#I am so weak for this cutscene

[topaz-carbuncle]

[egophiliac]

we were fucking ROBBED

[rauzagel]

She stared at the creature before her, this thing that looked human and sounded human but was not. There was a horrid shift in her consciousness; she saw this being like a great insect, a monstrous evil predator who had devoured a million human lives. And yet she loved this thing. She loved its skin, its great dark brown eyes. She loved it not because it looked like a handsome, thoughtful man, but because it was ghastly and awful and loathsome, and beautiful at the same time. She loved it the way people love evil, because it thrills them to the core of their souls.

Slightly adjusted Queen of the damned (Anne Rice) excerpt, because it just keeps popping up in my head when thinking about Raphael.

[mitchftw]

how about instead of taking cookies from strangers or getting poison testers. you just bake them yourself. you have two working arms.

[magstorrn]

shocking thing for someone with my icon and username to say but xenoblade chronicles (2010) really is the game of all time

[cerastes]

Habe you ever had a "did we even play the same game?" moment with someone?

My favorite game ever used to be Metal Gear Solid 4, it’s still up there in my top favorites, and this time at a party I met a guy that said he didn’t like MGS4 because he felt like it ruined Snake as a character and that it misrepresented him. I asked if he could elaborate and his response was that they took this Rambo dude, this super manly war hero and emasculated him into a weak old man.

I need you to understand that Solid Snake was without exaggeration fundamental in my growth as a person: I am from a latino country, grew up in what’s widely considered the wrong side of the tracks in the middle of nowhere, being macho, manly, tough was incredibly important to me, because that’s how it was in there, and Snake (plus “The Knight In Rusty Armor” by Robert Fisher) basically made me question all of what I’d grown up thinking up until then, because Snake isn’t a badass because grrr manly beef jerky I kill and swear, he is this incredibly solemn guy who hates what he can do, but is the only one that can do it, and if he doesn’t do it, then nuclear war happens, or worse. There’s a whole angle of expectation as a narrative arc in regards to Snake: Meryl expected a glorious, boisterous war hero, Otacon expected a grizzled, badass action hero, Liquid expected Himself But Better In Every Way, Ocelot expected a tool and nothing else, Naomi expected a callous and cold killer… And they were all wrong, he is, ultimately, an exhausted man that cannot stop no matter how much he wants to stop, because if he does, the world might likely go up in literal flames.

So to hear this self-proclaimed superfan of Snake say this just made me skip anger and go all the way to pity. In-universe, those in the know of Snake worship him as an actual God of War, and it’s a common thing that gets addressed in-universe: The whole point of MGS2 is that Raiden could never have won if he tried to be Snake, because you don’t want to be Snake. Snake hates being Snake. Snake isn’t manly because he beat a tank on foot one on one, Snake is admirable because he does the right thing, even if he’s breaking down molecule by molecule as he goes and he wants nothing more than to fuck off and raise dogs in the arctic, but keeps on going anyways because he can do something about it. The most important message he imparts on Raiden and Meryl is Don’t Be Me; Create A World Where Snake Doesn’t Need To Exist.

I felt pity because if you feel like MGS4 misrepresented Snake, then you really and explicitly are exactly the kind of fodder PMC nobody that feeds the proxy wars in MGS4. I think only by skipping every cutscene you can come out thinking that way. The only thing super about him was ficial.

[fictionfixations]

😭😭😭😭😭?????

book 7 jp spoilers (?? what part is it?? ........13....? is it? THE END) thoughts (HOW did i SOMEHOW predict SOME PART OF THIS WTH)

guys what the fuck no sweet baby he looks so distressed im gonna cry

like at first hes like surprised and then

the switch up to distress HURTS

the the fucking white screen with lilia making me so fucking scared like sorry youre not dead right i know you took like a beam but please dont be dead what the fuck

also permanent change to live2d model from now on oh god his horn im forever not going to be able to see his former self the same im just gonna keep seeing his full horns and stuff in cards and think oh sweet un-traumatized baby

i was gonna be like silvers card looks so pretty ill get him and then we have the trio cause i have general lilia, armor of eternal night (i think thats the name or close to it) and then if i get silver itll be the three and i dont have a malleus ssr but idk i could try getting him and then the family could all be together but holy fucking shit im gonna like crash out what do you mean silvers hair is turning blonde what do you mean the blessing is like gone what what what

OH MY GOD I HATE MY PAST SELF LIKE DUDE

you know the jokes of back during like like book 7 in lilia's dream and its like oh my god the fanfics were right

I FUCKING HATE MYSELF WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS HOW IN THE FUCK

ahahahaha lets write a silly little fic where silvers hair is turning blonde because what if the blessing is fading because lilia is losing his magic (and is gonna die) and now i wanna hit my past self because what the fuck i was right im gonna crash out holy shit

