#but didn't talk to them bc i was on a different quest and couldn't be bothered to start yet another one

[sovonight]

tell me. how hard can it be to hear this one line in-game

i originally searched the entire nashkel carnival (oh ho, how FOOLISH of me to think circus = carnival) until a 2008 forum post pointed me to the area “north of nashkel”

so i cleared the whole area north of nashkel, but there were no gnomes to be found. then to be safe, i also went into the area north of the area north of nashkel, just in case the forum poster was mistaken. but again, as expected, there were no gno--WAIT ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY KIDDING ME

while getting a map screenshot, i walked back through the area north of nashkel, and they were right by the road as though they had been there all along

and. well. i could’ve done without the dieting premise but finally seeing the magic trick where he blatantly did not make the assistant i was thinking of disappear filled a gap in my bg1 experience, i guess

and of course,

[spacelesbiandisaster]

Do you guys think Barriss knew about what happened with Rafa and Trace Martez?

Because I started to rewatch Clone Wars recently to pickup on lore for a fanfic I pretend to write I started to wonder if Barriss was aware of the Martez parents fate and ended up with a headcanon about that.

So, we a (almost) certain that was Luminara the one who changed the trajectory of a crashing ship who end up destroying the Martinez sisters home with their parents still inside. At least the description that Rafa give us mach her almost perfect:

I sure that is a lot of beautiful green skin Jedi with the order, even Barriss fits in that description if we really want to push it, but I think it's already common sense with the fandom that Rafa was talking about Luminara. And I couldn't agree more! Luminara being the one involved in this opens up so much room for potential new stories.

Could you imagine a Tales of the Jedi arc with Luminara fighting in the war and having to make difficult decisions such as that to protect a falling republic? How would she deal with her responsibility was a Jedi when the council is constantly sending away to battlefronts? That would be absolutely perfect! I almost with I could suggest to Filoni personally.

But the way Rafa describe the scene sounds like Luminara wasn't the only Jedi who came see her and Trace...

"Afterwords the Jedi came back and one of them came over to me. (...)"

One of them.

So who are the others?

I believe Barriss must been one of them. Remember this all happened in the beginning of the clones wars while the Jedi were capturing Ziro the Hutt (I believe it was in season 1 or 2). There's is no reason for Barriss don't be around at the time, especially given that she is Luminara's Padawan and they were on curruscant, not too far away from the Jedi temple.

She was with Luminara when that ship start to crash. Maybe she even was the one to made the call to set the ship on the apparently empty house to save the people she saw walking on the street and bc everything was happening so fast so Luminara agreed. And honestly, what other choice did they had? It's not like they knew the Martez parents was inside the house, Jedi don't have x-ray vision, and was their job to save as many life as they could. So the two of them did what they had to do, but later they learn about the orphans girls and pay they a visit. Luminara took the responsibility of talking to the orphans because she was the Jedi master (and probably bc Barriss would had been too shocked to stay put in she situation. She is a teenager girl after all) while Barriss stayed aside watching.

It could had been more Jedi with them, but I believe that is very unlikely given that they were fighting a war. The council couldn't realistic spare 5 Jedi to speak to every orphan the war left, but a Jedi Master and their Padawan seen fit for this quest.

At first I thought that was it: Luminara told the sisters the force would be with them and didn't do anything else about the situation, but analysing further what Rafa told Ahsoka changed my mind:

"(...) Trace and I were left, without a home. Just left there to find our way in their system."

Of course that Rafa could be referring to the republic was the Jedi system and they were left on the street, but being Luminara the Jedi involved I believe she left the girls on a orphanage of sorts and when Rafa become of age she find a place and won the right to bring Trace with her. So they had some kind of assistance after their parents death, but we all know that this kind of system had lots and lots of problems and high chance is they weren't take care properly. Not that Luminara or Barriss could had known such a thing, so they truly believed they were doing good to Rafa and Trace.

But why this is important?, you may ask. What difference does it make if Barriss was that or not?

Well, do you remember what happened to Ziro not long after that?

He broke way from prison!

Jabba paid Cade Bane (and I think Aurra Sing too) to go to curruscant's prison and take Ziro back to Nal Hutta to pay for the crimes he commit against Jabba's son. The show have two whole arcs about it and both together form one of my favorites stories on the clone wars.

But picture this: Barriss up to that point was very careful to not hurt anyone. On the second battle of geonossis she is talking about the importance of saving lives even when it means sacrificing herself going as far as asking Ahsoka to kill her just to prevent some weird mind controlling worms to spread to the galaxy. This same girl unintentional kill two person to same many on that ship crash and couldn't do anything to truly help the orphans that were left behind. All because of some Hutt crime lord the Jedi and the republic allowed to prospect in Coruscant (Ziro had a damn cantina on the lower levels! With bounty hunters and other criminals running around all the time and no one made anything about it until Jabba's son, another crime lord, order they to act). And like that wasn't enough, Cade Bane kill lots and a lot of people during his mission to "rescue" Ziro.

I can imagine Barriss looking at all that and wondering what was the point of sacrificing the Martez parents on the first place if everything just end up returning to the status quo. The choice Luminara and Barriss made didn't make anyone life better. People still died. The Martinez sisters were alone. And both the republic and the Jedi were conducting their actions base on what Jabba the Hutt wanted.

That could had been the moment she realized the number of wrong thing were happening because of the order and how far they had fallen from their old ways. Barriss was a solder when she should have been a pace keeper and there's nothing she could do that made the Jedi realize what they were doing to her, to all her Padawans friends and to the galaxy as a whole.

Well... Almost nothing...

My personal theory/headcanon is the Martinez sisters incident were the thing that let Barriss to her radicalization and to the Jedi temple bombing.

She probably decided to stay in Curruscant to try to help the people who live there even though she supposed to stay with Luminara and ended up meeting Letta and her husband Jackal (I think that's how it's spelled) and Letta start to talk about doing this great act to attract attention of the Jedi and of the people and was Barriss was spending all the alternatives she had to resolve the problem in a pacific way she started to agree.

I also think the bombing didn't work out the way Barriss intended to because the girl were a total mess on the Wrong Jedi arc.

Maybe Letta feed the nano droids to her husband a little to early, or they were never meant to be feed the him on the first place (Can you imagine Barriss Offe planning on using a civilian was a living bomb? The Barriss we knew from the second battle of geonossis would rather eat the droids herself!) either way Barriss definitely wasn't in her right mind. Other wise she could had save both Ahsoka and herself from prison very easily by blaming Ventress for all her crimes and this is how:

In the Wrong Jedi arc Barriss a holo transmission were she both learn that Ahsoka and Ventress were together and tell Ahsoka were the nano droids droids were.

Right after that Barriss proceed to stole Ventress lightsabers and go to the deposit Ahsoka is look for the bomb's disguise was Ventress so she can fight Ahsoka.

But why she does that?

If her intended was to further incriminate Ahsoka she could had just called the guards who would seem Ahsoka in a room full of nano droids and would go like "Yeah, she returns to the crime scene, there's is no way this kid is innocent".

And if her intended was to incriminate Ventress she should had put her in the room while unconscious. Then she could proceed to fight Ahsoka and stage a situation were Ahsoka finds Ventress there and when the guards eventually show up they would shoot at the separatist rather than command Tano.

So yeah, Barriss was spiraling over guilt so hard she couldn't think straight. And I couldn't think of any other reason in cannon that could had sparkle such reaction (I you know of something else I'm begging me to tell me!).

Barriss had to correct her mistake if the crashing ship incident, but the Jedi didn't listen to her, so she plan something big to gain the attention but her accomplice fuck somethings up and everything gotta way out of control so she ends up killing even more civilians and the rest we can imagine from there: She kills Letta because she was freak out about taking all the blame, end up feeling even more guilt (if this is even possible) and on a desperately attempt to save Ahsoka she tries to blame Ventress but fails spectacularly.

This is all speculation, but I'm choosing to believe that the Martinez parents death play some part on Barriss's Arc. It really is a tragic event that exposes all the cracks in the role the Jedi said they perform as well as the failing republic as a whole.

