#The movie and game characterizations are not going to be 1 for 1

[pianokantzart]

How likely do you think it is that Mario and Luigi Brothership has any sort of direct reference to the movie, and how would you feel if they actually did that?

I wouldn't bank on a direct reference, but I know that Nintendo and Illumination worked pretty close together on the film, with Shigeru Miyamoto himself acting as co-producer. Given the huge success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, I'm thinking Nintendo is taking measures to very subtly make the games and the film reflect each other.

What happened with the cover of Princess Peach Showtime comes to mind:

Say what you will about the design change in and of itself, but you can't deny that whatever happened there was influenced by the movie.

I think something similar (but much more subtle) might have happened here:

It's easy to see how that pose might have been based on that shot from the film, but it's also nothing so drastic that people who are only familiar with the games are going to feel out of the loop. Or perhaps it's just a coincidence. Who knows, really.

If there does end up being a direct reference to the movie in "Mario and Luigi: Brothership"? I'd be thrilled. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the thing that got me hyperfixated in the first place, so I'm always going to be on board with references to it.

[wren-likethe-bird]

wren rambles about the borderlands movie in tags

[sootsz]

qsmp has accidentally stumbled into a psychology experiment that would make the stanford prison experiment sob in fear. they’ve gotten a bunch of cc’s, and tens of thousands of viewers, to be deeply emotionally connected to pixel eggs. in doing so they’ve presented a problem:

how the fuck do you get outta this

the eggs were obviously never intended to be permanent (logging on every day to do tasks isn’t feasible to upkeep forever) and they were even given a vague limit of When Mama Dragon Comes Back (and then, of course, the “6 days til they die” thing). now you’ve made it so quackity (and his team) have a big ol dilemma, where two things are true: 1) they can’t keep the eggs forever since it’s not sustainable 2) you can’t take away the eggs without, oopsies, emotionally damaging your friends that you invited to have fun on your server.

turns out, when you give a group of humans all their own fully-realized individual who presents as a (weak, vulnerable) child that is in need of care from them, whatever instinct has kept us alive for generations goes “!!!!!” which is both really cool and compassionate, but also kinda concerning!

because, well: not sustainable! and if the eggs aren’t sustainable, what’s the alternative? killing them?? no! just look at jaiden’s reaction to bobby “losing” a life, even when it wasn’t his last one. or bad’s genuinely heart wrenching reaction to dapper losing a life. or how quiet and angry phil got after chayanne and tallulah had a “nightmare,” before it was resolved. that’s not acting. that’s real. what the hell will they do if the eggs actually die? from what i see, the cc’s are taking the “6 days til death” thing as something that’s avoidable. a threat that can be overcome. and for their sake, i hope it is.

ever played a dnd game where you actually feel insulted bc of smth someone’s pc did? yeah. that x20 because there’s SO much overlap between “streamer persona” and “literally just who they are”. and this level of roleplay character bleeding is cool, but i hope the eggs are handled carefully, or all those involved might end up actually hurt.

there’s also the whole added element of fans, many of whom only tune into the streams for egg content. the plot is very egg-centric. the roleplaying and characterization that the cc’s are doing is all centered around the eggs in one way or another. it’s been going on for a month, but it does not feel at all resolved, and plot-wise it would completely mess up so many plot threads happening if the eggs were all to go (charlie’s unresolved deal with lil j, quackity’s goal to bond with tallulah, the trial, etc etc) so if you take away the eggs, you risk messing up the whole vibe they’ve got going on, and facing backlash from fans who are also emotionally compromised by pixel eggs

we inherently want to protect the cute and vulnerable, and by god are these eggs cute and so very fragile. (then, there’s another layer of people’s own issues that they project onto the eggs. be it desire for paternity, some kind of maternal instinct, or, even in the matter of chayanne, using chayanne as a sort of way to cope with loss by making connections between chayanne and technoblade. which is beautiful and very sweet but would give chayanne dying some additional emotionally charged elements which i think should be avoided at all costs). there’s a reason that movies and other media generally do not kill named children characters—audiences really hate it. it’s taboo for good reason.

which leads us to

schrodinger’s egg: until sunday, they r both alive and dead. and this is both good and bad. god help us all

[rainbow-crane]

In-Depth Analysis On All The DR Characters Because What, Are You Gonna Try And Stop Me? Who Are You, My Mom? Yeah, I Didn't Think So- Part 3: Sayaka Maizono

It's finally time for my #1 THH girlie to shine!!! I may be a bit biased with this one because of how much I adore her, but I'll try my best to remain objective as we go in-depth on how well-written of a character she is. They used her character schtick incredibly, and I can't wait to go into why.

As always, only offical, canon material will be used in this analysis, primarily the english translation of the THH game. If you aren't interested, just keep scrolling.

Part 1- Character Design

Sayaka Maizono was one of the first characters to reach completion, designed for maximum likability to the player. Her look is extremely basic and palatable, with a regular schoolgirl uniform and softer features, and she's characterized instead through her expressions, which are used to either purposefully cover up her true feelings or let the 'perfect idol girl' mask slip when appropriate.

Her given talent was that of the SHSL Idol, or the Ultimate Pop Sensation, adding to her cutesy and likable nature. She was also used during development of the game itself as a placeholder due to how quickly her design came together, which made the developers sick and tired of looking at her(alongside Leon Kuwata, who was also finalized relatively quickly) and led to an early exit in-game.

Part 2- The Assistant Trope/Inspiration

Like many of the characters in Danganronpa, Sayaka was designed around and used to subvert one of the many tropes found in mystery/detective games at the time. For Sayaka, this was that of the deuteragonist, the assistant(one well-known example being Maya Fey from Ace Attorney). Her character introduction, the quick establishment of her relationship with the player, and her 'pleasant' demeanor all factor into this, making her seem as though she's going to be a major player throughout the rest of the game. She was originally meant to be a childhood friend as well, but this was severely cut down to just having gone to the same school. She was also put front and center alongside Makoto and Kyoko in the promotional material for the game to create a level of perceived importance for her before the game even started, and preemptively raise the audience's expectations for her role.

But there was another character that a lot of inspiration was pulled from- Marion Crane from the 1960 film Psycho. Marion is a character who'd lived her entire life as a good person but, in a moment of desperation, steals $40k and goes on the run. The first half of the movie paints her as the protagonist, only for her to be abruptly murdered and for the movie to shift to solving the mystery of her disappearance. Sound familiar?

Part 3- Character Introduction

From the get-go, Sayaka is put into a helper's position. She's not the one to suggest going around and introducing ourselves, nor is she the one to justify why, but she is the one that ends the debate and moves the game into introductory mode, suggesting that she's the go-to for the player to move forward in the game- "Okay, so let's get introductions out of the way, then we can move on to whatever else. Sound good?" She's not asking the class, she's asking you as the player if you're ready to keep going.

Her first intro is brief, focusing less on her character and more on her public image. Makoto narrates about her position as lead singer in her idol group and how beautiful she is, as well as teasing some form of previous meeting between her and us. We also quickly establish her strong intuition.

"Well, never mind. No matter how you slice it, she's really beautiful. Almost like a doll or something..." "I'm not a doll, you know. I'm alive!"

She also seems to recognize you, despite the belief that she probably wouldn't remember. Of course, before you can talk any further, you're interrupted so the plot can keep moving, securing a connection to her without any actual information required.

As you talk to the rest of the class and head towards the entrance ceremony, she's one of the few to voice her concerns about the state of the school, and points out the lack of other students("And why isn't there anyone here? Walking through the halls, I didn't see a single person..."). She's observant and perceptive, keeping her guard up. In fact, she barely speaks throughout the entrance ceremony and immediate aftermath, waiting until their situation has been explained by Monokuma and all the rules have been read to call any attention to herself. When she finally does speak, it's to try and clarify rule 6- the rule that states killers can leave unless discovered.

So the first impression we're left with is that she's a more level-headed and competent girl with some kind of important connection to us, one that appears to be mutual. Anticipation has been built to learn more about that connection as well, which directly affects the story going forward.

Part 4- Your Ultimate Assistant

A major part of why Sayaka works as a character is because she connects with the player directly, offering to help you via a connection to our player character, Makoto. This relationship with us as an audience is the core purpose of her existence in the narrative. When we wake up in Makoto's bedroom and walk outside, it's Sayaka who's there waiting for us, to check if we're okay and fill us in on what's happened while we were out. She's here to help, but keeps the focus on how we're doing.

"But... are *you* okay? You know, from when Mondo hit you..."

"Oh, that's good. I was kinda worried..."

"Well, if you really are feeling better... I was hoping you could come to the dining hall."

She's also the character used from a meta perspective to teach us the functions of the game itself. It creates a certain reliance and trust in the character to continue being helpful to us as the player, even when it's not actually her doing.

It's here where we go on to learn how exactly she knew Makoto- the two of them went to the same middle school, albeit in different classes, and despite the fact that Makoto straight-up admits to having no distinguishable traits, all she can do is laugh it off, happy to have someone somewhat familiar nearby. She attributes this relief solely to Makoto, as if she's indebted to him, and decides she wants to thank you by acting as your Ultimate Assistant. In other words, she's buttering us up so we'll trust her wholeheartedly, and establishes a 'you and me against the world' relationship. And in-character, it works perfectly, with Makoto falling hook, like, and sinker.

"I'm just surprised, is all. I wouldn't have thought you'd remember me." "We went to the same school for three years, of course I remember!"

"But *you're* the one that helped me find my courage again. Not any of those 'ultimate' students." "Thank you for saying that..."

"I'm going to help you out as much as I can, so let's get out of here together!" "When she says things like that, it... it just gets me pumped up!"

"I may not be the best assistant in the world, but I'll give it everything I've got." "No... you've already done so much as my assistant." <-(said almost immediately afterwards, with no character action or events in-between)

And again, the game's mechanics force you to rely solely on Sayaka, utilizing the purple words to have the rest of the day's events explained through Sayaka being personable and helpful.

She continues to be the one to calmly explain what's happened so the player isn't lost or confused. She acts as a voice of reason when the class starts to panic. And again, once the conversation is ended by Celeste, she checks in with you again before splitting up.

"Okay, so since you're in the dark about all this, let me lay out what's been going on."

"Everyone just calm down, please! We need to stop and think about what to do from here."

"Makoto... are you ready to call it a day?" "Yeah, let's go."

The entire next day is spent completely with Sayaka, without a moment's break. From the moment Makoto wakes up, the objective is to talk to Sayaka, and you hunt for a defensive weapon with her. Even without finding a reliable weapon, Makoto very quickly offers himself up as a protector for her, and with that, the search ends. She's gotten what she really wanted- a reliable friend.

"H-Hey, don't worry about it! It's not like you need it right away, right? Plus, if anything *were* to happen... when the time comes... I'll protect you." "You'll... protect me? Thank you for saying that... If I've got you on my side, I guess I don't need a weapon after all!"

You learn more about her by sticking together and talking afterwards, and once you're done with that, the game decides to explain the concept of FTEs via immediately sending you Sayaka's way, again, to bond with her even more("Anyway, why don't you try it out by spending some time with Miss Sayaka Maizono? She's the ideal partner to begin with, don't you think?"), as well as give the player their first skill for the upcoming class trials. It's on-the-nose to the point where Sayaka herself apologizes for it.

This also works to her benefit, as even if the player is getting annoyed by the tutorials, they're less likely to blame Sayaka as a character for it, since she's showing shame for how much time it's taking. Sayaka is unequivocally the character to care about, the character to pay attention to. She becomes the object of Makoto's affections, and makes herself invaluable in his and the players' eyes, all with the handy help of game mechanic tutorials. Whether or not you as the player trust her or find her suspicious, she becomes the character at the forefront of your mind. Either way, the job is done.

Part 5- The Idol Mask

All this knowledge about how she operates for the player as a meta perspective is great, but it doesn't actually tell us a ton about Sayaka herself as a character. It's moreso about how we're being set up to perceive her existence within the game. Regardless, it's important to understand that setup to see why she works, but it's equally important to get into the characterization itself. So, let's do that now.

We already know that she's been working towards establishing a strong bond between herself and Makoto, making him feel better about being surrounded by people with insane talents and offering as much familiarity as possible, as well as singling him out and separating him from the rest of the class while everyone else forms their relationships separately.

