#Im thinking all the kids could be kidnapped. add to the drama

[tag-that-oc]

Do you have any Ocs you’d like to talk about??

oh boy do i

im gonna introduce my scrungly my poor little meow meow my pathetic loser the love of my life. Arvid Sheldon Moreno <3

ill add trigger tags too of course but just in case: warning for abuse, violence, death, and kidnapping

first of all i am a Terrible artist but here's a commission i got of him from the lovely jester @/ghostcasket (with commissions still open here is the info post. go commission them he's wonderful)

anyways. ARVID. basically he's a second generation oc from the project me and the other mod have. he is like. 3/4 alien?? something like that. but he was born on earth and that's where he grew up.

his parents are lovely and perhaps very strange but they are so good to their kids. Arvid is a mama's boy in particular he is very close to her and very protective of her.

so. what's wrong with him then???? surely he has Every Problem Ever. well he does. when he was a kid he didn't really have any friends. he was outcasted and bullied from various sources but none more so than Alex. fuck Alex we hate that guy.

Alex caused problems for Arvid basically his whole life. he was harassed and followed and beaten and manipulated and. well a lot of things!!

Arvid met and became friends with Izan who was infinitely better for Arvid and nicer and they were just really close. however that didn't stop Alex from being an asshole ya know. and it got even worse when Izan broke off from Arvid due to trying to manage his own trauma of a recent event unrelated to Arvid's stuff

so what did Arvid do? he clung to Alex and they became "friends". during this time Alex really drilled into Arvid's head the idea that he shouldn't cry, that he was weak, that no one else could tolerate him, and Arvid believed it all. things escalated until Alex and one of his other friends attacked and stabbed Arvid during a time when Izan and Arvid were trying to patch things up. and they left him there.

Izan got him help, but Arvid refused to let Alex get into trouble. in fact he had a strong fondness and loyalty to him and so what did he do? he confessed that he was in love with Alex. and Alex, ever amused and delighted by the power and control he had over Arvid, accepted his confession and they started dating.

and they didn't break up for a really really long time!

however this is all the backstory info! (well not all of his backstory but Some of it) this isn't even taking into account the story events! the story events being Arvid and his entire family gets kidnapped and taken to an alien planet because these fucked up brothers were trying to get and erase information on the esp experiments that happened during the first generation (meaning the things Arvid's parents went through) and. well long story short Dawson (does anyone remember when i talked about him?) was forced by his older brothers to kill Arvid and his mom. fucked up!!

but it's okay, isn't it? yeah Arvid comes back to life thanks to a wish made by Dawson on this super powerful wish granting magical rock. and they all live happily ever after on earth!

but not really.

when Arvid gets back he discovers that in addition to being brought back to life, he's now immortal. which is the LAST thing he wants because he didn't even want to be brought back to life if he was being honest. and Alex being the wonderful person he is decides to use this to his advantage (basically isn't it fun to kill your boyfriend over and over while he remains blindly loyal to you? Alex seems to think so)

however Arvid has other relationship drama going on. he has feelings for soo many other people but didn't feel worthy enough to be in a relationship with any of them. why would anyone ever like him back ya know?

except a lot of them did like him back. a lot actually. and Arvid starts dating others and building this lovely little polycule of people who really and genuinely love and care about him. and it takes a long time, but eventually Arvid breaks things off with Alex and tries to be happy. key word being that he tries because sometimes he doesn't do a very good job of it. he's still got it in his head that he deserves to suffer and will go on self destructive spirals now that he doesn't have a boyfriend beating him to shit constantly anymore.

some fun facts about Arvid is that he's a supervillain. i mean not Really a supervillain but he's a loser and tells everyone that he's evil. type of guy to steal from large corporations but not from local places. but this is all evil deeds he swears it. he also has plans to take over the world which he only shares with people he really trusts. he's so lame <3

he's also extremely emotional and will cry really easily but. well due to Alex Reasons he will belittle himself for showing sadness. he is obsessed with people seeing him as strong when his 5'3 ass can't even open a pickle jar

Arvid is also very very soft and sensitive about bugs he loves bugs!!! they were his best friends back when he didn't have any friends and even now he still treats them so gently. it's a really cool contrast to his usual edgy personality.

also!! he has really bad luck all the time <3 constantly tripping over stuff and falling in puddles and breaking his phone and. other bad luck stuff.

anyways i hope you enjoyed my insane ramblings about my scrungy little guy

[maxymylli0n]

IM STARTING OFF THIS POST BY SAYING I COMPLETELY AND WHOLEHEARTEDLY LOVED THIS SERIES. It was just so different than other korean dramas and it focused so much more on the plot than the romantic love story (not that I'm complaining about it I mean we're talking about Lee Min Ho here anyway). Also, the actors *chefs kiss*, the dialouge *chefs kiss*, the cinematography *chefs kiss*, everything was on point.

But not everything is perfect so listen to me rant about it lmao.

THE FIRST AND ONLY TIME I WILL TALK ABOUT THIS HERE BECAUSE THIS IS A PERSONAL ACCOUNT AND I'M JUST AFRAID FANS WILL ATTACK ME FOR IT BUT I JUST NEED TO SAY MY REVIEW FOR THE KING ETERNAL MONARCH.

