#SPOILERS AHOY

[sweetteaanddragons]

Stormlight Archive: Wind and Truth Thoughts and Theories

Lots of spoilers below.

Kaladin - I love the herald thing. I think it retroactively makes @nevertheless-moving's AU of Kaladin being time traveler mistaken for a herald even funnier, and it was already hilarious. I am dying to see fic where Kaladin-as-herald DOES time travel, someone DOES assume this, and they are actually correct, but not in the way they think. They start guessing historical names, and Kaladin has to go, "Well, I guess Jezrien is closest, but it's not quite like - " and everyone runs with it.

I am hoping for SO MANY reveals/interactions when he returns in the next series. I want him to go flying in to save Adolin from something in an 11th hour rescue and Adolin to have that "You're ALIVE?" moment. I want him to reconnect with his baby brother. I want Szeth to try to murder Ishar to avenge Kaladin's death only for Kaladin to have to intervene.

I love it.

Adolin - I love his arc in this book, and I love how his habit of talking to his weapons/armor has paid off such huge dividends. Slightly concerned about the firemoss; having seen what addiction did to his father, I hope he'll resist that path, but it does worry me a little.

Shallan - I'm assuming she won't manage to return in the interim between series, so this is looking like a long separation. At least she can talk to Adolin?

. . . her nausea/hand to her stomach thing is entirely understandable from emotional context, but given *tropes,* I'm kind of thinking she might be pregnant.

Szeth - I enjoyed his arc, and I loved learning he got married; I'm hoping he's very happy.

Gavinor - I'm betting his storyline and Lift's are going to be heavily entertwined in the next series since Lift feels partially responsible for him going through the rift in the first place. I'm also betting his storyline will ultimately end positively, as a counterpart to his father's tragedy.

Odium: You know that cut Hamilton song? "You have invented a new kind of stupid/a let all the animals out of the zoo kind of stupid/a you really did not think this through kind of stupid/Listen?"

Yeah, that's how I feel about his decision to recruit the Blackthorn and I am delighted.

It is 100% in character, given what he tries to do with Dalinar and Jasnah throughout the book. It is also, I think, a fatal mistake.

He has recruited the Blackthorn. A being with all the memories of his other self. A being with all the potential of his other self.

All of it. Including the bits that grew to fight Odium.

Navani is still alive. His sons are still alive. Does Odium really think they'll let this last remainder of Dalinar just . . . trot merrily off to war without trying to stop him?

Retribution ACKNOWLEDGES that the perception of Dalinar is what shapes the Blackthorn. Public perception that largely paints him as Retribution wants, sure . . . but Dalinar, prior to his death, become a tragic hero known for fighting Odium and RELEASED A BOOK WITH HIS WHOLE LIFE STORY.

Does Retribution really think he can keep that public perception pointed in the right direction forever?

The Blackthorn doesn't even make him any promises. He just says that fighting is "what I do."

He is 100% going to turn on Retribution eventually, and it is going to be glorious.

Other thoughts:

Dova is going to be a problem eventually.

I like the time bubble aspect; that'll let the events of Mistborn trilogy three play out before we catch up with Roshar.

I think the next Roshar series is going to be a massive crossover event for the cosmere.

I adored the musical chairs aspect of the final fight in Azir.

Loved the reprise of "Honor is dead, but I'll see what I can do."

(I also love the wind's little "Please don't hate me" to Kaladin.)

Definitely convinced that the overall plot of the cosmere is going to be "So we shouldn't have killed Adonalsium, now we need to put the pieces back together. This is exactly what I wanted, so I'm thrilled!

Oh! And given the emphasis in the book on the dangers of Shards turning their backs on planets and their people for too long, I think Retribution is going to find his distraction is going to cost him. He made a lot of promises in this book . . . and then did huge damage to the ecosystem and the landscape, massive psychological damage by hiding the sun, and vanished, utterly failing to enforce whatever social plans he had.

