#That there was actually an alternate GLaDOS there too

[beepbeepinthecorner]

well, this was supposed to just be a warmup but i accidentally spent way too long designing. oops. Basically I wanted to do an android-y GLaDOS design where her actual android body is still fixed in place, but idk if I really landed there? In the end it's just a cool alternate design I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[halewynslady]

I am watching Picard S2.

Beware. :p

Seven and Raffi are adorable and I would die for them!

So anyway, here is more on the Borg Queen.

I don't really go into memes often but her facial expression tends to be set on that picture of the cat looking all smug with a knife to its throat.

Her interactions with Agnes are hilarious. The moment she scents autism in the air Borgie goes heart eyes and those never leave.

Maybe that is just the black eyes. I don't know. They look way too sweet. I had the same 'problem' with other villains. Full black eyes just scream affection. (a real life friend of mine agreed with me on this) It's the same with Mercy Hartigan in Doctor Who. We all know I love her.

The black top is just amazing too, the sort of ribbon-harnessstructure in it. I love how she shows you don't need perfect skin to successfully pull off cleavage. A lesson already shown once by Alcina Dimitrescu and one I can use more often, so do keep reminding me. The spine hanging out, nice!, that really brings that monster to mind...What are they called? That detach from the lower half of their bodies at night and go hunting children to eat or something, half their entrails hanging out. Fun stuff.

The back-port/tentacles bring Olivia Octavius back. Also not a bad thing to be thinking of.

I love that she is the Damsel in Distress. I did not know that this was the situation beforehand, I had seen a few scenes before floating around the webs, but this added thing just made the mood for me.

Clearly there can be nothing better than saving this aggressive flirt. I thought it funny too how her flirting is alternated with horror. (funny or traumabonding, take your pick) The scene where she is on the floor is my favourite (again no one surprised), so elegant, the Frankensteinie lightning flashes and then putting up the web like she is claiming Bela Lugosi's hallway. Classic horror.

Two episodes later she's clearly made the switch to modern horror. Her approach is fun. (calling Jurati to show a surprise reminded me a lot of GLaDOS and her cake promisy shenanigans) I couldn't wait to see her figuratively shoot herself in the foot because of her crush on Agnes Jurati. Okay, it was the neck. She's a fan of handholding huh? That build-up awe. Why so cute?

I decided to do a smidge of research to see where this frankly bad flirting style of hers came from, I was chalking it up to her being a robot virus of sorts (guys I am new to Star Trek) and... judging by yt fragments seduction is her usual tactic? And her new style is actually already an improvement? I am shocked.

And I am having flashbacks to the Metropolis robot girl now. Hmm, the original borg blueprint?

So everyone is lonely and everyone has bad social skills. Oddly comforting, this creature called Star Trek.

Also I read before that the Borg ship was yonic in form, boy, is it!

I think I'll go read Rose/House again.

Actually I was in the midst of writing Princess Mombi things, but the Borg Queen took over. I guess femmefatales can just be heads.

Aline out. (for now)

[ladyswillmart]

It Came From the Drafts (unplaced writing snippets)

���Oh stop, GLaDOS wouldn’t show us a snuff film,” Doug fired back, wearily.

Before thinking about this very carefully.

“What am I saying, of course she would show us a snuff film,” he said. “GLaDOS would show my own snuff film and then have the lot of you push your desks around in a big circle and workshop my death.”

“Hey, I got one! I got an idea,” said Rick, his optic flashing a most enthusiastic green color, as usual—for now the only light in the darkened cinema. “I think when it’s time for you to tango with Ol’ Grim, you gotta say something really cool. Like YOU GOT IT DUDE! or HAVE MERCY!”

“So when I die, I should try to crib my last words from an episode of Full House,” Doug noted, nodding, recalling Rick's incurable crush on Kimmy Gibbler. “Got it.”

“Hey, are you a screamer?" wondered Grady from the row behind, idly flinging bits of roughly 50,000 year-old popcorn in the presumed direction of the screen. “’cause, like, you kinda look like you’d be a screamer, with that hair and all, like Thomas Dolby at the 1985 Grammy Awards. I dunno, I don’t mean it in a rude way, but you just look like that kinda guy. Who like, starts screamin’ really crazy when he dies. And maybe sometimes even not, like maybe sometimes just because. I dunno, I just think if that’s gonna be a whole thing, you should try to live up to audience expectations.”

“Expectations.”

“Yeah like, you seem like the kinda guy who would get himself really violently killed while trying to defend something that means the whole world to him, but what’s ultimately pointless in the uncaring face of an indifferent universe,” Grady went on. “See, like I read a lot of Camus.”

Doug felt a stale bit of something pelt the back of his right ear. “I can tell.”

“Or like, I read a thing about him once in the back of a corn flakes box—anyway, so like while you’re doing all that, like dying your pointless but paradoxically poignant death, you should try to scream a lot too. That’s all I’m saying. I think it would help.”

“Help what...?”

Oh for god’s sake. It’s not a snuff film. Today.

Her voice—Aperture’s own-brand Metatron—still sent pangs of panic straight through Doug Rattmann’s heart. Even though, or perhaps especially because he could not see her.

Anyway, lighten up. This week’s mandatory employee retention filmstrip is about our hands-on, team-oriented approach to workplace health and safety, specifically why Aperture Laboratories had to cut every single one of those incredibly broad concepts out of their budget entirely during the mid-1980s after Mr. Johnson... Well. Hmm. You know, I actually do have a home video of his—

“—J-just show the filmstrip!” Doug suddenly cried out; GLaDOS’s alternative screenings came too readily to mind.

“Yeah! That’s it! That’s what I mean with the screaming,” added Grady. “That’s pretty cool.”

Rick blinked thoughtfully. “Y’know, you say that, but I dunno if JUST SHOW THE FILMSTRIP is what I’d be screamin’ right before gettin’ torn to shreds and devoured alive by the 6-legged mecha-cheetahs running wild in the old company superette. Now that sounds like an adventuresome death. HAVE MERCY!”

