#I only was iffy on a few of these for a few seconds thus they made it in

[that-guy-sleepy-miles]

This one is actually cropped from a bigger drawing of all 4 of them, hence why it's both crunched and there's more art peeking out from the side.

Meet Matosō Dokuna, better known (and really only known) as Ingenious. I never drew him enough, but he was definitely one of my favorites. He and Cheshire are in a constant battle for second place, but I think Ingenious has him beaten out just a little bit.

Ingenious had the least story written, but I think he had the best-formed concept and character. He was very eccentric and pretty frail—though nobody knew if he always had a cold or flu, or if he was chronically ill. This unknown health status was a way for Aizawa to wear a face mask, hiding his face! Aizawa also wears contacts as Ingenious, which makes his quirk harder to use but makes him harder to recognize. Hiding the lower half of his face, contacts, and hair extensions are just a few of his tricks for undercover! We're in a world with quirks, there are so many options!

Ingenious "had" palilalia—a rare speech disorder characterized by the involuntary repetition of one's own phrases, words, or syllables two or more times in a row. (It's important to note that he is a character being played in-universe, and thus does not "have" any disorders.) I didn't know that was a real thing when coming up with the concept for him, but now I do and will be doing lots of research!

Ingenious was a villain costume and support weapon designer who worked in the black market. Support weapon design was a lucrative business, that more often than not led right to the heart of a villain organization.

More on that under the cut.

Ingenious was taken in by different villain groups to design costumes and support items, which allowed him to gather information on them and groups working closely with or against them. In the newer years, villains have forgone professional costumes, but back when Ingenious was on the scene, nobody was a proper villain without an official look. Maybe that was because of propaganda on the HPSC's part, but you'd never know. (He's been retired for quite some years now. R.I.P. Ingenious, you'd have loved Stain and the costumes he inspired.)

Ingenious's designs were originally provided by the HPSC, but eventually, the iffy costumes and lackluster support items (the mission wasn't a top priority and they didn't particularly want to give villains great support) being delivered began to make Ingenious the least profitable in the market. Aizawa realized the mission could not continue like this, so he began to design the costumes and support items himself. After Aizawa's hard work on researching trends in villain appearances and learning how to do some very basic figure drawing (both with a bit of help from some associates), Ingenious was top of the market. Dokuna's character traits were based on Present Mic, villains Aizawa had come across, and the over-the-top characters in dramas (Aizawa was bored while researching).

Ingenious's "quirk" is called "Materialize" and is similar to Yaoyorozu Momo's "Creation", except everything he creates takes the actual amount of time a 3D printer would. This allows him to take hours or even days to himself without people bothering him because he's "still materializing" and if they bother him too much, he can't focus on making good quality materials.

Oh, also, he loves Barbie.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Arlathan

So turns out I can actually play this thing - on the easiest settings, mind you, but I can do it. Haven't entirely figured out parry (that "too much visual noise" thing), but I get it sometimes. Doesn't help that the timing of the indicators is a bit ... wonky.

I'm beginning to see why people are a little iffy about the writing. I don't think it's bad, mind you. It's just that it's ... all got a bit of Purple Hawke to it, if you see what I mean? It feels like Rook was built around the "scoundrel with a heart of gold" trope, and all the lines the players choose really do is slightly change the degrees of 'scoundrel' and 'heart of gold'. Which ... I mean, I don't mind that much. I get that thing with Aloy, after all. I just ... understand why people might complain about it a little in a Dragon Age game, just because the series has up until recently been known for letting you shape your character the way you want, and now the vague framework we got for "Warden" or "Hawke" or "Inquisitor" has been a lot more carefully structured for a "Rook". I mean, hell, Varric gave Rook a nickname. Up until now, he's only done that with characters we don't control. The closest he comes is Mark of the Assassin, where he workshops one based on the personality you've crafted for your character over the course of however many games. So Rook has a nickname based on what Varric knows of them, which means that kind of has to stick. Thus, more structured character that we can basically guide but not hugely control, at least not in terms of personality.

Like I say, I'm not necessarily complaining. I just know that it takes somewhat more headcanoning for those of us who prefer a bigger range of character traits for their DA characters. But I know you all over here are up to it. Hell, so am I, or I will be, when I get the structure and flow of the game a little more sorted in my head.

Currently I am playing a nonbinary elven Veil Jumper named Lira - specifically Lira in the cause of differentiating them from my various Jalliras, who are definitely ladies, because this one ... isn't. This is my practice character. That whole rant above? I guess I had it on my mind because the way Rook's character is set up for us means that I can't really play a Jallira. This is definitely a Molly game. Quite possibly a Jessie game. I have a few others, but I'd have to check through the imaginary Rolodex to find out which ones hit the snark the way Rook seems to.

That said, this particular set of liveblog posts are going to be actual liveblogging, not ... well, not what I normally do. But when I do get the hang of this a little more, and can assess the flow and figure out how best I can play a Rogue? Holy hell am I running a Molly through this game. It's basically made for a Molly. Though I am having a hard time deciding which faction she should join. Veil Jumpers (again) because Things To Tinker With? Lords of Fortune because Adventure? Shadow Dragons because freedom fighter? ...Well. I mean. A Molly is a tinkerer. A Mychae is a freedom fighter and adventure-seeker. So I guess Molly of WoD Mage would be a Veil Jumper (again) and Mychae of SW:TOR fame would go with the Lords of Fortune. I do have a second Mychae - the TSW one - and she'd be the Shadow Dragon. Jessie'd be a Warden, no question. Srina ... Antivan Crows. I have an old WoD mage who might do for Mourn Watch, actually. It's thoughts for later, anyway. But the playthrough of at least one of those will get the dialogue snippet treatment (probably two; you all love the Molly and the Jessie).

Much later, because I am running on far too little sleep. But at least, for all I've heard and read, and even with it being a bit of a struggle to play, I have been enjoying myself. Met Bellara (Molly is going to love Bellara), and have a crossing to look at and probably clear darkspawn or some shit out of. Also, no, I have no idea who this nonbinary character is going to romance. I'm not even sure they'll romance anybody. This is a practice character. This is basically as close to me as I'm going to get. But you never know. This Lira might speak up inside my head at some point, if only to differentiate themself from their parent and original.

...But I doubt it.

[m0nost4tic]

i have this silly thing i like to do where i have playlists for characters i frequently write about. they contain a mixture of in-character songs they'd listen to, songs about their character/personality, and songs relating to their story as a whole

my personal favorite so far HAS to be hikari. there are so many songs that fit him???

full list below //

allies or enemies (the crane wives)

battle cry (the family crest)

battlefield (svrcina)

child of the stars (fish in a birdcage)

curses (the crane wives)

dog days are over (florence + the machines)

don't fall in love with me (tiger hawkins) - for everyone that interprets hikari as having a hard time letting himself be loved

don't save me (chxrlotte) - i'm a bit iffy on this one, but i'll go ahead and list it

fish in a birdcage (...fish in a birdcage)

for the dancing and the dreaming (erutan's cover specifically)

it's ok i wouldn't remember me either (crywank)

just a man (jorge rivera-herrans)

karma (ajr)

lost (fin)

love like you (steven universe)

my love is sick (madds buckley) - i normally see this as more gauged toward hikari/ritsu and the one-sided pain that comes with it

never love an anchor (the crane wives) - another about hikari giving himself a hard time when it comes to love

night watch (naethan apollo)

prophet of pain (ethan jewell) - technically, this is more poetry than a song, but i think it fits regardless

roots (fish in a birdcage)

second child, restless child (the oh hellos)

suffering (amélie farren)

sometimes (nick lutsko)

the family jewels (marina)

the moon will sing (the crane wives)

thus always to tyrants (the oh hellos)

tomorrow we fight (tommee profitt, svrcina)

tongues & teeth (the crane wives) - yet again for those who see hikari struggling with love due to perceiving himself as a danger

toxic thoughts (faith marie)

two birds (regina spektor) - more hikari & ritsu shenanigans

two face (jake daniels) - iffy on this too, but listing it for the time being

wander. wonder. (the arcadian wild)

your light (will morton, julie wemyss)

three of the few songs i feel fit him the best (in no particular order)

--

i believe the lyrics speak for themself;

"watch the stars at night; how they shake against the dark, like firelight."

"oh, i will fight for you. i will die for you. i will die for you."

"feel the years pass by as the weight of time, it shakes; as the earth, it turns and quakes."

"shed your fears, your tears, your pride, and then ramp into the night; ...and i will fight for you."

in my interpretation, the lyrics primarily focus on hikari's cursed bloodline and his relationship with mugen

"i can't break the cycle, am i just a fool?"

"pass it down from kid to kid, the chain will never end."

"ooh, don't you find it strange? only thing we share is one, last, name."

"did i beat you at your own game? typical of me to put us all to shame."

hikari pushes himself to be better, to be *good* enough, and struggles with his image of self-worth. but this song ends on a more positive note, and i like to imagine that it's him slowly improving

"if this isn't right, then does that mean i failed?"

"the ceiling gets higher and higher, it's harder and harder to shatter; and when i fall, i fall worse than i ever did before."

"evaluating the damage, no, i just don't understand it; conflicted by the very air i breathe, a love with hatred laced between."

"i've lived my whole life afraid, it's time for me to be brave; to embrace a forest that's so dark and unknown."

[optreasurecruise]

some more updates on future plans

Hello! Sorry if these kinds of posts are annoying but anyways, I just have some brief information on some future plans.

First off, I'm almost done with the start of the tag masterlists. Sometime soon I will post the tag directory but only one the alphabetical character list has been worked on thus far. I have plans to do one for characters by affilations, one for specific group tags, and one for arcs/outfit types.

Second, I've nearly queued up all of the remaining artwork. I actually recently just finished all of the artwork since I started this blog, but there's been some new ones since then.

Third, I mentioned sprites and sprite sheets in this post, and my plans to post them. I've been playing around with making some of the sprites animated and it's been pretty good (I'll show you the few I've done so far at the bottom of this post). I can probably look up references for some of them, but definitely can't say they'll be very accurate or perfect without proper reference. Either way, my goal will be to post both the animated sprites and the sprites sheets, but I will no longer be posting hourly once I reach that point. I will continue to post new artworks and I will probably post sprites daily.

The process for animating the sprites is pretty tedious. I've been using Ezgif which has a sprite sheet animator, so that does help. They definitely look pretty iffy but eh, I tried? It's not going to be easy. You can definitely see some misplaced pixels so I'll have to look into a way to clean them up. Just issues with working with transparent images I suppose.

[hannahsassessmentjourney]

Appointment the first: Background

In hindsight, I'm really, really glad I took the time to list out my sensory issues whenever I did so recently, because it was one of the things she asked at the appointment today (the first appointment, going through various development and history things).

There were a few questions she asked that I couldn't answer, but that's okay. And I don't really remember much of the appointment by now, anyway. She made some comment towards the end of it about masking, which I thought was interesting; I wouldn't necessarily call what I do masking, though I don't know if others would. I've never really thought of it that way. Possibly 'runlikepeopleexpect.exe' is actually masking, who knows.

I also played with an infinity cube ($2.75 at Kmart in Australia) the entire time, and barely made eye contact at all. I can't even picture her face (though even if I'd been staring at her the whole time I couldn't necessarily picture it, because that gets iffy for me).

Anyhow, second appointment is on the 24th - ten days from now. She told me details about it towards the end of the session, but I was getting quite overwhelmed by then and thus couldn't easily process what she was saying. Rightly or wrongly, I figured she'd reiterate them if necessary. She has to be used to working with people who process things differently or with more difficulty than the average population, right?

I sincerely hope there are instructions for some mystery thing she said I had to fill in before the next appointment and that would be emailed to me, though. I missed all that. (You know when your brain just switches off and you've suddenly got to figure out what's going on with only half a sentence and the expectation that you will respond to whatever they just said? Yeah.)

