#and darkside chronicles is an old side game that it feels like a lot of people don't even remember

[thecodeveronica]

kinda rough being the kind of Resident Evil fan I am on tumblr when 60% of the posts are just lusting after Leon and most of the remaining 40% is RE8-related stuff about Ethan or Dimitrescu

[resizura]

I've seen people on twitter talk about characters and trauma but none of them brought up Sheva, Manuela, Ashley, Steve, Ada, ECT. cause they're "not interesting and just poorly written" and would rather talk about the main characters and even Wesker (yuck)

Sorry for the late answer my computer just literally wasn't working lol!!

EEEEEE this is actually perfect because I've always wanted to talk about this but have never been able to articulate it properly so here we go. First tho I always find it funny when people talk about ANY resi character being poorly written and others not poorly written like.... This is Resident Evil... it's all poorly written (half-joking).

It's actually ironic to me that despite resi fans constantly talking about character trauma they bring up the most boring characters with regards to that. It is absolutely vital to Resident Evil that the main characters (Jill, Chris, and Leon, Claire to a certain extent) do not actually respond or react to their traumatic events.

Those three all respond in the same way which is to become jaded military bioweapon killers. Yes there's some exceptions, like Leon's dialogue in darkside chronicles or Chris and Jill "talking" about what happened in RE5 in Death Island, but for the most part? Nothing. This is because (to me, at least,) Capcom can't figure out what to do with them. I mean, it worked in the past because Resident Evil was not really a character-driven story at all, and they just didn't really dive into the characters' reactions to their circumstances much. Most of it is just "man this is just like Raccoon City."

The remakes definitely are though, trying to go for a more realistic and grounded approach, and that means addressing the characters' traumas more. It's too early to tell if that's done well yet to be honest, but so far I personally think the same problem is happening. The characters all react to the zombie apocalypse, yes, but nothing much comes of it. Even though Leon is explicitly Not Okay after RE2R, he's the perfect bioweapon killing machine in RE4R and it just doesn't quite match up with what I think Capcom is going for. But again, it's too early to tell 100%.

On the other hand, the other characters, side characters like Sheva, Manuela, Ashley, Steve, Ada... they're definitely MUCH more interesting and I actually think its because they're side characters or one-off characters. Because of the likelihood we'll never see them again, there's more of a story behind them. Their stories are contained to the (typically) one game they're in and we can build off of that! IMO they have more to work with because Capcom doesn't go into depth with their main characters! It's infuriating that a lot of the side characters are pushed to the side by fans just because they don't appear in as many games! I feel like a lot of these people too just have a limited understanding of them as well, like barely anyone knows about Manuela, a lot of people write off CVX Steve and only pay attention to DSC Steve, and Ashley, Sheva, and Ada tend to be reduced to caricatures of themselves.

I personally think these side characters are just much more engaging than the same old "we keep fighting zombies and stubborn bioterrorists and this is just our life now" main characters!

[blood-darkened-moon]

Alexia’s feelings for Alfred

I hate so much how they’ve butchered Alfred and Alexia’s relationship in Darkside Chronicles. The unconditional love these two shared was the best part of the game. Seriously, if you think Alexia secretly hated Alfred, you haven’t played CV. In the infamous video where they torture a dragonfly and feed the ants with it, you can already see that there is some mutual affection between them. It isn’t one-sided. And if this isn’t enough to convince you, Alexia’s reaction to Alfred’s death makes it obvious.

For context, in DC, Alfred survives moderately injured in his final confrontation with Claire and Steve. He wakes Alexia up, and then she kills Alfred because she is bored of him. He was a toy for her, and now he is no longer useful or entertaining. DC-Alexia is childish, megalomaniac, and purely evil. That’s it.

In CV, Alfred barely survives his final confrontation with Claire and Steve. He is heavily injured and loses a lot of blood, but he still makes it to the room Alexia is in, and wakes her up shortly before his death. Witnessing her brother die makes her go fully berserk. Alexia sends her tentacles after Claire and Steve, who have already brought some distance between themselves and the Antarctica Base. In the meantime, Alexia holds Alfred’s dead body in her arms and gently strokes his hair. He is already gone no need to pretend anything. Also, she sits there fully naked on the metal floor, her skin probably still wet from the liquid in the cryostasis tank. It must be freezing cold. Alexia doesn’t care about herself at this point. Everything that counts at this very moment is her brother. Later on, you can see her again. She is still sitting there, but now she is dressed up. I assume this is after she injected Steve with the virus. Let me get this straight. She was with Alfred for who knows how long, took a little break to take care of Steve and Claire, then returned to cradle his corpse in her arms and sing a lullaby for him while the warmth was leaving his body. How can you think she didn’t love him?

