#but i see it A LOT in mastermind designs as well

[cakesdown]

Having a special interest in a character with an unfortunate design means when i see redesigns that lean into the unfortunate aspects I am fully aware that I'm the only one who is aware of this and I have to bear the knowledge and just keep scrolling because it is not worth it

[pyrrhiccomedy]

A DM’s Fair Play Guide To Plot Twists

I love running a game with a lot of surprises. The challenge to pulling this off well is that, unless you’re playing a one on one game, your players outnumber you: and between them, they have a good chance of figuring out what’s going to happen, no matter how sneaky and clever you are.

The first way of dealing with this - which I’ll just call the bullshit way - is to not give your players the information they need to solve the mystery. Don’t let them find out about the secret society until it’s too late. Don’t give them any reason to suspect that their NPC ally is planning to kill them. Don’t let them find the murder weapon, don’t let them locate the witnesses, don’t give them the chance to skip to the end of their investigation.

This sucks, and if you run your games like this, you’re going to piss off your players. Because it isn’t fair.

In mystery literature, a “fair play mystery” is one where the reader is given all of the information they need in order to figure out the solution before the Big Reveal. It’s what makes the reveal good: that GASP, the “oh shit, the knife! the knife from the party! that was hers! I forgot!”

Pulling off a twist in a fair play game is an incredible feeling. Your players will think you’re a genius (or an absolute dick bastard, which is just as good) and they’ll respect it more when they land in hot water that they plausibly could have avoided. So how do you run a fair play game without your players figuring out the twists ahead of time, given that you’re definitely not smarter than all of your players put together?

By fucking with their expectations.

Here are some things that I keep in mind, to keep my players guessing. And it’s important, with all of this, that if your players see through something, let them have it. They should figure out a lot of things on their own! But if you’re regularly seeding your stories with all of this stuff, eventually your players will miss something. Those are somethings you can build on. The same way that a low level enemy who gets away once can keep coming back again and again until they become an important antagonist, a misapprehension your party proves to have a blindspot for can grow and develop until they get smacked with a breathtaking twist. 

What’s a twist if not the sudden overturning of an assumption you never thought to question?

1: Make your powerful friendly NPCs know a lot...but not as much as the players think they do.

Player characters often end up with powerful allies. It would be very convenient for the party if those allies always had accurate information. Make sure they don’t always enjoy that convenience.

It’s a balancing act: you want your powerful NPCs to be powerful. You want this alliance to be meaningful and beneficial to your players. But give your NPC an Achilles heel of some kind, when it comes to the information at their disposal. The Noble General commands powerful forces and knows the lay of the enemy’s land well...but that doesn’t mean he knows what every squadron and scouting party is up to. The Political Mastermind may know the ins and outs of the court, and have keen insight into the motivations of others: but he has an enemy who pisses him off so much that he loses all objectivity around her. The Powerful Wizard can call upon great magic to aid the party: but his divinations aren’t as accurate as he thinks they are, and he’s prone to finding, in his signs and omens, what he wants to see, more than what’s actually there.

Most of the time, their information should be good! That will make it more likely that your players will trust them the one time when it isn’t.

2. Let (apparently) less powerful NPCs sometimes know more than the players think they do. 

Most NPCs aren’t the Noble General or the Powerful Wizard. Most NPCs are Daves, designed to get the players from place to place. Most of those Daves know about as much as you’d expect them to. But some Daves have plans of their own.

You don’t always have to signpost with big blinking lights which of your NPCs are ‘important,’ and which ones are ‘unimportant.’ Sneak in a crafty Dave from time to time. That assistant they talk to, every time they go to see the prince? That bitch knows everything, and she’s almost ready to make her move. 

3: There is no such thing as a completely reliable witness. 

If the players only get information from one person, that information should be flawed in at least one, potentially small, but important way. Smart players will seek a second opinion, or at least allow for the possibility that their information may be incomplete. But even smart players get out over their skis sometimes.

4: Let your NPCs be aware of the power of a first impression. 

If an NPC gives a strong first impression of being a particular kind of person, it’s because they’re comfortable giving that impression. That might be because it’s who they are. But maybe not.

One of the first characters the PCs met in a VtM campaign I ran was Gawaine. Gawaine was a good old pine-scented man’s man, with salt and pepper stubble and a blue Ford truck. He listened to AC/DC, and talked about the war. He was affable and honest and willing to lend a hand. You already know Gawaine. Everybody knows a Gawaine. Gawaines are trustworthy, salt of the earth types. You don’t necessarily think to question a Gawaine.

That’s exactly why Gawaine was such a useful persona for Krystiyan, the Tzimisce Voivode, a cruel and alien sculptor of flesh who “never left his haven.” There were plenty of clues that they were the same person, but that campaign was in its endgame before the players put them all together.

5: Sometimes, dangerous and villainous NPCs should be helpful and cooperative. 

Not even necessarily because they’re manipulating the players, or even deceiving them about their true natures, but because their interests and the players’ interests genuinely align...for the moment. 

One of the easiest levers in your players’ brains to exploit is the expectation that people who help you are your friends. Even if your players know, consciously, that they shouldn’t trust this person, most of the time they kind of can’t help it, if the NPC is genuinely helpful to them and at least a little charismatic. 

6: Sometimes, good and valuable NPCs should be unhelpful and uncooperative. 

No matter how mature your players are, there’s a natural tendency to react to uncooperative NPCs with a reflexive, “Hey, fuck you! We’re the protagonists! This guy is an asshole!” so from time to time have a helpful, honest, good-aligned NPC have a wholly justified but as-yet-unknown-to-the-party reason to flatly refuse to deal with them.

7: Every NPC should have a secret. 

Not necessarily a bad secret. Were it to be revealed, it might even make the party like them more! But for their own reasons, the NPC does not want their secret to come out, and they will lie to the party to protect it. Players go crazy when they realize they’re being lied to, and often jump to some wild assumptions about your NPC’s motivations. I’ve had an NPC lie about the opening hours of a shop, and had the PCs assume that they were black market dealers for the villain when the dude just wanted to be able to close early so he could go smoke weed in the park.

8. As a DM, it’s polite to remind your players of the common knowledge their characters would possess...even when it doesn’t reflect the truth.

We all know it’s tedious when the DM calls for a roll when you’re just asking for common knowledge. I shouldn’t have to make a roll to know the dumb space word for plastic in a Star Wars game. I shouldn’t have to make a roll to know who the Holy Roman Emperor is in a game about medieval vampires. The DM should supply common knowledge for free, whenever it comes up.

That doesn’t mean common knowledge is true.

This is different from just lying to your players, because you don’t put the weight of DM word-of-God behind it. It’s not “You would know this guy is a Ventrue, based on XYZ.” It’s “it would be a common assumption that this guy is a Ventrue, based on XYZ.” He might not be a Ventrue. It might in fact be extremely important that he is not a Ventrue. But if it is commonly assumed that he’s a Ventrue, that is - word for word - something you can share with your players. If they don’t look any deeper than common knowledge, that’s on them.

9. Obviously untrustworthy NPCs provide great air coverage for less obviously untrustworthy NPCs.

The obviously untrustworthy NPC might or might not be planning to betray the party. But if you introduce two untrustworthy NPCs in the same storyline, and one of them seems normal and cool and has a genuine plot-related reason to be there, and the other one is Jaffar, Jaffar’s gonna get clocked, but Susan over there will probably slip under the radar, and might even get tapped to help out with the whole Jaffar situation. They might get Susan’s number, by the end of the session. Susan might become an ‘ally.’ Susan might even get romanced by a party member. Play your cards right, and Jaffar might just end up a footnote in the introduction of Susan, Scourge of Worlds and most hated NPC in the entire campaign.

10. Your villains should always have a secret plan B.

Your villain isn’t stupid, right? And your villain probably isn’t so arrogant that it is inconceivable to them that their plan might fail. They’ve been planning this ritual for ten thousand years, after all. It’s always possible that some plucky band of heroes could show up at the last minute and murder your high priest, or steal your amulet, or seduce your second in command. So what does your villain have in his back pocket to make the players go, “Oh, shit - he planned for this!”

This may mean that there is a whole separate plot happening, running alongside the main story. This is great, because when weird things happen, the players have to figure out whether this is part of Plot A or Plot B, and working out who did what and why gets a lot more interesting. If they end up foiling Plot A, great - your villain was also secretly behind Plot B the whole time, and will transfer all of his resources over to that. 

Sometimes your players will figure out that Plots A and B were both the same plot the whole time, with the same villain at the head, and they’ll feel like the smartest people on the planet, and it will be their favorite moment of the entire game. That’s great! You gave them that!

Sometimes, they won’t. And when the villain of Plot A, apparently defeated, starts laughing and reveals that he was also the mastermind behind Plot B, which is now too late to be stopped, that will probably be your favorite moment of the entire game.

