#all four ambition spoilers really

[thegreatyin]

FOUND IT! these are the ambition ending statistics from a few years back. they've probably changed by now but this is the nicest and clearest graph i can find for them. obvious major spoilers for all four fallen london ambitions under the cut

note that the nemesis resurrection endings are all listed separately even though functionally they're pretty much identical. and the absolutely miniscule amount of people that chose to spare veils the intriguer, apparently. cowards.

[inarjollyhound]

Fixed Points in time in BDFI's Timeline

TPOT 15/BFDIA 17 Spoilers

I think it's very interesting which events are either completely or mostly unaffected or resistant to any of changing timelines in TPOT 15 and BFDIA 17.

Voting Results

Even before One bestows everyone with the knowledge of the original timeline- none of the vote results are changed- Aside from the implication that Taco won the 1-vote difference in that Post-split BFB episode in the Pillory Ruins.

2. The Challenge for TPOT 15.

This could have been put at risk- if all of the active hosts hear that the OG timeline involved them not being the host (Especially Four and Announcer). Thank fully, it seems that only a couple of them heard the implication that someone else was supposed to be the host.

Thankfully, despite all the variation, most of them can agree that the stability of the timeline/saftey of the world is more important than their ambitions or personal interests.

Which in contrast- says a lot about how strongly pencil feels about getting eliminated

3. The Shift/The BFDIA/TPOT Yoyalite time travel catalysts.

Despite the collapsing time-periods, It seems that the universe is pree-desposed to avoiding a grandfather paradox at all costs- Which is to say, *None of the timeline shifts Prevent either Golf-Ball or Nickel from getting sent forward in time- nor do they change how the rejects in TPOT get sent back in time.* The Yoyalite time-travel events seem to be canon events in it of themselves. So fate seems to be weighted in favor of self-preservation.

In fact, this could probably be the explanation as to why Leafy being invited into Dream Island was so destructive- It's probably one of if not THE most destructive Grand-father Paradox-esque type cf change that could happen to the time-line.

(This also implies that Leafy's loss of Dream island and Firey/Tax Income Document's relationship is also a canon event)

4. Marker's Color/The Present Contestant's appearances

This seems like something that's really not all that stable or un-affected given the start of the episode- but I do think it's notable that Marker only changes Color *Once* in the wake of all the changing timelines hosts and artstyles in the very begining- and also remains the same after it's mostly stabilized.

And to a lesser degree- One giving all of the contestants knowledge of the prime timeline seemed to also prevent them from changing their art-style, like what happened at the intro.

This could imply that either External Knowledge inherently maintains a level of stability in the present- or Four did just a little more than keep everyone's memories.

5. The other Timeline Anomaly Events.

Akin to what I described on #3, it seems like almost none of the times that the Rejects teleport to are changed beyond recognition by any other timeline change from another contesting going even further back- that is, beyond Firey getting replaced by Tax Return Document.

CONCLUSIONS

From this- two possibilities come to mind-

The Timeline is Ultimately predisposed to avoiding any divergence to a change in canon or fate- keeping things from being as bad or incomprehensible is it *Could* be.

1a. It's not fate or the Universe, One has been keeping the timeline a bit more stable to drag things out- so to convince Gaty to sign the contract more efficiently.

1b. It could also be Black Hole- either locking in and keeping things together, or he's just unintentionally/instinctually keeping the fabric of the universe together- while being unaware of their portential.

2. Yoyalite can Access Alternate Universes, in addition to Time Travel.

The present timeline isn't especially Stable or resistant- Yoyalite is just capable of allowing it's users to *Leave it entirely*

The butterfly effects and grandfather paradoxes *ARE* happening, the Yoyalite is just capable of sending people to whatever specific parallel dimension or event is happening- even if not a part of the current timeline.

The Contestents having the knowledge of the Prime canon timeline, is the sole reason that none of the contants are lost to the infinite possibilities and time-line splits. The know which paralell universe splits to go to, therefore the Yoylelite can take them there.

The only major Anomaly here- Is the fact that the Changes in Total Firey Island are so substantial- That they can somehow over-ride the universes contants visit from that moment onwards.

Perhaps There's something Unique about Total Firey Island that gives it a higher level of influence of all the universe than what they Yoyalite can do.

(Perhaps this means Yoyalite is a canonically viable means access other realities- like Inanimate Insanity, or other object shows- if you don't consider the Meetup skits to be canon as is.)

-ANYWAYS.

I'm a huge dork about timetravel in media, and have a lot more fun coming with conclusions than conceding "oh welp, i guess that's just a plot hole"

So if anyone found any interesting implations from my theories- ENJOY i gues xD

[makimacult]

are there absolutes?

(spoilers up to c51)

medalist spells out the parallels between the main four—the inori/tsukasa parallels as skaters who came into the figure skating world later than their peers, the hikaru/jun parallels as the defining geniuses of their generation; and the later chapters have even crossed into drawing parallels between inori/jun and hikaru/tsukasa wrt what figure skating means to them. the four of them have been designed as complementary characters, so it's easy to look at how tsukasa and jun foil each other too:

they're both adult coaches now who had turbulent adolescences where skating was their main goal. jun had his talent recognised early, while tsukasa had to struggle for a long time, but neither of them found coaches that could truly help them... tsukasa did find a coach when he was 20, but jun spent his whole career drifting from one club to another. (coaches weren't willing to take a chance on tsukasa, and jun's skills intimidated his coaches & isolated him.)

jun is supported by the sonidoris, tsukasa by the kago family. they're two people who really do need skating in their lives & so settle into non-traditional arrangements just so they can have access to a rink and skate in peace. (i know jun doesn't rely on shinichiro financially, but it's undeniable how much shinichiro helped him find a place for himself after he retired professionally)

the girls they mentor reflect their own worldview... hikaru believes sacrifices are proportional to your success; tsukasa had to keep sacrificing his own dreams when he was younger and doesn't want inori to go through that. hitomi says that tsukasa is quite pessimistic about himself. he's realistic about his own level of his skill, and works hard to raise his own threshold while looking for ways for inori to fulfill her dreams. if tsukasa is the realist who looks for ways to cover every angle to fulfill inori's dreams, then jun is the childish idealist.

he asks if tsukasa has just funneled his own skating ambitions into inori - meanwhile, jun himself is reenacting his own career trajectory through hikaru. while tsukasa forms new connections to serve inori's goals (even going so far as to reach out to other coaches), jun only coaches hikaru in secret, and maintains strict standards for coaching her.

jun believes there are absolutes. there are some things you can't overcome by any manner of hard work, planning or luck. let's leave aside the question of whether absolutes really do exist... that isn't the real question medalist is asking anyways. to jun's mind (& also hikaru's) things can definitely be certain... but that belief doesn't bring them happiness. instead, it isolates them. medalist interrogates what manner of sacrifice is worth it for your goal - what one must give up to become a medalist. hikaru has followed jun's ideals all this time -

- but in c51, it's the connection she made with inori that allows her to truly come into her own, veer away from jun's plan, and show the world hikaru's own figure skating, and not just jun's reflection. the one who sacrifices most will always win; but your connections are also your strength.

i dont consider jun to be an antagonist (although you could be fooled by how ominous his panels can be) - he's simply a diametrically opposite perspective from tsukasa's. you can't call him wrong though. hopefully we'll get to see what spawned jun's worldview in the first place.

[midnight1nk]

y̶͙̍o̶̳̚ṵ̶́r̵͓͗ ̵͚̔m̷͖̋o̴̳͆v̵̧̓e̴̦̒ ̴͕́S̵̭̎M̵͙̓G̶̖͘4̷̬̆

IGBP REFERENCES & CONNECTIONS IN "THE MARIO PC VIRUS" EPISODE

[spoilers ahead]

✧

✧

✧

✧

✧

Ambition

the project SMG4 is working on and motive

[The Mario PC Virus // timestamp 0:10]

[It's Gotta Be Perfect movie // timestamp 0:56]

"Say the line, SMG4!"

[The Mario PC Virus // timestamp 0:10]

[It's Gotta Be Perfect movie // timestamp 0:20]

Need Some Editing Help?

Computer buddy

[The Mario PC Virus // timestamp 2:04 to 2:25]

[It's Gotta Be Perfect movie // timestamp 4:02 to 4:19]

Leave A Note

oh hey, Windows Notepad

[The Mario PC Virus // timestamp 2:28 to 2:43]

[It's Gotta Be Perfect movie // timestamp 4:02 to 4:19]

(and the fact that SMG4 uses a Windows PC ~Ink)

Every Mario's Worried for SMG4

[The Mario PC Virus // timestamp 3:28]

[SMG4: Mario Steals The Constitution // timestamp 2:50]

A Loss of Work and Patience

An event cuts off Four from his progress and noise being what ultimately pushes him to take action

Plus, Mario Buddy plays "relaxing" music for SMG4, which 4 is not a fan

[The Mario PC Virus // timestamp 3:30 to 3:50]

SMG4: "SHUT UP!! CAN YOU ALL SHUT UP?!?! LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!!"

[It's Gotta Be Perfect movie // timestamp 3:25 to 3:55]

They're Always Watching

File Names (as much as I could decipher) from left to right, top to bottom:

[Default]

Blue Screen

Green Screen

Pure Red Screen

Pure Green Screen

Pure Blue Screen

Green 1

Green 2

purple 1

purple 1\puzzle

[The Mario PC Virus // timestamp 6:11]

Left to right, top to bottom:

[Default]

Blue Screen

Pure Red Screen

Pure Green Screen

Pure Blue Screen

green screen

purple screen

vn

vnooom(??)

name(??)

[It's Gotta Be Perfect movie // timestamp 1:07 to 1:09, 2:44]

(Gonna do a whole theory dedicated to Goop!4 and bring back my analysis of the eye designs ~Ink, again)

[It's Gotta Be Perfect movie]

PC Takeover Through Mother Board and Mind

Four's PC controlling its system vs the PC controlling Four

[The Mario PC Virus // timestamp 0:05 to 0:10, 8:03 to 8:16]

[It's Gotta Be Perfect Movie Countdown stream]

Did Somebody Call For (Military) Backup?

[The Mario PC Virus // timestamp 9:30 to 13:53]

[It's Gotta Be Perfect movie // timestamp 13:39 to 13:53]

A Sacrifice

Time, sweat, and tears went into his work but he was forced to left behind (the virus, to save 3)

[The Mario PC Virus // timestamp 11:58]

[It's Gotta Be Perfect movie // timestamp 1:07 to 1:09, 2:44]

Your End of the Deal

a deal offered through the computer buddy to aid Four's work but they demand something in return (star of Four's videos vs. control over Four)

[The Mario PC Virus // timestamp 12:06 to 12:40]

[It's Gotta Be Perfect movie // timestamp 30:58 to 31:11]

The Choice

knowing his self-worth :)

[The Mario PC Virus // timestamp 12:44 to 12:50]

[It's Gotta Be Perfect movie // timestamp 34:00 to 35:00]

.・-: ✧ :--: ✧ :-・.

Ink here! That's all the ones I could find, but if I missed one, let me know, and I'll add it to the list. Four has really come a long way, and, believe it or not, he learned his lesson from IGBP.

Of course, he accidentally installed Mario Buddy, not a suspicious keyboard offered by Mr Puzzles. But once he realized what he had done, he tried everything he could to get rid of the program (after some fun).

By the end, when Bonzi offered to give Four's files back while in turn allowing the PC buddy to be the star of his video, Four had a choice. Past Four wouldn't have hesitated because that literally was his work. I've been in a situation like this and golly, I would've done anything to get it all back. Instead, Four gave his PC up, similar to how Four gave up the USB with the perfect video (one he has worked on for WEEKS nonstop) to save SMG3.

(...should I even count all the scenes where SMG4 and SMG3 caring for one another?)

AND despite everything, he is still SMG4, a content creator with the wish to make people happy. Well, of course he wants his videos to be higher quality. It's his job as a YT creator and meme guardian, you can't just ask him to NOT make videos. The whole reason IGBP happened in the first place is because he felt that he wasn't good enough for his friends, driving himself to be perfect to prove that he deserves the Crew. But lesson learned, through Three's speech: he doesn't need to be perfect, his friends will always be there for him regardless. They care for him and it was worth risking their lives to save him from the possession.

He can always make another video but they can't have another SMG4.

Whatever his next big project is (the Castle, Meme Factory, videos in general), he'll do it with passion but never alone. Just as Four said at the end of IGBP: "...it may be different, but as long as we're all together, I'm sure it's gonna be perfect!"

So, he made his choice, giving up his PC because there is nothing to prove to anyone.

so.... SMG4 Team....

WHAT'S WITH THE IGBP CALLBACKS—

[neathyingenue]

OK so after a sleep here's what I think I might do re: Silvia's ambition fiasco

Warning: EVERY spoiler for Heart's Desire

So my original idea was for Silvia to win but then use her win to end the Marvellous. Like, she and Beechwood talked ahead of time about letting him win to end it, but in the moment, she didn't trust him to do it, and she wasn't strong enough to resist the pull of the game itself. So Silvia raised the stakes, she let Beechwood stake his mind, not realizing that's what it was, and she ended up doing something cruel and needless and avoidable in service of her ultimate goal. But she ended it. That's what matters, right? That's what Beechwood would have wanted. The theme is: ending the cycle but at what cost? (horrific guilt plagues her the rest of her life--that she did something so pointless. Broke an agreement, wasted someone else's life as well as her own.)

But uh. Yeah that's not possible within the constraints of gameplay! Silvia won the Marvellous, and now she has to pick one of the four things! Which really sucks for her specifically because the way the final chapters of Heart's Desire were written really drove home the point that none of the winners are happy. None of them really actually got what they wanted. The Masters are doing this for shits and giggles, and Silvia is a petty bitch who wants to take that from them.

Since this is the first ambition I've completed, I was really planning to make everything canon for Silvia's arc and follow it exactly as written! So I'm conflicted now

I'll either have to (1) email FBG support to see if they'll take pity on me and reset back so Silvia can throw the game; or (2) spend Fate and do the whole thing AGAIN; or (3) choose one of the other options (Time?) for gameplay and have my original idea be canon in my head; OR (4) roll with it and come up with a new thematic justification for why Silvia didn't decide to end it after all and instead chose her Heart's Desire. I'm sorta leaning toward 3 but it feels like such a cop out XD

Anyway I welcome any input, obviously not gonna ask y'all to make the decision for me but I'm interested to hear what you think of each option thematically

[cantsayidont]

ANDOR Season 2, spoilers:

Aside from working harder than it needed to in trying to align the finale with the beginning of ROGUE ONE, I thought the last couple of episodes of ANDOR suffered from a couple of glaring instances of "Yeah, it's illogical, but it makes for a better story" plotting:

There's no rationale offered for why Cassian would even think of salvaging K-2SO on Ghorman, especially in the middle of a massacre, and there's no reason Cassian and Melshi would trust or bond with him. Cassian had prior experience of being brutalized by KX droids, and he and Wilmon had just watched that particular one murder a bunch of people! It felt like the writers just forgot they needed to work in K-2SO and jammed that part in there because he had to be in place for ROGUE ONE and they hadn't left enough to time to do it more organically. (From ROGUE ONE, I had gotten the feeling that if they ever told the characters' backstory, there would be some kind of "A Boy and His Robot" thing with Cassian and K-2SO, which would probably have been treacly, but perhaps more internally logical.)

