#I like seeing the way they adapt classic stories ... the way the characters interact and grow and change

[throughpatchesofviolet]

I'm hoping taking an extended break from Limbus (aside from dailies and weeklies, of course), helps me return to it with passion, again ... make no mistake, I am thinking about the game and characters nonstop--even when engaged in other activities--I've just been having trouble posting about it due to a myriad of things.

[nfcv-saltmine]

Arikado gushing about Trevor

The comments:

I will never understand why some people think Alucard shitting on Trevor is an improvement over Trevor and Alucard respecting each other

I fucking hate this with all my heart ❤️ NFCV fans be like "why do you feel the need to compare the games with the adaptation? Why can't you see it as it's own thing and let people have fun?" and then pull off shit like this.

Why can't NFCV fans keep their NFCV shit to their NFCV spaces? 🤡 Why do they feel the need to go on GAMES spaces and act as if their show could even remotely fit? 🤡 Not to mention... Haha yeah, isn't it so funny that Trevor is a drunk and an idiot? Isn't it so funny that the noble bloodline who have dedicated their lives to protect the same people that fear and reject them, probably because they understand they're scared and weak and don't know any better and just want to survive, are reduced to some rich guys with a leather whip and a collection of books about penises? Isn't it so HILARIOUS that Alucard express no sympathy and no respect for Trevor and his dead family??

The fact those fans see no problem not only with how purely mean and petty N!Alucard is to N!Trevor, but also with making fun of N! Trevor's drinking habit when it's a coping mechanism for his trauma...! I get that the show itself doesn't care about this fact, but for the love of God is it too much to ask fans to think for themselves??? Is it too much to ask them to CARE about how poorly their favorite show handles trauma?? And everything in general?? Do they HAVE to blindly follow the "haha drunk man funny" train??

I am not against the very idea of Trevor being a drunk and having fun banter with Alucard. But that's the thing. Not only Trevor being a drunk is only there for jokes and never truly explored, and he never gets to process or get over his trauma of SEEING HIS HOME AND ENTIRE FAMILY BURN AS A CHILD... But his "funny banter" with Alucard isn't actually funny banter. Alucard is mean, straight up. I mean Trevor says one bad joke about Alucard's parents around a campfire, but next to that, Alucard constantly shits on him and his bloodline!! As if the framing and the very story wasn't doing it enough already!!

The "eat shit and die" "yes fuck you" moment could have been funny... IF THEY FUCKING KNEW EACH OTHER. THEY LITERALLY JUST MET. THEIR ONLY INTERACTIONS SO FAR WAS THEM FIGHTING EACH OTHER. THEM SWEARING AT EACH OTHER AND THEN LAUGHING AFTERWARD ISN'T EARNED, THEY'RE NOT CLOSE ENOUGH FRIENDS FOR THAT AND THEY WILL NEVER BE. NOT WITH N!ALUCARD'S SHITTY ATTITUDE. It's not a fun dynamic to have two manchildren saying fuck yous at each other! It's not a fun dynamic to have one of them insult the other's dead family while the other isn't even allowed to talk back because "oh he has to be the bigger person" according to Sypha!! It's not a fun dynamic to have NO ACTUAL BONDING MOMENT BETWEEN THE MAIN CHARACTERS and instead, have them spend their screentime being assholes to each other, with their mom friend having to be the braincell that keep them in line!!

I hate that Netflixvania felt the need to pretend to be an adaptation of CV3 and CoD(?). That's why we get shit comments like this and shit takes pretending their characters are improvements from the games they know nothing about. At least with Lords of Shadow, it is VERY OBVIOUS that it's an alternate universe. It doesn't pretend to want to change or "improve" anything from the classic timeline, it does it's own thing on it's own little corner, and it's very easy to appreciate it along with the OG timeline thanks to that. Even if it uses familiar names like Trevor and Simon and Sypha, no one with a braincell would even think to compare them to their classic counterparts (at least not in a "this version is better than the other" way), because it's not the same universe.

NFCV isn't like that. NFCV pretends to take place in the classic timeline. NFCV pretends to bring improvements to it. When all it does is destroy. And I'm not saying this just because it changed a lot of stuff. I'm saying this because everyone, Ellis the first one, just HAVE to shit on the games to praise the show. It was intentional for it to be percieved as being "better than the games". 🤡

Anyway game Trevor and Alucard my beloveds I love you and your respectful and wholesome relationship 🥺

[kaibutsushidousha]

Fitting given the recent FGO news, but what are your thoughts on Takeru?

Bundling all these asks together because they're inseparable. Probably the biggest askbox cleanup I ever did in one go.

The short version of the answer is "Fate/Samurai Remnant is the story of a pair completely enamored with each other's least favorite parts of themselves."

Saber was a complete natural. A child too strong. His father quickly noticed that and exploited Ousu as Yamato's mightiest colonizer. All they knew in life was violent conquest until Tachibana taught them love and kindness. But Tachibana was uncritical. She didn't talk Takeru out of their bloody path. On the contrary, she chose death so that the walk would continue. She loved Takeru's good and bad alike.

Through Iori, Saber met a new world. A world where the weak had the option not to fight. A world where rice was easily accessible. A world that had no need for Yamato Takeru's journey, thus no need for Ototachibanahime's death. And there he met an intriguing man who still wanted to fight in a world where this wasn't needed.

In their interactions, Saber grows to envy Iori's rational acclimation to the peaceful Edo. The ability to find solutions that don't require violence. To strategize conversations. To not do things aren't virtuous. To sympathize and empathize. To read and understand the thoughts of others. It's by emulating this that Saber changes.

Meanwhile, Iori is a thinker. His exceptional rationality allowed him to weasel his way out of a village massacre, which lasted until Munenori inadvertently saved his life. After this whole time desperately using his brain to survive, Iori witnessed the easy way out. With a slash that looked like the moon, the sword saint survived without resorting to Iori's tiresome trickery. That absolute strength was the symbol of survival Iori saught.

He learned from Musashi (and Kojirou) for as long as he could, but ultimately couldn't learn all. Without completing Niten's lessons, Iori was left capable only of doing what he does best: thinking, reading, and adapting. He designed his Five Stances model and began fighting by switching patterns according to his circumstances. The opposite of the all-purpose survival mechanism that he began his training for.

Through Saber, Iori saw his original inspiration. Right in the prologue, Iori is already gushing about how Saber fights with the swordplay of a champion who doesn't read or respond to their opponent, letting only themself dictate how they fight, like they were the only one in the field. Saber can survive any situation with far less effort than Iori.

In their interactions, Iori grows to envy Saber's force of character as an unmalleable force. Their outstanding technique is just like the moon he saw at the night at the port. Iori can't feel at peace until he surpasses it. No matter how much of himself he must trim down, he needs to find raw all-purpose power (the Fire and Void Stances). Saber's ability to push through any challenge without as much as evaluating it. It's by emulating this that Iori changes.

The conclusion of Entreat the Darkness sees Iori defeated by Saber's successful read of him. The talentless Iori continuously relied on his "petty" tactic of studying his opponent, so when the talented Saber started pulling the same thing on him, it was so thoroughly hopeless that he had to laugh it off and accept he got as far as he could. Iori was pacified by his own lessons being repeated to him by the person who heartfeltly absorbed them, in classic Ciel route style.

Saber and Iori were born in the wrong eras. The latter would have been more self-assured in an age where he could prove and elevate himself in duels that put the limits of life and death to the test. The former would have been more happy in an age where they could feel assured their treasured companion(s) would last as long as they did.

But through the short time they shared, they got everything they wanted. Iori found satisfaction in finding that insurmountable that confirmed that he became the very best he could possibly be. Saber found satisfaction in gaining a companion through a much more gratifying journey than the unification of Japan.

The logical conclusion to my opening sentence is that Saber and Iori had the missing pieces to each other's puzzle, and sharing those made both of them whole.

[lemonhemlock]

I honestly wonder if the writers are seeing what people think about/of this season or if they only look about the ones whonloves everything because they're here to "win" and don't care about the story in any way, because at this point is all a mess (yes, it had some thing that were ok, but it's... bad) and I can't see people really enjoying it

Even thought there's always someone saying "ACTUALLY" and whay if I just scream lol?

It's something I see happening all around, this "defence" squad of a media where the only goal is to gi against every criticism of said media

so there are two things to consider there: the general audience and the critics. since the general audience is made up mostly of team black stans and sympathizers, anything that portrays rhaenyra in a slightly less idealized light is going to get pushback. so i think the writers are honestly blind to that criticism bc they will kind of be expecting that, which is why they already treat rhaenyra with kid gloves.

the fans who are upset over the greens' writing are significantly fewer and honestly i think the writers have such a warped understand of the asoiafverse and of grrm's themes that they just see us as delulu. to them the greens = villains, so any attempt to humanize them a little must be way more than enough in their minds: to them, they have done the greens justice because they're not horrible monsters like ramsay or euron or joffrey. to them, of course they should be constantly punished, of course they should feel shitty, of course they don't really care about each other.

as far as the critics are concerned, i.... do not think that people who have not read the books + Fire & Blood are able to truly understand what the hell is going on here, because they just lack the context. even if they are professional critics. they HAVE just fallen out of the coconut tree in this story. because, if you expect the dance of the dragons to be this classic woman-gets-usurped-by-her-evil-brother's-family storyline, with a hero side and a villain side, as long as you humanize the villains a little bit and give the heroes some flaws, you're going to think this is business as usual.

if, instead, you know this is supposed to be a story in which both sides have equal weight in heroism and villainy, then the adaptation is horribly written. if you are familiar with the source material, you KNOW that rhaenyra has never been in any way this messianic figure tasked with ensuring a prophecy that will save the world. of course that changes the stakes massively, as well as one's opinion of the character and of the way others should interact with her. the dance of the dragons has never been about "saving the world" from the threat of the Others, it's the consequence of feudalism, patriarchy, not having an easily implementable legal system because you lack basic democratic institutions and the indifference of nobles towards massive destruction and civilian casualties.

i would have hoped, at least, that a professional critic could consider some egregiously out of place elements, such as the effusive praising of viserys, but HotD S2 has a score of 70 on Metacritic and i haven't seen any think pieces asking why the show is celebrating alicent's abuser, even by alicent herself. but, apparently, even in 2024, we are not asking ourselves why are we not calling out a 50-year-old man impregnating a teenager repeatedly against her will. 🤷‍♀️ i'm sure that for many it doesn't even track bc of the "it's game of thrones so it's to be expected" brainrot, as if those things were never meant to be critiqued and are just par for the course in this world

[thats-my-passion-right-there]

Also we could have made it SO MUCH GAYER?!?

I finally saw the mean girls musical (the movie one) I have so many fucking thoughts oh my god

[gingermintpepper]

I hear the original Odysseus and Epic the musical’s Odysseus are pretty different to the point they’re sorta their own characters- how do you feel about this?

Hello beloved Anon!! Thank you so much for the ask <3

Generally, I feel like a very big part of the appeal of adapting stories, especially myths, comes from seeing what these stories and characters mean to the author and how their interpretations of the themes and conflicts in a piece of classical literature are expressed in their interpretation of the story as a whole. This, naturally, means that I fully expect and look forward to unique interpretations of well loved figures whenever I hear that something is going to be adapted! I love being able to see what aspects of a character has stuck with an author, I love being able to trace said aspects back to the original myth and see what other places the author has picked up inspiration from along the way to inform their interpretations! A big part of the appeal of reading and interacting with a whole lot of different mythical media comes from my genuine excitement and anticipation in seeing how a favourite figure of mine has been adapted or how a moment from a story that I really like has been handled!

