#Like I'm conflicted on this game. It has a lot of good ideas and moments

[imminent-danger-came]

Me, right now: Oh boy! Just finished isat to completion, the game had some very cool concepts and themeing, but the character writing/dialogue was so bad/against my tastes that I ended up hating it (though I still totally understand why people love it). Anyways, time to look at the isat critical tag to see what other people thought it's flaws were

except

The only two posts in the tag are my own

[ir-abelas-vhenan]

Something Something Yeah It's Still Solavellan Hours (Mythal is kind of here, too)

I've seen a few very beautifully articulated posts talking about the conflicted responses players are finding themselves having in regards to the decision by writers* to have Solas' atonement route possible because of his conversation with one of the remaining fragments of Mythal.

(*honestly I hesitate to put the weight of bigger game events on their shoulders because of how much I know bigger players in the company were involved, so when you read 'writers' know I just mean whoever had final say on plot)

I love reading where people are at on this, and having now breathed, re-played the scene, cried, read some more theories, and then played the scene again enough times I think I'm now able to figure out where I'm at.

TLDR: in my humble opinion, the conversation Solas has with Mythal doesn't bring him any actual closure at all. It is only the version of the atonement ending that has Lavellan in which he is actually set upon a road to redemption.

This, like everything else where I lose my mind, will be long. I tried to restrain myself and here we are, unhinged as ever.

I was unhappy at first that Mythal's incredibly brief conversation with Solas where she releases him from her service seemed to be what finally allowed him to make a decision based on his wants and not hers. My concern stemmed mostly from the fact that a lot of us are trying to be active participants in a society that recognizes patterns of abuse and seeks to establish channels through which individuals can pursue healing without the approval, consent, or demise of their abuser.

But the more I look at the scene, the more I wonder what would have happened in a world where Veilguard got just a little more time in development. Could we have gotten a scene that more elegantly conveys the theme that we cannot heal every part of our loved ones, much as we might like to?

In an imperfect world it isn't always up to us how someone finds closure, which really sucks when you'd like to ensure a loved one finds it in a way that preserves their dignity and limits exposure to the individuals who have harmed them.

And while it could be left there, I'd like to actually push back on the idea that Mythal is in any way responsible for "healing" Solas in this moment.

I went on a different tirade a few days ago about how at the end of Inquisition, Mythal says words to Solas that on their surface seem well-intentioned or placating, but they actually just serve to further bind him in guilt and a position of servitude. In Veilguard's finale, she still does not take accountability for exactly how much of a role she played in the pain that Solas, a man others have revered and feared as a god, has gone through as he cowers, actually cowers before her.

Mythal's interaction with Solas conveys exactly two things to him as far as I am concerned (I'm going to botch these quotes but my laptop is dying so please accept some paraphrase as I rush to finish this before I go cry about this analysis to my uncaring dog):

"The terrible things we did, we did together." You are forever tied to me.

"I release you from my service." But what am I releasing you to?

Because up until Lavellan joins the fray here, all I take away from the physical and unwilling emotional cues Solas gives in this scene (he is a master in trickery, for goodness' sake, the thought of so many witnesses seeing him unable to hide behind a mask has to leave him feeling anguished on top of everything else) is that Mythal has once again reminded him of everything he did in her name and telling him that all that's left for him is to go back to the fade prison and, as he as always done, endure the crushing weight of his failures alone.

To me, in my interpretation, the Solas that hears this from Mythal with no Lavellan intervention may choose to willingly step down from his original plan (and yeah, that's gonna do some damage) but he is certainly not free of his past. He's going to be reminded of it every time he turns a corner and finds more blight to try and soothe, and even the moments that he rests will be filled with more manifestations of his regret. He says it himself: where he's going? It's terrible.

Enter Lavellan. Yeah, he couldn't bring himself to listen to her at her first plea (but like damn how many times are we going to have to watch her give a heartfelt speech only for him to be like 'something something beautiful elven rejection'). But I know that you know that our clever icon knows better than to take what Solas says at face value. She tells Rook plainly that he's absolute dogshit at lies of the heart, and she says it with her whole chest.

Lavellan sees the way his shoulders slump (in resignation yes, but you can't convince me there's not a little bit of relief there, too), she hears the agony in the "vhenan" that escapes his lips (which, don't even get me started on the fact that it's been like nine years and he has no hesitation at all calling her his heart, it just spills out of him). It is not the sound of a man delighting in the steps he's about to take. They're certainly not steps he does not dislike that lead to a destination he enjoys.

And then she watches Mythal (who I can't imagine she feels any sort of fondness or respect for) pull some weird nonsense on her love one final time, and she knows it's her moment to shine.

Mythal, I would argue, pushes Solas down one more time, shames him into seeking atonement, into once again being alone.

It is the romanced Lavellan that kneels so that he cannot fail to meet her eyes. It is she who invokes their connection, not to remind him of his failures but to reaffirm his greatest strength: their love and their love alone is inevitable. Not the consequences of his past, not the regret he thinks will consume him as he seeks to mend what has been broken. It has only ever been them.

"There is no fate but the love we share". We are forever tied together.

"There is no fate but the love we share." *I* am releasing you from everything else save for this love.

Put colloquially: get absolutely fucking wrecked, Mythal.

Body language comparison to chase up the dialogue one, anyone? The way Solas shrinks before Mythal as opposed to him walking off into the fade with Lavellan at his side and standing tall, and he does not flinch when she lifts a hand to his shoulder?

Ultimately, Mythal is a part of the atonement endings no matter what. But it is only Lavellan that refuses to let him walk alone. It is only Lavellan that guarantees that his dinan'shiral ends not in a prison of regret, but a place of promise.

Mythal bends Solas until he breaks one last time. Lavellan takes each piece, claims it as hers, and uses them to build the beginnings of a future.

[thydungeongal]

I genuinely don't understand what y'all mean by "ok to kill enemies." Everytime it comes up I feel less and less confident I am following the conversation.

D&D kind of has, as part of its DNA, the idea that combat will eventually happen in the game. To that end, throughout the history of the game there have been many different types of guy that in the text of the game have been presented as like almost self-evidently okay to kill simply because. While different editions of the game have tried to move away from some of the more overtly problematic portrayals of this (basically saying that certain types of humanoids are okay to kill because they look funny and live in caves is kinda fucked up), the truth is that pretty much every attempt to look for a suitable Boogeyman that player characters can kill without any iffy ethics about it is going to end up really weird.

Anyway this is why people will often look for types of guy to present as enemies where characters can engage in no-thoughts-head-empty lethal sports with them without anyone needing to have a "wait a minute, are we the baddies?" moment. Demons and the undead are pretty easy to go for here.

My personal favorite approach is to just accept the fact that D&D kinda sucks with black-and-white morality and instead of making the conflict in the world about clear good and evil teams make it about different groups of people with different goals. Orcs can be present but they're no longer "the evil guys it's always morally okay to kill because of biotruths" but instead just some guys who might sometimes have violent disagreements with other people.

Anyway a lot of this stuff doesn't mean anything and as said not engaging with games as texts on this level isn't really necessary to enjoy them. But for me at least it can often elevate gameplay. When bandits aren't just some guys who decided to become evil criminals some day but actual people whose banditry is a response to something going on in the world and their lives, it suddenly makes the conflicts in the world a lot more real and grounded (and sometimes killing those bandits can be the right thing to do, but sometimes negotiating with them or even cooperating them can be the right thing to do. Basically, once you start thinking about all the different types of Guy that inhabit the worlds of D&D not just as game tokens that player characters can hit to make XP come out [although that is also fine and dandy as a playstyle] but as living thinking creatures with actual goals, the types of narratives the game starts to produce also expands a hundredfold.)

Anyway I'm not sure if that answers your question because I went on like a bunch of tangents. But it was also kind of a vague question.

[twig-tea]

GL odds and ends 6 October 2024

I haven't been as good at posting about shows as I wanted to be, so I'm trying a round-up format instead because it feels like a lot of GLs skirt under the radar. It's exciting that we're in a time when there's enough GL airing that it's worth doing a round-up! This was a great week for the lesbians to figure themselves out, so it feels like a good week to start. No idea how regularly I'll do this, need to figure out a cadence that makes sense.

Currently airing (with thoughts up to Oct 6):

Reverse 4 U 5/8 (Thai, Tuesdays 1:00 PM EDT, Netflix / YouTube) This week the girls finally sorted themselves and we got set up for the main plot to start next week. I was initially really stoked about this one and then a little bummed that it's not taking it's very cool premise and the stakes it establishes as seriously as it could be, but I'm still hoping it will start to have real stakes in the main plot stretch.

The Two of Us s2 ep 6/6 END (Thai, 29 Aug-3 Oct 2024, YouTube) It was so great seeing women in their 40s being romantic together but I did not love the plot of this one; I find their romantic conflicts too juvenile (lots of easily-triggered jealousy). The moments they're being sweet are great though.

Unlock Your Love ep 4/8 (Thai, Wednesdays, GagaOOLala / YouTube [cut version]) This is the first episode that this series felt a little more assured; I liked the series this production company produced with a short run time, it feels like this series has been worse off for its longer episodes. That being said, when these couples get to do their thing like in this episode, they have good chemistry.

Chaser Game W s2 ep 3/8 (Japanese, Thursdays 12:30 PM EDT, GagaOOLala) @lurkingshan is already doing a great summary of this week to week in her JQL weekly round-up!

Affair the series ep 6/8 (Thai, Fridays 11:15 AM EDT, iQIYI/ YouTube) Finally! I liked that it was Ek pointing out that Wan was unhappy the entire time she was gone that finally got Pleng to give in to her desire to be with Wan. This show is so melodramatic but the emotional threads follow and the character motivations are clear and consistent; I'm enjoying it in spite of not loving melodramatic storylines in general. It helps that the acting in this one is excellent.

The Loyal Pin ep 10/16 (Thai, Sundays 12:15 PM EDT, YouTube) Glad we finally got confirmation of Patt's history! And I'm relieved Anin knows she has an ally, though I feel like it's given her false confidence that worries me. These two are stressing me out by how bad they are at being careful but I do love how desperate they are for each other, as well as how beautiful this show is.

Red Whisper ep 2/8 (Korea, Wednesdays and Sundays, YouTube) Starting with cheating is not my fave but is par for the course with these SukFilm short series; my fave so far has been their first GL so if you haven't seen that yet I'd honestly recommend that instead.

