#because it combines 2 of my favorite things while being clever

[reginaldubel]

tea rex time

[celaenaeiln]

Dick Grayson's talent for manipulation literally brings the world to its knees.

Part 1 post

My absolute favorite trait about Dick aside from his craziness is his ability to control every single person in existence. The best part is, he's so clever in the way that he does it that people almost never notice.

Bart Allen

"Oh! Ahh..you're trying to get my DNA sample. You need my spit! Ha! That's such a Dick Grayson thing to do."

Bart knows!! Dick's brilliantly sly okay. Honey catches more flies that vinegar? He takes it so far that breaks he the ceiling with it because by the time he's done, people don't even know they've been manipulated. And if they do, then what can they do about it? He always wins.

With friends and family he does it to make them feel better without being so overt and discomforting them.

Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis

Jon came to him when he was feeling lost and upset and Dick set up the perfect conditions to encourage him and pick him up. He's just so good at doing what he's doing but he does it for all the right reasons.

But the extent Dick can go trick and manipulate someone is off the charts. A virtuoso.

In a Titans comic, Dick literally spent MONTHS acting depressed and weak after Donna, Wally, and Garth were kidnapped to another dimension by a villain just so he could trick the villain into thinking that his career was over and bring him into the same dimension so Dick could take him down.

He fooled everyone.

Teen Titans: The Silver Age TBP 2 Part #1

"Batman taught me how to be a totally convincing actor! So if the only way you could send me here with your ring was if I filled my brain with evil thoughts, I just faked it! My facial expression was pure evil-but my mind remained pure good." MONTHS.

He planned, pretended, and calculated every single fiber of his own mind and body until the whole world was fooled by his acting. He tricked an interdimensional being who had psychic access. That means he was so extraordinarily manipulative, he can control his own thoughts inside his head to trick someone else. Voldemort's legilimens has nothing on Dick's talent.

Like Bart, sometimes his allies are aware of this like with Selina-

Gotham City Sirens Issue #23

Selina's literally having a mental breakdown trying not to fall for Dick's manipulation and tricks.

But even if they know he's manipulating them, they still are forced to fall for it anyway.

Gotham City Sirens Issue #23

"Damn it."

Like a goldilocks mad scientist - he does it just right.

His acting is just so on point that he outschemes the schemer.

When the Crime Syndicate (Superwoman, Ultraman, Owlman, Power ring, etc) arrive on Earth to take it over when Dick is Batman, Dick needs to do something fast. But to make things worse, there's a being that's so powerful, that both the Crime Syndicate and Justice League combined have a snowball's chance in hell of defeating him.

So what does Dick do? He runs the game.

Justice League of America (2006) Issue #52

Justice League of America (2006) Issue #52

"Of course he had a plan the whole time. He's Batman. He always has a plan."

Justice League of America (2006) Issue #52

He tricks everyone.

Justice League of America (2006) Issue #52

And in the end, the Justice League wins and Dick saves the world.

Justice League of America (2006) Issue #52

I love how they characterized Owlman as a snake because that would make Dick a mongoose since mongoose eats snakes. And do you know what Mongoose represent in folklore? Action, adventure, boldness, fearlessness, impulsiveness, independence, optimism, rebellion, resistance, resourcefulness, speed, adaptation, agility, quickness, intelligence and wit. All characteristics that define him.

He plays the world like a chessboard, always five steps ahead.

He always has an ace hidden up his sleeve.

His thoughts are always masked behind a disarming smile.

He has mastered the art of manipulation.

And that's while he's outright fighting. His subtlety is just so seductive.

Take a look at the way he smoothly evades answering in this panel -

Grayson Issue #9

He's so smooth. She's constantly on the watch but she instantly fell head over heels for his charms in a half a heartbeat, that's just how good he is.

Grayson Issue #10

He's a master manipulator who knows exactly what to say and how to act to always end up winning.

It's seriously such a shame that one of his greatest skills and talents isn't talked about more because this man?! Flawless.

He's the spy everyone on TV wishes they could be. He's the type of spy people read about in history books and marvel at the ease, grace, and legendary story he leaves behind. He's the spy that everyone knows and dreams of in their fantasies.

Nightwing (2016)

And oh how they so are.

He can just get people to do whatever he wants.

There's a reason why Batman's only contingency plan against Nightwing is "Let's hope he fucks up." Because with his intelligence, skill, power, charisma, and raw talent - he's goddamn unstoppable.

[themusicsweetly]

Thank you for posting videos, pictures, and the Tribeca panel commentary on twitter. It is much appreciated. 🙏🏻

[ Anonymous #2 asked ]: Sarah, would you mind writing a S701 review since you were at the premiere last night? Don't mind spoilers and you can warn others if they don't want to read. Loved it when you did it before. Thanks!

Hello Anons! Thanks so much for both your asks! I hope you don't mind me combining both your asks.

You're so welcome, Anon #1! I so glad so many people enjoyed my posts about it! I'm very grateful that I've been able to go to these events for several years now. I know that so many of you don't get that opportunity, so I try to do what I can to bring it to you all even if only virtually. Things are always so much more fun when they're shared, anyway. After all, that's what fandom should be about! 💜

For anyone who missed it, you can check out my Twitter page for my full coverage of 92Y and the Tribeca Festival. But here's some GIF spam from my favorite of the videos I was able to capture this week!