But you know if you actually wanna talk about it without hating my opinions, you can dm 😩

ANYWAY

I loved and did not like that ending real quick because I have so many more questions than I did last episode. The first twenty minutes made sense and while the other half did too, it just seems too good to be just that. So here's bullet points of things I think about (and still do) with this drama:

Okay first, why did his pen work in that one episode where he wanted to prove to Yeong that time stopped but then in the later episodes, the syringes didn't?

I STILL DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW KID WITH THE YOYO IS IMPORTANT OR IS NOT? WHAT

Yoooo you did prime minister dirty like that like that's it? That's her whole part in this? She goes to Korea once and then, nothing?

It doesn't change the fact that Head Lady Noh was still from Korea right?

I kinda think I know why Tae-ul remembers him but the others do not but I just wanna see if someone think differently.

LUNA????????? WHAT WAS HER PART IN THIS EXACTLY?????? I WANTED DEVELOPMENT FOR HER but I mean she got the happy ending and the better life she deserves

Yo I wanted to see more of Yeong and Seung-a interactions but I was deprived of it

I reallyyyyyy thought their portals were far away from each other but no? Or is it? Idk anymore lmao

Lee Lim really just killed himself in that one episode huh. Just imagine how hard you've worked to have things your way only to meet your past self and have him kill you lmao

In the end, Lee Gon is still king right? The ending still doesn't answer the fact that he has to have a queen.

NA-RI AND EUN SUP DESERVED A SCENE TOGETHER WHERE THEY WERE ALREADY TOGETHER

That yoyo kid giving Tae-ul a knife when she was kidnapped in that episode was so convienient like imagine if he wasn't there

Either Lee Gon has super speed or is very quiet but him catching up to Lee Lim without him noticing and hella fast sounds like complete shit to me.

Am I really just pessimistic or this series over all just lacked some kind of tragic event

Kdramas really loves finding ways to tie up everyone together like how all of a sudden Prime Minister becomes sister with Luna

Can we just laugh at that fact that Lee Lim thought he could get Sin-jae on his side

Basically, if I had to summarize that ending in one word: convienient. PLEASE DON'T ATTACK ME, I WILL CRY. But it just seems too positive when they still literally live worlds apart. Everything just seemed like it worked its way to their advantage.

I, honestly, still have many more questions and things to add to this but for now, here. Warning: I will be editing this and adding to it.

[sparkythehappygiraffe]

Yoooo before I read y’alls thoughts on part 3, I’m just gonna dump all of mine here, y'all have probably already talked about some of this, but here’s my initial reaction (it’s kinda a lot lol)

Beware spoilers

WHEN I SAID MRS. MADO WAS SUS RIGHT AFTER PART 1 I SOOOOO CALLED IT BAHAHAHAHAHAH

Suzu really did kidnap Emily, but THEN Mado ALSO kidnapped Emily, poor Emily geez

Forest Mountain!!! (Okay but also how in the world did they get all the way to Forest Mountain?? We know for sure it’s AT LEAST a 19 minute drive from Odyssey, probably more like 30 or 40 and you’re telling me Suzu and Emily walked all the way there? Sureeeeeee)

The shack AAHHHHHHHHHH, I miss Novacom

Suzu claims to have installed the trapdoor, but like we know it was there because that’s where the Imagination Station was right...? Maybe it’s not the same shack? Maybe Suzu just never found the hidden room? Still doesn’t make any sense tbh

The score still slaps bros

Emily really just sacrificed herself for someone again didn’t she? What a gal, who knew I would come to admire a middle schooler

“Same old Whit’s End, same old Whit’s office” AH you know she’s thinking of that whole stand down from Name, Not a Number (and all the times she and Jason went up there to talk 😢)

Whit explaining Remembrance Day had me DYING, like you know it was just because kids have no idea what they’re talking about, but it was so funny to me

The figurine reminds me SO MUCH of the statue of liberty debacle from Sounds Like a Mystery

“Are there more agents here in Odyssey?” “I’m not allowed to say” THE IMPLICATIONS AASASAFASFHGDFHADH Is Jason still in the game after all? If not then who the hek is it? Is this a clue for something later? Or yet another casual Easter egg that will lead to nothing? We may never know and that drives me nutssssssss

“To conduct espionage on US soil” “And has she?” “I can’t say that either” “Awww” Same Morrie, same. Also big Search for Whit vibes lol, Morrie is actually Jason 😂

“First things first, do you have the maple leaf-” “That’s not the first thing, Suzu do you know where Emily and Mrs. Mado are??” LOLLLLL Tasha always thinking about the job first, people later 😂 And Whit’s just like Tasha nO. Also hOW did Suzu get all the way back to Whit’s End I dont understanddddd

Emily sending a lil secret message just like Tasha did in Name, Not a Number ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what a queen

This whole exchange situation is JUST like Name, Not a Number and I LOVE it

But also none of this makes the entire first part of the Rydell saga make any frickin sense smh. Like, the locker mystery still DOES NOT add up at allllllllllll. I’m so annoyed.

