#i have to try

[bookwyrminspiration]

If I knew how to draw it would be over for you hoes <- is an artist

[scrawnyghstts]

sorry but I have to throw in my 5 cents, I keep hearing and even seeing so many clickbait videos about Pianosaurus being a bait and how Mob waisted him yada yada yada and like...? Would it have been better to have him than Baba and hopefully get a better sequence or sth? yeah! did he serve his purpose perfectly in the story from a narrative set up perspective? YES.

I think people don't realise how important of a scene is the introduction of a major character!!! and pianosaurus was crucial for the introduction of Doey! that cut scene gave me actual chills. think about it, not only is it a jumpscare, but we see a smiling Doey show up and offer us help after he just brutally ripped apart a toy of which he knew had a person stuffed inside it .

it shows how unstable Doey is, it places all these doubts and ideas in the player's head about his character, it also shows his strength and just how scary Doey can be, it's terrifying! and perfectly so for a horror game!!

so yeah maybe pianosaurus was a wasted opportunity, because of his cool design, but I think the writers did an amazing job with him and that scene has to be one of my favourites in the whole chapter

[andwhentheangelscome]

go off about the DE debrief pls

Okay okay okay okay SO - gosh, where to even begin.

Okay, so: You're standing above the Whirling-In-Rags (which - by the way - is an INCREDIBLE name for this particular location, as Harry is quite literally caught in the storm of his own hopes and failures and responsibilities and poverty BUT I DIGRESS ALREADY), and you're invited to take in a view of the square which will comprise a central location for the game's central drama, and here, at the end of your first day - for a new player, spent running around haphazardly, talking to people who hate you, who have strong opinions about you and about this world that you barely understand - both as the player AND diegetically as Harry - and right before you try to pack it in and give it another go tomorrow, Kim does something important: he invites you into the story in a way that frames not only what you have done in a way that is encouraging (something needed as a player after all the disorientation) but also deeply personal for this character.

This moment isn't just about the narrative gameplay utility of taking the player aside after they've finished Chapter One (so to speak) and making sure they understood the major components of the story that they're in. It's about giving the player a chance to see Kim Kitsuragi - a character who is deeply straight laced, and particular, and necessary for Harry's potential to heal and to move forward from this point where he's found himself - in a moment of genuine vulnerability, and also genuine power.

Kim pulls a cigarette. His minor vice, his personal challenge, one of the markers of his Cool. He takes you through the days events, making sure that as a new player, you aren't completely lost as to what your goals are here, and what's central to achieving them.

(I had forgotten about this until I've been watching it back - he also compliments the snakeskin shoes!!! The green does compliment the orange!!! And those SHOES - one of the many things that makes me headcanon Harry as a closeted-even-to-himself bisexual, like - Kim KNOWS that it's a bold fashion choice and admires it, okay I'm veering off what's just in the text itself now here)

And then he "zooms out," so to speak. We get a discussion of the RCM, an organization which is core to Kim's belief system, which I read as being a steadfast commitment to the ideals of self-governance, of propriety in the social order, of there being a right way to carry a weapon, and a right way to protect the things worth protecting.

He talks about having been a Moralist (a political ideology coded as being similar to specifically European Liberalism), when he was younger, and falters when trying to articulate why he moved on from their beliefs, except for throwing in a comment about how their motto is more about "what they want you to think about them" implying that, for all their talk, they fail to truly meet those values of "Love, Compassion, Self-Discipline", a statement which the situation in Martinaise genuinely supports.

And it's hard to understate how good the music is in this scene too. Breathy and expansive and yearning and defiant and sad.... It's everything that the story is set up to make you feel. It's big, and it's aching, and musically it's all about how it isn't time to give up yet, not now, not while there's still some way to stand on your two feet and do something about all the problems in the world.