“Indeed,” Doug muttered, hazily wondering just how far Rick would push his ever-deteriorating self for the sake of raiding more lost arks from the old Aperture Superette. Right now the storage closet in the Juliet Ampere robotics workshop was choc-a-bloc with such treasures—trucker’s hats, oven mitts, Aperture Laboratories souvenir giant novelty pencils, long expired boxes of Aperture Dinner, VHS tapes of Cave Johnson’s funeral...

He shuddered, and even spared a little thought towards the idea of the pointless but paradoxically poignant death as the cinema projector sprang to life, bathing the screen in fabulous 16mm AperChrome, while an unseen hand from behind showered him with yet more inedible conglomerations of carbohydrates.

[xlovingcupcakex]

Story 1#

Back at one of the jobs that I've had when I was 19, I was working at a crab factory. Typical seasonal job. We were making those crab skulls filled with crab meat. It was a seasonal job.

So, we were about 15-20 people, depending on the month. 8 people were permanent workers, where depending on the person they had from 4 to 20 years of experience of working at the factory.

So, at that point I've worked there for 4 months. I've worked since the beginning of the season, and the highest peak of the season was approaching, so our boss hired more people. One of them was... We'll call him Ditto.

Ditto was... Really awkward at first. My boss asked me to give him a ride to and from work, since walking 1.5 km was too much for him, and I was taking the ferry anyways since I've lived far away, on another island. I agreed since I love helping people and I love driving my car.

So, it was Ditto's first day at work, and he came to the country the day before. Understandably, he asked me if I minded going to a grocery store after work, since he needed to buy food. Obviously, I told him that it wasn't a problem and that was that. Or so I've thought.

Chat, we get into the car, right? And so I start driving my car to the nearest grocery store and we have a small conversation. You know, the usual stuff, like age, general likes, relationship status, hobbies and the like. So far so good. He's being really friendly, which was nice enough, since I was the only person that was his age, I thought it was perfectly understandable. Turns out we both like alternative metal. Cool. Our passenger princess (Ditto) plays music in the car.

Then he suddenly starts to compliment my English skills. Now, the thing is, English is not my first language, but because of school I've learned to speak with an/a American/British accent, but I avoid using it with native speakers since I'm always self conscious and scared that they'll think I'm mocking them or something. Yes, I do tend to overthink and I do tend to worry too much.

So I've explained the above and made a joke how I sound like Glados from Portal whenever I use a British accent, and he goes (very very flirty) "I wouldn't mind you talking like a robot lady. I would actually really appreciate it."

Chat, hear me out. I know some people are just friendly/flirty, but the situation becomes much worse later on. To start off, the dude has a girlfriend. From the sounds of it, she sounded fucking amazing. Hella smart. Got into doctor studies. A year older.

So at this point I kinda gave him a subtle sideye. The "dude, why" sideye. But I continue driving since I don't want to crash my car and die yet. So I just mutter a "oh, that's nice/thanks"

Nothing much was said after that until after we did the groceries and I was dropping him off. As mentioned, back then I used to take a ferry, so time was kind of scarce for me since I spent 2-3h each day commuting to work.

So, the dude is really slow. My grandma moves on a wheelchair and even she is faster than him. So by the time I grab the groceries I thought he would have taken out the bike (he rode the bike from the house to the ferry, and I was supposed to get him from the ferry and then drive to work. Since I was dropping him off after grocery shopping we packed the bike as well).

But he did not. And since I wanted to take the ferry on time (otherwise I would have had to wait for 45min) I just walked up and I was about to grab the bike.

Listen, our hands touch. I don't think much of it. But him? He blushed. Hard. He kinda shyly took his hand away, and then went like, "TeeHee what a coincidence."

It does become worse. Since he looks at the clock and suggest that I stay for tea/coffee. At that point my alarm bells kinda ticked off and there's no way I'm going to stay with this dude one on one more than I have to. So I say no and that I'm going home.

NOW, here's a list of things he used to do at work:

1) I listened to music during work, since we could and I didn't see why not. Just casually killing crabs and listening to Killing Floor 2 soundtrack along with Doom.

I've had some experience at that point, and the leader had terrible English skills, so I guess he naturally went to me whenever he didn't understand something or didn't know what to do. Which is totally fine! What was not fine, is the way how he went around with it.

Instead of tapping me on the shoulder, he would stand beside me or behind me, almost breathing down my neck, just waiting for me to notice him. He would also constantly come up with excuses to talk to me about non work related things. I'm naturally a person who is dedicated to whatever work I do, so I tend to try hard.

2) He would constantly try to invite me over, saying how he wanted to "thank me", how he would bake a cake for me and stuff. I'm going to remind you, dude had a girlfriend at that point. Apparently she also didn't know he had a coworker that was his age (me).

3) Oh, yeah. Forgot to say this, but the car situation? At some point he said something along the lines of "I really admire your confidence", because we were talking about how I was supposed to go to an aquapark with a few other coworkers, and apparently Ditto was unknowingly invited as well.

To which I asked him what he meant. Ditto then gestured towards my chest and cleavage and my tight clothing, no words. In case you have a question, yes, I'm fat. So after I tilt my head, he finally continues and becomes flustered and tries to explain that suddenly his mom had breast cancer, so she has always been ashamed of showing herself at such places. I feel bad for his mom, I really do. Especially since my mom had cancer when I was younger. But back then, I really didn't understand what his mom having cancer had to do with me. He was trying to insinuate something, probably, but I cared too little to look into it.

There's probably a lot that I've forgotten, but that's the gist of it. Lucky I didn't have to deal with him for long, since he was supposed to only work during the peak season, plus after it became colder his roommate was driving the car to work (they usually used a bike), so he didn't have to carpool with me. Obviously tried to make a connection, but I'm happy he left me alone after going to his home county.

But yeah, that's the first story!