She's been doing a great job of keeping up this appearance of a cute and reliable helper, but this leaves her seemingly lacking in substance, as she's solely focused on making us comfortable with her first and foremost. This is something that, from a character perspective, can easily be pulled from her idol career- she's a massive celebrity who advertises cuteness and likability, so leaning into that and using it to her advantage is a logical first step for her in establishing fondness.

As we head to the trophy case in the gym, we do start to get hints of her actual motivations and desires if you stop in the main hall to talk to Leon. It's brief, but a nice touch, especially considering the dynamic between these two later on.

Sayaka's true self doesn't really reveal itself until your conversation with her in the entrance to the gym, though, when she asks to spend some extra time together. Having nothing else to do feels wrong to her. It's unfamiliar, and puts her on edge("No, it's not that it's boring. It's just... I've never really done it before. I don't have a lot of time to just... do nothing."). It's enough to start to move her out of that idol shell in an attempt to fill that time, and let a little bit of that idol's mask slip- "Hey, um... this is kinda out of nowhere, but... Makoto, do you have a dream?"

By turning it around and asking about her dream, we directly connect with her core value- her deeply focused motivation for her childhood dream. It's something that she can't help but gush about, both the wonderful and terrifying parts of it. We get to learn exactly where she came from, raised by the TV, no mother to speak of and an absent father working his ass off, and how her dream took form as she watched her own idols.

"But more than anything else, there was her smile. Looking at her smile, I could feel my loneliness melting away. I decided that's what I wanted to be someday. I wanted to give that kind of encouragement to others."

The mention of an idol's smile specifically is proof that she did, in fact, succeed wholly on this dream, as it calls directly to the repeated mention of how comforting Sayaka's smile is to Makoto.

"That somehow mysterious smile of hers made my heart grow calmer."

"I can tell it comes from the heart. It makes me feel at ease..."

"That mysterious smile that softens my heart... I really wasn't flattering her. That smile saved me."

It also gives us some insight into why said smile exists, and just how often she's masking around us- "Her earlier mood disappeared, replaced by the bright smile I'd quickly grown used to. But how'd it happen so fast? It was almost like a mask, like some kind of neutral expression."

We also get to learn just what kind of world Sayaka lives in, and how much work it takes to keep her dream alive. The entertainment industry is cutthroat, and to be a positive role model and live her dream onstage, she has to fight tooth and nail at all times.

"I did whatever it took to reach that dream. I mean it. Even some things that... weren't so pleasant."

"To make your dream a reality, you have to keep your gaze fixed on it no matter what. In that world, if you lose focus for even a split second, you get left behind. You have to keep on swimming against the current, without even taking time to breathe..."

She even has to compete against the people in her own idol group for attention, though that rivalry is a major factor in what motivates her so much.

"We've been performing together since we were young, so they're all like family to me. Without them, I would have given up on my dream a long time ago."

Although Sayaka has been using Makoto to build herself a safety net and have someone to fall back on, her willingness to share this part of herself exists as proof that she did care about him to some extent. She genuinely does feel more secure with him around, and it allows her to let out her fear and frustrations safely. She's able to take the mask off for a bit.

She has a deep-seated fear of losing everything she's worked for, her entire life's work, to the whim of public attention. And it's not just her livelihood put at risk by this- it's the other 4 girls from her idol group as well. She's their lead singer, their central figure people think of from their group. They could keep performing without her, sure, but the public's perception of them would irrevocably change, and interest would drop. It's a realistic fear, too, as celebrity culture is defined by its "15 minutes of fame," and while she could probably milk her kidnapping story for exposure if she got out quickly enough, tragedies happen every day. With enough time, people would and could forget about her.

We get to see this further after the viewing of the motive videos. After everyone's watched their videos, she has the most volatile response, shoving Makoto away and running out of the AV room to hide. Upon being found, she's described as having no expression or emotion on her face. She's in the process of going completely numb, and can't even bring herself to lie when Makoto asks if she's okay.

It's here that a solid divide is truly defined between Makoto and Sayaka. Their motive videos, while both intense, have completely different implications. Makoto hasn't actually seen hers yet, but assumes it must be the same as his, and thus, his attempts to assure her ultimately fall flat.

"Think about it- those videos have to be fake! Because if those things really had happened...people out there would be in an uproar. Our families, the police, everyone!"

But Sayaka's motive video didn't just imply that her loved ones were hurt. No, her motive video insinuates that her being trapped led to her band falling apart. Their stage presence is gone; they're fading into obscurity. The family she found through the stage is now separated. And that's not something the police would think twice about. That's just the entertainment industry functioning as normal, and actualizing her greatest fears. She is replaceable.

It's here where we truly see what Sayaka's resolve is made of, and where she shows us that she's been thinking of killing this whole time.

Though no one's died yet, the mere idea of killing someone to get free has been gnawing away at her. Not only that, the need to act before anyone else makes the first move is something she's already familiar with thanks to working in the entertainment industry; to keep ahead of the game, you have to push out content constantly. She has to be the lead singer, she has to have the best music. All this pressure is mounting, and the motive video is leading her to blow. And through Makoto's help, she's able to calm herself down enough to direct the steam.

"I-If that happens...then I'll get you out of here myself! No matter what it takes!"

"Can I... can I believe what you said? That you'll help me get out? No matter what it takes?" "A-Absolutely!" "Makoto... You're the only one I can trust. So please... No matter what happens, please always be there for me. I need you on my side..."

Makoto says himself that he'll get her out "no matter what it takes." And he says this while they're trapped in a killing game, where as far as they know, the act of killing someone is the only way to escape. To Sayaka, this reads as an offer: I'll help you kill someone if we have to. So that's what she plans to do.

(It's also worth noting that, at that point, neither of them knew about the class trial at this point, or the potential repercussions of voting incorrectly in one. If they had, this entire situation may have been very different. We'll never know for sure.)

Though the personality she shows us for most of the game is one that's carefully curated, on the inside, she's constantly in terror. She knows how much to reveal about herself and how much not to in order to gain favor, and is always calculating her next move. We know from the description of her dream that she isn't an inherently selfish person- she acts for a dream that she believes is worth it in the long run, and wants to inspire and comfort young girls like herself and make them feel more secure. The concern she shows for Makoto's health and her remembering him from middle school isn't all purely an act; you can't fake memories that are that accurate to what actually happened in the past(will go into more detail in Relationships for this). She latches herself onto Makoto because she wants it to be Makoto, and while she tries to act to her benefit, her softer, more caring nature ultimately stops her from doing so, and winds up getting her killed.

Part 6- Sayaka's Murder

As stated previously, Sayaka being the first victim was designed to be completely shocking to its original audience. She was someone so clearly set up to be important to Makoto, and assisted us in walking through the beginning of the game. A strong bond was established between the two of them, and a character like that was typically propped up to be someone critical to the story unfolding. So this twist was like a gut punch to 2010 Japan. Nowadays, this trope-subversion has become a trope in and of itself, and that can be partially attributed to how much impact Danganronpa had within the genre, but it does make this twist into more of a base expectation for a newer generation of fans. Regardless, this was a major shock at the time, as was confirmed by interviews with the creator. This twist was even protected by the demo of the game, as the victim there was Yasuhiro.

For the rest of the chapter, we have to work to find out who's responsible for her death, and why she ended up dying. It's set to be both the moment that the player begins to take the murder-mystery aspects of the game seriously, and acts as a way to force Makoto as a character to take initiative in the class trial, as almost everyone immediately writes him off as responsible for her murder due to the location of the body. So in a way, Sayaka works in one final act as helper to the player, as it's her murder that leads to the first trial and how to play them.

It's in the trial where we also have it confirmed for us that Sayaka was the instigator, as the evidence gathered unfolds into a failed murderer being murdered herself. Though this comes as a shock to Makoto, we've already seen and addressed how she came to this point and why, so I'll spare the details of explaining the entire trial so we can stay focused on Sayaka herself. Suffice to say, this revealed betrayal serves to develop Makoto's empathy for the rest of the cast going forward as he realizes the one that trusted him most was using him as a buffer, thinking through every step of how to keep suspicion off of herself.

"Now do you understand? She wasn't a blameless victim in all this."

"And if it's true that she had the kitchen knife and attacked without provocation..." "Indeed... these are all the actions of an assailant."

"And by committing the murder there, instead of her room, that would implicate Makoto."

"For one thing, even if her plan worked, Mr. Naegi would just tell everyone they'd switched rooms." "I don't know... I'm not sure our softhearted Makoto is capable of that kind of cutthroat behavior. I'm sure Sayaka realized the same thing".

In the end, it's Kyoko who puts together not only that Sayaka was the one responsible for the trial, but also that her dying message existed to save Makoto. She deciphers the inverted English letters, and even pulls Makoto aside to say as much about Sayaka's true intentions.

"Sayaka meant to double-cross you. That's a fact that you can never change. But even till the very end, she wasn't sure of her decision. That's why... as she lay dying, she was thinking of you."

And because Kyoko is a character who goes on to be established as someone who seeks out the absolute truth, combined with the behavior we saw from Sayaka prior to the murder plot, we can trust that this inference is accurate. It's also directly shown to be true in other official adaptations, such as the stageplay, in which she's murdered in the bedroom and drags herself to the wall to write down Leon's name for Makoto.

Part 7- Relationships

Though Sayaka has few relationships, they're all fiercely important to her, enough to where she's willing to die/kill for them.

7.1- Sayaka's Bandmates

Though they aren't ever named in-game, Sayaka makes it very clear how important her bandmates are to her. She tells us that she sees them as her family, something huge for a girl who grew up lonely, and that her greatest fear is being forced to go their separate ways. They're her best friends, her coworkers, her rivals, her family. They've been involved in every aspect of her life as her bandmates. Their existence and this focus brought on them elevates Sayaka's own motivations- fearing for the success of their band as an idol isn't just about her own success anymore. Her being kidnapped puts her family's livelihood at stake, not just her own. And the motive video serves to throw that fact in her face.

7.2- Makoto Naegi

Sayaka latches onto Makoto quickly for a reason- he's familiar. The government-mandated FTE tells us as much. Not only did they go to the same middle school, but he was someone she very distinctly remembered. Because Makoto was in charge of taking care of the school's animals, he was the one who once led a giant crane out of the school's pond and into the nearby forest. It left enough of an impression on Sayaka for not having spoken to him back then becoming one of her greatest regrets, attributing the event to being something out of a fairytale.

"Honestly though, I was so impressed... That's why I always wanted to talk to you, even just once."

This story is one that's undoubtedly true, and Makoto himself remembers the event clearly as well. It stands as solid, undeniable evidence- that even though she was trying to use him to her benefit, she did genuinely like and admire him as a person, long before the game ever began, and enjoyed his company. She doesn't tell him how she became an idol or confide her fears purely for strategy; if that were the case, she wouldn't have panicked so badly at the motive video and ran. She doesn't want people to see that fearful side of her, but developed enough trust in Makoto to take the risk of letting him see her vulnerable. In the end, that vulnerability works in her favor, but to write it off as just manipulation for the sake of her plan would be inaccurate. Rather, she had genuine fear, and a genuine need to confide in someone, and made the observation as she did that it may be something she could use.

We're given a distinct difference between when she's acting for her benefit and when she's being genuine spelled out for us in our final conversation with her as well. When she's faking that fear of someone trying to break into her room, her irises still have their color, and she's still perfectly in control of herself, able to control her volume and look us in the eye as she gets access to Makoto's room. It exists in a stark contrast to her two breakdowns, where her eyes went white and she started to scream, panicking too much to pay attention to her surroundings.

She trusts Makoto wholeheartedly in the way he trusts her. He was there for her when she needed it, and that's how she's able to develop the confidence to go on and fake it later; she knows he'll take her concerns seriously. So she lies, saying that someone attempted to break in, and convinces him to switch rooms for the night, simultaneously giving her the space she needs to work with to avoid being caught and absolving Makoto of any blame for what she's about to do by keeping him in the dark. When she becomes a killer, he won't fall with her. There are a couple other instances of this subtle protection of Makoto that can be found in the game, like her taking him to look for a defensive weapon only to convince him he should be the one to have it, or her writing the name of her real killer down so Makoto wouldn't be blamed for her death.