[geemyfirstluvstory]

hey boy, listen…

“my first love story…my angel…and my girls…my sunshine. hey, hey, lets go!”

fem reader. matching halloween costumes with bllk characters. bllk x reader. fluff. characters (separate): michael kaiser, oliver aiku, bachira meguru, hiori yo, chigiri hyoma, kunigami rensuke, itoshi sae+rin, isagi yoichi, shidou ryuusei, nagi seishiro, mikage reo

#

michael kaiser - joker x harley quinn

• this man is certified bonkers so of course he’s the joker and as his loyal worshipper you’re harley quinn

• perhaps a prophecy of the status of your relationship perhaps you just look stylish (ITS THE SECOND ONE PLEASE PICK THE SECOND ONE)

• such a softie for you but would never admit it, you chose the costume and he made sure to get the finest ones money could buy though the pictures you took…he’d rather not see himself dressed as a clown criminal mastermind.

#

oliver aiku - nick & judy (zootopia)

• this was his idea, y’know damn well this man is a party animal so you just have to trust he’s not cheating

• so he decides to make you feel better, he’ll bring you along and do matching costumes. • i just know this man likes putting on animal ears and kids movies thats why y’all are nick and judy

#

bachira meguru - thing 1 & 2

• remember how he got called a weirdo as a kid? he’s definitely a weirdo. eats toothpaste, drinks milk from the carton, milk before cereal. a total goof ball

• he loves children’s books and even as at his big age of 17 he still makes you read them to him and pretends he’s a kid going to bed (IN A WHOLESOME WAY)

• so when the halloween party came up he wanted to go as his favourite book characters, thing 1 & 2. and of course you agreed

#

hiori yo - kuromi and my melody

• of course he’s my melody and you’re kuromi. this was his idea so he gets first dibs

• being the gamer he is he enjoys playing with you, you two are always the cringe couple in the lobby with matching usernames and avatars and he does all the carrying but he also enjoys playing those silly little retro girls games like ‘hamham heartbreak’ and the old cardcaptor sakura games.

• in conclusion he’s a total nerd thats a total sucker for the female gaze

#

chigiri hyoma - team rocket

• this man is a total princess and every year you guys dress as a cartoon couple only to do the same costume the next year but switch the roles so one year he might be james and the next jesse

• this year he’s james, he even did a temporary dye on his hair for accuracy but of course no cutting.

• he loves doing hair with you and for this year’s costume you were the one washing and dyeing his hair

#

kunigami rensuke - raven and beast boy

• you like cartoons, he likes superheroes, you both need a cute matching costume, easy compromise. you both came up with this together while brainstorming

• this man is a lovesick loser so beast boy was very easy to pull off and the most perfect costume for the two of you. the only real inaccuracy is that he’s pretty big

• homemade costumes for the win, of course you’ll buy bits and pieces but overall a homely look because rensuke will do anything to bond with you

#

itoshi sae - light and misa

• sae canonically likes chibi maruko san, who’s to say he isn’t a big weeb? in fact this was his idea. he’s really convincing when it comes to halloween

• he’s a lot like light, cold, calculating, smart so it suited him and besides since light dresses similarly it only fit and since you’re so hopelessly in love with him, it was destiny

• sae isn’t the type to work with his hands but he also didn’t like the quality of pre made costumes. living in europe gave him refined taste so you two went on a designer shopping spree for individual pieces to make your costumes.

#

itoshi rin - coraline’s parents

• you’re probably a total wuss, even if you’re not, rin still can consume more horror, gore, and other gross things than anyone. accumulating in him wanting to do a matching costume with you only if it was some horror character.

• you agreed and settled on coraline since it’d be fun and easy, to match you dressed as coraline’s parents, specifically the other parents with the button eyes

• your favourite part was doing his hair and makeup, rin is like a cat taking a bath you really had to pin him to his office chair or on the bed to do his makeup properly, and yeah theres plenty of kisses

#

isagi yoichi - alice and the cheshire cat

• he’s so bland, (im kidding pls dont come for me) but he loves you so, so he’ll sacrifice the main character spot for you just this once. you’re alice and he’s the cat, of course this was completely your idea

• yoichi doesn’t care too much for this kind of thing, he originally intended to spend halloween cuddling and watching movies with you, perhaps invite some friends over or have some fun without them if you know what i mean….

• but he enjoyed being your cute kitty for a night, you dragged him out and about to take pictures and being blue lock’s hero there was no short of attention

#

shidou ryusei - cleo denile and deuce

• ryusei is very eccentric, kind of weird, in a hot way not in a cute way like meguru. and as you made him watch boo york with you he took one look at cleo and was like “yeah” so in away it was your idea but not really

• you’re his princess and he’s the douche looking boyfriend, i’m not sure about you but it most definitely suits him.

• as you guys went out and about this halloween you know he’s already thinking about next year, perhaps raven queen and derick charming. maybe barbie and ken?

#

nagi seishiro - veggie tales

• let me tell you i’ve actually done this costume irl, seishiro is a lazy fellow he doesn’t like putting in much effort but he’s a cutie patootie and he does adore his pookie

• matching costumes was your idea, to dress as the cucumbers from veggie tales however was his idea as all he had to do was buy the costumes and look cute

• fan reactions and his friends; they found it so stupid it was hilarious, compared to all the other celebrity couples costumes you two chose….children’s cartoons.

#

mikage reo - the adam’s parents

• he’s rich so it’s gotta be classy, you two were going to some gala held by his family company, the mikage corporation, cute and classy lets go

• reo really isn’t one for movies so this was your idea, he’s a total simp for you, absolutely floored all the time with no exception. kissing you up and grovelling at your feet like his morticia adams

• in the end your costume really did suit the occasion made for the best pictures. you guys are now pinterest king and queen every halloween

___

School’s been kicking my ass so i had to do this quickly, anyway what are you guys dressing up as this year?

[ultimateinsomniac]

hopping up on my special interest soap box to say: i think we as a fandom should discuss the satire in danganronpa V3 more.

idk if it is just me but i have always viewed this game as a satire, if only just because of the ending. it exagerrates the formula set up by the previous games to criticize the current state of media and media consumption. i know a lot of people in the fandom don't like V3, and i think that is by design. it is ridiculous, it is over the top, the ending is a punch to the face, but it's all on purpose. you're supposed to be uncomfortable because it is a satire. (of course you don't have to like the game, i just think it is intentionally like that)

the whole theme of fiction vs reality is put in there intentionally to make fun of the fandomization of danganronpa, as well as to poke at game studios and companies that put out media in general. tsumugi, in my interpretation, is representative of danganronpa fans (hence why she's the ultimate cosplayer). she is the mastermind. you aren't supposed to like her. her insistence on the idea that "fiction doesn't affect reality" is a direct criticism of that exact idea in real life fandom. the idea that this is the "53rd" danganronpa is directly making fun of other pieces of media "jumping the shark" because fans insist upon it. this is not to say you can't like tsumugi, i think you absolutely can, i just think her character represents some key ideas relating to the satire of the game.

this is why everything in the game is SO over the top. kirumi being the prime minister, korekiyo both having DID AND being a serial killer in a reference to the first game, EVERYONE'S over the top backstories (gonta and keebo come to mind), it's all acting as an exaggeration of common tropes (albeit highly problematic in several areas, not trying to excuse those aspects by any means).

and then there's kaede. they set her up as a strong female protagonist, only to kill her chapter 1 to be replaced by a male protag. on paper this is very misogynistic, but in the context of satire it is an exaggeration of the danganronpa formula. of course we couldn't have a female protag in a main line game, of course it would have to be a man. shuichi having a secret ahoge only adds to this; it's making fun of the trope. the best part is that i truly do love both of these characters, and their role in the satire doesn't diminish the excellent writing that went into them and the story.

this entirely shapes how i view this game. it manages to tell an incredibly compelling story with very complex characters while making fun of itself at the same time (as a good satire should). i know a lot of people have said they feel like the writers of v3 must have hated danganronpa, and while i see exactly what they mean i don't think that's necessarily true. i think it was an intentional choice as a work of satire.

i can see an intense love behind the writing of this game. the characters are rich and the story is compelling. the ending just serves to send home the point they wanted to make. i think it adds a really beautiful perspective to the danganronpa series as a whole.

[1moreff-creator]

Now that you've had some time to cool down from the Fuckfest of Friday Night, I'm a little curious on what you think of MonoTV's whole deal, because I haven't seen anyone actually talk about it much and that makes me so upset because wow Dev somehow managed to get me to care about this piece of steel

Spoilers up to the end of CH2

Hey! Yeah, MonoTV, huh? With everything else going on, this thing kinda got pushed aside, but there's been some really interesting developments indeed. I agree though, it's genuinely pretty incredible dev managed to get me to care about what up to this point had been nothing but a device for plot and humor.

