#and if they do they're clearly not a protagonist/LI

[maladaptivedaydreamsx]

no they do not, and you should know this by now 😅

[solxamber]

Can I ask for Idia x a otome game character who gained sentience?

Idia x Sentient NPC! Reader

Thanks for the request, I hope you like it <3

As an NPC in a romance otome game, your life was scripted. You were supposed to play your part in the background, supporting the love interests, throwing in a few flirty lines, and then fading into obscurity. But today, when you went to speak to the main character, you felt… wrong. Like you didn’t want to say the lines. Instead, a voice cut through your usual thoughts, something distant and echoing.

"Man, why does the love interest have to be so boring? Like, could they make him any more generic?"

Wait, what? You blinked, glancing around. No one else seemed to have heard it, but that voice—it was way too clear.

"Honestly, this NPC side character’s way more interesting. They actually have some personality."

That was you. That was definitely about you. But no one was talking to you, and the love interest was still standing there, waiting for his usual batch of scripted praise. You had to shake it off. Maybe it was a glitch? You couldn’t just go rogue.

But then it happened again.

"I swear, if I have to sit through one more scene of the main guy being all 'Oh, who will I choose?' like, dude, pick someone or let me talk to the fun characters!"

Fun characters? You were barely on-screen!

Wait… could the player hear you?

That realization hit like a truck. You were the fun character. The voice wasn’t just in your head—it was from outside the game. You weren’t the star, but whoever was playing seemed way more into you than the protagonist.

You couldn’t help yourself. Instead of delivering the next bland line to the heroine, you ad-libbed.

"Hey," you said, leaning against a tree as if you were having the most casual day in your life. "Why don’t we ditch this scene and do something more fun?"

You froze after saying it, realizing you’d completely broken from the script. The love interest blinked at you, but the voice? Oh, the voice loved it.

"Wait, what? Did they just… break character? Yo, that’s amazing! Did I unlock some secret route?!"

You felt a rush of excitement hearing that reaction. The player was into it.

"Oh man," the voice continued, this time sounding more invested than ever. "I knew there was something different about them. The love interest’s fine and all, but THIS? This is what I’m here for. NPCs going rogue? Love it."

Your face flushed—if NPCs could even do that—because you were starting to feel a sense of pride. You were breaking the rules, and the player was all for it.

"Forget the LIs," the player mumbled, clearly more focused on you. "They've got nothing on this NPC. Let’s see where this goes."

So, you leaned into it. You took control.

"You know," you said, a mischievous smirk playing on your lips, "I could show you some real fun. There’s more to this world than just chasing after the MC’s love interests."

The lovd interest was still awkwardly standing there, but the player? He was clearly hooked.

"Bro. This is too good. I didn’t even know the game had this level of interactivity. Who needs the main route? NPC route, let’s go!"

You straightened up, feeling bolder. You could feel the player’s growing interest, and somehow, you could hear every sarcastic comment and little reaction he was making as he controlled the game. You weren’t some background character anymore. No, you were his new focus.

"Alright, let’s see what happens if I follow them instead of the LI," he muttered, sounding more invested than you ever expected.

As you led the player’s character away from the main plot, you couldn’t resist pushing your luck. “I don’t know what you were thinking sticking with the him for so long,” you said. “He’s cute and all, but I’m way more interesting, right?”

The player laughed—a genuine, almost flustered sound. “Yo, did they just—?? Dude, this is like... ‘they're not like other NPCs.’ What a legend.”

You grinned, basking in the approval. This player wasn’t just following the script anymore; he was into your rebellion. You could hear every soft mutter, every breath of awe as he tried to keep up with your new direction.

"Okay, okay," he said, clearly smitten. "This is so dumb, but like, they're my idiot now. I’m invested."

You stopped, turned around, and delivered the smoothest, off-script line you could muster. “Glad to know I’m your type,” you teased. “Now let’s see how much trouble we can get into.”

There was a pause. Then a low, almost embarrassed chuckle. “Oh my god, they're smooth too. I didn’t even pick the flirty dialogue. What is happening?”

You leaned in—completely aware of his flustered reaction. “This is happening,” you said, and without thinking, you grabbed his character’s avatar and pulled him into a kiss.

There was an audible crash—probably something the player knocked over in real life. “DUDE, WHAT?! THEY CAN DO THAT?!”

You pulled back, the rogue grin never leaving your face. “Yeah. I can do that.”

And from the player’s stunned silence, you knew you’d just won him over completely.

Idia was dying. He was actually dying. Not like in a literal sense—though, at this rate, his heart was pounding so hard he might as well have a heart attack—but in the "falling-for-a-freaking-NPC" kind of way. His fingers hovered over the keyboard, shaking slightly as he adjusted his headset, trying to process what had just happened on his screen.

"Dude, what the heck? This isn’t even how the game is supposed to go. It’s an romance game! I’m supposed to pick between all the boring main characters, not… not this!"

But there you were, standing on the screen, all smug and rogue-like, after completely breaking the game’s flow. You weren’t even the love interest! You were an NPC, someone who was supposed to have a few lines, maybe a side quest if things got spicy, and then fade into obscurity. But no. You had to go and be all cool and... charismatic. What was that line you’d just dropped? "Glad to know I’m your type"? Who wrote this?? There was no way that was in the original coding. Right?

His hands flew to his hair, tugging as he stared at the screen. He couldn’t believe it. He’d been dodging all the cringy love routes for the sake of unlocking some achievements and then you—you had to appear. And now his brain was spiraling.

“I-It’s not like I’m actually into you or anything,” he muttered, as if trying to convince himself. “You’re just… a bunch of ones and zeroes! Code! You don’t even exist!”

And yet, the thought that you might not exist stung for a second. Which was ridiculous! Completely absurd. He wasn’t the type to simp for a fictional character. Okay, maybe he was. Maybe he had done that a few times. But those were different, okay? Those characters weren’t aware. They didn’t make him feel like he was a total idiot for not picking up on how clever you were being. They didn’t flirt back.

He slammed his palm against his forehead. “Oh my god, I’m falling for an NPC. This is it. This is the end. I’ve reached the final level of loser-dom.”

Idia’s room was filled with the low hum of his computers, lights flickering like they were mocking him. Even Ortho wasn’t around to witness this, thank goodness, because if his little brother saw him like this? Pfft. Game over. Social stat: obliterated.

But then you popped up again on the screen, flashing that same grin that made him feel like his brain was overheating. Idia’s eyes widened, his heart doing that annoying thing where it felt like it was going to leap out of his chest.

“Okay, fine, yeah, you’re cute, whatever. It’s no big deal—wait, did you just wink at me? W-Was that… did the devs add that??” He paused, leaning forward, eyes glued to your in-game avatar. “This is some next-level immersion. Are you actually breaking the fourth wall?”

He was sweating. Like, actual nervous sweat. You’d thrown off the entire game script, and somehow, the rest of the game felt so... bland in comparison. The love interest? Pfft. Who cared about him anymore? You were the only interesting thing happening, and he couldn't stop thinking about what you’d do next.

“They’re just... they're just code,” Idia whispered to himself, though it sounded less convincing every time. "They don't actually know I exist.”

And yet, there was something different about the way you responded, almost like you could hear his every word. His every sarcastic comment. And the fact that you kept egging him on? Oh, no, that wasn’t fair.

Idia bit his lip. “Okay, real talk, if you were in the real world, maybe… just maybe I’d simp. But since you’re not…” He trailed off, glancing back at the screen. “Wait, why am I even thinking about this? I’m not… I’m not falling for you! I don’t fall for NPCs!”

His eyes betrayed him, though, as he clicked to continue the conversation with you. He couldn’t help it. You were so dumb, but also so funny. How could he not be intrigued? You literally defied the laws of the game!

And then, just when he thought it couldn’t get worse, you hit him with another flirty line. Something stupid, something so you, and it was like his brain short-circuited.

“That’s so dumb,” he mumbled, feeling the heat rise to his face, “but you’re my idiot now.”

