#but that case was for the people that loved the og trilogy (me)

[killjoy-prince]

them announcing games 4-6 as an a/po/llo j/us/tice trilogy is so funny like i get why they marketed it like that but only 1 1/2 games are about him and the one where 1/2 the games about him only focuses on him in the second and last case

[captainzigo]

so unfortunately very few entries here are going to properly be vintage. also what i consider vintage might not line up with what you do. i am not old.

also i am not wealthy. and my family isn’t wealthy. this is an expensive hobby to have. i get most of my stuff from loving it and refusing to throw it away… and digging through the trash at university. you would be surprised with the stuff people throw away. planned obsolescence has nothing on the fact that people can’t be bothered to fix a sour harddrive.

i actually fix computers as a sort of second job. it’s nice to work on computers i can’t afford and that aren’t from the trash. but i love old tech. i love breathing life in to things long dead. i’m a technonecromancer. i am not including pictures of things i haven’t finished yet for the most part. and i simply am not including most things. this is but a fraction of my power

ok so these are all my computers that work. i didn’t include ones that im still working on. they all worked but needed repairs variously. mostly they just needed new hard drives.

my game consoles. again not including ones that don’t work. i actually bought that 3ds, but the rest my parents gave me after they got them used. that gameboy has needed a screen replacement that required soldering. the ds is my little trooper and has needed nothing ever. the wii needed a new disc drive. and the 3ds came in japanese and i hacked it to english.

there’s a back view of my stickers

these are some of my various devices. again not including ones that don’t work. that nano needed a new battery which was actual hell and i’m surprised it survived. that ipad is the first ipad and she works beautifully and one time i fastened it to my tummy for a tellytubby costume. i was slutty lala and i played the old spiderman movie trilogy in glorious VHS quality. i couldn’t find my iphone 3gs for this picture :( but it will turn up. i’ll include an old picture instead of cleaning my room to find it lol

here are some novelties i just like. thats an old radio i swiped from my great grandfather. i got it working but it broke again. i dont know whats wrong with it and its so old that the parts are impossible to find. on the right is the browser for DS which is just so quaint. i love it. it barely works at all but i loaded a wikipedia page one time so xP

this is my terrible stupid tiny phone i got from aliexpress that barely works BUT IT DOES WORK and is technically loaded with all modern smartphone features. i attached a video of it barely playing roblox

this is my og imac. with the og keyboard. i didn’t include it with the working computers because it doesn’t. the harddrive died and im trying to fix it but its really hard. i’ve already sought out two different adapters that haven’t worked

and this is a commodore 64 that i also got out of the trash. it does not work but im hoping to make it work. someone clearly loved it. enough to paint it crazy colors and enough to

write some weird scifi quote on the inside of the case under the RF shield. but maybe they died, or it just became too much of an undertaking.

not included here is:

• several more apple products that i just don’t think look good. all the iphones between 6 and 11 are just so ugly. and i don’t actually like the way apple watches look

• the phone, tablet, and smart watch i actively use

• various bits and bobs like the official speakers for a imac 4, an electronic pocket dictionary, various wii peripherals and so on

• all of my audio equipment

• my iphone 3gs. i just never found it or any pictures of it. i love it tho. it was my first phone (hand me down. i’m not that old) and i have had to repair it so many times and i love taking bad photos with it

• all of my monitors

• my many videogames

• my old fridge that i love and cherish and use

• anything i have fixed and then given to someone else

• a bunch of other stuff

so if you are a beautiful trans woman, are you in love with me yet? or do i need to make a part two

[blundering-owl]

The will / mike / el love triangle has a lot of parallels with other love triangles (specifically touching on the media the Duffers referenced in ST).

Luke / Leia / Han Solo — there are a lot of misconceptions about the dynamics of this trio. I’ve seen others say Will = Han Solo, Mike = Leia, and El = Luke; but! this is only because Mike is the center of his love triangle, and has little to do with how the individual characters relate to each other. Obviously, the Duffers take huge inspiration from the og Star Wars trilogy, so these characters being similar to their counterparts in Star Wars is intentional.

In actuality, Will = Leia, Mike = Han Solo, and El = Luke. Let’s imagine, for a second, that Han Solo is the center of the love triangle (and that the incest subplot didn't happen).

El Byers-Hopper = Luke Skywalker Let’s start with the obvious: El and Luke both have telekinetic powers (although El’s extend to seeing into other people’s minds). Both characters start off as “orphans,” (with El being told by both Brenner and Hopper that her mom is dead — and, I’d assume, her bio dad as well) told by mentors and / or parental figures that their respective parents are dead (Obi Wan tells Luke that Darth Vader killed Anakin Skywalker, when they were one in the same) and Luke and El later find out that this is a lie. Also, both Hopper and Obi Wan say this because it’s an “easier” explanation. Like Luke, El is also a fraternal twin (although she and Will aren’t biologically related, they very closely resemble fraternal twins, so much so that they are known in-fandom as the Wonder Twins. They were likely mistaken for twins in Lenora, and several people have pointed out how closely El resembles Joyce in ST4 before her head is shaved).

Also, and this isn’t an in-show thing (nor was it an intention by the writers), but when ST4 dropped so many people were in denial about Will’s sexuality that they genuinely believed (or at least said) that Will was “in love” with El (his SISTER). So. George Lucas would probably find that funny.

Will Byers = Leia Skywalker / Organa Like Leia, Will is a leader in his own right (think: Will and Mike often make decisions together, and it’s implied this is something they’ve likely done as long as they’ve known each other). Leia and Will also exhibits more “masculine” or tomboyish traits than either El or Mike. Leia also starts the trilogy needing to be rescued (like Will in ST1). Will tends to be put in this position a lot, but like Leia, he’s competent in his own right (either by holding his own and surviving until others rescue him, or, as well hopefully see in ST5, he’ll be the one doing the rescuing). Will and Leia are also the twins not born with powers (although Will gains True Sight as a result of his time in the Upside Down, which he uses to spy on the Mindflayer, and Vecna through him, in ST2). This is also a smaller detail but both characters have a tendency to be sassy, usually with their respective love interests (Will with Mike, Leia with Han Solo). Both Will and Leia are also warriors, aside from being diplomatic, and have both used guns (or “blasters” in the case of Star Wars).

Mike Wheeler = Han Solo Starting with character traits: both characters are extremely loyal to their friends. They’re both sarcastic and snarky, and have a tendency to come off as an asshole. Also, Mike has heroic tendencies (although, it’s due to survivor’s guilt) and tend to be the de facto leaders of their respective groups. I wanna point out another similarity: specifically, the fight between Han and Leia in The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Below, I’ve transcribed it as best as I could, and I’m gonna go over the similarities between it and byler’s fights.

[Han Solo] “Come onnn. You want me to stay because of the way you feel about me.”

[Leia Organa] “Yes! You’ve been a great help to us. You’re a natural leader.”

[Han Solo] “No! That’s not it.” [pause] “C’mon. Ehh? C’mon!”

[Leia Organa] “You’re imagining things.”

[Han Solo] “Am I? Then why are you following me? Afraid I was gonna leave without giving you a goodbye kiss?”

[Leia Organa] “I’d just as soon kiss a wookie.”

[Han Solo, angrily] “I can arrange that!” [off-screen] “and it’s YOU they’re gonna kiss!”

