe: My feeling has always been that I'm a better writer than I am an artist, so maybe the writing informs the art, more. I am always getting very visual ideas, like maybe some comic-panel type storyboards in the brain, and I can't really illustrate that to the degree that I want, so it can be like it is in my head. But I can more easily make words do that.

I'd very much like to do some illustrations for my own stuff, and I love drawing my OC and some things have helped in the other way, like designing his vallaslin on paper did give me something better to describe from in writing. I'd really love to reach the point of being able to do a few comics. There are a few scenes I really see that way. I try to be quite visual in my writing in the meantime I guess, haha.

Dema: That makes sense! I have the same dream. Comics are very intimidating. So it sounds like you write your OCs before you draw them?

Blarghe: Yeah, generally. I think since we're going from a video game and I already have seen the characters that way, there's that. Though I have OCs I have not made in the character creator. I haven't invented a ton of non-canon side characters but there are a few. I think I can picture them pretty well. I wind up drawing them after falling in love with them through writing them, rather than like, designing a character visually/on paper/in the cc before putting them in a story. Honestly, I put down DA:I for a looong time while still writing da:i-inspired fic with my OC and other canon characters. So I guess I don't have to look at him that often.

Dema: I have asked several of our writers if they make all their OCs in the CC, and if that's step 1. I'm curious, too, at what point you knew you were going to make fan content of your OC and participate in fandom. Did you finish the game first? Did you come in with a foot already in the fandom?

Blarghe: Ok long answer: I was into the games first. I started playing in maybe 2015, shortly after Inquisition came out. My partner already liked the games and was excited to play it, so I wound up watching some of that and being intrigued. But I started with Origins, loved it, and wound up loving and playing all three, all of them with more than one OC, to varying degrees of completion. When it comes to writing fic, I had ideas, like, little comics and some additional fill-in-the-gaps scenes written into notebooks and stuff for all three games. Mostly expanding on the personal relationships and romances, as you do. I'd done that kind of thing for other media I liked, but never really been in "fandom" about it for anything. I've always done creative writing and original fiction as a hobby and it was just a way of getting back into that on a personal level. I wrote the most after finishing DA:I for the second time... I kind of did a playthrough I wasn't super happy with, then made a new character specifically for a romance (Dorian's) then... wasn't super happy with that character either, THEN made Taren who is my current OC obsession, and wrote like 30K words of canon-divergence fic with a whole other OC companion inserted and just had fun with it. I forgot about that until 2020, when I found it in my docs and re-read it and decided it was actually pretty good and that I could maybe try to post online, find community, etc. I've since completely scrapped and deleted that fic from AO3, but getting out there got me into doing writing prompts and writing other stories, and now here I am. (I still haven't actually finished my Taren playthrough. I will before Veilguard lol) I was definitely motivated by COVID, thought I might go insane without community, so I picked a couple things I was already into (writing and dragon age) and went looking.

Dema: I'm guessing most of the art and writing you've done for DA has been DA:I?

Blarghe: Most, yeah. If only because my long fic is a DA:I inspired modern-au. Honestly it's fairly divorced from canon lol. Most of my canon writing is for DA:O actually. And I'm obsessed with Taren, I've drawn him more than anyone ever. He is very pretty, you see.

Dema: He is very, very pretty. Is DA:O your favorite game in the franchise? Everyone hates this question but I GOTTA KNOW hahaha!

Blarghe: Yeah it is! I love them all for different aspects, but it's got that first-game start of the obsession nostalgia. I also love a finicky, strategy-heavy RPG so to me the usual combat complaints aren't really a thing. I like the pause-every-two-seconds combat hahaha. I do really love running around through the scenery in Inquisition though, and I like the characters, and the fun flashy rogue stabbing too. But I have a soft spot for Origins for really gripping you into that story and world. It's a great balance of silly and funny and dark and difficult choices.

Dema: I haven't asked anyone else this yet, but are you finding the Veilguard announcements and previews are refreshing the inspiration? Or are you avoiding all spoilers and pretending it does not exist until the release? Or some secret, third thing…

Blarghe: Somewhere in between. I've been here the whole time lol, I don't know that it hyped me up any more, but it's nice to finally have news. And I'm excited that it will mean new people in the fandom and a resurgence that way. I am not totally avoiding spoilers but still kinda keeping my distance for my own sanity. I'll definitely lock down the spoiler tags once it's actually out.

Dema: So valid. I am feeling very inspired, myself, but I think it may be more the energy of the fandom around me reaching such a fever pitch. We're like a flock of ducks getting a whole loaf of bread after years of crumbs. 

Blarghe: So true haha. I am really excited about how it looks. Can't wait to play it!

Dema: Same! Returning to Taren a bit because, well, he's pretty: you said you went through a few iterations of OCs for a Dorian romance before him, and then were hooked. What is it about Taren that makes him a favorite? Was there a particular inspiration for him?

Blarghe: Oh boy. Not a specific inspiration. I played DA:I three times, counting the Taren one that I'm not technically finished, and the first I completely missed any romance (thought I could get Harding until it was too late) but I loved Dorian's character and his personal arc hit so hard that I immediately made a new character just for him. He was like a sassy Trevelyan who didn't really wanna be there, trying to pull kind of a rogueish charming sarcastic irresponsible pretty boy to hang with Dorian but I really didn't like how that clicked. I know it's a pretty common character archetype esp in a Dorian romance to do sassy x sassy so no hate but I found the Inquisition storyline and dialogue options just wouldn't let me be that irresponsible and funny, which makes sense. I really liked the themes of how the game pushes you into this impossible role where the only thing you can do is become a big responsible hero figure. I'm sure there's a compelling story there for the kind of character I'm talking about, but since mine fell so flat to me I decided to lean the complete opposite way. And Dorian inspired it too. The more I played and considered it the more I felt like I wanted him to have kind of a counterweight romance, you know. Opposites attract kind of thing. So Taren started as this very responsible, serious character who has always been prepared for leadership, being a First, and takes all that really seriously. He's also very Dalish and has reason to distrust and argue with him, which is great for Drama, but very very sweet and genuine and wholesome, which is so fun to contrast with all Dorian's trust issues. Dorian's quite emotional and idealistic, really, so they match in that way and it's very romantic. Taren's also a bit aspirational. Part of why I like Dorian so much is that I relate to him a lot, and I was struggling with trying to become less arrogant and more genuine, so Taren embodies a lot of that for me. Part of what makes him my favourite is probably the blank-slate of it all, too. Not having the Origin and getting to make stuff up. The whole romance plot is really compelling. I stuck him in some AUs and got carried away by worldbuilding, too. And after so much time spent with him he's just the fave now. But yeah, he's not my usual archetype. I think I've made a lot more sarcastic rogues than genuine sweethearts. He has like, anxiety and trust issues and I keep throwing him in situations to give him Trauma, but that sort of, happy, sweet, genuine, and healer-class character was all new ground to me and I wound up just loving the different-ness and challenge of it.