It's also worth noting that in the canonical au novel Danganronpa IF, when Sayaka goes to have this conversation, Makoto faints and Sayaka immediately drops the act entirely, instead choosing to focus on getting Makoto taken care of. She rushes him to the nurse's office, and stays with him through the entire night, only going to bed in the morning when Mukuro takes her place so she won't pass out. These aren't the actions of someone acting purely in accordance with her self-gain. If that were the case, she could've just grabbed his key, thrown him in her room, and continued with her plan as normal. But she didn't. Makoto's health and safety is decidedly a real priority of hers every step of the way.

7.3- Leon Kuwata

The original game doesn't do very much to explain why Sayaka would choose Leon to attack as a victim. We learn through Leon's introduction that he wants to become a musician, but other than that, these two barely interact, and only in scenes that are skippable and not on the main storyline(pictured earlier). This comes from the unfortunate result of Leon just so happening upon the developers' shitlist and being killed off first so they wouldn't have to look at him anymore. As was stated earlier, both Sayaka and Leon were the first character designs to reach completion, and were then used in early development of the game quite often. This led to the game devs becoming sick and tired of looking at them and thus, chapter 1 had them both die. And while Sayaka was important enough to the development of the protagonist, Leon was not, and ultimately fell to the wayside throughout his time alive in the game. But that's not to say they didn't at least have an idea of what they wanted to do with the two's relationship at all, and the truth behind why she chose him was expanded upon in the supplemental manga series.

After Mondo knocked Makoto out on the first day, it was Leon who offered to help Sayaka carry him to their dorms in the hopes they'd get to talk. As we already knew, he wants to be a musician, and admires Sayaka for succeeding in the industry. Sayaka sees his excitement and how lighthearted of a person he is, and simultaneously admires and pities it; someone so casual wouldn't be able to fight his way through the industry, as far as she thinks. It'd only hurt him further.

Later, when she's trying to decide who to kill, she remembers this conversation. Leon is one of the only other people besides Makoto she's made any connection with, so he wouldn't suspect she was planning to kill him. Besides, surely he'd understand where she was coming from if he really wanted to be in the entertainment industry, and if he couldn't understand then, well, he was never cut out for it anyway. She was able to justify attacking him in her mind because of this, and thus, he became her target.

Ultimately, Leon wasn't even trying to kill her when she got stabbed. After getting the screwdriver from his toolkit, he was trying to wrestle the knife away from her and talk things out. He didn't trust Monokuma's empty promises, and respected her enough to try to get through to her. Meanwhile, Sayaka couldn't give up; she was in too deep, and if she didn't kill him, then surely he'd tell everyone, and she'd lose everything she'd worked for. But in their struggle, the knife ended up in her stomach, and he ran out, unable to watch her die as he went into damage control and she wrote his name in her blood, as one final apology to Makoto.

In the original game, we never get any of this insight into what happened. We only get Leon's insistence that it was out of self-defense and that he was "just unlucky."

He never fully gets to explain himself, and is executed without another thought, similar to how Sayaka died without ever getting to tell Makoto the truth.

Part 8- School Mode: Sayaka's Ending

After completing THH, you unlock School Mode- Enchanting Dangan Academy: Purely Prismatic Souls, in which instead of announcing a killing game, Monokuma demands the class build themed backups for him. In the downtime for this mode, it acts as a dating sim, as once you finish out someone's FTEs, you can take them on trips to different places in the school and level up their hearts to a max 10. If you win the school mode, and max out Sayaka, you unlock an ending conversation between her and Makoto. This is true of all the characters, but Sayaka's is special because she brings up the promise to stay by her side you made in the main game, despite it never taking place in the school mode.

This reveals something major- Sayaka was, in fact, psychic, and could see into alternate timelines all along. Her psychic intuition assured her there was a universe where Makoto would succeed in saving her, and it allowed her to endure the killing game.

"I knew everything... I knew you would never give up until it was all over. That's why I was able to go through all this, why it didn't hurt... Cuz I'm psychic, ya know?"

(And forgive me for getting conspiratorial here, but the way this is phrased leaves me to wonder if she, to some level, knew she was in a game, and that the tutorials being geared to Sayaka may not have been such a happy coincidence in-universe.)

Part 9- Starfall (Why do we care?)

After reading everything I've said in here, I imagine there'll inevitably be people who disagree with the end results of my analysis. I mean, there's not any real way to know what she's really thinking. So who's to say I'm 100% correct about her genuinely caring for Makoto? Maybe she cared more about her own idol status than anything else, and really was a selfish attention-seeking snake. (I mean, she wasn't completely lol, but I'm making a point here.) What I've presented is my interpretation of her motivations based off of the evidence given. You may not completely agree, and that's okay. Honestly, if anything, disagreeing with some of these conclusions only furthers the point of her character- We're not meant to fully understand her because people aren't easy to understand that quickly. People are complex, and you're not gonna be able to automatically trust the people that appeal to you. Sayaka's story is a remnant of the original idea for the beta version of DR; she pushes you to distrust. Blind faith can get you killed.

Afterword

I think I've really outdone myself with this one, y'all. I adore Sayaka and, even knowing why they chose her for this early-death role, still believe this was an incredible use of her character. As you can probably tell, she's my #1 character from THH for a reason lol.

I'm gonna start on Yasuhiro's analysis in a couple days, but there'll probably be a bigger gap between this one and the next than there's been between the past few analyses bc I have a real life I need to attend to sometimes :/

I hope y'all all thoroughly enjoyed this analysis!! Catch ya later

[saphire-dance]

Welcome to the Transformers Fandom

Did you just see Transformers One? It was good, wasn't it? Do you want to be fannish about it? This post is for you.

First thing to know is we use the tag maccadam. This practice dates back to when the live action movies would flood the Transformers tag with actor pics. Maccadam is where you will find the robots. It is a reference to Maccadam's Old Oil House. A bar found in some continuities. You can still use the Transformers tag

Speaking of references. Let me introduce you to your new best friend: TFWiki. The Transformers Wiki is the place to go if you want to know anything about Transformers. Shows, Movies, Comics, Books, Toys. It's all there. We're spoiled with how good this wiki is. Thanks, guys.

Now you don't have to watch more Transfomers to be a fan. If you loved the movie you're already a fan. You don't have to ever watch another thing and you are still a fan and welcome here. But I'm betting you want to see more Transfomers. Here are some other continuities and where to find them. This is not an extensive list. This is a starter pack.

The Transformers (1984) AKA Generation 1 AKA G1. The original that started it all. Dubious 80s animation and some of the greatest voice actors of all time. Available on Tubi for free.

Beast Wars AKA TFBW. If G1 started everything Beast Wars is what kept it from dying out. Absolutely bleeding edge computer animation in the 90s. It's, uh, very dated, but the story and voice acting still hold up and I recommend giving it a chance. Available on Tubi for free.

Transformers Animated AKA TFA (yes we fought the Star Wars folks over that tag) Debuted the same year as the first Live Action Movie. It is very anime influenced and shows a very different side to our favorite characters. One of the more popular shows in the fandom. Available on Tubi for free. Also on Pluto

Transformers Prime AKA TFP AKA Prime. Another very popular show with the fandom. Part of the Aligned continuity which featured books, games, and other shows. This is probably closest to Transformers One in characterization and I would recommend making this your next watch if you can. The First season is on Netflix with the rest available on Tubi. Yeah I don't know what is up with that.

Rescue Bots AKA TFRB This is a Show for Preschoolers, but don't let that scare you away. It is one of the best Transformers shows. Somehow also part of the Aligned continuity. Season one is on Netflix and it is also available on Pluto

Transformers Cyberverse AKA Cyberverse AKA TFCV. A fun Bumblebee focused show. Very few humans. Season 1 is on Hasbro's YouTube channel, Season 3 (????) is on Netflix, Also on Pluto.

Transformers EarthSpark AKA TFES. The most recent show. Lots of new characters and a new side to Megatron that I love. On Paramount+ and YouTube premium.

Live Action Movies. There are 7 live action movies the first 5 are directed by Micheal Bay and are collectively known as the Bayverse The other two movies Bumblebee and Rise of the Beasts, are also sometimes lumped in with Bayverse. It is debated if they are reboots or prequels. Personally Bumblebee is my favorite. They are all available on Paramount+

Comics. Comics have been part of Transformers from the very beginning. First with Marvel and later with other publishers. Marvel Dreamwave and IDW are the best known publishers. IDW is still very popular in fandom. Currently comics are being published by Skybound. Unfortunately finding out of print comics can be very difficult/expensive and I recommend checking TFWIKI for summaries if you can't find them.

[caravanlurker]

awh damn wtf. poor claptrap… you’d think as the near-kinda face of the franchise they’d keep that characterization in check since it’s why a lot people liked him at all

I know it can justify it in-universe as years of Living In Borderlands taking their toll but euh

Giving Claptrap’s role in Borderlands to Vaughn and then making Claptrap into an asshole for no reason whatsoever is absolutely garbage writing no matter what way you slice it

[zeldaelmo]

Hellooo

I'm looking for good Zelink AU fics. I've already read all of yours, so.

Do you have a rec list or some fic you'd like us to try? Zelink in modern setting, fantasy anything but canon lmao (I've read too much of that)

BTW have you read Hit list by zestycrouton? It's high-school au and pretty old fic from ff.net. One of the best fics, all characters so well developed, it felt like you're watching a movie before your eyes. Yeah, I highly recommend.

Ah, thank you for reaching out and what an honor that you've read all my AUs! 🥰

So, here we go. I try to stick to stories that haven't been recommended over and over.

My friend @deiliamedlini writes a lot of AUs. I'm linking the Pirate AU, but there are tons of others, too. Some get dark, and don't think she won't kill characters off just because they've grown on you. 😂

Speaking of Pirates, my friend @mistresslrigtar also has one. She also has an ongoing rock star AU that I also recommend!

If you're looking for something short, you should check out @ladyhoneydee 's work. She writes a lot of modern AU and everything comes with a manageable word count! This is a sweet coffee shop AU, but she has tons of others, too.

If you're more looking for stories that have that 'game feel' but are based on own ideas, I'll direct you to @nocturnalfandomartist's blog(s). She has several AUs going on, with concept art and all!

I've only started to explore @abbyz-elda 's work but what I read so far I enjoyed greatly. Currently listening to this one with my screen reader when I'm out running, but I recommend the Sci Fi AU 'A Link to the Stars', too.

Next on my read list is @flutefemme's TP 1920th AU. I read enough of Flute's fics and snippets from this one that I'm confident to recommend before reading.

Another friend who loves AUs is @louwhose. Recommending this one because it's the last I read:

I also enjoyed @sparklyhyperbole 's fairy AU and the ongoing fic.

And last but not least, Puppy Love by @liv-andletdie .

I'm very, very sure I've forgotten a ton of authors and stories, so please reblog and add your own recommendations and/or self recs!

More about Hit List under the cut. TW: mentions of school shootings.

I skipped Hit List as one of the few fics when I went through all the zelink fics on ff.net and Ao3. I heard that the characterizations etc are really good, but since it's about a school shooting, I didn't want to read it. I'm not doing well with violence in general, and a story that deals with any aspects of a school shooting is not what I want to read for fun. That being said, that obviously doesn't say anything about the quality of the fic and isn't supposed to discredit the story in any kind. I heard others enjoy it greatly. It's just not for me. 😊

[jamisonwritestf2trash]

Masterlist!

————————————————————

Better late than never, yeah? Nowhere NEAR a comprehensive or full masterlist, but it’s what I could manage to do. I’m just glad to have it all together, it took, WAY to long 😭  

Also! This will now be attached to my pinned post!

————————————————————

Random TF2 Headcanons (Pt.1)

Random TF2 Headcanons (Pt.2)

Random TF2 Headcanons (Pt.3)

TF2 Mercs Pizza Preferences! 

Scout and Scout's Mom Headcanon 

TF2 Mercs at an amusement park!

What Do The TF2 Mercs Hate?

Would Red and Blu Mercs Get Along?

Red And Blu Team Differences!

TF2 Mercs and The Will Wood Songs I Think Fit Best. 

What Rhythm Games Do The TF2 Mercs Like and Why?

TF2 Mercs and Their Hobbies!

What's Songs Do The TF2 Mercs Like?

Soldier Headcanons!

How Do the TF2 Mercs Write?

TF2 Mercs At The Beach!

TF2 Mercs Reactions To Finding A Puddle After It Rains!

