#him design is from fusion fall BTW!

[stinkymicrowavedfish]

MOJO HUMAN DESIGN :D

I’ve been in the mojo mood recently 🙈

[drakiandh]

Shifting Jewels - Chapter One, Corrupted Clash

YOOOOOO!!! @cosmicrain-draws @otherxagnela, I did it! Here's the first chapter of my Steven Universe/Fusion AU. Hope it fits the cash lol. It's on AO3 under the same name btw.

The unrelenting rain pounded relentlessly, transforming the ground beneath him into a clinging mud that sought to impede his every step. Refusing to yield, he pressed forward, maintaining a determined pace in pursuit of the corrupted gem weaving through the rain-soaked forest. The falling water blurred his vision, but the swish of the gem’s tail remained discernible. As he ventured deeper, marked trees hinted at the proximity of the impending trap. A subtle grin played on his lips, excitement building with each step toward the climax of the hunt.

With a purposeful thrust, he extended his spear, just enough to graze the gem’s leg. It responded with a primal roar, a visceral testament to its degraded state. Despite his inherent superiority, he failed to suppress the brief and shameful hiss that escaped him.

Skidding to a stop in the muddy terrain, satisfaction etched across his face as the meticulously set trap snapped shut with a resounding crack. The gem convulsed within the bear trap, its protests merging with the drumming rain. Its final display of resistance ended with the corrupted gem bursting into mist, leaving the gem to clatter to the rain-soaked ground. Navigating the backup traps, he carefully approached the fallen gem.

In the feeble light, the gem lay before him—a once-proud warrior now marred by animalistic corruption, its once-vibrant azure hue now tainted with ugly shades of green. Hopefully, the Diamonds would be able to reverse the corruption once he found a way to get back to Homeworld. The uncertainty struck a chord in his chest as he picked up the gem and encapsulated it within a crimson bubble. He pushed on its top lightly, sending the bubble away to his temple.

A heavy sigh escaped him, his eyes slipping shut as he stood amidst the relentless downpour. The gentle sensation of the droplets that slid over him momentarily shielded him from the weight of his thoughts. After allowing a few stolen moments to catch a breath he didn’t truly need, he reopened his eyes and took a deliberate step forward. A sharp pang reverberated through him at the motion, causing him to double over as his form glitched and shivered. Fleeting yet intense, the pain subsided, leaving a lingering discomfort.

A soft curse slipped from his lips as his hand instinctively sought for the gem on his back. A wince accompanied the touch, yet he persisted, gently tracing the extensive cracks marbling the red rock. Time weighed on him; he had to hurry, for if the looming threat of the corruption didn’t get to him first, then the impending risk of his shattering will.

A soft chirp escaped him, a dissonant sound that marred the quiet symphony of the rain. A deep frown grew on his face, he despised those seemingly inconsequential noises. Such utterances belonged to creatures of the wild, to insects, not to him—not for a gem designed to command in the crucible of war. He staunchly affirmed his identity, declaring that he wasn’t bound by the constant specter of death, that his body should not bleed, and he shouldn’t be susceptible to pain. However, a quick glance at his arms and legs shattered the illusion.

In some grotesque sense, he admitted, he bore the semblances of an animal. The corruption’s insidious touch reached him, even in the depths where he sought refuge within the planet’s crust. The result? It had morphed him into a grotesque hybrid creature, bestowing upon him a natural armor, unbidden and unbroken by the need for constant concentration. His once-graceful hands morphed into sharp claws, while spikes adorned his arms and legs. He might have welcomed it, had it not been marred by sporadic bouts of animalistic hazes that incapacitated him for days and turned him into something less than the calculated warrior he was meant to be.

A surge of pain jolted through him, an unwelcome intrusion that fractured his thoughts, compelling a pained hiss to escape through clenched teeth. As the wave of discomfort receded, he redirected his gaze upward, fixing a glare upon the sky, more precisely, at the rain that aggravated his gem. The persistent irritation urged him to hasten his steps; he needed to escape before the pain resurfaced. His movements, though quick and precise, bore the subtle aftermath of the recent hunt—a measured trot, simple yet effective, propelling him toward his destination.

The warp pad beyond the forest materialized before him, a sight that prompted a weary sigh to escape him. Stepping onto the platform, he initiated the activation sequence, his form engulfed by the enveloping white beam as he embarked on the tranquil journey through the warp. The low hum of the warp enveloped him, a soothing melody that accompanied him on his brief interdimensional travels. Shaking off the lingering droplets that clung to him like persistent memories, he materialized at his temple within moments.

Stepping off the warp pad, he navigated through the cavernous expanse that served as his dwelling. It was a far cry from what one might envision as a temple—a vast network of interconnected caves, carved naturally by the Earth’s ancient forces. Discovered during his early solitary years, he had claimed it as his own, designating the largest and deepest chamber as a holding room for the corrupted gems he collected. Fortune favored him when he stumbled upon the remnants of an old gem warp pad within the cavern, an artifact from a time when others might have considered the space for storage or as a base. Now, it belonged to him.

The chamber embraced him with warmth, a comforting cloak that gently eased the persistent ache in his back as he stepped inside. A small, appreciative smile tugged at his lips, a fleeting expression of solace before his gaze fell upon the captivating sight that unfolded before him—a sea of well over a thousand bubbled gems.

Among them lay soldiers he had once commanded, their forms encapsulated in the protective bubbles. A few were gems he had personally trained, their potential honed under his meticulous guidance. Others belonged to the rebellion, the audaciously named Crystal Gems—misguided rebels whom he intended to return to service on Homeworld, whether through voluntary submission or the unforgiving embrace of a Rejuvenator.

Yet, amidst the multitude of captured gems, one conspicuous absence resonated. A special sapphire, elusive and untamed, continued to roam the earth unchecked. This particular gem held a unique significance, a presence he desired to see once more, even amidst the looming threat that the encounter might result in his own shattering. Curiosity gripped him as he pondered the potential manifestation of the sapphire’s corrupted form. Would it mirror the colossal and monstrous demeanor of the sapphire’s combat prowess, a formidable force both beside him and against him? Or, perhaps, would it bear a softer, diminutive semblance, a reflection of the gem’s original personality before the taint of corruption took hold?

He found himself immersed in contemplation, a forbidden luxury for a gem of his rank. The act of wondering was a privilege reserved for the Diamonds, the omnipotent rulers unbound by the constraints of laws. It was a privilege bestowed upon the architects who conceived the intricate designs of gems, envisioning the vast potential inherent in the amalgamation of dirt and minerals to give rise to life. It was a privilege granted to those who forged the indelible legacy of Homeworld, allowing them to dream of towering spires and establish bases on desolate moons.

He, on the other hand, was a humble soldier—a commander, yes, but a soldier nonetheless. In the hierarchy of gem society, he existed to execute orders, not to indulge in idle contemplation. Wondering was not his domain, a realm he shouldn’t even be able to access. Yet, as one of his claws gently traced the surface of a bubble, he found himself succumbing to the forbidden allure of curiosity, allowing his mind to venture into the forbidden territory of speculative thoughts.

Those thoughts, once crisp and defined, now morphed into indistinct muddles, a hazy fog settling over his consciousness. The widening of his eyes marked the realization of an impending descent into the tumult of corruption, a curse escaping his lips as the disorienting wave washed over him. Swiftly, he pivoted on his heels, abandoning the room in a frantic retreat.

His hurried footsteps reverberated through the labyrinthine halls, their rhythm growing increasingly erratic as the encroaching corruption tightened its grip. Panic, a disconcerting sensation that had once been foreign to him, now clung to him like an old companion, urging him to greater speeds. His mad dash led him to the warp room, a sanctuary where the promise of escape beckoned.

Time dwindled rapidly, and the urgency mounted. Barely managing to step onto the warp pad, he initiated the sequence, opting for a random destination in a desperate bid for salvation. However, the corruption’s relentless advance proved insurmountable. In the final throes of consciousness, he succumbed to the encroaching darkness, his vision fading into an abyss of black.

He stirred into consciousness after what he knew was a long time, the dull throb of a headache persisting within his thoughts. A low groan escaped his lips, his eyes clamped shut against the pulsating ache in his skull. Nestled in the shadows, he remained motionless, seeking to replenish some of the energy devoured by the encroaching corruption. As the minutes ticked by and the headache receded into a more manageable ache, he cautiously focused on his surroundings.

Without unveiling his eyes, he initiated a deliberate ascent, settling onto his knees. Flinching at the sparks of pain, a deep breath offered a modicum of relief to his frazzled nerves. The air, tinged with an unexpected saltiness, felt damp and cool, a welcome antidote to the lingering burn of exhaustion. Gradually, he tuned into the subtle sounds—the wind weaving through the trees, the distant lapping of waves, and the earthy texture beneath his hands as they pressed into the soil. Wait…

Opening his eyes, he glanced downward, confirming that his hands were indeed embedded in the ground. The notion that the ground possessed an audible quality struck him as intriguing. Lifting his eyes to the night sky, he surveyed the tranquil surroundings. It was a peaceful night, with the moon gracefully descending toward the horizon, heralding the imminent arrival of dawn.

The world unfolded around him with an unsettling clarity, a starkness that surpassed his comfort. His brow furrowed into a frown as he raised a hand to rub at his face. Something felt amiss. Was he facing the throes of mortality? Could he even succumb to such a fate? Sighing, he ran his hand roughly through his hair. A near-painful sensation bit at his head, forcing his hand back. A soft hiss escaped him as he inspected his hand, finding the limb unharmed. Whatever had bitten him seemed to reside on his head. Could it be a small animal? No, the sensation didn’t seem disconnected from him.

Slowly, he lifted his hand again, delicately sifting through his hair in search of…

There. He gently curled a finger around an odd stem protruding from his head, a subtle unease coiling in his chest. The reason for his discomfort eluded him as he touched the peculiar stick-like growth. A swift survey of his surroundings confirmed his suspicions. Sticks, remnants of his corrupted haze, had entangled themselves in his hair. Another sigh escaped him before he wrapped his hand around the intruding stick and tugged.

A guttural scream tore through the air as a surge of pain seared through his head. He recoiled, burying his forehead into the cool earth, his hands scrambling to dig through his hair and cradle his aching skull. Shivers wracked his frame, the lingering pain refused to dissipate as swiftly as the sharp, immediate agony accompanying his initial crack. This was different—reminiscent of the persistent torment he endured during the onset of his crack or the insidious grip of corruption’s first embrace.

Gradually, the pain began to ebb, a slow retreat from its initial ferocity. After agonizing minutes, he tentatively attempted to sit up once more. One hand remained entwined in his hair, anchoring him in the present, while the other planted firmly into the soil for stability. A twinge of discomfort coursed through the thing on his head as he moved, prompting a soft hiss. Extricating his hand from his hair, he inadvertently caught another appendage. A cursory search revealed only two entangled in his hair before he rested his hands in his lap, glowering at the empty space before him. Another gift corruption-induced addition, a bothersome intrusion into his being.

One of the appendages twitched in response to his annoyance, catching his attention. Its length was such that it intruded into his peripheral vision.

A low growl, a shameful animalistic sound, escaped him as he rose to his feet. Gingerly, he touched the newly acquired appendages, relieved when the one he had tugged didn’t trigger a surge of pain. Now, the challenge lay in figuring out if he could exert control over these strange extensions. Concealing them would be ideal—perhaps tucked away in his hair if they reached far enough back.

With careful precision, he brushed the appendages backward, experiencing relief as they obediently nestled into his hair. Experimenting with different movements, he searched for a specific new nerve that would grant him control. After several minutes of focused practice, he succeeded in maneuvering them to some extent, allowing him to keep them discreetly concealed within his hair. Though still present, they became barely noticeable, at least from the front. A quick touch confirmed their length, indicating they were long enough to protrude from his hair in the back—a less-than-ideal outcome. Nevertheless, they were now out of his line of sight, and should he encounter a human and find himself too fatigued to dispel the creature, he mused that he could pass it off as an intentional aesthetic choice. After all, humans in this era were consumed by their appearances.

He embarked on the journey to retrace his steps, guided by the rising sun illuminating his path. Proficient in the art of tracking, be it trailing corrupted gems or retracing his own corrupted footsteps, he navigated the terrain with practiced ease. Hours passed before he encountered something familiar, the sun nearing its zenith. His clawed hand gently traced ancient carvings, grappling with the embarrassment of taking an unusually long time to recall the language in which the words were etched.

“Star was here,” he mumbled to himself, his voice low and rough from disuse. Peeling back some moss, he revealed cartoonish depictions of what appeared to be Pink Diamond and several other gems. Similar carvings adorned the planet, ranging from simple declarations like ‘Star was here!’ to intricate sculptures of gems and the Diamonds. Over the years, he had found solace in discovering these marks, a reminder that he hadn’t always been alone.

This particular carving, one he had encountered many times, served as a natural marker signaling his proximity to his temple. A few miles north, he would be able to retreat to the comforting warmth of the lowest chamber, earning a well-deserved break. A hiss escaped him as his hand started glitching, swiftly reforming into a foot. Frowning, he shook the limb until it reverted to its original state.

Rumors circulated about the Crystal Gem’s leader possessing the ability to heal any gem—an ability that enraged Homeworld, as healing powers were reserved for the elite, namely the Diamonds. How the rebellion’s leader acquired such powers remained a mystery, but he had made it his mission to uncover the secret of the healing fountain the rebels so proudly boasted about. The sooner he found that fountain, the sooner he could mend his crack and devise a method to stave off the encroaching corruption.

His antennae (a term he adopted after observing their uncanny resemblance to a local beetle’s) involuntarily perked up, alerting him to the distant murmur of voices. Though too far away to discern the words, one of the voices struck an oddly familiar chord. His eyes narrowed in thought. Could it be one of the humans he had conversed with in the past? Unlikely, as too much time had passed for any human to remember him. When was the last time he had engaged in conversation with one? Their lifespans were short, and he reckoned it had been well over 50 years since his last encounter. The voices drew nearer, sparking a curious itch born from some corrupted instinct within him. Deciding to dismiss it, he turned and resumed his journey to the temple.

“Aw, come on!” The voice echoed with a familiarity that tugged at the edges of his memories. Against his better judgment, he pivoted on his heel and hastened toward the source. Surprisingly, his antennae proved more sensitive than he initially realized, taking nearly ten minutes to pinpoint the location. As he slowed and crouched down, he could hear the humans’ laughter.

“Yeah, I recognize this spot.” The voice, the one that triggered a peculiar urge within him, stirred an unspoken desire for conflict. Creeping closer, he observed the two figures in a small clearing. In its center, a seemingly ordinary rock assumed a significant role—a base pillar, its original purpose obscured by time, now a favored spot for humans to lean on.

The human leaning against the pillar appeared peculiar yet strangely familiar. Their skin bore a rich brown hue with subtle blue undertones, their hair so dark blue it verged on black in the absence of direct sunlight. Dressed in vibrant colors of pink and yellow, they crossed their arms over their chest, grinning at the other human.

“Why do you want to come here anyway?” The other, a plainly dressed villager in comparison, inquired. The colorful individual patted the pillar beside them.

“I’m hunting,” declared the colorful human. “I’ve been here before, and I heard rumors that there’s some massive beast nearby.” Unbeknownst to the human, the beast they sought was likely the corrupted gem he had recently subdued.

“Well, that beast hasn’t been seen for a while. Some folks back in town mentioned hearing it scream before a loud bang echoed out. Sorry, but I think someone else got to it first.” The plain human responded nonchalantly. The colorful one leaned forward, their once casual expression replaced by a more serious demeanor.

“What did the bang sound like? Did it have an odd echo?” They inquired, keenly attentive. The plain human, oblivious to the shift in mood, hummed and shrugged.

