#I'll properly get to arc 2 eventually

[feenixmork]

[the-sinful-voice-witch]

Crimes against Stephanie Brown:

Getting only 24 issues of her run as Batgirl. I wish she had more, after all isn't Cass getting now a new run as Batgirl again?

Not appearing at the boy wonder comic when it was specifically Robins related and instead they put Barbara as Batgirl (like if you wanted a Batgirl use the fucking Batgirl who used to be a Robin).

Not being included at birds of prey with Cass and Babs.

Getting 2 heroes team projects with her included rejected. (In one she was with Supergirl and Damian, denying us that is a hate crime)

Not appearing in Damian's drawing of people who loves him when she is canonically the first big sister figure he had and she helped him be a kid and have fun.

Getting her character denigrated by Tim's bisexual actions like: dumping her without giving her a reason or having a proper talk, ghosting her for months, only talk to her after their friends force him to do it and then without warning or asking her introducing his new boyfriend to her and make her react like a fujoshi 13 years old wattpad writter saying that "the best day ever" Is meeting her ex' new boyfriend in the most cringe way ever.

The time they tried to erase her time as Robin and Batgirl in the new 52 reboot

Only let her be Robin for 2 months and was fired for doing something every Robin has done more than once.

Dying so fast in DCeased when she became Damian's Robin and never coming back even after Taliah said she would use the Lazarus pit on her.

Not having a visual reaction of Selina, Cassandra, Dick and Babs to her being alive.

Jason not mentioning her to rub it on Batman's face when he came back to life for revenge or mentioning her to black mask, what a wasted opportunity!

Never had the realistic representation of the trauma she should have after being tortured by black mask.

Never hanging out properly again with huntress (well I think they were seen together again once but not enough), Supergirl, Black Canary or Green Arrow junior after the reboot.

The fact that in my opinion she never got a proper apology from all the people that wronged her and treated her badly, like a lesser fighter, like she was a bother, like she wasn't made for vigilante life, I think I saw Tim apologizing to her but it felt shallow.

Not showing us Tim visually crying for her death.

Completely ignore how was her very first interaction with Catwoman, in which Selina was extremely kind and sweet with her only to screw it in the second meeting in her run as Batgirl and later in the new 52 reboot making Selina be a jerk to her.

Making Alfred be cold and dry to her in their first interaction, yes he later cries on her death and then he is very happy when she comes back and later he stands up to her against Batman's stupid tests but it doesn't erase the fact that he was mean to her when he met her and I think that was out of character with Alfred.

Her teen pregnancy arc, some people might think this was a way to make her character more tragic and deep but that pregnancy arc didn't bring anything good to her character because it was all about Tim not her and it makes my blood boil. This arc was just a cheap "easy" Way to make Tim and Steph become closer in their relationship by making Tim be there for her and taking care of her even though he wasn't the father and help her and that and I suppose it was also to make more dramatic her death telling Batman that she had a daughter and Batman be all like: "I'll make sure the baby never has to ask for anything" And then Steph dies... Seriously this is the one thing I wish they could erase from canon FOREVER, making Steph go through that just to make her deepen her relationship with Tim only for getting killed off and eventually dumped with everything she already had on her plate was CRIMINAL

Jason not meeting her properly before the stupid new 52 reboot and still not having the trauma and dead Robin talk with her.

[dynamic-k]

I don't actually know why I'm doing this, but oh well.

This is for Super Sticks. I love your fan fiction by the way, ITS AWESOME!!! :D

This idea kind of came to me in the middle of the night, and I'm not sure why but like:

Vic is an alchemy genius right? And he made something that could help with Hazard's gene problem thingy.

Agent Smith had a leg problem. Despite not having powers, he had proven himself to be an invaluable stick in his time at rocket.

I was thinking, it would be really interesting to see the mercenaries (although not really in super sticks) together. Like, how would they interact with each other? How would they function as a team?

I'm getting off topic xd

Ballista is currently a hero, so it would make sense for the team to be on the hero side, right? I think Primal and Hazard could do it, but Agent can't, due to his left leg being uhh... yeah.

I know it said in Arc 2, that Agent would still have a bad leg: 'Agent being a total badass even with one bad leg', but what if Vic made something to help Agent??? Maybe with Blue as well, if it was another potion...

Having the team helping with hero-ing might help Chosen, Dark, and Second, with all the new villains and such.

idk. i kind of made like an entire au of super sticks, where one small positive thing lead to a whole villain arc XD. The stuff above is just something that happened to pop up in my brain when i was supposed to do homework-

Yeah, I'm just going to stop now.

-R

[*muffled happy crying into pillow noises*]

AHHWBQJAHKRQAV THANK YOU!!

Vic is indeed an alchemy genius, and he did make immunity supplements. Hazard's usage of his powers always hurt him because his S.P.I. (self-power-immunity) cells were mutated and didn't work properly, so the S.P.I supplements that Vic designed for Hazard were to replace the failing cells. Multiple supplements will have to be taken to keep up the stockpile of good cells.

I have been meaning to include some mercenaries' bonding moments somewhere in Arc Two, or perhaps as a Bonus Feature! I just... Haven't yet figured out where in the timeline I want stuff to be placed yet-

It's so cool you've come up with your own little spinoff AU! I am very intrigued, hehehe

:D Agent is a hero at heart, bad leg neverminded. And I do have a very specific badass Agent scene broiling around in my brain since before Arc One was even completed- XD

In all technicality, Agent's leg is full healed... Except uhh

See, there's nerve damage. Agent's leg was rotated around completely backward and while the emergency surgery corrected it quickly afterward, there's a lasting numbness and mild pain flareups to be suffered from there on out. It may eventually go away after several years, but for now, it stays.

Plot wise, I never planned for Vic to miraculously come up with some solution or fix-it for Agent's leg, even though he is very smart in problem curing areas and alchemy. (This may change, I dunno. My brain is a little bouncy on unfirmed ideas-)

Vic straight-up invented those supplements, came up with a whole serum that mimicked those cell properties, to stand in as a viable substitute. And it took him a very long time to perfect it. It would probably take an equally long time, or even longer, if Vic were to attempt making something for Agent. And uhhh, he can't exactly experiment hands-on in the comfy confines of his current jail cell, can he-

Ballista and Hazard have already canonically been doing hero work in Arc Two's time, and our three Ladybug hollowheads are aware of it, though they haven't yet met Hazard in person. Agent reopened the Rocket Hero program that Vic had abandoned in Arc One, so yeah.

Primal will eventually hop onto the program, I'll say that much, but for nowwww.... The situation is complicated. And I have some plans to help complete her redemption arc. Arc One left things a little ambiguous and incomplete on purpose, hehe

"idk. i kind of made like an entire au of super sticks, where one small positive thing lead to a whole villain arc XD." Color me intrigued! :D I love spinoff AUs~

No wait- Don't stop- I was enjoying the ramble- /silly

[kiwikarpart]

TPOT 14 Mini Review

So this episode was...fine. The best parts are on par with TPOT 13, but most of it reminded me of TPOT 12, the worst parts of TPOT 12.

Best part of the episode, the elimination scenes. Using the failed debuters for this part was great for a reason I'll get into later, but the emotional parts are what really made it shine. Pin getting emotional over Gaty's elimination, making you think that's the worst it could get, only for Two to show up and have a reaction that hits even harder, Pen getting emotional about his last friend in the game, while Eraser takes it in stride even though he was upset, it was all so good! (not the scene with Eraser and Bottle though. That dynamic was boring and didn't go anywhere)

Another thing I liked was how many characters they ultilized. Like the focus is still on the TPOT constestants, as it should be. But they also gave small moments to characters outside the game. Failed debuters with the elimination, the scene with some of the eliminated TPOT characters(shoutout to Foldy for finally getting some lines after being irrelevant for like two years!), and the scene with Match seeing Ruby and Bubble again was such a nice way to end the episode. No jokes, no words even, they just let the scene speak for itself. Also shoutout to Firey Jr. for taking residence in the most flammable house ever and NOT burning it down, only for the contestants to show up and ruin it anyway. Definitely the funniest part of this episode.