TF2 Mercs As Animals!

What Are The TF2 Mercs Favorite Animes?

TF2 Mercs Go To The ✨️Barbie✨️ Movie!

TF2 Mercs Cooking And Baking Skills!

What Kind Of Pajamas Do The TF2 Mercs Wear?

What Would The TF2 Mercs (+ Miss Pauling) Do If They Saw A Kitten Mid-Fight?

TF2 Mercs Halloween Costumes!

Mini Headcanon About History

What Are The TF2 Mercs Favorite Bands/Music Artists?

Medic And Junji Ito's Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack

A Rant About Medic

Would The TF2 Mercs Survive In Their Favorite Video Game World? (+ Their Favorite Video Games)

How Would The TF2 Mercs React To Being Given A VR Headset?

PhDs and the Mercs

TF2 Mercs Getting Their Nails Painted/Nail Designs

Mini Headcanon- The Best Compliment You Can Give Each TF2 Merc!

Medic's Past Headcanons (Also Some Archimedes Content!)

What Would The TF2 Mercs Jobs Be If They Weren't Mercenaries?

————————————————————

HeavyMedic Angst/Comfort Saga:

Thoughts On Medic Reacting to Heavy's Death (Self Harm Warning)

Pt. 2

Pt. 3 (Suicide Warning)

Medic talking to Zhanna 

HeavyMedic Fluff As an Apology For The Angst!

Zhanna Gets her Brother Back, Medic Gets his Lover Back.

————————————————————

The TF2 Mercs Favorite Books!

Medic and Creepypastas!

How Would the TF2 Mercs React to a Close Teammate Dying In Battle? (Angst)

What Subjects Would The TF2 Mercs Teach?

What Mythical Creatures Would The TF2 Mercs Be?

SpyDad Post

Thoughts On Spy (Comic Spoilers)

Drunk Sniper Thoughts

The TF2 Mercs With A Pet Bunny!

Drunk Scout Thoughts

SpyDad Angst

What Instruments Do The TF2 Mercs Play? (Minus Medic and Sniper!)

SniperScout Angst Headcanons (No Respawn AU)

Scout's Reaction to Losing His Voice

TF2 Mercs Comforting A Trans Man/Nonbinary Person On Their Period!

How Scout got his Top Surgery

The TF2 Mercs Reactions to A Nightmare!

Soldier and PTSD

SniperScout First Date

❤️Red Demo + Blu Soldier💙

Scout and Chronic Pain

Swordvan Headcanons!

Sniper Loses an Eye HC (ft. Swordvan)

Spy/SpyDad Characterization

Medic Thoughts

Hyperflexible Spy and Scout

————————————————————

Headcanon Ask Game Ft. The TF2 Mercs:

Heavy

Demoman

Sniper and Engineer

Soldier

Spy

Scout

Pyro

————————————————————

Thoughts on the Heavy Part of HeavyMedic

❤️Red Sniper + Blu Spy💙 

Mercs Reaction To Finding Snow In The Morning!

The TF2 Mercs Spice Tolerance!

TF2 Mercs as Taffy Flavors

Talkative Medic Thoughts 

DemoSolly First Date 

Mixed Headcanons

The TF2 Mercs Favorite Flowers + Their Reaction to Receiving Them 

What Merc is the Worst at a Checkup?

HeavyTF2 Tummy Fic (Body Positivity) 

————————————————————

Jamison Breaks Down the Meet the Merc Videos (Work in Progress):

Jamison Breaks Down: Meet the Medic

————————————————————

Ask Game Headcanons Pt.2 Ft. The TF2 Mercs:

Pyro

Medic

Engineer

————————————————————

Engineer Headcanons

Fête des Pères 

TF2 Mercs as Cats!

Updated LGBTQ+ Mercs Headcanons (Pictures)

Nazi Medic Thoughts (It's bad.)

Medic TF2 Thoughts 

Spy's Past

Medic's Past

————————————————————

Flufftober 2024! {Under Construction!}

1. Lost Pet Meet Cute

2. Rainy Day

3. Favorite Scent

4. "I hate it." - "No, you don't."

5. Porch Swing

6. Mistaken Identity

7. Hoodie Weather

8. Chopping & Piling Wood

9. "Don't do that!" - "But..."

10. Bet, Game, Contest

11. Ingredients/Spells

12. "This is spooky!" - "Really?"

13. Attic/Cellar/Hidden Room (EngieHeavy)

14. Suddenly Severed Communication

15. "What are you wearing?" - "It's laundry day."

16. Yes, No, Maybe

17. Gravestone

18. Written but Never Sent

19. Yarn

20. Paw

21. Bonfire

22. Heirloom

23. Stormy Night

24. Comfort Food

25. Haunted House

26. "I can't find it."

27. Afternoon Stroll

28. Lucky Charm

29. Time Capsule

30. "Forever?"

31. Make a wish

————————————————————

Thoughts on Spy in Expiration Date

————————————————————

And more to come!

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

As someone who grew up with RE4, which is my all-time favorite game, I feel like I have to swallow my pride and put the nostalgia glasses away because not only is it a good remake, it did do some things better than the original. Just off the top of my head:

1) Luis’ death. I always thought Luis was wasted in the original, especially since his death was anticlimactic. He just sorta dies and the game moves on. In the remake, he gets killed by Krauser, which is a HUGE improvement since it makes the conflict between Leon and Krauser feel more personal, which gives Luis’ death more narrative weight.

2) Ashley Graham in general. The redesign, the voice acting, the improved characterization. I went from feeling compelled to protect her to actually wanting to protect her. In one game, she went from zero to Ellie Williams (not a perfect example, but you get the point).

3) The change in tone. I’m fairly neutral to the “action movie” era of Resident Evil, but I do agree that the tone was off when compared to the previous games. The remake feels a bit like course correction since the story is mostly the same, but the tone is more in line with the older Resident Evil games. Less action hero, more survival horror.

4) The cult stuff feels a bit more thought out here.

5) Hunnigan in general. I like that she’s an actual character here and not just a face on my phone.

6) The Krauser boss fight is an actual fight, not just you mashing QTEs.

7) The storyline and characters feel more thought out in general. We actually get to see Leon’s transition from Raccoon City cop to secret agent, Luis’ character got expanded on, the feud with Krauser felt more personal, and so on. Capcom took the Resident Evil game that wasn’t really known for its amazing story (let’s be real here) and actually improved it.

I guess that was to be expected since making the story more serious meant that the plot had to be updated. Resident Evil games tend to get a pass for their thin storytelling since players usually don’t take the story seriously due to how cheesy and campy they are, which is fine since that’s part of the appeal. But by making the story more serious, you’re telling players that they need to actually be invested in what’s going on, which you can’t do if the story is thin. All this to say that the darker tone and improved storytelling feels like a mutual thing.

[millionmaggots]

RGG Show was Mid, + a Tangent About Goro Majima

Ok, yeah, I'm glad I didnt get my hopes up, bc WOWIE the amazon prime RGG show is Not Good.

I wanted to like it, but in 100% full sincerity, i would recommend that you watch the unhinged 2005 movie over this.

The games beautifully mix genuinely serious story beats / subject matter with completely absurd moments of levity. This contrast allows you to see the silly and charming sides of the characters, making the story especially engaging precisely because those moments of happiness contrast so sharply with the characters' hard lives. Seeing what they could have makes it hit so much harder when they're put through the wringer.

Kiryu will go through the most gut-wrenching tragedy, then immediately after, you'll do a side quest about helping people find their lost items or something. Ultimately, the series is about humanity, and flawed people in horrible situations doing what little good they can.

The 2005 movie is ridiculous and borderline incomprehensible, but it still captures that mix of tragedy and farce. It's weird, it's campy, it's horny, and it makes little to no sense - It's fun.

I can't say the same about the new Prime series. It lacks the charm and silly antics that separate RGG from any other crime drama, and that self-serious nature just sucks all the appeal out of it.

I'm not upset that it isn't totally loyal to game canon - in fact, one of my main hopes was that it would reconcile Majima's super inconsistent characterization in Kiwami 1.

Him kidnapping Haruka just to get to Kiryu, holding a woman at knifepoint, etc., was all written for the original game in 2005 when he was meant to be a wildcard minor antagonist/villain.

The Majima Everywhere mechanic was added in the remake in 2016 after gradually becoming a much more complex and likeable character in 11 years worth of subsequent games after the original game's release.

However, the added content more in line with his later characterization was tacked on to the original iteration of him with little consideration for consistency, making him feel like one of two different people, depending on the scene.

With the show having the benefit of hindsight, I really hoped they would do something interesting with him, and balance out the genuinely detestable things he does with the silly amicable rivalry he has with Kiryu.

The story of the first game is mostly about Kiryu, Nishiki, and Yumi, but the marketing made a point to say it was (however loosely) adapting Kiwami 1. While I understand not wanting to advertise a brand new show with 2005 PS2 era graphics, I feel like that implied that it would reflect the minor narrative/framing changes and increased prominence of Majima, just as it does with Nishiki from the original game to Kiwami.

Essentially, I wasn't too excited about this series, but I had some hope because they had an opportunity to clean up the story and retell it without the limitations of being a remaster of an old game and following an eleven year old script almost word for word.

Instead, they told a gritty and joyless version of the same story without taking advantage of the freedom to rework a flawed but enjoyable story/script, and in doing so, lost its grip on the central theme of the series.

[kiragecko]

cherrystainedknuckles

I guess the only problem with being asked to take a “marie kondo approach” is that in order to find any fanfic that appears to be based in actual canon timeline and plot points and characterization (which does exist, and I’m not sure why fanon fans seem insistent that it doesn’t), I literally have to search for hours. I’m not joking, I consistently make fic rec lists, and I have to search for hours and hours for actual canonical basis. same thing with character tags on tumblr.

I’m not saying fanon fans have to stop enjoying fanon or making up their own content. I’m just saying that when the tags used for both fanon tim drake and canon tim drake are the same tag it just becomes incredibly annoying sometimes, and I understand why people who like to engage with canon (me, often) become frustrated

-

I have definitely had periods where I got incredibly frustrated with fanon! Around 2019, I was wondering if I needed to leave the Batfandom, because it had been so long since I read a new fic where the characters felt 'right'.

-

But, if you're willing to, I'd like you to consider what you mean when you divide 'fanon' from 'canon'. Because I struggle to find a hard line between the two, for several reasons:

1. Fandom is transformative. Every fanfic is going to have some interpretation of the source material. The line between what is too much interpretation and what is acceptable is different for every person. For me, I find it can even vary based on writing style or other odd things - lighthearted fic can have more noncanonical stuff in it than heavier fic, and still seem true to canon.

2. 'Canon' is subjective. I do not consider the movies or video games to be 'canon', and it annoys me when things from those creep into the fic I'm reading. (I'm okay with SOME Battinson.) Some aspects of the cartoons are okay. I consider precrisis Jason Todd to be an alternate reality version, but Donna's precrisis origins are more canonical than the dumb retcons. Wayne Family Adventures isn't my main version of the characters, but I'm not bothered if some elements show up in my stories. I'm ignoring most of the nu52, but I like Duke and I'm still watching this new Lian to see what happens. I doubt your divisions are identical to mine.

(Also, some things that I think of as 'fanon' have shown up in nu52 canon! I do not accept them as any more canon because of this.)

3. Most 'fanon' is based on canon. Canon Tim has weird sleep habits. 90s Dick is really lighthearted and joking around some characters in ways similar to fanon. Dick can canonically not be trusted to take care of himself if his mental health gets low enough. Jason likes classical literature. Etc.

These are exaggerated and/or twisted in a lot of fic, but where is the line where they stop being canon? I wouldn't bat an eye at a lot of this stuff, if it didn't show up SO OFTEN.

4. Most 'fanon fans' do know some canon. What line are you going to set where it will be 'enough'. And are they allowed to mention parts of the canon they haven't read yet? Is anyone allowed to talk about Dick's early Robin days, or only the tiny amount of people who have read the golden age stuff? A lot of the 'mistakes' I see are obviously made by people who have read ABOUT canon, but don't know quite how it fits together.

5. 'Canon' is FULL of contradictions. Yes, there are canon events. Yes, there is characterization that is consistent across 3/4s of comics. But. I'm still working on my sidekick timeline. I've devoted days to figuring out ages and passage of time. I've spent over a decade trying to figure out Jason Todd's motivations, and why Tim treats him the way he does. I've read all the 90s and early 2000s CANONICAL character assassination of Jason.