“It didn’t sound like a gunshot, that’s for sure. Can’t recall much; it happened on the other side of the city.”

“That’s alright,” the colorful human said, relaxing against the rock. Despite their seemingly nonchalant posture, an experienced observer might discern an undercurrent of tension, as if they anticipated a confrontation. “You’ve given me enough, don’t worry. I’ll make sure that bigger beast doesn’t come close.”

“Wait—there’s a bigger one?” The plain human’s expression shifted to one of fear. A breathy chuckle escaped his hidden form at the sight. They shrugged.

“Yeah, reckon it’s still close-” Their words were abruptly cut off as the human hastily fled, running down the path they had arrived on, leaving the colorful human alone. Sighing, they closed their eyes, appearing relaxed despite the lurking danger just beyond the bushes. The silence lingered, causing some of his corrupted instincts to subside. This human wasn’t the one he knew—

“I know you’re there,” the human’s unexpected declaration caught him off guard. One of their eyes slipped open. “You’re one smart corrupted, I must admit.” A threatening hiss escaped him at the title that belonged to him. The human stepped forward off the pillar and removed their jacket, revealing a beautiful blue gem on their chest. A gem! A gem that wasn’t corrupted! His joy at encountering another gem was tainted when he recognized the familiar face.

“Star,” he spat the name with a hiss, rage coursing through him. The gem, the Star Sapphire, flinched back.

“Oh shit, you’re not corrupted—? Wait—Painite?!” The Sapphire exclaimed in shock. Was that his name? His name was Painite. How could he have forgotten?

Emerging from the shadows, Painite, yes, that sounded right, revealed his full form, causing the Sapphire to inhale sharply in shock. “You are corrupted…” the Sapphire remarked, a sad expression overtaking his face.

“Do not pity me, Sapphire,” Painite hissed, flexing his claws, a burning desire to tear through something coursing through him. “I am corrupted, so what?”

“Wait, hang on, Pie-”

“Do NOT call me that!” Painite snapped, reaching a hand back to his gem. Summoning his weapon caused him pain, but he was determined to finish what he had started all those years ago. The Sapphire cringed at the sight, briefly eliciting a sense of joy within Painite. Yet, it was swiftly crushed by the resurgence of the familiar feelings of rage and betrayal.

“Wait, wait, wait! We’re not in the war anymore!” The Sapphire protested hastily, raising his arms as if to shield himself from Painite’s imminent attack. Painite, however, knew better than anyone that the Sapphire held tricks up his sleeves, and he must have only honed his skills over the years. “We don’t have to fight!”

But rage clouded Painite’s judgment, fueled by the corruption. “TRAITOR!” he screeched, lunging forward to swing his spear. The Sapphire yelped and agilely leaped backward, narrowly evading the attack. Painite swung again, prompting the other gem to raise his hands in defense. The spear’s tip effortlessly sliced through the body of light, eliciting a scream of pain from the Sapphire.

“Oh! Fine! If you want a fight, I’ll give it to you!” the Sapphire declared, tapping the blue gem in his chest. His hands transformed back into their original rich blue hue. Despite the haze of corruption, Painite managed a grin. Finally, they were on equal ground. When Painite swung again, Star caught the weapon with one hand and shattered its tip with the other.

This time, it was Star who initiated the attack. He thrust his hand in Painite’s direction, a seemingly futile gesture to anyone else. However, Painite had trained Star, honing his attacks and shaping him into the warrior he had become. Now, it was time to see if the skills he imparted on Star had endured the years on Earth. Painite leaped back, narrowly avoiding the spikes of hands that shot up from the ground. They wriggled in the air momentarily before retreating to the ground, reemerging beneath Painite’s feet.

Dancing around the hands, long-forgotten muscle memory asserted its place in Painite’s chest and legs. With ease and precision, he maneuvered around the hands, slashing at any that approached too closely with his newly reformed axe. Closing the distance to Star, Painite swung his axe with a flourish, aiming for the Sapphire’s defeat.

The weapon was caught by Star’s hands, catching Painite off guard just long enough for the Sapphire to freeze his hands around him. Painite thrashed as he was restrained, kicking at the hands holding him as he was lifted into the air.

“C-Calm down, Pain,” Star panted, and Painite could only hiss in response, baring his sharp teeth in a threat. The corruption’s haze clouded his mind, causing him to act on a mix of pure hatred and corrupted instinct. “Painite! Calm down! Damn it!” Star yelled, panic etching his features.

Painite hissed again, mixing a few clicks of his teeth snapping together. Star’s grip tightened, prompting a low whine to escape his throat. “Painite, if you don’t calm down, I’ll have to poof you,” Star said, a pained expression crossing his face. The tightening grip momentarily jolted Painite from his haze, and a strained laugh escaped him at the Sapphire’s words.

“It would be better to-” His words were cut off by a wince as the grip tightened to dangerous levels. He felt his form begin to ripple, his cracked gem taking too much strain. He chuckled and stared down Star. “To shatter me.”

And the world went white as he poofed.

[thekaijudude]

Alright, seeing as you told me that I should make an art blog (which I already basically have, just not on Tumblr) in my last qn, this qn will be about a different topic from the previous one, though it’s still a topic pertaining to Milave.

Basically, after you told me Milave’s base form design looked more like a Orb/Geed/Z type fusion rather than a pure fusion, I tried to come up with reasons I could give for why his design looks that way. But, then I realized that, with the plan I’ve had for his nature since ages ago, he really isn’t either of those types of fusions: he’s more or less both types at the same time.

Long story short, like the Orb/Geed/Z type fusions, he is a character completely unrelated to his components, yet he’s also like the pure fusions because his components need to all be present to fuse in order to form him. Also, before you say he’s just the same type of Fusion as Taiga Tri-Strium… I disagree: 

—On one hand, Taiga Tri-Strium is very clearly a form of Taiga. Titas and Fuma seem to just be there to empower Taiga and thus Taiga is in complete control of the fusion.

—On the other hand, Milave has a mind of his own, and is in control of his own actions: his components are only there to give him advice and guide him, and while they may be empowering Milave, the empowerment gained would be more like that which other Ultras receive from the bonds with their hosts than the empowerment Taiga gets from Titas and Fuma in Tri-Strium.

And that’s all without mentioning that one of Milave’s forms, Milave Perfection, is the result of Milave 1) creating temporary copies of his components, 2) separating from the original copies of his components, and 3) fusing with the entirety of the rest of Team MLV, including both sets of his components. Btw, considering Milave would fall apart without his components supporting his power, Milave Perfection is only possible because of the first step.

Anyway, onto the actual question: is there any fusion Ultra in official media that you can think of that seems to have the same nature as Milave? If not, what would you call the type of fusion that Milave is? (Something like ‘pure fusion’ or ‘impure fusion’.)

Btw, I used ‘official media’ instead of ‘canon’, because I want you to include both media that is a known part of the mainstream canon and media that is considered non-canon but is still officially licensed as Ultraman (such as Ultraman Story 0, Another Genesis, the 2011 Ultraman Manga, etc.)

Technically that's still TS/TSR since Fuma and Titus were still able to communicate seperately from Taiga even as TS (See Taiga Movie), dude literally also has Quattro Squad Blaster, which is basically weaponizing their bond with Hiroyuki iirc. And as I've mentioned before that the Taiga Spark is a seperate line of fusion technology of the LoL seemingly to mimic the Orb Ring, with this branch following the idea of Ultra Overlapping rather than the Riser line. Because pure fusions require a great deal of synchronisation from all the components as pointed out by Zero back in the Ginga S Movie. In fact, I think the idea behind the Taiga Spark in general was bascially to "weaponize" bonds which was elaborated more in detail in the Blue Phantom Novel which I also detailed out back in 2019 but I can't find the post anymore, u can just read the novel online to see what I mean.

Beyond this would be going into unconfirmed territory, but by interpolation, pure fusions based on Ultra Overlapping seems to also count (made a whole essay post on this before iirc), which includes Super Taro and Mebius Infinity, due to the fusion forms resembling the Ultra who the other components all "pour" their power into. But of course as mentioned, we don't even see them communicating with anyone at all, much less himself, so this remains unconfirmed.

I also brought up the same point for Reiga back in 2020 as we see the same sequence for Ultra Overlapping and the Taiga Spark seems to also facilitate this process (as is literally still attached to Reiga even after fusion, which should technically not be possible if it were a pure fusion, Ultimate Bracelet otherwise for Saga since its a Legendary Ultra's item) but due to the same reasons as mentioned above, its not confirmed.

Tho I just recall that Mebius PB might also be something like this since in both of his appearances, he also fuses with the GUYS members. Actually come to think of it, Glitter Tiga kinda works the same way too based on what we saw in the final episode, but he isn't a fusion.

I know someone is gonna mention Fused Camerra cause I believe someone sent an ask about this some time back and it generated quite abit of discussion, but iirc it was never confirmed if whatever the sphere was that they left behind were simply their power or their actual spirits. But even if they were fused, they were still unconscious and can't communicate either way so this point is kinda neither here nor there

(We'd most definitely get a confirmation if Dargon/Hudram comes back in UGF4 or sth)

Speaking of which, I actually answered something very similar to this, but it was more geared towards kaiju-fusions here:

Othwrwise, can't speak for Another Genesis tho since I've never been able to read it, and I don't there's anything like this in the other sub-franchises (that I can rmb off the top of my head anyways)

Thanks for the question!

[astudyinsarcasm9]

Steven Universe The Movie - Review - a confused mess - SPOILERS!

I’m still thinking about the movie and I still can’t properly say why I didn’t wholeheartedly like it. It’s complicated. 

On one hand I liked the animation, I loved Spinel and I loved seeing the uncorrupted gems roaming around Beach City but that was about it. 

I understand the tone this series has and where it has positioned itself and knowing that of course I knew how the movie would end, pace itself and handle its characters but it was still rather disappointing. 

But let’s start things off. 

What did I like?

Spinel - her animation, design, voice and song, the only song I liked, apart from the song Pearl sang when she was reset. 

The concept of the Rejuvenator - I think it’s brilliant. Considering that we long thought of gems as being like computers it makes sense that you could reset them to their factory settings. Though this does create some plot-holes I will address later. 

I loved how Spinel was not up for the whole talk it out and sing approach. refreshing. Though she did sing but on her own terms.

Loved the little homeworld bit but it does raise questions. 

The fact that they addressed the plot point of PD wanting a colony and waiting for it. Even though it was mentioned in passing.

The Pearl lore we got. How they re basically an OS when they are made.

Pearl sing-explaining.

Pearl obessing over Greg. HILARIOUS. BUT ALSO like a lot of implications for her relationship with PD.

And that was about it. I guess. 

What I didn’t like or understood

The Diamonds going from antagonists to obsessing over Steven and being those annoying relatives. I. mean the concept is hilarious and I love it but when you consider what the Diamonds did and who they are it gets unsettling. 

How the hell does Spinel know what a son is? Im pretty sure she wasn’t filled on the whole Rose/PD stuff unless Steven told the whooole story in that one transmission at the beginning of the movie. And even so it took the diamonds a whole while to understand the concept of a child and a parent. Apart from WD which is still unexplained. 

Where did Spinel get an injector? We can infer the whole plot takes place over the span of a day or so. How did a gem who used to be basically a Pearl get access to an injector?

For that matter, why and how is this injector different than the injector we knew of? One pops in gems in the earth’s crust and the other just up and destroys the planet? 

Why did Amethyst behave that way once reset? I mean in ”Now we’re only falling apart”, we saw first hand how the other Amethyst were emerging, full fledged and self-aware and able to talk. And ok she was overcooked but overcooked doesn’t mean talking like a parrot. Does it? We received no indication prior to this that that was the case. If anything we knew gems just popped out already knowing who and what they were supposed to be. 

I’m getting real tired of the whole Garnet is true love, when she isn’t. I love her, I do but she became her fusion and Ruby and Sapphire are neglected as a result. Even in Change your mind when they are in their gems as a result of being poofed by YD, Steven doesn’t call for them but for Garnet. Way to go Steven. Ok, Sapphire saved Ruby this time and they are meant to be together but what they are displaying is love at first sight and codependency ( as WD put it) . 

Steven really seemed like a jackass in this when interacting with Spinel. He didn’t care for her, didn’t care for her feelings. He wanted her to go back to normal just so she can remove the injector and when she called him out on that he said that yeah that was kinda it. She was just in the way.  When she was nice and hanging around Steven never showed her anything but annoyance. I think maybe once or twice he softened to her but that was it.He was more focused on bringing back his friends (legitimately so but still.) 

The fusion between Greg and Steven is...Look I know it’s an anime reference but it was so uncomfortable to watch. Idk why. 

Connie being useless throughout, appearing very little. despite her being awesome.

Bismuth, Peridot and Lapis being only comic relief and not contributing much to anything. Aside from Peridot who spoke about the injector a bit. 

Lars only briefly seen. 

The off-colors only having cameos here and there. 

And finally the fact that a fascist dictatorship was just dismantled and put aside without it having any consequence whatsoever. People just weren’t affected by it. Yellow just did away with her army and her colonies. 

It’s just...I understand the message SU is talking about, I understand it is this pacifist and friendly show. But like...I really felt like the movie was talking down to me,  like you would talk down to a kid who you think doesn’t understand stuff. 

Especially in the dialogue Steven has with the diamonds. Where they tell him their good deeds of the week. How they dismantled their armies, talk nice to lower life form and refrain from shattering gems. 

It’s like if someone wanted to scold Stalin over what he did and made him pinky promise he’d change nce his policies. 

Maybe I’m being too harsh but  there’s one thing to promote non-violence and a pacifist approach to conflicts and it is another thing to just apply that to every possible situation ever. It just doesn’t work. Dictators don’t turn nice over night just cus you’re related to them. 

Also, the end felt bittersweet. The Diamonds took Spinel not because they cared or whatever but because she used to be Pink’s and she reminds them of Pink and they have a spare room. And they are going to pour out all their issues on Spinel and make her fill a role instead of caring for her for who she is. 

Bonus: how tf is Spinel able to rotate her gem like that?  I thought Diamonds could cus diamond powers but some rando gem?

P.S. Doesn’t Little Homeworld feel a bit creepy to any of you? 

Like, I get they miss their home but all they’ve ever known ever since their creation was the genocidal dictatorship of the Diamonds. Why would you want any part of that close to you again? Much less live in it? I would’ve understood if, I don’t know those were homeworld gems who lived all their lives there and wanted a piece from there despite being such an awful place. 

But all those gems on Earth were, er...corrupted gems by the very regime they had back home. All of those gems thought a war with their Homeworld. Why would they want that on Earth?

Btw, are Yellow and Blue Pearl still slaves? Cus sure they looked happier but they were still serving the diamonds.

[onf-headcanons]

ONF Modern Fantasy!AU pt.2

or known as Familiar spirits AU

More establishments for this AU below!

Initial establishment here

Goodbye Minseok arc here

Headcanon 1 here

Headcanon 2 here

The ending here (warning its angsty)

Then have more of the modern fantasy au shall we?

•During the days where you are only living with Jaeyoung, Hyojin and Seungjoon. You noticed something and you are curious about it.

• You noticed Hyojin and Seungjoon are close. And only to know they have known each other for ages. But Hyojin did not always be with Seungjoon for all of his lifetime. As per Seungjoon, there is a moment where Hyojin gone missing. When he returned he looked malnourished and frustrated. Seungjoon was the one who helped Hyojin to recover.

• Hyojin has 2 symbols imprinted on his skin. One on his wrist and another on his back below his nape. You got curious and you asked him about it.

