#and instead of going live early at this point in the game i think its best only to play when people are available

[alphascorpiixx]

thanks for listening to my rambles! I do like puzzling out what is going on the with Nobodies. Days was a big impact on my early KH experience so a lot gets filtered through that lens even when I'm trying not to consider it specifically 😅

I see why the writers wanted KH2 to wrap up how it did and fics exploring sharing a body/plurality are very interesting though I'm not very familiar with them. If you (or anyone reading this too) know of any plurality-focused analyses I'd love to read them! I tend to focus on kh2's ending as a matter of bodily autonomy ("my heart belongs to me!" and such) but it would be good to get other perspectives

I will always be curious to know how much of other games were considered during kh2's development. you are right that without the context of the next games, kh2's ending does feel like the final conclusion to Roxas and Naminé's story and tries to be hopeful about it but then coded bbs ddd each have some implication that this situation is unfair for them (like in blank points, explained by diz himself ironically).

"Maybe not an idealized life but a life! A thing they’d never really had to our knowledge then." <- i think I am liking this point more while not considering the context of post-kh2 games. if the series had instead decided to go with this and explore plurality I think I would have been ok with it. even though I'm biased toward rnx being fully their own separate people I can see the appeal of this approach. whenever i'd see arguments that rnx shouldn't have come back i've always seen it as "they died and shouldn't be brought back to life" and that's where my "no they deserve to live" reaction comes from. but I do like this possibility that they would still be living through Kairi and Sora

#I think I’ll like 3’s better once I know what they’re going to *do* with the sea salt quartet and Naminé I don't mind KH3's ending but so true! KH3 had both its good parts and its bad parts and unfortunately bc of its nature as a conclusion to so many other games it doesn't give either the wayfinders and sea salts enough time to really explore their return. again when I see points about Xion's return specifically being a bad thing its that there aren't any consequences for Days's ending but like. we haven't gotten that yet! there's still possibilities to explore! *bangs on squeenix hq doors* where is kh4!!!!!!

("I forget people don’t start with KH1 😅" oh if you think that's strange, I originally experienced both kh1 and 2 piecemeal by watching my older brother play them, then played days myself and somehow still had no idea sora became a Heartless until re:coded 😂)

it always annoyed me that the Naminé and Kairi merge happened off screen in kh2 (since when they meet again after Xemnas boss fight pt 1 Naminé is ghostly like Roxas) bc honestly why did she and Kairi have to merge in the first place? I remember Nami did that weird fuzzy/fading out thing while they were escaping in tctnw but what actual impact is there on the two of them when they weren't merged as one person? like this situation has not really been detrimental to kairi in anyway (aside from her forgetting sora but that's unrelated to her and nami being split)

like nami's explanation to Roxas earlier in the game is that "you hold half of what he is" and I understand the memories part. because of Naminé's memory powers they went to Xion through Roxas. but if Sora had just never gone to CO would there even have been a problem with a Nobody and Somebody existing at the same time?

adding to my list of reasons why its a good thing RNX came back in 3 bc kh2 did not do a good job of explaining the whole situation

[robinson-graves]

[sits up suddenly from my coffin] anybody fuck with my super danganronpa 2 x guy who didnt like musicals au

[digirainebow]

GUYS i completely forgot i will have to drive like halfway across LA to see a movie tonight so i think i will have to postpone stream #agony #pain #ache #suffering

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

why didn't they just use franziska for literally all of this.

[marscardigan]

thinking about soccer player!ellie and cheerleader!reader…

this is part of my soccer player!ellie and cheerleader!reader series!! go check it out!

before dating her...

soccer player!ellie who refuses to admit she has a crush, so she treats you like you’re annoying. always rolls her eyes when you wave at her from across campus, but secretly she’s dying inside when you do.

soccer player!ellie who has your whole cheer routine memorized. she watches you during warm-ups instead of listening to her coach. if someone points it out, she pretends to be looking at the scoreboard.

soccer player!ellie who doesn't follow you on instagram but has to check at least once a day if you posted something new. absolutely stalks your profile at midnight like it's her own job.

soccer player!ellie who ignores you on campus, but you once dropped your lip gloss outside the gym, and she picked it up and kept it. she doesn’t know why. itlives in the bottom of her backpack like a cursed object.

soccer player!ellie who played her worst game of the season the only day you missed it. she was too busy trying to look for you on the benches, and once she assumed you weren't there, the game had lost its purpose.

soccer player!ellie who acts extra cocky whenever you’re watching practice. suddenly she’s doing trick shots, shirt half-tucked, everything you can imagine.

soccer player!ellie who denies knowing anything about your cheer competitions but saw your team was ranked online and checked the score updates live.

soccer player!ellie who always pretends not to notice you at parties, but the second someone flirts with you, she’s watching like a hawk from across the room, jaw clenched, drink untouched. jesse’s like “just go home before you kill someone.”

soccer player!ellie who starts arriving early to practice just to “warm up,” but really it’s because she knows that’s when your team rehearses stunts on the field. she says it’s the only time it isn’t crowded. dina doesn’t believe her.

soccer player!ellie who went absolutely feral during an away game when a girl on the other team said you looked good in red. she got a yellow card five minutes later for a reckless slide. she doesn't regret it, tho.

once you're dating...

soccer player!ellie who wears your hairband like it's her personal bracelet by now. she even told you once it was her lucky charm.

soccer player!ellie who says PDA is cringe, but lets you wear her jersey to games and gets SO smug when people notice.

soccer player!ellie who will fight if anyone says your routine looked sloppy. she knows every beat and claps the loudest when you finish.

soccer player!ellie who starts doing little things like carrying your bag, bringing you water, or showing up outside practice with snacks.

soccer player!ellie who insists she’s not the romantic type, but gives you her medal the day they win regionals. doesn’t say a word. just hangs it on your neck and walks off blushing.

soccer player!ellie who starts “jokingly” calling you babe in front of people. no one thinks it’s a joke.

soccer player!ellie who dedicates goals to you by making a subtle heart shape with her fingers when you’re not looking. the team knows. the crowd knows. you still pretend not to notice.

soccer player!ellie who refuses to kiss you before games because “it’s distracting.” but if you don’t show up to wish her luck, she texts you in a panic like:

ellie: you forgot ellie: i need my good luck kiss ellie: where r u

soccer player!ellie who has your cheer bows in her room, hidden in her sock drawer. and you don’t even remember giving them to her.

soccer player!ellie who lets you do face paint for her before every home game, even though she complains the whole time:

“you’re doing too much—wait, why is there glitter on my cheek?” “shut up, you look cute.”

soccer player!ellie who scored the final goal from the regionals, and lifted her shirt to expose your initial marked on her abs. let’s say both of you were very busy after the game, because you needed to show her how much you loved the detail.

soccer player!ellie who keeps little trinkets of yours—a charm that fell off your bag, a broken hair clip, a scribbled note you tossed. they’re all in a shoebox under her bed.

soccer player!ellie who panics when you’re sad and does the most insane things to cheer you up, like drawing a comic of you two fighting crime as “captain pom-pom and goal queen.” it’s awful. you love it.

soccer player!ellie who won’t let anyone trash-talk you, even her own teammates. one girl called your cheer routine extra, and ellie benched her with a slide tackle the next day. oops!

soccer player!ellie who gets in trouble for being late to practice because she was walking you to class, carrying your pom-poms for you.

soccer player!ellie who loves when you wear her hoodie with her name after games, especially when you’re tired and clingy. she swears you’ve never looked prettier.

soccer player!ellie who helps you stretch before your performances, getting way too flustered when you sit on her lap mid-stretch and act like it's nothing.

soccer player!ellie who walks around with glitter on her face from hugging you, completely unaware, but looking smug about it.

soccer player!ellie who gets irrationally jealous when you cheer for other teams—even during friendlies.