I spent years thinking that Donna's death was almost as foundational as Jason's, only to later discover that I had just happened to read the specific comics that focused on the fallout, and she only stayed dead for a short time. That happens to fans ALL THE TIME! We read a character summarizing an event we haven't directly read, and just accept it as what happened. But characters have biases, and not all writers care about accuracy.

-

I've read some Tim Drakes that I consider to be almost entirely 'fanon'. And quite a few that were so scarily 'canon' that I got chills. (Not all of which were similar to each other.) But the vast, vast majority have fallen somewhere in the middle.

I definitely do not want the responsibility of deciding which ones count as 'canon'! And I think I would strongly dislike anyone who tried to decide for me.

Being frustrated is logical, and I empathize. But the original post was about the impossible expectations some fans feel. The expectation to read thousands of comics, synthesize all the contradictions, and come to conclusions that match the 'true fans'. That's a perfectly reasonable thing to be complaining about.

If that's what some fans are experiencing, of course they're not going to want to engage with canon! There's no way for them to succeed, so why should they even try?

When you join THAT conversation to discuss your frustration about fanon, it strengthens that perception. When you call them 'fanon fans' it emphasizes their belief that you don't think they belong. And rather than trying to change, it's more likely that they'll double down. Canon is full of gatekeepers, so they'll avoid it.

[anim-ttrpgs]

Investigators’ Truth in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy

We have mentioned before on this blog when talking about Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy that in Eureka roleplay is mechanics-driven and mechanics are roleplay-driven, but what does that mean?

The short version is that when making your PC, you put things on their character sheet that give bonuses when they act in a way that is consistent with their intended characterization.

One of these elements is called a character’s Truth. Every Eureka PC has a Truth, and they may even have multiple Truths. A Truth can even change as a result of events in the campaign.

A character’s Truth is some strong element of their personality or beliefs that is likely to spur them into action, get them into trouble, or both. It is not necessarily a flaw, but it easily can be, as one of the main purposes of it is to encourage and reward players for letting their characters screw up.

When playing a video game or a TTRPG, it’s often very easy to sit back and think out every problem and approach them perfectly logically, especially when time usually pauses as you discuss the next move among the other players at the table. But if every character in a movie or book or any other story always made the most perfectly logical decision, that would probably be a pretty boring story, and it certainly wouldn’t be a very realistic story. People don't always make the most logical decisions in real life.

However, when playing a game, it can feel like “losing” to intentionally make a character make a decision that you, in your logical detached mind, know will probably not work out well for them in the long run. Eureka argues that this is not “losing”, and that this is actually exactly how Eureka is supposed to go. To encourage this, we added the Truth mechanic.

Like I said before, Truth is not exactly a flaw, just some part of the character’s personality or beliefs that would spur them to action or get them into trouble. It could be a hot temper, a need to always have the last word, an overly competitive nature, a love of violence, or a compulsion to lie, but it could also be a strong desire to selflessly protect others, or the trust that one’s fellow man are inherently good.

Whatever it is, when a character acts within the parameters of their Truth, they get a +1 to the dice roll for whatever it is they’re doing, or whatever dice roll results from them acting in their Truth.

This doesn’t mean that a character acting within their Truth is always the worst course of action on their part, sometimes emotional gut decisions do turn out to be right. Maybe a character whose Truth is somehow based around trusting others is right to lower their weapon, because the monster might be just as scared of them as they are of him, and that +1 Truth Bonus is going to come in handy in the resulting Comfort roll to try and de-escalate the situation—or maybe they’re completely wrong and the monster was just waiting for an opportunity to seize the upper hand, and that +1 Truth Bonus is instead going to be used on an Athletics roll to run like hell.

This also doesn’t mean that a character always has to act within their Truth, no one realistically reacts the exact same way to every situation, and we do not encourage GMs to push or punish players if their characters do not act within their Truth, but Truth helps reward realistic, in-character behavior from the PCs.

In this way, the rules/mechanics of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy are tied directly to the roleplay of the character, and the roleplay of the character is encouraged and supported by the rules/mechanics.

Stay tuned for another post about a way that in-character roleplay and rules/mechanics are intertwined with the Traits system.

You can also pick up a pre-release PDF copy of this game(in a fully playable state) for $5 through our Patreon.

[thecourtscorkboard]

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Review - A Flawed but Charming Masterpiece

As we finish up Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, we discuss this game's legacy: and how it stacks up in modern times.

I'm... not exactly sure where to start here.

It would be a bit spoiler-y to say how I think of PW:AA in relation to other games, but I guess there's nowhere else to put it. I think PW:AA is one of the best games in the series, and an incredibly strong starting point. It's my second favorite game in the overall series, and for quite a few very good reasons; it's one of the few games in the entire franchise that I don't think has a single bad case. In fact, it has two of my favorites back-to-back; 1-4 and 1-5.

Here's how we're gonna order this. I'm gonna go through an overall list of pros and cons, giving a few paragraphs explaining them. After that, I'm going to give some closing thoughts and an overall ranking of the cases and top 5 characters. Sounds good? Sounds good.

PROS

Pro One: Tone-Setting.

PW:AA knows how to set a tone. Each case has a very unique feel to it, from the frantic and almost manic speed and nerves of 1-1 to the depressing and bleak atmosphere of 1-4 to the downright oppressive and confounding nature of 1-5. Each case is very easy to distinguish from one another: they have different "vibes", I guess is the best way to put it.

Each case establishes these vibes in different ways. 1-1 puts you straight into the deep end; Mia's still holding your hand, but the case is relatively simple and the stakes aren't very high. 1-2's tone is unfamiliar but not depressingly so, still managing to be relatively lighthearted and fun. 1-3 is incredibly fun and filled to the brim with excitement; we get to see a movie studio! 1-4 and 1-5 take on very bleak tones, but it's different types of bleak; 1-4 is incredibly high-stakes and rather straightforward, setting its bleak atmosphere through the time of year and the overall aesthetic of the case surrounding it all (DL-6), while 1-5's tone is created over time as the corruption and rot at the center of SL-9 comes to light. For example, in 1-5, Gant starts off as a goofy and kind of lovable old codger. By the end, you want to punch him in the face.

This is all done through some of the strongest opening cutscenes in the mainline series. Each case has an incredibly unique and tone-setting opening, from 1-3's exciting showdown between the Steel Samurai and Evil Magistrate to 1-5 starting on an overview of the city during a thunderstorm and ending on a reminiscence theme; tones are made with opening cutscenes, and PW:AA does it nearly flawlessly.

Pro Two: Characterization.

PW:AA is one of those very rare AA games where there's not any characters I downright hate. Hell, the only character I dislike is Sal Manella for obvious reasons, but if you took that away I honestly wouldn't mind him that much. Even from the first case this game sets up its characters and keeps their core values intact; Phoenix believes in his clients no matter what, Edgeworth cares about bringing criminals to justice, Larry is awkward but well-meaning, Mia is a veteran who teaches Phoenix what she knows, Maya is experiencing new stuff and exploring, and so on. Even one-off characters stick around in your head!

One thing I really like about AA in general but PW:AA in particular is that, to some extent, every character we see has some sort of flaw. Phoenix acts first and thinks later. Maya does the same but with a far less mature outlook. Edgeworth gets tunnel-visioned and others, like Manfred, Gant, and even White, will take advantage of that. Even minor characters have flaws; the Bellboy is easy to embarass, Cody lies to protect his favorite hero, Angel has an incredibly personal vendetta, and so on. Even minor flaws exist; Vasquez smokes, Jake (implicitly) drinks, Gumshoe is forgetful, and so on. It all makes these characters feel like real people.

Every culprit has something about them that makes them stick out as their own unique character. Frank is a nervous wreck, Redd is rich and corrupt, Vasquez is aloof and deeply tragic, Yogi is a great actor, Manfred is hilariously aggressive, and Gant gets under your skin. Even the victims have levels of characterization! Hammond was corrupt, Goodman was diligent and liked by many, Hammer was vengeful, and so on. Even Sal is recognizable. No character in this entire game just fades into the background; they all stick.

While we're on the topic of characterization, I'd also like to point out the dialogue in this game. It can go from downright hilarious to deeply personal in just a few lines and the tone can change seamlessly. It's great.

Pro Three: Mystery

At its core, Ace Attorney is a mystery series: a mix of whodunnits and howcatchems. PW:AA has some of the strongest in the series in that regard. 1-3, 1-4, and 1-5 are all standouts: 1-3 is the purest howcatchem in the series while 1-5 is a brilliant example of a whodunnit turning into a howcatchem. Even 1-2 carries its own weight here. Its mystery is lackluster, sure, but it's still engaging!

Circling back to those opening cutscenes, 1-2's, 1-4's, and 1-5's all set up their mysteries within just a minute very well. 1-3's mystery is set up over the course of the first couple of minutes in the case, and they're all articulated well and feel, for lack of a better word, believable. These are things that could feasibly happen, but at the same time some of them are downright challenging (lookin' at you, 1-5!) in very good ways.

The clues provided to us, in most cases, are easy to piece together but not handholdingly so; this game trusts that the player can piece things together by themselves, including things that are seemingly unrelated or mentioned aaaaaaages ago like the parking stub in 1-5, the bent fencepost in 1-3, or the metal detector in 1-4. It's all a really neat and effective way of engaging the player in, generally, well-crafted mystery narratives.

Pro Four: Worldbuilding.

Yeah, bet you didn't expect that one.

PW:AA is a very grounded game. As such, it has pretty grounded worldbuilding; it all makes sense in its confines, which is the type I enjoy. Evidence Law makes sense for what we see, and at times the worldbuilding actively works its way into cases like 1-4's statute of limitations or 1-5's taking 30 minutes to go from the Prosecutor's Office to the Police Station. 1-3 makes the Steel Samurai feel alive, mostly thanks to its opening cutscene: even 1-2 expands on a wider outside world, with Redd White's role in the suicides and blackmailing of political and business figures.

Stuff that doesn't need to be explained, like prosecutor's badges or why trials can only take three days, are! There's also elements that exist behind the scenes, like guilty defendants having to face a higher court or the bureaucracy present in the Police Department. It's all meshed together into a believable world; which, speaking from experience, is not easy to do.

Pro Five: Aesthetic.

I know this is kind of lame to give to PW:AA given that all AA games have similar aesthetics, but I feel like PW:AA gets some leeway because it was the first game in the franchise and therefore set this game's aesthetic. I love it. Characters are portrayed realistically (more or less): nobody in this game feels cartoony at all, which I appreciate. In addition, this game's setpieces are very grounded: lakes, law enforcement buildings, offices, and of course the courtroom.

The courtroom itself is incredibly well introduced and designed; one of my favorite bits is how when Edgeworth points at von Karma he points to the side of the room von Karma is on instead of just forward. The defendant's lobby is probably my favorite setpiece; it's just... cozy.

Like, look at the courtroom! It's so grandiose yet so grounded at the same time. I could see myself in this room! It's a treat for the eyes; the clashing light browns of the desks and Judge's seat with the golden and white walls is awesome. PW:AA knows color theory and it shows. I particularly love the white pillars in the back.

Pro Six: Music.

PW:AA has the most memorable music in the series and for pretty good reason. The Pursuit theme is my second-favorite in the entire series, and it's instantly iconic. This is the Ace Attorney song to many people, including myself! That's not mentioning the Reminiscence themes, which all set and fit the tones of each case perfectly. DL-6 and SL-9's reminiscence themes are perfect for their cases, but I'd also like to point out Maya's own specific reminiscence theme; this plays after Manfred tases her and Phoenix in 1-4, and it fits the inner turmoil and the line where she says she wishes she'd never woken up perfectly. Speaking of DL-6 and SL-9's themes, they both do something very different that fit each case; DL-6's is somewhat hopeful, like there's still a mystery to be solved. SL-9 has come and gone. There's nothing left but despair.

This game plays with your emotions with its music in a very, very, very good way. There's the adrenaline-pumping octane energy of the Pursuit theme and the sadness of the reminiscence themes, but also the sense of relieved finality you get with the Victory music or the "let's get busy" feel to the Investigation theme: and we're not even mentioning character themes yet.