• Hyojin was even shocked that you asked him : "You did not know?" And you just shook your head and blinked your eyes.

• Hyojin then told you his story. He used to be familiars for 2 other individuals that are parent and child. Their mad obsession with his voice so much to the extent they imprinted him to bound him at the human world. He was later released by their grandchildren.

• Once imprinted, the familiars cannot pact with/summoned by other people for a period of time decided by their owners. His first owner bound him about 100 years and his second one bound him about 150 years. In short imprinted familiars are forced to shut away from their own world in a certain period of time. And only the owner or person blood related to owner can terminate or make anew to the bounding.

• You cried as he told you his story and it shocked him a bit. He knows that there are good humans too but deep down he also felt humans are selfish. Including you. But it might be the first human he met that emphatize with him and his experience.

• After hearing his story you are interested why he still choose to follow Seungjoon to come to your side. When he can totally decline your summoning and let Seungjoon come alone

• Hyojin : "I am worried if he meet someone dangerous so I followed him."

• "And I was kind of planning to have revenge on human too...but you are alright I guess." Hyojin saying it while averting his gaze. His hands awkwardly pats your head.

• Cues in you stand up while wailing that you are sending him and the other 2 back because they all deserves a better life back in the magical world but Hyojin stops you. He knows those 2 are already attached to you because you treat them very well.

• As for Hyojin, he felt he could stay and enjoy since the human world has changed alot.

• You began to wonder what period Hyojin was in when he is bounded in this world. Then you began to Google all sorts of historical paintings and showed Hyojin. Trying to find which country he used to stay. Cues in you two got really excited in front of the computer while browsing historical paintings. This is also the timing where has totally let his guard down towards you as he chattering about the older human world. Which period and country Hyojin was in I shall leave it up to you.

• The first time when Hyojin sings, you are delighted and surprised. Finally understands why his previous owners would be that selfish to bound him. But you are not going to do it. ALSO Hyojin singing while roaming around the house. And because he is doing it , later the other 6 starts doing it too making your house having all sorts of melody noises mixed up

• Cues in Hyojin looking at you eating and was like "is that even tasty?" Because historical cooking is different than current and he is interested.

• You would share your food and snacks to him when he is looking at it with his eyes open wide with curiosity.

• Once he got into the taste and flavour of human food, he starts his smuggling food from your house fridge act as mentioned in the first establishment.

• At first, its a secret between you and Hyojin. But then as his "appetite" to taste human food flavours grow bigger its not a secret anymore. Sometimes he just walks around the house with eating snacks. And he is the reason you never succeed in dieting. Lol

•Your butler feels like he is feeding 2 kids. And the new butler got confused when he sees Hyojin eats human food. Especially when the first day he joins the house and sees Hyojin walking upside down on your living room ceiling while sucking lollipop with his animal traits still on him.

• Cues in some plausible scenarios to happen :

• Hyojin munched a big bite of the roasted chicken your butler has made exclusively for guests. And your butler is furious about it. Hyojin would hide in your room because your butler is not allowed to enter your room without your permission

• Or one day you came back home and your butler mentioned he will be heading out to buy stuffs because the kitchen ran out of the ingredients. Then you find Hyojin chilling in your room. And you knew he is the culprit for sure.

•BTW because of the knowledge you gained from Hyojin's story, later when you summoned Changyoon, you quickly noticed the imprint on his arm and you can immediately tell he had the same experience of being bounded. You apologised and mentioned that you will send him back because you felt bad. But Changyoon volunteered to stay.

• So apparently, his experience with humans are better than what Hyojin been through. Based from Changyoon, he was the one who volunteered to be bounded by the previous owner because they are dying due to illness but no one they trust enough to take care of their young children. So Changyoon was bounded for a short while. Maybe until the child reach coming of age or until the child released him is up to you.

(By the way this is totally my idea of preference. The complexity of symbol/tattoo = the length of being bounded. Changyoon's tattoo was quite simple in design so I had the inspiration for this setting)

• You mentioned to Changyoon that his imprint symbol looks like WHPH in human language.

Changyoon asked you what does it mean and the first thing comes into your mind was Work hard Play hard. And he loved it. Btw you googled paintings to find out which period and country Changyoon was in too.

• Since Changyoon has the experience of taking care someone he knows how to cook and do some chores. He quickly becomes your old butler's new fave and then also the new butler's fave being.

•BTW this might happen rarely but the cooking show down between new butler and Changyoon to compete who is the better cook. For some weird reason, you were never invited to be the judge and you never participated for food tasting. It was Hyojin's exclusive only.

• Fusion of magical world food ingredients with human food. Changyoon will keep it harmless.

• So enough of character establishment a bit more of the story... sometime later after you first time summoned Jaeyoung, one of your family member from main family came to visit

• You quickly returned Jaeyoung to his world and hoping that relative of yours won't notice. Even asked your old butler to keep quiet about it

• (Little that you know actually that relative of yours already sensed the new presence in your house but was sceptical as you are never truly exposed to their world as per their knowledge)

• Fast forward to the time you have successfully summoned Hyojin and Seungjoon. You left Jaeyoung and the new 2 familiars at home with your butler then you head out to school

• When you came back home you saw a unfamilar car stopped in front of your house and you had a bad feeling about it

• You stepped into the house acted like normal and find the head of main family with the relative you are close to are sitting on the couch in living room waiting you to return

• You glanced at your butler as you did not see your new friends in house. But your butler just lightly shook his head hinting now its not the timing. You acted normal and small talks with the guests until...

• One of them, preferably the head of family : "So, Y/N, are you not going to introduce us your new friends?" And it sent you chills.

• You tried to act like you don't understand the topic but they said they could sense the presence of your familiars in your house. No choice, you set out to find them. You found them in your room according to you butler. He was the one who suggested the trio to hide there.

• Seungjoon is under your bed, Jaeyoung is hiding in your closet while Hyojin locks himself in your bathroom.

• They are scared at your relatives because of their aura were way different from yours. You calmed them down and they all finally meet.

• Cues in you relatives are amazed at you being untrained, but still managed to summon such high class familiars and even sustain them. (Welp at this timing they all look like teenage boys and the consumption of your energy were limited)

• Of course you relatives lower down their intimidating aura when they checked and found the trio familiars of yours are basically harmless

• Cues in your relatives glanced at you when they saw Hyojin has 2 imprinted symbols. You already what it is by that timing and you firmly said "I knew about it, he told me. He wants to stay and I still wanna keep him."

• Your elder relatives exchanged looks and nodded to each other. They understood your initial motive and also they had to acknowledge that the apple does not fall far from the tree. The head of the family even pats your head and invite you to stay over at grand manor during summer holidays. "Having being accompanied is good but don't forget we are your family too."

• (You went to the grand manor before with your family but after their death you never visited much)

• And what happens was every year of your visit, the number of familiars you bring with you increases until you reach 7 familiars

• Again , this is my idea of preference. There are other members in the family having high class human looking hybrid familiars like you too. You can insert any other kpop groups. Like one relative of yours have a group of 6 (Oneus?), another one have 9 (PTG?). You even found out someone had 13 familiars. It is all flexible, even just 1 or 2 of your bias from other groups is doable too.

(This is because I personally don't like writing them does not interact with other beings or entity/species and just interacting with reader stand in only. Yea a weird sense of obligation for world building in fiction.)

•BTW ALL OF YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS DOTES ON MINSEOK LIKE THEY ADOPTED HIM. EVERYTIME YOU VISITED THR GRAND MANOR, THEY WOULD TOTALLY ASK FOR HIM.

• Minkyun might even befriended the family pet dog or cat in the grand manor

• As number of familiars increase, the household is getting chaotic. At first you are doing a good job controlling them like raising your voice while warning them but

• You eventually joins their weird antics occasionally and getting scolded by your old butler

• When you are not in the house and they are really out of control

• Cues in your butler just randomly throws a dead cockroach or dead bug towards them and they all freak out then scatters while making incoherent noises lol (old and new butler both doing it)

• It started with unexpectedly as during summer insects start roaming around. Usually there is no insects in your house but 1 or 2 occasionally just sneaks in. And took the liberty to die at the hallway or any corner in your house. So you and your butler found out about the 7 of them are scared of cockroaches and bugs in no time.

• its obvious when you see 1 or a few of them does not dare to walk through the hallway or just stand still or even suddenly runs toward you. Especially Yuto and Jaeyoung

• So one time, you are away from home. 7 of them are having way too much fun while the butler cleaning up suddenly he found a dead cockroach and out of frustration he picks it up and throws toward the 7 of them. And that is when and where you butler has found the ultimate weapon.

•Both old and new butler always reminds your familairs to hide their animal traits when some one normal comes by to visit

• Its perfectly doable if the 7 of your familiars ships you and the new butler. Which kinds of explains why they mostly overprotective when someone tries to flirt with you.

A/N : i will be stopping this part here for now. Need to head to bed soon. Initially thought of making an arc specially for Hyojin's story but then I dont have much time so I just merge everything into AU establishment

[afterpinkdiamond]

Log Date 7 15 2 S2E26

To celebrate pride month, let's talk about some wlw/aroace solidarity!

This episode shows some excellent character development for both Garnet and Peridot, with bits of foreshadowing that don’t pay off until Change Your Mind. (Also just as a note, I understand that Aroace!Peridot is a headcanon, one that I personally really relate to because of this episode. I’m not trying to dump on any ships by talking about it this way.) 

The episode starts with Peridot having an utter meltdown over betraying Homeworld and insulting Yellow Diamond to her face. She alternates between utter glee and terror at what she’s done, recording her thought about being a “traitorous clod” on a handheld recorder and playing it back incessantly. Steven is trying to talk with her to help her calm down. He asks if she’s going to be alright and she cheerfully yells “No!”. It’s beautiful. She ends up tossing her recorder and Garnet is there to catch it. Garnet offers it back but Peridot has slipped into a mania, wanting nothing to do with the recorder and it’s record of her decent into madness. Garnet carries her off to go calm down while Peridot wonders where she’d add Crystal Gem Stars to her outfit, leaving Steven to wonder when Garnet and Peridot started becoming friends, seeing how Peridot was rather rude about Garnet’s fusion and relationship earlier.  We finally got to see the stars, btw. In Change Your Mind, 3 seasons later.

Steven starts listening to Peridot’s log, which goes back about a week to when he first gave it to her. She expresses contempt but ultimately keeps it and starts recording updates on what she’s experiencing on Earth. Also, she stops calling Steven “The Steven”. 

Peri Fangs <3

Peridot starts making a study of organic life on Earth, noting how insects like ladybugs can fly. She wonders if all life on Earth can fly. She decides to sneak up on Greg while he’s patching a hole in the barn roof and pushes him off. Garnet, thanks to her future vision, is there to catch him. Garnet scolds Peridot for being reckless but also asks Greg to be forgiving as Peridot doesn’t understand life on Earth yet. Peridot is annoyed by Garnet, still calling her a perma-fusion.

Peridot is then assigned the chore of cleaning up the barn, and in the process finds little green martian boxers. She marvels at appearance modifiers not melded to your body and tries them on, obviously liking the little green alien design. Garnet catches her and compliments her find. Peridot panics and rips the boxers off again.  To celebrate her 1 month-aversary on Earth, Steven gifts Peridot with stilts made from coffee cans. She brushes him off rather rudely but later on spends the night pretending to show them off in front of the other Gems. She is slowly adapting to things on Earth. She tries to teach herself humor with a joke book. Next, Steven introduces her to the Camp Pining Hearts sitcom drama. She initially doesn’t understand the romantic expressions of Percy and Paulette but after rewatching the episode repeatedly for almost 3 days straight, is able to explain with in-depth subtext analysis about why Percy and Pierre is the ideal match. Sometime during Peridot’s explanation, Garnet shows up and demonstrates her approval while Steven looks nonplussed. It’s so funny to see Peridot get worked up over maybe 45 minutes worth of a tv show while Steven just gets annoyed by her antics about it. Considering Steven is the one who watched Crying Breakfast Friends all the time earlier in the show.  Also, Percy and Paulette seem to be foreshadowing Yellow and Blue fighting in CYM. Percy has a yellow diamond patch on his shirt, and a spiky updo of blond hair while Paulette has long billowy hair and blue teardrops on her bandana. She’s crying and asking why they have to fight, while Percy maintains that it’s a color war so they have to fight. This very much echoes Blue’s emotional responses and Yellow’s logical consideration of White’s rules above her own emotions. 

The next entry on the log shows Peridot talking about hanging out with the Gems while working on the drill. Amethyst is goofing off, shape shifted as Lion to spook Peridot. Peridot questions why she would use shapeshifting so frivolously. Amethyst shifts into Peridot to mimic her and Peridot is at least a little impressed. She then asks that Amethyst shift into a chicken so Peridot can understand the chicken crossing the road joke better. Pearl does her best to join the pun game, which Peridot appreciates, even if she’s not terribly impressed by the humor. She still doesn’t understand Garnet’s quiet demeanor but she’s getting better at interacting with the crystal gems. 

Later in the evening, Pearl and Amethyst fuse into Opal in order to pick up the drill head. Peridot is confused at another cross gem fusion and demands an explanation from Garnet about why she’s fused if she’s not using her combined talents as a tactical advantage. Garnet says she’s star gazing and invites Peridot to join her. Peridot grumbles that you can do that alone and Garnet says she doesn’t want to be alone. 

Garnet points out Homeworld’s galaxy to Peridot. She then remarks that they are very different and she appreciates that. Peridot is confused. Garnet then offers to help Peridot understand fusion by fusing with her. Peridot literally falls out of her seat in shock at the idea. Garnet is respectful, saying it’s okay if Peridot isn’t ready and doesn’t want to fuse. Peridot instead agrees to try. She runs to get her stilts while Garnet sets up a record player. Peridot is a bit hesitant but starts to dance with Garnet. However, she backs out at the last second, saying she can’t do it. And Garnet doesn’t push the issue. Instead, she’s proud of Peridot for attempting to understand her. Peridot yells that she still doesn’t understand and outright asks why Garnet stays fused all the time. Garnet simply replies that she’s Percy and Pierre and suddenly it all clicks for Peridot. 

The last log entry is Peridot and Garnet recording together, Peridot explaining that she has come to a better understanding of Garnet as an individual and Garnet telling Steven that he shouldn’t have listened to Peridot’s diary log, but he should probably give it back now. Garnet and Peridot walk back over just then and they all share a thumbs up. 

As I said at the beginning, this episode shows a great example of solidarity. Garnet is the depiction of wlw. She’s iconic and a huge fan of fusion as an expression of relationships of all kinds. Fostering relationships is her thing after it's revealed that she’s a fusion. Sapphire and Ruby know oppression and found refuge on Earth.  Garnet sees Peridot coming to terms with what it means to live on Earth, and she’s super supportive even though Peridot is incredibly rude about everything she is. Peridot is confused by fusion, especially in the context of Garnet. Garnet is willing to be patient with Peridot and respects her boundaries. Peridot doesn’t end up fusing, and that’s okay because her attempt to understand Garnet was enough. Peridot’s relationship with fusion is coded much like an aroace person’s experience with romantic love and sex. It just doesn’t make sense. Maybe if you’re trying to make a kid but why would you want to be in that kind of close interpersonal relationship all the time? She doesn’t get fusion and Garnet shows her that she doesn’t need the experience to respect those who do use fusion to express their relationships. This is the kind of love and support that everyone deserves and it is amazing to see this show dedicate a whole episode to exploring how people of varying identities can respect and support each other.

