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ethanredotter · 4 years ago

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My ideas for Zootopia 2

Ah, Zootopia. It broke the record for the biggest opening weekend for an animated film, went on to be Disney Animation’s third most profitable film ever, became the second highest grossing original film of all time, and was nominated for and won innumerable awards including many for best animated picture, and rightfully so. It introduced us to a beautiful, creative, and lovable world populated by amazing characters, and had a poignant message that was conveyed, in my humble opinion, in the best possible way. I liked it a lot when it first came out, but after recently getting into stuff with a similar concept (Beastars), and being subsequently recommended various fan content on YT (Savage Company, Return to Zootopia), I got back into the film again and absolutely fell in love with it to the point that it’s joined my top three films alongside Coco, and The Land Before Time.

Which is why I am really, really craving a followup of some kind.

Seriously, of all of Disney Animation’s recent films (or heck, films in general), I feel like this one has the greatest potential for a sequel. The setting oozes creativity from its every pore, has so many nooks and crannies that we didn’t manage to explore in the film, its two main leads were perfect and I really feel still have plenty of room to grow, and there are still so many ideas old and new that can be explored. So far we’ve received a few tie-in books, a hidden object game which is no longer available, a few comics, including a series about stories from Nick and Judy’s childhoods, a very large and intricate land expansion under construction in Shanghai Disneyland and a game starring Nick and Judy in Epcot, and a Disney+ original series focusing on various characters from around the city. All of these are fantastic, but four years after the film’s release, we’ve received no official confirmation of a proper continuation to Nick and Judy’s story like a sequel or TV series, just a few rumors here and there.

We’ll get some kind of proper followup eventually, that’s for sure, but what could it do? What kinds of places could they take us to? What ideas could it explore? What could happen to our leads, and what kinds of new characters could they befriend or combat? Well, I’m gonna give my ideas right here; buckle up, because I have a lot.

The City

Let me start off with the City itself. I mean… It’s marvelous. The architecture, like the Oasis Casino, central station, first precinct, the various neighborhoods. The accommodations like the sprinklers, water tubes, Little Rodentia, and the climate wall! The city of Zootopia is a star in and of itself with just how much care, attention, and creativity was put into its every crevice, and we barely got to see half of what it has to offer, as we only got a proper look at five of its twelve districts. They’ve revealed a few other districts via some maps and books (Meadowlands, Outback Island, Canal District) but there are a bunch of others yet to be revealed, and plenty unexplored.

Let’s start with what could be done with the ones already revealed. The Canal District could accommodate the city’s highly aquatic residents like hippos, otters, muskrats, beavers and manatees, and also be one of the city’s primary trade hubs. In terms of layout, it could be like Venice meets the Mekong Delta on steroids where the citizens live and make their living either in boats, or in buildings whose entrances are right on the water. There could be some walkways for less aquatic animals, but most of the transportation is through the water; either via swimming, or via motorboats, riverboats, jet skis, and ferries. And indeed, this is possibly what they had in mind judging by the concept art of the canals. I hope to see them implement something like this in the future; this stuff is just insanely cool! In terms of infrastructure, alongside the various docks and warehouses, I’m thinking that it could be a place for aquaculture where all manner of freshwater seafood are raised, as well as plenty of touristy stuff like river cruises. Maybe we could have a boat chase here, or perhaps just a relaxing moment between our leads, or maybe both.

The meadowlands would be a place for more temperate grazers like sheep, horses, bison, and various kinds of deer. It could be akin to a massive park district with plenty of recreation and places to enjoy a bit of fresh air, and its buildings could possibly be like hobbit holes and built into the hills. I’m thinking it could also be a place with a lot of mills to process both food and textiles, and its overall atmosphere could be quite agricultural and country while being in the middle of a city and not having much in the way of crops.

Now on to potential districts

Credit to @florenze

The one that I and many others have thought of the most is a nocturnal cave district. This would be located beneath the rest of the city, and would, of course, have little to no light in order to accommodate its main inhabitants such as moles, mole rats, and bats. This place could have homes on the ceiling and walls for the bats, with various cranes and elevators for the non-bats to get around both to visit, and do maintenance. I imagine bat homes could be quite atypical compared to other species since they’d likely sleep upside down and crawl on walls a fair bit, and if they need to get anywhere they can just fly, so much like the canals, they might not have much in the way of front yards and instead just have elevators and sheer drops on their front doors. Likewise, the less residential buildings could have entrances at higher floors for the bats as well. Entrances to the district could be drive-in cave mouths, as well as big openings for the bats to just fly straight out of to see the other districts at night.

As an opposite to that, I was thinking that a central mountain district would also be cool to see. This would accommodate mountain sheep and goats, takins, pikas, llamas, as well as snow leopards, brown bears, and other mammals who like high and rocky locales. This place could be even more vertical than the cave district, and require either elevators, stairways, or surefootedness to get around, as well as perhaps some oxygen tanks depending on how high it goes. Therefore, cars would be nowhere to be seen, and if anyone wants to get in, they’ll need to park outside, or better yet just take public transportation to allow room for residents’ vehicles. Buildings could possibly be carved out from the stone, and the overall atmosphere could be a mix of the Himalayas and the Andes, and also a bit of the Rockies and Urals.

Regardless of what districts they show us, I would like to see a few more angles to the city than just a bright and clean middle class. Show off its dirty underbelly too, and I don’t just mean more of the street hustlers and thieves like Nick, Finnick, and Weaselton. The first film did an excellent job of showing us that Zootopia wasn’t some perfect society with its discrimination and criminals, and while we did get a nice glimpse of its dirtier side, I want to see more of the run down neighborhoods and their residents. Heck, maybe make poverty an aspect of the plot and a motivator for the villain. Although, they also could also easily cover it with Nick due to the fact that his family was struggling back in the day. Alongside that, I’d like to see high society too, especially the oasis casino that they really wanted to show off, but couldn't find a way to. Show us just how both lavish and run down this city can be.

New Characters

Of all the things I love the film for, its characters and their arcs are probably the biggest things, especially those of the leads. This film has a very diverse cast from a big old cape buffalo to a tiny little fennec fox, and they’re all quite memorable and fun. Now I know what some of you are thinking, “why are you covering new characters before the old ones”? Mostly because I have fewer ideas, but also because the ideas I have for some of the old characters are quite big.

Firstly, I’d like to talk about Nick’s family, starting with his mother. Yes, Mrs. Wilde is already an established character, but I’m still putting her in here since I want to talk about Nick’s family in the same section, and she’s gotten very little characterization; heck, we don't even know her name. She seems like a very nice and supportive vixen from what we saw from the flashback, there was a tweet from Rich Moore that we can infer a fair bit from, and the end of a comic that showed her being a very nice mother and a massive fan of a rock band made of rabbits. Nick is seemingly an only child since no siblings are mentioned anywhere, and they certainly seemed to be financially struggling at some point since he said that his mom “scraped up” the money for the scout uniform, and in the comics he was always extremely short on money and didn’t even have an allowance. Rich referring to her as “Mrs. Wilde” as opposed to “Ms. Wilde” shows that she was/is married and that the husband was probably Nick’s father. The last line of the tweet highly indicates that she and Nick are in contact and on speaking terms (although it really begs the question of where she was during his graduation as there’s not a fox in sight (although there were plenty of seats out of sight and obscured)), and also potentially hints at, uh… Things we’ll get to later. Unfortunately, we don’t know anything more about her. Did she know about Nick’s bad behavior? Did Nick even tell her about the incident with the scouts? Was she ever estranged from him? I’d like for it to be talked about, preferably with her present. I don’t want her to just show up in a call or something, I want her to actually have a scene with her son, and I’d love for her to meet Judy as well.

At least we know a thing or two about her, but we don’t know a thing about Nick’s father that has been confirmed. In one of the original cuts of the film, Mr. Wilde was a tailor who wanted to start up a company with his son called Wilde and Son’s Suitopia and give his kit the best future he could possibly have. Unfortunately, after many attempts at getting a loan to start it up, Nick tried to stop some lemming bankers from denying their loan by trying to grab the stamp from them, was spotted by a guard, and was forcibly and permanently separated from his dad because the city in that cut was was a horrible place full of horrible prey who thought that predators were nothing but horrible monsters ready to blow at any time to the point that they were forced to wear shock collars that would zap them whenever they got even remotely excited. Seriously, screw this setting, it made Beastars look like a freaking paradise. Anyway, back on track. Nick only mentions his mom, so where is his dad? Again, a fair bit can be inferred from the sources on his mother. The simple fact that he wasn’t mentioned in the flashback or the comics seems to indicate that he was out of their lives at that point in Nick’s childhood. Go figure, fans have gone nuts with the possibilities. I’ve seen depictions of him ranging from dead, to estranged, to a genuinely good dad who’s back in their lives now, and a psychotic criminal mastermind who wants Nick to be his heir… Yeah. Out of all those depictions, the loving father one is my favorite. Sure, Rich didn’t mention him in the tweet, but that could have been a simple omission since the question was about Mrs. Wilde. I’ll be honest, my perfect version of this idea is from the fan comic It Should Have Been Me, in which which his backstory and character is almost exactly what it was in the original cut: he was a fabric worker who moved to Zootopia with his wife and son in order to make it big on a tailor business, as he strongly believed in the ideals of the city and wanted to show Nick what a fox could become. He was repeatedly denied a loan, and eventually his obsession with making the business made his wife leave with Nick. After some time, he finally realized that being a role model was not the same as being a father and returned to them. I adore this interpretation for how it shows a family that struggled to stay together for reasons mostly within their control, but still managed to, and are now seemingly happier than ever, something I can’t recall seeing at all in any of Disney Animation’s films (if you know any examples, please list them), and also the fact that Mr. Wilde is a great, likable, and kind of complex character here who is a good man who just messed up as opposed to a simple deadbeat dad I've often seen him depicted as. I want to see something like this out of his father in an official follow-up, but even if he is still separated from his wife, I’d like to see him, and if he’s dead, still give us something; I want to know who this guy is and where he is now, and if there’s anyone else in the Wilde family, I’d love to meet them too, and I want to know how they feel about Nick turning his life around and bucking expectations and stereotypes. His mother is probably exceedingly proud of him, and his dad probably is too if my preferred version is used. Either way, give us a lovely father, mother and son scene (or just mother and son scene, because you know, she’s the only one confirmed to still be around).

On to the villain! The villain should be as opposite to Bellwether as possible; big, male, predator, and not trying to fool anyone into believing that he’s not the mastermind behind anything. We’ll know, at least partially, who this guy is from the moment he’s introduced and what his motivations are early on. Unlike Bellwether, we’ll dive into his character more and more as the film goes on and see what makes him tick. So, what could he want? The idea I’ve conjured up was that he could be a segregationist extremist who sees the founding principles of Zootopia as foolish, believes that this all mammal society is unsustainable, and that all species should completely separate from each other. Perhaps he just wants to get back at the city that he believes wronged him and/or his kind, or perhaps he wants to go back to the wild square one where it’s every species for themselves, and perhaps he thinks that will genuinely be better for everyone. Regardless, I think that this idea would be an interesting continuation of the first film’s ideas of prejudice and living in peace with your neighbor, where this villain would want to bring down the city because he hates prejudice, wants to bring down what he sees as a hypocritical city, and wants mammals to be better off by being separate and under harm. Also, unlike Bellwether who was a power hungry sociopath, this guy will be far more genuine in his pursuit and see himself as a liberator. But as I said, he could very well just be using it all as an excuse for petty vengeance and lashing out at the world in a spiteful rage.

Despite what I said before, I do think that there should be an air of mystery around him. Since he’ll see himself as a demagogue for all animal’s “liberation”, he could conceal himself in shadows during his broadcasts, and also cover himself from head to toe in feature hiding clothes such as a helmet/mask, and specially designed gloves and shoes that hide what his hands and feet look like in order to not show off what species he is. Basically, he could be a twist on the twist villain; he’ll be all mysterious and some could think that he may be a character that we’ve met, but in reality he’s the same character we’ve known all along. As for what species he could be, I was thinking that he could be a less looked at member of a well known family of animals. My best bet would be a smaller and less predatory species of bear like an American black bear, sloth bear, or a sun bear since we saw so many brown and polar bears in the film, and while he’d be small by bear standards, he’d still be quite large, and heck, maybe they could make him particularly large and scary for his species of bear. Also, since he would be a kind of bear whose protein historically consisted entirely of insects (especially in the case of the latter two), he could have extra reason to be angry with society since his kind never wronged prey (although again not quite the case with American black bears since they will sometimes eat fawns and even fully grown deer), but yet he was lumped in with the brown and polar bears. Of the three species I listed, I think the sloth bear would work the best since their protein entirely consists of insects, but, despite their small size and goofy appearance, they’re one of the most aggressive species of bear and have been known to charge at elephants and rhinos at the drop of a hat, and this could play into his characterization as bear Kratos. I think there could be some hints to his species throughout the story, despite how well he may try to hide it. For instance, American black bears when scared tend to do things such as pulsing and clapping their jaws together, while the south Asian bears tend to rear up and stretch their chests out to expose their white stripe. Perhaps he could unconsciously do things like that when particularly agitated or under pressure.

What exactly could make him want all of this? I was thinking that much like our favorite fox cop, he could have experienced much discrimination throughout his life, only far worse, and been downright spiteful instead of rolling with the punches like Nick did. And again, it could have been more pronounced on him since the discrimination was due to “Sins of the cousins” and his kind had nothing to do with any of what they accused him of. A tipping point could have been the Night Howler Crisis, which could have either personally affected him, or just confirmed his beliefs and made him want to go through with his plans to try and tear Zootopia down, and now, about a year or so after that Crisis, his plans can finally go into motion. As for how he’ll go about things, well, he’d go for the hearts, minds and the infrastructure of the city. Perhaps he could broadcast all over to spread his propaganda and instill doubts in in the population (notably in his fellow preds by reminding them what happened not long ago), and also strike fear in those who oppose him. Other than that, he’ll of course go straight for the city’s infrastructure via sabotage and kidnappings. One victim could be the mayor, who this time could actually be a good person and politician, or, as one official comic showed, Lionheart again… Was this an error, or was he seriously canonically reinstated after the shady crap he got up to!?

Anyway, expanding on the idea of the concealing outfit, I’m thinking that his followers (who I’ll just call The Cell for now) could do the same thing with tail hiders, stilts, and padding which would be especially effective for bigger animals to possibly lean over and look like something shorter and fatter in order to make themselves appear roughly the same as to make themselves not see each other as another species for the duration of this insane operation (it also has the added effect of making them harder to differentiate and track). This will eventually be their downfall for reasons you may have surmised, but I’ll explain that later.

Speaking of more villainous characters, I'd like to see a bit more of the criminal syndicates and mobs throughout the city. I'd like to learn who rules what parts of the city, how far their reach goes, and how they operate. Although, we’ll probably only get a glimpse in the film, but we could see the criminal organizations focused on more in a TV series or official comic book, because I think a film would be about a much larger and complex threat that could change the city and characters as we know them.

What about more heroic characters? Well, perhaps we could see the return of concepts from the original pitch of the film like secret agents. Considering that the villain’s plot could be citywide and insidious, I think it would make sense. It could be cool to see conceptual characters such as Skye developed and implemented, and have them helping our leads with the case (or perhaps they could just be a cameo in a movie theater, I dunno, they had a billion other ideas when conceptualizing). I’d like to see her come back because she seemed like quite an interesting concept of a mechanic and badass secret agent (Also, look at that concept art; she's flipping adorable). Perhaps she could be undercover in The Cell, and Nick and Judy could meet her after being ambushed by them. As they’re driving away, Nick gets shot in the shoulder with a dart, but when they reach safety, he realizes that he’s fine. He pulls the dart out and finds that it’s hollow and clear and has a note inside it. They read the note and it includes an apology and directions to a garage in the meadowlands. Later they go to the address and find a light tan fox working on a car. She introduces herself, apologizes further to Nick for shooting him, and then brings them into a safehouse where she gives them vital info on The Cell, and gives them a number to call her at and a few special signals and monikers to help out.

If I were to describe the character I imagine her having, it would be extremely enthusiastic, friendly, and possibly coming off as a little childish, but also intelligent, savvy, and consummately professional and well trained. Basically, a quintessential bunny ears lawyer.

Some people have wanted her to have some kind of past affiliation with Nick, but I’m not sure. I mean, it would be interesting and a good callback to the cut where she was his sidekick, but in this version him knowing someone who just so happens to also be a secret agent would seem a little odd. Then again, he knows everybody. Maybe she’s that mysterious Lady Friend mentioned by Finnick…? (she is a mechanic after all, and he loves his van).

Other than that, I’d love to see the ZPD itself expanded and characterized a heck of a lot more. Maybe we could actually get to know Nick and Judy’s fellow officers like McHorn, Pennington, and Wolfard, and finally see some actual detectives as opposed to just patrolmen, and also get to see the city’s other precincts. I’d love to see the folks at first precinct all working with and respecting our leads, and for all of their strengths to be shown to the max. As in, I want to see them in full SWAT gear conducting a raid; Bogo and the big boys breaching doors, the wolves and cats on marksman duty, and Nick and Judy doing infiltration.

Returning Characters

Let’s start with everyone’s favorite tiny fox, shall we? Finnick wasn’t in the film all that much and only said a total of 37 words (yes I counted), but despite this, he still left a shockingly large impact on audiences for his in your face attitude and vocal dissonance of being a little fennec fox played by a giant former pro wrestler, Tommy Lister Jr (may he rest in peace). And honestly, I flipping adored him too. The creators also liked him a lot and have featured him extensively in newer material such as Zootopia Crime Files, which had him heavily involved in a case and really managed to flesh out his character and specify what his relationship with Nick was like (which is to say, they are genuinely friends), and he even appears as a playable character in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode, and they have said that they wanted to feature him more in a sequel. So what could he do in a follow up? I’m thinking that he could become a major supporting character. I’d like to see him having some genuine friendly times and conversations with Nick and Judy such as going out to eat with them, and also get them out of some scrapes; perhaps by going nuts on a perp that’s threatening them and/or driving them out of a sticky situation. Perhaps he could also help the investigation by acting like an informant or mole (but as I said, in this cut that could already be taken by someone else). Or perhaps he’s gone or will go relatively straight and operate a totally legitimate ice cream shop instead of running a complex hustle. Perhaps he could also act as a shippe- again something we’ll get to later. I’d also like to learn more about him as a person; did he get into the hustling life because of some kind of discrimination like Nick, or is he just a roughhouser who genuinely likes what he does and wouldn’t have it any other way? Who’s this lady friend he mentions? Does he harbor any resentment for Nick for getting off the street and into the force? Obviously it’s not too strong if he’s still giving him Pawpcicles and interacting with him in a cordial way, but is there any there? I’d really like to see. Also, what's his real name? The directors said that Finnick isn't his real name, so what is it? Maybe tell us, maybe don't. As for who could replace Zeus, I’m thinking Kevin Michael Richardson. Whoever they get, I hope he does him justice.

Leave Bellwether out of this; she's served her purpose.

I wouldn’t be mad at seeing Mr. Big return, but I don’t really have any ideas for him. That said, I think that Fru-Fru could be a nice inclusion as a good friend of Judy. Perhaps Judy could hang out with her and do a few things like a little bit of Godmothering for the little shrew bearing her name.

Flash… If he shows up at all, make it a minor appearance, maybe even a cameo.

Bogo was technically the tritagonist of the last film, and I’d like him to remain in a prominent role. I loved his character and evolution in the last film; he starts off barely giving Judy the time of day and repeatedly gets really pissed off at her antics, and also blows off Nick on the simple basis of him being a fox. But he’s an extremely principled and just fellow, and in my opinion, an example of what a good police chief should be, especially since he gets over his prejudices and comes to respect our leads as much as his other officers (which is to say, a LOT). And it’s that respect that I really want to see in a follow up. I want him to send Nick and Judy out on important missions, I want him to trust them with their conduct and intel, and most of all, I want him to protect them and treat them like valuable members of the force. For instance we could see him chew out another officer for talking badly of them, and also risk his life to keep them alive. Speaking of, I also want to see him in action, not just in his office playing with apps (although I certainly wouldn’t complain if we saw him messing around) or showing up after the fact to arrest a perp; I want to see this big bull kicking tail and taking names. Again that prospective swat raid. Other than that, I’d like to learn a bit more about him as a person outside his job, and maybe get a full name.

Benjamin Clawhauser… I don’t have much in the way of new ideas for him other than seeing him interact with Nick. I and many others think that the two of them would be great friends with some awesome banter (and in the Tame Collar cut he was supposed to be one of Nick’s employees at Wilde Times, so they’ve got some of their dynamic figured out already). If I were to imagine Nick's nickname (or I guess we could say Nick Name) for him, it may be Chomps. Other than that, for the third time, flesh him and his backstory out a bit more; he’s a likable guy and I’d like to know more about him. I also absolutely think that he’d be yet another shi- Oh yeah, the main characters!

Nick and Judy

And finally, the part that I’ve wanted to talk about the most; Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps. These two are incredible. I know I’ve already gushed about every last little thing this film has done even remotely right, but these two are genuinely just plain perfection. They’re my favorite cinematic duo ever, and some of my favorite fictional characters ever. Their dynamic, their chemistry, their dedication and adoration of each other, the way they grow because of each other, it’s all just wonderful. If you want more details as to why they’re so wonderful (especially together), check out @beastars-takes post on their relationship and why it’s so darn awesome; there is not an off word in there, offers a lot of insight into the hidden depths that you may not have noticed, and helped me understand these two and the film all the better and gave me the intense love I have for it. Buckle up, these two are the longest part of the essay, because they were the best and biggest part of the movie, and thus I’ve got the most to say.

Honestly, my favorite parts with them were in the last 20 minutes of the film where they are just a perfect buddy cop duo (and ironically enough, weren’t even cops at this point) who clearly had an unbelievable amount of love for each other and even faith in each other while kicking serious butt, and seeing Nick give off that extremely genuine smile upon finally being able to live up to the oath he made as a kid at his graduation was absolutely heartwarming. I want to see more of THIS duo in the next film; a duo of true companions absolutely brimming with charm and endearment who you want to be on screen as much as possible. These two had such good chemistry by the end of the film that many people wondered whether there was something more between them than mere friendship. Were they… Romantically involved? If not, should they be in the future? Many people have been against this idea because they either don’t interpret their relationship that way, and/or they feel that a romance would be cliched and/or forced. What’s my opinion on this whole thing? We’ll get to that soon, for now, let's talk about character focus and development!

I think that Nick should be in the protagonist seat this time, and Judy should be switched to deuteragonist, although she’ll be more in focus than Nick was last time. I want to see how Nick feels about his new life as an officer, his past and connections, his home (does he live in a leaky pipe ridden apartment and sleep in a drawer like in this concept art, or does he live in a better place?), him kicking but with his new training, and as said previously, his family. I want to see him being truly happy and fulfilled for the first time in his adult life, and how it affects him. I want to see the full weight of everything that he’s gained and will continue to have at the forefront of his story arc, and likewise with Judy. I want to see him open up to people more, and I want to see him continue to prove to the world that a fox can be more than a shyster, and heck, maybe he and Judy are becoming something of celebrities from their adventures and maybe the two of them are using their status to help their communities in ways other than police work. Maybe the two of them will visit schools, more run down neighborhoods and communities of stereotyped animals to tell their story and show them what they can become if they believe in themselves and in others. I also want a big emotional scene from him, or at least an adult big emotional scene. While we did see plenty of big emotional scenes from him and certainly saw the depths of what he’s been through, it was Judy who really brought out the most emotion. This time around, I want to see Nick carry the most emotional scene, tears and all. My choice would be him realizing the weight of what he has gained and how much he doesn’t want to lose it. For instance, perhaps they could have a party at the station in honor of their promotions (I'd guess detective given their skill sets) with him, his fellow officers, his parents, and even his and her civilian friends such as Finnick. He’ll sit down next to Judy and his folks with a plate and a cup, and they’ll start conversing. Suddenly, officer McHorn comes up and commends him and Judy for their great work in their short time on the force, and how they deserve to be detectives after all the cases big and small that they've solved. Nick will look at him with a smile as he’s talking, and then notice something: all of the most important people in his world are right there in that room, and each and every one loves, respects, and appreciates him. His parents, his friends, and most importantly his brothers in arms, and especially the one who brought him into the fold and changed his life forever. The realization that he’s achieved the camaraderie he wanted and fulfilled the promise he made in his youth, how he's made people see him for who he is and not what he is, and how whole his life has become from this job and how it will get even better from this promotion hit him like a train and he starts shedding tears. His parents, Judy and McHorn notice. He tries to play it off initially, but he realizes that he has nothing to hide anymore and explains everything. McHorn says he really meant what he said and that he’s an integral part of the PD, and Judy and his folks begin comforting him and eventually Judy says “Oh you foxes, you're so emotional”. Nick gets a big smile on his face and gives her a tight hug, and then chooses to get up on a table and say a big speech of thanks and cheers to his family, friends, his fellow officers, and especially to the greatest gal he’s ever known.

Speaking of the sly bunny, I want to see how the events of the last film have affected her and have shaped her into a wiser person and more effective officer. Much like with Nick, I want to see her continue to buck other’s expectations of her and prove that rabbits can be far more than just meek farmers. I want to see her grow even more street smart, wise, and a better problem solver from seeing all that Zootopia has to offer and from her proximity with Nick. I want her to see more of the world’s complicated problems and for her to start to understand the bad parts of it even more, but at the same time continuing to see plenty of good as well (sometimes, a bit of both). Also, there’s a lot of Zootopia as a city that she still hasn’t seen; species, districts, holidays, you name it. I want a big part of her story to also be her experiencing everything the city has to offer, preferably with Nick at her side, and the wonder on her face. That said, I want the wonder to be shared. I want to see Nick enjoying this city like never before since he can look at it in a whole new light, and do so with the one who made it all possible. And likewise, Judy would feel the same in regards to being able to explore it with the one who changed her for the better, helped her keep her career, learn more about herself, and has continued to be there for her. And again like Nick, I want her to really feel what she’s gained: a great career, comrades who respect her, the ability to help others, and fulfillment of the dream she’s wanted since childhood, and an amazing partner who helped her achieve it all and got all the same things because of her.

And all that of course brings us to the big question. How should their relationship evolve? Well, uh… I think… You see, I… I uh… Well...

This is on the bookshelf in my room

And this is one of my most viewed images on furaffinity (credit to RelaxableFur)

Of important note; I’m not someone who casually ships characters. I may consider the idea of them being a couple when they’re together on screen and have good chemistry, but I’m never like “Oh my god, they need to get together!” (in fact, I was neutral about the idea of WildeHopps until last year when I dived back into the movie), and I’m especially not one of those people who ships characters who obviously have no chance in hell of being romantically involved. I only really get on a ship if I think there’s a strong precedent for it in terms of character plausibility and storytelling potential (and it also helps if they’re absolutely adorable on screen). And in the case of these two, I absolutely think that they hit all three categories.

Now, let’s get into details. Do I think they’re just friends at the end of the film? Not necessarily. Do I think they’re romantically involved? Again, not necessarily. I think their relationship is complicated. As I said, they trust, respect, and care for each other to such an incredible degree that they were willing to do THIS all for the sake of milking the scene and keeping up appearances to keep the bad guy talking (and as you may or may not have noticed, Judy’s nose didn’t move even a bit during the entire act until Nick was right on top of her, whereas before at even the slightest sign of distress it would twitch like crazy), and then just casually laugh about the whole thing while holding each other. Speaking of which, they are clearly very comfortable with physical contact; Judy comforts Nick with some arm caresses

Nick let Judy cry into him and wrapped his tail around her when making up (how else would she step on it)

The two of them share the aforementioned very nice embrace when gloating to Bellwether (yes, Judy had a wounded leg, but the way they’re holding each other and how comfortable they are indicates way more than just physical support)

And there was also this part in the concert…

Y’all thought that was just a hip check, didn’t you!?

There’s also the fact that, while it’s obviously a rather playful exchange, they just casually threw the big, big L out there in their last conversation, and not only that, but the whole thing is delivered in a kind of longing fashion, and depending on the translation the wording gets either more or less explicitly romantic.

As myself and Beastars Takes have stated, they are perfect kindred spirits who have irrevocably changed each other’s lives for the better, and they believed in each other when no one else would. For those reasons they have grown closer to each other than anyone else and can’t get enough of each other. They made each other’s dreams come true, they’re the greatest things that have happened to each other, and they will continue to be so, especially now that they’re together nearly every day of the year since they’re now on the job together. To me, that’s not a will they get together, that’s a when will they get together, and I’d find it more forced if they didn’t become an item (unless their sexualities don’t match, but I doubt that, because again all of their dialogue and physical closeness)

And this officially licensed merch…

And these park character interactions.

And honestly, I think that many mammals will probably think the same way. As I almost said throughout, I think plenty of folks like Clawhauser and Finnick will see the spark between them and be Shippers on Deck. I could imagine Finnick teasing their obvious affection for each other, and Clawhauser could just be his usual self and just make little squees and mental notes whenever he sees them interacting, and there could be a few rumors about them floating around the PD.

