#augh. decision making in this system

[aria0fgold]

Maybe eating ice cream when I had a cold was a bad idea actually. Mmmy throat... feels dry and scratchy now...

[luv-again]

sonic movie 3 spoilers bc I got to flush this all outta my system. incoherent ramblings below :

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD PLEASE I AM NOT OKAY ABT THIS MOVIE HOLY SHIT

firstly, keanu's shadow was beautiful. no further criticism from me. he was everything I could have asked for in a film adaptation of shadow

I'm so glad they handled the G.U.N situation better than I assumed. I genuinely thought they weren't going to be rightly villainised, but they were. only thing I'm unhappy with is the handling of maria's death, since it seemed semi-accidental. like,, they were fully liable stfu

MARIA ???? OMG MARIA ??? she was well cast, I loved how she was a little skating gremlin, who showed shadow all these things (things I predicted somehow AGAIN ? while writing the sli au). shame we didn't get more of her, but we all know what happens, so I guess it's only reasonable. only gripe is I wished they bothered to address her illness bc there was none of that

SHADOW ???? there was a scene with maria that struck me deep. his origin story change is funky, but definitely not unwelcome. and the way he notices the researchers look at him weird and he feels like a freak who doesn't belong ? ofc that's concordant with canon, but fuck me man. that's always been something I've connected with in shadow's character, so to see it crop up actually made me emotional

I nearly CRIED watching this film guys. I can't even be mad that amy wasn't there to rouse shadow onto humanity's side, bc the way they handled shadow's inner turmoil and his epiphany of light- UGH PLEASE I CAN'T BE OKAY EVER AGAIN. it was stunning. to see him struggle with his convictions all throughout and pose those deep questions to the other characters like gerald, asking if revenge was really what maria wanted. or stone. or with sonic, when he was driven by anger and grief. I LOVE that shadow noticed their similarities and asked those questions why, not because he was goading sonic, because he genuinely wanted answers, most likely to understand what he himself was feeling. I adored their chat on the moon, dealing with a sensitive topic, man to man. that was so sweet and they both convinced EACH OTHER to do the right thing. that was beautiful. I teared up. also super shadow was just so pretty I tried not to squeal. beautiful boy. he was just so genuine the whole time and nothing, not once, charged him as 'bad'. he was hurt and misguided but he knew he was doing wrong when he stepped back. he really came to his own realisation and I couldn't be prouder

gerald man ??? it's still not clear to me how he lived past his expectancy, but whatever. I'm actually okay they went fully down the dark route with him, using manipulation tactics aplenty and just being generally insane. for that, I can understand and accept eggman's family issues done in this way in this continuity

also STONE ???? I LOVED HIM I AM SO SAD WE DIDN'T GET MORE OF HIM. he tripled down on the homoerotic sycophantic pining. it was brilliant. the stobotnik moments were a joy. every single one

there were a few jokes that made me grizzle and groan, but other than that, it was still a light and funny movie despite dealing with more sincere topics of loss, family and potentials

tails was so adorable I loved him and everything he did. knuckles too. my favourite moment was trying to talk down sonic and almost hitting him from rage but letting go to concede to sonic's poor decision to walk the wrong path

shadow's death was glossed and inconsequential but that makes sense. it was gorgeous seeing him draw maria parallels throughout everything

my favourite little giggle from him was when he was watching that telenovela or sumn and he said the woman should get rid of both men bc she doesn't deserve to be treated like a prize. MY BOY <3

AUGH CAN I TALK ABT AMY OH MY GOSH ???? finally. it only took 3 films. she looks gorgeous. love her assassin hood thing, her badassery- Perfect. I can't wait for her to take the limelight next. metal also looks banging too, I noticed the split second frame that looked like the forces trailer

speaking of amy, the audience in the theater (including me), clapped SO LOUD when the amy scene was over. sighh my people <33 I will miss them. especially the one that said shadow 05 movie shld happen after seeing the second post-credits scene. they're after my heart lmao

OHH the references. so many to mention. even if some were obnoxiously obvious, they all were awesome. the musical ones, the cinematic frames, the direct quotations, objects and whatnot. all of them were bloody fantastic

THERE'S SM ABT THIS MOVIE MY BRAIN CAN'T EVEN. I'm still trying to digest all that I saw tbh, so I've probably missed things I wanted to blab abt but oh well

it surpassed my expectations. we've been fed so good this year. amazingly done film, would 100% go and see it again if I get the chance

[anamelessfool]

Who are your favorite characters on the Sopranos so far? :)

Augh yes! (Also, instant follow bc I need me some Sopranos content but I have to be careful about spoilers....)

There are SO MANY I love. I'm really fascinated by the relationships more than anything. So I'll focus on my current fave. Really love the three soldiers so much: Silvio, Paulie and Christopher.

PS I just finished season 2 last night so no spoilers please 💕

They are all pretty horrible people doing some horrible criminal acts. And they process this in really intriguing ways. In a way, Paulie and Silvio are Christopher's future. They've figured out how to mentally handle being evil.

Christopher is dedicated and he just longs for recognition. He'd do anything for approval, and got so excited when those film guys gave him obvious nods. But he had the hard realization that they're just cosplayers. They don't know what it's like. They haven't bled and they haven't suffered and they haven't made anyone else suffer. It was so tragic to see him abandoning his dream of being a storyteller so he could live the real story. Stories are stories. Reality is you're responsible for evil acts. And they will haunt you. Forever.

Silvio has decided he's just going to be a cartoon character. That's what's going to keep him from realizing he's a criminal. Any moment of doubt and grief, just make a cartoon face and do an impression and everybody laughs. Yeah, he got a system so he's ok /hj

Paulie is like...oh my god I adore Paulie. He's like...weirdly wholesome. He's a happy samurai. Chilling and living his life peacefully one moment, and then the sword comes out the next. Like a big happy guard dog. He only spends energy on hard truths when it matters, right before a decision. All other hours of his life he's using a reflective board to work on his tan. I just love him talking to Christopher whenever they're alone. Esp his idea about his sentence in purgatory. "Eyyy what's 6,000 years compared to eternity?" Like...oh my god how do you live (affectionate)

Thank you now I wanna hear yours hahah

[plural-affirmations]

augh i feel like i’m a system but i don’t wanna label myself as a system cause i feel like i’m faking, plus i’ve labeled myself as a system before but then un-labeled myself as one cause i felt like i’d subconsciously convinced myself i was one, but know i’ve found a term i think fits myself better than just “DID” (OSDD/median) but i still feel so weird labeling myself as one.

sorry for the rant i just needed to-

Aw, it's perfectly ok, anon.

I think if you find the plural label fits you, go for it! The plural community will welcome you with open arms, y'know? I don't see a reason not to identify as a system, but I also understand your apprehension and anxiety surrounding it. Decisions like this are pretty big, and I know how scary it can be.

Personally? I think it would be denying the inevitable and (potentially) cause stress if you went down the "nope, I'm just a singlet" route. It's hard pretending to be something you're not, and I have personal experience with that.

But you could totally live as a singlet for all I know though!! I'm just Some Guy over the internet, and I do not claim to be anything more than that. My opinions are worth exactly 2 cents. I'm not you; you're always going to be more informed, and have a better grasp of the full picture than I will.

TL;DR: Take everything I say with a grain of salt, but I think you should probably look more into plurality, and living as a singlet when you're not one sucks.

Hope any of this helps/makes sense, I just woke up like 10 minutes ago and I'm not 100% functional right now, haha.

Have a great rest of your day!