I would love to Barriss reaction to that on screen I totally think could be part of a hypothetical Luminara story on a future season of Tales of the Jedi.

But what do you think?

Like I said I planning to write a fanfic that has a great role for Barriss and would be super helpful to her others people opinions on the character, so feel free to reach me out to share your personal head cannons and theorys!

(Ps: I'm still learning english so please forgive me if that was a hard to read post)

(Also could you imagine how funny/tragic would be if both Ahsoka's ex-girlfriend and ex-mother in lawn were involved in the death of her current girlfriend, that being Trace, parents? That is good lesbian drama right there!)

[accirax]

initial thoughts on DCAS episode 11

oh my god

i had already guessed that Alec was lying (much like Jake did), but this was a really nice explanatory touch! Alec and Riya's friendship is, as usual, one of the season highlights for me.

would've been a lot more interesting if the campers could have chosen their own partners in one way or another, imo, but that would definitely eat up a lot of time in an already packed episode. plus, some pairings (like Connor and Riya) probably couldn't have happened this way, given how Riya wound up reacting to Connor.

"alright Fiore, here's how we prevent you from going home this week," one could say.

i was SO worried that Alec was going to have another confessional at some point being like "lol i was testing my acting skills on Fiore too" but he DIDN'T. which means this is CANON. THE ADOPTION IS BACK ON!!!!!!!!

okay, i actually love the decision to pair Hunter and Grett together here. both of them are the "very flawed but kinda mistreated partner of their appearances-obsessed date," so it makes sense that Hunter could give Grett a good perspective on this. also, is it just me, or did they rework Hunter's personality in this episode to be more like S2? i liked it.

i'm going to put every Fiore and Alec moment in this post and you can't stop me. i am initially thinking about them.

"joke's on you fucker i didn't teach her literally any of this. she's just built different."

as much as i enjoy Alec appreciating his daughter's sass, this does seem like a pretty radical heel turn from "i only voted Connor out of this game because it was what was best for him." i guess maybe spending time with Riya and the other villains has caused Alec to fall further off the deep end/forget about Connor's genuinely nice qualities...? or it's inconsistency between different writers, who knows.

i am 0% a jul(?) shipper, but, damn, the jul shippers were eating well this episode.

Yul is such an interesting little guy.

James flexing his character arc, we love to see it.

WHAT IS IT WITH THE CYAN WOMEN AND SECRETLY BEING JACKED????

society..... it's becoming more utopian........

see, this is why i didn't think Tess would be the one to return to the game.

Aiden is such a hater, i love him. but, overall, i agree with Lake. we're definitely sowing the seeds for a Jake redemption(/winner?) arc and a heroes' reunion.

Riya, finally finishing what she started in S2 of making the gays fall off cliffs.

villains are so fun. i love villains.

THE SOFT DAD SMILE IS BACK :D

ooh, nice callback.

this is an objectively funny screenshot. why does Alec yell like that

what a surprising outcome! (/s /lh)

:,) <3

i wish Aiden and James had more of an opportunity to talk during this episode :/ it's fine, though-- i think that James and Lake's characters were used more effectively this way.

they're getting back together after this trust me guys i'm disventure camp

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY

they truly are family now. i love it.

"not that bad" is a weird way to describe your would-be crush.

this will be a fun scene! idk which episode "Saturday" will be, though. both because idk how many days will pass in any given episode and also bc i don't recall which day today is in canon.

i do wonder what evil Gabby is doing here. i guess maybe it'll just be the side of Gabby that wants to run with the villains alliance for power vs the side that wants to follow Ellie's advice? that seems kind of weird. maybe it'll be more like the side that wants to go mad with power on the revenge quest vs Gabby's more rational and strategic side? either way, strange cliffhanger.

can't we just have everyone here... always... all the time...? no? okay :( well, it was still really nice to get the whole gang back together for this episode. i'll look forward to seeing them again in the finale.

and, hey, Connor's back in the game now! and he can't be eliminated next episode, at least. are there going to be three players with immunity...? that could get spicy. we'll see how the heroes and villains smack down when the next real elimination rolls around. back up to ten to nine again... see you next time!

[chayannesegg]

red team definitely loves lore and acting, but I really think it's be understated how much blue's actions are in-character. a major upset for red is how blue and green could just betray them immediately and start playing the game, but from blue's perspective this was completely logical and justified. from blue's perspective, this is a game that they are going to play (and try to win!) and the deaths don't mean anything to them bc it's part of the game. it's not a personal thing or a moral question for them. have bad, tubbo, pierre, tina ever shown a particular value for player deaths? no. and all of them have been quite willing to do adapt their approach with the circumstances and their needs.

tina tried being nice and it didn't work? she'll work with bad then. bad can't get his eggs back? he'll start kidnapping workers until something happens. fred's been kidnapped? tubbo is going to unravel quackity. with tina and bad, the easily shifting morality makes sense. they are both demons (or demonlike i know tina was iffy on what canon she wants for herself). with pierre, he's very used to be being a pawn in the federation's games at this point, this is just another game he has to play (idk much about ayrobot sorry).

tubbo is also used to playing the game. he has always reacted futilely to the federation's whims even if he didn't want to! look at his quest to fix ramon's machine. he and phil fought over that, bc phil couldn't understand why tubbo would just give in and break ramon's machines, betray his side? but from tubbo's perspective there was nothing he could do. feds were insistent, he was powerless, and the damage was already done by him being asked to do it. and this game is no different!! he's brought this mentality to pac too. who would otherwise be having a crisis about killing fit and losing everything. tubbo really helped him out by pointing out it was the futility of the game. pac gets to enjoy having a purpose and play the game even players like missa, who haven't participated in killing, have adapted to the game shift well. missa gets to feel useful and like he's not been left behind! he's enjoying himself and wants to participate! most of blue team was lonely, isolated, and purposeless. now they have been given a team, a purpose, and a reason to talk to people! of course they've taken well to this change! why wouldn't they?

[tagthescullion]

Do you have any headcanons about Chris Rodriguez?

His name, for example.. I like cristobal rodríguez (I know cristian is a name in spanish too, but cristobal is more dramatic --also, rodríguez goes with a tilde--)

his mother's from veracruz, méxico (he was born there too)

his mum didn't know who hermes was, she married when chris was little and had a few kids with her new partner

one of them is marisol (a.k.a 'mari', a.k.a. 'mary', the one chris is talking about in BotL), he loves all his siblings but always got along better with marisol

when he was 12 a monster tried to attack him on his way back from fútbol and a satyr on his quest to find pan saw the whole thing and told chris' mum sent him to new york that summer

when chris first got to camp, he felt a bit lost, the culture was different, he missed his parents and siblings, he had to make an effort to think in english when he was tired (annoying thing to have to do, truly)

and his father didn't claim him

luke told him it was okay, gods were like that, that they were a family anyway, who needed recognition from those assholes

chris loved luke, he was the older brother --officially, even if he didn't know it yet-- he always wanted

he was always annoyed when clarisse went on and on about 'making ares proud' bc he was jealous that she knew who her father was, and did she really have to shove it in eveybody's face all the time??

but then once, after capture-the-flag, the ares cabin lost and clarisse was super upset --yelling at anybody who came close-- and off to the training arena.. chris followed her silently --he was always so good at staying quiet when needed-- and eventually saw her sit down angrily, arms crossed around her knees

he approached slowly, eventually, he got the courage to sit next to clarisse and waited until she spoke.. she told him that she dedicated all her triumphs --or attempts at winning-- to her father bc she was afraid he'd unclaim her if she fucked up

chris thought that sounded legit, and also that the gods were massive assholes (if anyone from méxico me quiere decir cómo dicen allá 'reverendos pelotudos hijos de puta', se agradece)

he told luke, a while later so as to not be so obvious, that he'd heard of other kids being wary of their godly parents revoking their claim, wondered perhaps if annabeth, always trying to prove her worth, might think that way too

luke neither confirmed nor denied annabeth's situation, but he told chris that yeah, he knew campers felt that way, that it was okay if chris was still upset about his deadbeat father not speaking up

chris asked if luke felt that way about hermes. "as if he could disinherit me? unclaim me? whatever gods do?" he snorted and explained to chris that nothing hermes did upset him anymore --not true but y'know how teenagers are--

he told chris that if gods couldn't even admit their children were theirs, they didn't deserve to use those children as weapons or tools --his quest had been bullshit, and had ended up with his questmate dead for no reason other than repeating other heroes exploits--

and y'know, to chris, luke was wise, and fair, and caring, why wouldn't he believe luke when he said there was another way?

