#and the fact that this plot is in the same game as Pepper’s??

[aristoteliancomplacency]

I am replaying Pokemon Violet and just like… there’s no getting around it: the Team Star plot is just stupid and badly written.

[lovinbarzal]

SOFT LAUNCH | MR73

matt rempe x fem! trouba sister! reader

masterlist || fc addison rae || context: reader is a famous tiktoker and friends with dixie! she met matt through jack by going to a hockey game aka trevor trying to set up his gf bsf with his bsf. it did not go well in the sense that the two did not get together cause jack already had a secret gf but she noticed matt during warm ups cause she was standing on the wrong side of the rink for warms ups. she did not tell jacob that she was at the game from an invitation from trevor jack. it was the game that matt dropped bastian. she's friends with some of the older umich boys basically team 100 (her, jacob, and phil are a mini trio cause jacob and phil don't get enought recognition 😓) || i know this has a lot of plot holes but idc because i'm tired and i'll probably go back and make an official timeline if i make this an OFFICIAL au. enjoy :)

feb 22, 2024

yntrouba has posted !

liked by trevorzegras, dixiedamelio, and others

yntrouba rags🏒

tagged dixiedamelio nyrangers

load comments

iloveyntrouba yess we love a hockey gal!

dixiedamelio omg such a great time ✨

↳ yntrouba kith💋💋

jacobtrouba you're wearing the wrong jersey.

↳ yntrouba wdym my fav player is breadman🤨

↳ jacobtrouba WORST SISTER OF THE YEAR AWARD!!!!!!!!!!

dixieandynlover her and dixie devoured!

mattrempe 👍🏼

nyrangers we loved having you❤️

hateacc1 stupid puck bunny

↳ newyorkrangersfan1007 her brother plays for the rangers🤦🏻‍♀️

brendon.brisson how did the piper pick?

↳ yntrouba pick pepper

alexlaff11 she is an icon. she is the moment.

↳ yntrouba fav all time

lauren.rodolitz MY GIRL CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU!

↳ yntrouba ILY❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

jacob_truscott20 trio reunion???? @/plapointe_22 @/yntrouba

↳ plapointe_22 spitten facts

↳ yntrouba if it fits into my schedule

jackhughes loved meeting you!

↳ yntrouba same!

↳ nhlynvsp OMG MY FAVS INTERACTING!!!

mattrempe has followed you !

march 14th, 2024

yntrouba has posted !

liked by mattrempe, jackhughes, and others

yntrouba life or smth💐❤️‍🩹

load comments

jacob_truscott20 thomas the dumpy truck

↳ yntrouba not how that works

ynupdates hey girly! who's the guy you're soft launching at the end??????

↳ hughesxnhllover i think it's jack hughes (he's a hockey player)! they've been interacting like crazy lately and she looks like the girl he brought to family skate for the stadium series

↳ hughesbrosfan i dont think so. jack doesn't have a busted lip atm & i think they confirmed who that girl was and it wasn't her...

jacobtrouba text me back rn

↳ yntrouba denied💁🏻‍♀️

↳ jacobtrouba don't make me do it

↳ yntrouba NO! I'M SORRY! PLS DONT SEND KREIDER AFTER ME!

trevorzegras 💆🏻‍♀️💅🏼

↳ yntrouba @/dixiedamelio pls get him out of my comment section :)

plapointe_22 nice guy!

↳ jacobtrouba TELL ME WHO HE IS NOW PHIL! or else.

↳ yntrouba DONT DO IT PHILLY! HE'S JUST KIDDIN!

↳ plapointe_22 AHHHHHHHHHHHH😓😓

mattrempe 👾🤜🏼

↳ yntrouba 🤛🏼👾

↳ yntroubatrain wait a sec....???? what's matt doing here??

[hayanwulf]

For WIP game: anchor of Stability

(WIP game)

Read the first part of this WIP here.

Oh my, another one. I'll be honest, I'm not very keen on spoiling too much about this fic right now, as it's gonna wear those neat little tags of Unreliable Narrator and Plot Twists. I love those two elements a lot.

If you've read the first part, you might remember that I hinted that Tony has a strained relationship with Stephen of his own timeline. That is because he doesn't much like the general aura of Stephen for multiple reasons.

But as he travels through the past watching Stephen grow up, he's like "okay I like THIS version of Stephen but I still don't like THAT (his timeline) version of Stephen cause they're two different people. Yup."

Here's a snippet of when that finally changes..

“Suit integrity at 72%,” FRIDAY relayed and he quickly forced exit out of the Time Vortex. This was an even shorter jump than the last one, and Tony did not like at all where this was going. He was so close to home. He didn’t want to trap himself in a Zeno’s Paradox and be stuck taking smaller steps forever.

“19th January, 2017,” Tony read out the date as he took in his surroundings.

The foyer of Stephen’s Sanctum.

He had become a sorcerer.

The odd pride he felt at that fact was quickly washed away when he realized the state of the interiors. Broken furniture, shards of glass, books and relics lying haphazard, blood stains—

Tony’s mind instantly switched into battle mode, subconsciously calling his armor as he climbed two steps at a time up the grand staircase. There were more broken things and evidences of fight on the upstairs, but no signs of life. His armor encased around him, he flew the rest of the way up to the top floor, trying to keep the noise he made to a minimum—

And paused midair when he found Stephen by the large circular window, standing alone and looking like he was in no immediate danger. Stephen looked up at him like a deer caught in headlights.

“Oh..” Tony breathed, and lowered himself on the floor before letting his suit retract back into its housing unit.

Stephen had those signature white streaks of hair by his temples, had that same, distinct depth in his eyes as though his age was way more than what his body conveyed. His face was peppered with scratches and dried blood from wounds that hadn’t been tended to yet, his hands deliberately hidden behind the folds of his cloak. Wearing almost the same ensemble and radiating that unnatural aura of power which Tony could somehow always feel beneath his skin, this Stephen looked very much like the Strange from Tony’s timeline.

It was almost as if they were the same. The same flirty asshole with an ego to challenge Tony’s own, sharp in wit and intelligence but extremely difficult.

The same broken man who had been through so much in his life to get where he was.

In a way, the two were the same. They were just two versions of Stephen Strange.

Tony saw his worldview shift right in front of his eyes.

[kohakurin8]

~ Birthday Bunny ~

An innovative analysis for an innovative game

It's still Spooky Season! So of course, I'm still at it with the spooky games. And as suggested by @starwarspurgefan tonight I played the Horror RPG Maker game, Birthday Kid by @livisart !

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️

This is an analysis of the overall game plot and contains spoilers beyond this point.

If you would like to experience the game for yourself before reading this analysis, please scroll to the end of the post for a link to where the game can be downloaded!

Holy. Crap.

I absolutely love this game!

In the ending bonus room livis admits that the game is their first ever finished RPG Maker game and honestly, I'm impressed. The story and overall structure is such a treasure -- simple yet deliciously complex at the same time.

Not only that, but it has a lot of little details and themes that remind me impeccably of another absolute favorite of mine, Omori by Omocat -- and considering Birthday Kid was released before Omori, I wouldn't be surprised if Omocat actually played this game and drew some inspiration from it!

So then, let's jump into it. What is Birthday Kid?

Well, to put it simply the game follows a bunny-person named Pepper who is continually reliving the day of their 12th birthday. The focus of the game is exploring Pepper's house as they try to remember something important, finding various clues in order to sort out trauma in the process.

To start with, I'd like to compliment the game mechanics because they are incredibly creative. They guide you through what you're supposed to do while still making it feel like you've solved some sort of puzzle, and the guidance is portrayed in a way that's very realistic to a sort of dream world or delusion.

The usage of blood marks and subtle key words to tell you where to go is spooky and satisfying, and a personal favorite mechanic out of anything I've seen so far.

Secondly, the designs of Pepper and Rascal may be simple, but they've completely captured my heart. I absolutely adore bunnies, and freckles, so Pepper had me excited to play the game before I even started.

And lastly, the story is beautiful and told with such nuance that one can both generally infer what happened, but still ponder the details with healthy curiosity.

But you know me. I can't just ponder this shit -- I have to write it!!

Alright, since it was written so nicely, there isn't much room for theories necessarily. But that's okay! Instead, allow me to explain the string of events and details as I perceived them while playing.

