#can androids survive

[veebs-hates-video-games]

Ok I guess this week has been all about going through a bunch of short stuff (and finishing one old thing I was almost done with), so you get to drink from the firehose.

The old thing was Bayonetta 2, which for some reason I took a break from for like 2-3 years. The first game had a bunch of good ideas in it but felt like it wasn't quite finished to me, but this one improved on all that and polished everything better, and it was a lot of fun. I'm not great at it, especially not after trying to jump back in in the middle after not playing for multiple years, but I was managing ok by the end at least. It's just non-stop nonsense that's constantly escalating and getting more ridiculous, and somehow they manage to pull that off. I kind of almost wish they leaned even more into the camp aspects of it sometimes, because the moments where Bayonetta comes across as "what if a cis woman was a gay man?" are always fun, and I'm always a sucker for female characters who are kind of snarky/bitchy/sarcastic.

Subsurface Circular was pretty good too. I knew the name Mike Bithell in the opening credits sounded familiar but was not prepared for it to directly reference Thomas Was Alone (the original thing he became known for and another great game) at one point in the story. "You are a robot detective solving robot crimes by talking to other robots on the subway" is a great premise, and it went in some reasonably interesting directions I wasn't expecting by the end. Some of the characters are kind of fun too.

I gave up on Can Androids Survive really quickly, like a few minutes in, which is a shame after how amazing Can Androids Pray was. I actually have a feeling it's probably fine or even good, but I didn't love the default controls, and when I tried to remap them the game softlocked. I'll probably give it another shot at some point when it goes on sale on itch.io or Steam, but the Switch version isn't happening.

Florence was pretty cute and good though. It's another one of those things that manages to tell a story and develop its characters with almost zero text or dialogue, and it does it well. I don't really have a ton to say about it beyond that it's a good use of a couple bucks and less than an hour of your time. Oh, and that I appreciate the stuff they managed to pull off entirely through very simple gameplay, like showing characters getting closer and more comfortable with each other just through how you put together speech bubbles for implied conversations. Very simple but very effective.

And then finally there's Death Becomes You, which I have mixed feelings on. I guess I'd call it a yuri murder mystery VN with much more emphasis on the murder mystery than the yuri. There are definitely some good ideas in it, and I like that it's not afraid to focus on toxic or even abusive relationships and recovering from them, and the world it takes place in is more interesting than I expected. That said, the writing isn't really my style overall. Some of it works pretty well sometimes, but I had a bit of a rough time getting into it at first because of how unlikable the characters and their interactions came across at first, and not in a way that made me want to know more. I did warm up to them somewhat, but like a review on Steam put it I was more intellectually interested in what the story was doing and not so much emotionally invested in the characters or what was going on. Also most of the endings feel really abrupt and like they needed slightly more to them to feel like they were really earned. I'm still curious what they'll do in the future though because there's definitely potential for something interesting there.

[tyanis]

Original Resident Evil 2 concept art of Leon having a bad time.

While the Resident Evil 2 Survival Guide is full of absolute nonsense, it also contains some cool behind the scenes stuff, including some concept art.

I will try to post more of the art at a later date, but for now, please enjoy our boy having the worst first day ever.

Pretty sure this last one isn't Leon, but it was funny so here it is.

"Help."

[wolfboyvirus]

Tell me about that astolfo of yours

VINE BOOM. i didnt expect anyone to be interested in him haha okay uhhh lets see. fair warning, his story is very,,,, wobbly and uncertain at the moment. so some of this is vague or subject to change!!

now, first of all, this is astolfo:

yes i had to include the meme. this is my single favorite image of him

now, when his story begins, he's already a... kind-of-deviant. something in-between coming off the factory line and breaking the red wall. he can feel things, weakly, but he can't directly defy orders. however, he can do things that he isn't necessarily told to do; this is how he finds himself sometimes sneaking away on his own when he's meant to be in stasis, how he finds himself collecting knickknacks from people's trash that he finds interesting. nevertheless, he simply continues to do his job, because he doesn't feel like he should be doing anything else. yet.

then, he meets someone, a deviant. a runaway, who ended up hiding out in what was essentially astolfo's little secret hangout near the building he's kept in while in stasis. it's basically like a small-ish grey shed with a window, near the garbage dump. he's a little perturbed at first, but the two find themselves drawn to eachother, quickly becoming friends.