I didn't buy that Luthen wouldn't have palmed a gun or grenade when he saw Dedra at the door. He had them handy, and it was obvious that he had already decided that his priority was to not be taken alive. Given the horrifying lethality the show indicates for the normal SW weapons, the business with the knife was a needless risk that honestly seemed out of character for Luthen. I grasp that his reason for talking to Dedra at all was to stall, but blowing up the shop after burning his terminal would have been a surer way to make sure ISB forensics didn't get anything useful.

I get the intended irony of Dedra Meero's ending, but I didn't buy that Krennic would have let Dedra live long enough to go to prison. Even aside from the security of the Death Star project, she knows enough to be very dangerous if she were captured and interrogated by Rebel agents. "Died during interrogation" or "died trying to escape" would have been the safer option for Krennic (and probably Partagaz too, although having him ultimately take the fall for his protege's ambition was an effective dramatic choice).

It was a pleasant surprise that they didn't kill off Kleya, but leaving her in such an ambivalent and directionless position was weird. Given the comparatively wretched quality of every other Star War in the past four decades, If I had been Tony and Dan Gilroy, I would have be tempted to kill off all of the show's original characters just to keep them from being reused badly in THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT 2 or some other such Favreau/Filoni horror.

Additionally:

I read in a VARIETY with Genevieve O'Reilly that Dan Gilroy originally intended to write only portions of Mon Mothma's speech, but she suggested that they should do the whole thing, which was an exceptionally good choice — it adds weight to the sequence. Up until the very last moment, Mon Mothma is still desperately hoping there's some way the liberal democracy she's been a part of can still be salvaged, which is poignant, if by that point obviously naive.

The wordless scene showing that she left Perrin on Coruscant to drink himself to death was priceless.

I really liked that they used the stuff with Mon and Perrin's daughter to suggest the nature of Mon Mothma's relationship with Leia without making a big deal about it.

I'm still so mad about "Bix had Cassian's secret baby!"

[artist-heart83]

First week of the smg4tober finished!

Decided to do every time the week is finished and show some concepts and the sketches from each day.

Day 1

You know I want to do something simple at first, but lol

This was the original sketch

But then I changed it for two reasons:

1. Struggling with the way Three would hold the remote and

2. I remember that Jub Jub got possessed by the remote, best solution ever

First time drawing some of these guys, but really love the ending result, it was worth it to stay up until 3 am

Day 2

This is like.. one of the first episodes that come to mind when I think in a favorite, I have a few more but this one have one of my favorite catch phrase: “Back by unpopular demand… ME!”

This day was meant to have an extra drawing, that was the reason why Four and Three got their hands stuck

It was this one (in the case culprit is bad written, shhhhh I was tired)

Due to time, I have to scrape it, but it help me a lot to make easy the next drawing

~~~

Fun fact: Day 3, 4 and 5 were draw in my phone, just made a quick sketch in a note app that come in my phone and do the lineart and coloring on MediBang

~~~

Day 3

Original idea was drawing all smgs, but due to me having to go to a little trip, I have to stop my ambition ass

I decided to draw SMG1 and SMG2 because of the fact that scrap the little doodle from the day before and because they’re my favorites and also to do my own designs

I have fun designing SMG1 clothes, it mostly inspired by @/nomono3 design (not tagging because haha I’m shy)

Day 4 and 5

Since I have to think on simple drawings due to my own limitations, maybe I would do this with the other characters or maybe not, let’s see

Mostly those drawing were the first time that my brain come with it, really fun the Mario one hahaha

Also like I said in tags, the “objection” was traced from the original because I couldn’t find one in good quality

Day 6

I was brainstorming on which au draw but then I realize how important Apprenticeship AU is for me that I didn’t think twice

Originally, the idea was drawing Exubus with Smg4 but then I couldn’t decide if I do that or just draw SMG5 and SMG6, so I make a quick poll on the server that I’m in and the guys win

Luckily, because I remember that I uploading these drawings on Twitter and then rethink the idea of making the drawing spoiler free hahaha

But hey, I like you, have the sketch of the initial idea

If you ask me how I felt doing all of these, it fun!

Still struggling drawing caps and I make my calculations and I have draw them like… 11 times or more

Boy next week have my favorite movie, favorite character and I have the opportunity to draw Niles hehehehe, I have the Revelations day sketch, I could show it but naaaah, see ya tomorrow

[mydarlinginej]

read my full review of the raven scholar by antonia hodgson here.

From an electrifying new voice in epic fantasy comes The Raven Scholar, a masterfully woven and playfully inventive tale of imperial intrigue, cutthroat competition, and one scholar’s quest to uncover the truth.

Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists—the best of the best.

Then one of them is murdered.

It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so, she must untangle a web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.

If she succeeds, she will win the throne. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won’t let that happen.

We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.

my review:

If you had told me that I’d be ending 2024, my worst reading year ever (although 2025 is not looking too great so far), glued to a 700-page adult fantasy, I would have laughed in your face. But that’s exactly what happened with The Raven Scholar, an utterly thrilling epic fantasy that is packed with action and mystery. I actually spent almost ten straight hours reading this because I was so hooked and genuinely could not put it down.

This will be a shorter review than I would like to write, only because I can’t put how much I adored this book into words (and also spoilers…). It really was about the implications and how the characters’ histories shape them and their decisions. As the book progresses, you peel back the layers of the years and years of history that has culminated in such a deadly series of events. A girl’s unfortunate death triggers today’s events; before that, a coup upsets everybody’s lives and the empire as it is now; before that, a shipwreck leaves a girl craving for love and power; before that, a vision changes the future of the empire forever.

To take a step back, every 24 years, the emperor must step down, with their successor being chosen from a series of trials, with each House sending a representative. In the current time, the emperor Bersun is stepping down and the games are underway — until the Raven representative is murdered, and Neema, the emperor’s High Scholar, is chosen to replace her as a means of investigating the murder.

read the rest of my review here:

[suzuran777]

BLVN review: Paradise (PIL/SLASH)

Paradise is an 18+ BL visual novel developed by PIL/SLASH and was originally released in 2017, but this month it's also getting an English release by JAST BLUE, which you can pre-order here! I got to play it a bit early, so that's why the screenshots in this blog post are also from the English version. As usual the review will be mostly spoiler-free so I definitely recommend to buy the game yourself too if you're interested in playing it.

Story Protagonist Azuma works at a local convenience store and his life is anything but eventful. He barely earns enough to pay his bills and also has no real ambitions. To his surprise, he suddenly receives a lottery ticket and wins a 6-day trip to Togajima Island. Hoping he would meet some cute girls during his trip, he's disappointed to find out the only other participants are also men. Soon Azuma realizes that this was not the luxurious trip he was hoping for...

Main characters

Azuma The protagonist of the game. His life is rather tedious and he doesn't really have any ambitions or dreams for the future, so he works at a convenience store and earns just enough money to survive. Voiced by Irakusa Netoru who's known for voicing Seiji in Room No.9 and of course Eiden/Eito in NU: Carnival.

Mitsugi An architectural designer. Although he looks like the lone wolf type, he's a person with a lot of common sense (surprisingly). Despite that though, he gets angry surprisingly fast. He's voiced by Ichijou Hikaru, who also voiced characters in other BL visual novels if you recognize his voice, though under a different name.

Matsuda A salesman who's very responsible and is good at taking care of others. If there's conflict, he takes a step back to analyze the situation and tries to choose the most logical solution. Looks older than he really is (he's 27). Voiced by Tetrapot Noboru, who also voices Oumi in Kintouka and is also the new voice actor for Bernardo in Luckydog1+bad egg.

Takara A very friendly and innocent looking university student. He's often teased by those around him because of his exaggerated reactions. Voiced by Yumachi Kakeru.

Hongo The tour guide who takes the group to the island. He's soft spoken and tries his best to be polite to everyone. Has a strong sense of responsibility. Voiced by Shinomori Hibiki.

Shimada A freelance photographer who joined the tour to take photos of the island. Always carries his camera with him to take pictures whenever he feels like it. Voiced by Kishiri Tooru.

This game has three main routes (Mitsugi, Matsuda and Takara) but Hongo and Shimada do have their own endings as well and appear quite often in every route. There are also four other characters on the island (Kido, Uchimura and two unnamed guys). I actually wasn't sure if there was a recommended route order for this game, but I'd personally recommend Mitsugi > Matsuda > Takara. Though you can start with Matsuda's route too I don't think it affects the story much. I used a guide to get all the endings which you can find here, but you can also enable "easy mode" in the game which kind of guides you to the route you want to play. Usually, the bad ends were pretty easy to get too. Just like some of PIL/SLASH's other games, this game does have horror themes and some of the CGs are a bit graphic, so be aware of that! If you're familiar with their other games I think you'll be fine, but I figured I'd give some kind of warning.

Let's start with a short summary of the common route! Azuma's dreams of travelling to a luxurious resort are already crushed when he's about to board the ship and realizes the island is uninhabited. Furthermore, he also learns that they will be staying in wooden cabins and have to cook their own food. Nevertheless, he tries to make the best out of the situation and actually ends up enjoying the first day together with his new friends. This positive mood doesn't last long however, as the ship that was supposed to deliver them fresh food every day stops showing up. Not only that, but they also lose communication with the outside world, as Hongo, who's the tour guide, is not able to contact anyone on the mainland.

At first the group tries to stay calm, hopeful that help might arrive soon. Aware that food shortages will be one of the first problems they will run into, they split up into different groups to look for ways to find food on the island. This proves to be quite difficult, as Matsuda comments that the currents around the island are unusual and the fish don't seem to be biting. The others don't have much luck either, as there aren't many edible plants or mushrooms on the island.

While exploring the island, they discover an abandoned village which most likely been abandoned since the Meiji period. Weirdly enough it doesn't seem like the former inhabitants took their belongings with them, almost as if they had to suddenly leave in a hurry. Another strange thing the group notices is that the storehouse has a jail cell in the basement, as if people had been imprisoned there in the past. Mitsugi mentions that this is not unusual for houses that were built during this time period, but it does make you wonder why people would need this on an island, and Azuma thinks the same.

Moving on to each route, I played Mitsugi's route first because I liked his character design and always like the kind of mean long haired men lol. He's an architectural designer who came to the island for some work-related reasons, and at first he has no interest in talking to Azuma. This pisses Azuma off so he immediately tries to start a fight with Mitsugi. This kind of continues for at least a few days, but it was really funny to see their interactions. I was curious to see how their relationship would develop in this route. I think his route is a good one to start with because it doesn't really explain the full story about what's going on in the island, but I think it gives the player some interesting hints about what might happen in the other routes. I also recommend playing the bad ends, as you can also get Hongou's ending in Mitsugi's route.

The next route I played was Matsuda, who works as an salesman/office worker and traveled to the island for a well-deserved vacation. I wasn't sure what to think of him at first because he just seemed like a nice guy who liked fishing, so some parts of his route surprised me a little...! But I'll keep this spoiler free. You can also get Shimada's ending in this route. After finishing the first two routes, I played Takara's route. He's a student who similar to Azuma, also won the ticket for this trip. I think this route is locked (?) and for the right reasons because if you play it first it will basically spoil the entire game. In this route you finally learn more about the island, so definitely play the game until the very end so you can find out yourself!

Final impressions First of all, one thing I really liked is how the game really has no boring moments. I think my favorite character is still Mitsugi, but Azuma is such a funny protagonist and I always think it's fun how PIL/SLASH combines elements like horror and humor. I think I said something similar when I reviewed Dystopia no Ou, but these games always have such fun characters. I also liked the illustrations drawn by Kotomi Youji, the CGs are really nice and detailed.

Now I wouldn't say it's the most serious game ever, but honestly I think it doesn't need to be. This is one of these games in which I enjoyed the interactions between the characters the most. If you're a fan of BL games with dark themes I think it's definitely worth it to give this one a try! As usual, PIL/SLASH made sure to add some pretty dark and disturbing bad ends to this game, so I definitely recommend playing those too if you're into that. The dark themes are however also present in the routes that lead to the good endings, so if you're not comfortable with noncon scenes for example, this game might not be for you.

I played the trial version of the Japanese version years ago, but I had a good time playing the game in English this time and finishing all of the endings. Other than some minor typos and the game showing me hints when I wasn't using easy mode (I'm not sure if this also happens in the Japanese version) the English version was enjoyable to play. The game is also only 20 USD which is quite a good deal, since the Japanese versions tend to be more than double the price (even more if you buy the physical edition).

Lastly, if you're looking for more content after finishing the game, Paradise also has two sequels, -MUSUBI- which is basically a fandisc that continues the story, and -KIWAME-, which is more of a re-telling of the first game's story. You'll also meet a few new characters such as Takara's brother! Right now they are only available in Japanese but perhaps they will get localized in the future if enough people are interested.

[quetzii]

Hello! Love your toh au!

Question is Luz the next baby that aldore is pregnant with or someone else/fankid?? How did aldore get with belos? Will be and the kids escape or try to kill belos??

Second question; how do you draw scars so well??

Hiii!! And thank you!! I plan to make more things!

Sure!

1. I still have some things to edit or write, but Luz is apart; I plain to make the same as the show; just with different hints. Luz entering to Boiling Isles, but the things I have in my mind

As the baby; yeah, Alador gets pregnant for the fifth time, but it was again from Belos (spoiler; the baby born after Belos stomp, being blonde and almost likely to Caleb ‐something that Belos wanted LOL)

2. I don't have it well written/planned yet But, in a certain way, Alador manages to enter the Emperor's coven (being 23 years old) mostly for his creativity in abomination and also later being good at abomatrons, something that caught Belos' attention and he wanted to know more. I need to develop their relationship more, but it's more about manipulation, abuse and fear. At first everything was nice, but because of Belos' ambition and more ideas, all that withered away.

Also that Belos saw in Alador that he was a good candidate for procreation; genes and magic.

3. The four of them know perfectly well that the relationship between Belos and Alador is horrible. They only have the support of Alador, but nothing from Belos, even though he is their father. Hunter is the one who questions himself the most and sometimes tries to rebel, but ends up failing. They have thought a lot about doing something, but at the moment; fear and the "what will happen next?" win in their minds and they slip away, not wanting a punishment or worse case: that Belos does something more serious to Alador.

Secretly, the four of them lived their lives or did things that Belos did not want and that But they really wanted to do that without hiding or fearing being seen.