I've a bunch more from later on but this is long enough as it is :D

[serickswrites]

Could you maybe whenever you have some free time do another misunderstanding trope?

Maybe something where Caretaker is a second in command who’s guarding Whumpee bc they believe Whumpee is a horrible person who deserves to be locked up? And that Whumpee did horrible things that deserve the torture only to find out they’ve been hurting innocent people and they feel partially responsible

I love your writing! 🤍

Hello, Anon! I am so glad you enjoy what I put out there. I would be happy to write this for you!

Warnings: captivity, restraints, torture, physical violence, bruises, broken bones, deception, unconsciousness, rescue

Caretaker walked into the prisoner's cell. It had been much the same day in and day out. Whumper had ordered them to guard the prisoner after the lengthy interrogations. Day after day, Caretaker took up their silent vigil, unwilling to let the prisoner out of their sight.

The prisoner was dangerous. Or so Caretaker had been told. The prisoner--Whumpee, or so Caretaker had heard them say once--had been responsible for terrible destruction and pain. They had done great evil on the world, and Whumper was punishing them for their crimes. And the list grew each day as Whumper interrogated the prisoner.

Caretaker knew that Whumper was just, was fair, and was doing the right thing. Caretaker had known that for years. Had supported Whumper's quest to rid the world of evil. They gladly guarded the prison cells, knowing that their work enabled Whumper to rest and recharge after a long day of work.

This prisoner--Whumpee--was different from the others. They watched Caretaker each day, their face swollen and bruised. They watched and tried to talk to Caretaker, though their voice became muffled as Whumper broke and rebroke their nose several times.

It had started simply enough. "My name is Whumpee, what's yours?" Caretaker hadn't replied. "That's ok, you don't have to talk to me. Do you know why Whumper brought me here?"

Whumpee's questions had continued for days, but Caretaker never replied. Whumpee began to tell Caretaker more about themself. Each day they shared more and more. Each day they professed their undying innocence. And each day it took everything in Caretaker to not strike the liar down. To not hook Whumpee's wrist shackles to the chain hanging from the ceiling and bat them. Because they could not tolerate the lying, the slanderous words against Whumper.

"Hey.....Caret'er," Whumpee said weakly. Whumpee had learned their name days ago--Whumpee had overheard a conversation between Whumper and them--and hadn't stopped using it.

Caretaker did not reply.

Whumpee coughed, their eyelids drooping. "'m tir'd, Care'er." They blinked hard several times. "I miss home. N-N-Notttt th-th-that there's any'ng l-l-leftttttt. Wh-Wh-Wh-Whumperrrrr de-de-de-destroyed 't'llllllll."

Caretaker finally snapped. "Whumper did no such thing. You destroyed your town. You killed innocents. That is the reason why you are here. Stop your lies. And never speak ill of Whumper again."

Whumpee gave a wheezing laugh. "Notttttt ly'g.......S'ry." Their eyelids drooped closed as they passed out at last.

Caretaker glared at Whumpee's silent form. They couldn't stand the liar. Caretaker looked up as Whumper opened the door. "Welcome back, Whumper."

"They say anything tonight?" Whumper leaned on the door jamb. They always checked in before heading out for the evening.

"Just that you destroyed their town. Lying sack of shit," Caretaker spat at Whumpee.

Whumpre chuckled. "I mean I did. It was the only way I could catch them. Well, I'll be back before morning. Keep me posted." And Whumper left before Caretaker could say anything further.

Whumper. Whumper had destroyed a town. Had killed innocents. Whumper had lied to them. "Hey, hey, you!" Caretaker shouted at the unconscious prisoner. "Open your eyes. I need to talk to you. Hey! Whumpee!"

But Whumpee didn't open their eyes. Didn't respond to Caretaker's terse words. They continued to wheeze as they lay there. Caretaker's mind raced. Whumper had lied to them. Had lied about everything. "I'm getting you out of here," they said more softly as they opened the cell door. "And when you wake, we are going to have a long conversation."

Caretaker lifted Whumpee into their arms, surprised at how small Whumpee actually was. There was no way Whumpee did everything Whumper claimed they did. No way in hell. Whumper had lied. And as Caretaker fled from the compound, Whumpee tucked carefully in their arms, Caretaker feared what other lies, what other pain, they had been complicit in all because they believed every word Whumper said.

[tinseltina]

You can feel free to ignore this until you feel like rambling, or forever, but do you have any strong opinions or headcanons or anything about Pixie Hollow you feel like ranting about? I adored that series when I was younger and I'd loved to be dragged back into it.

I BEEN WAITING FOR THIS

FIRST OFF LETS START WITH THE MOVIE SERIES VS THE BOOKS

right off the bat, all the pixie hollow books take place AFTER the peter pan movie, they don't say when exactly but book 3 (quest for neverland) is like 3 generations (maybe 4?) after Wendy and her brothers go to neverland. And he character spotlight books never really mention quest for neverland (iirc there's ONE reference to vidia and the dragon kyto from that book but no one talks about human girl gwendolyn), but they do take place after it

the first 3 chapter books all occur within like a month or 2 of time and everything else at varying points of time.

i'm still compiling all the evidence to put out a VERY rough timeline (some books are clear about their relation to other adventures/books). however i'm in no rush to do any of that, so don't hold your breath.

Now there IS a HUGE detail in the lore regarding pixie hollow and the fairy dust.

There used to be a different "home tree" (called the Pixie Dust tree) WAAAAY long ago. There was another whole population of fairies there. and THAT tree, produced pixie dust (the stuff that makes them fly and helps their magic etc etc). it was DESTROYED and MOST of those fairies died back then (it was this cataclysmic event in neverland that basically decimated a ton of it, but everything eventually regrew). From that tree grew the new Home Tree where everyone is now.

Another character, Mother Dove (the bird you may or may not have heard of when ppl talk about these books) was basically reborn during this fire when she got hit with the fire. (magical fire, didn't kill this bird. it's implied that neverland's magic basically imbued this bird with her own magic because before then she was just a regular bird). her feathers are magic and when she molts, the fairies take her feathers and grind them down into dust, this is called FAIRY dust. Now a couple of the books have typos and use the term "pixie" dust, but it's not what the lore currently states. pixie dust is B.C. (before calamity) and fairy dust is A.C. (after calamity)

After this calamity and turning magic, mother dove laid an egg and that egg will never hatch, it's a magic egg that she must always incubate bc the egg is what keeps everything in neverland young and/or living forever.