Afterward, Alexia places Alfred’s corpse in the cryogenic freezer, probably to slow down or stop the decomposition. She does not accept his death, isn’t ready to say farewell forever. Likely, she wants to use the t-Veronica virus to revive him, if possible, without severe mutations or waiting 15 years. That’s also the reason why she didn’t kill Steve and Claire immediately out of revenge. She needs someone to test it, but everyone else in the base is dead. Steve is male as well. Therefore, he probably will deliver better results, so she uses him first. Claire stays glued to the stairs, otherwise unharmed, as a backup.

The only time Alexia said anything remotely negative about Alfred is when she calls him an “inept but loyal soldier ant” in one of the files, but this is situational. She wrote the text shortly before she went to her cryogenic sleep. At this time, Alfred was a more or less average 12-year-old kid and very clingy too. Her brother was simply way too young for the important and difficult task that lay ahead of him. However, she couldn’t trust anyone else with it. He has to keep her safe for 15 years. Having doubts that Alfred has the strength to do this is a legitimate concern. And yes, in another document, she wrote: ”The ecosystem of the ants seems truly ideal to me. There is one queen ant in each anthill, and the soldier and worker ants are the queen's slaves. They dedicate their lives to the queen. The death of the queen ant means the doom of the entire anthill. However, the soldier and worker ants can be easily replaced as long as the queen ant is alive. This is exactly the same relationship between myself and other ignorant masses.” Things like this are easy to say when you’ve never lost anyone who was dear to you. She may have thought so at the time of writing this, but her reaction to Alfred’s death proves that she was mistaken. He is the only one she ever cared for. Billions of slaves cannot replace her twin brother, no one can.

Alexia is usually a very rational and calculating person, as you can see in the game. Despite her hatred for Claire and Steve, she hasn’t given in to the heat of the moment and killed them. Neither did she allow herself to cry once. Succumbing to sadness won’t help. Crying has never saved anyone. The enemies surrounding her won’t allow any signs of weakness either. She must stay strong and think rationally while the situation spirals increasingly out of her control. But you can see her emotions slip through occasionally. About to lose her brother forever, she goes through a emotional rollercoaster. Alexia isn’t as cold as you would expect after everything you’ve learned about her. There is hatred toward Claire and Steve, who did this to Alfred. She tosses the snowmobile around in a rage, about to obliterate them. There is sadness when her brother’s lifeless body lies in her arms and the unwillingness to accept his fate. When Steve is about to kill Claire, Alexia’s tentacles hold her in place. She wants him to suffer, wants to afflict the same pain on him she is feeling right now. And before the final battle with Chris, Alexia starts one last attempt to make Claire pay for want she did. Also, Alexia giggles like a maniac in every dialogue. But imagine her situation: you wake up after 15 years just to see your brother dying, the base is partially destroyed, you have no idea what is going on, everyone is dead, zombies and BOWs everywhere, and you’re attacked by multiple enemies for unknown reasons. It wasn’t planned like this. She wanted a kingdom, not this post-apocalyptic nightmare. There is nothing unusual about people reacting with laughter as a response to a terrifying, traumatic, or surprising experiences. It's too much to bear for her. Her laughter is likely an acute stress reaction, not a sign of madness.

Let’s skip to the end of the game. After Chris activates the self-destruct system, Alexia rushes toward the control room. The whole place is about to explode. Why doesn’t she escape? Apparently, she only needs the t-Veronica virus for her world domination plans to succeed, and she has it in her blood. Losing her ants and the equipment would slow her down, not stop her. Alexia is patient, she waited 15 years and can wait a little longer.

Is she bent on revenge? Alexia has already proven that she can control her emotions, no need to take any risks. Attacking directly with less than 5 minutes left doesn’t seem to be a logical decision. If she wants to kill Chris and Claire, nothing is easier than this. She can destroy the jet, their only way to get away from Antarctica. They can still get out of the base, but with temperatures below 0 °C, a snowstorm raging, no vehicle, and without appropriate clothes, this equals a death sentence.