[creamecream]

Some of my BNHA characters as Pokémon because why not.

(Obviously can’t fit all of them)

Lyna Aymaya

(No proper gif found.)

Vivillon, either meadow or elegant form, as those include both the blue and pink of her wing colors.

Bianca Demetria

Glaceon.

Possibly shiny, as it’s a lighter color! but obviously, the ice fox for the ice fox.

Cassius Markandeya

Ninetales.

I know his coloring makes more sense with an umbreon, red eyes, black hair, etc. but ninetales fits his kyuubi aesthetic a lot better, so I went with ninetales.

Keiko Yamabiko

Noibat.

Because is smol and is bat, obviously.

Kotohina Emiyo

Lycanroc (midday form)

Doggo, protective doggo. midday form because while none of them are white, it has some browns like his skin, a large white tail, and blue eyes, just like Koko does.

Kaja Fukusha

Zorua.

Smol and mischievous, and full of, whilst illusions, changing appearance at will! so I found it the most fitting for Kaja.

Feel free to add some of your own!

[punkylilwitch]

Medusa

Myth vs. Modern

In mythology, the story of medusa has a couple translations that you’ll be sorry to hear aren't great. Specifically, the version that we hear today about Medusa being the victim is a lot more iffy than what’s been accepted by society. First, I’ll share the most widely recognized (and debated) stories, while I do this I’ll compare them to each other by sharing the history in the similar parts of Medusa’s story, and second I’ll share the modern reclaiming of the symbolism medusa has come to be.

The Beginnings

Medusa was born to Phorcys and Ceto, a minor sea god and water goddess/mother of sea monsters. Her siblings include Graeae (The sisters who share one eye and were forced into telling Perseus where Medusa laid so he could slay her. This was done by Perseus holding their eye hostage), Stheno and euryale the gorgons, Echidna the snake woman, Thoosa the sea nymph, Ladon the dragon (guardian of the Golden Apples in the Garden of the Hesperides), and the nymphs of the evening - the Hesperides. Medusa was the only one of her gorgon siblings who was born mortal. She was also the most human of all her siblings, even being beautiful amongst humans. She lived amongst the mortals because of this, becoming a priestess of Athena in Athens. She was incredibly popular out of the priestesses, gaining the attention of the god of the sea and storms Poseidon. 

The Controversy 

A Tragedy 

Sympathetic - a curse given as a blessing

Some believe that Medusa’s curse was given to her as a blessing. In this variation, Medusa did not consent to Poseidon and Athena knew this, so she gave medusa the supposed power to keep away anyone else who may want to do this to Medusa again. This merely had the unfortunate side affect of afflicing literally everyone (sort of how the blessing of King Midas’ touch became a curse)

Cruel - a curse given out of malice

Others believe that Medusa did not consent to having intercourse with Poseidon, but was punished by Athena anyway. In this iteration, Athena blames Medusa for being too flamboyant and vain. Thus, the curse was given as just that - a curse.

Fairness in Justice

Justice - Medusa was cursed for being gross in a sacred place

A number believe that Medusa and Poseidon mutually had intercourse within Athena’s temple. Thus, Athena cursed her to more closely resemble her siblings so Medusa was forced to flee Athens and her life there. 

Freeing - a curse given along with freedom

A few believe that Medusa and Poseidon willingly had intercourse in the temple, but that Athena was forgiving about it. They believe that this curse was given in order to free Medusa of her duties as priestess, freeing her from the burdens of humans and elevating Medusa to a divine form.

Misfortunate - Medusa tricked the gods into sympathizing with her

The remainder believe that Medusa maliciously tricked Athena into sympathizing with her this group is similar to the group seen in the  “Sympathetic” section when it comes to the reason in which medusa was given the curse, but they believe that Athena purposely made it so that the power cannot be misused by making it affect medusa, ending in a sort of bittersweet power as a result. One thing I would like to note is that I could not find proof in this theory, but given the other theories, I decided to add it because some may believe it. Therefore, this theory is the only one without a source. If you have one, please feel free to reblog this and add it

But in every variation, a few things remain. Firstly, Poseidon left the moment they were caught in every variation. Secondly, what medusa became remains the same. Her long hair turned to snakes, her skin turned green, and her face was cursed so that anyone who looked upon it turned into stone. Thirdly, Medusa, once being transformed, no longer wanted to remain in Athens and instead fled to an island far away to be closer to her family. 

Similarities

There are a couple ways in which Medusa’s story connects with itself. These are parts of the story historians are much less divided on. 

One such connection is the known belief that in the story of Medusa, she is in the end killed by Perseus, who had been sent by Polydectes in the hopes that Perseus would be killed by the interaction. Instead, Perseus is aided by the gods by being given a sword and winged sandals from Hermes, and a mirror shield from Athena. He was also gifted just before this a cap of invisibility and a magical bag used to hold Medusa’s head safely once the deed had been done. 

Notably, it was Athena’s temple in which Medusa was caught in, so take from that what you will. Medusa’s head is chopped off in her sleep, and that ends that. 

Once Medusa was dead, Pegasus and Chrysaor were born of the wound, popping out of her neck and waking her two gorgon sisters who she was sleeping by in the cave. However, Perseus got away, delivering the head first to Polydectes and turning him to stone by showing the head to him and second delivering it to Athena.  Also notable, Athena was then presented with this head as evidence of Perseus’ worthiness, which Athena then wore on her shield.

Modern Reclaiming

https://www.inkedmag.com/original-news/medusatattoos

Nowadays, most have accepted the theory that Medusa was taken against her will, though those who say she was a willing participant are still in the many. But Medusa’s story has evolved into much more than that. Now, She is a symbol of strength and being a survivor of SA (sexual assault) and is used in tattoos, stickers, art, and much more. Specifically, a medusa tattoo can be a protection from the evil, and/or a symbol of the victims. The most common interpretation of Medusa suggests she is an apotropaic symbol similar to the modern evil eye. She is said to represent a dangerous threat; and is meant to deter other dangerous threats. An image of evil to repel evil so to speak. 

(I hope this doesn’t get taken down for nudity but it’s art soooo..?)

 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/arts/design/medusa-statue-manhattan.html

According to this article called How a Medusa Sculpture From a Decade Ago Became #MeToo Art by The New York Times, A statue made by Luciano Garbati sparked quite some controversy. The art, called “Medusa With the Head of Perseus” is a riff on the previously mentioned tale in which Perseus takes the head of Medusa. Accoridng to the article, “On Tuesday[The article came out on October 13th of 2020], Mr. Garbati’s sculpture — “Medusa With the Head of Perseus” — was reimagined as a symbol of triumph for victims of sexual assault, when it was unveiled in Lower Manhattan, just across the street from the criminal courthouse on Centre Street.” (Julia Jacobs). 

Sources:

Medusa and Poseidon did it willingly (discusses theories of Freeing and Justice)  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrmjcQuG-Gg

Perseus’ story summary (comical and over simplified) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4h8vzK60yk

Lineage source and also they thought that Medusa and Poseidon had an affair and she was punished (discusses theory of Justice) - https://www.thoughtco.com/greek-mythology-medusa-1524415#:~:text=One%20of%20three%20Gorgon%20sisters,she%20was%20born%20at%20sea.

General story and also they believe that Medusa and Poseidon had intercourse willingly and Athena punished Medusa (though notably specifically because Medusa was impregnated and Athena was the goddess of virginity) - https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Creatures/Medusa/medusa.html

They believe that Medusa was a victim. (discusses theory of Cruel) TW: mentions of SA. - https://eportfolios.roehampton.ac.uk/hsa020c132h/2018/06/29/medusa-as-a-victim/#:~:text=Medusa%20was%20so%20beautiful%20that,Gorgon%20instead%20of%20helping%20her. 

They believe that Athena had to protect her former priestess by cursing her. (discusses theory of sympathetic) TW: mentions of SA. - https://www.parlia.com/a/athena-helped-medusa-by-transforming-her-into (The source’s source -http://diaryoftheblackdog.blogspot.com/2017/10/medusa-was-defending-herself.html#:~:text=Athena%20did%20not%20punish%20Medusa,Medusa%20was%20never%20touched%20again.)

[disneyanddisneyships]

Last chapter before the epilog! @gyubby99

"NORTH PLEASE HELP, ITS AN EMERGENCY!" Jack shouted into the empty room with only he and elsa. A portal opened up in the middle of the room and north popped his head in. "Time already? A week early?!" North exclaimed before he and Jack helped a pregnant Elsa into the portal. "Its not rocket science North! It's very iffy. All depends on if the baby is ready to- ahhhh!" Elsa cried. "You're lucky we got her room done early! Come, come. Go lay on thus bed and I'll get your family," North stated as he showed Elsa into a small room where Elsa would have the baby. "The contractions are getting stronger!- Agh!" Elsa yelled as she layed down on the birthing table.

A few minutes later everyone was out in the main room, waiting for the baby to be born. Jack was with elsa. "I don't understand, why are we not at a hospital?" Anna asked. "No one would've been able to see jack there! Which means he wouldn't have been able to hold his baby," Hiccup replied. "Okay but does norrh even know how to deliver a baby?" Anna asked. "Actually, yes, he does," tooth stated. Anna sighed. "I should be in there with her...." Anna muttered. "She wants the gender to be a suprise for us all," Kristoff stated. "I'm just happy we'll be here for this grandchild..." Agnarr murmured. "Where are your kids Anna?" Rapunzel asked. "School. I told tyen I wanted to enroll them into high-school and the principal let them join classes for the day," Anna replied. "Ugh. School is fer nerds, and people who can't have fun..." Merida stated. "Mer, you were homeschooled..." Rapunzel replied. "Aye, and I hated every second of it," Merida explained.

North walked out of the room, a smile on his face. "Elsa wants you all in now," North stated as he gestured for everyone to walk into the room. Elsa was in bed holding what looked to be two babies, while Jack was laying next to her, his arm wrapped around her shoulder. "Hey guys," Elsa said with a smile. "Twins?!" Anna exclaimed quietly so she wouldn't wake them. Elsa nodded. "A beautiful boy and a beautiful girl," Jack stated with tears in his eyes as he looked at his kids. "Anna, do you wanna hold one of them?" Elsa asked as she held the girl out to Anna. Anna took her, and the eye contact was immediate. Anna began to cry. "What are their names?" Anna asked with tears and a smile. "The girl is Ella, and the boy is Robin," Jack stated as he held his son and kissed him on the head before handing him to Agnarr. "He's so small...." Agnarr whispered as he held his grandson gently. "He's the youngest," Elsa stated. "They're about 5 minutes apart," she explained. Anna handed Ella to Iduna, and Agnarr handed Robin to Anna, and so on until everyone was able to hold both babies. Kristoff handed Ella back and Rapunzel handed Robin back. And the family stood like that for a while. Elsa and Jack looked at their small family that they created themselves and they smiled.

It took almost 300 years for this happily ever after. And it'll be at least 300 more years until it's over. But that's the story of how thus small group of people managed to create a family with each other, and it all started with a blast of ice.

[popculturebuffet]

Sam and Max Save the World Retrospective: Culture Shock (Patreon Review for WeirdKev27)

It's time to hit the road you happy people as we've got a hot new retrosepctive courtsey of Kev set to run through next year using his Patreon reviews as I finally play a game i've wanted to play for close to two decades now: Sam and Max Save the World!

For all .. two of you reading this who don't know what Sam and Max is, Sam and Max is a multimedia franchise with a very simple core: A large dog man and his diminutive rabbit sidekick/bestfriend/husband/hired goon go around engaging in ultra violence, shenanignas and what have you to solve assorted cases. This simple framework is an excuse for the two to engage in hilaroius one liners, absurdist slapstick and whatever else can be crammed in. It's likely why the franchise has both endured and has such a sizeable fanbase: You only need the two main characters to make a sam and max story and they can get up to just about anything.