Dema: I did want to tell you that your "This is a story about trauma and relationships and socioeconomics and questioning belief and searching for balance. It's also about finding your soulmate on grindr" summary absolutely sent me.

Blarghe: Thank you, I'm very proud of that.

Dema: Speaking of which, can you come up with a clickbait title for your bang fic?

Blarghe: Something like Tortured Man More Tortured by Having To Endure the Best Week of His Life [[REDACTED]] you can cut that last part because it does make it obvious.

Dema: A+. Thank you for the lovely interview, it's been a treat chatting!

Blarghe: Thanks! It was very fun.

[yumeka36]

Black Myth Wukong

I finally finished my (mostly) all-bosses playthrough of Black Myth Wukong. Since a lot of my favorite streamers were playing it, and it looked intriguing from the trailer, I wanted to give it a try once I had my fill of the Elden Ring DLC. It took me a month to beat the game (I only had time to play about 2-3 hours a day).

Overall, I enjoyed the game immensely. Give me a game with really cool and creative monster designs, plus pretty, scenic areas to explore, and I'm happy! The combat is really fun too - the mix of spells, melee attacks, transformations, stance styles, etc, gives you such a variety of ways to play. Plus the fact that you can respec anytime removes the pressure of committing to one build. But honestly, I kinda stuck with the same build the whole game, lol. I focused most of my skill points on health, defense, attack, Immobilize, and Pluck of Many, as well as putting all my Mind Cores into the same, plus mana. This got me through basically all of the game with relative ease. Actually, either I got overpowered or the game wasn't that difficult for me, since by mid-chapter 2, almost every boss was a first or second try victory for me. Only exceptions were the Loongs and few chapter finale bosses and secret area bosses who took a few tries more. Then there was Erlang, who took me at least 30+ tries over 3 hours and was one of the hardest bosses I've fought in any game (coming from someone who's fought every boss in Elden Ring, Sekiro, Bloodborne, and the Dark Souls trilogy). So yeah, don't want to see that guy again anytime soon.

The only time I respeced a bit was to put more points into four banes resistance against Erlang. But I was also dumb and didn't realize there was a Drink to restore Qi, which was what I really needed to get rid of his shields with the fan vessel. But I still died a few times even after figuring this out, so I think he's just a really difficult boss.

While I enjoyed the heck out of the gameplay, unfortunately I couldn't follow the story/lore well at all. Obviously this is because I know close to nothing about Journey to the West or Chinese mythology. So while I understood the basic premise of finding Wukong's relics throughout the land, everything else as far as who the characters were, what their relationship is to Wukong and each other, and why they're doing what they're doing, was totally lost to me. Even after watching a "story explained" video, it's very clear that the game is a true sequel to Journey to the West, and you're guaranteed to be lost about most things if you haven't read the book. But the fact that I still enjoyed the game despite this just shows how fun it is. If I enjoy the gameplay mechanics, not being able to follow the story isn't that big a deal to me. Also, the animated music videos between each chapter were amazing. My favorite is the one for chapter 3, which was so well choreographed but also deliciously horrifying.

Like I do with most games, I wanted to make sure I beat every boss and explored every area the game had to offer. But I also didn't want to follow a walkthrough religiously either (which is something I did in my early days of gaming with the Dark Souls games). Other than look up a boss list and where to find them, I played the game mostly blind until around chapter 4. I was upset when I realized I had missed key things in chapter 3, which was being able to fight the Apramana Bat and Rat Captain bosses, as well as attain the Auspicious Lantern curio from the Lantern Wardens (I did fight a couple of them, but then decided to avoid them once I got yeeted off the cliff, lol). So from that point on I carefully checked IGN's walkthrough as I explored each area. Thankfully those were the only two bosses I missed during the rest of my playthrough. But damn, does this game have so many hidden secrets! I can't imagine anyone finding all the bosses/secret areas without looking it up online.

I guess that's one complaint I have about the game...maybe the secrets are too secret? Like I said, I don't know how a player is expected to figure some of these things out if playing normally. Maybe some more hinting about how to access the secret bosses and areas would have been nice, even if it's just some NPC dialogue or more elaborate item descriptions. I also don't like that they hid an essential thing like armor upgrades behind a questline that's so easily missable. A couple other minor issues I had were forcing cutscenes in the middle of fights and your character being way too prone to stagger with few ways to increase Tenacity, resulting in many wasted mana and focus point attacks (why is Tenacity not part of the skill tree?) But again, these were just minor issues and took little away from my overall enjoyment.

So yeah, I highly recommend Black Myth Wukong if you like fantasy adventure games focused on boss battles and various combat styles.

[bibliophile-in-training]

A Plebian's Review of the Last Voyage of the Demeter

I don't do reviews normally but I have many thoughts I wanted to share after recently watching this movie. In general, I did enjoy this movie and I thought it was a fun watch. As someone who read Dracula and enjoys most modern Dracula stories I would watch it again if it came on. (6/10)

Non-spoilers:

It took some liberties with the source material. Combine the recent Poirot movies with modern vampire lore and that's what you should expect, not something strictly adhering to the novel. Not necessarily a bad thing, but if you're enjoying dracula daily just know this isn't really that.

On that note, Dracula bibliophiles aside, it's a pretty good movie on its own. It's suited for modern audiences and won't confuse them with Stoker's vampire lore (ex. what can and can't kill a vampire, what powers Dracula has).

It had pretty gory moments that you may not be prepared for if slasher movies aren't something you watch. Also, check out doesthedogdie bc there are a lot of potential triggers.

The lighting for this movie was really good imo. There was a strong contrast between day and night which awesome, but you could also still actually see what was going on in the dark. There were a couple times when Dracula was in a shadow and you couldn't really see him but it was for effect as opposed to trying to be "realistic" (looking at you, GOT).

The design for Dracula was cool and they do play into him getting stronger and scarier as he continuously feeds.

The Captain is not the main character (in contrast to the source material's Captain's log). Here, it's Dr Clemens we follow and we get an occasional Caltain's narration from the log.

If you like Until Dawn and other titles from Supermassive Games, you'd probably enjoy it. Dracula's design, the kills, and character choices feel like you're watching a playthrough. Not to mention there are a lot of close-up shots of characters in the same way Supermassive Games does.

Spoilers under the cut:

The Good:

The cinematography was pretty good. I particularly liked shots that followed through the ship to the cargo hold where count bat boi was sleeping.

They also filmed the gory scenes really well, and one scene that stood out was when one person who's become a thrall bashes his head through a door and then slides his nose along the splintered panels as he looks up. Impactful to say the least. They didn't pan away and leave it up to our imaginations but went all in and I applaud it.

Things were recognizable from the novel (names, events, some vampire mythos). I was genuinely surprised that they marked Dracula's coffins with dragons and kept that he slept in dirt, since modern audiences probably wouldn't have known about these things. When we (modern audiences) hear "Dracula" we think it means "vampire" as opposed to "dragon", and we would likely expect Dracula's cargo to be velvet-lined coffins.