“You look different somehow” “it’s what happens when someone you trust betrays you” Now that we know that was actually Tasha, that comment makes me feel 🥺 she knows that feeling too well rip

Im a little confused about how that whole Imagination Station trick worked tho, but also I love it lol. There would be no drama in Odyssey without the Imagination Station would there 😂

Is this the same water works plant where Charles Edward Thompson saved Odyssey? Because idk why, but I find that funny

“Why not? He already locked me in a room and sucked out all the air, why not drown me this time?” Emily nooooooooooo, she deserves better

Was Mado actually hurting Tasha? How did that even work, I feel like Tasha and Suzu are pretty different in stature...? Imagination Station magic

GO TASHA YOU KICK BUTT LADY I LOVE YOU

Whit said the modification that could make someone seem like someone else came from a “different program I developed recently” THE IMPLICATIONS AGAIN Whit what are you up to??? It also reminded me of Blackgaard in Blackgaard’s Revenge tho which is a little scary

CONSPIRACY THEORY: Blackgaard really did manage to put his mind in Mr. Whittaker and that’s why he’s been acting sooooo off lately

Tasha just slips off into the night... SADNESS

We still have no idea what her job at the agency is at this point tho and that’s annoying

CONFIRMED Tasha knows Jason isn’t dead I flippin KNEW it, I’ve been saying it this whole time, I’m proud of myself 😂

What do you MEAN don’t tell Jason????? WHY??? IM SO UPSETTTTTTTTTTT

But when Whit says he won’t, he sounds low key sad and I’d love to understand why or what we somehow missed here, like what is HAPPENING?

Emily sounds so hurt and I HATE it

We all joke about the Whittakers endangering half the kids in Odyssey but WHAT THE HEK WHIT?? “Maybe I should have stepped in sooner” YA THINK?? WHERE HAS ALL OF HIS GOOD JUDGEMENT GONE? I DONT SEE IT ANYWHERE

Whit they’re 12, they aren’t supposed to be in life threatening situations, what is WRONG with you?

Whit that is NOT a satisfactory answer

Low key hype to still have the Rydells around tho

Dad Whit comin out full force tho, which I am very much here for

Finally gettin his foster kids (after all that jazz with Clara and Tony and Brianna, he’s been wanting this FOREVER)

But I just want to point out, we know two GENIUS foster parents that would know what to do with two GENIUS foster kids, I’m just saying, idk why this wasn’t more obvious here (it would probably be quite the chaotic time with Buck and everything, buuuuuuuut it could work)

I guess that’s all I have to say for now, but Imma go read what you guys thought, I’m VERY excited

[tropicalgoon]

Spoilers for the Homestuck Epilogue below.

First things first, i had caught up reading Homestuck on the exact day the Gigapause started (10/16/13). So long pauses and people arguing about canon was pretty common. Then the comic ended but later we got snapchats. Once the snapchats started coming people were unsure how ‘canon’ the snapchats were. Also    

i was surprised with how fast the rest of the Epilogue came out. I figured it would have been drip fed like the comic was but reading it now i can see why that was not the case. If you haven't read the Epilogue i have one thing to say.

PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO THE CONTENT WARNINGS THEY ARE NOT JOKES.

With that out the way, i think the biggest shift in the Epilogue vs the actual comic is that everything is way more mature. While Homestuck was full of angsty, snarky teens and a lot of jokes, ironic and not, the Epilogue overall has a more somber, powerless mood to it.

Also one more thing, i do not have a fav character or ship. So that might be why im upset about how it is.

Now i read the Candy choice first so ill talk about that. Now as soon as i saw the juju i knew it was going to have an effect. And i was right, the juju makes people feel okay with their surroundings and so when John ate it he felt at ease with the chaos his life and friends were becoming. But hoo boy did everyone suck all around. 

i knew Gamzee was gonna be back and i was not wrong. i think the whole iVe bEeN GeTtIn mY MoThErFuCkIn rEdEmPtIoN On sO EvErYtHiN I Do iS GoOd was a funny bit but maaaaaan did it get a lil crazy. Jake has always been a doormat and easily manipulated. So nothing too new there but it was nice when he ran off with lil tavros. Also i guess hes the earth c equivalent to a kardashian.

 It really surprised me how fast Roxy got together with John. In fact the Candy Roxy is way different than the meat Roxy. i guess thats the juju at work. Rose was sick with an “illness” but soon after the candy was ate she got “better”. What actually happened was she stopped trying to open her mind to the infinite degree and just let herself live in the moment and be truly happy. It was nice to see her and Kanaya have a happy life, at least until everything went bad. As for Dirk i felt bad for him because he always had that whole meta textual self importance thing going on so when he offed himself i was like oh no. Its nice that him and Dave had bro-sesions.

And now time to talk about Jade, Dave, and Karkat. It feels like Dave and Karkat have mostly stayed the same with a few big differences.1) they both are a little less insufferable, 2) Karkat has accepted he is a leader and 3) their tip toeing around relationships was kinda annoying. Which brings me to Jade. She was butting into all three of their relationships trying to force them to admit feelings. While ive seen some people say Hussie killed Jade i personally dont think so. Jade was always a headstrong, stubborn person who would go after what she wanted and i mean she was on an island by herself for most of her life if she wants to have fun let her. 