OK NOW THAT THAT'S OUTTA THE WAY LET'S MOVE ON

the tinkerbell movie? that universe has no mother dove and the tree is the one from legend because the pixie dust (yes PIXIE dust) flows from it. there's a dust depot where the dust is portioned out for fairies each day but no dust mill (where the grinding of the feathers into dust would happen)

Now at one point i thought "maybe the movies could potentially just be telling what happened before the books" It's got a mostly new cast, why not?

because TINKER BELL IS THERE. Vidia, and terence are also there. and these 3 are major players in the books that couldn't have survived that calamity. (queen clarion POTENTIALLY). fawn and iridessa and silvermist and rosetta all show up in books later (at one point the books were coming out at the same time as the movies rosetta is the one character to receive a major design change from her book counterpart, so i could even accept her being a different garden fairy with the same name and similar personality)

ok now RAPID FIRE FACTS

dust alchemy? not a thing in the books. but dust is also WAY more interesting and required for so much of the fairies magic in the book (yeah, you can use it for EVERYTHING. ex. garden fairies are like folks with a green thumb, they GET their plants and tend to be good at growing things, but sprinkling dust can help with speed and size of growth or stuff like hybridization. kitchen/cooking/baking talents they dont use fire, they use DUST to heat things and boil water stuff like that. i still gotta check if that's not retconned in places but it makes sense considering how small they are and how quickly fire can spread)

the blue dust from lost treasure? also not a thing, but interesting given the tree situation, and it's interesting to think nothing is actually a neverending resource, but also it doesn't really make sense? cuz like WHAT'S THE POINT OF A TREE THAT MAKES DUST IF IT CAN'T DO IT FOREVER? i can see the argument for either side. but i'm leaning on "blue dust is like fertilizer for a magic tree"

vidia is actually a HUUUUUGE b-tch in the books. like the kinda a-hole that is kinda irredeemable and luckily the books never try to redeem her either. she's not quite "evil" but she is the kinda person who is terrible and refuses to change. but she basically committed a "cardinal sin" by plucking some of mother doves feathers from her to get fresh feathers to make her own pixie dust. (it's revealed that the dust from freshly plucked and not older MOLTED feathers, contain more potent magic) and vidia is obsessed with being the fastest flier in pixie hollow so she wanted special dust. this was a painful process for mother dove and it was done in secret but after she was found out it basically got her banished from seeing mother dove up close ever again (it's like being banished from seeing your mother and the pope all rolled into one. idk it's hard for me to explain motherdove without going "yeah she's kinda vaguely omniscient/telepathic. like she's not God, but she's got some pretty godly powers in relation to the fairies and the rest of neverland ngl, hence the pope analogy) and kicked outta the home tree apartments (paraphrasing for humor). she's not kicked outta fairy society or nothing, they would never go that far, these books are HEAVY with collectivist themes. but vidia lives separate from the other fairies in her own tree (and she actually prefers it. iirc it's implied she could come back to the home tree if she wanted, but she AND the rest of the fairy population prefer the space).

actually all the fairies kinda jerks, but i think that falls in line with the idea of tricky faeries in mythology and i don't dislike it. it makes the vidia thing sting less as well?

prilla (sweet wonderful, she's not actually my favorite but we love her regardless) is the odd one out amongst fairies because she's kinda part human? so fairies are born from a baby's first laugh, right? (if you didn't know now you know. this is the same in both books and movies) well the laugh prilla came from had a little too much of her human's personality, so this effected her memory and her ability to conform in their fairy society (she regularly would mix up british human lingo with the fairy stuff and it bugs the fairies. remember how i said they were all dicks? yeah they don't like humans, prilla is a little too human at first and it bugs them). but it also gave her everything she needed for her talent (she's the one and only "mainland blinking fairy clapping" talent. if you've ever read the og peter pan book or heard of the stage play when tinker bell is about to die and they're like "clap if you believe in fairies!". yeah prilla's talent is to astral project her image to the human land and get them to clap periodically to keep fairies going strong.

sidenote fairies apparently REGULARLY died before prilla came along. and it's sad and the fairies get but also it's very "oh that sucks :/ but we gotta keep it pushin!". now in the movies the fairies are still at risk from like birds of pray or bodily harm, but the dying of disbelief is a non-issue.

it's not that there's NO romance in the books, it's that there's next to none. it's terence and his crush on tinker bell and tinker bell with her unrequited crush on and later heartbreak surrounding peter pan. tink is fully aware of terence's feelings for her, and the feeling isn't really mutual? she's mostly afraid of heartbreak but still she'd rather just stay friends with him.

OH! early book terence is like a legit incel. he used to have a different design too, and like he really looked like something outta the virgin vs chad meme (in fact i DID make a meme about it)

mothertrucker actually used magic to make tinker bell fall in love with him (it doesn't lead anywhere beyond just her being obsessed with and wanting to be next to him all the time. get your mind outta the gutter these books are for kids). and he is RELUCTANT to try to turn her back to normal. oh and she's completely aware after the fact of how she acted and felt and that it was terence's fault. she just like forgives him and moves on without really addressing it.

movie terence sometimes goes a little far for tinker bell but it never feels like he's doing more than any of her main friend group, you know? but in the books terence isn't really a FRIEND like the other characters are, he feels separate from the rest of them.

fairy society? kinda communistic. everyone works for the good of the collective to keep things running smoothly

all talents are important and useful (yes, even art talents and music talents and all sorts of stuff. decor, decoration, beautification of surroundings, and entertainment are all appreciated) i assume this is one of the reasons why the "unable to engage in your talent" type of "incomplete" is so serious and pitied. if you cannot help the collective, then what are you to the collective? (this is not to say however that rest days are not employed and encouraged, they absolutely are! leisure and rest and recuperation are necessary and highly encouraged. it's much harder to get a fairy to STOP doing something involving their talents, BECAUSE it brings them so much joy and self-fulfillment). but to permanently be unable to work for the benefit of the community?

but i digress! my point is EVERYONE is useful. there are even fairies who's talents are "tall tale telling". liars, they're good at lying. but this falls under the category of "storytelling" and fairies love stories. i said entertainment is appreciated!

everyone eats at the same time and meals are provided

their homes are made up and customized for them when they first arrive (read: are born)

everyone can engage in hobbies as well (rosetta in the movies and the books is a fan of fashion and dressing up and doing self care) at any time and basically just have to ask for help or for materials if they want. there may be trading involved in case what you want is something that gets in the way of someone else's work or their own collection. but for the most part fairies are fine sharing whatever excess. (an example shown in "art lessons by bess" the art talents also help make paint and refill storage. they're free to use whatever they want and that includes other fairies as well, but they help make more for whoever needs it)

a talent isn't just the 1 activity a fairy does everyday forever, it can also include a whole host of other duties and activities to help out. some fairies even help in other areas when their specific talent isn't in demand (ex. party planning talents, or celebration set-up talents help to set up the tea room between meals when a party isn't being prepared. garden talents don't just grow flowers they can also grow different kinds of foods, or help with plant knowledge or assist nursing talents acquire herbs for different remedies)

queen clarion has a talent, she is a "queen talent" fairy. she presumably took over after the last queen (it is stated Vidia and the Fairy Crown that there have been multiple queens in the past and the crown with the crown jewels have been passed down to each queen since before the time of pixie hollow and it survived the great calamity). very bee like to have been born primed to be a queen. i think it's also implied that fairies don't grow like humans do, and it's likely that clarion was born in the form she is now and has always been that "age"

(if you apply that logic to the movies, then fairy mary and fairy gary and milori and the scribe from the winter region were also all that old the whole time)

winter fairies dont exist books. their jobs are basically just subsets of the other talents. and i think pixie hollow doesn't snow. i gotta double check on that and finish reading my books.

HEADCANON TIME (admittedly there aren't a lot of these)

i got a comment about this once on tiktok which led to me having to explain a little more about talents in general and how fairy identity works. but someone pointed out that prilla is very autistic-coded. and i was like "they're ALL autistic coded" no seriously bc of talents and how...preoccupied everyone can be with their talents, it gives off a "special interest" kinda vibe. and depending on the fairy they're showcase more symptoms people common have on the spectrum.

i mentioned earlier that prilla has her whole "a little too human" effecting her focus and memories? yeah she talks differently, she has habits that are considered good mannered in humans but really strange to fairies. she regularly astral projects by "blinking to the mainland", and the way it's written it gives off maladaptive daydreaming (disclaimer, maladaptive daydreaming is NOT a symptom of autism spectrum disorder, but i've noticed many folks under the neurodivergent umbrella also have this) as it butts into the current narrative and when prilla "wakes up" she can be unaware of what has happened around her or what kinds of conversations took place (not all the time. in some cases muscle memory for menial labor takes over and she can keep up just fine as long as someone doesn't interrupt the routine. not unlike real life for some folks). the blinking thing also could be read as a form of stimming/bodily regulation. talents for fairies, and engaging in activities involving their talents brings them joy, comfort and self-fulfillment. also she cartwheels a lot, which is also very stim-like.