With respect to specifically Epic and the Odyssey, my opinions on how the characters have been adapted are somewhat mixed. Putting aside my general misgivings about the current writing of the musical, I really like the directions Herrans has taken with the theming and the broad strokes of Odysseus' character and consequent arc. I like the idea of Eurylochus as a well-meaning but still very fallible second, I like the idea of Odysseus and Athena's close-knit mentorship that completely goes to shit after the Cyclops Incident, I even really liked a lot of the representations of the gods - from Hermes' carefree and relaxed kind of power to Aelous' frivolous cruelty to Zeus' power and command prior to God Games. A lot of the interpretations in the Wisdom Saga are things I feel much more neutral-negative about though. While Telemachus' ingénue-esque naivete and enthusiasm in Legendary and Little Wolf is endearing, I much prefer the Odyssey's slight desperate but unfailingly politically apt Telemachus - the wily son who helped his mother with her staling schemes and who was praised for his wit by his father. Telemachus is a young man and while he's technically characterised as such in EPIC, he's also treated in the same way a Disney Princess is where she is technically a young woman but must still appeal to very small children and I'm just not a big fan of that. I'm also not a big fan of Antinous' characterisation though that was something I was originally intensely excited about in the early days of following EPIC! Hold Them Down is a song I'd been dying to hear a full version for because I felt like it captured the quiet menace of Antinous so well - his charisma, his vile motivations, his absolute disdain for the strong-willed Penelope who has thwarted his attempts to take Ithaca for himself and the way his mask has slipped from barely cordial but socially correct visitor to absolute monster who is willing to do anything to get that crown. Just, UGH, Hold Them Down had me HYPED, but the Antinous we got in Little Wolf was... inelegant. Not subtle at all, crass with his intentions - the kind of guy who would've gotten kicked out ages ago for contempt against the queen. The whole political aspect of why they couldn't just kick the damn suitors out is that technically they'd never done anything punishable that would justify rejecting them and sending them on their way. Antinous was the head of that malicious compliance - the one who had the intelligence to be menacing but not so much that his words could be blatant insults or threats. That was part of the whole point of Odysseus striking Antinous down first! Little Wolf's Antinous,,, was not that and I found myself intensely disappointed by it considering that he was that in the earlier versions of Hold Them Down.

My other misgivings in terms of characters just have to do with Apollo, Hephaestus and Zeus in God Games tbh. I'm someone who is generally more concerned with the portrayal of gods in a work than I am with the humans and EPIC has a super unique take on all of the gods that accompany and inhabit its world. I've made a separate post voicing my misgivings about Epic's Apollo but I don't have a long laundry list of issues with EPIC's Hephaestus, I just wish he had more time to shine and that there was more to chew on with respect to his argument. Zeus however is in a similar boat to Antinous where in the first half of the play he was perfect - literally the perfect neutral god-figure who was simply doing his job and obviously not personally swayed one way or another when it came to Odysseus and was maybe having some fun at his expense in Thunderbringer. His violence in God Games then was not only greatly surprising and seemingly out of character, it was also completely unsubstantiated in the story of EPIC itself. Zeus had nothing against Odysseus, he has no particular reason to bar Athena from rescuing him. Likewise, he is the one who offers up the proposal of a game, why would he have a problem with losing it? The reason of 'he doesn't like to lose' doesn't cut it for how extreme his reaction was and it completely undermines what was a genuinely super enjoyable and different take on Zeus in a modern Western-based greek myth inspired piece of media. Absolutely such a tragedy to me.

Of course, to me, the biggest actual crime of adaptation that EPIC's committed with respect to its characters is that we only have about 10 songs left based on Herrans' original outline for the musical and Penelope still has not had a single song or showing or meaningful reference apart from "I am Odysseus and I miss my wife (her name is Penelope)". The Odyssey was a twofold story split between Odysseus vibing on the way back to Ithaca and the political bullfuckery that was awaiting for him when he inevitably returned to Ithaca. The center of that aforementioned political bullfuckery was Penelope and Telemachus. Considering Penelope has been Odysseus' guiding motivation for the entire play, the fact that there has not been a single solid piece of real characterisation that can be attributed to her this late in the story is uh! Criminal actually, and it's the only thing for which I hold some level of genuine disdain over.

In conclusion: I generally quite look forward to people doing adaptations and interpretations of myths and such! I generally think EPIC's done a good job with the adventure and exploration part of the epic but the political and domestic aspect of it really isn't where Herrans shines as a writer and it shows.

[scarlet--wiccan]

Hello! For a hypothetical Into The Scarlet-Witchverse which generations (classic,90s,etc) or versions (Earth 'insert here' or Cartoon Shows) would you want in your line up? Are there any fun or interesting interactions you would want to see between them?

It's shame that Wanda doesn't have more fun multiverse storylines under her belt, because she's uniquely well-suited to them. One of the main things we learned about Wanda's Nexus powers in Scarlet Witch (1995) is that Wanda has an innate connection to other Nexus beings throughout the multiverse, several of which are alternate versions of herself, like Lore. So, it should, theoretically, be pretty easy to get a bunch of Wandas in a room together.

I've said it before, but I think that understanding Wanda's Nexus powers is the key to understanding how her reality-altering abilities are supposed to work and properly contextualizing everything that happened with both her babies and the Decimation. I've written at length about it here and here. So I really want to refresh this subject for modern readers, and I think that throwing Wanda into something like The Variants or the roadtrip arc from Young Avengers (2013) would be a great way to do it.

I wouldn't want to do a multiversal-hub/peacekeeping-corps situation like Spider-Verse or Captain Britain-- for Wanda, the stakes of using her Nexus powers are usually more personal and close to home. It's more about how opening herself up to the expansiveness of her abilities makes her powerful, but also vulnerable, and the stories which relate to this usually involve Wanda being taken advantage of and having to reclaim her agency. In the past, most of those stories have been... problematic, to put it lightly. Revisiting it with fresh eyes and her contemporary treatment could be really rewarding.

This might literally be where Scarlet Witch (2024) is heading-- in this year's Women of Marvel, there was foreshadowing that Wanda would be "exploring the possibilities she holds," and her featured story was actually about Wanda getting support from one of her variants. We also know that Wanda will be encountering the Queen of Nevers and coming face-to-face with Lore again. Wanda's new enemy, the Griever, is a universal abstract that represents the final end of the multiverse-- maybe exploring her multiversal potential is how Wanda will defeat her.

What versions of Wanda would I want to see? Well, as I mentioned, she doesn't have that many interesting canon variants, but part of the charm of Spider-Verse is that it always generates a bunch of new, eclectic Spideys. Momiji and Weapon Hex are both great, and I think Wanda Strange from the Variants and Imperious Hex from Tarot could both be developed into fun What If characters. I really liked my Bride of Doom and Witch of Wundagore concepts from this post. I'm extremely fond of the Elizabethan fantasy world that Gillen invented for the Secret Wars version of 1602, and it would be cool to see Romani characters in that setting that are, like, authentic and not racist. I feel like you could do something inspired by The Tempest...

Also, Wanda's powers are very broad, so I think the key would be to give each Wanda a specific focus point or gimmick based on her universe. The Wolverine, Namor, and Strange fusions are obvious, and Momiji could focus on illusions and mental manipulation. The others, I'm less sure.

I don't personally care for any of Wanda's movie or TV versions-- I think most of them are very poor adaptations of the character. Obviously the M C U is the worst, but even the cartoons usually whitewash her. But if you change up the visual designs a little and give them a better backstory, some of them have potential--

United They Stand Wanda as Agatha's successor in a story that focuses more on historical covens, New Salem, etc.; drawing inspiration for her powers from the psuedo-pagan treatment she got in the 80s.

Iron Man Wanda in the Force Works costume as the version who's most focused on her probability powers, maybe play her as more of a tech specialist than the other Wandas.

WatXM Wanda as the main representation of Wanda-as-Magneto's-daughter, being the princess and heir of a mutant nation experiment (better than HoM, that's for sure!)

Evolution Wanda as a rebellious punk kid-- maybe with a new, matching design for Pietro? Just based on how the design was inspired by The Craft, it might be cool to play like a character who just stepped out of a horror movie.

[lonelywretchjervistetch]

The Superman Logs: MAWS Season 2 - Episodes 1 - 3

Well, hey, it's me again! My Legion of Super-Heroes DCU essay series has been more difficult than expected to put together (for a whole buncha reasons, I won't get into it), but I also haven't written much on this blog in a while. So, may as well get back into the swing of things, which I've been planning to do regardless. Just needed an excuse, and oh look! My Adventures with Superman just released their long awaited second season! And hell, better now than ever!

Since three episodes have released, with some new characters introduced, I may as well jump in. I'll also say that, from now on, I'll be posting actual character retrospectives and concepts on here, in a style similar to what I've done before, but looking at my headcanon versions of characters, as well as already existent versions and adaptations of characters. Spoilers ahead, by the way. Not gonna go crazy with spoilers, but they'll be there, so, you've been warned! And so, without further ado...

Episode 2.1: More Things on Heaven and Earth

This episode focuses on some of the fallout from the first season, but most importantly gives us and Clark a few answers about his origins. It also throws a pretty major change to Clark's origin our way, but I won't get ahead of myself. The purpose of this post is to look at these episodes from a fan's eye (or an overly picky nerd's eye, but whatever) and inspect them for what happened, and what may be coming. And I have a theory here, so hang tight with me.

As I said, amongst the smaller revelations about Jimmy's quickly decaying fortune and Task Force X discovering Kryptonite (fuck), and the normal shojo stuff between Clark and Lois that is genuinely cute, one of the first big things we get is Clark and Jor-El finally having a conversation. And I gotta say...I really like this version of Jor-El.

Now, I've done a retrospective on Clark's parents before, in my DCCU essay series that you're more than welcome to check out, but at the time of writing that essay, I hadn't yet seen MAWS' version of Jor-El. And I hope we get to see more of Krypton in this universe as well, because I appreciate what they've done so far! We've gone back to the origin of Krypton as a conquering empire, destroying itself by war and inner conflict. Classic, nice. Jor-El, once again a voice of calm scientific reason amidst the chaos, sees fit to send his son to another world as the planet of Krypton is being destroyed. Again, classic stuff. But this version of Jor-El is different from most for one reason: he seems more caring than most.

Don't get me wrong, we've seen kinder versions of Jor-El in adaptations and original source material (although recent comics have COMPLETELY fucked his character into straight-up villainy; thanks a lot, Brian Michael Bendis, GODDAMN IT). And most versions of the character want and support Kal-El being a hero to the down-trodden. But the vast majority of them are a bit cold and clinical from beyond the grave. Obviously, part of that is the fact that the Jor-El that interacts with Clark is basically always a computerized duplication of his personality, but still. We rarely ever get a Jor-El that expressed emotion towards his son, or even acts like...well, like a father.

But this Jor-El simulation? In a short period of time, he gives advice to his son about his love life, he tells his son about his origin story without dicking him around constantly (lookin' at you, Smallville), helps his son as best as he can from the grave, and expresses how proud he is, while addressing him by his Earth name! And most importantly, he does something I have NEVER seen a version of Jor-El do in any of his incarnations.

He...hugs Clark. Maybe that sounds like the exact opposite of a big deal, but it kind of is. This is somebody who Clark can miss. Somebody who, were he to live, Clark could've had real connections with. Somebody who is...well...a dad. And come on, have you ever seen a version of Kal-El who feels like a caring dad? Not a father, a dad. Somebody you can talk to, somebody who can give you fatherly advice, somebody who would give you the world if they could, and is proud of you and your accomplishments. A dad. Sure, an idealized version of one, but still. It's something I've never seen in Jor-El, and I honestly love this version of the character. Hopefully, we get to see more. Especially because of the...OTHER big revelation to happen in this episode. But BEFORE getting to that, I wanna touch on the smaller-but-important stuff.

