#and i Know the lore between games doesn't have to match up

[encrucijada]

might be silly and write bullet points for a possible tears of the kingdom fic 🫶

[wilonevys]

𝐄𝐍𝐇𝐘𝐏𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐌𝐀𝐔 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 (𝟏/𝟐)

the list of the smaus i've read and liked so far!

completed ✔️ - discontinued/on hold ❌ personal favourites 💎 - ongoing 🟩 - smut/nsfw 🔞

note: any smau that hasn’t been updated in over a year will be considered discontinued.

en- sunghoon and maknae line smau recs click HERE!

txt smau recs click HERE!

sorry for the tags!

links are under the cut!

hyung line/multiple

𓆩♡𓆪 « confident » ✔️ 💎💎💎 🔞 by @bambisgirl

SYNOPSIS. after graduating high-school and having a major glow-up over summer, you became more confident in yourself and got the title of the most popular girl at decelis university in your first week of freshman year. you instantly dethroned all of the sophomore girls, on top of being so pretty, kind, smart and sexy… girl you have it all. yet you’re still the same kind, naïve and funny y/n that can’t refuse anyone coming her way. after all, you know what they say… confidence makes a girl sexy but kindness is key!

𓆩♡𓆪 « no nut november » ✔️ 🔞 by @jayflrt

SUMMARY ▸ four men suppressing their carnal instincts for thirty days doesn’t sound plausible, but it’s no nut november, so victory is crucial. yet, there’s��only one obstacle keeping lee heeseung, park jongseong, sim jaeyun, and park sunghoon from their prize: you. game on, boys.

𓆩♡𓆪 « to do: find a boyfriend » 🟩 by @seokgyuu

being single for three and a half years all of your friends are tired of your constant whining. while your girlfriends want you to just get laid, your boy-friends, on the other hand, just think you should pick one of them to date. ignoring them all, you instead decide to try out a dating app to find your match.

𓆩♡𓆪 « r u online? » ❌ (on hold) 💎 by @hoonvrs

SYNOPSIS seems like there’s a small problem between the four best friends when they each find themselves crushing on the same girl. now it’s left up to you to decide who’s your endgame.

𓆩♡𓆪 « zoom » ❌ 💎 🔞 by @enhas-bestie

SYNOPSIS: In which Y/N has a zoom meeting and it turns out that her TA! is incredibly hot. Things escalate. Chaos ensures.

lee heeseung

𓆩♡𓆪 « buy one, take me » ✔️ by @heeracha

synopsis: with his best friend asking him for help because said best friend was scared he wasn't "boyfriend material" enough, heeseung looks for flower shops for his best friend's girlfriend. thankfully, jake knows someone from the university who has an aunt that owns a flower shop, you. now, heeseung messages you and shyly, but shamelessly asks if he can get any promos or discounts to which you shamelessly answered him, "buy one, take me". heeseung doesn't pass on this, of course. after all, you are pretty damn cute.

𓆩♡𓆪 « you, me and the moon » ✔️ by @heeracha

synopsis: lee heeseung is a famous frat boy who is known to be mysterious since he would always stay at the corner to observe people passing by but he does not like the fact that his eyes would linger a little longer on you than he likes to admit because who the fuck is he kidding? you're way too good for him.

𓆩♡𓆪 « so sick ! » ✔️ 💎💎💎 by @yeonjunszn

summary: when your boyfriend of almost eight years cheats on you your senior year of university, you decide that you’re done with anything and everything to do with love. that is, until you meet a guy who sings love songs for a living.

𓆩♡𓆪 « hands on you » ✔️ 💎 💎 by @thatfeelinwhenyou

IN WHICH; I-LAND 2 happened and you debuted first place as the leader of LUMIÈRE. Having been told that your group is involved in a lore crossover with ENHYPEN, you navigate work, friendship, and love while trying to make it in an industry filled with animosity and condemnation. When life throws you lemons, you gotta make lemonades chuck it right back!

𓆩♡𓆪 « the revenge pact » ✔️ by @boyfhee

synopsis: lee heeseung is the handsome yet good for nothing mysterious boy living a floor below you, who dropped out of college and is living quite a lavish life. when you get fired from your job, ending up struggling to make your ends meet and failing to pay the rent, heeseung offers you rather an eccentric proposal : pay the rent or be his girlfriend.

𓆩♡𓆪 « sugar daddy » ✔️ 💎 by @jayflrt

SUMMARY ▸ in which heeseung accidentally becomes your sugar daddy, but funding a sugar baby is hard when you’re a broke college student.

𓆩♡𓆪 « a stoner's guide to starbucks » ✔️ 💎 by @jayflrt

SUMMARY ▸ in which you work at the starbucks where heeseung is a regular at (and considered a public enemy). also he only goes when he’s stoned off his ass.

𓆩♡𓆪 « poison » ✔️ 🔞 by @onlyjaeyun

synopsis: new city, new people, a new life. after finally getting the chance to live your dreams, you're ready to close old chapters, only for a certain someone who's always been off limits to open again...

𓆩♡𓆪 « verboten » ✔️ 🔞 by @heesbaby

SYNOPSIS; a bad stroke of luck saw lee heeseung, your dads coworker, moving into your small apartment until he found his feet again. emotionally unavailable and a workaholic, you were going to try your absolute hardest to make him loosen up. even if it meant breaking a few of the house rules he'd set out.

𓆩♡𓆪 « anonymous » ✔️ 🔞 by @heesbaby

synopsis: heeseung had been your biggest supporter for months under the pseudonym ethan, sending you money in return for content and interactions. he stuck around, spending half his paycheck just for your attention, until the delusions of your work convinced him you were his.

𓆩♡𓆪 « a little dramatic » 🟩 by @heeliopheelia

yn: knock knock

heeseung: who's there?

yn: your annoying best friend

heeseung: your annoying best friend who?

yn: your annoying best friend who has to do a kissing scene in the school play but she's never been kissed before and needs you to teach her how to do it so that she doesn't make a fool out of herself in front of her crush

...in other words heeseung's down bad, yn is an idiot in denial and riki gives everyone a headache.

𓆩♡𓆪« trainees » 🟩 💎 by @hoonvrs

SYNOPSIS heeseung wasn’t known as ‘the ace’ for nothing, constantly ranking number one after every monthly evaluation. then suddenly a new name takentakes over first place — baek ‘Rin’, and heeseung doesn’t take lightly to competition.

𓆩♡𓆪 « fancam » ❌ 💎💎 by @bambisgirl

SYNOPSIS. you’re a rookie camerawoman for kpop music shows and you’re designed to film lee heeseung’s focused fancams for this enhypen comeback. you know he’s just an idol but… you spent $500 on a 4k mirrorless full frame 12.1 mp camera just to catch a better glimpse of him.

𓆩♡𓆪 « reality check » ❌ 💎💎 by @yunverse

SYNOPSIS › Shocked by the sudden revelations, yn realizes that she has been pulled into another world belonging to her favourite reverse-harem novel as the female lead’s best friend. Content with her new life, she excitedly watches from the sidelines knowing every single encounter in the novel would be unravelling right in front of her. However, as time goes on, she slowly comes to the horrifying realization that the characters she seemingly idolized are not who they seem to be.

𓆩♡𓆪 « nevertheless, (ft. park jay) » ❌ by @postalenha

SYNOPSIS, after a horrendous break up, you met a guy at a bar. you two instantly clicked and got close the whole night, so close that the two of you almost kissed. but you ran off, and planned to never see him again. but what will happen if one day, a commotion started at your university; girls going crazy over the new handsome guy in fashion design. and there you see the man standing with a butterfly tattoo on his nape. the same man from the bar, looking for you.

park jongseong

𓆩♡𓆪 « adore you » ✔️ 💎💎 by @enzenwriting

Summary: Debuting as BE:LIFT Lab’s next solo artist, you reunite with your best friend Jungwon in Enhypen! With the groups’ quick fondness towards you, a certain member is sure he adores you extra with brotherly and senior care! But what if Jay finds that this doting is unlike his feeling towards his younger members because he definitely does not want to kiss Yang Jungwon like he does to you?!

𓆩♡𓆪 « reparations » ✔️ (short smau) 💎 by @jayflrt

SUMMARY ▸ in which jay is a dog.

𓆩♡𓆪 « deuce! » ✔️ 💎💎 by @jaeminvore

summary: one may ask, what would happen if you put a prodigy and a hard worker in one room? Absolute chaos. Jay and Y/N absolutely hated each other’s guts. Having been rivals from middle school until present, it’s a cruel twist of fate that they ended up going to the same university years later. To make matters even worse, both have been selected as captains for the men’s and women’s volleyball team respectively.

The coaches, the managers—hell, both teams knew they had to put an end to this ridiculous beef as they were slowly tarnishing the esteemed reputation of both teams, but the question is: how?

𓆩♡𓆪 « strictly business » ✔️ 🔞 💎 by @onlyjaeyun

synopsis: two people, two different stories, two different hearts, one capital city. a story in which a young secretary from a small town manages to bring a new breath of fresh air into the life of seoul's most famous and untouchable ceo.

𓆩♡𓆪 « more than this » ✔️ 🔞 by @heesbaby

in a society where hybrid's were still made to feel like nothing, you wanted to show jay how much more he was worth

𓆩♡𓆪 « are you blackmailing me? » ✔️ by @liliansun

Synopsis: Jay has his eyes on you, but you couldn’t care less. When he finally musters up the courage to speak to you, you ask him about his friend instead. In attempts to salvage his chance, he agrees to help you if you help him in return.

𓆩♡𓆪 « 21st century girl » ✔️ 💎 by @hoonvrs

SYNOPSIS where jay 'claims’ he has a girlfriend but none of his friends believe him because how are you a girl in the 21st century and don't have any social media, right? and if you and jay continue to let them think your relationship is fake for entertainment purposes, nobody has to know.

𓆩♡𓆪 « yours forever in 786 » 🟩 🔞 by @jayflrt

SUMMARY ▸ after being blackmailed into accepting an assignment, jay park, a young private detective, is thrown back into college. this time, though, he’s at an ivy league and tasked to follow you to uncover what dark secrets your old money family is hiding. in doing this, jay must fraternize with your inner circle by joining a secret society called the "order of kryptos.” what he doesn’t realize is that the deeper he gets into his mission, the more he starts to lose himself.

𓆩♡𓆪 « knock me down » ❌ 💎 by @nekkodiaries

SUMMARY: park jay lives life as a hot-headed gamer by day and.. well.. still a hot-headed gamer by night— except he secretly goes by the name killstrike. after losing a pubg duo match, he finds himself trash-talking his teammate notursniper, who happens to be the mysterious classmate he's been admiring for over a year and more.