Pepper is officially classified as "a gender", although the dialogue suggests that they may have been born female but prefers to be agender and chose a name for themselves that isn't their birth name-- something which their peers bully them for relentlessly. On top of that, Pepper is a mute and only communicates through sign-language, which adds fuel to the discriminatory fire.

Considering the usage of the bunny theme, and the posters which read "Alice? Is there a god?" I speculate that Pepper's birth name may have been Alice.

And considering livis specifically stated that Pepper "prefers" not to speak, I theorize that they are not mute by birth but rather by some sort of trauma-induced muteness, or perhaps even non-verbal autism.

Regardless of the reasons why Pepper is how they are, even their own parents abuse them for being different. In fact, it bothers their parents so much that they have issues between each other over it.

But one birthday, Pepper was walking home when they found a talking rabbit -- the demon bunny Rascal. Rascal is severely injured, so Pepper decides to take him home and their mother convinces their father to allow them to keep it.

However, poor Pepper's home life soon deteriorates. At first, they seem fine so long as they have their friend Rascal. But the plot suggests that their Dad eventually murdered their mom and shoved her in the wardrobe of the master bedroom, then proceeded to neglect Pepper and abuse them verbally, even to the extent of not allowing them access to the fridge. Although, while sneaking into the fridge to get food for Rascal, Pepper notices a bottle of poison...

During one of these abusive episodes, Rascal actually attacks Pepper's Dad, and judging by some of the dialogue apparently pushes him into the hot stove, burning his hands. (Either that or he once burned Pepper's hands with the stove...) In a fit of rage, the Dad snaps poor Rascal's neck, and locks Pepper in their wardrobe.

Obviously distraught, Pepper uses the poison to kill their father, then summons a demon in an attempt to bring Rascal back. The demon makes a contract to do so with Pepper, offering to erase all of their painful memories in the process. Thinking this was a good idea at the time, Pepper accepts the offer, only to forget all about Rascal too!

This brings us to the start of the game -- Pepper reliving their twelfth birthday party. However, with the lack of memory everything about the part feels strange and fake, prompting Pepper to investigate. I believe that the act of repeatedly killing all of Pepper's party guests is symbolic of their strong feelings of hatred towards those who bullied them. A wrathful feeling that cannot be merely erased even with the help of a demon

All hope is not lost, however, since Pepper does eventually regain their memories. Upon remembering Rascal's name it's revealed that Rascal had been the demon all along, and using his name actually takes him! I'd like to think that in the end, the two were happy together.

And uh... That's it!

Once again, I really loved this game. Thank you so much for suggesting it, I've had a lot of fun with it. If you have anything you'd like to add, feel free to comment!

‼️ SKIPPING SPOILERS? STOP SCROLLING HERE ‼️

As promised, here is the link to where you can download this amazing game.

[thesbarchives]

prologue:

in 2006-07, pat robertson stepped down as the ceo of cbn and appointed his son, gordon, to take his place. one of the first things gordon did for the network was to plan a reboot for one of their shows. this turned into the little, soon to be big, project called superbook reimagined

with the reboot, the whole premise of the plot was the same as the original. oppositely, the names for the kids (minus gizmo) were different. they were no longer called chris peeper and joy but they were now two 22nd-23rd century friends who go by the names of chris quantum and joy pepper

reimagined, of course, did bring a divide within the classic fandom since the majority hated the reboot (due to its multiple changes) while a handful of people appreciated the futuristic aspect of the series

an introduction to reimagined:

• developed in 2006, pilot aired in 2008, released in 2011 and ended in 2021

• the show is set around the 22nd-23rd century

• the series was nominated for a daytime emmy award for its main title, graphic design and opening/promotions back in 2014*

• in 2006, the working title for the series was going to be superbook 2.0, but it later changed into the official title of superbook reimagined instead

• while many can remember a giant adventure to be the 6th episode of s1, it was actually used as the first ever pilot of the series

• reimagined was created to celebrate the 25th anniversary of classic sb

• according to one of the art directors and designers for sb, reimagined was originally planned to be in 2d, but cbn scrapped the idea and wanted it to be in 3d instead

• reimagined has two official taglines: "his word's forever alive!" and "the bible is alive!"

• in 2016, cbn released a video titled superbook's gospel presentation and there were three versions of the same presentation that featured chris, joy and gizmo respectively. there were many changes to the presentation depending on which version you were viewing. for example, one part of the chris version has him saying "God made you, uniquely you, and has a very cool plan for your life" whereas joy and giz's versions cut out the "very cool" part. another thing that's different is after peter's apology, chris and joy's versions say "so, what do you think? it's not that complicated, is it?". gizmo's version completely cuts out this part and says something else. on the official sb youtube channel, you can only find chris and joy's versions but you can find giz's version on dailymotion.

(fun fact: the presentation that is normally used within official media is joy's version!)

• there are multiple references to classic in reimagined. for example, there is concept art of classic gizmo in the professor's lab, a picture of the classic trio in chris' bedroom, a toy of classic giz in the downstairs hallway of the quantums' house and reimagined joy's surname (pepper is an allusion to peeper)

• (cont.) the kids' names in some international dubs are changed to the classic versions. compared to the classic japanese ver, the japanese ver of reimagined doesn't keep the original names of chris and joy, however, they still keep the western names (supposedly, this might be due to copyright entanglements with tatsunoko productions)

• in 2018, reimagined made its japanese debut since 1981 and was well received

• during the development of reimagined, cbn released an official fan website for sb. it included videos of classic's history, games, a forum feature and etc.

• both chris and joy's surnames are a reflection of their family and their personal interests. chris' surname is quantum because his father and his late maternal grandad are/were scientists. it's also a reference to the discrete amount of energy in physics, which is also called a quantum. joy's surname is pepper because her family is associated with cooking (for example, her parents own a pizzeria, her grandma taught her how to bake at a young age and she herself has culinary expertise). it's also a reference to the vegetable/spice

• in 2023, cbn started a project to translate reimagined in sign language. this has only happened in bsl (british sign language) and the first christmas was the first episode that has been fully translated

• in 2015, cbn introduced a "curriculum" based on the series so that it could be used in schools, churches or in the home

• although you can't find this on the official english website or any other sb website, the indonesian website actually explains why the main trio is relevant to the series. for example, chris and joy were made to mirror what children (or people in general) go through in their lives (like grief, bullying, peer pressure, cheating or disobedience) and gizmo, albeit the fact that he's there to be comic relief, was also made to add historical, chronological and geographical information about the place that they've travelled to. plus, the scripts also have a rule that the kids and giz can't tamper with the history, culture or the biblical scenarios that take place

• back in 2006, cbn held an experiment with both children and fans of classic sb.* the experiment was based off past designs of chris, joy and gizmo. the results showed that most of the participants hated the concept designs of the trio (especially giz's) and cbn decided to change to the ones that we now know of (which was accepted by both participants). the experiment wasn't the only reason why they had design changes. while the pilot was in process and due to the scrapped 2d concepts, it was hard for the producers to look for suitable 3d studios that would take on the idea of animating the series and when they did find one, they had to change the concept designs (according to one of the production studios that cbn worked closely with)

• in other countries, the translated title for the series is "the book of books", which is a direct reference to the bible literally being a book of books

─��─ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

*the nominations are on pages 76 and 89

*you'll find the comment where one of the producers explain the experiment

[thompsborn]

Hello!!! i’m so interested in the HB2 plot! I feel like we see peter angst way more commonly than Harley—so if you ever feel up for rambling about it under a cut or a spoiler tag this is a free space to do so! He really is my blorbo and you’re my favorite fic writer so I know whatever happens it’ll be amazingly done but I’m dying for hints at more of what that’ll look like! Are we talking, like, caught in the literal crossfire or devastating hostage situation 😂

okay before i do the harley rambles i!? I’m your favorite fic writer??? my guy what the FUCK that’s so sweet but also have u read any of sarah’s fics?? oddy’s parkner fic or oddy’s parksborn fic??? ANY of the Classic Iconic parkner fics circa 2020-2021?

i’m actually very VERY slowly making a parkner fic rec list to post at some point but just. WHAT. there are So many INCREDIBLE fic writers and saying i’m your favorite is BONKERS to me but also so nice i ??? thank you??? oh my god???? ❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙

okay anyway sorry to what the ask was actually about pfkfj, HARLEY!!! i agree it’s definitely a lot easier to come across peter angst than harley angst, which most likely has to do with the fact that there is a LOT of material to draw from for peter’s character—various movies, comics, shows, timelines and universes and the games. it’s a lot easier to come up with angst for peter because there’s a lot of canon angst to choose from AND there’s so much content for him that it’s a lot easier to get a grasp on his character and create angst based on that, you know? but as a fandom we have definitely created many ideas of harley based on when he was a kid in im3 and his cameo in endgame, plus the WEB comics + ride at avengers campus, so harley angst is for sure out there but like you said it is NOT easy to come across lmao

as for the HB2 plot—i have an ask in my drafts from like a month or two ago asking for more information about hb2 and i’m gonna try to finally finish answering that and post it sometime today, so that post will definitely include some insight in what to expect from the sequel, but harley in hb2 specifically? i GOTCHU.