The crashed Kryptonian ship from last season becomes the classic Fortress of Solitude in this episode! Now, I've barely talked about the Fortress of Solitude, but it's one of the most classic of superhero headquarters in comics. Usually composed of either ice or crystal, and on one of the two poles (Antarctica, in this case), this is typically a Kryptonian repository of knowledge for Clark to visit. There's a bit of a trend that says the more alien Superman is, the more he spends time in the Fortress. That is to say, it's a symbol of his Kryptonian heritage, and he uses it as his knowledge of the past increases.

Now, based on the events of this episode, the usage of the Fortress is something yet to be seen. Jor-El, who's traditionally the guardian of the place, appears to be gone for the time being. He may come back yet, though, especially as we see if the effects of the Kryptonite are long-lasting. In either case, this floating temple of ice is here to stay for the time being, and we'll see if this version proves as useful and seminal to the Superman story as others have. Oh, and for the record, by favorite version of the Fortress is from Smallville, but this has my favorite design for the Fortress thus far, from the outside.

But Jor-El isn't the only thing in this Fortress during the episode. Task Force X shows up with a new member, whom I can't find in GOF form outside of this one above. But yeah, this is also a comic book character, a little-known Rebirth-era one named Damage AKA Ethan Avery. Now frankly, Damage is...a choice to use, especially considering that he was an attempt at a popular character that nobody's really bit into, and is also basically DCs version of the Hulk. MAWS decided to tone down his appearance significantly, but he's presumably kept his army origins, and added Kryptonian technology to augment himself here. Arguably, there were other characters that could've filled this role, but I do get the feeling that we're not quite done with Damage yet. We'll see what becomes of him in the future.

That said, we also get a far more interesting character reveal in the form of Hank Henshaw, an employee of STAR Labs (who also makes their first appearance in this series), former classmate of Lois Lane, budding astronaut, and potentially the future Cyborg Superman! Which is...kind of a big deal, especially considering that I have a hunch that Damage may turn into this series' version of Doomsday. Oh, did I not mention that? Pet theory, and I don't want it to happen, but we'll see. We'll see. In any case, are we hinting at a Death of Superman arc down the line? It'd be too soon for it now, but who knows how far this series is going to go? But continuing with the villain talk...

We get yet another glimpse of those familiar three circles, and confirmation that this technology is indeed Brainiac! Looks like we're taking from the Superman: The Animated Series version of this character, making Brainiac affiliated with Krypton and Kryptonian technology before the fall of the planet, as well as getting hints from last season that Brainiac is involved with the current remaining vestiges of the empire and their conquering forces. And that reminds me...there is one more little hint that we've gotten about something. And I have a hunch about it.

So, the other big villain revealed in the end of last season was a bruiser in a Kryptonian battle suit, speaking with Brainiac. The symbol on their chest was roughly Z-shaped, leading most people (me included) to assume that this was classic Kryptonian villain General Dru-Zod. But, uh...another likely suspect just reared their head. One who may have been raised by Brainiac technology their entire life up until now, in the tradition of the Kryptonian conquerors of old. One who has a last name starting with Z. And I think you know where I'm going with this. Because, in this episode, we (and Clark) found out about...

Clark has a surviving cousin, Kara Zor-El. Yeah. I realize that she's a part of the House of El, and their naming conventions mean that the girls take the name on their father, BUT...last name starting with Z. Just saying, I think the bruiser in the armor very well COULD be Kara Zor-El, wearing a new crest, rather than that of the House of El. We know for a fact that Supergirl appears in this series, but who's to say she starts as an ally of Clark's? Especially considering that she has no actually familial memories of him. Which reminds me!

That's a hell of a change, huh? No older cousin turned younger cousin this time; Kara and Clark are the same age! Who knows, maybe we will get time-dilation or suspended-animation shenanigans, because we still haven't been introduced to the idea of the Phantom Zone or such folderol in this universe, but as it stands now, Clark and Kara are age contemporaries! A very different take that I'm not sure we've ever actually seen before in media adaptations of Supergirl. And this Kara hasn't been raised by her parents AT ALL, as far as we know. Meaning, we're going to see a VERY different version of this character. Exciting!

There was some other stuff seen here too, like more Cat Grant, and the hinting at another major antagonist that I'll talk about with the next episode, but still, this was a good amount of set-up for what's to come! With that in mind, time for episode 2!

Episode 2.2: Adventures with My Girlfriend

OK, before I bring up anything about this episode, I have only one real comment: a REAL Superman villain, baby! WHOO! Up until now, we've had pretty bastardized versions of Superman villains, for the most part. Mr. Mxyzptlk was even a drastically different version of the character, while still being faithful to the original. But no, we now have the best adaptation of a major Superman villain in this series in the form of Joseph Martin, AKA Atomic Skull! And damn, this dude is a bruiser, and a great looking one at that!

There are a few versions of Atomic Skull, with a few different identities, but the Joseph Martin is the most iconic in terms of appearance and ability. In the comics, he's the second Atomic Skull, and a human college student whose metahuman genes are activated via a Parasite-related explosion, triggering an absorption and generation of radiation, as well as a mental break that makes him think he's a character from one of his favorite movies. Comics are weird. Anyway, Martin's continued to be a foil of Superman's, mostly acting as a mook or powerful obstacle, rather than a mastermind of plotter of any kind. It's still awesome to see the character, and this is a somewhat faithful version of him as a result. Hell, him working for another organization that gave him these powers is sort of a reference to the first Atomic Skull (whom some of you would recognize from Young Justice), Albert Michaels, who worked for STAR Labs until joining up with a terrorist group that wanted to take out Superman.

And of course, we get yet another villain FINALLY confirming his appearance: Lex Luthor. Yeah, a lot of us figured this out last season, and it's nice to see him FINALLY making his fully red-headed appearance. Interesting...very interesting. And he's partnered up with Checkmate and Amanda Waller, a winning combination when it comes to villains. This is, of course, not the first time this has happened in media, comics and otherwise. The two famously teamed up when Lex became president for a minute there, and had an incredible joining of forces in Justice League Unlimited. So, not an unprecedented combo by any means!

Other than this, we get confirmation of Amanda's pure villainy (even worse than a lot of other versions, scarily enough), the rivals to her position in Checkmate, Clark and Lois' first argument, Clark getting the Beacon that'll help find Kara, and the official hiring of the Newsboy Legion working under Jimmy Olsen alongside Steve Lombard for Flamebird! Lots of stuff, not to mention setting up tensions between Clark and Sam Lane. But not much else for me to report on here. SO, moving on to episode 3!

Episode 2.3: Fullmetal Scientist

Hoo boy, THIS is a hell of an episode when it comes to references! We start off with a literal bang with the scientist that Superman saves, Silas Stone! You may know this guy better because of his son, who's referenced briefly as being 9 or 10. This is, of course, Victor Stone, AKA Cyborg! If this series gets a future lasting into the Teen Titans era, we have a contender for a member! Only time will tell, but this is a neat name drop! Plus, who knows where Silas is gonna go from here...

Then, right after that (and a cameo of The Flying Newsroom, a Daily Planet helicopter in the comics reduced to a toy helicopter owned by Flip), we meet AmerTek Industries, CEO Thomas Weston, and the most important character spotlight in this one...

Vicki Vale is back! OK, obviously, not the most important character in this episode, but lemme milk this a little. Vicki (who is VERY tall, by the way, holy SHIT) made her appearance as sort of a heel at the end of last season, and has now apparently become a rival for the Daily Planet this season, reporting for the Gotham Gazette. I can't wait for this to inevitably lead us to our Gotham cameos, which may hopefully include you-know-who, but her rivalry with Lois here is pretty fun, and sets up some new conflicts down the line for our central couple!

As for Amertek, I should talk about Thomas Weston and the...other cameo made in this episode. Weston is straight out of the comics, as the CEO of AmerTek Industries, a weapons manufacturer based in Baltimore and Washington D.C.. They're important to the comics of one character in particular, who I'll obviously get to, but I want to mention the OTHER thing introduced in this episode...considering how...upset it makes me. Because once again, this series completely RUINS a major Superman villain by turning them purely technological. And if you've read my previous essays, in which I develop a cinematic universe Superman, as well as my desired villains...you'll know why I'm upset.

LOOK HOW THEY MASSACRED MY BOY

Seriously? THIS is Metallo in this universe? God...DAMN IT! Look, I can already tell that Lex is going to use Kryptonite to stabilize the power core in the chest, giving us a Kryptonite beam that fires from their chest like the REAL Metallo, but GODDAMNIT AGAIN! The point of Metallo is that he's humanity corrupted! He's not JUST a goddamn ROBOT! Seriously? This was a slam dunk character for this show; should've been an easy one! But...I dunno, maybe the real version of the character will appear. I just...really hope that this isn't it. But that said, Metallo is sadly not the real highlight of this episode. Still...dammit. Dammit dammit dammit.

One of the other highlights of this episode, before I forget to bring it up, is the extension of Superman's bioelectric field as one of his powers. This is a recent comic book expansion, which has been hinted at as a possibility since the '90s. Basically, Superman generates a bioelectric field of invulnerability which, with enough focus or external energy input, he can extend past his bodily boundaries and around others. It's the reason bullets bounce off his suit without rupturing the fabric itself; they're actually bouncing off his microscopic bioelectric field. Comic books, what can I tell ya? Anyway, it's a very anime power, which is this series vibe, and I can't help but think he'll figure out how to focus that into some kind of energy blast by the end of the season. Time will tell!

But the REAL big feature of this episode is, of course, John Henry Irons, AKA Steel, one of the most prominent supporting characters in the Superman family. His role is extremely important to the Superman mythos, and this is already a fantastic version of the character. It also does something with him I rarely see with the character, and makes him TALLER than Superman, considerably so! He's also a bigger guy, and as a bigger black man myself (well, not vertically), I appreciate the representation quite a bit!

Of course, even though we get to see him in the suit with the hammer, it's obviously soured when Lex Luthor and Checkmate buy Amertek and the Steel suit, as well as all the Metallos. Like I said, Lex'll stabilize the Metallo units with Kryptonite, but it's NOT THE GODDAMN SAME, NOW IS IT? In any case, what we're likely to get is John creating his own Steel suit, closer to the classic suit we usually see in comics and adaptations. I may actually do a full retrospective of Steel, since he is one of my favorite characters. I feel like I'm short-changing him here, but understand, Steel is one of the best supporting characters in DC, who became a major hero in his own right. Hell, his niece Natasha Irons, who's also name dropped in this episode, is a major hero herself! With her and Victor Stone confirmed to exist in this universe, I can't help but think that we're setting up something special in the future.

With all of that said, that's the summary for these three episodes. I'm actually a bit inspired to do some character retrospectives now, but please let me know if you have any requests for retrospectives. Thank you to the (probably 3 max) people who read this essay, and I'll probably see you after the next three episodes! Unless, of course, something massive happens that requires my prompt response after episode 4 or 5. Honestly, we'll see what happens! In any case, see you later!

See also:

[rayfishandchips]

Torchwood as a call of cthulhu run: ideas

So last time I thought the dw episode "the giggle" can be a great coc story if the kp do some little adaptations and add some eldritch.

BUT. You know what would be even better? Torchwood.