🖤💜💙💚💛

[zapsoda]

aUGH you talked about bax's and babygirl's i mean. roy's bad eyesight. does anyone else have an likewise handicap or disability? also what's their weakspot for each one of them ... both physically and mentally if you want to write even moar words hehe

ofc!!

as previously mentioned bax has shit eyesight. hes also a bit mentally ill (lack of survival instincts), and while that can be beneficial when in dangerous situations where he needs to act effectively and expediently it can also be VERY DISADVANTAGEOUS. for obvious reasosn. what would the crew do without him? when hes constantly getting injured and incapacitated?

roy has her weird eyesight, and she has kind of the opposite of bax's problem. shes pretty anxious and has trouble acting and making quick decisions. she doesnt really like getting into *serious* trouble (she likes silly stuff and pranks and goofs though), anyways this makes it harder for her to step in when someone needs help.

clam *is* a runaway government android and so basically anything that isnt healing or surveillance is antithetical to what he was programmed for which is bad for everyone. he wants so badly to deviate and cultivate more of an identity but its gotta be just one step at a time, while roy and the others help him reprogram his body and brain bit by bit. which sucks. he wants physical agency Now.

tallys lack of horns and low-ppointing fin rays would land him very low in his home planets sort of caste system. not like. homestuck per se, its less ingrained and more socially enforced. on a dangerous planet where community contribution holds a lot of social weight, being physically weaker, lacking parental skills or instincts, and being kind of selfish on top of all of that made him very. not liked. this is part of the reason kip feels so responsible for him and overly protective.

anyways hes kinda internalized it. every single crumb of attention and validation sends his ego to the moon (metaphorically). he is torn between accepting a low place in life and society "everyone hates me, why should i change that" and desperately trying to prove his worth to anyone who will listen. yaaay mentla illness mwah (i kiss him on the forehead)

kip is the opposite of tally. he has horns. his fin rays point straight up. hes big and strong. he can hunt and protect. hes kind of tender and paternal. hes generally well respected. and he left all that. with his "nephew."

hes used to the expectation of taking care of everyone, protecting them, making sure nothing goes wrong. so he overcorrects. he comes off a bit controlling, though he normally channels this through his cooking. its like a healthy outlet, where he has control over everything as long as everyone stays OUT of his FUCKING kitchen.

hes also very slow to learn and a bit stubborn (though he tries very very hard to work on this)

hes honestly very stable and good at keeping himself together unless He were to be the one hurt and or in trouble ahahaha. he would not handle that. he would go crazy. the thought of being the one to need others makes him ill.

he is so fucking awkward around clam and its for two reasons. 1. dont wanna break him, unfamiliar object, not sure how the best way to proceed 2. stop trying to help me stop leave me alone you sick vermin

deep down he loves clam though cause he feels like theyre the same. "this weird animate object is just like me fr" he admires clams instinct to help others a lot eheheheh.

[suzannahnatters]

MOON LOVERS: SCARLET HEART RYEO has deaded me and I've never been so happy about it

EUN!!!!

I'm not okay.

of course So was always going to make this choice, and I suppose it's hard to just opt out of a system when you and everyone you care about it trapped inside it, but there tragedy is definitely HERE

oh heck no, did he just lie to her? after promising he wouldn't?? and when the real thing he used as an excuse was a genuine point of conflict that could have served the writers just as well???

everything was going so WELL

Jung has no damns left to give either :3

big fan of the way nobody's wearing pastel robes anymore, they're all in black and guyliner

cept Baek Ah, please stay alive my child

dying over the internal thematic resonance here. So wants to be king so he won't be someone's killer anymore. but if you take the throne you have to be willing to throw everyone else away. And that's what he's already done to our girl, as happened to Lady Oh before her

taking the throne is the leading cause of insanity in this kingdom, looks like

ok they actually resigned me to the Break Her Heart To Save Her bit by downplaying it a whole lot and justifying it pretty well. it's still not my favourite & it IS cruddy of him to lie but also the king IS very actively using her to control him.

most of the time this trope happens I'm like "in what universe does this even make sense" but in this case, well it's a stupid decision but one I can actually imagine making

So explains why he wants the throne: at first he just wanted to protect the people he loved but now he wants to FIGHT THE SYSTEM, YEAH

*cough* or make things better for the normies

she's 100% Ophelia but he's better than Hamlet so I support him tbh

it's on, even Baek Ah is in armour now

not so evil queen gets the thesis statement: you must throw away love in order to gain the world

aaaaaaaaaaaAAaaaaAAAAAaaahhh

did...did our girl poison king Guyliner (no but it was convenient yes?)

what was in the letter

our girl getting to be the first to acclaim the new king yessss

well HECK the throne-induced insanity is setting in quick this time

I repent, I repent, he should have listened to our girl T_T

astrologer is Concerned and so am I

I'm so happy for Rebel Princess getting to stab someone at last

augh Wook very correctly points out to our girl that she's stuck by So as he makes the same decision Wook did

and then she retorts that at least he was honest about it with her

well played and game over

oh no I knew it wasn't good that she was clutching her heart

the sheer stress of the lifestyle is getting to her...the way it did to Lady Oh

and our girl's protege Chae Ryung is in love with a prince, it's all starting another tragic cycle huargh

fascinating how the back half is contextualising the show's treatment of the original king.

I hate that it went easy on him, but it quickly started to be apparent that the king is similarly caught in the system as everyone else. one person wanting to change isn't enough.

this show is so much more complex than I gave it credit for!

well I have a three page list of Reasons Why Marrying Princess Smirks-a-Lot is NOT Good Realpolitik

oh the pain is ON now our boy is making a whole parade of bad decisions and the show...isn't letting him off for them?

like, it's showing him yielding to the pressure of the system but also our girl takes a good long hard look at him and...

is this show going to Do The Thing

couples who pledge love over this swimming pool never end well, goodbye Baek Ah

no this is almost worse, Baek Ah gets to live in the most heartbroken manner possible

meanwhile So is gradually losing the bits of his humanity one by one T_T

SHRIEK

Jung just came to get our girl in the dumbest way possible, this is why you do not ask the general to rescue you from the deadly court

WOOK, DID YOU JUST DO SOMETHING LEGITIMATELY UNSELFISH

oh the sad king lurking in Jung's garden all eaten up with jealousy is the BEST THING and totally what he deserves

oh I LOVE this - our girl makes sure Chae Ryung's last letter gets to Won ahhhhh

the actor for Wook has just done an amazing job of visibly aging from 20 to 50 before our eyes, and he's done it all with facial expressions and body language

our girl has made it back YESS

and left history a little better in her wake

that rates as a happy ending in my book

THEY DID THE THING

I NEVER THOUGHT THEY WOULD BUT THEY DID

IT'S OPHELIA IN ANCIENT GORYEO

look idk what I expected from a story about a modern girl going back in time to charm 8 cute princes but it sure wasn't a brutal Shakespearean tragedy about power corrupting even the truest love

10/10 perfect ending, no notes. Bittersweet, agonising, fitting, PERFECT.

review to come

[straycalamities]

24 for kian, ace, and daisy waisy

What is an alternative life path your OC might have gone down? How different would their life be if they’d made those decisions?

AH! the nearly-uncomfortable au strikes again

kian: hrmm...im trying to think...i cant imagine a world where he doesnt eventually leave his dad... like...is it even feasible to live ur whole life in those conditions and not try to get away. theyre just..UNLIVEABLE. if he didnt leave he'd just DIE

tho...even if he just left later that'd make a huge impact on him i think...he'd be soooooooo cold. he wouldn't even have the unserious funny haha nihilism he has now. he'd just be an angry dick that's entirely dead inside. he would survive doing the bare minimum bc he wouldn't think about how life could get better than that. everyone would avoid him besides the naïve "ooo sexy man" initial response but just one interaction would have them being like nah, actually,

ace: oogh, there's so many decisions he made that i could unmake, oogh. delicious.

if he decided to not help his dad financially as a kid. oh thats a big one. oh its so big the more i think abt it. holy shit. that's what formed his entire personality. all his interests and everything. (special mentions for if he decided to not befriend jack or decided not to pursue his dreams so hard)

but i wanna do this one

so. honestly? ace would probably be taken away from his dad if it got worse. even if CPS fucking sucks there's nooo way i think it'd be allowed to go further downhill. (otherwise they'd be literally on the streets and THEN ace would get taken away? either way) and i honestly cant see ace getting adopted, unfortunately.

his dad, even if he didnt spoil him with STUFF, he spoiled his attitude. it's like...probably some way of like making up for not being able to get ace anything is to let him act however he wanted. so it'd take some reeeeeeal patient parent(s) to wanna take ace in because he wouldn't have the mind to hide it at that point. ace would maybe eventually learn to chameleon his behavior? but i think by the time he learned it in the foster system it'd be too late bc..ppl dont tend to adopt teenagers either

god this is making my brain gears TURN that one decision rly is everything

i think that his growing up would be pretty shit. bc now im thinking abt the differences between this and cult au ace AUGH. cult au ace at least had a stable home with a turn-around of income even if it wasnt from him specifically busting his ass to earn the money (well in a way it still is, but, different)

ace, but...jaded O_O he wouldn't evolve that charming personality. i think he'd lean more into the class clown personality. but it's not as endearing bc everyone sees him as a girl. and i know from experience, girl class clowns are just...weird-girls w Issues to everyone. its not endearing like it is w boy class-clowns to other ppl. he'd still have like..pretty strategic ideas for situations and stuff bc that's inherently him. but..i dont think it'd get him as far as it normally would

so he'd be so..lonely lmao. like regular ace also has issues w loneliness but its way more complex. this would just be straight up. fkn lonely. and straightforward misery from it. maybe he'd have some goons or smth at some point? but idk if he could ever truly connect w them unless they were also from the foster system.