𓆩♡𓆪 « friendzoned » ❌ by @szniki

summary! - nishimura yn has been pining for her best friend jay park since 7th grade, but she’s well aware that jay will continue to be oblivious and had accepted that she’s stuck in the friendzone, that is until she befriends a foreign exchange student from australia and jay can’t help but feel jealous over how quick yn and her new friend are bonding

𓆩♡𓆪 « can i call you tonight? » ❌ by @heesbaby

yn needs money. that’s the only reason she keeps agreeing to babysit jay’s son each week. nothing was ever going to blossom out of it, not with jay - a workaholic 6 years older than her. she keeps telling herself that every time his smile lingers a little too long on his lips, but each time she dials his number into her phone, he picks up before the second ring.

𓆩♡𓆪 « nevertheless, (ft. lee heeseung) » ❌ by @postalenha

SYNOPSIS, after a horrendous break up, you met a guy at a bar. you two instantly clicked and got close the whole night, so close that the two of you almost kissed. but you ran off, and planned to never see him again. but what will happen if one day, a commotion started at your university; girls going crazy over the new handsome guy in fashion design. and there you see the man standing with a butterfly tattoo on his nape. the same man from the bar, looking for you.

sim jaeyun

𓆩♡𓆪 « the world's a little blurry » ✔️ by @0x1lovebot

synopsis: having feelings for someone who’s in a relationship is already so hard to deal with. so imagine jake’s struggle when the taken girl that he’s had feelings for for years comes to him for help in physics. will he actually move on or will the lines start to blur between tutoring and romance?

𓆩♡𓆪 « doctors orders » ✔️ 💎💎 🔞 by @heesbaby

synopsis. jake was a little concerned by how often you were sat in his waiting room, but he couldn't deny how he searched his appointment list each morning hoping to see your name

𓆩♡𓆪 « after hours » ✔️ 💎 🔞 by @heesbaby

SYNOPSIS; jake sim, bassist of AFTERHOURS and all round terrible guy, so deep in his self absorbed world where everything went his way and everyone fell at his feet. he hardly noticed you moving in next door until he caught a glimpse of you in the hallway. completely uninterested in your neighbour, you did you best to ignore his advances. that was until you found yourself humming along to the songs he practiced every night.

𓆩♡𓆪 « hype boy » ✔️ 💎 💎 🔞 by @onlyjaeyun

synopsis: after years of hiding himself in the responsibility of raising his youngest brother, jaeyun finally finds himself falling head over heels for the sweet college student from next door...

𓆩♡𓆪 « maybe we could be together » ✔️ 💎💎 by @jaeminvore

summary: in which Y/N has already accepted the fact that she will never be anything more than a best friend to Jake. She’s fine. She’s kept it all together for so long. However, Sunoo is a force to reckon with and he will do anything in his power to get Jake and Y/N together—Oh, and not to mention Sunoo really hates Jake’s current girlfriend, much to the annoyance of Y/N.

𓆩♡𓆪 « nights with you » ✔️ by @nvertheless

sypnosis — jake sim couldn’t sleep at night. with the stress of school taking over him he wasn’t able to fall asleep anymore.. until he gets recommend a nightly lofi channel to fall asleep to and it works really well for him.. not knowing your the owner of that nightly lofi channel.. and u possibly have the biggest crush on jake..

𓆩♡𓆪 « cigarettes » ✔️ 💎 💎 by @hoonvrs

SYNOPSIS where university student jake develops a little crush on the girl he sees with a cigarette between her lips in the smoking area and decides he needs to impress her. how else would he do that except calling his smoker friend to teach him how to smoke ( spoiler: it doesn’t go so well. )

𓆩♡𓆪 « boomerang » ✔️ 💎 by @amakumos

SYNOPSIS: you and jake sim have always been academic rivals. it was always you against him for top of the class, and jake is sure that you two were made to hate each other. a couple years later when you debut and become an idol, you find yourself talking to him again - but it’s in a group chat with other aussie idols, and perhaps you realise that he isn’t that insufferable.

𓆩♡𓆪 « equation for disaster » ✔️ 💎 by @amakumos

SYNOPSIS — much to you and your boyfriend jake’s delight, there’s going to be a math championship for idols now. with both of you hellbent on winning, you two decide to be rivals again for just a little while. may the best star-crossed hater win. (the sequel to boomerang.)

𓆩♡𓆪 « collie duty » ✔️ by @filmbyjy

SYNOPSIS > being the new CEO to the ‘Sim Corp’ was hard and stressful. jake didn’t have much time to spend with layla and so he decides to get a dogsitter, you. though, you were originally already his secretary. how will dog sitting bring you two closer?

𓆩♡𓆪 « one note » 🟩 by @filmbyjy

SYNOPSIS > When you turned 18, you heard your best friend’s favourite song. Turns out, it was just one of the various signs to finding your soulmate. However, you couldn’t bring this up to jake. Not when he was in a happy relationship with your other best friend! Would you choose heartbreak or sacrifice your happiness for the sake of keeping the friendship

𓆩♡𓆪 « consequences of a one night stand » ✔️ 💎 🔞 by @luvyeni

( synopsis ). in which after a drunken hookup , y/n y/ln and are jake left with some heavy consequences and now they have to come to terms with it.

𓆩♡𓆪 « all about you » ✔️ by @heeliopheelia

synopsis: finding it harder and harder to keep your feelings hidden from one of your best friends, with each day you become more restless. with the confession constantly resting on the tip of your tongue, you wonder how much longer you’ll be able to keep your sweet secret to yourself. little did you know, the exact same question has been haunting jake’s mind, keeping him just as unsettled as you.

𓆩♡𓆪 « cat & dog » ❌ by @yeongwonie

SYNOPSIS a year after his notorious 10 months ending fairy, jake is confident that the occasional jokes and furry allegations have subsided. he's wrong, unfortunately, and no amount of teasing from his members could've prepared him for his ult—you—seeing the video.

𓆩♡𓆪 « lucid dream » ❌ 💎 by @yyunari

SYNOPSIS  . many might recognize y/n as one of the most beloved and rounded 4th generation idols. being in aespa brought her a lot of popularity and made her really well known, especially for her talents and bubbly personality. when y/n becomes a music bank mc along with enhypen’s sunghoon, what will happen when she meets her old high school crush from back in australia?

𓆩♡𓆪 « cupid's cure » ❌ by @amakumos

synopsis. as the new admins of cupid’s corner, gunwook and eunchae make it their mission to get back some of the couples that jungwon’s girlfriend had unintentionally broken up. one of the couples on their list are you and jake sim, also known as the self proclaimed “rizzler of oz”. you haven’t talked to jake since the breakup — because one, you don’t think you’re quite over him yet, and two, you have zero reason to speak to him! that is, until eunchae works her “magic” — she decides to post a confession (apparently coming from jake himself), saying that he still loves you.

𓆩♡𓆪 « pinky promise » ❌ by @sunboki

THE LAST SUMMER you spent with Jake Sim was the beginning of a disaster and it all began with a pinky promise. You left Australia a few days before high school to become a trainee under BigHit Entertainment, sending you far away from home, from Jake. Well, you didn’t know it back then, but Jake had also come to Korea as a trainee a year later, and fate worked its magic when you’re both selected as KBS MC’s together. The pinky promise in question? A promise to be together till the end.

note: sunghoon and maknae line smaus will be on another post! tumblr being a bitch and doesn't let me add more links :(

[polygonal-trees]

Welcome new Transformers fans!

You might have seen this Don't Make Me Tap The Sign meme floating around. Transformers One has been out for a little while now so I want to expand on it as well as some other TF fandom things.

What does "Transformers doesn't have a set canon" actually mean?

Essentially, every new Transformers story is a reboot. They might draw from or expand on concepts from previous iterations but canonically each continuity family is separate. This means all lore is extremely flexible - origin stories, relationships, even personalities can change wildly between iterations and while some may be better or worse than others, they are all equally canon.

For example: Orion Pax was a dock worker in G1, an archivist in Prime, and a miner in TF One. None of these contradict each other.

Continuities also tend to share ideas without being directly connected. For example Transformers One draws from Transformers Prime in multiple ways (e.g. it features Airachnid) but it is not a prequel to Prime and in fact directly contradicts it. Yes I know there's a guy on xitter claiming tfone is a prequel to the Bay movies but he's wrong.

What is a continuity family?

Most storylines include tie-in novels, comics, video games, and other shows that all share the same canon.

The Aligned Continuity is the most well known. It consists of Transformers Prime, Rescue Bots, Rescue Bots Academy, Robots in Disguise 2015, multiple video games, and some tie-in novels and comics. They are all ostensibly set in the same canon... except the Aligned Continuity is inconsistent so even its lore is loose :')

My point is that while every continuity is separate, some shows are connected.

(Sorry if this is confusing. It is confusing. You get used to it)

What about fanon?

The Transformers franchise is old enough that a lot of fanon has become so pervasive it exists in a sort of nebulous space where it feels like it could be canon or at least become canon once enough fans are working for Hasbro but essentially: oh boy is there a lot of fanon

For example: seeker trines, doorwing speak, the Unicron Singularity and all forms of robot sex (sorry) are fanon, but they appear so often in fanworks that it's easy to get confused (I know I do!)

It's safest to assume something isn't canon unless you've seen it in a show (and even then, it may only be canon to that particular show)

Can I mix-and-match in my own fanworks?

Absolutely! It's very common for creators to set a story in one continuity but transplant a character from another, or use a different backstory, or borrow whole plot points from different canons. Chop up that lore and make a delicious continuity soup.

So why is this important?

It is very, very, very, very, very frustrating to be "corrected" about something that isn't relevant, or to see someone critisize a show based on lore that doesn't apply, or to have a character be called OOC when they're not, etc. I think a lot of fandom slapfights could be avoided if more people understood how loose Transformers canon actually is. Do what you want with your own creations but please be mindful when it comes to interacting with other people's.

This is A Lot

You don't have to know everything about Transformers to be in the fandom and have a good time - if you're only interested in TF One that is perfectly alright, you don't need to watch every show and read every comic and play every game to be considered a fan of something.

But if you want to find out more I recommend checking out the TFWiki - it isn't perfect but it gives a good rundown of most general lore as well as details about specific shows.

That's it from me. I hope this is helpful! It's the sort of thing I would have liked to read when I first joined the fandom haha

[twistmusings]

Character Analysis of the Twisted Wonderland Dorm Rooms - Scarabia

Dorm Room Character Analysis Series

Heartslabyul | Savanaclaw | Octavinelle | Scarabia | Pomefiore | Ignihyde | Diasomnia

Kalim Al-Asim

Kalim's room is notably organized, to start with. Whereas with Floyd, I theorized his room was largely his doing, due to the sporadic organization of it, I believe that Kalim's room being as organized as it is is very likely through Jamil's intervention, given what we know about their relationship.

Kalim's room is designed for company - he doesn't have a desk set up, but he does have a pillow and an ottoman set out for having people over. He also has a tea set at hand and ready for guests. Considering Kalim was raised by a wealthy family, you can see touches of it throughout the room - particularly here. Kalim likes to be a host for other people, and he likes to make them feel welcome. That being said, with how much Jamil is told to take care of Kalim, it's not hard to imagine that he also gets roped into taking care of guests - something I will go into more details about when I actually talk about Jamil's room.