Sam and Max was created by Steve Purcell….'s brother. Yeah his brother Dave made the two as a kid and being a bit of a stinker, Steve made what were basically parodies of them. Eventaully he'd fleshed them out so much and drawn so many full on comics with them beyond just taking a shot at his brother as big brothers tend to do (Mine has called me stalin, what can you do?), Dave gifted him the characters one birthday. Purcell has one heck of a career in video games in animation, having made the first three monkey island games, manic mansion and of course, sam and max hit the road. He's also friends with Mike MIngola of Hellboy fame and X-Men and countless other comics legend and Longshot creator Art Adams.

His biggest legacy though is a franchise I should've visited way sooner but seems like it was made for me: Sam and Max: Starting in comics ala the Tick, while Purcell's creation hasn't had a huge number of works, the quality vastly outstrips the quantity: we have the original comcis which I intend to both read and cover at some point and have this panel so we're already off to a good start

There's a tv series i've seen a decent chunk of that's utterly brilliant and sadly didn't get the 8 seasons it deserved but the one it has is pretty good. It even features a few guest apperances from The RedGreen Show's Patrick McKenna, as Norm THE FRIEND FOR LIFE, who if they make something else sam and max at some point will hopefully come back.

One of the biggest attractions for our heroes though is games. One of their bigger projects was Sam and Max Hit The Road, coming about because Purcell had already made models for the two for some training software for LucasArts and they wanted a full game after how well his previous work had gone out, wanting more ips.

This SHOULD have lead to sequels, but Purcell's first attempt sputtered out for some reason. The second is a bit more troubled, as Lucasarts did not only make a new game but have it almost finished… until Lucasarts pulled the plug. Yeah canning something that's almost finished and could make you money isn't a new phenomina, Warner Bros has simply taken it to new douchey heights.

The fan's reactoin.. was a predictable as it was 100% accurate

This was part of a larger issue as Lucasart was phasing out adventure games, and thus laid off a bunch of it's staff. A bunch of them decided to quit and founded Telltale Games.

The team waited until LucasArts liscene experid as they refused to give it up for no explicable reason, doing csi and texas hold em games, but as soon as it was up Purcell offered it to them immeditly and we were off to the races.

Save the World was also one of the very first games to use an episodic release. Such a release isn't seen often nowadays with companies preferring to do updates or dlc instaed, but at the time it was a brilliant model as downloadbale games were still new, and while there wasn't a gurantee the game would finish (as seen sadly with an attempt to make a game out of Jeff Smith's bone) you still got something and as far as I could tell coudl pay as you went. The model was iffy.. but ended up wildly succeeding as Save the World was a rousing success, making telltale a juggernaut for the next few years. I personally remember, since I co9udln't install the game, playign the back to the future game religously and i'm curious to check out the batman one at some point.

The bottom eventually did fall out due to crunch and other such bullshit, but but thankfully for the current gen of consoles Skunkape games, made up of former telltale employees, was born and so far has mostly focused on remastering those games, wtih a third set for this year. So since i'm long overdue to finally enjoy some ultra violence and adventure gaming with these two, kev bought me the remasters for Save the World and Beyond Time and Space, with plans to get the Devils Playhouse when it comes out to play through and review every month. So with all that possibly needless but still vital expostion out of the way what kind of game did we get? Find out with me under the cut as our heroes deal with some Culture Shock, washed up 70's stars, boxing gloves, and more for episode 1!:

Presentation wise.. this game is majestic as an eagle or that time max caused an international incident by hitting said eagle with a pistrami and crowbar sandwitch to save america from the ghost of william henry harrison. The game looks crisp and the world nicely lived in, even if you'll mainly juts be going between the duo's delapadated office, their friend Sybil's psycharcy office or whatever it is this week and Bosco's Inconveince for cheese and assault rifles. The music is simple but nicely fits.

The voice acting is excellent despite being filled with actors i'd never heard of, mostly working in the adventure game genre. The Cast does a PHENOMINAL job. David Nowlin does a terrific job of Sam getting his deadpan down just perfect while Andrew Chakin does a great job as max though he's replaced by a questoin mark for the rest of the series. The two play off each other perfectly, as they should and the rest of the cast isn't too shabby either with Oggie Banks and Amy Provenzero doing a great job as Bosco, the team's suplier, conspiracy theorist and Sam's surrogate father, and Cybil, a woman who changes careers more than her hair and serves as a friend and ally of the duo in the telltale games. The result is a game that has the lively energy of a cartoon while oftne lacking it due to the format.

Finally we have the core of any comedy, how funny it is.. and for me at least.. this may be one of the most hilarious things i've ever seen and i'm only on chapter 1. While the angaonitst aren't the best and we'll get to why in a second, it's thorughly compesnated for by our main heroes just unleashing a near nonstop barrage of great lines. IT's to the point I can't remember half of them simply because they come in so fast and there's smuch. Even tv tropes crowning moment of funny page only has a fractoin. It's probably the funniest video game i've ever played and i'm only on part one. If I miss a joke it's not out of malice but more because there's hundreds.

So with all the tehcnical stuff out of the way, we're on to the case itself. Well sorta first we get a very simple but welcome tutorial, mostly because as will become clear this is only my second adventure game. I played the first chapter of telltale batman.. but that's ore like a visual novel with some quicktime events, at least as far as I got. This is a full on classic use crap in your inventory to solve shit gameplay.

I played it on switch and while I admit a point and click like this is probably better played on a pc, ironically despite relying on it to write this very review.. it really can't game. While the Skunkape remasters arne't that intesntive I got this pc entirely because the graphics card was wonky, meaning I can cover 16 bit or so games, and likely other old pc games like Sam and Max Hit The Road, but I have ot be careful going too high up as I need this thing to do my job.

The controls are decent.. it can be frustrating having to wait for sam to be in position to click on something, but it's easy enough to scroll and dosen't slowdown gameplay too much, making it a fine option if you only have a console, especially this port as you can take it with you which granted is a plus for any switch port but given how easy it is to break up gameplay here outside of cut scenes, it's perfect for it , provided you have some headphones as while the game is fine without them, as I learned while you can play the game without sound it's just better with the voice acting.

Okay so now i'm done being a lying liar who lies we can REALLY get to things as the first task sets it up. One of your inventory items is Sam's gun, and to bribe their rat Jimmy Two teeth to give them their phone back, you have to shoot up a closet full of cheese just under jesse james hand to give them holes. It's also where my inexperince set in as I didn't realize part of the point of an adventure game is "Try everything you have in your inventory" so I didn't think the gun was something I coudld use till it came to me.

With that we get our case, Bosco who runs the inconvience store, it's actual name, has had some weirdo delivering free videos to his store and wants you to stop it. Before I do though I find someone comitting some grafitti and since threats of violence don't seem to sway the little middle aged scamp and he just runs if you try to use your gun, you have to do the one thing a policeman hates most.. actually talking to the suspect. Turns out the culprit is Specs, one of the soda poppers, a bunch of child stars on a 70's sitcom who have seen better days, and whose grafftotagging our heroes office as a tribute to his hero, brady culture, star of eye-bo and fellow former child star. Since our heroes can't get rid of him for now, or so I thought, we move on to our case where it turns out it's another Soda Popper, Whizzer.

Not that one, we don't want marvel to sue… no Whizzer is another soda popper and his one character trait is…

Yeah while specs is tolerable, not having much of a personality bu having a decent enough voice the rest of the soda poppers….

Whizzer really is only the gags he can run fast and pee. His voice is annoying, and pee jokes jokes usually take the piss out of a good bit of comedy. They can be gross or just… IT'S PEE LAUGH AT IT, which thankfully Sam and Max falls into more than the former. It's just not funny. And while i'm generally not a fan of pee jokes, you CAN make them work. Observe.

Now this scene is one long pee joke, one the creators were embarassed by… but actually works. Now in itself the intial bit of Little Cato pissing on the ship to mark territory is just gross.. but the fact Gary somehow thinks this is somehow legally binding, and that Clarence instanlly buys into it and order shis own child to start pissing it up, does… and then it wraps around to comedy gold, pun unintended and now regretted, when it turns into a giant war with every one of these idiots (with Nightfall understandably sitting this stuipdity out) getting into some weird pee war, stopping to hydrate and Ash being delighted she has UTI as a result. It's still gross.. but it's also actually funny just for being so entirely stupid, in character, and well thought out.

We can't stop Whizzer for now.. well okay like Specs we could but my dumb ass hadn't figured out how. We do meet bosco whose a delight, a throughly paranoid man whose set up security, gladly tricks sam into triggering it just to get a laugh, and has a great runner of Sam asking "do you have any" only to get a solid nope. I already love bosco and like Sam wish he was my dad. He has a teargas grenade launcher ofr sale for 10,000 dollary doos.

Before I got to the third popper though I actually tried the Eye-Bo, with our heros thankfully not present for the obvious brainwashing, it instead being jimmy two teeth. This leads our heroes to needing to stop him and cultures minons.

It's here I met the third and final and worst soda popper. Yes Whizzer somehow wasn't the worst. We get Peepers. And just starting at the voice..

It is PURE agony to listen to and given any time I tried a weapon it went to a HIGHER pitch, it's pure excuriation. It's this naisly, whiny pain that just digs into your brain. It makes his eventual compuance satisfying, but given he has the most dialouge out of the main trio, and spends it having tied up Sybil in the closet and claming to be her while sounding like louie anderson's clone whose badly melting and swallowed a bunch of hellium. The actual jokes aren't bad and Sybil herself is great, we'll get to her more in a sec, Peepers is pure pain.

So after failing to cave peepers skull in as he richly deserved, I hit the road as you can drive aorund the city aimlessly and pull people over.. and turns out that was th eproblem as, this being post george floyd, I was trying to be senstive and not abuse my power. But in a spoof like this that also clearly does not see the police kindly… that's EXACTLY what I was supposed to do: shoot the tailights out and then extort the 10,000 dollars. Our heroes grossly weild their power.. but that's always been kind of the joke and intentioal or not nicely parodies the real police. Though as Homer Simpson has warned this can have consequences.

This allowed me to buy the gun which is really just a salad shooter with onions in it. And yes that was a real thing and to my shock still is. you can buy one on amazon. I best know it from these bloom county strips

Bosco's works well enough and with that I can FINALLY take my well deserved vengance out on peepers

And I DIDDDD. I got the little bastard to cry and while we sadly didn't see it on screen, Max clubbed his head in with a boxing glove.. not enough to kill him unfortunatiley but we get some info. As you'd expect I have to take out each of the soda poppers to get a piece of the clue. And after trying for ten solid minutes to figure out what I was supposed to do I consulted a guide. And it showed off two vastly diffrent kinds of condrum in an adventure game.

With Whizzer… the solution was actually well laid out and taught me a valuable lesson in patience and really obeseriving things closely when your stuck with an adventure game puzzle. Bosco had mentioned his security system and left a piece of cheese out you coudln't buy, but if you left with would boxing glove you. Earlier i'd also found out Max using the bathroom made whizzer go. So while I had to look up the solution.. it turned out to be pretty clever: put the cheese in whizzers basket of videos while he's in the bathroom. It was satisfying finding it out and more satisfying watching Bosco's security brain the little bastard. It was a solution that while time consuming I probably woudl've been able to figure out, was cleve rand nicely used every facet of the area

In contrast Specs is frustraingly vauge. Finding a pen I figured out one part, you doodle on his grafiti to move him.. but the solution is frustrating. part of it Is I didn't realize the grafiti was on their building, but even with that i'm stumped as to how I was supposed to figure "drop a bowling ball on him from the office"> It taught me sometimes these things take multiple locations.. but also taught me there's no shame in getting help as while i've heard older adventure games have had some way worse puzzles, some are just that difficult.

This however leads into a chase instead which well made up for my frustration as we get a jazzy tune for the crew that's far better than 2/3 of them deserve as you try to shoot out the wheels of Specs car.

