#honestly glad there isn't a real 'bad' game in series

[randomlyexplainedopinions]

Random Opinion #11

I think the Sly Cooper games are a really good example of why the PS2 was such a great console for when it came out. We all have our favorites, this one being mine, but I can't express how glad I am to have this series in my physical collection still. There's nothing I can say, that isn't just me gushing over the games, but... I am glad that in small ways, people are still finding these games, playing them, and perhaps even enjoying them.

That's it, honestly. I'm just glad I have good memories and physical copies of a game series that I love.

Edit: I do wish to express that I have yet to play Sly 4 in its entirety. This was mostly due to when it came out I wasn't interested in the PS3 as much.

[highlifeboat]

Okay but honestly, little tangent here, I absolutely love the original pic of Mat and Steph, honestly yours and Crumb's depictions of Mia really changed me from also originally hating Mia to going "Awwwwwwwww!!!! She's a goofy little guy!! 😍" and I love seeing your theories (that was intended lol (sorry)) and headcanons about her, it really helped me realize how interesting of a character she is.

Aww, well I'm glad I could be part of the reason you see her in a different light then lol (Also yes that picture of Matpat and Steph and baby Ollie is adorable)

I always found Mia interesting because she's a character who doesn't get any real explanation for how she got where she is. Like, she isn't evil, she loves and cares for Ethan, and Rose (despite what I see some people say), she worked for a bioterrorist organization as an agent, but supposedly Eveline is the closest she got to actually working with a bioweapon. She was clearly expendable, since they never bothered trying to save and played her like a lab rat, and sent her on a suicide mission.

She's by no means innocent to what happened in Louisiana, but she is also a victim of Eveline. Clearly this stuff still affects her in 8, but I don't think the psychological and physical trauma of what she goes through ever really get talked about. People want to call her a shitty wife but Mia lies were either A) About a job that most likely would have killed her had she said anything, and B) Not telling Ethan he's mold.

Which, and I could be in the minority here, I think if I had just gone through all of that shit in Dulvey to save my wife who I thought was dead for three years, and she told me "By the way, you died. Sorry babe. You're mold now. Anyway..." I would probably jump out of the helicopter pfff.

She's also just... over hated. Especially when Chris pulls that exact same shit in 8 and with holds CRUCIAL INFORMATION from Ethan the entire game, to a point his own team is like "You should have told him." But nobody says he should die or he's the worst character

When Mia Winters exists within the same universe as Mother Miranda, Wesker, Sadler, Spencer, The Four Lords, and you like... take time to kinda think about certain things, she really is not evil.

She's a good example of a morally grey person, I think. And she IS interesting.

And I'm not saying everybody has to love Mia Winters or like her or anything. Everyone's entitled to their opinions, I just wish she didn't get treated like she's as bad as every villain this series.

[fox-from-fairytale]

Me with this season

So, it wasn't bad, but for now it's definitely my least favourite.

The opening scene was amazing, probably the best one of the series, buuuut... there were many other scenes where I felt bored, like when Javier and David were playing baseball or something like that. That was so boring I almost fucked up a few times without answering in time because I kept getting distracted.

Talking about answers and choices in general, they were too easy this season for the most part. If Clementine tells me what she thinks, I automatically do what she says without thinking too much about it (if she tells me to jump, I'll ask her how high). She's obviously not like other characters, and there were times where there wasn't someone else to balance her with opposite opinions. BUT, there are aspects of the gameplay I prefer, like the fact that Conrad can die at every episode but if you play your cards right (which I didn't lol) he stays alive till the end. I hate when all characters dies, it gives me the impression that everything I did was pointless. And with this being said, Kate was still the only one I was able to keep alive lmao

When it comes to the story, I wonder why couldn't we have just followed Clem's? I know that The Walking Dead isn't supposed to be just on one specific character, but after the first two seasons it's her the one I want to play as. Our focus has always been on Clementine from the first season, even if then we played as Lee, and I don't really care about sticking with someone else all of a sudden. Playing as Javier ruined the immersion for me. As Clementine the story could have been about how she loses AJ to the New Frontier and how she takes him back, maybe starting the first episode from when she finds Ava and closing it with the whole thing about the medicine and how she gets kicked out from there. The memories would have been in the game to create a better backstory for her time with Kenny/Jane/when she was alone or at Wellington.

Wellington not being this safe harbour everyone talked about, honestly, makes sense to me. It was just rumours, rumours created by hope I guess, but most of the times rumours are misleading and don't end up being completely true. But I hate what they did to both Jane and Kenny. As much as I hate her, I hate Jane's death even more. She is a survivor and always did anything to keep herself safe, and I found so... stupid, even insulting, her killing herself because she found out she was pregnant. And god, how much I hate the comments I've found about this whole thing. Make her trying anything to lose the baby instead of her just hanging herself. God, I hated it so much. Meanwhile for Kenny I don't even have words. It checks out with him sacrificing himself to protect AJ and Clem, but not everything happening because of a seatbelt. The memory in the third episode, though, was chef's kiss.

The real main character of this season, Javier, and his family aren't bad, but I didn't like them/cared enough to follow them the entire time, and I would have preferred them as secondary characters instead. But yes, I did like Javier, Tripp, Ava, and Kate really grew on me. I loved how Kate, the one who wanted to get away from Richmond as soon as she could, remained there to save it because it was "her fault". I loved that for her, and of course I followed her plan. Meanwhile I didn't like Gabe so much. I really tried to like him, but I just couldn't care. His death was fucking awful though and I'm sad I got the ending where he can't be saved. About David: glad he's dead I guess. I hated him every second, even if I tried to be "a good brother".

[demonsfate]

Jin and DJ being enemies who are forced to share a body is very fascinating to me.-> This is exactly how I see it, not the usual "Jin's evil side!!" I mean, not really? it's a demon borrowing his face at the end of the day. Personally, I don't see Jin going all evil out of nowhere. Like *at least* show some progress. And even then I would side-eye the writing. I'm sorry if I don't see Jin like some people, he might be stoic and all but he's not an asshole nor a Kazuya Jr lol Yeah as you said, how they're written it's what makes them unique. What I meant is that sometimes I read comments that say oh, generic character, in a negative context, and sometimes something being generic is not necessarily bad, I guess? there are many tropes with these characters that could be explored and expanded upon. But then again, they usually have supporting/minor roles so they don't get the spotlight or the development as much as the main characters. And yeah, Asuka not having a significant part in her family's conflict does bother me a bit. I HOPE they change that in 8 but who knows at this point. Heihachi coming back as a robot would be hilarious but I wouldn't mind if they pull a Kazumi with him. Though, I will say, they will definitely focus on the Kazamas more this time (at least that's what I think) Glad I'm not being annoying, so I will keep coming back here! I usually send silly asks, like the one about Jun not getting over that demon dick lmao. Which reminds me, it was confirmed Kazuya and Jun were married apparently? Not sure if I heard that right

Yea! Whilst maybe the series doesn't do the best at it - I think the idea just has a lot of potential to it. The concept of not only being forced to share a body with somebody, but somebody you can't stand. Your enemy knowing you better than anyone else could ever. Then what kind of dynamic/relationship that can form upon that. As well as the whole complications of not feeling like your body is your own, and no longer recognizing yourself in the mirror. I just feel it has a lot more going for it than the typical "don't let revenge/anger get to you, or else you'll become a literal monster as symbolism for a bad person you are now! :)" Which isn't a bad concept - but as stated, an overused one, especially in fighting games, for some reason.

And I 100% agree with that, honestly. I got called literally "fucking dumb" for saying this before I stopped using Reddit - but I really don't think Jin should ever be bad. I think he should do some minor bad things (beating someone too much out of anger, or being snappy, whatever) but I don't think he should ever cross the line of getting innocents killed, or doing something that's evil, and not a simple flaw. Jin was created to be the Good One, like it's just core in his character. If he's Evil in any way, it takes away what he's supposed to be. Essentially, it's not Jin anymore. Remember when Marvel tried that dumb fucking plot twist where Steve Rogers was actually working for Hydra all along? Yea, people go so uber pissed at that and for right reason. Like I think that's another thing that amazes me by the Tek fandom. Every other fandom can acknowledge, and even protest when their character is written completely ruined, and out of character. Yet Tek fandom, ESPECIALLY REGARDING JIN, is like "yep. He did that. He's a Real Person And Did That And It's Undeniable So He's Bad."