And why does she go after Chris, not Claire? Claire is responsible for Alfred’s death. She should be the target. However, after this one attempted attack, Alexia lets her escape. Chris defeating her earlier in a fight was inconvenient, but she can regenerate, no problem. And Chris wasn’t even the one who started it. How can this be worse than killing her brother? Except for this, Chris hasn’t even done anything to her. Girl, just leave.

Also, have you ever noticed how passive Alexia is and that she has surprisingly little dialogue? The only time she actually engages in a fight is after Wesker enforces it. Otherwise, she says only a couple of sentences (usually threatens Chris), giggles manically, and disappears again. And when she’s confronting Chris and Claire for the last time, she doesn’t even say a single word, no elaborated villain monologue, no talk about how superior she is, how she wants to reform the world and turn all humans into her slaves, nothing. She’s completely silent.

At this point, Alexia has already made up her mind. This is one final desperate attempt to stop the self-destruct system and save Alfred or die trying. She doesn’t want revenge right now, nor does she want to escape. World domination is suddenly not important anymore. The only thing she truly wants is to have her brother back. She must have realized how stupid her plan was, a childish delusion. And Alfred had to pay the price for her foolishness. All her powers weren’t worth it. She isn’t a queen ant, and Alfred wasn’t a soldier ant. She cannot live alone without him. Her powers, her intellect, nothing matters anymore if she can’t save him. She must stop the self-destruct system, otherwise, Alfred will be lost. To have a chance, Alexia needs a lab, the cryogenic freezer, and she can’t drag Alfred’s body around in the frozen tundra for hours.

Alexia has tried to threaten Chris, tried to scare him away with Alexander’s remains, and hoped he would leave her alone after he got what he wanted (Claire). It didn’t work. Now she says nothing because there is nothing left to say. Every word would be a waste of time. Chris and Claire are her enemies. She can’t expect mercy from them, especially not after everything that happened. Alexia attacks Chris because he stands in her way and won’t just go. Claire can wait. Alexia has decided that she doesn’t want to live in a world without her brother. The past hours gave her a glimpse of how empty her life would be. It ends here either she can save him now, or she joins him in death.

DC didn’t do her character justice. Alexia was misguided. She was never the plainly evil monster they tried to make of her. Deep down under her cold and calculating façade, she had a very caring side. During her last hours, Alexia must have been full of pain, guilt, despair, sorrow, fear, and regret. Her brother meant the world to her. Not only Alfred was ready to die for her, Alexia was ready to do the same for him.

[roxy-davenport]

Supernatural Preferences- TV Shows

A/N: I tried to include everyone’s man or woman even if I’m currently not a fan of that character.

CROWLEY (got pic from Google, played around with lighting and tint)

Crowley to me is a dichotomy of dark and light. He can be cruel and evil; after all, he’s the King of Hell…duh. But he also has a loving, gentle side. At his core, he just wants to be loved. That dichotomy would also be present in his TV show habits. He would naturally gravitate towards darker shows, horror shows if you will like: “American Horror Story,” “Channel Zero,” “Penny Dreadful,” “Jekyll,” “Hannibal,” “Gotham,” “Freddy’s Nightmare,” “Boardwalk Empire,” and “Utopia” to name a few. He would love darker horror, the more twisted the better. But at the same time, he would also gravitate towards soap operas like he did when he was hit with purified blood. He would be caught up in the drama of it all hoping the two characters find the love he can’t. He would love a good love story where the characters are happy in the end and have a family. He would gravitate towards characters that had a dark past but were able to rise above it and find love. He would love, “House,” since House is as sarcastic as Crowley is. He would find the character almost a kindred spirit.

BENNY

Benny wants to live a normal life but can’t get away from his vampire urges, which he struggles with daily. He might watch shows like: “True Blood,” curious to see why people like the show and how humans portray his kind. He might also like shows with a character that’s struggling with an addiction or a horrible choice of some kind, or a flawed character that is trying to survive in the crazy world around him like: “Rectify,” “Justified,” “Californication,” “Breaking Bad,” “Elementary,” “Ray Donovan,” “Shameless,” “Mom,” “Mad Men,” He would identify with the characters and the struggles they go through. He might even find in the characters the strength to keep fighting.

