#but the rescue itself was great!! LOL

[guardian-angle22]

Tarlos Wedding Celebration Event [Week 2] -> favourite tk and/or carlos rescue(s) -> 3.02

[theinsanefoxwriter]

Gregory Deserves Better...

I never make actual posts to be honest, but I feel the need to right now, because I’m just so…tired of this. My favorite character in the newer FNAF era has been mistreated by both fans and the creators. So I’m making this in light of the new book coming that, at least from the description we have right now, sounds like it’s just Security Breach, except Gregory is replaced by Cassie.

I’ve said many times elsewhere how I suspected they wanted to boot Gregory for Cassie, and...I had no idea how right I actually was. It angers me, but…mostly, I’m just hurt and very disappointed, because it sucks to see a character I loved get so disrespected then practically replaced. The ending of Ruin felt like a slap in the face, and the sting is only getting worse. (And very quickly, in case anybody takes this from what I'm saying, no I don't hate Cassie. I just don't want her to completely replace Gregory.) I’m not here to talk about that situation, though.

If anyone for some reason leaves a comment arguing the points I make, I’m just going to ignore or even delete it. I’m not here to discuss or argue with people who disagree with me and/or think Gregory is a bad character. I just want to express an opinion that I don’t think is said nearly enough. And that opinion is the fact Gregory is severely misunderstood and mistreated by both the fandom and canon itself. I’m not going to get into everything, but enough that you can hopefully understand the point I’m trying to make.

Most of the Gregory hate at the beginning was due to him destroying the animatronics and then lying about it to Freddy. I don’t see how this makes him hateable or a bad person. “Why’d he have to go out of his way to destroy them?” “He’s a bad person for lying to Freddy and giving him the upgrades of his friends.” “The Glamrocks were so awesome. Why did Gregory have to do that?” What kid in danger would want to help or be nice to the scary robots trying to kill them? Or against the better argument, why would he have sympathy for them in a moment of intense danger? When they were actively trying to kill him? He did what he thought he needed to survive, which was destroying them and using the good parts they had to give him a better chance against them. If they had been nice, he would have liked them, but they weren’t. They were after him. And choosing to do that plus being able to do that doesn’t make him a bad person, and it doesn’t mean he's uncaring towards others or that he’s heartless. What I think people don't take into account is that Gregory did befriend an animatronic, the one who wasn't attacking him. He went to great lengths to help Freddy, and genuinely cared for him; that bear needed to be rescued on more than one occasion lol, and Gregory clearly wasn't just doing it because Freddy gives him a hiding place.

And in regard to the lying, I think Gregory hid that he was getting the upgrades from Freddy's friends, because he didn't want to make Freddy mad or hurt his feelings. That does sound like something a kid would do, and he is a kid. He's not gonna be perfect in this situation, and he doesn't even do anything that bad. I don't think Gregory gets enough credit. Everybody just sees a mouthy kid destroying animatronics they like (despite the fact they're hunting him, and the virus has made them basically mindless. Why wouldn’t he?), and they hate on him for it and other rather stupid reasons. Gregory is more than the “annoying” kid who destroyed your favorite animatronics. He’s a clearly guarded and defensive child who got stuck in a bad and terrifying situation, but…in the end, stayed anyway to prevent this and other bad things from happening to anyone else. Gregory cares. Yes, even if he destroyed some animatronics. The creators calling him the “darkness of the Pizzaplex” or whatever they said doesn’t make sense. On the surface, he might look like some child who destroyed Freddy’s friends, but look any deeper at all, and that’s not the case. There’s so much potential for his character, and I’m upset that he isn’t being given the spotlight or time to further explore his potential properly, especially since Security Breach ended up being a bit lacking in a lot of areas: perhaps another factor in why he’s so misunderstood.

In the end, I’m simply tired of seeing a character that I connected with treated like he was just a writing mistake that now needs to be replaced by a “better” character. I’m not saying his writing was perfect, but he deserves way better than this. I feel very passionate about the characters I like, which is why this has affected me so much, and I hope at least a few people see this.

Anything I missed I’m going to touch on briefly here:

GGY? A cool concept, actually, that I wish was utilized in the games. And Gregory is clearly possessed there, similar to Vanessa, so him being Patient 46 and causing people’s deaths can’t actually be held against him.

Dropping the elevator on Cassie? I firmly believe that was not him, and very clearly the Mimic’s doing. There’s solid evidence behind it, but I’m not going to get into it because it’s exhausting. Just know that no one can convince me otherwise. And even if the writers wanted Gregory to do that, it’s out of character and clearly an act of character assassination.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Now go hug a misunderstood gremlin!

[bakuhatsufallinlove]

I hear people are rustling about again saying that if Katsuki called Izuku "Deku," it would be a regression of character development.

Other people have talked about it before, but I'm here to remind you that 1. Katsuki has already called him "Deku" again, and 2. it is actually further proof of his development.

This isn't an "old habits die hard" situation -- we already got that in chapter 327 with "De-Izuku!" No, this is something else.

Why?

Because "Deku" is Izuku's hero name.

Chapter 345

Katsuki is communicating combat information here, so he addresses Izuku as a hero, as opposed to how he would address him in a personal context, and he still uses it when talking to Best Jeanist.

If anybody cares about being addressed properly by their hero name, it's Katsuki!

Chapter 319

He bristles at Yaoyorozu for calling him Bakugou-san during their mission to rescue Izuku.

Chapter 346

The first time Mirko calls him the wrong name, it's during the heat of battle, so he actually ignores it and answers her with the pertinent information.

Chapter 347

He only argues with her the second time she calls him by the wrong name when they are regrouping.

And, wait, okay, look, I actually want to point out something hilarious here--in the English release, they had Mirko calling him "Dynamight," dropping the Great Explosion Murder God part, but in Japanese she actually says Dainama (ダイナマ), not Dainamaito (ダイナマイト), both times.

Which means she shortens his hero name not just by ditching the grandiose title, but also by removing the All Might reference.

I like to think that is what he is most pissed off about LOL.

(Bonus: I highlighted in blue where he calls her ウサギやろー, usagi yarou, meaning "bunny bastard." The word "yarou" is typically an insult directed at men; the etymology itself is masculine. The official English release made this "bunny gal," I'm guessing to avoid readers walking away with the notion that Katsuki is confused about Mirko's gender or that he was insulting her gender. In reality, Katsuki is simply a progressively-minded foul-mouthed youth who does not discriminate between bastards!)

Anyway, see, we have already been shown how Katsuki refers to Izuku when he isn't communicating battle information.

Chapter 362

He uses Izuku's name out loud to himself as a personal aside right before his moment of heroism.

I think everybody is missing out on a much more delightful question. Katsuki has used Izuku's hero name, so are we ever going to get to see Izuku use Katsuki's?

And if he doesn't, if he just blurts out "Kacchan!" on the battlefield like the damn nerd he is, will Katsuki correct him?