Anon #2, yes of course I'll write up a summary of my thoughts. I know you said you don't mind them, but I will try my very best to not include any spoilers in it as I know it really does ruin it for some. But just in case:

~~~POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR OUTLANDER 7x01 BELOW~~~ ~~~SERIOUSLY, DON’T @ ME THAT I DIDN’T WARN YOU~~~

Outlander 7x01, "A Life Well Lost"

As Caitriona + Sam have mentioned previously in interviews, 7x01 picks up right where 6x08 left off. No time jump or anything, which I was really glad for. The opening scene was SHOCKING and used something that I thought was really clever and really rude all at the same time lol. I can tell you that the audience gasped because of it. I feel this bit was extremely effectively done. Caitriona's micro-expressions really made it for me.

One thing that surprised me — and perhaps it shouldn't simply because Outlander has always been full of this — was that there were so many small moments of humor in this episode, despite the obvious dire situation Claire and Jamie are in (but really, when aren't they lol). There's a new small side character that both Claire and Jamie get to interact with that provides much needed comedic breaks. Even Jamie's menacing looks add to this. Claire especially, I feel, gets to use her biting wit (or just straight up cursing) to add some humor to the tenseness. There's one particularly funny scene that takes place on a boat and involves an interrupting officer that I so loved! The entire audience burst out laughing when we saw it.

While Caitriona + Sam were obviously amazing, I'll say the surprising standout actor in this episode wasn't them. I won't say who, but it's someone we're well acquainted with. There are moments straight out of the book that this actor just fully nails. We're so lucky to have such strong actors filling these side character roles and s/he is just fantastic. Their sincerity and conviction sold me completely.

As book readers can probably guess from the title and from where we are in the timeline, we know basically what will happen in this episode — and they to stick pretty well to it. Even so, it is still so satisfying to get to see it played out on screen. Claire's despair, hope, and heartbreak. Jamie's torment, anger, and determination. The relief of it all. It's all played so, so well across Caitriona + Sam's faces and in their line delivery. Sam said during the Tribeca panel that Jamie is perhaps "more frail" in this episode, and I think that can be said for both of them. Despite them being well versed in separation, I think every subsequent one after their 20 year split wears on them more and more. And they both play that so expertly, making the time that we do see them together just that much sweeter. I don't think it's too spoilery to say that yes, they do share several scenes together this episode so dinna fash!

As for Brianna and R*ger, their scenes are pretty well separate from the Jamie x Claire scenes. I don't really have much to say about them, except that they move certain other storylines that will become more important later on in the season forward. And only just so. While it was important to do so, honestly it felt a bit filler-like. That said, I am actually pretty excited for certain arcs for Brianna and Jemmy later on (while also hoping they don't include that storyline for R*ger... sorry, not sorry) and this brought them maybe half a step closer to it.

Other than the moment on the boat I had mentioned earlier, there are two scenes toward the end which I really loved. One was such a sweet moment straight out of the book with some really great book lines that I had very much wanted to hear. it is Classic™ Jamie x Claire, so you know Caitriona + Sam knocked it out of the park. The second is not a book scene (I believe?? I don't remember it anyway), but was a great one for Sam / Jamie. It's how the episode ends and I told a new friend I had met in the Tribeca line that the final moment of the episode reminded me of Batman's cape swooshing over the camera turning everything black. Lol take from that what you will!

Some other random thoughts:

Jamie x Claire are SO. SOFT. They say separation makes the heart grow fonder? Really, it makes those two grandparents softer AND I LOVE IT.

I LOVED seeing Caitriona + Sam's names appear as Executive Producers! The entire audience was singing along to The Skye Boat song and then burst out cheering when that came up.

I really hope Major MacDonald's wig gets snatched by Adso at some point because F him lol

Overall, I'd say I enjoyed the episode. Some might say it's a bit slow, which I wouldn't disagree with. But knowing that 1) they had to get this part over with the tie up the Season 6 cliffhanger; and 2) this is really going to be a jam packed season of action and emotion, I think I'm okay with that. I've heard it from more than one source that 7x02 is even better than 7x01 so I'm really excited! I'm also really excited to meet our newer cast members, as none of them featured in the premiere episode. The Hunters especially will be so much fun to watch!

Hearing Caitriona + Sam speak about not only this season, but their journey with Outlander overall makes me so grateful that the quality is still there after seven seasons. They're clearly still so passionate about these characters and are determined to do them justice in every way to the very end. And I think that most definitely shows up in their scenes. I'm super curious to see if there's anything noticeably different or better now that they've been promoted to Executive Producers. And of course, to see Caitriona's first foray into directing!! Until then, I'm looking forward to you all seeing the first episode for yourselves 💜

[yellowhollyhock]

1,2,3 for 87 Raph. 7 and 8 for any 03 turtle :)

ehehehehe

ehehehehehehehehehehe

okay here's 87 Raphael

1 Why do you like/dislike this character

Okay so when I first watched 1987 it was in the context of having seen 03 and rise and knowing a little about mirage because of this turtle documentary I had watched. So as soon as Raph came on screen and started snarking I was just.. it was just such an interesting take on one of my favorite turtles while also being a quintessential example of a character archetype that I enjoy for completely separate reasons. Raphael would be worth 10 seasons by himself if the rest of the show weren't great (which it is)

One of the first things that stuck in my head forever was when they had Baxter Stockman tied up asking him who he works for and Raph pulls out his sai and threatens to "get sarcastic," cue the light hitting the sharp point. Stockman immediately tells all and Raphael says with this charming grin directly to the fourth wall, "Nothing beats cutting wit"

and I was like ALSKDJRIWOWIB they they because Mirage Raph is the 'crazy one' who goes off by himself on wild adventures and always wants to help everyone 03 Raph is the 'angry one' who pushes back against Leo's decisions to keep them balanced rise Raph combined those by being the stressed older brother-- I would never have anticipated Witty Raph Sarcastic Raph Fourth Wall Breaker Raph but it makes so much sense this is the perfect missing link

And it was very fun to watch him develop more and more into his own Funny Man personality. I love how when he doesn't have a quip he's usually just watching. Probably because it's hard to write clever quips all the time akdjdhsj but being a quiet watcher until he isn't is such a Raph thing and yet in the way it's done in 87 it's so uniquely Raphael.

Also I think he's a great brother. He's so supportive of Leonardo. He goofs around with Michelangelo. He and Donatello are constantly ripping each other apart verbally and also would die for each other in a heartbeat and also would kill each other for the last slice of pizza. I like how it's really impossible to get an age order with them, and Raphael especially I feel milks being the youngest when he can and lets the other guys do the responsible things but also will Older Brother them if the opportunity presents itself

Like he will be goofing off during training all the time, and one day Splinter splits them up Leonardo and Donatello (taking it seriously) vs Michelangelo and Raphael (not taking it seriously) and I love him in this episode so much. It's the fact that he's always doing this but when pressed he has this angsty teenager answer like "it's not like this training is intense enough to prepare us for Shredder anyway." But split into teams, now he's invested, and that's very unfortunate for him because Michelangelo isn't alsjdhajs. So Raphael is trying to hold his own against Leo and Don while also trying to convince Michelangelo to put the hammock away and help him. It's a very good episode for an example of Raphael being Baby when he can but also not when he doesn't feel like it.

Plus there's something down-to-earth about Raphael compared to his bros. Maybe it's the dry humor. Maybe it's the way he actually wants to run away from danger instead of towards. But he just strikes me as so... idk how to describe it, but out of all the turtles in the multiverse 87 Raphael is Just Some Guy. I mean in the zaniest way possible but idk how else to describe it. I think he's neat

also also he threw a couch at Donatello, what's not to like?

2 Favorite canon thing about this character

He loves disguises! It's a hobby he got into because he felt like he needed a special thing to contribute to the team 😭 He's so silly I love him so much

3 Least favorite canon thing about this character

umm.. huh. uhhhhh

The fact that raphibians (raph x mona x genghis) isn't canon

(or is it 👀)

(just kidding it is not)

Aaand I'm answering for 03 Donny because he's my favorite

7 something fandom does that I like

I like how the fandom gives him lasting consequences from all the craziness he went through. Headaches and emotional trauma from the mind probe, blaming himself for Honeycutt's temporary death, Kirby's disappearance, his second mutation... and especially SAINW. I love when he is dismissive of his own pain only for it to bite back hard down the road.

8 something fandom does that I don't like

I'm pretty chill generally, and I haven't come across characterizations that I find horrible, certainly not consistently. I also feel like he's a very, i guess balanced? character and thus hard to mess up. Like if you make him a soft little guy who just wants everyone to get along, you are right he is like that. If you make him a crazy scientist who just wants to see how far he can go without much thought to the consequences, you are also right he is like that too. If you make him totally logical and out of touch with his feelings I am kissing your forehead I love you so much, if you make him deeply emotional and very aware of it and coaching others through their feelings I am also kissing you you are so right I love you.

Okay I thought of something, I don't like when he's shipped with April. It's generally pretty easy to avoid but I do come across it once in a while.

[kustas]

now its YOUR TURN to do top 5 characters! >:)

I'll do the same way I asked you: regardless of source material, including a small summary of the character and why I like them so much :}

1 - From the Inkheart book series, Dustfinger! I read those books as a kid and he's the first fictional character I remember liking in a significant way. He represents a blueprint of sorts for most of my favorite characters since then, or at the least my personal originator of a bunch of tropes I love. His character is a wandering minstrel type with a borderline supernatural ability at juggling with fire. He's "cool" but rather unfriendly and sometimes straight up unpleasant, very focused on self preservation to the point of selfishness and cowardice, partially due to a rough and penniless upbringing but partially due to his personality. While he does have a family and other loved ones he's not very openly affectionate. I can't tell exactly what I like about him, he's a complex character who feels very human and who has a lot of character traits I adore. Having reread the series as an adult, I especially appreciated him being (at least in the first book) in a grey area of neither anta- or protagonist. He's just out there with his own agenda and a lot of personality, some of which isn't pleasant, but who sure is interesting

2 - The Mike himself... putting him as number two even if he's number one (badum tss). He's very hard to talk about because so much of his appeal is presented in the series as show don't tell actions of slightly cryptic nature. His character is an artificially created man meant to be a soldier and ideal peacekeeper. He's kind, clever, beautiful and supernaturally charismatic, and because of how he was engineered, earnestly dedicates his life to peace and love on planet earth. Part of his charisma comes from empathy so unnaturally deep he's able to feel what others are thinking and influence them by being around. This all makes him an uncanny and absolutely terrifying antagonist, one with ambitions for the whole planet as well as what you could describe as the best intentions. Why I like him so much is because he's so strange and compelling. Tragic and horrifying figure and a character concept I've never seen anywhere else yet executed so well

3 - After completing HxH more than once I realized that Ging Freeccs embodied every trope I like at once while also sharing a weird amount of similarities with my own self and it was over. His character is an extremely talented man who lives by his passions alone and who pulls off extreme individualism by just being that good at what he needs to live like that. Fascinating and infuriating at once. He loves a lot of different things in life and will throw away anything in the way of him not pursuing his passion of the moment, while also being weirdly selfless when it comes to doing what he wants to do. Also both a very strong personality and charismatic figure & with crippling social anxiety which is a hilarious combination. I like him because he has a lot of character traits I like, is very intriguing, and a total mad cunt

4&5 - I am not separating Black and White ever so I'll be describing them in alphabetical order and not rating one above the other... Both: two-people gang of orphaned street kids with no known background who reign over their little turf by the laws of the jungle, brothers by choice and not by blood, surfing like never before the line between soulmates and codependency. Black: more reserved and selfish, critically low emotional intelligence; he's stuck between the unaware pain of repressing his feelings and refusing to show any vulnerability & hyperviolent tendencies due to genuine prepubescent bloodlust. Very mentally ill miserable little man gaslighting himself into thinking he's the best because they're all afraid of him. White: curious and full of empathy, he's rather clever and much more friendly than his brother. Struggles with learning and focus among other things due to undisclosed mental disability. Pathological daydreamer with unpredictable and usually scary moments of clairvoyance. Why I like them so much: they're such flawed yet touching characters, their struggles are realistic and so is the way they act about, while still embodying the surreal whimsy of childhood. Real bittersweet to see their story unfold where they're going through it due to unchangeable circumstances. White's little monologue about how both of them were born broken but have the screws the other one lacks was the first thing that glued me heart and soul to their source material

[andallthatmishigas]

Numbers 1 through 25 for my darling Ruth Evershed? Pls? 😊

Oof this was a journey, thank you friend! Here we go...

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

I adore Ruth because she is clever and kind and so strong. Her strength comes through her kindness and vulnerability. She's got this sweet humor that I just love, too.

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

Her mind. She's quick and she knows everything. She can translate a dozen languages and make jokes while she does it and she takes the initiative to create spook taxis.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Despite her strength and convictions in pushing through and doing what is right, she runs scared. She lets her fear overtake her in everything other than the job. She lets her guilt combine with that fear to paralyze her. She spends so much time being less happy than she could be, and it's tragic and frustrating as hell.

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Oh I would love movies with Ruth. I wanted to say book but I've lowkey written like 3 books worth of content about her and what I really want is to see Nicola as Ruth do more things.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

