#but have seen all of the original material and hidden stuff

[coldilikeit]

Isekai reader x Batfam (Neglected au)

Female reader

Chapter 6- The mission is non-existent

TW: School shooting

______________________________

Damian looks around the room, it feels more like an apartment rather than a room

"No wonder the miss rarely comes down for food, with the amount of kitchen appliances here she'd rival a small town restaurant..." Alfred chuckles, he looks at the expensive, top grade materials

"There's nothing in the fridge though..." Jason grumbles, Duke is asleep beside you holding your hand and Bruce admires the scene "That's enough, stop rummaging through your sister's stuff"

He looks around your room, pictures of your friends, you at parties, you at school events, how the fuck?, you held your own charity gala? How??? Where did you get the money? How did this not reach him?

"hng- ow- What the fuck!?" You wake up and you see the cast of the Addams family surrounding you

"Don't try to overdo it" Dick helps you sit up

"Huh?"

Reader! You are fucked, everyone's hatred meter has gone down to 10%, EVEN DAMIAN AND JASON'S METER

You shift further away from Dick, his gaze turns sad sensing your discomfort with him, he really needs to change that

"Is there something you need?" Duke asks, he holds your hand tight, "Do you need us to do something?" Asked Tim

"Can you all please leave my room..." You say and you see that Bruce hesitates "Are you sure? You might need assistance?"

Reader, make them go away, it keeps on dropping! If it reaches zero you'll fail!

"There's no need, it was just fear gas..."

_____________________________

School was absolute shit.

Damian had pulled you away from your friends to eat with you during recess, you'd also found out Tim bribed the principal to switch your classes so you'd have the same as his

Some of your friends are annoyed that your siblings are meddling, they've never eaten lunch with you before? Why now? And others are cooing, they've never seen you interact with your siblings, and the fact your gentler with your friends than your siblings makes them happy

Your teachers are grateful that you manage to tame Damian

"(Name)! I watched your violin concert last night! You were amazing!" Says a student, you smile "Thank you!"

Then the student's mood shifts "I heard that the route you were taking home was attacked by both the Joker and Scarecrow right? Are you okay?" They ask, the surrounding students get curious but don't necessarily engage

"yeah... I'm fine" you say, you're trying to think of ways to differentiate the topic, the student gasps "Oh but I saw on the news that you were one of scarecrow's victims! And that you inhaled the fear gas..." She says as she smirks, "I don't really want to talk about it, and I'm fine..." You answer

"Oh but-" Damian grabs her arm and pushes her away from you "She says she doesn't want to talk about it? Why are you pushing?! Are you really worried or you just wanted gossip?" He snarls

You see the girl wince but smiles anyway "ah right... Sorry"

And then it hit... An attack? It hits your school so fast, the students scream and panic, "Everyone out!" Shouted a security guard, you hear a bunch of gunshots in the halls and the screams from that direction become quieter until it stopped completely see

Are you serious?

A school shooting.

Never in your original years and reincarnated years combined have you ever been so fucking scared and pissed off at the same time

First and foremost, you just survived the mother fucking scarecrow, now you have to survive guns?

Damian holds your hand and runs away with you, "What are you doing!? You're supposed to save people!?' you whisper-yell to him, he gets you to a hidden area and hands you a small dagger he hid in his socks, he looks at you worryingly "Stay here, wait till I get back-"

"They've been apprehended!" yelled a student, "Well... There's no need for that huh?", slowly you and Damian walk out of the room to see what happened? Did another bat get them already? Was it Tim?

Then you see her.

In a hero costume, trapping the shooters with what seem to be magical ropes, her costume design looked like it was stolen from my hero academia

"There's no need for all of you to worry, for I Protagonist has taken care of them, they'll be handed over to the police" she says

"Did she really name herself 'Protagonist'?" Tim comes from behind you looking baffled at the name choice

"At least she saved us" you say

_____________________________

Hey so do you guys remember that one comment about the family couch on chapter 2? And how all the years of living there you never sat on it? Well after days of the family trying to get you to watch a movie with them on the couch, you confessed you feel weird about sitting somewhere sacred to them

You come home after volunteering at a soup kitchen that the family couch is gone, replaced by a new pristine couch with comfortable pillows

Stephanie smiles at you "You're back! Wash up, the family is watching a movie" mixed in her voice a tone of dominance, you can't say no

You find yourself huddled up, you feel yourself sweating as Tim curls up on you and Cass is leaning on your shoulder, Dick hand you the remote "You pick" she says

You scroll for a few moments and you feel the family get a bit impatient, so you click on the nearest movie you find

Bad idea.

It was a movie about a dog being abandoned by their owner in a hike and as they try to find their way home they die

You're in shambles, you've watched people die in movies, either terminal illnesses, a series of unfortunate events, murder, you've cried to some, some didn't phase you

But a sad dog movie?

You are wrecked, Jason hands you your 3rd tissue pack, your inconsolable, you hate animals getting sad endings, the. Titus licks your hand, Damian brought him to console you, while Bruce chooses another movie, this time he chose a dog movie with a happy ending, you hugged Titus the whole night

It happened to you before, when you and your friends were in a really lengthy assembly, they fell asleep on your shoulders, you made it your mission to not move at all, you didn't want to wake them, you liked that they learned on you for comfort

But Tim and Cass sleeping on you, you have no idea what to do, your instincts that you got because of your friends tell you to stay still so they'd be comfortable

Another part of you is screaming that if you don't move the hatred meter will go down

And go down it did

Everyone is down to 2%, you can't let it get to zero, you can't

Bruce looks at you "(Name) about your upcoming 16th birthday-"

He sees you asleep, he smiles and admires his children

Matter of fact you were just pretending to be asleep, if you hear another birthday party plan you'll die, last year you had that Damian excuse, but now? You're out of reasons to not have that stupid party

So you sleep...

Oh well look at all of you...

What a happy family.

You're done for.

_____________________________

Damian: I need to place (Name) in a safe space before helping

Protagonist: the job is done

Tim: Tacky fucking name

_____________________________

@jellyedkazoo @vanilliona @shyenemyperson @popboomcha @plsfckmedxddy @devotedlyshamelessdetective @dorkatron-2000 @yuyuzi-ling @sweetsugerskull @butratherbutrather @yu-reiii @clementinesyummy @lfiee @iamapotatoe @type-ink @unknownloner1345 @randomlyappearingartist @justatimidcreator

[elementroar]

Analysis behind the backstory and personal story arcs of A.B.A. and Paracelsus (part 1)

Sorry for the people who waited. Technical and real life delays and all that. On the positive, I happened to run into new resources in the past two days that have helped lining up the facts easier.

Anyway, I originally wanted to compress all the lore into a single post, but I find it’s so much more massive once you really dig into the analysis between the story across multiple mediums, the in-game animations and interactions etc. To make this more readable for you all and to make creating these posts faster, I’m going to separate them up into parts that focus on different facets of their relationship and lore as I progress through them.

This first part goes into their origins, and I hope this big post helps to thoroughly explain who/what A.B.A. and Paracelsus are, their backstories prior to STRIVE, and my own analysis sprinkled on top. I want to try to keep the info/lore dump minimal and focused, so if I mention a character without elaborating, I’ll leave a link but if I’m not elaborating more, it’s because they’re not relevant to A.B.A/Paracelsus' stories that much.

Related links:

Analysis of Paracelsus' initial bloodlust and its longlasting effects on A.B.A (Part 2)

This is the "Why ABA and Paracelsus can feel horny" lore/theory post

Flament Nagel - Paracelsus’ true form theory

The Red King and White Queen alchemical concept in A.B.A and Paracelsus’ relationship

The beginning with A.B.A.

First off, to introduce their individual origins, it’s easiest to start with A.B.A. She’s a homunculus, an artificial lifeform created by a scientist in his mansion, which was located in the mountains of a region called Frasco or Flask. But before she was ‘born’, her creator had been taken away by the military for his skills in creating artificial life, and so A.B.A. woke up alone.

Despite this, within the 10 years she spent alone in the mansion she was able to learn to read, write, and even create some alchemical magic (seen in some of her attacks in games before -STRIVE-). It’s assumed either she was created with a set of memories and skills, or she naturally learns very quickly. It’s probably due to reading leftover journals and research materials that she even learnt her creator’s name was Paracelsus.

Technically, A.B.A. could’ve left the manor quite easily, there was even a village not far from them. However, she understood that she knew nothing about the world outside and was scared to leave the safety of the manor by venturing outside to explore the unknown world. But she did yearn for freedom and to leave Frasco, so she took to fixating on keys, which she found fascinating in being able to unlock doors to different places.

In the last bit of her 10 years in Frasco, A.B.A would accidentally cross paths with the hidden the demon axe Flament Nagel (which she would later rename to ‘Paracelsus’ in honour of her creator, or just cos that’s the only other name she actually knew).

What’s a demon axe doing here anyway?

So what is Paracelsus? He is what’s known as a magical foci, which are objects or even people that get a soul or a collection of memories/emotions/desires attached to them, which eventually leads to them gaining sentience and often supernatural abilities. They draw from the Backyard, which is basically where the information that makes up all reality is stored in the Guilty Gear world, and also the source of magic. This is the origin of ‘demons’ within the GG world, like Paracelsus.

The story of how Paracelsus/Flament Nagel ended up in Frasco actually involves the ancient Nightwalker (technically not a vampire but he's basically a vampire without the bad stuff) known as Slayer.

Now Slayer is this incredibly old, incredibly strong vampire Nightwalker, who nonetheless is a very nice guy who doesn’t need to feed on regular people because his wife, Sharon, is a deathless woman that he can feed on indefinitely without worrying about her dying.

Because of his immense age (AFAIK he’s the oldest of the main GG cast) and overwhelming power (he always holds back in-game), he has very insightful observations of Paracelsus and A.B.A.

The following screenshots are excerpts taken from the English transcript (available here) translated from the Night of Knives Vol.2 audio drama CD (you can listen to it here), and are from the perspective of Slayer recounting his encounters with Paracelsus and A.B.A.