iris, a garden talent, is also very "common depiction of autism"-like to me, however it's in a kinda negative light. she infodumps about plants, doesn't seem to get the social cue that people want her to be quiet or leave, and is generally seen as a nuisance to others around her. she's also got the quirk that she's not very good at growing plants, which is odd. she's said to have had her own garden at once point and then lost it (i think the implication being she left it unattended for too long and the plot of land was given to someone else, and everyone has since forgotten she ever tended to that plot, but she didn't fight for it either). because of this odd history and quirk of hers some fairies believe her to be "incomplete" (a term that has a few meanings that are all VERY disability/birth defect/developmentally challenged coded. including but not limited to, something wrong with one's wings like them being shaped in a way that makes it difficult or even impossible to fly, missing limbs or extremities, lacking a talent, losing the ability to engage in one's talent and fulfill their role in fairy society, for example a scout that cannot see cannot help protect the home tree and fairies from birds of prey). not everyone believes this, and very few if any would actually say it to her face, this is a very serious claim and kinda taboo to say out loud. I'm making her sound incredibly sympathetic, aren't i? and i want to agree that she is but also she is kinda catty in the books (fairies are dicks. i keep tellin ya. VERY endearing but kinda frustrating all the same)

EVERYTHING about rani after she cut off her wings on a mission to save mother dove. VERY physically disabled coded. she lost limbs (specifically 2 limbs that are also integral to fairy identity. fairies love their talents and they love to fly) and the others pity her and say things like how they "could never do such a thing". rani doesn't regret the decision, however, she got to experience swimming, something she always wanted to do and something fairies cannot do. (they sink because their wings absorb water and drag them down. and yes they can drown and die; even in the rain) and i LOVE that she's proud of both her decision and she enjoys being flightless for the most part, after watching a lot of crutchesandspice (imani) on tiktok and her talks of disability justice and giving more info from a disability perspective, many disabled folks don't hate nor wish they weren't disabled (what they want is for society to accept and better/actually accommodate disabled people) so i LOVE that for rani. and i love the perspective of someone living their best life.

rani also has 2 other quirks, one is because of plot reasons from the 2nd book (quest for the wand) and the other is just a quirk she's always had. 1. rani can finish people's sentences, she's got this sixth sense for what people are going to say and yes it does sometimes bother them to be interrupted. her friends just get used to it and basically ignore it and keep conversations going. 2. she was at one point turned into a bat (vengeful mermaid magic. also MERMAIDS ARE GIANT DICKS. welcome to neverland everyone is an azzhat) and her brain basically fused with the bat's brain because not only did she turn into a bat, that bat ALSO had it's own consciousness? i can't explain that without rereading the book (or you can read it yourself. it's Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand) but apparently when she turned back into a fairy the bat conscious, still lingered in her mind? i literally don't even know what to make of that. i'm not calling it Disassociative Identity Disorder (if you are someone with DID and it resonates with you, more power to you. me with my bachelor's in psychology and VERY basic understanding of the disorder am not comfortable really calling it that mostly because it doesn't really seem like it fits the criteria for that sort of "diagnosis")

terence! terence and all the other dust talent fairies have a special specific teacup to measure dust EXACTLY. autistics and our special utensils, am i right? iykyk xD no but really it's a big deal they all carry those cups around and if they break it's a big deal.

many other talents that also have specific tools to do their jobs (tinkers/pots-and-pans with their hammers or screwdrivers or whatever, sweepers with their brooms, to name a couple) also have their favorites that are painstakingly crafted/selected. and using any other would feel unnatural or inefficient or just plain wrong.

ok that's a lot and everything i could think of off the top of my head and it's like 2am and i wanna sleep. so i'll have to continue this some other day if/when i think of more.

[honshew]

thoughts on bg3

overall, i had a lot of fun and would recommend to anyone interested! very ambitious game, and i'm amazed it exists tbh. there are so many really, really great aspects of it. however, i'm also glad to be done with it, bc i started to have less and less fun with it at the last part. which is an unfortunate place to have the worst part of the game. i really wish it wrapped up in a more satisfying way, because i became really attached to the characters and the incredibly detailed world. a shame it had to be rushed toward the end of development. it's incredible, though could have been more still.

i'm spending some time trying to figure out what i liked about the game, so this may or may not be updated as thoughts come to me. there will be spoilers all the way thru the end of the game so here's your spoiler warning

i think while people unfamiliar with dnd can play and still have a good time, it probably will feel overwhelming and there will likely be things you won't understand unless someone explains it to you. i can't even really call the tutorial a bad one as much as it's barely there. but i do know plenty of people with zero dnd experience still having fun and simply enjoying learning on the go!

on the other hand, being someone who plays dnd, once you figure out the interface it's a pretty smooth experience. there are some things that are a little different to accommodate how the game works (e.g. second-story work reduces your fall dmg rather than increasing your climbing speed, since the game doesn't really count climbing as distance), but those are pretty quick to learn. seems to me that the devs thought people who didn't play dnd wouldn't be all that intersted in bg3, but a ci'd be curious to see how many bg3 players will look for a dnd group to join from here.

act 1 was solid and was paced well. i really liked how many characters ended up showing up later in the game, as opposed to characters you save once and never see again. i think what was most fun was getting to know what i could get away with LOL not just an exploration of the world, but an exploration of the game itself. i have video of me talking to auntie ethel while my friends set up and set off a circle of flame barrels, so i got a front row seat of her being blown to smithereens.

act 2, also solid. i really enjoy quests that involve impacting a place in a really tangible way, like in okami, so the shadow-cursed lands were pretty cool. unfortunately, the game doesn't really show you this happening except a liiiiittle bit at the end, so it doesn't feel as good as it could. still, i liked exploring the area a lot. all of the mini-bosses of the area were unsettling, but we got past literally all of them via high charisma rolls. actually aside from the exploring, a lot of the fun was seeing how we could cheese boss fights, which carried into act 3

act 3 felt way more all over the place and buggy, which significantly lowered my enjoyment. ofc a game this massive will have issues, but i'm still sad that the last part of the game where everything crescendos is where i enjoyed the game the least. small things not working the way they're supposed to (e.g. certain npcs not running or climbing up a ladder when they are fleeing I'M TALKING TO YOU ZUMBO PUMBO AND FEATHERWEIGHT FALSON, astarion falling sleep to a spell even tho he's an elf during his end-of-quest fight). what sucks about things being so frustrating too was that the main quests had really great setups or concepts, but the execution was messy. still, we had a lot of fun messing with bosses. cazador couldn't do anything bc he was forced to dance while we killed him, orin was disintegrated, gortash turned to stone. kinda wild having a bard with 100% spell hit rate....!

i do wish we got to explore baldur's gate more. i totally get that would be a huge undertaking tho. i had a thought that maybe act 3 should've been its own game, but then i guess you couldn't call it baldur's gate 3 if you never get to baldur's gate. i didn't play the previous bg games, but i liked how they wove in the story from the previous installments and ttrpg modules without leaving newcomers to the series out of the loop too much.

i liked shadowheart's, astarion's, and wyll's quests a lot. the ansur part of wyll's was really cool. i adore trials to test character as a setup, especially ones administrated by some major figure. but also? fuck balduran for what he did to ansur and later to me. he's the city's hero, but he only really looks out for himself. which is cool for me as a viewer, not cool for the character i play as LOL

i have more thoughts but i will type them up here later maybe this has gotten long enoguh

[spider-xan]

I personally like when Curt is one of Peter's profs in college, which I was kinda expecting in the Insomniac game. It was mentioned in the first game that Peter was a teacher assistant at the ESU and I thought it was for Curt's classes. I think it would've added more emotional weight in Peter's quest to cure Curt in the second game, and would make players more invested if they've had some history together besides the Lizard thing. They didn't need to be super close, but Curt could've been someone that Peter respected and was familiar with.

Oh well.

Same, anon!