And now we're finally free of these guys part of why they don't work, as does main villian brady culture..is what their parodying. It's clear this is a parody of the celebrity culture of the early 2000's, where it was common to make a spectacle of former child stars and other celebrties down on their luck. I mean it's not like child stars can't do horrible things in modern day, just ask drake bell, but after so many former child stars have come out with horror stories, Jenatee Mcurdy's abuse under dan schnder in paticular… it's clear that this just isn't funny any more and never should've been. The Soda Poppers aren't really sympathetic, but it's no longer the easy target it was and thus while the chapter still has merit the main villians fall entirely flat to me. It dosen't help I've been more into 80's, 90's and so on sitcoms, as most 70's sitomcs either werne't avaliable to me as a kid or just weren't funny.

Brady himself is a bit better, being pompous, arrogant and the kind of former star WORTH mocking: someone who was famous for five minutes, whose show got cancleed (as we learn on a where are they now type thing you can optionally watch in the office) in favor of Soda Poppers. He didn't seem to suffer any abuse and thus decided brainwashing was better and pettily made the soda poppers lives even worse just to satisfy his ego. I also like his bits every time a soda popper is clubbed as he enjoys it.. only to realize his plan is unraveling as a result and that's not good.

To actually get into his evil layer though, the Brady Culture Home for Former Child Stars, our heroes have to get admitted and have to be diagnosed with artifical personality syndrome. Symptoms include an obession with money, a violent reaction to dentestry and an unconcious desire to see one peers getting older, so to get comitted we go to Cybil. I took her up on her offer of free psychatricy earlier and honestly while it's easy enough at least for the first two tests to get diagonsed, her tests are worth spending a while just messsing around with. We start with an ink blot test which is full of great answers, followed by a word assicoation where you can just.. react howeve ryou like, though myf aviorite is also the one needed simply pulling out your gun and shooting things. Granted I'm not a fan of a gun in real life… but I also suspect randomly shooting non living objects is something sam and max do for fun anyway, so it's fine here.

The final test is the hardest and the only one I needed help on as it's "your peers aging"… and you have PLENTY of options of stuff ot see from max's head on a plant to bosco as your father figure and mos tof it is hliariously, partly because Sybil is VERY bad at her job and frequently calls you some degree of crazy, and because she's convinced herself max is Sam's imaginary friend despite being both able to see him and interact with him. It's great stuff and like any great time concludes with a jump out a window and Sybil singing off.

Things.. don't go great though as just a few minutes later Sam is brainwashed and giving away tapes. This puzzle took me a second but i'm proud of myself for solving it: you simply grab the cheese and get conked out. The following setpiece is a LOT of fun as you have to take out a bunch of brady culture heads: he's stolen max's body, shown up in the light socket, on the tv and in the closet as a cheese man.

The solutions are all fun: you simply jimmy your antena to shut off the tv, turn the light off to turn off Brady

And most hilarously, make Jimmy Two Teeth giant with a bike pump.. which took a second to figure out but is oh so satisfying when he finally gets messily devoured by a rat. Huh.. I wonder if i'm the one who needs therapy , not sam. Who am I kidding.. we both do.

There's also a puzzle I tried my best to solve but just.. coudln't. You can use the one way sign the boys have ot reverse gravity but I coudln't figure out how to get max's head onto hugh. As it turns out what I was supposed to do was shoot the sign, and once I read that in my guide, it was easy enough to grab the little budy head and thus take my brain back.

With that our hero is free but he has to go rescue max. Problem is to prevent this repeating again we have to figure something out. Thankfully Sybil has some blueprints from a patient for an anti mind control device, who i'm sure will be important later but for this chapter this gross breech of doctor patient confdientiatly nets me what I need and Bosco is able to build it.. and thankfully let us back in after the whole brainwashing incident. What's a good tape delivery between friends eh?

So that leads us to our finale. Using the weird helmet, Sam is able to resist the hypno ray and it seems has a straight shot to brady.. until the soda poppers show up… and immdietly get brainwashed making this climax into an actual puzzle.

Thankfully you can talk to them and there are plenty of fun options from becoming sam to becoming brady to play around with for a while before the actual solutoin: Have them worship you.. then get brady confused enough to order them to attack him instead of "the dog", allowing you to pass through , rescue your little buddy, and have Hugh Bliss blissfully dead. Sadly the Soda Poppers are still alive but you can't have everything I guess. Our heroes have won.. but it' shinted on th etv that this hypno buisness isn't sovled.

Culture Shock is a fun start to thing. Like I said the villians.. are okay. Brady is funny enough thanks to his voice acting, but the soda poppers are one guy whose kinda there.. and two of the most annoying wastes of space and my patience i've ever seen. Especially you peepers, especially you. But the comedy is still at a fever pitch enough to be fun, and theres enough highlights, paticuarlly the second act with the therapy and sam's brain sequences, to make this a solid start. Pick up this game if you haven't and i'll see you next chapter as our heros have to taste the fame to stop another mind control scheme. Until then you can follow me here and on twitter for more shenanigans. Thanks for reading.

[purefandomonium]

Part 6: Blissful Ignorance

But wait, there's more!

Or in other words, this project is still ongoing. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year (because I probably won't be posting anything again until sometime after) and hope you enjoy!

RED: So what exactly is the point of all this?

“It’s just a stupid dance. They do it every year for the freshmen but the whole school can go.”

RED: You’re not.

She stopped cleaning the mess that was her room for a moment. She could use a break anyway. It was getting kind of troublesome having to stop every few seconds to read what Red was saying. Not to mention having one arm perpetually tied up with holding the GameBoy to do so. She’d taped the mic to it while she figured out something less bulky.

She fell onto her desk chair with a thump, sliding it back and bumping into the desk. An old keyboard and a couple pens fell to the floor with a clatter.

RED: What was that?

“Sat down too violently,” she said, absently wondering when he’d started hearing the background.

RED: Oh.

RED: So why aren’t you going?

“Why do you care so much? It’s not like it affects you.”

Red was unfazed by the curt reply.

RED: It’s just a bit strange to me that you don’t want to.

RED: My company can’t be that interesting.

“Trust me, it’s not,” she said with a smirk. “I’m just not into dances.”

Red considered that. Leann didn’t seem to be ‘into’ anything, if every previous conversation about her social life was anything to go by. She told him all about her little projects and hobbies, but all of them seemed devoid of anyone other than herself. The girl was clearly a loner and yet…

She didn’t sound very satisfied about that.

RED: Don’t you have friends?

His concept of time was still a bit iffy; being trapped for decades in digital hell did that to a person—or whatever he could call himself. However, he was fully aware of the amount of time he’d spent with Leann thus far and, unless she was lying to him and his sanity had degraded worse than he thought, she never seemed to hang out with anyone outside of school. It appeared she woke up, got ready, left, then came right home once the day was over. It was like clockwork. She picked up the GameBoy at almost the same time every. Single. Day.

He may have lost his mind in that damn cartridge, but he wasn’t stupid.

The hesitation in her voice only drove the point home further.

“I have friends,” she said, tone defensive.

RED: Doesn’t sound like it to me.

RED: Don’t take it the wrong way.

RED: I’m just worried.

Red? Worried? For her, no less? The thought was both slightly amusing and more than a little unusual. “What are you worried for? I just don’t really like anyone.”

RED: Out of an entire school of students, there isn’t a single one you get along with?

“What happened to all that mistrust you had a month ago?” She was starting to get a little weirded out by his prying. The more time she spent with him, the more human he seemed. She often found herself lying awake at night, staring at the lit GameBoy on the desk and wondering how something so complex could exist within it. Red wasn’t programming. Couldn’t have been. Which didn’t leave a whole lot of options. Either he was the soul of some dead kid trapped in there, or he was some sort of demonic entity. Neither were things she should really be messing with, if she was being honest. Still…

She did enjoy the company.

Red didn’t respond immediately, opting instead to contemplate. What had happened to that mistrust? At some point in time he couldn’t remember, he just… started trusting her. He tried telling himself it was because it was nice to have someone to actually talk to, and it was. But that didn’t give him a reason for what he was doing right now, did it? He was picking up on things that he shouldn’t even be concerned with. What did it matter if she didn’t have friends?

A month ago, he’d have said nothing to all of this. What changed?

“I take it you don’t know either,” she said to the screen, showing Red’s sprite as it stood somewhere in Viridian.

RED: …No.

For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why he was being so friendly.

Though she still hadn’t been allowed anywhere near the game’s code, Red had allowed Leann to play the game normally once she made it clear she wasn’t going to hurt him anymore. He’d warn her if things were about to go south and he couldn’t prevent it, and she’d stop whatever she was doing and switch to something else.

Right now, she had a Caterpie for no particular reason that she was building up in her spare time. She didn’t have the heart to say anything, but she’d never actually been that into Pokemon. She only bought the cartridge because it was a ‘cool old thing!’ and it was cheap compared to the rest of the game store’s wares. She’d actually forgotten her GameBoy had even existed from its place in the back of her closet.

She was sure it would be a gut-punch to Red if he found out, so she kept silent and proceeded to Google reasons for why she did certain things. Poor guy didn’t seem to have any concept of the internet.

She hummed. “Can I ask you something personal?”

RED: Sure.

“Do you… I don’t know. Do you, like, remember exactly how you came to be… like this? Were you always aware you were in a game?”

It was something he’d pondered himself on multiple occasions. Hearing it asked from another person seemed to give him some form of clarity on the matter.

RED: I…

RED: I don’t know what first made me realize. If I had to guess…

RED: Maybe it was the same narrative repeating with every new game players created.

RED: The more it happened, the more I kept asking myself: Why? Why do I keep doing this? Hasn’t this been done before? Why do I need to keep repeating it? What’s making me do this?

The text got a little too cozy in the box and some of it ended up cut off. She could still make it out though. It seemed she’d opened some sort of floodgate.

RED: People I thought were my friends, rivals… EVERYONE started repeating the same lines all of a sudden.

RED: No matter what happened, it was the same set of dialog. Almost like they were following some sort of script.

RED: …Do you know what it’s like to realize you never had any freedom? To have your illusion of choice ripped away from you and be told you were MADE to do this?

“…No. I don’t.” The thought made her stomach twist.

RED: Even my accomplishments were stripped from me. The only things I could hold onto that made me something, GONE. Taken by something “better.”

Her interest piqued at that. “I don’t know if you still remember, but early on when we started talking… Back when I had to spell out everything, you mentioned being replaced? What did you mean by that?”

RED: They took everything from me and replaced me like I meant NOTHING. Then they cast me aside to rot while my legacy was destroyed by some…

RED: …BROWN-HAIRED KID.

‘Brown-haired kid?’ Suddenly it clicked. “Do you mean the games that came after yours?”

RED: …

She could practically feel the anger emanating from those three dots. Now it made sense. Mostly. There was just one issue: How in the world did he know there were other games? If she was the first person he ever had a conversation with, then how could he know about the newer games? And there were so many. Was his anger directed at all of them or a handful in particular?

She cursed her lack of knowledge on the franchise and made a mental note to look into things later. Back to the matter at hand, she wondered if maybe he had somehow read the data on the different GameBoys he was inserted into. Maybe he had some sort of backwards compatibility that let him look into the tiny internal memory. She wasn’t an expert, but she figured it might be likely that there were little traces of data here and there that remained on the console itself. Data that would reveal there were different games and that Red wasn’t in them. If that was the case, then it was likely his anger was directed at any subsequent games that would’ve been out in the 90’s or so and not, say, games on the DS or something.

“That’s… I’m really sorry, Red. I wish I could say I understand what that’s like but…” She struggled to think of an appropriate response. “I don’t know if it matters any to you, but yours is the best game in my opinion.” Technically a bit of a stretch, seeing as how this was the only Pokemon game she’d ever owned, let alone played—save for a random Pokemon-themed pinball game she used to have—but the poor guy deserved some validation. It wasn’t exactly a lie either; she would gladly trade every game she owned if it meant getting to keep his.