I mean, we've never once seen him demand Izuku stop calling him by his childhood nickname, so is he just gonna let that one slide?

What a funny fucking exception that would be, huh?

[ryin-silverfish]

Stray thought: something I found the "SWK is manipulated into the Havoc!" take often obscures is his fear of death. Y'know, the very reason he begins his quest for immortality in the first place, and I'm glad the LMK show at least paid some homage to.

Death is but one of the many sufferings that accompanies existence and samsara itself. So is his fear of death and the desire to avoid it. The problem is? The way desires and attachments work, getting what you want doesn't solve the deeper issues.

First, he sets out to avoid death for himself. Then he did that, and also made death null for as many of his fellow monkeys as he could find. But it isn't enough, no.

His own immortality will not grant the safety of all of his subjects, his friends, and all the good stuff he has ever gained that rightfully belong to him, mind you, and he is responsible for. So he just needs to find a way to hold onto them, forever and ever and ever.

Since he has an abundance of creativity and intellect, but not the wisdom to match, his solution is to find the "Hows" rather than asking the "Whys".

Keep stacking up the powers, the immortalities, the allies, the weapons, the victory counts——which eventually became its own rewards, the thrills, the satisfaction of getting away with yet another daring heist, the feeling of invulnerability.

But let's go on a tangent and talk about book!SWK. When he came back after getting banished, he found his monkeys bullied by the Monstrous King of Havoc, wrecked the guy, and rescued his subjects. Immediately afterwards, he emptied the armory of Aolai Kingdom to arm his monkeys and robbed the dragon kings blind to arm himself.

Yeah, seeing a bit of a connection here. He is pulling off these heists to protect against perceived threats to him and his people. Then, moving on to the First Havoc, when he came back to his monkeys, he was surprised at just how much time had passed since he departed for the Celestial Realm——10+ years in the Lower Realm!

Yet, after the First Havoc is resolved, he happily stayed in the Celestial Realm for half a year, without remembering that meanwhile, at least a century had passed for his monkeys and demon allies. In a sense, he had become detached from his subjects, despite his first instinct still being "bring my buddies all the divine wine" after he got sober and returned to them.

I don't know you, but I feel like he probably expects everything to stay the same while he was gone. He isn't yet selfish, but certainly self-absorbed, in that he doesn't seem to realize that his actions can have consequences for people other than himself.

Like, if he is in his old "Monkey King" mindset, he may have comprehended that the Celestial Realm will treat him and his monkeys as a single entity that will be collectively punished for his misdeeds. But by becoming the Great Sage, he has drifted away from his duties as a king, which sets the stage for his behaviors during the Second Havoc.

After the 72 caves of demon kings have all been captured during the first wave of attack, his reaction is basically "lol, at least they didn't get any of my monkeys". This, I think, is the point where he is showing true selfishness instead of just being self-absorbed. Like, if I were one of his non-monkey allies and I heard that, I'd be pretty pissed.

The thing with the unrestrained freedom of the Havoc is, by cutting himself loose from all the rules and norms and disregarding every potential consequences, he is also unknowingly severing his tethers to others and alienating himself from his people.

Which is how I interpret SWK becoming so disheartened when his epic battle with Erlang terrified his own subjects into a rout, he just turned and fled——he realized that they, too, were seeing a monster.

He is no longer fighting for his people's safety, but an idea of them, who will always look up to him and do okay without him and never perceive him as a threat, and when that idea is shattered, so does his will to fight on.

I feel like the same could be said for his pursuit of immortality and power: it started off as a way to rid himself of existential fear and defend against concrete threats, but the list of "things I must do to secure my happy eternity and what is rightfully mine" just keeps growing longer and longer, until he's only focused on that sweet, sweet feeling of reward whenever he ticks off a checkbox and tunes out everything else.

After all, the more you have, the more you can potentially lose. A never ending cycle, exacerbated by his desire to never lose, until it all comes crashing down, figuratively and literally.

Back to LMK: People always point out that Azure worships this idea of SWK, and never quite sees SWK as his true, flawed self. Which I agree, but also: SWK does this too. He, too, loses sight of the actual people he's fighting for.

"I did it for US!"

The thing with a claim such as this is, multiple people can all try to do everything for the idea of "us", instead of something that may actually help each other, then feel wronged when their efforts essentially amount to nothing.

"We were all on a path of self-destruction."

For this statement to land, the self-destruction has to genuinely be each character's own doing. The fallout can, and is indeed magnified by what the others did or didn't do, but ultimately, the causes of their consequences come from within themselves: their own obsessions and attachments.

And making SWK the exception, the innocent figurehead and scapegoat, removes the complexity from the character while outright ignoring the few implications of the show that actually have some basis in book canon and are kinda interesting.

I rest my case.

[tblsomedoodles]

I

C R A V E

more Donnie VS The World content. It makes me vibrate and scream and wiggle like I'm off my meds. I would love anything, even a solid block of text, but your doodles/full artworks/comics are my favorite.

Please? All I've found so far is what we see in the donnieverse comic and the MVA/AMV (music video animatic/animatic music video). So many questions, like - is Casey (Sr) involved in any way, whethercas a fellow captive or rescue mission teammate? Is this the True Apocalypse or Averted Apocalypse timeline? If the latter, where is Casey (Jr)? How is Splinter handling it? (Is he even still alive to be Having Emotions About It?)

(Please feed me.

B L E A S E)

(If you don't mind, could you show/tell how Donnie escapes, one of his first Big Leads that gives him so much hope he cries, and/or the Big Reunion? One would be nice, two would be great, and all three would be amazing. If they aren't planned/are too spoilery, that's okay. Anything you can/are willing to give would be lovely.)

Thank you!! I'm glad you like it : ) I don't think I've answered many asked about this particular au, so i'm more than willing to talk about it! : )

I don't really have much up for it, mostly b/c it deals with a lot of angsty material that i can be a little uneasy about posting. I have a bit of old concept art, and an unposted fic i'm editing/rewriting (b/c it's the first fic i wrote for Rise and i did not have those character voices down lol.) I can probably post the first bits of it later this week. I did say at one point that i would once 'proud family tradition' was over, and it now is.

but yeah, here's the concept art, i'll put the explanation under the break b/c i'm going to be rambling lol.

So Donnie vs. takes place after the thwarted apocalypse (not-apocalypse future). They get taken by Bishop a few months afterwards, and it isn't until about a year after that, that Donnie gets free.

He's the last one still with Bishop at that point, and had been told/convinced through various means that his brothers were dead.

Bishop did a lot of experiments on him, leaving a lot of scaring. One of which was injecting him with Krang DNA to see what would happen. (the eye and veins thing. I think he has some side effects from that but i'm not entirely certain what they are atm)

The fic itself starts after his rescue, b/c i'm focusing on Donnie's search for his brothers (and his own recovery) Rather than the traumatic event itself.