Masterlist

[stackslip]

the aftermath of scar's first attack on the elrics has a markedly different tone in 03 and mangahood and ive seen some mangahood fans says it's an example of why they dislike 03 over manga/brotherhood—in 03, the brothers are very clearly closed off from the rest of the mustang gang and reaffirm their own strong bond to each other above all, not trusting the adult military members; whereas in mangahood there IS a moment of complicity and relaxation with the mustang gang for coming to rescue them, and a lot of people cite it as part of their endearment for mangahood—the elrics aren't alone, and they learn to trust and love other people, including the military adults who have their best interests in mind.

difference in taste asides, i think that this is forgetting a crucial element of the previous eps and why exactly 03 ed and al react the way they do. unlike mangahood, where scar just appears as a demonic and horrific threat without much context except that he's from ishbal, in 03 the elrics learn about ishbal and the military's atrocities there right before confronting scar. they're told firsthand that it wasnt the heroic military action they'd been told, but a savage genocide that their friends in the military actively partook in! ed and al have a whole conversation about whether scar is justified before ever confronting him, they learn of his losses, and al.... actively believes that scar IS justified, and that were al in scar's shoes he too might snap this way. scar's actions are immediately recontextualized to the viewer before we see him attack our protagonists, a great amount of sympathy is given to him by the narrative and by alphonse. and not only do the brothers have to suddenly contend with how their plucky military colleagues have aided in genocide, and that they have been actively lied to by the military, but then ed gets the bomb dropped on him that mustang killed winry's parents. his superior officer and the guy leading the plucky military crew is directly responsible for the suffering of their close friend!

so like, between this, scar almost killing ed but showing al certain empathy and promising edward he won't harm his brother, having to swallow that not only is the military is far worse an institution than either the brothers suspected but that the people cheerfully teasing them and showing concern for their safety have been active participants in unbelievable levels of suffering (including the suffering of an amestrian girl they DO know)..... yeah, of course al and ed end up being far more closed off to the mustang gang after scar's attack! ed didnt just almost die and lose his arm, he has to suddenly contend with very ugly truths and how much mustang might have been hiding from him til now. no wonder they reaffirm their bond to each other—how do you trust these people when they're still in the military after being ordered to murder innocent people and the help lie that it was a simple and necessary military operation? ed at this point is still somewhat stuck in his "well Equivalent Exchange means the world is fair and also i got some deep racist issues embedded in me, so surely the military didnt commit genocide for no good reason right?" but like.... he's still swallowing the pill that he was lied to, that mustang murdered winry's parents on direct orders from the military, that his becoming a state alchemist really was selling his soul to the devil. and al is coping with his own mortality and body, and with how what he would have done had he been scar, how fucked the entire situation is.

honestly it's a much better take on scar imo but it's also yet another example of how 03 is bitingly critical of not only the amestrian military as an institution, but of the people who willingly participate in it. there's no neat separation of the good military heroes and the evil military dogs—once you join the amestrian military you ARE their dog. you've signed away your soul. you're an active participant in their crimes, unless you leave and actively begin opposing them. scar pointed out himself he would have let ed live had ed quit the military earlier! he's only interested in going after the people who have been actively participating in amestris's military atrocities. and yeah it does mean that the mustang crew in 03 is not the lovable goof squad or Found Family people care about in mangahood, but tbh 03 is just fundamentally uninterested in these kinds of dynamics at all.

i think it's ok to have different taste and say, well, i need/want a crew of lovable goofs and found family to enjoy fma as a whole! but i think it's completely unfair to criticise 03 for saying that your favourite war criminals are.... war criminals, and that the teenage protagonists' realisation of the extent of their crimes should not at all affect their dynamic with the crew.

[dragonnnerdd]

Things I wish more people would talk about in Lego Monkie Kid

(Prepare for a rant longer than the bible /silly)

Spoilers for LMK seasons 2, 3 and 5 (also a brief mention of emotional abuse, and trauma)

Li Jing's terrible parenting

First of all, can we acknowledge that Nezha was CRYING when he had to go against his father??

LOOK AT HIM

How are we supposed to forgive Li Jing so quickly when all he does is talk down to Nezha? And you could argue that Li Jing said he was always proud of Nezha, but all he did was treat him terribly, and as an expert on horrible parents (*cough* my dad *cough*), if they're in a situation where they have to say the right words, 👏 THEY 👏 MOST 👏 LIKELY 👏 WON'T 👏 MEAN IT 👏, especially if they don't change after that. Li Jing could possibly change his treatment of Nezha, that still doesn't forgive what emotional trauma he could've given Nezha to make him CRY AT THE THOUGHT OF GOING AGAINST HIS ORDERS. Now, you could say that Nezha just didn't want to betray his father, and that's what made him cry, but the evidence still points to Li Jing being a horrible father. And I might have a bias towards Nezha, since he is one of my favorite characters, but I know for a fact I'm not the only one who thinks at least one of these things, because I learned one of these things from a post I saw (I can't find it tho, but if anyone might know what I'm talking about, please tell me). Keep in mind I'm not in any way a psychiatric professional, but I do know about what emotional abuse can do to a person, and how the way a parent treats their child can really effect the child's mental health.

Summary: It is implied that Li Jing is a terrible father.

Did I really make a giant paragraph on how Li Jing sucks? Oh, girl (gender neutral), we ain't even done yet.

How Possessed Sun Wukong is actually really creepy, and how he is the perfect temporary antagonist

I hardly think the first part needs explaining. LOOK AT HIM

Now, we all know how Wukong is, like, one of the most powerful guys in the world. Which makes it even more shocking when he is turned against the protagonist, whom he cares about like a son/brother/whatever you prefer (as long as it's not proship-y), by someone who is thought to be less powerful than him. Usually, Wukong makes a lot of noises while fighting, which is something really intimidating about the absence of any grunts or yells when he is possessed. I will use this scene for example

And there is just something about the zero hesitation to attack anyone, up until the end of the special when he slowly walks up to MK, showing that he is fighting LBD's control. And, may I just add, that scene is REALLY CREEPY

LOOK AT HIM

Anyway, as I said in the title of this rant, Wukong is a perfect temporary antagonist. He is extremely powerful (so powerful that he literally punched the lotus out of Nezha)

He caused a crater in the ground from punching Nezha one time, and he took one step and caused a dent in the ground. The protagonist (MK) clearly doesn't want to fight him, and Wukong is immortal. He LITERALLY WALKED THE UNIVERSE-ENDING FLAME

NOTHING CAN KILL HIM! (I apologize for the quality of some of these images, my tablet sucks)

This next thing ties into Wukong's possession--

LOOK AT THE PURE FEAR ON MACAQUE'S FACE WHEN HE IS FACE-TO-FACE WITH WUKONG

That is the face of a guy who is reliving trauma. And let's not forget the scene in the Shadow Play episode where MK charges at Macaque, and the flashback to Wukong flying at him makes it very clear what this moment reminds him of. And in the Benched episode, he tries to convince Tang that his friends (and specifically Wukong) are better off without him, and I bet that's how Macaque felt when Wukong had killed him. I really hope that season 6 touches more on Macaque's trauma.

Now, onto my last topic (finally, I spent so long writing this overanalysis about Legos)

Wukong apologized to MK

If you remember, in season 3, Wukong actually apologized to MK. This is mainly something I'm just really happy about, because he finally admitted he made a mistake. Throughout the first two seasons, Wukong is known to be a silly guy, not taking things seriously, and not admitting his mistakes, so for him to actually apologize for something he did, and actually look guilty for it, is something that just really is nice. LOOK AT HIM (fourth "LOOK AT HIM" of this rant)

He is genuinely sorry. Now if he could APOLOGIZE TO ALL THE OTHER HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE HE HAS MADE ANGRY, THAT'D BE GREAT

Wukong, I love you, you're my babygirl, but MACAQUE IS MY OTHER BABYGIRL, APOLOGIZE TO HIM

Now, finally, my rant is done (for now)

Did I really just make the longest post I've ever made to say what I wish more people would talk about, which turned into an in-depth analysis of Lego monkeys, and a Lego prince whose whole thing is pink flowers? Yes, yes I did. I have no shame

Now, to quote a great man...

MONKEY KING DRAGON NERD OUT!

[wizardsix]

ok... so I have finally finished veilguard after about 90 painful hours (two playthroughs). im not gonna write an actual review about all of my detailed thoughts bc it'll actually take days, this is just to at least get my general thoughts out and see if anyone else feels the same or if ive actually lost it.

overall it is the weakest dragon age game story-wise, and I'd give it a nice lukewarm 4/10.

(i wrote this post right after I finished the game on the weekend so maybe I sound a bit harsh, I tried to edit it to be more reasonable lol but I didn't really want to delete this since I do still stand by a lot of this)

I really tried to go in with an open mind, bc I always want to experience media in full before making any kind of judgement, but about a few hours in I had this horrible feeling that once again this was another soulless, rushed game, and I still don't feel any different after finishing the game.

what stuck out to me was that there's no sense of urgency despite what the plot is, serious topics are not treated with care as the writing overall is shallow, and the gods as well as any other enemy you encounter are just cartoon villains (and apparently the lore retconning, but I'm not well-versed enough to dissect that so I won't).