I've got multiple playlists of HR inspiration but the number one for me is Sky Full of Song by Florence + the Machine

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

Oof I don't know what I could feel comfortable admitting to. I want to say intelligence but that feels like hubris. I think her shy awkwardness is a part of me. I'll go with that.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

There is a great respect for the pain and grief and depression that is so inherent in her character.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

I've read some absolute nonsense when it comes to this fandom and one of my least favorite things is turning her into some kind of cold badass. She has her moments of that but she never approaches any situation from that perspective and I don't appreciate any depiction of her that jumps right to that.

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Absolutely. I think we'd get along famously. She seems to live very similarly to how I do.

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

I would love to be. I think she'd like me and I would love to be close with her.

11. Would you date this character?

No, I don't think we'd blend well romantically. I am attracted to confidence and a somewhat dominant personality and Ruth certainly doesn't have that.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Oh man so many that I don't even fully know what's headcanon and what's actual canon. But I do like writing her as being very prone to clutter (which I am as well) and that it drives Harry nuts. I also like to think she tries to be an ambitious cook but things never really turn out. Like making Christmas dinner and having everything be edible but also slightly burned and slightly cold.

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

I'm on my laptop but I'll go with the dark blue heart. I don't know if she'd use emojis much but that's one that makes me think of her.

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

Lmao poor Ruth doesn't have much of an aesthetic. But I guess just like professional/demure? I like to think that in another world where she continue to work for the Home Secretary and develop her career further, she would dress like Hannah on The Split.

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

Harry and Ruth are literally the only reason I watch the show.

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

I don't know that I've really seen anything else? I guess I'd be very pissed off if she ever got paired with Tom or Adam or Lucas. Any of the women or any of the male junior agents I wouldn't really mind. But the 'leading men' are all trash and don't deserve her.

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

Has anyone put Ruth and Jo together? I wouldn't hate that.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

Ruth's relationship with Malcolm is very important to me.

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

The entire history of Ruth and her shithead brother bums me out. But I appreciate that it's very important to her character.

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

They never get to be onscreen together but I desperately wish we could have had Ruth and Connie be buddies.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

Asdfghjkl I have written so much for Ruth and I love to write her being a little playful. She has a sense of humor and I think she has the capacity to be a bit naughty and I love getting to show that. Something I don't like is having to dig into that cowardice she has because I want her to be happy and she won't let me sometimes.

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

I will be honest, I only read my own fic at this point. When I get into a new ship, I read a lot of fic but then once I start writing my own, I focus on that. I am my own target audience so I write things that I want to read. So in my own stories, I love reading domestic fluff with Ruth and Harry. I don't like reading them fighting (even though it leads to such good stuff and I appreciate the necessity of it).

23. Favorite picture of this character?

S8 is the most beautiful she looks and I adore her hair so much

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

Dr. Ruth Galloway from the Ruth Galloway Mysteries by Elly Griffiths (who also ends up with a gruff man named Harry) is similar to our Ruth, I think.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

I found her adorable. Still do. But the depth of her that we see in the later seasons just expands my love of her so very much.

[a-jaded-mirage]

Mirage's Top 5 Picks Part I: Food from Video Games

As a general descriptor, I would say that I consider myself an infrequent gamer. I enjoy gaming, but I often do not have enough time to immerse myself in the experience or commit myself to playing entirely through something. I think the last time that I was able to play something from start to finish was honestly during COVID where I had the flexibility to see a gameplay through. Yes, I was one of the weirdos who thrived during the lockdown and relished in the extra time.

My boyfriend and I have these date nights every other Friday night where we pick a topic and make a presentation about our top 5 or top 10 selections for whatever category was selected. We cook or order some food, and we kick back and have fun learning little things about each other while also seeing where we have similar tastes versus completely different preferences. One of my favorite presentation nights we have done was about the top five foods from video games that we badly wanted to try while playing a video game.

Anyway, without further ado, here are my picks. I think it reveals a lot about the kinds of games that I enjoy, but also what my general culinary tastes are. I do love it when games and food can intersect in real life and be shared with others.

Number 5: Peanut Butter Butterpops from The Quarry

This pick is definitely a controversial one in some respects as it is a completely random detail from the overall game so not have the most solid defense for this one beyond the theme song being super catchy and peanut butter, in general, making me go feral. I love everything about the idea of sweet peanut butter puffs with salty crunchy peanuts and a dubious warning label. The mascot is a cool-looking squirrel with a neat red cap too, so there is some childhood nostalgia somewhere in there too, I guess. It is reminiscent of how I still willingly consume Scooby Snacks and goldfish crackers. There is also a level of nostalgia for the game too, because I think it was the last one that I had a part in playing through with my siblings.

Number 4: Freddy Fazbear's Pizza from Five Nights at Freddy's

Alright, go ahead and throw the tomatoes and garbage at me. I know this one is objectively a basic or trash pick. Hear me out, I am nothing if not a child of the 2010's. The Generation-Z mush that is my brain has a special corner in it for the possessed bear and his pizza place alongside all of the great YouTube channels fed by it. I also love crappy and greasy pizza in a neon context with a ton of arcade games. That is probably part of the reason why I graduated from kid's entertainment and birthday chains to eatertainment arcade sports bars. Anyway, all of this is to say that all pizza is unique and different in its own way (good or bad), and as a pizza connoisseur, I have always wondered what Freddy's tastes like.

Number 3: Natsuki's Cupcakes from Doki Doki Literature Club!

My love for this game in particular cannot be overstated as it blew my mind when it initially came out. I did not expect the turn it took, and it caught me off guard in the best way. The combination of your average romance visual novel with a rich and clever met-horror plotline was refreshing. I felt like it turned a lot of stereotypes on their heads and made some great commentary on the parameters of literature and creative expression. In any case, I also have a massive sweet tooth and love baking much like Natsuki. Her cat-decorated cupcakes looked super cute and fluffy, and that is something that I look for in real-world cupcakes. The dialogue also made it seem like the characters really enjoyed them too, so that made me want to see what was so good about them. I still have my fingers crossed that we could get another game related to this one from Team Salvato.

Number 2: Amanda's Graduation Party Macaroni and Cheese Bar from Dream Daddy

I know, I know, this is another interesting pick, to say the least. To be quite frank, I simply did not know how many options there could be for food bars. Macaroni and cheese is simply a core meal for me, and one that I have always enjoyed customizing. The options that are mentioned in the game sounded genuinely magical and made me lowkey forget the context of what was happening in the game for a solid minute after it was introduced. Dream Daddy is just such a fun game, and it was made so well. The characters are all developed with positive features and flaws all well thought out. The relationships they have with one another are compelling, the art style is beautiful, and the routes are engaging no matter how often you play through them. The mac and cheese bar was just another clever and fascinating feature of the world that the Game Grumps created.

Number 1: Butterscotch Pie from Undertale

This one is probably the most nostalgic for me, and it was one of the first games I played with my siblings. I do not know what it is, but I just love the tropes where food has a specific meaning in the world that it belongs to. In this case, the pie that Toriel bakes for Frisk is one of the most powerful HP-restoring items in the game. The best part about the pie is that it holds so much lore, and there are so many ways to use it in the game. I know that I was someone who most often saved the pie for the battle with Sans, but I have seen people use it in the presence of Asgore or even Toriel. To me, the confection is a physical item that represents a mother's love and spiritual nourishment associated with home, and I think that is super layered. This one had stiff competition for the top slot too because there were so many other foods from Undertale that I was convinced would make it to this position. There just is not anything like this one that invokes the same thoughtfulness in most other games that I have personally played.

Well, there it is. That was my top five list for foods that come from video games that I would try if given the opportunity to within the context of the game that it originates from. I have some honorable mentions that I might be inclined to share at some point too, as it was a wild ride trying to put this list together cohesively. Funnily enough, my boyfriend and I's picks intersected once, and it was Toriel's butterscotch pie. He ranked it his third choice and was pleasantly surprised that it was my first. Anyway, if you have your own top five, I would love to hear about them and the reasons why you may have selected them.

(NOTE: If any of this reads a little strangely, it might be because I accidentally deleted everything while editing and had to go back and re-type everything word for word)

[the-dalseum-duet]

IT’S WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!

hi hi hi I’m back and so glad to be back bc I’m having fun I’m listening to my old playlists and I feel like a silly little thirteen year old again I needed this shit 

also. lots of things are a blur. I genuinely might have shared the original starlight draft with you. I have no earthly clue if I did but I feel like I did. bc it’s in my old notes archive. do not remember if I shared this w you or if it was lamp girl my memory is actual ass I’m sorry so you might already have a vague idea of everything

Changing a few things right off the bat here. Mari and Indy are going to be like… 16-ish. To make this part a little more believable. Also sorry if I refer to Indy as Spade it’s literally engrained in my psyche 

So Indy is obviously a lil freaked out by this. I would be freaked out too if I was a teenage girl who had a divine revelation. This is her first real hint to what her charm even is, so she has no clue what it could possibly mean. Indy is incredibly impulsive, as well, which is not a good combination. She sits on this information for a few days until she physically cannot stand it anymore. Rumors begin to circulate about leadership in the northern region— named La Lueur— planning to implement laws to remove charms and curses from Level 4 charm/curse holders. No one believes it yet because there would be no way to regulate it, but it still causes unease.

Due to piling stress, Indy breaks up with Mari. 

This is a disastrous move. Sapphic breakups are insane.

Because the two are so head over heels in love and can’t live without each other, Mari breaks down. Indy obviously doesn’t enjoy seeing her girlfriend like this, so she attempts to console her. She only makes one mistake— she grabs Mari’s arm. 

Curses and charms are fueled by inner energy, so moments of high tension= easier charm use. Sometimes they unleash involuntarily, and Indy’s charm does just that. The stars shift so aggressively that it propels the world at large into the late 19th century. Only Mari and Indy know that this happened. The rest of the world functions as normal with no knowledge that this has occurred. 

The sheer amount of energy that move took not only knocks out Indy, but bumps Mari’s Level 1 charm of being able to control the flow of ink to a Level 2 curse. Ink briefly bleeds from her eyes and nails. Emo as shit. In an unknown location with her only friend unconscious and herself in critical condition, she leaves to find help for herself. 

But while she’s away, someone new in their favorite stretch of the woods appears— Archie Caruso. He’s, of course, fascinated by this random young woman lying in the middle of the woods with bright purple hair. His charm is ‘flora,” which means he has the ability to manipulate plants. He sweeps her away to a treetop by using some vines to keep her protected. 

He waits for her to awake while collecting some berries or somethin idk and promises her that he has her best intentions at heart. She does not believe him because she’s not stupid. But he quickly proves that he has no ulterior motives. He’s an orphan from La Lueur with nothing to his name but a few stray coins he finds of the street, but he always makes a point to look out for others in need. And he could sense Indy was in desperate need for help. 

Indy, being the clever and impulsive girl she is, accepts his help because she knows she can find her way out of his clutches if necessary. Archie works as a ticket collector at a nearby circus, and they’re on the hunt for some new performers. Indy becomes an aerialist at Viper’s, a shady circus agency known for scamming its attendees. However, she has 20th century skills in a 19th century market. Her signature purple under-layer of hair and free-flowing movements make her a rapid success, and she becomes a miniature celebrity in La Lueur. She also starts dating Archie. A girlboss and her girlboss boyfriend. 

Mari found her way a bruja in La Oscura (the southern region) who performs magical healing on her. She takes Mari under her wing, and she begins practicing brujeria alongside learning how to harness her curse. A girl from the Eastern region (known as the Taung kingdom) visits her store often, and she two become close friends. Little does she know that this girl, named Issa, is soon to inherit the Taung throne. 

So our two girls are happy and thriving. What could possibly go wrong now? 

eeee that’s all for now I need to get a shower then sleep bc QR RAAA 🗣️🗣️

starlight revival arc?

BRINGING BACK STARLIGHT. BRINGIN THAT SHIT BACK BC I’M TIRED OF DALSEUM I’M SAILING AWAY BYE GUYS

um. because I think you would enjoy this somewhat tag @svwhssftr

I feel lowkey bad just tagging you in random shit but sometimes I forget. it’s okay for friends to talk to each other actually. it’s okay to like things and share them. it took me seventeen and a half whole years to realize that I think. cringe is dead. and you can literally just ignore this too that’s also a possibility bc I jus ignored your call bc I’m absolutely exhausted and I do not want any actual human interaction for the next week. I don’t want to return to school tmrw but I must. Sigh. Anyway NEW LORE YAY!