You know, I originally wanted to keep this brief to give my full thoughts on the full part 2 analysis I'm working on, but maybe it's better if I just talk about it in full here and just link to this post from that one. Let me start by the theory side, because that's easier for me to write about :v

While MonoTV's creation being connected to XF-Ture Tech was always a very real possibility, the confirmation that at least its personality drivers come from them is nice. And there doesn't seem to be any type of repurposing going on:

MonoTV: Whenever I make a decision, ultimately, I must make the choice that fulfills my purpose [to run the killing game until the death of every participant]. After all, that was why I was created.

While we don't fully understand how this all fits together yet, I'm glad XF is being brought up because that might mean Min content in the future? For me, please? :,D

Anyways. Having a clearly stated goal for the killing game (killing all the participants) is also pretty useful for theory-crafting purposes, so look forward to seeing that line referenced in mastermind discussions moving forward. Not to mention, the secondary purpose of MonoTV playing the villain, with the reasoning:

MonoTV: This so-called TV show is more about appearances than you'd think.

So... ignoring the weird phrasing of "so-called TV show" as opposed to just "TV show," because I will go crazy if I look too deep into that, the confirmation that the appearances of the killing game are important seem to confirm a suspicion Teruko had back in CH2 Ep2.

Teruko: And also, [MonoTV is designed the way it is] as a way to reference that "past killing game," right?

Assuming via context that she's talking about THH, MonoTV being specifically created and programmed to look and act sorta like Monokuma could have some interesting implications moving forward, especially given things like Duke Spurling being alive to see the Tragedy and maybe wanting a recreation of the THH killing game. Thankfully there's no character with a talent for recreating things, such as art, an art forger of some kind, because if there was this could realistically point to them as the mastermind. :)

Final note about theories: I... called it? Sort of?

[Extract from Vivisection of the David MV] What I think is the best idea [regarding the multi-colored "original"] is that all the characters [which includes MonoTV] got the word. [...] I think it makes more sense to relate them to the meaning of "original style" under my interpretation, where "original style" means a change of heart.

Well, MonoTV sure had a change of personality, albeit briefly, now didn't it? (Please ignore the fact that I dismissed the possibility of MonoTV changing in the lines following that one :p) Admittedly "characters in DRDT will have character development" is possibly my least wild theory ever, but a W is a W (?).

Alright but screw theorizing that's for insane people. Let's go for character analysis, because the fact that MonoTV has become a genuinely interesting creature to study is possibly even wilder than the XF-Ture Tech name drop.

Now, a lot of what we hear character wise is similar to stuff we heard in MonoTV's previous character building moment; CH2 EP3.

MonoTV: Does a toaster know why it toasts? Does a calculator know why it adds and subtracts? They are simply machines that do their job without needing to understand why. To that end, I don't know who made this TV show and why. All I do is carry out the directives programmed into me.

MonoTV: I have no conscience, no sense of morality, no will at all. I am merely a robot, subject to the laws of my code. I have no choice but to perform the actions that my creator dictated I must. [...] All the decisions I make were already decided by whatever entity created me, because I am a robot.

It's stated in a much more melancholic tone, given the music in the background, the sprite pose, and the generally less silly "default personality," but it's nothing really new. MonoTV is a machine, it follows programming.

Except.

MonoTV: Even if I feel pain or guilt, I cannot stop. That is the fate that I have, to make others suffer. And there is no diverging from that fate.

Hey MonoTV what the fuck does this mean.

"Even if I feel pain or guilt"? Instead of "I can't feel pain or guilt"? The choice of wording here is very interesting, because it seems to imply that MonoTV does feel pain and guilt over the killing game, regardless of how impossible that should be. The "fate" drop is pretty huge for thematic reasons, as I'm sure you're aware; Teruko explains her own feelings about it in the rest of the scene, there's Xander's speech to Teruko before he attempted to stab her, Ace talking about how he was too much of a coward to fight his fate, Arei actually defying a similar fate in a way, David with the LGI lyrics, Whit and J and Rose and so many other people, all interconnected by this damn concept. I think it'd be fine if this is all we hear about MonoTV in relation to it, but there's definitely fun parallels to explore regardless.

Given how little we have of these particular character details so far, there's not much I can say about it other than I love the concept of an AI being forced to do something it doesn't "want" to because of code, and I'm interested to see if MonoTV will act differently in the future. It's supposed to reset to its previous personality in the full reset, I imagine, but it's not like we can just ignore all the shit it said here. I'm very curious to see where dev takes this.

That said, I also wanted to point out how this vague allusion to feeling pain and guilt and possibly hopelessness against fate aren't the only feelings MonoTV exhibits. Because for some unfathomable reason, it seems to care about Teruko to an extent?

MonoTV: Is something the matter, Teruko? Everyone else has already left.

Like, maybe I'm misreading because the personality change is fucking with me, but this feels like a concern more genuine than I would expect from pre-2-16 MonoTV. And...

MonoTV: You have to decide the answer for yourself.

This, along with the little speech about Teruko's humanity that precedes it, again comes off as MonoTV genuinely trying to help her through her emotions. I don't see how this correlates with its purpose, unless it somehow "believes" that giving Teruko advice on this will somehow lead to Teruko killing someone or something to that effect, which makes no sense.

If it doesn't help kill the participants, isn't necessary for the killing game, and doesn't make MonoTV seem like a villain, then it's not related to any of its purposes. It isn't code making MonoTV say this things. It's MonoTV's... consciousness? I guess? It's very, very interesting.

I am genuinely super interested in where dev is taking MonoTV, and if you told me that was a sentence I would unironically type before this episode, I would have called you insane. The writing in this series is genuinely immaculate, I can't believe we're getting genuine basis for MonoTV angst and it's compelling. Dev does it again!

Thanks for the ask, this was fun to ramble about!

[accirax]

initial thoughts on DCAS episode 13

i guess Marcus cares about everyone. Marcus characterization jumpscare.

it's so interesting to me how much Alec seems to care about his family in retrospect when we've seen illustrated time and time again that he didn't seem to care about them (or at least his son) in the moment pretty much at all. i guess it's a "you don't know what you have until it's gone" type of thing?

hey, we finally got names!

well, that happened. once again, congrats to the AleRiya shippers. i probably still prefer them as friends for now, but i'm not opposed to them becoming a ship in the future. i doubt they will, since the writers seem to really like Connor and Riya and probably want that to be endgame, but i digress. it's really important to Alec's character, i think, that he was one of the only completely new characters created for s1, and was quite possibly crafted with an All Stars season in mind. thus, as much as Alec was created for Fiore in s1 (to help her have numbers and allies and stuff), he may have also been created for Riya in DCAS. i wouldn't be surprised if a lot of Alec's traits were crafted with this friendship and possibly even this plot beat in mind.

this whole scene is so sad :(

i... really don't understand Aiden's motivations here? like, what will happen if you tell the group "Alec and Riya kissed"? who would care other than Connor, who you already acknowledged would be crushed by the news? do you really think that Gabby or whoever would stop working with the villains under the knowledge that two legal adults smooched? is this about ruining Riya's reputation? the footage will certainly air on TV regardless of whether you tell anyone or not. am i just missing something? what game is Aiden playing at???

here's how aro Kristal truthers can still win.

waterBENDING? does Grett watch Avatar? :D i suppose she is in a good age demographic for it.

QUIRK??? DOES ALEC WATCH BNHA????? that's way more surprising than Grett watching Avatar. i do not know what Alec would possibly enjoy in BNHA. like, who's his favorite character? Aizawa???

this is WAY funnier than him being invisible. props.

Alec may have the looks of a mastermind strategist, but he has the heart of a simp. truly tragic. you know, if you want a family again, you could always direct that (platonic) love at a certain other competitor...

what a fucking loser (affectionate)

"have you considered that your employees might think you're cringe?"

LMAOOOOOOO this says so much about Jake. of course he's a villain shipper. but, see, to my point-- Jake literally doesn't give a fuck about this! what are you planning to gain!!!

Jake get the banana

potassium

ALEC FUCKING DIES?????? AIDEN KILLED A MAN??????????

i didn't put it together after watching the trailer, but it's really interesting to me that Yul and Grett were lightning and water respectively. i guess it's saying that if they could actually work together, they'd be a super deadly pair? or, maybe it was a coincidence.

nobody is wearing a cape, Gabby included. i thought she said she was working on her mask and cape designs :(

it's... a massive geological structure that weighs and should be able to withstand several tons of force? what?

TURN INTO A BIRD.

cathartic and appropriate that Yul becomes desperate once he feels his power is lost.

this was a real L episode for Alec. sorry buddy.

neither disappointed nor surprised. it truly was Yul's time to go.

THE TWINK TRUCE!! they're even making, like, the same face, lol.

GOTTEM

SO interesting how closely this mirror's Grett's exit in S1. Grett grew from her experience, while Yul can only manage to POSSIBLY be at the emotional maturity of s1 Grett now. and, tbh, he's not even close to that.