Recent One-offs

Out of Breath (re-release in a bingeable version; Korean, YouTube) Highly recommended! Also the creator, Soo not Sue, announced she's working on another series to hopefully air before the end of the year, which I am super stoked about.

The Suffering of Xiqing Mountain (Chinese (censored), YouTube)

Sastra film app YouTube channel has several short Cambodian GL series that come out weekly Honestly they are not to my taste but I don't like gatekeeping GL especially from smaller markets. I check in on these time to time and if there are any that I think are great I'll give them a shout-out

Ditto above with JPC media YouTube channel for Thai GL shorts if there are any that stand out to me I'll say so

Recently ended that I haven't had the wherewithal to write about:

Hoshikuzu Telepath (fansub) Thank you to @yuiyuihan for your hard work making it possible to watch this series! I I haven't read the original manga but I do know they changed the kiss communication to a forehead rest; Unsurprised that this adaptation, starring idols in the same group, would be left ambiguous in terms of whether their feelings are friendly or romantic. I liked what this series was trying to say, but in all honestly didn't love the execution. It's too bad because I absolutely love the concept of an alien being helped by girls obsessed with building rockets.

The Secret of Us 8 eps [complete] (24 Jun-15 Aug 2024, YouTube) I first included this in my recommendations from the summer and then retracted, but I ended up liking this series and then never updated again. So to set the record straight: Though it lost me in the middle, the ending on this series won be back over. I really appreciated the way this series handled filial piety and balancing that against personal happiness. I appreciated SO MUCH that the main characters decided together how to handle Lada's situation with her mother. I finally understood too late that Earn believed the lies Lada's mother told her in ep1, and that affected some of their decisions in the middle of the series. I still think the execution was wobbly, but the acting and chemistry between the two leads carries this series through. This has some of the best domestic fluff in any GL, as well as my favourite GL counter lift to date. And it's gorgeous. Tentatively recommended with the caveat that you do have to either enjoy or power through the melodrama in the middle.

Starting soon:

Apple My Love, Thai, 12 October, GagaOOLala

Pluto, Thai, 19 October, VIU

The Nipple Talk, Taiwanese, 1 November GagaOOLala

My Ex's Wedding [in theatres in Thailand 14 November]

Petrichor, Thai, 23 November, TBD

[bamsara]

Narilamb fic idea thought of, in progress, general gist:

Something goes wrong. The crown is split during Narinder's defeat, splitting the power between God of Death and the Lamb.

Narinder keeps a portion of his godhood, and the Lamb finds that rituals and powers they had access to before are no longer possible, Healing is cut short. Powers are halved. And there is a very real chance of perma-death, as the ability to resurrect oneself or anyone at all is not possible without full power, and the God of Death is not cooperative.

Afterlife and Purgatory are not options either. Dying means dying for real. Gone, no trace of you left.

Discovering that the will of dead gods are still in effect even when they are dethroned and in purgatory, even if not intentional, Lamb realizes there will come a time when Narinder will return to his full power, crown or no crown, and they must rehabilitate the God of Death before that happens, or at least give him a reason not to strike the Lamb down the moment their back is turned, and wipe out sentient life as the pissed off cat proclaims he'll do.

Narinder, The One Who Waits, now confined to a weaker, albeit free body, adapts to his release from imprisonment and place in the living world. Still retaining some power, he gains strength with every passing day, vowing vengeance on the lamb for usurping him. After a few unsuccessful murder attempts, it appears that he's in for the long haul. It is only a matter of time before the Lamb's guard is down before he can strike, and The One Who Waits is very patient.

All this and there's some god weirdo with mismatched eyes watching them, an offering of journies they can take to revive Narinder's siblings, and returning the power of resurrection so the Lamb can work on their original goal: reviving the family they lost before all of this began.

Something something something enemies to freniemies to wary friends to deeply caring friends to a very self-conflicted moment of 'oh'.

Notes: Narinder is a LOT more pissed off in the AU because I imagine having your power stolen like that right out of being imprisoned for 1000 years is something that would piss someone off a lot longer than how upset he was in the game. Lamb also is an idiot but in a good way, and has goals that no one else knows about.

I think I'm gonna name the fic 'The Rehabilitation of Death'

[russanogreenstripe]

So many good moments in Ep 5 of Burrow's End, but this is the one that sets my mind buzzing the most. The idea that community predates identity. We know mama, dada, and baba before we know not only their names, but our own names. And in the season all about family, community, in-group versus outgroup? This feels like such an important idea, and it was came up likely on the spot. It's fascinating to think about, and touches on such big themes about Burrow's End in general.

My mind keeps trying to read "name" as "self," and come up with something like "we have to know others before we know who we are," but I think there's a fundamental error in that idea. Neurologically, we just start off with just "Me" - one of our basic senses is what is "Me" and what is "Not Me." That's fundamental to further categorization, and faults in that sense is where things like depersonalization / derealization come from. Names are just labels, and they're not even the first labels we have for them.

This ties into another point that a lot of people had when watching the trailer at the end of Ep. 4 and during the live reaction of Ep. 5 - the idea that because Sybil was so reluctant to say her brother's name after he died, that it was the result of some top-down oppression within Last Bast and further proof that it's not as idyllic as it seems. Now, Last Bast almost certainly isn't a utopia, and I'm sure we're going to learn more about that in the next episode. And it's possible that it is a top-down enforcement that Sybil, having been raised in Last Bast, has internalized. However, there's a chance this isn't the case.

Less than 30 seconds on Google turns up several cultures that have taboos around speaking the names of the dead - Aboriginal mortuary rituals, the Apache of the Southwest US, the Tolowa tribe of California, the Yanomami on the border of Brazil and Venezuela, certain Romani/Irish Traveller groups, and almost certainly more. While it initially seems unfathomable to Western cultural mores around remembering and memorializing the dead, it's just as possible possible that instead of a method of social control, it's simply a cultural taboo.

https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/gravematters/2017/04/18/aboriginal-mortuary-rituals/

And as Aabria has commented both during the live discussion and general discord channels,

Aabria's a smart cookie, and I trust that she's done plenty of worldbuilding and put tons of thought into how Last Bast's society works. We've seen she's great at her cultural analysis while in the DM's chair in both Misfits & Magic and in A Court of Fey and Flowers. Culture and society are interwoven in all of her games, and where does all that start? With family.

[bellarkeselection]

hey! I have a submission/request for a fanfic for whenever you can get to it.

While Monica and Kayce are separated, Kayce and a female farm hand (who has been around for a few years) end up having a drunken night together. Feeling ashamed, she ends up drinking in the pasture (clearly hasn’t learnt her lesson) with Rip. She ends up having a night with Rip as well. Well a few weeks later she finds out she is pregnant and doesn’t know who the father is. She tries to hide the pregnancy for a bit until she can find out the paternity but something happens and she has to spill the beans to them

Two Baby Daddy’s

None of us say that we are going to help someone cheat on their husband or wife…sometimes these things happen. But what I didn’t expect was having two possible baby daddy's to the infant growing in my belly…let's go back to the beginning though shall we?

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I rolled over on my side feeling a soft bed mattress underneath me. My gaze found a familiar tousled locks of brown curly hair that could only belong to Kayce Dutton. I sat slightly up on the pillows just staring at him. “You sure know how to show a girl a good time, Dutton.” I kissed his head climbing out of the covers shrugging on my clothes that we had thrown around the room the night before.

I snatched my hat off the door handle leaving his bedroom and went straight to the barn. Climbing on my horse the work day wasn't bad and the guys were playing poker and drinking beer by the end of the night. I walked outside of the building leaning against the wooden fence drinking from my beer hearing footsteps coming up behind me. “You didn’t talk much today. Care to explain why?” Rip came walking up to me.

“The cattle don't care much for talkin’. And I just didn't have anything good to share except that I am a coward who can’t tell the guy I like how I feel without a whole lot of alcohol.” I take a long drink feeling the buzz in my head starting to appear.

Rip leans on the fence watching me. I had been a loyal farm hand for years. He respected me as much as John does. “Everybody makes mistakes in their life. You just have to man up and take responsibility for it.”

“That sounds like a good idea. But I'd rather do the opposite it and just make the pair go away for a few hours. What do ya say, Wheeler?” I swayed my hips at him holding the beer bottle in my freehand trying to gain his attention.

Rip stood there for a moment debating in his head. He knew Beth would tear down whoever slept with her man even though she didn't much care for labels on relationships. “Beth wouldn't like that very much if we hooked up.”

“Hey, it's not like I'm just some random girl. I am her best friend and you could just say you did it to make me happy for a night. She won't sink her claws into me over that.” I slowly walked up to him running my freehand down his chest ever so slowly. “What do you say. One more girl before you make Berh your wife forever?”

Y/n, I….hell with it.” Rip decided to change his mind cupping my face and smashing his lips onto mine before his brain told him this was wrong.

Moving my hands up his chest I moaned into the kiss enjoying the feeling. The bottle in my hands dropped to the dust and dirt underneath our boots. Rip tugged me closer to his chest deepening the kiss. “We should get out of here before they come looking for us out here.” He warned me of the cowboys fighting inside the bunkhouse over who was really winning the poker game.

Dragging me to his cabin Rip kicked open the door and I jumped up into his arms wrapping my legs around his waist. He carried me to his bedroom, sitting me on the bed. We each quickly removed our clothes before I held his face in my hands pulling him down onto me and the bed.

That night was two weeks ago and it brought more conflict than I ever wanted in my life.

Walking down the hallway of the main house and to Beth’s room I knocked three times before she opened the door knowing it was me. “Did you get what I asked you for?”

“Yes I did. My father knows I can’t have kids. So you better be more discreet about this.” She moved out of the way, letting me inside the bedroom. She reached into her purse handing me a pack of pregnancy tests.

Taking out one I went into the nearest bathroom while she stood guard inside with me, blocking the door shut with her body. “Thanks Beth…..oh I’m so screwed now.” Holding the test in my hands it took a few minutes before we had an answer.

“Do you know who the father is?” She questioned me, arms crossed over her chest.

Lifting my head up I felt my entire body shiver at the thought. I hadn’t told her about me and Rip yet since it was just a one time thing. “I uh….I slept with Rip. But I also slept with Kayce a few days earlier.”

“If you were anyone else I would kick your ass. But because you are my friend I will help you hide this until you find out who the father is.” She responded to me helping me to my feet before we went our separate ways.