[spacedimentio]

Live Impressions of “Change Your Mind”

Neat, a bit of the credits music on the title card is fun and totally not ominous

Oh, this a dream. I was legit worried about Connie for a second there

That thing looks like one of those rainbow caterpillars that really little kids have that you can pull behind you with a string

!!?! I- That’s not worrisome at all, nope, no identity crisis here, oooh boy

Does that mean that Rose knew what the corruption light was? Or just that it was an attack of some kind. Cause if she knew exactly what it was then she should have probably seen it coming.

Déjà Blue is right, they’re using the exact recording/drawing I think

“No.” Damn right you’re not sorry!

Oh Blue, you really did love her, didn’t you… She looks nice with messy hair, it reflects how she feels on the inside.

That easy huh? Haha, look at her face she doesn’t know what eating is and is totally mystified and disgusted xD

Yellow time. Oh, are those…those are fusion experiments. A nice reminder of an awful thing that Yellow is responsible for.

Oh, oh shit! Blue looks absolutely mortified holy fuck

Hey, there’s the scene from the promo. “You’d hurt your fellow diamond?” “Didn’t we hurt Pink? She was suffering in silence for ages, just like our gems, just like me!” Oh man, she does know that they’re responsible for a lot of bad shit, was their behavior all just…fear?

That face Yellow just made stabbed me in the heart jesus No don’t you dumb banana what are you doing holy shit! Oh my god no she’s gonna cry and then I’m gonna cry and she really just doesn’t wanna do this

Did he really just Did he really just hit her with “If every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn’t have hotdogs” I can’t

Haha fuck yes! Yellow crying was my one wish for this ep :’D Let it all out Yellow, I’m sure Steven will give you hugs at some point Also kudos to the person that made the comic where the dialogue was almost exactly like this in regards to Yellow telling Blue to stop using her powers when she wasn’t doing anything

Oh! They’re calling him Steven now! They probably don’t get what he is still but that’s a good step

I’ve heard “You’re not going anywhere” in the commercial like 5 million times but it’s still creepy af

Oh hell no the ship did not need eyes no thank you

Ok I just thought he was trying to pull a “hey, what’s that” and run away while White looked to see what he was pointing at, but no it’s actually the two arm ships how the fuck did Bismuth fix them so fast (how long were the kids in prison jeeeeez). I like how it looks like there’s bandaids and duct tape on them lol But this might actually be a bad thing because why did you bring the arms, you’re going to make the mech stronger!

Dream: achieved! Ayyy, new designs! Nice glasses Peri, but they too big, so I like Lapis’s outfit more. I do love how you just have the lid to a garbage can, you could have found cooler things to surf on, but nope. Garbage can lid.

No don’t attach the arms that’s going to come back to bite you I just know it!

Man, the diamonds hopped on Team Steven quick, but I can’t be too upset with that because it is also what I wanted XD I guess they’ve been suffering a lot more than I thought.

That’s a nice sentiment Connie, and I’m surprised that the diamonds actually listened to what you said and considered it. Doubt it’ll work though.

Oh, they’ve still got control of their ships. I wonder how that particular bit of bullshit space magic works.

You got this Yellow! Don’t hold it in anymore! Oof, they don’t like the pressure they’re under, and they’re under a lot. The diamonds are responsible for a lot of awful things, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t conditioned and expected to fulfill their roles just as much as any other gem.

Aww, look at how Yellow is smiling, and I love how they’re holding hands! Bellow forever!

Oh that’s… Zero hesitation. Stone cold. I don’t like the way their heads flopped backwards, that’s really unsettling OK IT GOT WORSE STOP SMILING LIKE THAT D:

Steven I know you want them to reform but you should probably bubble them before…you…drop them, just like that.

I demand the BGM for this episode and will inevitably be sad when we don’t get it

Oh what, you can just do that? Fuse with a gem that’s not even formed?

o0o Rainbow 2.0! I had a guess that their weapon would be a parasol and it was even neater than I thought it would be Wow, they’re really, really British. That’s a British accent right, I’m not dumb? They’re just Mary Poppins, holy shit I love them! Jet umbrella leaves rainbow trail, ok yes thank you

Fire lady??? We fusing with everyone up in here today! Steven, in episode fucking 11: So, what’s today’s mission? I hope it’s fighting a giant foot! Today, in episode 157-160: a giant foot almost shatters everyone Well you sure got your wish buddy, are you happy?

Alright we got sunglasses mcgoo over here. Sunstone looks like a cereal box mascot I swear to god. So we’re going full “PSA mascot from the 90s”, are we. Man you are just…continually breaking the fourth wall aren’t you. Of course, Sardonyx also has the power to break the fourth wall so I guess it’s just a Future Vision+ thing. I like you Sunglasses McGoo, but I hope your weapon isn’t just suction cups or you’re never going to show up again in a fight xD

Fuckin rip Nice shades Garnet, I like what you did with your…idk what that piece of clothing is called but it’s the bit in the thin section of her body, I like the way the color goes onto her hips a little.

Oh OH SHIT IS IT REALLY TIME FOR THE LONG-THEORIZED TEMPLE FUSION That’s a lot of arms dude! Oh my god they are so cool I love them already!

Peri I love you, never don’t be ridiculous Oh geez I thought she wasn’t going to be able to catch her for a second because bismuth is a diamagnetic metal and *flashbacks of A Gem is Shattered being on the bingo card*

What’s this…staff thing? Ok that was extremely cool, your face is full of lava and you just made a sword from it. Goodbye hands I’m hearing Alexandrite’s percussion instrument in the music, that’s neat. Obsidian is also just roaring a lot, like Alexandrite.

Oh through the eyes, sure. Idk why she didn’t just close the eyelids to keep them out

With all the commotion and fusions, I totally forgot they got brainwashed, oof. It’s definitely not extremely unsettling to see them all talking at once with one voice, nope, not at all. Please stop talking, please stop talking, christ please stop talking

“But you’re a part of me” I-… Does that mean that the color theory where the other diamonds used to be part of White has more merit than I thought? Is that where they came from?

Nononono leave them alone! Oh god why

NONONONONONO STOP THAT DON’T DO THAT PLEASE DON’T DO THAT OH GOD I AM LEGIT CRYING RIGHT NOW THIS IS AWFUL

I don’t think that’s true, I’m pretty sure Pink was just a naturally social person who’s status forced her into loneliness. She just wanted some got dang friends

I DON’T THINK I’VE EVER BEEN SO CREEPED OUT IN MY LIFE. Why is this animation and these over-exaggerated faces reminding me of Cuphead. I’ve never played Cuphead but that’s what I’m thinking of.

DON’T YOU DARE GIVE THE CHILD AN EVEN WORSE IDENTITY CRISIS I AM VERY, VERY WORRIED SHE’S RIGHT

Wait, what are you doing WAIT A MINUTE NO DON’T YOU DARE DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE OH JESUS OH CHRIST THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING NONONO STOP

THEY DID IT THEY ACTUALLY FUCKING DID IT Is…is she…

(Edit from the future: Probably most of you didn’t have a commercial break after this moment, but I sure did, and I spent the entirety of those minutes with my hand covering my mouth in pure shock, tears trickling down my face. I was left to wonder…is Rose coming back? Is Steven dead? I was left with this image:

I was so astounded that I had to pause for a moment and just breathe. And christ, having to wait just a few minutes in utter shock and terror was An Experience. I feel bad for those who didn’t have a break there.)

*quickly realizes that having half the screen still black means that we’re gonna have double perspective* Oh No Oh Shit Oh No is it really gonna be her?!

Oh thank goodness. Congratulations, you now have two Steves, whatever that means

Ok Steven’s still alive, but it looks like it’s excruciating to be without his gem. I’m glad he didn’t just fall apart without the light holding his cells together. How long can he last without his…soul?  Shit what do we call this, what even is this.

This is definitely not what she expected to happen. Oh jesus christ holy shit chill out dude, even White Diamond shook

It’s just…such a relief to finally know. I never believed that the show would abandon its themes of loss by having a miraculous return, but I still wanted to see her anyway. She’s gone.

So what is this guy, exactly? Does he have any conscious thought? Or is he just pure gem energy with the desire to return to his other half

“I only want you to be yourself!” Uh, White honey, you are literally doing the exact opposite thing. “I’ll do it for you!” That’s not how people work White, you are just not having a good time with this turn of events are you

That’s an…interesting shield. Who did Steven say that to, btw? Was he telling White to stop hurting them, or his other self to stop reflecting the attack? Cause White was also in the middle of being hurt, I think

Aww, they’re so happy! It’ll never not be creepy to see White’s voice coming out of Steven’s glass-eyed friends though.

Normally I don’t notice when something in a 2D cartoon is 3D animated, but that shot of White’s head was kind of jarring? I didn’t like it

Oh thank christ he’s alright! I wonder if the gemstone is gonna be turned the other way now? Wait no, it was still turned inside when we went through past reformations.

Oh wow, she’s actually just a 60 foot baby. Look at Steven and Connie laughing cause they’re getting bounced up into the air. Zing! Haha, she’s blushing so everyone’s blushing. …Ok did the ship really need to blush too, come on guys

Ok so whitewashing everyone is something you have to put some effort into controlling. She was literally putting parts of her mind into them.

Haha, good timing guys, you missed everything. Bismuth’s face tho, perfecto At least only Connie has to live with the trauma of seeing Steven get his gem ripped out.

Her face is still cracked? What…what are the cracks from if not from being mind-controlled mercilessly

Yes, congratulations, you are having an emotion. Oh, she’s actually a shade of pink now, what. There’s that color theory again. Guess whose turn it is to have an existential crisis? It’s you!

“I’m supposed to know better! I’m supposed to be better! I’m supposed to make everything better!” Wait, according to who? Theory that someone made her confirmed?

Oh hey, Beach City. It took me a good second to realize that Sadie was doing a remix of a Greg song. Cue a big-ass robot hitting the beach in three…two…one! BAM! A+ timing guys

Oh, White isn’t actually that much taller than the other two when they’re standing together like that. I could have sworn she was at least 100 feet tall, that’s a bit disappointing. Then again, it would be really hard to get her to fit in frame with everyone else. Does this mean that Pink actually might be undercooked after all? Cause when I thought White was 100 feet tall, Blue and Yellow were as proportionately small next to her as Pink was next to the two of them, but now I’m wondering again.

Me too, Ronaldo. Me too.

Uh, wow. Nice timing Lars. Those poor off-colors, it took them a million years to get to Earth and the first thing they see is all three diamonds staring at them. That sure is a mood, Rhodonite. Big mood.

Aww, Lion and Lars are gonna be bros. ‘You’re like me!’

Fucking hug each other you dumbs! God, you’re frustrating.

I demand to know how all three of them fit on the warp pad/inside Steven’s house! Tell me at once!

Oh, we’re doing this right now? I know there’s going to be a season 6, but what are we going to do in season 6? Sneeple? (Re)adjusting to earth shenanigans? Diamond family time?

Nephrites! Look at em all, I love ‘em! And Watermelon Tourmaline too! Ayy, it’s Biggs! I’ve always wondered what she looked like. Haha, if I wasn’t shipping Biggs/Bismuth before I sure am now.

Jasper! Wow that only took like two years for her to show up again. Also I just realized that everyone looks weird because they still have traces of corruption on them and not because they were Like That in the first place.

Oh boy Jasper, you’ve…you’ve missed a lot. I wanna know what Amethyst just told her that made her hide in the water in shame.

Boy that one in the middle with all the different colors is scaring me a little

It’s kind of funny how White Diamond went from Massively Threatening, Narcissistic Perfectionist to Completely Lost Almost Cute Child in a snap. I actually feel bad for killing her off in my fic now, whoops. Ah well, it’s an AU anyway so I’m not gonna retcon anything.

Alright who taught Yellow to make a peace sign

Alright who parked the legs on the cliff like that

All the songs in this arc have been named after the episode title they appear in, nice. I’m kind of disappointed that we didn’t get another diamond song but maybe that’s for later (a song about how everything is confusing now? or maybe about how they let Pink down and suffered themselves)

Welp, that’s a wrap. It is now once again time for hiatus. Yellow continues to be my favorite diamond after Pink; I really hope they all come visit Steven and learn stuff. I’m actually very surprised that they jumped ship so easily; it seems that they might understand that what they do is wrong but they do it anyway cause that’s what’s expected of them. Seems they were suffering a lot more than I thought, and I already thought they were hurting quite a bit.

And that brings me to the biggest question I have. Much like Blue and Yellow, White was acting as if someone told her to do this; it’s like she’s a rogue AI who’s original creators are long gone. I don’t know if I wanna see what White’s afraid of, cause up until the last 10 minutes or so of this ep she was the scariest thing I’d ever seen.

Who made White Diamond?

[mamaluigi2018-commsopen]

Mama Luigi’s Top 10 Favorite Games of All Time.

Hey, everyone! Mama Luigi here. Just wanted to create this list to show appreciation to the games that have given me the most joys in my life and so you can all have an idea what kind of games I love. I will be going into small detail on each game, give a description on why I love these games. and also add my favorite track from each game. Alright. Let’s begin!

10. Mega Man 10 (heh....funny)

This was the most recent Mega Man game we got until Mega Man 11 arrived. This was released in 2010 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and WiiWare, and now available in Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. The story is that a virus called “Roboenza” has appeared and have caused robots to go out of control. It’s up to Mega Man and for the first time joining his side, Proto Man, to stop the menace and uncover the cause of the virus. Many would think that at the 10th game, the gameplay of Mega Man would get stale. Not so! The platforming is still tight and a fair challenge, the robot masters are some of my personal favorites of the series with Blade Man, Nitro Man, Strike Man, and my baby boi Sheep Man. The music is fantastic with tracks such as Stage Select, Solar Man stage, and Wily Stage 1. The weapons may not have been as useful as Mega Man 9, but the good ones are really good like Blade Man weapon and Nitro Man weapon. Plus the added DLC with playable Bass and 3 stages based on the Mega Man Game Boy games are a great bonus!

Favorite Track: Nitro Man

9. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Released in 1997 for the Playstation and rereleased on the PSN store and PSP as part of the Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles. After the disappearance of Richter Belmont, Alucard is tasked with invading his father’s palace and put an end to his reign of terror. Symphany of the Night broke the mold of  the Castlevania traditional platform gameplay with a non-linear explorative action adventure similar to the Metroid series, which coined the term Metroidvania. Later games would adopt the Symphony of the Night gameplay such as Aria of Sorrow and Order of Ecclesia. What I love about this game is just the amount of free roam the game allows for you to do and what kind of items you can find. If you are having trouble with a part of the game, there is a variety of solutions such as a certain spell or a certain weapon combinations that can help you out. The graphics are a clean, smooth sprite style and the music is some fantastic CD quality music. The love I have for this game makes me even more excited for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night to come out in 2019.

Favorite Track: Dracula’s Castle

8. Kirby: Planet Robobot

Released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2016. Planet Popstar has been converted in a mechanized world due to President Haltmann and his goons. Able to snatch one of the bots, Kirby embarks on a robotic adventure to free his planet from the machine menace. I love Kirby. I love Robots. Put them together and you get a absolute fantastic adventure with great Copy Abilities old such as Sword, Fire, and Hammer, as well as new such as Doctor, Poison, and ESP. The levels are well design to emphasized the robot theme and the soundtrack was given a more techno feel. The best parts are definitely the Robobot segments! It can not only smash enemies along the way, buy also copy it’s own set of abilites!