Oh nah, I know exactly what you meant. It seems like a lot of people criticize "tropes" for being bad. Like almost everyone uses it as an insult. Even though many things are built upon tropes. But I don't think many ppl realize that, sadly. And just have an obsession with something being 100% original.

TK7 hinted that Asuka will play a bigger role. But I have a feeling that they may drop a lot of stuff they hinted at in TK7 - at least the character episodes. I don't know if they will or not tho. But I have a feeling that may have been why Asuka was revealed so soon. Because maybe she will play a more important role. I believe we were told this game will finally explain the Kazama powers. So, here's to hoping!

Like, I KNOW the characters aren't big. But Tek still doesn't develop them when they straight up have the opportunity to! Like in TK6, there was something in it that interested in me, if you play as Paul in Scenario campaign - he'll bring up his troubled past a lot, and basically state he's wanted by the police. Even calling his past "something you don't tell kids." When other characters fight against Paul in scenario campaign, and he says he wanted to be the strongest in the universe, they'll call him out - saying it's a lie, or that it's not really what he wants. Which makes me wonder if that could've possibly been alluding to a reason as to why being Number One is so important to Paul. Did something happen to him in the past that made him feel this way? Some characters accused him of being lonely during scenario campaign? Maybe something happened to him that made him feel weak? BUT even though this is interesting and actual depth. It's never expanded upon because his endings are just wasted on him getting his butt kicked or being humiliated. Same thing with Asuka, really. Asuka being part of one of the most important families in the game. And then also having hints she has the power to repel the devil. But then her potential is all wasted on Haha Funny Yuri Bait That Goes Nowhere with Lili.

I actually enjoy the humor in Tek - I think it makes it a very fun series. I make a lot of silly posts on my blog from time to time, and have hcs that mean nothing other than to be "stupid" or "funny." But I don't like it when the humor begins suffocating the entire series to the point where it feels like almost nothing can be taken seriously. Then that's when it gets annoying. And that's probably why TK4 nowadays is considered the game with the best story. Because it's the one with the least amount of humor. Hell, Paul had a pretty serious ending and actually dealt with who he is as a character beyond a flanderization of "NUMBER ONE IN THE UNIVERRRRSE." Xiao's ending was also quite heartwarming and serious about her regards of wanting to build a theme park rather than her being in a comedy anime. Hopefully, in TK8, they've listened to people's feedback regarding TK4's story, and they'll go back to that tone.

And I always enjoy the asks! Both directed to ooc or ic. ❤️‍🔥 But as for the Jun and Kaz being married thing. I'm NOT entirely sure? But that's proooobably incorrect. As if that were true, Jun would be Jun Mishima, not Jun Kazama. (As Kazumi is Kazumi Mishima, not Kazumi Hachijo.) You're probably referring to when Harada referred to Jun as Kazuya's "wife." But I feel that many fans forget that Harada's first language isn't English. And hell, I don't even know how much English he even speaks, or if he's using a translator. Since it's apparent if you look at many of his tweets - as he often uses one word when he meant another. (Like some fans were even theorizing Jun isn't the real Jun because he referred to her as "it" instead of her.) So it's very likely he meant lover, but used wife instead.

In her English TK8 bio, it does state she and Kazuya met and "became close" at the second tournament. And I think the Japanese version of the bio may even say they fell in love together. But I don't think any of them mentions them being married. so I'm preeeetty sure they're not?

[hellcatinnc]

Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte Anime Review

Includes Spoilers

So I ran across this anime actually by chance, I was surfing youtube and someone had done a amv of Siegwald and Lieselotte it got me interested. So first off I'm not used to a anime that has 3 main couples but at the same time it was nice it was different. One villain who got her happy ending with a prince, the female protagonist in a game that was from poor upbringing and a nobleman that would die for her and then there is the couple that start the whole series in the real world, thats your shy boy who likes the gaming girl.

This is the game they play together Endo and Kobayashi after he gets hurt playing baseball he thinks he has nothing to really be happy about until he meets her and she introduces him to this game she loves to play. Its an otome game but after talking to her a bit he wants to get closer to her and be apart of her world its the classic shy guy in love with his best friend but has a hard time telling her. Plus not to mention Kaito Ishikawa voices Endo and if you follow my blog you will know he is my favorite voice actor and also known for Dante in Piofiore.

There love story really is cute however I love best friend tropes anyways so such a sucker. Even before they started playing the game I loved their connection from the beginning and of course anyone who has every watched some of Kaito Ishikawa's roles when he plays the best friend he is a stuttering shy boy but that makes me love him even more, he really is a good voice actor.

He does eventually tell her in the end he loves her and its so sweet because she has been in love with him for awhile and she thought he didn't like her like that cause she didn't think she was pretty enough. His stutter and shy boy comes out majorly when he tells her and its just the sweetest moment. After he automatically asks her to be his girl too sweet granted Liese has to push him to tell her but she knew all too well what it was like not expressing how she felt to Sieg.

Now on to meeting the villainess and her prince they were also best friends growing up however her father told her she couldn't out all her feelings out their and burden Sieg with them however he is the opposite he wants her to depend on him in every way. I didn't think I would like him cause he felt like the generic prince guy but honestly they way he is with Liese and how he has always thought she was his world its too sweet. He doesn't even act like a prince because she means more to him than the title or anything he has even jeopardized his own life to save her. He brings her out of her shell and even though she is the cutest when she blushes he makes her know he loves her more than anything. They really are the cutest couple.

The way Sieg looks at Liese its not hard to be caught up in his affection as well. Sieg and Fiene are the only ones who can hear Endo and Kobayashi and he thinks they are gods but comes to call them friends. He listened to them every time he thought Liese didn't want to be with him cause she was so shy when they would tell him other wise he would push closer to her. Their friendship was more than just a voice in the end he was so grateful for him then having Liese cause he didn't give up as they told him not to.

Ok I know I probably shouldn't like him well I mean he isn't really that big of a part but I thought he is cute then heard he was professor and instantly he became hotter its my teacher attraction I swear. Anyways he has some neat powers and does end up helping out when it matters most.

Ok now this is a bad guy who wants Fiene and to use Kobayashi to get her into the real world, he is a god who took over a guys body. However another villain that I shouldn't like but again why make them attractive like what the hell Japan. Yeah glad he didn't win still nice to look at.

This is Baldur nobleman but they call him Bal and he is madly in love with protagonist of the game Fiene. He makes me smile all the time he gave up marrying a noble woman the moment he realized she was the one for him even though at first it seemed she was some common girl but he didn't care. He is that guy who confesses he will lay down his life to protect her and love her forever or until his last breath. He makes my cheeks hurt from all the smiling as he confesses of course she is a shy girl so his words scare her and the talk about marriage freaks her out a bit. In time though she falls for him then to find out in their past life they were to be together anyways and they remember how much they loved each other. They are the damn cutest when together.

The end you get the happy wedding between Sieg and Liese and not only is it beautiful but the lovely goddess brings Endo and Kobayashi to meet them for the first time. The spark between these two and even the proposal was perfect and romantic. I love them so much.

To be able to get a picture in the end of everyone at the wedding was a perfect away to end the anime. Honestly I loved every episode of this anime was not bored once. There is always something happening and just such a feel good anime. Its a good 10/10 for me from music which is beautiful and fits well to the artwork and story being original. I recommend it.

[peregrineggsandham]

Been playing Dark Souls I for the first time, blind. It's my first-ever Soulsborne game but after really enjoying other games that have been compared to Dark Souls for a variety of reasons (encouraging exploration, interconnected world, lore/plot that is drip-fed through sparse dialogue and item descriptions, combat that is challenging but fundamentally fair, environmental storytelling, themes of light/dark not necessarily corresponding one-to-one with good/evil, "dark fantasy" setting in general, secrets upon secrets upon secrets) I decided to give it a shot.

Have been completely blind so please no spoilers, even though this game is now 12 years old. All I know about the lore is... uh... Aviators music. Really enjoying having context for songs I've loved for years. Fading Light really hits now, it's awesome.

Thoughts below.

[Edit: an absolute shit-ton of thoughts below, sorry y'all, it just kept going.]

...I am loving this game, y'all. I understand why it's a classic and damn, I think I'm gonna end up playing through the whole series. Eventually. Too bad Bloodborne doesn't have a PC port, because I hear it has a more explicitly Lovecraftian vibe and I am here for that aesthetic.