cuz see im thinking that normal ace learns everything he does bc he makes the decision that he HAS to. he has to to survive so it all becomes this like...ok i do this or i starve. whereas an ace that's either decided its hopeless, not his responsibility, or just didnt think to do it, wouldnt have that same direct "inspiration" riding his ass. so his social skills would form in a rly weird way based mostly off how much of a brat he is and how much he desires everyone to like him (which is also true of any other ace but this one has a like..feral desperation to it in comparison. like a stray animal more than..someone who grew up too fast and forgot to make real friends along the way <- the usual)

he'd still have these like lofty dreams and i think he'd still want to chase them somehow, but he wouldn't have the connections nor the charm normal ace has. he'd be, at most, some stand-up comedian who performs nights at some local venue and he's just an opener for the main act. maybe he'd sing and put in the work to be good at it, but a big part of this kinda career is the ppl you know so :pensive emoji:

god this ace is the epitome of sopping wet meow meow. what a miserable little man. so richie tozier-coded but more of a failure bc he doesnt have a group of friends to bond w over other-dimensional clown trauma

anyways i think that's enough rambling abt this. i could go a hundred different directions with it from here and i cant choose one. so. there u go. something to chew on. (god he wouldnt care abt sleight-of-hand shit or magicians or card tricks or any of that. WHO WOULD HE BE??????????? maybe he'd hold onto the bar interest in general? like billiards n stuff? oh my god he'd be more likely to be an alcoholic like his father NOOOOOOO)

after that daisy's gonna seem so lack-luster LMAO

daisy: the thing w daisy is i dont rly have a set story in my head for her rly? i kinda just have..scenes and things i like her doing. ive never sat and gave her a like...biography

so idk what decision she'd make that i could undo and have it make an interesting change...if she didnt decide to sing, she'd be an actress. if she didn't decide to kill ppl, she'd just be focusing on her dreams full-time. and so none of that's super interesting to get into uh...

if she didnt decide to push being famous, she'd probably just be happy being some homemaker or smth. someones trophy wife or...a singing waitress or waffle house worker idk.

even with nyanpire daisy its more like...her big decisions is to not...die. uh. (bc shes miserable as a vampire) so if i reverse that then shes just dead LFJKSDJF

so idk 8_8 thank u for including her but IDK WHAT TO SAY!!!!!!!!

[drippywing]

Top 5 video games!

Yessss

1. Ōkami. It is such an outstanding title for 2006, it's amazingly smooth combat system and the atmosphere are just to die for. I played it originally on wii, but I got the remaster on switch which is great. It's got a good story, crazy cool villains, and you're a pubby

2. Red Dead Redemption II. I am a bit over halfway through my first playthrough. I love shooting capitalist scumbags so much. Also the fishing, hunting, crafting/cooking, the attention to detail overall, the VIEWS!! Augh I was worried I would be bad since I'm not awesome at shooters, but I got the hang quickly.

3. Splatoon 3. Yeah. I've spent so many hours on this game already and I cannot even express my love for it. I main, in no particular order: Inkbrush, Inkbrush Nouveau, Sploosh-o-Matic, Bloblobber, Tentatek Splattershot. I love the reason why the world exists, the lore is really well thought out. Also the music has my whole heart.

4. Sims 3. I'm addicted to interior designing. I make all the big decisions for where we put irl furniture so I make houses and furnish them for hours.

5. Minecraft!!! I have to put it on here. I am getting part of the End Poem tattooed on my body. Augh.

[oohbuggypie]

I READ IT OH MA GAWTT

first of all OKAY SRRY 4 THE VULGARITY BUT KAISER GETS ACTION IDC WHAT QUICK SAYS YALL SEEE THAT MAN RIGHT ?

okay moving on OMG Disco being written to have essentially two bodies and a separate personality living within him (sometimes) is SO SICKK I LOVE THAT IDEA SM .. like they seem to get along rlly well even tho Quick is significantly meaner than Disco BUT IF WE WERE TO EVER GET ANGST im just saying a real full blown argument between them would be soo sickening bcuz if Quick ever does something Disco can't stand either a) im assuming Disco can't technically get RID of Quick by choice - like he cant close off his system to spirits - so imagine how miserable he would be having to live with someone that wronged him or b) Quick actually DOES leave Disco entirely and now Disco's stuck never progressing throughout the ranks because he seems to be quite dependant on Quick's strength to pull him thru the fights ,, would that make him miserable ? would that make him happy ? would Quick's absence determine his choice of being on the human side or the monster side .. AUGH just thinkinggg anywhoo TIGER . omfg Tiger and his consistent sass / attitude THE WAY HE THINKS HE CAN TALK TO QUICK LIKE THAT ?? like he knows a lot more than they'd expect him to .. and also IS HE GONNA USE THAT INFO (DISCO'S DECISION) TO SABOTAGE OR "TELL ON" HIM ?? like in the last fic we learned that he's quite aware of the monster's activities and he's a rlly good spy so like im sooo curious .. also since Disco considers himself human like Joe because he really is , but his abilities giving him the edge of a monster puts him in an odd gray space .. would he rlly give up his morality to side with the non-humans of the WVBA , and would he abuse that power ? WHATS HE GONNA DO IF QUICK EVER LEAVES HIM AND HES HIGHER UP IN THE RANKS WITH LITTLE TO NO DEFENSE NOW ?? THOUGHTS BEING THOUGHT OMGG GOFER U ATE AS PER USUAL THANK U FOR THE FOOD 🩷🩷🩷

ITS DONE. 2.8k WORDS AND A DREAM

HOOO BOY @oohbuggypie ORDER UP !!! I HOPE Y’ALL ENJOY

[bachikins-tiddies]

Me: Do I want to add S&R:P? We already have lycanite’s-

Harmacy: do it do it

Bismuth: But, that’ll literally drive EVERYONE out of playing the pack!

Harmacy: Those spoken words can not stop me because I can’t listen!

Me: Go back to where yoU CAME FROM-

[welcometogrouchland]

hiii im the anon! some things about the movie that bring tears to my eyes: sebastians quote about imperfect fathers and imperfect sons, the blue fairy mentioning "lost, broken things" as it pans over gepetto, carlo's pinecone, the pine over his grave, the fact geppetto chops down the pine to make pinoccho, gepetto following the circus as pinoccho sings a song about his papa, the spazzatura character arc that parallels with candlewick's etc etc etc what a movie!

YEEEEESSSSSSS TO ALL OF THIS!!!

One thing I love that this movie did was that it understood the core appeal of a story of a young boy, a son, who's been told he's not a real boy, and thusly not a real son, and who tries his best to be "good" so that he may become human, and in the end is (sort of) told he was real all along, and is rewarded for this by becoming "real".

But it uses it's setting and characters (like spazzatura and Candlewick) To investigate what constitutes as truly "good". Is it following the rules? That's what the original story seems to say, but what if the rules are (as they are in a fascist system) broken? It's very poignant that a part of the climax is pinnochio saving himself and everyone else by lying. Because sometimes that's a necessary part of rebellion and survival!

I'd argue that this movie's definition of "good" (if it even has one simple enough to be defined) is inspiring others to be better, whether that's by standing up to someone they can't bring themselves to stand up to, or by sacrificing things for them. Pinnochio does all of these things for spazzatura, pinnochio, Candlewick, Sebastian, etc. It's really touching watching the arcs unfold

And absolutely everything about imperfect fathers and imperfect sons. I heard that line in the trailer and immediately knew this movie was gonna give me irreparable psychic damage in the best way.

I love that unlike in the original where pinnochio lets his father down by. Being a child (a very young child at that. He is literally. 1 day old) and making childish mistakes and decisions- it's gepetto who lets pinnochio down by wanting him to be something he's not, guided by his own grief! It's both a more compelling and relatable dynamic with more room to grow but also is especially poignant with the movies unique ending.

It really drives home the theme that it's not the job of children to grow up into adults their parents can be proud of (a storyline echoed w/ Candlewick), but for parents to do their best to raise a child who's proud of themself. AUGH IT'S SO GOOD 😭!!! Movies that make me do this ↓

[valley-of-the-lost]

OKAY FINAL CONSENSUS

Pros

- Songs are a bop. I WILL be looping that soundtrack please and thank you.

- Closed the classism plot better with Tori showing she was taking more direct, widespread action like putting systems in place to prevent the root issue (the drought) from happening again and implementing a social services program to further help.

- Tori and Kiera have a lot more interaction and gay chemistry. The plot setup just lends itself better to this, also yes Kiera did announce her engagement to Tori up on that stage and you can’t change my mind.

- Pets weren’t too annoying... mostly.