“why were you clapping so hard for them, huh?” “ellie, i’m supposed to do it. you know i'm not your personal cheerleader, right?”

she audibly gasps after that like you had just insulted her personally.

perm taglist !

@valeisaslut @firefly-ace @sevslover @twopeoplee @mayfldss @elliesfavtoy @usuck @avalovesmus1c @samcvrpenters @mars4hellokitty @prettyinpink69 @yashirawr @furtherrawayy @maximumdreamlandcoffee @elliesfavgirlfriend @abcline006 @marieeeluvsyou @smaugayra @eriiwaiii2 @creativedespaitr

series taglist !

@vahnilla @elliecoochieeater @iheartclairo66 @thankynext @layalisthings @mascspleasegetmepregnant @machetegirl109 @modernvenuss @elliewilliamskisser2000 @liztreez @mikellie @prwttiestbunny @snuffphiliaa @ellieseightfingers @sparkle-jump-rope-queen @velvetinkbym @starletfemme @elliesbabygirl @d1psht @nomie-11 @leaaavesss @ravyaryn-n @elsbunny @alinerr @pexurina @piercedome @desiretolive @robiceps @leahflwers @angelsglitch

it doesn’t let me add more ppl sorry gals </3

[anneapocalypse]

On Wuk Lamat, and Female Characters in FFXIV

The Thing with Wuk Lamat is you can tell me you think she had too much screentime; you can give me numbers on how many lines she had or how many scenes she's in relative to other characters or other expacs; you can prove to me "objectively" that she gets more focus than other main NPCs; you're simply not going to convince me that this is something I should be unhappy about. And not just because it's silly to think you can use numbers to prove a story is good or bad and make someone else go, "Wow, you're right, let me just throw away all the joy I experienced with this story and revise my opinion because you've scientifically proven to me that I'm wrong."

Because while I love Final Fantasy XIV and I have greatly enjoyed its story in so many ways, fundamentally one of my biggest beefs with this game has been how much female characters have been denied complex character arcs and growth and agency and interiority.

Minfilia gets treated as a sacrificial vessel who lives for everyone but herself and doesn't even get to have feelings about her own death because that entire arc is focused on a male character's angst about it instead. The game tells us in the Heavensward patches that Krile sees Minfilia as her best friend and then just forgets about that later and never follows up on what that loss must have meant to her. Ysayle is basically right about most of what she's fighting for but harboring a bit of self-delusion is apparently such a terrible sin that she has to pay for it with her life, while her male foil is deemed so worthy of salvation that there's a whole plot point about how important it is that we risk our lives and others' lives to save him. Y'shtola is a major character who's been around since the beginning, and the game keeps dropping maddeningly interesting things about her (apprenticed to a cranky old witch in a cave! saved her own life and the lives of her friends with an illegal and dangerous spell and it worked! reserved and undemonstrative yet regularly through her actions reveals herself to be deeply caring! disabled!) and then shows complete disinterest in following up on any of those things with the kind of depth and care shown to male characters with complex arcs like Urianger.

In general there is also a repeated thread of female characters being portrayed as weak or overly emotional: Minfilia is weak because she doesn't fight and needs to be eaten by a god in order to gain "a strength long sought." Krile is portrayed as not being able to pull her weight with the Scions (despite the fact that she actively keeps five of them from dying in Shadowbringers) and the only thing they could think of for her to do in Endwalker was be yet another vessel for Hydaelyn (hmm, that sounds familiar) and it's not until Dawntrail that she gets much actual character development in the main story and even that has to come alongside "Look, she can fight now so that means she's useful." (And I love Picto!Krile, I'm just saying, there's a pattern.) Alisaie, despite having very good reasons for needing to find her own path apart from her brother, is portrayed as having to prove herself when she returns, that she's "not the girl she once was," and "will not be a burden" (while Alphinaud is repeatedly given the benefit of the doubt and reassurance and affirmation from other characters even after he takes on responsibilities he isn't ready for and fucks up big time).

And if you follow me you know I adore Urianger, and I love Alphinaud and Thancred and Estinien too, so please don't misunderstand what I'm saying here! I'm not knocking those characters, or saying we shouldn't also love them. I just use them as a comparison to demonstrate how the female characters have been neglected.

Lyse has some of the stronger character development among the female Scions, and while she's still kind of portrayed as being too emotional and hotheaded in early Stormblood, I think it's actually explored in more depth in a way that I like; Lyse has good reasons for wanting to fight for her nation's freedom, but having been away from Ala Mhigo for several years now, she needs to understand the stakes for the people who've been there fighting for years, what they've lost and still have to lose. She grows as a person and rises to the challenge of leadership, and I'm even okay with the fact that she leaves the Scions afterward because it feels right for her to stay in Ala Mhigo, and at least she doesn't die.

And by all accounts she was, like Wuk Lamat, widely hated when her expansion came out.

Unironically I think the other female Scion with the strongest character arc is Tataru. She tries to take up a combat job, finds that it's not for her, and decides to focus on where her strengths are instead. In doing so, she both holds the Scions together as an organization in the absence of a leader by capably managing their finances, and also comes into her own as a businesswoman and makes international connections that benefit both the Scions and her personally. In contrast to Minfilia, she's not portrayed as weak because she doesn't fight, and is actually allowed to be an important character who's good for more than being sacrificed. Tataru is still distinctly in a supporting role for the player character, however, and her character arc happens as a side story that takes up a relatively small amount of screentime over several expansions, which I think is probably why she doesn't evoke such a negative reaction.

But there is a pattern of the game's writing showing disinterest in the interior lives of female characters generally, and in making their growth the focus of a story.

So yeah, I'm going to be happy about Wuk Lamat! I'm going to enjoy and celebrate every moment of her character arc, of her personal growth, of watching her put the lessons she's learned into action. I'm going to love and treasure every moment when she gets to be silly, embarrassing, emotional, scared, grieving, confused, upset, seasick, impulsive, and still deemed worthy of growing into a hero and a leader. I will love her with all of my soul and you simply will not convince me that it wasn't worth the screentime after such a profound imbalance for basically the entirety of the game. We've never had a major female character get such a strong arc with this much love and attention put into it and that means more to me than I can truly say. The backlash to it is disheartening, as this kind of thing always is, but I'm not going to let it ruin the wonderful experience I had playing it and how much joy it continues to bring me.

And for those of you who don't want any of that for a female character, thank goodness you have Heavensward and Shadowbringers and Endwalker and no one can take those away from you.

(And if you follow me you know that I love Shadowbringers and Endwalker and have very fond memories of Heavensward despite some issues with it, so not only can I not take that from you, I am not trying to!)

Some of us have been real hungry for a character like this with an arc like this, so, I think, y'know, maybe we can have that. As a treat.

[ascendedrhyme]

Just finished romancing Thanatos and Meg in Hades, and I need to put my thoughts down.

What interests me about both relationships is how they tackle different aspects of Zagreus.

You first encounter Megaera as a boss, furious at Zagreus' actions. Their conflict is clear: she is a dutiful character, while Zagreus is throwing away duty for his personal vendetta. Much of the early game, Meg is angry—either at Zagreus for his betrayal or at herself for failing to stop him in Tartarus. Later, we learn that Zagreus and Meg were once together but broke up on bad terms—his fault. This is interesting because, even before attempting to escape, Zagreus was rebellious, yet he was involved with the most loyal character in the game's cast.