So how should their romance develop, and how should their couple dynamic be? Subtly, and not too much of a change from how they already are, respectively. As I said, these two already think the world of and can’t get enough of each other, and I really think that there’s already a romantic spark between them that they just need to think through and expose. I give them half a year on the force before they’re all over each other, a year at most. I don’t think that they’ll even have to make any real confession of love to each other, I think they’ll just have to have the right moment to properly figure out that their relationship already is romantic and/or that it really would be able to work out between them, and actually cement it right there and then. That said, don’t drag the hookup out. Don’t have their entire arc be about them getting together. Don’t have them magically be together at the start of the story, but certainly don’t drag for the whole time. Give us time for them to be the slightly better than best friends we saw at the end of the last film while building up some extra tension, and then have them properly hook up in the second act. But as I said, their dynamic shouldn’t change too much. Again, it’d be more of a realization than a decision since they already have an unbelievably high opinion of and affection towards each other (and they seemingly already know that there’s something between them), and it’d be an enhancement of what they already have as opposed to a change; they’ll continue to be the best friends that they’ve been, just with an extra openly romantic component. Have them be even more willing to show affection both physical (hand holding, cuddling, and kissing) and verbal (more flirtation, and some I love yous). I want this romance to be sweet and unique with a lot more friendly banter, discussion and enjoying more platonic fun stuff (like playing games and joking together), and way less lubby dubby crap. I want their trust and love and respect for each other to be extremely apparent; continue to have it be clear that they think the world of each other and show the reasons for it, and don’t have them be too doting, or at least not that often. That said, absolutely feature some powerful romantic moments like a little dance, or the hookup stated before.

As I said before, I also really get on to a ship if I believe that it can add to the story, and in this case, I really do think it can. I think that their relationship could bring up and/or amplify a lot of strong themes that would complement the first film’s message perfectly. For instance, friendship, love and family not knowing the boundaries of species.

Now, it’s clear that interspecies relationships and marriages are a thing in this city: the directors talked a bit about how society could see their relationship and how Zootopia is probably open to the idea; the first couple that Judy meets in Zootopia are her neighbors Bucky and Pronk Oryx-Antlerson, who are a greater kudu and a gemsbok (they’re also same sex, so that indicates even more societal openness)

There was also an official comic about Flash trying to ask Priscilla out on a date to a movie, but he was too slow and lost out to a Hyena, so that indicates that even predator-prey relationships aren’t widely looked down upon.

However, as the first film showed, Zootopia’s not a perfect society, so they absolutely could receive some nasty stares and insults in the city, and Bunnyburrow Seems to be less open on the whole. Yes, I’m bringing up the ever so popular “Nick meets Judy’s parents after their hookup” idea that hundreds of people have written stories about, but I genuinely think it’s a fun idea, and I’d like to see their reaction to Nick if he’s romantically involved with their daughter, and Nick trying to get used to country life and bonding with a new family. We saw in the last film that Bonnie and Stu are opening up to foxes, and I would imagine that they met Nick around the time of the concert in the credits, but how could they feel about their daughter being with a non-bunny? That could be a fantastic storyline to cover, and it could be a fantastic way to explore that theme of interspecies bonds, and also of families being built on love. That being said, them visiting Bunnyburrow (AKA my hometown in upstate NY: we seem to have an infestation of rabbits here), would be best for a TV series arc or a comic as opposed to a theatrical release, but they could still have the Hopps family visit Zootopia in the film and have many similar things go down. Another scenario could be from Nick’s family. Remember what Rich said about his mother waiting for a grandkit? Does this mean that she actually wants him to continue the family line, or does it mean that she just wants another little tyke to help raise? Either way, she could be an interesting addition to this idea since the creators have specified that they normally fall back on what is scientifically plausible for the film, meaning that Nick and Judy probably wouldn't be able to conceive a child, so they could introduce some hesitance or vice versa into the story through her.

With my previous villain idea, the theme of bonds beyond species could come up quite often. Nick and Judy could become targets of The Cell from the beginning for their friendship, but they could perhaps become more of targets once it becomes clearer to The Cell that they may be more (and because they’re likely foiling their plans). If the villain actually saw proof up close that they were together, he could absolutely lose it and just try to tear them limb from limb. But of course, their bond could also be used to their advantage alongside the villains’ hypocrisy and foolishness. For instance, in a final confrontation. Here’s my prospective scene: Nick, Judy and possibly other characters are surrounded by Cell members who are armed to the teeth and pointing all they have right at them. Everyone in the room is weary from all that’s happened over the course of the film, and are hesitant to start fighting again. Then, Nick speaks up and asks The Cell why they’re still fighting. He brings up the fact that they’re all fighting for the downfall of Zootopia and the separation of all species since they believe that animals only see each other for what they are and are cruel because of it, and that they’re going as far as to hide their species from their comrades to not see each other as separate, but only until the job is done, and then they'll go their separate ways. Of course, why should they see each other as one only for now? They’ve all bonded and seen each other as comrades all this time while not knowing each other’s species; why should knowing what they are be any different? This would result in some taking the plunge and removing their helmets, which would then result in the others seeing what they are. Our leads would tell them that they have not known each other's species this long and yet they’ve bonded together as brothers in arms; why would they want to break that because of stupid differences, and why would they want to use those differences to separate themselves? Some folks can tear and digest meat, some can clip and digest grass; what difference should that make? If they want things to be better, then they must be better, and show those who hate them that things can be better (and for extra effect, Nick and Judy could show off the bond that they’ve gained despite being not just two different species, but predator and prey). One member throws his mask out, then another, and another. More and more continue to throw away their masks and even suits, either because they were convinced or because they see the cause as hopeless, and within a minute the floor is littered with masks and discarded body suits, and the members of the once mighty Cell walk out of the room, many with their arms around one another, and some holding hands, and soon it’s just the leader and the officers alone.

Conclusion

So those were my ideas for a Zootopia sequel. To recap, I want to see even more of the city’s districts and more of its socio-economic angles. I want to see new characters both brand new and from old drafts, and I want an interesting and fresh villain who we can gain a bit of sympathy for. I want to see all of our favorite supporting characters from the first film continue to be great and have expanded roles. And above all, I want our leads to continue to grow themselves and their bond into something even more wonderful. I want to see Nick grow as a person and officer, and I want to see Judy grow alongside him. I want to see Nick’s family and connections, I want how his new life is affecting him, and I want to see him open up emotionally with himself and with those he loves, and I want Judy to continue to grow wiser about the world and everything ugly and beautiful about it, and how being on the force, and with the one she cares about most no less, shapes her into an even more effective problem solver.

So when could we see a sequel? Well, we may have to wait a while longer. While it’s very clear that the franchise isn’t dead, we’ve heard absolutely nothing official on a sequel, and current events at Disney Animation Studios are making it seem like we may have to wait more for one to come. The director and mastermind behind the film, Byron Howard, and the co-director and screenwriter, Jared Bush, are currently working on a musical film currently called Encanto which is set to release in November. Why did they do this instead of going straight for Zootopia 2? Rich Moore, the other head director, had to scramble back to work on Ralph Breaks The Internet after leaving it for a year and a half, and that pretty much left the team in pieces. Considering how much he seemed to want to be a part of the development of a sequel and how they said that they didn’t want to rush it, the other guys seem to have started Encanto to do something new while Rich was busy, and of course shake up their creative juices. However, Rich left the studio in 2019 to join Sony Animation, although he said he left the studio in good hands, and I certainly hope that’s true. Considering that Disney tends to announce films around two years before release, and also tends to have directors work on films released two years apart, 2023 seems like a likely release year, but 2024 would work better for getting a bit more development time into it, get some test screening done and to iron out any possible issues.

That said, the extra year may not be totally necessary. Considering how well developed the first film’s world and characters were, and how much they conceptualized during its production, I don’t think they’ll have to conceptualize quite as hard, and most of what they’ll have to create from scratch will be storylines, themes, character development, and brand new characters, as well as possibly a few districts and species designs. But again, there was so much that they have already made that they just need to show us, as well as so many concepts to fall back on with developing brand new content that even in the conceptual stage that it may have be in they’ll have a relatively easy time coming up with incredible new content; unlike Frozen II & Ralph Breaks the Internet where they had to make up totally new locations, concepts, and everything in between. I’m of the opinion that with all the time that it’s likely been in partial production that the relatively little new stuff that they've had to come up with has probably already been quite refined, and by the time Encanto is done, they may well have something extremely robust and just need to refine it, and then make models and animate it, and give us Disney Animation's best sequel ever. But then again, that extra year may be good for it. But then again, I'm not a filmmaker, so I don't know crap.

And after that, we could end up getting a TV series with further adventures of Nick and Judy, and also flesh out the world even more by showing us districts, criminal groups, precincts, and all manner of other things. Perhaps it could be a police procedural with our leads taking on whatever the city has to offer as well as de showing off more about them and other characters than the films could, and also potentially be a bit of a Segway into the next film (why yes, I think a Zootopia trilogy could be amazing). Thankfully the majority of the cast is made up of accomplished TV actors, so they’ll probably be able to get almost everyone back (but I am hoping for Jason Bateman the most since he IS Nick Wilde and no one can replace him (the same applies to Ginnifer Goodwin with Judy to a very slightly lesser extent)). My hope is that it'll be a D+ original, and thus have an extra good budget that'll hopefully bring in a great cast, and excellent animation and writing.

But anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed my ideas. Was there anything you'd like to add, or anything you didn't quite agree with (or any mistakes I didn't notice while proofreading)? Well then please do discuss them. Until next time, may your battles be won and your day be blessed, and may you be excellent to all those you meet!

#zootopia #zootopia 2 #nick wilde #judy hopps #clawhauser #benjamin clawhauser #finnick #chief bogo #film speculation #film theorizing #disney #disney animation #walt disney animation #wdas #movie essay #wildehopps

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lilhawkeye3 · 4 years ago

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This Ohio discourse has got me dying to create discourse about every other state now hehe so I officially present:

Hawk’s review of 36/50 US states!

In alphabetical order because that fuckin song “50 nifty United States” has been stuck in my head since fourth grade.

Arizona: Phoenix is hot. Can’t believe y’all choose to live in a place that gets haboobs. Saw Sen. John McCain in the airport. I feel that sums up the state well. 4/10

California: as a resident of the state of Oregon, I’m legally required to say fuck California😌 unless anyone else talking shit about Cali and then we got your back😤 SoCal vs San Fran vs Northern Cal are totally different worlds though. 7/10

Colorado: damn idk how y’all breathe there, them air is thin. But really pretty out there! 7/10

Connecticut: oh my god fuck New Haven. And Stamford, and Hartford, and— Yknow what? Let’s just toss the whole state into the Sound. For real, traffic is the WORST here and I’m so sorry that y’all gotta live like that. 3/10

Delaware: I cannot believe this is considered a state. There’s no difference between Delaware and Maryland/Pennsylvania. 1/10 should not be a state

Florida: “the only hills in Florida are the highway ramps and the Matterhorn!” —the shuttle driver at Disney World. He was right. Shit is flat as fuck here. And hot. And humid. The Gulf Coast is nice? But tbh it’s just all very touristy which is kind of a bummer. 5/10

Georgia: ...I can’t with the humidity or thinly veiled racism. But y’all got nice peaches! Also Black Panther filmed there so thank you for blessing us with that. 6/10 for fruits

Hawaii: okay pineapple farms are cool. Tbh I just feel really bad for how much mainlander/tourist bs all the islanders put up with. Ik price of living is v high and keeps going up. That said I did love Hawaii... although I was stung by a jellyfish. Hate those little bastards. 8/10 for wonderful people and nature

Idaho: as an Oregonian I’m required to also say fuck Idaho 😝 you da hoes. Okay for real tho southern Idaho has become v white white and kinda scary tbh. The northern part of the state is pretty chill tho. Also Oreida kettle chips are partly made in Idaho so I gotta give you half credit for that. 4/10

Illinois: at least you’re not Indiana. 4/10.

Indiana: I never want to step foot in Gary, Indiana again in my life. (Passed a Mack truck hauling a race car to Indy 500 though so that was cool.) 2/10

Iowa: I almost moved here. I’m so glad I didn’t. Why are the Quad Cities actually a group of five towns? I hate that. Also the roads were all cement, felt like driving on a sidewalk. Was also interesting because the second we got out of the city proper, it was just... corn fields everywhere. 2/10 y’all raising children of the corn.

Kentucky: I really don’t have anything to say about Kentucky. I thought the trees were pretty? 5/10 yeah idk

Maine: my relative has totaled two cars by hitting moose in Maine. Maine scares me. Or rather, the moose do. Also the lobster roll hype is real. And the coast truly is beautiful. 8/10 but an extra point for the moose bc I hate that relative so 9/10

Maryland: oh god Baltimore. Also I’m blaming you for the DC traffic because it’s on the land you gifted them. 3/10

Massachusetts: Patriots fans are the worst NFL fans (the racism is real, especially after fans burned the jerseys of Black players who knelt for the anthem). Liking Dunkin’ Donuts is not a personality trait. The North End in Boston is truly the best place to get pizza in the entire country. Western Mass is not the same state. And the Cape Cod bridges give me nightmares. 5/10 but cause I had to pay taxes two years and it really is Taxachusetts, knocking it down to 4/10

Michigan: it’s a lot bigger than I initially thought. 5/10

Minnesota: it’s Canada but in the US. Pretty driving through the southern part. Cops suck tho. 5/10

Montana: okay Montana is downright gorgeous. (Except Billings. Sorry, Billings.) I must include a photo. I wanna get a cabin here and just exist. 8/10

New Hampshire: can’t decide if it hates Massachusetts or wants to be Massachusetts. All it knows is that it’s better than Vermont. Which... y’know, valid. (If you wanna see NH culture watch North Woods Law tbh). 4/10

New Jersey: why are there so many goddamn highways in this state? Also there are more places to weekend trip than the Shore or the Poconos. Although you do have people pump gas for you just like Oregon, so... that’s valid. Things my friends have added: Newark airport is cursed (valid), the jughandles are nightmares (true), pork roll/Taylor Ham is good and so are bagels and New Jersey pizza (allergic so idk), and everyone is split on whether the shore is actually decent or not 😂 I give it a 3.5/10 out of spite

New York: NYC is fun, Upstate is MASSIVE but really beautiful. Long Island is... yeah I don’t have anything nice to say about Long Island. 8/10 For NYC, 6/10 for Upstate, -2/10 for Long Island, gives us an average of 6/10

North Carolina: very good peaches. Isn’t South Carolina. Keep it up👍🏽 6/10

Ohio: I already told y’all how I feel about this flat ass boring state. I feel no need to slander it any more lmao. 3/10

Oregon: she flies with her own wings, mi amor🥰 to list all the reasons I like Oregon (and the issues too bc it ain’t perfect), I would need a whole other post. I’ll just leave you with this picture I took of Mt. Hood, the queen of our Cascades. 11/10

Pennsylvania: so apparently PN is three states hiding in a trench coat like NY. There’s upstate, philly and Pittsburg. Personally I think they’re just trying too hard and wanna get the same recognition as NY. Meh. 5/10

Rhode Island: THIS FUCKIN SHAM OF A STATE Just merge it with Connecticut and be done with it!! It’s tiny. Providence sucks. There’s nothing unique about this state that you can’t find in Southern Mass (except MA has cheaper taxes so y’all come to work and shop in MA anyways smh). Also the fingers are really annoying to drive down to get to some beach areas haha. 2/10 you’re barely better than Delaware.

South Carolina: my Black father was invited to a party celebrating General Robert E Lee’s birthday. So... 0/10

South Dakota: very gorgeous, didn’t realize the Missouri River went this far west, but VERY LARGE. I mean it looks big on a map but then you get there and... yeah. No speed limit on highways is a great time though. And the Badlands have mountain goats! 6/10 bc while pretty, living there seems really hard. (Picture is me in the Badlands).

Texas: gave us Juneteenth and Beyoncé and JJ Watts. Thank you Texas. But is very big, got independence from Mexico to keep slavery (yikes), is like 97% private land (yikes) and is like the second or third largest state. Very big. That said, everyone I’ve ever met from Texas is lovely. 6/10.

Utah: Other than Idaho, this is the whitest state I’ve been to. Or it feels that way. Like a, the people crossed to the other side of the street and held their bags because I’m brown, state. And I don’t ski so I can’t even say that’s a good thing (I fell off the ski lift the one time I went, long story). Yeah 0/10.

Vermont: wants to be New Hampshire or Canada and can’t decide which. So it’s just kinda there. Pretty hills though. 3/10

Virginia: let’s be real we all forget that Virginia exists west of Richmond. Nova is a beauracratic and traffic nightmare and half our neighbors had to pass security clearance checks. Hampton Roads and beach area is a tourist and mosquito nightmare. But there were dolphins and I made snowmen on the beach. Good times. 6.7/10

Washington: again, legally required as an Oregon resident to say fuck Washington because it’s all your fault we now are getting a toll on the I-5 border. But you’re better than California. And the Sound is really cool for fishing, love Wicked Tuna. And the fish market. Best salmon I’ve had. Eastern Washington... y’all got Spokane but the rest is kinda sparse. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 8/10

Wisconsin: cheese is actually good. Again, pretty state, much larger than I initially thought. 7/10

Wyoming: this was the ONLY STATE I lost cell service in when diriving cross country. Kinda surprised it wasn’t Montana, but no, it was Wyoming. Views are gorgeous though so I was distracted either way. 4/10

Thank you for joining me on this cross-country edition of Tea Time with Hawk. Please respond with any reactions, corrections, addendums about any and all of the states mentioned. And thank you for taking part in this wholesome Clone Wars fandom discourse with me 🥰💕

DISCLAIMER: THESE RATINGS ARE ALL A JOKE PLEASE DO NOT ACTUALLY GET MAD ABOUT IT

#ohio discourse #50 states reviews #oregon #midwest #california #texas #New York #massachusetts #deep south #midatlantic #New England #united states #the clone wars #DISCOURSE COMMENCE

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feverinfeveroutfic · 3 years ago

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chapter nineteen: a lick and a promise

“So Scott’s leaving,” Marla started, out of breath.

The two weeks following the gig in San Antonio and the announcement was in fact official at that point, such that it left everyone in disbelief as to what would happen next. Sam and Marla had taken their seats on the small but trim porch outside of their brand new apartment together right as the summer rain began to fall around them: Belinda had gone down the block for some drinks and a third chair for herself. It had been a two day affair moving Sam down to Hell’s Kitchen and out of the Bronx, but they finally managed to have her settle into the cute little place with a view of the harbor.

Sam herself nodded her head and fanned the side of her face with a road map Belinda had lent her. Even though she had tied up her hair and wore a sleeveless top, she still found herself hot and sweaty from it all.

“Yup, he said it just yesterday,” she replied, “they got home from Finland real late last night, and the word from the label is that he’s going back home to Queens today. No idea what happens after that.”

“They get a new guitarist, I assume,” Marla followed along.

“Haven’t heard anything official yet but there are some rumors going around right now. Add to this, Aurora is knee deep in her own affairs so I can’t talk to her right now but I would hope so…” Her voice trailed off. “By the way, have you heard anything from Metallica’s neck of the woods? Like how Jason’s been doing lately?”

“I haven’t, no,” Marla confessed. “I think their tour actually wrapped up.”

“When?” Sam was stunned.

“It was a while back, I know that much. Wouldn’t it be something if Kirk filled in for Scott, though?”

“Who would fill in for Kirk?”

“Lars? I heard they were planning on ridding of him after this tour.”

“Yeah, I heard that, too. Does Lars even play guitar, though?”

“No clue. I know James plays drums.”

“He does?” Sam laughed.

“Yeah, that’s according to Charlie! James can drum, Jason can play guitar, and Lars can sing.”

“Who would play bass?” Sam asked her.

“Didn’t Greg audition for them after Cliff was killed?”

“Yeah, he did. I can’t imagine him being with them, though.”

“Why’s that?”

“I kinda like Greg. I can’t imagine Testament without him, to be completely honest with you, Marla. Greggy, as Zelda calls him.”

“Or—ooh, I know!” Marla snapped her fingers.

“What?”

“Scott and Minerva can swap places!”

“Hey, that’s a great idea! But that means she would have to leave it behind, though. The Cherry Suicides are on fire at the moment.”

“Oh, right, right…” Marla sighed through her nose. “Why doesn’t Anthrax just carry on as a quartet?”

“No idea. It sets them apart, I guess—“ Sam then stopped in her tracks, and she thought about Joey’s sentiments on learning guitar himself. An old wound about to be taken to a new level. She turned to Marla.

“Is the phone hooked up?”

“Yeah, it was one of the first things I did the very second I brought my stuff here, along with make our beds and get Genie situated. Why?”

Sam nibbled on her bottom lip.

“I have an idea.”

She ducked into the new apartment, through the small but cozy living room and Genie, who had taken her place atop the little plush couch against the wall close to the front door, and into the kitchen. The phone hung upon the wall over the sink: she took the receiver and dialed Joey’s number.

It rang once. Twice.

“C’mon, Joey, pick up—pick up, pick up—“

“Hey, this is Joe Belladonna, I’m either out drummin’ or singin’, or playing hockey, so leave me a message and I’ll get back to ya—“

“Damn it,” she muttered. There was a beep.

“Hey, Joey, it’s Sam. Give me a call back if and when you can—it’s kind of important. I’m living at Marla’s new place in Hell’s Kitchen.”

Without another word, she hung up and returned to the porch with Marla, who looked up at her with a puzzled expression on her face.

“You think Joey might be onboard with it?” she asked her.

“We’ll see,” Sam answered; she thought back to that night in Syracuse, in which Alex had inadvertently opened that old wound for him. Down below the porch, she recognized Belinda's head of golden blonde hair against the light drops of rain around them.

“Looks like she's got some good stuff for us,” Marla saw her as well, and right then she leaned forward so as to better watch her. They hung there for a moment as she crossed the street and rang the buzzer.

“I'll get it,” Sam offered, and she doubled back inside to unlock the door downstairs and she left the front door open by about an inch. Genie slunk over to her and rubbed against her ankles, complete with a soft little purr; Sam stooped down and pet the top of her head, and she squinted her golden eyes at the feeling. She thought about Joey and his wishes to learn the guitar: she knew it would be a golden chance for him, and for Anthrax to take things to the next level. Genie's little black tail formed a little hook at the end and she stopped right underneath her knees, and she gazed up at Sam with those squinted eyes. She gave her a soft little meow and she pet her head again.

Belinda pushed open the front door with her hip and she showed Sam a grin, and she handed her the white cup in her right hand.

“Nice fresh limeade from the shop down the street,” Belinda said.

“Yummy.”

“Also, I just ran into Frankie down the block and he told me to tell you that they're doing auditions later today,” Belinda told her, “and I mean later today. Like within a couple of hours.”

“Which means we can walk on down to the rest of Manhattan and poke our heads in there if we so damn well please,” Sam followed along.

“If we wish, maybe. Although—it's hard to say 'cause we're not part of the band.” Belinda stopped right in her tracks. “Why, what's up?”

“She wants Joey to take Scott's place,” Marla joked from the porch.

“Why Joey exactly?”

“He's told me about wanting to play guitar at some point.” And she left it at that, lest she dig up something more by mentioning the whole thing between Joey and Alex.

Genie slunk over to Belinda and rubbed on her ankles as well; Belinda bent down to her and stroked her head and her back, and that little black tail shot straight up, complete with a slight hook near the end.

“So a couple of hours, you said?” Sam asked her as she took a sip of the limeade.

“Yeah. We can hustle on down there if we'd like. The rain's not so bad right now so we can boogie on down there right now if we'd like.”

“Hey, Marla, you wanna come along?” Sam called back out to the porch.

“Nah, it's been a long couple of days. I'll just chill out here and get myself settled in.”

“I'll come with ya, though,” Belinda offered as she set her limeade down on the box next to the door and scooped up Genie, whose purr grew louder at the feeling.

“So sweet,” Sam declared as she pet her head again and she pinched her eyes shut. Belinda then set Genie down on the couch and she picked up her limeade once again.

“It's a little further than you think, though,” Belinda pointed out. “So we can take the bus—and we've gotta get moving, too, 'cause I saw it on the way back here.”

“We're students, remember?” Belinda said to her as she took her card out from her jeans pocket.

“We are!” Sam turned to her purse, which she had hung up on the wall next to the door, and she took her student card out of her wallet. She spotted the Polaroid of Joey on the inside there, and she was quick to close the top so Marla wouldn't happen to look over and see it. The two of them bowed back out to the hallway and then back to the staircase. The rain had dissipated a little bit by the time they reached the sidewalk outside, and they strolled towards the stoplight up ahead of them.

“So where is it?” Sam asked her as she tilted her head back a bit to better take on the cool breeze around them.

“Right up here.”

Belinda hurried forth and Sam followed. Indeed, the latter spotted a sign on the curb in front of them with a bus inscribed on the front. She peered over her shoulder and the bus lumbered up to the curb behind them.

They reached the sign in time; Belinda climbed aboard first, and then Sam followed suit, and they congregated to the rung behind the driver once they showed off their cards.

“You girls are gonna drink down those things, Miss Grimes?” the driver asked them.

“We're not going far anyways, Jim—just a few blocks down towards Sixth Avenue,” Belinda assured him as she sipped on the limeade with a bit of haste so he couldn't ask her anything more. Sam turned to her and showed her a little smirk.

“You're good,” she remarked in a low voice.

“That's what I get for growing up down this way,” Belinda said with a shrug of her shoulders. They lurched forward to the light once it turned green and they lumbered forth; she turned to Sam again. “We're gonna be about two blocks away from Radio City Music Hall.”

Sam gaped at her.

“Wow, I had no idea they lived that close to that.”

“That, and Times Square, too. But I guess the room they're gonna be literally right there by Radio City. I can imagine life in L.A. being like that, too.”

“Kinda. You need a car to get around anywhere in L.A., though. It's not like you can just hop on the subway and go somewhere willy-nilly. Lake Elsinore is also a ways away from somewhere notable like Hollywood or Fontana.”

Within time, they reached Sixth Avenue, about two blocks from Radio City Music Hall; Sam pictured Anthrax playing there at some point in the future. The concrete building before them stood behind the curb in nondescript fashion, and Sam recognized Charlie's head of curls right outside of the door.

The bus pulled up to the curb right down the sidewalk from him, and the driver pulled on the parking lever for them. Sam stepped first and she was greeted by the little grin on Charlie's face and the new round of rain over their heads.

“Hey, girlies,” he proclaimed over the noise on the street.

“So auditions in an hour or so?” Sam asked him.

“Oh, yeah—got a few guys here already if you girls wanna see what's about to go down here—”

He held the door for them and Sam stepped inside of the small white walled front room first; beyond that was a carpeted space with a pair of large rugs suspended from the ceiling. They had been arranged into a semicircle over one spot on the floor: and right on the spot stood a low dark stool and a couple of amplifiers. One guy stood close to the rugs, and Sam recognized his long disheveled black curls down past his shoulders. The black hair dye had all but vanished, and so his little silvery plume stood high over his brow, despite it being a little bit on the thin side: but it seemed larger that time around, more of a plume rather than a small sliver the size of a silver dollar. His deep eyes stared back at her and his facial expression hardened.

“Oh, hi,” she greeted him in a soft voice; Alex flashed her a cold look and then he bowed away into the next room. She sighed through her nose: Zelda's words echoed through her mind right then. If only there was a way she could in fact talk to him about all that had happened between them. Here, she was bestowed a chance, and yet she had no idea if she could at that point.

“What's he even doing here?” Belinda asked her in a low voice.

“No idea. Hope he's not leaving Testament, though.”

“Yeah, talk about being on fire. Have you listened to their new album yet?”

“Nah, I probably should.”

“Okay, so we have Dave Mustaine coming—” Charlie was saying right behind them. “—he should literally be here like any minute now. Gus Pepa from Death Angel, Alex Skolnick from Testament, Minerva and Rosita both from the Cherry Suicides—and—then that's it. Alex is here, Gus is down the hall right now, and like I said, Dave should be coming like any second now. I think the girls'll be here any second, too.”

The front door opened right then and the three of them turned to find out who had just walked in: Sam recognized Dan's crown of hair upon his head, followed by Frank's lush dark hair, and then—

“Joey,” she muttered to herself, and she hoped that he wouldn't go off the handle at the sight of Alex being there at the moment. Zelda's words continued to run throughout her mind. Alex had gone off into the next room.

She had to do something right then and there should Alex be a part of Anthrax. She bowed into the next room after him; he stood there before his little black amplifier on the floor with a little red guitar before his little body. He raised his head and he showed her another cold look.

“What're you doing in here?” he demanded, and she moved closer to him.

“I wanna talk to you about something,” she started without a moment's hesitation.

“Are you going to give me another halfhearted apology?” he demanded, cold. He looked down at the amp again complete with a scowl on his face.