The rescue itself, was certainly a rescue. April, Casey, and CJ worked together to get him out of there as well as gain whatever information they could before they were found out. (Casey went undercover and was able to get some incomplete files and help get donnie out before she was discovered and had to leave.)

donnies in...pretty bad shape at that point, mentally and physically. Physically, he's malnurished, injured, scared, the works. Bishop did a number on him in the year he had him.

Mentally, he's pretty much shut down. He's completely non-verbal, unresponsive most of the time, when he does respond it's very slow and seemingly difficult for him to do so. He describes it that it feels like he's behind several plates of thick glass. He can see and hear what's happening, interacting (or even just feeling anything about it) is very hard to get past the glass.

How he goes from that state to hunting down his brothers is fairly simple. One of the broken, encripted files Casey acquired was Leo's file. None of the three could open it, but they managed to get Donnie to try to do so. He manages it, sees the file, and for the first time in about a year, has hope. He doesn't even wait to show the other three, he just takes off while no one was looking, with April's laptop and CJ's coat (he steals a backpack along the way.)

I don't really want to say much past that. A lot of the rescues/reunions are pretty spoiler heavy, and i don't want to ruin some of the mystery of what's going on in the fic. But know this, he does get all his brothers (and family in general) back. Also, splinter is alive and is part of this, but again, that's spoilers for some things i don't want to ruin.

Again, i'll probably start posting this sometime this week. It's an interesting fic that i've put quite a bit of time into at this point, so i'll be excited to see what is thought of it.

Thank you!

[pisboy]

well i'm officially getting a new cat or kitten from the shelter this week. it breaks my heart to think of it like replacing Tib, but i really do need a new buddy who i can focus my attention on. having Lili still around is a blessing in itself, but she's aloof which was great when Tib was around in order to balance his affectionate and needy self.

of course there's no way to guarantee whoever i pick up will have a similar personality, but it is nice to think about rescuing a cat in need.

Lili is gonna be so mad though lol. i can tell she's enjoyed being queen of the castle, but she's also a champion of keeping to herself when she wants to.

and, well, if by some miracle i get reunited with Tib, having 3 cats isn't the worst thing in the world

[nutzgunray-lvt]

Class 1A Dynamics (Part 2)

This is going to be consolidated, so I apologize for the long length, but it's going to serve as a conclusion as to why I believe Class 1A's reputation as a found family is undeserved.

In my opinion, the Final Exam arc and Forest Camp arc is when we start to see the cracks in Class 1A's dynamics, as well as their more problematic moments that don't match how they supposedly are as characters. We do get really nice moments of Momo offering her home and services as a tutor to a handful of her classmates (Jirou's interactions with Momo's mom were really cute), but that's it.

Kirishima hears from Bakugou's former middle school friends how they and Bakugou bullied Izuku for his Quirklessness... and promptly ignores it. Mr. Anti Bully hears that the role model he looks up to was/is a bully, and does NOTHING about it. Not even when Bakugou gets them kicked out of whatever place they were studying at and blames IZUKU for it does he do anything other than say, "Lol, classic Bakugou!"

One of the biggest moments, in my opinion, is when Ochako, Ida, Momo, and Tsu (I think it was them? I can't remember) have no objections to Bakugou backhanding Izuku. They hear Recovery Girl saying that they have no communication... and take it at face value. No trying to stand up for him, no saying that Bakugou's the instigator between them, nothing.

(To say nothing how Sero failed the exam for being taken out of the arena unconcious, even though Bakugou passed despite ALSO being unconcious when he was dragged out of the arena 🙄)

The actual camp itself was pretty nice in regard to student interactions. Shouji was worried for both Tokoyami and Izuku (Izuku looked so cute being carried by Shouji 🥹), and Izuku made sure not to place Bakugou's safety over Tokoyami's when Dark Shadow went on its rampage. Tokoyami in turn was perfectly willing to sacrifice his life for Izuku, Shouji, and everyone else's safety. Aoyama risks his life and position as the traitor by clearing a path for Bakugou to get to camp. It was extremely annoying how Todoroki had to keep telling Bakugou not to run towards the villains and not to make the poison gas worse by using his Quirk (collateral damage is a concept Bakugou doesn't give a FUCK about), but I guess that was nice or whatever.

Then came the rescue.

Shouji aknowledges how guilty Izuku and Todoroki must feel about Bakugou's kidnaping, and then Kirishima and Tsu get into an arguement about whether or not to leave the rescue to the adults. I HATE how Kirishima guilted Izuku into joining the rescue. Izuku had broken limbs and a high fever to the point of having seizures. He was unconscious for three days, and for him to be told, "You can still reach him with your arms!" when everyone in class knows Bakugou would (and DID!) refuse Izuku's help is disgusting. In theory, it's nice how they take Bakugou's ego and feelings into account when they decide a small team is going to rescue him (I'll have more to say on that later). But then, Ida tries convincing Izuku not to go... by punching his sick and injured friend hard in the face. Ida, what the FUCK? Did he ever apologize for doing that?

And then not only does Bakugou not ever thank Momo, Ida, Todoroki, Kirishima, and Izuku for rescuing him and risking their place at UA, Aizawa then acts as though the class needs to regain his trust (even though they had no idea the rescue team went through with their plan) when it really should be the other way around. Great father figure he is, right?

So they move to the dorms, and we get a really nice moment where Tsu tearfully apologizes for saying that the rescue team were acting villanous in saving Bakugou. This is all well and good, but then we get to the Licensing Exam. As awesome as it was to see Ida helping Aoyama secure a place in the final round, as awesome as it was seeing everyone defer to Izuku's judgment, it all was completely undone by the bullshit house arrest.

I've gone on and on about how it's my least favorite part of the entire story, but seeing 1A not aknowledge Bakugou's bullying of Izuku yet again really soured my opinion on them. Ida especially gets the brunt of my criticism here, because as one of Izuku's best friend, he should have figured that Izuku not only didn't want to break curfew, he's NEVER looked for a fight when it came to Bakugou. And then when Izuku apologizes (barf) for defending himself, they all accept it like he did something wrong.

I HATE it, and for a while, I hated 1A because of it.

Then we get some smaller moments between that and the stupid Dark Izuku arc that are pretty nice. They express worry and relief for those involved in Eri's rescue, Izuku encourages Jirou to not be afraid to express herself musically, and Mina teaches Aoyama how to dance before the School Festival. Everyone criticizes Izuku for running around and trying to get candy apple ingredients for Eri, and they make fun of him for getting in trouble after the Gentle Criminal fight, blah blah blah. No one cheers for him or encourages him during his mock interview with Mt. Lady, but whatever.

Then Izuku leaves UA.

Not ONCE do ANY of Class 1A consider why he left, even though he literally tells them in the goddamn letters he left for them. Not once do they call out Bakugou for being the actual reason he has such low self-esteem and self sacrifical tendancies. Not once do they consider having just his closest friends find him and bring him back. After all, most of them admit they don't really know Izuku on a personal level. They don't even stand up for Momo when he jumps down her throat for not calling him by his stupid hero name.