Weeks later -

Climbing down from my horse as quickly as possible when I got into the barn after work saying that I wasn’t feeling too good and so Rip let me heed back earlier. Stumbling into the dirt I rushed over to one of the empty stalls that we kept the horses in. I bent my head over the wall and puked whatever was in my stomach. “Y/n, woah hey. Hey are you alright?”

“Kayce?” I croaked through the fact that I was trying to catch my breath still.

He was holding my hair back out of my face when I slowly turned around to face him. “Rip said you weren't feeling well so I thought I'd come check on you.”

“Thanks Kayce. But I'm fine.” I pushed away from him, snatching my hat up from the dirt ground and dusting the dust off of it.

Kayce stared at me and stepped forward grabbing me by the forearm when I attempted to leave the barn. “Hold on a second. There's something I need to talk to you about. Beth, just told me she wants me and Rip to come down to the hospital with you.”

“Shit Bethany. What the hell are you doing?” I cursed under my breath.

I have been keeping this a secret for a few weeks now. I needed to keep my job after all and not ruin my friendship or whatever that I had with the Dutton standing in front of me now. I had gone to the hospital yesterday evening asking for a paternity test to find out who the father of the baby was. “Do you want to explain why she would want me and Rip to go to the hospital with you?”

“Kayce, I…it’s because-”

“Y/n, are you feeling better? We managed to finish the job earlier so the boys are going out for drinks if you want to come with us.” Rip's voice entered the barn and he dismounted his horse seeing the two of us.

Glancing over my shoulder, my chest tightening in a panic mode. “Rip?”

“Is something going on here I need to involve the boss in?” Rip points his finger from me to Kayce.

Clutching my hands into fists I sucked in a sharp breath. The two men were just staring at me now. Thanks to Beth I supposed I have no choice but to explain the situation if I don't want them to both be angry with me later down the line. “There's something I need to talk to you two about…I'm pregnant.” Lifting the sweatshirt I had on you could see a growing belly underneath the shirt I was wearing.

“You're pregnant. How far along…do you think it's mine?’ Kayce covers his mouth with his hands.

Rip blinked when I focused my attention on him. “Or it could be mine.”

“Yes, That's why I took the test. The reason Beth told you Kayce is because the doctor has the results now.” I whispered avoiding their gazes on me.

Rip headed towards the doorway and we followed him to the truck. Beth came with us since she knew I needed a friend when we entered the room and the doctor came in with the results. “This will be a very interesting conversation for the father. So I will say congratulations to you Y/n. The father has the same blood DNA as Mr. Dutton.”

“I'm gonna be a father again?” Kayce breathed out.

Beth pushed the doctor out of the room and Rip followed her out into the hallway leaving us alone in the room. “Thanks for the help. Now let them yell at each other then kiss alone.”

I remained in my seat, hands covering my mouth with my hands so terrified of what I would say to him. There were two options he could say to me. He would either be happy or not want anything to do with me and our baby. “Kayce, I don't know where to start. I should have told you how I felt before now. It shouldn't have been alcohol to make me have the guts to tell you that I've had feelings for you for years.”

“It was because of Monica and me why you didn't say anything wasn't it?” He turned his head at me and we were looking the other in the eye. “I'm sorry I didn't see your feelings earlier…I love Tate. I guess he was right that I was too chicken to tell you the truth.”

I blinked through some tears needing to hear the words from him to believe it. “Kayce, how do you feel about me?”

“This is how, Darling.” He got to his feet, getting down on his knees in front of me. I gasped feeling him press his lips down onto mine slowly. Wrapping my arms around his neck I kissed him back until we needed air and he was panting for breath. “I've always had feelings for you. I won't leave you and this baby.”

I gasped sniffing through happy tears. “You won't. But what about Tate?”

“He's gonna be thrilled to have a sibling.” Kayce chuckled, kissing my forehead. “I love you Y/n.”

Laying my head against his chest I smiled when he wrapped his arms around my waist holding me. “I love you too, Kayce.”

[linkspooky]

Bohman is a good character you guys are just mean

Yu-Gi-Oh Vrains is one of the better received spinoff series. Though, like any of the Yu-Gi-Oh spinoffs it's not without its faults. Usually I'm the first to admit the flaws in my favorite silly card game shows, even while I myself take them way too seriously. However, there's one common criticism I can't bring myself to agree with.

That is calling the main antagonist of the second season Bohman "boring" or "badly written." I've noticed fans unfairly blame Bohman for season 2's writing flaws.

Forget for a moment about whether or not you find Bohman's stoic attitude interesting or likable. If you look at characters not as people, but as narrative tools the author uses to say something about the story's themes then Bohman has a lot to say about VRAINS cyberpunk themes.

Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction that tends to focus on "low-life and high-tech." As I like to put it, in Cyberpunk settings technology has greatly advanced while society itself lags behind unable to keep pace with the rate at which technology changes. Yu Gi Oh 5Ds is an example of a cyberpunk dystopia because despite having what is essentially access to free energy, and living in a society with highly advanced technology resources are hoarded by the wealthy and an unnecessary social class divide still exists.

In other words technology changes quickly while humans tend to remain the same.

The central conflict for all three seasons of Vrains are actually based on this very cyberpunk notion. That technology changes, updates, and becomes obsolete at a rate too fast for humans to ever adapt to. For Vrains, the conflict is whether humans can ever coexist with an artificial intelligence they created that can grow and change faster than they can keep up with.

This is well-tread ground in science fiction. The idea itself most likely emerged from I,robot. A science fiction book that is a collection of dirty stories that details a fictional history showing robots growing slowly advanced over time. The framing device is that a journalist is interviewing a "robopsychologist" an expert in the field of analyzing how robots think in their positronic brains.

One of the major themes of the book is despite the fact that robots are 1 - intelligent and 2 - designed by humans, they don't think the same way humans do. Hence why a robopsychologist is needed in the first place. One of the short stories is the first appearance of Asimov's three laws of robotics.

The First Law: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

The Second Law: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

The Third Law: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

This is just one example. A robot no matter how intelligent it is will be required to think in terms of these three laws, because robots aren't biological, they're programmed to think in pre-determined patterns.

Of course clever enough artificial intelligences are capable of finding loopholes that get around the three laws, but even then they're still forced to think of every action in terms of the three laws.

Robots and humans are both intelligent, but if AI ever becomes self aware it will 1) be able to process information better than any other human can and 2) think differently from humans on a fundamental.

Vrains is themed more than anything else around "robo psychology" or trying to understand the ways in how the Ignis think and how that's different from it's human characters.

Robo-Psychology is actually a common reocurring theme. "DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?" fearless artificial humans known as Replicants who need an empathy test known as the voight kampff test to distinguish them from human beings.

There are other Cyberpunk elements in Vrains. There's a big virtual world where everyone can appear as custom designed avatars, that's taken from Snow Crash or of the most famous and genre defining cyberpunk novels. There's a big rich mega conglomerate that's being opposed by a group of hackers.

However, the central question is whether humans and AI can coexist in spite of the fact that AI are much smarter and evolve faster than us.

Revolver's father believes the Ignis must be destroyed in order to avoid a possible technological singularity in the future.

The technological singularity—or simply the singularity[1]—is a future point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable.  According to the most popular version of the singularity hypothesis an upgradable artificial intelligence will eventually enter a positive feedback loop of self-improvement cycles, each new and more intelligent generation appearing more and more rapidly, causing a rapid increase ("explosion") in intelligence that surpasses anything humans can make.

Basically your computer is smarter than you, but your computer isn't self aware. It needs you to tell it what to do. Artificial intelligence already exists but it's programmed by humans, it doesn't program itself. The technological singularity proposes that eventually a self aware ai, will be able to program itself and improve upon it's own programming- therefore ridding itself of the need of it's human programmers.

This is what leads us to Bohman, an AI designed by another AI.

THE THIRD LAW

Before digging into Bohman let's take a minute to discuss his creator. Lightning was one of the six Ignis, created by Dr. Kogami through the Hanoi Project.

The Hanoi project involved forcing six children to duel in a virtual arena repeatedly, and using the data collected from that experiment to improve the AI they were working on, creating what became known as the Ignis. However, after Dr. Kogami ran several simulations and found that the Ignis would one day be a threat to the humans that created them Hakase decided instead to try destroying the Ignis before that future ever came to pass.

We later learn that this isn't the complete story.

Kogami and Lightning both ran simulations of the future when the Ignis were in their infancy. Kogami's simulations showed him the Ignis would inevitably go to war with humans. Lighting however, ran more in-depth simulations and found that he was the one that was corrupting the data set. If you ran simulations of the five ignis without him, then the projected futures were all in the green, but any simulation with Lightning counted as a part of the group projected a negative future for both humans and AI.

Which means that if Kogami knew that the bug in the program was Lightning, he'd likely respond by just getting rid of Lighting and letting the rest of the Ignis live on as originally intended.

This is where the third law comes into play - a robot must protect its own existence as long as it does not interfere with the first and second law.

Now, I don't think Kogami used the three laws exactly, but artificial intelligences are programmed in certain ways, and Lightning was likely programmed to preserve itself.

Even a human in Lighting's situation would be driven to act as they did. Imagine you're in a group of six people, and you fid out that YOU'RE THE PROBLEM. That if they removed you, everything else would be fine. Wouldn't you be afraid of your creator turning against you? Of your friends turning against you and nobody taking your side?

Lightning is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Ai asks him at one point why he went so far as to destroy their safe-haven, lie and said the humans did it and pick a fight with the humans himself, something that might have been avoided if they'd just stayed in hiding. It seems that Lightning is just defective as his creator declared him, but you have to remember he's an AI programmed to think in absolutes. AI, the most humanlike and spontaneous of the AIs ends up making nearly the exact same choices as Lightning when looking at his simulations later on - because they're character foils. As different as they may seem they still think differently from humans.

When Ai explains why he made his decisions based around lighting's simulation, he tells Playmaker that he can't dismiss or ignore the simulation or hope for the best the way Playmaker can because he is data, he thinks in simulations and processes.

AI even admits to feeling the same feelings of self-preservation that Lightning did.

While Lightning may seem selfish, he's selfish in the fact that he's thinking of his own survival above all else. He's afraid of 1) his creators turning against him, and 2) his fellow Ignis turning against him.