Cons (this is what y’all were waiting for huh)

- Augh... to be honest I think this movie is a demonstration that the people who made it didn’t understand what appealed to people about the original Princess and the Pauper. Which is obviously fine if it wasn’t trying so hard to ride off of it. Like sure, it’s trying to be the Princess and the Pauper for a new generation but the fact that it’s toting itself as that means its also trying to appeal to some extent to the ones who loved the original and ehhh it kinda fucked up in that regard.

Making the two leads both part of the 1% was the first mistake. First of all, that decision didn’t age well at all. Second of all, it kinda diminishes the point of them switching in the first place in a meta sense?? because it’s so the rich one can realize the class disparity by actually living as one in poverty. Tori literally stumbled across the poverty of her kingdom by accident, and she didn’t really reflect on learning anything by having to maintain an actual job for once as Kiera. Third of all in my opinion it makes them too similar in position. Really the only difference between Tori and Kiera is that one has an actual job.

Second mistake, Tori and Kiera really don’t embody the characteristics Princess and the Pauper fans found admirable in the original movie’s leads. Which, again, is fine if they want to tackle something different, but if they had it would show understanding of the original movie and what appealed to the audience.

Annelise and Erika are both admired for their mature resolve. “Duty means doing the things your heart may well regret”. They understand their responsibilities and what is riding on them and are ready to take appropriate action to see them through at personal cost to themselves.

Tori and Kiera in comparison are like the immature little sisters, Tori at least is approaching from the opposite angle developmentally where she has to go from immaturity to maturity and come to learn her responsibilities, which might’ve caused some whiplash in og Princess and the Pauper fans. Kiera is... well. Let’s just say she got did SUPER dirty in this movie and leave the details for the next bullet point.

- This is kinda a subpoint of Kiera and Tori being in too similar positions of class, but I literally don’t see why Kiera can’t solve her own problem, take all her money and strike out as an independent artist. We aren’t really presented a reason why she feels so chained to her job, like is someone else depending on the money she rakes in or something? Also with the increasing accessibility of tools and platforms for artists to be independent it makes her struggle more... stagnant? is that the right word?

Also I swear to god I thought the ending of the movie was that Kiera was fired from her job and starts playing independently at cafes. Apparently I jedi mind tricked myself or something but in my opinion that would’ve been a better ending for her. It’s at least a change and forces her to take more time for herself, and she’d probably be fine financially since she’s not exactly a pauper as a popstar.

- I thought the problem of the story being unbalanced was going to get resolved later on but no, if anything it kinda gets worse. Tori gets the lion’s share of development. In the beginning it’s established that she has problems taking responsibility/doesn’t see why she has to take responsibility, has a major revelation pertaining to that when she realizes that being so irresponsible played into being ignorant of the plight of her people, and then later addresses that by putting infrastructure in place to prevent a repeat of the drought and programs to address the problems the drought caused.

In comparison, Kiera’s conflict is established as feeling overworked/too busy to the point where she has lost time and pleasure for her own hobbies. It’s kinda implied she’s burnt out but any simple but meaningful exploration of this falls flat as soon as she and Tori switch places. In her parallel scene to Tori’s revelation about Meribella’s plight, she gets inspired to come up with song lyrics again... and this is about as far as her half of the story goes. She doesn’t meaningfully reflect on this in any shape or form so her whole initial conflict literally dies in the water, there’s no major revelation for her to parallel Tori’s. What makes matters worse is that this has no resolution. The movie ends with the dual concert (at least my version does). Kiera presumably goes back to her status quo as an overworked popstar and nothing changes. This is not an arc, this is a flat line.

Which is a real fucking damn shame because in my HUMBLE opinion she’s the most interesting character of the two, esp if you parse apart her section of “To Be a Princess/To Be a Popstar”.  Like come on. “No time for friends except for your dog and your guitar”? “Love every fan no matter how bizarre they are”? “To be a popstar is to never act your age”??? Guys she’s one half of the leading main couple you can’t just leave her storyline out to dry like this.

- The villain he... sorry he’s no Preminger. man needs a therapist for his chipmunk PTSD is all I’ll say.

- The prince literally adds nothing, just cut him out of the story already. Also his face looks weird.

- (edit) I forgot this part: It has the same problem as Princess and the Pauper where the royal family is still in charge except kinda worse because in this movie its implied the royal family willfully turned a blind eye to the suffering brought by the drought and pretended it didn’t exist as opposed to addressing it. Victoria may have the interests of the people in mind but there’s no guarantee her descendants will, they’re still under the whims of the royal family.

And... yeah thats it. Almost decent but they literally didn’t follow through with an arc with one half of their leading couple. That kinda impacts the movie a lot, jussayin. Goodnight, next time we might do Mariposa.

[tamatoashiny123]

The Paris Pilfered Identity Case

This is a story I wrote a few months ago. I hope you like it!!!   :)

Boasting an annual 9.6 million viewers, the Louvre is the world’s largest art museum, located in Paris, France. Not only did the museum hold 38,000 historic artifacts and art pieces, its glass pyramid exterior was considered to be a work of art all by itself. 

One of the pieces of art located in the museum was the Seated Scribe sculpture. An ancient Egyptian work of art discovered in 1850 by Auguste Marriete, it depicted a scribe at work while in a seated position. And tonight, it was the target of Carmen Sandiego’s latest caper. 

Using her wrist-mounted grappling hook, the thief zipped up to the pyramid’s top point. “I’m in position,” she told Player (her hacker accomplice) through the communicators in her earrings. “Are the security systems and cameras deactivated yet?”

“They’re offline,” Player reported. “Considering how many valuables are in there, you’d figure their security systems would be a bit harder to turn off.”

“But I’m only after one thing: the Seated Scribe,” she reminded him. 

“Yep. Steal it and replace it with the phony sculpture before V.I.L.E. can get their hands on it and add it to Countess Cleo’s collection. Then, after V.I.L.E. takes the bait, you stealthily give back the real one to the proper authorities.”

As Carmen leaped to the section of the roof under the museum’s Egyptian Department, a car pulled up. It wasn’t a getaway car operated by Zack and Ivy, however (Carmen decided to take this as a solo mission while the pair stayed behind to fix up their base in San Diego along with Shadowsan). It was the car piloted by A.C.M.E agents Chase Devineaux and Julia Argent.

“If La Femme Rouge thinks zat she can waltz into my home territory of France and steal ANYTHING, she has another thing coming,” Chase told his partner as he popped a mint into his mouth. “Tonight is ze night zat Carmen Sandiego's career as a no-good thief comes to a decisive end!” 

“Well, maybe she’s acting preemptively in order to protect the object she’s stealing. There’s been a rash of Egyptian artifacts from museums all over the world recently,” Julia reminded her partner. “And it appears Carmen Sandiego is heading towards the Egyptian section of the museum right now.”

“No doubt Miss Sandiego was ze mastermind of zose other objects' disappearances as well.”

“But the few eyewitnesses we’ve gotten have all reported seeing men speeding away from the crime scenes. No girls.”

“Have you forgotten? Our little thief is a master of disguise. No doubt she posed as a man during zese crimes to throw us off her scent. But it'll take far more zan such acts of cross-dressing to shake ME off her trail. Now, let’s catch ourselves a thief!” he shouted, exiting the car and running towards the entrance.

“But shouldn’t we wait for backup?” Julia shouted to deaf ears. Frustrated, Julia looked up towards the roof, where she saw the thief cut a hole in the roof and slipped inside. Thinking, she grabbed her own A.C.M.E.-issued grappling hook and ran towards the roof. 

oOo

Removing the glass case off of the statue, Carmen removed the decoy statue from her coat’s inside pocket. With precision (as to not activate the pressure plate the artifact was no doubt placed on top of), she took the real Seated Scribe and immediately replaced it with the sham sculpture. As she deposited it into her coat pocket, Chase entered, his gas gun deployed.

"Hands where I can see zem, Miss Sandiego," he ordered.

She did as instructed. “As you wish, Inspector,” she sarcastically responded before lunging forwards and kicking the gas gun out of his hands, causing a small cloud of knockout gas to puff out. 

As Chase covered his mouth and nose with his jacket to avoid inhaling the gas, Carmen used her grappling hook to zip up through the hole she had come through. But waiting a foot away from the hole when she came up was Agent Argent, pointing her stun-laser pistol at the thief (Chief only gave Julia the laser pistol out of the pair as to minimize the damage Chase caused).

“Agent Argent,” Carmen casually greeted Julia, seemingly unfazed at the weapon being pointed at her. 

“Miss Sandiego, I trust you have a valid reason for your thievery of this artifact.”

“Of course I do: steal it before V.I.L.E can, then return it when their attention moves elsewhere.”