Nope, they all decide to just bumrush him and let Bakugou lead the charge.

They let Bakugou make fun of him, project his own flaws onto him, and not once aknowledge that Izuku is neither in the physical condition nor mental condition to be hearing any of that. They then quite literally beat him into submission. Sure, some of the classmates try saying nice things to him about how he helped all of them (Dark Shadow was so gentle with Izuku 🥺), but Sato tries guilt tripping him about Eri, which is just gross.

Then comes the infamous Youtube Apology, where Bakugou talks about Izuku's Quirklessness and how that made him lesser than Bakugou in his eyes. No one reacts to any of this, and instead of just letting Izuku sleep or getting him to the fucking doctor, they throw him in a bath like that'll fix anything. We do get an awesome moment where Tokoyami and Sato call out Bakugou for bullying Izuku again despite supposedly apologizing, but that's chump change, considering what all they put Izuku through.

And then comes the traitor reveal.

I don't blame 1A for being angry at Aoyama, considering how his actions put everyone in danger, but I think it's so strange due to two things. One, Aoyama was clearly coerced into being a traitor. His parents were the ones who made the deal with AFO, and Aoyama was obviously remorseful for his actions. Two, just look at Bakugou. He was the one who not only ran towards the villains in the first place, but everyone had to keep him from making everything worse when they were trying to protect him.

And yet who's the one that gets treated with consideration and kid gloves?

Bakugou.

I can't say anything about the Final War, because everything is so fucking messy, but I guess I will say how nice it is that the class protects the girls from Mineta's sexual harrassment and don't take it laying down.

To close off, Hori did a piss poor job in showing organic development of 1A as supposed super close friends and found family. They all deserved better than what they wound up becoming, and it's just really sad all around.

[imaginethat0327]

Inhaling and exhaling slowly, Xisuma nodded, and for what felt like the millionth time, tapped into his admin magic. The familiar purple screen and keyboard appeared behind his closed eyes, and the rest of the physical world began to fall away.

But this time, Xisuma reached for something deeper than his admin magic. 

It was pretty obvious that aside from his helmet, Xisuma didn’t really look like or appear to be any sort of hybrid. He was strong, but being tall meant that his strength didn’t seem out of the ordinary. He was quick, but many skills could be attained with practice and time. He was oddly attuned to admin magic, but there were many admins out there (*cough* Dream *cough*) who were fully human but incredibly skilled with admin magic. His features all appeared to be that of a normal human, and the helmet could be explained away as an aesthetic choice or an aid to a lung illness of some sort. 

But Xisuma was still a hybrid, and he was a hybrid who’s mob-kin were some of the most mysterious beings in the entire universe. Primarily because they existed on a plane that was invisible to most other players and mobs. Secondarily because they had the uncanny to warp, manipulate, and distort code. An ability that had inevitably been passed down to Xisuma himself. 

The abilities of the voidkind always worked best when actually present in the void, or at least the End. Using them in the overworld, or especially the nether, could be dangerous. But Xisuma was at the end of his rope of patience and out of ideas, so he reached deep, deep within himself, drawing upon a special kind of magic that caused the edges of his admin screen to pulse with pink and white lights, and strength to flood into his very being. 

And then, as the universe came into view and the shrouds of color that were Fwhip and Scott materialized beside him, Xisuma’s soul unfurled itself and he flew . 

Code couldn’t, of course, take a physical shape. But Xisuma’s soul had a solid presence here in the universal code, with voidkind magic filling it out and giving it defined lines and planes and mass. As Xisuma sank deeper into the admin trance, grasping the edges of the well of voidkind magic that was buried deep within him and pulling it upwards in a tidal wave, his invisible limbs grew inky and starry as the night sky, long wings spreading to curve through the dazzling streams of code like fins in water. He knew that when his eyes “opened,” they shone bright as stars themselves, and that his mass streamed behind him like a great shadowy cloud. 

New fanart! I had a lot of fun with this - I love playing with light and sparkles, lol. Xisuma as this crazy eldritch beastie in the code-space is a headcanon I will never surrender. Come read Rescue Fire to check it out, if you haven’t already!

-ImagineThat 🦜

[ebonysplendor]

Where Winter Crows Go Review ❄️🐦‍⬛

TL;DR: Chaga mushrooms ain't the only thing that Crowe be foraging, but this time he doesn't want to share the spoils with the squad for research purposes.

Game Link: https://prikarin.itch.io/where-winter-crows-go

Notable Features: Gender Neutral MC, Optional Reader-Insert with choice of pronouns, Yandere LI, 17+ Spiciness: 1/5 -- It gets a little flirty, but it's sweet and innocent LI Red Flags: 3/5 -- Manipulative, little hands on, has a temper

Want to know more? Well, let's get into it!

Okay, so, the full release finally came, and ya girl was SO excited! The demo was very promising, but I needed a little more convincing. That being said, this wasn't by any means one of the one's that I was the most ecstatic about, but I was still excited enough about it to check back occasionally for the full release. I just so happened to get lucky recently and saw that it had actually dropped back in November. So, I was late, but not embarrassingly so. Now, this review on the other hand... But listen! I just recently decided to take the plunge and start making reviews, so mind ya business lol.

Anyways, this isn't about me and my tardiness, this is about this pleasant little game that really went for it in the full version, and boi, did they go for it!

I'd classify this as one of those "slow burn" visual novels, simply because it's not obvious that our LI is a lil' psycho off the rip, and there's nothing too unsettling from the jump aside from getting caught in a blizzard. Actually, since we're on the topic, the LI -- his name is Crowe Lynn, by the way -- is actually pretty damn hospitable, and he's a full blown scientist. The most shocking part is, he isn't even doing anything sketchy! for the most part. He is deadass living in the middle of nowhere for research purposes and is writing books to know why nature is...well, naturing, for lack of better wording.

That being said, I think the intro is long enough, and I'm really excited to tell you more about this game, because you guys have got to play this whenever you get the chance! As always, I'm going to tell you as much as possible about the game without ruining the game itself.

So, boom. We're -- or Aspen, should you decide to play through their eyes, but I prefer self-insert -- going on a trip in our favorite run down car to get to some town where there is supposed to be this really nice place to let off some steam via skiing. Trust me, we did research on this; we know what we're talking about. Anyways, while driving, we start noticing how we've been on this same road for a long time, and yet, we haven't seen anybody for an equally long time.

Run down car? Long road? No one for miles? You already know what's about to happen.

Yep, you guessed it, we get a flat, and as you've also probably guessed, we have no spare tire, but bear with me! The game isn't this predictable, I swear! You've gotta understand that it can just be a little hard to get away from certain tropes, and let's be real, they kind've have to happen for plot purposes. I mean, think about if we actually had a tire in the trunk. We would've been outtie, we would've had a great trip, and there would've been no game lol. Sometimes, you just gotta cut the devs some slack.