Kalim has a frankly ridiculous amount of pillows, and none of them match. (I counted 15 of them.) I suspect that in large part, this is to show the eccentric nature of Kalim's personality. Having many, vibrant patters from a design perspective lends to a bright, slightly spacey personality, which fits in well with Kalim and how he presents himself.

Kalim also has quite a few books. The books in Twisted Wonderland are generally easy to identify by their shape and size - and it's important to note that this seems to be mostly a personal collection. What this tells us is that while Kalim seems to be a bit turned off of studying, he does show an interest in reading if it's something that interests him. Again, I would say most of these are probably organized by Jamil, so it's hard to say if there are any he would reach for regularly.

There are two possibilities for this box right here. Either this is a first aid kit. We know that one of Jamil's major duties is to ensure that Kalim isn't harmed under his watch, so it's possible that Jamil stuck this here. (Not to get too far into video game lore, but I can see why there wasn't a cross placed here - because of geneva conventions it gets sticky to use the symbol of a cross on an item in a video game because it is not permitted for use in a context where medical services are not being offered in a real life context. Still, this leaves some questions as to what this is.)

Or, this could be a piece of mail for Kalim, likely sent by Kalim's family. We don't get to see much of the Al-Asim family when it came to the Firelit Sky event, but this would seem to imply that Kalim's parents are doting enough to send him a care package with a little heart drawn on it.

Kalim's secret Mickey is just above his bed on the wall below the windows.

Jamil Viper

So, like the other members of the dorms who aren't dorm leaders, Jamil shares his room with someone else, as seen by the second rug and desk to the right-hand side of the frame.

The first thing I want to point out, Jamil's room shows the hallmarks of being a room that is intended for a single person, as opposed to Kalim's. In fact, this room is a very solitary, closed-in room, with very little decoration and very little personalization. Jamil, likely, spends very little time here between tending to Kalim and doing his regular school activities. I wouldn't go so far as to describe it as prison-like, but it certainly feels stifling. That's worth examining, as not decorating a room is actually telling from a psychological standpoint - people who don't decorate tend to be more avoidant personalities than people who do. While I don't want to get too far into spoilers so far as the Japanese release goes (iykyk, otherwise you'll find out soon), but this actually tracks with Jamil - he tends to deal with his problems by not dealing with them until he can't avoid them anymore.

Jamil actually ties and hangs his shoes! I think this is a neat detail. Speaking to real life inspirations, it's very common courtesy in Muslim households to remove your shoes on entering a home, and to my knowledge it's a common practice throughout the Middle East. So, more than likely, Jamil and Kalim both likely remove their shoes at the door and walk through the dorm using slippers or barefoot. It's a thoughtful touch to include a little detail like this for Twist characters as well.

While Jamil is noted to like music and dance in canon, I think it's interesting that in his dorm room, he is one of the few people who has a boombox and headphones. In fact, it's one of the few personal touches we do see in his room. This is on his desk, so likely, he listens to music while he studies. I also believe there's a bit of symbolism here - as Jamil is likely using this as a method of shutting himself off from the people around him, as well. Generally speaking, Jamil's room paints him to be the solitary sort, and I think it's worth considering that Jamil is likely an introvert.

Jamil also has one of these boxes in his room. As I said before, this could imply one of two things:

If this is a first aid kit, and Kalim is in Jamil's room frequently enough that Jamil felt the need to put one in his room as well. If so, Jamil has not gone out of his way to make his room any more comfortable to Kalim to be in.

Alternatively, if this is a package, that means that Jamil's family or Kalim's Family also make a point to send this mail to Jamil. Since we can only guess as to the contents of the box, it's hard to say which it is. There are a few possibilities that arise from this:

1. This packaging is the standard packaging for post coming from the Scalding Sands. This is a little unlikely because of the heart on the box.

2. This is a package that whoever sent it has gone through the effort of drawing a heart on it. This indicates it's likely coming from family.

3. Because the boxes are the same and appear to have the same writing on both, it's likely if it is a package that Kalim and Jamil's families packed these care packages together and send them to both of them.

Again, because it's a bit nondescript and hard to say for certain whether this is medical supplies or if it's a package, I would say this is up to interpretation at this point! Unless we get confirmation one way or the other, let your headcanons run wild.

Jamil's hidden Mickey is in his scrying orb on his desk.

[milktian]

I think despite everything I still really like the dlc. it's amazing, the music and the boss fights are gorgeous and I'm going to keep cycling through the soundtrack. I'm also just glad there's more elden ring content out with new weapons and npcs.

also messmer and his lore are super interesting and is definitely not what I expected. I won't go super into detail as to avoid spoilers but he truly is just a guy.

I think a part of my disappointment is partially cause i had so many like ideas of what could be in the dlc that, realistically, it wouldn't have held up and I'd always be just a bit underwhelmed regardless. like that's completely on me for setting my expectations so high.

however (spoilers)

miquella's whole Deal feels incredibly rushed, and kind of contradicts the base game? this isn't even like a 'I have a theory I like and this game doesn't match' like no it just straight up is illogical. there are posts that talk about this better so I'll leave it to them.

another thing is, looking back, all the promotional material suggested that miquella would be guiding us and that messmer would be the final boss. but that wasn't what happened. it feels like something changed in-between the trailer and the dlc release? I don't know if that's me misunderstanding the trailer but??

I think I would've preferred a dlc where we sided with miquella and had him guide us almost like melina, in order to free the lands of shadow from the eternal war that messmer has brought (on marika's orders it seems).

also I feel like the best thing they could have done with miquella is keep him kind. I am definitely leaning towards the theory that miquella was misguided in his attempts but was genuinely good natured (I reblogged a post a little bit ago that explains this idea which is the one I'm leaning more towards) but that doesn't change the fact that it feels like they retconned alot of miquella's previously established character details.

everything about the lore in the dlc feels cheap and frustrating and the 'easy' path for this character, which is honestly boring. I wish there was better writing for miquella, radahn, mohg, and malenia (who, as well as the rest of the haligtree, just got completely shafted). it's frustrating.

I'm also coming at this from a "Don't know shit about berserk" perspective as well so the argument that 'this actually makes so much sense because miquella is based off of griffith'.

like ok? elden ring isn't berserk. I don't want to be another franchise. I want it to exist outside of its influences. sure references are fine but if you know jack shit about them, then it makes for a lackluster experience.

this'll probably be the last time I make a ranty post about the dlc. I do still really enjoy the game, but I think im gonna treat Elden Ring Miquella and Shadow of the Erdtree Miquella as completely seperate, because it really feels like they are.

again: I STILL LIKE THE DLC. ITS STILL FUN AND IM NOT SAYING YOU'RE A BAD PERSON FOR LIKING IT.

(also radahn was totally just there for fanservice cause it makes literally no sense that miquella would choose radahn to be his consort like???? they have very little connection in the base game. I feel like they just wanted radahn cause he's such a popular character)

[blubberbuns]

A really crazy question came to me, I imagine this... If Bon the cartoon became conscious out of nowhere, how would the whole group take it?

Hiii these are awesome questions! I'm so glad ya'll want to know more about their lore! So- Bon never gets a consciousness, canonly. But, close enough, Lucky's consciousness is inputted into Frank's (cartoon Frankie) world! For a purpose of course- The higher-ups wanted to test if they could temporarily put a contestant's consciousness into his world, to add some spice to the gameshow! Put them through a 2D video game, in a way! Getting a certain amount of health and if they fuck up, and are killed in Frank's world, they die physically as well.

So, obviously, Lucky was the guinea pig for stuff like this. So he was hooked up, all set and ready, and when his body went into a stage of stasis, on the screen, there popped a chocolate rabbit who looked OH SO similar to a certain scrapped rival character. This was on purpose I'd say, since there were plenty of comments on Lucky's chocolate brown hair, hazel eyes, freckles- even had a bow that resembled rabbit ears.

(please note Lucky is a bit outdated here but point still stands)

How Does Franklin (Monster Frankie) React?:

Not much. If anything he's bummed he's going to get used less if this idea goes through. The most he does is sit by Lucky's physical body and poke it sometimes, though he's very protective of it and will sometimes pet Lucky's limp arm the same way Lucky sometimes pets his ears to keep him relaxed. He'll also try to feed him cereal by pushing it against the screen with his big ass hand- it's sweet

How Does Francis / Frankie (The Other) React?:

Well, he's the one responsible for setting Lucky up in the first place- but when he pops up as Bon- he's cooing about it like "Ohhho now I see what Frank's been on about! Just look at you!" While clasping his hands together and resting his cheek on them- just like "I could just- no I WOULD just eat you up if I could!" Obviously, he'd be in shock for some mere seconds before that, but he'd just find it sweet. I'd say he's the most enthusiastic about it- until he remembers- oh yeah- his Lucky contestant is stuck in there for a few days so all their banter will be from behind a screen. POV Frankie learns about long distance.

How does Frank React?:

Now Frank is the one who was most upset about Bon never getting consciousness- to the point he actively started calling Lucky nothing but Bon when he saw his face. The similarities between them were enough for him to start projecting onto him- trying to pick fights to match that dynamic the nonsentient version of him, and Bon had.

But Lucky isn't exactly the same as Bon. Bon is snarky, sarcastic, high up his own ass, and very particular. He would always feed in deliciously to whatever plot point was thrown at him. Lucky was not the same. Lucky would sometimes jokingly feed into Frank's attempts at headbutting (including actually headbutting with him to start). But overall, when he mellows out, he's a genuine rather soft-spoken guy. Way more conflict-avoidant than Bon ever was. Making the best of his situation even with how- weird it is and how much of a toll the show takes on his mental health. People ARE still dying and he never gets used to that.

Even voice-wise they're different, which makes sense:

Bon is the Grinch because he's more prone to conflict but he can have genuine heartfelt moments, for the majority of the plot he's usually the cynical rival

Lucky is Tramp because he's a soft-spoken, sweet man who's trying to make the best of his situation and is a romantic at heart. Sure he can be rougher around the edges and have playful conflicts with Frank or Franklin, but he is entirely well-meaning and wants connection.

So this just makes that projection so much worse. But it also showcases even further just how different Lucky is from Bon because he doesn't feed into Frank's attempts at a scuffle almost at all. He's not his rival, he's not the guy Frank misses so much. He's not the guy Frank has been "in love with" for so many years. He's Lucky, and it's really the first step in Frank realizing, yeah. You got to look past that similarity and realize you won't make a connection until you accept he's not the person you envision him as! They got a lot of slow-burn stew cooking basically- it's messy and I love it.

[zombeebunnie]

Trembling Essence:💙CG work and clean up!💙

Hello hello guys and welcome new followers, here's how everything is go so far!

This week went by really fast and I managed to get more completed when I had the chance.

Sadly, this post is a little delayed because the battery to my computer shorted out and died. In good news I managed to save 85%(?) of what I did but the progress towards the end was lost and I need to save up for a new battery. I might open up chibi commissions through ko-fi, I just need time to set it up. :,]

Clean up progress:

Outside of testing, grammar checking, etc, the beginning of the cabin part leading up to this section is nearly done!

