#Meteo rambles

[luriluth]

Who wants to hear my delusional meursault theory

[forter-from-meteos]

Could I get more info on the Makers (I think you called them) please? I love their designs sm

you can! to recap and elaborate on what i said (or implied) about them in tags:

they’re the organic natives of Grannest, who fled when the planet became uninhabitable due to pollution (this is going off the wars lore for Grannest)

they’re the creators of the current, robotic Grannestians

they have the unfortunate combination of being both a social species and being very territorial, meaning that while they require a certain amount of social interaction to be happy, being in the presence of others (of their species) for too long can greatly irritate them

the Grannestian robots were created as companions before anything else, to combat this problem. even the biggest or tiniest workbots have basic personality and socializing capabilities. that's the biggest reason why the bots were able to maintain a society after the Makers left.

their current living situation (in space) isn’t particularly pleasant, with basic survival taking up too much time and resources for them to improve their conditions by much (constant close quarters with their own kind, no robots, very few members of other species, also the whole “fleeing the planet” thing was very slipshod so their infrastructure isn’t great)

their current location is quite far away from any planet or major space station, which contributes to the above problems

they'd probably be called Grannestians because i doubt the robots would change the name of the planet, but if i was gonna give them a proper, seperate name, i'd go with not-so-subtle meteos naming tradition and call them Solotons (sah-lah-tahns, like solitude and also it has solo in it). i imagine the robot Grannestians would near solely refer to them as Makers or some other title

they're typically about a dozen meters tall, not quite Suburbionite size but close

speaking of them, there are parallels with the Suburbionites, but the Suburbionites had well established habitation stations prior to their planet's destruction (and that destruction also killed off or massively weakened most of the warring parties but this post ain't about that)

another difference is that compared to the Solotons/Makers and their setup, the Suburbionite stations are ancient. given enough time and progress, the collection of Soloton/Maker stations/ships (the Soloton Swarm as I like to call it) could become an assembly stable enough to be given planet status similar to Suburbion or other artificial planets. perhaps one day they could develop tech that could allow them to recolonize Grannest. hopefully, since the Grannestians are still waiting for them.

also since it's been decades since i posted about them here's some art i've posted before

[khrysalisposting]

as an extreme weather nerd that has been watching the weather channel since childhood, i have not stopped watching coverage of milton for days. send help

[readingloveswounds]

ik it's not really viable to forecast this far out, but my phone is claiming that on july 6th it will be a high of 18/64 while météo france says 27/80. what is the truth.

[rocketandonuts]

Space cat boy game oc ideas:

Aster (he/they)

pink hair green eyes

Protagonist. Lives in a broken spaceship on earth and he is trying to fix it to go home (somewhere else in space.) Have lost a huge part of memory when he arrived earth.

The goal of the game is basically keeping him survive thru the days and let him gradually fix the ship (a lot of unsure idea still but basically) on certain days event will happen and story will progress

Nebu (they/them)

Bright orange hair. purple eyes

Aster’s childhood friend (ish). First appeared at the end of prologue/chapter 1 where Aster successfully fixed the communication device on his ship. Looks just like Aster but with floating bits and sparkles all around. More mysterious. More alien.

Is probably jailed. Knows about “the weapons”

Theyre important but kinda vague (or maybe I just don’t remember) Wanna make my little projects to establish the story on their side more

Meteo (he/they)

Muddy naive blue hair. Possible green eyes? He wears goggles.

Dog boy what would prolly show up at like chapter 3. A mechanic. Is really friendly and helps aster fix his ship. Probably doesn’t talk a lot? But smiles a lot!

Has certain special connection with Aster. Important event character.

Random furry villager npcs:

Brown furs. Or other natural colors. Way more furrier than Aster and such

[kaibutsushidousha]

So does Minase joins Meteo of being a writer that picked a figure from regions that aren’t as used as much in TM with the Trung sisters belonging to him?

This one is just a self-answering yes-no question, so I'll instead use it as a platform for the Minase thoughts I've been having since the wombo-combo of the new mats, the anniversary interview, and the Dubai event. It's probably what the anon wanted out of it anyway.

My inner ramblings start from something Nasu said in last year's interview and made a point to reiterate this year.

Ordeal Calls are meant to be each writer's best and most emblematic piece. Their artistic identity taken to its peak. That's something I believe Sakurai accomplished and Minase didn't. That obviously raises one question: what would a real Minase masterpiece look like?

By the Ordeal Call's premise, it would still need to be something that gave the supplementary information we were missing about the Alterego class, but let's ignore that angle and focus only on the goal of expressing Minase's personality in the best way possible.

What works with Minase and what doesn't? Compare his worst and best pieces. Agartha sucks because it focuses on his opinions about women and those are categorically rancid. Yuga Kshetra succeeds because it focuses on his opinions about ableism, which are far more poignant and agreeable. Minase has enough care about the subject to ensure that the plot is a series of arrangements where the characters triumph not despite their so-called flaws but specifically because of them.