I haven't said this before, but I think the reason some people get really heated when their favorite character gets out is because after they leave, it's like they don't exist. That probably bothers them more than their fav not winning, because it means they'll be irrelevant for a long time. But between this and what BFDIA's been doing with the hosts, it seems like the writers are finding ways to give characters outside the game moments to shine. Which I really like because it allieviates the sting that comes from their elimination.

As for the worst part...it's the pacing. Not just with the challenge, but also with the arcs. TPOT 13 did a good job of setting up some character arcs/conflicts. We saw Pencil try and fail to reconnect with Book and Ice Cube, Golf Ball and Donut argue about what's best for their team, and Liy try to form a friendship with Pen. Now, I didn't expect all of these arcs to conclude in one episode, they need to take some time to feel genuine. But in TPOT 14, it felt like they didn't progress at ALL. Pencil just doubled down on her approach with Book and Icy, which obviously didn't work, while Book and Icy didn't have any strong scenes together. Golf Ball's dynamic with the rest of Cloudyay barely changed. They immediately dismiss her plan and she works on it by herself anyway. There's a bit of progression here because they eventually work with her, but then her and Donut argue and the plan fails and the dynamics reset and it's like they never worked together in the first place. And Liy's desire to be friends with Pen is shown once before never being relevant for the rest of the episode. The scene itself is great, but until they follow it up with something it doesn't do much for that relationship. The most "development" it gets here is Pen calling her his teammate in a throwaway line. It's good that these arcs weren't forgotten, but they shouldn't be paced THIS slowly.

Some smaller problems before I go: why was Cloudyay so stupid? TPOT 13 proved that they could work together efficiently while contributing in different ways...but in this episode they make a ton of avoidable mistakes while, at times, acting like the same character. I get that they wanted the other teams to have a chance at winning after Team 2 gets the Ice flag, but did they need to do it like this? If the writers weren't going to use that time to properly develop the team, they should've had a second team go after the Volcano flag at the start.

This episode wasn't that funny to me. Most of the newer episodes aren't, their style of humor is just too loud for my taste.

And finally, the action. I am no expert on what makes a good action scene, but the ones in this episode felt kinda slow and floaty? It's hard to explain but good action usually has some weight to it. It can be fast and snappy or slow and heavy, but what really makes it work is the impact each hit has. In TPOT 14 though, most of the hits in each fight felt so meaningless. I don't know if it's because everyone got recovered so quickly or something else, but the action here was just mid. Which wouldn't be a problem if there wasn't much of it, but that wasn't the case. I'll give them points for being creative with some of the objects though, that was nice.

In conclusion, this episode was...fine. I want to say it's good because of its best parts, but the content surrounding it is too lackluster for that rating. So I'll give it aaaaaah 6.5/10 no, a 6.8/10 because I'm very clever and funny.

[canarymemories]

hi finally compiling the thread i made the other day on twt abt the first chapter of recital so. welcome to me having far too much to say about my big bang fic skgh

chapter titling is similar to symphony (leo day fic) but instead of music terms, it's ballet terms. i'm nowhere near as used to ballet terms as i am w music terms so they won't have a deeper meaning (at least not on purpose lmao) like some of the symphony chapter titles do, but that's part of why there's nine chapters

a small aside: there is a specific structure i have in mind for the fic. there will be three arcs (if u want to call them that), the first three chapters is the first arc and then there will be an intermission chapter (up to this point is as far as i've confidently planned out so past this point, i can't guarantee anything but. nine chapters is the goal adkgsh). so then chapter 4 and 5 are arc two followed up by another intermission, then the final arc will be chapters 8 and 9. the plan is to stay mostly canon compliant until i don't agree w akira (or kinosei aslkhg), so i'll pretty much be sticking to the canon timeline

please listen to the playlist akdhg most of the songs do correspond to specific things/chapters so it's tied to the story itself plus i've listened to it too many times so. please tell me i'm so right about it 😔 the song i used in the summary of the first chapter is more of a chapter 2 song but i felt like it fit for the first chapter so adkgh (i have. So Many songs for checkmate so. can't wait for that one lmao) (chapter 1 songs are the first four in the playlist, the 5th one could go either way between ch 1 and 2) once more is posted, then i might actually sit here and go on abt why each of these songs is specifically here

writing choices 🎉 the one i want to talk about so so so so bad is the using nicknames in the narration bc if you've read literally anything else i've posted, you'd see that i don't do that, but bc recital is so close to izumi as the narrator, and this chapter is focused on his childhood, i thought it was fitting. there are a few instances of this changing throughout the chapter, such as makoto going from yuukun to makoto in the one flashback section and then staying as makoto when izumi is older, naru eventually changes to arashi.

and the one i really want to bring up,,, izumi's parents are always referred to as mama and papa but there is one singular instance where that's changed and that's during the argument at the end of the chapter.

and then she's referred to as mama again a few paragraphs later and this just goes into the point that i think izumi has a very complicated relationship with his parents. on one hand, they don't support him as an idol and have quite literally told him to his face that he's not successful enough to make it on his own as a model (next door), have treated him more like a doll than their child and they couldn't be bothered to actually ask him what he was interested in, but he still cares about them. he gets offended on their behalf more than once (in ! era at least), but it's just,, complicated. i feel like i can't really properly explain my thoughts here but i have Thoughts. but this is where the vaguely toxic parenting warning comes in from this chapter because the thing is, i don't think his parents were planning for him to feel the way he does about their parenting, they do love him and they do want to have him succeed just. maybe not for the right reasons, yk? ofc that doesn't justify their treatment of him or anything like that, there's just more to it than outright toxic parenting hence why it's subtle here.

what's a little less subtle is izumi's mom living vicariously through him, it's a bit more obvious with the modeling bit than the dance classes but idk it makes sense to me for her to have done them as a child too

baby modelgumi,,, they get their own point here bc i think those might've been my favorite bits to write and genuinely, the baby arashi bit is my favorite part of the whole chapter. they're just so alsdkgh oeugh cute i want to squeeze them in my hands 🥺🥺🥺. my note for this on my list of things to talk about is literally "baby modelgumi :pleading:" they hold a special place in my head and i hope in urs too

i was going to list stories reference but i might wait until i have more done and posted for that (plus i can't remember what story it is that arashi mentions izumi pushed her mouth into a smile as kids) but. portrait and canary hall mentions 🎉🎉

the argument. it's implied a few times in ! that izumi's parents don't really agree with him being an idol (leo says izumi was having isses at home around checkmate/war era). given that they put so much time and effort into having izumi model, i suppose that wouldn't be too surprising, but i think it's important to have some kind of breaking point like the argument scene bc in next door, izumi talks about how his parents treated him growing up and that just makes me think that he probably didn't have much say in his own life and there's just something about being an idol being his first big decision that idk hits a little different and there is more to an extent on this concept in the next chapter in comparing himself to leo and just kind of being like ,, huh...

last thing, so aside from the ending of the beginning section of the chapter, i feel so smart about the ending line of this chapter bc mama's pancakes come up in portrait and there's even a baby izumi homescreen line about it and it's meant to serve as an apology rather than her actually apologizing but i feel like u could take it a few ways but akhg felt so smart when i came up w the ending of the chapter. and i felt the same way when i thought of the first chapter ending and u guys will not like me for that one btu aksdgh <33

baby's first friendship next time 🎉🎉🎉🎉

[turtles-allthewaydown]

4, 14, 28, and 30 for the ask game!!

4. How do you know when a chapter is done?

It's a combination of word count and pacing.