And what's insane about that feeling and that idea is that it's actually the central thing that Harry and Kim deeply share. It's what makes them good cops. The story tells us - both directly through text, and through their actions (assuming that you're not playing Harry as a fucking fascist) - that they get up, every day, broken as they are, and try to Do Good in a world that is beautiful, and hostile, and complicated, and impossibly hard to see clearly through all of the ideologies, and the daily grind, and all the pointless pain, but you still have to try to do the right thing. Because it's worth it. Because that's what you owe it.

Harry has been beaten down by this challenge. He's tried to be good, and smart, and tough enough to take on the problems of the world, and of his community, and he has been brought here: to his last leg, to the Whirling-In-Rags, certain in his heart that he's been beat.

But Kim refuses to accept that answer, and so does Harry's soul (a stand-in for us, as the player), he refuses to accept that nothing can be done, just because the problems seem so large, and intractable.

And then Kim does the best thing that he could for Harry, and for us, who are facing the same exact questions in our own, much bigger, just as complicated world:

He stares the challenge down with courage. And despite what he believes through the clarity of his sight, he hopes for a better world:

It's this line, this Perception check, that I always come back to, when I think about what this game really wants me to take away from this whole story. There's more to it than just that, of course, this game is full of lessons about money, soldiers, workers, sex, power, honor, and beauty,

but this is the thing that I need the most, when I'm trying to find my own way forward. I need to be able to acknowledge that maybe I won't see the world become more kind, more loving, and more honest before I die. Maybe it'll still be just as hard and bleak in 20 or 50 or 100 years.

But still.

I still have to believe that the struggle won't break me down. That the work, the very belief that trying is worth it, will drive me forward,

that it will make me look young. when it should make me look tired.

And then just like that, it's over. It's time to go back inside, to let the moment fade, and to take that courage as far as it will take you.

There are so many good scenes and interactions in this incredible masterpiece of gameplay and storytelling, but the Day One debrief will stick with me forever, I think.

[astrids-multiverse]

i wish i was good at drawing so that i could draw my atsv ocs 💔

[omegawizardposting]

DRAW. JUST DRAW. PICK UP YOUR PEN AND DRAW. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT. IT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE TO BE GOOD. JUST FUCKING DO IT.

[ninjakitten1699]

@dinogaby I don't know if you know Epic the Musical that well but I had an idea.

Basically it's Epic the Musical's "Monster" by Jorge Rivera-Herrans but Garmadon letting himself being corrupted in the end.

I just think it fits so well. The idea that Garmadon is at first questioning himself before he allows himself to become more like his Oni self to win a war that'd otherwise would be lost and to make sure he didn't lose anyone else.

[hesitanalien]

Idk if the meds are like.. good, for making me this numb.. or bad.. for making me this numb. And dumb. Oh well..

[accki]

language learning is fun until you have to learn a language

[jesusinstilettos]

I have a confession I’ve been drinking a glass of carrot juice a day because I saw someone say if you can consume the right amount you’ll get a light glowy tan without turning too orange and I’m easily influenced

[sleepyminty]

Timebomb-Jayvik dynamic is so funny bc we have:

Begrudgingly acknowledge each other despite that one time Ekko haggle the fuck out Jayce and Jayce accidentally polluted the underground

Two strikes and they started throwing slurs at each other

[inkskinned]

please i love you i'm begging you bring back suspension of disbelief bring back trusting the audience like. i cannot handle any more dialogue that sounds like a legal document. "hello, i am here to talk to you about the incident from a few minutes ago, because i feel you might be unwell, and i am invested in your personal wellbeing." "thank you, i am unwell because the incident was hurtful to me due to my childhood, which was bad." I CANT!!!!

do you know how many people are mad that authors use "growled" as a word for "said"? it's just poetics! they do not literally mean "growled," it's just a common replacement for "said with force but in a low tone." it's normal! do you hear me!! help me i love you please let me out of here!!!

[beholdthemem]

My fellow bitches under 5'5. Whatever the money, do not take a job working at a middle school. A fellow adult tried to put me in detention last month and would NOT give up until I showed her my badge proving Yes, The School Hired Me To Work Here. It's not meant for people our height.

[sleepygaymerdisease]