So an ideal Minase Ordeal would focus on a different subject that Minase recurrently displays passionate, empathetic, and agreeable opinions about. So what can we find in his roster of character? Minase made Servant versions:

Zenobia, whose historical significance is entirely about resisting Roman colonization, although she failed. Minase portrays as someone who literally wears her failure and tries to conduct herself with dignity regardless to prove the point that the Roman conquerors couldn't truly defeat her Palmyra spirit. I think this one is a bust execution-wise, but it's significant that the idea is there.

Lakshmi Bai, whose historical significance is entirely about resisting English colonization. Minase portrays her as someone who can't help but disdain the innocent English civilian Holmes and acknowledges the irrationality of it, but the entire surrounding cast including Holmes himself assure her that she is entitled to her feeling because colonization is that gruesome and traumatic of a process.

The Trung sisters, whose historical significance comes not exactly from resisting colonization, but from leading an independence war, which is similar enough in spirit.

Columbus, whose historical significance comes from being a colonizer. I don't need to tell you how Minase chose to portray him.

With Fate/ drawing its action cast from history books, it's inevitable that we get a decent amount of characters whose bulk of their offscreen backstory was spent conquering, slaughtering, and assimilating other cultures. Some certified colonizers, like Richard and Takeru, are very self-critical about it. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Iskandar, who gets flak from Faker and Ptolemy for his stupid decisions toward the Diadochi, but the journey of conquest and domination gets framed as the fun adventure no one is critical of. Either way, none of other characters not written by Minase get irredeemable treatment that Columbus gets.

The franchise's most prominent colonizer is, of course, Arthur(ia) Pendragon. Both versions are defined by the regret that comes with ultimately failing their kingdom, but their failings are never credited to the notion that violently conquering the British tribes and unifying the isles is an inherently bad thing. That's the image of greater good they fought for, and that part remains unchallenged. The closest Nasu got to criticizing Arthuria for being a colonizer is by showing the Round Table's brutal treatment of the Arabs in the Sixth Singularity. I'm mentioned this specially because this is Percival's first reaction to eating a mixed breakfast buffet in the current Minase-written Dubai event:

Minase's Percival is strongly defined by his respectful interest in foreign cultures and, fittingly enough for a knight who opposed the Lion King, he's maybe the first character to directly criticize Arthuria on her disregard for the traditions she trampled in the unification of Britain. That's a thing I'd appreciate more of and can only imagine Minase daring to touch on.

[reflections-of-mobius]

It was quite true- Bless and Node's world barely understood Chaos Energy outside of its technological applications, and in the last dozen or so years (thanks to Eggman's constant attacks)...the technological capabilities of their planet had skyrocketed.

The stars twinkled overhead, passive observers to the plight unfolding below their illuminating gaze. Bless couldn't take a step back- effectively up against a wall as the robots counted in a hideous unison. His eyes were narrowed, his muzzle slowly pulling into a smirk. He was nervous, yes- but he wasn't about to let the robots see him scared. Sure...a good portion of his speed was gone in this form, but he was still fast enough to outrun those things.

An ear twitched. The werehog heard the faintest scrabblings of shoes and claws on the metallic road- eyes flicking towards the source. It was at least a good block or two away- closing in fast. Far, far faster than the robots who continued their monotonous countdown.

"Six....Five..."

His head whipped around at his name, at the familiar voice. Bless' thoughts all scattered as they landed on his boyfriend's daughter, who had all-but instantly jumped to standing and crashed a piece of debris into one of Meteo-Tech's robots. There was a loud crackling sound as the machine Harmony hit crumpled like paper, before falling to the ground- loud clanks and screeches of metal abounding.

His ears flattened against his head at the noise.

"HARMONY??-"

"Civilian not recognized. Preparing to neutralize threat." That was all it took to kickstart the werehog into action.

"LIKE HELL!" An arm extended, grabbing one mech and essentially using it like a hammer to whack several others in the air. There were guns pointed at both mobians, now. "--We can talk once we deal with these jerks, alright?" He had bounded closer towards Harmony, spiked-shoes causing a crack as they cut into the ground.

"Resistance detected. Fir-" Another robot was crumpled into a ball as Bless' arms wrapped around it. It would seem these machines weren't built to withstand Bless' werehog strength- much less the strength of Harmony.

"Detect THIS!" He chucked the ball of metal and electrified wires towards the rest of the mechanical group. Total, there were about twenty robots- six of whom Harmony had hit with that first debris-shot into crumpled, burning piles, and four of whom Bless had crushed into heaps of exposed wire and malformed silver.

[]

Get up- they'regonnadiehe'sgonnadieI'mgonnadie- c'mon- pleasepleasepleaseplease-

Node's thoughts were a storm. They hadn't moved since they'd ended their call to Volt, hadn't dared to so much as think. They were shivering, hearing some of their own pleas fall shakily from their mouth. Their imagination was running wild, handing them image after image of the worst-possible outcome.

"Volt,-" Node managed his name between murmurings and ramblings of terror. Their eyes, for a split second, had snapped in his direction- hazel hues not quite focusing on the hybrid's form. They'd twitched, the sensation of another person finally beginning to give them an out. The terror was still riding high and fresh, burning through each thought.

Breathe.