When I first start a fic I just start writing without worrying about chapter breaks. Eventually I hit a point where I've written enough to figure out what the fic is about, and then I can outline the rest. At that point I usually figure out the general shape of pacing, scenes that can mirror each other, recurring themes, etc. Then I look at what I've already got written and what I've got planned and figure out what the first chapter should be. That generally determines the size of later chapters. All of my fics have a general rule-of-thumb for how long a chapter should be, which I freely ignore when I feel like something needs to be included.

For example a chapter of My Body Is An Orphanage (Hazbin Hotel) is 6-8k, except the latest chapter is actually over 9k because I wanted to reach a certain point in an emotional arc. Nothing Ventured (Dungeon Meshi) has much shorter chapters, generally 2-3k, but I know there are some that are a bit longer because a scene just wasn't finished in fewer words.

The point of having a word count goal for a chapter, for me, is to 1) keep things approximately the same scale so readers aren't surprised, 2) keep things moving, and 3) give myself a goal to aim for, so while I'm working I can say "I just need 500 more words before I can post this chapter, maybe I'll write that scene now so I can post tomorrow morning!" The goal is never to make myself stretch something longer than it needs to be or cut something short to make it fit an arbitrary length. Sometimes it does help me realize when something is dragging on for too long, though!

14. What's one word you can never spell/use properly, no matter how hard you try?

Oh, there are so many. I'm hopelessly reliant on spell check, which is unfortunate since a lot of them are getting worse with AI ;_; Brainstorming some words, one of my big struggles appears to be with remembering whether something uses c or s (license, spouse, sauce, etc.) and single vs double letters (below vs bellow, apologize, etc.)

28. How do you make sure your plot points are there while also making them blend in with the story?

My fics tend to be more about character arcs and emotion than about plot, but I do have a method here. It's all about outlining -- it's way easier to reach your destination if you know where you're going!

When I outline a story, I'm essentially writing bullet points of the major plot and emotional beats, plus any side scenes that I know I want to write. Generally one sentence summarizing a scene, with a line break to indicate moving on to the next part of a scene and two line breaks to indicate shifting to a new scene entirely. I then bold my outline and gradually replace the bolded sentences with the scenes they describe. For example, at one point a portion of To The Dogs (Dungeon Meshi) looked something like this (italics instead of bold because I bolded the questions lol):

Meeting the orcs pt 2

[flashback scene]

Traps are always dangerous, keep your guard up and don't get cocky

He gets cocky [partially written scene]

Then as I worked I figured out what "traps are always dangerous, don't get cocky" would be, and made sure to end it with that sentence so that I could start the next one with "he gets cocky" and keep the flow I wanted to have when I was outlining. (To The Dogs was a really important fic to outline because I was blending three different timelines. As I wrote I was constantly jumping around the outline, sometimes adding new scenes or rearranging them, making sure things made sense and that Chilchuck's emotional journey tracked within each separate timeline.)

What this effectively means is when I sit down to write a scene, I'm starting with a focus on the major plot points or emotional beats that need to happen. Everything else springs from there. So I'm not writing aimlessly hoping to get to a plot point or trying to cram a plot point into a scene, I'm starting from "okay, I know this scene needs to end with Chilchuck telling someone not to get cocky and warning about traps, how can I get there?"

Sometimes after I write all the bits I'll go back and realize there's some connective tissue missing and write something to link two scenes together, but generally I find jumping straight from important part A to important part B works fine, and readers can be trusted to follow.

By the way, those of you waiting for the next chapter of Nothing Ventured? There's a little bit I've already written and then the next line of the outline just says "Chilaios in the Dungeon"

30. How do you edit your stories?

hahaha edit? nah

In all seriousness, this is the thing I am weakest on. Once I've written the scenes my outline told me to write I want to be done! I did the thing, time to post it already and get to those lovely comments!

Generally I skim over whatever I've decided is a chapter to make sure it all connects, do a spelling/grammar check, and then up on AO3 it goes. Sometimes I re-read my fics and will go back and edit typos and formatting errors if I find them.

In the case of something like My Body Is An Orphanage, which recently got a partial re-write, I knew some of the changes I wanted to make so I went in and did that first, then I read the whole thing from start to finish and made smaller changes as I went -- fix the phrasing here, add a little extra detail there, correct the spelling of a character's name over there, etc. The sort of thing I should probably do with all my works, but just don't have the patience to.

[fullcry]

Update (sort of)

I WILL get around to posting a proper update schedule soon. I'm in the process of trying to get my Patreon page up and running, so hopefully I'll be able to get those two things going concurrently.

Tentatively, updates will probably be in this order: Truth of Memory, Ch 4 (final chapter) > Either "Jacket Fic" longshot or untitled NSFW multichap Ch 1/4 > Love and Peace and Gunsmoke, Ch 2

A note about my Love and Peace and Gunsmoke: part of why an update may be a ways off is... I lost chapter five. 5k words of the hardest stuff to write: difficult conversations, character development, action scenes, multiple locations... I still haven't recovered. The prospect of rewriting it all is DAUNTING. And I need to finish it before I can go back and edit chapters 2-4, since it's the end of the first arc and needs to align properly for the next. So... thank you for your patience while I'm on the struggle bus.

Speaking of the untitled NSFW multichap, please have a WIP sneak peek because I'm hopeless and need to vent excitement. Be sure to subscribe to my AO3 pseud for updates! (because there will be a lot this year, RIP my free time)

UNTITLED NSFW VASH/MERYL WIP EXCERPT (below the cut!)

She had spent the long hours in that room thinking and preparing herself for the eventuality—told herself it was just sex, just a bodily function (albeit an intimate one). She’d spent long enough keeping her feelings for him hidden, and this was just an extension of that. It didn’t need to mean anything more and didn’t need to change their relationship. And at the end… she’d still felt that way. She’d been ready to move on, keep laughing, keep smiling, put the incident in a box and continue being just friends.

She hadn’t been prepared for this, though—this cold shoulder, this painful distance—and she feels unconscionably foolish for not having considered his feelings, for not having considered that just because it needed to happen didn’t mean he was prepared.

Though she isn’t quite sure what specifically his feelings on the matter are since he hasn’t said a word about what happened and pointedly ignored her attempts to do so.

She sighs and trails dutifully behind him. They’ve long since left the dormitories behind, for which she is thankful, and he leads her through a series of dark maintenance tunnels. Like the main hallways these too are lit by emergency lights but given the narrowness of the tunnels and the array of pipes and wires and panels along the wall hiding the light strip from view, it’s significantly dimmer. They move single file and her hands trail along walls on either side for support—the grate upon which they walk is uneven in places, seeming to have bent with the force of the crash.

She can see the brighter light of a hallway ahead and sighs in relief, matching Vash’s quickening pace. But before they get out, her hand snags on something sharp and she jerks it back, hissing. She can feel blood seeping into her glove, trailing down her wrist. Pain pulses sharply along her index finger, and she knows its a deep cut.

“Are you alright?”

Now he talks to her. She refrains from saying something snappy and unkind, and instead says, “Yeah—just a cut. Can you grab some gauze from my pack?”

She turns around to give him access to the bag strapped to her back and holds her finger tightly to stem some of the blood flow. She hears the zipper and can feel him rummaging around, and a moment later he taps her shoulder. She turns back around and pulls her hand away from her finger to take the roll of gauze but he ignores her, reaching for her hand instead. She lets him, holding her breath and watching with surprise as gently disinfects the wound and holds her by the palm as he wraps three layers around the cut, tying it off gently. He still doesn’t look at her.

“Vash—“ she begins, more insistent this time.

“Not… not here,” he says, and she can hear in his voice that just saying those words is an emotional effort. It’s clear he knows what she wants to bring up, and she feels some relief that he has finally acknowledged what happened, even if indirectly.

“When we get back to ship three?” she asks, or rather, requests. He doesn’t say anything for a moment, gently releasing her hand as he tucks the roll of gauze into a jacket pocket. Then, he nods, and turns back around, heading for the hallway.

