#Where’s Chloe decknine where is she

[keirosims]

15 minutes until the LIS stream im vibrating

[itsanotheridiot]

Starting this off by saying I am very excited for the new LiS game and can’t wait to see max again

But holy shit am I nervous. I am HOPING they are just keeping Chloe a secret instead of writing her out because to ignore and forget Chloe one ignores all of the first game and two fundamentally destroys Max as a character. Is pricefield healthy definitely something to be discuss but what can’t be deny is how important Chloe is to Max.

Also with the going back to Max HOPEFULLY DeckNine wasn’t lazy and did basically built two games for this because just imagine how fucking emotional it would be for max depending on your ending

Imagine max who sacrificed Chloe shifting reality to a reality where she sacrificed the town and she sees this life she could have built with Chloe and seeing her after years of trying to move in from her death

Imagine a max who scarified the town instead of Chloe and shifting to a reality where Chloe is gone from her life and how empty it feels with this piece missing but seeing how this max try’s to move on

Like there is so many interesting and different things they could write and explore and I just hope they did put effort into it because there was so much writing and things to see in the first game I hope it gets the same love and effort especially since we are going back to max 

[herpartnerintime]

I want to hear everyone's thoughts about this. So on the Bay path of the game, we are going to get new romances for Max. Now I know my fellow Pricefielders may not be so happy at the idea of Max being with anyone else, but on the Bay path with Max being 28 I'm not against her finding love again, and I am excited to explore this path after I play Bae where Max is with Chloe. So when the game says there will be romance, it shows two women, Safi and Amanda. I'm guessing these two will be the love interests, though I am curious if people think she will have a male love interest. The only male we see that could potentially be is Moses, though they didn't show him when talking about the romance, but showed Safi and Amanda. But that is where I am a little bit worried, because the big fandom debate after Bay VS Bae is, is Max bi or is she lesbian? I've written my headcanons for why I see Max as a lesbian like Chloe and feel she is a lesbian with comphet in Lis1 discovering her sexuality, but Max has never had a canon confirmed sexuality, with Life is Strange's twitter account saying you can headcanon her how you see her, and with them recently posting lesbian Pricefield art while having shared bi Max art as well. I kinda hope they keep her romance options sapphic. I feel like many love the sapphic representation in Max and I guess I worry about the fandom discourse that will explode if Max is given a male love interest.

In Lis1 I feel Max herself wouldn't even know her label at the time as she was in the process of discovering herself, but at 28 years old she likely knows now, so I'm curious on how decknine will approach this and if they'll go the safe route of having her love interests just be sapphic, or if Max will have a confirmed sexuality. Dontnod never confirmed it either as far as I know, though I do think they've liked things in the past leaning on the lesbian side but likes are hidden now so I can't do a deep dive to see if they liked anything indicating what they think. So while fans have their own feelings on it, it's never been confirmed officially. For the sake of discourse I kinda feel like keeping her romances sapphic may just be best way to go about it. At the moment, it does seem like that will be the case.

[chloesxprice]

Or a Deadpool And Wolverine like game that serves as a reboot where Max finds out her universe is dying by her shenanigans from Warlon Door. The result is her revisiting areas from the previous games but she can’t stop it with the only option is to celebrate what she had with Chloe. As her universe fades to blackness with her and Chloe left, Door guides them to bright light representing a new universe-a better and brighter tomorrow (so long as both of them keep their heads down). Max and Chloe walk towards the light hearing the voices of every character from the game about their wishes and desires.

At this point what you’re saying is better than anything decknine could ever come up with lolol 😭

[lulusoblue]

So, those mild Double Exposure spoilers...

I'll put it behind a read more so I don't actually reveal them in the tag, but I won't lie, the big upset over them is kinda justified given the context and promises surrounding the new game.

So, according to a couple of articles from people who have had earlier access to the first two chapters... Max and Chloe broke up. The articles don't provide much information about the circumstances beyond one article saying "Chloe is a free soul", which... doesn't really fit her character?

I hope this is poor choice of words because, I won't lie, I did expect a break-up being a potential factor (as well as potential drama if you have Max choose to move on), but of all the reasons to break up - the shared trauma of losing the town and not being able to talk to anyone else about it besides each other, Max's own trauma of being a victim of the Dark Room and not really being able to share that because she "erased" those events, trying to tackle said traumas as adults on top of new responsibilities, even Chloe's own grief as the 10th anniversary of the first game's events approach - the hints we have of the reason are seemingly that... Chloe doesn't want to stay in one place?

It feels very out of character, and doesn't bode well when the comic run of Life is Strange gave us a story where Chloe DID stay in one place, waiting for Max, due to circumstances that neither of them could control. So, why would this be the reason for a break-up? When Chloe has been the one always pushing Max to follow her passions and take opportunities as an artist, why is an artist-in-residence job at a university for a couple of years the place where Chloe has seemingly drawn a line?

There's also the implication of Max's new romantic interests feeling forced or obvious, which is also questionable. It has felt like Amanda has been pushed in marketing as the new love interest for Max, I will not lie, but there's also hints that Amanda is not the ONLY new love interest. It's nice to hear, but pushing the idea of there being new love interests for Max so much in marketing is a bit worrying. There's nothing that inspires contempt more from players than making them feel like something is being forced on them, and if what's going around is true, I have a bad feeling that the potential new love interests are going to get hate and no chances from players if it feels like player agency is being taken from them. This quote from Game Rant's article doesn't really help:

It's good to hear about representation in Double Exposure, but I think the writer of this article misunderstands why people would be upset about Max and Chloe breaking up. It's not about losing LGBTQ+ themes from the series, it's about the characters of Max and Chloe. It's about feeling like a character people love so much, have sacrificed so much for as Max, can just be easily replaced by another woman for as little effort to make a satisfying new story as possible.

I'm going to be one of those people avoiding a new love interest for Max not because I don't want representation, but because I was invested in her relationship with Chloe, in their hardships and growth, and I want to leave a door open for a promise from DeckNine of Chloe being in the game if she survives, and the hope that this breakup is a bump in the road that can be worked through if both Max and Chloe want to, like most adult relationships. Pricefield being a relationship that was, at the time, one of the biggest portrayals of queer relationships that didn't HAVE to end in Bury Your Gays is something that is important in addition to their dynamic and development as characters. Breaking them up knowing that as the writers of this game feels callous and reckless even from just a money-making standpoint, so I want to hope that there is more to this than "shit happens, here's a new option that's BETTER than Chloe".