“No. You deserve better.”

He stopped, and then he raised his head and frowned at that.

“What do you mean?” he asked her. Sam sighed through her nose.

“I just—want to get to know you better,” she explained, “and I feel like I was way too over the top towards you each time we got together. Like, I want you to know that—” She paused for a moment in search of the right words. “—that I don’t mean to upset you or do anything like that. It’s just… I’m part of the fan club, and I’ve seen you guys—I even got to poke my head in on the recording process, too! And you gave Cliff that piece of paper.” Alex lowered his gaze to the floor and he stayed still, with his fingers across the fretboard.

“You’re still mad at me,” she muttered, to which she shook her head. She gave it a shot courtesy of Zelda, but it all came from her in the meantime.

Sam turned away from when he touched her arm: even with the calluses on his fingers, he had a soft touch.

“No,” he said in a low voice.

“No?” she stammered. “No what?”

“No, that—that’s very kind of you.” He showed her a thoughtful look. “Really, that's—nice of you.” He glanced past her to find if there was anyone else behind them. Belinda laughed at something Charlie said; another woman's voice floated in right then, but Sam couldn't tell if it was Rosita or Minerva. They had a few minutes for all she knew.

She returned to Alex, who had crouched down to his amp on the floor.

“I feel like—I'm kind of alone here,” she confessed to him.

“Why is that?” he asked her as he kept his eye on the dials.

“'Cause—I'm a California girl. I moved cross country a couple of years ago and even though I feel like I'm still an outsider here. So—if I seem a bit too much up to this point, it should be from that.”

He stood back up and about a foot from her. He gave his long hair a little toss back with a flick of his head, so it all rested about his head like a full mane from his crown. He was silent as he plucked at the strings a bit, such that hardly any sound came out.

“I mean, if there’s anyone who’s to blame here, it’s me,” he told her still with his eyes fixed on the amplifier. “I can be cold and hard, and… if I’m honest, I don’t really want to come off unbearable. Kind of like how… you feel.”

He turned his attention to her, and then he looked past her again.

“Looks like Dave's here,” he declared. Sam turned her head and she spotted that head of reddish orange curls in the next room.

“Looks like he might be going on first,” she told him as she returned to him.

“You know, I was a complete outsider growing up,” he started.

“You?” She was stunned.

“Oh yeah.” He set his left hand over his fretboard and then ran his fingers through his hair: the plume had a little bit of a shine to it. “The grays here are just tip of the iceberg. I think I told you this at Kirk and Rebecca's wedding, but my parents are collegiate professors. And add to this, they’re way older than my friends’ parents.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember you talking about that one time,” she recalled with a wag of her finger.

“Well, add to that, they both graduated from Ivy League schools and they're teachers, too. My mother is a professor at Yale and my father is an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley. I mean, that in and of itself is isolating on its own…” His voice trailed off a bit, and then he cleared his throat. “Now take that and combine it with their being close to forty when they have me and my big brother. Also combine that with the fact they're both non traditional Jews, who've moved out to the San Francisco Bay Area. Not completely out of place, but still very strange, especially for me. All of my friends back home are born to hippies, you know, those ‘flower children’ of the Late Sixties—all the Grateful Dead and music of the Sixties you can possibly imagine. And then you get to my parents and like Sinatra and Dean Martin.”

“Wow.” She raised her eyebrows at that. “So—you pretty much grew up on a totally intellectual scale.”

“Yeah, I really did.” He shrugged at that. “I actually had a few people think I’m gay when I was in school, believe it or not.”

Sam chuckled. “Why? ‘Cause you’re smart?”

“Yeah! I’m more interested in expanding my horizons and my mind than my genitals. They were like 'yeah, that Skolnick kid, think he's a little gay boy' and I'm like, 'what, 'cause I like to read?'”

She giggled at that.

“How long have you been playing guitar?” she asked him.

“How long? 'Bout ten years at this point. I started when I was just shy of nine years old—properly taught, too. My teacher was like a children's folk musician. And I'm sure you know by now of my actual teacher, Joe Satriani.”

“Yeah, he taught Kirk.”

“And how. Him, me, and also another guy named Steve Vai—I dunno if you've heard of him or not, but he's just fantastic. I was one of the youngest ones in that class, too, like fourteen. Kirk was almost twenty at that point and Steve was twenty two. I was just this teenage kid who had just entered high school taking lessons from this mysterious, like godfather type character in the back room of this music store in Berkeley, where I'm from originally.”

“How'd your parents take all of it?”

“They did it kinda—I want to say reluctantly. Like they weren't, and still aren't, a little too keen about it.”

Sam tilted her head a bit at that. “So—they're not musical?”

He shook his head.

“Nah. They're collegiate professors who teach—social sciences. Not so much music.”

“Well, what about your brother?”

“He kinda is musical, like I got my first taste of bass guitar because of him. But he's not so much dedicated to it like I am.”

“So—you're bit of a lone wolf. Like the oddball.”

“Pretty much, yeah. Especially at this point in my life. I just want to make music and add something to the world, but—” He shrugged his shoulders. “—I'm pretty isolated with it all. You got your friends and the people who follow you when on tour, but I go home knowing my parents aren't sure of it all. I mean, don't me get wrong—they are supportive of it, but they're just—”

“Reluctant,” she filled in.

“Reluctant. Very much so.”

She pressed her hands to her hips at that: Dave's laughter in the next room caught her ear, but she was more fixed on this boy before her.

“I was wrong about you, Alex,” she confessed.

He shrugged again. “I’m just kind of a tough nut to crack us all,” he said. “Why do you think my parents called me ‘meshuggah’ when I was first starting out? They're like 'my kid's meshuggah!'”

“And Lars is right about one other thing,” she added.

“What's that?”

“It sounds like a good band name.”

“Meshuggah?”

“Yeah.”

“I agree.” He showed her a friendly little smile. “I was wrong about you, too, Samantha. Although—if I'm being perfectly honest, I'm still a little unsure of you. Just—out of caution and thinking about everything you've said to me so far. It's just—how I am and how I was raised, too. But this was a nice little insight to you, though.”

Charlie poked his head into the room right then.

“Oh, there you guys are,” he proclaimed. “Joey's got a little treat for us.”

“For what?” Alex asked him, baffled. Charlie never answered, but he did gesture for the two of them to follow him back out to the main room. Joey walked up to Dave, who took his white flying V guitar off of his shoulder and handed it right to him.

“There's no way I can leave behind Megadeth, to be perfectly honest,” he confessed with a shrug, “but there's something about this boy here.”

Sam turned back to Alex, who gaped at her.

“So he pushes me onto grass but he gets honors from Dave, what the hell?” he muttered, to which she shook her head.

“Yeah, I don't get that, either,” she confessed.

“I'm gonna try it out here,” Joey declared as he slung the guitar over his shoulder and he took the little royal blue pick out from in between the strings. His arched his back a little bit and lowered the guitar down towards his waist. He set his fingers on the strings; Sam looked over at Alex and the curious expression on his face. He slid his fingers up the fretboard a little bit and he strummed at the same time. He went faster and faster and it took her a moment to realize that he was playing that song “I Am the Law.”

“Wow,” Frank remarked; Joey nodded as he played along, and his long curled black hair sprawled down his chest.

“Could you play 'A Skeleton in the Closet'?” Dan asked him.

Joey moved his hand up towards the head and he strummed faster that time around. He moved up all the while with those bars.

“My god, he's fantastic,” Dan declared.

“It's what I get for watching him when I first auditioned,” Joey told him over the noise of the guitar.

“Think we found our new guitarist!” Frank said. “Right on, Joey.”

“I will also say this, though,” Charlie began, “Scott left behind a couple of lyrics for us. One for a song called 'Who Cares Wins' and another called 'Now It's Dark.' I might have to save these for later because we're still focused on Among the Living.”

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jaybug-jabbers · 4 years ago

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Review: Pokemon Gold and Silver 97: Reforged

The Review

What a fantastic game. I went looking for a hack that fully realized the sort of pokemon game we glimpsed in the Spaceworld ‘97 demo, and I was not disappointed.

This alternative version of Gold and Silver takes that Spaceworld demo and builds on it with loving care and attention to detail. All the beta pokemon sprites were freshly made from scratch or edited to update them for the final, polished Gameboy Color look. The pokemon movesets and stats were crafted so that they were balanced and didn’t contain placeholders, and the pokemon were populated throughout the world in a logical fashion. Dex entries were written and the pokes were integrated smoothly into the world. There are even different sprites and different encounter rates for Gold and Silver-- although you can ‘catch them all’ in either version, an excellent choice.

Meanwhile, the world map was colored, tweaked and polished, allowing us to explore that beta world that was stunningly different from the final Gold and Silver. It’s a place that in many ways seems even more vibrant and varied than final Gold and Silver, and is truly exciting to explore.

Along with this fully realized map, this hack’s creators also gave us a fresh new plot for Gold and Silver. This one was inspired by the differences glimpsed in the demo, including Oak’s increased involvement in the story, Silver’s different personality and role, and the inclusion of an Imposter Oak. The plot stays true to the style of pokemon games and doesn’t seem out of place.

All of the exciting little beta details were included too-- including the original Type alignments, the original Gym Leader designs, beta pokemon moves, new hold items, access to the Skateboard, being able to name your Mom, and even the minigame on the game start screen. The attention to detail and the polish on this hack is truly impressive.

Essentially, I feel like this hack can be considered the definitive edition of the beta Gold/Silver that we never knew. It gives us a chance to experience this alternative world, and breathes life into these wonderful pokemon that never were. Giving us a chance to know and love these beta creations is truly a gift for pokemon fans.

Perhaps the only downside is the sadness that this is not the official version of Gold and Silver. I experienced Pokemon a little bit differently then my peers. As a child, I adored Red and Blue, but once I’d finished with those games, I moved on from pokemon. I have no nostalgic memories of Gold and Silver to hold onto. I only returned to pokemon years later as a teenager. At that point I played several generations, one after another, at the same time, as a sort of “pokemon binge.” While most would call it blasphemy, I was never too terribly fond of Gold and Silver. I think it was largely because I didn’t happen to like a lot of the pokemon designs in those games. In many ways, this ROM hack presents a Gold and Silver that I adore and can love even more than the originals.

That’s not to say the official Gold/Silver games are all terrible, of course. There are still definitely some beta pokemon that I feel were axed or altered for good reason. Not all of them are better then the final cuts. And there are other elements that are an improvement, too; for example, I actually really like Silver’s storyline in the official games and the fact we dealt with a character who actually stole pokemon and treated them poorly.

That said, there is an awful lot to love in this ROM hack, and I’m grateful that we have it. Pangshi, Bellrun, Warwolf, Madame, Volbear and others may not be officially recognized by the Pokemon franchise . . . but they will always be very real in my heart.

The Team

Cinnamon (Flame Wheel/Crunch/Scary Face/Earthquake - Charcoal)

Selecting the starter was difficult, because both Honooguma’s line and Kurusu’s line appealed to me. Ultimately I think I went with my old Fire bias. Cinnamon was everything you’d expect a Fire starter to be-- powerful, intimidating, and very reliable. My only real complaint would be that I happened to strongly dislike the sprite the team had created for Dynabear. This isn’t really anyone’s fault, because the team did an excellent job with spriting-- for example, their sprite for the mid-evolution, Volbear, was incredibly good and I adored it to bits. I think it was just a matter of personal taste; I just didn’t like the final evolution’s face. (I’ve actually replaced the sprite in this picture with the original sprite, because I don’t want it to dampen my love for this species) Other than that, seriously, they did this evolution family justice. It was a joy to have on my team.

Doomsday (Curse/Confuse Ray/Body Slam/Shadow Ball - Power Wings)

The second member of my team was found in Brass Tower, to my great excitement: Kurstraw. This was possibly my favorite evolution line to come out of the beta discoveries. This pokemon’s stats were not exactly breaking any records; he went down pretty easily if I wasn’t careful. However, that never really mattered. Doomsday still did his job anyway-- pulling his weight just fine, relying on Confuse Ray and Curse a fair bit to take care of foes. He often was an excellent team player, messing with especially troubling pokemon before passing them over to an ally to finish off. His Normal Immunity also was a strong advantage at times, which I made sure to make use of. Basically, he was a fantastic companion, who helped me all the way through to the Elites and Champion fights.

Rumtum (Slash/Thunder Wave/Thunderbolt/Crunch - Leftovers)

Along with a Rinrin, this round good boy was added to the team next. I was slightly wary of Kotora because it seemed to be one of the most popular beta pokemon among fans. But, the pokemon does seem to be worthy of praise, as it turns out. It is an excellent, cute, cheery little creature and seems to do Pikachu’s job just as nicely as Pikachu, both in fighting and in charisma. Where Pikachu is focused more on speed, though, Kotora and its evolution focus a little more on bulk. The tanky tiger was able to take hits long enough to outlast the competition, even when working with relatively low basepower moves. When he *finally* learned Thunderbolt, though, man, look out -- he was quite a force to reckon with.

It’s funny, actually. When I first saw this tubby tiger, I assumed it was a fire type. Electric was somewhat surprising, but I quickly grew to like it as that typing. Most electric type pokemon are rodent-focused, as Pikachu clones, or Magnemite’s kin. Having a big, bulky tiger is unexpected for the archtype of electric pokemon, but it’s a very refreshing change.

Poprocks (Fire Blast/Surf/Body Slam/Flame Wheel - Mystic Water)

Next on the team was this awesome fellow. Well . . . sort of. Technically, next on the team was TRICKY the Bomsheal, which I traded a Rinrin for with an NPC. Later on, I felt like being able to name the pokemon myself, so I bred Tricky with Cinnamon and trained Poprocks up from scratch. This seal was the cause of some angst for me. I loved Manboo’s evolutionary line a lot, but I also loved the fire seal. They both vyed for the position of the water type on my team. For a while, I used Manboo (and Anchorage) . . . intent on keeping it. But I missed the seal so much, eventually I went back for it to retrieve it from the PC. Yes, it only added to my team’s Rock/Ground weakness, but I didn’t care. I loved this guy too much.

I’m not sure what it is. The freaking amazing typing of Fire/Water? That was definitely a big part of it. But there’s also just something so appealing in its design, simple as it may be. He’s just a cool seal with a fireball. And boy . . . I sure learned how INTENSE its stats were. This seal was RIPPING through the competition. Using it was basically pushing the win button. Honestly it might need to be nerfed a little, it was nuts. But yeah, Bomsheal is a badass and doesn’t need any evolutions to be cool. Best surfer ever!

Darkwing (Slash/Fly/Swords Dance/Faint Attack - Stick)

Right around when I was handed the TM for Fly, I ran into an area that had two types of birds available, depending on the time of day: Hoothoot at night, Farfetch’d at day. As cool as beta Noctowl looks, I eventually decided I needed to have a Madame. I just had to. Like many others, I always, always felt Farfetch’d deserved an evolution and was kind of screwed over. Learning it used to have one was a revelation.

Madame on this team was kind of funny, though. Next to all of these exotic beta pokemon, Madame seemed so . . . normal. She had moves and performed pretty much the way you’d expect a Normal/Flying type to act. It was much like using a Pidgeotto or Fearow. She couldn’t take many hits but usually could take out one pokemon. Her typing had her as an ideal Generalist pokemon-- something that could be used in various situations, not to any amazing effect but usually to a passable one.

That may sound a little underwhelming to you, but honestly, it’s what you’d expect of this cool-looking swan; it’s a Normal/Flying type. It fills that archtype as a familiar, dependable generalist. And I am someone who can really appreciate a generalist pokemon. I think the pokemon world’s richer for having Madame in it, even if only in our dreams.

Alpha (Strength/Blizzard/Screech/Ice Punch - Nevermeltice)

The final member of our illustrious team. You have to wait until fairly late into the game, when you reach the snowy towns, to get a hold of one of these fellows.But the wait is well worth it. What a beautiful pokemon design these two are-- mysterious little creatures hiding inside their wolf pelts, a perfect mix of cute and creepy. Wolfman/Warwolf actually struggled for quite some time on my team, unfortunately, just because of its movepool. I was left with the very weak Icy Wind for a long time. To compensate, I taught Strength, which worked somewhat, but I could still tell Warwolf wasn’t reaching its full potential. I taught it Blizzard, but the poor pokemon had a rough time ever landing its hits. What I SHOULD have done from the start is buy and teach it Ice Punch for a reliable STAB move with decent base power. I FINALLY decided to do that around the time I reached the Elite 4. I kind of had to-- its learnset wasn’t providing it with reliable, decent Ice moves, for some reason. Once Warwolf was properly equipped, he did great work. Admittedly, a pure Ice type pokemon isn’t the best, defensively. They have four weaknesses to some very common move types-- Rock, Fighting, Fire. (Steel moves weren’t really implemented in this game). That said, when used wisely, a pure Ice type can still be a valuable team member.

There was one hitch, though. Warwolf was mainly a physical fighter. This makes sense if you look at him. Of course he’d be a physical fighter. Thing is, in gen 2, Ice moves were all special. So I suppose technically Warwolf still isn’t hitting at his full potential-- not until the special/physical split in gen 4 so he can take true advantage of physical-type Ice moves. Still, despite that fact, he did a great job anyway. He landed the final blow that defeated Lance and won the game, after all.

I think my only real regret is how relatively little time I spent with him when compared to the others. This is, of course, just the nature of the game; you find some pokemon later on when you’re nearing the end of the game. If there’s any sort of post-game, perhaps I can spend more time with him.

And the Ones Who Didn’t Make the Cut . . .(This Time)

There were so many beta pokemon that it was impossible to have them all on the team, of course. I was especially sad about leaving my Bellrun, Tibbs, behind. I adore Rinrin and Bellrun’s line, as yet another set of pokemon that should have been included in the final cut of the official games. Alas, ultimately I removed Tibbs from my team, though. The reason was simple enough. With the beta Type alignments, Dark type was heavily disadvantaged. It was weak to Normal-type and Dark-type moves (as well as Bug), which was extremely significant. Pokemon’s movepools were positively saturated with Normal and Dark type moves, and it was impossible to avoid. With her already weak stats, and her lack of any decent basepower moves for so long, there was just too much stacked against her. It’s my hope that Rinrin/Bellrun get a bit of a buff in future updates, because they really seem to struggle.

In any case, there were also plenty of others not on my team: Aquarius, Noctowl, Belmitt, Jumpluff, Turban, Plux, Grotess, Girafarig, Leafeon . . . and so many more. Honestly, that’s fantastic. It gives such replayability to the game. I have no doubt I will return to do more runs and get the chance to try out other pokes.

And, who knows? Maybe in the future they’ll even update this hack to include even more beta pokemon that were uncovered last year. If they don’t, I’m sure someone else will.

(This hack is largely the work of lvl_3, who created ‘Pokemon Super Gold 97.’ Then, the hack was further changed and refined by a team into ‘Pokemon Gold and Silver 97: Reforged.’ Both can be found at the PokeCommunity as patches.)

#pokemon reviews #pokemon ROM hacks #pokemon fan games #mycontent #beta pokemon #spoilers

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datingintampafails · 4 years ago

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Chapter 30: Richard*

Let me start by saying, nothing is wrong with Richard*. I match with Richard* right as the nightmare that is “the microwave” has come to a close. Now that I am mere days away from being fully vaccinated, I break the rules a little bit to give myself a headstart before I am able to actually go on the dates. I figure, what is the harm in working on getting back out there? I send a “Like” to him on Hinge, inquiring about a prompt that mentions he had broken both of his arms. The next morning, I get a reply with the story. After discussing that series of events briefly, he goes on to ask more about me and the video games I play. I step on my soapbox for a time. He tells me that he plays a video game called League of Legends, which has a reputation for having some of the most toxic players online. I ask him half-jokingly if that is his way of telling me he is toxic. He swears by his alibi of not having his microphone on when he plays with strangers, so as to not be tempted. We reminisce about Runescape, and he tells me more about some of the games he plays.

We get into the topic of pets, where he says my dog seems nice. I ask him if he has any pets where I am surprised to learn he has two snakes. We talk briefly about what it’s like having snakes, and we segue onto a conversation about television shows due to my dog having a character’s name in a show he watches, which then segued into a conversation about having coronavirus, and travel, and my changes in taste since aforementioned COVID-19.

I narrate to him a conversation I’m having with my best friend about the show of the moment, “Bridgerton,” on Netflix. Pretty randomly, he officially asks me out for drinks. I tell him I have a caveat, that it needs to be next week, as at this time I am still technically not supposed to be dating yet since I am awaiting my second COVID-19 vaccination. I make a joke that I bet he thought I was going to say I had a penis. He jokes back that he was hoping I would. I continue a joke saying I am pretty sure I don’t have one, but if I do have one it’s extremely small. We learn that we have opposing schedules, “we suck” is how I put it. I offer that in the meantime, we can text/call/video chat in order to continue getting to know each other. He sends me his number though offers that we can talk with a “different method.” Being the jester I am, I turn this into a joke of seeing how many alternate methods I can think of. A good sport, he plays along and adds a few of his own, ending in “Mongolian throat singing.” Despite the ingenious ideas we come up with, I opt to stick to contact him via text message.

Upon texting him and seeing my area code, he recognizes it as his cousins lived in that area. He grew up a couple of hours away in rural Maryland. It is late, so our transition to text is brief for now. In the morning I challenge him regarding who woke up the earliest; I win this challenge due to having a call in at work at four in the morning. We then bond over the legendary Mountain Dew Game Fuel, Citrus Cherry, that would come out at game releases; once my favorite drink, being reminded of its existence brought me anger and sadness, which I expressed I was feeling to him. We are getting along so famously, that I decided maybe I can make an exception to seeing him before my vaccine. He says he is fine either way. We start to plan our date and settle on a brewery I like near me.

Much of our texts are light-hearted jabs at each other, nothing super deep. He compliments my quirks often. He often makes jokes about having a smooth brain and sends me many diagrams. He tells me about his major in college. I then realize I don’t know what he does for a living. I ask him what his job is, that’s when he tells me he is in the Army. The stereotype for men in the military is that they usually get engaged quickly, without knowing a person for very long. Being the jokester I am, I take this opportunity to jab at him. My response to his career is, “oh sorry I don’t want to get married next month.” He says that that is why he doesn't have his job in his profile, because of the stereotypes. I joke that I have been misled to believe he had been a chill down to earth guy.

When it is the day of the date, I jokingly keep saying I am going to wear an evening gown; I mention it a couple times. When I arrive, in my skirt and crop top, I see he’s actually dressed pretty nicely and is sitting outside, wearing long khaki pants and a dress shirt. It is a decently warm day, so I hope he's okay. I compliment him, saying he looks nice and he didn't need to dress up for me. He admits that because I kept talking about the evening gown, that he thought I might have been serious, so he wanted to match my formality. I do notice over the course of the date though that he is sweating through his shirt, especially at the underarms; not the most attractive, but a person cannot help these things.

The conversation goes well, we have a nice time and I regale him with the drama in my video game community and just talk about random things. I have a couple drinks and although we weren't planning on eating dinner there, he ends up eating a burger and I opt to just "steal some fries" since I had a late lunch. He is craving dessert so we walk a block to a local ice cream place and get some ice cream as well. When we return back to where the cars were, I realize that he had Ubered there, because another joke of mine was taken seriously regarding getting super drunk. I feel bad and offer to drive him home. We get in my car and I have him put in his address into Google Maps. I drive him there and when approaching his apartment, I see a lot of construction. He instructs me where I can drop him off and suggests that I turn around in a certain lot. He gives me a hug goodbye and I drive off.

I get completely confused and lost in the construction, between closed streets and cones blocking lanes, so I get stuck in the vicinity of his apartment for five minutes before being able to find my way back to the main road. I let him know of my troubles driving, and also when I got home. He thanks me for going out and says he had a great time. Whereas I also had a good time, I found it strange he made no moves whatsoever during the night and I didn't really feel a romantic urge with him.

I get my second COVID-19 Vaccine and take a day off to recover. We still talk at least daily while he is away on his trip; while he is gone I focus a little more on the other guy I am chatting with, John*. I've told my mom of my predicament between the two men, and between her and I, I decided I'll go out with Richard* again, give him another chance. If things still aren't progressing or feelings startup, I will end it and entirely focus on John*.

Richard* asks me when he can see me again and offers to cook for me. I give him my Friday night, which is a day after I am seeing John* again as well. On Thursday, he texts me to verify, saying "I'd like to see you tomorrow, did you still want to do dinner?" I told him I meant to confirm that day. We don't talk besides that, which is good for me because I don't have to worry about getting texts from him when I'm with someone else. The day of my second date with Richard*, I text him to ask for his address again and ask for suggestions on parking, since the construction was such a fiasco for me, I'm still traumatized lightly. He tells me and after a few hours, I get some complicated news regarding my gaming community, so I ask Richard* if I can reschedule to tomorrow, Saturday. He says it is fine and so we just chat for the rest of the day.

On the day our date will actually happen, he again seems to verify the date, asking me if I'm planning on coming over "today." I snarkily replied, "yeah I don't bail, you said 730." He asks me what I want to drink, as he must be grocery shopping. I panic and say seltzers. I take a quick nap and then let him know I am headed to his apartment. When I arrive, I try to follow his parking suggestions but get confused and don't see anything. After driving around for over five minutes, I start to panic as I don't see anything. I find a random gravel lot that is in earshot of where I had dropped him off on the first date, and I call to admit defeat. I send him a photo as well to show where I am. He comes out to find me and almost walks past my car. I flash my high beams at him to indicate it's me and he hops in the car. We drive around a few minutes and luck upon a spot that is close to one of the side entrances to his apartment complex.

I follow him to his apartment, he is again dressed nicely, and I am wearing more comfortable clothes. He is wearing a nice shirt, but with jeans. We get to his apartment and it is slightly better than a typical bachelor pad, but definitely not overly showy. He is still finishing up dinner, chicken pad thai, and he gets me out a white claw to drink. We chat briefly but he starts acting weird, just off. I just sit in his gaming chair and spin around, look at his one snake, and stay quiet. In a way, I am fine with the silence, as it solidifies my unease about this going anywhere. He eventually speaks up, saying he just got a killer headache and isn't feeling well. Due to his travels, I joke about him having coronavirus.

When the food is ready, I let him serve me, I tell him to go light as I don't eat much. He had talked a lot of game regarding his pad thai being good, and unfortunately, it was pretty disappointing. He used chicken thighs, which I am not a huge fan of, and the noodles seemed almost soggy. Richard* was aware of this, however, and commented that this wasn't his best dish and had used a new kind of noodles. I don't like and say that it's just alright, at least palatable. We watch some Brooklyn 99 and eat on his couch, sitting on opposite sides of the couch. After dinner, I get an official introduction to the snakes and get to pet them, it is bizarre, but kind of cool. Definitely not as fun as playing with, say, a dog. Shortly after that, I say it's getting late and I should probably go home. He walks me back to my car, which is a need since his complex is a maze. Again, he makes no moves and gives me a hug goodbye. For me, it's easy to see that something isn't quite right here. We chat briefly, for the next few days, as I'm not ready to immediately break his heart.

When he texts me four days after our date, explicitly saying the following, I see it is a perfect opportunity to come clean:

He took things very well, and I didn't hear from him again. I commend myself for being a real human and telling people how I feel, rather than ghosting and not giving others closure. I wish more conversations could go this way. I feel bad for the guy. It isn’t his fault that I ended up “playing the game” and doing what you’re supposed to do when you’re dating, which is, not to get stuck on one person and date around. It just so happens, he ended up being the one I obviously didn’t like as much and had to sacrifice for his own good. It’s possible that only due to my extreme attraction to the other guy, that he never had a chance as it was shadowed by my feelings for someone else.

#dating #relationships #tampa #tampabay #hinge #tinder #bumble #stpete #clearwater

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garden-ghoul · 5 years ago

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Subway Stops in the Evil City

If you don’t want to read a full list of all 143 subway stops in the Evil City and how they got their names, this post is not for you. If you do, rejoice!! For reference, a copy of the official MPATH subway map here.

TARR - The Trestle & Ainsdale Rail Road, with its first line completed in 1894, was the very first subway in Evil City. It is one of only two non-union lines, rents out shared subway stations to the U at great price, and is fiercely territorial about union rail lines going through its territory.

Trestle - Downtown of Trestle, named for the Trestle Carryfar Bridge (in turn named after some guy named Trestle). Probably should have been incorporated into Evil City, but wasn’t. Originally a railroad town, officially founded in 1871. Famously terrible train station mentioned in ‘Sleeping on the TARR Tonight.’ I’d like to say it’s the worst one, but in the interest of journalistic integrity I cannot say that. It DOES have some fun fence murals, and fare machines, but it’s still Trestle so they’re always out of order.

Nilton - A neighborhood of Johnstown, just inside the Evil City border. Depressing station. Grimy and full of trash but mostly just sad. No fare machines.