4. About scars! Thank you!!!

The truth is I don't consider myself that good at that topic of scars because sometimes I make mistakes or they don't look like them hahaha The truth is that I am very inspired by other drawings; scars from cuts/sh, wounds and so on. I get almost everything from drawings. I look a lot at how scars are drawn and I try to imitate them; I mean, so that they look good and not just a line. but I will keep practicing so they look better!

[voidscreamintheories]

The (Not-so-)Big four

Spoilers for the first arc of Hunter the Parenting

Right so: Hunter the Parenting was started after the end of If the Emperor had a text-to-speech device, a parody of Warhammer 40K. There is DNA from that 40K lineage in the show, namely in the D family which I will talk about in another post. But as any fan of Warhammer, upon seeing a group of four antagonists I must immediately question if they are the four Chaos gods. Now before getting into this it is important to note that the gods of Chaos are already a lil flexible in their definitions, so it could be real easy to mold anything you want to fit them. They fit well with the four horsemen of the apocalypse, for example However, I am still going to fit these funni bois into funni molds, because it's fun.

SO

Shitbeard: He is violent, quick to anger, one of the two oldest, and he was embraced in association with the "Bikers for Blood" donation drive. It's Khorne, he's Khorne. Now of course, vampires also have a thing for blood, but I feel calling it out specifically with shitbeard COULD be a nod to the good ole "blood for the blood god". Getting into some deep lore here: Clan Brujah used to be known as Warrior Scholars, before their clan devolved into violent rabble rousers. This actually fits with some depictions of Khorne worship, where they are noble and strong warriors who eventually slip into being raving madmen. Of note as well is which member of the group he dislikes the most fits with Khorne, becaaaaaaaause

Ape: Ape and Shitbeard don't get along. Ape is the youngest of the group. Ape is constantly mentioning his hunger and it's called out that he has been "overfeeding" which Ape retorts that there's no such thing. Ape is Slaanesh. Now it's missing a few hallmarks of The Prince of Pleasure, but I think that's partly because of time constraints and partly because of the tone they were going for (I am happy that Ape wasn't humping the walls or snorting coke every other scene). Also, Ape's weapon of choice was his claws, and that's very in line with Tabletop Slaanesh.

Kevin: He's a wizard, it's Tzeentch. But more than that, we saw Kevin had schemes and ambitions to overthrow both the regent and Pyotr, very fitting for him as schemey old Tzeentch. Also, Kevin's tendency to still try fitting in with regular society does match up with the insidious infiltration of society of Tzeentch. Relatedly, while Big D seems to want Kevin as his Sigilite (Malcador best bro), this might end up backfiring. As we saw in the ad break of episode 4, D is feeding Kevin. If Kevin still has ambition and treachery as his domains, there's a non-zero chance that Big D may be betrayed.

Now, finally, which member of the sabbat did Kevin have the most beef with?

Pyotr: Process of elimination here, Pyotr is stinking old Nurgle. Now, nurgle is often depicted as big and round, obviously RIDDLED with disease, and jolly. How can Pyotr fit those themes? I think it has more to do with his clan association. The Nosferatu are a clan of UGLY vamps, who use vermin as spies, and are shockingly resilient and strong for their appearance, all very nurgly. As well, one of the most common reasons a Nosferatu will embrace someone is because the target is really pretty, the Nosferatu resenting beauty and wanting to curse them with the same ugliness. In much the same way Nurgle loves corrupting the beautiful for the sake of corruption (see the garden, his kidnapping of Isha). Based on the photo of Pyotr, we can see he was a handsome kine, I think it fits that he was turned for being too pretty. As a final note on the pretty thing, the fact that Nosferatu start seeing their own ugliness as being attractive (see "you're a goddamn tease loverboy"), that fits with Nurgle's embracing of decay and rot. Now one thing Pyotr MIGHT fit as Nurgle on his own is his stealthing ability. It's not always mentioned, but it's not uncommon for Nurgle worshippers to have a miasma around them which they use to conceal themselves. As a final point, Pyotr's speech about inevitability and futility is pretty fitting for Nurgle's embracing of entropy.

The group as a whole: Woah Chaos undivided, woooooo. But really, as a group they do work as the Pantheon. They all hate each other and scheme against one another, but will work together for their collective goal. When Markus let them fight, and Pyotr ate the other two, this would match with a long standing concept in Warhammer that once one of the gods got the upper hand, it would spell disaster for humanity (here represented by the hunters). As well Kevin seems depressed and almost listless without the other three around, could be because as much as they hate each other, the gods do need their opponents to enjoy the Great Game.

[void-botanist]

Sharran AU: The Party

In Sharran AU, there is no Tav. But all the companions are present, plus a few new ones. (I wanted to draw them all first but I'm impatient lol. They mostly look the same as in canon anyway.) Their exact classes might change as I tinker with the class structure but ultimately everyone has mostly the same abilities that they do in their default subclasses.

Note: elves have a construct called "season" that is similar to but distinct from gender. For elves in Faerûn it means changing their eye and hair colors to reflect an internal state of being that is represented with one of the four seasons, and sometimes also a time of day.

This post contains mild spoilers for later acts of BG3.

Lae'zel of K'liir

Species: githyanki

Age: 30, kind of—time doesn't really pass in the Astral Plane

Hails from: the Astral Plane

Class: psiblade slayer

Deity: Vlaakith

Summary: she always knew she would have to leave the Astral Plane in pursuit of mind flayers, but she never expected to be captured and tadpoled by one. Stuck in on an unfamiliar continent in the Material Plane, her most important goal is to be purified—but her most immediate is to manage to hold down her lunch, because in this plane she has to eat full meals. Once she is purified, she will decimate this mind flayer threat and become a knight of Vlaakith like she's always dreamed. Unfortunately, she's set herself up to succeed a reality check.

Note: githyanki are trained to be singularly focused on eliminating mind flayers, but that includes not allowing them to transform anyone into a new mind flayer. If it also involves temporary allyships, so be it.

Shadowheart Duskchild

Species: human werewolf

Age: 30

Hails from: Baldur's Gate

Class: shadow domain cleric

Deity: Shar

Summary: she has lived in the House of Grief for as long as she can remember, alongside several dozen other Sharrans. The older citizens of Baldur's Gate refer to her order as the New Sharrans, usually with a heavy dose of vitriol and wistfulness for the Old Sharrans. On the orders of Darkcloak DeVir, she was sent to retrieve the mysterious artefact, but her true mission, given to her by the Darkcloak herself in confidence, is to get the attention of the true Shar—not the deity who has been posing as Shar for the last hundred years—by becoming a Dark Justiciar. She has a few things to discover about herself along the way, including that being terrified of wolves doesn't mean she's not a werewolf???

Astarion Ancunín

Species: elf, in winter, and vampire spawn

Age: ~224

Hails from: Baldur's Gate

Class: thief rogue

Deity: none, screw them

Summary: 120 years ago, he was a magistrate in Baldur's Gate. After a particularly contentious ruling, he was beaten nearly to death by a mob of followers of Xymor, the god of justice, and "saved" by Cazador Szarr, who promised him eternal life. What he got instead was a life of servitude and a hunger for blood—literally for sustenance, and metaphorically to get back at Cazador for over a century of abuse. But even he doesn't know the full depth of Cazador's machinations and what they mean for his past and his future.

Note: elves grow body and facial hair slowly compared to humans. Starving vampire spawn don't grow it at all. So Astarion has patchwork body hair except when he's fed, though he shaves his face regardless.

Gale Dekarios

Species: human

Age: 35

Hails from: Waterdeep

Class: evocation wizard

Deity: Mystra, goddess of the Weave

Summary: he's always had a way with the Weave and an unchecked ambition that led him to become the Chosen of Mystra. Despite their closeness, Gale couldn't manage to convince her to show him the deep secrets of the Weave, so he set out to prove he was as worthy of her trust as he knew himself to be. When he found a shard of Netherese magic against her wishes, it overwhelmed him, turning him into essentially a magical time bomb and losing him Mystra's trust and his title of Chosen. Now he has the powers of a normal mortal wizard and no way to get a response from Mystra, thanks to an unwelcome insertion in the ocular region—not that she would talk to him anyway, even though he only had the best of intentions and is currently facing a literal end-of-world threat. But one way or another, he will speak with her, and he will set things straight, and he will prove himself.

Wyll Ravengard

Species: human (does not become a devil)

Age: 25

Hails from: Baldur's Gate

Class: pact of the blade warlock

Deity: Helm, god of protection and guardians, but also to a lesser extent her comrades in the Just Balance, Ilmater and Xymor

Summary: when confronted by his father, Duke Ulder Ravengard, about why he'd pacted with the devil Mizora, he literally could not answer. So his dad banished him from Baldur's Gate, leaving him to find his way on his own. He chose to try and prove that he's the same old responsible, honorable, dutiful Wyll, even though he's sure he'll never escape from this pact and no one can find out about it, lest they hate him too. But he's exhausted trying to take everything on alone, and the situation with Karlach makes him realize he's just a pawn in Mizora's quest to be Zariel's favorite. The moment he lets his facade slip a little, he realizes his traveling companions actually want to help him, and they're not afraid of impossible odds.

Note: Ulder is an interplanar contact expert in this AU and thinks he knows just how unbreakable a devil's pact is. Wyll wants to prove him wrong about that too.

Minthara Baenre

Species: House of Lolth tiefling

Age: 37

Hails from: Menzoberranzan, on the edge of the Demonweb Pits in the Underdark

Class: Oath of the Watchers paladin

Deity: Lolth/the Absolute

Summary: born into one of the religious houses of Menzoberranzan and raised in the worship of the archdevil/goddess Lolth, she would never abandon her faith, which is why she has positioned herself as a ranking acolyte of the Absolute to spy on this new cult. Unfortunately, that also meant she got tadpoled and can no longer hear the voice of Lolth in her head. She's not even sure Lolth can hear her prayers, and it's started to make her wonder what it really means to follow a deity—if it means anything at all when a psionic worm can so easily make her feel unmoored from her beloved goddess.

Note: Lolth sent her on this mission, and she wasn't the only one. Also she has a well-trained spider living between her horns.

Halsin Silverblossom

Species: bugbear

Age: 350

Hails from: the Emerald Grove, most recently; before that, Reithwin

Class: cave wilder

Deity: Juncyppo, god of nature

Summary: has led the Emerald Grove since the previous Grovetender died in the battle with Ketheric Thorm a hundred years ago. Getting thrown in jail by the newly converted Sanctuary bugbears was kind of a surprise, since they'd always been on good terms, but the whole situation gives him an excuse to indulge his wanderlust, make new friends, and help his oldest friend, Thaniel. But the further away he gets from the comforts of the Grove, the more he realizes that he's let a lot of people down over the years, and he's ready to do whatever he can to make it right.

Note: Halsin has been to Menzoberranzan on his travels, with none of the nonconsensual baggage that exists in canon. They even let him feed a spider out of his hand🥺

Karlach Cliffgate

Species: House of Zariel tiefling

Age: 29

Hails from: Baldur's Gate

Class: polearm & unarmed fighter

Deity: on-again off-again follower of Ilmater, god of sufferers, resistance, and relief

Summary: she was Lord Enver Gortash's trusted bodyguard until he sold her to the archdevil Zariel for a pile of cash and infernal cyborg experimentation. After ten years in the Hells, fighting in the Blood War against her will, she escaped on a nautiloid—which was great except for the whole getting captured and tadpoled thing. Her infernal engine's malfunctions slowed her down and let Wyll catch up to her. Once she convinces the party she means no harm, she can get back to having her life dictated by a force outside her control (currently, the tadpole), but now that she has a second chance in Faerûn, she's not going to waste it waiting on fate.

Note: Zariel wanted her dead or alive, just not running free with her one functioning infernal engine heart prototype.

Quil Heliarik

Species: silver dragonborn

Age: 23

Hails from: Tymanther

Class: college of lore love bard

Deity: loosely affiliated with the Darkfire Twins, Eilistraee and Vhaeraun, deities of song and dance

Summary: as a result of mysterious heinous acts, her clan was struck from the register and they were all banished from Tymanther. While this has cut Quil off from the area's music knowledge, she can hardly be sad about adventuring and publishing her compositions in Baldur's Gate. So far, she's mostly been traveling with Volo and getting pulled into trouble, so it's nice to have normal friends who are only just trying to stop an existential threat to the Sword Coast. As long as she makes it to Baldur's Gate in one piece, that should be fine.

Volothamp Geddarm

Species: human

Age: unclear

Hails from: unknown

Class: order of scribes wizard

Deity: Riodda, deity of knowledge and learning

Summary: his business is knowing something about everything, and everything about some things. He couples this with a general lack of tact and frequent wandering away to something new, which tends to get him captured, tied up, maligned, et cetera. But he does know a lot and is always willing to lend an ear about something he doesn't. As a result, he became fast friends with the extremely talkative Quil.

Boo

Species: giant miniature space hamster

Age: unknown

Hails from: Rashemen

Class: cutie pie

Deity: unknown

Summary: he first shows up in the Emerald Grove, where Volo is attempting to talk with him like the other animals in the area. This is not going well. But when the party ventures into the mountain pass, Boo shows up in camp and stays there, hanging out with Withers, Gale, and Wyll most of the time. He accompanies them all the way through the shadow-cursed lands and into Baldur's Gate in search of someone Jaheira calls "an old friend".

Jaheira Elerrathin

Species: elf, in autumn night

Age: 500

Hails from: most recently, Baldur's Gate

Class: wildblade (wilder + fighter)

Deity: Tymora, deity of luck

Summary: nothing ever seems to go right for her. Power-hungry Ketheric Thorm, who she killed a hundred years ago, is back and more powerful than ever, she lost her friend Minsc trying to fight off Thorm's cult, and she has to face the very real possibility that she will not make it back to her children in Baldur's Gate alive. But when a bunch of tadpoled weirdos and a miniature giant space hamster show up on her doorstep, she finds genuine hope that the tides are finally turning. They can stop the world from ending—and maybe even follow Boo's clues to a still-living Minsc. Maybe she can still make up for the time she's lost trying to destroy Ketheric Thorm for good.

Minsc of Rashemen

Species: human

Age: 50-something. plus the 80 years he spent as a statue

Hails from: Rashemen

Class: melee fighter/tracker

Deity: none in particular

Summary: a warrior of such immense strength is a great boon to the Chosen Three—he's dealt a decent blow to the organized crime groups of Baldur's Gate already, spreading discord and disconnection among them. As long as no one but his tadpole and an Ievaalist shapeshifter in the form of Jaheira whisper in his ear, he's a perfect champion. Once freed by the real Jaheira and his dear Boo, he gets caught up on everything that happened since his capture and is ready to go all in against the elder brain—he'll even change his favored enemy to ghaik, just like Lae'zel! More than anything, he wants to be included, because he knows he can help, even when he can't.

Withers

Species: no one's really sure. Bone Man?