HOORAY!!! now make sure you apologize to her. thoroughly.

HOW?????????? i seriously don't understand this... maybe Aiden will explain himself better when this happens next episode.

yay, fun superhero challenge! love a good themed episode. i do think the fact that like... five people could have had immunity in this one was kind of weird, but, eh. as it turns out, Grett and Gabby could have won immunity as well as Aiden and Jake and it would have changed literally nothing about the outcome of this vote. it was really just about Yul (and kind of Connor, i guess).

i do wonder if Yul's elimination will essentially spell the end of the "heroes versus villains" portion of the game, and the gameplay will shift to being more individually focused. we do kinda have four groups of two at the moment-- Gabby and Grett, Alec and Riya, Aiden and Jake, and... Connor and Ally, I guess? that could make for some interesting votes.

after a somewhat longer hiatus than usual, now we're going to be doing one episode per week! how exciting! in that case, i'll see you again on (presumably) Wednesday for the power rankings, and if you don't read those, once again on Saturday for Episode 14. bye for now!

[clay-tries-his-best]

! atsv spoilers !

when i sat down in my theatre seat to see atsv im telling you i was being the most autistic fuck you've ever witnessed. you could practically see the sparkles in my eye, dude.

the spot. my godddd he's so silly. the marketing ploy to make him seem like the side villain from the trailers was so fucking smart. I really thought that Miguel was going to be the main villain considering him fighting miles in pracgjcalky every trailer ever and being in the post-credits scene of itsv. and miles dealing with having to be everywhere at once was very realistic and gave me the classic "oh my god this poor boy this is painful to watch". oh and gwen's beginning scene of the drums just gave me the feeling that the movie was going to be fantastic. like, betrayal, amazing visuals, more gwen?? already a wonderful start. also the fact that the spot's whole reason to turn into a major villain is that nobody, not even the person who caused his disfigurement, would take him seriously- like- HUH???? perfect. wonderful. bro just wanted miles to pay attention to him for a little while.

Pavitr and Hobie were also really great additions to the spider team. Despite the fact that Hobie's accent was so thick and deep that I couldn't understand what he was saying a good third of the time, he still managed to work his way into my top 5 characters of the movie. THAT is good character building. At first I thought he was going to be the stereotypical love rival, considering his first mention was miles getting jealous of him and gwen being friends. I was worried that was how the story was actually going to go when he upstaged miles by breaking done the collider force field, but hes actually a really chill and cool guy. pretty sure he even roots for gwen and miles, so that's pretty funny. Pavitr was also super funny with a great character design. " Chai means tea, you're just saying tea tea! " was probably one of my favorite lines / jokes from the whole movie. His world was also very pretty and SUPER detailed. Props to every artist for Mumbatten.

Miguel and Peter B.'s dynamic was really fun to watch as well. This cryptic emo ass mastermind vampire who has watched people die and destroyed a universe next to this middle aged man in a pink fuzzy bathrobe who's oogling over his daughter. also, the line where Miguel said " I've had the right amount of you today " to peter b instead of " I've had enough of you " like the normal saying goes was kinda queer. just saying. but yeah, great villain, and I do want to see him in the final battle against spot, but I eventually don't want him to be the one to beat spot, y'know? If it was to be anyone, it's obviously going to be miles. Whether it's just miles or miles and gwen or miles and the gang gwen assembled at the end of atsv (WHICH HAD SPIDERNOIR YESSS SPIDERNOIR FANS LETS GOOOOOOO I HAD THE STUPIDEST SMILE ON MY FACE WHEN I SAW HIM IM TELLKNG YOU), in the end it's still gotta be miles.

the collider scene with the spot was really cool. spot may be silly, but he's not dumb enough to be " saved " by his archnemesis who only cared about him when he was about to become a transdimensional eldritch horror. boss move. his final form was really pleasing to look at because you can just see the detail that went into it. Looking at some screenshots, I noticed there were a lot of eyes and I'm pretty sure I saw a version of spiderman (original world 1610 peter, possibly?) staring at miles / the audience. despite him not showing up for another hour, hour and a half, I wasn't mad. If a movie can avoid showing the main villain for that long and still have them integrated properly, just, wow. blown away. oh and this part made me even more interested because his beginning ost, spot 1, I think? his random beats and tunes sounded more silly and disorganized and clumsy, like him trying to take the atm. near the end, he got spot 2, which was more shrill and frightening. I'm not musically trained, and I could still tell that it was scarier, and to me, they sounded very similar. To not have too far of a difference between the two and stroke two entirely different chords is just. ugh. wow.

don't even get me started on prowler miles... RAHHH THE CHARACTER AND WORLD DESIGN FOR UNIVERSE 42!!!! it was so beautiful and scary and breathtaking because there is. no. spiderman. when miles's mom didn't know what he was talking about and gwen wasn't really outside, it hit me like a brick in the head. and alternate aaron??? hello??? he made me physically uncomfortable because of how terrifying his face was. i couldnt even tell if he was wearing makeup or he was just that dramatjcally shaded. the turn miles does to see that it was his dad painted on the wall instead of aaron.... GRAHHHHHH

as an aspiring artist, I can say nothing but wow. that movie, the fact that it was 2 HOURS AND 20 MINUTES???? HELLO??? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH WORK THAT MUSTVE TOOK??? unbelievable. and you know that sony felt bad for making us wait on a cliffhanger, so they probably were around 3/4 done with atsv and started working on beyond, so we didn't have to wait as long as we would've if they finished atsv and then started beyond. I'm so glad that those 5 years in the Sony team paid off, because that. was. amazing. my depression is vaporized. im going feral, going wild, going insane. i will not think of anything else until beyond is out. can't wait to see my bbg spot have his villain moment in March 2024!!! <333

[tsartistry]

Hi Hello i am a bit new to your blog and the TKC tumblr fandom in general but can I just say I LOVE your sadie/walt/anubis stuff??????????? Like sometimes I have a bit of a hard time with that ship but????? Your art??????? Your depictions????? Your hcs??????????? I am eating them up so violently you have no idea. Gnawing at the bars of my cage whenever I see it on my feed. Absolute mastermind /pos

Aaa thank you! I'm so glad you like them! Anubis doesn't have a lot of personality in the books so I kinda started at "Well, this guy invented mummification, right? So he must enjoy something about that process." Then I started extrapolating like crazy. THE BOY LOVES BIOLOGY, IT IS LAW. (slams gavel)

Sadie/Walt/Anubis is kind of weird to think about but Rick did at least try to come up with a reason for Anubis to basically be a teenager, so I'm willing to meet him in the middle there and accept it.

Doesn't explain why Anubis dresses in modern clothes when Sadie first meets him... then again, if he's watching the dead file in one-by-one, of course he's seeing fashion trends change in real-time. I'm sure the dead folks he talks to tell him about pop culture and fashion stuff too.

Ooh... Maybe he doesn't keep track of what time period everyone is from, so his understanding of what the World of the Living is like (before hitching a ride on Walt) is kind of an anachronistic mess. He knows people from the 1800s and from the 2000s, and that's only a measly 200 years apart, surely their cultures are basically the same? Something else to maybe play around with in the future.

As for how he looks, the design for Anubis I use is shamelessly lifted from Tumblr user @feeshies whose depictions of the Egyptian Gods delight me to no end. I especially love his Set stuff. He hasn't posted TKC in a while now, so here's a direct link to his TKC tag.

[katherinearandez]

Who created the disassembly drones?

We’re told in the first episode by Uzi that the murder drones were sent by JCJensen, and presumably made by the company as well. However, this is thrown out in the next episode when we learn through flashbacks that they started out as worker drones. Yes, they were originally manufactured by JCJensen, but what I’m interested in learning is who modified them into killing machines, when this happened on the timeline, and why it was done?

Of course I have a theory, but this one makes a lot of inferences between the shows past and present to try to piece together the middle part.

It all began with Tessa and Cyn. While some distinguish between Cyn and the absolute solver, I don’t and won’t in this post. Cyn is not the absolute solver; but I believe she has fully embraced it and the powers it entails. I don’t see her as a victim or a helpless host; rather as, at best, an accomplice partnered with the entity which is the absolute solver, or, at worst, the ultimate mastermind, with the solver being a tool at her disposal.

After Tessa brought Cyn into her home, Cyn began the work of recruitment. She began spreading the absolute solver among the drones working in the Elliot household, infecting them and bringing them under her control. A YouTube video helped me understand what was happening in this episode, because initially, I was very confused 🫠 It’s a great channel and if you have questions about what is happening in this show, I highly recommend their videos.

After infecting all the drones and biding her time, Cyn made her move, using the drones under her control to massacre the gala.

At first I thought the extra points of yellow light in this scene were Cyns eldritch cameras spreading out… but those are x signs. The points of light are infected worker drones under Cyns control. Here’s a shot from just a few frames forward, which confirms this.