As the story progresses, Meg and Zagreus slowly mend their relationship, with the biggest turning point being Persephone’s return. Once Zagreus officially stays and begins working to improve the Underworld—embracing duty—Meg begins to lower her defenses. Their relationship is deeply tied to duty; the fact that they were together before Zagreus’ escape suggests that, deep down, he never truly saw his place anywhere but in the House of Hades. Mending his relationship with Meg is, in a way, him accepting his role and responsibilities once more.

Then there's Thanatos, who enters the story much later—only appearing once you reach Elysium. His introduction is far more complex than Meg’s. He’s angry at Zagreus—not like megara for abandoning his duty but for leaving without even telling him, with thanatos the betrayal is not ideological its personal. Yet, despite his frustration, he is nothing but supportive. He fights alongside him, plays a game with him, grants him extra life if we win. Even his keepsake mechanic revolves around protecting Zag.

Like Meg, Thanatos is dutiful, but his loyalty isn’t as singular. He respects Hades, but just as much, he respects Nyx. And while he won’t say it outright, he sides with Zagreus in his journey. Once Persephone returns and Zagreus makes it clear he isn’t leaving the Underworld, Thanatos quickly lets go of his bitterness, allowing the player to freely romance him.

At first, it seems like a simple friends-to-lovers arc. But then Achilles mentions something interesting: Zagreus is the god of blood and life. He writes this at the end of Thanatos' codex entry, believing their relationship is bound by their very natures—death always chasing life.

Zagreus rejects this idea. As far as he’s concerned, he is the god of nothing—simply an unwanted prince of the Underworld. His reaction isn’t just because of years of being belittled by his father; narratively it’s because, at the start of his journey, he has no identity of his own. He is Hades’ son, but his father lied to him. He is a prince, but he fulfills no duty. His mother isn’t actually his mother, and his real mother is somewhere out there. Even most of his relationships are defined by the status he ran away from.

His relationship with Thanatos, isn't about him being prince—if that were the case, Thanatos, as Hades' vassal, would have tried to bring him back. Actually, they rarely speak of Zagreus status or even Hades together. Instead, their relationship highlights Zagreus as an individual. Just as Zagreus was always the god of blood but never realized it until he left, he only recognizes his feelings for Thanatos after stepping away.

By the time you've fully bonded with both Meg and Thanatos, Zagreus has reconciled both parts of himself—his identity as the Prince of the Underworld, with the duty that entails, and his identity as the god of blood, which was always a part of him. He needs both; neither is more important than the other. By the end of the game, he lives for the well-being of the people of his house while also finding peace in his newfound understanding of himself.

And then there’s Dusa. I think this is why she isn’t a romantic love interest for Zagreus in the end. Their relationship is tied not to identity, but to the home they share. Dusa loves Zagreus because he makes the House feel warmer, kinder. Zagreus loves her because she transforms the place he once found cold and unwelcoming into something he can actually call home. You can’t even max out her bond without going out of your way to make the lounge—the heart of the House—warm, clean, and beautiful.

I just thought that was neat.

[joshnekuu]

I'm sure that many people have already talked about this but one of my favorite things about In Stars and Time is how the game uses its mechanics to encourage you to slowly but surely embody Siffrin's mental state and treat their friends like NPCs.

Like it starts as early as the 'zone out' mechanic is introduced, not so subtly encouraging you to skip through scenes you've already experienced. If you're like me, the first several times, you resisted the urge. You know exactly what the game is trying to do and you don't want to treat the gang like skippable cutscenes. These are Siffrin's friends, even if Siffrin has heard this before it's the first time their friends are sharing these words with them, so surely he wouldn't just zone out.

... but after a while, when it's clear that the loops aren't going to be ending any time soon, when you got so close to finding another piece of the puzzle, another step closer to getting an answer... it's hard not to just... zone through a scene here or there. Sure, you stay tuned for the more emotional moments, you don't want to be a dick, but there's really no obvious consequence for zoning out, so... it's fine, right?

The game gives you the option to take shortcuts, and after enough loops, you take them. They're there for a reason after all, right? With a game that centers so much on replaying the same scenes, it's only natural that you would be given the opportunity to skip around a bit. Don't worry about the implications of Siffrin willingly dying for convenience's sake. It's fine.

By the time the friend quests are introduced there's a dawning sense of dread, that eventually, these too will become something that slowly loses meaning, that you zone through or skip altogether. By the time you reach the final act and Siffrin is treating their friends like actors in a play, hurting their friends one by one, it feels earned. Because even if you tried your best not to skip through everything, even if you tried your best to live all these moments as they went by, that's still fatiguing in its own way. You still were just going through the motions by the end, weren't you? Even trying to be 'good' and not skip through things, they still just became another obstacle for you to overcome to reach the end point, another meaningless scene in a play you've performed a hundred times.

And I think that's also part of what makes the ending hit so hard for me. Because no matter how hard you tried to make a 'perfect' route for Siffrin, no matter how much time you dedicated to doing the Friend Quests and making sure you experienced all those little moments in the castle and did all your little sidequests... in the end, those are not the runs you get to keep.

The world that Siffrin finally breaks out of the timeloop in is the world where they hurt their friends. Where they acted like a jerk and said things they can't take back. But even so, their friends still come and save them. Their family still loves them. Their family knows them well enough to know that something is wrong, that Siffrin wouldn't just act like this for no reason. And even if Siffrin fucked up, even if Siffrin hurt people, he can finally move forward. He can finally have new moments and make new memories. The world you get to keep is the world where you fucked up, but you are still loved. And I just think that's so beautiful.

After dozens of loops where you've done everything in your power to try and 'max out' your points with your friends, treating them like NPCs in a video game that you can 'make' like you by doing or saying just the right thing... it's finally breaking that cycle and revealing just how bad things are for them that Siffrin is able to trigger what needs to be done to finally break the loops. Breaking character and being a person instead of an actor, going off the arbitrary script thy have crafted, is what frees Siffrin. The worst possible outcome for them happened, showing their 'true' self to their friends, showing their ugly side and damaging their trust. But the world doesn't end. Their family doesn't abandon them. Everything works out, somehow, some way, because of the power of friendship and love and honesty. And I love it.

[galedekarios]

gale & curing the orb - early access

writing my current series of cut content from early access made me think a lot, especially about how curing gale of the orb might have originally worked out if larian had kept to what had been set up in early access. it's no secret that a lot of things were changed or cut entirely, big and small, like for instance halsin's involvement with ketheric's fall, isobel and the shadow curse.

gale's condition, too, seemed different then.

what exactly was different in early access?

while only a few body models were unique in early access, gale's key art showed his left arm in bandages.

in early access, auntie ethel had vicious mockery lines, which hinted what might be beneath those bandages:

Auntie Ethel: I can smell what's under those bandages, wizard. You're all rot and ruin. Come to greet death early? You'll be a lovely spectacle.

we also had information from gale directly as to what happened to karsus in the aftermath of casting his spell:

Player: I was wondering about that “mighty lord” you told me about in your story. Gale: Ah, yes. Karsus Karsus was perhaps the most powerful wizard that ever lived. The child-who-would-be-a-god, the elves called him. And he tried. With a spell of his own devising he endeavoured to usurp in one fell swoop the power of the goddess of magic.  Mystryl, she was called then. Imagine what it must have felt like. To be a god. To know yourself to be untouchable. To be mistaken. As Karsus aimed his spell at her she began to unravel, and with her, the entire Weave. Too late did he realize what he had unleashed. It would have been the end of everything had not Mystryl sacrificed herself.  Gale: The goddess of magic is all magic. By dying, the entire weave was lost, and the spell that challenged a god failed. It was the end of Mystryl, the end of Karsus, and the end of an entire civilization. As the child-who-would-be-a-god was turned to stone, his empire came crashing down around him. The floating cities of Netheril were no more. An event that came to be known as Karsus’ folly.