[tieria-erde]

i finished rewatching gwitch! here are some of my final thoughts, broadly and in no particular order

~7.5/10 show. i enjoyed it a lot and i would recommend it to others even if i feel that it fell flat thematically in a number of places

suletta is an unbelievably good protagonist. i do not have particularly charitable opinions on the portrayal of women in the gundam franchise, so when this show was first announced i deliberately kept my expectations very low. i'm glad i did, but i really didn't need to, because holy shit they knocked it out of the fucking park with suletta

similarly, i still can't believe that they made a yuri gundam and the yuri is FANTASTIC. they got lesbian married and everything. no notes. when the finale first aired i saw a baffling number of people complaining online that gwitch was queerbait, ostensibly for not having an outright confession or kiss scene. to those people i have to say: GOD YOU ARE STUPID

i started this rewatch because this show's stance on parents has bothered me since i first watched it, and it made it hard to properly recommend it to people. i will, eventually, make a very long post about this, but i think i've successfully made peace with my grievances about this specific topic, for the most part

...however i still find the trajectory of guel's character arc egregiously disappointing

this show did not spend enough time on earth

when gwitch was first airing i saw someone point out how norea expresses a really potent grief over the idea that "earthian lives are cheaper than spacians'", and that line hits really hard, but then... the show proves her right by having earthian characters be basically the only deaths in the cast by the end. that's always stuck with me. i mean, it's fucking true, jesus

i said something midway through season 2 along the lines of "the rest of this show is too heavy to have earned the ending it got" and i don't know if i still believe that. for one, i've said this before and i'll say it again: the lesbian gundam show ending with a literal rainbow light show is FUCKING FUNNYYY

for two, i do think it became kind of hard for this show to kill its characters off at a certain point because they REALLY wanted to drive the point home of "you can't run from your past mistakes, you have to move forward" and a character kind of has to be alive to move forward... oops!

i ALSO said something about "run and gain one, move forward and gain two" being a "flawed adage" or something, and that was kind of me misremembering certain aspects of the story... i thought they condemned prospera's little motto at some point, but it actually continued to in fact basically be the message of the whole show...

i found it kind of hard to connect whatever prospera was doing to the political goings-on of the plot... to be honest, throughout the whole quiet zero thing, i kept thinking to myself, "god, i wish we were looking at the political situation on earth instead right now"

I Should Read The Tempest BTW

this show's character writing is straight up fantastic. i feel like almost every single character was memorable and charming in some way

for some reason, though, ojelo's name is only said once in this entire show. i'm not kidding. they tell you his name when they introduce him and then never say it again. i know this because i heard his name in his first appearance, forgot it, and then spent the rest of the show waiting for them to say it again so i could remember it. it never happened. do you know who ojelo gabel is? no, you don't. because they ONLY SAY HIS NAME ONCE.

also, unpopular opinion, but i don't really care for prospera. i don't know if i'm insane for this, but after watching it multiple times i STILL don't understand that scene where all the ghosts from the prologue are talking to prospera and suletta's like "you chose eri's future over revenge, and i can't fault you for that!" like, holy shit, i genuinely don't get it. she didn't do that at all. she killed people? she actively declared that she wanted to get revenge on delling rembran and Kill Him? am i missing something. this scene doesn't make any sense. if this scene makes sense to you legit please explain it to me

i had fun yay ^_^ ok thanks for reading

[eartheats]

status: part 2 of 3

[location: blueberry academy, unova]

((ooc: buckle up, it's gonna be a long one. WHO WANTS SOME HOT, SPICY BACKSTORY LORE!

cws: mostly descriptions of violence and a lot of swearing. like a lot of swearing. and some of noriko's nastier behaviors toward madison. and some shades of mental spousal abuse. and like. general high stakes pokemon stuff. if there's anything i missed lemme know and i'll add it.))

"What do you want to know?"

Madison's question isn't properly answered on the video; whoever this detective is talks on the other end of the phone, and try as one might, it seems like it's too far away to pick up any of the other person's voice.

Either way, Madison's eyes roll briefly at the assumed question, moving her free hand to rub her temple a bit.

"...Alright. Twenty six years ago is a bit of a tall order for telling you anything about her, but I'll tell you at least what I can."

There's another pause of seeming talking, and another roll of the eyes from Madison before she speaks up again.

"So, yeah. I'd already been in Zapapico when Noriko decided to move in. I think I'd been living there for about...I want to say it was seven years that my parents shipped us out of there once they sold their stocks with Macro Cosmos and decided to retire. Not that they ever fucking rested, but that's neither here nor there."

"Noriko moved in around '97. Just this...Tandemaus-y looking woman who's Paldean was passable at best. The most I saw of her at first was just her bringing back rocks to her house that had fossilized bones in 'em, but my Ex at the time started talking to her."

A small pause, and a brief quirk of Madison's brow happens before she sighs a bit. "...Yeah, I'm talking about Mateo. You didn't think we parted on bad terms, did you? --Oh my Arc you totally did." Madison laughs a bit, the sound biting and barking. "No, no. We just weren't a good fit for each other and decided to go back to being friends, a little while before she moved in."

Madison pauses a moment at that, though, seemingly interrupted before going back to speaking.

"Yeah. He's the one who reached out to her first. She probably would've stayed hidden in her little home had Mateo and some of the other miners not reached out to help her. But yeah, she and Mateo got married eventually and had a kid. That's the start of it, at least."

There's another pause on the phone, and some consideration as Madison speaks again.

"...We never got along. Me and Noriko, I mean. Mateo insisted that I'm a friend to the family and asked me to become Ren's godmother, and I didn't reject it. She hated it, though; so worried I was going to try and steal Mateo back from her. As if. He was a sweetheart, but we rubbed each other's nerves raw sometimes. It was for the best that we stayed friends, rather than expect any, like...actual intimacy with each other, romantic or otherwise. I mostly just played babysitter for the kid when Mateo was working in the mines, and Noriko had to go to work. She hated it, but nobody else was willing to work for free and they both didn't make a lot, so..."

Madison pauses briefly again as the Detective seems to ask something, and perhaps without thinking, she moves to sit on the floor and lets out Charcoal, her Flareon. The Flareon seems a little confused at first, but settles into Madison's lap as the nurse pets him.

"Gonna be honest with you, Noriko was pretty tight lipped about the shit she did for work. I didn't think too much of it, at first. She mentioned a few times that she did a lot of her work remotely, sending it back to her employer--no, she never gave me a name. She talked about the Fossil Lab in Cinnabar so much that I just assumed at the time she was doing remote work for her family. Kind of weird, but I respected it."

Another pause. Charcoal's expression goes worried as Madison's face seems to darken, her fingers running deep through the Flareon's fluff.

"Oh, no, I realized that eventually. Like--you don't get it, she was always a little bit...off. Like not even in that eccentric, Pokemon Professor kind of way--I could hear her muttering to herself sometimes when she was out and trying to find fossils for herself, about like...just how much she hated the world. How she always thought it was selfish, that it's people needed a reality check of some kind. Only got the guts to try and call her on it once, but nobody believed me when I tried to bring it up with anyone else. Kind of just assumed I was going crazy."

"And, well...considering the whole Flare connection she mentioned, I guess I can't fucking say I'm surprised. I should've fucking known quicker."

Yet another pause occurs, and Charcoal paws at Madison briefly before a small 'no, charcoal, stay down' keeps him lapbound for the moment. But Madison's expression goes contemplative...

"...You're talking about like...October, right? 2013? Somewhere around there?" Another pause, and Madison's breath is shaky. "...Yeah. Yeah, something happened that coincided with the Flare attack."

Madison straightens, briefly, as she recalls the incident.