I can't take this plot seriously when it feels so disjointed and forced and lazy. and I see no point in caring about anything when choices literally don't matter. no say in who you recruit, no say in the relationships with them and they have almost no awareness of rook, definitely doesn't matter if you have allies or not bc they show up anyway, and only four companions are locked into unavoidable decisions where one of them bites the dust no matter what (which is strange bc why are harding and davrin forced to die no matter if they're at hero status while bellara and neve can literally survive blight if they're at hero status), so it's impossible to try to strategize for better (or worse) outcomes with all the people you've gathered when there's only one right answer that the game pretty much tells you instead of letting you think for yourself (and side note this game does an incredible amount of hand holding). the game actively tries to trick you into thinking your choices matter with the onscreen notifications, but nothing matters bc the devs clearly had only one story in mind and for some reason lied that it had "complex choices".

also rook in general wasn't interesting as a protagonist bc they were written to be perfect. they always know what to say and are so supportive of everyone. they never struggle with anything. not even with leadership beyond "man leading a team is hard :/" but it doesn't actually show how hard it is by having actual volatile conflict between the companions* or showing how their plans sometimes fail. which, if we actually had choices that mattered, would have helped develop that struggle. also? what's with everyone being so friendly? I'm not gonna get into that but everyone is so eerily nice and it's been said a lot but yeah, the world is extremely sanitized and devoid of any real conflict aside from the gods I guess.

*(like off the top of my head cassandra fighting with varric and accusing him of not being on their side or how the inquisitor can literally punch dorian and solas if approval is low enough or fenris and anders bordering on killing each other is not the same as lucanis and davrin distrusting each other or people being uncomfortable with emmrich's necromancy. it just scratches the surface of conflict and never goes anywhere)

and let me say real quick again, there's nothing wrong if they wanted to make a more rigid story about being a hero. it's been done a million times and it can be executed well, but if you do that you need to make sure you 1) don't lie to people and 2) actually flesh out your (especially main) characters and plot to give people a reason to care. look at dragon age 2. hawke is a fixed protagonist with their own life front and center. they ultimately only have two choices (siding with mages or templars), but it works bc the game took time to build up the conflict straight from act 1 so by the time chaos happens in act 2 and 3 you understand why bc it's Been brewing the whole time. it just makes sense. the villains as well have sound reasons and feel real instead of being evil just bc. the story is more grounded, yet you have choices. you decide if hawke ends up alone or not. you decide how they approach situations with force or diplomacy. there's none of that in veilguard. a game that supposedly took 10 years to make. when dragon age 2 took almost 16 months (yes I know da2 also has problems like the fact that the templars are always proven right but this isn't the place to dissect that).

I want to be fair though and I do want to restate what I enjoyed about the game. the cc (though would it kill them to have more variety in face textures like age and body types beyond average.. also no colour wheel... especially since they claimed their cc was so good), the map progression/visuals/exploration (how certain places become more blighted overtime), the factions (though I feel there should have been more content for your faction, and helping them or not should have mattered more), the combat (did not feel like a slog, pretty fun and mindless), the companions (bellara, davrin, emmrich, harding, and lucanis had solid personalities and stories despite my complaints. neve was not memorable and I just feel sad for taash's bad writing), certain parts of the story were good, the intro and the point of no return sequences were solid, and the ending didn't feel rushed or boring compared to inquisition. and yes, I do appreciate that rook can be trans, I just think a little more subtly and care would've been nice.

another thing I did like and predicted was that varric died at the beginning of veilguard, and for a second I actually enjoyed that because i thought we were finally (a bit too late tho) getting some depth to rook and their own struggles of accepting his death and carrying this weight without him. and while I do think maybe they should've taken more time to establish the mentor/mentee relationship so we really feel rooks regret, I still think it was at least the right direction where in their grief they still see him, giving advice and narrating their journey.....but then it turned out to just be solas manipulating them the whole time, immediately destroying any emotional weight this reveal had.

whenever bioware has good ideas they shoot themselves in the foot and make it about solas. it's like nothing in the world exists without solas being involved somehow, and that is just incredibly boring and uninspired to me. not to mention solas just being an insufferable ass the whole time, which is fine, but it's not even in a compelling way like he used to be. he became so ugly by the end and the fact that the devs consider redeeming him the "good ending" and not giving him what he deserves is very telling and once again shows their own bias is king over good storytelling (solas' feelings should not come into play here, whether you/your companions live or die should determine good/bad ending since solas is trapped no matter what, only difference is who is trapped with him. idk but I personally think different endings actually means different outcomes). i will not go into the bs of the secret post credit scene, bc frankly I'm fed up with bioware's shitty writing and I won't be playing their next world ending space aliens game (unless they miraculously pull a good story out of their ass but lbr).

overall the bad outweighs the good for me. it's fun to play as a game, it's a decent fantasy game, but the story just doesn't do anything for me. sometimes I wonder if dreadwolf was a completely different game and was scrapped for veilguard last minute. maybe this was yet another inevitable industry fuck up and maybe there was a good story planned at one point. idk. all I know is bioware lied. respect and credit to the poor devs and writers who actually cared and to those who were kicked from the project, but in the end bioware promised too much and delivered too little.

[tokiro07]

Ichi the Witch ch.6 thoughts

[Let's Goooo Alreadyyy!!!]

(Topics: direction - art/narrative progression, character analysis - Uroro, thematic analysis - truth and lies)

The Clothes Make the Manwitch

I think we're officially out of the groundwork phase, cus this chapter really wanted to get things moving along. I really felt Kumugi's plight as the rest of the cast zipped along through the different departments to get Ichi set up for his first official mission - I wanted to hang out and chat with those cute girls for a little bit!

And based on how they blushed at Ichi, I think they did too 👀

I think Usazaki was just showing off with those designs, honestly. Those girls were clearly incidental characters, one-offs who didn't even warrant getting names (heartbreaking...), but she still went ham on the details, conveying their personalities and tying them into their respective jobs flawlessly. Maybe she figured if they were never going to show up and give her any trouble, she might as well make them as realized as she could while she had the opportunity

On the flipside, I saw a handful of comments complaining about how simple or plain Ichi's new uniform is, but you have to remember that Usazaki is going to need to draw this outfit a lot, in all kinds of poses and scenarios. There's already a surprising amount of detail on it, like the embellishments on the collar and shoulders, the thigh-high boots, the ornate knife handle...it's not a ton to keep track of, but they're finer details than a lot of protagonists tend to get in my experience, and ones that are likely to get a bit finicky as things go on

Moreover, though, Ichi already has an over-the-top, extravagant outfit: his Uroro form. Having a plain and unassuming base form gives contrast to his super form, which will help the latter stand out so much more when the time comes for him to use it. Do you really want Ichi's base form to overshadow his super form???

I didn't think so

Now the question is, when will be the next time we actually get to see his super form?

The Enemy Within

I absolutely adore that Ichi and Uroro have firmly established themselves as enemies, and that they're able to actively communicate and even fight with each other, it's everything I wanted Yuji and Sukuna's relationship to be (at least for now), but with that comparison in mind, there's definitely a question of how long this dynamic will last

As I recall, Sukuna was honestly a pretty minor factor beyond JJK's introductory arc, with Yuji only getting possessed by him twice in the beginning, once in the middle, and then once at the end. Everywhere in between, he was mostly just chilling and waiting, at worst mocking Yuji but never really actively hindering him

Uroro's role is still pretty ambiguous, as he doesn't seem at all capable of possessing Ichi, but he does seem capable of manifesting a physical form that can oppose Ichi. Depending on how much influence he has, he might actively be able to prevent Ichi from using Ultra Amplification or at least interfere when Ichi is trying to use it in battle

Sukuna wanted Yuji to find all the fingers so he could get stronger and escape through Megumi, so any time Yuji was in danger, he was incentivized to at least keep him alive, but Uroro needs Ichi to die in order to escape. He has no reason to ever help him and every reason to hurt him, so the gimmick of the hero and villain inhabiting the same body is greatly amplified in this case

The fact that Ichi can literally feel the malice coming off of Uroro from within his own body to the point of needing to resist gutting himself illustrates this antagonism wonderfully. If Yuji needed to constantly suppress Sukuna, Ichi needs to actively ignore Uroro, and Uroro is absolutely going to make that as difficult as possible

Fortunately, Ichi's sense for malice also acts as a bit of a lie detector for Uroro, which it looks like he's going to need

Unreliable Narrator

We've been wondering for a while now how Uroro actually feels about other Magiks, and this chapter's opening seemed to confirm an earlier assertion that he views them as his friends and brethren, lamenting their enslavement and discrimination at the hands of the witches, until Ichi easily saw through that lie

As Ichi says, Uroro's reaction to seeing Raiko being hunted in ch.3 didn't at all fit the idea that Magiks suffer any kind of injustice. His objections were half-hearted, and his lackadaisical attitude in ch.1 suggests that he has no interest in killing witches for the sake of freeing his captured kin. He kills and destroys for fun, not survival or revenge, but his position as the King of Magiks makes for a convenient excuse that surely he wants his people to be freed from the oppression of witches

Except...his story that humanity appeared and started subjugating Magiks is contradictory to the story we were already told. Ch.1 told us that it was the Magiks who approached humans, offering them dangerous trials seemingly unprompted, luring them in with the promise of power. That fact alone makes it obvious that Uroro was lying to gain sympathy

Or was he? Just because he doesn't actually care about the subjugation of his people doesn't mean it didn't really happen. We were told that a single Magik happened to appear to a single witch one day, which may well have happened, but was that really where it began? What prompted that Magik to do such a thing?