Every character theme has a sense of purpose. Jake Marshall's establishes his rough-and-tumble attitude: the song is wild, carefree, like if you told it to slow down it wouldn't listen. Gumshoe's is weathered and basic but still strong and good at heart; it fills your chest, y'know? I think overall, though, there are two standouts: Maya's, which is upbeat, cheery, and maybe a little scared to be on its own; and Gant's, which immediately makes itself known and takes over the room. Each theme has a purpose and a feeling; it's an incredible use of music.

CONS

Con One: Pacing.

PW:AA is not... the best paced game ever. Out of all the baseline cases, 1-2 is probably the best paced; 1-3 and 1-4's final days feel rushed, with 1-3 being the biggest offender. The DL-6 trial is criminally short for an already short game; 1-5 is nearly half of the game's length on its own! 1-3 is too long and 1-4 is too short, whereas 1-2 is perfectly passable; but I don't think I'd call it excellently paced by any means. 1-5, as much as it pains me to say it, is also a bit too long at times. There's only one excellently paced case (1-5), one case that's paced well (1-2), and three cases that have pacing that's a little all over the place.

One argument I've seen is that another case could easily fit between 1-1 and 1-2, and I'm honestly inclined to disagree. I just think that 1-3 could've been shorter and 1-4 could've been longer: like I said, the DL-6 trial is far too short for one of the most pivotal moments of the series! I get this was their first attempt, and it was a decent showing, but it's still lackluster.

This game just kind of feels a little bit all over the place. There's never really a great time to stop outside of days shifting over for a lot of these cases, which makes sense, but pausing in the middle of an investigation or trial to do something else feels awkward. It's not a satisfying game to put down, which is probably a good thing for some people; but it isn't for me.

Con Two: Original Pixel Art.

Oh, man. I know I just praised this game's aesthetics, and this still holds up, but good God some of the original pixel art sprites were ugly. Edgeworth's stands out the most: it looks like he's trying to see something from far away without his glasses on (which DD later shows is is probably what he's doing, but I digress).

It's not like Edgeworth is the only example, either. The contrast between 1-5's sprites and the rest of the game is painfully apparent on the original DS release, which makes sense—1-5 was released in 2006, 5 years after the first game and when AJ was being developed, so of course it matched that aesthetic—and the witness stand backdrop just... isn't great.

Con Three: Navigation.

Bear with me for not having a photo for this one. PW:AA's navigation system is very outdated; and it shows. I complimented it for setting up the general aesthetic, so I guess I can point out that it brought in my least favorite feature that would last until DD. The navigation system is occasionally pretty cool, but more often than not it's just a hassle. I get why it exists, and like I said it's occasionally cool, but on the whole... it gets in the way.

Having to go through two separate locations to get to another is annoying, and it's easy to lose track of the map in your head. It's not "you need to write it down on paper" bad like the first Zelda, but it's definitely not great.

We've still got one promised place to go; my top 5 favorite characters. We'll do this ascending, so let's start with #5!

Number Five: Damon Gant

I think Damon Gant is the best example AA has for "affably evil". He's a heartless piece of shit, sure, but he's also the kind of guy I'd go out and get a beer or watch a movie with. This alone speaks to the power of his character; he's a masterful manipulator, an open abuser, and a two-time murderer, but still a rather fun and swell guy to be around.

Over the course of 1-5, as Gant's mask slowly slips, so does the overall tone of the case; a double murder mystery becomes an incredibly thrilling conspiracy, all with this man behind it. He influences every little part of this case: there is nothing that his grimy hands do not touch.

And I love it. His shadow looms over the case, and once you go from "whodunnit?" to "howcatchem?" and finally piece together how you're going to take him down? Oh, man. Peak cinema.

And God, is it satisfying to take him down! Watching him slowly crumble into nothing is one of the most satisfying moments in the entire series, and us doing it nearly singlehandedly (with a little help here and there from Edgeworth and Ema, of course) is an absolute perfect way to cap off Phoenix's arc.

Let's talk about his design, too. Orange is his most prominent color; his suit is orange, his skin is orange, even the gold police badge on his tie looks orange, and it's on a red tie; red and yellow make orange. Orange is a color of happiness, enthusiasm, and youth, but it's also a color of spontaneity, superficiality, and in Confucianism is associated with transformation. It's a color that perfectly fits Gant's charming and goofy mask slowly transforming into the man that spontaneously killed Bruce Goodman and keeps up his charades through superficial charm and goodness.

Number Four: Maya Fey

I'll be the first to admit that she is way lower on this list than I expected: but this is not a diss at all. Maya is at her second-best in her debut appearance, and for good reason; this is just as much her game as it is Phoenix and Edgeworth's, making up the last part of this game's core three cast.

Maya is incredibly fun and plain enjoyable, but she also brings a very tragic and emotionally heavy element to this game. Throughout the game she's constantly battling feelings of inadequacy; this all comes to a head in 1-4, but it's hinted as early as 1-2. Maya's arc through this game is trying to find a place to fit in: Phoenix is a defense attorney, Miles is a prosecutor, even Larry is a bachelor... but Maya is just a "spirit medium in training". She's not even good at the one job she has yet.

The climax of her arc and the end of 1-4 tie into each other and it's an incredibly emotional moment; her relationship with Phoenix evolves from an employer-employee one to siblingesque very naturally. By the end of the game, you'd be hard-pressed to say they weren't related if you didn't know their surnames!

Let's go back to color theory. Maya's main colors are purple, black, and white: her robe is purple, her underrobe is a very light lilac, her hair is black, her pearls are white, and so on. It's a color of royalty and creativity: much like how Maya is the heir to the Kurain Channeling Technique through her mom, the heir to Mia's legacy, and the driving force behind some of Phoenix's big breakthroughs like drilling witnesses to get information in 1-2 and that von Karma killed Gregory Edgeworth in 1-4. Black is a strange color and hard to pin down to have a single meaning; it's a color of defiance, sadness, death and life, and so on. In Japan, it's a color of mystery and the unknown; much like how her psychic powers are never fully explained and are incredibly alien and out of place (but in a good way!) throughout the game.

White, meanwhile, is associated in China and Japan with grief: and hooh boy, does Maya carry a lot of it. Grief over her sister and mother, grief over not living up to anyone's (perceived) standards, the grief she gives Phoenix, and so on. White is a color of death: perfect for a spirit medium. Also: red and blue make purple and her pearls are white. Redd, White, Blue[Corp]...

Number Three: Phoenix Wright

Phoenix is at the top of his game: which makes sense, given that he literally is! This is some of his best characterization in the series and an incredibly strong first showing. Mia calls him a genius and it really shows; he pieces together some pretty complex theories by himself, like the entirety of 1-5 and the first half of 1-4. I like to equate him to a chainsaw; he needs time to rev up, but once he does he'll cut down anything in his path.

And boy does that show up here! His thought processes can easily match the player's, and his own arc does as well; over the course of the game he slowly comes into his own as an attorney and problem solver just like the player. By the end of the game he's experienced but not seasoned: again, just like the player.

He has incredibly solid relationships with the entire main cast, and his chemistry with every character is awesome; I particularly like his chemistry with Maya and Edgeworth of course, but he also has some incredibly strong dynamics with Ema, Gumshoe, Lana... even His Honor and Redd White of all people! He's a great bouncing off point for every other character as well as the player.

Talking about color theory a bit more, his main color is obviously blue. It's an old color, and people described it before they had a name for it. It's a color of business—which makes sense, given his role as CEO and owner of the Wright and Co. Law Offices—but it's also a color of authority and nobility: when people think of police officers, the color blue comes to mind, doesn't it? It's a color of the law! Blue is also associated with Heaven and immortality in some Asian cultures, giving Phoenix an almost divine presence; a gift to his clients, saving them from darkness.

Number Two: Miles Edgeworth

Edgeworth has my favorite arc in this game. I think this game really did a good job in making him fascinating: he's an incredibly tough nut to crack, but under his exterior he's very soft and sensitive. He's initially presented as this incredibly intimidating and corrupt conviction machine, but over the course of the game it becomes clear that he doesn't believe in convictions; he believes in justice.

This all stems from DL-6, the core lynchpin of the game. I'd actually argue that even more than Phoenix and Maya this is Edgeworth's game: I think that JFA and T&T fill Phoenix and Maya respectively. But PW:AA, despite being named after Phoenix, revolves around Edgeworth's trauma and beliefs. When those are shaken in 1-4 and 1-5, he becomes frazzled, dazed, incredibly irritable. His arc breaks down barriers he's kept up for years and doesn't know how to handle coming down. This is his story.

I think that his transition through 1-5 is one of the best parts of this game. To see him slowly realize he has absolutely nothing left to lose and just go full steam ahead on the person who has ruined his career, Damon Gant, is satisfying: it gives Edgeworth even more agency and coolness than he already had, which was already a lot!

His main color is red, obviously. Red is a color of passion and desire, but it's also one of blood and intimidation; it's complex and has two faces, just like Edgeworth. It's also a color of religious reverence, showing up frequently in Catholic art: Edgeworth himself almost looks like a pastor with his black undershirt and white collar. In that respect, there's the opportunity to view his arc through the lens of Christian themes of redemption: a dark and tortured soul brought to the light, finding a sort of peace through both the light and his struggle towards it. It's also a color of anger, which Edgeworth has no shortage of; anger at the world, anger at himself, anger at us.

Number One: Ema Skye

I'm admittedly very biased by her later appearances, but Ema is also an incredibly fascinating and amazing character in her first appearance. She is the heart and soul of 1-5, both as your assistant and the reason for the case's existence: it was Gant's fabrication of her murder of Neil, after all, that led Lana to forge evidence.

She has an incredibly active role throughout all of 1-5, as your assistant, suspect, and pseudo-charge: it's hard not to feel like you have to take care of her. Her personality is incredibly bubbly and endearing, creating adorable dynamics with Phoenix and Lana as well as an incredibly hilarious mini-crush on Edgeworth that she's so unsubtle about. Takumi really shows his maturity as a writer with 1-5 as a whole, but Ema is a great example of how he's become a better character writer over time.

As your assistant, she's spunky and fun; she's not even somewhat reserved like Maya is from time to time, but at the same time her spontaneity is far more mental than physical. A lot of people call her a Maya clone, but I disagree: she's a Maya mirror, just like how 1-5 is a mirror of 1-2. Whereas Maya is spiritual, Ema is scientific and materialist; Ema's main color is pink, in a similar spectrum to Maya's purple; her hair is brown, like Mia's, instead of black, and so on. The dynamic that she leads with Lana is incredibly captivating.

Let's finish this off with a discussion of her main color; pink. Yes, I know that most of her design is white, but her design is splattered with splotches of pink that stand out and are meant to be eye-catching, from her glasses to her necktie and undershirt to her watch and even her bag. Pink is her color and it's a color of soothing, love, and in Japan is a rather masculine color. She tries to soothe Lana's worries through her unconditional love, and it's that love that shines through the darkest parts of 1-5; be it Ema's love for Lana or vice-versa. In full honesty, I just decided to bring up pink being a masculine color in Japan because I wanted to share a headcanon I have that Ema is trans. Sue me. There's even an element of her relationship with Lana in the color alone; until the 1850s pink was seen as a masculine, immature and boyish shade of red; a color of young boys in contrast to the crimson worn by men and seen as a symbol of authority. Edgeworth's jacket? Lana's muffler? It's not hard to see the connection.

Overall Thoughts

PW:AA is a treat. It's my second favorite game in the franchise, and for good reason! It's a very very solid mix of mystery and character-driven storytelling, with a whole host of standout moments and an incredibly fun cast. The core cast is generally at their best here; not to degrade his latest appearances, but I think this game by far has Edgeworth's best characterization. I also think Gumshoe and His Honor are at his best here, and even with characters who have their weakest showings in this game still have standout moments that make them incredibly loveable.

My favorite thing from PW:AA isn't its characters, cases, or even its music, though. It's how it slowly builds up Phoenix alongside the player! We mimic his journey; we start off being handheld by Mia, and then we're thrust into a situation without her that we get through with her help. We also rely heavily on Maya but still get to shine on our own terms. In 1-3, we're finally on equal footing with Maya, solving the mystery with her. In 1-4, we take it on in a leading role; Maya takes an understandable backfoot for Phoenix's strong showing, but we still need her to finish the case and Mia still needs to intervene near the end. In 1-5, the core moments—the final trial especially—are nearly done entirely by Phoenix alone. It's an incredibly awesome buildup of development for both the player and Phoenix.