In this scene, Han is projecting about his feelings for Leia. Also, if I remember correctly, Leia had already developed feelings for Han at this point. As we’ve established, Mike was projecting during both the rain fight in ST3 and the Rink O Mania fight in ST4 (“It’s not my fault you don’t like girls” and “We’re friends! We’re friends!”) both being examples of Mike’s internalized homophobia. Mike is obviously paralleling Han here (they’re even on the same side of the screen during most of their respective fights). Although both Will and Leia have feelings for Mike and Han respectively when these fights take place, it is Mike and Han who bring up romantic implications / view the interaction as romantic (although obviously Han is more cavalier about this). Also, in both cases, Leia and Will genuinely mean what they’re saying platonically, regardless of their preexisting feelings for their love interests.

[justanothershippingcan]

So, aside from Tumblr, if you are chronically online on Twitter as I am, you might have seen that one post about the little gingerbread man plushie being bought and then loved by the owner after being considered ugly. If, besides being chronically online on Tumblr and Twitter, you are specifically sailing aatwt waters you must have seen that post being reblogged with "Apollo Justice" being associated with the gingerbread man plushie. Now, hear me out. That plushie post is so real for Mr. Forehead. Because, as someone who has just finished 6-2, I can testify this is what can absolutely happen with Apollo Justice. Because we aren't all Klavier Gavin and so we might not be capable of speedrunning the Apollo Justice Love Parade faster than the smol gay man in Walking Mode on GoogleMaps, the first impression about Mr. Justice is usually "oooh, he is such a bug". Horned hair ― he chooses to have those ― that seem to have a life of their own, short, big forehead, loud suit and louder voice. A stag beetle, as he kins.

Then you start AA4 and you see him balancing being on the verge of a Breakdown Breakdown with competing for the Smuggest Lawyer Boy Ever award. So, average Ace Attorney experience, but you are intrigued and you are cheering. Gogo Bugus. This is the first stage and descent towards the "Apollo Scrimblo" phase.

You proceed through the Apollo Justice game and you get to see him more. You realize how unintentionally funny he can be. How his monologues are so sassy and mean they put Godot's bitterness of his coffee to shame. "I'm a lawyer, I live for needless procedures", "Try working on cases", "I am more concerned about the other criminal. The one who kills people." "Objection! That's… that's just dumb." "Well, hello Ms. Fancy Pants! Please forgive my lack of ladder discrimination." "Believe me, any comic relief I may provide is entirely unintentional". So, you inevitably start to love the guy, he is now your pookie. He is still Just A Guy but also a pookie and a short king. Then, there come the fanarts and fancontent. Now, feeling the Eyes Literally Open with fanarts (like @/u3pxx's Swapollo) was literally the phase I was at when that post of the plushie dropped. So much so that my comment on discord and twitter was "I get Game Apollo isn't exactly hot, but some fanarts are eye openers". And finally, after such fancontent phase, you continue playing and you start to notice more things. Small tangent, but I don't like the idea of most Ace Attorney men being called twinks (like, especially in the OG trilogy, y'all... Edgeworth is built like a fridge, and not a small hotel room one. No one would be able to measure his shoulders even with those Ikea Paper Measuring Tapes they gave out before either capitalism or a good choice for the environment took those away). There are some that can qualify (Simeon is one of them), but I digress.

And so you see: Apollo is no twink, he has damn good arms actually. Good built too, somehow. Red Suit is totally working. Those thoughts get enhanced once you see both his DLC costume and the Only Real Good Thing to come out of DD Apollo (aside from Clay actually, I would have loved him if there was more care in his writing, but I digress again-), aka the bandages and edgy look he, a bug that is going on an upgrade crusade, apparently pulls off. Also, let's remember Juniper. I love the Comp-het Lesbian Juniper HC, but I have an adoration for hitting the bi beam on my favs too, so think of Juniper and the fact you can gather she manifests a crush on Apollo in DD. Klavier, instead, has been down so bad he is bleeding on the floor. So, even in universe, the beetle is considered cute. From there... it's over. Once you reach 6-2 and see him grow more and more and inflict third-degree burns to Retinz and Nahyuta with each sentence, you have come to realize it. Apollo Justice is hot. Loving Ace Attorney Men is a disgrace.

[thepiedcurrawong]

WELCOME TO THE MINDFUCK

Here's a new intro post!

last updated 7/02/25.

IMPORTANT POST

BASIC INFORMATION

I live in AEDT/AEST, so click here to see my time.

I am seventeen years old and a minor. If you wanna be a 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴 be at most 18 or smth :3

I am bisexual(1) and panromantic. I am also a trans girl. My pronouns are she/her.

I love DMs! I love social interaction! Please, if you think I'm cool, DM me! I love talking to people!!

Dividers used made by @enchanthings-a and can be found here

Further elaboration below the cut.

COMPLEX INFORMATION

I live in Australia. My favourite drink is coffee, followed shortly by Schweppes Agrum Blood Orange, caramel milkshakes, apple juice, and the blood of my enemies.

You may call me A.V., as those are my initials. If we're mooties I'll probably tell you my name.

I am unfortunately not on estrogen. I will update this when I am.

My singing range is around E2-A5.

I won't reblog reblog bait. Just know that yes, this blog is a safe place for everyone unless you don't tolerate other people, in which case you violate the social contract of tolerance and are as such not included in said contract.

I have many plushies. DM me if you want to know their lore.

I will probably use all slurs that apply to me (faggot, tranny, dyke).

I will probably flirt with you.

I love media piracy.

I FUCKING LOVE BIRDS. My favourite ones are the Australian Magpie, Aussie Raven, and of course, Pied Currawongs.

I have no DNI because they don't really work anyway.

I would totally fuck the xenomorph.

I have multiple sideblogs, DM me if you want to know them :3

I love yo-yos. I'm not good at it but I'm tryning ok just gimmie a minute here

My tags

A number of these I haven't used in a while, and most I just forget.

#av-og for when i write things.

#av-media for posts relating to media I like

#av-dark for DarK related stuff

#av-dune for Dune related posts

#av-silly for silly stuff

#av-rb for reblogs

#av-trans for stuff relating to being trans

#av-terf for my interactions with TERFs

#av-space for SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE

MEDIA I'M A FAN OF (BIG LIST SORRY)

BOOKS

Holes

No Country For Old Men

Dune

The Hunger Games series

The Three-Body Problem trilogy

The Martian

House of Leaves

FILMS

Dune

The Princess Bride

Pirates of the Caribbean

The Black Phone

Jaws

Klaus

The Batman

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

TELEVISION

Test Patterns

Dark (2017)

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Stranger Things (only season 1 though) (3)

The Owl House

The Sandman

Alice in Borderland

Good Omens

Breaking Bad

Squid Game (4)

MUSIC

The Crane Wives

Will Wood & The Tapeworms

Sarah and the Safe Word

Vundabar

Lena Raine

The Heavy

The Black Keys

JCS

VIDEO GAMES

Fields of Mistria

Stardew Valley

Project Zomboid

Minecraft

Minecraft: Story Mode

Subnautica

Terraria

Celeste

Team Fortress 2

Bopl Battle

Pressure

OTHER

The Magnus Archives/The Magnus Protocol

Technoblade

Chainmail Chasers

Colinlock16 continuity

This Man

Jesus Christ: Superstar

Ending notes

Don't kill yourself, please.

The title is a reference to Mind Brand.