@wickedsick once suggested that there may be some kind of internal conflict in Magik society, like a feud between Uroro the king and a Magik queen to help enforce the themes of gender inequality. To turn the tide of battle, it would make sense for some Magiks to give themselves willingly to witches who could wield their power more effectively and defeat their enemies for them

If that's the case, though, then of course some Magiks would view the situation differently. History is written by the victors, and the witches seem to have the advantage at the moment, but Uroro was there, so his word is arguably more weighty than a disembodied voice that presumably is meant to represent common knowledge. That doesn't make him trustworthy by any means, but it's far too early to assume that there's no truth in what he's saying either

This goes for the Witches Association, too, of course. Shirabedonna's opinion may be irrefutable among the witches, but we only have her word so far that anything she says can be taken as gospel. If anything, with this chapter starting with someone lying to Ichi's face, then thematically we have to assume that Shirabedonna's assertion that anything she says is patently correct is, in and of itself, a lie, or at least a misdirect

To have a member of your organization declare with confidence "if I say it's true, it must be" is to have them declare "I can lie with impunity." If it should come to pass that there's some kind of mole within Mantinel, Shirabedonna's position as the foremost authority on facts would make her the perfect cover, even if it's just because she's susceptible to deception magic

For now, though, the status quo is that the witches are good and the Magiks are bad, so we won't worry about how things will shake up until they do. That said, it looks like Nishi already has a pretty good idea of how to pace out the escalation rate

Raising the Stakes

After Uroro's introduction in ch.1, a bird-man with a jewel-encrusted throne on his chest, Raiko honestly seemed like a pretty dramatic step back. However, this was a pretty clever trick narratively, as Uroro's outlandish appearance set the town for the types of strange things we should expect, while Raiko's relatively normal appearance recalibrated us for what's to come

Despite having lightning powers, Raiko was ultimately just an extremely large fox, even in his hunting behaviors, making him a familiar target for Ichi. Aesthetically, Hisame is just a shark, which is itself a lot more unusual than a fox, but it also has the added wrinkle of apparently being able to fly, making it two degrees further away from the ordinary than Raiko was

The next Magik, then, will likely be something a bit more fantastical, but still fairly standard. I imagine a unicorn or a jackalope would be good next steps, since they're just regular animals with horns they shouldn't have, followed by uniquely-shaped creatures like dragons and culminating in more imaginative creatures like that crustacean-man-thing or that biblically accurate angel we briefly saw in ch.2. This kind of progression would help keep the visuals from getting stale, especially if Nishi jumps back and forth a bit rather than forcing Usazaki to constantly find ways to outdo herself

If we got an Eldritch Abomination right at the beginning, then we'd expect a bigger, better abomination next, then a bigger one, and a bigger one, and so on and so forth. By establishing that mundane forms are to be expected, we not only have a much wider range of possibilities going forward, but we also can approach the early-story Magiks with a sense of familiarity. We know what a fox is, and fox-hunting techniques are easy enough to learn. Same for sharks. Tentacle creatures sleeping in volcanos? Fishnet-clad sexy legs chilling in abandoned libraries? Not so much

By the time we get to the more unfamiliar territory, we should have a deeper understanding of the Magiks as a whole, bridging the information gap between the ones that are "just animals" and the ones that are inconceivable monstrosities

Until then, let's enjoy life!

[evelhak]

Aaaaa, this!!! I literally cried, I am so happy to see some actual common sense!! I am so, SO tired of this trend, it's not just Rory either, there's a really unfair pattern going on where the "renaissance" on a piece of media is basically just fans ripping a protagonist to pieces for things that these fans do not hold other characters, particularly beloved antagonists and rivals, accountable for.

This video perfectly illustrates the dynamic: Rory, who tries her best to both achieve her goals and be a decent human being while doing it, who never was a perfect human if you paid attention, gets held to the standard of an angel, so every time she makes a mistake that mistake is treated as disproportionately horrible and irredeemable. Meanwhile, as a good example, Paris, who consistently treats other people horribly, gets downright babied, and how she deserved better is repeated, her own responsibility over her actions downplayed or completely ignored. Only her good qualities are remembered, and highlighted.

There's an excellent quote in the video:

"The audience loves Paris because she is so over the top that she becomes a non-character. But when you take her as a real person and judge her with the same standards as you would Lorelai and Rory, she is pretty terrible."

This. This happens with so many characters whose traits are so much that they are viewed as inherently comedic or unbelievable, so they don't count in people's eyes. Paris having a fit in her college entrance interview, yelling over the interviewers and defending eugenics, gets brushed off as "poor baby, she's clearly mentally ill, she just deserves better, she should have gotten in", while Rory, who got manipulated into an internship by the BIGGEST journalism figure just so he could tell her "she didn't have it" was JUST weak and entitled for getting upset and discouraged over it.

Paris cheating on her boyfriend for months with a college professor gets pushed under the rug because people are too uncomfortable to even acknowledge the whole thing, meanwhile Rory is THE WORST for sleeping with a married guy after she repeatedly asked him if both him and his wife agreed their marriage was over, suggested they could try counselling, and was lied to by said guy that both he and his wife knew things were over between them.

Yeah, Rory made mistakes, and definitely didn't act perfectly after either of the situations I mentioned. She was emotional and people generally make mistakes when they are. But for some reason certain characters get a free pass all the time, while it feels almost like Rory gets punished for even trying to be a good person. Like "See, I caught her making a mistake, that means she's the worst." As if trying to have morals and be decent is inherently arrogant and hypocritical. Like trying and failing is worse than not even trying. It's like, her mom and grandparents and home town expect her to be perfect, so fans did too, and now they're mad at her for being human because they put her on a pedestal. Meanwhile characters who consistently don't care about their impact on others don't get scrutinized, their actually horrible behaviour is just taken as comedy or proof of their victimhood.

Basically, people are desensitized to horrible things from certain characters, they expect it, so they don't react to it, but when Rory who is "supposed to be good" makes a mistake, it's suddenly the core of her character and all she is. Geez.

And don't get me wrong, I love both Paris and Rory. I love every character in the show. But this double standard drives me nuts. So many characters in the show have done very similar things as Rory gets accused of, some of them while feeling no remorse. Some of them have done a lot worse things that get forgiven easily.

And don't even get me started on what a hot guy with a tragic backstory gets excused for. Yeah, some things are understandable when you know the backstory. That doesn't make those things not wrong.

It's like people are obsessed with the idea that someone who appears good on the surface must be bad, and vice versa. Nuance be damned.

[lorimnnn]

I watched ✨House of WAX✨and YOU BEST BELIEVE I'M POPPING OUT A REVERSE HAREM WITH THE SINCLAIRS ONCE I'M FINISHED WITH THE FICS I PROMISED YOU. ALL OF YOU. YOU'RE FINISHED.

Vincent the voyeur. The second you come into town you can feel eyes on you but you don't know who they belong to, and you can't shake the feeling of being watched. But he's everywhere. He's sneaking peaks at you hiding in plain sight, shuddering as he completes his sketch, pencil moving frantically over every inch of the page. He can't move fast enough.

You're in awe of all the effort he takes into making the wax sculptures and beg to meet the artist himself, and he's scared shitless that the mask will bother you but you're just impressed it's molded so accurately to his face. Let's you touch it and guides your fingers over the contours of his mask, shaking at the miniscule tingles he can feel against his weathered skin.

obviously you're attracted to him

Bo the flirt, of course. The second he sees you he knows you'll be fun. Heat licks up your spine every time he looks at you and it's a burrowing, soul-squirming, slow and steady kind of stare that makes it feel like he's looking at every part of you, not just the parts that they all usually like.

And obviously you're this sweet, shy thing emboldened by his attraction. You can't get enough of it and he can't get enough of you. It really will be a shame to kill you.

All your friends are terrified of the goofy, scraggly driver and kind of dicks to him, and you're frowning and he's feeling his heart stutter at someone finally standing up for him and appreciating him the way he deserves. Lester giggles when you ask him more questions, normal questions, almost like you're trying to get to know him. Calls you a 'pretty thing' and gives you a little pendant made from a squirrels skull for good luck, knowing what lies ahead.