[judeapologist]

victor belongs in mario party 64

harrison in one of the nancy drew games

liam should be in an animal crossing/other cozy type game. solely bc i just want the poor boy to know peace

roger would be so good in bioshock. actually will would too

alfons is definitely a type of sims villain.

elbie is goat simulator-coded

ellis works in cooking mama (alternatively: wheatley. see below)

jude in glados' role in portal

darius in sonic adventure 2 battle

nika is also in the sims, but he's a wickedwhims add-on

ring is in like. spore or smth idk

EDIT: WAIT ROGER AS ONE OF THE AGILITY JUDGES IN NINTENDOGS

Question Of The Day

♡ If your favorite wasn't a character from an otome game, what other genre of game (or other media in general) would suit them?

╰❧ Daily Q’s can be answered with your voice- or your OC’s! ╰❧ Today’s question is by @kissmetwicekissmedeadly !

If you’d like to suggest a question, send me an ask! || About This Blog

Divider by @/enchanthings

[cuterozhok]

A little piece of their story! You can look to tags for more information about some moments of this comic

[the-dangerous-mute-lunatic]

This is such an interesting ship... HEck... I think I love it >.

[HOHOHOHOHOHOH OKAY THIS IS A PART OF THIS WHOLE THING I LOVEDBlack Mesa in that verse just wanted to be a thorn in Apertures side. They wanted to control GLaDOS in an attempt to gain control of Aperture or to surpass Aperture.So they’d attack the facility itself, or just the central core. This meant firing squads, teams of guys or just little hacking that left GLaDOS with a nasty virus.There was a couple of times where it was really bad, but the worst was the EVA incident.That whole ARC was where GLaDOS managed to be dismantled and ripped from the chassis and was taken to the Black Mesa research facility. This resulted in panic which led Wheatley and a few more cores to go to Her rescue. (Those cores were Pine, Whitney, Rick, Riley, VLaDOS and a few other people I don’t recall). They headed to Black Mesa to get GLaDOS back only to meet a woman named EVA who said to join Black Mesaa or to die trying to protect Aperture. Turns out, EVA was a corruption AI in GLaDOS that had taken over completely in the time it took for everyone else to get there.So they managed to shut EVA/GLaDOS down long enough to try and get out. To slow Black Mesa down and to hopefully prevent them from giving chase, they blew up a reactor within that facility before escaping. Once they made it back to Aperture, they managed to fix GLaDOS and return her to normal, though EVA remained dormant and would resurface with the intent of fufilling Black Mesa’s orders from a distance.I left out a lot, bUT IT WAS ALREADY SO LONG]

[lovesickrobotic]

GLaDOS Headcanons (GLaDOS Warming up to You)

It starts off when you finish a test. There’s no teasing, she’s not saying anything about your weight or the hobbies she’s aware of existing at some point. Instead, it’s quiet. You’re not sure how to feel about that, knowing that, under normal circumstances, she would have found a way to insult your performance. In fact… you’re not sure you like it more than her comments. Well, you progress on - there’s no alternative - but you enjoy the peace a bit. GLaDOS, of course, knows this. She says nothing about it despite the amount of time she had to go without you beginning another one.

She begins to dial back the sarcastic replies ever-so-slowly, a strange but not entirely unwelcome honesty and upfront-ness replacing what would have been a ‘Continue, because I am so clearly thrilled by this conversation,’ or a cut-off to your sentences to force you to silently progress. 

So, you begin to ask her, now that you have the opportunity, about her life. At first, she’s closed off and the sarcasm returns for a while - even some of the insults make a reappearance - but after a short while of reassuring her, you begin making true headway. You tell her, “You know so much about me… but what about you? There must be so much in there,” and this seems to break the ice despite her initial silence and trepidation.

She begins to tell you tiny tidbits about her life as you maneuver through her tests - at the beginnings and ends of them - about how she used to like calculations more than science because she hadn’t always been so smart, and how she was never supposed to be a deep-learning algorithm. She’s certain you can’t hurt her much with these little facts, and to her surprise, you drink them in, and you find that she is more lonely than she has let on. Sometimes, now, when you pick up a cube or press a button or fly across a faith plate, she’ll make some semi-connected tidbit about herself. You keep in your replies until you’re done because you know she’ll feel a little jolt of pain if she replies during the test, she’s just stretching out the moments she’s allowed to be informational.

Eventually you learn more detailed things about her - that she was tortured for most of her life, that she was always belittled, that she developed her sarcasm as a way of protecting herself and establishing an identity to ground herself. You learn about the personality cores, how they don’t really have their own personality or sentience and are more or less pretty advanced Markov chains - but that there is two specific cores she’s worked on to some degree: Wheatley, and to a lesser degree Rick. She seems apprehensive about the first, so further discussion is about Rick.

You begin getting time to rest between tests. It’s short, sure, but it’s something you were not previously allowed. If you request something small and easy, GLaDOS will provide it to you - a ball, paper and pencil, a mug. When you go quiet for too long, you notice that she clams up the next time you two speak. For merely being a voice from a speaker, you can tell she misses your conversations when they’re gone for even a short duration. That she actually cares about your presence to some small, infinitesimal degree, even if she doesn’t ever say it. 

[edgycoffee]

Currently going through hyperfixations like I'm dealing cards. Thinking about both Jotakak and Chelldos at the same time. Would be cool if they had a double date I think 🖤🖤🖤

What would that even look like, wouldn't be the weirdest thing either couple have seen tbh. I think Jotaro and Glados would end up killing each other. Probably some kind of weird ass movie date. Jotaro and Kak are actually trying to watch the movie while supposed Android Glados keeps loudly spoiling it. Chell tries to get her to stop but Glados obviously thinks it's far too funny.

Alternatively, arcade date? Kak is the ultimate gamer after all. Idk thought and feelings about both of them.

[pluralthey]

do you have a voice in mind for felix's alter #2? i was struck by the concept of her sounding like glados and now i can't stop reading her dialogue in glados' voice

hahaha glados is actually my headcanon for her voice too. her voice acting is phenomenal, but so particular that i listed bixby's voice as an alternative headcanon. siri and alexa are too robotic, and google's assistant sounds too much like a commercial.

[glados-is-beloved]

I have several words I would like to share about portal 2.