I finished balancing the choices and alternate dialogs depending on how close you are with Noah. One or two of these also have 1* more choice added to sort of give a vague response that doesn't force the player(Y/N) to choose the "good" choice. I fixed a small glitch where a change in scenery abruptly popped up on the screen instead of fading towards it. More of Noah's sprites have also been adjusted as well to give the player(Y/N) a better read on his expressions during certain dialog scenes. The original sprites I placed had Noah coming off as if he's blushing/flustered when it's just that the situation is awkward between the both of you.

Afternoon route:

I was only able to fix up the rest of this route once you wake up and go with Noah into the kitchen. This section specifically is where I lost about 15% of progress. Most of what I did here was fix up the dialog and have it line up depending on how you talk to Noah before this route finishes out the rest of the day. I also found a glitch where past choices with Noah finding you in the swamp didn't match up correctly when the both of you talk together in the kitchen. :,]

Mini-quality of life update:

I also updated a few choices by adding " " to the ones where the player(Y/N) is speaking to Noah versus it being an action. I'm still getting use to doing this so adjusting everything will take a bit of time. :[]

New scenes:

I talked a bit about this in past game development posts but I'm not sure if I posted screenshots since I was still going through everything. To sum it up, these are immersive updates towards the game that aren't in the [Extended demo]. Some scenes went on a little too long and had the player(Y/N) just staring at the living room CG even if something else is being described in the cabin. The new CG's of Noah I added fixes some of it but I wanted the dialog to visually match up with what you see on screen a bit more too! This also includes the new dialog/scenes of Noah's hospitality towards the player(Y/N) and parts taking place in different areas of the living room.

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Since the battery to my computer shorted out and died I might open up chibi commissions through here, i just need time to figure it out. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]

**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

A big thank you to everyone and the recently influx of support and encouragement, happy early Merry Christmas!!

[deiastormborn]

Arcane Season 2 Finale theory. (Jinx, Cait and Vi)

Heya. Since I was somehow on a roll with my theories about the show previously, and I somehow hit the nail on 90% of the things I predicted, here is a new theory of mine.

Jinx is not dead. Yes, of course, that makes sense considering League of Legends exists, and everything that happened in Arcane happened before the game. Arcane was made canon, and a lot of current lore is being rewritten to match the show, so to people that play the game it's no surprise that Jinx is most likely alive. But how?

Here is what I think:

After Jinx said 'I didn't know your mom was in there', Cait realized that Jinx did in fact change. Or, at the very least, could relate to her pain and mistakes. If you think about it, Jinx's actions were mostly fueled with grief, and the rocket that was shot at the council building happened right after Silco died, who was like a father to Jinx. Caitlyn lost her mother, and became angrier, irrational, fueled with revenge. I think Jinx saying that to Caitlyn made her relate, and maybe understand what is hidden below all the madness that Jinx has in her.

I think Caitlyn and Jinx had a dialogue behind the scenes, that was not shown to us. Knowing Caitlyn's character and somewhat a soft heart, I think Caitlyn sat down and told Jinx that she can't be truely free due to the volume of the crimes that she has done. My idea is that Caitlyn tossed the idea to Jinx about escaping, fleeing, and faking her death. Didn't Caitlyn tell Vi that she became too predictable? Doesn't it mean that Caitlyn knew that Vi will try to free Jinx? Didn't Caitlyn say something about this place being thoroughly guarded too? Yet Jinx managed to escape anyhow?

I genuinely don't think it was done without Caitlyn's interference.

Maybe, after the talk that Caitlyn had with Jinx behind the scenes, Jinx asked Caitlyn to keep Vi oblivious to everything that is happening. Hence why Jinx said that Vi deserves to be with Caitlyn - that could not have gone out of nowhere. Caitlyn and Jinx didn't interact enough in the show for Jinx to say that. And Vi never really spoke to Jinx about Caitlyn for her to make this conclusion.

Now, possibly, Jinx took the whole 'fake the death' quite literal, since we see her go quite suicidal after that. It is possible that she thought that it is pointless, and genuinely didn't want to try and run anymore, hence why she attempted to blow herself up. Luckily, Ekko came in, and the rest we know.

However, it doesn't sit right with me. Not just because Jinx is very much alive in game, but also the fact that we were shown Caitlyn looking at the tower where Jinx fell, while holding the Jinx's monkey bomb in her hand. She also let go of a slight smile when she zoomed in on all the exits and rooms in the tower. Something tells me Jinx knew how to escape, and something tells me Caitlyn was the one who told her. Something also tells me that the balloon we saw at the very last scene of the whole show might have had Jinx in it.

The show is notorious for showing scenes that always mean and imply something. I previously had a theory where I drew a parallel between Vander, Silco and Felicia, with Caitlyn, Vi and Jinx, where Felicia was bringing Vander and Silco closer to each other, and her death ended up splitting them both. I truly think Caitlyn was meant to be the same mediator for Jinx and Vi as Felicia was for Vander and Silco. And maybe that was it. Maybe that's what happened.

Knowing Caitlyn, she is more than capable of forgiveness, and seeing good in people. I think it would be in her character to help Jinx escape, even if it is at a cost of lying to someone she loves.

And, since we see Jinx tell Vi to let go, I think it would be in her character to ask Caitlyn to keep Vi in the shadows.

[rebelcracker-s]

WELCOME HOME THEORY :D

i've been swinging back and forth between "this is genius" and "i am spitballing" in debating whether to publicize this theory. i have decided to put it out there. i hope i'm somewhat right! (long post ahead)

so user @thecolourfulkingdom pointed out the importance of this tic-tac-toe image from the guestbook page:

i know a one-person game of tic-tac-toe doesn't seem like much, but op then placed this image on top of the neighborhood map (credits to them for figuring that out!), this image becomes very interesting.

it's suspicious how nicely the two line up.

i know this could be a random detail, but in somewhere as detailed as welcome home, i think that every detail counts, especially one like this. if it is a coincidence, it's a very strange one.

the circles in the board call attention to four (or five, depending on how you look at it) characters: wally/home, sally, frank, and howdy. we already know wally and home are two very important characters in the lore, but what connection do the remaining three three have? and why is wally pointing them out specifically?

this trio made me think of a certain image from the conceptual days of welcome home: concept art of the telephone that was revealed in the july update. (i'm not going to repost it due to clown's wishes about spreading conceptual art, but you can find it on their portfolio!)

in this image, the phone has eight buttons for eight neighbors, like the current one on the website. however, this one has three buttons scribbled out. based on colors, the three characters missing are sally (orange), howdy (teal), and eddie (purple).

i know it's not exact, but the fact that two out of the three "scratched-out" characters match the ones circled on this map has me thinking that i'm onto something.

here's what i think is going on. something happened in the neighborhood that divided the neighbors in half. something happened to the four uncircled ones--julie, barnaby, eddie, and poppy. it's really not clear what's happened to them right now, but wally has mentioned that he cannot talk to his neighbors right now. i think they at the very least lack the awareness to the strange things happening in the neighborhood. at the worst, they are dead.

again, i'm not sure what happened to them, so all we can do right now is speculate.

our remaining four--frank, sally, howdy, and wally--are the ones who have retained awareness. they know what is happening in home. they know about the whrp. and they know about the audience welcome home is gaining.

we know wally and home know about us because they have both spoken to us through the "i will find a way soon" audios. but what about the remaining three?

the july website update not only included the drawings that led to wally's messages, but also bugs leading to videos of interactions between the members. while the whrp insisted that there was nothing important about the bugs, the audience could click on these bugs and find secret videos depicting a conversation between the neighbors.

the latest game theory video on welcome home points out that like how drawing is related to wally and the drawings lead to messages from him, bugs are connected to frank, from his character description to his hidden audio with eddie. i believe those messages could be from frank. the video goes into more depth about this, but for the sake of the length of this theory, i'll stop here.

in the october 13th halloween update, we got the "happy haunting to boo and yours" record. the website staff insist multiple times that there is a gap in the audio during sally's story where they can't make out what sally is saying, but we can. (if you need a transcript for the skipped-over part, i have one reblogged!)

sally's story is a very menacing one about a monster that she cannot see or hear that prowls the neighborhood at night, devouring anything it passes, confining the neighbors to their homes at night. this would seem like a normal scary story if not for how the audio changes. at every other part, the audio has a crackly, vinyl sound; however, sally's story is perfectly clear.

it seems to me like sally is directly talking to the website's audience here: she's trying to warn us about the strange things going on in home. i think frank's messages were trying to do the same thing too. these are glimpses into the sides of welcome home that the whrp, wally, and home have not shown us: the lives of the neighbors, and the unsettling danger lurking beneath it all. notice how subtle both of their warnings were, and how they were careful to make sure that whrp could not discover them while the audience could.

also, remember how the title of the video tabs in the july update--"answer"--led us to the staff only page? i think the title of the newest hidden video--"listen"--is telling us not only to listen to the audios for a true glimpse of what life in the neighborhood was like, but to listen to their warnings.

i don't think wally is aware that frank and sally have been contacting us in secret, but i do believe he knows that they stand apart from the other neighbors, hence the tic-tac-toe board and the map.

but there's still one loose end: howdy hasn't yet talked to the audience. i think that during the big holiday update, we will see the final member of the "survivor trio" (as i like to call them) contact us. and i'm hoping this update tells us more about what's happening in welcome home's world and what role we as the viewers play in it.

:)

[y-rhywbeth2]

So glancing between the original games and the third - again - and thinking about the difference between the feral and Chosen bad endings and how I'm going to interpret them in my own canon. BG3 lore is irrelevant to me from now on I'm entering the phase where I'm assimilating my playthrough into my own Realms canon.

Also, Durge appears to be soulless. I am aware of the way the game treats Durge as though they have a soul, but BG3 makes strange choices where lore doesn't match up all the damn time. Astarion is clinically dead but the rest mechanics still need food. BG3 talks like Wyll is a devil, and they definitely don't have mortal souls. Dark Urge identity crises and complicated relationship with personhood, how I love thee.

Major BG2 spoilers, so I'll put that under a cut just in case anybody would like to play those games blind.

I noticed this a while back, but Durge's situation is reminiscent of a soulless Bhaalspawn. When their soul - the portion of them that is "them" and not entirely Bhaal - is removed they start displaying the same symptoms and slipping into what is basically the feral ending, judging by Imoen's behaviour:

"Who-who... who is that? Keep back... Keep back! [...] Who is Imoen? I don't know that name. I don't know that name! She's not here! [...] Get away from me! I'll... I'll kill you! I'll rip your eyes from your filthy faces! Do not tempt my wrath! Do not... I... she's not here. I do not know that... name. [...] I see... yes... I see... She's not here... Someone else will come..."

We have dizzy spells and risks of blackouts (otherwise known as Bhaal threatening to take over):

"Your step falters, your vision spins, and you feel something is very wrong. For an instant you are conscious of nothing but the rushing of your blood."