Johnstown - A mill and manufactory town founded by someone named Johnathan who I’m sure has a surname but I can’t be bothered to find out. The Johnathan Swift Bridge at 9th Crossing is named for him. The station has some really cool paintings, but apparently the TARR didn’t authorize them so they keep getting painted over. I’d just let them make my station prettier, but I’m not the TARR big cheeses! No fare machines.

Reliable - Although the Reliable Cable Ferry was replaced by the Mauricio Reliable Bridge when the TARR was built, the neighborhood is still called 8th Crossing. It’s an okay station. It’s fine... for a TARR station, which means it actually sucks. No fare machines.

Ratlands - Today a jazz club, when the stop was named I think Ratlands was some kind of pub. A fun fact about the name: rats have always been associated with intellectualism and, today, jazz, and were actually trained to carry messages during the Munyenem War. There aren’t any far machines, but the turnstiles are permanently broken ‘cause of token suckers so it’s impossible to get on a train by paying a fare anyway.

Pearl Road - An important road that crosses both the Mauricio Reliable and Helia Adamant bridges and defines the boundary between Sospero and Jubilation. Pretty cool architecture and has fare machines. One of the more pleasant TARR stations.

5th Crossing - Since this stop was named, the Sinklow Cable Ferry at 5th Crossing has been replaced by the Helen Highwater Twin Bridge. I don’t know why they don’t name stops after cable ferries... maybe they’re hoping to get rid of all of them one day. Usually someone is busking here, which I love! And it has fare machines, which are broken half the time in a way where you can just whack it and tokens come out.

Rockrist - I don’t actually know why this one is called that! There’s not a Rockrist Street and I don’t know of any kind of encyclopedia of subway station names, so it will remain a mystery. This is a butt ugly station and also if you are on the wrong platform you have to leave, cross the street, and pay another fare. And no, of course it doesn’t have fare machines.

Clagg & Starling - Named after the Clagg & Starling Petrochemical Plant, which I believe famously set the Howlbank River on fire in 1952. I think maybe everyone who actually uses this stop works there. No fare machine.

E St. - The station is on E Street. All the north-south roads in the western half of Eimett have letter names. This station is very boring to look at in kind of a peaceful way. No fare machine and no-one ever uses this station even though it’s a mostly residential neighborhood.

Eimett - A residential neighborhood. Only good thing about this station is the reappearing graffiti that says EIMETT SOUP. No fare machine.

Steady - Named for the Rosalind Steady Bridge that replaced the Steady Cable Ferry at 4th Crossing in 1854. Gross but in an average kinda way. Surprisingly has working fare machines.

South Bank - I wouldn’t call this South Bank because it’s in the Narrows, but I guess South Bank technically includes the entire waterfront of South Ward? This station is unnecessarily snazzy because of all the expensive apartment buildings in the Narrows, and nobody even uses it because Archbow is two blocks away. Also, no fare machines. But at least you can jump the turnstiles because even cops don’t bother to go there.

Archbow - Named for the Eleanora Archbow Tunnel they dug for the Coastal Line. I assume this station was called Pull-together Station before Eleanora Briarcliff paid for it to be renamed. Either way, this was still the Pull-together Cable Ferry for about 20 years until they built Crosslightly over it. An actually nice and impressive station, which when it’s clean and empty reminds me of a museum. Not that it’s ever either of those things, but in old photographs it’s so pretty. It has fare machines for both TARR and U/NECR tokens, and also one of those weird horoscope scales. If you jump the turnstiles here you stand a pretty good chance of getting written up or arrested.

Municipal Intersection - This one’s named for a really ugly courthouse building everyone calls The Intersection, and apparently they have for like 200 years. I think this station is only well-maintained because it’s shared with the U. Kinda pretty. Only U/NECR fare machines. Like all shared stations they actually have guards here, so no jumping.

Benbassat - Named for the administrative building of the Evil City College of Architectural Design. Since this building was very famously built in 1929, the stop must have been called something else when it was named, but I don’t know what. Very artsy, they must have let the ECCAD students at it. Of course it has a U/NECR fare machine, I always feel like the TARR fare machine here was also built by students? It feels bootleg. Anyway this station also has guards.

Redding - Named for Redding University, which was founded in the 1800s some time. For downtown, this station is shockingly bad. I think the Redding students keep complaining and the TARR never does anything, so every so often they have a cleanup day and it immediately gets gross again. No fare machines.

Leekeeper’s Bridge - The bridge to Leekeepersland has a NAME but the TARR doesn’t care, huh? Kind of dilapidated but in a way that inexplicably feels oceany, so it’s nicer. No fare machines at all.

Wharf St. - On Wharf Street? Yeah it was on Wharf Street. Basically Leekeeper’s Bridge but they sweep once every two weeks instead of once a month. No fare machines.

Longshoreman’s Rd. - It has a REALLY good sandwich shop in it, but otherwise it’s almost exactly like Wharf and Leekeeper’s Bridge. No fare machines.

Ainsdale - And we’ve come to the other terminus of the original TARR line! Ainsdale isn’t so much a town as a neighborhood in the port district but maybe it was more of a town back then. A lot of the people who use this station are genuinely dock hands, I think. It’s very grimy. The fare machines actually work, though.

Nusquam St. Bridge - On to the TARR north line, which was completed in 1909. I think this might be the only bridge in the city that doesn’t have a name! When the TARR extended service north of the river, nobody could agree on who should sponsor it, so the money came out of the TARR’s budget and it was never named. It’s super weird to see a bridge with no charms on it, but who’s going to put charms on a dead bridge? Another fun fact about this one is that the subway stop is on both sides of the bridge, which is like a mile and a half long, and each of them only gets trains bound one direction. They’re really badly maintained and don’t have fare machines, so they’re a nightmare to use. Just avoid this stop(s) altogether. If they ever name the bridge it will probably be a better station, maybe check back in 40 years.

3rd Crossing - This station is named for the Faithful Cable Ferry it stops next to, not the neighborhood of 3rd Crossing, which is on Billygoats Bluff. Huge cable ferry transfer station, so the TARR actually puts in a little effort. Most of the effort is that the fare machines work and they often have guards there. Sad little mosaics.

Gale Rd. - Gale Road is North Bank North Bank. So nobody ever uses this stop, they all have chauffeurs or something. And there’s no fare machines anyway. Clean, though.

Cornet Shrive - After the neighborhood, which I guess is named after the Little Cornet River? They have the coolest Jhinyad grocery stores there where you can do a full tea and lunch ceremony. This station has great buskers, both musicians and storytellers. No fare machines, and pretty gross.

Kill Neck - I THINK Kill Neck means “the narrow part of the river” in another language but I forget which one. An absolutely nasty TARR station. For some reason there’s always at least one seagull in there. No fare machines.

MPABT - The Metropolitan Port Authority Bus Terminal. It always cracks me up that they have a bus to Iron Mountain, as if anyone would not just take the ferry. This is the actual worst station in Evil City. It’s full of trash at all times, smells indescribable, and I think if I ever went into the bathrooms I would probably die. They have fare machines, but I’ve never seen anyone dare touch them.

Doghouse - Apparently Doghouse, the neighborhood, is named after part of the glass manufacturing process (so is Cold End). The doghouse is where the molten glass comes through before you pour it. This station is almost as infectious as MPABT, but it doesn’t have fare machines. I kind of feel like something bad is going to happen to me there.

Fireproof - Yeah this is named after an asbestos processing plant. Clean, in a depressed sort of way, and without actually being clean. No fare machines. Sospero - Sospero is called that because it’s SOuth of PEarl ROad, get it? I think the southern boundary is Linden Road. I’m pretty sure this was the terminus of the northern TARR line until it connected up with the southern one in 1948. Nasty in an almost perfunctory way. Everyone in Oxbow is too tired for fare dodging. They just put tokens into the turnstile when they want to get through. It’s so sad. No fare machine.

Narrows - Back to South Bank for the 1948 line, Narrows is named after the neighborhood, which is at the place where the river narrows. There’s nothing wrong with this station, except no TARR fare machines, but what were you expecting?

Delmer - I assume this is named after someone? Like maybe the library is in Delmer Square or something? I literally only get off here when I need to go to the library. It’s a nice station and has plaques about the library’s history, which I have only read on the northbound side because I’m not a tourist, and has well-maintained (relatively) fare machines for both U/NECR and TARR tokens. This is the one station where the U and TARR trains share track, which means there are turnstiles that take both types of tokens. But why would you use TARR tokens when the U ones are 5 cents cheaper?

Queen St. - Severin has never had a queen so I don’t know what this is about. Maybe it’s because it goes to Queenstock? But why is Queenstock called that? This is another kind of fancy neighborhood, but people in Martinet Heights think riding the train is somehow morally superior. Very clean station but no fare machines.

Medicins - This means medicine or doctor or something in Arinese I think. There’s like 15 hospitals in Martinet Heights, including the teaching hospitals for ECU south campus. Kind of nice for a TARR station, but surely the doctors don’t take the train. Maybe the nurses’ union complained and that’s why it has fare machines.

Trapezoid - Named after the large bronze trapezoid set into the plaza. My friend’s grandma said it’s actually a conspiracy the city covered up when a bunch of people died and the trapezoid used to be a memorial plaque, and when I went asking around a lot more people confirmed that there used to be a garment manufacturing company called Trapezoid there until it burned down in the 19-teens and a bunch of people died. Now it’s all office buildings so everyone who gets off at this stop is very stressed. Okay station though, with trapezoid tiling. No fare machines.

Firesein Park - I guess the neighborhood is named for the park. It’s a pretty cool park even if the landscaping sucks, they have concerts there in the summer, which I don’t think they have a permit for. Sometimes the cops bust up the concerts, when they have nothing better to do. The station is always super gross. I think some people vandalize the fare machines on purpose.

Mosslow - Mosslow is kind of like a mini neighborhood between Firesein and Little Orele, which was probably named that because it’s in a dip. Quiet station, nothing architecturally interesting, but good graffiti outside. No fare machines.

Little Orele - Lots of immigrants from the Ohrland have been coming here since I think the 1870s and recently there have been even more because of the Ðlyan annexation and the immigration quotas in the Big One, so the neighborhood is spreading out into Tolly Bank. Best pickles in the city and some very cool murals, including in the station (again, illegally, but they never get painted over). No fare machines.

Strongox - The cable ferry at 6th crossing used to be called just The Ox, which owns, and was replaced by Ɱora Strongox Bridge when the TARR southern line was built. Pretty cheerful for Oxbow, which means you can have a nicer time at certain funerals. No fare machines.

7th Crossing - It’s named after the neighborhood, because they definitely replaced the Steel-Grip Cable Ferry when they built the line. I approve of this one because Munye Steeleye is a very cool name for a bridge. It’s weird for the TARR to go through an actually nice neighborhood, but it wasn’t one when this line was built. Everyone in Longwood uses the Millstone Junction Line anyway. No fare machines.

Longwood Heights - I think it’s funny that they didn’t name this stop Longwood, considering it was built before the Longwood stop on the Millstone Junction extension. It’s nice now because so many artists get in--they’re like raccoons. They put in fare machines just to paint clouds and stuff on them. If you pick a random person in this station there’s 50/50 odds they have a taco in their pocket.

Clearwater - I think it’s VERY funny that there’s a town named Clearwater like a mile downriver of the Muddy River confluence. People there like to take the TARR one stop and immediately transfer to the Millstone. No fare machines.

Confluence DoubleDown - Apparently DoubleDown was established in 1930, and apparently there’s nothing in that weird nebulous area that might or might not be West Montrose except the DoubleDown. This station is the most depressing place I’ve ever been. No fare machines, but you can buy TARR tokens at the checkout in the DoubleDown.

Scrippetts - I think this one is named for a historic pharmacy that got turned into an X-Drug a while ago?? This is a terrible station, only good if you want to walk three blocks and transfer to the B-M Line. It does have a fare machine, but no guards so nobody ever uses it.

Coastal Line - Completed in 1901, the Coastal Line has a reputation for being used mostly by rich fucks in the North and South Wards to go to the beach. But you can also use it to get from my house to a transfer station, so it’s not all bad.

Palisades - The train station is associated with a little shopping center that probably didn’t exist before it was built. I’m pretty sure everyone who lives in the Palisades has two cars and only takes the train for the novelty value. The neighborhood is named for the columnar basalt cliffs north of the harbor, which look like a stakewall. This station is insanely cute in a way that makes me kind of mad. And I lowkey feel like I’ll get arrested for loitering. Does have fare machines, but no guards, because can you imagine rich people jumping a turnstile? They might ruin their manicures.

Brandywine - Named for Brandywine Shoal, a bar district ‘where sailors went to get wrecked.’ Now all the bars are way too expensive for sailors to go to. The station has some pretty funky murals that I’m a fan of, but no fare machines. Maybe they’re afraid drunk rich people would try to vandalize the machines and then sue them for injuries.

Anchor St. - Anchor Street is actually named after the Steadfast Anchor that they keep in the tiniest little public park and it’s worn shiny on the tips from people touching it for luck. You’re not allowed to put charms on it so people leave them around the base of the plinth. The station itself is nothing special. No fare machines. It’s Coastal Line so it’s nice.

Bessemer Forge - There used to be a major forging operation in North Bank! There was one in Queenstock too, unless that was smelting. Bessemer Forge was owned by Charles Bessemer and operated up through the 50s, when it moved out to Oxbow. Also has history plaques, but I’ve never read them because I have no reason to be on Cross Street. I can’t remember if this one has fare machines. Probably, because it’s a ‘transfer station’? That’s just a little joke for all my Orbital Line non-acknowledgers.

Alliance Square - Dedicated on Alliance Day 1722 for the 50-year anniversary of Severin’s formation. Only tourists get off here, and only the stupid tourists who transferred because they didn’t realize you can get off at Millennium and walk. Does have fare machines, because tourists.

Millennium - The Millennium Center was built in 1900 in anticipation of the new millennium, showcasing the architectural specialties of Evil City. The Millennium Fair drew a huge amount of international attention for its flashy futuristic aesthetics and predictions for the year 2000. At this point most of them are probably not going to come true. The station is gorgeous, and was built alongside the Millennium Center with the same aesthetics. It’s also a tourist attraction, so has fare machines.

Union Station - The Coastal Rail Company, the Sea Gate Railroad, and Millstone Passenger Rail united in the early 1900s under the authority of MPATH and completely refurbished Oxbow Street Station into the daring architectural feat it is today. If it weren’t so busy it would be very clean, but it is. You can catch actual heavy rail trains up the coast from here, following the Pike. Not only do they have fare machines, you can also buy tokens from an actual person behind an actual desk. Decent sandwich shops, but overpriced.

Queenstock - Maybe the word queenstock is actually a reference to some kind of smelting jargon? I need to find a book on smelting. This area is where all the students go drinking, so this not a lovely station, especially on weekends. I’d avoid getting off here. Does have fare machines.

Ring 55 at Big Tern St. - Big Tern Street might be named after the island or after the Tern’s Nest or both, I don’t know. I always thought it was dumb to name this station after the ring road around the old city center. You could have just called it Big Tern Street. Cleaner and much less busy than Queenstock, pretty spare decoration and no fare machines.

Long Shore - Longshore is a term for currents or sediment deposition running along the shore rather than into it, which I don’t think is what’s going on here. Probably it’s back-derived from ‘longshoremen.’ But this is the station by my house! I love Long Shore Station, it’s really easy to get into downtown but it’s not super busy, and the ocean waves tiling is so pretty. And. It has. Fare machines. So there.

Flatlands - It’s in Flatlands. The lands, they are flat. Nobody uses this station except people who missed getting off at Long Shore because they were reading or something. Really boring decor. No fare machines.

Lookout Rd. - Lookout Road is named for the Lookout, the lighthouse on Lookout Point, which is where this road goes. Tourists get off here. The station is pretty for them, though, and has not only history plaques but some really lovely art of the Lookout. And yes, fare machines.

Brambling Hill Beach - For rich fucks who want to tan. There aren’t actually turnstiles here. I’m not sure you... have to pay to get on the train here? Fuck the rich.

Brambling Hill - For rich fucks who want to do some shopping. My theory is that all the sunburned and shopping-addled rich people couldn’t handle the concept of turnstiles, or paying for public services, so they took them out.

Millstone Jct. Line - When it was built in 1922 the Millstone Passenger Rail ran from VISTA to 9th Crossing Boulevard; in 1940 it merged with the Sea Gate Line to share track and improve coverage, and in 1943 it extended further south to give service to Birchbrake.

Valentine Institute - It always trips me up that this station isn’t officially called VISTA. It’s just more elegant, guys! The Valentine Institute for Science, Technology, and Arts is maybe the most famous liberal arts college we have. They wouldn’t let MPATH build a line through their campus, so when they wanted to build an extension they had to put the other half of VISTA Station a quarter mile away and make people walk through the tunnels under the college. Architecturally it’s pretty nice, and there are fare machines at both ends.

Monument - Named for an obelisk dedicated to the Birchbrake wreckers and Evil City soldiers who died in the Munyenem War in the 1620s-30s. I always thought it was weird that it’s in Millstone rather than in North or South Bank. It’s kinda cute because it has one of those little news shops where they sell candy. But no fare machines. You can’t even get tokens at the shop.

Millstone East - The eastern part of Millstone. They do have the park here that the original millstone is in, but it doesn’t have a name. The stone, I mean, the park is called Millstone Park. This station always freaks me out a little because it’s so clean. No fare machine.

Azalea Lynn Beacon Drive - Named for the longshoreman and labor rights activist who got us the 8-hour work day. She was shot in the 60s and everyone knows the police had her assassinated. Fun fact, I went to Azalea Lynn Beacon Primary School. This stop is the amount of grimy I expect. It has murals from local schoolkids with quotes and portraits and stuff about ALB. Fare machines usually work.

Linden - There is literally nothing interesting about Linden. Or the station. Or its lack of fare machines.

Marshland - You can walk straight from my house to the marshlands up the Ainsdale Estuary if you take Pier 14 Road. There are some really nice walking trails and sometimes we go birdwatching. This station nominally serves the neighborhood and the depressing little mall on the other side of the estuary, but it’s usually almost empty. No fare machines.

Tern’s Nest - Named for the neighborhood on the hill. Like all hills, it’s inhabited by rich people. I’m not sure if terns used to actually nest up there or if it’s just the sort of place people thought they would nest. I want to climb the rocks but it’s all private property. Nice station, no fare machines.

Legion - Named for the headquarters of Legion Inc. When the station was named in 1922 Legion probably just made paper but now they make plastic stuff as well. The headquarters, built in 1920, was one of the first buildings to showcase Evil City’s trademark structuralist-geometricalist style. You can tell they’re proud of it because the station is built to match. Plus they put the exit right across the street from the building so you come out looking at it. No fare machines.

ECU North - There’s an ECU campus in West Ward too, but it doesn’t have its own subway station. This station is always trashed because of college kids. Does have fare machines. On average one is working at any given time.

Elm Creek - Technically this station is named after the neighborhood/creek that comes down through North Ward, but literally everyone I know calls it Refrigerator Building Station. Because of the refrigerator building owned by United Severr Refrigeration, which has really cool turn-of-the-century architecture and plays little animations in neon on Kingkiller Day. The station has kind of a weirdly corporate vibe. I don’t like it. Does have fare machines though.

Pikes Crossing - Named for the intersection where the tollpike crosses the ring road. It’s possible that the pike was once an actual pike with defensive barriers, maybe back in the 1600s? This is a weird null zone where it’s not quite residential yet but it’s no longer nice or businessy, and it’s not part of any neighborhood. Nonetheless, it’s always completely packed at rush hour. No clue why. Does have fare machines.

Eichelborough - This is very obscure trivia but Eichelborough (pronounced Eckelberg, he was foreign) is named after Eichel Strash, who fled the breakup of the Empire in the early 1700s and somehow got a town named after him. This station has inexplicably bad vibes. No fare machines.

Nasser Rd. - A road. This is also in Eichelborough but a less worse part of it. The station is still a little depressing I guess, but in a normal subway station way. No fare machines.

Cadbury - Named after Cadbury Park, where there is a statue of someone named Cadbury. Apparently people in Cold End really don’t like her because someone keeps graffiti-ing the statue to say ‘Cadbury Sucks Eggs.’ The station is also a mess most of the time and I think the U has given up cleaning graffiti off most parts of it. Has permanently broken fare machines.

Cutty Heights - Another hill full of rich people. Station is hilariously gross, which means none of the rich people use it. I guess who uses it is people who work at rich people’s houses, and people from... Clermont? Is that a real place? No fare machines.

Rush - I do not know why it is called this but people joke it’s because the platform is standing room only at rush hour (which would mean the neighborhood is named after the station, which is very funny). It IS weirdly busy for a commuter suburb. I’m not sure what the station looks like, I’ve never seen the floor. Does have fare machines.

Tanna St. - A street. Nobody ever uses this station. Due to some kind of stupid districting thing it’s not even in Evil City. Awful architecture and no fare machines.

9th Crossing Blvd. - 9th Crossing Boulevard is also Highway 117, which they did a good job not naming the station after the highway. It’s named for 9th Crossing, now the Johnathan Swift Bridge. Very busy station, and actually pretty cool architecture characteristic of the early 20s. Has fare machines! They work!

Promenade - First station on the southern extension of the Millstone Junction Line, completed in ‘43, and from here on the stations are aboveground. The Promenade is a mall, but a fancy old mall from when Sunrise was a new suburb for upper-middle-class people. So the station is also kind of fancy and has patterned brickwork instead of just being cement. And it has fare machines.

Blount St. - If you get off here and you’re wearing a hoodie you get arrested on sight. A very nice looking station that somehow manages to have the vibe that it hates you, personally. The fare machines don’t actually charge you more, but you feel like they want to.

West Castle - I went to the library to look up a map and it turns out there IS a town called Castle east of West Castle (I realize there’s literally an O-Line stop called Castle but in my defense who cares about the O-Line?). They do have a castle but they built it in the late 1800s for tourism reasons and it’s not very good. There’s a casino in it now. Anyway this station is the terrible and inexplicable terminus of the Brinell-Montrose Line, which would mean it didn’t even GO to Montrose when it was built?? It has a sandwich shop which sucks SO bad. The fact that the fare machines work feels weirdly like an insult.

East Montrose - This is the boring part of Montrose. The station: painfully average. No fare machines.

Sliver St. - I understand that this street is named after the cotton thing, due to Badgett’s concentration of textile mills, and therefore is pronounced ‘slyver’. This station is absolutely in the middle of nowhere and it’s just aboveground so you have to pay your fare on the train itself. No fare machines, obviously.

Riverbend - There is no river, stream, or creek here. Maybe it was named as a joke. This is right by the highway and has the distinction of being less smelly inside than outside. It’s not totally enclosed though and it gets really cold in winter. Has fare machines that WE deserve.

Herringbone Rd. - The fact that for the stop in Smelt they picked Herringbone Road is excellent, because it really highlights the fish half of the fish/ironworks pun. Herringbone Road is also Route 40/82 there, so it’s obvious why they picked it, but I’m still pleased. It also has a herringbone mosaic pattern on the walls of the shelter, which is so cute. Didn’t expect to like a station in Birchbrake this much, but here we are. At least it doesn’t have fare machines.

Duliamen - Duliamen has got to be a foreign word but I have no idea where it comes from. Sound vaguely Munyenem. The edge of Birchbrake is kinda a cool area and has some good cafes with an offputting industrial vibe. The station has a minimalist raw concrete thing that kind of scares and comforts me at the same time. No fare machines.

Lamplighters - Named for the Birchbrake lighthouse keepers who lived in the neighborhood. Famously affiliated with the wreckers who foundered merchant ships by tricking them with lamps, and then used the same technique to take down an entire Munyenem fleet. And people say Birchbrake isn’t badass. This neighborhood is way cute so it’s kind of disappointing that the station isn’t. No fare machines.

Birchbrake Center - Honestly I’m not sure they needed three stops in downtown Birchbrake, it’s not like it’s a shopping destination. I will note that the Millstone Junction Line is almost completely useless for 70% of the residents of Birchbrake, but they have a pretty good bus system so it doesn’t matter that much that the subway coverage is so bad. This station has fun murals and fare machines.

Breakwater Rd. - There is no way they ever had to build a breakwater in Birchbrake Harbor, the water is already VERY broken by the time it makes it past the Gravediggers. I always forget this station exists. Fare machines? No fare machines? Who can say.

Iron & Steel - Named for the Iron and Steel Institute of Severin, a trade institute founded in 1788. They have the most amazing museum of steel jewelry. The station has an exposed beams aesthetic that kind of reminds me of the Millennium Center, but it’s probably modelled after the Institute, which did it first when they retrofitted and remodelled in 1897. Does have fare machines.

Blunt Leadenhall - First station on the western extension, completed in 1955. Blunt Leadenhall is a place that makes lead pipes and stuff. I guess it’s historic now but I don’t know why they would have wanted to name a station after it in 1955. It has plaques about the leadworks that I am confident not a single person has ever read. No fare machines.

Longwood - Yep! It’s in Longwood! Unlike the TARR station a block away, they let the artists in on purpose and commissioned a super cool mural about the history of the Evil City. No fare machines though.

Vinegar Hill - A neighborhood in Longwood Ward. I was hoping I would find something like they used to brew vinegar there or it smells sour for some reason, but nobody seems to have any idea why it’s called that. Nobody uses this station. No fare machines.

Southgate Center - A shopping center constructed in 1949. Charmingly old-timey and yet irritatingly upper-middle-class. Almost exactly like Promenade except worse in every way. No fare machines.

Crizzling - Yep! It’s in Crizzling! I guess it was very important for people from Crizzling to be able to commute into the city and that’s why they built this entire line. A totally pointless station that really tests my enduring love of all subway stations. It’s not even underground. And it has no fare machines.

Brinell-Montrose Line - Originally the Sea Gate Line, built in 1921 to serve the Montrose area, it later joined the union with the Coastal and Millstone Lines. Unusually, one of its termini (West Castle) is in the middle of the line, because the Millstone Junction Line extended past it in 1943. I have a theory that West Montrose actually used to be the terminus but they changed it so there wouldn’t be twice as many trains on part of the track.

Grove - It’s my understanding that there is a grove of elm trees. I have no idea who uses this station, and it has no identity to match. And no fare machines.

Brinell South - There is nothing in Brinell whatsoever. It’s only notable because it’s on a grid system unlike any other town I’ve ever been to.

Brinell North - Yanus Brinell thought that his stupid town would become a real city if it had some subway stops.

M54 - He was wrong. Oh, yeah, this stop is called M54 because that’s the intersection number. The grid system has letters going one way and numbers going the other way and it makes everything sound heinously stupid. And to add insult to injury, ALL the stations in Brinell have working fare machines.

Arcair - Renamed for the Arcair Building in south Linden when the Seagate Line became the Brinell-Montrose Line. Arcair is a refrigeration and air conditioning company based in Iron Mountain. This station is corporate in a way that’s trying to be cool and totally misses the mark. Bad! Does have fare machines.

Dearborn - A neighborhood in Brambling Hill. I think this is where everyone lives who works in the fancy shops and at the boardwalk. The station is kind of depressing-cute and has no fare machines.

Karona Rd. - A road, not in any particular neighborhood because neither Flatlands, Canal Road, or Brambling Hill wants to claim it. Kinda middle class, unremarkable station with no fare machines.

MPAFT - The Metropolitan Port Authority Ferry Terminal. I love taking the ferry to other cities, the boats are so nice. This station kind of rules, it’s very boat-themed and has all these white-painted catwalks in a way that makes it fun to run around. And, of course, it has fare machines and you can buy ferry tickets in the ferry terminal part.

Six Bells - Named after the Bellringer (officially known as the Six Bells Light). This is the only lighthouse I know of that also had bells to tell time and deliver storm warnings to the city and the people fishing in the harbor. It was built in 1605 and continuously improved until it was sturdy enough to stand for hundreds more years. The Longshoreman is my local lighthouse but I think the Bellringer is just cooler. Very cute station that seems like it was designed by the same people as MPAFT, and has fare machines because there’s honestly not much reason to go there unless you’re a tourist since MPAFT is so close.

Longfellow - Named for the Acacia Longfellow Bridge, which as the name suggests is the longest bridge in the world! It barely beat out the Miette Crosslightly Bridge at 2nd Crossing, which had been the longest bridge in the world for the previous 8 months in 1921. They used to be the Takes-a-village and Pull-together Cable Ferries, which were maybe even more impressive feats of engineering since it’s still almost 3 miles of river to cross and they did it in the 1700s. There’s not much at this stop, though, just a little neighborhood of old houses cut off from the rest of North Bank by the Brandywine Estuary. Badly maintained in kind of a cute way, no fare machines.

Sea Gate - This neighborhood is named for the fact that it’s the gateway to the sea, which I really feel should have been on Back Head or Cape Hook but nobody lives in either of those places, so. Mostly insanely expensive old greenbrick apartments with nice river mouth views, very nice architecture but pretty grimy and no fare machines.