DEAN

Dean is a very closed off person preferring to avoid emotions and relationships but everyone needs to be loved and cared for so I imagine in his spare time he would have eclectic tastes. Sometimes, he’d gravitate towards action, preferring to get lost in a fantasy world, grumbling about how that’s not the way you kill a witch. Since the rules of the world would be so different from the real life, he would consider it an escape where he doesn’t have to fee l… he can just watch. When he wants to feel, he would see soap operas like, “Doctor Sexy MD.” That would be his guilty pleasure. He would feel ashamed at needing such exaggerated emotions to bring out his own but glad at the same time to be able to feel something real. He would look on it as an escape from his tough exterior, a safe way to let his emotions out. Maybe he’d also secretly watch romcom TV shows like “Pushing Daisies” or chick flicks like “Gossip Girl” or “Pretty Little Liars,” but this secret he would take to his grave. No one would ever know.

SAM

Sam loves to use his brain so the shows he watches have to make him think. He loves cop procedural dramas and tries to figure out the case before the episode finishes. If he can’t, he is frustrated with himself and reads up on crime scene analysis and killers in general to do better next time. He watches all the cop procedural dramas on every station. He also loves dramas that make him think like “Sherlock” or “Doctor Who.” He has a geeky side as well so he may like comic book TV shows like “Lucifer”, “Gotham”, and “Smallville,” and so on. He would also like cult classic TV shows. He would be able to quote his favorite TV shows.

GABRIEL

He’s big on drama, the bigger and more grandiose the better. So that would mean comedies at times, “How I Met Your Mother” and “Seinfeld,” “Modern Family,” “Family Guy,” the more contrived the better. He’d like reality TV shows, soap operas (all of them), dramas like “Empire” or “Vampire Diaries.” He may even enjoy, “Dear White People.” He LOVES human drama, the more heightened, the better.

CHARLIE

She is a geek at heart who has a particular fondness for fantasy. She loves the “Big Bang Theory,” seeing herself as Penny. She would also enjoy: “Doctor Who,” “Roswell,” “Smallville,” “Gotham,” “Blacklist,” “Quantum Leap,” “Silicon Valley,” “Buffy,” “Angel,” “Charmed,” “Torchwood,” “Firefly,” “Warehouse 13,” “Star Trek,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Orphan Black,” “Lost Girl” and “Farscape,” to name a few.

MEG (got the gif from Goggle)

She may be all-tough on the exterior but she’s just looking for her soulmate, her unicorn…Cas. So romance for this girl, all kinds of romance whether it be in crime shows or horror. She’s fascinated with the idea of tragic love stories. She loves a good cry and some feels. “Nashville,” “Parenthood,” “Dead Like Me,” “Our Miss Brooks,” “Ace Lightning,” “Doctor Who,” “Skins,” “Buffy,” “Lost Girl,” “Cupid,” “Pushing Daisies,” the Cole and Phoebe arc on “Charmed,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Orange is the New Black,” “Catastrophe,” “Veronica Mars,” “You’re the Worst.”

LOTS OF CHARACTERS UNDER THE CUT!!!! 

RUBY (got the pic from Google)

She would gravitate toward stories that feature strong female characters but, unlike Abaddon, not strong women who fought against impossible odds and won or struggled to win in whatever way that would mean for the show. Ruby liked women who were darker, women who manipulated their male counterparts, or evil witches, women she could identify with – “Salem,” “Penny Dreadful,” “Bitten,” “Lost Girl,” “Deadly Women,” “Gotham,” “Once Upon a Time,” “American Horror Story,” “True Blood.”

ABADDON (got the pic from Google, edited it and brightened it)

She’s the Queen bee and used to getting what she wants so she gravitates towards strong female characters who take charge and take the world by storm. She only sees shows where there are strong female characters: “Dear White People,” “Orphan Black,” “Orange is the New Black,” “How to Get Away With Murder,” “Hex,” “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries,” “Dark Angel,” “Tru Calling,” “Haven,” “Revenge,” “Scandal,” “Lizzie Borden Chronicles,” “Madame Secretary,” “Strange Empire,” “Rebellion,” “Ashes to Ashes,” “Rectify,” “Jessica Jones,” “Bomb Girls,” “Cable Girls,” “Bletchley Circle,” and “Rita” to name a few. She might watch Buffy and find it amusing that a short waft of a girl can take on the world and stop an apocalypse. She’d chuckle every time she saw Buffy throw down a huge foe.