"It was...a little bit before Ren's fourteenth birthday, if I remember right. Several months before shit hit the fan on that end, before you ask. But I was going to drop off a couple gifts for Ren and Noriko both--yes, their birthdays both were pretty close to one another. Let me finish. But when I got there, there was...nobody in the house. It was fucking unlocked, but nobody was in there."

Something in Madison goes tense as she recalls further. Clearly whatever it is, it's definitely not something good, and she starts to shudder the further she goes along.

"I--I filed a missing persons report for them and everything. I even used some of my parent's inheritance to try and hire someone to look for them. I was worried fucking sick about them! Mateo wasn't at work, the kid came back to celebrate their birthday and they looked fucking miserable a few days prior, and not even she was around. Like, I even had someone call Noriko's family in fucking Cinnabar? They didn't even know where the fuck she was, and like, I wasn't going to put it past Noriko to drag the kid and Mateo over to Cinnabar for something private. They were fucking worried sick too! And you know what happens?"

"About a week after I file the report, they're back in their house. I see the lights on at night, and I'm worried someone's breaking in or some shit so I go check on them, or scare the fucking punk off, or just. Something. Anyway, I go and knock on the door, and out comes fucking Noriko, sporting a new, horrible looking face scar and snarling at me to fucking leave. I tell her I'm not trying any shit and I was worried, she doesn't buy it. I tell her that I was fucking worried about her too, and she brushes it off and tells me to leave. I tell her I'm not fucking leaving without making sure that the kid and Mateo are okay, and she starts slamming my hand in the door over and over again and telling me to leave, leave, fucking leave, you don't belong here, you're no longer fucking welcome here and if I say anything? No one will believe me and no one will fucking do anything."

"...And you know fucking what? That stupid fucking bitch was right. I tried to get people to look at the house, but she had the lights off and nobody else fucking saw them on when I did. No one fucking believed me when I even brought up my fucked up hand, because oh, Noriko's just so fucking sweet and pechas! She wouldn't hurt a fucking Cutiefly. She had some sort of sob story about shit that happened that fucked her up, and everyone just fucking ate it up. Fuck, Mateo and Ren wouldn't even fucking look at me up until the night Ren went apeshit on the house. Mateo looked like he got fucked up by something falling on him, and I could hear around town that he was doing worse and worse. It looked like one of Ren's arms got fucked up a bit too, but they seemed...confused about it, before they went back to school. I just tried to put it out of my mind at that point. Everyone there had chosen their narrative, and all I had was a fucked up hand and nobody to fucking listen to me. Shit's fucking demoralizing."

There's a pause as Charcoal curls up against Madison; for all of her shivering, all of the pain that she recalls, and her left hand coming up briefly from the Flareon's fur--showing off some rather nasty looking old scars on it--she doesn't cry. She breathes, shuddering as she tries to calm herself a bit, and she even laughs a little bit when it's clear she's being spoken to again.

"Kind of a shitty platitude to offer. But thanks. Glad to know somebody might've believed me if I went to them."

But there's a sharpness that comes into her voice as the detective clearly says something that Madison takes offense to.

"No. Absolutely not. Neither of them were Flare. You don't have to fucking believe me if you don't want, but Mateo wouldn't fucking dare to do that shit. Ren wouldn't either, no matter how much--" Another pause, and a glare into the phone. "Do you even fucking hear yourself?! You're accusing a teenager--yes, a fucking teenager at the time, don't you fucking start with me, who yes, fucking hated people because of the shit they faced, but come fucking on! Ren's better than that. They're so much fucking better than that shithead mom of theirs, they'd fucking never. Not even unintentionally. I fucking swear on it."

There's a long bit of pausing there, and Madison's practically shuddering. Charcoal's started to try and paw at Madison again, clearly worried, but after a few minutes she calms again. No less angry, but. Calm.

"I'm not accepting your apology, but thanks. Anything else you want to know?"

Another pause, this time seeing Madison start to gently nudge Charcoal off of her (earning a whine from the Flareon) as she starts to get up.

"...We're working on getting the door to the parent's old bedroom unlocked, yes. Jacques and I, we're gonna try to clean shit out of there, but we're not throwing anything out if you need it." The detective clearly talks again, getting a nod from Madison. "Ren's finally ready to let it be unlocked, at least. But we're going to see what we can find. I'm not sure if it's going to be much. Or, well...anything that isn't broken. --Yeah, the kid got in there when they fucking blew up. I imagine that's half the reason they couldn't bring themself to go in. It'd probably trigger the everloving hell out of them to relive it through seeing it."

Another pause, and Madison's brow quirks. "No? Of course I didn't offer to clean it before. Hell, the kid only started speaking to me again after they got their first job, over in Montenevera. Four years or so after getting them off the hook for the noise complaint. They weren't speaking to anyone that wasn't through a computer screen for years after that, but it was slow going. They apologized to me first, and I don't think they like...even realized how long they locked themself up for. Far as I was concerned, I was just glad the kid was okay, but I didn't wanna push anything. Offered help when they asked for it and helped them learn how to pay off shit for the house, but I just...kind of let them come to me on that shit. You know? That kid's so much stronger than anyone gives them credit for. I'm...I'm proud of them for making it this far, that they're willing to let us clean shit out and start a new chapter."

There's another long pause, of some talking, and Madison just kind of lets out a non-committal hum as it goes on. Eventually, she simply nods her head.

"Yeah. Thanks. --Don't fucking worry about it, just don't bring it up again the next time we speak in person. Yeah? Okay. Good. Uh-huh. ...Yeah, I'll let you know once we start and if there's anything we can find. Thanks again. I hope you find that stupid bitch sooner, rather than later."

"Okay. Bye."

Madison hangs up the phone, letting out a sigh and slumping against the wall a bit. Her hand goes down to pet Charcoal, who weaves between her legs and demands pets.

"Fucking Arc. Well, glad we've gotten through that mess of a conversation. Kid's room looks pretty good too. I think it's time we head out, buddy. Whatcha say? Do you wanna go out, Charcoal?"

"Flare, flare!" The Flareon jumps around, sparking a bit of genuine laughter and a tired smile from Madison.

"Alright. I'll go ask the Director if I can give you a brief walkies around the school, but then you gotta go back in til we get home. Okay?" The Flareon nods resolutely, and Madison takes one last look around the room before her eyes catch Ren's phone.

"--Oh, fuck! The kid forgot their damn phone. Better get this back to 'em or they'll totally forget..."

And before anyone is the wiser, the recording stops as Madison walks toward the phone, and the video is transferred elsewhere.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

[annelidist]

ok properly this time. 1, 2, 14 for signalis!

what originally drew me to it

so there are like, half a dozen distinct things that qualify signalis as My Exact Shit (amongst them being that i played a ton of survival horror last year and got really deep into the genre). altho what shifted it from "something cool on my wishlist that i'll get to eventually" to "i need to play this Right Fucking Now" was @evsyrevenge asking me if i'd played it in light of the short story i posted here. like, i hadn't, but if pas de deux reminded someone of signalis then i had to find out what they meant by that

2. what i most and least like about it

joke answer: my favourite thing about signalis is that the visual riffs from the monogatari are in a good piece of media now

real answer: i think probably the melancholy of it. after first finishing the game i felt kind of crushed by how, like, despite this being a game about grief and trauma there isn't anywhere for elster to move forward to. i've come to like that element a lot more in light of certain things i failed to figure out during that initial playthrough, though... for better or worse, it's something that's remained with me

or maybe the constant intertextuality? that's more of an intellectual pleasure, but keeping notes on all the references being made to literature and games and paintings, and going away to experience the ones i was unfamiliar with so i could approach the game with a better understanding of what it was gesturing towards, was really enriching.

as for what i least like: it's so fucked up that the flashlight module takes up an inventory slot. they shouldn't have done that. it's evil. also the sameface aspect of the art is... narratively justified to some extent but is also still a stylistic weakness in how the game draws women