Sometime near the end of the 100 year long war between Gears and humans known as the Crusades, Slayer was roaming a battlefield and came across a mountain of corpses of both Gears and humans. In the middle of it was a wandering blood covered warrior that was swinging an axe wildly. After confronting the man, Slayer realized that it was the axe that was the true master, the man had already lost his mind and was under its full control.

That axe called itself Flament Nagel aka the Flaming Nail, or the Sanguine Gale. I'll still be referring to him as Paracelsus at this point in time though.

Now magical foci start off simple-minded, only repeating small word fragments, and evolve over time to become more intelligent and sapient. At this point, young Paracelsus was a demon axe who had just gained sentience on that battlefield. Hot-headed and hungry for blood, and wanting to prove his combat superiority, he challenged Slayer and got curb stomped. Slayer was disappointed in how primitive Paracelsus still was in mind and soul, so he left him there to rust.

However eventually, Paracelsus was picked up from that battlefield and was sent to the alchemist Paracelsus, creator of A.B.A. We don’t know if the alchemist knew what the demon axe was, or whether he even requested him specifically for research. But the alchemist ultimately didn’t let Paracelsus out, not letting him take control over him and hiding him somewhere in the depths of his mansion.

(Inaccurate information removed, updating with A.B.A.'s JP GG World entry from XRD)

It would be after A.B.A.’s 10 year long isolation that she decided for reasons unknown, to leave the mansion and explore the outside world. By pure chance, she comes across Paracelsus, who because kinda resembled a key, she immediately picked up and she fell in love with him and decided they were married from then on.

Becoming her key

It's always been known that Paracelsus has some form of empathic abilities, and that he could tell that A.B.A. was fixated on keys and assumed the shape of a giant key to entice her to wield him. This was also the first ‘manipulation’ that Paracelsus admitted he had done to A.B.A. during their heart-to-heart talk.

It’s been further clarified in this recent interview, that it wasn’t so much Paracelsus deliberately taking the form of a key to attract ABA, but because ABA had been so heavily fixated on keys that she saw Paracelsus as a key straight away. That image she had of him as a key seemed to immediately imprint itself on him the moment she touched him, because of his true nature as “an axe (that) transforms into the owner’s image” of what his wielder wants him to be.

Slayer actually did mention this was likely the case over 20 IRL years ago in the audio drama CD, when he observed Paracelsus behaviour with A.B.A. in their second encounter.

Because A.B.A. never sees Paracelsus as a weapon, Paracelsus began to change to fit her ideal of what she saw him as, to become something more than just a weapon, and allowing Paracelsus to truly change and evolve physically and emotionally.

It’s important to note, Paracelsus isn’t bound to his wielder, and he doesn’t HAVE to allow this to happen either. Despite being dragged around by A.B.A. and acting like he has no autonomy; he actually has all the power to stop her from the start.

As Slayer notes, Para still has the power to completely take over A.B.A. 's mind and force her to do what he wants if he is truly unhappy. However he has never even threatened A.B.A. with this ability, and if not for Slayer knowing his past, no one would know Paracelsus actually can do this.

Whether consciously or subconsciously, Para was becoming more than just a demon axe from the moment he met A.B.A., and in his heart of hearts, he was begrudgingly accepting of his then situation-ship with her.

Fast forward to STRIVE and it's shown that he still continues to evolve to fulfill her 'vision' of what he is. When described as becoming more key-like, it's more obvious when you place both his old and new design side-by-side.

Notably, the blade part of his axe form has gotten smaller by STRIVE, just as he has sworn off violence and bloodshed by STRIVE.

It's even shown in how A.B.A. wields him., especially when Para partially possess or influences A.B.A. in his Muroha mode in the old games (mechanically this is the Jealous Mode in STRIVE). A.B.A. would wield him like a proper 'axe' blade-first in XX/ACCENT CORE. In STRIVE, since A.B.A. is now the dominant one in Jealous Rage mode, she doesn't wield him like an axe and now wields him by...bashing his head into people.

(Also I'll be going over the in-game animations and what they convey in a future post, don't you worry! You can view the comparison compilation here first.)

This even is shown in how A.B.A. uses Paracelsus as an actual key in her Overdrive "Keeper of the Key", which is a new move for her.

If we go further, I have speculated in this semi-crack theory that due to A.B.A. also interjecting her ideal of Paracelsus being her spouse over the years, that him actually 'reacting' to her advances now could also be an example of his evolution.

Even if he's trying REAL hard not to.

Hope this was an enjoyable read, let me know if you have any suggestions for improving readability or other stuff. Feel free to ask me questions through the inbox in the mean time that I'm working on the next part.

The next part is going to be analyzing and comparing Paracelsus' XX/ACCENT CORE Muroha mode to STRIVE's Jealous Rage mode, which has quite a bit of detail from comparing their effects on A.B.A. in in-game sprites/animations, plus how it reflects on the change in their power dynamics between games.

Edit: Part 2 available here

[master-of-the-game]

seeing you make oil paintings of elim garak has changed something about the way i perceive art, both in what others make but also in what i am capable of making.

it’s probably due to learning mostly euro-centric art history, but i’ve always thought of oil paintings as like the peak of painting ability? like, it’s fancy and it takes a while so i thought that it must be the best (ignoring the fact that my artistic field is mostly in acrylic paints and 3D sculpting and yet i still consider it very good). and i’m still working on disproving this sort of mentality that there are mediums inherently better than others, because it’s incredibly limiting to my creativity to impose a higharchy, and also it feels kind of xenophobic.

i digress a bit. point is, i’ve viewed oil paintings as a medium only deserving of gallery-type realistic portrait stuff, which is very much not what i do. i don’t make the sorts of fancy art rich people would pay for- the type of art i thought oils were for. i make paintings of comic book characters and sculptures of my personal heroes, i make jewelry and clothes and stuffed animals. stuff that i enjoy. which is good!

but still somewhere lurking in my brain was this voice telling me that on some level my works weren’t as meaningful or creative because they were fan works or made from materials i’m not an expert in or because the only people i draw and paint and sculpt are queer and trans, like me. that because my art was self-indulgent, on some level i suppose i thought it lesser.

but then i see your art. and holy shit! you’re work is INCREDIBLE! at first i was excited because, hey, i’m a big star trek fan, and garak is one of my favorite characters. i love coming across fan art of him, and it always manages to strike a chord with me. but then. as i looked at it closer, i realized it was on canvas. as i scrolled down i realize it was oil on canvas.

before, i’d pretty much only seen fanart as sketches on paper or digital drawings. one that is really only meant art-wise for quick sketches or planning of what will become “real” works, and one that doesn’t actually take up any physical space in our world, and is stored away in a little digital file.

but oil on canvas? that’s not meant to be thrown away, it’s meant to be held in gloved hands, as it is precious, and it’s not meant to be hidden away in the “files” on a laptop. no, those hang on the walls of museums or houses, meant to be displayed with pride for all to see.

and with those too colliding thoughts, that of fan works as some lesser form of art but oil paintings being the art of the rich and talented… well i realized that both were wrong. fan works are not in any way shape or form lesser than original works. what makes my layered ink painting of dream of the endless any less important than my painting of the ocean during a storm? nothing! they’re both good works. and on the other side, there is nothing that makes my oil paintings more important than my acrylic paintings or my sculpture or my knitting. it’s all art, lovely art, in the end. and the only thing that really matters is that i enjoy it.

seeing your art has helped me break some (minor) yet harmful thoughts i didn’t really even realize i had. so thank you for that. also your garak art is fucking good, and it really makes me think about what sort of life he would have after ds9. anyways, thank you. that’s what i’ve been meaning to say (that’s what this whole thing is). thanks for changing my vision for the better.

Oh wow! You know, it is very important and gratifying to know that results of your work make person rearrange their thoughts and views on something. Thank you for your sincerity! Now back to subject. I personally believe that fan work can be something fine and vice versa something fine can be a fan work. One thing that is very important to remember and remind yourself is that most of fine art that you've mentioned - gallery and most famous works (at least in european tradition) - are, well, derivative. Of Bible, of ancient myths. Yes. All this stuff can be considered maybe not fanart - but it is a subject for discussion - but illustration at least. And it is still fine art. Book illustrations - oh well. Sometimes I want to hang them on the wall, especially old ones. So - why not? Fan work always has a connotation of something derivative, and it certainly is... But just as well as most of the most prominent works. Dixi :D So that's the matter. Medium of course matters but medium does not always define the subject of art (except for common sense), as you've said. It's just maybe the cost of medium (some watercolor brushes for some reason cost... ehm. Too much :D) that defines its price, but not necessarily. I like thinking about this issue and discussing it... Plenty room for ideas. Thank you!

[skelekins]

<< >>

Have some copy pasta Gen Swapfell-Facet Lore from my notes app

Disclaimer: messy

Muffet - Snowdin tea and bakery owner. Close relationship with Skeles. Puts cayenne pepper in many versions foods - spicy sweets. Has a few (like 3) setup for spider checkers - a checkers game with an otcoganol board. Waffle-coffee house. Speciality is spider Waffles, Soft Boiled spider Eggs, and Spider coffee

Muffet is a very hairy spider/rancho with scales/hairs all over body like the fluff of a moth. Helps with insulation. Smaller spider monsters are primarily covered in fluff for extra insulation with only tips of legs visible. Spiders wear little uniforms - usually hats/ribbons/tassels

Diner is covered in trap magic - one of many reasons no one causes a lot of trouble - snowdin in general assumed to be covered

Unlike skelebros Muffet can completely hide her trap magic unless someone is looking for it. Or at the very least her anchors are extremely small/needs less.

Smaller spiders may also use trap magic -> mainly just related to their physical silk.

Silk is heavily used in wardrobe and general materials.

Muffet must be seated the majority of the time the diner is open due to outgrowing the building. She doesn’t need to move much to reach every corner of the diner.

Double doors allow Muffet to leave through front if needed but she prefers to use the basement exit that leads to an enlarged basement - big enough for her to move properly, with a separate door out the back of the diner.

Muffet does not often actually leave and the back door is usually locked tight and hidden behind trash and webs. Since she has space to move in her home below she doesn’t see a lot of reason to leave.