Starlight is one of my favorite projects I’ve ever worked on. probably second to reflections and closely followed by Seong and Adam’s dynamic in the original sv (nope I will never ever be over them ever. he was everything she never was to him and By God HE KNEW IT) but the aesthetics are All Over The Place. The plot is actually cohesive (if I trim some shit down) which is rare for me now. Nowadays I just slap shit down and say “there’s a plot underneath all of this unnecessary symbolism and descriptions of gaudy outfits I prommy!!” but NO MORE! NO MORE OF THAT

so we’re making the whole thing cohesive and changing the god-awful character names tonight

Let’s start with our main character, now named Indy

this name choice is still… idk. I’m torn between Indy and Robin… but I used to have a character named Robin so I’m not sure. though I feel like Robin is an objectively better name (coming from the bitch who names half of her characters after birds though) but I like Indy a lot in the sense of the story overall.

bc her original name was Azure (which is fine but I hate it… debating keeping it) but she was nicknamed Spade because of a spade-shaped birthmark on her shoulder.  Keeping with the blue theme, I think her full name should be Indigo but she goes by Indy, and her husband (who is so goated we get to him later though) nicknames her Ace because of her birthmark.

ok onto the plot stuff we don’t gaf abt this bitch’s name

The world of Starlight has an actual magic system. Crazy stuff! I created a decent magic system that doesn’t involve stupid blood rituals and “just because this character is this character xyz can happen.” (coughcoughRONNIEcoughcough) It goes a little something like this

Humans can be one of three things- cursed, charmed, or neither. Curses and charms are extremely similar, and they’re fairly common. I’d say 50% of the population has one of the two, with 75% of that 50% being “charmed.” Charms and curses are magical powers that a person can be born with at random. They’re often an omen for the personality of the charm/curse-holder, kind of like a zodiac. The only real difference is that curses physically harm the user when used. 

There are four levels of charms/curses. 

Level 1- Basically party tricks. They barely drain any energy from the user and can’t be used to cause major harm. Elio’s charm “light” falls under this category

Level 2- Majority of curses/charms are level 2. They take quite a bit of energy to perform, and they could do some potential damage. Can be very useful if harbored correctly. Archie’s charm “flora,” and Mari’s curse “ink” both fall under this category. 

Level 3- Very risky and hazardous to use. Or ridiculously OP in the opposite direction. They drain enough energy from the user to knock them out for a few hours. Thorn’s curse “flame” and Rose’s charm “heal” fall under this category. 

Level 4- By far the rarest type of curse/charm. This can change the trajectory of lives, and they can only be used a handful of times throughout the holder’s lifetime. Using it only once will sometimes cause death. Indy’s charm “starlight” and Hope’s charm “amore” fall under this category. 

Charms and curses are signified by colored eyes. For example, Elio’s eyes are golden, Thorn’s are red, Hope’s are pink, etc. They’re not insanely noticeable. Just like… tinted. 

Indy lives on an unnamed continent separate from anything else I’ve written. Their stories are kind of like folklore in the grand Lore universe. It’s separated into three currently unnamed parts- the north, which has a culture similar to Western Europe (France, Italy, Germany, etc.) and the south, which has lots of South and Latin-American influences, mainly Mexican. To the East is another kingdom full of mountains based on Northern Africa and Southeast Asian countries like Nepal and Libya. Indy is from a town near the border of the north and south regions, where the overall culture is similar to the 1980’s in style, trends, etc. Except racism and homophobia aren’t really a thing I feel like I get pretty deep into that in Dalseum already. 

Indy Simon, whose family is mainly from the northern region, is dating her girlfriend Marigold Martinez, aka Mari, whose family is mainly from the southern region. They’re probably around 14-15 years old. Little baby high school sapphics. They get along really well. They love each other as much as two fifteen year olds can. They go on adventures through the woods and such. Average girlfriend things. 

Until Indy accidentally activates her charm in a dream/vision-type-thing. Her charm physically shifts the position of the stars, which is essentially time travel because the rest of the earth shifts along with it. She sees her death at the hands of Marigold, shot in the heart on a balcony.

But young Indy is quite observant and crafty. She notices the patch on the chest of Mari’s coat is the seal of the southern region, and she notices the woman beside her corpse— her mother— is wearing one with the northern region’s seal. She overhears someone by Mari say “if the war wasn’t over, it’s sure as hell over now”

She wakes up in pure panic because WHAT THE FUCK?? WHAT THE FUCK 

and what does she do next?? I know. But you don’t. I need to sleep. Tune in next time ig 

[princesssarisa]

Character ask: Hercules and Megara (Disney's "Hercules")

Tagged by anonymous

Hercules

Favorite thing about them: His innocence and likability. While he does have a touch of macho swagger at times – which is more "acting the way he thinks heroes act" than any real arrogance – he's basically just a normal, friendly, slightly goofy, kindhearted teenager who happens to be a musclebound demigod. He's as free of toxic masculinity as any version of Hercules/Herakles can be, and I love the way he blends courage with sweetness and vulnerability, especially in his romance with Meg. (I'm fairly sure that when he mourns Meg's death, he's the first adult, human, non-deformed male Disney hero to ever be shown crying.) His boyhood feelings of being a "freak" and not fitting in are poignant and relatable too, so his quest to rejoin the gods on Olympus, where he thinks he'll "belong," is an engaging one. So is his arc of learning that a "true hero" means something different than being a great, famous fighter, and that his birthplace isn't necessarily "where he belongs."

Least favorite thing about them: Two things. (1) The way he lashes out at Phil when the latter tries to convince him that Meg is a fraud. (2) The earlier moment when he's happy to hear that two little boys are trapped under fallen rocks, because it gives him the chance to prove his heroism by saving them. Even though it's played for laughs, it's still selfish of him. But I suppose that's part of the whole point of his character arc. While he's a good person and genuinely does want to help people, his deeds are always partly driven by the self-serving goal of earning back his godhood, which is why they don't prove him a "true hero." That he only becomes when he shows true selflessness for others – first when he faces near-certain death at the Cyclops's hands to save Thebes from destruction, and ultimately when he chooses to sacrifice his life for Meg.

Three things I have in common with them:

*I often feel like a misfit.

*I tend to be innocent and trusting.

*My greatest strength is my love for others.

Three things I don't have in common with them:

*I don't have godlike physical strength.

*I've never fought a monster.

*I'm female.

Favorite line: The lyrics to "Go the Distance."

brOTP: Phil and Pegasus.

In crossover-land, I also like the idea of him befriending Aladdin (as he did when their spinoff TV series had a crossover – their movies are especially similar in tone out of all the Disney canon, and Hercules's brawn combined with Aladdin's brain really would make them a good team), Ariel (a similarly naïve yet friendly, brave, and likable misfit – and if King Triton is the Triton from Greek mythology, then Ariel and Herc are first cousins once removed!), or Don Bluth's Anastasia (their respective movies have virtually the same plot in different trappings, so he would identify with her.)

OTP: Meg.

nOTP: Hades.

Random headcanon: When he eventually dies, instead of going to the Underworld he finally will rejoin the gods on Olympus, and Meg will be granted immortality to join him there.

Unpopular opinion: Sometimes it seems unpopular to like him. Repeatedly I've seen him either dismissed as a bland protagonist overshadowed by the other characters (especially Hades) or hated for not being 100% selfless and perfect. So even though he does have his fans too, I'll list the fact that I like him as my unpopular opinion.

Song I associate with them: "Go the Distance"

Favorite pictures of them:

Megara

Favorite thing about them: In the first place, she's a fun character, with her sassy personality and all her clever, funny lines. I also love her complexity and uniqueness among the Disney heroines. A tough, jaded heroine who masks her inner pain with snarky humor? A morally gray heroine who starts out working for the villain and has a redemption arc? Maybe common in other movie genres, but not so common in Disney's animated canon! Family media is filled with the trope of "prickly cynic with a hard past and a hidden heart of gold meets and learns to love an innocent ray of sunshine who sees their inner goodness" – Disney has used that trope many times. But those pairings are usually "male cynic/female innocent," not the reverse, and I love that Hercules gender-flips that standard romance arc! That combined with Meg's playful wit makes her a favorite Disney heroine of mine.

Also, while she's far from the only Disney heroine or hero to temporarily "die" but then be revived near the end, she's one of the very few who explicitly really do die (not just lose consciousness or be put under a spell), in an especially brutal, self-sacrificing way too, and the only one revived by having her spirit physically brought back from the afterlife! That's fascinating stuff for child viewers in our culture where death is so often treated as taboo!

Least favorite thing about them: Well she does spend about 2/3rds of the movie (reluctantly) working for Hades and helping him try to bring Hercules down. But of course her redemption is part of the whole point of her character.

Three things I have in common with them:

*I'm a brunette female.

*I'm sometimes tempted to be cynical and untrusting.

*I like Hercules's innocence and kindness.

Three things I don't have in common:

*I'm not particularly sassy.

*I'm no good at flirting.

*I've never had a romantic partner dump me for someone else.

Favorite line:

In the clutches of Nessus the Centaur:

"I'm a damsel... I'm in distress... I can handle this. Have a nice day!"

Her self-introduction to Hercules:

"Megara. My friends call me Meg, at least they would if I had any friends. So, did they give you a name along with all those rippling pectorals?"

In response to Hercules being happy about the two trapped children:

"You're really choked up about this, aren't you?"

After Hercules escapes from his crazy teenage fangirls:

"It's alright. The sea of raging hormones has ebbed."

When Hades wants her to find out Hercules's weakness, because Pain and Panic couldn't handle him as a baby but Meg can "handle him as a man":

"Hey, I've sworn off manhandling!"

And her understated confession after her self-sacrifice:

"People always do crazy things when they're in love."

brOTP: Phil and Pegasus, once they learn to like her.

In crossover-land, I'd like to see her be friends with Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (another sassy, sexy and tough, dark-haired and purple-clad heroine, but one with a sweetness and idealism that would make her a good foil for Meg's cynicism), or with Dimitri from Anastasia or Flynn Rider from Tangled (two male heroes with wisecracking, morally gray personalities similar to her's, and who have similar character arcs of "self-interest to self-sacrifice" as they fall for their respective love interests).

OTP: Hercules.

nOTP: Hades.

Random headcanon: She's slightly older than Hercules (since he's 18, I'll imagine that she's 20 or 21), and in a reversal of gender expectations, he's a virgin but she's not. She's his first love, after all, and he isn't the type to have sex outside of a real relationship, but she lost her virginity to the earlier boyfriend who jilted her.

Unpopular opinion: I don't think I have one.

Song I associate with them: "I Won't Say I'm In Love"

Favorite pictures of them:

[parismystere]

do you think the reason adrien discovered ladybug's identity twice is because he already has feelings for marinette?

anon, i assume you're talking about kwamibuster and chat blanc, but my mind immediately went to one of my favorite scenes in terms of adrien characterization, this one in stormy weather 2:

anon, he's the best. here he is - the exact same handwriting, irrefutable proof in his hands, and he completely dismisses the evidence. i'm sure that you also wanted to scream while watching it. a small breakdown of what happened: adrien is very much a what-if person, unlike marinette, who wants to find the one singular conclusion (which is why all her apocalypstic scenarios are linear instead of jumbled anxious thoughts), so his brain is always able to find a different perspective when he's confronted with something that makes him uncomfortable. we see it in his relationship with gabriel all the time. in this case, it was a combination of being confused over the mixed messages marinette sends him (just watch the puppeteer 2), her own insistence that she feels nothing for him (adrien thinks in words too much for his own good sometimes), the luka situation and... his own uncertainties about how he feels about marinette.

adrien has a very specific type when it comes to girls - he's attracted to bossy, competent and skillful girls, who aren't afraid of showing exactly how feisty and smart they are. while marinette is certainly those things in her alter ego and she's fearless when it comes to her creative work or standing up for injustices, she's also, admittedly, a mess, especially around adrien. he struggles to figure out what her whole deal is, so he just assumes that he's doing something wrong and that perhaps she even dislikes him if she acts so differenty around him than when around their classmates, so he pays her special attention and amps up the niceness and the politeness for her.

adrien is a romantic and a daydreamer at heart. in desperada he says that he fell for ladybug the moment their eyes met, unlike the popular fandom view that he fell for her after seeing her kick stoneheart's ass, and i'm inclined to believe the boy himself. he is that kind of person who would assume that a girl is the love of his life because one day a magical creature showed up at his big and lonely house, gave him superpowers and told him that he has to work with the girl to defeat evil.

with girls like ladybug and kagami? it's all fire, and roses, and yearning all day and night, and puffing out his chest to impress them. it's passionate, it's a coup de foudre, it's his whole being stilling for a breathless moment.

with marinette, it's slower and softer, an unconscious kind of love that suddenly comes to him one day, and he's baffled that he hasn't realized how he feels about her. maybe it just doesn't align with his view of what love should be. maybe he's loyal to his lady. maybe he doesn't know that he also looks for different things in a partner besides fire and bossiness and smarts. because in marinette, he admires her fashion designs, her kindness, her awkwardness which he sees as absolutely adorable, her social influence at school.

i don't know if adrien wants marinette to be ladybug, exactly. maybe we'd get to that point and we'd have a you've got mail scene on our hands, but i think he tries to keep an open mind, really. he's more observant than people give him credit for, and more likely to assume still waters run deep, or at least, contain multitudes. marinette is the most clever and creative girl in class, and ladybug probably studies at his school, and he probably knows her, so yeah, it fits? why not?

the difference between stormy weather 2 and kwamibuster, and chat blanc, is that the evidence he got was hard to dismiss - ladybug leaving his room, the gift with the card, yadda yadda yadda. ladybug leaving him a gift from his fan club in brazil (???) on his fifth's name day (like, c'mon, no one from a christian culture does that), when he and ladybug rarely interact and she certainly never enters his room to leave him all sorts of messages and gifts and trinkets - please. i think that this scene suffered because of the breakneck pace of the episode, but it was a moment of crystalization not exactly because he has marinette as a top candidate on his list (he doesn't have a list), but because he needed to physically see ladybug, and make the connection with marinette, in a way that cannot be denied.