The opening scene (finding the ship at Whitby & the wagon train of the coffins) had me immediately invested and excited, and I was already looking forward to this movie (I chose it over Barbie lol).

The Captain's actor was phenomenal. He went all out when he was grieving Toby's death and he really didn't have to but I'm so glad he did. While the character itself wasn't consistent, the actor made it believable. He was strict and kind when he was sane, he was frantic and distraught when he was insane, and his moments of grief and hope were all palpable. Good choice.

"Oh my God it has wings" When I say I LAUGHED SO HARD

Honestly there were a lot of funny moments. Some were genuine to cut the tension and help build characters but being ND and desensitized to horror I don't know if I was supposed to laugh at some of them, like when the cook's dingy knocked against the side of the hull. And when vampire Toby jumped up.

The use of knocking was a cool addition. I enjoyed when they used it like when Toby was in trouble and when Dracula was messing with the two dudes on deck.

One of the key things of Dracula's personality is that yes - he can kill you in 10s - but he won't because he's a sadistic bastard that enjoys drawing it out and playing the wager to see if you'll die of fear before he can bite you. They absolutely captured it. Homie is purposeful in how he terrifies his victims before giving them a gruesome death.

I think the model ship they showed at the end was the original model ship for the Demeter in the 90's Dracula movie (or at least a nod to it), which is how this movie was started apparently. Nice touch.

The Grievances:

Dr Clemens was a mary sue. I'm sorry, there's no way around this. Man has bad main character syndrome. I can accept a black man fighting tooth and nail to graduate Cambridge top of his class and struggle in a world that won't see his abilities because they won't look past his skin color, but on top of that he's an astronomer, a sailer, a strategist, a detective, and everyone immediately falls in love with him? Hell, he cured Toby's [1] grief over losing his lifelong friend (Huck, the dog, who was MUTILATED) and [2] guilt for all the animals dying because it was his responsibility to take care of him, and [3] fear for whatever unknown thing did this, with a headpat and "sometimes shit happens and you can't do anything about it".

He took one look at Anna, Dracula's beef jerky ration, and immediately went "she has an infection, she needs a blood transfusion", then proceeded to give her repeated transfusions over several days and he was totally fine. Up running around and fighting vampires meanwhile in reality he would have been bedridden from lack of blood and possible complications from the procedures.

Also, why is he the only clean person? Everyone's covered in grime and blood and dude looks like he just walked out of a proactive commercial. Even when he's floating in the middle of the ocean for days with an open neck wound he looks like he was just in the shower. Compare it with the Captain's burns and the first thrall's face after banging the through a door and the dissonance just pulls me out of the movie.

Keeping him alive just to sequel bait. Just. Why. Hollywood, it's okay to kill your protagonist. 1912 did it really well. Plus, I personally wasn't invested enough in this character to want to see a sequel following his vendetta with Dracula. We already know about Jonathan and Van Helsing. You can make movies that stand alone. It's okay.

If you want to sequel bait why don't you have him delirious from being lost at sea for several days and end up at the asylum with Dr Seward and Renfield? That would actually be cool and you could still have Dracula show up to taunt him.

Also, in regards to Anna, while I think it was a cool idea to use her for lore dumping and as a surprise for the audience, I was disappointed with her. She had the potential to provide a lot of info and help fight Dracula but instead she had to be the "strong independent woman". I don't hate this trope (think about Ripley in Alien, or any of the women in the original novel) but it wasn't done well here. While it's cool to see her gain confidence and wield a gun against count bat boi I was really hoping she would provide more info like his weaknesses. She says "he ran out of food in my country" but we know this isn't *literally* true because we see people at the beginning. It's the fact her people knew how to keep Dracula away that he ran out of food and he decided to try greener pastures. You could bring up HOW they did that (religious tokens, garlic, silver, etc.).

Also when she does try to give info about Dracula it's still vague and meant to be mysterious. Bruh, you are locked on a boat with this monster and you know your only hope for survival is to flee or work together to get rid of him. Why are you not giving as much info and details as possible? Because that's what the script said bc the writers wanted to make dracula look cool by relying on the characters to say it? Okay.

This movie relies on a lot of telling instead of showing. It's like they don't trust their audience to pay attention or understand what's going on. The only time I legit felt they showed and not told (lol) was when the Captain asked if what happened to the animals could be transmitted to humans and Dr Clemens lied and said no. You could see in the actor's face the inner monologue of telling the truth vs preventing chaos. It was nice and gave more info about the character than him actually yelling his life history at the first mate.

It also suffers from the writers trying to make every scene be memorable. There are too many times characters say things because it sounds cool or would be good in the trailer rather than because it makes sense for the character to say that.

Honestly all the characters fall flat for me (besides the captain who's character is treated like a pinball). They're all archetypes rather than people. The protagonist. The independent woman. The racist drunkard. The child. The religious guy. The guy that makes obscene jokes. The only names I know are Toby, Dr Clemens, and Anna. Bc they get said a lot as opposed to me actually caring about them.

On that note, I am definitely biased because I loved the Captain's log from the novel, but I wish that this was from the Captain's pov, culminating in him tying himself to the wheel and dying from shock or exposure like in the book. Then Whitby.

On that note, I am still upset that they used modern vampire mythos yet again for Dracula. In the book the Captain dies after being taunted for days by Dracula after tying himself to the wheel, only possible because the rosary in his hand protects him. It's a noble but horrific sacrifice made of fear and a duty to not let the evil on the ship reach land. In this movie, however, he reaches the wheel and dies because the rosary has no power over Dracula (it's also how Toby dies).

Oh, also the sun kills vampires. How do we know? Because occasionally some people turn into vampires, but only when it's convenient for the plot (looking at you, Anna). Why don't they use this against Dracula and dump the dirt box they know he's sleeping in during the day? Who knows. But they wasted a lot of potential to play on the audience's expectations (rather than giving into them) by using Dracula during the day. Y'know what's scarier than a vampire picking off your crew at night? A vampire picking off your crew at ANY time when you only expect it at night because SURPRISE sunlight just doesn't let him crawl in lizard fashion.

Are you seriously telling me Dracula sustained himself off of Anna for several weeks, and then decided to slaughter the crew mere days before the boat docked? Yes, he was weak bc of it but I don't think the director knows how blood works (see Dr Clemens's transfusion issue). Also, if that's the case, how did Anna not suffocate in her dirt box for hours on end for weeks? Just fill the other 48 crates with dead people and say Anna was the last caprisun in the box and it would make more sense.

Also, why have their last hurrah be the day before they reach Whitby? It made the movie seem too fast; it felt like it only took a week to get from Transylvania to England. Why not find Anna early on, then disperse the crew member deaths across a couple weeks like in the novel? It would help with the suspense and you could have the Captain tie himself to the wheel then let us experience the time passing after he dies so the audience has a moment to sit with the deaths and feel hopeless. Bc that's what the role of the Demeter is, story-wise. It's supposed to make us afraid of Dracula and feel hopeless in his presence. Not give us hope and make him into our rival we have the possibility to get revenge on. That's what our dear friend Jonathan is for.