Favorite Track: Super Nova (vs. Star Dream Soul OS) or “P.R.O.G.R.A.M”

7. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2014, Smash 3DS was a companion game for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Nintendo’s greatest are pitted against each other in battle to see who will come out in top. Due to not owning a Wii U, I was a bit skeptic about getting the 3DS version, thinking it was only a dumb down version. I can now say it was not the case! Smash 3DS is just about as a real Smash game as the Wii U version. Having a cast of 65 characters, there a character for almost anyone. The addition of Omega Stages allowed for any stage to be play for competitive match. The choice between For Glory and For Fun was a fantastic idea that allowed any kind of player to have fun. Smash Run was a fun game mode to run in a maze collecting power ups to face your opponents. The music was god like with themes coming from a variety of games and remixes included. So many hours playing with my friends, I know I will always cherish this game and am looking forward to Smash Ultimate this December. BTW, my mains are Pikachu, Luigi, and Lucina.

Favorite Track: Tie between “Gerudo Valley (Legend of Zelda)” or “Main Theme”

6. Shovel Knight

Released in 2014 for the PC and Wii U, with later releases on 3DS, PS3, PS4, Xbox One, PS Vita, and Nintendo Switch. Shovel Knight stars our titular character on quest to stop the evil Enchantress and her Order of No Quarter with his trusty shovel. Steel thy Shovel! Shovel Knight is an indie created by Yacht Club as their first game, and man do they give it their all! Shovel Knight is styled after the NES days not only in art style and music, but in difficulty as well. With exciting stages with their own gimmicks and precise platforming, Shovel Knight is definitely for those who want to relive the NES days. The music is amazing, the characters have so much personality, and the 3 DLC are basically full games put in. Plauge of Shadows is a fun mode with combining different potions. Spector of Torment is my favorite mode with wall climbing, slicing enemies, and Scythe Skating (yes I said Scythe Skating). King of Cards is not out yet, but is showing promise to be just as fun as the 3 other campaigns.

Favorite Track: La Danse Macabre (Spector Knight Stage)

5. Sonic Colors

Released in 2010 for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS. Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles “Tails” Prower must stop Dr. Eggman from capturing planets for his Interstellar Amusement Park and free the captive Wisps. Sonic Colors takes the game play the day time levels from Sonic Unleashed and puts him in a high speed adventure with amazing level designs such as Tropical Resort and Starlight Carnival. The Wisp power up allow Sonic to absorb the Wisp and take a variety of forms such as the Cyan Laser or Yellow Drill. What I really enjoy is how the White Wisp the only thing that gave you the Boost so you had to plan out when is the best place to use it. The best feeling I get from this game is sense of speed I get.

Favorite Track: Planet Wisp Act 1

4. Hyrule Warriors: Definite Edition

Released in 2014 for the Wii U, released for 3DS in 2015, and finally for the Nintendo Switch. The Dark Sorceress Cia has called the greatest villains from across the Zelda timelines. Now Zelda, Link, the White Sorceress Lana, Self-Proclaimed Hero Linkle( and best girl), plus heroes from the entire series must stop her and save Hyrule. An absolute fantastic hack n slash adventure where you get use your favorite Zelda Characters and just wreck everything in your path. With a fantastic soundtrack of original tracks and remixes of past Zelda themes. An expansive Adventure Map where you can collect heart pieces and unlock new weapons, collecting material to expand your characters strength. You can spend so many hours on this game and just have a good time.

Favorite Track: Linkle’s Theme

3. Metroid Fusion

Released in 2002 for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. After an expedition to SR-388, Samus is infected with X-Parasite. After being given a vaccine containing Metroid DNA, Samus is tasked with investigating the BSL Station. This game. This god damn game was my first horror game. It terrified my 8 year old self. The tense atmosphere, the feeling of isolation, the horrible monstrosities all being after you was made perfectly. And we can not forget about the the nightmare fuel that is the SA-X. That thing was horrifying! The gameplay is fantastic with just shooting down monster after monster and fighting to survive.

Favorite Track: Vs. Nightmare

2. Super Mario World

Released in 1991 as a launch title for the SNES. Mario travels to Dinosaur Land to save Peach(again) from Bowser(again). Super Mario World was my first console game and I share many fond memories of it. The graphics are great with a nice color palette, the levels are fun and varied in design, the Super Cape is an amazing power up, allowing you to skip levels with the right timing. It also introduces one of our favorite dinosaurs, Yoshi. The music is catchy and is remixed into almost every track in the game. This game is truly a masterpiece.

Favorite Track: Staff Roll

1. Pokemon Emerald.

Released in 2005 for the Game Boy Advance, Pokemon Emerald is the 3rd game in the Gen 3 Pokemon games, following Ruby and Sapphire. As moving to the Hoenn Region, a young trainer travels defeating gym leaders, catching Pokemon and stopping the villainous Team Magma and Team Aqua. This is it. This is without a doubt my favorite game of all time. My very first game I ever bought with my own money. Many hours put in to catching all the Pokemon, training and raising different teams, competing in the Battle Frontier. Team Magma and Team Aqua were the first villains to actually feel like a threat, the Hoenn region is an amazing land scape with well known areas such as Mt. Chimney, Meteor Falls, and Sootopolis CIty. The Pokemon designs were made more excotic looking and the music is simple sublime with the use of trumpets. I love this game and I will continue to love and play for all of eternity.

Favorite Track: “Littleroot Town” “Route 120″ and “Ending Credits”

So what did you all think? Do you share any of my opinions on these games? What are some of your favorite games of all time? I would love to know! Have a great day to you all and this is Mama Luigi signing out!

[misssophiachase]

Happy AU Week! So, this is my take on a Klaroline fusion with the Bold Type (which is an amazing TV Show if you haven’t seen it yet, and btw I’m so excited they got another two seasons). Image not mine FYI. 

Three twenty-something girls working for a women’s magazine in New York City navigating their way through life and love. Although not expecting the heads of a rival publication to ruffle their feathers so much. 

Living Out Loud

Butter, Midtown – 70 West 45th Street

The magazine’s 30th anniversary party was in full swing. Caroline Forbes looked around proudly knowing that every element carried her signature style, even down to the colour coordinated macaroons.  

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. She ran her palm along her lace, violet dress, thankful that even with her dismal salary the magazine had a perfectly stocked, designer wardrobe to borrow from in times like these.  Their Editor-in-Chief was in the middle of the room, champagne flute in manicured hand and from the satisfied smile on her face, Caroline knew she was pleased with the event she’d so meticulously planned for the past six months

If anyone could organise an event it was Caroline Forbes and, sure, she loved it but wanted more and after four years at Arabella Magazine, she was ready for a new challenge. Unfortunately, what she wanted was highly competitive to obtain. Positions in the magazine’s fashion department were extremely rare and even then they required some kind of relevant experience. Something Caroline, as a finance major, didn’t possess.  

“Kat is pissed,” Bonnie interrupted.  She turned to her friend; dressed in a stunning, pink, halter neck, floor length gown, her dark tresses falling in waves past her shoulders. As much as she loved her deeply thoughtful, writer friend Caroline knew she had a tendency to worry over nothing.

“So, what’s new?” Caroline asked, taking a long sip of her champagne. “Kat is pissed when the guy at Starbucks gets her coffee order wrong. Between you and me I don’t blame him given her long list of unrealistic demands.”

“She’s currently in a twitter war of words with GQ Magazine.”

“About what exactly?”

“She retweeted their article about dating a feminist and told them if the magazine was going to write something they might like to look up the definition in the dictionary first.”

“Ouch. Watch out GQ,” she chuckled. No one ever entered into a debate with Katherine Pierce about feminism and emerged unscathed.  She was Arabella’s Social Media Director and, although incredibly impulsive at times, their editor loved her passion and commitment. “I hardly think she needs our assistance, Bon.”

“You know who their new Editor-in-Chief is, right? That guy can hold his own.” Caroline gave her a look which plainly said she didn’t before she continued. “Enzo St John.”

“The same Enzo St John from Esquire Magazine?”

“Formerly of Esquire you mean,” she shot back. “He’s finally joined the Mikaelson family empire since marrying Rebekah last month.”

Mikaelson Publishing was well known, especially throughout New York City where their headquarters were based and had an impressive number of quality publications, including the highly popular Men’s Magazine GQ, in their stable. Although Caroline didn’t know the family personally she’d read an article in Time about their metaphorical rise from meagre beginnings in rural England to becoming media royalty in the Big Apple.

It didn’t hurt that they weren’t entirely bad to look at either. Elijah, the eldest, was the revered CEO and rumoured to own at least five hundred suits, Kol the Chief Financial Officer was often described as a cheeky womaniser and youngest sister Rebekah, the Communications and Marketing Director, was stunningly beautiful but incredibly icy. 

However, it was Chief Operating Officer and middle brother Klaus that made Caroline slightly weak at the knees. He was a Harvard Law and MBA graduate. She wasn’t quite sure whether it was the steely blue-eyed gaze, sexy stubble, sinful crimson lips or those deep set dimples. She’d come to the conclusion it was probably a mixture of everything, including the power and intelligence he exuded in the accompanying photographs.

Still, if Caroline knew anything looks and brains didn’t guarantee a winning personality and from all reports they were incredibly difficult. She figured you didn’t get that far career wise if you weren’t.  

“Lucky Enzo,” she joked.  

“Kat’s going crazy,” Bonnie said, holding up her cell and showing her the increasingly terse twitter exchange. “I’m not sure she can be responsible for her actions.”

“Fine,” she conceded, noting the tweets had moved on from decidedly terse to slightly offensive. “Where is she now?” 

“According to Friend Finder, she’s at the fountain in Central Park no doubt shouting insults and punching the cell keypad beyond repair.” Caroline rolled her eyes, gesturing to the exit as they made their way towards it.

“How many times have I told you not to walk around the park by yourself at night?” Bonnie offered as they approached their best friend, dressed in a stunning, gold gown that brought out her naturally olive complexion.

“I wouldn’t have activated ‘Find My Friend’ if I knew you were going to go all protective like on me, mom,” she scowled, not even bothering to lift her eyes which were focused on her phone screen intently.

“Someone’s in a mood,” Caroline teased, taking a seat next to her friend on the side of the fountain while Bonnie took the other.

“Whoever this guy is, he’s an ass,” she growled. “Apparently I’m the one who needs a dictionary, can you believe that? At least I stand by my convictions and my identity, this coward is hiding behind GQ’s twitter account. 

“You don’t know who it is?” 

“It’s probably best I don’t given I might be tempted to go over there and kick his chauvinistic ass.”

“Why do you care what some idiot from GQ thinks anyway? You’re Katherine Elena Pierce, the fiercest Social Media Director in New York City.”

“I am, aren’t I?” She murmured, finally lifting her gaze from the screen, a satisfied twinkle in her brown eyes.

“You’re also incredibly modest,” Bonnie chuckled, taking her hand and squeezing it affectionately. Caroline laid her head on Kat’s shoulder, enjoying the relative solace that came from being with her friends and listening to the rhythmic cascading of the water from the fountain.

“That fountain is really making me want to pee,” Kat broke the silence. So much for solace.

“Way to ruin the moment.”

“I came here straight from the party and have been a little a little preoccupied with…”

“How about we go back to our apartment, watch a really bad movie and stuff our faces with Chunky Monkey?” Bonnie suggested and Caroline nodded, there was no way they wanted to get her all riled up again tonight. 

“Gigli?”

“Anything but that, Care,” Kat groaned as they made their way through the park. “Please? I can only take so much Ben Affleck before bed.” 

“Well, Bonnie did say bad.” Before either could respond, Katherine’s phone beeped signaling a new email. She lifted up her phone expectantly. “Kat, you need to get off that thing for your own good.”

“It could be important,” she said, the light from the screen illuminating her face as she read. “That’s strange.”

“Strange?”

“That it’s 11 PM and from the Magazine’s Legal Department.”

“What’s wrong?” They both asked in unison as Kat stopped in her tracks. 

“Mikaelson Publishing is suing Arabella Magazine for defamation,” she uttered in disbelief. Caroline stood there, mouth agape. And here she thought Gigli was the worst possible fate they’d face tonight. 

The Penthouse, One Madison Avenue, NYC

“You did what?” Rebekah demanded, her Jimmy Choos stomping on Klaus’ floor. Rebekah’s temper tantrums hadn’t changed much since she was a toddler and they were threatening to ruin his beautifully polished hardwood. “How dare you hack into the Magazine’s twitter account without my bloody consent?”

“It barely constituted hacking, little sister.”

“What because you’re CEO and think you can do whatever you like, Elijah?”

“Well, that too but I was actually referring to the fact you still have the same password as when you were eleven.”

“Princess?” Klaus asked, finally entering the discussion. To be honest he’d been annoyed to find out Elijah had decided to get into an unnecessary twitter altercation but even more frustrated to find out he’d slapped Arabella with a law suit without his consent given his position as the highest ranked legal officer at their publishing company. “You are still using that?”

“It was her desperate attempt to acquire Prince William and a royal title all those years ago,” Kol teased, taking a sip of orange juice. “And yet here you are title-less and married to…”

“Watch it, little Mikaelson,” Enzo growled unappreciatively. “Funnily enough this issue isn’t about passwords, it’s Elijah’s unwise and completely rash decision to enter into a twitter war with Arabella and about feminism of all things.”

“I couldn’t let that woman get away with making such false accusations.”

“You mean Katherine Pierce?” 

“What?”

“If you’re going to slap a defamation suit on someone you should really know her name,” Klaus offered, throwing the legal brief on the table for his benefit. “I’ve organised a meeting with their legal team later this week. I’m sure we can reach a private settlement agreement.”

“A settlement? This woman has tarnished the reputation of one of our most popular publications,” Elijah argued. “She can’t be allowed to get off so lightly. Surely I’m not the only one who thinks this?”

“Maybe if you’d come to me or Enzo, you know the editor of said magazine, with your concerns,” Rebekah growled. “I would have told you that fighting with a women’s publication, especially about the definition of feminism, is futile.” 

“But there was nothing wrong with the article. If anything it was giving all those Neanderthal males out there advice on how to treat women with dignity and...”

“Even so, waging a twitter war isn’t going to help. If anything you’re inciting a media storm this company doesn’t need given the recent drop in share prices.”

“Everyone’s feeling the share market pinch. I stand by my actions,” he huffed stubbornly to Enzo, beginning to pace back and forth in front of the expansive windows like a caged animal, albeit one in an immaculate, grey suit. “That woman is always shooting her mouth off impulsively without correct information and cause.” 

“Oh, the same woman you didn’t know the name of about two minutes ago?” Kol enquired, sending his brother a mischievous grin. “And here I thought you were asexual.”

“As much as I love these little family gatherings,” Klaus intervened before Elijah could. “I wanted to meet here first to discuss this before going into the office so we can present a united family front.”

“Well...” 

“You’ve said enough, Elijah,” he interrupted. From the looks on his other siblings’ faces they agreed. It was unusual for Klaus to be the calm one over his usually sensible elder brother but he was quite pleased to be right this time. “Settlement talks will be held on Friday.”

Klaus was never the responsible one, that was obvious. In fact; Kol and Klaus were considered the more playful members of the Mikaelson family. He was surprised to see Elijah’s unexpected social media outburst and equally annoyed about the lack of consultation. At least his brother would owe him one now.  

Looking at the case he figured this settlement would be reached within five minutes and forgotten immediately. Klaus was someone who dealt with things swiftly and clinically. He detested unwanted drama and emotional entanglements. The way he saw it they were just distractions he didn’t need.

“And here I thought we were actually going to be enjoying some more positive and upbeat vibes given it’s your birthday, big brother,” Rebekah offered.

“Didn’t I tell you all to take that particular day off the calendar when we were teenagers?” Klaus was not a fan of birthdays or surprise suffocation by sibling. 

“I would, except I need to mark the day you came into our lives and ruined them forthwith,” Kol chuckled.

“Just tell me a poorly baked cake and off key singing isn’t involved this year.” 