LIKE WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS

AAAAAAA i want to shake my past self like WHAT IS THIS DUDE Oh my god

i just want to say im probably missing a LOT of context im like watching a vod of someone who played through jp twst and relying on youtube subtitles translated into english and i know theyre not that great and they mistranslate stuff but the channel i usually watch which translates it into english wont upload it until like tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and i am not patient enough to wait that long i already saw malleus with his horn broke with that distressed expression and the cutscene of the fight and i couldnt wait cause holy shit lilia what the fuck oh my god please dont die

(If i had the patience id sit through the non-translated video on that channel and take a screenshot for every piece of dialogue and put it through google translate but i do not)

also actually if its not clear im making this post while i havent finished watching through the story

flashbacks to malleus being like if i cant save the ones i hold dear then what is the point of this power at like the beginning of book 7?? i think it was in the context of lilia but like i think silver was crying and malleus was like whats the point of all this strength if i cant help the people i want to???

malleus just trying to use magic to save them but hes too weak he cant its

oh god

if lilia dies malleus is gonna blame himself

oh my god

also malleus in absolute denial like i can fix this (no i cant i cant use magic) meanwhile the diasomnia boys (minus lilia) are like fucking sobbing or in shock like lilia ..???

also wild that this is basically like the one tantrum that lilia isnt safe from? like i mean we know it still hurts him but like

when he has like hi tantrums and usually lilia is there able to withstand it and help him like with like i think the shaved ice thing or when he was born and lilia was there for him even though he was getting hit by lightning bolts but then this tantrum especially with lilia basically unable to do magic he cant.

..............actually i think it says a lot that the two tantrums i can name (i cant recall if he had any others) was general lilia but meanwhile this is like retired peepaw whose gonna die soon

sobbing

i swear this would be reason enough to overblot all over again if he wasnt like utterly drained having JUST come out of one already

HES DEAD? LIKE ACTUALLY DEAD?

NO FUCKING WAY

i

IM NEVER GONNA SEE DIASOMNIA THE SAME AGAIN DUDE HOLY SHIT CONSEQUENCES

WHAT?? IN MY TWISTED WONDERLAND GAME???? NO WAY.....

guys what the fuck

'a wish is purer and more powerful than any magic' CAN PEEPAW NOT DIE IM BEGGING PRETTY PLEASE

if this was another story silver would be hating malleus' guts like 😭😭😭 and malleus poor baby would probably take it like oh no :(

BUT ITS NOT BECAUSE THEYRE BOTH LILIAS SONS

AND HE LOVES THEM VERY MUCH

AND THEY LOVE HIM BACK

AND UIWAHDUfseijgk

HOLY FUCKING SHIT THE PEEPAW IS AWAKE

i should make like a joke or something about him being old but imw eudfhsjdkm

lilia rhfisuheisjkm

and for all intents and purposes silver looks exactly like the dawn knight right now and yet lilia doesnt look at him with hate (see past silver he loves you so fucking much im irsdfhusjasiekdfo)

LILIA QUICK BLESS SILVER AGAIN HIM BEING BLONDE MAKES ME SO SCARED THAT YOURE GONNA LIKE DROP DEAD OR SOMETHING

hmm (back on en we just got like the pomefiore part)

dude now thats its over i feel like a weight has been lifted my eyes are like glazing over the words now that we're out of the danger zone and like in an actual normal setting and we're not in a dream this feels so weird and the stream is not even halfway done 💀

oh god the novel of book 7 is gonna be so much worse i just know it

i always feel a lot more hesitant to read the novels of stuff when there are alternatives cause while i know theyre good i know im gonna be sobbing hella hard dude and book 7 has already got me sobbing so many times im gonna be a mess (i wonder how tf they're gonna write it anyways dude holy shit its long)

oh my god peepaws coming back to school

i stare at the diasomnia boys and think theyre gonna have problems when like lilia and malleus eventually leave next year and like

i think theres a word for it but its not coming to mind right now my brain is fried

HIS HAIRS SILVER AGAIN

im so sorry if he like appeared earlier and i just didnt notice him but YEAHHH

fhsdiuf

everythings back to normal

except malleus' horn uh whoops. idk how ill feel seeing him in like a normal setting but with his horn like that. will it feel weird? idk

okay so actually somehow malleus overblotting was the good choice because it led to the circumstances that led to lilia coming back and his magic too

i mean idk about you but idk in what normal context one would break malleus' horn off and then it resonates with silvers ring or something and peepaw has magic again

like idk before i felt like overblots were maybe preventable in its not necessary? like i know they come out of it with a new perspective and new things they learned and grow stronger from it but id like to believe somehow theres a way to also get that character growth without like nearly dying with the power of like communication although that might be a more naive view because theyd be more likely to keep it hidden then to say it out loud but id like to hope okay

but hmm

and whose to even say that its like a fixed thing for all i know the miracle only happened BECAUSE lilia was dead and so their shared desire, wish, for lilia to be back and boom miracle

am i making sense? i dont think i am

wait is the invitation date on silvers birthday??