Anywho, so yeah, flat tire and no spare. Naturally, we hike it to try to find some help, but the weather kind've picks up, and the clothes that we have, while appropriate for the cold, aren't adequate enough for a full blown blizzard. No worries though, because guess who comes to the rescue? This guy!

Everybody, this is Crowe. Crowe, this is everybody.

As you'd expect (I know I keep saying that, but lmao it's not a overly predictable game, I swear!), Crowe is this really chill dude. Actually, more than a chill dude, he's a massive nature nerd. That's actually why he's out in the middle of the woods anyways! Like I mentioned before, he's researching why nature be naturing, specifically -- at least, his current topic from the way it was worded is -- partial migration. If you've never heard of that, don't even worry about it, in the game he explains it to us. Like, I'm telling you. This man is super into this stuff, and we love a smart man.

Getting away from that though, he basically ends up telling us that the town that we're in is pretty much deserted with the exception of like 13 other people, and because of the blizzard, the time it'd take to clean the roads, the likelihood of there being another blizzard right behind the one that just happened, and cleaning up after that blizzard, getting to our planned destination just wasn't going to happen. ...Well, shit.

What are we going to do then? Our car has a flat, we can't travel, and there's not any resorts nearby. No worries though, because the bae came through! He said "Oh, you can just stay with me!" Oh wooooooord???

So guess what we do? Make ourselves cozy in this bomb ass cabin. I'm not even exaggerating about that. Like, this cabin is REALLY nice! Take a peek!

That's just our room and the hallway. You can only imagine how bomb the rest of the place looks. Like, I'm telling y'all, it's super cozy up in here. But we must stay focused! And by we, I mean me, because I could go on and on about how nice this cabin looks.

Back to the topic at hand though, we've agreed to stay with Crowe, even though, we honestly don't have much of a choice, but it was just dope that Crowe was cool with everything. That being said, during our stay, we do all kinds of pretty cool stuff! We go foraging with him for chaga mushrooms and winterberries, we create some powders to add to other stuff, and we make some medicines. Everything was going super smoothly ... until it wasn't.

Crowe kind've has...a weird temper. Like, we had accidentally gotten hurt, and he had gotten super pissed about it. We love a man that cares about his guest, but he was a bit overdramatic about it. You'd think we would've lost a limb or something. The main thing that got him really pissed, though, was when we had mentioned our car and implied leaving. He did not like that, and when I say we got into it bad? Oh, the insults were flying. Like, look at this!

So, yeah, we fought, and what about it? It's whatever. Forget him...

...Actually, we felt really bad about the whole thing, and so did he. We talked it out, and everything was all good again; however, now he's acting really weird, we're getting really suspicious, and we still have to get home. That being said, we call it an early night, borrow one of his books, and pretty much make a gameplan so we can figure out how to get home as well as what the hell is going on that is not only making Crowe act weird, but what is going on in general.

And we do! We sneak out the next morning and ... we actually make things worse because now, we're REALLY confused. I'm not going to get into the details, but just know that there are more questions than answers at this point. So, yeah, while the investigating helped, it only helped a little, and I genuinely mean only a little.

One thing that we know for sure though...

This man is definitely crazy in love with us.

And that's all I'm going to tell you! Lol I'm sorry! But if I tell you the rest, it'll literally be the ending, and it'll ruin it! You know how much I want you guys to play it, so no way am I going to spill the details, but like most visual novels, how it ends is completely up to the choices that you make.

Guys...the full game delivered.

I prefer choice heavy visual novels like Darling Duality and Forcefully Yours, but this still wasn't bad by any means. I actually thought it was quite good! Like I said, the most shocking thing to me about all of this is that this man is deadass a scientist! Like, he really isn't doing anything entirely sketchy out there! That was the biggest plot twist of the century to me! But, anyways, letting go of that. Let me tell you more of my thoughts on the game, and why I feel like you should play it whenever you get the chance.

The visuals are absolutely stunning, first and foremost. So far, my favorite VN visual wise has been Mushroom Oasis, but this is definitely a solid number 2 spot. I absolutely adore the art style. I also appreciate the revamp that they did with Crowe. There is nothing wrong with femboys by any means, but to me, Crowe was a little girly looking, and he very much so looked like a small child lol. Like look at the difference in this.

This is the old Crowe Lynn

And this is the new Crowe Lynn

Lol you see what I mean? He looked like a child that wanted to be a scientist when he grew up versus the actual adult him that chose science as a profession. The redesign was definitely a good choice, and I love how he looks now, especially with the longer hair and worn out lab coat. What do you think, though? Which did you prefer?

Aside from that though, you know what one of my favorite things about the game was? The fact that -- and listen close, because this is about to be a tip! -- the endings that you get are based more on how the character feels about Crowe versus how Crowe feels about us. How curious is that?

In a majority of visual novels, the endings are literally dependent on how far we push the LI or their affinity for us, but it's not like that in this one. We get a different ending based on if we trust him or not, if we flirt back with him or ignore his remarks, and some other factors that I don't want to include and possible spoil the story. I just thought that was a really interesting take, and that was super creative of the developer. It was definitely refreshing to play as more of myself and base the gameplay on my -- or rather my character's -- feelings versus playing for the LI and his feelings.

With all that in mind, I definitely say give this game a go! It has a nice mystery/suspense to it, and not to mention, there is a really bomb song during the credits. I was so sad to see that it was not on Spotify! Well, let me clarify, it IS, but it's not available to me which sucks ass. It's not even on YouTube, and it hurts me so bad! Ugh!

Anyways, in case my feelings and opinions weren't clear -- play this game, play this game, play this game, play this game! As always, be sure to leave your comments on the dev's page if you feel like they've done a good job, and you want to give them that extra reassurance to keep making games. Of course, donations are always helpful to them as well! Like mentioned at the very top, here is a link to the game so that you can play it for yourself, and I really want you to play it for yourself!

That's all from me! Drink water, don't be dumb, and hope to see you around~!

Where Winter Crows Go

[azurityarts]

hewwo >:) 5, 6, and/or 7 for the pmd ask game? if another asker hasn’t requested them already :3c

Heyoo! :D

5. Which Pokemon from Gen 7-8 would you consider potential hero/partner options, outside of the regular Starter Pokemon?

I know this question is about Gen 7-8, but quick mention to Zorua! Would LOVE to see that little fucker as a hero/partner option in the future.

I think some good ones from Alola (excluding regional forms/variants) would be Rockruff, Mudbray and Fomantis? Rockruff is a pretty obvious answer, but I feel as if the latter two could have potential?

Galar's difficult; to me, I feel like I'd prefer most Gen 8 Pokemon as NPCs 😭 Going with Rookidee and Chewtle for now though!