I want to keep an open mind, that maybe DeckNine are keeping Chloe hidden away in the story for a later reveal. Maybe it might have been worth asking those writing articles to try and keep quiet on the character that had already been causing drama with their prospective audience, if only because now we have threads of people talking about getting refunds and advising others on how to do the same, all based on news that has said people feeling mislead about this continuation to Max's story, feeling that both they as an audience who chose one ending AND the characters they love so dearly are being disrespected for a quick buck.

Call it copium but I want to see if DeckNine keeps their promises. I don't want to jump to conclusions and really want to believe that DeckNine are planning on respecting both endings, but I'll be walking into Double Exposure apprehensive of if I wasted money on false promises rather than excited for a new adventure.

[thesecretfawn]

before the storm should’ve been chloe attending blackwell the year before max transferred back but not the main focus of the game; it should have been about her struggling to balance grief, desire for freedom, self-discovery, with the school a minor moment; it should have been an established relationship between chloe and rachel that blooms from friendship to potentially romantic; nathan and victoria and everyone should have been seen throughout the town, not at the school; it should have focused on rachel and chloe’s adventures, not the familial trauma between rachel and her parents (if it was added, it should have been a character moment but not a story/chapter), and their actions to pursue escaping arcadia bay

idk much about double exposure and i’m at the point where i will not play it, but it should have been something different; if they insisted on the max reoccurrence, it should have been a different possibility after lis1; it should have honored both endings and not erase the characters from the og game to make a nostalgic cash grab; it should have been max finally coming to terms with the choices she made ten years ago; whether it be the ache that can never be relieved, knowing her best friend is gone forever or the knowledge that a whole town and chloe’s entire family is now gone, but it’s not only her burden to bear and chloe is right there with her; it should have been her getting a residency at this university or whatever and her rediscovering her passion for photography outside of obligation; maybe her time powers could reappear with it or the new ones could come about and it give her new perspective; it should have been about the aftermath of lis1 in more than just text messages and letters and vague notes in conversation; if they wanted to keep the murder mystery aspect, they could’ve!! max is able to be friends with anyone she meets and is nosy af so naturally if someone she knows dies, she’ll want to find out what happened; who better to have her help figure it out than chloe???; they could have done parallels between lis1 and de

but decknine is shit. bts, tc, and de were doomed from their conceptions.

[crimsonxe]

Legit what they did with Reggie and Vinh should've been the how they did "romance element" in DE, namely DON'T make it about it Max. Have her able to play wingwoman for others, like it'd actually have shaken up the usual "MC has 2 romance interests" to instead being about having the ability to set people up (Star Ocean 2 style). But I fully stand on the idea that it wasn't about keeping the "romance element", it was about. Decknine again wanting to shove out the non-traditional, punk-rock, abrasive, take-no-shit, badass futch lesbian icon to shove in their own preferences. I keep getting more and more "this COULD have worked but they intentionally did it the wrong way" (y'know when not getting royally pissed off at the character assassinations). It really is like they took the comics and completely failed to comprehend why they were good, hence the comics nailing things while DE utterly fails at it. Chloe and Max separate in both: Comics = A shown on-screen scene where its for Max's sake as she's being torn between branches of the multiverse and LiS1-Chloe encourages her to go out and find where she feels she belongs; showing Chloe's survivor's guilt but NOT a single damn notion of blame being put on Max; her hoping that Max will come back to her in the end; having Max go through a whole ass journey that involves dealing with her trauma; having a gay/bi side-kick in Tristian that has his own romance with a different character as he's helping Max; Victora and Chloe being light friends; facing the Storm that is a collection of all the tears/scars in the universe that Max caused with her Rewinds vs. Chloe deciding offscreen to leave Max over a damn letter and saying having it put forward that its cause she's too "free spirited"; Max's trauma that is barely touched on; lacking romance interests being pushed to try to override the iconic LGBT+ pair (and utterly failing) including a male option that can have a romance other than Max but also has the option with Max cause ofc; Safi who is a powered friend that goes villain; Victoria and Chloe depending on how one reads it potentially fucking flirting (in what fucking world); and the Storm is suddenly something that can be caused by anyone with powers. Like even the supporting cast is like mirrors with the band in the comics vs. the Caledon people.

[maxthesillyy]

update‼️

SOSO interested in safi— she’s definitely grown on me, even if i still find a lot of her dialogue hit or miss. cant wait to learn more about her. could be a very interesting love interest— two secretive girls dodging around their past while simultaneously being curious about the other’s.

MOSES‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️<33 he’s silly and 100% neurodivergent. HE’S JUST LIKE ME FR! (ref) i forgive anything he has or will done. top ten LIS series characters. love him. moses im so sorry i fake-agreed with the cop— it just seemed crazy to go straight up “nah.” when the cop asks if youll tell him about anything that might help solve the case. like way to become top three suspects.

my opinions are still the same about loretta,, i love the beef max has with her. plus she gave us some pretty interesting information.

same opinions on gwen,, still interested what shes gonna do in the future. in my bae playthrough she highkey hates max rn 💔

amanda,,, kinda didnt do anything in chapter two. i mean we talk to her once and shit but thats kinda about it. i still dont see the love interest appeal between the two of them— BUT! to be fair i did tell her max just wanted to be friends so maybe it’s different otherwise. i know they have kinda good chemistry and banter but,,, that’s kinda it. amanda’s still a nothing burger with no flaws.

do NOT talk to me about vinh. 😒 i will not disgrace this household with his presence. but fr— he seems kinda interesting with his backstory shit and relevance to the plot (more than amanda’s doing 💔— but at least amanda is actually trying to help max tho so i forgive it) but unfortunately he’s committed the worst sin a character can do for me. be annoyingly and overly flirtly.

lucas next,, very curious on how his family relationship is That different between timelines. i agreed to not tell safi because exactly of how max put it— not my buisness. plus we know barely jackshit, and i cant imagine the harm itll do to just. wait and see what happens. i don’t hate him! but i don’t love him either. he’s kinda endearing but i still dont really trust him.

no comment on chloe other than oh my god decknine stay away from her. also max is clearly no where near being over her.

THEN REGGIE AND DIAMOND!!! admittedly ive grown a LOT more attached over them. reggie is endearing and diamond is silly. i support them in every course of action they take.

my opinion on yasmin is largely the same,, she didnt really do anything important in this chapter far as i remember.

but yeah thats the update,, can confirm i definitely would be upset now if any of them died.

what do you think about the characters in Double Exposure so far?

the characters themselves arent that bad,, but i definitely cant say i really care for any of them yet. as in i wouldnt be that upset at any of their deaths

at first i was NOT vibing right with Safi at all considering literally all of her jokes are straight up hit or miss, but the more we learn about her (or. learn that we have a lot to learn) the more i’ve grown interested and fond of her. she kinda gives Way Too Excited For 8 AM Teacher vibes.