As a fic writer, I'd also like to point out some standout ships. While I don't ship it, Phoenix/Edgeworth ultimately finds its roots in this game; and it roots itself in very well! There's a reason it's the most popular. They have great chemistry. Some ships I do ship that also find their roots in this game are Lana/Mia, Ema/Maya, and some of my favorite non-romantic ships (be they platonic, adversarial, or something in-between): Phoenix and Ema, Gant and Ema, Edgeworth and Gumshoe, Phoenix and Maya, and Phoenix and Mia all shine through in my mind and find their roots in this game. It's a lynchpin for the fic-writing, shipping side of me!

PW:AA isn't a perfect game, but I think that's where a lot of its charm comes from. It's rough around the edges when you really look, but those rough edges make what shines really shine: the highs of 1-4 and 1-5, the dynamic between Maya and Mia in 1-2, the incredible way it sets up themes and vibes, and so on. It does a lot in its limitations and sets up an awesome format for the later games to follow.

Overall? It's fantastic. It's very understandably cemented itself as one of the greatest mystery games of all time! It's aged incredibly gracefully and is a perfect introduction to one of my favorite series of all time.

PW:AA holds a very special place in my heart as the second Ace Attorney game I've ever played and the first one I finished. It was a very fundamental part of my childhood; I started playing Ace Attorney in elementary school. It's incredibly nostalgic for me and this game is a massive reason why.

To wrap it all up, we'll give this one an overall rating and place its cases on our case tier list. See you for 2-1 and Justice for All!

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

[mama-qwerty]

Wade's Bedroom

Okay. So, in the trailer for the Knuckles series, we see Knux take out a bounty hunter in what appears to be Wade's bedroom. I'm thinking this is his bedroom at his mother's house, so when he was a teen.

You can tell a lot about a person by how they decorate their personal space. And since I love Wade and am on my knees begging for better characterization, I wanna see what they put in the guy's bedroom.

Let's break it down.

1 - Little Robots

I can't tell exactly what robots these are, whether they're action figures from games or movies, or some model kits he's built himself. If they're models it shows Wade spent a lot of time on his own, and had the opportunity to focus on building something that required attention and patience.

2 - Books

There are a lot of books on his shelves, and the ones especially between Knux and the bounty hunter look like a series. Obviously we can't read the titles, but Wade strikes me as someone who'd enjoy manga, and the Choose Your Own Adventure stories.

3 - A Little Rainbow Sticker

This may indicate he knows someone who is LGTBQ+, or possibly he himself is. Or maybe he just likes rainbows.

4 - "Pistol" Pete Whipple poster

I'm not exactly sure how Pete is related to Wade, but I'm going under the assumption that Pete is his uncle. (Cary Elwes is 20 years older than Adam Pally, so while it's possible he's a brother, it's unlikely.) Here's this very impressive and 'famous' Whipple, who everyone looks up to and admires. (I'm assuming.) Wade feels so unimportant, he has this poster to remind him that he's related to greatness, and maybe he too can be important some day.

5 - Addams Family movie poster

I'm pretty sure this is the first movie, and Wade likes it because it shows people who are strange, people who don't look or act like everyone else, people who have odd hobbies and interact with the world in their own unique manner. And yet they love each other, Gomez in particular would do anything for his brother. Considering the nonchalant way his sister and mother behaved when he was yanked off the porch in the trailer, maybe Wade never really felt a connection like that.

6 - Robin Hood Prince of Thieves movie poster

The most famous example of helping those less fortunate than you, and being a hero to those on the receiving end of that help. Wade wants to help people. He wants to stand up for those who can't. I have no idea what his relationship with his father is/was like, but maybe the whole 'stand up to a corrupt authority' resonated with him for personal reasons as well.

7 - Speed movie poster

Maybe he wished he was Keanu Reeves, the hero with a calm head and always knew what to do. Maybe he always pictured himself as Sandra Bullock, an average person pulled into something dangerous and assuming an important role that helps save others.

8 - Ren and Stimpy poster

Okay, so he's a teen boy in the 90s. He's gonna like that gross-out humor.

9 - Total Recall movie poster

This movie is about an average joe who discovers he's actually someone Very Important. Wade has always thought of himself as a nobody. Deep down he wants to be someone Very Important. At least someone competent who isn't brushed off as a joke.

10 - TMNT bedsheets (and he was wearing a TMNT shirt under his robe before he's dragged down the street)

Obviously he's a man of good taste. But again, a group of teens fighting bad guys. The man just wants to be a hero so badly.

Based purely on the way he acts as an adult (and I'm trying to look past the "oh boy isn't he dumb!" pathetic characterization the movies have so far given him) I see Wade as a lonely man. He's likely never had many friends, always feels like the odd man in every situation, and just isn't very comfortable in his own skin.

In the trailer scenes where Knuckles decides to train Wade, there are posters and notes tacked all over the room with encouraging messages to himself regarding working out. Maybe he's trying to change his image because he thinks that will make others like him more. Maybe he's just trying to get a date. Maybe he's wrestling with his own self-worth.

Whatever is going on with Wade, I think pairing him with Knuckles is a good way to have them both realize things about themselves they'd never known before. Wade will help Knux realize that it's okay to let his guard down and enjoy himself, and Knuckles can help show Wade that there's more to him than anyone (including himself) thinks.

Maybe I'm waaaaay off base with these. Maybe I'm thinking way too hard about it. Wouldn't be the first time. But I love Wade and I really want to understand him, and hope to see him grow and become more confident by the end of the series.

[aortaplatinum]

Why Sonic sucked in the first half of the 2010s

One thing I constantly see brought up in the constant Sonic discourse is the concept of the "Meta Era": the period of time in the 2010s when Sonic stories and the series presentation was the lightest and most shallow it had ever been. This era starts with Sonic Colors and ends with Sonic Forces, but doesn't count the failed Sonic BOOM sub-franchise experiment since that was done by entirely different teams compared to those who usually work on Sonic games. The "Meta Era" term seems to have been coined by J's Reviews on YouTube, and is characterized by fourth-wall-breaking, Marvel movie esque English scripts written by Ken Pontac and Warren Graff of Happy Tree Friends and MadWorld fame, along with strange characterization of the Sonic cast. But no one ever tries to look at WHY this happened. I'm splitting this post into two parts because 2010-2015 is very different from 2015-2020 in terms of why the games' stories and then the game[s] themselves sucked. So, the year is 2009. Sonic and the Black Knight has just released following last year's console entry of Sonic World Adventure [titled Sonic Unleashed outside of Japan], and both are torn to shreds by millennial games journalists who grew up with the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis games, for having stories that are "too dark/edgy". That aspect paired with these games' mostly mediocre gameplay caused them to be branded as "shitty Sonic games" by journos and the general public for years, until they were re-examined by the Sonic community as a whole, who found the good in Unleashed and Black Knight's stories and stage design in the mid-late 2010s. But, SEGA had just recently financially recovered from the failure of the Saturn outside of Japan and the worldwide failure of the Dreamcast, having to be bought out by pachinko manufacturer Sammy Corporation in the early 2000s to avoid going bankrupt. And despite Sonic historically being the company's best-seller worldwide [with the exception of Japan, ironically], SEGA Sammy Holdings [referred to as SEGA] wanted Sonic to be as beloved as much as it could and to sell as much as it could. The series' lack of popularity in Japan has always caused it to be seen as a mascot cash cow by SEGA Japan, just a source of income. Meanwhile, the same publications who cringed at Sonic LAUDED SEGA's recently published PlatinumGames release, MadWorld, for its presentation and its comedy dialogue, and with this positive reception, SEGA had an idea; marry the praised daytime Sonic Unleashed gameplay, with the tone and comedy writing of MadWorld- complete with giving the English script those same writers. There's just one problem- MadWorld is an ultraviolent M-rated comic book style comedy, sharing similarities with the original The Mask comic series. So you can probably imagine what happened when these writers were tasked with creating English localized dialogue for kids' games.

It wasn't very good.

But, sales were up. REVIEW SCORES were up. And this lead to Sonic Generations, which refined the daytime boost gameplay of Unleashed and even used it's same game engine, while introducing the world to "Classic Sonic", a modern re-interpretation of what Sonic played and acted like in the Mega Drive games from the 90's. Gens went on to become one of the most beloved Sonic games of all time- and thankfully, since the game had nearly zero story, there wasn't much script there for Pontac and Graff to... alter.

But, seeing the praise Colors' tone was getting from the professional journalists who bashed the 2000s games, SEGA decided the next course of action was to reach out and work with more Western studios. End part 1.

[canyoufucksoniccharacters]

It's time.

Alright, this is gonna be a long one. Not only am I covering the canon, mainline game Sonic, but his offshoots as well. Specifically, I will be covering Sonic in the mainline games, the Paramount movie version, Sonic Prime, and a tiiiiiiny tiny little itty bit of Archie. IDW is, from what has been implied as of the past about year and a half, canon; and it will be treated as such (with some caution, of course.), so it's not going to be handled separately.

Let's do this.

Alright, let's start as early as absolutely possible. There have been several, several statements regarding Sonic's age; the earliest of which was courtesy of our good old friends over at...

There would be a certain (mildly loud) funny video here, but Tumblr's weird barely present copyright protection probably kicked in. Anyways...

In the Sonic The Hedgehog cartoon, also known as SatAM, we get 2 tidbits of information. In the 2-part special called Blast From The Past, we see that Sonic and Sally are about the same age, both being kids of just about equal maturity. Later, in episode 24, Sally states that her age is 16. So, far as we could tell, Sonic was 16, or around that range. Now, we know that these cartoons aren't canon, but they definitely did have an influence over the canon of the series. Fun fact for you, Sonic's love of chili dogs was made up by the cartoons, and later adopted during the modern era by the games. Ain't that neat?

Chili dog related tangent aside, this was the only source we had for Sonic's age at that point. I've seen some say that he was stated to be 15 in the manual for Sonic 2, but upon trying to verify that claim I came empty-handed. The manual does mention Tails being 8, but no mention of Sonic's age as far as I could tell; and the same goes for every other Classic Series game. Except for...

Sonic Jam, the Sonic game absolutely no one cares about! In part because it's not much more than a game compilation and tech demo that served as the stepping stone for Sonic Adventure 1. Sonic Jam includes profiles for Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Eggman. This is in both the Japanese and English version, and both contain ages for the characters! Tails is listed as 8, Knuckles as 15, and Eggman as "??" or Unknown, in the case of the English version.

This brings us to Sonic, who I will be using the Japanese profile for.

The part that says "年令" translates to "Age". So, here it says that Sonic ranges between 15 and 16... Whatever that means. In the English version, it just says 15. Either way, all these make sense for these games. Sonic's characterization back in the day was all in on the rebellious teenager angle, an effort to give him an air of edge and coolness that other platforming mascots didn't have, which did admittedly win people over during the heat of the console wars! Sonic was absolutely huge when the series was new, to a degree that other mascots just couldn't match up to. Of course, that dropped off over time, but that's a discussion for another day, and not on this blog. This blog is about gay sex, not the videogame industry.

So, Sonic is either 15 or 16, most likely 15. All is good here, everything lines up, other than maybe the fact that Amy was listed as 8 in the Sonic CD manual, but that's probably fine considering back then her crush on Sonic was treated as a one-sided admirer type thing, rather than an actual romantic interest (That was usually reserved for Sally in media that actually cared about that kinda thing, anyways.)

So, fast forward to the Dreamcast; Sonic gets a redesign! Longer limbs, green eyes, and overall less chibi-like and seemingly more mature appearance. So, you would assume he's older, right? After all, him an everyone else around him got the same treatment, except for Eggman who... Seemingly just became a smidge more realistic. A smidge, anyways. You can only be so realistic being shaped like Gru.

Well... Yeah! It would look like it, since no further statements about his age were made, and in the Archie comics, they actually aged him up a year to justify his change in design. Archie isn't canon, obviously, but it shows the direction that was taken; as the players aged, so did Sonic, no matter how much people got up in arms about the green eyes for some strange reason.

... And then Sonic Heroes came along.