“That was one time,” Rebekah growled. “And I was ten.”

“Yet, your singing or cooking hasn’t improved much since,” Kol teased while Enzo attempted to stifle a laugh. 

“Someone’s not getting any for a while.”

“Rebekah,” Elijah complained, covering his ears for added effect. “Must you torment us so?” 

“Serves you all right,” she shot back her tongue poked out. “Don’t worry Niklaus, there’s no cake or party. Heaven forbid anyone we know should have to put up with you during their social hours given they do it every work day.” 

“Well, I did happen to reserve a table at the Whiskey Ward tonight. And, before you whine like a petulant child, it’s dark and located on the lower east side so pretty sure no one will even notice your sullen ass.”

“Well, when you put it like that Kol, how could I refuse?”

Mikaelson Publishing, 1705 Fifth Avenue, New York City    

“You said we were coming here for Mexican food,” Caroline growled half annoyed and equal parts famished as she looked at the foreboding structure ahead on Fifth.  

“What can I say, you’re always so easy to fool when it comes to food, Forbes,” Katherine offered gruffly. “And Bonnie hates being left out so really it was a win-win.”

“I don’t break rules, Kat,” Bonnie hissed. No surprises there. After being friends for the better part of four years, they both knew Bonnie loved order and breaking rules of any kind was severely frowned upon “And I’m a terrible liar, my skin breaks out into this red, weeping rash and…”

“Now, not so hungry,” Caroline muttered. “What the hell are we doing at Mikaelson Publishing? Last time I checked they’re suing your ass so walking into the lion’s den not such a great idea, Kat.”

“You didn’t see the way Jenna looked at me,” Katherine admitted. “She was so disappointed. All I need to do is go in there and explain myself and this legal suit will vanish as soon as it appeared in my inbox.”

“And against the explicit wishes of our legal department,” Caroline hissed.

“I did nothing wrong,” Katherine baulked. “All I want to do is talk to them personally and they’ll understand it was a slight misunderstanding. It’s the least I can do for Arabella.”

“They won’t care, all Mikaelson Publishing understand is profits, popularity and success.” 

“Fine,” she conceded, nervously perusing her conservative black, skirt suit one last time. “I’m hoping to appeal to their sensitive side.”  

“What does Katherine Pierce know about sensitive?”

“I think she’s still drunk from the weekend,” Caroline suggested to Bonnie.

“If you want to stay here and mock, that’s fine,” she scoffed, striding away towards the revolving doors. 

Caroline looked at Bonnie helplessly. She knew this was completely stupid and reckless but for some reason she felt this overwhelming responsibility to her best friend. Damn her. The look in Bonnie’s warm, brown eyes told her she was thinking the same thing.

“All for one?”

“And one for all,” Bonnie finished, quoting the famed Three Musketeers motto. “Although I’m fairly certain Alexandre Dumas never imagined this particular scenario.”

“Hold the lift!” Caroline yelled, running into the fast closing doors.

“You came?” Katherine asked, her usually determined expression softening slightly.

“To be honest, I just wanted to see Bonnie break some rules,” Caroline joked, swatting her serious friend on the ass playfully. “So, what’s the plan exactly?”

“What plan?”

“Don’t tell me I jumped into this suspended steel trap on a crazy whim,” Bonnie mumbled nervously. She’d never been a huge fan of lifts.  

“I’m going to appeal to his sen…”

“Oh, we are so screwed,” Caroline growled, noticing for the first time a young delivery guy in the corner laden with boxes. Even with the earphones, she could hear the steady musical and familiar beat. Who knew the emo looking guy had a thing for Taylor Swift?

“Excuse me?” She yelled for added benefit, gesturing for him to take out his earphones. He complied, albeit reluctantly. “I couldn’t help but overhear your music.”

He looked immediately nervous at being sprung and Caroline knew she could exploit the situation to her benefit given her contacts at the magazine. “It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone. In fact, I happen to have a spare ticket to Taylor’s concert next month and…” 

“I’ll take it,” he blurted out, obviously not caring about any embarrassment with the promise of a ticket to see his secret idol.

“Well, I’d be happy to give it to you but there’s something I need you to do for me first.” 

“We hardly look like delivery people,” Bonnie said, gesturing to their heels and fitted skirts five minutes later.

“Speak for yourself,” Caroline laughed, pulling down the Boston Red Sox cap she acquired for her trouble over her golden waves. The delivery guy may have been extremely weird but he had good taste in baseball teams.

“We have a delivery for…” Caroline paused, reading the name on the box aloud to the receptionist. “Klaus Mikaelson.” Wait, what? Caroline didn’t sign up for this assignment. If anything she was kind of afraid that he might look even more irresistible in person.  

“Another delivery for the birthday boy. His assistant is down the hall, first door on the right, she can sign for it.”

“Birthday boy? Of all the days we decide to break and enter,” Bonnie murmured nervously.

“It’s hardly a felony, Bon,” Kat drawled. “No. This is perfect; their guards will be down so we can strike…”

“If this is you supposedly showing your sensitive side then I’m a little worried about your upbringing. You weren’t dropped on your head as a baby were you, Kat? You know just asking.”

“No brain damage as far as I’m aware,” she muttered, obviously unimpressed. “Where is this office, didn’t she say first on the right.”

“It must be that one,” Caroline gestured. What they found was completely unexpected. It wasn’t a personal assistant but the entire Mikaelson family seated at an expansive boardroom table.

“Someone needs to learn their left from their right,” Bonnie growled under her breath.

“Now, this is more like it,” Kol grinned taking in the three girls. “This is how every board meeting should take place.” They were all silent, rooted to the spot. 

“Excuse me?” Bonnie enquired. She may have been straight laced and prone to hives but she also detested cocky males with no respect.

“You’re excused,” the attractive blonde scoffed, flicking her hair in obvious frustration. Rebekah Mikaelson was as beautiful as she was scary.

“Is there any reason you’ve interrupted our meeting?” Elijah’s pristine suit looked even more immaculate close up.

“We have a delivery,” Katherine announced. By the slight blush that crossed her face, Caroline was pretty certain the suit was doing its job on her too. “For the birthday boy.”

“Please tell me you’re going to sing or…”

“Smack you out?” Bonnie replied defensively.

“Well, if you like it rough, darling…” he teased. From what Caroline could make out Kol Mikaelson didn’t have a subtle bone in his body. Given Bonnie’s unimpressed glare she knew her friend was ready to rumble.     

“Last time I checked this was a boardroom not a circus.” A demanding English voice enquired. He seemed annoyed by the interruption but as soon as she placed her box on the boardroom table his steely expression seemed to soften, only slightly though.

“I think we all know who the clown is in this scenario and it’s not us,” Caroline challenged thinking just how precious his siblings had been since they entered the room unwittingly. “We obviously took a wrong turn, so if you’ll excuse us.” 

“Now that you’re here it would be a waste not to open some presents, hey big brother?” Kol teased, leaning across greedily for the package Bonnie had in her grasp.

He opened it slowly, his eyes widening at its contents. “As long as Rebekah didn’t make this I think it’s actually going to be edible.” Caroline would know that Magnolia marble cheesecake from anywhere. Suddenly the fact she’d had no lunch was beginning to effect her resolve.

“And what do you have there?” Klaus asked unexpectedly, a stray dimple flashing in her direction. She knew he was just being an arrogant ass but for Kat’s sake needed to keep up the ruse.

“How would I know? I’m only the delivery girl,” she shot back thinking just what a smug bastard he was. She decided to take back all that initial misplaced infatuation and blame it on temporary insanity, even if his aftershave was messing with her composure. 

He smirked knowingly, his blue eyes flickering over her body hungrily before pulling the package towards him. What he uncovered beneath the tissue paper she wasn’t quite expecting, a black, lacey thong to be exact. He held it up slowly, his eyes dancing over every detail of its intricate design. Caroline was mortified but had no intention of betraying her feelings. 

“You really shouldn’t have, love but I’m not sure…” 

“What? Not your size?” If she could have captured his shocked expression in that moment, Caroline would have framed it. It was obvious no one spoke to Klaus Mikaelson like that and got away with it but right know Caroline had no intention of placating his over inflated ego.

It was at that point his assistant Lexi decided to make herself known, breaking the tension and stray snickering from his siblings. His gaze never wavered as she was ushered from the boardroom. 

Given the unexpected and unfolding events, the supposedly brave Katherine had actually wilted under pressure, no doubt due to a well fitting suit, and Bonnie was decidedly incensed about the chauvinistic younger brother for good reason. 

Caroline had chosen to stay behind five minutes to sign the paperwork and made her way to the elevator, the relief rushing over her as the doors began to close. It wasn’t until she heard the metal doors halt abruptly that she noticed a familiar face making his way inside.

“Thanks for holding the door.”

“I didn’t,” she barked. How she thought this smug idiot was attractive Caroline would never understand.

“You know, for a delivery person you seem to have quite a bit of attitude,” he said, leaning against the wall as the numbers began to descend the floors. 

“Sounds like something we have in common then,” she muttered. “Although given your earnings I figured you might have a lot more to smile about.” 

“Don’t tell me that little snippet of Mikaelson family drama back there didn’t pique your interest?”

“I have no interest in your family dramas.” Before she could expect a witty retort, the lift came to a grinding halt as the lights flickered and then they were plunged into darkness. The force from the motion causing Caroline to fall into his broad chest as a result.

“Well, you could have fooled me.”

“Seriously?” She growled pushing him away, albeit shakily. “We are stuck in a lift and all you can do is use one of your cheesy and recycled lines?”

“You really don’t like me, do you?”

“At least your skills of perception are slightly better than the rest of your repertoire,” she uttered. “Given you practically own this building; I’m really hoping help is close by so I don’t need CPR with that over inflated ego.” 

“I’m certain of one of those things…”

“The over inflated ego? Yeah me too,” Caroline answered, sitting on the ground and placing her head against the wall in frustration. And not just because he was an idiot either but causing a few untoward feelings to venture south.  

“I was actually talking about your thoughts on my perceptiveness,” he quipped, taking a seat beside her and crossing his right leg over the left. “Like the fact you’re not a delivery person.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ve never met a delivery person who has questioned my underwear size,” he chuckled. To be honest Caroline was surprised by his change in demeanour.

“It seemed fitting given you are such a man whore.”

 “A man whore?” Klaus baulked. “I didn’t send that underwear last time I checked.”

“But it seems like someone else did and you obviously entertain that fact.”

“Oh, I get it,” Klaus deduced, standing up and beginning to pace back and forth impatiently. “You are some college psychology major that is trying to mess with my feelings for an experiment.”  

“Excuse me?”

“Even down to the Red Sox cap.” Caroline rolled her eyes, this guy obviously had more than family issues and it was threatening to mess with her beloved baseball team.

“Do I need to add sore loser to your file, Yankee?” She drawled. “Call me crazy but I thought birthdays were supposed to be a happy occasion.” 

The lift suddenly jolted back to life, Caroline losing her footing briefly but making sure not to make any further body contact. The brief and hurt look in his blue eyes was telling Caroline that there was more to this guy than she first thought.

The elevator dinged announcing their arrival on the ground floor. He continued to stare, Caroline felt her breath hitch in her throat. Before she could work out what it meant, Klaus Mikaelson was gone in a flash. If she was being honest, the guilty ache she felt in her stomach wasn’t entirely coincidental.

“Finally!” Bonnie exclaimed as she made her way through the revolving doors outside.

“The lift got stuck,” she admitted, not willing to go into further detail. Caroline figured it was the last she’d see of Klaus Mikaelson, so it didn’t really rate much of a mention.

“After today I think we all need a good drink,” Katherine smiled. “And given my extreme stupidity, I figure it’s my shout.”

“Well, I do have a story to research,” Bonnie smiled mischievously. “I’m writing about the best places to meet men in New York City.”

“I’m almost too afraid to ask,” Caroline mumbled.

“Well, guys love whiskey but when it comes to a fine woman over a fine scotch the decision is decidedly blurred and not just due to the alcohol content. I’ve heard the Whiskey Ward on the Lower East side is the place to be if you’re interested?”  

“Well, we can’t do worse than we have today,” Katherine joked. “Can we, ladies?”

Caroline had to agree. All she needed to do was get him out of her head and maybe a night of whiskey with her friends was all she needed to rid herself of the memory.

On FF Here

TBC? It became much longer than expected. Thoughts on another part would be appreciated. Thanks so much for reading : )

[sleepymarmot]

MEA liveblog #6

Spoilers!

Kadara

Alright, let's hope this virus sample is as harmless as SAM said... Why doesn't this scene have an interrupt? Why does Andromeda have so few?

Oh, right, there's still a quest with Reyes and Drack's story about Spender

I think I should also try the monolith again. Regardless of politics, activating the vaults for Ryder is like closing rifts for the Inquisitor.

Thank you internet for telling me how to activate the southernmost monolith! There's a cave entrance at the base of the mountain, on the road to the east of the monolith and north-east of the forward station.

Ugh, navigating this vault and trying not to die took a long time...

Why do I get flirt options with Reyes in 90% of dialogue wheels?

Okay, I finally crafted something. Chest and legs for armor. Iitiative V. Together they give +11% XP instead of +15 I had on the pre-order set, but I could put lots of bonuses onto them. Used "25% shields on kill" as enhancement and "+50% recharge speed, -30% weapon damage" as a mod.

Yikes! It looks so ugly! Here I thought Deep Space looked mediocre compared to Scavenger, but this...

My adept profile is now rank 4!

Zia's voice sounds terribly familiar.

I literally met murderers disposing of a body, why can't I interact with them?

Two Hydras, more like "run around the entire time". Ugh, why are biotics in this game so weak against armor? And where's the fall damage? The entire point of biotics is killing enemies with physics! Why does a combo, on normal difficulty, not kill a mook, but throw him somewhere I can't see him with a sliver of health so he continues to shoot at me? This is ridiculous!

Me: Ugh I don't wanna do Kadara Also me: *does every single sidequest in the Badlands, raises viability to 70%*

Tempest

Peebee: idk why I wanted to write to you -- Aww :D

Yay, finally I can make my inventory bigger!

"I like it when you flirt" is still an option smh. Clicked it because I think someone mentioned that the zero-g scene is repeatable, but nope.

Alright, time to finally move on to the loyalty missions!

Cora's LM

Convenient when you can reuse an entire map huh :D

TBH most of the things people are saying are flying right past me. I'm just following the quest markers. So, is the arc pretty much empty now? 

Asari sword V!!! Something I wanted to craft or find a long time ago. 

This ascendant wasn't even dangerous. Just a boring bullet sponge. I need to get more weight capacity so I could always carry a sniper rifle just for those guys...

I'm a biotic too!!! I walked through this entire mission as an adept! Why am I not helping with the shield?

Revealed the truth, then said Sarissa should stay as the Pathfinder. Not a difficult decision.

Tempest

"Outcast HQ" sounds ridiculous...

Meanwhile, my Bronze/Silver strike team has five positive traits and no negatives...

Nexus

Good thing I went here before moving on to Vetra's mission! There's a follow-up scene. And apparently, there were a lot of asari still in cryo?

Is this the guy who already sent me a grateful email? This game really fails at continuity sometimes.

Fuck! Jien Garson "died alone"?! All this time I was suspicious about her absence, but people talked about her death so confidently I was sure there were witnesses!

lmao a burned body in an unexpected place. suuuuure

Oh, so she is dead :(

Okay, this is simpler than I thought. The Initiative was about escaping the Reapers. And I thought they were looking for something in Andromeda...