14. the character/story arc I find the most compelling

i want to say elster, but that seems very obvious, given that she's the protagonist... i find depictions of love as a corruptive force very compelling. i like that, in every ending except promise, elster's love destroys everything. the world, everybody in it, even ariane herself, it's all ploughed under and annihilated by elster's love. the lily ending is the most heightened form of this, it's so tragic as to be sickening. if not for heather mason i think elster would be my favourite survival horror protagonist by a very wide margin.

i also really really like adler. i don't know if i'll get another ask about this game where i can talk about adler but i enjoy that freak very much

[crazycatfaery]

ΉΣᄂᄂӨ, ƬΉIƧ IƧ ПӨƬ ΉIᄂᄂIΣ!  Was it getting too quiet in your inbox? 🤭 Your last set of answers means there’s more on my inspirational moodboard… but it also means I’m back to bother you! 🧚

1 - “But HEX anon! 😱 You didn’t ask about the other other ship in my form!” Until now, that is! So today’s your chance. What draws you to the idea of Ben ⚗️ and Luna 🌙? What do they see in each other, what connects them, how did anything happen? It’s such a mystery to me 🔎 I want to see them through your eyes to build your gift properly or I’m just snoopy for spoopy season 🎃, so please share!

2 - Fluff and whump, or fluff or whump? What’s your favorite flavor of each?

3 - And just for fun, a little wintery quickfire round: ❄️ hot chocolate or mulled cider? ❄️ fairy lights or fireplace? ❄️ cold fingers or cold nose? ❄️ ice skating or skiing? ❄️ lazy mornings or cozy nights?

Until next time! ✨💚

Hi Anon, welcome back! I was wondering if you’d appear again soon actually! 😊

*Rubs hands together in excitement* Let’s see what questions you have for me this time, and how long my answers will be 😅.

1 - Ben/Luna: Oh dear, I completely forgot that I put this ship in there as well. Ben x Luna is one of the pairings I never had thought of before, until I saw a fic with the ship in the tags, and I got curious. I like the idea of a redemption arc for Luna, and a lot of fics I've read so far with these two include exactly that. Canon Ben and Luna seem like some of the farthest removed from becoming a couple of all the character pairings, and I don’t think they even interacted with each other throughout the whole series (if I remember correctly).

I don’t have strict headcanons about them. They’re great for a kind of enemies to lovers trope imo, like for example Luna could try to persuade Ben to spy on Rosalind for her or something, but Ben only knows Luna from stories of her interactions with Farah. Or maybe they met plenty of times but she never truly acknowledged him? So I imagine he’d be quite taken aback by her suddenly trying to use him. And then Ben goes off to a different school. So far I have no idea how I would work Luna back into that (yet). And to get them together in the end Ben has to at least return to Alfea for some reason (although, their rendez vous could start before that, who knows). 

For this ship to eventually sail, I think they would somehow have to be forced to trust each other, like Ben has to save Luna from something, or something happens that causes her triple-layered mask to drop and be vulnerable with him. Ben is a bit of a softie, but also a caretaker I think? So I imagine him naturally wanting to be there for people who might need it, and I really think stubborn, prideful Luna could use someone to lean on. I feel like she never truly experienced unconditional love, with her being the crown princess and now queen. If you’d follow my Ben/Rose headcanon, then Ben has, so he could give her that.

I could go on and on about this and accidentally write half a fic myself, so I'll stop now.

2 - Fluff and/or Whump: Hmm, I don’t necessarily go looking for whump on its own, I mostly accidentally stumble into it through the fluff or silrah tags. So I don’t really have a favorite flavor of whump? I do prefer when the whump gets resolved though. I tried writing whump and it just turned into angst, though I got told that could count as emotional whump?

As for fluff, I enjoy it the most in combination with angst! Fluff on its own can be nice too, but in that format I tend to only read oneshots. I vaguely remember reading a Silrah fic that ended up going on and on with just fluff, and I got really bored. I have tried writing a pure fluff fic myself, and ended up inserting small bits of angst anyway 😂. With longfics I mostly enjoy reading and writing fluff before and/or after the angst or whump, and/or bits sprinkled throughout.

Conclusion: I love angst.

3 - Quickfire round: Hot chocolate (if you’d said mulled wine it would’ve been way harder to choose), fairy lights (I love a good fire, but fairylights can be used year round!), cold nose (I hate hate hate hate cold fingers. And toes.), ice skating, cozy nights.

Hope this all helps with your moodboard, and that I didn’t just end up giving you even more options, oops!

[missizzy]

A Game Novice's Baldur's Gate Log, 57 1/2 Hours In: Gapfilling and Grinding for XP

Masterpost

(Note: this will definitely contain spoilers for all I've played through, and probably quite of a bit of the later stuff I've also seen.)

I am now nearing the end of Act I. I've even had the poetical idea of finishing it just before I board the plane for San Diego is a little over a week. I suspect I may not manage it, though. It'll depend on not only how much I can get through this week, but also how much I'll eventually decide I want to do.

By the end of last week, I had spotted the Grymforge elevator on the map, and it wasn't long at all into this one before my characters were staring it down. At that point I decided it was time to do a little research, especially into what needed to be done for each character's arc before Act II. Which was when I discovered I'd missed a huge part of Wyll's, back on the Risen Road. I also took a proper look at the XP for the first time, and determined I wanted to collect a bit more of that before leaving the Underdark.

Still, I couldn't figure out how to get to the Adamantine Forge, and I wasn't sure we were ready to deal with its protector. So I ended up consulting a map of the Underdark, and discovered there was a tower we'd missed back when we came in, so I waypointed back there. Looking further around that area, after finally properly looting the mini-Beholder and drow we'd fought, I quickly discovered that since being there, I'd actually gotten a lot better at spotting jump-through and climb-through spots, which was very encouraging.

The Arcane Tower, on the other hand, drove me completely up the wall. Even after I finally looked up how to disable the turrets, I still went a little crazy trying to get Astarion to the back garden without doing him major injury. When it was finally done, I found myself doubting the XP were worth the struggle. But I did enjoy sampling some of the literature we found there. Sara tried to be diplomatic with the constructs when we hit the roof, but she used the wrong quote and we ended up fighting them anyway. Story of her life, I suspect.

The next day I swapped Lae'zel out for Karlach, partly because I wanted to see her reaction to the Myconids, but mostly because I like having her around. We ended up going to the village twice, because the first time I failed to save even as I then went to find the Festering Cove I'd also read about-and accidentally toppled Sara into a chasm. But knowing where it was and reloading at the tower made it a bit easier to go to the Cove directly the second time around. Even after its denizens declared their intent to sacrifice us, I actually did go for the arcana check, just to make it more interesting, but when that failed I went ahead and attacked. This time I remembered to have Shadowheart cast Spirit Guardians immediately.

My goal got accomplished. By the time we'd gotten back to the village and handed Nere's head in for the second time, we were under 1500 XP to go for level six. When I went to Blurg to unload excess loot for the second time, I also decided to tell him about the tadpole and have him bring in Omeluum. I'd already seen one streamer talk with the latter, and had doubts about how Sara would react to meeting a mind-flayer, but I decided that in a strange, spore-hazy atmosphere of the village, she could refrain from attacking immediately. I suspect it is a very good thing, though, that we didn't have Lae'zel with us at that point, especially when Omeluum started talking about the Githyanki rebelling.

I went back and forth, however, about returning to the tower to complete his quest. We'd gotten most of the tower's XP already, and it didn't feel worth the effort. I ultimately had Sara decline to do it, at least for now, though the directions remain in the journal, and I may yet go back and do it after all. I even waypointed back to the Selunite Outpost, before changing my mind again and waypointing again back to the Blighted Village to forge the sussar weapon. There, too, I went reading about how to forge and the options, and took the advice I read to forge a dagger.