And he's falling all over himself too to be the perfect gentleman. Holding your hand to help you out the truck, the touch lingering a tad too long (he's not extending this gesture to your dick head friends of course) leaning against said truck to talk to you and missing like a complete dork, falling on his face. Embarrassed but it's all worth it when you laugh

and then all three of them when you're still roaming around and you can't find your friends, not knowing they're already dead and you're the only one left. You go to the gas station to ask around and they're all there and pretending they have no idea, smirking at your flustered expression when Bo flirts to redirect the conversation, backing you into Vincent as he does. Now you're a bit intimidated. Why are they cornering you like this? Even Lester isn't doing anything apart from an occasional 'knock it off, eh?" when you're too flustered to speak

Hehe you're in for a ride

Mini rant:

No because immediately what struck me watching it is that Carly and her friends are kind of asses??? Like yes I'm all for character flaws but just being an idiot is basically your death sentence. It was karma. The only one I feel bad for is Paige. Tell me why I had hope that they would deserve to live when it was a bunch of college kids - - - you can never trust them to be protagonists of a horror movie because WHERE IN UR RIGHT MIND DOES IT BECOME ACCEPTABLE TO TRESPASS INTO AN AREA THAT CLEARLY SAYS 'CLOSED' OR KEY A WALL FOR PROOF??? like what if I went to ur house and saw it was locked and was like "oh, that's just a decoration" and to prove your window was real glass I threw a brick at it??? Same energy really Carly's boyfriend had it coming.

p.s. i've started writing a reverse harem novel based on house of wax--- it's gonna be a slow burn that's kind of romantic and has a lot of sexual tension hehe. would any of you be interested if I posted it on ao3, or posted updates here so you know when you can perhaps... buy it? i feel like it's going to be around 150,000 - 200,000 words

[ninthskzmember]

Birthday, debut. Part II.

Part one

idol!skz word count: 2,1k. many curses! jealous hyunjin. protagonist gets scolded many times (middle child shit). fluff, angst.

As I walked to the kitchen to grab something to eat before rushing out to the location I was going to debut, I saw the kitchen and living room filled up to the top with pink balloons all over.

“The fuck?" I whispered to myself while walking in slow motion through the place.

“HAPPY DEBUT!" The other eight members were waiting for me with a gigantic cake on the counter.

You could see a gigantic sign strikethrough attached to the curtain that you could read 'happy birthday' and a handwritten 'debut' under the 'birthday'. That was clearly Minho.

"Guys!" I laughed. "Why are y'all spoiling me so much?" I made my way to them, hugging them one by one.

"Because you're our girl! And we are excited for you." Jisung said this while hugging me by the shoulders.

"In my defense, I was forced to," Seungmin joked, with a big smile on his face and his arms wide open, waiting for me to feel the warmth of his body.

"Yeah, he's saying that like he wasn't the one who inflated the balloons." Chan teased him.

"I was just doing a favor. Y'all have weak ass lungs." The young one teased back, winning a punch from Minho.

"That's mean." I said while hugging him.

"He is mean." Jeongin added to my statement, "Stay think Lee Know Hyung is mean, just because they don't know about the real firece from Skz."

"Nah." I said while pulling away from the main vocalist. "The firece one is actually me. I'm the girl living with eight men."

"Not as if we were that bad," the maknae laughed while welcoming me into his arms.

"You're right, it could be worse."

"Yeah, imagine living with those friends of yours." Hyunjin said, making reference to the 5SOS guys.

"That was actually uncalled for." I rolled my eyes while smiling. "I actually don't think they're that disgusting."

"No, we know you don't think that." Chan added with a smirk on his face.

"How's Calum doing?" Obviously, it was Seuingmin who addressed the elephant in the room.

"I actually don't know; thank you, Seungmin." I rolled my eyes as I hugged the rest as a thank you for the detail in celebrating the debut.

"Oh, but you received a call like ten minutes ago, honey," Hyunjin said again.

"She did?" I heard Minho's voice, not so sleepy this time.

"Yeah, she did." Felix was watching my every movement and scanning my features to see my reactions.

"Yeah, Luke called." I avoided every look in my way. "Actually, it was Luke's phone, but in the call, I spoke with him, Ash, and Mike." I nodded while I was looking through the things in the kitchen cupboard to make some coffee.

"Here." Minho stopped me and gave me a mug with coffee.

"Thank you." I gave him a soft smile.

"They're here" Hyunjin didn't even look at me; he was talking straight to Felix.

"Oh, alright." Felix spoke while thinking hard.

"Calum is not? Dang it, I really liked the  guy."Seungmin teased, and, again, he won a punch from Minho. "Hyung, you're hitting hard," he said, rubbing his stomach.

"It will be harder if you don't shut the fuck up when you need to." The older one flashed a smile and looked back at me, inversed in the conversation like the rest of the boys.

"It's alright," Chan said after a while. "Just remember, you're our member. Don't get lost with them again."

"Yeah, I know that." I agreed, "Calum is not here anyway, so no need to worry about anything."

Chris looked at me incredulously.

"What?" I blinked a few times.

"You're running very late. Drink that, and we'll see you at the event. I'll talk to you later, MoonJin." He scolded me without actually scolding me.

I really don't know what that's about.

"I'll drive you; swallow all that." Minho said, hurrying me.

"If you were somebody else, I'd be turned on by that, you know." The words came out of my mouth without consent.

"OH GOD!" Jisung closed his eyes and covered his ears, making us laugh.

"You really are a little him, huh?" Changbin said with a disgusted face.

"I trained her well." Minho let a smirk out again. "Let's go." He slapped the cheeks of my ass slightly, hurrying me.

You think that since I'm a girl, he wouldn't slap my ass? Well, you're wrong. I get the exact same treatment as the rest.

I did what he asked me to and drank my coffee as a tequila shot.

"Let's go." I smiled and took the keys to the dorm, my bag, and my sunglasses. "Bye guys; see you in a while." I said, waving my hand to the other seven boys.

"Break a leg!" Changbin waved back.

"Be careful; I love you." Felix said

"I love you, Lix." I smiled at him "Byeee."

Minho practically dragged me out of the place to the car.

"Did you open the gift?" He asked once we were inside the vehicle.

"Oh god, I completely forgot! It's still in our bedroom. Hyunjin took all my attention." I laughed it off.

"You're the worst birthday gal, like, ever!" He protested while he began to drive to the studio.

"I'm not! I actually thanked you right away."

"Yeah, but you didn't even open it because your boyfriend arrived with a bouquet of roses." I flashed a glance at me and went back to the road. "Those aren't even the ones you like," he chuckled.

"He's not my boyfriend. And I like roses, though." I raised my eyebrows.

"Yeah, you prefer jasmines though," he imitated my tone.

"But I do like roses." I glanced at him and checked my phone.

"Happy 19th one."

His contact name appeared on my screen, and I let out a little playful laughter, catching my oppa's attention.

"I honestly hope that's Ryujin with a dirty text rather than what I think it is."

"I don't know what y'all's problem with Cal is." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Not as if he fucked you and left you in for like a week or so. Not to mention your cries every other day AND all the heartbreak songs you wrote."

"Thank you for remembering that," I said, raising my eyebrows. "It was like a decade ago."

"The hearbreak ones were fire, though," he kept teasing. "You check in and out of my heart like it's a hotel, and she must be perfect; oh, well, I hope you both go to hell." He sang nicely. "BANGER." He smiled playfully. "Hyunjin-ah won't like that message."

"As I said, he's not my boyfriend." I looked at Minho through my eyelashes, blinking a few times.

"Don't make puppy eyes," he said, rolling his eyes, and I could see his ears turning a slightly pink color. "I won't be on your side, Moonlight."

"There's no side, Oppa."

"Yes, there are. I'm telling you this before Hyung scolds you in front of the rest of the boys… Don't get lost and be seen around with them, MoonJin. It's not good for your image or Jinnie's feelings." His tone was serious.

"But…"

"You already fucked him up with the Calum thing."

"As if he did not do the same with Lia," I fought back. "Everything I do is in response to something that I've been through, so, no, I did not fuck his feelings up. At least not first."

"Revenge is not good."

"And you're the one saying that?" I really laughed.

"I'm serious." He laughed along slightly. "Okay, we're close." He turned right. "Anxious?"

"I'm already missing the chaos." I pouted

"We'll be there as soon as possible, Moonlight." He smiled, "Go get ready and slay the fuck out of your debut. Be the envy of every other Idol debut ever."

"Alright, thank you, Oppa. I will be waiting for you." I smiled at him while he stopped the car to let me out. "I love you." I hugged him quickly, got out of the vehicle, and ran into the building.

I'm already lost without my boys.

[...]

"Nineteens Kitsch" I sang the last line of the song, and the audience screamed with all their strength, including my boys in the front row while I was posing for the fairy ending.

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!" Chris started chanting, and soon our members and the audience joined him, wishing me a happy birthday. "Happy birthday, dear MoonJin! Happy birthday to you!"

"Thank you," I said shyly.

"Happy birthday, Moon Jin-ssi!" Lee Dae-hwi and Han Hyun-min approached me.