[riddles-n-games]

That Night In Prague Rant

Let me start off by saying Hannah and Toby's story was amazing and heartbreaking, Libby and Nash were also sweet and supportive of one another, Xander is awesome at giving emotional depth to others even in the strange circumstance of tackling, and Secret Santa was quite literally a blast. But there's one story I haven't mentioned yet, have I? You know which one since it's the literal title to this rant/critique.

To get the basic pleasantries out of the way, I loved the promise ring scene, the way Jameson admires Avery lighting up and wanting to see the world through her eyes, the fact he wrote her postcards, and Avery's protectiveness of him. That's it. Great. Now we can get to the real stuff. My dear Jennifer Lynn Barnes, when you announced this book back in February during the month of romance, I recall that this book promised to deliver on ROMANTIC stories and showing us how a Hawthorne man loves. Why the heck did you keep trying to insert every possible wink wink nudge nudge moment possible in Avery's POV then?

When she stated Avery was gonna have a POV again, I was excited but I wasn't sure if I should leap for joy. See, given how Averyjameson were portrayed in the last book, I was somewhat disappointed since I really wanted to see Avery through Jameson's eyes in a more romantic light. It was an eyeroll, unfortunately, and what a missed chance for a wedding dress ref in the race outfit scene since he gave her a promise ring.

However, people were saying, ah, it's Jameson, he's a teenage boy. And ok, I did bite my tongue after that because alright, that's just him (though I am still bitter about his lack of development in TBH), but that wasn't the case with Avery. She's my girl, I can always rely on her, right? Three books of build up with a pretty solid character voice made her who she became in TFG. Cool, I was ready to go back. And as I said so many times before, she gave Jameson depth which helped us see what so many did not and I loved how she didn't let him get away with certain things. She was sensible.

WTF was this then? This is not Avery Kylie Grambs. This is A Very Random Imposter (you come up with the anagram). Imagine my fricken surprise when out of nowhere Jameson As A Girl.

The crimes of the story: "after a lengthy and not quite G-rated negotiation" (WT actual F), "like his body wasn't tense in all the right ways", "smile of his made me want to do things", “I would let him demonstrate all the many, many reasons he had to be that smug", "His search had been... thorough" (????).

This sounds so cringey and unlike Avery. It felt like JLB was trying to force Max and Jameson and Rohan into her POV. Clearly after only two years of not being in her original character's POV and changing through 5 main characters (which was a horrible idea in the first place), she's managed to mish-mash her only properly developed character into sounding like another person.

The innuendos here are the worst I've seen. Avery has never been crass or sexually charged so why start that now? We already have characters that take on that route and now you're trying to ruin Avery with that? PUH-lease. Jameson was enough in TBH and now you're trying to ruin my girl? NO. Absolutely NOT. If JLB wanted to implement this in the og trilogy, then it should have been done earlier but no, Avery was never that girl and she shouldn't be now.

This isn't and cannot be listed as character growth in the slightest because if she sounded the same after a year in TFG post THL and also sounded like her normal self in Secret Santa which is in the same book as TNIP, there should be no reason why she sounds like this here. It ruins the continuation in her character POV which is something that at this point should be solid as stone. Not to mention, not everything works for everyone and that's ok. While I hate it, it makes more sense in Jameson's POV than hers. In Avery's POV, I cringe at it because it sounds so unnatural for her and feels like I'm looking at someone trying to fit into a crowd they just don't mesh with.

Three books solidified that. Why else did we fall in love with TIG in the first place? Partly because of who Avery was and who she became over the course of the trilogy. She stood out amongst the crowd. Did she have a similar way of thinking about puzzles like Jameson? Yes. Did she have a different approach to romance? Yes. Did she help Jamie become a more sensible guy? Yes! Was their flirty banter fun and interesting? Always. That's part of what made me love them so much in the first place but it shifted so suddenly that now they're sounding like Savannah and Rohan.

In October, when we had the preview of more chapters, I immediately noted this sounds like a very different Avery, either older or an alternate universe version of her. If she wants to do this with Rohannah, go ahead; they're a new budding romance so that has room for whatever she didn't use in other ones but leave Averyjameson as we've known them to be for three novels that solidified who they are. I know other romances should be given a chance, I never said that shouldn't be the case but if I'm being given the chance to see my favorite ship being in the spotlight, then do it right one last time. You have three books as your guideline.

Anyways, I'm dissatisfied so I will be doing a rewrite of TNIP since this is a shorter thing to take care of than a whole novel. Have a great day and thanks for reading. Fics will be out at some point, God, so much real life work to do.

[layton-heritage-posts]

i came here from the BDSM fluffery and stayed to find out there's an expansive lore. What do you mean there's a yuri fanfic about you and another heritage blog?? you have an evil clone??? Fascinating fascinating I am intrigued to learn more! And also more about this lovely game franchise you seem so fond of, I am only familiar with ace attorney so this is!!! Wonderful news to a curious lot such as myself that there are MORE.

-sincerely, an experiment

1. The fanfiction author has their own blog where all the lore about heritage yuri is compiled, @lhpxaahpya

2. My evil clone exists purely to mock my very existence. They are also a relatively new addition to the layton Heritage posts cinematic universe

3. If you are an ace attorney fan you're gonna feel right at home with Layton games. The trifecta of Ace Attorney, Professor Layton and Ghost Trick has been unofficially titled as "superwholock for people who like ds visual novels".

4. You don't even know half of my lore yet. The Heritagesona. The triple Baka Video. The underground archive where I live. The fact that you have to kill me to become the new LHP. The-

5. If you're looking for a place to get started, I recommend either:

- Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright

A crossover game between ace attorney and professor layton, in case the title wasn't obvious enough. Perfect game for people who only know ace attorney ans wanna dip their toes into layton games. Also the Perfect game for people who only know professor layton and wanna try out ace attorney. Both the Puzzles and Court Cases are easier than in the other games and the story. Let's just say the story is a handful but it's still a really good game.

- Professor Layton and the Curious Village

The first ever Layton game, recently remastered for mobile phones and such its the most easily available game on the list (aside from piracy or a hacked 3ds obviously). It's certainly shows it's age and a case of "first-game-in-the-series-itis", but that luckily doesn't hurt the game that badly and is still a good time.

- Professor Layton and the Specter's Call

You know how with star wars there is the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy? It's the same with Layton.

Curious village is the first game in the og trilogy, and Specters Call is the first game in the prequels. Personally, this is the game I usually recommend to start with because I think it perfectly encapsulates that Layton feel, but this is just my opinion. It's fun, it's mystery element is great, I love the aesthetic, banger game.

[highfantasy-soul]

I get people concerned that 'viewers are seeing a hot guy and falling for his manipulation!!' but like....personally, I don't believe cops when they just tell me someone is bad without proof?

The thing about compelling antagonists is that a lot of the time, THEY HAVE A POINT!! Vader in the OG trilogy had no point. It was just black/white we want to be fascist all over the galaxy and have all the power, you want to stop us. In the prequels, Palpatine was the same: he wants power....just cause. Anakin you can make a partial argument for in that his initial intention was never just to get power for himself, but rather protect those he loved: this led to him being able to be manipulated and then making abhorrent choices like slaughtering a bunch of children.

In newer Star Wars, there's room for nuance - room for critiquing and looking into things and seeing it isn't always black/white our protagonists are perfect, the antagonist is psycho evil for the sake of being evil.