...Will say that this is entirely blind save for one googling which amounted to "hey I consistently suck at bosses that require me to split my focus because I have a hard time tracking moving things on a screen, but... Ornstein and Smough are a pain in the ass for everyone, right? right? they are exactly the kind of boss I tend to be very bad at but it isn't just me right??"

(very glad to see the answer was yes, finally gave in and summoned another player for help. Thank you Percy, whoever you are. I think I could beat them solo, I was getting either of them in their giant forms to about half-health pretty consistently, but by then it had been far, far too many hours and I have real-world things to do, I really couldn't spare the time to keep trying. for now. maybe later.)

(felt kinda bad about it for a bit but then with the Lordvessel in hand holy fuck I have fast travel now and it feels amazing I went into the magma-y depths and took care of the... whats-his-name, the guy who acted just like the Stray Demon. Having beat the Stray Demon, it only took a couple tries, and then I one-shot the one after it, whom I think was called the Centipede Demon but whom I have dubbed Crawly.)

Currently throwing myself at the Bed of Chaos, who feels more "environmental hazard" than "boss" but after the rest of the... gauntlet?... kind of a nice break.

(Admittedly I realized late that it was a gauntlet - I beat Ceaseless Discharge right after Quelaag and then learned there was nowhere to go afterwards, whoops.)

Lore Musings:

(Look I know I'm probably super off - this game is very old and has sequels and I'm sure people have spent literal months of their lives piecing it all together, and believe you me I will be watching lore videos... after I have finished the game. By which I here mean "gotten all achievements". Which, google tells me [I like to check these things] will take three playthroughs. So it'll be a while, and it's fun to piece things together on my own! Feel free to hint cheekily at things that are right and wrong here but please don't spoil.)

I've been told I am to succeed Lord Gwyn and take his place to "link the first flame" and prolong the Age of Fire. Mm. Right. So. That seems lovely. Really, honestly, lovely - the world is beautiful. Worth keeping it going, I think.

(I had an initial theory that, having kinda passed its natural endpoint, the whole world was basically "undead" - lumbering on after it was supposed to have ended. So that prolonging it would effectively curse everyone to eventually go Hollow. But it sounds like "linking"/succeeding Gwyn would actually return things to how they were a millennia ago and solve this whole undead problem.)

......However. Two issues there.

First Issue: One of my favorite games of all time is Hollow Knight, which I've heard is rather DS-inspired. I definitely see how. Not just the metroidvania design and emphasis on challenging bosses and drip-fed lore, but themes. Light and dark. A sacrifice to keep something at bay, who is failing in their duty, who needs to be replaced. Now, I'm not going to rely on a completely different game to inform my understanding of this one's lore, but...

... But... well, this isn't a permanent solution, is it? Something like a thousand years ago, as I understand it so far, shit went down. People started becoming undead, Gwyn went off to Do Something About It. (Also the Witch of Izalith fell to Chaos around that time? Will get there.) Havel went Hollow and was locked in his tower, presumably by Gwyn (which was my original clue that Gwyn/the Lords were still alive after their whole Lords vs. Dragons showdown, since it meant Gwyn had to still have been around when the zombie problem began - love this piecemeal lore).

Gwyn "linked the flame" (the First Flame? what did he link it to? current bet is the Shrine, since that is what it is named - maybe that has something to do with why its Firekeeper, of all of them, seems to have some terrible penance she is performing). Now it's my turn? But Gwyn was a Lord (whatever that means? current guess is Lord=God but we've heard of more gods than just the four, so honestly I'm gonna base my Lord=God assumption entirely on what happens when I collect a Lord's soul and whether they look like the other unique souls in my inventory, since that would imply they're a similar kind of soul).

I am not a Lord. I'm just some dude. a flawed vessel, if you will.

Meaning that eventually - and probably less than 1000 years from now, someone is going to have to succeed me. (Was Gwyn even the first?)

How far will this go? How long can this last?

We're prolonging the inevitable.

(Also what does "linking the fire" entail and is this a Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas situation.)

Now, you could easily frame "prolonging the inevitable" as either a good or bad thing.

(1) Theme of persistence and hope: Even if the end is inevitable, isn't it worth fighting to drive it back as long as possible? Just because everything ends doesn't mean we shouldn't give up and wait for it to happen. We must fight to keep the fire lit, as long as we can.

(2) Theme of acceptance and change: Yes, everything ends and the end is inevitable - fighting that will only lead to despair. Ends are not bad, change is not bad, and letting change occur is not giving up - it is only witnessing the start of a new age. Even if we can bring it back to its former glory in some day, is the world not, by this point, undead?

Is that a bad thing to be?

Even if it isn't, is there new life that we are preventing from existing?

Now of course you can argue that there is not new life! What is to come is darkness! It is devouring, consumption, end, ash, blindness! (Funny, though, isn't it how all of those things can come also from wildfires.) Dark is bad. Obviously. Of course we don't want the end to come, when all it will bring is despair.

But then, that's the Second Issue:

"Falling to dark", the end of the age of fire, it's all presented as quite horrible. Fair enough! It does, indeed, seem to be! Certainly darkness is a corrupting force - Gwyn's soul (?) split into four, Four Kings, falling to dark - don't know what that's about yet, I imagine I have to find some way to drain New Londo to find out.

Point is, darkness is bad! Very bad! Everyone is quite insistent upon this! Dark=bad. Falling to it = bad.

....

........Except I'm in Lost Izalith right now and it's. uh.

not gonna lie, it's pretty bad here.

and it's very, very bright.

Here, in this lava-lit city, where Solaire himself found a "sun" so blindingly beautiful he lost himself to it. Here, where the witches who had mastered fire - mastered light - fell just as hard.

Light, it seems, is just as corrupting a force.

"Chaos" is more confusing - I think it's effectively the primordial base from which light and dark arise, aka "Disparity", will have to watch the opening cutscene for a third time. But that doesn't seem quite right since seems to be more light-aligned, what with the chaos fire pyromancies and seeing how the witch and her daughters were corrupted by chaos. not dark. they did not fall to dark.

Again, haven't figured out what's going on with the Kings yet, but...

...I am not convinced that dark is evil.

And I'm not convinced that clinging to light is the right thing to do.

Fantasy likes to paint darkness as stagnation and death, light as life and change.

But as I understand it, both light and dark arose from Disparity, which had something to do with the First Flame. They were created at the same time. There is no such thing as light without a corresponding concept of darkness. They are equals.

Stagnation, emptiness, those aren't characteristics of darkness, they're characteristics of the ancient world, the one the dragons ruled/existed in. Dragons which might (?) have been made of stone, the #1 metaphor for something firm and unchanging and eternal (geologists everywhere just rolled their eyes). Eternity, immortality, that predates light and dark.

The concept of decay and death requires a concept of life, of change. A world of dark is not a world without change. Things still died in the Age of Fire; it is not eternal. (that's rather the whole "problem", actually). Hell, Nito is apparently "first of the dead" and he was born of flame like the other Lords as per opening cinematic. Things will, presumably, still live in some future Age of Darkness.

...the entire point of disparity, of fire, was the introduction of the possibility of change.

........so it kind of feels that the perpetuation of this world, a world of Fire Unchanging, would be just... a shallow and ill-fitting recreation of How It Used To Be during the age before disparity came to be.

Like. Look. Uninformed blind-playthrough timeline here: There was Stagnation, all stone and dragons. Then, Disparity was born, Change, and with it Light and Dark. The Souls of Lords were found, and used Light to fight against Stagnation. (I feel like Dark would have worked just as well.) They built a world of Light.

Now everyone is upset that Change is happening? My dudes you built this place out of one half of Change incarnate. It does that! It's almost as if you didn't really want Change, you just wanted a new world of Stagnation in which you ruled as gods.

A new eternal kingdom, made of fire instead of stone.

But fire isn't stone. Fires go out, eventually. And are rekindled.

....Funny, it's almost like a classic dark-light-dark-light cycle. The story is so close to "there was dark, then light, now dark is coming again and everyone fond of light is trying to stop it".

But it's not.

Because there hasn't been dark - at least, not a full-on Age of it. I think. I dunno, there are two more games and I haven't finished this one yet but...

...I suspect that that kind of cycle is exactly what would happen if this age ended! Dark is born of disparity, too! It'd end eventually, and a new Age of Fire would be born, and so on, ad infinitum, until even change itself changes and the cycle is broken, because an infinite cycle is really just its own kind of stagnation and one day someone will have to make that choice.