6. Favourite Special Episode?

Special Episode 5 is an easy sweep for being just excellent in so many different aspects: narrative, overall place in the grand plot, focus on characters, setting, music, the quotes, Grovyle and Dusknoir just being Normal Enemies I Swear—the list goes on!

But I gotta give a mention to Here Comes Team Charm! It's not the most significant SE by any means and doesn't have any major implications for the main plot and its characters, but I need you to understand that hearing their theme for the first time had me do a double take to remember what game I was even playing??? LIKE WHY DOES IT ACTUALLY GO SO HARD THOUGH???

Spike Chunsoft where's the return of Team Charm because oh yeah they ALL have megas now LMAO

7. Favourite dungeon(s)?

Gonna rattle off one of my favourites from each of the games! (I think a large part of my decision-making was the dungeon's theme whoops)

Great Canyon was absolutely one of my highlights from Rescue Team! Nice place in the narrative, captured the feeling of the trek to Xatu really well. But it's definitely up in my rankings just for that theme alone- LIKE LISTEN TO THIS REMIX BY DRAZORLEAF

Okay this one may not be necessarily a favourite dungeon, but story time! When I was playing through Explorers for the first time (idk how I was able to go in blind in retrospect lol), I noticed that Crystal Crossing had Absol as a potential recruit! So I spent like a solid hour or more running through floors, trying to recruit one (because well. you know me.), and that was my very first experience and encounter with:

Something's stirring...

So yeah, thanks Crystal Crossing for letting me get an Absol, and also thanks for giving me Realization of the Horrors

Glacier Palace: Great Spire is absolutely CRIMINAL for having that godsend of a musical score and only lasting FIVE FLOORS. Makes sense that they didn't want to drag it out, and I think the overall impact of the track would have been lessened if they made the dungeon fighting itself a slog, but MAN what a fucking banger.

The Tree of Life dungeons are also both great; perfect OST for the moment, but also really darn nice visuals—the crackles/streaks of life energy in the environment were super pretty omg

[simplydannie]

I know I've already brought something similar up, but I can just imagine a beaten and bruised Troll!Veneer (who's vulnerable from Floyd abandoning him, getting beaten within an inch of his life, and being separated from Velvet, and emotionally overwhelmed from seeing Floyd again) calling Floyd "dad". And to top it all off, I imagine Troll!Veneer would still be wearing the bracelet Floyd made for him.

After all is said and done and Troll!Velvet is rescued, I'm imagining the group in Rhonda on the way back to Pop Village at night, Troll!Veneer lying on the couch patched up and covered with a blanket, Floyd in the kitchen with Bruce making soup for dinner while talking about himself and the twins, and Floyd standing up for the twins and having a spat with JD about them.

Happy ending! That would be entire separate story in itself of Veneer calling Floyd dad, I can try doing the last bit lol

Velvet took her place by her brother’s side as he lay down. She secured the blankets around him as if still trying to shield him. Looking at him and his wounds, she couldn’t help be feel a sense of guilt… this was her doing. Veneer had tried stopping her, but she was persistent and too darn stubborn. Instead of having her go alone, he did everything by her side.

“I don’t get it.” JD broke the silence between him and Floyd as he made something to eat for the twins.

“What?” Floyd asked with a concussion on his face.

“They betrayed you. Why do you still care? We should turn them in. The other Trolls will take care of them for you.”

“John, I’m not doing that.” Floyd responded.

“What do you owe them Floyd? We came out here to save you because of them.”

Floyd pursed his lips. How could he make his brother understand what those kids meant to him.

“… Parenting is hard. You think you know everything a kid is going through, but you have no idea. I wasn’t careful, I wasn’t paying attention to how Velvet was really feeling…I pushed both of them away…” Floyd stated.

Parenting? So Floyd really did see these two brats as his own kids.

“Where are there parents?” John asked.

“There was an accident….Really great couple….They loved their kids very much. It really change the twins when they died… I tried my best, but I don’t think I tried hard enough.”

John Dory stole another glance toward the twins direction. He noticed their wrists.

“Are those…. The bracelets?” He asked. Floyd was confused. He turned to look at the small piece of jewelry they each wore… he never noticed… all this time, they kept the bracelets he made for them. His heart melted as he smiled to the twins. John Dory sighed as he looked between Floyd and the twins.

“…. I think I get it now.” He admitted. Floyd looked to him curiously. “Hey, we’re not so perfect a family either.” He shrugged.

“Thanks John.” Floyd grabbed soup bowels of soup and made his way towards the twin trolls. He offered a bowel to Velvet. She shook her head.

“You have to eat.”

“Ven, isn’t eating.”

“He’s resting. Which he needs a lot of. There will be some ready when he wakes up.”

Hesitantly, but surely, Velvet took the bowel from his hands and began eating. Floyd sat next to her… they were safe, they were ALL safe. They could finally try to be a family again.

“Where are we going…” she asked softly.

“Pop Troll village…. your new home.”

A quiver came to Velvets lips….home. Something they hadn’t had in a while. She set the bowel down and hugged Floyd tightly, still having one hand over her brother.

“….thanks dad.” She murmured.

Floyd smile…. No one would hurt them ever again.

[aureentuluva70]

What do a beautiful elf princess and an evil demon spider have in common? Surprisingly, quite a bit.

Both weave cloaks of shadow in their dwellings, Ungoliant's from her webs and Lùthien's from her own hair(Lùthien in the Leithian even describes her cloak as a web. "I will weave within my web that hell/nor all the powers of dread shall break") Ungoliant's webs and Lùthien's cloak hold a magical effect over things and people, Ungoliant's bringing blindness while Lùthien's brings drowsiness. Out of the same material both create ropes, Ungoliant climbing up to leave Avathar and Lùthien climbing down from Hirilorn. Ungoliant climbs up to Hyarmentir, "the highest mountain in that region of the world", while the great tree Hirilorn is called "greatest of all the trees in the Forest of Neldoreth" and the Leithian describes the tree as "the mightiest vault of leaf and bough / from world's beginning until now." Ungoliant later makes her way to the Two Trees with Melkor, while Lùthien escapes from a tree to rescue Beren.

There's similarities between the places that Lùthien and Ungoliant escape from too, being Doriath and Valinor respectively. Both of them are described as being surrounded by a great barrier of "shadow(s) and bewilderment". (There are also mentions of only one person being able to make it through said barriers, being Beren and Earendil.)

Both Lùthien and Ungoliant help Beren and Melkor in stealing the silmarils, and by help I mean assisting to the point that it is them who seem to be doing most of the actual work. (Beren literally just needs to sit back and watch as Lùthien puts all of Angband to sleep singlehandedly. It is Ungoliant who does most of the actual darkening in the darkening of Valinor, and in an earlier version Ungoliant destroys the Two Trees all by herself. Melkor isn't even there.)