Bhaal literally just assuming direct control rather than flooding you with the urge to murder. Also pain caused by said attempt at taking control:

"A shock of pain passes through your body, and you feel you mind slipping away, forced aside by the darkness within." - "Your blood cools, and mind and body are reunited under your control. Your will had faltered, and the essence of Bhaal was there to take advantage. The void where your soul once was overflowed with murderous fury, the mark of a deity that no longer exists. The taint of Bhaal has affected you differently than Imoen, reacting with your strength of will. You will eventually lose yourself unless your stolen soul is restored. A fate, as they say, worse than death." - "The madness fades, and the essence retreats, but if this continues you will lose not only yourself , but also everything you hold dear. The uncertainty of your condition has obviously worried those you travel with. The quest is treacherous enough without having to worry about what you might do."

Most Bhaalspawn have mortal lineage and were left to develop their own identities until they hit adulthood and Bhaal decided it was time to start pushing them into killing each other as part of the resurrection plan. Their souls are explicitly divine in nature, but they had time and freedom to develop those souls. Each demigod is a potential fledgling god.

The soul and the conscious mind aren't the same thing, so personality and decision making can continue but the emotions and personhood are... not quite there, only the echoes of it. It's been compared to wearing a mask and acting out a part in a play, rather than actually living as that person.

Durge it seems was engineered from the very beginning so that they would never have that chance. Created directly from Bhaal, with no other parent (let alone a mortal one) to dilute him; Bhaal started forcing their hand to kill from a far younger age (before puberty) rather than waiting for them to reach adulthood. and Sceleritas was following them closely ensuring that people would be around to have "accidents", like Alfira.

But it's also notable that Bhaal doesn't just want a puppet, he needs a Bhaalspawn with the drive and power to be his avatar. He somehow needs Durge blindly loyal and lacking in independence but also in possession of "strength of will" to be worthy of/able to house and use his power.

It seems that Durge does not have a soul the way their siblings do, all they have to resist Bhaal with is their mind and sheer willpower. If they disappoint Bhaal then he will simply assume control - something he can do any time he likes. Over the course of BG3 they start developing something like their own soul - judging by the way Bhaal and Sceleritas are still in touch and seemingly testing them, I can only assume this is actually according to plan; Durge is supposed to cultivate a spark of their own divine soul over the journey (and also get tadpoled and help Bhaal take over the Netherbrain and thralls through them, as Sceleritas kind of mentions).

If they fail then Bhaal goes for the feral ending; they go into the "Imoen" category where they're not worthy of his attention and he just uses Durge as a puppet.

Mystra can't force mortals to become her Chosen, they must consent, so possibly that rule applies to Bhaal too? I don't know, but it explains why Bhaal needs them to accept. If they resist then they're clearly strong enough to be worthy but wilful enough that Bhaal decides the risk of that spark of a soul is too great a risk to him and his plans and tries to destroy it but fails because it's too late, and Jergal cuts this fledgling divine soul free.

If they accept becoming Chosen then they are agreeing to be imbued with a fragment of Bhaal's divine essence. Bhaal gets what he wants and merges it with another fragment of his divine essence, presumably setting the stage for him to become a full deity walking the face Toril through Durge's/his body. The fledgling spark of individual is lost in Bhaal when the two fuse; the threat of the resist ending isn't present, because that spark is gone, so if you defy him again he just takes over and we get the punishment ending.

[getvalentined]

What’s your opinions of the various ffvii compilation games?

Oh I am a huge proponent of the Compilation as a whole; I know that opinion is rare for someone who's been in the fandom from the beginning, but I'm an insufferable lore gremlin and I just eat up everything the series has to offer. I have three different copies of Advent Children (the original on DVD, ACC on DVD, and ACC on blu-ray) and even still watch Last Order on occasion.

The series itself is really fascinating and staggeringly consistent (I've talked about how the implied timeline of the Jenova Project as presented in-game is so consistent that it matches up with real-world human gestational science), with the exception of the FF7Re series—which I can deal with, since it's canonically on a different timeline and therefore any retcons there are literal in-universe retcons, which is pretty brilliant.

That said, I'mma put ratings for the pieces of the Compilation individually under a cut!

OG FF7: 9/10. would be 10/10 if the English localization were better. Where it all started, still one of my favorite games of all time.

Advent Children (+Complete): 8/10. Not a game, but part of the Compilation! Anyone who says the plot makes no sense doesn't realize that they're watching a sequel that relies very heavily on people understanding the history and characterization of every single character shown.

Last Order: 6.5/10. Also not a game, also part of the Compilation. Love that this is implied to literally be Tseng's coverup of what happened with Zack, presented in anime form. Makes no sense in multiple places as a result, but if you know that's what it is then you can 100% see why it's portrayed that way! Honestly I really enjoyed it and wish more people would appreciate it for what it is.

Dirge of Cerberus: 7/10. The gameplay kinda sucks but honestly the storyline is super good—or it would be, if the entire fucking prologue hadn't been cut from any release outside Japan, thereby leaving the entire issue with DeepGround completely unexplained to all other audiences. Once you know what is going on, the storyline here is fantastic, and I've never really forgiven SE for not releasing the rest of it. I love that Dirge fills in the lore for Vincent that was cut when he was relegated to "optional" in the OG, and that it also helps to clarify why Midgar could have 9 functional mako reactors while every other reactor in the world is either sputtering to nothing or exploding. (It's Omega. Midgar is built over Omega. It's the place where all lines of the Lifestream converge so that Omega can draw it all in and carry it away at the end of the world, and Shinra never discovered that's why the mako well there is so expansive. I love good worldbuilding, and Dirge is a beautiful example of that.)

Before Crisis: N/A. I want this game so bad man where is it give it to meeeee. Honestly tho I've watched playthroughs and read scripts where available, and while I don't think it looks like much fun from a modern gameplay perspective, I have huge respect for it as far as development goes. This is one of the first really mainstream mobile games ever made, it was made for flip phones, and it's super extensive! Also it gave me Veld, who is one half of my favorite ship ever, which means it automatically gets a 7/10 even if I've never played it.

Crisis Core (+Reunion): 9/10. As fun to play as the OG. When I first played this on PSP over a decade ago, it hit me with such an intense feeling of nostalgia that it almost took me off my feet. In spite of the dramatic difference between game mechanics in CC versus the OG, it felt exactly like playing the OG again, and that feeling never really left. Humanized Sephiroth in a beautiful way that pissed off a bunch of fanboys and made me fall in love with him all over again. Also introduced my second favorite FF7 character ever, Genesis, who is one half of one of my core FF7 ships, so A+ on that too!

FF7 Remake (+InterMISSION): 8/10. Had a lot of fun with this one, and it's beautiful, but it doesn't have a lot of replayability in my experience, which is a shame. Would have been 6 or 7/10 if not for InterMISSION, which was a fucking delight.

FF7 First SOLDIER: 6/10. This applies to both the Battle Royale and the title in Ever Crisis. I am not a fan of Glenn & Co. but I love 14 year old Sephiroth and really appreciate that extension of lore and worldbuilding, so it's a decent balance. I love that the opening cutscene for the battle royale literally filled a 20+ year old plot hole in under two minutes.

FF7 Rebirth: 9.5/10. The only things that could make me like this game more would be if Vincent were playable (although I understand why he's not and, in spite of him being my favorite fictional character ever, I agree with this decision), and fewer required minigames. Just cut like one or two. Or fix the controls, maybe. Glide de Chocobo is even more broken now that it's been patched.

[another-lost-mc]

thoughts on obey me as an actual game? anything u wan a change if given the chance?

it honestly makes me mad everytime i think about the obvious lack of effort for world building but specifically for the nobility plotline... sooooo underutilized it's upsetting. like i've read isekai manhwas with better use/grasp of the nobility and political climate... also (can't remember if it's from swd or nb) the fact that lucifer and the brothers' are basically living off an allowance/salary set for them by diavolo is just... ugh. they couldn't have given them actual positions with titles ??? they couldn't have brought their title as princes/lords of the underworld into play ??? like i get they did it for the game, for shits and giggles and idk maybe it's just me lawl

sorry for ranting lmao i've sent asks a couple times and i quite like your insights and takes on things. was wondering if you'd have anything to say 🫡

I love talking about this stuff! I know it's a dating game and the lore/world building is basically an afterthought because the game's focus is on MC's relationships with the characters now, and not necessarily on the world/characters before MC existed or became involved.

I've mentioned before that the world feels really empty to me at times because they don't really talk about characters that exist (in a meaningful way) unless they're the established dateables (or soon-to-be dateables) for MC. Many of them are nameless demons/angels (the demon lords, the owner of The Fall that's been mentioned more than once by his title but not name), generic sorcerers and angels we know exist in the other realms. (For some reason, Uriel has been name-dropped twice with very little info besides that.)

Part of my motivation for developing the angel/demon OCs is to give more context and depth to the world that MC interacts with, even if they don't necessarily interact with MC in their own day to day lives. There are countless Devildom businesses that keep the realm running – who owns them? Who are the demons that develop their technology and vehicles? Who are the demons that acquire the raw materials used to build these items, or design/build the Devildom's architecture and homes? Who are the professsors at RAD and the other students? They're probably not all demons born from nobility, so where did they come from? What do the parts of hell outside the Devildom metropolis look like? Do they live on other levels? Rings? How easy can you travel between them, or why would you want to (or not want to)? Who are the demons that make up the demon armies and where do they live? Also, how in the world did Solomon end up in pacts with so many powerful demon lords, and now that he's not a power-hungry king, how do those pacts serve him (and the demons he's bound to)?

So yeah, maybe I think about the game world a lot because there's so much potential that goes ignored. I understand that the game isn't meant to be an in-depth look at the Devildom or Celestial Realm outside of what's relevant for character development or plot purposes, but it would be nice to have answers for some of the obvious questions that come up over time. Some of the information we're given in Nightbringer feels incomplete or doesn't match the tone/characterization we were presented with in the OG game either which makes me worry about continuity issues and retconning going forward.

(This got long so the rest is going behind a read-more link. lol)

When I started developing/outlining The Fall, it was meant to be a personal interpretation of the game's lore and my own creative spin on filling in all the gaps. At the heart of it, it's a love story between two angels-turned-demons. But the worlds they live in change over time, and there's a lot of nuance and deeper insights to explain how and why those things happen.

Some of the topics I wanted to explore in this project include:

Rank/power structures in the Celestial Realm. Basically, how do the various ranks of angels interact with each other, and how do they view angels with ranks higher or lower than their own?

Xenophobia. How angels and demons interact and perceive the other races/species. Metatron is an angel that was originally born as a human and ascended to the Celestial Realm after being chosen by Father to do so. Knowing that, how does his former human life impact what other angels think of him, if it does at all? (Spoiler: It does.) There's also significant issues that come up with the arrival of fallen angels, although Meta and Azra falling has very different reactions compared to Lucifer and the others later.