Sentinel St. - Named for the fact that it goes toward the Sentinel. Sea Gate Station is also on Sentinel Street, and Sentinel Street Station is also in Sea Gate, so theoretically their names could be switched. Another pretty but dirty station but does have fare machines. I’ve been trying to figure out if this was the terminus of the Sea Gate Line way back when, because it couldn’t have used Union Station, right?

Tomisin Square - All the way back south since the rest of the stations between North Bank and Montrose have been covered above. Tomisin Square is named for a family who came down the Hallasford River in the 1700s with a bunch of good seeds and farming practices and made South Castle a thriving agricultural region. Very good shops, and the station has cute art. Yes fare machines!

West Montrose - IF this station was built to be the terminus of the Brinell-Montrose Line that would explain why it it looks a little like a fancy wine cellar. Despite the dumb fancy station, West Montrose is where it’s at. Cool independent stores, pretty good cheap restaurants, and surprisingly interesting architecture. More evidence for the original terminus theory: it has fare machines.

Hwy. 40 at Sarch Rd. - I hate the name of this subway station. It is named after both a highway and a street that is really horrible to say. Sarch. Eugh. The station is in the most depressingly pointless part of Montrose and also both grimy and depressing, and has no fare machines.

Salom Pier - Named for one of the piers in Badgett, mostly used for shipping raw cotton in and cloth out to the Howlbank. An okay station. A fine station. Whatever. I can’t remember if it has fare machines.

Nine-Mile Drive - Named for the road that runs from the Hallasford River north of the confluence to the southern edge of Badgett. My map of the Evil City greater metro area confirms it’s about 11 and a half miles long. Kind of a warehouse-y car dealership-y area that I wouldn’t go to if you paid me. No fare machines.

NECR - The North Evil City Railroad completed its first line in 1947. Although it is not a union line and isn’t administrated by MPATH, it’s still known as part of the U and has a far more cordial relationship with the union lines than does the TARR. If you say ‘en ee cee ar’ you’re a cop.

Locust St. - It seems strange to me that NECR decided to put its southern terminus in a place that already had such a high density of subway stations. There’s a Bido literally right outside Locust Street Station but because of the transfers involved it’s much easier to walk from Wharf Street.

Cross St. - Skipping all the way to North Bank, we have the unimaginatively named Cross Street Station.

North End - Yeah, it’s in North End.

Greenmarket Square - Site of a farmers’ market from the 1500s until now! The only place with prices better than your average Goods Barge is the part where they sell vegetables at a discount because they’re starting to go off.

Edgewater Rd. - This road seems to be named for the very short distance it follows the edge of the Barrow River rather than actually being near the coast.

Barrowmouth Ferry - If you want to get literally anywhere by ferry it’s easier to go to MPAFT and they have more destinations. But the Barrowmouth Ferry (if you’re not from around here: pronounce it Ber-mith) has been running for a couple hundred years and they don’t want to stop now.

Roselawn St. - A street.

Woollingfuoy - I love to say Woollingfuoy. Never been there, though.

Backbarrow - Ditto Backbarrow.

Garlsbrood - I LOVE to say Garlsbrood. It used to be a pretty important railroad town, but these days the trains don’t need to stop as often and GST is out of business.

High Hill - Cute town. Kind of kitschy. More train memorabilia than even *I* think is tasteful.

CNR Research Park - The first stop on the northern branch of the NECR, which was completed in 1954. Nobody I have asked has any clue what CNR stands for, or what they research. Maybe another government conspiracy??

Breitseid Place - An experimental suburb of Backbarrow that reportedly has prefabricated houses they have to decorate a LOT to make you forget they all come out of the same mold. Kind of creepy.

Newkirk - What on Earth is in Newkirk? Commuters, I guess.

Orbital Line - Widely agreed to be the most useless rail line, it was completed ten years ago during the economic boom from war manufacturing. Since large portions of it are aboveground or utilize existing tunnels it was relatively cheap to build despite its long track length.

Sharpe St. - Starting up in Sea Gate we have Sharpe Street, named for Mayor Ghiris Sharpe (1878-1886), who was one of the most corrupt mayors we’ve ever had, and that’s saying something. Outrageously sucky station for North Bank, as if the O-Line needed to prove how much it doesn’t deserve to exist. No fare machines.

Callen Yards - A railyard that has been in use since the mid-1700s. I believe this is technically the terminus of the O-Line because it’s where trains go at night (service stops at 1am). And yet it has no fare machines. The architecture is so boring, but given that it’s in Callen Yards that’s forgivable.

Graves Hill - Perhaps the one hill in Evil City not occupied by living rich people. Most of the people who die in Ends or Kill Neck Wards have been buried there, rich or poor. The difference is you’re not allowed to walk on rich people’s graves. They have little wrought-iron fences. I like this station, even though people do live around there it’s always a little somber. No fare machines, though.

South Ends - Ends sucks and I don’t like to be there. I don’t know why it has the vaguely ominous name it has and neither does anyone I’ve asked. This station would be nice if it didn’t have an aura of being in Ends. No fare machines.

Broodway - Named for the road that goes to Garlsbrood. Even stronger Ends aura, but near some okay shops and it does have a sad little mural and one (1) fare machine.

Fester Highlands - If I hadn’t decided to ride the entire circle of the Orbital Line that one time I never would have seen Fester Highlands. I wouldn’t be missing much. I can’t remember anything about this station.

Backstairs - I’ve heard that Backstairs is supposed to be kind of a pun on the fact that it’s at the back end of Hell’s Gate, but if so I don’t get it. It is, however, definitely the coolest neighborhood in the ward. The station has great decoration by local artists, and some art pieces that are made to look like fare machines but don’t give you tokens, so if you’re dumb enough to put your money in there the artists get it as “donations.”

Swift - Named for the Johnathan Swift Bridge that replaced the Swift Cable Ferry at 9th Crossing in 1837. Station that wants to eat you I guess and has no fare machines.

10th Crossing - Named for the site of the Take-it-easy Cable Ferry, the only cable ferry in Evil City still operational besides the one at 3rd Crossing. Take-it-easy has been in dire financial straits since the early 40s when a road bridge was built nearby, especially since the ferry operator (Mr. Milonnillo, he’s kind of famous) refused to raise prices. But since the Orbital Line station was built, a lot more people use the ferry to cross over to it because the parking is so bad! I think Mr. Milonnillo’s friends decorated this station because it’s unusually cute for being in an area no-one gives a gull’s ass about. No fare machines, but I’ve heard Mr. Milonnillo will sell you tokens because people sometimes give them to him instead of money.

West Trestle - Due to the terms of the rental contracts the TARR got MPATH to agree to for shared subway stations, nobody is allowed to build subway stations in their territory, which includes the entire town of Trestle. So MPATH built a station juuuust outside the town boundaries. It’s the only way to get from Trestle to Montrose without taking an incredibly stupid route, so it’s pretty busy and pretty disgusting. Does have fare machines.

Muddy River Park and Ride - A supremely redundant train station right across the river from Crizzling, but I can’t stay mad because the name sounds like a theme park. Muddy River Slip and Slide. Boring open-air station with fare machines.

Hwy. 19 at Hallasford River - This might be the only genuinely useful station on the Orbital line, because prior to 1974 if you lived in the far suburbs you would have to walk several miles and cross at least one river in order to get to the nearest train station, and parking was probably a nightmare there anyway. Depressing, disgusting station with no fare machines.

West Castle East - No, this is not a station in Castle. No, even though it’s 2 blocks from the Brinell-Montrose Line there’s no stop there and you can’t transfer. West Castle is a fake town anyway. Bad architecture and no fare machines.

Castle - Yes, this is a station in Castle. Castle is a very slightly less fake town but the fake tourist castle really hurts their case. The station is really gaudy and they have way too many ads for the casino. They have a slot machine and a bad little news shop but no fare machines.

Bondurant St. - I don’t really know that much about the history of Birchbrake, okay, everyone I could ask is from Evil City or Ramshead. All I know is there’s a Bondurant School of Metallurgy at the ISI. Anyway this station isn’t too bad. Hasn’t got the shine worn off it yet, but no fare machines.

Near North - Another neighborhood of Birchbrake with a lot of warehouses. It’s just north of downtown, which I imagine is how it got its name. The station disappointingly does not match the nearby MSJ stops and is very boring. Fare machines here for some reason.

Brigantine - Brigantine is a weird little not-quite-a-town between Brinell and Long Neck Bay. I can’t tell if it’s trying to be Brambling Hill 2 or if it just wants to be left alone. Don’t think anyone ever uses this stop, and it has no fare machines.

Long Head - Named for the headland north of Long Neck Bay, which is named for the long neck of land that makes it extremely difficult to get into Birchbrake Bay (waves Wreckers Day lantern). Absolutely no reason for there to be a stop here, I can’t remember anything about it.

GST - Garlsbrood Shipping and Transit was a short-lived rail company that only operated from 1897 to 1909. According to old maps it originally went from Garlsbrood, through Ends, to Linden, where I think they were planning to extend to Birchbrake, but they went out of business shortly after building a rail bridge right next to the Nusquam Street bridge. I can’t find anything on what the bridge’s name is, but nobody uses it now. This section is for rumors I’ve heard about ‘the Ghost Line,’ an unreliable rail line made entirely of abandoned stations with tragic pasts. I am not including non-tragic stations on the historic GST Line.

Garlsbrood Station - Okay, just one, but only because it’s spooky. This is the original terminus of the GST. No tragic past here as far as I can tell, unless you count the GST going out of business. It’s closed down but there’s a cool illegal skate park inside and the skate punks say sometimes a completely empty train comes in.

Station in Long Shore - Another original terminus. GST used to own a dock there, and the rails still exist, but I’ve personally never seen a train stop there. It’s where Azalea Lynn Beacon worked and organized, so my aunt calls it Beacon Station.

Secret station under 5th Crossing - I can’t believe the TARR would have ever let another rail company dig under their lines, and I can’t work out the geometry of this, if the GST crossed the river at Nusquam Street. But I’ve been down there and there is a station in the same style as the terminus in Garlsbrood. I didn’t explore too much because I think there were people living in there and I didn’t want to meet them. The only tragic past I can figure for this one is the time Clagg & Starling set the river on fire in the 50s.

Station near the White Star chemical plant in Backstairs - This station is on private property, so maybe it was intended to be used for deliveries to the plant. Again, it isn’t actually on the route that the old maps show for GST, and I wouldn’t even put it on this list if my friend didn’t insist that it’s haunted by the ghosts of people poisoned by improper cyanide storage at White Star 20 years ago.

Johnstown Flood Station - This one is pretty well documented, partially because it has a long informative plaque about the 1848 Johnstown Flood, and partially because someone I know has actually managed to get on a train there! She said it was black with a gray stripe and had more of a nose than the modern subway trains (I’ve never found a photo of the GST from when it was running so I can’t confirm). It was raining hard that day and the river was rising really fast, so she took shelter in what she thought was an abandoned subway station--so imagine her surprise when a train picked her up!

Trapezoid 2 - She got off at the next station, where it wasn’t raining, and it was straight up Trapezoid Station, nothing in between. Except that when she went aboveground there was a burning building in Trapezoid Plaza. She went looking for a pay phone to call the fire department but she couldn’t find any anywhere. Eventually she went home to use the phone there, but the fire department thought she was making a prank call, and when she went back there was no building, on fire or not.

Station in Eimett - The entrance is between two TARR stations, and it’s boarded up. I didn’t manage to get inside, and I can’t figure out what tragedy would have happened there, so this is more of a speculative one. But there aren’t a ton of abandoned subway stations downtown because GST is the only one that actually went out of business instead of merging and keeping its stations.

Station at the bottom of Cutty Hill - My friend’s uncle swears this station wasn’t here 15 years ago, before the phosgene riot, and he’s lived in Fresh Pond his whole life. He said when he was released from the hospital there was a new train station two blocks from his house and nobody else thought it was weird. He admits he could be having some kind of memory problem from being poisoned, but it’s also not on any maps and doesn’t belong to ANY railroad company we could find. My life’s mission is to get my hands on some bolt cutters and break in there.

#evil city #overground

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squidshadow · 5 years ago

Text

more demon au stuff (alcohol tw. summ3r is referred to as aestas, latin for summer. word count: 2k)

They got into town late - a dreary little place named Aberby - and spent far too much time in a local tavern. Aestas drank a fair bit - maybe too much, but she somehow had the money to pay for it all - and Lucille saw it as a challenge. It was a challenge she lost - it turns out that demons are fairly unable to get drunk, while humans are rather good at it. Maybe too good.

Because they got into town so late, and spent too much time having a stupid competition in the corner of a tavern that reeked of sweat, shit, and other horrible odors, most inns were closed. The ones that were open were mostly all booked up, or claimed to be. (Aberby was a relatively quiet town with not much to do, but Aestas assumed it had to do with the fact that she was an entire demon with a relatively sloshed travelling companion that they turned them away.)

Towards the town's outskirts was yet another inn - which, admittedly, was a bit odd. A town as dead as Aberby didn't need so many inns, but it did make this search a little more irritating. The paint was faded and peeling off in spots, and it looked as if it would collapse if someone bumped into it. It was a wonderful thing that Aestas did not care enough about dying to do so.

Aestas could continue travelling, maybe to a nearby town, although travelling by foot is never very fun. Or, well, she normally didn't mind it, but she did, in fact, mind Lucille, who was currently draped over her frame with a firm grip on Aestas' hair. Again, not that she minded, but she did. Or, she would. She'd start minding the moment Lucille grabbed a horn and- Oh, there it was. Okay, Aestas officially minded.

She shifted Lucille a bit in her grasp, who let out a quiet noise when she did. It was by some miracle that Lucille hadn't passed out yet. Perhaps Aestas had angered a god once, and this was their way to get revenge. 'Here you are, Aestas. You'll have to babysit this drunk toddler of a woman for a few hours so that she can try to kill you in a month whenever you make it back to the capital.' Horrible plan on Lucille's part, by the way, but no matter.

"Where're we going..?" she slurred, pressing her face into Aestas' neck. Her skin was warm and feverish. Aestas came to the conclusion that Lucille was maybe incredibly too drunk.

"An inn," she replied, jerking her head to the side so that Lucille would let go of her horn. Her hand fell down and firmly clutched the back of Aestas' shirt, and Aestas simply decided that this might as well happen.

"I thought you went to an inn already," she mumbles. "Five inns."

"Two, dear." Lucille whined something muffled and incoherent. "It'll be fine. We could be in one already if someone didn't get pissed drunk."

"You started it," came her childish response. With her free hand, Aestas gave Lucille a condescending pat on the head. "What time's it?"

"Night."

"That's not an answer. What's the time time?"

"You're the one with a watch. You tell me."

Lucille made a small groaning noise. "It's dark and I can't see anything."

"That's your answer, then."

"Dark and bad isn't a time," she mumbled. "You're being an ass."

"You started it," she breathed, revelling in the annoyed groan that left Lucille's lips. "I'll get a room here, it's fine."

Opening doors while holding a drunk person was a task much harder than Aestas originally thought it would be. Maybe it would be easier if she had all her arms, but alas.

Ducking to enter the inn, the tired man at the desk suddenly froze as his eyes focused in on her.

"Ah," he started. "What brings you here?"

"I'd like to rent a room," she stated. "And I sincerely doubt you're all booked up."

"I, um." Aestas could see the terror in his eyes, and she could feel his fear. "We, um... We are, actually."

"Are you?" she said, mouth curling into a small frown. "What a shame.""Ah, it, um... It is, yes. I'd hate to... Turn away customers, but-" He stopped suddenly as Aestas tossed a handful of coins onto the desk.

"One-thousand gold," is all she said. "If you would, please."

"I. Um." He looked down at the money, counting it briefly, before looking back up at her and giving her his best smile. "How... Many nights will you be staying?"

"Just this one. We'll be out by noon."

"Um... Yes, okay. Right... This way, please."

With her best smile, Aestas nodded.

The room was cold and rather dingy, not like she was expecting much else. She happened to only get one room, with one bed, because Lucille didn't seem to be wanting to let go anytime soon.

"You're very clingy," she commented as the slayer wrapped her arms around her neck.

"I'm cold," Lucille stated. "You know, you kinda feel like a corpse."

"Thank you."

"It's not a compliment."

"I know."

"Do you know where we're going tomorrow?"

"You're the one with the map, dear."

"Yes, but I forgot."

"You were just looking at it, though."

"Right, but..." Her voice trailed off as she looked up at Aestas. "... Mm. Your eyes are nice. Really red."

"Thank you. I grew them myself."

"Do they glow?"

"Well, you can see them in this otherwise dark room."

"That's not an answer."

"Why don't you go to sleep?" she snapped.

"Why don't you?" Aestas, whose talents include being able to see in the dark, could catch Lucille's mouth curl up in a smirk. "If you're so cool."

"... That doesn't even mean anything."

"Nooo, it means something to me."

Exasperated, Aestas opted to just stare at her. Lucille, in turn, laughed, and Aestas could smell the wine on her breath.

Silence settled over the two, and after five minutes or so, Aestas believed Lucille finally fell asleep. As she shifted in bed, she felt a small tug on her shirt.

"Hey," Lucille mumbled. "Aestas, are you awake?"

"I am physically unable to fall asleep."

"Okay, cool." Her face is flushed, still smiling to herself. "Y'know, I bet you're a shit kisser."

"I'm sorry?"

"I think I'm better at kissing than you." The look in Lucille's eyes was drunk and taunting. Aestas decided she did not get paid enough for this, and that this would be sufficient blackmail material.

"I'm a good kisser," she muttered.

"Prove it."

"I'm not going to kiss you, hunter."

"Are you insecure, Aestas?" She laughed to herself. "I bet you are. I bet you've never kissed anyone ever."

"You're being a child. Act your age."

"You're being a virgin. V-I-R-G-N, that's you."

"You forgot an 'I'."

"You forgot an 'being good at things.'"

"Will you go to sleep if I kiss you?" she asked with a sigh. Lucille paused and licked her lips, then nodded. "Okay. Fine."

Sitting up, she sighed again to herself as Lucille sat up as well. There was a slight sway to the woman, try and she might to hide it. Oh, she would be so incredibly grumpy in the morning. Aestas would never let her live this down.

With Lucille's hands atop hers, she waited patiently for Lucille to get her bearings.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she slurred, and Aestas believed the contrary. "Mmkay. Lemme just..."

Leaning forward, Lucille's mouth crashed into Aestas's chin. Aestas wondered what she did to deserve this, and then remembered the time she killed a few children for playing too close to her shrine.

"Yeah," Lucille said with a smirk. "How was that?"

"Terrible. You missed my lips entirely."

Lucille blinked. "Maybe you missed mine."

"I didn't move. This was your error."

"Well. Whatever. I bet your chin felt good."

"It didn't, but thank you.""Well. If I'm so shit at this, you show me how to do it." Aestas could recognize this as Lucille attempting to find some sort of physical intimacy for once in her life, and she really didn't care enough to call her out for it.

"Okay," she said, pulling her hands out from beneath Lucille's. "Here."

Tilting Lucille's head up with one hand, Aestas leaned forward and pressed a kiss against Lucille's lips. The hunter reciprocated immediately, hungrily mashing her lips into Aestas's.

Her arms wrapped around Aestas's neck, and Aestas moved her hand from Lucille's chin to her hair, letting her fingers tangle and intertwine with it. Her tongue swiped against Lucille's lower lip and Lucille greedily accepted it with a small moan.

It was about the point when Lucille started sucking at Aestas's tongue that Aestas realized that this was probably a little more than a kiss, and she slowly pulled away, leaving Lucille panting slightly in the cold room.

"Was that sufficient?" Aestas asked, wiping her mouth.

"I dunno," she breathed. "I might like another."

"And I might like a million gold, but we can't all get what we want, now can we?"

"You're an ass," she grumbled, laying back down. "I'm cold."

"Outstanding. There's a blanket, you know."

"I don't want the blanket," Lucille huffed. "I want you."

"Wow, you really are depraved." Lucille shot her an icy glare which was a lot less scary than Lucille intended it to be given the circumstances. "I don't care. Do whatever you want if it doesn't bother me any."

"Mh." As Aestas laid down again, Lucille immediately latched onto her, burying her face in her neck. A few minutes later, and she began to snore softly.

Ugh.

Humans were annoying.

The inn served breakfast, which Lucille wasn't very interested in eating as she felt as if she was going to vomit, but she did have a cup of coffee which she was slowly sipping on. Aestas simply watched and didn't mention the previous night, but the slight blush Lucille had whenever she looked at Aestas for too long led her to believe Lucille remembered it nonetheless.

"Where are we going today?" she asked. Lucille took a long sip of her drink and didn't make eye contact.

"Bachbury."

"Do you feel alright, dear? You're not drink still, are you?" Lucille's face flushed a dark red at that and the grip on her mug grew tighter.

"No. I'm... Fine, thanks for asking." She took another audible sip. "Do you not want anything to eat?"

"I don't need it. It'd be a waste, truthfully. You should eat, though. You'll need it."

"So caring," she mumbled and then downed the rest of her mug. Lucille stood up to go get a refill, and Aestas slumped forward, resting her head on her hand.

Was Lucille mad about last night? Not that Aestas cared, of course. She didn't seem very mad, but humans were odd like that. She seemed more embarrassed than anything else, really, but Aestas had to wonder.

On an unrelated note, Aestas blessed the inn. Or, rather, the innkeeper's family. Keep them safe from disease as a simple thanks for allowing them to stay the night. The gold she paid with was counterfeit, rocks and pebbles disguised with magic, but they would pass as real unless someone attempted to melt them down, which was fair enough.

When Lucille sat back down, she didn't say anything. She took another long sip of her drink. Briefly, Aestas wondered if she should join her, but she never really liked the taste. If they had wine, then maybe, but it would look odd if she downed an entire bottle so early in the day.

"Um," said Lucille, breaking the silence. "About last night."

"Ah. So we're going to acknowledge that happened."

Lucille blushed and didn't say anything at the jab. "I... Pressured you into that. I'm, um... Sorry, Aestas."

Aestas stared at her and watched for a second, and Lucille never met her gaze.

"It's fine," she replied. "It didn't matter much to me."

"I just... Feel bad about it. That's all."

"I told you it's okay. Don't worry about it."

Lucille looked up, finally. Her eyes seemed dull and tired. All in all, she looked impossibly hungover.

"It's fine," she repeated.

"Okay," Lucille said, and left it at that.

#.txt #not splatoon #long post #demon au

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eloarei · 5 years ago

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So I (mostly) finished the Fallout 4 Nuka-World DLC and I’m actually quite sad because a. well, it’s done. That means I’ve ran through most of the major storylines (minus the faction alternate endings) at least once. So I’ve officially beaten the game now. And, b. being a raider is extremely dissatisfying! Preston disowned me and I’ve lost a good few of my settlements and now, at the end of the game, everything is less good than when I started, after all my hard work. It was genuinely a fun DLC and you get a lot of really cool perks and things, but I’m thinking it would have been best to do it first, and then be able to fix all your bad choices, ending on a good note instead. Maybe that’s what I’ll do next time (although you have to be level 30 to start the DLC, and it’s a total kick in the ass if you’re not prepared). Still got a good handful of trophies to get, but it’s mostly clean-up stuff now, and some grinding. I think FO4 was a great example of DLC done well. There were 2 new stories with good large-sized maps and additions (each took me easily 20+ hours), 2 small stories with neat bonuses, and 2 “stuff packs”. I’ve put over 800 hours into just this playthrough alone, and there’s still plenty of stuff I haven’t done. But I wish there was more. Or maybe some little thing that makes for a more definitive ending. Some closure or something. How ‘bout a funeral for my dead spouse? That would have been nice. As it is, it just feels awkward to just... stop playing. It’s clearly one of my very favorite games of all time, but it still leaves me feeling a bit empty. Guess it’s time for another playthrough, huh? ^^;

#elo talks #I mean the beginning of any game is always the best part anyway

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janchriseurope · 5 years ago

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Hampton Court Flower Show

Although I really hate gardening... I really love flower shows. We have been to them in Christchurch with Lynnette and Rick, and the Auckland one with Bren. When Mary said she had the opportunity to get tickets for the second day of the Hampton Court show, both Chris and I were delighted. We planned our trip around this date

The day dawned bright and clear with a slight wind. We had a leisurely start, waiting for the bus run to be completed, then headed to the flat at Wimbledon, where we would leave the car for the day. From there, we took the train to the Hampton Court station. We decided to take the boat to the gate to save 15 min walk. Chris can now say he’s been on the Thames!

People were streaming into the site by boat and foot. Pink was the colour of the day. With tents and everything official in what we in Nz would call breast cancer pink!!

Mary and Chris A went their was and Chris W and I headed through the throngs to look at the displays.

The show was set out over 25ha with waterway in between. There was a natural flow to the area which made it relatively easy to get around and see the stalls and displays. However, if I never see one of those plastic cube trundles again it will be far too soon!! You took your ankles and live at risk every time you moved!!

The first tent we went into was the roses. Wow - packed with amazing roses and shoulder to shoulder with hot people!! I was given a David Austin catalogue. Not that I’ll be buying roses any time soon but one can dream...

We got out of the rose tent quickly and headed over the bridge, nice and orderly- to the left those going over one side, right side those returning.

We had an ice cream because Chris W had the start of a migraine and it helped cool his head. He was able to see after about 20 minutes!! Interesting photos taken in this state!!

Around the stalls, everything from gloves for little people to equestrian gear. Know you’re in England now .. I do like the cut of the jackets.

We came across a cheese stall ... yum. Wensleydale cheese with lemon and honey, mature cheddar and cheddar with mustard and beer. Guess what we carted around for the rest of the day. The cheeses were about 5 cm round by the same deep. Having eaten the aged cheddar with dinner tonight, I can tell you it was worth the effort... thanks CW!!! Lol 😂

The largest tent held all sorts of amazing flowers, cactus, and plants. Right inside were the gladdies... I want them ... will be checking out the catalogue with anticipation! The sweet peas ohh was tempted to buy a mixed packet but really don’t want to even think about customs on the way home!! Then there were the tuberous begonias and the LIlies ... did I happen to mention that I actually hate gardening??? Oh yeah I did ...

The Bonzai trees were a wonder ... patience, foresight, inspiration, confidence and... green fingers - non of which I have!! What truly got me gobsmacked was the “weeds” they were selling .... this is the stuff I grow well until Beachy looks, takes a deep breath, and says, nope it’s a weed!!!! Apparently wild woodland was the theme... taken to heart by most of the displays.

Outside in the trade areas were lots of different styles glass houses and gazebos. I didn’t think English suburbs had enough room in their back yard for these. Some were rustic, others Mediterranean and others just plain weird.

Highlight of this area was the wee electric mower that mowed each day... all by its self.. using algorithms and strategically placed wires. Yeah... naaa!!

Into the country style tent with all the goodies for sale. Everything from fresh water pearls to old maps, scarves to Yorkshire woollen coats ... Lisa would have loved the orange plaid one. I bought a necklace to replace my pretty glass one that broke when I knocked it off the dresser in Brugges.

Message sent to Mary that we were sitting outside the pavilion with a cold drink. She joined us and we continued our wander after a well earned sit. Chris found Pork scratching ... phew hot and spicy.. I found mince square .. there were all sorts of pies but they were cold. The mince square, aka fly cemetery for Coasters, was beautifully flavoured but in a short crust. Good but I make better lol 😂

On we wandered. There were several cheese stalls but we had enough and didn’t want to be tempted. Dodging prams, people with wire supports for plants, bloody cubes, zimmerframes, motorised chairs and baby buggies, it was a trail for any saint. I found I got very sarcastic when yet another bloody cube tried to run me over or decapitate my ankles!!!

We finally, about 4.45, decided enuf was enough and headed to find a seat and a drink. We messaged Chris A to say there was a beer for him ... London Pride... if he could find us... good lad, within minutes he appeared and we commandeered a picnic table. Major accomplishment by Mary because the place was packed. Two beers, Pimms and a wine later, we were almost human and ready to launch out on the last leg towards the gate.

A noticeable thing was the number and variety of gins stalls. Not being a gun drinker this didn’t appeal .. also Pimms.. which I do like and did have one... only one at £7!!! It was lovely and cold and I rinsed our the cup with water to get thoroughly hydrated.

We decided to walk to the train station and have a quick look at the castle. Wow huge place it goes on forever... CW said he would have got bored as a bricky because the buildings were so big.

Mary was keeping tabs on the cricket ... shame the NZers playing weren’t as conscientious.....

Chris wandered out the gate, heading the wrong direction and I called to him.. two ‘Bobbies’ were standing there and asked if they could help him .... No thanks I’m just a lost Kiwi.... just like the cricket team... the bobbies were very polite and didn’t rub it in.

Onto a 10 carriage train back to Wimbledon to the car and home. Very weary travellers.

CA and Mary put together a wonderful cold collation, shrimps, salmon, ham, salad, cheeses, bread and crackers. What a feast. Mary and I had a lovely bubbly and an early night... after a little tennis watching.... was had!!