Julia smiled. “As I suspected. And I can confirm that you weren’t behind the recent global robberies of Egyptian artifacts?”

“Couldn’t stop them in time,” she explained. “So I decided to stop here to make sure V.I.L.E. couldn’t add this one to their list. So, now that I’ve fully explained my actions, I can take off now, right?”

“Miss Sandiego, you know I want to let you run off into the night, but...my job.”

“I get it. Your ‘job’: to catch thieves like me, per order of the Chief.”

“Well, yes-”

“But I’m a thief who works for the force of good! Doesn't the Chief know that?”

“I’ve tried to convince her of that so many times, but-”

“She doesn’t believe you.”

“It’s just given all the evidence-”

“I get it. Really, Julia, I do. But I won’t let you, your snooty partner, or any other A.C.M.E. agent get me-AUGH!”

Neither girls had noticed Chase climbing up onto the rooftop with his own grappling hook, sneak behind the thief, and jab her in the spine with his taser, causing her to collapse.

“Excellent work, Agent Argent,” he congratulated his partner as he ingested a celebratory mint. "Distracting her while I sneak up from behind and finish her off once and for all!"

“But sir,” Julia argued with her, “I was just talking to her. She was explaining to me that-”

“All lies she was spouting, I'm sure,” Chase cut her off. “Now zen, let's strip her of all her gadgets and get her into ze car. Ze Chief is going to get a little surprise tonight...

oOo

As luck (or quite the opposite of luck for Carmen) would have it, the Chief was in town to review evidence for a separate crime V.I.L.E. had committed. In his infinite wisdom (which drowned out Julia’s legitimate wisdom), instead of calling her to pick up Carmen from the museum, he decided to drive the thief to the police station the Chief was at the time, which was a few miles away.    

 Carmen was disarmed of all her tech (grappling hook, earring communicators, all the small gadgets that lined her coat pockets) as well as the Seated Scribe (nestled safely in the car’s glove box). Her arms were handcuffed behind her back and (on the orders of Chase) she was gagged with a white handkerchief between her teeth. 

“I will not let ziss thief try to use her charming words to get out of ziss one,” Chase bragged. “You are getting brought to A.C.M.E. custody whether you want to go or not.”   

“Nuh-guh oww-zee ee-eck-ib,” the thief muttered into the cloth gag.

Chase sat up front while Julia sat in the back next to Carmen in order to keep an eye on her. As the car sped off towards the police station, Julia gave Carmen a sympathetic look. 

“I’m so sorry it had to come to this,” Julia told the thief. “I hope Chase’s taser didn’t sting you too badly.”

“Do not apologize to ze criminal!” Chase chastised her. “She deserved ze voltage of my taser after all of the ze times she humiliated me! And no one humiliates Chase Deni Devineaux without suffering ze consequences!”

In response, Carmen delivered a hard kick to the back of his seat. Chase gave a dirty look to Julia, who reluctantly drew her taser and held out in an act of warning to the prisoner. 

“So sorry,” Julia whispered.

“‘t’s ah-kah,” Carmen whispered back.

Chase then drove in silence for a bit, humming La Marseillaise under his breath. As he did, Carmen looked for a way out of her predicament. Spotting the remote for the electronic handcuffs in Julia’s suit pocket, Carmen slowly leaned in towards the agent to try to get it. Seeing it in time, Julia grabbed the thief’s wandering fingers, stretched them out (hard enough for it to hurt in the moment, but no further than that), and shoved Carmen back upright. The red coat-wearer let out a soft growl into her gag while Julia flashed a tiny smile. 

“Yur ood,” the thief softly admitted.

Julia beamed at the mumbled compliment. “I know,” she jokingly bragged.

Carmen kept thinking about ways to escape. She had come up with a few ideas, but all of them risked harming Julia. As much as she wanted to rough Chase up, she couldn’t say the same thing about his partner, one of the only people in the world who truly understood her life’s goal: to steal with only good intentions in mind. As much as she hated to admit it, it looked like she’d have to find some way to escape from A.C.M.E. custody…

But suddenly, a miracle (of sorts) occurred: when Chase went to pop another mint into his mouth, he found the container to be empty. Grunting, he pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store, a mere mile away from the police.

“Sir, can’t you just wait until after Carmen has been handed over to the proper authorities to get more breath mints?” an incredulous Julia asked.

“And risk having a smelly breath while gifting La Femme Rouge over to ze Chief? No way!” he barked back, stepping out of the car. “I'll be just two minutes. Keep an eye on our little thief while I'm gone!”

Chase ran inside the store. As soon as he was gone, Julia took the gag out of Carmen's mouth. “I apologize about the gag, Miss Sandiego. It was Chase’s idea, not mine.”

“I know. How unfair it is, though, considering he’s the most deserving one in this car deserving of a gag.”

Julia giggled in agreement. “I just can’t believe that man stopped for breath mints in the middle of transporting a master thief. He’s practically addicted to those things.”

“You think I’m a ‘master’?” Carmen smirked. “Thanks for such a glowing compliment, Agent Argent.”

The two sat in silence for a moment, waiting for Chase’s return. Right before Julia was about to say something else to her prisoner when both ladies could hear the French agent shout from inside the store, “I DEMAND YOU LET ME IN FRONT OF ZE LINE! ZISS IS A MATTER OF POLICE URGENCY!”

Startled, Julia turned her body, causing the remote to fall out of her pocket. Seizing her moment, Carmen grabbed the remote and pressed the button, releasing her from the cuffs. Realizing what happened, Julia grabbed her taser, but Carmen grabbed her wrist and used her other hand to pry Julia’s fingers from the weapon, causing it to fall onto the ground. 

Realizing that she wouldn’t be winning this conflict, Julia tried exiting the car to contact Chase or any other A.C.M.E. agent, but it was too late; Carmen now had the taser. She grabbed the agent by her suit jacket and dragged her as far away from the car door as possible while pointing the taser at Julia’s spine. 

“Looks like the shoe is on the other foot now,” Carmen said with a warm smirk.

“N-now now, M-miss Sandieg-go,” a fearful Julia stammered out. “Let’s not do anything hasty.”

“Well, your partner thinks I am a ‘no-good creeminahl’. Maybe I should help to bolster his claims by giving you a nice little shock,” the thief half-joked.

“But I know your style: you never hurt the innocent; only the criminals.”

“100% right again, Agent Argent. But I would still not try to wrestle this taser out of my hands. After all, it might accidentally slip from my hands and nick you.”

Looking back towards the convenience store, both ladies could still hear Chase creating a ruckus inside. 

“How much longer do you think it’ll take for him to come back from his breath mint run?” Carmen asked. 

“I really shouldn’t be giving away such information-”

‘Remind me again: who has the taser here?”

Julia sighed. “Forty seconds until he realizes in his haste that he picked up fruit mints...which he hates, thirty seconds to find the peppermint-flavored mints he prefers, and two more minutes to shout his way back to the front of the line and come back here.”

“Excellent. I think that gives me enough time to make a little switch.”

“What type of ‘switch’?”

Not answering Julia’s question, Carmen gently grabbed the sleeve of the agent’s suit jacket and ran her fingers against it.

“Do you know my favorite thing about you, Julia, besides your brains? Even though I’m a whole five inches taller than you, your clothes should still be able to fit me just fine.”

oOo

Exactly three minutes and ten seconds later (just as Julia has predicted), Chase returned, three new containers of mints in hand. As he stepped back into the car, he briefly looked over his shoulder to make sure everything was as he had left it: both his pantsuit-wearing partner and the red coat and fedora-wearing thief bound and gagged next to her were both still sitting in the backseat. Satisfied, Chase started the car back up and sped off to the police station. As he drove, he noticed that Carmen was making far more noise into her gag than she had been before. 

“Save your voice, Carmen,” the French agent advised his prisoner. “I'm sure ze Chief will have a lot of questions for you to answer once she gets a hold of you.”

“I completely agree with you, Chase,” Julia said. “You need to stop, Carmen, before I whip out the taser again.”

Chase furrowed his brow as he cracked open one of the new containers. “Miss Argent, are you ok? You sound a bit different. And even more peculiar, you are AGREEING with me for once!”

“I’m perfectly fine, Agent Devineaux. I was just thinking: maybe you were right this whole time. Maybe Carmen Sandiego IS a no-good hoodlum that deserves to be brought to A.C.M.E. in cuffs.”

Over Carmen’s growls of anger, Chase smirked. “Miss Argent, I'm so happy you are starting to see things my way.”

Carmen could only roll her eyes at this point. 

oOo

Minutes later, the car pulled up to the police station. Julia was the first to step out of the car.