Moses is kinda intriguing to me right now, but is also pretty much a nothing burger,, i can only assume (and hope) i’ll see more about him after chapter 1. so. he’s kinda silly, thats about it.

OH Loretta. i hate her so much, she’s so funny, i love her. i always love to hate a good bitchy girl character. oh my cod— ESPECIALLY when the look she gives Max if u try to call her bluff. im definitely hella excited to see more of her— especially since she clearly brought out the more bitchy side of Max. honestly so far i think these two’s dynamic is my favorite. she kinda feels like Max, Victoria, and Rachel all smushed together.

then theres Gwen,,, the game’s definitely setting us up to be suspicious of her. i dont have many thoughts about her though other than that. shes hot ? kinda endearing when shes not pissed at us. thats about it.

Amanda……………. 😒 she exists ig. no fr though, she’s literally fine. she feels more like a quirky best friend disney channel character than a real person. and then theres with the game SHOVING her and max together… idk! maybe ill warm up to her. i dont want to hate her but the game is very quickly pulling me down that route.

oh then the other guy max can flirt with for some godforsaken reason?? Vinh is his name i think. i dont trust him, and i dont think were supposed to. personally i think it feels ooc for max to openly flirt with him back— especially so quickly,, even if she’s doing it jokingly or smth. like girl you were just either talking about how you can never recognize when youre being flirted with or need to take time before flirting back with someone— AND even then. you’d think max would be more wary of overly charming who show an interest in her.

which brings me to Lucas. im guessing if anything happens with him he’s gonna be a red herring. maybe it’s just me, but i wouldn’t be surprised if were supposed to be reminded of jefferson when we see him,, at least he doesnt have any real interest in her though.

pretty sure Amanda and Vinh are the only two love interests? either way i honestly dont think it makes sense for Max to be seeking either of them out romantically. this may be the Aro in me, but chloe was a realistic “love interest” in the OG game because well. they were Max and Chloe. and besides that Max was already with her basically 24/7, and was obsessed with her. they made sense. they werent forced or obviously placed there just to be love interests— it was natural.

honestly Amanda and Vinh just seem like.. love interests for the sake of love interests.

tbh any love interest for Max right now just feels,,,, maybe could’ve been the right person but WAY too wrong of a time. like i dont even see an interesting unhealthy dynamic— and if i wanted that i would just go to current DE!pricefield so.

this brings me to Chloe… im happy she’s haunting the narrative rn,,, could be doing it a little harder imo—but other than that im. trying not to form any huge opinions on the Max and Chloe situation. when we (hopefully istg decknine) get the whole picture ill probably talk about this more. im just pretty conflicted.. and also wishing decknine just CHOSE one of the endings (bay WHO SAID THAT) instead of leaving it open to not piss anyone off.

oh uh then Reggie and Diamond,, i dont have any thoughts about them really except for being mildly intrigued by the amount of attention handed over to Diamond. im guessing she’ll have more plot relevance later,,, but Reggie will prob stay a very side character.

i thinkkk thats everyone? OH. Yasmin. not much about her. can appreciate how much she cares about Safi’s murder. but yeah nobody else comes to mind,,, and if i did miss somebody i guess that just goes to show how little i think of them.

so i guess overall my thoughts about the DE characters are “we’ll have to see what happens.”

[oodlyenough]

in the wake of the true colours hype last year i decided to rank every LIS game + dlc and then ... never published the post bc the fandom was so full of people picking fights with each other lmao

but now the fandom is dead and my opinions have not really shifted at all so here is my extremely long-winded opinionated post on life is strange lmao:

#1. life is strange

lis1 my beloved...

honestly i just love this game. all my qualms are fairly minor. I like the stupid dialogue -- I think it has more character and is more memorable than same-voice quipmachine dialogue that is trendy in lots of media, and captures the spirit of the way teenagers talk even if not the slang specifically. i love the way every part of the game serves the theme -- from the photo collectibles and max's photography interest to the idea of capturing moments in time, time travel, etc. rewind is an absolute galaxy brain mechanic to introduce into a choice game, used to great effect.

i LOVE the nightmare sequence, and i even love the ending choice that again serves the theme of "you cannot rewrite time to fix all your mistakes". i love having a murder mystery time travel game where the central relationship is two girls falling in love. 10/10. my beloved. #2. true colours

i love true colours a lot! i thought decknine made massive strides between BTS and this, and it made me more optimistic for the future of the franchise. i was so happy to love it

i loved alex and thought she was a wonderful, complex, well-performed character. i thought the empathy was used really interestingly, i liked seeing the world through other characters' emotions. i loved the core cast of supporting characters -- steph, ryan, gabe, charlotte, riley, duckie, they're all characters i got attached to and wanted to form good relationships with. i liked that it was a murder mystery. i liked getting to follow NPCs like bald guy and the ice cream couple through the game. when i first finished, i was like, wow this really gave lis1 a run for its money in my affection...

however, on reflection, i wish TC had pushed a bit further in a few things. i wish more choices felt like actual dilemmas instead of simply Good Choice and Bad Choice -- for eg i would like to see a serious consequence to *not* taking charlotte's anger, instead of only bad things happening when you do. i wish the end scene with the council played a bit differently, where the support of the council mattered more, or your choices in the jed speech mattered more. i wish that the friend you didn't romance didn't vanish off the face of the planet after the council meeting. i wish we'd had more time to get to know steph and ryan. i wish more licensed music had been integrated into scenes, instead of cordoned off into the zen moments. i really missed the end-episode music montages!

so, while i do still really love TC and it's a strong #2, it is still #2. #3. dlc: farewell i thought farewell handled the bittersweet nature of the day very well, even before it first clicked with me it was *that* day in particular. it was fun to see young max and chloe, and great to hear ashly burch and hannah telle back in their roles. it's fair to say this DLC was fanservice, but as a fan i felt serviced, lmao.

however the ending scene is maudlin for the sake of being maudlin. it's unbelievable to me that the caulfields just drag max away mid-funeral without even a goodbye lmaooo... like come on... #4. life is strange 2 honestly this ended up higher than i thought it would lol the nicest thing i can say about lis2 is it took a lot of risks. unfortunately almost none of those risks paid off for me.