We didn't see the rebels in Star Wars Rebels, Andor, and Rogue One as evil because they were killing storm troopers - we saw that their violence was justified in fighting back against an oppressive regime that was hurting people.

When I look at Qimir, he's only killed combatants directly opposed to him. We don't know yet what his real goals are - we don't know why the Jedi 'abandoned' him. So I'm going to reserve judgement and hear him out until I get more info. You know, like you should when determining if someone is evil and needs to die? You don't just rush in guns blazing because you see a red saber and someone fighting enemy combatants?

I know a lot of people have woobified the jedi so much that even though they're a militant police force with absolute power to kill you with their laser swords, fighting back against them is somehow seen as kicking a puppy, but idk man. I'm not against violent opposition to an oppressive force. Obviously we need more info before we can say for sure if Qimir's goals need to be pushed back against, but I don't go into situations with the default view of 'the jedi must be right'.

For me, it's really interesting to see how similar Qimir's attempts to get Osha to join him are similar to how Sol got her to agree to join the jedi. Separating her from other influences: check. Giving her tests to unlock parts of herself she knows are there: check. Showing kindness and understanding of her situation: check. Offering her something she wants (with Sol it was to allow Osha to 'be her own person' rather than only the other half to her twin and the lure of other children like her (that he conveniently left out she'd never be able to have a deep relationship with due to the non-attachment rules of the Jedi) and with Qimir it was being accepted for who she was, not some sanitized version of who others wanted her to be, plus the deep relationships she craves): check.

Is Qimir pushing for Osha to join him so he can have power? Yup. Did Sol push Osha to join him so that the order could have more power? Yup. So now the real question is: power to do what?

Though the idea of the jedi is great, how they actually exert their influence isn't always good for everyone (see stamping out the witches who we, yet again, haven't seen do anything bad). When you have a huge organization that prioritizes their own view of the world above all others, it's not only 'bad' people who get caught in the crossfire. Everyone just makes the assumption that if the jedi are against you, that means you're just a psycho who wants to go around killing people with impunity and if the jedi are supporting you, that means you're automatically good - but that hasn't been shown to be the case. Lets take a look at the Separatists as seen in the Clone Wars tv show - they weren't all fascist maniacs, they just wanted to govern themselves - not to have slavery or be able to kill a bunch of people, but because they were concerned about centralizing rule too much (which turns out, they were right to be worried about that!!) Or Tales of the Jedi when we saw the Jedi turning the other way when members of the Republic were treating their citizens horribly.

Fighting against those aspects of the Republic and the Jedi doesn't automatically throw you into the 'fascist psycho mass murderer' category. Killing the Jedi you think are responsible for the slaughter of your whole culture, I don't think, puts you in that category either. And of course, there can be instances where people do bad things for what they believe are the right reasons (see: Andor and Rogue One) BUT they aren't doing it to people we've associated with 'the good guys' for so long it makes it hard to think about the situation at hand rather than reacting in a knee-jerk kind of way to protect your blorbos.

Very long winded way of saying: I'm not saying Qimir is good or bad. I haven't seen enough to say yet. No, killing Yord and Jecki isn't enough 'proof' any more than Cassian killing the injured rebel so they wouldn't be caught was 'proof' that he was bad. We need to know WHY they're taking such drastic actions before I'm comfortable making my decision on what the show is trying to say.

If you feel like that's me 'lacking critical thinking skills' because you've jumped to a conclusion that's not supported by any facts yet, fine. But I'll wait for the narrative to finish before casting judgement based on what I think is a common trope used in stories.

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Ok I am in rant mode again, sorry, this blog just happens to be a place where I dump all my thoughts negative and positive both, unfortunately for all who follow me. But I have seen some bad and incorrect takes from anti darkling/darklinas. So here’s just a few things I want to say.

Firstly LB has never stated that she based the darkling on her ab*sive ex. This is misinformation that was spread by antis. The only thing she has ever said about an ab*sive relationship was that she wrote the first book, Shadow and Bone, at a dark time in her life right after she had got out of a bad relationship. She has said in the past that the darkling was inspired by every bad boy she’s had a crush on in fiction including david bowie’s the goblin king. 

So it seems from these comments like the character was supposed to emulate those types of characters that woman find attractive, the ones you would fall for. 

I’ve also seen the argument that LB clearly wrote the darkling as a villain, well LB might disagree with you there as she herself has said on multiple occasions that she doesn’t write villains: 

LB says that the darkling believes he is doing the right thing and that ‘you can make a case for most of the choices he makes, even the despicable ones.’ So if LB says that she doesn’t write villains and that you can make a case for his actions you can’t really blame darkling fans for doing the same. 

The truth is LB promoted the heck out of both the darkling and darklina (or as it was known back then Darlina and Alarkling) when she was writing the og trilogy, even admitting to ‘fanning the flames’ when talking about people shipping m*lina and darklina and was clearly encouraging the shipping of both ships: 

She also put out teases for the darkling and darklina:

And promoted darklina fan edits even using the ship tags: 

It was only post the release of book three that she changed her tune, likely because of all the backlash she got about the ending of the books. So no LB wasn’t always against fans shipping darklina or liking the darkling. All of this information is easily found with a simple google search, I wasn’t even in the fandom back then being a show watcher first and yet I was still able to learn all of this with minimal difficulty. 

Which brings me to the whole darklina being an allegory for a older man manipulating a younger girl and how the darklina fans ‘missed this’. Well if they did miss it then it was for a very good reason, but the truth is darklina’s didn’t miss it, we just didn’t think it made sense within the narrative, the darklina fandom have talked about it, myself included, in fact I’ve already posted a whole pretty much essay on the topic. But let me explain why some people may have ‘missed it’ and why it doesn’t work in the story or with darklina as the allegory. The first is because LB chose to use an immortal/immortal couple for this allegory. The thing with immortality in fiction, especially as love interests, is it makes age pretty much meaningless. The whole point of immortals is that they are ageless. Immortal ships have always been accepted within fiction and this whole age gap issue has never come up before. Nobody was going omg but the age gap yuck with Bella and Edward when twilight came out, or when Magnus and Alec got together in Shadowhunters or with any of the ships in Vampire Diaries. Yet now anti’s are trying to use the argument that the darkling is 100s of years older than Alina and that’s creepy all of a sudden. Sorry but not in my book, an immortal is always going to be significantly older than anyone else what’s the alternative they spend eternity alone, never knowing love? At least with darklina they are both immortal. Another reason why it doesn’t work is because of how the darkling is described in the book, he is said to not look much older than Alina, so in the books he looks like a teenager. So of course people weren’t going to pick up on the older guy/younger girl allegory because the darkling isn’t presented in the books as an older guy. He’s described the same way every other immortal being in every YA book at that time was. It’s also worth noting that I am not sure if LB ever actually said that darklina were supposed to represent a older guy with a younger girl or whether that was something the fandom came up with. I’m not saying she didn’t just that I myself have never seen a direct quote from her that I recall and I wasn’t able to find one. I think the first time I heard of it was when someone sent me an ask about the topic. I know that she has said it was meant to serve as a warning of attractive and charismatic men being able to manipulate young girls but I don’t know that she herself has ever talked about an age gap or specifically mentioned older men? 