in conclusion, i guess my thesis is that he admires marinette greatly; he's very fond of her and his feelings for her only get deeper, even if he ignores them for the moment; he's very open to the possibility of marinette being ladybug. but i don't think that the reason why he discovered her identity is because he's in love with her. that would be wishful thinking on his part, and he doesn't really do that. he just needs as few unknown variables in the equation as possible, because otherwise he would just keep filling the blanks with more and more ruminations, and arrive precisely nowhere besides 'could it be? probably. maybe. why the hell not?'.

[ladyloveandjustice]

Spring 2021 anime overview: Quick Takes

Now for my Spring 2021 anime thoughts! I’ve decided from now on if a season’s like, 20- to-24 episodes I’m just going to wait ‘til it’s done to review it unless I feels super passionately, so though I watched To Your Eternity (it’s good!) and MHA (eh), I’ll comment on them next time. Also, for the record, I watched the first eight eps of Joran: Princess and Snow of Blood but I dropped it because it had clearly crossed the line from entertainingly dumb to boring dumb. 

I will probably give Supercub and some other stuff a shot later, this was a stacked season! May give updates on all that later, but this is what I have for now.

ODDTAXI

Quick Summary: A mild mannered middle-aged walrus taxi driver is drawn into a case involving a missing girl, yakuza, Youtube clout-chasers, manzai comedians and idols with big secrets.

It’s rare to walk away from media and be like “that is a singular experience I will definitely never see repeated again” but ODDTAXI is definitely one of those. A tense noir thriller murder mystery starring cartoon animals that spends an entire episode detailing the one (cat)man’s very fall into darkness triggered by addiction to gacha games and an online auction for a novelty eraser? Also there’s a porcupine Yakuza who speaks entirely in rap? Also there’s tons of meandering conversations about stuff like manzai comedy and the struggle to go viral on Twitter?

Admittedly, I had a hard time getting into the first episode, the dry meandering humor not being enough to hold my attention while I was sitting still, but once I watched this while I was working out at the end of the season, I found it an easy binge. A ton of characters with dark secrets or dangerous ambitions, each with their own part to play in a tableau of intersecting events- and it all actually comes together really well.(As for the female characters, it’s a pretty dude driven story, but they do get nuanced characterization and even some good heroic moments from one of them.)

 It’s a great example of a carefully planned narrative paying off, with all the twists appropriately seeded and foreshadowed to reward viewers who paid attention. Even when it ended on a perfect “OH SHIT” moment and denied me closure, I couldn’t help but respect it. If you that all sounds interesting to you, definitely check out the first couple episodes and see if you like it- you’re likely to have a memorable, satisfying experience!

Shadows House

Quick Summary: Emilyko is a ‘living doll’ who’s told she was created to act as the ‘face’ of her shadow master, Kate. The shadows and their ‘dolls’ all reside on the mansion and are required to pass a ‘debut’ to prove they’re a good pairing. If they don’t pass, they might be disposed of. And so the mystery of the Shadow mansion grows...

This slice of gothic intrigue was my favorite of the season, tied with ODDTAXI. With an interesting premise, slightly tense undertones and a strong focus on character building and relationships, it kept me hooked the whole way through. And for any squeamish fans put off by the hype about it, don’t worry, while there are some suspenseful elements, I wouldn’t qualify it as horror. I thought the relationship between Kate and Emilyko might end up being a completely sinister one, but it’s thankfully a lot more complex than that and it’s really interesting to follow how both their characters and relationship grow. The focus of the show is, unsurprisingly, on the “dolls” slowly discovering their autonomy and personhood as they struggle under the rigid system imposed on them by the mysterious elders of this weird Victorian mansion. Can they develop a more equitable relationship with their shadow “masters” (who are also shown to suffer under this system)? There’s a lot to dig into there, and the show has the characters develop through learning to understand and appreciate each other, which is pretty heartwarming. Our hero, Emilyko, is the typical plucky ball of sunshine (they even nickname her sunshine), but she’s also shown to be clever in her own off-the-wall way and she bounces off the far more subdued and cynical Kate well, not to mention the other ‘dolls’ she ends up befriending. 

What’s more, the show spends plenty of time to developing several other character pairings and combinations, and they all have their own interesting dynamic that makes you want to see more of them. Same-gender bonds are at the forefront of this show, and many of them are ripe for queer readings (I definitely appreciated the healthy helping of ladies carrying ladies), but even outside that it’s nice to see a show where a strong, complex bond between girls is at the forefront. My only real complaints about the show are the anime original ending is noticeably a bit rushed (though it’s not too bad, and leaves room for a season 2) and I wish the animation used the whole “shadow” theme more strikingly (like the opening and endings do)- instead the colors are a bit washed out which makes the shadows blend into the background sometimes. The “debut” arc also drags a bit in places, but it makes up for it by having a lot of good character integration.

I hope to check out the (full color)! manga soon and see more of this quirky, shadowy story. There’s some physical abuse depicted, sad things happening to characters and naturally the whole “oppressive familial system” thing, but otherwise not much I can think of to warn about. I give this one a big rec, especially If you’re a fan of gothic fairytales and stories of self discovery.  

Zombie Land Saga Revenge

Quickest summary: In this sequel season, everyone’s favorite zombie idol group must claw their way back into prominence after a disastrous show- the fate of the Saga prefecture LITERALLY depends on it!

This was a fun follow-up to the first season- if you liked the first zombie-girl romp, you’ll probably enjoy this one. In fact, there were a couple areas it improved on- namely, Kotaro failed, ate crow and embarrassed himself a lot more this season, which made him more likeable (as did the fact the girls gained a lot of independence from him). This season also shed more light on what the ‘goal’ of this zombie raising project is and what kind of shit Kotaro got involved with to make this happen, and it’s appropriately off-the-wall and ridiculous. We finally got some backstory for Yugiri too! I wish it had focused on more of her interiority, but she got to be a badass in it, and it was a treat to see this zombie idol show turn into a period piece for a couple episodes (also her song ruled).

 Tae also got a cute focus episode and there was a particular SMASHING performance early on! Also That revelation last season that had the potential to turn creepy hasn’t yet, and hopefully never will. The finale was heartwarming with big hints of more drama to come- I’m definitely down for more zombie hijinks!

Vivy: Flourite Eye’s Song

Quickest Summary: A songstress AI named DIVA (nicknamed Vivy) is approached by another AI named Matsumoto, who says he’s from the future and they must work together to prevent AI exterminating all of humankind 100 years from now.

This show is absolutely gorgeous visually with some really nice action scenes, but when it comes to the story my feelings basically amount to a shrug. It’s fine! I guess! Vivy starts out as an interesting layered character- and I guess still is by the end- with her stoic but stubborn determination bouncing off her fast-talking bossy partner Matsumoto well. She never listens to him, which is delightful. The way the show took place over the course of 100 years was an interesting conceit as well. However, it bought up a lot of themes and then sort of... dropped them. For instance, Vivy interprets her mission (PRIME DIRECTIVE if you will) as protecting humans at all costs, no matter how destructive said humans are or what their fate is supposed to be, and is perfectly willing to murder her fellow androids to do this, showing she inherently thinks of androids (herself and her own people!) as less worthy. Which is a little alarming! There’s a very dramatic point in the show where they bring this up as a potential conflict for her character but then it’s sort of...dropped. Pretty much.

Actually, despite the premise, the show doesn’t dip into the “AI rights” as much as you think it would with the main theme being more about Vivy’s search to find her own creativity and discover what it means to ‘pour your heart into something’. Vivy herself doesn’t actually care if she has rights or anything. Which is in some ways fine, because ‘AI as an oppressed class’ has been done to death, but IT’S ALSO KIND OF IN THE PREMISE, so that means that the show just shrugs really hard at a lot of the questions it brings up  basically just going “humans and AI should work together probably” and that’s it. There’s a lot that feels underexplored. The antagonists in the show also either have motivations that don’t really make sense or have boring hackneyed motivations. In the finale in particular, it feels like a lot of things happen “just because” and it falls a little flat.

I also have to warn that one of the arcs focus on a robot ‘pairing’ where the dude-coded robots actions toward his partner are straight up awful and rob her of her autonomy, but it’s played like a tragic love story. I suppose you could read it differently too, but it definitely made me go ‘ew’ the story seemed to want me to sympathize with this robo dude,

Overall, I wouldn’t anti-recommend this show, it’s an all right little sci-fic romp (and definitely SUPER pretty). My favorite element was definitely the episodes where Vivy develops an entirely new (an loveable) personality, because it played with the idea of of an AI getting “rebooted” really well and interplay between her two “selves” was done really well. But there are a lot of other parts of the show that just feel...a little underexplored and empty, making me have an ‘eh’ feeling on the show overall. It’s definitely an ambitious project, and while it didn’t quite stick the landing, there’s something to be said for a show that shoots for the stars and falls short over a show that just languishes in mediocrity.

Fruits Basket The Final

Quick summary: The final season of that dramatic drama about that weird family with a zodiac curse and the girl who loves them.

It’s very weird that after not cutting a lot out, they kinda sped through some material for, you know, the finale. I guess they thought they couldn’t stretch this final arc to 26 episodes? Or weren’t cleared for another double cour? However, though there were a couple places that felt awkward, despite being a bit condensed it mostly held together pretty well for a D R A M A T I C and ultimately heartwarming conclusion. I was really disappointed they kept the part where Ritsu cut their hair for the ‘happy ending’, I thought  their intro episode not showing them in men’s clothes meant the anime had decided their presentation didn’t need to be “fixed” but WELL I GUESS NOT. That was the only big upset for me though, otherwise the adaptation went about how I expected, sticking to the source material. Furuba has a lot of bumps, from weird age gap stuff to ...gender, but it also has a lot of important feels and great character arcs. It was a gateway shoujo for many and has its important place in animanga history, so I’m glad it finally got a shiny, full adaptation.

[guerilla935]

My Favorite Fishing in Video Games Where Fishing is Not Core Game Play

A really awesome surprise for me is always to boot up a game that is full of action and suspense to be introduced to a fishing side activity. I have toiled away at fishing in games for hundreds of hours at least. It has gotten so bad in some instances that my friends have asked me why I haven’t just taken the plunge into real fishing. It’s definitely because that is a lot of work and in real life I don’t catch a fish every 30 seconds. They have also wondered why I don’t just play a fishing simulator like Planet Fishing (Shout out to Planet Fishing that’s a great game). And that’s where I have to think for a while. Fishing while you have better things to do like save the world is very special. You aren’t fishing because it’s the objective of the game or because that’s why you are there, you are fishing because it’s fun and maybe you need a break to swing a fishing rod instead of a sword. And then you can stop, and get back to fighting or whatever the rest of the game entails. Below are games that have fishing in them for mostly no reason at all. I have shamelessly spent way to long with my bait in these waters and absolutely loved every second of it and I hope that you (the reader) can find a lot of relaxation in these waters as well.

Pokemon Series

Since the very first Pokemon game there has been fishing. You get the old rod from some guy and then you are free to fish up as many goldfishes that you want hoping that one of them will grow up to be a 21 foot tall dragon. Pokemon has combined their fishing with their main game play and makes you at least start a battle with the fish you drag onto shore. Now fishing in Pokemon is pretty subpar mainly because a single Pokemon game hasn’t really been known to have more than a handful of Pokemon that you can fish for. Also if you are looking for a strong water type Pokemon you could do a lot better than fishing for it. Typically a Pokemon player will fish about 5-10 times total. And although fishing for Pokemon isn’t all that great it has been in every game for over 20 years and that is pretty impressive. It’s a small detail that makes the world of Pokemon feel like a real world of wild creatures.

Sonic Adventure DX

In Sonic Adventure DX you are given the choice to play as a lot of different characters, one of which is named Big the Cat. Most of the characters are combat characters that rely on speed and attacks to get through levels, some even wielding rocket launchers and extremely oversized hammers. However when you start the story of Big the Cat you are thrown in a completely opposite direction. Big the Cat is a giant purple cat who lives in the jungle with his best friend Froggy. Froggy accidentally swallows one of the most powerful objects in the Sonic universe and Big the Cat must chase him all over the world trying to fish him out of where he is hiding so that he can eject the Chaos Emerald out of him and they can return to their life in the jungle. The fishing mechanics in this game actually are really good and this is probably because Sega had just put out a series of mildly successful Bass fishing games before releasing this game. Either way its absolutely hilarious that Big the Cat gets to defeat Chaos 6 right before Super Sonic has his showdown with Chaos Perfect.

Final Fantasy XV

In Final Fantasy XV you play as Noctis and his favorite hobby is fishing. When I first played this game I sped through it and never fished once and reached the end of the game never indulging Noctis in his hobby. When I replayed Final Fantasy XV I fished for 50 hours and then ejected the disc from my console. The fishing in Final Fantasy XV is surprisingly deep with a lot of the vendors supporting what you could call a fishing road trip. In the game it is extremely dangerous to be out at night so I would plan day trips to lakes to maximize the amount of fishing I would get to do. I would prepare days in advance to make sure I could afford the trip and that I had enough supplies to both protect myself at the lake and have enough supplies to last the whole day. Final Fantasy XV really is a game about getting really distracted and fishing is probably its best distraction. My days on the lake were the perfect balance of peaceful and rewarding, this game offers an awesome reward of well planned trips and a good haul of fish.

Final Fantasy XIV Online