Age: unknown

Hails from: that Jergal crypt

Class: unknown

Deity: unknown ;)

Summary: he does not leave camp with the rest of the party, but he participates in some camp activities, such as playing poker (he usually wins) and pranking Gale at lanceboard. He can sometimes be convinced to revive people who aren't members of the party.

Party dynamics in a nutshell

Lae'zel takes charge pretty early on, because she's sure she knows the way to cure them, and honestly no one else has a better idea. She adheres to the githyanki code of A) not helping the mind flayers and B) never owing anybody by taking the rest of the tadpoled party along. Wyll starts out as her right hand man, the guy who's better at convincing other people of decisions mostly made by her, but over the course of early act 1 they become co-leaders of the party, complementing each other's strengths. This is also made possible by Wyll learning to trust the party more to look out for him and not throw him under the bus as "that one devil-pacted guy". Halsin also becomes a leader/advisor in late act 1/act 2 due to his knowledge of the area and Ketheric and his personal tendency toward leadership. Shadowheart has a poor attitude but understands the importance of teamwork and will fall in line with the group's decisions as long as they don't prevent her from reaching her goals. She won't give Lae'zel the artefact though, and this causes arguments, shenanigans, and suspicion. At the outset, Astarion actively acts like everyone is out to get him, even though he is literally starving. Lae'zel is good at putting things into practical terms to get him to mostly behave and not fuck everything up. Despite complaining about most things, Gale usually doesn't challenge the party leadership, though he struggles with having to rely on other people for knowledge, solutions, and magical sustenance. He prefers to be the one giving, which he usually does in the form of making food.

Minthara has her own agenda, but the party is taking her where she needs to go, and she sees the benefit of having allies, so she picks her battles carefully. Jaheira also has her own agenda, but this aligns pretty closely with the party's existing goals, so she organizes herself accordingly. Quil is mostly just happy to be included, but she's worried about the whole tadpole thing and really wants to make sure her new friends don't die, which makes her risk averse. Minsc is the opposite: the best defense is good offense! Volo lives in his own little world and does not really consider himself bound by the party's decisions. He just needs to know where they're going so he can find them again later. And Withers is present.

Sharran AU taglist: @multi-lefaiye @theskeletonprior @writernopal @daisywalletchains

[akatsuki-shin]

[REVIEW] スロウ・ダメージ Slow Damage

Just finished marathoning this game to get all the endings and that was a blast!

It's been a while since I last posted a review of anything, so here goes~ ^^

Note(s):

Long post ahead, may contain spoilers

This review is written by someone who is familiar with all of Nitro+Chiral's previously released BL Visual Novels (so I may make remarks on their comparison here and there)

This is my personal review; my opinion does not represent the entire audience and players of the game

SUMMARY:

In the Year 20XX, the nation of Japan has been rapidly declining to rock-bottom in the past decade, leading to a significant spike in poverty, unemployment, and crime rate.

Once known as a thriving Tokyo Waterfront City, the special administrative region of Shinkoumi fell into the hands of the yakuza Takasato Group, who ruled the city like a nation of their own.

Here lives Towa, an indolent, hedonistic young man with seemingly no goal or ambition in life. Day by day, he wastes himself away in smoke, alcohol, and — sometimes — violent sex with peers and strangers alike whenever he feels like it.

However, few knows of his true identity as "Euphoria," a genius artist known for his prominent paintings that perfectly captures a human's deepest, darkest desire.

STORY: 7/10

With 2 (two) default routes, 1 (one) locked route, and 1 (one) True Ending route, Slow Damage is different from the previous 4 (four) BL Visual Novels that has been released by Nitro+Chiral thus far, in which there is neither adventure or "greater plot" that needs to be resolved as the main body of the story.

In the previous games, we can say that the general plot overall does not change much regardless of which route we takes, save for a few in-depth details that can only be obtained in the True Ending route. For example, when playing DRAMAtical Murder, Toue will still be defeated and the Platinum Jail will still go down no matter which character's route you decide to take.

Slow Damage, however, is a game where you unravel a "puzzle" named Towa.

No route can stand on its own; you need to play all 4 (four) available routes in order to fully understand everything. There is no particular "grand goal." Maybe you'll solve someone's problem in one route, maybe you'll take down the yakuza in the other route.

The 2 (two) default routes will present you the Towa as "it is," according to your first impression on him, where he helps solve the respective Love Interest's problem by diving into their mind and unravel their inner "wounds." The locked route will dig halfway to Towa's past to show a little bit more about him prior to his current life.

But eventually, you will only be able to understand him, why he looks and acts like that, why he does the thing he does, after completing the True Ending route.

Depending on your expectation before playing the game, you may or may not be disappointed after discovering the full story. Personally speaking, I was a bit disappointed at first because I thought the plot is superficial and doesn't touch on any major subject regarding the universe where the story takes place. In the end, however, I think it's a quite solid and complete story, albeit taking a different spin from the previous games.

The plot is deep and detailed; it can really deliver some very heavy emotional issues, as well as presenting the fun and romantic sides. I personally feel the plot twists and revelations obtained in the True Ending is very cleverly wrapped. There are many small, miss-able things in the other routes that will only be explained in the True Ending.

Furthermore, if I have any complains about the previous games, it is that they tend to drop an "info dump" at some point in the story. Fortunately for me, Slow Damage is very good at distributing the information through dialogues, narration, and dividing them between scenes.

A few "minus" points from me, though...

There are some important things that do not have enough foreshadowing in the front, but suddenly becomes extremely significant in the latter part of the story. For example:

Towa and Fujieda's real names. There are no hint leading to this at all from the beginning and it doesn't really give any impact whatsoever to the whole story, either. But for some reason, the story-telling makes it look as if it is very important.

Although Fujieda himself as a character appear briefly in the other 3 (three) routes, there is next to no hints at all that connect him with Towa prior to the True Ending route. Sure, his little sister appeared in Towa's dream before, but the story-telling doesn't connect it with Fujieda before we unlock his route. Personally-speaking, while the True Ending route is overall very satisfying for me, I still feel some disconnection with Fujieda's background and motivation in the story.

Speaking of "disconnection," this is especially true for Madarame's route.

Before, when playing the default routes (Rei and Taku), we are already used to the indolent, lazy Towa and his occasional self-harming habits whenever he's craving stimulations. But in Madarame's route, you are suddenly being shoved in the face with stories about Towa's past with him out of the blue, forcing you to accept that Towa does not used to be like that.

While the latter part of Madarame's route until the ending is neatly put together, I cannot help but still feel that he is a stranger who suddenly barges into the main plot and forcefully diverts the direction of the story for no reason. It's like a skyscraper that looks majestic from the outside but actually has shallow foundation below.

I also feel that Taku's route has a massive plot hole because even though Taku is supposed to know Towa from when he was still a child, very little details are revealed in his route. Perhaps it's so that it won't clash with the secrets known only in the True Ending, but it makes Taku's route feel somewhat lackluster (especially since Towa isn't questioning about his past at all during this route).

And last but not least, I think this is the first time I'm playing a Visual Novel where you can't exactly call the endings as "Good" or "Bad."

Certainly, in the True Ending route, it's obvious to see whether the ending you get is "Good" or "Bad." But other than that, the term "Euphoria" and "Madness" ending just fit the theme so well because as f*cked up as the "Madness" ending is, Towa as the main character doesn't feel it's bad because he's simply that unhinged of a character.

CHARACTER: 10/10

Towa's character development until the very end is simply amazing. It is especially heartbreaking to see him crumble as he gradually draws closer and closer to the truth about his past. Likewise, it feels fulfilling to see him finally getting the true happy ending with a kindred soul who shares his pain.

Furthermore, as much as I'm glad that he finally finds the closure and salvation that he so deserves, I'm particularly happy that we are allowed to get a glimpse at how his sociopath mother truly felt back then. While it cannot, in any way, be used to condone what she had done to Towa and her other victims, it shows the ironic difference between her life and Towa:

Towa has friends that care about him, hence helping him to settle down and eventually come to terms with his issues. His mother, however, was a lonely soul with no one who could help her address her issues until the very end.

Putting aside my earlier "complains" about Madarame and Taku's routes, the dynamic between Towa and his Love Interests are interesting to follow because each has a unique and different approach to it. The way their romance blooms is like a refreshing breeze amidst the story full of heavy emotional and psychological traumas.

The side characters have very solid personalities and fit perfectly into the main plot with their respective roles. Truthfully, I can't really find anything to complain about regarding the characters.

GAMEPLAY: 10/10

Almost a decade after DRAMAtical Murder was released, Nitro+Chiral has really kicked up their game's quality by a whole notch.

The "Interrogation" and "Exploration" makes it super different from your traditional Visual Novel games where most of the time, the choices can be rather predictable.

Of course, I also love how the game's visual appearance change significantly before and after finishing the True Ending. The interface is pretty to look at and suits the story's theme perfectly.

ART/VISUAL: 9/10

This is probably the best-looking Visual Novel from Nitro+Chiral I've ever played.

Opinions on the art style may differ between each person, but I think we can all agree that they really pay attention to the details. Especially for major characters like Towa, even the location and degree of his injuries vary in his avatars following the situation currently taking place in the plot.

I also can't believe how detailed they draw the background, food, drinks, and objects that appear in the CGs.

That said, I feel like for a city that is described as "you can easily stumble on dead people on the street," the background art is way too pretty and clean, it doesn't really look like a declining city at all where people can die from cold and hunger.

MUSIC: 10/10

Likewise, I personally feel Slow Damage has the best music compared to the other 4 (four) games before.

The BGMs are not boring; it can really build up the atmosphere and makes you feel the tension presented on the screen.

I am especially fond of the music during romantic scene. If I have to put it into words, it gives the NSFW scenes a dash of fluff on top of the sexy that you can't help but melt with him.

SUMMARY: 9.2/10

As different as it is from the previous games released by Nitro+Chiral, Slow Damage certainly does not disappoint although there is quite a gap until this game was finally released. It's really worth the wait, and it can easily wrap you emotionally while you're playing through the story.

Furthermore, I think the current generation, especially the millennials, can really relate to the setting of which the game is taking place. Maybe not to that extreme, but the way the young generation in the game is described as overworked, exhausted, and depressed is truly a reflection of life nowadays for us. :')

I look forward to replaying this game again some other day, now that I already get all the secrets they have to offer. Perhaps it will give a different experience. <3

P.S. This isn't about the game but more about the translation/localization. I wish English publishers will pay more attention to the expressions and nuances in the original language when translating instead of just throwing whatever words that fit.

For example, in Rei's route, he says "抱きたい" which means "I want to embrace you," but they just translated it into "I want to f*ck you."

Sure, "embrace" and "f*ck" would lead to the same result, but that's not the way he was saying it. Those two words bear two completely different feelings, and this is just one among numerous other issues with the official translations.

[tigermousse]

Billionaire Lovers 亿万恋人

genre: otome, amare, romance, comedy, mystery

You think that you are playing this game, but in fact the game is playing you.

This is definitely not your usual otome, but to tell why this game is so great means to spoil the fun. But believe me, this is definitely an unusual experience, even if a little silly at times.

The premise is quite simple: you are a broke college graduate with no job and no perspectives. But suddenly your legal guardian Uncle Charles, who hasn't been contacting with you for five years, calls and invites you to visit him in another city, and then out of blue gives you $100 000 000.

So now you are filthy rich and alone in his mansion, and don't know what to do with your money. Maybe you should try this new Love Gacha game everyone is talking about? (Yes, there is a Gacha game with a 1% drop rate. But who cares about the money, you've got plenty!)

Or maybe go outside and just meet hot singles in your area?

Trigger warning: you will totally develop trust issues after finishing this game several times (you have to finish game at least three or four times, I guess, to reach the True ending), but in the end - it's totally worth it. I can't say that it is very romantic, but the true route is definitely cute.

Please don't lose hope, I promise, at the end it will be all right (probably)

CHARACTERS:

MC (You can chose the name and gender for MC, that doesn't affect the story.)

They are just a broke clueless college graduate, who doesn't know what to do with their life. I would say that they don't have much ambition or plans for the future, and pretty lazy, because the moment they get the money on bank account, they decide to forget about getting a job and do nothing.

Of course, they're also naїve and kind, because how else they could end up in a situation like this?

Love interests (MILD SPOILERS AHEAD):

I really don't want to spoil everything, but not all of them are really love interests, the best outcome is rather friendship then passionate love, but I liked it anyway.

Elias

A young and good-looking CEO. MC meets him at the airport, picking his lost wallet. When they try to return it, they're finding out that they went to the same school. Is it a coincidence? Elias is sophisticated and polite, not very talkative, and he always wears gloves. What secrets does he hide?

Klaus

A math professor, smart and cute, who loves flowers and believes everything in life can be counted as a statistics. MC is meeting him on a plane. He seems a bit absent-minded, but he cares about MC. Or does he?

Stephen

Stephen is a strikingly handsome well-groomed man. MC meets him in the neighborhood, when Stephen is giving them a flower and his business card, and telling them that he is providing "services". Is he really a male escort? But he seems to have so many talents: he's smart, funny and also agile. MC don't really need his escort services or do they? Can Stephen really be trusted?

Justin (JustiCute)

A live streamer, who is the closest neighbor of the MC. Justin is the friendliest of folks and seems so cute and innocent. He is feeling lonely when he can't really be himself with all his fans, and he considers MC his only friend, telling them truth and secrets about himself. Poor baby, he has no one to trust in this world, except MC...right?

Overall

Visual: 5/5

Story: 5/5

Characters: 4/5

Romance: 3,5/5

Originality: 5/5

My Rating: 5/5

You can get this game on Steam

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About The Third Doctor's Run

Salutations, random people on the internet already breezing past this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck! I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Today, we continue the journey through time as we talk about Doctor Who, now in color as we discuss the Third Doctor’s run. And I’m not kidding when I say that I’ve been looking forward to this one because, out of all The Doctors in the series, I know the LEAST about the third one. It’s not just because I’m much more familiar with Doctor Who’s Modern Era, but because I don’t see many people talk about Three as often. I know One was the cynical introduction to the series, Two was the first regeneration that brought The Doctor their goofiness, Four was the most popular and has the longest run yet, Five was a considerable downgrade from Four, Six and Seven usually trade spots as the worst Doctors in the series, and Eight has a movie. When it comes to Three, maybe it’s just me not looking in the right spaces but I feel like he’s not as frequently brought up as the two who came before him or the ones who’ll soon replace him. Could it be that he’s not as well-regarded as other Doctors or is it that there’s not much to talk about? Well, I’m willing to find out! I really want to see what this guy has to offer and how he’ll rank compared to some of the other Doctors I’ve seen. Maybe I’ll love him, maybe I won’t, but I won’t know unless I finally watch this run to see for myself. Let’s hope the mysteries of Number Three fade away by the time this review makes its end.