The voice of their boyfriend, quiet but certain. They tried to focus- inhale deep- goingtodiegoingtodiegoingtodie- hold it... Node twitched again. Pleasepleasepleaseplease- breathe. Their arms weren't too difficult to move, but it was easy to tell that Node's muscles were all tense- pulled taut beneath the skin, their arms in a similar position to how they'd been before Volt's cybernetic began to pull them away from themself.

They were breathing- actively forcing elongated breaths with each moment that passed. Node felt like they were beginning to buzz as injuries in their body started to fade away. Weeks of healing passing by in seconds as Node lay there, eyes closed, fangs clenching tight.

".....ow.." Node finally mumbled. They were still terrified- but the breathing had helped them to get a hold on that fear, drag it into the depths of their mind. The lock was painfully easy to break, and for now it wouldn't take much- but they were back, if only just. "...Volt...why're you...?" Their fur had begun to relax, no longer making Node look as much like they'd just stuck their hand in an electrical socket. The pain was finally registering in full, as was the power coursing through them. Node's muscles had slowly begun to relax, their tail cautiously pulling close.

They pressed their scarred hand against the ground, trying to sit upright as the familiar smell of ozone filled their nose. They could smell their own blood on the air- the taste of iron.

"...what're you doin' here, V?..."

They had split up, it had been the best course of action to make sure their loved ones were safe, but it hadn’t quite prepared the teen for when she arrived. This had to be one of those floating cities she heard Bless mention to her day when they came to visit. All the advertisements and the neon lights illuminated the massive amount of metal. If she didn’t know any better, she would have sworn they were built by Eggman.

“This ain’t my Zone.” She scolded herself. “Their Zone doesn’t incorporate nature wit’ technology.”

[How was the landin' pumpkin?] The voice of her father brought her back to the present and with a shake of her head, she brought up her wrist.

“This place is gross.” The pause only came as she sniffed the air, catching the familiar, lingering scent. “But I got Bless’ scent so I’m gonna track ‘im. I’ll letcha know when I find him.”

All she needed to hear was her father’s confirmation that he had heard her and it was time to focus. The teen was already on high alert and emerald eyes darted around to make sure there wasn’t anything unsavory lurking nearby before taking off at a speedster version jog, nose down. Thank Gaia for the search and rescue training with her teammates.

One corner was turned at slightly too high of speed and Harmony skidded a bit but compensated quick enough to not wipe out. Just in time for her ears to catch the ringing echo of a gunshot. No time to waste now. A streak of indigo was left in her wake as she dashed down the street and around one more corner, emerald eyes falling to a familiar form in the process.

“BLESS!” From all fours to standing upright, all in one fluid motion, Harmony grabbed a chunk of debris along the way and whipped it with all of her strength at the robot pointing a gun at the speedster. “Get away from my dad’s boyfriend!”

[] [] [] [] []

At the same moment that Harmony had landed, Volt had done the same. His boots crunching as he stepped onto the debris around him. What a massive amount of devastation and it wasn’t hard to pick up the fain scent of blood. Despite his best effort, the hybrid felt a shiver race along his spine that he shook off with a snap of his tail.

No time to be distracted. The call to his daughter gave him some relief as they both had made it safe and were on their way to find their loved ones.

At least for Volt, it wasn’t hard to track down Node. He could sense their energy, but it was also pretty easy to follow the destruction they had left in their wake. His steps quickened and his heart raced as he cleared the broken trees and branches like a man possessed. Maybe a part of him was, worried that whatever had caused their call to drop, had also knocked their partner so far.

“Node!” Finally, he called out, seeing the beautiful sandy-colored fur marred with scrapes and bruises. The space between them closed and organic fingers carefully came to rest against their back, immediately calling on his kinesis to help with some of the injuries he could see.

“Easy love… breathe.” As always his focus was on calming them down, if only so he could see if there were other injuries that he could spot outwardly. His cybernetic went to gently pull their hands from their arms before they did any further damage. “Stay with me Node. I’m here. Everythin’ alright.”

[mami-kouga0]

Fate/requiem is an unbearably niche little spin off that I can't decide if I like or not because I find Meteo's writing consistently boring but I find his concepts super interesting.

I'm not the most eloquent so I'll save my meta ramblings on how I feel about everything for when I have more free time

[ineloqueent]

hi tina 💞 not sure how easy this is, since my astrophysics knowledge is nearing -273 *C, but you could do mutuals as astronomical sights? comets, planets, galaxies etc... sorry if not!! 💖✨

anna! and anon! you’ve given me a wonderful chance to ramble about space. you may come to regret it, however...

if i’ve forgotten you, please do not take it personally! i didn’t mean to. my mind is just but a glorified puddle :)

@archaicmusings — vega

vega is the brightest star in the constellation lyra, and happens to be my favourite star. don’t ask me why vega is my favourite star, or why lyra is my favourite constellation, because i haven’t got a coherent answer for you. i’ve just always been drawn to them. a bit like cal, really. i feel like we’ve known each other for far longer than just four months, and she’s so lovely that i’m fairly sure i could say anything to her and she’d just accept me for whatever rubbish i’m rambling about this time. and, in the depressing year that’s been 2020, cal has been a bright star.