If there's really nothing more to it -- I'd actually be disappointed. The game just continues to subvert its own most ridiculous statements. Pretty much everyone assumed that building something called Arcs and moving to another galaxy right before the Reaper invasion is an attempt to preserve people and culture. The game insisted that wasn't the case, except of course it is. There were only two new races, suspiciously alike -- are they related? Nobody even mentioned the possibility in the game until it was confirmed. On the one hand, it's a relief that the game doesn't believe its own bullshit. On the other, I'd like not to be treated like an idiot. I'd like a story with a premise that makes sense by itself, and with reveals that are genuinely surprising. What's next on the list of predictable "plot twists"? Is Alec alive? Is Reyes the Charlatan?

Tempest

What, I got a bunch of AVP just for promising to do Drack's mission?

Fuck yeah vanadium

H-047c

When you land, the subtitles just disappear...

I almost fell off a cliff and Liam shouted "Ryder!!" in a very startled voice

Whoa, a Reegar!

Took the interrupt, of course.

After Liam's mission, the other two seemed bland...

Havarl

Thanks to the internet, finally found the Fusion Mod of Adrenaline. How can anyone find that by themselves?!

Archon's ship

I'm tired of messing around, let's get on with the plot

Let me guess, I'll have to choose between the map to the Meridian and the salarian arc's survival?

This Pathfinder actually sounds like a Salarian!

A new carfalon, nice

this fight didn't go well lmao

Oh great, now we wiped everything but the ascendant and then he killed me

Ughh, on the third try...

Poor Ryder

Yeah, yeah, we've already heard all that from Harbinger...

Archon's chamber, health and ammo packs... Annoying boss battle, here we go

oh great, it's the Krogett

ah, so it's a mix of Virmire and Priority: Tuchanka

Ouch, I wish I didn't take Drack on this mission...

Well thanks I feel like a monster now

And of course, the autosave is after the choice. I've long suspected that the lack of saving in priority mission is designed to make us live with our decisions...

Honestly when I was making a choice it seemed simply whether a bunch of krogan or salarians are saved from exaltation, the krogan are connected to your friend but the salarians have a Pathfinder. But then the game seems to present it as "many krogans, your friend's friends, vs one Pathfinder"?

So, where to now? After the Nexus.

I have 3 loyalty missions in progress, Peebee, Jaal and Drack, and the last one seems pretty urgent. 

I need to go to Elaaden, especially because after this I need to restore my relationship with the krogan.

I need to activate the vault on Voeld, people in my outpost and my angaran allies has been freezing their limbs of for a long time.

Kadara is the only place where nothing important is happening, but I need to get it to 90% asap to unlock the fusion mod perk.

Tempest

Poured some more points into combat to decrease the weight of sniper rifles, and crafted a Vintage Isharay V. Now I can carry it along with the Hornet and a shotgun of my choice. Some power user I am... :D

No, Gil, I don't really want to meet your friend. Though on second thought, maybe if the Pathfinder tells her we're not here just to breed, maybe she'd believe...

"My mother created the implant in my head, and my father created the AI that uses it. I haven't lost them either" ;_;

Suvi organized a comparative religion seminar, and Jaal and Kallo signed up!

Got myself a bald space mouse

"Okay, I'll learn a new party trick" :D

"You are daring. I had to up my game" It's just a casual option, but sure sounds like flirting... :D

"Just don't get yourself exalted" -> "Just don't relax too much" The translation is getting worse and worse... There's some nonsense in almost every conversation.

Aw, Vetra!

Nexus

Thanks, Tann! Now I have time to do sidequests and loyalty missions without guilt!

No thanks to other Pathfinders, seems like I have to rush the main plot after all :(

Scott!!!

Why is Ryder asking him about things she must know just as well?

Honestly, this game design is super stupid! Kadara opens up a lot of new quests, but also the rushes the main plot like hell! Am I supposed to do the loyalty missions and shit after the end of the story??

Wait, how exactly did Keri scare people? Why was she arrested? I don't understand.

Tempest

Aw, Liam is worried about how I'm coping with my clinical death! *Shepard sighs with envy from another galaxy*

Kadara

Why does the game shower me with shippy Reyes material even when I'm not trying to romance him?

Finally another interrupt lol

"Try to settle here, and I'll consider it an act of war" If I took the story seriously and roleplayed honestly, this would be the point I'd abandon this planet forever, even if I didn't do it far earlier. There's no reason for Ryder to plan for an outpost here -- and I only do because of the queat description. Ughh, the writing in this game is killing me.

How do you take a recipe anyway? How do you make sure there isn't a copy left on the person's computer? Anyway, took it from the asari because I assumed I could destroy the info instead of giving it to the doctor, but had to give it back anyway.

Whoa, the date with Vetra is incredibly romantic

Was it really necessary for two freaking eirochs to greet us as we exit the cave?!

People who lit Sloane from behind so that every time there's a closeup on her, the camera adjusts to that bright light and her face becomes a pitch black blob: please don't ever stage anything again

Travel from the Badlands to the Port, meet Sloane, immediately travel back to almost the same place in the Badlands. Is the game intentionally trying to waste as much of our time as possible?

I think my game ran out of save slots... Without any warning. When you try to write in a new slot everything seems normal but the save just doesn't appear.

Whoa! Ryder WASN'T surprised that Reyes is the Charlatan! I didn't expect her to figure that out...

I'm not sure how Reyes's actions were supposed to weaken Sloane but whatever

First I shot him because I use interrupts instinctively, then replayed and didn't. I don't give enough fucks about this petty war.

100%! Now I can finally leave this snake pit.

BTW, re: the choice: Sloane is almost as bad as Aria at this point, the only redeeming quality is her backstory. And she's proven herself a bad leader, while Reyes could turn out to be better. But deciding to let her die within a split second -- that's not something I or my idealistic character could do. And now Reyes has a potential for a cool comeback story, and Sloane -- for a redemption arc. We have both characters alive and active, while the other option kills one off. (Which, I realize, is a reason that we might never see an interesting follow-up.)

Tempest

Reyes bothered to send a letter! I hope we'll see his dramatic return in a sequel or a DLC. Imagine if you romance him and then save Sloane -- that's a good story! Also, glad I didn't shoot, because the internet says the letter is very bitter and ominous in that case.

Aaand what some people on the internet were saying is true. Fusion Mod Support, which was the sole reason I went to complete Kadara, is broken and deprives you of all buffs. Well, whatever.

Drack doesn't tell me to fuck off anymore. Does this mean I don't need to "give him space" anymore and can plausibly do his loyalty mission? It's weird that the game just ignores all that's happened -- it's not like he tells me he forgave or anything. Consequences my ass. Just lazy writing.

And Lexi just repeats her first description of Drack -- that he's "always good". Ugh. No, he's not!

NOW you want to talk about my death, Cora! Not when I approached you after that mission!

Elaaden

The krogan have a nice flag!

Logical: "Don't make me headbutt you. I absolutely will" Ha! The emotional option was some shit about friendship... 

The worm? That thing from the promo pictures, right? Is it the same thing as the Architects people on the internet are mentioning?

Aww, is this a letter from multiplayer's krogan engineer?

A krogan LARP!

The krogan are literally the only people whom I can understand and support in a decision to jump galaxies

Drack's LM

I don't understand how Vorn got here...

For once I'm not the one with a dilemma lol

"There's only one thing getting destroyed today (...) So there are a lot of things getting destroyed today, actually"

Drack please don't talk during fights, I don't hear a single word, too busy charging people and slashing them with my sword

I still don't understand what all of this has to do with Spender, and don't remember Drack ever mentioning before that the botanist is so important and irreplaceable.

I love being a vanguard on normal because even with an incomplete build you can tank two hydras. To be fair I was standing right on top of a health box...

That's all?? So short...

At least Drack hasn't forgotten my choice...

Ah, so the botanist who sent us on this mission and the botanist we rescued are two different people? Okay, one question answered.

Elaaden

Hmm, this puzzle seems more difficult...

The second monolith has a console puzzle instead of sudoku. I spent a pretty long time on it before realizing there were three consoles, not two...

WHy am I breaking into this base and slaughtering everyone inside??

Couldn't solve the console puzzle in the vault, looked it up, didn't understand the explanation, clicked some more and activated it by accident.

Shit, is this the same puzzle but on pillars?

I fell into the water and the game respawned me into the same fall -- but in the Nomad.

Jumped around and activated the bridge somehow, but the door behind it is still closed

How am I supposed not to fall from the pillars? It's impossible to know if you're jumping not far enough, too far, or not high enough.

Oh, here's that difficult sudoku. I spent like 15 minutes on it and still can't solve it...

Holy crap, I solved it! Took me about 25 minutes...

The purification field was already in the room when I closed the door on it...

Lmao apparently the main krogan on this planet is right in the starting zone... I searched the entire colony for him! And now, with the planet at 83% viability, I finally meet the guy I came here for :D

I clearly was meant to do all of this right in the beginning lmao. But I was in a rush to do Drack's mission...

Pressuring women into childbirth is bad enough in normal circumstances, but when children have about 1% chance of surviving? Back the fuck off.

Messages on the terminal are interesting. I don't like the confirmation of too-earthlike misogyny on Tuchanka, but at least things are getting better here. And I'm still impressed by the letters from the krogan engineer -- do other multiplayer character have presence in the main game too?

And here's the deal with the Remnant ship! I was waiting for the reason to visit it...

I like Morda. I hope I won't have to fight or depose her.

(Btw she's Norda in translation because "morda" means "face, mug")

It'd be much more fun to fight fiends if they weren't sync-killers. I can't even use a shotgun -- the entire fight consists of running away, throwing powers at them when at safe distance, turning around to run again, and if I'm very lucky, finding a moment for a sniper rifle shot a couple of times.

Btw this entire time I thought fiends were exalted eirochs -- but they're just a normal local species? What?

Lmao the viability is at 99% now

The Remnant Ship is a lovechild of the Collector ship/Derelict Reaper and all those veilfire dungeons from DAI

The Nomad looks bad in this planet's lighting... Or is it because I raised texture quality? On Eos and Voeld the entire hull looked the same, now I can see the difference between two areas.

Oh. Is this why I was supposed to break into the scavenger base lol

Well, this was a good planet to bring Drack and Peebee with you everywhere! Sorry Peebs, but even you didn't feel joy when we finally found that drive core after all the bloodshed; plus it's your own philisophy to look into the future instead of the past; plus we might find other Remnant ships but this diplomatic opportunity is huge and unique. It's a laughably small price to pay for so many good things -- not just the outpost, but paying our debts and renewing friendship with a good ally led by an admirable woman. This makes me feel really good, unlike Kadara. New Tuchanka in generally is a feel-good place. The krogan look more real with their occupations and interests, their reason for being here makes perfect sense unlike the rest of the Initiative, and they're happier than in the Milky Way (at least until the end of ME3. Yeah, they have the genophage here, but also the Reapers aren't killing and harvesting them, so I'll call it a draw).

Oh my god, the translators misread "fiends" as "friends"! "Even if it means taking out three friends at once"! L M A O

"We're all a little krogan in here" That sounds pretty racist, Ryder

Nexus

Wait, how is exile harsher sentence for Spender than jail? In exile he'd just be free to continue his racist criminal activities.

"It is the will to continue living" Ugh, don't give me that Padme bullshit

Eos

That's all? This short rude conversation is why Gil called me to meet his shitty friend?

Aw, Cora started a garden! Right on a nest of poison-spitting bugs, but still cute. 

Just as I switch from Flamethrower to Annihilation, I get attacked by two fiends -_- Where's my biotic armor damage, Bioware?!

Btw the Nomad now looks plastic on Eos too :(

And here's the Architect! I avoided looking up videos because I wanted to find out how this fight goes by myself.

And of course, when I died the autosave was glitched and froze my entire game -_-

And it happened again -_- The cutscene doesn't start and I can't do anything

For fuck's sake, on its leg WHERE?

Managed to shot down a leg, got killed trying to shoot its head

Whoa, I won! Ate like 20 shield boosters, though. What a bullet sponge, I felt like I was doing no damage at all. And in the final section of the fight it spent like 5 minutes just shooting and throwing grenades at me without ever exposing the vulnerable spot, I thought that maybe the game just forgot to indicate it. I used Vanguard, Charge/melee/Lance for adds, gun/Lance/Charge for the Architect itself. For some reason it didn't occur to me to switch to Infiltrator or Soldier or even Explorer for sniping lol

Now that I finally leveled up Lance today, I tried a lot of setups... Flamethrower/Energy Drain/Lance (Sentinel), Annihilation/Energy Drain/Lance (Sentinel), Annihilation/Charge/Lance (Vanguard), Pull/Charge/Lance (Vanguard). Next time I'll try Singularity as the first primer. I don't have the final evolution of Annihilation yet, so it's not at full synergy. I really don't know what I like better -- ED/Sentinel or Charge/Vanguard. The latter is novaguard reborn, basically, but I already have one Vanguard profile, which is melee/tank oriented, and I don't want to remove Backlash, especially to replace it with a power that slows down Charge. Four favorites are not enough, Bioware! At least seven -- one for each profile. I still don't have a build for Remnant VI and I really want to use it! Btw, my final blow to the Architect was with Lance -- ending the testing session with style!

I can craft N7 armor X already! Wow. Why no level requirement? I'll replace my chestpiece -- massive buffs to biotics >> 4% XP. Don't know if I should disassemble my old armor or just buy more enhancements...

I just (re-)realized that Charge/Lance/asari sword is basically N7 Slayer... I definitely need that N7 armor!

I'm watching other people's Architect fights -- and turns out, Backlash can deflect its attacks! That's what I should have used as the third skill.

Not related at all, but I hate how people put spoilers in thread titles on Reddit :/ I guess the most obvious ones get filtered out, but indirect spoilers stay. "What are your theories about [thing]?" -- thanks a lot for telling me it won't be explained in the game, dude!! >:[

[astudyinsarcasm9]

Battle of Heart and Mind - Review - Beware of Spoilers

Before I dive into the review I just want to make a list of things that were left unanswered, just to get it out of the way. Here it is: 

- How did White Diamond know that PD was Rose? It was never explained. 

- How did White know what a child is. 

- How did White know what a mom is. Blue and Yellow had no idea what a mom was or even what a child is. Why would White know? 

- Who made White or how was White formed? And if she was the first gem in existence how did she know what was she supposed to be?

Feel free to add more. 

I’ll split the review into parts so it’ll be easy to follow. 

Part 1: Blue helping Steven and her and Yellow fighting. 

While I liked the tender moment between Blue and Steven and the fact that she helped me I still think her giving in happened a tad too quick. All Steven had to do was point out how she locked PD in the same prison. he was in and how she must have cried so many times because of how Blue treated her. I understand the guilt Blue feels and because of that her change of heart seems a bit more believable. 

Next. And I can’t believe I’m saying this but how did no one notice that Yellow was sitting in a room full of bubbled forced fusions: 

That is incredibly messed up. And I am willing to bet that those were all experiments that went wrong and they were bubbled to study them on how to possibly make the cluster? Could be. Either way it was so so wrong. 

The fight between Yellow and Blue was nice albeit short. I would’ve like to see Blue poof, just for a bit, just so we can learn a bit more about Diamonds. She could have reformed quickly afterwards. Anyway, Steven managed to stop them fighting and Yellow agreed to help him escape. But during the fight Blue said something that I think is very important: 

”She was suffering in silence for ages, just like our gems, just like me”. This line is the ONLY reference we get to the fact that Homeworld gems are oppressed and unhappy. No one mentions it again. And I get it there wasn’t time but at least show the Homeworld gems reacting to the battle, to what was happening. The world felt so empty without them. 

Anyway, after White gets in the way of Steven leaving Blue and Yellow’s ships return and we see Bismuth, Period and Lapis are piloting them. 