Torchwood is literally about a team of regular humans fighting alien threats, defending humanity, and ending up tragically. All the team members have a distinct responsibility within the team. No need to really ADD san dropping stuff, just rearrange the original alien enemies and turn them into similar but cthulhu-appropriate stuff. Torchwood stories would make great coc material, and it works all the better with non-torchwood fan pls.

The easier running plan would be to just use the core plot. But this might mean losing some of that torchwood feels in terms of in-team dynamics.

Another possible plan would be like this. (note: handouts are info given only to one pl. The players can't directly access each other's handouts.)

Jack: major npc, because you can't give away all that backstory to a player.

Ianto: depends, especially if kp plans to play that cyberwomen plot line.

Handout 1 (HO1) Gwen. Give pl info and say the HO1 player joined the agency (torchwood) because they came in with pizza to investigate. Basically just the Gwen backstory.

Handout 2 (HO2) Owen. Give the pl the Owen backstory, lost wife to alien pest and joined on Jack's invitation.

handout 3 (HO3) Tosh. Same thing, give the pl the Tosh backstory.

usually I prefer HO games with 3 players (it's big enough to form a team but still managable) but the kp can also have Ianto as a HO4. The other three characters don't have backstories locked so tightly and directly to plot, so I would suggest keeping them as HO characters, but again it's all up to the kp. It is also up to kp to decide exactly how much info HO contain.

Note that players don't have to necessarily choose their professions based on the original character their HO is based on. For example the HO2 pc can choose to be a nerd police officer instead of a doctor. The HO determine the most basic backtory and team goals so the basic torchwood team characteristics is kept, but HOs should not restrict pc generation in any way (if they do restrict pc design then it's not coc anymore it's just torchwood rp).

So now there's a lot of possibilities. See torchwood as a organization of investigators united for one goal. pc can have a huge range.

I would personally insist we have Jack as a npc because this is going to be so fun for the players. As captain he can help keep overall plot more or less in check, and other torchwood members (pls) doubting him is literally canon plot. Helpful major npc that seems to be concealing info? Classical. Fun team interactions ensured.

If kp would like to include that "Owen kills Jack" bit somewhere, make sure one HO (preferably HO1) contains the info that Jack can regenerate.

I should write this one as a complete module someday and run it. If it works I may be able to release it somewhere.

[sherylhooper]

JJK SPOILERS!!!

The new chapter reminded me again why I can no longer be satisfied with Shounen.

Gojo's dead and people think Itadori has a chance to kill both Sukuna and Kenjaku....

"We can now see who's the main character" (ნიშნისმოგებით, თან) cuz Gojo was "in the way of the story" and "story couldn't progress with him in it."

Yeah, if Itadori randomly gets an upgrate out of thin fucking air, when he doesn't even have a innate technique - "but he is gonna develop Sukuna's CT". — How the fuck is he developing anything if Sukuna is no longer in his body but in Megumi's?? You are BORN with innate technique!! Unless Sukuna goes back inhabiting Itadori's body, Yuji isn't developing anything (unless Gege pulls out some residual cursed energy leftover bullshit — i.e. powerup out of blue sky).

As a writer myself, I don't really understand why some people (especially Sukuna's die hard fans) don't get it how killing of Gojo Satoru OFF SCREEN is bad writing so I'm gonna explain (and rant) here.

Okay, pals, sit down, we are having a lecture in basics!

"How to become good at Writing 101" states that the writer can write story in TWO main ways: 1) is called "tell" and 2) is called "show".

Every single writer and critic from centuries ago to today can confidently say that writer using "tell" is one of the weaker writing choice. Let's compare simple examples.

1) "He died." — this here is "tell". Nothing happened, it's boring.

2) "He felt fatigued, he eyes could no longer focuse on the scene in front of him. The sound of blood rushing in his ears was defeating.. To draw air in his lungs was becoming harder and harder as time went on..." etc — this is "show".

Of course death can come instantly but as a doctor (by profession) I can assure you that human brain even after being decapitated can remine "alive" for few seconds/minutes, can understand commans, can open eyes, can look at someone who is talking to them, etc..

Even Gojo looking down at himself, while he was being cut in two, would have been enough "showing".

But to have another character, in this case, Sukuna, explain i.e. "tell" how Gojo died is exactly how it sounds — "tell".

In every literature: classic books, modern books, manga, etc, "tell" is considered weak writing style and it seems even Gege is bound to it for now.

Also, what was the point of unsealing Gojo if he had to still die in the end? Him remining sealed would make no difference in the story - Sukuna vs Kashimo would still happen and now that Sukuna has "adapted" to Infinity means absulutely nothing, cuz nobody is using Infinity in the manga anymore for him to cut "space".

In fact Gege just replaced Gojo with Sukuna as overpowered character and we can see that he hated Gojo solely based on how "strongest" he was (and on his attitude) and how he couldn't kill him.

And how he handled his overpowered character? Killed him off screen. So how's Sukuna dying now? Also getting off screened??

And Gojo died with no regrets, apparently. His pseudo-son has fried brain, his sister and his speudo-dad are dead (at his own hands (even if Sukuna is using them)), most of his shikigami are gone, and Sukuna is parading around using him as "meat suit" — that should, at the very least, still be Gojo's regret (not saving Megumi) but, no, apparently Gojo is selfish bastard who doesn't care about anything and he is glad that he died (even after not acomplishing anything at all), but just mad that Sukuna didn't go all out???

Talk about anti climatic.

Gojo dying like this is kinda giving Madara and Kishimoto and I do not like that (I don't think anybody does)...

This is why I can't deal with Shounen anymore, because no matter what, at some point story telling gets inconstintent and I better stick with Seinen, cuz story there makes more sense.

Thank you for reading this rant and Sukuna-stans don't interact, cuz I'm blocking you all, if I see one word about "coping" or whatever.

(თქვენი თავი ნაღდად არ მაქვს და დიდი ალბათობით, შემდეგი თავის მერე ა�� მანგასაც მივაგდებ).

[grelleswife]

Hey this is maybe a strange request but I was wondering if you had any good anime recommendations ?

I've been watching JJK and I've been left feeling a bit disappointed with the writing (it feels kinda all of the place and it feels like characters are dying just for the sake of dying)

So I'm kinda looking for something with darker themes and also maybe with supernatural elements, but that gives all the characters good arcs and development and also maybe is a bit on the happier side?

But honestly anything will do I'm just looking for some new stuff

I've been thinking of watching Vanitas no Carte so that one's already on my list

Hi, anon! I understand your frustration; the despair of the Shibiya arc had become rather gratuitous by the end of Season 2. :/

VnC was one of the first shows that came to mind while I was reading your ask, so you’re already ahead of the curve! Content warnings I recall off the top of my head include child death, nonconsensual blood drinking (which carries certain unpleasant implications in vampire media), use of children for scientific experimentation, and unsavory dynamics (aka the man repeatedly disregarding the woman’s boundaries) in the canon m/f pairing. However, the quality of the story and its unmistakable queerness still make Vanitas no Carte a worthwhile watch, in my opinion. And the manga is even better!

Some other recommendations I can think of, albeit with varying ratios of darkness to good character development and happy moments, are listed below. Please note that content warnings provided are based off my hazy recollections and thus are not comprehensive.

Mushishi

Though existing beyond the realm of human perception, the diverse array of primitive lifeforms known as mushi can warp their surroundings—and the people inhabiting them—in bizarre, sometimes frightening ways. As a mushishi, Ginko is one of the rare few who can see and interact with these creatures, and travels Japan lending assistance to those struggling to coexist with the mushi. Suffused with a quiet melancholy, this anime is perfect to watch on a rainy day with a cup of tea in hand.

Content warnings: Body horror

Mononoke

Nope, not the Studio Ghibli film that gave birth to the classic “I’ll cut your throat” ship meme. This 2007 anime follows the enigmatic and possibly immortal Kusuriuri (medicine seller) as he helps people impacted by mononoke, malevolent spirits that latch onto negative emotions. However, he can only dispel these spirits by uncovering their true nature and the reason for the appearance, forcing him to play detective along the way. Though a spiritual cousin of sorts to Mushishi, the two shows vary radically in style: Whereas Mushishi’s color palettes tend to be earthy and subdued, Monoke’s animation pushes the envelope with a dizzying, gaudy spectacle that could have come straight out of a drug-induced nightmare.

Content warnings: Violence (including violence against women), discussions of forced abortion, body horror, a highly questionable relationship between a monk and his sister, eyestrain (the colors are gorgeous but can be a bit overwhelming at times)

Otherside Picnic

College students Sorawo Kamikoshi and Toriko Nishina team up to periodically explore the Otherside, a parallel universe where urban legends pose all-too-real threats, growing closer over the course of their adventures. Fans of the light novels on which this 12-episode anime is based have criticized the differences in tone between the adaptation and the source material, complaining that the anime tends to come across as a bit goofier. However, as someone who went into the series blind, I had a fun time! Otherside Picnic also numbers among the rare examples of sapphic anime with adult protagonists, although most of Sorawo’s and Toriko’s relationship is relegated to slow-burn due to the short run time. Their black cat/golden retriever dynamic is still a joy to behold!

Content warnings: Occasional gun violence, body horror

Death Parade

The souls of the recently deceased are pitted against eachother in nerve-wracking games meant to uncover the darkest corners of their psyches so that beings known as arbiters may pass judgement on their fate—reincarnation, or eternity in the void. Alongside his assistant, Chiyuki, the arbiter Decim begins to gain greater insight into humanity while starting to question the very role for which he was created. This underrated gem will probably reduce you to a puddle of tears at least once, so have a box of tissues ready.

Content warnings: Violence, assault, suicide, depictions of alcohol use (much of the action takes place at an otherworldly bar)

Noragami

Hiyori Iki’s ordinary middle school life is turned upside down when a bus accident weakens the link between her body and soul, enabling her to perceive the gods and spirits in our midst…including Yato, a brash yet destitute young god without a single shrine to his name. How will their fates intertwine? Written along a similar vein to Fruits Basket and Kamisama Kiss, Noragami charms the viewer with its sillier shenanigans while ripping your heartstrings to shreds during the darker moments. Although the manga (at least what I’ve read of it) is superior, and the anime only adapts a handful of the original arcs, it still holds its own. And the OPs are excellent! 👌

Content warnings: Body horror, child death, suicide

[mockedandmonitored]

Introduction!

I just realized I didn't have one of these so gonna fix that real quick for some info.

Salutations anyone and everyone reading this and welcome to Sentinel Security, and where you can find where the Mocked n Monitored AU started. I'm Mxter Mystery or to fit the blog you can call me Sentinel.

What is this AU?

The Mocked & Monitored AU (Named by @gamie99, thank you very much btw, sorry this is the second thing), is basically a universe where the Alliance lost the war during around after episode 47. This will however be taking place after a decade of the original conquest and explore a more dystopia society type thing rather than the classic war story.

Canon characters translated into the AU /Nicknames.

Just some simple nicknames and to clear up who's who. Any other character you see named are most likely OCs.

[Cobalt = Titan Cameraman] [Garnet = Titan Speakerman] [Amethyst = Titan TVman] [Dual = Plungerman] [Polycephaly =. . you know who this goober is, Large TVman.] [Scarlet/Maroon = Assassin Speakerman.] [Jazzpunk = Speakerwoman.] [Flashpunk= TVwoman.] [Cyberpunk = Camerawoman.] [Cocoa = Brown Cameranman.] (more to come)

Interaction/Ocs!