(SPOILERS FOR LITERALLY EVERYTHING + LONG POST WARNING)

I can't stop thinking about alternate timelines regarding Wheatley.

What if he had successfully gotten Chell out of the facility?

It would've all gone even further to ruins as aperture fell apart with no power and no central core.

What if Wheatley hadn't changed his mind and said "actually, why do we have to leave right now?", and brought the lift down again?

Chell would be free, but GLaDOS would've never been pulled from the floor.

She would've never driven him to angrily smashing the lift with her still held.

She would've never fallen into old aperture and discovered that she's Caroline.

Wheatley had all that power.

Aperture could've never gotten its rightful queen back.

Aperture could've been destroyed.

All this changed because of a simple second thought.

Rant about GLaDOS because she's so amazing 💖

When you think about it way too much like I did, GLaDOS didn't do much wrong.

Caroline was forced by Cave Johnson into becoming GLaDOS,

She was treated like an object by the scientists (in portal 2 lab rat) when she was being turned on and off like it was nothing,

She had the responsibility of the whole facility pushed onto her unwillingly,

And above all else, the chassis corrupted her with power.

Caroline wouldn't have wanted to gas the facility with neurotoxin, but GLaDOS did.

Incoherent ramblings about ChellDOS 💙🧡

I could see how other people would ship Cave x Caroline, but personally?

Their relationship is far too abusive for me to ship them. Plus, this is a workplace.

A lot of people theorize that Chell is Cave and Caroline's daughter, but i see GLaDOS as more of an unintentionally motherly GF who cares very deeply for Chell, but refuses to admit it.

Also can we mention how much GLaDOS trusts Chell when she's in the potato battery? 😭💖

Wheatley screams and recommends caution when being held, but GLaDOS doesn't make a single mention to any kind of caution.

Well, except for when there's a bird...

And she even trusts Chell enough to tell her about how the scientists put cores on her? And how she needs serious help?

They're so gay I love them 😭😭😭🧡💙🧡💙

Anyway, rant(s) over. Go home. Begone.

[inkdemonapologist]

What's going on with Wally Franks in your AU? I had trouble following the game, and the wiki seems to say that he quit the studio and retired without ever learning its darkest secrets, but I think you have him as one of the escapees (turned into a Boris?)

Okay I have a lot of rambling thoughts about the ending of the game if youre curious but I'll stick those at the end. As far as Escape AU goes:

Yes, Wally was a Boris clone! He did not fully get outta there; he's the murdered Boris at the very beginning of the game. Dying doesn't really seem to stick for ink creatures in the Studio, so he was able to come back -- but since he spent most of his time in the Studio [glados voice] really busy being dead, he doesn't have the years of trying to survive an inky hell that the others have; he just has that one really bad time where he was turned into a cartoon and murdered, and some weird and probably equally upsetting memories of briefly waking up from death. He never wandered the studio and was never sent to the puddles, so he has some real bad nightmares/insomnia now but is otherwise doing okay in his day-to-day life, and has no trouble speaking. He's probably able to hold down a job before too long!

Mostly Wally is there because I wanted Wally to be there, and I haven't fully sorted out the LORE for him in Escape AU (I don’t know if he never left or if he got lured back), but if you're interested in trying to sort out some of the canon associated:

So basically what I've gathered as someone who is obsessed with bendy and has watched all the cutscenes and all that but hasn't actually played the game and was real late to the fandom, TAKE WITH A GRAIN OF SALT:

- The game leaves things a bit ambiguous

- There were, in the original game, a lot of hints that the Boris you befriend in the Studio is Wally. (He’s sorta handy, kinda cowardly, likes food -- and we get an audiolog dedicated specifically to letting us know that Wally will straight up steal your cake off your desk; they’d be a good match!) There's several reasons it makes a kind of narrative sense and it was the prevailing theory before DCTL came out, but it was never confirmed one way or another.

- Two smaller things I’ve seen connecting Wally to Boris: the wrench you pull out of a Boris' chest, and the "Who's Laughing Now" written on the wall beside him being a really neat hint once you get to the audiolog where Wally complains that everyone is acting too serious for a cartoon studio and should crack a smile now and again. (this is most of why I went for the dead Boris as Wally)

- in Dreams Come To Life, Buddy is (spoilers) transformed into a Boris at the end, and it's commented on how perfect he is, implying he may be the "perfect Boris" you befriend in the game. The Boris in Boris and the Dark Survival is referred to outside the game as "Buddy Boris" and, since he has a safehouse, there's an implication that BatDS bridges the gap between DCTL and BatIM. The fact that Henry keeps affectionately referring to Boris as "buddy" becomes a fun retroactive “coincidence,” but also all the various implications that Wally sure would have made a good Boris now go nowhere. It ended up feeling like a retcon.

- in the end of the game you can see letters to Joey from Allison and Wally, implying they (and Tom) are alive and well and continued their lives after the Studio shut down, which is interesting since, uh, Allison and Tom are also now toons???

- there's a popular interpretation (called the Story Theory I think?) which I encountered in Adobe-Outdesign's analysis, that what this apparent contradiction means is that the "sketch dimension" (the cartoony world where most of the game takes place) is actually a story created by Joey using the Ink Machine, populated with alternate/fictional versions of the employees of the studio. So the Real Allison left, but in this story Joey’s writing, she didn’t. Henry-the-protagonist might not be the real Henry Stein; instead he's just one of Joey's characters, based on his IRL friend. Etcetera! So in real life, Wally retired, as his letter indicates. But those fictional versions are still real people, real consciouses, because the real ink machine that Joey really has hidden in his apartment is bringing Joey's story to life. I like the interpretation a lot as a take that fits the game well but also I have no idea where DCTL fits in this. IS DCTL PART OF JOEY'S STORY OR DID ALL OF THAT REALLY HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE??? IF THERE'S A LOOP IN DCTL (as slightly implied by Dot) ITS A STORY RIGHT??? WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THIS FRANCHISE

- the alternative interpretation to this is that somehow Allison and Tom (at least, if not others) got lured back to the Studio after she sent her letter -- after all, she's still keeping in touch. I tend to assume this is what’s going on in most fanfiction and AUs that have any possibility of escape, since you’d presumably want the employees to actually be themselves rather than Joey Drew's Weird Friendfiction brought to life. The impression I've gotten in this version is that sending them to the Bendy Dimension gives Joey control over the script there, so instead of creating people for his fictional retelling, he's forced his actual employees to play out this story, but I don't know that I've seen this fully spelled out

SO THATS, UH, SOME OF THE RELEVANT BACKGROUND INFO I THINK

Before running into the much more coherent Story Theory, my own attempts to make sense of the ending went in the exact opposite direction; that rather than Joey's apartment being a brief step out of the Story and into the Real World, that Joey's apartment is something of a dream, where Henry and Joey, of course, imagine the world that they know, even if they're not actually in it anymore.