I like sean himself, and his little journey of self discovery in ep 3 was super endearing to me. lots of the scenery was beautiful. the lis1 easter eggs were everything i wanted them to be and i appreciate dontnod giving them to me. I respect the work that went into the branching endings and morality/brotherhood system, even if I found the final choice itself infuriating. i'm not *in theory* against games being Political, provided they know what they want to say.

but i didn't like not having the power, i didn't like not having a familiar setting and NPCs to get attached to over the course of the episodes, i didn't like the time jumps between episodes where i just had to catch up via sean's journal, i didn't like what i felt was the player's lack of control in directing the story, and i didn't even like a lot of the plot execution (for eg the karen plotline was not what i wanted from karen at all), i didn't like that the core mechanic was babysitting simulator at a time i was already feeling exhausted by that genre.

i struggled to connect to daniel and not connecting to daniel undermines the entire emotional core of the game. i resented my overall feeling that the game itself saw sean as a sacrificial lamb whose life was forfeit in favour of daniel's. i felt railroaded by the plot constantly and was frustrated watching sean do things i would never have chosen, or daniel do things i had explicitly tried to choose against. i was extremely uncomfortable watching a 16 year old be hate crimed every episode. i thought the game's politics were muddy at best, far less progressive than it thinks they are and offensively milquetoast at worst, like #NotAllCopsing me at the eleventh hour at trump's fucking wall, or having the audacity to have an NPC tell sean "they don't hurt children" at the border detention centre in the middle of the real life child separation crisis.

but ultimately this wound up placed in the centre of my rankings because despite my personal feelings being primarily negative, i at least respect the scope of what this game attempted to do, and think it was a more ambitious project than what follows.

#5. dlc: wavelengths I feel like I can't in good conscience rank Wavelengths any higher, bc even though it never made me *angry* and I personally enjoyed playing it more than lis2, it ultimately felt like an underused concept that had about one chapter of interesting development out of four. I really liked the autumn sequence, and learning about Steph's baggage from Arcadia Bay, and seeing Mikey. I also liked Duckie and Gabe's calls. those things all helped me gain perspective on the characters and relationships in TC and even in BTS.

But the radio tasks were repetitive, and overall it felt like a missed opportunity to do so much more to flesh out Steph's life in Haven -- her friendship with Gabe, and Ryan, and Charlotte, etc. So many of those callers could've been characters from Haven and helped the town feel more fleshed out. We could've had consequences (however mild -- an angry email or happy email) for how our ad reads went. We could've... done a lot more, honestly. I had fun with the dating app, but it felt pointless, knowing in TC she's single anyway. The plot thread from autumn felt incomplete to me because it *so obviously* set up Bae-route Steph reconnecting with Chloe or TRYING to reconnect with Chloe, even a google search, and then just didn't go there at all. It was more or less a shrug of a DLC for me and I feel like I couldn't genuinely recommend it to TC players unless they *really* love Steph.

#6. before the storm

the thing about before the storm is I REALLY wanted to like it. i love chloe, i was interested in seeing rachel, and more of arcadia bay. i wanted to love it!! there are moments in it i do like, chloe's dream sequences are mostly pretty cool, it's got a decent soundtrack that is mostly used well, it has some good visual moments like the stars in rachel's room or the flashback story with rachel's biomom. steph and mikey are alright here, and it's nice to see them blossom into fuller characters in wavelengths and TC. that end montage to "bros" by wolf alice was a+, probably my favourite part of the game. SOME of the moments of chloe's early lesbian crisis moments were well done (others um... very much not so, imo.)

but ultimately... this story wasn't a story i really needed to be told, and i resent what it brought to the lis1 timeline. it actively makes parts of lis1 worse or more nonsensical. i think chloe makes a better deuteragonist than a player character, and having us play an established character with defined canon behaviours was a mistake. (we should've played rachel!!!) i thought the rachel they wrote was inconsistent not only with LIS1 but within itself, creating a vaguer and ultimately less interesting version of the character than i was able to imagine just based on lis1 alone. i thought the joyce-david-chloe drama was very poorly handled and what they accomplished was making david even more of a ridiculous caricature and joyce even less sympathetic than she was in lis1 when she shrugs off david's abuse. i didn't like how they wrote amberprice, and i resent that i'm stuck with this bland interpretation now forever. in a prequel to a game where you find out a teacher is drugging young girls, a character who will eventually be killed by this *can drug another girl for comedy to steal her role in a play* and no one in-universe bats an eye. also all of episode 3 was hot garbage trash from basically top to bottom, closing montage excluded.

also, all the scab VAs are not good. some of the voice acting is distractingly bad. or perhaps it was the director. everyone takes extremely long pauses between words whenever they want to emote. why? david marijuana.wav

ultimately, even though there were parts i liked, the parts i don't like annoy me more because they are not only in bts, they have infected the LIS1 lore, wavelengths and influenced the way fandom, the comics and now d9 treat the characters. so... 👎🏻 #7. dlc: captain spirit this really offered me nothing i'm ngl. i was not into child abuse simulator, i was irritated that it was being branded as a taste of lis2 yet gave me nothing i liked, was bored the whole time, was not into playing a ten year old white boy in a series that, to that point, was about gay girls coming of age. just did not enjoy anything about this tbh

[danielsarmand]

i am so mad at decknine for how they treated ryan lmao i knew they were going to fuck it up and like i got the perfect ending so i’m personally ok but i know most people got the ending where he doesn’t believe you and since practically everyone romanced steph so very little people actually got closure about it and i hate it what the hell. what the hell, decknine. i don’t want to even get started on the blatant favoritism because steph believes you no matter what no questions asked but ryan (who’s already the automatically less-picked romance because the other option is steph and not only is steph steph which. i absolutely get but also fans are always just begging for lis references they can’t ever stop wanting to bring chloe and max back somehow they’ll take anything that reminds them of pricefield even a little and i also can get that but yeah ryan wasn’t in a good position to begin with), ryan - as i was saying - despite everything you’ve been through has like at least a 70% chance of saying “nah. can’t be”. and i get it, it’s his dad we’re talking about and i don’t blame him for hesitating, i don’t blame him for being the last to actually say he believes alex and confronting his dad because he needed that extra time to process and he was visibly shaken and tell you what, i to some extent even don’t blame him if he doesn’t believe you at all; kinda weird that he wouldn’t, sure, kinda weird that anyone wouldn’t because like... look at alex. she’s literally... half-dead. multiple broken bones. blood. what, do you think she just launched herself off a roof to ruin jed’s day for no reason? idk but like... at least i get that he wouldn’t be able to go through such a massive amount of emotions in such a short span of time, because that’s his father and his role model and he’s lived his whole life respecting and looking up to him and, first and foremost, loving him deeply.