“I’ll alert the Chief of our arrival,” she told her partner, whose mind was on all of the praise that’d surely be coming his way in the near future. “Why don’t you take hold of the prisoner? That way, you can be the one to present her.”

“A fine idea, Miss Argent,” Chase said with a smile as he opened the car door. As he did, the Chief walked out of the police station with several other A.C.M.E. agents in tow. 

“Agent Devineaux,” she greeted him. “To what do I owe this visit?”

“Chief, Agent Argent and I were called in on a robbery to ze Louvre-”

He looked around to find his partner, only for her to have seemingly vanished into thin air. 

“Huh, she just went out looking for you,” he mused. “Oh well. I'm sure she'll be back any second. Anyways, we responded to ze robbery call and you'll never guess who we captured while we were zere.”

Proudly, he pulled the thief out by her coat and presented her to his boss. The Chief’s look of interest quickly turned into a scowl. 

“Agent Devineaux,” she addressed him sharply, “is this some kind of joke?”

"What do you mean ‘joke’?" he asked. “It is she, ze one who we've been trying to capture for months: Carmen Sand-what ze?"

Upon actually looking at the person he had brought in, he realized that this wasn’t Carmen Sandiego; it was his partner, Julia, who was dressed in the thief’s signature red coat and fedora while also wearing the handcuffs and gag. 

“Zat's impossible! I tasered her, placed her in ze car, and I checked zat she was still zere after I stopped for zose mints-"

“Let me get this straight,” the Chief questioned him. “You were transporting our most wanted target, and you stopped for BREATH MINTS?!”

As Chase continued to sputter out an excuse and while the Chief mentally questioned her decision to hire him in the first place, both didn’t Julia blush through all of this, as well as the note that fell from the red coat’s pocket. 

oOo

From a nearby rooftop, Carmen (still wearing her Julia ‘cosplay’) watched the scene unfold with a smirk, gently tossing the Seated Scribe (stolen back during the switch) between her hands.

“I gotta say, Red,” Player complimented her, “you look pretty fly in a pantsuit.”

“It’s a pretty snug fit, though,” Carmen noted, tugging at the sleeves. “Why couldn’t Chase partner with a girl my height?”

“Well, all’s right with the world again: the Seated Scribe is back in your possession, and Chase is in ‘le doghouse’ with the Chief. But I do feel a little bad for Julia, having to do her dirty like that.”

“Both of us girls won,” the thief assured her. “She didn’t have to catch me and I got away. And I think the note I left with her will make her day a bit brighter.”

“What note?”

“I scribbled it a block before we got to the station. It reads, You can keep this jacket too. I hope we can do this again sometime...but maybe without Chase.”

“What a cute love letter,” Player teased.

Carmen scoffed. “It wasn’t a love letter…”

“Well, I think you should know that I ship you with Julia. ‘Jules-Thief’, I call the ship.”

“Send me the fanfiction I’m sure you have featuring us girls later. Anyways, you have the hotel room ready for me?”

“A five star suite, courtesy of V.I.L.E.’s funds, is waiting for you, Red. Sending the coordinates now.”

As Carmen shot her grappling hook out and swung away, she could hear the familiar cry of “LA FEMME ROUGE!” echo through the streets of Paris. 

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 28

catch me completely ignoring dark cybertron lmao

yeahhhh so I'm just gonna skip dark cybertron bc no thanks. I did read the tf wiki articles for the issues tho, which is more than I did in the past, so at least now I kinda know what happened, though I had to suffer thru reading about dark cybertron to learn stuff about it. yikes. reading ABOUT dark cybertron further enforced my decision to not actually read thru it

anyways. the best part of dark cybertron was when chromedome threw prowl off that cliff. that was baller lmfao

a 1 page recap of dark cybertron is about all I can handle. thank you

ooh, the 6 months later smash-cut, I fucking love itttt

nautica’s here!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy I love her. also brainstorm, and I love their friendship sm

hvbjdkhfbshdfj god I love them. they have such a fun dynamic 

everyone eavesdropping on a therapy session vhbhdjkhafbhkjsdf. hipaa laws mean nothing as usual 

the casual reveal of captain megatron, oh god 

the title fucking slaps, as usual. this is one of my favorites - ‘world, shut your mouth.’ great stuff, and a song title/reference to boot! and this being part 1: towards peace...chefs kiss

and then we flash back to 6 months earlier...yknow now that I'm rereading this, mtmte has a LOT of framing devices used - there's story-within-a-story, flashback/flash-forwards, storytelling with narration, etc...I love it

god hbvhjakdfbshjkdf rodimus saying ‘magic’ and then the little *magic = science rodimus doesn't understand HBGKJHSDBFKHJSDF my idiot boy ily

rodimus roasting prowl is my fav hbfjdkafshsbjkf ‘maybe the knights can help us find a cure for your personality’ ily sm

and then prowl agreeing w/rodimus a few panels later about megatron’s guilt...

optimus...don't you think that making yourself chief of justice is...maybe a bad idea...like, maybe there's a conflict of interests here...just a little bit of bias...a bit too much history, perhaps...

the fact that all the big roles in the trial were given to high-ranking autobots who were heavily involved in the war...I see that cybertrons justice system is as much of a farce as their medical ethics and patient confidentiality laws 

the ‘you BROKE the MATRIX’ panel is so good bjhkdhfbajskhdf

rodimus: LISTEN dad I just wanna resume my space cruise with my frat bro ship I have no interest in politics

psychiatrists HATE him! local former warlord refuses to recognize the validity of psychological analyzation of people’s actions

ravage casually breaking hipaa laws and chilling in megatron’s therapy session like >:3

I love rung...he’s so good at like, passive-aggressively cutting right to the heart of someone’s issues, and he’s so generally mild that you can’t even really get mad at him 

the sudden inclusion of megatron as a major character in mtmte is kinda jarring at first - mostly, for me at least, due in part because I didn't read dark cybertron so this is like, megatron’s introduction as a relevant character in general - but I feel like jro does a great job laying a lot of intrigue down from the very beginning w/his character - like, I already want to know more about what his whole deal is, even though we have, ostensibly, seen pretty much all of his story play out already 

rung name-dropping froid...i remember that made me lose my shit bc cmon. FROID....jesus christ

rung and megatron: holy shit! we’re suddenly being drawn in a 90s-esque sci-fi tron-looking retro-futuristic style!

interesting that megatron sought rung out, and not the other way around

RIPTIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my favorite sharkboy is HERE

CREWDITIONS...YES....

‘we’re not allowed to take anyone who might remind rodimus of prowl’ vhbhjdkshfbhaskfd brutal

I love nautica so so much. a perfect autistic scientist after my own heart

I adore that nautica brought chromia along for moral support

hgvbjdakhfbhsj and then swerve saying that rodimus hates ‘trisyllabic names’ and nautica is like....but....‘rodimus’.....

and then nightbeat busts in to get all bbc sherlock on they asses hgbfhjadkfbjaskdf

WHY was perceptor at the crewditions if he was already part of the crew lmao

ooof, and then we have megatron flipping out when chromedome, a mnemosurgeon, shows up

also damn the autobots were rlly like okay so we wanna speed this trial up so lets just like, probe megatrons brain, that seems completely ethical, especially when you consider the history of shadowplay and stuff that our previous government had

I know important stuff is happening but megatron is holding a CUBE and I love CUBES so I'm distracted by that. C U B E

and then right after a scene where we see chromedome willing to perform mnemosurgery again - despite rewind’s like, dying wish for him not to - we hear that he’s been locked up in his room rewatching rewinds goodbye message over and over again :( I'm fucking depressed

I love nightbeat, he’s so funny and kind of an asshole

and then you see more missing letters behind them next panel...clearly nightbeat is right and there’s a mystery afoot...OR somebody is fucking with the ship’s lettering as a prank, which is a plot point I would absolutely buy

yeahhhh skids is right, chromedome is clearly Not dealing 

the dramatic graffiti on megatrons door...I wanna know who spray-painted ‘die’ everywhere like they're reaper overwatch

oh god. whirl vs megatron

really cool red lighting tho

GOD its so brutal, all the stuff megatron said about how he told the cons not to kill whirl...and doesn't that end up being false anyways? so he was just saying it to dig at whirl, which is awful

also I'm never over the fact that literally everyone - including megatron and whirl - blames whirl for ‘turning megatron violent,’ as if the entire Point isn't that whirl was a tool for a corrupt system, and if it wasn't whirl it would've just been someone else, and megatron turning away from pacifism was inevitable given the circumstances, AND also a choice on his part, so he really only has himself to blame for his OWN ACTIONS

bye bye whirls right arm, see you in lost light 

‘people never stop changing’ that IS something I say all the time...damn you warlord grandpa! how can you steal my philosophies?!

