#i don't know if that is related to how i'm experiencing this game vs. how i experienced the first game

[aparticularbandit]

also, yes, i still like this group of kiddos better than the group in the first game. maybe because they mostly treat each other like friends and are actively trying to treat each other like friends (nagito...is a different story, but he's doing his best in his own way) - it's not just makoto running around like we're all friends while everyone else is super suspicious of each other - the fragments are actually friends trying to make each other feel better while they deal with everything - and like. i like them so much better for that.

which is probably supposed to play into the twist re: fragments of despair because then it hurts more when you know that these people were basically junko's peeps, which should be effective! but i already know they're that, and i'm still attached to them.

honestly, other than the teru teru stuff and the compromising mikan stuff in the first case and monokuma consistently and constantly beating up on monomi for shits and giggles. i overall like these parts of the game better.

....

i don't like the mechanics better (i hate the class trials now, and i hate that they're so much longer, and i hate the changes they made to the mechanics, and i'm so glad i finished nagito's ftes because his ability might actually help me in the trials, and i don't like how the monomono machine stuff has been changed ish but it's still usually better to throw one coin in at a time instead of putting a bunch of coins in all at once. mostly).

but i like the characters better, which gets me more invested in the story.

[m34gs]

For the fandom ask: 🧠🌂❄️!

Thanks for the ask friend!!!! (from this post)

This gets a bit long so under the cut she goes!\

🧠- What fictional character do you relate to the most?

Honestly, probably Jamil Viper from Twisted Wonderland. I get the whole "being told to put someone else ahead of you constantly" and being forced by parents to act like an adult at a young age. I'm an oldest daughter. I've been a caretaker since I was two and my sister was born. I was also raised in a Very Catholic household where I was taught to, as a girl, always anticipate the needs of others around me and plan ahead to take care of them. It's why, up until recent years, I was the friend with cough drops, tissues, granola bars, extra pads, napkins, and even possibly a bottle of water in my purse "just in case" someone else needed it. Not even for me. For the people I would be around, because I made sure my needs were met at home so that I *could* offer these things. Constantly feeling like you have to take care of someone else is exhausting and it's part of the reason I've hit burnout twice before the age of 30.

When I was younger, less experienced, and less aware of my own faults, attitudes like Kalim's in-game attitude that initially is very positive, very "things will work out", very "take things for granted because I've never had to experience what happens when they don't actually work out" came off as flippant and actually rude to me. People like that used to make me seethe silently. So, I get where Jamil was coming from. I'm much better at addressing my concerns and voicing my own needs and setting boundaries now, but it took me a lot of time to learn.

The need to feel wanted vs needed is another thing I share with him. Jamil is not used to being a First Choice. He's used to being Expected to Be There and Prepared. His brain does not, for a long time, believe when people say they *want* him there. He has to do things and he has to be reliable in order to maintain his presence in people's minds, or so he believes. He also has major fucking trust issues, which I also struggle with. I am the type to take on things on my own that could be a group effort simply because I don't trust people. I don't trust that people have my back in a lot of things. And yeah, I do have good reason for that. I've been burned metaphorically many times, and I've been betrayed by some of the people who are supposed to love me the most. But that doesn't mean everyone will abandon me or let me down, and that's something I've been working on realizing and internalizing since I graduated from my degree. It's a work in progress.

Jamil's character, plus the way Kalim acted when hypnotized, were so hard for me to face and so triggering to me that I couldn't do more than a couple chapters of book 4 at a time. It was a rough one for me, and I really think it's because I related so much to that particular story.

🌂- You have to choose three fiction characters to help you survive in the apocalypse, who are you picking?

Naofumi Iwatoni from The Rising of the Shield Hero: he's sarcastic and has dry humour, also a little dense at times so he'd be fun company. He knows how to work his ass off to get results and he refuses to let people pull one over on him. He *will* get his money's worth if he does a service for someone and he *does not* trust easily; so we're less likely to get conned by someone and more likely to manage resources well. He's also an Accidental Father and I love that so much. He can use his shield to analyze different plants/herbs/resources to figure out their components which can help with scavenging for foods and/or medicines. And then there's the fact his shield is a, well, a shield. he can protect.

Maki Oze from Fire Force: My strong girl! And she's super funny and kindhearted, but still works hard. She'd keep the mood lighthearted and be a big help with tasks like constructing shelter. She also has fire powers, which means there will be less issue of staying warm or figuring out how to cook things without electricity. Plus I just think she would be very fun to be around.

Nanashi (No Name) from Sword of the Stranger: Top tier fighter if you run into trouble. Smart and also very much will take money from a corpse or a thief who attempts to rob him, so resourceful. Also, will go on a solo mission to rescue you if you happen to get kidnapped to be sacrificed in a ritual for immortality. That's a Big Plus. And he's good with kids, in his own way.

❄️ - Character design that you admire

Gabriel from Malignant (2021), for more than a couple reasons. The first one is that they did such a good job convincing the audience that he was Separate from his sister, with the hair hiding his face and the bulky clothes and the way he moved he looked like a demon. The second is because he is literally *inside* his sister's skull. He literally cracks open her skull and moves the body backward when he's the one in control. Which is unnerving and so fucking cool to watch on screen. See, he was supposed to be removed as her conjoined twin because he was causing "issues" for the facility they were being studied in (read: he was a child who wanted to go home and be a family with his sister like other children but their mother gave them up and because he is physically different than most humans they treated the two of them like fucking lab rats) but they could not remove all of him without killing her so they took what they could and then sealed her skull over his part of the brain with his face inside (which is terrifying btw) and then proceeded to tell No One. This leads me into my next reason. Ok, so Garbriel and his sister, Madison, are *conjoined twins*. That would usually make them assigned the same gender at birth. *My* personal headcanon with this is that Gabriel is trans. "But Meags, they call Gabriel 'he/him' and Madison 'she/her' when they are just babies! Babies can't communicate pronouns when they are born!"; you are correct. For normal babies. Gabriel is canonically shown to not only be incredibly smart, but to also have some form of supernatural abilities (he can canonically manipulate electronic devices to communicate with words) likely due to the fact he was not able to do things on his own physically. Therefore, I believe that before he was even born he probably communicated to his mother in some telepathic form that he was a boy. I will slay anyone on this hill. You can pry Trans Gabriel from my cold dead hands.

[hips-like-battleships]

Okay I think my Veilguard thoughts are TOO LONG for one post tumblr won't post it lmao. Will break it into two posts, both spoilery! First post, general thoughts on Veilguard. Second post, contextual thoughts on Veilguard in relation to rest of the series.

On the whole I really, really liked it and don't have any complaints that break things for me. I have responses to other folks' complaints, but nothing that has made me go 'yeah I hate that, this game is a let down.' I think I'll take it point by point and then sum up where I am.