@drivenbybri — halley’s comet

honestly, is there anything more iconic than halley’s comet? there can’t be much. probably the best known comet of all time, halley’s comet is a short-period comet (and if you’ve read starstruck, you know how much i prefer short-period comets to those long-period comets with their damned 200-year perihelions, even if certain people suggest that this makes them quite special), meaning that it is visible from earth every 75-ish years. halley’s comet last made an appearance in the lovely year of 1986, and will thus appear next in 2061 (i’m so excited for my 59-year-old self!!!). halley’s comet, though well-known, is still a rare breed, so to speak. it is rare, and extraordinarily beautiful that a comet appears to a human twice within their lifetime. sofie is rare, just like halley’s comet, and equally beautiful, both in heart and with that lovely curly hair of hers. i’m honoured to know her, just as i shall be honoured to see halley’s comet one day.

@brianmays-hair — cassiopeia a

cassiopeia a (or rather, the remnant of cassiopeia a) was a supernova within the constellation of cassiopeia. for those of you who do not obsess over interstellar matter the way that i do, supernovae are explosions of massive stars, or white dwarfs drawn to nuclear fusion, within their final stages of life. not much is known about how these explosions necessarily take place, and nasa has only caught on video one such explosion, back in 2016. the most commonly presented image of the remnant of cassiopeia a is a false-colour image, composed with three different wavebands of light. it is, as you can see, very beautiful. supernovae radiate energy and light throughout the cosmos during their existence, and thus having a great effect on the space surrounding them. i therefore liken jess to cassiopeia a because she has a brilliant personality, vibrant and inspiring, which comes across especially in her writing. but of course, the beauty of cassiopeia a has nothing on her.

@deacyblues — sirius

as far as we humans and the scientists among us know, sirius is the brightest star in the observable universe. housed within the constellation of canis major, sirius has always been monumentally important in terms of navigation, since ancient times. i tell pearl this all the time, but truly, i mean it; her outlook on life is inspiring, how she never fails to be positive even in times of great trouble. like sirius, pearl is a light, ever-present within the mindset of living for today, ever-determined, and unfailingly kind.

@joemazzmatazz — black hole

please let me explain before this gets taken the wrong way: I LOVE BLACK HOLES. i specifically want to study black holes, whenever i get the chance to specialise within astrophysics. they fascinate me to no end, with a kind of allure that only the mysterious can hold. furthermore, black holes may be the key to understanding the universe; if we understand black holes, we will be able to make headway on other matter, such as dark matter, and dark energy, the latter of which makes up the majority of the observable universe, and will lead us to astronomical (if you’ll pardon the ill-worded expression, and the unintentional pun) conclusions concerning both the beginning of our universe, and the eventual end. regan, just like a black hole, is a wealth of information, especially concerning the knowledge she harbours about disney, and the business management sector of it. it’s quite truly inspirational.

@im-an-adult-ish — the milky way

ah yes, the milky way. home to all of us. and that is the essence of my explanation here. meredith has such a friendly way about her, and she’s the kind of person you can easily turn to and feel welcomed. a bit like our little corner of the universe <3

@almightygwil — the sun

i think this is probably self-explanatory, if a bit repetitive, but ellie is a ray of sunshine. but perhaps that sells her a little short, because ellie is just so genuinely lovely that she must herself be the sun. her writing talent astounds me (you could say it blinds me, ha ha), and she never fails to be somehow both sweet and very chaotic at the same time. it’s very admirable (and certainly relatable, on the chaotic front). the sun itself, if we think about the surface and the fusion that takes place there, is both the sweetest sight ever seen, and quite chaotic, so i think it fitting that ellie is the sun.

@hijackmy-heart — callisto

callisto is one of jupiter’s moons, and my favourite, because it looks like a piece of the night sky decided to curl up into a ball. i don’t know nat too well, but i know that she’s gorgeous, like callisto, and loves roger taylor. let me explain. jupiter, in roman mythology, is the god of the sky and of thunder. in norse mythology, thor is the equivalent of jupiter, and to me, roger has always had a bit of that typical scandinavian look going, with the blonde hair and blue eyes (not to say that all scandis look like this, but he fits the stereotype :)). nat loves roger, and callisto orbits jupiter, so there you have it.

@six-bloodyminutes — the moon

the moon has a serenity about it, and mo has a knack for telling quite wild things with a most casual air. for instance, according to my sources, when a certain dorm room caught fire (?). mo thus bears this serenity, akin to the serenity i associate with the moon, with equal grace and chaos.

@dancingdiscofloof — pluto

pluto! the not-planet-oh-wait-maybe-it’s-a-planet-jk-jk-unless..? i still think that pluto should be considered a planet, despite the many arguments against the poor sod. pluto was once a planet, and should therefore have remained a planet, for the plain and simple fact that taking away its planethood was like giving a person a present, and then taking it back immediately afterward. anyway. i’m rambling. i also do not know rove very well, but i know that she’s kind, and, judging by the memes she shares, both of ryan gosling and tom hanks, that she is quirky— a bit like our beloved pluto.