which is in accordance with the lore:

Unfortunately, his choice was a terrible mistake, for one of the responsibilities of the deity of magic was to regulate the flow of magic to and from all beings, spells, and magic items in the world. Lacking the ability to do so properly, magic surged and fluctuated. With her last remaining bit of power, Mystryl sacrificed herself to block Karsus's access to the Weave, causing all magic to fail. The flying cities of Netheril plummeted to the earth. The severing of the link also killed Karsus and transformed him into stone, and the last thing he saw was his entire civilization being destroyed because of his actions. This was to be known as Karsus's Folly. The stone form of Karsus eventually landed in a part of the High Forest, now called the Dire Wood. The city of Karse was built around its base. Karsus was never accepted as a petitioner by any god, nor did he go to the Fugue Plane when he died. Instead, his soul was bound to the Material Plane. Those with experience in pact magic could call up his vestige, where he appeared as a giant blood-red boulder, like the one found in the High Forest where his petrified form landed. Blood burbles up from the top of the stone, trickling down the side facing the summoner, pooling at the base. When he spoke, the pool fountained upwards, its height varying on the volume of his voice.

the netherese orb then seemed to have a immediate visible physical effect on gale, in addition to the ones that carried to the full release version of the game.

so putting these clues together, i think it's safe to say that the orb caused gale in early access to be afflicted with some form of corrupted petrification, which makes sense given that it's a piece of magic unleashed during karsus's folly.

at that point, this corruption seemed to be affecting his left arm the most, perhaps either from opening the book containing the netherese magic with it, or trying to shield himself with it - but that's just speculation on my part.

so what did the early access set up in terms of curing gale from his affliction?

gale in early access showed a great interest in the astral plane, especially in the absence of time there. he has several banters with lae'zel, which are still in the game now and showing his vested interest in the astral plane as well as any knowledge or insight lae'zel might offer on it:

Gale asks Lae'zel about the Astral Plane. Has she been there? Gale: Tell me, Lae'zel, what is it like on the Astral Plane? Your home realm intrigues me. Lae'zel: Githyanki lay their eggs on other planes. They cannot mature in the Astral. Lae'zel: I will only be welcomed once I obtain a mind flayer's head.

lae'zel notices gale's interest and initiates a banter of her own:

Lae'zel asks Gale what his interest is in the Astral plane, and he equivocates Lae'zel: Tell me, Gale: what is your interest in the Astral Plane? Gale: Time. Or rather: the absence of it. In the Astral Plane, everything is eternal. Lae'zel: It will be my home soon enough, should Vlaakith will it.

in addition to these banters, which clearly show gale's interest in the astral plane - which now in the full release seems merely academic - hinted at another solution to ridding himself of the orb.

what points to that quite conclusively is gale's dialogue when he reveals the truth about the orb to the protagonist.

this reveal differs quite significantly from the full release version. most notably, the protagonist was able to ask him about his own ideas for a what might be able to cure him from the orb.

gale had something very interesting to say to that question:

Player: What would permanently rid you of the orb? Gale: The orb was kept safe and inert in a pocket of Astral Plane, suspended in time. If I can somehow manage to expel it from my body while in the Astral Plane, it will be rendered inert again. Alternatively, I could learn to control it’s chaotic magic, that is; to succeed where I failed before. But without Mystra’s favour, I don’t see how that may come to pass. Of course there could be different answers as well. Faerun brims with more magic than any one wizard could fathom, let alone comprehend. Who knows what outlandish solutions may yet present themselves?

so what does this all mean?

in conclusion, i believe originally there were either more ways to cure gale from the orb - or maybe even in a different manner entirely - than there are in the full release version of the game (begging mystra to remove it, ascension, or accepting/keeping the orb).

perhaps even one that would circumvent having to beg mystra for forgiveness entirely, without gale having to sacrifice his mortality to do so.

i think these banters and lines of dialogue show that the astral plane, which would have rendered the orb inert and stopped the corrupted petrification of his body, would have played a bigger role in gale's quest.

[totaly-obsessed]

Revelations

Katie McCabe x reader request

-> Katie and you watch Aine play football for the first time

-> 2 requests in one - I hope you like it!

➳ Masterlist

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

‘I want another one’ somehow happened quite fast and not even a year later – Aine was getting ready to be a big sister. Telling her didn’t quite go as Katie or you had planned…

“Baby in Mummy’s tummy!”

A deadly silence had fallen over the kitchen as your wife and you just exchanged glances, trying to figure out who had snitched, both convinced that it was not you.

“What do ya mean lovie?” Katie tried to act unknowingly but apparently forgot that Aine had gotten the sass from her.

“You need to listen better!” You could barely hold yourself up with how much you were shaking with laughter and the Irishwoman’s shocked face. “Watch ya tone, Missy!”

By now the young girl had attached herself to your leg, clawing at you for ‘uppies’ as she had once called it. When you finally caved and sat her on the kitchen counter, she was quickly joined by Cooper who nuzzled his head into her side.

“You’re right doll. There is a baby in Mummy’s tummy – you will be a big sister.” Both of you were curious about how the seven-year-old would react to the news, not even caring at this point how she had figured it out.

“Like Mama and Auntie Lauryn!” Cooper by now had enough of the excited bouncing, opting to leave and look for a pretty spot in the sun where he could nap until his small human companion would inevitably find him and smother him in pets.

“That’s right bub! What do you think of that?” Back was the tense silence, as Katie grabbed your hand, giving it a loving squeeze – this was much more terrifying than you had thought. At least you didn’t need to actually tell Aine the news, she had taken that upon herself.

The small brunette looked around the open kitchen and living space, her pigtails swishing through the air as she scooted closer to the edge of the countertop, getting her face right next to yours. Katie’s hands were ready in case she fell, which she wouldn’t but Katie would always worry. “Pssshh! Don’t tell - this was my biggest wish for Santa! And it came true!”

Your wife couldn’t help but laugh, kissing her daughter's forehead before hiding her face in the very familiar brown hair. “Well, Santa came early then, huh?” It was in the middle of November, but ever since last Christmas, the seven-year-old had started a wish list. “He did! Cause I wanted it so badly – and Mummy did too!”

This had gone over much better than you could have imagined, and for now, you were just fine with her thinking that Santa was the way her little sibling would find its way to her. “You’re right Lovie. Mummy and Mama wished for it really badly too.”

---

---

It was no secret that Aine wanted to be just like her Mama, so her playing football should really not come as a surprise to either of you but it turns out that seeing her little girl get accepted into the Arsenal U8s team was something entirely different.

The little brunette had tried out for them, just like any other kid (no matter what haters would say), and got accepted with no problem. At their age group, it wasn’t considered as ‘Academy’ training, but rather ‘Pre academy’, with two training sessions a week and ten games across the whole season. They also weren’t separated into a girls' and boys' team just yet, so the Arsenal U8’s was a mixed team that would compete against other fixed games and also just boys teams.

With spring break coming up, Aine’s first match was also coming closer and closer. Katie had never felt so many emotions. Seeing you at six months pregnant and now well rounded while her little girl went to training after training, each time coming home with a bigger smile.

“Look at this! You’ll look just like Mama!”

Katie really couldn’t hold her tears anymore – with you holding her hand Aine admired herself in the mirror, wearing her game-day kit for the very first time.