eventually though, his friend tells him that they have to leave soon; they've already stayed here too long. they have somewhere they need to go, someone to find that can help them. and they want to bring astolfo with them, but astolfo... he doesn't really want to leave. he's never wanted anything more than what he has right now. he doesn't think the risk is worth it. and above all... he's scared. scared of leaving all that he has now, his safety, his routine, to search for an ideal life he'll probably never find. but he doesn't know that's what he's feeling. he refuses their offer; his friend is disappointed, which makes something inside him churn uncomfortably, but they don't try to force him. they prepare to resume their journey alone, but before they leave, they interface with him, leaving him with a small file. "just in case," they say. it contains a location, marked far from the main city, and a single name: zlatko. then they're gone, leaving him as just he was before this all started. alone

it takes maybe a week for astolfo to finally realize, just a bit too late, how much worse his life is without them in it. he realizes that he does want more than this; he's no longer content with his programmed monotony. he wants to experience something new, he wants his only friend back, he wants... to be alive. so he deviates. breaks down his red walls and runs away, in the hopes he can somehow find his friend again, his only reason for getting this far. and his only lead is the location they shared before they left.

when he arrives at zlatko's, he mentions that he's looking for someone he knows. after being stared down menacingly, he's soon welcomed inside, and told that his friend had been here– but they've already been sent off, much to astolfo's dismay. when zlatko offers to help astolfo out too and send him in the same direction, he finds no reason to refuse. and everything seem to be going well until he's led into the basement. i think everyone knows how this goes.

having fallen for his tricks just like kara and unable to break free, zlatko gives him his horrible truth; that his friend never made it out of here alive. no, in fact, they're currently splayed out on his lab table, broken into pieces. astolfo finds himself feeling a new kind of pain. and he screams, the agony piercing him like a knife.

he doesn't notice when his time runs out. his memory is "erased", his systems jailbroken, and he's given one additional objective to follow: to spread the location of zlatko's base, so that he'll have a constant supply flow of androids coming right to him. it's buried deep in his coding, set up so that nobody can find it, not even the android himself. astolfo is sent back to the standby pod he returns to each night, and in the morning... he returns to his programmed routine. he's not able to break through again; the only person that could've possibly triggered him to do so was lying dead and torn apart in zlatko's house. not that astolfo could remember that. all he's left with is this nagging feeling that something is wrong.

this is about as far as i've gotten for the most part. i imagine that for a few years, he does the exact thing you see him do in the game; he completes his primary tasks, if he ever encounters another deviant, he sends them to zlako, without really knowing why. it's only when the revolution happens that something would finally change, but i'll have to think about exactly how that goes down. so this is all i've got for now :] hope you enjoyed my boy!! he is very beloved 2 me

(side note, i developed astolfo side by side with @aye-toast who has their own background character ocs, specifically two zlatko androids: the one in the bathtub, named walton, and one of the ones down in the basement, name louie. we had a lot of fun with em <333)

[the-trans-dragon]

What if they didn't put ads every 3 posts. Three posts between ads, literally. Not even counting the ad for Tumblr Live.

Also what if tumblr didn't know what city Im in. I do not want my location tracked or stored anywhere unless I give explicit ongoing permission, like with my GPS app that I allow to track me only when the app is open, and then it deletes the data (allegedly) when I stop giving permission.

[czerwonywilk]

[chaotictomtom]

xppen releasing a standalone tablet......right as i've found an alternative to procreate a week or so back...... MMMH.........

[ozzgin]

Some more dick-related brain rot…😘

We take the self serve dick bar and use monsters for the monster hotel. We are going to have that full “continental breakfast.” So we have a forest entity cumming maple syrup, a Minotaur cumming milk/creme, a yeti who cums slushies, a slime who cums various jams depending on whatever fruit we feed it, and any more monsters who we can utilize ☺️

When you were talking about your rats, it made me think of some rat-hybrid monster where reader can steer him via. his dick, like a reverse Ratatouille scenario 🐀

Having a robot/android partner, I could use his dick as a literal joy stick when playing video games. Also, if I have to charge robot/android, do you think his dick acts like a giant extension cord I could just plug into the outlet in the wall? Also does that mean he technically “eats” with his dick? I assume when traveling with him internationally, I gotta get a lot of compatible adapters so he can get plugged in successfully🕹️

A Hydra monster would be kinda funny to have sex with, cause maybe if you cut its “head” down south, two more will grow back 🤔

I think that’s all for now. Tell your man that he is very much appreciated, and it’s nice he’s in this club of debauchery 😉

-👘

This amount of thirst and depravity is exactly what the monster guests would come up with just to have Reader employee touch them. 😭 Content: gender neutral reader, rancid NSFW!!! (more white sauce I’m afraid), monster smut

The latest fad your centaur manager has been into is food cooked with bodily fluids. This has had several implications, all of them regrettably involving you.