I think a lot of people have taken the missives to imply southern Ferelden is essentially completely destroyed and any civilization which will emerge will be a complete reboot. I don't think that's what the missives are saying, like at all! I am reminded of when Mass Effect 3 ended and the doomsayers (myself included, though mostly in jest) were like well everyone's dead without the mass relays so that's just the end of civilization huh, and also the people on the island can't eat and are stranded forever, guess that's it. And Bioware was very much like no, that's not what we meant damn. I think this is the same situation. People reading tooooo much into it. I mean shit we saw how bad Tevinter is at the end of the game and Dorian is still made Archon.

Some criticisms are really justified! We needed more backstory into why the Crows are so fcking differieng in this game compared to Zevran's story. Different houses explains some of it. Zevran fucking up some Crows explains some of it. We needed more.

Varric did get done dirty. Varric being killed without any mention of Hawke is vashedan. I intend to go forward rejecting Bioware's reality on that point and substituting my own.

It is really, really stark how some of the central conflicts of the early game have no relevance to Veilguard whatsoever. Like mages versus templars? What's that, we don't know them. I realize by Inquisition time the game had largely moved on from that conflict (choosing mages vs. templars in DAI is about equivalent to the Treviso v. Minrathous choice in DAV) but I do relate to people who feel like the game is different. I definitely think it's less political. I am, I think, ambivalent about whether that is good or bad. I liked a lot of the political stuff. I like a lot of the newer stuff. So I'm fine with this direction if we want to categorize it as new.

I love everything about the Mourn Watch. It's much easier to be enthusiastic when we don't have much to compare it against, I guess. That said the whole aesthetic is fantastic. I love Emmrich. I love the lore stuff that comes through them. Just huge big fan.

I love all the companions so much!! I think this is the only game out of the series where I uniformly like every companion. I think that might be disappointing to people! I get that folks enjoy the tension they have with some characters. I have enjoyed it, too. But I don't mind having a fully likeable cast this time, either. It's different. But different isn't bad. The other games still exist just as they are, in all their wonders and flaws.

I have only experienced the Taash romance as it's the one I chose, but I loved it. I do not feel like it was sidelined or lackluster as many have said. I am not quite sure where that criticism is coming from.

I love Taash. I am not nonbinary so I am not the one to speak to whether people feel like it is accurate. I can just say I loved it and I love them. The early bird feeding mission hit me right in the heart.

Solavellan is going to live in my heart forever in the best way and I love them. Felt that all the way down.

MANFRED.

Combat was the most fun a Dragon Age game has been so far. Enjoyed it. Makes Inquisition's combat seem so unbearably dull in comparison (which, let's be for real--it kind of is).

I wasn't exactly a FAT character, but Abi was pretty chunky. She thick.

[parasociallyawkward]

I was 31 when the movie came out, but I regrettably didn't see it until it was on DVD. I instantly loved the film have seen it at least 7 or 8 times by now. It encapsulates so much about my tastes in entertainment, at least my tastes primarily back then. Still, while I may be able to understand why some elements of the film may not play well with contemporary audiences, the movie still works for me as a middle-aged adult.

The TLDR of it all was I spent my 20s as a quiet and introverted geeky kid, who lived with his mom and never went out on weekends. I spent my free time watching movies, listening to music, and playing video games. The extent of my social interaction was updating my Top 8 on MySpace or posting comments on AICN. Part of it was due to certain generational family trauma and a lot of it was due to me not feeling comfortable with conflict.

The long and short of it that I looked up to Michael Cera's titular Scott Pilgrim, but I really identified more with Cera's portrayal of George Michael on "Arrested Development." For a bit more color, an old friend once also compared me to Michael Bluth, once he heard a bit more about my aforementioned family drama.

After my own period of arrested development, I squandered my privileges and youth, by giving up on feeling seen or heard by those closest to me, and I lost myself in my passion for music, films, television shows, etc. I experienced what I assumed was normal behavior for people my age through media. Call it ADHD, self-misdiagnosed Autism, or just plain insecurity, I kept a lot of who I was to myself because it just didn't fit the mold of the '00s American male.

A lot of men in the aughts were more SpikeTV and I was more Sci Fi Channel. There was some overlap and I suppose certain preferences were informed by the ubiquitous appeal of attractive actors and spectacle. I'm not completely immune to what sells.

Get it?

I did manage to start putting myself out there, but it was still a bit before the start of mainstream appeal of comic book movies and yet 'Scott Pilgrim vs the World' manages to be one of the best comic book inspired films. I admittedly still have never read the books, so I can't speak for how good of an adaptation the movie is, but from a production standpoint, it's incredible.

The music, the visuals, the performances. All of it is just the right amount of what I love about the medium. It what I wrapped myself in through the early 2000's after and solid diet of the pop culture of the '80s and '90s. It's just what consumed me for most of my young adulthood until I stumbled into society at large.

I eventually started dating and got married at the cusp of my 30s. Ultimately, while my ex and I had a lot in common, it didn't work out. I was just shy of a decade away from the end of my first marriage when I first saw the movie and I immediately loved it, as I may have said repeatedly in real life to anyone who would listen. Unfortunately, some people kind of think it is weird that I'd have taken such a keen liking to this movie, when I first did at 31 years of age.

I don't really know how to explain and it pains me that once again, someone close to me doesn't quite get why I enjoyed certain things, at least it is comforting to know they understand where coming from. They get that I didn't have quite the same experiences growing up and that I use movies to relate to certain things I struggle with in the real world.

I regret missing it on the big screen and I don't care how old I am the next time it is screened for any upcoming anniversaries, this movie still hits on so many levels and it remains a favorite of mine. It defines a lot of aspects of who I used to be as well. The misguided sense of entitlement that comes with youth. I often would dream of my own Manic Pixie Suicide Dream Girl. I had certain expectations or assumptions that were based on hyperbolic depictions of visual and aural stimulation.

[ms-all-sunday]

soso sorry if you've already done any of these and i didn't see! for the ship game: frobin, cross guild polycule, lunami, and boa/reiji! (ik you mentioned cross guild somewhere but i don't think you talked about them and i love them sm. also, the appeal of boa/reiju to me is like. warrior princesses learning how to be human together, yknow?)

frobin - compelling, makes sense.

i recommend people frobin fanfiction all the time i made fanart for the most popular frobin fanfiction and it's what people on twitter know me for, yeah. i like frobin. freak for freak t4t love is the best kind of love there is. they have the best visual gag in all the series.

thematically, them being together is self expression. robin loves him because she truly relates to him enough to know what its like to be in his position and have the strength to do what he's done. the opposite is true for him. they are the greatest avenue of each others self expression, both what they are and what they admire, and isn't that the romantic ideal?

cross guild - compelling, makes sense.

i sound smart in these things, because im an articulate person. i'm going to briefly not sound smart, and say that those three men are the hottest beings alive and if they fuck it's my personal sexual fantasy. k back to sounding smart

cross guild is another one of those ships i find funny so I'm inclined towards, but the thing that compels me (especially on the mihawk and buggy end) is how preformative they all are. i think it makes for some incredibly compelling character drama, even when they haven't interacting that much in canon, but mihawk and buggy and croc all have this element of "im presenting it like i'm not a loser but i am and the only reason you think it's cool is because of my social status" and I'm always a sucker for character commentary on what level of preformative someones personality is vs how genuine it is.