RED: …….Thanks.

RED: That actually means a lot.

It felt wrong to ask him if he had a prior life to all this, so she left the conversation where it was at. She was no closer to figuring out what he was now than before, but that was ok. At least he seemed to be feeling a bit calmer now. A change to a lighter topic was in order.

She asked him if he knew about TV shows.

So confession time: I actually never have owned or played a single Pokemon game in my entire life. I have recently been thinking about picking up one just to try it, but yeah. The mention of the GameBoy Pokemon Pinball thing is legit the only game I've ever played. Funny, right? Of course I remember the original series, I had a few toys and even some of the movies, but I was never really into the franchise. Would not have seen myself doing this at any point in time but hey, life's weird like that.

Part 5: here

Part 7: here

[itsmaddienotmaddy]

I’m staying awake by sheer force of irritability to give a ROUSING recap of the most boring game of soccer that we all decided was worth watching in the middle of the night.

US v. Australia

Alyssa - sweet Alyssa. Out there, saving the ball, watching her teammates play like strangers. I’m happy that she got a clean sheet at least.

Becky - had a good game. Like she said, it’s not her job to score goals. It’s her job to not let the other team and she DID THAT. Maybe she should have tried to score. Would have at least made things more interesting.

Tierna - she was absolutely the right choice to start and play a full 90 over Abby. She was her usual calm and collected self and even though Kerr didn’t seem fully in it, Baby T squandered any chances she thought she had. So proud.

Crystal - a good game. Not to her usual standards but that’s because she’s usually so insanely good. Few great defensive saves but wasn’t able to push into the attack. And we need her to do that.

Kelley - she did fine. Few iffy moments, but nothing dangerous. Was moving well and got good crosses off. That cross to Alex’s offsides goal was so PRETTY. I’m a little salty about that. Hopefully her fragile joints are okay from the few tackles she got tangled in.

Julie - Julie Ertz appreciation over here because she did save our butts a little bit. She was one of the few that looked like she was trying out there. Another full ninety for her, hopefully she can keep it up otherwise…. We a little (a lot) fucked

Rose - Rosemary. The only one with energy. The only one who looked aware she was playing an Olympic game. She looked fast. She looked strong. And she was creating chances. Her defensive slide tackles were sexy. I don’t know how she was not screaming at everyone to help her tf out.

Sam - Sammy is having a really tough tournament and I just want to sit her down on the sidelines with some orange slices and find out what the hell is going on with her. The turnovers, the positioning, the physicality, just all off.

Lindsey - she did better than Sam, I guess. I wanted and expected more from her. She definitely created more opportunities and helped us keep better possession. Would have loved her header off the Tierna set piece to at least have been on frame.

Kristie - wish she was in sooner for Sam Kerr chaos. Whatever. She was running around a little more than everyone else. She looked happy to be there.

Alex - had glimmers of brilliance. Her run through in the first half where she fell and didn’t get the shot off well. The GOAL. VAR is a fugly slut and I don’t trust her. Alex was definitely frustrated, v apparent by the few seconds of her on the sideline just shaking her head. SAME GIRL.

Pinoe - she always does better as a sub so idk why we’re so insistent at starting her. Her and Carpenter are always a fun match up to watch though. Even in this boring ass game. Pinoe didn’t do much, but to her credit, did track back on defense a good bit which, for her, is BIG

Christen - ugh. pressy. She got herself in position and got some beautiful opportunities. The finish just wasn’t there for her today. Like Alex, was frustrated. Hope she tells her legs ‘good job’ anyway.

Tobin - this may have been her best game thus far, but still v far from her best playing form. It looked like she started a small spark when she came in with Lindsey but it dimmed quickly as the mood of the game brought her down. Was that field an energy vacuum? Seriously. The fuck.

Carli - I thought we were gonna press when she came on but I GUESS NOT. She shoulda just gone rogue and tried anyways.

Lynn - OLYMPICS DEBUT. Happy for her for that. But like with Carli, why weren’t they just let loose? Lynn is so fast! We know this! Everyone knows this. Let her RUN!

I think we’re all out here, once again, asking the gals to GET IT TOGETHER. Selfishly, if we’re going to be staying up for these 3 am games, can they at least try and keep us awake?

I’m at a loss as to what kind of kick in the ass everyone needs.

But whatever. I’ll support them when they win. Support them when they lose. Support them when they play sleepy, boring games where the back lines just pass back and forth for 5 minute stretches while everyone watches.

LFG. (To bed.)

[crusherthedoctor]

Can you list anything you unironically like in the games (and cartoons and comics) that you don't like?

I won't bother mentioning music, since that goes without saying and is to be expected for a Sonic game... unless you're Chronicles.

Sonic Adventure 2 (mixed gameplay-wise, annoying story-wise) - While I prefer Sonic's SA1 levels for a number of reasons, I still think his and Shadow's gameplay in SA2 is fun on its own merit. I also don't mind the treasure hunting gameplay returning or how big the levels are this time around, since Knuckles and Rouge are still fast and not '06 levels of slow. It's mainly the gimped radar that creates the unfortunate domino effect of making them a problem.

- Introduced Rouge, one of my favourite characters for how playful she is and how she's a lot more nuanced and intelligent than you'd expect.

- Some genuinely good scenes, like Eggman's trap on the A.R.K and Sonic escaping from the G.U.N. helicopter.

- Had some good ideas going for it, like the Pyramid Base and the Biolizard as a scientific monster instead of an ancient one.

- Despite my thoughts on the backstory itself (or rather, its execution), Shadow has enough depth and subtle qualities and occasional unintended hilarity to stand out from the typical dark rival characters you see in media.

- The Last Scene's music in particular is one of my favourite cutscene tracks in the series.

Sonic Heroes (mixed gameplay-wise, loathed story-wise) - The gameplay is fun when you're not being screwed over by repetitive combat, overly long levels and/or ice physics.

- Boasts some of the most consistently Genesis-worthy environments in the 3D games, up there with SA1's and Colours'.

- The in-game dialogue that isn't the same tutorial drivel repeated ad nauseam can be interesting, funny, etc.

- Reintroduced the Chaotix, which provided me with another character I quite like in the form of Vector.

- Bringing Metal Sonic back in full force and front and center in the plot after a long absence (not counting cameos and the like) is a perfectly fine idea. Just... not like this.

Sonic Battle (decent yet repetitive gameplay, mixed story-wise) - Emerl's arc is compelling, and it earns the emotional weight of having to put him down at the end.

- While some characters are iffy (read: Amy), other characters are extremely well-handled. Shadow is probably the prime example.

- Gamma's belly dance healing animation is fucking hilarious.

- When I was young, and the game was first announced, I was really excited about being able to play as Chaos. This proved to be my downfall when it turned out he was arguably one of the worst characters in the game due to being slower than me during the writing process, but I still recall that excitement fondly.

Shadow the Hedgehog (comedy classic) - The sheer amount of legendary stupidity this game has going for it makes it practically impossible to actually hate. It helps that it's not quite as white-knighted on the same level as '06... usually. You know you're in for a unique experience when you hear a gunshot every time you click something in the menu.

- By extension, Black Doom never gained an unironic fanbase like Mephiles/Scourge/Eggman Nega did, which means I'm a lot more willing to take Doom's dumbass brand of villainy in stride. He even has a unique design... a terrible one that rips off Wizeman granted, but alas, even that is a step-up from Fridge Shadow and Bumblebee Eggman.

- Despite being... well, Shadow the Hedgehog, some of the environments would fit right in with any other Sonic game, like with Circus Park, Lava Shelter, and Digital Circuit. Even the Black Comet levels look pretty cool.

- This game understands amnesia better than IDW does.

Sonic '06 (what do you think?) - The obvious one: Shadow's character was handled pretty well, even if it came at the cost of everyone else being a dummy and being forced to interact with Mephiles.

- Like SA2, there are some good moments, like the Last Story ending sequence with Sonic and Elise.

- In the greatest form of irony ever, I like Solaris as a concept and design(s), and its backstory has potential to serve as a parallel with Chaos without being a complete ripoff. Iblis sucks, Mephiles sucks, but I'm fine with Solaris.

- Introduced legendary characters like Sonic Man, Pele the Beloved Dog, Hatsun the Pigeon, and Pacha from The Emperor's New Groove.

The Rivals duology (apathetic outside of Nega-related grumbling) - There were some cool zone ideas in both games that were sadly let down by the restrictive and limiting gameplay. I particularly like Colosseum Highway for thus far being the only full-on Roman level in the series instead of merely having a couple minor hints of Roman, and Meteor Base for the unique scenario of the space station being built into an asteroid. These level concepts and others deserve a second chance IMO. (At least Frontier Canyon got a second chance in the form of Mirage Saloon, amirite?)

- Ifrit has a better design than Iblis. Not saying it's amazing, but the Firebird motif it has going on is a lot more interesting for a fire monster than the Not-Chaos schtick they had with Iblis.

Sonic and the Secret Rings (a very frustrating gaming experience) - Erazor Djinn, A.K.A. Qui-Gon Djinn, A.K.A. Dr. N. Djinn, A.K.A. I'll Take It On The Djinn, A.K.A. Not From The Hairs On My Djinny Djinn Djinn, is one of the best villains not associated with Eggman in the series. He's a Mephiles-type character done right, and there's actual weight and reason to his actions, however sinister or petty.

- I don't have strong opinions either way on Shahra as a character, but the Sonic/Shahra friendship is sweet and well-handled.

- The ending is one of Sonic's greatest moments. The sheer contrast between how ruthlessly he deals with Erazor and how comforting he is towards Shahra speaks volumes... Still gonna make fun of the mountain of handkerchiefs though. (Before anyone lectures me, I understand the significance of it and can even appreciate it from that angle... doesn't mean I'm not allowed to poke fun at it. :P)

- Another game with some redeeming environments. I love the aesthetic of Night Palace, and Sand Oasis looks gorgeous too.

Sonic Chronicles (my personal least favourite game in the series) - Uh...

- Um...

- Er...

- I like Shade's design?

Sonic Unleashed (overrated game and story IMO) - The obvious two: the opening sequence and the Egg Dragoon fight deserve all the praise they get.

- Seeing Eggmanland come to life was an impressive moment to be sure. While part of me does feel it didn't quite measure up to what I had in mind (ironically, the Interstellar Amusement Park ended up being closer to what I had in mind), it still looks badass and works well for what it is. I also don't mind the idea of it being a one-level gauntlet... key word being idea.

- Obviously, the game looks great. Not a fan of the real world focus (real world inspiration is fine, but copy-pasting the real world and shoving loops in it is just unimaginative), but it can't be denied that the environments look good.

- This game pulled off dialogue options a lot better than Chronicles did, since they didn't rely on making Sonic OoC.

Sonic and the Black Knight (just kind of boring all around) - Despite my gripes with the story (Merlina wasn't nearly as fleshed out as her unique anti-villain status deserved, which ends up severely undermining the ambition of the plot in more ways than one, and the other characters go from being useless yes men for King Arthur to being useless yes men for Sonic), I will admit it provides interesting insight into Sonic's character.

- Like '06 and Secret Rings, the ending is very nice... well, aside from Amy being an unreasonable bitch ala Sonic X at the very end.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (apathetic) - The admittedly few new concepts sprinkled within had promise. They may not have been as fleshed out as they could have been, but level concepts like Sylvania Castle and White Park, bosses like Egg Serpentleaf and the Egg Heart, and story beats like the Death Egg mk.II being powered by Little Planet, all could have been brilliant had they been better executed.

SatAM (apathetic outside of SatAM Robotnik-related grumbling) - I'm not a fan of the environments on the whole due to them looking too bland or samey, but there are some exceptions that look pleasant or interesting, like the Void.

Sonic Underground (apathetic) - The character designs make me feel better about myself.