To solve the first he decides to make a plan to wipe out his creators. To solve the second, he needs every ignis on his side when he goes to war. The first thing he does is destroy their safe haven and frame the humans for it so the Ignis are more inclined to take his side. He's so afraid of his fellow ignis turning against him he even completely reprograms one of them - a step he doesn't take with the others, he just imprisons Aqua. He probably thought having one more ally would make it more likely for the others to pick his side.

Every step he takes is a roundabout way of ensuring his survival and the other ignis- eve when he actually goes to war with the other ignis he intended on letting them survive. Though his definition of survival (fusing with Bohman) was different than theirs.

So Lightning seems to be working out of an inferiority complex, but what he's really afraid of is that his inferiority makes him expendable.

At that point you have to wonder, what does death mean exactly to a being who is otherwise immortal? Ignis won't die of age, they'll only die if they're captured and have their data stripped apart or corrupted. Kogami made an immortal being afraid to die.

Some part of me thinks though that even after taking all these steps to preserve themselves, the simulations were so convincing that Lighting accepted their death as inevitable. Which is why they made Bohman, to find some way for them to keep on living afterwards.

After all AI are data, ad having their data saved in Bohman is still a form of living by Lightning's definition.

Ghost in The Shell

Bohman is the singularity. He's an AI designed by another AI to improve upon itself. Unlike the rest of the Ignis who were copied off of traumatized chidlren, Lightning basically made him from scratch.

Ghost in the Sell is a famous anime cyberpunk movie directed by Mamoru Oshii. The title comes from "Ghost in the Machine" a term originally used to describe and critique the mind existing alongside and separate from the body. Whereas in the movie the "Ghost" is the huma consciousness, while the "shell" is a cybernetic body.

The protagonist of Ghost in the Shell is Major Motoko Kusanagi, a human that is 99% cyborg at this point, a human brain residing in a completely mechanical body. The movie opens up with a hacker namd PUppet Master who is capable of "ghost-hacking" which is a form of hacking that completely modifies the victim's memories utterly convincing them of their false memories.

There's a famous scene in the movie where a man tells the police about his wife and daughter, only to be told that he's a bachelor who lives alone and he's never had a wife and daughter. Even after the truth is revealed to him, the fake memories are still there in his brain along with the correct ones. Technology is so advanced at this point that digital memories (hacked memories) are able to be manipulated, and seem more real than an analog reality.

Anyway, guess what happens to Bohman twice?

Bohman gets his memories completely rewritten twice. The first time he believes he's a person looking for his lost memories, the second time he thinks he's the real playmaker ripped out of his body, and playmaker is the copy. He's utterly convinced of these realities both time, because Bohman is entirely digital - and simulations are reality, and so simulated memories are just the same as real memories.

I think part of the reason that people find Bohman boring is because he's a little strange conceptually to wrap your head around, as an AI produced AI he's the farthest from behind human. If you use the ghost in the shell example I just gave you though - imagine being utterly convinced that you had a loving wife and daughter only to find out in a police interrogation room you're a single man living in a shitty apartment. imagine after the fact you still remember that they are real, even though you know they're not.

That's the weird space Bohman exists in for most of Season 2 when he's searching for himself. He's an AI designed by an AI so he can be rewritten at any time according to Lightning's whim until Lighting decides he's done cooking.

The Ignis at least interacted with the real world because they were copy pasted from traumatized children, but all Bohman is is data. So, why would he see absorbing human memories into himself and converting them into data as killing them? He is data after all, and he is alive. He has gone through the process of having his own memories rewritten multiple times, and he's fine with it b/c he's data.

Nothing for Bohman is real, everything is programmed so of course he thinks saving other people as data is just fine. He even offers to do the same thing to Playmaker that was done to him.

If Lightning is following the path of self-preservation however, Bohman is following his program to preserve everything in the world by merging with it.

His ideas also follow the idea of transhumanism: the theory that science and technology can help human beings develop beyod what is physically and mentally possible. That technology exists to blur the boundaries of humanity, and what humans are capable of.

Ghost in the Shell isn't just a work of cyberpunk, it's a transhumanist piece. Motoko Kusanagi is a character who has had so many of her human parts replaced with mechanical ones she even posits at one point it's possible for her to simply have been an android that was tricked into thinking it was human with false memories just like Bohman, and she has no real way of knowing for sure. The only biological part of her his her brain after all in a cold mechanical shell.

Bato, who represents the humanist perspective in this movie basically tells Motoko in that scenario it wouldn't matter if she was a machine. If everyone still treats her as human then what's the difference? His views are probably the closest to the humanist views that Playmaker represents in VRAINS.

Motoko Kusanagi meets her complete and total opposite, a ghost in the machine so to speak. The Puppet Master turns out to be an artificial intelligence that has become completely self-aware and is currently living in the network.

The Puppet Master much like Lightning, and later Bohman is gripping with the philosophical conundrum of mortality. In the final scene of the movie, The Puppet Master who wants to be more like all other biological matter on earth asks Motoko to fuse with him, so the two of them can reproduce and create something entirely new. The Puppet Master likens this to the way that biological beings reproduce.

Bohman like The Puppetmaster thinks that merging will fix something that's incomplete inside of him because he's so disconnected from all the biological processes of life. Bohman doesn't have anything except for which Lightning already prepared for him or programmed into him. I mean imagine being a being that can have his memories reprogrammed on the net, that in itself is existentially horrifying. It's only natural he wouldn't feel connected to anything.

Motoko accepts the Puppetmaster's proposal. Playmaker rejects Bohman's proposal. I don't think there's a right answer here, because it's speculative fiction, it's a "What if?" for two different paths people can take in the future.

However, in Bohman's case I don't think he was truly doing what he wanted. Puppet Master became self aware and sought his own answers by breaking free from his programming. Bohman thought he was superior to the Ignis, but in the end he was just following what Lightning programmed him to do. He'd had his identity programmed and reprogrammed so many times, he didn't think of what he wanted until he was on the brink of defeat by playmaker and then it was too late.

When Playmaker defeats him all he thinks about is time spent together with Haru, with the two of them as individuals. Something he can no longer do anymore now that he's absorbed Haru as data, and something that he misses.

He's not even all that sad or horrified at the prospect of death as Lightning was, and he even finds solace in the thought of going to oblivion with Haru, because if he were to keep living it'd be without Haru. In other words the one genuine bond he made with someone else by spending time with them as an individual was more important than his objective of fusing with all of humanity - which he believed was also bonding with them.

This is really important too, because it sets up the Yusaku's rejection of fusing with Ai. Yusaku's reasoning has already been demonstrated to be the case with Bohman and Haru. Bohman was perfectly happy being two individuals, as long as he had a bond with his brother. When he ascended into a higher being he lost that. Ai and Yusaku might solve loneliness in a way by merging together into a higher being, they might even last forever that way, but they'd lose something too.

Once again the problem with AIs is that they think in absolutes. That's important to understanding Lightning, Bohman and even Ai's later actions. Lightning can't stand any percentage chance that he might die, so he kills the professor, destroys the ignis homeworld, pulls the trigger to start humanity himself, he even reprograms his own allies all to give himself some sense of control.

Bohman's entire existence is outside of his control. He's rewritten twice onscreen, probably more than that, and he thinks merging with humanity is the thing that will give him that control - by ascending into a higher being than humanity. However, the temporary bond Bohman had with his brother Haru, was actually what he valued the most all along. Moreso than the idea of fusing with humanity forever.

Even Motoko making the choice to go with the transhumanist option is something that's not portrayed as 100% the right choice. Ghost in the Shell has a sequel that portrays the depression and isolation of Bato, the Major's closest friend and attachment to her humanity after she made the decision to fuse together with Puppet Master. In that case, just like Playmaker said to Ai, even if she ascended to a higher form, and even if she might last forever now on the network, something precious was lost. Motoko may exist somewhere on the netowrk but for Batoto his friend is gone.

Ai exhibits the same flaw as the previous two, he ca only think in absolutes, he can't stand even a 1% chance that Playmaker might choose to sacrifice himself for Ai and die, so he decides to take the choice entirely out of Playmaker's hands. However, no matter what Ai would have lost Playmaker one day, because all bonds are temporary. It's just Ai wanted to have that sense of control, so he chose to self-destruct and take that agency and free choice away from Playmaker.

It's a tragedy that repeats three times. Ai too just like Bohman, spends his last moments thinking about what was most precious to him was the bond he formed with playmaker, as temporary as it was. A tragedy that arises from the inability of the Ais to break away from the way they're programmed to think in simulations and data, even when they're shown to be capable of forming bonds based on empathy with others.

All three of them add something to the themes of artificial intelligence, and transhumanism that are in play at Vrains and none of them are boring because they all contribute to the whole.

Which is why everyone needs to stop being mean to Bohman right now, or else I'm going to make an even longer essay post defending him.

[districtxii]

Thoughts upon finishing The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Spoilers unmarked ahead as it's been out for a while and the title of the post warns for them.

As I've mentioned in my other few posts about it so far, I came into TBOSAS as a movie-only watcher despite having been a book-first person back when the original Hunger Games films came out.

I've got to say that when I heard the idea of a prequel about President Snow which included a love story, my tumblr-raised self wasn't particularly interested. I remember seeing the book display at Walmart when it first came out and not really having time or interest at the time.

However, the movie trailer caught my attention, and I'm really glad that it did.

I am happy that TBOSAS, while having a single POV character in Snow, switched from first person narration to third person. I remember reading meta years ago that I wholeheartedly agree with. While one can make the argument that the "blindspots" one gets in the original trilogy themselves make a point, having a slightly more zoomed out, third person point of view just feels better for the scope of the story. As an English teacher, I can't help but feel like it's a little more mature, too.

But without the movie, I still don't know if I would have ever picked up this book in audio or visual format.

Funnily enough, looking back on the first four Hunger Games movies, I actually don't like them as much as I like the books for the most part. The visuals are good in parts, but I do not like the casting philosophy that was used. I sort of hope that we are around long enough to see remakes as a prestige miniseries or something like that.

Back to thoughts on TBOSAS: I remember seeing a few kind of poorly produced (sorry lol) thinkpieces on websites like ScreenRant that were insisting that you weren't getting the full picture from the movie, that the movie made Snow too sympathetic, that you have to understand he's a monster because he views Lucy Gray in an objectifying manner or because he gets Sejanus killed.

I think that those takes have a point. However, I think that they also miss the nuance of the narrative, and I am not even suggesting that the prose is particularly deep or esoteric. Just that people love to be reactionary.