Jane really went off the deep end. Which i dont think was so far off her canon personality in the comic. Her denying being xenophobic while being incredibly xenophobic was funny but also pretty real. While i didnt like they way she interacted with Jake it honestly fits in with what happens in the comic. (the trickster stuff, the crockercorp kidnapping). Her whole shadowy rise to hidden power was inevitable also i feel like she was really echoing the Condense on earth. Allowing Gamzee to spread his faith while funneling her wealth and fame into passing the policies and laws she wants. I do not think its out of character for her and Dirk to hate trolls since their lives were so affected by them. 

Johns depression clouding his judgement and making him not want to react was sad to read. It really felt like he was just drifting around, letting all of the situations and chaos just wash over him. So when he was talking to Terezi and she helped him make sense of things it was a nice turn of pace.

Speaking of Terezi, its sad how long she went chasing after (Vriska). As of this moment i dont really think the quadrant system is really in place anymore (at least relationships with humans in it). With John and Terezi talking to each other it really felt like blackrom.  “1F 1 W3R3 3V3R TO DO BL4CKROM 4G41N, 1T WOULD H4V3 TO B3 LOW K3Y”. It is sad her obsession with finding (Vriska) led to her dying in the void.

Seeing Aradia and Sollux was a surprise but they really didnt add much to anything (esp. Sollux). It was kinda funny how much of a dickhead Cade (Calliope Jade) was towards her. Cade was interesting. i really feel like she acts like she did in the comic. 

(Vriska) returning was also not a surprise. She THE most known character. Of course she would be back, but not by her own accord. She wants the spotlight, she HAS to have it. Now that she is trapped on earth c she is now out of canon and so she is out of the spotlight. Thats why she was wailing about needing to SEE it. I think its kinda funny she ends up having a quick fling with Gamzee, and he tries to sell her on his redemption arc bullshit. It really shows how far her obsession has let her fall.

And now its time for meat. Honestly im glad i read candy first because meat was really nice to read after candy. As i said with candy, i figured meat would be the more active of the two (duality like the cherubs). 

First off it was really nice to see how much Dave believes in Karkat and how he thinks Karkat would be leader earth c NEEDS. In Meat they still have their relationship drama with themselves and Jade. I really feel like shes slightly more direct in this one. After the blowup 

John dealing with Roses instructions, finding and bringing together the younger versions of themselves so they could go fight a younger Caliborn and getting sucked into the the house juju was not a surprise since its been theorized thats what would happen. Of course Rose did not warn him, or even tell him what to do. Even when the younger versions of Johns friends die and get hurt he still tries to save them. 

Jake is a very powerful figure in the new earth, he doesnt even realize it. Which leads to everyone trying to get him on their sides. I honestly feel like this is partly his page powers (but then again the classes and aspects dont mean all that much) but he has always been unconfrontational and a doormat. Dirk, Jane, Dave, and Karkat only want to use him for his ass and fame so they can further their agendas. 

i think its rather fitting that (Vriska) doesnt get to see how the battle against Lord English ended. It was GREAT to see Davepetasprite^2 make a comeback and fight Lord English. She KNOWS the final battle isnt her battle but she is still THE ONE who turns the tide. She’s the one who has brought the winning piece so its still a victory of hers by proxy. Also she does not have the talk with Vriska (rose and kanayas kid) on a clown throw pillow so she does not get to do the self reflection she needs. Instead she gets sucked into a black hole.

The Jane and Dirk combo was not surprising, they both had the hangups about Jake and i feel like it ended the same way. Once they got what they wanted it was no longer exciting, or mysterious. But reading the political sabotage and Dirks plans coming together made me realize he was using her for his own gains too. 

Now the whole Rose dying because her physical body couldn't contain the infiniteness of infinity was truly heartbreaking. Especially when Dirk was fucking with Kanaya. i do not know how much of Rose was being manipulated by Dirk and how much was her wanting to end her chronic suffering(2real4me). Addressing all of the....implications around those two. i really do not think they ran off to be together. i believe Rose is the first person Dirk has really connected with on a actual personal level. From what ive seen he does not really treat people as well... people. I think him and Rose are feeling the, “i am the only real person here and everyone else is a puppet” feeling John and Terezi was talking about. But unlike John, Dirk was never one to sit idly by, hes a mechanic after all. All the pieces have to be in place.

The whole bit with Cade and dirk taking control of the narrative was something i feel like has been building up for a long while. The unreliable narrator has been established a few times in the comic, in friendsim, and now in the epilogue. But it does raise a good question about who has been narrating the story and can they be trusted to give us the truth. We saw Dirk acknowledge that he is not unbiased and says things as he sees it. Cade says shes unbiased and just gives the whole truth but all i can think about is how she made Jane carefully cradle the juju and put it on the mantle. Watching Dirk outsmart Cade was defiently exciting to read. I cannot wait to see where all of this is leading to. 