OKAY !!! let's do this!!

so homeward bound, as i've said before, is PETER'S story post no way home, right? but in hb2 it's peter AND HARLEY'S story post homeward bound. the first chapter is a recap of the first fic from harley's pov with a lot of extra bits thrown in, starting on the day that thanos first snapped and ending either where the first fic ends or maybe in the summer between school years. unsure as of now but one of those, for sure. so that's going to offer a lot of perspective about harley's character in homeward bound - his thought processes, how he was feeling in a lot of key moments during the first fic, things he was doing while peter wasn't around, etc etc etc.

but in hb2, after the recap in the first fic, it picks up at the start of their second year at ESU. he might still be roommates with harry. he might not be. it won't be the same room at the very least, so no matter what, there's going to be some changes, right? but also:

everything is different.

there are the small changes - not the same room, harder classes as they climb their way through the pre-reqs, potentially a different roommate, some stuff happened over summer, etc.

but also there are the BIG changes, like his dynamic with peter, and knowing that peter is spidey and now being a part of keeping that a secret due to peter not wanting anyone else to know. he also knows about the spell and he knows that peter is someone tony loved, someone that pepper and morgan and happy and rhodey knew and cared about, and none of them remember him, but they know harley.

with harley's pov comes the reintroduction of the rest of the world, basically. peter has no one, right? his old life was completely destroyed and erased, leaving no connections to the people he used to know, so he's been VERY closed off from everyone and everything.

harley, however, still knows pepper and morgan and happy and rhodey. he still talks to them on a regular basis. he has his mom and his sister. he isn't closed off in classes like peter is, actually having conversations with his classmates, even if he has no interest in befriending them. peter's pov has been very limited because his world has been completely changed. harley's has been changed too via the loss of tony and him being dead for five years while his mom and his sister had to adapt to a life without him there, but it's not been changed to the extent of peter's, you know?

harley is going to have a few struggles in hb2, some centered around peter, some not. there's going to be family stuff. there's going to be this urge to tell pepper and them about peter because he thinks that peter would benefit from having these people in his life again but also he wants to respect the fact that peter doesn't feel ready to do that.

there's going to be some conflict about the people in his life learning that he's involved with spider-man's business somehow. there's going to be people getting angry at spider-man because of it.

a lot of mental and emotional turmoil is going to come out of all this. but, in the physical sense, he's not going to be entirely safe, either. again, people are going to realize he's somehow connected to spidey. he's going to want to do whatever he can do to help peter, to the point where he's going to get a little reckless with it sometimes.

caught in the crossfire? yeah.

hostage situation? no. at least, not in hb2. not that i currently have planned. that could change, but as of my current plans, no.

hope that's enough information to build some intrigue >:)

[hjohn3]

Sh*t Show at the F**k Factory*

Sunak Loses his Party and the Plot

Source: conservatives.com

By Honest John

WHEREAS NO Conservative Party Conference in recent years can be described as entirely sane, the gathering in Manchester this month, if it is actually remembered at all, will surely go down as one of the most weird. On display we had open leadership bids by swivel eyed partisans of various right wing persuasions; performative politics by Ministers taking place in a world that seems to exist entirely in the fevered imagination of the Tory faithful and GB News, and probably one of the most bizarre conference speeches ever heard (and by one of the alleged Conservative “grown ups” to boot). And, oh yes, we had Rishi Sunak gamely, if wanly, smiling throughout a barely concealed car-crash of a conference, attempting to wield authority no one believes he actually possesses and presiding over one of the biggest political unforced errors in recent years (and that’s saying something). Welcome to the F**k Factory.

Perhaps there was a clue that all might not be going according to plan when one of the most feted politicians at Conference turned out not to be a member of the Conservative Party at all. Like a reanimated Ghost of Brexits Past, Nigel Farage hove into view, allegedly as a GB News anchor. In typical Farage style, the newsman swiftly became the story, with Tory delegates queuing up for selfies and journos interviewing the architect of Britain’s singular act of self harm, seemingly for the job of Conservative Party leader. Just about disguising the twinkle in his eye, the predatory populist opined he would be very happy to lead the Tories if only they could become a little bit more right wing, thereby putting forward his candidature for a vacancy that doesn’t exist. The excruciatingly embarrassing video footage of Farage later bopping with a breathless Priti Patel to Robbie Williams’ Angels will have been small comfort to Sunak, seemingly upstaged on day one.

Altogether more serious were the ideological challenges thrown down at Conference by a curiously unrepentant Liz Truss and an entirely repellent Suella Braverman. Truss, seemingly unaware that she and Kwasi Kwarteng permanently crashed the British economy as well as the Conservative brand during their disastrous tenure as Prime Minister and Chancellor this time last year, swaggered into Manchester Central to address a packed fringe meeting of the “Great British Growth Rally”, which sounded like a cross like Brands Hatch and Nuremberg. Her speech was peppered with the same hubristic nonsense that brought the bond markets crashing down around her ears last autumn and which saw her ludicrous premiership end after just 49 days. Without insight, contrition or political intelligence, Truss nonetheless signalled that the Chicago Economics wing of free market Leninism remains in contention for the post election battle for the soul of the Conservative Party and Truss herself clearly believes her tax-cutting zealotry will find an audience in a party that has almost entirely lost its way. Truss 2.0 cannot be ruled out - at least in opposition.

If Truss’ ego trip had an element of the comic about it, the Home Secretary’s speech entered altogether more sinister territory. One of the many catastrophes of Brexit was the infiltration of the Conservative Party, once the political expression of bourgeois civic values and British business, by rank English nationalism as Boris Johnson purged the party of its Macmillanite liberal wing in order to force through the hardest Brexit deal he could. What Braverman’s speech revealed was that tendency on full display - paranoid, dishonest, divisive, racist and filled with fear and hatred, made all the more ironic by the fact its standard bearer is a woman of colour and the daughter of immigrants. It would take a panel of psychiatrists to truly get inside Suella Braverman’s head, but what her speech articulated, with its talk of a ‘hurricane’ of immigrants heading to the U.K., was the essence of English fascism, now safely ensconced in the formerly respectable colours of Tory blue, but as intolerant, nativist, authoritarian and hate-filled as it has ever been. This, I fear, is the rising tide within Toryism, and Braverman, with her nasty following congregating within the National Conservatives, is likely to be the coming woman.

Braverman’s speech perhaps indicates a dark future for British Conservatism, but there were other Ministers to remind us what a literal joke the Tories have become under Rishi Sunak. In his desperate attempt to win a General Election on culture wars issues alone, his cabinet were encouraged to excoriate “policies” (implemented by whom was not always clear, seeing as the Tories are allegedly the government) that don’t exist or “crack down” on situations that, equally, don’t exist, turning the conference into even more of a theatre of the absurd than it was already. We had Steve Barclay bizarrely assuring a British public, infuriated by lengthening elective waiting lists, despairing of ever getting to see a GP and terrified at the non-arrival of ambulances, that there would be no admission of trans women to female wards. We watched bemused as Jeremy Hunt promised that benefits claimants who turned down a job offer would have their benefits reduced (they already do, Chancellor), and Transport Secretary Mark Harper promise to save us from the controlling malevolence of “fifteen minute cities” (an urban planning idea to place city centre facilities within in walking distance of each other) despite the fact that, as yet, they don’t exist anywhere in the world. Perhaps the most idiotic contribution was by the unfailingly unimpressive Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, Claire Coutinho, who told us to much hearty Tory laughter, that Labour was keen to introduce taxes on meat. Coutinho was later ridiculed into silence by the conference press pack who repeatedly and gleefully demonstrated to her that she had made her meat story up. Finally, the most unintentionally hilarious contribution to this sh*t show of ridiculous posturing, was the toe-curling speech of Penny Mordaunt who stood on the stage, waving her fist heroically and urged the assembled Tories to “stand up and fight” - continually. Quite who the Blue Army was intended to come to blows with, Penny didn’t make particularly clear apart from some vague exhortation to “freedom”. It is hard to believe Mordaunt is considered the great centrist hope of Toryism and the potential future leader Labour allegedly fear. On the evidence of that speech, Mordaunt seemed not only to lose Conference, but most of her marbles too.