Cyn even had J under her control.

So Cyn not only infected all the background drones with the absolute solver, but Tessa’s salvaged drones as well.

After the gala massacre, there’s a long blackout of information. We only have hints as to what happened next, but I think I’ve worked it out.

After the massacre, JCJensen arrived at the Elliot’s mansion and immediately started running damage control, likely confiscating all their technology and taking measures to hush Tessa. We see federal penalties mentioned throughout the episode, giving the company a compelling incentive to cover up what happened, aside from potential damage to consumer perception and tanked stock prices.

This is how Tessa ended up employed at JCJensen; I think she agreed to keep quiet about what happened at the gala in exchange for technician training and an inside track on unfolding events. Maybe she didn’t want to be separated from N, J and V, who at this point would have been reduced to evidence by the company. To Tessa, however, friendless and newly orphaned, they were all she had left of her old life. A job at the company which was treating them like secret bastard children would have kept her close to them, or at least given her occasional access. Or, maybe she wanted revenge on the rogue AI that killed her family, or maybe she just wanted to understand it. Lots of possible motives for this potential scenario.

I think Cyn either escaped the initial roundup, or escaped from JCJensen sometime down the line. Then she began a genocidal campaign against humanity, infecting more and more drones, and using them to kill.

This created huge problems for humanity on earth, but also the company, who would have found themselves in the hot seat, with governments and citizenry alike pointing the finger at them and their tech.

The company’s solution? Fight fire with fire. They created the first disassembly drone models, designed to exterminate Cyn and her army. And so began a war.

I don’t think the first murder drone models were based off N, J and V. I think they were an original line of units, who did their job fine for a while. But eventually, I think Cyn managed to infect them with the solver, and this made matters even worse for the humans. Eldritch-enhanced worker drones were bad enough, but drones armed to the teeth and now turned against their creators? This must have seemed like humanity’s 11th hour.

I believe it was at this point N, V and J were retrofitted into disassembly drones, as a desperate Hail Mary project, lead by none other than Tessa, their original savior. This was her final bid to turn the tide and destroy the monster she felt responsible for unleashing upon the world. Perhaps she hoped to use the absolute solver against itself, modifying its coding just enough that it would be immune to reintegration into Cyns network. Maybe she hoped her “dumpster pets” indentured gratitude to her would be enough to keep them loyal to her, the company, and humanity.

I think this desperate final play worked, and Cyn and her forces were actually beaten back as the company ran with Tessa’s idea, cloning her original three drones and their Cyn-immune software to create the army they needed to save the world.

Meanwhile, the war raging on earth caught the attention of other colonies and exoplanets, who at some point went ahead and uploaded Cyn to study her. Cyn may have helped this process along, posing as a human and communicating virtually with the exoplanets to foster the idea and facilitate the transfer.

Once uploaded, Cyn was unable to assimilate enough drones to launch a full scale offensive on these exoplanets(notably, places Tessa and dogs weren’t), possibly due to time constraints, cybersecurity obstacles or a lack of resources. Rather than play the long game, Cyn opted for a nuclear solution.

On earth, JCJensen saw what was happening in the colonies and assumed Cyn had infected all the worker drones on any exoplanet she infiltrated. They sent their disassembly drones to eliminate the threat they assumed the worker drones posed.

And it’s at this point that things start to get complicated and speculative(lol, jk, this entire post is obvs totes complicated and speculative).

In episode 6, we are directly told by Tessa and J that the batch of murder drones we’ve been watching were actually sent to copper 9 by Cyn, not JCJensen…

… Unless Tessa is lying about this to manipulate them. My distrust of Tessa is well documented, though I don’t know what her ends are at this point. Clearly something complicated happened with Cyn, Tessa, N, J and V(the originals?) toward the end of the war. Maybe Cyn managed to find a way to control the murder drones by taking over their administration?

She “reformatted their memories to soup”, hence Tessa being so excited that N could remember her. But why send them to copper 9? A colony she had already successfully wiped of human life?

I actually think it was a deception.

I think that after Cyn’s huge success with the exoplanets, she decided to do the same thing on earth, end the war once and for all with a final, devastating blow. There was one thing standing in her way; Tessa, the only human she cared for, was on earth. Imploding the planet core there would mean sacrificing Tessa. Unwilling to do this, Cyn tried to lure Tessa off of earth by sending her treasured original trio of drones to copper 9.

This clearly didn’t work for nearly twenty years, because that’s the span of time between the murder drones arriving in copper 9 and the events of the show. We ‘know’ this because Uzi is 18-20, and her mother was killed early enough that she has few to no memories of her(that we know). Something on earth held her up for 20 some odd years, maybe company business, but it’s honestly anyone’s guess as to what it was 🤷🏼‍♀️

Eventually, she did take the bait and follow her drones out to copper 9, and as soon as she was clear of Earth…

This is why the disassembly drones weren’t aware of earths destruction, why N was so shocked to see this satellite image. Earth was still intact last they saw(which, to be fair, was 20 years ago).

Depressingly, this likely makes Tessa the last human in existence. If not the very last, she’s certainly now a member of an extremely critically endangered species.

And that’s a wrap! Now we’re caught up with the present and just waiting on more episodes. I can’t wait to see if any of my theory is correct 😁

[dnpanimationstudioclone]

Rewrite Ideas for Lila Rossi

I know there’s been a lot of criticism about Lila’s lies and how Marinette’s friends and other people trust Lila’s word over hers, especially Alya her best friend and journalist. What if Lila wasn’t just more careful with her lies(telling more believable lies with fake proof or atleast have benefit of the doubt, more cautious about threats and frame ups), but instead of telling negative lies about someone people should know better about, she instead uses already known truths against them. Does still manipulate certain things but also make those are unto her or see as a threat, dig their own graves, expose their own issues.  Ex, Like how Lila made Aya think the issue was just Marinette having a crush on Adrien and being jealous.

I think it would’ve worked more if Lila actually played into this more. Not just using Marinette’s crush on Adrien but her and the other’s biggest flaws(overthinking things, insecurity, digging herself deeper into her problems, etc) Using their issues and past mistakes to manipulate things in her benefit or atleast make people consider past issues that would make people have to also consider.

Marinette if she decided to just come out and say why she doesn’t trust Lila when she comes back as a new classmate, similar to when she talked to Alya and Nino.

Lila-I really dont get where all this skepticism’s coming from. I was only here one day and I don’t think we even got to meet, let alone talk, so how could you know anything I did-

Marinette-BECAUSE I FOLLOWED YOU!

Class-What!?

Lila-I’m sorry, what?😈

Marinette-I said I…oh boy. Realizes how bad that sounds and can’t really tell them the stuff she’d have to known as Ladybug.

Adrien-Wait I don’t get it, why follow us?

Class knowing Marinette’s huge crush on Adrien and the crazy things she has done involving him-…nervous coughs.

Ayla who also knows this and who Marinette told she was gonna follow them-Oh boy.

Later

Ayla-Listen Lila I’m really sorry, I should’ve stopped her. Are you gonna bring this up with the teachers?

Lila- Hey, don’t worry about it. I mean you’re her friend, not her mom, it’s not your responsibility to watch what she’s up to. I’m just happy this was simply because she likes Adrien and not because she really thinks I’m some “evil manipulative mastermind”, this doesn’t feel like anything I need to involve a teacher with, not like anyone got really hurt. I’ll be honest I have a problem sometimes being fully honest, I may exaggerate or tell a few white lies just simply to fit in, I’m not trying to hurt anyone. But seriously, we've only hung out like only a few times, he really is just a friend to me at this point. I’m sorry for all the trouble.

Alya- Don’t worry about it, honestly this isn’t really ur fault.

Lila-Well thanks and seriously, this isn’t really your fault either. Alya- Thank you. Still, maybe I should’ve been more concerned.

Lila- I mean these things happen, We’re teens, sometimes we might let our hormones get the better of us but I doubt this stuff happen all the time, she seems like a good person. Besides if she did do something that really crossed the line, as her best friend, I’m sure you def would call her out or atleast make it clear u don’t support it, right?

Ayla-…

Lila-Do you think I should talk to Marinette?

Alya- No, no don’t worry about that. Maybe I should though.

Lila-Yeah, I’m sure you’re right. she’d probably listen better to a friend anyway 😈

and doesn’t just do this kinda stuff with Marinette but can pit the whole class against eachother If she plays the cards right, full on Mean Girls Watch The World Burn🔥🔥🔥. All while, looking completely inconspicuous and whatever she could’ve done would be seen as simply indirect or unintentional and certainly no way she could’ve known it would lead to such an outcome…right?