Final Fantasy XIV is the only game I have ever played where the fishing played exactly like its combat. When you are fighting enemies in a dungeon in FFXIV you are constantly adding buffs, landing hits, using consumables, and managing resource bars. When you are fishing in FFXIV you are constantly adding buffs, landing hits, using consumables, and managing resource bars. Note you are doing so at a much more leisurely and less life threatening pace but you are still doing it. I never maxed out the fisher class but I got it into the expansion content which was a really long and relaxing experience. Yet another Final Fantasy title where the real meat of the game is in getting distracted. When you fish you also sell on a player market that fluctuates based on market price just like real fish. You get the relaxing fishing side of the game and also an aggressive economic number crunching side as well. I spent way too long with a real pen and paper deciding how much I should sell for on any particular day and bossing around my two cat girl employees.The MMO aspect of the game adds so much to what you would expect to be a very solitary experience.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Have you ever gone fishing for hours to receive an empty bottle? That is exactly what kick started my addiction to fishing in Twilight Princess. An empty bottle in Twilight Princess means another way to heal yourself, another way to add oil to a lantern, another way to carry useless water around. The only way to get the 4th bottle in the game is to go to a dedicated fishing spot and fish until you pulled it out of the pond. The actual fishing is pretty weird, it involves motion controls which I still am not entirely sure what they do or how to properly use them but it is really fun to hold the pole in gyroscope and set the lure in the water waiting for fish to come get a nibble. Although the physics with the water make it difficult to see if you have actually gotten a bite or not it still is enjoyable the other 85% of the time it works.

Stardew Valley

So this one is at the top of every other “fishing in games” list and there is a big reason for that. It’s really good. I think in my first Stardew Valley farm I gave up farming entirely and fished all day every day and stopped to buy food to replenish my energy and go back at it. I really didn’t care about getting rich or making enough money to expand the farm or get to know everyone I actually spent about 50 hours just fishing. The fishing takes some skill and a pretty keen eye but the random jerks of the fish and the rhythm of the game play are so fun to try to master. It’s a part of Stardew Valley that I felt like I was continuously improving on as time went on and it was really fun. I mean I don’t recommend it because you’ll end up moderately poor but it was really fun.

Fantasy Life

Fantasy Life offers you 12 potential jobs, you could be a brilliant blacksmith or a devious potions maker, a lumberjack or a knight, a hunter or a seamstress. However your inner dad is calling and you decide you want to play through a fantasy RPG as a fisherman, hell yeah. the story is relatively short so you can quickly unlock a lot of locales to fish at and there is a manageable economy system that lets you deal in fish in advantageous ways. You can even pick up cooking on the side and make fancy dinners and sell the fish for higher you can do that as well. Fantasy Life is like a clever mix between Animal Crossing and Final Fantasy XIV and it kind of succeeds and falls short of it. The fishing also takes a good amount of skill and rhythmic approach to master so it doesn’t get boring almost at all until you have cleared the game.

Maple Story 2

Maple Story 2 is one of the most expressive and cutest games that I have ever played. And the fishing is no different, its all about style. The fishing in Maple Story 2 is monotonous and can get old but you do it for the chibi clout. Because much like the rest of the game you can look however you want and do whatever you want and sometimes you just feel like kicking back and throwing lure in the water at the beach. I never got super into the fishing in this game but it won me over with its adorable design and stylish atmosphere.

Animal Crossing Series

Of course I had to include the most popular game right now. Animal Crossing has become something of a connection between people when we can’t leave the house. A thing we all have in common on social media and with our friends. My first experience with Animal Crossing really starts with New Horizons and I was completely blown away. The fishing isn’t super complex or difficult but the range of what you can pull out of the water and what you can do with it is absolutely breathtaking. For a game about cartoon people living with humanoid cartoon animals the fish looking photo realistic. And the museum where they can be kept is stunning. The museum looks like it was designed to capture the feel of being in a museum and matches the design of all the great real life aquariums and observatories. Although it is a bit frustrating when your rod breaks it is easy enough to make one (or worst case buy one) to get your bait back in the water.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Tell me I’m wrong, you can’t. Isabelle getting added to Smash brought a very powerful fishing move that isn’t practical all the time but is really funny. Wouldn’t recommend this game if you are looking to relax and fish but I do recommend hooking your friend with a fish hook and send them flying off screen if you had to.

Minecraft

I have a very special role in Minecraft when I join a friends server. A role that I assign to myself. While everyone is off getting awesome swords, spelunking for diamonds, and exploring the infinite landscape, I build a small wooden shack and I set up a farm with an irrigation canal and start fishing. A steady supply of food is necessary and while I’m hanging out with my friends in a server I’m happy to be the one to provide it. The fishing in this game is probably the slowest of all the ones on this list but is the most useful. just throwing the fish in the oven creates food that can help keep you and your companions alive for a long time. I think I definitely have my limits with Minecraft fishing and I couldn’t do it for hours on end it is rewarding to set up shop and find a nice place to settle down for a few hours to fish.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

This is the only Tactical RPG in this post. Fire Emblem: Three Houses has sections between combat where you can go and talk to your students and do other activities. We aren’t here to discuss other activities though we are here for the fishing. The fishing allows you to catch fish for some reason that I’m sure is good but never intrigued me enough to learn. All I know about the fishing in Fire Emblem: Three Houses is that it’s fun. I started to bust through combat just so that I could get back to fishing. The funniest part about this one is that the fish has a health bar. Pressing the A button at the exact moment finds a way to become easier and still find ways to mess you up. Either way, I’m not that interested in tactical RPGs but I heard there was fishing in this game so I had to play it and it was worth it.

Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

In Jak & Daxter, Daxter gets turned into a small animal by dark eco while exploring a dangerous island off the shore of his home with his best friend Jak. To get back to the island to investigate, the pair have to borrow a boat owned by a fisherman who is troubled by an invasive species of poisonous eel that is ruining his haul. He asks Jak to catch fish for him without catching any eels. This fishing mini game can only be done once but it is going to either be something you think is very unique or a huge waste of time. All I’ll say is that the sound that the fish makes when it goes into the net is absolutely a reward in itself it is so satisfying. But anyways, more intense than some other options here but get it done so you can get back to absorbing eco powers and jumping on stuff.

Shovel Knight

Shovel Knight is a 2D action platformer but you can also fish. And you fish for the best kind of fish, money. You can get some other stuff too like health pickups and magic replenishers but we know what you want. You see that little glint and you pop out the fishing rod and pull out those money bags. If you are devoted enough you can even get a surprise from the Troupple King (long live his highness) if you fish out the right stuff. I don’t even know if I fished all that much when I played Shovel Knight but it’s hilarious that you can.

NieR: Automata

I did not play a lot of NieR and that’s because I was fishing. I don’t know why all I did was fish but you throw your little robot in the pond and you lean on a magical stool so honestly it was good enough for me.

Club Penguin

If you know then you know. In hind sight there really wasn’t a whole lot to do in Club Penguin but this mini game really messed me up. You basically get to move up and down, catching fish and avoiding trash and other hazards. Basically trying to do this and catch as much fish as possible to avoid having to ask your parents for real money to pay for snacks to feed a virtual ball of fluff with eyeballs. I don’t really remember how challenging it really was but I remember getting decently high scores to about like 100 fish per round so I guess it was pretty easy if I could do that at age 10.

Rune Factory 4

I’m gonna be very honest about this one and say that the fishing in Rune Factory 4 is basically just Animal Crossing fishing but more anime. The fish react to the pole the same, the fish almost look the same, and the buttons to respond are the same. What makes this one special is where you can take it. You can fish in the little moat in town, in the lake, in a dungeon full of monsters, in a lake that is eternally the season fall, anywhere. You are constricted by the boundaries of Stardew Valley and that is how much energy you have and how much time you have in the day. It’s still fun to fish but I wish that they had used their fun fantasy setting to give the ability to fish up some cool made up fish instead of strictly things that exist in real life.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Ok, diving, fishing, same thing. Diving in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is just fishing with your whole body. It works a lot in the same way as Pokemon where you fish up monsters to fight and get the rewards from them. It is a completely optional activity however if you decide to undertake the grind of scavenging in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 then you will never hurt for money ever again. It makes my wonder why Rex stopped being a salvager to do odd jobs because this was PROFITABLE. The main incentive is that there are spots that spawn a certain enemy that drop cores. Cores are like gacha or loot boxes that contain new anime girl partners that deal huge damage in fights. They even have their own side quests and story lines. I spent maybe 30 hours grinding before giving up on this game and while it does become tiresome I really enjoyed the random rewards of possibly getting a new companion or a really cool weapon.

It’s been tossed around that every great RPG has fishing in it. I won’t argue that point but a lot of great RPGs certainly do have fishing in them. Everyone needs a break sometimes and fishing is the perfect activity to remind us to stop and take that break. Even games can get long and without these distractions it might be so much harder to complete these harrowing tasks. Don’t forget to take breaks and just enjoy the sound of the water every once in a while because there’s no rush playing video games.

Honorable Mentions:

Kingdom Hearts: Sora fishing with his bare hands on Destiny Island

Persona 4: Weird aqueduct fishing

Persona 5: Marina fishing life

Sea of Thieves: A pirates life for me

[hopeymchope]

How would you rank the 18 Class Trials from THH, DR2, and V3 from worst to best?

This is... virtually impossible for me, lol. Comparing the trials from each game to each other?

How about I just rank them within each game? That'll make it a little easier for me to deal with...

DR1

6) 5th. It's driven by lies and ultimately rushed to its end before the characters can draw any solid (pointless/meaningless) conclusions. So of course it's last for this game, and it’s probably last for the entire series as well. If there are any saving graces to this trial, it’s the surprise when your closest ally is willing to let our protagonist die... and that this trial contains the fake/bad ending route.

5) 3rd. Although the main culprit is pretty obvious from the jump, it requires some surprising twists to explain how everything got to be the way it turned out. But did I always find those twists plausible? Errrrm... not really. 

4) 2nd. Pretty good trial that's hurt for me by the fact that there'd barely be any need for a trial at all if a certain third party didn't dick around with the evidence for no reason. Also, the dual nature of Toko is an incredibly predictable reveal. Without those two aspects dragging it down, though, this could easily go higher.

3) 1st. Sure, the major hint given and, subsequently, the eventual culprit are pretty obvious, but this one establishes so much about how the trials work and how much the details you observe will matter that it’s still pretty fun that first time around. The initial surprise of the first victim makes for a great way to keep you invested in the trial experience. This trial is damn near iconic now, so it feels almost mandatory to respect it.

2) 6th. DR1 still has the best "final trial,” easily. SO MANY great reveals, and they all totally work for me. Nothing rings false or disappointing, and it also features Makoto finally coming into his own and taking the lead. I nearly labeled this my top pick for DR1, but...

1) 4th. It's easily the most emotionally dramatic/satisfying for me, and there’s something weirdly inspirational for me about Hina’s incredibly harsh stance during it. This one GOT ME IN THE FEELS, and in part that was because I saw so little of it coming. After the more predictable elements of the first and third trials, this felt like the writing was firing on all cylinders. 

DR2

6) 2nd. You have to accept a couple leaps of logic to make this trial keep flowing, and the fact that trial is ultimately reliant on someone noticing a candy that’s very small and hard to see while the person is also in a stressful situation and they are groggy from being drugged/asleep and it necessitates the person retaining this seemingly useless detail inside their brain .... that’s always bugged me.  The “escape route” conversation even retroactively raises questions about the first trial. Oof. On the upside, the reveals it brought us about Fuyuhiko and Peko were incredibly important, satisfying, and legit surprising turns. And it’s pretty cool how it’s basically a two-for-one combo trial because you have to solve the Twilight Syndrome case before you solve the current case. 

5) 3rd. Other people have pointed out the leaps of logic and missing pieces of this trial, but at the same time, the candlelight hanging is so intense and the ultimate reveal of the culprit is such a brutal turn that I have to give it some props. The culprit’s primary plan is ultimately one of the most ingenious in the series, IMO, and definitely one of the most twisted/fucked-up, which earns it some points. 

4) 4th. This is probably the single murder case in the franchise that I understood the absolute least about when entering the trial, for better or worse. On the one hand, that made it really fun to see the mystery gradually unfurl, but on the other hand, it made it tough for me to provide the right answers at certain points in the trial, leaving me fumbling. A big part of those issues was how it was initially hard for me to wrap my head around the nature of the funhouse via the provided 2D graphics... but once I eventually got there, I had to respect the creativity that went into devising such a “weapon.” Also, it can be hard to tolerate Komaeda in this trial. He’s even more of a know-it-all-but-reveal-none-of-it jackass than ever before, and his turn towards overt cruelty towards the others (and Hajime in particular) left me raging. The culprit reveal is good, but the motive does beg the question of why he didn’t just come forward from the jump.

3) 6th. There are a lot of great reveals in the final trial that totally reframe how you see the characters, and some of them are deliciously twisted. There’s also a ton of great dialogue provided, and in retrospect, it’s actually sort of neat to have one endgame mastermind reveal in this franchise that doesn’t involve the “They were hiding among us this whole time” trope. All that plus the surprise return of our surviving heroes from the first game! However, this is also where they officially reveal a core element of DR2 and its setting that I've never liked. This knocks the trial down a few pegs for me. Of course, by the time you reach the trial, I'm sure 99% of players have already figured that particular "twist" out. There’s adequate evidence to predict it in the first freaking chapter, and I know this because I DID predict it in the first chapter of my initial playthrough... which further hurts the supposed “reveal” of the island’s true nature when it comes around. 