but i do blame decknine. i do blame decknine for creating such a loveable character, one of my favourites in this specific game but more generally even in the whole lis franchise, and fucking him over so badly at the end. not only because, as i said, steph is portrayed to be the superior romance because she stands with you and backs you up no matter what and ryan doesn’t (so he has to be an asshole, or at least not deserving of alex’s love, most people will surmise), but most importantly because if you do not romance him and he doesn’t believe you, there is no way for neither alex nor him to get closure on the matter. he sends alex a text where he says sorry, and alex, alex who has the super empathy, alex who loves him and has found a home in him as much as she has in steph, alex who knows he was gabe’s best friend, she doesn’t even answer. and that’s that about that. the end. so you’re telling me, decknine, that they deserve closure only if they were involved romantically? that a friend isn’t as important as a significant other, so it’s fine if we leave things as they are? it’s okay if you can see that he’s sorry over fucking texts but you cannot actually see him say that to alex’s face and you can’t see alex say she forgives him? all of this is a privilege you only get if you had previously romanced him and it’s seriously making me go a bit insane because why would you do that. neither of them deserves that, we players do not deserve that.

i really do not know why they always do this with male love interests. warren wasn’t even much of a romance at all and people still hated him for some reason, finn in lis2 has extremely negative connotations and potentially (or, like, just generally lmao) leads to very troubled situations, now ryan is very likely to treat you like shit and if he does he won’t even be able to explain himself (and when he does, when he says “maybe deep down i knew, but i couldn’t accept it” that’s really all the explanation needed. he knew, he knew he should’ve believed her but he couldn’t deal with that at the moment. that’s very raw and very real and very, to me at least, forgivable) unless you’ve kissed him on the roof, which most people, according to stats, didn’t. i am so tired. i am so tired.

i have nothing against steph, or the romance with her. i love steph to bits and i wish i could just let alex be with both. personally, i am a big fan of them being poly, alex has two hands and all that. but i hate that decknine had to go and make me feel like most people will leave lis true colors thinking that one of the two romances is worse than the other, or that they will go so far as to hate on ryan or look down at him for what he did or didn’t do. i’ve already seen some pretty nasty comments and i don’t know, it soured the game a little for me, i wanted to hope they wouldn’t go there this time since they did such a good job with mac.

[rainboq]

Steph Gingrich for the character bingo

"Wasted potential?! Rain, what the fuck are you smoking?!" I hear you shriek, calm down, let me explain.

For one thing: *vaguely gestures at BtS* She's barely in BtS, and I loved every minute of her screen time. I wish we'd gotten to see more of their friendship that's hinted at in Wavelengths. Steph taking Chloe to her first pride? HELLO?! I want to see these gaybies at pride! Of course, we can't have that because she was created from whole cloth by DeckNine for BtS so we couldn't, but then there's True Colors.

Now to start: I adore True Colors. Alex is probably my favorite protagonist in the series, with Chloe and Max in close second and third. She oozes personality while still allowing player choice. She's flirty but while still showing nervousness. But we didn't get nearly as much Steph in that game as I would have liked, nor did we really get the three amigos doing things together. We get the great USB heist, cracking the contents of the laptop (depending on what you did), and the Spring Fest. Where was my Chenwich breaking into Typhon to find more information to corroborate their plans? Or just hanging out around town? Wavelengths gave us a lot, but I honestly wanted more and the structure of TC didn't allow for it because of the story's focus on Alex's personal journey. Call me a dork, but I'm sucker for a long slow romantic arc instead of a few scenes to pick who you end up with.

That said, Katy absolutely killed it with the performance for Steph, and so much of what I love about the nerd queen is thanks to her.

Am I just complaining that I didn't get more of a good thing? Yes, dear reader, yes I am.

Expect some Steph centric fic from me in the near future.

[crimsonxe]

Fuck absolutely the hell off. Not only does Chloe tell Max its fine to make whatever decision, but the ending itself says that she's okay with it not golden about it; but it was Max's choice based on what she thought was best. LiS2-Bae and LiS TC-Bae then come in to reinforce that by the two being happy and together. Chloe wouldn't hold this shit against Max and anyone saying otherwise doesn't have a damn clue on her as a character.

You can also shove this obnoxious attitude towards Bae people right up your fucking ass. People paid attention just fine and the ending scene was somber because y'know a section of a town just died. They aren't going to be riding into the damn sunset on rainbows and sunshine to use your own imagery; it means that DontNod UNLIKE Decknine's disgusting asses actually understood the characters, the relationships, and the story to know that it'd be a weighty ending.

I wouldn't have expected Chloe to be running 2nd seat to Max, but expected Dontnod's canon to respected, Chloe to be respected, and the player choice to be fucking respected in maintaining Pricefield for those that went that route through voice-less texts or even voiced calls and an ending scene where Chloe actually shows up after everything is done. It keeps Chloe out of the main focus, but still respects Dontnod and players. But nah Decknine being pieces of shit that they are had to pettily disrespect all of it.

Literally have Chloe working on a project to catch up with Max later, especially given that she's at Caledon on a contract gig that will be done leading to a chance of either returning to Chloe or Chloe showing up after having settled shit where she was read to move wherever the next place would be.

"Other romance options", the lipstick lesbian for men and mainstream audience appeal that utterly lacks any chemistry with Max whatsoever and is a Chloe knockoff trash. Only going to show that Decknine are disgusting in regards to LGBT+ via presenting the idea that LGBT+ is all interchangeable. "The gays will be fine with it as long as there's some gay there" that is equally as disgusting as men who want "girl on girl is hot" but not actual true wlw relationships.

Nah, fuck Decknine and fuck this non-canon game. The franchise stopped at True Colors and Max & Chloe's story continued how DONTNOD said. This is game is just a shitty ass alternate branch in the multiverse, which thankfully Decknine in their petty ass attempt to rewrite history added to the ability to treat it as such cause of the different picture used for this game vs. LiS2-Bae. One can easily disregard this trashfire.

*mild spoiler ahead, keeping it as minimal as possible*

Listen I love Chloe and Max but it kinda boggles my mind that a large part of the fandom didn’t think at the end of the first game that if you chose “bae over bay” (or to the people that actually paid attention to the dialogue without being completely blinded by the pretty lesbian couple, the option known as killing Chloe’s mom against Chloe’s wish to save her) that their relationship was gonna be “happily ever after” and sunshine and rainbows…especially with how miserable they looked leaving in that truck, they might just be a little out of touch with reality… Not that they couldn’t work it out in the future (which to be fair, could still happen by the end of the new game assuming you continued down the Bae route) but them being broken up really shouldn’t be a surprise, and the way they’ve discussed it with Max being traumatized from her decision makes sense, choosing to kill all your friends and entire town just to save one person at 18 years old, isn’t something you just get over…

Beyond that, the people that are acting shocked that Chloe isn’t playing a bigger role in the game are out of touch too. From the jump, the game has been promoted as “the return of Max Caulfield”. Not the return of Max and Chloe. And while we only really have the first two chapters to go by so far, I feel like she’s as prominent as I expected her to be in this one. If not more.