But instead of Katie's 15 on her back, she had a 10 – for Kim Little, the best Midfielder there was and your daughter's biggest idol, much to her mama's disappointment.

“You look so grown up, Doll.” Seeing your wife this emotional, and Aine so happy gave you the rest. Now both of you were bawling your eyes out while the little brunette hopped around the house, before running back with Katie’s phone in her little hands.

“Take a picture, Mummy! For Auntie Kim!”

In the picture you were holding the grinning girl in your arms, as she proudly kissed your tummy, refusing to properly pose as she wanted to show Kim her little sibling as well.

This was the best day yet for the young gunner. After all, she was going to be a big sister, so she had to be a good example and play good football – just like the grown-ups.

“Do me a favor, my love?” Aine stood in between her mother's legs when she finally composed herself a little. “Hmmm?”

“Grow up a little slower, will ya?”

---

---

Turns out preparing for gameday, and actually experiencing one, were completely different experiences – especially when it was a double game day.

Aine was already hopping through the house like an excited bunny when Katie made her way down the stairs to make breakfast.

The Irishwoman had kissed your forehead, gently waking you up with a mumbled “Mornin Love. Thirty minutes.” Before going downstairs. God was her morning voice attractive.

It was seven in the morning. On a Sunday. Entirely too early for a six-month pregnant you who had put a giddy child to bed, that didn’t want to sleep. But your wife was gracious, giving you thirty more minutes to wake up fully before helping her daughter bring breakfast in.

You could get used to this – a delicious meal in bed with your wife and daughter, although a little later would have been nice.

“Mummy, when do we have to go?” This was the third time Aine had asked in the last ten minutes, and every time either Katie or you had given her the answer but the small brunette couldn’t help herself – she was just too excited.

This was the fastest you had ever seen the seven-year-old get washed and dressed after breakfast. She was so fast, that she had gotten impatient with your much slower speed. Aine took it upon herself to get you dressed while you brushed your teeth while sat on the closed toilet.

“Foot please Mama!” You did as asked, picking up your legs off the floor so that your daughter could slip socks over your feet.

And with a quick zoom, she was in your bedroom again, just to return with wide, comfortable pants that you just knew that your wife chose. Instead of giving them to you, she threw them on the floor. “Step in please!” Good thing you were already wearing underwear, huh? As good as she could, Aine helped you get them up and over your bump, but not before giving it a kiss and whispering a small “Hi!”

It went like that until you were fully dressed and she pulled you to the hallway, where your wife helped you into shoes as you could barely see the ground anymore.

“Is this okay? I thought maybe I should have given her longer socks because it will be cold – but then we have a blanket so maybe you will get too hot an-“ Katie’s rambling was cut short with a passionate kiss. “It’s perfect – Thank you, my Love.”

“Let go, let go, let's go!”

---

---

“Now you know how it feels to watch you play!” Katie was tense as she leaned against one of the beams that surrounded the football pitch.

The drive here had gone by fairly quickly as Aine made sure to tell your wife all about her teammates. You had met most of them already during practice or while picking her back up again – the small brunette would always chat with anybody who would listen until you walked over to take her home. Her chattiness definitely came from your wife – but right now there was nothing in the world that could make the Irishwoman relax.

“She’s tougher than she looks, my Love.” By now you had taken the footballer's hand, rubbing calming circles on it in a desperate attempt to calm her down.

Aine was one of four girls on the pitch – two on her team and two on the other. The rest were all boys. And while you knew that she was feistier than she looked, much more like her mother than you, the size difference between her and some of the boys was terrifying.

“Oi Ref!” Your wife’s hand shot up when an opposing boy had clumsily taken your daughter down with him in an attempt to stop her from getting even closer to their goal. “That’s a free kick! Ref!” The guy refereeing the game didn’t see the incident at first, angering Katie even further – but when he did look over the first thing that he saw, was a tiny brunette shoving a boy at least a head taller off of her.

The shrill sound of a whistle agreed with Katie, and the Arsenal U8s were indeed allowed a freekick in a very good position for them, as your daughter had been very central on the field and closing in on goal.

Katie’s grip on your hand tightened with stress – she knew what she would do in this situation. But did her seven-year-old know it as well? They spent countless dinner conversations talking about football and plenty of different techniques, with impressive input from Aine, so she had to know what she was doing, right?

 And she did.

The brunette passed to one of her free strikers and started running through the masses. She was small, fast, and agile – and before the opposing team could blink, her striker passed back to her when she was standing directly in front of the goal.

“Yes! That’s my daughter!”

Katie couldn’t contain herself any longer – the ball had hit the back of the net with a surprising amount of force, their keeper jumping in the other direction, making this a perfect goal. Her first goal.

After high-fiving every player on her team your daughter sprinted over to where you stood and gave a quick kiss to your belly just like she had done earlier in the morning. “For you, baby!”

The match ended shortly after Arsenal's third goal, assisted by your daughter who once again looked at you and Katie, to see if you watched her – which you did.

One of the trainers had brought a box of mixed ice-creams and even though the young brunette wasn’t supposed to, she took three of them and quickly made her way to you and your wife.

“Don’t you wanna eat with your friends baby?”

“Nuh-uh. You are my best friends.”

Well, there go your hormones again as you couldn’t hold your tears at bay any longer. “I love you so much Aine. And you played so well.” The seven-year-old kissed your forehead much like Katie did, before ensuring that someone had recorded the game so that she could show Auntie Kim her goal.

“That was my first win for baby sister, Mommy! Now Mama needs to win tonight so it’s a perfect day!”

“Geez no pressure huh?” Everything was packed up now and the pitch was getting emptier by the minute as multiple parents made their way to their cars at the same time you did.

“Aine I have a question.”

“Yeah?”

“What if it’s a baby brother instead?”

She was now buckled into her car seat, with Katie still at her door trying to work out something that has been bothering her ever since your daughter had announced that you were pregnant again. Neither you nor Katie have been told the gender of the baby, yet the youngest family member seemed sure that it would be a girl again.

“It’s not. It’s a baby sister.”

“How do you know that?”

You tried to watch their interaction as well as you could from your passenger seat. Your Wife’s eyes were wide with curiosity, something that you saw in Aine nearly every day.

“I just do.”

“You terrify me, Kid.”

[bunabi]

Thank you for saying that people have a right to mourn Veilguard. I've seen a lot of vitriol directed at those who were disappointed with the game. That we're entitled, media illiterate, or blinded by nostalgia. And while I definitely think some go overboard with their criticism, I think the people who don't want to admit the game has massive flaws are actually doing a lot more harm.

We all know how terribly EA has treated their employees. That's why so many people have left, not because they don't care about Dragon Age anymore, but because the working conditions were (apparently) unbearable. And like you said, even the devs are mourning what the game could have been! That's why I think it's a good thing that there's been a lot of public criticism of the game. This behavior by EA (and other studios too!) should not be rewarded.

To be real? I don't think EA is the boogeyman its made out to be.

Not to take a bullet for Aussie Daddy Andrew Wilson but everything I've heard (professors, peers, Bioware itself in a handful of interviews) confirms that they're actually pretty hands-off. Administrative level orders like company-wide layoffs or approving/denying funding, yeah. Creative decisions during development and overall studio management maybe not as much.

This user is an EA Partner etc etc full disclosure but I think the truth is honestly complicated. Not saying all publishers are precious and blameless and can do no wrong, but I think there's more to it. We'll learn more about what exactly happened eventually, I'm sure. Kinda dreading it. 😭

Me personally I think they were struggling to get Joplin greenlit. Especially since early concepts don't mention any multiplayer plans (dunno how successful DAI's was but it was a neat selling point and made a little extra money I'm sure). By late 2015 DA4 was still unconfirmed, even if they started brainstorming ideas as early as Trespasser, even after their Game of The Year win with Inquisition. And in early 2016 they showed what looked like a pitch doc with a rook and wolf icon on it. So maybe instead of letting DA get shelved for god knows how many years someone offered it as a live service to sweeten the deal and get the go-ahead. My thoughts, I just paint, I'm bald, etc.