And it's all rather funny looking at this because though they have these similarities they could not be more different. Lùthien is a beautiful elf princess who defeats both Sauron and Morgoth through the power of ✨️True Love✨️ who personally couldn't care less for the silmarils, and Ungoliant is a gigantic hideous demon spider who eats light itself like a black hole and nearly devours Melkor alive when he doesn't give her the silmarils(talk about toxic relationship lol). Lùthien heals, Ungoliant poisons. Lùthien brings Light, Ungoliant brings Darkness(or rather Unlight). Lùthien acts out of love, Ungoliant acts out of selfishness.

They could not be more, completely different. Lùthien is the Anti-Ungoliant. Ungoliant is the Anti-Lùthien. And yet they have these subtle similarities and it drives me insane.

IT'S ABOUT THE SIMILARITIES AND YET STARK CONTRASTS

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s2 ep22: Innocence

I remember most of this episode, especially how dumb the twist at the end was, but it had so much good stuff for Tuvok, I can kind of forgive it.

I forgot that a redshirt got killed off in this one, they really are dropping like flies this season! That brings this season's grand total to six so far, and the season isn't over yet! I remember at the beginning of the season they specifically mentioned Voyager having 154 crew on board, and now they should be down to 148. Idk how they're gonna have anybody left at this rate- I'm interested to see what the final numbers end up being, and if they fudge the numbers later.

The main point of this episode, though, was getting to see Tuvok be a good space dad, and he was. The three kids he rescued were thankfully pretty cute and non-annoying, so it was a lot of fun to watch Tuvok wrangle them. (With only slightly more exasperation than he wrangles the Voyager crew with, lol.) It was wonderful to get a Tuvok focused episode that actually focused on him as a person, rather than as a prop for evil mind takeover nonsense like they gave him last time. Vulcan philosophy requires detachment and controlled responses to everything, but when Tuvok gets to take care of people, like he does for these three marooned children, and for the dying ensign at the beginning, we get to see what a deeply caring person he actually is underneath. Whenever he talks about his family back home, he has so much love for them, and it's a poignant reminder that Tuvok, of all the main characters, has lost the most by being marooned out in the Delta Quadrant, but he also has the most reason to keep fighting to get back home to them.

I honestly don't think Tim Russ gets enough credit for how diffiicult a role he had to play as a Vulcan, who isn't supposed to show emotion, and yet he managed to convey Tuvok's whole personality, and the emotional life he keeps hidden underneath, with the smallest, subtlest gestures. He gives a truly masterful performance each and every episode, and he's so good you almost don't notice, except in episodes like this. I almost cried when Tuvok sang the song he used to sing to his kids. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Tuvok is the good space dad we all deserve.

I really wish they'd have come up with a better explanation at the end than the ridiculous 'these aliens age backward!' nonsense they had. Literally any other explanation to make it more plausible would have helped, because even as a kid, I was sitting there trying to think of how reverse-aging could even work, which took away from the emotional impact of the story. (Also, if they reverse age, the people on the planet would be referring to them as 'elders' not 'children'- but nobody apparently thought very hard about this one, so I wont either!) In the end, though the dumb ending lowers my estimation of the story itself, I'm still appreciative of the character scenes this ep gave us with Tuvok.

Tl;dr: A great character piece for Tuvok, despite a weak plot.

[m00nymonster]

I can't think of a title lol, but I'm thinking of expanding this into a one shot so ideas would be great

Prompt: fairy tale

"Once upon a time there was a king and queen who had a beautiful baby girl," Ayda read aloud. Her youngest child listened with wide eyes, curled under blankets. "The baby princess was presented to the kingdom, and everyone was invited. Everyone except an evil fairy." Her child listened intently. "The evil fairy was so mad she cursed the princess to die on her sixteen birthday, by pricking her thumb on a spindle. The good fairies lessened the curse, letting the princess instead fall asleep." On cue, the child yawned. Their eyelids fluttered as the story continued. By the end, the child was fast asleep. Ayda sighed and put the book away. She really should go to to bed as well. Her first trauma treatment was tomorrow, and she was not excited about it.

She smiled wryly. Murderbot--SecUnit--had looked so earnest when it told her it would go on the survey only if she went to trauma treatments. And it had been so pleased with itself when she agreed. SecUnit usually kept its feelings to itself, so seeing it display them in front of her was always special.

Still. She wondered how it was doing, if it was getting along with Amena...if it was all right. It had such a knack for getting into trouble. But, lately, so had she.

She crept out of her child's room, closing the door quietly. She wasn't looking forward to tomorrow. She didn't know why she dreaded it so much, why she had put it off until SecUnit had forced her hand. She would benefit from this. Yet the idea of discussing her kidnapping and rescue with anyone from Preservation, the horror and hopelessness and dread, the terror--they had no frame of reference for it. Even if they specialized in trauma, they couldn't understand corporates. Preservation was so isolated. She knew no one, no one except SecUnit, understood her position. And she loathed to try.

It would all be so much simpler if life was like fairy tales. The bad thing happened, the problem was solved, everyone lived happily ever after.

In her life she knew there was no happily ever after. Healthily ever after would have to be good enough. She'd just have to hope her therapist would understand. And hopefully, tomorrow would go smoothly.

It did not go smoothly.

[rei-ismyname]

From The Ashes: X-Men #5 Review

Spoilers, obviously.

A Journey to the Centre of the Mind Issue

Mambo number 5 is about as close to a bottle episode as it gets in comics, so the main question is 'does it succeed at that?' Cyclops appears briefly at the beginning and end, but he's not a main character per se. The focus is on Kwannon/Psylocke and Quentin Quire - two characters with little, if any history.

Let's assume this white lady is Kwannon, GRRR

It's nice to see Kwannon and Greycrow are still together, though he used to be a lot more attractive. I'm not talking about the weight he's gained, that's great. His facial structure is off - he looks like Kraven the Hunter. I don't think the art style is doing him any favours. They're having the same conversation they've always had so the Kwannon focus is off to a boring start. There's nothing here we haven't heard before, and she's not talking like a real person. Very writerly, like someone who's read the script and is telling us their blunt themes. Trauma stays with you and repeats itself over and over, but unless you're going laser focused on the subject you want to give us something new.

Okay that's pretty funny

Aside from that threat and Quentin saying 'kicks', nothing new here either. 20 pages is a very limited amount of space - I don't think this is the issue for using three of them to set up a smash cut joke. I'll come back to this intro. This mission is the reason these two weren't available last issue. A psychic rescue of Ben Liu, the dude they rescued in #2 and argued with Agent Lundqvist over in #3. He's in a coma and Cyclops tells them not to take their arguing into his head.

There's the 'aliens' he was projecting in #2, and Quentin thinks something is off. Kwannon is right, people usually use sign language and projection during psychic rescues/surgery. He disagrees, of course. The imagery is interesting, but again I feel like we're not learning anything new. I'd expect act 2 here to be more dense - it's a hyperfocused issue but the content is light so far.