Idk, I get being disappointed that at the moment, they are broken up, but like how else were they gonna keep her away from the game that continues Max’s story in a way that honors both endings from the original without them having to add a whole other character in the mix just for one timeline.

I can only predict the ending of this game so far, but it feels like the game plan for Max’s journey is to have her get to a place where she can let go of the past and move on and be happy, and we know that Max’s inability to let go of what happened in the past up until this point is the reason they broke up in the first place so to me, at least in the bae route of Double Exposure, it feels like the game plan is to eventually get Chloe and Max back together by the end of it (at least for those not exploring other romance options).

I don’t know…all I’m saying is don’t get all angry and dismiss the entire game before we see how it all plays out.

[sumrallmind]

I’m having trouble sleeping so Ima put some of my life is strange true colors thoughts under the cut. Spoilers of course, up to end of chapter 3.

These are without refreshing myself on what happened so whatever i might have some details wrong

Chapter 1 was a good introduction to the world, the powers, and the characters. Decknine did great is making you care about Gabe which makes the ending of the chapter that much more tragic. The little time we got with each inhabitant in Haven was enough to get your interested in their personal stories.

I enjoyed the detective work using the comic to help find ethan’s location, that was a nice touch. And I really liked how they showed Ethan’s fear. it was a subtle but important push for Alex to go from being overwhelmed by emotion to experiencing it with someone.

Because of the shock of the ending you dont have time to really think about what happened with the rockslide, but right at the start of Chapter 2, hooboy.

Oh shit almost forgot the moment where alex sings creep is so damn emotional!

Chapter 2 i also liked. Jed is fantastic and a delight to be around and its good to see someone that caring. And also humble, if we recall that he doesn’t like to tlak about how he saved all those miners.

I only found one memory, i think. the button in the rooftop garden. it was a passing mention but i appreciated that steph’s bandmate was trans. nice little touch.

A great scene was helping Steph through her pain. This was a good moment for Alex to use her powers in a calm setting, to be somewhat proactive in trying to help. Plus, I like how she doesnt fall into the mind-reading trope of blurting out exactly what she reads. Alex is smart. She uses the knowledge in a way that suggests insight without knowledge, if that makes sense.

Then, we have hanging around town, visting people and trying to find Mac. I like how open it feels and thats refelcted in the choice breakdown at the end. There feel like a lot you could miss.

Also dammnit the game made me feel bad for Mac. Yeah dudes an ass but he got put into a terrible position, being told not to tell the truth.

antoehr great moment? Alex realizing she could feel positive emotions from people. Ugh the game does so good in setting up the romances. You really feel the connection between alex and steph and ryan.

Chapter 3 might be my fav so far. You got the sexy distraction. You got diane’s gay awakening. You got ryan as wolfserpenttroll roleplaying on mybook. you got Steph’s Lesbian panic at the “i’ll trade ya for my hand in marrage which includes all the marriage bonus wink wink”. most of the town joining in on the fun. AND THE FINAL FANTASY SEQUENCE WITH ACCURATE SOUNDS! LOVE! IT!

I felt so much emotion for everyone durning the larp. it was the release everyone needed. but then we go into ethan’s ptsd? charlotte’s eomtions? then the phone calls and the emails and the files? whiplash, yo. whiplash.

When i finsih the next chapter i’ll try to get my thought out during or right after so its not as ramshackle and rambly.

couple of quickfire notes to wrap this up

Alex is great, big bi energy, omg two whales shirt yis. She and chloe would get along. Also she and max, now that i think aobut it.

little acts of kindness using power, love it. you go girl, pump up that joggers self esteem! help that birdwatcher find that hawk! help those two young dumb idiots in love get... wait, alex decided not to deal with that mess. fair play.

The expression and eye movement, yes. The people feel so much like people. It adds so much depth to the performances.

steph, stable lesbian who is also a disaster. Ryan, pretty sure that dude is super bi. Jed, nice old man duckie, i wanna drink with this dude and hear the stories eleanor, sad face riley, might have a lil crush on Alex

[slf-cntrl]

SPOILERS| I love LIS BUT...

I really appreciate them giving us a chance to know Rachel but the whole Sera/Damon/James plot is pointless if so many questions are left unanswered.

Did Chloe ever tell Max all this very useful information about what happened to her and Rachel?

What happened to Sera? If Rachel does meet her, where do they go from there?

When Chloe said her parents gave up looking was she talking about Rose and James or James and Sera?

How did Rachel and Frank start messing around?

When & how did Nathan start working with Jefferson?

What happened to Samantha?

If she wasn't his first victim what was the point of their story?

Did Chloe actually refuse Davids offer which is why he is still a dick?

Did Rachel ever get in trouble for starting the fire?

How did Rachel end up at the Dark Room?

Did her and Jefferson actually sleep around?

Did James and Rose stay together?

What happened to James? Did they find out he was withholding evidence?

Where is Elliot now? and is he in jail?

What happened to the Norths and Steph?

Why tf does it say Warren is at blackwell in BTS when he is 16 in the original game making him 13 in BTS.

Why in the alternate universe we're supposed to assume Rachel is meant to go down the same path with or without Chloe?

What does William not dying have to do with Max joining the Vortex club and Warren dating Stella?

If Chloe's fate was to die in the bathroom and saving her causes her to have many near death experiences that Max has to save her from then why when Max saved William he didn't some how die along the way?

If you choose Bae over Bay does Chloe somehow almost die multiple times causing Max to use her Powers and create another storm?

That aside there's probably only one question i can answer..

Why did DeckNine put the missed call scene at the end if they weren't gonna go more into it?

ANSWER: because they're assholes

[crimsonxe]

Reblogging cause I don't know how long this will go by I have MANY damn words to say to this bullshit, especially coming from a supposed fan of either of the characters.

Yeah they did have past issues, which they went over the majority of DURING LiS1. DontNod, y'know the ones that actually fucking get their own characters, AND the comic who also get the damn characters cause Emma is an actual fan show the two NOT having issues and being happily together with Chloe going to galleries with Max. Because they recognize that the ordeal they went through over LiS1 is of the vein that either forever bonds two people or utterly irreparably shatters their bond; according to true main canon that is DONTNOD's it did the first. Which the comic also picks up on.

vs. Decknine who don't give shit, don't understand a damn thing about the fucking characters (they write Chloe more as fucking Rachel), and as per the leaks from an ex employee are actually anti-Chloe in disliking her character.