Enjoys cooking and making sweet confections with her kin. Finds Sans and Papyrus cute - seen Papyrus grow up. A little older than Sans.

Spider eggs served to help keep populations acceptable. Boiled in a dust bath -> turning the interior monster into a weird edible savory jelly-like creature that is excited to be eaten. They feel no pain and usually find weird entertainment from being eaten in pieces. Not offended if eaten head first.

Diner spiders may actually be at LV 2 -> spiders have their own leveling customs. Basement spiders LV 1 - part of why Muffet and Diner Spiders are partial to Paps and Sans

“Muffet’s”? Like Grillby’s?

Grillbys - bar and grill

muffets - cafe and diner

While being a diner doesn’t actually care how long anyone is there. Closes late opens early -> most of Muffets time is dedicated to business with closing hours uses for rest, self care, and baking for the next day.

Probably has early days and maybe takes a “Websday” off once a month or so. !!she would be big enough and strong enough to easily go to Hotland or the capital if she wanted fancier supplies. !! <- gives part of reason for being so dedicated to the diner. Maybe gets special stuff for her kin/herself. Also cares about residents of Snowdin in her own way.

Like the idea of some of the bigger spiders acting rough and having little spiked bats to emphasize her kind of hard-punk/street gang aesthetic

15' 3"

Alphys - captain of the guard, watches over Waterfall but mostly has attention elsewhere ruling by name alone. Has Stone generally look after it. Originally from Hotland, met Undyne while stationed in Waterfall. Ascends (playing with words dunno if like that) in genocide route. Maybe something Al or Alph <- not a lot of options even with Alf.

Absolute Alphys? Alphys Ascendant

Her gameplay is similiar to Undynes except instead of blocking the player has to shoot her attacks like a game of asteroids.

Undyne - Royal scientist spicy fish yandere-like/light. Drinks beer enjoys super violent manga. Mew Mew -> Bork Bork

Jewel has a rough relationship with Undyne. Initially they were friends but after Undyne met Alphys she started to gain more level. It once got away from her and Jewel had to shortcut away from her as she was undeterred by Sans protection due to her own relationship with Alphys. She moved to Hotland not long after; secretly regretting her actions and not trusting herself in Waterfall any longer.

Napstablook -> Retraton - RTT // Retraton Para -> translates into shared HP forcing use of consumables along with cursor that copy’s players movements // maybe Retrabot to play off being an automaton vs mettaton being robot // Retrabot Para

Retraton held in place/ can’t move legs. Instead commands show through others monsters/puppets/effects. Usually broadcasts tragedies. (stone in turn loves tragedies lmao)

Has Rounded mascot form - form that is held in place. Para is transformation - still held but with extending arms.

Retraton Para - has extra arms.

"Oh yes~" -> "Oh no :("

Previously Napstablook -> taken to Undyne when Alphys found her missing her home; neighbor of Undyne. Forced into robot when he kept trying to return home.

Songs are very sad and yearning. TV shows are A Lot but also uses a lot of effects because it’s not like there’s infinite monsters.

May not actively star is show frequently but instead use puppets || marionette puppets his cast and narrates -> sometimes puppets are real monsters Retraton has some sort of relationship with surrounding monsters hinting at his Para form.

Para - kills Undyne before protag can activating Para form. Para uses Undynes soul. Might kill surrounding monsters / connected monsters as well.

Retraton - no use of legs - part of why puppets. Maybe needs to remain charged or frequently and feels more comfortable plugged in.

Arms > legs.

Box Form -> literally just a box with arms - no wheel. Has to drag himself or walk with his arms. Maybe has a hover butt? Or a skateboard. Or has lots of little legs. Roomba.

Mettaton(MTT)- Hapstablook

Instead of lie on the floor feeling like garbage they sit on the roof and consider love.

Gaster and Riverperson -

Stay in their respective posts however Gaster speaks in song and the Riverperson speaks in hands

Riverperson - gondola (gondoga) dog theme, speaks in hands, gondola above river because river water is too dangerous

Grillby - fire sale; father of fireflies literally flames with wings. Has a pet Fryfly - long fry-like fly. Instead of forcing player onto strings covers the field with hazards and fire. Have to switch and jump over between flames.

Pacified by firesauce (increases damage, possible burn damage, take one damage for spice) or Frenchfire (a firefly with an exploding baguette - covering the board around you in fire for one turn and burning any incoming attacks) or the purchase of either from his Hotland firesale.

Prices may be inverted to some extent -> Hotland Prices are cheaper but u need both items to pacify him. Ruins are achievable but ridiculously expensive. Only need one to immediately pacify him. Differentiated by name is Hotland Firesauce vs Old/Ruin Firesauce

All Dog references -> Cats (and vice versa)

Dog Squad -> Cat Squad

Annoying Dog -> Adorable Cat

[ariannadi]

A Kinda Halfway Review of Veilguard:

It's not Origins.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, I can honestly say this game is very good. I had my (warranted) skepticism after it was in development hell forever but you can tell that the team really did work hard to create a new and enjoyable experience that still has some nods to its original source material.

That being said,

The Things I Like:

The game is extremely polished and runs amazingly, even with my last gen computer. I haven't had any glitches or bugs of any kind, which is like, amazing. Not even BG3 was bugless upon release.

On that note, the graphics are beautiful, and the kinda cartoony look everyone was turned off by actually looks decent enough when in constant motion. Even still I know the art design isn't gonna be everyone's cup of tea.

The world building is great, I'm constantly on the edge of my seat as to what I'm going to find out next and while I initially was like "spoilers w/e" now I'm like I DON'T WANT TO KNOW *ANYTHING* PREMATURELY

The gameplay is actually really fun! It took me a bit to get used to but the combat is very engaging and only having two companions at your side kinda works in this instance since you can give them commands in real time. The abilities are flashy and I like the ability tree, there's a lot of different branches to experiment with.

Alongside combat, I like that the companions are actively a part of the battle and give you pointers as to where enemies are located. It's saved my ass more than a couple times lol

The music and sound design is very satisfying. I'm not in love with the ost, I think Hans Zimmer could've gone a bit harder with the scores, but it's enjoyable enough.

Character Creation is very good, I love how my Rook turned out! (ALSO THEM HAIR PHYSICS MMMMMPH)

I only have 6/7 companions currently, but 3/7 are really interesting and have good voice acting. We'll see how I feel about them all by endgame.

I like that they shrunk down maps from Inquisition, they feel just big enough to do some poking around for hidden things but not so big that you're running through an endless desert with nothing in it (Hissing Wastes *cough*)

The Things I Don't Like:

The dialogue could be better, it does feel very exposition-y and elementary at times.

A valid complaint I've seen is that the words the dialogue tree show aren't the ones that come out of your character's mouth. And yeah, none of that stuff matches up.

The beginning parts, though I understand it was tutorial-esque, had a lot of unnecessary hand holding. Eventually I turned off hints cause like, I'm not a child I can figure out stuff after the first time doing it.

I find some of the characters very flat, and I'm not sure if this is just voice direction or what but they could be a little more enthusiastic with their acting.

I HATE that there's so much shit from the books and extra media that a lot of people (including me) don't know as we likely didn't buy that stuff and are just kinda expected to know it all going into this. Thankfully a character will say one or two sentences alluding to something that happened cause otherwise I would have no flipping clue. Like what happened to Leliana? Why is Charter Spymaster for the Inquisition now? Another reason only having three choices from the previous games kinda ruins some things.

On that note, only three choices from the previous games?? Really??

Overall, I'd give it a 7/10 as it stands. Not amazing or anything groundbreaking, but it's enjoyable enough, and personally I'm having fun with it.

[flash-the-readies]

Pink Floyd Songs I recommend that are not “Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2″, “Money”, “Wish You Were Here”, and so on

So I was inspired by @afemalesebastian​ ‘s post about the Kinks and decided to do the same with a band that I have spent extensive time with and feel confident saying that I know their catalogue fairly well. Anyways, go check out all the Kink’s bangers they mentioned.

This is my personal list and isn’t based on anything other than “I really love this song”. I tried to stay away from the big four concept albums of “Dark Side”, “Wish You Were Here”, “Animals”, “The Wall”... the only advice that can be given for those is: listen to the whole album. One last thing, all songs are best experienced through headphones.

The Entire “Hour With Pink Floyd” KQED radio set

Setlist: Atom Heart Mother Suite; Cymbaline; Grantchester Meadows; Green is the Colour; Careful With that Axe, Eugene; Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun

I Attached a link to the Youtube playlist because I don’t think Spotify has these versions, and also it’s great fun to watch. This setlist includes a. lot of early 70s Pink Floyd concert staples. Early 70s live Floyd was unmatched, the studio versions do not compare. You never realise how beautiful a song Green is the Colour is until you listen to it live. I have so many words for this set nghhhh. Also, Grantchester Meadows is one of my favourite songs. It’s straight up pastoral poetry and is steeped in nostalgia. I like this version best, and I love when Roger and David share vocals

If - Atom Heart Mother

Here’s a theme for you: I’m a whore for Roger’s folksy songs, whoops. The three “solo” songs on the album are so worth it (If, Summer ‘68, Fat Old Sun), but I personally have to pick this one. It’s so fucking tragic and simplistically beautiful. Got some of that introspection and isolation, good tea. Inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s poem by the same name. Also the slide electric guitar is a real treat... also, Roger’s voice is so soft ;-;

Point Me at the Sky - Single

I like it, okay. It’s like a little novelty song, okay, back when Pink Floyd was still trying to write singles. Also holds some themes on the passage of time and blah blah which is seen extensively in Pink Floyd’s catalogue

Biding My Time - Relics

Okay.. It’s kitschy, I know. It’s got that jazzy feel (curtesy of Rick and his trombone) and that blues feel. Once again with that wacky jam session in the middle that defines early Pink Floyd. Also go off Nick with the drums!

Pow R. Toc H. - Piper at the Gates of Dawn

I’m a whore for weird mouth noises, and this has an abundance of them. Once again with the quintessential Floyd jam session. I’d say mono is best here since stereo is a bit mind-fucky (y’know early stereo is a struggle.. although I wouldn’t say it was too horrible with Pink Floyd), anyways, if you’re in the mood for weird sensory stuff, then stereo is great... this song is just a sensory nightmare, so tread carefully.