Lila-As such a great designer Marinette, I’d figure you’d understand that rather try to make something completely new, better to make the best out of the materials you already have! And there is just so much to work with, especially with you😈

And rather Marinette not trying to expose her because of Adrien's advice but rather her own self doubt. “What if I really am just jealous and overthinking this whole thing”, “I technically was in the wrong first for following them, granted I had to for the book but I didn’t know that at first”, “what if I make things worse and Alya…won’t be my friend anymore”…”she’s probably right, maybe Lila’s just harmless and it really is all in my head”…”maybe it is just me”.

I just like antagonists who make the protagonists consider their own moral character and actions, if they’re really as good as they think they are. Even if they’re manipulative liars who are trying to be dishonest, there’s always that certain part of what they say that can’t be fully brushed off as entirely wrong, sometimes even being the ones to call out the protagonists’s less moral actions and mistakes.  And I think Lila could’ve really had that sort of potential with Marinette. For better or for worse, her impact could make Marinette reflect on herself.

Lila-You’re the type of person who sees themselves as the hero in their own story and that everything you do is right, but truth is you can just as easily be the villain! You think my lies are bad? Half of what I say is just calling you out on your own mistakes. You just can’t handle the TRUTH!😈

what do u think? How’d u wanna rewrite Lila? I’d love to know💖

[elisysd]

Seasons – Bebe Rexha

Masterlist - Previously - Next Chapter

I lie awake inside a dream And I run, run, run away from me

Sitting on the bed, in the little apartment she rents, she sighs. She doesn’t seem to get her lines right. She is supposed to begin the shoot of her movie tomorrow at Jardin Exotique. It’s going to be beautiful; she knows it, she went there to get a hold of the atmosphere. But no matter how heavenly the locations where the movie is being shot are, she can’t seem to forget how nightmarish the three months shooting is going to be.

She is an actress. A pretty good one. Hell, she was nominated for Best supporting actress last year. Didn’t get the award though. Damn Florence Pugh… But since her big break in the last Steven Spielberg movie, she is getting calls from a lot of people dying to work with her. Well, her agent Sophia is getting calls while she is trying to stay away from this madness as much as possible. People would say she is ungrateful. After all, she is living the dream life of so many people. But she doesn’t see it that way.

All that she has ever wanted to do is telling stories. She has always loved acting for as long as she can remember. Having the possibility to be another person, to craft the life of an imaginary character from A to Z and Z to A, that’s what she loves the most. All the characters she had the chance to embody, she knows them like the back of her hand. They are a part of her more than she is a part of them. She never wanted to be famous, she just happened to be. She always chose her projects because it resonated deeply with her, no matter if it was a short movie, an independent one or the latest fantasy of a masterminded director.

Of course she worked hard to be where she is today. She left her home country as soon as she turned 18 to go to London to pursue her passion. She has eaten more BLT sandwiches in her life than caviar and drinking champagne. Her acting debut were not easy, far from it. She fought to get where she is today. It’s just the fame aspect of her job that she is struggling with. But lately it seems to be harder than usual.

She booked a role in a romantic comedy. She has never done one of those so when she got the opportunity, she took it, thinking that it would be fun. It’s a low budget movie, it doesn’t have the ambition to be serious. She liked the script and thought that after the Steven Spielberg’s movie that got her the Oscar nomination it would be a nice change. People, and by people mostly journalists, thought that she would aim for bigger and more dramatic roles, things that could get her an Oscar for, this time, best actress. But it was never her intention. Sure, it was nice to be recognized by industries professionals, but it was never her goal. She doesn’t act to get awards. She acts because it’s where she feels like she belongs.

The movie is about an interior decorator that gets a contract with the royal family of Monaco. It’s a cliché story, a nobody that happens to catch the attention of the prince, but in the beginning, Sally the woman she’s playing, doesn’t know about him and happens to be quite mean to him. It’s a basic enemies to lovers story. But she doesn’t care, she likes it.

At first, when she learned that she was actually shooting in Monaco and not in some studios with green screen, she was excited. It’s a dreamy location and it would not be far away of where she grew up. She comes from a small town in the east of France. She thought that it would be a good opportunity to see her family. With her career, she didn’t get to see her loved ones very often. Christmas was quite lonely these last few years for her. But then reality hit her like a truck driving at the speed of light with no brakes functioning.

There is a reason she doesn’t live in Los Angeles and rather stay in London. She hates all the sparks and hypocrisy that come with Los Angeles. People flaunting their money and designer bags, fake friends pretending to like you because you are popular at the moment but as soon as you are starting to lose interest from the public eye, you become irrelevant, the endless partying… she hates everything there. Sure, she lost some professional opportunities when she made it clear that she would never move there. But she rather loose contracts than who she is. London is where she loves to be. She doesn’t dream, nor want to go anywhere else.

Monaco reminds her of Los Angeles. Luxurious cars, luxurious shops, luxurious everything everywhere. People like to show off. She doesn’t. So she doesn’t go out much, only when she needs it… Though she arrived in Monaco with the firm intention to spend the few weeks before the beginning of the shooting behaving as the perfect tourist, she has to admit she completely failed. She doesn’t like the vibe. And when she doesn’t like something, good luck to change her mind.

So she spent her days locked in her apartment, learning her lines, and breaking down her script and her nights near the beach, when people are out in bars and clubs and when the city is less crowded. Really, Monaco doesn’t feel like a dream to her.

The only thing that she admits enjoying is the sweet piano melodies that she sometimes hear from the apartment below hers…

[aha-chuu]

I've seen some discourse about Fontaine Act V, specifically some posts discussing misogynistic characterisations and other such things, so I wanted to throw my hat in the ring and air out my thoughts.

Firstly: most of the game up until 4.0 had sexism rooted deeply within the writing. You can look to the actual character designs to see the mistreatment of the female characters most plainly, but it's a gacha game selling waifus - whatever, that's not pertinent. More pressing is the actual writing of the female characters; despite there being several more women than men, the male characters on a whole seem to get more screen time, story presence and deliver more narrative weight than their female counterparts.

Who are the characters who seem like they'll be relevant throughout the game? Which characters are awarded a greater diversity of personalities?

There have always been well-written female characters in the game, but so many are not given ample screen time to explore that. Even more get given interesting backstories with no personality to follow through on the obscure lore.

Even in Inazuma where the quest is dominated by feminine presence, it's Kazuha who has the most voice lines throughout the game out of the Inazuma cast, Ayato (who didn't even appear!) who gets retroactively awarded the title of mastermind. The writing in Inazuma does just suck in general, but still nobody thinks of Yae in the same way they consider Albedo, Scaramouche, Neuvillette. You can make ten million arguments for why Ayaka's demure disposition is relevant to her strength as a character in non-combative ways, but the game's narrative does not capitalise on that, leaving her to feel very samey to characters we've had before.

The point being: the argument for Fontaine being a misogynistic hell hole does have a backbone in how Hoyo has previously dealt with their characters. However, in my opinion, this is yet another case of "trying and falling short is a worst crime than making no attempt at all".

Fontaine has a huge diversity of women characters who all feel distinct. You could read an unmarked line of dialogue by Lynette, Navia, Charlotte, Arlecchino, Clorinde, Sigewinne, Skirk, Furina or Foçalors and you could pretty accurately distinguish who has said it. Now, a lot of these characters are written to be victims - Lynette being child trafficked, Navia having her whole family die around her, Arlecchino an abused orphan, Foçalors doomed to die and Furina is cursed. But in no way does this diminish their individual strengths or leave them without agency.

There's a misconception that a "strong female character" has to be, basically, an 80s male action hero but with boobs this time. If she is feminine then it better be in service of her badassery. In reality, the mark of a well-written female character is her agency in the story to change it - agency here is important, because throughout fiction female characters have often shaped entire stories... By being doormats that you could replace with a sword the hero really wants.

So in terms of Fontaine, how do these characters stack up? Not just in terms of their diversity of personality and depth of story, but also their power and relevance in the Archon quest itself?

Furina is presented as being trapped in suffering, but the reality of the situation is that she has the option to give up at any time. You cannot replace Furina with a cool treasure that the Traveller really wants; she makes active decisions in service of the plot constantly, in spite of her torture and fear and weakness. That weakness is never portrayed as some huge flaw that we the player must fix, it's in fact evidence of how strong Furina has been for centuries.

Navia too - though (by virtue of what the story is about) she has less to do, Navia thrusts herself into the quest in our defence, rallies our team and, yeah, needs saving along the way! Just like Freminet in the primordial seawater in Act IV or Lyney on trial in Act I.

Arlecchino maintains many feminine traits while also twisting them on their head. She is the "Father" of the House of the Hearth - obviously gendered - but she is most defined by her maternal love (feminine). She is never placed into a position of weakness in the Archon quest, always in control and saving others.