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thewatchau · 6 years ago

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Ivy and Jen in the Western Forest Part 3

Author’s Note: Here we go again, my character Ivy and @marginmaster87’s Jen in the Western Forest, this time with special guest star Gus Graham! Who is another one of mine… I have a lot of characters for this, I don’t know if even Em’s seen them all! Also timeline readjustments that Em mentioned last time, by brain hurts from it, so, go off what she said. Also Em, don’t worry about the new plants and animals just yet, we won’t come across any new ones this chapter.

Bard’s Note: TOO LATE! I did them all and stuck them in the queue before getting around to reading and proofreading this. Oops! For some reason, timelines don’t make my brain hurt, but googling plant and animal physiology does… Speaking of timelines, this all would have taken place the evening of March 31st. Anyway, shoutout to @theshapeshifter100 once again for writing this, and as always, cut added for length. If you missed them, go check out Part 1 and Part 2!

“I’ve never actually been,” Jen realised out loud as they rode. “Have you?”

Ivy pulled up her mental map, having traveled across the kingdom enough to know roughly where they were.

“It’ll be the Roosts, so yes. We’ll probably bump into my friend Gus while we’re there.”

“Oh that’s cool, what’s he like?”

Ivy let out a long breath,” He’s, er, a bit full of himself to be honest. He’s a nice guy, just, doesn’t always think before he speaks.”

Jen let out a bark of laughter. “That sounds like my brother. I think it’s a guy thing.”

“I suppose,” Ivy thought. “I’d have put it down to a Guard thing honestly. Was you brother in the Guard?”

“That Guard? No, he’s a tinkerer,” she almost chuckled at the thought. “He fixes farm equipment, but I bet he’d forge his ploughshare into a sword if he could.”

“Gus could help him with that!” Ivy laughed. “Born and raised in a forge and joined the Guard once he came of age. So, he’s officially a Knight.”

“That’s so cool!” Jen’s eyes appeared to be shining. “I don’t know much about it, to be honest, but I know Knights are important.”

Ivy let out a sigh, suddenly a bit weary, and began to explain. “Generally new recruits start in June and train for several years at the main Barracks and Training Grounds in House Jackie, then they go out into the world to guard whoever pays them. Almost like mercenaries but they get angry if you call them that, and we have mercenaries anyway. Anyone who completes the full training gets the title of Knight, from there you can continue up to higher Knight ranks, but Gus quit only a couple of years after graduating.”

“Oh, that’s interesting,” Jen nodded to herself. “They don’t tell us stuff like this back home. I thought the Guard and the Watch were both part of one big military.”

“No. The Guard and the Watch are very different things,” Ivy paused before adding. “I prefer the Watch.”

“Cool. If you’re in it, I guess I prefer it too,” Jen smiles.

Ivy blinked at her and stared for a second, brain not quite working and uncertain if there was any subtext behind that. “Um, thank you?”

Jen grinned wider. “I wonder what’s going on up there?” she asked, before seeming to have changed subject. “I mean, what do you do in a watchtower? I love looking at the woods all day, but it’s not for everyone.”

Ivy blinked again and looked further down the path, wondering if she was missing something.

“Well, watchtower duty is fairly dull. I’m not often on it unless someone is ill. Or, if there’s nothing better to do,” she revised.

Jen hummed to herself. “Just remember to look in weird angles. My brother said once that people never look above or below where it’s most comfortable. He said that’s where assassins hide. I don’t know if he’s right though.”

“That sounds about right,” Ivy agreed. “It’s just hard when you’re in full armour to look up. Thankfully, I’m no longer in armour!” she realised what that implied and quickly continued before Jen picked up on it. “Although the best place to be on watching duty is the Spire. You can see the entire kingdom from the top of the Spire.”

“That’s true?!” Jen looked gleefully astonished. “Wow, that’s amazing.”

“It is truly something,” Ivy nodded. “The Spire is beautiful from the ground as well, have you ever been?”

“Only once, when I was a teenager.”

“It’s not something you forget,” Ivy looked ahead down the road. “We must be nearly at the Roosts by now.”

“Yeah, I think I can see it!” Jen lifted herself up in the saddle and craned her neck. “Do we have to say something special to get in, or…?”

“Not usually, but the whole outpost is on edge at the minute. You’re with me, so we should be alright,” Ivy assured.

The two of them rode up to the gates guarding the few ground based buildings of the outpost. Everything was up in the trees in trees houses.

There was some damage on the ground based walls, and high above there were scorch marks, half burned buildings and smashed walkways in the process of being rebuilt and repaired. It could be considered a sorry sight, but it was a lot better than it was when Ivy first arrived two weeks ago*.

Ivy dismounted Firefly and banged her fist against the gate.

A small slot in the gate opened up, then after a second closed again. The gate opened and a Watcher in battered armour looked out.

“Do you have a message Paris?” they asked, not unreasonably.

“No,” she responded, “but my friend and I would like to stop be for the night.”

The Watcher thought about it, then opened the gate for the two of them to come through. The Watcher nodded to the two of them as they came in.

“You know where everything is Paris,” the stated. “Graham’s in the barracks last I saw.”

Ivy nodded in thanks to him, leading Firefly in. Jen saw the burned walls of the ground building and was instantly on edge.

“So,” she started, “were you here when…?”

“No, I wasn’t here for the raids,” Ivy answered the unfinished question. “I just volunteered for the repairs and fortifications. Since, I have a lot of experience fighting off Enemy raids.”

“Oh cool,” the reply seemed like a reflexive response.

“Anyway,” Ivy started once they had stabled their horses, jabbing her thumb towards the ladder leading up into the canopy. “Shall we?”

“Ooo! Yeah!” Jen’s excitement was back.

“Up we go then!” Ivy led the way up the ladder, very familiar with how it swayed and creaked on the way up. It was perfectly stable, just made of flexible wood.

As she climbed she instinctively looked around for Otto, then remembered that he’d gone back to the cart. Instead she looked down at Jen.

“Having fun?!” she called.

Jen nodded back up. She looked out over the forest, and began to speak.

“You didn’t have to say yes you know. If you wanted to stay with Otto I would have let you.”

Ivy shrugged, reaching the top of the ladder and waiting for Jen.

“It was his decision,” he explained, “and frankly, it’s about time he left the nest.”

“Oh, that’s good, then,” Jen reached the top and looked out over the forest from this new height. “Wow!”

“Quite a sight huh?” Ivy followed Jen’s gaze.

From this high up the forest took on a different feel. The trees that had shut out the light were now their protectors, and light glimmered though more freely. Despite the repairs, the charm and almost childlike design of the Roosts (every child wanted a treehouse after all) would lighten even the hardest of hearts.

“I love it!” Jen declared.

Ivy grinned at her enthusiasm before continuing on.

“I’ll introduce you to Gus. The barracks are…” Ivy’s finger roamed as she tried to remember the exact direction. “…this way,” she decided, and began to lead the way across the wood and rope walkways and bridges.

As they walked the wood underneath Jen’s foot bent, sending her toppling forward.

“Woah” she cried out in surprise. With a quick reaction time Ivy grabbed her arm before she fell and hauled her upright.

“Sorry. The walkways are a little finicky right now. Although, they wouldn’t let us on them if they weren’t safe.”

The two walked along a little bit, the walkways swaying gently in the spring evening breeze. Inside the wooden buildings lights flickered as candles were lit. They approached one with the most windows, and several shadows are moving inside.

“Alright, here we are. Gus should be inside,” Ivy declared.

“Thanks,” Jen responded with a slight giggle.

Ivy leaned her head through the door and spotted a familiar figure. A man taller than her, but also younger by about four years. From this angle she could only really see his black hair which was speckled with grey, like soot had settled there.

“Hey, Bellows!” she yelled out to him.

He jerked up in surprise and looked around, blue eyes settling on the Ivy by the door. He got out of his bed nook and came over.

“Couldn’t stay away long enough could you?” he asked, grinning in a way that was deliberately irritating.

Ivy rolled her eyes at him. “I’ll be out again tomorrow. I just wanted to introduce someone I’m working with,” she gestured between Gus and Jen. “Gus, this is Jen. Jen, Gus.”

“Hello!” Jen responded.

“Or as most folks call me, Bellows,” Gus added, still grinning and nodding at Jen.

“Nice to meet you!” Jen offered her hand, and he took it in his warm, calloused hand, covered in old burns, shaking firmly.

“Good to meet you too. Where’d you pick this one up?” he jabbed his thumb at Ivy. “I know full well how hard it is to pin her down!”

“She found me, actually,” Jen informed. “By yelling my name into a crowd,” she added with a laugh.

“Ah, no shame that one,” he winked at Jen, and Ivy sighed loudly.

“Alright Bellows, are you flirting now?”

Jen’s smile dropped a little in surprise at the statement, and Gus was affronted.

“I can’t be nice to someone?!”

“I can’t tell sometimes,” Ivy responded. “Now, are you going to eat, or what?”

“Alright,” Gus rolled his eyes back at Ivy, both of them oblivious to Jen grinning at her own thoughts. “Let’s go eat. I’ve been out repairing bridges all day and I am starving!”

Ivy raised her eyebrows at him. “I thought that was your permanent state of being?”

“Well you do seem good at making connections,” Jen commented.

“We’ve just known each other a long time,” Ivy wasn’t certain if she was missing something again. Gus just winked and clapped Ivy on the back.

“Come on! Let’s get some food. And I won’t flirt,” he promised.

“I will hold you to that.”

The three of them left, with Gus holding most of the conversation. Thanks to Ivy he tried not to be overly familiar with Jen, but he did ask a few things.

“So Jen, what is it you’ve got Ivy helping you with?”

Ivy decided to answer that question. “I’m her bodyguard while she goes through the Western Forest.”

Gus laughed when she said that.

“I thought you left the Guard stuff behind?” he asked, and Ivy shrugged and glared at him.

“I know what I’m good at.”

“Yeah, we’re finding helpful plants and stuff in the woods,” Jen intervened. “Did you know there’s patches of Fire Star out there? And big grasshoppers with magical blood?”

“None of those things mean anything to me,” Gus admitted. “But if you’re excited about it, it must be interesting. How big were these grasshoppers?”

“About the size of locusts,” Jen held out her hands to give an approximate size. “There was only one though. I don’t think the pose a threat,” she then added quickly. “But they are very interesting.”

“If they have magical blood, then I guess they are,” Gus paused in front of a new building. Smoke poured out of the chimneys in the roof and the candle light was bright, with many moving shadows inside.

He held the door open and shot Ivy an annoying grin.

“After you ladies.”

Ivy took full advantage of this, smacking him across the back of the head as she walked past. Jen sent Gus a knowing smirk as she went past and Gus closed the door behind them.

“Well, you two are the siblingist siblings I’ve ever met,” she noted.

“We’re not related. Thankfully,” Ivy glared at Gus, who grinned back.

“Oh?” Jen was surprised.

“No,” Gus’s smile went warm, “I wouldn’t have minded if your were my sister,” he added to Ivy, who’s brain struggled to cope with that.

Jen smiled, thinking she’d figured it out. “Then you’re the best pair of friends I’ve ever met.”

Ivy’s brain caught up and she quickly shook her head as they sat down at a table.

“No, no like that. Definitely friends,” she assured, and Gus was equally adamant.

“No no no nope. No offence, but, no.”

“What?” Jen was honestly confused, “Oh!” Jen went bright pink in embarrassment and laughed out loud.

Gus roared with laughter as well, tilting his head back and slammed his hand on the table. “You actually thought-? By the gods that’s hilarious!”

Ivy meanwhile buried her head in her arms and flipped him the bird.

They got food soon after that, and Ivy decided to turn the conversation to something less awkward, for her.

“How’s the defense building going? Impressed anyone yet?” she wore the annoying grin now, as Gus’s face went a little red.

“Er, maybe? I don’t know yet,” he glanced over to another table and group of people a little older than them were sitting and talking. “I think I’ve made an impression.”

“Then put in a request,” Ivy added like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and Gus went even redder.

“I can’t do that!” he hissed. “It’s too soon!”

He frantically looked around for something to change the subject, and Ivy explained what was happening to Jen.

“The Rúnach Hold sent over forces to help fortifications after the raid. Bellows here wants to transfer, but he’s being shy.”

“Why?” Jen asked, “They’d probably be glad to have you.”

Gus hid his face in his hands. “It’s so stupid,” he groaned. “I know it’s stupid.”

Ivy rolled her eyes, but it’s less irritated and more endearing. “Jen’s right, they’d be glad to have you.”

“What if it turns out to be not what I thought?” he asked a little desperately, and Ivy had a quick answer.

“Then you transfer again.”

“Hey, I try new things that fail all the time,” Jen reassured. “It’s really not that bad.”

Gus nodded, and quickly changed the subject. “So, you two have been in the forest all day. Did you see anything we should know about?”

“Well…” Jen thought, “apparently the weird grasshoppers are desirable to Fae. We met one.”

Gus stared, almost dropping the spoon he was holding. “You WHAT?!”

Jen tried to giggle. “We met a Fae thing. It was about as crazy as it sounds.”

“It was, something,” Ivy agreed.

“What did it look like?” Gus asked.

“Like a big shadow with pearly eyes,” Jen recalled. “It had really long fingers.”

“It was weird,” Ivy finished.

“I bet you wanted to stab it,” Gus teased, his annoying grin back.

“Only if it stabbed us first.”

“She was really brave,” Jen stated, “walked right up to it.”

“I would have been more likely to fight it if it got bad,” Ivy assured. “Not that I think we were in any real danger. Unless we didn’t hand over the grasshopper, but what do we know?”

“Oh yeah,” Gus was thinking out loud. “You and your magic that seems to be able to predict things.”

“I wish!” Ivy snorted. “All I know is if someone’s in immediate danger.”

Gus suddenly jabbed Ivy in the ribs. “Not going to notice that she called you brave?”

Ivy choked and shoved him. “Will you stop it!?”

Jen raised her eyebrows and smiled at them, which didn’t go unnoticed by Gus.

“Are you sure? Because I think you like it.”

“I swear to whatever you deem holy I will kick you in the face Gus Graham.”

“Guys,” Jen intoned.

“What?” Ivy and Gus asked at the same time and looked at Jen.

“Our food’s here.”

A very amused waitstaff member* was looking at them, holding their food.

Ivy coughed and accepted her meal with a word, while Gus smiled at them pleasantly.

“Thank you,” he said, having recovered perfectly.

Jen couldn’t help but smile as she blew over her soup. “How long have you two known each other?”

Ivy raised her eyebrows to the ceiling, trying to recall exactly. “A while, elven years right?”

“On and off,” Gus agreed, “We met when I was thirteen and you were, what, seventeen?”

“I apprenticed with his father for a few months,” Ivy explained. “We lost contact for a while, stuff happened, I came back a couple of years later for a few months. We lost contact again. Didn’t properly meet again until a year after he graduated from the Guard.”

“Hold on,” Gus interrupted. “We were in the Guard at the same time, remember?”

“We were in different years and didn’t talk. It doesn’t count.” Ivy’s voice was hostile, and Gus dropped that topic.

“Yeah, we’ve known each other for ages.”

“That’s really cool,” Jen came in. “Learning about the Guard is my brother’s newest hobby. He keeps talking about it, but I think it’s a temporary interest. We have that in common.”

“Let’s hope it stays temporary,” Ivy muttered bitterly, and Gus winced.

“That was a little blunt there Paris,” he admonished, “But, yeah, the Guard’s not for everyone.”

“Why not?”

“It can be…” Gus blew out his cheeks and looked at Ivy. Ivy seemed disinclined to add to the conversation, so Gus carried on. “It can be a bit elitist. The idea that everyone can be at the same level with the exact same amount of training it nice, but flawed. There, is a favourites system, as much as they would deny it and the atmosphere is a bit more, competitive.”

“Basically,” Ivy decided to chime in. “If you don’t fit then it doesn’t work.”

“But,” Gus was quick to add, “if he really wants to, then the Guard will have him. Just, make sure he knows what he’s getting into.”

“Huh, I’ll be sure to tell him,” Jen noted.

“Enough about the Guard,” Ivy waved off. “What’s the plan for tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” Jen thought about it. “Well, we could either go back to where we went today or go deeper? Deeper is more dangerous, but if we go back we may be able to find more of those grasshoppers.”

“And potentially run into more Fae,” Ivy added before shoving a spoonful of food in her mouth.

“Or, if you’re unlucky, Anti,” Gus added, and Ivy turned slowly to face him.

“Then I will kick him in the gonads and run.”

Jen stiffened when they called the Enemy by his nickname. “M-maybe we should just go back to where we went before.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” surprisingly, Ivy was chuckling, a little amused by Jen. “We won’t run into him, at least, it’s ridiculously unlikely. The Western Forest is huge!”

“Back it is,” Jen decided. “We should grab that Fire Star on the way back.”

“We can do that. Hopefully we won’t bump into any more Fae. I don’t know how well stabbing one will go down.”

Jen chuckled nervously.” Yeah, hopefully,” something occurred to Jen. “Actually Gus, have you seen anything weird or glowy on your patrols around here?”

“Glowy?” Gus thought about it, “I saw a purple heather like thing that was glowing on the main road to the Roosts.”

“Cool!” Jen smiled, “We’ll check that out as well.”

Ivy nodded in agreement through a mouthful of bread.

“Mrow” came from under the table, and Gus jumped as the cat wound his way around Gus’s boots.

“Ah!” he yanked his feet back in surprise. Ivy almost spat out her bread from laughing as Gus peered warily under the table. “Where did the cat come from?”

Jen sighed. “Sorry, he’s… like that.”

“Mrrrm,”

“I think his head is itchy,” Jen informed.

Gus looked at Ivy for a second, who shrugged at him. Cautiously he reached down and petted the cat.

The cat was annoyed until Gus started scratching, then he tolerated it.

“I swear that idiot can teleport,” Jen sighed, and Ivy laughed.

“I could almost say the same about Otto!”

“Oh yeah,” Gus realised that he was missing. “Where is that trickster with wings?”

“With her cart,” Ivy nodded to Jen, and Gus frowned.

“Since when did you let him that far out of your sight?”

Ivy just shrugged and ate another spoonful of stew.

Jen could see the cat staring expectantly at her stew. “No,” she said firmly, and Ivy snorted.

“I suppose some things are just universal.”

“Mrrrm,” the cat protested.

“No.”

“Mowrrr”

“The spices are bad for you.”

“Mew.”

“…fine,” Jen hands him a small chunk of chicken.

“At least Otto doesn’t trick me into giving him food,” Ivy noted. “He just steals it out of the bowl.”

“Which is disgusting by the way,” Gus noted, nose wrinkling.

“Snort stew, now with 50% more Raven Beak!” Jen laughed.

“It adds flavour!” Ivy grinned, and Gus made a disgusted face, which makes them laugh harder.

“Well, I’m full,” Jen declared. “Want to head back to the barracks?”

“Sounds good to me,” Ivy finished her stew, and Gus down the last of his pottage. “Let’s go.”

Author’s Note: So, Gáire Roosts, going off of the Outpost Overhaul posts from, a while ago, I think. I assume the ground based building would be stables and a some message receiving/admin for those who don’t have time to go up into the trees to deal with stuff. And Gus has, by now, put in a notice for the Hold, then the Bastion was attacked, poor boy.

Also Em you are too sweet, you’re the one who fleshed out the vague ideas we had, and thank you for coming up with this idea in the first place! I love it so much!

Bard’s Note: Yep, that’s basically how I imagined the Roosts! Although I also figured a smithy or something would also be on the ground, because that’s a lot of heavy metal things to haul into a tree house, and also fire plus trees probably equals BAD. Meanwhile, I feel like poor Gus is going through the existential crisis of choosing a college or something. “I wanna go here, no wait actually I wanna go here, no wait-” XD

And you better watch it or you’re gonna turn these author’s notes into an endless loop of mutual appreciation because this au wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near the state it is now without support from people like you guys so TAKE THE BIG PREESH!

#submission #March 1614 #4/30/2019 #Tales From The Watch #Ivy Paris #Jen Quillan #Diversity in The Watch #Gus Graham #Details of The Watch #The Lands of The Watch #Magic of The Watch

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danbevanwriting · 6 years ago

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The Ranking of Final Fantasy: Final Fantasy III

Final Fantasy III is the second game that the West didn't see an official localised version until many years later. Initially released a few years after Final Fantasy II in Japan, it was remade with a new localisation and 3D update 26 years later in 2006 on Nintendo DS. This game is important in the lineage of the series as it's the one that set the motifs of the series; Chocobos, Cid as a recurring character, Job specific actions, even some of the designs of iconic jobs that are still used today. But was the game worth the long wait for Western audiences?

The version of the game I played (and will continue to play from here on out) is the version available of Steam, which is itself a version of the mobile port. The only real differences between these versions and the DS remake is the User Interface, which I personally didn't kind too off putting despite looking a bit clunky. The content and graphics are otherwise the same as the DS version. Upfront I'll say that I like the style of the 3D remake. It retains the chibi-esque style for the characters that the series is known for during the NES/ SNES era. The world is colourful and benefits from the 3D modelling by giving the world more character through the use of added details to the floor tiles. The game was no slouch on the NES either though, it definitely improved graphics compared to previous games, with unique sprites for each job that the characters could take and battles looking more impressive than ever. It's honestly quite impressive what Square managed to do with the NES, even if there was a few assets clearly still being used from the original game (mostly world map town and castles looking very similar, and the warrior sprite being literally the same from Final Fantasy I).

Basic gameplay is untouched during the exploration of the world from previous games. You're still walking through dungeons picking up items, fighting random battles, talking to townsfolk to gather clues for how to advance forward. The wrinkle this game provided to the formula is that each character can change their 'job' whenever they want from a growing selection. This means that you're not stuck with the same class set up from the get-go like in the original game and characters more instantly specialise unlike in FF2. Bored of your current set up? Just change that White Mage to a Red Mage, or try an all offensive group of melee brawlers! In the remake the only downside to switching is that there's a 'cooling off' period after switching in which you have to fight a certain amount of battles with lowered stats before becoming normal. Stats don't carry over between jobs either, with the only permanent change being HP, which does lead to an issue where characters who didn't play much as melee characters can end the game with a disadvantageous amount of health (this is definitely something that happened to me). Overall though this is a rather fun system to experiment with, keeping me engaged throughout most of the game's playtime.

Situations that the game throws at you sometimes lead to influencing your party composition. This comes with some mixed results though. The more interesting of these is where you have to go through a dungeon while being mini, meaning that physical attacks are useless. This means that the best way through these dungeons is to bring a party of casters, which definitely mixes things up and is interesting to think and plan around. A situation which isn't as good however is during a part of the game where you're stranded in a town area and the only way to get out is to beat the boss of the area: Garuda. The problem with this part of the game is that if you don't take a party of Dragoons (which the game heavily implies you should do) then you are already dead. Only Dragoon gear is attainable and the boss' weakness is spears but this doesn't make this interesting as there's only one solution to the encounter. A similar issue occurs during a late game dungeon where the only way to get through without pulling your hair out is to bring a party of Dark Knights to stop all the normal enemies you encounter from duplicating themselves. The problem with this is that Dark Knights are basically worthless outside of this dungeon as they don't bring much of interest in terms of their abilities. The 'getting mini or turning to a toad to get in to the dungeon' gimmick also starts to wear thin by the end of the game, mostly because it wastes 2 charges of magic to get the party small or warty and then back again. It's nothing game breaking but it becomes a tired gimmick by the end of the game.

The dungeon design in general is much improved over the last game, however. Gone are the trap rooms that yielded nothing but crushed dreams and a thousand random battles. The dungeons now are a bit more linear with off shoots from the main path that more often than not have some goodies to pick up. None of them are overly complex to the point that you'd get lost and none of them ever really last too long either. Dungeons even have a bit of characteristics with them as they often have unique designs apart from a couple of the optional dungeons which are just generic cave dungeons. Otherwise they're fine, nothing to really complain about or overly praise either to be honest.

Final Fantasy III does not try to tell a story as ambitious as Final Fantasy II's, although it is still more fleshed out than the original game's. In the remake the developers tried to give each of the 4 heroes their own personality and backstory but it's rather thin and doesn't amount to much by the end. It's still more than the nothing you're given in the NES original (although your characters spoke between each other, there was never names attached to lines and they never really said anything profound). Characters in general are rather thin to be honest, there's no character dynamics I found to be memorable and even a lot of the major characters are more plot device than characters. Cid's got a wife in this one though, so that's... nice! What is interesting about the game is the world building that the game does. This isn't any more evident than when you realise that the world map you started on is only a tiny part and is actually just a small floating island in the corner of the map. You get out, and the world is covered in a thick fog that you need to disperse. It's interesting, and the build up to the Crystal Tower at the end is a fun experience as you uncover parts of the world and how the darkness has affected parts of it. The conclusion is rather limp though, with the guy you've been chasing throughout the game not actually being the last boss but actually being manipulated by an even greater threat known as the Cloud of Darkness! Gasp! This is another theme that ends up being carried forward in to the series too. Unfortunately, the Cloud of Darkness and the Crystal Tower, as cool as they are, is where I found issue with the game in general.

Up until the Crystal Tower, the game is not too hard (even with bosses in the remake attacking twice per turn) and seems overall to be well balanced. I beat most bosses on my first or second try and the fights seemed just hard enough that they were lengthy and fun. None of this is an issue until the very end of the game. You climb the Crystal Tower and nothing really poses too much of a threat: usually a good sign that you're in the right level curve to face what's coming. I reached the top, beat Xande rather easily and then Cloud of Darkness shows up and your group follows her to her realm: The World of Darkness. This is a point of no return by the way. Here, there are boss level enemies you fight in random encounters, have to fight 4 bosses with HP pools double that of Xande's, and then fight Cloud of Darkness who has 4 times his health. She has a group-wide attack originating from one of her tentacles that does massive magic damage as well as being able to attack twice herself. It's such a huge difficulty spike and it's completely unfair with it coming after a point of no return, meaning that if you fail you have to go through the whole of the Crystal Tower again, wasting a couple of hours' progress. This is such a sour note to end the game on after it being so enjoyable up until this final dungeon, it's such a shame that the game stumbles so hard on the final hurdle. It doesn't help that the way the story ends involves a contrived event that brings characters from the game with 'pure hearts of light' to help the heroes out of a jam, and for some reason, one of those characters is one of the old men who thought they were the warriors of light. A character that seemed to have been used as a joke in one of the towns. I audibly said to myself 'are you actually serious?' when it happened, it was such a bizarre plot point.

I don't wish to end this review on a sour note, however, as I can more than confidently say that the music in this game is incredible. After the disappointing showing from Final Fantasy II this is a breath of fresh air. The overworld theme has a light airy sound to it that evokes a quiet mystery, the battle themes are exciting and energetic, the boss theme is incredibly iconic. The only tracks that annoyed me were the 'liberated' theme which plays in certain towns and locations after a saving it from a major threat, and a couple of the town themes were pretty obnoxious to the point where I just wanted to get out of them as soon as I could. As it's a NES game the themes are pretty short loops, which does lessen the impact of the good songs and amplify the irritation of the lesser ones. Overall though, a big thumbs up in the music department!

To conclude then I enjoyed FF3 quite a lot overall, to the point where I stayed up late a lot to play it. I would say I enjoyed it more that the previous 2 games even though this game has flaws all of its own. The job system is great and fun but is ultimately a bit shallow, especially when comparing to games to follow (hint, hint). I would still say this is the best of the NES era games though due to it having ambition and mostly hitting the right notes, unlike Final Fantasy II. The series' biggest flaw at this point of it's life is that the plot and characters are still rather underdeveloped but they've given the games their own distinct style and gameplay that is well refined. The old games would probably be best kept to only being played by die-hard fans, even the remakes.

Current Rankings:

Final Fantasy III

Final Fantasy I

Final Fantasy II

#opinion #final fantasy #review #retro #ranking #nes #classic

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britesparc · 4 years ago

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Weekend Top Ten #465

Top Ten Games I’d Like to See on Game Pass in 2021

After a few weeks of earnest thinking and tyring to be creative, I’ve lapsed back into a wishlist this week. I used to do a lot more of these – films I’d like to come to Prime Video, games I’d like to see on Windows Phone, that sort of thing – so regular readers should be thankful that I’ve branched out more as time’s gone on.

In a way today’s list is another chance to review my big Christmas purchase, the Xbox Series X. Through a combination of presents and canny offers I was able to get, alongside the console, a year’s subscription to Game Pass Ultimate. Game Pass has been called Microsoft’s “real next-gen console”, in that they are very clearly positioning the future of their games business around it. And it is a very, very tantalising offer: dozens if not hundreds of games available at the touch of a button, playable on console, PC, and – via streaming – mobile phones. I had Game Pass once before, last year, and it was great; I chose not to keep up the sub because £11 a month (or even £8 for the most basic service) is still quite expensive when you’ve got large games that you own outright sitting there unplayed or uncompleted. But last time around the “xCloud” streaming service was still in closed beta, so it’s nice to see it rolled out more officially now. The interface is better and it seems to run a bit better, and games that support touch controls on a phone certainly perform better. I’ve found it a great way to play Slay the Spire, for instance; a turn-based card game is quite forgiving if you momentarily lose connection or the visuals start artifacting or something. Anyway, it’s great; the whole service is great. I love the fact that you get frequent (if very slight) rewards just for using it. It’s a great incentive to come back regularly or try new games. I wouldn’t have played something like The Medium or Ori and the Will of the Wisps without Game Pass; and allows me to play something like Planet Coaster or Crackdown 3, that I enjoy dipping in and out of, but probably wouldn’t buy at the moment. And for the kids, it’s great; Disneyland Adventure is a really fun game for the nippers. Although they mostly just play Minecraft.