Another thing that I have been seeing alot of are comments like darkling/darklina fans only like him because he is hot. What bothers me about this is firstly even if that were true and the only reason people liked him was because he is hot, so what? There’s nothing wrong with that, its fiction and fiction is used to escape for a bit, its for enjoyment and entertainment, so if that enjoyment and entertainment comes in the form of staring at the hot guy irregardless of whether they are the hero or villain, let them be. Why are you criticising the way someone enjoys fiction? Sometimes a gal just wants to look at the hot guy. Secondly its just a really irrelevant argument because the darkling is not the only hot, charismatic character in the books or show. M*l is also described as being attractive and charismatic with no shortage of friends and girls, Nikolai is another character that fits that description, so by this argument the only reason M*l fans like him is because he is hot, and the only reason Nikolai fans like him is because he is hot. Thirdly its just plainly not true, whilst I am sure there may be some fans who only like him because he is hot, again nothing wrong with that, most fans like him for a variety of different reasons because he is an interesting and complicated character. As someone who spends a fair bit of time in the darkling/darklina tags the most common reason I have seen for fans liking him is because of his dedication to the grisha, his willingness to fight for the grisha something that he has dedicated 100′s of years of his life too. Personally I like Aleksander/the darkling because he has a sympathetic backstory, because he is fighting for the grisha and when seeing that they had no place to go where they could be free from fear he vowed to make them a safe place, a sanctuary, of course I am going to root for that goal too. I like him because he is complicated and complex and despite being an immortal being who has become deeply effected by past traumas there is still something beautifully human about him, particularly in the show. I also like the connection he has with Alina, the whole yin/yang of it and them being each others balance. I love the complexity and angst of them having this deep connection and pull to each other but also having this anger and sense of betrayal, how they have to try and navigate around having different points of view and seeing the world in a different ways, it makes for a very compelling story and their chemistry in the show is electric. The fact that he is hot is merely a bonus, but even if he wasn’t a conventionally attractive person I would still like his character because of those complexities, because of that connection he has with Alina. But one thing this rant has done is make me curious as to what my other fellow darkling/darklina fans like about the darkling? What drew you to the character? Anyway that’s enough ranting for one day, again my apologies, I am going to go and rewatch season 1 of shadow and bone in preparation for season 2′s release tomorrow...sheepishly shuffles off my soapbox, waving awkwardly.   

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

since i’d already played the original trilogy approximately seven million times in french, i finally got round to playing french apollo justice instead. just finished it and hoooo boy was this localisation just as interesting

just like in the og trilogy, the entire thing now takes place in france (presumably paris, though they didn’t specify in this one). at least there aren’t earthquakes this time so it doesn’t feel quite as surreal.

apollo’s “i’m fine!” catchphrase is now “tout va bien !” which means “everything’s fine!”

some of the names have been translated again. for example, trucy is now called “Vérité” which not only is the french form of the english name “Verity”, but it also is the literal french word for “truth”, which gives some dialogues a double meaning whenever they’re discussing the truth. “Vous dites... la vérité... Apollo Justice... ?”

they did not change lamiroir’s name. they did however change machi tobaye to “Tomas Kashkash”, make of that what you will

in the first case, phoenix and kristoph use formal pronouns when addressing each other in court, and informal pronouns outside of court, which is fun. by the final case they’re exclusively using formal pronouns since their friendship has pretty much ended. (it’s a similar case with klavier and daryan, who switch to formal pronouns when they’re trying to be serious/professional and when their friendship starts to splinter.) (apollo and trucy use informal pronouns on each other pretty much the whole way through.)

trucy says “Mééééééé !” a lot

she also calls apollo “Pollo”

wocky kitaki (”Willy” in french) is my fricking favourite oh my god. he speaks in such verlan-ified slang i had to painstakingly decipher every single thing he said. i love him. when he said “sakom” i felt that 😔✊ he’s nigh-incomprehensible just like he was in the english version. absolute king.

in order to make wocky so iconic they apparently had to sacrifice klavier though, because in this version he is english. ENGLISH. AS IN, FROM ENGLAND. usually the french localisation takes its cues from the english version so i thought they’d keep him german, and then when he started calling people “miss” instead of “Fräulein” i thought maybe they’d made him american, like he was in the original japanese version, but NO IT TURNS OUT HE’S JUST ENGLISH??? LIKE FROM ENGLAND????? U WOT M8 JOLLY GOOD OLD CHAP CHEWSDAY INNIT????? I’M FROM ENGLAND, THIS IS THROWING ME OFF TOO MUCH

and they didn’t even commit to the englishification!! he barely says any english stuff at all! he sometimes says “miss” or “mister” and that’s... about it? he doesn’t even have any “Achtung, baby!” equivalent!! he calls apollo “M. Grand Front” which yeah means basically the same thing as herr forehead but it’s entirely in french so what’s the point?? god if you were gonna curse him by making him from freaking england then at least go all the way?? at least his “Objection !” sounds cool i guess...

and his name is “Konrad” in this version. that’s fine because “clavier” means “keyboard” in french (like the thing you type on) so i get that it would have sounded silly. but imo they should have gone in the opposite direction and picked a random english word to name him then. they should have named him Stapler or something. why’d they give him a normal name. he is Stapler Gavin in my heart

ema calls him “minet pailleté” btw which yeah pretty much just means glimmerous fop. (she studied in england too in this version WHY THE FRICK IS EVERYONE ENGLISH)

there were some fun french puns, such as calling phoenix apollo’s “mentor” (french for “mentor”, if you couldn’t guess) and then calling him “menteur” which means liar and sounds very similar

“I killed a man named “Smith” with a bottle because I am an evil human being.”

[bytedykes]

maya fey for the character ask thingy :3

Sexuality Headcanon: WOMEN!!!!!! maya likes women for SURE i dont have like, a specific label for her but she is into women

Gender Headcanon: honestly i dont really think abt it that much so i guess cis woman but i have seen some really good transfem maya stuff before!!! im not a transfem maya truther but i believe in their beliefs <3

A ship I have with said character: basic ass answer is franmaya... i do actually like them together, i think it could be a rlly fun dynamic to explore. also maya/regina was cute in case 2.3 (one of the only things i liked about it rip) i've seen some good maya/blackquill stuff before also but its not really something i ship just an interesting dynamic. in general though i dont really devote much time to shipping maya w anyone i think her canon platonic/familial relationships are already very interesting

A BROTP I have with said character: PHOENIX!!! nick and maya 4EVER they are so good. !!!!! i loveee their dynamic, they work so well together and really bounce off each other well. i also like the more serious aspect of how mia's death connected them and how they both share this grief even in very different ways. i like how even if mia hadn't died they still would've probably been friends when she introduced them :) anyway phoenix and maya are very fond of each other and i think it's really sweet - bridge to turnabout is one of my favorite cases in part bc of the very present bond between them and how much phoenix cares about maya (same w the engarde case, but that one is almost better in this regard bc of how maya's care for phoenix is also heavily present). also big fan of the silly part of their dynamic where maya steals his wallet and hits him over the head with evidence <3

another really interesting relationship that's less canonically present is maya & godot. what we see of them in bridge to turn about is soooo compelling, and i would have loved to see more of them. i think in a world where godot eventually gets out of prison he and maya could work to have some kind of relationship to both their benefit. <- its interesting how mia and mia's death is kind of a driving force for maya's connections to people, maya & mia is also deeply interesting and compelling but i could write an essay about them so i will just say that i love them a lot as well lol