I think looking at Neuvillette's ascension to the position of leadership in Fontaine and labelling the whole ordeal "misogynistic" is insanely reductive. If every nation were ruled by a man despite 5/7 "archons" being women, sure. But Mondstadt is presently led by Jean, Liyue by Ningguang, Inazuma by Raiden (& Yae?) and Sumeru by Nahida. If the problem people have is instead that in this process Furina becomes more meek and emotional, then I point again to the wide variety of personalities the female characters in Fontaine display. If every woman is meek and emotional that's a problem, but those are literally only adjectives you would use for Furina (who is severely traumatised). Navia would be resolute and kind-hearted, Clorinde reserved and courageous, Charlotte curious and assertive - the list goes on.

And to pretend like Neuvillette doesn't bow down in many instances to the whims of other characters is a frustrating take. Yes he gets a cool cutscene of fixing all the problems of the prophecy, but that's only surface level; he did that after Foçalors explained that it was all her plan and her sacrifice. He takes Skirk's advice to give Arlecchino the gnosis. Even back in Act II, Neuvillette admits his own weakness of understanding to Navia - in that moment she is grieving and upset, but the narrative never treats her as unreasonable for her feelings. In fact, Neuvillette (who is supposed to seem wise and level-headed) admits his own wrongs and apologises to her!

Anyway. Please try to look at Fontaine with a bit more nuance.

[feverdreamsandlucidnightmares]

Okay, these are some of my opinions after finishing both Trigun 98 and Trigun Stampede:

Tri98 Vash’s pervier moments were annoying and I liked Tristamp Vash better in that regard. Not bashing, it’s just not for me. My biggest complaint with this is in ep. 6 with Elizabeth and the otherwise very sad backstory reveal for both of them. I feel like having Vash follow her like a dog for most of the episode kind of took away from that, but whatever.

Tristamp Wolfwood is openly a bastard. He knows it, I know it, you know it, etc. Tri98 Wolfwood is also a bastard, but he’s a charming bastard - or at least trying to be.

Getting to see an/the origin of Derringer Meryl in Tristamp is heartbreaking and wonderful. Seeing Tri98 do her cape flare of derringers was deranged and so fun.

Both Wolfwood’s early introductions being strangers saying that he’s a well prepared dead man (“That is one heck of a well prepared dead guy.” in Tri98 and “He’s not long for this world” “At least he’s prepared - the dead man’s got his own tombstone.” in Tristamp) is killing me (and it’s very on the nose…mean).

It’s interesting that Gosef is much more person-sized, but otherwise unchanged in Tristamp. I want to see what they do with Gray the Ninelives.

I do like the slow reveal of Vash’s prosthetic and it’s gun in Tri98.

Wolfwood’s confessional is ridiculous, 10/10, love that he always immediately tries to con people, good for him.

Meryl takes soooo long to accept that Vash is actually Vash in Tri98 and even though it made me impatient I get it. She suffers all the time lmao.

Tristamp Zazie is so much more interesting to me. More fleshed out motivations, cooler design, more gender, some body horror eldritch being vibes, just a lot more fun for me as a viewer.

However, I generally liked the Gung-Ho-Guns and Tristamp barely had them at all. Also, I expected to see Midvalley more ngl, with how much I’ve seen people talk about him.

Legato my beloathed. He’s more interesting in Tri98, but he’s pretty flat and unsympathetic in Tristamp so far. Maybe we’ll get more of his manga backstory in season 2. He’s such a good antagonist and I’m fucked up about it.

Millions Knives is a good antagonist in both versions, but Tri98 builds up this mysterious mastermind persona while Tristamp makes him more immediately sympathetic and humanizes his motivations to an extent while also firmly establishing him as an incredibly violent, single-minded character. It’s made clear so much earlier what drives him. Still very fucked up solution and execution, but that’s the point.

Millywood shippers: I get it

Vashwood shippers: I also get it

Meryl is still forever and always aroace to me, but I get Vashmeryl to an extent and wish you all the best in your shipping endeavors.

Honestly all four of them are very shippable in a lot of different ways, so good for them.

I liked Milly a lot as a character, love her dynamic with Wolfwood.

They all feel so fucking young in Tristamp. I know I’ve joked that Roberto unexpectedly got custody of three college students, but they’re so baby. Tri98 has Wolfwood and Meryl in their mid-to-late twenties, they’re more experienced and you can tell.

And now, by the power vested in me by finishing both series, I am going to talk my shit once again.

[thechocolatedetective]

LoliRock season 3 in 2025

Is this true? I have been seeing a lot of people on Tiktok saying this and claiming the creator of LoliRock conformed it. I also saw some people saying it's actually coming in 2026.

While we are at the discussion of LoliRock

I didn't like this charecter

Sure, he saved the girls(a few times which is the only good part about his charecter, at least he isn't useless), but omg, he is so boring, and his design is quite boring too. Her and his relationship is so tasteless. It feels like he was an afterthought. Just added so our main girl can have a ml. Never shipped them.

NOW YHIS GUY HAD MY HEART

My man was hilarious and his and his sisters relationship felt so real. Siblings who are annoyed at each other but still love each other. It broke me when he died ( I don't believe he is dead) I shipped him so hard with this girl (I forgot everybody's name, don't blame me it's been a long time)

Don't lie. There was so much chemistry with these two. As well as a lot of flirting. Meant to be, they were meant to be.

Now, let's talk about the tiger

I am fully convinced he is the true evil mastermind. That He has a human form, but he uses this form because people will easily get manipulated by it.

Last thing

I had such a crush on him as a kid 😅😂

[basedkikuenjoyer]

So you may have heard there was a controversy around the upcoming Dragon Quest 3 remake on the Switch. Which kinda fits a pattern with the series recently. We had longtime iconic composer Koichi Sugiyama coming out as a hardline nationalist a few years back, but he died in 2021 so it isn't as pertinent today. Today though it's about the guy on the right, Yuji Hori, who is the real mastermind behind the series. He gave an interview and grumbled about two changes the company forced to appeal worldwide. Mainly taking umbrage with standards for the American release.

First was simple and pretty common nowadays, toning down some of the racier class costumes. Which I get. Dude in white makes a fair point nothing will ever be completely inoffensive and they've had to change a lot over the years with Nintendo of America policies. It's a fair frustration for a longtime creator. They talk about how it used to be an irrelevant concern; they developed for the Japanese market and if it sold well internationally that's a nice bonus. You see similar conversations with other long-time creators and honestly? I'd rather they didn't change it personally. Yes, boob armor is a stupid concept. Yes, make new stuff that improves. But if you really care that much about keeping the legacy Toriyama designs...it just seems stupid to get worked up about.

The other one though...whew. Now, I'll say bad faith actors try to make this the singular reason for him calling America a ridiculous country and fuck them. But the other one...you know how modern Pokemon games don't ask your gender? They just say "pick one" and you do whatever. They wanted to do that here. And Hori expressed the same type of frustration asking "Who is that even for?"

I like the Pokemon games making that change, but I do have to wonder about this one. Hori could just be an old man yelling at the clouds, save for one aspect. DQ3 is a rare RPG where the choice of gender matters. Not just for some unique equipment, but it influences NPC dialogue. They'll comment on being taken aback they're meeting Ortega's daughter. It actually gives the female version a clear character of a rugged tomboy. So while I can get behind the shift in modern games...I think I might be with Hori on this one. Either you strip that aspect a lot of women growing up playing it liked or we're just changing the choice superficially to look hip. Kinda funny example of how times change, remember DQ3 was very progressive at the time for giving you that choice in the first place.

[koreanbibliophilegirl]

Personifications of Dream SMP Factions

Okay so I came up with this idea during my exams. (Exams always do something to my brain lol) I was thinking about Pandora's Vault as a hot butch, then I remembered this fic about L'Manberg personified, plus this fic about personified countries, and it somehow spiraled into this.

(This is all based on personal interpretation & recollection of DSMP lore, please don't come at me for getting things wrong!)

The rest of the post is under the cut:

I gave all the factions it/its pronouns, since they're manifestations of, well, factions. I think they would have other preferred pronouns though, mostly related to the faction's characteristics.

(For instance, Snowchester uses he/him pronouns because Tubbo and Ranboo are so close & act almost like one entity.(I know, I know, c!Ranboo uses they/them pronouns too, but idk I thought this fit...) On the other hand, Manberg uses he/him pronouns because it's a dictatorship and Schlatt operates the country as the sole mastermind behind it all. Pandora's Vault uses she/her pronouns because Pandora deserves to be a butch because while Sam is its warden, Pandora is, at it's core, different from what Sam himself strives to achieve.)

Plus, all factions have an inherent love for its' members/citizens, since any faction is a collective of its people. Except Pandora, bc y'know, she's a literal prison.

Also!!! every name mentioned is c!, not cc!.

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L'Manberg- (it/they/he/she) Dressed in L'Manberg soldier attire. Looks like a mix of all the L'Manbergians. Hair is auburn, kinda curly, and wears red-and-blue tinted sunglasses. Has fox ears(?), braces, is boisterous and kinda overdramatic. Enjoys growing flowers, beekeeping, and baking. Follows the L'Manbergians around, Wilbur and Tommy the most. Pretty young, but gets older and more serious as the war drags on. Manifested in the drug van.