What I saw in Snow's character throughout the book was someone who was warring with various philosophical and personal dilemmas without having anyone he ever really trusted to talk through it.

There are moments with Lucy Gray and with Sejanus when Coryo almost opens up completely. When he has real conversations with them. But, like Katniss, he is a traumatized person who has a lot of baggage which makes him strategize and behave defensively with every decision he makes.

If anything, Coryo is LESS closed off than Katniss is at first throughout most of the story.

I couldn't source it, but I distinctly remember reading someone suggest that they believed that Coriolanus became irredeemable when he got Sejanus killed. However, reading through his internal conflict about the decision to snitch on him was one of the times when I found Coriolanus the most human and relatable. He was torn in every direction. He is someone who is deeply propagandized into a fascist regime whose family has a personal narrative of power and meaning within that regime. He also believes that the Capitol is necessary and better than the alternative. He wants Sejanus to survive and to change his mind. He wants him to stop putting himself in danger. He wants him to stop implicating Coriolanus by association. And yet, Coriolanus does feel responsible and tied to him, however much he hates it.

Coriolanus defends himself from emotional attachment and the cost of loving anyone, romantically or platonically, as a defense mechanism.

It isn't until he works himself into a frenzy and narrates what Lucy Gray must be thinking out at the lake in the end that he finds himself so utterly alone in his own head that he has no choice in his mind except to give into his colder side that he associates with his father, the Capitol, and ruthlessness.

Interestingly, a running theme throughout the book - without ever being explicitly stated in these exact words - is that Coriolanus is irreligious and doesn't believe in gods, rituals, or an afterlife. Every time someone brings up the stars or fate or performs some kind of ritual associated with passing on an even in the scene where Lucy Gray sings about the hereafter and therebefore, he can't help but internally scoff at the idea. He holds himself as more enlightened than those who believe in such superstitions.

But then, when he is all alone and trying to navigate his way back to District 12 with his father's compass, he starts to believe that there is some kind of spiritual guidance and blessing from his father, whom he never even felt close to except as an idea.

I think that Coriolanus's internal journey is an exploration of opposites and the divide that Lucy Gray describes and how evil is rarely even a boundary over which one cannot cross back into good from. It's just that, at a certain point, Coriolanus cannot bear the weight of his own guilt and misgivings if he ever turns back to a "better" path.

On the subject of Lucy Gray: I've got to say that I thought the book was effective in showing Lucy Gray as someone with dimension and depth that Coriolanus saw glimpses of but never really fully understood. Had he stayed with her and not needed "civilization" so much, I believe he would have learned to see her as more and more of a full person. However, the way she is written in the book, it is really hard for me to get a mental image of her at all.

Again, I think that this is perhaps intentional as a part of this format of the story. However, I find that I appreciate Rachel Ziegler's portrayal of Lucy Gray so much because without it, I'm not sure I would find that much to emotionally invest in. This is actually quite the opposite, as I like my mental image of Katniss far more than JLaw's portrayal lol.

Anyway, those are my wrap-up thoughts.

[rooksamoris]

I just read your thoughts about Scarabia and Leona's arc development in game, and I got very interested.

There's very little info on Arabian culture online, at least that I've seen, and also African. A thing that makes me very curious is about their mythologies, folklore, and also music. We know a lot about food, since it's something so universal, but the rest is hard to get info on, unless it gets popularized or romanticized by someone else.

The scarabia arc is one of my favorites for a reason, and that is because I'm very sympathetic with Jamil, and very sad how his and Kalim's story together got so "twisted" so fast (ehe). Honestly there are so many layers to it that it would take many many chapters, and events, to close the situation. But I think it's good they left the future open like that, since it's something that can't be fixed overnight.

And also, *gets down* PLS PLS PLS PLS 🙏 I love the fluffy fics, are you going to also add Bolllywood songs? They are so good seriously it's so dancing and fun! I love Jamil so much and I MELTED with the headcanon short fic where we are taking care of him. I wanna hold his precious handsome face and just kiss it all over! He is so cute I will go FERAL-

hey qamar 💕 this was a pleasure to read! honestly, i feel like both the scarabia and savannaclaw chapters were too short? of course, we were introduced to the themes and then the whole conflict—resolution mountain for stories, however i just feel like they could have done more with the both of them.

also, i think the reason why the southwest-asian and african themes aren’t covered is because the source material is literally disney films 💀 like we get a warning before rewatching aladdin since they just now realized it was kind of racist (still a major part of my childhood though 😭 “a whole new world” in arabic is delicious). based on how yana has written other characters that are meant to be from south asia, there’s a big chance it would have been disappointing anyways.

plus, with scarabia in particular, there’s too many cultures trying to be represented due to how colonizers deemed all of the countries to be the same thing in different fonts 💀 you’d never confuse a nepali with an omani, but winston churchill sure did not care.

the original aladdin movie was meant to take place in baghdad, a city in iraq, but due to political conflicts at the time (george bush a war criminal regardless of saddam hussein’s crimes. the usa literally gave saddam weapons to kill kurds and then turned around and invaded when he wasn’t convenient anymore 💀). baghdad became agrabah—but the culture is still an amalgamation of west asian, south asian, north african, and like eurasian/turkish culture. im sure they’ve got stuff from central asia too 😭

the issue with this is that from ethnic group to ethnic group/country to country, the culture varies a lot. yemenis and palestinians are both arabs, but our cultures are vastly different, with yemenis having more eastern african influences and palestinians having mediterranean influences. i personally headcanon the scarabia duo as arab, but honestly, they could be from anywhere. for all we know, kalim is afghan and jamil is tunisian—it’s all up in the air due to the original source material. but i digress!! i rambled a lot 😭

ON THE BOLLYWOOD NOTE! omg this brought so many good memories back. we used to watch bollywood films with shitty arabic dubs 🥹 i miss those days. i love that idea and ive always wanted to write bollywood inspired fics, like based on the crazy and unrealistic romantic moments in bollywood. it’s just so much fun lmao. honestly, i think that’s a great idea especially when so many bollywood songs just lead the listener through a story anyways. im so glad you enjoy my fics!!! that’s very sweet 💕 have a great day, qamar, and take care of yourself

[aihoshiino]

chapter 134 thoughts!

My immediate first thought going into this chapter and seeing how it picks up from last week's cliffhanger is that while I thought last week that this conflict served as an excellent character beat for both Ruby and Kana, I feel less positively about it as the catalyst for long term RubyKana conflict. Maybe that's hypocritical because I like the similar AquKana conflict back during the LoveNow aftermath and this is basically just a roided up version of that but… IDK, I guess it helped that the AquKana conflict is very clearly a romcom style miscommunication and it ends up leading to one of my all time favourite and funniest character moments for Aqua, this… isn't that. In general I really hate the old tried conflict trope of "Character A betrays or is otherwise cruel to Character B For Their Own Good and refuses to communicate about it" so this was kind of irritating to see…

It also really doesn't help that Kana is going SO above and beyond in being cruel to Ruby here in comparison to the AquKana conflict where her short-sighted lashing out was being mostly played for laughs but still came back to bite her. There's just something a bit excessive in how deliberately and pointedly cold and mean to Ruby Kana is shown being here and I guess it just feels a bit icky to me though I obviously can't make a proper call on all this til we see its conclusion.

I also have to question like… why is everyone around them just letting this happen lol. Memcho not intervening I can at least make sense of because she's been shown to be feeling off her game and a bit out of her element so I could see all that combining to make her uncertain of what to do but… uh, is Miyako not paying any attention? Admittedly the timeframe here is a little vague so we don't know exactly how long this has been going on but it's been happening at least long enough for Ruby to be going to school and fretting about it to her friends. So the idea of Miyako either being unaware of this or not intervening in this is really baffling to me??? Especially off the back of chapters 124 and 126 making a point of how badly Miyako wants to reach out to Aqua and Ruby and support them as their mother - the only way I can justify this to myself is if Miyako somehow doesn't know this was going on but how would she not know??? Like, we see Gotanda and his assistants fretting over Ruby crying after her scenes! If they're well aware something is wrong, why not Miyako? She's Aqua and Ruby's manager! This is a Strawberry Productions produced movie! We've seen her on set before! Is she just… not here now that it would be inconvenient for the plot?

(The answer to that is 'yes')

Uh all that up there does make it sound like I disliked either this or last chapter but I actually really loved them both for reasons we'll get into soon! I think they're both strong individual chapters and as points in RubyKana's shared arc I actually do really like this conflict, what it says about them both and where it seems to be taking them. There are just a lot of small, piled up contrivances pushing this conflict along and I think they annoyed me so much BECAUSE I otherwise think this is some really tasty character work for both girls and I'm otherwise enjoying it.

My bitching aside, I do really like the talk that follows this. I've been revisiting a lot of the earlier material recently via friends re-reading or giving the series a try for the first time so I've been back in that space of Ruby being particularly starstruck with Frill. It's sweet to see their present day dynamic where Ruby is fully comfortable with Frill just as her friend and trusts her enough to share her worries with her.

aw hey minami we thought you were dead

This entire scene really got my brain gears whirring and I can't help but speculate a little about its placement. At first I was just nodding along, thinking this was just Industry Exposition as usual but… isn't this odd? We don't see how Ruby phrases this question so maybe she was vague but from an authorial standpoint, why is Akasaka having Frill talk about love instead of dislike or hostility, which is what is actually going on between Ruby and Kana? Reading over that scene again and again, I can't help but wonder… is this supposed to be taken as some commentary on what's going on between Ruby and Aqua? Is Ruby developing confusedly romantic feelings for him purely because of their 'playing the roles', so to speak, of Sarina and Gorou? After all, the only other similar 'showmances', so to speak, that this could be referring to are AquKana and AquAka, neither of which quite fit the bill, especially when Frill talks about immediately snapping out of those feelings once the show is over — which didn't happen in the least for either pairing. Is this a hint of something to do with Ruby's feelings? Am I reading too much into this??? I mean, I almost definitely am, but I do that every week so…

Hopping over to Kana, the scene between her and Memcho itches my brain less mostly just because it's reiterating things communicated last week. I've said all I'll say about it feeling weird to me that Mem isn't making a move to intervene here but I do like the talk she and Kana have about their human jealousy towards Ruby. Honestly, I have a lot of respect for their being able to push it aside for so long because… honestly, none of what Kana said is wrong!