[cottonlemonade]

Plan B

word count: 1015 || avg. reading time: 4 mins.

pairing: post-time skip!Kuroo x chubby!Reader

genre: fluff, pining

warnings: none

synopsis: he is trying to convince you to go out with him

The café was in its typical morning lull when you came in. After the coffee rush of the business crowd and students on their way to class there were now only a few people seated comfortably around the small round tables, chatting idly and enjoying a piece of quiet in the hustle of a new Monday. This was your favorite time of the day. The early spring sun was shining happily through the large front windows, making the dark wooden walls appear as if dipped in honey. The smell of freshly brewed coffee mixing with the soothing scent of cookies, all amidst the faint sound of traffic humming underneath the soft clanking of spoons gave you a deep sense of calm.

After the daily round of hellos and how-are-yous, you put on your black apron and got to work in the kitchen, starting on the preparations for lunch.

“Manager?”, an hour later as you just put the finishing touches on a batch of orange drizzle muffins, one of your baristas poked his head through the door and gave you a look. You sighed and joined him in the front by the cash register. Sure enough the tall man waited for you, a wide grin across his handsome face.

“No.”, you told him before he even got the chance to say anything.

“And good morning to you, too.”

“No.”, you said again, beginning to prepare his usual order of simple green tea.

“Just one cup of coffee, we don’t even have to leave the premises.”

“400 yen, please.”

He counted out a small stack of coins on the counter and crossed his arms.

“Where is your cheer squad today?”, you asked, referring to his usual companions of a broad guy with spiky gray hair and a smaller one whose smile rivaled the sun in brightness. Needlessly supervising the last drops of hot water in the to-go cup, you made sure to add the exact amount of tea leaves to a little bag, just so you didn't have to look at him and his ridiculously confident smirk.

“Eh, I think they got tired of you rejecting me.”

“Interesting, any chance that’ll happen to you, too?”

“Sure, I’ll stop”, he slid over to where you were finishing up his order and lowered his voice, “when you stop blushing whenever I ask you out.”

He accepted his order with a wink. “Thank you. See you tomorrow.”

When the door closed behind him, you found your barista leaning against a counter with a cocked eyebrow.

“That makes seven!”, he announced, pointing to a small blackboard on the back wall where you usually wrote down the groceries needed that week. In the lower left hand corner he and the rest of the staff had begun to keep a tally of how often the guy had asked you out so far.

Seven times in three weeks. You smiled against your better judgment. You knew not to take him too seriously. Knew it was just a game to him. When he came in for the first time you had almost dropped a mug, because how could someone look this casually seductive?!

It wasn’t that you didn’t have the urge to say Yes just for the hell of it. But you weren't in the mood to be a short-lived plaything for a guy who probably only thought chubbies were easy. And thus began a regular routine of rejecting him. You didn’t know whether you actually wanted him to stop or if saying No to him had just become a reflex. A wise one probably.

Kuroo groaned and gently hit his head against his desk. Of course the thought that he might be an actual creep for asking you out so much had occurred to him but when he made his initial attempt, you had said Yes at first before immediately changing your answer to No. How on earth could he prove to you that he wasn‘t kidding when he told you that you were on his mind all day? Your smile, your voice, your exceptionally squishable body all brought new amounts of cute-aggression into his life.

At this point he was running out of options. Maybe… maybe he should just wait until you approached him instead - if you ever would, that was. He needed a new idea.

And so, one misguided day, he listened in on the gossip of his coworkers who talked about what mundane things they found attractive in a guy. And that’s how we got here:

Kuroo sat at a large four seater table in the corner of your café. Papers were strewn about, magazines lay open for references. He had loosened his tie and opened the top two buttons of his crisp white shirt; his reading glasses were pushed back onto his nose in regular intervals. It was warmer today. So warm that he had discarded his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, wristwatch glinting in the soft glow of the afternoon sun. He gave a little frown and absentmindedly bit his bottom lip as he consulted one of the articles, sometimes silently mouthing along to paragraphs he read, twirling the pen in his long fingers. He lifted a page to read the next, making a note on a separate sheet, the muscles in his forearm taut while he wrote.

He looked up at nowhere in particular, then closed his eyes and stretched his tired neck, the open shirt tightening around his broad shoulders, the line of his jaw highlighted by the golden light beaming through the large windows…

"Sir.", a waitress stepped professionally to the table, a towel neatly tucked in the waist cord of her apron, hands politely folded in front of her stomach.

"Yes?"

"The manager isn’t here today."

His cheeks started to burn, "Why- I mean… what?"

"And while we do appreciate what you do for the ambiance", a subtle gesture pointed out the girls, women and the barista staring, some even holding up their phone camera, giggling behind their hands, "this isn’t a library, so please order something or free the table."

"…O-of course."

[part 2]

[manticorecure]

who up fearing on they hunger aka f&h termina au drafts with all my current obsessions. minus parkciv but thats bc i couldnt fit them on the canvas

real ozymandiers will remember my previous f&h post but that is currently irrelevant for these freaks. detailed explanation under the cut

ive changed some character roles around (well. i say 'some' but i literally only had clown and branzy pinpointed so like. you know.) now ken/wato/parrot are all partially based off of olivia, while wifies is their reila. hes MIA. is he alive who knows. im thinking pre-machine god reila would be clonefies, and machine god reila would be evilfies

they all have engravings of the god of f&h because theyre all trying to get to wifies before its too late. not that it will help but go guys i believe in you <- i dont

ken is sorta based off osaa? idk much about osaas story tbh but from what i understand hes a priest who broke off from the old religion to pursue his own understanding -> ken breaking off from the regular escape room content to do his own thing... its a tenuous sort of relation but i think it has its merits

parrot is partially based off karin. i dont think i really need to explain this one

wato is daan. i also dont think i need to explain this one. elise in their case would be wifies again lmfao

now for chiefzypierce. i still decided to keep the plotline of branzy wanting to find rek, but instead of it being olivias plotline, i decided to make it completely marinas plotline where she returned to prehevil to find out what happened to her family. in this case, branzy finds out rek is dead and heads back to prehevil in order to figure out what truly happened

clown is still marcoh, but kab has come along with him to prehevil because they both arranged to meet up before going off the grid. kab is a Little bit based off of tanaka- she too has a latent soul, but because clown will stick with her, she's able to actually fight off monsters a lot earlier in game and isnt in danger of dying really quickly

chief is based off abella and partially levi -> he's raised in an orphanage in prehevil after growing up with a relatively volatile early childhood experience, but after he's given to the army he manages to run off and make a good living for himself. he eventually gets involved with the nameless liberty underground and finds himself back in prehevil where it all started though, and hes really not having the time of his life.

also did i mention clown chief and branzy keep bumping into each other and at some point they all just start samarie'ing each other (*stalking)

zam is based partially off henryk -> she comes to prehevil completely by chance because she wants to collect stuff from the town and ends up getting himself involved in the festival, but she has a much higher mentality than henryk does and thus manages to survive for a while on her own until she befriends kab, who then breaks off from clown + his polycule to join zam in her exploration of prehevil

the status effects everyone has are the ones i think theyd have by like day 3, clown doesnt have anything because hes built different

sigils: god of fear and hunger are branzy, ken, parrot, wato; gro-goroth is clown; vinushka is chief; rher is kaboodle; all-mer is zam. no one wants sylvian 😒

if i do include parkciv in this im thinking seawatt would take on a similar role to daan / wato, evbo would probably be someone similar to marcoh, and emf would be similar to olivia (without the whole. sister plot. just the inferiority complex)

IM GOING TO MAKE THEIR MOONSCORCHED FORMS SOMETIME LATER. will i post them , maybe not. but I WILL make them. this is a threat

[mikey-hunter]

Why Age of Calamity Did That (And Why Age of Imprisonment Will Too)

So when Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity came out, there was a very vocal contingent of fans who were upset about a particular twist in its narrative.