Do i think thats the end of both of Davepetasprite^2 and Lord English? No, as the comic has always said,” Don’t turn your back on the body.” We dont know where they ended up but we’ll just have to wait for more to come out and i cant wait. Does Rose, Dirk, and Terezi (i guess) have an agenda, yes. Do i have any goddamn idea what that is? Nope, and im fine with that. Overall i enjoyed both of them.

[cupofbrownsugar]

I know you probably haven't thought about this fic (post/89591163637) in a really really long time, but I was wondering if you could do a summary or something of what was going to happen next? Just an explanation of where Jim and Spock were and why they didn't respond, or maybe how they eventually made up? It's such a good fic!

oh wow! thanks anon!! i actually was thinking about that fic not too long ago ahahaha (i hope this is the right one im thinking of as i don’t know how to access the post through that; the one where bones is going away on the bus?), never thought anyone else would have any interest in it. yeah no problem, i can give you a quick summary (from what i remember, it was a while ago):

(i found the post, here’s the link to the first part)

bones ends up staying in a tiny beach side town, for a few days, maybe a week? two weeks max? he doesn’t want to check his phone, so he doesn’t notice that the tiny town gets cell service, in like, only one tiny spot. so when he finally goes to the one cafe with wifi in town to send a message to his mom (he promised to check in, didn’t mention any of the drama with his besties/bfs though), he notices a baJILLION messages from jim and spock, ranging from super worried to super apologetic to crazy pissedbones has no clue what to think about it, he’s just been feeling like shit mostly the whole time and trying to figure his head out. there are pages of texts from them too, and all he responds is “wat” and jim texts back SPOCK SAYS YOU NEVER TURNED OFF ‘LOCATION SERVICES’ LIKE HE TOLD YOU TO AND NOW WE’RE COMINGim thinking that jim and spock weren’t there because they were running an errand and fucked it up. maybe even thought that they themselves were supposed to have leonards ticket and freaked when they found out they only had two, so went off to try and correct it cuz emails and calls and whatnot weren’t working. and then jim’s phone died (leonard always told him to bring his charger but he wasn’t there to remind him) and spock got caught up arguing with the vender with semantics (bones usually was able to nudge him with a look that cued him to cut to the chase), so thats what left bones all alone.

anyway, jim and spock show up before bones can arrange another bus out of town (it’s tiny. like, one bus comes a day. he doesn’t want to just keep running but he doesn’t know what to feel either and still wanted to escape from everything for a while). they pretty much kidnap him into their rented car and drive off, spock cold and silent behind the wheel and jim fuming in the front seat

jim is trying to cover his hurt by acting like he’s mad that bones left on some sweet beach vaca without them, but his cheeks and ears are red and ruddy like when he’s hurt and his smile is sharp and his eyes wet. spock says that bones was being irresponsible and illogical but he’s only looking at the straight ahead and his hands are clenched on the wheel like when he can’t hold himself together.

bones, so used to feeling nothing but sad and empty for the past few days, blows the fuck up like “are you fuckers fucking kidding me??? you abandoned me, you fucks, you don’t get to be mad, what the fuck” and then his eyes are wet too and jim and spock are like fuck and know how much they fucked up and verbalize it and apologize and explain the whole fuck up sitch, and they’re really like

“the funny thing is, if you had been there, none of this would’ve happened. we wouldn’t have fucked up with you there, and now we may have fucked up everything with -you-”

and bones is shocked but not convinced and like “why do you care, you know you’re better just you two together…” and then goes and lists off the differences he notices between how they act with each other

and jims like “what?? what about you and spock huh?? when you both just, make some inside joke without saying anything, or go to those gardening things together. i… you guys mesh so well like that..”

and spock’s like “the both of you… you are fine with intimacy, both physical and emotional. it is so natural for you. i feel.. i know it is more difficult with me…”

and pretty much they ALL had thought they were the odd one out at some point, but bones is the heart of the three of them, so of course it got to him worst.

and jims like “bones… of course we love you. we’ve all got our insecurities to work on, but i guess we need to work on making sure you know how we feel too.” and he turns and glares at him “especially now that we know how ready you are to fuck off into nowhere with no warning.” jim huffs but he can’t help but sound impressed “fuck, you were hard to track”

“agreed” spock adds in, looking at leonard through the rear view mirror “perhaps if we hold onto you tighter it will make it harder for you to slip away from us”

“well…” bones is blushing now, eyes still wet but he’s starting to grin “you can try, but this bird knows how to fly when necessary”

and jim whines “bonnnnnes” and tries to jump into the back seat to kiss his cheeks and Leonard yells at him about road safety and tries to playfully push him away, and spock keeps his eyes firmly on the road but also gets a handful of jims ass

anyway. they end up driving to the next little town and having their own lil getaway week together (and from then on, learn to actually communicate their feelings, and try to include whoever is the third man out during those moments they all worried about)

there you go, anon! hope that was a satisfying conclusion for you! i really don’t mind giving the endings of what was gonna happen next for fics i started but didn’t finish, so if anyone else is interested in a diff unfinished story, just shoot me a message!