GODDAMN

definitely not in a normal setting but like okay king pop off you are rocking that missing half your horn dude

now cmon wheres the birthday fit for silver, cough it up

look at himmmm

like dude i saw his groovy and ive been mesmerized also sebbie 🥺 (LMAO GRIM)

the music playing from my playlist right now is so inappropriate 😭

what

what

WHAT

wait wait do we get SILVER VANROUGE?!?!?!?!?!??!

im gonna like slow down cause youtube subtitles are not doing this justice

also actually i made a post awhile back of why no sllver vanrouge because vanrouge is a courtesy name (and lilia is explaining it rn)

hes explaining vanrouge doesnt suit him as it was a name given to him by her majesty for his military achievements and like it means red which is a name too strong for silver

and also that it is the name of his real parents' enemy so to make him wear that burden

:(((((

cmoon lilia its his 18th birthday give it to him

even sebek is like CMONN

'as long as theres love it is an era where humans and fae can become family' and SEBEK WOULD KNOW BECAUSE HE IS SO VERY LOVED IN A FAMILY FULL OF HUMANS AND FAE ANDAIUWHSAUIYHFSDUIJKOL

i like actually just squealed for a second there holy shit like usually its a little muffled like with mouth closed but !!!!

SILVER VANROUGE!!!!

it was so loud i should not be doing this late at night LMAO im like directly next to a wall which on the other side is a person who is sleeping so like oops

OFFICIALLY FAMILY

OH MY GOD MALLEUS LEARNING WHO SANG THE LULLABY TO HIM HES SEEING HIS MAMA IMF ESIDUHFUISHFJAIKFS

SHE WOULD BE SO PROUD TO SEE YOU MALLEUS

LEIA or is it leah i dunno

!!!!! ???????

PFF THEYRE MAGICKING SILVERS CAPE i have no idea what theyre saying ill check later but haha blue pink, scroll up to see the groovy where he has both awee

LMAO the parents go on screen and the streamer playing it misses a note and like dude i would be the same id miss a note because id be so distracted staring like !!!!!

on an actual note im so happy they didnt just have him walking around in dawn knight armor but he has an outfit outside of the armor id feel so awkward knowing its just the dawn knight model with dyed hair

WAIT WE CAN ACTUALLY SEE HIS TAIL CONFIRMED HE HAS A TAIL. i know there was one in like his overblot form but like correct me if im wrong but i dont think we've ever seen it before??

no wait actually where if father we saw leia can we saw the dad raverne or levan or something i forget?? something like that

actually but now i finally understand how tf silver saw his mom like dude i saw like her model (and i think a screenshot of him with leia and the dawn knight) and im just staring at malleus post-overblot fight like we're not in a dream anymore how tf does he meet them ?????

actually while we're here i wanna see sebbie's family he has siblings right and im like pretty sure theyre on good terms

we got silver showered in love and now i just wanna see happy fluff of sebbie being loved too (i know he is im just ive seen so much angst today i need it)

i mean he technically got it with baur (baul? ??? i remember briefly being confused because so while i was in book 6 hell i was watching someone go through 7 so on their stream it said 'baul' and then i play through it and its changed to baur so im just like okay which is it ???)

BUT THAT WAS A DREAM VERSIOn

so fuck

book 8 probably huh?

stares at prologue boss who looks suspiciously like grim

[hydrangeapartridge]

My rating of Emmrich's outfits that no one asked for and no one will agree with! (careful of spoilers down here)

Researcher's Robes

Everything about the pants, the shirt, the jewels, the collar pin, the sachel and the vest I absolutely love. It’s Emmrich’s clothing from the lighthouse ; elegant and stylish. But after hours of playing, I am still not sure about that coat. It’s the shoulder pieces and the high collar I think. I love the scholar look and it fits the first recruitment quest but then I think it doesn’t suit the exploration and wandering in the mud of Hossenberg of the sun of Rivein. It is too unpractical. Plus, the shoulder pieces prevent me from fully admiring Emmrich’s lovely profile in cutscenes.

So 10000/10 for the lighthouse outfit and 8/10 with the coat.

The Boundless Scholar

Nice but less stylish than other outfits. Maybe makes him look a bit older. Also lacking jewelry when I love my man in gold. Plus once you’ve seen it’s a bit similar to Johanna’s outfit you can’t unsee it… Mad scientist vibe and probably a outfit he uses to not get too stained/dirty when handling corpses.

5/10

Preserved Gurn Hide

Nice colour patterns, the upper drapping is stylish and I like the satchels too. There is an alchemist vibe but I’m not sure about the armour plates for a mage, looks too chivalrous maybe. But still solid.