luffy/nami - compelling and makes sense, (you probably missed it anon but i'll say it again, every eb5 combination you give is a hard yes from me. i am the merryshipper.)

what isn't there to love about these two? luffy is silly, but gives her the sanctity and security she craves. she gives him her presence and love in return. they love eachother a lot, and colead the strawhats together. nami often overthinks and it's the comfort she needs to listen to luffy and the opposite is true of him, he's reckless and it's a comfort he gets to listen to her. they're a team. a very silly team.

it's ultimately how mutual their partnership is that makes them a compelling ship, how nami comforts luffy and vice versa and how they can rely on eachother and how luffy accepts her unconditionally and nami accepts him conditionally. they see eachother as very safe. it's adorable.

boa/rejiu - never would've considered this before but you convinced me. im an easy person to convince on this front.

i'd write this. it's definitely more compelling to me than tashigi and reiju, as i think boa balances her out wonderfully. boa is a very traumatized girl, and reiju is too, and youve figured out that's my favourite thing in wlw ships by now surely.

boa getting to be a puppy girl towards reiju, and i think boa would be attracted towards reiju, as i think what she loves about luffy is how unaffected he is by her, she's not treated like a commodity. reiju would be similar and probably delight in the attention even though she's convinced herself she is unaffected by most if not all things, and they'd really be very healthy towards eachother. i think boa and reiju have both experienced sexism from men in their lives, in similar and opposite ways almost, and i think they'd draw each other out of what is deemed most "comfortable" for them.

i wont lie, i relate to boa hancock a lot (as i tend to relate to all women in one piece who have fucked up relationships towards men, this does say something about me! if you were wondering) and i think reiju is a tragic figure who is unable to prioritize herself as above the men in her life her relationship towards sanji is fucked. absolutely makes me uncomfortable in the way that i do not care for sanji at all and completely emphasize with her. im in love with her and want her to prioritize herself and i will kill oda for fucking real if she doesnt get a happy ending i love reiju so much i hated every minute she was onscreen in wci and i dont talk about it very often because she makes me want to cry. i do not vibe with her narrative at all in whole cake but i'm unsure if that's a moral beef i have with oda or with her.

okay. damn. im done. personal experience aside. i love this ship thanks for igniting my new obsession.

ask game

[captainsupernoodle]

just saw a post about kingsley seeming like he has more of his shit together than fjord in reunited and how that's likely related to the level of confidence from a relatively inexperienced person vs imposter sydrome in a more experienced person who's entering a new time of their life and is struggling to adjust but also!!!

confidence games are something that molly and fjord played so much and how incredible is it that fjord feels comfortable enough to fumble? what a difference from the beginning of the campaign! he was alone! he had to appear In Control or he'd get taken advantage of, it was how he stayed safe. Now he has the Nein, and Jester always at his side, and, yes, even Kingsley, and he allows himself to be silly and make mistakes and doesn't prioritize saving face. In the midst of a crisis he knows exactly what to do, that's his area of expertise, he's a master tactician and a great leader who prioritizes keeping his crew safe, he's just new at the whole captaining day-to-day thing and he's no longer afraid to show it.

kingsley, on the other hand. ooooh i love him so much. VERY true that he's brand new to living life and on top of that he comes by being a little shit honestly. on the other hand!!! "there will always be respect there. it might not look like it, but it's always there." "i've been wanting to go on one of your adventures and so far? it hasn't disappointed." "i'm trying to make new mistakes, I promise." i promise. Kingsley is the new-old guy in this group, the one they're explaining in-jokes to, telling stories to, teasing and protecting. he's a lot like the younger brother of a dearly beloved dead friend, loved on his own merit but with the unavoidable impact of those who came before him shaping his relationships. fjord talks about lucien. jester talks about molly. this is apparently the first time he's talked about either of them with beau and yasha and he's looking for guidance. beau says she'll kill him. fjord say's "we'll see." these people lifted kingsley out of the grave they put his past in and greeted him with open arms and grief and watchfulness. he's learning and watching with them but i don't know if he's grieving yet. i don't know if he will. i think he feels like he owes them something, not in a transactional way or out of guilt for people he isn't, but in the way you want to repay the trust and faith and work a mentor gives you.

but his confidence? the way his sassing and sarcasm and frank admiration sometimes sounds like a teenager? he totally comes by some of it honestly, he's charming and good at what he does and has a rock-solid support network, but he's been alive for six months. he's had these complicated relationships from the time he opened his eyes six months ago. i'm so excited for his confidence to grow more genuine and solid as he lives.

[adore-gregor]

7, 18, 25, 28

7. already answered :)

18. What do you like th most about your favourite sport?

I could never decide between football and tennis so I have to answer for both. I love the sports for different reasons.🙈 Mention to ski jumping which was my favourite sport for a long time before but rn I don't enjoy it sm sadly.😕

Tennis the sport that I play myself. I also watch tennis and I like that as well but I enjoy playing it much more. :) So what do I like about playing tennis.

Tennis is a sport where the game is never over, you can always come back from a back match. If you watch tennis you know what I mean, there were those incredible matches where a player lost two sets and then still won the match. Maybe you remember when Dominik Thiem won the US open in 5 sets after being down 0:2 in sets. That was crazy.🤯 In tennis you can come back from anything and because it's an individual sport it's all down to you. (Unless you play doubles) So I'd say the mental aspect of tennis, the mental strenght you need to pull off a comeback like that. :) Tennis really teaches you that never give up attitude. I love that about tennis. 💪 In my competitive matches I also came back from 4:0 down and won the set 4:6 last summer(and also the match). And another time won the match after loosing 2:6 first set. 😄 There's no better feeling than winning those matches >>> That unpredictability also makes tennis a great sport to watch in my opinion. 🙈

Other things I love about playing tennis: the athletics... the speed, the sprinting, quick reactions with the volleys at the net... the feeling when you hit a winner, the feeling of getting to a really short ball after a sprint, tennis doubles with a partner you get along with well or if you play a double with your best friend and the "plop" sound it makes when you hit a ball clean 🥵 (that sounds weird but i think tennis player relate 😂😉)

Football: It's just so entertaining, for me it's the most entertaining sports to watch. What some footballers can do with the ball on their feet, the dribblings, the skill it requires to do that and with them it looks so effortless.🤯 But it requires so much coordination, it impresses me so much. If you have a favourite club it just makes football 10× better because your team winning >> and going to a match live in a stadium: experiencing the atmosphere for the first time is amazing. And you just start to love your team and all the players. One underrated aspect of football is goalkeeping I think. Some goalkeepers really do it so well you think how was that even physically possible to make that save.😂 Diving head first in full speed onto the ball in front of a strikers feed in a 1 vs 1 seems also pretty scary to me. Another major thing is of course the team spirit and togetherness a good football team has. You love to see it, your favourite players not just getting alone one the pitch but also off the pitch and many being friends.🥰 Football tactics are another area which is so interesting

I also play football (at uni, not seriously) what I love most about that is the team spirit. Playing together in a team is just one of the best things about football.🥰 Especially when you score a team goal >> But I'm not a great football player, maybe fairly talented but I play with others who all played in a club for years and I never did.😅 So I'm just happy if I can make a nice pass 😄 or even an assist. Any successful move I can show I'm happy with that. :) Scoring a goal is also a great feeling 🤩 not that I did that often yet. The goals are too tiny. 😂 (we play with hockey goals and goalkeeper🥲)

25. already answered :)

28. Sports moment that made you cry?

There are a few not just one.😅 Sports make me cry a lot when my favourites are involved.