The second generation of B-Komachi exists for Ruby. Strawberry Productions got back into the idol business entirely so Ruby would have a group to be part of. Kana and Mem were recruited so Ruby would have unitmates to perform with. It doesn't revolve around her to the extent the previous generation did Ai, but in a very real sense Kana is correct when she identifies herself and Memcho as 'extras' for B-Komachi, who exist for Ruby's sake. Not only that but Ruby honestly treated them really badly while she was in black hoshigan mode! Yes, we as readers know what was going on in her head and why but think about how all that probably seemed to Kana and Mem who had no idea: From their POV, what happened was that they broke into mainstream success at last and Ruby immediately left them in the dust, prioritizing her own growth and success in a way that had a very real impact on the fan response the two of them got while they were busting their asses and trying their best to keep B-Komachi going in her absence. I don't think they would be wrong to feel honestly kind of used and hurt!

Obviously this isn't me saying that Ruby is a bad person or that she deserves to have Kana snap at her like that or whatever but… I dunno! It just feels good to have Mem and Kana finally address those feelings and admit to them without it compromising their genuine love and care for Ruby, which is one one of the main ways that the current gen of B-Komachi has surpassed the previous one. Kana especially touches on something I discussed last week in that I think her half of this shared RubyKana arc is going to be about confronting and besting her 'inner Nino', so to speak. Like Nino, she has those same tangled up feelings of admiration and envy, but Kana is capable of confronting them and identifying them. Most importantly, she loves Ruby enough to not let them take her over completely.

ANYWAY FORGET ALL THE REST OF THIS STUFF BECAUSE THIS WAS SECRETLY AN AI POST THIS WHOLE TIME MFS!!!!!!!! oh god this chapter review is already so long and now it's about to get even longer.

Anyone who's read any of my OnK meta before will probably know that I have always stood by one thing that I won't compromise on: Hoshino Ai was just a normal girl. She was a normal girl who suffered abuse and neglect and hated herself as a result, who was exploited by the entertainment industry because she was pretty and vulnerable, who didn't understand people but spent every waking moment of her too-short life reaching out so she could try and love them. The idea of Ai being fundamentally mysterious or unknowable, that the so called 'real Ai' had some horrible dark secret or that the supposedly 'true' Ai really was as horrible as Ai thought herself to be have never resonated with me. The 'real me' that is so horrible that Ai can only speak of her with black stars is nothing more than the flawed, hurting, abused human behind Ai of B-Komachi. I've said this all along and yet there's always been a little part of me worried that Akasaka was going to pull a fast one and betray that idea and rupture the heart of this character I've come to love so much.

To that end — I cannot tell you how insanely fucking cathartic the ending of this chapter was. To have Ruby at last come face to face with her mother as a human being and recognize her for who she really is. That this key final puzzle piece of the real Ai is centered on her pain and her loneliness and her raw humanity, that Ruby describes her as just a normal girl who was always crying and in pain… I genuinely don't have words to say how incredible it felt to finally, FINALLY have someone recognize Ai's suffering. And not just anyone, but one of Ai's children, one of the people she loved more than anything else in the world.

The imagery and framing here is so insanely powerful. Ai taking the place of Ruby's reflection, the look of weary, resigned pain on her face. How small Ai is when Ruby sees her. The barrier of the glass between them; even now in this moment of understanding, the unbreechable barrier of Ai's death keeps Ruby from truly reaching her. It almost feels skeuomorphic in how literal the visualization of this moment of connection and empathy is. Ruby literally sees herself in Ai — she sees Ai in herself. It's pure empathy made as real and tangible as it gets. At long, long last, someone has squinted past the blinding light cast by Ai of B-Komachi and seen Hoshino Ai alone in the shadows where she's been this whole time.

Break next week…! That was to be expected — Jump Festa 2024 will be taking place next weekend and there will be a OnK panel with the seiyuu for Ai, Aqua, Kana and Akane in attendance. We're confirmed to be getting some season 2 news as well, so there's that to look forward to!

[toptophat]

Top Hat's thoughts on the FNAF movie (Spoilers)

I thoroughly enjoyed it! Smiled throughout the whole thing

As a FNAF fan, seeing some key moments from the games as well as acknowledging the fandom (e.g Game theory's MatPat and The Living Tombstone's iconic song at the credits) made my jaw drop

FNAF veterans such as Dawko enjoyed it so that made me optimistic

The animatronics were replicated perfectly and the entire set for the restaurant is just too beautiful

Scenes such as the break-in, while not exactly scary, were still intense enough to keep me invested

Unpopular opinion - I kinda liked the pillow fort scene, it was cheesy but it could be seen as the animatronics trying to gain Abby's trust to lure her to be stuffed into a suit. Also I'm jealous, i wanna make a pillow fort with them 😭

And here's where I'll address (some of) the main critiques people gave to the movie (references: anything in the media that would link to this in a way)

"The movie wasn't scary at all, it should've been gory"

Yeah, I agree, even though I got shocked a couple of times (like the balloon boy gag) it wasn't really terrifying

But honestly, after watching countless "playthroughs" as a kid, you start to realise... The games were never that scary in the first place

To be honest, the only thing scary about it was actually some areas in the fandom (you know who you are..)

I'm aware that FNAF was never for kids, no matter how many elsagate vids were made on it. So it would make sense for it to have blood and gore. It definitely would've made scenes like the spring lock scene more traumatising to look back at

You know what else was expected to be more adult oriented? Cuphead's Netflix adaptation. While I understand that both of these beloved franchises could've been adapted to be more adult, it can also be noted that the Cuphead show is actually accepted by the fandom as while it did have a rocky start with S1, it showed that the writers were testing the waters to try something new, and by S2, they had a better idea of what they wanted, and a lot of people fell in love with it. While it would've definitely been cool to see more gore, it wouldn't improve the movie automatically

"The movie doesn't follow the original lore"

While, yes, it would've been cool to see all theories confirmed by Scott himself during the film, it's also good to remember this: they're called "adaptations" for a reason

Many popular franchises, when adapted to the big/small screen can experience changes in the known story and lore as a way to bring this fresh new start and perspective, they never aim to continue or tell the story again when it wasn't necessary in the first place (*cough cough* Lion King 2019). Last time I checked: Luigi wasn't the one who gets kidnapped by Bowser (SMB23), Cuphead never lost the right to his soul due to a carnival game (TCS), The Echidnas never had beef with freaking owls over the master emerald (The Sonic movies)

Let's be honest here, Scott may have made FNAF, but all the popular fan theories wrote the story, so everything is kinda messy. Maybe this was Scott's chance to rewrite everything, to start over and stray away from the messy lore that others made, MatPat seemed to be cool with it, he was even in the damn movie!

While, there have been times when repeating the same story makes it stale and repetitive (Disney), Changing important elements of the story (Also Disney) can make it unfaithful and pointless, so I understand that.

The changes that were made in this movie were interesting, making Vanessa, Afton's daughter could add more impact on the whole Vanny thing as she's been around this horrible man her whole life. Not making Mike, Abby and Garrett, Afton's children doesn't really deepen the personal connection and conflict between Mike and Afton so it'll be interesting to see how that one goes especially with Circus Baby now that Abby has no real connection to Afton other than that one encounter

Also I heard from one review that the movies take more inspiration from the books, but I don't have enough knowledge on the books to elaborate on that argument

Unless there's some weird twist, which is highly unlikely, I'd love to see how they develop these newly established dynamics if there are sequels being planned (pls make more, I need to see how this goes)

Besides, like I said, often, the first movies, seasons etc are there to experiment, it has the potential to improve in each new installment. For example, JJBA, it took until around parts 3-4 for Araki to have a better idea of what he wanted it to be.

Conclusion

That's about all I really have to say. I understand that many had high expectations going in and, who wouldn't? It shows we value ourselves and that we want to experience things that are worth our time. People are not obligated to love everything and don't have to agree with everything I said. I personally found the movie to be enjoyable and worth my time, and, while i know it lacked in some aspects, who knows?, as it progresses, opinions could change and if we get more of the revamped FNAF, then, we could see if it changed for the better or for the worse. And while first impressions do matter, it won't always be the same impression moving forward (for people who liked and didn't like the movie)

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk!

[riding-the-sunset-bird]

hi!! i know this depends a lot on personal taste but i thought i'd ask you because you know the game so well, which dlc do you think is the most worth it?

(note: this anon clarified in another ask that they meant all DLCs but were most interested in the Cove Step DLCs; thank you!)

Hi!

First off, gonna give you massive credit here because I think this is a super fascinating ask, so much so that I want to do a bit of a deep dive!

(skip to the end for the summarized/basic stuff)

Personal Preference

I'll begin by saying that if you just ask me this question outright and it comes down wholly to my opinion and my opinion only, then I'd say that Baxter's DLC was the most worth it to me. The actual reasons for it are a bit too extensive - I'll leave it at me simply adoring Baxter and what his DLC contributes to the story's narrative - but that would be my answer.

However, I'd really like to go into something that I find more objective. We'll do this by splitting that idea of "worth it" into different categories and going from there, because it could mean so many different things depending on player preference.

Story Relevance

This just boils down to what DLC adds the most to Our Life's story, which I'm defining as "moments/scenes that would feel natural in the base game" as opposed to a DLC that comes off like extra content but not necessary content.

For this one, I'm going to award the points to the Step 3 DLC, mostly for Reflection, Late Shift, and Serendipity. All three of these moments provide something for what already existed in the base game, to the point where I almost think it's odd for them to be DLC content.

Reflection gives both backstory to Cove's scar (something that had been talked about before but not fully explained) and closure on Cove's conflict with his parents over their divorce. It also shows character development for Cove as he moves past all of that.

Serendipity follows up on Liz meeting Shiloh in the Step 3 intro. Even if the player doesn't care about Shiloh, I think it makes sense for Liz to go searching for him even if you didn't have the DLC, and then the DLC just lets you actually see what comes from it (that's not how it works in-game but I'm just making a point).

Late Shift follows up on what the MC's job is if they chose to have one, as well as showing Cove at his job. It expands the initial choice of "job"/"no job" during the intro into an actual moment, which gives it more meaning. I'd consider it an equivalent to Charity in that way (which is impacted by whether or not the MC volunteers at ORCA).

So yeah, Step 3's DLC, no contest.

Consistency

This is what I'd imagine to be the DLC that is the most "all-around" of the DLCs; maybe not too high of highs, but not too low of lows either, just an all-around solid product.