People are going to be TICKED.

Which of course provides opportunities.

Especially when the two territories NOT affected by Retribution are right there, enjoying the sun.

(Jasnah, returning for round two of debate for Fen: I can guarantee you that neither I nor any of my descendants are going to block out the sun.

Fen: Will you just let us sign the paper already?)

[queenmeriadoc]

Time to watch episode 1, the episodes are titled in Norwegian, so it

«Alvekonger under det blå»

[thesarahshay]

It's Headless rewatch season -- I wanna hear your best headcanons for why all the skulls in Sleepy Hollow look the way they do.

[the-dood]

The Super Mario Movie is an Entertaining Speedrun

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a highly anticipated animated filmed made by Illumination and backed by Nintendo themselves in order to prevent another Super Mario Bros. 1993 film disaster from keeping them from bringing their IPs to the big screen. Initial reactions were mixed on the casting, from negatives (Mario) to positives (Bowser), but upon watching the film in my local theatre, I’d say Chris Pratt was fine, even with the tease with the iconic falsetto tone near the beginning of the film with the commercial. Jack Black on the other hand, absolutely kills it as Bowser, even gets his own musical number.

The pacing of the movie is--as I said--basically a speedrun beginning from the journey to the Mushroom Kingdom with barely any breathing room for the characters to interact. Mario barely just met Princess Peach and the two were already fast friends throughout the film. On the other end of the spectrum, Donkey Kong and Mario’s rivalry is a bit natural as they occasionally butt heads at each other while not stomping Bowser’s troops. Luigi, I feel that he could do a little more in the film, being stuck in the cage in Bowser’s castle for 1/3rd of the movie’s runtime before having his big moment with Mario near the end of the film. It’s a shame, but Charlie Day is a great Luigi.

The beginning of the film does a good job portraying the Mario Bros.’s humble beginnings as plumbers in Brooklyn, NY, and showing their brief relationship with their family. It does touch up upon Peach’s origin, seeing that she’s not a native of the Mushroom Kingdom, but my biggest gripes about it is the absence of Toadsworth, Peach’s longtime caretaker, debuting in Super Mario Sunshine. I get that Toadsworth hasn’t been in any appearances in future Mario games as of late, but the best Nintendo and Miyamoto could do is at least remember him. The second oddity of the film is the relationship of Mario and the Kongs--namely Cranky Kong. As you know in the games, Cranky Kong is the Donkey Kong who Mario (as Jumpman at the time) fought to rescue Pauline--who makes a brief cameo in the film--during his time as a carpenter. Cranky in the movie does not recognize Mario, either he is senile, or a different Jumpman fought him and the current Donkey Kong as the film established DK as his son.

The visuals for the movie is what I expected for a big budget animated film by Illumination: stunning, with a lot of visual easter eggs only hardcore Nintendo fans will get, me included. However, the use of slo-mo in some part of the action can be a bit overdone and break the immersion.

Finally, the music. Overall, you can hear familiar Mario tunes throughout the movie arranged and orchestrated to fit the mood of certain scenes. However, there are also some licensed music that I feel are unnecessary as the familiar video game tunes are fine enough by themselves.

All in all, my final score for the Super Mario Bros. Movie is a 7.5/10. Sure, the pacing is not for everyone, and not everyone who isn’t a gamer will get the references, but it’s does what it do as an entertaining kids movie. I don’t expect it to be a total blockbuster and win critic’s heart, but as a Nintendo fan since childhood, I loved every second of it.