But of course like Alexander Hamilton I’ve never been satisfied, and in that grand old tradition of doing wish lists, this week’s list is just the games that I’d like to see on the service. That’s it! Nothing complicated about it. just ten (or, well, kinda more actually) games that I think should be on Game Pass. Now, I’ve tried to be realistic about this; so I’ve not added games that aren’t actually out on the Xbox yet, such as Fall Guys (which I really hope will be on Game Pass). Ditto games that have just come out; you’ll see Assassin’s Creed down there somewhere, but not Valhalla, as that’s, I dunno, less likely right now? Same with Hitman 3; I really want to play that, it looks excellent, but I’m not expecting it to turn up on Game Pass anytime soon, coz it’s just come out and been a really big hit. There’s a slight exception to this rule though, as you’ll see.

So there we go: if anyone from Xbox is listening, here are the ten games I’d most like to see on Game Pass, if you please. Oh, and everything is meant to be on the Xbox unless otherwise stated.

Civilization VI (2019): and its assorted expansions please! Civ is my absolute must-play always-on go-to game on PC, and from what I’ve played of the console conversion, it’s a very good adaptation. Last year I was on the xCloud beta and Civ VI was one of the games you could stream; but oddly it’s never, to my knowledge, appeared on Game Pass proper. With Quick Resume, dipping in and out of a session would be even easier (and good god damn it takes a long time to load on my PC). Bonus: this works pretty well on mobile, although it can be hard to read the text on a phone screen.

Assassin’s Creed Origins and/or Odyssey (2017/2018): I’ve never really gotten into an Ass Creed game, so it’d be nice to experience one of the newer ones, but that’s not the real reason I want these on the service (besides, the one I really want to play is Valhalla, coz Vikings innit). Last year Ubisoft offered the “Discovery Tour” modes of both these games up for free on PC; my kids ate them up. They loved exploring ancient Egypt and Greece, and it tied into their studies at school. To free up my PC and because they’d look a lot nicer, I’d love them to be on the Xbox, too.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 (2020): I guess Skate or something is on Game Pass through EA Play, so I could scratch my board itch if I wanted, but it’s not quite the same. I want that nostalgia blast of Tony Hawk action. We used to play this on my girlfriend’s (now wife’s) computer, although I must confess I’ve utterly forgotten all the controls. Regardless, it’s a good fun party game and feels perfect for the service. This update in particular looks really worthwhile, with nice graphics but – hopefully – the same excellent gameplay. Dunno if Spider-Man is still in it, mind.

Minecraft (2011): now, yeah, I’m pretty sure Minecraft is actually on Game Pass on the Xbox; and, indeed, we own it. Whilst I feel that Minecraft is now so ubiquitous and has its own ecosystem that maybe it could become free-to-play, I definitely think that the PC version of Minecraft should fall under Game Pass for PC. Although I’m not sure that would really help my kids, as they’d need to be signed into my Game Pass account to play, wouldn’t they? See, MS needs some kind of family account thing going on.

Hades (2020): another PC games! Yeah, I quite fancy Hades. I remember playing the first Diablo, sometime very shortly after the actual fall of Satan, and liking it. Hades has got a lot of good reviews and all the nice people seem to be saying all the nice things about it. So I’d like to try it out, but I know, deep down inside, that I’ll just keep going back to playing Fallen Order and Gears 5 (or Civ on PC), so it’s not really worth buying. But if they added it to Game Pass on PC? Yes please.

Control Ultimate Edition (2021): ah, is this adding a brand new game? Depends on your definition. I really like the look of Control (2019). It looks like the sort of game I’d enjoy playing. And, yes, Control is technically on Game Pass. But with the super-shiny next-gen version imminent (with sexy ray-tracing!) then that’s the version I want to play. Not the filthy old degenerated version that can run on my old Xbox One. There’s a lot of justifiable controversy about the release structure of Control on next-gen, but given how pretty much all Xbox One games on Game Pass automatically give you their Series X/S versions through Smart Delivery, Control really stands out. As Ultimate Edition is on PlayStation Plus, I feel like a Game Pass version should come through sharpish.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes (2013): this is arguably the first of my “just being lazy” picks, and really it could stand in for a few different titles. We love the Lego games in this house, and our favourites (that is, mine and my kids’) probably remains Marvel Super Heroes and its 2017 sequel. Seeing as quite a lot of Xbox 360-era Lego games are on the service, it’d be really cool to add some of the newer ones, what with the excellent-sounding Skywalker Saga imminent. I mean, the first Marvel Super Heroes was an Xbox One launch title; they’re not exactly “new”. We own these, along with several more, but it’d be so nice to be able to hop in and out quickly without having to root around for a disc. And y’know, if they wanted to add the Lego Movie adaptations, or DC Super Villains, then why the heck not?

Cuphead (2017): I really want to play this! It looks amazing. I just want to experience that, y’know? Except here’s the problem: I know I would utterly suck at this. I’m pretty rubbish at platform games in general, and 2D shooters I’m even worse at. I’ve heard this game is quite hard. I am not good at hard games. And especially nowadays, when I only have time to breeze through stuff on super-easy (I have come to terms with playing games in “Story Mode”). So I just don’t think there’s any point in my buying it. But on Game Pass? Instant download.

Marvel’s Avengers (2020): is this “new”? I dunno anymore. Regardless, it feels like it’s had its moment, so coming to Game Pass wouldn’t be too outrageous. I’m gonna be honest, I’ve never felt like this looked particularly good, but then I hear people say how it’s a decent third-person action game where you play as Ms Marvel, and that sounds pretty cool. Maybe divorced of the hype and the unrealistic expectations there’s a fun no-frills game to be found. I’d love to discover it on Game Pass.

Star Wars: Squadrons (2020) or Cyberpunk 2077 (2020): now this is where we really get into lazy territory. I got both of these games for Christmas (and, obviously, they’re both new), and I really like them both (Cyberpunk runs really well on Series X). However, I got them both on disc; Cyberpunk specifically I wanted on disc to get the gubbins such as a map of Night City (I’m a sucker for stuff like that). And I think – yeah this sounds terrible – having to get up and get the box out and put the disc in is actually an impediment to my playing them. Sometimes I’m sat there and I think, shall I play Cyberpunk? And I realise I’d have to move, and I think, nah, I’ll just play Red Dead or Fallen Order or Witcher or Gears Tactics or Forza or Halo or Planet Coaster or Ori or Medium or Slay the Spire or Full Throttle or Crackdown or Two Point Hospital or Minecraft Dungeons or Perfect Dark or Doom or… you get the picture. I know I’m going to hell, don’t worry.

Anyway, there we are! Good games? Good games. Cheers in advance, Microsoft.

#top ten #xbox #games #game pass #ea play #microwave #retro gaming

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mediaeval-muse · 4 years ago

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Video Game Review: Assassin’s Creed Liberation (Ubisoft, 2012; Remastered 2019)

Genres: action-adventure, third person, open world

Premise: Abstergo Entertainment (a divistion of Absergo Industries from the previous games) releases a video game called “Liberation,” in which players can experience the life of Assassin Aveline de Grandpré. In the story of the game, Aveline must track down Templar agents, including the mysterious “Company Man,” in Louisiana during the 18th century.

Platform Played On: PC (Windows)

Rating: 3/5 stars

***Full review under the cut.***

I am evaluating this game based on four key aspects: story, characters, gameplay, and visuals. I will be evaluating the remastered version of this game on its own terms, so I cannot speak to how it is different from the initial release.

Content Warnings: violence, blood, slavery, racism

Story: Assassin’s Creed Liberation follows Aveline de Grandpré, a mixed-race woman who is recruited to the Assassins and works to rid New Orleans of Templar influence during the end of the French and Indian War. Aveline is trying to uncover the identity of the “Company Man” - a mysterious figure who oversees the Templar takeover of Louisiana - while freeing slaves and racing against Spanish officials to secure parts of the “Prophecy Disk” (artifacts of the First Civilization). She must also contend with threats to her mentor’s life, while also seeking out what happened to her mother, who disappeared when Aveline was young.

Liberation’s plot suffers in part from the lack of a strong introduction to get players emotionally invested in the stakes. While players do play through a scene in which Aveline is separated from her mother, the game doesn’t quite set up the Templar-Assassin conflict as something that Aveline has personal stakes in. I also personally think the Company Man could have been introduced earlier - the main baddie isn’t mentioned until a few missions into the game, and I think mentioning them sooner could have helped me see the significance of each mission. Doing so might correct for the plot’s main flaw, which is the lack of suspense. Because players can easily pick up or put down the main narrative, there’s no real excitement to move on to the next objective, and I often felt like I was drifting aimlessly without motivation to see what would happen next in Aveline’s story.

I also would have liked to see more history woven into the story. Arguably, the French and Indian War/Spanish occupation of Louisiana is not as well-known to American players as the American Revolution, so I think this game could have taken the opportunity to really showcase some of the major events from the time period. Especially since the game features so many Black characters, I think their voices and stories could have been showcased more.

That being said, I don’t think the game handled elements of slavery and race very well. I was glad that there weren’t gratuitous scenes of torture, nor were there racial slurs or other hateful comments being thrown around. Those things were good, but I do think that slavery was treated as something of a background element. Aveline does several missions where she frees slaves, and she even goes to several sites where slaves are working, but freedom isn’t treated with as much urgency as I would have liked. Because Aveline is half-Black, I would have liked to see her get more involved with abolitionist actions. Moreover, there were references to voodoo which I don’t think were handled with care. I can’t speak for those who actually practice or study voodoo, but at times, it felt less like a living practice and more an element to make the story feel spooky.

The most interesting part of the plot for me was when the Prophecy Disks became a focus. I liked the way the race to uncover these disks created a goal and direct tension with the Templars, and Aveline’s mentor’s reaction to these disks created some suspense (as well as conflict). It was also the part of the plot that made the game feel connected to the others in the Assassin’s Creed franchise - it’s hard to have an Assassin’s Creed game without a reference to the First Civilization, I think.

Characters: Aveline is Assassin’s Creed’s first playable female character, and she’s a badass. I really liked that she wasn’t written as a “tragic mulatto” figure (a common trope in literature about mixed race people) and she could navigate her world with some ease. I also liked that she was treated with respect, not just as a competent assassin, but also as a businesswoman. It was somewhat refreshing to play as her without being bombarded by sexist or racist abuse in the name of “historical accuracy” (there were some comments about her not being able to inherit things because of her race, but these were made delicately, in my opinion). My only criticism is that I wish more had been done with the plot to show her emotional journey, from finding her mother to uncovering the identity of the Company Man.

Aveline is frequently assisted by her mentor (Agaté) and her friend (Gérald). Agaté is constantly criticizing Aveline, demanding loyalty while rebuking her for disobeying his orders. I would have preferred to see more tenderness between the two, especially since Aveline doesn’t have many deep, personal relationships with other Black characters in the game (save her mother). Gérald is a bit more likable; he’s soft-spoken and is concerned for Aveline without being possessive or protective, and I liked that he deferred to her judgment on everything from assassin-ing to business. I didn’t quite like that Ubisoft tried to manufacture a romance between the two; their friendship was much more compelling, and their awkward chemistry was less cute and more forced.

Other supporting characters ranged in terms of compelling characterization. Many of the villains were fairly flat with no interesting mannerisms or traits to set them apart from any other antagonist. The smugglers were a bit more likable, but that’s probably because they were somewhat entertaining to interact with, cracking jokes and sharing liquor in between missions. I did initially like Aveline’s stepmother and the positive relationship she seemed to have with her step-daughter (of course, the big plot twist complicates that), and I did appreciate Aveline’s father’s tenderness towards his daughter (though he’s portrayed sympathetically despite having impregnated a slave - yes, yes, he says he loved Aveline’s mother and freed her, but in the end, there was an imbalance of power there). Overall, though, very few of these characters were memorable.

Gameplay: Much of the gameplay from Liberation is similar to that of Assassin’s Creed III. Players can control Aveline’s notoriety, purchase tailor and weapons shops from rivals, and parkour/free run/stealth just like Connor. Aveline can also pickpocket, incite riots, and travel by canoe, which isn’t wholly different from the game’s predecessor. In that sense, not much was done to tailor gameplay to the new setting, but it was admittedly nice to have some familiar elements so that I could pick up the game quickly.

One of the major differences, however, was the concept of “personas.” In addition to tailor and weapons shops, Aveline can purchase “dressing chambers,” which allows her to adopt one of three disguises: assassin, lady, or slave. Each “persona” has its own advantages and disadvantages; the lady, for example, is slow to accumulate notoriety, but can’t free run or climb. Each persona also has a unique set of side quests that can only be completed if Aveline is in that persona, which presented some interesting challenges. I liked that the personas allowed for some flexibility in strategy when exploring the open world, though I’m not sure “slave persona” is entirely appropriate; that Aveline could put on/take off the status of “slave” points to a kind of privilege, and I’m not convinced that treating “slave” as a “costume” is appropriate.

In terms of weapons, I liked that Aveline had options that reflected her setting. Instead of daggers, she could purchase things like machetes or hatchets, and rather than a bow and arrow, her (non-firearm) ranged weapon is a blowgun. She also could use a whip to pull enemies towards her before striking them down, which was admittedly quite fun to do. Aveline could also use her weapons to “chain kill,” which is a separate move from combo kills, and the one time I managed to activate it was pretty cool, though I never figured out how to do it again.

In order to purchase these weapons, Aveline had to raise money through trade. Similar to Connor’s homesteading, Aveline can purchase goods and then put them on a ship to sell elsewhere for a profit. There is no crafting, so trading is simplified compared to Assassin’s Creed III, but there are enough elements (such as ship size and speed, market values, etc.) for players to be challenged by the trade system. The main drawback, in my opinion, is that many of the goods available for trade are those which have been historically produced by slave labor. Although Aveline doesn’t run a plantation, I couldn’t help but feel like I was vicariously participating in colonialism and oppression when I sent shiploads of cotton or tobacco from New Orleans to the West Indies.

Collectibles such as alligator eggs, brooches, foreign currency, pocket watches, and the like were scattered throughout the world, but in my opinion, they didn’t yield satisfying rewards. In order to gain some of them, you had to be in a specific “persona,” or else be in a location like the bayou where navigating difficult terrain is a pain. I didn’t have much incentive to go after them, especially since they weren’t always visible on a map, and you can’t purchase “treasure maps” to reveal their locations. As a result, when I found something, I was frequently in the wrong persona or I was busy doing a mission and couldn’t mark it on my map for later. Even more annoying was that there was no fast travel, so trying to find a dressing chamber to change and then running back to the collectible’s location was tedious.

Overall, Liberation had a lot less going on than Assassin’s Creed III, which is probably because it was originally intended for PlayStation Vita. Because I played on a PC, I can’t speak to how the feeling of the gameplay changes for a touchscreen system, but if you’re playing on something more traditional, you may find the open world a bit annoying and the rewards a bit disappointing.

Visuals: While I wasn’t as blown away by Liberation’s visuals as I was by Assassin’s Creed III, I did enjoy the scenes of the bayou and the architecture of New Orleans. I particularly enjoyed the fireflies and glowing moths/butterflies, as they created a peaceful atmosphere in the swamps of Louisiana. Most impressive, however, was the sheer range of skin tones of NPCs in the various environments. I loved seeing people of all races spread across all classes - Black people weren’t confined to being slaves, which was great to see.

I also liked Aveline’s assassin costume, though it didn’t have the characteristic white color like all the previous assassins’ (though you could dye them white at the tailor’s shop). I appreciated that players could see her hair in braids, and that there were small details that nodded towards her origins (like something that looks like either bone or alligator teeth). Her lady and slave persona outfits were also very visually appealing, despite my misgivings about the morality/ethics of treating “slave” as a “persona.”

The main drawback of this game was the lack of fluid animation. A lot of character animations would feel stiff, reminding me of my experience playing Revelations. While I liked how Aveline moved, she also didn’t have as many appealing finishing moves, and the cut scenes themselves felt somewhat robotic. There were some awkward camera angles, but because the game was much simpler compared to its predecessors, I didn’t find that they hindered my progress all that much.

Final Verdict: Although Assassin’s Creed Liberation features a Black female protagonist and renders some truly stunning environments, the lack of a strong story and the simplicity of its gameplay makes it an average-quality installment in the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

#video game review

0 notes

comicteaparty · 7 years ago

Text

February 1st, 2018 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on February 1st, 2018, from 5PM - 7PM PST. The chat focused on Ellie of the Stars by Shoona Browning.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

Good day everyone~! This week’s Comic Tea Party is now officially beginning. Today we are discussing Ellie of the Stars by Shoona Browning~! (http://www.ellieofthestars.com/) For those new to CTP, discussions about the comic are freeform, so please feel free to bring up whatever you wish. However, every 30 minutes I will be dropping in a discussion question to help those who would like a prompt. These questions are totally OPTIONAL to answer so pay them no mind if you wish~! Remember, constructive criticism is allowed, but the primary focus here is to have fun and appreciate the amazing comics that the community makes~! Each chat a top comment will be picked and featured on an ad for this chat, so let’s have a great discussion~!

With that said, let us begin with this first question~!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

snuffysam

I love the face-off against the yarnweaver. It was cool seeing Ellie up against such a dangerous adversary.

🎵Tenor🎶

A1: Everything involving the Yarnweaver. That whole scene was a trip but also led to some good plot set up, as well as interesting character development

Eeey :D

saetje (Tracy MacLauchlan)

The weaver scene is cool but my favorite is the slumber party going on right now(edited)

MathTans the Pun Prince

Hiyo. Yeah, actually I liked the transition to the Yarnweaver the first time. Because it was a scene with Talia, and I thought we were transitioning out of a memory, but nope, stuff's actually happening. Got me there, clever.

saetje (Tracy MacLauchlan)

I feel like the comic hadn’t had time to really breathe and make us love those kids as much as it could- it’s a needed scene and a really charming one at that!

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

Woooo!

I like the part after the faced-off the Yarnweaver and Marble and Nitta cheered Ellie up(edited)

I was like awwwwww

so touching

:'3

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

I have two favorite scenes right now. Firstly, this one, which I feel like was a directed at the audience as well as the characters: http://www.ellieofthestars.com/post/162641612678/thanks-for-reading-be-sure-to-follow-ellie-of And also this one: http://www.ellieofthestars.com/post/103646306306 Mostly because the puns are terrible and I love it.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah i really appreciated Ellie's breakdown cause regardless of her personality, shes still basically just a kid and fighting off against the yarnweaver sounds traumatic at best XD

MathTans the Pun Prince

Mharz - Right. I particularly liked the scene too because it addressed how Ellie was away from her family, which I felt was a thing that should happen.

Nattosoup

Art wise, I really love the transition from black and white to beautifully rendered color, and I feel like it denotes a transition from Ellie's normal life to a life of adventure and unknown.

MathTans the Pun Prince

Natto - Good point, I thought the time it switched to colour worked well.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

Oh man those puns made me laugh so hard

snuffysam

Yeah, even though it was probably a coincidence, I feel like that really worked out story-wise

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

Ellie is so adorable

:'3

snuffysam

in a wizard of oz sort of way

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

I agree, mharz, ellie is adorable. XD I just wanna hug her

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

I like her enthusiasm

snuffysam

i want to hug all the characters

Nattosoup

I love her facial expressions too

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

also I wanna tell her to stop running off to go talk to gods which might actually just be gigantic jerks

Nattosoup

she's so cute and expressive

MathTans the Pun Prince

I think the description in the comic "are you for real" works for Ellie. ^.-

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

Ikr, kabocha

ellie pls

MathTans the Pun Prince

Kabocha - Yeah, honestly? She kinda brought the whole Yarnweaver thing on herself. Glad that she considered that too in her breakdown.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

don't go wishing meeting god nilly nally

MathTans the Pun Prince

Marble: "This is a bad idea." Ellie: "No, no, it's fine, see?"

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

I like that scene where she packed so much stuffs

MathTans the Pun Prince

Marble's the voice of reason sometimes.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

even duct tapes

Nattosoup

@Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨ Decisions are HARD! You need to be prepared for everything and anything

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i like how the ultimate outcome of that whole adventure was that whoops, no one is still able to read that map. that makes the whole adventure really bittersweet for me since all they gained was a tiny gawd and a lifetime of mental scars

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

peeks

Oh hello!

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

xD(edited)

snuffysam

yo, superjustin!

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

eey it's the Snuff!

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

LOL Rebel

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Nitta is arguably the cutest reward.

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Just thought I'd drop in and see what's going on in the CTP

Nattosoup

all worth it for Nitta

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Kinda a bit busy myself to participate in full

saetje (Tracy MacLauchlan)

Yeah Nitta is awesome

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

yes

Nitta is adorable

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

(plus previous CTP's kinda burnt me out)

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Aww, that's a terrible shame, Justin. :< This week's comic is super cute and I really think you might like it!

Joichi the Comic Artist

Hi i just dropped by! Catching up on Ellie comic

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

They were even more adorable when Ellie transformed their outfit to a kitty pajama.

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

JOICHI

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

those were good choices in outfits

🎵Tenor🎶

It's been super cute

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

The blanket fort is also super awesome

Joichi the Comic Artist

Hey Justin!

Nattosoup

OMG the outfits

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

I need to learn some blanket fort making techniques

🎵Tenor🎶

/eatin g, sorry will b slow

Nattosoup

I really love Ellie's adorable magical girl outfit, it is the cutest thing ever with those pumpkin shorts

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

you can never go wrong with a good outfit

MathTans the Pun Prince

Yeah, Nitta's the cat's meow.

🎵Tenor🎶

Dude blanket forts are the shit

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

I second that

Nattosoup

Although yes, Kitty PJs were so cute too

🎵Tenor🎶

Gold star on their creation lol

Joichi the Comic Artist

Aww I got hit with shoona's adorable style

Nattosoup

tbh the choices in clothing is really nice in EoS

saetje (Tracy MacLauchlan)

Okay but Netti’s kigirumi aahh

Nattosoup

I really appreciate when comics/artists spend that time

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Also, the Q&A answers.

the last one is pretty amusing

Ellie's face

http://www.ellieofthestars.com/post/167603582969/second-installment-of-our-midchapter-qa

saetje (Tracy MacLauchlan)

The comic has some pretty fun expressions

Overall and throughout

MathTans the Pun Prince

Ellie must already know some magic, right? She's in space without a helmet and breathing okay.

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

It's defnitely a fun read overall

everything is adorable

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

There's a cute childlike logic to it which I totally dig

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

my fave Q&A was actually i think the one @Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨ asked because the yarnweaver can also be a small jerk

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

and the transition from BW to color is really smooth

LOL

saetje (Tracy MacLauchlan)

I like how much the artist improved over a few pages too

That’s always so gratifying as a reader

snuffysam

Yeah the improvement is really nice!

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

ooof I wish my internet is faster so I can get screenies

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

@✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨ to be honest, it was not the answer I was expecting. XD

Nattosoup

@shoona 's art is really just lovely, I love their style in general. It's so soft and gentle

Jonny Aleksey

hi. I only got to read Ch3 but I liked what I read. It was really cute and I like the "kids on chill adventure" vibe.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

yis

:'3

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

eey Jonny

Joichi the Comic Artist

I agree, I'm noticing a nice change within the pages. EotS comic: Her characters are so expressive, I can also imagine how they may sound like.(edited)

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

@Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨ i dont think its the answer anyone was expecting which is what made it great XD

Jonny Aleksey

I remember when my bro and sisters used to make blanet forts. We took up the whole living room

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

dang those sounds like epic amazing forts. ellie clearly needs to up her game O_O

Jonny Aleksey

Oh I guess that answers Q1 :0

@✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨ we had a lot of chairs

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

LOL

🎵Tenor🎶

Desks make great supports too

MathTans the Pun Prince

They've showed great fortitude.

Jonny Aleksey

There was always too much stuff on my tables to use

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

I dunno, the stuff on the tables can be helpful for stabilizing the blanket forts and securing your roof

although it doesn't help much if you have a very stupid cat who likes to walk on them...

🎵Tenor🎶

Use heavier stuff than the cats

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

all of a sudden the contents of the desk, the cat, and the fort all come down

🎵Tenor🎶

I make a fort every other day just about lol

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Pffft

🎵Tenor🎶

Hey kid loves it

Jonny Aleksey

the fort has fallen. EVACUTE!

🎵Tenor🎶

LOL

shoona

ok thats honestly SO cute

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

oh hai shoona nice to see you your comic is super cute and we're enjoying it a lot

shoona

awwwww hahaha thanks!! im really digging the discussion

Jonny Aleksey

Your comic brings back childhood memories

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

thank you for coming @shoona ~!

🎵Tenor🎶

Haai

saetje (Tracy MacLauchlan)

Lovely comic @shoona !

snuffysam

your comic is so cute @shoona !!!

shoona

awwwww thanks!!! and no problem, i really wanted to attend!!!

Joichi the Comic Artist

Hey shoona, your comic reminds me of my middle school days, I'd love to pick up these kind of stories. I was really into comics with fun girl leads and space(edited)

Nattosoup

if it's not too off topic, @shoona what are some of your big influences art and storywise?

shoona

aaaa that makes me so happy!!! i really wanted to make something i would have loved in elementary/middle school!!

MathTans the Pun Prince

So here's a question/wondering... I like how the hairstyles of grandma and the prince/princess resemble stars themselves. But others don't have that hairstyle... so it it only a royalty thing, maybe?

Nattosoup

Oh i thought they ARE stars?(edited)

am I missing something?

shoona

oh man @Nattosoup ....Cardcaptor Sakura (that ones p obvious) and other magical girl series, but also more recently webcomics like cucumber quest and shows like steven universe inspire me a lot

Jonny Aleksey

I didn't notice that! Just that her hair was like, a part of her.

MathTans the Pun Prince

Maybe I'm misinterpreting because I play around with hairstyles myself.

Nattosoup

I really feel like Ellie of the Stars fits so well in that cadre too

like, i'd expect to see it b/w the SU artbook and CCS at a library

shoona

They're star people!!! the hairstyles are up to the individual person's style!

you'll get to see more star people with different hair styles soon :3

Joichi the Comic Artist

Answer: My favorite scene is with Grandma giving tea to Marble and Ellie: http://www.ellieofthestars.com/post/100187316614(edited)

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

granny is really just too adorable.

MathTans the Pun Prince

Another randomness, at first I thought Nitta was communicating by making words appear around her by magic that other characters would read... but I gather it's a telepathy thing? So I wonder if she just turns on general broadcast, or whether she could say something to Ellie that Marble couldn't hear, or vice versa.

shoona

nitta uses sign language :>

MathTans the Pun Prince

OH. That's awesome. I did not pick up on that, oops.

I guess when she was talking about the Yarnweaver being in her head, I got confuzzled.

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

These expressions

I love them

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

QUESTION 2. Despite Ellie being only 14 years old, she’s determined to save the Star Prince and Princess. However, at current, none of the kids seem to know where they are. How do you think they will find them? Will that map of the Yarnweaver’s reveal hidden secrets or will they figure out their location in some other fashion? How will Ellie’s astronomical knowledge hinder or help their quest? Besides finding the location, what other trials do you think our protagonists might face?

shoona

nah its cool!!! its never explicityly stated that thats how they talk so i can see how someone might miss it!

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Use the internet *shot

MathTans the Pun Prince

Do the Star People know computers? They had only a library and magic.

Like, legit question, I'm wondering.

saetje (Tracy MacLauchlan)

I’m interested to see how the books Ellie brought on her quest and her astronomy knowledge will come into play

Nattosoup

@saetje (Tracy MacLauchlan) same here!

I love when creators are able to weave something that sorta starts off as a bit of a joke (Ellie overpacks) into something that can save the day!

snuffysam

I think the map itself will be a dead end, but Ellie's astronomy knowledge could save the day here!

shoona

it was really important to me that eots had a strong book/story motif so im sorta gently ignoring computers as wonderful as they are @MathTans the Pun Prince ;p

MathTans the Pun Prince

Maybe the map only seems like gibberish because Nitta's using the wrong point of reference. Which Ellie could figure out. Stars'll look different depending on the planet you see them from.

Nattosoup

@shoona that also gives it a timeless feel though

MathTans the Pun Prince

shoona: That's cool! I was glad they weren't just asking Siri stuff, just curious.