I'm giving this one to the Step 1 DLC. While it's the shortest of the DLCs, I think the content is consistency good throughout all moments. All feature the MC just doing assorted kid things and satisfy MCs who might be Indifferent to Cove early on (all except two allow the MC to mostly ignore Cove if they'd prefer to spend time with others), whereas the Step 2 and 3 DLC can be more mixed.

For example, Reflection - while solid and emotional if you're invested in Cove's backstory - is a lot of talking and not a lot of doing, Happiness is hilariously short if you're Indifferent to Cove, and Serendipity is probably a total skip for players who aren't interested in Shiloh. For the Step 2 DLC, Soiree tends to be a standout moment that overshadows the rest and other moments are largely out of the MC's control (Escapade if the MC isn't having fun, which has little impact, and Summerwork if the MC isn't the type that would lead to the drama in said moment).

But the Step 1 DLC is the one I feel would be most consistently enjoyable throughout the whole thing, at least when keeping in mind the limitations that would naturally be placed on the MC given that they're a child. I always enjoy playing each fairly equally.

Fun Factor

This just comes down to the highest highs - the DLC that provides the most fun - and I'd say that the Step 2 DLC does that.

Mall allows you to spend roughly equal amounts of time with Derek, Lee, and Cove (both a different experience from the base game and gives the MC a new location to mess around in).

Birthday lets you engage in various games and meet with Miranda (which could be something fun for the player, either meeting Miranda early if they haven't played the full game yet or seeing younger Miranda if they have). Plus, that this is the moment where the MC can retaliate against Jeremy (dooting Jeremy into silence is one of my personal biggest non-Cove non-Baxter highlights of the game) which gives the moment worth all on its own.

Soiree being a big win whether you want to bring Cove or not and giving the MC multiple different ways to experience it (including having a dance with Baxter, regardless of whether they go down his route or not). This allows MCs who might not be Indifferent to Cove but still don't want to bring him for whatever reason the full freedom to do so (unlike Happiness), which allows for more replayability.

I've expressed points about Summerwork and Escapade already, but even disregarding the potential fun of those, I think the highs of the others outweigh the lows, which I don't think the Step 3 DLC would do with the ones I've gone on about. The Step 1 DLC is overall more consistently good and I think a player is more likely to enjoy all of the steps, but I think the Step 2 DLC is more fun.

Other Matters

These are a few details I don't want to get too much into but still wished to address. The Step 3 DLC, content-wise, is unquestionably the largest out of all of the Step DLCs (provided that you play all of the moments in each), even though all Step DLCs are the same price. Likewise, the Step 2 DLC is larger than the Step 1 DLC.

Goes without saying that quantity does not equal quality and, while not pointing to any specific target, I want to add that I don't think it's acceptable for things like CGs to not be up to par with the ones in the base game when you're paying for the DLC while not paying for the base game.

Additionally, I think it's strange for the moments that feature the alternative guys to be locked away (Mall and Summerwork for Derek, then Late Shift and Boating for Baxter; Derek won't even join the player at their house if the MC is Indifferent to Cove and Terry/Liz will jump into Cove's place in Late Shift/Boating respectively rather than the MC potentially getting Baxter). This can make Derek's proposal in particular at the end of Step 2 confusing to base game players because they will have only seen Derek in the intro and ending, thus making his crush come out of nowhere.

It doesn't change the quality of the DLCs themselves, but I just wanted to point out that both Derek and Baxter kind of have an extra price tacked onto their DLCs because most players would probably want to see more of them before buying those.

And yes, it does indeed give the Step 2 DLC a few points towards the story relevance category because Derek's proposal is there no matter what, but I thought the Step 3 DLC still outweighed it.

Just wanted to get all that out of the way.

Addressing the Cove Wedding DLC

I sometimes call this the "Wedding Planning DLC" because that's what you'll spend a large chunk of time doing. That's not a criticism if you like that, just stating an observation.

Unlike most DLCs where I can weigh the various moments' pros and cons, the Wedding DLC is just one long "moment" where you plan your wedding with Cove, have the wedding with Cove, and then have the reception.

Also, Baxter is the wedding planner, so if you hate him then prepare to hold your breath before diving into it.

I think it does well for what it's trying to do (it's a little sad that there's no CG but there are so many mini-CGs that I get it), so it really is just a matter of whether you want it or not.

The Step DLCs are $4 each and the Wedding DLC is $3, so do I think that the Wedding DLC is worth 75% of any of the Step DLCs?

Not really (I eventually got tired of the planning part to the point where Baxter giving dance lessons became the most exciting thing that happened, as it felt like there was some development going on, lol), but I can see why it'd be worth it for other people. I recommend it if people are just very dedicated to planning a wedding in addition to seeing the wedding and reception.

Derek's Story DLC and Baxter's Story DLC

These two are another case where it very heavily leans on personal preference. I've already said that I like Baxter's DLC the best, but I might as well talk about Derek's too.

My feelings on his DLC are... complicated. Basically, it's the Derek and His Family DLC and I think that's great, but when it comes to plots centered around families, my attention tends to drift (this includes the moment titled Family in Step 2, by the way). Found family holds my interest a bit more though, one example being a potential plotpoint you can go down in Derek's DLC where you consider Mr. Holden a father to you.

While I do enjoy the personalities amongst Derek's family (barring Nicolas until Step 4), I think it might end up being a problem for some because the story stops being about you and starts being about Derek due to the amount of characters exclusive to his DLC all connecting back to him and not you. You take a backseat to the plot and Derek's issues in Step 4 actually end up being resolved without you during an argument/conversation with his brothers.

Which is good if you just want to kick back, watch the plot unfold, and listen to Derek talk about his problems, especially as his major issue takes place between Step 3 and 4 so the player doesn't witness it. Me personally, I had a lot of my agency taken away during key moments, such as Siblings where I didn't think going to see Elizabeth was a good idea, nor Boardwalk where I missed out on seeing Jorge (who is my favorite Suarez) and Elizabeth's relationship develop because the game has you go with Derek, nor the ending of Step 4 where I wouldn't have just run off with Derek due to wanting to spend more time with the family.

Another awkward little detail is that Derek will crush on the player and try to get them into a marriage proposal regardless of the player's own feelings, which can lead to some awkward moments (like Nicolas wanting to see the player in a swimsuit "because that's what Derek wants").

Baxter's DLC is the opposite because his family is only mentioned occasionally and not even seen on-screen. You largely spend one-on-one time with him and characters tend to focus on the player rather than Baxter (and when they do focus on Baxter, it's often as an extension of the player's connection with him).

It's very high drama/angst for a typical Our Life story, which can naturally turn people away who prefer the slice of life nature of most moments. It's a very different feel from the rest of the game and not just because the player is spending time with someone who isn't Cove. Cove is set up as the character that the player is with for all steps and in-betweens, inevitably meaning that Derek and Baxter won't stick around after their step until their Step 4; it's just that one of them makes far bigger drama about it than the other.

The DLC also lets you meet Miranda's brother and you get a psuedo Wedding DLC mashed into Baxter's Step 4 where you're part of the wedding planning process without being one of the people the wedding is for. Miranda gets a mini-plot for herself involving her relationship with Terry in addition to already getting one of Baxter's moments centered around giving her a birthday party.

On the downside, the interest system in Our Life does not function towards going down in interest (doesn't function well in general with how Baxter's DLC works, really), so going into Baxter's Step 4 with the idea of never forgiving him or not at least becoming friends again won't work. The game assumes by the act of choosing Baxter's Step 4 that the player wants to eventually hear Baxter out and becomes friends/lovers again, otherwise they'd be doing Cove's Step 4 instead; it's just something to keep in mind.

Speaking of Cove, while Baxter's DLC gives a little more focus towards Miranda and Terry, Derek's DLC has a moment where Cove shares equal screen time with him, so you could consider both DLCs to give extra focus to separate groups of people (Cove+Mr. Holden or Miranda+Terry).

Basically, both DLCs are entirely different and I can't really give them a category because they're so different compared to the base game, so I'll give some bullet points later of who I think would enjoy the DLC rather that putting them in a box.

The only other thing left to say is that, while Derek's DLC pairs with the Step 2 DLC and Baxter's DLC pairs with the Step 3 DLC for getting that little bit of extra time with the respective character, story-wise I think the Step 2 DLC is also good for Baxter's DLC because of Birthday and Soiree.

Recap

Overall, I do believe that every DLC has its own value and anyone could think differently on which is the best to them. I felt like it'd be too cheap to just claim which one is the best, especially since I like the more controversial Baxter DLC (the Step 2 DLC is my favorite Step DLC, for the record).

So to summarize:

Step 1 DLC (for Consistency)

most consistently likable and good all around

if one moment stands out from the others, it's not by much

the "safest" choice of the DLCs, which could be seen as either a good or bad thing

Step 2 DLC (for Fun Factor)

highest highs of the Step DLCs

allows for multiple assorted character interactions

Soiree being a strong moment to lean into the MC's independence

meeting younger Miranda in Birthday and finally retaliating against Jeremy

solid addition in combination with owning the Derek DLC or Baxter DLC as an extra bit of fun

but can have a feeling of the MC being "taken along for the ride" in some moments or doing things that might not seem like something that'd happen to them

Step 3 DLC (for Story Relevance)

includes the most content that adds to the MC's/Cove's story in a meaningful way

serves as an extension of a few happenings in the Step 3 intro

heavy on emotion

works in combination with the Baxter DLC to give the player extra time with him

feels the most natural amongst the base game moments

but can be a mixed bag depending on the MC's feelings on Cove and other characters like Shiloh, potentially leaving at least one moment as a total skip

The Cove Wedding DLC is good for people who:

like the idea of planning their wedding the way people spend hours doing character customization in games

can enjoy or tolerate/put up with Baxter as the wedding planner

are cool with a low conflict/casual plot (as nothing goes wrong during the process)

are fine with having no Cove CGs, only mini CGs

The Derek's Story DLC is good for people who:

like plots centering heavily around family

enjoy young children acting like young children

want extra time with Cove and/or Mr. Holden, as well as Elizabeth (who features in two separate moments and also Step 4)

prefer sitting back on some level and watching the plot happen around them instead of directly from them

don't mind being reminded every now and then that Derek is crushing on the MC if playing a friendship-only route

And the Baxter's Story DLC is good for those who:

prefer one-on-one time with characters

want a change of scenery from the usual Our Life plotlines and a heavier dose of drama than the usual

are seeking more time/development for Miranda and Terry, as well as their relationship

like the potential option of having a fling with Baxter in their story (whether that ends with the MC romancing Baxter in the end, someone else, or no one at all)

wish to be involved in a wedding with a conflict attached, as well as the MC not being part of the couple having the wedding

Hope this answers your question!