“The Pink Jungle” from their “Man and the Journey” suite, 17. September 1969 Amsterdam show, is EXTRA demonic and chaotic. Warning tho, there’s some slurping noises at the end. Nick carrying the band fr

Pillow of Winds - Meddle

although to be honest, the entirety of Meddle is where it’s at. Considering I listen to this song every night I had to include it. A love song :D, and it’s really pretty and drowsy. Again with the pastoral poetry, a very ambient piece (that’s just Pink Floyd in general) and the ever present themes of anxiety

Here’s some definitions since I’ve been asked a couple of times:

eiderdown: a quilt filled with down (originally from the eider) or some other soft material.

eider: small, soft feathers from the breast of the female eider duck

Wot’s...Uh the Deal - Obscured by Clouds

Another fan favourite. It’s just so beautiful. The whole album is really pleasant listen and has so many hidden gems. Again with the passage of time, steeped in a deep sense of melancholia with a sprinkle of wistfulness. The steel guitar solo is also a real treat. I also like Burning Bridges, Stay, Childhood’s End, Free Four a great deal and,... I’m giving Free Four it’s own spot on this list. 

Free Four - Obscured by Clouds

this is the cheery song about death an the passage of time. The Hand-clapping just gets me, y’know. And the EMS VCS 3 synth is so crunchy, It’s great. If you you’re one of those people tired of Roger “whining” about his dad, then here’s an alternate take on that. Me? I’ll take any number of songs about Roger’s dad and trauma though

Nobody Home - The Wall

Okay okay, I chose a Wall song, BUT I would call this one a Wall Deep Cut, and It’s one of the most beautiful songs in their catalogue. There’s just this overwhelming sadness to it. You’ve got your nods to Syd, you’ve got your empty comforts, isolation, a non-ending, just a beautiful string of words

What Shall We Do Now - The Wall

THIS song. Yep, the one most people prefer to Empty spaces and... It rocks SO HARD. Added a link to the audio on Youtube since it’s not on spotify. Roger has a version of it from his Wall tour, but I prefer the one from the original Pink Floyd shows. The drums are phenomenal, the aggressiveness (not often associated with Pink Floyd), the flow of the lyrics, the deep growl of the guitar and the vocals (particularly in “shall we drive a more powerful car”). The animation that accompanies it in the film is one of my favourites. Talk about coping in unhealthy ways 

The Gunner’s Dream - The Final Cut

Yes yes yes it’s that infamous album...I get it.. love it or hate it, I personally adore it. If there’s one song on the album I think you should listen to, it’s this one right here... I’d also say it’s one of THE SADDEST songs in their catalogue. This bloody song has made me cry multiple times. Again with the dissolution of the post war dream and an anti-war anthem. Makes reference to the famous lines:

That there’s some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England

 from Rupert Brooke’s poem, “The Soldier”. 

I’ll say, Roger’s vocals really go with this one, they’re so raw and oozing of emotion. Also that sax solo??? mmm yum

Not Now John - The Final Cut

Another uncharacteristically aggressive song. But oh man, the field noises in this are SO GOOD it makes me cry (in a happy way this time). You have to have to have to listen to this with headphones. Whoops I included two Final Cut songs, but I love that album

Poles Apart - Division Bell  

I’ll say, this is my favourite song on the album. Also David talking to Syd and Roger, so hey. I love his voice on this album, and the wistfulness in this song speaks to my heart. There’s also this chaotic instrumental ambiance bit in the middle that’s giving haunted merry-go-round lost childhood kind of vibes, and I love that.

Take it Back - Division Bell

Big fan. It’s like a tragic, wistful environmentalist love song. Note the nurse rhyme “Ring a Ring O’Roses at 3:02).

Embryo

specifically the 30. September 1971 BBC Radio session. But “Picnic” is also a classic version, and shorter. The jam session goes so hard!  And then you feel like you’re just chilling, floating in embryonic fluids. I can’t stress enough how much I love this song, I have been working on learning it on bass. This other version includes children laughing and such as well as the same feedback on Echoes (16. July 1970) ... wow, turns out I just like creepy haunted children field sounds.

Okay, this was a lot longer than I was expecting and it took ... way too long to complete. But that’s my list! ... I have concluded that I just like sad songs, whoops. Here’s a spotify playlist. Not all of the versions I mentioned here are available, so I put alternate picks.

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

I hate researching occult and spiritual stuff in general because everywhere you look for information is rife with people into it as a gimmick who use fancy words but do not explain what the fancy words mean, or how anyone arrived at the conclusions they seem to be jumping to; and it’s also rife with people trying to scam the very soul out of their viewers.

“There is a book banned by the church which says there are three types of humans………” and then he never says the name of the book in the short. When you scroll in the comments, the first one pinned is his own comment: a promotional code to buy a book HE WROTE. Like wow you’re not even trying to be convincing at this point. Shut the fuck up and get a real job💀💀

I don’t want your pseudoscientific, pseudospiritual, phrenological, appropriated nonsense; I want diagrams and manuals. I want source material. I want to talk to a ghost. I want to behold the other side and see if it’s even there.

Okay so one thing I have consistently seen in videos of people documenting paranormal activity is the use of an EMF detector, because whatever it is we perceive as ghosts or spirits causes spikes in electromagnetic activity. I am inclined to believe this more than most things I see on the internet because it is so consistent; so now I have an EMF detector. Groovy. Now onto protection…

“Black tourmaline absorbs EMF radiation; so wearing this bracelet will protect you from harmful electromagnetic frequencies which some people find helpful during ghost hunting.” Ooookayyy so by that logic, if I wear a lead bracelet to a dental X-ray, the lead bracelet will draw the harmful rays away from my chest and into my wrist? That’s not how physics works. Radiation is a field, which is the reason why you wear a whole lead bib when you get your teeth X-rayed. Lead absorbs radiation, but it does not draw it away; it is a shield. Furthermore, dentists do not make bibs out of black tourmaline for people to wear while they look at their teeth.

Ergo: If you want to protect yourself from the ghostly hand of influence in the form of EMF radiation — assuming EMF radiation spikes aren’t a pop culture gimmick common to alleged haunted houses, created by cooking ramen noodles in a microwave in a hidden room — the best course of action would be to wear a lead vest to your seances; because

1.) lead is PROVEN to block radiation, and 2.) a vest of lead would block this radiation from meddling with your vital organs.

Why isn’t anyone advocating for those looking to the occult to wear lead vests during seances for protection? Because they’re ugly and don’t match the Witchy Aesthetick™ companies appropriated and are now profiting off of far and wide. A lead vest is not as marketable or “natural” as black tourmaline. And let’s be honest, many many people who get into the occult nowadays are doing it to look cool or be cool because they feel as if they are boring, with gigantic holes in their self-esteem, and don’t know how else to fill them in any other way than playing into trends deemed “edgy” and “in-style” and making it their whole personality. (If you are not one of these people; then I am not talking about you. I am talking about other people. For the love of god I’m not pissing on the poor. Please.)

Also, the majority of the online witch space is filled with white people messing with other people’s cultural practices as a sort of game; which obviously impacts the credibility of the information these witches present, as well as other, worse things which I don’t even need to mention… New Age spirituality is to the cultures its practices were taken from as Taco Bell is to genuine Mexican cuisine. It can be nice and may very well work as intended but it lacks the depth and reasoning of the original.

Not to say new-age is all bad; it isn’t. There are just so many people who don’t care what something is, where it came from, or why they’re using it because “witchy” and “hippie” are hot on the market these days. It’s frustrating. That’s all.

[pearl484-blog]

Things you Can do with Senti-monsters

I am not a fan of the senti-monster theory because I feel as though it detracts from the realistic depictions of abuse done to Adrien from Gabriel. It’s rare to have such realistic depictions of abuse in media, especially done to one’s own biological child and not step-child, adopted child, or child who is under your care but not legally yours. 

That being said, it is very popular in fanfiction and might be the case in Miraculous Ladybug. Unfortunately, most of the stories I see are the traditional “angst over not being a real person” stuff I’ve seen a thousand times in Star Trek and other materials incolving artifical life forms or a new version of Hawk Moth/Gabriel uses an akuma to brainwash someone fic. That’s not to say that there aren’t dang good ones out there, Buggachat’s Drowning in Plain Sight or Wackus_Bonkus’s One Does Not Love Breathing are both amazing, but I’d like to introduce some variety. Here are some ideas you can use with senti-monsters in your fanfics. 

1. Adrien (or another senti-kid) was once alive and was recreated as a senti-monster using the creator’s memories after their death/dissapearance/etc. Here’s something interesting. How different are the people you know from the people you know them to be? Everyone has a warped view of everyone around them no matter how well they know them because they’re fundamentally different people. You never know exactly what is going on in someone’s head, and you’ll frequently forget or mess up small details about someone if you try to describe them with as many details as you can. 

I’ll be using Adrien in this example since he’s in the story more, and I feel as though I have a better grasp on his character than other senti-kid canidates. So imagine Adrien is a kid, and he tragically dies. Gabriel and Emilie can’t take the grief and make a replacement kid rebuilt to every single one of their memories of the kid. Using as many videos and photographs and momentos as they can. 

But, Adrien’s their kid. They’re most likely going to see their kid through rose colored glasses. Especially if they’re greiving. This kid is going to be different than the original, fit more to Emilie and Gabriel’s perception of Adrien, than the reality. After he’s replaced, he’s going to be different, act different, feel different. He won’t know the original Adrien’s secrets, and the people who knew the original Adrien might realize that he’s different, which could lead to them treating Senti!Adrien differently or they may not notice at all, which would really hurt the main Adrien if he isn’t dead.      

If Senti!Adrien realizes that he’s not the real one, he’s going to get curious about the original one. It doesn’t have to be in a “I’m not the real one” way. It could be in a “who was my father?” way or a way to find some way to find an identity different from the original. 