[stuffed-frog]

I did and it’s worse than anything I’ve ever read and I may not be able to perceive jooster without thinking about it for a long time. If ever.

jeeves and wooster fans when mercury is in retrograde (idk i havent read the fic)

[crimeronan]

the silt verses season 3 + dying words.

brother philly:

adjudicator cross:

carson:

rane:

val:

shrue:

hayward:

faulkner:

carpenter:

.....and finally, a bonus.

our final girl.

paige:

[not-your-bro]

what i did and didn't (but mostly didn't) like about until dawn remake's character trait changes

hello friends and fans. i am super excited to welcome all my pals back to the latest episode of Laura Yaps About Until Dawn Remake. i've talked about the prologue here and here, and i plan on talking about other elements of the game (visuals, gameplay, narrative changes) whenever life and time allows.

before i go off about the character traits, thanks to @claarria for posting this handy side-by-side of old vs new. super helpful! i'll be using those images here.

and generally speaking, let it be known that i think the font change is so fucking ugly 💖 like god bless but it is so bad 💖💖 and they've made the layout so much less dynamic by just listing all the traits straight down, bullet point style?? it is all very microsoft powerpoint core and it sucks. anyway. onto the characters, in order of appearance.

sam

off topic but very importantly, how did they fuck up sam's face THAT bad?? ballistic moon sapped the life out of her and now there is literally nothing behind those eyes. HOMEGIRL WAKE UP 👏👏

one trait change here: adventurous -> brave. not wrong, but super redundant, because brave is one of the character stats in the menu, so like. at any point when i'm playing her, i can pop in the menu and see exactly how brave she is. it's pointless to put it here.

chris

one change: methodical -> loyal. and honestly. this one slays i can't lie. like yeahhhh 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

i know everyone loves to hate on chris now, but he pushes to help sam even when it puts himself at risk and he goes to the shed to get josh even though josh just traumatized the hell out of him lmao. boy is loyal asf and i'm more than happy to see it replace methodical.

jess

big changes here. i'm not jazzed to see confident go. i always thought smg included it purposefully, because this is how jess is trying to come across, even though she's actually insecure.

and imo trusting fits her far better than, say, driven. based on em's comment about her grades (and the fact that jess doesn't deny it lmao), i don't think she has much drive or ambition at this point in her life. she's always struck me as the kind of person who doesn't have a big dream or passion, and as high school graduation approaches she would feel sort of aimless? like she doesn't know where to go next.

i don't mean these as negatives, btw. jess is a top 3 ud character for me. i just don't think she's driven. and i think she is irreverent. and that's fine. 💖

emily

one change: persuasive -> forthright. like sam's change, this isn't wrong. emily is definitely forthright. but i don't like that we're shifting her further from mike (more on that later), and this change makes her use of words seem less purposeful. like she says what she wants just for the sake of it, instead of: she knows what to say to get people to do what she wants.

matt

matt's trait changes make for a much different impression. motivated and ambitious have been swapped with obliging and dependable, which shifts the focus from himself to others. we're drawing attention to an agreeable, go-with-the-flow personality, rather than the fact that he's got big dreams for himself (get that scholarship, bud).

i'm not sure i'm the biggest fan, because it kind of makes him seem like a doormat? it's possible that he never talks to emily about how she treats him, and he does film the prank on hannah even though he doesn't seem like he would. still...i guess i wish there was more of a mix here. he can be obliging and dependable, but he doesn't have to be, depending on your choices, and this really makes him feel like everything he does is for the sake of others.

mike

i appreciate ballistic moon pulling these shots back a little - some of them were really, like, up the character's nose lmfao. but bro those traits are unreadable against mike's skin 😭😭

anyway, mikey gets a complete overhaul. i've been over brave with sam. it's a waste of a slot. and it's not that mike isn't driven or charismatic. i mean, he is definitely charismatic, given his popularity in fandom. even i have this feeling of 'man, i should not be charmed by him' <- is definitely charmed by him. but i think we're losing a lot by separating him from emily, with whom he used to share 2 out of 3 traits (intelligent and persuasive). i always thought that said a lot about why they would be drawn to each other and start a relationship - but also why that relationship wouldn't last.

if i were to give mike any new trait, it'd probably be impulsive, which i think is a great fit for him. mike may be intelligent, but when it comes to decisions, he's a man of action - a doer, not a thinker. which is just as likely to lead to a bad outcome as it is a good one.