@imcompletelylost — aurora borealis/aurora australis

also known as the northern lights/the southern lights, the polar lights, the merry dancers, the fox fires, or swarms of luminous herring (you can thank my ancestors, followers of norse mythology, for that one), the aurora is an astronomical phenomenon precipitated by the complete ring of light surrounding the poles, “which at its brightest has a distinctively green tint” (may, brian, et al. the cosmic tourist. carlton books, 2016.). yes i just made a citation from one of brian’s books. don’t worry about it. anyway, particles emitted from our sun are caught by the magnetic fields of earth’s poles, and thus produce this ethereal effect. but you know what the aurora has always reminded me of? disco lights. and libby is noting if not the queen of disco. oh, and, libby’s makeup talents? the aurora could never.

@aprilaady — butterfly nebula

the butterfly nebula is incredibly beautiful. but also, depending on from which angle it is beheld, it looks quite different. dor will surprise you, in the loveliest way possible (and sometimes the funniest) with a kind word or a joke, or even just a relatable comment. she has so many talents, being rivetingly smart within so many fields, especially the sciences, and in this, conveys multitudes, like the butterfly nebula. one might say her soul is painted like the wings of butterflies...

@doing-albri — solar eclipse

the alignment of the sun, moon, and earth. difficult to see, especially in totality, if you continually live in the same place. but there’s something magical in that alignment, i think. something quite poetic. it’s partially in the name ‘eclipse’ and partially in the nickname— a “ring of fire.” i saw the solar eclipse in august of 2018, and looking up at it, i was quite awestruck. you’re not supposed to stare directly at solar eclipses, because despite the moon overshadowing the sun, you can still damage your eyes significantly by looking at them. vi is so bright, both in her attitude and in her intelligence, and thus i’ve chosen the solar eclipse for her. also, when a solar eclipse occurs, using a piece of cardboard with a hole (or generally any thick-radius circular object with an opening), you can recreate the phenomenon on another surface, resulting in beautiful patterns and light-art, which i think speaks to vi’s eye for aesthetics.

@imalososos — meteor shower

meteor showers are perhaps some of the most beautiful phenomena i have ever seen. back in the summer of 2016, i stayed up all night to watch the perseids rush across the sky, and i was not disappointed, by any means. within the early hours of the 12th of august, an estimated 80 meteors darted across the heavens each hour. meteors, in essence, are clusters of mineral, usually debris from comets, which enter the atmosphere of a planet, and thus seem to shoot across the sky. now, you may be wondering, what’s the bloody blooming difference between meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites, and why are we talking about meteors in particular? well, meteoroids are cosmic debris that have not yet entered an atmosphere; as soon as a piece of cosmic debris enters a planet’s atmosphere, it is classified as a meteor. as for meteorites, nothing is a meteorite unless it strikes the ground. anyway. you didn’t come here for my science ramblings. meteors are also called ‘shooting stars,’ and let’s be honest, they’re space’s idea of art. streaks of light across the sky? sounds like a painting to me, and darya, among many other things, is an artist— and a brilliant one, at that. so i think it very fitting to describe her as the art of the universe <3

@mazzell-ro — saturn

i! love! saturn!!! being the only planet in our solar system with highly visible rings, it just stands out to me. it’s absolutely gorgeous, and an object of much inspiration to me, when i was little and decided that space was absolutely something i wanted to see. i could write an eight-verse song about saturn, i love it so much, and honestly, i think ro could write one too; she’s an excellent musician. but aside from its lovely rings, saturn is unique because its composition, in the ratio of its gases, would allow the planet to float in water. ro is uniquely wonderful, and her writing!!!!!!!! makes me so soft and happy and makes me want to give her the word. quite how i feel when i look up at saturn.

@mistiermistshazierdays — zodiacal light

you may recognise this term as brian’s speciality from when he was studying astrophysics. but what is it? zodiacal light is that strange triangle of light that appears glowing in the sky after twilight and before dawn, and is the subject of much earth-based astrophotography. extraordinarily beautiful, scientists are still not entirely sure what the phenomenon is, but most research and practical experiments are in favour of zodiacal light being sunlight reflected off of cosmic dust (also known as stardust!). now, if my knowledge of ancient greece and its mythology serves me, the name phoebe comes from phoebus, and (thank you google) means ‘bright.’ zodical light… bright… phoebe… you might say it’s a match made in the heavens. quite literally if we’re talking space. phoebe, you kind soul, you are stardust.

@speciallyred — andromeda galaxy

and last, but certainly not least, dear anna. i name thee the andromeda galaxy, partially for your own name, and partially for its poetic beauty. andromeda, the neighbour galaxy of our deal ol’ milky way, is actually about 2.5 million lightyears (15 trillion miles, 22.5 trillion km) away from us, here on earth. call me vain for the number of times i’ve described the beauty of space throughout this rather extended exposition, but andromeda is startlingly beautiful. one reason for this objective beauty is that andromeda is estimated to be home to roughly double the number of stars within our own galaxy. anna is one of the most talented poets i have ever come across, hands down, and what be the food of poetry, if not the stars?