[ooc-but-stylish]

iprinny

 “There’s a lot that gets me about the love story in FFXV and how it…”

Im super curious to know what your thoughts are on that absurdity with prompto’s “dramatic reveal” in chapter 13

Hoo boy. My opinion about the “dramatic reveal” is pretty much my opinion on the whole game, which is 

“Good plot, terrible execution”

Prompto was an MT? Neat. However,

it should have happened earlier

it should’ve been resolved earlier

it should have had a bit more foreshadowing if it was going to be dragged out to Chapter 13 of all things. 

With regards to the actual scene, my first impressions were “Damn, Prompto looks good for a guy that fell off a moving train and got tortured!” then “Oh, oh shit, this is the twist– Prompto’s gonna strangle the shit out of Noct, isn’t he? He’s right there–” and finally “…. Oh.”

The game has Prompto like “Oh, I’ve been tortured for a while in this dungeon, also I wanna tell you guys I’m a Nif/MT”(1) and the bros are like “Ok so? That doesn’t change anything. We still care about you.” which matches more the reaction parents should have when their kid comes out of the closet than anything else. One of their own revealed themselves to be part of the same army that, like, has been attacking them relentlessly on the World Map every 15 minutes ( and interrupting the important dialogue we’ll never hear again ). You know the reaction Wakka had about Rikku being Al Bhed? Yeah. I was expecting that, most likely from Gladio. But they’ve known each other since they were kids, more or less, and those of us who have played the game, regardless of whether we did or didn’t see Brotherhood or the extra media, have likely already seen proof of their unwavering friendship toward each other even in portions of the game where it wouldn’t even make much sense for them all to still be cool.(2) So this… is a waste. It reinforced what we already knew. It served no purpose except to reveal a plot-convenient serial code on his wrist to help them escape, and it raised more questions. 

MTs are made from daemons made from Starscourged humans, and Niflheim would need a lot of humans, so they started making clones and infecting them. Prompto is supposedly one of them, but escaped when he was super young and adopted into the Argentum family. Okay, so who got him out of that lab? Why did he still have “no parents” in Brotherhood? Who were his parents? Were they natives to Insomnia? How did he get a nice place to live in and not end up in the outskirts/slum parts of Lucis on account of his being a foreigner? If he got a serial code imprinted when he was a baby, wouldn’t it have deformed as he grew up? How did it maintain its shape? Was the barcode the same size throughout his life? Why isn’t he wearing light-resistant armor, like the other MTs? This is stuff we’d have to read the Wiki or the strategy guide about, except I’m still asking these questions, so the answers exist nowhere. Even to this day. And people still have theories on whether the Naga in the beginning of the game ( the one that kidnapped Prompto and cried about her baby ) was actually Prompto’s mother. That’s fucked up storytelling, not because they did it on purpose, but because they didn’t.

The reveal happens and is resolved so quickly, no one has the time to process anything. A lot of this game is pretty much “Here’s this earth-shattering detail! Let us never speak of it again”. 

Like, yeah, Noct is broken up he attacked Prompto and knocked him off the train, but did he process the part where he said everything was Prom’s fault and demanding that Prom stop following him around? Right to his face?

Did no one stop to think that Ardyn being able to make himself look like another person means that there’s 0 chance any of them would know for certain that their allies were their allies? Wouldn’t they be in an intensely paranoid state, questioning each other on stuff the “real” them would know about? How do any of them know Ardyn isn’t still right there, hiding in plain sight?

Details that would have worked as foreshadowing for Prompto’s reveal, instead of Ardyn dropping eleventh hour infodumps on Niflheim’s army allowing for post-hoc bullshit:

The constant Magitek encounters come specifically from the Nifs geotracking Prompto’s barcode. The party actually brings up the frequency of these attacks, but Prompto is hesitant to say anything.

None of the Magiteks attack Prompto, focusing on the other three in the party instead of “one of their own”. Possibly dumb luck, and saves every gamer the trouble of Prompto always dying first somehow.

Increased frequency of goofy Ardyn selfies and creepy Prompto pictures on any day Ardyn is with the party.

Instead of Ardyn’s “stitch in time” thing that is never explained again, and Ardyn’s immortality just being the Astrals going “Ew, cooties” and banning him from the Beyond to inflict him on the living, have this: the way 'Ardyn’ appears and disappears is by body-hopping from one Starscourge-afflicted/daemonified person to another. Some individuals are more receptive to him than others based on how far along they are in their daemonification or MT experiments. So why was he on that train, in the place of Prompto? Because something inside Prompto allowed him to be there ( enough to alter his looks but not his speech patterns ). He could drop that particular bomb in Ch 12 before telling Noctis that Prompto is in Gralea.

Ardyn’s immortality comes from the fact that when he ‘dies’, he just manifests in the next likely person to host him or maybe someone of his choosing if he wants. That adds the drama of Ardyn not really ever being dead for good, and the possibility that he could take over Prompto in his next life if he felt like it. That’s a better justification for “You have to kill this dude, then kill yourself, then kill him again” than “Because the gods said so”.

TLDR the Prompto reveal sucked ass.