I'm very happy overall with what we did get in the Insomniac sequel game with Curt and he's definitely one of my favourite versions, but I was also disappointed when his intro scene at the EMF seemed to confirm that he and Peter don't have a relationship between their civilian identities, regardless of whether Curt knows he's Spider-Man or not; like you, I also thought that given Peter having been a TA, the official blurb for the Lizard on the PlayStation site saying they had first met in college (which could be interpreted in a few different ways), and how Peter obviously really cares about him in the gameplay preview that we were going to get them being close outside of Spider-Man things and that Curt was one of his ESU professors, but I guess not; it's also weird bc there was a post-release interview where they talked about how what makes the Spider-Man villains great is their personal relationships with Peter, and they specifically cited how Connors has that element of oh, he's not just a monster to beat up, but also Peter's professor whom he really likes and doesn't want to hurt, though I guess they were speaking more generally there.

At the very least, I think it would have been helpful to have a character bio provide more background information bc we really don't know much about their history and relationship, and every cut scene they had was focused on advancing the plot rather than developing their relationship - which is fine, but I do think it's part of a broader issue with the game feeling rushed and underdeveloped at times, especially in the third act, and I would have loved if they had some more personal scenes together outside of the Lizard campaign.

Something else that felt a little muddled was how there were moments where I wasn't sure if Peter actually cared about Curt for Curt's sake bc Peter does see him as a friend (beyond Peter being a hero who helps everyone) or if he only cared about him as a means to an end to help Harry, if that makes sense? Like in the church scene when he says, 'I'm just here to save my friend', it makes the most direct sense for him to mean Curt, but then I was like, wait, does Peter even see him as a friend in this universe, and if not, does he mean he's just here for his actual friend Harry and the serum only matters in the sense of bringing Curt back to help him? Especially considering how after the failed zoo rescue, the trio doesn't seem too concerned about Curt being stuck as the Lizard until they realize they need him to help Harry, which is weird writing, now that I think about it.

Anyway, I wonder how much of the seeming lack of closeness may be due to the fact that they didn't want to repeat a mentor relationship like the one the first game had between Peter and Otto, with the irony being that the Peter and Otto relationship in the Insomniac games is just like the Peter and Curt one in the 616 comics and some adaptations, namely the 90s animated series; I think it's completely possible for Peter to have two mentors in different areas though, instead of only one or the other - but I also wonder how much was also bc they had him be an Oscorp scientist involved with the symbiote, possibly with a previous day job as a medical doctor until the Lizard thing, and couldn't have him be a professor as well; I'd love to know at what point they decided to have him tied to that plot bc the symbiote was obviously there all along, and it's common in adaptations for Connors to be the symbiote expert, but I can't tell if he was linked to it from the start or if they had other possible ideas for him until deciding on that one.

[plasma-packin-mama]

Ok I've played fo4 for a few hours. And I'm not really hooked. Idk why :(

Here's my initial thoughts about it: (readmore bc long. Also if you hate seeing me livepost about fo4 you can block "#pia plays fo4")

This might make me sound really stupid but its been pretty confusing so far? I feel like I don't understand what a lot of the mechanics mean- like all the symbols in dialogue, I didn't know I was doing a persuasion check until it told me "persuasion attempt failed" and the guy I was talking to started attacking me LOL. The interfaces are all really hard to look at too it's hurting my eyes 😵‍💫

And I feel like I picked up a lot of weapons from enemies and it's hard to tell what to use, all the names are so similar and I don't really know what any of them mean, it's very overwhelming. I'm also having a hard time telling if weapons and armor break and how to repair them?

Also do all shops buy and sell stuff at like a 90% markup?? Why does Trudy want to buy my gun for 16 caps but sell me the same gun for 150 caps? That's mean, I killed a drug dealer for her why is she trying to scam me now?

Also the fact that I immediately got power armor and a minigun and killed a deathclaw was really startling like I feel like I missed something.... I'm surprised that happened at the beginning. I guess it's to show how eventually you'll be really strong once you have more batteries for your power armor? Also I spent like 30 minutes wandering around trying to find the power armor in the first quest. That's just because I'm stupid but im mentioning it anyway. I also had to look up how to get out of the power armor because I pressed every button on my keyboard and checked the controls tab and still couldn't figure it out. I swear I was less stupid when I played new Vegas the first time.

I also might need to try playing a different kind of character, because I was going for a kind of loner, out for themselves type of character but that's a little harder for me because I naturally just want everyone to hold hands and skip in a circle together.

I also feel like I don't really have anything to do yet besides help Preston and I'm not sure that would be the first thing my character wants to do, so maybe I should make the kind of character who wants to help Preston and it'll be easier. (I'm afraid I'll end up making Delilah 2.0 if I do that though)

LAST THING I DIDN'T KNOW CODSWORTH WAS SUCH A CATTY BITCH, CAN HE STOP BEING SO JUDGEMENTAL??

[noro-noro-noro]

I've genuinely been too lazy to write my dreams down in as much detail as I usually do & it's becoming annoying for me. it's bc I sleep too much when I don't have work on days I don't go in. hey on the bright side my dad said he was leaving on vacation "at the end of the week" so I assumed he meant today Friday but he actually meant Saturday!

anyway\

I was in my 2nd grade classroom but at college age. there was some kind of project where we had to pick a Minecraft seed & go through, but going through the world was actually more like subnautica. the water was clear. there were other divers & less sealife, but there were some. I remembered the cuddle fish & also something similar to the Mesmer but it just looked like floating anime eyes instead, but the lashes were teeth.. anyway once we came back up our seed spawned us the middle of the ocean, but there was a village nearby! I suggested we relocate to the village (we came back into the classroom) but my group members didn't understand they didn't have to build a house at spawn. it would be difficult to do an underwater house anyway... I said I'd go in & show them what I meant, but then the neighboring teacher came over & it was my 7th grade math teacher & he was apparently teaching something about modules and tesselations by using some dark blue origami thing I'd left in his classroom 10+ years ago, but it was fallint apart so he needed me to fix it & I was like yeah sure okay & tried fixing it, but I had no idea what it was that I'd made. the pieces kept slippinf out after I'd slot them together. it was getting annoying.

2. I just finished up at some kind of event with people from high school. I remember a dude named Alton, but he was walking around like color inverted in ms paint. the area was the shopping center with the Arby's that's about 10 min away from home, but the parking lots and in fact the entire layput had changed. it was around evening. I got to my car (it was parked bext.to some lime green jeep & the dude was like wow love the color of your car) (but my car is like plain silver) & started to drive away but he wasn't paying attention & almost walked in front like a moron!

anyway the parking lot was different. I couldn't figure out how to leave. there was some gas station place that also served bbq meat at one exit, which was blocked off & there was a tunnel with stairs heading down where I assumed I wasn't supposed to drive into so I turned around and parked somehwerr else. I was like dang I ca t figure out how to leave so I might as well buy dinner here & went to look for a restaurant I was interested in. there was a man with a quest marker at this one place that had no walls but it did have fluouescence & I was trying to ask about rgeir menu, butbhe was complaining about his fiance or maybe wife. she didn't care for him bc he was too gloomy, but he was gloomy bc she was mean to him & seemed very flighty. I saw there was a locked option under the dialogue tree for "how do I get out of here" called "after the divorce" that was in green, which meant it was positive & would give me an item or advance things somehow like unlocking the door. I remembered in one of the girls speech bubble at the gas station diner, she was complaining about her husband, so I went back down there. it smelled good so I tried to order something while chatting with her, & she was like "you're chill & easy to talk to." but she wasn't getting on the topic of her husband & instead asking what I was ginna order, but the menu she handed me was a scrap of lined paper that just had random stuff written on It & I was like where's the food ....

[erythristicbones]

OC Time! :3c

What is the relationship between two characters like and who's someone that comes and shakes that up?

OR! Alternatively (since I just had one I cant talk about yet) what's a big character or story breakthrough you've had recently? :0

Okay, since I'm working on revisions of my book EOTA today, I've got that story on the brain and I'm absolutely gonna talk about Kirsen!!! Specifically the relationship between Kirsen and Imogen, which gets touched on over a couple different chapters, but ultimately just can't be explored in-depth during the book itself. Also......this is gonna get long, fair warning AKDHDKFJDK

So, to start it all off: At the start of EOTA, it's only been a handful of months since Kirsen and Imogen ended their 1-2yr relationship. I think in the original draft I put a hard number on it, something like 6 months since they broke up? But I think it'll read better if I leave the period more up to interruptation. Anyways, the point is that Kirsen is someone who grows very, very attached to people and things are left unresolved.