But perhaps the best was saved for last. With probably little more than twelve months to go before a General Election, this conference speech, his first as Tory leader, was Rishi Sunak’s opportunity to provide some direction, principle and purpose to what has seemed like an exhausted and rudderless government, out of ideas. Instead what we got was a bizarre concoction of unrelated intentions that seemed to owe more to Sunak’s own personal wish list than any re-launch of Conservative philosophy. There was a promise to scrap A-Levels and replace them with a Baccalaureate, for what reason, Rishi never got round to telling us; he wants to ban children from smoking; he loves his family and the last 30 years (eighteen of them under the Conservatives) have been a political failure. He sounded much of the time like a really cross parish councillor. But the denouement of this plotless speech was Sunak finally confirming the scrapping of the northern branch of HS2. This was announced in the city it was designed to benefit most, a short sighted decision of monumental proportions that neutralises any further network expansion in the north and turns high speed to low speed once the trains get north of Birmingham. If Labour needed any further proof of the systematic Tory failure to deliver “levelling up” to the Red Wall, Sunak provided it to them in Technicolor. The whole sorry saga is political naivety and weakness at its most miserable - an announcement that was meant to show the public the Prime Minister can make “tough” financial decisions in the national interest has pleased virtually nobody. Sunak’s keynote moment was to tell the country what he was not going to do. Nothing sums up Sunak’s failed premiership better than the dog’s dinner of the cancellation HS2 for the north.

Sunak’s speech was weak and vision-free, but to be fair, what else could it be? There is a reason why Rishi’s showpiece was an embarrassing combination of personal dislikes, tired populism and broken promises. The British people are paying the highest personal taxes for seventy years because Hunt’s budget is trying to fill a £40bn hole in the public finances recklessly inflicted by Liz Truss, the context also to the HS2 decision; Britain’s public services are now collapsing as the consequences of a decade of needless and destructive austerity under David Cameron are finally felt, and the inflation-wracked British economy barely grows, fatally and permanently held back thanks to folly of Boris Johnson’s Brexit. That is the real story of over 13 years of Tory rule, but Sunak’s problem in Manchester was that he couldn’t possibly tell it.

*With acknowledgements to Series 1 of the HBO TV drama Succession

7th October 2023

[larrachan-official]

heyy! about the Fake Peppino/Pizza Tower AU, what is it about? like, I'm guessing based on your post is centered around Fake Peppino??

Hi!^^

Happy,that you want to know something about my Au(?)!

So. I'm not very good at storytelling, but I'll try to tell it the best way I can. KHM. So. Fake is not the one for whom the Au is made, but at the same time he is the main character. The essence of the plot of this Au in that it reveals the theme of what happened outside the events of the game.

According to my idea, Pizza Head was something like a scientist who experimented on bosses (Pepperman, The Noise, Fake Peppino, The Vigilante). BUT. For now, I will not talk about what I did with the bosses. All those experiments, torments that took place outside the walls of the Tower will probably be revealed in other posts, because I’m tired of writing here :_)

Fakey:

Fakey, in this Au is the main character who suffers from the initial stage of the Stockholm Syndrome. He himself did not know why he had this syndrome, because he is afraid of his creator, although at the same time he feels a strange and inexplicable sympathy for his tormentor. He cannot resist Pizza Head, which he actively uses: hugs, stroking, "friendly" attitude, attempts at "tenderness".

Pepperman:

Pepperman is a "narcissistic" artist who has also been pressured, like the others, by Pizza Head. He has rather low self-esteem, because of which he tries to assert himself at the expense of others. This happened due to the fact that when he was younger, all his work was subjected to severe insults from the Pizza Head himself, which belittled the work of Pepperman. Pepper did not have the opportunity to develop himself in art when the only thing he heard was “And you call this art?”, “How are you going to advance in life?”, “No one will like your under-creativity”, "How can a nonentity like you even open your mouth and talk about your work?" Nobody did not help him in his creative path and, on the contrary, trampled all his potential into the dirt.

The Noise+Noisette:

Noiz and Noisetta were conceived by Pizza Head as twins, but due to problems in creating twins, he made them different people, without family ties.

The development of ADHD and autism in Noyz quite strongly interfered with his perception of the world. Constant ignorance and lack of normal treatment made him look for adventures and activities for himself that could replace communication and society. After some time, sadism appeared, in relation to other creatures of Pizza Head.

Noisetta, surprisingly, was the least pressured and was able to develop as a normal creature. The only thing she had was overprotection towards Noiz and Fakey. She kept her from the moment when these two especially suffered a lot from Head Pizza, because she had to patch up their wounds and help them recover.

The Vigilante:

The Vigilante for all the time that he spent in the laboratory, got stronger, became stronger in spirit and no longer perceives Pizza Head's attempts to manipulate him as something really terrible. He knows how to respond to that, does not allow himself to be broken, protects other creatures and supports them after mental trauma that PH inflicts on those. He has no serious problems and does not develop, which helps him maintain his sanity and continue to adhere to his moral principles.

* * *

Ugh,GOD. Sorry that I didn’t answer, I wrote this for too long :(

Here I was able to describe only what the problem of each of the bosses is, but the whole AU is not only built on this. Its main concept is to show how such injuries affect the human ( and not only) the psyche, how they cope with it, as well as reveal the topic of what happened behind the walls of the Pizza Tower, talk about what happened after the events of the game, what path Pizza Headed and his creations went on, and also how PH in general Yes, this AU should be based on psychology and revealing the plot OUTSIDE of the game, which will be diluted with angst and a barely noticeable fluff (it's so small that I don't know why to write it), but I very much doubt that I can add this Au, because it also uses the topics of abuse, sexism, illegal experiments, police irresponsibility and bribery, lack of rights, inequality, lack of normal treatment in hospitals for the mentally ill, problems of the Stockholm syndrome.

Phew. I'm tired of writing all this :_<

Please, if you want to know more about this Au, say it and ask me about it!

I really want to know,do you like the idea and do you want to see more, it's very important for me.

Bye:)

[katiebug586]

Sit Down, Shut Up X Digimon AU

I'M BACK WITH ANOTHER DIGIMON AU!

Honestly, the 'I am going to create an crossover that is so doesn't make sense' image sums this up nicely regarding niche special interests and hyperfixations.

Either way, for those of you who aren't aware, Sit Down, Shut Up is a 2009 animated sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz, the creator of Arrested Development. While it is generally thought of being either a 'you love it or you hate it' show, it has a special place in my heart and despite its raunchy/lewd humor, I find it strangely comforting to watch.

And because I've been getting back into both Digimon and Sit Down, Shut Up as of late, it is only natural that my brain has the 'genius' idea of combining the two. It started with the innocuous question of 'What would the cast be if they were Digimon?' which is something I've asked for multiple other fandoms as well, such as Pepper Ann, Braceface, and Fillmore! to name a few.

I don't have much of a plot super specific to the show in a Digimon setting, but I do have an overall plot which I tend to use in most of my Digimon x (show) AUs involving the 'Digital World' being a near copy of the human/real world, with monsters having jobs, children, school, that sort of thing. All without knowing they're living in a simulation. The characters eventually find out they DO live in a simulation by another race foreign to them (humans), and find themselves having to go to the 'real world', where they find themselves facing a brand new threat, the Seven Great Demon Lords; seven powerful creatures, each representing some type of vice, who were created by the humans to purge the simulation and start over.

But some of them have their own interests in mind…

That's the usual scenario I use when 'brainstorming' (haha daydreaming) but with Sit Down, Shut Up I could go for less of the adult 'raunchy humor' everywhere, and instead incorporate more of an intense/edgy feel more geared towards adults with some added adult humor, rather than the moreso 'for kids' I would do for say, a Fillmore! or Pepper Ann Digimon AU.

Because it's eight champion-level (unless stated) adult Digimon who work in a digi-school and can barely tolerate one another, with some tolerated less than others. Then, everything they've known to be true is revealed to be a lie and they're forced to team up with those same people and kinda try to maybe understand them?