Just like any askblog, I'm open to questions, suggestions and such. I will also be sending out roleplay/writing prompts which anyone can answer and reblog with their own characters/OCs. I of course will be watching out for any OCs sent within #mocked&monitored. If you want to throw your characters in there, Go right ahead! What are they doing? How have they adapted to this situation? Are they chilling in this new era or are they trying to start a new uprising? It’s up to you. I’ll be sending a roleplay prompt after this shortly.

Disclaimers.

Im putting this here and to get it out of the way. Take everything within this section seriously as I will do the same. Boundaries mean everything to me and I will refuse to touch any topics including stuff you'd find in 18+ corn websites. If any other dark or excessive topics are ever in within these posts, the trigger warnings will be put at the top. I will however try avoid those. I will refrain from answering any adult asks and such.

Thank you for taking the time and care for reading this info card! The next this is currently being worked on, expect one or two things per month, will of course try to produce more but not sure if that will be so. In the meantime, happy writing.

[destiny-smasher]

Stuff From 2023!

List of things of note I experienced in 2023! A few things didn't technically release in 2023, I'm sure, but yea. Will contain my 'Top 10 Games I Played in 2023' as well.

Firstly, something I played a lot of this year in bursts but doesn't quite crack my Top 10 is Vampire Survivors. Very addicting, did some very fun goofy shit that had me laughing and engaged in a lizard brain way. Appreciated the many Castlevania references and jokes, too.

A couple of games I played every weekend for a few hours across many weeks this year were Project Zomboid and Roots of Pacha, both in a group 4. We had lots of fun with those two, and I think they're both great co-op time-sink games. Zomboid is a zombie survival sim that has way more attention to detail than its graphics may imply. It's still in early access but the depth to its is honestly pretty dang impressive. Pacha iterates on the Stardew Valley formula in a ton of small but deliberate, thoughtful ways that make for a nice twist on that Harvest Moon style game.

REMAKES

There were so many great remakes this year, on top of just amazing games in general, I can't fit them all into my Top 10. So here's a segment dedicated to most of the remakes I loved this year.

The remake of Super Mario RPG was such a surprise, and turned out very damn well. That game, turns out, is very near and dear to my heart and I did not fully appreciate that until this remake was revealed. It comes just shy of cracking my Top 10 list and that's honestly only because I finished Mother 3 finally right at the tail end of the year. This game manages to still feel weirdly fresh even today just due to how fucking strange it is, and the remake speeds up the pacing a bit while also adding in some new mechanics and a chunk of new post-game content. Everything was handled so well. This is like the new gold standard of complete one-to-one remakes of sprite-based games imo. I will admit the artstyle is a bit 'off' in some ways but I think it's very clean looking and captures that 90's CGI spirit really well, all things considered. And the music, OOF, so damn good.

The remake of Dead Space I don't have much to talk about, but it's very well produced. It's remade so well, in fact, that it felt like my memories of the original, even though I know it's not an exact recreation. Very well done and still holds up as a great horror action game with these improvements.

The remaster of Metroid Prime is so impressive it feels like a remake, even if the game is identical to the original aside from presentation and some control changes. It's an iconic classic, and yet I have no patience to do the Chozo Artifact stuff, so I actually did not roll credits on this version BUT still thoroughly enjoyed reliving the game with a very nice new coat of paint. It makes me excited to see what Prime 4 will look like on, I expect, more powerful hardware.

SHOWS/MOVIES

The year started strong with a TV adaptation of The Last of Us. While I've come to have conflicted feelings with the franchise at large, mainly due to its leading boss man, I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of this series. Very well done adaptation that picked and chose what to keep and what to change and honestly makes for a better story as a whole if you ask me, while not really replacing the game's tactile interactive tensions. Cannot wait to see what they do with Part 2 tbqh. I loved that game more than the original but also felt it was worse as an overall game/experience/narrative. But a fresh take on that same plot could potentially address a lot of the issues I had with Part 2, while simultaneously not really 'replacing' it, either.

The Bear. If you haven't seen it, it's just. Very good television. Two seasons in and it's sitting up there chasing Mr. Robot and Better Call Saul as one of the best live action series I've ever seen. Season 2 did such a great job of giving us deeper dives on the various characters and building toward an organic and rewarding conclusion that still leaves room for another season to theoretically wrap things up. Nothing too crazy with this show, it's super down to earth, and it owns that very well with editing and pacing that varies per episode, kind of in line with the different character perspectives.

Super Mario Bros.: The Movie had me worried for a while, mainly due to the animation studio and casting. And while I'm still not 100% sold on this celebrity casting, I will admit it didn't weight the experience down -- even if it's still the second weakest element by far. The weakest element is the writing. It's not, like, offense -- it's loyal to the source material and works, it functions. But it's not doing anything beyond pushing us from set piece to set piece. If anything, the movie is a bit too short for all of the stuff it's cramming in. But on the upside, there is a lot of amazingly rendered visuals and music to take in. A real treat for fans of the franchise, and the most loyal gaming adaptation in movie form, I would say.

Across the Spiderverse is in essence the first half of a two part film. That makes it kind of difficult to talk about, especially when it's also a sequel, and the production sounds like it was marred with bad management and crunch. But the results they came up with actually met my hopes and expectations for a sequel, and that is saying something, as I had very high expectations. I completely adore this film's stupendous sense of style, editing, framing, writing, and the way it's making meta-commentary on multiple levels on top of just being an effective narrative on its own. This is animated storytelling running at full capacity in my opinion, and in general just film doing all of the kinds of things film can do. So it's no wonder that there's still a rub -- this is the first half of the story they planned. The editing, animation, framing, effects, acting, action sequences, music, writing, theming, just Farore's sake, this is SUCH a damn banger of a film and one of the best movies I've ever seen, which, again, is kind of insane given the circumstances. I can only hope they don't fuck up the conclusion.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was quite the surprise announcement, and as it turns out, quite the surprise adaptation. I won't spoil much but I will say that by the end of the first episode, it becomes very apparent that this series is no mere by-the-books adaptation, and does something unique and edifying, even if it still maintains a certain surface-level depth I wish the franchise would push beyond. Either way, I enjoyed it way more than I expected to going in, and I think it makes for a great companion to the rest of the series. The animation style was super fun, as well, with some great action sequences.

But Blue Eye Samurai sucker-punched me, having released before I'd even known about it. This show is something else, something unlike any other animated show I've seen besides Arcane. And it's not like it's mimicking Arcane, it's just the closest I can think to compare it to: a quality, thoughtfully framed, thoughtfully written, made-for-adults animated series. It tows the line between fantasy and realism in a refreshing way, its protagonist is great, its cast is compelling, its plot goes to some neat places, and things just feel very well thought-out and well-executed. Slap this in second place behind Arcane as the TV series I am the most excited to see more of in the future, just ahead of The Bear.

Something I did near the end of the year was watch The Hunger Games movies, back to back over the course of like, a week. Have not read the books but man, watching these sure made me interested in doing so at some point. I totally get why people were so enamored with this franchise, and honestly, I think its themes and messages are more relevant now than they were when this franchise was at the peak of its popularity. The films certainly have glaring issues for my tastes but yea, I managed to really enjoy them as a whole despite my lack of mainstream sensibilities. Looking forward to reading the books eventually.

Another thing my wife shared with me was 花ざかりの君たちへ (often called 'Hana-Kimi' for short). Specifically, the 2007 version, as, uh, apparently there are multiple adaptations of this. It was a live action Japanese drama about a high schooler who was born female but transfers into an all-boys school, identifying as a boy while she is there. There's more to it than that, and I won't say it handles everything the best (it's from the mid 2000's) or concludes things in quite the way I'd have preferred. Not to mention it's kind of weird seeing many tropes I'm used to seeing in anime rendered by physical, real actors. BUT it was overall a really sweet, adorable, funny, heartfelt, and reached for pro-queer expression in a time and place when that wasn't mainstream yet (and honestly kinda still isn't depending on who you ask).

Good Omens Season 3 also dropped this year. I actually don't have much to say partly because I think a big element of it is just not knowing what to expect going into it! But it was also very good, very fun, pretty damn gay, I really enjoyed it and am crossing my fingers hard they get to wrap it up the way they want.

All right! Onto my personal top 10 GOTYs.

TOP 11 GAMES

(I played and finished in 2023)

11) Mother 3

The one entry on this list that did not actually come out this year -- in fact, it's never technically released outside of Japan. Originally release in 2007 on the Game Boy Advance, this quirky RPG has developed quite the reputation. I started playing the fan translation back in like 2020, and only got around to finally finishing it this year. While that likely did tarnish the experience a bit for me, so does the final third or so -- it kind of drags on a bit, and any old school format RPG that requires grinding to progress can become a bit of a chore.

Thankfully, Mother 3 did earn its hallowed reputation in my eyes now that I have experienced it. I totally get the passion for this game now, and I am a convert. It makes me want to finally finish Mother 2, aka Earthbound. But here's the biggest thing about Mother 3 I weirdly did not expect going in, yet smashed my face in like a hammer by the time I finished it:

without Mother 3, there is no way Undertale/deltarune would exist.

The DNA for Toby Fox's works is achingly obvious in its relation to this game, specifically. I won't spoil anything and I won't go into my long list of evidence like an Ace Attorney case, but trust me, there is ample evidence to make this claim.

And that also means that Mother 3 stands on its own merits as doing things that RPGs just plain were not doing in 2007, and in some ways still aren't today. Aside from some pacing issues further in, the characters in your party aren't as developed as much as I'd like. BUT the overall narrative it tells, especially in those opening chapters, have a rare kind of earnest, human magic to them that most games just don't let themselves fall into. And it concludes in ways I did not expect and yet offered clarity as to why it is so beloved, and how Toby Fox was so inspired to put his own mark on the gaming landscape.

I owe a great deal to Undertale, personally, and as such, I also owe a great deal to Mother 3. You don't need to have played others in the series to enjoy it, you'll just be missing some referential stuff here and there. It's quite playable and unique by today's standards and I strongly recommend it if you want an RPG that is heartfelt, funny, fun mechanically, and has some simple but hard-hitting things to say about the world we live in, and what we are doing to ourselves and that world.

10) Super Mario Bros. Wonder

What can be said that hasn't been said already? Nintendo knocked it out the park with this one. This was everything I've wanted in a 2D Mario for like 15 years. The only thing 'missing' from it is playable Rosalina, but hey, we finally got Daisy in a mainline Mario game, so I'll take it. After a decade or so of dragging their feet with low-effort but enjoyable 2D games, Super Mario Wonder finally, at long last, captures what makes Nintendo games great and with their best foot forward. They haven't done 2D Mario this well since World on the SNES in 1991. And they have never put this level of production into a 2D game since... ever?

This is one of the all-time best 2D platformers out there, and for once it finally feels like 2D Mario is running on all cylinders as a big budget passion project kind of game. You love to see it.

9) Scarlet Hollow

This game isn't technically finished yet, as it is episodic, and its developers wanted to release Slay the Princess in the interim, but that doesn't stop its quality from being good enough to make my list. This game is doing the kinds of things visual novels should be doing, the kinds of things I wish to do in a sense with my own visual novel development.

It's a horror themed experience but balances the high tension with actual real stakes very well against mostly down-to-earth conversations, with lots of great tricks and touches of presentation you don't typically see in indie visual novels, along with a fantastic art style, charming characters (my favorite character has turned out to be the one I immediately disliked at first, and that's rare for me), and meaningful choices.

I can't wait to see how this one wraps up but even as it stands it's one of the best things I experienced in 2023.

8) Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Redeemed

I will admit I skipped Xenoblade Chronicles 2 after giving it an honest go in like, 2019 or so. A few hours in and i couldn't stomach it, the tonal whiplash from Xenoblade 1 (one of the best RPGs I've ever played) was too much for me. But then Xenoblade 3 came out last year, and is also one of the best RPGs I've ever played, even better than the original for my tastes.

But I wasn't prepared for the DLC to drop a whole ass side-game on us, a self-contained prequel to 3 that serves as narrative cohesion to tie the whole trilogy together with a bow on top, complete with perfectly tuned fanservice (and not the sexy kind, although grown-up Rex and Shulk, well, yes) that really respects its fanbase for investing hundreds of hours in this franchise.

Matthew is easily one of my all-time fav RPG main characters, probably the favorite RPG main character when I think of it (as main characters specifically go, anyway), and his game is a fraction of the length of many RPGs out there. But as usual, the entire cast had their charms, the story was nicely paced, the gameplay and overall length was just about damn perfect for what I could want from the genre.

As an expansion to a pre-existing game, this is one of the top 3 best expansions/DLCs I've ever played. When taken as a side story to an overarching trilogy, I'm not even 100% in on the lore and I still enjoyed the hell out of it, it's just the kind of thing that hits a tone of 'damn, video games are a fucking unique medium that we can do specific narrative things with across years of telling a story.'

I don't know where Monolith Soft is going next, though the ending certainly offers some intriguing teasing, but I suspect I will be there day one to see it, and am looking forward to it.

7) Pikmin 4

Given the long wait (10 years!) one might understand fan concern over the state of Pikmin 4. Turns out, that extra time was spent making this game fucking good. It's not the largest, most impressive, most complex, most inspiring, most 'anything' game I played this year, and yet I can't help saying that this is a damned good video game. It really nailed what it set out to do as a sequel, incorporating just the right ideas to spice up the formula while bringing things back to how Pikmin 2 was, and improving on the series in basically every way -- including stuff to do!

This is easily the most Pikmin game... in a Pikmin game. I still haven't 100%'d it. Without giving away any details, I'll just say that when a game rolls credits and you're only like, halfway through its content, and it just keeps going, that's just kind of wild. It would've felt like a great game even then, but the breadth and depth it ends up going to in order to keep giving you ways to engage with its wonderfully detailed world and addictive mechanics, I love it.

I just want more of it. Give me DLC with more Dandori content, the formula and feel just works so well at this point.

6) Sea of Stars

How the hell I forgot to include this one on my list initially is boggling. Easily one of the best indie games I've ever experienced. The writing is nothing to, well, write home about, but it's not bad. And in fact the story has a lot of great things going on, from an interesting world to a very potent arc with the leading support character (who, let's face it, is kind of more the main character than your two main characters).

The game's art and music are phenomenal, capturing the essence of 90's era RPGs but clearly doing things not capable back then. Made even sweeter, the game is a prequel to the studio's prior work, The Messenger, which I also played and adored in tandem, kind of going back and forth between the two once I was partway into Sea of Stars. The way this RPG repurposes songs from Messenger as well as all kinds of seemingly superfluous elements but makes it feel cohesive is pretty great.

The game also trims a lot of the fat you'd find in older RPGs, as well as lets you customize your experience in a modern way using collectibles you can toggle on and off to grant all kinds of effects, like increasing or decreasing the difficulty in various ways.

The homage paid to classics like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG is clear but it's not at all copy-cat-ing, instead wearing those inspirations proudly on its sleeves and forging its own path with its own ideas. A fantastic collection of party members, a wonderful world, amazing presentation, and environments and pacing that help it stand apart from the genre that inspired it. I wish we got to know the leads better, there is a lack of character growth in many ways, but that's me grasping at straws to critique, it's just a fantastic experience and the studio should be very proud of what they've accomplished.

5) Hi-Fi Rush

This is gonna be a running trend from here on out, but on any other year, Hi-Fi Rush would've been my GOTY, easy. From this point on, we're talking measures of inches rather than miles in terms of my love for these games.

Hi-Fi Rush finally delivered on something I have waited like 20 years for: a rhythm action adventure where playing the game in sync with the music felt fucking cool and gave me emotional resonance in a way only this medium can. The humor was charmng. The visual aesthetic is almost peak 'my taste.' The music was groovy with a few tracks I did not see coming but loved seeing how they were incorporated. The story was surprisingly fun! The characters were fantastic, I loved the entire main crew in a way I rarely ever do and would jump at the chance to spend more time with (and hey, there's a whole bunch of post-game I have yet to do, so I intend to in 2024).

The only real thing I could reasonably ask for from this game is a way to play as those other party members in post-game content or new-game plus or something. And who knows, maybe we get that some day. Even if we don't, what they came up with here is the next best thing besides. And what we got is one the most video-gamey video games I have ever played, a real classic and one I think will go down as one of my all-time favs. A passion project given meaningful time, budget, and creatives to bring it to life.

Had this game offered multiple playable characters, a bit more development in its story, and maybe a stronger climax, it'd be higher. I still love it to death and want more games like it regardless.

Hi-Fi Rush is exactly what kind of game we could have gotten more of if the Internet hadn't pushed gaming into a 'live service' direction. It is literally the spirit of a PS2/GameCube game given modern form. And either way, we did get it, at least, in that form, and it fucking rocks.

4) Resident Evil 4 (Remake)

This year was big for remakes and remasters, but one stands tall above the rest, if you ask me. The original RE4 has stood as my fav in the franchise, the one that got me into the franchise, the one that got me into M-rated games in the first place. Lots of nostalgia, but it's held up surprisingly well over the years despite some limitations of the time (mainly the controls) and some older-fashioned sensibilities ("with ballistics, too~").

But Capcom fucking nailed it with this reimagining. Like Final Fantasy VII: Remake, this game is not a remaster, or a one-to-one recreation. It is a brand new game, built from the ground up, reimagining the original entirely, complete with new mechanics and story. But unlike with FF7, this is also shockingly authentic and loyal to the original at the same time. It remixes elements from the original game, maintains most of the original's map design, adds in new stuff, removes some of the more goofy shit -- and even 90% of what feels 'removed' is revealed to be repurposed for the Ada side story DLC.

It looks great, it sounds great, the adjustments to characters and story are improvements across the board, (except for Hunnigan, RIP) the gameplay is improved in intensity and feel and action and replayability. And yet despite all of this, it balances that campy tone of the original just enough to still evoke what I loved about the original's tone. And it doesn't outright replace the original game, either. The two are now like different recipes of the same sandwich or something. There's reasons to revisit the original, though for me this has now replaced the remake of RE2 as my fav in the franchise.

I really don't know where they go from here but I will look forward to it, and regardless, they fucking nailed this one.

3) Street Fighter 6

Two Capcom games, back-to-back? They had a fucking good year in my eyes. The interesting thing about this particular entry is that unlike the others on this list, I will be continuing to play this one for hours and hours into 2024, especially with more fighters still planned. And in another year, this would've easily been my GOTY.

After all, Street Fighter 6 is the single-best traditional fighting game I think I've ever played. And while fighting games are my overall personal favorite genre, I'm more of a Smash player who also loves the hell out of Street Fighter and then dabbles in Tekken and whatever else releases. Street Fighter has always been one of my go-to top multiplayer games since I got into the franchise with SF4 in 2010. While I did enjoy SF5 well enough, it just didn't keep me hungry to come back for more like 4 did. SF6 has fixed that problem by way of a multitude of changes.

It has easily the most fun single player mode I've seen any fighting game have. Like, yea, The Subspace Emmisary (and even then, I don't love that mode like other folks do, I kinda think it's... fine?) but tbqh World Tour is just better in most every way. You get to build your own fighter, earn and mix and match different costumes and individual character special moves with each fighter's fight style. You get to just hang out with the SF characters, get to know them as people, their hobbies, their fears, their insecurities, their passions besides just beating the shit out of each other. On top of this, the realistic art style shift (a by-product of the RE Engine) seals the deal on what Street Fighter 6 is aiming to do: humanize its cast.

Is it still wacky as fuck? Is it still comical and weird and goofy? Hell yes, it is. Is the story mode deep in its narrative? Not in the slightest. But it's still stepping confidently in a direction fighting games should be trying to, not being too self-serious, but also being earnest.

And I haven't even touched on the mechanics! The Drive System alone is a brilliant addition that adds a sort of 'stamina' system that works so well to add an extra layer of decision making and tension. The game's not perfectly balance imo but for how much is here it is surprisingly damn well balanced, especially given they have insisted on not pushing out a single balance patch since it launched in June. For most any other competitive game, that would be like suicide for the scene, but the game seems to be thriving and selling extremely well for the franchise. And it's earned it.

I will absolutely be continuing my warrior's journey into 2024 and I can't wait to see what else Capcom has in store for this game.

2) Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Out of every game I played in 2023, Tears of the Kingdom is easily the most technically impressive. From a design standpoint, from a 'how in the hell is the Switch doing all of this without exploding' standpoint. From a 'holy hell how is there this much stuff in a single player game' standpoint. From a 'oh my goddesses that stupid batshit idea I had 100% worked because it actually did make sense' standpoint.

Where Breath of the Wild opened our minds as to what an open world game could be -- fully designed like one giant interconnected 'level' -- Tears of the Kingdom replied in much the way I expected: it pulled a Super Mario Galaxy 2. What I mean by that is that this is a direct sequel, building directly off the foundation of the original. You know. Like video game sequels almost always used to. And which many very successful ones still absolutely do.

But Tears of the Kingdom somehow managed to wow me all over again by adding to that open world's verticality in insane ways -- the Depths alone are probably my favorite 'mechanic' from any Zelda game ever besides the time loop of Majora's Mask (and what that did for the story and gameplay). But beyond the scale of the world basically doubling and then some (floating islands and caves on top of Depths), I was curious how this game could stand tall after Elden Ring, which is easily in my top 10 favorite games of all time at this point. Elden Ring was Fromsoft's reply to BOTW. And yet Tears of the Kingdom still managed to have something new to say in spite of that very strong reply.

Tears of the Kingdom opened the door to let players essentially create their own mechanics. By removing the abilities Link had to engage with the world before, and replacing them with a brand new toolset that includes abilities you just... don't see games give you, because they'd be 'overpowered,' TOTK designs its massive world in ways that invite you to use those 'overpowered' abilities however you see fit.

Being able to interact with the world and objects in this way, being able to fuse them together to create all kinds of effects, or new methods of transportation, even interacting with things not just spacially but in respect to time, it's nuts and fun and I've already poured like 130 hours with still so much I haven't done. And that's the thing: this game wasn't designed to be 100%'d. It was designed to just... be experienced, as much or as little as you want. And games on this level of scale/budget just do not have the guts to let so, so much 'content' be missed out on. And this game does.

It's a technical achievement and while I had my doubts with how strangely little Nintendo had to show, I am very glad that the experience itself manages to breathe new life into one of my all-time favorite games while improving on it in so many ways. It won't convert you if you didn't love the original -- this is a Super Mario Galaxy 2 style sequel, after all. But it's essentially replaced the original in ways I didn't think would be possible.

The story? Oof. Uh, not so much the story, let's ignore that part. That's what Nintendo wants you to usually do, anyway. But everything else, just. Din-damn.

It expands upon the first game's already fairly open-ended nature in an exponential way that I suspect developers will spend years to come trying to pin down, much like how they've spend the past 6 or 7 years trying to replicate BOTW's open world design.

For much of this year, I thought this was personal GOTY. And for many it will be, because it's just an extremely impressive video game.

Number 1...?