Because it says from the get-go, from the very moment their past relationship is mentioned, that Kirsen and Imogen didn't break up because they stopped loving one another. In fact, they still have very strong feelings for one another. It's just that they recognized that they simply couldn't provide what the other needed and deserved in a relationship.

Imogen's aging mother is essentially the person in charge of their town, Pointes. She runs everything and keeps the town safe and functional. While she could have chosen anyone to take her place, she raised Imogen with the idea that she was going to inherit the position. This is the culmination of her entire life so far and really, Imogen does very much want the position.

Kirsen is someone who...well, there's several parts of her personality that come together in an unfortunate way. She was raised with a hunter's disposition; she needs to be out, she needs to be moving, she needs a job, she needs a prey. And unfortunately, Kirsen has a lot of trauma that she has been desperately trying to avoid acknowledging her entire life. If she stays in one place too long, she can't have a constant distraction, she can't hide her bad days from the people there, and she risks people trying to force her to acknowledge it.

Imogen needs a partner who will be there by her side, who will be the support she needs while she takes on a very taxing, pivotal role. Kirsen needs a partner who will be willing to travel with her, who will recognize her need to run and be there to pick up the pieces when everything does catch up to them. And no matter how hard they try, they are both intimately aware that they cannot provide those things for one another.

Ultimately, I think they both recognize this and yet cling to the hope that something in their lives will change and, magically, all of their differences will disappear and they will be able to live together happily.

[Enter Lucida] :)

Kirsen is now having to work with Lucida to save the world. It provides a great distraction from her struggles with Imogen- except that Kirsen thinks Lucida is attractive and falling for the person you're going on a perilous quest with is not exactly the brightest move. So now she's juggling feelings for two different people and knowing fully well that neither situation is ideal for her currently.

And there are specific scenes where Kirsen is clearly leaning into her attraction to Lucida so she can forget about Imogen, only to then have specific scenes where she (for instance) makes out with Imogen bc "surely this will absolutely help me not fall for Lucida and have no emotional repercussions at all".

Its- at the end of the day I think the three of them have such interesting dynamics with one another (and that's not even touching on Imogen/Lucida being weirdly passive aggressive and jealous of one another bc they both ALSO like Kirsen)and I can only scratch the surface of it in the book itself, bc technically the romance plays second fiddle to the Saving The World Shit ya know? I could write essays on these three idiots, I love them

[the-canine-king]

Okay so funny story, I was listening to Uninstall again and it became an earworm before I finally decided to check out the media where this song came from (or at least the manga), Bokurano

After reading the first volume I literally couldn't put it down and committed to finish reading it. Here's my honest thoughts on it (not really a formal review). Also I'm gonna spoil it bc there's no way not to spoil it if I want to talk about the story lol

First off, I'm actually a complete sucker for dark psychological/ existential stuff that talk about morality and life and don't mind darker tones being addressed in stories. The manga does not shy away from the ugliness and tragedy of it all and it's the centerpiece to a lot of the character's stories. Characters having to choose which choice is the "right" moral choice is always so fun to read. Plus, all of them don't share the same moral compass which is always so fun to read different perspectives and arguments. Compared to the saturation of "being the good hero" in stories, I love when characters are cruel and selfish for their own personal gain. I don't like them as a person but as a writing device? A painful yet entertaining read.

Despite the story being pretty simple (due to it feeling "episodic" since it just develops one pilot at a time) and predictable (in some parts lol), I really enjoyed the story through and through and in my opinion it worked pretty effectively. I was going to try to pick out a favourite pilot, but I honestly think almost all of them had a solid, satisfying story despite the tragedy. … Almost all of them.

Kanji's probably felt the weakest one. Each character had a chapter or so to establish who they are and their story so far. For Kanji, it almost felt incredibly nonchalant? Despite being the third last battle, it didn't feel completely satisfying on how it ended his story. Sure, it might've been set up for Ushiro's battle (the question of "would you kill an ally to save 10 billion?" leading up to "would you destroy a world to save your own?" all very fun moral conflicts), but it almost felt like there was no build up or "resolution". He died shooting an ally which is such a rough thing to put a kid through, but at least the others had some sort of "conclusion" on their life stories. (Such as having the resolve to protect others or having the last chance to be with a parent that neglected them) I did like that tactical planning involved and it was an incredibly depressing read when they were at their wits end. Him dying on top of his mother's building was really touching in a way(??? idk how else to explain) but again it was disappointing that there was not much with him.

Chizu's story I'm incredibly annoyed with. I wish nothing but a thousand deaths for the teacher and those associated with him. I'm so… fucking pissed that he got away with it. Like how?? AND he still got hired WHILE he's STILL doing that?? AND Like there was nothing in the story that pointed towards any good reason to keep him alive (revenge is bad, he's a good guy in a way now, people change, etc.) like MAYBE if there was some sort of discussion on the justice system or how things like these are always going to continue to happen to other girls (like the new girl he started talking to). But it was so dog ass lame that I seriously just couldn't believe he went away with it. I was shocked when Kirie stabbed him, I thought he killed him and it was going to be about the cycle of revenge or it contributes to his apathy towards life itself. While I highly enjoyed Kirie's story, I honestly think he should've killed him lol. Also, it's so fucking annoying that there was a whole discussion about the moral conflicts of protecting those close to you even if it means killing a stranger and then… Chizu's family is so okay with what happened between her and her sister?? Like I guess they wanted to show how despite it all she still killed many in her quest of revenge but at the same time she's your family member that got pregnant and raped by a teacher how is that in any way a good message. Chizu's sister pissed me the fuck OFF. "Oh I don't talk to him anymore" HOW ABOUT YOU FUCKING DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR SISTER…? PLUS, he was the major tip/ leak about the pilot's identities, if the government was so hellbent on making news outlets and tabloids keeping it a secret WHYYYY did they fucking release him??? I read someone's complaints about it on reddit and I completely agree w/ almost every point. Like idk about you but kids having innocent crushes on adults are completely normal, rapists and pedos are a terrifying reality that can happen to other people too. Doing nothing about said criminals either in a good or darker way? Absolutely unforgivable. Again, I would've been (to some extent) fine with it if there was SOME sort of discussion or critique about him getting away with it, but it's completely brushed off (worse that they tried to make Chizu JUST as bad as him).

And now with Machi… I'm incredibly conflicted on her story and twist. To be fair it was 3am and I was binge reading w/ a headache near the end so I probably missed a lot of details. But now that I'm awake and read some explanations about it I guess it works…? Again this is because I was completely confused during this time but now that I get it I think I have a new appreciation to the character. So at first it was gonna be rant but I concede since I'm actually just a dumbass lol.

Also I just want to say the art is seriously not as bad as people make it out to be lol. They make it sound like it's some amature work, but all of the characters have such a refreshing look to the style with their diversity of design. I mean it's not that extreme of a diversity but it's nice to see varied head and eye shapes in a manga since nowadays it's the same proportions.

EDIT: I forgot to say but idk how I felt about the kid's ages for the sake of the story. Like yeah it's children fighting a battle to determine which world gets to live and it's sad but at the same time it reads too mature for them? I suppose it's meant to be similar to a coming of age story and children being more philosophically open/ curious about life and death but lol. a fourth grader talking about the relationships and family blood in some mature way is kinda jarring

Overall, great story and great read. After clearing up my confusion I honestly think I might raise my score a little. 7.5/10 to maybe even an 8/10 (high maybe, i felt like it could've done a bit more but at the same time it was good enough?). Would highly recommend for those who like dark, depressing tales and a discussion on the importance of life and moral choices.