One was when Gregor got that bronce medal in Lahti 2017, just after his crash in Oberstdorf coming back just about two weeks later. He was all emotional in the interview afterwards and so happy. 🥹❤️ This medal meant so much to him you could tell, after all he went through before he didn't even believe he'd make it to the world championships. And he was crying, so was i. I was so proud and happy for Gregor. <3

Another one was when Borussia Dortmund (my favourite club) one the Dfb Pokal (cup) in 2020. That was such a beautiful moment 😍 and it brought me so much happiness. I also went through a really difficult time back then. And seing your favourite player all happy and celebrating together. 🥰It brought me so much joy when nothing else really did that that time. Also Bvb winning something is not such a regular occasion hahah 😅🥲 so I was so proud of them it was a great accomplishment.😁

When the austria nt got into the play off's at the Euro 2021. They never got that far since I was born and they played so well. I am also a big fan of our Nationalteam and I do love these players a lot so that made me so happy.😍

Unfortunately I then also cried when they went out against italy after a strong performance.💔😅 It felt like daylight robbery with austria's 'leading goal' ruled out by the VAR.🥲 I really believed in that moment they'd win but to be fair it was an offside goal as much as I hate to admit that. It was the right decision but as a fan ofc you don't want this to happen. They fought until the last minute though and now I'm more proud of them than sad :)

Thank you sm!!🥰🥰💛

I really enjoyed those ☺️

(I talked too much in asks once again, I perfectly understand if no one reads them because i write too much.😅 I don't know why but I can't stop myself from writing sm at times. The worst things is tho I'm not even good at writing. Whatever I try to say sounds much better in my head.😕 Help 😅🥲)

[lindwurmkai]

hmm. i'm sorry to hear it's such a common experience - i don't know if you saw my tag, but i avoided most problems relating to extended family by just not having an extended family, which had its own negative consequences but obviously none as severe.

i have mostly met two kinds of people with families like this: those where the parents themselves weren't any better, and those where the parents did cut off contact with the abusive relatives. i also know plenty of people my age who don't have children of their own and simply cut off contact for their own mental health. the idea that so many people would choose to or be forced by circumstances to endure it, even when children are in the picture, seemed unlikely to me but perhaps there really is a difference between countries here??

"I would rather teach my children to lie to everyone as a general rule of safety, and then teach them which individuals is safe to be honest around, than to have them have to experience what I and many of my friends have lived through without any sort of guidance on how you're expected to behave."

that is understandable. i think we have misunderstood each other slightly because to me, the scenario described above with the game very much resembles what i have perceived as a "lack of guidance on how you're expected to behave" in my own life - i would be presented with nonsensical and even contradictory rules ("lying is wrong" vs. "saying the truth in this particular situation is also wrong"), be reprimanded for objecting to or even questioning those rules, have eyes rolled at me if i expressed confusion etc.

the idea of yet another rule being introduced through a game without calling it what it was seemed manipulative to me in such an insidious way that i literally broke down sobbing after reading the post, just from imagining the long-term consequences as the child grows older. manipulation is the main form of abuse i have experienced, and at the same time i was constantly accused of lying. sometimes it feels like i spent my entire childhood trying to prove i wasn't lying 24/7. so if someone had started teaching me to lie in one particular situation through a game without thoroughly explaining that it was ok instead of a horrible offense for once, i think i would have simply exploded on the spot.

the way you've put it, it sounds like it would come with an explanation. that's fine! all i ever wanted was explanations and for adults to actually answer my questions instead of cheerfully ignoring me or telling me to "stop playing stupid" (more supposed lying).

i'm really sorry about this, and thank you for responding patiently. i don't know how to describe the difference between the scenarios we each imagined. your version sounded to me like parent and child united against the world as co-conspirators (sad that it's necessary, but a good solution), whereas the previous posts sounded like yet more bullshit cryptic instructions packaged as a fun game.

on reread, "we discussed how we would leave that part out for our more sensitive audiences" does suggest a certain amount of explanation and focus on the "sensitive audiences" as a problem to be dealt with. i was too taken aback by the concept of a child expressing their feelings being characterised as "the wrong answer" because that is what has been happening to me all my life - i express my feelings, it's the wrong answer. even as an adult it still happens in therapy. "no, your problem is the opposite of what you think it is."

like ... it's not the wrong answer. it's the relatives who are wrong. but apparently there is a whole shared culture of people who are so used to this that they accept it as a given and think everyone's on the same page about a certain percentage of extended family just being abusive by default, which is horrifying in a whole new way. if it's an US thing, i'm so sorry. i barely know anyone who's still in contact with their biological family tbh, so it's not like i thought abuse was rare, but?? well, they all left.

"Look at this video of a child disappointed at their expensive gift! Children are so spoiled these days!"

That's cool. So, why did their parents upload their small child being upset online? In a public video, shared to the entire video? Why did they even save the recording?

Like. The kid in that scenario could be saying the most entitled nonsense in the world, and if their parents post it online to be publicly shamed, I'd still support the kid 100%. Thinking your child's life is a toy to exploit freely for #content is "spoiled"; when faced with mommy vlogers, kids should be demanding three PS5s and a new Bugatti, and we should be applauding them for it

[esotericfaery]

Intimate Spiritual Diaries, 15 - Massive Life Change: I Give Up & It's the Right Thing to do (Mars Square Pluto)

I'm now permanently celibate.

I was celibate for about 7 years recently. My romance a few years ago was a learning experience meant to teach me how to commit fully to my own spirit / ego in relation to the Great Mystery of Creation who many call God and / or Goddess.

I have released all projections from others and from all wounded parts of myself, which were programmed onto myself and by myself, to urge me to seek out romance.

I've learned that on my path, romances have been only a distraction from my priestess-hood, and one is not meant to be a long term part of my life.

It's possible that I was supposed to spend my entire life celibate.

I have regrets, but all I can do is go forward and truly become myself, for the first time in my life.

My regrets are all of the times I have allowed myself to become trapped in situations where I was gaslit over and over. My regrets are the fear of men I then learned, and projected at men who didn't deserve it, while also protecting myself from further predation.

It's all too much. I no longer want to exhaust myself trying to figure out if I deserve to be emotionally abused over and over because I might karmically deserve it. It leads nowhere useful and so if lifetimes of misery and regret are all karma has to offer, I don't want to play that game either. All that does is create more dissonance.

I'm alive to create harmony.

I know that most of you are able to do that in sacred, beautiful, equitable partnership and you should be proud of that. You should be proud of the aware families you are raising.