[luriluth]

sorry i just discovered you can put whatever in steam game banners

[forter-from-meteos]

hi

so, i'm not dead! basically, lost motivation for a bit, and then convinced myself i needed to come back with something big in order to make up for it, which only served to further extend my unplanned hiatus. also time moves at an unbearable rate but that's just how it is. regardless, i realized that was dumb, that posting little things would make me and probably y'all happier than just...nothing.

and while i haven't been posting about meteos, i've certainly still been thinking about it, making little headcanons, bits of art that i didn't feel were good enough to come back with, oc stuff, etc. looking forward to actually running this blog again!

anyways, peace out! (for now, because i need to actually make the posts before posting stuff :P )

[hetare-ttk]

>me waiting for Meteo to validate my insane meta speculative cosmic horror fueled ramblings

[alynnl]

FF VI Rambling Notes 6/?

There are major spoilers for the game after the cut.  You have been warned.  If you haven’t played, I highly suggest you experience the story for yourself.  It’s worth it, trust me.

It’s appropriate that my sixth post about this game contains the biggest spoilers that it has to offer.

The Thamasa arc was always a bit of a “wham moment” as well as an emotional punch all at once.  You do your standard RPG cave exploration, picking up treasure along the way while you look for something (or in this case, someone, being the espers.)  Before you actually find them though, you encounter Ultros again (always an amusing boss if you’re not annoyed by him.) 

There is also a mention of the Three Statues and how they formed the original balance of the world.  The golden statues in the Thamasa Cave are only replicas, but the real ones are in the esper world.  I hadn’t realized there was this neat bit of foreshadowing about the statues and how they were capable of terraforming the planet until now.

But let’s get to the emotional and narrative punch, shall we?  Apparently the Empire wanted peace with the espers, so the party has to go find them. When they do, it seems like all is about to go well, since Leo is a reasonable authority figure and Yura (who is leading the espers) is willing to talk to him. (I also noticed that Yura is the young esper who spoke to Maduin in the flashbacks, so that is a neat little detail as well!)

But everything changed when Kefka attacked.

During the banquet he was stewing in jail, but he was released so he could go on a rampage and collect magicite.  Leo tries to stop him, but in the end, he perishes.  He loses.  The player loses just because Kefka has become that strong and he’s collected dozens of magicite, giving him powers that we can’t even dream of.

Terra mourning Leo has to be one of the saddest things.  Seeing his memorial is a reminder that things just got real and the stakes are high.

I paused the narrative for a bit to do more magic learning with Celes, Strago and Relm.  I also picked up as many of Gau’s rages as possible because while I knew what was coming next, I still got some pretty good feels for it.

I was finally high enough level to take on the invisible Intagnir (Levels 25-27 respectively.)  Since it starts off in “Vanish” status, it can be hit by any magic.  I hit the Intagnir with “Doom” and it was killed instantly.  It does counter attack with Meteo, but because of my characters’ HP, they were able to survive and gain 10 Magic Points per battle, and learn their spells much quicker than in the Phantom Forest (which was 1-3 Magic points per battle, depending on the encounter.) There were some annoying rabbit type and bird type enemies on Triangle Island, but I just spammed “Fight” to get rid of them quickly.

After doing all I could really do in the World of Balance, I headed to the Floating Continent.  The encounters here are tough so it’s good to bring your best party with their best equipment.  Shadow joins you again, and he’s valuable as a quick attacker.  I also had the fire, water and bolt projectiles along with his shurikens, so he’s able to hit groups of enemies.  Very handy, because the encounters on the floating continent do not play around.  They are either very fast (ninjas) or very tough (Bahamuts, Gigas, etc.)  Cure, Cure 2, and Osmose are your friends here. Use them well.

So after I fight through encounters, use Tents at both save points, I experience the story portion of the Floating Continent.  Oooh man is it just as good as I remember.

Shadow seems to leave, thinking he’s not worthy to fight by your side because he sold his skills to the Empire.  And just when it seems you’re going to have a boss battle with Kefka and Emperor Gestahl, one of the greatest cutscenes in the game unfolds.

If you don’t have Celes in your party (recommended, as she’ll be your fourth team member during the escape scene), she appears because this is a major scene for her character.  While the party is paralyzed by the Statues’ power, Kefka and Gestahl give Celes one last offer to join them and rule the world together.  Instead, Celes mentions how “power only breeds war,” and “I wish I’d never been born,” before turning around and stabbing Kefka, giving them her answer.

My idea is that Kefka would have died there, but the power of the Goddess statues healed him, and the idea that his “ally” Celes betrayed him was the final straw the pushed him into his power-drunk insanity that leads him to murder the emperor and then shove the statues out of balance.  All seems lost... when Shadow swoops in at the last minute to release everyone from the magic that’s paralyzing them.  (Saving everyone at the last minute seems to be his thing, as he did it in Thamasa too!)  In true Ninja fashion, he fearlessly stays behind (presumably to fight Kefka, a very bold thing for him to do since he doesn’t have magic on that scale) while we escape.

I have to quickly stick Sprint Shoes on someone and book it.  The encounters are more or less annoying and they absorb fire, so non-elemental attacks are best.  There is a boss encounter at the end of  your escape route but they’re easily dispatched if you know what you’re doing.