By the halfway point of LiS1 they're biggest issues were gone and Max had shifted back into Chloe's core/behind her walls, where anyone there gets her absolute loyalty. This is shown with her and Rachel who also was in her core/behind her walls, where she kept believing in her after each reveal over LiS1; even after Frank still wanting to have something if she were still alive. Which goes into why it makes absolutely not a SHRED of sense that she'd be the one to leave Max; she WOULDN'T.

Oh fuck off, like yes I do think there'd be survivor's guilt and weight on Max from it; but not only do I say fuck the guilt trip/emotional chord your ass is trying to invoke/pull but also that these things can be resolved by other means that RESPECT PLAYER CHOICE. Max could choose to fight for the relationship thus having a separation from Chloe with Max going to Caledon for some time to get her shit in order mentally and then boom event that allows for her to explore her trauma and come to closure with it; that then leads into an ending where she has all those things done and is ready to truly move into the future with Chloe. Amanda's trash ass can be a friend cause she definitely doesn't have a shred of chemistry with Max, so for that route there'd be no romance as the focus would be on y'know Max's trauma not a femmed up lipstick lesbian chemistry-less trash ass option or a fucking Nathan Prescott fuckbag option (which that THIS is a thing shows how fucked up Decknine's writers were to choose THIS as the male option). Y'know who DID do this? The comics that were handled by a fan that actually gave a shit and understood the characters. Chloe didn't break up with Max over some "free-spirit" bullshit, she pushed her to find herself and where she belongs; even if that meant not with her. Then after a whole ass journey that tapped into her issues and even allowed her the chance of interacting with a platonic AmberPrice-Chloe, where it even dives into the circumstances that made LiS1 Chloe romantic vs. that alternate branch where it was platonic that was going through the ordeal of LiS1 events leading to fire-forging/soul-bonding. Max DOES come back to her LiS1 Chloe with her issues resolved.

LiS1 Chloe wouldn't have that paranoia, which is another thing in the comics; AmberPrice-alternate branch-Chloe does. Because LiS1 Chloe believes and trusts in Max. What's fucked up is the Decknine writers trying to inject that shit into characters that wouldn't do it. Dontnod would've gone into it if they remotely thought it was an issue, but instead we're shown Chloe being onboard with the power usage. But after seeing the Storm, I'd wager that both of them would lean AWAY from the powers.

Oh yes how dare a traumatized girl that's fucked over by life want to utilize a power that allows her to say "fuck you" to the universe. As someone not traumatized but very much at times feels fucked over by the universe, I'd abso-fucking-lutely run with that "fuck you". Also I'm so fucking tired of the "guilt trippy" bullshit, yes Chloe pulls emotional chords; but those are fucking VALID chords to pull. She is RIGHT and VALID to have anger and resentment and to use things to her benefit, cause no one else is helping her. She's not at all fucking selfish except to morons that misread/misunderstand her; and her being abrasive is one of the damn reason I LOVE her as a character. A femme character that takes-no-shit = LOVE it every single time. Sorry, not sorry she isn't some soft-toned suburb girl but an actual badass.

Yeah, you being "surprised" is a your lacking in understanding a damn thing about them. That's a YOU failing not a them one as DontNod made it very clear the two were happily together years later in LiS2- Bae, which is exactly what fits after the ordeal they went through that soul-bonded them.

So the fuck what? Not only is there an entire goddamn genre that exists in the vein of "fuck fate" for this exact thing; but it doesn't at all change the feelings involved. And if you bullshit is supposed to be that the universe will continue to go after Chloe in some Final Destination fashion; you're provably WRONG as shown in both LiS2- Bae and True Colors-Bae, where Chloe isn't being stalked by Death. On top of this the comics actually offer a different take on the entire Storm that fits, which actually puts it on MAX with her "scarring" the universe every time she Rewound and altered things. So it wasn't a matter of "Chloe's got to go", but a reversing all of the scars MAX caused. Regardless there is no world where my Max does a "well clearly Death is going to keep coming after you so probably should just let it win."; fuck that shit. And clearly DontNod said fuck that shit too, since once again there isn't any of that in LiS2-Bae or True Colors-Bae.

Yes I would which is exactly why I'm Bae over Bay and unapologetically so. Once again not a damn thing you've said actually justifies having them break up or having it go the way Decknine's shitty ass writing tried to do it. Like Decknine your ass fails at understanding the characters and their bond, even in direct contrast to what DontNod the actual canon makers for these characters presents.

a) there is an entire ass vein of "separated" that could have them coming back together after Max coincidentally landed in an exact situation allowing for her to go through her trauma. Instead Decknine chose to pull a "we know better" bullshit that is made worse by them shoving in chemistry-less trash ass romances with equally trash ass chemistry-less love interests that don't come remotely close to Max and Chloe's bond.

b) get this shit through your fucking skull: SOUL-BONDED not trauma-bonded. You can shove trauma-bonded up your know-nothing misunderstanding character ass.

Do you thought, because I'm pretty sure your sorry ass is just saying you love them to try to add credibility to your bullshit. Especially with your ass repeatedly stressing "loving them individually", not together. Like absolutely fuck the hell off.

Nah, dumbass you have a misunderstanding of the characters, the relationship, and even the entirety of the story of LiS1. Your bullshit doesn't even line up with DontNod's canon that they show in LiS2-Bae. Thankfully Decknine's trashfire is nothing more than a sorry ass "fix-it-fic" AU blue haired Chloe branch that can be fully ignored, while DontNod's green haired Chloe who's happily going to galleries with her gf Max is main canon. You know your you don't have fucking clue about Chloe like Decknine, when you have her acting closer to fucking Victoria than Max; which just shows why its not worthy of being main canon. So take your pathetic trying to defend Decknine's garbage and fuck off.

Spoilers for Life Is Strange: Double Exposure

Please read before you filet me. Now… don’t kill the messenger but I am absolutely not surprised Chloe and Max breakup in LIS:DE. And I say this as someone who chose Bae over Bay and love Max and Chloe (individually) with allllll my heart.

For starters, they had a LOT - and I mean A LOT - of unresolved trauma from their past. I’m specifically talking about Max not talking to Chloe for five years after literally leaving town once Williams funeral was over.

It’s not Max’s fault she left but she was wrong for not staying in touch with Chloe. Again, I say this as someone who also sucks at staying in touch (it’s a big big character flaw of mine).