Dracula never takes human form. Why do all adaptations refuse to give him his bushy mustache? COWARDS.

Okay, he *sort of* takes human form. But they really just put him in a waistcoat and top hat then expected us to believe that showed he was cunning. You literally said he's both man and beast then only show the beast. One of Dracula's main appeal is that he's clever and his sadistically human traits are the only thing preventing him from immediately ripping you to shreds. And he can pass as human, so he could be anyone. Yet we only see the beast part.

While this movie was fun to watch, it comes off more as a gruesome drama or action movie than a horror. I never really feel any suspense or dread. Compare it to Alien which had the same situation. Alien did such a good job of making you feel scared and claustrophobic when you're surrounded by the vastness of space (in this case, the ocean) and being hunted down by an intelligent monster. I was watching this to see how Dracula killed people rather than seeing how they struggled to survive.

I can believe this movie was in production hell not just because of the writing but some errors. In one scene, the Captain's burn is on the right side of his face but there's a close-up cut and suddenly it's on the left side like someone flipped the screen. And this is just one error out of a couple. No Starbucks cups tho.

It sounds like I don't like this movie because of all of my nit-picking grievances, but I really did like it. I think my issues are just because my expectations were too high going in. I was expecting a loyal expansion of an underappreciated segment of a classic novel, which is really rare these days. And a *suspenseful* horror.

I see why Guillermo del Toro and Stephen King suggested it. It's pretty similar to their stuff, just more fast-paced. So if you like that stuff and Until Dawn I think you'll really enjoy it.

[aubins]

TOA Anniversary Munday

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: darcy, but i also go by qiu!

Pronouns: they/he

Birthday (no year): january 9th

Where are you from? What is your time zone? sea & gmt+8

How long is your roleplay experience? god who knows HAHA not me i fear

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? .........kik..........and then amino when i really got into it a bit more lmfao

How were you introduced to TOA? through the heart & soul ad on twitter!

Do you have any pets? unfortunately not i must live vicariously through family & friends

What is your favorite time of year and why? i do love the -ber months generally. it's nice to have cooler weather as someone who lives in a tropical country though it's not by much these days i fear

What is your IRL occupation? i'm a full-time university student atm studying psychology!

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? writing of course but for less obvious answers: piano, photography, badminton, archery, history, mathematics, languages, etc etc i like learning basically haha

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? 13 sentinels, somnium files, life is strange, genshin impact, honkai: star rail, zenless zone zero, pokemon. prosekai sometimes. and i love love the ace attorney series so much miles edgeworth among us is the funniest shit i've ever seen

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: fairy type! and it's both mimikyu & ditto really i couldn't pick but i think i said ditto last year so i will say mimikyu this year haha

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! i used to do international math competitions when i was younger! haven't done since the pandemic but they were good fun i do love math & competition haha so put them together i'm bound to enjoy myself

How did you get into Fire Emblem? my brother bought fe3h & i decided to play it too. i simply never made my way out of that rabbit hole

What Fire Emblem games have you played? fe11, fe12, fe16 (+ hopes), & fe17 + i've watched playthroughs of tellius & sov! nothing much different from last year except i've since watched a playthrough of awakening as well. still haven't finished my actual awakening playthrough but one day...

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: i said fe3h for my first last year but i think it might have actually been heroes now that i'm really thinking about it LOL not seriously in the slightest though i'm p sure i dropped it after the first few days until i properly got into fire emblem. don't have much of a favorite but i enjoy 3hopes purely because musou gameplay tickles a very specific part of my brain

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! yuri, alear, est, shez, and lucina

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason! yuri. to no one's suprise least of all my own but also the whole ashen wolves house really. you could say i really like those guys in particular

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 nope

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Three Houses: claude & yuri- Engage: gave the pact ring to veyle my first playthrough then reset it after. honestly i don't know though maybe gregory or timerra

Favorite Fire Emblem class? i like mage cannoneer. funny guys

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? dancer except i play you a silly tune on my keyboard. high speed & dexterity and ok magic stats then everything else is probably dogshit LMFAO

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? fear the deer!!!

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? - Boons: sword, reason - Banes: axes, faith, heavy armor - Budding Talent: bow

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? solm is my favorite but i'd probably want to live in firene

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔 separate letters

Current TOA muses: just this guy right here

Past TOA muses? marianne, caeda, est, kvasir, clarisse, & timerra! if there's been anyone else i'm very sorry to have forgotten you haha

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? miss marianne von edmund :softsmile: anyway probably not & she's in good hands now besides

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? i'm sure i do but i wouldn't be able to name it myself haha but i like to think i tend to have some kind of variety in character archetypes and tropes i enjoy writing

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? if i like them enough to put in the effort i could write most anyone i think

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? anything that significantly alters the relationship between two characters. even better if it's for the worse really i do enjoy antagonistic relationships. but yeah i loooove developing relationships between muses. especially with a muse that barely trusts anyone besides themself. yuri never does what i want them anyway to do so it's great for me, really

Do you have any scenario in mind for your muse(s) that gets you thinking “man I hope I get to write this one day”? i would really love to write yuri during their time as a student at the officers academy. or an au where they are a student at the officers academy in present time. i'd like to explore their role as count rowe's “son” more in depth one day as one of if not their longest lasting identity (excluding their actual one obviously LOL). less specific but i just love aus in general i would love to do more aus

Favorite TOA-related memories? est & sirius getting their attacks redirected at one another and whiffing all of them always makes me laugh. the harmony lance phalanx strats were also funny i do think fondly of that arena. happyland was really fun though one of my favorite events so far for sure :] i blow a kiss to north island yuri's home away from home & east island week 4

Present or past tense? present tense is my general go to for roleplay but i don't mind either or

Normal size text, small text, no preference? small text is easier for me to parse personally but i don't have any preference from my partners

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉 not so much delusions as they are old muses but i do mourn that i never quite got kvasir & timerra off the ground as much as i'd have liked to. if i ever find the time i'd love to revisit both one day. shez is also a constant plague upon my mind i just love a purple guy what can i say

[egg-emperor]

people will say it's gatekeeping but I honestly do think you're always more likely to understand a story in a game and be more knowledgeable about it if you've actually played said game

I don't think it's impossible if you haven't but you're definitely much more likely to misunderstand if you don't. binging all the scenes to a game by watching a compilation of all scenes often isn't going to help you understand absolutely everything, especially if you only watch it through exactly once, all in a row

there's a few reasons why- there might be in game story based dialogue that the cutscenes might not cover but will still add more important details and context. plus seeing, or rather experiencing, the gameplay for yourself to see what's actually been happening within the game can also add more context

and one I find most important is that, when you're actually playing the game, the time in between the cutscenes gives you time to process and think about the scene you just saw. if you're being fed all this info back to back binging all the scenes in a row, you're just less likely to take it all in and make sense of it as well