ROWENA (got the pic from Google)

She’s a strong female character in her own right and one hell of a witch so naturally she would gravitate towards shows with strong female characters like Abaddon does. Rowena would also watch all the witch dramas she could get her hands on. She would want to see how her kind is portrayed on the show, only to get exasperated that the show didn’t explore the characters fully or used contrived cliches when referring to witches. Each time, she would be hopeful that this new show would get it right. Some shows got some things right and others didn’t. She found “Bewitched,” rather humorous.

CAIN (got the pic from Google)

Cain has been around and has seen it all. He isn’t much for electronic devices of any kind. He doesn’t even have a TV or a CD player. He has a gramophone to play old records. He hates technological advances thinking the past is simpler and holds more magic. So he would gravitate towards movies played at retro theaters. He’d hang around town for film festivals especially film noir. I don’t think he’d watch any television programs.

CASTIEL (got the gif from Google)

His goal is to understand humans better so to meet that need, he would be interested in sitcoms and period dramas because they would offer glimpses into the human condition. He would study the facial expressions, the emotions, the clothes, the choices they make, and the constant drama they find themselves in. He would start to draw patterns and conclusions. He might watch, “Downton Abbey,” “Z: The Beginning of Everything,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Seinfeld,” “Cable Girls,” “Dear White People,” “Bomb Girls,” “Rebellion.” “Strange Empire,” “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries,” “The Tudors,” “How to Get Away With Murder,” and “Big Bang Theory,” to name a few.

JOHN WINCHESTER (got the gif from Google)

He’s a man’s man so he’d enjoy any show with explosions and tons of action, the bigger the better. He’s not too savvy on TV shows, preferring movies but he’d love the old “Hulk,” and serials in general, featuring loners going into town and saving people, mirroring his own life. Maybe he’s watch to make himself feel better for leaving the boys and sacrificing everything for the greater good, for revenge or maybe just to see something familiar. Maybe he’d even enjoy “Game of Thrones,” and get lost in the action and drama of it all.

LUCIFER

At his core, Lucifer is a prideful being so he would gravitate towards what we would consider referential shows about himself, big surprise. He would love to see how humans portray the devil – think “Lucifer,” “the Exorcist,” episodes of “Tales From the Darkside,” episodes of “Tales of the Crypt,” as well as “666 Park Avenue.” He would be delighted to see his character on the TV – only growing frustrated and angry every time they get him wrong, which might end up with Lucifer requesting a TV producer to sell his soul to him for fame. Lucifer would happily honor this deal by feeding him an accurate portrayal of the devil in a TV show. He would get a kick out of “Damien,” wishing he had a son to pass on his legacy.

Tagging a couple of peeps to get the word out

Forevers @purgatoan, @killerofthesouth, @charliebradbury1104, @chaos-and-the-calm67, @chelsea072498 @everyday-supernatural-af @kalliravenne @toogardenenthusiast @winchesterprincessbride @one-shots-supernatural @take-me-tonirvana @hellsmother @ellen-reincarnated1967 @faegal04 @deals-with-demons @mamaredd123 @atc74 @hamartiamacguffin @donnaintx @love-kittykat21 @impala-dreamer @evansrogerskitten @lucifer-in-leather @hiswickedkitty @riversong-sam @rosie-winchester

Assorted Peeps: @webcricket @faegal04 @faith-in-dean @ruprecht0420 @jesspfly @donnaintx @nothin-after-79  @faegal04  @faith-in-dean @bennyyh. @ruprecht0420  @supernatural-jackles. @jesspfly@donnaintx. @amanda-teaches @salvachester, @mrswhozeewhatsis @jayankles @sis-tafics, @idreamofhazel, @skybinx-blog @whispersandwhiskerburn @notnaturalanahi @for-the-love-of-dean, @deansleather, @deandoesthingstome, @imadeangirl-butimsamcurious, @babypieandwhiskey, @deantbh, @pinknerdpanda, @wayward-mirage, @luciisthebest, @thing-you-do-with-that-thing, @nichelle-my-belle, @plaidstiel-wormstache, @kittenofdoomage, @sunriserose1023, @wheresthekillswitch,  @envydean, @raspberrymama, @ravengirl94, @bcr36, @crowley-you-sinnamon-roll, @talesmaniac89, @scheherazades-horcrux, @ajacentlee, @chelsea072498

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