But that's not this story. This cycle hasn't even started, because fire is clung to so tightly.

Maybe that's not a bad thing. Again, infinite cycles, not great, but... more natural, certainly. And if dark is destruction without rebirth, decay without fertilization of new soil, despair and suffering without relief, then, well, I can't say I disagree.

...............but is it though? all I have been told of it comes from its kings and those who followed them. maybe they are corrupt and unwilling to give up their power. or maybe, more likely, they are only afraid of the dark.

....We are afraid of the dark when we do not know what lurks in it. Souls of Lords, found in the flame - they're children of light, then? What do I know so far, that is born from the dark? Anything?

........yeah I have no idea if I am reading really really really too far into this but from what I know of games that take inspiration from this and from what osmosis of its Themes has entered pop culture I really don't think I am. (and hell, even if I am, it's super fun)

I don't know if I'm going to have the choice to succeed Gwyn or not but I have a sneaking suspicion that the answer is yes given that the achievements list gives two endings named "To Link the Fire" and "The Dark Lord" (the latter of which... uh... vaguely ominous)

also side note what the fuck is humanity

and also talking about Lords why has no one mentioned the furtive pygmy since the opening cutscene. "so easily forgotten indeed"

Four souls for the Lordvessel: Nito, the Witch, Gwyn in four pieces via the Kings…. and Seath? The dragon? Not the pygmy. What happened to the pygmy.

[rewatched cutscene] "then from the Dark, they came" are those humans. those look like humans.

something is very weird here.

WAIT FUCK corollary to 49

"Then from the Dark, they came" humans. found lords in the flame. are humans are born of dark like lords are of light?

.....well what the fuck does that mean?

if lords=gods, are humans "dark" things that have been ruled by light for millennia? i mean, that's not so bad, light is lovely, big fan of fire, I am a bona fide swamp-dwelling pyromancer fire is my jam 10/10 would solve all my problems with arson wait are we the fucking "dark souls"

I mean we exist during this Age of Fire, but we're also turning undead. A problem the gods don't (?) seem to be having.

…We are afraid of the dark when we do not know what lurks in it.

What if we are what lurks in it?

...........alright now I'm reading too much into this. But I LOVE this kind of lore where things all just feel… kind of off? As if there is some big picture you can't -quite- see.

I am under no illusion these questions'll be answered perfectly in-game, and I'm well aware there are 12 years of figuring all this out for me to catch up on! But damn if it isn't fun to specul-

THE HUMANITY ITEM. IS A FUCKING. BOSS SOUL ITEM. IN INVERTED COLORS.

.........

Gripes:

...not many. But the one thing. My nemesis. In this game. Is the god-damned keyboard menu controls. Look, I get that this was made for controller! I do! But I do not own one! Navigating the weapon/item selection is one thing, I'm [checks steam] 84.7 hours in [...oh god, really?? holy fuck. dear lord.] and have finally gotten a handle on that!

But the button to unequip an item in the equipment screen is the same as the button to switch to inspection in the... item screen. whatever you call it. and I suspect this would actually be the same for controller.

How many times have I unequipped something when I meant to look at it? many. 84.7 hour in, how often do I do this still? usually.

...also I only found that bonfire in Sen's Fortress via combination of friendly player message and sheer dumb luck holy crap that would have been a nightmare y'all didn't need to make them that hidden.

......also it'd be very nice if NPCs had some sort of indicator of their name, or mentioned it more than once. I remember Solaire (...RIP, poor dude found his new sun, I carry his talisman in solidarity) and Quelana (because it's so close to Quelaag) and Eingyi (he's mentioned in an item description and the whole... egg... thing haunted me for ages before I met him) and Sif (because why would you make me kill a good pup, guard dog wolf with sword, best friend, she [? female name in Norse myth, not sure if character is also female] was protecting her master's damned grave she did not deserve this) and for some reason Laurentius (dunno why that one stuck) but everyone else gets monikers. Onionman. Bird Friend. Sad Friend. Blacksmith. Bigger Blacksmith. Deader Blacksmith. Sadder Blacksmith. Cheshire Cat Lady.

(Frampt is remembered now because Gwynevere says his name but in my heart he is still Mr. Teeth.)

..........yeah that's all I got, honestly, I have loved everything else about this game.

WAIT NO

ONE MORE THING THAT I REALLY HATE

so there are all these player messages before female characters with no tops reading "great chest ahead"

ha ha very amusing yes chuckle chuckle

BUT

you know who has a very well-defined chest on full display right there in your face and for whom I have never seen a single "great chest ahead" message?

SMOUGH.

i realize that he is wearing armor but i have no reason to believe it isn't form-fitting and true-to-life. dude may as well be topless. there is no smough boobs appreciation and i will not stand for it.

To conclude, I present two pieces of evidence:

"Since his sores were inflamed by lava from birth, his witch sisters gave him this special ring." - Orange Charred Ring item description

"...the Witch of Izalith and her Daughters of Chaos..." - opening cinematic

Diversity win! Ceaseless Discharge is trans.

[crossdressingdeath]

I’m glad I’m not the only one that believes switching protags makes no sense. Like, I understand for new people who play that first wouldn’t know who the Inquisitor is… but like, at the very least they MUST have the Inky come back and get closure with Solas — either as an advisor kind of like Hawke or as a companion. Anyways my point is I’m glad I’m not the only one bitter at BioWare for this.

Honestly? DA4 is the fourth game in the series, in a series that does have an overarching narrative. If you're starting with the fourth game in a narrative-heavy series, you deserve to be confused.

The thing with the protagonist switch is that it worked between DAO and Awakening (where it was an optional thing so that people who sacrificed their Warden could still play the DLC rather than a guaranteed change, meaning you only got the protag switch if the original protag wasn't available anymore), and it worked between DAO and DA2 (the Warden's story is pretty conclusively wrapped up by the end of all the DAO DLCs and they wouldn't fit the vibe of DA2 as an established world-saving hero anyway), and it worked between DA2 and DAI (the game makes a point of justifying why it isn't the Warden or Hawke with the Warden's letter telling the player why they're gone and Varric lying to keep Hawke out of that role, and again neither of them would really fit the vibe of DAI). It works in all those cases, because one way or another the previous protagonist's story is wrapped up in a neat little bow and over with. Quiz's story, though? Quiz's story is absolutely not finished. Solas's story is Quiz's story in a very real way; Trespasser makes it very clear that a high approval Quiz is the only one who stands a chance of talking Solas down, and while they might not be the only one who could kill Solas they're definitely the one with the biggest personal stake in it. Putting anyone else in the protagonist seat at this point does both Quiz and the new protagonist a disservice: Quiz's story is left without its natural conclusion, and the new protagonist's story will always feel hollow just because either they defeat Solas when everyone playing knows that that wasn't their victory to claim, or they don't defeat Solas in favour of Quiz doing it despite him being the game's main villain and the game's finale is left wanting as a result. And even bringing Quiz back as an advisor or companion wouldn't really work, because... well, Hawke can only have three distinct personalities and they still manage to say a lot of shit in DAI that they never would've said while I was controlling them. No, bringing back previous protagonists in anything more than a letter or mentions from other characters is a bad idea in a game like this. The only real solution would've been to keep Quiz as the protagonist; sure, it would be breaking with series tradition of changing the protagonist with each new game, but this is just not a point in the series where changing it up works. Even if the new protagonist is working for Quiz directly, it still just won't feel right.

[smilingperformer]

Discussing the good and bad of Pokémon Journeys: Part “Chloe”

Time to discuss about the character that is still keeping me on board with watching Pokémon (2019)/Journeys despite having, cough, some issues with it. Let's talk about Chloe, also known as Koharu.

TLDR; I like how Koharu is handled so far, even if I somewhat wish there was more of her, and I believe I know what the intention with her is, and that is to show that the journey to finding your dream goal can be an exciting one and with possible obstacles on the way towards it. More under the cut, Journeys abverted as JN.

So. Let's start with how I became to like her character the moment JN002 aired, but also how her debut in JN001 has become interesting part of how Koharu used to love Pokémon, but then grew out of it. Which to me, reminds of people who grew with playing Pokémon games, cards, etc, but then as they got older, they grew out of it.