If you wait at the edge of the Floating Continent until 5 seconds are left on your clock, Shadow will show up and say, “I’ll be blown to bits before I can even collect my pay...”  The guy is still probably relieved you waited for him.  if you don’t wait for him here, he perishes on the Floating Continent.  I am not kidding, it’s been confirmed.

What happens next is the biggest plot twist and spoiler of the entire game.

You escape on the airship, and you think that you’ll just fly off, find a safe place, level up and actually fight Kefka, right?  Wrong.

The world literally splits apart.  Explosions happen, continents separate, and even your party’s airship separates in two and your main characters fall in all different directions.  At this point in time, there was no rematch, there was no more level grinding, or escaping together to fight another day.  

“On that day, the world changed forever...”

Then another cutscene plays, first to show vast ocean, and then a tiny deserted island with a derelict house, where it seems like Cid and Celes are the only survivors.

Kefka actually brought the apocalypse to this world.  And it’s apparent everywhere from the music that plays when you step out to the overworld to save the game, to the random encounters that just die on their own if you run into them, and then it’s also apparent in Cid himself who’s living off the last of his energy.

Let me tell you, back in 2000 when I very first played this game?  It was quite a devastating sight.  I was always used to the heroes winning.  I was used to seeing the world saved and the worst nearly happening, but not quite.  So I have to say that this was quite emotional for me, and it made me legitimately feel sad.  I mean, it wasn’t extreme, but it was definitely a tear-jerker for 12-year-old me.  Even now at age 30, I think about the implications, how the world might have been at war before, but had at least been lively before Kefka’s Apocalypse.

I tried to save Cid this time around, but sadly, I could not.  Just like my first playthrough, I saw that scene where Celes jumps off the cliff, while her theme is playing.  Considering all that’s going through her mind, it still impacted me, but not as much as a first time player who did not expect their main character to do something like that or that the uncertainty as to whether or not the others really survived when it seemed like all was lost.

Cid’s last will and testament to Celes (the letter and the raft) was touching. He didn’t want her to give up hope and live the last of her days on that island, he wanted her to try and find her friends.  ;-;  He was selfless and probably felt guilty that at least part of his Magitek research led to this fate for the world.  He found peace in helping Celes even if he didn’t get the chance to do that beyond building the raft.  I read somewhere that in one of the Dissidia games (I think it’s the mobile one?  I don’t remember) - the scenario in which Cid dies is canon.

Going to Albrook (the closest town to you in the World of Ruin) really drives home the atmosphere.  There seem to be fewer townies around, and the ones who are around either speak about Kefka ruling over the world like a God with his Tower of Judgment, or about how the world has changed for the worse.  The barkeep even remembers how lively it was with the Imperial soldiers around, and now there is just an empty stage without dancers or an audience.

There are a couple clues that there was someone with a hopeful sparkle in his eyes searching for his friends. I know who it is now, but when I played the very first time, I wondered if Celes was going to find Locke right away, haha.

From here on it’s off to Tzen!  I should mention that the elemental swords (Flame Saber , Blizzard Saber, Thunder Saber) are available in the Albrook shop now, as well as the Golden Armor, Golden Shield, and Golden Helm.  So, those are good to pick up if you didn’t get them in the World of Balance.

I think I’m a decent enough level to take on the encounters solo with Celes, especially if I use magic with her.  Part of my strategy of beefing up my characters involves “never running from a random encounter and toughing it out.”  It’s served me well.

I am off to play some more!  Until next time, Tumblr.

[rocketandonuts]

I’ve been thinking a lot about about meteo and made some changes

Old version he was like, kind of the questionable love interest character where going for his route will lead to the world destruction end. That he strongly believes that Aster is his designated spouse-to-be that finally shows up after so long of waiting. It’s why he was so eager to do whatever Aster asked him to, not knowing that Aster was fixing the ship to leave. If Aster choose to play along and stay instead of departing, they’ll have a happy time together for a while until they do a cute dance and then everything on earth went to shit. To avoid that Aster will have to reject him and tell him the truth, which makes him really upset and gets yandere and stuff

Now I think I’m getting rid of the spouse thing. That’s jumping too much. Meteo is traumatized but doesn’t mean he gotta be the kind of yandere trope that’s delusional and can’t communicate. I’ve also decided to make him nonverbal when first shown until Aster (or more likely Nebu) make a special collar for him that can translate when he says. But still when Aster insist that they have to leave and go home (in meteo’s mind, leaving him alone in this world once again) he still would snap and runs away or smth. He also remembers more about “home” than aster. But prolly under certain conditions aster can go find him the day before they take off and convince him to get on their ship too. Maybe even have options to hold hands. I just think that’ll be cute

[mundanebard]

Guess who’s the dumbass who forgot her boots at home? THERE WAS NO SNOW YESTERDAY MORNING

[viridiansindria]

This is going to be kinda rambling both because I've done my best to mostly purge it from my mind, and because its midnight and my meds jack me up a bit right after I take them.

First Sakurai (the writer of Septem, London, and everything minus Altera's Route in Extella) didn't write Agartha. She managed to write Shimosa which is actually good. Stopped clocks and all that.

Agartha is Minase (who only did the Prillya event + interludes, and is one of the main script writers for the Prillya anime and movies). So if you like most people think Prillya is trash he's one of the ones you curse. His only saving grace is giving us Mini Cu-chan.