7/10

Funeral Finery

This one I really like. It has jewelry but is more sobber and practical while still giving off the stylish scholar vibe. My favourite for bringing Emmrich out on quests.

I also think it compliments Emmrich’s slim but not weak built. His shoulders and chest look a bit broad and nice in it. Love the purple waist piece and the pouch. It’s pretty without being too much.

The darker colours are good but maybe not the best for his complexion

9/10

Graven Vestments

Black and gold, simple but sophisticated and looks very good on him and for his complexion. It give off more like a formal attire vibe. It’s pretty but I’m not that into the total black look. Plus I’m not into that flap on the front, looks weird. Not sure about the cape either, capes are dangerous.

7.5/10

Lich's Vestige

Lewd show of that ribcage sir !!

It’s beautiful but it means Manfred is gone so nah. Skeleton father became skeleton

Grief/10

Voilà ! (no outfit gets under 5 because Emmrich is a stylish man. Love him)

[deathpressmonogatari]

I had this massive rant last night but I'm just so unhappy with Shadow of The Erdtree. You can feel so much got cut or butchered for the final product and it hurts. The dlc is beautiful, the journey and locations are magical, it's such a good experience. But the story is so flat, so weak.

The lore is interesting. Everything we learn about Marika gives us so much. We know about her, why she did the things they did. Her people. Why she reacted to her omen children the way we did. We learn about the fingers and the absence of the greater will and how that has led to our twisted world, with Metyr reaching out to the nothingness. And that's where it ends.

I've been very critical of Miquella's handling in the dlc, I don't like how someone so important is relegated to like 4 voice lines and zero reason as to why we want to oppose him and join his order; like in his cut ending. He deserves way more screentime and integration into our journey.

Messmer I love, but he doesn't get to do anything? He's a boss, he's the firstborn, and he unleashed his mother's fury on the hornsent. And you kill him and that's that. How does he feel about his siblings? He interacted with Miquella, because how else does Miquella get to Enir-Ilim? He needs Messmer to give him access. Why did they cut that dialouge. I assumed Miquella told him about the shattering. How does Messmer feel about his mother's choice? Her imprisonment? How does he feel about Radahn, clearly positive since he lets all that shit happen. But Messmer deserved more and to say more words

Romina not getting any dialouge in the final cut is bad enough. But no cutscene?? She's clearly very important and she doesn't give us anything. It's so annoying, she is the boss that stands between us and the sealing tree and she's treatrd like fodder and not someone who is clearly VERY important to the story and likely Malenia.

I love St. Trina but it felt like she was forgotten, her lines were so interesting but her quest doesn't progress anything? She talks to us and gives us her view on what Miquella's doing which is great but god I think she deserved more

I've put a shit ton of time into DLCs for DS1, DS3 & BB and I will die on the hill that they were all done better than SoTE. It felt like they wanted to be vague for the sake of being vague to the point of it being less of a mystery to solve and more of a "oh, okay. Guess that's that." If this is meant to be the final content drop for ER (I hope not) then I really don't know what it was meant to achieve. I suppose it did educate us on Marika and the GW and then that's it.

I've seen a lot of takes that we should accept the story they gave us and it's entitled to want something different, but I feel if you're someone, like myself, who puts hours and hours of time into these games and you're used to really good stories and lore being told only for the next big dlc to basically fumble that for our epic Radahn moment is not great. And I am within my right to criticise that, as is anyone else. And if you're a massive fan of the story good for you, I'm not telling you you're wrong. This is MY opinion.

Also we should've had a Messmer consort ending ;)

[m-inntii]

Flame Reaver = Phainon theory?

Spoilers for HSR 3.1. You’be been warned

so there’s multiple stand alone pieces of evidence that point to this.

Flame Reaver targets Mydei’s back in that one cutscene, and Phainon was the only other person who knew that was his weak spot

Kevin killed Elysia in HI3, and guess who killed this world’s Elysia :)?

We never see any enemies anywhere like Flame Reaver. Hoolay has borisins, maradtruck are one group. But the Flame Reaver is only it and it’s phantoms. And supposedly, by the end Phainon is the only one that will remain. There’s only one Flame Reaver, and there’s only one Chryso Heirs will remain. If you get what i’m saying?

Currently my theory is that this is something like a little nightmares situation- that Phainon is destined to become the Flame Reaver, and that the Flame Reaver is actually Phainon trying to stop the endless cycle. Which is the 2nd half of the evidence:

Amphoreus is a mobius strip, which is an endless cycle. Phainon becoming the Flame Reaver is a continuous cycle.

The Flame Reaver says “I am sending a dynasty to its end” potentially proving that the Flame Reaver’s goal is to end this time period and stop this cycle.