ashley

one change here (forthright -> sensitive), but god does it fucking suck. SENSITIVE?????? be fr. is ashley sensitive or is she traumatized nonstop for eight hours? she was upset when she was chained to a wall and thought she was going to die! when she thought her friend died! when she thought her other dead friend's ghost was trying to communicate with them! when she was put in a life-or-death trap a second time! that sure was sensitive of her!

if i could revert only one trait change, it would be this one. 0/10.

josh

must be said that josh's shot is much better in the remake. it could not have been worse, like i will never understand how anyone looked at that half-closed eye and open mouth and was like yeah that's a good first impression LMAO. so, cool with that.

tbh i also like josh's trait changes? this is another total overhaul, but honestly, at the risk of getting booed offstage, i'm happy with this. if i'm being real, complex was always a waste of a slot. like...yeah? i hope so? all of your characters should be complex to some degree. it feels like a weird shade to the other characters to point out one guy, specifically, as complex. so the rest of them are simple, then? 🤨 it's not that i would argue against josh being the most complex - i do think he is (though i realize my stance on that means little because i'm up this man's ass). it's just weird to draw attention to it.

as for the other traits, yeah, josh is thoughtful and loving. for sure. but i feel like these are sort of...level 2 traits. ykwim? and the new traits are level 1. if you hung out with josh in a casual way, in a group setting, remake traits would be more likely to spring to mind, to match that initial impression. i think you'd have to look more closely or spend more time to clock that he's thoughtful and loving, because outside of his sisters, i don't think he's particularly straightforward or overt in the way he conveys those things, and he wouldn't draw attention to them. maybe i'm leaning too hard on the version of him i've fleshed out in my mind, but josh is the kind of guy who would, like, remember one offhand comment matt made about liking a specific brand of beer. months later, at the next lodge trip, it's there in the fridge, and josh says nothing about it. but he remembered, and he got it. that's josh's brand of thoughtfulness. in my opinion.

none of these six traits are wrong, i just think the new ones are better 'first impression' traits for him.

[sugarpasteltmnt]

I hope this doesn’t come across as pushy since you’ve already answered the question about a Neon Void sequel, but I was wondering if you’d ever consider writing epilogue one-shots? Like instead of committing to a full story just doing some small slice of life snippets :)

There’s so much of Neon Void I just adore! And the story just ended so so perfectly, I loved every bit of it! Your an incredible writer and I’ve hung on to every word :)

Also slight tangent but the scene with still feral Leo biting Raph in fear just hurts me so bad. That his immediate response is absolute panic and regret at hurting « his red » is so so sad. This bois trauma response is gonna be insane.

all good! in all honesty, the follow up fic would just be one-shots haha. i have no plan nor desire for another long plot for Leo's recovery days. it's gunna be all about him getting some much deserved TLC hehe 🩵

and THANK YOU SO MUCH 💘💞💖! i'm so glad you like it!! and oof yes yes yes love me some feral snaps with instant regret chaser it's delicious 💞

[ah0yh0y]

i can’t stop laughing

exactly

[golvio]

Since Echoes of Wisdom is a top-down Zelda game, I’m not expecting the game’s story to be super complex or involved, but I’ll admit I am curious about certain characters & implied background events.

In particular, I’m curious about who these three unique NPCs from the Gerudo Desert region are:

The woman with the golden trident is most likely the current Chief, given that I’ve seen screenshots of her standing up from a throne holding the trident aloft are circulating around. But who are those other two people?

I suspect the woman in white might be the chief’s sister, since her hair resembles the chief’s hair and the gemstones she’s wearing are the same color as the Chief’s. Also, Nintendo would not have the gonads to put an official confirmed lesbian couple in their kid-friendly game no matter how G-rated “This lady’s the queen and her wife is also the queen” is as a concept. However, the woman in white also seems to be a person of importance to the Gerudo given that the guards are answering to her. There was mention of an “Ancestral Cave” elsewhere in the trailer. Could she maybe be a high priestess or keeper of some sort of sacred site of worship or burial who acts as a spiritual leader to the community?