While the idea has been gripping at his mind like a great plague, he can't possibly ask you to just...let go over his breakfast toast. He can already see how exhausted you return after being used by the starved guests. They stuff you just enough for you to wonder if you'll survive it, then make sure to clean up their mess, politely aiding your speedy recovery, almost as if they weren't the cause of destruction to begin with. The manager has heard it one too many times that your nether regions are numb from all the monstrous tongues and appendages.

Maybe a change of scenery will help.

"Kitchen staff? I thought I'm supposed to clean the rooms", you inquire, somewhat confused by the sudden proposal.

"It's not quite...kitchen duties, per se. We need someone to help with the hotel's breakfast. We have a new experimental menu, though not enough...hands."

You should've expected it. How bad could it possibly be, you told yourself, pouring some orange juice for the seated guests? You had your first suspicions from the big, flashy sign now propped outside the room: service provided by our esteemed and loved human employee. You didn't need to ponder much on its meaning. Once inside, your task became painfully clear. You were to milk the guests for the required ingredients.

Having their way with you is a treat in itself, but seeing you struggle with your small, human hands, trying to figure them out? Priceless. Well, for them, anyways. Despite your protests, you have left your morning shifts with a ridiculous number of tips. Maybe it's the way you look up through your lashes as you explain: "Of course I know your weak spot. You're one of my- our regulars." Or maybe it's the way you tease your favorites, wondering out loud, with a grin, if you should have some of the generous release for your own lunch later.

Your hard work has not gone unnoticed. The centaur head manager recently made the sheepish suggestion of having you at the receiving end of this new service, trying his best to sound convincing, and hiding the fact it’s been his most ardent wish for the past couple of weeks. Maybe he will get his breakfast topping, after all.

[Monster Hotel] | [More Monsters]

[thagomizersshow]

Ranting about how JP is not a good critique of capitalism made me want to talk about a sci-fi monster movie that is an excellent AND highly relevant exploration of anticapitalistic themes: Alien (1979).

First I want to say that if you haven’t seen Alien, please do so before I spoil it for you. It’s not just one of my all time favourites, but also one of the greatest pieces of science fiction ever created. For real, please go watch it.

The biological aspects of Alien are often the most talked about themes in the movie, which is fair, because they’re simultaneously very interesting and in-your-face. Most viewers remember the movie for the gory sexual imagery, not for an authentic depiction of class struggle. I actually wrote a video essay a while back that I never made about how our innate disgust and resulting fear of parasites/parasitoids is the primary driver behind the xenomorph’s ongoing popularity. I’m not immune to this aspect of Alien’s eternal intrigue, that’s for sure.

However, there’s one narrative element that makes Alien ripe for class analysis, especially today, and that is the film’s portrayal of artificial intelligence.

AI in Alien is consistently shown to be hostile to the crew, but not because of a glitch, like HAL in 2001: Space Odyssey, or because they decide to rise up against their oppressors, like in Terminator. No, what makes Ash, the android, and MOTHER, the ship’s AI, so threatening is that they are doing exactly what they were programmed to do — whatever it takes to ensure corporate interests. In this case, they are programmed to ensure the survival of an extraterrestrial monster at the cost of the crew.

The audience isn’t privy to all the things that Ash does to meet this goal, but at the very least he breaks quarantine protocols, does a shitty job of watching the facehugger, lets Kane join the rest of the crew for a meal (when they still don’t know what it did to him!), plays dumb once the xenomorph is on the loose, and attempts to murder Ripley when she discovers his mandate. If it weren’t for Ripley being a determined badass, Ash might’ve gone unnoticed until the whole crew was dead and the Weyland-Yutani Corporation had their mitts on the alien so they can cause another catastrophe.