Part of Mydei’s whole story arc was about a self-fulfilling prophecy and taking the situation into his own hands to stop it. The Flame Reaver could be doing something similar

ooh boy, if the Flame Reaver is Phainon after he becomes the last one left in the Chryso Heirs…man, dude can’t catch a break huh?

[dinobotbitch]

10 things I think/hope we’ll see in tonight’s episode!

(Really this is just a wishlist)

1. Reference to what Ellie experienced before she was sedated in Salt Lake. (i.e. filling in a bit of the gap between Joel getting knocked out and him waking up)

I have a (weak) theory this is what was happening in that sneak peek pic. Maybe she was questioning him, explaining what she remembered after he was hit and is (obviously) upset about how everything turned out?

2.Reference to swimming lessons!

3.BLOATER

I don’t think this is likely since we’ve already gotten such an epic bloater moment with Tommy. IDC THO, I wanna see another!!

I also wanna see Joel go feral on that thing. Like… sue me!

4. Joel singing!

5. Chemical burn

I really think if we don’t get a chemical burn scene exactly, that there will be heavy reference to it. Either directly after it’s done, or just when she gets the tattoo.

I’m also thinking maybe the burn is why Joel seeks out Gail initially? Maybe he wants someone for Ellie to talk to? Or someone to reassure him that she’s going to be okay?

6. Family time!

Ok… this one’s basic in comparison, but I want to see good ol’ Uncle Tommy and Aunt Maria! I want to see Ellie connect with Benji! Give me family!

7. More pet names!

I want all the nicknames. I want to melt in a puddle from the fluffiness.

Biggest ‘W’ would be if Joel introduced her as “my kid”. That’s all I want!

8. Nightmare scene/ Reference to what we didn’t see during the time jump after Silver Lake?

Now this one is just wishful thinking. But I am nothing if not a dreamer!

9. Contractor Ellie

Let my girl use some power tools!

I really enjoyed seeing how Joel was an integral part of Jackson, I’d love to see how Ellie found her place too! Maybe she’d start by working (or attempting to) alongside Joel!

10. Ellie jumping off that dinosaur!

I just think that cutscene is so funny and cute and we already know she climbs up it! Let her (safely) jump!

Then after she jumps we can compliment Joel’s swim teaching capabilities!

[ironnumber1fanboy]

Explaining Childes rank and why he is much stronger than 11th currently.

My lazy ass was busy with work, but here i am with another post for the few people that will see it.

In this community if you are a Tartaglia fan you probably saw him facing a lot of downplay when it comes to his strength and how he matches up against some characters that dont really stand a chance against him( Diluc). So in this thread ill address most of the downplay people use against him and why its all horrendous and how strong he truly is.

Lets start off with how strong just being a low ranked fatui harbinger makes you:

What Diluc is implying here is that you can do whatever shit you want(almost) because of their diplomacy which is tied to their strength as well. This same Diluc who was happy to raid the fatui right after hearing Signora is here was rushing us to escape. Same Diluc FOUGHT some of the harbingers and has expert knowledge on sneznhaya and is one of the strongest in Mondstadt. Yet he still wanna gets out of there ONLY when he hears she is coming.

Now Childe himself: He fights the Traveler with 2 elements and only loses duo to resorting to Foul Legacy out of rage. Its stated by paimon and archives that fight was extremely close with Childe in delusion having a slight advantage.

To add onto this, this same traveler is AN EQUAL to Ganyu. Another character people believe smokes Childe..

Now we get onto the juicy stuff as far as Childes rank is concerned in 2.2 event that many people missed out on.

Shiki Taishou makes this statement after already seeing traveler in combat, putting Childe>traveler, same traveler who BEAT Signora who is ranked higher.

PAIMON, the person who watched Traveler fight Signora and knows about fatui rankings still believes Childe is the strongest one on the team. She also teases Childe and how we would beat his butt in a rematch, so we have no reason to believe she would be biased in his favor.

I even have the CN TL: 危險之中。我們不能讓他死在那裡！他是隊伍裡最強的 !- says the same thing.

The way we can explain his rank not being updated is a few things:

We learned from the natlan AQ that Capitanos rank wont be changed, meaning Dottore wont be promoted to his rightful nr1 spot.

We know pantalone didnt take signoras spot after she died as well, meaning updates are not as regular as they should be.

There is no proof Tsaritsa would be aware constantly of Childes progress, meanwhile Paimon and Traveler fought Childe, saw his progress in both his story quest and now.

With that mind, Tartaglia would currently be >Signora and by proxy stronger than anyone weaker than Signor and Inazuma traveler which is pretty good.

FONTAINE

Now here is the part that the 5 people that are reading this are excited for. This is where Childe turns into an absolute monster and one of the strongest characters in the lore.