(1) Let me get this out: Fuck This Game. The localization sucks in its consistency by language. Bahamut is either the Draconian or the Aetherian. Ardyn could have either vaguely “known” Gentiana died, or personally had a hand in killing her. Izunia is either a relative of Ardyn, and Noctis’s ancestor, or is a completely random name Ardyn made up that he forgot the origins of. The Japanese version of the game, rather than hinting that Prompto is an MT, has sections where Ardyn instead taunts Noctis about “Did you know he’s originally from this city?”, and when Prompto reveals it to the group he says “I’m a person of Niflheim”. Even the JP VA confirmed it. So whether or not Prompto is even a Magitek is dependent on language of the game. I can understand that they were trying to go for, but they should have been consistent. Must have been something to do with the constant rewrites of the plot.

(2) Fuck This Game Part Duh: No, seriously. It tried to eat its cake and still have it, and I’ll tell you why. The game doesn’t actually give a shit about your choices. It wants its narrative both ways, telling us that Noctis in particular has certain “fixed” character traits but giving us a choice to make him another way in his dialogue options typical of Western RPGs which have “blank slate” characters. Using both methods and no lasting plot divergences to support those choices beyond the immediate cutscene makes it so that the dialogue options have no impact on the story or make sense, suggesting you play it “Square’s way” or else the game ignores your choices, which is fundamentally not how open world western RPGs work.

A playthrough in which Noctis acts like a total jerk to Prompto and dismissing him every chance he gets will still result in Prom wanting to hear from Noct that he cared about his well being, as well as Prom expressing sadness that Noct will die. 

A playthrough where Noctis puts only platonic or indifferent notes into the book he sends to Luna will still result in the scenes in Chapter 9 where he sheds a tear at her speech, laments that he wanted to save her, and then is quiet rather than impassioned and vengeful, even though he summoned Ramuh and busted a base to rescue the Regalia and to get revenge for Jared of all people.

A playthrough where the Altissian woman interrogates Noctis and Noctis answers by straight-up fucking metagaming and showing more understanding of the lore of the story than he’s ever been told and treating her with respect should count as “gaining her implicit trust”, but we still see a scene where Luna is sitting in the chair across from the Altissian woman and Imperial forces come in and surround Luna anyway, meaning the Altissian lady sold them out.

A playthrough where Noctis only ever responds maturely to Gladio, and his conversations with others have the options for him to act like a leader and the King he’s meant to be, will still result in Gladio chewing him out unnecessarily while the game clunkily tells us Noctis “is a spoiled brat/selfish”, “is being immature” and was “moping for weeks” about Luna even though we just saw her death five minutes ago and Noctis is shown to be quiet but otherwise not stalling the quest in any way. We didn’t even see a funeral, or excessive crying or outbursts, or Noctis demanding that everyone focus on his pain and staying in Altissia locked in a hotel room. He’s just quiet on a train. 

Chapter 13 of the game is especially awful, when both it and Ardyn insist that Noct is supposed to be some scared, frightened puppy without his weapons when he’s wielding the most canonically powerful item in the game, casually ripping gashes in reality and insta-killing a fortress full of daemons with an anti-daemon ring, and the player is able to ignore most (if not all) stealth mechanics and blitz through that chapter with no penalty.

For those that did the side quests throughout the game, the only trait from gameplay that sticks in the narrative is that Noctis is a passive entity. He’s told to do something, he just does it. Otherwise, no matter what, even if you played the game and had Noctis act like a rude shit and played as if none of the Bros were his Bros, they’re still going to be Bros. They’re still going to care about him, including Prompto. Especially Prompto.

[vr2]

*turn around in shorts that say its time for my fuckin opinion on the ass* hey sweaty read to choke on my bns hot takes for uh lets see here uh ... t-two thousand words....

first of all... im pretty easily entertained so if u fail to do that its so like something has gone horribly wrong. i can enjoy pretty much anything halfway decent and i hate nitpicking on shit. but nitpicking implies small problems and sometimes the problem is the whole fucking thing. but man the direction bns has been going in is like. it really be like that, it really be just the most blatantly boring and uninspired it could go and here’s my fucking video essay that i will not do you the honour of being read aloud since the force of my opinion would crush your skull like a grape if spoken in the real world. 

first of all. i generally didnt have a problem with act1 bns story, i honestly thought it had some cool characters, some COOL as fuck cutscenes and as a person that loves lore juice a lot of the characters held a lot of promise and the diary was a fun read despite being the absolutely worst most stupid way to deliver any sort of lore content.

the circular narrative, the tight ending and the callback to all the characters was pretty well-rounded, a little but hammy but adopting the hongmoon kids nad becoming the master of your school was pretty novel. i really felt like there were so many new places to go with this dynamic, like bns could do something new by giving the mc more stakes in other characters rather than being a complete wildcard drifter.

but they keep doing this fucking thing were they repeat story themes in a way thats become incredibly unwelcome. i can understand why npcs would become recurring characters, why certain objects etc are still relevant but the fact that beat for beat the endgame again is divine mandate, mushins there, namsoyoo in danger and someone gets killed off for the sake of idk tragedy i guess. 

i think the worse thing is that the game tries to be tongue in cheek about its tropiness and normally id be like ok cool but the tropes are executed just so fucking blandly and soullessly its kind of insulting like. they really absolutely did not fucking try in the slightest for this one. not at fucking all. 