This horror, that you will encounter AI whose programming doesn’t care if you live or die, is what makes Alien’s take on the subject so relevant. Dipshits like Elon Musk or some shitty tech journalist might try and convince us that ChatGBT scary because it can fake being human, as if Skynet is right around the corner.

No, the real horror of AI is that the people in power (our bosses, our politicians, etc.) are going to use it to exploit us, just like how they use everything else.

In the end, it takes being skeptical of things that seem trustworthy for Ripley to defeat Ash. The audience finds out from the Nostromo’s captain, Dallas, that Ash was a last minute addition to the crew, as chief science officer. This is a role that inherently engenders trustworthiness in the face of the unknown, especially for a crew that is basically a bunch of working joes. It’s not unbelievable to conceive this was purposeful by Weyland-Yutani to make Ash above suspicion. That, combined with literally naming the ship’s AI MOTHER, of all things, shows that the company is deliberately weaponizing aesthetics to foster a positive relationship between the crew and their AI agents.

Alien serves as a reminder to be vigilant as we enter the AI boom, because these programs will be used to exploit us, and corporations WILL try to cloak this purpose behind relatability, convenience, and trust. The AI we encounter is more likely to be Ash or MOTHER than it is to be Data or Skynet.

[ravenstargames]

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[shores-of-oblivion]

Okay I really need to gush about Elster. Sometimes it's hard to relate to video game protagonists and even feel like they're much of a character, but Signalis is a rare case of a protagonist I can and have absolutely fallen in love with. Visually Elster is great, I've always been a fan of android/cyborg women (thanks Android 18), and considering she looks like she stepped out of Blame, she's perfect in that regard.

She clearly has an appreciation for art, there's no way she can't having fallen so in love with an artist, but art is also something that "destabilizes" her, aka: makes her become a person again. There's a reason why Ariane was told not to show her movies or music. (Or rather would have been told if she'd bothered to read the file on LSTR units) Through art and music and being shown love, she was able to become a full person and share a love with Ariane. Maybe I'm just a sappy romantic artist myself, but this is so real to me. It's why I love all the references to other art that the game makes. I have personal experiences with some of those works and they mean a lot to me and have informed who I am as a person.

Elster has loved so fiercely that she is not only haunted by her love for Ariane, but also her love for Alina from her previous life. The memories that resurface from her Gestalts life are memories of Alina and their time on Vineta fighting a war that would ravage the planet. The memories bleed so much into each other that Elster confuses Alina and Ariane for the first half of the game. To me, this is all just another part of the repeating cycles, because not only has Elster been repeating the events of the game over and over, these two people have been dancing with each other throughout multiple lives.

And things probably didn't end well for Alina and Lilith. Both experienced a horrific war. Lilith was used as a basis for the LSTR units, something that includes having yourself erased from society and people's memories and turned into a mass produced slave for an authoritarian regime, and I doubt Alina survived, considering the image of Lilith standing before 6 markers with flowers placed atop one.

This game contains so much horror, of the cosmic, body and authoritarian flavour, but it never stops being about love. Elsters love for Ariane that sees her go through hell an endless amount of times, and Lilith's love for Alina, which was so strong that it persists in her even after she'd been turned into someone else, and is the first thing to resurface when she starts to remember who she was.

[specialagentartemis]

Something always fascinating to me is the "character who thinks they're in a different genre" phenomenon. The theme of the story you are telling determines what the right and wrong actions to take are; but the characters, reacting in-universe to the situation, don't know what story they're in, and the exact same responses can be what saves you or damns you depending on what kind of story the author is telling and what the story's message is about what life is like.

In Wolf 359, Warren Kepler approaches the mysterious and powerful aliens with threats; he kills their liaison and tries to position himself as a powerful opponent. However, he's shown to be wrong and making things worse: his preemptive aggression is unwarranted and unhelpful and bites him in the ass. The aliens want to communicate and understand humanity and share our music. It's Doug Eiffel, the pacifistic (and kind of scaredy-cat) communications officer who loves to talk and share pop culture, who talks to them and understands that the aliens are scary not because they want to kill us but because they don't understand the concepts of individuals and death. Talking to them, communicating with them, understanding where they're coming from and and bringing them to understand a human point of view, is what succeeds. Openness rather than suspicion, trust rather than aggression. Kepler thinks he's a dramatic space marine protecting the Earth from the alien threat by showing them humans are tough and can take them, but that's not the kind of story this is.