1a. If the original Adrien is alive, it’d be good to see how they diverged, the original Adrien from the senti-monster born of perception. How did Human!Adrien’s disappearance affect him? How does he treat his senti-monster? Does he accept him? Is he curious about the senti-monster? How does he feel about his senti-monster? Does he regret the life he didn’t live or feel a need to protect the younger more idealistic creation? Is he angry about the warped vision his parents had of him or does he empathize with their grief? Does he transfer his feelings about his parents’ actions onto Senti-Adrien?

1b. If the original Adrien is dead or otherwise does not appear in the story, how does Senti-Adrien realize that he’s just a collection of memories? Does he find a hidden secret of Adrien’s that he doesn’t know? Does someone he’s close to reveal it to him? Is it a slow reveal or a sudden revelation? Is he intially scared of the revelation and turn away or is he drawn in by the allure of figuring out the original Adrien? Does he grieve the original Adrien, a boy he never knew? If so, how does he honor his memory? ==========================================

2. Senti-monsters feel empty and unmotivated without their amok

This is more of an introspective angst piece, but you could make it so that senti-monsters basically have their “hearts” be their amoks. They may actively crave their hearts and feel different than other people without it. They have no strong emotional connection to anything and will follow the traditional “rules” they feel they should until instructed to by their amok. 

They may feel weak or no emotions, but may think this is normal and how most people are. They don’t get why people are so passionate and showy about their weird emotions, so they decide it must all be an act to communicate how much time and effort you are putting into/have put into a task and how much certain things inconvienance you. 

So, that leaves their amok, which lets them care. You could do the emotionally manipulative amok, where they love following orders from their amok -no matter how much it goes against their “normal” personality and may contridict their previous goals- because it’s something that they actually feel a legitimate passion and desire for, no matter how much they may “logically” recognize that their actions are stupid and against their own self-interest. Or you could do the physically controlling amok, where they are obedient and mostly apathetic, and only feel when they have their amok back.

With these types of senti-monsters, you can make it so that their relationship to their amok is complicated, because people’s relationships with their feelings are complicated. After all, it’d probably be scary to go from feeling almost nothing to suddenly feeling the most intense heartbreak you’ve ever felt over minor inconvienaces, and in that state even joy, pure simple joy can be terrifying. 

They might even reject their amoks, which might confuse the humans they interact with, because why wouldn’t you want to feel? Why wouldn’t you want your heart? Why wouldn’t you want to control your own actions? 

Even more complicated, they might draw the ire of other senti-monsters who want their amoks and are possibly keeping their own. These senti-monsters may not sympathize with the senti-monsters rejecting their amoks, because the rejections set a bad precedent. What if a human sees that and thinks that they shouldn’t give a senti-monster back their amok? They may see the rejection as a sign of weakness, immorality, or as a disgusting act. 

It’s a complicated mess, and therefore one that’d be interesting to explore. 

=========================================

3. Adrien’s upset when he finds out he’s a senti-monster for unexpected reasons

Typically, the story goes that Adrien is angsts about whether or not he’s a real person when he finds out that he’s a senti-monster. But honestly? Considering his reaction to Sentibug, I don’t think that’s what he’d be upset about. So here are some alternatives:

3a. Adrien is upset because he may have been repeatedly unknowingly violated for years This is the most obvious option, but a good one. If you found out there was a handy dandy device that your parent had that made you obey your every order, you’d be rightly suspicious that they may have used it. Especially if that person is the control freak Gabriel Agreste. But you can go deeper than just having Adrien question which decisions of his his decisions were his father’s. 

3b. Have Adrien question whether or not he has ongoing commands, and try to decide whether or not he wants them rescinded, and how he would do that. You could just have a straight “don’t obey your father anymore”, command, but even that can have consequences as anyone rebelling can tell you. because sometimes, your abuser has a point. So, you can get creative and explore that possible consequences of it, and possible self-destruction as a result. 

3c. How much of Adrien’s personality is actually his or just the result of an order? It’s sort of like the conundrum of the brainwashed for the greater good or those brainwashed into loving their brainwashing. How much can they change without being someone entirely different? How much do they want to change? 

=========================================

4. Have Marinette give Adrien a command for his own good

This is a prompt that should be done with caution as it could easily devolve into a salt fic, but you could easily create an entire fic where Marinette tries to help Adrien by essentially speedrunning him to whatever point she thinks he needs to go “for his own good” of course. She is a well-intentioned control freak who would naturally want to heklp her friend stop hurting, even when he needs to process what’s going on. 

Examples of this could be her making him forget a traumatic incident, or making him get over his angst over the trashfire that is his life, like by telling him to forget Gabriel is Hawk Moth if it isn’t publically exposed, or trying to comfort him about a death by telling him to “forget about the bad things they did and remember the good”, or telling him not to worry about Chat Noir and Ladybug after his father’s defeat. Then explore the consequences of that, as Adrien follows that command to his own detriment and Marinette’s peers discover what she has done.  

=========================================

5. Senti-monsters are magical creatures

Alright, so let’s say that someone is a senti-monster. This is usually played as human but with an off switch, but why not switch it up a bit? Why not play it up as a magical monster shaped like a human? What does this mean in practice? Why the senti-monster would have different traits than a human, of course!

For example, let’s say that senti-monsters are more physically durable than their human counterparts and immune to mind-control spells (because only the amok can control them), but you’d need a counterbalance. For example, you could make it so senti-monsters get increasingly anxious when more and more people get brainwashed/have their emotions manipulated, making brainwashing/mob akumas even more dangerous than usual because you’ve got to keep the body count low. Or you could have them react more strongly to magic in the air, getting more unreliable the more magic there is around them, making longer fights more hazardous.  My favorite counter-balance with magic is madness, or perhaps you could call it fairy-tale logic. They concieve of the world in an entirely different way than most of the world and don’t seem to understand that what they are afraid of and what a human is afraid of are two very different things. 

IE. If Chat Noir is a “dark type” senti-monster, he might be extra observant of rituals about the dead, refusing to walk over graves (which considering the catacombs may be a problem), getting easily distracted by funerals, or pick fights with people who want to bring back the dead, but might make mistakes about human physiology that get him into trouble, like underestimating damage and recovery time or overestimating the average human’s capabilities. 

Just remember that as a general rule, for every strength, it’s a good idea to counterbalance it with a flaw, other wise you run the risk of unbalancing the character towards with too perfect (ie, no flaws to latch onto and relate to) or too flawed (nothing likable). If you go this route, it’s a good idea to decide the traits beforehand and write them down where it’s easy to quickly reference for consistency. It’s also good to look up traits of magical creatures to use as a template and/or make a list of beliefs (and why they exist) in a madness balanced monster. ===========================================

6. Senti-monsters are magical robots with a sliding scale of sentience/sapience

This may sound a bit counter-intuitive, given my opening rant, but please understand, I was trained in both psychology and computer science (it was a requirement for my psych degree, go figure). I also have a personal bias as this is what I’m doing with my senti-monsters in my fanfic Replay. 

So, as a brief starter, sentience is the ability to be self-aware, understand your surroundings and situation, and have an opinion about it. If I go into Skyrim though, and talk to an NPC, they will soon prove to me that they are not sentient. They are designed to only do a specific task at a specific prompt. So if I go and push them into a wall, and then try to sell them something, despite the fact that their entire torsos are stuck inside that wall, they will not notice and buy all my junk. They also will not notice any abnormalities in their shop and investigate unless programmed to, no matter how odd it is, so I can happily place a bucket in front of them, fill it with dragon scales and dragon bones, and throw it at their apprentice, and they will neither react or investigate, 

A squirrel though would most certainly notice being squished into a wall and let me know their opinion swiftly, and it would react immediately to me putting a bucket in front of them and scamper away before I could even begin to do anything else. It is sentient, even though I doubt a squirrel is comptemplating the meaning of life as it scampers up a tree, minding it’s own squirrely business.

Sapience is an even higher standard. It is the abilitiy to think and have wisdom. Unfortunately for our squirrel friend, squirrels have not yet demonstrated the ability to gain wisdom, and only humans fit into this category in the real world. We can solve puzzles, think abstractly, and communicate ideas that other creatures can’t like: “Tomorrow, I wanna go out to eat” or “When I was younger, I liked that, but I’ve outfrown it now.” (The ability to talk about times other than now is something that is either very rare or unheard of in any animals besides humans).   

So how would this relate to senti-monsters? Well, robots are a pretty good analogy to the sliding scale of sentience. We have everything from your standard automated machine that does literally one job over and over again like in an automated factory which has no sentience to a character like Data, from Star Trek: the Next Generation, who despite his struggles was an incredibly relatable humanoid and we even have robots that are almost indistishable from humans unless they are damaged in some way. 

Let’s have senti-monsters have the same range, with their sentience level ranging from “does a task on command or when certain predetermined conditions” to “can pass as completely human” similar to robots. Although unlike robots, there’d be a few differences. As a creature made of emotions, it would likely have an easier time determining the spirit of the instructions given to it instead of the typical stupidity a normal robot would, but it’d likely be tricky to get the exact amount of precision of a robot could, and may have unintended side effects from an unfocused mind or be influenced by the hidden desires of the wielder/creator. 

So in that way, you can explore the similiarities and differences between senti-monsters and robots and then use that to explore when a senti-monster is sentient/sapient enough to deserve the rights of an animal/person.  ============================================

[beardedmrbean]

https://www.kh13.com/news/kingdom-hearts-reference-found-within-animated-series-archer-r3059/ Pam doesn't really strike me as the sort of person who would play Kingdom Hearts but she has a miniature Kingdom Key on her keyring

Gonna start by saying I thought that website was to a broadcast channel's website, apparently I'm Thursday (out of touch)

Though finding a potential Kingdom Hearts reference in a closely related Disney/Pixar film is a treat in itself, finding an absolutely confirmed Kingdom Hearts reference within a completely unrelated animated series is something else entirely. Keen viewers of the Archer television series spotted a very well-hidden nod to Kingdom Hearts in season 2, episode 6, "Tragical History", which originally aired on March 3, 2011. In that episode, one of the main characters, Pam Poovey, can be seen holding a key ring with a Kingdom Key-shaped keychain partially visible in two shots.

Domirillo (Archer production staff member): I'm personally unfamiliar with Kingdom Hearts, but I opened up the illustration file and I can confirm that one of them is indeed based off the Keyblade.