Age of Imprisonment was just announced, with a hauntingly similar setup, and I'm seeing a number of fans talking as if the same twist won't happen this time, or at least saying they hope it doesn't. I just wanted to lay out the reason why it happened the first time, and why it almost certainly will again.

I'm going to be dropping unmarked spoilers for all three previous games in this trilogy that's soon to become a quadrilogy, by the way. I imagine most of the people speculating about Age of Imprisonment will already know them, but just to cover my bases, you can stop reading now if you're behind.

So, let's start at Age of Calamity's announcement.

We were told it would be "A story 100 Years before The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," and told it would depict the battles against the Calamity not previously shown. Fans immediately started joking about already knowing how it ended, that this was a game that would end with most of the cast dying.

Then the demo came out. A Guardian the size of an ostrich egg woke up at the same time as Zelda awakening her powers, traveled back in time, and activated the Sheikah Towers early. Also, Link was a regular soldier and not the Hero who had been wielding the Master Sword since he was a pre-teen.

Surprisingly, a large portion of the fandom either failed or refused to see the twist coming at that point.

But the twist came all the same: in the full game, the time traveling egg guardian enables the four successors to the Champions from BotW to save them, Zelda awakens her powers before Link is killed, they band together to slay Calamity Ganon, and a happy ending is enjoyed by all. Including the Yiga Clan, who defected because reasons.

Some fans were very upset about this. They were promised a prequel, and seemed to think it would be a good idea. But the reason it wasn't is fairly obvious if you think about it.

For one thing: Warriors games are about the fanservice power fantasy. Playing as beloved characters and mowing down hundreds of cannon fodder enemies as easily as one mows a lawn.

For another: one of the playable characters in the original Hyrule Warriors on Wii U was Agitha from Twilight Princess. She was included purely because one of the developers was a fan of hers and argued for her inclusion. Koei-Tecmo's Hyrule Warriors team includes people who are big enough Zelda fans to have favorite minor NPCs.

Now, consider for a moment what a "canon" ending to Age of Calamity would have looked like. The Champions are dead. Link is dead. Zelda awakened her powers a moment too late, so she's going to go hold down Calamity Ganon while the Sheikah trio carry Link's body to the Shrine of Resurrection. They don't know how long it will take to work, or if it will even work at all, so the three of them agree to live separately and wait for him, so that even if the Yiga Clan finds and overcomes them, at least the other two will live on to pass Zelda's message on to Link.

In other words, you just paid full retail price for a beat'em up where all your favorite characters die, and have a completely separate game to go play for the story's actual resolution.

Maybe you, personally, actually wanted that, but would a casual Zelda fan who just got the game for Christmas have wanted it? Would a Dynasty Warriors fan trying the game out as a gateway to the Zelda series have been okay with being told they now have to buy another game in a completely different genre to get their closure?

To be frank, no. Age of Calamity didn't lead in to Breath of the Wild because that would have made for a bad product. Instead of watching the Champions die, we got to see them live, be happy, and interact with their successors. If you want to imagine the full details of their deaths and be sad about it, that's what fanfiction is for.

And now we have Age of Imprisonment on the way.

Tears of the Kingdom, much like Breath of the Wild, has a sequence of flashbacks to a distant past, that ends on a downer note of "Welp, we're boned, but all we can do is wait for Link to come sort it out."

Just like Age of Calamity, Age of Imprisonment purports to be a full depiction of these events...

But the events of the Dragon Tears are in even more dire need of an intervention from the present than the Memories were, entirely because of the cast.

Taking this reveal trailer at face value, we can expect eight characters: Zelda, Sonia, Rauru, Mineru, and the four Ancient Sages. By the end of the Dragon Tears as we saw them in Tears of the Kingdom...

Sonia is assassinated

Rauru gives his life to seal Ganon under the castle

Mineru succumbs to her injuries and begins haunting Zelda's tablet

Zelda essentially commits fantasy suicide, because as far as anyone in the narrative is aware, becoming a dragon destroys your sense of self and is irreversible.

The Sages live, but with how little TotK gave them to work with, AoI is going to have to characterize them from scratch.

That's a hard sell to anyone looking to buy a fun video game full of Zelda characters, and that's not the only problem with this roster: it's also small.

Not counting certain characters having multiple weapons, the original Hyrule Warriors launched with a roster of 13, and then three of the bosses were made playable in a patch.

Age of Calamity launched with 18.

If we're sticking entirely to the founding era with this game, we're following up a game that set sales records for the Warriors series with a piddly little roster that tells you at the end to go play a different game, with the surviving half of the roster being the faceless nobodies. Who's actually going to buy that beyond the LoZ die-hards who pitched a fit because not every returning NPC in Tears of the Kingdom greeted Link with a "Hey, I remember you!"?

It's quite clear, to me, that Age of Imprisonment is going to have another time travel twist, this time bringing in the modern Sages, as well as Link, probably Purah, and perhaps some others. (Paya? Tauro? Robbie? Josha? Kohga, for some reason? All possible, but Purah's the only supporting cast pick I'm confident in.)

If nothing else, the fact that Nintendo announced amiibo of the TotK Sages the same day as Age of Imprisonment seems more than coincidental.

[maxknightley]

What's your process for coming up with character concepts and powersets for eidolon? I've been putting together one myself after absolutely adoring poprock and especially Harvey and it seems like you'd have an interesting perspective on it

I usually start by choosing a well-established archetype, or an existing character who I like, to model the character on.

Once that archetype is established, I think about a suitable eidolon name and concept for them.

Having established the broad strokes of the eidolon and the wielder, I work to create a fresh spin on the concept. Over the course of the campaign, I differentiate them further over time.

Some examples, keeping in mind that my memory of the older ones isn't going to be 100% accurate.

Harvey D. Godlove (ROCK)

Okay, ROCK is going to be the campaign that leans more Jojo and less Persona. The Virtuoso playbook seems interesting... Hol Horse and Mista are both basically Virtuosos. I'll draw on that - make a ranged attacker who's kind of a dumbass.

Just making the Eidolon "a gun" would be kind of boring, though. I'd like to use an OK Go song for this... hey, I was on a pinball kick recently. What if I made him really into pinball - so that's the skill he mastered - and that means he can fire a pinball like a bullet, and control its movements to some extent like Sex Pistols? Call that shit "Here It Goes Again."

Okay, so he's really into pinball, maybe other arcade games too. Since he's a Virtuoso, he must also be really good at it. Maybe he's got a bit of an ego? Sees the whole "career criminal" thing as a side gig? If he's flashy, that lines up with a high ELE build.

Emilia del Valle (Against!)

You know who's sick as hell. Nico Robin from One Piece. But I wish they had leaned harder into the fact that she's, like, one of the oldest members of the crew and spent time as a hardened assassin. I like it when she's silly but the Context should be there. What if I played someone who's a bit older and worn down by life? A Veteran, but what would their sub-playbook be?