[fletchfeathers]

blorboposting ahoy bc this is too long for twitter but AAAAAAAAAA i am going insane over phoenix and i need to just spill my brainworms lol

obviously i'm not expecting anyone to read this esp if you're not in the campaign but if y'all want some came-back-wrong soup i gotchu

so for brief, brief context in case anyone who isn't blaze or dany reads this lmao: phoenix in this game is a Literal Phoenix, who reincarnates after an unspecified amount of time each time he dies; he's extremely New to his current life and still kind of regaining his old powers and memories and whatnot and we've been really delving into that in the game and it's been such good soup, bc in his past life he was a Conquest Paladin and a Champion of Tiamat and an absolute destructive violent force and phoenix now is a small, shy, doing-his-best sorcerer that couldn't be more different to The Firebird he used to be

and yeah i just . i'm so obsessed with this narrative thread that's forming after going back through his memories and confronting his Literal Past Self in a huge fight - a past self that was (is) like ... both a terrifying, extremely powerful warrior and a force of nature unto himself, but also very much A Very Morally Grey person where phoenix now is trying so, so hard to be as good as he's capable of being - and having that past self loathe what he became and be actively trying to kill him before phoenix could talk him down

but also having the knowledge/memories of that past self being the version that his husband fell in love with, that his red dragon found family still loves and misses, that basically was responsible for everything he has - or y'know at least everything he thought he had, because now he isn't sure if he's taking something that was never his from this person

and phoenix being just so lost in those feelings of like. yes i am the version of you that exists now. i am so different and so much less in so many ways, and i don't remember all these people that seem to remember us so fondly, and you left such an unbelievably vast legacy to fill that i don't know if i can live up to, and i am terrified of you because you being part of me means i am completely capable of doing all of those terrible things you did when left unchecked, that the world is so incredibly fucked because of you but also because of me even though i only just remember doing any of it, and i can tell that all these people i have come to love and cherish are yearning for that version of me that ... well, didn't exist, but now does, again, for me to actively witness being adored by them, and feeling like i am the ghost here and not the one whose soul was ripped back out of the afterlife to be sent on a vengenace quest to destroy my current self by the Campaign's Current Big Bad

and i can't deal it's so fucking good i can't wait to see where it goes and how it resolves in the end i'm. oughghgoghfuhgdhuihagfjklfjsd chews the paint off the waaaaaalls

[questersrest]

okay long ramble incoming, here's a readmore

some characters have titles in some japanese media. unfortunately, dq9 is not one of them and i'm no expert on this so i couldn't point you to media where many characters' titles are used if it exists. (i'm sure it does, but my dq knowledge only really covers the newer english versions of games)

i only know dq10 has some titles and that dqmbrv does use them and a few characters have finishers

運命の天使ラヴィエル参上！

運命の天使 (unmei no tenshi) like i've said is her title: angel of fate. well transliterate it how you want. 天使 literally means something like heavenly envoy, idk of a better word than angel but they're called celestrians in the localisation ofc, and 運命 is fate, destiny, any other synonyms i can't think of. so celestrian of destiny, angel of fate, fateful celestrian, word it how you like.

ラヴィエル (ravieru) like i've said is her name: raviel. okay it could be like ravier or laviel or lavier. but -iel is in a lot of angel names as 'el' means god and laviel sounds dumb. she may be named after the angel raziel

参上 (sanjо̄) is the verb meaning uh

so let's say

運命の天使ラヴィエル参上！

means "Angel of Fate Raviel visits!"

i guess it's possible i'm misinterpretting and all celestrians are angels of fate when given a full title? it's hard to say bc i have no other source right now with titles and the only other celestrian i'm aware of with a finisher in dqmbrv are:

nine who gets

守り人ナイン参上！

Mamoribito Nain sanjо̄!

"Guardian Nine visits!"

mamoribito could be translated is defender, guardian, sentinel perhaps. you know dq9, the premise is that they're guardian angels and the subtitle refers to them as sentinels. put it how you like.

and well, all the final bosses have finishers so corvus has uhh, well there's no "x visits!" line but they do all have a description of what they do but let's just take the name from it

堕天使 (datenshi) is his title: fallen angel... i do wonder if he had a title previously

エルギオス (erugiosu) i'm not sure on what this is meant to be. like elgios? ergios? i'm gonna go out on a limb and say elgioth bc that sounds more angelic

i didn't know the kanji 堕 but since 天使 is angel, i knew this was gonna be fallen angel before even looking it up.

----

now on that second point, about aquila and pavo being twins. i had no memory of that fact bc it's mentioned in a postgame downloadable quest. i didn't do much of the postgame when replaying 9, so i haven't done that quest since like maybe 2012-2014. so that you for mentioning it so i looked it up to check

i know people like to think of celestrian apprentices as their kids like aquila is nine's dad and corvus is aquila's dad and nine's grandpa. so it's important to mention pavo is nine's aunt

also i'm so glad i looked it up too because she specifically talks about changing aquila's destiny a few times and

angel of fate has to be her title. not only that, corvus is the one who helped her realise she's trans, and to open the rapportal is an allegory for being trans.

the rapportal is how one player steps into another player's world, to see the same world in a different way, to 'push ajar the gate of fate' to live the same life in a new way, a new identity, you see what i'm saying?

[birdsareblooming]

Y'know what, fuck the internet; Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric is a good game. Not because of the story writing, but because an enemy dodged Sonic's spin attack once and he just had an existential crisis right there on the spot and it was so fucking funny for some reason.

Rise of Lyric is an interesting case. ESPECIALLY when comparing it to 06.

RoL I could see being a good game if given so much more time. Like, an entire other year in development before release. It had ideas but not enough time to flush them out or even think about doing it well. You can tell there's so much they wanted to do and couldn't. There's opaque models of collectibles you can't collect, and voice lines for Shadow (And Perci and Sticks also I think) like drowning sounds that imply that they were supposed to be playable.

Also, RoL didn't really know it's identity. You can tell that by playing/watching it. It's not sure what it is. The DS games and the show are infinitely better in this regard because they fully know what they are. The show is a workplace comedy but with Sonic characters, and the DS games play into that. Cutscenes from RoL are incredibly different from DS cutscenes and the show (which are very similar) That understand that these characterizations are for comedic purposes, and although stakes are allowed it's never taken too seriously by anyone. In RoL they treat lyric like Darth Vader, in Shattered Crystal Sticks and Amy separately joke and threaten to make him into shoes, and the game ends with Shadow kicking him out of a plane. RoL tried to be too serious and it didn't work with the characterizations. RoL is very different from the show where we cut to Sonic and Tails eating a comically large sandwich and Sonic calls it a "comically large sandwich" after hearing Eggman was suing him. Meanwhile the DS games (Which were actually finished btw) keep that same feeling of Boom.

The difference between RoL and 06 is 06 had less of a chance of being a close to flawless game in my mind. Yes oh I WISH we got it finished, but unless they wanted to redo a bunch of shit, we'd still have the weird age gap human girl romance and making a 15yo choose between a 17yo and a 12yo. And honestly, that part is what weighs the game down so much. Not even Elise as a character (tho I wish they expanded on her more) just that weird push for a romantic part. Honestly other than that, it's mostly gameplay. The story is interesting and Silver fucking rules, but it's sometimes almost impossible to play (See: It's No Use) Either because of glitchiness or they just didn't care enough to make it easier.

Both of these games aren't talked about how they should be. It's always "lol they suck lol" or "oh they suck bc they're sonic games" when that's not going deep into it at all. Looking into why the games aren't great not only can help the developers in the future, but makes a good understanding of why, instead of just saying "oh bc it's a sonic game"

I can't call them good games, but I can't call them bad games either. Unlike some bad games I've seen, RoL and 06 had the opportunity to be great, it was just the studio that forced them to rush it out that made them how they are. Which is why people saying "lol it just sucks" isn't really giving it it's due. I've seen... so much worse games. I've seen Frogger the Great Quest, I've seen the fucking smarties game, Fuck, the new fallout game is probably just as if not MORE glitchy than 06 and boom.

They're interesting studies in not just Sonic games, but games as a whole, and how even though these are clear examples to take time making games, even still companies don't listen.