This might be the most MISSINTEPRETED fight in fiction by any fandom ever. I have never seen people downplay and overrate 2 characters present more in my life.

Lets head to 0:57. Childe, while in his delusion form still transforming, manages to react to Neuvilette OFF GUARD from behind and lands a scratch on him. Neuvilette also knocked him out, which doesnt actually require you to be stronger than the opponent if you do it while they cant protect themselves.

And yes, there are genuinely people who believe this wasnt a scratch on Neuvilette btw xD

And here comes the Narvhal fight which also people lie and spread miss-information about.

Childe only distracted the narvhal, he didnt do any damage!

Neuvilette underestimated the narvhal in the courtroom!

Skirk called him weak, while she called us strong so obviously traveler and Neuvilette clap Childe!

First point can just be debunked by...actually watching the Narvhal cutscene. We see Childe not only outspeed and physically overpowered it, but also scratching and piercing its skin. Keep in mind, this same Childe COLLAPSED right afterwards because he was fighting for many many days.

2)You know whats funny though?The same Neuvilette people hype up for quote on quote one shotting Childe, could not damage the narvhal without a charged attack and got his barrier popped in 4 seconds. He couldnt hold it off for 20 seconds and needed Childe who was on deaths doors to step in and save his ass.

Cant even tickle the narvhal.

Narvhal pops it in 4 seconds. Neuvilette would notice his barrier being cracked and renforce it if he was underestimating it for god knows what reason, but he didnt.

Childe outspeeds it so bad. It was just about to eat the civilians and Childe was coming all the way down from the portal and still overpowered it at 1% of his strength left.

Scratches it multiple times

Pierces it

Neuvilette was also aware that Narvhal is the root of the prophecy and civilians are under danger. There is no reason he would hold back the strength of his shield or attack potency of his attacks.

I wont spam the full conversation, but he was very well aware of everything and why it had attacked here.

Even the archives agree that Neuvilette cannot stop the whale alone and needs to team up with knocking on deaths doors Tartaglia.

And the FINAL point:Skirk was talking in relation to young Ajax. If people had actually read the dialogue they would know it. Paimon says how Childe said Skirk was very quiet and Skirk says she doesnt talk to weaklings. But that Childe...was just a 14 year old Ajax. Of course he would be considered a weakling.

Traveler also had his strength buffed by Neuvilette and fought against a narvhal that was weakened from all the fighting and yet it was still described as a tough fight for us.

Navia says its not at full power and Neuvilette in response to this even says he is grateful Childe delayed it for so long LMAO.

Lightless mass:

A fragment produced from the INTENSE BATTLE against the All-Devouring Narwhal. The universe is a dark and cold place. But look carefully. Inside are always faint glimmers of light, like pearls gleaming from within the sand, splinters of diamond sprinkled over asphalt, lights lancing through the fog on a misty night, and sparks that ignite the brightest blazes.

Funnily enough, this is the same boss drop Childe gave us for his birthday.

All in all this thread is getting way too long so ill stop here. But if any of you Childe fans are arguing against our boys haters, just go back to this thread. Childe is currently the strongest non god tier character in Genshin and he will only continue to grow.

I would put his current rank at around 4-5, depending on how strong the Rooster is.

[elizabethrobertajones]

since they gave us a search area this big:

it would have been nice if Y'shtola's dialogue didn't immediately tell us to go look at the heartblossoms again when putting out a search party, but left us SOME opportunity to use our brains and give people a chance to put together even a basic 1+1=Krile went back here.

At this point it just acts as a trap for people who skip cut scenes and don't even read the text as they click through it as fast as possible. You have to be actively resisting the story for a search area this big to make sense. And while that's funny to me, I do think they should give everyone else at least the suspension of disbelief they're giving us a chance to do a little hide and seek game even if the answer is blindingly obvious and the only challenge might be remembering how to get back up here if it's your first time in the zone...

If I may ramble more, I am also bothered that the sidequests popped up after the frog thing, while we were on the other side of the map, and while the frog quest gives us no chance to DO side quests, picking them up to do along the way back since we're now going to have to walk back the length of the map to return to Y'shtola and then backtrack further here, would give plenty of time for sculpted sidequest storytelling.

My favourite example I always always go back to as an example is from the master storyteller of the game so maybe it's unfair. But in the Azim Steppe, I always recommend picking up and doing the sidequests as they become available, because they're deeply sculpted to the MSQ as it goes through the areas. The most important one is right out the door: a 2nd or 3rd wave of quests unlock in Reunion once you've met Cirina and got onto the quest to go meet Hien. Only then does a quest open up where you go collect lost children who've wandered all over Reunion, and with the Hien quest location an orange circle rather than an obvious MSQ dialogue marker, the mini map fills up with little orange circles of where wayward children of the steppe are including one up on the bluffs; one of the 5 circles is however Hien.