Yes, he was experimented on. See what I mean? The art is showing the most blatant 'torturous experimentation by humans' imagery possible - is the most interesting dialogue possible to have them plainly state that? Or to have Kwannon just say she can't see something? This type of mission is an archetype at this point, so we've seen it done well before. Not just in comics either, this is a cartoon/sci-fi staple. People understand the premise, especially if you're economical in setting it up. I think it's a miscalculation to treat the new readers they're trying to hook like they need their hands held. Anyway, there's an entity of some sort - a psychic jack-in-the-box who looks and talks a lot like Cassandra Nova.

Except it straight up tells them who did the experimenting. Great security system lol, or maybe one that assumes they won't be able to tell anyone. 3K sound like overly elaborate dumbasses.

It goes straight for the jugular trauma. Quentin's fear of abandonment name checking his parents (who he accidentally killed, are we retconning that or is this his adopted parents? Probably the latter.) Also Wolverine and Phoebe, which are nice to see acknowledged as important relationships. And of course Sabertooth, who beheaded him and carried it round in a jar, using him as a tool to hurt his friends. It's both very effective and stuff he's mostly dealt with already. Maybe that's why it doesn't stop him for long. No mention of Idie, his oldest friend who's not very impressed with him? No mention of his guilt from X-Force war crimes or the hundreds of times he died? No mention of Krakoa, the loss every mutant should be feeling? Of course not.

Kwannon sees John Greycrow telling her she's wrong and killing himself, and that's it. She has wayyyy more hectic trauma than this so maybe it's fear or insecurity. Either way it feels very small - I love Greycrow and them together but she's a lot more than the relationship. She had a daughter who died, she was bodyjacked for decades, she's been terrorised by Sinister. This feels more like Greycrow's issues than hers. If this is followed up with them being super codependent then fine, it's worth the page space. Right now it feels like Quentin is the main character and Kwannon is a paper cutout. 'I can't' are words I'd expect from Quentin, but Kwannon keeps saying them this issue. If you're not doing it properly, maybe leave her outside as the anchor or something? Focus on Quentin so we get a deeper look under his hood, setup his arc for this run. Psylocke has a solo book coming after all, plenty of time to get to know her again.

Also, is that how Black Bug rooms work? The usage feels odd to me but I'm being hypercritical here. Weigh in if you know.

Quentin hears a psychic gunshot and snaps out of it. That was easy! Cassandra Nova must be losing her touch. I guess it's not the real her anyway, just an echo. Maybe she's not up to her old tricks and letting them know the name of the enemy was intentional. I doubt it, but we'll see. They use Quentin's Omega power and Psylocke's finesse on a psychic fastball special. His echoing of her threat to him as support is a serviceable callback, but it foregrounds Quentin again. Simultaneously too much and not enough, though at least it justifies her presence on this mission.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Is it just me or is that a shitload of blood on the ground? This is the last page, directly following the one I showed above it. Here's what we learned

- Benny Boy is awake.

- 3K are responsible for the adult X-Gene activations.

- On baseline humans, which might recontextualise a thing or two.

- Cassandra Nova is involved.

So a bunch of dipshits dug up an old villain for the fourth time and borrowed a scheme from the Ultimate Universe. Why? How? It'd be good to get Beast or Scott's reaction to that, but there's no room. There wasn't even enough room to show how Kwannon learnt this, but it's a pretty reasonable deduction. My earlier question was 'does it succeed at being a psychic rescue issue?' Just barely. It checks all the boxes but left a lot on the shelf. It took too long to get to act 1 for Kwannon beats that weren't worth it IMO. Yeah I want to know about her but having too broad a focus meant we arguably learnt more about Greycrow than her. We learnt nothing new about Quentin. The psychic rescue was setup last issue, I think starting in media res would have freed up 5-6 pages to put some meat on those bones.

X-Men comics have a long standing tension between new and established readers. 'Every comic is somebody's first' is admirable, but the patience of established readership is finite. I don't think it succeeds well at either, to be frank, and it feels like that tension is a factor. I think at some point you just have to tell the best story possible, otherwise we're left asking 'who is this for?' That's capitalism for you, always chasing growth often at the expense of creativity.

Also, KWANNON LOOKS FUCKING WHITE. She's Japanese. Do better, FFS.

I don't really vibe with numerical ratings, so I'll just say that X-Men issue 5 is totally skippable. The information will be mentioned again and the journey wasn't executed very well. What a shame. The art is okay, consistent with every other issue of this title, except for the whitewashing. It's got a lot of choices I don't love but I suspect they come from editorial (Quent and Cyclops' ages etc.) Thanks for reading.

[bthump]

Do you think that Griffith forcing Casca to sleep with Guts is not morally reprehensible?

lol this feels like pretty bait-y phrasing, but I wanna give you the benefit of the doubt and I don't mind sharing my opinions on this, so I'll bite.

How are we defining morally reprehensible in the context of Berserk as a whole? Because sure, it's not great of him, it's misogynist and Casca was right to yell at him for it. But it doesn't exactly make the list of top 10 bad things characters do in Berserk, or even the top 100 lbr here lol.

Someone had to strip down and warm Guts up if he was going to live, according to the logic of the story (idgaf if it's medically accurate, I care about the story's own internal logic), and Griffith couldn't do it himself without a) risking the respect of his followers and imo b) confronting his own internalized homophobia lol. So he had to order one of the Hawks to do it. Casca draws the short straw because of the misogyny of society and Griffith's own misogyny as an imperfect part of that society, but it's hardly malicious.

And it's not solely a reflection on Griffith because no one else in the Band thinks it's wrong, everyone else seems to see it as a logical choice. Therefore, narratively it's less of a statement on Griffith and more of a statement on Casca's frustration with misogyny in general, from Griffith here, but from other people other times - like eg Guts when he berates her after rescuing her - and from society overall.

Plus arguably, upon re-reading the scene, it's actually more of a reflection on Casca's contentious relationship to womanhood than misogyny, because Judeau implies that Casca is pissed off about the reminder that she's a woman, rather than because it's wrong to suggest that warming a man is a woman's duty. "Our Casca gave up being a woman so she could be a mercenary long ago." Which itself, unfortunately, fits with Casca showing "a softer side" and becoming more feminine after the naked warming round 2 in chapter 15, as she starts falling for Guts.

I prefer to take it as a statement on misogyny rather than a symptom of Miura's own misogyny because I think that aspect of Casca's character "development" sucks lol, but that's not necessarily the intent. So yeah hopefully it's meant to be seen as a shitty thing for Griffith to do, rather than the natural place for Casca as a woman, but I can't say I'm 100% sure on that.

Basically I wouldn't call it morally reprehensible, I'd call it shitty but understandable in context and a decent introduction to Casca and her frustrations, as well as potentially some of the other themes of the story, but also potentially reflective of Miura's own misogyny rather than a self-aware statement on Griffith or Berserk's society, depending on how you interpret Casca's character development and Judeau's description of Casca in chapter 13.