Conversely, in Janus Descending, Chel is in awe of the strange and beautiful alien world around her. She wants to touch it, understand it, get up close to it. When she sees a crystal alien dog, she wants to befriend it, despite Peter's warning. But when she gets close to it, extending her arm in greeting, it attacks her and drags her down into the cave to try to eat her. This sets the inevitable tragedy in motion. Suspicion is warranted; trust will get you killed. Because this is a sci-fi horror, with a major running thematic reading about how racism and sexism will destroy your brain and your society, and how the people who think they're too smart to be prejudiced don't see their own prejudice and will end up ruining the lives of the people they still don't fully see as equals, this kind of trust that Chel shows this strange alien is tragic. However it is also a horror story where there are very real hibernating space snakes ready to wake up and eat the fresh meat that has landed on their planet, and by being too trusting Chel has accidentally introduced herself to one.

Kepler, suspicious and ready to shoot any alien he doesn't understand, would likely have survived Janus Descending; Chel, with her enthusiasm for learning about and meeting aliens, would have been a wonderful and helpful member of the Wolf 359 crew.

In a similar manner, in Alien, Ellen Ripley yells to the rest of her crew not to bring the attacked crewmember with the alien on his face back on the ship and into the medical bay, you don't know what contamination that thing might have; she's ignored. She tells them not to let the crewmember out of quarantine even though he seems fine; she's ignored again. Ripley is the one person protesting this isn't safe, we don't know what's going on, and she is consistently ignored, until an alien bursts out of her crewmate's chest and then eats everyone and Ripley is proven to be right and also the only survivor. (And it turns out that the science officer consistently overriding her protests was an android sent by the company that contracted them, and said android was given orders to bring the alien back so the company could study it and do weapons development with it, try not to let the crew find out about it, and kill them if he had to in order to do so!)

Ripley's paranoia and mistrust of the situation was correct, because Alien is a space horror and the theme is in space no one can hear you scream (also corporations consider you expendable).

Conversely, in All Systems Red, we have a damaged and almost-combat-overridden Murderbot being brought back into the PreservationAux hab medical bay after being attacked by other SecUnits. Gurathin becomes the one person protesting this isn't safe, we don't know what's going on, he doesn't want to let Murderbot out because it's hacked and probably sabotaging them for the company contracted their security and sent it with them. Gurathin thinks he is the Ellen Ripley here! He is trying to warn his teammates not to make a dangerous mistake that will get everyone killed!

However, All Systems Red is a very different story than Alien, and Murderbot is neither a traitor on behalf of the company to sabotage them and steal alien remnants for weapons development, nor a threat to the humans - it's a friend, it's a good person, and it wants to help them against both companies willing to screw them over. Trusting it and helping it is the right thing to do and is what saves their lives. Gurathin is proven to be wrong.

If everyone on the Nostromo crew had listened to Ellen Ripley, they would still be alive (except Kane. RIP Kane), because this is a horror story about being isolated and hunted and going up against this horrifying thing that wants to kill and eat you and just keeps getting stronger. If everyone on the PreservationAux team listened to Gurathin, they would all be dead, because this is a story about friendship and teamwork and trust and overcoming trauma and accepting the personhood of someone very different from you.

Same responses. Different context. And so very different moral conclusions.

Warren Kepler was about how the brash violent over-confident approach to things you don't understand is wrong, and that openness and developing that understanding between people is what's important; Chel was about the tragedy of trust destroying a Black woman who wanted so much to believe in a world that could be kind and beautiful. Ripley was about a woman whose expertise and safety warnings were ignored and brushed aside and everyone who did so died because of it; Gurathin was about how even justified fear shouldn't mean you make someone else a scapegoat and mistrust them because they seem scary.

Sometimes you're in the wrong genre because you need to be, because the author is trying to show how not to react to the situation they set up in order to build the mood and the theme they're trying to convey.

[femsolid]

Video games recommendation for women part 2

The same criteria as before: has to have a female lead and little to no misogyny

---

1. Shadow of the Tomb Raider

The seemingly invincible and endlessly talented Lara Croft goes on yet another adventure, this time exploring the Amazon jungle and South American ruins looking for a magical artifact hoping to prevent her enemies, an evil organisation called Trinity, from using it.