Understand that this decision was not born out of shame over my sexuality. I was raised with slightly religious parents who allowed me the freedom to explore any and all religions. I know many of you have suffered due to fundamental indoctrination and I have plenty of compassion for you, but know that that is not the root of my suffering.

I'm learning that it is impossible for me to live such a life. I'm just not designed that way. Astrology, my Ancestors, Christ Consciousness and Other Guides are helping me to truly understand this, as I analyze my instincts within.

My purest of inter-relationality with others has mistakenly been far too skewed in service of others, though devoid of ego. I'm Pisces (learning truth vs. Illusion) Ascendant (the cosmic spark which begins a life / horoscope).

The Sun represents the powers of the ego, and as a Virgo New Moon birth, I am a sacred virgin who has begun again and again.

I've recreated myself again and again, but I've never truly allowed myself to just be me.

I would love to become a Unitarian Minister someday. It's always been my dream. I've rarely spoken with others about this, as I have feared judgement.

As much as I used to yearn for a permanent romance, I wasn't created for that.

In my 7th House of partnerships, are the lessons which have taught me this.

My Black Moon Lilith (wounded feminine within each person, including men), is conjunct (melding energies with) Pluto (massively powerful & transformative endings) Asteroid Aphrodite (beauty & romance), Eros (sexual fixation in romance). This has caused men, in unawareness and for some, in at least partial awareness, to mistaken me as their one and only soulmate; someone to whom if they just direct enough of their invasive lustful energy, I will give in and they will win me as a prize. Men tend to not see me as a human being. They see me as an object.

Understand I am not a man hater. I'm speaking of all of the men with whom I've experienced a, will-we-or-won't-we, or a romance.

I have compassion for all of those men. Even for those who emotionally abused me, because I know they only did that due to their own wounding.

I apologize that I was not able to be who they wanted me to be.

I apologize for being unable to help them heal themselves in the ways they were wanting to be healed.

I pray that they each find and keep, all of the healing which they need, from themselves, in equitable partnerships with other women.

I pray that they recognize that true healing comes from within, and that it is wrong to depend solely on any other person to be healed.

I pray that they are fully healed, so that they build healthy habits of being good to themselves, and so that they can then be good to others.

There is a part of me who mourns this change. Because as we all do sometimes, I've feared change.

And yet there is no part of me which intellectually regrets this decision.

I've never made a single decision in my entire life which has ever felt this natural and harmonic.

I won't allow myself to be used ever again.

I won't allow myself to become involved in ego issues with men where I then respond to wounding with my own form of twisted biting anger.

I won't contribute to dissonance any longer.

I don't have time for games anymore.

I'm finally free.

I become harmonic.

I am harmonic.

And so I will maintain harmony.

Gratitude to this transit we are all currently experiencing; Mars (action) in Taurus (practical, grounded, stable) square (the highest of tension) Pluto (Tower Card / symbolic death) in Aquarius (eccentricity, innovation, sudden social change).

I take pride in passing this test. It's difficult to pas square tests, and I also have plenty of them in my own personal charts now; more currently than any other transit.

My pride doesn't motivates me to search for and rest on laurels. It motivates me to be of service to others & to myself, in the equity of the One Cosmic Soul who is all of us.

[nitrosodiumequilibriumproject]

Passive vs Active themes in games

I'll be honest, I've gotten pretty lazy over the Christmas holiday. I've gotten used to the idea of not being obligated to do anything with myself; especially after completing an hour-long animated video, but that's unrelated. I've already spoken at length about shapes, so I don't feel like I specifically need to make another blog post on it. But, I will blend multiple blog posts into one big wall of text.

As I already know, the three shapes mean various things, in religion, alchemy, science and basic critical understanding. I'm going to take my inspiration from the classical elements, and make the circle water, the square land, and the triangle air. These are three planes of movement that the player must travel through, using the forest creatures to help them. This then ties into the theme of equilibrium, and while not necessarily bad, I've boxed myself in here.

Essentially - and this is a theory I've had for a while, but it's sort of come into its own following the Greek tragedy that was Overdeath's development - game development is split into layers, just like a lasagna. You've got the most basic part of the game, followed by assets, then mechanics, then themes, and more components on top of that. So, in Equilibrium, the primary theme is the squares, circles and triangles, which I'm gonna inevitably be talking a lot about, so I'm gonna abbreviate it to S-C-T. If someone said you had to make a game using S-C-T, and you didn't wanna be creative with it, you could make a basic Geometry Dash-esque game with those shapes. Or, on another level, you could give your character abilities and mechanics tethered to those shapes, and what they mean. Or, more indirectly, you could take what those shapes represent, like I have, and allude to them being in the game. They still are, but it's not like the entire game is ABOUT those shapes. It's a theme. Look at something like Thomas Was Alone, a game I'm constantly told is amazing, but I've never played. Yes, it's about shapes, but that's not really a theme of it. What it's really about is telling a story, and how characters interact within the confines of this geometrical world the game is in. The whole character-switching aspect with each shape having a different property is not a theme, but it's another layer on top of that. Without understanding, on an interactive level, that each of these characters is important and vital to your success, you wouldn't have the same level of connection to the world. This has also been done in Undertale - if you sparing or killing the various monsters in the game didn't change how the story progressed, and how characters treated you, there would be no reason emotionally to spare them. Obviously I'm not creating a multi-faceted narrative masterpiece like those two games, but I'm still making a layered game wherein the themes connect in different ways.

Now, the thing about the concept of Equilibrium; the fact that I've made the entire thing about using woodland creatures to progress, means I have boxed myself in a little. Because this is an active theme in the world; not alluded to or passive like the implementation of S-C-T, everything else I add has to be related to that. That's fine, this is the game I want to make, an Avatar-esque tale about the fusion between man and beast with high fantasy trappings, but it means I can't stray too far outside of that. Levels now need to be about animal-centric progression because, well, that's what it IS. So what I might do is have multiple implementations of the same animal. That was one thing we were told quite a bit in college; game development is about taking a small tool-set and using them in as many creative ways as you can. Like Super Meat Boy using the same saw asset in like thirty different ways, or textures being flipped and re-coloured in Mario. The thing about an active theme is it can be re-utilised in lots of ways while still making an interesting game experience, but if you re-use a passive theme, your world will become very focused, but also very rigid and hard to improve on.

Like, what if every part of the game had to be about S-C-T? Shape runes carved into trees, each enemy and texture representing a fusion or isolation of one of the shapes, yes it sounds cool, but it means EVERYTHING has to be about shapes. I'm trying to think of a good example here of "passive-theme extrapolation", as I have now titled it, and I think the best example I can come up with is an alternate-timeline Quake. Yes, that game has Lovecraftian themes, but if these passive ideas were expanded on, the entire thing would be forced to draw from Lovecraft's work, with no room for uniqueness - it would all be forced to fit the theme instead of being the gothic gore-fest it is today. The active theme in that game is going between the realms to kill horrible monsters, and that's a concept so banal you can build anything onto it.

Man, this was a massive tangent. I should talk about something else. Point is, you can have multiple themes that interweave within each other, without making your entire project about that theme.