And while we're at it Salem which is equally shit as Agartha was by Meteo continuing his trend of everything he writes being really good or really bad with little to know in betweens).

And Shinjuku the only other good EoR chapter (unless you're counting CCC but ehh even without the racist jokes it was pretty weak imo and I feel people count it more because Nasu wrote it than its own merits but I digress) was Higashida; the writer for Orleans, Okeanos, America, and Apocrypha.

To get back on topic and to make a long story short: Agartha is a bad critic of modern feminism it certainly has points where I agree with the answers it gives but then they were shitting the blanket along the way to said answer. Much of which is told through crass and sexual humor- which I wouldn't have minded if it was done well (lord knows that Gorilla does it all the time in Gintama and I eat it up).

Longer rant:

Writing wise its less 'criticizing feminism' and more 'what if feminazis ran everything" Wu was overall the best character in a weak arc (outside of her design- damn you Takeuchi) but outside of the climax none of her scenes really stand out. But arrogant loli gets her comeuppance is a tried and true anime trope. Speaking of her design (again fuck you Takeuchi and your make a loli with sex appeal crap) lore wise she could have been another Waver with the third being the loli form to represent her at her most ambitious for when she first set out to become Emperor while the first could have been her as an old woman or middle aged graceful and elegant but showing signs of her cruelty and arrogance, second is her as an adult in full bloom as empress, fancy as hell and more sex appealish to get those waifu bucks and to hint at her assent, and then third loli because Takeuchi is gunning for lolicon wallets.

This story chapter literally contains most of the shota and trap jokes in the game at Astolfo, D'eon and Mini Fergus expense but all 3 are okayish. Astolfo at least has a few good scenes. There's Fergus' whole "oh wow women who aren't quiet damsels! How unique and unexpected!" which is weird because not only does his own in game and mats profiles contradict that but he was Medb's favorite lover and love her or hate her "quiet damsel" isn't how you'd describe her at all.

Pent was okay she was fairly one note throughout the chapter and for the most part was kinda imitating Herk's role in Okeanos to lesser effect for half of it and hammering in the "feminism" of the chapter. Same for Drake Alter.

Now onto the real divisive characters: Columbus and Scscherezade. TM went all in on Columbus the Asshole with the closest thing to a shade of gray he has is his love of money. Personally I like him since he's Moriarty without the pretense of civility and the foe-yay with Holmes and he chews through the scenery well. Others hate him because he's an utter bastard and that his art clashes heavily with the rest of the game in a way not seen since launch. Scheherazade is more complex since well everything about her is a fight. Personally I'm ambivalent to her. But design wise its clear what they're going for is SEX APPEAL because famous concubine and the art looking kind of off is less them trying to make a comment and more artists fetish. More importantly though is how she's portrayed in Agartha. Scheherazade is kinda both the main and secondary antagonist in Agartha because her actions kick off a lot of the plot but at the same time she's not because Wu is. Schehedazade isn't a symbol of strength in adversity or even an odd romance, Scheherazade is a victim. Which cool, not unheard off but still pretty rare- but her victimhood is the start and end of her personality and character arc. Scheherazade has extreme thanatophobia (a fear of death) from her experience with the king, like extreme extreme she's jealous of Roman permanently erasing himself because she hates and fears being a Heroic Spirit because it means she's destined to die repeatedly, she has no pride and will do literally anything and everything if it meant not dying (selling her body is outright given as an example) but at the same time her life is greater than any loyalty to anyone as she'll quickly abandon ship or backstab them herself if she feels what they're doing has negative prospects for her life expectancy. Part of Agartha's in series explanation is that her thanatophobia and her fear and hatred of kings (this applies to kings of both genders, as well as those who are charismatic and seem kingly) which coupled with her storybook powers amped by story events is causing certain characters to be warped according to Scheherazade's opinion (an abuse survivor coloring everything in terms of how it relates to her and her abuse). Coupled with her outright groveling and begging for her life when cornered and Agartha's writing issues just put a sour taste in a lot of people's mouths even (if not especially) in Japan.

Now onto writing issues: I touched on it a bit before but Agartha is in love with gags. Constant gags everywhere and the jokes fell short more often then not, super sexual like CCC level sexual (Drake Alter has sex with a single crew member a day then murders them the next, lots and lots of moaning, etc.) without any good writing or decent meta commentary. Its one of the worst in terms of balancing its large caste of characters- all of FGO no matter the writer suffers from this to some extent but Agartha fails to really do much with the main characters which even Salem can at least say (mind you what was done was crap but it was at least there). There are no stakes, everytime you think something serious happens like Helena dying she just pops right back no worse for wear with a few jokes and this happens repeatedly. And probably its biggest failure: its formulaic as hell. You can easily predict most of the chapter because it just repeats the same beats over and over again. Its like early FGO Suddenly Monsters! padding except that padding is supposed to be plot.

Sorry this is kind of all over the place but I hope it helped even a little to understand why almost everyone hates Agartha.

what happened in agartha? i keep seeing rumors that the writing was really really bad. i don’t care for spoilers, i just wanna know wtf happened that made it gain infamy