The role of the Seraphim. This story begins before the Celestial War with Lucifer, so he and Michael are still the two primary beacons of power in the Celestial Realm. How often do they agree or disagree on handling disputes, and how do they resolve their differences of opinion? I also wanted to explain the role of other Seraphim – basically, it's not just Michael or Lucifer calling the shots, and the other Seraphim are expected to lend their voices to discussions/debates about serious matters and it's treated almost like a council where majority vote wins if they can't all agree on something.

Side note: I really don't like the idea that Michael (or any of the other Seraphs) are free to do whatever they want without any sort of accountability or repercussions. I think the things Michael might want to do (ex. sneaking into the Devildom in disguise) and what he should do (literally anything but that) are two completely different things, and being emotional/grief-stricken isn't a good excuse for a leader that wants to YOLO his way through his problems when he has an entire realm of citizens he is responsible for. Gabriel is my solution to some of Michael's emotional impulses and rash decision making. He's the angel OC that acts as Michael's voice of reason when he struggles to separate logic and reason from emotions. He keeps Michael in-check when he wants to do things that are too erratic or personal, but he whole-heartedly supports Michael's plans or ideas that benefit the Celestial Realm. I like to imagine Gabriel and Barbatos are similar in that way and have the potential to be good friends as they bond and commiserate over their loyalties to leaders that sometimes act like spoiled children.

Fallen angels in general. There are a lot of fallen angels besides Lucifer and his brothers. Meta and Azra are two angels that go through the process of falling together and I had a lot of ideas about how I think that looks on a physical and spiritual level. There are differences for angels that are cast out by the Seraphim for breaking the rules/putting the Celestial Realm at risk vs. angels that choose to fall vs. angels that are punished by Father for defying him regardless of what the Seraphim choose. Azra and Meta's motivations and reasons for how/why they fall are slightly different, and how that plays out (and the impact on the angels left behind) are different too. They don't have a pre-existing relationship with Diavolo to pave the way for their new lives in the Devildom either, so how do they cope? Who helps them start their new lives, and how do they navigate being strangers in a foreign land while undergoing the physical and emotional changes of becoming demons? Diavolo's father is still the Demon King when they fall and it's only Belial's involvement that keeps things from completely going off the rails after their arrival. The fact that Belial himself is a former angel has its own significance. There isn't a manual or one-size-fits-all approach to this either, and Azra and Meta demonstrate how the Devildom's negligence of their newest citizens can lead to disastrous results sooner or later.

Navigating tension and conflict between the Celestial Realm and Devildom. There is violence that breaks out between the two realms, so how does the Celestial Realm respond to that sort of crisis? Once in the Devildom, there's a glimpse of how the Demon King (Diavolo's father) handles these developments and why the conflict happened at all. (Spoiler alert: Belial is an antagonist in this part of the story for a reason.)

What is Solomon up to? He has all these pacts with powerful demons and he's no stranger to the Devildom, so of course he's going to be interested to meet some new fallen angels – especially one with as much power and common interests as Metatron. Solomon is very human in this story too. He has his own selfish motivations for getting involved, but he also shows genuine care and concern for those he considers friends. He gets involved maybe more than he should, but for good reasons. He's a useful bridge to help the demons understand some of the obvious implications of having ex-angels living in their world. He also manipulates things a bit behind the scenes because of his connection to Barbatos (and therefore Diavolo) but there's no immature feud souring their relationship in this story. (Gonna be honest, I do not think Barbatos's problem with Solomon had anything to do with his place on Solomon's list of demons.)

Lesser demons and the nobility. I wanted to explore the lives of lesser demons versus the lives of noble demons. Where they live, what they do for a living, how they view demons of higher/lower ranks than themselves and other races. Zee's an example of a lesser demon who does whatever he needs to do to earn a living for himself, and Azra doesn't have much clout behind him so they almost meet each other as equals. It's an interesting look at their friendship and the way connections to more powerful demons (like Belial) help them both make better lives for themselves in the central Devildom where they eventually grow their business and social reputations. Meta, despite being a fallen Seraph, has practically no motivation or reputation to speak of and this has its own consequences later. But Zee's not the only lesser demons in this story, and if you thought the nobility in Nightbringer had problems with fallen angels, the lesser demons are far more hostile towards them – they're the ones on the front lines whenever war with the Celestial Realm breaks out, so its understandable they might not be very welcoming. For the demon nobility, the ones that aren't actively criticising fallen angels are mostly indifferent to them, but that's not such a great thing either.

There are other areas I wonder about that I don't explore in The Fall, but I hope to do so for the various OCs and their stories. The Devildom's power hierarchy/use of titles is one of them. The demons of the Ars Goetia all of their own armies at their disposal, and some are dukes while others are kings. That doesn't seem to have any meaning or impact in the game world, but surely there are ways that can affect how the demon nobility interacts with each other? It certainly made a difference to Solomon, I doubt he would've wanted so many pacts if the demons didn't have anything to offer him at the time. The how and why of Solomon's pacts is it's own area of exploration, which I hope to do with Belial and Bathin.

[beevean]

Dracula in Netflixvania: how small changes in lore build up to disaster

Changes in adaptations are bound to happen. Cuts in the lore are bound to happen. But I find incredible how so many tiny changes in the lore of Castlevania brought by NFCV, apparently innocuous or even improvements according to some, actually lead to the narrative completely falling apart both as an adaptation and as its own story.

Let's start with the biggest change:

Lament of Innocence didn't happen.

Everything has been covered in this clear thread. To summarize what this change affects:

Dracula in the games started out as Mathias Cronqvist, a man who, wracked by grief for the loss of his wife Elisabetha, rebelled against God and concocted a plan to turn into a vampire and have Death as his loyal servant. In the show, he's just "the first vampire", with no clearer origins. (in the games Dracula isn't even the first vampire, as Walter and Joachim already existed and in fact Mathias needed to absorb the former's soul to become a vampire, but this is a minor detail.)

Leon Belmont in LoI was a crusader who had to throw away his title to rescue Sara, his fiancée. He was involved in Mathias' selfish plan, that lead to Sara's death, and cursed him to be hunted by his descendants for the rest of time: what makes it more painful is that the two used to be best friends. In the show, Leon was already a vampire hunter while fighting in crusades, and only moved from France to Wallachia to hunt Dracula, whom he had no previous relationship with.

The Vampire Killer in the games is the strongest holy weapon against dark creatures, due to it being infused with Sara's soul. There are other whips in the setting, but none can match the Vampire Killer. In the show, it's just a regular consecrated whip, and Trevor also fights with the Morning Star (turned from a powered up version of the VK to a different object) and Leon's longsword (the Belmonts in the games never use swords, except for the Dracula-possessed Soleil).

But these can be forgiven as small changes in adaptation, one could say. Elisabetha was cut because, really, she was a non-entity, and she might cheapen the grief for Lisa. Sara was cut because the VK can work just fine without her. Leon doesn't need to be Mathias' former bestie, the Belmonts can fight Dracula out of the goodness of their heart.

All valid arguments. But this is just the beginning.

Dracula hunted humans before Lisa showed up.

We don't know in detail what Dracula was up to between LoI and CV3. For all intents and purposes, he focused on honing his new vampire powers, moved to Wallachia, made himself a nice castle, and... chilled there. Perhaps he became the voivode of the land, the historical Vlad Țepeș.

IGA confirmed that before Lisa's death, Dracula had no issue with mankind in general, only with God, and he lived a peaceful life: in fact, he was willing to help certain people as long as they were against God, Dracula's one enemy at the time.

Hector and Isaac are, of course, the proof of this.

But even without the extra material, they were two humans who were welcomed in his court and served under him, in an extremely important role to boot.

(to be fair, the show gives an alternative and decent explanation for the Forgemasters' presence as humans in Dracula's court: the fact that they're willing to kill their own kind proves to him how trustworthy they are. A detail that was changed but on its own does not break the lore: good job!)

Alucard in GoS gives us these intriguing words:

It makes more believable why such a pure-hearted woman would fall in love with him.

Instead, the show directly opens with Lisa marching through Dracula's courtyard, infested with impaled skeletons, and flirting with the guy. And if this could be justified if one imagines that those humans attacked Dracula's first, the flashback in Season 2, where he's shown having a grand old time going on a killing spree because some merchants "disrespected" him, proves that no, he was an outright monster when Lisa met him, and his only change after marrying her was that he travelled more.

To cap things off, she freaks out when she gets arrested by the bishop, because she knows her beloved husband will revert to the savage he used to be.

Due to the first season and the finale's rushed nature, it's harder to imagine why would Lisa find a kernel of humanity in this vampire. She doesn't come off too good either.

Why does it matter?: despite his grief having a more prominent role in the story, Dracula is actually less sympathetic in this version. This wouldn't be terrible, as he is meant to be a tragic yet intimidating villain, if it weren't for the fact that the show paints him as utterly pitiable, and it's even known for "giving him depth". Shankar himself sees him as the hero of his own story.

In the show, Carmilla keeps asking why didn't Dracula turn Lisa into a vampire. With game Dracula, one can believe that he valued her humanity so much that he was willing to let her die of old age eventually, as long as she died as herself. The show, instead, never gives us an answer, because the question isn't meant to paint him in a noble light, but as an idiot who doesn't know what he's doing.

Lisa is less compassionate towards humanity.

Lisa's death is very different between Symphony of the Night and show. In the latter she got burned at the stake, while in the former she was crucified and we can assume she bled to death. This affects two factors.

One, in the game, we know that Alucard stayed with his mother until her last breath, allowing her to speak her last words to her son. In the show, Lisa dies alone shouting in the hopes that Dracula hears her. The title sequence of the first episode shows Alucard kneeling in front of Lisa, but this is not shown in the actual story, and there is no further indication that he was actually there: realistically, it's not possible.

Two, her last words are also different.

SoTN (ENG): "She said "Do not hate humans. If you cannot live with them, then at least do them no harm. For their's is already a hard lot. She also said to tell you that she would love you for all of eternity…" SoTN (JP): "Do not blame humans. She said that those unable to forgive mankind will walk the path of their own destruction. Those who do not belong to that world shouldn't do anything... And Father... she said that she will love you forever." NFCV: "Don't hurt them! They don't understand! I know it's not your fault, but... if you can hear... they don't know what they're doing. Be better than them. Please!"

Lisa in the game holds no ill will towards humans. She urges Alucard not to resent them, and understand that their lives are already difficult. She even attempts to find a compromise for ease of his mind: if he truly can't forgive, may he at least leave them alone. In Japanese, she emphasizes that hating humans will only be detrimental, a somber foreshadowing of Dracula's downfall. And finally, she parts with a last thought to her husband, a soft declaration of love. The tragedy here is that Alucard kept Lisa's words dear to his heart, but he could not tell them to Dracula, who instead used Lisa's memory as a weapon to wage war on mankind. By the time Alucard reveals Lisa's final wish, three hundred years later, it's too late.