I've played all the games I analyze, replayed multiple times, and rewatched the Eggman scenes through my own compilations multiple times, and memorize and analyze them all down to the smallest details. I'm constantly reanalyzing things I already have to develop my thoughts even further too

meanwhile, a lot of people who have disagreed with me the most haven't played the games they debate me on and only watched all the scenes all in a row once and didn't get to fully take in and analyze it and when I find out I'm baffled. latest example is with Frontiers on the subject of Eggman and Sage

now don't get me wrong, it doesn't mean I'm trying to say I'm automatically right because I have and those who haven't are automatically wrong but it naturally logically makes me more likely to be more knowledgeable on it just because I've looked at it, thought about it, and analyzed it and mulled it over longer

I personally wouldn't be debating people who have played, watched, and analyzed certain games, scenes, and characters more than me if my Switch profile said I've only played the game I'm debating someone on "for a little while" or not at all- but that's been the case with a bunch of those who argued lol

it seems there's a pattern and it shouldn't be considered gatekeeping to point it out. if you can't access or beat the games, I recommend not just watching all scenes in a row but a playthrough instead, or at least spacing out watching them to think them over and process each in between, and revisiting a few times after

make sure to check out plot related in game dialogue too because they're not always included in "all cutscene videos" despite also being plot based and providing important details and context that can help you understand further. for example, the in game dialogue conversations between Sonic and the other characters in Frontiers

I'm saying this because it's something I've noticed and I genuinely just want to help, so this is my personal advice and I'm not saying you should take it or you're not really a fan or something, I just think it helps a lot, especially if you want to interpret and debate the story and characters, so you're best equipped

[kris-mage-fics]

Okay I gotta ask since it looks so great but I’m still on the fence about it: How scary would you say Scarlet Hollow is? For context, I’m a HUGE baby when it comes to horror- like even the most “mild” scary movies I watch between my fingers. I love a psychological thriller, but that’s about as far as it will go. I was also a kid who read Goosebumps and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark even though they inevitably freaked me out and gave me nightmares for years lol. Would you recommend to someone who loves a good story but is a big Scaredy Cat like myself?

Yes I would, because honestly I'm a big Scaredy Cat too! I wouldn't have even tried the game if two friends on another discord server didn't assure me that it wasn't really scary. In my opinion it leans more into the psychological side than really terrifying. Compared to movies like Saw or Se7en* it's much tamer. (Since I've seen very little horror I can't give a lot of examples to compare SH too.) If you've seen the anime Madoka Magica, I'd say it's similar-ish levels to that, a little scarier because of the more realistic art style. Actually, part of the game is inspired by the anime. I tend to get nightmares easily from things that freak me out, and I haven't had one from playing Scarlet Hollow. Though I have bawled my eyes out, especially at the end of Episode 4! It's just so tragic! There are some kinda gross and gory parts but it's not really heavy, because that's not what the story is about. It's really focused on things like generational trauma, and how the choices of a lot of character's ancestors affect the present. Just exploring those ideas through supernatural happenings and horror. (Is that the definition of Gothic Horror? Idk, I'm not genre savvy when it comes to horror.) You can always try out the demo, which is Episode 1. That should give you a decent idea of how scary it is. Though everyone has a different view on which part is the scariest so far. The devs have an extensive trigger warning list available as well, so feel free to check it out. Of course there are some vague spoilers in it. You won't encounter everything on the list in a given playthrough, since some of it is highly dependent on your choices. But no shame or judgement from me if you think it's too scary. Taking care of your mental health is more important than playing a game! <3 *Yes I know Se7en isn't really horror, but from what I remember, it was pretty gruesome. Granted I watched both it and Saw in my early 20's, so a long time ago. At this point in my life there's no way I could handle watching either of those movies again.

[alto-tenure]

Fun thing as someone that came to Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright years after the fact. Watching a playthrough after knowing the twist at the end I am just left thinking "Wow - Arthur Cantabella *really* blamed Eve". There's the presumably fairly intense social isolation what with how the Shades apparently didn't stop Jean so uh probably high/hypnotized to the gills. The fact is that Eve is fitting the practical work of Bezella in being the "source of "magic" as the person directing the shade

God do I hate Arthur Cantabella. I don't say that easily -- or at least, with most characters I start off hating I start coming around to a bit. But I watched the crossover through Let’s Play first and then played it myself after playing the entire PL series and even though it's been a year since then I still can't let it go. He sucks. So much.

(This is...probably gonna get a little long. Detailed character dive into my interpretations of Eve, but also some additional analysis of Arthur, Newton, and Espella. Content warning for discussions of suicide in terms of talking about canon events.)

Eve's the only one who really divides her role as the Great Witch (the person responsible for witchcraft) away from the role in general of Bezella (the culprit behind the Legendary Fire). And I really can't blame her for it! The thought of being responsible for the deaths of an entire village is...well...overwhelming for all of the characters involved. It drove Newton to suicide; it drove Arthur towards Project Labyrinthia; it caused Espella a multitude of mental health issues including being suicidal; and Eve coped with it by convincing herself she couldn't be responsible.

I don't really like the "Eve was actually the person who rang the bell" twist, more so for how it undermines Espella’s suicide attempt that comes directly afterwards. I've seen other people's frustrations, and I think it makes sense for Espella to be driven to suicide under the crushing weight of everything. After all, we know Espella has been in a delicate mental state since at least the end of Golden Court where she's ready to sacrifice herself. It makes sense that learning she's the reason Labyrinthia exists is what breaks her, even with the knowledge that magic isn't real and none of those people actually died -- it's still her fault, and she still believed those deaths to have been real, as well as them still impacting people! Like, regardless of who ACTUALLY rung the bell, it's not even the biggest contributing factor to Espella's issues. Labyrinthia was still constructed for her because of her trauma response. I think the twist that Eve ~actually~ rang the bell isn't really relevant, and only serves to make Espella's suicide attempt weaker narratively, as from some perspectives the twist is just there to shift everything away from Espella and onto Eve.

The fact that Eve didn't snap sooner is a miracle, honestly. Newton's death clearly mattered to her, regardless of her personal feelings about Arthur, and his presence was probably why she continued to stay for so long. We do know that the two of them had grown distant -- Newton says as much in his suicide note. And...well...Eve does have a great many reasons to hate him just as much as she hated Arthur. He is just as complicit in forcing Eve into her position as Arthur was. But in the end, she still cared -- or at least felt conflicted enough -- to stay as long as he was alive.

His death is an interesting turning point for her, but I think she saw an opportunity with the exposure of the Bell Tower -- it was an opportunity to make a clean break, to expose everything for what it really was, a reminder of the world that used to stand before Labyrinthia.