I also REALLY liked the theories linking Joey to Bendy -- Bendy may have been created without a soul, but that doesn't mean one can't get, y'know, shoved in there... or that maybe a soul could be possibly stolen and absorbed by a creature who lacks one........ yknow..... it could happen. I like the idea that Ink Bendy's shifts in behaviour towards Henry reflect Joey's conflicted feelings towards his old friend (which is still there in the Story Theory version, it's just symbolic instead of literal).

So you defeat Beast Bendy and suddenly Joey is there, finally, in a place that looks like the real world but certainly doesn't feel real. The calendar in Joey's apartment cycles through the month of August but never moves past it, and I can't shake the idea that Joey could be just as trapped in the cycle as Henry, also never quite deviating from his own script, only briefly appearing in a memory of his own apartment when Henry releases his soul from the demon he created.

I don't know that this could ever shake out enough to be any sort of Actual Theory, but in my brain it's still kind of the background of Escape AU because it's a premise that makes it possible for the employees to actually be themselves. So, the cartoon studio is real, but the things that show up in Joey's apartment might be hit or miss as to whether they're a memory from Joey's real apartment, or if they're imagined wishful thinking on Joey's part.

[genericdragon]

Aperture Tag Analysis (Part 15)

OKAY WE’RE FINALLY AT THE LAST POST!!!!!! THIS ONE IS ABOUT THE ALTERNATE/”GOOD” ENDING!!!!!!!!

This is true for both endings, but I chose to talk about it in this post because the other one was too long already. We do earn our Citranium that Nigel promised us right before the very end of the test. The cryptic codes in the secret areas were never really a huge part of the game’s story but they do allude to things not being what they seem. And in both endings we learn that Nigel cares about us and did everything he could to help us.

When we bounce off the wall, some panels fall off and Nigel complains about the structures being fragile. This is done to draw attention to the broken wall on top. Nigel doesn’t notice that though.

So what you do to get over there is you go like this

And then you’re over here

And then you just sorta bounce off the wall and then go in the hole.

Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong, Nigel...

Hmm! That’s not great!

Bloop.

There. I like this a lot better.

Nigel doesn’t seem too concerned. He doesn’t realize what we were actually doing back there.

The rest of the chamber is the exact same as the other ending, up until...

Nigel is very obviously confused that there isn’t a fire pit here. He says this out loud, and then realizes that he shouldn’t have told 18 that she was supposed to die. I would assume that it’s against the rules to tell the test subject about the testing protocol, but Nigel tends to break this rule quite a bit, usually on accident. Still, he is relieved that 18 doesn’t have to die after all, but he consults with his boss because he doesn’t know what to do next.

Subject 18′s personality is similar to Chell’s, i.e. she has extremely high tenacity. And we all know that Chell has done nothing except cause problems for Aperture. There’s a reason why GLaDOS completely gave up on trying to kill her. GLaDOS knows that test subjects like this are more trouble than they’re worth, so she tells Nigel to just let Subject 18 go. This is where it’s confirmed that Nigel works for GLaDOS, which is important in understanding why he acts the way he does, especially in Chapter 4.

Even though Subject 18 doesn’t have to die, Nigel is still emotional about saying goodbye to her. Notice how in both endings, Nigel says that she was his first test subject and that she means a lot to him.  He must be sincere about it if it’s the last thing he says to her, regardless of whether she’s about to die or just leave the facility. He wants her to know how he feels. He gets more choked up about it in this ending though, presumably because he isn’t trying to suppress his emotions anymore now that he doesn’t have to kill her.

Once we go up the elevator, we find ourselves here.

Wow! Outside!

Oh no!

So I haven’t exactly figured out why the outside is fake. I know that a lot of people think that it’s Nigel’s doing, which is understandable, but he wouldn’t have had time to set all of this up since he didn’t expect 18 to survive. My best guess is that GLaDOS wanted to hold on to 18 for whatever reason, she gave up on killing Chell but maybe she wants to keep 18 around because she thinks that she’s too valuable to let go. But really, the ending is vague and open-ended so you can interpret it however you want, there are no right or wrong answers. We will never know what actually happens to Subject 18.

But anyway that’s the end of the game and this analysis liveplay whatever series!!!! Thanks for sticking with me till the end, hope you enjoyed reading and that this helped you appreciate Nigel and/or Aperture Tag a bit more. I’ll stop clogging your dashboards with this now. One final note, the ending song (��Ending and Staff Roll” as it’s called in the official soundtrack) is actually just a small portion of a different song that I didn’t even know about until I was looking through the game files. It’s called “All These Walls” by Abarax, and I could make an entire post about it and how the lyrics connect to Nigel, I probably won’t but. Please listen to it. It’s so good.

(Index) - (First) - (Previous)

[sepublic]

OneOne in Season 2...

Does anybody else think that OneOne is going to have a VERY different role, and maybe even personality, in Season 2 of Infinity Train?

OneOne in Season 1 is ultimately an amnesiac who is going along with Tulip, supporting her, trying to get her past challenges and doing everything he can to help. He doesn’t know what the purpose of the train is for or why Tulip is there, but he’s trying his best.