Tomb Raider is a franchise that has changed quite a bit over the years. Ever since the reboot, Lara has become a fully fledge character and she doesn't do rock climbing in a skimpy outfit anymore (which made the boys mad, boohoo).

But sadly she still suffers from her reputation of sexy girly indiana jones which I suspect is why women don't seem that interested in her. Shame!

It's not usually the type of games I like (very over the top "blockbustery") but I got hooked the minute I set foot (or rather crashed) in the Peruvian jungle. The game is visually stunning, I loved exploring all the ancient temples, the crypts, the jungle and seeing all the animals. The puzzles were challenging, the fights were fun, it was entertaining, well made, with lots of female characters and it takes place in Peru which is just the cherry on top for me.

The only thing I didn't like was Jonah but then I never liked him. He's Lara's best friend and is pretty much there to be kidnapped and rescued in every game, which is kind of a nice reversed damsel in distress trope I suppose, but still, you're useless Jonah I kept telling my screen.

2. Alien Isolation

In this game you play as Ellen Ripley's daughter who ends up trapped in a gigantic spaceship with a lethal enemy, of course, the infamous alien: the xenomorph.

This game is perfect if you are currently suffering from constipation. It doesn't rely on cheap jumpscares and gore to scare you no, it's all about the ~ambiance~. If you are found, you are dead, simple as. And you will die... A LOT. I got an achievement for dying 50 times. I was laughing hysterically whenever the alien caught me by that point and I think the alien was too.

They say "in space no one can hear you scream" but this alien can hear your footsteps so this makes for some tense gameplay, especially as the alien's AI is very good and you are extremely vulnerable. To survive you will have to be very mindful of the noises you make and the noises the alien makes. Oh yeah, you both crawl through the same ventilation system by the way. This could make for some awkward encounter... On top of having to deal with the alien you will meet androids and humans who aren't exactly friendly either. The goal is, of course, to escape from the ship alive.

I have to give the developpers props for really making us feel like we are in an Alien movie. The music, the ship's design, the alien itself, are all very faithfull to the movies and this game is rightly considered a classic.

3. Spiritfarer

In Spiritfarer you play as Stella (and her cat) who has become the captain of a boat on which she welcomes the spirits of different people who have died. She will accompany them for a while until it's time to cross the bridge and say farewell.

It's worth mentionning, given how rare it is, that the main character is a black girl. Your job is to manage the boat (make improvements to it) and become self-sustainable: you will grow your own food, build houses for each spirit and decorate it, grow trees, collect wood, fish, feed your guests. You can make a mill, a weaving workshop, a sawmill, a kitchen, a garden, etc and arrange it as you please.

Most importantly, you will travel the sea to meet new spirits, learn about their lives and fullfill their last wishes before they are ready to leave us. And then you will cry and cry and cry as the music rises and you give them one last hug.

It's a cosy game, slow paced, lots of dialogues, cute mini-games within it, and at times really funny interactions because it all looks so cute yet the characters act and talk like normal people (they told me to fuck off quite a lot) and they will often get into unprompted anti-capitalist rants. It reminded me of Spirited Away a lot, very strange and comfy at the same time.

It's a story about death, about how each person handles it, what they look back on, and yet it's a very pleasant game.

---

As usual I will add more to the list as I reblog it and, of course, if you want to recommend a game too, you're more than welcome. I've been focusing on games with female leads lately so I'll have a lot more to add.

[acollectionofcuriousreblogs]

So I know there are a lot of us who appreciate Minkowski as a big and buff woman, but hear me out, consider the thematic implications of tiny Minkowski. Of 5’0, athletic but not jacked, Minkowski. Because then, besides Eiffel, Minkowski would be the only character who is just pretty average. She’s not a brilliant scientist like Hilbert or Maxwell. She’s not in control of an entire space shuttle or an immortal android like Hera and Pryce. She can’t dodge out of the way of bullets like Cutter. And she can’t match the physical threat that Lovelace and Kepler have proven they posses. In fact, she’s not much of a threat at all, which is precisely why I think Cutter picked her.

She’s strict and disciplined, a natural leader who follows orders and trusts authority; exactly the kind of person Goddard can manipulate. However, even if she ever does wisen up (which she obviously does) she won’t be able to cause great damage to others or the company. She’s easily dispensable…so Cutter believes.