Now, I could see petty drama and 'canon-typical behavior/adult humor' at first being the norm, (kind of like how the sitcom only got thirteen episodes, which is usually when a Digimon season is still lighthearted. Unless you're Ghost Games that is. RIP Bokomon) but then getting Knight Of Cerberus'd and becoming significantly darker. Kind of like what Bojack pulled off, with the perfect mix of adult humor and a meaningful message.

You're probably wondering by now, what did my brain answer when asked that fateful question? Well, here's the Digimon I decided would fit and their lines! Rookie/Child forms are just here for reference, all are at Champion/Adult level unless otherwise stated.

Larry: Lopmon - Turuiemon - Antylamon (Deva) - Cherubmon (Virtue) (Can also become Vice if shit hits the fan)

Miracle: Terriermon - Gargomon - Rapidmon - MegaGargomon (May change Rapidmon and MegaGargomon if I find suitable mons)

Ennis: Elecmon (Violet) - Leomon - GrapLeomon - BanchoLeomon (Ennis is normally a GrapLeomon because I thought it would be fitting to have him at such a high level due to how 'great' he thinks he is and how he'd be himbo material if he wasn't so… Ennis)

Stuart: Guilmon - Growlmon - WarGrowlmon - Gallantmon/Megidramon (I thought Guilmon's/Growlmon's naivety was a nice fit for Stuart, along with the fact that they can and will fuck you up, e.g. Megidramon as an alternate digivolution)

Helen: Tsukaimon - Saberdramon - LadyDevimon - Star Beelmon

Andrew: Kotemon - Dinohyumon - Kyukimon - SlashAngemon

Willard: Piximon. Nobody knows much of his past, and frankly, they don't really care.

Sue: Haven't actually decided yet LMFAO.

[fox-buried-in-maple-leaves]

-BREAKS DOWN UR DOOR- SO ASK GAME HUH? 1, 5-12, 20-25, 32, 35, 43-46 for Kisa? ok you don't have to do all of them, but I'm thinking about HIM again and he's gently being wrapped in warm blankets and rolled away into my lair.

Ask Game

What’s the lie your character says most often?

"Don't worry!" You should always worry if Kisa says don't worry.

Can they cry on command? If so, what do they think about to make it happen?

He can lol. He thinks about the pain of when his arm disintegrated and the tears just well up in his eyes.

What’s their favorite [insert anything] that they’ve never recommended to anyone before?

His favourite fabric shop. That's HIS fabric shop, grrrr.

What would you (mun) yell in the middle of a crowd to find them? What would their best friend and/or romantic partner yell?

Me? Probably just his name. Galin would start yelling in some of the WORST Natlanen? Natlanien? Kisa's native tongue. Lucille strikes me as a petname caller for sure.

How loose is their use of the phrase ‘I love you’?

It started very loose, yk, for the job. But he says it less loosely after dating Luci.

Do they give tough love or gentle love most often? Which do they prefer to receive?

Gentle love. But lots of banter! And he likes getting the same.

What fact do they excitedly tell everyone about at every opportunity?

any and every fact about his girlfriend ever lol

If someone was impersonating them, what would friends / family ask or do to tell the difference?

Ask him to make something with leather or a jasmine stitch for crochet. Both are Not Easy and someone pretending to be him would most likely not be skilled enough.

What’s something that makes them laugh every single time? Be specific!

The look of disgust on Decord's face every single time Galin eats hot peppers from the jar.

Who do they like as a person but hate their work? Vice versa, whose work do they like but don’t like the person?

Kisa has too many fashion opinions for this question. That's the entire industry let's be real here.

What common etiquette do they disagree with? Do they still follow it?

Keeping your elbows off the table when eating. It's stupid, and uncomfortable. Screw you.

What simple activity that most people do / can do scares your character?

Twist cherry stems with a tongue. So much coordination..

What do they feel guilty for that the other person(s) doesn’t / don’t even remember?

Uhmmmm, what happened to Lela. Who again I don't think I've spoken about on this blog? Anyways it haunts him. Even though it wasn't his fault.

Did they take a cookie from the cookie jar? What kind of cookie was it?

Yes, he did. And it was a chocolate chip cookie.

What subject / topic do they know a lot about that’s completely useless to the direct plot?

His entire job bro, the WHOLE thing??? KISA WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE PLOT! Nobody was supposed to get attached to Razvedka. 90% of the related content of them isn't important to the direct plot I was writing.

If they committed one petty crime / misdemeanor, what would it be? Why?

Murder and corporate espionage aside, shoplifting lol

What is the smallest, morally questionable choice they’ve made?

Well Kisa originally only joined the Fatui for some extra cash so uhm. Oops. It was small at the time.

What do they commonly misinterpret because of their own upbringing / environment / biases? How do they respond when realizing the misunderstanding?

He reads tone and body language wrong sometimes. He'll think someone is being cocky when they're just really into a conversation. He thinks someone is about to hit him when they lift their hand excitedly. Small stuff like that? He hides it mostly, doesn't react. But his mind RACES for a split second.

What language would be easiest for them to learn? Why?

Its hard cause I imagine the languages of Teyvat can sometimes translate, but not fully. We decided he speaks the Teyvat version of Spanish, and according to linguists if you can speak Spanish.. The easiest language to learn is Portuguese! So the teyvat version of that?

What’s something unimportant / frivolous that they hate passionately?

LOL okay so LIKE CIRINO, if this was a modern OUR WORLD, he'd fucking hate a lot of modern luxury brands. But since we're not in our world. He just really hates dark yellow?? PASSIONATELY despises it. won't use it.

Are they a listener or a talker? If they’re a listener, what makes them talk? If they’re a talker, what makes them listen?

Listener! I think most of Razvedka are? Just given the nature of their jobs. He, much like the others, is really good at 'prompting'. He can swing a conversation in the direction he wants with just a couple of words and then just listens.

[stillwill76]

Last week, Nintendo had an Indie World Showcase. It's like a Direct but primarily for indie games from developers all around the world. A lot of cool games were shown (Have a Nice Death, Pepper Grinder, and Oni, to name a few) but the one that really grabbed my attention was this weird looking game that was released on the same day. Once Upon a Jester. It's about these two friends, Sok and Jester, and their quest to win a chance to perform at the kingdom's Royal Theatrical Spectacle. This, however, is a ruse so they can steal the Royal Diamond! A game where two idiots perform improv theatre so they can steal a big jewel? Sign me up!

The game itself was really fun! The developers, Bonte Avond, recorded most of the dialogue in one take. It definitely shows. But this is by no means a criticism. In fact, the way the dialogue is recorded makes the improv in the game feel much more authentic. Plus it's really funny to see what they came up with. The gameplay is pretty simple, with the player needing to complete quicktime events during the performance to get a good score. The main goal with each performance is to get 5 bouquets from the audience, with a total of fifteen in each town you perform in. If can't get five in one performance, no worries. You can keep trying as long as you need. The plot isn't going anywhere. Also, since the developers are primarily musicians, the music slaps. As someone who spent all of high school and college doing theatre, I can't recommend this game enough.

This isn't so much a review as much me wanting to talk about this really charming game. If you have a Switch or Steam and an appreciation for theatre, then Once Upon a Jester may be for you.

Oh, also Corpse Husband has a cameo in the game. It's hilarious.

[smokeybrandreviews]

Wound in the Force

The Acolyte got canceled and people are big mad about it. Kathleen Kennedy's PR team is in full swing trying to spin this to the best of their ability and pass the buck. Leslye Headland is out here, blaming fans, swearing it was a "vocal minority" who screamed loud enough for this "terrible" outcome, but the ratings straight up showed that NO ONE watched the show. The star, Amandla Sternberg, swears that Disney wasn't brave enough to stand by the show because it was crazy gay, not that her character Osha, was the absolute worst and resoundingly rejected by everyone with a set of eyes. The Acolyte failed because it was bad. Like, i only watched the first two episodes and knew sh*t was going to crash out based on that, alone. When they came for ol' girl over that absurd Space Kung Fu showdown, Osha had been on the same freighter for years. Years. Can't you check cameras? If she bounced on a personal rocket or whatever, you can't track that itinerary? Some drunk guy who saw the fight is your only evidence? Can't you force prod her memories to figure that sh*t out? Dumb. That's why the show failed. It was dumb. Every time one of these Kathleen Kennedy joints fail, I find myself writing this same goddamn rant. Make better sh*t!