Lisa in the show doesn't sound the same. Not only she ignores her son completely, but her focus seems to wanting to appease Dracula, who might or might not be hearing her, it's ambiguous. She quotes Jesus speaking to God, but she sounds more like an abused wife scared of her abusive husband's rage, a sentiment echoed in S2. She also puts emphasis on how "it's not his fault", as if to absolve Dracula of the responsibility of his reaction, and that Dracula should be "better than them", implying that she thinks lowly of them and wants Dracula to be superior. Not exactly compassionate.

Why does it matter? 1: the show had a chance to flesh out Lisa and Alucard's relationship as mother and son, and it squanders it to further emphasize Lisa's already established attachment to Dracula. Not only it cheapens Alucard's attachment to the mother he fights his father for (he, bafflingly, even says "Then find the one who did the deed", which misses the entire point of his character), this becomes much worse by the time of the finale, as I describe below.

Why does it matter? 2: Lisa, once again, loses sympathy points. The inherent hypocrisy of Dracula disrespecting Lisa's memory is never breached in the show, which prefers to focus on his shortsightedness, but Lisa's wish herself is not as purehearted in the show. In fact, as I said, her relationship with Dracula sounds quite unhealthy now, which of course never gets acknowledged.

The Forgemasters were warped beyond recognition.

This part derailed the post too much, so I put it in a different post. What matters here is that everything surrounding the Devil Forgemasters in the show makes Dracula look like a massive negligent idiot who had his death coming, not to mention not quite as morally grey as his game counterpart.

Dracula never became the Dark Lord.

When Elisabetha died. Mathias became a vampire through the Crimson Stone. When Lisa died, Dracula made a pact with Chaos/The Evil God to become the Dark Lord, the Avatar of Chaos on Earth. This makes Dracula far more than a vampire, and something closer to Satan, a truly terrifying figure. His penchant for cursing and possessing also proves this. Dracula, through his own actions, became the incarnation of evil.

Needless to say, Chaos isn't even hinted at in the show.

Why does it matter?: despite his posturing, Dracula is nothing special. He is in theory respected by other vampires for being the oldest and most knowledgeable one, but even that is not true, as the first thing Carmilla does is disrespect him in front of his whole court. His abilities also pale compare to what he can do in the games - while he showcases his iconic Hellfire, he doesn't even turn into his monster form!

Death is not Dracula's loyal confidant.

In the games, Death is a creature born from Chaos, and bound to serve the wielder of the Crimson Stone. Mathias was able to get his help to complete his transformation into a vampire, and since then, Death has stuck with the Dark Lord through thick and thin. Not only he's often responsible for Dracula's resurrection through the centuries, but he's pretty much described as the closest thing the vampire has to a confidant and friend.

No Crimson Stone = no Death. The role of confidant is taken by Isaac, strangely enough, with a Dracula being seriously concerned about their friendship (and this only highlights how differently Isaac and Hector are treated).

Death doesn't appear until Season 4, and he has a completely different role: he's the man behind the scenes who wants to revive Dracula, which so far is canon compliant... but he wants to use Dracula by giving him a fate worse than death, in the hopes of driving him insane and pushing him to kill as many people as possible, again. Dracula is nothing but a tool to Death, who is described as being a different type of vampiric creature.

Why does it matter?: it's yet another way Dracula is weakened and disrespected by the narrative. Constantly presenting new semi-original villains and having them insulting the main antagonist of the franchise or playing them as pawns is just tasteless.

Dracula and Lisa are brought back to life in the finale.

Death does manage to accomplish part of his plan: with St. Germain's help, he calls back Dracula's and Lisa's souls from Hell to be fused into a Rebis. After Trevor destroys Death, the two return to normal. Happy to be once again together, they decide to spend the rest of their lives together travelling around the world like they were set to do, leaving Alucard alone.

Why does it matter?: it completely shatters the whole point of the cycle of death and rebirth Dracula and the Belmonts are stuck under. Dracula in the games is brought back into the human world by mankind's evil desires, forced by Chaos to be its avatar and a harbinger of evil. It's implied that even he grew tired of it all, which is why being reincarnated into Soma is a chance of a new start for him. By having Lisa at his side again, Dracula has no reason to hate mankind anymore. Since Chaos doesn't exist in the show, Dracula is completely free, and the year he spent planning mass extermination and suicide is quickly brushed off. We are left questioning what exactly Dracula will do now with his new life, and what he will do after Lisa's natural death.

As of Season 1 of Nocturne, he seems to have faded into obscurity: the first of the two times he is mentioned (the second time from Alucard introducing himself), it's from Juste, in a line like this:

"[Evil] will always be stronger than us. And you can kill this or that devil. A Lord Ruthven, a Dracula, maybe even an Olrox. But there'll always be more, more and worse."

Put in the middle as if he were a random vampire, implicitly listed as less impressive than Olrox. And to add insult to injury, Annette, who somehow knew all about Forgemasters, has no idea who he is.

(and while this doesn't matter as much, the two preferring to spend time with each other rather than comforting their grieving son makes them look like truly awful parents. What happened to "I'm killing my boy"? Why is Lisa outright avoiding her own son when she knows he's still crying over them?)

In short, Castlevania, the series named after Dracula's own castle and domain, barely has Dracula as its villain, and in the short screentime he had he was blatantly disrespected.

But he's far from being the only one.

The Belmonts are incredibly nerfed.

To recap. The Belmonts are a generic clan of vampire hunters, for which Dracula is just another vampire. The two have no connection. The Vampire Killer is nowhere near as impressive as its game counterpart, regardless of the flashy animation of the fight. During the fight with Dracula, not even the Morning Star could scratch him. Dracula recognizes Trevor as a Belmont because he attempts to punch him in the face, to no avail. It's implied that, before Trevor, his ancestors went to fight Dracula. And failed. Possibly died.

The Belmonts... don't come off as being particularly heroic.

And this leads to the biggest sin: Trevor couldn't kill Dracula.

I repeat: Trevor Belmont was not the one who killed Dracula. And a weaker version to boot. He dies because he has an emotional breakdown at the sight of Alucard's childhood room, realizing too late that he's "killing his boy", and it's "his boy" who stakes him through the heart. Trevor is the one who finishes him off, but by and large, the bulk of the work was done by Alucard and Dracula's own depression.

So much for him being the Legendary Belmont in the games, right?

Why does it matter?: The narrative feels somewhat disdainful of the protagonists of the whole franchise, let alone its own.

Alucard being Dracula's effective killer is the result of Season 2 focusing mostly on their strained father/son relationship, which has its place to be sure, but it's as if the writers copypasted the emotional climax of Symphony of the Night in what is supposed to be an adaptation of Dracula's Curse.

Generally speaking, Trevor gets the shaft in his own story. He did kill Death, the final villain of the show, but Death hardly matters in the grand scheme of things compared to Dracula. The narrative's focus was spread through too many plotlines, and clearly favored Alucard and Isaac (and Hector's plotline, but not for him). Trevor and Sypha, stuck to playing hero in random villages in Season 3 and 4, are by far the most wasted protagonists of the bunch.

The writers seem to have grown bored with the main protagonist, because other characters became more popular. It's amateurish, and once again, disrespectful to the source material: yes, not all games have a Belmont as the protagonist and sometimes they use some flimsy excuses to push them to the sides, but at least they accomplish stuff.

And this leads to...

Richter in Nocturne has lost the entire point of himself.

Richter Belmont is famous for being the turning point in the Belmont clan. While, chronologically, Juste already grappled with his own fate, Richter is the one who completely falls apart because of his legacy. For 300 years, his ancestors were born, were raised and died knowing that some of them will have to destroy Dracula. Richter wrapped his identity around being a Belmont, and being tasked with killing Dracula, which he did eagerly... so when he did, he suddenly realized he had nothing to live for. He wanted to keep fighting for eternity, to give a purpose to himself. And that's how Shaft got to him. And Richter was so distraught for the shame he has brought upon the name of his clan, that he gave the VK to the Morris clan, who kept it until 1999.

Nothing of this could be kept in Nocturne, because no Belmont has ever killed Dracula, and there is no reason to even kill him anymore after he stopped hating mankind. Simon's Quest and Harmony of Dissonance cannot happen without Dracula's relics. Richter is still proud of his heritage, but he describes it as a generic "killing vampires": as of Season 1 of Nocturne, the main source of pain for him is the death of his mother at the hands of Olrox, a very different and much more cliché tragic backstory.

Why does it matter?: between this, Trevor being a glorified prop, and Juste being reduced to a depressed cynical mentor, plus the OC Julia getting killed in an uncerimonious way to fuel Richter's angst, there is a sad pattern of the show almost resenting the Belmont clan as a whole. What is the point of adapting Richter's story, if his story simply cannot happen?

Richter thought Alucard was just a myth.

In SoTN, Richter immediately recognizes Alucard as the one who helped his ancestor Trevor. The implication is that the knowledge of Trevor's feats had been passed down, and survived for 300 years. Apparently, no such thing happened in Nocturne.

Why does it matter?: since Trevor did absolutely nothing of importance in the show, Richter's knowledge of his own clan lore is cheapened. This affects once again his supposed arc, confirmed by Sam Deats, of living up to his family legacy - what legacy?

And still they aren't the only ones affected!

Alucard doesn't hate his vampiric heritage.

In the games, Alucard's biggest internal struggle is with his dual nature. Both a vampire and a human, son of his father who wants to destroy mankind and son of his mother who asked him to cause no harm to them. The turmoil is so great that Alucard chooses to seal himself in a coffin twice over, in 1476 and in 1797: he explicitly does so because he feels tremendous guilt over having killed his father, and to protect the world from his "cursed" blood, as there is the chance that, if he dies, he will become a full-fledged vampire.

Absolutely nothing of this is kept in the show. Alucard reluctantly kills Dracula and is shown weeping about it, but he's fiercely, and weirdly, protective of vampires. This is shown in S2, where the reason he spends the entire time insulting Trevor and his lineage with cruel, callous and frankly xenophobic remarks is that they kept "a museum dedicated to the extermination of my people".

Why does it matter? At its core, this is the show's attempt to make the vampires look more sympathetic, painting them as a noble race who don't deserve to be systematically killed (accidentally drawing unfortunate parallels with real life ethnicities). By default, it paints the Belmonts as morally grey, at best, hunters who kill innocent creatures like "children" and gruesomely display the remains.

Incidentally, while the objective was to make the vampires look more pitiable, the real consequence is that Alucard looks like a grand bastard, hating Trevor for doing his job and siding with bloodsucking monsters for reasons that are not elaborated upon. You'd think this would effect his relationship with Dracula, but it never comes up.

(Nocturne also comes off as even more disconnected to the original series now, as it reverts back to the notion that vampires are nothing more than evil monsters to be killed without remorse)

Alucard doesn't go to sleep between the two series.

Let's go back to the part where I said that Alucard sleeps his way through from Dracula's Curse to Symphony of the Night.

This doesn't happen in the show. The entirety of his story in S3 is caused by him going insane for the isolation over a month because Trevor and Sypha decided to travel alone, while Alucard guarded the castle and the Belmont Hold; the finale has him turning Dracula's Castle into a village where he can live with Trevor, Sypha, their upcoming child and Greta; in Nocturne, Alucard mentions that he spent the last 300 years slaying vampires (I suppose he changed his stance on them in the meantime).