[callmearcturus]

How do you affectively write something/ someone as spooky? I struggle with this and was wondering if you had any tips or tricks or general advice.

I have the coolest shit in my brain but fuck do I struggle articulating the scenes.

NOTE: This is related to Spooky Jake Autumn, the unofficial follow up to the equally unofficial Hot Karkat Summer. Everyone should consider doing some Spooky Jakes!

For me and my interests, I tend to focus heavily on The Other in stories, and depending of if I want spooky or not, I tune how the POV character/narrative feels about the Other.

Lets momentarily just focus on Jake, and why to me and other folks I talk to he's so fucking good at being spooky.

Jake's stated goals and his actual desires are not the same. He is, to be blunt, a liar. He wants things very strongly, very desperately, and is willing to be manipulative to get them, but he also keeps those actual desires hidden. The concept of someone with ulterior motives is always good for spooks.

There's also the hidden latent power in Jake. When his limiter is removed, Jake nearly breaks the game with the sheer force of his golden glowy bullshit, like something outsized for his body was always lurking underneath, waiting to be unleashed. SUPER spooky!

And related to both those is the idea that Jake is performing. He's presenting. IDk how you headcanon him, I think of Jake as Boy With An Asterisk, and there is a LOT of gender and expectation and body stuff going on there, and a lot of fear in Jake regarding all of that. What I find interesting and what may be a good launchpad is flipping that baggage turnways and letting him own it. What does Jake do when he's aware that he's different than what people assume of him? What power does he find there? Now, externalize that as needed.

So leaning into those aspects, and also dealing head-on with Jake being selfish, that's a very good venue for the spooks.

Now, for general spooky tips. This is obviously coming from my preferred wheelhouse of Erotic Almost-Horror.

One: Toying with what the audience knows vs what the POV character knows. I do this a lot, probably in the most extreme example with we float before the sea at dusk. Having the audience more aware of the danger going on than the character is a lot of fun and good at building dread. Also, I really love playing with characters who have thought patterns and inclinations the audience probably won't. In TSAD, Jake is the POV character and its incredibly obvious he's being hypnotized and conditioned and changed, but to him specifically... that's fine, because it fills a weird desire in him. And that ends up dooming the whole research outpost. The audience having to watch a character make those decisions, getting to understand WHY they make them, and being unable to intervene: VERY SPOOKY.

Two: idk this is me, but I think a willingness to explore Bad Ends or Ambiguous Ends adds a lot of spice. I'm personally not interested in death in fics, but I do love when characters don't make it out of the story safely. Having to live with the consequences of crossing the path of something Other is my personal jelly and jam. In pump your veins with gushing gold, that resolution is basically (when stripped of context) consensual ownership. It's not a "good end" for anyone but the specific characters and their specific circumstances. I really enjoy the happy ending not being certain, and to make the audience uncertain what the happy ending even would be. Spooko.

Three: This one is even more a Me Thing, but body stuff. I love body stuff. I love when people can't help but be Changed by what they've experienced. And I say its "body" but the Mind Is A Plaything Of The Body is also very much a thing. Even if the character escapes the sexy danger, what are they bringing with them? What can't they escape?

Four: The danger getting more intense over time. This doesn't work if you wanna just write a sexy one-shot (which to be clear: I fully support), but your POV character having a brush with danger, hinting at something larger and deeper, and then getting dragged under. That's the business! Escalation is thrilling.

THERE'S SOME TIPS! NOW GO FORTH AND MAKE SOME SPOOKY JAKES!

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

DnD has a new playtest idea out and i must ponder, please excuse.

I do like One Dnd's idea of linking your Ability Score increases to your Background, rather than your Race. That's cool. That makes sense, like you've been levelling up pre-game and this is what you've been putting your training into.

Not a fan of how the Linage thing is being used solely for magic. Subrace features that used to be just a mundane skill are now either magical or just, gone. Why? Why do Rock Nomes have to use a cantrip to make something now? Why can't the Wood Elves be stealthy without waiting for a higher level spell??

Half Elves and Orcs are gone.

There's no mechanic for making a mixed heritage character, outside of just saying they look like it.

I.... can't see my players being happy with that.

But I already use a homebrew rule of Cultural traits vs Heritage (learnable vs physical) for characters of mixed origins, so that's an easy fix.

Giving the Dwarves Tremorsense while touching stone is epic.

The Ardlings are literally just divine furries and I LOVE THEM.

Linking how many times you can uses your Race features per long rest to your Proficiency Bonus (starts as 2) is VERY NIFTY. This could be really helpful to new players or players trying out a new races for the first time. You'll always be able to test out your ability and still have another use for later. That's nice.

THREE LAGUAGES BY DEFAULT is too much. Too. Much. Let different PCs take turns being the one who can talk to X stranger who doesn't know common. That's a fun thing. Also helps the PCs who have extra languages actually feel learned/well traveled/culturally experienced. Not to mention if the Rangers still get a language of their favored enemy... 5e is supposed to be simple. This is... a lot.

Same with the Tool Proficiencies. Every background gets one? Ehhh..... And every background gets a language? Why do soldiers speak Goblin? I know the templates are meant to be tweeked, but still, ALWAYS a tool and a language?

AND THE BACKGROUND FEATURES ARE GONE.

Instead you pick a feat.

So instead of a soldier having a rank that ties them to their past army group and provides fodder for interactions when meeting them again, now they just... are savage attackers.

No more By Popular Demand. No more Shelter for the Faithful.

I get that combat and cool abilities are super fun for people and sometimes even the main reason they play, but.... you already get that from the Race traits. From the Class traits. Background is about your character. Background is the meat of where the DM gets fodder for how to actually, you know, fit PCs into the world we're making.

And it's a super useful shortcut for helping players understand and remember how their character relates to the world their in.

You're a sailor? Well you know how to sail and can get a ride on a ship for you and your friends, so long as you lend a hand along the voyage! Other sailors trust you to know your stuff, they feel a connection to you!

But now instead you.... are a tavern brawler. Like, I get the appeal mechanic wise, flavor wise. But I don't think that's a replacement for being able to secure passage on a ship and for getting that sense that, oh yeah, I am a person who knows ships, and people on ships will recognize that in me.

Splitting all the spells into three lists instead of by Class sounds like it could be a gods' send.

But.

I'm .... not sure I quite feel it yet, in how the spells are actually divided. Primal. Divine. Arcane. Both Divine and Primal lists the Guidance cantrip. If you're going to split things up, but can't actually split things up into solidly distinct themes, I'm not so sure how much help that'll be.

I have hope though. I like the idea of three basic forms of where magic is drawn from/expressed, instead of the super specific, sometime a bit arbitrary feeling class lists.

Overall, the cool things don't out way the things that I'd have to patch over. The cool things are, however, pretty effing cool. Dwarves with tremorsense.... i love it....