I also spotted the passage outside the basement's wall, which I hadn't spotted before, and was pleased to discover I could now easily figure out how to jump into it. Getting the false wall at the end down took slightly longer, but then I finally figured out piercing damage works on those. I reaped the rewards for my advancement by getting to explore the Whispering Depths. Fighting the spiders in them felt much like more grinding, but it was kind of worth it just to hear Karlach tell one of them "Bye bye," before killing it.

Nonetheless, I ended up swapping both her and Astarion out for Gale and Wyll before heading north and tracking down the inn the latter's father had just been kidnapped from. There I had Shadowheart create more water than strictly necessary as we stumbled through the burning building, and ultimately failed to rescue one guy before his half of the upper floor blew up, but at least we got Counselor Florrick out. Upon hearing about the Duke from her, and learning Wyll had been disowned, Sara quickly got very mixed feelings about rescuing him, though so long as Wyll wants to do it she'll try to.

I left off this week right after that, at the opening of the Mountain Pass, still unsure about how much of it I'll do, though I'll have to go to the monastary and creche, at least. Maybe also until we meet Elminster, though I'm currently a little confused on when exactly he's supposed to show up.

I have also since been brought to realize I completely forgot about the Zhentarim in the basement. But I'm pretty sure that Sara retains absolutely no interest in meeting with them anyway.

[wjbs-aus]

I can't sleep so here's a summary of the weapons I got on my various Nightmare Reaper runs as I tried to get through Murky Docks Part 2 on NG+.

Note: the different levels are Common (no additional stats), Uncommon (1 additional stat), Rare (2 additional stats) and Legendary (3 additonal stats); stats are mostly good, but can be bad (bad stats are in italics). Additionally, since I'm on New Game+, most weapons, regardless of level, deal several times their standard damage, formatted as "[number]x Damage". I'll explain each weapon's default mechanics as they appear, as well as the mechanics of any Random Projectiles. Ice freezes things, Lightning prevents enemies from attacking or moving, and Fire damages enemies and breakables over time.

My current "main" weapons (that is to say, the ones that I've kept from earlier runs) are:

Legendary Breach Launcher (rapid-fire rocket launcher that shoots a lot of tiny rockets; secondary-fire charges, then releases a massive burst); +37% Leech Chance, +10% Critical Chance, +42% Pierce Chance, 4x damage

Rare Machine Gun (powerful rapid-fire; secondary fire zooms and crouches, slowing the player down but making them more accurate); Explosive Ammo 2, Random Projectile (tennis balls (weak, bouncing projectiles)), 3x damage.

First run:

Uncommon Necromantic Skull (not-Gaster Blaster that fires a beam that summons a skeleton ally; primary fire summons melee skeletons and secondary fire summons ranged skeletons); +191% Pull, 4x damage.

Uncommon Sawed Off (standard sawed-off shotgun; primary fire is one barrel, secondary is two); +70% Knockback, 4x damage.

Uncommon Machine Gun; Random Projectile (tennis balls), 4x damage.

Uncommon Chained Saw (Doom-style chainsaw with a grappling-hook secondary-fire); +5 Ice Effect, 4x damage.

I then proceeded to die in a room with the red spawn-crystal event, which is I think set to happen on every attempt.

I died really early on my second run, so I didn't have a chance to properly check or test the weapons I got; the only one I actually used aside from my default ones was a Legendary Breach Launcher with the Random Projectile (acid-balls (projectiles that explode, releasing a pool of acid that damages nearby enemies)) and Projectile Size stats.

Third run (note: I forgot to check the damage multipliers):

Common Frost Book (primary fire is a semi-automatic icicle shot, secondary is a chargeable energy-ball that slowly travels through the air, rapidly firing icicles in a radius).

Legendary Bazooka (basic rocket-launcher; secondary fire is a melee attack for some reason); -52% Charge time, -23% Area Size, -48% Recoil, 24% Free Shots.

Common Tempest Book (primary fire is a railgun-like lightning attack, secondary is a chargeable energy-ball that slowly travels through the air, arcing lightning off nearby enemies and breakables).

I died to some enemies on a boat.

Fourth run:

Common Ice Bolt Book (automatic mini-icicle shooter; secondary fires a shotgun-like blast of mini-icicles); 4x damage.

Common Spark Book (primary fire is a weaker version of the Tempest Book; secondary fires several erratically-moving electrical projectiles); 4x damage.

Common Pyxis of Souls (primary fire rapid-fires homing skulls; secondary summons a larger skull that acts like a mobile turret, but shrinks whenever it attacks until it eventually despawns).

Uncommon Bazooka; +57% Missile Size, 3x damage.

Uncommon Ice Bolt Book; -10% Recoil, 3x damage.

I then died in another fucking spawn-crystal room.

Fifth run:

Uncommon Tri Grenade Launcher (shoots grenades, which do different things based on the firemode, which can be switched using alt-fire; there's impact (explodes when it hits something), bounce (bounces off stuff and explodes after a few seconds) and sticky (attaches a stickybomb that detonates after a few seconds)); 187% Pull, 4x damage.

Common Sword and Shield (primary fire is sword, secondary fire is shield); 4x damage.

Common Fireball Book (primary fire is a chargeable fireball that explodes on hit, while secondary is a chargeable cluster fireball that explodes into smaller fireballs, which themselves explode into even smaller fireballs, which then explode); 4x damage.

Uncommon Six Shooter (literally just a standard videogame revolver with a high firerate; secondary-fire zooms); +6 Ice Effect, 4x damage.

Common Thorn Parasite (projectile that follows the camera and does constant damage to any enemy or breakable it touches; alt-fire causes it to explode); 3x damage.

Rare Flamethrower (it's a flamethrower; alt-fire toggles between a wide and narrow flame-blast); -23% Recoil, -23% Reload Time.

Common Pyxis of Souls.

Common Sawed Off; 3x damage.

Common Chained Saw; 3x damage.

Legendary Fire Bolt Book; Random Projectile (energy orb (bouncing projectiles that burst after a few seconds), -38% Recoil, +337% Pull.

Common Mega Chainsaw (a goddamn chainsword that can be used horizontally as a regular Doom-style chainsaw or held vertically as essentially a vehicle, pulling the player around and dealing damage to any enemies in the way).

Common Superposition Rifle (I have no clue how this one works, but it has, like, 5 different firemodes that appear to be either random or based on the pattern that the player hits the primary and secondary fire keys); 4x damage.

Common Semi Auto Shotgun (self-explanatory; secondary fire is ironsights); 4x damage.

Common Pump Action Shotgun (again, self-explanatory; secondary fire is also ironsights); 4x damage.

Common Plasma Rifle (you know Doom's plasma rifle? It's kinda like that, but purple instead of blue and with a chargeable alt-fire that shoots a large projectile which bursts into smaller projectiles).

Common Shuriken (obvious; secondary-fire throws a single giant shuriken that constantly spins and damages enemies which walk into it); 4x damage.

Common Katana (primary is a regular melee attack, secondary is a charged projectile attack); 3x damage.

Rare Knife (primary is also a regular melee attack, while the secondary throws a knife); +83% Leech Chance, -28% Attack Rate, 4x damage.

Common Bazooka; 3x damage.

I actually managed to finish this one; I decided to keep the Breach Launcher I had at the start, and the Fireball Book I found on the fifth run (since, while it's Common, I can potentially get it upgraded by a "make Rare+ version" doctor in a future level).