Anyway, as we all probably remember, both Gou and Koharu attended the Okido Camp as kids, where BOTH of the eventually meet Mew. From the very beginning, we're let known that Koharu is a daughter of a promising Professor Sakuragi, who's acquainted with Okido.

And we're also let known that the two are friends from before the camp, and I assume their games at Sakuragi's Lab involved playing as Pokémon or other stuff. She most definitely loved Pokémon and her dad's work back then.

But then when we fastforward to the present day as Satoshi, Gou and Koharu are all 10 years old, we see that this attitude has changed in Koharu. She's no longer interested in Pokémon that much, and the only Pokémon she accepts near her is their family 'mon Wanpachi. For me, this was very interesting approach, even if the "not interested in Pokémon" was done before with May/Haruka back in Advanced Generation series.

Even with this interesting approach, she was a side/supporting cast instead of main cast, which honestly felt weird to me as she definitely had a story to tell. But as I've been watching other shows lately, I kinda came to realise her approach reminds me of mid-season additions to cast, even thou her appearances nowdays are just a BIT more frequent, when before her joining the Research Fellows, she appear very seldomly.

Anyway. In JN011 we finally learn that, she pretty much has issues with people's expectations and how everyone assumes her to be very much involved with Pokémon just because of her dad's work. Truly, this would end up affecting her affection towards Pokémon, thou it's possibly not the whole reason for losing interest. She even admits here she's not sure of what she truly wants to do yet.

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of goal finding journeys, as they are very relatable to me as someone who took 20+ years to find out what I truly want to do for living, so Koharu wanting to find something instead of other people deciding it for her is very good lesson.

So what exactly is the approach with Koharu from this ep forward? Showing her see Pokémon in different, totally new lights, figuratively speaking. She's shown to take care of a Pidove who broke its wing in a runaway flight, helped her lil brother Sota's friend, Nami, attend to a small children's Contest, and went to a Fossil Exhibition with Satoshi and Gou to learn about fossils. And I feel like that, this fossil exhibition event is what truly rekindled Koharu's interest in Pokémon again. As we all remember, she truly enjoyed that trip, and she, for the first time, got to see Gou bond with a Pokémon, that was rampaging just moments ago. And this episode, accompanied with JN050, are why I am currently thinking Koharu's end goal will end up being related to fossils. It certainy would be an interesting approach for a female cast character, and I wouldn't mind her having a chat with some other character who's also involved in researching fossils... (cough Gary/Shigeru cough)

Anyway. All of this seemingly lead up to Koharu finally meeting her very apparent soul mate: Eevee. I know, that most people were somewhat (or even totally) annoyed by the fact that yet another pokegirl receives Eevee as their Pokémon, and that this is just boring. While I understand the sentiment, considering Koharu's character: Eevee is the only Pokémon that actually fits her. Koharu is out there still figuring out what she wants to be. What she wants to do. And Eevee is the most relatable Pokémon for that kind of character: Eevee can become eight, and I repeat, eight, different evolutions. That's pretty much the same as having different paths to choose from when deciding your goal. And this specific Eevee has also not yet decided what it wants to do. It refuses to evolve. While in-game one could say this is because of the g-max factor, I highly believe this is purely done for the purpose of making Koharu and Eevee relate on a very, very personal level. So instead of Eevee having the g-max factor disabling the evolution (because let's face it, it's only done so people won't accidentally evolve their Gigantamax Eevee), Eevee is kind of, constantly pressing the B button to prevent it.

Now: what has Eevee exactly given to Koharu's character? A lot actually. When before Koharu would try to deny interest in something or try to say she has something else to do instead of a trip, Eevee is there to push her forward to try things out.

Like in JN050, Koharu is trying to priotize her School instead of a Fossil trip to Galar, but thanks to Eevee, who wants to go, Koharu gets the needed push to go and try out new stuff. I very much adored this scene in this episode, due to encouraging the "try out new things" approach in life. From this point forward, we then see Koharu join in on other trips like the Diglett Farm (where she definitely shined in team leading and got to experience the farming and team leader approach) and the Glimwood Tangle trip, that Koharu herself prompted to her dad and the boys, instead of being asked to join. Which reminds me of something else btw.

While Gou is shown to be very knowledged with Pokémon, Koharu is shown to know more about other fields like how plants grows, and what kind of soil is good. This is from either school lessons or from her experience with taking care of the school flowers. She could possibly be considered a good student, and btw, I very much like the approach of not making her a school dropout once she started joining in on research trips, and instead takes homework to accomodate the fact that she's missing out on lessons. This isn't unusual in real life, so I'm glad JN is actually showcasing this approach with both Koharu and Gou. Thou with Gou, he's pretty much always absent, haha.

Now, her latest episode with Kikuna was an interesting one. While Koharu's main point in the episode was kind of to be the angel of love for Kikuna (which failed horribly, love you Kikuna <333 ), I'd say there was another reason for her being in that episode with Kikuna: it was to let her learn of the possibility of meeting possible pitfalls in one's dream goals. That lesson was in Kikuna's story about how she almost gave up in becoming a researcher due to a mess up with an important presentation for a conference, but found the strenght to try again. It's part of reaching your dream goal a lot of the time. Even Koharu's mom, Yoshino/Talia, gave her the story of how she originally wanted to be a mangaka, but gave up on the dream and instead approached something similar. These are all very important life lessons in how working toward one's goal can either fail, or come accoss obstacles. It depends on the person whether they'll end up switching the goal to something else, or strive to go forward to get past the obstacle. As someone who had exactly Koharu's mom's experience longside having to take a long while to find one, I appreciate that Koharu's journey has been about learning the good and bad experiences of working towards a dream goal.

Now: has this storyline been executed well? Imo, it has, but it ain't perfect, as there are some parts where I'd like to see some improvement on.

One of them is with how it's sometimes unclear as what kind of character she is counted as. Is the a main character alongside Gou and Satoshi now? Is the still supporting cast? Is she a lower tier main character that won't appear every episode still? The latest option would appear to be the case, but it's not often that simple to see.

There's also the case of Wanpachi seeming like it was teased to be eventually becoming Koharu's first partner, but instead it ended up being Eevee. I think for most, before JN049 aired, people assumed Wanpachi didn't belong to anyone exactly and thus was free reign. But, as JN049 confirmed, Wanpachi belonged to Sakuragi himself. Which is sorta funny, as Wanpachi clearly loves him the least, haha. So, what exactly do they intend with Wanpachi? I think, that in time it'll eventually switch owners to Koharu, as it clearly loves her the most, but the journey there is still on-going.

Now, here's something interest to think about: I think Koharu not being in every episode has actually been benefitial for her, as she never gives me the feeling that she's taking anyone's time for herself, and her involvements in stories fit quite well. My current favourites for her are definitely her team leading in Diglett episode, which is JN052, and the Galarian Ponyta episode (JN055) where she clearly showcased that she's able to handle herself in sticky situations. Which is quite a beautiful detail, at least to me.

Now to quiiickly note her dynamics quickly, let's talk a bit about how she is a big sister. Like, for real. She's got a baby brother in Sota/Parker, and the two do seem to have good relationship going on. However, I really want to see more of this! There's way too little of it going on right now, and it's mostly been typical siblinghood. I'm so glad there's still full on family aspects in JN, which is what I loved in Sun & Moon so so so much, but I want to see more. MORE! MORE-

I already talked about how I enjoy her dynamics with Gou and how their childhood friendship is showcased so well, and yet I still grave to see more. The two know each other well, and Gou always, ALWAYS respects Koharu, while Koharu ain't afraid to tell what's on her mind to Gou. Thou, she also knows that Gou would judge her if she were to ask about Pokémon bonding tips. Dyamn.

Now: I want more of Koharu and Satoshi. The two def seemed to have a bit of a "uugh who are you don't talk to me" approach, but it naturally faded as they went on their first trip to Nibi City's Fossil Exhibition. And they've been in good relations since I'd say.

Also to quickly note, I love how Koharu has been mentioned in couple scenes as being the character who's taught them first-aid or told about jealousy and how one should take Pokémon's feeling into consideration (even if this latter one should be obvious to Satoshi but, I digress, Satoshi was way too focused on Riolu and just assumed Pikachu would be fine since they've been buds since forever).