Decades old spoilers below…

THE SERIALS

Oh, I almost forgot! There’s not a SINGLE serial within this run that’s incomplete! With ALL of it on Tubi (of the time I’m writing this)! You won’t be able to watch the entirety of the first or second Doctors’ run, but if you want ALL of Number Three, you very well can! And now that I know I won’t be READING for any of this run, I definitely know I can go through it a lot quicker…is what I would say if we didn’t have FIVE seasons to go through instead of three. Regardless, we’re going to charge forward, taking the journey together as we go in order, one serial at a time. Starting with the very first adventure…

The Spearhead From Space: Already, I can feel the money that went into this new run. Not only is everything in color, but there’s some impressive special effects and stunts on display. I don’t even know how they show people getting shot and blown up or how the hell they made that brain thing a reality, but I’m impressed nonetheless as I wish to learn HOW it’s done. As for the story, it’s…something to be desired. Not bad by any means, but it feels a little all over the place at times. You have these plastic dummies coming to life (which isn’t the last time it’ll happen in the show, weirdly enough), trying to find pieces of a magical McGuffin held by some old man looking to make a quick buck as the head of a plastic factory investigates the sudden change in leadership, all while The Doctor rediscovers himself in this new regeneration. There’s a lot of things to keep track of and a few faces to remember as the story moves forward and a few twists, turns, and even deaths occur. It’s all fine, I suppose, but I feel like keeping things simpler would have benefitted in making this a good start to this run. This is a status quo shaking serial, where The Doctor is now exiled on Earth and working for UNIT to keep some form of excitement in his life during the exile. I feel like keeping the meteorite fragments with UNIT or the plastics being among its soldiers would have worked in simplifying things and being easier to adjust audiences to this new normal. What they did is fine, but reeks of over ambition.

I will say, though, that what saves this serial is Jon Pertwee as The Doctor. He’s off to a great start, having most of Two’s mannerisms but coming across as more confident and a BIT insane as he tries to outwit his enemies and potential allies. And I do like his portion of the plot best, as it’s intriguing to see The Doctor struggle with his new regeneration while basically on his own. While Brigadier Stewart knows who The Doctor is, he wasn’t aware of regeneration yet and wasn’t much help in stealing the TARDIS, The Doctor’s goal throughout most of the serial. A part of me twinges at the fact that The Doctor actually tried to flee the situation once he got the TARDIS back, but you do understand why he’d at least make an attempt. He wants to test his exile and really see if he’s stuck to one place again, just like on Gallifrey. I definitely feel for his plight, I just wish that he waited until AFTER the situation with the plastics and meteorite was dealt with before trying to get out of there. Regardless, his inclusion in “The Spearhead From Space” makes it enjoyable, proving the new guy can stand out and at least make parts of the run entertaining. Here’s hoping he’ll stay so the rest of the time. 

Doctor Who and the Sulirians: This serial gives a good idea about what things are going to be like for The Doctor until further notice. He will be minding his own business when a problem arises that he’ll be forced to assist on. Only to be met with conflict with Brigadier Stewart, as they both have different ideas on who’s in charge and how they can solve the given situation. You got a hint of that last time with Stewart questioning some of The Doctor’s plans but going along with it anyway, where here it’s a showcase of how different these two are. The Doctor sees a new species living under the Earth, and while he notes that they are dangerous he still reaches out to find a peaceful solution that can avoid a possible war or extinction. Even upon meeting a creature, knowing it has killed others and caused them to die of fright, The Doctor reacts nonchalantly and reaches out a hand to help understand this thing. To see if it’s a scared being lashing out of fear and anger or figure out if it’s a being willingly causing destruction. And that moment right there is exactly what makes The Doctor such a special kind of hero, as he chooses to learn about a species and find a way to help them BEFORE considering them a threat. It also clashes well with Stewart’s way of thinking, assuming that the Sulirians are a threat and they should be prepared to deal with them if need be. It’s a clash of ideologies that’s handled fairly well, especially at the end when The Doctor wishes to wake the Sulirians back up to learn more from them as a species and Stewart decides to blow them all to hell behind The Doctor’s back so that the Sulirians won’t attack again. I love how it’s a situation where neither are in the right yet they’re also not in the wrong. Stewart may have attempted a genocide on a species that predates Earth itself, but The Doctor had no way of knowing both parties would listen to reason. You get the reasoning between both The Doctor and Stewart and it could be fascinating to discuss what was the right call. It’s a great ending that says so much about two characters…I just wish the conflict they both faced was a little stronger.

If you couldn’t guess, this serial introduces the Sulirians, and holy shit do they get a glow up by the time the Eleventh Doctor faces them. They weren’t AMAZING antagonists, but I could see how someone could take them seriously far better in Eleven’s run than in Three’s. Here, it is not only VERY obvious that they’re people in costumes, but the costumes themselves aren’t all that impressive. Even for the seventies, it all looks cheaply put together, and you can tell they’re TRYING to make them work but…it doesn’t. The claws are obviously gloves, their mouths don’t even move half the time they talk, and their skin tends to bend a little too much like clothing does. It’s not that great of a look, and their…overpowered third eye stare is just all kinds of broken. The Daleks and Cybermen can blast people or irradiate them, but they don’t blow holes in walls and immediately close them back up with the same stare that can also hurt and brainwash people. Not to mention that it makes it MORE difficult to tell what’s a killing blow and what’s stunning one. I cannot get invested in these creatures, proven by how the serial was better when they WEREN’T on screen. Those first three episodes setting up the Sulerians where all you see is a figure in shadow or bits of its claw causes some effectively tense moments that made me excited to see what they’re capable of. And that entire episode where The Doctor struggles to find a cure for their alien infection is pretty engaging as well. It comes off as a bit of a distraction, but it leads to some great stuff as The Doctor tries all he can to stop people of London from dropping like flies. I can get into PARTS of this serial, but the whole thing tends to slow down whenever these cheesy costumes are on screen. So while there are some great bits in it that show us what’s in store for this new era, it’s not a great serial to go through.

The Ambassadors of Death: I…couldn’t get into this one. For whatever reason, it felt like I was watching this entire serial on autopilot, with none of it really grabbing my attention for long. Which is weird because the overall serial isn’t bad. I mean, the story feels like it’s all over the place, constantly doing things like having Liz get kidnapped, escape, and then kidnapped again in the span of an episode. Or how The Doctor went to space, got told some exposition, and then returned like it was nothing. However, I’m more than willing to put the blame on that because my brain was on autopilot. Because a lot of what happens in this serial is going all out. There’s some great special effects for the time. Some are a little dated than others but there’s nothing you can do about that kind of thing and at least the Ambassadors look a lot more threatening than the Sulirians ever did last time. And the mystery behind what the Ambassadors are is engaging enough to make you want to learn more, soon coming with twists that makes The Doctor go from dealing with these threats to actually helping them. It’s an easy twist to make these villains turn out to be victims, but I LOVE the reveal regardless. It’s a great recurring theme in Doctor Who to tell the audience that just because something looks alien or scary, there’s no reason to run from it in fear or destroy it for “the safety of the planet.” Sometimes, there can be more to the story, and it’s worth investigating for. Who knows, you might make a new ally if you treat them respectfully rather than show your fear.

So, yeah, not really a BAD serial. Just something that didn’t really…grab me, perse. And I’m more than willing to accept that it’s a me-problem rather than an issue with the serial itself. It’s not really doing anything WRONG, it’s just…not interesting to me. Whatever the case, I’m sure it’ll be engaging to others, I’m just…weird with it for some reason. Here’s hoping that’ll change some time in the future.

Inferno: Now THIS. This is a good one…

It starts off interestingly enough, with scientists thinking they can play God and reaping the consequences, thus forcing The Doctor to save them from themselves. I was already intrigued when this weird goop from the Earth’s crust caused these green goobers to run around, wreck shop, and turn others into what they are too with just a simple touch most of the time. It’s something the show has done several times before and these sort of violent zombies made for a great intense time. But then things took a turn for the better when The Doctor accidentally transports himself into a parallel universe facing the same problem but with evil/eviler counterparts of those The Doctor knows and trusts. At first, I was worried that we might stay in this parallel universe for too long only to quickly realize the BRILLIANCE of it. This universe allows us to see just how bad things could be for the Earth WE’RE familiar with, and it lets the writers get away with making the story as dark as they can because, well, it’s not our world. We actually get to see the destruction of Earth, versions of characters we recognized getting killed, and people panicking and screaming as everything literally comes down in flames around them. All while The Doctor is left powerless to stop any of it because it’s too late and he has to go back to make sure none of it happens to HIS Earth. And, yeah, it DOES feel like some things could have been trimmed down, just a tad, but it still made for an entertainingly dark time. I especially loved how The Doctor is forced to deal with evil versions of his companions, trying desperately to earn the trust of the cold version of Liz and have similar arguments with Stewart that he would with the “good” version, showing how his morally gray attitude for the betterment of his country could actually be dangerous if gone too far. I even like the weird green werewolves that pop up on this new Earth. I feel as though just making the infected green skinned and acting like zombies was more than enough whereas the werewolves are just…unnecessary, but it’s DOCTOR WHO. A serial before they had minions made of plastic and several years later will have shapeshifting birds who proclaim that they’ll “cosplay the planet to DEATH!” Weird is what you tend to expect with this show and I’m not complaining with a serial this good. It’s definitely one of my favorites, and a great way to cap off The Third Doctor’s first season.

Terror of the Autons: THE MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER–*HACKS*! *Coughs* Oh, man…Ugh…THE MASTER!

At long last, we have the introduction to The MASTER! The Doctor’s greatest enemy, being everything that goes against The Doctor’s core beliefs as well as a mirror of what The Doctor COULD become if he had lived a darker day! And in his very first episode, he’s…killing people with a rubber chair and trying to choke The Doctor with a telephone cord…

Okay, as cool as it is to see The Master’s introduction, this is still a serial that premiered in the seventies. There’s a LOT of cheesy effects. And I do mean a LOT of them. Obvious green screen, costumes where you see the zippers on them, rubber masks, and a delayed reaction or two to certain things going off. There’s a lot of imperfect effects going into this, which is a shame because this seems like a decent introduction to The Master if you ignore how obviously fake everything is. Roger Delgado toes the line well in being both campy and threatening on a dime, with his plans on using the Autons to wipe out Earth fits so well for the devious mad man that he is. The Master has no real power of his own, so using an old enemy of The Doctor’s to destroy a planet he’s stuck on is perfectly evil while showing The Master’s strengths and weaknesses all at once. He’s a brilliant mind that can trick others but can’t do anything without a proper tool or a man-made army. It’s also interesting to see how cowardly he started out as. Where the Modern Master was more about the chaos regardless if he’d lived or died, this one bends the second The Doctor mentions that there’s no way The Master would survive the invasion. Yet The Master still got the last laugh by making UNIT kill an innocent man and driving off into the sunset, being the first villain The Doctor’s faced that got away. And I love The Doctor’s mischievous grin as he says he looks forward to seeing The Master again, finally having a worthy opponent on this backwater planet that could give The Doctor SOMETHING to do other than solve UNIT’s problems for them. All and all, it’s a great intro, it just sucks that it’s hindered by the effects of the time, proving too much ambition can be a BIT of a bad thing when making a TV show.

Oh, and it also sucks that they kicked out Liz Shaw and unceremoniously replaced her with Jo. I wasn’t the biggest Liz fan and Jo…has potential, I guess. But the least the writers could have done was let Liz say goodbye. Sure, apparently she left because the actress was pregnant…but they couldn’t have filmed a quick farewell? Just say that Liz was gone and that’s that? Really puts an extra damper on what would have been an otherwise fantastic serial.

The Mind of Evil: For whatever reason, this was another one that could barely hold my interest and I’m still not sure why. It actually seems interesting. The Master uses the insanity of a prison riot mixed with a machine killing people with fear all so he can steal missiles to jumpstart WWIII. It all sounds great for a Master story, with him using chaos to control the situation and keep The Doctor on his toes. It also has some fun bits to it, like The Doctor being more accepted by the Chinese diplomat than the Brigadier, and Jo actually showed herself to be much more…exceptional. It’s the last part I appreciate, because seeing a female companion steal a gun out of a crook’s hand and shoot another in the ass is the best kind of badassery that I, an Ordinary Schmuck, can appreciate, and it might have made her skyrocket into some of my top favorite classic companions. All-in-all, I can see this being a fun, epic adventure…So why doesn’t it work for me? Well, I guess one part is that everytime the serial cuts away from the prison, the intrigue I have is lessened. Stealing the missiles or killing dignitaries just doesn’t have the same excited punch as a prisoner holding an entire prison captive while a machine filled with the most dangerous minds in the world goes on a killing spree. I am much more invested in seeing how the characters will get out of THAT situation as opposed to stopping The Master launching the missiles, as his distraction ironically did too good of a job at holding attention than anything else. It doesn’t help either that both plotlines tend to feel like they were meant for two different serials that ended up getting mushed together for whatever reason. The Master using another situation to cause chaos is a classic move, but with how it seems there’s more going on with the machine than there is with the missiles, it doesn’t feel…coherent? No, more like…incompatible. The machine was TOO big of a deal that it took the wind out of him stealing missiles that could start a World War. We can see any other character or villain do the same thing anytime, whereas The Keller Machine is something so uniquely made that it feels…almost annoying to cut away from it. It’s nothing BAD, just…kind of boring. Still the rest of the serial is engaging enough, offering a fun time when it can. It’s just a fun time that didn’t fully grab me specifically.

The Claws of Axos: Now this is another good one. It’s a simple enough plot to follow. These intergalactic beings, brought to Earth thanks to The Master, want to use the planet for its resources and drain it for all its got. Not really that big of a plot, or even an original one. Hell, the Fantastic Four beat BBC to this by having them fight something similar with Galactus just five years before this serial began. So…suck it, Britain. The US of A beat you to it (I’m kidding, of course. I’m SURE this type of idea was done before that as well). But despite not having that much of a unique concept, “The Claws of Axos” definitely wins out by having an interesting species. I love how the Axons take on two different forms that are both unsettling in their own ways. Their golden forms make the skin crawl a little with their dead eyes and echoey voices, while their true forms, albeit cheap looking, does the job in looking monstrous in a way I can easily understand how someone could feel threatened by them. I was never really scared, personally. Honestly, I’ve seen scarier stuff from Doctor Who. But the designs of the Axons and the way they move and act still makes it feel like something unsettling for 1971…Although, them blowing up a single guard was more hilarious than scary, if you ask me.

As for the story, it just trudges along at first, but gets really interesting halfway through when we find out how The Master thoroughly underestimated these beings. It then leads to him forced to align himself with his enemies just to save his own skin, with everyone begrudgingly agreeing to this alliance for the sake of saving the rest of the planet. I especially love the final part, where The Doctor tricks The Master into saving Earth by appealing to his greed and selfishness. It was a great turn of events that proves how far The Doctor’s willing to keep up an act if it means taking care of his enemies. All in all, it makes the serial pretty good, if a little slow at first. It definitely builds up and if you stick with it you won’t be disappointed by how things turn out.