ohhh man and then rewind’s goodbye message being different....oooh

AUGH the fact that whirl was basically trying to goad megatron into killing him, just like he did in issue 1 w/cyclonus...It Hurts Man

also I do love the hint at who he’s talking to w/whirl shooting megatron with the bow and arrow earlier, and we know that atomizer is a fan of those

ok, but here’s where my philosophy diverges - megatron talks about throwing away his past and starting new, but I think that you have to learn from and build on your past...either way, megatron’s arc is one that I enjoy greatly from a character writing standpoint, and I'm excited to get it underway, especially w/how controversial it is lmao

big ole double-page spread...I like how you can pick out individual characters in the background crowd, which is crazy cause that's a LOT of people. also how come cosmos is so HUGE

phewwww 4.6 billion cybertronians died in the war, that’s INSANE. that's like, an incomprehensibly huge number. is there an estimate for their current population? I bet its not a lot. no wonder jro leaned into reproductive themes so much in mtmte/ll - of course the continuation of your species would be a concern for many if your numbers have been that greatly reduced

optimus w/his fancy tyrest-lookin crown

oughdajbfsbdf and the fact that megatron ALSO murdered 100 BILLION non-cybertronians...bruh. I feel like they maybe should've dialed those numbers back a little to allow his ‘redemption arc’ to run a little smoother lmao. but also I admire the commitment either way

and then we end w/megatron doing captain stuff, and seeing The Coffin...and we never did see rodimus in any of the flash-forward parts of this issue, did we???? I love how concerning that is. where's my BOY

also of course we gotta remember the warning from way back at the beginning of mtmte: ‘don't open the coffin’....

and so begins mtmte s2! man I love s2. I love mtmte in general lmao. s2 takes on the impossible w/the whole ‘megatron redemption arc’ thing, and I know that’s like, a divisive plot point and stuff, but from a writing standpoint I enjoyed it a lot...I think it was pretty much as well done as it could've been given the enormity of the task, and I thought it was a really interesting direction for the story to go in 

also espec if it’s true that hasbro was like ‘hey jro put megatron in your story and give him a redemption arc’ rather than jro like, planning/asking to do it 

anyways. I doubt ill talk much abt the disc horse(tm) here bc this is just for fun and also my own personal opinions and whatever, but I for one am excited to reexperience this stuff 

so yeah s2 off to a strong start with some wild shit already happening! cant wait to read more!

[the-terminal-archive]

“I still can’t come up with a nickname for you!!!” “And yet, I don’t have to come up with one for you.” “Mmm, but it’s so much more fun to give someone a nickname! It’s like being a cool friend!”

The bridge seemed to stretch on further and further, yet also seemed to descend closer to the magma the longer they went along. Several thin paths stretched out, coated in quartz shards of just about every color one could imagine. “...Hey, Phantom?” “Hm?” “What kind of inclusions did you put to get such a bright blue???” “Ah, it’s blue…? Uh, I think it was called dumortierite. I was lucky that it was growing in some of the mines that I went to with some of the diamonds I looked after. It...hah, I’ve felt it growing for some time, does it like me that much?” “Well, you seem to have a lot of it?” “I hope one day it overtakes the quartz hosting it.” “...What do you mean?” “It has a maximum hardness of 8.5… And, sure, it hurts every few days as it grows, but...Perhaps I’ll stand a better chance against these beasts.” There was a smile on their face, though it twitched with some emotion Ametrine could not describe. “I don’t mean to sound so melancholy, forgive me. You...You’re quite the rarity of a gem… Yet you stay with those colored green? Dear, you could pass for one who bears a purple hue!” “I know, I know! I just… I have my reasons for being there! Well...reason. Savvy is the one that helped me be...this, y’know? It’s nice, but I’m also kind of an anomaly? I mean, that’s what they said.” “Not really an anomaly… You’d still be taken in by the purple ones, they’d classify you as one with the personality of an orange gem, perhaps even yellow with how your citrine is colored. That’s assuming your fingers are purple at the tips...yes?”

“...Yea, I guess... But either way, I’d rather stay with my best friend!!” “...Hm.” The blue and yellow quartz took a sharp left, nearly causing Ametrine to fall off kilter with a squeak. It would take a moment for them to catch back up.

The bridge they walked along was poorly supported, though there were a few back routes to other paths judging by where they were going. Ahead, there was a series of small caverns...they probably wouldn’t fit more than a few people. The closer they got, the more Phantom would begin to look around, as if remaining alert in case something happened.

“...What are you doing?” “I just need to be sure of something whenever I come here. We should be fine, thankfully.” Ametrine nodded, and then flinched when they heard the sound of crumbling rock. Nothing fell, not yet, but… Goodness, was this place unsteady! “Not to worry, it does that a lot. The rock beneath us is likely a bit less dense than us, but it can still hold its own well.” “I-If you’re sure!” They went back to smiling a second later as they came upon the caverns. Poking their head in one of them, they glanced at the striped rock encasing it, the taller pointing to a small red rock poking out of it. Well- it wasn’t even that small. Ametrine approached it, the form being of two hands, a couple other organs with that same red hue poking out. “This one is still forming, but it’s the most promising. A shame they’re a red one, but...what can you do, hm? Even if they won’t be highly looked upon, it’s alright.” “What even is this...rock? Looks like a garnet. Savvy would be interested in meeting them if so!” “And that, you would be correct. These gems are found close to diamonds, it only makes sense that one would show up here.” “...Huh...did...did Savvy-” “Oh, heavens, no. There’s only a few other gems that could possibly be here, anyhow… and… a green gem? There’s not enough chromium here for that.” “Chromi...chro...hmm…” “It’s fine if you can’t say it yourself! Just know it’s important in gem growth.” They got no response, watching as Ametrine went up to the forming being and holding one of its hands. They weren’t surprised the other was so affectionate- rather- that the hand they held curled its fingers around the hand holding it, its form seeming to relax a little as some blood seeped out.

“Well...I certainly haven’t seen one do that.” “Savvy says it’s a little something special I do besides moving magnets and stuff! They said something about being able to make the nervous systems of others reactive for a short while? I don’t really care about the specifics…” “Well, it seems to appreciate the gesture. Perhaps later, when it’s fully formed, I could bring you back here to meet whoever this turns out to be.” “Maybe, if I’m allowed to! Ummm...what are in the other two?” “Just some zircon, would you like to see it?” “Mhm! If it’s fine!!!” “Well, if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t have asked! These two aren’t nearly as- ...ah?” The pause made the projected eyes look at where Phantom was looking, a look of concern upon their face taking root. A moment later, warnings started popping up, recognizing the familiar threat. “G-GET BACK!” They yelped, darting away and back onto the bridge from where they went. The other would do the same, but damn near fell off the side of the platform supporting them. They looked around, almost confused? Perhaps trying to pinpoint something? Before their gaze fell on the first instance of any noise being made, coming from yet another beast. This one had fewer limbs, yet still towered over them. Its eyes, as if made of glass, were shattered in places, and it too seemed to only look around wildly, trying to hear any further noise. “Zircon… a 7.5, oh dear.” Even the quiet mumbling caught the attention of this new entity, and its corroded voice rumbled with piqued appetite.

“Right, Ametrine, do you feel any signs of a headache?” “Yeah!” “I need you to suppress them.” “U-Uh!!! I don’t think that’s how it wo-” “Just trust me on this! They take advantage of the mind, akin to some other entities that exist! If you must, just run!” “N-No, I’m not leaving you! You could die!” “...Indeed I could… Fine! I suppose I could teach you what I said I would, even though this one is a bit...dangerous to teach with.” “W-Wait, HUH?” “Here, just take this! Things will be fine!” And, before they could process much, Ametrine had one of their daggers! What’s more is that they heard a crunching noise from the taller gem, though it was uncertain from what, exactly. “It’s simple, really! Follow me, once we get to its back, we will tear its limbs from its form!” “It’s that simple?!” They squeaked as they leapt to the side, narrowly dodging a swipe from the beast’s claws and then following the other quartz as they took off. “I told you to just trust me! These are made of diamond bits, what else must I say?”

Everything felt like a bit of a blur soon after, whether that was due to the beast trying to mess with them or their boots kicking into high gear, Ametrine knew not. All they could make out was the beast’s thrashing once the two were on its back. That, and a couple things related to the Phantom… other than a few scuffs on the cluster they had, they were also thrown off the back they were upon at one point. Seeing no other option, they took off a second limb from the monster and used it as a means to guide them down to Phantom. Helping them back up, they...they even dusted themself off, as if they knew they had just a little time to spare.