[a34trgv2]

The Problem With The Mindless Sheep Trope

In movies and TV shows set in heavily populated areas, the inhabitants are often depecited as a one dimensional collective that just follows the current trend with little to know hesitation. Shows like SpongeBob, Clarence, Powerpuff Girls, and iCarly as well as movies like The Angry Birds Movie, The Mitchells vs The Machines, and Diary Of A Wimpy Kid all use this trope and I'm so sick of it. Today's post is a long time coming so strap in: I'm gonna talk about why the mindless sheep trope is so problematic.

One of the reasons why I hate this trope is because it weakens the overall story. Some of the worst episodes of The Powerpuff Girls are because of the citizens of Townsville, who are so helpless without the girls that they would most certainly be annihilated. Episodes like Fallen Arches, The Mane Event, Monstra-City, and Sweet n' Sour would've been so much better if the town wasn't so universally incompetent. The episode Too Pooped To Puff could've been a really good episode about the girls experiencing burnout and showcasing how the town could defend themselves without the girls. But NOOOOOO! It just had to be a stupid episode where everyone was taking advantage of the girls, even the Professor. This is the kind of writing that makes me mad; it's so forced and frustrating and you can't help but feel sorry for the main characters for putting up with such malarkey.

And that’s another thing I hate about this trope: it means the main characters are basically suffering because everyone else is either a nimrod or a jerk face. Well relating to the main character is key, that shouldn't come at the expense of the background characters. Every character in a show, movie or video game is just as imperative to the story as the main character. The main character shouldn't have to carry the entire project by themselves; that makes for some of the most boring entertainment imaginable. As much as I like SpongeBob as a character, I wouldn't be nearly as big of a fan of the show if he was the only likable character in Bikini Bottom (hence why I never got into The Loud House).

My biggest problem with this trope this is that it's just a poor representation of the general population. Yes people can be infuriating with how incompetent and disrespectful they are. But you know what? Those people are a small minority compared to the amount of good honest people in this world. I know for a fact that the general population aren't all shallow idiots that just follow what's popular. There are people who are apathetic or downright hate popular trends that are potentially dangerous. There are people who are genuinely kind and helpful as well as people who rightfully call others out for their ignorance. I don't often see that in the shows and movies I watch because more often than not they're just a one dimensional collective who's only purpose is to serve the plot.

The point I'm trying to make is people are not sheep. Sheep have no concept of self-awareness and as such they need to be taken care of by a shepherd. The mindless sheep trope just devalues the background and supporting characters to the point where they might as well be pieces of cardboard. To conclude, I would like to see more shows and movies treat the general population like they're actual human beings instead of stupid pieces off woolley mutton.

[devilinsheepswool]

My First Impressions vs My now thoughts on the Obey Me! Babes + Luke

Because I did one for mysme some time back. Spoilers for season 2 and images (not related to the spoilers) ahead, tread with care

Lucifer

First Impression: Jumin Han, but make him a demon

Season 1: *after the attempts on MC's life, and over all ambiguity of his feelings and thoughts on MC* proceed with caution

Season 2: *after Arcadia, Luci being a smug lil shit but such a sweet heart when MC returns to Devildom, the amnesia situation, and willingness to sacrifice himself for MC and his brothers* LUCI, LISTEN TO ME LOVE I WOULD DIE FOR YOU WITHOUT HESITATION BABE

Overall thoughts: listen, I tend to like subs but Luci bae you got me like 💋👀❤👀❤👀💋

Mammon

First Impression: He kinda reminds me of the guys that used to bully me when I was a kid

Season 1: *always protecting MC and caring for them, being basically attached to their hip* You're the only bitch in the house i ever respected.

Season 2: *Mammon being Mammon* I am proposing 👀💍❤

Overall thoughts: YOU DESERVE SO MUCH BETTER THAN I COULD EVER GIVE YOU, OH I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MY SWEET DEMON BOY

Leviathan

First Impression: I found my new bottom 😏

Season 1: *Levi still being a gigantic tsundere for a majority of the game, even post pact* Levi, sweetie! 💕 Pspspsps! 💗 Levi, darling! 💖 Come here, baby! 💘 Pspspsps! 💓

Season 2: (plus devilgrams) I'mma have all his sea demon babies, and that's a promise ❤👀

Overall thoughts: Fuck me in your ocean monster demon form

Satan

First Impression: 16 year old me's dream man, tbh

Season 1: Such a dapper Cat man~ So posh and chivalrous... Wait, oh?! He gremlin too?! Such gap moe,

Season 2: Any demons here? Got any demons out tonight? Any HORNY 😏 boys? Satan, I know you there babe, pspspsps

Overall thoughts: "Season 2 is over, so I cut off all my shirts sleeves." Why? "Satan was my self control."

Asmo

First Impression: Okay, now this is interesting... not normally an archetype I'm fond of... but I'm kinda diggin him

Season 1: uhm, excuse me waiter? This season lacked a bit too much Asmo's character development for my liking

Season 2: SOLMARE MY BABY BOI JUST WANTS LOVE!!! LET ME LOVE HIM, SOLMARE!!!

Overall thoughts: *Asmo getting cheated out of screen time and MC's love by Solmare* where are my cuddles, where are my kisses? MC, is... evil? MC is unyielding? MC is incapable of love? I am running away. I am packing my rusack and going out to explore the world like a lone vagabond. I can no longer thrive in this house hold.

Beel

First Impression: kinda scarey... 😟

Season 1: *after the whole Luke situation* I think we're married? But I don't remember a wedding. We might have adopted Luke too, sooo...? I like him, tho, so it's all Gucci with me tbh A REALLY SWEET DEMON MAN

Season 2: Puppy! Gigantic puppy man! BEELzeBABE sweetie I love you, baby! You're doing amazing sweetheart

Overall thoughts: I've had Beel for two seasons now and if anything ever happened to him, I would kill everyone and then myself

Belphie

First Impression: ❤👀 Hey there Miss New Booty 👀❤

Season 1: *after he kills MC and there's no development or elaboration on their relationship*

Season 2: (+ Devilgrams) Listen, everyone gets at least one homicidal psychopathic bad boy, and I've chosen him.

Overall thoughts: Hello, fellow gremlin should we duel to the death for title of "ultimate sarcastic bastard"

Diavolo

First Impression: *Looks down at Diavolo's chest and then quickly back at him* I am looking respectfully 👀👀👀 *internally though vvvv*

Season 1: He's cute, it's a shame we didn't see more of him 😔💔

Season 2: *towards the end, when Diavolo keeps trying to get MC alone* oooooooooh, bet? 😏

Overall thoughts: This man brings out the bottom in me like I have never experienced before

Barbatos

First Impression: I know we just met, and I know I hardly know anything about you but do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk by again?

Season 1: Listen, you can't give me a man that insanely HOT and then only sprinkle him every here and there in the game!!! That's not right! Gimme the whole slice Solmare!

Season 2: Barbatos, mon cher, they continue to keep us apart, don't they love? But fret not, fate shall not keep us a part for long, I know you'll come for me and I promise I shall be ready for when that day comes

Overall thoughts: He knows how to bake and cook!? Sold, I'm sold! Get me a white dress and him a suit~ 

Solomon

First impression: He radiates pure bastatd energy, he just looks so pleased with himself... I feel like he's hiding something... I like him tho, I'd be his friend.