Colony in Space: At long last, we have a classic time and space adventure!

I’ll admit, having The Doctor stuck on Earth started to make me miss the wackiness of visiting other worlds and solving others’ problems. We had some good fun on Earth, but it did start getting a tad bit dull at times, not to mention repetitive because of how it followed a frequent pattern: The Doctor is minding his own business while fixing up the TARDIS, some aliens or The Master captures the attention of UNIT, and he’s forced into solving a simple situation while arguing with Brigadier Stewart over what’s the best solution. It’s all well and good, but, just like The Doctor, you tend to long for the time and space traveling adventures again, which MIGHT be intentional, for all I know, but you can’t be sure. And “Colony in Space” pops up at just the right time, delivering another conspiracy plot after SEVEN serials of going without such a thing. It even starts off on the right foot, removing the Brigadier from the equation and allowing The Doctor and Jo to act independently as they solve this mystery involving a colony, a mining corporation, an ancient civilization, and, of course, The Master. As for the mysteries and conspiracies, I’d say it’s…mostly well-done. I find intrigue with how the Interplanetary Mining Corporation manipulates the situation so they can scare off and kill the colonizers, proving them to be devious foes that makes rooting for their demise all the easier. I’d also say that the serial does a good job at handling the dramatic irony of knowing these people are evil but keeping the colonizers unaware due to their own problems. Granted, most of those problems are caused by the IMC, but they don’t know that for a while and it’s handled in a way that seems believable as well as understandable. In that regard, I’d say the serial has a great story, but things start feeling a little too complicated halfway through when it leaned further into the ancient race and brought in The Master. Everything with the primitives is fascinating and I still love the climax of the serial involving The Doctor and The Master deciding what to do with a weapon that could destroy galaxies. It’s that scene in particular that stands out in the whole serial, for it spells out how differently these two are in their morals and ideals in a way that just…hits right. Like, yeah, it’s basically, “Good guy hates evil thing while bad guy LOVES it,” but I don't know. I dig it for whatever reason. THAT BEING SAID, it faces a similar problem that “The Mind of Evil” has, where this part of the story feels like the serial has two plots that would have worked perfectly on their own but feel distracting when put together. At least this time around I enjoy both plotlines, but it doesn’t stop this feeling that “Colony in Space” is overcomplicating itself for no reason. Regardless of that fact, I still really like this one as it gave me an adventure I didn’t know I missed until I got it back. Here’s hoping for more adventures across time and space, but ones that do balance out with Earth adventures. Because while the UNIT formula got a little dull, it’s still got some fun stuff that’s too good to miss.

The Daemons: Not this serial, though. This was…almost good, but not quite.

The premise is an interesting one. The Master uses “magic” to trap a town in a heat shield as he summons a demon to take its power. It’s got some fun bits to it, like The Doctor pretending to be a magician to appease lunatics that The Master has working for him, Brigadier and his men trying and failing to pass the heat shield, and The Master being quickly humbled by this giant demon he summoned. There’s some good fun to be had with this…but I’ll admit that my enjoyment tanked once the goofy little gargoyle showed up. The serial was building up to this more fantastical mystery with a little bit of scares to it. Nothing that tops Modern Who, but there’s still some subtle bits of something HUGE coming on. I mean, they made HUGE hoof prints in a field and showed a CAR exploding. There were some definite attempts to make the monster of the week a threatening one, and I appreciated it. Unfortunately, it all came to an end when the gargoyle started prancing around, which was entertaining, at least. It’s just not entertaining for the right reasons, as I find myself giggling over this goofy little guy running around instead of feeling threatened by him. Like…were people really scared of this goofball in 1971? I can kind of buy being scared of Azal. The effect of him appearing does not hold up, but his design and makeup at least gives him a frightening vibe, with his BOOMING voice adding to it. But Bok the Gargoyle? Come on, there’s just no way.

The serial, unfortunately, doesn’t come back from that. All the menacing aura that the serial built up is abandoned, with only little moments trying as hard as they can but not enough. Like when The Doctor and Jo are chased by a possessed follower of The Master or how quickly The Master is humbled by Azal’s presence. There’s definitely attempts to keep the story the same as it was in the beginning, but with stuff like Bok and that weird interlude of The Doctor almost getting burned as a witch, it causes the attempts to fall short. Plus, the serial kind of loses itself in trying to give a scientific explanation of what these Daemons are. There were so many instances where I did a double-take because it sounded like The Doctor was pulling stuff out of his ass with scientific goblty-gook that just…makes little sense. I can kind of accept that these Daemons are aliens who appear to be demons, but there could have been a better way at explaining it other than just throwing science words at the wall and making loose connections about the history of Devils and their horns.

“The Daemons” is a serial with a solid premise and surprisingly great special effects (for the most part). It just lost me personally after Part Two, with every part struggling to keep me invested but failing to do so. 

Day of the Daleks: Hey, the Daleks are back! That lasted…longer than I expected, to be honest. As a modern fan who’s used to these tinker toys showing up a season after the last ones were destroyed, it’s actually shocking that the writers held off using them for FOUR seasons before bringing them back for an epic return. And epic it is, with this serial being a pretty decent return of The Doctor’s worst enemies. They may have hardly appeared and you could almost write them out with this one dick that was only their pawn, but the overall serial remains as an interesting mystery to uncover who these people are, what are their connections to The Daleks, and what The Doctor can do to stop their rule. The reveal that they orchestrated this whole paradoxical time loop to make sure they’re permanently in power is the right type of complicated, time-traveling nonsense that I just love in Doctor Who. And there’s also some pretty amazing special effects and camera work in this one. The way characters will just explode as they’re disintegrated is something that I have NO idea how it was done and the way the camera moves around and gives these looming shots of these futuristic buildings from below is…epic. This is an EPIC serial that proved everyone was trying their best to make it look so. I heavily enjoyed it and I hope to see the series continue to rise with this grandiose style in the future. There’s not much I can say other than…I liked it. I REALLY enjoyed this one as it was better than I could have imagined.

The Curse of Peladon: Now this is an interesting one. The Doctor finds himself in the middle of a murder mystery where we, the audience, already know the answer. Now, most mysteries don’t tend to reveal the culprit right away, as figuring it out is part of the fun, but there is something entertaining about knowing something that The Doctor doesn’t. You watch as he picks up the pieces on his own, stumbling into danger as he figures out who did what and working through his own personal biases when quick to judge certain suspects. Speaking of, I love how the Ice Warriors make a return, but only as allies instead of surprised enemies. Their alliance with The Doctor is strained, no thanks to The Doctor and Jo’s suspicion, but the end result is a great use of expectation subversion when seeing an old enemy of The Doctor return as a friend. But what I love the most is how Jo proved herself in this serial. She took charge in her own way, wanting to help save The Doctor from whatever mess he’s in, despite him taking care of himself, and trying to rally everyone together so they can find the REAL culprit. I especially love that Jo didn’t fall in the same trap that previous female companions did by choosing to stay because she fell for a guy she recently met. It lets the show grow up a bit and allows Jo to stay until she finds a reason that’s bigger than falling in love (YET, I should say. Spoilers). Though, after this one, I don’t think I want her to leave anytime soon. She did a great job here, adding another reason for why this serial is so engaging. It DOES teeter a bit near the end as it feels like we’re just stalling for time to make this a four-parter, but the rest still makes for a fun, interesting, and decent mystery, even if it tells you right away who did what. There’s still a ton of twists and turns plus great character work that makes it a blast to enjoy.

The Sea Devils: This one has the return of some baddies, with the titular Sea Devils, turning out to be a type of Sulirians, and The Master making a return after being arrested two serials ago. First and foremost, I’d like to say how much I appreciate that the writers shelved The Master for a bit. As fun of a character as he is, it started to get tiring that he had to get shoe-horned into the plot to reveal that the whole thing is part of his grand scheme. Even in serials where he wasn’t necessary, like “The Colony in Space” or “The Claws of Axos,” where it feels like the writers tried too hard in making him the new big bad of Doctor Who. Whereas having him show up every once and a while makes his appearances feel more special and lets the audience know that they’re going to be in for some good, entertaining fun. And that applies here, with The Master revealing that he took over his very own prison and had been dedicated to finding a new way to get revenge on the Earth. Enter the Sulirians, now named the Sea Devils, as a group of them that survived in Earth’s oceans came out for conquest, with The Master helping in a shared interest. It’s a villain team-up that makes sense, and gives the karmic justice to The Master when THEY betray him for how similar he looks to humans. It perfectly illustrates the lengths that The Master would go for petty revenge and how quickly his ego betrays him when he learns too late that he CAN’T take control of every pitiful species he sees as beneath him. As for The Doctor, I love that he treats the Sulirians’ return as a second chance. After Stewart had blown the other ones to Hell, despite The Doctor thinking he can help them, this new subset of Sulirians allows him to try again and give them a PIECE of the world above. Allow them to coexist with some humans. Only for the tragedy to sink in that they don’t want to share the world, but take it over. It’s great stuff…until we reach The Doctor’s solution. Because while I love The Doctor’s ideology for peace to be challenged, I take issue with how he decided to blow up the rest of the Sulirians. He was angry at Stewart for doing the same thing for a reason, and it doesn’t feel right that The Doctor would do what Stewart did, but brushed it off as a good thing this time because HE was the one who did it. It doesn’t feel right, making The Doctor come off as a hypocrite rather than someone who learned that killing a species can be the greater good if it suits your purposes. Maybe if they WERE nuked, as per Walker’s orders, I would have been fine with it as that shows that it’s not just Stewart’s patriotism that motivates hasty actions. I already loved how the other humans and captains’ violence is what pushed the Sulirians over the edge in wanting to conquer Earth, so it’d make sense for them to kill them off again. By having The Doctor do it, it just cheapens the message from his last adventure with them.

Other than that, though, it’s still a decent serial with some good Doctor/Master fun, a decent return for a sub-species of Sullirians, and some good bits thrown in here and there like The Doctor and Master dueling with fencing sabers or Jo acting as a jailbreaking badass. While the ending could have used a minor tweak, it doesn’t harm the serial too much in my eyes.

The Mutants: I’m running out of ways of saying that these serials are fine. Because that’s what this one is. It’s a…fine serial, even if it’s another one that didn’t particularly grab me. At least, aside from a few moments. I liked the brief mystery of what’s in the box and who it’s for, even making me chuckle at the thought of the Time Lords using The Doctor as an intergalactic mailman. It shows the pettiness of their ways of punishing The Doctor, letting HIM solve problems across the universe as THEY see fit, but not giving him any knowledge of what’s to be done or how to fix things. They just throw The Doctor at the problem, hoping he fixes it. It’s teasing him with adventure, but controlled by THEIR terms and will only happen at random. You hate them for it, and it makes me love this sort of plot set up more. I also love the conflict in this story, where, at one point, it feels like The Doctor is trying to stop two groups of people from killing each other. Of course, one side is obviously worse than the other, with the Marshal of an Earth colony being the true big bad in wanting to control an entire planet, disguising his intentions with this goal of giving Earthlings a planet again. However, the serial smartly proves that this insanity is all HE wants, with some members of his guard and employ not wanting to go that far with it. It’s what makes the revolt of some of the mutants that the Marshal is fighting against feel right but also intense. Their feelings towards the Marshal and his overlords are justified, but makes you feel a little worried about the few good ones on board who actually want to help. As for the mutants, I love the costuming and practical make up and prosthetics that show how monstrous their evolution has gotten. It makes you feel bad for these poor people, even if the story reveals that this is just a natural stage in their progression as a species. You can tell it’s painful for them both on a physical and emotional level, making the Marshal’s actions of irradiating the planet even worse as it’s what causes this evolution. And it makes that ending all the more beautiful when the character Ky evolves into something powerful enough to save everyone and be a guiding light for his species. It’s all kinds of whacky and a little out of nowhere, but it’s the type of out of pocket ending that makes one appreciate Doctor Who. Sometimes, one act of kindness (Even if it’s irradiating a man further so he can reach his full evolutionary potential) can spark a great and adored change for millions.

So, yeah, there is a lot of good in this. It just…doesn’t interest me. However, I’m willing to accept that it’s another instance of this being a ME problem, as the cast and crew ARE trying their hardest to make this a strong story, and I do say it’s effective. My brain just feels a little broken with it, I guess. What can you do, really, other than hope things will be fine by the next one.

The Time Monster: Now this is a fun one.

In this serial, The Master weaponizes time itself to try and stick it to The Doctor and Earth, and the results are pretty spectacular. We have The Master turning people older, freezing or slowing down time, yanking warriors and soldiers from the past, and even bringing in KRONOS, the titan of TIME, to cause destruction and disruption. It’s quite possibly his most insane scheme yet, and it shows in how wild Delgado is acting in every scene he’s in. He’s yelling like a mad man and cackling like your average cartoon villain. I couldn’t have asked any less for The Master, with the chaos he brings being everything I love and more. On top of that, there’s also a lot of goofs and gags that make the serial all the more entertaining. You’ve got these two scientists with an electrifying amount of chemistry together with their fun interactions, the Brigadier accusing his soldiers of being drunk for seeing outlandish things, The Doctor supping up his car to go turbo mode, and a man turning into a baby. The serial just decided to go full tilt into being insane, and I was all there for it. Things DO start to lose momentum when The Doctor and Jo follow The Master to Atlantis. There’s a lot of The Master delicately trying to talk his way to get a magical crystal to control Kronos, which is a jarring difference to him starting this story off by going off the wall with his insanity. Thankfully, the ending brings it all back with a MOMENTOUS conclusion with a lot of great moments with the characters we follow. You’ve got The Master destroying Atlantis in his vein attempt to control Kronos, Jo proving she’s ride or die by attacking The Master and being the one to almost kill themselves and The Doctor, and The Doctor proving he’s the biggest saint in existence by letting the Master go free instead of living a life of torment. Everything that I love about every character here is on full blast, making it a great ending to an overall fun serial. It might just be my favorite of the Third Doctor’s run, and definitely one of my favorite First Master’s stories. This was the insanity I was expecting from this guy’s debut, and it’s finally delivering itself to be more like The Master I know.

The Three Doctors: Another fun one! This time being the first instance when The Doctor runs into (and teams up with) a past version of themself.