The idea of The Acolyte, especially as Headland and Sternberg tell it in their outrage exit interviews, is an interesting one. A show about the duplicitous nature of "good" and "evil". Perspective. That would have been cool to explore, especially after seeing how clunky Lucas did it in Revenge, but the execution was not there and, for sure, the writing was trash. I mean, they killed off Trinity in the first episode and X-23 by the fourth? Why? There were six episodes left. That obviously gay coded relationship had no room to breath! No one cared when ALL of those characters, except the laughably abusive Master Jedi from Squid Game, were murdered by Chuckles the Sith Clown. All of that? Those first four or five episodes? That should have been season one in it's entirety. Chasing the not-Osha twin should have been the entire first season. Building up those characters and relationships should have been the plot. We should have grown to like and trust the Master Jedi guy, only to see, through the sparse interactions with the Lesbian Space Witches, his cruel streak. In fact, all of the sh*t about the Lesbian Space Witches should have been peppered through the initial season, culminating in that penultimate reveal from the Twin's perspective. This is plotting 101 and Headland failed. Sh*t makes me want to re-watch Russian Doll because i remember that being pretty good. There can't be such disparity in quality between these two shows when they're made by the same person, right?

Smooth Brains and Chauvinist bigots are proclaiming this failure as another example of "Go Woke, Go Broke", and i hate the fact they're kind of right. I don't believe in that because some of the Wokest sh*t around is incredibly popular. White people love Get Out and it's a straight up indictment on their whole “Value the Black body, not the Black life" deal they have going on. It's a direct confrontation, deconstruction, and subversion of the "Shut up and dribble" mentality you so often see among non-melanated, fake Christians. They got bamboozled by that solid writing and inspired execution. The presentation was so slick, those people didn't even know they were being called out. Letterkenny is one of the Wokest f*cking television shows I've ever seen, and not one complaint about it. Because it's f*cking inspired. Again, writing and execution. The Acolyte had none of that. They had a chip on their shoulder and was going to make it your, the viewers, problem. It wasn't a clever yet firm, accusation like Get Out or a intelligent denial like Letterkenny, it was a disrespectful accusation on your assumed disdain. And you can see that with how the “creators” have reacted from the cancellation.

The Acolyte was a bad show with strong ideas. I said as much after i ranted about how dumb those first few episodes were. I said as much above. The problem is the fact that Leslye and Kathy hate Star Wars. I don't know about Amandla but, since growing up, she's taken very specific roles. She wants to present a very specific image of herself which, cool. I'm not even going to sit here and say using Star Wars for that is a problem. It can be done. You want LBGTQ+ rep? Go for it. Chelli Aphra is a big ol' gay and she's one of my favorite characters. Full-on Disney Star Wars addition. Ahsoka Tano is at least bisexual, based on her initial book appearance and all the sexual tension in season seven of Clone Wars. Also Barris. She may not be now because Disney really is full of cowards, but I remember that smoldering, flirtatious energy, between my favorite Torgruta and Mirialan flavored Offee. No one is saying not to be gay in Star Wars or that message isn't important. I mean, there are some people, but they all have neck beards and Ken doll crotches so don't worry about them. The people who aren't brain dead don't mind. What we DO mind is how that sh*t is presented. Write better scripts. Create better character moments. Execute better production. If your show is good, people will watch, regardless of what you want to say. It's a matter of how you say it. The Whites LOVE Get Out and it's just two hours of Jordan Peele calling them culture vultures. If a movie and consistently insult it's audience, and still make a brinks truck full of money, what the f*ck is Lucasfilm doing? Also, what the f*ck is that helmet, bro?

[smokeybrand]

Wound in the Force

The Acolyte got canceled and people are big mad about it. Kathleen Kennedy's PR team is in full swing trying to spin this to the best of their ability and pass the buck. Leslye Headland is out here, blaming fans, swearing it was a "vocal minority" who screamed loud enough for this "terrible" outcome, but the ratings straight up showed that NO ONE watched the show. The star, Amandla Sternberg, swears that Disney wasn't brave enough to stand by the show because it was crazy gay, not that her character Osha, was the absolute worst and resoundingly rejected by everyone with a set of eyes. The Acolyte failed because it was bad. Like, i only watched the first two episodes and knew sh*t was going to crash out based on that, alone. When they came for ol' girl over that absurd Space Kung Fu showdown, Osha had been on the same freighter for years. Years. Can't you check cameras? If she bounced on a personal rocket or whatever, you can't track that itinerary? Some drunk guy who saw the fight is your only evidence? Can't you force prod her memories to figure that sh*t out? Dumb. That's why the show failed. It was dumb. Every time one of these Kathleen Kennedy joints fail, I find myself writing this same goddamn rant. Make better sh*t!

The idea of The Acolyte, especially as Headland and Sternberg tell it in their outrage exit interviews, is an interesting one. A show about the duplicitous nature of "good" and "evil". Perspective. That would have been cool to explore, especially after seeing how clunky Lucas did it in Revenge, but the execution was not there and, for sure, the writing was trash. I mean, they killed off Trinity in the first episode and X-23 by the fourth? Why? There were six episodes left. That obviously gay coded relationship had no room to breath! No one cared when ALL of those characters, except the laughably abusive Master Jedi from Squid Game, were murdered by Chuckles the Sith Clown. All of that? Those first four or five episodes? That should have been season one in it's entirety. Chasing the not-Osha twin should have been the entire first season. Building up those characters and relationships should have been the plot. We should have grown to like and trust the Master Jedi guy, only to see, through the sparse interactions with the Lesbian Space Witches, his cruel streak. In fact, all of the sh*t about the Lesbian Space Witches should have been peppered through the initial season, culminating in that penultimate reveal from the Twin's perspective. This is plotting 101 and Headland failed. Sh*t makes me want to re-watch Russian Doll because i remember that being pretty good. There can't be such disparity in quality between these two shows when they're made by the same person, right?

Smooth Brains and Chauvinist bigots are proclaiming this failure as another example of "Go Woke, Go Broke", and i hate the fact they're kind of right. I don't believe in that because some of the Wokest sh*t around is incredibly popular. White people love Get Out and it's a straight up indictment on their whole “Value the Black body, not the Black life" deal they have going on. It's a direct confrontation, deconstruction, and subversion of the "Shut up and dribble" mentality you so often see among non-melanated, fake Christians. They got bamboozled by that solid writing and inspired execution. The presentation was so slick, those people didn't even know they were being called out. Letterkenny is one of the Wokest f*cking television shows I've ever seen, and not one complaint about it. Because it's f*cking inspired. Again, writing and execution. The Acolyte had none of that. They had a chip on their shoulder and was going to make it your, the viewers, problem. It wasn't a clever yet firm, accusation like Get Out or a intelligent denial like Letterkenny, it was a disrespectful accusation on your assumed disdain. And you can see that with how the “creators” have reacted from the cancellation.

The Acolyte was a bad show with strong ideas. I said as much after i ranted about how dumb those first few episodes were. I said as much above. The problem is the fact that Leslye and Kathy hate Star Wars. I don't know about Amandla but, since growing up, she's taken very specific roles. She wants to present a very specific image of herself which, cool. I'm not even going to sit here and say using Star Wars for that is a problem. It can be done. You want LBGTQ+ rep? Go for it. Chelli Aphra is a big ol' gay and she's one of my favorite characters. Full-on Disney Star Wars addition. Ahsoka Tano is at least bisexual, based on her initial book appearance and all the sexual tension in season seven of Clone Wars. Also Barris. She may not be now because Disney really is full of cowards, but I remember that smoldering, flirtatious energy, between my favorite Torgruta and Mirialan flavored Offee. No one is saying not to be gay in Star Wars or that message isn't important. I mean, there are some people, but they all have neck beards and Ken doll crotches so don't worry about them. The people who aren't brain dead don't mind. What we DO mind is how that sh*t is presented. Write better scripts. Create better character moments. Execute better production. If your show is good, people will watch, regardless of what you want to say. It's a matter of how you say it. The Whites LOVE Get Out and it's just two hours of Jordan Peele calling them culture vultures. If a movie and consistently insult it's audience, and still make a brinks truck full of money, what the f*ck is Lucasfilm doing? Also, what the f*ck is that helmet, bro?