- Does "large quantities of unintentional meme material" count as a positive?

Sonic X (mostly apathetic outside of Eggman's handling) - Helen was a better human character and audience surrogate in her one focus episode than Chris was throughout his entire runtime.

- Actually, most of the human characters not named Chris were legitimately likable. Including everyone in Chris' own family not named Chris. Hilarious.

- Despite arguably having the most Chris in it, I actually don't mind the first season that much, partly due to slight nostalgia from seeing it on TV when it was new, but mostly because Eggman actually acted like a villain for the most part, and certain other characters weren't quite as flanderized yet. It's season 2 and onwards where things started going off the rails IMO. (Incidentally, Helen's episode was part of season 1...)

The Boom franchise (apathetic) - Along with Chronicles, the games provide yet more proof that just because someone isn't SEGA/Sonic Team, that doesn't mean they're automatically more qualified to handle the series.

- The show had some good episodes here and there, and Tails' characterization was probably the most consistently on-point out of the cast.

- Despite not exactly being favourite portrayals for either character, even I'll admit that many of Knuckles and Eggman's lines in the show on their own were genuinely funny.

Archie Sonic (pre-reboot is mostly terrible, post-reboot is mostly... bland) - Whenever I doubt myself as a writer, I think back to Ken Penders, and suddenly I'm filled with a lot more confidence.

Sonic the Comic (apathetic) - Fleetway isn't a comic I tend to recall much of aside from how much of a loathesome cunt Sonic is, but IIRC, Robotnik's portrayal is pretty good. Different, but good.

IDW Sonic (stop pissing me off, comic) - Putting their handling aside (and being too obviously "inspired" by MGS in the latter's case), Tangle and Whisper are good characters IMO.

- Same goes for Starline, before he was killed off-screen and replaced with Toothpaste Snively.

- Execution aside (noticing a pattern?), the zombot virus was a fine concept on its own and an interesting new scheme for Eggman.

- I get to remind myself that I've never drawn scat edits and posted them publicly on Twitter.

[dailycharacteroption]

Deity Drop 1: Erastil

It’s taken some time to get to, but I’m finally taking a look at Pathfinder’s many deities, which spans not only the core deities, but also those that are not as popular in the Inner Sea Region, but have relevance outside of that geographical expanse, not to mention various demigods that have their own niche followings.

Throughout these entries, I’ll give a summary of the nature of the deity, as well as more specific details that seem relevant, as well as their granted abilities in both first and second edition Pathfinder. (As well as details on how they fit into Starfinder, or might fit into it, since many deities that were relevant in the quasi-medieval period of Pathfinder lost relevance and attention in the far future.

In any case, let’s start with Erastil, also known by the epithet “Old Deadeye”.

The lawful good god of hunting, farming, trade and family is typically depicted as an aged ulfen man in trapper’s gear with antlers growing from his head, or as a humanoid with the head of a stag, and is the patron of those that seek to preserve a simple, organized life that ensures survival for the community and a future for their descendants.

Indeed, for the most part, Erastil is a pacifist, he and his followers only raising their hands to protect, rather than to go to war. Even still, both adventurers that follow his ways and the worldly alike know that such is not always possible, for evil and the misguidedness of civilization are not content to leave well enough alone of simple folk.

For those that see the value of simple pleasures, Erastil is an excellent god, but his more personable teaching style, speaking to his priests as one would to a younger member of the village, rather than as a distant and imperious god, reveals that his is a bit of a stubborn old man, viewing most other good gods as children with their priorities a little off center, what with their interest in civilization or flighty exploration and the like.

Stepping back outside the setting itself, this gets a little iffy as it is implied that Erastil really doesn’t get folks that do not pick a significant other with the intention to eventually start a family and have kids (i.e., a significant portion of the LGBT+ community). However, in 2nd edition, he’s been revised to be more open to such things. After all, adoption and being part of the community are just as important as siring a new generation.

Of course, we couldn’t talk about the down-home family man god without mentioning his wife, Jaida, a goddess of agriculture that sadly fell out of favor with the fall of the Azlanti Empire, but is very much still around.

Regardless, if your character is lawful and/or good and comes from a small village, it’s quite likely that they might at lest know a few minor prayers to Erastil, if not actually worship him.

 As a lawful good deity that dwells in Heaven, Erastil’s most common servants are various archons, as well as celestial versions of his favored animals i.e. deer, elk, and every other sort of cervine. These two come together in his servitor outsiders, the horned archons, who resemble humanoid deer, and not only hunt evil and protect the wilderness of Heaven and beyond, but also range far afield into the other goodly planes, and are thus more understanding of the less lawful planes than most archons. His herald is a massive hybrid of elk and plant life called the Great White Stag, while lesser unique servants include Arangin the celestial horse, Blackfeather the shapeshifting avian archer, Proudsnout the divine boar, and Scorchbark the brash but goodly arboreal treant.

In first edition, his domains are Animal, Community, Good, Law, and Plant, with his subdomains being Archon (by way of either good or law), Education (by way of Community), Family, Feather, Fur, Growth, and Home. All of this making him quite popular with goodly characters that have an interest in nature, community, or both.

By comparison, Erastil’s 2nd edition domains are much simpler, being earth, family, nature, and wealth, as well as occasionally duty. Also he grants his clerics access to true strike, wall of thorns, and tree stride spells. Old Deadeye having domain over the element of earth isn’t much of a stretch, but it’s clearly there because they needed to fill him out since he’s a major god and morality-themed domains aren’t a thing in this edition.

It would be remiss to not also talk about Erastil’s deific obedience and boons. The ritual to maintain this obedience revolves around the planting of seeds that can survive in the local soil, preferably those of edible plants, though if no such soil exists, placing seeds or useful survival materials in a place where travellers may find it see them marked by Erastil’s symbol, and make use of them. The basic reward for doing so blesses the worshiper with guidance in their own efforts to survive.

Meanwhile, those that go further and take greater blessings for their obedience gain the following. Evangelists gain spells to heal and protect; the ability to summon an animal ally or a twin duplicate of their animal companion; and supernatural accuracy and lethality with a bow.

The exalted instead gain the ability to communicate with, befriend, and summon animals; summon a pair of hound archons; and summon forth a bounteous divine feast that provides greater benefits and forges greater bonds between allies.

Finally, Sentinels gain spells that enhance their archery in various ways, such as improving accuracy over long distance or enchanting them with flame; enhance their leather or hide armor and draw power from the animal that it was made from; and a rare bond to communicate with plants, gain sustenance from sunlight, and immunity to the poisons that make certain plants impossible to eat.

As far as Starfinder goes, Erastil isn’t mentioned, but I imagine that while his worship isn’t mainstream in the Pact Worlds, he still has his followers, particularly in civilizations and species that reject advance technology, or those who live on frontier worlds surviving on local materials and what little they can make themselves.

 That does it for today. There are still a few things I didn’t touch on like Erastil’s paladin code or the divine fighting style feat and how it applies to him, but I hope you enjoyed and found this breakdown interesting nevertheless.

[platoniclokiimagines]

All the Avengers a lil iffy with Loki after IW, but Loki meets Jane, and Valkyrie again and they fucking sprint to him and squish him in a hug and everyone’s confused cause... dangerous murderer Loki is getting hugged, and having his hair pulled by Bruce and just... ugh??? Fluffy stuff. Making dinner together. Group cuddles. Helping Bruce with his dumb science stuff. Ugh. Please

WC: 1417

Rating: G

TW: none

A/N: Each idea you posed made me So happy that I couldn’t just pick one to focus on so this is just a hypercut of each of these moments fleshed out a teeny tiny little bit. Also this is just a Complete AU in which the snap Did happen but afterwards was just Different mostly because I don’t want to deal with having to figure out the logistics of my own au l o l. But I hope you enjoy it~

It was shortly after the events of the Decimation that youjoined what was left of the Avengers. The team was in all but rags aftereverything that had happened, and you, left with no one else to go to with yourpowers, had sought out the Compound and pled your case, and since they’d beeneffectively cut in half in number, they’d let you stick around withoutquestion.

The first few days afterward had been the hardest. Everyonewas still in shock, and in various stages of mourning what had happened whilealso worrying about the unknowns. Tony, Strange, and Peter and the rest of theGuardians were in space, and no one had any way to contact them to see if theywere okay, so no one knew who, if any of them, were alive.

You weren’t the only one that had joined up with the group.A lot of old friends of some of the Avengers had sought them out, as well,seeking something familiar in the chaos the world had turned into. Thisincluded people like Jane Foster and Erik Selvig, and a bunch of other peopleyou’d never heard of before anything had happened. And once the refugee shipshad managed to make it to earth, Valkyrie was around, as well, doing what shecould to try to drag Thor out of his guilt-spawned depression.

Everyone was just trying.

But no one expectedthe day that Loki appeared out of thin air in the middle of the living room.

It had taken everyone a second to realize what they were looking at, when it happened. Loki didn’tquite look like the Loki they knew, or the one you had seen on the televisionall those years ago when the Chitauri had attacked New York. Loki looked sick,and weak. Their clothes were tattered, they looked like they hadn’t seen thelight of days in weeks, and they hadthe most horrible black and purple bruises around their throat.

It had taken a solid minute of staring before people startedreacting, the entire group split between looking surprised to see them andlooking ready to fight them.

“…we thought you were dead.” Steve was the first to speak,voice calm, but demeanor showing that he was ready to punch Loki, if necessary,and most of the original Avengers that were left looked the same, save forThor, who looked like he wasn’t sure if he was hallucinating.

But before anyone else could say or do anything, Loki wasall but tackled by Valkyrie, so forcefully that they gave a startled little “oof”in response.

“You’re a right idiot, you know that?” Val’s annoyedresponse was betrayed by the waver in her voice, and the way she practicallyclung to Loki.

No sooner did she let go of them enough to give them spaceto breathe than did Loki become engulfed in another hug, this time from, of allthe people you expected would want to hug Loki, Jane Foster.

“You’re still a jerk for whatever happened on Svartalfheim,but I’m glad to see you back.”

Loki managed a weak, raspy little huff of a laugh. “Iseverything everyone says going to be preceded by something mean, then?”

“Well, I’m justhappy to see you,” Bruce stated as he approached Loki, and rather than offer ahug, he just smiled, and awkwardly tugged Loki’s hair in a gesture you couldonly assume was meant to be affectionate. “You look like you’ve seen betterdays. And could use a nice bath.”

Loki laughed again, a little more genuinely, though stillstrained. “…and a doctor, if you wouldn’t mind?”

“Well, I’m not that kind of doctor, but I’ll see what I cando.”

Bruce stepped back a bit, then, and nodded, but in the nextsecond, Loki had been lifted from the ground in what looked like an absolutelyspine-crushing hug from Thor, who was somehow both laughing and sobbinguncontrollably.

He didn’t say anything, but really, he didn’t need to, andeveryone just watched in silence, with varying levels of confusion at thesudden and strange turn of events.

“…several of the people in thisroom have some explaining to do right about now,” Nat finally declared, and forthe first time, in a long time, everyone in the room laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~

It took several months for Loki to make the closest to afull recovery that they could. While everything physically had been healed,mentally Loki was still extremely troubled, and their vocal chords had sufferedpretty extensive damage from being crushed by Thanos, resulting in a change oftheir voice that really only went noticed by those that had been closest tothem.

But every day, they were healing.

You and Loki had become fast friends. You had always feltlike an outsider with the rest of the team, and it was obvious Loki felt thesame, and the two of you had found solace in your shared distance from thegroup, and the two of you did almost everything together that you could manage.

This included, much to the eternal excitement of the rest ofthe team, cooking together.

You’d helped Loki learn to cook as a way to cope morehealthily with some of their self-deprecating thoughts and tendencies, hopingthat, with having something to do for others, it might help Loki feel betterabout themself sometimes, and it had really worked a treat. Loki just had a wayin the kitchen that even you couldn’t match, despite teaching them everythingyou knew, and the two of you working together was just a different kind of magic.