A NOTP I have with said character: phoenix... dislike the age gap + i just think they're better as a platonic relationship lol. maya/phoenix is like the one aa tag i actually have filtered kjaskd

A random headcanon: if u assume that in aaverse lawyers are famous and there is law twitter fan spaces . maya 100% has an account where she posts "lawyer spotting" pics of phoenix (and also edgeworth). neither of them know abt it . maya is lawtwt famous

General Opinion over said character: I LOVE HERRRR she's the og aa weirdgirl !!! maya is very dear to me, she's definitely one of my favorite characters and i love seeing her. currently my friend and i are playing aa4 and i miss her so bad :'( maya in general is a very endearing character, and she + her family is a big driving force in the trilogy which i find very compelling. she's also just cool! i love it when teenage girls have weird superpowers! i think maya is a very caring character who is silly but has really impactful serious aspects to her which are so awesome to see <3 anyway i did draw maya every day for months last year so like yeah u could say i like her a normal amount lol

TY FOR THE ASK CHEREN <3 mayaaaaa maya fey i love her sooo much. girl ever<3

[cutebisexualmess]

blog intro(finally)

hey! I'm Vee or just V, welcome to my blog! I mostly use they/them pronouns, but xe/xem is fine as well!

pronouns page

join my cat meme mailing list

@vees-anime-escapades - my anime sideblog (also the only blog I organise by fandom)

@purple-blocks - mcyt sideblog, for all my life series and eventually hermitcraft stuff

@veeliveblogs - my liveblogging sideblog for all my random thoughts as im watching things so I don't spoil it for others who follow me here

ao3 (i don't post but i bookmark a whole heap of things, also just in case i do post something)

goodreads i want to read more so send me book recs!

I also run a couple of tourney and rp blogs but you can only know those if you find them first >:)

✨neurodivergent minor✨

(16-18 range)

I’m also from Australia!

fandoms Im in:

Percy Jackson, the owl house, keeper of the lost cities, the amazing digital circus, helluva boss and hazbin hotel, sk8 the infinity, yuri on ice, heartstopper, the dragon prince, epic the musical, the Hatchetfield trilogy, and high class homos

others I (might) occasionally post about:

she-ra and the princesses of power, camp cretaceous + chaos theory(not the og park and world movies though but i’m working on it), the umbrella academy, ava/m, sanders sides, the two princes, nimona, starkid musicals, a little wings of fire, miraculous ladybug, hells belles(webseries on tiktok), young royals, red white and royal blue, our flag means death, spy x family, bungou stray dogs, a lot of musicals, and other assorted webcomics and webseries my brain digs its claws into

things Im reading/watching atm: wrath of the triple goddess, the martian, maestro(school read), and haikyuu!!

also just fyi i wont be tagging pjotv spoilers on rbs sorry

my sorting tags:

#vee speaks - for my original posts

#vee arts - the occasional art i post

#save - favourite posts I'm saving for later

#from the draft dungeon -posts scavenged from my drafts

#tag games - tag games

#picrew chain - picrew chains

#ask game - ask games, specific ones will be tagged: [thing] ask game

also feel free to send me recs! I will consume any type of media and any content(including fanfic), and recs give me direction in my endless pile of to be read/watched :3

I don't mind if you dm/tag me in anything :D I love it when people interact with me.

feel free to ask for my discord as well!!

🐚 team no abs

Mutual tags(so far)(lmk if you want me to untag you :))

@glacierruler - #mutual ❄️!

@periwinkle-the-11th - #mutual 🪻!

@fuzzysoulyt - #mutual 🐇!

@violetthunderstorm - #mutual 🌩️!

@nico-the-overlord - #mutual 💰!

@brookie-writes - #mutual 🧊!

@dragonairice - #mutual 💎!

@multi-fandom-lunatic - #mutual 🍪!

@randomnerd737 - #mutual 👍!

otherwise atm mutual tags are #hi (name) until i change them :))

[fandoomrants]

So I have this love-hate thing for the whole Hunger Games because while I've seen the movies and read the books and I've been hyped and I've waited for each movie, gone to see it, etc, and I usually don't like First POV in books yet everything in them is so brilliant... It gives me chills. Because I can't say the writing itself is a masterpiece in terms of language used, although it's brilliant because it fits the perspective of a teenage girl, it's raw and doesn't sugarcoat anything, the way everything is presented is amazing and that's the whole appeal actually.

The Capitol, for example. They're shown almost as the bad guys, not just Snow but all the citizens because they find the games interesting and don't do anything to stop them. And District 13, which was believed to be destroyed and then we find out it's not and in the beginning this is like some light in the tunnel but then we slowly realise that Coin and Snow aren't too different and they're both power hungry and cruel in their own ways while at the same time we meet people from the Capitol who aren't bad and genuinely want to help and change this reality. And all the layers that get revealed until we reach these conclusions along with Katniss...

But what really scares me is that... This isn't entirely unlikely to happen in the future. Like, we already have distopian novels that have influenced real reality shows and we have way too many shows about survival and all of that, the only difference is that people aren't dying there (but you know what, there have been death cases in some! They cancelled one season or Survivor in my country years ago because someone died) so really, the line here is thin. And if it's not really about the games really happening, then there's the political situation. That's even more likely to happen one day. These thoughts have always been holding me from truly getting in this fandom.

And now revisiting it when I'm much older, I see other sides of it. And I think I dislike some things even more but at the same time... I can't help but find some understanding of the Capitol citizens. And no, has nothing to do with TBOSAS and young Snow. If anything, this scares me even more because what do we see there? A character we already know and despise that suddenly people start liking him because he looks good (no judgement here. I admit he looks good. I just can't simp), and people finding the games boring in the book/movie itself and then also people seeing the movie complaining about the same part with the games because it wasn't as interesting as the ones in the OG trilogy? The Capitol is basically the same as almost every one of us.

And let's face it - we see the Capitol and its citizens as bad because we get to see it in the OG trilogy through Katniss's eyes, a girl which was brought up in poverty and knows what real hunger and dealing with this life is but this is almost like comparing a third world country to... Almost every other country. Because the Capitol is loud, it's obsessed with crazy things, shows, fashion trends, etc but this is not too far from our own lives. And we as an audience are shocked by them just because we see them compared to the Districts and their life but in fact, we're living in a world which is so much closer to the Capitol than it is to any of the districts. And it's the same thing happening with Snow. He's charming and uses it to his advantage, and is played by a good-looking actor and people like him just the way people like Snow in TBOSAS.

And another thing I've already seen people commenting on but I still wanna add is that we have these movies which I believe are good adaptations but most of the characters are played by older actors. Like, go look at some actual teenagers and imagine them in these scenes where children are killing and dying... (When's the last time y'all saw a 14yo? Imagine this being an actual victor of these games...)

So yeah, these things really make me think how it's a brilliant story but the concepts we see there are so messed... (And a good proof is how I have way too many thoughts of the games and their making and wanna know more despite how wrong they are...)

[ghost-proofbaby]

nine people i'd like to know better

being a bit of a cheat since i haven't been keeping up with my notifs, and doing a nice little conglomeration of the tag games going around that both are regarding getting to know people better! thank you so much for tagging me @rosewaterandivy, @onegirlmanytales, and @emma-munson in these sweet fun games <3

favorite part of your daily routine?

probably checking in with all my friends, asking about their days and making sure they know i love them. that, or calling my pets stinky as i feed them first thing in the morning, and genuinely arguing with them as they meow/bark at me during the process

last song?

favourite lyrics right now?