Why does it matter?: it makes Richter's ignorance of him even more striking. Alucard should have lived through the Belmont lineage, be a figure to look up to: the only assumption one could make is that he, at some point, cut all contact with his friends or his friends' descendants when nothing would suggest such a decision in the series, and his relationship with Trevor and importance in killing Dracula were forgotten with time. This ties back with how Richter has no legacy of his own.

Alucard also must have not done a good job at slaying vampires for three centuries, if they have managed to infiltrate human nobility.

Why does it matter? 2: a smaller consequence of Alucard never sealing himself in his coffin is that Trevor and Sypha come off as very insensitive friends for abandoning him right when he needed the most support. In Dracula's Curse, he chose to separate himself from them. This cheapens their supposed friendship even more.

However, further consequences (like Alucard's state of mind and the fate of Dracula's castle) are yet unknown. We'll see in S2.

And there you have it. Richter can't be Richter and Nocturne has to revolve around the French Revolution, because Lament of Innocence didn't happen in the show. And because the writers did not understand the source material and all the decisions that had been taken.

[tigreblvnc]

BLUE LOCK SIBLING* MATCHUP EXCHANGE — part i. *Find out who your sibling is in Blue Lock!

Your match is...

— Hiori Yo

✦ Hehehehe

✦ Our favorite gamer!

✦ So, I had the choice between a younger or older brother…

✦ Obviously, I chose the younger brother.

✦ (To delve deeper into the lore with Sae)

✦ You'll understand why it clicked so well with Sae.

✦ Hiori is known for not liking crowds—or people. Given his intelligence, there's a part of him that simply doesn't want to waste energy on uninteresting people.

✦ Small talk isn’t his thing either; he prefers to stay quiet and observe instead.

✦ Proof: he isn’t really noticed for a long time in the manga.

✦ Until he finds someone worthy of his talent.

✦ Because before his synergy with Isagi, he was mostly portrayed as an introverted boy, who had many expectations placed on him but never received enough sincere love.

✦ Doesn’t that remind you of another character?

✦ (Well, actually there are quite a few characters with that background, but)

✦ Hiori didn’t have an older brother, nor did he have parents who loved him for who he really is.

✦ I think with you, he probably maintained a pretty discreet relationship.

✦ Displays of affection were never really your thing.

✦ In fact, it just created more awkwardness than anything else.

✦ Besides, I can’t really see Hiori being the type to initiate that kind of affection.

✦ He’s more into long gaming sessions in his gaming chair, lasting until indecent hours.

✦ Nothing to do with the real world.

✦ Neither he nor you understood the pressure your parents put on you both to play soccer and become the best.

✦ To bring in money and success.

✦ At the same time, being both introverted personalities, it allowed you to quickly understand and respect each other’s boundaries.

✦ You never stepped on each other’s toes.

✦ But we can’t really say you were very close, for the reasons mentioned.

✦ I don’t see Hiori opening up much about his feelings; he actually bottles everything up.

✦ Until it explodes on the field, a hundred chapters later.

✦ I think you shared relatively few passions or interests, despite your reluctance to socialize with the average person.

✦ You both mostly evolved separately, in your own ways.

✦ That’s probably also why your parents scolded you.

✦ But I don’t think Hiori really held it against you.

✦ That’s just how you are, and he accepts it.

✦ Few people would say you’re siblings.

✦ And yet, you both give off something somewhat similar, each in your own way.

✦ You were never very emotional, so you didn’t really have the reflex to approach Hiori to start a conversation.

✦ There’s no one to blame, just circumstances.

✦ It happens, siblings who never really develop strong bonds.

✦ You probably felt more connected to people outside of your family circle.

✦ Especially Hiori through video games. He really found refuge in that, weaving his own web online.

✦ You, it was in books.

✦ That said, there were moments of bonding.

✦ Like discovering an anime together. Going to a Vocaloid concert.

✦ Honestly, those were your best moments together.

✦ The rest of the time, you kept to yourselves.

✦ I think both of you always felt that something was missing in your relationship, without necessarily knowing what it was.

✦ It was when Sae talked to you about his relationship with Rin that you understood.

✦ You had lacked that spark of interest for your younger brother. Maybe he wasn’t good enough, intellectually stimulating enough. Maybe he was always in your shadow, unable to surpass you.

✦ In the end, you had your own Rin. Sae had his.

✦ Hiori never verbally expressed his feelings.

✦ …But I like to imagine that at the end of the Neo Egoist League, when Hiori has gained confidence in himself... a conversation between you will finally take place.

© TIGREBLVNC 2024 | INTERESTED IN A MATCHUP EXCHANGE? CHECK THIS.

[umi-adxhira]

TWTPTFLOB HIGHSCHOOL AU

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm from England, so we have secondary school, not high school. But let's just pretend that everyone listed below is 16-18

I. ROXANNA AGRICHE

The BIGGEST English Literature geek there is. The teacher says, "Next week we're learning Shakespeare's Macbeth" and she pulls up to class reading the entirety of Macbeth in a book she bought with annotations and shit

Has like two or three close friends she hangs around everyday in the library, occasionally she'll go to see Jeremy at break

I can see her playing a sport, maybe volleyball, because she wants to expand her CV or whatever Americans call it and sports would be a good one for extracurricular (she watched Haikyuu once)

I see her as that one girl who girlifies every page in her exercise book. Like she'll put "🩷✨️WWI✨️🩷" as her title to look coquette

On the student council if there is one, deputy head maybe. Deputy Head Girl if there isn't a council

II. JEREMY AGRICHE

In his academic flop era (same) if he opens a book for three seconds, you best believe he's gonna take a two hour break

Likes Biology but physically cannot get a good grade in it after that he just gave up

Has one friend that he bullies (affectionately) and will sometimes go to Roxana if his friend isn't in school or got held back by his teacher for not doing the homework

Shoves Dion's shoulders with his own whenever they pass each other in the corridors to make everyone know that they have beef (they don't he just doesn't like him)

Had a crush on a girl who liked Geography, so he actually revised it for the upcoming test to impress her (she didn't know who he was) and got upset that she didn't fall into his arms hopelessly in love

III. DION AGRICHE

Doesn't revise for shit but actually gets good grades. They're not the best but they're in the 70-85% range so he's honestly fine. Will put in some effort for the actual exams and whatnot

On the basketball team. He's tall and strong so he's honestly great for it. He has a natural talent but practices late into the night so he doesn't have to go home

Likes gacha games. Not in a weird way he likes playing the storyline and reading the lore. Also getting characters he likes.

If I have to choose between games I know and played, probably HSR or Reverse: 1999. He likes HSR a lot but not the unnecessary fan service. And likes Reverse: 1999 because it has little fanservice

Probably has a fan club like Teruhashi from Saiki K but with women and the occasional men that he genuinely has no idea exists

IV. GRISELDA AGRICHE

Biggest History nerd ever. Someone pulls out a mildly incorrect fact and she's like "erm akshually 🤓👆"

Revises day and night for exams and gets the best marks. Will NOT help a student if they're not dedicated and just want a good grade (I hate these people)

Plays chess a lot. Challenges her siblings to matches regularly and almost never loses

Like I said before in another headcanon she likes collecting stuff. Probably figurines or stuff from anime. I can see her liking Tsukasa from Dr Stone because he's a manly man and sweet

Has a friend group of four or five. They come over almost every week to revise and just chat and gossip

V. CASSIS PEDELIAN

Best student out there ngl. Not a teacher’s pet, has good grades, is respectful, helps other students, the whole package

Many of his female peers ask him for his haircare routine because his hair looks shiny and soft (he just uses shampoo) and he makes up random stuff so they won't be jealous of his perfect hair

Is a good singer. Is probably in a band with two or three people. He's like backup vocals and plays guitar

Sports, probably... also volleyball ngl. He also watched Haikyuu and he thinks he can totally become the next Ushiwaka (he's not) but then steps back a bit and becomes the libero

Hangs out with the people in his band, the girl in the group has a crush on him that literally everyone knows except for him which is honestly a feat in itself

VI. SYLVIA PEDELIAN

Is actually deep into brainrot but no one would guess. Unironically says "that's so skibidi" in her head whenever someone says something

She has some weird obsession with her brother like god forbid someone brings up music she'll be like "oh my brother is in a band he's so cool! I'm his number one fan and I listen to all of his songs" and she talks on and on about him it gets a bit creepy

Very popular in school, has a big friend group but people are only around because they want to be associated with her because she's so pretty

Has a crush on Jeremy but literally no one could tell. Also has a fanclub like Teruhashi but it's more known than Dion's

She's literally the most perfect pretty girl. Has good grades, good at sports, overly kind and friendly, but some people behind the scenes talk shit about her behind her back because they think she's faking it

©️umi-adxhira [20/10/2024]

[bedtimegiraffe]

Kade is Surprisingly Wrong in Book 2

I love Kade. He is an amazing brother. But the game made him explicitly wrong on a few crucial things and I find that fascinating. Especially considering that Kade is our default research guy.

First up, why MC experienced less time than Kade between books. This is the only time I can think of where the choice that gets you XP is provably less correct.

MC was unconscious for most of their time in the Shadow Realm because of Valax, some combination of Shadow magic/ experimentation to keep them unconscious until they figured out using blood for portals. So that accounts for 'missing' days.

BUT I would argue that the time difference of 2 weeks vs a year is the more significant one. And this does match up with a Book 1 Lore Tablet.

So Kade has MC pretty convinced (incorrectly) that they were in the Shadow Realm for about a whole year, leaving a lot of time unaccounted for. And that contributes to the next thing Kade and MC are concerningly wrong about: MC being tortured.

Kade was tortured in the Shadow Realm, we absolutely know that. But he was tortured by the Shadow Court after they randomly found him, for information, then just for sport.

But MC was taken by the Ash Empire in a targeted kidnapping with a stated purpose. It doesn't make sense to me to assume their situations were identical given that they were held by different groups under different circumstances.

This assumption that MC was tortured always came out of nowhere for me. Especially given that MC comes back with exactly one injury- a cut/burn on their arm they remember getting. If Shadow can't heal (which I'm 95% sure it can't), where are all of MC's injuries? I don't know if Kade or MC assumed the torture first because as far as I can remember, Valax correcting MC is the first time it comes up.

Either way, all of this feels to me like a way to artificially build tension, in a way that hurts Kade and benefits Valax. I know I've seen other people discuss that yes, it's a relief that Valax didn't torture MC, but she hurt them in plenty of other significant ways. And those real traumas kind of get swept aside because an imagined one didn't happen.

Would the book really have played differently if Kade had instead sadly said, "Time doesn't move consistently between the Realms. You could have been there for a day or two. Or... it could have been longer. Especially with Valax's experiments... we don't know." You could have the classic terror of the unknown. How long was MC there? What did Valax do to them? Was Valax just draining their blood, or were their memories tamped with? Did MC give Valax important or personal information they don't remember? What is Valax capable of?