There's also so much more I still want to learn about: how exactly did she meet Gou and why she decided to be friends with him, does she have other friends besides him (because I would assume so but she's never shown with anyone else), give us an episode that's focused on Koharu & Sota, let her see Satoshi battle as well (afaik, she has NOT), let her meet Alola Squad + other past companions, and oooh there's so much I want her to do and I see so, so much potential in her character and I really really REALLY hope the writers don't screw her up.

Now is that all I wanted to talk about regarding Koharu... I guess so. As you might have figured out by now: I almost have no issues with how Koharu is written. She's enjoyable to watch and, suprisingly, I find the pace of her story-telling pleasant and not too fast nor way too slow. Could it do well with a bit faster pace? Possibly, but due to me seeing her as sort of a mid-season addition akin to how Precure or Digimon do them, I'm fine with this approach. Considering the current pace, I think she'll end up finding what she wants to end up working towards to by the end of this year, or early next year. And, despite how many might fear, I highly doubt it will be Contests. As it's pretty clear JN isn't out there to promote mainline games feature-to-feature, but instead cherry picks stuff it wants to do. I'm still quite certain, that she'll end up becoming a professor of her own fields, possibly of fossils (which, considering DP's Underground feature, could fit very well in promoting this feature of the remakes). Maybe even become a team leader of a fossil researching team, as she definitely showcases the skills for it, for knowing soil, fossil digging and again, team leading. And I totally didn't figure this out while writing this post. :'D (I totally did.)

So. I believe I'll end this post here, as this is already quite long by now and, honestly, there's not much left to talk about. It really feels good for me to talk so positively about a character in JN, as it's no secret that I ain't the biggest fan of the show. However, Koharu's approach speaks to me personally, very well, and I so, so look forward to seeing how her journey ends up going, and where it will lead her.

So who's up next on the list of discussions? I think you guys can guess it.

And it's gonna be a doozy one. Oh man oh man.

Thank you so much for reading if you came this far, have a fantastic evening/morning/whatever, and take good care of yourselves!

This was Smiling Performer aka Aleira, signing out! PEACE!

[quotes-of-dreamland]

my last ask for the night:

i am the one who made the "least fav" joke. this was COMPLETELY lighthearted, and it was just making fun of the idea of favorite mods

i then replied with "don't worry, ..." thinking there might have been a mixup or something, but i guess it just made it worse

lastly, i replied with "was NOT ..." for the same reason

i have not sent any other asks on this topic, so in case it isn't clear, i do not have a favorite or least favorite or any other view of the mods

frankly, i always enjoy seeing content from the less active mods because i think they all should be recognized for their contributions

of course no amount of explaining will change anything, as usual im misunderstood, but i guess it doesn't matter, so

I'm sorry.

/g

Mod Taranza:

Thank you for coming forward and being honest. We don’t accept your apology, or at least I sure as hell don’t. I never will. Call me cruel, but I’m putting my foot down on this. It wasn’t even funny as a joke. In what universe would that be a funny joke? I’ve been bullied with that kind of implication before. I’ve had to seriously fear my friends forgetting about me before and feeling like the odd one out. I cannot stress enough how inappropriate that was. You weren’t making a joke, you were just being the thing.

SECONDLY, you don’t come back saying sorry to begin with and clearing up the mistake, you just add onto it and adding further stress onto it when we set a boundary on “don’t do this kind of talk please”

But that didn’t stop there either! You just kept fucking going long after you should have taken the initial post as your warning and stop. This isn’t just being socially inept or ignorant, this was straight up unacceptable. Do you have any idea what kind of fucking panic you caused? Just how frantic everyone was tonight trying to keep calm in this? You caused one of the mods, no not just that, one of my best friends to feel absolutely horrible. They felt so horrible they wanted to scream, and I had to sit and scroll through all this bullshit.

Normally, I wouldn’t be so bothered. Normally I could just let this all slide off me and continue on! But this. This was fucking unacceptable. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care whatever issues you have. You should have known better. If you’re old enough to be using the internet and talking with people, you should have known better by now not to do this ever.

So please. If you’re really sorry. If you hold any true shred of regret. Don’t talk to us ever again. I don’t want to see your kind of talk here again. Let us try to get over this in our own time and grow to trust our own followers and audience again for the fifth time this god damn year. Because if this were up to me you would be blocked from ever interacting with anything we do ever again. Good fucking riddance.

Bandana Moddle Dee: Honestly, it sucks that I have to drop the persona that I like to be for this, but fading away is something that I fear nightly. To essentially be told that I’m a side character hurts. I usually don’t butt in on these since I don’t think what was done was that bad. This is an exception. I’m not sorry. The door is that way.

Mod Susie: Your first ask was an opportunity for us to set a boundary that was overdue to be set. That was me saying 'this is not an okay thing for you to say.' That was strike one. THEN, you came back by digging yourself a deeper hole, trying to defend yourself. Despite this not being the opinion you held, you still tried to defend it. Strike two. Then you pushed the issue ONE MORE TIME. Strike three. I'm glad you apologized. Let me be less vague: This is a boundary. This is a boundary and we will not tolerate it. Thank you. Have a good [timezone].

Mod Lor: I'm like Moddle Dee in that I usually stay out of this sort of thing, but this is too much for me to simply ignore.

Do you have any fucking idea how this makes us all feel?

I don't care what the hell kind of justification you have. I don't give one damn single electron-sized flying FUCK if you thought what you were saying is funny or uplifted the mods you're putting on a pedestal. In the very best case scenario, it was a backhanded compliment. Putting a few of us up on shiny special pedestals, ignoring the fact it implies the rest of us are lesser or inferior. Our activity on this blog isn't a fucking contest.

Now, let me speak about myself for a moment. This is the first group of friends I've had in literal YEARS where I DIDN'T feel like an outsider or extra or third wheel. I've lived practically my entire life feeling like the permanent new kid in school with every group I've been a part of; like I was never part of them really. Sure, people said they were friends with me, but were they really? Or was I just the extra unwanted person that they were too scared to tell to leave? Yeah, just imagine living like that for over a decade..

Things have been different here. I actually feel like one of the members in this group, not an extra.. Do you think for one millisecond that it's ok to invalidate that? To once again label me and others as just side characters among their own friends? Because if you do, here comes a reality check!

This isn't a game. This isn't a fucking TV show, or a book, or a play. We are REAL PEOPLE. We are REAL FRIENDS who run this blog because we wanted to share our enjoyment of a series with our followers. We have REAL FEELINGS. So if you're going to stomp all over that just to make some shitty, unfunny, underhanded joke?

Get the fuck away from us, get the fuck away from this blog, and get the fuck away from this entire god damned website.

[abschaumno1]

I'm not the anon who sent you an ask about how your Choices and Paths series is great (but I may or may not be the one that leaves you lots of long incoherent comments :D), but I'm still taking this opportunity to talk more about how I love your writing! I have to agree with other anon who says you write Impulse really well, I'm not even sure exactly what it is about how you write him, but it just gives off the same vibes as the actual Impulse. I love well written fantasy AUs too, especially for Hermitcraft since in my mind fantasy is as close to Minecraft as you can get without writing in the Minecraft world (which isn't a bad thing, but it can break the illusion of it being a real world with things like inventories and blocks). Also, I don't really read much fic anymore, I really just don't spend a ton of time interacting with fandom anymore since I started college (also I'm a minor and don't like reading NSFW so that limits options). Anyways, your writing is great and I really do appreciate you sharing it ❤️

It is you! Hi!

I honestly can't tell you what I do to make him that way either? I just...write him and hope it turns out alright?

That's completely valid. At the end of the day Minecraft is not "realistic" and in writing fic I personally always try to figure out the balance between realism and all the non-realistic elements of the game. And I'll try to keep this short but literature brain goes brrrr and because it's running on 4 or 5 hours of sleep it just got stuck on this whole aspect of...word interpretation and meaning I guess? Like if someone in one of my hermitcraft fics says "table" do they mean the classic irl table with four legs or do they mean a fence post with a pressure plate on top or an upside down stair? Like...they would rarely think about what a table is, it's just a table, it's what they know as a table, right? And sure you can go in there and add descriptors. "She sighed and lay down her head on the pressure plate that made up the table top." But honestly I like it more to let people guess? Imagine the table whichever way you want. Go wild.

I hope that last paragraph made sense lol.

And I definitely get the interacting less with fandom thing. I work full-time and it has honestly cut down on my ability to interact with fandom. Not just because I have less time but because very often I just want to chill and not interact with people when I get home.