ryu saying ‘oh it would be so bad if you passed out form poison at an inconvenient time’ and the obvious death flags from bunah and bunyang are incredibly grating when you have absolutely no fucking stake in the story, know exactly whats coming cause the writing repeats itself over and over and know the exact same beats. 

at the very least most people can stand tropey anime, hell you can even ENJOY it if you are absorbed into the world and characters and the tropes are executed well. but this story is wholesale just same fucking shit slightly different npcs. it feels like they tries to manufacture drama in the most blatantly cheap way and it really lets itself down. i could honestly see them killing ONE of the kids for cheap and dirty tearjerking but man all of them leaving you alone again with jsy is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo unebelievably lazy. we have entered asian tv drama levels but at least those are fucking interesting. even the dance number in this act was shit.

i think the most annoying thing is that bns is one of the first mmos i played way back when and i still genuinely like the game up to a point and i like the world and characters. im literally always moaning bout how they did fuck all with the eight masters but gave them the barest most tantalizing hints of interesting characterisation in the diaries. but i think that’s all you need. it doesnt need to be 24/7 ballz to the walls worldending tragedy shock tactics to be entertaining. it somehow feels like they played it so incredibly safe that they looped around and made the worst decision possible and i just really wish theyd hire just your random ass average fucking ln writer cause theyd at least make shit entertaining. like the long form story telling of a truple a game thats reaching nearly 10 acts now should definitely be better than this like. what a fucking way to drop the ball.  

now. my second bone to grind. tell me why they actively REMOVED? ALL SIDE QUESTS? what kind of game, especially an mmo would fucking remove its OWN lore? why would that make any fucking sense? especially for how lore-light this game is but how vast its world is like sidequests felt like the absolute BARE minimum way to furnish this admittedly underdeveloped world. they at least gave us that slight illusion of depth and some of them were even fun! interesting! i still remember the sidequest where you go on a ‘hostage rescue mission’ to save an npc’s son who was kidnapped by lycandi and the npc who fucking gave you the mission murders his own son in front of you cause he was bumpin with the lycandi like. it’s not fucking riveting writing but it gave some more context to the places you visit, it’s SOMETHING about the supposed people that inhabit the world and it clearly makes some places more memorable than just ‘cool sky desert’, ‘cool sky city’, ‘cool sky village’.

im vaguely aware that this was done cause it ‘confused players’ who thought they had to do blue quests to level up to endgame and firstable idk why bns pushes endgame as the only ‘good’ part when its like in my humble opinion really fucking boring. you know people play mmos for different reasons? not just to reach lvl 100 super tier omega hongmoon thornbuster breakre 5000 and be no.1 in pvp. just looking flashy and good combat isn’t really enough to compete these days. im guessing its a push to the esports scene but also like you really want to serve one side better by doing relateively arbitrary thing that fucks over pve ppl? like? 

also there ARE genuinely people interested in the world and content and story as exemplified by all the oc and various comics and even even some official webcomics like i honestly dont think nc at all in any way nurtures that side of their mmo nearly enough especially when you see how healthy and thriving ff14 and other communities are in their oc scene. the sheer fact that people still stuck around despite the experiene of playing bns being patently awfully optimised and an uphill battle in every single way is testament to the fact that maybe some people just genuinely like the game? gutting it is absolutely antithesis to that.

i actually cant wrap my head around purposefully deleting lore cause it makes ‘grinding to endgame’ too confusing like does the story take that low a priority? the fucking ACTUAL game and the story is less important than people mindlessly burning themselves out to endgame, grinding dungeons and buying lootboxes like you cant do in literally every other game anyways? why would you get rid of some of the only shit that makes your game even slightly different? like im not out here saying it was the most revolutionary great shit but at least the side quests TRIED to give a modicum of flavour to bns. like they at least attempted to add to all the zones and make them places rather than set pieces were story happens to you then you leave and never come back. it doesnt even have to be revolutionary amazing writing to do that it just needs to be serviceable to give even the slightest sense of depth.

but for some reason rather than idk. just tell people theyre just flavour text and theyre not compulsory or just toggle on/off the fucking blue quest markers you decide to fucking? nuke the already translated (which someone no doubt paid for), completely unintrusive, absolutely functional, if somewhat tedious sidequests? making the whole fucking game even MORE barren and lifeless? FOR FREE? what a fucking deal.

 i literally cannot understand this clownery this absolute idiot idea could only have been concocted by the specific brand of stupidity found only in corporate sales dept. but like i think its also emblematic of how this game has no creative direction other than make Money which is fucked cause theres genuinely many parts of this game that i enjoy from like characters, music, visuals theres A LOT of promise in bns even if it takes a lot of legwork to get to it. as much as people give htk shit he absolutely made this game what it is visually and thematically, the soundtrack fucking rocks, theres some solid characters and story elements, a lot of the game still holds up visually and som of it dare i say looks fucking good. give bns a try its free to play.

maybe ive just been spoiled by fgo and gbf and literally every other popular game ACTUALLY trying to write good shit. trying to give their readers lore, trying to make things genuinely ENJOYABLE as a game should be rather than a part time job. but man i always forget after act1 bns really reveals why its never broken out from being a midweight grindy mmo