The simplicity and subtlety of it knocked my socks off and made me realise that while I'd already been impressed with how they use the MMO format for storytelling, you could get deep and interesting with it as a really unique medium for storytelling and characterisation, and converted me to ALWAYS doing the quests as and when they unlock rather than leaving them for after I've done the MSQ and am just noodling around a zone for the XP later.

Anyway, the labyrinthos quests are largely about the culture shock (we eat bugs here!) or jokes (there's both a beaver AND a namazu in a box startling or worrying researchers in separate parts of MSQ and sidequest) and not much upfront that either gives us stronger gleaner stuff (the questgivers are mostly/all researchers students and scientists) or lean into the mysticism of it all (the nice botanist who infodumps about his favourite flower says all that then walks out the story forever instead of sticking around to do follow up flower quests) and since you can't even pick up the sidequests in the medial zone when you're 99% likely to go straight to Krile from the toad event, do the big cutscene, and have already learned everything we needed to learn about the story from the zone by the time you walk back through Argonomics, the chance to really do anything with the MSQ is really weak. Add on that the first part of this storyline is further Sharlayan stuff in the main city and the sidequests there, the speed at which you can blitz through this area really makes it one of the weakest areas... I'm so glad I went to Thavnair first on my first playthrough because this is abstractly interesting but just so thinly told compared to the richness I normally expect of the game...

[mastercrownmonday]

Without further ado (Kirby reference?!): new Mistilteinn pfp!!! Magolor Soul banner is still on the way.

If you don't remember (and I wouldn't blame you), the subject of this pfp was decided in March with a poll. I haven't really commented on the results yet—so if you want to see my thoughts and ALSO discover the lore behind my love for the Master Crown, read on, because it has a whole lot to do with this titanic and terrible tree!!!

Here are the results for your reference. There were 48 votes:

I guess I was slightly? ish? surprised Mistilteinn won; I had my not-so-strong bets on Magolor Soul, which came in second. But hey! The ranking was a nice surprise, because clearly the BEST Master Crown is the Master Crown, pure and simple—without some... begrudgingly hijacked, weak-willed catboy wizard in the mix.

I didn't vote officially, but I did ask myself the question: which Master Crown is best!? And I think, if I had voted... I might have gone with the tiny, classic version. (I guess that's why I had to sneak it into the pfp anyway.) I mean, it's so cute! I am sure it would never become a literal accessory to any sort of evil!

If I remember correctly, @katlynthecat bravely arrived on the last day of voting to represent the OG MC. I was happy it got at least one vote, so special thanks to you :)

I was also pleasantly surprised that every form got a vote. Even the cutscene-exclusive Crown shards (which is actually a really cool form imo. it's ominous: inexplicably moving and spitting out a magic aura but showing no other signs of life. spooky)!

With all that in mind, I still don't know if I could pick any one of the Crown's forms as the true overlord. The tree has the most historical significance, though, because the Kirby buzz that RTDLDX caused is what got me seriously invested in the series again (I've been a longtime fan off and on).

Clearly, I was a weakling in terms of Kirby extended lore expertise, because at that point I knew nothing about RTDL and I had never heard of this Magolor character. He seemed popular though. Wonder what his deal is.

...OH! So that's why everyone jokes about the fandom having trust issues from multiple adorable offenders. (I did already know all about Marx. Gotta love that guy.)

Hey... wait a minute. Is the boss of Magolor's game mode... the very artifact that consumed his soul? That's pretty metal. I guess it's sapient? A living little conglomerate of hatred, back after over a decade to torment the fandom darling? Though it would earn no thanks... no acknowledgement... it crafted a perfect, Bible-referencing hellscape for Magolor's torment, returning long after time had forgotten its days as the big bad to prove to theorists once and for all that it was alive, it was autonomous, and it was angry!?

...I had to respect that. I respected that a lot, actually. I liked Magolor but I liked the Crown even more. (That renewed passion for the Kirby series is actually what brought me here to Tumblr!)

For a little comparison, here are some of my first drawings of the Master Crown (circa June last year?) compared to this most recent one:

In the left image, you can actually see the first inklings of Master Crown Soul! 😳 It didn't take me long to start cooking up some ideas to flesh out its backstory, and I think the design and themes have come a long way since then. (some of which anyone interested will eventually get to experience in all their glory via my fic. prommies)

In summary: thanks for growing on me, Mistilteinn, and congratulations! It's a great day to be a tree-hugger :)

[fictionfixations]

going over 3.1 cutscenes with a fine tooth comb because i keep noticing things

kudos to this video ill be using for screenshots, with all the cutscenes from this patch (spoilers of course)

first off you might not have noticed (i certainly didnt until someone pointed it out) the silhouette phainon stabs looks like himself though i think we all kinda know that now after first immediate scare of phainon stabs mydei? and then you look again and its like wait a second..