I think it's important to note that both Eve and Arthur's plans...are not the most well-thought out. Eve clearly didn't think anyone cared enough about Espella to intervene on her behalf, and hadn't counted on Layton and Luke's emotional attachment. Arthur on the other hand seemed to believe Labyrinthia would operate completely fine independently of him, especially since he probably intended for Eve to take the fall as the Great Witch and there goes the two topmost officers in Labyrinthia. Who's next in line, Barnham? I'd frankly like to see him try.

I do think Arthur always intended for Eve to take the fall; I don't know if he knew the truth the whole time or if he was just refusing to believe Espella could have done it until they revealed it was actually Eve who rung the bell (they SAY he knew the whole time, but I wouldn't exactly call him the most reliable narrator). He put her through a lot. So did Newton.

The game takes great lengths to say that Espella did nothing wrong, that she shoulders the blame for no reason.

Once again, I circle back around to the question of whether "which kid rung the bell" is a question worth asking in the first place. To me, regardless of which child rung the bell, the fault still lies with Newton and Arthur, for being the ones to unearth it in the first place. And as the adults in the situation, they should have handled the aftermath better.

[ranty-ramblestein]

Pokemon Obscure V1.4 by Acegikmo Enterprises [C].gbc

That is the name of the Pokemon ROM hack I randomly started researching yesterday.  I remembered seeing a video of it as a kid and finding it funny before promptly going back to watching “vocaloid music”.

It took me a while to find the hack, and even longer once I found the actual name, since it was such an algorithm-unfriendly thing to search. “Obscure facts about [subject]” is a popular type of videos these days, after all.  Once I found the exact file name I found that it was repeated in a ton of ROM lists.

It’s a ROM hack of Pokemon Gold where you play as someone that was turned into a giant nose (with feet coming out of the nostrils), trying to become human again.  Or at least that’s the story according to a review on vizzed.com.

There’s a ton of wacky sprite and text edits.  It kind of reminds me of Pokemon Quartz, honestly.  Seeing the way that reviewer reacted to this hack having “custom Pokemon” (not fakemon) made me realize just how old this hack must be.

Sadly Nintendo already got to vizzed to have it taken down and I could only a download for the game by going to a different “shady” online emulation site.  Well, I did find two gameboy compilation downloads, but I wasn’t sure if my computer could handle downloading a ton of gameboy ROMs just so I could sift for one specific ROM, so I just downloaded from the first site.

I tried looking up this ‘acegikmo enterprises’ before I transferred the game to my computer that had an emulator, and only came up with a youtuber that did some weird math things that are WAY over my head. She pointed me to @acegiak​, who apparently also used to go by acegikmo, but while she did make an original gameboy game, I dont think she made a Pokemon ROM hack.

Later, when I finally managed to open the ROM hack on VBA I was met with a surprise...

Who’s this HFD?  And what’s Meowth hacks?

That's especially weird because this French playthrough by MeetTheReaperXV, shows that the title screen didn’t originally show that:

I tried looking up Meowth Hacks in the early 2010-2012 range, but haven’t come up with anything.  Was it a rom-hacking forum? Or a rom-hacking group?  No clue.  My search for context stops here, I suppose.

So, if you have any context for who Acegikmo Enterprises, HFD, or Meowth Hacks is: Please contact me!  I want to know if this nose-man and his pig-rival was some weird in-joke or something!

I’ll link the only other youtube playthroughs of the hack I managed to find below the cut, though.

mrfoxesisawesomes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSCdCB5vnD4&pp=ygUPcG9rZW1vbiBvYnNjdXJl

Landas Hughes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8iWumY6qW0&pp=ygUPcG9rZW1vbiBvYnNjdXJl

GreenGamerCo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LXOsbWdeS0&pp=ygUPcG9rZW1vbiBvYnNjdXJl

and a 2-part play through by InternetUpToDate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcz4IbmZfQM&pp=ygUPcG9rZW1vbiBvYnNjdXJl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XsKfwu0TrI&pp=ygUPcG9rZW1vbiBvYnNjdXJl

And a Bonus:

An original-style Let’s Play from TV Tropes by Umbee: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/lb_i.php?lb_id=14016613360B03067500

[bluerosesburnblue]

I’ve been watching a first-timer playthrough of KH recently for the hell of it, and while going through KH1 it just kind of hit me that I always mentally sort away Ansem Seeker of Darkness as an entity distinct from Xehanort, when in reality he’s just supposed to be Xehanort (well, Terranort) in Heartless form. (Same applies to Xemnas, honestly.) So I made a dedicated effort to pay attention to Ansem and mentally apply what we know of Xehanort to him in whatever scene he’s in just to see if it holds up

(Side note: it actually struck me that Zane’s Ansem tone is very similar to Diskin’s calm Young Xehanort, while Epcar’s Ansem is closer to Nimoy’s and Lloyd’s hammy Master Xehanorts, which is kinda funny)

But what really stood out to me was this scene right at the end, where Ansem is talking about Riku, through Riku

In the context of when KH1 first came out, this line was about Riku and only Riku. “Ansem” didn’t have his backstory changed until later when Nomura felt that the “wise king” and “mad scientist” sides were too at war with each other. When KH1 was written, though, that’s what he was and he had nothing to do with Destiny Islands outside of his appearance at the start. This line was written with the intention of being spoken by a mad king from Hollow Bastion, about some kid that he’d only met recently from some islands

But now, an entire arc later, and this line takes on new context. Because that’s Xehanort saying it and it applies to him as much as it does Riku. Now we have a new layer of ambiguity that hadn’t even been conceived of when the line was first written. Is he talking about Riku? Himself? Both of them? It changes context from him mocking Sora using Riku to, perhaps, genuinely connecting to Sora with some personal information (while also mocking him about Riku). How much does Xehanort sympathize with Riku’s plight vs. how much is he gloating in an “I did it better” way?

It’s one of those instances where a retcon manages to add extra depth to a scene in a really interesting way that wasn’t even a though in the creator’s mind at the time. In the moment while I was focusing on the idea of “this is Xehanort saying it,” I almost forgot that it was supposed to be about Riku initially

And I just thought it was really neat, as an example of retcons being done well and also as to how different KH1 is with the first-timer’s perspective (watching someone who only knows what KH1 gives them) vs. what it’s become now looking back at it

[tonberry-yoda]

Hi Tonberry! I'm so excited about this whole Valentine's Day event! I would like a matchup with a JJBA character!

I'm a small (153 cm ~ 5'2 ft) Hungarian straight woman (so I use she/her pronouns) with shoulder long wavy, dark blonde hair with thin blonde highlights. I'm slightly chubby. My eyecolour is hazel and I wear glasses because I have astigmia.

My favourite colors are black, yellow, blue and purple. Besides my native language I can speak German and English. For most of these MBTI tests I got INFP (though I don't believe in this I think our personality grows, changes)

I'm not the most talkative person, I have problems with communicating with others since I was in elementary. I have a hard time to warm up to others, got anxious about it, but if I find my people I slowly open up, and even crack some jokes and can be really sarcastic. I always say sorry about everything, even if it wasn't my fault.