"i'd give you my life, if you'd promise you want it." - black ice by maya hawke

favorite color?

a deep maroon or emerald/forest green. gimme allll the deep reds and pretty greens please

last three books (or fics) you've read

'if he had been with me' by laura nowlin (tiktok made me do it), 'my roommate is a vampire' by jenna levine (cute read), and then catching up on most of @icallhimjoey's fics (wes' way with words is driving me insane)

currently reading

'assistant to the villain' by hannah nicole maehrer (10/10 so far!)

relationship

painfully single. probably forever. it's cool. i'll just spill all the love i have to give into my friends' cups and my writing.

currently watching

i've started two different half-assed rewatches as of recent - strangers things, and the walking dead. the goal is to finally watch the entirety of the walking dead since i stopped around season 5? or just... whenever negan was introduced (yeah. yeah. that episode with glen. he was my favorite. i never watched another episode.)

last movie

i rewatched the entire og hunger games trilogy!!!!!

at a movie theater, which arm rest is yours?

the one closest to my friends, or the one farthest from strangers.

sweet/spicy/savory

gimme all the sweets as of recently, surprisingly. (i've never been much of a sweets person growing up)

last thing i googled

'weird old people smell' (please don't ask)

currently working on

a top secret thing that i haven't decided if it'll see the light of day yet. :pedrosmile:

what 'old person' things do you like?

well not their smell i'll tell you that i really love learning people's histories, or about their days. i'm a yapper. i love chatting with all the old people that come into my job.

vintage or new?

depends, but usually vintage.

are you scared of the dark?

yes, but also no. idk. it's a work in progress in my ripe old age of 24.

candles, essential oils or incense?

candles or incense. i do enjoy essential oils, but i never use them (outside of spellwork)! i love my incense quite a bit, but my roommates aren't overly fond of the smell most times haha

random fact/story you want to share about yourself?

i frequently keep small 'mourning' boxes for major times/changes in my life. i have one for my first love, one for my childhood pet, etc. i'll keep things like physical photographs, letters/notes people have written me, small tokens of defining moments, all that fun stuff. i don't open them very often, but i like having them there, in the back of my closet. always just in case.

jesus. that was terribly long and terribly boring. my bad!

i'm tagging @maladaptive-menace, @hellfire--cult, @emmaisgonnacry, @corroded-hellfire, @littlesubbyflower, and anyone else who wants to join in <3 no pressure to do so, of course!! i also have no idea who's been tagged already and who hasn't so my bad if you already have!

[teecupangel]

I've been dying to read Desmond's adventure in star wars, but all fics i found were not finished ; (

Could you give me some inspiration plzzzzz

You’ve probably already read this but just in case, esama’s Sailing the Stars is complete so if you want a Desmond-centric fic set during the Clone Wars, go check that out.

So I was thinking where I would punt Desmond into the Star Wars ‘verse and a part of me wants to punt him during KOTOR’s storyline just because that is my favorite Star Wars game (also, just imagine Desmond being mistaken as Darth Revan with amnesia???) but then I realized after checking AO3 that most seem to be set during the prequel trilogy + clone wars so… may I suggest…

Desmond getting punted into the Star Wars OG Trilogy timeline? XD

In this setup, Desmond could wake up on some random planet and he’s just trying to get back to Earth but no one seems to know where and what Earth is (unless we count non-canon but sssshhhh, let’s make it a mystery).

So Desmond does what he does best, he starts gathering information and keeping himself afloat by stealing from the rich.

Now, to ensure he gets sucked into the main plot, we can do the following:

Desmond gets in contact with Han Solo who suggests he joins the Millenium Falcon after Han realizes Desmond has a knack for seeing danger before it approaches and he suggests that Desmond would have a better chance of finding this ‘Earth’ planet of his if he joins them since they do travel everywhere.

Desmond has the habit of being a stowaway whenever he wanted to go off-planet and the Millenium Falcon was simply the next ship he boarded. Old Ben is the one who noticed him when he was just hiding and waiting for Han to finish his business in Tatooine because Desmond didn’t really feel like getting sand all over.

Desmond ends up owning the cantina where Han ends up shooting Greedo and he goes on the run because that incident caused the Imperial soldiers to snoop around the cantina and Desmond, technically, owned the cantina… sorta illegally… So he hitched a ride on the Millenium Falcon since he figured Han owed him… without anyone knowing he was even there until Old Ben saw him.

Unorganized Notes:

Desmond has been assassinating the really bad ones on whichever planet he’s been on. That’s why he mainly hitches rides. On the other hand, if he was the owner of the cantina, he had taken over the cantina to have a ‘base of operation’ while gathering information he can use as part of his plan to assassinate Jabba the Hutt.

Desmond could totally be a Jedi if you want him to be but anyone who trains him will notice the darkness inside him. While he’s mostly chill, he’s an Assassin and that means he would be willing to use anything to finish his mission and survive. He won’t be tempted by the dark side though. It would be more like… he can control the dark side… but that makes him dangerous.

Desmond and Luke would have a more or less brother-like friendship. He could easily influence Luke to be less honorable though, especially if he stays with Luke during the whole ‘Yoda training’ part of his character arc.

On the other hand, Desmond and Han would have a more of ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ kind of business relationship that would thaw to a bash brothers type. He, Han, and Chewie share one brain cell and it bounces off each of them. If Desmond had joined them before the start of the trilogy’s story, Desmond would be their lookout and their ‘bodyguard’. He’s fine with all the smuggling as people do need to eat but… if a really bad person dies during one of their runs, well… Han will definitely say ‘no love lost’.

Desmond and Leia would start with snark-to-snark combat which would later turn to respect and trust. If Desmond stayed with Leia and Han’s side of the storyline instead of Luke’s, he’d be more of the shadow of the rebellion.

Desmond will definitely build a Brotherhood during the rebellion and they would be more into clandestine and guerilla tactics. He and Leia won’t always see eye to eye but Leia knows that Desmond’s plans would benefit the rebellion.

Desmond doesn’t see Leia as a princess. She’s a leader of the Rebellion first and foremost and Desmond definitely hides whenever the topic of making him and the Brotherhood officially part of the Rebellion comes up.

If Desmond learns about Darth Vadar’s true relationship with both Luke and Leia, he would have flashbacks of Haytham and, since he doesn’t know who Anakin Skywalker truly was, he would warn Luke that ‘Some people cannot be reasoned with nor can they be saved.’, hoping that Luke wouldn’t feel the same pain Ratonhnhaké:ton felt after killing Haytham.

He would still be glad to learn he had been wrong after Luke tells him how Anakin Skywalker saved him in the end and tell Luke that at least he had a ‘less shitty dad’ than Desmond.

Ben/Jacen would probably end up as an Assassin with Uncle Desmond instead of a Sith… just saying.

[cadybear420]

Came across a Choices Ask Game thread from 3-4 years ago and I couldn't help myself.

Anyone else who wants to join is welcome!

1.) What book(s) did you think were too overhyped but everyone loved?

7+ months ago I would have quickly said Ride or Die, but after my replay in May, I now like that book. So my next picks would be Crimes of Passion and Immortal Desires. They were good for what they were, but I couldn't quite get into the hype for them. To be fair, I've only played the first book for each of these, but even when they were just on their first books they were pretty hyped. But who knows, I might like them a lot more when I play their sequels.