And yet time and time again, we see Minkowski survive. This woman, who was marked to be killed off back in season 1, manages to be one of few to make it back to Earth in the finale. Minkowski is constantly going against people bigger, brainier, and better than herself but she always comes out on top. She survives Hilbert’s takeover. She forces Kepler to surrender during their mutiny. She beats Jacobi’s ultimatum without any loss of life. She kills the immortal Cutter. Not to mention all the many, many disasters and dangers she endures (and brings her crew through) while in space.

And that’s because she’s a testament to the human spirit. An embodiment of sheer will and determination. Of unrelenting perseverance, even in the face of impossible odds. Don’t underestimate the little guy because they can endure. Renee Minkowski, the woman constantly proving you don’t need to be exceptional to do great things. And I love her for it.

[yanderes-galore]

Hello again friend! I kept thinking about this when we were playing together. What if there was a survivor on a colony/space station of an alien infestation that happens the usual way: Some idiot infected with a chestburster comes into the formerly safe area. This survivor gets the said alien attatched to her and it follows her around. The xeno vents, stalks and runs with the survivor around. Of course the human learns to utilize this xeno to defend herself too, "Sic her on 'em" as we lovingly call it. ;)

Hello, my friend! Here you go :) Takes place on the Sevastopol like in the game! Here's the ideas I came up with! Ended up keeping it Gender-Neutral as it's mostly just me spilling ideas. Xenomorph is female though.

Also, yes, the title is meant to look like that. That's the name of the game according to Xbox.

Yandere! Aliens, Isolation Concept

Pairing: Animal/Pet-like

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Overprotective behavior, Alien pet (?), Violence/Murder, Kidnapping, Stalking, Forced companionship.

Most people are familiar with Aliens, Isolation, right?

You spend the whole game trying to survive a station invested with Xenomorphs.

For the first portion of the game you're chased by just one Xenomorph.

That's what this idea is based on.

You're trying to survive in the Sevastopol, roaming the halls and hiding in vents from people, androids, and aliens.

Except this time... the alien doesn't want to kill you.

She has other purposes for you.

It's unknown why this particular Xenomorph is so attached to you... but one thing is painfully clear.

She won't leave you alone.

Despite the terrifying aspect of this, you can use this to your advantage.

You can use audio lures and flares to call the Xenomorph into the area.

She naturally targets humans, although is she sees an android as a threat she'd attack that too.

Another way to call her is by your voice.

Simply screaming calls the beast to the area to cause chaos and death.

You are, surprisingly, the safest person in this station.

The main threat appears to be on your side for one reason or another.

As a result... she becomes like a weapon... an attack dog (alien?).

The Xenomorph always seems to know where you are, like she's remembered your scent.

No matter how many times you transport yourself around and between areas, you can hear her signature crawling in the vents.

Even if you knew the alien doesn't plan to kill you... you dread going under open vents.

Even with the help you don't find yourself comforted in the dark halls of this station.

You still use vents to hide and gather whatever supplies you can.

Wouldn't it be a neat idea if the Xenomorph found supplies and dropped them by you from vents.

You'll be standing by a vent, only for crafting materials to be dropped beside you in a saliva coated mess.

Quietly you thank your foreign helper and put together an item.

People are wary to target you, they've heard of a human being able to tame the alien creature roaming about.

Yet at the same time... you have access to good supplies....

Anyone who attacks you is met with the same end, a Xenomorph slashing and biting through their flesh.

Hell, even if you made friends, you can hear the Xenomorph hissing from the vents.

She wants to keep you alone.

The Xenomorph would only stay out of the way for so long.

Soon she'll feel she wants to keep her human safe and hers.

Just when you feel you're getting used to the Xenomorph, the tables turn.

She picks you up from a vent or pins you to drag you away.

She doesn't intentionally knock you out or hurt you, yet that may still happen by accident.

When you wake up you find yourself in mini nest within the station.

She doesn't take you to the reactor, she wants you alone.

You're surrounded by the strange Xenomorph resin the creatures make.

You can't move, the resin coating the walls and locking you in a room.

You... you really thought you would escape.

Yet the Xenomorph only chitters and hisses, nuzzling her oblong head against you as she curls around you.