It’s crazy that in the long history of Doctor Who, the many versions of The Doctors only run into each other a handful of stories. Yet, at the same time, I’m glad it doesn’t. It makes serials like this feel all the more special, watching The Doctors bicker and argue over each other all because each one thinks they’re the smartest one in the room and can’t stand the fact that there’s another. It’s no different here, as it’s highly entertaining watching Two and Three take turns trying to save lives as best as they can, with Three being constantly sick of Two’s gimmicks and childish nonsense. And while it stinks that William Hartnell has to LITERALLY sit this one out because he became too sick for the role, it’s still nice to see him come in and act as the voice of reason, telling Two and Three to get their shit together and actually try to SOLVE the issue at hand. Speaking of the “issue,” Omega might just be one of the most tragic villains Doctor Who has ever had. He was a former time lord, trying to give his people the chance they needed to actually time travel, only for that to trap him in a place of unreality where he can’t leave because he technically doesn’t exist anymore. Now, his goal to break everything isn’t something to root for. Believe it or not, most tragic villains DON’T have that type of thing going for them. The tragedy just lies in his situation and how it made him angry at everything because of it. And just LISTEN to the scream of anguish his actor Stephen Thorne gives. It sounds so guttural and real, making you feel empathy for someone who’s ultimate goal soon turned into the destruction of all reality. It adds a sense of drama to the chaotic antics of both Doctors in a way these classic stories haven’t accomplished yet. Not until now, at least, making this not just one of the better serials in this Doctor’s run, but probably one of my favorite Doctor Who stories, instantly topping the last. At this point, all I can hope is that things continue to get better from there.

Carnival of Monsters: Hey, look at that. ANOTHER fun one (Man, we’re on a hot streak).

Fun’s the best way to describe this serial as there’s not much else to discuss about it. It’s just a fun little romp where The Doctor and Jo traverse a cosmic doohickey used by an eccentric ringmaster for a whacky circus. It’s met with some brilliant set design with the giant circuitry of the miniscope, some pretty cool creature puppetry of these drashigs, and some fairly impressive effects for the time as they showed things grow and shrink out of the scope. All and all, I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed. It DOES feel like a BIT of a waste of a concept at times, given that The Doctor and Jo are in a miniature world of monsters and their habitats, only to just go back and forth between a boat, the circuitry, and a marshland. However, I can let it go because the characters on the boat offer a great sense of tragedy as none of them realize where they are and what’s happening to them, constantly going in a loop without making any progress. Plus, if The Doctor and Jo would travel through place after place, monster after monster, it WOULD get more repetitive than the people on the SS Bernice. Besides, I’ll take a concept not reaching its FULL potential over the boring conspiracy of this DULL race of aliens. When they’re interacting with Vorg and being unamused (and often violent) about his menagerie, it’s fun. They offer a decent chaotic energy that makes me chuckle once or twice each time. But when two of them go off to conspire how they could take full control of their planet or whatever, it just loses all my interest each time. I could not bother giving more of a shit about this subplot in the story, as everything about the miniscope and the idiots trying to salvage it was entertaining enough as it is. It almost feels like this conspiracy was just made to pad out the length of this serial and give it an extra punch, when it didn’t really need that. Instead, all it did was make an incredibly fun and entertaining serial just…occasionally boring.

Frontier in Space: Not gonna lie…I was watching this one on autopilot again. It’s another one of those that didn’t really grab me, despite some good stuff. You’ve got Jo proving once more how resourceful she is, The Master being the sassiest he’s ever been, and even a decent ATTEMPT at a good message about the pointless fears one has towards a neighboring empire. It’s interesting how both the soldiers of Earth and Draconia are afraid of each other, realizing they’re equal in power, with one able to destroy the other with ease. It’s fascinating that The Master abused that fear for selfish gain, though I can’t help but feel like the message would have been STRONGER if that manipulation came from someone on either planet. It’d be a touch more fascinating if the one who wanted a war was a human or Draconian wanting to wipe out their enemies for more power. By adding in a third party that wants them to destroy each other, it’s still fine, but it takes away that little extra OOMPH that this serial needs. Otherwise, it’s a serviceable serial with good moments, but one that feels more like set-up for a much better story. And the next one would have been…if not for one little thing.

Planet of the Daleks: This serial…no longer made me afraid of the Daleks. Not in the Classic Era, at least. The Modern Era of Doctor Who often did a good job making the Daleks more threatening and powerful so that it’s more of a challenge to stop them. Here, though, we have these literal killing machines being taken down by having coats thrown over them and pushed aside like nothing, all while they scream helplessly. When that Golden Dalek gave his whole “We’ll be back” speech, I couldn’t really force myself to take him seriously. Not after seeing how easily they were taken care of in THIS adventure. When you see a purple coat thrown over a Dalek and hear it scream “I CAN’T SEE” as if it was being shanked in the liver, it kind of takes away any fear I had for these creatures. Which is a shame, too, because the serial IS trying to make it feel like a grand adventure.

It starts off pretty strong with The Doctor being comatose after the last serial, and Jo trying to find help on a planet where EVERYTHING is trying to kill her. Things get more interesting when she and The Doctor are separated for almost half the serial, dealing with their own threats to their lives and trying to stop the Daleks from invading. And during this first half, things aren’t too bad. They run into different types of allies that assist them in halting the Dalek invasion, the Daleks aren’t TOO incompetent yet, and all around the cast are some brilliant sets that make it impressive to watch. But by the time we reached episode four, when The Doctor and Jo reunited, it made me realize, “Wait, there’s still two episodes left? What can they do from here?” And funnily enough, those two episodes are what killed the serial for me as it had senseless padding of characters figuring out what to do next and The Daleks being their most incompetent. This is another case where a serial starts strong but slowly loses me over time. And the sad part is that I’ll remember it, but for the wrong reasons as I can stamp this serial down as the one to kill the Daleks for me. For now, at least, the show proves it can make them terrifying. But that’s going to take YEARS of time to get to.

The Green Death: How is it that a serial about maggots, fungi, and a smartalec supercomputer managed to be more fun and entertaining than ones about The Master controlling space racism and Daleks preparing for an invasion? I’m not entirely sure myself…but I’m not complaining about the results either.

This is surprisingly a decent serial, and one that’s structurally sound. It flows better than most with very little padding, every moment reserved for strong character building or entertaining bits that had no right to be as humorous as they needed to be. Something like The Doctor pretending to be a cleaning lady while threatening to beat Captain Yates with a water bucket was delightful to see, both as a showcase of these two’s bonds and the solid laugh it got out of me. In fact, the humor, overall, is just genuinely top-notch in this serial, making me crack up easier than previous Classic Who adventures. Even a bit as simple as Stewart being hypnotised by The Doctor’s crystal gets a decent chuckle out of me for what it is. And what I love most are the times when the humor isn’t distracting from the plot. Like The Doctor going off on this adventure to find the crystal that managed to save the day almost has this humorous tilt to it, with how much he’s constantly facing danger every second while everyone else is having a relatively slow start to THEIR adventure. It makes us laugh while also providing the main tool they needed to fight back against BOSS’ hypnotism. Not only that, but it provides an interesting character moment, where Jo chooses a more personal and manageable adventure as opposed to The Doctor’s quest across the galaxy. It shows that there’s this divide beginning to grow between them, with neither really going along with the other on their adventure at first, with The Doctor only joining Jo when he was done with high-level insanity and wanted something simple. Though simple this adventure was NOT, as there were some genuinely tense scenes that made me a little worried for these characters. And yes, I was worried about them getting killed by frickin’ MAGGOTS…but those maggots were surprisingly creepy. Maybe it’s the part of me that's terrified of insects, but these things the size of small dogs hissing at characters before trying to bite them freaked me out just a little bit. And they’re not the only threat here, with BOSS being a delightfully fun antagonist with how chipper he is for world domination and how much of a genuine threat he can be with being able to force others to do his bidding. When I saw a man jump off a railing to kill himself because BOSS demanded it, I felt like I was watching a dark moment from Modern Who as opposed to the campiness that’s often in Classic Who. It’s what helps make the serial so entertaining…but not perfect.

My main gripe with “The Green Death” is what it does with Jo. For some reason, she acts way more like a dunce here than she ever did–In fact, she acts more like how I EXPECTED her to on her introduction. Gone is the capable assistant to The Doctor who can and will kick ass and take names. Now it’s some clutz who accidentally saved the day only to then needlessly put herself in a dangerous situation so she could impress this guy she barely knows. Oh, and by the way, I HATE that falling in love is how Jo exits the series. After all those times she NARROWLY avoided running off with some guy, I was hopeful that the writers would avoid that trap altogether. Only for this serial to end with her wanting to MARRY this guy she knew only for a few days. And it’s the marriage part that really ticks me off because…WHY?! The scene that has them meet proves how incompatible the two of them are. Jo is constantly messing up around Clifford Jones’ lab and HE’S constantly berating her intelligence for it despite the fact that SHE’S PROVEN TO BE SMARTER THAN THIS ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS! WHY would she throw away everything to marry this jackass?! Going with him on an expedition out of love is one thing, but MARRIAGE?! MARRIAGE?!

It annoys me the most because this serial presents a better alternative. Like I said, Jo chose a more personal and manageable adventure, perhaps hinting that she doesn’t want the insanity of traveling through space and time with The Doctor anymore. Heck, the LAST serial implied the same thing with her saying she was sick of space and wanted to go back to Earth. Jo choosing to deal with smaller, easier adventures instead of the constant threats The Doctor faces would have been an UNDERSTANDABLE ending for this character. I would have taken it just fine and accepted it a lot better than her GETTING MARRIED.

That being said…I do like the final minute in this serial. While everyone is celebrating and happy for the new couple, The Doctor is off to the side and is only observing the revelry instead of joining in. You can tell by his face that he WANTS to be happy for Jo, but knowing that this is the last night he’ll likely see her, he doesn’t have it in him. And that final scene where he’s driving off, all alone while Jo is happy and with company, it…gives me chills just by thinking about it. It’s another scene that reminds me so much of the tragedy about The Doctor. He seeks companionship and to always have someone by his side, yet everyone always leaves him eventually. I LOVE this moment, even if I despise how it happened with every fiber of my being.

The ending’s a little wonky, but “The Green Death” remains as a fun serial that has great character moments, good humor, and some decent threats in it. Not a perfect serial, but still a great time all around.

The Time Warrior: Real quick, that new intro is pretty dang cool. I mean, it’s covered in 70s sci-fi cheese, but that’s what I love about it.

Speaking of introductions, this serial brings in what Doctor Who fans consider familiar faces. We meet the very first Sontaran in the show, and one that’s a lot more capable than the dimwitted doofuses that Modern Doctor Who had written them out to be. Linx is a decent antagonist, outsmarting medieval men of valor, promising a bloodthirsty leader weapons to conquer kingdoms all so Linx could use his castle as a workshop. It’s fun to watch a villain who makes no allegiances outside of his own, helping others out of what’s convenient for HIM instead of forming actual bonds with a species he despises. Either that or he’s just happy to contribute to bloodshed, as a Sontaran would.

We’re also introduced to Sarah-Jane Smith, one of The Doctor’s most popular companions, to the point where SHE’S the one who got a spin-off series that’s…probably good (I don’t know, I haven’t watched it). And as first appearances go, Sarah-Jane doesn’t do too bad as she has great rapport with The Doctor and a pretty understandable reason for why he lets her hang around. I love that The Doctor shows immediate admiration towards someone who broke the rules for the sake of seeking information she thought would be fun to gather. As someone who did something similar to get his TARDIS, you can tell by the flicker in his eyes that he sees a bit of himself in Sarah-Jane. Though, not sure where the sexism came from as he never really treated Jo the way he treats Sarah-Jane half the time, but the other half where they’re buddies trying to save the day can lead to something fun and somewhat believable.

As for the story, it’s perfectly simple. The Doctor’s trying to stop history from being unmade by an outside, intergalactic force, and does so with tricks, outwitting his enemies, and getting help from some quirky one-off characters. Nothing too huge, which is crazy to think given this serial introduces one of The Doctor’s popular recurring foes as well as one of his most famous companions. Guess it goes to show that you can never tell how huge some aspects of a story can get years later. Even someone as popular as Sarah-Jane Smith still has to make her start in a decently decent story like this, and that’s kind of cool to know.

Invasion of the Dinosaurs: Sometimes I wonder if the writers of this show are told last minute that a story they’re making needs to be LONGER to meet a quota. Because that’s what I get with “Invasion of the Dinosaurs.” It’s a serial that feels like it was meant to be a shorter story only to get stretched out into a six-part serial a little late in production. It’s the best explanation I can find for how the simple plan of bringing dinosaurs to the present got overly complicated and overly dull at the same time. I mean, there are SOME bits I like. Firstly, I think the puppetry for the dinosaurs is decent. It’s not Jurassic Park, but for the seventies it’s impressive. I also love how The Doctor is the only one who can resist time manipulation because he’s a time lord. That’s a simple and cool detail that works well enough. And I think Sarah did well to prove herself as a worthy companion to The Doctor, having intelligence enough to help him and others while still having that independent spirit that’s downright lovable. I think there’s some fun to be had, but it’s held back by some strong faults. I mean, this is an episode about dinosaurs returning to Earth, and it’s just…BORING. It’s a boring serial made worse by this complex plan to use the dinosaurs to destroy the Earth and start over. And…WHY? Why do that through dinosaurs of all things, all while wrapping it into a message about the environment? There’s gotta be a better way to go about things than this. Because I get it. The writers wanted a mystery with twists and turns and a satisfying conclusion after all that theorizing of what could go wrong. Meanwhile, a loony scientist wanting to bring the dinosaurs back for research purposes only for those dinos to go out of control is a simpler and much better idea than “We must destroy the world so we can start over and do better!” This is supposed to be a logical, ethical debate about what’s good for the Earth, to the point where one of The Doctor’s allies BETRAYS everything for the sake of this crazy plan. And it does not work. The writers went for the complicated route, likely to add more of a mystery and give this serial more length, when a simple, shorter idea would have been for a better story.

Death to the Daleks: Oh, wow, I don’t care. See? I told you that “Planet of the Daleks” killed my interest in these creatures, and this one doesn’t really improve things with how they’re dealt away by savages with sticks and self-destruct after one measly failure. There’s SOME good stuff like how quickly they took control of the situation once they got actual weapons back, but not enough to make me feel the fear I once had at the sight of a Dalek.

As for the rest of the serial, it’s…pretty good. The mystery of what’s going on in Part One was engaging as we watched The Doctor and Sarah struggle to figure out what’s going on, often feeling the intensity as they try their best to survive this new, unknown threat. And in Parts Three and Four, we basically see The Doctor go on an Indiana Jones-style adventure, using his intelligence and superior mind to save himself and his new alien companion. It was actually pretty fun, with SOME added tensity given that they had Daleks close on their heels. Like I said, the serial TRIES to make the Daleks feel more like a threat again, even if there are too many disappointing moments that tend to ruin it, just a little. All and all, definitely another fun one, but another that’s not that interesting. It’s definitely better than the other serials that are “just fun,” but not by a lot.