Looking through Against Me songs, there's a few good options. Maybe Cavalier Eternal, maybe Dead Rats... an Alchemist would be fun this time around. Something kind of edgy, to fit the vibe she's got going on. "My eidolon turns love into hate?" "Turns comfort into pain?" No, those are too abstract. I should think of something concrete, something piratey and One Piece-y... say, "Violence" would be a fun pick. Very straightforward. Maybe she can just summon a fuckton of cannons? And if she's an Alchemist, the most efficient material to use would be wood - she can turn a ship itself into a new weapon!

Okay, so she's a bit older than the others. Since she's a Veteran, maybe she was a big deal at one point, but got captured and nearly killed. It's cool when characters have monikers. Since her attacks are technically using plant matter, maybe I'll call her something like "The Wilted Rose" or "The Wilted Lily..."

Solo (SKA)

It's the Mystery Solving Teens season! Gotta have a Beast in there to be the Scooby (or the Goober if you're nasty). We're doing a "two generations" thing, too... maybe go for a Mystery Incorporated inspired vibe, where my character is a bridge between both shows, and has mysterious motives of their own...

If I'm making my character "the bridge" then I should look into some real early ska, something from the 70s or early 80s. That also means we'll get some more variety on the Playlist. Let's see, "The Untouchables" sound cool. What do they - oh my god. Oh my fucking god lol I know exactly what to do here.

"Soul Together" = "Clump Spirit" = Katamari. My guy is a little fucking scarab beetle but instead of a ball of dung he could roll a ball of Everything. Like it's a miniature black hole basically. And I'll double down on the "prince" thing - his motivations are tied up in the politics and faith of a whole little civilization of bug people. What if they lived in a terrarium in the science classroom lol

The only major exception I can think of is Flip, and that's only because I came up with a rough concept long before Luke and Molly had actually figured out the details of the setting or started on the new rulebooks. Even then it still followed the broad strokes of "pick some existing characters I like, draw inspiration from them, and then tweak/iterate until they have their own thing going on."

[amazingdigitalheadcanons]

HOLD ON *dumps pieces of scrap paper on to a table* I GOT A WHOLE BUNCH

-Kinger taught Queenie how to shoot a gun with deadly accuracy

-Kinger and Queenie know how to dance

-Caine in the past would use other character’s lives in the circus as inspiration for his adventures, now he does it subconsciously

-Spudsy meat is made out of Dobby

-Caine’s existence is what’s keeping them trapped in the circus (the circus cannot exist without him, he is its heart and brain) (he’s not even aware of this)

-Adventures used to be once a week because Caine was still new to the whole ordeal (the NPCs sucked)

-In the early days, NPCs used to make a constant appearance in other adventures, but later on they took up too much space so now they’re all mannequins

-What makes up an abstraction is dead code trying to fix itself and failing

-Abstraction is incredibly painful, even afterwards the abstractions can “feel themselves rotting”

-If a player is still in the map while it’s deleted, a “forced abstraction” will occur (the only technically “true” way to die without abstracting the normal way)

-A “forced” abstractee is much different from a normal abstracted, mainly because they didn’t “go crazy” and abstracted (and therefore “kill” their own coding. Instead their code is mangled after falling into “the point of no return” and overcompensate by absorbing the game’s own code

Mini Theory Ahead‼️

-While Kinger did have role in his wife’s death, Caine was also to blame for her abstraction. But instead of taking the blame, he put everything on Kinger, even after when Kinger went insane he continued to fully blame him and even gaslit Kinger into believing he was fully responsible for Queenie’s death.

“Now, being in a position of power like this, you coooould offload the blame to one of your employees and avoid the dock on your score. What do you think?” -Caine to Gangle in Caine’s office, Episode 4 Fast Food Masquerade, 20:45

ACCORDING to Caine, using the backstory of Baron Theodore Mildenhall. What Kinger did to Queenie was comparable to SHOOTING YOUR OWN WIFE

HOWEVER

For someone who is a REAL PERSON, and had something comparable to BEING SHOT BY HER HUSBAND happen to her, Queenie, in the worst state of her life (mentally and physically). DID NOT attack Kinger in the pillowfort despite him “shooting her”, and even leaned into his hand when he touched her.

You could argue that the shooting was more of an “emotional bullet”, however that would not explain why she was so relaxed with him there IN THE WORST STATE OF HER LIFE

Which I would say that it’s more of how Kinger felt about the situation, that he essentially shot his own wife. Not literally, not anything that would equate to that, just the guilt he feels afterwards. Which was what I believed until that line with Caine in his office.

Caine is not a malevolent being, he does not want to cause harm to others. However, he is still an AI that doesn’t fully understand humans.

“W-Well, I don’t know what’s NORMAL to you people!” -Caine in response to Gangle asking for a more normal adventure, Episode 4, 2:50

The entire adventure in episode 3 was for Caine to make something Zooble would like

“Why did you think I would like that?” -Zooble after Pomni explained her and Kinger’s adventure, Episode 4, 2:06

I don’t need to explain the Zooble Therapy Session

There’s more quotes, however I’m going to be saving them for once I make this into a proper theory on my own blog AND this is supposed to be about headcanons not theories!

But the point I’m trying to make is there might be a little more to Queenie’s death that Caine might have more of a role in. Besides, Kinger never struck me as a guy who would hurt his own wife. At least not something comparable to shooting the poor woman. (It’s an emotional bullet, I know, but there’s just something off to me with Kinger being the sole reason why Queenie is dead ((only one shooter)))

Anyways, theory over‼️

-New arrivals aren’t quite linear as sometimes they appear right after someone abstractions, or several months after. Sometimes, they just get added onto the roster without anyone dying

-The Cellar is actually quite big, but they all like to hang around spots where Caine likes to open the cellar at in order to greet the new arrival

-Kinger has very bad survivor’s guilt and just knows instinctually when someone’s going down the spiral to abstraction

-Gangle spent weeks struggling to pick out a name until Jax came along and named her himself and everyone just went along with it

-The first to abstract the arguably the worst since nobody knew what to do or what it was, even Caine didn’t know

-The more violent the abstraction process, the more dangerous and destructive the abstraction

-Kaufmo is one of the weakest abstractions in the Cellar

-The reason why abstractions are so aggressive in light is due to overstimulation

-Despite what he wants people to believe, Jax isn’t actually good with guns

-It took a LOT of begging for Caine to allow them to have guns that didn’t suck

-If you speak in a language that The Amazing Digital Circus isn’t translated in, you can swear in that language

-Slowly players will naturally forget details of their old lives until they’re not sure why they put on the headset

-After seeing what happened with his loved ones after they abstracted, especially his wife, Kinger developed a fear of hurting anyone. Not quite in a pushover way but still in a very self-destructive I-would-sacrifice-my-own-sanity-to-keep-everyone-safe (and in a way he did, although it ended up hurting the others more to see him like that)

-Dobby’s favorite food was hotdogs and put the Spudsy suggestion in the box

-The suggestion box came after Queenie’s death to keep everyone’s mind off of things

-Kinger and Queenie used to make minor suggestions for Caine in his adventures, but after they were gone he made the suggestion box UNDER that premise of “keeping everyone’s mind off of things”. In reality, he wanted advice. But nobody really cared so he forgot about it

-Queenie used to hold her own hand when she was nervous or stressed (whenever Kinger noticed this he held her hand)

-Kinger now holds his own hand when he’s stressed or scared (the same hand where Queenie used to hold it when he got like that)

-The Moon is in love with Caine, and nobody knows who programmed her to be like that

Now that's a lot of headcanons (positive)

wHo GaVe KiNgEr a GuN?

I absolutely love all of these headcanons!