is that a grin?? dude what were you seeing?? i know you relived your trauma but ????? like are you seeing the black swordsman (is it swordsman? i kept thinking of it as swordmaster or swordsmaster. idk man same thing to me its person who use swords) but then why are you stabbing what you seem to think is yourself and smiling about it??? i know people have theorized phainon is the black swordsmaster but i dont want to believe it man i dont want him to have any more trauma 😭 (also theres a grunt that makes it sound like hes been stabbed but phainon missed so)

phainon looking down at where he wouldve stabbed and then when mydei grabs his sword he looks up (tbh that could be an innuendo 😭)

standing over anaxas, he has the thing that takes out the coreflame, but when we enter he dispels it

im gonna be honest i cant tell if the black swordsman hit trianne or not during the 'two slashes' like i think it missed her but ????

summons it again and points it at castorice seemingly

goddamn

when anaxa/cerces like stabs him through the chest he ends up burning

i think hes like recharging or like healing or something something cause later hes fine again and not on fire

scary that maybe he wouldve been able to escape the century gate if not for castorice. and then itd be a wasted use. i mean i know its kinda clear considering castorice ended up acting to make sure he gets in but i didnt notice how far he got in resisting

we holding anaxa

trianne sees him first 😭

that was so close its scary man om

hes not getting closer but hes not moving either hes just staying still. i wonder if its because of his use of clones, that hes on the ground and not in the air..

tribbie is like huh? whats going on? calls out 'trianne?' 😭😭😭

SHE LETS GO OF THE GATE

LETTING THE SWORDSMAN GO AFTER HER AND SHE OPENS A SECOND CENTURY GATE

when swordsman dude is trying to take cerces' coreflame both phainon and trailblazer turn to stare

seeing the tiny opening phainon immediately takes his weapon back out

?? wtf what kinda weapon is that that it can cut holes in the sky or some shit wtf

i like how phainon nods at him and then takes a few steps back so mydei can take the lead and then he can follow (or well im assuming idk stuff about fights man)

okay a LOT is happening so im gonna follow one character at a time each rewatch. the reason i made this post was because i thought they were purposely positioning mydei to aim at his weak spot during the fight so

i was gonna be like WHY are they spread out again and then i realized i think this is after a phase LMFAO i just forgor

he covers his head briefly idk why i find that kinda funny (its like barely a second before hes attacking again)

he sends a charged crystal filled punch (idfk what its called) at one of the clones, the clone slashes it and then attacks him and throws him back

genuinely kind of looks like there was just a clone waiting for him to be sent back, in the perfect position to aim at him

guy summons two more clones to attack so its 3 v 1 (until phainon comes along)

the clash gets rid of the clones and knocks guy back

mydei turns to look- i genuinely cannot tell what he just did but it throws the guy back and mydei then jumps after him to do the attack

also something i noticed Mydei: "I am the Lance of Fury... The agony this world needs!"

Gnaeus: "I am Nikador, the Lance of Fury, the messenger of turmoil, and the embodiment of Strife! Remember this: I am the scar that this world needs!"

im gonna try to follow phainon now

trying to understand how phainon thought to go after mydei? maybe he just knows him so well to know that he was caught off guard so he went to provide support or something? cause if you backtrack you can see him fighting some of like the clones (im trying to take less screenshots so i dont hit the image limit) but then (ASSUMEDLY) sees mydei go flying and think ah im gonna immediately go and run after him. huh. ..maybe? Idk we see phainon fighting to the side, he goes off screen, mydei gets flung back, we see phainon running towards him on the shot near the flame reaver

trailblazer smacks with a bat and then hops to off screen (if you can tell what the blobs in the circle are doing in the image underneath 'genuinely kind of looks like' kudos to you but i cannot so)

anyway while im here one more thing

you know how when like the tri-variants (IDK what term to use to call them without saying all their names) uses up all like the divine power or whats it called and so they like die technically? and turn into dolls? so the dolls are the dead bodies??? 😭 (its her e6)

[aka-indulgence]

Okay, so we know your opinion on Ram and Zen. But how about maximilien?

I am weak for omnics. I would be a happier and more romantically active individual if I lived in a world with omnics like

OMNIC MOB-BOSS TYPA GUY????? HELL YEAH??????

When I watched the storm rising cutscenes I kept rewinding and Looking at how he was playing with the coin in his fingers like my man is dextrous um 👁️ 👁️ 💦

Also he’s in a suit??? aaoushdsfjfgjdkhgd

Me replaying whenever Maximillien talks in the cinematic…

Also in a comic it’s shown Maximillien is hesitant about Talon’s operations so. Redemption arc? Maybe?? At the very least my guy’s helped overwatch by telling on Talon so

Yes. I like him. 😳