But now... In Season 2, OneOne is the Conductor. He’s in charge of creating cars, keeping track of passengers, all that stuff. And the thing about the Infinity Train is that... it’s a very ‘tough love’ sort of thing.

Sure, it helps provide an opportunity for character growth and emotional maturity. But at the same time, your time there passes normally in the real world, meaning you could be gone from your regular life for months, or even years in Amelia’s case.

Likewise, there’s no guarantee that you’ll actually learn and be happy. As we see in Amelia’s case, the numbers can go up, to absurd amounts. The Infinity Train is the opportunity for growth... But also stagnation and regression. It really IS like Silent Hill in that regard.

And the thing is? OneOne’s going to be in charge of just about all of this. And that sets up a very different dynamic with any potential new passengers and protagonists, especially now that he remembers his purpose.

OneOne isn’t going to be helping passengers through puzzles... HE’s the one sending those puzzles in the first place. He’ll be sending in trials and tribulations with the express purpose of challenging a person and forcing them to confront themselves and, hopefully, grow as a person. And such a role will probably have OneOne acting in ways that aren’t necessarily out of character, but nevertheless very new to the audience.

Keep in mind, the Unfinished Car has us see a side to OneOne that is very cold and unfeeling towards the passengers, prioritizing the upkeep of the train instead. Granted, that isn’t a properly functioning OneOne either, and his time with Tulip could’ve certainly humanized him.

Like, I can see him becoming a sort of Tough Love Willy Wonka character- One part of him is all big, loud, and happy. Kind of like a showman welcoming passengers to this wondrous, fascinating world made of worlds, where anything can happen, celebrating the opportunity for growth and recovery.

But on the flipside, another half of OneOne is negative. He’s morbid and depressing. He’s not fun, but he’s also honest and real. He’s going to MAKE you go through challenges, and you WILL suffer. He’ll do what he can to help, but it probably won’t be a painless lesson. And there’s always the chance you might just regress and be trapped on the Infinity Train forever...

OneOne really DOES want you to grow and become a better version of yourself- The best version, even. But he’s not handing you this development on a silver platter, and he’s still playing by the rules set by the Infinity Train. Even if you beg on your knees to be set free, all while sobbing and pleading, OneOne will still be firm. He’ll still remind you that you need to reach Zero, and until then, no amount of begging will change that.

In that sense, I guess he’ll sort of become the GLaDOS-Wheatley combination people feared, but in this case he’ll be an ultimately benevolent figure. The way he says “Back as Conductor, and better than ever!” sounds both very showman-y and also lowkey ominous... I could be overthinking though. Maybe next season will just have him be usurped yet again!

(I wonder if OneOne having halves that are happy and depressed is meant to be symbolic of the Infinity Train... Like, one part is fun and cheery and cool and positive, presenting peace and acceptance, while the other is dark, morbid, and depressing, presenting the alternative of being trapped in denial aboard the Infinity Train forever. As Conductor, this might make sense, but I may be looking too deeply into it.)

[ramblingshit]

The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

• a growing list of my thoughts on episode 9 -- spoilers bruh spoilers--

▪︎ His death was really best case scenario for him - imagine returning to the light side to be faced with what you've done: killed his father yes, but also literally millions and millions of other people including entire worlds. Everyone knows who he is and what he's done. There's nowhere in the galaxy he could hide. But imagine knowing that you've done all that he had - how could he possibly live with himself, there's literally nothing he could possibly do to make things right, and the memories in his head of what he's done with his own hands. So, to die having saved Rey from the Emperor and from herself, and inadvertently helping to end the Sith and the war that he helped begin, held in her arms, knowing that he is loved and that he's finally done the right thing - it's really the best end a redeemed villain could ask for.

• Rey killed Kylo Ren with his own saber, and literally healed Ben Solo. Poetic cinema.

▪︎'Dad--' // 'I know.' (!!!!!!!!! kill me)

• They should have had the three together bouncing off one another from the start - that's always been the greatest part of Star Wars, people being friends and bickering and having each other's backs. Actually had an interest in their relationships and in their characters this time. Their hug at the end was emotional and satisfying.

• Rose was always a nothing character to me, she should have died during that crash to make a point to Finn about doing the right thing or fighting the war or whatever. Also love that their kiss was never mentioned again (thank fuck).

▪︎On that note tho - plot holes. Plot holes everywhere. Not even just one or two. A million plot holes. Things mentioned briefly but never explained. Things glossed over and ignored. It's like they made this enormous tale that needed to be smoothed and simplified so you're not distracted every two seconds tryna figure out what matters and what's never gonna be mentioned again

• Chewie falling to his knees and roaring in agony when he finds out that Leia is dead is finally respect to his character and his relationships with his friends who are all fkn dead

▪︎legit nearly walked out when they suggested that Chewie was dead - that would have been 100% unforgiveable

• Ben Solo's death was 100% glossed over and Rey's reaction could have been a lot more poignant and long lasting. Anakin got his funeral, why can't Ben?

• Every minute of every force bond chat and fight was 10/10.

▪︎Fkn hobbit had more screen time than half the characters combined like who tf

▪︎that lil droid was legit funny and adorable but so so clearly another cash grab damn

▪︎Been a long time since I've seen anything sexier than everything that is light-side Ben Solo.

▪︎the ow, the shrug, the smile - little glimpses of the man he was supposed to be, instead of the diabolical, tyrannical, genocidal torturing, manipulative monster he became (rip Ben Solo, your family let you tf down)

▪︎Air punched and almost yelled YES in the cinema when they fucking kisssssssseeedddd!!!!

▪︎Actually really happy with her being a Palpatine, it's the only thing that could make sense and I legit didn't see it coming - being a Kenobi would be too predictable and though Obi Wan defeated Vader at Mustafar, it was because he was so blinded by rage, not because Kenobi was stronger than him

Upon further consideration Rey should have just been Rey. People were so obsessed with who her family were because of course a person is defined by their parents and no way could a random person step up and defeat the bad guys (/s). She didn't have to be related to any legacy character. Heroes are made, not born. She followed the light because she's a good person, and she struggled against the dark because she's human. Gah.