Going into this list, I kept telling myself, 'man, on any other year, this would be my GOTY. And if you know me personally you likely have already figured out what my GOTY is by omission. But the more I've thought about it, the more I've realized just how close these top 5 games are, it really is like centimeters instead of inches, and they each -- well, every game I've mentioned here, beyond the Top 10, as well -- offered something edifying that I was very satisfied with.

And no, it's not Baldur's Gate 3. While I have spent hours playing it in co-op and a little bit solo, that game's just not really for me, exactly. Like, I can enjoy it, and I have massive respect for the dev team and what they accomplished with it. But I don't much care for D&D, and the game just didn't do very much for me personally, I lack the motivation to finish it. Remove Karlach from the game and I have next to nothing to really attach myself to, personally. I definitely get why it's many people's favorite game of 2023, though, and I do think it's a bit of a wakeup call for what can be accomplished by just making a GAME instead of struggling to contort it into a service etc.

Street Fighter 6 is fucking fantastic but it could still use some more actual fighters and incentives to keep playing besides monetizing its players in weird ways. I love it, and it will be the game from 2023 I end up playing the most (it already is, I think). But if it ended as it is, I would be very satisfied.

Hi-Fi Rush is oozing with originality and style and I adore it to death, and when I finished it, I was very satisfied.

Resident Evil 4 kept me addicted for over 100 hours, had an amazing DLC expansion, oozes replaybility in the specific ways I like for a single player action game (rogue-likes besides). I am extremely satisfied by it.

Tears of the Kingdom is so massive and fun to just explore that I know I will continue to play more in the months to come. Will I ever revisit it entirely? I'm actually not sure! That massive length does lend some repetition, even if it's the kind I find therapeutic and satisfying.

And that's what made me realize something. My personal GOTY did not just satisfy me. It made me hungry. It filled me up in a way I didn't think was possible and yet I still hunger for more, because I enjoyed it that fucking much. I played through it twice and still hunger for more. I know I will play it a third time eventually, but mainly I just have not been to remove from my brain the particular ways it made me feel, ways that only a video game can. Nothing about it felt like it needed to be overlooked.

SF6 and RE4 had dubious monetization, TOTK had a story I found to be like 90% boring and it still maintains many of the flaws of the original. And Hi-Fi Rush, while amazing, just didn't scratch the particular itch this game did for me.

1) Lies of P

If you told me that Lies of P was a game developed by some sub-division of FromSoft, I'd believe you. Which is to say I would also believe that it was made by people who wanted to break free from some of the shackles of the now infamous 'soulslike' genre.

A narrative that actually makes sense by the end? Opening up options for the player without requiring specific stat levels? Encounters and boss fights that feel ravenously challenging without just feeling like cheap bullshit? Music that crosses borders beyond 'angry chorus, angrier orchestra'?

Lies of P doesn't quite eclipse Elden Ring, but that's an absolutely unfair comparison given the utter scope and scale and variety that game packs. But Lies of P improves at the FromSoft formula in specific ways, while making concessions in others, and as a result it's just an experience that seeped into my brain like no other game this year, not even Tears of the Kingdom, despite that I put half the hours into this one.

I love all of the games I have mentioned here, you could honestly swap around the order of this top 5 and I could mentally meander a way to justify why, no, actually, this one was my favorite game of 2023. In a year so awful for the people who make games, yet so amazing for games themselves, Lies of P is exactly the kind of game I needed. I needed someone to show me that you can make something directly inspired by someone else's work, yet fine tune it in all the right ways to make it stand just as tall in terms of quality and design. Lies of P made me feel things in ways only a handful of games ever do -- and I would actually count Hi-Fi Rush among those in a regard.

But Lies of P also told a story I found compelling. It had mystery, tension, buildup, it started off seeming like it would do the vague FromSoft schtick only to 100% come together, make sense, be rewarding, and offer a 'true ending' that I got on the first playthrough, organically, without looking things up, because it just... felt right. Not only is the game adapting FromSoft's formula into something its own, it's also doing that with the story of Pinocchio. The gameplay and the story congeal together not in the 'perfect' way that it does with games like Celeste or Undertale, but rather in a more... messy way, like a puppet aching to become a real boy.

The game is full of loss, in its world and for you as the player, who will die many times. But unlike much of FromSoft's catalogue, I never once felt like I died because of bullshit. Was I trolled? Sure, the game definitely 'trolls' you in classic FromSoft fashion, lulling you into a sense of security only to sweep you off your feet. But unlike how FromSoft does it, these circumstances can always be avoided if you're cautious. And if you're not? Hey, 'We got you! We gooottt youuu, haha' and you lose a couple minutes of progress, rather than like fifteen minutes and also an entire level's worth of souls because oh right, this section you just got through is kind of bullshit cheap.

Don't get me wrong, I love Dark Souls. But the thing is, Lies of P takes the parts I love about Dark Souls, admits it can't pull off quite the intricate web of level design, but then throws away everything I do not like about Dark Souls, improves on the things I already liked, and then pushes me to meet it on its level.

The satisfaction of being a boss you spend an hour, two hours on, cannot be understated. It's a feeling unlike any other, and one only this medium can provide. And Lies of P kept me motivated, like Sekiro before it, to keep improving, keep growing, keep trying. And unlike Sekiro, it gave me so many more tools to play with, to learn, to balance in an arsenal with intent. Enemies have elemental weaknesses if I so choose to exploit them, the moveset of one weapon's handle can be applied to a completely different blade, my robotic arm can leverage things in a pinch, or be the backbone to dealing with a boss. Mastery is rewarded with practice. A vicious boss that annihilates you in five seconds can be defeated without a single scratch if you practice enough. Mastery, creativity, quick thinking, and reacting are all rewarded here.

I am more than the hands pulling the strings, I am more than a puppet, I am human. And games like this can only be made by humans, who get that specific itch that only video games that challenge us can scratch. It's not an itch everyone has, but that's why it's my GOTY and not yours, innit?

With its unique setting, its wonderful music, its cozy hub area, its narrative that offers just enough to make me care, but not so much that I am bored or feel misled, its amazing boss designs, and its wonderfully tactile and engaging combat, Lies of P is a game I just can't stop feeling something about whenever I am reminded of it.

It epitomizes so much -- not all, but much -- of what I love about what video games can do, what adaptations can do, and much like how Toby Fox was inspired by Mother 3, what people can do when they are inspired by someone else's work.

As far as I can tell, this is developer Round8's debut game, and just. Holy hell, what a way to come out swinging. I haven't seen a debut game hit this hard since, I don't know, Bastion.

Close your eyes. Come to me. Feel all right.

I did, and I do, and given what you teased at the end of this game, I have extremely high hopes of what you come up with next. And in a landscape where things feel more difficult to get excited for with each passing year, much less new IP, it's so damn refreshing to have both Hi-Fi Rush and this game standing out as signals that, hey, some folks are still willing to invest bigger budgets into new games, new ideas.

Again, a battle of centimeters here and at this point I should wrap this up and go to bed.

But yea, Lies of P reminded me of what makes me, specifically, human, in a very particular way that only it has. And I honestly think out of all of single player games of 2023, I think it will actively stand out in my heart the most in the years to come.

[littlealeta]

The Remake/Sequel/Spin-off problem needs to be fixed

Many of us are tired of the remakes/sequels/spin-offs phase. Some of us might even be almost totally averse to them. But, I do want to get this off my chest in a proper blog, because I don’t think a lot of people have talked about how studios can scratch their franchise itch in a proper way. And also in a way that could’ve give them more respect than they get now.

Remake: Stuff That Actually Could've Been Better Or Expanded Upon

There are a lot of movies I’ve seen that have some clear potential underneath that never really got their chance to shine.

Examples being No Hard Feelings, The Boxtrolls, Ralph Breaks the Internet, The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina. (They need to make another Thumbelina film anyway, it’s already been, what, at least 20 years at this point?) There’s also some anime that I think could use remakes, but Japan mostly keeps their paws off classics.

To explain why, I think these movies all have interesting premises and some kind of hook to them, but the execution turned out to be underwhelming. They're still fairly new, but maybe in another decade or so, they could be considered for a remake. But, really, I wouldn't mind hearing them being remade right now. As for expansion, something I’m thinking about is a TV show called Captain N: The Gamemaster.

I would like to see a remake or at least spin-off of that. It’s an 80s show about a guy who enters into a world of retro-gaming who can control stuff with a belt shaped like a NES controller. It’s been largely forgotten at this point, so bringing it back with newer games juxtaposed in with the retro games will also be a plus. The Great Mouse Detective also could’ve been made into a TV series.

Sequel: Stuff That Actually NEED A Sequel

I think a lot of people want sequels just to see their favorite characters again. But sometimes, that doesn’t always work, I mean look what we recently got.

All because of recent fan demand. The first movie, I believe, felt complete anyway.

There needs to be more sequels to anything that’s either ended on a cliffhanger, or could’ve used an expansion of the world and story.

Monsters vs. Aliens (another Dreamworks film and also highly underrated) ended off on a cliffhanger and could’ve used a sequel (the TV series unfortunately was underwhelming). Go back to the Madeline (Didn’t like the TV show for some reason, though but I did love the live-action one) or Eloise franchise (that had a ton of books that I don’t think got adapted). Bring those to the attention of the modern kids. Maybe go back to the Jumanji franchise WITH THE BOARD GAME and instead of being in a jungle, make it different like Zathura did where they’re like under the sea or in a desert or something.

For the spin-offs, I would kinda repeat the same things I’ve already said. Again, do spin-offs to expand the characters and/or the world. I can’t think of a movie or TV example that would work with this, so I’m just going to use a game example: Catherine.

A lot of the side characters in that one don’t get a lot of character development or depth and some of them had some interesting conflict and backstories that they were going through. I also would like to see the main character interacting with the other characters in more wholesome and complex ways outside of drinking, chatting and having conflict since we barely get any wholesomeness between them in the game. He can help out their problems and grow through each other. It would also show his bar posse as being more of friends than typical long-time acquaintances who just chill out in the bar every day.

I know studios won’t read this, but that’s what I wish would happen, even though a lot of it is most likely a pipe dream. But, you know me, it’s always fun to dream.

[anendtopursuit]

hey can you info dump about hobie to me please :D

hello!!! sorry this took me a while to get around to, i got SO nervous that i'd get smthn wrong n an army of comic book dudebros would emerge from hell to smite me down - but then i remembered that i don't care and hobie is fun to talk about, so hello!!!

[quick note before we start: hobie will be referred to as either "hobie" or "spiderpunk", for the sake of not being confusing, since there are 47385783643 spidermen in existence. yes, he prefers "spiderman" and initially took spiderpunk as an insult, but as of his latest solo run, the battle of the banned, he really could not care less n actively refers to himself as spiderpunk. i'm noting this now so i don't get 50 people correcting me in the replies lmao. i also don't hyphenate spiderman because i'm lazy]

you didn't ask for anything in specific so i'm gonna just Keep Going until i lose steam, hope that's alright!

first things first: hobie isn't an original character created to be spiderpunk! he's actually a variant of hobart "hobie" brown, earth 616's prowler, which i think has a LOT of interesting potential for btsv, if you catch my drift:

why did they choose to make him a hobie variant rather than make up a new spiderperson? who knows! could be that they saw how painfully fucking close hobie was to his "capitalism is the real enemy actually" breakthrough before deciding to become a supervillain about it; maybe it's easier to get comic book nerds into new stories if they're vaguely familiar with one of the characters involved. who knows. i can't actually find any source on this one.