As for the figure in blue with the gloves and the hat—they’re definitely also Gerudo, but they’re dressed in a very unusual way that sets them apart. My first guess was that this was an older woman, maybe the chief’s mother, who’s acting as an advisor given that they were standing next to the throne in the aforementioned screenshot. However, they don’t look that old, given that we’ve seen old people with wrinkles in Zelda’s court in the form of Imoa and her brother, so I have another guess.

This person might actually be a boy, the current Gerudo prince, who’s either too young to take an active part in political life, or is maybe the younger brother or spouse of the chief who’s relegated to acting in a more supportive role because of his age and gender. Their style of dress is much more formal and masculine, being somewhere between the draped turban and robes you’d expect Indian royalty to wear and the iconic blue and gold khepresh crown that some Egyptian pharaohs wore.

It’d be really interesting to get some insight into Gerudo politics, particularly if a prince who isn’t Ganondorf is involved! Also, partly because it’d give us some insight into what “went wrong” with this particular version of Ganon if we have a baseline about what the role of prince in Gerudo culture is normally supposed to be like.

Speaking of Ganon, assuming he himself isn’t just an “echo” sent by some greater force, it looks like he himself might’ve been actively looking into whatever force Tri was connected to based on how the tablet behind Zelda in the room where she was being imprisoned resembled the waypoints Tri can use to warp you around.

Given that the Rifts seem to be “stealing” land tiles and making phantom echoes of monsters, and that the rift opening ability is tied to Ganon’s own “wand” that he uses to cast spells, could he have his own little helper buddy who’s given him the power to play Sim City in his own little pocket dimension? Is Ganon’s motive like the angry guy from the popup window in Sim City 2000, where he’s picking up his toys and starting a new Hyrule in the Dark World because Zelda’s dad cut back on transit funding for that year’s budget?

Seriously, though, it’d be really cool if Ganon functioned as a “dark mirror” to Zelda during what will presumably be his actual final boss fight. (Come on, do you really think he’d be fine with playing second fiddle to a new antagonist if he had even the tiniest glimmer of his original personality left instead of being a soulless shell like in ALBW? He’s absolutely gonna be the final boss.)

[quicklikelight]

Chapters: 3/3 Fandom: ダンジョン飯 | Dungeon Meshi | Delicious in Dungeon Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Marcille Donato/Falin Touden Characters: Falin Touden, Marcille Donato Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, Post-Canon, Character Study, POV Marcille, Time Shenanigans, Inspired by a Chappell Roan song unfortunately, everyone loves the mismatched age trope right?!?!, RIGHT?!?!?!?!?, girl she's an adult now it's time to hit it while you can Summary:

Realizing Falin isn't a child anymore means recognizing that Marcille is running out of time.

A pre-canon, canon, and post-canon fic that explores Marcille's perspective on their relationship.

It’s finished! Thanks so much for your patience, and I hope folks enjoy. <3

[hyperfixssession]

you guys I promise I am rooting for the Hephaestus crew but Daniel ‘let’s go be monsters’ Jacobi-

[edwardteach816]

my search history is fucked. i clicked the link and it gave my computer a virus

[indigoire]

Oh I didn't even TALK about Ed encouraging Stede to use his "angry Captain voice", like he's literally trying to get Stede to order him around. He wants to be dominated by Stede so bad, I can't even deal with it.

Frenchie telling Stede to shut up was the cherry on top, just in case you forgot the walls were thin as shit on The Revenge. Good luck getting your bf to boss you around while getting heckled by the crew/peanut galle--sorry Frenchie.

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

Next time on X-Men '97

[animelionessmika]

'it's on the train!'