Season 1: *when the fandom theorized he was evil and shady* "STOP SAYING HE IS EVIL AND SHADY, you don't have all the facts!!!" and those are? "I LOVE HIM 🥺😭"

Season 2: *revealing he's been working hard to come up with a solution to MC's and the 3 realms problems, being protective of MC in Lesson 38* I KNEW IT, I KNEW YOU WEREN'T GOING TO BE EVIL 🥺😭☺️ THANK YOU SO MUCH I LOVE U ❤❤❤

Overall thoughts: I would die for u tbh

Simeon

First Impression: Oh dreamweaver~ 💕❤💗💘💓💖👌💍🥺😏😚

Season 1:  oh holy shoulders give me strength for I know he is a forbidden man, but rather than give me strength you only seem to test my resilience to reach for the forbidden fruit and test my already crumbling sanity

Season 2: *Simeon alluding to feelings for MC with subtle actions and text messages* *high pitched shrieking only audible to dogs*

Overall thoughts: Have you ever seen a man so perfect you cry? Like, God, his beauty is unbelievable!!!

Luke 

First impression: Yes, operator? I would like the custody of child forms... yeah, I'll hold 💅

Season 1: *when Luke is obviously still afraid and uncomfortable of being in Devildom, and any demon looks at him funny. Especially that one lesson when Lucifer tries to attack him in that catacombs looking place*

Season 2: *watching Luke get more comfortable and even miss Devildom, watching his relationship with Barbatos and Solomon develop* that's growth

Overall thoughts: *after Luke accepted being MC's guardian Angel*

Lilith

First Impression: I know she's supposed to be good... but what if she turns out to be like Rika??? I'm sorry but I can't go through this again, dude

During Season 1: *towards the end when Lilith reveals all the truth to MC* I AM SO SORRY FOR EVER DOUBTING U MAMA LILITH 😭😭😭 U DIDN'T DESERVE THAT I'M SO SORRY

Overall thoughts: Mama Lilith, it's me your bastard great great great descendant. Can you hear me wherever you are? Mama Lilith, I need u girl... come help me again pwease 🙏

[effervescible]

This is a really, really good rundown of why Data Sora is so great c: He starts out as kind of a shallower version of real Sora and I guess kind of still is in the end, but there’s more emotional depth than initial meets the eye. Coded might be the most inconsequential of the games in terms of “how lost will you be if you totally skip it,” but there’s more than just good combat for those who take the time to play it or watch the movie version.

Also, not to be all “now let’s talk about an entirely different character,” but I feel like Coded does a similar/connected thing with its use of Data Roxas. There’s a starting difference in that D!Roxas seems more cognizant than his counterpart that they are all data in a computer, and what that means — he certainly knows he has a specific purpose in D!Sora’s journey.

But he also always read to me like D!Roxas is who Roxas would be if he stewed more in his anger. The explosion of emotion in the KH2 Roxas vs. Sora fight is A++++ but overall, the amount of time Roxas gets to spend righteously furious is low compared to the time he spends confused as shit (Days) and kinda sad but also accepting of his situation (basically end of KH2 onward.)

But D!Roxas is both a huge dick and obviously, bitterly angry, but it doesn’t even seem to me like he’s angry at D!Sora in particular, even if he’s directing it at him. Like, I read these lines....

"Friends? You don't say? So then what were their names again? Tell me. [...] The fact that you can't remember them just means they weren't very important to you to begin with. Isn't that right?"

"They're only there until they're not. Do you see where I'm going with this? Nothing's real. You can break the little hearts they don't have, and then forget about it. No hurt feelings, no baggage. It's that simple. You don't have a heart. It's 100 percent guilt-free."

"The sadness of knowing you forgot someone who matters to you, something like that'll gnaw at you forever."

"Why should you keep the hurt inside? Just tell yourself you need to forget about the people you met in this place. You'll have no one to miss. No cause for loneliness. No hurt to keep eating away at your heart."

"I would ask if you enjoyed your little trip...but we both know that you've forgotten it. Bet you're feeling pretty empty."

And I’m like My Dude This Is Clearly Not About Sora, this seems a lot more related to what you went through, forgetting your old best friends and then being forgotten by the new ones because he and they were just fake data constructions. All of the D!Roxas sections give me the feeling of someone prodding at a half-scabbed over wound to see if it still hurts.

And then of course he goes apeshit when Sora seems to accept all the hurt, basically accepts all the pain that Roxas suffered like it’s not a big deal — and this is part of the test, yes, but he’s also not faking his own emotional response.

But Sora can take it, and on the other side of the fight, he validates D!Roxas’ pain, and offers connection and support. And in doing so he passes his own test but seems to have helped D!Roxas process his own pain and trauma. The emotional support and openness that D!Sora has experienced thus far gets passed on to others — it has a ripple effect. And even in a simulated, closed environment with no greater effect on Series Lore and which came from a freakin’ cell phone game, there’s something really nice in that.

tl;dr Coded is also basically Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Therapy.

Data Sora has the best lines everything he says makes my brain feel like a 7 year old’s barbie jeep being power washed after it flipped over in the mud

[jameszmaguire]

as happy as i am for our man mario, i feel like him and mr mcronald don't work that well together, like they're being in each other's spaces a lot? i'm afraid this does not bode well for our man, plus juve has like 87 forwards they need to fit in somehow (especially dybala) :| on a related note, i can't believe mcronald chose to transfer to juve at the same time i decided to follow juve for mario, how dare he

If I didn’t know that I didn’t, I would have sworn that I send this ask to myself, because I feel you on every single thing here, Anon.

I think that Juve’s offense right now is a mess that rivals Real vs Atletico during the Supercup. One of the big reasons Juve’s not failing is the same that kept Croatia in the game so long during the World Cup - Mario is experienced enough a player to be able to take the weirdest balls and put them between the posts. But yeah, Ronald McDonald is definitely in the top three of players I would be sure Mandzukic would not get along with (said top three looks as follows by the way: 1. Ramos 2. Suarez 3. McDonald).

And I don’t know how the future will look like for Mario. Before the World Cup, Juve let him know that they would not be opposed to him going away. Of course, then he went and proved himself over and over in that competition, and since Serie A has started up again, he has done everything in his power to assess his importance to the club, to the point that Juve refused offers from the BVB and Manchester United without any negotiations.

Allegri has a real challenge in figuring out how to organise his offense. Right now, before the international break, Mandzukic is Juve’s most important forward. I don’t know how they will manage to accommodate McDonald, Mandzukic, Dybala, and Costa, but I hope they find a way to continue to use everyone’s favourite Croatian hothead.

Also the bit about McDonald transferring to Juve just as you decide to follow them for Mandzukic?? THE BIGGEST MOOD.

And on an unrelated note: can you believe Mandzukic decided to go into international retirement before the UEFA Nations match against Spain. Who is gonna yell at Ramos now?? Rebic is out of order, as is Kramaric, so it’s up to Perisic? And Pjaca? Honestly, Mario, how dare you put so much pressure on them??