Everyone always lovedwhen it was your turn to make dinner for the group, as the two of you were, asdeclared by the rest of the team, simply the best cooks out of the entirety ofthem all, and thus that meant dinner would always be better.

And you had to admit, it felt good to be gassed up all nightwhile you were both in the kitchen, and everyone else was excitedly setting thetable and pouring drinks and getting ready to eat.

And you knew that Loki, though they never showed it,secretly enjoyed the positive attention, as well.

It was just niceto be appreciated and wanted around, something you knew Loki had neverexperienced much of.

You hoped it would last for along time.

~~~~~~~~~~

One afternoon, when you and Loki had intended to spend sometime in the training room to work on freshening up the both of your trainingskills, you’d realized you had no idea where Loki was at all.

After checking all of Loki’s normal hiding places, youfinally checked Thor’s room, only to find quite the sight.

While you’d expected, at the very least, Thor and maybe Loki, if you were lucky, you foundnot only them, but Val and Bruce as well, all four of them absolutely cuddledup together on the floor, and all four of them fast asleep.

You didn’t have the heart towake them up, and a nap didn’t sound so bad to yourself, either, so rather thantry to wake Loki and wrestle the group apart, you just settled yourselfcomfortably in the middle of the cuddle puddle, and let the warmth of thedogpile lull you to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

Another time, you went looking for Loki and were completely surprisedto find them sitting in Bruce’s lab, writing down notes as the two of themworked on an equation that Bruce had written on a whiteboard.

“So, if we look at it from this perspective… Take thatnumber instead of that one, and see where that gets us with the isotopecompound.” Bruce hadn’t even noticed you as he was talking, too busy watchingLoki scribble something down.

“The effectivity rate nearly doubles entirely-”

“Giving us exactly the reaction that we want!”

You had absolutely no idea what on earth they were talking about, but you didn’t have the heart tointerrupt them, so you just stood in the doorway and watched them geek out overwhatever it was that had them so excited, taking the moment to be grateful forhow long Loki had come in the short time since they had arrived at theCompound.

They had been through so much, and had suffered even more,but here they were, making friends and having fun, and being appreciated by theothers.

You couldn’t have been more proud.

[itsclydebitches]

I have to wonder how season 2 Crosshair is gonna start with anything other than him escaping execution. Dude murdered his whole squad with one known survivor who reports it to the General, who then says 'We were gonna kill him anyway, so just let him die here'. It's not like Crosshair has any sort of bargaining chip to justify the Empire not abandoning or executing him.

It may end up being important that (I think) the surviving squad member doesn't know that Crosshair killed his team, only that they're dead. She was off looking for Omega, came back, saw her dead teammates and the clones fighting droids, and (smartly lol) got the hell out of Dodge. I think her exact words were that Crosshair "lost control of the situation," which tells the Admiral that Crosshair failed, but not that he failed because of his own betrayal. Granted, I think she's also the one who approaches the Admiral earlier, saying she doesn't trust Crosshair's motivations when it comes to his former team, so there's already a precedent set that Crosshair's loyalty may be less than perfect. Still, the actual explanation of what went down doesn't reveal that Crosshair killed his teammates and outright betrayed the Empire, just that he failed to complete the mission.

So based on what stories have done in the past, I can picture a couple of different ways for him to return:

 Using the above, Crosshair straight up hides his shaky loyalties and frames the failure as just that: a garden variety failure. Perhaps he implies, though does not outright state, that his team's death came at the hands of TBB. A "Let the Admiral think what he wants" situation that benefits him.

The above + Crosshair emphasizing that TBB escaped. You know what kind of threat they are, Admiral, and though I failed before, I'm still your best chance at capturing/killing them. You need me. Crosshair believes firmly in his own usefulness — that ego — and he's not above working hard to convince others of that.

 Between now and the time of his return, the Admiral has, for whatever reason, reconsidered the benefit of having at least a few clones in his army and is thus pleased that Crosshair survived, no matter the iffy circumstances of that. Personally, my mind keeps focusing on the weird motivations here. Namely, this push to have a conscripted army when, as far as TBB shows, that's a bad option compared to what they've already got. We as the audience know that the Empire needs to reach the point where they've got stormtroopers with terrible aim (that's the OG Star Wars), but right now, outside of that meta context, the Admiral's choices come across as rather stupid to me. Gregor and TBB point out, "These are our replacements?" highlighting that conscripted soldiers just don't have the skill of clones who were bred for war. I can only assume that the Empire was spying on Crosshair's team the same way they did TBB when they were sent to execute the "insurgents," which means they would have seen that the clone, Crosshair, was the only one originally willing to follow their order of killing civilians. Crosshair had to kill the other guy/talk the rest of the team into following that command. And of course, that's largely due to the chip, circling right back to why the Empire would have removed his when it gives them perfect control over Crosshair, especially after bothering to enhance it in the first place. So say nothing of Crosshair's crazy skills, making him one of, if not the best, shooter in the galaxy. I feel like if they want the Admiral to come across as less foolish, all these points should resurface at some point like, "Yes, having an ally specifically bred for war, with a genetically superior makeup to enhance his ability, who can be put under literal mind control and who while in that state has already proven that he'll follow our commands when conscripted soldiers won't... that's actually a good thing for us evil people to have!"

The Admiral has totally written Crosshair off. Doesn't need him. Doesn't want him. But a new character is introduced who is interested and who, crucially, outranks him. So Crosshair is let back in as someone else's evil pet, setting up conflict within the Empire.

The above, but specifically through the lens of clones now being a rare and useful commodity. We know they grabbed Nala Se, so either she (if she regains some power) or her new scientist boss could insist that they keep Crosshair around as a genetic source/experiment/whatever. Especially since they don't have Omega yet. Could even be that Crosshair becomes a prisoner again, returning to fight for the Empire, but becoming their lab rat instead.

Crosshair deliberately does something to get back into their good graces. Something, something, saving the Admiral from a legit threat, or one of Crosshair's own making. A way to show off how useful he is.

 OR we do get a near execution that results in the same basic thing: Crosshair escapes, shows off his skill, all his would-be executioners are dead, he's the last one standing, and the Admiral is like, "Well then. Welcome back." You know when Rex is on the cruiser and goes "This will do nicely," Tech points out that it's not sterile, Rex pushes back that they can go to Kamino instead, and within a second Tech is going, "This will do nicely!" too? Same idea. It's easy to accept Crosshair as the best/only option if he does something to make himself that option.

Ultimately, I think how this goes down will depend largely on whether they want Crosshair back in the Empire's clutches or not. He's told TBB he intends to stick with the big power, but that doesn't necessarily mean the plot will allow for that. If the story wants Crosshair to continue being a willing Imperial for a time, prior to his assumed redemption, then yeah, I think it would be relatively easy to get him back in the Empire's good graces. It wouldn't necessary be the smoothest transition of all time, but as we've already seen in Season One — I don't totally follow why conscripted soldiers are supposedly better than clones, don't follow why TBB isn't trying to rescue Crosshair, don't understand yet why Crosshair won't clarify things about his chip, etc. — motivations in Star Wars can be... messy at the best of times. So if they just went, "And the Empire let Crosshair come back for ___ reason, don't think about that reason too hard" I'd be fine with that. But, if they want Crosshair to start his redemption now, one of the easiest ways to do that would be to stick him with a third party. Someone else finds him on the planet, perhaps someone neutral-ish like another bounty hunter, and Crosshair is given the chance to technically be opposed to his brothers because that's where they left things, but not actively working with the organization hunting him down. Plot-wise it would be relatively simple to put him in situations where he wants to return to the Empire, but can't just now, for whatever reason — they need to travel there, he hasn't thought up a means of getting back in their good graces yet, he gets caught up in another problem he needs to solve first, starts hunting TBB himself to return with that incentive, etc. — and that time allows him to start reconsidering whether he actually wants to go back, now that he's been forced to survive without them. An in-between space that will allow him to work towards the Light side again... even if I'd personally prefer for that to come about through his brothers fighting for him.

[heyitsyn]

,,,,OK Kurat

Soulmate!Bokuto

a/n: when bokuto refuses to fix his roots and let the gray dye grow out and it slightly irritates you

colorblind soulmate where you lose your colors and only gain them back when your other half starts to have feelings for you

requests are open!!

so, leggo?

ever since you turned 16, you’ve literally gone colorblind

like you were perfectly happy seeing the colors of the world

from daichi’s red sweater

to hinata’s orange hair

you were ROBBED of the colors of the world

when you woke up that morning, you knew you would get your soulmate sign soon and you were sure it would happen while you were in class as it would start the exact time you were born 16 years ago

so there you were, happily eating with nishi and tanaka at the roof

‘hey, y/n-chan, look at this manga i found!’

you look up at noya and you almost choked on your rice ball when you couldn’t see his blonde streak anymore

it was like the moment you blinked, it was gone

he must’ve noticed your surprised look because noya touched the front floof since you were staring right at it

tanaka had his mouth opened and patted your back when you coughed

‘ah, it happened now?’

then you just start bawling

‘i cANt sEE yOuR hAiR anYmoRE!! aNd hiNATa’s hAiR! aND tHE oRANgE uniFOrMS!’

they understand it was a touchy subject for you since you were expecting something cute like noya’s thought sharing sign or tanaka’s taste sharing sign

but NO!!!

‘it’s okay y/n-chan. you’ll meet them soon and you’ll get your colors back’

from then on, all you’ve done is research all you can about soulmate signs and how they worked

yours happens to be a rarer one and you groaned bc of course it would happen to YOU

it states that usually, the moment you lock eyes with your soulmate, you’d get your lost sense back

but you wouldnt know when it would exactly happen and be like your uncle who is nearly 40 and still cant smell anything

whats worse, there were even cases where you wouldnt get them back in one sight but gain them when they start to have romantic feelings for you

you really do hope you’d get the easier 

being a part-time manager, you often helped the vbc if you were free from your other clubs so you sometimes help kiyoko with the kids

entering the gym, you frowned when you saw hinata and the gray tone of his hair

everything was gray but colors that are light like yellow or bright orange, were lighter gray while darker ones were dark gray or black

seems like tanaka and noya told the team what happened because daichi went up to you and ruffled your hair before saying it’ll be okay

‘give it time! you will find them!’

yacchi, a manager-in-training, enthusiastically told you about her ideas for the poster and gave you her rough draft, explaining the little details

but you were out of it as you just roamed your eyes over the gray-colored paper

thus causing her to freak out

‘OH MY GOD! I”M SO SORRY Y/N-SAN! I FORGOT ABOUT IT!! I’M SO SORRY!’

(yacchi is just a little precious bun, please protec her :’))

but you ruffled her hair and put on a smile

‘don’t sweat it, yacchi’

after that whole thing about announcement of the tokyo training camp and the hinata/kageyama idiot squad

you guys were in the bus, getting ready for Tokyo

it’s also been weeks since you lost it so you were still new but you were starting to get used to it

ofc you still had mistakes like their different colored practice jerseys and who was in what team or wearing different colored socks

but you were slowly adapting

it was a few hours of a drive so everyone was static to get out of the cramp bus and use the bathroom and stretch their legs

you took your time and put the others trash into a plastic bag bc youre just a great manager like that

getting out of the bus, you heard a horrendous and terrifying laugh and saw the nekoma captain hunching over in laughter

‘my god. at least his face makes up for it’