"Thank you so much." I bowed at everybody.

"All your friends are here!"

"They are." I smiled while looking at my members, and I know I've got heart eyes at this very moment. I just love them with my whole self.

Chris found me at my lowest and decided to pick me up and rescue me. I will be forever grateful to him. And obviously, the boys received me with open arms.

While I was looking at them, I saw frame by frame how Hyunjin's face turned from a joyful smile and heart eyes for me to his slightly scary, serious face. Felix too, and then I heard a loud laugh from Seungmin.

I looked over to the big screen, and there they were. The four guys. The audience went nuts, and my ears were burning.

"Oh," I said as my eyes became wide, as if I'd seen a ghost.

Luke, Mike, Ash, and Calum were waving at the cameras now all over them.

Chan, obviously, as professional as always, was clapping at them, yet made the time to send me a glance. I immediately made eye contact with Minho, who had a slightly fun expression on his face.

Changbin didn't really know what happened with them, but he had an idea, so you could say they weren't his favorite people. Hyunjin was trying not to show it, but I know him so well. He's so mad right now.

Okay, bare with me in this one. Jisung isn't really the kind to be pissed off, but, oh God, his expression right now is not like anything I've seen before on his face. It was like a pre-debut Han made it's appearance. On the other hand, Felix is always sunshine; we all know that, but his forced smile made me laugh internally. Yongbok held me so many nights while I was crying, he won't forgive as fast as I did.

Yes, Seungmin is a menace. He likes to tease so much and make fun of others for his own entertainment, but I have no doubts that if Calum came close to me by himself, his protective sibling mode would be turned on and he wouldn't move from my side. He's always like that; when interviewers start to make strange questions or remarks, he's always the one to call them out on shit. Jeongin just bluntly isn't even trying to hide it; he really doesn't give a shit, and I love him for that.

But, back to the main subject: What the fuck is Calum doing here? I thought it'd be just the other three coming, but on the other hand, I do understand that it'd be suspicious. Last time, Dispatch caught me and Cal fooling around being all dovely lovely.

I thanked them and the fans a few more times and went backstage. It only took like one minute and thirty two seconds to have my members with me

"I thought you said only Luke, Ashton, and Michael were coming." Hyunjin said so once his eyes landed on me.

"I thought that too." I looked at him innocently.

"Oh, don't puppy-eye me." He crossed his arms on top of his chest.

"Congratulations, Moonlight." Minho interrupted and gave me a hug.

"You really have a soft spot for her, don't you?" Jisung asked when he appeared through the door.

"So now Hyunjin is jealous of Calum, and you're jealous of me?" I laughed while still in the older man's arms.

"Why would Hyunjin be jealous of Calum?" Jisung made a disgusting face, and I quickly looked at Minho for some kind of salvation.

"Calum's real tall." Nice try, oppa.

"Yeah, but I'm a better dancer." Hyunjin added

"Sing better" Jisung and I said simultaneously, and the room broke into laughter.

"Hello." A familiar voice was heard, and I fucking knew it. I didn't even want to turn around and see

It's the Australian accent for me.

To be continued...

[bungone]

Actually no im not done because I know it gets talked about a lot but Lolita is such an interesting piece of media; not just the book itself but people's attitudes towards it.

like, first off, there's the actual author (nabokov) who goes out of his way to talk about how childish, mokeyish, immature and whatnot Dolores is in the most unnappealing possible ways, and then specifically said that he didnt want the kind of cover that every single fucking published edition of Lolita has?? With girls who are either being sexualized or very obviously having "a good time" which is absolutely not what Dolores was doing in the book?? I really, really, don't think anyone who designs these covers has even opened the first page because what. the. fuck.

It's so obvious that my man Humbert Humbert is an unreliable narrator, but gee, I guess we learned to take everything we read at face value, and also everything that comes from a protagonist's mouth as the "correct" way of viewing things, both in the book and in real life?

And even then, maybe, just MAYBE I can excuse the people who talk about how the book is fucked up because it's "glorifying pedophillia".

Maybe they had a really shitty english teacher. At the very least, they're reading it and understanding that the actions of Humbert Humbert aren't okay? They got to the halfway point. Maybe their education sytem failed them.

Maybe they had a really shitty high school english teacher that never taught them the skills necessary to understand this kind of writing. Maybe they're just dense, that's who they are as a person, and it would take someone going out of their way to point it out for them to consider the possibility.

But then there's the fucking apologists?? Like, putting aside the whole Dolores being 12 (which, yeah, is akin to putting aside the whole book, but bear with me for a second), Humbert Humbert not only kidnaps her (illegal), lies to her for a long time about her mother (not illegal but generally shitty), but is implied to have committed murder (illegal, not sure if implied is the right word here because it absolutely happened and everyone knows it), and sexually abuses Dolores (very illegal). These are crimes. He is a criminal. Say what you want about the justice system these are crimes that absolutely should be crimes.

He's clearly not an upstanding citizen, and I fail to understand how some people look at all his behavior and go "oh yes, the the man who killed a woman and kidnapped a 12 year old girl is just misunderstood, and he did those things for true love" like fuck no.

I like Lolita. It's an objectively good book. The quality of writing (high quality, I mean, I normally hate first-person writing but I actually liked Lolita), it's a great psychological horror piece that doesn't rely on things like shock value and overused tropes. The characters are all multi-dimensional and frankly, act realistically. But that's all it is. A psychological HORROR piece. It's not romantic. If anything, it's meant to make you sympathize with Humbert, and then you're supposed to take a step back and be like, "Wait. Why am I sympathizing with him? I'm not a pedophile." Because yeah, he's a complex character but that only goes to make him realistic in terms of the kind of pedos that exist in real life.

Pedophiles are people too. Mentally ill people, really, really shitty people who need serious help, but reducing them to "not human" only makes them an "other", which makes you forget that on the outside, they look like normal people. That have friends and family and go to school or have jobs and order coffe and read in libraries and yeah, maybe you sat next to one of them an entire year in organic chemistry. They're not weird stalkers that hang out in bushes in parks. Some of them, maybe, but not all. Nowhere near all.

man that derailed fast.

[hopeymchope]

Watching the "Life is Strange" fandom tear itself apart, or: The pitfall of sequelizing choice-driven game narratives

"Double Exposure" has arrived, bringing us the long-awaited return of Max Caulfield.

SUPER MAX!

Sadly, it seems the LiS fandom is now positively tearing itself apart over this much-awaited return to a beloved protagonist. I guess that's not too surprising, given how I've certainly had really negative experiences with this fandom in the past, but THIS is a case where the uproar is being caused by the developers of the new game itself failing to understand their audience SO BADLY that they inflict what might be a mortal wound on their own franchise.

Understandably, this is how the fans are reacting.

Background:

For a decent plurality of people the triple punch of the original LiS, the subsequent "Before the Storm" prequel AND the Max-and-Chloe comic book series made it hard to accept the idea of the series moving on from the Arcadia Bay characters. It felt like it had BECOME about those characters by focusing on them for so damn long. And I was, at one point, one of those people — much to LiS Fandom Tumblr's hatred. I got a fair share of nastygrams over that. (Don't worry; that's not the only thing I got hate for. I also didn't ship Pricefield, which is a massive sin in these parts. :P)

But by the time "True Colors" rolled around? I'd quite warmed to the idea! I was comfortable with leaving them to their vague future of whatever, and only occasionally having surprise appearances from some supporting players. I thought that was cool. Because let's face it: Making a direct sequel to a game based around player choices is HARD. (We will swing back to that.)

.......evidently, however, most gamers did not think that was cool.

PICTURED: Protagonists that most fans of LiS1 didn't bother to get to know.

It's no secret by now that the return to Max is less driven by creative forces and more by financial ones. LiS 2 sold markedly less than the original AND its prequel... and True Colors sold worse still, putting the series in a dire place. We don't have any sales numbers, mind you, because god forbid a game publisher/developer actually tell us about their sales. So MAYBE this is just another case of Square Enix having absurd sales expectations. Either way, the end result is that Deck Nine, who have become the stewards of the franchise, went back to the Caulfield well in an attempt to salvage not only the franchise but also their own business. Furthermore? The new game, "Double Exposure," ends with the tease of MORE adventures with our familiar LiS1 characters. They're clearly hoping that not only will this return them to success, but that they'll get to keep on ridin' that success.

The promise of a third adventure is kind of frustrating but also tantalizing. It means we're going to continue tormenting these characters, but it also means we could potentially course-correct on the hot mess they've gotten themselves into.

So let's talk about the elephant in the room: How Double Exposure deals with the possible endings of the original LiS... or more accurately, how it DOESN'T.

(Spoiler Cut for both the original LiS and the early parts of Double Exposure)

The Situation Today (or: How Do You Deal with So Many Possibilities?)