[planckstorytime]

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: A World Beyond Anger (Part Two)

II. On the Way to a Smile

Not only does Final Fantasy VII Rebirth decline to commit to the trajectory set by the end of the previous title, but it also seems to walk back on several of the questionable decisions made by the first installment. The cast’s prescient knowledge of the future story arcs? Gone. One of the first things that happens in Rebirth is Aerith explaining that the group lost all of their future memories after the fight with the Whispers in part one. So now the cast can just go through the same story beats in the same order with the same outcomes for 95% of the game. So much for changing your fate!

Moreover, the discretionary cutaways from death and ambiguous hints about the three Avalanche members’ survivals amount to almost nothing. Jessie and Wedge are, in fact, dead, just like in the original game. Biggs’s survival only happens in an alternate world that may or may not be purgatory. Zack is back, and he’s the centerpiece of the marketing. He even made it onto the cover of the game! And yet, his role in the story feels dramatically cut down from whatever might’ve been previously planned. He occupies scarcely an hour of screentime across the 100+ hour game. Completing the game unlocks the option to skip his sequences, which tells you how significant they are to the actual progression of the plot.

To me, all of this screams that the developers got cold feet on the apparent promise of a radically different adaptation, or that they never had a plan to begin with. I think opening the game with the overt retconning of Zack’s church scene from the end of Remake’s Intermission DLC indicates that the writing isn’t committed to a specific path.

I disagree with the notion that Remake’s climax alluded to only minor adaptational changes, rather than a fundamentally different story. Prior to the party vanquishing the avatars of fate, plenty of creative flourishes and alterations peppered the narrative. There would be no reason to disrupt “fate” (i.e. the direction of the story) if it just reaffirmed the adaptation’s existing ethos. The development team encouraged audiences to speculate on how different things could be. The ending of Remake could hardly be clearer: characters deleting future timelines that carried out OG events, “the future is always a blank page”, the party vanquishing a literal divine incarnation of “capital ‘D’ Destiny”, “the unknown journey continues”, etc.

Was it all meaningless? Was it disingenuous all along? Did they change their minds? Or did the developers just want to feed some controversy for extra publicity, plus a few brownie points for going meta? I’ll return to this point once we’ve discussed the ending of Rebirth. But it’s worth noting that more recent interviews have centered around how the Remake trilogy will eventually lead into Advent Children (2005) – in other words, any narrative digression that contradicts that film (previously thought to be a direct sequel to the 1997 game) must inevitably return to the status quo anyway. In an interview with GamesRadar+, producer Yoshinori Kitase said:

“We are finally going to link up with Advent Children, that is going to be part of canon. The overall storyline, the developments, will not go wildly out in a way that will not add up to Advent Children in the end. I don’t think anyone wanted that, that’s not what we’re looking to create here. [But] to make sure it doesn’t become stale and people know exactly where it’s going, [that it] doesn’t just follow the original word for word, we add in extra elements which add that little bit of doubt. Getting the right balance of that is so key. Ultimately, we’re not trying to change the Final Fantasy 7 story into something really different. The overall balance wouldn’t really allow for that anyway.”

To me, this just sounds like a normal description of an adaptation. Like… all of them, ever. It seems a far cry from the wild, uncharted frontier they recklessly set their sights on back in 2020. Unsurprisingly, I prefer this more conservative approach. Changes feel more natural, our heroes aren’t battling the literal ghosts of the plot, and everyone seems to be acting more in-character than they were throughout the third act of Remake. It might sound like I’m poking fun at Square Enix for backpedaling, and I am, to an extent. But I also view the conceit behind my interpretation of Remake’s ending to be a rhetorical gangrenous limb. Its amputation seems like a necessary course correction, and it helped me to enjoy the new game more than I expected. I’d say that for most of its duration, Rebirth ironically feels like a more faithful retelling than Remake did.

As with part one, I greatly enjoyed the environments, music, and combat design. Controlling characters feels more responsive, world traversal has more freedom, and quest design improved dramatically. It more closely resembles my conception of what a modern entry in the series should bethan Final Fantasy XVI (2023)does. A few of the 30+ minigames irritated me, but it felt nice to have new things consistently introduced to break the routine of the main gameplay loop. None of them match the standard set by Queen’s Blood, but what’s Final Fantasy VII without some annoying side activities?

I appreciate the effort put into creating mechanics used for single sequences, just as I admire the attention to detail in the recreation of old locales, monsters, and NPCs. The stretch of the adventure covering Junon, Costa del Sol, the Gold Saucer, Gongaga, and Cosmo Canyon in particular stood out as exceptionally well-crafted. Like the Wall Market chapter of Remake, these sections demonstrate the potential inherent in a faithful – yet creatively distinct – retelling. Even as a connection to the Compilation, which I generally dislike, Cissnei’s presence in Gongaga felt both plausible and satisfying to me.

On top of all of this, I consistently laughed along with Rebirth’s humor. It manages to catch that quirky, borderline surrealist tone of FF7’s classic gags, then mixes it with a bit of flare that would feel at home in the Yakuza series (2005-ongoing). From Red XIII’s disguised breakdance to Solemn Gus’s designated hype man to Junon’s pub exclusively catering to bald patrons, the wacky scenarios and odd predicaments that the characters find themselves in often provide more amusement than the main story. Constant opportunities for them to react to strange occurrences, banter with each other, and build their chemistry constitute the core of the game’s appeal.

Barret shines as the standout member of the party this time around. His arc, like the man himself, carries a lot of weight. I love how the game articulates the tragedy of his relationship with Dyne. The lack of catharsis for Barret at the end of it all feels both heart-wrenching and all too appropriate. In his eyes, he has yet to redeem himself, but with his friends’ help, that burden won’t be enough to bury him. Beyond just his personal pathos, Barret’s characterization radiates a versatility to which few others can compare. He offers comfort and protection to Cloud and Tifa upon their revisit to the facsimile of Nibelheim, applying his fatherly instincts to his companions. His camaraderie with Red XIII, which was practically nonexistent in the source material, proves to be one of the most compelling relationships throughout the new content.

Actually, Red XIII has improved across the board. I always thought the character showed promise, but he rapidly loses plot relevance after Cosmo Canyon in the original. Rebirth utilizes him more effectively by giving us glimpses into his private moments with characters besides Cloud. This results in a greater sense of interiority, and helps to put him on more equal footing with Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Barret, as far as narrative importance goes. The Gi vignette, which constitutes the entirety of Red’s arc in the original, now ties into the lore of the Black Materia in a really interesting way – perhaps the first expansion to the series’s mythology that I’ve actually enjoyed. This makes Red’s continued presence on the adventure feel more natural. More importantly, his determination to free the Gi from their deathless purgatory sets up an interesting new storyline to pursue in the third game.

As with Red XIII, Rebirth similarly capitalizes on Yuffie’s latent potential. She’s still an obnoxious, kleptomaniacal child, but now one with the unsettling ideals of a militant nationalist. Yuffie’s borderline jingoistic admiration for her country’s “interim government”, as well as her dream of enacting revenge on Shinra, grant her more depth than FF7 initially afforded her as a hidden bonus character. Rage and pain lie hidden beneath her exuberant exterior, and this makes her reckless stunts feel actually relevant to the story on both a surface and subtextual level.

I’m not automatically opposed to any deviation from the original game; in fact, I admire it whenever the writing takes care to tighten its screws. Through Yuffie, Rebirth ties its upcoming Wutai story arc into the newly foreshadowed Huge Materia (now called “Magnus”) and Weapon plotlines. Previously, these three stories had little or nothing to do with one another, and were somewhat tangential to the progression of the main scenario throughout the latter half of FF7. Bringing them all together like this stitches up some of the frayed threads of the original’s tapestry. It feels like a natural restoration that improves upon the fabric of the original, rather than rendering something akin to the Monkey Jesus fresco.

Of course, another highlight of Rebirth is Cloud and Tifa’s deepening bond. Square took this to unexpected (though not entirely unwelcome) territory. I think both characters are handled well, and the writing really sells both the turbulence and the unrelenting compassion of the relationship. I especially like the focus on Tifa’s propensity to people-please as a trauma response, which helps to facilitate tension in Cloud’s identity crisis mystery. It explores the very human roots of their faults without ever making them unsympathetic. Frankly, I feel like this game should be the final nail in the love triangle debate, but I’m sure shippers will find a way to continue. And Square doesn’t want that war to end. That would just be bad business.