And let me just say that Lapis and Peridot’s new forms are really nice. Peridot is so cute. I only wish she would have done something with her hair, but I guess that’s just how Peridots look. 

I kinda like how Lapis doesn’t have an obvious star on her outfit.  She is a CG but she’s not fully there yet. I guess the half star counts too. 

After this, there comes another important line that I think deserves some talking about: 

”No, I won’t go. Pink Diamond ran away from you. Rose Quartz, my mom, she started a war with you. But I don’t wanna run, I don’t wanna fight, I just want to talk”. 

It’s a really...interesting line if you think about it. It shows how PD, RQ and Steven differ and how each had a different perspective about things. And again it shows how Steven is just a pacifist who wants to talk things out. I suppose it s only fair because at that point a battle with White would’ve meant doom but then again, at least try. Sometimes talking is not enough, that’s just how life works. 

The special goes on to say how Steven and the Diamonds have to fix their broken family and Connie even steps in and says how her mom use to enforce a lot of rules on her which made her feel miserable. But that once she told her mum how she felt things got better. 

That’s all cute and sweet but...we’re talking about a race of beings that conquer worlds and commit genocide like it’s nothing. And White doesn’t just make rules for the Diamonds, she makes rules for everyone, and if anyone disobeys them she outright shatters or posses them. I’m pretty sure Connie’s mom would just ground her and that would be all. I mean one can not just put a ”=” between these two instances and call it a day. 

Anyway, Blue and Yellow’s decide to talk to White about how they feel and Blue has this to say about it:

”White, we used to be close, don’t you remember? Pink would make us laugh, all those silly things she did for no reason. But there was a reason: she wanted us to be happy together, but we weren’t and we’re still not. I know my purpose is not to be happy but I find it harder and harder to enforce your rules when they make me miserable, when they make us all miserable”. 

Btw, Yellow’s speech was so corny. I get that she was terrified of White but it sounded so weird. 

I could have gotten 100% behind Blue on this if it weren’t for the fact that...we were never shown that enforcing White’s rules made them miserable. All we saw is them doing their jobs as Diamonds and showing no remorse for it. Blue wanted to shatter Ruby. Yellow is willing to poof or shatter anyone that doesn’t fit in. We were never shown them having a moment, after, let’s say, ordering a gem to be shattered. Maybe it could’ve worked. To show them torn apart by their roles as Diamonds. But nope, none of that. 

And sure they were close and Pink made them laugh but in the grand scheme of things they were still dictators, they were still shattering gems, conquering planets and so on. And even if they were happy together Im pretty sure that White would’ve wanted them to keep Homeworld as it is. 

Part 2: Steven’s fusions and getting into White’s head. 

Steven’s fusions were so cool. My favorite was Rainbow Quartz 2.0

I like to think it’s a male gem even though they’re genderless. But just because Steven is involved. Anyone is free to see them as they want. It’s still a really nice fusion. 

I liked Sunstone too but her design was so-so. But that wasn’t the problem for me, the problem was breaking the fourth wall. It took away from the tension and the seriousness of the moment. 

And that’s another problem of this special: it juggles with the tone. Sometimes it’s dead serious, sometimes it is over the top silly. It wants to be both but the two don’t exactly mix well. It reminds me of Disney’s Hercules where they did just that and the result was just a mush of silly and serious. 

Keeping the tone consistent would have been a big plus. Not make it totally grim but just let the serious moments feel serious and urgent. 

I think my favorite part of the special is when Steven is in White’s head/room. It was intense, it was serious, it was dark and most of all there were stakes. 

Obsidian was wicked cool. Though I thought she’d look slightly different than the temple because Rose was involved in the fusion. Steven was. 

Just one question: What was White waiting for while the gems were dancing to fuse into Obsidian? 

Part 3 - Removing Steven’s gem aka the best part of the special with the best animation. 

I loved, loved, loved this part. Everything was perfect. 

The animation? Top notch. The music? There was music when the gem was removed - Great. The atmosphere? Great. 

What I loved most was that PD/Rose did not reform. Everyone speculated for so long as to what would happen in a scenario like this and now we have our answer. It’s a confusing one but a beautiful one nonetheless. 

Steven is not his mom at all. He is the literal fusion of PD and Greg. I viewed that scene as White ripping off PD’s genes from Steven and Steven falling apart because he was left with the Greg part of him. PD is gone because she literally fused her genes with Greg and passed her gem entirely to Steven. She made sure she was gone and she practically delivered and empty gem for him to make his own. It wasn’t PD or Rose powering Steven it was Steven powering Steven.

Brilliant. 

Part 4: White and her realisation that she herself is off-color. 

The animation on White was fantastic I need to say that. I liked that she was proven wrong, that she saw with her own eyes that Steven was Steven and that PD was gone forever. It turned her world upside down, sure but it told us that she is not all knowing as she wanted to be seen. 

I can’t say I liker her sudden change of heart. 

People who abuse and who are as toxic as she is will not just change because they are told that their ways are bad. Sure some of you might say she still seemed reluctant when she was on Earth. She seemed but the fact that she so quickly accepted to go on Earth and fix the corrupted gems, shows that she got  over it quickly.  

It is nice to see her facial expressions while on Earth and I get they were trying to show us how she is not comfortable with what is happening but come on, what dictator turned around so quickly?

Though, White being off-color was brilliant. 

Part 5: Healing the corrupted gems 

I was so happy to know we were gonna see the corrupted gems be healed. 

But then I was so angry that it was just a montage. I mean it’s better than nothing but we waited for so many seasons for this. I understand there was a lack of time - 44 minutes - when they marketed it as an hour special - but come on. 

I wanted to see Centy interact with Steven. I wanted Jasper to talk and find out about PD not just to see her all flustered after seeing everyone around her. We can assume Amethyst told her very briefly what was going on but still. 

I felt cheated out. 

Also, Lars was back and while the off-colors delivered my favorite joke from the special I feel it wasn’t worth their showing up. It was rushed as hell. And it felt awkward as the Diamonds were just standing there assisting to this little human reunion. 

All in all it wasn’t bad but it was, as with all big SU episodes, incredibly rushed. The story is there, the characters are there but it was all cheapened by the terrible pacing and by the fact that, at the end of the day, Blue and Yellow were absolved of all their wrong doings because they were doing all those things to please White. 

Again, I feel the need to reference ATLA and how there Zuko’s family, a royal family, which the Diamonds can be inferred also are, was also broken and messed up but the show acknowledged that it was a family beyond repair, that it was too toxic to even go there and that while YES they did have happy times, as Zuko tells us they had, even in those happy times Ozai was still the toxic person we know and they were still part of a system which oppressed the Fire Nation people. The fact that they were family and that they had happy times did not take away from the important aspect of Ozai being a dictator. Also, Azula was also doing all the terrible things she did to please Ozai yet the show doesn’t excuse her but it tells us it was messed up. 

Why is SU excusing the diamonds? 

[sleepymarmot]

MEA liveblog #8

I finished it! I’m free!

Multiplayer

Hell yeah level 9/10 rank I asari adept -- full extraction and top score on a silver APEX mission with bonus to combos! Against outlaws, but still. And I got an outlaw badge for it!

Yoo, two human female vanguard cards! And my Charger is now at X!

Looked up my statistics:

Dialogue:

Interrupts: 11

Casual: 151

Emotional: 187

Logical: 206

Professional: 187

Kills:

Kett: 983

Outlaws: 857

Remnant: 520

Wildlife: 377

Holy shit, the Pathfinder killed almost as many former Initiative members as the Initiative's enemies...

Melee: 276

Assault rifle: 60

Pistol: 135

Shotgun: 100

Sniper rifle: 59

Biotic: 679

Combat? Force?: 0

Tech: 316

Jump: 5

Construct: 35 (wow)

Combos: 777

Hello patch 1.05

Why did they remove the priming icon from Throw? Does it not prime anymore?! 

Good news: Throw still primes. Idk why they removed the button. Like misinforming their players?

Bad news: the game is super laggy. Did I set my graphics too high?

The fusion mod perk is still broken!

No, I don't have a new email, SAM! I got one from Peebee, very cute but referring to I don't know what.

Multiplayer

Kroguard level 7/rank I successfully extracted from Silver!

Maxed out Avenger and Katana, goodbyeeeee

Singleplayer

Fuck, I opened all my reward boxes and then realized the game loaded the autosave with the still-bugged fusion mod support :( Goodbye all my rewards ughh

I lowered the graphics to default but the game still keeps stuttering... I don't understand

Peebee on Voeld: "I should have dressed warmer" Sigh, once again game writers blame their sexist costume designs on female characters who have to wear them...

Finally I got to hear PB&J's conversations about asari reproduction myself...

SAM asked me about my romance and I picked the sappy option because it was the safest...

Journey to Meridian

I don't like how the patch changed my Ryder's face. The lips are too narrow and round now.

Damn, I should have taken Jaal. I knew the spoiler though. Want to know what from? A freaking side romance video I clicked because I was sure something so inconsequential wouldn't have spoilers. Ha!

Peebee says something like "They created life but the Archon wants to destroy it!!" in the most melodramatic tone. Ugh! The tendency to say overly sweet things like this is the worst part of her character.

Ha, screw you ascendant! I'm a bit offended that my rifle doesn't one-shot his orb. Ah well, I'm not wearing any weapon damage bonuses...

Oh, a Destroyer and a Fiend are fighting each other? Good, I'm not going to get involved.

The Destroyer won and came for us but had the decency to open up its chest as it turned to face us lol

I'm overusing Bio-converter + Life Support like hell on this mission lol... Too many bosses

lol nullifiers im not scared of you

Why is my mouth so small! It's bothering me.

Tempest

Lexi doesn't want to talk to me lol. Can't interact with her

Jaal's door is closed, I knew he'd have a lot to say

Well this conversation was saccharine. Jaal are you a positivity machine?!

Don't you "love" how you can go through the entire game not knowing that Gil is gay?! There's even a dialogue option about him "loving" Jill! This entire dialogue tree is a mess. At least everyone on tumblr has ranted about that so I don't have a lot to add. But even if you (try to) set the homophobia aside it's a mess. He talks about fathering a friend's child and you can't even be surprised because usually only romantic couples start families? And you can't even disapprove really, the most negative thing is "it's crazy" said in an awed, surprised tone of voice.

Cora I took you to Meridian and you have nothing to say?

More forum threads! And a shitload of emails!

Aw, Liam is such a good vivid character -- both the conversation and the email are great. I love his email attachments. I mean I'm still angry at him about the stupid, irresponsible, dangerous shit he did in his personal storyline, but he's definitely the most engaging of the male starter companions in ME.

Here's the Movie Night continuation, I was starting to worry it was broken...

The ship's doctor asks me to buy some booze on the Citad--the Nexus, why does it sound so familiar

Let's appreciate the fact that the "golden worlds" are not just inhabited -- they were created for someone other than us! The Initiative has even fewer rights to them than initially thought.

I'm glad Bioware sped up the galaxy map (not surprising after that kind of outrage) but the stupid and vertigo-inducing camera turns and pans are still there.

Btw I preferred my own more abstract interpretation of the Scourge as the Chaos to the Remnant's Order. Now they look even more mundane. As if the mystery and awe didn't already evaporate after about the second vault because they're all the same thing with slightly different puzzles!

Nexus

What?! I don't get to actually play with Drack, Kesh and Vorn?! What's the point then?

Keri where are you? I can hear your voice but it's coming from nowhere.

Oh my god I can see Kandros's purple tongue through the hole between his jaws(?)

Tempest

Well at least I could get Gil a date!

Am I like... supposed to give a shit about Jaal? I mean Ryder is getting all emotional no matter what I choose and I'm sitting here like "idc". And I don't want to bash such a nice person, it feels mean to dislike someone for doing nothing wrong, but that's the problem, he's so bland. From the promotional videos I assumed that Peebee would be the irritating designated best friend/love interest like Liara, but it's mostly Jaal.

Tempest again -- after a week-long break

Why couldn't Bioware add a "take all rewards" button? Why do I have to spend 10 minutes clicking “space”?

Ah yes, Bioware's trademark mashing naked dolls together! When Peebee's eyes flashed black it was pretty creepy.

Movie Night requires one more step... After the main mission, then.

Great, another galaxy map fetch quest -_-

Yoo finally the point of no return!

The final mission

Fine, I'll take you Jaal for plot relevance, though I'll probably miss Cora's Shield Boost...

Playing as my twin is cool, but why is he underpowered? Trying to kill a single mook with no powers and that tiny pistol was torture...

Where's Peebee? On the bridge?

Why open the equipment screen but not let me change the squad? It made sense to take the Science Team PB&J to the Meridian, but not to take back an ark! It makes no sense! I'm on my ship with everyone, but can't choose a new team?

Ah, so it was a romantic goodbye with the LI, and I didn't have to choose the "schmaltzy" version to make it more personal? Damn.

Ughh, so much lag... It's not fun to fight when fps falls below 10 sometimes.

The final fight is so badly designed. Apparently I have to hold ground at the quest marker position, but it's not explained clearly, and the circle doesn't appear until you're almost done. I jumped into the abyss several times because the quest marker was hanging over it.

Ah yes, Meridian, home for the humanity. Despite the fact it was clearly built for the Angara... Ugh!!

I don't get it. We're selecting a representative of whom? The entire cluster? The Nexus? It's bullshit.

Oh, this wheel is confusing. So each candidate is assigned to a "tone", when I first click it it's a question, if I click for the second time it confirms the selection. 

Hmm, my first choice was the Moshae, but maybe Morda?

Went with the Moshae. Thankfully, Ryder said exactly what I wanted to say! Haha, Addison: "That's the point, you colonial wad"

This human woman got a name from Quarian godparents?? That's a thing? Okay.

I don't understand how Ryder could use the Remnant without SAM. Has SAM changed her brain enough that it's now superhuman even without SAM's active involvement?

Oooh, interesting email. I haven't thought of angaran reincarnation as a designed feature to carry extra information in DNA. So they can be genetic hard drives -- again, like the kett? This has got to mean something. And angara "remembering" how to use the Meridian, or being sleeper agents? I demand a big storyline in the sequel about this!

Um. Using the Remnant involves not just a connection, but moving your consciousness into them? Okaaaay. That doesn't sound ominous at all. This entire terminal is like a sequel teaser...

Yeah Jaal, I can't stop joking because everyone is being so sugary sweet and I can't bear it anymore

The Moshae doesn't sound too excited about her new job... :(

The Quarian-Volus-Elcor-Hanar arc! Yoo! Sequel or DLC?

"Seeing you in cahoots makes me all misty" I don't know which is worse, the line itself or the delivery...

Aw, the science team are all in the same lab! ...With the dancers. What?

Tempest

Peebee sent an email saying she wants to explore the galaxy "with or without me". Aw.

Okay, I'm tired, let's leave The World is Waiting and Movie Night for tomorrow.

Watched alternate dialogue choices on Youtube.

I chose the casual option to rally the fleet, but logical is good too. But I think that after watching her brother being kidnapped and tortured, Ryder doesn't have the patience to be inspirational...

The emotional option as you walk out victorious is addressed to your LI! And Peebee's reply made me laugh and clap: "And now they all know you're mine!" And they walk away hand in hand. Aw.

Can’t find logical and professional options for the goodbye with Peebee before the final mission :( Not a fan of emotional and casual.

Oh. I thought Habitat-7 would have something more than one cutscene...

My edition of the Movie Night glitch: Ryder was simply invisible. Peebee was embracing thin air. So much for romance.

The funniest thing, tbh, was that Ryder leveled up when the scene ended.

Aaaaand now I'm free! 92%, 97,5 hours. I still have some sidequests to do, but let's leave them until later.