[sminny-wew]

Megaman Network Transmission final thoughts

(From someone who watched a playthrough instead of actually playing it lmao)

Despite my overall enthusiasm I can see why it's considered one of the weaker games, this definitely feels like something made to appeal to classic Megaman/X fans who might've felt too alienated by Battle Network's gameplay style

I know the main draw of the series is the Cyberworld, but compared to the mainline games where you also get to explore the real world, having any and all real-world events take place in Lan's bedroom (not even elsewhere in his house, only his room) feels cramped and sucks out a lot of the tension. Very much feels like a budgetary choice so the dev team could focus on the Cyberworld levels

The dialogue is a liiiiittle janky but it gets the point across

I'm sorry but Lan's 3D model is ugly. This is not my beautiful son

Some of the boss choices definitely felt a bit repetitive, but I liked the new navis like Quickman, Brightman, and Starman!! Also funny to see Bass pop up as a secret boss before he's been properly introduced to the story lol

Megaman trying to talk mean will never not be funny. This boy legally cannot say fuck

As repetitive as some things felt I will never not enjoy Lan and Megaman's allies coming together to help them during the climax

Professor is the Agent Stone to Wily's Dr. Eggman, you can't change my mind

I love Zero.EXE so so so much I would commit a felony for him

Really tho as simplistic as the story is, it still poses the interesting question of, "If data is not strictly good nor evil, is there such a thing as a good virus?" and I think it answered that pretty well with Zero. I was also pleasantly surprised by how his arc ended!! I was so convinced that Zero was going to have to sacrifice himself to save everyone from the Life Virus R, thus giving up the opportunity to be a real navi, but making peace with that if it meant keeping others safe and getting to feel happy that he could help. But nope!! Dr. Hikari just somehow made him into a real navi offscreen and now he gets to explore the Cyberworld!! It's a tad anticlimactic and I would've written it a little differently but hey I ain't complaining!!

The Life Virus R's design is also just as sick as the original, kinda reminded me of one of Lucemon's digivolutions

Idk how soon it'll happen, but when I eventually get to Battle Network 2, I'll actually be playing it for myself since I got the Legacy Collection for my birthday a while back!! In the meantime I'm gonna try to watch more of the anime when I can

[gilbertsdumbblog]

Tell me about bulgrin whore

GOD lmfao alright i picked a buncha random questions from this list

1. Whats their class and race? Why did you pick those? Bulgrin is a Githyanki Druid! I knew going into BG3 that I was likely to pick something like Druid for my first time playing, but I actually wasn't sure what species to pick; My first playthrough I was playing with Cronch (asker) and they picked Dragonborn for their Tav, so I wanted to pick something different. I didn't actually know anything abt the Gith when I picked Bulgrin's species, I mostly picked it because I thought 'Oh this guy looks woodsy!' and then later found out how the Gith uh. Generally are.

2. What do they look like? Do you use mods? Nope, no mods in my first playthrough! However, I did give Bulgrin tiefling eyes so he'd have black sclera.

Here's a few screenshots versus the ref I gave him!

3. How would you summarize their personality? Bulgrin is a very short-tempered, snippy shithead who loves picking fights he can't finish. Generally unpleasant to be around, but if he takes a shine to you, he'll do a lot to protect and help you.

6. How's their love life? Before the events of BG3? Abysmal. During BG3? Also bad. But he figures things out with Astarion shortly before the end of the events of BG3, so it's not all bad.

7. What do they think about this whole tadpole situation? Bulgrin is supremely upset about the entire situation. For awhile, however, he does attempt to leverage the power of the tadpoles in their favor, including willingly taking more on. After learning the identity of their 'Dream Visitor' however, Bulgrin quickly abandons those powers.

8. Was there an experience that really changed them? In game or in backstory? A lot of things have happened in Bulgrin's life that inform the kind of person he's become by the events of BG3, so it's difficult to choose just one to talk about. But, I think I'll settle for something that happened during the events of the game that changed him! Right at the start of Act 3, Bulgrin and Astarion ended up breaking up because in our original playthrough, I missed the interaction with Arej to progress his romance further. We reloaded back to Arc 2 after finding this out so I could properly romance the white boy, but I decided to keep this as part of the story because oh my god the DRAMA! The breakup from Astarion comes right after Bulgrin has just passed off leadership to Laurence and finding out that their 'Dream Visitor' who's been encouraging him to take more parasites is a fucking mindflayer, it kinda hits Bulgrin hard. This isn't helped by the fact that at the time, he didn't really have friends in the group thanks to being a dickhead for the most part. Eventually, things settle down again and Bulgrin starts making actual friends with the people in their party, and Astarion and Bulgrin actually get back together the night after Cazador is killed. But the breakup still sticks with Bulgrin, namely given that Astarion had told him at the time that he 'Wasn't worth the effort', which REALLY fucked with Bulgrin.

[galacticwildfire]

I think the most evil plotline I'll ever write is in Illicit Affairs, the arc in the clone wars when Obi-Wan fakes his death. He tries to give Rhea a heads up but the message doesn't quite come across. She doesn't feel him die when it happens, so she's effectively on her knees screaming that he's not dead with Anakin and Ahsoka both trying to pull her off as the council go to take the body.

Prior to this I'll have the season 2 arc with Mandalore, except Obi-Wan does everything in his power to keep his wife from finding out he's been assigned to see Satine since she knows enough to put together that it was her he was in love with and he doesn't want to cause an argument or upset her. It's a well intentioned but very bad mistake. Nothing happens between them but it's enough Anakin keys into the history along with Padmé.

So she's at Obi-Wan's funeral, having been literally sedated to get her there without a single care about what the council knows, and then Satine is there. It's going to be at her husbands funeral she finds out he'd lied to her and had seen Satine without her knowing. She shelves that considering he's dead, and her and Anakin decide to get revenge no matter the cost. To the point the council has to call Padmé in to intervene.

The council's lowkey always known about them, but at that point it's no longer a look the other way and pretend we don't kind of thing when she's that out of her mind. Eventually her and Anakin track down Obi-Wan when he's disguised as the bounty hunter and it's only when Rhea's about to murder him he slips up and escapes with her realising what he's done. At this point her and Anakin are partners in crime and are horrified and in complete disblief, trauma bonded to the max.

"I can't believe he never told you," Anakin says, that being the one thing I can't believe either. "I'm his padawan, he doesn't tell me anything. But you're his wife."

Hell she's even got Yoda apologising to her once he's realised he has the chosen one and count dooku's former apprentice about to commit murder together and drops the fact that he knew all along about her and Obi-Wan while Anakin keeps his mouth properly shut and his head down.

She's always had a bit of a vengeful streak in her, and she's just saw her husband die, thinks he might have cheated on her (he's innocent but still lied), and now he's suddenly alive and has lied to her to protect palpatine.

Knowing damn well Obi-Wan's in the room she walks into the warehouse on Naboo where Dooku's plotting and swears herself as his apprentice again (she doesn't even know if it's a lie or not at that point) just to hurt Obi-wan a fraction as much as he's hurt her. She is out for pure blood at that point. She's plotting Palpatine's assassination with Dooku and committing treason against the order and the republic right in front of Obi-Wan whose still in disguise and at that point the only thing stopped her from returning to dooku is the fact he tried to kill Padmé because she is just that done with the jedi by that point.

So when she tracks down Obi-Wan the next day when he's in that watch tower she lets all hell fly loose, but still keeps the Satine thing shelved for now (partly because she was that drugged up at the funeral she's still processing if that interaction was even real). And the fact that the whole plot was to protect palpatine, the person she hates more than anyone in the galaxy... she would trump anakin on his worst day, well except for his last one. She's torn between wanting to break down and cry with relief because he's alive and putting him back in that coffin herself. They'll eventually make it up enough to complete the mission, but when Obi-Wan confesses about Satina in the midst of Maul returning that will be the last straw.

He's going to accidentally both drag Padmé and Anakin into it with the "It was innocent, nothing but professional, Padmé even saw us in the senate you can ask her" and finding out Padmé and Anakin had also known and not told her... she's going to take off and they won't work things out for quite a long time.

I've written a lot of angst, but this arc is the worst of it. I'd written it a year and a half ago, then decided to rewrite the story so it was less insta-love and followed canon better. So... that will be a fun one to write again