2) 1st. Probably my favorite of the “first trials,” there are lot of components that go into this one. There’s a combination of two premeditated killers plus one spur-of-the-moment accidental victim, there’s a satisfying (though admittedly maybe too easy) reveal of the killer being one of the most unpleasant people to be around during the first chapter, and I really dig how audio became a very important component of the mystery due to the total blackout. This is also the part of the game where we learn just how twisted Komaeda really is, which is HUGE both in terms of its immediate shock factor for a total newcomer and in terms of its impact on the game as a whole. Of course, since it’s a “first trial,” it can’t be too complicated... but they still manage to confuse so many of us with “MEAT ON THE BONE” :P

1) 5th. Again, I will almost always give the most emotionally intense one the top slot. The “traitor reveal” is obviously THAT MOMENT in DR2. I also love how this one used the strange internal logic established early in the game RE: Komaeda’s luck to develop the eventual solution. And forcing us to make use of evidence gathered in multiple locations outside of the immediate site of the body/murder? That more complexity of that type that I see relevant to a trial, the more I appreciate it, and this one has loads of that stuff. Although I guess the investigation isn’t technically part of the trial itself... but it’s still very relevant to it. 

DRV3

6) 4th. I found this whole trial to be just... extremely predictable. Maybe it’s because I was so far into the series that I’d gotten used to its tricks by this point, but this was the most predictable trial for me since the first one in the first game. The whole looping/rollover map setup of the VR? Obvious. The murder weapon? Obvious. Our culprit’s ongoing confusion at everything discussed? Obvious. There were only a couple of points I didn’t have already figured out when I walked into the trial room, and those turned out to be basically irrelevant (such as the bottle of poison). The eventual motive is at least a surprise, but I also found it hard to accept that this culprit would really kill people over it. Overall: Super lame. 

5) 3rd. Another double murder trial, and once again one murder overshadows the other. The séance murder is definitely clever. Sure, you know the culprit pretty early on, but the methodology is the good part. However, the real fascinating one for me is the art lab “locked room” murder. Going into the trial, I couldn’t fathom how they were going to explain that one, and I found the answer both smart and satisfying. It’s funny to imagine how many times the culprit had to try that stunt with the lock before it actually worked, heh. This is probably the best of the three “double murder” mysteries in the series, but the trial isn’t as emotionally affecting as the 3rd trial in DR2 to me. Moreover, the trial loses points for the most infuriating Hangman’s Gambit of the series and especially for the motive reveal. When the killer’s motive can be boiled down to “they’re basically just a psycho serial killer,” it’s not very interesting.

4) 6th. The first part of the trial, which deals with re-assessing the first case? It’s pretty damn on-point. That leads to the mastermind reveal, which... isn’t great, really. It’s not a terribly interesting character to make the mastermind, they have no interesting motives or characterization to unevil, and they’re ultimately just a pawn behind another, off-screen group of masterminds. But then things get uproariously funny to me. The metatextual stuff is just so goddamn ridiculous. It’s frustrating and annoying how much of our not-mastermind’s explanation is clearly full of lies and half-truths that we’ll never have complete answers on, but that’s also part of what makes it all fascinating. We get to swap protagonists like four times! There’s a fake-out Game Over! These are really cool things. But it all leads down the road of our protagonist arguing that fiction does affect reality (yes, good), that fictional people can still matter (definitely) and that... fictional lives are equal in value to real ones? Uhhhhh slow down there, champ. That only works for YOUR universe, where fictional people can be made out of living, breathing individuals. But in light of the metatextual stuff you’re surrounded by, you kinda sound silly AF right now?

3)  2nd. Look, this is still incredibly irritating to me. Also, if you go down the alternate “lying” route at one point, you are forced to accept that these piranhas were somehow trained to only eat dead things, which is just... so deeply dumb.  But what is good is the entire ropeway conceit (which is a very significant part of the trial!) and the idea of the partition inside the tank. This was a murder with an elaborate, intelligent plan that is very well-executed. And the motive reveal? It’s one of the best in the series! I respect that stuff. (If I had the right to toss the execution in as part of the soup, I’d say that it’s also one of the series’ best. Let’s call it the icing on the cake.)

2) 1st. The writing that made this trial work is undeniably clever. The way the narration told us exactly what was happening without really telling us what was happening? It was a masterstroke of both great writing and perfect localization coming together. When it becomes clear during the trial what is about to happen, it’s a huge shock. The transition to another protagonist with the lights flickering out and back on is beautiful. Even the core concept of a protagonist who was willing to step up and try to kill the mastermind immediately is just deeply interesting. And obviously this one made my emotions run high. HOWEVER! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Kaede Akamatsu was a more interesting, unique, and compelling protagonist than Shuichi Saihara ever was. Ultimately, the protagonist-swap, no matter how well-written, was a mistake because they shifted us from a unique character with an interesting new perspective to a character who is, in many ways, “Makoto Naegi with even less self-esteem.” Yes, I know he has aspects that make him distinct as his own person, but there’s still just too much there that feels like we’ve done it before, and he never fully escapes from that. It feels like a massive waste and a huge missed opportunity to ditch Kaede like this. Now, if they had just done the protagonist swap in reverse — making us start out with Shuichi before flipping things over to Kaede — we could’ve had ourselves something amazing here.

1) 5th. I know I decided that I couldn’t rank all among each other, but if I did do that, I feel confident that the 5th trial in DRV3 would rank very high indeed. You go into the trial unable to even determine who the victim was due to the fact that two people are missing and there was nothing left of the body that spoke to an identity. Going into it, you naturally figure that one of the two missing parties has to be the victim and the other one is probably the culprit. But even with just two friggin’ suspects, the amount of turnabouts in the case that made me rethink all my assumptions was insane. Sure, the explanation for how the person inside the Exisal can maintain “character” is pretty damn thin, but once you get past that, I don’t think there’s a single false note in the trial. It even breaks unprecedented ground by continuing into another Non-Stop Debate after everyone has already voted. And of course, it culminates with a lot of intense emotion. Even the execution is emotionally satisfying! ..... although I’m not sure if I should count the execution as part of the trial, but hey, still. As far as Dangan trials go, the fifth one in DRV3 is basically a masterpiece.

[innuendostudios]

Thoughts on... some funny games

[no spoilers to speak of]

Thoughts on Lair of the Clockwork God

The wisdom of the gaming cognoscenti insists that comedy is hard to do in video games. Having grown up with Monkey Island and Zork, I've never found this convincing. But one true thing is this: it's hard to write about comedic games. The ineffability of humor is hard enough to describe in less-interactive media; I can't even explain to my partner why Gretchen saying "I met January Jones once!" on You're the Worst busted me up, and they were sitting right next to me when she said it. Throw in the "you had to be there" nature of the player's active participation and I lose myself in a cornfield. The thing I found hilarious might come a beat to early for you, or not at all, or not be funny in text like it is in gameplay.

Why did I like Lair of the Clockwork God? It made me laugh.

The premise and particulars are a lot of "that could go either way." Ben and Dan - stars of Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentleman, Please! - have returned. Ben is still an adventure game star, but Dan has adopted platforming mechanics in an attempt to get with the times. So playing the game involves switching back and forth between a character who can leap across canyons but can't pick up items or talk to people, and one who can combine inventory but can't climb over a 3-pixel rock.

Does that sound potentially funny? Potentially grating? Yes to both!

The plot centers around our heroes trying to save the world from several simultaneous apocalypses and having to teach human emotions to a supercomputer in order to do so. (Don't ask.) These means, rather like Ben There, Dan That, traipsing through a number of fantasy worlds (read: computer simulations) until the correct emotion is provoked. This requires cross-genre cooperation: finding ways to get Ben to areas only Dan can access, getting Dan new power ups by combining objects in Ben's inventory (an act Dan insists on calling "crafting").

The best bits are at these intersections, when Dan's platforming is the puzzliest and Ben's puzzles take advantage of Dan's skills. Periodically the game gives you a Dan-centric platforming gauntlet the controls are NOT precise nor pleasant enough for, or a Ben-only moon logic puzzle that leaves you googling the walkthrough.

But I liked it! A lot. The genre-hopping seems to have invigorated the developers, Ben Ward and Dan Marshall. I discussed my favorite joke in Ben There, Dan That (in what is probably the least popular video I've ever made that wasn't asking for money), but was also dismayed that the game was never that clever again. But this one is, several times over! Progression here involves cheating your way to a better respawn zone, goofing around in game menus, exploiting "glitches," exiting out and loading up entirely other games. There is a lot of poking and prodding at what a game of this nature can or should be.

But, honestly? The only real selling point is... it was funny. The humor is as anarchic and metatextual as in previous titles, but it feels good-natured in a way BT,DT didn't. And there are, here and there, little bits of meat on its bones - the characters wondering if, as a couple thirtysomething white guys, the world hasn't left them behind, no longer comfortable with the juvenile humor of their youth but not really understanding the youth of today, but having not yet fully escaped the mentalities they used to hold. (There's an unspoken humor to Dan's idea of "modern" gameplay being 2D platforming mechanics, especially at a time when adventure games are significantly more popular than on his last outing; this is a good joke whether or not it's intentional.)

Also: this game contains the most poignant urinating-on-a-grave puzzle in gaming history, and you may quote me on that.

Having finished it months ago, I can't even remember what all the gags were that tickled me at the time. Comedy fades from memory faster than drama or frustration. Mostly I just remember having a good time.

Thoughts on The Darkside Detective

Here's a hook: sometime after the mayhem ends in Ghostbusters, The Exorcist, Evil Dead 2, or some other paranormal blockbuster that you watched over and over in the 90's until the VHS wore out, some overworked detective has to come into your town and piece together what the hell happened.

This is his story.

It's a good gag, and the devs wring every drop from it. Existing in a world where these things are commonplace and you have to fit them into some notion of "police procedure" is just funny. Like, it's one thing to have a running gag where you keep observing the moon in outdoor scenes, commenting, with increasing hostility, that its behavior is suspicious (it has been present at multiple crime scenes); it's a slightly different thing when, given the things you've encountered, the moon being the Big Bad is actually somewhat possible.

The game is divided into six main cases and three bonus DLC missions (which come included in the base game now, and the third of which is the proper ending/setup for the sequel). You are the cop tasked to deal with The Other Side - and, when The Other Side bleeds into our own world, its cops have to deal with you. You have a sidekick with a mental maturity of about 6, which I guess makes you the straight man. (You have to grade on a curve to find a straight man in this game.) And you solve tasks like rounding up escaped gremlins or finding an AWOL lake monster all juxtaposed with mundane problems like inter-office squabbles and having not bought your Christmas presents early enough. It's (pleasantly) lo-res and sparsely isolated, so the dialogue and premise do most of the work, but they are ably up to the task.

The gameplay... not so much. I'm an adventure game lifer, so I can put up with a lot of nonsense. It's mostly straightforward inventory puzzles and occasional minigames. Most of the puzzles are fine enough. As the cases progress, things get more involved, and the DLCs especially involve some awful moon logic. And the minigames are not above using that same jumping peg puzzle you've solved in a dozen other games already. So gameplay ranges from serviceable to irritating, but it mostly exists to string together funny lines and silly images. (Christmas mall elves being secretly in service to Krampus - that's the kind of thing we're talking about here.) You won't feel much guilt for opening up a walkthrough; the puzzles aren't why you're here.

The sequel has just been released, and both games are cheap, so check them out if you feel like smiling.

Thoughts on The Procession to Calvary

It's rare for a game to be hilarious to look at.

The Procession to Calvary takes its name from the Bruegel painting. It also takes all it's graphics from Renaissance oil paintings, and the designer delights in making famously rendered heroes and religious icons steal, stab, fart, and swear.

A strong Terry-Gilliam-with-After-Effects vibe is what we're describing.

You play as a lady knight from a war that's just ended, which sucks for you because, in this age of peace, you're no longer authorized to kill. And killing's, like, you're whole thing. But the one person your new, pacifist king wouldn't stop you from killing is the warlord you just deposed, who fled to the South. So you embark on a nonsensical journey to seek out the one human on Earth you are authorized to kill, because killing is just The. Best. Ever.

Of the three games we're discussing, this is the most overtly cheeky, and, at times, the most scatological. I could've done with a bit less scatology, if I'm being honest, but the cheekiness is very winning. As with Lair of the Clockwork God, a lot of jokes could go either way - a field of people being tortured and a woman on a blanket selling commemorative torture merch could be painfully try-hard. But something about the victims being seemingly everyone ever crucified or broken on the wheel in a famous painting, and having them writhe on their crosses in a way that is both gruesome and goofy, and having a cacophonous soundtrack of their screams and moans that you will now imagine every time you look at one of those elegantly elegiac paintings from now on... it works. That the music score is being played by an extremely jaunty piper who dances behind you just out of sword's reach as you traverse the field pushes it over the top.

Oh, and the puzzles, while never hair-pullingly obtuse, will leave you stumped at times. Push past that to get the proper ending, but, if you're sick of trying, you can, at any point, just start stabbing your way through problems. Which, again: it takes a very deft touch to make "protagonist resorts to violence" actually funny rather than lazy and obvious. And maybe, in another game, the perfect timing of every animation, the clever quips, the careful contrast of cathedrals and high-society music halls with gleeful sword-swinging wouldn't be enough. But something about it being frickin' Renaissance paintings carries it the last mile.