Perfectly fine game, mind you! One of the more polarizing ones, sure, and some of the writing could have been a smidge better (specially on Amy's side of things), but overall not really anything egregious. But for our sake... This hellspawn was born.

Ah, the Sonic Heroes US manual. The root cause of incredibly stupid Sonic shipping discourse; as well as the really, really inaccurate Sonic Channel ages.

All vitriol aside, let's look at what it has to say about our blue blur.

... 15? Really? When our previous estimate was also 15-16? Are you actually telling me Sonic 1 to Heroes all happened within less than a year? Amy got aged up from 8 to 12, which... Either age would be a bit concerning considering they're still pushing the whole romantic interest thing, one-sided as it may still be. That aside, it makes no logistical sense for Sonic to still be 15 after he's literally physically shown to be older.

On top of that, this same manual ages Espio down from 17 (In the Chaotix manual) to 16, and Vector up from 16 to 20. Vector I can believe, but uh. Aging down isn't exactly a thing that most people do.

What's worse, this age was then listed in the official Sonic Channel website... Even after they made a game where the first thing you see is Sonic celebrating his birthday. Meaning he had to have been 14 before that game to stay 15, which is contradictory to say the least. Additionally, there's a potential time gap of 5 months between SA2 and Heroes, only ever referenced in the Playstation 3 PSN release of Sonic Heroes.

This age was never once modified, even after Sonic Forces' 6 month timeskip, meaning Sonic had a birthday party, was locked up for 6 months, and somehow didn't age a year during all that. Nor after the several infrastructure-demolishing incidents such as an entire city being flooded and wrecked, the planet being shattered into pieces, among others.

And you wanna know something funny? In Sonic Generations, Classic Sonic is explicitly stated to be Sonic from the past, which checks out considering how he behaves less maturely and is proportionally much smaller. And then in 2015, the Classic Sonic style guide comes out.

15.

15.

15.

Somehow. Some. Fucking. How. Classic Sonic is listed as 15... While Modern Sonic is listed as 15 too. Oh, Amy is also listed as 12, by the way. Despite that being her (ALLEGED) age in Sonic Heroes.

Unless they're from different universes or something, there's no way-

OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE

Yeah, so, Sonic Forces released 2 years after that guide. And it tried, emphasis on tried, to retcon Classic Sonic into being an entirely separate character. This was, however, later undone by Sonic Origins both re-establishing the Classic games as taking place in the past, on top of a TailsTube episode saying as such; that Classic Sonic is, indeed, from the past. It's even stated that Modern Sonic is who Classic Sonic grew up to be!

IDW doesn't make our job any easier, either. This is information from when the Tangle & Whisper story was ongoing;

However... I'd take it with a grain of salt, as it's from before IDW was considered canon, and back when Sega was much more strict on the mandates and what they did and didn't allow in Sonic media. Plus, this was still the age listed on Sonic Channel, before they removed it.

Oh yeah, that. Why don't we talk about that?

On October of 2022, all the ages on Sonic Channel were removed.

This... Was a good move. SonAmy is still being pushed ever so very slightly, with Amy's crush still being present in a recent short even if she's much more mature about it now, which would make their age difference less than ideal. On top of that, the ages really just didn't line up chronologically speaking.

So, where does that leave us now?

In this interview, Takashi Iizuka is asked about Sonic's age; to which he responds that "He's a teenager."

"Teenager" is a bit of a loose definition, probably on purpose. Generally speaking, the range for teenager ranges from anywhere to 13-19, to 13-21 depending on who you ask. Some people make the cutoff at 18, though that's almost never done when it comes to scientific material.

So, let's recap. Sonic is still considered a teenager, but he's always been considered one, all the way back from the Classic series. So, we can safely assume Classic isn't 15; either that, or he was, and the modern series takes place during anywhere from 2-6 years, which I could believe. Either way, he's at minimum about 13-14, as he's a younger version of Sonic who hasn't hit a growth spurt yet.

Then, we have anywhere from 1 to 2 canon birthdays for Sonic, depending on whether you count Runners as canon or not (which I would admittedly not at all fault you for not considering it canon, considering it's a mobile game; and a discontinued one at that), as well as a 6-month timeskip during Forces, potential 5-month timeskip during Heroes (which isn't the most unbelievable proposition or anything, considering it would be a bit weird if Shadow was presumed dead only to show back up like a week later), and a bunch of events that have caused severe structural damage to key locations in the world, namely during Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Adventure 1 as the 2 biggest examples. Oh, and Sonic Forces throwing absolutely everything into disarray on a seemingly global scale, which would take quite a bit of time to be fixed, specially considering that's still an ongoing process in IDW.

On top of all this, it's outright shown that these things don't just happen every week or whatever, things happen off-screen, characters get time off to do their own stuff, and from the looks of it, Murder Of Sonic The Hedgehog is canon, as nothing there conflicts with canon and it's officially endorsed. Which means WE HAVE YET ANOTHER FUCKING BIRTHDAY PARTY, FOR AMY THIS TIME.

Further proving the point i just stated, let's look at the geographical Prison Island. This is what it looks like in Sonic Adventure 2.

A big, mechanical prison complex made out of nothing but cold hard metal. Filled with robots, not a single trace of nature in sight. Said nature however is not too far from these military bases, though! These forests are also on the island.

So, these are the two main parts of Prison Island. Abundant nature, and military facilities. There's very little difference once the story progresses further, though, as the island...

Fucking explodes. (Clip from Sonic Adventure 2 Real-Time Fandub. Credit to SnapCube.)

So, why is this relevant? Well, we revisit this location in Shadow The Hedgehog! The game, not the guy.

As we can see, there is no longer any difference between nature and construct. The base has been completely abandoned, and overtaken by the nearby forests, with greenery sprouting all over it. Now, it's not impossible that plant life in the Sonic series grows a bit faster than real plants, but methinks that an entire military base doesn't get overtaken by nature this hard within a month. There's entire new trees, grass and plants growing all over what was previously pavement, not even the walls are safe! Every single area is either covered in toxic waste, plant life, or both. Plant life that, again, needs time to grow. So there's likely a pretty big chunk of time between Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow The Hedgehog, even though they're only separated by 1 game, Sonic Heroes.

Add that to the many many reasons these things can't just happen on a week by week basis! On to my next point...

No, proportions don't really mean anything in terms of age. Sure, Vanilla is quite big, and so are the conductor and his wife, but Rouge is undoubtedly an adult and her proportions are more or less the same as everyone else. So all they help distinguish is between children (Tails, Cream) and non-children. In this exact screenshot we see that Vanilla is much taller than rouge, almost being at eye level with each other despite Rouge sitting on an elevated surface, while Vanilla is standing. This height difference is also present in the games, although we rarely get to see them next to each other.

So, all this taken into account, the fact Sonic has been a teenager since the Classic series, the fact there's been a few timeskips and at least 2 birthdays, several events that would need some time to recover from, specially with a still-ongoing recovery process after Forces, the fact Elise is allegedly 17 in 06 (which would make her whole romantic subplot with Sonic even more uncomfortable than it already is by default if he was any younger than say, idk about 16 years old at the least), among many other reasons that I may have forgotten to mention, the chances of Sonic being 15, hell, even 16 are very, very slim. At the very least, he's got to be about 17, and he could honestly be as old as 19 or 20 (depending on whether Iizuka meant he's of adolescent age or a teenager).

So, if you do still view Sonic as a minor, that's perfectly fine, and honestly believable; but with all these facts stacked up, as time goes on, it will be less and less likely that him being underage will be a real possibility. This isn't the Pokemon anime. There's actual structure, lore, and a proper sense of scale; and something like Sonic's age being frozen at 15-16 just wouldn't make any sense.

All this to say, Sonic is, most likely, no longer a minor. There's some wiggle room where he could be one, but 18-19 is the most likely option, specially considering how Frontiers was comfortable with pitching his voice down. Yes, it was for the sake of the game's tone, but Tails's voice for example didn't have that much of a difference to it, because he's a child and it would be weird for a character to sound so much older than they actually are- and this goes for Sonic too.

So, in conclusion, after extensive analysis and every source I could find for Sonic's age taken into account;

You can, most likely, fuck Sonic The Hedgehog.

...

BUT IT'S NOT OVER YET.

We need to take both his other iterations into consideration, as well as address characters whose fuckability status depends on him. First, the alternative versions.

Movie Sonic

This one's a kid. On top of acting much more immature and inexperienced, outright described as irresponsible- hell, Tom even says "Whether you wanna hear this or not, you're still just a kid. You've got some more growing up to do before you're ready to be the big hero". He acts like a kid, is referred to as a kid, and hell, it makes sense, the movies so far have adapted Sonic 1-3&K, the games where Sonic was still just starting out his adventures.

Prime Sonic

This one's... More uncertain. He's definitely quite immature and inexperienced; though he feels more... Reckless than anything else. More of an attitude problem than an age problem, really, considering how Amy and Shadow act, two characters who should be about the same age as him, but that act much more maturely for the most part.

This one's pretty up in the air, I'd say, considering how Prime seems to be comfortable having their own versions of the cast (going by how different Shadow seems to be and how he has seemingly no attachment to Rouge, who is one of the people he trusts the most in canon).

Oh yeah, I haven't watched season 3 yet, but I doubt it changes much of anything about this judgement.

THE SONIC-DEPENDENT ONES

THE ROBOT SONICS

While they're all likely able to consent (... Okay, Mecha MK. 1 is a bit more dubious on whether it's sapient), it would probably be unethical to fuck something that's made to look like someone who's a minor. While they were made when Sonic was definitely a minor, he isn't one anymore, and the resemblance is still there to pretty much the exact same degree, so there's really no ambiguity here.

You can fuck them. Go ham, robot-fuckers.

SCOURGE

Look, we're not covering the mess that Archie can be. But from what I gather, Sonic is, at most, 17 pre-SGW. And this is just an alternate version of that Sonic, who likely didn't go through all the uber weird shit that makes Archie Sonic's age a nightmare to deal with. So, no, unfortunately for a lot of you, you probably can't fuck Scourge. Fortunately, though...

SURGE

Surge's age is, according to this post by IDW artist and writer Evan Stanley, around Sonic's age. So, what goes for the hedgehog goes for the Tenrec, you can most likely fuck her. Go ham.

... Elise?

She was 17 during 06, and some time has passed since then, and it would be weird if she had any bigger of an age gap with Sonic, plus plenty of time has passed since 06, so... I guess you can? I don't see why you would, but power to you, I suppose. Can't judge.

MIGHTY AND RAY

These two have been here since SegaSonic The Hedgehog in the arcades, which happens even before Sonic 2 does! Ray is never once really implied to be young, no matter how much he may seem like Mighty's Tails equivalent (Which... He's not meant to be. He was made before Tails.), and he's most likely about even with Mighty, who is most likely the same age as Sonic, seeing how they're meant to be parallels (down to Sonic's sprites being rehashed for his sprites in Chaotix), and the Japanese manual for Knuckles' Chaotix listing him as 16.

They're here mostly because Mighty is a partial Sonic counterpart, and Ray tends to be anywhere that Mighty goes these days, so they might as well be treated as a package deal.

So, yes, you can most likely fuck them... Even if we have absolutely no idea what their modern versions look like. Seriously, where the hell have they been? At least we know they're fine, considering it's been stated that they're off on their own adventures these days.

Aaaand... That's it! That's all the Sonic-dependent characters I could think of, at least ones that I think don't really merit their own posts. TL;DR

Metal Sonic, Mecha Sonic, etc: Fuckable Scourge: Unfuckable Surge: Fuckable Elise: Fuckable Mighty: Fuckable Ray: Fuckable

The "Fuckable" marks should go with an asterisk, as Sonic's status is "Most Likely Fuckable", but still.

Phew. Finally done. I've spent pretty much all goddamn day writing this. Hopefully this is useful for someone. Hopefully. God knows it'll make my job easier.

I'll just go write the alt text and go eat something, this took... Way longer than I'd like to admit. See you when the post goes up.

Go ham, you beautiful horny bastards.

Edit: Future OP here! I had to remake this post because the DIC bit earlier somehow triggered some weird copyright stuff on Tumblr, basically hiding the post from anyone who isn't directly looking at the blog. In the meantime, I added that bit about Prison Island to further add to his potential fuckability. So his margin for being a minor is even smaller now! How fun! Anyways, now I'll be seeing myself out for the time being. Thanks, and have fun.