Actually, I could maybe still put Ride or Die here if I wanted to. While I did come to like it after my second playthrough, I still wouldn't call it amazing or consider it one of PB's bests like many seem to do.

Distant Shores and Nightbound were both indredibly average to me as well, despite the former being about freaking pirates and time travel and the second one being a supernatural horror-themed story.

Laws of Attraction is also one that was very popular but hard to get into. When I first played Book 1, I couldn't stand how quickly they just went between cases. Luckily this was less of a problem when I replayed Book 1 and then played Book 2, but it was also still hard to follow the lawyer jargon. However, I did enjoy the characters and I loved that MC was a flexible blank slate, which does make it a series I want to like. So I'll probably give this one a second chance at some point.

I'm also tempted to say The Cursed Heart, it's one that gets a lot of love and while I enjoyed it, I didn't think it was amazing. But I'm kind of disqualifying it since not only have I only played Book 1, but also that pre-TCH 2 opinions were mostly divided. I remember lot of people hated Kieran kidnapping MC and that one option in a premium scene that leads to Kieran shoving MC's face into the ground. There are still people who hate that stuff, but the overwhelming majority nowadays seems to enjoy the series, especially with Book 2.

2.) What book(s) do you think deserve more hype?

Across The Void. Don't get me wrong, it has incomplete lore and inconclusive endings, but that's not really the story's fault as I remember hearing it was originally meant to have a book 2. Personally I found the good qualities to far outweigh the bad. It deserved so much better from PB and a hell of a lot more love from the fandom.

I also found Baby Bump really cute. It's not amazing and it has a lot of problems, but I never got why it was often deemed as one of the worst.

And maybe I'm just biased, but I also think the OG HSS trilogy deserves more hype. I guess it's technically one of the more popular and beloved Choices titles, but even then I feel like it doesn't get enough credit. Even though it may seem like a cheesy Disney Channel High School style story, the writing is actually quite polished, balancing out the thrilling high school hijinks with a vibrant cast of compelling and down-to-earth characters and character development. It's enjoyable and worthwhile, both as its own thing and as a companion to its predecessor (AKA the original HSS Prime mobile game).

Not only that, but it's quite rich in choices that actually affect the story/experience. Like, how many people know that you can make your MC a jerk to the Hearst kids in Book 3 and lose your tryouts spot over it even if their actual tryout was good? Or that the story acknowledges a Slow Burn romance if you choose to wait until MC and LI are official to have them kiss? Or that you can have MC completely screw up the Spirit Stick Heist? I've played this trilogy nine times already, I'm currently in my tenth playthrough, and there are probably like 50 more different playthroughs I wanna do for the different route/outcome combinations. The MC is just so flexible and wildcard, and to me that's peak Choices MC.

3.) What was a book series that you think did NOT need a sequel or more than 1 sequel?

The Nanny Affair would have been soooooo much better off as a standalone. I actually really like the ending of TNA 1, where Sam and MC are getting pinged with news headlines about Sam leaving Sofia at his wedding, and they start anticipating all the trouble they're gonna be in. It's actually got a touch of self-awareness to it that you usually don't get in smutty single-LI romance Choices stories.

Books 2 and 3 however just drag everything on, trying so hard to make it seem like Sam and MC have genuine feelings of love for each other, even though their relationship is clearly mostly lust-based. Then again, one of the smut scenes in Book 3 has an option that implies MC is putting a finger into Sam's bootyhole. And even over two years later, it is still the only scene in Choices that more directly depicts a female character anally penetrating a male (or male-coded) character. So maybe the suffering is worth it.

The first book of Surrender was pretty mid on its own, but the ending it got could have worked as a series and book finale. Book 2, however, just... made it all so much worse. Book 2 is the reason why the Surrender series is on my permanent Choices shitlist. As the worst title of the entire app.

The switch to a new MC and cast felt very arbitrary and unjustified. Not only were the returning characters from OG utilized poorly, but everything about it just did not feel like HSS. No flexibility in your main character or activity, which greatly cheapens the whole "you can be whoever you wanna be" and "you'll always be accepted no matter who you are" themes of the previous iterations; no sense of Berry being "high school but actually good" as it relies purely on trying to showcase average high school experience; so many of the side characters were useless and felt like overly mean-spirited middle schoolers rather than actually stressed and irrational high-schoolers; and the and finale and sendoff to the franchise as a whole was inconclusive dogshit. It was like "HSS" was an afterthought to CA. I'll give this its own analysis one day.

OG HSS did not need HSS:CA as a spinoff. Don't get me wrong, HSS:CA is pretty cute and does bring some interesting situations and characters into the HSS canon. But when you really think about it, it easily could have been its own new title, and it probably would have been better off if it was.

4.)What book(s) did you think needed a sequel/another sequel?

OG HSS Trilogy, the main cast of that one deserved a far better sendoff then the bullshit one that was the HSS:CA finale.

Laws of Attraction. That ending was so inconclusive.

Hero, an obvious one because the story ended right on a cliffhanger.

Across The Void, PB should have stuck to giving this one a second book. Instead we get these super-rushed endings and for what?

5.) What LI(s) do you think are overrated?

I'd maybe put It Lives here, but part of me is also kind of glad PB didn't make the third book because the It Lives Within fanproject is chockablock full of "PB could never"s. Granted their reason for cancelling it in the first place was kinda unjustified but yeah.

I'm not sure really. Maybe Gabe and Cas from ID, but I don't have strong opinions on them. It's moreso that I'm just not as into the hype for them as most.

6.) What LI(s) do you think are underrated?

Ajay Bhandari from HSS:CA, though with him it's moreso overhated than underrated. Didn't Ajay warn MC about Danielle in the earlier chapters? Why would he so easily believe MC was the one who sabotaged OG MC's auditions? Or at the very least, tell Danielle + Team C(U)NTs (Clint, Natalie, Trevor) to fuck off with ostracizing MC. Like they weren't just accusing MC falesly, they started being outright cruel to them.

Ajay is a character who cares so much about the play wanting to go perfect, so much so that he initially banned cellphones from the auditorium during rehearsal because he thought they'd be distracting or disruptive. Surely you'd want to be a hardass on other crew members who are acting like assholes??? I think his behavior during MC's accusation is just OOC, hence why I don't hate him. It's a problem with the writing rather than the character.

7.) Which LI's were most forgettable?

IDK. I think I've forgotten them.

9.) Finally, what book do you think would have been better/more popular if it WASN'T genderlocked? (This goes for both LI's and MCs)

Witness MC could have and should have been GOC. I found the book pretty average-with-issues upon replay, but I personally might have liked it a tad more if it was GOC. We rarely if ever get stories about men getting swept off their feet by protective bodyguard characters! (But sure, muh few female-locked stories).

I certainly would have enjoyed Roommates With Benefits a lot more if the MC could be male. Imagine, the studious goody-two-shoes "good boy" gets awakened to a more party-loving sex-loving side by the University's resident fuckboy/fuckgirl who happens to be his roommate.

Ride or Die was pretty fun as it is, but part of me still feels it would have been somewhat spicier if MC and Logan were both GOC.

With Every Heartbeat also, give me ONE good reason why needed to be genderlocked. Same with BloodBound. Seriously, you could have made the Bloodkeeper thing go to any gender and the story would remain exactly the same.