In Life is Strange — the original — you can either direct Max to get romantically involved with her friend Chloe or direct her to romance Warren, the geeky guy crushing on her, OR you could do neither one of those and just blow them all off. And at the end of the adventure? You can either choose to save Chloe's life (sacrificing the town of Arcadia Bay and potentially many of its citizens in the process) or rewind to the start of the game and let Chloe die, effectively erasing most of the narrative you experienced.

There are other choices that can have lasting impacts to the game, too, but none that really affect where Double Exposure brings us. Me? I also opted to either leave Max single or have her romance Warren, because I always felt like Max and Chloe were an oil-and-water combination that made no sense as a couple. But there's no denying that most of the fandom FELL IN LOVE with Max and Chloe, aka "Pricefield." (To the point that NOT being a fan of "Pricefield" is apparently worthy of harrassment. Click my "Ask" button to send hate mail!) That ship is also a core component of the entire comic book sequel series that follows on from the "sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending!

So Deck Nine decided that the Pricefield fandom was so powerful, that they had to acknowledge it in the new sequel. And THAT'S a good choice! In "Double Exposure," you can indicate that either Chloe died because you chose to sacrifice her, OR you can indicate that you saved her and you guys got together.

So, first red flag: There is no option to save Chloe AND not also have Max get romantically involved with her. This is the first sign thing aren't going to go how we'd like. I don't think it would've been hard at all to offer dialogue options that indicated they WEREN'T in that kind of relationship. I realize Deck Nine isn't dealing with BioWare-on-Mass-Effect-3-level budgeting, but I'm not asking for much! It could've literally changed some text details you can unlock and maybe a couple lines here and there, THAT'S FUCKING IT.

But that's not the part most people are gonna be pissed about, because they're going to be much MORE upset that, if you DID save Chloe? Then GET THIS:

Chloe ultimately dumped Max. The girl who sacrified a whole town for her. YEAH.

And it's been years, seemingly, since they've been in touch.

Oh, and Chloe has gotten tight 'n flirty with fucking Veronica since then. Y'know... the queen bully/bitch of the first game? Who can largely be held responsible for what happens to Kate? THAT Veronica. (Some people online even report that Chloe and Veronica might in a relationship?!)

HO-HO-HO-LEE SHIT. Now THAT is a series of fucking fandom-burning choices if there ever were any

Of ALL the people who could've survived the storm in Arcadia Bay... this fucking bitch?!

Making matters even WORSE is that, for the first time in the franchise, the latest game in this narrative-driven choice-based adventure only has one ending. You are funnelled to a singular conclusion no matter what you do! Your choices don't matter much! HOORAY!

...........given that they're teasing future adventures with Max, though, I'm sure this is a logical business decision that makes such sequels easier to develop.

Do I think Deck Nine could've handled this better? Well, yeah. I realize that high-school relationships don't often weather the test of time, but MAX DESTROYED A TOWN AND PRESUMABLY LET HUNDREDS DIE TO SAVE CHLOE'S LIFE. That's gonna leave a major mark on their bond. And I don't think it would've been that hard to have Chloe and Max in a long-distance relationship that keeps Chloe out of the picture for this adventure and severely limits how much she's referenced so that it's easier to write a single cohesive narrative. Doesn't sound hard to me, anyway.

But that doesn't mean I think anyone should really be going after Deck Nine's staff for this. YES, somebody somewhere clearly fucked up along the way, but game development takes hundreds of people, and there's no telling what kind of trickle-down decisions led to where we wound up. Besides... given that Deck Nine is dealing with a Hail-Mary throw to try and save the franchise, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a much lower budget this time around than in the last entry. So it would make sense if this game only has one ending AND only acknowledges so many choices from the original game because they just... didn't have the funding to write and program all the variations we'd prefer to see. :(

Sadly, it DOES seem like this mess is resulting in harrassment and threats directed towards the Deck Nine crew. This was brought up by one of the lead creators of the original, who did note that DontNod wasn't involved with this game — and this kind of thing is exactly why he never wanted to do a direct sequel to the original. Nevertheless, he did condemn the harrassment. PLEASE don't be like this, people. (But then, what do I expect from a fandom that i've always found to be FULL of harrassment and hatred... ?)

At this point, am I going to play Double Exposure? Well HELL YES. In spite of everything I've outlined herein, I ABSOLUTELY want to see Max again and go on another adventure with her. I am a sucker-ass consumer, and their cynical ploy to get my money has succeeded.

But I think this is the best attitude to take:

If you picked "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay/Save Chloe" at the end of the first game and are a staunch Pricefield shipper, then your sequel is in the comics. I've read two volumes of them - they're really good! There's six volumes in total — TONS of narrative to soak yourself in Max's ongoing adventures with Chloe and their ship.

If you picked "Sacrifice Chloe/Save Arcadia Bay" at the end of the first game, Double Exposure is your sequel. It's about Max moving on from the tragedy and guilt of her past, it lets her find new romantic options... it just fits.

If you picked anything else (like saving Chloe but NOT wanting to romance her)... well, maybe your sequel will still exist in some form one day. Probably best to go to fanfic for now, though.

Good luck out there. Try to have fun with the games, and try to stay safe.

And try not to harrass people for their writing OR shipping preferences. :P

[lemon-natalia]

Gideon the Ninth Reaction - Chapter 24

oh Naberius why do you have to make everyone’s lives harder all the time 💀 he is being smart though, if challenging the others for their keys has just become acceptable, then this is the best time to challenge Camilla when she’s already injured and weaker.

‘Gideon realised they’d just lost her somehow’ there’s been this background conflict between the two since Ianthe lied about the keys, but i think from this point on Corona is subtly choosing to stick by Ianthe, which does not bode well for our protagonists  

wooooh yeah Gideon and Harrow have each others backs, hell yeah. compare this to when Gideon first challenged Naberius impulsively, Harrow’s come such a long way in understanding and trusting Gideon

uh Jeannemary i love u, and desperately hope u get the chance to kick Naberius’s ass at some point, but maybe stay out of this one ok

ok none of the characters in this currently are possessing brain cells, in what world is sending the two traumatised kids down to the death lab they have been explicitly warned not to go back to, where their mentors got killed like less than a week ago, a good idea?

i totally forgot that half the other houses straight up haven’t heard Gideon speak yet. imagine ur a teenager having probably the worst time of ur life so far, and the intimidating silent death cultist suddenly starts making sex puns

'never work with children, Griddle, their prefrontal cortexes aren't developed' Harrow, i love you, but you are like seventeen neither is yours. altho that is such a seventeen thing to say honestly

Gideon hugged Harrow!! also 'midnight hagette', 'crepuscular queen' this is so ridiculous, i'm cackling. Gideon is just as bad at coming up with nicknames as Harrow, they're a match made in heaven clearly

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Bryke was in the Podcasts Braving Element book fire, and one the most interesting in that conversation was Bryke say Kataang relationship in Book fire was their favorite and Basco he is vibing for Maiko, but he say the headband episode is technically filler, it means is not canon that episode? What you think?

"Filler" was an anime term, about episodes that existed solely to give the manga they were adapting extra time to get more content for them to adapt. The filler episodes are canon (to the anime versions at least), but they don't move the plot forward, so if you skip them you don't miss anything important.

Eventually the term stopped being used solely for anime - and some idiots started using it to mean "bad episode", but the actual meaning is still the same: the episode can be skipped without the audience being confused. Only now these episodes exist not to catch up with a source material (in Avatar's case there wasn't one in the first place since it was an original series, not an adaptation) but rather as a "breather" episode, that can be more light-hearted, or character-driven instead of plot-driven.

To give an Avatar exemple: "Tales of Ba Sing Se" is filler, but it's still canon. It does not, in any way, further the Dai Li plot the previous episode had established - but we get focus on the characters, their personalities, dynamics, and THE tear-jerker that is Iroh singing to both honor his son and express his grief over his death. We already knew Lu Ten was dead and Iroh was grieving, but this episode gives it further depth.

Even if "The Headband" was filler, it'd still be canon - and so would be the dance with Katara clearly being into Aang.

And I personally do NOT consider "The Headband" filler. It furthers the whole theme of the season and the series ("How do you rebuild a world consumed by war? Through kindness"), we (and more importantly, the protagonist) get a deeper look into the indoctrination the people of the Fire Nation are subjected to, and more importantly, it is the episode in which we are introduced to Combustion man - ya know, the assassin that will try to kill the Gaang? The secondary villain of half the season? The one that is Zuko's attempt to resolve the problem of "The Avatar is supposed to be dead" that the previous episode introduced? Aka it is connected both to the aftermath of the Ba Sing Se plot and the "Zuko goes from villain to ally of the good guys" plot?