I'm so so glad you like what I do! Thank you for reading and all your comments! It always makes me so happy to see people engage with what I do.

[survivorreelsmagicwithin]

Episode 13- “lines aren't drawn yet and this game isn't over”-Lily

I VOTED THE RIGHT WAY!! FOR ONCE.  IN.  MY.  LIFE!! And it really feels so great!  I feel really bad, Landen is a GREAT player and if he was in final three no matter who he was sitting next to I am pretty sure I would have voted for him.  The fan in me is so mad at myself right now and if this series has an All Stars season I will start a petition for Landen to be cast! Right now I am hoping that I can salvage my relationship with Lily but it feels great to have numbers on my side for once!  I was never super close to ANY of these people except for maybe Kevin but I think that we all work good together and that vote was easy peasy with zero drama! 

6 minutes later

ALSO, my favorite quote of the day today was from Chips, I am still cackling- Me: Telling Chips that I'm scared I'm going to vote wrong and that I haven't made my rounds bc I'm watching real Survivor, bla bla bla.... and I congratulate him again for winning immunity. Chips: I hope I vote right this round. Chips: Glad you can't vote me again HAHAHA I love how honest and to the point he is and how he isn't afraid to call me out, I am so dead, LOL.

BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOF. Just a big ole oof. wowza. Am I the biggest fool that there ever was??? YOU BETCHA. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH LANDENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN WHY!? What a crazy game this is and as per usual blessed to still be playing but I'm in my lazy boy crying about Landen getting the boot. Played with that kid since day 1! Ultimate duo. Love you but why you gotta leave me hanging on a single autumn vote?????? The only good thing to come of this is now I'm a free agent. At least I made F7 my favorite number at least now I can go out with some dignity. I shot my shot and I got my best bud out of the game. Oop. So screw what I said at tribal council, lines aren't drawn yet and this game isn't over. 

2 hours later

Am I going to go absolutely nuts today? Yeah, probably. Ruthie is the only one online right now and I’m trying to make something happen. If I think about the dynamics going on right now it’s clear to me that autumn and chips are on the outs with Joanna, juls, Kevin, and Ruthie working together on the last vote. I can also tell that Kevin and Ruthie don’t want to vote for me so that at least gives me decent odds of making it through this vote. However they will most likely go for autumn as Ruthie has already suggested. This will most likely lead into me getting voted out around 5th if Kevin continues to win immunity challenges. I’m wondering if I can work with Kevin and Ruthie on this vote to get out Joanna I might be in a better position in the next coming cotes. That leaves a lot of big threats still in the game including the ruthie/Kevin duo. I know I can’t be too pushy with this group but I gotta try to make something happen otherwise what’s the point.

As far as tonight goes I am covering ALL my bases and both groups of Kevin, Juls and Joanna as well as Autumn, Lily and Chips think I am voting with them... LOL. This is honestly going to come back to bite me in the ass, I feel it coming!   It is nearing end game and I just NEED to vote smartly.  I feel like if I can gain Lily's trust and vote with them this round maybe I can get her to turn on Autumn and we can vote Autumn out next round.  I don't know who would be good to sit next to at the end right now, but with the position I'm in now I feel like Kevin will eventually try to get rid of me so that he could sit next to Juls and Joanna at the end and possibly win? UGH, I still don't know what I'm doing this round but I think that I am going to vote with Lily, Autumn and Chips as long as I keep a good read on them.  My only other concern is if I need to tell Kevin I'm doing this before the vote or not.  I'm just going to keep an open mind and figure it out when it gets to that.   I feel like such a villain and I don't know how I feel about that!! 

I almost won one :(

hello hello its me, so i won immunity this round in a TIEBREAKER !! thank god i took my time to think about that one, funnily enough my original guess was gonna be 39 just with the math i did in my head (the actual answer was 38) but i figured i wasn't giving people enough credit so i bumped it up to 41, i was even considering 43, but im glad i didn't whew. anyways enough about the challenge but i won a memory comp so i wanted to touch on that because thats exciting. Alrighty well today has been pretty tame as far as the vote goes, it's almost 30 minutes before tribal and the chat with myself joanna juls and ruthie all agreed chips was a good vote out, i spoke to lily who said she heard autumn's name but i didn't hear that but i do think voting autumn would be smart. My only concern is i think autumn is a good person for me to use as someone i can get votes on next round if i lose immunity, she has been involved in a LOT of stuff in this game she was involved in the owen flip, the ruthie flip even though she was idoled and then even the jules flip, like she's been in everyones ear but people dont really see it, but i think lily does. And so if i can keep autumn as someone to campaign against if i lose immunity i feel like i have a shot at staying next round without immunity. HOWEVER, BREAKING NEWS, juls just told me that chips told her that he thinks it might be her going home, saying that the people who think she is close to me are saying that. Which could be true, but it could also be a tactic to try and get juls to flip or maybe misplay an idol, theres so many things that are going on. In a perfect world chips goes home, then autumn and then idk what at 5. If juls DOES go i think potentially bounce back, i think i could work with ruthie and lily as og hufflepuffs and i dont think joanna would necessarily outright target me over ruthie or lily. But it's dangerous because right now joanna is in the middle and as she proved last round she is willing to do whatever she has to and i think she lied to landen REALLY well so im nervous. I'm considering getting lily and juls and just voting autumn and if they try anything it could go 3-3-1 or potentially if we are not being lied to it goes 3-2-2 which gets out my target for next round, and breaks my trust even more with joanna, who vocalized how upset she was that i have lied to her/not voted with her. I think my best bet is to stick to the chips vote and give off the energy like im riding this group til the wheels fall off. If juls does go home, then i have to step my game up but honestly i have been in the drivers seat long enough in this game, if people want to make moves and take the heat off of me and just keep giving me blows to the perception that im potentially controlling things or at the center of the things? idek if thats the perception people have or maybe im just delusion and overhyping myself. I think i can sell my position in the owen/dan/landen votes as being less impactful than i think it really was. But autumn is smart, as is lily, they could see through me, but i think the calmness of landen not being here is helping me kinda sell the whole "see all that stuff was cause of landen!! not little ol me!!!" and if i continue to vote with the people i voted with last round i could make f5 in this game in a neat spot. But that's if people continue to trust me, which they would have reason not to but i hope that they do. This is such a calm round yet things are still so so so complex and layered. this game is genuinely something unlike anything I have played. Wish me luck im gonna need it.

Alright. So last round was a mess with Landen leaving and Lily trying to blindside Autumn. Not really conducive to an alliance sticking together when one votes out another and the other makes the attempt. To try to pull stuff back together Autumn and I pulled in Lily since she was just swindled into voting incorrectly... and picked up Ruthie since she would be in the bottom of what could be viewed as a trio going into six. Kevin can easily take Juls and Joanna to the end and win if she does not flip. And he will. So this round is either a confirmation of Kevin's win or it's an unlikely group of four voting for one of the people who would be taken to the end as a no-vote getter. I say unlikely group because Ruthie has voted me twice, I have voted her once, I have forced rocks against Lily, and Lily has voted Autumn. Yay team!

yall better not try it this round or there will be blood at Final 6. Here's to hoping everybody does what they're supposed to but if they don't, you can't save em all https://drive.google.com/file/d/1arE1qIyJHouJHyXGrNtW_bS8oYZEpUWb/view?usp=sharing

[joeyvintage]

https://www.videoreligion.net/2019/01/violent-shit-2-mother-hold-my-hand-1992.html?m=1

-rev terry

I think if I were a badass, I would need a metal mask or full covering helmet of some kind. Not for the armor aspect, although head protection is always good, I'm just a fan of the look. I would wear one in my daily life now, but they are probably expensive, and people would expect me to do something cool (as I too would expect of a dude with a metal head).  All my favorite villains had one in my youth. Both Magneto and Dr. Doom from the comics commanded respect and fucked shit up while wearing some metal on their heads. They were probably my earliest examples, but honestly, that's enough to have secured my love for the style. Their helmets were both semi utilitarian but mostly just looked really awesome with their cape combo. In cartoons, GI Joe took the effects of mirrored sunglasses to the next level with Cobra Commander, as he sometimes just had a smooth piece of chrome covering his face. I can get down with that--the blank and shiny look. It’s stylish features even distracted from his shrill sounding voice. I would probably go with something a little more personalized myself, but would definitely want something metal. It just completes the whole look for me. Something about a good sturdy helmet just fits with murder and mayhem. Karl the Butcher gets it. That's why, when he died, along with his love for over-the-top murder, he passed his fancy medieval headwear down to his son, so he would be properly dressed for his own adventure in Violent Shit II (1992).