you got a text from hinata and kageyama saying that they were going to take their exams now and you sent them a little encouraging blurb

the guy from nekoma with the mohawk gawked at the 3 managers and you remembered him having that blonde hair dye

when you and the rest entered their gym, all you saw were balls flying everywhere and lots of people

your eyes scanned for at least someone to make eye contact with you because this gym has a lot of people in it and there could be a possibility they were in here

like 0.000003% probably but still a chance

from the managers to the players, not one reactivated the colors

‘hm,,, i think my soulmate is in here’

noya’s little comment made you glare at him in envy and he grinned with a peace sign

you noticed that boy kenma with his haircut and there was someone sitting near him that made you turn to the others

‘okay, either i just have terrible memory but is that a new guy?’

suga wondered the same thing and you flinched at the kid’s harsh stare at you all

there was a light gray tone to his hair and eyes so you were curious what color they were

‘his legs look a little long. i think he’s taller than most of these guys’

asahi said which made you give him a look

‘listen, as long as we got tsukki-kun, we’re okay’

the first match was against some powerhouse called fukurodani and they had a few interesting players

by interesting, you meant looks wise

that one guy looked freaking pretty with his sharp eyes while the other guy, who you assumed to be the captain, had round eyes and spiked hair

you were pretty sure that he had different colored hair due to the mix of black and light tones

AND THE WAY IT WAS STYLED THO

its like he got electrocuted and his hair just stayed the same

you were too busy looking at the 2 teams that you completely missed karasuno’s defeat and just saw them doing flying receives

the others gathered to the side and the next game was against fukurodani and nekoma

from hearing the names being said, that pretty guy was akashi or aggghasshi and the owl looking dude was bokuto-san or bokutosang or something bokuto bc youre not exactly sure

and then he be flying

‘he REALLY flying!’ 

you exclaim and tbh what can you expect from being one of the top 5 aces in the country

then the ball straight flew towards your own player and you and yamagucci screamed for his name

everyone flinched when the ball hit his hand and you ran over to check

‘ouch’

you hear that loud voice of his on top of kei’s hiss and you growled

‘HEY HEY HEY’

he didnt even apologize and if it wasnt for tanaka and daichi holding you back, you were about to scream into the guys ear for damaging your player’s hand since he needed it to block properly

‘LET ME GO! WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS INJUR-’

suga smiled and raised a hand apologetically your shouts caught the attention of others

the more games karasuno played, the more they lost

you went to fill up their water bottles and was mumbling to yourself, blaming that freak haired guy for tsukki’s pained blocks

‘didnt even apologize. how dare he hurt my boy’

bokuto was going for a drink when he heard your mumbles by the water fountain

he noticed you as the karasuno manager and poked you in the shoulder

‘ah! youre the manager!’

cue you looking to glare at him since you could recognize that voice anywhere

‘and you are?’

taken aback with your tone, he grinned

‘bokuto. bokuto koutarou’

‘ah’

then you went back to filling up the bottles

he fiddled with his towel before poking you again

‘um,,, i want to apologize for earlier. sorry about that spike’

you stopped and you nodded

‘i appreciate the apology, bokuto-san. but you should say it to him’

bo guessed that you were kinda their mother hen and you looked after the players of your team

‘are you,,, a third year?’

closing the lid of the last bottle, you placed it on the basket

‘second’

his eyes widened before shouting

‘im your senpai!’

you jumped at the sudden volume of his voice and awkwardly smiled

‘ah. okay, bokuto-san’

his eyes widened before patting your shoulder gently

‘drop the -san! i prefer being called senpai!’

does this guy have a senpai kink or something

but there was probably nothing wrong with calling him senpai right?

‘okay, bokuto-senpai’

you were lowkey kinda iffy since you dont really call anyone senpai, everyone was -san to you

bo laughed loudly and ruffled your hair

‘WAH!!!!!! MY LITTLE KOUHAI!!!’

‘bokuto-san!’

your head looked up and you saw the pretty guy walking towards you

he bowed in front of you in both greeting and apology

‘sorry about him. he gets a little excited sometimes. im akaashi keiji by the way’

you waved it off and smiled gently

‘nice to meet you, akaashi-san. and dont worry, i have two people like him in my team’

hinata and noya

‘come on. the next game is about to start’

he tugged bokuto’s arm and bo waved at you before walking away

‘see ya!’

but stopped

‘ah! i didnt get your name!’

‘y/n. l/n y/n’

‘see ya later y/n!’

when you came back, the boys were still doing flying and you glanced at your watch, knowing that your boys should be coming soon

you and yacchi were visibly listening to the other players talking about your team and kiyoko gave you both a look to settle down

‘hold it in, girls’

the sea of different tones of gray were currently making you dizzy with so many things happening at ones and you completely missed the door opening, revealing tanaka’s sister

noya’s excited shout made you turn and you waved excitedly

you’ve met her once when you went over to help tutor her poor brother and noya who practically lives at their house

everyone stopped what they were doing and saw the two boys huffing by the door

you heard kuroo’s comment but you were too excited to see them come back in one piece

‘ah, so those are the legendary first years’

hm, if only you knew why they were late

bo saw you with wide eyes and excitedly bouncing at the sidelines as karasuno started to play

‘what are you looking at bokuto-san?’

akaashi asked

bo thought you were interesting the moment he heard you angrily mumble about him and he thought your pouting face was cute

‘i wonder what her soulmate mark is’

akaashi knew about his soulmate sign since he received a very frantic phone call that sunday afternoon of bokuto not being able to see the color of his apple anymore

‘she probably doesnt have it yet’

akaashi’s answer made his brows furrow

‘she’s a second year so shes probably 16 already’

‘why would it matter to you anyways?’

yea, why did it matter?

‘just general curiosity. shes quite fiesty. i like her. i want to be friends’

akaashi sighs and pats his back

‘i support you, bokuto-san’

shoot this might as well be a bokuaka

he saw you run to the two first years and took their bags for them, ruffling their hair each

even though you’re only like a some months older than hinata, you still treat him like a babie

‘coach left some buns from earlier so you can eat that before you play. oh! i also got you your milk, kags!’

bo literally could feel your happiness radiating and he saw your eyes

too bad he couldn’t see the color of them

although the boys team was finally complete, they still lost quite a lot of sets

and they were trying so hard and you were just cheering on the sidelines w yacchi and kiyoko

you kept running back and forth from the drinking fountain since the boys kept drinking so much water

and bo just finds you there again

for the second time today

:0

‘oh? back again, y/n-chan?’

you could recognized that gruffy voice anywhere

you turned and gave him a tight smile

‘ah. hello bokuto-san’

he pouted and nudged you with a finger to your shoulder

‘senpai! call me senpai!’

you were pretty sure he was 18 yet he still threw a tantrum

what kinda-

‘okay okay. sorry, bokuto-senpai’

then like a switch his pouts became grins and you got dizzy with the sudden mood switch

‘youre such a diligent manager, y/n-chan. you should transfer to our school and be one of ours instead!’

then you remember meeting the 2 managers they had

‘ah, you already have 2 so i think you’re covered’

bo whined at that

‘but karasuno also has 2 without you!’

tbh you shouldve been uncomfortable in this situation bc here you have a grown man whining

but you found his pout endearing and his eyes were loony-looking

‘not to hurt your feelings, bokuto-senpai, but we just met and i don’t know you all that well’

‘then you know the solution to that, don’t you?’

you just stared at him

‘lets get to know each other! lets be friends! lets be close!’

you couldnt say anything else since you were kinda in a pickle here so you just nodded

‘um, okay’

‘bokuto-san!’

that voice made you perk up and you raised a hand

‘akaashi-san!’

bo saw your smile and he pouted, jealous that you didnt give that smile when you saw him

‘ah, l/n-san.’

you looked at bo and his eyes grew even bigger and you resisted the urge to pinch his cheeks with how they puffed out with his pout

woah wait huh

why did you just think of that

akaashi had to bring back bo to the gym for their match but bo refused to walk

‘no! not until y/n-chan wants to be my friend!’

what are you

5?

but you nodded, placing a hand around his bicep

you froze, trying to contain the shock of how S T R O N G they felt

ohmygad

‘l-lets get to know each other later, bokuto-sa-senpai’

you hurriedly corrected yourself and breathed a sigh of relief when he didnt notice

a big smile got to his face and he pointed at you

‘ill win this for you y/n-chan!’

you sweatdropped bc wow this manz is winning a game for you

no-for your friendship

he excitedly ran back down the hallway and disappeared with a faint ‘hey hey hey!’

you and akaashi shared a look and he apologized

‘im sorry if he made you uncomfortable’

‘nah nah, its okay’

‘and thanks for uplifting him. he was in a mood when he left bc we lost a set but now he’s energized thanks to you’

a,,, mood?

‘is he,,, i dont know,,,, bipolar?’

akaashi stood for a second before shrugging

‘i guess you could say that. the team tries to uplift him bc if hes in a mood he messes up’

a sound of recognition left your lips before you nodded

‘ah okay’

‘well, i guess im seeing you later then, l/n-san?’

‘oh, please. call me y/n. we’re the same age!’

but he gave you a mysterious smile

‘i dont think bokuto-san would like that’

so the remaining of the time there, bo was practically stuck to you as he followed you everywhere

babie calls it ‘friendship bonding’

when yall were leaving, he was pouting so hard and you gave in to your urges

;)

you pinched his cheeks

‘until next time, bo-senpai’

blew a fuse right then and there

bO-sENPai

yall remained in contact and you even went up to visit him and just hang out

you were lowkey catching feelings

like when he sent you that mirror picture of him and kuroo being sassy in a department store and your heart started beating really really fast

then your palms started sweating as you remembered the feeling of his warm hands on yours when he led you through the busy sidewalk of tokyo

‘siri, am i having a stroke?’

but you were like ‘nuh-uh, must remain pure for my soulmate’

however

if you have those feelings already and it’s towards your soulmate, that gave bo his sight of colors

just sitting there w his team eating yakisoba bun then he looked at akaashi and saw his friend’s blue eyes again

can you tell im a bokuaka simp

in another life flashbacks

n e ways

he was so happy and ecstatic and was about to call you but akaashi was like, ‘wait, i think she might be your soulmate’

the entire team was just like, ‘what’

and bo just sitting there, ‘omg what if’

akaashi, 

grandmaster plan creator

tells bokuto to hold off from telling you until the next time yall see each other which is in the training camp

for story’s sake, training camp finally rolls around

you cannot stop squirming in your seat bc ya finally get to see bo again after so long

kuroo greets yall at the front and hes familiar w you since you hung out w the tokyo squad

‘you have a surprise little chibi’

you were just like, ‘,,,,ok kurat’

meanwhi;e,,

bo was so antsy and he was just like, ‘yey! i get to see her again!’

ngl, bo thought you were really pretty and cute and he thinks he has a crush on you but not like head-over-heels like you were

literally cannot stand still and the team was tired of having to keep him from running so akaashi just let him go

‘but dont run her over, bokuto-san’

he sonic bolts over

nYOOM

he finally sees that tangerine hinata and was searching for your hair color and when he sees you laughing at kuroo’s face, his eyes widened

his heart beat started beating really really fast and everything in his brain and all the words he wanted to say died down

he never really saw your face with colors but he just stares in awe at your beautiful skin color, breathtaking eyes, silky hair, and those plump lips

sweat started to gather at his palms and his feet started moving on its own until he just scoops you in his arms, lifting you off the ground in the process

w you, there was a silence

‘your eyes,,,,, theyre beautiful’

bo just grins at the crack of your voice and tears just wells up in your eyes w a smile

‘bo!’ 

you shouted and you wrapped your legs around his waist while he burrows his head in your neck

‘you’re so beautiful. oh my god, you’re so beautiful’

omg what i would do for bo to say that to me

obvs, the others knew what was happening

dai and suga were already planning on the talk

kuroo just recording the whole thing

‘im falling in love with you. i want to fall in love with you over and over again until i die. i want to feel like this forever. can i?’

just forgets about everyone and being in your own bubble and your own world as bokuto just professes his love for you

‘stupid question, koutaro!’

you giggled and he finally allowed you to stand on your own two feet

‘let me love you for eternity’

cue waterworks from noya and tanaka and konoha

‘but baby, we need to touch up your roots, though.’

‘we got forever, soulmate’

sorry if this was trash