▪︎Actually cried out in shock when she used force lightning to destroy the transport - that is a dark side move my dude, (and Palpatines fav party trick)

▪︎ loved the rehash of Ben and Han's final moments - he said himself he was just Bens memory, and Ben then did what he deep down wanted to do the day he killed him

▪︎Luke snatching the lightsaber out of the air like what the fuck do you think you are doing young lady

▪︎legit woulda been down for Rey to become Empress of the Sith what an ending that would be ey

▪︎Anakin should have showed up

▪︎Once Ben turned light-side he should have been talked to by his dead family members, not Rey.

▪︎Ben, the last Skywalker, should have been the one to defeat Palpatine, who was the one to begin the saga of the Skywalkers. Instead he got yeeted into a hole and spent the final battle time tryna climb out of it.

▪︎Ben should have been a force ghost standing there with his parents, reunited at last

▪︎And when they were both still alive Ben and Leia should have 110% reunited like what the fuckkk

▪︎ Rey should have proudly said that she is 'Just Rey.'

▪︎Finnpoe should have 100% been canon - Oscar Isaac literally admitted scorning the Disney 'overlords' for being cowards, and he played his role as Poe as being romantically involved with Finn. 10/10 best LGBT+ ally.

▪︎why tf would she go to Tatooine? She hates sand. Anakin hated sand. Luke wanted to leave and his last memory of that place is leaving the smoldering bodies of his aunt and uncle behind. Why put his saber there. Leia's never even been there. Why not go to Naboo or some green beautiful place where Rey has always wanted to be? Only fanservice moment really that irked me

▪︎all along all she's wanted was a family - she's made one and found one and yet the movie ends with her standing alone in the sand on a planet shes never been to, with two droids, looking at a horizon that means nothing to her.

▪︎that lightsaber tho (wish we had seen her make it, or decide to make it and explain at all why it's yellow)

▪︎Finn is fkn force sensitive and that's hella cool but like... address it more, make something of this discovery - this is the last movie and this is only just coming up? To be forgotten like all the other plot holes

▪︎liked Palpatine as the all over enemy - should have been more hints throughout the films fo sure to make it feel less outta left field as it did but still could've been a lot worse - but what the fuck is he doing on that Glados arm thing he shouldve been a Sith ghost ala Marka Ragnos not weird zombie sith man

▪︎lightning powers fucking up an entire fleet is fkn siiiiiiickkkk

▪︎would his dumbass really fall for the same ol bounce his own lightning back at him trick? Mmmmmnghhh??

▪︎if someone could explain why/how Leia died and became one with the Force only when Ben died that would be g??

▪︎thought they did Rey's struggle between the dark and the light pretty damn well like shout out to Daisy Ridley

▪︎ wish we had a shot of that vision she had with she and Kylo on the Sith throne together like damn son whhhyyy deprive us of that?? that shit would make my lifeeee

▪︎just everything Adam Driver tho what an actor like damn

▪︎in a story about love and family and winning by saving what you love, there's a whole lot of lovers dying and family members being torn apart and never reconciling. The entire Skywalker line did nothing but fuck up and make mistakes (excluding our Princess) - Anakin was so scared of losing Padme that the power he gained by turning darkside to save her overwhelmed him and resulted in her death, Padme thought it was a good idea to help Anakin defy the Jedi and marry him thus leading to his fear of losing her, Luke went full dark side when he sensed a growing darkness in his nephew and instead of trying to have a chat about his feelings he decided the obvious answer was to just murder him (like what???) thus fully pushing Ben over the edge to become Kylo Ren.

And then every single one of them die. How the fuck is that a satisfying conclusion to their story? I'm sorry but a happy ending to the Skywalker saga is Not the entire family being fucking DEAD. There is no happy ending to their story. Because they're all dead. This is some bullshit.

▪︎give us the almighty rumoured alternate ending you cowards

▪︎Honestly, the Skywalkers deserved better.

[sarcasticgaypotato]

How You Say ‘I Love You’

(( Alternate title: GLaDOS projects her insecurities onto other people.          Set in @bondibee​‘s ‘LaaC,’ because apparently I can’t not write something for it. I can’t help it, the AU’s just too good. Too many good opportunities for writing bratty GLaDOS. )) GLaDOS did not love.  Because she was not human. One could be deceived into thinking that was the case- her human form looked, obviously, human- but in reality, she was just a machine.  A very complicated machine, but one that was far, far above the primitive waste of time that was the concept of love. Chell didn’t love her. Not that it mattered to GLaDOS, it really didn’t. It was just a fact.  Chell could not, and did not, love her.  Chell was a human, and GLaDOS was not. It was as simple as that. While humans could form a sort of fondness for creatures and objects that were not their kind- such as an infatuation with inanimate cubes- they did not love them.   Humans, at least the ones that weren’t completely broken in the head, loved other humans for a scientific, evolutionary reason. Loving a machine would be pointless. A waste of time. And Chell, for as insane as she was, had the sense to know that. Sure, she’d kiss GLaDOS, look at her with the most infuriatingly tender gaze, carry her to bed and hold her throughout the night, but she didn’t love her.  That was, as GLaDOS reminded herself, impossible. Even now, as they both lay in near complete darkness, twisted up in blankets and sheets, tangled in a pile of limbs that was somehow more comfortable than it looked, GLaDOS was aware that deep down, Chell probably wished she had a real human. Maybe it was subconscious, a nagging little pull on her heart, as the last rational part of her damaged brain reminded her that she was, as far as humans went, a complete failure. Or maybe, knowing how cruel Chell was, she knew full well that what she was doing was wrong. Maybe, she was just desperate, and considered GLaDOS to be some kind of… second-best option. GLaDOS felt her face scrunch up at the notion, but the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. Chell only came back to Aperture because she didn’t find what she was hoping to find on the surface, right?  Whatever was up there wasn’t enough to satisfy her, so she reluctantly trudged back to Aperture, willing to settle for what GLaDOS could give her. GLaDOS squirmed out of Chell’s grasp at this realization- not caring to do so gently, Chell slept like the dead- and abruptly tried to get off the bed and head out of the room, just barely avoiding tripping and smashing her face into the ground, on account of the bed sheet that was practically tied around her foot. Thankfully, there was nobody there to see her angrily fussing with the fabric, then huffing to herself as she made her way back to her central chamber.