HaakonHawk (KH13 staff member): What exactly do you mean when you say "Illustration file"? If this is indeed based of the Keyblade design. I'd like to see some more details on it.

Domirillo: We have a digital library of all the props drawn for the show. Most of our props don't have to do much animation, they just need to be held by a character once or twice, or sit on a table, so a single drawing of them is all we really need. This is done in Adobe Illustrator. So, I found Pam's keychain illustration, and in that file there were a series of reference images included. Like some car keys, house keys, etc, just stuff they were looking at when making the illustration, and a picture of Sora's Keyblade is in the reference section of that file. There are some distinct changes between them, but the reference material is clear.

HaakonHawk: Are these illustrations a strict "keep private" sort of thing? Or is it possible to provide visual examples? I'm working for one of the largest Kingdom Hearts media outlets, and this would be a pretty interesting story to break to the fan community. They go completely nuts everytime Kingdom Hearts is referenced in another property.

Domirillo: I legally can't share our raw production art without violating my NDA, but you can see in this still frame, a wide shot of the same key chain, the keyblade is pretty clear. Aside from that, and telling you that the file has Kingdom Hearts images in the reference, I can't show anything else. ________________________________

That's pretty cool, they couldn't really do the head bit copyright stuff but the end is generic enough that they can do that.

Skeleton key stencils here you'll see some familiar shapes, which I'm glad they didn't ask me first because I might have solved it and they never would have asked.

Side not that Toy Story thing, they sneak cross property stuff into pretty much everything they make.

Especially the boss, as we see in TRON (1982)

That is rad that they acknowledged that for Archer, good eyes on whoever spotted that.

[banbuvssummerhome]

Lostboy.EXE

On the internet, there exists multiple levels depending on the depravity and exclusivity of certain cites, services and content. The surface web, the dark web, and the deep web. The surface web is the level you’re on right now, with things like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, etc. 

The deep web is stuff that’s below the surface, stuff that’s hidden from the public eye like government cites. 

And the dark web is what it says on the tin. From counterfeit items, luxury drugs to the most depraved content one can find from child sexual abuse to cannibalism to hitmen. Or luxury pickles. It’s a mixed bag.

Today we have a game that’s been rumored to originate from such a place, Lostboy.EXE. Look, it’s cliche, but we gotta start off with the classics.

I’m sure I don’t need to introduce 4chan, it’s the edgy and lawless image board that birthed Anonymous as well as several iconic memes, the posterchild of online degeneracy. But on August 22nd, 2012, someone would unintentionally drop what I can only describe as a bomb onto the message board. An anonymous user would upload a Mediafire link to a game they’d made for the /v/ and /x/ boards, intriguing the other anons. It was some innocent fun, all things considered. 

The game consisted of a single empty maze with several images of babies and religious imagery pertaining to demonic entities, you know, the usual for horror indie games. It doesn’t take a lot to unsettle someone. Just imply crimes against children and you got a free ticket to WTF-land. But otherwise it was a pretty boring game, so people in the board complained as per usual.

Imagine this: you’re the average 4chan user who just downloaded a shit game full of creepy ass imagery yet no gameplay. Just full of weird images of infants and satanic shit, you feel that you’ve seen either an edgy kid’s attempt at a game or something you shouldn’t have seen. Maybe if you played for longer you would’ve seen something truly fucked ala Sad Satan. You go to the message board where you found the link and try to figure out what the fuck you just walked into.

And then you see your full name, address, and phone number posted in that very thread. 

You see, what many users didn’t realize at first glance was that there were not one, but two links to the game, one of which being a fake malware version of the game that gave the second uploader remote access to the computers of whoever was unlucky enough to fall for the dupe. This way the anon who made the dupe was able to get their personal information and leak it into the /v/ and /x/ threads on the game. People got paranoid after this was found out–who knew what the hacker did with their computers, they could’ve taken pictures through their webcams or worse, filled their computers with illegal child sexual abuse material. Because 4chan is fucked like that. It wasn’t like the site was unfamiliar with csam being leaked onto their site, but some people weren’t as degenerate and didn’t want to be arrested for what was essentially a 2/10 indie horror. Admins would later delete the threads and put up a warning for users to not download any content found on 4chan.

It wouldn’t be until 2023 that the alleged creator of the original safe version of Lostboy.EXE was even discovered, a Twitter user by the name of rob_is_an_idiot, who was interviewed by the French Youtuber known as Feldup. Unfortunately we do not know what the fuck was said in the interview as we are not French and refuse to learn French. But we will link to the interview, of course.

Alongside this, Rob would make a Twitter post about the subject:

“I made lostboy.exe back in 2012 and shared it with 4chan's /v/ board, it was a gamemaker 7 tutorial reskinned. There was never any other version. The "virus lostboy.exe" was just a RAT virus, not the game. They simply renamed their exe to lostboy.exe.”

While the original link still exists, I highly discourage downloading the game unless you’ve got a good antivirus or lawyer. We don’t wanna accidentally distribute “cheese pizza” or viruses here, but if you wanna seek out Lostboy.EXE that’s your prerogative, not ours. But yeah, that’s the story of Lostboy.EXE as it stands–a simple game made for shits and giggles turned into a backdoor for malicious activity and an internet urban legend that until now has been left unsolved. The moral of the story? Don’t download shit from 4chan.

Ever.

Developer Interview: « lostboy.exe » le JEU PERDU de 4chan - Findings HS

[wolfvirago-m]

;; tot.k playthrough comments 1/?? Spoilers present. I only just got the first map area scouted in Hyrule so not terribly far

- the intro cutscene/walk sequence was great! Did a good job introducing the story and gave some cool lore tidbits about characters we meet.

- I’m curious about the whole Zonai being descended from gods and marrying the Hylians to create the royal family. Especially since they’re dragon-goat people and seem very at peace with time related shenanigans

- Speaking of which, I’m p sure the Tears that Zelda uses are for time travel, but only in short bursts. I believe she’s in the distant past, and she uses the Tears to temporarily visit modern Hyrule or grab the Master Sword from Link. She also told Rauru about Link, which tells me this is time related stuff. Which isn’t new in Zelda lore at all, just interesting we’re going back that far in time.

- Purah is an adult again? How fast did she age from that child form? Did she fix the experiment or is this a big ol time jump? Regardless she looks pretty as hell and I love her assistant, Josua or however her name is spelled is cute

- I love how there’s cave systems and little hidden places to explore. The frog creature spooked me a bit but they’re thankfully not hard to beat… so far.

- Saying the Upheaval is what decayed all the weapons makes the whole durability system make sense. Is it just me or are the rusty weapons WAY less durable than in the original game…?

- I was worried the mechanics of the Hand would be hard to grasp or too convoluted, but I am very glad Rewind doesn’t have a cooldown like Stasis.

- Koroks!! I love helping them meet their buddies!!

- Combat seems harder, but I’m sure it’ll be better once I have better materials for dishes and elixirs

I’m very curious what the story is and if my theories hold weight. Feel free to comment on what you think so far based on what I have seen lmao

[speedbooster]

Journey through Archie Sonic - Introduction

I promised this over on webbedphantom, and I'm sticking to my word. I'm going to be reading the entirety of Archie Sonic, from the main book, the original mini-series, and the numerous spin offs (minus Knuckles, I'll be saving him for later), tackling one issue every day I can.

To preface this, I've barely read any of this comic. I checked out a few issues after the reboot, I read the Sonic Adventure adaptation, and I actually bought both issues of Mega Drive when they came out. But it's been so long that I don't remember much. All I do know is what I've learned from lowart's retrospective on the series, which is what got me interested in checking it out again.

I've also barely seen the cartoons it was originally based on. I did see a few episodes of SatAM when it was on Netflix, but I never got very far because of two reasons; I didn't like Sonic's voice and the mohawk was weird. That's it.

I will eventually watch it, especially with the fan-made season 3 around the corner, but for now, I'm just gonna stick to the comic.

With that out of the way, let's get started.

Sonic the Hedgehog Mini-Series #0 - Feb. 1993

To start off, I'm not going to spend too much time summarizing, because that's kinda boring. Mainly, I just wanna give my thoughts as I read through it, make a few jokes here and there, and give my overall opinion at the end.

First, the cover. It's honestly kinda charming. The colors are nice, the idea of them running out of the tv is creative, and I like seeing the designs from the games... even if it's only for this cover.

Now for the plot. Basically, Robotnik chases Sonic for a bit, he gets away and goes back to base, and that's... honestly it for part one.

Because yeah, it's split into four different parts, telling two different stories, with some little gag pages thrown in here and there. I assume this was done to keep the ads from interrupting the action (I can't say for sure, because the scans I have don't have any ads), which if that's the case I can respect that. As a kid, it was always a little annoying to have the story be put on hold for two pages so I could be shown a photoshopped image of Mr. Fantastic holding a glass a milk.

As for the actual comic, well it's definitely interesting.

It's weird that he can talk, but at least Caterkiller is introducing himself politely before he tries to commit murder.

I said up top that I wasn't a fan of the mohawk Sonic was rocking in these days, but... honestly, the art here kinda makes it work for me. Still not my favorite, but it's consistent, it's cutesy but not overly so, and it works well for what they're going for; A comedic book for kids that's combining the premise of SatAm with the humor of... Adventures. Albeit, not as unhinged as that could be-

Here Sonic has gotten back to Knothole, the hidden base of the Freedom Fighters, and we're introduced to the whole gang, including Sally who is... this.

I have no idea why she's like this. I think it's because her design hadn't been finalized by this point, or the team was only given early production material from SatAM, but either way it's weird seeing this bizarre palette swap of her, and without her jacket. Though I'm aware that wasn't apart of her design for a good while, even in the cartoon.

Sonic, I don't think that's how that works-

Oh man, he really ate it there. Though, I gotta admit, it's cute seeing this version of Tails, before he was the kid genius with some confidence issues. He's the little brother of the whole team, who looks up to them all, but especially Sonic, and wants to be like them. It's really endearing.

... I can't decide if "Trickle Down Technology" is stupid or not. I mean, it sounds stupid but... it's decent wordplay? I think?