[wherevenusholdssomeofficespace]

"I'm afraid of squeaking and shaking" - Sara Murphy …y'know considering her childhood where anything squeaking and shaking would inevitably lead to catastrophe, reasonable fear.

In all seriousness though her being really jumpy is almost out of character considering her typical nonchalant responses. But she was really high strung about Murphy's law in her debut episode, its really seems she just gets really high strung about stuff, and when Murphy's Law can conflict with that, she gets high strung about that.

I think more specifically she tends to get anxious about the potential of Murphy's Law (see debut episode), like the squeaking and the shaking is a warning sign, than she is about Murphy's Law actually occurring. Because she can't address Murphy's Law until it actually happens. But once its happening, she can actually do something about it. She tries to plan for it, but she's not really as good at it as Milo is, though she's more purposeful with it. Murphy's Law doesn't like to adhere to predictions.

Speaking of Milo, Milo's establishing character moment is saying he doesn't tend to scream. But he also screams a lot during the show. Even during relatively casual situations, like hanging off a cliff. Like with the finger trap.

I think its that the Murphy kids still get scared like any other person, they just deal with being afraid better because they live most of their life afraid. So they also sometimes just don't get afraid in certain situations because they are familiar with them. But do in other situations where their not. And Murphy's Law loves throwing new situations at them. And their not ashamed of their fear, they just deal with it. Which of course being constantly scared and stressed can't be good for their health but I guess it's better than being dead. Long term screaming hurts the larynx but a good shout in surprise alerts anyone nearby of possible danger. And sometimes its just fun. (Like when Zack and Milo look at the cliff, look at each other, and then scream. It's like a weird social ritual more than anything). Though Zack keeps yelling, Milo quickly goes back to his normal tone. It's just height. He knows how to deal with that. But he does get upset about aliens potentially eating him (though admittedly that's only once they tell him they're going to eat him), and about Melissa potentially being a robot.

But they're still susceptible to jump scares because things that jump out are actually threats to them, and supernatural threats aren't something the Murphy siblings usually deal with so that's also an unknown. I also think generally they tend to get less scared in group settings but I'd have to actually think about that. But in situations where they are with their family they rarely get too upset, probably because on some level they feel safe with the Murphy adults around. (Murphy Family Vacation, Murphy Family Christmas, Game Night). Even when things are getting a little weird (see Game Night). And also maybe a more meta reason of it is that they scream when its funny, and its funnier when the whole Murphy clan isn't screaming but it still gives us a potential character detail.

On the other hand, Zack doesn't get scared easily by halloween scares, even though he usually gets scared by Murphy's Law more than anyone else. Zack has been getting jump scared since a kid, but things jumping out at him isn't really scary, especially stereotypical halloween things. Because its all a performance that he's gotten acclimated to. Not dangerous. But things like getting chased by actual rocks or dangling in high places is an actual threat. So he acts appropriately. But the Murphy siblings are more used to those things so have some idea on how to handle them.

Which maybe on some level, it makes sense that Zack having grown out of being scared easily would now be getting his kicks from Murphy's Law after he got over the whole "real actual peril" part.

[draconscious]

RP GET TO KNOW YOU QUESTIONNAIRE.

NAME?: Dan!

PRONOUNS?: he/him

MOST ACTIVE MUSES?: Right now, Pike Queen Lucy over at @coiledqueen has the braincell (for the record, I blame @noitxll 😏)

RPG CLASS I'D BE: Bard or fighter! Or the frog from Chrono Trigger. Frog freakin' rules.

FAVORITE COLOR: Orange!

FAVORITE TYPE OF THREAD: I love love love experimenting and trying out all different types of threads, shifting between muse and genre. Over time, I think I've most come to enjoy writing intensity...in fighting, in tension, or in love. Action will always be a winner in my book, but I also really like writing that drills down into the details...simple conversations or interactions that allow me to explore more of the characters and the world(s) that they live in. (Yes, this is why I typically write so much LMAO)

FAVORITE THING ABOUT MY MUSE: My Clair is so much more than the angry badge-refuser who you first see in-game, and that's solely because of all the conversations, threads, and brainstorming that has happened with others since I first picked her up more than seven years ago now...she's evolved so much, and if you're reading this, THANK YOU. This community has really inspired and informed her growth over time. (I will always love building minor characters up into their own full-fledged selves, and I'm grateful that I have a supportive space to do just that. 😊)

HOW YOU LIKE TO RP: honestly? I like to establish a scene or loose plot and go from there. if things get intense, I'll make it a point to check in with my writing partner more frequently--but I love quickly landing on a dynamic and setting, and then seeing how the interaction crescendos over time! I love a quick-hitting interaction as much as I love a slow buildup, with many narrative twists and turns. I'm adaptable. 😉

(I do tend to write a lot, but that's only because I'm big on leaving my writing partners multiple threads to pull on in their own replies. I always want to leave you with enough to work with, while also letting you steer the story in your own way...that open-endedness is super important to me!)

FAVORITE PLOTS:

conflict (fighting, tense/intense situations, team-ups in the face of danger...give 'em all to me!)

sprawling adventures, even if I only have the bandwidth for a few at a time OTL

small, casual conversations about deep stuff. I am always game for some character exploration.

Moments that lead to becoming friends, or closer friends! (A little romance every now and then doesn't hurt either. 💖)

as I said above, I'm always looking to push myself writing-wise--if you have an idea that you want to try, just ask!! (I promise to do the same.)

WHERE YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION FROM: honestly? above everything, sports. I love sports. I love competition, and watching the very best clash against each other--there's no rawer tension or emotion--and the storylines it produces are unmatched. all of my muses, to some extent, are chasing after something with all their hearts, or maintaining excellence at the top of their games...they love competing, taking everything that life gives them. they have lost before, but they always get back up because they love to win.

A good book or show can also really influence me, too! I'm currently working my way through some Dimension 20 DND campaigns. (Tabletop has been a major boon to the creative me in 2024.)

FACT ABOUT YOU: I love card games (MTG, Pokemon, Yugioh) and was my local game store's 'in-store champion' in MTG for a few years. (The title didn't really mean anything but I got some pretty dope playmats and discounted product out of it, which is a win in my book!)

I also love hiking. Frolicking, some might say. It's good.

tagging: YOU stolen from: literally everyone LMAO [HEIST COMPLETE]

[ijichi-nijika]

Warm - by Butterfly-Latte/Krispy Cat.

So this might be a bit strange, seeing a random game review from random tumblr user ijichi-nijika. I have wanted to have a list of games I play in general and to write down my thoughts, immediately upon finishing them. I apologize if this is strange, but I will put my thoughts below a drop down so you can simply skip past these if this isn't anything you wish to read.

However I will link to the game above my review with my own score, so people can read it for themselves proper without any spoilers, and an except from my review so you can get a general feel.

"As a person who has felt numb for a large portion of her life, I really connected to Warm. I really think its worth a read. Short and sweet, with tense moments. I really loved the characterization of Megumi a lot."

Score: 9/10.

When I randomly went through my downloads folder tonight looking for a few files before I went to bed, I didn't expect to stay up to read a visual novel. Let alone one that I think is genuinely good. I had gotten Warm from a bundle years ago, but never touched it since I had no idea what to play from said bundle at all. So, flash forward 4 years and now I have.

To describe Warm in one word, it would be - Healing. Warm takes place in a small town in what I assume is Japan, from context clues alone, and is centered around a 11 year old girl named Megumi. Megumi has gone through most of her life so far feeling, what I can only describe as numb. Unfeeling, lonely, depressed. This continues, until one day a transfer student named Hinata, moves in only a few blocks away from her. They, with some predictability, become friends, much to Megumi's confusion. And she outwardly expresses said confusion, on why anyone would even want to be around her. To which Hinata simply says "Because you're nice."

I won't go to further into too much detail, but the slow friendship that the two grow into warmed my heart a lot. Megumi, not easily understanding social cues, to Hinata's simple and quick solutions such as when she starts doing a hand gesture to show that she is joking. And the feelings beginning to grow into liking one another on both sides, made my heart feel extremely full. While the plot gets a tiny bit predictable, I do think for such a short visual novel, the detail and events that take place are still extremely well written, and felt real for the most part. Even the final act of the VN, while I could tell it was coming from a mile away, still felt impactful, at least to me. As a person who has been hurt before by people who simply were not in control of their emotions, I felt for what happens to Hinata in the final hour of the game.

The way that the game treats another character, Inoue, on the other hand, I don't like as much. In the first few acts I felt for the character. There was simple characterization to imply that she had some sort of social or learning disability. The game, doesn't make fun of this, and attempts to sympathize with her at least, a tiny bit. But I don't personally agree with her being the crux of why the final act happens as it does. Conflict is fine, I am all for it to make a better story, and mistakes also happen. But it didn't feel very good to hear that this character, after severely burning another character, is simply expelled from school and we never hear from her again. In fact, any plot point after the final argument of the game that involves discussing Inoue, just didn't feel good to me. I could tell, at least from my reading of the novel, that the character had a lot of jealousy, and needed help but couldn't vocalize it in a way or attempt to get the help in anyway that would possibly lower how people saw her, even if the other way was pushing every character to hate her. But once again, I am reading the feelings of children characters from my adult perspective, so perhaps I am reading too much into it.

The music, fits the game exceptionally well. The best way I could describe it is melancholic and at times, tense. There is at least one happy track in the game though, for the many scenes that warrant that. I think the score of the game really helped me get into how Megumi feels.

As a person who has felt numb for a large portion of her life, I really connected to Warm. Megumi's depression and general anxiety, to even her disconnect from how she can even perceive herself being so vastly different from reality? That's how I used to feel a lot. And sometimes I still do. I think while simple, the lens of numbness that the novel shows us from her lens is realistic, and not blown to proportion. And it made me think of how I've felt with others for most of my life, and how it could have possibly played out. Food for thought.

Warm is a really good yuri vn, with a heavy focus on relationships from the perspective of a young numb girl. And I think reading it, was probably extremely beneficial to myself. And not too many games nowadays really make me feel like that.