I have a huge imagination and do a lot of day-dreaming. I don't like being dropped into a situation without being prepared, but if I can use some skills well, sometimes it looks like I can improvise. Like for example I got drama lessons in the local theater and I could pull off some characters better (mom, serious director etc.) than others.

I consider myself as someone who deeply cares about people. I want to help others but I don't know how and am afraid that someone only wants to use me. And no matter what philosophies I grab to navigate myself in this wild world, I always return to people. We are ugly and beautiful at the same time and it's so devastastating seeing people treating each other shit. I know these contradict each other. But MARINA's two songs, Savages and To Be Human explain my feelings towards humanity.

My hobbies: I love listening to music, it always got my back when I was alone. And reading some good character-driven book always moves my imagination. I like spending time with a friend of mine and talking about films, music, and dirty jokes (they're mostly about JoJo and JJK lol)and maybe I'm the one who would stop the chaos between the two of us. Like to search for different languages and cultures on Google and different playlists on youtube or 8tracks. Oh and watching playthroughs of videogames on Youtube.

I have a wide taste in music I guess? From Starset through Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco to mashups and videogame OSTs I listen to anything. But my favourite band is Starset. I'm always afraid to show other people my music taste because one time I've got booed that it's not danceble 😅 (the song I put in then was Anna Sun by Walk the Moon) I have playlists on youtube, where I listen to music I like: [x] [x] [x] [x] [x]

I don't think I have a special aesthetic; my outfits are 99% simple T-shirt + Jeans combo. Indoor I wear one of my oversized band T-shirts I inherited from one of my cousins. So I would say my aesthetic is casual I guess? Though my favourite aesthetic is spacecore but I like dark, light, chaotic academia and a bit grungecore too.

My ideal partner would be someone who's suave, can listen to me (and I could listen to him too) and I can spend some quality time but at the same time assures me with words that he loves me and I'm not a burden to him. And while on the outside he could sometimes look like he's just a goofball or just a flirting idiot, he can be pretty serious, deep down he's more than just a clown. I would like to know more about his culture, language too (yes even if his native language is English) and would like to learn it. Or he can be a kind, empathetic guy, who cares about his friends, family, helps others selflessly. Who can understand my pain about people but always reminds me with his actions why I love humanity besides hating it.

Ideal date: honestly, anything that makes him happy. I mostly would like quiet dates where we can chill (I'm not into those big parties where hundreds of people are, they drain me and make me feel I don't belong anywhere) like laying down and stargazing, holding each others' hands, hugging, kissing. We would teach each other words from our language. (I would teach him some cussing words too 😏 We Hungarians are proud of our cussings XD) But sometimes going to a carneval or a city program or just to the town's marketplace looking for trinkets or just watching the wares and people there is good too.

Ah sorry this became too long! Hope you have a great day/night!

notes 💌: hello dear! I am so happy to be doing a matchup for you <3 and thank you so much for showing so much interest in this event! i have been loving planning it and writing all the matchups so far, even if ive just done one lol. i am excited for the next seven days! happy valentine's day, my dear and i really hope you love who I chose for you <333

The character Cupid chooses for you this Valentine's Day is...

DIO!!

are you surprised?

cuz I sure was

i was not expecting you to pair with him, but it honestly fits

so hear me out

dio is the kind of man who is very easy to open up to

and sure, he can be manipulative to others, but i think that he wouldnt be that way around you

you are just a very real person and he is amazed by that

he wants to listen to what you have to say, not what he wants you to say

he likes hearing your true feeling and he's just so romantic omfg

he thinks that you are so talented and amazing

the reason i thought you two would fit was because of your philosophies on people

the way you think about them is amazing and really hits close to home for dio especially because he is a vampire

he could honestly listen to you talk for hours on end

he would goof off with you and your friend and definitely surprise you the the dirty jokes that come out of his mouth

you two also listen to the same music

especially MARINA

he's not a huge fan of your fashion sense tho

so expect him to dress you up LMFAO

and if you dont want to, thats totally fine, but he thinks you could show off a little bit more

he would love to teach you about his culture and all the culture he's been around

the man has traveled a lot, so you get some amazing stories out of him

he will never stop expressing how much he loves you and will always listen to your stories and even joke around with you <3

he may be an evil vampire, but he's your evil vampire <333333

💌 How would he ask you to be his Valentine??

I think he would wake you up to kisses that you cant help but roll over and giggle to, trying to push his face away. He would keep kissing you everywhere until you open one eye and see him holding a teddy bear with a heart on its chest that says "will you be my valentine?" who are you to say no?