Nattosoup

which i think makes it relatable to a wider range of people

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

You know, I think while the map might not be any good... I think Ellie, Marble, and Nitta will probably find the Yarnweaver's journal or something. Or a book that was written by the Yarnweaver! And it'll have ALL THE SECRETS

and maybe a silly secret about how the yarnweaver really likes to wear bunny slippers when nobody's around

shoona

LMAO

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

oh geez that just makes me picture the yarnweaver even angrier as hes like how dare you read my private diary

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

really, the yarnweaver is just grumpy because nobody's let him have a nice cup of tea

MathTans the Pun Prince

Maybe Ellie's duct tape can help the Yarnweaver with those bandages.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

I went to get breakfast

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

all yarnweaver wants to do is tell a story, get a cup of tea, and maybe be pampered

also listen to some tally hall

shoona

don't we ALL

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

MathTans the Pun Prince

Yarnweaver can really turn on the tears though when needed.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

but on with what @MathTans the Pun Prince was saying i am curious how ellie's knowledge factors in cause stars do look diff from diff locations so trying to follow constellations youre familiar with isnt so easy XD

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

I wonder if the stars have different people living there

🎵Tenor🎶

2. I'd like to think that there's more to the map. Just because the Yarnweaver had a hand in little Nitta's creation doesn't mean they know everything. Besides, they say people can be inspired by the real deal, so maybe it's coded or something just enough Nitta has no clue and it just seems like nothing.

MathTans the Pun Prince

I liked how Marble was like, astronomy/geography, same diff.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

LOL Same Math

same difference

Nattosoup

it would be to a star traveller, so that was a pretty cute bit of dialogue

that does a good job implying that this sort of travel is casual for Marble.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

at least they don't worry about not being able to breathe in space

Nattosoup

TBH I'm really glad shoona set it up that way

b/c i feel like solving that problem in comic time would've been a bit slow for younger readers

plus it's sorta a magic adventure, and being able to breathe in space ties in to that IMO

shoona

tbh when it comes to logic stuff i like to play it fast and loose and just go with whatever is fun

MathTans the Pun Prince

Tenor: So they just need to crack the code.

🎵Tenor🎶

Well they'd have to realize it's a code first.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

just connect the dots or something

maybe it'll form an arrow

pointing to the location

🎵Tenor🎶

Lol "X marks the spot"

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

take three steps to the east

then fifteen to the north

shoona

LOL

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

then dig 5000 ft

shoona

"fifteen what? years?"

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

that's where the prince and princess lie

🎵Tenor🎶

"Lie"

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

fifteen steps

🎵Tenor🎶

JESUS MHARZ

Just straight up "Nah son dey ded"

shoona

hahahahaha

dam

MathTans the Pun Prince

They wouldn't lie! They should tell the truth.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

it's all written in the stars.

/shots

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i think because of how kid-oriented the comic comes off the leaps in logic are fine (like how they breathe in space). because part of it always makes me wonder if the story is exaggerated a bit cause kid imagination and logic. maybe its all a fantasy and marble is just some new kid who moved next door and theyre playing in the backyard

🎵Tenor🎶

Same could be true for Nitta. Explains why a god uses sign language and not, like, telepathy. Assuming it's not both since the kids seem to understand them

Now I imagine Marble crashed his bike in Ellie's backyard

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Ellie's mom is probably maaaaaaaaaaad

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

I heard something about sign language

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

and worried

Nattosoup

ahaha that would be such an adorable AU

MathTans the Pun Prince

Marble isn't a kid at all. He's just a marble that Ellie's been talking to this whole time, sitting in the backyard. Talia's worried about her.

Nattosoup

or even like bonus comic (or a really cute reveal)

🎵Tenor🎶

..would that make the yarnweaver Nitta's like, cranky highschool older sibling?

MathTans the Pun Prince

SuperJ: Nitta communicates using it.

🎵Tenor🎶

Asshole bully who just wants their lemon fanfic read

shoona

chokes

🎵Tenor🎶

Nattosoup

this said though, I honestly really love that Nitta uses signlanguage and NOT telepathy

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

welp was still kid friendly and then tenor ruined it

shoona

TENOR OH MY GOD

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

Yarnweaver should just weave comics and post it to tapas(edited)

MathTans the Pun Prince

Yarnweaver doesn't like that people reject his ships.

🎵Tenor🎶

Tenor's here to ruin everything hush.

Nattosoup

since this is an all ages comic, its really lovely to see that sort of rep in such a beautiful, sweet way

🎵Tenor🎶

Besides how many kids these days know what a lemon fanfic is?

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

google is your friend

MathTans the Pun Prince

Tenor: You make me feel old with that.

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

omg Tenor

I look away for ONE MINUTE and lemon comes up

🎵Tenor🎶

Natto: Yees~

Mharz: How many kids know how to use google

Fuck look at how many adults don't know how to google

Nattosoup

I feel like EotS is a super accessible comic that has a beautiful variety of characters and abilities

🎵Tenor🎶

I feel they're safe

Kabo: I'm not apologizing.

Nattosoup

and the world really needs that

snuffysam

tenor!!!

🎵Tenor🎶

snuffysam

you swore in the middle of refusing to apologize for ruining the chat!!!

MathTans the Pun Prince

Natto: Agreed. And they have some flaws which they reveal too.

🎵Tenor🎶

Math: It's ok I'm probably older (but have heard cute stories about how people found out about what lemon meant lmao.)

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah i agree with @Nattosoup that the comic is just...really beautiful. like its filling a missing piece of lit for its target audience of kids

🎵Tenor🎶

Snuffy: ... but I always swear lol

MathTans the Pun Prince

Tenor: I'm over 40. x.x I'm not really in this comic's demographic, but still liked it. ^.-

🎵Tenor🎶

Also I figured out what Ellie's facial expressions remind me of. Steven Universe - in the sense of when you see it, you can feel the emotion because you k now that wide ass smile that that's probably how it feels to have it.

Math: -GASP- someone older then me what's this witchcraft

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

LOOL

MathTans the Pun Prince

Interesting, I hadn't picked up on that, but now that you mention it I can see it.

snuffysam

the sparkles that sometimes appear in the characters' eyes also help with feeling the emotion (see: "i'm in SPACE")

🎵Tenor🎶

Yeees

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE

I will be so sad if this comic ends up being just a dream :<

MathTans the Pun Prince

They can't go to a space bar though. No computers.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

what struck me as SU like was the tears cause man those were huge tears. the sort of tears that bash you over the head with the sad and ask if youre feeling it yet

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

yus

🎵Tenor🎶

sslfkj

Nattosoup

i really love tears like that

you see them in Ghibli films too

snuffysam

at the same time, if it is just a dream, it's still a cute comic about childhood imagination

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

@Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨ really? i wouldnt sad if it was a dream. most just respectful of how robust child imagination can be.

Nattosoup

it's like, the emotion is so big, it's overflowing

bubbling forth

shoona

i love me some ghibli tears

Nattosoup

i really really love how emotive the kids are in EotS, and how @shoona not only draws that emotion, but the reactions to emotion

MathTans the Pun Prince

Anyone see the "Little Prince" movie? I'm suddenly reminded of it.

🎵Tenor🎶

Not me

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

I DID

MathTans the Pun Prince

What with the trip to space and is it a dream.

shoona

i just wanna draw kids being friends and supporting eachother!!!!

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

I read the book too(edited)

one of my faves

shoona

i havent seen or read it but its on my list!!

MathTans the Pun Prince

Yeah, I read the book long ago... it's here somewhere...

Could be more inspiration!

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

I was actually thinking that it somehow reminds me of the Little Prince

I'd totally like to see Ellie travel to the stars

I mean different stars

MathTans the Pun Prince

Hollywood stars?

saetje (Tracy MacLauchlan)

I can see the little prince comparisons

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

in a way she has cause id assume shes no longer in our solar system. unless the star people live on like venus or something and nobody told me O_O

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

I'm totally curious if there are different ppl living in the stars

Nattosoup

there was a really nice anime in the 80's for the Little Prince, it might be floating around YT

oh it would be interesting to sorta get idea of what star system EotS takes place

just from like a nerdy POV

MathTans the Pun Prince

There was a Saturday morning cartoon of Little Prince too, if memory serves. Unless it was a translation of the anime.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

I bet Ellie will totally geek out of seeing the stars up close

Nattosoup

on that note, it also sorta gives me Little Nemo vibes

MathTans the Pun Prince

The sun's also a star though, and she's seen it.

Nattosoup

but i think it's b/c it's adorable, round cheeked expressive kiddos on big adventures(edited)

that are somewhat dreamlike

MathTans the Pun Prince

Then there's S.T.A.R.S., but no need to bring zombies into this...

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yes i totally agree with the little nemo vibes which is why i wouldnt be miffed if ellie woke up and it was all a dream. because if it ended the way the movie did theres always that question of whether it was a dream or not.

Nattosoup

oh you know, that's a good point @✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

Nattosoup

a certain subset of readers have been somewhat primed by media that has a similar vibe to expect the "it was all a sweet dream' ending

that's not a bad thing either, it will be interesting to see how it pans out

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

QUESTION 3. All the current events are set into motion from the attack that happened on The Star Kingdom in the past. Where did the monster that attacked come from? Was it all just bad luck or is there a more sinister, complicated mystery going on? Additionally, why haven’t the Star Prince and Princess returned? Is it as Ellie was told that they’re so far away they don’t know it’s safe, or is there perhaps another reason that prevents their return? Lastly, if the Star Prince and Princess return, will they be able to restore the kingdom to its former glory?

MathTans the Pun Prince

It was a dream.... and then Ellie summons her sword. O.o

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

Yarnweaver made it

Nattosoup

whoa, good questions in 3 there

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

@Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨ I'mma agree

Yarnweaver's pullin' strings.

Nattosoup

I have to think there's more going on than they just don't realize it's safe to return yet

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

that darn yarnweaver

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

Yarnweaver likes to add spice to his story

snuffysam

Do we know for sure it's safe for them to return? Maybe the monster's been following the prince and princess all this time.

MathTans the Pun Prince

They don't have cab fare. Can't get back.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

cus happy and peaceful = boring

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Maybe the prince and princess got eaten, but they're little tiny stars right now

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

@snuffysam i wondered that myself. cause clearly the monster is nowhere in the star kingdom. so maybe its following them

snuffysam

and if they were to return, it would just put the kingdom in danger again

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

another theory is Prince and Princes might be behind all of this

🎵Tenor🎶

I'm banking on Yarnweaver myself

snuffysam

they just wanted a vacation

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

they made a family from a galaxy far far away.

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Yarnweaver really just... wants some recognition for a well-told story. But if Yarnweaver wants to be recognized, yarnweaver needs to end the story with a happy ending

MathTans the Pun Prince

Don't we only have the Yarnweaver's word that there was a monster after the royalty? I mean, there was the attack from Marble's point of view, but maybe it was for another reason. Then Yarnweaver spun the story, because... ratings.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

poor yarnweaver. no wonder hes grumpy. everyone assumes hes the villain

🎵Tenor🎶

Because they 'wanted a story to be known' and well, why repeat that story when they could have literally caused the effects to happen - what if Yarnweaver was planning for Ellie to get away because they need a heroine to finish the story and bring it to a conclusion so cast themselves as the villian?

One big long con

MathTans the Pun Prince

Maybe it's a test. Fail the test, try on another planet.

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Hey, if telling a tale is also known as spinning a yarn...

MathTans the Pun Prince

Maybe the monster was a test too, of the Prince.

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

and weaving a tale

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

Yarnweaver just wants to troll everyone

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Yarnweaver is silver, confirmed

🎵Tenor🎶

Also Yarnweaver's eye keeps changing colors

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

id buy this yarnweaver theory tho. its all just a game to weave a cool story.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

or maybe yarnweaver just wants to make friends

🎵Tenor🎶

spoiler: More than one yarnweaver, flee.

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Yarnweaver wants to get on the NY Times bestseller list legitimately.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

in a not so pleasant way

🎵Tenor🎶

...what is Nitta's the one pulling the strings but needed a villian so made Yarnweaver.

if*

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

gasp

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Is Nitta an anagram for anything?! QUICK, LET'S DECONSTRUCT THIS

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

what if Ellie's mom is the yarnweaver(edited)

/shots

🎵Tenor🎶

MathTans the Pun Prince

Nitta = Tan it.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

Somehow I feel like nitta is a play for knit since Yarn

MathTans the Pun Prince

There are many Yarnweavers, all different sizes.

Nattosoup

ooo

MathTans the Pun Prince

Mharz: That's pretty brilliant, nice catch.

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Oh, good point, Mharz

Nitta = Knitter

snuffysam

yeah thats probably it

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

@shoona can you confirm

Nattosoup

so perhaps a puppet? or a pawn?

MathTans the Pun Prince

We shouldn't be too nittapicky.

shoona

HEH

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

nitta was jealous of the yarnweaver always weaving good tales so she stole his to make it her own.

MathTans the Pun Prince

Maybe Nitta was the monster. Yarnweaver imprisoned it inside her. When they finally meet the Prince, true colours are revealed.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

maybe the monster was created by a rival kingdom cause the star kingdom kept getting all the tourism.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

MathTans the Pun Prince

Heh, I thought about that.

It's the fault of the Moon Kingdom. Darn it, Serenity.

snuffysam

we really dont know anything about nitta's backstory, huh? like, were they born, or were they created for some purpose?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

PFFT

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Looks like we need some more loredumps?

MathTans the Pun Prince

Snuffy: You mean Gods?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

all their chara profile says is "Nitta is related to The Yarnweaver, though to what extent nobody is entirely sure. Yarnweaver calls them his niece, which seems fake but ok."(edited)

MathTans the Pun Prince

(Or was that 'they' in the singular and I'm just dense...)

✨Respheal✨

Singular they yes

snuffysam

yeah i meant singular they

MathTans the Pun Prince

My bad.

✨Respheal✨

(Hi I derped on time but I'm hereeeeeeee and EotS is so cute <3)

MathTans the Pun Prince

Nitta's a niece person.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

best squad

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Pajama squad is where all the cool kids rule

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

yessss

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

oh lol i did not notice before that nitta was making the nya hand pose

✨Respheal✨

Yes there's no way Nitta could be menacing. I kinda got the gist they might take Yarnweaver's place some day?

MathTans the Pun Prince

Where DO the Gods come from though. Evolved from the Star Kingdom? Do they just hang out there?

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

they did it in all the panels

of that page

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

They're Gods, they just exist

snuffysam

that might be it? like, nitta is a young yarnweaver?

if gods just exist, how old is nitta? infinite?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i assume nitta was created in a sense to apprentice to the yarnweaver. that is my assumption.

shoona

you're spot on

MathTans the Pun Prince

Rebel: But by whom?

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

or maybe yarny is lonely so they made a company

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

by the yarnweaver.

i assume

once again

MathTans the Pun Prince

Is Nitta actually young, or is she 903 and just looks young for a God?

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

he's yarning for someone to talk to

snuffysam

by yarnweaver's sibling? since thats what a niece is

Nattosoup

haha that's if Nitta is actually related to the Yarnweaver

a lot of people will refer to their friends kids as their nieces/nephews

or even just adopted family

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

snuffysam

true true

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

maybe Nitta is extracted from Yarny's body

snuffysam

gross

MathTans the Pun Prince

Um? My sister-in-law has a daughter who's a niece, but she's not directly related.

Nattosoup

yeah

like that.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

they're made of yarn at least

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

you don't get questioned as much if you say someone's your neice or nephew as you would if they were your child

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

or I least I think Nitta was made of yarn

Nattosoup

My godfather isn't related to me at all, but I grew up calling him Uncle Calvin

@Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨ I would 200% that if i could

hey Yarnweaver, why does this kid live with you?

MathTans the Pun Prince

Oooh, Yarnweaver is Nitta's GOD father.

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Nitta is Yarny 2.0 -- cuter and overall better. Less bandaged. Not falling apart I guess

Nattosoup

no idk, i'm just giving an example of a non related niece

MathTans the Pun Prince

I'm using it to try to advance a strange theory.

snuffysam

as is the norm

MathTans the Pun Prince

(String theory? With yarn?)

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

aaaaaaaa

✨Respheal✨

Oh lord

Joichi the Comic Artist

whoa im so behind on reading answers.. I just chuckled at some and then missing 20+ messages later(edited)

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

Math is pulling out the strings

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

I'm feeling awful strung along now

MathTans the Pun Prince

We've reached the puppet tier.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

you could say Yarny knitted Nitta(edited)

Nattosoup

gettin kinda strung out eh?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

wait maybe yarnweaver had to make nitta. maybe the bandages are more than just how yarnweaver likes to dress and more cause yarnweaver is falling apart

MathTans the Pun Prince

Yarnweaver is a god MUMMY.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

Eventually Yarny will possess Nitta

✨Respheal✨

Nooooooo ;o;

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Someone hands shoona a Yarnweaver amigurumi and says: "I'm no Nitta, but I can crochet"(edited)

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

PFT

Yarny turns into a sweater

shoona

id be so charmed

snuffysam

yarnweaver is a mummy mummy that knitted nitta

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

You could say Yarnweaver is really Nitta's mummy?

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

Yarny will become a christmas sweater

snuffysam

yup, knitted nitta's mummy is a mummy

MathTans the Pun Prince

So, where could the Prince and Princess be hiding that couldn't be seen by a God? Can Nitta use her powers to know where she CAN'T see, thereby leading them to a possible location?

(Sorry for a suddenly intelligent question.)

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

A sweater? There's enough bandage there for a blanket!

@MathTans the Pun Prince --- Hm, I'm not sure Yarnweaver's omnipotent, so that might be working in their favor

MathTans the Pun Prince

I have a blanket denial for that. sweater drop

snuffysam

nitta is typically referred to as a demigod i think? so maybe that's just outside their power

MathTans the Pun Prince

Snuffy: Fair point. Would Yarnweaver know a possible place though, maybe that's what the crypitc map's about?

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

5000 ft underground(edited)

O_O

MathTans the Pun Prince

What ground? It's space.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

considering nitta is treated like a kid regardless of nitta's actual age i imagine nitta wouldnt have good control over all the supposed weaving powers

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

there are huge stars in the galaxy

🎵Tenor🎶

@shoona Your style is hard to replicate but AH TRIED !

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

ooooh

it's adorable

MathTans the Pun Prince

Oh wow, that's real good.

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

SO CUTE, TENOR

🎵Tenor🎶

THANK

snuffysam

yarny might just straight up know, but he's a jerk and isn't telling. he'd have a hard time telling stories if he didn't know where his characters were.

🎵Tenor🎶

STILL GOTTA PRACTICE CURVES

shoona

@🎵Tenor🎶 OH MY GOSH THIS IS WONDERFUL AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH??????????????? THIS IS BEAUTIFUL

🎵Tenor🎶

And cute 14 year old is excellent excuse lmao

snuffysam

also very cute, tenor!

MathTans the Pun Prince

Maybe he's hiding the truth from himself.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

maybe it's just ploy of the royalty

MathTans the Pun Prince

Prince: "We need a vacation. Let's wish for a monster attack and go to Tahiti in the confusion."

🎵Tenor🎶

@shoona Glad you like~ <3

klsdjhalk.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

im kind of in between and assume yarnweaver doesnt know. but could know if so desired. just hasnt bothered and is like "eh theyre somewhere. at least those star kingdom ppl arent sending em stuff anymore and i can take a vacation."

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Yarnweaver handwaved their location.

MathTans the Pun Prince

It's all about vacations.

IN SPACE.

🎵Tenor🎶

Maybe they wanted a baby star and to do that you needed to jump through legal hoops and they said screw that and found a way to dip out :D

MathTans the Pun Prince

I think that's the lemon Yarnweaver was writing.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

omg

math

🎵Tenor🎶

Hey ain't gotta write lemon for people to want a bby.

For all we know they just gotta cheek nuzzle and a baby pops out from the sparks

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

maybe theyre dead and ellie and marble become the new star royalty.

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

They're star people, all you need is sufficient gravity and matter

MathTans the Pun Prince

But not too much, or you get a black hole.

🎵Tenor🎶

fFFf

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Well, depends on how much matter you have clumped together

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

LOOOL

MathTans the Pun Prince

Yis. It matters.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

now i like to think they havent returned cause theyre collecting stardust so they can make that baby

and are flying around with huge nets

✨Respheal✨

Playing katamari damacy with stardust(edited)

MathTans the Pun Prince

Is it Ziggy stardust?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

QUESTION 4. The comic deals with several themes regarding family, self-confidence, and love. In particular, though, confidence plays a big role within the story. What do you think Ellie and Marble will learn about confidence over the course of their adventure? Will they both find themselves more confident after the adventure, or will there still be some kinks to work out? How might their lives change with a change in their self-confidence? Likewise, how might their lives change in general after the adventure (especially considering Ellie more or less ran away from home)?

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

OMG RES

🎵Tenor🎶

Res + Rebel: Yup. Now my headcanon.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

what if they are playing katamari damacy

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Marble will learn not to be as much of a grouch.

snuffysam

assuming this isn't a dream, talia is probably pretty worried

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

And to forgive himself for not having gone to help his sister. He's a kid!

Marble needs to learn how to be a kid!

MathTans the Pun Prince

I think Marble's confidence will grow, like when he used that grappling hook like a BOSS.

snuffysam

actually how long has it been so far? like one day?

MathTans the Pun Prince

One day I think, yes.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

Ellie will learn that not all wishes has to come true

🎵Tenor🎶

4. I think just this twist with the Yarnweaver (Who I keep typing as yawnmaster for some reason) really showed the confidenc eblow and learning about finding one's footing because without a 'leg' to stand on you can have all the hope and tenacity you want but it won't get you anywhere. You need that focus to go with your drive or you'll miss your mark. I'm pretty sure they got more to explore though, we just got to see the tip of the iceberg. :D

MathTans the Pun Prince

Sometimes when you get what you wish for, it wasn't what you expected at all.

Pffffft, yawnmaster.

🎵Tenor🎶

He'd kill me I'm sure-

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Yawnmaster seems like a dig Ellie might throw at him

🎵Tenor🎶

LOL

omg I'd die

MathTans the Pun Prince

"Just go to sleep!"

shoona

i love it xDDD

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

(edited)

MathTans the Pun Prince

Has a master's degree in yawning.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

@🎵Tenor🎶 those are some excellent points about hope and tenacity and i really loved the comic played it that way.

Joichi the Comic Artist

rofl! master's degree

MathTans the Pun Prince

Truth. Granny's pretty good at imparting the wisdom too.

She's also great at rolling with the punches.

🎵Tenor🎶

I bet Granny's seen some shit in her time

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah i hope they visit granny lots. granny is wise and i think makes a good grounding element for the kids being...well kids

snuffysam

yeah i love how granny is the person to go to at the end of the day. or when things get too heavy to handle.

MathTans the Pun Prince

Granny used to run a tea shop, maybe. Had to close down. Yarnweaver misses her tea.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

or the opposite. yarnweaver wants to open a tea business and had to make sure granny was put out of business

Nattosoup

ohhh snap, cut throat

🎵Tenor🎶

LOL Had nothing to do with the royals, needed granny's shop destroyed

shoona

xDDD

i love this AU y'all are spinning

🎵Tenor🎶

Hey until shown otherwise it's potential canon ;D /shot

shoona

Ellie of the Stars: Tea Wars

🎵Tenor🎶

LOL

Yes xD

MathTans the Pun Prince

Prince and Princess won't come back until the tea shop's reopened.

That's all they need to do.

Nattosoup

they were all just a ploy

🎵Tenor🎶

The star they're now on is the last place to get that special blend untli the shop is reopened.

MathTans the Pun Prince

"special" blend.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

so the whole adventure is them figuring out how to reinvigorate granny's love of tea while hoping yarnweaver doesnt get that small business loan

shoona

xDDD

MathTans the Pun Prince

Yarnweaver tried to use Nitta as collateral. Didn't go well.

shoona

oh no!!!

MathTans the Pun Prince

We haven't talked that much about Marble and his sister. That was a nice relationship, I thought.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i really want to know why he was living with his sister tho.

MathTans the Pun Prince

I thought it was just while he was in town.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

Joichi the Comic Artist

yeah I really like Marble and his sister River's relationship

MathTans the Pun Prince

Right, that's the name!

🎵Tenor🎶

Why didn't Marble go ohme. Not like he can't drive places >__>

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i thought it might be just cause he was in town. but maybe it was a perma solution.

MathTans the Pun Prince

Can't afford the gas.

Joichi the Comic Artist

hahah was he driving a spaceship without a license?(edited)

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

what tenor said

why hasnt he gone home

unless his parents are dead

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Good question

MathTans the Pun Prince

He doesn't want to go home without his sister, maybe.

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

is there any food at the house

or a bed?

shoona

LOL so this is something that will sortof be touched on later!!!

MathTans the Pun Prince

Oooh, spoilers.

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Poor marble :<

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

mmm spoiled rotten

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

aww marble

MathTans the Pun Prince

I wonder if Ellie reminds Marble of his sister in some ways? Maybe that's why he went to check her out?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

maybe. i think marble was just desperate tbh XDXD

MathTans the Pun Prince

(Did River have a loud voice?)

There's that too.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

couldnt find anyone whod help

was just like "okay first person theyre the one."

i wonder what he was doing in ellie's part of the galaxy tho

MathTans the Pun Prince

I figured searching for Prince and Princess. Though I guess he hadn't questioned the locals yet, since he talked to Ellie about doing that.

Seems like that'd be a better first step. Unless locals didn't like to talk to him.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

are there locals besides granny O_O

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Marble might have been looking for his sister, too

MathTans the Pun Prince

I guess I somehow figured his sister's with the Prince and Princess. Still trying to protec.

Rebel: There must be. Who would she play bridge with?

snuffysam

so if marble is away from home looking for his sister (and the royals)... i guess he's technically a runaway too?

did all three main characters run away from home to go on this adventure?

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

River left Marble to granny tho(edited)

snuffysam

oh yeah true

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

granny is a really bad babysitter

Lady Mharz of ��Pretty Women✨

granny pls

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

Granny: Oh you're going on a deep space adventure, Marble? Well have fun.

Nattosoup

how old is Marble though, I assume he's the same age as Ellie, ish?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

hes 12

MathTans the Pun Prince

Granny left the keys to the star car right by the front door.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

according to his profile

Nattosoup

oh whoa really? I'd assumed he was older!(edited)

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

same

shoona

he's a baby boy

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

I thought Ellie was younger(edited)

Nattosoup

even 12 doesn't really require much babysitting though

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

derp

Nattosoup

I wouldn't say Granny is a bad babysitter, as she's allowing Marble to experience life

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Marble's also VERY GROWN UP (don't tell him otherwise)

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Babies can be grown up, right?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i guess it all depends on how far ellie is from the star kingdom. like for all i know marble getting there was just like...a few blocks from granny's house on a space scale

MathTans the Pun Prince

Granny's tagged Marble with a GPS. She knows where he is at all times. ^.^

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

O_O

MathTans the Pun Prince

Marble attend school at all then?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yes

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

http://www.ellieofthestars.com/

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Marble smart

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

most recent Q&A

which marble's answer makes me go "oh nvm he can space adventure all he wants then i guess"

MathTans the Pun Prince

Well, that was his old school.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

oh if you mean at current

of course not

school gets in the way of ADVENTURE

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

I disliked most of school growing up

it's boring as f

MathTans the Pun Prince

Just wondering if he went out cruising on Friday night, it's been Saturday, and soon he'll need to get back to classes.

Or if Granny will write him sick notes.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

awww granny sick notes >v>

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

@shoona -- what has marble's school life been like?

snuffysam

granny moonlights as a dj

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

tell us(edited)

snuffysam

drops sick notes

MathTans the Pun Prince

I'm sure it's been marbleous.

Not sworded at all.

shoona

@Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨ this might be a LITTLE in the spoiler zone but river and marble attended something that was sortof like a military training academy for knights and such

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

lol

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

so he IS sort of a knight!

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

So much spoilers

shoona

in training!

MathTans the Pun Prince

Ohhh, so he doesn't go to school in the day. Only at knight time.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

not just fully pledge yet

so Marble is not entirely lying

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

he has no prince or princess to swear fealty to right now

shoona

right

MathTans the Pun Prince

Well, maybe they should investigate the throne room next. Prince/Princess might have left a clue behind.

Lady Mharz of ✨Pretty Women✨

true

shoona

<v<

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

they left their receipt for their cruise ship

Unfortunately, the scheduled Comic Tea Party is now complete~! Thank you everyone so much for joining this week’s chat~! That being said, if you would like to continue discussing the comic, we encourage you to do so~! We want to give a big thank you to Shoona Browning, as well, for volunteering Ellie of the Stars for our reading queue. If you liked the comic, please be sure to support Shoona Browning’s efforts. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions about CTP, please feel free to PM me, or e-mail me at [email protected].

With that said, next week’s Comic Tea Party will focus on Petra’s Apartment by Krazy. Please use this week to read as much of the comic as you would like. Hope to see you next Thursday (February 8th) from 5PM to 7PM PST~! Until then~! Comic: https://krazy-dog.deviantart.com/gallery/62827187/Petra-s-Apartment

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