Next, the fact that for Chloe to live means everyone - including her fucking MOM - had to die. Suddenly and horribly. In a storm. That came from nowhere in their point of view.

There’s NO WAY both Chloe and Max don’t hold major guilt from that. Chloe with survivors guilt and Max with just guilt period. And the fact that they would have started their relationship right after that… how can a healthy relationship form with that as the foundation.

Next, Max has a habit of using her powers to kinda manipulate situations to go her way. In the game AND in the comics. And from what we have seen: she doesn’t stop doing that even after the storm. Chloe literally cannot SEE a future with them together because she doesn’t know if Max went back in time or not.

Im not saying Max is a manipulative sociopath - of course not - but, damn, isn’t that just a bit fucked.

It’s not like Chloe is innocent either. She pushes Max to use her powers so much, is selfish and abrasive, and lowkey guilt trippy AS FUCK in LIS.

I love them both down individually but together.. I’m just surprised they lasted more than a few months.

Last but not least, the game kinda centers on Max trying to have Chloe stay alive. It’s actually insane how many times my girl Chloe died and my girl Max had to rewind time to save her. It’s almost like the universe was saying “Hey Chloe gotta go” imho.

Now, if you were in Max’s shoes, you would probably choose your loved one over the town in a heartbeat. However, even with this ending the situation is still fucked and I’m not surprised at all they broke up.

They needed space from each other and their past. How can they do that when they’re trauma bonded?

(Again I love them down individually and they had many cute moments but let’s be realistic y’all. Life is Strange and life is ass)

(Also also some of y’all clearly have a bias towards Chloe that is kinda blinding you from the reality. I will agree though that them breaking up over a letter is fuckeddddd and unrealistic)

[chaseprice]

do you ever miss the love is strange era of the fan base? where that was the popular Rachel characterization? cause i do like bts doesn’t exist to me

honestly? i do. or at least i miss the period where everybody was creative and piecing things together and theorising her characterisation from the clues we got from the first game, for a few reasons. firstly because in a lot of ways i think they (as in, other peoples opinions on her, her belongings, spaces she hung out, the impact she had on various people) say a LOT about her as a character compared to… i don’t know. most explicit dialogue, for example. and it was a very interesting and fun time, exploring rachel as a character when she isn’t present, just like before we all knew she had been fridged. and secondly because the established fanon characterisation of rachel that CAME from that period was really, really fucking good? it took elements from canon and used new personality details/traits to explain them, and it worked and made her so fully fleshed out and multidimensional? popular, party girl, elusive and coveted and best friends-and-a-bit-more with the skater drop out chick… misunderstood, giving herself to too many people, secretly insecure and feeling lost and inadequate, desperate to escape. loved by many but hated, too… it lead us to believe she was really socially powerful and present and sharp, which lets us know that there’s a huge chance she was under a massive amount of pressure to keep up a certain expectation of herself too. being really untethered and mysterious and floating between so many groups of people, being flawed, making mistakes, hiding things, keeping secrets, getting angry at herself. she’s seen wandering arcadia bay alone, worried and deep in her thoughts. at her core she is vulnerable. she is BIG. she is a massive, deep, complex character. she wants to be loved, needed, wanted.

and bts just doesn’t hit the mark. don’t get me wrong, they had a good rachel. she was shown as multifaceted, kind, caring, a bit chaotic, vulnerable, desperate, scared, impulsive. but there’s still something missing that makes rachel The rachel amber. and i believe it stems very largely from the fact that deck nine decided to take a route with their writing that… meant… A Story they had written was Happening To rachel and chloe. like… sera, damon, james, the whole plot, was constructed originally by decknine – it wasn’t stuff from the original game. it was new. it was non-previously-existent stuff happening to preexisting characters, and they used that as their medium to explore and construct rachel as a character. so, we’d see rachel like, angry because of her dad. or flirty because of chloe. or desperate and sad because of the birth-mom news. and it feels a lot cheaper because it isn’t… wholly necessary? it makes it feel like an elaborate fanfiction, which was kind of… our worry from the start? and love is strange succeeds because even though it is a fanmade project - it delves so deeply into characterisations of characters we know and love and explores dynamics that we know and love and is grounded deeply in everything that we know and love but goes Beyond. there is meaning and resolution and development. and bts just feels like, our characters, thrown into spooky situations for no reason (and at times it even gets out-of-character, which doesn’t. help their case). so because decknine decided to create a story which is a little farfetched and attempts to match the original lis in its twists and turns and complexity… it does the opposite? it feels like not-lis? because it’s /so/ damn extra? it misses the opportunity to explore a story that we are already slightly in on but would love to see more: and that story is the story of rachel and chloe’s friendship. solely their story. high school stuff. first meetings, crushes, falling in love, mistakes and fucking up, navigating abusive households, being crushed by the pressure to be someone you’re not, wanting to run away from everything, finding refuge in each other. something that actually explains how rachel and chloe got to be the people that they were in lis, and realistically. because bts just. didn’t. feel realistic to me. it felt like a weird AU where characterisation was slightly shallow since the story was more plot-driven. 

and another massive issue is The Parents Thing. i’ve been speaking to my friends about this lately too, but Rachel Amber is a lot more messed up than bts portray her to be. internally she is a lot more lonely and scared and desperate, and her parents are not present. her parents do not care about her going missing. they believe she did a Rachel Thing and ran away, and she’ll come back. hell, rachel amber doesn’t even have a house in arcadia bay! among the shit ton of inconsistencies between bts and lis, there is the glaring error of rachel living in arcadia bay with her parents. she canonically has a dorm room. her parents are clearly still living back in california, and she’s attending the college (bc cough yes blackwell was intended to be a college type set up, not high school lol woopsies) away from home alike the majority of other students there (max, vic, kate, etc). her characterisation makes so much more sense with parents who are not present. but in bts they care a LOT and are very involved in her life, she has been closely supported throughout her life every step of the way, and it just doesn’t make sense? a characterisation where she is searching for the support, love, attention that she doesn’t receive from her parents due to their distantness makes a hell of a lot more sense. having equipped, kind, wealthy parents who would do whatever to please rachel, like are presented in bts is still good for her character – but it feels more realistic for her characterisation for them to just not be involved quite enough in her life. the lack of a close bond can really. change a kid. make them a lot more independent, but. also more likely to act out. because rachel Doesn’t Have It All, and bts present it like She Does… but her secret flaw/conflict is that….. her dad lied about her birthmom? no. give me actual conflict/flaws about rachel as a person. anyway, that all makes rachel feel a lot more separate from bts rachel i think. IN MY OPINION