“Ah- goodness, this is a horrible idea…” “YOU THINK????” “Wait…” They murmured, perking up a little. “...The bridge…” “Wh-What?” “We may have run into a bit of luck. Come along, little one!” They picked up the silver-plated gem, who made a noise of surprise. “Wh-What are you-?” “No worries! How good are you at landing on your feet?” “Not very good, why?” “I’m going to have to throw you.” “You WHAT!?” “Well, seeing as we’re already on the back of this zircon, I see no better means than to do this! Please forgive me!” Ametrine would have protested further, but there was nothing other than a quiet ‘Bon Voyage!’ As they were thrown. They could have sworn they saw a pale yellow shard thrown out as well, which was caught in the unhinged jaw of the Zircon, who willingly devoured such. Phantom waited in silence on its back until a loud hiss was heard, then started moving again, up to its head. As its movements started becoming erratic, they could hear small cracking noises. Please, let them carry themself far enough! There were several stumbles on the slippery skin, coated in bright red blood, though they managed to make it to the apex of the beast as it slammed itself onto the bridge. Such an action would cause it to break under the pressure, the quartz managing to leap off and though they didn’t stick the landing, rolling right next to Ametrine was better than landing on them. Though, a moment later, Phantom would heave themself up, a hand reaching for their head. “Augh...Never again will I make a decision such as this…” “You better not!!! That was the worst fear I’ve had in...uh...ten minutes!” “Mhm, right...ugh…” Perhaps the Zircon’s suffering in the magma below caused them a worse headache than they thought. “Mmm, I need a rest, teaching you things can wait a little.” Though, at least they still managed to grab the daggers that were theirs before Ametrine could notice or look up. However, when they did, their visor flickered a little as they adjusted to the adrenaline calming down, and-- “U-Uh, you’re bleeding…” “I sure am. It was just one of the yellow points, i-it’ll be fine.” “...Does it hurt?” “My entire head hurts….” “Right, right!! Uh!!! I can take you somewhere, hold on!!! I can take you somewhere to rest!” No response. They had only glanced away for a moment, but upon hearing the soft thud, looked over to see that the other had passed out. Oh… well! That wasn’t happening anytime soon! They also probably weren’t going to see that garnet anytime soon, either! … It was oddly silent in this cozy place! Hm...where were they going to take Phantom? They considered taking the tall one someplace safe, but...Oh, right… Tsavorite did want something taken care of. Perhaps they’d just have to cut this stay short. Bummer! And with that, they picked up the exhausted one, glancing at those small caverns once more before beginning to leave. Hopefully, nothing blocked their way as they made their exit from such a horrid scene- as they saw the mass of zircon bubble and froth as it struggled against inevitable death.

[lunchador]

ok but!!! what happened!!! im screaming!!! you finished the game but there are no details!!! friend i need details!!! who sided with who!!!! im just!!! so excited about ur playthru and i need any and all details about how u feel about anders rn especially!!! i think there was less different paths because funding but i still would like to Know

 SO!! MUCH!! HAPPENED!!

It was funny, cuz, y’know, in comparison to DA:O where the END OF THE WORLD is hanging above your head at all times, I felt the pacing was considerably more relaxed in 2. And in retrospect, it definitely was building up in ways you weren’t quite piecing together (Or am I dumb? That’s usually the case) as you aren’t even sure why you have the derogatory title from cassandras mouth of Champion. Champion, of fuckin what? I do chores for people.

So like most of the game feels like you’re chilling. Talk to some people, do some small quests, learn some lore.

Then like, the qunari attack happened. Which, I assume happens regardless, correct? Man that statue of me looks douchey as hell. Flaming sword?

ANDERS CAN SUCK SHIT. That fucker lied to me? and made everything OH SO MUCH FUKIN WORSE. Oh boohoo I want to rid justice, distract her so I can MURDER PEOPLE ACTUALLY INSTEAD?? Like, MAN, I really like him on paper, healer of the needy, activist, cat lover. But he is so warped in his thinking and self hate. Also I know I joked about this somewhere but our second conversation ever (first one being when I met him) he gives me a big speech about how he could see us together but how he’s so bad he’s a monster boohoo so i need to stay away from him romantically and I’m standing there like.......yeah ok man. 

I SHOULD HAVE KILLED HIM - I was legit SO mad he did that. Everything was bad as is, and he made it worse. If I hadn’t have helped in that quest would it still have happened? AUGH. Almost everyone wanted him dead but I still felt bad. Of the companions, I think i bonded with him and sebastian the least. I tried really hard to side with the mages, cuz, i’m a mage, i dont think magic is bad but bad people can have magic, and Meredith IS a dick and instigated it, BUT THERE IS SO FUCKING MUCH BLOOD MAGIC IN KIRKWALL, WHY.

AND FUCKIN SEBASTIAN - SO MAD - was like if you let him live i’m coming back with an army to attack. like...bro what happened to being a peaceful monk or whatever the shit? I thought I told you taking the crown wasn’t worth it if you don’t want it? fuckin jude law looking motherfucker. But i barely played with him and i figured anders healing would be useful for the end. so, i took anders with me. So now I guess I’m gonna hear in inquisition about this dude coming in to attack kirkwall later idk SIGH

So yeah, I tried to side with Orison. Then that bitch ass gave in to blood magic too and turned into that disgusting abomination. I HATE when you try to defend someone and they too turn into a jackass. Fuck you, man. And Meredith of course is off her rockers with red lyrium. I hate all of these people. I tried to save the decent mages where I could and that bit me in the ass with one of them at the end FUCK YOU, UNGRATEFUL.

A N Y W A Y S,

since I’m sooooooo good at these games (how am I so so so bad??) Hawke basically...lost everyone. I didn’t officially romance anyone. Though in the epilogue, it says everyone eventually splits from Hawke except Isabela. I figured she had a soft spot for me. I think I couldn’t fully romance her because I didn’t get her the boat? Idk. I didn’t like the romance system in this game. Like, yes it makes sense for story plot reasons but it’s terribly confusing for someone not in the know and I hated looking at guides because they had spoilers.

My mom got murdered by a serial killer blood mage, r.i.p. My sister is dead. I am SO surprised Carver sided with me in the end. I thought he was genuinely about to pick being a templar over me and fight. I TRIED TO BE SO NICE TO THAT FUCKER.

i’m surprised cullen sided with me too. the few interactions you have with him in origins and here he’s kind of a dick. and i know all that shit going on with his VA so i am not stoked for him in inquisition

I tried/failed to romance Fenris. Man, I got SO attached to him?? He tries so hard to be grumpy but you get under his skin. Every time he called me his friend or smiled I was like YES, YOU FUCKER, YOU LIKE ME. But being a mage is such a cockblock. FUCK. I’m definitely kissing him next time.  But I can at least brag that I guess I did his companion quest correctly enough and he was maxed out cuz he didn’t leave me. He seemed begruding that he was gonna defend mages but he was gonna do it for ME. BFFs til the end.

how the fuck did fenris turn around and settle for compromise while anders was still pissy as hell? I guess anders just feels so much for others. also the whole tranquil shit was sooo fucked. Also I love they’ve known each other for 6 years and they’re still disgustingly snippy with each other - FIGHT!!!!

MERRIL TRIED TO CONFESS FEELINGS FOR ME. HOW? I kept pissing her off by not supporting the blood mage shit. I HAD TO PULL THE LIKE A SISTER LINE. MERRIL IM SO SORRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYY. She’s so sweet, yet her quest was incredibly fucked up oh my god?? We had to kill the dalish group and I FELT AWFUL. WHY SO MUCH BLOOD MAGIC????????

I thought this game was going to end with assigning a new viscount. ANd I was like man that sucks, Sid isn’t the type for permanent responsibility like that but like, if it’ll get everyone to shut the fuck up ok. But...that wasn’t the ending. I hope that gets addressed in inquisition? I felt like that kinda got cliffhanger’d. Also I’m assuming Aveline had to run too being she was associated with me so the guard is probably in shambles too.

oh my god what about dominic? D:

anyway, I would die for varric, and while I understand the story reasons for not letting him be romancable, it still sucks cuz he pairs SO well with a snarky Hawke, sigh

but yeah there may have been less big decisions but there certainly were a lot of smaller ones I felt I fucked up. I’m just.......so good at that. I got so many people KILLED.

def some replay value in there!! I tried to do a lot more sidequests in this one than origins. so we will see how inquisition goes. It’s been super hyped to me and I’m told it’s pretty long

Its just crazy all the shit hawke got caught up in without even particularly trying. Like the warden is there because, yeah, they’re a grey warden, one of the few, but in 2 its just kinda like..............oops lmfao.