(interesting sidebar: in the spiderverse movies, peter b parker is from earth 616, and intended to be a direct page-to-screen adaptation of classic comic book peter parker - which makes me wonder how he reacted to meeting hobie for the first time. i doubt we'll ever see that first interaction, but it's cool to think about!)

spiderpunk's design actually originated as concept art for spider-UK, as drawn by olivier coipel (the punk movement is often credited as having started in the UK - more accurately, by black british punks, using elements of jamaican reggae - so it makes sense that they explored a punk angle for spider-UK at some point). they felt it didn't fit the character, but still loved the design, and so they wrote an entire character to fit around it! (that's also why hobie is often portrayed as british despite being written as american in the comics - his whole concept is essentially a love letter to black british punks, and tbh even when i'm reading the comics i pretend he just ended up moving to new york from london bc i cannot imagine him as an american lmao sorry)

a lot of people who learnt of hobie from atsv seemed surprised that he's genuinely punk and not just using the aesthetics - but, like, he's genuinely punk, guys. he lives in a fascist dystopia (the spider that bit him was irradiated from all the toxic waste the government illegally dumps) where norman osborn is president of the united states (and referred to as "ozzy osborn" lmao) and also a massive fascist dickbag (and venom's current host!). he then proceeds to beat said fascist dictator asshole to death with his guitar! by which i mean quite literally hit him so hard his organs come out ✨

(like - i saw someone theorising that hobie would be the twist villain of btsv and actually just using miles for his own benefit, and i had my own little "he would never fucking do that what the fuck 😡" moment before realising that they were probably just some 14 yr old kid who's never seen hobie before and is trying to come up with a dramatic twist. so i'm not taking it to heart! but please know that it was very bad and incorrect, hobie is a real one and would never 🫶 /lh)

if you get a chance to pick up any of his comics (or, uh, discover them in alternative ways, wink wink nudge nudge capitalism is a prison but seriously please consider buying them from small local comic book stores if you do - that way your money goes to an actual local business & the writers rather than a massive chain store corporation) then i highly recommend - not only are they super fun, but they're gorgeous,

(i know that the covers are always rendered differently to the actual comic pages but i just needed you to all look at these images, please, especially all the intricate details on the second one. i literally paused midway through reading my comic to stare at that cover with hearts in my eyes. he's so cool i adore him)

and they're also full of lyrical references to punk music, such as these (the first two off the top of my head - there are TONS more):

and they're pretty dang diverse, too! including, like, explicitly and undeniably queer characters (note: there's been a lot of misinformation spread around - hobie and karl (captain anarchy) aren't explicitly confirmed to be anything but platonic friends. karl DOES have a boyfriend whom he is explicitly romantic with, but it's not hobie! he's still totally queer though and nobody can convince me otherwise), which is pretty neat.

this isn't really relevant to hobie in specific, but it's part of his universe and i'm a massive daredevil fanboy, so i NEED you to witness his daredevil variant, mattea murdock:

tumblr isn't gonna let me add any more images (sob) so i'm gonna try n wrap this up fairly quick !!!

lightning round of just. fun and unfun facts, i guess:

hobie's homeless and lives in a community centre with the rest of his band

iirc "spiderpunk" was essentially his equivalent of "spidermenace", which he eventually adopted for himself because, well. they aren't wrong. (he got the name for the obvious reasons of his style and politics etc, but also because he can be quite brutal when he needs to be - see norman's very bad no good day above.)

his band is referred to as both "the spider-band" and "the daredevils" (after meeting mattea), which made my little daredevil fanboy heart soar a little ngl

in spiderverse specifically, hobie took 3 years to animate due to all the specific ways they stylised him and his movement! i am not an animator and cannot put it into actual technical terms so here's a tweet of one of the animators discussing it for anyone who's curious :]

he has a van called the spider-van, and sings the spiderman theme song at it sometimes ("🎶spider-van, spider-van, driving cross-country as fast as we can!🎶") which is ADORABLE. i love how cool he is in atsv but i need you to understand he's a DORK he's a NERD

another one for the dork point: he doesn't swear unless he's yelling at fascists (he's instead prone to a good "frick" "heckin" "motherlovin" etc). which i realise is probably just comic book censorship and them only being able to get away with a certain amount of tastefully censored swears and gore before someone gets in trouble and/or has to bump up the age rating, but also it drives his bandmates INSANE so i like to think he just does it for a giggle tbh. again, massive dork

and finally, to end things on a fun note: his current solo comic writer, cody ziglar, made him an official spiderpunk playlist so maybe we can stop having pointless playlist discourse and let people have fun!

i hope this infodump was alright and didn't disappoint fjdnfjfn!!! i definitely forgot (and/or ran out of space for) a bunch of shit but that just means i get to do this again, so :]!!!

[seeingteacupsindragons]

I’m thinking a lot right now about pacing, specifically as it applies to characters—particularly protagonists.

Yes, this definitely spawned from the fact that I watched classic 90’s anime and then one episode of the reboot, but this isn't about that. This is about the fact that the contrast in this element between them threw this thought into relief for me. I have tons of examples in this post, and those two are none of them.

I just think exploring it as a concept is good for my brain and going to be an interesting read.

For the purposes of this post, there are two potential primary tactics for characterization pacing:

Shoving all the important/relevant bits about a protagonist as soon as feasible (usually within an episode or two if it’s a show, or the first couple of chapters if it’s a novel, etc.)

Doling characterizations out in bits and drips and drabs to treat things like reveals

The first often has the advantage of making people feel like they know a character immediately. It works well for shorter works, and adaptations expecting its audience to have at least some idea of the source material—there’s not a lot of reveal in Steve Rogers being Captain America, for example, so there’s no reason to play coy with it. It shows a lot of exciting things quickly to get people hyped and invested early.

But telling a story this way can also feel like a lot of information thrown at someone at once, and the character ends up feeling shallower because there’s nothing to explore. No matter how much there is there, if it’s all upfront, it can be hard to sort through it all and see what parts of the character interact with what parts of the story. It can be hard to recognize and discern signal from noise. It can also limit emotional impact and investment in their character—if everything is shared up front, then there’s no build, tension, or emotional investment in the punch, if you’re hoping for one.

There is something very special about reacting with, “Oh God, I was so wrong, I didn’t know, I didn’t know,” about a character, about a facsimile of a person, than there is about a plot, even. The complicated feeling of realizing you didn’t understand someone and now you do, or that you actively misunderstood something, is only possible when you’ve been given time to adjust to a normal without that before learning more.

I’m not talking “sudden character flashback” when I talk about layers, either. I’m talking about things the character is fully aware of and acts on, that simply aren’t made clear to the audience immediately because the story isn’t rushing to tell you everything.

Here, let’s explore some examples that might clarify what I mean.

Consider Yuukoku no Moriarty. William has a lot going on with him. There’s lots of things we don’t know about him at first, despite the first chapter being a double feature length flashback explaining his origins, motivations, and goals. And chapter two established his current situation. Cool.

But you know what we didn’t know about him until volume 6? That he was suicidal. He knew he was suicidal. He was taking actions based on that. You can infer a little bit from some of the odd moments prior to the Reveal. It’s a necessary part of his characterization and the climax of the story wouldn’t work without that being critically ingrained in him.

And yet, the creators chose not to share it with the audience in a clear, stated way, or clearly apparent and undeniable until volume 6. He didn’t change: that was always a part of him. But the audience didn’t know it was there yet. But we had to wait a while to pick up that piece of the puzzle.

Compare to something like, Yuri!!! On ICE, which came out the same year Yuukoku no Moriarty started, so I’m not talking about changes story telling trends of over time. Yuri!!! On ICE wasn’t based on anything, so the reboot factor wasn’t in play. But it’s short, and by the end of episode two, we know Yuuri is stubborn, emotional prone to wild outbursts, obsessed with Viktor Nikiforov, obsessed with skating, and very unsure of himself. No other major character traits were ever revealed in the twelve episodes. Even the whammy of a plot twist in episode 10 was based on those traits: prone to wild outbursts, obsessed with Viktor, very emotional. He grows and becomes more sure of himself, but we never learn anything new about who he was and what situation he was always in that really matters.

And no, this isn’t limited to anime. Take this novel I just finished reading the other week that came out this year from an American writer and an American publisher set in America: the protagonist, in first person, introduced himself in the first chapter or two as a flamboyant, femme gay boy who loves talking too much and is tight with his friends and stubbornly wants to prove himself. That’s fine enough. But even if he grew or changed (a…little), there were no other important character traits that affected the story. We knew all we needed to know right away.

Meanwhile, something like Jeweler Richard, which was originally a novel series, set up that Seigi was a blackbelt in karate, that he was weird about relationships and bad at pursuing them, awkward at making his feelings clear, and even that he had a bad childhood and abusive father. But it’s not until volume 6, from a first-person narrator in the same style as the book above, that he tells us he’s terrified of being in a relationship because he knows the statistics of victims of domestic violence becoming abusers themselves. And everything slots into place. So many of his prior actions and behaviors make so much more sense.

So maybe this is a short vs. long thing? Not necessarily.

The Eden of the East anime only has 11 episodes and manages, depending on if you consider Saki or Akira the protagonist, to show different aspects of their characters toward the end of it: Saki’s connection to the Eden program comes up for the first time about halfway through the episode run, and the reveal that Akira has been changing his name over and over and over comes even later. Now, he didn’t know that, either but I can easily see a show having a flashback of some kind or having it mentioned by another character in the first episode so the audience at least would know how he got there. There are ways to get that info crammed in there if the creators wanted you to know it. We know Princess Aurora is cursed to be The Sleeping Beauty even though she doesn’t.

Meanwhile, I sat through four seasons of My Hero Academia and Deku’s character and story was pretty set pretty early. Maybe something changed later in the story, but I never saw any spaces for it to arise.

Because that’s part of what’s missing in the upfront narratives: any breathing pause for the audience to go, “Hmmm,” and think about the story for themselves and notice something a little odd. There are no questions raised to be answered, because the answers, as far as the characters are concerned, is set.

I don’t think the character necessarily has to know the thing about themselves, necessarily. I think it helps, but there’s also things like Sam’s demon blood thing in Supernatural, which wasn’t revealed until season two, even though it was obviously planned with his psychic visions well before the reveal. The audience was given something to poke at for a bit before it became clear how it fit into the character. I’m talking about things pre-established with a character that aren’t explained why or how they’re reacting the way they do.

I think one method or the other is more common in some genres and some mediums than others, although I can compare within one medium and find examples of both. It definitely depends at least a little on country and culture of origin of the story (Lord knows how much harder a time I have pulling slow examples from American media). And I especially think it depends on when it was written.

I don’t have stats for this. God knows I don’t watch and read enough media to even take a stab at it. But it’s feeling a lot more common these days to make sure everything is easily packaged and digestible up front, as much with characters as it is with plot and the rest of the story.

Maybe it’s because they want to show you their favorite interesting shiny bits as soon as they can and they get excited. Maybe because it’s easier. Maybe because they just like those kinds of stories. Maybe because they don’t want to deal with fans who have no patience or don’t understand that the layers were always there.

Each gives a story a completely different flavor, and it’s a completely difference experience of enjoying and comprehending the story. One is slowly uncovering a treasure box and the other is being given a treasure box to dig into and coo over.

I think the slower approach helps a story feel richer: it gives the impression there’s so much more that could be uncovered and the world is more expansive and the characters full of deeper lives. I think the quick and shiny approach helps a story feel flashy and dramatic, and some stories should be flashy and dramatic.

Do you want an hour-long firework show, or do you want to set off all your rockets in five minutes? You get the same amount of rockets either way. It’s up to you.