Now onto part 2, where the team deals with the leak and stuff. Though we start off checking in on Robotnik and-

I shocking love his desk. Like... oh my lord, everything about this desk is gold. It's so cartoonishly evil, and the "Rights Violated While U Wait" sign definitely got a chuckle out of me.

And this is the source of the leak. Weeping Willow Trees... I have no words, I think the concept speaks for itself-

So Robotnik finds them at the edge of the forest and Sonic taunts him to get him to focus on chasing him, which works but... I don't think this art was meant to be seen up close...

I hate this. He's a conehead with no eyes and a moustache that looks like little wings. I hate that I zoomed in on this why did I do this

... you ever just tell a joke and no one laughs, so you just keep repeating it until someone reacts?

Yeah, I feel this.

So Sonic books it to the well to grab a power ring he hid there, which he then uses to do-

... I don't even-

Like... why? How? Huh??

This might just be the stupidest thing I've ever seen. And I kinda love it??

I still hate that the badniks can talk, but like... That buzzbomber is gonna die for that joke. Like there is no way he lets him live after that, right?

... anyway Robotnik gets away, so Sonic and the gang plant new trees to make the willows stop crying. And I will admit-

This makes me smile. I'm a sucker for puns.

But that's the end of the first half. Now it's time for a few gags before we move onto the next one.

Here Sonic shows off how fast he can go, and... first of all, nice pun.

But secondly, is he supposed to be winking?? Because it kinda just looks like he got something in his eye, or they forgot to draw a pupil, or color the other eyelid blue or something, because this just looks... wrong.

Next a page entirely dedicated to this pun. And honestly... it was good until I read Sonic's last line. "OAK-Kay" is pushing it even for me-

Lastly, we have a page showing off the various badniks, but I couldn't help but notice this;

This is cursed. Why does he have normal eyes?? And look at that face, and his flesh colored bolt-ear thing??? I hate it???

Now onto story 2, where they show how Robotnik took over the world... kinda?

Oh he's coming.

Also there's something powerful about this image without context. It haunts me.

Anyway, Sonic is heading over to his uncle's chili dog stand, who just got an order for 200 chili dogs that Sonic is going to deliver.

Meanwhile, this is being hung on the wall outside;

Another Cursed-Botnik, but again I love how cartoonishly evil this sign is. "Have Fun, Go To Jail." If this man even sees you smiling, he's having you arrested. It's so over the top, and I love it.

Speaking of which, that's exactly what happens while Sonic is away. Uncle Chuck gets arrested for smiling, and has... the dumbest revelation.

If you know him, and you know his voice, then you really should've seen this coming. Heck, the address Sonic is delivering the Chili Dogs to is a Robotnik Inc Factory!! You only have yourself to blame, Chuck-

So Sonic delivers the dogs, and the chicken robot tries to kill him as payment, so he decides to rush back to check on his uncle. And-

This editor's note got an audible chuckle out of me. That is so clever!

This... is an expression. I'm tempted to make this a reaction image for the heck of it.

This is the end of this chapter, but again I gotta point out the signs. Man just decided to dump toxic waste here just because he could, and-

LOOK AT HIM GO

I wish I could enjoy something as much as this guy enjoys dancing in the flames over here. He is having the time of his life rn

Anyway, Sonic immediately takes them out, including the chill one which... what the heck man??

And decides to rush back to the factory to confront Robotnik, while making a little reference to another speedster.

Cheap, but it made me smile. Sue me.

Sonic runs into Sally, who introduces herself as a princess and tells him how her father was taken too. And Sonic-

Doesn't give a damn, wow. That is harsh-

"Sorry Girlie, but I don't believe you, nor would I care if I did, because my problems come first."

Honestly... I'm okay with this. It was jarring at first, but this is the closest we get to an origin story as far as I know. He's not really "the hero" yet, so it's interesting to see him be a bit more selfish.

So Sally convinces him to help out, and we get this little exchange;

... I can't decide if this is funny or stupid. And yeah, I did kinda reference this on Sonic's bio, but I didn't know THIS is where that came from. Or more specifically, how they introduced that.

... I mean, it's kinda funny out of context, but in context its... I honestly don't know-

Here we see Robotnik's army of supposedly roboticized townspeople, but I guess the artist didn't get the memo?? Like they're clearly not robots??

... okay, nevermind. Robotnik actually likes being called fat. Props for the body positivity, I guess.

... y'know, I think this is the first time I've ever seen a speedster make a tornado... and run on top of it. Like how does that even work??

Anyways, that's it for Issue #0. Overall, it was more enjoyable than I thought it'd be, and actually got a chuckle or two out of me which I did not expect.

Definitely not going to be going THIS in-depth for the rest of these, this was way more work than I thought. I'll just give my brief thoughts, and maybe rank each issue as I go? Idk I'm kinda making this up as I go along.

If you have any suggestions, leave 'em in the replies I guess-

[edgy-ella]

Thoughts on the Ren and Stimpy reboot

In case you were unaware, Ren and Stimpy is getting a reboot on Comedy Central, and at least one episode of that reboot has been leaked online. For reasons I’ll get to in a bit I won’t share the leak here, but as I’m writing this it’s really easy to find. It doesn’t even seem like Nick/Paramount/Viacom can be bothered to take it down (for now).

When I first heard about this reboot and that it was going to be on Comedy Central instead of Nickelodeon, I had my…reservations. Ren and Stimpy very infamously already had a reboot aimed at adults, and it bombed so bad that half the episodes never made it to air. Granted, I think a lot of that can be pinned on Spike TV letting John K run wild at the time, and John has no involvement in this new reboot (thank god). But then again, neither does anyone else who worked on the original show. Not a good sign.

But hey, who knows. Maybe it’ll be a hidden gem. So, what are my thoughts after watching the leaked episode?

If anything, I’m surprised that this airing on Comedy Central and not Nick. Get rid of a few random swears here and there, and I think it’d fit in fine.

Okay, positives first. I’ve seen some people say that the writers seem “uninterested” in engaging with the original source material, which I don’t think is necessarily true. For one, the main duo is written fairly well. You can tell the writers understand their personalities and how they play off of each other. Even if Ren is highly temperamental and Stimpy doesn’t always understand what Ren wants, you know that they couldn’t live without each other. The reboot leans a little bit more into that 1950s married couple dynamic, with Ren as the beleaguered breadwinner husband and Stimpy as the fussy housewife. I like it! I’m also relieved that they get across that they’re a couple in a way where they don’t have to look at the camera and go “yeah, we’re gay” every other scene.

Billy West returns to voice the two, and he sounds leagues better than he did in Nickelodeon All Star Brawl 2 (which to my knowledge is the last time he voiced them). He’s definitely showing his age and he’s still a little crusty as Ren, but overall he gives a solid performance. His delivery is as great as it’s always been. The writers gave him a lot of fun stuff to work with.

Now, for any Ren and Stimpy fan out there, I’m sure that word feels out of place. Writers. Ren and Stimpy isn’t supposed to be script-based, the storyboard artists are supposed to dictate each episode! And…yeah, you can really feel that shift. In my opinion, this is the show’s greatest weak point—no matter how much research the crew may have put in, their writing style is so intrinsically different from what the show is known for that it doesn’t really feel like Ren and Stimpy.

Once again, I don’t want to discredit their efforts. There’s gross out humor, but its implementation feels very forced. Like, “oh, this is Ren and Stimpy, we have to make things gross.” Many of the best classic Ren and Stimpy episodes like Ren’s Toothache have the plot revolve around something gross or have a key moment in the narrative revolve around Ren getting thrown up on or something, while in the reboot these moments are relegated to simple side gags. You can tell that the tone and content of the original series was on their mind, but the way it’s written and produced is so different that it never really feels the same.

The reboot’s also weirdly tame. Again, this is meant for Comedy Central, not Nickelodeon. South Park airs on Comedy Central. They have room to go all out. I’m not asking for them to push it too far like with Adult Party Cartoon, but at the same time, nothing here really feels that adult.

Here’s an example of what I mean. The first segment of the leaked episode has the pair die, with Stimpy going to heaven and Ren getting sent to hell (the bit where angel Stimpy looks around asking where Ren instantly cutting away to Ren falling into the fiery pit of hell got me, I have to admit). Ren is appointed the new head of torture in hell, a job he relishes in. I was excited to see how this would play out. My favorite Ren and Stimpy episodes typically revolve around Ren slowly going insane (Stimpy’s Invention, Stimpy’s Fan Club, Insomniac Ren, etc), so him inflicting that torment upon others sounded like a fun concept. In particular, my brain went to that segment in Man’s Best Friend where Ren beats the everloving shit out of George Liquor with an oar. According to John K, this sequence was so considered so gruesome back in the day that Nickelodeon refused to let the episode air. Indeed, it remained as a banned episode until being repackaged as a makeshift pilot for Adult Party Cartoon. Now we’re on Comedy Central, the same network that has proudly aired South Park for decades now. What did the reboot do with this idea?

Nothing!

They don’t do anything fun with Ren being in charge of torturing sinners in hell. In fact, they don’t do anything interesting with hell at all! It feels incredibly safe and sanitized in a way that Ren and Stimpy really shouldn’t. Instead, the focus of the episode revolves around Stimpy trying to get Ren to reform and Ren refusing to torture Stimpy once he’s told he has to. Moral learned, status quo reset by the end.

Once again, I feel like this is the result of the reboot being script based instead of storyboard based like the original. I’m sure most storyboard artists out there would love a chance to show Ren living his best life in hell with him graphically torturing and mutilating every other poor soul in there. I’m sure most storyboard artists would kill to really make hell as demented and chaotic as hell ought to be in a show like this. That’s not to discredit the storyboard artists that actually worked on the reboot, but I sense that they’ve been put on a leash.

Should we need to point fingers at anyone for this, I’d say point them at the directors and producers. The writers are just doing their jobs, it’s not their fault that this intrinsically isn’t the type of project they should be leading. Same for the board artists. But the people calling the shots dictating how things should be run obviously don’t get Ren and Stimpy and what gives the show its distinct edge.

Also, if the lady from the second segment becomes a permanent addition to the cast, I’m ending it all.