💌 Valentine's Day Date

The two of you ate a lovely dinner and even dressed up for the occasion, even it it was just at home. You had spent the entire day together just spending time together and doing whatever romantic activity you could on valentine's day. But DIO had told you that he had something planned for the evening, but you had no clue what. DIO led you upstairs after doing the dished and you both put on some warm pajamas that you had that were 100% matching. He grabbed both of your hands and brushed his lips over his knuckled and you could feel his fangs hit your hand a bit, but it never hurt. "I want to show you something." He said, pressing a kiss onto your temple. He led you downstairs and to the backyard where you found what looked like a pillowfort with the ceiling cut out so you could watch the stars together and fall asleep under the moon. There were fairly lights strung on the fort and snacks everywhere over the fluffy blankets DIO had set out. You turned to DIO with a huge smile. "Babe!" You jumped into his arms, nearly making him fall onto the grass. He picked you up and led you to the fort where you cuddled all night, watching the stars pressed against each other. "Did you have a good day?" DIO asked, rubbing your arm and pressing little kisses all over your cheeks. "Yes," you smiled, squeezing his hand. "Did you?" "Of course I did. Happy Valentine's day, my love." You ended up in each other's arms all night and talked about whatever came to mind. <3

~~~~~

mystery date rules | pinned post @tonberry-yoda

[tangent101]

Sacrifice Chloe vs. Sacrifice Arcadia Bay

Originally I was going to post this in response to someone else's comments on which endings they enjoyed for LiS. I decided that honestly, the person doesn't need to have me ranting on about this topic as it's long been talked about... but I didn't want to let it just go to waste. So... it's become its own unique post.

It's undoubtedly not a surprise to folk who've seen my LiS post that I always Sacrifice Arcadia Bay. In fact, I've only ever watched the Sacrifice Chloe ending on YouTube. A huge part of that is I play from Max's point of view and I honestly cannot see Max accepting Chloe's death after everything she went through. The only reason she would go back in time is to sacrifice herself so that Chloe and everyone else could live. And from a thematic aspect, if Max's time travel abilities caused the Storm then only with Max's death will there not be a Storm. But I know some folk feel otherwise.

No doubt a big part of my "issues" with the ending come from the... sense of moral superiority the Sacrifice Chloe folk swing about, as if deliberately allowing a girl to die is a noble thing. Oddly enough, the Sacrifice Chloe folk kind of shut up after LiS2 Chapter 5, when it was discovered that three years after being arrested for Chloe's death, Nathan was likely to be getting out of jail (which means he's winning an appeal, and also that anything involving Rachel was hidden or considered contaminated evidence and thus justice doesn't happen).

I have a suspicion that if Nathan and Jefferson had not been shown being arrested or we saw a newspaper headline about Nathan being "vindicated for defending his life against Chloe" then this sense of "superiority" for Sacrifice Chloe would never have come about. But that's just me.

However, there is also another aspect to this and how often I come to the defense of saving Chloe... and that's the misogyny voiced toward both Chloe and Max. I have had arguments from folks who just... went to town attacking my saving Chloe and insisting that I was a horrible person. Inevitably it would come out that they hated Chloe. One person actually admitted that they hated Max, and deliberately made choices to make Max suffer. And to a man, they were all for killing off Chloe, having Max be with Warren, and fuck everything else under the guise of moral superiority. After all, they didn't kill an entire town of people! Hahaha, so much more superior than those Chloe lovers who are mass murderers!

They defended David and got offended when people called Joyce on abuse as they liked their little enabler and said Chloe was bad and deserved to die. And then? They moved on. They had other targets to hate on, rather than some girl who they killed in one playthrough and fuck the other content.

Ah well. I saw clips on the game, and then my spouse (before we even moved in together) urged me to play the game rather than just watch it... and I fell in love. I'm just weird that way, I guess. And I look at the game through Max's eyes. I choose things I think she'd do. Just because it's fun being Max.

[alexandria-is-my-firstname]

Yo! Did you get to the dlc yet? Is yes, how do you feel about it? If not yet, just ignore this ask for now

Yeah :D I've watched the dlc from Jacksepticeye's playthrough since late-November / December last year! All I could say is that the DLC's awesome and that there could be more things further explored or expanded, such as WHY IS DUKE EVIL HERE!?!?!? OOON9OOOOOOOOOO!!!

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Story:

I always thought the DLC would be about Ada's experience in the village based on the concept art of her Eileen-esque outfit, but having Rose's story being the DLC is cool too, maybe a bit generic but still welcoming. Idk, the story feels pretty generic cause it's like "well shit I'm a freak and I just wish I could throw away my useful god-potential powers!" and then she takes it back and keeps her powers. To put that aside, it was interesting to see the life of Rose and what she went through,,,

- Rose enrolling a normal school was a surprise knowing that she's basically an SCP and should be homeschooled for further safety, but perhaps it was something Chris thought Ethan would want for Rose, which is a normal life. And for Chris, it's surprising that he even showed up in Rose's life, I've always thought he would send someone else to watch over Rose and be her father-figure. It's heart warming tho, knowing what Chris went through, he should at least have some normalcy in his life.

- Rose being bullied felt inevitable knowing that she would eventually have complications with her powers. But daaamnnnn,,, THE DLC DIDN'T HAD TO PUT THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BULLY MEMORY INTO THE BENEVIENTO LEVEL. HOW COULD THEY PUT TWO TRAUMATIC THINGS INTO ONE????? I'M NOT A MAMA READY FOR TRAUMA!!! Beside that, I was pretty compelled by that level due to Rose's bullying experience which had similarities to mines, I was also healing from a renunion with a bully too during the time I watched the playthrough. Because of my state back then and watching Rose's DLC, I felt like I'm healing alongside her and that I wasn't alone,,, BUT THAT DOESN'T GIVE CAPCOM THE EXCUSE TO ADD DEM CREEPYASS DOLLS WHWHHHHYYYYYY!!!!!?!?!!??

- Ethan returning as a Disney Pixie will never stop making me chuckle my lungs out, like, who cooked? Who's the fella that snorted Tinkerbell's stash and thought *insert Kronk's voice* "oh yeah, this'll be whimsical"? Okay okay jokes aside, Pixie Ethan interacting with Rose was honestly damn right heartwarming, especially the Happy Birthday room (I think it is? Can't remember well). But I do have a question, does Ethan feel Kratos-level disturbed if he sees Mother Miranda cloning his daughter and Duke toying with them?

- Eveline's comeback was surprising, I first thought that she's Rose's doppleganger in the trailer before it was shown that there are a whole pit of Rose-clones. It makes sense that Eveline would be pissy about Rose being her perfect form or vessel, especially her being Ethan's kid and wanted by Miranda. I guess it's just that, surprising.

- For the ending, touching and very fitting to the ending of RE 8. Seeing Rose and Ethan work together in escaping Miranda was delicious fan-service. "Finally, good fucking food" - Gordon Ramsey. But for the final battle against Mother Miranda, it was exciting at first, but it eventually felt pretty long which ruined the final interaction between Rose and Ethan for me. While the finally battle was a bit long due to Mother Miranda's phases, Rose and Ethan's goodbye felt more longer and generic. "I'm sorry dad *insert sob*". "I love you too daughter *insert extra sobs*". MOVE ON ALREADY!! I'M SORRY BUT I THINK THAT'S ENOUGH APOLOGIZING!! It was still sad yet heartwarming tho, I'll just say I was impatient.

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Reflection:

I think the DLC has more potential and things to explore. Knowing that the mold is a hivemind, Rose could've jumped through the mold victims' recorded memories and we could've seen the origins of the 4 lords. And as an addition, Rose's trauma and life could've been reflected through the victims' own experiences, alongside the 4 lords' level area twisting into a psychological-trauma trip based on Rose's mental thoughts and feelings. These kind of ideas were something I've wondered about last year and before the trailer came out, I just thought it'd be interesting if the 4 lords' backstories could be explored through Rose who is some form of bridge between the mold hivemind and the real world. Beside my own ideas, maybe the DLC could answer why Duke is evil. Maybe Duke's pissed off that he got Oppenheimer'ed? Or Duke is a character similar to the black cat from Coraline but changed sides due to mysterious shite. And beside Duke, the megamycete could've been explored further, such as its origins and relation to the "stairway to heaven" flower (dunno if that's the name of the plant or I accidentally referenced a song). THERE'S SO MUCH. SO SO MUCH. but traumatized magical teenage girl comes first✨️✨️💖.

And to address my last year's reaction of the Rose DLC trailer, I was overreacting and couldn't comprehend how DASTARDLY SIMILAR THE PLOT IS TO WHATEVER RE 8 MONSTER!ETHAN AU I POSTED LAST YEAR. NO BLOODY WAY. JUST NO BLOODY WAY THAT HAPPENED. NOT IN AN ANCIENT LOVECRAFTIAN FULL MOON IT DOESN'T. I just fully expected that the dlc would be about Ada, only Ada and whatever cheeky schemes she has. But overreacting didn't meant I no longer like or wanna do RE stuff, I'd like to continue more artworks and stories in the future, more detailed and non-doodly works, but I'm currently really busy with personal stuff and might not do fan or original works until next year.

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So,,,

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In conclusion,,,

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It was great :D thanks for asking!!

(I'm sorry if it's a long read)