Long after the events of the first film, two makeshift drug distributing gangs meet up in an open field to engage in something nefarious with a briefcase. For whatever reason, the deal sours, and the two groups go at eliminating each other in various gusher inducing ways. The battle whittles the congregation of assorted backyard wrestles down to a one on one duel between the leaders who both happen to practice kung fu and enjoy white button-up t-shirts. After some fancy moves, one of them slays the other in combat and begins to leave the scene (sans all his dead homies, I guess) but is stopped in his tracks by the sight of a large masked man yelling at him on the horizon. Turns out Karl Butcher Jr, son of the legendary mass murderer, was out for a stroll, spotted the dealers killing each other, and, not to be left out, had rushed to join. Very quickly, Karl (Andreas Schnaas) is on top of the would-be lone brawl survivor and promptly fucks him up with a machete just before the screen goes black. Following its intro and sparse opening credits, the film takes the form of a true crime documentary in development by reporter Paul Glas. Paul believes a string of recent murders can be linked back to The Butcher massacre from twenty years before (and also, the whole thing has something to do with real-life serial killer Fritz Honka...I think?). After divulging the history of Karl senior for a bit over panning random footage of Germany, the reporter follows a tip leading to an interview with some dude in a bar who confirms his suspicions. The Deepthroat-esque “DR. X” then tells him a few stories about the original culprit’s son who, mad about a face rash or something (honestly between the bad subs and silly plot I'm still dim on some details, but it doesn't really matter), had also already done some minor rampaging of his own in the last few years . Switching formats once again, we catch up with Karl II and his (adoptive?) mother (Anke Prothmann in a lot of make-up). Turns out, Momma Butcher has been priming her young progeny to follow in her late husband's footsteps, and now that he has grown to be the spitting image of his father (complete with the heirloom medieval helmet), he is ready to do some eccentric butchery of his own. In fact, this time will be extra special, because mom is coming along too. As one could probably guess, Karl's old lady has some very peculiar parenting ideas, specifically cannibalism and incest. Also at some point, a naturally occurring body hole gets closed up with a stapler, and I think someone eats poop, so watch out for that.

The title is about as far from the old-fashioned B-movie bait and switch as you can get. Like the first film, Violent Shit is wall to wall grotesque violence, only now (in true sequel fashion), it's been turned up a few ridiculous levels. There is an increased story to it compared to the first film, that is to say, there is more than nothing tieing the insane moments of torture and dismemberment together. For the first few acts, a disjointed, random, and confusing series of events form some semblance of a point, but the film forgets about the majority of this as it moves on into plasma soaked sadism. Mostly, the additional fluff just makes room for things the series was truly missing-- like a training montage, cliche fauxumentary tropes, and Kung Fu.  Karl Jr's maternal relationship adds fucked up frosting to an already disturbing cake of sinister shit. The weird sexual thing that's going on there, combined with mom's encouraging cheers, was enough to make me glad the subtitles are wonky and that I don't speak German. At around the same runtime, it might be a little lighter on the fake entrails than the first to make room for the added story, but it wouldn't be considered lacking in most circles. The Butcher-minor is more creative than his father but also seemingly obsessed with genitals (of all genders), which is weird and takes a lot of screen time. There are a few classic machete whacks to the face for some victims. However, as the body count grows, most of the slaughter comes with long, drawn out, silly torture and bloodletting. A bare-bones opposite to the Saw-style mouse trap, instead of providing intricate setups for the deaths, the act of execution itself is long, complicated, and involves several steps. It's all sure to offend anyone who watches but is too extreme to take seriously. Even if you are of the squeamish type, by the fifteenth minute of growling testicle torture and six similar acts, the action loses any real shock and becomes either just gross or hilarious (and gross). It goes for broke, eventually just dissolving into increasing levels of carnage, capturing the essence of a drunken night between friends trying to top each other's morbid imagination. Along with its spastic rampage, the film makes several references to classic American horror films and even borrows a few plot points from the Friday the 13th series unambiguously. To its credit, it's moved forward quite a bit from the first writing-wise, although it’s not like it is casting a bigger net for an audience. It's still just random gore because that's fun sometimes, and hopefully, no one who pops in a film titled Violent Shit 2 will be worried about the level of drama involved.

Shot on tape and seemingly dumping the entirety of its finite resources into gore, Violent Shit 2 is, again, what it says on the tin. The whole thing looks like it was shot in different sections of the same public park, which it refers to as a “forest” at one point. The John Woo tribute, in the beginning, is the film’s most developed moment as far as framing and choreography go, displaying some above average movie brawling for its budget. For the film’s meat and potatoes (Karl the second, killing people), it's a lot more of the same backyard style camera work that kind of hangs around watching the action from any accessible angle. Shots seem almost placed at random, and it jumps between them with meaningless cuts. The film’s biggest draw is an overabundance of practical gore, which comes out as a step above the rest of the film quality- wise. For the lack of resources, the film utilizes some pretty gnarly effects when it comes to flesh mangling, and it doesn't skimp or pull away.  I think I counted four different consistencies of blood, and each horrible scenario is trying to top the last. Without spoiling anything, there is a range of squirtastic stabbings and stringy limb removals that, despite their amateur surrounding conditions, would give a lot of larger budget splatter flicks a run for their money.  Some of the more ambitious (for lack of a better word) moments spend a little too much time on screen and give themselves away, but all together it should more than slate any grimy blood-seekers thirst or send anyone else running. When it isn't mumbling at random volumes, the dubbing is just screaming, grunting and giggle-worthy squishing sounds with no attachment to what's on screen. Music-wise, the film is laced with an out of place, unbalanced soundtrack that sounds straight out of an RPG fantasy video game. Besides the Dungeons & Dragons mood tunes, it does have a German death metal/butt rock theme song (Violent Shit by Vice Versa) bookending it that captures the spirit nicely and almost feels critically necessary. Stick around afterward for some bonus scenes and marquee of credits that look like they are trying to sell you knock off sunglasses.

German director Andreas Schnaas has made an international name for himself with a torrent of ultra-low budget, ultra-violent gross-out splatter flicks that continues today. In 1989, he and some homies secured a tiny bit of funding to form the company Reel Gore Productions and produce their first full-length picture titled Violent Shit. Filmed over four weekends and with a rented tape recorder, the project amounted to a series of violent acts committed by a large masked man named Karl the Butcher, crafted with homemade practical effects (and little else). By the grace of the trash-gods, it saw a single midnight theater showing but received mostly negative reviews on its initial video release due to its lack of production values. However, with a little help from a to-the-point naming strategy and its unrefined grimy gusto, it found an audience worldwide over the following years in less discerning gore hounds who don't mind the homemade feel (a bunch of fucking weirdos probably). Succeeding their second feature Zombie '90: Extreme Pestilence in 1991, Andreas & Co would return to the world of Violent Shit and brewing cult following. To date, the character Karl the Butcher has appeared in six flicks, that I know of, including a reboot of sorts (Violent Shit: The Movie 2015) by Italian director Luigi Pastore, without Andreas Schnaas involvement. Schnaas himself would play the role in most outings, taking over for Karl Inger (allegedly) after the first film.

Violent Shit II: Mother Hold My Hand (aka Violent Shit 2) is a composition sketchbook of demented cartoon executions forged during an in-school suspension and realized in full-color low fidelity magnetic tape. For the right crowd, it's an awesomely inelegant, generously proportioned helping of sloppy sleaze, possibly best devoured while intoxicated. It advances from the first movie to some degree in almost every way, but it's still one for the same exclusive and fucked-up crowd. If you want tasteless acts of dismemberment, childish boundary-pushing, and obscene special effects, it's got you covered. Those seeking damn near anything outside of that, better look for their kicks elsewhere. In a way, it has the same MO as a Gallagher show, in that there are small bits of gibberish in between gags, but ultimately everyone watching is just waiting for red shit to spray, and a majority of possible viewers are not going to get the joke. I enjoy the fuck out of the unseemly mess, although I don't know what that says about me. I also really dig Karl the Butcher’s fashion sense. If only I too had been lucky enough to have inherited some cool metal headgear along with the destructive predispositions.