This is probably the basest game of the three, but it's also the one that made me giggle the most. Having a BFA that required several art history classes may have something to do with it. But check this thing out.

[fuckyeahisawthat]

Tagged by @sappsorrow a while ago (pspspsps I would totally read those unfinished Trust fics btw if you ever decided you want to share them)

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 103. I write a lot of short things.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 281,341 ....not that short, I guess.

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? Mad Max: Fury Road, Venom, Good Omens, The Old Guard, Trust

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? The Human Way (Good Omens), Midnight Snack (Venom), Smite Response (GO), Under My Skin (Venom), Drunk Theology (GO). Midnight Snack was at the top for ages (tentacle sex, what can I say) but I’m pleasantly surprised to see 3 Good Omens fics on the list! I’m fond of Drunk Theology in particular.

5. Do you respond to comments, why or why not? Yes! Not every single one, but I love a long detailed comment and you can bet it will get a long detailed response. :-) I gotta say Trust fandom has the best commenting culture I have encountered; there’s like 10 of us and we’re all just yelling at each other in the comments.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? Hmmmm I think a lot of my fics hit a sort of bittersweet tone but my personal favorite stab in the heart is Desperate Measures.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written? I admire a clever crossover but have never written one. I tend to get into things because I like the canon world of the story.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic? No.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Oh boy howdy :-D. I love writing smut. To me it is just like writing action, in that you’re using physicality to tell a story about who these characters are and what they want. I’ve written many combinations of genders and several non-human characters, and I’d say that most of my smut fics fall into the Porn with Feelings category, in that the POV character has something they’re trying to work out emotionally over the course of the story. I also really love characters discovering new things about themselves through sex--either a new kink, a new aspect of their sexuality or surprise feelings for/about someone they didn’t think they had.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I’m aware of.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated? One of my GO fics was translated into Russian!

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have written things based off prompts from other people and in my pro writing life I have developed ideas with other people, but I haven’t found anyone I co-write well with and I suspect my writing brain just doesn’t work that way.

13. What’s your all-time favourite ship? My favorite is usually the one I’m obsessed with at the moment. But also Max and Furiosa.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? I’m pretty sure this Venom fic is abandoned because I can’t remember where I was going with it. I’m NOT putting on this list several long-unfinished WIPs that I DO INTEND TO FINISH SOME DAY.

15. What are your writing strengths? Conciseness. Being able to cut to the meat of a scene right away. Using physicality to tell a story. Being able to mix in tenderness and humanity with something gross/violent/weird/sad.

16. What are your writing weaknesses? Plotting anything longer than the amount of story that fits in a movie (which is usually short-story-to-novella-length). Developing and distinguishing multiple POVs--I am in awe of people who can do this. I would like to get better at a lot of craft things in terms of like, actual prose construction. (I’ve had a lot of formal screenwriting training but actually not much prose writing training so I feel like I’m fumbling around in the dark a lot.) Also, I’m not a particularly fast prose writer and I’m not good at writing in little snatches of time, which means I produce far less finished work than I’d like to.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I tend to keep everything in the same language and use indicators to make clear what language is being spoken, unless I am very confident in my translation and there’s a stylistic reason to use another language. This has been super fun to play with in Trust fic, where Primo and Paul speak different languages and understand each other’s language somewhat, but not perfectly.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for? Mad Max: Fury Road.

19. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written? I CAN’T CHOOSE BETWEEN MY CHILDREN

Tagging @fadagaski, @sacrificethemtothesquid, @v8roadworrier, @lurkinghistoric and uhh anyone else who wants to.

[flightofaqrow]

YOUR CHARACTER IN FIVE QUOTES!

( repost, do not reblog. ) Tell us your favorite quotes from your character. Give us an idea of who they are by five things they’ve said.

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Alright, buckle up, I’m stealing this meme and repurposing it for my own use. Probably more than five, and including some quotes from others about him, though I’m going to try to keep it in groupings, and also not meant to be exhaustive of qrow’s character, but rather, to point out some very poignant lines that have effected my portrayal and... some possibly in an unpopular way compared to what I’ve seen in the fandom? I think Qrow Branwen is more complex than fitting the broody broken boi trope would give credit for (though he at least fits it as an overall stereotype).

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1) I’m absolutely sure Qrow had a rough start and transition from the tribe to ‘civilized society’, coupled with typical teenage hormones and mood swings, but generally, Beacon was a good time, and he sees himself as a good huntsman, and (though we may joke about it sometimes) he absolutely does not have an active nor passive death wish.

Yeah, yeah, I know he has a song all about how he self depreciates and carries shame, but that’s a theme of his attitude, not backed up to be every single aspect of his life by actual canon. Quite the contrary. 

I don’t know where fndm gets the idea that he constantly lost his battles (especially to Raven) or was perpetually looked down on or stayed an angsty, broody teenager (who could never possibly have ever even breathed a single happy breath on his own without Summer??) all four years. As if school was hell and he never came into his own until STRQ was a graduated unit or something? If ever?

Leo tells Raven she and her brother are evenly matched. Raven herself - who takes pride in being stronger and more clever than others - describes them as a pair: “we were good.”

“you're talking to a member of the coolest team that graduated Beacon! ...we were pretty well known back in the day. ...hey, we looked good! and I have a number of inappropriate stories to back that up!”

“let me tell ya, these kids are way better than we were at their age. ...well, not better than me, specifically...”

“a professional huntsman like myself is expected to get results as soon as possible.”

The way Qrow talks about his past, as well as carrying a memento of team STRQ around with him, it’s very nostalgic for better times. The way he talks about his work, if not himself, can actually be to the point of being self-aggrandizing, instead of depreciating. He’s even able to admit that his dreaded semblance, Misfortune, “comes in handy in a fight.”

“lots of us thought you were just layin' low. eventually, we just came to accept that you were probably dead. but the stories about you, i based my weapon off of yours. i wanted to be as good as the Grimm Reaper.”

Qrow talks about himself as striving to be better. It seems he never really sees himself as reaching that standard, but it certainly implies he knows he’s not at the bottom - he had an ideal he wanted to reach and likely worked towards. Notice the use of “us” and “we” as well - he talks about himself as part of a group of larger huntsfolk circles. Who knows if this refers to students or licensed professionals or both, but this heavily, heavily implies that he was more than just a sad, outside loner, at least for a time; he chatted with others and traded stories about goings-on and missions and idols.

Somewhat related and leading into...

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2)  At least around this blog, Qrow does not have an inferiority complex because of Raven.

Does he have some internalized shame about being soft that he can’t quite shake? A few insecurities about being unwanted compared to her natural leadership and competence? Yes. Does he consciously view himself as lesser than her? No. 

Also... he’s not co-dependent on her. To a degree, for while? Yeah, there was probably an unhealthy reliance going on there. But Qrow and Raven establish themselves with their own identities at some point, they’d have to, to chose different paths so stubbornly. There’s a rift there, eventually, if not always having been at odds in some ways and comfort in others.

“Raven's got an interesting way of looking at the world that I don't particularly agree with. [The weak die, the strong live. Those are the rules.]”

“...they were killers and thieves.”

We are shown that the twins were raised with this weak/strong dichotomy. Raven bought into it, but Qrow explicitly separates himself from that belief. Shown again when he mocks Raven with, “because that was your rule, right?”

He believes in true family, he believes in protecting the weak, he believes in doing good, he believes in standing up for what’s right. He may not like being emotionally vulnerable, but he shows softness and kindness to others, and for as much as he likes his flourish when fighting, he also isn’t afraid to look an absolute fool either.

He is shown de-escalating conflict time and again, even if he also falls back into violent, defensive patterns at times, too. He resents Raven for the choices she made, and as far as I interpret, thinks she’s the lesser one for running away and abandoning her family and her mission. (Meanwhile, she thinks the same of him for turning his back on the tribe.)

He all but spits on the tribe’s way of life, is willing to attack them outright to get the Spring Maiden. Why would he judge himself by those standards any longer? No, he lives by his own code, a huntsman’s code, and even has some pride in that. It’s why he can call Clover out on it. It’s why he folds when Robyn holds him to it.

It’s why it hurts when he finds out what gave him more meaning, aligned more with his own heart, than the tribe’s dogma may not actually have any purpose at all...

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3) There’s so much to unpack here:

“No one wanted me... I was cursed... I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world... I thought I was finally doing some good... Meeting you... was the worst luck of my life...”

No one wanted him? I believe this means the tribe, maybe even Raven, maybe trying to make friends, but no one until Oz? Does this include STRQ? I have trouble reconciling that one with everything else we’re shown. I still maintain he was part of bigger circles, but we get confirmation that these were probably fleeting or superficial. He knew people and was known, but no one stuck around.  Also more confirmation of his values. Gave me a place sounds like so much more than refocusing to me. It’s not gave me a direction, not told me what to do, it’s took who i am and gave that person a place to thrive - despite the bad that comes with - to work towards something better. Just like he always wanted.

But then he backtracks. What is it he regrets?  We do know how he likes to go into dramatic hyperbole about these things when he’s upset. [eg. “we’re not family anymore.” “i shouldn’t have come. i shouldn’t have let any of you come.” “we can kill the man who put us here.” “gone. like everybody else.”] (I love that crwby lets their characters do it. we all say things we don’t mean in the moment, give voice to those intrusive thoughts.)

I’ve talked before about how I picture him having flashes of all the lives he could have had instead. Would he have gone back with Raven and at least still had her? Would he just have been a normal huntsman defending people from Grimm without the crushing extra knowledge? Might he have been able to have a relationship or family of his own had he not signed up for the vagabond spy life? Does he just resent losing Summer and Raven because of how things went down? We don’t know, and I think the point is that he probably doesn’t either, but the weight of sacrificing all those alternatives and putting so much faith in Ozpin, stacking so much of his life’s work and identity on being part of the inner circle, comes crashing down on him all at once. 

also quite fitting...

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4) "Nice place to raise a family. ...If you're ...into that sort of thing."

This is from his World of Remnant narration, talking about Patch, but it hits so damn hard. The softness and warmth in the first half of the statement, followed by the harsh need to qualify it in regards to his own outlook... We learn all we need to know about his opinion of the subject. 

We see the conflict right there - the possibility of such a thing brings a wholesome lilt to his voice, yet he implies that it’s not something he personally intends to pursue. Is that because he doesn’t want it or because he thinks he can’t or shouldn’t have it? I don’t think that’s clear, and he may not know either. 

At the very least, I fall into the camp of him believing he doesn’t want it. Combine that with the fact that he does pick up that spy life, which makes keeping his distance a necessity, and makes settling down near impossible, and then he definitely knows it’s not in the cards for him. 

So I think it ultimately falls somewhere between. Why would he make the commitment to being a lone spy if he had dreams of love and a family? ...But then why would he resent making the sacrifice of that possibility later if he didn’t? 

Having his nieces around probably softened him up to the idea, but he’d already made his decision by that point. He’s also solid and generally happy with his choices at the point it would most matter. He’s married to his job. He’s fulfilling his missions well, in well-suited ways for his strengths and flaws. He has his nieces around as a balm on any sort of biological clock. He has his purpose with Oz.  Until he doesn’t.

This is an incredibly long-winded way of restating that one of the headcanon hills I do stand to die on is: Gray-romantic Qrow.

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5) “some people are just born unlucky... my semblance isn't like most - it's not exactly something i... do.”

I am constantly confused by the amount of people trying to do character analysis around Misfortune and Qrow based on standard semblance lore, when he has yet again stated explicitly to the contrary. We all have carte blanche ya’ll. We can do whatever we want with this, because he’s already told us his semblance breaks the rules. 

My full headcanon for it is here and my opinion about the direction I hope it takes is here but tl;dr

Unless we learn otherwise, there are very, very few ways I believe Misfortune is a reflection of Qrow’s soul, if at all. This is from the first headcanon, but it’s worth restating, because it’s important to me, aaand fits the theme of pulling in some quotes from other characters:

Everyone likes to quote Ren and his description of someone’s personality being incorporated into a semblance. I don’t buy it for qrow. Here’s the FULL quote: “A common philosophy is that a warrior’s Semblance is a part of who they are. Some say your personality and character can define your Semblance while some claim that it is the other way around. Of course, there are still many who don’t see a connection at all.”

So unless we find out otherwise I will also die on the hill that qrow is an example of the middle part. Qrow’s personality/soul has nothing to do with why his semblance is what it is, but being forced to grow up and live with Misfortune has defined him tremendously.

OKAY, there are some smaller quick ones, but I’ll stick to my five points like I promised at least, and maybe do a lesser version some other time. :]