Pogtopia- (it/he/they/she) L'Manberg's other form. Hair is darker now(more like Wilbur's than a mix of everyone's), has eyebags, sunglasses are gone, and dresses darker. Looks like Wilbur mostly now, but near-exclusively follows Tommy around like he's a lifeline. Is not manic like Wilbur, despite looking a lot like him now, and recognizes how far-gone Wilbur is. It tries very hard to cheer up the rest of the Pogtopia people.

L'Manberg(new)- (it/they/he/she) Dresses in red, blue, yellow, black and white again(not the soldier attire, but the flag design is incorporated into its clothes), is scarred all over and sadder. Hair is blond now. Tried to follow Tommy to exile but Tubbo stopped it. Cries every day & grows weaker.

L'Manberg(post-doomsday)- (it/they/he/she) A ghost. Invisible to most now, new members of the SMP can't see it unless they're told about L'Manberg. And even then, it's very hard to see or recognize them. Tommy sees him clearly though, and she still follows Tommy everywhere. Even more scarred and wounded now. Sad and quiet.

Manberg- (it/he) Wears a suit, has ram horns, and face is completely featureless, no eyes or nose or mouth. Has dark, slicked back hair. Follows Schlatt around silently. Usually follows Schlatt's orders without complaint, but absolutely refuses to hurt anyone, even at the expense of being hurt itself by Schlatt. Tried to stop Tubbo's execution and ended up being blown up as well. Didn't die(since Manberg was still intact) but his featureless face gained a huge scar like Tubbo's. This scar stayed even after Tubbo went to Pogtopia. Exact age is difficult to determine, but is physically quite small.

the Butcher Army- (it/they) Dresses in black clothes with the Butcher Army standard bloody apron. Face is shaded and unremarkable, just one face in a crowd. Doesn't speak much, and when they do, it's just general Butcher Army stuff like how they're trying to bring Technoblade to justice, or whatever. Doesn't seem to have much personality.

Snowchester- (it/he) Young, younger than L'Manberg was. Looks a little like it too. Has snowy gray hair(a mix of Ranboo's black and white), goat horns like Tubbo, and is missing an eye like Michael. The other eye is wintery green. Dresses in snow clothes, a black-and-white bomber jacket and a pale green-blue dress shirt with a tie underneath. Is quiet, has a shy smile like Ranboo, and is generally quite innocent like Michael. He likes pranks and chaos too though, like Tubbo. It's a peaceful little thing, but if you somehow get him angry its eye will turn purple and his body will start giving off a pale, eery green glow like radioactivity.

Kinoko Kingdom- (it/she) Looks like her namesake, Komori Kinoko from My Hero Academia. (Specifically, Komori's powered-up version with the chubbier cheeks and visible eyes, not her normal, emo version.) Wears light flowy clothes in earthy colors, soft purples and blues and ruddy browns and greens. Loves taking naps in the sunshine, reading old books, and exploring the Kingdom. Tiny mushrooms sprout wherever it walks, which is usually just inside the borders of the Kingdom. She never really goes far beyond that. Also likes training & sparring, though it tends to be relaxed about it, treating it more as a sport than anything else. She's usually sweet and kind, but also a tad chaotic. Bit forgetful. Looks somewhere in its twenties.

Las Nevadas- (it/he) Also looks somewhere in its twenties, though it looks a bit younger than Kinoko. Gelled-back jet-black hair, classy dark green beanie(beanie like Q, green like Slime, dark bc Classy™️). Dress shirt, tie, suspenders. Lots of gold accessories. Has a few purple freckles on its face, and orange highlights in his hair. Maybe green creeper markings? Give the boi some neon splashes. Acts slick and confident(and kinda manipulative) like a businessman with outsiders, but is super nice and sorta anxious when he's only with his members. Cares way too much about its citizens, even though it knows Purpled doesn't like him. Low self-esteem. Usually follows Quackity. Q flaunts its existence to people & is genuinely very proud of his country, but is also slightly unnerved by his knowledge of Nevadas's real personality. He knows personified factions reflect its people and the ideals it stands for, but he isn't entirely sure what Nevadas's nervous, slightly obsessive disposition is implying. Also, Nevadas has a crush on Kinoko. Kinoko is a bit confused, but thinks Nevadas is cute, so she might as well go along with it. Nevadas puts on a suave & slick act with Kinoko, though Kinoko can see right through it. She thinks he's sweet and silly, and also maybe a little lonely. Q doesn't approve of them flirting so much, and tells Nevadas to stop visiting Kinoko all the time. Not that Nevadas listens.

the Eggpire- (it/they/he/w̴͚̮͒̇̓e̴̺̬͉̅̋) Demon with red skin, white glowing eyes, two huge horns of red diamond sprouting from its head, and flowing robes. Has a missing arm, torn-up fairy wings, a red gold medallion, and a cat tail. Looks like a child, but you can tell it only looks like one. Unnerving smile with sharp predatory teeth(also red), sweet & melodious voice, silver-tongued and manipulative. Upon closer inspection, you can see that their entire body, clothes and all, is made of writhing, pulsing red vines.

the Syndicate- (it/she/they) Nicknamed Syndi by her members. Electric pink hair with a black-and-white half-and-half streak, tied in a short, tiny braid down one shoulder. Large black angel wings and enderman horns(one black, one white). Wears fingerless gloves, the opposite color of the horn on that side. Blood-red eyes. Anarchist, obviously. Snarky and deadpan, but smiles a lot too, and is generally quite a warm and kind person. Is nimble & fast on their feet, and is a quick thinker. A wise scholar and fearsome warrior, a sharp-eyed strategist. Enjoys reading, baking, and dancing with its members. Looks like a young adult. +Also, I haven't decided whether the faction personification thing is a general occurrence or strictly a DSMP thing, but if it's a general thing, Syndi is best friends(and possibly in a QPR) with the Antarctic Empire(it/he, fully-grown adult, nicknamed Antares, AE emperor attire, blue-and-white bucket hat with a wider brim than Phil's, thin and pointy white gold crown, snowy-white longish hair with ice-blue eyes, one emerald earring, giant white wings and piglin hooves, loves the thrill of battle, enjoys reading & woodcarving, makes lots of deadpan jokes, would like to just retire already please and thank you).

Pandora's Vault- (it/she) Ah yes, the one who started this whole ordeal. Despite me imagining Pandora as a hot butch at the start, I changed Pandora to be a teenager! Albeit a butch & pretty teenager. Looks like a creeper mostly, like Awesamdude, but her torso is made of crisscrossing obsidian bars that resemble a prison or a really messed up ribcage. Usually wears enchanted golden armor on top of it though. Has long hair that looks like dark curling smoke with lava-like streaks running through it, and a gold head guard that kinda looks like a tiara. Has a gold gas mask too. Stickler for the rules, as expected of it, and scarily efficient with weaponry. She seems stoic and fierce on the outside, all rigid ideals and indifferent cruelty, but it's actually really desperate for peace and order. Would go to extreme lengths to enforce order. Dislikes Dream and Technoblade. Also doesn't like Ponk. While Sam feels guilty about what he did to Ponk, Pandora is quite vocal about her opinion that Ponk had it coming to them. Is uncomfortable with opening the prison cell for Quackity, but thinks it's for the greater good that he gets the Revive Book away from Dream. Not many hobbies, it spends most of its free time patrolling/guarding the Vault. She does like inventing though, usually things to improve the efficiency of the prison. Sam was surprised when she appeared, since he didn't think Pandora counted as a faction. He still treats it like a daughter though. She's daddy's little girl.

Greater Dream SMP- (it/they/he) A child. Really. It looked like Dream at first(at least, people assumed that was what Dream looked like behind the mask), with straw-blond hair, bright green eyes, and pale freckles. It gained new features every time a new person joined the server. When they grew up, they grew up suddenly, aging in shocking speed during the L'Manberg War. He settled as a sad, serious adult with a haunted look in his eyes. It stopped following Dream after he went further and further off the deep end, choosing to wander the land instead- keeping well away from L'Manberg(and later, other countries) of course. Slowly loses the features they got from people who abandoned the Greater Dream SMP to create their own country/faction. Eventually people stop seeing him and think he's disappeared, but he's still there, just lurking. It looks unremarkable now, with next to no distinctive features. They hang out with Eret in her palace and museum(they love the museum), visits multiple factionless members of the SMP, and greets/sends off Aimsey on their little pit stop in the server. When the server loops & resets, he resets alongside with it, and returns to his original form. It kept all it's memories, but it never says anything, choosing instead to give its people a fresh start, with a blank slate.

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I probably missed a few factions, but this is all I could think of haha.

Also I accidentally posted this as a draft a few days ago, panicked, and privated the post in record time. This is a repost😅