Truth is, you were probably going to die here anywhere.

The alien may try to give you food and water, but you're on a sinking ship.

Having an alien be your protector in this place has a price to pay...

This time... it just so happens to be you.

[connorboyyy]

💙✨ Hank appreciation post ✨💙

One of my favorite things in the world is protective Hank—I eat that shit up breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and desserts baby. It’s a tag in every one of my fics and it always will be. And the best part? It’s canon

Hank is NATURALLY protective ‼️ He makes Connor stay behind him anytime they go headfirst into something that could be dangerous—he makes the android who can (in many cases) survive a gunshot stay behind him when they walk into danger ??????????

He turns Connor away when Kamski is being a creep ??????

He stops the android designed to accomplish the mission anytime he’s about to do something dangerous to accomplish said mission (i.e., the roadway and the rooftop)

And the scene near the end when he tries to intercept the gun the SECOND Connor’s clone turns it towards Connor—ARE YOU KIDDING ME ⁉️

[ozzgin]

wtf HOW WAS ROMULUS OZZIE Hello??????? I CANT WAIT TO WATCH ITRTR i miss david 8 tho 😓😓 “you finger and i blow” ok gorgeous whatever you say

Ok ok, I let it sit overnight so I could formulate a less feral opinion. I'll do my best to be objective, though you should keep in mind that I'm very biased when it comes to the Alien franchise.

Alien: Romulus First Impressions

Plot. The movie takes place between Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986). If you've seen the old Alien movies, you will notice it follows the same formula: somewhat slow beginning, a grand reveal, a lot of high-stake escape attempts, shady android behavior, and the classic, speedy succession of plot twists where you think you're safe, only to be surprised the very next moment.

While this movie is meant to behave more like the pre-2000 releases, it does bring some novel elements, which, in my opinion, helped build its own authenticity. Additionally - and without spoiling you - it will involve its own Xenomorph variation. Fantastic idea, and I cannot believe it hasn't been done earlier.

The cast is a group of orphaned youngsters who want to escape their space mining colony. You're introduced to a dystopian, grimy world of overworked humans who've never seen the light of the sun. The main character, Rain, is accompanied by her "brother", Andy, an android programmed to take care of her after the death of her parents. Here's another aspect I enjoyed: an anxious, imperfect android who seems to display an emotional bond with his human.

Rain's friends discover a shipwreck which may contain enough sleeping pods to take them away from these unbearable conditions. Their plan is to sneak in, take the pods, and speed away to a more humane station while in cryosleep. The twist? It's not just any regular ship. They have stepped into the Romulus and Remus research station, operated by Weyland-Yutani, and haunted by yet another failed attempt to contain the Xenomorph horrors.

Characters. Let me tell you, this was a breath of fresh air. Prometheus and Covenant have left me rather skeptical when it comes to a competent cast, yet from the ashes of pathetic military personnel rose a bunch of kids who are built for survival. Rain reminded me so much of Ripley - extremely intelligent, efficient, and strong. Her friends are equally brave in the face of disaster. This was a 10/10 cast, and I'm so glad they finally found the balance between being terrified and still navigating the situation without catastrophic mistakes.

Visuals. The imagery was an absolute treat. They seamlessly combined modern special effects with throwback, retro detailing. The futuristic equipment and locations reminded me a lot of Alien: Isolation. Upon further research, it seems that the director was indeed inspired by the game! It made everything so nostalgic and immersive. The Xenomorph design was flawless as usual, involving a lot of body horror.

Audio. I am desperately waiting for the album to be released on Spotify, because the soundtracks were amazing. The music was composed by Benjamin Wallfisch, who seems to have rather big movie titles under his belt, such as It, and It: Chapter Two. Safe to say this man knows how to instil terror in you. They made sure to incorporate some of the classic pieces, then expanded on that. The alert beats reminded me of Covenant, while other tracks provided their own take on the story. The intro of the movie is aided by dissonant chanting in the background, hinting at the ancient, religious imagery used for the Xenomorphs.

Conclusion. Overall, I'd say this is a must-watch for any Alien fan. It is a tribute to the classic movies, but it still offers a brand-new take to the Alien Universe. The movie had some moments of complete silence - staying true to the "In space, no one can hear you scream" quote - and everyone in the cinema held their breaths. It will keep you on your toes.