One last thing I’d like to add is that the leak was originally posted on archive.org, which, uh…please don’t do that? Archive.org is already under heavy fire from lawmakers, don’t give more fuel for the fire. Post it on Dailymotion or Vimeo or another website no one cares about. Archive is a resource we can’t risk jeopardizing, don’t post leaks there.

[fishrpg]

2024-02-10: Hex 8 (Shallow Water)

Faint notes of old fishy smells waft up from the water.

Notable Feature: Dungeon (Goreg Smallfeather's Illusory House)

Medium size, 12 areas

Swarms of giant crabs have been seen appearing near a stone cylinder 15 feet in diameter that peeks out of the water by about 5 feet at high tide. The crabs have been damage passing boats and wildlife and then disappearing.

The cylinder is part of an ancient device whose original purpose is unknown to most, but under the water the cylinder has several arms that look like almost like windmill blades that turn a complex series of gears inside the cylinder. No marine life grows on the cylinder, either. Although there are several blunt surfaces that seem perfect for grinding grain or shells, this device was almost assuredly not created to grind things up.

Those who can see into the ethereal plane, however, see a wide platform atop the cylinder that holds a stately home and a small windmill. The mansion once belonged to a wizard named Goreg Smallfeather who disappeared hundreds of years ago, and the stone cylinder uses the ocean current to generate a consistent source of magical energy that keeps the house hidden. Stopping the movement of cylinder's arms will cause Goreg's home to appear on the material plane atop the platform.

Another illusionist named Johana Silverton (adult human female with the innate ability to breathe water) has traveled to this area to search for Goreg's magical secrets. Johana has managed to enter Goreg's home, but fell victim to one of Goreg's traps in his library and got transformed into a giant crab (with the mental abilities of a giant crab, too) wearing a bracelet on one of its legs. Johana the crab is trapped in the library and wandering aimlessly inside and the last book Johana was reading lies open on the floor. Anyone reading the book learns about Goreg's transformation trap and also how to cure it. He gloats in the text about the irony of transforming intruders into crabs and telling them how to cure themselves... except crabs can't read.

In order to stop the crab swarms and cure Johana's transformation, the players must explore Goreg's house and capture a venomous fish alive, then allow it to sting Johana the crab. It will briefly paralyze the crab and cause her to revert to her human form.

As long as Johana is stuck in the library, when she walks over a particular spot of the floor, a dozen illusory crab duplicates get dumped into the material plane and into the water below, where they do crab stuff for an hour before disappearing.

The majority of Goreg's house is set up like an immersive self-sustaining aquarium full of hostile sea life. Players cannot swim through the water because it is illusory, but the sea life can. All the sea creatures completely corporeal and have a flying (hover) speed as long as they are in the house.

As a reward for solving the crab problem, some of fishing vessels in the area offer up the carved figurehead recovered from the bow of a ship that was overrun by and destroyed by crabs.

[dailybayonetta]

sorry, if im bothering you with this (you don't need to anwer if you don't want to), another one of these discourses about bayonetta i've seen with queerbaiting with bayojeanne and that one spoilers thing. do you agree it's an actual thing that happened?

Okay, so BIG SPOILERS AHEAD (metion of them, but not explicit) and lots of text ________

So let me start by saying, usually, as a gay person myself - I've been in this situation. When you clearly have a dynamic between friends of the same gender but it's written much more deeply and with the care and with the actual tropes that get used for het couples and filled with love (and that word gets thrown around, but like, we talking about any kind of love). That happens. But what also happens - is that writers / devs usually never confirm these. Fans and fandom do more job of putting lgbt rep into something that originally doesn't really have it or hidden in narrative (pushed, that also common with censoring) and then act like devs or writes or show runners own them something they invented. Again, it's a complex issue, because sometimes authors take time or have to push for relation ships (LoK / adventure time) and sometimes authors take credit for the ships fans popularised (that one supergirl show comes to mind???) However, in Bayojeanne cause, I can kind of see where people coming from because: a) Bayo herself is an ambiguous character, people been saying for ages that she's bi coded (i can't speak on that honestly) b) Kamiya called Bayonetta and Jeanne couple - not a pair, not duo, and compared them with other couples (that also semi-canon / canon)

c) a lot of promo material art, just as concept art depicted them in way that would couples would. especially couples that have "different side of the coin" dynamic and that complement each other some examples: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5

Fanservice? Sure. Still. A thing that did happened. d) the scenes they had were also common for couples, shots on the reaching hands (the recent one i can think about with cloud and tifa in ff7remake), bayonetta holding jeanne "bride" style, bayonetta holding jeanne when saving her soul (do i need to mention how later they did that scene in familliar way with luka and bayo but just without the kiss, riiiight) and like, i could go on, but you get the idea

d) And what I also think Bayojeanne isn't just that kind of ship that was "oh fans hyped it up and they never interacted in canon" or something. It's in the story. Again, maybe it wasn't explicit and writers probably didn't intended to be that way (maybe Kamiya did but looking at bayo3 who knows), because once again it's a common thing when writes do this type of dynamic and "oh, the bond is so strong" and that kind of thing has a right to exists, if it wasn't for the othert stuff i said about. Again, it's a complex idea and situation. And many things matter in the case. And I'm not a professional and not that type of person who cared about it in Bayonetta of all things. Does that falls under "queerbaiting"? Hell, if I know, because I never expected them somehow to get canon or anything (and if you go through my baoyjeanne tag you know I love them dearly), cause not only being a game from japanese devs but also that I know better now because I got baited enough in various media before. Can I blame people for thinking this was queerbaiting? No, I don't think I can. Especially because it's just bad for the script. What this implies of such strong and impowering fantasy character as Bayonetta is even worse. And like, Bay///o/lu//ka doesn't in any way erase Bayonetta's bi-coding or her being into Jeanne (afterall it's not the same Bayo and we got multiverses now🙄) but I think people are upset because it was executed reeeeeally poorly and untasteful for such character. And people saying it's kind of character assasination are right in a lot of ways. Hell idk why anyone skips the part that Luka also didn't got any development and got thrown in this mess as well. And also THAT PART. What happened with it - who knows what was even going on in the writing room of Platinum.

[shihalyfie]

The frustrating part of Adventure/02 is all the lore they did not put in the series, or extra material and we only discover through Kakudou's twitter or blog, or some recent interviews with SekiP or some old staff members.

Like, there's a ton of things we don't know!! And things released later in a drama CD or booklet which has the suspicion to being part of the backstory/hidden lore from production notes ._.

I think Adventure implied the eight digimon from Taichi's group were made with the kids' traits, so they knew who were their partners and even their names as well ... Meanwhile the new three mons from 02 had to introduce themselves, ask for their partners' names and such...

Meanwhile Wormmon... We don't know anything about him. Since Ken has a Crest, i suspect Wormmon is in the same camp from Taichi's partners -- made with Ken's kindness trait which also originated the Crest of Kindness.

Do you have any theory or headcanon for him and the said Crest?

I personally figure that the answer is probably really mundane, honestly. That's a recurring pattern with stuff in Adventure and 02; sometimes the answer is the simplest one, even if it's not entirely grand or epic. The Adventure and 02 kids were not a singularity; there were Chosen Children before and after them, all implied to go on their own adventures. We have no evidence the eight Crests seen in Adventure were the only ones made, just that they seem to be the ones that survived the attack Gennai was involved with. For all we know the could have been a part of a much bigger set made to correspond to a bunch of kids who all witnessed the Hikarigaoka incident in 1995, but only those eight survived that attack. So, likewise, there's nothing saying Ken's Crest wasn't also made around that time, or even later as an experiment afterwards.

Personally, since there are so many contradictions between Tag Tamers and the anime that you can't take them simultaneously at face value, I prioritize the anime and only draw from Tag Tamers as needed, so the version of Tag Tamers' events in my head could easily involve a Crest being involved in some way. It would explain why Ken had it on his person and used it as a power source for his base, unaware of or having forgotten its original purpose.

In the end, I think there are certain things that can only be explained by the fact Adventure and 02 were too obviously written as they went along -- even though I argue often that they had more thought put into it than they're given credit for, it doesn't change the fact that both series' plots are built on retrofits. The biggest example is probably the fact that the Adventure kids just all happened to simultaneously move from Hikarigaoka to Odaiba and attend the same school; Hikarigaoka's on the other side of Tokyo, so I can't stress enough how implausibly convenient this is. The real-life obvious answer is that the first movie and the TV series were developed separately and the TV staff had to come up with excuses to rationalize how they were in Odaiba when they used to be in Hikarigaoka, and in fact the staff struggling to keep up with contradictory movie and media mix compliance was exactly one of the reasons we didn't get a third Adventure series at the time. So the explanations are forced, and the staff knows it, so to a certain degree you just kind of have to roll with it.

That said, the Adventure novels do provide a suggestion that there is some kind of higher power beyond even Homeostasis's awareness (referred to as "God's territory"), which was responsible for pulling the strings behind things like everyone in Hikarigaoka conveniently forgetting the incident in 1995. As much as a cop-out as it may feel like to resort to that, keep in mind that the Adventure universe has always been very linked with Shinto concepts; this is of course brought up most prominently in 02 episode 33, in that Digimon and the Digital World may not be all that distinct from the world of youkai and the gods. In this case, this should not be taken as "gods" in the Christian or Greco-Roman definitions, but the Shinto concept of gods that exist in everything and could potentially be good or evil (Professor Takenouchi brings up the example of tsukumogami, or objects that become sentient after a hundred years of existence, and Survive parallels this by depicting the Digimon as "Kemonogami", or "beast gods"). So according to Adventure universe lore, the development of digital technology has allowed us to start seeing and understanding more of those things we never were able to before, but that doesn't mean we'll immediately understand everything about it as humans, and Koushirou's character arc wouldn't work if it weren't for the recurring concept that even Homeostasis and the Agents and Holy Beasts aren't entirely clear on what's going on with the world. This is also why "destiny" comes up so much in Adventure and 02; the world itself is guiding you towards something, but at the same time, it's up to you whether you want to actually fulfill that, and that's why certain "coincidences" seem to happen all the time to give the kids chances to make use of them.