Not only does Rebirth preserve the themes of mental health and the heavy psychosexual symbolism associated with it from the original, but it actually expands upon these motifs, getting more audacious than I ever expected. Much of the new material in story, particularly the expansions to Gongaga and Cosmo Canyon, inspired me to adopt a new perspective on what this project is trying to convey… and what it means to me personally.

FULL ESSAY: https://planckstorytime.wordpress.com/2024/05/11/final-fantasy-vii-rebirth-a-world-beyond-anger/

[youngestrunningleek]

Stuart Little

I just recently read Stuart Little, written in 1945 by E.B. White, so I'll review it here as my first review.

Beware! I will be talking about plot details, including the end. And a big part of the experience for me was that I didn't know where the story would go next.

Overview

    It's about a boy(?) named Stuart Little. It's hard to say much more than that, because there's no central thread. I can pitch Charlotte's Web to you: there is a pig and the barn animals, especially the spider Charlotte, are trying to keep him from getting eaten. This book, though? It's just... about Stuart Little.

    It has a really great opening line: "When Mrs. Frederick C. Little's second son arrived, everybody noticed that he was not much bigger than a mouse." In the first edition, the line is that he "was born". The book isn't very specific about whether he's a mouse, or a boy who just looks like a mouse.

 My Thoughts

I loved it, and I don't know what to make of it. I am glad such a strange book is considered a classic, even if I don't understand why. It's hilariously matter-of-fact, almost deadpan. Yeah, he could walk as soon as he was born. He's in love with a bird. There's an invisible car. Deal with it.

I really, really loved the bits about how Stuart lives. Early chapters explain how he gets clothes, how he gets around, and the challenges of raising a mouse-boy. It's actually a great message. People don't question his different needs, they just accommodate him. I could read an entire book about the challenges of being the size of a mouse in a world built for human-sized people. And I did! And I want more!

There's a great deal of attention paid to his clothes. From the first chapter: "Before he was many days old he was not only looking like a mouse but acting like one, too-- wearing a gray hat and carrying a small cane." Does E. B. White know what a mouse is? Is that the problem? A few sentences later, Mrs. Little makes Stuart "a fine little blue worsted suit with patch pockets in which he could keep his handkerchief, his money, and his keys." At another point he wears "a pepper-and-salt jacket, old striped trousers, a Windsor tie, and spectacles." And the whole book is like that. Stuart is a little gentleman. The world's smallest dandy.

     It kind of reads like E. B. White wasn't editing, at all. Pure 'yes and', no revisions. Or, it's like a group storytelling game, where everybody contributes one sentence at a time.

    After a few chapters of little adventures, he decides to run away from home to find the bird Margalo. And we never see her, or Stuart's family, again.

    There's a non sequitur chapter where he becomes a schoolteacher for a day, and I don't think it relates to anything that comes before or after.

    There's an invisible car, like I mentioned. Unironically, halfway through the book, Stuart's doctor friend gives him a miniature car that can turn invisible. What? That wasn't part of the premise!

    There's also a human girl, the same size as Stuart, in the later part of the book. Where did that come from? She's small like him, but she doesn't look like a mouse.

    It's like the reverse of Chekov's gun. Something new could be introduced at any moment, and something could be dropped at any moment.     To be crystal clear, I enjoy this. I like the unpredictability. And, it must be well-written somehow, because even with how odd it gets, I never lost my suspension of disbelief.     This would be an excellent exercise in storytelling. I'd ask children what they think will happen in the next chapter.     Even the ending is a kind of curveball: a telephone repairman talks for a long time about how great North is, as a direction. And then Stuart keeps driving.      Overall, I liked it, even if I don't know if it's well-written. It seemingly breaks a lot of rules about writing. It's profoundly weird from a storytelling perspective, so I'm glad it's somehow a popular book. I give it a 3/5 overall, and a 4/5 for me, personally. For further reading: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/07/21/the-lion-and-the-mouse This article talks about children's books and how Stuart Little was part of a fight over what children's book should be. Anne Carroll Moore is a fascinating historical figure. Sorry, I have no scanner, so here's some pictures of Garth Williams' illustrations.

Stuart is on a branch with the human-shaped girl, Harriet. He's dressed like a human, but he has a tail and a face like a mouse.

In the second, she's watching him swim and his furry body is on display as he looks at her. P.S.: Since my specific focus is on rats, I feel like I should bring up the one major time they're mentioned in the book. During the schoolteacher chapter, Stuart gets very mad at being compared to a rat. He's very distinctly not a rat, and doesn't want to be mistaken for one.

[dmss-blog-salian]

Blog Post -07

A Shared Universe: A Brief Look at Intertextuality in Film and Video Games

Intertextuality is a term and a concept that was first coined by renowned French philosopher and Semiotician Julia Kristeva in 1966. It first appeared in her essay titled ‘Word, Dialogue, and Novel’. So, what is intertextuality?

Well, according to Kirsteva, intertextuality refers to the ways in which one form of literary text alludes to another or simply borrows from it. She argues that this occurs among all art forms and I tend to agree with her.

Intertextuality is when various forms of art coincide or overlap. A very simple example would be that of movies and novels. Art isn’t created in a vacuum... It is inspired and very often, it is inspired by other works of art. Books are made into movies, movies are turned into comics, and so on and so forth.

In this blog, I’ll be writing about the intertextuality between games and cinemas. I’ll be looking at a couple of popular game titles and showing you how these games have borrowed material from films. Games are notorious for inserting references and this is often done consciously, as opposed to accidentally or unwittingly.

One signficant purpose of employing intertextuality between games and cinema is to deliver a fun experience and immerse the player into the game. For instance, when we look at specific game genres, we often find references to movies of the same genre. This can elicit a sense of nostalgia or just trigger a deeper interest in the game. Also, fans of a certain genre are likely to be well-versed in it, which allows developers to exploit intertextuality towards delivering a smooth narrative without having to go into too much detail.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

My first choice is the game “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City”. It’s an extremely popular game and the whole franchise is known for employing intertextuality. For example, the narrative for the 3rd instalment of the game is heavily influenced by The Godfather films. Vice City is the 4th instalment in the franchise and contains plenty of references to another very popular gangster film, namely Scarface.

You can find plenty of references to the movie peppered throughout Vice City. The first cut-scene, for instance, contains many similarities to Scarface. We see a dimly lit room with the camera doing a 360 around a table that contains stacks of cash and several bottles of champagne. You also see a group of unscrupulous looking men talk about Tommy Vercetti, the game’s protagonist. In fact, even the name Tommy is similar sounding to Tony, who happens to be the protagonist in Scarface.

We also hear the men discuss Cubans cutting in on cocaine deals, which is a clear reference to the plot of Scarface. In fact, the game’s entire plot is almost identical to Scarface’s. We see Tommy Vercetti rise from the bottom of the criminal hierarchy just like Tony Montana. Even the failed drug deal with the Colombians is borrowed from the film and is used to propel the game’s overall narrative forward.

The Silent Hill Games

One of the most popular titles in the Horror genre is the Silent Hill franchise. Players will often finds nods to the works of Stephen King here. For instance, the mist, which is ever-present in the game, is a direct reference to Stephen King’s The Mist, which was adapted into a movie in 2007.

The games also references movies like Jacob’s Ladder. The character Valtiel’s violently shaking head is inspired by one of the demonic characters in the film.

These subtle nods can make games more fun for players by creating a multiverse of sorts.

Sources:

Wikipedia Contributors (2022). Jacob’s Ladder (1990 film). [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob%27s_Ladder_(1990_film).

Wikipedia Contributors (2019). Scarface (1983 film). [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarface_(1983_film).

Nasrullah Mambrol (2016). Julia Kristeva: Intertextuality. [online] Literary Theory and Criticism. Available at: https://literariness.org/2016/03/22/julia-kristeva-intertextuality/.

Plothe, T. (n.d.). Digital Games as the Intertextual Medium | CCTP-725: Remix and Dialogic Culture. [online] Available at: https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/cctp-725-fall2014/2014/02/02/digital-games-as-the-intertextual-medium/ [Accessed 31 Dec. 2022].

Study.com. (2017). Intertextuality in Film: Definition & Examples | Study.com. [online] Available at: https://study.com/academy/lesson/intertextuality-in-film-definition-examples.html.

Vader, V. (2016). Gaming Conceptz: Context and intertextuality in games. [online] Gaming Conceptz. Available at: http://gamingconceptz.blogspot.com/2016/05/context-and-intertextuality-in-games.html [Accessed 31 Dec. 2022].