The Monster of Peladon: Another rare instance where The Doctor revisited a planet/civilization he helped before. And just like his previous adventure on Peladon, there’s another mystery to solve. Only this time, it’s more on the Scooby-Doo variety, fit with fake ghosts that exist through technology, a culprit that’s just about too easy to guess, and clues that become relevant by the time the mystery’s just about solved. At least, up until the halfway point. The first half is what really grabbed me as I was trying to figure out what was going on and who was orchestrating what, right along with the rest of the cast. By the second half, it becomes a standard alien takeover. And while it is fun watching the characters deal with this sudden attack with its fair share of great moments, such as The Doctor’s mental fortitude withstanding Eckersley’s alarm, things don’t really match the similar highs of that first half. Plus, there was some fun in having The Doctor play catch-up after being absent for fifty years, creating this situation you don’t get to see often in Doctor Who where the people he saved faces another issue that slowly accumulated over the years of his absence. It’s why I find myself being okay that the Ice Warriors are the villains in this one. I loved the expectation subversion the last time, but it does fit in with the overall idea that things change over long periods of time, and so do the people. Even those you thought you could trust once tend to sing a different tune if they’re desperate enough or put into worse positions. It’s part of what I like most about the second half, even if it is still the “Doctor stops the evil aliens” plot that may have gone on a BIT too long.

Regardless, I’d say this is another fun serial, though in a much higher rank than the last one. It’s more ABOUT something, while giving some fun mystery and cooler standoffs. It’s the right type of enjoyment to have before we reach the end of this long run. Speaking of…

Planet of the Spiders: Here it is! The final adventure for The Third Doctor! The last tale that Jon Pertwee chose to be a part of! And it…features giant, telekinetic spiders and OFFENSIVELY outdated writing for how to portray a mentally disabled person. I mean…did they HAVE to have Sarah-Jane call Tommy “normal” when the crystal gave him more intelligence? That just…oof. That hurt. That REALLY hurt.

Anyways, this serial is…fine? The special effects are decent for what they are, the story is easy enough to follow, and the spiders aren’t too bad as antagonists. Because, come on, they’re giant spiders. 

The problem is that the serial never really felt BIG. This is the last time we’re seeing this version of The Doctor, and we’re given the same standard as the rest of his run. And keep in mind, this isn’t a recency bias thing where Modern Doctor Who tends to go big or go home when it comes to each Doctor’s final adventure. Even the last two managed to have bigger, more impressive ends to their stories than compared to Three. Number One may have been asleep the majority of the time, but it was still a face off against The Cybermen, who would become of The Doctor’s biggest enemies (That the writers overused for Number Two). Meanwhile, Number Two was stuck on a planet where all the big wars and warriors were fighting against each other as they were pulled out of time, ending on a tragic conclusion as The Doctor is forced to face Gallifrey and forced into exile because of it. Those ARE big stories, made to feel bigger with time as we see how these events echoed across The Doctor’s future. Here, though, there’s almost NOTHING…aside from ONE great scene where The Doctor talks with his old teacher about regeneration, finally explaining it for the first time. It was fascinating getting to see the early ideas of a concept I’ve grown accustomed to, seeing the simple ways they explain it before future runs made things a little more complicated. Other than that, though, it’s still pretty standard.

Even The Third Doctor’s exit feels cheap. Oh, not his performance as he says goodbye. Jon Pertwee is giving his all as he tries to make his last words comforting for poor Sarah. But the reason for WHY he has to regenerate is where I take issue. He said he needed to face his fear, and the serial is pretty vague for what that fear is. Is it death? Is it facing consequences for his greedy curiosity? Is…Is it spiders? Don’t get me wrong, I can relate. It’d just be a little funny if that’s what it was. But we don’t know WHAT it was, which I guess is kind of the point? Leave it open ended and let audiences come to their own conclusions. The problem is that if this is The Third Doctor’s last hoorah, it’d be nice if there were more than VAGUE reasoning for why. Maybe there were some context clues I couldn’t pick up on because I accidentally tuned out a certain point due to disinterest. But if that’s the case, then this serial really IS the standard for this run.

Yeah, I quickly learned the reason that Three isn’t brought up often: His adventures weren’t all that interesting. Not bad, mind you. Just…a lot of mediocrity that couldn’t keep my interest for long. I kept trying to hold out, really I have. If there was ever a point where it seems like I wasn’t really appreciating the brilliance of a serial’s story or theme, I guarantee you that I was TRYING to. I just couldn’t get into most of it no matter how hard I tried. Maybe it’s the writing or the directing of the time or maybe I just…have a shorter attention span than I thought. I guess take what I have to say about this run with a grain of salt as it’s likely personal bias, but I couldn’t really enjoy it as heavily as I wanted to. There were still a lot of fun stories and SOME isolated bits that will stick with me, but not enough to make this run a personal favorite. However, that’s just the serials. How did the other characters fair?

THE COMPANIONS

We’re playing a little loosey-goosey with who counts as a companion this time around. With The Doctor stuck on Earth for more than half the run, there’s less adventures in the TARDIS and in space/time. Yet there are still some characters that, I’d say, radiate companion energy. Ones who very much COULD be a part of the conversation for best companions and characters who frequently assist The Doctor like old companions have. The question is whether or not they worked well with The Doctor, and it’s best to start with the man frequently going against him.

Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart: This man started out with a lot of promise. He was sort of a budding, playful rival with The Doctor, both on the same side yet have different ideas of what could be best for Earth. You get the sense that the Brigadier is a good man just trying to protect his planet, but his methods of shooting first clash with The Doctor’s attempts to make peace or figure out what the threat is before blowing it up. It was a great dynamic…that slowly got phased out the more The Doctor started leaving Earth. From then on, Lethbridge started being used less and less, with him only going into the TARDIS ONCE in the entire run. It makes sense, his character sees himself as a protector of Earth and he wouldn’t WILLINGLY want to leave it. HOWEVER, it comes at the expense of him turning into more of a side character than a member of the main cast like he began as. It’s pretty unfair because he WAS engaging and it was interesting to see how his worldview clashes and sometimes matches with The Doctor’s. By the end, though, he became more or less a straight man to The Doctor’s antics in the rare occasions they were on screen together. Still fun, just nowhere near as good as he was at the start. But if I could give him SOME credit, he’s at least more memorable than the men that work for him.

Captain Yates and Sergeant Benton: I-I’ve got nothing for these two. They’re genuinely interchangeable in my mind. I can’t even remember who was in what half the time, often confusing them both for the same character. THAT’S how forgettable they are. And considering how one of them ends up betraying The Doctor, and I felt almost nothing for it, that’s certainly a problem…There were fun bits with them though. I remember chuckling at one turning into a baby or the other calling the maggots in “The Green Death” kitties. That’s some good stuff…still won’t remember them.

In any case, that’s enough of the men. Let’s move onto the women.

Liz Shaw: I don’t know what’s more shocking. The fact that they unceremoniously kicked Liz out the door, or that she so far remains one of the most boring companions that The Doctor has ever had (of the ones I’ve seen). I’m trying to think of things to say about her, but I’m coming up empty. Liz always felt like someone in the background, standing aside while the Doctor and Stewart have their quarrels as they work together. Honestly, Liz’s evil counterpart in “Inferno” was more interesting than her, as she was this cold character whose trust was something that The Doctor needed to EARN instead of given so easily. It was the only time I felt truly invested with her character and it wasn’t even the real Liz Shaw. I GUESS she was a loyal assistant and it was nice of her standing by The Doctor no matter what, but even then that’s not entirely a great personality to have. Loyalty’s a great attribute, but Jaimie was loyal too and he still had his agitation with The Doctor as well as a warrior’s spirit (Man, I miss Jaimie…). Still, regardless of how I feel, it’s not great that she just…left without so much of a goodbye. Liz may not have been interesting, but that didn’t mean I wanted her gone. A writer’s job is to make me INVEST in a character, especially for a TV show that has more opportunities to show me what makes a character so great. So it feels cheap that they just kicked her out, making all that time spent with Liz basically pointless now. She’s not the WORST companion. I still stand by that Steven is the worst I’ve seen so far, but at least HE got a proper send off where Liz just…got removed and immediately replaced by someone younger. Speaking of which…

Jo Grant: This gal…might be up there as one of my favorite companions in Classic Who. Miss Grant can be summed up as The Doctor’s ride or die, always coming up with plans to get herself and The Doctor out of every wacky situation they’re in. She’ll steal keys, sneak around entire prisons to save him, and will even SHOOT a man if it’s necessary. I mean, the moment she took a guy’s gun out of his hand and shot another square in the ass…I was in love. THAT was the scene that sold me onto Jo’s character after a while of worrying she’ll just be a downgrade. There were times when she was forced into the damsel in distress role and falling in love too easily (Will ALWAYS be pissed with her leaving via marriage), but definitely remains one of the more capable companions that The Doctor has ever had, and one with a fair amount of wit to her. I LOVE loyal companions that can and will talk back to The Doctor if his ego’s starting to get the better of him. Jo Grant’s no different and it was genuinely sad to see her go. I have STRONG NOTES about her ending, but I at least appreciate she got to say goodbye this time unlike Liz Shaw. Here’s hoping the next companion gets a better exit…

Sarah-Jane Smith: Still hoping. For now, I’ll take the admittedly fun character.

Sarah-Jane was only there for five adventures, but she offered a great introduction for a character who will hopefully get better in time. She’s sort of this Lois Lane type of character, willing to go through so much to get a good story, regardless of any danger she might stumble upon. There are instances where she’s written a little TOO similarly to past female companions, and that is a part of her character that suffers just a tad bit. At her worst, she’s written like “Just another girl,” with a lot of screaming and crying than what’s typical of the men. It doesn’t help either that, in terms of usefulness, she’s sort of a step down from Jo Grant. There’s no “shoot a guy in the ass” moment as Sarah-Jane is mostly someone who does exactly as The Doctor says lest she risks being kidnapped and killed. Thankfully, where she lacks in skill, Sarah-Jane makes up for it with bite, having decent chemistry with The Doctor and others, putting some men in their place if need be. As a first impression, she’s not so bad. I just hope this is a Clara Oswald situation, where the character is more fun with the NEXT guy as opposed to the one she’s introduced to. For now, she’s definitely good, but could definitely be better.

As for that same guy she’s introduced to…

THE DOCTOR

If there’s one reason why I kept trying to engage with this run, it is Jon Pertwee’s portrayal as The Doctor. This version gets even closer to the character I recognize and love, having a lot of Two’s silliness grounded in a bit of One’s serious attitude. But ONLY a bit. A lot of One’s attitude is restrained, same going with Two’s silly nature as Three acts with more confidence and wit as opposed to his counterparts. This is a version that acts like he really CAN solve any problem, whether it’s through his high intelligence or a bit of Venusian karate…Even if that last part is a bit of a swing and a miss, not just for the cultural appropriation but also because I prefer The Doctor not being a fighter. I want him to face problems without cowardice, but I don’t want him to bust skulls doing it. That’s not him.

There’s also the fact that he seems a little TOO quick to cut and run regardless if a situation needs him. It felt so wrong that he almost instantly tried to leave Earth while in the MIDDLE of a dire situation. That’s some First Doctor crap the man would have pulled off in his first outings, and I did not like seeing it. Thankfully, it’s not often and The Doctor became more content in helping Earth instead of helping himself more times than not. And, thankfully, his quick wit, fun inventions, and downright pleasure of screwing around with others had made for an enjoyable version of the character. I might like TWO more, but I’d put Three right between Two and One. Jon Pertwee gave a ton of charm to the character, becoming more what I expect, but at least Two stuck it out a little more when people needed him. Regardless, he’s still the best part of this run and I couldn’t get enough of it.

And that’s about it for the Third Doctor’s run. Not really the underrated run that I was expecting, but still something that had a few good stories, some great companions, and a Doctor that kept on improving. I don’t know if I’ll revisit this one, but I’ll always have SOME fond memories. Now…Let’s just hope the next guy lives up to the hype…

[gnome-minion]

Thinking about how much disability is a core theme of Insignia. The four most plot important characters (Tom, Wyatt, Blackburn, and Vengerov) are all disabled, or are implied to be.

Blackburn's pretty obvious. He's a paranoid schizophrenic. And though that's mostly under control, the experience and the trauma of that sticks with him. And the entire series he views himself as an irredeemable monster. He's caught in what he did when he had that psychotic break.

(Also as a segue, it impacts the way he treats other mentally ill/neurodivergent characters, he even warns Wyatt before she receives her processor that it would change the way she thinks.)

Wyatt's is also pretty obvious. Although not directly stated, Wyatt is obviously autistic. She's canonically neurodivergent, as confirmed in Allies. For the most part, her arc is growing confident in herself, and comfortable with who she is. And also learning more social skills, while never becoming something different. Wyatt's autism is probably my favorite portrayal of autism I've ever seen.

Tom's disability is more subtle. The obvious thing about him having no fingers is explored. How it can aid him (like how the cybernetic fingers can move even if he's in the process of dying), and how they hinder him (they can be taken away, they lack sensitivity, and they're not his actual finger

But also Tom is clearly mentally ill. Even before Catalyst confirmed he was- he shows symptoms of a trauma disorder as early as Insignia. And in Vortex and Catalyst it's pretty blatant.

Catalyst is where all of his erratic behavior gets more explanations. His brain had the same problems that led to his mom developing psychosis and delusions. And while he had a neural graft to enlarge his frontal lobe, I don't think that would be a cure to whatever he's got, like most psychiatric treatments, it just helps with the symptoms .

Also regarding the fact that he wouldn't pass a military psych eval, he generally lacks empathy, and has been generally implied to be a "psychopath", i think it's probable that he's cluster B as well.

Thats not even mentioning him having OSDD or DID considering he has an alter. I'm not throwing out the possibility of him having DID just cause no other alters besides Vanya are shown, cause there is some evidence he could have it in previous books.

And of course- Vengerov.

Major catalyst spoilers up ahead. But Vengerov as a child is heavily implied to be developmentally disabled in some way. After the processor was given to him around the age of 7-8ish he changed completely. Being able to recognize the pain being pushed upon him, and his own ambitions. I'll be honest I can't wrap my head around why this is, outside of a mashup of what happens when you give a young young child a processor, and the computer filling in for Vengerov where his brain wasn't developing as much.

This could easily be used to villainize Vengerov, to show he is an unfeeling, uncaring monster. But Neil's theory at the end of Catalyst changes that. Cause he points out that Vengerov was trying to basically take over the world, yes, but because he lived in a world full of awful evil people in power - he became the worst of them. If he lived in a world run by pacifists? He would be a saint. He would change the world for the better. It's not his, or anyone's nature to be evil. It's their nurture.

It's a really poignant moment. Not only for the political messaging but I think for the explicit sympathy it gives to Vengerov. It never diminishes or undercut how awful what he does is. But also acknowledges how the creation of such an evil person is a product of the system and the world around them, rather than the person's inherent "evilness"

It so wonderfully shows how much of a feedback loop this oligarchical system is. And how the world shapes people into monsters. Only getting worse and worse as time goes on.

Insignia is great, you guys.