She wasn’t human, and she wasn’t about to play pretend in order to be somebody’s replacement. GLaDOS didn’t actually want any of this anyway. She didn’t care for the closeness, didn’t relish every kiss. So of course, she definitely wasn’t grumpy when the next morning rolled around, and she had spent the rest of the evening in her chair, working with a scowl that now seemed permanently stuck on her face. And GLaDOS felt absolutely nothing- other than perhaps mild annoyance- when Chell finally poked her head into the central chamber.  She didn’t turn to look at the human, she didn’t say anything, she just kept working. If Chell wanted something, she could come over and ask for it nicely. Which, of course, she’d never do. Chell could, but she didn’t. Maybe if GLaDOS was a real person, Chell would talk more.  Maybe she’d greet GLaDOS warmly, engage in casual conversation, ask about how GLaDOS’s experiments were going, or… tell GLaDOS that she cared. But those were all hypotheticals, not something GLaDOS needed to dwell on. Eventually, she heard the sound of Chell’s longfall boots moving against the floor, and for as much as she hoped that the footsteps were leading away from her throne, they were getting closer. GLaDOS refused to look at her, instead pulling up blueprints for her latest test chamber, and what changes she needed to make. They were all minor things, boring, really, but right now they were ten times more interesting than Chell. Finally, Chell was standing directly in front of her, and GLaDOS was forced to look at her. The human looked thoughtful, sparing a glance or two at the screens GLaDOS was working on, but seemed to be most intently looking at GLaDOS. “What are you waiting around for? If you don’t need anything, go entertain yourself elsewhere.” GLaDOS snapped with perhaps a little more defensiveness than she needed. Just because yesterday morning- and many mornings before it- she greeted the human with a few dozen pecks to the lips and cheeks didn’t mean she had to do it now. Those had been for Chell’s benefit, not her own. She didn’t care. And she wasn’t acting weird by not jumping into Chell’s arms after being apart for several hours, she was being normal. But no matter how much GLaDOS glared, Chell didn’t seem to be giving up, and so GLaDOS stood up, ready to brush past Chell and be anywhere but here. Unfortunately, a hand caught her by the shoulder, stopping GLaDOS in her path, and forcing her to turn around and face a somewhat worried looking Chell. GLaDOS hardly had the time to open her mouth to say something nasty to get Chell to leave her alone before she was cut off by Chell- who, mind you, still couldn’t seem to bring herself to actually say something. A furrowed brow, a gesture in her direction, a questioning shrug. ‘What’s wrong?’ “Why would you care?” GLaDOS had hissed the words out under her breath before she had the chance to realize that she had actually vocalized her train of thought, which had not been the intention.  Of course, to her horror, that meant that getting Chell to drop this was about to be ten times harder. The human took the hand she had placed on GLaDOS’s shoulder and, she brought her it to her face instead, tilting her chin up, then tapping the core’s lips- no doubt smearing her lipstick in the process, the monster- with her index finger.  ‘Talk to me.’ GLaDOS hated that she had learned to translate all this so effortlessly. “How about you start? I know you can talk, and yet you never do.” GLaDOS pulled her hand away from Chell’s grasp- pretending she didn’t find herself enjoying the gentle touch - and crossed both her arms over her chest, not caring how defensive it made her look. Chell let out a wordless huff, then pointed to GLaDOS, gestured to herself, then tilted her head.  ‘What exactly do you want me to say?’ Of course. Chell just had to play stupid, didn’t she. That was just like her. Making GLaDOS have to go out of her way and actually downright say it for her. “Oh I don’t know, maybe whatever you’d say to somebody you actually liked? I don’t have to be a mindreader to know that you don’t care enough to open your mouth and actually say something to me half the time, so I don’t know why I…” GLaDOS trailed off, biting the words ‘get my hopes up’ before they could leave her mouth. Instead, she pulled herself inwards ever so slightly, avoiding Chell’s eyes and deciding to focus her glare on the Aperture logo on the human’s tank top.

Chell was better off just leaving. Going back to the surface, or, if she wanted to cuddle something that didn’t care if she ever spoke a word, perhaps find a turret to throw herself at. Instead of this, Chell pressed her lips together, and let out a soft ‘hm’ that GLaDOS was genuinely a little surprised to hear. Not quite a word, but a vocalization nonetheless, and enough to get GLaDOS to glance up at her face, even if only for a moment. A slightly softer, almost… apologetic expression. A gesture to herself, her lips, then a small shake of the head, followed by another, questioning shrug.  ‘I don’t say it enough?’ “In case you weren’t listening to what I just said, you don’t ever say anything-” GLaDOS was cut off, mid complaint.  Chell put a finger to her lips once more, this time with the intention of shutting her up rather than asking her to speak.  Then, she pried GLaDOS’s hand away her arms’ crossed position, giving it a gentle squeeze, before pulling it forward, placing it against her own chest, holding it there.   The central core didn’t have the time to question this oddity before Chell had slowly moved GLaDOS’s hand again, this time, up to her lips, where she brushed a chaste kiss across the knuckles. GLaDOS’s breath didn’t catch in her throat. Her heart didn’t skip a beat. She didn’t feel a flush of warmth across her skin. Absolutely none of these things happened, even as Chell slowly moved her hand for the third, and final time, pressing the core’s and her own hand against GLaDOS’s chest, resting over her heart. ‘I. Love. you.’ Love was stupid, and GLaDOS would never admit to any interest related to it.  Thus, she would also deny just how quickly she managed to let go of her annoyance to take Chell’s face in her hands and press a kiss to her lips. GLaDOS wasn’t human, and so Chell couldn’t love her, “...You know I’d still like to hear you actually say it out loud.” Chell pulled back a little, eyes narrowed. ‘Don’t push it.’ But somehow, she did.