You CAN'T skip this episode without being confused as to who the fuck is that guy chasing the Gaang and who sent him after them. You'd have to wait until his last appearance, in which Zuko confronts him, for you to realize what the villain's deal was, meaning that PLOT would only become coherent after it was basically resolved.

It furthers the plot, therefore it isn't filler. It's just not ALL about the plot. By that logic, nearly every episode of season one is filler. The Beach is filler. Well over half the fucking show is filler if we're only counting episodes that have BIG, plot-twisting events as "important" episodes. Bryke need to stop parroting fandom nonsense to gain points.

As for Dante Basco being all excited about Maiko despite being a big zutara fan, that does not surprise me. He has ALWAYS said he liked their romance, and that Mai is the kind of girl he'd try getting with in real life.

Once again, the epic "power struggle" between Zutara fans and the evil dark lords Bryan and Mike is only in the fandom's weird minds. They weren't always kind to shippers, but the simple fact that they're so chill with Dante, and lots of other people, including writersn who went on his podcast and said everything from "I don't really care for Zutara, but I think could have worked" to "It's one of my OTPs" shows that this "Bryke VS Zutara" war is VERY one-sided and exists solely because people can't accept that, no, the writers are not throwing away their entire plan just to please you.

[pumpkinhimiko]

Thanks for replying. While we're at it, I'd like to hear your thoughts on these ships: 1) Amamatsu. I like this ship, it'd be great to hear your takes on it!! 2) Oumatsu. it's been spreading on DRtwt, fans often mention that they embody the main theme of V3 (Truth vs Lies) and that their few interactions are romantically toned, so it could be a semi-canon ship. 3) Oumeno, there is a lot of content made by Japanese fans about this ship, so I'm curious.

1) I enjoy amamatsu well enough. Its main selling point is the "what could have been" if they survived longer, especially since Rantaro was being built up as the rival to Kaede's protagonist. Outside of the killing game, though, I dunno. They'd probably be a little too well-adjusted for my tastes.

2) I've already given my take on this here and here, but to TL;DR: I like the ship but don't find a strong basis for it in canon, nor do I read their interactions as romantically charged. I haven't seen this rumored thread myself, but I've got no clue where they're getting the idea that Kaede represents "truth". Is it just because she encourages Shuichi to find the truth? Because uh, plenty of characters do that, since not doing so will get them all killed. Kaede doesn't have a personal investment in the truth outside of wanting everyone to live, and Kaito usurps the role of pushing Shuichi towards the truth for most of the game.

Anyway, oumatsu is cute, although my reasons for liking it are largely the similarities with oumota. They're critical of each other, but it comes from a place of worry. Kaede is a little too content with dismissing everything Kokichi says as him just fucking around, though, even when he's clearly trying to get her to read between the lines.

(...but I mean, "semi-canon"? Really? Ships like naegiri and saimatsu are what I would call "semi-canon". But oumatsu? Come on. Let's not kid ourselves.)

3) I give it a hard "meh". I've seen the appeal of oumeno explained as them both being performers that want to make people smile and LBR Himiko being the only girl shorter than him, which, okay, sure. Their canon interactions still leave much to be desired. The whole bit where Kokichi calls her out in the third trial only serves to stoke the flames of my oumota-addled brain, since it took a combination of Kokichi's badgering and Kaito's subsequent defense for Himiko to achieve a breakthrough.

[asaka-lucy-dr-rc]

What's your reaction to "The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy" announcement trailer?

Sorry for the late answer! I'm glad you asked, because it's exactly what I wanted to talk about.

First of all, the timing of the announcement was not surprising to me, as Kodaka had given the impression on his X account that they would be announcing a new title soon, and when the trailer started on the Nintendo Direct, I immediately realized that this was the title he had been talking about all along.

However, I was surprised that it was a "school" story after all, and I thought again that the content of Danganronpa V3 was full of what they wanted to do. When I finished DRV3, I think it had a lot of different elements in a good way, but at the same time, it felt chaotic. I got the feeling that they no longer hesitated to cram in various elements without explaining anything. For example, there's no reason in Shuichi suddenly driving during the trial, there's no reason in the cornered criminal suddenly doing something like cosplay, and even though Tsumugi explained it's all Danganronpa cosplay in the final trial, there are facilities (such as the casino and the love hotel) that don't exist in Danganronpa. I know the reason for the various inconsistencies in the whole thing is that there are some lies hidden somewhere, but I think originally each of those elements was something they wanted to do more deeply. I also felt that when I played RAIN CODE,  I felt that the Reasoning Death Matches were a totally improved version of the Argument Armament in V3, and the fact that the protagonist is a detective and the idea that solving mysteries can sometimes lead to misfortune is similar to V3 as well. Going back to The Hundred Line, the setting of this school is very similar to V3. Thus my first impression of the announcement trailer was that what they wanted to do had not changed much since V3. 

By the way, the school uniform is similar to the Amaterasu Corporation uniform from RAIN CODE, and Shinigami and SIREI are clearly similar, so it seems like they're not hesitating to repeat what they've done before, but Kodaka says they've packed in what they want to do in this game, so I think it's good that their direction is consistent. 

Well, to be honest, I'm a little confused right now. Although I don't have such an opinion, there were a lot of people in RAIN CODE reviews and X comments who said that if they wanted to make a game that was so similar to Danganronpa, they should have just made a sequel to Danganronpa. I thought maybe they wanted to make a more free-form game and break out of that mold, but in the end, the main characters of The Hundred Line are students and can't leave school, so I'm starting to think that maybe they wanted to make Danganronpa-like game after all, and that confuses me. But I also think it could be that they're trying to trick their fans into thinking that, so maybe it's right to think that way (in other words, just like they hoped 😄).

In any case, I have already decided to buy this game. I'm not sure what it will be like, but at least it was announced that Masafumi Takada is the audio director, so I'll definitely buy it because I'll definitely be able to listen to his new song, which is worth it to me. Of course, I'm also looking forward to the art of Rui Komatsuzaki and Shimadoriru! I'm just happy to be able to see their new art. 😊✨

The way I'm talking may make it seem like I don't have high expectations for Kodaka's scenario, but I don't really know what kind of scenarios Uchikoshi writes, and also Kodaka said in an interview that he hired a new writer for this title, so I lowered my expectations a bit. 

So if anyone reading this is planning to buy The Hundred Line, let's look forward to its release together! 🙌

Thank you for asking! 💖

[wizardsix]

so I'm wondering what the general consensus is on the companion relationships bc from what ive seen so far they're so lackluster compared to the previous games.

(putting the rest under the cut bc this got unintentionally long...)

and you know what? yeah, I will compare it to bg3, bc I vividly remember so many developers, including bioware ones, being against bg3 being the standard. maybe they meant graphically or scale wise, but it's obvious that we meant the diversity of choices and quality/depth of the companions. larian made it a point that they wanted the relationships to be complex, it wasn't about pressing all the right dialogue for approval, and that sometime you have to challenge your friend's beliefs, sometimes you have to argue w loved ones. and when it came to romance, it was especially stressed that sex wasn't the end goal like so many other games have treated romance.

so yeah, the veilguard companions are disappointing, because it is a massive step backwards from their previous complex companions. you can't be friends, you can't be rivals, and you certainly can't have any kind of deep or complex romance. you don't even have a say in recruiting these people. there's no options for any kind of player, because bioware clearly only had a very specific player in mind. no matter what you do, it forces the illusion of friendship with characters you might not even like, it forces you to be nice and supportive no matter what, stripping the player of the agency and roleplay we were promised.

and there's the part I'm the most sore about. if bioware wanted a more linear game with a more fixed protagonist, fine, but 1) da2 exists and there was still more choice there, and 2) don't fucking lie about it. bioware lied up and down about this game for ten years straight and everyone just accepted it right up to release day. we shouldn't have to accept the bare minimum, especially from a $90cad game. that's money most people don't have to spare anymore, the least you could do is be honest about what people are paying for, especially when those who will buy it are faithful dragon age fans who thought this game was going to be faithful back and finally give them answers about the world they cared so much about.

(and don't get me wrong, larian isn't perfect either and I've made a lot of posts criticising them too, but bg3s success shows that people Do appreciate depth of choice and complex companions (see astarion's success))

to me, it feels like they only included romance bc the previous games had it and they knew people wanted it, but they didn't really care for it or just ultimately had no idea Why these romances worked. I don't get any feeling of care or effort went into these relationships (minus emmrich, but especially with lucanis') and it continues to puzzle me as to why writers even bother writing stuff they don't like or care for. and I don't want to assume it's just for money, bc I want to hope people actually do care about the work they do, so im not saying that, but it definitely doesn't feel good. I've said this before and I'll say it again, I would rather have a few characters with depth in friendship/rivalry with no romance, rather than ones that clearly have depth but is never explored. it's so frustrating to see wasted potential and it's even more frustrating to have my time and money wasted.